Spotlight & Giveaway: SWEET AND SASSY: The Best Kind of Romance Box Set

SWEET AND SASSY
The Best Kind of Romance

Genre: Sweet Romance

5-Star Review & Excerpt: A LITTLE BIT LIKE LOVE by Brooke Blaine-TOP RECOMMENDATION!

A Little Bit Like Love, an all-new sexy STANDALONE M/M romance from Brooke Blaine is available NOW!

A Little Bit Like Love 

by Brooke Blaine

Publication Date: July 27th, 2017

Genre: Contemporary Romance/M/M Romance

What if you had everything in the world you wanted…except the man you’d left behind?

Jackson Davenport, the charismatic, strait-laced heir to the Davenport fortune, has a secret. One he’s been hiding since he graduated from South Haven all-boys academy—and that secret’s name is Lucas.

When a work trip takes Jackson back to his old stomping grounds, memories of the year he shared with Lucas come crashing to the surface. With growing pressure from his father to settle down and take over the family business, Jackson knows he’s on borrowed time, and sets out to find the free-spirited daredevil he once knew.

But Lucas isn’t the same man he was eight years ago.

One night. A shattered heart. And an endless parade of nameless faces. Lucas Sullivan is South Haven’s ultimate playboy, a reputation he’s honed since the only boy he ever loved left without a trace. To the world, he’s brash and confident, an in-demand artist who spends his days designing one-of-a-kind pieces and his nights as king of the downtown scene.

Many have tried and failed to get past the barrier he’s carefully constructed, but it’s the shy, studious boy he once coaxed out of his shell who still haunts him.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was lust. Or maybe…it was a little bit like love.

Read Today!

(Free in Kindle Unlimited)

Amazon US

Amazon International

Add to GoodReads

Excerpt

WITH THE NOTE from Principal Stewart crumpled in my fist, I stalked away from his office, away from the words I knew would haunt me forever.

“I’m sorry, Jackson. Your father is quite…insistent you return to Connecticut immediately.”

Immediately…immediately… With every echo of that word through my mind, my heart battered my chest, the ache to rip itself free of my body a plea I was helpless to honor.

There was only one reason he would’ve demanded I leave South Haven before the end of classes next week. My father had been adamant I receive the best education his money afforded, choosing to ship me down to south Georgia to attend the most prestigious all-boys academy in the country. I’d done him proud, rising to the top of my class, and I’d been practicing my salutatorian speech for days. Skipping out on graduation and the pomp and circumstance and recognition that came with it? Out of the question. Which could only mean one thing.

He knew. Somehow he knew.

That was the only explanation for the letter in my hand, for the abrupt dismissal this late in the evening and this close to the end of the school year. My father hadn’t gotten to where he was by being stupid or blind, and I’d seriously underestimated how many eyes and ears had been watching me during my four years. Although it would’ve only been the whispers over the last few months that piqued his interest, only the last eight that he would’ve had any reason to give me a second thought.

And that reason wasn’t a what—it was a who.

The halls of the St. John’s dormitory were silent when I entered, all the students down at the mess hall for dinner, followed by the final bonfire of the year. So there wouldn’t be anyone around to see me sneak down the hall to where I knew I shouldn’t be going but couldn’t help myself. My feet seemed to move of their own accord, the countdown to my utter devastation causing me to pick up the pace. The private plane would arrive in a handful of hours, giving me just enough time to pack my things, but there was no way I could leave without a goodbye. Not going to happen.

I wasn’t ready. I was supposed to have more time. As a cold sweat of panic seized me, I balled the letter tighter in my fist and chucked it into one of the trash bins as I passed.

Screw my father. Screw the life he’d set out for me, the one I was destined to live and hate with every fiber of my being. I wanted to bottle up every one of his expectations and throw the blasted thing out at an angry sea to swallow up and tear apart instead.

I wished it could be as easy as that. I’d been able to fool myself into a sense of freedom, but the cell door was about to smash shut on every dream I’d let myself have these past few months.

