Monday, November 12, 2012

Review for Kissing Under the Mistletoe by Marina Adair

Title: Kissing Under the Mistletoe
Author : Marina Adair

Description: Regan Martin stopped believing in Christmas miracles six years ago when she lost everything—her house, her job, and her impeccable reputation in the wine industry—after she fell in love with a man she had no idea was married. Then Regan gets a chance for a fresh start in the Napa Valley. With her dream job, dream home, and her daughter enrolled in a wonderful new school, she starts wondering if holiday wishes really do come true.

But she soon tumbles back down to earth when she learns that her new boss is none other than Gabe DeLuca, the scorned wife’s brother. Gabe wants nothing more than home-wrecking Regan Martin out of his life, his sister’s world, and his family’s business. Mostly, he wants the lush beauty out of his head. Yet his attempts to run her out of town have him thinking twice, especially when he sees that Regan may hold the key to tracking down his sister’s stolen start-up capital. Even worse for Gabe, Regan might just be his Christmas wish and hold the key to his heart

My Thoughts: At a young age Regan made a mistake of falling for an older man named Richard. Whom she believed loved her back. In the process she got pregnant and found out it was all a sham when they were caught by Gabe DeLuca. Gabe ends up making the next six years of her life hell by blocking every job prospect . Finally, with hope on the horizon for her young daughter and herself she picks up and moves. After applying and getting a job at a winery, said to be ran by all women. Finally thinking she is able to put the past behind her; and raise her daughter comfortably. Only she gets a nice surprise her first day in the new town by running into Gabe. Gabe has always protected his family to any means. Isn't he surprised to see her in his territory. Making sure that Regan and his sister never run into each other, while trying to see if Regan will lead him to Richard was a task he didn't mind . Even if he always found her attractive and she made him smile. So, he plays nice and calls a truce. He soon realizes though that he might have made a big mistake where Regan was .

It's like Christmas in October when i read this. I did not want to put this book down. Adair drew me in with lovable characters and non-stop laughter not to mention plenty of um holiday cheer and mourning for a beloved Randolf. I enjoy it when an author not only makes you love the main characters, but the background characters as well. Each person in the town added something to the story and you couldn't help but be fond of each if them.

Regan is a strong woman with a whole lot of spirit and a side of vulnerability. Who wouldn't let anything or anyone prevent her from trying to give her daughter the happiness she deserves. It doesn't hurt that she had me laughing so hard within the first five pages with her antics. Already so misjudged from past deeds that weren't her fault. Instead of giving the De Luca family the edge over her she would rather hold her head high. This doesn't explain why she can't get past her Gabe who is a smexy man beast who makes her nether regions come to life like no man has since Richard.

Gabe is smexy and loyal to his family. Sure he feels a strong attraction to Regan he always has it's part of the reasons he enjoys the banter back and forth with her. However, when it comes to his family he always tries to protect them.

The attraction between them is visible from the beginning. Adair creates a slow burn building us up to the fireworks that go off when both Regan and Gabe finally give in to their feelings for each other. The wit and antics between them had me dying laughing. Heck, the antics of half the people Adair created in the town had me wishing I lived there myself. This is my first book by Adair I will definitely be looking for the next in the series. I do believe my Christmas season started two months early thanks to this cute spunky Christmas romance.

5 out of 5 Stars 

You can purchase it here : Amazon 

You can find Marina here : Facebook  / Goodreads  / Twitter

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Winner of Jacquelyn Frank's Interview and Giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Big congrats to Amy Ryan for winning a paperback of Forbidden. If you see this go ahead and send a email to Lindseyhutchison605 (at) gmail (dot) com. I just need you to tell me your snail mail to forward on to the right people.

 If you didn't win this time no worries more prizes to come and more winners to be announced.
 

Winner of Morgan Kelly's Guest Post and Giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Big congrats to Mina De Caro for winning an eBook of Midnight in Your Arms . I will be emailing you shortly. If you see this before I do go ahead and send a email to Lindseyhutchison605 (at) gmail (dot) com. I just need to confirm your email to forward it on. 

