Blog Tour + Guest Post & Giveaway: Rumor Has It by Elisabeth Grace

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

Click the banner to follow the tour schedule!

Welcome to today’s stop on the Rumor Has It blog tour! We have a lovely guest post from Elisabeth Grace, the author, about the pros and cons of dating a celebrity, and a great giveaway!

Rumor Has It by Elisabeth Grace
(Limelight #1)
Publication date: December 6, 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

All publicity is good publicity, right? Unless you’re recent college grad Ellie Wagner and an embarrassing video of you and your boyfriend goes viral. Every man in your life abandons you, but who knew a one-minute clip of your latest doomed relationship would brand you a slut, prevent you from getting your perfect job, and force you to keep doing the one thing you swore you’d never do again…live with your mother.

But staying with mom and her latest boy-toy (is this husband number four or five?) until your life turns around might not be all bad. Especially when you fall – literally – at the feet of a sexy, green-eyed stranger who offers you freedom and a life of luxury on a gold-rimmed platter.

There’s only one little problem – the man of your dreams is none other than Mason Nash, the latest hip-hop star busting up the music charts. Fame and fortune are his calling cards and he’s vying to steal the show on a new reality TV series that will catapult him into mainstream stardom. Hello spotlight.

The man behind the famous persona is perfect for Ellie in every way, but can she overcome the ugly pitfalls that come with Mason’s celebrity status? Or will she be forced to choose between the man she loves and the independent life she longs for? After all, fame and fortune aren’t always what they seem and not all publicity is good publicity…

Purchase:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble

Pros & Cons of Dating a Celebrity

I’m certainly no expert but like any girl I spent much of my pre-teen and teenager years day dreaming about dating whatever piece of celebrity man candy was big at the time. Back then it seemed like dating someone rich and famous would be one of the best things that could ever happen to a girl. Now that I’m older I’ve realized that it probably wouldn’t always be what it was cracked up to be.

As I see it, here are some of the pros & cons to dating a celebrity:

Pros

There’s a good chance you are going to get to meet other celebrities, which could be a lot of fun! Who wouldn’t want to go to a party and hang out with Leonardo Dicaprio or Taylor Swift?
You’re probably going to have access to a lot of places you wouldn’t have otherwise: backstage at concerts, on set at movie studios, invites to private parties, side stage at fashion shows, tickets to award shows. These are likely once in a lifetime opportunities so it’d be a blast to get to do them.
Well, if he’s a celebrity he’s probably rich so you’ll likely get some awesome dates and phenomenal presents

Cons

If it were me I’d always be worried that the person I was dating would think I was only doing it because they were a celebrity. I think I might be constantly trying to prove that I wasn’t, even if they weren’t questioning me.
It’d be hard to be with someone that other people were always pursuing. There’s a good chance this guy is going to be surrounded by other female celebrities, models and fans. You have to be a pretty confident woman to not ever succumb to jealousy under those circumstances.
Very often celebrities have to travel a lot. This makes it hard to see each other on a regular basis and build a relationship. Many celebrity couples have broken up as a result.
One word: Paparazzi. Not only would it be a major pain to be followed around by them but you’d inevitably end up in a magazine whether you want to or not. Best case scenario you didn’t just roll out of bed without any make-up.

All in all I’m not sure I’d ever really want to date a celebrity. For me I’m not sure the pros outweigh the cons. What about you? Would you like to date someone that spends their life in the limelight?

What do you think about dating a celebrity? Personally, I’d like to give it a try just once. (I’m talking to YOU, Joseph-Gordon Levitt!)

I have a soft spot for romance novels with happily ever afters and a HOT spot for alpha males! I currently live outside Toronto, Canada with my hubby, two small children and cat spawned by the devil. Life is busy, but never to busy for a good story and to share my love of reading and writing with others. Things I can tell you that sum me up…I’m a sugar and carb addict, self-professed Gandy Girl, a disaster in the kitchen, a LOVER of all music, I enjoy reality TV and I’m an early riser! When I have a moment to breath you can usually find me typing furiously on the keyboard to get my next story on paper, or curled up reading about someone else’s HEA. The second book in my Limelight series, Picture Perfect, is set to release at the end of March 2014.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

–2 signed paperbacks and 5 signed Rumor Has It bookmarks – open INTL

a Rafflecopter giveaway

14Feb2014

Writing Life + Giveaway: My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron
My Favorite Mistake #2 (full reading order below)
Release Date: January 28th 2014

The past will always find you.

Jos Archer was the girl with the perfect life; until the night it all came crashing down around her. Now, nine months later, she still hasn’t begun to pick up the pieces. Even transferring to a new college and living under the watchful eye of her older sister, Renee, isn’t enough to help her feel normal again.

