All posts by Kristin

Royals, Rebounds, and Murder

meme

I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Stacking the Shelves, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

This week seems like it just flew right on by. It’s still been cloudy here, so I haven’t been able to do much on Instagram. However, the Mister and I have been checking out local nurseries in the area. He’s been on the lookout for a specific colored bougainvillea… which he was able to find yesterday! It was the only one they had. Today will be spent checking out other nurseries for a color that will compliment it since he wanted two different colors for the area he has planned. Me on the other hand, I just love going and checking out the houseplant section. I may have obtained five more plants since the last Weekly Wrap-up. It just seems like every time I walk into a nursery, they have one of the hard-to-find plants that I’ve been searching for online. Plus, two of the plants are from a neighbor who gave me her two orchids to nurse back to health. Which I think will be a fun project as well as interesting to see what their flowers will look like.

All of this would be totally fine if we weren’t planning on moving later this summer though. 😬

 

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Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Romance,

The Kiss Quotient
(The Kiss Quotient #1)
by Helen Hoang
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 6, 2018
Genre: Romance
Rating:

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases–a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice–with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan–from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…

 

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Sneak Peek Wednesday: Red by Jessi McPherson

Excerpt, YA Fantasy

Red: A Modern Fairytale Retelling
by Jessi McPherson
Publisher: Zombie Cupcake Press
Publication date: April 4, 2018
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Everyone has read the tale of Little Red Riding Hood… Such a carefree, naïve girl who fell victim to the wolf and had to be saved by the Huntsman. I’d like to set that story straight. It all began with a girl, a curse, and wolf. We all have a hero inside. All it takes is to believe. Cara knew the legends of her village but she never thought she’d become one.

 

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Review: Hooked on You by Kate Meader

Romance,

Hooked On You
(Chicago Rebels #3)
by Kate Meader
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication date: May 29, 2018
Genre: Romance
Rating:

The steamy Chicago Rebels series returns with this racy and sassy tale of embittered hearts, second chances, and going for the goal—on and off the ice.

Violet Vasquez never met her biological father, so learning he left his beloved hockey franchise—the Chicago Rebels—to her is, well, unexpected. Flat broke and close to homeless, Violet is determined to make the most of this sudden opportunity. Except dear old dad set conditions that require she takes part in actually running the team with the half-sisters she barely knows. Working with these two strangers and overseeing a band of hockey-playing lugs is not on her agenda…until she lays eyes on the Rebels captain and knows she has to have him.

Bren St. James has been labeled a lot of things: the Puck Prince, Lord of the Ice, Hell’s Highlander…but it’s the latest tag that’s making headlines: washed-up alcoholic has-been. This season, getting his life back on track and winning the Cup are his only goals. With no time for relationships—except the fractured ones he needs to rebuild with his beautiful daughters—he’s finding it increasingly hard to ignore sexy, all-up-in-his-beard Violet Vasquez. And when he finds himself in need of a nanny just as the playoffs are starting, he’s faced with a temptation he could so easily get hooked on.

For two lost souls, there’s more on the line than just making the best of a bad situation… there might also be a shot at the biggest prize of all: love.

 

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Double the reading, double the fun!

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Stacking the Shelves, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Whoops! I know, I know. I missed last week’s round-up. With the Mister away on business for a week and a half, I sort of lost track of time and my schedule got all mixed up. I also had quite a bit going on which caused me to forget to schedule my posts on time. I was also pretty inactive on Instagram except for sharing stories of what I was up to.

One of the many things I did this past week was I took my dog to the dog beach for the first time ever. He had a blast, and I almost had a heart attack. The dog beach isn’t fenced in and so of course when I took the leash off of him, it took him all of 20 seconds to turn and bolt back towards the busy road. Needless to say, he got hooked back up to his leash (once I caught him), and we walked around the dog beach as a team from that moment on. Never again. 🙄

 

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Review: Infinity by Jus Accardo

YA Sci-fi,

Infinity
(The Infinity Division #1)
by Jus Accardo
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication date: Nov. 1, 2016
Genre: Scifi Young Adult
Rating:

Nobody said being the daughter of an army general was easy. But when her dad sends a teenage subordinate to babysit her while he’s away… That’s taking it a step too far.

Cade, as beautiful as he is deadly, watches Kori with more than just interest. He looks at her like he knows her very soul. And when he saves her from a seemingly random attack, well, that’s when things get weird.

