Tag: Contemporary Romance (Page 39 of 98)

BOOK REVIEW – Crossing Hearts (Cross Creek #1) by Kimberly Kincaid

March 15, 2018 / Jen / 4 Comments

I signed up for the Cross Creek Series Tour because not only did Kimberly Kincaid's books sound amazing, but she’ll be attending RT this year. After reading the first book in this series, I’m not only super excited to meet her in person, but I can’t wait to read the next two standalone books in this series! So check out my review below, see what the other books are about and enter a fabulous giveaway! Enjoy!!

BOOK REVIEW – Crossing Hearts (Cross Creek #1) by Kimberly Kincaid

BOOK REVIEW – Crossing Hearts (Cross Creek #1) by Kimberly Kincaid

Crossing Hearts (Cross Creek #1)
by Kimberly Kincaid
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Hunter Cross has no regrets. Having left his football prospects behind the day he graduated high school, he’s happy to carry out his legacy on his family’s farm in the foothills of the Shenandoah. But when a shoulder injury puts him face-to-face with the high school sweetheart who abandoned town—and him—twelve years ago, Hunter’s simple life gets a lot more complicated.

Emerson Montgomery has secrets. Refusing to divulge why she left her job as a hotshot physical therapist for a pro football team, she struggles to readjust to life in the hometown she left behind. The more time she spends with Hunter, the more Emerson finds herself wanting to trust him with the diagnosis of MS that has turned her world upside down.

But revealing secrets comes with a price. Can Hunter and Emerson rekindle their past love? Or will the realities of the present—and the trust that goes with them—burn that bridge for good?

Review:

Crossing Hearts was sweet, sensual and such a fabulous second chance romance. The way the story evolved reminded me of honey slowly pouring out of a jar. It was beautifully slow and mesmerizing. While Emerson and Hunter met again, right from the start, we got little pieces of their past here and there. And we didn’t fully learn all there was about Emerson and Hunter until further into the story. As someone who is more of a fast paced kinda girl, I found myself loving every single second of it! So if you adore small town stories, sexy cowboys and strong females then definitely give this one a try!

He’d forgotten her once. He could damn well stick to forgetting her again.

Emerson and Hunter dated in high school, and they were so serious that Hunter even proposed to her. She not only turned him down, but left the state for college, leaving him with his heart completely shattered. Twelve years later, Emerson left her high profile career, her NFL boyfriend and was back in their tiny town as a physical therapist. And Hunter was about to be her very first client!

“I’m even wondering what if right now. Like what if”— he paused, but just long enough to fully face her on the bench, letting his opposite hand trail up the outside of her arm—“ you let me get closer to you.”

While they tried their hardest to have a professional relationship, over time chemistry started to appear. Not only was their friendship still there, but their past was definitely not buried. Their old emotions were just begging to be released. It slowly started to come out in their physical therapy sessions, their little town’s festival and it got to the point that there was no way they could ignore it any longer. The sexual tension between the two of them was so hot. And when they finally caved, ohhh the sex scenes were even hotter!

“Hunter,”she whispered, her breath hot on his hand, and just like that, he was done waiting. He’d wanted his mouth on hers for twelve goddamn years. He might be light-years away from playing it safe right now, but he didn’t even want to wait another twelve seconds.
He just wanted her.

I found myself easily obsessed with Hunter. He was strong, caring, determined, a hard worker and such a good guy. As someone who usually prefers the bad boys, I was shocked how hard I fell for him. His feelings were so real, and I loved watching him struggle between caring for Emerson yet being guarded because of their past. And while I liked Emerson, it took me a little bit longer to warm up to her. You see, she could be so stubborn at times. She didn’t want anyone to know her medical condition, let alone help her in any way. But over time, Hunter started to wiggle his way into her heart, and I found myself caring for Emerson too. I so wanted them to make it this time around, and I found myself rooting for their HEA!