 If you didn't win this time no worries more prizes to come and more winners to be announced.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Winner of Shewanda Pugh's Interview and Giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Big congrats to Mary Preston for winning an eBook of Crimson Footprints . I will be emailing you shortly. If you see this before I do go ahead and send a email to Lindseyhutchison605 (at) gmail (dot) com. I just need to confirm your email to forward it on. 

 If you didn't win this time no worries more prizes to come and more winners to be announced.
 

Winner of Kendra Elliot's Book Series Spotlight and Giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Big congrats to Olga Sergejeva for winning a paperback or eBook copy of your choice between Hidden or Chilled . If you see this before I do go ahead and send a email to Lindseyhutchison605 (at) gmail (dot) com. I just need you to tell me if you prefer eBook or paperback and which book you choose. If you choose paperback I will need your snail mail and if you choose eBook just need to confirm your email addy. 

 If you didn't win this time no worries more prizes to come and more winners to be announced.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Super Book Blast ~ Dangerous Affairs by Diana Miller With Giveaway






When soap opera star Abby Langford leaves Los Angeles for her Minnesota hometown, she’s hoping to give her nine-year-old daughter the peaceful childhood she never knew. But instead of tranquility, Abby finds an old knife hidden between the walls of her new house. Then the nightmares start: a blood-soaked victim and a killer’s arm slicing through the air, again and again.

Abby wonders if she’s having the nervous breakdown the tabloids claim she already had, especially when sexy, skeptical police chief Josh Kincaid questions her story. When menacing hate mail arrives, Josh’s professional concern for Abby soon evolves into an intense attraction, and the feeling is mutual. And now Josh wonders if her psychic visions are of crimes past—or a premonition of terrors to come.

To survive, Abby and Josh must uncover the truth and stop a killer . . . before Abby’s worst nightmares come true.

********* EXCERPT *********
 
The doorbell rang, shooting a fresh blast of cold panic through Abby. She opened her mouth, but swallowed her scream—it had to be the police. Bad guys didn’t use doorbells. She unlocked and opened the front door with frozen fingers.

Josh was standing on the front porch, dressed in black jeans and a burgundy polo shirt, his hand on the doorjamb and his eyes narrowed. “What’s such a damn emergency?”

“I got another message. From the person who hates me.”

Josh expelled a clearly exasperated breath, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Look, I know I told you to take the letters seriously, but since the mail carrier delivered it hours ago, this isn’t exactly an emergency. Bring it to the station tomorrow. I’d like to get back to my date.”

“It didn’t come in the mail this time.” Abby’s voice rose an octave, her words tripping over each other. “It’s on my bathroom mirror, written in lipstick. Someone got into my house, and they could get in again.” She sounded half hysterical, but she couldn’t help it. This was in a different category from her normal hate mail.

Josh stepped into the house, closing the door behind him. “You were gone tonight?”

She slumped against one wall of the foyer, hugging herself and struggling to regain her control.

“Maddie and I were at a birthday party for Laura’s youngest son. At Pizzaville. We got home around nine thirty, and I put Maddie to bed. I read in the family room for a while, then went back upstairs. And found it.”

“Show me.” Josh grabbed her forearm and directed her up the stairs.

The message was short and to the point, capital letters written in red lipstick on the wall-size mirror:

LEAVE OR DIE BITCH. FROM YOUR BIGGEST FAN

When she was eight, Diana Miller decided she wanted to be Nancy Drew. But no matter how many garbage cans she dug through, conversations she “accidentally” overheard, and attics she searched, she never found a single cryptic letter, hidden staircase, or anything else even remotely mysterious. She worked as a lawyer, a soda jerk, a stay-at-home mom, a hospital admitting clerk, and a conference host before deciding that the best way to inject suspense into her otherwise satisfying life was by writing about it.

Diana is a five-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award and winner of a Golden Heart for Dangerous Affairs—a romantic suspense novel that shows not everyone in her home state is Minnesota Nice. She lives in the Twin Cities with her family.

My website link is dianamillerwriter.com. I have buy buttons for both Amazon and Kindle on my website, but have no idea what you have to do to insert them since my web designer did it.

The URL for my Amazon page is: http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Affairs-Diana-Miller/dp/1612186017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339532353&sr=8-1

********* GIVEAWAY *********

Diana will be awarding one $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments.

