By Referral Only Release Day Launch!!

 
Hello, my lovelies!!

Mark your calendars on July 2nd, ladies. Ever After Romance Book Blog will be a part of By Referral Only Release Day Launch.

In celebration of Ms. Payne's release, she will be giving away from exciting stuff and of course, moi, will be posting my review then. And let me tell you, this book is awesome! If you loved Broken at Love, you will certainly love By Referral Only!

Sponsored by:

Take This Regret by A.L. Jackson

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4.5 tear-inducing stars!!

Have you ever done something that you regretted that you wish you could do over?

This book is about that. It's about doing something totally hurtful to another person, regretting it and getting a second chance to atone for it. I loved this story. It's full of flawed but believable characters that really, really got to me. This is the story of Christian and Elizabeth. Two very flawed characters that at one point or another disappointed me with their actions.

Broken At Love (Whitman University #1) Lyla Payne

4.5 stars!!

This book reminded me a little of "Cruel Intentions." Remember that movie? This one had sort of a similar idea except that I'm pretty sure Quinn Rowland is hotter than Ryan Phillipe and Emilie Swanson is way sassier than Reese Witherspoon. I was in the mood for some angst and I got it! I totally devoured this whole book.

For Love or Money by Cathy Perkins Blog Tour and Giveaway

BLOG TOUR STOP: For Love or Money Guest Post by Ms. Cathy Perkins Plus a Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway

 

Ever After Romance is thrilled to be a part of Cathy Perkin's Official For Love or Money Blog Tour. Today, we get a chance to know  more about Ms. Perkins and her other passion. And not only that, all of you will get a chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite.

Bully by Penelope Douglas

Blurb

My name is Tate. He doesn't call me that, though. He would never refer to me so informally, if he referred to me at all.

We're neighbors,and once, we were best friends. But then, one summer, he turned on me and has made it his mission to screw up my life at every opportunity. I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got more sadistic as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to hide from him. I worried about what was around every corner and behind every door.

So I left.

I spent a year studying abroad and bathed in the freedom of life without Jared. Now I'm back to finish up high school and get the hell out of here forever. I'm hoping that after a year of breathing room, he's moved on and forgotten all about me.

But even if he hasn't changed, I have. I'm not interested in avoiding him or turning the other cheek anymore. We're going to go head to head, because neither of us wants to back down.

Bad Things (Tristan and Danika #1) by R.K. Lilley

4.5 super hot, rollicking stars!

Considering how I disliked R.K. Lilley's Up in the Series, I wasn't expecting much of anything going into this book. But color me surprised, I actually ended up loving it.

Cover Reveal: Taken by the Vampire King by Laura Kaye

Henrik Magnusson is supposed to be immortal, but a mysterious ailment leaves the vampire king near death, and not even the blood of the Proffered, human virgins trained to serve the elite, can sustain him. Then he rescues a beautiful young woman from his enemies, and is filled with blood lust and desire he hasn't felt for centuries.

Photographer Kaira Sorenson's life takes a nightmare turn when she's attacked by blood-thirsty creatures—and saved by a vampire. She should be afraid of Henrik, but she can't deny her intense attraction to this regal, enigmatic being—nor the fact that her blood may be his only salvation. Now she must decide if she's willing to be his forever…

Officer Off Limits by Tessa Bailey

Blurb

His need to possess her is non-negotiable.

Story Brooks’ fiancé just called off their wedding two weeks before the happy day. As if that isn't bad enough, her semi-estranged father, an infamous NYPD hostage negotiator, has suffered a heart attack. Not wanting to examine her lack of emotion over the broken engagement, she hops on a plane to reconnect with her father before it’s too late.

Playboy hostage negotiator Daniel Chase has never, not once, been refused by a woman, so when a debate over hospital snack foods with a delectable kindergarten teacher ends in flat-out rejection, he makes it his mission to seduce her. His only obstacle? She’s the daughter of his mentor who implicitly forbade Daniel from pursuing her.

Despite her father’s warnings and Daniel’s troubled past, Daniel and Story can’t resist their intense attraction to one another. But when the reason for her fiancé’s abrupt wedding cancellation comes to light, can Story and Daniel's already forbidden relationship survive?

Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines

3.5 stars

To be perfectly honest, I vacillated many, many times as to how to rate this book. Finally, after sleeping on it and thinking about it, I finally settled for 3.5. I wish I could give this one a solid 4 or even a 5 but there were too many things that bothered me.

Anyway, onto the review. Let's start with the good first.

Act Like You Love Me by Cindi Madsen

4.5 shining stars!!

Blurb

 

What would you do for a second chance with your first crush?

 Brynn McAdams isn’t the awkward drama geek she was in high school—she’s grown up and confident, or at least she likes to think so. But when her old crush, the impossibly handsome and impossibly unattainable Sawyer Raines, comes back to town to direct her community play, Brynn finds herself determined to be someone other than the girl he doesn’t even recognize. Good thing she’s an excellent actress. 

After his bad breakup in NYC, the last thing Sawyer wants is to get involved with another actress. But the glamorous and beautiful Brynn draws him in, even though as her director, he knows she’s off-limits. There’s just something about the woman that feels…familiar. Like home. 

As Brynn’s lies start to snowball, she struggles to stop acting and come clean. But what if Sawyer is already falling for the fake Brynn, not the Brynn she truly is? 

A Veil of Glass and Rain by Petra Bagnardi

3.5 to 4 stars

Review request always makes me nervous because you'll never know whether you end up liking or hating the book. This one was quite a surprise.

The Story
A Veil of Glass and Rain is simple friends to lovers story. I say simple because we've had a lot of those. And if I may be honest, the friends-to-lovers trope is probably my favorite trope of all. I'm a sucker for those. So I guess it comes as to no surprise that I enjoyed this book very much.

Branded Sanctuary by Joey Hill

4.5 hot branded stars

"There's this theory, that when two people focus on the rhythm of their hearts, it synchronizes them. Brings the beats together."

What happens when a natural submissive falls in love with someone who is not wired for the D/s lifestyle?

Branded Sanctuary is the story of Brendan and Chloe. We know from Ice Queen that Brendan is a natural submissive. It's part of his nature. It is who he is. He accepts it. He embraces the whole D/s lifestyle.

Chloe was a whole different matter already. After a brutal attack that left her fearful and angry, Brendan became her anchor. The problem is Chloe wasn't into the culture at all. She wasn't a natural domme. In other words, she wasn't what Brendan needs but fortunately, she is what Brendan wants.

I loved this book. I loved the fact this wasn't your usual D/s story where a vanilla girl got seduced into the D/s lifestyle and embracing it without even blinking an eye. For one, the guy here wasn't a Dom. He's a submissive, so that definitely put an interesting twist there already.

I loved the fact that Chloe openly questioned the lifestyle. She wasn't judgmental although there were times when she came off as such, I attributed it more to her fear rather than condemnation to those who embraced such lifestyle. Her questions were genuine. I would imagine, as someone who wasn't used that lifestyle would question the psychology behind it. I liked that. It was believable to me.

I also liked the fact that JH was able to resolve their situation in a realistic manner. In a way, Brendan and Chloe didn't give up their identity just to be with each other. Brendan didn't shed his submissive nature, he even went deeper with and understood that by acknowledging his own wants and needs, he was making Chloe happy.

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."

There were some heart-rending moments in the book. One of them was when Chloe found out Brendan used to be Marguerite's submissive and has in fact branded him as hers. I was a mess reading that. Thankfully, that part of the story didn't drag on and on. It was resolved and the confrontation between Marguerite and Chloe was simply awesome. It was intense.

Another favorite was of course, Tyler and Marguerite, whom we knew from Ice Queen and Mirror of My Soul. They figured prominently here both as a foil to Brendan and Chloe and I loved it. Getting a glimpse of Tyler's Southern gentleman charm and wicked sense of humor is always a treat.

