BLOG TOUR ~Something Reckless by Lexi Ryan~

Title: Something Reckless

Series: Reckless & Real #1

Author: Lexi Ryan

Release Date: December 22, 2014

My Rating: 5 FANTASTIC Stars!

He talks dirty to me, but I don’t know his name.

He wants to tie me up, but I don’t know his face.

He turns me on, but I couldn’t point him out in a crowd.

I’ve fallen for an anonymous stranger, and tonight the anonymity ends. Tonight I want more than typed secrets and texted promises. I want something reckless. Heat. Passion. The thrill of being entirely possessed.

Because I suspect this anonymous stranger isn’t a stranger at all.

Lizzy Thompson met riverrat69 online through Something Real, a service promising to deliver meaningful relationships by forbidding its users to share names or photos until they’ve reached a certain benchmark. She was looking for love. He was researching an investment. They hit it off. Talked and flirted, hid behind screen names and cartoon avatars.

Now they’re breaking the rules and meeting in person. But Liz is prepared. She’s picked up hints and followed clues.

She’s ninety-percent convinced she’s discovered the identity of her dirty-talking online friend.

She wonders if her ex-lover Sam Bradshaw knows her identity too.

When she rolls the dice on one reckless night, her chance at something real could crumble.

This book is simply perfect. Ms. Ryan took circumstances under which I would normally disconnect from the characters, and instead made me empathize with them and become so entranced by their story. Sam and Liz are more similar than they'd like to think and when they finally give into the attraction that's been burning for a while, it's simply explosive. Yet, they're derailed multiple times afterwards and when they finally reconnect both have even more secrets that they're hiding than before. And we all know secrets don't make for the best relationships. However, despite the mismatched pair, and the skeletons lurking about these two could not be more mean for one another. 

To me, Sam and Liz brought out the best in one another. They both feel the urge to be worthy of the other and in general they're a very cohesive pair in and out of bed. Don't get me wrong the chemistry between these two is simply volcanic, but in their daily exchanges I just found myself grinning like a fool when they were together. Maybe it's because as a reader you see both POVs  and know what the other is going through and know that they wholeheartedly deserve each other. 

However, it's like having dominoes all lined up and you hit one and they all fall down. That's what this book was for me. Going into it I knew Ms. Ryan per usual was going to rip my heart out, trust me she delivered. I saw the fragile pieces start to fall apart and just started shaking my head. Liz and Sam are put through the absolute wringer in this book. I have to confess, when I first started reading this book, my ereader was malfunctioning and on two separate occasions it opened up to two HUGE spoiler pages. And I will admit, that the spoilers I inadvertently read almost made me DNF this book. BUT, I put my faith in  Ms. Ryan, because she has yet to write a book I wasn't head over heels in loe with, and trudged on. I couldn't be more glad that I did. Read out of context, or without connecting with characters first those spoilers could definitely turn a reader off of this book, but Ms. Ryan made, what could be, unredeeming qualities completely understandable and actually made me connect MORE with the characters. I don't know how she does it. It's quite possible there's subliminal messages in her books, but either way this one blew me away. Liz and Sam have officially crept to the top of my favorite New Hope couples. Until further notice (aka when Something Real shows up on my bookshelf) I'll be sitting wracking my brain as to how this will all play out. There's so many twists and tuns that haven't finished yet, I'm nervous yet thrilled to see where they all go. And more importantly how Sam and Liz will fair in the end. End of story - an absolute MUST read!

Happy Reading!

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

Links to Buy:

THE RECKLESS & REAL SERIES

SOMETHING WILD (Liz and Sam’s story begins -novella) FREE!

SOMETHING RECKLESS (Liz and Sam’s story continues)

SOMETHING REAL (Liz and Sam’s story concludes, coming March 2015)

Meet Lexi:

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

Connect with Lexi:

RELEASE DAY REVIEW ~All for This by Lexi Ryan~

Title: All for This

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: Here and Now #3

Release Date: August 4, 2014

Rating: 5+ STARS!

