TITLE: Highland Conquest
SERIES #: The Sons of Gregor MacLeod #2
CHARACTERS: Lachlan & Amber
AUTHOR: Alyson McLayne
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/06/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
HE WAS LOOKING FOR VENGEANCE
Laird Lachlan MacKay never planned on leading his clan, but when his older brother was murdered, he was left with no choice. His vow to avenge his brother has led him to the MacPherson clan—and their bewitching healer, Amber.
INSTEAD HE FOUND HER
Amber MacPherson is desperate. Dressed as a boy to escape her clan’s treacherous leader, she runs right into Lachlan—who orders her detained. At first she causes him nothing but frustration, especially when she blackmails him into helping her clan. But when she’s threatened by the same man who murdered his brother, Lachlan will do whatever it takes to keep her safe—and by his side.
REVIEW:
After reading the first in the series I knew I would want to read them all. The Highlanders are well in a word… yummy! There is something about a Scottish Highlander. If you haven’t been a fan of the genre you will be after reading the first two books of this series.
What I enjoy about this series is the fact that the guys are alpha but the women are strong as well. In this case Amber is a healer. She is confident and willing to do anything to be free of the her captor. The guys are worth reading about as well.
Something about this genre is exciting and makes me want to hop a plane to check out the Scottish hills (and men).
You will not want to miss this story/series if you love the genre. And if you want to try out the genre for the first time this is a great book to make you a fan.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
TITLE: Diaper Duty Vampire
SERIES #: Vampires Of Amber Heights #1
CHARACTERS: John & Joann
AUTHOR: R.E. Mullins
PUBLICATION DATE: 12/11/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
During the Civil War, Union soldier, John Alden took a musket ball to the gut. As he gasped his final breath, he was turned into a vampire and started life anew in Amber Heights, Missouri. For over one hundred and fifty years, he’s lived a rather solitary life as a vampire Enforcer.
Young single mother, Joann Clarkson, needs a job and fast. Hoping to be rehired, she returns to Dr. Michaela Blautsauger’s lab prepared to eat a hefty helping of humble pie. She comes to regret that decision when she’s taken hostage. Things look grim but she’ll never stop fighting to escape. Her son needs his mama.
As an Enforcer, John must hunt down the vampire who kidnapped Joann. In his search, John winds up babysitting her toddler Cody. Changing diapers might be worse than getting staked, but nothing compares to how he feels when both mother and child fall into danger again.
REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts This is a cute story. It is a short read which has a bunch of humor and is a light fun read. It is not a book that you need to concentrate much on. But at the same time it is cuter than I expected.
Yes there are some scenes that make you roll your eyes but in a good way. Any parent would get a kick out of it.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
TITLE: More To Love
SERIES #: A Perfect Fit #3
CHARACTERS: Jessa & Max
AUTHOR: Alison Bliss
PUBLICATION DATE: 01/30/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
This laugh-out-loud romantic comedy proves that, when enemies become lovers, all bets are off!
Jessa Gibson may be new in the little town of Granite, Texas, but in no time at all her gourmet food truck business is booming. Soon she’ll have enough money to open the restaurant of her dreams. But first, she’ll have to appease the hot local health inspector, no matter how strange his “violations” sound to her. No pink plastic gloves? Really?
Max Hager isn’t exactly who he says he is. Pretending to be a health inspector is a (mostly) innocent mistake. A mistake made way worse by Max’s immediate, electrifying attraction to the curvy, sexy, redheaded chef. Throw in a whole lot of lust, and things in Jessa’s little kitchen are about to really start heating up. But can Max find a way to come clean with Jessa before his little deception turns into a recipe for disaster?
REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts This is a quick read but very sweet. I enjoy the books where the characters are not perfect. Jessa is a bigger girl but Max seems to appreciate what she has. I thought the characters were good. They had depth to them. I wasn’t thrilled with Max at first but he ended up being ok in the end. I did like Jessa though.
Jessa and I would be the best of friends if she was real. She is adorable and would feed me yummy treats. I might have told her to dump Max but as I said he begins to grow on the reader.
A really cute read. Especially for the curvy girls in the world.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
TITLE: The Wedding Date
CHARACTERS: Drew Nichols & Alexa Monroe
AUTHOR: Jasmine Guillory
PUBLICATION DATE: January 30, 2018
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do. But there’s something about Drew Nichols that’s too hard to resist.
On the eve of his ex’s wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend…
After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she’s the mayor’s chief of staff. Too bad they can’t stop thinking about the other…
They’re just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century–or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want.
Alexa danced with Lauren, letting the movement and the laughter shake away her annoying thoughts. When she felt a hand on her waist, she turned to see Drew behind her and laughed again, at how ridiculous the evening had been and how much fun she was suddenly having. He took ahold of one of her hands and swung her around to face him and laughed back down at her. Other members of the wedding party joined their group and danced with and around them, but song after song came on, and he never moved from her side.
“Water?” he said in her ear after they’d been on the dance floor for a long time.
“Yes, please.” She walked with him over to the bar.
She glanced up at the ornate clock over the bar, surprised at how late it had gotten. And how much she didn’t want this night to end. Damn it, it had been fun to be Drew’s fake girlfriend, but she knew that once the clock struck midnight, so to speak, the fairy tale would be all over.
He leaned against the bar, his jacket off, his bow tie untied, a little sweaty and disheveled from dancing. Good Lord, this guy was hot.
He rolled up his sleeves, exposing his tan forearms. She wanted to run her fingers up and down them and feel how warm and strong they were.
She needed to stop letting her imagination run away with her.
“Um,” she said. “It’s getting late, and if I want to make the last BART train back to the East Bay, I should probably leave pretty soon.”
Why had she said that? Why, when she was standing next to a hot guy, basically panting over him? If she was Maddie, hell, if she was Amy, she would have grabbed one of those hot forearms and wrapped it around her body, letting him know what she wanted without having to say anything. Sadly, she was Alexa, so she would flee instead.
He put his water bottle down and looked at her.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” she said. Olivia and Maddie would get mad at her for not throwing herself at him, but they didn’t understand that she just didn’t know how. Plus, rejection from this guy was the last thing her self-esteem needed. Talk about the opposite of getting back on the horse; that would make her avoid horses, and stables, and all farm animals for another few years. So to speak.
He stepped closer to her and put his hand on her waist. Her hand landed on his arm, and, without even meaning to, she ran her fingers up and down. Oh God, touching him like this was as good as she’d thought it would be.
“Or”—he looked straight down into her eyes—“you could stay.”
A question was in his eyes, and a smile hovered over his lips. His thumb drew slow circles on her hip and then moved up her side to her ribs. His other hand moved up to her face and traced the outline of her lips with his fingers.
She shivered.
He waited.
“Or,” she said, “I could stay.”
ABOUT Jasmine Guillory is a graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law School. She is a Bay Area native who has towering stacks of books in her living room, a cake recipe for every occasion, and upwards of 50 lipsticks.
As well as writing books, Jasmine sometimes writes about books, pop-culture, and food, some of her favorite things. Here are some of her recent pieces:
TITLE: The Honorable Traitors
SERIES #: Laker #1
CHARACTERS: Thomas Laker
AUTHOR: John Lutz
PUBLICATION DATE: 01/30/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
THE UNKNOWN SPY
Officially, Thomas Laker is an employee of the NSA. His real employer, known as the Gray Outfit, is not listed—anywhere. When a Washington, D.C., insider is killed in a bomb explosion, Laker teams up with cryptographer Ava North on a desperate search for clues. The only thing certain is that another act of terrorism is imminent. Delving into the dangerous past when America was drawn into global conflict, they discover one of history’s greatest—and deadliest—secrets. In the wrong hands it can unleash unimaginable destruction. Now, to keep his homeland from plunging into its darkest hour, Laker will have to defend everything he believes in…
REVIEW:
2.25 Hearts So what to say about this book? Not much. I really didn’t enjoy this book at all. The characters just didn’t connect with me. Something is just off. They seem so immature for what is supposed to be their ages.
The writing is not great either. I usually enjoy Lutz’s writing but not this time. I really had a hard time finishing this book and a number of times wondered if I should just put it down and start something I would enjoy. I didn’t but the feelings never changed.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
TITLE: The Wedding Date
CHARACTERS: Drew Nichols & Alexa Monroe
AUTHOR: Jasmine Guillory
PUBLICATION DATE: January 30, 2018
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do. But there’s something about Drew Nichols that’s too hard to resist.
On the eve of his ex’s wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend…
After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she’s the mayor’s chief of staff. Too bad they can’t stop thinking about the other…
They’re just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century–or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want.
REVIEW:
Alexa Monroe never would have thought that visiting her sister to celebrate would lead to being stuck in an elevator with an amazingly hot and funny man. A man that asks her to be his savior for the weekend by attending a wedding with him. Alexa takes a chance and steps out of her comfort zone and says yes.
Drew Nichols does not want to be here for the weekend. But he is the best man at the wedding and it would look really bad if he didn’t show up. Fate is on his side but getting him stuck in an elevator with one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen. Then a plan forms into his brain, he will ask this amazing women! And surprisingly she says Yes!!!
I am grateful that Berkley Publishing sent this super sweet book to review. I am not sure I would have picked this book up otherwise, it was not on my 2018 list to read. But I am very grateful because I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more books from Ms. Guillory.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley & Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.
TITLE: Highland Conquest
TITLE: Diaper Duty Vampire
TITLE: More To Love
TITLE: The Wedding Date
ABOUT Jasmine Guillory is a graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law School. She is a Bay Area native who has towering stacks of books in her living room, a cake recipe for every occasion, and upwards of 50 lipsticks.
TITLE: The Honorable Traitors
