A Little Too Hot by Lisa Desrochers
Series: A Little Too Far #3 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: January 21st 2014
Purchase: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iBooks
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher (William Morrow Impulse) in exchange for an honest review
From USA Today bestselling author Lisa Desrochers comes the third book in her sizzling new adult series.
If you play with fire …
Tossed out of college and cut off by her parents, Samantha West is in pretty dire straits. So when her rocker best friend hooks her up with a job dancing at a gentlemen’s club, who is she to turn it down? Plus, there are rules to dancing at Benny’s: No touching, keep your clothes on at all times, and never get closer than three feet. Unfortunately for Sam, her first private client makes her want to break every single one of them.
Harrison Yates is scorching hot, but he’s got a past that involves being left at the altar not too long ago. Sam is determined to make him forget about his ex, but when she makes her move, it flings her life into a spiral of chaos she never saw coming. Because Harrison Yates isn’t who he seems to be. And his secret will probably get her killed.
“Every page is deliciously breathtaking, wickedly sexy and sensational. A LITTLE TOO HOT is wonderfully unique and a LOT HOT! I am a HUGE Lisa Desrochers fan.”
— KATY EVANS, New York Times bestselling author of REAL
“Lisa is brilliant at creating sizzling sexual tension and impossible circumstances that make the reader hold their breath all the way to happy ever after. Sam and Harrison are more than A Little Too Hot, they are scorching!”
— JAY CROWNOVER, New York Times bestselling author of RULE
“Lisa Desrochers’ best yet! A LITTLE TOO HOT is hotter than hot with all the emotional punch to back it up!”
— SOPHIE JORDAN, New York Times bestselling author
A Little Too Hot is my favorite so far of the series! Lisa Desrochers gives us another exciting, sexy book in this fantastic series. It went in such a different direction than I expected, and I loved that! To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling it in the first 25% of the book. There was nothing really new or special about ALTH, but then PLOT TWIST! The book took such a drastic turn, and it really perked me up, and I started enjoying the book more and more. So for those who feel like giving up in the beginning of the book, don’t! You have to finish because you’re in for a wild ride–there’s tons of action, sexual tension, and thrills!
Samantha was introduced in the first book of the series as Lexie’s best friend who was in love with Trent, Lexie’s step-brother and now fiancé (yeah–long story). After Trent broke up with Sam to be with Lexie, Sam just kept spiraling down–she loses her best friend, she parties harder and harder, she gets kicked out of school, she gets kicked out by her mother and she has nowhere to live. But her friend Jonathan ends up hooking her up a job as a dancer. She’s not a stripper, but she does dance provocatively for men.
On her first dance, Sam totally kills it–because there’s a man who catches her eye who’s watching her. She wants impress him, and she does. His name is Harrison, and he is hot hot hot! Sam has never felt the way she feels about Harrison before, not even when she was in love with Trent. Harrison makes her feel alive and sexy. They talk and get to know each other more and more, but there’s always an underlying tension between them. It’s obvious the two want more, but Sam’s job has a hands-off policy with clients, and Harrison is one.
Here I was smoothly going along reading this book, not really loving it, but not hating it either, when out of the blue, Lisa Desrochers completely pulls the rug out from under me and shocks the hell out of me! There is a MAJOR plot twist that I absolutely didn’t see coming! Props to the author for the fantastic, surprising twist! This was when the book really captured my attention and had me hooked. I don’t want to spoil anything, because the shock from the twist is just so jaw-dropping and you never see it coming! Loved this part of the book!
Everything started picking up after this–we learn who Harrison really is and the action in the book intensifies immensely. Sam is thrust unknowingly into an even more crappy circumstance, and I totally admired her for her continuous strength and snark. She’s a stubborn, feisty, energetic girl, and she develops into someone even stronger. She’s quirky, likable, and relatable, and a wonderful heroine.