And then she meets Dusty Sharp. For reasons Jos can’t begin to fathom, the newly reformed campus bad boy seems determined to draw her out of her shell. And if she’s not careful, his knowing green eyes and wicked smile will make her feel things she’s no longer sure she deserves.

But even as Dusty coaxes Jos to open up about the past, he’s hiding secrets of his own. Secrets about the night her old life fell apart. When the truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together;or tear them apart for good?

Buy Links:
Amazon • B&N • Kobo

Writing Life

Any writer will tell you that sequels are hard. On the outside, they seem easy. You already know the world and the characters and you have parameters to work with. It’s not like starting from scratch.

Except when it is. When I embarked on the writing of My Sweetest Escape, my original vision was for a Hunter/Taylor sequel. I was convinced that I had it all planned out and it was going to be as easy to write as the first book. And then I started actually writing.

It. Wasn’t. Working. My second thought was to do a sequel from one of the existing couples. Darah and Mase or Renee and Paul. I tried both of those. Hit a brick wall. I spoke with my editor and we talked and talked and talked and tried to figure out what to do. In the background of my attempt at a Renee and Paul story, I’d mentioned one of her sisters, and the seed of an idea started. What if we brought a new character and threw her into the existing world?

BOOM. That was it. The magic solution. From there I saw her. This redheaded pissed off girl who was put in this house (under duress) with these people that she barely knew, other than her sister. And as soon as there was Jos, there was Dusty. I’d been dreaming of writing a beat boxer for a while, and then, there he was. Everything fell into place as if I had somehow planned it.

Not that writing this book was easy. Believe me, it wasn’t. I went through six or seven drafts of the first couple of chapters. Lots of dirty vanilla chai’s (vanilla chai with a shot of espresso). Complete re-writes. Tears. Rending of clothing. Doubts if I was a writer at all. Maybe I should just go back to banking. But finally, after listening to Pandora for hours and begging Jos to talk to me, she did. And then she wouldn’t shut up.

Once I got inside her head and listened to her music and figured out what made her tick, that was it.

Some characters just let you in. Others fight and kick and scream and make writing a chore. But at the end of the day, I almost love the “hard” books more. I worked hard to get them, harder than I’ve worked at anything in my life. I hope you love Jos and Dusty as much as I do, and I hope their journey is worth the ride.

Reading Order: My Favorite Mistake series

#1 ~ My Favorite Mistake: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ My Sweetest Mistake: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

Chelsea 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

10 winners will receive a signed set of MY SWEETEST ESCAPE and MY FAVORITE MISTAKE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

11Feb2014

Blog Tour + Author Inspiration & Giveaway: I See London by Chanel Cleeton

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

Welcome to today’s stop on the I See London blog tour! We have a lovely guest post from the author, Chanel Cleeton, on her inspiration for I See London’s main character Maggie, and a fantastic giveaway!

I SEE LONDON by Chanel Cleeton
February 3, 2014
Harlequin HQN (Digital First)
New Adult Contemporary Romance

Maggie Carpenter is ready for a change— and to leave her ordinary life in South Carolina behind. But when she accepts a scholarship to the International School in London, a university attended by the privileged offspring of diplomats and world leaders, Maggie might get more than she bargained for.

When Maggie meets Hugh, a twentysomething British guy, she finds herself living the life she always wanted. Suddenly she’s riding around the city in a Ferrari, wearing borrowed designer clothes and going to the hottest clubs. The only problem? Another guy, the one she can’t seem to keep her hands off of.

Half French, half Lebanese, and ridiculously wealthy, Samir Khouri has made it clear he doesn’t do relationships. He’s the opposite of everything Maggie thought she wanted…and he’s everything she can’t resist. Torn between her dream guy and the boy haunting her dreams, Maggie has to fight for her own happy ending. In a city like London, you never know where you stand, and everything can change in the blink of an eye.

This is a New Adult romance recommended for readers 17 and up.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes • Harlequin

My Inspiration for Maggie from I SEE LONDON
By Chanel Cleeton

From the beginning, I knew I wanted I SEE LONDON to be the story of a girl who was transplanted from her somewhat ordinary life to a glamorous university in London. In a lot of ways it was a story I identified with. I moved to London at seventeen to attend an international university. I wasn’t precisely a small-town girl like my heroine, Maggie, but pretty close.

From the moment my plane landed in London, my life radically changed. Suddenly I was exposed to a whole new world. My university had students from countries I’d never heard of—students who came from royal families and grew up all over the world. It was a crazy, amazing, eye-opening experience for a girl whose life had been decidedly unglamorous. It was also a huge adventure.

When I started writing I SEE LONDON I knew that the “fish out of water” storyline would play a big role in my heroine’s transformation. New Adult is all about having new experiences and venturing into unchartered waters. I not only wanted her to move across the pond and start university, but also to find herself surrounded by classmates who were completely different from anything she’d ever known. Writing this transformation for Maggie, from small-town girl to city girl, was so much fun.

