It was supposed to be a weekend of holiday cheer. Just me and my twin sister, watching Christmas movies and baking cookies. My brother was absolutely not supposed to show up with half the football team. Including Teddy. My brother’s best friend and my secret crush. I’m the shy sister. The one with her nose stuck in a book and quoting every word of Elf, not the one getting attention from guys like Teddy. He’s cool and smart and so handsome I could die. The only thing that could make things worse is if I got snowed in with him. Alone.
Sneaking Around with the Player
It was supposed to be a quick conversation with a cute boy at the airport while I dodged my ex and his new girlfriend. We weren’t supposed to trade numbers. He wasn’t supposed to be a football player. And I definitely wasn’t supposed to fall for him since he’s attending a college a thousand miles away. I saw past his jersey. And he saw past my last name. Now it’s semester break, and by some Christmas miracle, he’s going to be close. So close. I want to meet him again, but there’s just one problem. My older brother can’t, under any circumstances, find out I’m dating his rival.
Rebecca Jenshak is a USA Today bestselling author of new adult and sports romance. She writes sexy, feel-good stories with lots of swoon-worthy moments.
Rebecca lives in Arizona. When she isn’t writing, you can find her cheering on local sports teams, hanging out with friends and family, or curled up with a good book.
Annika Martin’s Billionaires series is truly one of my current favorite series to read and re-read. To say I was thrilled about the publication of Butt-Dialing the Billionaire would be an understatement!
Jada has been a minor character in the previous books, one of the friend group who supports the main female character. It’s now her turn to shine. Jade takes her job at SportGoCo very seriously as head designer. Unfortunately, it seems like someone wants the company to fail. Her boss, Bert, is doing everything in his power to make sure sales tank. Then he has the audacity to hire one of the most lazy men Jada has ever met. Jack Smith is insolent and doesn’t seem to care about his job at all. It’s one more sign in Jada’s mind that something is going wrong at the company.
“Jack Smith” is not just any lazy employee. He is actually the billionaire owner of the company and he is determined to figure out who mocked him on a company-wide call. Jaxon doesn’t have a lot of positives in his life. His parents just died but he isn’t mourning. They were not good people. His racing career is over because of a fight. Now, basically for giggles, he is going to find out who mocked him and fire this person. He knows it isn’t Jada though. She is too stodgy and by the book to ever break a rule.
Jada is in fact the person who mocked Jack on the phone call. He was supposed to have already hung up! SportyGoCo used to be a super fun place to work. She was just trying to bring a little joy back to her fellow coworkers, people she considers family. She definitely didn’t expect to meet Jack. She is not impressed…at first. As Jada shows Jack every day, theirs really is a family and a company worth saving. Even hard-hearted Jack is starting to see that. But with his disguise still firmly in place, how will he tell Jada the truth about his initial intentions without losing her permanently?
Annika Martin always makes me laugh. Her new book is both strong in laughs and heart. It was really nice to see more of Jada and what drives her. She is passionate about clothing work. I really enjoyed seeing her in action with her coworkers as they worked with different zippers for their Unicorn Wonderbag. It was very frustrating to see Bert step in and ruin things so often!
I loved the chemistry between Jada and Jack. He thinks she is a boring rule-follower. He soon discovers that Jada is passionate about her work and the people she works with. She is earnest about showing him the good things in the company even if he is unwilling to appreciate them. But soon even Jack is caught up in trying to help SportyGoCo succeed, not realizing just how deeply the rot extends to its potential failure.
Jack begins as somewhat of a stereotypical bad boy rebel who did everything to annoy his parents. They were not nice people as you’ll see when you read. He wanted to cause them annoyance and well, he succeeded. But with them gone, now he just wants to sell off the company. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as it seems to do that. And then he meets Jada who he connects with. Theirs is a very sexy and very fun relationship. I wanted to see them happy together even though I knew some heartbreak had to be coming.
Butt-Dialing the Billionaire reads very easily as a stand-alone title, but I have a feeling once you read this you’ll want to read more of the series if you haven’t yet. With her signature humor and sexy love scenes, Annika Martin has another delicious romance romp on her hands that will please readers from beginning to end.
Butt-dialing the Billionaire by Annika Martin is now live!
It was just some silly fun. A goofy imitation of the faceless mega-billionaire who owns our faceless international mega-corporation.
And yes, there was laughter. Possibly a few hoots and screams.
How was I to know that Dave from accounting had sat on the speakerphone, butt-dialing said mega-billionaire? Or that he’d listen to me make fun of him for ten straight minutes.
Ummm…he could’ve announced himself!
They say he’s a notorious rake. A paparazzi-punching scoundrel. An international jet-set bad boy.
And now I hear he’s determined to track down the jokester. Me.
Eep!
But we’re tight like family in this office—no way will my co-workers rat me out, in spite of the pressure from the top. Plus, who brings the cookies? Moi!
Things die down after a few months, and I’m pretty sure I’m safe.
Thank goodness, because I have my hands full with our lazy, arrogant new office gopher. He has the worst work ethic I’ve ever seen—how did he even get hired? He doesn’t know how to work a vending machine, and he’s baffled when we send around a card to be signed for somebody’s birthday. It’s as if he’s never set foot in a place of business in his life.
But little by little, we’re drawing closer. He’s funny. Sexy. Wicked. Still, he’s all wrong for me. I like respectable men with a work ethic.
Also, I can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something…
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo!
Annika Martin is a NYT bestselling author who loves reading fun, steamy books, doing yoga, taking pictures of my cats, rocking out to 90’s music, taking long baths, consuming See’s chocolate suckers, mooning over heroes’ hands, and helping animals. She can be found hanging out in Minneapolis coffee shops with her awesome writer husband and tending her crazy bee-friendly garden. She has also written as RITA award-winning author Carolyn Crane.
Off the Record by Annmarie Boyle is out now! Check out the release festivities and be sure to get your copy today!
Title: Off the Record
Author: Annmarie Boyle
Genre: Contemporary Romance
About Off the Record:
Ever since the day her life flipped upside down, Bridget Hayes obeys a carefully crafted plan. And it works. Or it did. Until the night of her brother’s wedding, when she throwsout all her rules—in spectacular fashion and finds herself in bed with one of her brother’s bandmates. What had she been thinking? She caved to the one thing she can’t control—her longtime crush on a tall, charismatic, ginger of a man . . . who also happens to BE ONE OF HER BROTHER’S BEST FRIENDS.
Blake Kelly knows two things for sure: happily-ever-after is a myth and Bridget Hayes is risk personified. Doesn’t matter that he’s been attracted to her since her brother uttered the words, “Meet my sister.” Getting close to her could blow up the band. And the band is his family. He can’t risk it . . . no matter how much he wants a repeat performance.
Armed with a pact—tell no one—they return to their regularly scheduled lives. Because in a city of nine million people, what are the chances they’ll bump into each other anytime soon?
Nada. Zip. Zilch.
That is, until a rescue pup named Destiny turns out to be less dog and more cupid in a fur coat.
OFF THE RECORD is the third book in the award-winning Storyhill Musicians series.
Mix two secret crushes, a splash of sports romance, and the complications of dating your brother’s best friend and you have this witty steamy contemporary romance about two people figuring out if the risk is worth the reward.
“Blake, I need you to pick up Bridget at the airport.”
A shiver ran down Blake’s spine at the mention of Andrew’s sister. And not the cold kind. The so-warm-if-you’re-not-careful-you-might-get-burned kind. “You want me to pick up Bridget?” Andrew had spent years discouraging Blake’s interaction with his sister—loudly.
“Not really.” Andrew grimaced. “But everyone else already has an assigned task, and Grace promised to make our wedding night very boring if I let my little sister take an Uber.”
“Little” was an interesting way to describe Bridget Hayes. At thirty-four years old, six feet tall, and one of the youngest basketball executives in the league, little would be the last word Blake would choose. Stunning or accomplished seemed better places to start.
Andrew scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Just remember—”
Blake blew out a breath. “Yeah, yeah, she’s off limits. I heard you the first hundred times.”
“I was going to say it takes her some extra time to get from the gate to baggage claim. She’s still, um, fragile.”
Little and now “fragile?” Had Andrew paid any attention to his sister over the past decade? Ten years was a long time to still be treating her like she might break. But maybe he shouldn’t judge, he didn’t have any siblings, didn’t have any first-hand experience with family dynamics.
“But, Blake,” Andrew said, pushing a finger into Blake chest. “What you said, too.”
Nick picked up the tray of favors and chuckled. “Don’t worry Andrew, gingers are very few people’s cup of tea.”
“I think you got some bad data, my friend.” Blake ran a hand down his chest and winked. “Red heads are the world’s unicorns and who couldn’t use a little more magic in their life?”
My love affair with words has spanned a lifetime. I raced to high school English class and left home in pursuit of a degree in Journalism. I have been lucky enough to write copy for Fortune 500 companies and charities like the Ronald McDonald House. For nearly a decade, I owned my own communications company, and now, with the publication of the Storyhill Musicians series, my dreams of being a fiction author have come true. And I hope I can spend the rest of my days dreaming up stories.
Well. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to review anything. My reader’s block this year has been just awful. I have been mostly doing re-reading which I love, don’t get me wrong, but I definitely want to give new books their due also. For whatever reason, I just haven’t been able to really engage with newer materials.
Except! These two books which I thoroughly enjoyed. First up is Storm Echo by Nalini Singh. This is another book in her long-running Psy-Changeling series. It features changeling Lei and Psy Ivan. Theirs is a beautiful mix of a rather gray world with a colorful, vibrant world. Ivan never expected to meet someone like Lei and then something happens and well, he is shaken to his core. This book helps to propel the larger storyline along too. I was quite impressed with how Ivan’s powers manifested. Reading the description was rather chilling to me honestly! And Lei, I liked her. Her warmth and love of family leaps off the page at every turn. She has some misconceptions about things in her past that will take communication to get past but she puts the work in.
Lei and Ivan’s connection was simply electric and vulnerable to me. Once I started the book, I could not put it down. This remains a huge credit to Nalini Singh and her talent because again, I can barely read any new books in 2022. It’s been an abysmal year for reading for me. I really cannot rave enough about Storm Echo and the powerful love story at its center. It brought to mind some of my favorite Psy romances (Brenna and Judd in particular, though they have a very different story). I’m glad Nalini takes such care with her stories because they remain one a book series I look forward to each year and re-read quite often.
My next book that I have loved this year is Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. So, I am kind of obsessed with all things NASA. I am a very big fan of the Apple tv show, For All Mankind. I LOVE Emma Barry’s historical romance series, Fly Me To the Moon, which focuses on astronauts and other people involved in space. Well, add Love On the Brain to my to re-read list. Ali Hazelwood won me over instantly with The Love Hypothesis so to say I was thrilled and excited to read this book would be a massive understatement. I was EXCITED. Like Taylor Swift putting out a new album level of excited. Fortunately for me, my excitement turned out to be good.
Levi and Bee are two big science people looking to make a difference in the world. Unfortunately, they butt heads big time at NASA. Bee and Levi are in a love-hate style relationship and sometimes this trope works for me big time. This case? Definitely worked. I enjoyed their chemistry and even their miscommunications that made me want to bang my head sometimes. There is something very sexy to me about this style of relationship but it definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. I also love all the pink on the cover.
I want to thank the publisher for giving me access to early galleys of these books and for not yelling at me every day via email when I didn’t have a review ready. I am very, very rusty at writing at this time.
They HAVE to stop meeting like this. After a disastrous meet-cute turns into repeated meetings, a flighty free-spirit and a stodgy rule-follower come to realize that one they can’t get away from … is the one they can’t live without.
You Again by Lauren Layne is now live!
Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Austin just wants what any modern, commitment-phobic woman in New York wants: a no-strings-attached hook-up, steamy enough to brag about over mimosas the next morning. What she doesn’t want is her dating app’s latest suggestion: preppy, corporate Thomas Decker. So, obviously, she rejects the guy without a second thought. There’s just one snag: he’s sitting next to her, so he witnessed her do it. And now he’s calling her out.
After the initial embarrassment, Mac is determined not to let it bother her, but Fate has other plans – and Thomas isn’t going anywhere. First, he pops up as her new boss. And then he reappears as her best friend’s soon-to-be brother-in-law.
As the not-so meet cutes add up, Mac is sure that uptight Thomas is the last man that a free-spirit like her should want. Only the more time she spends with him, the more Mac realizes that the man she can’t get away from has become the same one that she wants to keep close…
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo!
Lauren Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of romantic fiction. Her books have sold millions of copies, been translated into more than a dozen languages. Lauren has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Glamour, The Wall Street Journal, and Inside Edition. She lives with her high school sweetheart in New York City.
I didn’t mean to say I was engaged to a hot billionaire–it just slipped out.
TEASE, an all new steamy fake engagement, small town romantic comedy from USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melanie Harlow, is now available!
I didn’t mean to say I was engaged to a hot billionaire–it just slipped out.
In my defense, I’d had a really bad haircut, a really strong drink, and I was trying to save face in front of the Mean Girl at my high school reunion.
Lucky for me, I happen to know a hot billionaire. Hutton French and I have been friends forever, and even though big social gatherings are not his thing, I called him from the coat closet and begged him for a favor–show up and play my fake fiancé for the night.
Except that word of our engagement spreads like wildfire. Our families are ecstatic. We’re front page news. My little food blog is launched into the stratosphere.
Of course, I offer to set the record straight right away, but Hutton wants to give it a little time–the phony engagement will keep his matrimony-mad mother and every matchmaking granny in town off his back.
He even suggests I move in with him to make the ruse more real.
And we don’t stop there.
We practice kissing. Undressing each other. Saying things–and doing things–we’d never dare if we weren’t pretending. Because it’s all for show, right? We’re just role-playing. Hutton doesn’t want a real relationship, and I don’t want to get hurt. But the more time we spend faking it, the more I start to wonder.
Could Hutton French and I actually be right for each other, or is it all just one big tease?
About Melanie Harlow USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she’s not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like Ted, Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and Fleabag. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak.
Melanie is the author of the BELLAMY CREEK series, the CLOVERLEIGH FARMS series, the ONE & ONLY series, AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, and the FRENCHED series. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
TEASE, an all new billionaire, fake engagement, small town romantic comedy from USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melanie Harlow is coming July 11th, and we have the delicious cover!
I didn’t mean to say I was engaged to a hot billionaire–it just slipped out.
In my defense, I’d had a really bad haircut, a really strong drink, and I was trying to save face in front of the Mean Girl at my high school reunion.
Lucky for me, I happen to know a hot billionaire. Hutton French and I have been friends forever, and even though big social gatherings are not his thing, I called him from the coat closet and begged him for a favor–show up and play my fake fiancé for the night.
Except that word of our engagement spreads like wildfire. Our families are ecstatic. We’re front page news. My little food blog is launched into the stratosphere.
Of course, I offer to set the record straight right away, but Hutton wants to give it a little time–the phony engagement will keep his matrimony-mad mother and every matchmaking granny in town off his back.
He even suggests I move in with him to make the ruse more real.
And we don’t stop there.
We practice kissing. Undressing each other. Saying things–and doing things–we’d never dare if we weren’t pretending. Because it’s all for show, right? We’re just role-playing. Hutton doesn’t want a real relationship, and I don’t want to get hurt. But the more time we spend faking it, the more I start to wonder.
Could Hutton French and I actually be right for each other, or is it all just one big tease?
