Category: Uncategorized

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

From the second chapter of Helena Hunting’s Love on the Lake, I knew I was a goner for it. Early in the book, Teagan, the sister of Van, the hero in her Love Next Door romance, shows us clearly her people-pleasing ways. Interestingly, as she wins over almost everyone in Pearl Lake, she can’t seem to get a smile from Aaron, a local construction worker who works for the construction company of Teagan’s future sister-in-law, Dillion. Always the people pleaser this gets under Teagan’s skin. It is there where Helena Hunting tugged at my heart. From its outset, Teagan grabs you. As a fellow people pleaser, I saw parts of myself in Teagan. Her story is bigger than that, and I won’t divulge her story arc here, but the deft way that Hunting has crafted her makes her believable. Aaron is important too; however, Teagan burrowed under my skin from the beginning of the book. 

In a few ways, Aaron too is a people pleaser, namely with his mother. This causes him to live with a secret, one that is divulged eventually in the story. That seems to be Aaron’s big moment. Once his secret is revealed, he becomes more flat, simply a love interest. In my opinion, Love on the Lake is Teagan’s story, and it’s an important one. 

Helena Hunting has crafted a romance in her newest book that asks some of us to consider the lengths we go to to feel at peace. What happens when overwork and life challenges compound our inner turmoil? Teagan and Aaron’s story suggests that it takes loving yourself first before loving another. I liked Hunting’s Love Next Door, but I truly adore her Love on the Lake. I think I see myself reflected so keenly in Teagan’s story. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Fair Catch by Kandi Steiner is now live!

As if things aren’t already tough enough as the only girl on a college football team, Coach had to go and assign Zeke Collins as my roommate.

A cocky kick returner and my brother’s best friend who should have been ripped of that title years ago, he’s as infuriating as he is undeniably sexy.

I hate him, and for good reason — reason I won’t ever let him forget.

He thinks because we grew up together that it’s his role to protect me, but all he does is get in my way, make me look weak, and piss me off more.

I tell him I can handle myself, and I’m hell-bent on getting that point across to him and the rest of the nation watching the only girl in collegiate football.

The pressure doesn’t get to me. The scrutiny? I’m ready for.

But sharing very thin walls with Zeke Collins? I wasn’t prepared for that.

And the more we’re forced together, the harder it is to distinguish that pencil-thin line between hating him… and wanting him.

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

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 Meet Kandi

Kandi Steiner is an Amazon Top 5 bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.”

She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, planning her next adventure, or pole dancing (yes, you read that right). She enjoys live music, traveling, playing with her fur babies and soaking up the sweetness of life.

Kandi Steiner may be coming to a city near you! Check out her “events” tab to see all the signings she’s attending in the near future:

www.kandisteiner.com/events

Connect with Kandi

Website: www.kandisteiner.com

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Sarina Bowen’s Shenanigans is LIVE. Are you ready to return to her Brooklyn Bruisers?

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 15, 2022

What I meant to do in Vegas: Let my hair down for once and celebrate winning a medal at my first women’s hockey all-stars competition.

What I actually did: Got senior prom drunk and woke up married to Brooklyn’s star winger, the great Neil Drake. 

He’s the heir to a billion dollars, and I barely survived my childhood. Our friendship is based strictly only on hockey, takeout food, and smack talk. 

And now holy matrimony. Although we both know it can’t last, especially once his evil family gets wind of our Vegas shenanigans… 

Contains: Meddling teammates, meddling parents, ugly jewelry, and a pretend-kiss that nearly sets the world on fire.

Cover Design: Hang Le
Cover Photo: Wander Aguiar Photography

Grab it HERE 👇🏻

Amazon: https://geni.us/AmazonShenanigans
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ADD TO GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57574313-shenanigans

Can Aaron love her, even when she can’t love herself?

Love on the Lake, an emotional small town, standalone romance from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting is live now!

Teagan Firestone has always been the dutiful daughter, especially since her mom died. But as her father finally begins to move on, it’s her turn to do the same. Her destination: Pearl Lake, a close-knit community with an entrepreneurial spirit and secrets of its own.

One of them is Aaron Saunders, who dropped out of college to work construction for Pearl Lake’s upper class. He’s a mystery and has a playboy reputation—that is, until he meets Teagan. Neither of them is looking for love, but in a town this small, it’s hard not to let your heart get involved.

As their romance heats up, Aaron’s elusive past comes to light and Teagan is there for him, bringing them even closer together. But when Teagan is forced to face her own demons, her inability to accept the support of friends and family threatens the life she’s worked so hard to build.

Can Aaron love her, even when she can’t love herself?