**ALL FOR THIS is book three in the Here and Now series. It is not a stand-alone and it’s intended to be read after LOST IN ME and FALL TO YOU.**

What if you would never remember the day you made the most important decision of your life?

That’s what they’re telling me about the day of my accident—the day I put on Max’s ring and chose him over Nate. I’m counting on the wisdom behind a decision I don’t remember making.

Max is amazing—sexy, sweet, and kind. I was starting to believe happily-ever-after might be in my future after all. Then the unthinkable happened and my world imploded. If I’m going to make this work with Max, I need my missing memories, or at least answers from about those five days before my accident.

But what does my future hold if those answers aren’t anything like I imagined?

*SPOILERS for the rest of the series, but not for All for This*

Sure Lexi Ryan, I give you permission to stomp all over my heart. All for This is equal parts torture and quite simply AMAZING! I devoured it in one afternoon. All work and other books pushed aside. Yes, it was that worthy of my attention. I needed to know what happened. Who would win? #TeamNate or #TeamMax? I have to say that Ms. Ryan is a wicked genius. She didn't make it easy for me to read this book. And no matter the ending, I loved every bit of this book. 

All for This continues where Fall to You picked up. Hanna is in complete turmoil. Her world is once more upended. The reality she thought she knew is once again, no more. All for This will continue in the present and flashback to the past as Hanna remembers those last few lost days. Just when she thinks she knows what happens, who's good and who's bad, she remembers something that will change her mind. IT was a virtual game of ping pong. All the while Max and Nate are fighting internally to decide if they should fight for Hanna or let her move on with the other. Of course, Hanna and her heart will have the ultimate last say. Will she choose her to stay with the man she's always wanted or the man who stole her heart unexpectedly?

All. The. Feels. All of them. Anger, frustration, love, lust, sadness, hurt and happiness. All wrapped in an angst filled, perfect package. Hanna continues to show her strength. She'll just as easy move on with her life alone than to pick someone that won't provide for and love her and her children. Nate, well, I love him more now than I did going into this book. Which is saying something, because I was a total #TeamNate girl. I felt like he finally got his life together in All for This. He was a hot guy, but he became a freaking HOT MAN in this book! LOVED it. As for Max, oh he breaks my heart. He's so sweet, too kind, and perfect. He's the ideal guy. Gives up everything for Hanna. I won't spoil the ending, because it's a once in a lifetime experience to read how this plays out, but in the end I was satisfied. All ends were tied up. All reasoning was announced. I was at peace and in love with how All for This ended. As much as I wish Hanna's story would continue, she's found her HEA. Now, it's time for her sister, Liz's, story. Can I just say- Lexi, you're a tease with all the Sam action in All for This. I have to have more of his and Liz's story soon! An amazing trio of books and these characters have wormed their way in further into my heart. I HIGHLY recommend you RUN to buy these books NOW!

Happy Reading!

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

Buy Links:

Lost in Me (Book #1) FREE: Amazon | B&N | iTunes

Fall to You (Book #2): Amazon | B&N | iTunes

All for This (Book #3): Amazon | B&N | iTunes

Meet Lexi:

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

Connect with Lexi:

SNEAK PEEK: All for This by Lexi Ryan

Title: All for This

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: Here and Now #3

Release Date: August 4, 2014

**ALL FOR THIS is book three in the Here and Now series. It is not a stand-alone and it’s intended to be read after LOST IN ME and FALL TO YOU.**

What if you would never remember the day you made the most important decision of your life?

That’s what they’re telling me about the day of my accident—the day I put on Max’s ring and chose him over Nate. I’m counting on the wisdom behind a decision I don’t remember making.

Max is amazing—sexy, sweet, and kind. I was starting to believe happily-ever-after might be in my future after all. Then the unthinkable happened and my world imploded. If I’m going to make this work with Max, I need my missing memories, or at least answers from about those five days before my accident.

But what does my future hold if those answers aren’t anything like I imagined?

