Weekly Haul #66

Stacking the shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's basically a way in which we get to show off the lovely new goodies we got over the past week/month however you decide to do it.

One Night with the Billionaire (Men of the Zodiac #9) by Sarah Ballance

The Finn Factor by Rachel Bailey

Head Over Heels for the Boss (The Donovan Brothers #3) by Susan Meier

Ten Things Sloane Hates About Tru (Creative Hearts #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

Finding Perfect by Kendra C. Highley

Thanks to Entangled Publishing for these :)




Bad Romance: A Stepbrother Novel by Jen McLaughlin

Thanks to Loveswept for this one!

ARCs, ARCs, ARCs! Here an ARC. There an ARC. Every where a— Ahem. Anyway... So yeah got quite a few good looking ARCs this week that I'm super excited for. Especially Bad Romance. I feel like I should feel more twisted and weird that I'm most excited about a "stepbrother" book. *Shrugs* What can I say my twisted and jaded soul likes the weird stuff. So what have you added to your shelves this week? :)

COVER REVEAL: Boiling Point (Crossing the Line #3) by Tessa Bailey [+Bonus!]

Get ready for Boiling Point! The next installment in Tessa Bailey's thrilling Crossing the Line series.  We hope you love the cover as much as we do!

Release date: January 26, 2016

About Boiling Point:

Falling for a con man is the most dangerous game of all...

Con artist Austin Shaw's been in disguise so long he's not sure where his fake identities end and he begins. Now that he's been strong-armed into working for a specialized undercover unit working with the Chicago police—criminals with unique “skills”—the last thing he needs is to risk his iron control. Especially when it comes to a certain stunningly sexy hacker who tempts him with every look of disdain.

Polly Banks will never, ever trust a con man. On the trail of a ruthless crook who destroyed the only family she's ever known, Polly is unnerved by the shadow who follows her every move. The one who makes her pulse pound and breath short with lust. Austin. He's infuriating, enigmatic, and pure sex appeal, and she's determined to resist him.

But an untrustworthy man of disguise can become anyone he wants...including a man that Polly must trust if she's to escape their dangerous game alive.

Bonus cover reveal!!

Raw Redemption

The 4th book in the Crossing the Line Series

Expected Publication:

June 28th 2016

(Blurb to come)

About Tessa Bailey:

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.

Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.

She now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband of seven years and three-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

ARC REVIEW: Five Things I Love About You (Chase Brothers #1) by Sarah Ballance

Title: Five Things I Love About You
Series:: Chase  Brothers #1
Author: Sarah Ballance
Publisher: Entangled Lovestruck
Published: August 18th 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 124
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher
★★★✩ (3.5/5) Stars!

Sarah Ballance | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Five things to love about NYC. But she only needs one...

California landscape artist Estelle Donovan hates big cities. Between the grime, the smell, all the drab concrete, and the suffocating summer heat, how can anyone breathe? House sitting her brother's New York apartment, complete with broken elevator and smoking air conditioner, is her kind of hell. It's only for two weeks, though. What could possibly go wrong?

Dumping a jar of pickles on the hot girl at the grocery store wasn't Crosby Chase's finest hour, nor was getting bitten in the butt by the demonic cat on her fire escape. But he is going to change her mind about his beloved city, damn it. In fact, if they could just make it five minutes without falling into bed, he bets Estelle he can find five things she'll love about New York.

Falling in love wasn't part of his plan. And with an entire country between them, Crosby realizes he doesn't need five reasons to make Estelle love New York.

He needs one big reason to make her stay...

I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!

Endearing Characters. Extremely cute. Lots of humor. Incredibly sweet. And smokin' hot! Five things I loved about this book. 

The blurb for Five Things I Love About You had me dying to read it. A small town, suburban girl being stuck for two weeks in the dreaded big city, surrounded by concrete and hoards of people, I just knew there was going to be tons of fun to be had within these pages.

So let's just get the one and only thing I had a problem with in this book out of the way first and move on to the love fest. It's the one thing that we all love to hate, or would it be hate to hate? Anyway. Insta-love. The reason why, despite how much I adored this book, for the low-ish rating. It didn't have to happen. Nobody needed to say those three powerful words before the epilogue, and only two weeks after they met. I'm all for whirlwind romances. Romances. Not declarations of love. So, yeah. That was a bit disappointing. Regardless, did it stop me from falling hard for this book? Not at all.

