Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacy

Exclusively Yours

Magazine writer Keri Daniels is asked to get an exclusive interview with the very private, famous author Joe Kowalski. Sounds like a dream come true, but for her it is a nightmare. Joe is her ex boyfriend from high school. No real pressure, right? Keri just has talk her ex into giving her an exclusive that he's refused everyone, when the career she left him for is on the line. Best of all, if he does not give it to her he gets to screw her over like she screwed him over.

I love a good book--make me giggle and I am yours! This start to a series about a quirky family is about as good as you going to get.

Joe had his heart broken by Keri when she left to chase her dreams of making it big in journalism. He'd dreamed of the two of them living in the town they grew up in, but he was disappointed..

closest body I could think of for Joe still not quite right

Now she's back and she wants him to save her career by giving her an interview.

He agrees on a few conditions:
1) She has to allow him to approve the questions;
2) No information that he does not approve goes into her article;
3) She has to go camping for two weeks with him and his entire family, and fully participate in ALL activities.

What follows is some of the sweetest, funniest, saddest, most awesome real-life drama, with a mature crowd of characters (all out of college and living real lives). I adore Joe. He is funny, smart, and not hell-bent on revenge (even though it seems that way at times).

Now I have to share a few comments:

Joe had a 78 Grenada

Mine was green

I had one, too. It was a great car--never complain about the Grenada that is one fine piece of machinery!
In my twisted fangirl mind, this is a sign that Joe and I were meant to be (sadly he is not real).

 I also have to comment on this piece of brilliance. It is a side story within this story, about Joe's sister, Terry, and her separation from her hubs, Evan:

Mom to Terry:
"It just makes me sad," she said quietly against Terry's cheek "that you wont fight for him. I know you love him."
And she did. But she didn't have the strength to drag Evan home and then spend the rest of her life wondering every single day if that would be the day he left her again.
"Sometimes love's not enough."

There are so many gems in this book just like that, things that will make you laugh, or cry, or just sigh with happiness.

just one of those camping family activities she has to do 

One more example, or I will just end up quoting the whole darn book !!

"He wanted to stop the world from spinning, to freeze time and hold on to this moment forever.
This was the life he wanted. It was the life that once upon a time he'd thought he'd have. Right now it was as if Keri had never left- as if she'd been a part of his family all along."

Taken out of context it looks cheesy but trust me, this one won't have you reaching for a Lactaid to handle it. It will have you saying AWWWWWWW.

You really root for these characters here, and I LOVE a story that makes me do that. I want to like them and honestly, you learn to love all of them. At least I did

Keri starts out as kinda stuffy, but time spent with a family she grew up with loosens her up.
The rest of the family is a well rounded group that are like real people.The descriptions and their interactions with the main characters flesh them out so well no one is caricature. They are just regular folks.

I hope you give this one a try and me know know what you think!

I really do not know how many stars to give this. I liked it a whole lot--so much so that I bought the next couple of books in the series and then requested another one on Net Galley. Since I liked it so much and I still think about it and rec it to people I think I'm going to have to go with 5 stars! It does not happen often, but I really enjoyed this one. 

Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacy

Sue's Review of About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

About Last Night

by

Ruthie Knox 

Cath Talarico knows a mistake when she makes it, and God knows she’s made her share. So many, in fact, that this Chicago girl knows London is her last, best shot at starting over. But bad habits are hard to break, and soon Cath finds herself back where she has vowed never to go . . . in the bed of a man who is all kinds of wrong: too rich, too classy, too uptight for a free-spirited troublemaker like her.

Nev Chamberlain feels trapped and miserable in his family’s banking empire. But beneath his pinstripes is an artist and bohemian struggling to break free and lose control. Mary Catherine—even her name turns him on—with her tattoos, her secrets, and her gamine, sex-starved body, unleashes all kinds of fantasies.

When blue blood mixes with bad blood, can a couple that is definitely wrong for each other ever be perfectly right? And with a little luck and a lot of love, can they make last night last a lifetime?

She is a good girl, formerly a bad girl. How does she do it?

By doing the opposite of whatever her instincts tell her.

I love finding stuff by people I probably never would have looked at without a little push. Twitter, for me, is how I find authors and books that I want to read and that is how I found out about this one.

Ruthie Knox writes us a fabulous story about a woman, living in London, who has been through a lot in her young life and sees everything she's done so far as mistakes. Her way of ensuring that she does not fall into the trap of her former lifestyle is to chose not to do anything:

NO dates.

NO going out.

NO fun.

Just work and exist.

She is a charming female character that is not whiny and is spunky and just fun !

Enter the main male (whose name I will not reveal because it might spoil the fun of the start of the book). He is perfect! Sweet, charming, hot, sexy, flattering--it gets to the point where after a while you wonder if this guy has any flaws...then you get to meet his mother.

What I like about this book: oh, there are so many many things!

Great characters, an interesting story line, sex that makes you wanna beg her for more--
just an overall good, sweet romance that makes you sigh with happiness throughout.

So who would love this book?

