Tag Archive: Romancing Life


Hard To Fall – A Good Read

Marquita Valentine writes some really nice romances and her books honestly have never disappointed me. She’s one of the few writers in my repeat list with good plots, narration that has kept me captivated and interested.

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Take The Fall is another of her charming series as she reunites hard-working firefighter Hayden Walker with his one unforgettable passionate encounter Saylor Dean in her new title “Hard To Fall”. A night of passion and a marriage that Hayden doesn’t remember and a truth that Saylor needs to bring to light considering Hayden’s political family and her secret of being an illegitimate daughter of a political rival.

Down to earth, quirky, and so very real characters make “Hard To Fall” a warm hearted read as Hayden tries to stay away from the pressures of getting into politics and keeping Saylor right next to him, a reality that he wants to make it permanent. And Saylor with her secret millions, a celebrity background and add in a touch of her nerdy self, you’ve got a sweet, emotional and heartwarming love story.

I liked the way Marquita Valentine gives detail to the supporting characters, the foundation of family relations, and the scope of support and care. Her depth of characterization of Hayden and Saylor as the young couple trying to make a life albeit the family obligations, gives strength and character.

I very well wrote romance that’s worth the read!

Received an ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept via NetGalley for an honest review.

 

Check out the Wranglers Of Fort Worth, particularly one as he collides head on with Harmony And High Heels!!!!!

Amazing series and narration by the dynamic duo Tracy Wolff and Katie Graykowski

Harmony Wright is a bad girl living a good girl’s life. From the time she was born, she’s always been the good twin. The ladylike twin. The twin her high society (or at least as high society as you can get in San Angelo, TX) mom likes to parade in front of all her garden club friends. She’s gone along with it, too—wearing pearls and Chanel when ripped jeans and motorcycle boots are more her speed. But when Harmony takes off for an extended visit with her twin sister, Lyric, she leaves her good girl persona in the dust …

Dalton Mane knows what it is to be bad and he’s more than ready for the peace that comes with living the good life. Once the crown prince of a powerful biker gang, Bastards of Hell, he walked away from it all when tragedy struck. Now the general manager of the Fort Worth Wranglers, he spends his time wheeling and dealing in the sports world and all while keeping an entire team of football players in line.

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EXCERPT:

“I did knock, but you couldn’t hear it.” Dalton pointed to her smartphone. “Always listen to your music so loud? At that decibel level, you’re looking at another two years before the hearing loss kicks in.”

“Thanks, Dr. Oz, I’ll keep that in mind.” Harmony pulled the first batch of cookies out of the oven.

“Are those oatmeal raisin cookies?” He sounded hopeful, but she wasn’t in the mood for company. Especially not company she was tempted to spread whipped cream all over before slowly licking it off.

“No.” Technically, they were oatmeal raisinless cookies.

“They smell like oatmeal raisin cookies.” He popped one in his mouth. “Taste like oatmeal raisinless cookies.”

And damn it, it didn’t help her little problem that he had the same damn sense of humor that she did. The bastard. Not that she had any intention of showing him how much he turned her on. She might be reckless, but she didn’t do suicide missions, and the tiny voice at the back of her mind, which she usually ignored, told her that tangling with Dalton was going to fuck her up way more than she already was.

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She was determined not to ignore it today, especially after last night’s close call.

“So, not only do you break and enter, but now you’re stealing food?” Too bad she’d left her guns by the pool. She could nip this thing—whatever it was—in the bud. “You Fort Worthers are weird. In San Angelo we have better manners.”

His eyes roamed down her body. “Do y’all bake in bikinis? I’ve never been to San Angelo, but I just might move there so I can watch the bikini baking team.”

“Pervert.” As she turned back to the frying donut, she mashed her lips together to hide her smile. Apparently he liked the way she looked in her bikini—maybe as much as she liked him in that suit.

A quick test told her the donut was ready. Using a metal spider, she fished it out and covered it with a lemon glaze.

“Is that what I think it is?” Dalton’s dark-green eyes turned huge.

“Depends on what you think it is.” She arranged the donut on a plate so that the middle finger was the focal point, then aimed it straight at him. “If you think it’s a donut flipping you off, you’d be correct.”