Cover designer: Hang Le @byhangle Photographer: Michelle Lancaster @lanefotograf
About Melanie Harlow USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she’s not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like Ted, Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and Fleabag. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak.
Melanie is the author of the BELLAMY CREEK series, the CLOVERLEIGH FARMS series, the ONE & ONLY series, AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, and the FRENCHED series. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
THE LOVE LIST by Elana Johnson is out now! Check out the gorgeous second chance summer romance and get your copy of the series today!
Title: The Love List
Author: Elana Johnson
Genre: Beach Romance
About The Love List:
Beatrice Callahan loves lists. Sometimes she even makes a to-do list of things she’s already done, just to go check, check, check and feel accomplished. So it’s easy to understand why, when her divorce is finally final and her ex is all moved out, Bea takes a cool, close look at her life…and makes a list.
It’s not exactly a bucket list.
It’s a love list.
Bea loves the outdoors, so she puts visit 10 National Parks on the list.
She loves animals, and on goes get a puppy.
She loves the beach, and she adds take a dream vacation to the list, and decides to do that one first. After all she’s been through and all she’s lost, she needs time to relax, rest, and reset.
On the first day she arrives in Hilton Head Island, she meets Grant Turner, the man whose house she’s renting for her fabulous beach vacation. He’s just there to make sure she settles in properly and has enough towels.
But when Bea asks for recommendations around the island, Grant quickly becomes her tour guide and then a friend and then…more than friends.
Bea turns to her lists when things get confusing and her love list morphs once again… Can she add fall in love at age 45 to the list and check it off?
She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of ALLi and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer’s conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.
Birdie Yamamoto has lived in a fantasy world for as long as she can remember.
When she was a young child, she buried herself in comic books. As a teenager, she created stories of her own. Now she has her dream job, as a series writer for Suffra-Jette — her very own comic.
Atticus Cohen has perfected the art of pretending to be someone he’s not.
The rising Hollywood actor lands the role of a lifetime – a lead in the latest big budget superhero movie: Suffra-Jette. The rigorous workouts, grueling schedule, and relentless press are all things he expects when he takes the job.
What he doesn’t expect is comic creator, Birdie Yamamoto, to have an opinion about everything he says or does.
When word spreads about the trouble on set, fans of the beloved comic begin to worry about the outcome of the movie.
Birdie and Atticus may not always be on the same page, but they both want the movie to succeed. So when Birdie’s best friend suggests they pretend to date to save the movie, they agree.
After all, it’s just a publicity stunt to spin the bad press.
When she’s not writing, Dee can be found stalking The Royal Family, reading Marvel comics, or harassing her husband to reach something on the top shelf.
THE LOVE LIST by Elana Johnson is coming May 17th! Check out the gorgeous second chance summer romance and pre-order your copy of the series today!
Title: The Love List
Genre: Clean beach romance
Release Date: May 17th
About The Love List:
Beatrice Callahan loves lists. Sometimes she even makes a to-do list of things she’s already done, just to go check, check, check and feel accomplished. So it’s easy to understand why, when her divorce is finally final and her ex is all moved out, Bea takes a cool, close look at her life…and makes a list.
It’s not exactly a bucket list.
It’s a love list.
Bea loves the outdoors, so she puts visit 10 National Parks on the list.
She loves animals, and on goes get a puppy.
She loves the beach, and she adds take a dream vacation to the list, and decides to do that one first. After all she’s been through and all she’s lost, she needs time to relax, rest, and reset.
On the first day she arrives in Hilton Head Island, she meets Grant Turner, the man whose house she’s renting for her fabulous beach vacation. He’s just there to make sure she settles in properly and has enough towels.
But when Bea asks for recommendations around the island, Grant quickly becomes her tour guide and then a friend and then…more than friends.
Bea turns to her lists when things get confusing and her love list morphs once again… Can she add fall in love at age 45 to the list and check it off?
She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of ALLi and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer’s conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.
Treat Yourself with Books 