Blog Tour + ARC Review & Giveaway: Remy by Katy Evans

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Remy by Katy Evans!

Remy by Katy Evans

Remy by Katy Evans
Series: Real #3 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: November 25th 2013
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Underground fighter Remington Tate is a mystery, even to himself. His mind is dark and light, complex and enlightening. At times his actions and moods are carefully measured, and at others, they spin out of control.

Through it all, there’s been one constant: wanting, needing, loving, and protecting Brooke Dumas. This is his story; from the first moment he laid eyes on her and knew, without a doubt, she would be the realest thing he’s ever had to fight for.

Buy Links:
Amazon • B&N • Kobo

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*There will be SPOILERS for books 1 & 2!*

AH! Do you know how much I love Remy? Because I adore him. I fell in love with him in REAL, and even more so in MINE. And now we have a book in his own POV, and it is the perfect conclusion to Remy and Brooke’s wonderful love story.

REMY begins right after the end of book 2, and Brooke and Remy are getting married! It’s a beautiful time for them, and Remy is reminiscing about the time when he first meets Brooke. He has flashbacks of all the memories he made with Brooke from the first time he saw her at the ring and chased after her, up until she gave birth to their beautiful baby boy.

I’ve fought all my life to stay sane. To keep focused, driven, and centered. But tonight, I fight to show one woman my worth.

I loved being inside Remy’s head. We see upfront the amount of love he has for his girl. His love is strong, passionate, and beautiful, just like he is. He’s also dealing with his bipolar disorder, and my heart went out to him. Because the previous books were in Brooke’s POV, we never truly get to see how Remy himself deals with his disorder. In REMY, it’s heartbreaking to read, but in the end, you know Remy will be alright, because he has the love of his Brooke and their son to keep him going.

Life can throw the curveballs at me, but not at her. I’ll catch them for her and I’ll throw them back. She’ll be untouchable to everything and everyone but me.

I don’t know how many times I swooned, but just know that it was a lot. Remy is raw and primal and so very sexy, and now he’s a father too, so that just adds to the sexiness. I loved going back to the beginning of Brooke and Remy’s story, and feeling again all the emotions I felt the first time I read REAL. Remy’s POV was perfect. Katy Evans does a fantastic job and her writing is as impeccable as ever.

“Every day you make me the luckiest man alive.”

If you’ve read REAL and MINE, you don’t want to miss Remy. It’s not just a recap of the first two books only in Remy’s POV, but also the continuation and ending of Brooke and Remy’s story. I highly recommend this series to any romance lover. It’s got fantastic writing, heartfelt emotions, and a sexy, alpha book boyfriend! Love this series so much, and I can’t wait for the next two books!

4 hearts
lacey

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

Reading Order: Real series

Real by Katy Evans Mine by Katy Evans Remy by Katy Evans
Rogue by Katy Evans Ripped by Katy Evans Legend by Katy Evans

#1 ~ Real: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Mine: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Remy: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#4 ~ Rogue: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#5 ~ Ripped: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#6 ~ Legend: My Review • EbookPaperback • AudibleGoodreads

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Katy EvansHey! I’m Katy Evans and I love family, books, life, and love. I’m married with two children and three dogs and spend my time baking, walking, writing, reading, and taking care of my family. Thank you for spending your time with me and picking up my story. I hope you had an amazing time with it, like I did. If you’d like to know more about books in progress, look me up on the Internet, I’d love to hear from you!

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Email

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an iPad mini
25 SIGNED copies of Mine
20 SIGNED mini boxing gloves

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Review: Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: February 1st 1996
Purchase: Ebook • Paperback

Wedding Day

Pretty, flighty Daisy Devreaux can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her. Arranged marriages don’t happen in the modern world, so how did the irrepressible Daisy find herself in this fix?

Alex Markov, as humorless as he is deadly handsome, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little feather-head with champagne tastes. He drags Daisy from her uptown life to a broken down traveling circus and sets out to tame her to his ways.

But this man without a soul has met his match in a woman who’s nothing but heart. Before long, passion will send them flying sky high without a safety net… risking it all in search of a love that will last forever.

