SUNNY - BOOK RELEASE BLAST: "Then Came You" by Jill Shalvis

Welcome to the Book Release Blast for Jill Shalvis' latest, Then Came You.  Are you as excited as we are for this book? We have an excerpt and giveaway to share with you.  Enjoy!

THEN CAME YOU

by Jill Shalvis

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Publisher: Berkley

SUMMARY:

Veterinary intern Emily can’t believe she wound up in the small town of Sunshine, Idaho, instead of the Los Angeles clinic she had always imagined. Now she has to put her plans to move to L.A. on hold for a whole year while she fulfills the obligation of her vet school scholarship.

Then Wyatt, her gorgeous one-night stand from a Reno vet conference, introduces himself as her new boss. And Emily is just as drawn to his seductive looks and quiet strength as she was on that very steamy night. She soon learns that Wyatt isn’t just a laid-back doctor, but a delicious alpha male tempting her away from her carefully laid-out plans...

EXCERPT

Emily sat on a fallen log and leaned back. When she was little, she’d loved to try to star watch. In LA, this was tricky because of all the city lights, not to mention smog. Doing it here, in the land of the big sky, was a whole new ball game. “I’m not lonely,” she said to the horse, who snorted again and swished his tail.

“Good. Cuz you’re not alone.”

Two long legs came into her peripheral. Wyatt crouched at her side and looked into her face.  “How are you?”

“Fine,” she said.

Nodding, he sat on the log at her side and leaned back, presumably to look at whatever she was looking at. “Pretty night.”

His hands were behind him, his shoulder and a part of his chest brushing her arm and shoulder. Actually it was more like he was encircling her within his arm span, which was considerable. It was a guy move, an alpha guy move, and it made her feel ... protected.

She was getting far too used to that, she thought with a sigh. “Where is everyone?”

“Gone,” he said, and there was an odd quality to his voice that had her taking a second look at him. He didn’t take his gaze off the sky so she got him in profile, the tousled hair, the fine lines crinkling the corners of his eyes from long days out in the sun, the square, scruffy jaw. A broad shoulder built to take on the weight of the world. 

He’d been working his ass off, here at Belle Haven, helping Dell take up the slack for the out-of-town Jade, and then going home and helping his sisters with the monstrous house they were fixing up. He did so much for everyone, and she found herself wanting to do something for him. Make him smile. Make him relax. Make him forget, even for a few minutes…  She nudged him with her shoulder.

He nudged her back and turned to look at her then, his eyes dark and unfathomable behind his glasses.

Chickening out, she turned her head this time, and stared up at the sky as he had been only a few seconds before.

“Emily.”

When she didn’t tear her gaze off the stars, he leaned in and nipped her ear.

Sucking in a breath, she looked at him again. His was still dark, but there were things swirling in those dark depths now. Need. Heat.

Affection.

He stole her breath. 

“Let the record state,” she said, reaching out to snatch off his glasses, “that I don’t always make the first move.”

He blinked in momentary confusion, and probably also because he could no longer see. He opened his mouth to say something, but she sank her fingers into his hair and kissed him, hard and long and deep.

“Emily,” he said when they broke for air, his voice rough and husky.

She climbed into his lap and then pushed him backwards off the log so that he fell to his back in the wild grass with her straddling him.

Laughing, he slid his hands beneath her top and up her back, drawing out a delicious shiver from her.  Then his hands slid slowly down her spine, and into the backs of her jeans.  “Let the record also state,” he said in a delicious growl. “Who made the rest of the moves.”

Buy this book at: 
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | iTunes 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

AUTHOR'S LINKS: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SUNNY - REVIEW TOUR: "The Saint" by Tiffany Reisz

SUMMARY:

Before she became Manhattan's most famous dominatrix, Nora Sutherlin was merely a girl called Eleanor…

Rebellious, green-eyed Eleanor never met a rule she didn't want to break. She's sick of her mother's zealotry and the confines of Catholic school, and declares she'll never go to church again. But her first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Marcus Stearns—Søren to her and only her—and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. Eleanor is consumed—yet even she knows being in love with a priest can't be right.

But when one desperate mistake nearly costs Eleanor everything, it is Søren who steps in to save her. When she vows to repay him with complete obedience, a whole world opens before her as he reveals to her his deepest secrets that will change everything.

Danger can be managed—pain, welcomed. Everything is about to begin.

BUY THE BOOK AT: Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

REVIEW:

Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you, Eleanor.  Nothing I wouldn’t do to help you and nothing I wouldn’t do to save you. Nothing.  

And so it begins…

I have to admit, I had to think twice before requesting this ARC.  I had a little anxiety about reading this book mainly because my first book by Tiffany Reisz, The Siren, left an indelible impression on me and I thought about it for weeks.  I questioned everything.  I began to look at more closely things I took for “normal” and began to see how they are socially constructed. That book really expanded my perspective.  Honestly, I didn’t know if I was ready for that again. 

Lightening strikes again – but in a different way.  Again, I’m being stretched but this time, it is for the character of Søren.  To me, Søren is the dark one, the scary one, the one always in control.  I’ve judged him on his behavior without much thought to how he evolved into the person that he is. The Saint is is a prequel.  Starting with the aftermath of a tragic situation (which Ms. Reisz does a wonderful job in keeping this event a mystery), we learn how Nora and Søren meet.  Nora is a misunderstood rebel.  Snarky and smart, she acts out because she feels disappointed by all the people that are suppose to love her.  In walks a new priest, Father Marcus Stearns, aka Søren, who shows her that she matters.   There is an understanding and connection that is both wildly tender and restrained that develops over years.  This evolution ameliorates for me the discomfort I have always felt about a relationship between the much older Søren and the teenage Nora.  The relationship is profound.  There is a sense of destiny and I keenly felt it:

Because God know long before I did that I would need to be a priest to find you and help you and keep you on the right path.  And I will keep you safe even if it kills me.

The best part of this book is getting to peel the layers off of Søren. He’s not a hero; he’s not an anti-hero.  He is not quite the Byronic hero, instead he is a set of contradictions – light and dark, tender and cruel, tragic and heartwarming.   He is shaped and formed by his past.  But whether he is born this way or shaped this way, at the end he is a sadist.  Though this is not a word in my everyday vocabulary, I am challenged to see that concept in a different way. 

The second best thing about this book is being back with Nora.  I just can’t get enough of this smart, courageous, self-realizing character.  I love watching her discover herself and what is important to her.  She is authentic and stands for what she believes in. 

IN A NUTSHELL:

What a completely satisfying read.  I would not recommend starting with this book, although it is the history and background of our beloved characters.  In order to truly appreciate where they came from, you need to experience first where they are.  However, this is a CAN’T-BE-MISSED book.  It gives the whole series a whole new depth that encourages us to continue on to the next book.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tiffany Reisz is the author of the highly acclaimed series The Original Sinners. Her first novel, THE SIREN, won the RT Editor's Choice Award for Best Erotic Romance of 2012. Slightly shameless, Tiffany dropped out of a conservative Southern seminary in order to pursue a career as a writer. This move, while possibly putting her eternal salvation in peril, has worked out better than she anticipated. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend, author Andrew Shaffer.

Author's Links: 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page

SUNNY - ARC BOOK REVIEW: "The Professional" by Kresley Cole

SUMMARY:

He makes the rules…

Mafiya enforcer Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan’s loyalty to his boss knows no bounds, until he meets the boss’s long-lost daughter, a curvy, feisty redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksei will do anything to possess her as well—on his own wicked terms.

Rules are made to be broken…

Grad student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the dark and breathtaking Sevastyan before the professional enforcer whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection leads her deeper under his masterful spell.

Are you ready to play?

Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy’s reach, Sevastyan spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-wealthy in Paris, the two lovers will discover that even their darkest—and most forbidden—fantasies can come true…

REVIEW: 

Natalie Porter is a Nebraska graduate student in history (I already like her as I too was grad student in women’s history). She studies hard, works hard, and is as “normal” as can be. One night she meets a mysterious stranger in a local bar, one whose vibe screams “yummy” and “danger” at the same time.  Like a fine wine she “sens[es] top notes of European – along with strong undertones of dangerous!” She is soon being whisked away to Russia to meet her birthfather, a Russian mafia boss.

Yes, there is danger and yes, there is a bit of suspense, but this story is really about the relationship between Natalie and Sevastyan.  Natalie is looking to find some balance after being knocked over and completely overwhelmed by Sevastyan.  He is both irresistible and unattainable.  He opens up new worlds to her and keeps her in the dark.  He is a study in interpolarities.

The conflict and need Natalie experiences is provocative.  There is so much tension throughout this book, I found my jaw clenching as if I were driving down the 405 Freeway on a Friday afternoon (traffic in Southern California).  Sevastyan is an anti-hero, a professional henchman (and second in command) for Natalia’s father and her personal bodyguard.  He is cynical, proud, moody and very, very, damaged, but has a capacity to love as deep as the ocean. But can he love her in the way she needs to be loved? It would be easy to wonder if this question can sustain an entire book.  Yes!  It can and Kresley Cole does it very well. 

Kresley Cole writes with humor, focusing particularly between the relationship between Natalie and her best friend, Jessica. She writes with intensity, pages brimming with sexual tension: “As I gazed up at him and sucked his thumb, his eyes darkened with possession. Deep. Brutal. Never-ending.  He regarded me like I was a trapped thing, already his to enjoy.  Never-ending.  Never-ending. Never-ending. Dear god, what had I done?”   Whew, take a breath.

IN A NUTSHELL:

“I thought pleasure was only rated on a scale of one to ten, and then this guy had seductively whispered, “Didn’t you know?  The upper scale is infinity.”  It was a pleasure to read this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.