From Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author M. Robinson comes a second chance sports romance.
Blackmail isn’t the most romantic way to propose, but with the history between us … I had no choice.
Long story short–I broke her heart and pushed her away. Years later we reconnected, and this time she walked away.
Neither of us knew she was pregnant.
So when we had a second chance to be a real family, I led her to believe our marriage was fake— that one football season by my side was the only way to prevent another scandal for my career.
We were a publicist’s dream. I was football god and she was a world famous romance author.
M. Robinson is the Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling Author crowned as the “Queen of Angst” by readers around the world.
Dive into her visionary world that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and leave you wanting more.
She writes everything from contemporary to suspense romance and is best known for her novel, El Diablo.
When M isn’t in the cave writing her next epic love story, you will find her shopping and living on a boat in Florida with her real life pirate, her lobster, her husband Bossman. Sipping on Starbucks and hanging out with their two dogs, a German shepherd mix and a gordito Wheaten Terrier reading a good book. Or spending time with her family, who she is extremely close with.
Above all, M loves her readers more than anything and loves to connect with them! She is on all social media platforms but you will find her in her happy place the most. Her VIP Reader Group on Facebook or her second favorite happy place, Instagram.
On the surface, Talent has it all. The respect from his city, a successful law firm he shares with his brother, and a beautiful woman by his side. Nothing is as it seems. When the workday is over and the lights go down, the charming and sophisticated lawyer loosens his tie and takes rank in the mob he grew up in.
The elusive Lydia Montgomery changed everything the moment she stepped into his office and his heart a year ago. They navigate the delicate balance between their public and private lives as they delve deeper into the world of organized crime.
As a lawyer, he swore to abide by the law. As a made man, he pledged his life to the mafia.
Mary Elizabeth was born and raised in Southern California. She is a wife, mother of four beautiful children, and dog tamer to one enthusiastic Pit Bull and a prissy Chihuahua. She’s a hairstylist by day but contemporary fiction, new adult author by night.
Mary can often be found finger twirling her hair and chewing on a stick of licorice while writing and rewriting a sentence over and over until it’s perfect. She discovered her talent for tale-telling accidentally, but literature is in her chokehold. And she’s not letting go until every story is told.
I have been patiently waiting for this book to be released and Mary did not disappoint at all.
Criminal is the third book in this series and you must read the previous books to fully grasp all that is going on in this book.
In the first book, Tramp, readers met Talent and Lydia and watched them fall for one another. But their story was far from over and now we finally get more of it. Mary has truly upped her game with this book. We not only get the continuation of Talent and Lydiai’s story, but we are finally seeing how everything is starting merge together.
I will say that this was a bit slow for me in the beginning but around the 40% mark, things started picking up and Mary really started bring the suspense fully into the book. I do wish that romance and suspense blended a bit better, but it didn’t hurt the story too much.
It was great to see Lydia grow a lot in this book; she’s still 100% there but her growth was amazing. Talent has the patience of a Saint but it’s because his love for Lydia is so strong, there is no other choice for him.
I loved seeing all the secondary characters playing bigger roles in this book as we get more of the mafia parts in this book. I am really hoping to see more of Rip and the mafia side of things in the next book (read the novella Kiss of Death to get more on him) along with romance and suspense aligning more together than being separate.
Mary has definitely set us up perfectly for the next book. It’ll be interesting to see where things go next.
When she begs me to come on a weekend getaway so I can bond with her new boyfriend, I can’t say no—no matter how badly I want to. After all, who will keep an eye on the guy; he’s your stereotypical, professional football player (emphasis on PLAYER) and I don’t trust him with my friends heart.
Worse? He has the nerve to bring his single best friend Davis on the trip, too. Davis is too handsome, so funny and smart he can’t possibly be human. Grandma’s, babies and kittens all fall for his smile.
In fact, everyone adores but me **narrows eyes** What’s he hiding?
I refuse to fall for his act; at some point he’ll will drop the Good Guy act and show his true colors: he’s a player, too. He must be.
You know the saying: if he seems too good to be true, he probably is.
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances.
Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced lattes, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.
The Player Hater is the first book in Sara’s next series, Accidentally In Love.
This story focuses on Davis and Juliet, who are both requested to join their best friends on a trip for them all to get to know one another better. However, the trip doesn’t go exactly as Juliet intended. Plus both Juliet and Davis’ best friends end of making it more of romantic getaway for the two of them and it’s left up to Juliet and Davis to find things to do.
I don’t know where to start this one. While I enjoyed this one, something was missing. Juliet was a bit prudish to me, even though Sara does her best to make sure not seem that way. Davis was a bit too easy going for me. I struggled in the beginning to see their connection. But I did enjoy that they got to know one another in a friendly way before moving into the more romantic territory immediately.
I know that with Sara’s stories, she tends to avoid epilogues but, I always just assumed because they were college romances. I was apparently wrong in that assumption and felt as though Davis and Juliet were sort of gipped of their HEA. This books ends setting up the next book, which I am looking forward to.
Overall, I didn’t hate the book, just felt like it was lacking. It was truly right down the middle for me.
“Tijan delivers on the fun, edge, and angst. Her books never fail to please!”―Kylie Scott, New York Times bestseller
The Damaged, the next unputdownable romantic suspense in The Insiders Series from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, is now available!
No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.
Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.
They will take on the world together…
In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.
1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.
2. Friends might actually be enemies.
3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?
Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.
Excerpt
Swish, swish. The windshield wipers were busy at work this morning. It’d been raining since late the night before, and now there was just a whole dreary feel to the day. Dark and gloomy, matching my mood. It was perfect. Swish, swish. “Are you nervous, miss?” I wasn’t responding, because this isn’t how things were supposed to be. I wasn’t supposed to wake up in the middle of the night and find the bed empty. And I wasn’t supposed to have to be escorted by one of our guards down to the apartment building’s gym to find my boyfriend , the guy I loved, the guy who was so not a secret from the entire world anymore, pummeling a boxing bag so hard that his knuckles ripped open every night. It was not right that I had to stand on the side, waiting for him to fight through his haze before he noticed I was there, and then watch as blood dripped from his hands to the floor. But all of that was happening. Because three weeks after there’d been a kidnapping attempt on me, after he had saved me, everything was just, simply, not okay. To be more frank, everything was shit. And here I was. In the back of an SUV being driven by one of my two personal bodyguards, to a school that I used to daydream about attending, while my boyfriend, that guy I had come to love so much, was heading into his own personal nightmare. Fitz, my guard, clued in on my state and didn’t ask again, but his eyes were on me . He saw. He more than saw, and I knew I’d be getting a call from Kash about two minutes after the first chance Fitz had a moment to text his boss that I was not okay. Because I wasn’t. Today was the day all my dreams were supposed to come true. Instead, I was a week late going to my graduate program and I wanted to be anywhere except where I was going. And I had no say, because the world found out in a big way I was the daughter of Peter Francis, a tech legend that I’d grown up idolizing until I found out myself, this past summer, that he was also my father. And then there was my boyfriend, Kash Colello, whose grandfather was one of the richest men in the world, but that came with strings and dangerous alliances with the dark underground of the world. My boyfriend, with his inherited wealth, now that he had come out of the shadows to the world, and whose “coming out” was even bigger than mine because of his connections and his family, was now the ninth wealthiest man in the world. Life as Peter Francis’s daughter, life as Kash Colello’s girlfriend, was a whole lot different than life had been as Bailey Hayes. There were rules and expectations and lots and lots of people watching you. So no, I was not okay.
4.5 Stars
The Damaged continues right after The Insiders and is a great second book in this trilogy.
We get to see not only Bailey and Kash’s relationship build, but we see Bailey’s relationship with everyone else develop over time. Bailey herself is moving forward, as best as she can but also still trying to come to grips with what happened to her.
Tijan does a wonderful job of building this story and give readers more details about key players in this suspenseful story. There are some filler parts and I understand why they are there, but they don’t mesh perfectly into the story. It doesn’t hurt the story in any way, it’s doesn’t help build the overall story either.
Tijan holds nothing back when it comes to twists and turns in this story. Just when readers think they are getting a grasp on things, another curve ball is thrown into the mix. I love that Tijan keeps the readers right at the edge the whole time.
The Damaged moves at the perfect pace. The story progresses perfectly and the timing of everything is on point. Tijan blends the romance and suspense beautifully and readers are literally left gasping by the end.
The third and final book cannot come out fast enough!
About Tijan Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new series from north Minnesota where she lives with an English Cocker she adores.
Have you ever fake dated your bodyguard? I don’t recommend it.
Especially if he’s anything like Erik Wilder: former football player, world class know-it-all and unapologetic grump.