The following excerpt from ALL FOR THIS by its very nature contains spoilers for the first two books in the Here and Now series, LOST IN ME and FALL TO YOU. If you hate spoilers and haven’t read the first two books, I recommend you don’t read any further.

Max

“How are you holding up? Did it go okay with Nate last night?”

She stiffens at his name. “He asked me to move to LA.”

Of course he did. “And what did you say?”

She blinks at me. “I’m not leaving New Hope. This is my home.”

“He wanted more than for you to move to LA.” I take a step closer. I need to touch her. I wonder if she knows she’s pulling away from me, if she can feel it like I can. It’s as if we’re connected by a thousand little threads like those in a woven rug and they’ve been breaking one at a time since the moment Nate came back into town. With every breath, I feel another thread snap. “He wanted you.”

She shrugs. “I’m already taken.”

I draw in a deep breath. She lifts her hand to my face and skims her fingers along my jaw.

I groan softly and slide my hand into her hair as I lower my mouth to hers. She’s soft and sweet, and I need more of her.

Taking a fistful of her skirt, I yank her dress up around her waist and find the cotton of her panties. She gasps, and I rub her through the fabric as her fingers curl into my back. My lips find her neck and the skin in the sensitive juncture of neck and shoulder.

“Max,” she says. But it’s not the normal breathy, needy whispering of my name. The word is a warning. A yield sign. “Max.”

My hand stills and I pull back to look into her eyes. I’m blindsided by the apology I see there. “Let’s move in together.”

“What?” She blinks at me. If she’s thinking I have the world’s worst timing with important proposals, she’s not wrong.

“We could rent out our apartments and use the money to rent a little place together. Someplace without those stairs that scare the living shit out of me every time I think of you climbing them. Someplace we can make our own.” I take her hand and squeeze. “You didn’t want to move in together last spring because you knew your mom would flip if you lived with a guy before marriage, but we’re not trying to maintain appearances anymore, are we?” She looks at the floor, and I tilt her chin back up so her eyes meet mine. “I could give two shits about appearances. I want to wake up with you in my arms, Hanna. I want to know I’m going to be right there when you need me, every time you need me. You and Claire are all that matter in my world. I want everything that matters to be what I come home to every night.”

“I’m sorry.” She steps back. “I just can’t. I’m too confused right now.”

My lungs burn as I fill them—it hurts to breathe in a world where Hanna isn’t mine.

“I know it’s not fair. And I want a future with you, but…”

“But you can’t stop thinking about him.”

“I can’t move in with you right now,” she says softly. “That wouldn’t be fair to either of us. It’s not that simple.”

“You keep saying that.”

I swallow back the rest of what I want to say right along with my anger, frustration, and the betrayal I’ve never allowed myself to feel. While I was waiting for her to take my ring, she was with another man, and I was never allowed to be angry because that man died and she needed to grieve.

I drag a hand through my hair and look at the ceiling. “Was it that simple when you made love to him?”

“Can we not do this?”

Torment is etched across her face, and I can’t stand to know I’m the one who put it there. I pull her against my chest.

“I won’t rush you, but remember something for me,” I whisper into her hair. “You put on my ring.”

Pre-Order EXCLUSIVELY on iBooks:

Lost in Me (Book #1) FREE: Amazon | B&N | iTunes

Fall to You (Book #2): Amazon | B&N | iTunes

All for This (Book #3): iTunes

Meet Lexi:

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

Connect with Lexi:

BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY ~Fall to You by Lexi Ryan~

Title: Fall To You

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: Here and Now #2

Release Date: June 2, 2014

My Rating: 5 Stars!

Fall to You is the second book in the Here and Now series. It is not a stand-alone and is intended to be read following Lost in Me. Hanna’s story concludes in book three, All for This.

Torn between two men…

When I woke up after the accident, I couldn’t remember anything from the last year—including my relationship with Max Hallowell or anything about Nate Crane. Now my memories are returning, but instead of answering my questions, they’re leaving me with more.

