Early Review: Paper Hearts by Claire Contreras

Posted in 4 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Paper Hearts by Claire Contreras
Series: Hearts #2 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: September 9th 2015
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

I lost her.
No, I didn’t lose her. I threw her away.
She was my best friend.

I was never supposed to fall in love with her.
I was careless.
She was heartbroken.

I thought I was doing fine. But here she is, years later, forced to work with me, reminding me why I fell in love with her in the first place.
And this time I’m going to do everything in my power to never let her go.

“Real love stories never end.”

Second chance romances are probably my favorite kinds of romances to read. The angst, the heartbreak, the reunion, the rekindled love… everything about the trope just appeals to me. So I had high expectations for Paper Hearts – ever since I read Kaleidoscope Hearts (my review here) and Torn Hearts (the free prequel novella to Paper Hearts), Mia and Jensen’s story was a highly anticipated read of mine. And I’m so glad to say that Claire Contreras didn’t let me down – Paper Hearts is a fantastic, heart-wrenching second chance romance that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. It’s the kind of book that will tug on your heartstrings, make your heart pound, and leave you breathless.

It’s been said that we’re only given one chance at things in life. I’d love to prove that wrong.

Normally, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to read this book – but I felt like I just HAD to know Mia and Jensen’s story. In the prequel (which is also in the beginning of Paper Hearts), we learn that Jensen and Mia were the inseparable, totally-in-love kind of couple. But when Jensen goes off to college, their relationship takes a break… and then Jensen does something that changes the course of their lives forever. My heart broke for the two of them – they went from being best friends who were in love to being shattered beyond repair. I honestly didn’t know if I’d be able to forgive Jensen for what he did. But reading Paper Hearts has put everything in perspective, and now I’m just so glad to have experienced Mia and Jensen’s love story.

My heart felt like it wanted to leap out and settle inside of his. Not again, I told myself. I knew if it did, I’d never get it back.

Mia and Jensen have rarely seen each other in the years since they’ve broken apart, but now Mia is moving to New York City to work as a photographer at the same place Jensen writes his column. In the same city and in the same workplace, it’s inevitable that they’ll see each other again. And when they do, it’s obvious that the love between them has never waned, as much as Mia wishes it would. But with Jensen determined to win back the love of his life, can Mia find it in herself to forgive him and move on… with him?

Mia is a wonderful, well-rounded character. My heart was completely invested in this girl, who’s been through so much heartbreak because of Jensen. She’s smart and tough, and though she’s not without faults – she was partly to blame for her and Jensen’s bad breakup, though the majority of the blame definitely belongs to him – I really enjoyed her character. And I was all ready to be totally pissed at Jensen on her behalf, but Jensen surprised me, in the best way. Through the little snippets of his column, written in his POV, we see how much he regrets hurting Mia, how devastated at their breakup he was, and how much he still wants another chance. I could literally FEEL how much Jensen still loves Mia, which was something I definitely needed in this book. I also was expecting a lot of groveling, and the columns were basically that. Claire Contreras did a fantastic job with Jensen’s character, showing his flaws, his motivations, and most of all, his complete devotion to Mia.

Maybe our souls really are scattered in the things we love, and we are all completely lost, but from the moment she looked at me, I felt like I’d been found.

I was expecting a lot of angst in Paper Hearts, but I’d say the angst was more sweet than anything. Both the main characters have grown up and matured over the years, which I appreciated. The pace of the book was spot-on – there are a lot of obstacles that Jensen and Mia need to overcome before they can finally have that HEA, and everything played out at the perfect pace. Even though I may not have completely loved Paper Hearts, it’s still a brilliant read that fans of second chance romances should not miss. It’s a GREAT read, one I recommend – if you’re into intense love stories that will make you will feel so much, you should definitely give this book a try. You won’t regret it!

“I love you, and there’s no negotiating with what I feel in my heart.”

