Flash Sale: Fast Connection by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

Fast Connection (Cyberlove, #2)

by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

Published 11th July 2016

After a decade of serving in the Army, everyone still expects me to be Dominic 'Nicky' Costigan--the skirt-chasing player. They don't know I've been spending my days trying to figure out my post-military life. Including how to pick up guys.

When I meet Luke on a hookup app, he makes it clear it's for one-night only. That's fine with me, because I'm down to see what this silver fox can do. But after I arrive at his doorstep, it doesn't take long to realize we have serious chemistry, and we end up meeting again.

He's got more walls around his heart than a military base, but I think he's as addicted to me as I am to him. He can't resist me for long. I mean, who can? Except Luke's rules exist for a reason, and when I test his limits, things get complicated. Maybe too complicated.

For a limited time, Fast Connection is only 0.99 in various online retailers! You can get a copy from the following places:

Amazon

Barnes & Nobles

Kobo

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 Author bios

Megan Erickson is a multi-published romance author with Avon, Berkley and Entangled. RT Book Reviews said her debut LGBTQ romance was “a coming out story for a new age.”

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Santino writes queer romance that is heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, his belief that human relationships are complex and flawed, and his own life experiences.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books For the Second Half of 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!
I only came up with eight most anticipated because a lot of new releases I was anticipating was published in May and thus can't be included in this list. But here's eight books I'm super excited about and which will published between June and December 2017.

Shouldn't be any surprise because Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell (together and separate) are my favourite and go-to-authors when it comes to superb M/M romance.

 

I could not mention some of my favourite authors' new releases; I'm eagerly waiting for the last installments on both Magnus Chase trilogy and Monsters of Verity duology. And Renegades just sounds so good!

I just need both of these because of gorgeous covers and the blurbs! I'm especially interested in reading V.E. Schwab's and Marissa Meyer's short stories about villains.

Out Now: Heels Over Head by Elyse Springer

Heels Over Head

by Elyse Springer

Published by Riptide Publishing

New Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance, sports

Jeremy Reeve is one of the best divers in the world, and he’s worked hard to get where he is. He intends to keep pushing himself with one very clear goal in mind: winning gold at the summer Olympics in two years. That medal might be the only way to earn his father’s respect as an athlete.

Brandon Evans is everything Jeremy isn’t: carefree, outgoing, and openly gay. With his bright-blue eyes and dramatic tattoos, he’s a temptation that Jeremy refuses to acknowledge. But Jeremy can’t ignore how talented Brandon is—or that Brandon has no interest in using his diving skills to compete.

They’re opposites who are forced to work together as teammates, but Jeremy’s fear of his own sexuality and Brandon’s disinterest in anything “not fun” may end their partnership before it begins. Until a single moment changes everything, and they help each other discover that “team” can also mean family and love.

Heels Over Head is out today! I was lucky to get a chance to read an ARC of this, and you can find my review here and see how much I LOVED the story. Go check it out!

You can purchase the book several places, including
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Book Depository

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Review: Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #2)
by Rick Riordan
Published by Puffin
Hardback (purchased)
Young Adult, fantasy, mythology, adventure

Thor's hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon - the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn't just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can't retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer's return is the gods' worst enemy, Loki - and the price he wants is very high.

The Hammer of Thor continues beautifully where The Sword of Summer left. The humour is on point as I really love Magnus's sarcasm and comebacks, and the titles are seriously so hilarious. I just love it, and Magnus to be truthful because he's precious with all his jokes and jabs and how much he cares for his friends and how he's a healer among the dead warriors preparing for Ragnarok.

Alongside Magnus, there's all the characters from the first installment and some new faces, which always spices things up. I continued to love the friendship Magnus, Blitzen and Hearthstone have, because they really are adorable (and I ship Blitzen and Hearthstone, they just need to get together okay?) And I'm just saying without spoilers that Riordan's Heimdall totally destroys the image that the Thor movies made. He's just beyond hilarious, and there's plenty of eye-rolling because of him and it's funny.

Basically, if you like the first book, then The Hammer of Thor is solid sequel that has all the aspects that made the first one so good. Some spark was missing for me, but then again I had one minor issue that probably won't be issue with anyone else. I still enjoyed the story thoroughly and I'm eagerly anticipating the last part of the trilogy!

4 of 5 stars

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#COYER Summer 2017 Sign Up

I'm so excited about the COYER reading challenge, even if I failed it notoriously last summer. Last summer was so bad reading wise for me, but I hope to conquer that this year - especially since I have been doing well so far! So I'm hoping that COYER will continue to inspire me to read more and stay on top of my reading coals for this year!

COYER is hosted by Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun, Michelle @ Because Reading and Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!

COYER will run from June 17th to September 9th, 2017.

