Thursday, 6 October 2016

New Release Spotlight & Review: Our Forever by Elena Matthews




When you fall in love with your best friend, it’s the kind of love that’s supposed to last forever.

Jo Donovan was a true believer of happily ever afters—until her best friend, Christopher, was killed in Afghanistan, destroying her belief that fairy-tale endings existed.

Destroying her. Destroying her world.

Five years later…

Jo finds herself still stuck in the past, unable to find closure with Christopher’s death.

When she moves to Austin, Texas, with her son, Junior, she’s finally given the fresh start she’s been desperately seeking.

What she doesn’t know is that the fresh start comes in the form of her sexy neighbor, Drew Greyson.

Their friendship starts off rocky, but eventually, a spark between them ignites. It isn’t long before that spark turns explosive, and she finds herself falling for him.

Drew wants to be her everything, her forever, but will Jo’s pain from losing Christopher stop her from following her heart?

Warning: Recommended for ages 18+ due to explicit language and sexual situations.

**A stand-alone spin-off from the Look After You series**


Amazon AU - http://amzn.to/29IGgyJ 


I love that I was your first since Christopher, that I was the first to push through those hardened walls that you’d kept in place since he died. There should never be a day when you’re not worshipped, and I can imagine he thought so, too. There should never be a day when you’re not smiling because, when you do, you’re so fucking breathtaking that it literally hurts to breathe. You deserve the world and everything in it. You deserve forever.”
I let out a long sigh while my heart constricts in my chest. “I might deserve forever, but happily ever after is bullshit because forever doesn’t exist.”
I’d like to put a wager on that.”
I stare at him with utter confusion. “A wager?”
That I can make you believe in forever again.”
I cock my head to the side, smiling in spite of myself. “I didn’t realize you were such a Prince Charming.”
I am. I’m just a badass Prince Charming with tattoos and a big cock but one who believes that forever is possible.”
I almost choke on my laughter at the big-cock comment. “Such the modest one, aren’t you?”
Never said I wasn’t.” He grins.
It’s a lost cause,” I add pointedly.
Nothing that involves you is a lost cause.”
So, what’s the time frame of this wager, and what do I get if I win?”
Six months and a lifetime’s worth of cupcakes,” he says straight off the bat, almost as if he had been prepared for my question.
I smile before asking my next question, “And, for argument’s sake, what do you get if you win?”
He trails his finger along my cheek. “I get you.”
My breathing falters, and I look him directly in the eyes to see only honesty swimming through his sea-blue hues. I fall in love with his answer, and my racing heart only confirms that.
Okay, but it’s your loss.”
We’ll see, sugar.”



Jo Donovan's life crashed around her after the tragic death of Christopher, her best friend, lover, and father of her son Junior. Five years later she's still struggling to come to terms with life without him. After losing her job in Dallas, she decided to accept a job in Austin to re-build her life for herself and her son. The apartment they move into is only a temporary home until they find a house once they're settled. Only an inconsiderate neighbour, playing music in the early hours of the morning isn't the welcome to a new city she desired. However, the gorgeous, tattooed occupant stirs up desires and feelings that she thought were only for one man.

Drew Grayson gave up his dreams in Los Angeles to come back to Austin to care for his sick mother. After her death, he's fulfilling her dreams by running the bakery business she set up. When he's not running the business, he's strumming his guitar and writing music...the passion that drives him. That's until a beautiful blonde knocks on his door at 2am wearing nothing but a t-shirt and red panties and chastises him for the loud music coming from his apartment. She's his new neighbour and now the woman he wants for his forever.

This is the first book I've read by this author and liked how she tackled the difficult emotions connected with bereavement and mourning. I don't often shed a tear or two when I read a book, but I did whilst reading this novel. Drew is definitely a once in a lifetime kinda guy, with a huge heart full of love and compassion. He's patient and caring and offers a stability that Jo needs especially as she erratically jumps from cautious to impulsive before panic sets in when everything seems too overwhelming. I like that Jo realises that it's time to start living again even though she feels guilty for trying to find happiness...that she finally understands that it is perfectly normal to fall in love again.

To sum up, Our Forever is an emotional second chance romance, full of hope and new beginnings.

***arc received courtesy of the publisher via Indiesage PR***






Receptionist by day, author by night, Elena Matthews is from Manchester, United Kingdom, the home of Manchester United, MediaCity and of course, Coronation Street. When Elena isn’t writing, she can be found with her nose in a book or watching guilty pleasures such as Grey’s Anatomy. And when she isn’t doing any of those things, you can often find her on Facebook, obsessing over Kellan Kyle, book boyfriend extraordinaire.