Harrison is delish! I loved the sexual tension between him and Sam, and I loved how they couldn’t really act on their feelings quite yet. Lisa Desrochers does an incredible job building up the tension and intensity between these two characters. Harrison is a perfect match for Sam–he doesn’t back down from her stubbornness, he’s tough when he needs to be, but he’s also got a softer, sweeter side to him as well. Sam and Harrison have to spend a lot of time together, and I loved how the romance between them built up slowly. They don’t immediately jump into bed together even though they want to. They can feel a connection between them, and they grow to care for each other so much, even though they shouldn’t. They’re my favorite couple of the series!
A Little Too Hot is hot, funny, and full of thrills. You won’t be able to put it down after that crazy plot twist, and you won’t want to! The book is fast-paced, the action and twists are so well done, the romance is sweet and sexy, and it easily became my favorite of the series.
LISA DESROCHERS is the USA Today bestselling author of the A Little Too Far series, courtesy of HarperCollins, and the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. Find her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.
Win an A LITTLE TOO HOT blurb pack: REAL, MINE, and REMY signed by Katy Evans; RULE, JET, and ROME signed by Jay Crownover; and FOREPLAY signed by Sophie Jordan plus signed swag.
Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters
Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight–A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want–and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.
To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess-and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw-even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.
But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other.
OMG BAD BOY ALERT!!! If you love bad boys, then Rule is so right up your alley! It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a book with a perfect bad boy, but Rule has got it all. He’s a man-whore, he’s got all sorts of tattoos and piercings, he’s rude, and he works at a tattoo parlor! It took a while for me to like him, because he was a bit too much for me, but I ended up falling a little for this bad boy. And the best part? He falls for the good girl! *grins*
Shaw Landon and Rule Archer have known each other for forever, but Shaw is the only one who harbors a crush for Rule. She’s loved him since the first time they met but Rule has never returned her feelings. Mostly because he never knew about them, but also because he believed that Shaw was his late twin brother’s girl. But circumstances thrust them together over and over again, and when Rule sees Shaw in a new light, one where she’s not the perfect goody-two shoes he believes her to be, sparks fly.
“Rule if this goes bad it’s gonna be so, so bad.” Her voice was just a husky whisper against my chest.
“True, but if it’s good it’s gonna be so very, very good.”
Rule and Shaw agree to give a relationship a go, but it’s not going to be easy. Rule has always been a bad boy, and he has a hard time giving up bad habits, but he’s willing to try to be better for Shaw. And oh my goodness, this is when I truly fell for this bad boy. He believes he’s not good enough for Shaw, but he tries so, so hard. He has his rude, crass, bad boy side to him, but then we get to see the sweet, lovable, adoring side to Rule he only shows to Shaw.
I gulped down the sudden surge of emotion in my throat and pulled her into a tight hug. It felt like coming home, a feeling I don’t think I had ever actually experienced before.
Even though I enjoyed the romance so much, what really sold this book to me was the internal transformations both Rule and Shaw experience. For Rule, he’s been lost ever since his brother, the other half of him, died. He’d been spiraling down a dark path until Shaw brought him out of it and into the light. He’s still one hot, sexy bad boy, but he learns to care and show his emotions for others now. His family is a huge part of the story, and I loved seeing the changing dynamics as Rule becomes his better self. Shaw, on the other hand, has always upheld her good girl image, and being with Rule makes her want to be free. She doesn’t want to be the perfect girl everyone expects her to be, and I was so proud of her for standing up for herself, for being who she was truly meant to be.
Rule and Shaw have their ups and downs together, but I honestly had no worries, because they fit each other so well. They give each other the love and support that they never really had, and they bring out the best in each other. And Rule is one fine bad boy. I didn’t LOVE him, but as far as bad boys go, he’s pretty awesome. 😉
“You have me Shaw, any way you need me, any way you want me, you have me.”
City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare
Release Date: May 27th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID.
I am coming.
Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!
To Fix You by Samantha Towle
Release Date: Fall 2014
I’m a gigolo. Male escort. Hustler… whatever you like to call us. And in the past seven years, I’ve had sex with… well, I stopped counting after I hit five hundred… basically, I’ve screwed a lot of women.