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you, Em. I won’t let go.”
As he settled against the bedsheets with her nestled in close, Emerson realized that when she was in Hunter’s arms, she didn’t just feel normal.
For the first time she could remember, she felt whole.

In Crossing Hearts, you definitely feel all of the small town charm. And on top of that, I loved Hunter’s family! His dad and two brothers worked with him on their farm, and I adored how true their family dynamics felt. Yeah they had some problems, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out in the future books, but I loved learning about all of them. And I loved even more how Emerson fit so effortlessly in with Hunter’s family. Scenes that just involved them eating dinner together, always felt like so much more.

“I don’t think I realized it until now, but what I’ve been waiting for is you. It’s always been you. And this time, I’m not letting you slip away.” – Hunter

Crossing Hearts had a ton of character and soul. I absolutely adored this book, and I’m so excited to read the rest of Kimberly Kincaid’s books. The next two books in this series are Hunter’s brothers stories, and I can’t wait to dive into them!

*ARC kindly provided by Inkslinger in exchange for an honest review*

Additional Standalone Books In The Series:

Cocky farmer Eli Cross plays twice as hard as he works. When his latest stunt drums up a heap of negative PR for the family farm, he grudgingly agrees to play host to an ambitious New York City photographer. Her feature on Cross Creek could be just the ticket to show the country what the Cross brothers do best…which is more problem than solution for Eli.

Scarlett Edwards-Stewart has photographed everything from end zones to war zones. She’s confident she can ace this one little story to help her best friend’s failing magazine. At least, she would be if her super-sexy host wasn’t so tight lipped. But the more Scarlett works with Eli, the more she discovers that he’s not who he seems. Can his secret bring them closer together? Or will it be the very thing that tears them apart?

AMAZON

For Owen Cross, the only thing that matters more than family is farming. As the oldest Cross brother, the land is his legacy, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make Cross Creek a success—including hiring local widow Cate McAllister to manage the bookkeeping tasks that are growing in his office like weeds. Cate’s as pragmatic as she is pretty, and she rattles his hard-fought composure at every turn.

Cate had known a lot of things about her husband before he died three years ago in a car accident, but how much debt he’d gotten them into wasn’t one of them. She needs her job at Cross Creek, even if her boss is both gruff and gorgeous. But Owen’s a family man, through and through, and the last thing Cate is interested in is anything—or anyone—with strings attached.

As Owen and Cate join forces to right the farm, they discover there’s more to the other than the surfaces shows, and that passion can be found in unexpected places. Can Cate heal from the loss of one family to gain the love of her life? Or will the past prove too much for the promise of the future?

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * iBooks * Kobo

Excerpt for Crossing Promises:

[scroll-box]Cate dragged a hand through her hair, her gaze moving over the boxes in disbelief. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You don’t do any of your bookkeeping online. At all?”

“We do. Just not a lot of it,” he amended. The Cross men lived to work the land, not the ledgers. Sure, their current system was a little time consuming, but it wasn’t totally ineffective. Cross Creek had been running on it for decades. “We have software right here on the computer.” He paused to pull up the program they used for much of their bookkeeping before adding, “It’s just that none of us are great at using it.”

“So I see,” Cate said after a quick perusal over his shoulder.

Irritation splashed through Owen’s chest. “Our books aren’t that bad.”

The parting of her lips said she was primed and ready to take him to the mat on that count, and damn it, he really didn’t have time to argue with her. “Look, I know it’s going to take some work to get things running smoothly in here.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than that,” she murmured with a shake of her head, and just like that, Owen’s patience redlined.

“Can you do it, or should I find someone else?”

Once again, his words came out gruffer than planned. But before he could even think of cooking up an apology, Cate’s arms had snapped across the front of her sweater dress to form a don’t-mess-with-me knot that was far, far more of a turn-on than it had a right to be.

“That’s what you hired me for, isn’t it? To manage your books effectively?”

