#BookReview: Mile High (Windy City #1) by Liz Tomforde

Synopsis: Zanders

Chicago hockey isn’t complete without me—everyone’s favorite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.

What I don’t like is the new flight attendant on our team’s private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I’ll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she’ll be begging to quit her job.

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can’t quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons or if it’s more than that.

Stevie

I’ve been a flight attendant for years. I thought I’d see it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again…no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.

Everything but him.

#BookReview: The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Synopsis: Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

#ReleaseBlitz for It Had to be You by @TracyKSolheim and @GiveMeBooksPR #Giveaway ($25 Amazon gift card)

Title: It Had to be You

Series: Chances Inlet #4

Author: Tracy Solheim

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Sports/Small Town/Nanny/Forced Proximity

Release Date: June 5, 2023

BLURB

It’s hard to keep a big secret in a small town . . .

When Paige Hollister discovers her “Mr. Right” already has a “Mrs. Right,” she swears off men forever. Even more humiliating, she suddenly finds herself labeled the other woman and out of the teaching job she loves. So Paige does what every unemployed single woman staring thirty in the face does: She hightails it to the beach. Bad luck like hers is hard to outrun, however. Her getaway is stalled when her car breaks down in a small-town chock full of meddling, nosy residents. The worst of them being the local sheriff—none other than her estranged father.

Finally on top of the golf world, Tanner Gillette is poised to show everyone he’s not just an entitled playboy coasting through tournaments on his pedigree. That is until his life is turned upside down by a little girl who shows up on his doorstep with a birth certificate inexplicably bearing his name. Complicating matters more, the kid isn’t talking. When the stress of caring for a child whose mother is AWOL gives Tanner a bad case of the yips, he’s forced to enlist help from the one person in town who can’t wait to leave.

Sticking around Chances Inlet and her father’s shiny new, über-successful family isn’t on Paige’s to-do list. Especially when she’d prefer to keep her embarrassing incident under wraps. Yet she can’t walk away from the troubled little girl. Or the sexy Australian golfer who just might make her want to take a chance on trusting her heart again.

#BookBlitz: This Will Hurt II by @CaraDeeWrites @XpressoTours $15 Amazon gift card

This Will Hurt II
Cara Dee
(June 2nd 2023)
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

Part II of II Angst Awakening Friends to Lovers Family

Buckle in. Roe and Jake have mountains to climb, walls to tear down, and countless private moments to bring them even closer in this final part of their journey.

The ground beneath me had finally settled. I was content. I was all right. I could move forward and live with my choices.

Then I found Jake’s damn journal from… therapy. That was right. My best friend, who defined “man of few words,” was in therapy. The ground started shaking again. I got desperate. I got angry. I…almost lost him on the job when he saved my life.

Nothing was settled anymore.

#BookBlitz: The Art of Husbandry by Jay Hogan @XpressoTours $25 Amazon gift card

The Art of Husbandry
Jay Hogan
(June 1st 2023)
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

When life drowns you in lemons, to hell with making lemonade. I wanted to burn the whole world. But eighteen months from the day my life was torn apart, I’m tired of the anger. Tired of the nightmares. Tired of putting one foot in front of the other just trying to survive.

Three months on a high country sheep station in the middle of nowhere is exactly the reboot I need. A chance to break free. To breathe again. To find a way forward. I put my entire life on hold and head south to Mackenzie Country.

But falling for the captivating young station boss was never part of the plan. Holden Miller might be smart and sexy and push all of my dusty buttons, but we come from two different worlds. I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m not interested in love. I’m done with all that.

But Holden doesn’t care about my rules. Nestled safely in the arms of the spectacular Southern Alps, on an isolated sheep farm at the top of the world, Holden begins knitting my battered heart together one careful stitch at a time. And with every pass of the thread, every braid of the river on our doorstep, I catch a tantalising glimpse of something I’d almost given up on.

Happiness, and maybe even love.

If I have the courage to reach out and grab them.

#BookReview: Spell Borne by Auden Llyr

Synopsis: Some curses start with “Once upon a time...”

I thought this semester would be easy - just my thesis and attending some seminars in Lointaine. And who doesn’t love spending time in an enchanting, small town?

But it turns out Lointaine is straight out of a fairy tale, quite literally, and the spell affecting the town is determined to turn me into a princess. You know, the kind that gets chased by murderous huntsmen, assaulted in their sleep, or cleans up after stepsisters… Not my idea of a great time.

However, according to the resident expert, it’s dangerous to try to avoid my fairy tale. I can’t take that risk since I’m already in a bit of trouble with the police.

I’m not sure I have it in me to fight my professors, the police, and magic spells, but if I don’t I’ll be letting go of my own dreams for my future. Is there any path through this grim tale that leads to a happily ever after?

#ReleaseBlitz for Misdeeds of a Billionaire by @EvaWinners and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Misdeeds of a Billionaire

Series: Billionaire Kings #2

Author: Eva Winners

Genre: Billionaire Romance

Tropes: Single Mother/Forced Marriage/Mafia Themes

Release Date: June 1, 2023

BLURB

My one-night stand.

A ruthless bastard.

A heartless billionaire.

The man who ruled his empire with a cold head and an even colder heart. And most importantly, my son’s father. Except, he wasn’t aware of that little fact. To the media, Byron is the Billionaire King. To me, he’s a reminder of the hottest, most forbidden, night of my life. And my biggest mistake.

I hadn’t seen him in years and hoped we’d never cross paths again.

