REVIEW - The Whisperer by Elsa Winckler

The Book
Release Date: 10 March 2017
Goodreads Link

Loving him could destroy her…

High school teacher Cilla Stevens has always been different, especially in how she connects with animals. When she calms a stray dog during an incident at school, she’s asked to help a nearby farm with a difficult horse.

Cameron Rahl has had a very different relationship with animals since his mother died in a horse riding accident. But now he's inherited his family’s farm, he's determined to never let anyone affect him that way again.

Until he meets Cilla. He tries to stay away from the gorgeous horse whisperer with the potential to tame him, but something keeps pulling him close. And as much as Cilla tells herself she can keep it casual, she knows they're too connected to be 'just a fling.'

Will Cilla's heart win out? Or will it take history repeating itself for Cameron to realise just how much he needs her?

My Review  2.5 STARS
This book fell very flat for me.  First off there is a dual point of view that was constantly changing without warning with was quite jarring and often meant that i was often confused as to who's point of view i was currently reading.

Then there was the animal whispering that morphed also into almost a telepathy type response when one of the characters is injured that just did not seem believable, let alone that they both drew a picture off each other when they were ten years old.

I also struggled with their romance but Philip and Imke seemed like nice sensible people.

Certainly not a book or author i will be looking at reading again.

REVIEW - Alton's Secret Baby (The Promise They Made #2) by Iris Parker

The Book
Release Date: 18 May 2018
Goodreads Link

When I win access to an interview with Alton Greene, all eyes are on me. Getting an exclusive with the NHL’s most eligible bachelor could make or break my career—a trivial detail, as far as I’m concerned. To me, Alton isn’t just a hockey star.
He’s also a complete monster.
My son is sick, and only a full-blooded sibling can save him. Except I never met the biological father, everything was handled through a fertility clinic. And when that clinic told him what I needed, he ignored them.
It took me a year to learn that Alton was the donor, but now I know. My interview with him is sure to be the most important one of my life, but not for the reason that everyone believes. I don’t care about my job, hockey, or anything else. All that matters is saving my son’s life, even if I have to seduce Alton to do it.
It goes against everything I believe in, but he didn’t leave me a choice.
Except… Alton isn’t anything like how I pictured him. He’s tender and caring, the kind of man who will surprise me with ice cream when I’m feeling down. I thought he was a monster, but he doesn’t act like one. Has there been some kind of horrible mistake?
If I confess everything to him and he still refuses to help, all hope is lost.
But if I keep lying and Alton really is a good man, how can I ever live with myself?

—————

Alton’s Secret Baby is 400 pages of complete, stand-alone steamy romance with a happy ending. 

My Review  5 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

Although this is the second book in the series you do not need to read the first, although it would help with the relationship between Alton and Dominic and you also get a feel of him as a character going into this book.

Holy Moly.  This was an epic read that at one point had me completely in tears it was that emotional.

The author has again managed to weave a complicated story with so much emotional baggage and drama.  

Even though Alton never wanted to be a father he takes the news so much better than you would think, especially when he finds that there is one ill and one on the way which was hoped to be a saviour baby.

Both characters have baggage, Alton manages to get over his without a problem, however it is Jessie that struggles to get over her past and her fear in order to get her happy ever after with Alton.  A man who has shown strength, support and been there for her from the moment he finds out that he is a father.

At the end we get an epilogue a few years down the line from the perspective of Ezra and we get to see how happy the family is and how close as friends Dominic and his wife are with Alton and Jessie still.

I really look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

REVIEW - All Night with the Cowboy (River Ranch #2) by Soraya Lan

The Book
Release Date: 29 May 2018
Goodreads Link

BACK IN THE SADDLE. STRAIGHT TO THE HEART. . .

At the Ford family ranch, getting thrown from a horseis a part of growing up. But one cowboy is still learning the ropes when itcomes to falling in love.