Some Memorable Quotes

Tyler...

“There are many things that men don't do any more that they should. Particularly for women.”

Marguerite...

“That's what he wants for you. When two people want each other to be happy so much they're willing to break their own heart to let the other go, it's kismet. Two idiots canceling one another out.”

Brendan...

“I've never wanted something as much as I want you, Chloe. I've never had someone I wasn't prepared to let go. Someone I wanted to keep, more than anything else. I was fine with that, until I met you that night at the wedding. I wanted to call you a hundred times, but I didn't, because I told myself it had to be about what you wanted, not what I wanted.”

Fire Inside by Kristen Ashley

3.5 stars

Okay. Here we go...

This was me when I got my ARC for the book.

And this was me as I was reading through it.

Yeah. I hate giving less than 4 stars to KA considering I enjoyed her books in the past. Sadly, Fire Inside didn't live up to the hype for me. Don't get me wrong. It was an okay read. Most people might end up loving it but to me it was just lackluster. I was waiting for that omph and it never came.

Hop

On the surface, this book has all the KA elements. We have a good-looking, badass biker, alpha male in Hopper Kincaid. Even his name screams hot biker. And get this he (view spoiler)[sings and plays a guitar (hide spoiler)]. Hop should be a shoo-in for the best KA alpha hero award and join the illustrious rank of Tate and Joe in KA world but he felt a tad bit short.

I liked him a lot. I was surprised at how much I liked him considering what he did during Motorcycle Man didn't endear him to a lot of readers. KA did a brilliant job of redeeming--or should I say explaining his actions during that whole BeeBee-Gate fiasco. As much as I liked him, I also felt that there was nothing special at all about him. Not even his 'stache wasn't special because every KA fan knows that Luke Stark already has that area covered. Poor Hop. Even his stint as a former (view spoiler)[front man of a rock band (hide spoiler)] wasn't enough. That said, I still liked him a lot.

Lanie

Sadly, Lanie, again, was a disappointment for me. The blurb said she was full of drama, so I was expecting Roxie-like drama or even Gwen or Elvira. She was neither. She basically didn't do anything. She had her moments of brilliance but it wasn't enough to make me like her or root for her.

Which brings me to the crux of the matter, the whole reason why I didn't feel this book as much as the others. If I may be honest, the last three or four books sounded scarily alike in my opinion. For example...

"Never had class. Never had beauty."

"Nothin' like you, lady. Nothing like that beauty."

"All soft, every inch. Got my d*ck buried in beauty."

"I didn't have a lot of beauty in my life. Found it in that."

And those are just examples. I swear, the word beauty was repeated so many times, and used in that same vein as the examples above, it drove me nuts. It became repetitive. It wasn't exciting anymore. I was pretty sure I've read this line before from KA book. It came to a point where I just wanted to read something else. I wanted the hero to sound different from the last hero or the heroine for that matter.

It wasn't all that bad. It had some note-worthy moments too. I squeed like a little girl that I am when Vance Crowe made an appearance. I swear, he said no more than 6 words overall and I was like, "Wow, that was brilliant! I love him. Hmm, I think I'm gonna reread Rock Chick Renegade again."

But what saved this book from a getting two stars from me was Tack! Tack, you're still the man! He was funny here, without being intentionally so. It was classic Tack and I loved it!!

In spite all that, I would still recommend this book especially to those who are still getting to know Kristen Ashley's writing. This is great choice but for those of us who have been around the block, this might not work. But then, you'll never know until you pick up the book. Who knows, you might end up loving this.

P.S.
One thing that's great about KA is that her stories are so diverse, judging from the series that she has under her belt. That said, the last four books were from her Unfinished Heroes and then Chaos. She did these back-to-back. Not the best idea in my opinion. I'm glad she's doing Rock Chicks next and then the Colorado Mountains. I really think the change of theme or series would be best. Just sayin'.

ARC provided by GCP through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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