New Releases September

New Release I'm reviewing and excited to read!

5th

Title:  Going Dark

Series:  The Lost Platoon #1
Author:  Monica McCarty

Format:  Paperback & eBook, 352pgs

Published:  Sept. 5, 2017 by Berkley

ASIN: B06XJJ32J3

Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N

Like Rome's Lost Legion, a SEAL platoon goes on a mission and vanishes without a trace.

After walking into a trap on a covert op in Russia, the men from top secret SEAL Team Nine are presumed dead. Not knowing whom they can trust, and with war hanging in the balance, the survivors must go dark and scatter around the globe.

Marine ecologist Annie Henderson joins her new boyfriend on a trip to the Western Isles of Scotland to protest a hazardous offshore drilling venture. When she realizes that she may be swept up in something far more dangerous than she'd intended, there is only one man she can turn to. . . . 

She and the mysterious but sexy dive boat captain haven't exactly gotten off to the best start, but something about his quiet confidence makes her think that he's the kind of man she can depend on. Because he's gruff and guarded, she can tell Dan Warren has secrets. But she could never imagine how high the stakes are for him to keep his cover, even as he risks everything to protect her. . . .

12th

Title:  A Taste of Honey

Series:  Lively St. Lemeston #4

Author:  Rose Lerner

Format:  eBook, 93pgs

Published:  Sept. 12, 2017 by Rose Lerner

ASIN: B074JHYWC1

Links: Goodreads Amazon

Fire and ice cream...

Robert Moon risked everything, including his father’s hardwon legacy, to open his beloved Honey Moon Confectionery on the busiest street in Lively St. Lemeston. Now he’s facing bankruptcy and debtor’s prison.

When a huge catering order comes in, he agrees to close the sweet-shop for a week to fill it. There’s only one problem: his apprentice is out of town, so his beautiful shop-girl Betsy Piper must help Robert in the kitchen.

Betsy’s spent the last year trying to make her single-minded boss look up from his pastries and notice that she would be the perfect wife. Now the two of them are alone in a kitchen full of sweet things. With just one week to get him to fall in love with her, she’d better get this seduction started...

She soon discovers that Robert brings the same meticulous, eager-to-please attitude to lovemaking that he does to baking, but can kisses—no matter how sweet—compete with the Honey Moon in his heart?

19th

Title:  Ride It Out

Series:  Desert Dogs #4

Author:  Cara McKenna

Format:  eBook, 315 pgs

Published:  Sept. 19, 2017 by InterMix

ASIN: B01LYN4FKG

Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N

There’s a new deputy in town, and she’s a law unto herself. 

Jeremiah Church is still aching for justice to be served after his father’s murder. Though the killer has been caught, the authorities are no closer to knowing why the Churches were targeted—and if the family’s still at risk. When Miah receives an anonymous letter hinting at a darker conspiracy, he decides it's high time he seeks justice on his own terms, with the help of his fellow Desert Dogs.   

Patrol Deputy Nicki Ritchey is new to Fortuity, and hoping to make a clean start for her and her son. Involved in the Church’s case, she's kindled a friendship with Miah that's evolving into something more. But Miah is crossing lines with his personal vendetta, and Nicki’s attraction is making it tough to tell right from wrong…  

Title:  Acting on Impulse

Series: Love on Cue #1

Author:  Mia Sosa

Format:  eBook, 288pgs

Published:  Sept. 19, 2017 by Avon Impulse

ASIN: B01N4JZ3NL

Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N

After a very public breakup with a media-hungry politician, fitness trainer Tori Alvarez escapes to Aruba for rest, relaxation, and copious amounts of sex on the beach—the cocktail, that is. She vows to keep her vacation a man-free zone but when a cute guy is seated next to her on the plane, Tori can’t resist a little harmless flirting.

Hollywood heartthrob Carter Stone underwent a dramatic physical transformation for his latest role and it’s clear his stunning seat mate doesn’t recognize the man beneath the shaggy beard and extra lean frame. Now Carter needs help rebuilding his buff physique and Tori is perfect for the job. It doesn’t hurt that she makes his pulse pound in more ways than one.

