Blog Tour: Broken Dreams Series by Elodie Nowodazkij

A Summer Like No Other (Broken Dreams: Em & Nick #1)

by Elodie Nowodazkij

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance (novella)

Pages: 125

Release Date: July 30th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.

They shouldn’t be together. But this summer’s just too tempting.

Sixteen-year-old Emilia Moretti’s goal for the summer is simple: forget her brother’s best friend—Nick Grawsky—ever existed. It should be easy: He’s spending his summer in the Hamptons, adding girls in tiny bikinis to his list of broken hearts. Guarantee he won’t be telling them they’re like his little sisters. This summer, Emilia won’t stay awake at night thinking about him. She’ll need flawless ballet movements to have a shot at next year’s showcase, and she’s finally ready to search for her birth parents. But when Nick decides to stay in the city, Emilia’s resolve disappears in a pirouette. Maybe it’s the spin they needed to be together. As long as she doesn’t get stuck believing in happily ever after…

Nick is tired of pretending to be the happy, let’s-have-fun guy. His father wants him to change his career from professional dancer to…lawyer. He needs to put all of his focus on dancing to prove to Daddy Dearest he’s good enough to make it big. And he may have a case of the bluest balls in history courtesy of Emilia. She’s off-limits: The bro code with Roberto even forbids the dirty thoughts he has about her. Besides, he’s not boyfriend material. He only has time for flings, for girls who don’t expect much, for girls he doesn’t want to kiss goodnight. He knows he should resist her, but he’s not sure he wants to…

At least for this summer.

It’s going to be a summer like no other.

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Always Second Best (Broken Dreams: Em & Nick #2)

by Elodie Nowodazkij

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Release Date: October 10th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

Sometimes being first isn’t what you expected.

Seventeen-year-old ballerina Emilia Moretti is tired of always being second best. And she’s going to prove the world she deserves to be first. In her upcoming School of the Performing Arts showcase. In the eyes of her birth parents. And in the heart of the guy she loves. She spends hours rehearsing, hours dreaming about becoming number one, hours imagining how her entire life is about to change. But when nothing goes the way she planned, she’ll need to realize what it really means to be first.

Eighteen-year-old Nick Grawski doesn’t want to follow Daddy Dearest’s rules any longer. He's going to prove he's meant to be a dancer—not a lawyer—and he is not going to stay away from Em just because his father demands it. He needs to show Em that—this time around—he’s there to stay and that he won’t break her heart again. Even when her world goes down to shit, even when he finds out his dad may have been trying to protect him all along, even if being there for one another is harder than falling in love.

ALWAYS SECOND BEST is a novel of hope and heartbreak and broken dreams. It’s a novel about falling in love and discovering that being first isn’t always what matters.

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About the Author

Elodie Nowodazkij was raised in a tiny village in France, where she could always be found a book in hand. At nineteen, she moved to the US, where she learned she’d never lose her French accent. Now she lives in Maryland with her husband, their dog and their cat.

She's also a serial smiley user.

Author Links:
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My Review

3/5

This series is cute and light to read with elements of seriousness and heartbreaking issues.

The multi-facetedness of the storyline is what drew me into reading this and also kept me reading. I liked that there was some conflict and family drama rather than just boy drama (which was also included, I admit).

I think the characters could have used a bit more depth. I had been hoping from the title and summary that there would be a lesson in the books about realising that is perfectly fine to not be perfect. Em spends her whole life determined to be absolutely perfect, and though this is a common problem with people that feel lost in their place in life, it is not addressed enough, in my opinion, by the other characters. Her family seem loving enough and Nick supposedly knows her better than anyone yet they have not tried to hinder her from feeling like this for years. Instead they just tell her that she's beautiful or perfect. Not exactly the right thing to say to someone with that mental issue.

Nick's life confused me. He didn't want to be cut off so he became a glorified escort. That is basically what his father had him doing. Seriously?! Is that even, in any way, realistic? Regardless, it lends to the drama and heartbreakingness of the storyline, so I tried to ignore it. I felt like the characters actions were a bit flakey, as they would claim to believe in one thing or feel something but then just not care about it later on.

The plot had so much potential. Nothing like a good adoption twist to make a story interesting. And for the most part I liked this element of the book. I just wish there had been a bit more. Just more. I would have liked to have seen more depth into this part of the story.