This book is slightly old, but it’s so. freaking. GOOD. I fell so hard for the characters, their love, and their story. It’s a book about finding love, and finding love in the last person you’d ever expect to find love in. It’s a book about setting aside one’s pride to have a chance at happiness. Oh my goodness, this book is just divine. It’s got a heroine who learns and grows and toughens up, but still has a heart of gold. It’s got a domineering, alpha-male hero who’s a total jerk but you love him anyway (especially when you see his soft side starting to show). And there’s a circus! With animals!

Daisy Devreaux and Alex Markov are arranged to be married. They’re total strangers, but Daisy’s father has arranged their marriage anyway because Daisy has no money, and Alex owes her father a favor. And so they have to marry, at least for six months. The beginning of the book starts off with Daisy and Alex at the altar, and Daisy… has completely forgotten her groom’s name, and can’t even finish her vows. That right then made me laugh and fall in love with Daisy. And the book continues to be humorous and light-hearted. Daisy and Alex are both in a situation they don’t want, and while Daisy, being the old-fashioned girl that she is, wants to make the best of their marriage, despite them not even liking each other. But Alex is mean and cold-hearted and certainly doesn’t care about what Daisy wants. I wanted to hate him, but I never did. Alex was a jerk to Daisy, but he was honest and yeah, okay, sexy as hell too. 😉

Alex mostly was a jerk to Daisy because he wanted to scare her off and make her leave their marriage, but Daisy never does. She’s dumped into a marriage she doesn’t want, forced to work in the circus with Alex, but she’s a fighter and won’t give up so easily. Alex starts to be impressed with Daisy, but of course, he won’t show it. He works her hard, but she works even harder, and she falls in love with the animals in the circus. And slowly, she starts to fall for Alex too. But Alex has a painful past, and he doesn’t believe in love for himself. He truly believes that he doesn’t have the capacity for love, but Daisy has set her mind on making him believe he can love, and love her.

I actually came across this book on the Heroes and Heartbreakers website when I read this post about favorite phrases that come from romances, and Kiss an Angel was one of the featured books. Alex, being the über-alpha that he is, is prideful and slightly arrogant (in the sexiest possible way, mind you). He’s never had to bow down and beg for anything or anyone, and he’s not about to start anytime soon. But being with Daisy, growing to care for her, has made him open his eyes, and heart, just a little.

I’m begging you. Daisy said that all the time. The same words that had poisoned Sheba Quest’s spirit two years ago when she’d pleaded for his love rolled off Daisy’s tongue without a second thought. In the morning she’d stick her toothbrush in her mouth and call out, “Coffee! Please! I’m begging you!” Last night, she’d tickled his earlobe with a soft, sultry whisper. “Make love to me, Alex. I’m begging you.” As if he needed to be begged.
But begging didn’t threaten Daisy’s pride at all. It was simply her method of communication, and if he were ever foolish enough to suggest that begging might be demeaning, she’d give him that pitying look he’d come to know so well and tell him to stop being so stuffy.

And then, when Alex makes the biggest mistake of his life, and hurts Daisy in the process, things change for him. I cried like a baby at this part. Alex fucks up, he loses the best thing that’s ever happened to him, but he makes amends. He knows he made a mistake and he tries his hardest to fix what he did. And he has to forget about his pride, because it’s holding him back.

Alex spoke in tight, hard tones. “You know what the irony in all this is. Daisy’d do it. She wouldn’t even think twice about it.” He gave a rough bark of laughter that bore no trace of humor. “She’d be on her knees in a second because she’s got a heart beating inside her that’s strong enough to take on the world. She doesn’t care about honor or pride or anything else when the well-being of the creatures she loves is a stake.”
He turned his face upward, and his mouth tightened with scorn. Although he was on his knees, he had never looked more glorious. He was every inch the czar. The king of the center ring. “I’m begging you, Sheba,” he said flatly.