Originally the book started off as inspired by my own university experience. But the more I wrote and got to know my characters, the more they began taking over the story and making it their own. Maggie was one of those characters. The more I wrote, the more I learned who she was and what her dreams were.

I love that she is such a dreamer. She’s a little naïve on the surface but she’s tough and she’s a fighter. I loved watching her grow more confident as she struggled to survive in the, at times, cutthroat world of the International School. Her transformation is really the essence of what New Adult is to me—learning to stand on your own two feet despite the challenges life throws your way. It’s also a huge adventure and I loved writing hers. I can’t wait to share it with you.

What does New Adult mean to you? What characteristics do you like to see in your New Adult heroines?

Originally a Florida girl, at seventeen Chanel moved to London to attend an international university. In the four years that followed, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, learned how to dance, travelled through Europe, and made lifelong friendships. Chanel fell in love with London and planned to stay there forever. But fate intervened on a Caribbean cruise, when an American fighter pilot with smooth dance moves, swept her off her feet.

Now, a happily ever after later, Chanel is living her next adventure in South Korea. An avid reader and hopeless romantic, she is happiest curled up with a book. She has a weakness for handbags, puppy cuddles, and her fighter pilot husband. Chanel writes New Adult contemporary romances and Young Adult thrillers. Her New Adult debut, I SEE LONDON, will be released by Harlequin (HQN) on February 3, 2014, followed by a sequel, LONDON FALLING, later in the year.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a gorgeous London-inspired necklace.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

29Jan2014

Blog Tour + Guest Post & Giveaway: Savor by Monica Murphy

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

We are so happy to be a part of the SAVOR blog tour! On today’s stop, we have a special guest post from the author, Monica Murphy, all about the appeal of billionaire bachelors! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a signed set of The Billionaire Bachelor Club Series!

Savor by Monica Murphy
Series: Billionaire Bachelors Club #3 (full reading order below)
Publication date: January 21st 2014
Publisher: Avon Impulse

New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy concludes her sexy Billionaire Bachelors Club series with a fiery romance that refuses to be left at the office…

Bryn James can’t take much more. Smart, sexy Matthew DeLuca is everything she wants in a man, but he’s also her boss—the youngest, hottest vineyard owner in the Napa Valley—and he doesn’t see her as anything more than his shy assistant. That’s all about to change. Armed with a hot new look and an attitude to match, Bryn is determined to catch Matt’s eye… professionalism be damned.

With his winery’s grand reopening approaching, Matt is trying to stay focused, but Bryn is suddenly making it very difficult. He’s always thought her prim demeanor effortlessly sexy, but Matt can’t deny that her transformation is jaw-dropping …and going to make it very difficult to keep his hands to himself.

But when one thing leads to another and suddenly Matt is stripping Bryn bare, he’ll be faced with the biggest risk of his career—and his heart. Can he convince her—and himself—that this might just be more than a no-strings office affair?

Buy Links:
Amazon US • Amazon CAN • Amazon UK • Barnes and Noble • iTunes

The appeal of Billionaire Bachelors

Who doesn’t love a billionaire? Well, I’m sure there are plenty of readers out there who don’t find them that appealing and I can respect that. We all have different tastes and that’s what makes life so interesting, right?

But me? I love a sexy billionaire. I love that it’s still a major trend in romance right now and hasn’t gone away yet. Oh, I love me a regular guy type of romance. I do. Yet there’s something about a man who can have anything he wants, who can buy houses, businesses, yachts, anything…and he always treats his girl like a princess. That’s some major fantasy going on right there.

I think some of the appeal when it comes to billionaires is that they’re like that elusive prince we were told to go in search of when we were little girls. I was raised on Disney movies (Cinderella was a personal favorite) and I wanted to be that girl whose foot fit in the shoe. I remember being envious of Princess Diana. Not because Prince Charles was a hot piece (I mean, come on) but that gown she wore when they were married—to die for. She was a freaking princess and she lived in a giant palace. She gave birth to the future king of England. I thought that was so romantic.

Of course, I had no idea that Prince Charles was a cheating jerk and Diana was a bit of a mess until many years later. I was caught up in the fantasy of it all, you know? Then reality had to come along and stomp its big muddy feet all over my pretty imaginings.

That’s what a billionaire hero in romance books represents to me at least. That gorgeous, sexy prince who’ll fall madly in love with his fair maiden and do anything to make her his. Anything…

In my BILLIONAIRE BACHELORS CLUB series, my three billionaires Archer, Gage and Matt are very sure of themselves. They’re successful businessmen, attractive…they can have anything they want. With Matt though, the hero from the last book in the series SAVOR, he’s not as white knight, I’m gonna make her mine, damn it as the other two. He’s rather conflicted you see.

