Friday, December 30, 2016

Blog Tour: Face-Off at the Altar by Toni Aleo!



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Markus Reeves is sucking. Big-time. Toiling away on a minor-league hockey team hundreds of miles away from home, he's watching his dreams of an NHL career fade away. Add in the lingering guilt he has over the dramatic demise of his relationship with college girlfriend, Mekena, and he's a mess on and off the ice.


But the family of his heart, the Sinclairs, won't let Markus suffer any longer. When he arrives himself back in Nashville for a trial run on the Assassins, it feels like his life may be making a turn for the better. If only he could get Mekena to forgive him...


Mekena Preston has been hurting since fleeing Nashville following the horror of Markus's betrayal with her sister. Now a professional photographer, Mekena finds herself in the same place at the same time with Markus to celebrate Lucy and Benji Paxton's wedding. Neither of them has been able to move on—and they're starting to wonder if they really want to.


They're headed for a face-off at the altar unless they can confront their past and unearth the truth about what really happened on that fateful night.




“You are, by far, the most patient man I know.”
Baylor grimaced as she took Dawson from Markus’s outstretched hands. He smiled as Dawson looked at him innocently. He knew the little guy didn’t mean to puke all over him and he wasn’t upset, but he was trying to figure out a way to get to the house and shower before he had to talk to Mekena. He highly doubted that baby puke would be an aphrodisiac. Maybe it would be? Huh.
He wasn’t going to try, though.  
As Baylor cuddled Dawson against her, Markus waved her off. “It’s no big deal. He’s a baby.”
She smiled shyly. “Yes, but Ashlyn pooped on you too.”
He grinned as he shrugged, trying not to laugh. It was a tough rehearsal for Dawson, Ashlyn, and Markus. Puke and poop were big-time stars during the hour of watching the Sinclairs and Grace Justice try to put together a wedding. He wasn’t sure what was funnier, Jace glaring as Jordie walked with Avery, or Ashlyn farting and then realizing she had just shit all over him. It was a toss-up, but then Dawson decided to puke down the front of his shirt, and he figured he was now a substitute for a baby rag. “I volunteered.”
“Still, we’re really sorry,” Avery said, holding Ashlyn close as she rocked her back and forth. “I understand if you don’t want to watch her ever again.”
“Nonsense,” he said, laughing as he tucked his hands into his pockets and looked around. He spotted Mekena at the front of the altar, taking pictures of random things. He wasn’t sure if she was done, but maybe he could slip away. “How much longer until y’all are done?”
“We’re done, but Lucy and Benji have some pre-wedding pictures they’re having done with Angie.”
“So Mekena isn’t done?”
Avery smiled. “Nope, she’s got a bit.”
“Can you pass a message for me?”
“Sure.”
“Let her know that I went back to the cabin to shower and clean up?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll tell Jace to tell her since I’m taking Ashlyn to bed.”
“Cool, thanks,” he said, kissing her cheek and then Baylor’s, before rubbing Dawson’s head. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
Before he could get far, though, Baylor smiled. “Thanks again.”
“Anytime. I mean that.”
Avery smiled. “Thanks.”
“Also, good luck,” Baylor added.
Flashing them both a big grin, he nodded. “I need it.”
Heading out the back, he made it back to the cabin quickly. When he entered, though, Mr. Right was sitting on the windowsill howling. “Whoa, man. What’s up?”
Meoooooowwwwwwww, he wailed, with his mouth wide open as his hair stood on end.
“Bro, I don’t know what to say. I don’t speak your language. Are you singing? Do you want me to sing too? Meoooowwwwww,” he said, and Mr. Right looked back at him, almost with a glare. “We should add some beat to that and make a remix,” Markus joked as the cat wailed. Deciding that was a good idea, he pulled out his phone and started to beatbox as the cat wailed, recording it on his SnapChat. The cat must have realized what he was doing because he looked back, scowling, and Markus hid his phone. He didn’t want to admit it, but Mr. Right kind of freaked him out.


Christy's Review: 

4 stars!


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So this is book number 9 in Toni’s Assassins series. If you’re like me and you’ve read the first 8 (along with the 3 Bellevue Bullies books that tie in) you’re probably a super fan, love sports romance, and realize that Toni really does write the best hockey books. The Assassins are my favorite team, anyways. And if you’ve kept up with the series, you know this team is more than a team. They’re a family. I love that bond. That connection all these players and their families share. Every time I read one of these books it feels like coming home to me. But enough about that, lets get to the book at hand, Face-Off at the Altar. Markus and Mekena’s story.

