3 Smooches

Synopsis

Two ballroom superstars from different corners of the world. Former best friends now sworn bitter rivals.

Salomé
The dance I choreographed won an Emmy—but someone else claimed it.
The man I loved just got engaged—but another woman is wearing his ring.
I’m the reigning world champion ballroom dancer—but I’m not “TV material.”
I’m too curvy.
I’m too short.
I’m too real.
Fuck Hollywood.
I’m no longer hiding behind the wings. I’m no longer letting people steal my life.
I’m ready for my turn in the spotlight—no matter what the consequences.

Vika
I left my country, my home, my language, my heart.
For a chance to have a life in America—live without prejudice and pain.
For freedom, I’ve given my heart and soul.
Love now means nothing to me but success and security.
Until I met him—the long haired rock and roll drummer with a boyish grin.
True love and acceptance will destroy everything I’ve worked for.
I’m ready for my chance for happiness – no matter what the consequences.

Review

If you are a fan of the show “Dancing with the Stars”, then this is the book for you! “Waltz on the Wild Side” is pretty much a behind the scenes play by play of the ballroom dancing competition. The book alternates POV between Salome and Vika, former best friends and now bitter rivals. After years of competing in the ballroom circuit, they now go head to head on network television. Salome has always been the underdog of the dance world. Too short and too heavy, she is constantly overlooked despite her talent. Ever since coming to America from Ukraine, Vika has had to fight to get to the top and she has not always followed the rules to get there. Her marriage to a man more than twice her age has been amazing for her career but she isn’t happy. During a season of “Dancing Under the Stars”, both of their lives will change forever.

This book started slowly for me. The main focus of the story is the two girls and the male characters really take a secondary role. Both Salome and Vika are pretty flawed and I had an especially hard time with Vika, although, she does redeem herself a bit in the end. I felt a real lack of romance and by about the 60% mark there wasn’t much in sight. In spite of the slow start, the story does pick up and there is enough drama to keep the pages turning. This is definitely not a steamy romance but more of a chick-lit, tongue-in-cheek look at the ballroom dance/reality show world.

Dana

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Synopsis

Thrust into a reality that should be myth, Honor does what she has to do to survive. Some things are easy to say goodbye to. Others things, like her very being, are not so easy to let go of. And when she does, what then? What will she become? As Honor fights to remain unaltered when everything around her, including her, has been, she is met with adversaries and champions. Ryder, Christian, Nealon—they all have a goal. Only Honor doesn’t know if their goals coincide with hers, or Superior August’s and the UDK society. One thing she does know: the world isn’t big enough for all of them.

Review

Hope. Defiance. Right vs Wrong. Reaching potential. Losing control. Giving up. Submitting. The second installment of the Anything But…series, Unremarkable, is riddled with good vs bad. It’s filled with people doing what they perceive is the right thing, and yet are thwarted and end up doing the wrong. The relationships between the characters are strained, they are coming to a head, they appear to be self-destructing. The one thing that Honor has learned and kept with her from Isaac, is that she should always do what she knows is right. Her sense of right and wrong are tested, drastically, and you can’t help but feel for her. In the situations that are thrust upon her, it’s hard to imagine her taking different action. Superior August is a mad man, a psycho with a Frankenstein complex and he pushes Honor to extremes. Little by little he strips away everything that has ever meant anything to her, thus leaving a killing machine. Deep down, Honor knows what is right and what is wrong. I’m anxious to see how the good in her and the good in all the characters will prevail and rise up against the villain, Superior August.

This book has you preparing for war. The rise of the ‘lesser’ beings, both the UDs and UDKs promises to be an eventful one. More stand-up characters are introduced, thus enriching to story even more. The fight for right is so strong, it tears at your heart, making you want to strangle the characters into doing your bidding. To me, that’s the mark of a great novel; one that you can picture yourself infiltrating and joining forces with the heroes. This series is so much fun. It is different to what I’m used to reading, however not so different from what I am used to watching on TV and movies. I love villain vs hero movies. I love right vs wrong and Lindy has created a world so rich in these unmistakable truths that you feel as though you are living it.

I will say, there are some scenes that will make you scream out in protest and disbelief, but don’t let that stop you! I can’t wait for more Honor and her transformation.

5 BRILLIANT smooches

~Nicole

**Congratulations to Lindy for having this series, the Anything But series, picked up by a publisher! On that note, Ordinary is not available at this time for e-book purchase. As soon as it is, we will load a link so you can buy.

Synposis

Synopsis

Loneliness suffocates the heart. Acceptance breaks down walls.
As a Lost Girl to the Forsaken Motorcycle Club, Nicole Whelan knows how to party. She’s not cut-out for relationships and her life is way too complicated for anything more than casual encounters. But one night when she falls into Duke’s bed at the clubhouse, he sees something in her that he can’t let go of—no matter how many times she tries to run.
Having been left to raise her teenage brother, Jeremy, she’s already got her hands full and isn’t looking for anymore complications. But Duke’s just watched his best friend fall for the only girl he couldn’t have, and then almost lose her so shortly after, shaking him to his core. Faced with his own loneliness, he’s more determined than ever to break down Nic’s walls and show her that he can be good for her; but he’s got a bad track record and she’s got a bad temper. Changing his ways isn’t easy when he’s not sure what he’s even changing for.
The violence and turmoil are at an all-time high, and Forsaken is in a vulnerable place when a twist of fate breathes new life into the club. It’s a much-needed beacon of hope for the embattled biker family, even if everyone’s not exactly on board. With Duke and Nic’s relationship already on shaky ground, and something even more important at stake, the Forsaken Motorcycle Club will fight like hell to keep their family together and whole.

Love is never more precious than when it’s new.

Review

Another home run by JC Emery, Thrash is a wonderful story about love and acceptance. Set in the background of the turmoil surrounding getting Alex protection, unfolds the story of Nicole and Duke. Nic is what is referred to as a Lost Girl. Someone who is in the club, but doesn’t have an Old Man. However, this isn’t really right. Nic’s father is Forsaken and she has been around the Club for pretty much her whole life. She did open herself up to being branded a Lost Girl since she loves to party, but I got a sense throughout the story and her relationships with the Club members, that the title doesn’t belong to her.

Nic is beautiful and struggling. Struggling to keep her seventeen year old brother on the right track. Struggling to keep food in the house. Struggling even with her car and her house is falling apart. She has a lot of pride and ambition, but she is at a point in her life where she needs to accept help.

In walks Duke. He has been a part of her life for a long, long time. Nic liked him even all the way back in high school, but they never took things very far. They would flirt, but nothing serious. The beginning of Thrash sparks the beginning of Duke and Nic. He has always wanted her, and yet never made a real move. She has always wanted to explore him, and still held herself back. There is no more holding back.

Their relationship is explosive and a little dysfunctional. Communication is key to any relationship and they struggle with this a bit. Nic is too proud to admit she needs help, with pretty much everything in her life, and Duke is embarrassed that  Forsaken hasn’t taken care of one of it’s own. He is strong willed, but so is she. Fireworks are inevitable.

I loved how Thrash, the second book in the series, is generally in the same time frame as the first, Ride. Ride is the story of Ryan and Alex and it’s very intense. Duke and Nic’s story is more emotional, and about finally letting your heart open to what you really want. Letting love in, it’s cheesy to say about an MC book, but there it is. Duke and Nic just finally needed to let go of the angst and admit they want each other, for better or for worse.

Thrash is HOT and sexy. I cannot wait for more of the Forsaken crew.

5 big ol’ smacking smooches!

~Nicole

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Synopsis

Death comes in Armani. Salvation comes in leather.
Principessa to the Mancuso crime family, Alexandra knows a thing or two about living outside the bounds of the law. Suffocated by the future her father has laid out for her, she makes a choice she can’t take back, changing the entire trajectory of her life.
Thrust into the dark and dangerous world of the Forsaken Motorcycle Club for her own protection, Alex finds herself faced with the last thing she needs right now: the man of her dreams. He’s sex in leather, the devil incarnate, and one hell of a kisser. But he’s also off-limits. Ryan Stone can be her friend, but he’s forbidden to be her lover.
Third-generation Forsaken, Ryan knows nothing other than life on two wheels, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He enjoys the many privileges that come with the patch, and the only laws he recognizes are the ones set-forth by his club. That is, until who he wants more than anything isn’t allowed on the back of his bike —or in his bed. Balancing his desire for her body, and need to keep her safe, Ryan tries to keep Alex at a distance. Finally having made a choice for herself, she’s done hearing the word “no” and will push boundaries even Ryan himself doesn’t dare cross.
Love is never more tempting than when it’s forbidden.

Review

JC Emery takes you on a ride through the dangerous relationships surrounding Mafia and MC life. The parallels made between the two lives are quite astonishing. I guess I never matched those together in my mind. Alexandra Mancuso is a Principessa: a mafia princess darling. At the beginning of Ride, her life dramatically changes due to her innocence. She did one thing wrong, she talked about family business to a stranger. This leads her to finding her true self, her true love and her true life.

Ryan Stone is a total jackass, a dickhead. He is very rough around the edges. He only ever does what he wants, without any real regard for feelings and consequences. But when he meets Alex in person, after hearing all about her for years, he is struck. Struck by her beauty, and her innocence and the wild streak he senses just below the surface.  He has a hard time coming to realize that she has him by the balls. He fights it until the very, very end. Even then, he doesn’t want to admit just how much she means to him.

Ride is a wonderful story about finding your place in the world and leaning on those that truly love you, that truly have your back no matter what. Alex’s sheltered life she led with her Mafia father primed her for a life of obedience. Ryan’s abandonment by his mother and subsequent life with his step-mom and his father led him to value true love, but keep it at a distance. Conflicted is a good word to describe them. They both know what they want, each other, on such a visceral level, and yet they do everything to fuck it up. Finally though, at the very end, Alex makes her move and Ryan can’t resist once danger hits her between the eyes.

This is a must read MC series!

4.5 FANTASTIC smooches!

~Nicole

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5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Mia Lee has a secret…

A secret she’s kept hidden since she was eight years old, however, Mia will no longer allow that secret to define her.

An irrevocable decision has left Mia Lee a fugitive and on the run—a circumstance that should leave her weak and scared, yet Mia has never felt so alive.

Under the pseudonym of Paige Cassidy, Mia is ready to live the life she’s never had, and she’s determined not to allow her tainted past dictate her promising future.

Paige is on a Greyhound bus heading from L.A. to South Boston, Virginia, to start a new life. A life that includes finding her mother, who abandoned her at age three. But what she finds, is four people, who will change her life forever.

Yet no one can outrun their past…

Especially one filled with bitter memories, which refuse to remain hidden.

Review

This is a story about Mia…well really it’s about the person she has to become thanks to her old life and her journey as she runs from her past.

Mia has had an awful start to life and when she has to make a decision between life and death, she chooses life but knows she can no longer remain the girl she once was and instead she renames herself Paige and runs away from her old life. She expects not to stay too long in where she’s settled temporarily but soon finds herself surround by 4 people who become to feel like family to her. Unfortunately for Paige, her life as Mia catches up to her and has devastating consequences.

“Well here’s to new beginnings. Cause’ the past fucking sucked”

Wow…what a story. Right from the start I was hooked. The prologue itself literally grabs hold of you straight away and from that point on I was already desperate to know what had happened and what would happen to this beautiful broken girl.

“But most of all, I see a survivor”

The characters were brilliant. From Paige’s strength, courage, bravery and kindness, to Quinn’s bad boy persona that is hiding a broken young man who still manages to be kind and sexy. With Tristan’s charm and how chivalrous he is and Tabitha’s quirky, happy and delicate personality. And finally Hank, (grandpa) who is the kindest old soul I’ve ever read… this book had a wealth of characters you couldn’t help but fall in love with.

“My skin feels like it’s being torn open, bleeding out wanton need with  his gentle touch”

Then the plot which was both suspenseful and beautiful. Starting off with Mia’s journey as she becomes Paige and starts her new life and the way each person becomes someone she starts to see as family, then onto her flashbacks and dreams which leads us to finding out why she is running, and then knowing deep down that her past will catch up to her and that it’s just a matter of time before everything explodes in front of Paige! The ending was so fast paced and honestly quite devastating leaving me desperate for the next book.

“Can you give me everything, even though you know I will push you until you’re ready to break?”

This was a captivating, quite heart-felt read that hooked me in right from the start and didn’t let me go once. It was sad, it was beautiful, it was tense, it was funny… A brilliant story which held my attention in such a way that I couldn’t put it down. It’s left me desperately wanting the next book praying that it doesn’t end in disaster for not only Paige/Mia but all the others as well.

“We’re both broken, attempting to become unbroken, but somehow, together, we fit.”

Bethany

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4.5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Northern was supposed to be a fresh start—a place where people didn’t know who I was or how I had spent years in and out of mental institutes. People didn’t know about my parents death or the island no one heard of. But when Peter sits next to me in lit class, I can’t stop the memories, and I don’t want to. He looks too much like the boy from the island, and despite my best intentions, coaxes my secrets from me.

He’s gorgeous, irresistible, a little mad, and completely lost—we are a pair of broken cogs in a world neither of us truly fits into. He is somehow gentle and fierce, heartbreaking in his devotion and savage in his defense.

When Belle, his best friend, shows up, pale and lovely and sick, Peter pulls away from me, a startling withdrawal. It’s a relationship that scares and confuses me. She is at times warm and friendly, and other times is violent and unpredictable.

Peter says that he wants me, but refuses to let himself get close. And there are secrets, surrounding both of us, that border on nightmares. As the memories close in, as Belle gets sicker and more violent, I’m torn between what is true and what I believe, and what this magical boy knows about my mysterious past.

Review

Gwendolyn Barrie is the heiress to Barrie Enterprises. One tragic childhood event, a possible stay on an unknown island, and an admission to an insane asylum has dealt this poor girl an awful hand. She is given one chance to prove herself to her family and Gwen has such a fight about her. She will not stand to have others doubt her even when she doubts herself.Gwen is driven to not be labeled as a crazy and one day proving herself worthy to run her father’s company. Now not every female lead can be invincible but the struggles she undergoes just made me love her even more. I felt for Gwendolyn, I wanted others to believe her, I wanted the underdog to persevere!
I was glued and drawn in from the beginning and it was all thanks to the the writing style of Nazarea. I read this book in ONE DAY! I had to finish the book even if I had to read at my kids baseball practice or late into the evening. The character connection was instantaneous. I would recommend this book to those that love a book that tickles your imagination. It’s so easy to fall for the billionaire, fighter, biker, rockstar but did you ever think of falling in love with someone you may have already met? When everyone tells you that they couldn’t possibly exist?
I loved this book because I kept this ongoing battle in my mind of: Is this true? Could this have really happened? Can she really be fine? Nazarea will want you begging for more after completing this book, I am now researching other books she’s written to add to my TBR list. 4.5 smooches for Girl Lost by Nazarea Andrews!

Sarah

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