Blog Tour + ARC Review & Giveaway: Inspire by Cora Carmack

Posted in 4 hearts, Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews by Lacey

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Inspire by Cora Carmack!! Check out my review and a fantastic giveaway below!

Inspire by Cora Carmack
Series: The Muse #1
Release date: December 16th 2014

Kalliope lives with one purpose.

To inspire.

As an immortal muse, she doesn’t have any other choice. It’s part of how she was made. Musicians, artists, actors—they use her to advance their art, and she uses them to survive. She moves from one artist to the next, never staying long enough to get attached. But all she wants is a different life— a normal one. She’s spent thousands of years living lie after lie, and now she’s ready for something real.

Sweet, sexy, and steady, Wilder Bell feels more real than anything else in her long existence. And most importantly… he’s not an artist. He doesn’t want her for her ability. But she can’t turn off the way she influences people, not even to save a man she might love. Because in small doses, she can help make something beautiful, but her ability has just as much capacity to destroy as it does to create. The longer she stays, the more obsessed Wilder will become. It’s happened before, and it never turns out well for the mortal.

Her presence may inspire genius.

But it breeds madness, too.

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

I’m a big fan of Cora Carmack’s Losing It and when I heard she was going to write a new adult PARANORMAL book, I was all for it! There aren’t NA paranormal books that I’ve read, but it’s a genre I fully support. And if you’re thinking of venturing into the genre, then Inspire is the perfect way to start! I highly enjoyed Inspire – it’s a fun, unique, and deeply romantic read that will have you wanting so much more.

Inspire is about the mythical immortal being Kalliope, one of the nine muses who lives to inspire art, music, and the like. She HAS to let out inspiration into people, otherwise there are painful consequences for her. So she creates relationships with artists, musicians, etc. and gives them inspiration, but sometimes the artists get addicted or obsessed. So Kalli has lived for thousands of years not forming any long-lasting relationships, but everything changes when she meets Wilder Bell.

Kalli is a great heroine. She may be an immortal being who’s thousands of years old, but Cora Carmack created her in a way that she’s down to earth and relatable. She’s funny and sweet, and my heart went out to her and her pain of having been so alone for so long. When she meets Wilder, she feels a connection with him. If she were human, they would have been perfect together. But she’s immortal and nothing can happen between them. Kalli never expects to see Wilder again, but when she does, she can’t resist him a second time.

Wilder is literally the PERFECT guy. Okay, maybe he’s not perfect; perfectly imperfect would be a better word for him. I fell so hard for this man. He’s sweet and wonderful and naughty and sexy… There are SO many facets to his character and he truly made the perfect package. When Wilder meets Kalli, he never expects to see her again either, but he can’t get her out of his mind. One chance encounter later, he’s determined to make her his.

I honestly can’t even describe how sweet Wilder is. He’s patient but determined to win Kalli over. And when he falls for her, he falls so. hard. He loves her fiercely, willing to do anything to make her happy, because she makes him happy. And what makes him even better? The fact that he takes responsibility for his family. He attends college while working at a job to support his mother and little sister. His little sister Gwen is the most adorable thing ever! And Wilder + Gwen = melting heart.

It’s difficult for Kalli to stay with Wilder because she doesn’t want to hurt him by her power, and when she falls for him, she has to decide on how their future will play out. How long can she stay with him until he realizes that she’s not aging and he is? Kalli’s dilemma had my heart clenching, even while my heart was swooning when she and Wilder were together.

Inspire was such a fun, unique, romantic read. I adored Wilder and Kalli, and their romance swept me away. If you’re looking a new adult book with a unique twist, then Inspire is the perfect read!

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

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life– boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

One $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Cards (Winner’s Choice) for Two Winners

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

December 15^th
Smart & Savvy with Stephanie – Review & Character Interview
Desert Divas Book Addiction – Review
Book Angel Booktopia – Review
Tales of the ravenous reader – Review
In Between The Pages – Review
The Book Cellar – Guest Post

December 16^th
Between Order and Randomness – Excerpt
Lost in Lit – Review & Character Interview-Kallie and Wilder
The BookWhisperer – Review
NC 2 DC – Review
The Cover Contessa – Review
Movies, Shows & Books – Review

December 17^th
Typical Distractions – Review
K-Books – Review
Book Boyfriend Reviews – Review
Britt’s Book and Life Blog – Review
The Boyfriend Bookmark – Review
Romance Addict Book Blog – Dreamcast

