Wine Tasting Series by Brigham Vaughn

Spit or Swallow

Summary:

Sean Powell, a wine distributor in his early forties, is having a terrible day.  To top things off, his longtime friend, the sommelier at his favorite restaurant, has been replaced by a hot young sommelier with big ideas.  Lucas Spencer is determined to liven up the staid and stodgy wine list, but manages to alienate the distributor during their first meeting.  Can the two blend their professional frustration and personal attraction without risking their careers?

Rating:  5 Stars

Aftertaste

Summary:

Despite sizzling chemistry when they first met, Sean Powell can't quite believe that the gorgeous young sommelier at Bistro Argent wants him.  Anxious about risking his job, Lucas Spencer must decide if the handsome, red-headed wine distributor is worth the risk.  Balancing a professional relationship with a more personal one is tricky, but it just might be worth the effort.

Rating:  5 Stars

Finish

Summary:

After four months together, Sean and Lucas have never been happier, but a wine tasting trip to Traverse City, Michigan threatens that stability.  Sean's insecurities rise to the surface as Lucas' fears of losing Sean lead to jealousy.  Can they repair their relationship before it turns sour?

Rating:  5 Stars

Review:

First off, I have to say I am not a fan of wine nor do I know much about it and quite frankly this series did not improve my outlook on the subject.  However, the stories are amazing!  I won't lie, they could be longer for my liking, that being said, I don't think I have ever read a novella series that covered such an array of emotions from the first page of Spit to the last page of Finish.  Sean and Lucas are both such strong men and yet they each carry around their individual insecurities that really make them unforgettable.  If you've never read Miss Vaughn's work before, this is an amazing place to start.

Author Bio:

Brigham Vaughn has always been a voracious reader with her own stories to tell.  After many years of abandoned plots, something finally clicked.  Now she's eating, sleeping, and breathing writing and is excited to have finally figured out what she wants to be when she grows up.  In the little time that isn't spent writing or reading, she loves cooking, yoga, photography, and remodeling her ninety-year old home.  Brigham lives in Michigan with her four cats and an amazing husband who has always been her biggest champion.

Author Links:

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Purchase Links:

Amazon(Spit or Swallow)

Amazon(Aftertaste)

Amazon(Finish)

Amazon(Wine Tasting Series: 3 Story Bundle)

Barnes&Noble(Spit or Swallow)

Barnes&Noble(Aftertaste)

Barnes&Noble(Finish)

Barnes&Noble(Wine Tasting Series: 3 Story Bundle)

Shock & Awe by Abigail Roux

Summary:
After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado.  He's not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O'Flahtery stays with him in New Orleans.  Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet--after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can.  He's very surprised, though when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.

Nick knows all of Kelly's quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk on his part . . . or so he thought.  But what should have been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address.

Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other--friends and brothers in arms, or something even deeper?--before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.

Review:
First off, I want to say that I didn't give it a full 5 Star rating simply because I knew the outcome ahead because I had read Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8) before this.  That being said, this was an amazing look into the lives of Nick O'Flahtery and Kelly Abbott, how they went from Sidewinder team members, best friends, kindred spirits, to lovers as only Abigail Roux can tell it.  And boy does she tell it.  The story may be short in pages but certainly not lacking in story, love, fear, passion, and curiosity fueled desire.  This is a sweet, funny, hot, and emotionally charged bridge between books 7 & 8 in the author's Cut & Run series that doesn't have to be read prior to Ball & Chain.

Rating:  4 & 1/2 Stars


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Don't Trust the Cut by Kade Boehme

Summary:
Tucker Gray is a Baltimore, MD waiter, hailing from the deep south, whose mental health issues and past relationships have made it hard to trust more than the cut.  After he hits what he thought was rock bottom Tucker decides to keep close to the ones who stood by him and keep his head down, until he finds something to prove it can get better.

Jesse Bauer is unsure what his future holds after an injury forces him to retire from the marines.  With all of the decisions he has to make in his civilian life with all of its freedoms and possibilities, he feels staying closeted and keeping the people in his life happy will keep down the chaos.

Until the night he met Tucker Gray at a party he though that'd be possible, but both of them are instantly and strongly in lust.  As their relationship grows Jesse has to prove himself and Tucker has to learn to trust more than the cut.