Tanner Ford has been riding bulls and busting broncos his entire life. So when he takes a hard spill—and sustains serious injuries—he refuses to believe his rodeo days are behind him. He’s determined to restore his body and revive his career. There’s just one problem: the finest physical therapist in town just happens to be the only woman he’s ever loved.

Lauren Lewis knows she made a huge mistake when she walked away from Tanner. But she was young, ambitious, and focused on her medical career. Now, after all these years, Tanner’s back—and, in spite of his injuries, looking better than she allows herself to admit. She agrees to work on Tanner’s big bruised muscles until he’s back in bull-riding shape again. But how can Lauren resist the smoldering attraction between her and her old flame. . .and find a way to live without him?

My Review  4 STARS
**My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press, for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

Although this is the second book in a series it can totally be read as a stand alone story.

This is a second chance at love book where book characters we together as teenagers but broke up and found each other due to outside circumstances later in their lives, starting with animosity and where the chemistry is still very much there between them.

Tanner has taken some nasty injuries with his last bull ride and his sister has arranged for him to meet up with Lauren on her holiday in order to get the best PT she could find.  

Both have struggled after the break up in finding the right partner for their life and it is only after meeting again that they both discover that they are still in love with each other, but have trouble admitting to each other and themselves what they really want.

Its a lovely story of reconnection, love and a happy ever after with a decent epilogue that leaves you feeling happy.

REVIEW - Raw by Simone Sowood

The Book
Release Date: 9 April 2018
Goodreads Link

I stand before her naked... raw

The paparazzi are hounding me about a sex scandal and I have to escape.
So I run.
Not just from them, from my past, my present, from everything.
My car breaks down and I end up walking straight into a peach of a bare ass.
The f*cking luck of ending up in the middle of a boudoir photo shoot.
Elsie’s bent over, ass in the air and ripe for picking, 
Insisting she’s not the kind of girl who normally does this sort of thing.
A thousand things I want to do to her flash through my mind.
Being my salvation isn’t one of them but that’s what she is.
A green eyed beauty who belongs to me.
Mine.
Hope for the first time in my life.
But she’s hiding something.
And it ruins our future.

My Review  3 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

This is a story where the famous man Xander is hiding from the paps after a scandal and accidentally walks in on Elsie on a photoshoot after a colleague sends him to the wrong room.

We get almost instant attraction, lust, hot sex, talk about the past and a diagnosis that may well end their fledgeling romance

Xander has a completely f**ked up family and its a wonder that he is as 'normal' as he is, Elsie is ok, but nothing really popped out with them as a couple.

Its a decent read, but not one i am likely to visit again any time soon.

REVIEW - Fight Twice For Me: Two Stepbrothers Are Better Than One by C.c. Wylde

The Book
Release Date: 21 May 2018
Goodreads Link

The last place I wanted to be is at my ex’s MMA club, especially since I’ve sworn off fighters. 

But I never anticipated meeting the De La Cruz twins. And damn, is there anyone who could resist a chance at a night of mind-blowing sex with them? With their tattoos, muscles, and the fact that there’s two. Besides, I’m getting the hell out of Vegas as soon as I’m done with college in a few weeks, so why not indulge until then?

It felt good to forget the rules…until I woke up to find out they were my new stepbrothers.

My Review  4 STARS
**My thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing LLC, for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

Whats sexier than having one MMA fighter wanting you? Twin MMA fighters wanting you!

Ella is the daughter of an MMA fighter and her ex boyfriend did a number on her and no she has sworn off fighters for life.  After her college degree she wants to move from Vegas and and have a fresh start somewhere else away from fighting.  However life gets in the way of her plans.

Ella meets the De La Cruz twins and the boys show right off the bat that it is her that they want.

The De La Cruz brothers Rodrigo (Rigo) and Diego are a bit like chalk and cheese.  Where Rigo is sweet and always knows what to say, when reassurance and softness is needed and good cooking, Diego is the more states what he wants kinda man.  Both are very much alpha males.

