#Spotlight on Wild Cowboy Country by Erin Marsh + #Giveaway

Wild Cowboy Country
by Erin Marsh
Mass Market Paperback, 1st edition, 384 pages
Expected publication: July 28th 2020 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN149267091X

First in a hot new cowboy romance series by author Erin Marsh, featuring cowboys dealing with wild animals on their land

Clay Stevens desperately wants to reclaim his grandfather's land, using the latest techniques to bring water to the arid landscape. The last thing he needs is wild wolves on his ranch—even if they are brought there by feisty and determined conservation officer Lacey Montgomery. Lacey is convinced the ranchers and the lobos can co-exist, until Clay's nephew and his friends cause a landslide that injures some rare Mexican wolf pups and Lacey gets hurt too. Clay and Lacey have to work together to heal old wounds and reconcile community factions, if they're going to have any chance at the bright future they both envision.

AMAZON | B&N 

Read an #Excerpt from Lethal Edge by Kaylea Cross

Lethal Edge
(Rifle Creek #1)
by Kaylea Cross
Kindle Edition, 223 pages
Expected publication: July 28th 2020 by Kaylea Cross Inc.
ASINB084DXFXD1

A diehard romantic looking to start over in a small town.

Dr. Nina Gomez might be an astrophysicist and a scientist down to her bones, but she also believes in true love and happily ever after—and won’t settle for anything less. After a rocky end to her first semester teaching at the University of Montana, she’s looking forward to a new school year and a fresh start in the small town of Rifle Creek. When she meets her roommate’s work partner, a sexy, hard-edged detective, Nina is immediately intrigued. However, it’s soon clear they’re like oil and water. But when she’s confronted by the painful past event she wanted to forget, she faces an even greater danger. A predator is bent on silencing her forever, and Nina’s only hope of survival is the unattainable man who’s captured her heart.

A cynical cop determined to guard his heart.

Tate Baldwin has dedicated his life to serving and protecting, first in the military, and now as a detective in Rifle Creek. Badly burned by his last relationship, he isn’t looking to get involved with anyone, especially a brilliant college professor who seems to have her head in the clouds. Yet even Tate can’t deny the attraction between them that soon grows into something more. And when a secret from her past triggers a lethal threat, Tate will risk everything to stand between her and the monster who wants her dead.

AMAZON | B&N 

Read an #Excerpt from Lobizona by Romina Garber and Romina Russell

Lobizona
(Wolves of No World #1)
by Romina Garber
Hardcover, 400 pages
Expected publication: August 4th 2020 by Wednesday Books
ISBN1250239125

Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.

Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.

Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past--a mysterious "Z" emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.

As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it's not just her U.S. residency that's illegal. . . .it's her entire existence.

AMAZON | B&N 

#Spotlight on Fearless by Katie Golding + #Giveaway

Fearless
(Moto Grand Prix #1)
by Katie Golding
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Expected publication: July 28th 2020 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN1492694215

Billy King may be smiling under his black Stetson as he waves for the MotoGP press corps, but the plain truth is the motorcycle racer is hurting: for his horse back in Memphis, for his girl with one boot out the door, and thanks to an injury that's not getting any better.

With his racing contract contingent on his latest injury remaining a secret, Billy bolts home at the end of the international circuit―resolved to heal, and ready to win fellow racer Taryn's heart a second time. Hopefully, before the love of his life is gone for good. But broken hearts don't heal overnight, and the cost of forgiveness is sky high...unless Billy can prove his heart is home to stay. 

AMAZON | B&N 

#Spotlight on Come Home to Deep River by Jackie Ashenden + #Giveaway

Come Home to Deep River
(Alaska Homecoming #1)
by Jackie Ashenden
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Expected publication: July 28th 2020 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN1728216869

First in a bold, sexy new small-town Alaska contemporary romance series from Jackie Ashenden

Deep River, Alaska boasts a fiercely independent though small population. The people who live here love it, and they don't much care what anyone else thinks. Until the day Silas Quinn comes back and tells them an oil reserve has been found below the town and now it's neighbor vs. neighbor. Some want to take the money and run, while others want to tell the oil company to put its rigs where the sun don't shine.

Hope Dawson never expected to leave Deep River. Her mom needs her. Her grandfather died and left her the local hangout to run. Her dreams of college and adventure died long ago. Until Silas comes back to town, holding the key to set her free. But freedom means she loses him again, and he's the one she's really always wanted.

AMAZON | B&N 

A Character’s Voice with Kat Martin of The Ultimate Betrayal

A Character’s Voice

Hearing a character’s voice in your head is one of the strangest parts of writing.  Each voice is distinct, unique to that person in some way.  How does it happen?

That is a question I have yet to satisfactorily answer.

A novel is constructed by using different tools, description, narrative, setting, and dialog among them.  Letting a character tell the story through his own point of view is my favorite way of crafting a novel.

