Monthly Archives:: January 2015

Review: Ready to Wed by Cindi Madsen

January 31, 2015 Lily B Review 6 ★★★★

Ready to Wed by Cindi Madsen
Series: Stand-Alone
Published by Entangled: Select on January 1st 1970
Genres: Chick-Lit
Pages: 350
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Rating:
Heat Rating: two-half-flames

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Is there anything worse than getting jilted at the altar? How about being a wedding planner getting jilted at the altar for your own wedding...on a cruise already out at sea? When Las Vegas resident Dakota Halifax loses her fiance, she swears she's given up on love altogether. She pours her heart into her weekly wedding advice column and fills her days planning events to celebrate others' forever love. When her childhood best friend Brendan moves to Las Vegas and they reconnect, she starts to wonder if maybe love could find her again. But then her ex reappears, begging for another chance. Can someone once-burned and twice-shy ever find her way down the aisle again?

After hearing so many wonderful things about Madsen’s Cinderella Screwed Me Over, I am ashamed to say I have not had a chance to read that one. When Ready to Wed popped up on my radar to review, I knew I had to dip my toes into this author’s writing and I came out glad that I have. Ready to Wed is a heartwarming romance about Dakota Halifax, a Las Vegas wedding planner who ends up down on her luck when her fiancé leaves her jilted at the altar and suddenly her jobs feels like a nightmare. Because there is nothing worse than planning other people’s happy days after her’s crashes and burns so bad, leaving her hurt and hating anything to do with weddings.

When her childhood best friend Brendan shows up looking for her, things start to slowly turn around for Dakota once again.

Sweet story, I really enjoyed it. Madsen’s characters were very engaging and entertaining. I found it easy to lose myself in the story and everything Dakota had gone through. The storyline was fun and definitely something different from what I have read recently, which left it very refreshing. I enjoyed the writing and found it easy to connect to both of the characters.

I liked both Dakota and Brendan, the only thing I struggled with at the beginning is it seemed like the attraction at first was very one-sided. I was glad when things picked up and finally started clicking. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Tasty Book Tours: DREAMING OF LOVE by Melissa Foster Review

January 28, 2015 Lily B Uncategorized 7

Dreaming
of Love The
Bradens #11, Love in Bloom # 19

By:
Melissa Foster

Releasing
January 20^th,
2015

Self-Published
Heat Rating: Steamy to somewhat Sizzling
Source: Book Tour

This book is for 18 and over, due to sexual content.

Summary from Goodreads

Emily
Braden is a leader in architectural preservation, a pillar in her
small hometown, and successful in everything she does—with the
exception of finding true love. She’s watched several of her
brothers fall in love, and she needs this trip to Tuscany to get away
from it all and to stop focusing on what she doesn’t have.

Dae
Bray doesn’t do flings, and he never stays in one place for very
long. As a demolitionist, he goes where jobs take him, and the more
often he travels, the better. His trip to Tuscany is all work—until
he meets smart and sexy Emily, who makes him reconsider his fear of
settling down, his no-fling rule—and just about everything else
he’s ever believed about himself.

Passion
sizzles as Dae and Emily explore the history and beauty of Tuscany.
Their romance moves beyond tourist attractions to the bedroom,
blossoming into a deep connection neither can deny. But their worlds
collide when Emily wants to preserve the property that Dae is there
to demolish. Can a woman who sees the beauty in preservation and a
man whose life is spent tearing things down find a solid foundation
for their love?

Emily Braden has always wanted to go to Tuscany, so when one of her brother’s surprises her with a trip after helping him with his significant other, Emily is unable to turn down the opportunity of a life time. There she meets the sexy and charming Dae Bray and sparks fly.

The plot - I thought the plot was kind of fun. I really loved the fact that it took place in Tuscany, so it ended up being a sort of a getaway. With some of the trips that these two took, it was easy to get lost with them in their surroundings, I think it only made me wish for a little more description at times.

Dae Bray is a demolitionist, and Emily is a leader in architectural preservation, so when Emily finds out that Dae is about to destroy something called House of Wishes that’s very important to the women of the town, she has a hard time with it.