His private dorm was at the end of the long hall, last one on the right, and I rapped on it twice fast, waited a moment, and then repeated the pattern that we used for each other. A few seconds later, the door swung open, and seeing the sole object of my daily and nightly thoughts standing there in front of me with a mixture of surprise and delight in his eyes made me think that coming here had been a mistake. It was only going to sink the dagger in farther.

“Hey…I thought we were meeting la—” Lucas’s words cut off and the smile curling his lips fell as he got a good look at my face. “What’s wrong?”

You should tell him. Tell him what’s going on and that it isn’t your fault. Look him in the eye when you tell him you can never see him again.

A shooting pain tore through my chest as I realized what this goodbye actually meant. I wasn’t saying I wouldn’t be seeing him for the next couple of days or weeks. When I left South Haven’s campus in the early hours of the morning, I wouldn’t be seeing him again…ever.

God, can I do this? Break his heart as well as mine?

No…no, I couldn’t tell him. He’d look for me, find me, and there was no telling what my father would do if that happened. The letter had been my old man’s warning. Disobeying his orders would mean consequences neither of us were prepared for.

“Jackson?” Lucas’s voice dropped low, and then he looked past me out into the deserted hall. When he didn’t see anyone to blame on my current state, he frowned and waited for an answer.

The words didn’t come, though, so I stood there staring at him, taking a mental snapshot that I’d store away in a place no one could find and destroy. His black hair was casually tousled, and I knew him well enough to know he’d worried his hands through it, maybe wondering if I wouldn’t follow through on our plans tonight. He wore a simple grey t-shirt and low-slung jeans on his long and lean frame, and the swirl of black tattoos he’d recently inked on his tanned skin could be seen peeking around his right bicep before disappearing from view behind the thin material of his shirt. He was striking, both in looks and personality, and to say I hadn’t been expecting the force that was Lucas Sullivan when he’d transferred to the academy eight months ago was an understatement.

Quite simply, I’d been lost to him the first time I laid eyes on him.

Forcing myself to shake off my dread, I said, “I’m okay,” and tried to believe it for his sake.

“Well, you look like hell.” He leaned against the doorway, one of those charming half-grins cocking up one side of his lips. “Hell on wheels, anyway. What’d you do, run all the way here?”

Not too far off there. I didn’t even remember crossing campus to get to his dorm until I was in front of the building.

When I didn’t laugh at his teasing, Lucas’s expression fell again and his brows pulled down, a crease forming between them as his eyes, the color of a stormy sky, gave me a thorough once-over, looking for the source of my pain. He was silent for a long moment, but he must’ve seen something he didn’t like, because he stiffened and his jaw clenched. Then he took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” I asked.

Lucas shook his head, his arms going over his chest. “I’m not helping you out here. If you came here for a reason, get out with it.”

Did he know? He couldn’t. I’d only just found out myself, and… No. There was no way. “It’s…complicated.”

“Complicated?”

“Yes.”

Lucas gave a humorless chuckle. “Jackson Davenport, I knew you were scared, but I never took you for a coward. If you don’t want to do this, you can man the hell up and tell me to my face.”

“What are you… I’m not…” I ran my hand over my face, struggling to understand the conclusion he’d come to for why I was standing at his door. My lack of a poker face had put him on the defensive. He thought I was here to reject him. An idea so completely unfathomable to me that it made my stomach turn thinking about it. “Lucas…you’ve got this all wrong.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. I’m not here to—“ I almost said “end things with you,” but I didn’t want to lie to him. I never had and I never would. Instead, I said, “Fight with you. I don’t want to fight.”

“Then why are you here, Jackson?” he asked, and my gaze fell to his lips. I’d tasted those lips only a few times, not nearly enough to quench a starving man’s hunger. All these months I’d wasted, warring with myself in my head, never letting myself have the thing I wanted most. And now I was down to a matter of hours. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. But it was all I had, and I wasn’t wasting another second.

If I couldn’t tell Lucas how I felt about him, then I’d show him.

Finally.

Irrevocably.

And starting now.

Carra's Review

Okay, this book has just earned a spot not only on my Top Recommendations list, but also on my list of favorite second chance romances.  In case you were wondering, the answer is yes—that means it’s a 5-star read.  I’d give it more than 5 if I could, it really was just that good.

First off, I’ve got to tell you how much I love this author’s writing.  This story is smooth and extremely well written with fully developed characters that I totally fell for while reading (and not just the main characters either) and a strong, solid plot that allowed for the exploration of the characters’ feelings and emotions, as well as the overlying tension of Jackson’s situation back home.

Next, the characters.  When I first read a book by this author-Licked-I was impressed with the well-rounded characters and I quickly became invested in them and their outcomes.  It happens over and over when I read any book she writes, and it happened again here in A Little Bit Like Love.  Jackson and Lucas both have tremendous depth, and it was so easy to not just fall for each of them, but to become completely wrapped up in their story and search for happiness.  They both have issues—Lucas with the tragedy in his past losing people he loves and Jackson with his father’s pressure to succeed and become what his father wants him to be—and those issues keep coming to the forefront to challenge the bit of happiness they find in each other.

Then there’s the secondary characters.  Just as well developed as Jackson and Lucas, Bash, Shaw, Sydney and even Jackson’s jerk of a father play strong supporting roles in the story, and I was particularly drawn to both Bash and Shaw (more books please for each of these guys!!!).  They both showed unwavering support for not just their friend Lucas, but for Jackson as well.  And Jackson’s father’s attitude and actions will probably tick you off just like I was ticked off (yes, I’m being polite in my phrasing here…I intensely disliked this man).

What it all boils down to is an incredible story that will reach out and grab you from page one, and if you’re like me, you’re going to love the ride.  5 stars, a Top Recommendation, and a desperate plea to the author for more stories in this series!  This book is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and sexual content…content that will probably have you breaking a sweat because Jackson and Lucas together are scorching hot!

About Brooke Blaine

You could say Brooke Blaine was a book-a-holic from the time she knew how to read; she used to tell her mother that curling up with one at 4 a.m. before elementary school was her ‘quiet time.’ Not much has changed except for the espresso I.V. pump she now carries around and the size of her onesie pajamas.

She is the author of Flash Point, a romantic suspense standalone, as well as the co-author of the erotic series, A Desperate Man, with Ella Frank. The latter has scarred her conservative southern family for life, bless their hearts. Licked, a romantic comedy, will be released November 11th, 2015 and is the first in the L.A. Liaisons series.

If you’d like to get in touch with her, she’s easy to find - just keep an ear out for the Rick Astley ringtone that’s dominated her cell phone for ten years.

Connect with Brooke:

Newsletter - Website - Twitter - Facebook - Facebook Street Team

Audiobook Tour-Review & Giveaway: PERSONAL SECRETS by K.C. Wells (Personal #3)

Buy Links: 

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Audible US | Audible UK 

Length: 6hrs 37mins

Narrator: Cornell Collins

Blurb

Blake Davis and husband Will are delighted when Ed Fellows turns up at the hospital the night their daughter is born-even if he is covered in mud from playing rugby and drunk out of his skull. Teammate Colin is the Good Samaritan who drives him there, and when he takes Ed home, Colin finds himself on the receiving end of a blowjob. He has no problem with that whatsoever. He's been in lust with Ed since Ed joined the rugby team some 14 months ago. Only thing is, Colin's assumed up 'til now that Ed is straight. Except the man sucking him off certainly didn't seem straight....

Talk about the morning after the night before....Ed awakens to find a nearly-naked Colin asleep on his sofa. The problem is that for some reason, he can't get Colin out of his mind. Okay, so it wasn't the first blowjob Ed's ever gotten from a guy - or given, for that matter - but that was a long time ago, right? And why does Ed now want more?

With friends Rick, Angelo, Blake, and Will to advise him, Ed finds himself on a completely unfamiliar road, as he struggles to accept that maybe the line he is walking isn't as straight as he'd first imagined...

Carra's Review

You know what I love about this book?  Yes, there’s hot British rugby players, but that’s not it (though it doesn't hurt LOL).  And sure, we get to see more of the guys who were the main characters in the previous books in the series (I’m a sucker for revisiting favorite couples later on to see where they’ve been and where they are now).  But it’s Ed Fellows who quickly captured my attention with his rough, masculine ways and attitude, and his “what the heck” approach to the feelings he’s developed for his teammate Colin.