Even with the humor and adorable animals in Kiss an Angel, it’s a heartfelt, poignant book about transformation, and how love can heal and mend even the most broken of souls. “I’m begging you” is such defining phrase for Alex and Daisy. It’s Daisy’s go-to phrase, something she says lightly, but it’s a phrase that Alex can’t even imagine uttering before he meets Daisy. And you absolutely must read this book to see how Alex and Daisy have helped and changed each other in so many ways. Their love story is beautiful.

He began kissing her tears away, and she rubbed her fingers over his cheek. “You really love me, don’t you?”
“I really do,” he said huskily, “and this time I want you to believe me. I’m begging you, sweetheart.”
She smiled through her tears. “All right, then. Let’s go home.”

These were all the quotes that were featured in the H&H post, and after reading those, how could I not want to start reading Kiss an Angel immediately? This love story is truly an unforgettable one. I laughed and cried and laughed some more, and it was just a roller coaster of emotions.

5+ hearts! One of my favorite books of all time!

5-hearts

lacey

Early Review: Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst
Series: Searching For #1 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: November 26th 2013
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher (Gallery Books) in exchange for an honest review

Kate has given up on love—at least for herself. She is both blessed and cursed with the ability to sense a romantic connection between two people—a gift that her family passed down for generations. When Kate launches her own matchmaking company, Kinnection, with her two best friends in a cozy New York town, she has to put aside her own romantic disasters to make her business a success.

But when a furious man stalks into her office and accuses her business of being a scam, Kate is given the ultimate challenge to prove herself. Slade puts himself in her hands and asks Kate to find him love. Enraged at his arrogance but stubbornly eager to prove herself, Kate agrees, dedicating herself to the journey of finding him love…only to find herself falling for him along the way.

This is my first Jennifer Probst book, and I’m impressed! The Searching For series is a spinoff of the Marriage to a Billionaire series, but you don’t have to read the MtaB series before reading Searching for Someday.

I loved the concept of the main character owning a legitimate matchmaking company, and Jennifer Probst doesn’t disappoint. Kate, along with her friends Kennedy and Arilyn, own a successful matching company called Kinnection. And one of the reasons why it’s so successful is because Kate has… the touch. If she touches two people and they’re soul mates, she feels a shock. And while she’s been able to use the touch to help couples get together, she’s never been able to find her own soul mate, and gives up on trying to find one.

Enter divorce lawyer Slade Montgomery. He’s hot, smart, successful, and jaded about love. His sister becomes a client at Kinnection, and Slade, being the over-protective brother he is, becomes a client as well to expose Kinnection as a sham. He doesn’t expect to meet Kate Seymour or to develop feelings her. And when Kate touches him and realizes he’s her soulmate, she refuses to believe he’s her ‘one’. He’s everything she doesn’t want in a man, and the worst part–he doesn’t believe in love. His job has made him so jaded that he doesn’t believe love exists, but if Kate can match and find him a woman he’ll fall in love with, he’ll give up on trying to expose Kinnection as a sham and he’ll actually believe in love.

No matter how many women Kate sets Slade up with, he can’t get Kate out of his mind. He doesn’t want any woman except her. And as Slade and Kate spend more time together, their hilarious bantering increases, as well as the sexual tension. Slade knows it’s inevitable that they’ll end up in bed together, but he doesn’t want a relationship, so Kate goes out of her way to avoid him. Slade hurts her with his cavalier attitude about love, and this is when he realizes that he wants more from Kate than just sex.

“You’re wrong, counselor,” she said softly. “I’m not looking for forever. But I am looking for someday. I think I deserve that.”

I enjoyed Searching for Someday so much more than I expected. I was laughing and giggling in one moment, and then my heart would be aching and hurting for Kate and Slade the next. It’s not an easy road to their happily ever after, because they’re both so resistant to finding love in each other. But along the way, they teach each other that love is possible and does exist.

“The possibility of love is worth everything, Mr. Montgomery. Pain, heartbreak, grief. It is the only thing worthwhile to fight for in this life. And though there are never any promises, if one is true and brave enough to give, there will never be regret.”

I loved reading this book. It wasn’t perfect, but the story and characters kept me riveted. I couldn’t stop reading and wishing for a happily ever after that Kate and Slade both deserved. Searching for Someday is a must read for contemporary romance lovers. I highly recommend it, and I’m looking forward to reading Kennedy’s book, Searching for Perfect, and Jennifer Probst’s other books in the Marriage to a Billionaire series.