The romance - If you don’t mind a bit of an insta-love, very sweet type romance this book is for you. I did enjoy the romance unfolding between Emily and Dae, I thought it was cute and at times fun. I did struggle a bit with connecting and chemistry due to it being so sudden. Emily’s reaction to Dae when she first sees him and the way she acts was a bit amusing, especially when she keeps mentioning that she never does it otherwise.

The premise said Dae has a hard with settling down, but with the way these two jumped into a relationship, I had a hard time seeing that.

I do like that they had hit a patch in their road and that their jobs posed a bit of a conflict for them, even thought Dae was very much upfront to Emily about what he does, so she didn’t come into it blindly. But once Emily discovers that Dae is there to destroy something very important to the local women, it creates a bit of a turbulence. I had to feel sorry for Dae, it wasn’t his fault, it was part of his job and I agreed… If he doesn’t do it, someone else would and the property belonged to a wealthy man who didn’t care, so why take the anger out of Dae?

The writing - Melissa Foster definitely knows how to create different very interesting characters and make opposite attract. The plot was well done too and I loved the setting of Tuscany that took us on a small little adventure. Foster knows how to weave an engaging story!

Author
Info

Melissa
Foster is an award-winning, International bestselling author. Her
books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown
Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the
founder of the Women’s
Nest, a social and support community for women, theWorld
Literary Café. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors
navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs
on Fostering
Success. Melissa is also a community builder for the Alliance for
Independent Authors. She has been published in Calgary’s Child
Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Author
Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter
|Goodreads
| TSU

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Review: Get Even (Don’t Get Mad #1) by Gretchen McNeil

January 24, 2015 Lily B Uncategorized 13

Get Even (Don’t Get Mad #1) by Gretchen McNeil

Published September 16th 2014
by Balzer + Bray

Paperback, 389 pages

Series: Don’t Get Mad

Genre: YA Contemporary

Source: I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars
in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate
girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create
dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.

Bree, Olivia,
Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d
like the students and administrators of their elite private school to
think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different
lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members
of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the
school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When
their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his
hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they
thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

No, just no. I don’t really know where to begin reviewing this book.

Let’s start with the characters. This book follows four girls Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot who this story seems to revolve around. They are a bunch who form a group called DGM (Don’t Get Mad, if you cannot tell from the title), four girls that just decide to come together and become a secret society that takes revenge on the bullies in their school. This is where it got confusing from the start, because when you have four main characters that don’t really differ in personality or behavior in the book and don’t have their own chapters – everything kind of blends together. I had a hard time trying to distinguish one from another and somewhere halfway into the book I just kind of gave up and tried to enjoy the rest of the story, which in itself was hard…

DGM is suppose to be this secret society that takes revenge on this nasty people of their private school, but in the actual book they only had one scene of this before the entire thing blew up in their face and suddenly their next victim is dead and they are blamed for murder.

The secondary characters in this book, which I guess was the bullies and the teachers were the worse thing ever. It was easy to hate them, and due to their unrealistic behavior, made it hard to keep reading this book. Father Uberti and Coaches behaviors, the two prominent adults in this book was absolutely disgusting and very unrealistic .I refuse to believe that the private school parents who PAY big money for their kids to go to this school have turned a blind eye on all the bullying, especially since some of it is actually coming from the Father and Coach. I would assume action against them both should have been taken a long time ago. Especially when the Coach gathers up a group of bullies and practically instructs them to beat a confession out of one of their suspects. If bullying is so bad in a private school where parents pay to send their kids, why aren’t these rich kids complaining more? Unrealistic, badly executed.

To top off my annoyance at this was the badly written romance, an unnecessary triangle and a really really terrible ending. After everything I went through I was hoping for a resolution to let me know I did not waste my time with this book, no such luck. In fact, it ended in an epic fail cliffhanger that sitting here thinking about it only makes me that much more unhappy with the overall result.

Review: Catch a Falling Heiress (An American Heiress in London #3) by Laura Lee Guhrke

January 23, 2015 Lily B Uncategorized 18

Catch a Falling Heiress (An American Heiress in London #3) by Laura Lee Guhrke

Expected publication:
January 27th 2015
by Avon

Paperback, 384 pages

Series: An American Heiress in London

Genre: Historical Romance
Heat Rating: Steamy-ish

Source: I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

This book is for 18 and over, due to some sexual content.

