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BREAK ME (Manhattan Mafia Trilogy #3) by CD Reiss

Release Date: October 31st

THE MANHATTAN MAFIA TRILOGY IS COMPLETE!

NOW AVAILABLE!!!

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START THE TRILOGY WITH TAKE ME #1!

https://new.paigepressbooks.com/ybcvsh05xf

MAKE ME #2

https://new.paigepressbooks.com/mbixh0rfrf

Add to Goodreads:

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Blurb:

It was always Sarah. And she was always mine.

I woke up in a nightmare. I woke up alone.

There was a reason I never let myself have feelings before. Emotions make you stupid. They make you miscalculate.

If someone gave me the choice, I’d do it all over again.

Only this time, I’d stop everyone who ever looked at the woman I love before they had the chance to hurt her.

But since that’s not an option, I’ll just have to stay alive long enough to find her.

And together, we’ll break the whole world for what they’ve done.

About CD Reiss:

CD Reiss is a Brooklyn native and has the accent to prove it. She earned a master’s degree in cinematic writing from USC, and though she ultimately failed to have one line of dialog put on film, she stayed in Los Angeles out of spite.

She resides in Hollywood in a house that’s just big enough for her two children, two cats, her long-suffering husband and her massive ego.

Connect w/CD Reiss:

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: single dad; single mom; workplace romance; small town romance; a bit adversaries-to-lovers

Nora Everly’s Architecture and Artistry was one of my most anticipated SmartyPants Romance ‘cuz: Barrett and Sadie. In her previous Monroe Brothers stories, these two have danced around each other. It was clear that they had chemistry and a keen interest in each other. To realize a relationship between these two seemed like kismet. 

Jumping into Architecture and Artistry reminds you about the sweetness of Everly’s romances. This is a small-town romance done well. At the outset of their story, Barrett and Sadie epitomize the Instagram vs. Reality truth: the outside doesn’t always match the reality. Seemingly “perfect” to everyone, Barrett has a way of putting his foot in his mouth. Similarly, while Sadie always looks put together (people think of her as a “Barbie), internally, Sadie is hanging on as she maneuvers through life as a single mom to twins. There is instant chemistry between Barrett and Sadie. It’s all over the Monroe Brothers’ stories. Yet, they are reticent to acknowledge their attraction…until they simply can’t. 

As you read through Sadie and Barrett’s journey, it’s Sadie who becomes a favorite character. She is empathic and selfless, making difficult choices that impinge upon her burgeoning relationship with Barrett. And there is steam and spice and everything nice between these two. 

I will say, though, that there were inconsistencies in their development. One minute everything is fine, but the next it’s not by a creation of the author simply to derail her couple. Additionally, the prose felt stunted, especially through the falling action of her romance when you need the emotional pull of their resolution, connecting you more deeply to the book. 

Architecture and Artistry, however, offers a lovely wrap-up to Nora Everly’s Green Valley Library contributions. Will you adore Barrett and Sadie? Absolutely! Will the Monroe family and the Lavender Farms ladies remind you why you should read this series? Yes. These characters ingratiate themselves into your life with their humor, wisdom, and love. Is this book an important reminder that nothing is ever really perfect? Indeed. If you haven’t met the Monroe Brothers yet, now would be the perfect time with Nora Everly’s newest release.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: Coach’s daughter; sports romance; hero falls first; forbidden romance; close or forced proximity; reverse grumpy/sunshine

“He lived for the loved ones he’d lost. I self-destructed for mine.”

I fell hard for Kandi Steiner’s Red Zone Rivals series from its first book, Fair Catch. I loved that story because any time you have a heroine successfully living in a predominately men’s world, I’m in. I adored Clay and Giana in the second book, Blind Side. The virgin who captivates the player-esque football player, and he “teaches” her what she needs to know to “get her man” is pure romance decadence. But something about their story kept me from giving it a perfect score. But Quarterback Sneak is, to me, the piece de resistance of this series. 

Kandi Steiner’s Quarterback Sneak leaves me without words. Well, that isn’t entirely true. There are words to describe its beauty: emotional, impactful, erotic, and compassionate. Underlying Quarterback Sneak is a treatise of sorts on grief. Having personally experienced and observed grief, I know there is a reality behind it: everyone processes death differently. Steiner deftly and intentionally captures that truth in this story. Through the journeys of her hero, Holden, and her heroine, Julep, she shows her readers how death either focuses or fractures us. Juxtaposing her main characters, Holden and Julep fill in the holes left behind by the people they loved and lost, and Steiner crafts the beauty of their relationship as they struggle through their truths. Could I tell you that I loved the steam of their relationship? Yes. Is it lovely to reconnect with the main characters from Fair Catch and Blind Side? Absolutely! But it’s Julep and Holden’s relationship, the ups and downs of it, the complication of it, that kept me reading chapter after chapter when my life was spinning out of control. I simply couldn’t leave them alone because I pined for their individual growth and their happy ending. 