I know what you’re thinking… I must have had a terrible childhood, something horrendous happened in my life that drove me to this career.
Wrong.
The best thing to ever happen to me is why I work this job.
My daughter.
I’m a single dad. And I have sex with women for money, to feed, clothe and put a roof over my eight year old daughters head.
Not ideal, I know, but now I need the money more than ever…
Four weeks ago my worst nightmare happened… my baby girl was diagnosed with Cancer. Now, I have to earn, and earn big, to pay the mounting medical bills.
I have never felt more terrified, and more alone, in my life.
My name is Lizzie Connelly.
Beautiful, twenty-two . . . I have it all, including a new internship most girls would rip out their own souls for. I work for Margaret Manning-Emerson, vice president at Emerson & Taylor—one of the biggest fashion powerhouses this country has ever seen.
I’m ambitious.
I want success.
Since we’re friends, maybe I should start from the beginning.
My real name is Elizabeth Emerson.
Alone, twenty-two . . . I have nothing but broken promises and a string of shit luck, and it’s all because of the woman who took it all ten years ago after my father died. My stepmother–Margaret Manning-Emerson, the woman who, before two months ago, had never laid eyes on me.
I’m ambitious.
I need the truth.
Things are complicated, though.
My plans are flawed from the beginning, and the biggest obstacle comes in the form of Landon. Sexy, too smart for his own damn good, and infuriating, he’s the one person who could blow my plans to uncover that bitch Margaret and expose her for what she really is. She’s his mother, and in another life, I guess that would have made him my stepbrother.
I’m ambitious.
I need to know what happened ten years ago.
But I want . . . him.
*This is a standalone title
**Release date to be announced closer to date
Ever since Lily died two years ago, Evie has been lost. She exists but doesn’t live. And she copes the only way she knows how: by wrecking things.
She exposes her dad’s affairs, ends things with her longtime boyfriend, and just last semester, she destroyed her music scholarship. Desperate to break away from all the destruction she’s caused and start over, Evie reinvents herself at her new university.
But then Rhys, her new voice instructor, happens. He’s gorgeous, insanely talented and apart of the dark past she’s trying to overcome. Rhys’s brother is the reason why Evie’s life is such a mess right now, the reason why Lily, Evie’s sister, is dead. And even though Rhys is the last person Evie should ever want, for the first time in two years, wrecking things seems…right.
Dark Skye (Immortals After Dark #14) by Kresley Cole
Release Date: August 5th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
Eternal Obsession
As a boy, Thronos, Lord of Skye Hall, loved Lanthe, a mischievous Sorceri girl who made him question everything about his Vrekener clan. But when the two got caught in the middle of their families’ war, tragedy struck, leaving Thronos and Lanthe bitter enemies. Though centuries have passed, nothing can cool his seething need for the beautiful enchantress who scarred his body—and left an even deeper impression on his soul.
Endless Yearning
Lanthe, a once-formidable sorceress struggling to reclaim her gifts, searches for love and acceptance with all the wrong immortal suitors. But she’s never forgotten Thronos, the magnificent silver-eyed boy who protected her until she was ripped from the shelter of his arms. One harrowing night changed everything between them. Now he’s a notorious warlord with a blood vendetta against Lanthe, hunting her relentlessly.
Can the heat of desire burn brighter than vengeance?
With their families locked in conflict and battles raging all around them, will Thronos and Lanthe succumb to the brutal chaos that threatens everything they cherish? Or will the fragile bond they formed so long ago spark a passion strong enough to withstand even the darkest doubts?
Tame Me (Stark International #1) by J. Kenner
Release Date: March 11th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
Aspiring actress Jamie Archer is on the run. From herself. From her wild child ways. From the screwed up life that she left behind in Los Angeles. And, most of all, from Ryan Hunter—the first man who has the potential to break through her defenses to see the dark fears and secrets she hides.