Markus and Mekena’s story is a second chance romance. The two dated in college and were very much in love. Something horrible happened that tore them apart and they haven’t seen each other in 2 years. That’s where we are at the start of this story. Markus is focused on his NHL career. As much as he misses and thinks of Mekena, he’s pretty sure he missed his shot and he has to stay focused on what he can control. Getting signed with his dream team, The Assassins.
 
He had a goal. He had an endgame, and he was going to get there. Doing it the only way he knew how. Work: pure and simple. No distractions. No worrying about the past. Only the future. His future. The NHL.



When a wedding brings Markus and Mekena back together, he changes his tune. Markus has to get down to the bottom of what happened between the two of them, and try to win his girl back. The problem: Mekena hates his guts. She really loves him, but hating someone who hurt you so deep is easier. So she focuses on the hate.

Markus is resilient. And he’s a fantastic hero. Is he perfect, no. But he’s also been hurt in a big way and my heart hurt for him. I felt for him. I wanted Mekena to give him that chance so badly and for them to work it out. Mekena is a stubborn one. Much like most of Toni’s heroines, she’s tough but also soft. She has a good heart, and even though it was broken, she’s a forgiving and loving person deep down. I rooted for this couple to heal together and make it work. I really did love them both.

Markus and Mekena’s story is complicated. It’s not what it seems and not what you think. This is a story of love, forgiveness, family and second chances. This book gave me so many feels. I felt so much for these characters. I cried, I laughed, and I loved. The Assassins are one of those groups that Aleo could write dozens and dozens of books about and I would never stop reading. If you haven’t read this series you’re really missing out! And although I feel like this could easily be read as a stand-alone, you’ll get so much more out of it if you read the series in full!

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My name is Toni Aleo and I’m a total dork.
I am a wife, mother of two and a bulldog, and also a hopeless romantic.
I am the biggest Shea Weber fan ever, and can be found during hockey season with my nose pressed against the Bridgestone Arena’s glass, watching my Nashville Predators play!
When my nose isn’t pressed against the glass, I enjoy going to my husband and son’s hockey games, my daughter’s dance competition, hanging with my best friends, taking pictures, scrapbooking, and reading the latest romance novel.
I have a slight Disney and Harry Potter obsession, I love things that sparkle, I love the color pink, I might have been a Disney Princess in a past life… probably Belle.
… and did I mention I love hockey?

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

Happy Release Day, Kim Bailey! Complex Kisses is LIVE! + Giveaway!




Complex Kisses

by Kim Bailey
Publication Date: December 29, 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance

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Read for FREE in KindleUnlimited: Amazon

When lost and living in the moment …
… can you be found with just a kiss?

Jamie Hartley ran away, leaving grief and heartache behind. Lost on her own. Raising a child. Her plan is simple. Make it through. Find her path. Survive.

Eric Anderson walked away, abandoning plans and expectations. Living day to day. Waiting for miracles. His goal is complicated. Make it through. Find a way. Endure.

In stolen moments of passion and pleasure, Jamie and Eric find reprieve from their complex lives.

Together, they eases the burdens. Together, they soothe the pain.

But can they recognize the future when it finds them?

Here and now.

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About Kim Bailey

Kim Bailey is a Canadian author. She’s a born procrastinator and sarcasm junkie. She gets her motivation from coffee, the fact that her teenage children haven’t disowned her, and the smile on her husband’s face when she tells him “maybe”.

When she was young and naïve, Kim dreamed of being a documentary filmmaker, and script writer. But when real life happened, she went to a job that actually paid her. Now she’s a customer support specialist by day and romance writer by night.

Writing is something she’s always done – she has about 20 million half-started story ideas. She may also be a slight exaggerator.

Kim promised herself to set her fears aside and make the dream real. She’s working on that, one day at a time.


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Blog Tour: Until Ashlyn by Aurora Rose Reynolds


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BRING ON THE BOOM!
Meet Ashlyn & Dillon in Until Ashlyn.
NOW AVAILABLE
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Blurb
Dillon Keck knew Ashlyn Mayson was drunk when she suggested they get married. He knew he should have taken her back to their hotel room and put her to bed. Instead, he did what he had been craving to do since the moment they met.


Claim her as his.


Waking up married in Vegas isn't something Ashlyn Mayson ever thought would happen to her. Having Dillon, her boss, a man she thinks is a dick, insist they stay married is absurd, but every time he touches her, she gets lost in him and wonders if maybe they are meant to be together.