Even though I just got done complaining about the L bomb, I can tell it's going to be one of my most used words within this review. Because I loved the storyline. Loved it! There's the perfect meet cute at the start of the book. Filled with adorableness, humor and a bit of swooniness as well. Then it was the watching Crosby go to all the trouble of finding things within the city he loves so much that he knew that Estelle would love as well. He doesn't just drag her off to shows and museums and all the touristy things that most people do in NYC, he shows that he truly listened and knew what she wanted. It was sweet and heartwarming. But it's laced with humor as well...and demonic cats. So many things to love.

Characters are always a major factor when it comes to my enjoyment level of a book. It was not hard to fall instantly for all the characters in this book. All of them. From Estelle's kinda nerdy but oh so sweet brother, Grady, to the entire Chase clan, I had so much fun getting to know all of them. And the dynamic and personalities within the Chase family has me so excited to keep going on this series. As for the two main characters they were so much fun! I loved how playful Crosby is and how he is just such a good guy. In the beginning he lets it be known that he's basically married to his job, but you come to realize right away that it's not in the way most guys are, after the almighty buck. His dedication and motivation is all for the benefit of his family. It's pretty admirable.

Estelle is just plain adorable. She's into landscape design so she's all about the outdoors and the green. She's kind of this straight laced, level headed type of girl. Well, until Crosby dumps a jar of pickles on her and from then on he brings out this other side of her that's playful and wild. She was definitely tons of fun.

The two made a solid effort to keep things on a friendly level and fight the attraction, needless to say...it didn't last too long. And oh my word did sparks fly. I was definitely rooting for the two of them to work out their coastal differences because not only did they have intense chemistry, but they were just too cute together.

So, sure, there was a bit of insta-love there at the end, but all in all this book was totally worth looking over that fact in my opinion. Plus in the very short amount of pages that made up this book, you get a few hints at the personalities of a couple of the other Chase boys and I already love what I've seen. I can't wait for the next book to come out and keep going with this series. Either Ethan and his sad past, or Sawyer and his funny side that had me grinning from ear to ear or even Liam who didn't really get a chance to stand out yet. I want them all!

Thanks goes to Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

ARC REVIEW: Fearless (Pretty Smart Girls #2) by Shae Ross

Title: Fearless
Series: Pretty Smart Girls #2
Author: Shae Ross
Publisher: Entangled Embrace
Published: August 18th 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 208
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher
★★✩ (2.5/5) Stars

Shae Ross | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

A new adult romance from Entangled's Embrace imprint...

Every fighter has a weakness...

Devi Dalton won't let anyone hold her back. With the help of her friends, she's taken control of her future and traded her messed-up family life for a new job in Manhattan. Her only obstacle? Ben Winslow, the sexy friend she's desperately trying to resist. If she's going to succeed, she can't afford to be distracted, no matter how hot the chemistry burns between them.

Cage fighter Ben spent six months trying to convince Devi to take a chance on a relationship. Now that they've reunited in New York, he's not letting her push him away again. They're more than friends-always have been-and he'll do whatever it takes to prove it to her. First, he has a few demons of his own to slay...one of which could ruin his chances with her for forever.

But every fighter has a weakness. Ben's is Devi. And this time, she'll need more than just her favorite "Fearless Red" lipstick to protect her heart if she lets him in...

I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!

It's really hard for me whenever I have to give a book such a low rating. I don't like to do it and I always try so hard drumming up enough positive feelings to not end up doing so. But, in all good conscience, I couldn't possibly go higher and still feel as if I were being honest. It's especially hard when I felt like I was clicking so well with Fearless at the beginning. At the halfway point, though, it started to go downhill. Fast.