December 18^th
Author Groupies – Review
Booklovers For Life – Review
Bloggers[Heart]Books – Excerpt
Snuggling on the Sofa – Review
Mary Had a Little Book Blog – Review
Ficwishes – Review

December 19^th
Red Hot + Blue Reads – Review
Worn Down Glories – Excerpt
Jen in Bookland – Review
Vi3tbabe – Review
Ticket to Anywhere – Guest Post

December 20^th
Four Chicks Flipping Pages Review & Playlist
A Life Bound By Books – Review
Watcha Reading – Character Interview Lennox
Keep it Fictional – Review

December 21^st
Literati Literature Lovers – Review
The Shadow Realm – Review
Nose Stuck in a Book – Author Interview
StuckInBooks – Review

December 22^nd
Anna’s Book Blog – Excerpt
Lovin’ Los Libros – Review
Spare Time Book blog – Review
shelf life – Review
Novel Grounds da – Review
Mean Girls Luv Books – Review

December 23^rd
Stuck In YA Books – Review & Guest Post
LuLo Fangirl – Review
Give Me Books – Review
The Irish Banana Review – Review
Step Into Fiction – Review
Krista’s Dust Jacket – Review

December 24^th
Grown Up Book Reviews / Mundie Moms – Review & Author Interview
The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club – Review
Up All Night Book Addict – Review
Wendi Galbreath – Review
Behind Closed Covers – Review
Cocktails and Books – Review

17Dec2014

Blog Tour + ARC Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole

Posted in 5 hearts, Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews by Lacey

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole! Check out my review, an excerpt and a fantastic giveaway below!

Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole
Series: Hades Hangmen #2 (full reading order below)
Release Date: December 14th 2014
Age group: Mature new adult
Genre: MC dark contemporary romance

Even salvation can be delivered through the love of the damned…
Beauty can be a curse.
Faith can be a cage.
Only love can set you free.

A few long weeks after being reluctantly ripped from the comforting embrace of her sacred prophet’s religious commune—the only life she has ever known—a terrified Delilah is thrust into a world enveloped by evil and swimming in sin.

Steadfastly devout in her faith, and retaining the deep belief that her soul is innately tarnished as a branded ‘Cursed woman of Eve,’ Delilah is determined to find her way home to her people in The Order and away from the corrupt and damned outlaw motorcycle club—The Hades Hangmen—who hold her at their secluded compound for her protection—a ‘protection’ she strongly resents.

Delilah yearns to return home, convinced that only amongst her own people, and under the holy guidance of the Lord’s revealed prophet, can her Satan-spawned soul be truly saved. Conditioned her entire life to believe she is a witch… a life-long temptress… the devil’s whore… Delilah increasingly resents her beautiful face, her shapely body and her sensuous effect on men. But when a man of the motorcycle club—a deeply sinful yet stunningly beautiful man—is charged with her care, Delilah begins to see that this dangerous and moralless sinner from the ‘outside’ may offer her something she did not know could truly exist: unconditional love.

Kyler ‘Ky’ Willis loves his life: a daily abundance of brotherhood, liquor, the freedom of the open-road and—best of all—his pick of hot women. Raised a biker brat and now VP of the most notorious MC in the States, Ky has no shortage of club sluts warming his bed; a situation he takes full advantage of… until a certain blonde enters his life… a gorgeous pilgrim-blonde he can’t get out of his head… a pilgrim-blonde he and his club recently-rescued from some backward religious cult… and a pilgrim-blonde he’s been ordered to keep the hell away from and his whorish hands off.

When yet another in a lengthy line of drunken blunders forces Ky to reluctantly take charge of the pilgrim-blonde’s care, he realizes that there could be more to this woman than just supermodel looks and a stacked set of tits. He begins to see that she could be the woman who could do the impossible—tame his wild ways and capture his reluctant heart.

But the unyielding bonds of Lilah’s past are strong, her ‘people’ determined and, with a new Prophet in charge and hell bent on revenge, they are mightily reluctant to let her go…

Buy Links:
Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon AUS • Amazon CA • iBooks • B&N

OMG. OMG OMG OMG!!!! This. Book. I freaking LOVED it!! I’d been in an MC funk for a while – I just couldn’t find one that would hook me in, and then I got to reading Heart Recaptured and BAM. I fell instantly in love with this one. I really enjoyed the first book, It Ain’t Me, Babe, but it was Heart Recaptured that sold this series for me. I loved everything about this book: the writing, Ky, Lilah, the Hades Hangmen, Flame(!!!)… there was nothing I didn’t adore!