But someone isn't happy for Dillon and Ashlyn and their new found romance, and they're willing to do anything to keep them apart. Even commit murder.

Christy's Review: 


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Until Ashlyn is the third book in the Until Her series, which is a spin off from ARR’s original Until series. I have a special spot for Ashlyn because she is one of the children of my favorite Until couple, Lilly and Cash. Ashlyn works at a dentist office and it has been hinted that her book would be with the dentist she worked with, Dillon. Dillion and Ashlyn do not get a long and I could not wait to read about them!
 
Dillon is annoying, bossy, and… fine, he can be nice sometimes. Plus, he’s uber-hot, but I hate him. Okay, I don’t hate him… but I really, really want to.


I love the banter between these two. When they go to a dental conference in Vegas together, Ashlyn gets really drunk and a wedding occurs. Her wedding. To her boss. Yes- Ashlyn and Dillon get married. And Ashlyn’s first thought is crap! We need to rectify this before we leave Vegas! But Dillon… not so much. I loved his alpha nature.
“I can’t believe I’m fricking married to you.”

“Believe it,” he barks, pushing up the sleeves of his navy blue Henley up to his elbows. “We’re married, baby, and you better get use to the idea, ’cause that shit is not changing. Ever.”

Dillon was very much an in charge man and Ashlyn was a feisty heroine who didn’t let him boss her. I loved their dynamic. It was apparent they had great chemistry from the start and I loved the push and pull between them.

This book very much felt like the original Aurora Rose Reynolds books, and I loved that about it. She has a great formula for these books that just works! The BOOM, fantastic alpha males, and great heroines make for great reads that I can’t get enough of. If you’re looking for a short, sweet and sexy read with just enough angst and drama to keep things interesting, look no further! After reading this, and that ending… Until Sage can’t come out soon enough!

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About the Author:
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Aurora Rose Reynolds is a navy brat who's husband served in the United States Navy. She has lived all over the country but now resides in New York City with her Husband and pet fish. She's married to an alpha male that loves her as much as the men in her books love their women. He gives her over the top inspiration everyday. In her free time she reads, writes and enjoys going to the movies with her husband and cookie. She also enjoys taking mini weekend vacations to nowhere, or spends time at home with friends and family. Last but not least she appreciates everyday and admires it's beauty.
Goodreads:  http://bit.ly/1pzLVIO


Blog Tour: Hate Story by Nicole Williams!













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Nina can’t let herself fall in love with the man she’s going to marry. Both of them have experienced the sting and sham of love and have no intentions of falling victim to it twice. Love is expensive—hate is free.

Three years. A million dollars. A solution to both of their problems. They planned it all, from the story of their first meeting to the date of their divorce. Nothing could go wrong.

But what they didn’t consider was chemistry, and Nina and Max have no shortage of it. After too many near-kisses, Nina convinces herself that hating Max is better than loving him, and the more she gets to know this soon-to-be-husband of hers, the more she discovers just how very much she truly, madly, and deeply . . . hates him.

This isn’t a love story. This is the other kind.