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Reading Order: Hearts series

#1 ~ Kaleidoscope Hearts: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Paper Hearts: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Elastic Hearts: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

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8Sep2015

Release Day Blitz + Excerpt: Into My Arms by Lia Riley + Surprise Cover Reveal!

Posted in Cover Reveals, Spotlight by Lacey

Happy Release Day to Lia Riley – Into My Arms is live!

Into My Arms by Lia Riley
Series: Off the Map #3.2 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: September 8th 2015

“You’re here because I want to touch you.”

Beth Jacobs spends her days slogging away in a corporate “fish bowl,” as the hard-working assistant for one of North America’s youngest dot-com billionaires. Aleksander “Z” Zavtra is the definition of dark and dangerous with a sexy Eastern European snarl. He’s also ruthless. Curt. Exacting. An infuriating man she loves to hate. While Beth hardly sees him, it’s as if he’s always watching her . . .

Z doesn’t do romance. But he never expected to be captivated by a whip-smart, fiery assistant who just so happens to share an uncanny resemblance to the beautiful face that haunts his dreams. He craves Beth. He wants to stroke her skin, to feel her heat beneath him. And what Z wants, he gets. And for one weekend, the lines between employer and employee are blurred as Z and Beth give themselves completely to the dark pleasures they’ve both been dreaming about.

Buy Links:
Amazon • B&N • iBooks • Google Play • Kobo • BAM

Now here’s an excerpt from Into My Arms! ❤

“Kiss me,” I challenge him. He twists around words and dances from truths. But he can’t evade body language.

He gazes at me as if I’m something he’s never seen. “I tell you how I did a terrible thing, and you offer a kiss.”

“There is much you aren’t saying, so maybe we need to streamline the conversation. Your lips touching mine. What could be simpler.”

For once, I have taken him by total surprise.

“Or more destructive,” he says.

“You kiss me with your eyes every time you look at me.”

“Ah.” He goes utterly still then. “Very well, then. Yes. I think I understand.”

“I want you to do it,” I say softly, reaching out my hand. “Please. What can I call you? Aleksander?”

“No, that’s what he used to call me, the bastard who was my father. At boarding school, I was Sander, and that, too, never felt right, not exactly.”

“So what do you prefer?”
“Call me whatever you like. You are the exception to my rule. The exception to all my rules.”

“Why?” My voice is breathless, more than a little unsteady.

“If I knew that, I’d be a wiser man than I am now.” His eyes close and his next breath is long, slow, and shuddering. “If I kiss you, will you hold still?”

Hold still if he actually kisses me? The idea of his full lips slanting on mine, his hard chest pushing insistent against my breasts is enough to make me writhe all on its own. “No.”

His gaze snaps to mine.

“How can I promise such a thing? After all, a kiss isn’t one-sided, at least not a good kiss.”

He stands, wiping his hands on his suit pants, his shirt a little wrinkled.

He walks to the window and looks out at nothing but night, seeing only his own ghost face reflection, and my own behind him. He places a hand on the glass and the heat from his skin heats the pane. When he turns, it remains, a foggy imprint.

I move to the end of the bed, hang my feet off, the robe slipping off one shoulder.

He is there then. I don’t even have time to register movement. He braces his hands on either side of the mattress, on the outside of my thighs, and there is no more oxygen in the room. The flame in his expression has sucked it all out.

His lips crush mine as if time has run out. We don’t have the night, or the hours left to the weekend. There is only and ever this moment. No play-acting or showing off. No coy moves. It’s need, pure and raw, urgent and fierce. His lips are cooler than I imagined. A distant place in me registers that thought. Cool expect there is his tongue, easing against mine, and the contrast makes me sigh.

The moments when I realize I exist are infrequent. Flashes of realization that I am alive, and this is an actual life that I am living and for those few precious moments I’m on the outside, looking at my whole world and seeing it not for what it normally feels like, an all-consuming crushing adventure rather than a spider’s web tangling me.