We know from the previous book that Lilah, Mae, and Maddie have been taken in by the Hades Hangmen MC, and while Mae has adjusted well (with the help of her man Styx), Lilah and Maddie are still completely out of their element. They’ve been taken away from the Commune and from everything they’ve ever known. Lilah is the one who holds the strongest onto the Commune’s beliefs. My heart went out to this girl – she believes so poorly of herself because all she’s ever been told is that she’s cursed and that she isn’t worthy of anything. It’s frustrating that Lilah is so rigid in her beliefs, but I could understand where she was coming from. She never knew any differently, she never thought she deserved anything better, and she’s not accepting of the new life she’s been given. She detests the Hangmen, believing them full of sin, but everything changes once she meets Ky.

I lost all composure when he was near. He was crude, grossly promiscuous, and although my mind warned me of his evil and seductive nature, my heart betrayed my virtue and strived to have him close. His beautiful face and body tempted me to take him into my body. He was my very own forbidden fruit, one of which I had to keep far far away.

Ky, this beautiful, loving, amazing man… is the ultimate manwhore. I should have hated him, because manwhores are just blah for me, but Ky has so many redeeming qualities that I instantly forgave him for his manwhoring ways. As the VP, Ky gets a lot of attention from the club and from women, but no one has ever held his attention like Lilah has. The instant he sees her, he wants her but he’s been told to keep his hands off her. It doesn’t help that he’s in close proximity with her all the time, especially since he’s been tasked to assimilating her to life outside the Commune.

As Lilah adjusts to the MC life, she learns more about Ky, and what she learns, she likes. And, of course, it’s easy for her to fall for Ky and his loving, protective ways. He teaches her that she’s worth so much more than she believes and he teaches her to love herself. As for Ky, the more he spends time with Lilah, the more he wants her – and not just for sex. He wants her body, her heart… everything.

Fuck me, but she had me enthralled. I was eating, sleeping, and breathing for this very beautiful but very broken bitch.

I honestly LOVED the way Tillie Cole makes Ky and Lilah fall in love. It’s slow and sweet, but still full of hot chemistry. I love that they are so taken aback by the love they come to feel for each other, because they’ve never felt like that for anyone. I could just FEEL the love that grows between them and it swept me away.

“I’m gonna make love to you, Lilah. I’m gonna take you as mine, possess you. ‘Cause there ain’t no one out there… no one else who could do this to me but you.”

Ky will literally do ANYTHING for Lilah and oh… I adored how fierce his love is. He may never have experienced love before, but once he falls, he falls so hard. I. Love. Ky!!! And his sweet, sweet words!

“I love you, baby. We’re gonna get you through this, ’cause, fuck, you deserve more to life than you’ve been getting. You deserve to be happy with me.”

Aahhhhh, you just can’t not love Ky!

Unfortunately, the leaders of the Commune are still after the girls, Mae specifically. We get to see more of Rider, who will be getting his own book. It gets crazy intense, because when someone’s after the Hades Hangmen’s women, the club will stop at nothing to keep their women safe and protected.

Another thing I loved about Heart Recaptured… Flame and Maddie!!!! I am just SO excited for their book after reading Heart Recaptured. Flame is the most alpha, obsessive, protective man over Maddie, and it was sooo good to read! I was grinning every time Flame was worried or protecting Maddie in his own way. I need their book so bad!!

Heart Recaptured is the perfect dark, MC read. I was utterly addicted from start to finish – I couldn’t put this book down! If you’re looking to read an MC series, I must recommend the Hades Hangmen series. These books will sweep you away and have you addicted and begging for more.

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

Now here’s an excerpt from Heart Recaptured! ❤

Ky stalked toward me, his white shirt tight over his taut torso, his blue denim pants loose on his legs. As he approached, he ran his hand through his messy long hair, chewing slowly on a small, thin wooden stick gripped between his teeth.

I could not speak, could not think, could not breathe. My free hand reached behind me, resting on a shelf to keep me upright. The smoky smell of Ky washed over me. My heart was frantic and my blood rushed through my veins.

Ky’s nostrils flared as he approached, his blue gaze drinking in the sight of my modestly covered frame. He did not stop three steps in front of me as the brothers were required to do in the commune. He did not keep an appropriate distance, as a man should with a woman in public. Oh no, instead, he closed in until his impressive height towered over my head, his chest pressing flush against my breasts.