Stark International Security Chief Ryan Hunter knows only one thing for sure—he wants Jamie. Wants to hold her, make love to her, possess her, and claim her. Wants to do whatever it takes to make her his.
But after one night of bliss, Jamie bolts. And now it’s up to Ryan to not only bring her back, but to convince her that she’s running away from the best thing that ever happened to her–him.
He’s everything I admire plus things I can’t even put into words.
I crush on Jericho Barrons violently.
My brain almost shuts down every time I see him and that’s a lot of gray matter to stupefy.
Used to be, if I couldn’t fall asleep I’d fantasize all kinds of ways I’d impress Barrons by killing monsters or saying something really smart or saving the world, and he’d see me as a grown up woman and I’d glow just from the look on his face.
But then Ryodan began popping into my fantasies like he had some kind of business being there, and he’d look all, well…like…Ryodan and he’d laugh and do that husky groan thing he did on level four, so I terminated that happy little exercise in somnolence.
Now I count sheep.
Lately even those buggers look like Ryodan with clear, cold eyes and some weird kind of hypnotic hold on me.
Fecker.
I’m beginning to think I’m going to have to figure out a way to kill him, permanent-like just to get him out of my head.
My fists clench and teeth grind at the last words—words that feed off the worst of my fears—the urge to break something returning. To drown the pain that’s back with a vengeance. I know he’s pushed me to the breaking point. I can hear his quiet sigh through the screaming of every ounce of my being.
He stands slowly and I tell myself to look at him. To show him somehow I’ve heard him, but I can’t make myself do it. I feel his hand on the top of my head, like I’m a little boy again, and his uncertain voice whispers, “I love you Colton.”
The words fill my fucking head but I can get them past the fear lodged in my throat. Past the memories of the chant I used to say that was followed by the brutality and unspeakable pain. As much as I want to tell him—feel the need to tell him—I still can’t.
Series order:
★ (#1) Driven
★ (#2) Fueled
★ Preorder (#3) Crashed (out March 3rd 2014)
★ A teaser from Saving Quinton (Nova #2) by Jessica Sorensen!
I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. Or maybe I’m dead. I’m hoping for the latter, but I don’t it’s the correct assumption because this feels different than the first time I died. If I’m dreaming, it’s a beautiful dream, one where I’m with Nova and we’re happy. I’m surprised I’m seeing myself with her and normally I’d stop my thoughts from going there, but I’m not awake enough to care. Plus I feel really good, better than I have in a while. Everything feels light. Breathless. Hazy and weightless. My memories of my past are fading. I can no longer feel the blood on my hands or the weight of guilt on my shoulders. Something wonderful is taking over. I’m not in the darkness, locked within myself. I’ve been swept up by light and I feel like I could do anything at the moment as I lie on my back, gazing up at the sky. Nova hovers over me, cupping my cheek, and her skin is so damn warm and she smells amazing. And her eyes… bright blue with specks of green, her skin dotted with freckles, and her full lips that look so delicious I want to taste them… and I’m going to, because nothing matters at the moment. It’s not real, which makes it easier to take what I want—admit what I want.
I lean up, not even thinking about what I’m doing, and press my lips to hers. It hurts my mouth but the pain is worth it—it’s worth everything just to taste her again. I could do it forever, and I want to, but when I slip my tongue deep inside her mouth, she pulls away, her eyes widening and swarming with confusion. I open my mouth to tell her to come back to me, because I want her—need to kiss her again—but then her lips start moving and the haze from my brain gradually starts to lift.
“Quinton, can you hear me?” she asks, her voice soft, distant. Or maybe I’m the one who’s distant.
“I…” It hurts to talk, my throat too dry, and the brightness of the sun is stinging at my eyes.
“Are you okay?” she says and the sunlight dims as the blue sky changes into my shitty bedroom ceiling stained with water and cracks. That stupid drip comes into focus, haunting me again.
I suddenly realize that I’m in my room. Awake. And Nova’s here. With me.