In conclusion, I think that is my real problem, I just wanted more from it. More depth into the characters and more from the story. If it had been teased out a bit more then I might have given a higher rating.

-Tia

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Review: Oblivion by Jennifer L Armentrout

Oblivion by Jennifer L Armentrout1 December 2015

Summary from Goodreads

Experience the epic love story of OBSIDIAN as told by its hero, Daemon Black…

I knew the moment Katy Swartz moved in next door, there was going to be trouble. Lots of it. 

And trouble’s the last thing I need, since I’m not exactly from around here. My people arrived on Earth from Lux, a planet thirteen billion light years away. Plus, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that humans can’t be trusted. We scare them. We can do things they only dream about, and honestly, we make them look weak as hell. ‘Cuz they are. 

But Kat is getting to me in ways no one else has, and I can't stop myself from wanting her—or wanting to use my powers to protect her. She makes me weak, and I’m the strongest of our kind, tasked with protecting us all. So this one simple girl…she can mean the end for us. Because the Luxen have an even bigger enemy—the Arum, and I need to stay on my game. 

Falling for Katy—a human—won't just place her in danger. It could get us all killed, and that’s one thing I’ll never let happen...

My Review

I really didn't think it was possible that I could love this series more. JLA has done it again. . .and again. 

I never expect to like the retelling from another POV as much the original but this was so good. Usually I will just skip over parts because I've read them before but this had me hooked from beginning to end. And I have read Obsidian enough to have it memorised. There were so many other parts to the story realised from Daemon's perspective. It's as if it was all planned before, that his story would be told.

I had worried that I would like Daemon less once I saw his side but nope, not even a little. In Origin we get to see into his mind so this was nothing new. JLA really did a great job with dual perspectives and that is something that not all authors can do well.

As with all my JLA reviews, this one is short and sweet because she is just an amazing author and there is nothing else to say other than: PLEASE read this series. :)

=Tia

Blog Tour: The Finn Factor by Rachel Bailey

The Finn Factor

by Rachel Bailey

Release Date: 09/28/15

Entangled Embrace

Summary from Goodreads:

A new adult romance from Entangled's Embrace imprint...

Sometimes all a girl needs is a little practice...

It's been twelve months, three days, and eleven hours since accounting student Scarlett Logan made it past a second date. A pitcher of mojitos in hand, she employs her supreme graphing skills to narrow things down to one horrifying explanation. Kissing. Clearly someone needs to teach her how to kiss properly. Like, say, her best friend and roomie, Finn Mackenzie. He's safe, he's convenient, and yeah, maybe just a little gorgeous.

Finn knows exactly why Scarlett's boyfriends are disappearing quickly. Him. Not a single guy she's brought home is nearly good enough. And he'll be damned if he lets some loser give her "kissing lessons." No. He'll do the honors, thank you very much. The moment their lips touch, though, everything turns upside down. But Scarlett deserves the one thing Finn can't give her. And if he doesn't put an end to the sexy little shenanigans, he'll teach Scarlett the hardest lesson of all...heartbreak.

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Excerpt

“I haven’t forgotten we kissed, obviously, but I can’t remember details, like what the most effective elements were.”

I shifted in my seat. Every second of that kiss was burned into my memory bank. It seemed that hadn’t been as mutual as I’d suspected. I blew out a breath and focused on being a teacher in the situation, not a man who’d been carried away with his own lesson.

“I think you’re over-analyzing this. The elements don’t matter on their own. It’s more about the big picture.”

“Would you say that to your undergrads? Don’t worry about the specifics of the aqueducts, or which emperor came to power in what year. It’s more about the big picture of knowing there was a Roman Empire?”

“Well, no, but it’s completely different,” I said, looking down the hall and wondering if I could escape the conversation by simply leaving.

“How?” she persisted. “In both cases, you’re teaching something. So the student needs the topic broken down into bite-size pieces.”

At the word “bite” all the air left the room. Scarlett must have interpreted my silence to be disbelief because she grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper.

“Here.” She smoothed it out on the coffee table in front of us. “I’ll graph it for you.”

That snapped me back. “You’re going to graph our kiss?”

She drew an X and Y axis, then a line that went up across the page, but not smoothly—there were spikes and bumps along its progress.