I could feel his intense gaze. I squeezed my eyes shut, too afraid to face this devilish man. I lost all composure when he was near. He was crude, grossly promiscuous, and although my mind warned me of his evil and seductive nature, my heart betrayed my virtue and strived to have him close. His beautiful face and body tempted me to take him into my body. He was my very own forbidden fruit, one of which I had to keep far far away.

Reading Order: Hades Hangmen series

$Souls Unfractured by Tillie Cole$

#1 ~ It Ain’t Me, Babe: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Heart Recaptured: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Souls Unfractured: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#4 ~ Deep Redemption: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#5 ~ Damnable Grace: Goodreads (release date TBA)
#6 ~ Crux Untamed: Goodreads (release date TBA)
#7 ~ Darkness Embraced: Goodreads (release date TBA)

Amazon & USA Today Best Selling Author, Tillie Cole is a Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (okay I exaggerate) Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her English rose mother — a farmer’s daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

Kindle Fire HD7 courtesy of Tillie Cole

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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9Dec2014

Joint Review: Breaking the Rules by Katie McGarry

Posted in 5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Breaking the Rules Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #1.5 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: December 8th 2014
Purchase: Ebook

A summer road trip changes everything in this unforgettable new tale from acclaimed author Katie McGarry.

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so… different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who’s never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything — except the one thing Echo’s just not ready for.

But when the source of Echo’s constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants — even as foster kid Noah’s search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.

Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah’s more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he’d be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn… seriously epic.

Oh god, OH GOD!! Katie McGarry, I truly believe there isn’t a book you could write that I wouldn’t love. I would read every single book you publish. But the fact THIS book is about Noah and Echo? I couldn’t be happier! I fell SO. HARD. for Noah and Echo when I first read Pushing the Limits. PTL is still one of my all-time FAVORITE books ever. It was the first book to make me ugly cry, and that’s saying something, because I’m the type of reader who NEVER cries. So getting another book about Noah and Echo was like a dream come true!

Breaking the Rules begins near the end of the road trip Echo and Noah took at the end of Pushing the Limits. They’ve graduated high school, Echo is selling her paintings, Noah is making money at his job, so things are different and… better. Right? Well, as much as I wished Echo and Noah a happy ever after at the end of Pushing the Limits, these two characters still have a way to go.

Noah and I are heading back home, and the nightmares I thought I was running from lurk behind every corner and coffee shop in America. In less than a month, Noah and I will start college, and I’ll have a roommate in the dorms and new classes, and a ball of dread knots in my stomach. This summer was supposed to change me, and nothing has changed.

There are new challenges that Echo and Noah need to face: Echo has been having a hard time selling her art, she still has nightmares, and Noah is afraid that he can’t be the man he wants to be to support Echo. And when the past rears its head for the both of them, their relationship gets rocky. Though there are doubts about the future, there’s no doubt that Echo and Noah love each other with everything they have. Theirs is a romance that is meant to defy anything and anyone standing in its way.

I love her. More than I thought I was capable of, and I would sacrifice my life for her happiness.

I fell in love all over again with Noah and Echo’s heartwarming romance while reading Breaking the Rules. Who knew it was even possible to love Noah even more than I already did!? Seriously, I love this boy – no, this man – to death. Noah truly becomes the man he’s meant in Breaking the Rules, and I loved that Katie McGarry got to share this with her readers.

I couldn’t get enough of Noah and Echo. I honestly could read about them forever! My heart just overflows with love for these two characters who are so near and dear to my heart.

“I’m going to spend my whole life making you happy.”
“You better.”

If you’re a fan of Pushing the Limits, then you absolutely MUST read Breaking the Rules. It was an incredible experience reading about Noah and Echo again.

Oh my goodness Katie McGarry you have done it again. This series tore me to pieces each time and I’m also officially in love with all of the male characters in the stories. Noah definitely ranks in the top of my list and after reading the one that started it all, I had no idea that McGarry would come back and make me fall in love with him all over again.

Breaking the Rules still captures the unease that Echo and Noah have between each other but also how strong their love is, despite it being fresh and new. Their unease isn’t necessarily between themselves (ALTHOUGH IT ALSO IS), but it’s more that they’re still holding onto their past and letting it affect them.

I love that Isaiah and Beth made an appearance into the book because I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. They’re so real and it provides that little secret nudge to the readers who read the rest of the series. BY THE WAY, if you guys haven’t read their stories yet…what the heck are you waiting for???!!!