Wednesday, 5 October 2016

New Release Spotlight: Christmas at Eden Manor by Noelle Adams



Title: Christmas at Eden Manor
Author: Noelle Adams
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 5, 2016


Brie Graves might be jobless, living with her brother, and recovering from a painful break-up, but she's determined to enjoy the holidays. Until the end of the year, she's going to do anything she wants to do, no matter how crazy it might be. Soon, she discovers exactly what she wants--to spend a week with a fascinating, sophisticated stranger. It doesn't matter that she only knows his first name or that he's more than twenty years older than her. After this one week, she'll never see him again.
Cyrus Damon has spent his life making money and holding himself to impossibly high standards. Pressured into taking a vacation in Savannah, he's alone and at loose ends, so he lets himself do something he never would have considered otherwise. He gives in to his attraction to a beautiful, free-spirited, and much-too-young woman. But, after the week is over, he'll once more be the man he's always been, left with nothing but the memory of a woman who made him happier than he's ever been.
He has no idea that when he visits his nephew in a charming bed and breakfast called Eden Manor, he'll find the woman he thought he'd left for good.





When they’d finished the last of the wine and the mousse had been licked clean, Brie put down her spoon and collapsed back in her chair. “Wow. That was probably the best dinner—the best meal—I’ve ever had.”
Cyrus smiled at her, almost fondly. “Good. I’ll tell Gordon you appreciated it.”
Who decided on the menu and… ambience?”
He arched his eyebrows in amused irony. “It was Gordon. He was very pleased about this dinner, and he might have gone a bit too far in setting the mood.”
Intrigued, Brie felt a little less boneless, so she managed to lean forward, resting her head on one hand. “Really? Does he do a lot of matchmaking for you?”
He never has before,” Cyrus said with a half shrug. “I was as surprised as you were.”
Were you really? You acted totally suave, like you have romantic dinners like this all the time.”
I doubt you’d believe me if I told you how long it’s been since I’ve had a romantic meal of any kind.”
A surge of curiosity banished a lot of her decadent languor. “How long?” she demanded.
Cyrus’s mouth twisted into what might have been a sheepish smile. “I don’t think I’m going to tell you.”
But I want to know.”
His eyes transformed as he gazed at her. The shift was almost imperceptible, but Brie felt a shudder shape itself in the base of her spine in response to his expression. “Do you always get what you want?” Cyrus continued, his voice throaty, the texture making her shudder even more.
No,” she admitted. “Almost never.”
There’s something wrong with a world where such a thing is true.”
It took her a minute to unravel this comment, but when she did she was moved even more. The man didn’t even seem to be trying, but he had the knack for always saying the right thing, for being kind and romantic and civilized, all at exactly the same time.
She’d never believed it was possible before.
She knew she was treading in dangerous waters here. She was on the verge of being swept away by him completely. She wanted to enjoy herself with him this week, but she didn’t want to do something so foolish it would leave her hurt and lonely next week.
She didn’t know this man. Not really. So she could feel a resistance rising inside her, at the same time as the deep attraction.
She needed to change the mood between them. Quickly.
Let’s walk some more,” she suggested lightly. “I could use it after such a meal.”
He stood up and took her hand to help her out of her seat. Then he didn’t let her hand go as they strolled through the gardens again.
She soon realized her suggestion might have been a mistake. The rich scent of the air, the soft moonlight, and the feel of Cyrus’s warm hand quickly went to her head. She felt unsteady, overly warm, and so fluttery she couldn’t take a deep breath.
God, Cyrus!” she gasped, as an ache of need pulsed through her before she was ready to handle it.
Cyrus had appeared calm, leisurely, at his ease. But he’d evidently been fighting feelings of his own. Her breathless cry seemed to snap his control. He used his clasp on her hand to pivot her around and then slid his free arm around her, pressing her against the length of his body.
His warm, lean strength was exactly what Brie wanted to feel. She freed her hand from his and instinctively twined her arms around his neck. With his hand now free, he used it to cup the back of her head.
You’re so beautiful, Brie,” he murmured thickly. “So beautiful and… and glowing with life.” His eyes like flames, almost fierce in the moonlight, he leaned his head down to claim her lips.

Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she reads any book she can get her hands on and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.

If you'd like to contact Noelle, please contact her at noelle.s.adams@gmail.com. Or connect with her on
TwitterFacebook, and Goodreads.
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