And that’s what this. His lips. My lips. Nothing else is touching. Not hands or bodies. Not even our faces. Only our hungry mouths.

Reading Order: Off the Map series

#1 ~ Upside Down: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Sideswiped: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Inside Out: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3.1 ~ Carry Me Home: Ebook • Goodreads
#3.2 ~ Into My Arms: My Review • Ebook • Goodreads

Here’s the cover reveal for Lia Riley’s first book in a brand new series, With Every Breath!

With Every Breath by Lia Riley
Series: Wanderlust #1
Publication Date: December 29th 2015

BREATHE DEEP . . . AND JUMP IN

At the ends of the earth, Patagonia is a land where ambition trumps reason and the savage summit of La Aguja lures the most determined climbers. It’s also the last spot a “play-it-safe girl” like Auden Woods expects to find herself. But she’ll lace up her brand-new hiking boots and do whatever it takes to secure a dream job at an adventure magazine . . . even if it kills her. And it just might. When disaster strikes, her only chance at survival comes in the form of the surliest, sexiest mountaineer ever to come out of Scotland.

After a climbing accident cost him his brother, professional mountaineer Rhys MacAskill is at the end of his rope. Redemption is not in his future. That is, until a terrifying storm blows a budding journalist into his tent and it’s up to him to make sure they both survive until morning. Despite the demons weighing on him, Rhys can’t resist the temptation of the charming American and one wild night just isn’t enough.

Auden and Rhys soon learn there are no shortcuts as they navigate their way between life, death, and atonement, and discover something they never expected-love.

Buy Links:
Amazon Ebook • Amazon Paperback • Barnes & Noble

After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, Lia Riley scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. When not torturing heroes (because c’mon, who doesn’t love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live mostly in Northern California.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

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8Sep2015

Release Week Blitz + Giveaway: Sweet Temptation by Wendy Higgins

Posted in Giveaways, Spotlight by Lacey

Happy Release Day to Wendy Higgins – Sweet Temptation is live!

Sweet Temptation by Wendy Higgins
Series: The Sweet Trilogy #4 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: September 8th 2015

Bad boy Kaidan Rowe has never wanted for anything—money, popularity, musical talent…hot girls—but seducing them is part of his duty as a Nephilim, slave to the demon Dukes. As the son of the Duke of Lust, Kaidan has learned his father’s ways, becoming a master of passion, a manipulator of chemistry. Disobeying his father would mean certain death. Thankfully for Kaidan, he’s good at his job. And he enjoys it.

Until he meets Anna Whitt—sweet, smart, feisty, and inexplicably good—the one girl seemingly immune to his charms. The daughter of a guardian angel and a fallen one, she has a certain power over him, one that makes him wish for more than he could ever deserve.

Determined to save all the Neph from their dark lives as the influencers of sin, Anna joins forces with Kaidan to overcome the demons’ oppressive ways. In the light of her affections, Kaidan must undergo his toughest test of all, a battle of the heart.

Sensual and swoon worthy, this companion volume to the acclaimed Sweet Evil series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins, told from the perspective of the irresistibly sexy and mysterious Kaidan Rowe, gives readers revealing insights into his struggle, his intense connection to Anna, and most of all, the true emotions that drive him.

Author Note:
Sweet Temptation will encompass the entire trilogy in a condensed version, beginning with Kai’s life before he met Anna, and taking readers through the epilogue of Sweet Reckoning. Sweet Temptation is a companion novel, not meant to be a stand alone story. It will definitely be a richer experience for those who have read the original trilogy.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iBooks

Read an excerpt from Sweet Temptation here!

Reading Order: The Sweet Trilogy

#1 ~ Sweet Evil: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Sweet Peril: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Sweet Reckoning: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#4 ~ Sweet Temptaiton: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today and NYT bestselling author of the Sweet Evil series from HarperTeen and her independently published Irish fantasy, See Me. She is a former high school English teacher who now writes full time, and lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her veterinarian husband, daughter, son, and doggie Rue.