The man who broke my heart and wants to be my future…

Max is all I ever wanted, and now he wants to marry me. He’ll do everything he can to fill my life with love, family, and security. I need those things now more than ever. But can I trust him?

The man who stole my heart and wants to let me go…
Nate never made me promises, and I never asked him to. I’d been on the rebound, looking for a distraction, and he made me feel beautiful and wanted when I needed to feel those things most. He says he has to let me go, but what if I can’t let go of him?

With every revelation and every passing day, I feel more like Alice down the rabbit hole. I’m falling. Who will catch me?

If you saw my tweet over the weekend you already know this book left me in a wreck. I do have it on good authority that it has left almost EVERYONE who has read it in the same state. I love my good sloppy, heart-tugging, emotionally damaging romances. However, Fall to You left me a sniveling mess! Hanna is as strong has she as ever been, which in truth makes this book readable for me. If she was weak and flip-flopping I wouldn't be able to stomach it. She has her rules, her standards and her code of ethics. All of which make her the amazing heroine that she is. Max on the other hand... well he and I have had a rough go of it. A very love-hate relationship. I can see that he's a great guy deep down, he just makes some questionable decisions. If nothing else this book will prove his worth to the audience. Then there's Nate. The guy I hate to love. He's screwed up to the nth degree and lives in absolutes, but I can't help myself. He's it in my mind. I do have to say that where Lost in Me left off, I thought I knew Nate. Oh, no, no, no. I knew nothing about him. There is just this one conversation that altered my reality of this badass musician. Again Ms. Ryan not making my job any easier!

Obviously if you haven't read this series already, I spoiled the fact that it is indeed a love triangle. A severely messy one at that. A good portion of this book is Hanna remembering most of what she forgot when she took that tumble down the stairs. We are thrown back to times of love, hurt and hate between her and our main guys. We are also catapulted forward with the remains of a shattered reality that our dear author left us to pick up with from the first book. I refuse to spoil that. Read the book. If you have already- You feel me? In how many languages can you say complicated? Hanna is putting both her present and her past back together. She is remembering heart-wrenching secrets she already unearthed before, lust-filled moments that confuse her even more, and loving moments that make her resolute in her plans. She's got her plan, she'll make it through. Until her world comes crashing down around her for what I'm hoping is the last time... I was devastated. No other term for it. I almost did not pick this book back up and the talented Lexi Ryan was on my shit list.

I sucked it up and continued reading, almost in a daze. It got better, yet also more confusing. I was definitely being torn in a million different directions. In the end, I liked Max more. Not best, just more. Nate I understood much more about and was still my preferable choice. Hanna has an absolute road to hell ahead of her. As if she hadn't been through enough! It'll be interesting and I'm hoping happy to see how she deals with all of this hoopla that is still in the air at the end of this book.

I love it. I can't help it. It's just too riveting to put down, except that dark page. That we shall not speak of. So here's my dilemma. Max or Nate? Logically- Max, if Hanna could get past the hurt and doubt he has caused. Some of which was explained away or placated in this book. Emotionally- Nate. Hands down Nate Crane is how I see this series ending. I can't explain it, there's no rhyme or reason to it. From the first time I read a scene with the two of them together I was like- they're it, but how is this actually going to play out? Can I believe Hanna is in love with these two men? Absolutely. However, there is a difference between who will give her the life she always wanted, and who will give her the life she desperately needs after the path that fall has taken her on. Alas, I am not the writer and only Lexi Ryan knows what is right and wrong for her characters. This book took the series to a new level. It continues you to suck you in, and even turn some a bit obsessive with wanting to know the outcome... not just me! All kidding aside, it's terrific. I highly suggest you pick up this series. With the characters, the emotions and the effortlessly blended 'then and now' sequences. There is no way anyone could regret reading it.

Happy Reading!
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

LINKS TO BUY:

GET THE FIRST BOOK FOR 99 CENTS!

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Meet Lexi:

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I'm not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids--a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I'm feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I'm really, really slow) or do yoga. Don't worry, I'm always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

Connect with Lexi: