*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - Mister Romance by Leisa Rayven

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Mister Romance

Author: Leisa Rayven

Publication Date: April 30th, 2017
Category/Genre: Contemporary Romance

Max Riley is the man of your dreams. Or at least he will be, for a price. 

 As his alter-ego Mister Romance, Max is a drop-dead gorgeous escort who makes romantic fantasies come to life. No sex, just swoon-worthy dates to die for, and the cream of New York's socialites can't get enough.  Whether they want a dominating billionaire, bad boy with a heart of gold, hot geek, sexy biker, or best friend who loves them from afar, Max can make it all happen, but he's careful to keep his real identity a secret. 

Enter investigative journalist Eden Tate. Having caught wind of the urban legend of Mister Romance from a lovestruck client, Eden is determined to publish a scathing expose on Max and his ability to swindle lonely society women out of their fortunes. 

Desperate to protect his anonymity and his clients, Max challenges Eden to give him three dates. If she doesn't fall in love with him, she can run her story with his blessing. If she succumbs to his charms, the story dies. 

Cynical Eden has no doubt she can resist his fake romance personas, but when the real Max admits he’s falling for her, she has to decide if the professional liar is telling the truth, or if the passionate man with the mysterious past is just one more character designed to con her out of her career-making story.

  
Don’t miss this sizzling new standalone from the internationally best selling author of Bad Romeo, Broken Juliet, and Wicked Heart.

Goodreads 

Pre-Order: Amazon 

4.5 “Romance Me” Stars

ARC provided by the author

Thank you!

Well, it’s no secret I’m a fan of Leisa Rayven and her sexy stories. About a year ago, I read Wicked Heart and I spent the rest of 2016 talking about how much I loved that book. In case you don’t know this, check my review and you’ll get a better idea. Spoiler alert: I’m still obsessed with it.

So 2017 rolls in and I hear Leisa is writing another book called Mister Romance, a story about a male escort.

Yes, you read it right.

A male escort as the love interest.

Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for a book like this? No? Well, a really long time. And it was coming from one of my go-to authors, so if you guessed that I started screaming, you’re totally right.

I could. not. wait. Then the cover came in and OMG, THAT FREAKING COVER!!! I COULD NOT BREATHE. Like the original cover for Wicked Heart, this cover was just freaking everything. Everything. Go look at it again. I know you want to.

*sighs*

So, yeah, I freaked out so much I pretty much begged Leisa Rayven for an ARC on Twitter, and she’s the best person because she took pity on me and gifted me with an advanced copy of this freaking perfect book.

In short: This book is amazing. Pre-order it right now. It's coming out tomorrow. Don't waste time. Start reading the moment Amazon delivers it on your Kindle. Do it!

For the long version, stay with me.

Leisa Rayven is the best, but she’s a little evil because she sent me the ARC late at night (at least it was late here), and what do you think I did when I got it?

Of course I opened it.

And it was just like, “Oh, I’m just going to read the first chapter to get to know the main character and then I’ll stop”. HAHAHAHAHHAHAH

So not what happened. Obviously.

I started reading and suddenly it was 4 am on a Friday!!!!! And I had to get up mega early the next day. And I knew I had a busy couple of days ahead, and that I’d also have people over on the weekend, so why, why did I torture myself by starting this book??

The only reasonable solution was to try to read as much as I could when people were not looking. Yeah, I’m the best host. #sorrynotsorry

Now, it’s mega late on Sunday and I’ve finished it. And I’m so happy and tired AF. Honestly, I’d do it all over again.

Mister Romance is worth all the missing hours of sleep. It’s worth taking a day off to sit and do nothing but get to know Eden Tate and Max Riley. Lose yourself in these two strong and complex human beings who find their way to each other even when they didn’t want to initially.

Eden Tate is the woman who’ll allow you inside her head as she tells you her story and the tale of a male escort known as Mister Romance. Eden learns about this mysterious man through her sister (LOVE the relationship between them) and, as journalist looking for the article that will finally land her a promotion, she’s more than eager to find out who he is and expose everything about him. Let’s just say Eden doesn’t think very highly of the man who goes out on dates with rich woman to “romance them” for a ridiculous amount of money. She thinks he’s a con artist.

It also doesn’t help that Eden doesn’t believe in romance. She’s single, sexually active and not looking to change that.