4 hearts
lacey

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


Reading Order: Searching For series

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst Searching for Perfect by Jennifer Probst 
Searching for Beautiful by Jennifer Probst Searching for Always by Jennifer Probst Searching for Mine by Jennifer Probst 

#1 ~ Searching for Someday: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Searching for Perfect: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2.5 ~ Searching for You: EbookGoodreads
#3 ~ Searching for Beautiful: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#4 ~ Searching for Always: EbookPaperbackAudible • Goodreads
#4.5 ~ Searching for Mine: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#4.6 ~ Searching for Disaster: EbookGoodreads (Oct. 10, 2016)


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Blog Tour + Review & Giveaway: For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron

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For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron

For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron
Series: Rules of Love #1
Publication Date: November 14th 2013
Source: I received an ARC from the author for the blog tour in exchange for an honest review
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Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong?

When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.

But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?

New Adult Contemporary Romance *17 & up

For Real Sale

Buy Links:
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review

For Real was short, fun, and sweet! I loved the concept of the story, and while I didn’t end up loving the book, I still really enjoyed reading it. The synopsis totally lured me in, and I’m glad I read the book. Shannon and Jett are adorable together, and their love story was endearingly awkward and heartwarming to read.

Shannon is a very straight-laced, follow-the-rules kind of girl. She studies, does her homework, and doesn’t do anything that is out of her comfort zone, which includes being with guys. So she’s a virgin at twenty-one. Shannon’s friends try to devise a scheme to get her to lose her virginity, but they take things a little too far. I honestly didn’t really like her friends, especially when they started taking things too far, and pushed Shannon to find a random guy to lose her virginity to. Luckily, she bumps into Jett, and the two of them pretend to have slept together and become a couple to get Shannon’s friends off her back.

Jett was a really interesting character to read. He’s absolutely adorable, and he’s got the best tattoos ever! He’s so sweet to Shannon, and they call each other Fake Girlfriend and Fake Boyfriend all the time. They also make up the Ten Rules of Fake Dating, one of which includes no touching that’s not incidental, but of course the two of them break that rule. They’re attracted to each other, but most of all, they’re really great, close friends. They spend time with each other, and slowly, they start to fall in love with each other, which is not part of the agenda of Fake Dating.

My favorite part of the book was the awkwardness. Is that weird? Well, to me, the awkwardness of the dating, of them being together, was what felt honest and real. The start of their relationship, despite it being fake, felt real. It’s not perfect, they are awkward, they sometimes don’t know what to do with themselves, and I loved reading it. And it doesn’t hurt that Jett is so freaking adorable and sweet all the time! I really liked this tattooed, mohawked boy with a heart of gold.

I wasn’t expecting For Real to be as short as it was, but it was still fun to read. Short and sweet is a perfect way to describe the book. If you’re a fan of contemporary romances, you should definitely give Chelsea M. Cameron a try.

3-hearts

lacey

about the author

Chelsea M. CameronChelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world’s worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Her New Adult Contemporary Romance titles include My Favorite Mistake, which has been bought by Harlequin along with a sequel, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn (April 20, 2013)

Her Young Adult books include Nocturnal, Nightmare and Neither, the first three books in The Noctalis Chronicles. The fourth and final book, Neverend will be out in 2013. Whisper, the first in The Whisper Trilogy is also available, with the second book in the series, Silence and the final book, LIsten coming out in 2014.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

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Grand prize winner receives a $100 Amazon Gift Card and Crane bracelet. 5 Runners up receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card and Crane bracelet. US Only!