“Yes,” Owen answered carefully, still caught between the desire to be annoyed, the desire to apologize, and, well, just plain desire.

“Well, then. Since I have my work cut out for me with a chainsaw, I suppose I should get to it,” Cate said.

After a quick internal debate, Owen nodded. Brash or not, he needed her. More than he cared to admit. “Okay, then.”

She answered by way of pushing up her sleeves and sliding an elastic from her wrist to secure her hair in a knot at the crown of her head. Even with the more casual edge, the powder-blue dress still hugged her curves, her calves flexing and releasing as she moved from one stack of boxes to the next in her heels, and he cleared his throat.

“Just so you know, we’re pretty casual around here. You don’t have to look nice.”

Cate’s cheeks flushed a shade of pink that, while highly pretty, didn’t bode well for him in the mending-fences department. “Good to know,” she said, and holy hell, why did his mouth refuse to cooperate with his brain around this woman?

“Not that you don’t look, uh. Fine like that. All I meant was, you don’t have to get dressed up. Jeans are okay.”

She stared down at the toes of her shiny black shoes, but only for a split second before meeting his stare with her own. “Got it, Casanova. Is that all?”

For just a heartbeat, Owen was tempted to say no, to dig deep into his Neanderthal brain for the right words to tell her she actually looked fucking beautiful. To surrender to the hot demands coming from both his chest and his cock, and cross the room to impulsively kiss her sexy, sassy mouth.

But this was Cate McAllister. His buddy Brian’s widow. He shouldn’t think she was pretty. He shouldn’t wonder if the skin on her shoulders bore the same provocative dusting of freckles as the neck she’d just put on display. And he damn sure shouldn’t be turned on like floodlights at the fire in her eyes that he’d never quite seen before, but seemed to somehow fit her perfectly.

So, he simply said, “Yes. That’s all,” and walked out of the room.[/scroll-box]

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cross Creek Series Tour:

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February 26

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February 27

Reading in Pajamas-Review All Things Dark and Dirty-Excerpt

February 28

Always a Happy Ever After-Review Thoughts of a Blonde-Excerpt

March 1

Irishdaisylovesromance-Review The Fairest of All Book Reviews-Excerpt

March 2

Just the Write Stuff-Excerpt I Love Romance-Review

March 3

Tangents and Tissues-Excerpt What Do We Want Book Reviews & More-Review 1 Chick and her Kindle-Review

March 4

KDRBCK-Review Books According to Abby-Excerpt Bad Boys and Bedtime Stories Book Blog-Review

March 5

Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews-Review Jax’s Book Magic-Excerpt

March 6

Nicole’s Book Musings-Excerpt Oh My Growing TBR-Excerpt

March 7

The Heathers’ Blog-Review Becky on Books-Review

March 8

Melena’s Reviews-Review Read Your Writes Book Reviews-Excerpt

March 9

One-Click Chocolate Chick-Review Kari’s Book Reviews & Revelations-Review

March 10

KatyaRath-Review Reese’s Reviews-Excerpt

March 11

Two Book Pushers-Excerpt

March 12

Only One More Page-Review My Book Filled Life-Review

March 13

Fire and Ice Book Reviews-Review The Power of 3 Readers-Review

March 14

Shannon’s Book Blog-Review Book Loving Pixies-Review The Romance Reviews-Review Blushing Babes Are Up All Night-Review

March 15

Star-Crossed Book Blog-Review Sascha Darlington-Review Bookgasms Book Blog-Review Hannah’s Words-Review

March 16

G & T’s Indie Café-Excerpt TBR Book Blog-Review Teatime and Books-Excerpt

asdf

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About Kimberly Kincaid:

Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance that splits the difference between sexy and sweet. When she’s not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as “The Pleather Bomber”, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. Kimberly is a USA Today best-selling author and a 2015 RWA RITA® finalist who lives (and writes!) by the mantra that food is love. Kimberly resides in Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.