Turns out, Kori’s dad isn’t just an army general—he’s the head of a secret government project that has invented a way to travel between parallel dimensions. Dimensions where there are infinite Koris, infinite Cades…and apparently, on every other Earth, they’re madly in love.

Falling for a soldier is the last thing on Kori’s mind. Especially when she finds herself in a deadly crossfire, and someone from another Earth is hell-bent on revenge…

 

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Sneak Peek Wednesday: The Venerate Order by Troy Dukart

Fantasy

The Venerate Order
by Troy Dukart
Publisher: Creativia
Publication date: Feb. 26, 2018
Genre: Fantasy

Strafe Rocknus has suffered hard losses in his life, but now things are looking up for the college graduate.

He has a sizzling girlfriend, good friends and a bright career ahead of him. But one day, Strafe awakes in a mysterious cavern, discovers an ancient artifact, and unwittingly ignites a war that spans two worlds: his own, and one he never knew existed.

With the abyss of the unknown before him, Strafe enters the swirling darkness. Desperate, he must navigate a new and hostile world on the brink of catastrophe, and learn the truth of who he is, while facing a darkness with the power to destroy everything Strafe has ever cared about.

Soon, he will discover that his greatest strength comes from those he fights for.

 

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Review: Play by Kylie Scott

Romance,

Play
(Stage Dive #2)
by Kylie Scott
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication date: March 25, 2014
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Mal Ericson, drummer for the world famous rock band Stage Dive, needs to clean up his image fast—at least for a little while. Having a good girl on his arm should do the job just fine. Mal doesn’t plan on this temporary fix becoming permanent, but he didn’t count on finding the one right girl.

Anne Rollins never thought she’d ever meet the rock god who plastered her teenage bedroom walls—especially not under these circumstances. Anne has money problems. Big ones. But being paid to play the pretend girlfriend to a wild life-of-the-party drummer couldn’t end well. No matter how hot he is. Or could it?

 

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Review: Luke by Stephanie St. Klaire

Romance

Luke
(Brother’s Keeper #3)
by Stephanie St. Klaire
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: May 10, 2018
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Luke O’Reilly has seen it all, done it all, and lived through it all. When a career ending injury forces him to retire from the military, he struggles to adapt. Luke was born to be a soldier, not conform to the nine-to-five mediocrity of everyday life. He needs to protect and serve like he needs his next breath.

Angry, with a bitter taste of civilian life, he finds himself searching for purpose in dangerous operatives through the family business that is Brother’s Keeper Security. Working alongside his brothers, protecting them and those they love, gives him satisfaction. But he still wants more – needs more – and struggles to find it. That is, until the one thing he didn’t think he was searching for, lands on his doorstep. Literally.

Daisy King lives life on her own terms, just the way she likes it. A free spirit, until she finds herself in the protective clutches of Brother’s Keeper, one frustrating brother in particular. As the key witness to a high-profile murder, the stakes turn dangerous and take an unpredictable twist leaving her once simple life an existence she’ll never reclaim.

In a true tug of war between good and evil, Luke fights to overcome his past, to protect his future. Can Luke and Daisy save each other and find a happily ever after? Or, does murder and mayhem prevail, robbing Daisy of her freedom and sentencing Luke to a life alone?

 

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Sneak Peek Wednesday: The Harper Effect by Taryn Bashford

Excerpt, YA Contemporary, YA Romance

The Harper Effect
by Taryn Bashford
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Publication date: May 15, 2018
Genre: Young Adult Romance

Sixteen-year-old Harper was once a rising star on the tennis court–until her coach dropped her for being “mentally weak.” Without tennis, who is she? Her confidence at an all-time low, she secretly turns to her childhood friend, next-door neighbor Jacob–who also happens to be her sister’s very recent ex-boyfriend. If her sister finds out, it will mean a family war.

But when Harper is taken on by a new coach who wants her to train with Colt, a cold, defensive, brooding young tennis phenom, she hits the court all the harder, if only to prove Colt wrong. But as the two learn to become a team, Harper gets glimpses of the vulnerable boy beneath the surface, the boy who was deeply scarred by his family’s dark and scandalous past. The boy she could easily find herself falling for.

As she walks a fine line between Colt’s secrets, her forbidden love, and a game that demands nothing but the best, Harper must decide between her past and her future and between two boys who send her head spinning. Is the cost of winning the game worth losing everything?

 

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