Monday 20 April 2015

Book Spotlight: The Murder Complex bt Lindsay Cummings

THE MURDER COMPLEX (The Murder Complex, #1) by Lindsay Cummings
 is on sale for $1.99 for a very limited time!



THE MURDER COMPLEX 
An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.


THE MURDER COMPLEX (The Murder Complex, #1)

Amazon:  amzn.to/1O7lTno



THE FEAR TRIALS (The Murder Complex, #0.5)
iTunes:  apple.co/1FGQXef



THE DEATH CODE (The Murder Complex, #2)
Amazon:  amzn.to/1FGQokN
Indiebound: bit.ly/1zaAwPY
iTunes:  apple.co/1yoKHWc

Lindsay Cummings is the 24-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX series from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, and the MG trilogy THE BALANCE KEEPERS, from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.

Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, can’t get enough of her two pesky German Shepherds, wolf cub, and two horses. She's still waiting on her letter from Hogwarts--it was probably just lost in the mail. You can follow Lindsay on twitter @authorlindsayc

Author Links:



Cover Reveal: Shuttergirl by C.D. Reiss


Author Note: If you know me, you know my Submission and Corruption books. This is different. This is about love and loss, ambition and talent, and our commitments to ourselves and each other. I don't close the door on the expression of love, but this is not the usual dirty pleasure.

Add the Hollywood Project aka ShutterGirl to your TBR:

Release Date: May 20th

ShutterGirl Book Trailer:


I am not hurt.

I don’t need a second chance with him, or a life I thought I had.

While he was out forgetting me to become a movie star, I was building a career out of nothing. A career as a paparazzi, but a career. For a foster kid who bounced around every home in Los Angeles, that wasn’t easy.

This camera is all I have.

He’s nothing to me. Every time I take his picture and sell it, I remind myself that I did it all without him or his approval, his cinnamon smell or his clear green eyes. He lights up the screen like a celestial body, but he’s nothing but a paycheck to me.

He can throw my camera off a balcony, and nothing has to change. We can stay king and queen of the same city, and different worlds.

Except this is Hollywood, and here, anything can happen.



CD Reiss is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller. She still has to chop wood and carry water, which was buried in the fine print. Her lawyer is working it out with God but in the meantime, if you call and she doesn’t pick up, she’s at the well, hauling buckets.
Born in New York City, she moved to Hollywood, California to get her master’s degree in screenwriting from USC. In case you want to know, that went nowhere, but it did embed TV story structure in her head well enough for her to take a big risk on a TV series structured erotic series called Songs of Submission. It’s about a kinky billionaire hung up on his ex-wife, an ingenue singer with a wisecracking mouth; art, music and sin in the city of Los Angeles.
Critics have dubbed the books “poetic,” “literary,” and “hauntingly atmospheric,” which is flattering enough for her to put it in a bio, but embarrassing enough for her not to tell her husband, or he might think she’s some sort of braggart who’s too good to give the toilets a once-over every couple of weeks or chop a cord of wood.
If you meet her in person, you should call her Christine.


Review: Getting Dirty by Mia Storm.




Dirty
A poem by Blaire Leon

If sex is dirty, why would I do it with someone I love?
If sex is dirty, then didn’t we all come from the dirt?
What if I like the dirt?
What if I want to get dirty?
What if I want to roll in the mud until I’m so fucking filthy that I’ll never be clean again?

When twenty-five-year-old graduate assistant Caiden Brenner asked Blaire Leon how old she was, she said she was a senior. He chose to believe she meant in college. They connect over Lord Byron’s Don Juan and, as their conversations become increasingly thicker with sexual innuendo, Caiden finds himself obsessing over a totally off-limits undergrad who’s bold, beautiful, brilliant, and one of the most passionate poets he’s ever met.

But it turns out Blaire hasn't been totally honest. She's the seventeen-year-old valedictorian of her high school class, taking courses at Sierra State while awaiting her acceptance to Stanford.