Review:
I won't lie there were some moments in this book that I could see coming.  That being said, I still found myself hungering for every turn of the page, even in those few scenes that I was expecting.  I say this a lot but for me it's the ultimate compliment and there are only so many ways you can put it into words.  Tucker and Jesse sucked me in from page one and even now that it's been nearly a day since I read the last page, they still haven't let go of me.
Yes, ultimately most of the drama comes from serious misunderstandings and lack of communication but at the same time, the real heart breaking moments come from what's behind the lack of communication.  On one hand you just want to grab hold of their hair and bang their heads together and scream "wake up and talk to each other!" but the reader is let in on the inner monologues of both Tucker and Jesse, so we know what's keeping them from opening up.  Knowing doesn't always make it less frustrating for the readers but the author does an amazing job at helping us understand it.
There were so many roads the author could have taken with the subject matter, and any one of those roads would have made an interesting story but the author took us down a road that not only made it interesting, but also dramatic, funny, loving, sexy, but most importantly, emotionally satisfying.

Rating:  4 & 1/2 Stars

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The Resistance by S.L. Scott

Summary:

You don’t choose when.

You don’t choose where.

And you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with.

The minute he opened his sexy mouth, Holliday Hughes should have known Jack Dalton was trouble. His smooth pickup lines, broad shoulders, and ridiculously handsome face charmed her right out of her clothes. She gave into her desires, the instant attraction blinding her to the obvious.

One night. That was all it took for Holliday’s world to be flipped on its axis. Jack Dalton was cocky. Smug. Volatile. Demanding. He ignited something deep inside her like no other, but there was something more to this brooding bad boy. There was a dark side to him she couldn’t help but be drawn to.

Torn between what she knew about him and a mysterious side he tried to hide, could she walk away or was he simply too hard to resist?

Excerpt:
 “Wait.” He reaches to the nightstand one more time and grabs his phone. Scrolling, he smiles when he finds what he’s looking for. With one push of the button, a song I’m all too familiar with begins. I know every word and every riff. “Stairway to Heaven” was the soundtrack to a lot of trouble I got into back in high school. “Led  Zeppelin?”

          With a smirk in place, he nods. “This is great fucking music.”

          “Great fucking music or great music for fucking?” I ask as his hands squeeze my breasts.

          “Both.” He lays back, his hands sliding up the outside of my thighs, and says, “Take me to that place that keeps you from getting jaded. That place where you find peace without the demons destroying everything you thought you wanted. Take me there.”

          Darkness fills his eyes, his gaze alluding to everything he doesn’t have to be any longer. I lift up and sink down on him, my hands pressed flat against his chest, wanting to smother the dark and cover it with light. Slowly rocking back and forth like the tempo calls for, his words lyrics to my ears, invading my thoughts. I drop my head back as his hands grab my hips, holding me down. The resistance causes inner turmoil as my insides begin to coil. Wanting more, my hands fall behind onto his legs, balancing me on top of him as we move against the other.

          I let my mind drift with the melody, the fullness of him overtaking all other feelings. The music builds and my body reacts to the rhythm he’s creating inside me. The song becomes our anthem, a soundtrack to our moans and heavy breaths.

          When I look down at him, his eyes are open, watching me, one hand roaming my body freely. The other caressing my tattooed skin.

          The song speaks of winding roads, shadows and souls… I’m flipped onto the mattress. Dalton’s inside me again, moving over me. Our bodies become slick with sweat, emotions begin swirling between us. Feelings that this could be more than just one night plant themselves like seeds in the depths of my mind.

Review:
I was pleasantly surprised with the direction this story took.  I was expecting to enjoy the book but I was also expecting the typical bad boy, drug addicted rocker meets good girl.  What I got was so much more.  I'm not one for spoilers so sometimes I find it very difficult to leave a very in depth review, and this is one of those times. 
Both Jack and Holliday will surprise you, tug at your heart, and quite honestly they will both suck you in and even though you can't wait to find out how the story ends, you will not want to let them go with that last page.
I have a different opinion of angst versus drama, what many writers and readers term "angst" I only see "drama".  With that said, there is an amazingly even blend of angst/drama, romantic-comedy/flirty banter, extremely hot sex without becoming gratuitous smut, and of course HEA.  Although, who is to say what constitutes a HEA, as I said, I don't do spoilers.
If you've read Miss Scott before than you know that she definitely knows how to bring a story to life.  If you haven't read her before, this would be an excellent first foray with a new author.

Rating:   5 Stars

Author Bio:

S.L. Scott is a former high-tech account manager with a journalism degree pursuing her passion for telling stories. She spends her days escaping into her characters and letting them lead her on their adventures.

Live music shows, harvesting jalapenos and eating homemade guacamole are her obsessions she calls hobbies.

Scott lives in the beautiful Texas hill country of Austin with her husband, two young sons, two Papillons and a bowl full of Sea Monkeys.

Her novels include Naturally, Charlie, Good Vibrations, and A Prior Engagement.

She welcomes your comments.

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Cover Reveal: The Certainty of Deception by Jeanne McDonald

The Certainty of Deception

  (Book #2 in The Truth in Lies saga)

 



Book 2 in The Truth in Lies Series
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Cover Designer: Jada D'Lee Design

https://www.facebook.com/JadaDLeeDesigns

Expected release date: June 17, 2014


Summary:
After years of living in the darkness of his past, Andrew Wise, a young attorney working for his family’s law firm in Sarasota, Florida, has finally broken free of the demons that haunt him. Wealth, success, happiness, and true love; everything a man could ever dream of, was right at his fingertips. Or so he thought. But in the blink of an eye, all of that changed. Upon discovering that his ex-girlfriend, Olivia Hamilton, was pregnant, Drew fell back into some old habits, which led to him losing the one person that mattered the most in his life - McKenzie Evans.
     When McKenzie left him and returned to Texas, Drew was beside himself. The night before she left, he made an agreement with her best friend Jared Christopher, that he would give her time and space to come to grips with the fact that he’d fathered her best friend’s child. Now, two months later, he feels as though he held up his end of the bargain, Drew can’t take their separation any longer. With his brother’s wedding mere weeks away, Drew devises a plan to win McKenzie back.
     Under the guise of a bachelor getaway for Gavin, Drew, along with his brother and Jared, jets off on an adventure to the panhandle of Texas. There, he will learn what made McKenzie who she is and will find strength within himself that he never realized existed.
     In this charming sequel to The Truth in Lies, Drew and McKenzie discover that not everything is as it seems, forgiveness is a matter of acceptance, and true love really can conquer all.

Author Bio:
   Jeanne McDonald began telling stories at the ripe young age of five, when her mother considered the truth to be a lie due to her extensive embellishment to the retelling of an event. She wrote her first short story when she was twelve years old, and at the age of sixteen she tried her hand at poetry. She reconnected with her love for writing in 2010 thanks to the encouragement of a dear friend.
     Her passions include a "mild" Starbucks addiction, music, reading, quotes, movies, and romance. When she's not spending time with her family, she can be found reading, writing, chatting with her friends or diligently working toward her bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. A proud Texan, Jeanne currently resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her family.

Author Links:
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Summary:

Life is a sequence of choices. Some are deliberate, others are forced upon you. This was a lesson that McKenzie Evans knew all too well. After the miscarriage of her son, she made the hard decision to leave her absentee boyfriend and move in with her former college roommate, Olivia Hamilton. That’s when she was introduced to Andrew Wise, a brilliant attorney, working for his family’s law firm in Sarasota, Florida.

To McKenzie, Drew became her salvation. He had a way of understanding her when no one else could. The closer they became, the more McKenzie found herself falling in love with Drew. He was everything she ever dreamed of in a man, and for the first time in her life, she felt truly alive. There was only one problem. Drew was dating Olivia.

With the help of fate and circumstance, Drew and McKenzie journey down a path of unrequited love and denied feelings. In the end, they must make a choice between their hearts or their consciences. In this one decision they discover that there’s always a glimmer of truth to a lie, that there’s a fine line between love and friendship, and sometimes you have to risk everything to gain everything.

Brought to you by:

Gangster Country by Kade Boehme

Summary:
Logan Marshall moves to New York to be a social worker where he feels he's needed most. Logan's always had it good. His Daddy is a preacher, sure, but he preaches a laid back, tolerant congregation who accepted Logan's sexuality gracefully. He's from a ranch in nowhere, Texas, which makes him a hot ticket in the clubs with his tight, work strengthened body and his cute accent. He's out of his element in New York, not looking for Mr. Right Now but Mr. Right.