Summary from Goodreads

She’s an American
heiress. He’s a devilish earl. When these two collide, the sparks ignite
a shocking scandal in USA Today bestselling author Laura Lee Guhrke’s
unforgettable Victorian-era romance.

Linnet Holland wants nothing
to do with fortune hunters. No, she’s determined to marry a man who
loves her. But just as she’s about to accept the perfect marriage
proposal from the man she wants, the rakish Earl of Featherstone
interrupts and ruins everything, including her reputation, with his
smoldering kiss.

Jack Featherstone knows all about Linnet’s
“intended”, and he’s determined she won’t fall prey to that villain as
other women have in the past. But when his attempt to save Linnet ruins
her instead, he knows he has to make things right. So he sets out to win
this golden beauty . . . and prove to her that being ruined by him was
the best thing that could have happened to her.

Let me start out by saying when I got this book in the mail, I was so giddy and excited. I never read Laura Lee Guhrke, but I have heard some wonderful things about her, and of course I been craving some historical romance after a very tough week.

Linnet Holland is an American Heiress who has had a very tough luck with love. After being targeted by a British Fortune Hunter, the last thing Linnet wants is to marry a British peer. When a man she has fancied previously suddenly is in the middle of delivering the perfect marriage proposal, nothing could take the moment away from Linnet until Earl of Featherstone not only interrupts the proposal but also manages to ruin everything, including Linnet’s reputation. Now she must marry and quickly, Earl of Featherstone is willing to make things right, but she has no plans to marry the man that ruined her.

Great story! I really enjoyed this one. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Linnet and everything she went through. I understood where she stood as far as her choice of not wanting to marry a man she knew nothing about but had suddenly sent her life into a tail spin. I was a little puzzled by her choice to go back to London and marry a British peer regardless, especially since it seemed like her choices were pretty slim and could only end with just another Fortune Hunter on her arms.

I really liked Jack Featherstone, his intentions no matter how bad were actually meant to be good. He was trying to save Linnet from a terrible life and even thought he was unable to tell her why, as a reader knowing why, could not help but agree. His actions thought drastic, were kind of amusing.

I liked the chemistry between these two, especially Jack trying to pursue Linnet in London and trying to prove that they could actually be good together. Several scenes made me giggle, I thought the writing was really well done and very entertaining. Guhrke really made me enjoy the story and I was able to get lost in the book for hours. The characters were easy to like and the plot was wildly charming!

Tasty Book Tours: The Duke of Dark DesiresThe Wild Quartet # 4 By: Miranda Neville

January 15, 2015 Lily B Uncategorized 11

The
Duke of Dark DesiresThe
Wild Quartet # 4

By:
Miranda Neville

Releasing
December 30^th,
2014

Avon

Amazon | Barnes | iBooks
| Kobo | Goodreads

Blurb

Wanted:
Governess able to keep all hours…

Rebellious
Julian Fortescue never expected to inherit a dukedom, nor to find
himself guardian to three young half-sisters. Now in the market for a
governess, he lays eyes on Jane Grey and knows immediately she is
qualified-to become his mistress. Yet the alluring woman appears
impervious to him. Somehow Julian must find a way to make her succumb
to temptation … without losing his heart and revealing the haunting
mistakes of his past.

Desired:
Duke skilled in the seductive art of conversation…

Lady
Jeanne de Falleron didn’t seek a position as a governess simply to
fall into bed with the Duke of Denford. Under the alias of Jane Grey,
she must learn which of the duke’s relatives is responsible for the
death of her family-and take her revenge. She certainly can’t
afford the distraction of her darkly irresistible employer, or the
smoldering desire he ignites within her.

But as
Jane discovers more clues about the villain she seeks, she’s faced
with a possibility more disturbing than her growing feelings for
Julian: What will she do if the man she loves is also the man she’s
sworn to kill?

Author
Info

MIRANDA
NEVILLE grew up in England before moving to New York City to work in
Sotheby’s rare books department. After many years as a journalist
and editor, she decided writing fiction was more fun. She lives in
Vermont. She loves hearing from readers and may be reached through
her website.