Will Caiden get too deeply into Blaire to back away before he finds out the truth? Or will their connection be enough to seduce him into risking his entire future on Jail Bait?



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The idea of a sixteen year old being with a twenty five year old doesn't offend me because such a relationship doesn't break any laws where I come from. So I had to put that fact aside and read this story based on what is unlawful within the setting of the book, where the age of consent is eighteen.

Blaire Leon is the valedictorian of her high school class with ambitions to go to UC Berkeley after her graduation. She's enrolls at Sierra State to take additional classes and there she meets graduate assistant Caiden Brenner.

Caiden Brenner is an assistant to Professor Duncan whilst he finishes his dissertation to complete his PhD studies. He is drawn to a young student who seeks him out at the resource desk at the university library. She is mesmerizing and way too young considering he is twenty five and more importantly staff at the university.

The emotion I felt after reading Getting Dirty was one of sadness. Whilst we leave Blaire and Caiden in a happy place and together, I felt sorry for the pain, sacrifice and suffering both had to go through to get where they are now. I respect there are laws to protect minors from exploitation, but I never thought that Blaire was being groomed or manipulated by Caiden, that despite their relationship been consensual, the “one law fits all” caused far more damage than if they had been able to openly discuss their feelings for one another without prejudice and recrimination. Neither come out of their story blame free as Caiden shouldn't have acted on his impulses whilst still working to finish his PhD and Blaire showed her immaturity by actively pursuing someone knowing the consequences. One of the biggest surprises is the reaction Caiden and Blaine's relationship has on others. People you would expect to be at least sympathetic where the biggest critics, and support coming from the least expected ones.

I've not read a book in a while that kept my mind questioning the plot as I went along, which I absolutely loved. For me there is nothing better than reading a book where the author engages me to think beyond the boundaries of the storyline. The course of events along the time line surprised me too. I loved this thought provoking and sexy book – yes it is very steamy and intrigued to know more about the Jail Bait series.

5 stars

***arc generously received in exchange for an honest review***


Mia Storm is a hopeless romantic who is always searching for her happy ending. Sometimes she’s forced to make one up. When that happens, she’s thrilled to be able to share those stories with her readers. She lives in California and spends much of her time in the sun with a book in one hand and a mug of black coffee in the other, or hiking the trails in Yosemite. Connect with her online at MiaStormAuthor.blogspot.com , on Twitter at @MiaStormAuthor, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiaStormAuthor.

Without realizing I’m doing it, I find I’m leaning toward her. I catch myself and stop. But before I can pull back, she closes the rest of the distance and presses her lips hard against mine.
Any thought that I shouldn’t be doing this evaporates like fog in a stiff breeze at the taste of her mouth, moving hungrily on mine. She’s scotch and fire on my tongue as she devours me. Right or wrong, I’m powerless to stop her.
Her fingers run down my face to my chest as she opens her mouth wider, inviting me deeper inside. I take the invitation, tasting as much of her as she’ll give me. Her hands tug at the hem of my shirt and my breath catches when cold fingers meet my warm abs.
I press harder against her, drawing her closer, and fire rips through my veins as our tongues and hands explore the new landscapes of each other’s mouths and bodies.
But a shard of coherent thought finally manages to pierce the bubble I’ve constructed to justify what I’m doing. “You’re a student,” I say against her mouth.
Her lips skim to my ear. “I like you, Caiden,” she whispers, and her saying my name with that hot breath, that wet mouth, is nearly enough to break my resolve. “I like you a lot.”
I take her by the shoulders and gently peel her away, my heart hammering out African drumbeats against my ribcage. “You’re so damn incredible, but I can’t do this. It’s totally against university rules. I’m sorry.”
“You’re not my professor,” she says, her expression wounded. “If we like each other, I don’t see why it should matter.”
“I’m Dr. Duncan’s graduate assistant. My boss is your professor. It’s a conflict of interest, since I do most of his grading.”
are conflicted.” It’s clear from the predatory shift her expression takes that she hears that I’m trying to convince myself as much as her.
“So you
I drop my head against the headrest. “I am.”
She leans closer again, her breast pressing against my arm through the thin cotton of her top. “I’ll never say anything. No one needs to know,” she whispers, her breath feathering over my neck.

Book Blog Stop, Review & Giveaway: Crushed by Lauren Layne.


Crushed

Redemption # 2
By: Lauren Layne
Releasing April 14th, 2015
Loveswept: Flirt 


Crushed

Redemption Series


Lauren Layne’s latest novel about the healing power of redemption tells the story of a crush gone wickedly wrong, proving that what you want isn’t always what you need.

Growing up in New York, Michael St. Claire never expected to spend his twenties wearing cowboy boots. But that was before he learned about his real father, a total stranger with a family in Cedar Grove, Texas. Once in the Lone Star State, Michael meets Kristin Bellamy, who is exquisitely refined and everything Michael always thought he wanted in a woman. The only problem is that Kristin is dating Michael’s new half-brother, Devon.

Kristin’s mouthy, curvy sister Chloe has always been in love with Devon Patterson. So when Michael offers to help Chloe break up Devon and Kristin, Chloe agrees to a deal that seems too good to be true. Before long, Chloe finally gets her man, only to make a startling discovery: She no longer wants the guy she had to fight for—she wants the one who stood by her side.

After all he and Chloe have been through, Michael swears he’s damaged goods. Can Chloe convince him that love is 
worth the risk?


I haven't read Broken, the first book in the Redemption series so was slightly concerned that I may need to do that first to fully appreciate and enjoy Crushed. I needed not to have worried because it quickly became apparent that this is a standalone novel, leaving me with a yearning to now read Olivia's story too.

Crushed is so much fun, keeping me entertained throughout the whole book. I was kept on my toes too, as my brain tried to decipher exactly which directions Michael, Devon, Chloe and Kristin were heading. There is plenty to keep us turning the page as unrequited love, love triangles and sibling rivalry are just three elements that play a part in this story based in Cedar Grove, Texas.

Michael abruptly left his old life in Manhattan to move down to Cedar Grove in search of his biological father. To make ends meet, he works as a tennis pro at the Cambridge Country Club where the rich cougars are looking for far more than coaching from their tennis instructor! Although still hurt from his previous relationship, Michael can have any woman he wants but intimately only one ends up turning his head.

Kristin is the epitome of a modern day princess. Stunningly beautiful, she fills her day full of pretentious activities when she's not at college – not that she takes her studies seriously. She intends to marry someone with an equally impressive pedigree and bank account and hopes that Devon is the guy to fulfill her dreams?

Devon was once a geeky, spotty teenager with crooked teeth until he had treatment to fix his looks. Now he's a popular golden boy with a trophy girlfriend. He's just graduated college, but his future plans don't fit with the expectation of his family or girlfriend – he only shared that tiny nugget of information with his best friend Chloe.

Chloe is a breath of fresh air. She doesn't fit into any stereotypes, she's just herself – smart and confident, although tries to brush aside her insecurities about her weight. After all, anyone can look fat next to Kristin, can't they? Chloe is happy with her trademark masses of unruly curly hair. She's not entirely immune to peer pressure, especially when it comes to transforming herself to attract the attention of the guy she's in love with.

This is a fast paced, laugh out loud funny and well written story. There's a lot happening to keep you engaged within the plot, but not overwhelmingly so. It's intriguing to witness the protagonists interacting with one another and the author does a fabulous job at building the sexual tension between them drip by drip - generating heat, but not so much sizzle, which is totally fine within the context of the story line. There is an unexpected twist in the end, readers of Broken may foresee? Overall a humorous, light read, with dialogue full of playful banter and a superb introduction to a new author for me.

4½ Stars

***arc generously provided by Random House Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***




Link to Follow Tour: Here 


Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.

Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren's gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015.
Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you'll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


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