“So, here, for example”—she pointed to a sharp rise in the line—“you did something and the kiss took off. What was it?”

“Seriously?” She wanted to talk as if it had been a clinical experience?

“If this had been a kiss for kissing’s sake, then, sure, we could leave it alone. But it was a lesson. How am I supposed to learn if I don’t remember the stimulus that caused the response?”

“You don’t need to. You were great. There’s nothing more to learn.” Better than great. Her kissing had been phenomenal.

“Again, if an undergrad wanted to learn more about the Roman Empire than they needed to for the first-year exam, would you tell them they were fine, or would you point them to more resource material?”

I blinked. “I’m resource material?”

She threw her hands up in the air, as if she was the one who was exasperated. “You’re the one who offered the lesson in the first place, so yes. You are my resource material on kissing.”

I looked over at the array of empty beer bottles on the coffee table. “We really need to make it a rule that we don’t talk about kissing after we’ve been drinking.”

“You’d rather have this conversation stone-cold sober?”

“I’d rather not have this conversation at all.”

“Oh.” Her face fell.

“What?” I asked warily.

“It’s just occurred to me that although I thought the kiss was good, you might not have enjoyed it at all. That’s why you’re fighting so hard against a follow up lesson.” She scrunched up her nose. “It was awful for you.”

I rubbed my temples—I was getting a headache trying to keep up with her thought processes and keep us out of dangerous territory.

“It wasn’t awful.” Amazing would be closer.

“Then why are you so against a follow-up lesson so I can focus on the bits I’ve forgotten?”

Something in the way she said “forgotten” made everything inside me rear up and protest. Maybe it was vanity, maybe it was neediness, but whatever it was, I didn’t want to be considered a forgettable kisser. Especially by Scarlett.

My gaze zeroed in on her mouth as I wrapped an arm around her and tugged her closer, but not quite touching. Her eyes widened and her pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips. I groaned.

“See if you can forget this,” I said, and lowered my head.

About the Author 

As a teenager, I was a voracious reader of science fiction, until one day when I was 16, I saw Pride and Prejudice on television. The old version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. I adored it. I’d seen it in the TV guide and, since I had a crush on Laurence Olivier after seeing him in Henry V, I’d taped it.

I watched that tape so often I can still recite most of the dialogue by heart. I sought out the book, devoured it, then found every other Jane Austen book and read and reread them frequently. I only discovered romance as a genre as an adult. Imagine my delight when I first read modern versions of Jane Austen!

Now I read most subgenres of romance, from category to historical to romantic comedy. Such a banquet!

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Book Tour: Desperate Chances by A. Meredith Walters

Desperate Chances by A. Meredith Walters

28th September 2015

Synopsis:

Sex changes everything.

And love can turn into an enemy…

Mitch Abrams, the bassist for the popular rock band Generation Rejects, has been in love with Gracie Cook for years. But Gracie, a complicated girl with a lot of baggage, was too blind to see how she felt about the man who had always stood by her.

Until one night of passion brought them closer than they had ever been before.

Feeling off balance and out of control, Gracie does the only thing a girl with self-destructive tendencies can do: end things with Mitch before they can really begin.

So Mitch moves on. With his band, his friends, and a new girlfriend. 

Yet he can’t seem to forget about the girl who threw his heart away.

Gracie, who is still struggling to build a life after crashing to the bottom, finds it hard to forget about her one night with Mitch. And even as she tries to convince herself it was only sex, her heart knows differently. 

But life is full of chances and desperate moments. And when Mitch and Gracie are thrown back into each other’s lives, will they seize at the opportunity to do things right?

Or will the rock star and the less than ordinary girl crash and burn?

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Have you read the rest of the books in the series?

About The Author: 

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary and Paranormal romance including The Find You in the Dark and Bad Rep series as well as the upcoming stand alone romance, Reclaiming the Sand, and a dark new adult series for Gallery Books.

A. Meredith spent ten years as a counselor for at risk teens and children. First working at a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program and then later a program for children with severe emotional and mental health issues. Her former clients and their stories continue to influence every aspect of her writing.

When not writing (or being tortured with all manner of beauty products at the hand of her very imaginative and extremely girly daughter), she is eating chocolate, watching reality television that could rot your brain and reading a smutty novel or two.