The Rules
1. You must create a sign-up post anytime between now and August 1st – on blog, goodreads, fb, google+, etc.Yes, that means you can sign up until August 1st! But don’t wait, you’ll miss most of the fun!
2. You must link to the sign-up post below (don’t link to your blog, link to the sign-up post).
3. You must review books somewhere & link the reviews to the review linky to be eligible for one of the grand prize giveaways.
4. Have Fun!

There's also few additional rules if you want to take part of the Summer Reading List challenge and you can find those on the sign up post here, but I chose not to take part of that because I'm not that good of following TBR's and I'd rather wing it. I, however, made up a tiny plan to just give you (and me) an idea what I'd like to do during COYER.

The Plan

I'd like to read 2 books per week, at least. It shouldn't be too challenging because if I'm on top of my reading game, then I can usually read from two to four books per week (and then I slack for few weeks so yeah, bad me). I'll be delighted if I manage to read more than two books per week! Overall my goal for the whole year is sixty books which is five books per month, so I'll aim to read at least the minimum of five books per month.

Secondly, I try to read similar amount of ebooks and physical books. This will depend a lot of my moods and what kind of books I have on hand and on my Kindle, but I'll probably read both formats, especially since I prefer ebooks when I travel and I have two longer trips planned for the summer. I'm not fan of audiobooks so I probably won't listen any of those.

I'll try to post an update post every Sunday once the COYER challenge starts.

ARC Review: Concourse by Santino Hassell

Concourse (Five Boroughs, #5)
by Santino Hassell
Published by Riptide Publishing
eARC (received via NetGalley)
Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance

Ashton Townsend is the most famous celebutante of Manhattan’s glitterati. The black sheep of his wealthy family, he’s known for his club appearances, Instagram account, and sex tape. Most people can’t imagine him wanting for anything, but Ashton yearns for friendship, respect, and the love of his best friend—amateur boxer Valdrin Leka.

Val’s relationship with Ashton is complicated. As the son of Ashton’s beloved nanny, Val has always bounced between resenting Ashton and regarding him as his best friend. And then there’s the sexual attraction between them that Val tries so hard to ignore. 

When Ashton flees his glitzy lifestyle, he finds refuge with Val in the Bronx. Between Val’s training for an upcoming fight and dodging paparazzi, they succumb to their need for each other. But before they can figure out what it all means—and what they want to do about it—the world drags them out of their haven, revealing a secret Val has kept for years. Now, Ashton has to decide whether to once again envelop himself in his party-boy persona, or to trust in the only man who’s ever seen the real him.

Concourse was an engaging read and true to Hassell's style with flawed, real and truly fleshed out characters. The main characters Ashton, who's a sweetheart who wants to be accepted and loved but never gets it from his family, and Valdrin, who's always had almost crippling sense of responsibility of his family and Ashton. In that sense of responsibility, Valdrin was very easy to relate with. Ashton and Valdrin were friends even though they were from very different upbringings, Valdrin coming from Bronx with little money and Ashton being socialite and heir from Manhattan. However, they have been friends for years, although sometimes their friendship was quite sexual, almost bordering friends with benefits type of situation.

Concourse was engaging and hard to put down because Valdrin and Ashton had this connection that was very magnetic and there were a lot of push and pull. There were plenty of emotional turmoil with drama and angst because of their life situations and feelings for each other which they battled a lot. I have to admit that some moments were just a bit too dramatic, and I wanted to slap both Valdrin and Ashton because most of the time, they made the situation way more hard than it had to be. But it also showed how messy and scary love really is, and sometimes you are the biggest object to overcome the difficulties that lie before the possibility of relationship with someone.

There were plenty of characters, some of them who were interesting and downright delight such as Nunzio and Matt, and some who I just couldn't connect with any level and was left more irritated than anything else. Anyway, Concourse was entertaining read with truly fleshed out characters, and I really liked the boxing aspect even if I'm not a big sports fan. Ashton and Valdrin were just so cute together, too, so I enjoyed it a lot.

4 of 5 stars

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Thank you, Riptide Publishing, for giving me a chance to read and review Concourse!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Stacking the Shelves (59)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Purchased

 

Free

For Review

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Streets of Glass by Michelle D. Argyle

Streets of Glass
Michelle D. Argyle
Publication date: May 1st 2017
Genres: New Adult, Suspense, Thriller

Eighteen year-old Starry is destined to take over her father’s powerful drug syndicate. But when she finds out he has kept her only sister a secret from her, she can’t trust him anymore. Furious, Starry vows to find Emma, even though she knows her defiance could lead to losing the position she’s worked so hard to inherit.But Emma isn’t quite the sister Starry hoped for. She’s a straight-laced good girl who wants nothing more than to take down the syndicate that destroyed her family. Starry, willing to do anything to secure her place in the syndicate, accepts her father’s ultimatum to kill Emma and everyone helping her. But the more Starry gets to know Emma, and the more secrets she uncovers, the more she questions whether the price of saving the syndicate is too high—even for someone as cold-blooded and vicious as Starry. 