To be clear, I didn’t want a bodyguard (hence the fake dating idea). Most days, I can’t figure out why he wants the job either. We drive each other insane, probably because we’re as opposite as two people can be.
He’s suspicious, never talks about his past and has the comfort skills of a cactus. I’m a happily ever after kinda girl who knows exactly what she wants out of life.
Erik’s words might say that the lines have to stay firm between us, but those dark eyes of his? They tell another story when he looks at me.
He’s just as stubborn as I am, but when our fake dating plan starts to feel a lot more real, it’s only a matter of time before his professional walls come crashing down.
I just have to hope my heart doesn’t get buried in the rubble.
Well, let’s see … I’m a wife and a mother. If the things that I write bring a smile to someone’s face, then I’ve done my job.
I am obsessed with Outlander (both the books and the show). I’m almost exclusively a romance reader, which means some people will never consider me a literary snob.
If I could meet one historical figure, it would be Jane Austen. I received my Bachelors in Public Relations and worked in health care marketing before I had my babies.
I hate Twitter. I do it, but I hate it. Also, if you want to get on my good side, bring me wine and I’ll love you forever.
The Plan is another amazing story from Karla Sorensen.
I started reading Karla’s books almost a year ago and so far, I haven’t read a book that I have not thoroughly enjoyed.
The blurb gives you just the right amount of information needed to jump into this story. Hell, you don’t even need to read the blurb to fully love this story. I will say that the fake dating portion is not what you think either – and that is something that I truly loved about this story. Karla takes a trope and gives it her own flare.
Karla gives her characters and their story so much life. I felt like I was watching this whole story play out in a movie. The story flowed beautifully and nothing ever felt forced or out of place. I enjoyed getting to know both Erik and Lydia as the story moved along and their banter was quite entertaining.
The Plan is told from both POVs which truly helps in getting to know both characters and understanding their mannerisms. While the story did flow extremely well, there were certain areas that I felt needed to be fleshed out a bit more, but didn’t hurt the overall vibe of the story. Karla stayed true to her characters and I felt this was a huge plus due to their ages and their social status.
Overall, another great story from Karla Sorensen. If you haven’t read anything by her yet, what are you waiting for???
“I can always count on Tijan to write an action-packed, intense, emotional story that will have me invested until the very last page.”—Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author
The Damaged, the next highly-addictive romantic suspense story in The Insiders Series from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, is now available!
No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.
Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.
They will take on the world together…
In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.
1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.
2. Friends might actually be enemies.
3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?
Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.
About Tijan Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new series from north Minnesota where she lives with an English Cocker she adores.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken comes the final standalone in the bestselling Mafia Royals Romances…
Unrequited Love.
Arranged Marriage.
A love triangle for the ages.
A contemporary mafia retelling of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table.
I will do anything for my family, and as the heir to the Campisi Mafia throne, I fall on my sword and do what’s expected of me—it wasn’t an accident that I was given the name King.
I marry the girl I love—who’s already in love with someone else, and because I’m a masochist, I make him her personal bodyguard.
After all, who better to protect the woman I love than the man she loves?
I have seven days after our wedding to own her—body and soul.
Seven days to show her everything I feel.
But tragedy strikes, and I’m forced to take the weight of the mafia crown on my head.
Now I need my Queen by my side.
I don’t know who’s with me or against me, but I will rule them all with an iron fist and make everyone proud.
As our seven days come to an end, I wonder how I will ever be able to let her go.
“Until it ends,” I whisper.
A tear slides down her cheek. “Until it ends.”
Amen.
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Ahhhhhh, Rachel!!! This is how you end a series and temporarily end a saga. My heart is heavy yet happy.
When Rachel forewarned many of us in her group that this book would make us cry, I truly had not anticipated the magnitude of that statement. This book rocked me and dropped me to my knees.
Broken Crown is King’s story. If you have read the previous books (which I highly, highly recommend doing before reading this one), then you know who King is – Tex’s son, the next Capo. But his story is not an easy story.
“She may not love. But I vow to love her enough for the both of us.”
Rachel truly allowed King to tell his own story in his own way and it is wrought with so much emotion. I could feel my heart pounding the entire length of this book and even after finishing it, it hasn’t slowed down.
King and Del’s story is one hell of a ride. It is a love triangle, but not one you expect. It is a story of trust, strength and a love that knows no bounds. And that is all I am saying on that.
I thought I was ready for this, but I wasn’t. I’m not. To have 25 stories over 12 years come to a rest….it’s a lot. And Rachel ended it in the only way a mafia saga can end. There’s a lot that goes in this story that brings it all together and only in a way that Rachel can.
“Until it Ends.”
“Blood In. No Out.”
Meet Rachel
Rachel Van Dyken is the #1 New York Times Bestselling, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of over 90 books ranging from contemporary romance to paranormal. With over four million copies sold, she’s been featured in Forbes, US Weekly, and USA Today. Her books have been translated in more than 15 countries. She was one of the first romance authors to have a Kindle in Motion book through Amazon publishing and continues to strive to be on the cutting edge of the reader experience. She keeps her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, adorable sons, naked cat, and two dogs. For more information about her books and upcoming events, visit www.RachelVanDykenauthor.com
Blind Pass is the second book in Teagan’s Carolina Comets series and can easily be read as a standalone.
Teagan has this knack for writing amazing characters that have some of the best personalities. Rhodes and Ryan are pretty much complete opposites but are thrown together because of their respective friends dating each other. So when one drunken night leads to an accidental marriage, things become very entertaining.
Blind Pass is a very paced story yet flows perfectly. Teagan delivers a story that has the perfect blend of humor, romance and steam. I really enjoyed all the secondary characters adding to the mix and giving the story another layer.
Another great book from Teagan and great addition to this series. Excited to see what Teagan brings her readers next.
Meet Teagan
TEAGAN HUNTER is a Missouri-raised gal but currently lives in South Carolina with her Marine veteran husband, where she spends her days begging him for a cat. She survives off coffee, pizza, and sarcasm. When she’s not writing, you can find her binge-watching various TV shows, especially Supernatural and One Tree Hill. She enjoys cold weather, buys more paperbacks than she’ll ever read, and never says no to brownies.
What’s the worst thing you could hear your best friend, who you’ve always secretly been in love with, say? That would be telling another girl he could envision her being his wife.
I just about died when Gannon Raferty, the boy who used to borrow my pencils in elementary school, said that to the lead of the reality dating show he was cast on. Though he didn’t win her heart, he’s now a bona fide sensation when he returns to our college and moves back into the off-campus house we share.
The torch I carry for him has always been one-sided; I’m head-over-heels, soulmate-level into him while he views me as a lovable kid sister. So I decide this school year will be the one where I move on, where I finally attempt to open my heart to another. After all, if he can make declarations of undying love to someone he just met, but not to me, that’s the biggest wake-up call I could ever receive.
Until one night early on in the semester, when we accidentally sleep together. Because of course he’s going to confess his feelings now, when I was ready to give up on there ever being an us.
But just as Gannon starts admitting exactly what I’ve always wanted to hear, I get devastating news. And suddenly, I don’t want to risk losing him as a best friend. I’ve already lost too many people I love, and am on the brink of adding one more to that list.
If our romance goes south, I don’t how I’ll ever come back from it. Not only the crushing heartbreak, but the fact that we can never go back to how we were again.
Author of romance novels such as Fool Me Twice and Love at First Fight, Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the love stories of her imagination, and the athleisure dress code, much better.
When she isn’t writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, two children and ninety-pound rescue pup.
This book will definitely pull at your heart strings and not for the reasons you think. Just About Over You is a sweet friends to lovers romance but it also delves into some other issues that unfortunately arise in life.
Gannon and Amelie have been best friends since they met in fifth grade. They have gone through so much together and shared so much but one thing – how they both are in love with each other. And while this trope has been done a lot, I enjoyed how Carrie played this out. It felt natural; the pacing of everything, how certain scenes played out and how both Gannon and Amelie reacted to things.
One thing I can honestly say that happens with every book by Carrie, I get so swept up in the story and the characters, that I devour her books within a day. And Just About Over You was exactly the same. The story was honest and real and the characters are so palpable. It’s impossible to not feel what these characters feel and the story becomes very authentic.
Carrie gives her readers another genuine and heartfelt story that will pull you in from the start. She stays true to her characters, their personality and characteristics. The pacing is perfect and story unfolds beautifully. Carrie knows how to deliver a story that is filled with love, some humor and a bit of angst to keep things real.
Just About Over You is another phenomenal story from Carrie. You can never go wrong when you pick up a book from Carrie.
R.S. Grey’s next standalone rom-com, Enemies Abroad, is out now! Check it out and be sure to get your copy today!
About Enemies Abroad:
It’s simple: Noah Peterson and I are enemies. Our fellow teachers know it, our friends know it—even the Starbucks drive-through lady knows it since every Monday she scrawls the name A. Hole for meon Noah’s cappuccino when I pick up the weekly group order.
The shrill whine of the school bell announces the start of each day’s no-holds-barred grudge match. Since neither of us is looking to get fired or thrown in prison, we war with our words and our wits. We prefer banter that bites. All day, I’m on edge, looking around every corner, expecting him to do his worst. Just when I think I can’t take the sight of his (regretfully) handsome face for one more minute, the school day is done.
Summer usually offers the sweetest relief—a two-month Noah detox—but not this year.
“We need two volunteers to chaperone a group of eighth graders in Rome” becomes a game of chicken neither one of us is willing to lose. We both want that bonus check.
“Back out,” I tell him.
“Scared?” he taunts.
No one thinks it’s a good idea for us to go to Rome together, least of all me. Taking this battle abroad will only lead to mayhem and misery.
DING. Ladies and gentlemen of flight UA447 with service to Rome, fasten your seatbelts.
R.S. Grey is the USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels. She lives in Texas with her husband and daughter, and can be found reading, binge-watching reality TV, or practicing yoga! Visit her at rsgrey.com
Enemies Abroad was a very cute and quick read. It’s an enemies to lovers story between two teachers and it’s quite entertaining from start to finish.
Rachel delivers a story about two teachers who are at odds with one another. Noah and Audrey end up being chaperones on an international trip with some of their students and it forces them to be more cordial with one another. However, things are never quite what they seem.
I enjoyed this story. It was riddled with some humorous and sweet moments along the way as these two venture through a new country. They cannot escape one another as they can back home and it forces them to endure one another in ways they haven’t before.
Overall, I did enjoy this story and these characters. However, there were parts that bored me a bit since they didn’t add much to the story and felt more like filler. But all-in-all, it was an entertaining read and one I know that many readers will like.
Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done. But maybe it takes a little crazy to build a good life. If putting the past behind her requires a thousand miles and a new town, she’ll do it if it means a better future for her son. Even if it requires setting aside the glamour of her former life. Even if it requires working as a housekeeper at The Eloise Inn and living in an apartment above a garage. It’s there, on the fifth worst day of her life, that she meets the handsomest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Knox Eden is a beautiful, sinful dream, a chef and her temporary landlord. With his sharp, stubbled jaw and tattooed arms, he’s raw and rugged and everything she’s never had–and never will. Because after the first worst day of her life, Memphis learned a good life requires giving up on her dreams too. And a man like Knox Eden will only ever be a dream.
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GAH!!! Devney has done it once again – given us readers another beautiful and emotional story that will stay deep in our bones for quite some time.
Juniper Hill is the next book in her The Edens series. Each book is a complete standalone that features one of the Eden children. We may only be on book two, but I am loving this family and this town so much. And Devney has knocked me over with Knox and his story.
Knox is the second oldest of the Eden children and when his brother Griffin worked on the farm with their dad, he stayed with his mom at the hotel and watched her cooked both their and in their own kitchen almost every day. It’s how he found himself going to culinary school and returning home when he hit a rough patch to take over the restaurant at the family’s hotel.
Memphis found herself moving to Montana when she needed and wanted a fresh start with her son. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but she also was not expecting the Eden family to be so welcoming. She’s living a completely different life than how she was raised but she’s appreciating all the new things she’s discovering. But even with the welcoming arms of the Eden family, walking away from her past isn’t so easy.
I get choked up just thinking about Knox and Memphis’ story. I actually messaged Devney shortly after finishing this book because I was just so overwhelmed by their story and I wanted her to know how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Knox, he’s just WOW. I can’t explain him any other way. He will knock you off your feet. His passion for everything, it just renders me speechless. Memphis, this woman is so much stronger than she gives herself credit for. I could not do what she did, especially at her young age. We all have our self-doubts but this woman is a warrior in so many ways.
Juniper Hill is another heart-clenching and emotional read from start to finish. I love the added suspense that Devney mixes into this story to keep readers on their toes. It’s the perfect touch to this story and blends so beautifully. If you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for?!?!
Meet Devney
Devney is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Washington with her husband and two sons. Born and raised in Montana, she loves writing books set in her treasured home state. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her family. Writing one book, let alone many, was not something she ever expected to do. But now that she’s discovered her true passion for writing romance, she has no plans to ever stop.