Ed may not know what to do with his feelings for Colin, but Colin is very aware of his own feelings for Ed—feelings he’s had for quite a while now, but never acted on since he thought Ed was straight.  Or at least he did until one particular night…

The chemistry between these two is hot and it was pretty entertaining getting Ed’s side of things as he starts experiencing a relationship with Colin-both physical and emotional.  When I read the book, I was totally taken with the two of them together, but listening to the audio made their story even more appealing.

Cornell Collins does an excellent job with the narration, I absolutely LOVE his accent and the way he brings Ed to life with his more gruff and more heavily accented voice made this a delight to listen to—it really helped emphasize the differences between Ed and Colin.  The pacing was perfect, and this is one of those audiobooks that when someone would come over to me while I was listening, they would get my “are you really interrupting me right now???” look.

Personal Secrets is a great addition to this series, and I really enjoyed reading and listening to this story.  The story itself gets 4.5 stars from me, and the narration is definitely a full 5 stars.  This book is meant for readers/listeners who are 18+ for adult language and sexual content.

Author Bio

Born and raised in the north-west of England, K.C. WELLS always loved writing. Words were important. Full stop. However, when childhood gave way to adulthood, the writing ceased, as life got in the way. K.C. discovered erotic fiction in 2009, when the purchase of a ménage storyline led to the startling discovery that reading about men in love was damn hot. In 2012, arriving at a really low point in life led to the desperate need to do something creative. An even bigger discovery waited in the wings-writing about men in love was even hotter...

K.C. now writes full-time and is loving every minute of her new career. The laptop still has no idea of what hit it... it only knows that it wants a rest, please. And it now has to get used to the idea that where K.C goes, it goes.

And as for those men in love that she writes about? The list of stories just waiting to be written is getting longer... and longer...

K.C. loves to hear from readers.

Email - Facebook - Twitter - Website

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

July 27 - MM Good Book Reviews, Momma Says: To Read or Not To Read, RAM PA Group

July 31 - The Geekery Book Review, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

August 4 - Bayou Book Junkie, My Fiction Nook, Making It Happen

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

New Release-Excerpt & Giveaway: AS BIG AS THE SKY by Amy Aislin

Buy Links: 

Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Length: 37,000 words

Publisher: MLR Press

Blurb

Sam wants nothing to do with his irresponsible, sarcastic neighbor...or does he?

Sam McAuley is having a rough start to the summer: Not only is he being sued, but the new guy running the animal rehabilitation center next door has no idea what he's doing and his runaway chickens constantly end up in Sam's pristine yard.

Everything is temporary for Bo Novak. For as long as he can remember, it's been one town to the next, one school to the next, one job to the next. Even his current job-running his sister's animal rehab center while she's away on a four-month leave-is temporary. And he does know what he's doing, thank you very much. Sure, things don't always run smoothly, but the stick-in-the-mud next door could be a little nicer about it.

One overheard conversation, an olive branch, and a baseball game might show these guys that being at odds isn't really what they want, and that what they want might just be each other.

Excerpt

Argh! Bo kicked his closed front door. That...that man. Every five frickin’ minutes he was up in Bo’s face about something.

I’m trying to work, Bo. Can you get the dogs to stop barking? Why is the goat making weird noises?

How did your chicken get into my yard?

What’s that smell?

Fix your side of the fence. 

Bo had fixed his side of the fence, damn it, so it wasn’t his fault the chicken was still getting into Sam’s yard. If anything, it was Sam’s side that needed to be fixed. But did Sam give him a chance to say his piece? Nooooo. Mr. I’m So Cool With My Muscles And Tallness And Swanky Haircut wouldn’t get off his pedestal long enough for Bo to defend himself.

Not that Bo was envious of those muscles or that tallness or that swanky haircut that was on the redder side of strawberry blond. He was perfectly fine with his own five foot seven height and his messy ‘do. Tallness was overrated anyway. And he had his own muscles. Arm muscles, anyway. The little pudge on his belly left a lot to be desired.

