Blog Tour: Blessed Tragedy by H.B Heinzer

Published: January 1 2013

Pages: 237

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17332591-blessed-tragedy

Blessed tragedy starts off with a little background on Maddie Neumann our main character, she has just finished high school, and has decided that the town and life that she has been living is not for her, and she is determined to follow her dreams. She is the youngest of four children and the only girl, and has been forced to play all of the "girlie" roles for her Mother, like being a cheerleader, pretending to love the colour pink, etc. She leaves the town and does not look back for years to come.

Her dream has been to be in a band, and through some experiences along the way, she joins the band Blessed Tragedy and has changed her name to Rain Maxwell. She is the lead singer, and all the other members are guys, however, the one that she is closest to and is her best friend is Colton, they are even close enough that they sleep in the same bed every night, but it has all been strictly as friends till this point. The band has been doing really well and are gaining in popularity and fame, but just as it starts to peak for them, Rain gets a phone call that shakes her to the core, her Mother is sick with cancer.

She has avoided going home for the past 5 years, she wants to leave that life behind her. She has stayed in contact with her parents over the phone over the years, and they have always told her that her Mom was doing okay with her treatment, and it wasn't that bad, so she decides that before she goes home, she wants to finish the current tour that they are on, she thinks that her Mom has enough time, and she will go home the day after the tour is over. 

Things change when Rain gets the phone call after their second to last tour stop, her Mom has passed away. Rain starts to fall apart, she feels incredibly guilty for not being there to say goodbye, then that guilt turns in to anger towards her Dad and brothers for not calling her. When she gets home there are some arguments that she has with her brothers and she is called a "selfish bitch" and told that she only thinks about herself all the time.

The story takes off from there, and I really don't want to give anymore away because I really believe that this is a story that you have to experience for yourself to get all of the feels. There are so many different relationships that at first glance seem broken, and it is questionable whether they can ever be repaired. I loved the growth that a lot of the characters had in this novel, and seeing the give and take that they have to learn to get comfortable with. Also the ups and downs in the relationships that you think would automatically work so well is awesome. 

H.B Heinzer has done an amazing job at creating fantastic characters that are relatable and real, and imperfect. The situations and dramas that she comes up with are also very realistic and just proves that 1) most relationships are not easy, whether it be child/parent, brother/sister, or boyfriend/girlfriend, and they all need work to keep them going. And 2) not everything is as it seems, and sometimes you have to dig deep in to yourself, and those around you to see things from other perspectives before you can fully understand the whole story.

I absolutely loved this book, and I am so happy that I have the privilege to be part of this blog tour, and also part of Blessed Fate's blog tour to see where this story goes, 5/5!

Seal of Honor (HORNET #1) by Tonya Burrows

Published: May 28 2013 by Entangled Select

Pages: 352

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16129270-seal-of-honor

Seal of honor is about a guy named Gabe who finds himself ripped suddenly from the only job he ever had, and the only type of life he ever lived, being a Navy Seal Officer. Now he is left to figure out what he is going to do with his life and what kind of job he wants to have, and when an offer to go in to the private sector as a member of a hostage recovery group comes to him, he is not sure that is what he wants to do, but with some pressure from friends and family, he decides to take the offer, and there is already a job waiting for them.

We are then introduced to the remaining part of the team, which includes his best friend. They are then flown down to Columbia where a wealthy American businessman is being held captive. It is then that we are introduced to the possible love interest for Gabe in a interesting way. For some reason I just was unable to connect with the characters in this book, I am not sure if it was the writing, or the story line, I think maybe I was expecting something a little different. 

One thing that I know I would have appreciated is there were a couple of times in the book where there were navy acronyms used, and I had no idea what they meant, it would have been nice to know what they were even if they were not pertinent to the story really. Overall I think that this was just not a book for me, it was not a bad book, but I didn't find myself truly engaged either, so this gets a 3/5 from me.

Love Me (Taking a Chance #2) by Diane Alberts Blog Tour

Published: May 13 2013 by Entangled Publishing

Pages: 134

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17848193-love-me

Love me follows the story of Thomas Jones who is in the marketing field, and he is taken once again to Las Vegas to win his marketing company another large account. What he is not prepared for when he gets there is Brianna, they literally run in to each other outside a restaurant, and let's just say they don't get started on the right foot.

Thomas is immediately attracted to Brianna, however, it is not reciprocated in the least, and that just makes him want to win her over even more. One of her hesitations is that she is in charge of the casino that he needs to get a contract signed on for the next big job. There is more reasons than that in which Brianna does not want to get involved with him, but we are not aware of these secrets until later on in the book, and they could throw a big hitch in Thomas's plans if he is not careful.

I really enjoyed Thomas and Brianna's story, and watching it unfold, and seeing how Thomas reacts to Brianna's home life and how that would effect any kind of relationship he hopes to have with her.This is the second book in a series, however, it is not necessary to read the first book, they can be read like stand alone novels. In saying that, I have not read book 1, but I will be asap as I really enjoyed Diane's writing, and the two main characters from book 1 make an appearance in this book, and they seem very interesting. Overall this book gets a 4/5 from me, and I would suggest it for anyone looking for a romance book with some steam in it!

Where to buy Love Me:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iTunes

Kobo

ABOUT DIANE ALBERTS

Diane Alberts is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing, Swoon Romance, and Decadent Publishing. She has, as of this date, four books with Entangled Publishing, one book with Swoon Romance, and five older books with Decadent Publishing. Her February release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list, and TRY ME hit #76 on Amazon. Her Swoon Romance novella, CAPTIVATED BY YOU, hit #31 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list. Diane is represented by Louise Fury from the L. Perkins Agency. You can find her at:

Website: http://dianealberts.com/

Blog: http://dianealberts.com/blog/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dianealberts

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Alberts/121705201245084

Diane is also holding a giveaway on her blog:

http://dianealberts.com/contestsgiveaways/love-me-top-100-contest-win-a-kindle-and-customized-cover/

Cover reveal for two different Alessandra Thomas novels!!

Joey made her dad a deathbed promise that she would become a doctor, and dedicate herself to fighting the very cancer that took his life. There’s just one problem -three years into her pre-med classes, she's struggling to stay on top of the curve, let alone prove she's dazzling enough to earn a spot in an Ivy League medical school. In a Hail Mary move, she throws a basic Business 101 class into her semester schedule, banking on a perfect score to boost her GPA.

That is, until she’s paired for a final project with Hawk, the bartending, motorbike-riding, gorgeously bedheaded loser who falls asleep in class and communicates in one-word sentences.

Hawk does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, which sets Joey on edge – in every possible way. As they get to know each other, her urge to scream at him is curbed only by her fantasies of tearing his clothes off. Soon those fantasies become reality, and Joey realizes Hawk makes her feel more fully herself than any of the rich boys her mother and sorority sisters approve of.

But the promise to her father hangs over her head, and the harder Joey tries to succeed in her chosen career, the faster everything falls into a hopeless tailspin of bad grades, broken promises and guilt. It doesn't help to have Hawk sitting like a devil on her shoulder, insisting she should be free to live however she wants to live - like he does.

The only thing Joey knows is that her neatly organized life is crushing her - and Hawk's bad attitude might be the only thing that can save her.

Fashion design major Cat Mitchell has a closet full of gorgeous clothes - and not a single thing fits. After two years of runway modeling for easy cash, an accident shattered her lower leg bone and her self-esteem in just one swift fall. Ten months of no exercise, prescription steroids, comfort eating and yoga pants meant returning to campus as a size twelve instead of her former size two. When her gorgeous long-time friend with benefits sees her for the first time after her accident and snubs her in front of all her friends, Cat’s self-image hits rock bottom. Her sorority sisters all insist that she looks gorgeous, but all Cat sees is the roll of her stomach when she sits down, or the dimpling at the back of her thighs that wasn't there last year. Cat’s therapist prescribes something radical to stop the downward spiral - nude modeling for a nearby college's human form drawing classes. When Cat faces her fears and bares it all for the class, she realizes that she's posing naked in front the most gorgeous, buffest guy she's ever seen in her life. He asks her out after the class, and after one steamy night together, Cat's absolutely smitten.

Nate’s pretty close to perfect – he takes Cat rock climbing when he discovers that it makes her feel strong and becomes a great chef after he learns that the perfect pesto sauce makes her swoon. Cat starts to feel like her old self again - confident and beautiful - as long as Nate's around. Even when he discourages her from entering the Real Woman Project, a design competition for plus-sized apparel, she reasons that he's just trying to prevent old body image wounds from splitting wide open again. But when Cat goes home with Nate for Thanksgiving, she discovers something shocking from his recent past that proves that he hasn’t always been so encouraging of women of all shapes and sizes. Cat has no idea what to think, but she does know one thing - this might destroy their relationship before it's even had a chance to get off the ground.

Before Cat can figure out whether the real Nate is the sensitive, adoring guy she fell in love with, or an undercover asshole, she'll have to finally feel comfortable in her own skin - even if it means leaving him forever.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/picture-perfect-alessandra-thomas/1114886163?ean=2940016360911

http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Perfect-ebook/dp/B00BYLQIQE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364230606&sr=8-1&keywords=Picture+Perfect+Alessandra+Thomas

ABOUT ALESSANDRA THOMAS

Alessandra Thomas is a New Adult writer who swears she was in her twenties yesterday. Since she's not, she spends her time looking back on her college years fondly, and writing sexy stories about guys and
girls falling in love and really living life for the first time. When she's not writing, you can find her with a spoonful of ice cream in one hand and the newest New Adult release in the other.

http://www.twitter.com/AuthorAless

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6906315

The Hazards of Skinny Dipping by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Published: May 17 2013 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Pages: 248

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17408503-the-hazards-of-skinny-dipping

Fair warning, this is going to be a gushy review! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!!!! I have also been privileged enough to read Alyssa's Clayton Falls series, and this is my favourite book that I have read by her thus far. This story follows Juliet who is just going in to her first year of college, and before she does that, her cousin Amy gives her a secret list of 5 things that she needs to do before she gets there to try and open herself up to the new experiences that she is going to have once she is there. 

One of those things on the list is, you guess it, skinny dipping. She leaves this till the last minute before she has to leave to go to school. Juliet has decided to stay over one more night at her family's beach cottage once everyone else has left to give herself some alone time and to mark off this last thing on the list. What she doesn't count on is the hot next door neighbour Dylan to show up unexpectedly and catch her in her moment of nakedness. Juliet has had a crush on him for years, and what she thinks is a dream come true starts to happen to her, what she was not prepared for is the dream to come crashing down around her.

Juliet knows that she will not be able to avoid Dylan when she gets to school as he is a senior at the same college that she is attending. She is not sure what to expect as far as his reaction when seeing him again, but is presently surprised by how happy he is to see her, and that he really is interested in dating her. I can relate to Juliet in more ways than one, but the first one that comes up in the book is that giddy feeling you get when you start dating someone that you have had a crush on, at the beginning it always feels like a bit of a dream come true, then reality starts to set in.

Dylan always rubbed me the wrong way even from when he was introduced, and as the story goes along, it kept getting worse and worse, I just wanted to strangle him! And I love when a character is able to bring out such a strong emotion in me, good or bad. 

Shortly after Juliet arrives at school we meet Reed, and let me tell you, I have found a new book boyfriend! All along I kept thinking in my head "open your eyes Juliet, look at that man"!! Well, I can't really say much more without giving the rest of the book away, however, there is so much more to this story, some secrets that are revealed, a lot of growing by a few different characters, and a few other surprises along the way that I guarantee will keep you wanting more and more!

I am going to say that this is obviously a 5/5 for me, and that Alyssa Rose has absolutely become my FAVOURITE contemporary author by far and I am going to go and try and find everything I can by her and read it ASAP!

Kissing the Maid of Honor (Secret Wishes #1) by Robin Bielman

Published: May 13 2013

Pages: 230

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17857511-kissing-the-maid-of-honor

I really enjoyed this book, I was able to connect with the characters a little more than I have been able to in the last couple of romance novels that I have read. This is a story about Sela and Luke, they have agreed to be the maid of honour and best man at Luke's sister Vanessa's wedding. Now normally this would not be a big deal at all, however, there is a history between these two as Sela has been Vanessa's best friend since they were young, and there was an embarrassing episode that Sela has still not forgiven Luke for.

Throughout the book we see them try and work together to make Vanessa's day perfect for her, and try to keep their distance otherwise until the wedding is over, so that they can both try and keep their sanity. Well, that does not seem to be the plan that the "fates" have in store for them, which really is bothering Sela because there is a famous wishing well in town, and when Vanessa's wish came true, she put a lot of faith in it, and made her own wish for Luke to stay away from her, and the exact opposite is happening.

I really liked the flow of this book, and the way that you see their relationship start to repair, and then move on from there. I found it to be very realistic, and because there was the previous history between the two main characters, I did not get that insta-love feeling, and I thought that it was very well written, I would highly recommend this one for a nice summer beach read as it can definitely be read in one day while lazing by the water, overall rating is a 4/5.

Real Men Don't Quit (Real Men #2) by Coleen Kwan

Published: April 8 2013 by Entangled Publishing

Pages: 241

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17731921-real-men-don-t-quit

This book is about a famous author named Luke Maguire who has decided to retreat to a small town in Australia to try and focus on his writing as he has been suffering writers block in the house that he has been trying to write his next novel in. What he does not expect when he gets to that small town is the fiery redhead next door named Tyler.

He tries his best to stay out of her life, however, he finds himself being pulled in again and again. One thing that he finds himself drawn to is her adorable 3 year old daughter Chloe, she makes quite the impression on him the first time that they meet. 

Tyler strives herself on being independent and not needing help from anyone as this is how she has had to be for as long as she can remember. She is unprepared for the events that keep coming up where she does find herself in need of help from someone, and that someone keep turning up to be the gorgeous next door neighbour Luke.

There were a few obstacles thrown in the plot to make me keep reading, and this was not a bad book by any means, however, it was not a great book for me either. It is another heart warming romance that I have come to expect from Entangled, the writing is always great. 3/5 overall.

Desire by Design by Paula Altenburg

Published: May 13 2013 by Entangled Bliss

Pages: 192

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17857455-desire-by-design

This novel follows the story of Eve, she has landed her dream job of being a project manager for the new city hall building, and she also did the final draft of the building. Just as she beings to think that everything is going her way, it is interrupted by the famous architect Matt Brison shows up and tells her that he has been hired to design the final look of the building.

There was a lot of back and forth in this book between Eve and Matt as she felt that she was doing the project justice by keeping to the traditional look of the town, where Matt wanted to do something a little more modern, and it did not help that he had the schooling behind him, and she did not. Also he has some connections that she does not that she is not aware of at the beginning.

There is a twist to the plot line involving something or someone from Eve's past, and this was really the only part of the book that I found slightly interesting that gave the book a little something extra that I can't really discuss in a review without it being a spoiler.

This book overall unfortunately for me was just okay, there was nothing spectacular about it that I remembered or even really kept me wanting to read to the end, though I did. I think it is for someone just looking for a nice light romance book that just takes 1 sitting to get through. This book gets a 3/5 from me.

The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

Published: May 7 2013 by Entangled Teen

Pages: 326

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14744489-the-summer-i-became-a-nerd

This book was exactly what I needed to get out of a reading slump! It was the perfect light hearted quick read that I was looking for. Even though this book touches on a serious topic like trying to be someone you are not just to "fit in" at school, it does it in such a fun way that you really don't feel like it is being shoved down your throat or anything. 

At the beginning of the book we learn about the incident a few years back at school where Maddie felt that she was so embarrassed at school that she was never going to fit in again, so from that day forward she was determined to fit in and keep all of her "geeky interests" like comics, sci-fi shows etc to herself for fear of being made fun of again.

She has been ordering her comic books online for years so there is no evidence of them in her room when her friends come over, and she keeps a comic book journal that she thinks no one knows about hidden in her closet, however, she starts to run in to trouble when her favourite comic book series has decided to only offer the very last book in the series in print form, so she cannot view it online. She finds that she is forced to go in to the local comic book store called The Pheonix to pick up her copy, so she decides she is going to, but she is afraid of someone seeing her, so she goes incognito or so she thinks. 

I love where the story goes from there, Maddie starts to realize that the life that she is living to keep up appearances, is not what she wants. Like having the popular football player boyfriend, and pretending to like a country music artist that she really can't stand. She starts to make small changes to have things the way that she really wants them, like hanging out with the guy in her class Logan, who's parents own The Pheonix, but she is not fooling him, and soon things come to a boiling point, and she is forced to chose to go all the way and acknowledge what she really wants, or hurt the people that have come to mean so much to her.

This is the absolute perfect book to get you started on your light contemporary reading for summer! If you like books with characters blossoming in to whom they are really supposed to be with a sprinkle of romance, this one is for you, it gets a 5/5 from me.

My first ever Read-a-long!

I am so excited, I just saw this on facebook today and decided to participate as I have been meaning to read this book for a long time, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity!

Thank you so much to Evie @ Bookish (http://evie-bookish.blogspot.ca/) and Rachelia @ Bookish Comforts (http://bookishcomforts.blogspot.ca/).

It sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun, so if you have this book and have not read it yet, head over to either blog and sign up! And as a very cool bonus, the author Bethany Griffin has decided that for each participant, she is going to send a Masque of the Red Death bookmark!

There is a full schedule of events throughout the month listed on both blogs and it looks like there will be discussion posts approximately every week for specific chapters, then a big one at the end for the whole book! I am so excited for this, and I want to thank both ladies for hosting this, it gives me the perfect reason to finally pull this one off the shelf!