Max is a complex character we get to know little by little as he reveals more of himself to Eden. What we know in the beginning is that he gets paid to play roles and seduce and show women who pay him too much $$$$/date how to have a perfect time with the man of their fantasies. We also know that he doesn’t sleep with them. Ever. For Max, it’s all about romance and not sex, and if you don’t know the difference, then trust him to enlighten you.

Max and Eden’s path crosses when Eden tries to get a date with Mister Romance so she can infiltrate his life/business and expose him and his clients. But Max is smart, so he sees something is up and turns her down. That doesn’t stop Eden, and Max realizes the only way to stop her is to contact her. Then, they make a deal: she agrees to go on three dates with him and he’ll tell her everything. There’s a catch: if Eden falls in love with him, she’ll refrain from publishing the article with everything he told her.

This means….Let the romance games begin.

I’ll tell you, the game begins early on. And it’s sexy AF.

In fact, it begins before you even realize. I caught on to what was happening in the first 15/20%, and at 4 a.m., when the “reveal” came, I started screaming: “I knew it! I knew it!”

This was 24% in, and I was already this invested.

This feeling didn’t change as the story progressed. On the contrary, it only increased. I was so freaking in and losing myself with everything Max did to seduce Eden.  I adored every twist and turn. Every character he played on their dates and every time he was himself with her. I adored how Eden had an inner battle when she realized romance was something she was scared of because of her past, but not exactly something she didn’t want.

Eden was easy to relate to and Max (Mister Romance) was even easier to desire. I wanted to be her and I wanted to have him, which is exactly what an author should want from her readers. All their scenes together were hot, intense and filled with sexual tension, which is something I’ve come to expect from Leisa Rayven’s books. But there was more than that (as if that wasn’t good enough).

Eden and Max had complex backstories. They were people shaped by their past and their traumas. People who carried ghosts, but found in each other the strength to fight those. There was more than just sexual tension. There was complexity, and that’s always something I’ll appreciate.

Speaking of sexual tension, I loved, loved, loved the pacing. The whole “I want you, but we shouldn’t” theme hit me in the feels. It lasted just as long as it needed to work for me. That means the characters and the readers won’t get instant satisfaction (and they shouldn’t). We’ll all have to beg for it and when things explode, they’ll explode perfectly. Meaning, you’ll have to wait for it, but you won’t mind waiting because the journey is angst-filled, and when you get to the sexy times, they’re freaking sexy. Those are definitely my favorite kind of romances. *sighs*

From the intriguing premise, the gorgeous cover, the likable and relatable characters to the amazing sexy scenes, Mister Romance is what you’re looking for if you’re into a good romance story. Go get the book and experience the wonders of being romanced by Mister Romance. 

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

*Grabby Hands* Release Tour & Review - Ninja Girl by Cookie O'Gorman

Title: Ninja Girl

Author: Cookie O'Gorman

Category/Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: March 30th 3017

Seventeen-year-old Snow-Soon Lee kicks ass--literally. She teaches at her family-owned martial arts gym, The Academy, and cares more about training to be the next Bruce Lee than hooking up. In fact, Snow's never even been kissed. But when Girls Night rolls around, Snow decides to prove to her friends (and herself) that she's not just some boring tomboy. Impulsively, she kisses a hot stranger and even manages to escape his two security guards.

One stolen kiss…

Ash Stryker's senior year sucks. His politician father pulled him out of Chariot High, separating him from his championship-winning soccer team. Now he's stuck at a prissy private school with no friends, no team and no chance of being scouted. On top of that, thanks to the death threats his dad's received, Ash has a security tail aka professional babysitters. When the mystery girl from the movies shows up at his school, rappelling from the rafters, Ash knows one thing: he won't let her get away again.

One interesting job proposition…

After a seemingly random attack, Ash's mother surprises everyone. She hires Snow to be Ash's personal bodyguard until after the election. But can Snow's kick-ass skills hold up against the rising threats to Ash's family? More importantly, can Ash convince his ninja girl to screw ethics and kiss him again?

Opposites attract in this YA romance where a smooth talker meets his match in the tough girl who (literally) sweeps him off his feet. Moral of the story:

Sometimes even bad boys need a bodyguard.

Add to Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

I stood up suddenly, needing to do…something. I knew what she was saying was total crap. I knew Nara was pure evil, and I didn’t have to prove anything to her. But right then I needed to prove something to myself. I was a girl dammit, and I wasn’t boring. I was a force.

