Waiting on Wednesday #43

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This is a perfect way to highlight books that we are waiting patiently to be released... it is also a sure-fire way to watch your TBR pile grow!

Ashton Taylor. Six foot one, Dark hair, chiseled jaw, riveting hazel eyes, and a body cut in all the right places. He’s a natural. Things just come easy to him. He’s used to getting everything he wants, excelling at everything he does. The grades, the recognition, the beautiful women.

His path was set. A girl, a full scholarship to UCLA, and a bright future. To others, his life seemed perfect. But, things are never what they seem, and life, well, at any moment, something or someone can come along and turn it upside down.

That something…the death of his father.

That someone… Cara Hayward. The girl with the hypnotic eyes, melodic voice, enchanting smile, and lips sent straight from heaven.

The girl who doesn’t want to be seen.

So what happens when a guy who everything comes easy to, meets a girl who doesn’t come easy?

Can he crawl through all the broken glass to find her? Will the girl he discovers deep down be able to see past his perfect exterior?

Together, do they have the power to heal one another? Or, could the very thing that brings them together, be the one thing that tears them apart?

Expected Publication: September 26 2013
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads

Why am I so eagerly awaiting this release you ask?

The number one reason for why I am so eagerly awaiting this release would be because of the author, Beth Michele.  I absolutely adored Love Love, and if she can do that great a job with her debut novel... I know that any book that follows will be just as awesome.

The second reason I am so excited is because Lovely is a male point of view book, that's right... it will be told 100% from Ashton's perspective.  It honestly can not get any better than that.  I just love the male POV, and from what I've learned about Ashton so far, I just know I am going to fall head over heels in book love with him.

Thankfully, there isn't long to wait at all before we get to meet Ashton, so don't forget to add this to your TBR.  You can also check out my review of Love Love by clicking on the cover below.  If you haven't read this book, I must insist that you get right on that.


What is your Waiting on Wednesday?

Feel free to leave your links below so that I can check them out and if you are a new follower be sure to let me know!

Review: Keep Me Still

Scarred by loss, Layla leaves her hometown of Hope Springs, Georgia, hoping to put her painful past behind her and start over in college in California.

When she runs into Landen at freshmen orientation, she has a choice to make. Reinforce those steel walls she's built up around herself or give the only boy who can keep her still a second chance.

Landen’s more than ready to tear down those walls, but this time when they come crashing down, they might bury her.

Title: Keep Me Still
Author: Caisey Quinn | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: August 1 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 278 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Lovely.
Point of View: Alternating 1st person between both Layla and Landen

My Rating: 4 Stars

Firstly, I would like to point out that I read the version of Keep Me Still which came with the novella Let You Leave, which is a prequel to the time in which Keep Me Still takes place.  From what I can gather, this special edition version with the novella is only going to be available for a limited time.  Then, the novella will be removed and no longer available for separate purchase.  Why is this important information?  Because, I can honestly not see how somebody would be able to read Keep Me Still... without reading this novella first.  There is so much backstory that is given in Let You Leave.  You get some of the more important moments highlighted in the main novel, but it just wouldn't seem enough. 

“We both have secrets.  I wonder if they'll bind us together or tear us apart?”

It is my opinion that the author should actually combine the novella and novel, making it one larger book.  Rather than removing the novella all together.  It simply follows a natural progression as the story.  I really do not believe that if I had never read Let You Leave, that I would have connected to the characters, or enjoyed Keep Me Still as much as I did.

“This isn’t just my chance to start over like I thought- It’s our chance.”

The build-up of Layla and Landen's relationship fully takes place in that prequel novella.  By the time we get to the timeline of events in Keep Me Still, they have already met, fallen in love, and built their previous relationship.  Without being able to be a part of them meeting, that gradual build-up of trust and being able to watch their relationship grow... I would be afraid that a reader just would not connect to them as a couple. 

Which would be a travesty, because I adored Layla and Landen as a couple.  There are a lot of walls and barriers that they must crash through, but the issues they were facing were real and believable.  Landen is an absolute sweetheart.  You will undoubtably fall in love with him.

And even though this is a New Adult book, there are in fact some pretty steamy scenes.  You will never be able to look at a cherry in the same way after reading this book.  The chemistry between Layla and Landen is intense... a very good kind of intense.

“Not a minute has passed since the first time I laid eyes on you that I haven’t wanted you.  Needed you.  I will always want you.”