Ella has lots of support from her friend Daisy along with her just like a dad Sal, a former fighter.  All know when to push her and how to get Ella to see what she cannot and we end up getting a happy ever after that makes you smile and hope that Daisy also gets a story of her own.

REVIEW - Dominick's Secret Baby (The Promise They Made #1) by Iris Parker

The Book
Release Date: 29 April 2018
]Goodreads Link

We’ve never met, but I’m pregnant with your second child.
There is… absolutely no good way to say that.
Believe me, I’ve tried.
It’s an impossibly awkward situation. The fertility clinic was supposed to keep our information secret, but my daughter—ourdaughter—somehow found a way to track down her biological father. She wanted to meet him, and she violated his privacy to do it.
Even worse, it turns out that the anonymous donor is Dominick Henderson. Or, as I used to think of him, “that jerk whose face is always in the tabloids.” From the hockey rink to the bedroom, this guy is a major player.
I assumed that he would get bored and leave after a few days, like he has with every woman he’s ever met. But for some reason he’s sticking around, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Like it or not, he’s part of the family now.
Like it or not, I’m falling for him.
It’s a shame he still doesn’t know I’m pregnant.

—————

Dominick’s Secret Baby is 400 pages of complete, stand-alone steamy romance with a happy ending.

My Review  4 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

This book starts out with you thinking "How can an 11yr old do that?"  As Ali tracks down the sperm done her mum used to get her.

Both Dominick and Helena both have issues, Helena is used to doing things on her own and at the start does not trust Dominck and takes a while for her to act on her lust.

Dominick seems to change almost overnight upon hearing that he is a father and becomes a father to an 11yr old, whilst falling for the mother.  Both parents could have sorted their issues fast IF they had taken to each other, but then we would not have had the angst throughout the book.

Dominick may not think he is father material, however that are a few scenes where he shows how much he is, and Helena ends up having to fight a little to get what she wants as her forever happy after.

REVIEW - Tie Me Down (Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll #2.5) by Michelle Hazen

The Book
Release Date: 7 May 2018
Goodreads Link

What happens after the Happily Ever After?

Once upon a time, a tour manager and a rock star fell in love on a tour bus. 

Many months and miles later, Kate and Danny are trying to build a life together in between two jet-setting jobs in the music industry. But despite their BDSM lifestyle, Kate is rope-shy once the bedroom door opens.

Secretly, she craves more than professional satisfaction, even though she swore she’d never swap her backstage pass for a picket fence. But it's going to take more than words for this Dom to help his self-reliant submissive realize she's never been more free than when she's tied down.

My Review  4 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

This is pretty much like the epilogue to the previous book in the series, Playing the Pauses.

Kate and Danny are still together, but Kate is currently on the road a lot and has not spent much time at home with Danny who misses her.

Both are kind of stuck, Danny wants Kate home, but will not say anything as he does not want to hold her back and Kate misses home and Danny and wants him to ask her to stay.

Its takes forever, but eventually after some intervention from friends things come to a head and both parties sort things out so that they both get what they want with each other.

There are also two weddings in this book.

REVIEW - Playing the Pauses (Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll #2) by Michelle Hazen

The Book
Release Date: 5 March 2018
Goodreads Link

Rock Star Dom + his Queen of the Spreadsheet employee = KRYPTONITE

Kate is a globe-trotting tour manager who can’t be tied down.
Danny is a Dominant rock star and tattoo artist who needs her help to explore his true kinks.

Kate just got her big break, running an international tour for a rising band. Her job is everything to her…at least until she meets the band’s enigmatic bass player. 

After they collide in one unforgettably erotic night on a hotel balcony, he comes to her with a proposition. As a former BDSM club performer, Danny’s spent so long fulfilling other people’s fantasies that now he wants to reclaim his own—and he says she’s the only one who can help. 