Sparks are flying, until a pesky paparazzo reveals Carter’s identity. Tori is hurt and pissed. She wants nothing to do with another man in the limelight, but she’s still got to whip him into shape. Can Carter convince Tori he’s worth the threat to her privacy that comes with dating a famous actor, or will Tori chisel him down to nothing before he even gets the chance?

Grab the popcorn… 

26th

Title:  The Duke

Series:  Devil’s Duke  #3

Author:  Katharine Ashe

Format:  Paperback & eBook, 416 pgs

Published:  Sept. 26, 2017 by Avon

ASIN: B01NAFQFB5

Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N

Six years ago, when Lady Amarantha Vale was an innocent in a foreign land and Gabriel Hume was a young naval officer, they met . . . and played with fire.

Now Gabriel is the dark lord known to society as the Devil’s Duke, a notorious recluse hidden away in a castle in the Highlands. Only Amarantha knows the truth about him, and she won’t be intimidated. He is the one man who can give her the answers she needs.

But Gabriel cannot let her learn his darkest secret. So begins a game of wit and desire that proves seduction is more satisfying—and much more wicked—the second time around…

Any you're excited about that I missed?

August Reading Roundup

I feel Fall creeping in and I sort of like it but I know it brings the frozen tundra of hell winter. Boooo! Anyway, my Kindle Freebies month wasn't too bad, there were some winners and average Joes but at least no outright run for your momma and have her hold you bad. Those selection books will be denoted with ***book cover***.   September is my Singles month, where I just grab two books out of my garage sale boxes that I think aren't part of a series (spoiler: they're usually part of series but Goodreads wasn't always around educating me). I'm also going to be participating in Halloween Bingo on BookLikes, so it should be a busy reading month :)


*Click on book cover to be taken to my review or if I didn't write one, the book's Goodreads page

5 stars

4 stars

3.5 stars

  ******

3.3 stars

3 stars

******

2.5 stars

    ******

2 stars

  ******  ******

******    ******

******  

1 star

15 books read in all with 8 being Kindle Freebies. I've cleared 8 books off my Kindle, woo-hoo! I'm not going to check to see how many I have added in that time, lol. This was clearly the month of average reading with so many 2 star ratings and nothing about 3.5. Hoping for a spooky Halloween Bingo and at least some 4 star reads for myself and you all!

How many books did you all get to read this month and did you have a better reading month than I did?

Review: When a Lady Deceives

When a Lady Deceives by Tara Kingston
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Intriguing elements and dark mysterious hero but only given a promise of that never delivered. Story plods along with not much happening but repeated scenes and romance drags out only to be given a few bedroom scenes without much relationship depth.
Tempted to read the next in series though because of promise of author.

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Reading Update: 40%

I must say, I rather liked you better as a scoundrel,” she said, tempting him. And fate.

He prowled toward her. “You’re enough to drive a man to Bedlam.”

“You say the most romantic things.”

Review: Beauty and the Mustache

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

"Just that, said the fox. 'To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.'
Drew glanced up, his eyes immediately finding mine. They flickered over my face, taking in my sleepy appearance. Then, with no visible change in his expression, he returned his attention to the book.
"'But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.'"



Poetry isn't for civilized society." Drew said this suddenly, breaking the moment, but then saying no more.
I decided to prompt him when I sensed he would not continue without a push. "How so? I've read plenty of safe-for-work poetry."
"I'm not talking about greeting cards and sentimentality, not the stuff that gently warms your heart or makes you feel nostalgic." He lifted his eyes to mine, his expression stark and sober. "I'm talking about the kind that burns you, leaves scars, the kind that you regret reading because you can't forget it. It's a wild, feral thing. It has claws and it bites."

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Review: Going Dark

Going Dark by Monica McCarty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

****Full Review****

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When Dean's SEAL team mission goes horribly wrong, he and the few survivors are ordered to scatter and go dark. Hiding out in a small Scottish town should be easy to keep his cover but when a damsel in distress crosses his path, all bets are off.
Annie knows it was reckless to travel with her new boyfriend to Scotland but she wants to make a difference in the world and protesting an offshore drilling site will hopefully protect the oceanic ecosystem she's worked to get her PhD in. When red flags start to appear though, she knows she's in trouble.
Annie and Dean have a whole lot of trouble chasing them down but their attraction for one another can't be ignored.