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BOOK REVIEW – An Ex for Christmas by Lauren Layne

March 9, 2018 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

An Ex for Christmas by Lauren Layne
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
She’s making a list—and checking it twice. But is there a nice guy among all her naughty exes? The New York Times bestselling author of Blurred Lines returns with a charming friends-to-lovers rom-com.

When a psychic tells spunky, superstitious Kelly Byrne that she’s already met her true love, she becomes obsessed with the idea of tracking him down before Christmas. Kelly immediately writes up an “Ex List” and starts contacting old boyfriends to figure out which one is the one. When her college sweetheart rolls into town, Kelly convinces herself that they’re meant to be. The trouble is, sparks are flying with someone she’s never given a chance: her best friend, Mark.

Mark Blakely has watched the guys on Kelly’s list break her heart, and he’s not looking forward to watching them do it all over again. Mark’s always been there for her, but the timing’s never worked out for their relationship to be something more. Now, just as Mark is ready to move on, the sexual tension between them is suddenly off the charts. With Christmas morning around the corner, he just hopes Kelly will wake up and realize that everything she wants has been right in front of her all along.

“I meant that I’m not usually. Not before.”

“Not before…?”
I feel him smile against my neck, stubbornly refusing to answer. I smile, too, because I know what he’s not saying.
Not before me.

Anyone who has been around long enough knows that LL used to be my absolute favorite author. Without any doubts, when asked, it was LL. Fast-forward a couple years annddddd…that answer isn’t the same. It’s not that I don’t like her-I do. But, after a while, it all became a bit contrived, to me.

“Mark hates Christmas,” I inject, tired of being ignored.
Both men look at me. Mark frowns. “I do not.”
I look up at him. “Okay, you don’t hate it, but you don’t really get into it. You never get a tree, you won’t hang lights, you wouldn’t even let me put a wreath on your door last year.”
“Because it was white and had a pink bow.”
“It was flocked, and pink and white were very in that year.”

Somewhere along the way, and I’m not sure when, I lost that connection I had held steadfast to. I stopped picking up every book because I wasn’t laughing and swooning as much…and it broke my heart. But, here we are, and LL wrote a Christmas book and…well…it was Christmas. So why not?

“Where’s his snowman costume?” I call to Mark.
“Burned it.”
“I hope you didn’t put it in the washing machine—it’s hand wash only,” I say, picking up my peppermint martini and heading back into the kitchen.
“Yeah, Kelly. I hand washed a dog sweater. Sounds just like me.”

Well. I don’t know. There was just way too much that bothered me:

-Clueless heroine
-Single POV (CANNOT believe I’m saying that, but I needed to hear what Mark was thinking, frankly. She was just too much)
-Boring

I don’t know! I can’t even remember all the reasons! It just did not work for me. I eventually fell hard for Mark, but it took forever. I like gruff men, but without being in his head he just seemed flat…until when I fell for him, obviously lol. At that point, he became the thing I held onto, the guy I couldn’t stop reading about…and hating Kelly for hurting. He was just…so so loyal. Ugh. Amazing.

Mark stamps out my babbling with a searing kiss. “I’ve wanted,” he says against my mouth, a little gruffly. “God, how I’ve wanted.”

And, frankly, I found the blurb a bit misleading, like…why tell us that Mark wants her to wake up and smell the roses, but then not let us be in his head to hear that? Just…odd. Odd odd odd.

“Ask me,” he orders, pinning my wrists over my head with one hand.
“Ask you what?” I say, a little breathless.
“Ask me what you asked the damn ball.”
I swallow. “Should I sleep with Mark again?”
His smile is slow and confident as he slowly lowers his body to mine. “It is certain.”

Like I said, somewhere along the way LL stopped being my ‘go-to’ contemp gal. And for real, it kills me to say that. But it is what it is and I can’t fake loving something. I loved their friendship. I loved the shared dog, backyard, etc. But when your heroine is as dumb as Kelly was-well. It’s just too much.

