Release Day Blitz and Review: TWINED BOND by Emma Hart

TWINED BOND
By Emma Hart
Book 7, final book in the Holly Wood Files series
Release Day: November 17, 2016

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

All is well in Holly Woods. 
My best friend's love triangle is now a happy little circle. My sister-in-law just gave birth to my gorgeous new niece who is the world's best cuddler, and Nonna's not on my back every ten minutes about the fact we're getting married in one month. 
Supposedly.
Until the mayor's niece—our baker for the wedding—commits suicide. At least, that's what the note says. My gut says we're talking a different kind of 'cide.' My gut also says I should stay well away, and in the interest of Drake's sanity, I plan to.
But when life throws you an unexpected curveball... Sometimes the best laid plans need tearing up.
Even if you don't mean to do it.
Happily ever after...
If Holly Woods survives this.

(Twined Bond is the seventh and final book in the Holly Woods Files series, and picks up roughly 

BUY LINKS: 
Amazon US| Amazon UK | Barnes and Noble |iBooks

CHECK OUT MY REVIEW ON THE 

SCANDALICIOUS BOOK REVIEW BLOG. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she fancies - usually wine - and writes books.

Emma is working on Top Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.

She likes to be busy - unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the ideas come to life.

FACEBOOK | Twitter | Goodreads | AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

EXCERPT

“Tell that to my ovaries.”

“I think I did last night when I hugged Casey.” He winks at me.

I playfully shove his chest. “It made me think. That's all.” I slide my hand down his stomach and, in a small voice, say, “I think you'd be a great dad.”

He smiles, pressing his lips to mine. “And you'll be a great mom. When you figure out how to be an adult.”

I hit him again. Much harder this time.

He laughs, stepping back and moving to the coffee machine. “Stop getting your panties in a twist over every little detail, okay, babe? Take everything one step at a time and let me help you. Instead of freaking out in your office alone, call me.”

“What if you don't answer?”

He shrugs, hitting the button on the machine. “Leave me ranty messages and I'll come with cupcakes,” he says over the gurgling of the coffee spitting into his mug.

“And just like that, he makes me forget why I was ever worried about marrying him,” I tease.

He simply looks over his shoulder, smirks, and throws me a second wink.

And an idea flies through my head.

A crazy, stupid, ridiculous idea.

The moment the coffee machine stops, the kitchen fills with silence.

One that makes my idea buzz loudly.

“Drake.”

“Mhmm?” He turns around, still stirring sugar and cream into his coffee.

“What if we did it? Got married. Eloped but kinda didn't.”

“You're confusing me now, sweetheart.”

I'm confusing myself. But still... “We're registered, right? We both have each other’s rings in the safe in the closet. Why don't we just...do it?”

He stills, but his blue eyes swing from his mug to meet my brown gaze. “Are you suggesting we blow off the ceremony, grab our rings, and go see Father Luiz right now?”

Twisted Bond

I’m an Italian-Texan woman in a family full of cops. I’m passionate and shoot before I think. You only f*ck with me if you’re stupid.

Photograph cheating spouses. Hand over the evidence. Cash my check.
That was my plan when I returned home to Holly Woods, Texas, and became a private investigator.
Finding the dead body in my dumpster? Yeah… Given the choice, I think I would have opted out of that little discovery, especially since all three of my brothers are cops. And my Italian grandmother is sure the reason I’m single is because of my job.
Of course, my connection to the victim is entirely coincidental. Until I’m hired by her husband to investigate her murder and shoved bang-smack into the path of Detective Drake Nash.
My nemesis, a persistent pain in my ass, and one hell of a sexy son of a bitch.
Shame he still holds a grudge from that time I shot him in the foot twelve years ago, or we could have something. In another life.
So now all I have to do is avoid my nonna’s blind dates, try not to blackmail my brothers into giving me confidential police files, and absolutely do not point my gun at Drake Nash. Or kiss him. Or jump his bones.
All while I hunt down the killer.
Sounds totally simple—until a second body proves that sometimes things that start as coincidences don’t always end up that way…

(Twisted Bond is book one of the Holly Woods Files series and while it does not end in a cliffhanger, it is not a standalone.)

BUY LINKS:  US |UK | B&N  | iBooks

TANGLED BOND 

One date with the sexier-than-sin Detective Drake Nash. Simple.
Until you take into account that my brother finally proposed to his girlfriend, so Nonna is on a warpath—and the crazy old bat has Cupid by the balls.
The upcoming mayoral elections has everyone running on full speed, and while I couldn’t give any less craps about the corrupt Holly Woods mayor’s office, a dead body in the middle of a campaign speech has me thrown right into the middle of it. The victim is close to the mayor, but all he cares about is minimizing the damage to his campaign, so he hires me to work alongside Drake to close the case as quickly as possible.
Bad news for our tentative relationship.
We disagree far more than we agree, but being at loggerheads won’t get this murder solved… Or deal with the arrival of someone from his past.
The mysteries behind the murder aren’t the only things unraveling, and despite being knee-deep in lies and corruption and bonds so tangled they’re almost indecipherable, I have to figure out if I’m willing to fight for Drake the way I do justice…
Or if he’ll be my one who gets away.

BUY LINKS:  US  | UK | B&N | iBooks

TETHERED BOND

Detective Drake Nash: hot, alpha, bossy, and… mine.
Now, if someone could tell his ex that... I don’t care if the summer fayre is coming to Holly Woods and she’s on the planning committee. What I do care about is sugar-filled food, bright lights, late nights… and danger. The type that won’t come in the form of Nonna’s new cantankerous British parrot, Gio. (Please see the damage done to Mom’s new curtains.)
Unfortunately, when the danger comes, it comes in the form of something Holly Woods has never seen. The town is rocked to its core, and once again, I’m in danger. Only this time, it isn’t because of my clients—this time, I’m in danger because of who I am… Because of my heritage.
And despite the HWPD’s best efforts, the bodies keep on piling up.
Drake’s determined to protect me. I’m determined that I can do it myself.
Danger. Mystery. Darkness. Malice.
It’ll be a miracle if any of us make it out of this with guns unfired, cupcakes still frosted, and hearts intact…

LINKS:  GOODREADS | ​Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Kobo

TIED BOND

Holly Woods is going to hell in a handbasket—but this time, Satanists aren’t to blame. Halloween is. 
Nonna doesn’t understand why there are skeletons and demons everywhere. Mom is threatening to stitch a devil into Nonna’s pillowcase if she doesn’t shut up. Bek is bumbling over a date with Jason, the handsome FBI agent who conveniently got himself relocated to Austin, and I… Well. I’m considering running away to a town without the crazies.
Nothing new here.
Everything is going smoothly—too smoothly—and I can’t shake the feeling that something is about to happen. Drake insists I’m being paranoid… But when a body turns up at the Holly Woods Halloween party, we have a whole lot more than a murderer to worry about.
Because the prime suspect is his mom.
And it’s my job to prove she’s innocent.

(Tied Bond is the fourth full-length book in the Holly Woods Files series and does not stand alone.)

BUY LINKS:  Amazon US | Amazon UK |iBooks | B&N

TWIRLED BOND 

If I thought Holly Woods was crazy before, I was wrong.
Devin is finally married. Nonna's on the wedding warpath. Drake might be getting ideas. His mom just dropped a bombshell, and Bek is caught between a hot as hell FBI agent and my super-sweet little brother.
And I still don't have the shoe closet Drake promised me when he moved in six months ago.
At least there's one positive: the old, abandoned Holly Woods Theater is about to reopen, and there's nothing like a theater opening to bring people together... And make crazy grandmothers forget proposal agendas.
Until that theater comes with a dead body. A very, very, very dead body.
Chaos is coming to town.
Everything I've ever known about Holly Woods might just be about to change.

BUY LINKS:  Amazon US | iBooks | B&N

Book Release and Review: SEXY LIES AND ROCK & ROLL by Sawyer Bennett

Sexy Lies and Rock & Roll
By Sawyer Bennett

When you’re a rock god, fame and fortune are your two best friends, but they can be fickle bitches. Everyone wants a piece of me and I have no clue how to deal with it all. I’m being sued, pressured to sign contracts, and fending off rabid women who want to steal my virtue.
Well, not that I really have any virtue, but still… my life has turned completely bat-shit crazy.
That’s why I need Emma Peterson. She got me out of a bit of a jam once, and I know she can do it again. The only problem is that sweet, prim and totally straight-laced Emma doesn’t want anything to do with me. Not professionally, and certainly not personally.
It’s not that I want her in that way. Let’s be realistic… it would take a crow bar of epic proportions to get her to spread those legs for me.
No, I only want her legal expertise and for her to make sense of my crazy world. It’s a good thing I have just the leverage to make her do my bidding, because her refusal is not an option.

*Sexy Lies and Rock & Roll is a hot, romantic comedy stand alone.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon |  B&N | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo

REVIEW:
Slurp….that this sound of me getting sucked in again.  Having read most of Sawyer Bennett’s other books, I thought I knew what to expect, but she drew me into the vortex, gave my emotions a little rattle and spit me out to a happy place.  Sexy Lie and Rock & Roll features Evan Scott, a rising indie music star.  With his first album a bonafide hit, he is learning to deal with the joys and pains of fame.  Emma Peterson is a straight laced attorney at one of the most maverick law firms out there.  She feels out of place and out of her league with the other attorneys, but is none the less assigned a special case by the firm’s principle partner.  She can’t exactly say “no”, can she?

This book is vintage Sawyer Bennett.  It reminds me so much of her earlier work where it leans more toward romance and less erotica.  Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of steamy scenes, but the story is driven more by the relationship than by the sex.  The other interesting aspect of this story is that this is not your typical rock star romance.  Evan and Emma’s conflict are less rooted rock and roll conflicts, but are driven more by inner turmoil.  Sure, there are some familiar themes, namely insecurity and betrayal, but it does not emanate from the star.  Evan is a regular guy finding himself in an extraordinary circumstance doing the thing that he loves most.

I’m am always just going to be a normal man who happened to step into a very abnormal kind of existence.  But the one lesson Midge drilled into me during my formative years is that you have to stay genuine.

This is Sawyer Bennett’s hallmark.  You can find the good guy in most of her books.  When I’m done with all the alphaholes and just want a good book boyfriend - a character that is self-possessed, self-aware, patient, kind-hearted - I look to Sawyer Bennett.

If I could ask for more, I would want to know more about Tyler.  There is a conflict involving this character and I want to know how it started, when things changed.  I feel like there are more layers to the character and I want more explanation for his behavior.

IN A NUTSHELL:
Want a feel good romance featuring a rock god with a regular joe heart?  This is the book for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

About the Author:  Since the release of her debut contemporary romance novel, Off Sides, in January 2013, Sawyer Bennett has released more than 30 books and has been featured on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists on multiple occasions. A reformed trial lawyer from North Carolina, Sawyer uses real life experience to create relatable, sexy stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From new adult to erotic contemporary romance, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone. Sawyer likes her Bloody Mary’s strong, her martinis dirty, and her heroes a combination of the two. When not bringing fictional romance to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to a very active toddler, as well as full-time servant to two adorably naughty dogs. She believes in the good of others, and that a bad day can be cured with a great work-out, cake, or a combination of the two. 

VISIT THE AUTHOR ONLINE

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ARC Review: EXPLOSIVE FORCES by D.D. Ayres

Explosive Forces
D.D. Ayres
K-9 Rescue series, book 5


About the Book
When Carly Reese’s beloved fashion boutique catches fire, she sees her dreams go up in smoke. The good news is that Carly was saved from the flames by a barking dog nearby. She soon discovers the heroic pooch is a trained K-9 who’s guarding his unconscious partner …a gorgeous firefighter who ends up in Carly’s arms.

Noah Glover and his K-9 are a fearless duo, and Noah has clearly met his match with the brave, beautiful Carly. Soon they team up to track down the arsonist behind the blast – a psychotic criminal who’s intent on framing Noah. Meanwhile, the sparks between Noah and and Carly could ignite a five-alarm fire. Should they smother their feelings in the name of justice…or fan the flames of passion? 

REVIEW: 
Noah is an arson investigator with the Ft. Worth Fire Department.  Carly is a former model who comes home after her addict husband dies of an overdose.  Carly finds herself at the right place and the right time to save Noah from dying in a fire.  Someone has set him up to take the fall for a destructive fire and killing himself in the process.  But Noah does not start the fire, he survives and then starts his own investigation to clear his name.  

There is good pacing and great sexual chemistry between Carly and Noah, but their relationship is dubious to me.  It happens too fast and there is really nothing behind or under it; there is no foundation.  It takes all of three days before Carly thinks she in love with him...um, no.  I'm especially suspicious because Noah is very abrasive and harsh.  I found it difficult to like him at first.  

The upshot to the story is that although Noah is still sharp-edged, the more I get to know him, the more I like him.  His love for his young son and his history with his previous marriage shows his soft heart and that takes the corners off for me.  I wish the author could give us more of his story.  With all the drama with his ex-wife, he all but shuts down and relegates himself to living an incomplete life.  

I also like that D.D. Ayers includes the villain's perspective without revealing his/her identity.  It keeps the mystery interesting.  

Lastly, I am a little flummoxed at the Epilogue.  This couple runs very hot.  They interactions are combustable.  If that is the case, why would it take two months for them to get back together after the end of the mystery?  It just does not ring true for me.  

Overall, I find this an uneven story with both great moments and unbelievable plot points. I'm conflicted about my rating, but there is enough good storyline to keep me interested to the end.  

I was provided a pre-publication copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes. 

ARC Book Review: GOING DEEP by Anne Calhoun

Going Deep
by Anne Calhoun
Alpha Ops, Book 5

SHE’LL ROCK HIS WORLD

After weeks on a sold-out tour, singer Cady Ward is coming home for the holidays. But after one too many episodes of fan-craziness, Cady’s manager decides that she needs protection—in the form of muscled cop Conn McCormick. Longing for peace and quiet to prepare before her next album drops, Cady doesn’t need a bodyguard just to deal with some vague email threats…though she can’t deny that close proximity to Conn’s body is a very nice place to be. 

Conn is in the midst of a career scandal when his boss assigns him to pop-star guard duty. It’s a poor use of his skills, even though Cady’s feisty nature proves the perfect distraction for Conn while Internal Affairs investigates his case. What begins as a sizzling attraction becomes something deeper than either Conn or Cady could have expected. But when Conn uncovers the sinister plan behind the threats to Cady, he’s faced with a professional dilemma: To save her life, will he risk having a future with the only woman who’s ever touched his soul? 

REVIEW

On the surface, the pairing of this stoic, hard-ass cop and soulful, easy-going singer is unexpected. However, what they do have in common, is that they are often judged by their appearances instead of the content of their character. Conn McCormick is a hard charger. He's a pro-active officer and that occasionally gets him into trouble. He's also a guy who is values loyalty; he just has to be sure that it is not blind loyalty. Recently, he is being asked work security for Cady Ward, a breakout singer dealing with the consequences of growing fame and a hit debut album. 

My favorite part of the book is reading Conn's development. I like learning about his past and how that makes him the gold-hearted, yet misunderstood, man. His pursuit of his father's record reveals the heart of his dysfunction. The awkward, bad-boy side of this character appeals to me. 

If Conn is a bit on the dark side, then Cady is in the light. She is naturally optimistic, maybe it's the artist in her who can see the beauty in every day moments. But she is a nice foil for Conn. She has her own challenges in making choices for her own career. 

My biggest critique is that there is a lot going on in this story and the ending is wrapped up a little too neatly. However, it is minor distraction to a good read. 

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

Release Day Launch: HEARTS & INK by Laura Kaye

Laura Kaye’s HEARTS & INK, the adult coloring book inspired by her award-winning and bestselling novels releases today! Thirty exciting and original designs will inspire, relax, and entertain fans old and new! Grab your pencils and crayons and get ready to read - and color - hard!

A Note from Laura:

Friends! I am so excited to share that I’ve worked with the awesome Jessica Hildreth at Creative Book Concepts to design my first adult coloring book based on my bestselling books! HEARTS & INK features 30 original designs with quotes from the books, iconic images, and fun backgrounds that I hope will excite long-time fans and intrigue new-to-me readers! I drew the title from my two bestselling series: the HEARTS in Darkness Duet and the Hard INK books! But you’ll also find pages from my new Raven Riders and Blasphemy series, my older paranormal series (the Hearts of the Anemoi based on Greek mythology, my Vampire Warrior Kings series, and my stand-alone novel, Forever Freed). Plus an absolutely gorgeous page from my historical fiction, America’s First Daughter (written as Laura Kamoie). So there’s a lot here to explore and color!

COLOR/POST/WIN GIVEAWAY CONTEST! For your chance to win one of 5 $10 Amazon or B&N gift cards, simply COLOR a page from my coloring book, POST it to Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #HeartsandInk by November 30 at midnight EST, and look for my posts on December 1 to see if you won!

 

About the Hearts & Ink Adult Coloring Book:

New York Times Bestselling Author Laura Kaye invites you to immerse yourself within her fictional worlds with this adult coloring book inspired by her award-winning and bestselling novels. Thirty exciting and original designs will inspire, relax, and entertain fans old and new! Featuring book quotes and a variety of simple and intricate designs with lots of colorable space, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So grab your pencils and crayons and get ready to read - and color - hard!

Order on Amazon

 

About Laura Kaye: Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books in contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense, including the Hard Ink and upcoming Raven Riders series. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.  

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