I feel like describing Ben as a cage fighter was a bit of a deception. There were only two cage fighting references in the book. One towards the opening, when he was supposed to be in a fight but do to a spoiler type of an incident he didn't end up getting in the cage. Not that I'm complaining about that scene. It happens to be one of the few I truly loved completely before my views on this book got jaded. The second is at a time when he and Devi were at his family home and an MMA medal is talked about. It was the only thing that made me say huh maybe he really is a cage fighter. I mean there was what I guess you could consider a fight towards the end but you'll have to trust me when I say that it so does not count. So it was a pretty huge let down to go in expecting Mr. Tough-Guy-Cage-Fighter and end up with Mr. Suit-And-Tie-Boardroom-Guy.

But that ended up not really mattering anyhow. Because cage fighter or businessman Ben had some extreme jerk-like tendencies. The first time they showed I was just so shocked. I had been sitting here Ben's enthusiastic little cheerleader the whole time. Ben's so sweet. Ben's so charming. Look at Ben and his perpetual smile and positive air. Devi really needs to pull her head out of her rear and give sweet Ben a chance! 

And then this thing comes out. The demon that was hinted at in the blurb that could ruin his chances with her forever? Yeah. That one. Devi has every right to be upset and unsure if she wants to stay with him. Every. Right. Because this "demon" is a huge freaking deal. And yet when he comes after her after she's run off crying, taking herself out of the situation, he gets mad at her and starts throwing every insecurity and terrible thought about herself that she's ever had in her face. And then has the nerve to say he's always been able to "look past" those things about her? And don't even get me started on the whole scene with his mother where, not only did he sit back and not defend her, he then got pissed at her when they were alone and blew up at her telling her she owed him an apology.

Once again, don't even get me started on his b-word of a mother and her passive-aggressive ways of tearing down her own children and Devi for that matter. Odious woman.

Devi wasn't exactly perfect either. That girl had more issues than a magazine rack. Her insecurities and self-depreciation, which at first had me really feeling for her, ended up grating on me after a while. I don't mind a character with a bit of insecurity now and then, but the constant belittling of one's self gets old. Add to that the fact that she was constantly pushing Ben away because he was "too good for her" and then she'd be all over him and flirt with him, and then she'd throw around the friend word and then get mad when he doesn't introduce her as his girlfriend. I wanted to scream with the head games. I get it. She feels like crap about her upbringing compared to his. It was just hard to understand because in all other areas of her life she is bold and, well, fearless. She's not afraid to stand up to anyone and I loved that about her. It was just a really hard contradiction to accept.

My only conclusion was that Ben and Devi, though adorable at first, were just toxic for each other and brought out the other's bad sides and self-doubts. And that toxicity ended up sucking up 95% of the positive feelings I had been feeling up to that point. I no longer felt the desire to see them finally get together and stay together. It just seemed like a bad, bad idea.

When I think about all the huge negatives I wonder how on earth I kept going. Curiosity maybe? The need to know how this was all going to pull together in the end? Which I will give the book credit for. The end was pretty good and even had me laughing pretty hard at one point. But still it was almost like too little too late.

Maybe I should have given up and not pushed forward to the end. I mean, there was plenty of good and believe it or not I did laugh out loud at different times from beginning to end. It's just that all the negative things I felt towards the book really overshadowed anything positive I came across and drowned it out completely. I really wish I could have liked this one. And up to about 53% I really, really did and was excited to start singing it's praises. Unfortunately, in the end, Fearless and I did not get along.

Thanks to Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Top Ten Tuesday #63

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's topic is...

Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List

(Part Two)

Back in 2013 we already did this post and I participated. You can find that post here. The authors I mentioned back in 2013 are still authors I would instantly buy books from, but I have discovered so many amazing new authors in the 2 1/2 years since that last post that I decided to just make this a part two. Now I hardly put a dent in my favorites folder so I'm sure there are tons of authors who are getting left out but maybe they'll find a spot next time one of these happens!

These are in no particular order and this is the only place I'm going to drone on and on (since I already have). I'm just gonna put up their names and all the books I've finished (or nearly finished) of theirs.

I would give details about my reasons for each one but it would end up really repetitive. All 10 of these people are brilliant storytellers and create amazing characters that I either want to be friends with, want to do naughty things to (it's me what do you expect?), or just want to be more like.

I swear I'm done babbling now. Let's see who made my list shall we?

So there you have ten more of the authors I auto-buy books from without question or even needing to know what the book is about. What authors made your list this week?