For a bit in Quarterback Sneak, I was annoyed with Steiner. She allowed Julep’s father to create distance between Holden and Julep. I kept speaking to my Kindle as I read her story: “how can he make this call? What about Julep’s autonomy?” Honestly, I did this for much of the story, but it was simply a plot device that leads to one of the most powerful moments of the story (which I refuse to divulge here). It’s a necessary moment for Holden, and it brings his character development to full maturation. It’s moments like this that remind you of Kandi Steiner’s immense capacity to develop character and story as a means to engage her readers while also challenging them beyond their preconceived expectations of her stories. 

I lost myself in Quarterback Sneak. I gave up grading time amidst a very busy season because Holden and Julep put a “hold on” me, and I hated for their story to end. I believe there is another story in this series, maybe, so hopefully, we’ll get glimpses of these two. Simply put, they are two special characters who illustrate the power of love to overcome grief and its effects. And that feels like an important message for today.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: age-gap romance; married couple issues; 4-star spice

If you have yet to drop into Fiona Cole’s Voyeur world, you are missing out, especially if you ADORE 4 or 5-star spice. Each romance in her Voyeur world offers a mix of angst and steam with a perfect happy ending for each couple. One of my favorite couples in this world is Olivia Kent from her Liar, an uncle’s best friend, age-gap love story, that steams your glasses and leaves your panties in a bit of a…mess. It highlights the challenges of falling in love with the complications of familial relationships and the influence of past traumas on present-day love affairs. So you get some depth of story with your spice. 

At the end of Liar, the future seems rosy for Olivia and Kent. They’ve acknowledged their feelings and found their happily ever after…or so it seems. Cole treats us to more of their story in her newest offering, Falter. In this novella, Olivia has been trying to get pregnant amidst their busy lives and failed. Kent recognizes that she has lost her spark, but for much of the novella, fails to determine the cause of it. Thankfully, some of our favorite Voyeur characters, namely Carina, help him see the issue. That’s when the magic of Fiona Cole happens for her characters. She infuses her delicious sensuality and eroticism into the story to bring her couple back to themselves. Falter is a nugget of loveliness that reconnects us to one of my favorite places, the Voyeur world. From cameos of past Voyeur characters to Fiona Cole’s requisite spice, it’s impossible not to gobble this newest addition to this world. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Play Smart, an all-new enemies to lovers rockstar romcom from Aly Stiles, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!

Read my review HERE.

Nash Ellis knows music. Producing, performing, writing—if it involves the creative process he’s there for it. He knows nothing about copy machines. Or financial reports. Or anything related to the stuck-up business world his best friends have been chasing since they were kids. But Nash also needs money, so when his roommate gets him a paid internship at Reedweather Media, he reluctantly agrees. At least his know-it-all intern competitor is kind of cute in a nerdy-librarian sort of way—especially when she’s being tormented by an angsty rocker she can’t stand.

The only thing Paige Andrews hates more than failure? Nash Ellis. She has little patience for incompetence and zero tolerance for indifference. He clearly doesn’t belong in their corporate world, so why does he insist on ruining her dream job? And the worst part—he’s not what he seems. In fact, it’s all the things he’s hiding behind those electric blue eyes that make him straight-up captivating in an ironic-slacker sort of way.

But their smoldering friction bursts into open flames when the feuding interns are forced into a high-stakes mission that requires intimate knowledge of the music industry. Yep, what could go wrong when the least-qualified candidate to ever walk the halls of a major corporation becomes their only hope of success?

‘Play Smart’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #5 in the Work For It series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy today!

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Excerpt

Turning around, he stops in his tracks when he sees me. His face falls, and I don’t know how to read the mix of emotions that filters over him. He clearly doesn’t know what to do next, so I close the gap and grab his wrist.

“Let’s dance,” I say.

“What?”

“Dancing.” I wave behind me at the sea of bodies demonstrating this ancient ritual.

“You… wait. You want to dance with me? You’ve been turning me down all night.”

I nod. “Yes. Because I don’t dance.”

“But you do now?”

“No.”

“I don’t understand. What’s changed?”

“My internal—and a few external—organs.”

“Huh?”

His brow scrunches, and I notice for the first time how much I like the image of his silver piercing when he does that. I reach up and brush my finger near it, then let my touch drift down the side of his face. My gaze settles on his lips and a sharp wave of desire surges through me.

“I turned you down because you’re extremely attractive tonight,” I explain. “Dangerously so.”

“Wait, you’ve been turning me down because you wanted me too much?”

I nod again, forcing my attention back to his entrancing gaze. “Yes, and since we agreed we can’t have what we want, it felt like a terrible idea to indulge in a sample of the forbidden fruit.”