Fall in love today exclusively on Amazon or read FREE on Kindle Unlimited!
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About Helena Hunting

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of PUCKED, Helena Hunting lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She writes contemporary romance ranging from new adult angst to romantic sports comedy.

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tia Louise’s newest romance, Fearless, is one of her steamiest romances to date. She wastes very little time moving her heroine, Blake, and her hero, Hutch, from disdain to physicality. From the Prologue when Blake is but a sixteen-year-old bent on saving her family, the chemistry between Blake and Hutch is undeniable. In that chapter, their age difference (he’s twenty-two, I believe) keeps them from acting upon their instant connection. Yet, Hutch, exuding his alpha maleness, initially makes an enemy in Blake when he intercedes and foils her plans to help her sister and save her family’s financial interests. 

In the early chapters of Fearless, these two misunderstand the other. She sees him as an enemy to her family interests, while he sees her as a vapid, lazy New York princess. When these two finally recognize their misjudgments of the other, they quickly fall into their attraction, and they can’t keep their hands off of each other. 

Belying Hutch and Blake’s romantic journey is a romantic suspense that includes a missing uncle, a dead socialite, and a cadre of other menacing Russian mafia types. At the end of this story, you’ll find some resolution to a few of these plot points. However, there is still more to this story, and by extension, the series born from this first book. As such, my biggest criticism for Fearless is its pacing. Hutch and Blake’s relationship arc never hits an impactful zenith, and it slides into their happily ever after around the 88ish percent mark (I think). The last couple of chapters read as the furtherance of their happy ending, but there are still so many questions to the suspense aspects of this story. What Hutch and Blake seem to have the most of in Fearless is physicality, which is fine if that’s your favorite part of romance. For me, however, I love a well-developed story that doesn’t leave me with more questions than answers. 

Fearless starts out on fire. The ire between Hutch and Blake light this romance fire, and that’s where it tends to stay. For me, there isn’t a bonfire here. It’s a steady burn keeping the reader warm, but I think there could be more here. I’m hoping future stories in this series of standalones will brandish the pyre to set it ablaze. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Autonomy and agency are the big takeaways of Lexi Blake’s The Man From Sanctum, her newest Masters and Mercenaries: Reloaded story. This book follows Deke, everyone’s favorite “uncle” around  McKay-Taggart. Deke’s former high school love and the one who “got away,” Madeline “Maddie” Hill shows up on his doorstep with the proposition to pose as her Dom. Decades before, Deke made the decision to walk away from Maddie so that she would go to Yale and realize her dreams. Broken-hearted, they spend years away from each other. Now, Maddie is concerned that her boss, Nolan Byrne, is intent on using their company’s technology for no-good, and she needs Deke to pose as her Dom so she can gain access to Nolan’s private office. If they act like a couple in the BDSM lifestyle, they can help grant Nolan access to the private, yet storied The Reef, a BDSM club that Nolan wants to join. The problem, though? Can Maddie work through her hurt from the past to trust Deke as her Dom, or are they fated to be “found out” and Maddie and Deke’s life put into jeopardy?

As is the case with Blake’s Masters and Mercenaries series, The Man From Sanctum is equal parts community, suspense, and eroticism. Blake packs so much punch with her stories that you find yourself enveloped into the fold of her McKay-Taggart flock. With so many characters and so much action, you find yourself maniacally turning each page to get to the end, where, in this case, Deke and Maddie, find their happy ending BUT she keeps additional threads open for future stories. 

The meat of The Man From Sanctum is Maddie’s agency. In this story, Maddie is intelligent and independent. However, Deke, due to his insecurity and immaturity, takes her authority from her in decision-making. In doing so, it catapults them onto a different trajectory which impacts their future. When granted this opportunity to reconcile and see if a future is possible, Deke finds himself falling into old patterns, denying Maddie a voice for their future. Blake peppers ideas about women and choice throughout this story, and it adds depth to this action-packed romantic suspense. 

Look, if you love suspense, espionage, eroticism, and charm with a side of BDSM, then you have to jump into Lexi Blake’s Masters and Mercenaries series. There are multiple iterations of it, which means a universe of characters with a deep bench of stories. Honestly, I can’t help myself from reading Blake’s stories. Her newest story, The Man From Sanctum, is simply more of what I love about Lexi Blake’s storytelling. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

A painful past
An unexpected reunion
A dangerous future

The Man From Sanctum, an all-new must read standalone romance in the suspenseful Masters and Mercenaries: Reloaded Series from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake is available now!