And with that, I leave you the recommendation that you READ. THIS. SERIES.

Reading Order: Pushing the Limits series

#1 ~ Pushing the Limits: Ebook • Hardcover • Paperback • Goodreads
#1.1 ~ Crossing the Line: Ebook • Goodreads
#1.5 ~ Breaking the Rules: Ebook • Goodreads
#2 ~ Dare You To: Lacey’s Review • Shirley’s Review • Ebook • Hardcover • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Crash into You: Lacey’s Review • Ebook • Hardcover • Paperback • Goodreads
#4 ~ Take Me On: Ebook • Hardcover • Goodreads

9Dec2014

Release Day Review: Ripped by Katy Evans

Posted in 4.5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Ripped by Katy Evans
Series: Real #5 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: December 9th 2014
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher (Gallery Books) in exchange for an honest review

A ripped rock star with attitude. An ex-girlfriend with a reckless plan.

Pandora assumed getting her heartbroken by her bad boy ex could only happen once–until Mackenna Jones comes back to town for the biggest concert of his career. They say girls are getting pregnant just thinking about the Crack Bikini tour and it’s destined to be a huge hit.

Oh, it’ll be a hit alright–when Pandora comes out swinging. She and her friend Melanie are determined to humiliate him onstage. But when they’re caught by security and her ex is summoned, Mackenna decides not to press charges if she’ll join him on tour and follow certain conditions–rules designed to give him the upper hand and keep her in close contact with him once again. Soon, the passion they once shared is reignited, and no matter how much Pandora wants to hate him, her hard exterior starts to crack.

And worse: Mackenna knows it, too. But he hasn’t uncovered all her secrets…

Katy Evans has done it again! Ripped is another spell-binding, addicting novel in the Real series. Ever since reading Rogue (check out my review), I simply HAD to read Pandora’s story. Ripped was one of my top highly anticipated reads. I NEEDED to know who was the man to turn Pandora into such a hateful, pessimistic woman. And when I got to read her story, I was blown away! Every second of this book is riveting, intense, and oh so sexy. I loved it!

So the man who broke Pandora’s heart? His name is Mackenna Jones, and he is a rock star. No matter how much Pandora wishes to never see Mackenna again, she can’t avoid seeing his face because of his rock star fame. We slowly discover the truth to Pandora and Kenna’s story, about how they once fell in love when they were teenagers, and how they were ripped apart when Kenna left Pandora without a word.

As far as I was concerned, he was it for me, and I for him.
He was my best friend too.
My world broke when I heard he left Seattle.
He didn’t even say goodbye.
The last thing he’d said to me was that he loved me.
Now. I. Hate. Love.

Pandora is filled with bitterness and hatred. Kenna was Pandora’s first everything, and he ruined their love when he left. But Pandora can’t pass up the chance to see him when he comes back to town during his tour. Why does she want to see Kenna when she hates him? So she can throw food at him onstage. And it’s great and all – until she and her friend Melanie get taken by security and she comes face to face with Kenna for the first time in almost six years.

I absolutely loooove second chance romances, and as far as Ripped goes, it’s nearly perfect. There was the perfect amount of angst between Pandora and Kenna that I was hoping and looking for. They still want each other after all these years, but while Kenna wants to start something again, Pandora is adamant about staying away from him. Too bad that because of what happened with Melanie, Pandora is forced to go on tour along with Kenna. And being in such close proximity with him makes him that much harder to resist.

I loved that we also get Kenna’s POV in Ripped. You can easily tell how much Kenna still loves Pandora, even though he doesn’t want to. She was the one girl he had ever loved and now that she’s here, he wants her back for good.

So what if I had to tell myself she didn’t exist? For six years, it worked. But now she’s here. Like some demon–some poltergeist–reminding me of what I wanted as a teen and could never have. Reminding me what I lost. What I’d do to get it back.
Pandora.
My nightmare, my dreams, my walking, talking fantasy.
Here.

There’s an incredibly intense chemistry between Kenna and Pandora, so this book is HOT! Kenna and Pandora fall into bed with each other, but while Pandora just wants to use Kenna, Kenna wants Pandora back in his life forever. So he’ll take what he can get for the moment, but he’ll win her and her love back if it’s the last thing he does.

“I had your heart once, Pink, and it wasn’t enough. I have your body now, but it’s not enough.” He holds my face in order to force my eyes to stay on his as he demands, “I want your mind, your dreams, your hopes, your fucking soul. I want it all.”

I honestly love Katy Evan’s unique writing – it’s what makes these books so utterly riveting and enjoyable. I fell for Pandora and Kenna, these two broken characters. Their story is raw and not without pain, but just like they were meant for each other when they were younger, they’re meant for each other now. I loved that in Ripped, we get the sweet moments and funny moments to go along with the heartache. Reading Ripped had me in a roller coaster of emotions, and I loved it!

If you’re a fan of the Real series, you don’t want to miss Pandora’s story. It’s another fantastic, heartbreaking, heartwarming story from Katy Evans!

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

Reading Order: Real series

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

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2Dec2014

Release Day Review: Mai Tai’d Up by Alice Clayton

Posted in 3.5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Mai Tai’d Up by Alice Clayton
Series: Cocktail #4 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: December 2nd 2014
Purchase: Ebook • Paperback
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher (Gallery Books) in exchange for an honest review

Looking for the perfect mix of smart, sexy, and sassy? Mai Tai’d Up continues New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton’s Cocktail series, which began with Wallbanger and continued with Rusty Nailed and Screwdrivered.

The gossip mill in the seaside community of Monterey is churning about Chloe Patterson, the newcomer who is starting a sanctuary for rescued pit bulls. It’s rumored that she’s a former beauty queen (true) who ditched her fiancé the morning of their wedding (also true). And that while she’s not looking for a new man, the good-looking local veterinarian has his eye on her. Absolutely, positively true.

When Lucas Campbell isn’t at the family veterinary clinic, he’s paddle boarding in Monterey Bay. Recently single, he’s definitely not in the market for a new relationship, but he still can’t resist taking a second, third, and fourth look at the recent arrival of Miss Golden State.

Neither Lucas nor Chloe has any interest in being tied down. Being tied up, however—now there’s a thought. But are a few Mai Tais, a moonlit night, and the music of Frank Sinatra enough to allow them both to forget their past? Let’s hope Ol’ Blue Eyes knows what he’s doing.

Mix one part tiki, one part kinky, and a splash of old black magic matchmaking, and it’s time to be . . . Mai Tai’d Up.

If you like your romances with a side of funny, Alice Clayton is definitely an author to read! While Mai Tai’d Up is my least favorite of the Cocktail series, it has Alice Clayton’s classic humor as well as heart-warming characters you grow to care for. If you’re a fan of the series, you don’t want to miss this latest installment!

Chloe Patterson is a former beauty queen who ditches her own wedding. She hasn’t been happy in a while, and she knows that going through that wedding will be the worst decision of her life. She wants to find true romance and passion, so she grows some balls, packs her bags, and moves to her father’s old house in Monterey.

What I could see now was that nothing about our relationship was “Holy Mary mother of God.” It was smooth and beautiful and covered in swirls of yummy on the outside, but the inside was fat-free and full of air and nothing. And if I was going to have a life of air and nothing, I’d at least like a big fat dick to bounce on.

Chloe is hilarious! A little dirty, but a total sweetheart. I totally admired how she took charge of her life and decided to make a change. She moves to Monterey in order to work with rescue dogs, which is honestly the sweetest thing ever! And it certainly helps that the local veterinarian there is a hottie. 😉

Lucas is the hot, ginger vet who has just gotten out of his own relationship. Neither Lucas nor Chloe want to go back to being in a relationship, so a hilarious, chemistry-filled friendship blooms. And there’s some serious chemistry between them that’s hard to ignore. I really enjoyed the way Alice Clayton portrayed their changing relationship. And you know that with her books, when the main characters get together, it’s explosive!

Had it really been so long that I’d been without contact like this? Was I just skin-drunk?
Nah. I was Lucas drunk. He was the perfect cocktail.

I was a bit disappointed with the romance – I just didn’t feel a connection between Chloe and Lucas, and the romance wasn’t fleshed out well enough for me. One moment the romance would be moving too slow, and then the next, it would move too fast. What I liked were the characters individually, and so what saved this book was Chloe herself. I loved the animal shelter aspect of this book and how she built it on her own merits. And have I mentioned how adorably hilarious and sassy Chloe is? Even though the romance wasn’t all that great, Chloe was still a heroine I really enjoyed reading about.

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

Reading Order: Cocktail series

#1 ~ Wallbanger: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Rusty Nailed: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Screwdrivered: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#4 ~ Mai Tai’d Up: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#4.5 ~ Last Call: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

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