A. Meredith is represented by Michelle Johnson with the Inklings Literary Agency.

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Excerpt

“We keep bumping into each other, it seems,” she laughed. The wind was strong and her blonde hair blew into her eyes. She made a face and pulled the strands out of her mouth.

 

“The fun of living in a small town,” I said. I noticed that she was dressed in tailored black slacks and a cream silk blouse that molded to her breasts. The neck dipped into a modest V. It didn’t reveal anything really. Just the slight hint of cleavage. It certainly wasn’t anything most men would have fixated on. But it was Gracie. And I was Mitch. So I couldn’t help myself from staring at the smooth skin of her chest.

 

She lifted her hair and draped it over her shoulder, revealing the long, graceful curve of her neck.

 

She tasted like strawberries and sweat. My tongue glided up the column of her throat and I wanted to devour her.

 

All of her.

 

She moaned deep and low in the back of her throat. I lifted her leg and hitched it over my hip. She was just the right angle to go deep. I slid inside of her again. Even though I had just come, I was already hard for her again. She was wet, so fucking wet. There was no resistance as I thrust into her.

 

“Mitch,” she whispered, her voice raw, her eyes needy. I covered her mouth with mine as I buried myself to the hilt inside of her perfect, wet warmth.

 

She repeated my name over and over as I began to move my hips. She rose up to meet each push. It was a litany. A prayer. We came together.

 

Together.

 

Always together.

 

“Hello. Earth to Mitch,” Gracie called out, wiggling her fingers in front of my face.

 

Damn. I had a hard on. This was the problem with looking at her. Blue balls and mortification.

 

“Sorry, my mind’s somewhere else.” I blinked a few times and tried to think of dead kittens and naked grandmas. Anything to get rid of the straining bulge in my pants.

My Review

Release Boost: Take a Chance by Micalea Smeltzer

Title: Take a Chance

Series: Willow Creek #4

Author: Micalea Smeltzer

 Release Date: August 25, 2015

Blurb

I had life all figured out.

Married with a baby on the way I stupidly believed that things were perfect.

But then the good guy I fell in love with turned out to not be as good as I thought.

I was left alone to pick up the pieces of my life and provide for my daughter.

And then I met him.

Hayes.

The bad boy that just might not be so bad.

Three years after her husband walked out on her Arden James is struggling to make ends meet as a single mom. Despite it all, she knows she’s better off with her ex out of the picture, and so is her daughter.

Josh Hayes—player, jokester, and very naughty boy—is the guitar player for the band Willow Creek. He’s used to living the fast life, but suddenly it doesn’t appeal to him anymore, and he has his sights set on the fiery Arden.

Despite their undeniable chemistry, Arden isn’t sure she wants to invite a man into her life that has never been in a committed relationship before. But Hayes is determined to prove to her that there’s more to him than meets the eye. He just needs Arden to take a chance.

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Author Bio

Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.

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Release Blitz: Take a Chance by Micalea Smeltzer

Title: Take a Chance

Series: Willow Creek #4

Author: Micalea Smeltzer

 Release Date: August 25, 2015

Blurb

I had life all figured out.

Married with a baby on the way I stupidly believed that things were perfect.

But then the good guy I fell in love with turned out to not be as good as I thought.

I was left alone to pick up the pieces of my life and provide for my daughter.

And then I met him.

Hayes.

The bad boy that just might not be so bad.

Three years after her husband walked out on her Arden James is struggling to make ends meet as a single mom. Despite it all, she knows she’s better off with her ex out of the picture, and so is her daughter.

Josh Hayes—player, jokester, and very naughty boy—is the guitar player for the band Willow Creek. He’s used to living the fast life, but suddenly it doesn’t appeal to him anymore, and he has his sights set on the fiery Arden.

Despite their undeniable chemistry, Arden isn’t sure she wants to invite a man into her life that has never been in a committed relationship before. But Hayes is determined to prove to her that there’s more to him than meets the eye. He just needs Arden to take a chance.

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Also Available

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Author Bio

Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.

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Review

4/5

This book was so adorable and yet serious at the same time. I commend Micalea for her ability to create such a story that in one minute you're laughing and the next you're biting your nails.

