5 SMOOCHES

Synopsis

The first installment in Hot in Chicago, a brand-new, sizzling series from Kate Meader that follows a group of firefighting foster siblings and their blazing hot love interests!

Savvy PR guru Kinsey Taylor has always defined herself by her career, not her gender. That is, until she moved from San Francisco to Chicago to be with her fiancé who thought she wasn’t taking her “job” of supporting him in his high-powered career seriously enough—and promptly dumped her for a more supportive and “feminine” nurse. Now, as the new assistant press secretary to Chicago’s dynamic mayor, she’s determined to keep her eye on the prize: no time to feel inferior because she’s a strong, kick-ass woman, and certainly no time for men.

But that all changes when she meets Luke Almeida, a firefighter as searingly sexy as he is quick-tempered. He’s also the second oldest of the Firefightin’ Dempseys, a family of foster siblings who have committed their lives to the service—if Luke’s antics don’t get him fired first. When Luke goes one step too far and gets into a bar brawl with the Chicago Police Department, Kinsey marches into Luke’s firehouse and lays down the law on orders from the mayor. But at Engine Co. 6, Luke Almeida is the law. And he’s not about to let Kinsey make the rules.

Review

“Then again, the whole picture was one of a genetically engineered firefighting machine. Or fighting machine, considering his fondness for hitting first and to hell with the consequences.”

I first discovered Kate Meader and the Dempsey boys in the Baby, It’s Cold Outside Anthology, where she was the unknown author (to me at least) amongst some big names like Jennifer Probst, Melody Anne, Kristen Proby and Emma Chase and while I loved all their stories something about Kate’s struck a chord with me and I needed to know more. I immediately jumped on Goodreads and was excited to find out that Rekindle The Flame (her novella) was an intro to a brand new series coming soon. I knew then that I needed to read that. The Demspey family was incredibly appealing to me and Kate’s writing was impossible to put down. I hunted Kate down on facebooks and somehow weaseled my way onto this tour. The day the book arrived at my door in all it’s hot firefighter hotness I knew it would be one I would read again and again.

“He was always primed for a woman after a fire — and the appearance of Miss Hot in Heels was like introducing oxygen into a non vented room.”

The Hot In Chicago series is about a group of foster kids raised by the Dempsey’s who all grew up to follow the patriarch’s lead and become firefighters themselves. This first full-length book in the series revolves around Luke, who wile not the oldest is clearly the one everyone goes to for help and has personally taken upon himself to lead the family once their dad and brother passed away. While he is an amazing brother and firefighter he can at times let his emotions overpower him and run a bit hot headed. This is where our story starts. Kinsey works for the publicity department with the mayor’s office and after a recent bar brawl between Luke and a member of the police department it is Kinsey’s job to resurrect the fire department’s image and this it turns out means working very closely with too hot for words Luke Almeida.

“When the clock strikes eight tomorrow morning, you will come straight to me. Do not shower. Do not pass go. The only thing you will be doing is me, Luke. I want to be the one who takes the edge off. And you better be able to handle it.”

Kinsey moved to Chicago to follow her longtime boyfriend only to find herself abandoned and dumped. She is in no place to get into a relationship but when it is clear that her and Luke have the kind of chemistry you can’t ignore she decides a fun fling would not be a bad idea. Things get difficult when feelings get involved and neither wants to own up to how they truly affect each other. I loved Luke so much, for as macho and alpha that he was he also had an incredibly vulnerable and sensitive side. He was scarred from his past and doesn’t feel worthy of someone like Kinsey. He knows she only wants him for what he can physically do for her and is scared to speak up about wanting anything more, willing to take what she will give him because he knows that it is better than not having any part of her at all.

“Do not tell me you don’t want me because your body says different. It’s begging for my touch, for my greedy mouth. I could make you feel so fucking good, Brady. Best you ever had.”

There is a surprising and remarkable sub-story in that of Gage, a Dempsey brother who is openly gay and a bit of a playboy, and Brady, a closed off former military man turned chef at an exclusive restaurant. These two while not being the main focus of the book almost stole the show for me. Brady has so many walls up that I cannot wait to see torn down. With a pretty sever case of PTSD and an attitude to match he makes Gage question everything and leaves him wondering if giving up his wild ways is worth it all. I cannot wait to see how their story continues to play out and am desperate to get more soon.

“Then he kissed her until she forgot why she had ever done anything else her entire life except kiss him back.”

Flirting with Fire was an extremely sexy and fun book about an alpha firefighter and the woman who brought him to his knees. Luke is steaming hot and Kinsey knows just how to handle him. While they are both thrown some curveballs and stuggle though some tough choices it is clear from the moment you meet them that they belong together and watching them strive for their HEA is scrumptiously fun and exciting.

“She might be the death of him, but what a way to go.”

Flirting With Fire has cemented Kate Meader as an author to watch and I  am excited to bundle down with her backlog to hold me over until the next Hot In Chicago novel comes out.

~miranda

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5 SMOOCHES

Synopsis

He’s the most dangerous man she’s ever met…and she’s falling in love with him.

Madison Frost is desperate to escape her life. Daughter of a prominent businessman, she has everything a girl could ask for. Except for a family who’s present in her life, and anyone to talk to outside the four walls of the prison she calls home. Madison dreams of one day leaving her life behind. She never thought being kidnapped is how it would happen.

Now she’s being held captive by a man who’s as frightening as he is sinfully gorgeous. Enormous, muscular, and filled with secrets, the man they call Ghost is an enigmatic mercenary, and Madison is trapped with him. She doesn’t know who hired him or why, but the more time she spends at his mercy, the more she realizes he’s not what he seems. Beneath his rough exterior lies an unexpected gentleness and a heart as broken and battered as her own.

But as Madison lets down her walls, Ghost holds tight to his, hiding secrets that could destroy everything.

Review

“He was too much. Too large, too tall, too muscled. Even completely silent, he screamed.”

Captive is my very first Brighton Walsh book and WOW what a way to meet a new to you author. When the advanced copy showed up at my door I was apprehensive but excited to try someone new. Reading the blurb I was convinced that I was going into a Stockholm Syndrome book for the new adult audience. What I got was so much more!

“I had a millisecond to make a choice.

Run or stay.

Run or stay.

Run or stay.

Run.”

From the outside looking in Madison has the perfect life you would think a twenty year old rich girl would have. This is exactly the perception Ghosts has when he kidnaps and holds captive Madison. He is convinced she is a spoiled and entitled girl who doesn’t have any worries or cares. After being forced into close quarters with her for several days he learns that she has many real problems and worries (not including the fact that she was just kidnapped) Ghost has been attracted to her lush curves (ones she herself is ashamed of and wished would go away) but soon he finds himself drawn to the person she is and the man she sees in him.

“He cupped my face, pulling me closer to him as he opened his mouth to me, slid his tongue against mine. It was everything I’d ever imagined and yet nothing I’d ever experienced.”

Madison was a heroine was refreshing. She has body issues like us all and was vocal about them. She loved the way Ghost saw her and wants to see herself like that too. While her body issues made her feel real her determination and strength to make it through this situation made her admirable. She never just gave up, whether in regular life, a forced extreme situation or moving past a devastating life event she always pushes forward and never looks back. For me she felt like she was constantly evolving and growing and I love that in my younger characters because that is what that age is all about.

“You sure about that? Because I’m rough, Madison. I’m not gentle.”

Ghost was scary and gentle, loving and closed off. There was so much to love about my (yes my because I am claiming him for myself) tall, tatted sexy bad guy. While he hasn’t always made the best choices he has never regretted any of them and until he met Madison never even questioned them. He was perfect parts gentle with her and rough. He knew when to give her space and when to push her harder. On top of that he was supremely sexy and panty melting hot.

“I wanted her now. Fuck the circumstances and our differences and the secrets I was harboring. Fuck everything else.”

Dark romances are often hit or miss with me. If they go to far they turn a corner that is not sexy or appealing to me and if they don’t push you enough they can be boring. Captive has a great flow and just enough action and intensity to keep me turning the page and the chemistry between Madison and Ghost was OFF THE CHARTS. Having never read Brighton before I had no clue if this book would be sexy at all or if it was just fade to black. I decided going in blind without reading any reviews would be the best course of action so when I found out that this book in addition to be a captivating read was also burn-the house-down HOT I was pleasantly surprised and excited.

“I realized I’d walk to hell and back if it meant she’d get out of this unscathed. If it meant I could keep her safe, even if it caused my demise.”

If you love a book that will keep you guess and a plot twist that leaves you saying WHAT??? along with a insanely sexy couple then this is a good read for you. I,myself, have fallen in love with Brighton’s writing and I am looking forward to working my way through her backlist of books in the very near future.

~miranda

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5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Is it possible to expose Chicago’s hottest player—without getting played?

This is the story I’ve been waiting for all my life, and its name is Malcolm Kyle Preston Logan Saint. Don’t be fooled by that last name though. There’s nothing holy about the man except the hell his parties raise. The hottest entrepreneur Chicago has ever known, he’s a man’s man with too much money to spend and too many women vying for his attention.

Mysterious. Privileged. Legendary. His entire life he’s been surrounded by the press as they dig for tidbits to see if his fairytale life is for real or all mirrors and social media lies. Since he hit the scene, his secrets have been his and his alone to keep. And that’s where I come in.

Assigned to investigate Saint and reveal his elusive personality, I’m determined to make him the story that will change my career.

But I never imagined he would change my life. Bit by bit, I start to wonder if I’m the one discovering him…or if he’s uncovering me.

What happens when the man they call Saint, makes you want to sin?

Review

 Goodness, gracious.  I just cannot even express how I loved this book!  I found myself getting kind of bored with the billionaire books lately.  It is all dominant and submissive and I honestly expected the same thing of this book reading the synopsis but I really enjoy Katy Evans writing so I decided to give it a shot and I am so glad I did.  Manwhore is really a different kind of billionaire book.  Saint is a whole new kind of Billionaire Book Boyfriend.  He is sweet, ambitious, funny, flirtatious, and seriously sexy.

“A complete manwhore, they say.  And so ambitious he’d put Midas to shame.  Oh yeah.  Saint won’t rest until he owns the world.”

Rachel has been assigned by the failing magazine she works for to get the inside scoop on Saint by any means possible.  This story could make her career and save the magazine that could go under any day.  Saint doesn’t make it easy on Rachel.  They go through a series of interviews that made me giggle at how flustered he made her.  Interviews turn into dates and dates turn into more.  But Saint doesn’t know about her career making article for the magazine and I found myself waiting for the shit to hit the fan the entire book.  And it made me so incredibly sad for Saint because he is genuinely a good guy even if he is a manwhore.  😉

“Rachel, there’s nothing I won’t do to get you in my bed,”

Katy does a fabulous job with the sexual tension and build up in this book.  If I could pick my most favorite ever kiss from a book Manwhore would win hands down.  This kiss goes on for days and in so incredibly sexy.  I was melting right along with Rachel because Saint loves to kiss.  He isn’t the type to skip the foreplay.  He loves to kiss and tease and boy was it amazing!

“I think of how seduced I feel.  How much I ache.  His kiss.  His touch.  How I can’t sleep.  How I can’t breathe.  How I can’t go on without feeling him inside me at least once.  And I can’t help but feel like the one being played expertly could be me…

I’m so in over my head, I’m drowning in air.” 

Gracious, Saint will have you on fire; just as he did Rachel.  The sexual tension was so high that parts of this story were incredibly funny!

“Oh, fuck, did I just strip like a hooker?  Before Saint?  I did.”

But the real special thing about this book was the Romanticism.  It was heavy and thick with love and wanting even without the sex.  Katy Evans managed to lure me in with this couples tender and sentimental love story.  The whole book was amorous and affectionate while still managing to be so very passionate.

“Saint, Saint, Saint, I cry, thinking incoherently that nothing is enough, nothing until I get his every secret, every name of his lovers, his fears, his dreams, his heart, until he comes for me, in me. “

There is definitely a huge cliffy at the end of this book so be prepared to wait for the next one because Rachel and Saint’s story is far from over!

 Manwhore really is made of the stuff that true romantic fanatics will love.  The cover is amazing.  The story is engaging.  The characters are endearing.  Katy Evans brought it with Manwhore.  I cannot wait for Manwhore +1!

“Dibs.”

~Amie

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5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Fisher,
I guess this is it, huh? After fourteen years together, starting a life of our own on this island, five deployments and countless letters I’ve written you through it all, I finally go out to the mailbox and see something I’ve always dreamed of: an envelope with your handwriting on it. For one moment, I actually thought you’d changed your mind, that all the awful things you said to me were just your way of coping after everything you’d been through. I was still here, Fisher. I was still here, holding my breath, waiting for you to come back even though you told me you never would. You always said you’d find your way back to me. Out of all the lies you’ve told me, this one hurts the most.

Enclosed you will find the signed divorce papers, as requested.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. I’m sorry it wasn’t me.

Lucy

To get the ending they want, Lucy and Fisher will have to go back to the beginning. Through the good and the bad, they’ll be reminded of why they always made their way back to each other, and why this time, one way or another, it will be the last time. 

Review

Seriously, I have a question for Ms. Tara Sivec!  Is there freaking anything that you cannot write?!  I have laughed my behind off at your funny books.  I have fallen in love with your Ignite Series.  But no one, and I mean NO ONE, quite prepared me for the sad and most beautiful story that is Fisher’s Light.

“You can never stop fighting for something you love and something you believe in.”

Fisher’s Light is a contemporary romance and is Fisher and Lucy’s story.  Their story spans over a decade.  Fisher and Lucy meet in high school, fall in love, and marry in their very early twenties.  5 deployments later and the PTSD that Fisher suffers from has finally gotten to be out of control.

‘I was punishing her for being so soft and sweet and beautiful when all I’d known for the last year was hard and awful and ugly.’

I feel like you should all get warned before hand that this book is definitely an ugly cry book.  I was merely 30% along laying in my bed trying to sob quietly into my comforter as to not wake my sleeping husband.  This is one of those books that immediately captures you from the very first page.

‘How do I get that back when the darkness is hell bent on taking over, holding me in its clutches and making sure I never see the sunshine again?’

The story skips back and forth between the present and past seamlessly.  You also get both Fisher and Lucy’s point of views, which was really pivotal to the story because I would find myself so very angry and feeling like I could never forgive Fisher and then I would get his point of view and all of a sudden I wanted to hold him, help him. and try to fix this broken man.

‘I have to make her leave so that I can never hurt her again.’

And Lucy.  Oh Lucy.  I just could not stop admiring this beautiful heroine’s strength and tenacity.  She is feisty, strong, and hell bent on succeeding on her own.  She is one of those female characters that makes you proud to be a woman.  She is all gorgeous and soft but still tough as nails.

‘I love him and I’m scared to death that he’ll break my heart all over again.”

I am finding this hard to explain but this really is a second chance romance.  Sort of.  Because you get to see adolescent Lucy and Fisher fall in love and then you get to see a totally different, older, more hardened by life, and wiser Fisher and Lucy find their way back to each other all over again.  I really do love these types of stories because you feel so astonishingly close to the characters.  Like you have known them forever.

I don’t know if it is because I am from South Carolina and have spent my fair share of time vacationing on the coast of the Carolina’s but I just adored this island, the people, and all of the imagery that Tara brought to the plate.  It felt so real and authentic; the fudge shop, the bar, Butler Inn, the softball games, and that beautiful lighthouse.  I can still see it in my minds eye.  Tara certainly painted a gorgeous picture of this small island that inhabits small town values.  I fell in love with it hard.  I can already tell that I will be thinking about Fisher’s Light for a long while.  It is just one of those amazing stories that stays with you.

‘I hope someday you find your way back here.  If you do, I’ll meet you at the lighthouse.’

~Amie

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