★ Teaser from Thoughtful (Kellan’s POV of Thoughtless) by S.C. Stephens:
When the coffee was done, I prepared our cups, and set Kiera’s down in front of her. I leaned back in my chair, perfectly content as I drank mine. Kiera hunched over her mug like she was freezing and it was the only source of warmth in the room. I knew her reaction wasn’t from the cold though, and knowing that made my smile even wider. Jealousy is a bitch, isn’t it, Kiera?
★ Special announcement and sneak peek from K.A. Linde!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I’ve been working on a super secret project for a little while now. I wasn’t sure if it was going to turn into anything, but I can’t seem to stop writing it. I’m madly in love with this book! Now that I’m at a comfortable distance, I can tell you about it!!!
Yeah, that might sound cocky or maybe a bit disgusting even, but I’ve never given two fucks. I wasn’t about to start now.
And whoever was lying beside me right now needed to get the fuck out before I started remembering her name. Did I remember her name? Lany. Lacy. Lucy? No. Fuck. I didn’t give a shit. She just needed to leave so that I could get back to sleep.
“Babe,” I grumbled, nudging the chick in the ribs. “Darlin’.”
“Mmm,” she groaned. “I love when you call me darlin’.”
I already knew she liked it. She had lost her clothes quickly enough to the sound of it last night. Now, I was pretty sure I’d never say it again if it meant that she would get out quicker.
“Time to go home.”
The girl turned on her side and tucked the comforter over her tits. Well, there went her best quality. She gave me a come-and-get-me look and pouted her lips as if that was going to change my mind.
“Oh come on, Grant,” she whispered throatily.
Her hand slid down my chest and then farther south. Yeah, not happening. I wasn’t interested in another mediocre performance on her part. Maybe a blowjob, but even then probably not.
She stroked my cock and I was reconsidering that blowjob. She had to be better at sucking dick then fucking. It was some unwritten rule. Either they sucked or they fucked.
“No, honey. It’s time for you to go home.” I rolled onto my back and reached for a joint on my nightstand.
“That’s not what you were saying last night.”
I flicked the zippo to life and took a drag on the joint. “That’s what I’m saying now. You knew how this was going to go when you came back with me. So save me the headache and just leave.”
“Whore,” she snapped. She hopped out of bed, snatched up her clothes, and then stormed toward the door. I waited until it slammed shut behind her before blowing out the smoke.
Wasn’t the first time I’d heard that either. I preferred the term man whore. I’d earned that title and I was fucking proud of it.
★ Toxic (Ruin #2) by Rachel Van Dyken has a blurb!
Everyone has a secret…
Gabe Hyde is on borrowed time. He’s been hiding his identity for over four years-hidden from the world that used to adore him–obsess over him–driven to the edge of insanity by one poor choice.
But that one choice, altered the course of his life forever.
Pretending isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially when pretending means hiding your real self from the people that care about you the most. But if anyone ever discovered the truth it wouldn’t just be his life at risk–but hers.
Saylor doesn’t hate men.
Just Gabe.
Only Gabe.
He’s a reckless, happy-go-lucky, silver spoon fed pain in her ass. Everything about him makes her more and more confused. Unfortunately they both donate time at the same Group Home. If she wasn’t afraid of flunking, she’d be long gone. She hates that she’s attracted to him almost as much as he hates that he’s attracted to her–and she can tell, especially since their first encounter ended up making her knees so weak she couldn’t form coherent sentences for weeks afterwards. But the closer she gets to him, the more confused she becomes. He isn’t who he says he is, and he’s hiding something big.
What happen when two worlds collide? Two worlds that never should have met in the first place? Some secrets are too big to be hidden forever–the only question? Will his destroy everyone he loves? Or finally bring about the redemption he’s been craving for the past four years?
★ This is Sylvia Day’s live Q&A! And she’s writing a new series called Blacklist!
★ The Swan & the Jackal (In the Company of Killers #3) by J.A. Redmerski has a blurb!