But then, my best-laid plans always seem to go astray. Now, I need his help to bail me out of trouble. He’s a billionaire and I’m just a broke, debt-riddled surgeon.

Against my better judgment, I sought him out. It should have been easy, in and out. Except, nothing with Byron Ashford was ever easy. He refuses to hand out free favors. And the price for his help?

My freedom. Literally.

He wants to shackle me to him with a marriage I don’t want, then throw away the key.

His demands are scandalous. His rules are dangerous for my heart.

It was supposed to be a mutually beneficial deal but nothing about Byron is ever that simple. Once he slips the ring onto my finger, the rules change.

His demands grow. He no longer just wants to own my body. He also wants my heart and soul. But I’m not that young, naive woman anymore.

Too bad this billionaire forgot one thing. Nobody can own your heart unless you give it freely.

#ReleaseBlitz for Sunflowers and Surrender by LM Fox @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Sunflowers and Surrender

A Wild Blooms Series Standalone

Author: LM Fox
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Forbidden/Brother's Best Friend

Release Date: June 1, 2023

BLURB

Tuesday

Each day I long for the forbidden.

Dreams like seeds planted in poor soil.

My future has been sown since I was young, and now the man I’ve fallen for is off-limits.

Not that he'd give me the time of day.

My brother's best friend puts out fires by day, and ignites unfamiliar feelings by night.

How do I pluck these desires before they overtake me?

I'm choosing to stay positive. Live joyfully, like a sunflower.

If only someone like Alex could adore me as I do my faithful blossoms.

Alex

My life is nearly perfect.

Great job, hot girl, and amazing friends.

So why do I feel off?

I'm not looking for more. And if I was, the last thing I'm allowed to consider is Tuesday Palmer.

If only she hadn't put me under a spell with her bright smile and radiant personality.

But restraint is the name of this game.

I can only look, not touch, this tempting flower.

Even if I'm dying to surrender.

#BookBlitz: The Highlander’s Enchantress by @ViolettaRand @XpressoTours #Giveaway $15 Amazon gift card

The Highlander’s Enchantress
Violetta Rand
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication date: May 29th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance

If her cruel and domineering father were to be believed, Kali Bane is the worst of women. Defiant. Independent. Were it not for her beloved younger sisters, she would have sought her freedom long ago. When she refuses to wed an old, wine-soaked English lord, her father bans her to the McKay clan in the Highlands, warning them that she’s a witch.

There is no welcome at the McKay castle—only an aging laird prone to fits of temper who believes that Kali is, in fact, a witch. A sorceress. Here she is little more than a hostage, kept from sight from almost all but Adam McKay, the laird’s son, whose hypnotic green eyes make her long for something forbidden. It’s almost enough to make her abandon all thoughts of escape.

Kali is the only one who can protect her sisters from their father’s greedy machinations. But the longer she remains imprisoned in the McKay tower, the more Kali and Adam realize there are other forces at play. They’re both pieces in a silent, terrible game that could destroy everyone they’ve ever loved…including each other.

#BookReview: Once upon a Wonderland by D.J. Stoneham

Synopsis: “Fee-fi-fo-fum!” boomed the ogre.
“Why do you keep quoting Shakespeare’s King Lear?” asked Alice. “And while we’re on the subject, why can you only smell the blood of Englishmen? Why not other nationalities? Or English women come to that?” 

A poltergeist in tattered leotards, a grumpy carnivore more interested in Gaston than Belle and a psychotic arsonist. These are not the Rumpelstiltskin, Beast and Cinderella that Alice knew and loved. Nevertheless, she needs to get them and other fairy tale characters out of Wonderland if she’s to mend Time and return home. And rescue Jack, the feathered boy she’s in love with.

Alice’s quest is not helped by charges of treason, the advances of a dashing mediaeval estate agent and the fact that she is growing younger by the hour. And then there is the Queen of Hearts and her cohorts to contend with. 

Alice’s journey is peppered with surreal events, gritty wordplay and the sinister backstories to popular fairy tales, making this stand-alone Wonderland story a must for younger and older adults alike.

“Captivating, iconic, and engaging. 10/10.” Anthony Avina
“Captures the whimsy and imagination of Carroll’s classic.” The Creative Muggle
“5-star. A noteworthy fantasy like no other.” Reader Reviews
“Engaging, entertaining, and wickedly smart … a classic in its own right.” Self-Publishing Review
“Stellar illustrations perfectly complement the narrative.” blueink
“One of the finest releases of 2023. A must read.” Book Nerdection

#ReleaseBlitz for The Goddess by Lindsay Murray @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: The Goddess

Series: AnchorX

Author: Lindsay Murray

Genre: BDSM Romance

Tropes: Reverse Age Gap/Fendom

Release Date: May 29, 2023

BLURB

I met a wicked older woman with seductive, amber eyes, lips that could kill a man, and a voice that brings me to my knees.

And she wants to play with me.

I know it’s nothing serious. I’m just a way to pass the time. I’m her entertainment, a fun indulgence. But she’s hot, and kinky, and experienced, and I can’t resist her. She gets off on my torture. She teases and scolds, rewards and punishes.

But as her demands become more intense, and her punishment becomes more severe, I start to love her. And hate her.

Because I don’t know if I can ever please her… but I don’t think I can live without her.

The Goddess is a standalone, reverse age-gap, femdom romance. Characters are polyamorous and have multiple partners outside of their relationship. This story takes place within the AnchorX world, and can be read as a standalone. See author’s website for detailed content warnings.