Just like Bruce.

“Snow, what’s up?” Min asked, but instead of answering I headed in the opposite direction. While the others had been taking stock of hoodie guy, I’d been getting a read on his security. They were too far back to stop me. Part of me wanted to test them—to test me—and see if I could do this and still get away. I figured I had about a minute tops, but that’s all I’d need.

One last look over my shoulder told me all three girls were staring at me, mouths gaping, even Nara. Boring, she’d said earlier. I’d give her boring.

Taking a deep breath, I kept walking until I was almost even with hoodie guy’s seat, placed my hand on the chair back and swung my body over—right into his lap. Over his shoulder, I saw his security react. Too late.

He gasped, but I didn’t have time to explain.

“Sorry about this,” I whispered right before sealing my lips to his.

I’d taken him by surprise—that much was clear from the way his body tensed beneath mine. But he wasn’t trying to push me off. I’d intended it to be quick. A single brush with danger, a nod to teen girl impulsiveness, but the way his mouth melted under mine was unexpected. I fisted my hands in his shirt, pulling him closer. My lips, my entire body, went up in flames, but I couldn’t get close enough. It wasn’t until his hands came around my back that I remembered myself.

Pulling away, I came face-to-face with the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered again.

“I’m not,” he said.

And then his guards grabbed me.

4.0 “Ninja kisses” Stars

ARC provided by the author

Thank you!!

Last year, I was introduced to this great new indie author and I fell madly in love with her debut, Adorkable. If you haven’t read this book, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.

Since I loved, loved her debut, I was anxiously waiting for Cookie O’Gorman’s next book, and it didn’t disappoint.

Ninja Girl brought me a kickass girl, a funny, swoon-worthy boy, lots of romance and diversity! How could I not enjoy it?

The main character is Snow, a Korean teenager who teaches martial art at her family’s gym and wants to be the next Bruce Lee. Yeah, you read it right. She kicks ass. Literally. *faints* I know, I know. I love it, too. You know what else I love? Seeing her in action right in the beginning. The whole movie theater scene with Snow going all ninja and stealing a kiss from “mysterious” boy had me swooning hard. I think I fell in love with her, then.

The “mysterious” boy isn’t as mysterious if you’ve read Adorkable. Ash is the love interest, and HI, ASH! I mean, I didn’t remember liking Ash all that much, but it was probably because I was too invested in the other characters from her debut, because Ash is great. I really love him. He’s funny, he says what’s in his mind and he isn’t afraid to go after what he wants. In this case, he wants Snow, and girlfriend is going to make him work for it.

I don’t think Ash and Snow’s relationship falls into a specific trope, but it’s a mix of a bunch of those. There’s a little of fake relationship there, a little of friends turning into more… I liked seeing what Cookie did with it. There’s something they have in loads, though. Chemistry! I love how Cookie isn’t afraid to write her YA with a little heat. It’s nothing offensive or too out there, but her characters have the kind of chemistry that makes your chest burn, you know?

I thought this story required a certain level of suspension of disbelief at points, but it wasn’t something that really bothered me. It could’ve been a problem had I not been so invested in the characters and romance, but I doubt Cookie O’Gorman can write a romance book where I’m not invested in seeing the characters get together.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mix of action, a little suspense and a lot of romance, and I’m looking forward to what Mrs. O’Gorman writes next.

Cookie O'Gorman writes YA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns, quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her debut novel ADORKABLE is out now!

Author Links:

Website│Twitter│Facebook│Goodreads

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Sale Tour & Review - Tell Me How This Ends by Victoria de La O

 Title: Tell Me How This Ends
Author: Victoria De La O

Publication Date: November 1st, 2016
Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Swerve

RITA Nominated TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS Sale Alert!

In TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS Ryan is in love, Jude is in denial, and Lizzie wants both brothers, but by the time the truth comes out everyone is in too deep. No one wants to get hurt, but love and desire have a way of testing even the strongest bonds. Fans of Tamarra Webber and Erin McCarthy will adore this emotional and heartfelt RITA nominated family drama.

Snag it while you can for just $1.99!

Dear Readers,

Years ago a restless, troubled man sprang to life in my head, and he wouldn't leave me alone. He had a younger brother that he loved more than anything in the world, so I sat down and tried to write their story. And it wasn't very good. But these brothers--Jude and Ryan--never left me. A decade later, I realized that, like Frankenstein's monster, they were waiting for me to create their loves. And a few months later, Tell Me How This Ends was born. 

The book is the first in the Tell Me trilogy, which is heartfelt, fun, and sometimes emotional. It was my pleasure to follow Jude, Ryan, and their friends through three books. I'm not going to lie; there were tears when I wrote the final scene.

I am so honored that Tell Me How This Ends has been nominated for a RITA award, but I'm even more humbled by the readers who have taken the time to tell me they love the book. I hope you love it, too.

2017 RITA® Finalist

Brothers Jude and Ryan McAllister are inseparable. When Jude stepped in to raise Ryan after the death of their mother, it became the two of them against the world. But the scars it left were bone-deep. Then Lizzie Price comes along. 

Lizzie hopes Ryan's kindness can help heal her wounds from a toxic relationship. But when she meets Jude, their powerful attraction makes him difficult to resist. The problem is, Lizzie doesn't realize Jude and Ryan are brothers, and they don't know they're falling for the same girl. 

By the time the truth comes out, everyone is in too deep. Ryan is in love, Jude is in denial, and Lizzie wants both brothers. All of them agree that no one deserves to get hurt. But love and desire have a way of testing even the strongest bonds.

Download at:

Amazon → http://amzn.to/2nMF5QZ

Nook → http://bit.ly/2ohKuDo

iBook → http://apple.co/2nnJhLr

Google → http://bit.ly/2oNW9dT

Kobo → http://bit.ly/2nnMdrK

Overdrive → http://bit.ly/2oNMiVi

 

The Tell Me Series
Tell Me How This Ends
Tell Me Not to Go

Tell Me That You're Mine (coming summer 2017)

 

Copyright © 2016 Victoria De La O

I can’t sleep, so I head to the kitchen. I don’t bother to turn on the lights, because the dark doesn’t scare me. Most of the terrifying things in life happen in the daylight.

Ryan must be up, too, because I see light coming from the kitchen. Sometimes we meet like this in the middle of the night and eat a snack. I make the PB&J, and he pours the milk.

There is someone standing at the faucet but it’s not Ryan, and my brain takes an extra couple seconds to compute what I’m seeing. Elizabeth is there, her back turned to me, her face in profile. Her hair is messy and long, and she’s wearing a shirt that comes to midthigh. She turns around and sees me. Her mouth and eyes go wide, but she doesn’t scream, like a silent movie actress.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, which doesn’t make sense to me at first. Then I see she’s wearing Ryan’s Panic! at the Disco T-shirt. My brain has apparently been dormant for the past two minutes, because suddenly, it chugs to life. My synapses fire, and I make connections, and I know that this is the girl my brother has just fucked, and even worse, has fallen for.

I can’t help it: I start to laugh. I laugh so hard that my eyes water, and I slide against the cabinets to the floor. She walks around the counter and stands in front of me. I stare at her legs, which are long and smooth. She crouches down, pulling her—Ryan’s—T-shirt down so I don’t see anything essential on the way.

“Stop it,” she says, looking at me like I’m crazy.

“Guess it’s going well with college boy,” I say, taking in her bedhead. “You definitely picked the better brother.”

“Oh, my God,” She covers her mouth, and I feel like a bully, but I can’t care.

Praise for TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS:

"...readers will be so invested in these protagonists that they'll keep flipping through the pages to see how everything turns out."—Library Journal

“If you have not discovered Victoria De La O, stop what you are reading and go read Tell Me How This Ends! If you are an Abbi Glines fan, you will love Victoria De La O’s writing.”—My Girlfriend’s Couch Blog

“Tell Me How This Ends is one of my favorite books ever—I was totally engrossed in the love triangle between brothers Ryan and Jude and sweet Lizzie.”—Siobhan Davis, Amazon Bestselling Author

 

Victoria De La O is the award-winning and RITA®-nominated author of the Tell Me romance trilogy, including Tell Me How This Ends. A native of California’s Silicon Valley, she spends time hanging out with her family, arguing about films, and partaking in chicanery.

She also enjoys writing about women’s issues, practicing Wonder Woman spins, and talking to readers, so hit her up on Facebook or Twitter.

 

4.0 “That’s how you write a freaking love triangle” Stars

ARC via NetGalley

Thank you, Swerve!

You guys, I did not expect to love this book this much. To be completely honest, I was kind of asking myself why I had requested a book with a “The Vampire Diaries” (minus the vampires) love triangle, since I had such a traumatizing experience with the whole Stefan-Elena-Damon dynamic. #TeamStelena in case you don’t already know.

Anyway… I feared this would be messy and the author would ruin the main character by making her force brother against brother while turning the MC into someone so selfish I couldn’t stand her (yeah, CW-Elena, I’m talking about you!). But, guys, I was wrong. So wrong.

Warning: Sorry, but hard to keep some spoilers out.

 This is the story of brothers Jude and Ryan and the girl they both love, Lizzie.

Lizzie meets shy, nerdy, super cute, Shakespeare-loving Ryan first. She’s attracted to him and asks him to tutor her—yeah, that kind of tutoring sessions, but Ryan doesn’t realize it at first. Cute.

But Lizzie also meets sexy, dark, mysterious, one-night-stand-kind-of-guy Jude. The attraction between them melts your Kindle, but Lizzie has had her fair share of guys with an attitude and Jude makes it clear he won’t be good for her. I mean, he’ll be good for her body (so damn good), but not to her heart. So they say their good-byes.

Lizzie is now free to see how it goes with Ryan, the boy who’s the opposite of the ex-boyfriend who made her feel like crap and even jeopardized her relationship with her father. Dude, Ryan is adorable. The perfect boyfriend. I’d date him. I’d let my daughter (even though I don’t have one) date him. He makes Lizzie happy.

There’s just this small problem. Ryan’s brother? Yeah… He’s the guy Lizzie can’t stop thinking about, and when he sees him again, she realizes he can’t stop thinking about her, either.

This is where I first steeled myself and waited for the author to make all the wrong calls. This is also where I learned Victoria De La O wouldn’t be making one.

Lizzie’s reaction when she realizes Ryan and Jude are related isn’t perfect, but it’s perfect for the situation. She doesn’t pretend nothing is happening. She doesn’t lie to Ryan. She tells him the truth: Dude, I kissed your bro and I liked it. *hugs Lizzie* *hugs the author* *hugs Ryan* I love how she just deals with it and is as honest as the situation calls. This was probably the moment I started believing this story would actually give me what I needed-a great love triangle that doesn’t make the characters look like a bunch of morons.

Ryan, being a little selfish, which is also great because it makes him human since he’d been so perfect up to then, asks Jude if he can deal with Lizzie being his little bro’s girlfriend. Jude, being selfless and showing how much he just wants his brother to be happy, says: go ahead, little bro, and date the only girl I think I could ever really fall for.

I adore how complex the relationship between Ryan and Jude is. How there’s not a good brother vs bad brother as one would initially think. Ryan can be selfish and dependable. He’s so used to having Jude’s support that he can take it for granted, but he’s such a pure soul that you can also see he doesn’t do it on purpose. And Jude, poor Jude, is so involved in his sense of duty and responsibility, so afraid of putting himself out there, that all you want to do is hug him and tell him that he isn’t the bad guy he wants other people to think. He deserves to be happy, too.

The thing is, it doesn’t seem possible for Jude and Ryan to find that happiness when it comes to their love lives together, because they’re desperately in love with the same girl. You know what else is the problem? You want them both to be happy and you can’t figure out how to fix that mess. At least I couldn’t. I just sat and felt and waited and felt some more.

This book made me feel so much. Gah! It was so good! So sexy. So intense. The angst? *sighs* Everything I needed.

Enough with the spoilers now because you should experience every step of this book without knowing what comes next.

Let me just say that the ending was everything I didn’t even know I needed. The way the three of them reacted to the reveal? The way Lizzie handled herself and refused to go the easy way? That letter? Perfection. That freaking letter made me tear up. Seriously. It just about killed me.

Look, I know a lot of people have problems with love triangles, but I can’t fault this one. I really can’t. Lizzie acted human (she made mistakes), but she was a good human (she tried really hard not to get between the brothers or cause permanent damage, and I think she succeeded). Ryan and Jude didn’t let a girl destroy the bond they had. The author didn’t turn them into idiots. In the contrary, she made me care for all three of them. She made me suffer and laugh and flirt with them. I couldn’t ask for anything else.

There were a few things here and there that I wished had been different, but they’re so small compared to the beauty of the relationships and the complexity of these characters and the situation they were involved…

Go read this books, guys. Even if you’re not a big fan of love triangles, go read it.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.