Review + Giveaway: Brokedown Cowboy

BROKEDOWN COWBOY
Copper Ridge #2
Maisey Yates
Contemporary Romance
368 pages
Harlequin
Available Now
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
There are lines best friends shouldn't cross, but in Copper Ridge, Oregon, the temptation might be too much…

If practice makes perfect, Connor Garrett should be world champion of being alone. Since losing his wife he's concentrated exclusively on his family's ranch. Until his dear friend Felicity Foster needs a place to stay and Connor invites her to move in temporarily. That's what friends do—and Liss is his rock. What friends don't do? Suddenly start fantasizing about each other in their underwear. Or out of it…

Since high school, Liss has kept her raging crush in check. Another few weeks should be a breeze. But helping Connor rebuild his life only reinforces how much she longs to be a part of it. One explosive encounter, and she'll discover that getting what you always wanted can feel better than you ever dreamed…

MY THOUGHTS
Brokedown Cowboy is a romance fraught with the kind of tension that can only exist between longtime friends as they navigate the potentially treacherous waters of a shifting relationship, keeping us on edge throughout despite knowing a happily every after is awaiting us at the end. What makes this friends-to-lovers romance so successful is leading lady Liss, a woman who ensures the channels of communication between her and Connor are wide open even as she holds the full depth of her feelings back as a means of self-preservation. Where there could have been miscommunications and unnecessarily hurt feelings we find instead a woman who knows when to push Connor and when to take a step back, and we can't help but want her to have her fairytale ending with every fiber of our being.

Liss is upfront with Connor from the get-go, letting honesty serve as the foundation for their relationship and sparing us all the drama that accompanies silence or misdirection, but while she doesn't allow either of them to get away with hiding, she's unable to keep herself from throwing her heart in Connor's direction and hoping he catches it. She's careful as she can be though, as honest with herself as she is with Connor about what their relationship is and what it isn't, until she reaches the point where her careful honesty turns blunt and she starts fighting for all that she deserves. 

Connor, while not quite as strong a character as Liss, is a thoroughly enjoyable romantic hero, lost and adrift after his wife's death three years prior until Liss steps into his field of vision and blithely rips away his Jack Daniels-soaked blinders. Both Connor and Liss have a well-developed sense of humor that works its way into their everyday banter, able to laugh at the inevitable awkwardness that accompanies the change from friendship to intimacy while keeping intact what made them best friends in the first place.

The only minor drawback is the speed with which the damage caused by Connor's resistance to admit there's anything serious between is repaired, Liss granting forgiveness and exhibiting a willingness to jump back into them as a couple with an ease that's a tiny bit surprising given how careful she'd been all along. That being said though, when the man you've loved for years with no real hope of him ever being yours is standing in front of you professing his love in return, it's hard to do anything other than grab hold of what's being offered and never let go. Overall, Brokedown Cowboy is the perfect combination of sweet and sexy, with just a kiss of heartache to ensure we're emotionally invested in our couple's happiness. Ms. Yates also does a beautiful job of setting up our next romantic pair, and I can't wait to see how things unfold for Connor's younger sister Kate and his womanizing best friend Jack.

Rating: 4/5

Get Brokedown Cowboy:

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• • • • • • • • • • • 

MAISEY YATES

USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.

In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances  set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

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• • • • • • • • • • • 

TOUR & GIVEAWAY

Up for grabs today are 5 paperback copies of Part Time Cowboy (book one!). To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

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For more tour details and the full list of participating blogs, visit CBB Book Promotions.

Review: The Stars Never Rise

THE STARS NEVER RISE
The Stars Never Rise #1
Rachel Vincent
Paranormal Young Adult
368 pages
Delacorte Press
Available Now
Source: ALA Midwinter

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

MY THOUGHTS
The Stars Never Rise paints a horrifying picture of a world we can only hope never finds its way from the pages of fiction into reality, with demons and demon possession driving humanity’s every thought and action. While the paranormal elements are terrifying, we do have the safety net of reality to fall back on, taking comfort in the fact that we can escape this world easily enough if we need a quick break. The far more disturbing element–and one we can’t escape–is the fanatacism that accompanies the teachings of this world’s Church, humanity’s willingness to blindly believe what their told resulting in innocent lives being snuffed out with the strike of a match.

Nina is a voice of reason we easily latch onto amidst the ordered chaos of a literal hell on Earth, forcing herself to play by the rules despite the fact that she doesn’t entirely buy into the Church’s propaganda. Because she’s not one hundred percent dedicated to them from the beginning, there are no blinders to rip from her eyes once her home life takes a turn for the worse, only knowledge which she readily accepts without putting up a token struggle. She doesn’t waste time denying the many revelations she’s faced with, and instead picks up her new cause with impressive gusto and does her best to fight for her sister and anyone else she can save along the way.