Getting caught in bed with her rock star boss could cost her career, and yet there’s something about Danny’s quiet intensity that she can’t resist. He steals her heart, hard. But the end of the tour is approaching, and their jobs are headed two different directions. 

To be together one of them will have to stop touring, but the only thing they crave as much as each other is music. 

Escape into the Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll series, which follows Danny’s band from dive bars to the big time. Click now to meet the band!

Book 2 of an NTRWA award-winning series

**This book can be read and understood as a standalone, but does contain spoilers for earlier books in the series.**

My Review  4 STARS
Although this is book is part of a series it can totally be read as a stand alone.  It is also the first time that i have read anything by this author.

A few things seem to get a little lost  in this book, such as Danny wanting to find himself in his Dom ways, yet it always seems to be on Kate's pleasure, also being a Dom in bed, Danny is a bit of a push over otherwise, never really standing up for what HE wants rather than what other people want.

Other than Kate and Danny there is a great cast behind them, drummer Jera with her boyfriend Jacob, we have Jax who is almost on self destruct mode and the roadies behind them.

The first half of the book has them on tour together as the band, Jera, Jax and Danny are on tour with their band The Red Letters.  Kate has taken over as tour manager and gets together with Danny.  The next half is with them as a couple but doing their own thing with the push and pull of the slightly dysfunctional dynamics between them.

We do get a Happy Ever After but it takes a long time getting there and we end at the point that they have both made their decision.  An epilogue would have been good as the ending did feel a little lacking.

REVIEW - Part-Time Husband (Trophy Husbands #1) by Noelle Adams

The Book
Release Date: 29 May 2018
Goodreads Link

On a Wednesday afternoon, I ask Trevor Bentley to marry me. He might be the most arrogant, obnoxious man I know, but I need him to be my husband for a year. 

There are reasons. 

He's not going to be a real husband. Just part-time. Yes, I have to live with him. And, okay, I also have to share his bed. And, sure, he's the sexiest and most exciting thing to ever happen to my controlled, organized life. 

But still... It's only a part-time marriage. I'm not going to give him my heart. I know what I'm doing, and I'm too smart to fall for my husband. 

I hope.

My Review  4 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

This is quite a sweet read and you know with this author that we will always get a happy ending, no matter what the characters go through.

Melissa is a strong woman, but she will not be bullied out of her job by her grandfather.  She has to marry in order for her to keep her job, so she knows the only person that she cannot stand is Trevor, so she asks him to marry her for a year.

Both keep their feelings close as neither want to be hurt, but you can see them getting closer and closer even if they do not see it.

Trevor is a lovely man and although he is smug and arrogant at times, he is also kind and generous and stands up for other people, especially Melissa with her grandfather.

Really loved this book and cannot wait to read the other two sisters books.

REVIEW - Healing Love (Love to the Extreme #4) by Abby Niles

The Book
Release Date: 15 February 2016
Goodreads Link

Doctor Ella Watts wants her old life back. Desperately. But the past has returned for its rematch, and going back home—even telling anyone her real name—isn’t an option until she’s confident in her MMA abilities. Personal trainer Lance Black is the man to help her reach her goals. Not only is he toned, muscular, and gorgeous, he’s patient, a great teacher, and willing to treat her like a worthy opponent. Except his size makes her freeze whenever he gets too close. If Ella can’t learn how to overcome her fear of being attacked, she’ll never be able to move on with her life.

Underground fighter Lance Black knows there’s more to the mysterious blonde ninja than a beautiful woman determined to improve her fighting skills. She can best anyone close to her size – man or woman – but insists on working out with him, even though he’s got a good 70 pounds and several inches on her. Despite her reticence, he’s determined to get her to open up so he can help her get over her mental block. And if that means he can get to know her outside the gym, all the better.

As long as she never learns his secrets.

My Review  4 STARS
In this book we have Lance and Abby and the story can be read as a stand alone book even though it is part of a series.