Wendy earned a bachelor’s in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford. Writing Young Adult (YA) stories gives her the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal, daunting, and exciting years before adulthood.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Pinterest Tumblr • Instagram

1 Paperback of SWEET TEMPTATION and a signed bookplate and bookmarks. US Only.
Ends on September 18th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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8Sep2015

Cover Reveal: Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh

Posted in Cover Reveals by Lacey

I’m so excited to share the cover of Rock Redemption, the next upcoming book in Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss series!

Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh
Series: Rock Kiss #3 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: October 6th 2015

From New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh comes the next contemporary romance in the Rock Kiss series…

Kit Devigny could have loved rock guitarist Noah St. John. Their friendship burned with the promise of intense passion and searing tenderness…until the night Noah deliberately shattered her heart.

Noah knows he destroyed something precious the night he chose to betray Kit, but he’d rather she hate him than learn his darkest secret. All he has left is his music. It’s his saving grace, but it doesn’t silence the voices that keep him up at night. Chasing oblivion through endless one-night-stands, he earns a few hours’ sleep and his bad boy reputation.

When a media error sees Noah and Kit dubbed the new “it” couple, Kit discovers her chance at the role of a lifetime hinges on riding the media wave. Wanting–needing–to give Kit this, even if he can’t give her everything, Noah agrees to play the adoring boyfriend. Only the illusion is suddenly too real, too painful, too beautiful…and it may be too late for the redemption of Noah St. John.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Amazon UK • Barnes & Noble • Kobo • iTunes

Reading Order: Rock Kiss series

#1 ~ Rock Addiction: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#1.5 ~ Rock Courtship: My Review • Ebook • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Rock Hard: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Rock Redemption: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads (Oct. 6, 2015)

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling, Guild Hunter, and Rock Kiss series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a beautiful, charismatic guitarist with a dark past. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.

Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. Also, don’t forget to swing by the site to check out the special behind-the-scenes page for the Rock Kiss series, complete with photos of many of the locations used in the books.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

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6Sep2015

Early Review: Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre

Posted in 4.5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: September 7th 2015
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

A Hollywood Superstar. A Small Town Girl. Opposites shouldn’t always attract.

Cole Masten. Abandoned by his superstar wife, Hollywood’s Perfect Husband is now Hollywood’s Sexiest Bachelor: partying hard and screwing even harder. Watch out Los Angeles, there’s a new bad boy in town.

Summer Jenkins. That’s me, a small town girl stuck in Quincy, Georgia. I cook some mean chicken and dumplins, can bluff a grown man out of his savings in poker, and was voted Most Friendly my senior year.

We were from different worlds. Our lives shouldn’t have collided. But then Cole Masten read a book about my small town. And six months later, his jet landed on our dusty airstrip, and he brought Hollywood with him.

From the start, I knew he was trouble. For our town. And for me.

Sometimes, opposites just aren’t meant to attract.

THIS is how contemporary romance is done. Hollywood Dirt is just… SO. GOOD. It’s a bit slow in the beginning, but once it picked up the pace, I couldn’t stop reading. I finished this book with a smile on my face – actually, I had a smile on my face practically the whole time I was reading. Hollywood Dirt is an exceptionally well-told enemies-to-lovers, Hollywood romance. I just couldn’t get enough of Cole and Summer – I became so fully invested in their story. It’s a Hollywood romance – famous boy meets not-so-famous girl – but the way Alessandra Torre delivered the romance made it so much more than the cliché it could’ve been.

Hollywood Dirt is pure contemporary romance, which means it’s very different from Alessandra Torre’s previous books. It’s not dark, it’s not twisty, it’s not a WTF book… it’s very much a feel-good, enemies-to-lovers, contemporary romance with some Hollywood thrown in. So if you’re a fan of the author’s other books, this won’t be what you’re used to, but I highly, HIGHLY recommend you give it a try.