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of Beach Read by Emily Henry

 

Title:  Beach Read
Author: Emily Henry
Format: Paperback/eBook, 384 pages
Publication: May 19th 2020 by Berkley
ASIN:    B07XNKRV83 
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Edelweiss
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They're polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
January has lived her life with an open heart and rose colored glasses. Her mother's scares with cancer taught her to hide her fears while the way her parent's loving and romantic relationship taught her that outpouring happiness and love made life glow. When her father dies and a big secret is revealed, she can't manage to see only the glow in life. Her boyfriend dumps her and with her writing career in danger, January takes off to Michigan to come to terms with who she thought her father was and try to get her life back on track. When her next door neighbor turns out to be college rival and crush Augustus Everett, she winds up getting in a pseudo competition about who can write the best book in the other's genre. January's trying to come to terms with the past and she might just build a future while doing it.

🍷🍷🍷🍷.3 #Review of Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson

 

Title:  Real Men Knit
Series:  Strong Brothers #1
Author: Kwana Jackson
Format: Paperback/eBook, 336 pages
Publication: May 19, 2020 by Berkley
ASIN:    B07WYVBR5V
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Edelweiss
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

When their foster-turned-adoptive mother suddenly dies, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop, while dealing with life and love in Harlem.

Jesse Strong is known for two things: his devotion to his adoptive mom, Mama Joy, and his reputation for breaking hearts in Harlem. When Mama Joy unexpectedly passes away, he and his brothers have different plans on what to do with Strong Knits, their neighborhood knitting store: Jesse wants to keep the store open; his brothers want to shut it down.

Jesse makes an impassioned plea to Kerry Fuller, his childhood friend who has had a crush on him her entire life, to help him figure out how to run the business. Kerry agrees to help him reinvent the store and show him the knitty-gritty of the business, but the more time they spend together, the more the chemistry builds. Kerry, knowing Jesse’s history, doesn’t believe this relationship will exist longer than one can knit one, purl one. But Jesse is determined to prove to her that he can be the man for her—after all, real men knit.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Four boys from different makeups and ethnic backgrounds, brought together by their shared need of, first and foremost, a home, but probably more so the love that that the seemingly irreverent single Black woman had given them.

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of The Unseen by Thea Harrison

Title: The Unseen
Series: Elder Races #9.9 and the Chronicles of Rhyacia #1
Author: Thea Harrison
Format: Kindle Edition, 95 pages
Published: July 13th 2020 by Teddy Harrison LLC
ISBN: ASIN B08BT4MFHD
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: BookFunnel
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Wine Glasses

Saying goodbye to their old life in the Wyr demesne in New York may be hard, but Dragos and Pia are determined to create a new life in the Other land of Rhyacia.

At first, everything seems idyllic. Rhyacia is paradisiacal. Accompanied by old friends and new allies, the future looks safe and bright for Dragos, Pia, and baby Niall.

But strange things are happening beneath the picturesque façade. Items move unaccompanied, buildings collapse without justifiable cause, and even the most Powerful residents of Rhyacia can provide no logical explanation for the events transpiring. Whispered rumors point to something called the unseen.

As Dragos and Pia investigate, they uncover a greater mystery than they could have imagined, and they realize the startling truth…

They’re not alone in Rhyacia. The land Dragos had thought was uninhabited hides many secrets, a shocking history that’s not quite ready to be buried, and something more.

Something ancient, evil, and hungry. Something that wants to consume Dragos and take everything he holds dear.

Something that just may be powerful enough to overcome the dragon…

Your Thoughts:
“Dragos, I don’t think we’re alone here.”

Thea Harrison whisks readers on a thrilling new Dragos and Pia adventure with The Unseen, a novella in her amazing Elder Races series. The Unseen is also the first of four linked stories which Thea has entitled the Chronicles of Rhyacia. This opener relates their departure from Earth and the Wyr demise and their arrival in the Other land of Rhyacia. As you may expect, things don’t go as planned and many of our Elder Races favorites arrive to help.

#CoverReveal of The Trouble With Quarterbacks by R.S. Grey

The Trouble With Quarterbacks

by R.S. Grey 

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: August 6th 2020

#Spotlight on The Queen by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Queen
(A Wicked Trilogy #3.7)
by Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Kindle Edition, 1001 Dark Nights #128, 146 pages
Published July 14th 2020 by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
ASINB07VGX4DFP

From #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes the next installment in her Wicked series.

The King must have his Queen....

Bestowed the forbidden Summer’s Kiss by the King of the Summer fae, Brighton Jussier is no longer just human. What she is, what she will become, no one knows for sure, but that isn’t her biggest concern at the moment. Now Caden, the King, refuses to let her go, even at the cost of his Court. When the doorway to the Otherworld is breached, both Brighton and Caden must do the unthinkable—not just to survive themselves, but also to save mankind from the evil that threatens the world.