His confusion morphs into amusement. “Do you always have to say stuff in the weirdest way possible?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Do you always have to be a jerk when I’m trying to be nice?”

“This is you being nice?”

About Aly Stiles

From angsty and dark to snort-laugh funny, Aly writes romance from her soul to yours.

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🎶 99 CENT SALE & COVER REVEAL 🎶

A.L. Jackson has revealed the alternate covers for the Bleeding Stars series, filled with brooding rockstars, strong heroines, spicy scenes and suspense! 

To celebrate, A Stone in the Sea is ON SALE for 99 cents for a limited time.

Don’t miss out on Shea & Sebastian’s epic single mom, rockstar romance!

As the lead singer of Sunder, I come with a reputation.

A bad one.

I’m no stranger to trouble.

It follows me wherever I go.

So, I should have known Shea Bentley would be a problem. But this sexy Southern girl is all I can see.

Now, we’re both drowning in a sea of desire, sinking hopelessly into a world of lust.

But she has an inescapable past.

One that might destroy both of us . . .

Get your copy ➝ https://geni.us/ASITSAmznFBP

Looking for signed copies? You can grab the new covers or a Bleeding Stars Gift Box here ➝ https://geni.us/ALJacksonShopOP

Well Acquainted, an all-new swoony second chance historical romance from Laney Hatcher, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!

There are three things you need to know about Lady Eliza Morgan:

1. In addition to being a busy physician, she’s an accomplished seamstress.

2. She’s the victim of a broken heart.

3. The man who shattered it is the one man she can never have.

Some things are better left in the past, but Eliza has spent years running from hers. When the man who upended her life re-enters it in the most unexpected way, Eliza must decide if reacquainting herself with Nicolas is worth the heartache. He’s charming and irritating and makes her realize there is so much more than the life she’s been living. But first she must confront her painful past if she and Nicolas have any hope for a future.

‘Well Acquainted’, a Penny Reid Universe Reimagining, is a full-length historical romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #2 in the London Ladies Embroidery series, Smartypants Romance Out of this World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

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Audiobook: Coming this winter!

About Laney Hatcher

Laney Hatcher is a firm believer that there is a spreadsheet for every occasion and pie is always the answer. She is an author of stories that have a past, in a language of love that’s universal. Often too practical for her own good, Laney enjoys her life in the southern United States with her husband, children, and incredibly entitled cat.

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: best friend’s sister; second chance romance (sort of); one night stand into more; soulmates; hero falls first; generational trauma; found family

Devney Perry’s contribution to the Madigan Mountain series does a beautiful job of laying out the story of Crew, the youngest Madison brother, and Raven while bringing a finish to the Madigan Mountain series. While brother #2, Weston Madigan, is still my favorite, Crew runs a very close second. This series, so deftly drawn by Sarina Bowen, Rebecca Yarros, and Perry, is about the impact of generational trauma, specifically the death of a parent and its impact on the family. As the youngest, the impact on Crew was the greatest. In the wake of his mother’s death, a woman to whom he felt tethered to this world, Crew loses his foundation and a bit of himself. He turns this absence into becoming a world-class snowboarder, and it provides him an escape from his pain. These feelings are never processed until he returns for his brother’s wedding. It’s then that the timer begins for him to finally handle his mother’s death as his brothers do in the earlier books of this series. For me, this is one of the emotional challenges of A Little Too Wild. 

What is surprising and delightful about Perry’s romance is the way that Crew falls for Raven, her heroine, first. In fact, Crew has liked Raven from afar. However, throughout their youth, Raven never really sees Crew as anything more than her brother’s best friend. On his return to Madigan Mountain, something changes, and Raven finds herself drawn to him. Unfortunately, aspects of his life remind her of her father’s, a roustabout who never took his role as a father seriously.  As such, Raven is reticent to have anything more than the physical with Crew. This, however, becomes impossible when both of them begin to develop feelings. Then, the complications of a relationship arise for both of them. This complication fuels the fire of Perry’s plot development, and she keeps her readers engaged with Raven and Crew’s “will they/won’t they” journey. Add in the difficulties of Crew’s reconciliation of his mother’s death and the healing of his family, his career responsibilities, and Raven’s own ambition for her future, and A Little Too Wild becomes an emotional story about the power of love to help heal old wounds. 