Stupid cookies.

But whatever. Arm muscles were all he needed to catch a guy’s attention at the clubs and bars. By the time the guy realized Bo wasn’t so muscly all over, they were already in each other’s pants and that little detail no longer mattered.

Bring on the cookies.

Shaking his head at himself, he headed out back to the shed and grabbed a thicker pair of gloves and some chicken feed. He inspected his side of the fence—just in case he was mistaken. Which he wasn’t, thank you very much. Grunting in satisfaction, he left his backyard via the gate and cut through the path in the hedges between his and Sam’s front yards. After unlatching the gate to Sam’s backyard, he followed the sounds of clucking chicken to a wildflower garden along the back fence. Along with some kind of leafy tree and a couple of shrubs, there were bursts of yellow, purple, and pink flowers in the garden that Bo couldn’t name to save his life.

Of course it was that chicken. The brown one with the lone white feather along its back. The instigator of the group. The one that riled up the other chickens and always seemed to find a way out of the chicken coop. The one who’d pecked Bo’s hands raw the first time Bo tried to pick him up. That’s where his new extra-thick gloves came in.

He slipped them on then scattered some chicken feed. Bait the chicken and then grab it from behind, the YouTube tutorial he’d watched a couple weeks ago had said. Bo had become somewhat of a chicken corralling expert in the past couple of weeks. A skill he never thought he’d need and didn’t know how to add to his resume without sounding like a smart-ass.

The chicken went after the food just like always. Bo gave it a minute to eat most of it, then quietly snuck up behind it, cupped his hands around its sides, and lifted.

The angry squawk the chicken let out pierced Bo’s eardrums and its legs worked as if trying to walk on air. Bo held on tighter as the bird struggled in his grip. He made tracks for the gate, where Sam was oh-so-helpfully holding it open. The sight of him standing there all tall and perfect jolted Bo and had him fumbling the chicken. A wing got loose and flapped in Bo’s face.

Bo thought he heard a chuckle, but when he looked at Sam around the feathers in his face, the man was as stony as ever. Was that a hint of laughter in Sam’s eyes? No. The man didn’t know how to laugh. Drawing his shoulders back, head high, Bo stalked past him and—

“Don’t forget to fix your fence,” Sam said.

Before Bo even had a chance to reply, the gate slammed at his back.

Author Bio

Amy started writing on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class was forced to stay inside for recess. Tales of adventures with her classmates quickly morphed into tales of adventures with the characters in her head. Based in the suburbs of Toronto, Amy is a marketer at a large environmental non-profit in Toronto by day, and a writer by night. Book enthusiast, animal lover and (very) amateur photographer, Amy's interests are many and varied, including travelling, astronomy, ecology, and baking.

Amy loves connecting with readers! You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter or sign up for her infrequent newsletter at www.amyaislin.com/signup

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

Spotlight: STOLEN INK by Holly Evans

Book Blitz

Stolen Ink

Author: Holly Evans

Genre: Fantasy

Date: 4th of August

Hosted by: Ultimate Fantasy Book Tours

Blurb

I’m Dacian, a tattoo magician. Life was pretty good. All I had to worry about was finding a pretty guy to fall into bed with at the end of the week. Then everything started to fall apart around me. Maybe I cursed the gods one too many times? Whatever happened, I now have two major problems.

Number one – I’m an ink magician, the thing of myths. A lot of very powerful people would love to get their hands on me, and I have no intention of letting that happen.

Number two – A tattoo thief came to my city, and the magical community has decided that I’m the guy to stop them.

Somehow, I have to catch the thief without letting my secret out of the bag, and that’s even harder than it sounds.

Buy Link:

Amazon.com 

Author Bio

Holly Evans is an urban fantasy author with an unhealthy fascination with blades, a deep love of hellhounds, and would love one day to wake up as a fae. When she isn't wrangling rogue characters and trying to tame her muse, she's researching shiny new ninja moves. During her spare time she fights crime and rights wrongs on the streets of County Kerry.

Visit her at: