Category Archives: Contemp. Romance

#NewRelease #PreQual – Roses with Thorns by Lyssa Layne

June 16, 2020 Angie J Leave a comment

Jordan Crecelius was always a ranch girl at heart but she and her best friend, Mia Tomko, enjoyed watching Mia’s brother play baseball, too. In between horses and high school, the best friends always made time to catch a game or two. Robby Glastetter was a city boy with a baseball addiction. The sport was paying his way through university as he studied to be a day trader once he graduated… that was until Jordan Crecelius walked into his life. It only took one hello for Robby and Jordan to know that they were meant for each other. The two were destined for one another, soulmates meant to never be separated but with a six-year age gap, their love story didn’t begin at hello. Robby patiently waited for Jordan, trading in trains for horses just for the opportunity to get to know her better. Once she turned eighteen, their love story was on the fast track and the two became adults together on the freight train of love as life began to unfold.

Wanna know what happens when this book ends???

Until You Fall in Love is HERE

Goodreads

Roses with Thorns by Lyssa Layne
I received this book from the author for an honest review.
GAH! When Lyssa offered to let me read this book I was excited because I always love her men…they are extra lickable. I admit I wondered how she was going to tell a love story of a 14 year-old and a 20 year-old but she did it well.
Jordan and Robby meet when she is visiting her brother from another mother during his first college baseball game. The dynamic of the two was sweet and innocent. Robby thought she was sweet and going to be an amazing girl when she got older.
Jumping forward a couple of years we see Robby NOTICING the young woman Jor has become but also knowing it is inappropriate to do anything given her age. But everything changes in the blink of an eye when Abram is hurt. Robby and Jor spend the summer together where love starts to blossom.
As the story jumps for ward in time, we see them falling more and more in love but also realizing they have a lot to accomplish to be together. They always work toward building a life together and having the HEA everyone wants. If you know this is a prequal to a story you KNOW what happens to our couple and their happiness. If NOT, then I won’t spill any of the beans so you read it and then run to down load Until You Fall to get the ending of this story.

Lyssa Layne is first, and foremost, the proud momma to her precious daughter, AR. In addition to working full-time and being a mommy to AR, she is also an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, a runner, blogger, and an infertility survivor.

Having watched one too many medical dramas and being inspired by author Rachelle Ayala, who introduced her to the world of indie writing, Lyssa decided to try her hand at writing a romance story. Her attempt turned into the Burning Lovesick series. You can find Lyssa’s own interests throughout her stories although all stories are fictional.

Contemp. Romance

#WOTR020 #BookSpotlight #SeriesStarter #KU – The Double D Ranch (Fortuna, Texas #1) by Rochelle Bradley

June 1, 2020 Angie J Leave a comment

Longhorns and lingerie…

Much to the chagrin of foreman Josiah, Jessie Davidson wants a romance reduction. But the Double D Ranch hides a secret. Since inheriting the property, Jessie kept her grandmother’s hoard concealed, but now she’s found the courage to purge the unwanted items: steamy novels, thousands of them. Romance has to go! Donating the books is a good thing, right? Not when coupled with a dare.

The dare spirals out of control. The ante is upped when caches of the spicy books, left in barber shops, pool halls, and pubs, challenge others to join the fad. A perverted prankster runs amok playing on the town’s fantasies. Book clubs are formed. Plots acted out. In a town saturated with romance, Jessie finds her love life underdeveloped.

Keep Jessie safe. It’s the promise Josiah Barnes made to Jessie’s dying grandmother. He aims to honor it, even if it means protecting Jessie from himself. Failing her in the past has him on high alert when the Double D becomes ground zero for the arousal avalanche sweeping the town. As a full-support, silent partner, Josiah will do anything to augment the Double D. But when Jessie starts selling handmade lingerie, keeping his hands to himself is easier said than done…

Will she shelve happily ever after like a rejected novel, or open her heart and start a new chapter?

Goodreads

Rochelle puts an artistic spin on everything she does but there are two things she fails at miserably:
1. Cooking (seriously, she can burn water)
2. Sewing (buttons immediately fall back off)

She loves baking and makes a mean BTS (Better than Sex) cake. When in observation mode she is quiet, however, her mouth is usually open with an encouraging glass-is-half-full pun or, quite possibly, her foot.

She is a Bearcat, a Buckeye, an interior decorator, and fluent in sarcasm.

In 2008, when her youngest entered Kindergarten, she decided to get the stories out of her head. Midway through her first novel, hurricane Ike (yes, a hurricane in Ohio) rendered the laptop useless with a nine-day power outage. She didn’t give up, but continued to pursue her dream.

