Promoting and reviewing romance novels one book at a time
Author: professorromance
I teach students to write for college. I love to read writers who write romance. Why not review and promote the writing of people who love to write romance? Win-win for me
A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of more than three dozen titles, Kendall Ryan has sold millions of books and they have been translated into several languages in countries around the world.
Her books have also appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists more than 100 times. Ryan has been featured in such publications as USA Today, Newsweek, and InTouch Magazine.
Or at least I thought I was, until my formula fell apart. Back home in Vermont, with my dream on hiatus, I’m working at the Busy Bean and taking online classes. As long as I keep my focus, I’ll be back in New York City next semester. Hopefully.
When Declan O’Shaughnessy storms into the café, all muscles and tattoos, wielding his sexy Irish brogue like a weapon, the only equation I can solve is one that lands me in his bed. Even more dangerous is my growing affection for his cherub-faced little boy.
But Declan has complications of his own. He’s cagey, but I’ll win him over.
Yeah, about that focus… mine is all on him. Can we have a harmless fling without getting hurt?
K Webster is a USA Today Bestselling author. Her titles have claimed many bestseller tags in numerous categories, are translated in multiple languages, and have been adapted into audiobooks. She lives in “”Tornado Alley”” with her husband, two children, and her baby dog named Blue. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and researching aliens.
You can easily find K Webster on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads!
Can’t find a certain book? Maybe it’s too hot for Amazon! Don’t worry because titles like Bad Bad Bad, This is War, Baby, The Wild, and Hale can all be found for sale on K’s website in both ebook and paperback format.
She stood to face me, and there was something in her eyes—a window of sorts—and for a moment, I thought she might actually be ready to tell me all her secrets. Thought she might push to put everything on the table and see what was left between us, when all I wanted at the moment was to be with her.
But she surprised me when she spoke. “I’m here for whatever you’ll let me have.”
I closed the distance between us, on the verge of letting out a laugh until I realized none of this was the least bit funny. “I’m feeling mean, Jolie. Do you want that too?”
My hand settled on her throat before she’d answered, so I could feel her swallow and the rush of her pulse.
I squeezed ever so slightly, so her voice was strained when she spoke. “I want it all, Cade.”
No sooner than her consent was past her lips, my mouth crashed against hers, hard and aggressive. I kissed her like a thief—taking, taking, taking. Barely giving her a chance to breathe. Pushing my tongue into her throat when her kiss came too easily. Biting her lips. Sucking them raw.
I’d been so gentle with her in the past. I hadn’t known how to fuck rough, and even if I had, I hadn’t wanted to ever show her anything but kindness.
Blurb:
Book three in the Dirty Wild trilogy that began with Wild Rebel.
Secrets, surprises, and second chances.
This trip down memory lane with Jolie has mended as much as it’s torn up.
I promised her I could handle anything. Whatever she was hiding, my wild heart would always belong to her.
But I could never have imagined this truth.
And she can’t blame me for how this will all end.
About the Author:
With millions of books sold worldwide, Laurelin Paige is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author. She is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however.
When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Killing Eve or Letterkenny, or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She’s also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn’t do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio.
I could begin this review of Sierra Simone’s Saint, telling you about the ethereal eroticism of Simone’s writing. I could mention the position of this book in contrast to Priest and Sinner, the way that these books continue big theological debates on faith and life and sacrifice. I could effusively discuss the beauty and depth of Simone’s writing, a style that challenges her readers, providing gravity to the romance genre. I could do all of these things, and if you’re a devoted reader of Sierra Simone, your answer would probably be, “yeah, yeah, yeah. We know this.” With Simone, art is more, and it’s the reason that readers like me eat her stories with a voraciousness born of intentional, exquisite writing. Her Saint is no different.
The story follows the third Bell brother, Aiden. In this book, Aiden has become Brother Patrick aka Brother Lumberjack, living that “monastic life.” It’s been five years since he left Elijah Iverson (yes, Zenny’s brother of Simone’s Sinner) in his farmhouse to join the monastic order. In those five years, while his zeal for God and the monastic life has grown, his love for Elijah has not abated, and he struggles daily to cleave himself deeply to God as a means to pull himself from his tether to Elijah. Interestingly, this struggle continues even though he has not seen Elijah in those five years.
One day, Elijah comes to the monastery to see Brother Patrick and let him know that he is getting married. Thinking this will help in lessening his struggle, it does the opposite. It makes him more rabid for him. Elijah, now a writer for a magazine, decides to write a story about the monks and their business of beer-making, which forces Aiden and Elijah into time together. Much like his brother, Tyler, and his sister-in-law, Zenny, Aiden must contend with his struggles between wanting to give complete devotion to God and his need for Elijah.
Even more, Aiden holds a secret: the reason he left Elijah five years earlier, and he’s not sure that revealing it will make his connection with Elijah easier.
Sierra Simone’s Saint provokes questions about faith. I know that it would easy to focus solely on her ability to craft a story that is titillating and transcendent in equal measure. But there is so much more to Saint, thus focusing on its eroticism feels reductive. Simone uses $ex as a connection, whether its the characters connecting to each other or connecting the story to romance readers. It’s simply a vessel in my estimation, and it draws romance readers to her stories. However, for me, it’s the difficult questions her stories ask that draw me in. With Saint, she’s asking:
Is complete devotion to something, God, an ideology, a morality, innately selfish or selfless? If the original devotion is pure, does that make the actions more selfless?
Is zealousness wrong?
Can one love God and love another without canceling the other out?
Yes, she couches this in Elijah and Aiden’s story. But it made connections for me in our world as part of the COVID debate. The danger of the zeal on both sides of the vaxx/anti-vaxx or the conservative/progressive movements seems dangerous when we should be looking for, as Simone’s book suggests, “a tapestry” of answers. It’s certain I’m reading this into our world, but isn’t that the purpose of literature? Shouldn’t we find ourselves in the stories we read? If we don’t, then why read them? And Sierra Simone is deft at taking people unlike ourselves and showing us where we connect to her characters’ experiences.
Which leads to another profundity of Saint to me. I have a twenty-year-old son, and his current experience with the nature of Aiden Bell’s secret (I don’t want to divulge it in this review) is similar. I’m walking with him through it. Once again, in the elaborate and decadent details of her storytelling, I’m connected to reality. As Simone pours her knowledge and research in the pages of her story, I see my kid more distinctly through the elaboration of Aiden Bell, and it punches me in the heart. This is Sierra Simone’s brilliance.
Is Aiden Bell’s story similar to Tyler and Zenny’s stories? Only in that they make similar choices: to love people while loving God. Their journeys are different, and their reasons are diverse. The challenge of Saint (and I imagine Father Jordan’s future story) is living your beliefs knowing that you have more than two choices. The profundity of that message should hit us all as we remember that we don’t have to exist in the binaries; instead, we can look for more and better ways to love others.
Basketball has always been his one love, until now . . .
Zeke Armstrong never imagined he’d be back in Vermont, but here he is, living in Colebury and trying to rehab an injury that could mean an early retirement from pro basketball. Running into his former classmate, Mallory Barrett, shouldn’t be a distraction. It shouldn’t mean anything, so why is he accidentally on purpose showing up at the coffee shop where the beautiful writer spends her time?
Mallory Barrett has met a guy. Well, she hasn’t met him yet, except for on the dating app she almost refused to download. “Coby” sparks her interest and gets her jokes–and gives the romance-novel heroes she loves so much a full-court run for their money. When their first date doesn’t work out, she decides to give him another shot . . . just as a man she despises reenters her life. While her interest in the mystery man on the app grows, she clashes constantly with Zeke in real life. She can’t forgive him for humiliating her in high school, yet she can’t deny she’s drawn to him now.
She’s somehow gone from confirmed bachelorette to the tie-breaker between two men. Meanwhile Zeke has a secret–one that will cost him the game if Mallory finds out . . .
If you had come to me at the end of K. Bromberg’s Play Hard series and told me I’d fall in love with Finn Sanderson, I would have laughed in your face just a few months ago. The famed sports agent responsible for breaking the heart of one Chase Kincade and working hard to steal the clients from the Kincade sports agency has not been well-liked in the earlier books of this serious. Wily with the track record of a consummate playboy, Finn, by my estimation, didn’t need a book. Yet, Bromberg in her infinite romance wisdom knew there was one to be had. Taking this ambitious man-ho and partnering him with a tennis superstar intent on making his job difficult, you find yourself with a great afternoon read.
In my opinion, Hard to Love is a great hate-to-love/enemies-to-lovers story. It isn’t my favorite Play Hard story because there are times in this book when you won’t like Finn, or Stevie for that matter. However, Bromberg works double-time developing their characters so that about midway through the book, you finally like them because you understand their motivations better. Both of their pasts laid bare, you understand quickly why they struggle to make meaningful connections with others. When you realize how alike Stevie and Finn are, you understand why they are fated for each other. Finn considers it best when he suggests,” some battle. Perhaps even fall. But if you hold out your hand long enough, and make yourself just as vulnerable as they feel, then you just might change the cycle.” And both of them need to change the cycle BEFORE they can have a deeper relationship.
Is this story $exy? Absolutely. Finn and Stevie do that well, but it takes almost the entire story before the two of them recognize a deeper, abiding love. If you’re looking for quick love in Hard to Love, you won’t find it. Much like Stevie battles her opponents in matches, Finn and Stevie battle themselves and each other.
If you love sparks and steamy scenes, then you will adore K. Bromberg’s Hard to Love. It really is the perfect weekend read.
She’s high heels, he’s hiking boots . . . and they’re perfect together.
Chasing Serenity, an all new steamy and emotional opposites attract stand-alone from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley is available now!
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristen Ashley brings a new novel in her River Rain series…
From a very young age, Chloe Pierce was trained to look after the ones she loved.
And she was trained by the best.
But when the man who looked after her was no longer there, Chloe is cast adrift—just as the very foundation of her life crumbled to pieces.
Then she runs into tall, lanky, unpretentious Judge Oakley, her exact opposite. She shops. He hikes. She drinks pink ladies. He drinks beer. She’s a city girl. He’s a mountain guy.
Obviously, this means they have a blowout fight upon meeting. Their second encounter doesn’t go a lot better.
Judge is loving the challenge. Chloe is everything he doesn’t want in a woman, but he can’t stop finding ways to spend time with her. He knows she’s dealing with loss and change.
He just doesn’t know how deep that goes. Or how ingrained it is for Chloe to care for those who have a place in her heart, how hard it will be to trust anyone to look after her…
Considering the fact he’d brought in a coffee for his buddy, Rix, who managed the store, Judge was down on the floor where Rix’s office was, not on the top floor where his was, so he saw her when she walked into the shoe section.
He’d dated Meg.
And before Meg, there was Jess.
And before Jess, there was Kimberly.
They all had different color hair, Meg and Jess were tall, Kim was not.
But even so, Judge had a type.
He knew it.
And that woman who’d strolled up to the shoe displays?
She was his type.
Multiplied by a thousand.
Christ, she was beautiful.
And bad news.
He could tell that last by the outfit, including her ridiculous, high-heeled booties.
He’d worked at River Rain Outdoor stores for nine years—starting as a sales associate when he was still going to college and advancing to director of the Kids and Trails program.
In all that time, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman walk into any of their stores wearing shoes like hers.
And when he came down again a half an hour later to hit Rix’s office to make some copies because the copier in the corporate offices at the top level was busted, he noticed she was still there.
He also noticed he had further evidence she was bad news.
That evidence?
The sheer number of boxes of boots that she was trying on scattered around her.
She looked like she’d not set foot on a hiking trail in her life.
And she looked like she was there because she’d already trolled through all the boutiques around the square, but this hadn’t assuaged her shopping fix, because nothing really did.
Therefore, there was a possibility, after making a member of staff bring her fifteen pairs of shoes, she’d walk out not buying anything.
She’d do this not thinking a thing of it.
However, he noted some of the boots she was trying on were riding boots, and Judge could see that round ass of hers in the saddle on top of a horse.
Wearing a riding habit.
Even if she was trouble, and he had not the slightest interest (or he was telling himself that), he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
Because he was a moron.
That said, she caught his gaze every time.
So he was looking.
But so was she.
His instincts proved true when he came down for the third time with more to copy, and he again walked through the shoe section to get to the office in the back. Doing this close to where she was seated, still trying on boots, because, yes, in the fifteen minutes between then and now, he had not stopped being a moron.
