5 Smooches!

Synopsis

He was trouble from the start, but I couldn’t resist. 
[She was the best kind of trouble. The kind that was so wrong, it felt right.] 

I’ve tried and failed to stay away from him. 
[I’ve done everything in my power to make her mine and keep her.] 

He’s almost impossible to say no to. 
[She never tells me yes.] 

We’re always fighting. 
[When we’re not fighting, we’re… well… making up.] 

He makes me laugh so hard. 
[I miss her laugh the most.] 

I’m a liar. 
[She knows the truth, but won’t admit it.] 

Sometimes, I wish I’d never met him. 
[I wish we could meet all over again. I’d do better.] 

His girlfriend knows. 
[The guy she’s with is a fool.] 

I’ll never love anyone like I love him. 
[She doesn’t love me enough to choose us.] 

It was the wrong place. 
[It was the wrong time.] 

It should have been him. 
[It will always be her.] 

*This book contains adult situations and is recommended for adult readers.

Review

First of all, I feel like M. Mabie must be a damn marketing genius.  I love that cover so much and the blurb immediately made me take notice and add it to my TBR.  And the title.  Well it is just the icing on the cake, especially after you read it and really understand it.  Anyways, all of these phenomenal things made me want to read this book and I am sure glad that I did.  Bait wrecked me, ruined me, made me cry so hard my husband rolled over in bed and asked if I needed anything.  I love a book that makes me feel and this one had so many feels.  It was mostly sad feels with a huge side of ANGRY!

So, I read Bait all in one day.  I ignored all of my responsibilities because I just couldn’t help it.  I was IN the story; transplanted to that special place only a few authors manage to take me.  I spent the entire day in a state of despair and ugly cried my heart out and I loved it so much!  Seriously,  I am tearing up writing this review.

Bait is a cheater book.  Bait is a love triangle.  Bait does not have a happily ever after.  Bait has a huge cliffy.  Bait spans years of heartache.  I just wanted to get that out of the way for all the haters out there.  😉  Some people just cannot stomach that stuff but personally, the more drama in a book, the better for me.  Yes, it was hard and painful and I felt slightly sick about it but hey, IT MADE ME FEEL, and I seriously love that.

Did I want to strangle the hell out of Blake?  Yes!  She continuously makes  the wrong decisions but in real life we all make bad decisions from time to time.

I had a boyfriend.  I had an almost financé.  I was a ho.  

Yes, Blake, yes you are.  And you didn’t feel bad enough about that shit in my opinion.  Nor, did you feel bad enough for Casey either.  Casey.  Sweet, delicious, at the top of my book boyfriend list Casey;  I love you.

For once, in a book, the damn male lead makes the right decisions for the most part.  Casey won my heart immediately.  He is funny and honest and I could immediately see why Blake would cheat with him.  He is simply amazing.  His character made this book.  He is the source of all the good and torment that kept me turning every freaking page.

Even though Blake pissed me off, I knew that she loved Casey and that probably pissed me off even more because in true insecure heroine fashion, she just kept making the wrong decision when it came to the men in her life.

Poor poor Casey keeps sticking around and the more he sticks around, the more I love him and the more I hate Blake.  Sister needed a reality check and Casey keeps giving her them, but she is so blind.  I was practically screaming at my kindle.  What the hell is wrong with you, Blake!  Can’t you see how much he loves you?

If you ask me, this book is not about cheating or love triangles.  It is about Casey’s love for Blake and her inability to accept it.  She is just too scared to take a chance on something as wild and feral as Casey Moore.  Who could blame her, really.  He is so incredibly gorgeous, kind, hilarious and kind of perfect.  Often in life we put people up on pedestals and I feel like that is exactly what Blake did with Casey.  She doesn’t feel deserving and she probably isn’t but it doesn’t matter to him.  He loves and wants her with such passion, just the way she is.

I think the main reason this book spoke to me was because it just felt so real.  Bait is not a fairy tale romance.  Blake and Casey’s story was not easy nor was it far fetched.  I felt like this was totally something a friend of mine could be relaying to me as her story.  It felt like real life.  Real pain.  Real sadness.

Our pain and our love are one and the same.  I’l wait for you.  Probably, forever if that’s what it takes.

Go on, take the plunge.  Read it!  Hate it!  Love it!  Medicate with some fabulous chocolate and wine, but make sure you have some tissues handy.

~Amie

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4 Smooches

Synopsis

She can track down the world’s most dangerous drug lords, hack into any computer, and kill a man in fifteen different ways—but when she comes face-to-face with the only man who’s ever held her heart, it might be her most dangerous mission yet… Or is it?

Sloan Walker. Dr. Felicia Santora. Agent L-55.
Three very different personas, three very different names, but all have one thing in common. They’re all controlled, acted out, and lived by one woman.

Her past has been long forgotten. Ten years have gone by since someone remembered the girl she used to be. The young girl with the big-brown eyes and beautiful dreams of happiness, dreams of love. She now lives a clandestine life. A life filled with top-secret missions and covert assignments. Only a handful of people know the true nature of her job. Her safety is constantly being pushed towards the brink of life-threatening danger.

Then one day someone unexpectedly steps back into her life…

A man who once owned her mind, body, and soul.
A man who held her heart in the palm of his hand.

He remembers. He knows.

And this knowledge could threaten everything she’s worked so hard for. Nixon West is as intelligent as they come and his Navy SEAL training has made him one of the most dangerous weapons in the United States Military. The moment she reappeared into his life he promised himself that he wouldn’t let her go.

But the true question is…what extreme lengths will Nix go to for her?

She will soon face another mission.

And it will test everything.

Time never seems all that important until your life hangs in the balance.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock…

Review

Covertly Strong is the first book in a new series by NA Alcon.  I really enjoyed this book and its\’s military/cia theme. It was so different than any other book I had read and thoroughly enjoyed how it used military style headings and time to help tell the story of Nix and Sloan.

Nix and Sloan met when they were 16 years old in Hawaii while her dad was stationed there. It took no time at all for them to become attached to each other and become inseparable. It is quickly apparent that they are in love and that their love is very very strong. But a year later when they get separated because Sloan’s dad gets a new assignment something happens and they lose contact.

Flash forward fourteen years and Nix is a very sexy Navy Seal and Sloan is a in command CIA agent. The two run into each other while she is undercover and we can all see that the chemistry and feelings they were once there never really go away.

Covertly Strong is an action packed romantic suspense novel that will leave you wondering what is about to happen next. I loved Nix’s alpha tendencies and how much he clearly has always loved Sloan. Sloan is a wonderful Heroine who is strong willed and can easily handle herself in any situation! Overall, I really liked the plot and characters in this novel.

I will say that I enjoyed the present part of the book a lot more than the past. It took me a few to get hooked into it but once I did I just couldn’t stop. If you like Romantic Suspense novels than this is one you will want to add to your list!

~miranda

5 Smooches!

Synopsis

The Grayson siblings are at it again—guilty of keeping secrets from each other when it comes to who they fall in love with. This time little brother’s best friend is the object of Riley’s affection and their intimate connection is impossible to resist.

Riley Grayson—snarky, successful, lonely. She’s looking for Mr. Right, especially now that her younger, reformed man-whore of a brother is living out his happily ever after with her best friend. If Marcus can find true love, why the hell can’t she?

Enter Beck Matthews, Marcus’s childhood best friend. He’s lovable, sexy, and oh, yeah—not single. But one night of drunken partying and wild sex with Riley and Beck may be rethinking his future. Has he been planning it with the wrong girl?

Although these two can’t stay away from each other, it seems the ghosts of their pasts are holding them back from what they really want. Can Riley and Beck overcome the threat of shocking coincidences and unexpected events that will test their trust in one another?

Find out if Beck’s love is strong enough to Keep Her. 

Review

Ever since reading (and loving) “Keep Me”, the first book in the “Grayson Siblings” series, I have been excited to read Riley and Beck story! Faith Andrews does it again with this one and “Keep Her” was amazing from the first page all the way to the last. I would definitely recommend reading this series in order.

Riley is the Grayson sibling that has it all together. But being the responsible one is beginning to weigh on her and she longs to move forward in her life. She’s ready to get married and start a family. Big problem there being that she hasn’t had any prospects in a long time and doesn’t even know where to start!

Beck thought he had it all figured out. He was working in a job he loved as a firefighter and he had a beautiful girlfriend who planned to spend the rest of his life with. But when he tries to move their relationship forward she backs away and asks for a break, something Beck didn’t see coming! A night out has him looking at his best friend’s sister in a whole new light. Maybe a little fun with the sexy Riley will help mend his broken heart?

When these two get together it is hot and fast and electric! But they are both in such different places in their perspective lives, not to mention the fact that Riley’s brother Marcus would freak out if he knew that his best friend and his sister were messing around!!!

We got a few little peaks at these two in the first book but the direction this story took really kept me on my toes. This story runs right alongside of the first one for a lot of the book so we get a different perspective of Marcus and Tessa’s journey as well, which was really cool. Riley and Beck have amazing chemistry and I really loved both of these characters. Riley is strong and confidant but at the same time vulnerable while Beck is super sexy and such a sweetheart, always trying to do the right thing but not always knowing what that is. Their story took some interesting twists and turns and I found myself emotional more than once! I really enjoyed reading this series and am now a big fan of Faith Andrews writing! My one request for Ms. Andrews is for Griffin to get his very own HEA!!!

Dana

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5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Seven years ago, my life changed forever. One accident and the person I saw in the mirror no longer resembled the woman I used to be. I was lost and confused inside my own body. I felt alone and disconnected from the world, carrying the incredible weight of guilt and loss that wasn’t even mine to harbor.
Then fate led me to Leo James. He taught me that crazy could be perfectly normal and it shouldn’t hurt to breathe. Don’t get me wrong. Leo isn’t perfect. He has his own cross to bear, and the truth is, that might be why I fell for him in the first place. But despite everything he does for me, learning to forgive myself is infinitely harder than overlooking the flaws of another.
Now, the secrets and lies of our past have begun to dictate our future—threatening to ruin us before we get the chance to try. Perhaps we were cursed from the start. Or maybe, just maybe, the remnants of our fractured lives will fit together to form one whole, where love isn’t questioned and being happy is…well, easy.
Can a second broken soul be enough to fill the voids of my own? Or will such scarred pasts prove too much for our love alone to overcome?

Review

It is no secret around here that I am huge Aly Martinez fan.  I have read all of her books.  I was hooked from the very first one.  Her men are always alpha and her girls are always sassy.  Her stories are always emotional and she ALWAYS gets me with a surprise or a plot twist of some kind.  Combine all of that with her fantastic writing style and I am NEVER disappointed.  Like EVER.

Broken Course really was amazing and even though you could probably read it as a standalone, you shouldn’t!  You should definitely read the first two books in the series, Changing Course and Stolen Course, then read Among the Echoes (a standalone novel, so that you can meet Leo properly) to really experience how awesome Broken Course is.

You meet Sarah and Leo in the previous novels in this series and while I have always had a soft spot for Leo, Sarah was never my favorite.  She is kinda cray cray and does some really terrible things that I didn’t think I could ever get over.  Turns out I was wrong.  I loved both Sarah and Leo.  They are both have such intense and incredibly sad past that I couldn’t help but love them both and I found that I really wanted a happily-ever-after for Sarah.  Especially when she meets Leo!

Holy hotness, Batman!  Leo is hot and bad-ass and alpha and so fucked up.  He is a perfect book boyfriend!  Sarah is just as messed up but I really loved how together they were good and forgiving with each other.  They really did make my heart smile, even when Sarah was fighting her feelings a bit.

Of course, Aly had to bring out all the stops and surprise us at the end and I absolutely loved it.  I would not have changed a thing.  This is a must read folks.  Get on it, now.  You do not want to miss Leo and Sarah’s story of redemption and moving on.

~Amie

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