BLOG TOUR REVIEW & GIVEAWAY - Elliott Redeemed (A Preload Novel #2) by Scarlett Cole

 ELLIOTT REDEEMED by Scarlett Cole 
Review and Excerpt Tour!

A single mom and tortured musician find common ground in Scarlett Cole's REDEEMED, the second standalone romance about the band PRELOAD. Elliott “Pyro” Dawson has a past he's fought like hell to overcome and Kendalee Walker is at her wits end and homeless. Will Kendalee provide the family Elliott has never had or will dangerous habits prove to strong?
Readers will savor this dark, sexy rockstar romance.

ELLIOTT REDEEMED releases next week and we can’t wait for you to read this sexy Rockstar romance! Pre-order today to not miss this dark and sexy read. Plus enter to win a Preload Bundle!

Synopsis:

A single mom and tortured musician find common ground in Scarlett Cole's Elliott Redeemed, the second standalone romance about the band Preload.

Elliott “Pyro” Dawson burns up the lead guitar like a legend. But the nickname Pyro isn’t just a clever play on words. It’s much darker. A past he's fought like hell to overcome.

Grocery store cashier Kendalee Walker is at her wits end and homeless. She's watched her fourteen-year-old son, Daniel, go so far off the rails, he can no longer see the tracks.

When the two are brought together, attraction flares, but can Elliott find the family he never had with the sexy woman and her son, or will he fall back on dangerous habits?

Absolutely loved this book! The pull between Elliott and Kendalee and her son Daniel is incredible, and how they interact with each other is awesome. There's something about Kendalee that has Elliott feeling protective of her, and yet being with her and Daniel forces him to acknowledge those parts of his life he wishes didn't exist. But seeing him with Daniel? I had to step back from the book because the feels got me. If you decide to read this book (and I highly recommend it!) just know it's a series and part one needs to be read before jumping into this one.

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ELLIOTT REDEEMED Excerpt

Copyright © 2017 Scarlett Cole 

He lay down on the bed and pulled her into his arms before tugging the bedding over the two of them. It was a little damp in places because of all their ice play, and he smiled at the reminder. “What I am into is finding out what the person I’m with wants to try. I’m into good old missionary on a Sunday morning when I’m hungover and just want to get off. I’m into sex in a field while hiking or on the deck of my cottage. Some days, I’m into trying a hundred different positions before getting off. I’m into cuffs and toys and exploring. I’m not into being called Sir, or hurting someone, or expecting submission. I just want to explore, and I want to find someone who wants to do that with me.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm? What are you into?” he asked, kissing her forehead.

“It would appear to be you. I’m into you, Elliott. And missionary position. And outdoor sex. And a hundred positions. And I’d really like to figure out whether a reverse cowgirl is really a thing.”

Elliott barked out a laugh. “Reverse cowgirl?”

Kendalee chuckled. “Yeah. Like . . . your . . . you know . . . it doesn’t naturally bend that way, right?”

“Oh Lord, woman. It’s got quite the range of movement, but next up, we’re going reverse cowgirl.”

They lay in silence, and Elliott clicked off the light.

“Elliott?”

“Yeah, Lee.”

“Don’t make me fall in love with you. I’m not sure my heart is quite ready for it yet.”

His own heart skipped a beat at her declaration.

Because it meant she was thinking about it. About him, that way.

“Can’t help you with that one, honey. It’s probably the only thing I can’t do for you.”

Kendalee sighed against him, burrowing closer into his side. “Thought so.”

Elliott smiled as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

About Scarlett Cole

The tattoo across my right hip says it all really. A Life Less Ordinary. Inked by the amazingly talented Luke Wessman at the Wooster Street Social Club (a.k.a. New York Ink). Why is it important? Well, it sums up my view on life. That we should all aspire to live a life that is less boring, less predictable. Be bold, and do something amazing. I’ve made some crazy choices. I’ve been a car maker, a consultant, and even a senior executive at a large retailer running strategy. Born in England, spent time in the U.S. and Japan, before ending up in Canada were I met my own, personal hero – all six and a half feet of him. Both of us are scorpios! Yeah, I know! Should have checked the astrological signs earlier, but somehow it works for us. We have two amazing kids, who I either could never part with or could easily be convinced to sell on e-bay.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a really long time. Check through my office cupboards or my computer and you’ll find half written stories and character descriptions everywhere. Now I'm getting the chance to follow that dream.

Connect with Scarlett: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

RELEASE BLAST REVIEW & GIVEAWAY - Love Story (Love Unexpectedly #3) by Lauren Layne

Over the course of one wild road trip, 

feuding childhood sweethearts get a second chance at love.

LOVE STORY

a Love Unexpectedly novel

Lauren Layne

Releasing February 14th, 2017

Loveswept

Over the course of one wild road trip, feuding childhood sweethearts get a second chance at love in this charming rom-com—a standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Blurred Lines and Good Girl.

When Lucy Hawkins receives a job offer in San Francisco, she can’t wait to spread her wings and leave her small Virginia hometown behind. Her close-knit family supports her as best they can, by handing over the keys to a station wagon that’s seen better days. The catch? The cross-country trip comes with a traveling companion: her older brother’s best friend, aka the guy who took Lucy’s virginity hours before breaking her heart.

After spending the past four years and every last dime caring for his sick father, Reece Sullivan will do just about anything to break free of the painful memories—even if it means a two-week road trip with the one girl who’s ever made it past his carefully guarded exterior. But after long days of bickering in the car turn into steamy nights in secluded motel rooms, Reece learns that, when it comes to Lucy, their story is far from over. And this time, they just might have a shot at a happy ending.

Although listed as a title in the Love Unexpectedly Series, all books in the series stand alone.

I literally devoured this book in one day, that's how much the story had me hooked. If you've read any of my previous reviews, you know I love a good friends-to-lovers romance, but even better is when it's a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story, and that's what we get with Lucy and Reece. The story flips between past and present, with the past being presented at different times during the first decade that Lucy and Reece are friends before becoming something more, before the big fallout that led to them becoming enemies. And seriously, how great is a story in which the majority of it takes places during a cross-country trip in a beat up old car nicknamed Horny?

Now, a couple of events were predictable, but that's just because I figured it had to play out the way it did in order to move the story forward. The animosity between Lucy and Reece is palpable on more than one occasion, to the point that I felt a bit uncomfortable, and this is a work of fiction! Just shows how talented Ms. Layne is with her writing style. I had an inkling as to Reece's behavior, and that was pretty much confirmed during a confrontation between him and Lucy, but the result of that confrontation did surprise me. Even more eye-opening were conversations with Lucy's brother and sister that helped put everything into perspective for both Reece and Lucy.

“Spock, we’re giving you Horny!” my mom blurts out, apparently fed up with my denseness.

Her utterance is too much for my siblings to handle and they both burst out laughing, retreating into the kitchen to rejoin the party where there’s wine.

Oh what I wouldn’t give for wine right now.

“I, um . . . you’re giving me the car?” I ask.

“Because yours broke down,” my dad explains, walking forward to thump Horny’s dented hood.

“And this one’s . . . not broken down?” I ask skeptically.

Look, it’s not that I’m not grateful. My parents are trying to give me a car, I appreciate the sweetness of the gesture, it’s just . . .

Here’s the thing about Horny: he barely got us three kids through high school. I mean, Horny is the car that sputtered and shook making it the 3.2 miles to Jefferson High, no matter who was behind the wheel.

I’m even going to come all the way clean here and say that early on in my freshmen year, I was embarrassed showing up in Horny. Then I realized I was lucky to have a car at all, and well . . . I dunno, I guess Horny became a part of us Hawkins kids’ charm, because the station wagon was practically an institution from Craig’s high school reign all the way through Brandi’s.

But poor Horny quit working years ago. Much to Brandi’s chagrin, he gave up the ghost a mere two months before her high school graduation, and I spent the last bit of her senior year being picked up by my parents.

“He’s going to take you to California,” Dad says, giving the car another thump.

“Really?” I step forward and run a tentative finger along the familiar panel. He’s had a bath, so at least that’s something. “Because last I knew, he wouldn’t even make it out of the garage.”

“Yeah, well, we neglected him for a while, but he’s right as rain now,” Dad says, puffing out his chest as though Horny’s a fourth child.

“Like, as in he actually starts?”

“Purrs like a kitten,” my mom says with an emphatic nod, even though I know she doesn’t even like cats. “We didn’t believe it, but we took him to church on Sunday and there were no issues.”

I literally bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that this is hardly a feat. Sacred Presbyterian is 0.8 miles away from the house.

“You took Horny into a shop?” I ask, starting to warm to the idea of having a car again. I’m a little touched, actually. Money is tight for my parents. Dad’s a PE teacher, and Mom gives a mean winery tour, but the gig’s never paid much.

“Not exactly, it was more of a bartering situation,” Mom says.

“Yeah?” I say, going around to the driver’s seat, already giddy with the prospect of telling Oscar I’ll be able to come see him in Miami after all, even if I won’t exactly be riding in style.

“Reece agreed to fix him up.”

I’m lowering myself into the car as my dad says this, but I reverse so quickly I hit my head. My skull doesn’t even register the pain, because I’m too busy registering the hurt in my heart at the familiar name. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Reece,” my mom says, giving me a bemused look. “He’s always been handy with cars.”

“He fixed up the car in exchange for what?”

And then I feel—I actually feel—the air change around me as the side door to the garage opens, and a new presence sucks all the air out of the space.

I don’t turn around. I don’t move. But I feel his eyes on me. Over me.

“Reece is headed out to California too,” my oblivious mother chatters on. “It worked out perfectly actually. Now you two can ride together, and your dad and I don’t have to worry about you alone in the middle of nowhere with a twenty-something-year-old car.

They think the car is going to be the problem here? It’s not the car that’s toxic to me. It’s him.

Reece Sullivan. My brother’s best friend. My parents’ “other son.”

Slowly I force myself to turn, and even though I’m prepped, the force of that ice-blue gaze still does something dangerous to me.

He winks, quick and cocky, and I suck in a breath, and I have to wonder . . .

I wonder if my parents would feel differently about their little plan if they knew that their makeshift mechanic is the same guy that popped my cherry six years earlier under their very roof.

And then broke my heart twenty-four hours later.

Lauren Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen romantic comedies.

A former e-commerce and web marketing manager from Seattle, Lauren relocated to New York City in 2011 to pursue a full-time writing career.

She lives in midtown Manhattan with her high-school sweetheart, where she writes smart romantic comedies with just enough sexy-times to make your mother blush. In LL's ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books. 

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BLOG TOUR REVIEW - The Billionaire's Bet (Sexy Billionaires #2) by Victoria Davies

Title: The Billionaire’s Bet 

Series: Sexy Billionaires #2 

Author: Victoria Davies 

Release Date: Jan 23, 2017 

Add to TBR

Synopsis: 

Hailey Mitchel wants one thing. Her boss. The only problem is he’s never looked at her as more than a loyal employee. At least, not until his charming business rival, Caleb, drops into her life with an offer she can’t refuse. He’s willing to bet he can make her fall in love with him in a month, and if he’s wrong, he’ll help her find the keys to her boss’s heart.

Caleb Langston wants one thing. Revenge. Hailey is his ticket to finally evening the score with his old adversary. There’s just one problem. The more time he spends with her, the less he cares about his grand plans for payback. But love is always a gamble, and soon he’ll have to choose between his past and his future. And pray Hailey never discovers the secret he’s been hiding from her.

Buy Links: 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks

This is the second book by Victoria Davies I've read, and I actually liked this one better than the first (Right Billionaire, Wrong Wedding). I liked this one because of the dynamics between the 3 key players in the book. I enjoyed the interactions between Caleb and Hailey, their shopping excursion was hilarious that somehow turned sexy. I will admit that I was surprised when the truth about what happened between Caleb and Alex all those years ago finally came out. Surprised that Alex went that far with his retribution towards someone he considered a brother. It pretty much all came down to both Alex and Caleb believing that they always played second fiddle to the other, not realizing the strengths they each possessed on their own, and those beliefs morphed into a bit of jealousy. I felt horrible for Hailey once she learned the truth, and what Caleb did was terrible, but Alex really wasn't any better. I do hope we get a story about Alex, since we didn't hear any more about him once he helped to get Hailey to see Caleb, but a good wrap up for this unexpected love story.

Excerpt: 

“I’m attracted to men of substance. Guess that rules you out.”

“But not my rival. Alec is your paragon of honor, isn’t he?”

“He’s an excellent man,” she agreed.

“One you just wish would walk over to your desk and sweep you off your feet, carrying you out into the sunset.”

“I’d probably break his back, and we’d both end up on the floor.”

His gaze raked down her body. “I’d be willing to risk it.”

“Luckily, you’ll never have to.”

His eyes returned to hers. “Why not just tell him?” he asked. “Confess your undying devotion and see what he does?”

She knew what he’s do. He’d get flustered trying to figure out how to tell her he didn’t return her affections. She wasn’t petite or blond, two things all his previous paramours had in common.

She wasn’t pursuing a career in acting, and she didn’t have trouble calculating the percentage of a tip. Worse, she didn’t come from old money the way Caleb and Alec did. She hadn’t grown up in that privileged world, didn’t understand the deeply ingrained rules. Alec had said more than once that when he settled down, it’d be to make a good alliance for his family. Keep all that lovely money in the right bloodlines.

No, she was nothing like the woman he would eventually fall in love with.

Not that logic stopped her from wishing for the impossible every now and then.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“All right.” Caleb straightened from the bar. “Why don’t I go ask him these questions and see what he thinks?”

Her fingers sank into his arm before he could move.

“Don’t.”

The movement had been a mistake. An admission. A certainty filled his expression that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

She shook her head, knowing she was steering toward a cliff. “What do you want?” What would buy his silence?

“I want many things,” he said, swirling the liquor in his glass. “Chief among them is you.”

“It’s just because you love the chase,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’d never work.”

“Maybe,” he replied with a shrug. “But it’d be fun to try.”

“I’m not sleeping with you in order to keep your mouth shut.”

“I don’t remember asking you to.”

She resisted the urge to stamp her foot. “Then what are you asking?”

“I’m going to make you a bet,” he said, his eyes capturing hers. “Give me one month.”

“To do what?”

“Make you fall in love with me.”

Author Info:

 

Victoria Davies’s passion for writing started young. Luckily she had a family who encouraged believing in magic and embracing imagination. From stories quickly scribbled in diaries, her love of storytelling developed. Since then her characters may have evolved and her plots may have grown decidedly more steamy but she never lost her love of the written word. Writing is not only a way to silence the wonderful voices in her head, but it also allows her to share her passions with her readers.

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RELEASE BLAST & REVIEW - Someone Like You (Oxford #3) by Lauren Layne

A man who’s living a lie—until his dream woman takes away the pain.

SOMEONE LIKE YOU

Oxford #3

Lauren Layne

Releasing Dec 6th, 2016

Loveswept

Lauren Layne’s bestselling Oxford Series continues with the poignant, heartwarming story of New York’s most eligible bachelor, Lincoln Mathis, a man who’s living a lie—until his dream woman takes away the pain.
 
Lincoln Mathis doesn’t hide his reputation as Manhattan’s ultimate playboy. In fact, he cultivates it. But behind every flirtatious smile, each provocative quip, there’s a secret that Lincoln’s hiding from even his closest friends—a tragedy from his past that holds his heart quietly captive. Lincoln knows what he wants: someone like Daisy Sinclair, the sassy, off-limits bridesmaid he can’t take his eyes off at his best friend’s wedding. He also knows that she’s everything he can never have.
 
After a devastating divorce, Daisy doesn’t need anyone to warn her off the charming best man at her sister’s wedding. One look at the breathtakingly hot Lincoln Mathis and she knows that he’s exactly the type of man she should avoid. But when Daisy stumbles upon Lincoln’s secret, she realizes there’s more to the charming playboy than meets the eye. And suddenly Daisy and Lincoln find their lives helplessly entwined in a journey that will either heal their damaged souls . . . or destroy them forever.

I've been waiting for Lincoln's story since the Sex, Love & Stiletto series, and this book was worth the loooooooong wait! We all know there's something in Lincoln's past that affects the man we know today, and that secret is finally revealed. Daisy is Emma's (The Trouble with Love) twin sister, and she's dealing with her own set of issues when she meets Lincoln. 

It's a bit difficult to properly review this without giving away spoilers, but there is one difference about this story: it's more focused on Lincoln and Daisy as individuals and the issues in their lives, not so much based on the sexual chemistry. That doesn't even happen until later in the book, but this story is so well written and emotion-driven you don't even realize it.

Advance praise for Someone Like You

“Fun and flirty, sassy and steamy, with a deep emotional pull that will keep you turning the pages.”—Kelly Jamieson, author of Top Shelf

“An unsung hero with a story that touched my heart. Emotional and gripping. A top favorite of 2016 for me.”—New York Times bestselling author Melanie Moreland

Lauren Layne is the USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen romantic comedies. She lives in New York City with her husband (who was her high school sweetheart--cute, right?!) and plus-sized Pomeranian.

In 2011, she ditched her corporate career in Seattle to pursue a full-time writing career in Manhattan, and never looked back.

In her ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.

For a list of all her works, please be sure to check out her official website!

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