His fair maiden works for him. And she’s a bit of a mystery. It’s hard for Matt to get a read on Bryn and he’s never had that sort of trouble before. Plus…she’s his assistant and he knows those are treacherous waters he’s wading into.

Bryn has had trouble before with sexist bosses and she doesn’t want to take that risk again. But she’s as drawn to Matt as he’s drawn to her and soon their growing chemistry is too big for them to ignore…

So while Matt may not be as aggressive as Archer and Gage, he certainly knows what he wants. And once he realizes that Bryn wants him too, nothing will stop him from having her. *swoon*

Reading Order: Billionaire Bachelors Club series

#1 ~ Crave: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Torn: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Savor: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3.5 ~ Intoxicated: Ebook • Goodreads

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Monica Murphy is a native Californian who lives in the foothills below Yosemite. A wife and mother of three, she writes New Adult and contemporary romance for Bantam and Avon. She is the author of One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon Page

–a signed set of The Billionaire Bachelor Club Series for one winner

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SAVOR Blog Tour Schedule

January 22
Tiffany Talks Books-Review
Book Addict Mumma-Review
Keep Calm & Read Romance-Review
Books Over boys-Author Interview

January 23
Reading Between the Wines-Excerpt
BestSellers & BestStellars-Review
Romance Addict-Excerpt & Review
The Secret Book Brat-Review

January 24
Hesperia Loves Books-DreamCast & Review
Shh Moms Reading-Excerpt & Review
As the Page Turns-Review
Book Angel Booktopia-Fun & Different Idea! & Review

January 25
Reviews by Tammy & Kim-Playlist & Review
Ramblings From This Chick-Review
Sarah’s Bookshelf-Review
My Favorite Things-Review

January 26
Sofia Loves Books-Review
Made For You Book Reviews-Excerpt & Review
About that Story-Excerpt
Movies, Shows N Books-Author Interview

January 27
Madison Says-Review
All Romance Reviews-Author Interview & Review
Reading Rainblog-Review
Cocktails & Books-Review

January 28
Stuck in Books-Character Interview & Review
G & C Book Blog-Review
Mommy’s Late Night Book Up-Review
Smut Book Junkie-Guest Post

January 29
Mrs. Leif’s Two Fangs About It-Excerpt
BookLover’s LaceyCat-Guest Post
Just Booked-Review

January 30
Naughty & Nice Book Blog-Guest Post & Review
Rumpled Sheets-Review
Mary Elizabeth’s Crazy Book Obsession-Review
Waves of Fiction-Author Interview & Review

January 31
True Story Book Blog-Fun & Different Idea! & Review
The Autumn Review-Review
Read That-Review
Submit & Devour-Review

24Jan2014

Blog Tour + Guest Post & Giveaway: Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

Click the banner to follow the tour!

Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis
New Adult Contemporary Romance
By Rachel Curtis
Released January 17, 2014

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.

Purchase:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble

AUTHOR’S TAKE ON JACK FROM KNOWING JACK
By Rachel Curtis

Jack Milton was raised by his father, who runs a security company and trained his son from the cradle to be a bodyguard. He’s strong and skillful and committed to his job, but he’s haunted by something from his past—a time when he believes he failed—and he can’t get past it or move forward with his life afterwards. So he sees himself in a kind of stasis, stuck in a job he’s good at but he isn’t sure he wants, working for a father he can never please, not really sure he can ever be happy or fulfilled.

He falls for Chloe almost immediately, but doesn’t think he can ever have her. So he’s caught between what he desperately wants and what he thinks is the reality of his life—the idea that he can never let go, because bad things happen when he lets go.

He’s gorgeous, of course—and kind of rough around the edges. He calls himself a “cheap-stuff” guy when Chloe is an “expensive stuff” girl, which is another reason he doesn’t think they can be together. Chloe teases him that he’s not bad-ass enough because he doesn’t have a criminal record, he doesn’t have any tattoos, and he wasn’t a Special Forces powerhouse. But, when she sees him in action, she decides he’s pretty bad-ass after all.

Even when he gives into his desire for Chloe, he keeps trying to hold back and get control of his world again…but Chloe has changed everything and he has to rethink his entire life because of her.

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.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

–(1) $50 USD Gift Card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble – International
–(10) eBook copies of Knowing Jack – International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

	Unlocking the Magic… on Review: A Promise of Fire by A…
	Lucas Middleton on Blog Tour // Review + Excerpt:…
	Van on Blog Tour + Release Day Review…
	Amber Elise @ Du Liv… on Audiobook Review: The Stand-In…
	daisyknox on Release Day Review: Tryst Six…

Booklovers For Life

Falling in love with romance one page at a time

Tag Archives: guest post