*Streets of Glass is considered clean New Adult/Upper YA fiction**

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

—

HOW WRITING A NOVEL CAN HELP YOU HEAL

I first started writing STREETS OF GLASS, I had no idea the journey I was about to take. The novel was a normal project, but my life was about to become not-so-normal. As I was workshopping the book with my writing group (a 9-month process), I learned something that turned my world upside down. I was betrayed by someone very close to me, and suddenly every priority in my life shifted into a different place. I no longer trusted anybody. I didn’t even trust myself. Lies and deceit became a very real thing. Interestingly enough, here I was working on a book about just that!

I think one of the most interesting things about writing is what authors end up pouring into their work subconsciously. I don’t know if I really knew what was about to happen in my life as I was drafting the book, but as I worked on revisions and edits after the big change in my life, I realized how deeply I value truth and honesty and those people in my life I can count on for anything and everything.

My main character, Starry, is me in a lot of ways. She might not be the person I want to be. She’s kind of horrible, actually, but she shares a common value with me, and that’s honesty. One of my favorite quotes in the book is this:

“Nothing was more important to her than trust and loyalty. The syndicate was a world thick with secrets and lies and deceit, but those things could not be allowed to taint personal relationships.”

And it’s true in every facet of our lives, I think. Trust and loyalty mean everything in our quiet, personal lives. Without those, how can we be with anyone?

Looking back now, I realize how much writing STREETS OF GLASS has healed me. It helped me sort through a lot of the emotions I’ve had to deal with. I’m still learning how to face those who have hurt me, but writing is something that has truly saved my life in more ways than one.

Author Bio:

Michelle lives and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She's a foodie and also adores anything Star Wars related. She loves to read and write books in the time she grabs between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life. Michelle mainly writes contemporary upper YA fiction, but occasionally branches into other genres.

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GIVEAWAY!
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Cover Reveal: Anything But Real by Alex West

Anything But Real
Alex West
Publication date: June 20th 2017
Genres: LGBTQ+, New Adult, Romance

Benjamin Walters and Reid Adams are good at walking away. Good at hiding the truth. So when Ben and Reid find each other again after years apart, they’re surprised when the last thing they want to say is goodbye. And when Ben’s sister gets engaged, asking Reid to be his wedding date feels like the right thing to do. In fact, everything about being with Reid feels right. 

But when an unexpected announcement turns them from second chance boyfriends to fake fiancés, their relationship ignites in lies. Soon, both Ben and Reid are faced with the ultimate decision, one that will define their lives forever. Is their accidental engagement worth losing a future together? Because even though a wedding may be easy to fake, Ben and Reid are beginning to realize their hearts don’t lie as easily. 

Anything But Real is an unforgettable standalone romance from debut author Alex West that will make you believe in second chances and happily ever afters all over again.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

On pre-order for 99¢ until release day only!

Author Bio:
ALEX WEST first fell in love with a boy in the sixth grade, one who was reading a book instead of playing tag. The romance lasted a deep and meaningful three hours before said boy refused to lend his book away. Since, there have been several boys, some even lasting more than a few hours, and lots of books to fill the spaces between those frenzied love stories. Many years later, Alex is happily living with a very kind man in a cozy house filled with too many books to count and endless stories to tell. 

Alex West is the author of WATCH ME, book one in the Hart Boys series, and the standalone gay romantic comedy, ANYTHING BUT REAL. 

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Wrapping the Month: April

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

I'm starting to think that free time isn't good for me. I didn't have lectures in April because of the Easter holidays and reading weeks at university so in theory, I should have gotten a lot done. However, I didn't; I studied a bit, binge watched all seasons of Veronica Mars and read fanfiction. Until the last week of April I really didn't get a lot of books read, and even my blogging suffered because I didn't everything else but actually blog (even though I had plenty of ideas but it seems I'll use those in May).

I only bought two books and received two eARCs via NetGalley in April. It was a conscious choice not to spend much money on books because there's a lot of new releases coming out in May that I just need to get (and sadly most of them will be hardcover only so I'll have to spend more on them). On positive side: that means my TBR didn't grow almost at all!

April's reviews:

Superior (5 stars)

A Gathering Storm (4 stars)

One of Us Is Lying (2 stars)

Heels Over Head (5 stars)

I actually read four of these five books during the last week of April, because I wanted to get more reading done than the measly one book I had read so far. In the end, I'm pretty pleased with the amount of reading I got done in April.

  

 

May is for exams so I might not have much time for reading and blogging during the first half of the month but I'm pretty sure I'll get a decent amount of both done because after the exams my summer holidays began and I should have plenty of time.

Hugs,

Henna