IF you like a good sweet romance without a ton of angst.
IF you like a good guy who is hot and sweet (sorry, Sarah, this one is too nice for your tastes).
IF you like a spunky female character who has some growing to do.
IF you are looking for a hot read.  

This one's for you!


This is one of those books that lives up to its reviews. Everyone I know that has read it says, "OOOHH, I loved that one! It's really good !"

Then they say go read her other book, Ride with Me (and that is another review for another day *fans self*).

Sue's Review of About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty

His Very Own Girl

by

Carrie Lofty

As always, we can thank twitter for this one. I was kinda cruising around, stalking peoples conversations because I am creepy like that, and I saw mention of this new book coming out. I had to have it!

Female pilot

WW2

Romance

set in Britain

Has nothing to do with this book I just like the pic

An American medic who is very handsome

Did I mention a female pilot in WW2?

With all of the talk lately about women's rights and things, I want to talk briefly (meaning ramble on for a while) about why I find WW2 so incredible.

Many people talk about the battles that men went through but what always fascinated me is what the women did and how they dealt with it. All over the world women took on the jobs that the fighting men of their generation normally would have done, instead of just being nurses and teachers. Women went to work in the factories; they became the police force; they became the work force of the world, not just building the war machines but also running the domestic world while the men went off to battle. Women ran the homes and they made paychecks.

Lets, talk about the real start of a revolution:
these women got a taste of things that their mothers never had AND they were vital to the war effort. They were an essential part of the allied victory.

Now what I like about this story:
First, the characters grow. These two are both strong-headed, independent people with very set ideas about how they want their lives to be after the war. Both have lived life, they have pasts; they are adults and it shows.

Next, the insecurities they have are realistic and fitting with who they are and where they are in their lives and the circumstances of war.

Finally, this book made me laugh and it made me cry. I really enjoyed it.

The thing I did not like:
My family demanding to be fed and paid attention to and such. I had to stop reading to go do things for them. Silly, demanding children.

I loved the tension between Joe and Lulu and the way their relationship built up naturally, not to mention the love letters between them. It has been said before: a good historical romance requires a LOT of research and this one is fabulously done. 

OK my favorite quotes (those little things that I had to highlight while reading; these made me smile for whatever reasons):

"Jesus, his imagination had no manners."

"The faint aftertaste of mint flavored tooth powder lingered in her mouth. Joe wanted to gobble her up like a peppermint stick."

"We all have work to do."

"Fly safe, Louise."

Now, why do I like that last quote? This bit killed me every time it was brought up in the book because of the life-and-limb situation she and her girlfriends were in. They did not say goodbye using nicknames; instead, they made it a more formal occasion and used their full names.
I love how Joe describes her as having a "quiet kind of vengeance". 

There are more, but if I put them up here I will end up spoiling too much of the story, and then you'll say, "I don't have to read it because SUE told me the whole thing already!"

I'm giving this one 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book--it was a damn good read and made me tear up in places. I loved the steamy romance and only rolled my eyes at a couple of things that pulled me from the story.

This review comes to you special this week because

Friday and Saturday we are doing a read a long AND a give away!
If you have not already entered via Facebook, Twitter, or here on the read-a-long tab, you can enter below by leaving a comment.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN WIN:

E-copies of all 3 of Carrie's books!

So you can have a copy of His Very Own Girl to give away to a friend!

We will have one winner each night and winners will be announced here on the blog, on Twitter, and on our Facebook page.

GOOD LUCK, AND HAPPY READING!

His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty

Sue's review of The Wicked West by Victoria Dahl writing as Holly Summers

 The Wicked West 

Victoria Dahl 

OH my goodness!
This short written by the fabulous Victoria Dahl is gonna get one of my rare 5 stars. I have to say this one really, really appealed to me.
We have the fabulous Sheriff, handsome loner, and a lovely new English lady in a western town. There are cattle rustlers and small town politics and--Oh gosh, lets see if I can make this coherent.

For those that do not like D/S sex or relationships DO NOT READ.
For those that do--come on in! This one is a good one!

I happen to find the whole psychology of the relationships fascinating how in a functional D/S relationship it is actually the sub who has the control over things. I think this short story novella explains that well.

She teases him.

She taunts him even by just lowering her eyes, and he does not understand why this woman is causing these feelings in him.

It is confusing because he feels wicked and perverted and wrong; he was raised to be a gentleman, to treat ladies as delicate breakable flowers.

Here is this little thing, obviously not used to hard work, an indoor girl, and she is challenging all of his desires.

I cannot tell you any more about this story because if I do I will give away far, far too much.

IF YOU TRUST ME, HERE IS MY OPINION:

I will read this a second time--probably tonight.
THIS IS HOT STUFF
The tension is fantastic.
The attraction between them just UMPH.
As I said on twitter, this story did not break ANY of my cliche hates.
I give this one a 5 stars. Be shocked--it wont happen often.
This was a great read. I recommend it to EVERYONE that likes a steamy quicky !

Sue's review of The Wicked West by Victoria Dahl writing as Holly Summers