Cole Masten used to be one half of Hollywood’s “It” couple, but after catching his wife cheating on him and being handed divorce papers, life’s not going so good for him. He tries to lose himself in women, but it doesn’t work. The only thing that can keep his mind off the mess his life has become is his newest project, The Fortune Bottle, which is just so happens to be set in a small Southern town named Quincy.

I hated that man; he was an asshole unlike I’d ever known. Why God deemed to gift men like him with looks like that was beyond me. Or maybe looks like that shaped men into assholes like him.

Summer Jenkins lives in Quincy, and she’s just waiting for the day she can save enough money to get out and away from all the townspeople that have ostracized her after a prank she pulled. The last thing she expects is the ticket to her way out to be in the form of Hollywood hot-shot Cole Masten. Summer used to fantasize about the movie star, but reality of him? It turns out Cole is just an arrogant, rude, and conceited prick. A good-looking prick, but a prick nonetheless. Summer is less than impressed with Cole (understatement) but she puts on a nice face because she’s Southern and also because she wants a job with the movie that can pay her some money. But somehow, she ends up with the leading female role of The Fortune Bottle.

What ensues is an amazing enemies-to-lovers romance that I couldn’t get enough of. Summer HATES Cole, Cole does everything he can to spark Summer’s ire, they get on each other’s last nerves – the banter between them was just incredible to experience. I felt like I was THERE watching the two of them go at it. These two characters were what sucked me into this book. And, of course, underneath all the glares and the snarky comments, is the underlying chemistry that the two of them can’t seem to shake off. They want each other so bad, but how can a relationship be when they’re from such different worlds?

“Summer. Look at me.”
I did. It was hard not to, when he was that close. And God, he was gorgeous. So much so that it hurt, like staring at the sun, the pull of attraction so sharp and dangerous that it physically hurt my heart. It was staring at something you could never have but desperately wanted, despite any danger that accompanied the attraction.

I adored Summer, I really did. She’s no demure Southern woman – she gives as good as she gets with Cole, and I loved her for that. I also loved how determined she was to do what she had to do in order to get out of a town that doesn’t deserve her incredible heart. Cole took a little more time for me to warm up to. He’s just so… arrogant and rude to Summer in the beginning. I mean, yes, he just found out he wife was cheating on him, and he’s COLE MASTEN, but he’s definitely not a likable guy. But this was just in the beginning – pretty soon, I fell so hard for this man. The way he feels about Summer, the way he can’t stop thinking about her, the way he banters with her because he wants to see the incredible woman he knows she is… how could I not fall for him?

This was not a rebound, this was not infatuation, this was the end of his life as he knew it, and the realization hit that even if she didn’t want him, he would never ever find another woman like her, he would never get over her.

I remember the precise moment I fell in love with Cole – it was when Summer gave him a pet rooster. A PET ROOSTER. Oh my god, I couldn’t stop laughing at Cole and the way he was with Cocky (yes, he names his rooster Cocky). My favorite part of Hollywood Dirt (besides the awesome hate/love between the main characters) is definitely COCKY. This awesome rooster that Cole ends up loving so much. THAT was when I fell for this ridiculous man. And my love for him only kept growing when he started falling for the woman he was meant to be with.

They say that love is finding your soul’s match in another. I found my match. I found him, let him wrestle me to the ground, and then turned around and made him mine.

I applaud the author for her exquisite writing and fantastic storytelling. This enemies-to-lovers romance is nearly flawless – it’s fun, sexy, and so heartwarming that you’ll want to clutch at your heart by the time you’re done. Seriously, this is a wonderful book you don’t want to miss out on. If you’re a fan of contemporary romances, Hollywood Dirt is a MUST READ!

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Also by Alessandra Torre

Black Lies: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Sex Love Repeat: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Tight: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Love, Chloe: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Moonshot: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

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