This new series starts off with intensity as we are introduced to SEAL Team Nine and follow along as they are on a dark ops mission in Russia. There is a lot thrown at you as we are introduced to a wide range of characters and military terms; it’s overwhelming and a bit confusing. The prologue sets the reader up thinking they'll be following along with a certain character only to have a switcheroo, it felt a bit odd. The basic concept though, of a SEAL team scattered throughout the world, hiding out, and searching for who betrayed them, is intriguing, mysterious, and will have you desperate to know more. This story arc weaves in and out as this book focuses on the Senior Chief Dean and his damsel in distress Annie.

Annie is introduced as our idealistic, vegetarian, and liberal activist with Dean as our “been around the world twice”, military tough, and conservative leanings hero. With this opposites attract set-up, they naturally had a lot of squabbles. The author did a good job of balancing out the good and bad of both Annie and Dean's ideals, liberal and conservative, but it also had a tendency to make their dialogue and interactions not feel natural and a bit preachy. I, personally, felt their whole liberal vs. conservative back and forth rhetoric somewhat exhausting as everyday life has inundated me with this already. They kind of have an insta-lust connection and because of how full the story is, their emotional connection was lacking for me. There was a scene where Dean talks about his dad but instead of it feeling like a bonding moment with Annie, it felt awkward and as if he was suddenly unloading on her out of nowhere.

There is so much going on in this story, the Lost Platoon story line that brings in a cast of characters that includes an old friend of Dean's named Colt and how he is trying to find out what happened to his friends. It's a bit of a secondary couple as Colt has to contact his ex-wife Kate, who we are led to believe slept with one of his teammates and best friend, with the best friend being the Lt Commander of the Lost Platoon, named Scott. So this side story of betrayed Lost Platoon, three way drama between Colt, Katie, and Scott, is beside Dean and Annie running from eco-terrorists. You can see why Annie and Dean's emotional building blocks got a bit left behind.

Annie was a bit manipulated to be overly naïve to further the damsel in distress and Dean was forced to be led by his hots for the good looking liberal while a bit confusing eco-terrorists plot kept them together. The main couple was overshadowed by the series arc of the Lost Platoon for me, it’s what kept me reading. Colt and Kate have me wildly curious about their story and I'm locked into finding out who betrayed SEAL Team Nine and just who all the survivors were.


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“I’m not a half-wit, nor am I naïve. I know exactly what men like Stratton are after. I’m quite familiar with the type.”

That silenced him for half a block. “I’m sorry you even have to worry about that,” he finally said.

Great, great thought and line from hero. 

Review: After I Fall

After I Fall by Jessica Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

Parker has had it with following her father and fiancé's orders, she wants to break free. When the offer of an internship leads her to the hot new bar The Pint, it's the owner who may be the chance of a lifetime.
Eli is out of the Army but you can't take the Army out of the man. His bar has become a haven for vets and as their pseudo commander, he watches over them all. When a high society miss, who he turned down the night before, comes in wanting the internship, he knows his world is about to be shaken up.

After I Fall, is the third installment of the Falling series. I haven't read the previous books and never felt lost, there are obvious previous characters and I think our hero and heroine are in the others but their romance starts here. Even though Parker and Eli are in their mid-twenties and thirties, this had a very New Adult feel to it. Each chapter is a pov change between the two, which is not a personal favorite of mine. The author did the changes fairly frequently, even in the middle of scenes, which had a tendency to break the scene for me and give a stop and go feel, keeping me out of the flow.

