5 SMOOCHES!

SYNOPSIS:

The light of the future can only be found by stepping out of the darkness of the past…

After leaving her marriage, Juliette Walker wants to accomplish many new things, but meeting a new man certainly isn’t part of her plan.

Plagued with struggles over her past, she seeks the advice of a professional. But after unloading her most intimate thoughts to the handsome stranger with dark hair and glasses at a friend’s party, she discovers he isn’t the man she thinks he is.

Although Juliette comes into Mark Hine’s life like an unexpected tornado, he finds himself intrigued by the bundle of energy who spills her secrets in a drunken barrage.
Despite swearing off dating permanently since the tragic death of his fiancee, he keeps finding excuses to spend time with the single mom who makes him laugh and brings him out of his shell.

In the aftermath of Juliette’s most humiliating experience to date, she’s convinced Mark has permanently friend-zoned her, until the moment it becomes shockingly clear she couldn’t be more wrong.

But will demons of the past threaten to derail the opportunity for love? Or can two damaged hearts overcome their painful histories to find a future of happiness together?

Full Length Standalone book with no cliffhanger.
Fifth book of the “Something Series”.
Recommended for mature readers due to situations of language, and sexual content.

REVIEW:

I adore Aubrey Bondurant’s writing, and the Something series has become a favorite of mine.  She may describe her writing style as adult contemporary erotic romantic comedy—think smutty chick-lit—but whatever way you dice it, this author is talented. Her writing is sharp, smart and witty, and she writes romances that are genuine and sexy within stories that are relationship rich between the romance and the supporting friendships in the background.

Handsome, hardworking attorney Mark Hine hides a great deal behind his crisp suits and hot-nerd glasses. Underneath those buttoned-down shirts lies the body of an Adonis, a kind heart that is filled with pain, a lonely soul and a mouth that offers sweet words of encouragement just as easily as it does huskily-spoken filthy ones. A devastating loss as a young man dramatically altered the life he had planned. Eleven years later, he is still very much mired in his past. Despite the gentle prodding of his friends, he has not moved on, he has not healed, and he is more than just simply reluctant to do so—he flat out refuses to pursue his own happiness. The little that does find him in his otherwise empty life comes from his small, tight circle of long-time friends. That was just fine with him—until a tiny tornado of a woman blows into his world upending everything.

Juliette Walker is in the midst of a personal reboot. The filter-less, sassy southern office manager was known for babbling inappropriately when nervous, and it was during their very first conversation that Juliette laid a humiliating amount of it on Mark. A single mom and the office manager of Mark’s best friend, Josh’s, Charlotte office, Juliette was hiding out in New Haven from her soon-to-be-ex-husband, a drug-dealing dirty cop, while the wheels of justice were in motion to both end her marriage and prosecute him.

What begins as a wonderful friendship builds into much more than that as the attraction between them sizzles. This couple was incredibly sexy together, and I positively adored them together. Juliette is carrying a heavy load of baggage from years of a verbally abusive marriage to a drug addict. But it was depth of Mark’s pain and just how deeply he was stuck in the past that broke my heart—and nearly Juliette’s as well. I ached for them both as Mark readily helped Juliette to overcome her insecurities but couldn’t summon that same strength to take on his own issues. Their love story was emotional, at times difficult, but it also the sweetest, most rewarding happily-ever-after of the series.

Technically all the books in this series can be read as standalones, but it is my opinion that your reading experience will be richer and fuller if you start with the first book and read them all in order. The journey is well worth the trip, each of these books was better than the last, and as I sit here having finished the final book and having had read them all, I’m melancholy. I feel as if I’m saying goodbye to a group of friends—I enjoyed my time with them, but I’m sorry to see them go. Five smooches from me for Aubrey Bondurant’s Show Me Something!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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5 Smooches

Synopsis

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

Review

Autoboyography completely grabbed my attention and touched my soul. Tanner and Sebastian’s story was full of pain and hurt, but also full of young love, self discovery and the joys of coming into your own. The story is a young adult coming of age story about the pain of having to remain in the closet while wanting to scream to the world your love for the one person you aren’t supposed to fall for.

‘His voice is both low and quiet, and it has this hypnotic rhythm to it. I wonder whether someday he’ll give sermons with that voice, whether he’ll throw down judgment with that voice.‘

This book took me back  years when I spent most weekends wrapped in blankets on the couch watching the movie, Latter Days, with my two best friends on repeat. Much like this book that movie touched something deep inside me. While the two stories are vastly different the subject matter is quite similar. This reminder of my past warmed my heart and had me in tears. Sadly over five years ago I lost one of those friends to depression. He was unable to deal with the pain that comes from being gay in a society that wants you to be straight.

Reading this story in a day took me through a myriad of emotions. I laughed out loud, had tears streaming down my face, and a sense of joy when it all came to an end. I was left with an epic book hangover and it is going to take something special to pull me out of it. This was a top read for me and I highly recommend it.

~miranda

5 SMOOCHES!

SYNOPSIS:

The start to a sexy new series from New York Times bestselling author, Kendall Ryan…

She’s much too innocent for me, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting the sweet, young librarian. I’m dominating and possessive, and my control streak runs a mile wide.

The way she looks at me—like I’m one of the heroes in the books she loves, like I’m broken, and she wants to be the one to piece me back together—it only complicates things further. I’m nobody’s hero.

But there’s no denying my tragic past reads like one of her favorite literary classics. It’s raw. Visceral. Captivating. And together, we’re a perfect mess.

How can I resist when the sexual sparks zapping between us set me on fire? The need to control, and claim her force my walls to come tumbling down, but when she learns about my dirty little secret, will my world come crashing down with it?

The story continues in Dirty Little Promise, releasing October 9.

REVIEW:

I love Kendall Ryan’s work, and I’ve read and enjoyed many of her books. But Dirty Little Secret is, in my opinion, her best work yet. Written in the same vein as her Filthy Beautiful Lies series, this new series from Ryan, Forbidden Desires, is off to one heck of a thrilling, edgy, sexy start.

Emma Bell, a shy, girl-next-door-sexy librarian, is almost a year out of an abusive relationship when the handsome and smoldering Gavin Kingsley catches her eye…and her imagination. Months pass, however, before one day, out of the blue, he gives her a small opening, and she charges right through. Emma had no idea at the time what she was truly getting into, but one thing she did know for sure was that nothing would ever be the same.

“…like a lightning flash through the darkness, I was undone.”

Brooding, private, high-end escort service CEO Gavin Kingsley is an intense and dominant man. Months of surreptitiously observing the sexy brunette has caught up to him, and his iron-fisted control slips ever so slightly when he finally makes a move. It turns out, though, that Gavin was as utterly unprepared for the unconsciously submissive Emma Bell as he was captivated.

What begins as an unconventional arrangement, quickly develops into much more. Gavin struggles with letting Emma in, and she’s never quite sure which version of him she’s going to get—the sweet and romantic man or the cold, closed-off, commanding one. It doesn’t really matter, though, because despite the warning bells going off in her mind, she’s falling for both of them. In him, Emma finds the darkness she secretly craves, and in her, Gavin finally finds the light he needs. It’s unfortunate that he’s not the only one who is taken with her, though.

“…I was there in the middle of it all, stoking the flames and praying they didn’t take me down with them.”

Everyone has secrets, and some are darker, deeper—dirtier—than others. Gavin’s secrets, however, have left him a broken man, but in Emma he finds a balm for the wounds of his past. Emma has her own secrets, though, and with Gavin, she finds herself exploring them. Secrets always to reveal themselves at the most inopportune times, and when Gavin’s secrets are exposed, Emma is left reeling, panicked and wondering if perhaps her past, or Gavin’s, is repeating itself.

This book was positively riveting! Dirty Little Secret was one of the most intense, exciting, sexy books I’ve read this year. I could not put it down—I devoured it in a single sitting and was left on the edge of my seat, practically panting for the conclusion, Dirty Little Promise. Kendall Ryan’s Dirty Little Secret was absolutely fantastic, and it’s definitely a favorite of the year! Five smooches from me!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Sawyer wants a life of her own.
Finn wants to forget he ever had one.

After a tragedy, Finn Hollis escapes
into the swamp to be alone.
That is until Sawyer Dixon shows up,
all SCORCHING HOT innocence,
claiming she owns the land less than
fifty feet from his front door.

Sawyer gets under his SKIN, but even worse?
She makes him CRAVE things.
Things Finn hasn’t thought about in a very long time.

Finn WANTS Sawyer gone.
Almost as much as he wants her in his BED.

The swamp is about to get a whole lot HOTTER.

The Outskirts was originally set to be a standalone.
It is now book one of a duet.
The Outliers is the title of book two.

REVIEW

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but I can certainly say that it didn’t disappoint.  The Outskirts had me at page one.  And I couldn’t stop.  I read this book in its entirety in one sitting.  I loved the whole play on Finn and Sawyer’s names.  It was super cute, but I really freaking loved Sawyer.  I love heroines who are super strong and who essentially ‘save their man’ even when they aren’t trying and that is exactly Sawyer.  Finn is hot as sin in a backwoods kind of way and the two of them together are smoking hot.

This whole story was really done well and is quite different from other books I have read from this author.  Which is cool!  I love being surprised and I was with this one for sure.  There was a lot of funny banter mixed in the with angst to break things up and I am finding lately that those are my favorite kind of reads.  You know?  The ones with a little of everything.

I can’t finish this review and not say something about the side characters in this book, because two in particular have me wanting their story like freaking crazy.  There is a cliffy at the end of this book and it was a doozy I didn’t see coming, but I am pretty sure the second book is just a continuation of this same couple, so I hope even after the second book in this duet, we get more from this town and the certain couple I am waiting on!

~Amie

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