Monday, October 29, 2018

When Love is Everything: Release Blitz & Review of For Today by B. Cranford


First comes love. Then comes marriage.
And after that? It doesn't matter.
As long as they're together.


Title: For Today
Series: The Avenue #3
Author: B. Cranford
Release Date: October 29, 2018


Seventeen Years Ago. The first time Aaron Andrews saw Simon Foster smile, he knew he was in trouble. He’d never seen anything—or anyone—like the man who’d stolen his favorite seat in his favorite coffee shop.

Six Weeks Ago. The late-night phone call that changed their lives forever was short. Four little words was all it took to set them on a different path—one that included new toys (not that kind), a dose of homophobia (been there), and an appreciation for spandex (though they always appreciated it . . .)

Today. That’s what Aaron and Simon are focused on as they try to plan the best birthday in the history of ever, all for the little boy who has quickly become their world. Even if that means dealing with too-tight costumes, a cape that won’t behave, a meddlesome family . . .

. . . and a past that won’t stay there.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40389591-for-today


FREE with Kindle Unlimited


 




It’s no secret that B. Cranford is one of my go-to when I one-click romance. She writes relatable characters in situations that any reader can understand. If you are looking for small-town romance – the type where you know the lead characters can be your BFF – look no further. Pick up one of her books and enjoy a satisfying reading experience. But this review is not about the author, but about her latest release, For Today. 

The Avenue series has graced us with siblings Ashton, Aussie and Aaron. Ashton and Aussie found their HEA’s with Dunk and Odie in About Time and Because Forever.  Wait you say – Aaron had already had his HEA in Simon. Yes, he did, but don’t you deserve to know how they got there and keep the sparks alive?

For Today, picks up right on the heels of Because Forever. However, do not feel like you need to have read books 1&2 to jump into Aaron and Simon’s story. Ms. Cranford gives us background to the previous storylines to make this edition standalone. However, as a good book friend found out, you jump ahead and you’ll be going back for the others because the series is just that good. This story is more than a love story – it’s about love in all forms. Especially the one you call Family. 

Family is not always the one you are born into. Simon and Aaron prove this over and over again as they have Finn to be the final piece they never knew was missing. You’ll not want to miss the funny banter in the sibling’s texts and maybe one of the most unexpected children’s birthday party. With the support of spectacular secondary characters, you get to be the observer in Simon and Aaron falling deeper in love. 

That is the perfection of a romantic story to leave you with wanting more from the characters. B. Cranford’s voice in storytelling offers the Hallmark moments with heat and heart. Never over-the-top or excessive angst, it’s a perfect balance of all the ‘feels’. She tells fans she took a chance on writing in the same-sex genre for an established couple. Yet, their story feels brand new and wanting more from The Avenue characters.

This is by far my favorite of B. Cranford’s stories. It’s not a just a must read recommendation, but must buy as you will want to read it over and over again. 

5+ out of 5 stars





“Are you okay?” Simon asked, reaching over the table and resting a hand on Aaron’s. The contact was literally electric, a shock jolting the visual clear, and Aaron nodded fervently.

“Yeah, sorry, I, ahh . . .” Shit. He trailed off unsure what to say.

“Was it because I said I was glad you were nervous? I only said that because I am too, and didn’t want to be all nervy alone.”

“No, no, I got that. No problem.” He shrugged, feeling like his arms were no longer under his control. “I was thinking about your smile,” he offered his date, wanting to give the man the truth but maybe not the whole truth.

Which was surprising, considering that he was usually all about the overshare.

“In a good way, right? Not in a creepy way?” Simon asked with mock fear on his face, and joined Aaron when he began laughing.

“What, like the Joker?” Aaron asked, thinking of the gruesome, stretched smile of Batman’s foe. “Why so serious, Simon?”

“Well, this night took a turn.”

“Yeah, that’s probably something you should know about me,” Aaron admitted, grimacing a little.

“What do you mean?”

“You might have noticed that, ahh, I have a tendency to, umm, you know, sort of, redirect conversations.”

“To killer clown smiles?”

“Honestly, it’s usually to sex. Or sex-adjacent.”

“Sex-adjacent?” Simon tilted his head with the question, clearly trying to figure out what he was talking about.

“Yeah, like sex jokes. Sex positions. Sex stories.” He tapped the front of his forehead. “I have a dirty mind.”

“I hope you’re not afraid to use it,” Simon countered, making it clear that the idea of Aaron’s dirty mind was not a problem in the slightest.

“I’m usually not. With you, though . . .” He trailed off again, taking a deep breath and committing to what his mind was trying to get his mouth to admit. “With you, I find myself wanting to say different things, in the hopes I won’t scare you off.”

“It takes more than a dirty mind to scare me off someone I like.”

“Such as?”

“Any kind of lair is probably questionable. I mean, no one ever has a good lair; it’s always an evil one. People who hate puppies and like bell peppers are also on the no list.”

“Wait, that’s kind of specific. Hate puppies and like bell peppers? Like, if I hate both, or like both, I’m okay?”

“Huh?”

“What if I love puppies, but also like bell peppers? Does that make me a no? I could learn to hate bell peppers for you.” Aaron opened his eyes with what he hoped was earnestness. Feigned earnestness, though, because he really didn’t like bell peppers.

“Well, if you’re willing to train yourself away from the vegetable that shall not be named—”

“The Voldemort of the vegetable drawer?” Aaron interrupted.

“Yes, exactly. So, if you’re going to commit to hating them, we might be okay.”

Aaron wiped pretend sweat away from his forehead and laughed. “Crisis averted.”



Also Available in The Avenue series



"Such an amazing, beautiful story that captivated us from the very first page. B. Cranford delivered wit, pull-at-your-heart-strings emotions, hot and steamy moments and all the swoony feels. We absolutely adored Ashton and Duncan's story!"—New York Times Selling Author, Max Monroe



"I cannot recommend this book enough! Beth does friends-to-lovers in a story filled with so much humor, warmth, reality, and gorgeous true-to-life relationships. Two best friends, a passionate love, an electric, snarky chemistry, and a family that loves and supports each other. Just.....FEELINGS."—Kathryn Nolan, Author of Strictly Professional



B. Cranford is a proud Australian living in the USA, a lover of books, breadsticks and bed, and the mother of two children who are far too similar to their father for her liking. A lifelong reader, she dove into the romance genre on the recommendation of her best friend and hasn’t looked back since. Her debut novel, The Brightest Star, a second chance romance with (she hopes) heart and humor was released on July 13, 2017, which just so happened to be her birthday. Because if you release a book on your birthday, you get twice as much cake, and that can only be a good thing.


* Please note that B. Cranford is the owner/operator of Panda & Boodle *


Saturday, October 27, 2018

A love story in parallel: Genealogy by Mae Wood


How long would you wait for love?


Title: Genealogy
Author: Mae Wood
Publisher: Atacama Books
Genre: Romance/Women’s Fiction
Release Date: October 25, 2018


Inspired by real, hundred-year-old love letters.

My great-grandmother's name is bold across the cream envelope, now golden at the seams with age. I can't remember the last time I’ve seen graceful, purposeful handwriting with a fountain pen and not the hasty scrawl of ballpoint.

Alice Hirshhorn, Astoria Hotel, Seattle Washington.

“Letters to Great-grandma Alice,” I say with wonder, tracing my fingers over the faded postmark and foreign stamps.

December 1915. Philippine Islands.

I turn the thick envelope in my palm, slide out the tightly folded pages, and unfold the thin paper, taking care not to tear the letters that were important enough to keep for a century.

My dearest Alice

“Great-grandpa was in the Philippines?” I ask.

“Oh no. Not your great-grandfather,” answers Grammie, her eyes twinkling with her mother’s secrets. “Elliott.”

~~~

At thirty-three and with her future unclear, Ali Waller finds her way home again. A box of long-forgotten love letters written to her great-grandmother holds the unlikely key to Ali finding her new path.

As she tracks down the letter writer and his descendants, Ali learns the magic of love, hope, and resilience.

Told by three characters, and across century and an ocean, Genealogy is an enchanting story about love and loss, taking chances, and embracing the surprises that life brings.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41039278-genealogy-a-novel


* FREE with Kindle Unlimited *

Amazon




Branching out of my normal read selections, Genealogy offers a star-crossed romance of two generations.  This is a story you can recommend to your mother, grandmother and teenage daughter to remind them that your ‘one’ is not always who you think they are. 

Genealogy is told in a dual timeline story.  Think The Lake House or any Kate Morton fiction. We are treated to the story of Alice and Elliot as World War I is barreling down on them. Ali, Alice’s great granddaughter and namesake, discovers this lost love story as she is packing up her grandmother to move from her life long home. Through these letters Ali grows to learn more about her grandmother and the true meaning of sacrifice and love.  

Ms. Wood’s story starts a bit like reading a history book as Ali dives into the love letters as we read along with her from Elliott’s POV. The cadence of the story is indicative of the formal tone in letter writing for the era. Until a fateful night where maybe a few too many gin and tonics, Elliot writes the letter that makes the reader engage with him and fall a bit in love with the love struck man. 

At this point we return to Ali and her parallel journey of unrequited love – or so she thinks.  Mae Wood weaves the dual timeline to introduce the reader to how modern technology advances in communication do not dim the hopes and dreams we have on a relationship. Or maybe that the concept of hiding behind a pen and paper can turn a casual acquaintance into something deeper. 

Whether in the past or present, Mae Wood explores what time and distance can do for the heart. It's Elliott and Alice or Ali and Scott, the reader experiences what those factors can impact a relationship. Or can you build something even stronger with time and distance? Only Ali's true HEA can tell you.

Beautifully written story that weaves past and present together. It is a beautiful journey not to be missed from fiction lovers wanting something different but every present romantic.

5 out of 5 stars






Present day – August – Ali

She didn’t want to move, and I didn’t want her to move either. But we were doing it, together. Sifting and sorting. Shredding and donating. Culling a lifetime into piles to be packed and placed into boxes. The lucky things would end up in my grandmother’s new six-hundred-twenty-three square foot assisted-living apartment. The not-so-lucky would end up on a curb.

“These linens,” she said, pointing to the bottom drawer of the sideboard in her formal dining room. “You need them.”

“Grammie, I don’t even have a dining room table,” I said, trucking along in our project to conquer the contents of at least one room this weekend.

“You had one before and you’ll have one again. And these are Irish linen.”

I thought of my tiny kitchen table, covered in discarded mail and unread magazines, not draped in substantial creamy white. She knew I didn’t have the space. I made space for the vintage black satin peep-toe pumps of hers from the fifties and had placed those in the “Ali” pile with a smile, but linens were a different story. The tablecloths were huge. For a table big enough to seat a dozen guests.

“They were Alice’s,” she said.

The trump card played, I bent and pulled them from the low drawer. I was Alice’s namesake, but I’d always gone by Ali because Alice felt formal and traditional, two words that didn’t fit me. She was the great-grandmother who I’d never met, who died a decade before I was born, but whose existence was never far from my mind. “Ali. A-L-I,” I’d explained a million times over my life. “It’s short for Alice. I’m named for my great-grandmother.”

“Well, one good thing is that your monograms match.”

I fingered the tiny beverage napkins, trimmed in hand-tatted lace and embroidered with ALW.

ALW—I smiled. Alice Lenore Wertheimer. Alice Lenora Waller. I was flirting with becoming Alice Waller Sayer, but I was solidly myself at the moment.

“Did she embroider these?” I asked, the old fabric stiff and smooth to the touch.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember my mother doing any needlework, but I suppose all women did back then.”

“True,” I said, flattening out the material with my palm and tugging out a crease. I dragged yet another plastic bin over and began piling the linens in, amazed that they had survived the years.

“The story on one of those tablecloths is that it was a wedding present from some member of the Denny family.”

Ah, an old Seattle story. I knew it wasn’t going to be long before I got one. My ancestors were early settlers of the city and my grandmother carried the banner of native Seattleite proudly, looking down her pioneer nose at the Microsofties and the Californians who had invaded her precious land. And though she’d moved to Kansas City with my grandfather nearly fifty years ago, the city was in her DNA.

I half-listened to her prattle on about some trip to Japan to obtain plants and animals for the Woodland Park Zoo as I examined the linens and placed them in the plastic storage tub.

“Okay,” I said, looking around the room, the sideboard now empty. Something accomplished today, and it made me feel good to have one of the many small tasks that it would take to empty this big house done. I looked at my watch. “I have to leave at three to head back to the hospital, so what can we get done in an hour?”

“One drawer to go,” she said from the dining chair where she’d settled in while I’d knelt in front of the sideboard. “The bottom one.”

Her words made my chest ache but also soothed them. I hated that she was getting confused more often. It reminded me that one day Grammie would be gone, but it also convinced me that we were making the right decision to move her. No more worry about her alone in this big house.

“All done,” I said, pointing to my tub of linens.

“The bottom-bottom one, Ali. The apron is a drawer.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, feeling sheepish that I’d thought she had been confused. “A secret drawer?”

“That’s the point,” she said. The sideboard had been in this house my entire life and I’d never known that. I tilted my head to look at the piece, not quite believing her. “It’s where your grandpa kept his favorite pistol.”

“Still there?” I said with a smile, reaching down under the lip of the cabinet.

“Well, maybe. It’s been a long time since I dug around in that thing.”

“I’m going to change your name to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” I said, giving the concealed drawer a tug. It didn’t budge. Maybe she was confused after all. “Or Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. But only if we find a Degas or pirate gold.”

“It was a statue of an angel. Leonardo da Vinci,” she corrected me. In and out. Touch and go. Here and there. I was never sure where a conversation would lead us, and based upon the swelling in her extremities, I wasn’t sure today was going to be a good day for coherent conversation. It wasn’t her head so much as her heart that was slowly killing her by refusing to pump. She needed access to round the clock medical care now, not just sitters and family at the house, and we were making that happen although no one was happy about it.

“Oh, that’s right,” I replied, the memories flooding back of the story of a headstrong girl and her younger brother running away to the Met. “What I really remember about that book was them taking a bath in the fountain.” My grandmother and I were very close. The afternoons of my childhood had been spent at her house with my brother and sister. And while my parents were at work, Grammie showered us with troves of books. She was a children’s librarian. Or she had been until she’d gotten married. Because, as she’d explained a million times to me over the years, in those days nice women didn’t work outside the home after they were married, and so she’d retreated to a life of children and tennis and dinner parties.

I gave the drawer another tug and it budged a few inches, but it didn’t slide open.

“Oh, and the sideboard is yours too. No argument. It was—”

“Alice’s?” I guessed as I wiggled the drawer open to find not pieces of eight or a sketch of a ballerina, but more table linens.

“No, her mother’s. You’ll be the fifth generation of women in our family to own it.”

I looked at the dark, heavy Victorian behemoth with new eyes, knowing it was going home with me. And knowing I had nowhere in my tiny, Ikea-furnished apartment to put it, but I spoke the truth: “Thank you. I’ll be a good caretaker.”

“I know you will, sweet pea.”

I looked down at the linens, focusing on the task rather than the meaning of the work I was doing, filling the plastic bin with more ancient fabric than I’d ever begin to use. Under the last tablecloth, I found a small, flat box. The pistol? I recognized the foil-stamped logo. Frederick & Nelson, the grand Seattle department store that now only existed on Grammie’s bad days when she’d ask me or someone else to take her there for lunch.

“Grandpa’s gun?” I asked, setting the box into my lap as I sat on the floor. I lifted the lid. “Papers,” I said, a little weary at the prospect of spending the last bit of time before I had to leave focused on her reading each paper carefully before deciding whether she could part with it.

My grandmother was a pack rat. I’d recently dropped off two decades of yellow-spined National Geographics at the recycling center and her garage was still stuffed to the gills with boxes of papers. I’d had visions of a huge bonfire while she was at a doctor’s appointment just to speed up the process.

The box resting in my cross-legged lap, I riffled through the contents. “Letters,” I said, pulling one out. At least it wasn’t receipts from the nineteen sixties, though the hospital bill from my mom’s appendicitis at age eight had been a gem. The total bill was a few hundred dollars and Mom had spent three days in a children’s ward. Most of my patients were sent home by the end of the day with a bill in the thousands.

The cream envelope was golden at the seams, the clean, cursive writing enchanting. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen graceful, purposeful handwriting with a fountain pen and not just a hasty scrawl of ballpoint on a scratch pad.

Alice Hirshhorn, the letter’s front proclaimed.



Win everything you need to snuggle up with a good read!



Professional sassypants and novelist, Mae Wood has been a bookworm her entire life.

She loves cheeses, complicated crafts that she'll start but never complete, and puns.

A while ago Mae decided that she needed to give up the fear that she couldn't write "great literature" and write what she wants to read.

And she wants romance. And laughter. And real life.

She wants heroines who are brave. Brave enough to be themselves and brave enough to fall in love. She wants men who are strong and kind.

Mae is married, and has two darling children and an old dog who naps at her feet while she writes.

Keep in touch with Mae and find bonus content at her website — www.maewood.com



Friday, October 26, 2018

Arrest My Heart: Release Blitz for Kate by Jennifer Hanks




Title: Kate
Series: The Dimarco Series #5
Author: Jennifer Hanks
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 26, 2018



Blurb

Disappointment.  Rejection.  Loneliness.

Feelings that have been suffocating single mom Kate Miller for years. 

Moving to New Hope to raise her six-year-old son is supposed to be a fresh start, a way to put her past in the rearview mirror and focus on the road ahead. She isn’t looking for friendship or a relationship, especially with one very sexy detective who won’t stay out of her life or out of her mind.

No matter how hard she pushes him away.

Luke Dimarco is a man who’s faced his mortality.  After surviving a shooting, in which he was the target of revenge, he understands life is fleeting.  When Kate explodes into his world, showing him a glimpse of a future filled with all the things he craves, he makes the decision to grab a hold and not let go.

Even if it means sacrificing what he already has.

However, a darkness still surrounds the small town of New Hope and they will learn the only way to keep each other safe is to stand together.  Luke will need to show Kate that trust is not just a word, but given to the right person, a promise.

But is it a promise he can keep?







Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


Cracking open the cover of Kate was like coming home to family. I've binged on the series and have been anxiously awaiting Luke's story to join the bookshelves. The wait was not in vain and everything I expected from this character.

Luke has been a strong silent type in the background for the other stories in the series.  A cop by passion, he embodies everything about the type: strong, bossy and protective.  So what is his perfect match like? Someone who doesn't allow that bossiness to steamroller over her. Meet Kate.

They have a meet up is that perfect blend of frienmies.  They want to both not feel the attraction but it's Luke that gives in first. When that man makes a decision, watch out. You are coming along. Patient to almost a fault as Kate is super hesitant to dive into the romance pool ever again.

If you love an alpha man who is has all the perfect qualities in over-protective male, then this story will check off all the boxes.  Although a part of me thinks the story can stand alone, I believe you need to read the series in its entirety to not only understand the secondary characters introduced in early stories, but grasp onto the secondary story.  This is a blend of contemporary romance with a suspense element.  This one I will say is my favorite in the series. Not necessarily the characters per se but you seeing the author finding strength in her voice and smooth story flow.

4.5 of 5 stars




Also Available


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

All free in Kindle Unlimited






Author Bio


Jennifer Hanks is the author of The Dimarco Series as well as The Elite Securities Series. Her stories are contemporary romance and romantic suspense, all with the underlying message of the power and strength in love. She’s also a sucker for a Happily-Ever-After. Her love of reading and books in general started at a very young age and has steadily grown into a love of writing as well. She admits to being addicted to all things romance and has no plans of quitting her habit. Jennifer lives in Pennsylvania with her two children. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found with her kids at their various activities. Her house is frequently filled with any combination of her children’s friends, nieces, nephews and a variety of pets.


