Monday, July 28, 2014

BLOG TOUR ~ Taste by Cambria Hebert!














One taste is never enough…

Spencer Waller’s main purpose in life is to protect and serve. After spending years in the military, he gets a coveted spot on the Secret Service detail protecting the president. Spence doesn’t have time for women or all the work having a relationship with one requires. But just because he isn’t looking for a lady doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate a beautiful one when he sees her. 

And he makes it a point to see one in particular every single day.

Elle Bond has literally chopped and fried her way to the top of the food chain. Earning a coveted position in the White House as the president’s personal chef, she figures her professional life can only get better. Her personal life, on the other hand, could use a little bit of an overhaul, and because of that, she tries to ignore the charm-dripping cookie thief every time he comes into her kitchen. After all, she knows better than anyone that just one taste of something good is never enough.

One night after work, Elle is assaulted, threatened, and given an ultimatum. She can’t go to the police, and she sure as hell can’t do what she was ordered. 

But she has to. Or else.

Pale, shaken, and scared to death, Elle confides in Spence, and his protective instincts take over. Together, Elle and Spencer have to uncover a sinister plot and stop it before someone ends up dead.










 
Excerpt 1:

From this close I could see the scruff growing in on his jaw area, it was dark blond too and made him look totally delicious.
Holding my shirt up with one hand he reached out with the other, gliding his fingers across my stomach, just below my ribcage. “Here?” he whispered, staring at the area.
I nodded, not bothering to glance down. The skin stung lightly as he caressed it. I didn’t care. Frankly, it could hurt like hell and I still would have let him touch it. Desire suffused my limbs, making them heavy. I felt goose bumps break out over my bare skin, and maybe I should have been embarrassed at my reaction because really there wasn’t anything sexual to what he was doing but my body sure as well acted like there was.
He frowned a little when my muscled trembled beneath him and glanced up. “Does it hurt?”
I shook my head, unable to speak.
“It’s just red. No blisters,” he answered, not looking back down at the “burn” but not pulling his fingers away either. Spencer watched me as he dragged the tops of his knuckles down the curve of my waist and moved across my navel.
“You burned anywhere else?” he rumbled in a low, throaty tone.
Man, I wish I was. I wished I could point out a thousand injuries just to give him a reason to not lift his hand.
“No,” I whispered.
He glided his hand over my hip and curved his palm around the dip in my waist, tugging me just a little bit closer. Just one step… that’s all I needed to take to bring my bare waist up against his body.
I tilted my head back when he bent, lowering his face toward mine. I anticipated his kiss, I craved it… part of me thought I might need it.
He stopped just inches away, his heavy lidded eyes spearing mine. “Nice drawers,” he whispered.
It took me a second to realize what he said, I was too far under his spell.
But when his lips turned up in an onery smirk his words penetrated my lust laden brain I gasped and leaped back, pulling my shirt from his hand and yanking it down over my “drawers”.
“Oh my God!” I burst out. “You are such a pig!”
He laughed. “What? I was paying you a compliment.”
I groaned, still yanking at the hem of my shirt. “You’re making fun of me!” I challenged.
He laid a hand over his heart and looked at me solemnly. “I do swear that no one wears polka dots like you do.”
I. Was. Going. To. Die. Of embarrassment.



Excerpt 2:

The room was completely silent except for the light scrawling of my pen across paper. Maybe that’s why I heard the sound.
It was a low scraping sound, like wood rubbing against wood. I tilted my head, confused. It was an odd sound to hear in the middle of the night, something I might not even think twice about if it were daylight.
But it wasn’t.
A muffled thump overhead caused my entire body to tighten like a shoelace with a double knot. My head snapped back to stare up at the ceiling.
I was being crazy.
I was being paranoid.
Thump.
There was someone in the apartment!
A surge of adrenaline so powerful it blurred my vision for a few seconds rocketed through me. My brain tried to think as my body went into overdrive. That first sound, someone had opened a window upstairs. The thump was when that someone dropped their up-to-no-good ass into my house.
Still clutching the pen, I raced for the stairs, out of my mind with fear. All the times my mother told me I needed to get a landline phone installed haunted me in that moment. My only means of calling for help was upstairs, beside my bed, in the form of my smart phone.
She was never going to let me hear the end of this.
If I survive. The thought floated through my head like a vicious taunt. Another light scuffling sound upstairs had my heart thumping even harder.
My God, it might not be me they hurt!
I wasn’t quiet on my way up the old wooden steps. In fact, I sounded like a herd of elephants that needed to lose about twenty pounds.
Good.
It would draw all the attention of the no good dirty rotten bastards in here.
Come get me, assholes.
It was dark upstairs except for the nightlight that lit up the hallway. Against the long wall across from that light, I saw a dark, lurking shadow pass. I gasped and my blood pressure skyrocketed so high that my scalp likely should have blown off the top of my head.
Holy shit, this was scary.
But I had to be strong. I had to be a fighter. I was a fighter.
The intruder appeared at the top of the stairs, slipping out of my bedroom just as I cleared the top step. His body tensed when he saw me, and then he rushed me without warning.























Cambria Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series, the new adult Death Escorts series, and the new adult Take it Off series. She loves a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and children (both human and furry) where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com





            















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Monday, July 21, 2014

RELEASE BLITZ ~ Craving Absolution by Nicole Jacquelyn!









Farrah Miller and Cody “Casper” Butler have a longstanding relationship that both refuse to discuss.


It isn’t romantic.


It may not even be classified as a friendship.


Casper’s been saving Farrah from herself for longer than he’d care to admit, watching silently as she drowned herself in alcohol. Then, when she finally got her act together, he left. 

He told himself he was giving her time to sort herself out. 

He tried to give her space.



But getting shot in the chest can change a man’s perspective, and Casper’s done waiting.


When he shows up on her doorstep one night, everything changes.


He’s the man who’s seen her at her very worst.


She’s his weakness.


He runs when things get hard.


She never lets anyone see below the surface and is terrified of being abandoned.


He knows it’s a long shot, that there’s a good chance she’ll never drop her guard for him—but he has to try. Because a life with Farrah is exactly what he wants—even if he has to fight her for it.














This is by far my favourite in the Craving Series (yes I know I say that every time) but this time Nicole just shot it out of the park. I LOVED Casper/Cody & Farrah.

There were so many players in this story and they all weaved together beautifully to give us some real insight to Farrah & Cody.

Where to begin, we all know Farrah watched her boyfriend being murdered & that Cody was shot as a prospect on guard duty, Farrah had suffered at the hands of her abusive mother & step father & Cody was the all American boy next door whose parents had been brutally murdered & his sister was lucky to escape with her life. Farrah has always seemed self absorbed & wild in the past two books so I just couldn’t see how this relationship was going to work.

Cody had decided that Farrah was worth the trouble and saw beyond her issues and he was there for her whenever she called, she’s so damaged & delicate and has made real attempts to turn her life around. I get it now, I get why she hit the self destruct button and I really warmed to her & wanted her to have happiness so much. When they finally figured out the way forward it was hard to imagine them ever being apart!

Nicole just blended all of the side characters seamlessly, the plot was clever and kept you guessing and not knowing who to trust. I adored how they were a calm in Camerons storm and Farrahs seriously screwed up relationship with her father was heartbreaking. Brennas protectiveness of Cody & Farrahs selflessness for her best friend & her god son. Gran & Lily were awesome and when put together so seemingly effortlessly it all kept me completely enthralled and it was a definite could not put down read.


4.5 Books Knocked Off










Nicole Jacquelyn is the mom of two little girls and a full time college student. She hasn’t watched television in well over a year, she still does things that drive her mother crazy, and she loves to read. At eight years old, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she told people she wanted to be a mom. When she was twelve her answer changed- to author. By the time she was eighteen, when people asked her what she wanted to do with her life, she told them she really wanted to be a writer- but the odds of that happening were so slim that she’d get her business degree “just to be safe”. Her dreams stayed constant. First she became a mom, then she went to college, and during her senior year- with one daughter in first grade and the other in preschool, she sat down and wrote a story.









                            





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Monday, July 14, 2014

BLOG TOUR ~ Take by Ella Frank!














TAKE 
verb: to reach for and hold in one’s hands or get into one’s possession, power or control. 

Logan Mitchell is a man who’s always been more than happy to take what he wants. It’s a philosophy that’s proven lucrative in both his business and personal life, and never was it more apparent than the night he laid eyes on Tate Morrison. After pulling out all the stops and convincing the sexy bartender to give him a try—he’s hooked. 
Now, Logan finds himself in a predicament that demands more from him than a smart-ass answer and his innate ability to walk away when things get too deep. 
He has a choice to make, and it’ll force him to do something he’s never done before—take a chance.

Tate Morrison knows all about taking a chance. He took the biggest one of his life the night he showed up at Logan’s apartment to explore his unexpected reaction to the man. 
Ever since then, he’s thought about little else.
At first he was convinced his attraction was based solely on his body’s curiosity. But the more time he spends with the silver-tongued lawyer, the more Tate realizes that their physical chemistry is only the beginning. 
He’s starting to catch a glimpse of what life with Logan would be like, and it’s one full of excitement and satisfaction—a far cry from what he had in the past with his soon to be ex-wife.


Each man will face their fears as they begin to understand the true meaning of give and take. Their feelings for one another will be tested, as will their very beliefs. But now that they’ve found love where they least expected it, will they be brave enough to reach out and take it?
















“That’s your truck?”
“Yes.”
“It’s so…”

“So what?” Logan challenged as he pulled his keys from his pocket.
“Old?”
“Excuse me. I’ll have you know I was driving this baby all through college and she still runs like a dream.”
Tate watched as Logan walked over to run his hand over the scratched-up tailgate, and he was amazed that he even made that look sexy. Like he was stroking a lover.
“And it’s a she, huh?”
Now around at the passenger’s side, Logan opened the door and looked at him over the bed of the truck. “Yeah. Jealous?”
Laughing, Tate walked over to where Logan stood with a hand on the door and kissed him slowly on the mouth. 
“I’m jealous of anything you stroke like that.”
“Get in the truck, Tate.”
“Or else?”
Logan stepped forward, crowding him back against the inside frame of the vehicle. “You’re not ready for the or else…”





                                                                         

                                                                    





I love this series but I have a confession to make, when I read Try, I was thinking to myself -really??? Would a guy who had never questioned his sexuality really fall for another man, albeit a handsome, charming lawyer who happened into the bar he worked at one night? Not that I didn’t love Try, I did but it just nagged away in the back of my mind that I wasn’t 100% invested.

Well Take blew away any doubt I had, where Try saw them struggle to be together, Take is all about them staying together. We see a whole different side to Logan, his vulnerable side and in finding out about what happened to him in the past we learn why he won’t let Tate hide their relationship.

Tate grows so much in this book, he’s had so much to contend with emotionally but that was just the tip of the iceberg to what he faces in this book and face it he does, with Logan at his back he stands up to everybody he loves and what happens to him is truly heartbreaking.

I love how the guys are with each other, the banter, the emotion, the sincerity and the sex is HOT! They tie each other in knots and end up on a more level footing, seeming to know who needs to be strong for who as the situation dictates.
We also see more of the old gang in this book, game night was genius and Tate is accepted into the fold without any hesitation on anybody's part and it was a hoot to read. 
And Cole *sigh* Cole was just a sweetheart in this book, he was truly there for Logan, pointing out the obvious and not letting him self destruct, it was heart warming to read and made me love Cole just a little bit more.


The ending is abrupt but perfect and left me hankering for book 3, I cannot wait!

4 Books Knocked Off!






















Ella Frank is a #1 Amazon Bestselling Author. She writes both contemporary and erotic fiction and is best known for her Exquisite Series, Try and her most recent novel Veiled Innocence.
The minute she began her love affair with reading, she became and avid supporter of the romance genre and has never looked back. 

Ella is Australian born and bred but currently resides in Houston, Texas with her husband. 












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