A romance does come into play amidst the horror of an impending demon invasion, and while we can’t help but be grateful there’s only one romantic interest instead of two, the relationship between Nina and Finn stays at surface level throughout. There are a number of sweet moments, but the emotional connection we have to the two of them as a couple isn’t as strong as the overwhelming urge to see them and their group of exorcist misfits survive against nearly impossible odds. Perhaps their relationship will grow stronger in future books and our investment in them as a couple along with it, but the story itself is strong enough–and the world nightmare-inducing enough–that it’s easy to move past that minor drawback and look forward to what is to come as the series continues.

Rating: 3.5-4/5 (I couldn't quite pin my thoughts down enough to come up with a single rating, so a range it is ;-)

Find Rachel:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Interview: Aaron Karo + Galgorithm

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming author Aaron Karo to the blog to answer a few questions about his newest release from Simon & Schuster, Galgorithm. I've always been a sucker for stories that deal with the giving of romantic advice, especially when that advice leads people humorously astray as that would inevitably be what happened should I try my hand at it. I hope you all enjoy the interview!

If your teenage self had requested Shane’s help, what’s the first thing he would have told you?

Lose the Zubaz. (If you don't know what that is, Google it!)

*I totally did. It was worth it.*

If Shane and Will Smith’s Hitch were ever to team up and combine their romantic wisdom, what might the resulting business name be?

Shane doesn't charge for his guidance so he would convince Will Smith to offer his services for free and call it Hitch.org

To help a larger number of guys on a broader basis Shane decides to put out a top ten list of the biggest mistakes teenage guys tend to make when approaching girls. What are the top three things on that list?

1) Not approaching her at all. Being too scared of rejection (otherwise known as pre-rejection or prejection) and standing in the corner instead of giving it a shot. What do you have to lose?

2) Not dressing to impress. It's what's inside that counts. But the outside also counts.

3) Being the same. Using the same moves and complimenting her on the same things as every other guy. Be different. Stand out. Make an impression.

If the Shane at the end of Galgorithm could give the Shane at the beginning one piece of advice regarding what’s to come for him, what would he most want pre-Galgorithm Shane to know?

Sometimes instead of following a formula, you have to follow your heart.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions Aaron!

• • • • • • • • • • • •

GALGORITHM

A romantic comedy about high school, heartbreak, and having all the answers.

What if the secrets of dating and love were revealed in one simple formula? That's the tantalizing proposition high school senior Shane Chambliss offers the hopeless and hapless guys who come to him for relationship advice.

After the girl of his dreams breaks his heart, Shane devises a mysterious formula called the Galgorithm and establishes himself as the resident dating guru at Kingsview High School. But his attempts to master the art of romance go outrageously awry.

As Shane tries to navigate the ensuing drama, he must follow his heart, abandon all the rules, and ignore his own advice in a quest for true love. What he discovers, no formula could ever predict...

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Review: Broken

BROKEN
LOST #1
Cynthia Eden
Romantic Suspense
384 pages
Avon
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Ex-SEAL and LOST founder Gabe Spencer is accustomed to the unusual in his job. But when knockout Eve Gray steps into his office, he's rattled. For the mysterious woman is a dead ringer for the heiress thought to be the latest prey of the serial killer who goes by the name Lady Killer.

When Eve awoke in an Atlanta hospital, her past was a blank slate. Then she recognized her own face in the newspaper and vowed to learn the truth. Determined to confront the nightmares hidden in her mind, she never expects to find a partner in Gabe.

As Gabe and Eve work together, their explosive attraction becomes irresistible. Gabe knows that his desire for Eve is growing too strong, bordering on a dangerous obsession, but nothing pulls him away from her. And when another Eve lookalike disappears, Gabe vows to protect Eve at all costs. While Eve may have forgotten the killer in her past, it's clear he hasn't forgotten her.

MY THOUGHTS
Broken reaches out and grabs hold from the very first page, ensuring we stumble into work the next morning bleary-eyed and mildly incoherent from lack of sleep. We can’t help but be as curious about Eve’s past as she is, a chilling prologue giving us just the barest hint of what happened to her before we meet her as a blank slate with nothing but a newspaper article to tell her who she is. Thanks to a few chapters that have us breaking away from Eve, her faulty memory, and her romance with Gabe to follow the killer as he begins his hunt once again, we find ourselves not wanting to look outside our darkened windows for fear that a face might be staring back at us.

While the relationship between Eve and Gabe develops quickly, it’s easy to grant her a bit of a pass on the intensity of her feelings given Gabe is the one person that’s made her feel safe since she got out of the hospital months ago, and a declaration of love is slow in coming (page-wise, not necessarily actual time-wise). The two of them together are all kinds of sexy, and as their relationship progresses and her case unfolds we’re also introduced to the other members of Gabe’s team, a group of men and women we can’t wait to learn more about in future books.