Gianni Rodriguez grew up in Brooklyn. Nothing could be further from the way he was raised than innocent, good hearted Logan was. Gianni is fascinated that people like Logan even exist. And parents that not only are God-fearing, but also accepting?

As second in command of Los Cuervos, his brother's not-so-merry band of drug runners and pimps, Gianni's life would be in serious jeopardy if anyone ever knew the truth. That's why his growing attachment for Logan is a bad thing.

When Logan's work collides violently with Gianni's life, Gianni has to decide if the man is worth risking everything, even his family-- the man that may not even want him once he realizes what a monster the man he's been sleeping with really is. Could Logan be Gianni's reason to go straight? Or will they both go straight to an unmarked grave?

Review:
I'm going to start out saying, "WOW!!"  This story hooked me in more than I ever expected it would.  From the summary I was expecting an interesting tale of  love between polar opposites, what I got was so much more than that.
You can't help but fall hard for both Logan and Gianni, thru their words, actions, and inner monologues.  They burrowed their way into your heart and just stayed there.  You go in wanting to hate Gianni but boy does he spark other emotions real quick.
This was an easy read, and that's not an insult to the author, I found myself reading and reading and before I knew it, I only had a few pages left.  I'm eager to check out other stories by this author.

Rating:  4 Stars

Author Bio:
Kade Boehme is a southern boy without the charm, but all the sass. Currently residing in Seattle, he lives off of ramen noodles and too much booze.
He is "the epitomy of dorkdom", only watching TV when Rachel Maddow or one of his sports teams is on. (That'd be Orioles, Seahawks, Ravens, or Gators.) Most of his free time is spent dancing, arguing politics or with his nose in a book. He is also a hardcore Britney Spears fangirl and has an addiction to glitter.
It was after writing a short story about boys who loved each other for a less than reputable adult website that he found his true calling, and hopefully a bit more class.
He hopes to write about all the romance that he personally finds himself allergic to but that others can fall in love with. He maintains that life is real and the stories should be, as well.

Author Links:
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All She Wrote (Holmes & Moriarity #2) by Josh Lanyon

Summary:
A murderous fall down icy stairs is nearly the death of Anna Hitchcock, the much-beloved American Agatha Christie and Christopher Holmes s former mentor. Anna s plea for him to host her annual winter writing retreat touches all Kit s sore spots traveling, teaching writing classes, and separation from his new lover, J.X. Moriarity.

For J.X., Kit s cancellation of yet another romantic weekend is the death knell of a relationship that has been limping along for months. But that s just as well, right? Kit isn't ready for anything serious and besides, Kit owes Anna far too much to refuse.

Faster than you can say Miss Marple wears boxer shorts, Kit is snooping around Anna s elegant, snowbound mansion in the Berkshires for clues as to who s trying to kill her. A tough task with six amateur sleuths underfoot. Six budding writers with a tangled web of dark undercurrents running among them.

Slowly, Kit gets the uneasy feeling that the secret may lie between the pages of someone s fictional past. Unfortunately, a clever killer is one step ahead. And it may be too late for J.X. to ride to the rescue. Warning: Contains one irascible, forty-year-old mystery writer who desperately needs to get laid, one exasperated thirty-something ex-cop only too happy to oblige, an isolated country manor that needs the thermostat cranked up, various assorted aspiring and perspiring authors, and a merciless killer who may have read one too many mystery novels.

Review:
As much as I enjoyed the first one in this series, this one surpassed what I was expecting.  I still don't think it matches the author's work in the Dangerous Ground or Adrien English series but I definitely found myself getting sucked into the story and the characters.
Once again there wasn't any characters that left you balancing on the fence of love or hate, you definitely either loved or hated them.  The mystery again was quite enjoyable to try and figure out, not only who could it be but whether there was actually a crime happening.
We also get to see the relationship between Holmes and Moriarity give and take.  Trust me, it does definitely give and take in some of the best ways possible and certainly in some of the most surprising ways for both men.  Christopher Holmes finds himself not only facing but wanting aspects of a relationship he never expected or dreamed of for himself.

Rating:  4 & 1/2 Stars

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