I am of course a huge fan of dual point of view books, and this is no exception.  I think this story needs the ability to have you in both Layla's and Landen's head.  There are a lot of secrets kept between the two, there would really be no way of following what was happening to each of them if this wasn't dual POV.

You are probably wondering if this is a standalone?  My answer to that would be no.  Even though it is not listed as a series, there is an epilogue that leaves you are a rather large cliffhanger.  It appears as though there will be a novella, Hold Us Close, which is at the time of this review set to be published in November 2013.  So if you stop reading at the end of Keep Me Still, then it could be classed as a standalone.  But if you keep reading through the epilogue, be ready for a bit of a cliffhanger until you can get your hands on the upcoming novella.

“Suddenly, I have no idea why we’ve been doing this to each other. It’s love. Plain and simple. You love someone, you show it. Every day, up until your last.”

Cover Reveal: Convicted by Aleatha Romig

There were still lessons to learn and consequences for the truth! When Claire Nichols met Anthony Rawlings, she didn’t know they had a past, or that he had plans for her future. Over time, the role of teacher changed—games became reality—and domination turned to desire. Despite an insurmountable history, Claire and Tony found their way back to one another. Just when they seemed to have it all—love, respect, and the promise of a family—the game master exposed the truth. Claire’s world once again spun out of control. Unwilling to allow her child to suffer the consequences of an old vendetta, Claire fled...

At one time, Claire was held captive in an opulent mansion—then her incarceration was a cell inside a state penitentiary. Was her new prison—a tropical island—truly less lonely? Perhaps that was the game master’s plan, all along?

Who will save Claire from her oldest nightmare and her newest reality? Will it be Tony? Can he forgive her for leaving him—again? Harry? Will he utilize previously unknown connections to save the woman who infiltrates his thoughts? Maybe Phil? Will his devotion in keeping Claire and her child safe be rewarded?

As the cards are played—sins of the past, innocent victims, and truths are revealed. With compartmentalization no longer an option, is the reality too much? Could there be an even worse isolation?

With the game master dealing from a stacked deck, can this new high-stakes game possibly be won?

When it’s all over and their cards are on the table—SOME will discover their bets were too high—they have nothing left to lose—ALL will learn the crucial lesson—the most important rule—there are CONSEQUENCES for the TRUTH!

Expected Publication: October 08 2013

Add to your Goodreads TBR

If you have yet to start this series, you can read my review for both Consequences and Truth by clicking on the covers below. I strongly recommend this series to every single person I meet. They are dark, twisted and spectacular. Your mind will be racing with possibilities and you will constantly find yourself on the edge of your seat.

Aleatha Romig is a bestselling author, who has been voted #1 "New Author to Read" on Goodreads July 2012 - Present! She was also #9 most followed author on Goodreads - July / August 3013.

Aleatha has lived most of her life in Indiana growing-up in Mishawaka, graduating from Indiana University, and currently living south of Indianapolis. Together with her high-school sweetheart and husband of twenty six years, they've raised three children. Before she became a full-time author, she worked days as a dental hygienist and spent her nights writing. Now, when she’s not imagining mind-blowing twists and turns, she likes to spend her time with her family and friends. Her pastimes include exercising, reading and creating heros/ anti-heros who haunt your dreams!

Aleatha enjoys traveling, especially when there is a beach involved. In 2011 she had the opportunity to visit Sydney, Australia to visit her daughter studying at the University of Wollongong. Her dream is to travel to places in her novels and around the world.

CONSEQUENCES, her first novel, was released August 2011 by Xlibris Publishing. October 2012 Ms. Romig rereleased CONSEQUENCES as an Indie author. TRUTH, the sequel, was released October 30, 2012 and CONVICTED, the final installment of the Consequences Series, is scheduled for release in October of 2013!

Aleatha is a “Published Author’s Network” member of the Romance Writers of America and represented by Danielle Egan-Miller of Brown and Miller Literary Associates.

Find Aleatha Romig on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website

Stay With Me: Blog Tour Stop, Review & Giveaway

With one look, I’m his . . .

With one touch, he’s mine . . .

With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . .

I’ve been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.

When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.

But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.

Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.

Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.

Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.

Title: Stay With Me (With Me ~ Book 1)
Author: Elyssa Patrick | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: August 30 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 270 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: iTunes | Kobo | All Romance | Amazon US | Nook | Smashwords

Tour Organized by: Book Crush

Source: ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover Love: Love it, the colors are perfect.
Point of View: 1st person, following Hailey

My Rating: 4 Stars

I really enjoyed Stay With Me, was it perfect? No, but it was a very enjoyable read, with some really loveable characters.

“With you, there’s always music.”

Hailey.  It took me no time at all to warm up to Hailey.  I understood completely how difficult it is for her to actually trust somebody else.  When you have grown up in the world she grew up in, where your 'friends' sold you out for a magazine or tabloid articles, then how could you not have difficulties with trust?

“I am drawn to him, and everything is pushing me toward him, not away”

Caleb.  He is of course perfect.  Yet another example of how perfect book boys can be.  He is caring, honest, and respectful of Hailey.  Even though they are instantly attracted to each other, I would say they built up their friendship first.  It wasn't all hot and heavy right off the bat, they built up to that kind of relationship.  But, wow... once they were both on the same page, that page set on fire.  There are some pretty hot sex scenes in this book.  Would I still classify it as New Adult?  Yeah, don't most people have sex in college?  Why shy away from it here?  They are both adults, nothing wrong with it.

“And you were all dark and mysterious in the shadows.”

I also adored the side characters.  Caleb has some pretty funny, hot and sexy room-mates and I am happy to report that they will be getting their own books.  Those are going to be some great books as the With Me series grows. 

Now for the little niggles.  Again, I want to say I really enjoyed Stay With Me.  I read it in one sitting, and found it to be quite the page turner.  But there were little parts that made me question a few things.  I am all for Hailey completely dropping out of the Hollywood life, I get that part.  What I don't understand is how there is not more publicity around her at the school?  It was explained that she just wasn't as famous because she wasn't putting herself out there, but I would still have expected at least a few paparazzi around her.  At least toward the beginning, when she first started school.  I can just imagine them all clambering for that photo of her walking to class, or seeing if she had any new boyfriends.

There is also the big secret that is mentioned in the blurb.  I actually got why Hailey felt this secret was so big that people would hate her.  It's not the secret that I'm really referring to here, but it is how many times Hailey mentions it.  Every time she started to let herself get closer to others, she would think about the secret.  It was thought about so many times that by the time it came out, I was just happy that it was done and dusted.

However, I must give praise to the way the secret was handled by Caleb.  We all know that with these types of books we are waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop somewhere between 70% and 85%.  Some big misunderstanding that drives our heroine and hero apart.  I was thrilled with the way Caleb handled everything.  It showed maturity, and in all honestly it showed how much he actually cares for Hailey.

“I'm so glad you came here, Hailey.  So very, very glad.  You are my every heartbeat, and I love you.”

So in closing, I would suggest this book to anybody that likes these types of stories.  It was interesting to get into the mind of a celebrity that is trying to distance herself from that life.  You see their faces in the magazines, and on the TV and you believe everything that is being said.  It is a bit of a wake-up call to stop and remember that they are people, just like you and me, and to not believe everything that is said or even shown.

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Running in Place: Cover Reveal, Excerpt & Giveaway

SYNOPSIS

Tatum O’Connell:
Some call me a party girl. People see me as happy, full of life, with absolutely no cares in the world. They see what I want them to see. But no one knows me - really knows me. Not even Noah Reese. Mr. Perfect is always watching me, most likely judging every single imperfect thing I do. But, if Noah wants to keep an eye on me, that’s just fine. I definitely don’t mind. I just hope he doesn’t have any plans to save me from my new-found life of self-destruction because in order to save me, he will have to see me… And I’m never going to let that happen.

Noah Reese:
Perfect. That’s me. That’s the only acceptable way to be, according to my father. Perfect grades. Perfect manners. Perfect athlete. Perfect SAT scores. Perfect college. And recently, I was accepted into the perfect med school. My future has already been mapped out for me and there’s nothing that can change that. Not even Tatum O’Connell. That girl is out of control, yet for some reason, I can’t seem to keep my distance from her. I watch her closely, hoping that one day she’ll let me in, but watching her lead her life down the dangerous path she’s on right now isn’t easy… I have a feeling I’m about to find myself swept away by the hurricane that is Tatum O’Connell.