A painful past

Deke Murphy and Maddie Hall should never have worked as a couple in high school. She was the class valedictorian and he the jock who took nothing seriously…except her. Together they formed an amazing team, and young love blossomed into something that strengthened them both. Until tragedy struck and Deke made a sacrifice that split them up forever.

An unexpected reunion

Seventeen years later, Maddie is living her dream working for a brilliant tech guru in the beauty of Southern California. She’s made a life for herself and it’s first class all the way. She rarely thinks of the jock who dumped her all those years ago. But when Maddie realizes her boss might be part of an international conspiracy, she can’t deny Deke might be her best bet to solve the mystery. Her one-time sweetheart works for one of the world’s premiere security and investigative firms. She’ll hire him and prove to herself their relationship could never have worked.

A dangerous future

As Maddie and Deke begin to uncover her boss’s secrets, they can’t deny the chemistry that has reignited. But before they can explore the connection growing between them, they must survive the deadly forces hunting them down.

Fall in love with Deke and Maddie!
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About Lexi Blake
New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings.

Connect with Lexi
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TASTE, an all-new sexy, stranded enemies-to lovers rom com from USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melanie Harlow is live now!

Read my 4.5 ⭐️ review HERE.

The last person on earth I want to be stranded with is Gianni Lupo.

But thanks to the blizzard of the century, I’m trapped in a roadside motel room with that cocky bastard for two straight days.

With one small bed.

Some women might thank Mother Nature for delivering a polar vortex that maroons them with six feet of solid muscle, those deep blue eyes, that sexy grin–but not me. I’ve known Gianni Lupo all my life, and he’s never brought me anything but bad luck and trouble.

So when the tension between us explodes with enough fiery heat to melt my icy defenses, I should have known what the disastrous end result would be–

A big fat plus sign.

After the snow melts, I’m left with more than just memories of the night we spent keeping each other warm. And he might be a rising star on the culinary scene, but he’s got no idea how to handle this bun in the oven.

He says he wants to do the right thing, but I’m not about to spend the rest of my life feeling like someone settled for me.

But just when I think I’ve got Gianni Lupo all figured out, he gives me a taste of the man he could be, of the family we could become, of the way he could love me if I let him.

I’m terrified of falling for him.

But one taste might be all it takes.

Grab your copy exclusively on Amazon or read FREE on Kindle Unlimited today!
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Paperback: https://harlow.pub/Taste-pb
Audio: Coming Soon

Excerpt

I sat at the foot of the bed and dialed Winnie’s number. She picked up immediately.
“Ellie?”
“Hey.”
“Thank God! You guys okay?”
“We’re fine.” I watched Gianni unwrap a candy bar and lean back against the headboard. “We found a motel with a vacancy.”
“You mean you’re staying in a motel room together?” she asked, loud enough for Gianni to overhear.
“Yeah. And there’s only one bed.”
She laughed. “How’s that going?”
“Fine.”
“You guys are getting along?”
Gianni made a lewd gesture involving his fist, his tongue, and his inner cheek. I gave him the finger. “As well you’d expect.”
“I can’t wait to hear about it.”
“We’re going to try to get out of here as soon as we can in the morning. I’ll let you know when we’re on the road.”
“Sounds good.” She laughed again. “Sleep tight.”
“Oh. We will.” I eyed the length of the bed. “We have no choice.”
After ending the call, I opened the Truth or Drink app on my phone and picked up my wine. “Ready to play?”
“Hit me.”
I scrolled through the options. “Do you want to play normal mode, party mode, or dirty mode?
Gianni looked at me like I was crazy. “Duh.”
I sighed and reached for my wine. “Okay, fine. I feel like I’m going to regret this, but dirty it is.”
“Can I take my pants off?”
“No. What’s your age range for a one night-stand?”
“Hmm.” Gianni thought for a moment.
“Please say at least eighteen.”
“No teenagers. I’ll say twenty to forty-five.”
“Forty-five? Really?”
He shrugged. “I think mature women are hot. But I can’t go near fifty because that’s my mom’s age and then it would be weird.”
“Right.”
“So what about you? Same question.”
“I’d have to say . . . thirty to forty.”
He looked offended. “Why thirty? You’re only twenty-three.”
And so was he, which was why I’d said it. “I know, but I think older men are just better in bed.” (I’d actually never been with anyone over twenty-eight.)
“In what way?”
“Just . . . more patient. More knowledgeable. More generous. Guys in their twenties think they’re all that just because they have younger bodies, especially if they’re—you know—well-endowed. But it’s not just the size of the boat. It’s definitely the motion of the ocean.”
He harrumphed. “You’ve been in the wrong boats.”

Add Taste to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3sWbzNO

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.

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