“Can I have it?” He stepped into her personal space. He was so close she could smell him—sandalwood and something underneath it that was all male.

“No, this one’s mine.” She didn’t back away or back down. Instead, she sucked in the middle finger and bit it off at the root. The smoldering look he gave her conjured images of her mouth swallowing something else entirely. So much for the voice in the back of her head.

Of course, she nearly choked on the mouthful of dough, but the look on his face made it almost worth it.

“Fine.” He shrugged out of his suit jacket, folded it, and hung it on a kitchen chair back. “I’ll make my own.”

Clearly, he wasn’t one to throw his clothes down. It appeared that he liked order. Which made her wonder, if she ripped his clothes off, would he put the groping on hold long enough to pick them all up and fold them?

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Not that she was going to find out, but it was a question to ponder. Especially as he rolled his sleeves up and picked up a dough hand. “You want to give me a hand with this?”

His attempt at a joke was lame at best.

She figured the only way to counter was to go lame right back. She handed him another hand. “There you go.”

“Very funny.” He held the dough hand gingerly by the thumb. “Do I just toss it in or what?”

“You need a little more finesse than that.” She couldn’t help herself. She took the dough and with a practiced hand molded it until the fingers met the thumb in the age-old gesture for jerking someone off. Then she dropped it in the oil. “Wait until it turns golden brown and then take it out.”

She flipped her sunglasses down from the top of her head onto her eyes. “Now if you’ll excuse me. The latest Cosmo is waiting for me by the pool.”

“Wait, shouldn’t you stay here and make sure I don’t burn down the house?” He grabbed the spider and tucked his tie over his shoulder.

“Nope, not my house.” She turned and headed back out to the pool.

He whistled his approval of her backside. “Nice.”

Normally, that would piss her off, but it was a free country. He could appreciate her ass just as much as she could appreciate his. There was equality in mutual ogling.

“Not too bad yourself.” She didn’t look back.

It was time to enjoy her one and only vacation this year. When Dalton left, she’d go back in and finish up the donuts. All that caged sex appeal was too much to handle in the confines of her sister’s kitchen.

After setting her plate on the table between two of the six chaises, she folded her chaise flat, laid down on her belly, and propped herself up on her elbows. Then she grabbed her plate and her Cosmo.

“This is really good.” Dalton sat on the chair next to her. “Is that lemon zest in the frosting?”

“It’s a glaze and yes there’s lemon zest.” She flipped through ad after ad.

“You should go on that donut competition baking show,” he said between bites.

“No way. They give the bakers weird ingredients. No one but a paid judge wants to eat a donut made out of ketchup and lemon pepper.” She could go for a chocolate glaze right now. When Dalton finally left, she’d whip up some and dip the donuts in it.

“Mind if I have another one?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lick his fingers.

“Don’t you have a job?” She continued to flip pages. “It’s the preseason. Don’t you need to go micromanage something?”

“Yes, but I’m hungry.” He winked at her. “And I’m the boss, so I can do what I want … within reason.”

“It seems to me that reason figures a lot into your personal life.” She continued flipping.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He reached over and used the towel she was lying on to dry his hands.

“I don’t think this is going to come as a shock to you, but you’re dull.” She flipped the page to find “Kuma Sutra—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

“I’m not dull.” His tone suggested that he didn’t believe it either.

“If you say so.” She scanned the article and was a little disappointed—but not surprised—that there was nothing new.

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“I happen to live a very full and fulfilling life.” Now he sounded like he was trying to justify his life choices to her. Or, more likely, to himself.

“Of course you do.” She flipped more pages.

He stood. “I’m going to make myself another donut.”

“Good luck with that.” She didn’t bother to look up.

He stood there waiting for something—probably for her to get up and help him. “Don’t you want to make sure I don’t burn myself?”

“Nope, I’m good.” She handed him her empty plate. “Can you put that in the sink for me?”

He glanced down at the plate, and she could tell he was trying to decide how to play this. It was almost cute, the way he thought he had a shot of one-upping her. But she’d been trained by Livinia Angleton Wright on how to put—and keep—men in their place. He was going to have to work a lot harder than this to shake her up.

Eventually, he took the plate, but he didn’t head back inside. “Do your tatts have meaning or are they just random things you picked out?” He moved closer, until he was standing over her blocking her sun.