Every November Rochelle takes on the challenge of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org) where she endeavors to write 50,000 words in thirty days. You can often hear her cheering the Dayton area Wrimos (those who join her in this crazy pursuit).

Rochelle shares her home with a big black cat, an itty-bitty orange tiger kitty, her daughter, her son, and her Prince.

She loves to connect with readers. You can find her on Facebook (search for Author Rochelle Bradley), Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Visit Rochelle’s website to sign up for her newsletter to keep up to date about future novels and book signings (RochelleBradley.com).

Contemp. Romance, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, M/M, Paranormal, Review, Writers on the River Attending Author

#WOTR20 – #Review – Smoky Mist (The Legend of the Ghost Train) C.J. Baty

April 22, 2020 Kelly S Leave a comment

Jesse Lawson was never afraid of the strange and unusual dreams he had. But lately, they were becoming darker leaving him with a need to discover why he was having them. He believed he would find answers at the site of logging camps in The Great Smoky Mountains. His great grandfather had lived and died there, and Jesse was sure it was Jackson Douglas haunting him.
Carter Thompson never knew his great great uncle George Thompson, but he inherited his land, home, and money. George had come here to America to find work in the lumber camps. Meeting Jesse Lawson was about to turn his world upside down. Jesse’s dreams somehow involved Carter, and the more they searched the closer they became.
George left journals that could clear up many mysteries, including Jackson Douglas’s death. Now it seemed that something was trying to destroy Carter and Jesse’s growing attraction to each other. Whoever it is will stop at nothing to keep them apart, even if they have to repeat the past to do it.

There will be three books in this series. Each is a stand alone and can be read in any order. Each has a HEA.

Goodreads

Amazon

BookBub

A ghostly romantic story! This is a new to me author and I am completely happy with this story. The author does a fantastic job of weaving an incredible history into this beautiful story. Jesse has been having some weird “dreams” or “visions” of the past and goes to investigate the source. He meets Carter who runs the museum. These two have a wonderful connection that is so sweet and sincere. As they both start looking into the past they find that Jesse’s great grandfather and Carter’s great great uncle knew each other and were lovers, which was completely unheard of back in that time. As Jesse and Carter spend more time together their attraction grows as well but is jeopardized by Carter’s ex and some forest animals that all seem to have been possessed. They find that the only way to help each other and their grandfather and uncle is to find out the truth about their deaths and to be sure their story was told correctly. Things get super creepy throughout their encounters with the paranormal but these two do prevail. It’s a powerful story with a beautiful HEA. I look forward to reading more by this author.

C. J. Baty lives in southwest Ohio. Her heart however, lives in the mountains of Tennessee where she hopes to retire some day. The mountains have always provided her with inspiration and a soothing balm to the stresses of everyday life.

The dream of writing her own stories started in high school but was left on the back burner of life until her son introduced her to fan fiction and encouraged her to give it a try. She found that her passion for telling a story was still there and writing them down to share with others was much more thrilling than she had ever expected.

She has a loving and supportive family who doesn’t mind fixing their own meals when she is in the middle of a story. And a network of friends, who have encouraged and cheered her on in her quest of being an author.

One thing she has learned from life and she is often heard to say is: “You are never too old to follow your dream!”

Contemp. Romance, Part of a Series, Part of a Spin off series, Review, Suspense, Writers on the River Attending Author

#WOTR20 – #Review – Control Us (The Next Generation Series #1) by J.M. Walker

April 19, 2020 Kelly S Leave a comment

Zach

She was innocent.
Passionate.
Fierce.
After Luna Stone and I went from friends to lovers, my only purpose was showing her how worthy I was. But how could I convince her when I didn’t believe it myself?
I craved her touch and her smiles but most of all, her heart.
I vowed to protect her and show her father that I could be the man for his daughter.
I pushed.
She pulled.
And when all was said and done, I’d have to go through an even higher power to prove that I deserved her…
Myself.
~
Luna

He was quiet.
Withdrawn.
Intense.
Zach Porter and I had been friends since we were kids, but it had never amounted to anything more than that. Until now.
But as close as we were getting, he was still closed off.
He protected his heart and put up walls, even though he had no reason to.
He shoved.
I grabbed hold and never let go.
If I didn’t fight for what was ours, he’d succumb to his demons and believe their vicious words telling him that he’s not good enough. To give up.
On us.

Goodreads

Amazon

BookBub

Reader beware, once you start this incredible story, you will not put it down until the end. This is the next generation after King’s Harlots. You won’t need to read King’s Harlots before The Next Generation but I highly recommend it. King’s Harlots is an intensely amazing series and I believe The Next Generation will be just as powerful.

First things first… Zach F’n Porter! *ahhhhh* Even though Coby and Brogan adopted Zach, he reminds me so much of Coby. Zach had a dark childhood and has some really significant demons that he fights daily. It really warms my heart to see how his parents continue to help him through these issues to overcome them. But like most of us, Zach is his own worst enemy. Now to get to Luna. She may just be the most innocent of the bunch. She is sweet but can bring on the sass with the best of them. She has such a kind heart and wants to help anyone she can. Zach and Luna have always been great friends growing up, but now that they are adults, things start to change. They have a passionate connection where the heat continues to build and many times is close to combustion. There is a delicate push and pull between the two as they try to figure out their feelings for each other. There are many things that can go wrong and a lot of outside forces trying to keep them from each other. However, the one thing that can make or break this is Zach. He has to get past himself or this can go all wrong.

This is a powerful story full of love and compassion with a few personal demons thrown in the mix. Bravo, JM! Can’t wait for more!

J.M. Walker is an Amazon bestselling author who hit USA Today with Wanted: An Outlaw Anthology. She loves all things books, pigs and lip gloss. She is happily married to the man who inspires all of her Heroes and continues to make her weak in the knees every single day.

“Above all, be the HEROINE of your own life…” ~ Nora Ephron

Facebook ➝ https://www.facebook.com/jm.walker.author
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Goodreads ➝ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5132169.J_M_Walker
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Website ➝ http://www.aboutjmwalker.com/
Newsletter ➝ https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/o2i6u2

Professional Inquiries:
I am represented by SBR Media. For inquiries regarding foreign rights, audio, and other media outlets, please contact Stephanie Phillips.
stephanie@sbrmedia.com

Contemp. Romance, MMA, Writers on the River Attending Author

#WOTR20 – #Review – The Heartbreaker by Tricia Andersen

March 27, 2020 Kelly S Leave a comment

Can town librarian Lily Dixon and MMA bad boy Reese Cooper keep their love affair a secret in small town Iowa? Braden, Iowa is the last place on earth Reese Cooper wanted to be but a devastating injury in the octagon forces the MMA fighter back to the small town he once called home. He barely steps foot on Main Street before he is reunited with Lily Dixon, the town librarian and the girl who possessed his heart since they were in kindergarten. Every day in Braden is the same for Lily Dixon. That is until Reese Cooper walks back into her life. With his chiseled, perfect body and dreamy blue eyes, he steals her heart just like he did when they were kids. His kisses, his touch are far better than any fantasy she’s ever had about him. Is she willing to risk everything when her preacher father finds out about her love affair with the town bad boy? And what will happen when Reese goes back to Vegas, leaving her alone in Braden without him?

Goodreads

Amazon

Extremely sweet with a helluva happy ending! I listened to this in audiobook. The narrator was good and kept the story moving with a great flow. So this sounds sort of cliche’. Sweet and meek librarian and the bad boy MMA fighter falls in love. Reese returns home from Vegas for therapy and runs into Lily, the town librarian. Right from jump the tension between these two is high. The problem is, her father is the pastor and has forbidden her to see Reese. Naturally they can’t stay away from each other and this makes the angst go through the roof. Reese has so much potential to stay in Braden and has all but promised Lily he will stay when one day, BOOM! He has to go back to Vegas for an unexpected fight. He isn’t able to talk, let alone explain why he has to leave to Lily before he has to go. Well, Lily has something she needs to tell him too but can’t bring herself to talk to him because she is heartbroken. So now we have some really big secrets being held back. So, I know I already said there is a HEA, and it is a beautiful HEA, but I had a little bit of a hard time with the way Lily acted when Reese took off. She seemed to be a stronger girl, or I was hoping for that, but I was a little turned off by her near the end of the book. However, if you are looking for a sweet, small town romance with a gorgeous HEA, this is a great book for that and I highly recommend it!

Tricia Andersen lives in Iowa with her husband and her three children. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from Kirkwood Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in Communications Media/Public Relations.
For the past five years, Tricia has been a member of Hard Drive Performance Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an affiliate of Roufusport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has experience in kickboxing and currently trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Even though she has never competed in an MMA cage, she’s witnessed and been a part of a fighter’s journey from fight camp to their walk to the cage. She also has competed in jiu jitsu.

Contemp. Romance, Family Orientated, Part of a Series, Part of a Spin off series

#WOTR20 #5YearFamily #AudioReview #Family #SpinOff – Love and Pancakes (Rockland Falls #1) by Lacey Black

March 25, 2020 Angie J Leave a comment

Marissa Grayson’s dream went up in smoke. A devastating fire has ripped apart her family’s bed and breakfast, leaving her off-kilter and scrambling to repair the damage. What she doesn’t need, or have time for, is Rhenn Burleski. Sexy, confident, and dangerous to her heart. A man who clearly knows his way around the female body and will leave the moment the sheets start to cool. Yet that doesn’t stop her from making a deal with the devil himself.

Work hard, play harder. That’s Rhenn’s life motto. An electrician by day, Rhenn turns it up at night, always with a different lady friend in tow. He makes sure they know the score: he’s not looking for anything more than one night of fun. However, he knows the second he meets the shy daughter of the bed and breakfast’s owner that his life is never going to be the same. As hard as he tries, he just can’t resist one taste.

What happens when their time is up and Rhenn must leave, returning to his old life? Will they be able to walk away, hearts unscathed, or will their time together prove to be nothing more than a fading memory?

Goodreads

I received this book from the author but purchased the audio book.

Ok since I am reviewing the audio book I gotta say….HEEEY Rhenn’s narrator. Holy Sweet Baby Jesus that voice. Imma tell ya, you will be thanking me for that right off the bat. I don’t want to know what the narrator really looks like because my mind has his picture juuuuuust right. LOL Now I see he does the voice for the other 2 books…….YES is all I can say.

So this is my first Lacey book….yeah yeah I know late to the party like always but ya know what can I say. I have only known her 5 years *Face Palm*

I gotta say I loved the dynamic of quiet and shy but sassy Marissa with Rhenn. Rhenn is all playa playa who falls for the women who embodies his exact opposite type…ya know, she isn’t an easy whore. LOL

Marissa is devastated by her family’s business/home fire and is lost because what will they do. When her long lost family enters the picture, she gets connected to Rhenn who will be doing the family a favor and wiring the house for them.

When Rhenn shows up, he is stunned stupid at the beautiful women he sees but knows she isn’t “his type” and a quick roll won’t be something she is interested in. When, after getting to know him, she proposes Friends with Benefits while he is in town….he flips out.

I loved seeing them fall but fear telling the other. They both want more but she fears she isn’t good enough and he is ashamed of his past. When the two weeks is up and they part, I was a little bit weepy and wanted to kick Rhenn in the balls.

The end of the story is perfect and totally swoon worthy.

I gotta say Emma and Orville KILLED ME in this story. Marissa’s long-lost aunt and uncle were to inappropriately funny in this book. I can’t wait for more of them in the rest of the books. I am kinda giving brother Samuel a look over because I just know the right women or even man could make that anal-retentive ass crumble. But first up is sexy diva Harper. I can’t wait to see who tames this wild child!!

Avid reader, writer, mother, and wife! I love to read contemporary romance. Add in a little “spice” or hot guys in uniform pants, and I’m a happy woman. There’s just something about diving into a book and engrossing in the magic of your hero and heroine getting their happily ever after.

BDSM, Contemp. Romance, Review, Romantic Comedy

#Review – The Golden Pecker by Penelope Bloom

March 20, 2020 Kelly S Leave a comment

I never planned to tell Andi who I was.
Hell, I never planned to meet her.
But her grandfather’s will changes everything.
That, and the shockingly intimate to-do list he left for us.

Landon

I’ve known about Andi Wainwright my whole life. Until now, I’d done a damn good job of keeping my distance. No photos. No social media.

But that changed when I learned about the old man’s death. I had the misfortune of being his business partner, and now the keys to my future are tangled up in his ridiculous will.

First, I had to personally bring Andi down to his club, The Golden Pecker to show her some mysterious video. I may be in the dark about what’s going on, but I know one thing:

I don’t care what’s on that tape. Nothing is going to change the fact that Andi Wainwright is the enemy.

Goodreads

Amazon

Fun Rom Com with light BDSM, sure. Why not? So, I personally, am not into BDSM but I sure am of the sarcastic sort. When I saw the title of the book and the cover, I one-clicked not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I was pleasantly surprised and actually laughed quite a bit throughout the story.

“As the saying went, when in The Golden Pecker, do as the peckers do. In this case, Landon was the Pecker King. The peckeriest pecker of all, you could say.”

Andi and her sisters are mourning their grandfather’s death and his will still needs to be read. What they didn’t know was their grandfather has secrets and has stipulations to have the will read. This where Landon comes in. Landon has it in his mind already that Andi is the enemy and that he completely hates her but now he has to escort her to have her portion of the will read. This is where Andi finds out about her grandfather’s secret of owning several BDSM clubs. And now the fun begins. These rules involve Andi and Landon in the club. Landon is very professional and brooding while Andi has a defense mechanism of being snarky and sarcastic at all the right, and wrong, moments. Pairing these together brings a ton of fun into this light BDSM world. The chemistry between the two are great while they are unraveling all the secrets. The story is intriguing but with the right amount of funny. I recommend this book to just about anyone and look forward to reading others by this author.

I’m a USA Today Bestselling Author and have written nearly a dozen top 50 amazon bestsellers, including four books that have hit the top 10! Despite all that, I’m still a nervous wreck before I release every new book and I still feel like I have so much more to learn about writing and publishing than I can even wrap my head around.

I’m just beyond honored and humbled that so many readers have embraced me and found enjoyment in my words, because I can’t think of any better opportunity than this.

When I’m not writing and stressing about what I’m going to write, I’m trying to wrangle my two little girls who are 2 and a half and 1 and a half. When I’m not wrangling them, I’m trying to keep my husband in line.

Writing and helping run the family aren’t easy, but I’d never trade it for anything!

Contemp. Romance, Uncategorized, Writers on the River Attending Author

#REVIEW #WOTRAUTHOR – In The Pursuit Of Charity by Alexandria Sure

March 13, 2020 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

He expected her to recognize him.
He expected her to be seduced by his charms.
He expected her to fall for him.
Expectations are a funny thing …

When his parents named him Herbert Lincoln James, they already had expectations that Linc would attend an ivy league university and go into politics. Linc didn’t. As captain of his swim team, he was expected to win the big relay to carry his swim team to the state championship for the first time in decades. Linc didn’t. Society expected him to walk past her. He couldn’t.

She expected him to see through her.
She expected him to make her into a joke.
She expected him to be cruel.
Expectations are a funny thing …

Twinsie Jo’s Review:

Let me start by saying that reading the sweeter and less dirty books sometimes, is a nice change.

Now for my review. So…Linc is a professional swimmer. Athletic, good looking, has all the friends and gets all the girls. Oh and he comes from money too. Alexis on the other hand is none of those things. She plus-sized and closed off. Especially when Linc starts to show interest in her. I mean, after years of being talked down, made fun of and so on, who wouldn’t shut down and put up walls to protect their heart?

Man, did I ever feel for Alexis. Linc…at times I wanted to slap him but at the same time, I got it. These feelings were new for him. What I loved most about him was that he didn’t care about Alexis’s size. He could have stood up for her a little better – he even noticed that he made some mistakes in that department – with his mother who I loathe by the way and with his friends. Harrison. That boy drove me nuts and I wanted to punch him in the face. And his mother??? These people not being supportive of Linc and his feelings for Alexis, drove me crazy. Good job on that part, Alexandria!

As I was nearing the end of the book, I was on the edge of my seat. I was hoping and chomping at the bit for their happily ever after. Do they get it? I guess you’ll have to one-click to find out!

Contemp. Romance, Part of a Series

#REVIEW – Inhale, Exhale by C.L. Matthews

January 1, 2020 Jo-Anna W Leave a comment

“I do.”
Two words woven in love.
In sickness and in health.
For better or for worse.
Til death do us part.
And death dragged us apart.
We both said those vows.
But neither of us kept them.
This is not one of those happy stories.
Life isn’t made of simple choices
and happily ever afters.
It’s a dark place.
It’s not easy.
It’s full of mistakes and lessons.
It hurts.
And in the end, those two words said in love,
are the same ones said in hate.
“You want a divorce?”
“I do.”

Twinsie Jo’s Review:

I read the blurb, followed Cassie through her time writing this and I still wasn’t prepared for what I read.
I’m not an emotional reader but when I have to take a break and go do something else, you know the book has hit me. These characters…so messed up and beautifully broken…their love is unconditional. Even though it took quite a while for them to get back to each other, I was happy with how things turned out in the end.
Jase drove me crazy. Lo drove me crazy. Ellie? We don’t talk about her. Toby? sigh
So many things could be said about this book. The characters. The rawness. The love. The pain. The heartache. The misery. But while this happened, they grew. Together and a part.
This book will forever hold a special spot in my heart. It wasn’t an easy read and while I didn’t enjoy every moment of it (which I’m sure is what the author wanted and was rooting for), it was wonderful. I love the stories that hurt. Life isn’t all roses and puppies and kittens. Life is hard. It’s brutal and unfair. Life sucks sometimes. And we are human and make mistakes. I think through Jase and Lo’s mistakes, it was the only way they could find their way back to each other. Bravo, Cassie. Bravo. Now I really can’t wait for Breathe. xx