Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Review - Love Edy by Shewanda Pugh

Title: Love Edy by Shewanda Pugh
Publisher: Razor's Edge
Publication Date: July 24th, 2014
Paperback/Hardcover: 
Genre: Young Adult,  Romance
Find it at: Goodreads /


Summary:  
When Edy Phelps falls hard for her best friend, she knows nothing can come from it. Forget actual chemistry, or the fact that she cherishes his mother more than her own; centuries of tradition say that Hassan will grow up, marry the girl his parents pick, and forget his best friend: the dancer with the bursting smile. Except he can't. In a world erupting with possibilities for the boy with a body of steel and dreams of the NFL, everything seems promised while nothing at all is; when he's denied the girl he wants most.
Two hearts. Two families devoted through generations of friendship. Could Edy and Hassan really risk all that? And yet ... how could they not?

Review:   
I have received this book as part of a blog tour in exchange of an honest review.
I’m always up to reading a book that deals with some kind of forbidden love story as long as it is well-written.  Love Edy fits the description.
I liked the characters in this book, especially Edy, and thought they were realistic. I think the book deals with an interesting issue and the author did a nice job developing the relationship between the main characters.
All in all, Love Edy is an interesting young adult, romance. The book is well-written, nicely paced and interesting.
If you are a fan of romance and young adult books, you might enjoy this book.

Rating:  Somewhere Between Readable and Worth Your Time (3 ½ Stars)

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Book Excerpt - Buried Appearances by D.E. Haggerty



Title: Buried Appearances

Author: D.E. Haggerty

Release date: November 4th, 2013

Genre: Contemporary



Book Description:
Skylar Dewitt has been ostracized her entire life due to her grandfather’s well-known sympathies with the Nazis. But now her grandfather’s body has been recovered in the Netherlands in an area famous for being a Nazi killing ground. Why would her grandfather be buried in a place legendary for assassinations of resistance members? Skylar jets off to Holland in search of answers about her grandfather’s demise. Along the way she finds long-lost family and old friends but will she solve the mystery of what happened to her grandfather? And maybe she discovers something more valuable than resolving any mystery could be: herself


Excerpt from Buried Appearances
By D.E. Haggerty

After I hang up the phone, I sit and stare at my computer for a while. I still have no clue how to carry on. I am completely and utterly stuck. I am at a loose end and don’t know what to do. I do have one promise, however, that I made to Griet before I left Michigan that I have to fulfill. I head off to the Wertheim park to fulfill that promise.
I stand at the Auschwitz memorial in the park and try to hold back my tears. It is so breathtakingly sad here. The smashed mirrors dominating this tiny park are heartbreaking. The memorial epitomizes the dichotomy that is the war and Holland. On the one hand, I am standing in front of a heart wrenching monument to the Dutch victims of the Holocaust that died in Auschwitz but in the background I hear the tram rumble by, dogs barking as they run around the grass of the park and children playing soccer on the other side of the fence.
The Dutch continue with their lives as I slowly kneel and place white tulips on the memorial. I have one tulip for each member of Griet’s family that perished in the camps. As I stand, I can’t help but let the tears fall. I don’t know how Griet has survived such sadness, such heartbreak. “Gaat het me u,” I hear behind me.
I run the back of my arm across my eyes before turning. I don’t want anyone to see my tears. Tears I normally never let fall. “Sorry,” I start. “Ik spreek geen Nederlands.” I don’t speak Dutch being one of the few phrases I do speak in Dutch.
He smiles gently at me. “I asked if you are okay.”
I try to smile at him but I’m sure my smile wobbles. “It’s just so sad.” I lamely comment.
The stranger nods and looks at my tulips. “Your family?” He asks.
I shake my head. “No, it’s for Griet.”
“Griet?”
“She’s my friend or rather Oma’s friend back home.” I explain rather dumbly.
He nods. “For not speaking Dutch, your pronunciation is good.”
“My dad was Dutch. Oma emigrated with dad to America after the war.” Why am I telling the stranger these things? I shrug. “I guess I’m half-Dutch but I grew up in America. Oma didn’t teach me Dutch. I try to forget I was Dutch or at least I used to.”
“Why would you want to forget who you are? Where you came from?” He looks genuinely interested.
I shrug and try to act nonchalant. “My family was bad during the war. I got bullied about it.”
“Bad? What does that mean?”
“My grandfather was a NSBer,” I start. “But now I’m here because it looks like he might have been killed by the Nazis. I’m trying to figure out what happened but I’m getting nowhere.”
He tilts his head and stares intensely at me. “Do you want to go get a coffee and tell me all about it?” His request shocks me. Although the Dutch are nice and outwardly friendly, I haven’t experienced any instant friendships like in America.
I look intently at the man. He is a stranger but it’s broad daylight and for some reason I don’t feel threatened by him. He looks to be my age, maybe older. He doesn’t look like a psycho killer but I guess that psycho killers never look like psycho killers either. This trip is all about taking chances and leaving my comfort zone so I shrug and hold out my hand. “I’m Skylar.”
He takes my hand and shakes it firmly but gently. “Nicolaas.”