SERIES

EXCERPT FROM RUNNING IN PLACE

     Still laughing and not paying attention, I round the corner, only to run straight into a completely different kind of trouble. A brown-headed, blue-eyed, whirlwind kind of trouble. A trouble that looks unbelievably hot in a tight-ass, short black dress. A trouble wearing the highest black heels I’ve ever seen, heels that make her legs look unbelievable and should be outlawed judging by the bulge forming inside my dark Diesels. Damn. She’s also a trouble that I’ve formed a decent friendship with over the last few weeks, so any mental images I have of her doing certain things to me wearing those heels have got to go.

     “Hey!” she says laughing as she flips her hair off her shoulders. My eyes immediately land on her pouty lips, the clear shine reflecting off of them as she smiles. “What are you doing here?”

     I clear my throat and tear my gaze from her mouth. “Getting my check, you?”

     She looks me up and down as she nods her head. “Me too,” she says clearing her own throat. “Where are you going, looking all spiffy?”

     I chuckle because only she would say spiffy. “I’m taking Piper to that new club, Parallel. Where are you going looking all spiffy?”

     She claps her hands together excitedly before taking my hand. “We’re going there too! Yay!”

     I’m still surprised every time she touches me. It’s such a drastic change from the first day at the duplexes. As I think about the last month or so - all the times that we laughed together at something ridiculous that she said, or the fact that she insists on bumping hips with me every single time a song comes on the radio that she likes while singing at the top of her lungs, even the times she lightly brushes her hand across my arm while she’s speaking – there’s a level of comfort and ease about our friendship. Reason five hundred why I need to curb my inappropriate thoughts about this one.

     I smile to myself as she tugs me harder. “Where are you taking me?”

     “To the employee bathroom!”

     Well, that did absolutely nothing to fend off dirty thoughts.

     “Why?”

     She giggles. Obviously, she’s already started drinking. Great. Well, at least we’ll be at the same place so I can make sure Dickhead the Douchebag takes care of her.

     “Because, I’m gonna fix your hair. It looks too…perfect. It needs to be messy – sexy, like you.” She stops dead in her tracks. “Um…I mean, as sexy as you look now.” She exhales, frustrated. “Sexily dressed, that’s what I mean.” She bites her bottom lip nervously as she mentally tries to hook her words and reel them back in. I just laugh because she looks so damn cute.

     “So, you think I’m sexy?”

     Saying nothing else, she rolls her eyes and pulls me in the direction of the bathroom. Once we arrive, she flips on the light and points at the toilet for me to take a seat. Turning on the faucet, she sets her purse on the counter and pulls out a travel size hairspray. After digging around for a little while longer, she turns towards me.

     “Well, I guess this will have to do.” She tilts her head to the left and then scrunches her mouth to the same side, deep in thought. Nodding to herself, she leans over and wets her fingers in the sink before stepping in between my legs.

     She breathes in deeply before placing her fingers in my hair. Slowly, she distributes the water throughout, often leaning back to the faucet to get more. Her cool hands work from the sides of my head toward the top, where her fingers interlace to form a spiky section down the center. Then she bends at the waist, placing her face so close to mine, her breaths hit my mouth. I know I can’t have her, but damn if I don’t want to take some piece of her with me. So greedily, I take in her air with every breath she releases. Her eyes still focused on my hair, I watch her mouth. Still breathing with her, I lick my lips, the movement distracting her so that she brings her blue eyes to mine. In silence, we stare, only the shared breaths between us are heard.

     Taking her hand out of my hair, she places it on the side of my face and gently strokes my cheek with her thumb as we hold each other’s eyes. Before long, I watch a soft saddened half-smile appear on her lips. “Much better,” she says with one last soothing run of her thumb before she backs away. Reaching for the hair spray, she tweaks the top of my hair, pulling random pieces in different directions before spraying them. I fight the urge to put my hands around her waist and pull her into me. To hold her. To have her.

     Instead, I sit with my hands on my knees, wanting what I can’t have.

     After a couple of more sprays, she steps back. “All done. You’re good to go. To the bar. With Piper,” she says, the pitch of her voice getting higher with each incomplete sentence spoken. There’s no mistaking the heartache radiating between the both of us. It’s so thick I could slice it with a knife.

MEET THE AUTHOR  
L.B. Simmons is a graduate of Texas A&M University and holds a degree in Biomedical Science. She has been a practicing Chemist for the last 11 years. She lives with her husband and three daughters in Texas and writes every chance she gets.

Find L.B. Simmons on:  Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website

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