Sarah Castille: Against the Ropes (ARC)

Title: Against the Ropes
Author: Sarah Castille
Release Date: September 3, 2013

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
He scared me. He thrilled me. And after one touch, all I could think about was getting more…

Makayla never thought she’d set foot in an underground mixed-martial arts club. But if anyone needs a medic on hand, it’s these guys. Trouble is, at her first sight of the club’s owner she’s the one feeling breathless.

All sleek muscle and restrained power, the man they call Torment plays to win at any cost. Whether it’s in the ring or in the bedroom, he knows exactly when to use a soft touch and when to launch a full-on assault. He always knows just how far he can push. And he’s about to tempt Makayla in ways she never imagined…

My Review:

Against the Ropes is a hot, action packed story. Based in the mixed martial arts world, there is tension in and out of the ring. Unlike many other books, this one had so many aspects that there was no lull and it held my attention, while I held my breath, the whole time. 

Against the Ropes is told from the vantage point of Makayla, and she has quite witty and hilarious inner thoughts. Her inner musings is how you get the first glimpse of her, she is equal parts spunky and sweet. As her relationship with Max "Torment" Huntington progresses he brings out her insecurities that she has never really shown anyone else. At times I think Max does push her too hard, but also believe his intentions are honorable. He has these intense feelings, that he does not know how to verbalize, and a girl that will not reciprocate because she is afraid, which is frustrating to him and causes him to react unfavorably at times. 

I love Makayla and Max's chemistry, they cannot get enough of each other and their text conversations are my favorite part! Max wants to keep Makayla safe from her wild best friend, his equally wild friends, and the other deviants of their lives, and she fights him for her Independence the whole way. By the end they both come to realizations about themselves, as well as each other. They understand that their relationship does not have to fit the standard mold, and that if their relationship is going to work there has to be some give and take on both sides.

I think this is a fantastic example of two people growing and evolving together. They have their obstacles and personal demons that they learn to overcome together. Max is as alpha as he is sexy, and has a penchant for tying up Makayla. While Makayla gives her fair share of tongue lashings throughout the story. What we end up with is a scarred, strong-willed, magnetic couple surrounded by a cheering crowd. Against the Ropes will be available on September 3, 2013, I highly recommend adding this to your TBR list. I hope Ms. Castille lets some of the secondary characters get their own stories in the future, they were just as captivating as the hero and heroine.

*ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for a honest review*

Happy Reading!

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Elyssa Patrick: Stay With Me (ARC)

Title: Stay With Me
Author: Elyssa Patrick
Series: With Me #1
Release Date: August 30, 2013

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
With one look, I’m his . . .

With one touch, he’s mine . . .

With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . .

I've been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I've done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.

When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.

But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.

Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.

Caleb is the one man who doesn't want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.

Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.

My Review:
I had the great pleasure of reading an advanced copy of Stay With Me. All I can say is WOW! Hailey Bloom has been in the spotlight since she was a baby and it took her losing herself to finally break free of that suffocating world. After she decides to enroll in college and make a life away from fame she has to fight her celebrity at every turn. She is stared at and talked about in her classes, her professors think very little of her and she refuses to enjoy the one thing she has excelled at in college.. art.

Then she meets Caleb and her life is turned upside down once again. She wanted to do this on her own, but Caleb calls to her and their chemistry is magnetic. Stay With Me is a true coming of age story, with one difference. Instead of being stubborn and independent Hailey lets Caleb and his friends in and finds the family she has always wanted. Hailey discovers that she does not have go it alone and that one "breaking news" story will not send her new found friends, or Caleb, running. Stay with Me does not have that "cookie cutter" feel to it. You can tell that Ms. Patrick made this story her own and ended up with a book that will no doubt delight her readers.