About the Author:
I was born and raised in Wisconsin but think I’m a European (a cloggy to be exact). After spending my senior year of high school in Germany, I developed a bad case of wanderlust that is yet to be cured. After high school I returned to the U.S. to go to college ending up with a Bachelor’s degree in History at the tender age of 20 while still managing to spend time bouncing back and forth to Europe during my vacations (oh the benefits of a long-distance relationship). Unable to find a job after college and still suffering from wanderlust, I joined the U.S. Army as a Military Policewoman for 5 years (the Peace Corps was too much paperwork). While stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, I met my future husband, a flying Dutchman (literally). After being given my freedom from the Army, I went off to law school. I finished law school and moved to the Netherlands with my husband and became a commercial lawyer for more than a decade. During a six month break from the lawyering world, I wrote Unforeseen Consequences. Although I finished the book, I went back to the law until I could no longer take it and upped stakes and moved to Germany to start a B&B. Three years after starting the B&B, I got the itch to try something else and decided to pull the manuscript for Unforeseen Consequences out of the attic and get it published as an e-book. Between tennis, running, traveling, singing off tune, reading, playing part-time lawyer and running the B&B, I’m working on my 3rd book.

Official Website: http://www.dehaggerty.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dehaggerty?ref_type=bookmark


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Monday, July 28, 2014

Book Excerpt - Roxie by Kimberly Dean



Title: Roxie

Author: Kimberly Dean

Release date: July, 2014

Genre: Contemporary Romance



Book Description:
It’s time for this identical triplet to meet her match.
Can a wild child ever really be tamed? Growing up in foster care has made Roxie Cannon tough and self-reliant, but being alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She’s finally found her sisters. Is it time she met her match?
Roxie should be on top of the world. She’s formed bonds with identical sisters she never knew she had, and she’s buying the biker bar she’s managed for years. The feisty brunette has everything she’s ever wanted. Almost. Two things still elude her: answers to why her family was split apart and a man of her own to love. Seeing her sisters with their soulmates has made her aware she’s still the odd one out. Yet that all starts to change when a rough-and-tumble hottie from her past walks in The Ruckus’ door, wanting a second chance.
Billy knows trouble when he sees it, and Roxie is commotion in motion. They’ve always set sparks off one another. This time, he’s promised himself he won’t get burned. Yet things get serious when he learns of Roxie’s quest to find her parents. Can he save his hot-blooded lover from being hurt? Or will the wounded little girl inside her never trust him again?

Book Excerpt:

An Excerpt From:  ROXIE
© Copyright KIMBERLY DEAN, 2014

Roxie’s heels clomped across the hardwood floor until she stood directly between the two of them. Thrusting out her empty coffee cup, she looked at him sternly. “Don’t try to charm my sisters.”
“I’m not trying, baby, I am charming.” He let one eyebrow lift, but freshened her cup anyway.
“They have boyfriends.”
Their gazes met in silent challenge, but there was something more in her eyes… a kind of fear…
Billy paused. He knew her well. To some, she might seem tough and rowdy, but there was an insecure side to her, too. Every foster care kid had one.
“I know which one is you, Roxie,” he said, for her ears only. He wouldn’t play on that fear, no matter what happened between them. “I’m not looking to upgrade.”
Her gaze dropped to her cup of coffee, but instead of drinking it, she ran her finger around the lip of the cup.
“Believe me, I know which one runs on high octane fuel,” he said softly.
That round-and-round motion hitched, and her gaze lifted. Her eyes were big and brown, and he saw how her pupils dilated. Desire set inside him like a racer wanting the checkered flag. That little romp last night hadn’t been nearly enough to keep him going. He’d been running on fumes for too long.
And last night had been different. It had just been… more.
In the wee hours of the darkness, she hadn’t been able to keep her emotions locked down so tight. The sex between them had always been hot, but the way they’d touched only hours ago? It had been more like in the beginning, when the need to connect had been overpowering.
“Want to go back upstairs and wake each other up properly?” he asked.
Her fingers tightened around her mug, and her teeth sunk into her lower lip. She leaned forward over the bar. She had him poised, holding his breath, but then she pulled back with her long hair swinging. “I can’t.”
She took a deep breath, and his gaze dropped to the clingy top she wore.
“You can. You really can.”
She glanced over her shoulder. Seeing they were being watched, she flicked a finger at the donut box, opening it. “I can’t leave my sisters,” she said as she plucked out a chocolate treat.
She left him feeling hungry as she walked back to the table, hips swaying.
Billy didn’t know if the growl that came out of him originated in his throat or in his belly. Following her lead, he grabbed a bear claw.
At least she hadn’t been running away this morning; she’d been running to something.
He looked over all the pretty dark heads.
Something important.


About the Author:
Kimberly Dean is an award-winning romance author. She has written for Black Lace Books, Red Sage Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Avon Red, Pocket Books, Samhain and Mischief Books. She enjoys the freedom and creativity allowed in writing romance, especially with all the interesting cross-genres that have been exploding on the scene. Yet she still believes that a good contemporary romance can save a bad day. When not writing, she enjoys movies, sports, traveling, music, and sunshine.

Official Website: http://kimberlydean.com/


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