LDS GIVEAWAY HOP: SIGNED COPY OF THE SAVAGE GRACE

Giving away one SIGNED hardback copy of my BFF's book The Savage Grace. The third book in an awesome trilogy in which my husband, Brent is a character.



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PAIGE TOON: THE LONGEST HOLIDAY

If you have not yet read a book by Paige Toon and you love fun light reads where you get totally involved in the characters lives...then what are you waiting for? I cannot give enough cheers for Paige Toon where my only complaint with her books is that they end too soon. For those of you in the US, you might find your library has slim pickings for Toon books. However, you will find that on Amazon you can purchase used copies for a steal.

I recently devoured her most recent release, The Longest Holiday and loved it.

BOOK BLURB:

He's smiling down at me with tears in his eyes as I say my solemn vow:
'I, Laura, take thee, Matthew, to be my lawful wedded husband…' I thought I would never feel like this about anyone ever again. Not after my first love… Not after the heartbreak and the loss and the trying to pick myself back up again… Then I met Matthew, and I know that he has my heart forever: my perfect, gorgeous, adoring Matthew. And then I wake up. And I remember that he's not perfect. He's so far from perfect that my heart could surely collapse from the pain that instantly engulfs me…
To say Laura is unlucky in love is an understatement. Her first boyfriend died in a horrific accident, and now she's just discovered that her husband of six months has been hiding a terrible secret. Devastated and unwilling to face reality, she escapes on a girls' holiday to Key West with her best friend Marty. But a deep and instant attraction to a sexy Cuban scuba diver takes her completely by surprise. When her two weeks in the sun come to an end, Laura doesn't want to go home again. But she can't run from real life forever. Can she?

Read more about it HERE.

BLACKMOORE: JULIANNE DONALDSON

When I receive an early release eGalley I like to wait until a book is close to the release date so that when I review it on my blog it is fresh on my mind. With Blackmoore though I just read it. I had been in such a reading rut and I couldn't take the wait. Don't worry I jotted down some notes while it was still fresh. 

Fans of Donaldson's Edenbrooke with not be disappointed. This is another clean period tale heaped with romantic tension. I felt the longing feelings of our heroine right from the start, and cheered for her throughout the book. I couldn't give this a full five stars though because a few thing distracted me. One was the horrific mother, I just hated reading about her and found her annoying brash ways too much. Also, Donaldson adds these flashbacks that are well written, but they totally pulled me from the story at hand...a story I was WAY into and did not want to be pulled from AT ALL. You have to read the flashbacks though, because they move the story forward.

BOOK BLURB:

Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.

Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist.

I'm not generally a fan of historical romance but both of Donaldson's books have been really fun reads. I do recommend reading Edenbrooke first just because I liked it a tad more.

Read more about Blackmoore HERE.

FANGIRL: RAINBOW ROWELL

I have been so excited for this release, and folks it did not disappoint. This is just as delightful but completely different from Rowell's last book, Eleanor & Park. I loved them both and I can now officially add Rowell as an author to watch. Try not to get too excited but here in the pages of Fangirl you will find a story about a girl in college who doesn't act trashy, meet the hottest guy ever, and have crazy sexy times while she falls in love to said hottest guy who tends to be a bit abusive all wrapped up in a terribly written book! (Ugh! So sick of those!)

I don't know if I can say enough wonderful things about this book. It has amazing quotes galore, it has the most satisfying believable sister (twin) relationship I have ever read, it is freaking swoony and wonderful, and our heroine...she is terribly awesome! She's a self proclaimed nut but you love her, you just love her.

The only thing that pulled me from this was the inserted Fanfic moments. They are well done but, for me, I just wanted to get back to Cath's story. A story that honestly consumed me from beginning to end. Why? Because Rowell paces this perfectly revealing little by little the story of Cath's new and old life making it such a full and enjoyable read.

BOOK BLURB:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

When I received this through NetGalley I did a little happy dance, so thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. I'm going to have to buy a hard copy though as well so I can hold it close as I fall asleep. Read more about it HERE. Read my review and love for Rowell's first YA release, Eleanor & Park HERE.

RULES OF SUMMER: JOANNA PHILBIN

This was a great read for me to end the summer. From the beginning I just loved it, I'm not sure what it was but the whole world in this fascinated me. I adored the friendship that the two girls created over the summer it felt honest and not forced. It definitely felt like a book written by a girl who spent her summers in the Hamptons which I am sure Joanna Philbin (daughter to good ole' Regis) totally did. This is also an example of a book written so well in the third person that I felt like I was reading first person. While I was reading it I felt like I was reading a Sarah Dessen book while she was at the top of her game. This just felt so refreshing to me, again, a great way to end my summer.

BOOK BLURB:

When seventeen-year-old Rory McShane steps off the bus in East Hampton, it's as if she's entered another universe, one populated by impossibly beautiful people wearing pressed khakis and driving expensive cars. She's signed on to be a summer errand girl for the Rules -- a wealthy family with an enormous beachfront mansion. Upon arrival, she's warned by other staff members to avoid socializing with the family, but Rory soon learns that may be easier said than done.

Stifled by her friends and her family's country club scene, seventeen-year-old Isabel Rule, the youngest of the family, embarks on a breathless romance with a guy whom her parents would never approve of. It's the summer for taking chances, and Isabel is bringing Rory along for the ride. But will Rory's own summer romance jeopardize her friendship with Isabel? And, after long-hidden family secrets surface, will the Rules' picture-perfect world ever be the same?

This stands alone, but looks like it is going to be a series. I'm excited to read the rest. This is a pretty clean read even though you are reading about spoiled rich kids who drink, party, and have sex with their boyfriends. However, there is nothing graphic or shocking. 

Read more about it HERE.

GRACE GROWS: SHELLE SUMNERS

I will say right off that I can see some people not enjoying this book as much as I did. It kind of goes on and on and in quite a bit of detail. But for me I just got sucked in right away to the details and enjoyed this very much. I do think it is stronger in the beginning as our two main characters meet and grow close together. There is a distinct plot point where I thought the whole story slowed down, but by then I was so invested I was still a happy reader. For me, I related to the whole idea of being afraid to really fall in love and get hurt like the MC, so I liked Grace very much.

BOOK BLURB:

Grace Barnum’s life is precariously balanced on sensible choices and uncomfortable compromise. She dutifully edits textbooks that, she  fears, may be more harmful than helpful to kids. She is engaged to a patent attorney who is steady and reliable. She has a cautious relationship with her  fascinating father, a renowned New York painter, and she prefers her mom slightly drunk.

Always a planner, Grace feels prepared for most eventualities. Until the responsibility-challenged Tyler Wilkie shows up. Fresh in town from the Poconos, Tyler has warm eyes, a country drawl, and a smile that makes Grace drop things. Worst of all, he writes devastating songs. About her.

Tyler reaches something in Grace, something she needs, but can't admit to. Something she wants, but won't succumb to. Tyler Wilkie loves Grace Barnum and ruins everything.  And Grace grows.

A great easy read with a little bit of swearing, and sex scenes that aren't in extreme detail. Read more about it HERE.

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US: KASIE WEST

I really want to champion this book, especially since the first Goodreads review is scathing. I adored this. It is just a plain clean, fun love story...the perfect little romance book. Kasie West wrote characters that made me smile and swoon. Including fleshed out fun and interesting secondary characters. The story line was so enjoyable and kept me turning the pages without having the crazy over the top drama that is so popular today. Also it has been a few books ago that I read it, but I believe it is completely clean, void of any bad language. So if you are old with kids (like me), you would feel perfectly fine letting your kiddo read this book (not that she can read yet, but still...one day.)

BOOK BLURB:

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Read more about it HERE.