The mystery and horror of Eve’s past is incredibly well done, the killer’s identity easily narrowed down to a handful of people, but Ms. Eden makes it very difficult to guess who the culprit is from within that group. We point an accusing finger at one person after another before disregarding our guesses when new information (or suspicious behavior) comes to light. All in all, Broken is a heart-pounding read from beginning to end, the romance and suspense perfectly balanced so that one doesn’t outshine the other, and we reach the last page eager to find out who on Gabe’s team will be the next to be put through the emotional and physical wringer.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Cynthia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Nearly Found

NEARLY FOUND
Nearly Gone #2
Elle Cosimano
Young Adult/Mystery
384 pages
Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin
Available Now
Source: ALA Midwinter

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After Nearly Boswell starts working as an intern at a crime lab, a girl from her trailer park turns up dead. Then the corpse of a missing person is discovered, buried on a golf course, with a message for Nearly etched into the bones. When Nearly finds out the corpse is the father of Eric, a classmate of hers, she starts to worry that the body is connected to her father's disappearance five years ago. Nearly, Reece, and Nearly's classmates--Vince, Jeremy, and Eric--start a dangerous investigation into their fathers' pasts that threatens Nearly's fragile romance with Reece, and puts all them in the killer's path.

MY THOUGHTS
Nearly Found reunites us with math and science whiz Nearly Boswell as she manages to land herself in the middle of murderous trouble once again, the events of the previous book coming back to haunt her in a way she never imagined possible. While this second installment flows well and puts forth a solid mystery, it does magnify some of the issues–primarily with how Nearly goes about solving the case–that were easily overlooked in its predecessor, resulting in a few more moments of frustration than we might have hoped for going in.

It’s to be assumed that when a teenager inserts herself into a murder investigation and puts the burden of proof squarely on her own shoulders we’re going to have to suspend disbelief in a few areas and just roll with the fact that reporting any threats or evidence to the police is likely not going to be first on the list of things to do. While going with the flow was fairly easy to do in book one, Nearly takes keeping secrets and withholding evidence to an entirely new level in this story, her actions causing an outraged yell to rise in our throats as she continually makes things worse for herself. She even goes so far as to steal evidence from the lab at which she’s interning, and though a few consequences are mentioned in passing, in the end she gets a free pass on her highly illegal evidence tampering.

Frustrations with the degree to which believability is stretched aside, Ms. Cosimano knows how to keep us turning the pages, desperate to uncover who’s behind the new science-based threats and who we might lose along the way. As mentioned previously, things do wrap up nice and neat for Nearly despite the extremes to which so goes in the course of her investigation, but for readers like myself, an ending in which we’re left with very few questions is far preferable to one where we have no answers at all. While not as strong as Nearly Gone, Nearly Found is still a thoroughly entertaining read, and I look forward to whatever Ms. Cosimano is going to gift us with next.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Elle:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Witch Hunter

THE WITCH HUNTER
The Witch Hunter #1
Virginia Boecker
Paranormal Young Adult
368 pages
Little, Brown BFYR
Available Now
Source: ALA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.

But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.


MY THOUGHTS
The Witch Hunter captivates from beginning to end, a young woman forced to examine her every action past and present through the lens of those she dooms to the pyre, and we can do nothing but watch along with her in horrified fascination as what was so clear before becomes distorted beyond all recognition. While what Elizabeth has faced prior to our meeting her and what she must come to terms with about the part she's played in the persecution of innumerable witches is certainly dark, this story is beautifully laced with both humor and hope, a stellar cast of secondary characters and a surprisingly dry wit from Elizabeth herself making sure our heads stay above a steadily rising tide of shadows and magic.

Elizabeth is a perfect blend of strengths and weaknesses, a bit of a badass with fists and weapons (and quite frankly, absinthe consumption) who has a nearly incapacitating and utterly heart-wrenching fear of being alone. Her fear is more than understandable given the death of her parents at a young age, and we find our hearts completely ripped from our chests in the opening chapters as her best and only friend in the world fails her in every way. From that moment on Elizabeth holds our emotional stability in her hands, poised on the edge with every page turned as we wait to see what's in store for her next.

It would have been easy for Elizabeth's fear of abandonment to lead to a romance where the desire to belong and the need for companionship are mistaken for love, intense feelings developing quickly in someone who's never been allowed control over her life. Instead though, we're given a gorgeously subtle romance between Elizabeth and a certain healer, with time taken to examine how she's feeling and the way it differs from everything she's experienced up until that point. While a declaration of love from John at the end does test the boundaries of believability slightly given her previous profession, a return declaration from Elizabeth is withheld, and it's clear she has every intention of exploring how she feels in the next installment.

The romance is secondary to the action however, and Ms. Boecker ensures we're taken on a thrill ride that starts on page one and doesn't give us a moment's rest until we close the back cover. We're left at a logical place, this first installment wrapping up in satisfying fashion so we don't feel as though we've been forced to pause in the middle of the action, but we also have a clear path forward and a dark storm on the waiting for us on the horizon of book two. Overall, The Witch Hunter is not to be missed.

Rating: 4/5

Find Virginia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure and check out my interview with Virginia and enter for a chance to win!