The secondary characters in this book are hilarious and I cannot wait for their books! Daphne, Nick, Griff, Kai, Jamie and Dylan are the perfect comedic relief to counter Hailey and Caleb's romantic pull. This book did not have the typical "break-up get back together" trope. I get a little exhausted with the huge secret reveal and then there is this obstacle to overcome. These kids are in college and on the verge of adulthood, and Ms. Patrick did a wonderful job of showing their maturity and still writing a wonderful story that I could not put down! Don't misunderstand though, they are in college and there is plenty of college fun to be had by all :)

Caleb teaches Hailey how to be a non-celebrity and enjoy the life she has wanted to live all along. Hailey, with one minor two second exception, is a strong-willed character that refuses to let the drama of her mother or the rest of Hollywood get to her. She is determined to complete college and prove everyone else wrong, but she also learns to enjoy the experience as well. Stay with Me has the humor, drama, love and hotness that will have readers flocking to it. If you have fallen in love with the New Adult genre Stay With Me is a fantastic addition, and if you haven't it would be a perfect beginning. Stay With Me is available NOW.
*ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review*

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COVER REVEAL: Found in You by Laurelin Paige + *GIVEAWAY*!

Title: Found In You

Author: Laurelin Paige

Series: Fixed #2

Release Date: October 1, 2013

Cover Artist: Sophia Bleu

Cover Reveal organized by: AToMR Tours

Synopsis:

Alayna Withers has only had one kind of relationship: the kind that makes her obsessive and stalker-crazy. Now that Hudson Pierce has let her into his heart, she’s determined to break down the remaining walls between them so they can build a foundation that’s based on more than just amazing sex. Except Hudson’s not the only one with secrets.

With their pasts pulling them into a web of unfounded mistrust, Alayna turns to the one person who knows Hudson the best—Celia, the woman he almost married. Hoping for insight from someone who understands all sides of the story, Alayna forms a bond with Celia that goes too far—revealing things about Hudson that could end their love for good. 

This is the first relationship where Alayna hasn’t spiraled out of control. And she might lose Hudson anyway…

AND for TODAY ONLY (8/27) Fixed #1 Fixed on You is on sale for .99 cents!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Laurelin Paige:

Laurelin Paige is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men and the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine. She is represented by the wonderful Bob Diforio of D4EO Literary Agency.

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COVER REVEAL! Felicity Heaton: Her Wicked Angel

Her Wicked Angel is the sixth book in the Her Angel series and is sure to be another fantastic book by the fabulous Felicity Heaton. And here is the amazing cover!!!:

Title: Her Wicked Angel

Author: Felicity Heaton

Series: Her Angel #6

Release Date: September 21, 2013

Synopsis:

The King of Demons and the Devil’s right hand man, Asmodeus is a dark angel born of evil and created for destruction. When his master orders him to venture into the mortal world and retrieve a female for him, he seizes the chance to leave Hell for the first time, uncaring of what the Devil has planned for her… until he sets eyes on the most beautiful woman he has ever seen—a female who awakens new feelings within his black heart, unleashing passion so intense that it controls him and desire he cannot resist.

He will not let his wretched master have her. She will belong to him.

Liora is a witch with a bad reputation and an obsession with fighting demons. A mission gone wrong sees her sent to Paris to cool off, but when a dark and deadly warrior with a gaze of golden fire lands in her life, she ends up burning hotter than Hell for the wicked angel. Nothing will stand between her and the immense, forbidding male. Not her cousin. Not Asmodeus’s sworn enemy and twin, Apollyon. And certainly not the Devil.

Caught up in a tempest of danger and soul-searing passion, can they survive against the odds and seize their forever after?

About Felicity Heaton:

Felicity Heaton writes passionate paranormal romance books as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. In her books she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shapeshifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons!

If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too. 

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, Felicity Heaton’s best selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series she writes as F E Heaton or any of her stand alone vampire romance books she writes as Felicity Heaton. Or if you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try Felicity Heaton’s new Vampire Erotic Theatre series.

In 2011, five of her six paranormal romance books received Top Pick awards from Night Owl Reviews, Forbidden Blood was nominated as Best PNR Vampire Romance 2011 at The Romance Reviews, and many of her releases received five star reviews from numerous websites. In 2013, Heart of Darkness was a finalist in the paranormal romance category at the Epic Ebook Awards.