Take a Chance was similar yet different from each of the other stories in the series. Last to Know was cute and Young Adult, Never Too Late brought the series into the New Adult mix with its heartbreaking story, In Your Heart showed us what was happening in the lives of our favourite characters as they grew up as well as telling us Sadie and Ezra's story about what it's like to fall in love with your best friend and now in book four we are introduced to a different genre for this series where the name of the game is "suspense". As well as the fist-clenching there is an enchanting story involving a sassy red-head and a goofy guitarist and we see all the characters move on from being New Adults and becoming fully competent Adults. 

This was a good story but I think my heart will always be in the first book with a certain Diet Coke-loving hedgehog owner.

Blog Tour: Blackmail Boyfriend by Chris Cannon

Blackmail Boyfriend by Chris Cannon

Release Date: 08/11/15 

Entangled Teen: Crush 

Summary from Goodreads: Sometimes, blackmail is the only weapon a girl has...Haley Patterson has had a crush on golden boy Bryce Colton for ages. But then when she hears a rumor—Bryce is telling everyone that  he hooked up with her. With Haley’s reputation taking a nosedive, she gives Bryce him a choice: be her boyfriend for a month for a month or face the angry, cage-fighting boyfriend of the girl he actually did hook up withto show other guys that she’s dateable—despite her overprotective and very intimidating brothers.—or deal with the angry, cage-fighting boyfriend of the girl he actually did hook up with. Bryce didn’t know the other Haley even had a boyfriend. He was just trying to get his ex off his back. And now doesn't know what's more unbelievable, not only is—that he's he being blackmailed,  or that he's being blackmailed by an honor student. His little “hook up” was supposed to end his problems with girls, not create new ones. Not only that, but his new “girlfriend” has two overprotective brothers, three-legged dogs, her father mows grass at the country club, and she's...well, difficult. And different. 

Besides, everyone knows that perfect boys never fall for imperfect girls...Sometimes, giving in is all a boy can do...Can something so fake turn into something real? 

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About the Author 

Chris Cannon lives in Southern Illinois with her husband and her three dogs, Pete the shih tzu who sleeps on her desk while she writes, Molly the ever-shedding yellow lab, and Tyson the sandwich-stealing German Shepherd Beagle. She believes coffee is the Elixir of Life. Most evenings after work, you can find her sucking down caffeine and writing fire-breathing paranormal adventures or snarky romantic comedies.

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Review

3.5/5

My feelings for this book are hard to pin down. 

I didn't really like the characters as Haley was inexplicably expectant in the fake relationship. Especially considering the person she's blackmailing. I probably would have liked her otherwise and that's why I'm confused: it was like I was reading about two separate characters at times.

Bryce was similar. His character was a little too flakey or something. I really can't describe it.

However, I still wanted them to get together and be happy etc. There were times when the story was so random - due to the characters strange thought processes or other - that I was enjoying the roller-coaster ride I was on. It's quite difficult to make this happen but somehow this story did that. I'm still not entirely sure how. . .

All-in-all it was good but if the characters were a little more likable or at least liked each other a little more rather than the hot and cold moments that frequented the book then this would have been really enjoyable.

-Tia

P.S. When characters have brothers that are "overprotective" (I call it sexist) I expect to have a bad reading experience but with this the brothers were actually fine but I hated her mother so very much.

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Release Blitz: Words Left Unsaid by Missy Johnson

Title: Words Left Unsaid

Author: Missy Johnson

 Release Date: June 15, 2015

Blurb

At 8:28 I was the girl who had everything.

At 8:29 my whole world fell apart.

A split second can change your life. I learned this the hard way. I wasn't ready to let him go. Even when the terms "vegetative state" and "will never recover" were thrown around I held onto hope. I mean, miracles happen, right?

We deserved our happy ending.

Three years later and I'm still hoping. In my heart I know I have to let him go but how can I? He's the only man I've ever loved. He's my soul mate. My life.

Then I meet Max. He's everything Aiden isn't and as much as I'm trying to fight my feelings, I'm losing. I don't want to fight anymore.

I need to live my life.

I need to move on.

But in order to move forward I need to let go of the past.

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Author Bio

A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Missy lives in a small town in Victoria, Australia with her husband and her confused pets (a dog who thinks that she is a cat, a cat who thinks he is a dog…you get the picture).

When she’s not writing, she can usually be found looking for something to read.

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