Parker was our poor little rich girl and Eli our bad boy soldier. This story was very trope heavy but every once in a while, there was a hint of nuances with the two that made them stand out a little bit. Parker has an abusive boyfriend and a rich daddy who doesn't pay attention to her but her business knowledge, she's trying to get into Grad school for her MBA, pops up to blow Eli out of the water with how he should market his business. Eli seems very still waters run deep but I didn't feel like we ever really got to dive into him. His big secret isn't revealed until around the 80% mark and while it was laid out, we never got the time to emotionally invest in it. However, the issues with how alienated soldiers feel when they return to civilian life and the complexity of how to manage and live with their emotions from living through war were dropped in here and there. The nuances are there but they weren't delved into or weaved in enough to become felt.

I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with Parker, her issue is written in a way that the heart of it seems to be that she simply won't go against her father's directives because then she'd have to pay rent for her own apartment; the father and fiancé villain characters were very underdeveloped. It's brought up that she tried to rebel once with a friend but once again, it's dropped in but never flushed out so we're left not really thinking much of it or getting an emotional impact from it. I had a hard time believing in Eli and Parker's relationship, the focuses is pretty much on them being angst-y sexually attracted to each other with Parker thinking the whole time she'll have to marry her fiancé and Eli thinking he could never be good enough for her.

The author has created a series with a handful of characters with deep troubled issues but the lack of depth and emotionally weaving them into the story hurt this installment. I believe Parker and Eli were sexually attracted to each other but not sure I buy into their long-term relationship.


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Review: Beast: Great Bloodlines Converge

Beast: Great Bloodlines Converge by Kathryn Le Veque
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Mostly a story about how a medieval knight who was tasked with watching over Joan of Arc befriending her, taking her heart from the pyre, and trying to secretly bury it in Winchester, per her request.
A forced marriage along the way, a boat load of characters, and some clandestine wheeling and dealing between French knights and English knights.
The romance is a small portion of this with a very real feeling 1400s feel, the author knows her time and place.
There's a story here, just not one I found too entertaining; medieval mundane.

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Review: Her Enemy at the Altar

Her Enemy at the Altar by Virginia Heath
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book had the unlucky coincidence of being read right after a lackluster book that pretty much had the same storyline.

Tall heroine who hides her hurt behind a tough abrasive exterior. This book's heroine was better constructed but the whole "I can never believe I have any minuscule attractiveness to me" carried on far too long. It ended up giving her a bit of immaturity.

Poor gorgeous hero who needs to marry for money to save estate. Same character outline as the other books I read but story placement here was a bit different with hero and heroine's families having a centuries old feud. The feud wasn't really explained but how it effected their present families was detailed. They are caught in a compromising position and hero marries heroine even though her father doesn't give him her dowry, thus bankrupting the hero.

This book had more of a story construct but how long it takes the hero and heroine to develop past the immature "I hate you!" "No, I hate you!" took too long and I missed seeing their relationship without any animosity.
Since I read this right after not enjoying an extremely similar storyline, I definitely think I already had my fill of insecure abrasive tall heroines (I'm even one!) and the poor gorgeous heroes who just want them to recognize how regal they are.
The bottom line, I was exhausted by how long it took hero and heroine to move beyond their animosity.

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Review: If the Rogue Fits

If the Rogue Fits by Eva Devon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

Heiress is tall and not conventionally attractive, because of how her father always puts her down and men act toward her, she becomes very bitter towards the opposite sex. Earns reputation for being a man hater.
Gorgeous poor Earl needs money to rebuild estate father ruined. Finds out heroine is rich and goes for her, lucky him, he finds her sassy great.
Heroine's whole gender male hating and gruffness was a bit off-putting and hero's genial good guy shucks was a bit hokey dokey. Not a lot of depth to the writing, very surface characters with cliche villainous daddies and non-villainous misunderstood sister and friend.
The story was predictable from beginning to end and was a quick read. Some dialogue connection moments between hero and heroine but never flushed out. Surface and over trodden ground.

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Review: Barefoot in White

Barefoot in White by Roxanne St. Claire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"When I'm finished, you will see yourself as the beautiful, sexy, sensual, desirable, and smokin'-hot woman that I see every time I look at you."
Something cracked inside---some ice around her heart, maybe? Or maybe it was the wall of protection she'd erected for so long she couldn't remember life without it. Or perhaps it was her willpower to say no to anything. She didn't know, but all Willow could do was hope she didn't shed a tear while Nick Hershey gave her a gift she'd feared she'd never get or deserve.
Adoration.