Abby is running from an abusive past and Lance has so much on his plate that it is almost crumbling around him, but they both have too much pride and do not want help in getting themselves out of a predicament.

Both have chemistry right from the beginning and the tension is there, however it is Lance's patience that has Abby admitting some things to him slowly about her past and why she wants to train in MMA more.

Both open up to revelations provided to others that were brushed off from the other, but realise that what they have is something special and worth fighting for.

COVER REVEAL - The Problem With Him (Opposites Attract #3) by Rachel Higginson

The Book
Release Date: 26 June 2018
Goodreads Link

I’m over men. I’m done with them. 

Or at least the ones that work in my kitchen. Fine, one man in particular. Wyatt Shaw is cocky and condescending and so far out of his element that he doesn’t know which way is up. Or how to run his brand new kitchen all by himself. 

That’s where I come in. Sous chef extraordinaire. Second in command. Bane of his existence. I am the reason Wyatt’s doing so well as the new executive chef of one of our city’s most prestigious restaurants. He has me to thank for his glowing accolades and five-star write-ups. Only if you were to ask him, he’d say I’m his biggest problem. 

Despite his discouragement and bullish behavior, I’ve set two goals for myself. 

The first? I’m going to fight my way to the top of this male-dominated industry and claim my own award-winning kitchen. 

The second? I’m going to do whatever it takes to ignore Wyatt and his rare smiles and the thickening tension that’s started to simmer between us. 

Wyatt Shaw might be Durham’s new shining star. He might be up for a James Beard Award. He might be my new boss and key to my future success, but he’s also in my way. 

So he can keep his smoldering looks and secret kisses. And he can be the one that figures out how to make it through service without getting distracted by me. 

I’m not the problem. The problem is him.

PreOrder Links      AMAZON US  |  AMAZON UK

Other books in the series

THE OPPOSITE OF YOU
All men. 
Famous last words, right? You’re expecting some epic tale of reluctant love and my dramatic change of heart? Well, you’re not going to get it. 
I’m stubborn. And headstrong. And I’ve just survived the worst three years of my life. After escaping an abusive boyfriend to live in hostels and cheap hotels while I worked my way across Europe, I’ve come to two conclusions. 
The first? Now that I’m back home, I’m going to squander my expensive culinary degree on a food truck that caters to the late night drunk crowd. 
The second? I’m going to prove to the bastard across the plaza that my street food is better than his fussy five course monstrosities.
Killian Quinn might be Food and Wine’s Chef to Watch Out For. He might have a Michelin Star. He might have every food critic in the city wrapped around his too-large fingers. But he’s also pretentious and unbearably arrogant and the very opposite of me. 
So he can keep his unsolicited advice and his late night visits and his cocky smiles. I want none of it. Or him. 
I want the opposite.

I’ve sworn off men. 

AMAZON US  |  AMAZON UK

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US

I'm cursed.

At least when it comes to finding Mr. Right.
I'm tired of men that only want one night stands or blind dates that are nothing but awkward and uncomfortable. I'm tired of avoiding inappropriate text messages and the constant disappointment of always meeting Mr. Wrong.
After all these years of dates that lead nowhere, I can admit that it's me. I'm the problem. I'm shy and picky and cursed. Definitely cursed.
So I've decided two things.
The first? I'm giving up dating and relationships and men in general. Maybe, possibly, forever.
The second? I'm going to have to try harder to avoid Ezra Baptiste.
If I couldn't hack it in the kiddy pool of dating, I certainly can't swim in his deep end. He's too successful. Too intense. He's all man when I'm used to nothing but boys pretending to be grownups. He's everything I'm afraid to want and so far out of my league we might as well be different species entirely.
So he'll need to find a different artist to paint his mural. And a different graphic designer to help him with his website. He'll need to find someone else to glare at and flirt with and kiss.
It can't be me.
We're too different.

AMAZON US  |  AMAZON UK