He hadn’t stopped smiling at me, and it wasn’t the friendly kind of smile. It was the kind that made it seem like he was in on some secret I wasn’t privy to. The kind of smile that made me feel like I was being trifled with and made the punch line of a hundred jokes I had yet to hear.
I wanted to wipe the cocky smile off his face, but that would have required touching him and even I wasn’t gutsy enough for that. A woman did not touch a guy like him unless she wanted him to be her undoing. Nope. You didn’t play with fire. You didn’t touch it. You didn’t even come close.
Fire. That was all I saw when I looked at him. I was playing with it by agreeing to this kind of arrangement with him.
Even the way he lounged in the chair was smug. Like it was his throne and he was just waiting for minions to come bow before him.
“You’re younger than I thought you’d be.” He broke the silence first.
Though it was faint, I could just make out an accent. It was European, but I couldn’t nail down the country. To look at the bastard, you’d think he was Scandinavian—blond hair, blue eyes, commanding frame—but his accent was too sharp to hail from the land of Vikings.
I was tempted to glare at the tipped smile aimed at me, but I didn’t want to lead him to the impression I cared. I gave him my version of the same smile, abandoning my “no expectations” policy for the prospect of pissing him off. “You’re older than I thought you’d be.”
His smile shifted into the realm of a smirk, like he knew I was lying. So yeah, maybe I was lying about thinking he was older, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of confirming his silent accusation. He was older than me, but not by much. He might have been closing in on thirty, but he wasn’t past it.
He leaned forward in the chair. When his gaze circled my face to my fiery red hair, his brow elevated. Yes, I am the stereotype. Be warned.
“Prettier too.”
I stiffened. He was fucking with me now. I’d already agreed to marry him. How much more did he think he could screw me over?
I gave him a cursory glance and kept the unaffected look on my face. “Uglier.”
He cocked a brow like he knew better. “And the personality of ten women rolled into one.”
“Intimidated?”
His head shook once. “Intrigued.”
“Irritated?”
His eyes investigated me again. It felt intrusive, definitely not cursory. “Impressed.”
“As impressed by me as the woman in heat who was just mauling you over by the bar?”
“You mean the woman who gave me this?” He pulled something out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and set it on the small table between us.
It was a hotel card key. With a lipstick kiss pressed into it.
“Classy place, this five-star hotel.” I glanced back at the woman at the bar. She was still there, watching him as though he was the height of the male species. “Did you tell her the reason you were here?”
His attention stayed on me. “Yes, I told her I was here to meet the woman I was going to marry.”
My stomach wrung. This was the man I was going to marry.
Holy shit.
“And she didn’t ask for her room key back?” I asked.
“She didn’t give it to me until right after I mentioned that.” His stare was intense. Too intense. I felt like every secret—every piece of who I was—was strewn out on that table for him to see. “Women love a man who isn’t afraid of commitment. It’s like an aphrodisiac.”
“You know what else women like?” I didn’t pause for an answer because I guessed he didn’t have a clue. “A man who’s humble.”
He fought a smile and leaned back in his chair when a server approached with a couple of drinks on a tray. “No, they like to think they do, but they don’t.” His head shook authoritatively. “They like the cocky bastard who goes after what he wants and doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Because the server was shielding some of me from his view, I allowed myself to shift. I was getting fired up, and if he kept saying the same kinds of things with the same kinds of looks on his face, that drink was going to wind up in his face.
That was when I noticed what the server had set in front of me. A tumbler with something amber in color. The same thing she was setting in front of him. Although from the curve of her smile, she was offering to give him a blow job on the side, compliments of the house.
“What is this?” I asked. Him. Her. Whoever wanted to answer.
“Scotch,” he answered, ignoring the server lingering between us.
My nose curled at the drink.
“Expensive scotch.”
“I don’t care if it came from the fountain of youth. I won’t drink it.”
His forehead creased with what appeared to be irritation, but I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was confusion, like he couldn’t decide what to make of me. “You would have me believe you wouldn’t take a sip of that if you knew it would give you eternal life?” When I shook my head, his head tipped. “Why?”
“Because I value my free will far more than long life.” I pushed the drink away until it clinked against his. “I’d rather live one day free than an eternity in a cage.”
He was quiet for a moment. The server stayed between us, staring at him, waiting.
“Then why are you here?” he asked me finally.
I leaned forward and hoped my stare was as powerful as his. “Because free will is expensive.”



Christy's Review:

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This wasn’t the story of how I grew to love him—it’s the account of how I came to hate him. That was where this story leads. The path I found myself on which wound down many trails until it came to an abrupt end. This is our hate story.



Nicole Williams is one of those authors that always seems to surprise me. I never know what to expect out of her books. The same author that brought me Jude, and one of my most emotionally epic reads Collared also just wrote this hilarious love/hate story. Hate Story made me laugh out loud. It had a relatable and lovable heroine and a hero that was totally swoon-worthy.

Three years. One million dollars. That is what Nina is signing up for. The price is right for her. Nina doesn’t want love anyways, so this is the perfect plan for her. Then she meets her husband to be, Max. And he’s so much more than she expected in every way possible. Max is handsome, charismatic, and in need of a green card. While he’s a rich and successful business man and could marry any woman of his choosing, he needs someone who won’t fall in love with him. Someone who will give him a clean break. Love is messy. When Max meets Nina he’s also shocked. She is not the kind of woman he expected to accept a million dollars for a marriage. But Nina wants to save the only thing that’s truly important to her. The more time Max spends with her, the more he realizes how extremely difficult it is to hate her. She’s so much more than he expected in the best way possible.
 
   
She was like no woman I’d ever met and no woman I ever would. She was everything I wanted in a partner and everything I couldn’t have. She was, at the end of the day, everything.

 


I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me laugh, smile, swoon, and gave me just enough of the feels to keep me invested. Max was a wonderful hero that I really did adore and Nina was a stubborn and head strong heroine and I liked her lots as well. I love the hate/love story line. If you’re looking for a fun and sexy read, this is one I’d pick up!

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Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.


Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.




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