Fredrik Gustavsson never considered the possibility of love, or that anyone could ever understand or accept his dark and bloody lifestyle—until he met Seraphina, a woman as vicious and blood-thirsty as Fredrik himself. They spent two short but unforgettable years together, full of lust and killing and the darkest kind of love that two people can share.
And then Seraphina was gone.
It’s been six years since Fredrik’s lover and sadistic partner in crime turned his world upside-down. Seraphina went into hiding and has eluded him ever since. Now, he’s getting closer to finding her, and an innocent woman named Cassia is the key to drawing Seraphina from the shadows. But Cassia—after sustaining injuries from a fire that Seraphina ignited—suffers from amnesia and can’t give Fredrik the information he desperately seeks. Having no other choice, Fredrik has been keeping Cassia locked in his basement as he not only tries to get her to recall her past—because she and Seraphina share it—but also to protect her from Seraphina, who clearly wants her dead.
But Cassia is a light in the darkness that Fredrik never believed existed. After a year subjected to her kindness and compassion, he finds himself struggling with his love for Seraphina, and his growing feelings for Cassia—because he knows that to love one, the other must die.
Will light win out over darkness, or will something more powerful than either further destroy an already tortured soul?
(Note: THE SWAN & THE JACKAL is NOT a New Adult title. It, and all other books in the series are categorized as Suspense/Crime/Thriller/Romantic Suspense and Adult.)
The release date for Apolonia has been changed to November 2014. But the good news is that Trent’s book’s release date has been moved up, and you’ll be getting it sooner than fall 2014!
Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis
Publication date: January 17th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
I am not a slut, although I’ve been called one often enough. Yeah, I spent three months screwing one of my college professors, but I was crazy about the guy. Then he broke up with me.
I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired.
I am not a drama queen, although everyone thinks I am now. When I got a few nasty messages, I just deleted them. When I got the threat, I assumed it was someone being stupid. I still think that’s all it was. My parents worry, though, so they hired me a bodyguard. Now Jack follows me around, intimidating everyone who approaches me and looking obnoxiously hot.
This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me.
And I’m stuck with Jack.
He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.
Knowing Jack is a New Adult contemporary romance and includes adult content and language. The plot of the book is fully resolved at the end, but the last page includes a hanging teaser for the next book in the series.
“Now would you please get out of here?” I say, raising my voice to make sure it carries appropriate authority. “In case you haven’t noticed, I still have to get dressed, and I’m already running late.”
Let’s not forget that I’m still wearing nothing but my favorite bra and panty set—which I put on a few minutes earlier to give me courage to face the day.
“Yeah, I did notice that.”
There is no reason for such harmless words to make me flush so hotly. They do, though. I have fair skin, so I blush a lot. It can be very annoying.
Jack is big—tall with amazing broad shoulders, flat abs, and lean hips. He suddenly seems to fill up all the space in my bedroom. My whole body reacts to his presence. I can’t seem to think of anything else. Just him and his body and his hot blue eyes.
“Be careful of the broken glass,” he says, some sort of rough texture in his voice that makes me want to shiver. “You’ve got bare feet.”
“I know I have bare feet. Now get out.”
“All right. But first tell me this.”
“What?”
“Why do you have naked babies on your underwear?”
“They’re not naked babies! They’re cherubs. And if you weren’t such a hulking Neanderthal you’d recognize Michelangelo when you saw it.”
I was absolutely thrilled earlier in the year when I found in a New York boutique this bra and panty set with details from the Sistine Chapel ceiling on them. They were absurdly expensive, as you might imagine, but I couldn’t resist buying them anyway.
Jack stares down at my bra. “Michelangelo?” He sounds rather dazed.
“Yeah. From the Sistine Chapel. Look, here’s where God’s hand meets Adam’s. Everyone recognizes that much at least.”
He clears his throat. “Uh, princess, you might think you’re showing me a famous work of art, but what I’m seeing is…”
“What?”