You can follow the rest of the tour : HERE

Guest Post and Giveaway with Morgan Kelly

United By Books is pleased to let the amazing Morgan Kelly take over the blog today! So without any further hesitation take it away Morgan.......

I hope you all had a fabulous, sexy Halloween last night! Mr. Kelly and I spent it at home, kicking back with some classic scary movies while waiting for trick ’r treaters to come stomping up past the ten foot tall Angel of Death that came to roost on our roof (well, at least it did after Mr. Kelly built it! It’s really scary! Our cat was too scared to come home when he first saw it! Ha.) After the kids all went home, we cracked open a couple of bottles of Pumpkin Ale, and watched another movie. Yeah, I know. We’re crazy like that.

With Midnight In Your Arms coming out at Halloween, with a Halloween theme that runs through the plot, I can’t help but wonder what sorts of horror movies Laura Dearborn, the sexy psychic medium who wins the heart of the ghostly apparition of dashing Crimean veteran Alaric Storm III in Midnight In Your Arms, would have been watching. The year she lives in, 1926, was actually a very good year for horror! The Magician came out that year, adapted from a novel by one of my very favourite authors, W. Somerset Maugham. The movie is about a crazed scientist who tries to steal the blood of a maiden for his Dr.Frankensteinian experiments to create life. The heroine is played by 20s starlet Alice Terry, whose photograph I’ve pasted. She looks very chic and glamourous—maybe Laura Dearborn would look something like her, if she was a real woman living back then. I like to imagine her ducking into a darkened theatre, contraband flask of gin tucked into her handbag, slinking into the back row to enjoy the hair-raising matinee! No doubt she slips into a reverie, fantasizing about the sexy auburn-haired man who keeps haunting her dreams, never knowing that one day she will be his…


​I thought you might enjoy a link so you can see a clip of the final scene of The Magician, and get a sense of what people in Laura’s time found entertaining this time of year : 




What do you think? Scary enough for our modern-day standards? What are your favourite classic horror movies? Mr. Kelly and I still think The Evil Dead takes the cake! I’ve seen the trailers for the remake, and it looks spectacular! There is nothing better than cuddling up to your honey to watch something that makes it okay to get a little closer than would be strictly necessary when watching Seinfeld re-runs, am I right? Leave a message at the bottom of the post and let us know what you did for Halloween, unless it was too naughty for public consumption ;^]


 In celebration of the release of Midnight In Your Arms, I’m offering a giveaway: one digital copy is up for grabs, to a randomly selected reader



Blurb and Critical Praise for Midnight In Your Arms:

For fans of Downton Abbey and readers of Jude Deveraux and Teresa Medeiros comes a brand-new tale of a love that dares to defy time itself . . .
When psychic Laura Dearborn inherits Stonecross Hall in 1926, she has no idea she's inheriting a love story too—one that she's lived again and again. But as Alaric Storm III, the handsome owner of the mansion from sixty years earlier, starts to haunt her waking dreams, Laura discovers her heart's true home has always been within Stonecross's walls.

Tormented by memories of war, Alaric Storm III is used to spirits—just not ones from the future. Set on fire by Laura's ghostly affections, Alaric is forced to choose: follow his heart and grasp Laura's hand through time, or surrender to the call of duty and live without love.

As All Hallows' Eve draws near, Alaric and Laura must find a way to hold on to each other forever—or risk repeating their tragic romance until the end of time.


“Kelly’s thoughtful debut novella sensitively evokes the horrors of war and the emotional difficulties facing veterans in peacetime, and the atmospheric descriptions of 1920s London and Victorian high society illuminate the temporal and social differences separating the lovers.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A lush Gothic romance nested within a time-traveling ghost story, Midnight in Your Arms is the very best kind of fairytale, an inventive tapestry of the nostalgic and the new that begs to be read into the early hours of the morning. A marvelous debut!” (Michael Boccacino, author of Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling)

 If you want to find out more about me, and connect on any social media platform you like best, I can be found at the following places:  BLOG/ FACEBOOK / GOODREADS/ TWITTER   

********* GIVEAWAY *********

Morgan is generously offering up one eBook copy of MIDNIGHT in Your Arms to one lucky commenter. Just fill out the rafflecopter below to be entered  
 
a Rafflecopter giveaway