This Week's New Releases

So many good contemporaries coming out this week! Since I started this weekly feature I have added a bunch to my TBR pile. As usual, plenty of contemporary romances. I have no problem finding these because it's what I read the most of. I would love to see more historical releases so if anyone knows of any, please let us know in the comments.

I have read one Lauren Layne book so far (Blurred Lines) and enjoyed the heck out of it. While To Have and To Hold is the first book in a new series, there is a prequel of sorts, the novella, From This Day Forward. I have yet to read it but like the blurb as well as the blurb for this one. And for some reason the term "fancy-pants" has always cracked me up!

To Have and To Hold
Lauren Layne
Contemporary Romance
The Wedding Belles/Book 1

USA TODAY bestselling author Lauren Layne is the “queen of witty dialogue and sexy scenes” (Rachel Van Dyken)! Now, Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles, her sizzling brand new contemporary romance series about three ambitious wedding planners who can make any bride’s dream come true... but their own.

Discovering her fiance is an international con man just moments before they exchange vows devastates celebrity wedding planner Brooke Baldwin's business—and breaks her heart. Now a pariah in Los Angeles, she seeks a fresh start in New York City and thinks she’s found it with her first bridal client, a sweet—if slightly spoiled—hotel heiress. Then she meets the uptight businessman who’s holding the purse strings.

Seth Tyler wishes he could write a blank check and be done with his sister Maya's fancy-pants wedding. Unfortunately, micromanaging the event is his only chance at proving Maya’s fiance is a liar. Standing directly in his way is the stunning blonde wedding planner whose practiced smiles and sassy comebacks both irritate and arouse him. He needs Brooke’s help. But can he persuade a wedding planner on a comeback mission to unplan a wedding? And more importantly, how will he convince her that the wedding she should be planning... is theirs?

A heroine named Vivian Leigh? I can't resist! And the hero has a heart attack? I'm curious as to how old he is. And I like what I've previously read from Ms. Gibson. All reasons to add to the list!

Just Kiss Me
Rachel Gibson
Contemporary Romance

"Hello, Ms. Vivian . . . it's been a long time.

And with those words, Vivian Leigh Rochet nearly melted. It's been years since she last saw Harrison Whitley-Shuler. She was a teenager scrubbing houses for a living. He was the gorgeous son of rich parents, not fit for the likes of her.

Vivian had vowed to get out of Charleston, become a big Hollywood star, and stick it to the snooty girls who made her cry.

She got what she wanted—and more—but why does her glamorous life seem so trivial?

Harrison got out too . . . making it all the way to Wall Street, until a heart attack forced him to trade in his cufflinks for a good set of hand tools.

Making furniture soothes his soul, but escaping the Whitley-Shuler heritage is nearly impossible. And now he's come face-to-face with the one who got away. He's not looking for love. He's not even looking for sex . . . so why is resisting her the hardest thing he's ever done?

I decided to get this next release from Netgalley so I have a little head start on reading it. So far, the heroine's experiences with her neighbors are much better than mine have ever been!

Don't Tempt Me
Lori Foster
Contemporary Romance
The Guthrie Brothers/Book 1

Love comes along when it's least wanted.

Jason Guthrie has no time for entanglements—between helping out his widowed brother and teenage nephew and getting his hometown back on its feet, his days are spoken for. But his nights are another story… And when his lovely new neighbor, Honor Brown, reluctantly accepts his help in remodeling her house, Jason finds himself wishing his handyman skills could knock down the defenses she keeps building around herself.

Martial arts teacher Sullivan Dean knows real danger when he sees it—even when it takes the form of the gorgeous blonde helping her friend move in across the street. After putting his wayward past behind him to focus on teaching control to troubled kids, Sullivan has learned to avoid party girls like Lexie Perkins. But Sullivan can't seem to keep his hands off the real woman behind that flirty charm—or keep his heart from landing at her feet…

Kasie West is a favorite Young Adult author of mine. She writes characters who are genuine in their feelings and situations. Love the premise of this one. Can't wait to dive in!

P.S. I Like You
Kasie West 
Young Adult/Contemporary

What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?

While Lily is spacing out in Chemistry one day, she picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from one of her favorite songs on the desk. The next day, someone else has written back to her on the desk! Soon enough Lily and the mystery student are exchanging notes, and lyrics, and even sharing secrets. When Lily finds out that her anonymous pen pal is a guy, she's flustered -- and kind of feels like she's falling for him. She and her best friend set out to unravel the identity of the letter writer -- but when the truth is revealed, the guy is the LAST person Lily could have ever imagined it to be. Now that Lily knows the truth, can she untangle her feelings and gather the courage to listen to her heart? 

 From beloved author Kasie West (The Distance Between Us) comes an utterly charming story about mixed messages, missed connections, and the magic of good old-fashioned secret admirer notes. 

I've been waiting for this book ever since reading the first book in the series, All Hell Breaks Loose. There was enough of a teaser for the second book to make me want it right now.

Hell Breaks Loose
Sophie Jordan
Contemporary Romance
Devil's Rock Series/Book 2

Hell hath no hunger like a man let out of a cage . . .

Shy and awkward, First Daughter Grace Reeves has always done what she’s told. Tired of taking orders, she escapes her security detail for a rare moment of peace. Except her worst nightmare comes to life when a ruthless gang of criminals abducts her. Her only choice is to place her trust in Reid Allister, an escaped convict whose piercing gaze awakens something deep inside her. Reid is nothing like her other captors.

He’s tougher, smarter…and one blistering look from him makes her hotter than any man ever has.

Reid spent years plotting escape and revenge . . .years without a woman in his bed. For this hardened felon, Grace Reeves isn’t just out of his league—she’s from another planet, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting her. Escaping Devil’s Rock was tough, but resisting this woman could be the end of him. For a man with nothing to lose, protecting her . . . claiming her as his own, becomes more necessary than his next breath.

When I was a little kid, I would fall asleep with my mom while we listened to a radio mystery show. I don't remember any of the stories but I've always loved a good mystery. Maybe that's where I first got my love of mysteries.

The Unseen World
Liz Moore
Mystery/Contemporary

The moving story of a daughter’s quest to discover the truth about her beloved father’s hidden past. 

Ada Sibelius is raised by David, her brilliant, eccentric, socially inept single father, who directs a computer science lab in 1980s-era Boston. Home-schooled, Ada accompanies David to work every day; by twelve, she is a painfully shy prodigy. The lab begins to gain acclaim at the same time that David's mysterious history comes into question. When his mind begins to falter, leaving Ada virtually an orphan, she is taken in by one of David's colleagues. Soon after she embarks on a mission to uncover her father’s secrets: a process that carries her from childhood to adulthood. What Ada discovers on her journey into a virtual universe will keep the reader riveted until The Unseen World's heart-stopping, fascinating conclusion.

Look! It's an urban fantasy!

Thunder Road
Sierra Dean
Urban Fantasy

Being Chosen was supposed to be a gift. 

That’s what Tallulah Corentine’s parents told her when they handed her over to the Rain Chasers on her seventh birthday. It was an honor to be born with a destiny, to be hand selected by the gods before taking her first breath. She should be overjoyed.

Twenty years later, Tallulah is still waiting for the gift. She might have the power of the storm at her fingertips, but she’s spent her whole adult life living under a cloud. 

 A cross-country trip to find the wayward son of Seth, god of the storm, turns into a fight for her life when she dupes Death out of a valuable treasure. With only a wily con man, a dangerously handsome bad-luck priest, and a lot of lightning to help her, can she deliver the package and keep herself out of an early grave?

Or will Seth be looking for a new Rain Chaser before it’s all over?

Review: All Chained Up

All Chained Up
Sophie Jordan
Contemporary Romance
Devil's Rock/Book 1
Avon/March 29, 2016

There are bad boys and then there are the men of Devil’s Rock . . .

Some men come with a built-in warning label. Knox Callaghan is one of them. Danger radiates from every lean, muscled inch of him, and his deep blue eyes seem to see right through to Briar Davis’s most secret fantasies. But there’s one major problem: Briar is a nurse volunteering at the local prison, and Knox is an inmate who should be off-limits in every way.

Knox feels it too—a shocking animal magnetism that drives him to risk his own life to protect Briar’s. Paroled at last, he tries to resist her. She’s too innocent, too sweet, and she has no idea what Knox is capable of. But a single touch can lead to a kiss—and a taste . . . until the only crime is denying what feels so right . . .

“When the prison doors are open, the real dragon will fly out.”—Ho Chi Minh

~This review is for the audio book, narrated by Christian Fox whose smooth voice made this a pleasure to listen to. 

Sophie Jordan not writes historical romances, new adult and contemporary romances. She also writes paranormal romances under the name Sharie Kohler. I've only read her new adult and contemporary romance but will need to try her historical and PNR since I have had such good luck with her writings.

It's the old question of can a "bad boy" be redeemed? Whether the hero is truly a bad boy or someone who made a terrible mistake, it's the heroine's belief in him, which in turn strengthens his belief in himself, which makes for the basis of the story.

For Knox Callaghan, the driving force in his life is keeping himself and his younger brother North, safe. Not an easy feat when you're locked up with some of the worst criminals around. So when Knox is injured and sent to the prison infirmary, he can't help but enjoy the company of beautiful nurse Briar Davis. From the beginning, it was obvious Knox wasn't a bad guy. He's done some things he wouldn't have considered doing prior to being imprisoned but his new situation makes him do whatever it takes his brother and himself alive.

I liked Knox for his protectiveness, his sense of right and his ability to see when he's wrong and admit it. He does have a short temper when it comes to men coming on to Briar. To be fair, Briar needed to stand up for herself more instead of putting up with an asshole making the moves on her when she doesn't want it.

Briar was a bit of a pushover. Like I mentioned, she worried too much about what other's thought. She let her neighbor, her sister and sometimes even Knox push her around. It was a relief when she held her ground and even pushed back a little. She doesn't have much experience with men so had Knox been harder around the edges, with out the sense of gallantry when it came to women, they might not have worked as well.

The secondary characters, mainly Knox's brother North, and Reid Allister another inmate, are given enough page time to get the reader interested in their upcoming stories. Reid's is next with North's set for publication early next year. I will admit interest in both with Reid's story given some set-up in All Chained Up. The premise is one I don't remember ever reading so it's certainly captured my curiosity!

Rating: B

Devil's Rock Series ~

All Chained Up
Hell Breaks Loose (July 26, 2016)
All Fired Up (February 2017)

ARC Review: Tease

Tease
Sophie Jordan
New Adult Contemporary
The Ivy Chronicles/Book 2
William Morrow/May 27, 2014

What happens when a girl who always calls the shots meets a guy who't too wild to even her? 

A born flirt and good-time party girl, Emerson has never had a problem finding a willing guy. She's always chosen her hookups carefully, and she's never broken her three cardinal rules: Never let them see the real you. Never fall in love. Always leave them begging for more.

Then Shaw comes along. A hottie from the wrong side of the tracks, he's immune to her flirtatious banter and come-hither smile. After rescuing her from a disastrous night at a biker bar, he doesn't even try to take her to bed--he calls her a tease and sends her home instead. Unable to resist a challenge, or forget the sexy, dark-eyed, bad-boy biker, she vows to bring him to his knees. 

But instead of making Shaw beg, Emerson finds herself craving him. For the first time in her life, she's throwing out her rule book. Suddenly, she's the one panting for a guy she can't control--a guy who won't settle for anything less than the real Emerson and who forces her to do things she's never imagined, including facing a past she thought she'd buried. A guy who just might leave her wanting more. . .

After reading Ms. Jordan's first book in the series, Foreplay, I was curious to find out about Emerson and how much of her party girl persona was real.  Turns out there is a lot more going on with Emerson than just flirting and hook-ups.  And that's what Shaw sees, the woman behind the mask Emerson wears.

Emerson - so much more to her than meets the eye.  I really enjoyed getting to know her more than the glimpse we got in the first book, Foreplay.  She has her reasons for being how she is and living her life the way she does.  It's why it is hard to relate the party girl Emerson to the serious Emerson.  Her family life is a wreck and really left me angry for her.  There were also times when I just wanted her to be mature and deal with her problems head on.  While I liked Emerson I also found her frustrating at times.

A man who knows what he wants is very sexy.  Shaw had the looks but he also had the determination to not only go after what he wanted, Emerson, but let her know how he feels about her.  Imagine!  A guy who isn't afraid to voice his feelings.  Granted, he doesn't get all touchy-feely, but he does make his feelings clear.  No playing games with this guy.  Too bad Emerson wasn't as open with her feelings.  It made for a rough road for Shaw and Emerson but the end result was so worth it.

Looking forward to the next book, Wild, due out this November.


Rating:  B

The Ivy Chronicles Series ~

Foreplay
Tease
Wild (November 18, 2014)

ARC Review: Foreplay

Foreplay
Sophie Jordan
Contemporary/New Adult 
The Ivy Chronicles/Book 1
William Morrow/ November 5, 2013

Pepper has been hopelessly in love with her best friend’s brother, Hunter, for like ever. He’s the key to everything she’s always craved: security, stability, family. But she needs Hunter to notice her as more than just a friend. Even though she’s kissed exactly one guy, she has just the plan to go from novice to rock star in the bedroom—take a few pointers from someone who knows what he’s doing.

Her college roommates have the perfect teacher in mind. But bartender Reece is nothing like the player Pepper expects. Yes, he’s beyond gorgeous, but he’s also dangerous, deep—with a troubled past. Soon what started as lessons in attraction are turning both their worlds around, and showing just what can happen when you go past foreplay and get to what’s real...

Oh, this was a such good read! I was expecting and hoping for a fun, light contemporary romance. What I got was a wonderfully enjoyable look at how intentions and objectives can be overcome by passion and need.

Pepper feels she is ready to experience more in the area of romance.  She has one particular guy in mind but her extremely limited experience makes her think her skills in attracting a guy are in need some training before she goes for her real target.  So her friends lead her to a hot bartender at the local hangout.  Pepper gets a hottie bartender but not at all who she was expecting!  I enjoyed Pepper and Reece's interaction both with clothes on and off but it did move a little too fast when you consider Pepper's lack of experience and the push her friends give her to get things moving.

Reece is intrigued by Pepper.  She's far from a typical party girl and it's obvious she doesn't have the experience of many of the girls he comes in contact with at the bar.  But Reece is attracted to this girl who can't seem to make up her mind if she wants him or not.  She's a challenge and Reece is up to the challenge.  I liked Reece a lot.  He doesn't play games but is upfront with what he wants.  I'd say he's almost too good, too mature for this Pepper.  Maybe a Pepper who has more maturity when it comes to relationships would have been a better fit from the beginning but fortunately for her, Reece is patience and teaches her what relationships are about.

There were times I found myself alternating feeling sorry for Reece then for Pepper.  Then I would get frustrated with Pepper for her fixation on Hunter.  She has blinders on when it comes to Hunter.  It's obvious the chemistry is there with Reece and not with Hunter.  Yet, Pepper insists on pursing her final objective - Hunter.  It's not that Hunter a jerk or a loser, that would have made Pepper into a complete idiot.  Nope, Hunter's actually a good guy, just not the guy for Pepper.  I expect the next time we see him it will be as the hero.

Pepper has a couple of gal pals at college with her who give her advice on how to attract a guy. They help her come out of her shell in the form of a makeover.  While I didn't see anything wrong with this, they were trying to help her, I was glad Reece liked Pepper for who she was without the sexy clothes, hair and makeup.

Foreplay is a strong start for this New Adult romance series.

Rating:  B+

The Ivy Chronicles ~

Foreplay
The Tease (May 24, 2014)