Geez. This guy was harder to get rid of than chlamydia.

Missed reading Alissa Callen! She’s one of those writers with a skill to captivate readers with her cowboy stories so filled with warmth and love, and down to earth characters. Her Wild Flower Ranch Series is one of my favorites and her very first books that have charmed me.

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And it is so very nice to go back to the Wild Flower Ranch Series, Montana and Peta Dixon! A total cowgirl and with ranching her breath, there’s nothing that she cannot not do as a rancher. But as a woman, she stays far away from dresses and heels! Coming back home from a vacation with her sister to a hot and judgmental temporary foreman running her ranch was not on her agenda and neither was the spark of attraction.

Self-made rancher millionaire Garrett Ross was only honoring a favor for his mentor and has no intention of following orders from his boss lady. But the genuine rancher that Peta is captivates Garrett and the sparks pretty soon become fireworks. I’ve always wondered the guy who would hold Peta’s heart and Garrett fits perfectly.

“His Christmas Cowgirl” is a charming and heartwarming love story not to be missed. It’s wonderful revisiting previous characters and getting a glimpse of their lives as Alissa Callen gives Peta her HEA with Garrett.

Received an ARC from Tule Publishing via NetGalley for an honest review.

If you are a book fanatic and haven’t read Erin Nicholas, you are definitely missing out on reading an amazingly talented writer! She is known to pen some mesmerizing stories with some awesome characters, with doses of emotions and thoughtfulness and some wickedly sinful passion that is out of this world!!!!

A new series, new characters and a new level of narration, completely engrossing, completely charming and completely engaging is “Completely Yours”, book one of Erin Nicholas’s new series “Opposites Attract”.

I’ll save you the spiel on the story, and give my two cents as to what caught my attention and why I really, really, really liked, no loved this story, Zach Ashley and Kiera Connelly all together. The whole concept of meeting at a Comic-Con and weaving in a disaster to bring EMT Zach racing over to help and having Kiera support him with her comic-con language is a delicious treat to read.

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Developing Zach as the guy who wants to fix all problems, be in the middle of everything, wanting to know everything that happens with his family, always in control of a situation, takes patience, immense creativity and a brilliant narration to pass it on to the readers via words and thoughts. To his ying, Erin brings in Kiera as the yang, calm and collected, reserved and introvert, a gaming fanatic who actually is the creator of a popular online game, understands the nuances of life, of letting people solve their own problems and that caring for the ones we love doesn’t mean to suffocate them and solve all their issues.

“Completely Yours” is one of Erin’s finest writing so far as she takes Zach through his frustrations and insecurities, giving Kiera a guy who cares very much with a heart of gold and would lay down his life for loved ones, and most importantly weaving in the fact that an online game can be a platform of healing for so many people out there, sharing fears and issues, with no judgments.

And to be honest, reviews do not do justice to Zach Ashley, Kiera Connelly and their creator Erin Nicholas – this story is to be read to fully enjoy the impact of the dialogue, humor, relationships and the chemistry between all characters and as Zach and Kiera work out their own relationship….maybe with the help of a fictional world!

Very well played Erin Nicholas!

“Completely Yours” can be completely yours on December 20, 2016

Received an ARC from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley for an honest review.

I don’t get to read Jessica Lemmon quite as often, but when I do read one, it’s charming, it’s warm hearted and thoroughly enjoyable. Book two of her Billionaire Bad Boys, “The Billionaire Next Door”, brings billionaire Tag Crane steamrolling into Rachel Foster’s life.

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Running the Crane Hotels and devising business plans for new locations gives Tag sleepless nights and he definitely doesn’t need a Great Dane adding to his woes. Never in her life did Rachel thought that she would leave her job and end up bartending and dog sitting. Nor did she ever dream of running into a playboy billionaire and have her heart stolen.

As they argue, talk, work together, date and heat up the sheets, Tag and Rachel sure give us a good romance and Jessica Lemmon pens a story of humor, fun and a couple who captivate our hearts.

Received an ARC from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley for an honest review.

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I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

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I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

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Award-Winning Romantic Suspense & Paranormal Romance

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I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

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I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

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I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

Romancing Life

I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've trusted, I've hurt, I've made mistakes. But most of all, I've learned.

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