Author Links
Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Follow me. 

Thursday, October 18, 2018

#FanMoments - Why I love Book+Main



Yeah, that's me!  I was invited to join a group of fellow bloggers to test the new features for bloggers to utilize for book sharing.  I have discussed one of my favorite features of the website on a blog post here about flame ratings.  You'll find I share bites I find intriguing and feature reviews I discuss over on Book+Main on my Facebook blog page: My Own Bookshelves.

I also did an on-the-fly how to use Book+Main shortly after launch at the encouragement of Kate Canterbary on YouTube.




But interestingly enough, I still get the "Why do you like this platform?" or "It's just another app I have to manage."

No, it's not.  Seriously, social media isn't easy to navigate when focusing on finding information on books to read for romance genre fans.  You are scrolling through tons of posts to find that 'one item' often to get lost in first day of school pics, posts about a new job, etc.  Book+Main focuses on the book community and solely the book community. Okay... why tell you here. Check out my interview on the Book+Main blog to learn more.



Here's the short fact: 

Monday, October 8, 2018

Cover Reveal: Kate By Jennifer Hanks




Title: Kate
Series: The Dimarco Series #5
Author: Jennifer Hanks
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations
Release Date: October 26, 2018



Blurb

Disappointment.  Rejection.  Loneliness.

Feelings that have been suffocating single mom Kate Miller for years. 

Moving to New Hope to raise her six-year-old son is supposed to be a fresh start, a way to put her past in the rearview mirror and focus on the road ahead. She isn’t looking for friendship or a relationship, especially with one very sexy detective who won’t stay out of her life or out of her mind.

No matter how hard she pushes him away.

Luke Dimarco is a man who’s faced his mortality.  After surviving a shooting, in which he was the target of revenge, he understands life is fleeting.  When Kate explodes into his world, showing him a glimpse of a future filled with all the things he craves, he makes the decision to grab a hold and not let go.

Even if it means sacrificing what he already has.

However, a darkness still surrounds the small town of New Hope and they will learn the only way to keep each other safe is to stand together.  Luke will need to show Kate that trust is not just a word, but given to the right person, a promise.

But is it a promise he can keep?







Pre-order Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






Also Available


Books 1-4 are 99c for a limited time!

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

All free in Kindle Unlimited

READ MY REVIEW OF THE SERIES ON THIS BLOG POST:
New To Me Spotlight






Author Bio


Jennifer Hanks is the author of The Dimarco Series as well as The Elite Securities Series. Her stories are contemporary romance and romantic suspense, all with the underlying message of the power and strength in love. She’s also a sucker for a Happily-Ever-After. Her love of reading and books in general started at a very young age and has steadily grown into a love of writing as well. She admits to being addicted to all things romance and has no plans of quitting her habit. Jennifer lives in Pennsylvania with her two children. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found with her kids at their various activities. Her house is frequently filled with any combination of her children’s friends, nieces, nephews and a variety of pets.


Author Links


Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Pumpkin & Pages Hop with Chick Lit Chat HQ


Fall is so pretty, but aside from Halloween, there isn't much going on. If only there were something to tie together all the great elements of the season--the rich colors, the pumpkins (and pumpkin spice lattes!), wearing sweaters, walking through crunching leaves, curling up by the fire with a good book ...OH, HOLD UP! There is something going on!


Chick Lit Chat HQ is continuing its tradition of hosting killer hops for Chick Lit and Romantic Comedy fans with our all-new PUMPKINS AND PAGES FACEBOOK HOP to get this season started right! From October 1st through the 7th, more than 50 Chick Lit and RomCom authors are banding together to bring you are most awesome event yet! Along with individual author prizes, we'll be giving away grand prizes of a beautiful fall wreath by Twoinspireyou valued at $160* and THREE gift bags full of pumpkin-scented goodies from Bath & Body Works. PSLs, chunky sweaters, and crunchy leaves ain't got nothing on this week-long party, so don your scarf and mittens and head on over to Facebook and join the CLC HQ events group to hang with authors and readers, find your next great fireside read, and enter to win all sorts of fabulous prizes! See you there!

*The Grand Prize fall wreath giveaway is open to US residents only. However, all of the individual author giveaways and the grab bag giveaways are open internationally.