“The most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Rachel is a writer, a teacher, a romance reader, and a dog-mom. She loves animals and art and hot men with soft hearts under a tough exterior. She tries to write love stories that feel real, even in unlikely circumstances.
Full Steam Ahead
by Valerie Chase
Release Date: 01/14/14
Seven days aboard a luxury cruise. The perfect getaway from it all.
At least, that’s what Georgia Cantwell was hoping for.
Georgia wishes she could run away from the nightmare that has consumed her life, but she can’t. With her inbox filling with menacing emails, all she can do is try to get through her sorority’s winter break cruise without anyone realizing how wrecked she is. So she really doesn’t need Jace McLaren seeing through her tacked-on smile when no one else seems to notice.
Growing up with a father in jail, Jace knows from experience that if you’re going through hell, there’s no way out but through. He has always steered away from girls like Georgia with her ice-queen attitude, but she’s in real trouble, and despite himself he pushes past her walls.
As much as Georgia tries to ignore it, Jace won’t let her pretend with him. But she can’t risk telling him the truth. Her past would ruin his trust, her family, her future—everything.
But out on the open ocean, there’s nowhere to hide. And when Georgia’s secrets come tumbling out, it might take more than Jace to save her.
The club stops spinning for a moment. Jace’s mouth is soft, much softer than I’d have thought given the roughness of his jaw under my fingertips. He doesn’t move for a heartbeat, and it’s like we exist in a quiet bubble outside of this dance floor, outside of time.
But he pulls away from me. “What’s gotten into you?” He breathes, our mouths only inches apart. “I thought—”
I kiss him again. I need to forget about those emails, forget about my parents, forget about Hunter and Kelsey. I need to lose myself tonight, and Jace hooks up with lots of girls, so I’m sure he’ll know how to take my mind off of my problems. I’ve seen how he looks at me, so I know he’s interested. We’ll have some fun, and both get what we want.
My tongue traces along Jace’s mouth and then I gently bite his bottom lip, tugging it teasingly. I dip my thumbs into the waistband of his jeans and feel the warm flesh of his stomach, so hard and smooth. I moan before I can stop myself.
Whatever I’m doing must be working, because Jace starts to kiss me back. His hands settle at my waist, trailing down toward my hips. Our kiss deepens and his tongue circles around mine, once, twice. Soft as a whisper. I’m lost in a rush of feeling, and I wrap my arms around his neck to draw him closer. I need him closer.
I push us toward the outskirts of the room.
The lights move dizzyingly in the dark, and the music throbs through my limbs. Jace and I reach an empty spot by the wall. Here, we’re hidden from the dance floor by a tall potted fern decorated with white twinkling lights. The tiny lights reflect in Jace’s eyes, which take me in hungrily.
His hands move over my tank top to the bare skin of my shoulders, and I shiver as heat spikes through my limbs. My own fingers roam across his skin again eagerly: his waist, his back, across his hard stomach that tightens at my touch… It has the temperature of a fever.
Jace dips his head to kiss my neck, and those dangerous lips make my whole body tingle. My thoughts go wild as I imagine him kissing down my belly, past my hips, and lower still. For a while we are a whirlwind, hot and spinning, and I haven’t felt so alive in months. Maybe years. I can’t help but think that it never felt like this with Hunter—this heat, this need. Not even when we first started dating.
I had no idea what I was missing.
And I don’t want it to stop.
I’m Valerie but please feel free to call me Val. I live in the Washington, DC area, and I love to write New Adult romance novels. My first book FULL STEAM AHEAD (set on a cruise ship!) will debut on 1/14/14!
As for my writing, I love sexy banter and guys whose hearts are in the right place, even if their heads sometimes aren’t. I love discovering strong, awesome characters, putting them in entertaining situations, and watching them argue their way to love.
In short, I love writing swoon-worthy books and I love reading them even more!
LISA DESROCHERS is the USA Today bestselling author of the A Little Too Far series, courtesy of HarperCollins, and the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. Find her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.
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