And again, she caught his gaze.
He had no clue why, but as her gorgeous hickory brown eyes hit his, he muttered, “Nice booties.”
Her back shot straight, and she demanded, “What did you just say?”
About Kristen Ashley
Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books. Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.
I am completely and utterly enamoured with Kristen Ashley right now. If my bank account was endless, I would have made a further dent in her booklist. As it is, I both listen to and read one of her books a month, and that isn’t fast enough. She gives so much to her story and characterization that, when you finish one of her stories, you feel as though she hasn’t left any story piece unturned. Over and over again, she shows you that her heroes ADORE their heroines, and they live lives complicated by outside forces; however, if they remain together, they can weather their storms. She doesn’t always end her stories with weddings or babies, but she always ends in the best happy ending for her couples.
After reading the prequel novella, After the Climb, for her newest series, River Rain, I was frothing for her newest book, Chasing Serenity. The promise of Chloe and Judge’s journey intrigued me. When the ARC hit my Kindle, I was reading, and this book did NOT disappoint.
If you’ve read After the Climb, then you know the story: Duncan and Imogen Swan, her hero and heroine of that story, have reunited and finally found their happy ending after their mutual friend, Corey Szabo, having torpedoed it decades earlier. Ashley uses all three points of view to tell the compelling story of their reunion and eventual happy ending. I found that book intriguing as two people finding and falling for each other with a lot of life lived between the two. With the inclusion of Corey’s POV, you realize the depth of his love for his friends even after his selfish motives and actions.
As you enter and end Chasing Serenity, you are once again treated to Corey’s point of view, and honestly, it makes the book more poignant as you realize quickly his mentorship of Chloe. Even more, the crux of this book is Chloe’s love for everyone, a love so protective and deep, that she oftentimes forgoes her own happiness for other people’s. She hides her vulnerabilities and want for love and protection by a strong emotional shield. People don’t quite see the gravity of Chloe, even her family. Without knowing it, in this story, we find her wounded over and over again by their insensitivity and selfishness. That is…until she meets Judge. Even though their meet-cute creates a hate-to-love situation, Judge sees the real Chloe clearly, so much so that he antagnozies her because he finds her ire $exy. Their initial journey isn’t an easy one as Judge actively pursues her while Chloe pushes him away, believing she couldn’t handle him ever walking away from her.
With Chloe’s story, we recognize the depths of grief. Corey, her mentor and protector, has left her, and she lacks protection, that one person who truly knows her and makes sure she is cared for. Kristen Ashley crafted her to punch into my soul because I am Chloe. Her pain mimics my own pain, and I found myself crying tears over it. Thankfully, Chloe has a hero such as Judge because he knows exactly what she needs and gives it to her.
As their story progresses, it transitions away from Chloe’s struggles because Judge finds way to make her feel whole again. It is then that Judge’s past comes to haunt him. What do you do with a stalwart hero, incredibly capable, intelligent, and empathic, when he must face his own grief? You give him a heroine such as Chloe who loves deeply and protects those she loves. Together, Chloe and Judge endure and fall deeper in love through their trials, cementing their forever.
Over and over again, Kristen Ashley writes stories that feel big when you read them. She gives you so many words and feelings. Even more, she creates families. Chloe and Judge aren’t alone in Chasing Serenity. They have people who care deeply for them and we meet them in After the Climb, in this book, and we will see them again in future stories in the River Rain series. This is Kristen Ashley’s witchery. She makes you care deeply about her universe of characters. You can’t wait to visit them again, so you pine for her next book. At least that’s the reason for my decreasing bank account. If you’re looking for an epic read, grab Chasing Serenity today.
USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Jewel E. Ann returns with an addictive new adult romance about a young woman who discovers years of Sunday sermons didn’t prepare her for the many lessons of the crude and sexy man who is now her boss.
Jewel E. Ann has revealed the cover for The Lost Fisherman, book 2 in The Fisherman Series!
Coming of Age
Neighbors-to-Lovers
Enemies-to-lovers
Forced Proximity
Boss-Employee
Secret Romance
Forbidden love
Age Gap
Professor Romance 