“You’ll never guess what happened to me at the train station,” I say, leaning forward excitedly.
“Hmm?” he asks, less excitedly.
“Okay, if I tell you, you have to not roll your eyes and tell me I’m a crackpot. Promise?”
“No.”
That’s about what I was expecting.

PS-OH! And it really sucks, it does, because I loved Kelly’s humor. She had the funniest dialogue…I just couldn’t get past the stupidity, unfortunately.

BOOK REVIEW: The Studying Hours (How to Date a Douchebag #1) by Sara Ney

March 6, 2018 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Studying Hours (How to Date a Douchebag #1)
by Sara Ney
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
CRUDE. ARROGANT. A**HOLE.
No doubt about it, Sebastian ‘Oz’ Osborne is the university’s most celebrated student athlete—and possibly the biggest douchebag. A walking, talking cliché, he has a filthy mouth, a fantastic body, and doesn’t give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks.

SMART. CLASSY. CONSERVATIVE.
Make no mistake, Jameson Clarke may be the university’s most diligent student—but she is no prude. Spending most of her time in the hallowed halls of the library, James is wary of pervs, jocks, and douchebags—and Oz Osborne is all three.

She’s smart, sarcastic—and not what he expected.

…EVERY DOUCHBAG HAS HIS WEAKNESS.

He wants to be friends.
He wants to spend time with her.
He wants to drive her crazy.

He wants…

Her.

What can I say about this book? My friend compared it to #Nerd, and I just wholly have to disagree. Yes, there are similarities:

-Meet in Library due to tutor session type deal
-Guy tries to win girl most of book
-Guy is panty-dropper jock who can get any girl he wants
-Little quotes at the beginning of each chapter
-Good*ish type girl
…

And that’s where the similarities end for me. Yeah there are cute jealousies for both guys and yeah guy wants girl for real…but seriously-the amount of times the guy talks about sex in this book is staggering. No WONDER the girl won’t commit to you, bro-Every time you say anything it’s about trying to get in her damn pants. And, I’m sorry, Romeo was about WAY more than THAT. And I guess that’s why I’m comparing. I’m not being a bitch and dissing my great friend…I just couldn’t help but to compare after she mentioned they were similar. And, frankly, the biggest difference between the two??

This book didn’t have an ounce of all the cute heart and passion #Nerd had.

And it’s as simple as that. I’m sorry, H, this one just was extremely underwhelming…and not just because we only got a little time with the two together-it was just too much and not enough. I liked the guy’s jealousies and I liked how much he liked her…but it wasn’t enough to make up for all the sex talk and repetitiveness I had to go through for 60% of the book.

And I’ll leave it there, lest I keep bashing a very popular book. I think I made my pearl clutching point. 😉

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BOOK REVIEW: Getting Lucky Number Seven (Taking Shots #1) by Cindi Madsen

March 2, 2018 / Chelsea / 4 Comments

Getting Lucky Number Seven (Taking Shots #1)
by Cindi Madsen
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
What's your lucky number?

Lyla Wilder is done being the shy, chemistry nerd extraordinaire. While every other college student is out having fun, Lyla is studying. With her cat. Well, she's played it "safe" quite enough, thank you. So she creates a "College Bucket List"?with item #7 being a night of uninhibited, mind-blowing sex...

But she needs some help from her man-whore best friend.

Hockey player Beck Davenport thought Lyla's transformation would be subtle. Man, was he wrong. With every item she ticks off, Beck finds himself growing seriously hot for his sweet, brainiac best friend. And if he's not careful, he'll end up risking their friendship in order to convince Lyla that he might just be her lucky #7...

I couldn’t even talk to my best friend about the guy I was having sex with. Because, silly me, I’d gone and made them the same person.

Ya know, once again I’m plagued by the reviews stating this is the same old same old, there’s nothing new, it’s cliché, etc…and yet again I find this to be wrong. Why do I find this to be wrong? Well, there are so many reasons I can’t even begin to explain them.