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ARC Review: Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols

Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols

Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols
Series: Stargazer #2 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: October 29th 2013
Purchase: Ebook • Paperback
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher (Pocket Books) in exchange for an honest review

A public relations expert tries to prevent the breakup of a raucous country band and corral their wild—and very sexy—lead singer in book 2 of the Stargazer Series.As an expert in public relations crisis management—that is, babysitter to the stars—Sarah Seville just spent nine months in Rio trying to keep rock singer Nine Lives out of jail long enough to record his new album…and barely succeeded. Now she needs a triumphant success so she can keep the Manhattan-based job she loves. Trouble is, her new assignment is to travel to Alabama to prevent the breakup of the raucous country band The Cheatin’ Hearts, headed by sexy Quentin Cox. As she edges closer to Quentin, she discovers layers of secrets. It seems Quentin is taking the spin doctor for a spin.

The Cheatin’ Hearts have stayed on top of the charts two years following three rules. Rule One, no drugs. Rule Two, no sex with other band members. Rule Three, no sex with record company spies. Quentin figures he’d better follow the rules, because he made them. And because if you break a rule, you’re out of the band. But he can’t resist the record company’s beautiful PR agent, and inevitably he breaks Rule Three with hot Sarah Seville. As he falls for her, he finds out that she has plenty of secrets of her own, and one of them comes knocking on her door: what really happened to her in Rio.

It’s been a few days since I finished Playing Dirty, and I’m still not sure how to feel about it. It was my first time reading a book by Jennifer Echols, and while I’m not jumping for joy at the prospect of reading another of her books, I still did enjoy myself while reading Playing Dirty. I wasn’t really impressed with the writing, but I really liked the characters and story.

Well, I didn’t like the characters ALL the time. The first third of the book I didn’t like at all. The writing was all over the place, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, so I didn’t like any of them, and everything was so hectic and crazy that I couldn’t believe when I started actually enjoying the book. It took me by a huge surprise. I was honestly thinking that this book was going to be a DNF, but then somewhere along the way, I started liking the Sarah and Quentin and the band. They started making me laugh out loud, and endearing themselves to me. Sure, they didn’t act their age at all sometimes, but it made the book all the more interesting.

The story was very… interesting to read. It was like nothing I’d ever read, and that was a great thing. Sarah is a PR expert at Stargazer, and her newest client is the country band The Cheatin’ Hearts. She needs to do well on this job, aka prevent the group from breaking up, because she’d screwed up on her latest job with singer Nine Lives. So Sarah goes to meet The Cheatin’ Hearts, and they’re all a bunch of hicks. They get drunk, they get into brawls, and are basically over-the-top. What Sarah doesn’t know is that all four of the people in The Cheatin’ Hearts, Quentin, Erin, Owen, and Martin, act this way on purpose. It’s all for publicity.

For The Cheatin’ Hearts, they live by three rules. Rule One: no drugs. Rule Two: no sex with other band members. Rule Three: no sex with record company spies. Quentin, the leader of the band, made these rules when they first started the band, and now… he’s in danger of breaking Rule Three. Because when Quentin meets Sarah, he wants her.

Quentin is such a unique main male character. He’s my favorite character of the book. He’s so utterly ridiculous, it’s cute. He’s a major dork and nerd, but he can’t let the public know, otherwise it might tarnish his image of being a badass rockstar. So instead of the world knowing about his allergies and asthma, they think he does cocaine. I laughed so hard every time Quentin spoke, or someone made fun of Quentin, which happens a lot, that he was the main reason why I started liking the book a lot more than I did in the beginning.

Sarah was pretty funny as well. While The Cheatin’ Hearts has its own scheme of trying to get rid of her, she has her own plan to have them stay together as a band and churn out another album. She holds her own against the band’s antics, and with Sarah and the band going head to head, it was so much fun to read.

Quentin and Sarah are absolutely adorable together. They were perfect for each other, and complemented each other so well. And Quentin can be such a sweetheart. He’s always thinking of others first, and then when he falls in love with Sarah, he’s even sweeter with her. He’s still boisterous and crazy, but there’s a sweet side of him no one ever saw before.

I really did end up enjoying Playing Dirty. I was pleasantly surprised to find it so entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny to read. This was a fun, hilarious, if a bit hectic, contemporary romance.

3.5 hearts
lacey

Reading Order: Stargazer series

Star Crossed by Jennifer Echols Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols

#1 ~ Star Crossed: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Playing Dirty: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads