5 Smooches!

Synopsis

When your world, your life and all of your hopes and dreams for the future are ripped out from under you, how do you go on?

Death without dying is not only the most painful kind of death, it’s also the most painful kind of life and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to live it.

I spend my lonely days and nights trying to make sense of what my life has become. Do I have the strength to move forward into the light, or should I just let the darkness take me?

I’m Georgia Rae Layton McCarthy and this is the story of me, just me.

I’m no longer a part of an us, it’s just me.
Alone.

By myself.

Review

Wow!  So, this is the second book in a 2 part series.  I pretty much spent the whole first novel like this:

That book simply chewed me up and spit me out, but I really am a glutton for punishment because I love a book that makes me feel.  I probably spent more time ugly crying than I did smiling but sometimes life calls for the occasions to give a good cry and a heartfelt sob at a fictional character’s expense.  My life calls for them often!

So, what did I do when Carnage #2 came out?  I dug deep, found my inner ugly crier, and dove right in.  I didn’t think I would love it more than the first book, but man was I wrong.  The book simply had it all.  Amazing writing, beautiful editing, steamy sex scenes, happy tears, and sad tears make up Carnage #2.  My inner ugly crier made an appearance only 2 pages in and pretty much stayed with me the entire book, but this time I got something that I didn’t in the first novel. I will not tell you what, but trust me, you want it.

“I had put her back together once, and I’d do it again when the time was right.  When she finally realized she needed me, I would be there and I’d put her back together again.”

(SOB)

Georgia is back and she is in fighting form.  She is still down but she is not out and this really is HER story.  Knowing what Georgia has been through, I found myself really wanting her happily-ever-after this book, but as anything with Georgia, it doesn’t come easy.  You know that anything she does has to be the hard way while listening to absolutely no one!

“It’s not gonna be easy.” 

“Nothing worth fighting for ever is.”

The trials and tribulations that she faces again this book would probably make me feel really, really bad if I didn’t enjoy reading about it so much.  God, I love the drama and Lesley brings that in spades.  Tearful gut-wrenching drama seems to be her speciality and she serves it up quite nicely.

“Once again, I’m faced with a scene of complete an utter carnage.  How ironic that that word has come to mean something so much more to me than the name of my husband’s band during my life.”

Anyways,  pull up your big girl panties and read these books if you haven’t.  Go on, I dare you!

“We’ll get our happy ever after.  I promise you that.”

Amie

Buy Them Now

4 Smooches!

Synopsis

After nearly four years with Jeff, everything fell apart. I found myself single, scared, but somehow liberated as well. Rather than stumble into another ill advised relationship, my best friend Sally helped me find focus. I would spend the next few months “finding myself” sexually. That’s how The Rebound List was born.

My journey begins with the first item on my list – a virgin. But it’s not easy to go from squeaky-clean committed girlfriend to wanton sex goddess. Hopefully I’ll have the guts to follow through!

What (or whom) would you do to celebrate your freedom after your first serious relationship breaks down?(

Review

4 Smooches!

Synopsis

When a sexy encounter comes like a dream and leaves like a nightmare…

Brooke Stewart thinks she’s finally safe. After witnessing the crime of a killer, she can move on from her past. But after one night at the Trio Hotel and meeting the sexy stranger with the green eyes that can steal one’s soul, her life is changed forever. Passions run deep. The game is supposed to be for one night with no strings attached.

What she doesn’t know is that the sexy stranger has an agenda of his own. Brooke Stewart has something he desperately wants, something he can’t admit to the woman he tries to get to surrender. A secret so deep it would upend her life if she found out too soon. He’s almost reached his goal, and then she gets a letter she was not meant to read. Suddenly, secrets get a completely new meaning.

Is the past really ever the past?

Review

Ok, so this is my very first JC Reed book and I really liked this story. The writing was really good and the story caught my interest right away.  I pretty much read this short read in only a couple of hours, so I knocked it out in one sitting.

I enjoyed the mystery and suspense a lot in The Lover’s Secret.  From what I can gather, Brooke has been though some super bad stuff lately and thought she was settling down and moving on.  Unfortunately for her, the past has caught up with her future and she now has more questions than answers; leaving her not knowing what to believe.

Oh my goodness, this story was just so twisty and mysterious.  I was literally glued to this book trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  I feel like I would have been better prepared if I had read the Surrender Your Love series because it took me a bit to catch on to what was happening, but I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, because I was really intrigued and couldn’t stop reading until I solved the puzzle.  The author did a great job of filling in the blanks from the Surrender Your Love series but I just have a feeling I would have gotten more out of this book if I had read those first.  Because I wasn’t familiar with the characters, I REALLY didn’t know who to believe or trust and one character’s behaviour really left me intrigued.  I found myself really wanting to hear his point of view.  And the cliffy at the end just made me want to scream.  Mystery unsolved until the next book!!!  AHHH!

~Amie

Buy It Now

Today we are revealing the incredible cover for the upcoming New Adult romance FLY by TA. Foster.

Here is a look at the full jacket.

BOOK SUMMARY:

Not everyone’s good at one-night stands.

Skye Stephens has the worst day of her professional career, and all she wants to do is shed her power suit and get lost in the sheets with the hot guy she met at the bar. The problem is, this uptight ad exec doesn’t know how to do one-night stands. She has strict rules about dating and when to let a man in her bedroom.

Fighter pilot Ben “Bolt” Hardcastle is used to lovin’ and leavin’. But, after he meets Skye, one night doesn’t seem to be enough.

When these two crash-land into each other, a connection strong enough to make the loner pilot and the sexy businesswoman shed their rules about love and relationships begins to burn deeper than either of them ever expected.

AUTHOR BIO:

T.A. Foster met, fell in love with, and married her own Marine fighter pilot. Through deployments, trainings, and sometimes living oceans apart, their own love story continues every day.

She grew up catching rays and waves along the North Carolina Outer Banks and now resides in the state with her husband, two children, and two canine kiddos.

T.A. has an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate degree in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University. When she’s not chasing her two-legged and four-legged children or trying to escape for date night, you can find her reading, writing, or planning her next beach trip.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Blog: http://www.tafosterauthor.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tafosterwriter

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

Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7164289.T_A_Foster

Blurred

a connections novella

by Kim Karr

Synopsis  

The story before the love story….

When he lost the only woman he’d ever loved, it seemed there was nothing left to live for.
Even as a boy, all Ben Covington ever wanted was to spend forever with Dahlia London, the beautiful girl next door…then one life-altering decision tore them apart and he was forced to leave her.
Now, despite having returned to win her back, he’s still alone. She’s with someone else—someone she’s never going to leave.
Resigned to a future without his former girlfriend, Ben numbs his broken heart in a haze of liquor and women. But then the only woman who ever even turned his head while he was with his girl reappears unexpectedly. And he’s never forgotten their one incredible night together. But will Ben’s destructive behavior destroy his future with her before it even begins?

Check out our 5 Smooches Review of Blurred HERE!

BLURRED BUY LINKS: 

➜ Amazon – http://amzn.to/1mCHwQ1

➜ B&N – http://bit.ly/1mmdbbR

➜ iTunes – http://bit.ly/1fOoDVL

GR Link:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19187169-blurred

About The Author

I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I’ve always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.

I wear a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of the family. However, I always find time to read. One of my favorite family outings use to be taking my kids to the bookstore or the library. Today, my oldest child is in college and my twins are juniors so they no longer go with me on these outings. And although I don’t need to go to the actual store anymore because I have the greatest device ever invented—a Kindle, I still do. There’s nothing like a paperback. So now my four year old and I make dates out of going to the bookstore–it’s time I love and cherish.

I like to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. I love to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.

Other Books In The Series

The Connections Series…
** CONNECTED ** 

➜ AMAZON – http://amzn.to/1fDaywN
➜ B&N – http://bit.ly/1eHbT6Q
➜ iTUNES – http://bit.ly/1aOz0vm
➜ Paperback – http://amzn.to/1htrIwY

** TORN ** 

➜ AMAZON – http://amzn.to/18r6puZ
➜ B&N – http://bit.ly/12FBxTc
➜ iTUNES – http://bit.ly/11VLjCa
➜ Paperback – http://amzn.to/1bhRkXT

** DAZED ** 

➜ AMAZON preorder – http://amzn.to/1hwLS9g
➜ B&N preorder – http://bit.ly/1cOoxeO
➜ iTUNES preorder – http://bit.ly/1a4JC3T

** MENDED ** 

➜ AMAZON preorder – http://amzn.to/1ap7Jwn
➜ iTUNES preorder – http://bit.ly/1i9fQkM
➜ B&N preorder – http://bit.ly/1iaTkYS
➜ Paperback preorder – http://amzn.to/1dtnJgJ

Giveaway

We are giving away a paperbook ccopy of Blurred over on our facebook page! Check out the pinned post!
https://www.facebook.com/redcheeksreads

5 Smooches

Synopsis

A Connection Series Novella featuring Ben Covington

The story before the love story….

When he lost the only woman he’d ever loved, it seemed there was nothing left to live for.

Even as a boy, all Ben Covington ever wanted was to spend forever with Dahlia London, the beautiful girl next door…then one life-altering decision tore them apart and he was forced to leave her.

Now, despite having returned to win her back, he’s still alone. She’s with someone else—someone she’s never going to leave.

Resigned to a future without his former girlfriend, Ben numbs his broken heart in a haze of liquor and women. But then the only woman who ever even turned his head while he was with his girl reappears unexpectedly. And he’s never forgotten their one incredible night together. But will Ben’s destructive behavior destroy his future with her before it even begins?

Review

I think I went into Blurred much like anyone who has been reading the Connections Series by Kim Karr, skeptical. I mean how am I supposed to understand and love Ben after some of the stuff that he pulled on Dahlia. I know most of it he did with good intentions but honestly he was not a character I was super excited to read. Now that being said I did not come out of this novella fully loving him and I still do not completely understand him BUT I am super excited to know more in Frayed. This story is not to tell all of Ben’s story but instead getting a chance to look into his past and see him at his darkest helps you feel closer to him even when he is making some awful decisions.

Blurred is told both in the present and flashing back through the past few years. You get to see parts of him at different stages in his story but my favorites are when we get to see Ben and Bell together. I honestly thought it would be hard to see Ben with anyone other than Dahlia but it is clear that although they each served a valuable role in both their lives they are just not meant to be and everyone deserves a chance to be happy, even Ben. Here is where it get tricky, Ben and Bell met in college (yeah when he was with Dahlia) and now years later Dahlia is married to River . . . Bell’s brother. Lordy I love a soap opera story!

While this is not a typical romance read it is a bit of insight into these characters before we all get to delve into the full force love story that I hope will be Frayed. I love this series and with every book I read I love it more and more. While Ben is not easy to love he is so much easier to understand now and I can see that I will be falling for him in Frayed (which I plan on starting as soon as I finish writing this review because I just NEED to know what happens next!) This really is a great novella and anyone who has been reading this series is not going to want to miss out on this story!

~miranda