“I’m sure you were a little disappointed when you found out I was your assigned chem partner.”
“Well, yeah,” I said, “but that was because with how damn cute you were, I was sure you’d be stupid, and that meant I was going to end up doing all the work.”
She rolled her eyes, and I smiled, unable to keep from adding, “Then I caught your scent, and your blood smelled so good, I was afraid I’d kill you and eat you. That’s why I was all broody and denting the table the first day.”
Lyla laughed and shoved my arm. “You’re stupid.”
“I am. I let you talk me into that Twilight marathon last Sunday. Clearly a mistake.”

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE QUOTE lmao. Killed me when I read it.^^^ Also, I had way too much fun looking through twilight GIFs lol

I was having a bad month. I was borderline depressed. I wasn’t sleeping well and had barely any sleep. I wanted to escape reality. It. Made. Me. SMILE. And it was my rainbow on a cloudy, rainy day. I don’t care about clichés, so long as they’re done RIGHT-and these totally were. And, frankly, done better than any of the other books before it that made it ‘cliché’ to impersonate.

Beck was standing off to the side, two red plastic cups in hand. “Dead cats? You said you had a hard time talking to guys, but shit, Debbie Downer, I had no idea.”

One of my recurring thoughts throughout this book was ‘I want this relationship’. It was just too cute and there was no screwing around with other girls/guys like in other books I won’t mention *Cough* How to Date a Douchebag *Cough*. Yeah. Whoops. This was a sexy read without the smut and it never became all about sex-they were best friends first and built a solid relationship before any commitment and I really think the characters had the cutest connection because of it.

She clamped her lips as she took me in, and then she laughed. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. “I’m sorry, now that I know you’re okay, it’s…” She laughed again, her shoulders shaking. “I’m just glad I’m not the only one to make a fool of myself when I’m drunk.”
“Fool of myself?” I pushed up to my knees and wiped gravel from my torn up palms. “What are you talking about? I’m suave as shit.”
This got another round of giggles, and she laughed so hard that she braced herself against me to keep from tipping over. That made me laugh, and then we were two idiots laughing in the middle of a parking lot, our clouded breaths filling the air around us.

Was it cheesy? Yes. But it was so cute without crossing the overly cheesy line-I hate this CHEESY line. I don’t cross it for much and this book didn’t make me. It was JUST enough-not OTT. And, more than anything, this book felt relevant unlike when a lot of authors try to recreate their youth or pretend like they know what every college student is like these days. Maybe I’m the one that’s out of touch but I felt like this book hit its mark. There were no repetitive phrases (LOATHEEEEE) like these type of stories tend to have and the dialogue melted me to my core. These two characters were beyond adorable and I couldn’t get enough of them.

I wanted to let everything spill out—how much I missed her. How I should’ve told her she was perfect and sexy and the smartest person I knew. That I was drowning without her, and for the first time in my life, I got why they called it a broken heart, because all mine did was sit in my chest and ache with each beat.

And Beck…oh man I just loved him. Yeah yeah he fell for her because of a certain something on her list (teehee) and yes they obviously had feelings for each other waaaay before they actually did anything about it, but, for whatever reason, I dug it. It just had the perfect amount of peanut butter and JELLY-ness and a touch of angst (and again, not TOO much) that really was just the cherry on top of a fun little book.

“When I look at you, you know what I see?”
I met her gaze, finding it suddenly hard to breathe.
“I see the guy who saw me when no one else did,” she said. “That’s what matters to me. That’s who you are.”

So…I’m sure many of you will dismiss this book without a second thought-but, just think, if you’re having a rough day, a dark day, a sad day…maybe a smile on your face is all you need. And if you want a smile…you want Beck. Very cute. Very sweet. Very adorable. I hope some of you will try it-I know I can’t wait to get my signed copy from Apollycon from my lovely Jen Jen!!! Eeps 😊

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