Everything magical about Devney Perry’s romances is found in A Little Too Wild, even down to her delicious bonus epilogues. As a storyteller, Perry never disappoints. Instead, she offers up scintillating stories that steal your heart and keep you believing in happily ever afters.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: over 40 romance; workplace romance; fake relationship; marriage of convenience; small-town romance; a bit of suspense

L.B. Dunbar’s Merging Wright returns us to her Road Trips & Romance series with Mach and Jane’s story. Coming into this book, we know that Jane, the story’s FMC, has adored Mach from afar. This isn’t an easy task because he’s ambitious, an overachiever, and immune to Jane. When he receives a delivery from his past, Jane and Mach are on a road trip to his family hometown, Wrightwood. It’s there where the ghosts of Mach’s past reside, and Jane must fight against them to win Mach’s heart. Their journey involves a death, a will reading, a marriage of convenience, a steamy honeymoon, and a grumpy hero who can’t decide from one day to the next if he wants his heroine or needs to keep her at arm’s length. Overall, I enjoyed Merging Writing, finding myself lost in Mach and Jane’s romance…sometimes. 

While I enjoyed this story, I struggled with the pacing and inconsistency of Mach’s characterization. Merging Wright was a slow read for me. It took me a bit to get lost in their story, and I never fully fell into it which is disappointing because I normally don’t have that issue with L.B. Dunbar’s stories. This one, though, was a struggle. It mostly has to do with Mach’s character development. In a phrase, Mach gave me whip-lash. One minute, he can’t live without Jane, and the next, he pushes her away. It isn’t that this happens just once or twice. This occurs throughout much of the story. The wash cycle for Merging Writing is overwhelming attraction, $ex, denial, and possessiveness. Over and over again, Mach follows this cycle, which becomes tiring. Even more, his willingness to reside in the hurts of his past for much of the story, I think, is the reason for the slow pacing of this story.

For me, the bright spot of Merging Wright is Jane. She’s decided, intelligent, and, when Mach cannot move beyond his past, creates the space necessary to inspire Mach’s change. She saved the story for me, investing me in her and Mach’s journey. She was everything Mach isn’t initially: compassionate, introspective, and inspired.

L.B. Dunbar’s Merging Wright is more hit than miss, but it needed Mach to resolve his issues sooner. Additionally, while I love spice in romance like any romance reader, the $ex of this book overwhelmed its plot development and characterization. If you’re a Dunbar fan, you should read this newest story in her booklist. It is quintessential Dunbar.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers; hate-to-love; opposites attract; workplace romance; found family;

hero with a heart of gold, but a cold exterior; tenacious heroine; slow burn

“Most people aren’t damaged by dreams they never achieve. It’s having those dreams ripped away that break us.”

Aly Stiles returns to the world of corporate espionage in her newest offering to the SmartyPants Romance world, Play Smart. Situated in the Educated Romance Work for It Series, her first book of the series, Street Smart, placed us squarely in Reedweather Media, the media counterpart to Brighthouse and Sandeke Telecom, contemporaries of Penny Reid’s Hypothesis series. Like her first book, Stiles treats us to inept leaders of entitled companies and subordinates whose genius is foiling the destructive plans of privileged CEOs. 

In Play Smart, there is much to love.

1. The Keystone Cops/Three Stooges-esque humor of Street Smart returns and finds a place in Play Smart. In an interesting turn, the smartest people in Stiles’s book are her women. There are also intelligent men who aid them, but the true impetus for change lies at the feet of her heroines, shining the light of female empowerment in corporate America. 
2. Her hero, Nash, is drawn with many layers. Outwardly, he’s abrupt and guarded, hiding behind his street smarts. He’s a perfect foil to Stiles’s heroine, the buttoned-up, rule-following, Paige. Their chemistry develops through the attraction of their opposites rendering, and it begins as hate-to-love or adversaries-to-lovers, one of my favorite tropes. However, this leads us to the message of Stiles’s Play Smart.
3. There is more to Nash’s rendering. A foster kid, he has endured serious trauma in his life, culminating in a separation from his love, music. Paige and Nash judge each other based on their initial perception of the other. Once they realize there is greater depth to their character, their attraction grows. Yet, Nash must move beyond the trauma of his past. He must accept that he doesn’t traverse the world alone, but he has a “found family” who will support him whether he is at his best or his worst. This lesson takes most of the book to learn, and Nash’s portrayal is the emotional tether of Stiles’s Play Smart. 
4. Similar to Nash, we find there is more to Paige’s characterization. Through her character development, Stiles underscores the message about not being “fine”. Paige is incredibly competent, and she’s accepted her parents’ expectations of her. In contrast to her brother, who has chosen a different path and been ostracized because of it, Paige has played peacemaker and followed their path for her even if it isn’t her dream. Through her journey, we are reminded that we aren’t all fine, and that we can make choices for ourselves so that we can be happy. Stiles seeks to encourage her reader to avoid “be[ing] something else […] they wanted…” Instead, we should choose to be who we are meant to be. 

Aly Stiles’s Play Smart isn’t a decidedly $exy book. It’s a slow-burn story meant to challenge the idea of first impressions and internal struggles. It’s insightful, funny, and emotional as it asks us to choose ourselves and believe we’ll have people to catch us when we fall. It’s another great addition to the SmartyPants Romance universe.

In love and romance,

Professor A