Cover Reveal: Credence by Penelope Douglas

Credence, an all-new standalone dark romantic suspense by Penelope Douglas, is coming January 14, 2020!

Tiernan de Haas doesn’t care about anything anymore. The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. Shipped off to boarding schools from an early age, it was still impossible to escape the loneliness and carve out a life of her own. The shadow of her parents’ fame followed her everywhere.

And when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she?

Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of eighteen. Sent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado, Tiernan soon learns that these men now have a say in what she chooses to care and not care about anymore. As the three of them take her under their wing, teach her to work and survive in the remote woods far away from the rest of the world, she slowly finds her place among them.

And as a part of them.

And she also realizes that lines blur and rules become easy to break when no one else is watching.

One of them has her.

The other one wants her.

But he…

He’s going to keep her.

Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2qZbdZm

Cover Designer: Punk Ink Designs

About Penelope: Penelope Douglas is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages and include The Fall Away Series, The Devil’s Night Series, and the stand-alones, Misconduct, Punk 57, and Birthday Girl. Please look for Kill Switch (Devil’s Night #3), available now.

She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their daughter.

Connect with Penelope:

Be alerted of her next release: http://amzn.to/1hNTuZV

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/penelope-douglas

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PenelopeDouglasAuthor

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PenDouglas

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1xvDwau

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/penelope.douglas/

Website: https://www.penelopedouglasauthor.com

Email: penelopedouglasauthor@hotmail.com

And all of her stories have Pinterest boards if you’d like to enjoy some visuals: https://www.pinterest.com/penelopedouglas/

Book Review: From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

From Lukov with Love

by Mariana Zapata

Release Date: February 1, 2018

Source: Kindle Unlimited 

Goodreads

If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one.

After seventeen years—and countless broken bones and broken promises—she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.

But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she’s spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.

Including Ivan Lukov.

I have been on a Mariana Zapata marathon lately, so this is my third book by her in a month. I have heard so many people raving about Lukov and now I definitely understand the hype! 

I am a huge fan of the movie The Cutting Edge, so as soon as I started this book with the enemies to lovers skaters who have to partner together, I was HOOKED. I absolutely loved how Jasmine was so in love with skating and made so many sacrifices just so she could compete. When this opportunity was offered, she couldn't say no, no matter how much she hated Lukov. And just like Jasmine, I fell so hard for Lukov as the book went on. Um, the animals!? Made me fall for Lukov right then and there. I loved how they bickered so much with each other and how that bickering blossomed into an adorable friendship. 

I also loved how close Jasmine was with her family and how important they were to the story. Jasmine hung out with them a lot and their banter was so cute. I am also so excited to read Dear Aaron now after seeing those characters in this book! 

What more is there to say? While this book was long, I never felt like it was slow and I was swooning so much all throughout the book. The romance is definitely slow burn, but the pay off is SO WORTH IT. This has easily become a new favorite from Mariana and I'm so happy I finally read it!

Book Review: Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

Would Like to Meet

by Rachel Winters

Release Date: December 3, 2019

Source: Netgalley 

Goodreads

In this charming, feel-good debut novel, a cynical assistant at a screenwriting agency must reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedy movies in order to help her #1 client get his scriptwriting mojo back--but can a real-life meet-cute be in store for someone who doesn't believe in happily ever after?

After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she's been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency's biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy. 

The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer's block--and he'll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts. 

But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she'll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love. In a novel as hilarious as it is heartwarming, debut author Rachel Winters proves that sometimes real life is better than the movies--and that the best kind of meet-cutes happen when you least expect them.

This book had everything I thought I would love. Rom-coms? Script writers? London? I had super high hopes going in, but this book ended up being just an average read that I didn't feel the need to devour and keep on reading. 

I want to start off by saying that this book was in no way bad. It was actually cute and I did enjoy the romance, but I never found myself dying to read this or to find out what happened next. When I finished, it was just an okay read that I know I'll forget about in a month or two. I think that Evie was a very relatable character with how she was stuck in a rut with both her job and her love life, and she just wanted to prove she could be an actual agent instead of just an assistant. When she decided to do these meet cutes to help out the screenwriter who was her boss's client, I loved the idea. As she did the meet cutes, though, she never actually had any guys who came close to being an option of her actually dating. I would have liked it better if some of them actually did lead to dates instead of every single one of them being a disaster. 

By the end, the story did become pretty predictable and I called the "twist" pretty early on in the book. The real love interest was obvious from the start and, while that romance was cute, it took way too long to actually develop in my opinion. This one held so much potential, but instead it was just an okay romance that was fun to pass the time, but didn't really leave any real lasting impression on me.

Book Review: Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

Regretting You 

by Colleen Hoover

Release Date: December 10, 2019

Source: Publisher

Goodreads

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

Every time Colleen Hoover writes a book, I add it to my TBR without even reading the synopsis. I love going into her books blind and I think that's what made me love Regretting You even more than I already did while reading it. 

Since I went in blind for this one, I'm not going to mention anything about the plot. All I can say is that it deals with a mother and a daughter and their respective romances. We get both POVs in alternating chapters and I loved seeing their perspectives regarding their own romances and their relationship with one another. Both of them are at such different points of their lives with such different kinds of romances happening, and I loved both of them so much. I really do enjoy both YA and adult romances, so I think that's why I really connected with both perspectives in this story. 

I will say that this book does deal with grief, so it was heart-wrentching to watch both Clara and Morgan dealing with their grief in their own ways. As a mother, Morgan has to protect Clara, so it was hard seeing Clara not understanding her mother when we knew what was going on because we saw it from Morgan's side too. The ending was adorable and I really loved how both romances in this book progressed. 

If you can't tell, this was another great book from Colleen Hoover that I just devoured and could not stop reading. You won't want to put this down when you pick it up!

Book Review: The Best Thing by Mariana Zapata

The Best Thing

by Mariana Zapata

Release Date: August 7, 2019

Source: Kindle Unlimited 

Goodreads

Some things are easily forgiven. Other things… not so much.

Lenny DeMaio made herself a promise: she was done.
Done thinking about him.
Done worrying about him.
Done reaching out to a man who clearly didn’t want to be found.

Too bad no one gave Jonah Collins the memo.

THIS BOOK WAS SO BORING. I love Mariana Zapata's books, but I think that's because I started with her most popular (Winnipeg and Kulti). When I started this book, I was so annoyed with how redundant the story was. Literally the first 20% of this book is the main character complaining over and over and over and over again about how much she hates this guy who ghosted her for a year and a half. We figure out around that 20% mark why she was so mad at him when he shows up, but then she spends the rest of the book reminding us how mad she was that he didn't respond to her. 

As for Jonah, the love interest? WHAT A BORE. Seriously, his character had NOTHING going for him except for that he was a rugby player (who was currently between teams) and that he was a giant. And the main character never let us forget how massive he was. Also, his reason for cutting her off was SO STUPID and made no sense. And it was just kind of brushed aside and they moved on. Seriously? Can you feel my annoyance from here? I slugged through this book and didn't care at all about the romance, especially since it took until like 97% into this book for any romance to actually happen. While Mariana Zapata is known for her slow burn romances, this book was just plain slow. I didn't care about anything. 

The redundancy in this one was so surprising to me because I don't remember that in the other books I've read by this author. I could have done without reading this one and it's definitely my least favorite from Mariana Zapata to date. 

Book Review: Covet by JR Ward

Covet (Fallen Angels #1)

by JR ward

Release date: October 29, 2009

Source: Half Price Books

Goodreads

Seven deadly sins. Seven souls to save. This is the first battle between a savior who doesn't believe and a demon with nothing to lose!

Redemption isn't a word Jim Heron knows much about—his specialty is revenge, and to him, sin is all relative. But everything changes when he becomes a fallen angel and is charged with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. And failure is not an option. 

Vin DiPietro long ago sold his soul to his business, and he's good with that-until fate intervenes in the form of a tough-talking, Harley-riding, self-professed savior. And then he meets a woman who will make him question his destiny, his sanity, and his heart—and he has to work with a fallen angel to win her over and redeem his own soul.

After devouring the BDB series, I knew that I had to pick up JR Ward's Fallen Angels series at some point. I'm pretty new the the angel side of PNR, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I will say, Covet ended up being super different than anything I could have expected. 

When I started this, it read so much like a BDB novel, especially since this book also takes place in Caldwell. I was intrigued by how Jim was brought back to life in order to "guide" another person's life. I will say, I really wanted more of the angels and the paranormal side of things. We really didn't get much, aside from the very beginning, until the last 100 pages or so. I did enjoy how our villain was more fleshed out at the end and can't wait until the next book to see where her character leads us. 

As for the main story we get for most of the book with Vin and Marie Therese, I thought their relationship was sweet and I did enjoy how there were some more suspenseful parts to the book. I did think it was kind of annoying how bad things (and bad people) were continuously thrown at Marie Therese. How many men could be obsessed with one women in her lifetime? Other than that, I did enjoy Vin's character, the secrets that were revealed from his past, and how his relationship grew with Marie Therese. 

Overall, this wasn't as great or full of paranormal all throughout as I wanted it to be, but it was still an enjoyable read. I really love JR Ward's writing, so I was sucked in for this whole story. I'm definitely continuing on with this series and can't wait to see where the story goes.

Book Review: Within These Walls by LJ Berg

Within These Walls (Walls #1)

by JL Berg

Release Date: August 18, 2014

Source: Audible Escape 

Goodreads

Within these walls, he became my solace, my sanctuary and my strength. 

I am not strong. I am just a survivor of circumstance.
Isn’t that what we all do? Survive?

Each of us has our own set of circumstances to muddle through. Mine are just more…complicated. Born with a severe heart defect, I’ve seen the inside of a hospital room more than my own bedroom. 

I was drowning, a prisoner to the illness that owned me, until he appeared. He thinks he’s blocked out the world with his tattoos and hard exterior, but I see the real Jude, the one he so desperately wants to forget. 

But is he the answer to my prayers or will he break my already damaged heart forever?

My name is Lailah Buchanan, and this is our story of hope, redemption and sacrificing it all for the one you love.

I picked up this from Audible Escape book after hearing Averie from Averie Loves Books talking about it on her youtube channel. This story about a woman falling in lvoe with a nurse at the hospital she's contastnly a patient at sounded emotional and I couldn't wait to read it! 

When this book started, I absolutely loved watching two broken people slowly learn to trust each other and open their hearts up. I loved the setting of a hospital and how Lailah started to experience life thanks to Jude and he learned to live again thanks to her. I will say, I knew that Jude's secret had to come out some time and I was super nervous how Lailah was going to react. Was she going to be annoying? Was it going to ruin everything? Thankfully, I appreciated where the book went after that and I was happy it wasn't used as a point of conflict to drive the couple apart. 

While I loved watching Jude and Lailah fall in love, I did think things turned a bit too insta-lovey and moved quite quickly about three quarters of the way through the book. And Lailah kind of just abandoned her mother for a man, when it's literally been her and her mom for the first 22 years of her life. The way she just dropped her mom didn't sit well with me. They didn't really know each other all that well and Lailah was all-in with her first ever boyfriend. I wish there was a bit more build up and trust when their relationship moved outside of the hospital. 

Overall, this was a super cute and emotional romance. I really enjoyed how this was in the hospital and had a sort of taboo feeling since it was patient and an STNA. I also loved listening to this and couldn't put it down!