AMAZON

Happy #BookBirthday to What's Left of Me by Kristen Granata

What's Left of Me
by Kristen Granata 
Kindle Edition
Published July 16th 2020
ASINB08CD37RVC

Callie Kingston’s life as an Orange County housewife isn’t as perfect as it seems. Her husband isn’t the same man she fell in love with nine years ago, and her home is no longer her safe haven. But she’s determined to keep up appearances, especially when it comes to concealing the bruises her husband’s temper leaves behind.

Until Cole Luciano moves into her best friend’s house across the street. He’s abrasive and rude, but his steel-blue eyes tell a different story—one with dark secrets that has Callie curious.

After suffering through an unspeakable tragedy, Cole settles into his sister’s pool house until he can get back on his feet. He’s convinced that he deserves to live with the guilt he harbors from his past, and wants nothing more than to be left alone. Yet he can’t seem to stay away from his beautiful neighbor. He sees right through Callie’s carefully orchestrated lies and is desperate to help her.

Callie discovers more than an angry and bitter man underneath Cole’s hard exterior. But when Callie finally finds the courage to create a new life for herself, Cole isn’t sure if there’s enough of his heart left to give in order to be the man she deserves.

Can two broken souls heal each other, or are some just too damaged to be put back together?

*This book contains some graphic scenes and very sensitive subject matter. 

AMAZON 

🍷🍷 #Review of Dream Maker by Kristen Ashley

 

Title:  Dream Maker
Series:  Dream Team #1
Author: Kristen Ashley
Format: Paperback/eBook, 497 pages
Publication: May 26th 2020 by Forever
ASIN:    B07TD41ZGW 
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: NetGalley
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 2 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Evie is a bonafide nerd and a hyper-intelligent chick who has worked her whole life to get what she wants. Growing up, she had no support from her family and has only ever been able to rely on herself. So when Evie decides she wants to earn her engineering degree, she realizes she needs to take an alternative path to get there. She takes a job dancing at Smithie's club thinking this would be a quick side gig, where she can make the money she needs. But with her lack of dancing skills and an alpha bad boy who becomes overly protective, Evie realizes this might not be as easy as she thought.

Daniel "Mag" Magnusson knows a thing or two about pain, but the mask he wears is excellent. No one can tell that this good-looking, quick-witted, and roguish guy has deep-seated issues. Mag puts on a funny-guy routine so he can hide his broken heart and PTSD. But when Evie dances her way into Mag's life, he realizes that he needs to come face-to-face with the demons of his past if he wants a future with her.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Dream Maker is the start of a new series but characters from the author's previous series, Dream Man and Rock Chick (some Chaos) heavily feature in it. I've read books in Dream Man but none in Rock Chick, I was able to hang in there in regards to who was who and connections but barely. If you're completely new to Kristen Ashley, this probably isn't where you should start.

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of Broken Dawn by Dianne Duvall

 

Title:  Broken Dawn
Series:   Immortal Guardians #10
Author:  Dianne Duvall
Format: Kindle Edition, 330 pages
Published: June 16th 2020 by Dianne Duvall
ISBN: ASIN B0887MB63Y
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Author
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Wine Glasses

Delve into an exciting new stand-alone novel in New York Times bestselling author Dianne Duvall's "fast-paced and humorous" (Publishers Weekly), "utterly addictive" (RT Book Reviews) Immortal Guardians series.

Nick Belanger can't stop thinking about the single mother who lives next door. She's smart. She's funny. She's so beautiful he can't stare at her too long for fear his eyes will start to glow. But Kayla thinks he's just an ordinary guy who works in security. Finding out he instead is a powerful immortal warrior who hunts and slays psychotic vampires for a living may not go over well, particularly since she has a daughter she doesn't want to endanger.

Kayla Dorman can keep neither her gaze nor her thoughts from straying to the man next door. Who can blame her really? He is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome with smart, charming, and honorable thrown in. He's also a few years younger than her and surely would not be interested in a single mom who hasn't dated since her divorce. At least that's what she thinks until an accident nearly takes her life and Nick risks all to save her.

The dynamics of their relationship swiftly change. The friendship they've developed over the years deepens into love as the two spend every minute they can together, laughing and teasing, never suspecting a threat may lurk in the shadows. But that threat soon strikes, making it clear that Nick is the target and his enemy doesn't care if Kayla gets caught in the cross fire. Though Kayla bravely rises to the occasion and is determined to do whatever it takes to help Nick defeat his enemy, Nick is terrified of losing her. Can he identify and eliminate his new nemesis before the man takes everything from him?

Linda's Thoughts:
Dianne Duvall’s Broken Dawn epitomizes excitement, passion and risky business from the get-go. It’s the tenth installment in Dianne’s amazing Immortal Guardians (IG) paranormal romance series, but Broken Dawn works well as a standalone, too. If you are a newbie, the IG universe is populated with powerful and sexy immortal males who fall for strong women. Just know that once you dive in to one of these IG books, you will be soundly hooked and embarking on a mission to read all of them.