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BLOG TOUR: Take it All by Emma Grayson + GIVEAWAY!

My Rating: 5 Stars
Title: Take it All
Author: Emma Grayson
Release Date: August 9, 2013

Synopsis: 
***Inspired by true events***

Judy Garland said it best, ‘For it was not into my ear you whispered but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed but my soul.’

If you asked her why she loved him, she would only be able to tell you it was because he was who he was and well, she was who she was.

Plain and simple.

All her life Lennox Ward felt incomplete. That her heart was always searching for that one special thing; that special someone she had yet to find.

Then Caleb Kingston came strolling back into her life unexpectedly, and little did she know her world was about to come crashing down around her; forever shattering it.

Is love enough to conquer all?

Will she be able to lead them out of hell and off their path of self destruction?

Or will Caleb take it all?

My Review:
This is one of those stay up all night, finish in one sitting books. Take it All is a heartbreaking story of a love that can destroy you and it leaves you feeling you got hit by a semi... in a good and bad way. This was not what I was expecting at all, I imagined a good-feeling, HEA, love story like most of the other New Adult books out there. While Take it All does have some feel good moments do not expect to walk away feeling light-hearted and mushy. I think this is one of the grittiest, captivating, and heart-wrenching stories I have ever read. I am normally a HEA junkie, but Take it All is so worth the read, I cannot even fully explain it. Lennox and Caleb's relationship gave me a total love-hate feeling.

                      

I think what made this book was that it was inspired by the author's real life experiences. I cannot applaud Emma Grayson more for her bravery in sharing her story with us. It may not be all happy and rainbows but this book deals with real situations that will hit home with some, and will expose others to a world that is dark, dangerous and seductive. I don't know how she does it, but Emma Grayson pulled me in and made me feel like I was seeing everything happen real-time. I wanted to reach out and shake and hug both Caleb and Lennox, and bow at Raine's feet for being such a world class friend.

These are real life circumstances, that no one can begin to understand unless they have lived it and even then no one is ever ready or prepared to deal with this sort of heartbreak. I think everyone should have a bit of reality tucked between the fiction on their bookshelves and Take it All is definitely that douse of reality. One of the other things I loved about Take it All is that it does not read like a biography. If I had not read that it was based on true events I would have never known. I have to be truthful, I almost set the book down because I kind of knew where it was leading and it made me a bit uncomfortable. I have not been more grateful for my perseverance before. I do not regret for a single minute reading this book and I am anxiously awaiting the conclusion that is coming in the winter. Even though,  this is an profoundly intense book it is not without its comedic relief provided by Lennox's best friends Londyn and Tatum and, of course, Raine and a few other secondary characters. I don't want to send the wrong message and put people off of this book, it is not all crying, heart break and despair, you will get a dose of happy, loving and a few laughs as well. Take it All has all of the elements of a best-selling novel, and all of the intensity of a book that will break your heart. This is by far one of my favorite books of the year. If you have not picked up your copy of Take it All go for it, I promise you will not be disappointed and make sure to show your love to Ms. Emma Grayson. There is also, a blog tour giveaway, the rafflecopter is below!

Happy Reading!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Meet Emma Grayson:

Emma Grayson is a Canadian author who resides outside of Edmonton, Alberta with her family and six year old son. She is Amazon’s Bestselling author of Unbeautifully Loved, the first book in her Breathe Again series and Take it All, the first book in her two part series, Blinded by Love. She is currently working on Unbearable Guilt, Breathe Again book two, as well as Promise it All the conclusion to her Blinded by Love series. She is also in the prewriting stages of her new trilogy series, Saving You; a spin-off from Blinded by Love. When she’s not writing she enjoys time with her son, going to movies, reading, enjoying Starbucks latte’s with her girlfriends, or watching rerun episodes of Criminal Minds and Flashpoint. She’s the lover of music of all kinds, television, coffee, all things purple, Oilers hockey, Bradley Cooper, and doesn’t leave the house without her iPhone, Kobo, flip flops and a pack of gum.

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