This story moved along at a pretty quick clip while dealing with some pretty heavy issues. The heroine has big mommy issues, her mother was a model and apparently brow beat her and tried to control her, forcing her daughter into her image. This severely backfired and made the heroine turn to food for comfort. Hero is on medical leave after losing hearing in one of his ears and is dealing with guilt stemming from someone he cared about dying because of a decision he made.

The heroine is definitely the strongest of the characters with her more front and center and her thoughts and feelings flushed out more. There is a lifetime movie mechanism that throws a wrench at our couple just when they might get things figured out that eventually flows into a super rushed bow tie ending; our mother daughter reunion is solved far too quickly for the 80% of the book where the heroine goes over and over how her mother emotionally messed her up. Our hero is a little wooden with a basic military man guilt storyline and I didn't feel we delved into him as well.

The romance was rushed and it felt like our couple never got to really move and shake around with their bonding as the quick pace I mentioned along with heroine's emotional issues took over. There was a lot of stuttered stop and go between them.

The epilogue was cheesy ridiculousness and had me rolling my eyes. I got this as a freebie and its better than most. If the author delved deeper and flushed things out more while having our leads have more interactions outside the hero's villa and pool, this would have been better. I would give another in the series a try.


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Reading Update: 60%

“Listen carefully, okay?” Another nod. “Every single time you doubt your beauty or worth or value or sex appeal?” She didn’t answer, but only because the lump in her throat was growing too fast. How did he know she doubted that stuff? How did he know she fought demons daily that told her she had none of that? She hadn’t told him.

"You remember that just looking at your goddamned ear gives me a hard-on.”

Review: Fly

Fly by Molly McLain
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



The story is incomplete, it's a cliffhanger, folks.
Now that is out of the way because SIGH, here's my personal opinion.



It clearly states this is book 1 but I felt lost as all get out in the beginning as people and relationships are thrown at you with no context or explanation. The hero and heroine supposedly have this epic friendship, but other than it being said over and over, I see no evidence of it. Every dude wants the heroine, every woman wants the hero and he likes to partake, heroine is the hero's emotional crutch, and hero likes to throw money at heroine.

This was almost 200pgs of the hero and heroine wanting to make a move on each other but scared the other one still just wanted to be friends. Which could have worked wonderfully but that was the only depth to our characters. The heroine has a little bit background with her father having a traumatic brain injury but even that wasn't fleshed out too great. The hero's fmx bike career somewhat touched on, the author has a brief scene listing a bunch of tricks and the over and over mentioning of hero having women throw themselves at him.

More context needed and less NA cliche been there done that. I also almost lost an eye rolling it so hard at the ending cliffhanger.

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Review: Dirty Sexy Saint

Dirty Sexy Saint by Carly Phillips
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Little rich girl runs away to make a stand against rich mean daddy who wants to force her into an arranged marriage.
Gets blackout drunk at bar owned by hot guy who's mother was a crack whore (the term they use over and over) and he had to raise his younger brothers.
He lets her stay at his apartment, has her be waitress at his bar, buys her clothes, and then a whole pastry chef ensemble because that is her dream job.
Guy tries to stay away from her because he is not good enough and likes rough kinky sex. She gives him a blowjob and they have missionary sex in his office. He's a kink master, folks.
A blip of danger, which causes girl to sacrifice her hopes and dreams for guy, while a completely forced storyline of mean daddy and threatening arranged marriage dude have a complete turn around.
This was pretty uninspiring with a completely predictable, took every generic NA and contemporary romance plot point.
I see these authors are decently popular and I have some other freebies downloaded from them, I hope they break away from this ones color by numbers format.

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Kindle Freebies

I have not read these selections but they're free (at the time of my post).

So enjoy and partake at your own risk :)

*Click on the book cover to go to Amazon and Get Yourself Some!

    

    

    

    

    

Enjoy and hopefully everyone can find a winner!