Book Binge

Melinda Dozier's new release TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING is out right now and it promises to be a pretty great read. Here's the blurb for the book:

Amanda Larson is dedicated to her job and doesn't want to make time for anything else. Until she runs into Jake Edwards. He used to be the cute boy next door; now he's a sexy, big shot lawyer.

Jake Edwards isn't interested in commitment. He's successful, sexy, and single--and that's how he likes it. When he reconnects with Amanda, Jake realizes he might have to rethink his philosophy on the carefree, bachelor lifestyle.

But, is it too late for them? Or can he convince her that he's ready to give her his heart?

Here's the excerpt:

In high school, Amanda was someone special. Hell, even before then. Their parents were best friends, which had forced Jake and Amanda together. At first, he’d thought it was a hindrance. Later, when she developed longer legs and a bigger bust, he found himself around her more. After discovering her quirkiness, her love of art and her sense of humor, he actually enjoyed being around her. But he never touched her.

He contemplated running his fingers through her hair like he did his first year of college –– the last time they were alone –– the night he left town and never saw her again.

Did she remember the night he left? Of course she did. Seven years ago, he’d ruined their friendship. He knew Amanda almost as well as he knew himself. Well, he’d known her. Now she was a different woman.

Jake leaned in closer, running his hand down her arm. “Know what I’m thinking?”

Amanda fiddled with her coaster and smiled at him. “I’m not sure I want to know.”

“I’m thinking we should spend a lot more time together.” He reached over and held her chin. “It’s been way too long.”

Amanda licked her lips, and damn it, it actually turned him on. Sweet little Mandy Larson wasn’t so sweet anymore. She was driving him crazy.

She moved closer bridging distance. “Why wait? There’s no time like the present.”

“Exactly.” He drank the last of his beer as the waiter returned with her martini sans olive.

Jake leaned on the table with his elbows, folded his hands together and studied her. “Look at you, drinking a martini, living the life in New York City.” He examined her from head to toe. “A sexy skirt. Tall boots.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “A beautiful face.”

Amanda hiccupped and put down her glass. “Now, wait a minute. I know it’s been a while, but some things never change, including you.” She wagged her finger at him. “No smooth talking with me. Don’t forget I used to know you better than anybody.”

Because his fingers actually ached with the need to touch her again, he reached over and held her hand. “Yeah, but things have changed, Mandy. We’re two different people now, and I can’t wait to get to know who you are now.”

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

GIVEAWAY ALERT: You really won't want to miss this and to add even more awesomeness to the blog tour, Melinda will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate and an ecopy of Time Changes Everything. Winner will be announced on Melinda’s blog May 25. Good luck!

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Thanks so much to Melinda Dozier for including us on her blog tour and for hosting such a nifty prize.  We hope each and every single one of you enters.  It's a pretty awesome giveaway.


About the Author: Reading romance has always been at the top of Melinda’s favorite past times. After hectic days of teaching English to middle school students, Melinda finds time to write and read in the evenings. She lives in Guatemala, Central America with her husband, three boys and German Sheppard. She enjoys being the queen of her household and dreams of being pampered fully by her boys once they are grown. Melinda loves reality TV, traveling, blogging and playing Words With Friends.

Website: www.melindadozier.com
Blog: http://melindadozier.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/melindadozier

Time Changes Everything was made available May 13 through Entranced Publishing.

Purchase links: http://www.entrancedpublishing.com/imprints/entranced/time-changes-everything/

Check out the book trailer for TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING:


Thanks for stopping by today and good luck on the giveaway!

From our friends at Penguin Romance:

The Ghost from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series and upcoming novel HEART OF OBSIDIAN (Berkley Hardcover; June 4, 2013) is taking over Nalini’s Twitter feed, @nalinisingh, for one hour at 9pm EDT on Thursday, May 23rd. Jane Litte of @dearauthor will host the chat. Be sure to join in the fun using #penguinromance and ask some questions of your own!

You really don't want to miss out on that! We hope to see you all on Twitter!

Judith's review of Cowboy Come Home by Eve Gaddy.

A bittersweet reunion. A second chance at happiness. 

The daughter who may never forgive them both. 

Champion bronc rider Jake Rollins never intended to go back to Happy, Texas and its memories of lost love. That changes when he meets Leigh and suspects she’s his daughter. Jake arrives in Happy determined to get to know her and to find out the truth. Only problem is, Anna Connor, Leigh’s mother, doesn’t want him in their lives. At first she won’t even admit he’s Leigh’s father. 

Sixteen years ago, Jake left Anna with a phone call telling her he'd married another woman. Devastated and pregnant, Anna married Jake's best friend, Carl Connor. Together they raised the daughter Jake never knew about.  But Anna's a widow now and even more irresistible than she'd been as a girl. Will it be enough for Jake to tell Anna that leaving her was the worst mistake he ever made? Can he convince her he's changed?  Jake and Anna fall in love again, but it's far from smooth sailing. Leigh's response to the news that Jake is her biological father is anything but good. Jake and Anna must decide between their love for each other and the future of the daughter they love.

Rowena's review of Rush Me by Allison Parr.

Hero: Ryan Carter
Heroine: Rachael Hamilton

When post-grad Rachael Hamilton accidentally gatecrashes a pro-athlete party, she ends up face-to-face with Ryan Carter, the NFL’s most beloved quarterback.

While most girls would be thrilled to meet the attractive young millionaire, Rachael would rather spend time with books than at sporting events, and she has more important things to worry about than romance. Like her parents pressuring her to leave her unpaid publishing internship for law school. Or her brother, who’s obliviously dating Rachael’s high school bully. Or that same high school’s upcoming reunion.

Still, when Ryan’s rookie teammate attaches himself to Rachael, she ends up cohosting Friday night dinners for half a dozen football players.

Over pancake brunches, charity galas, and Alexander the Great Rachael realizes all the judgments she’d made about Ryan are wrong. But how can a Midwestern Irish-Catholic jock with commitment problems and an artsy, gun-shy Jewish New Englander ever forge a partnership? Rachael must let down her barriers if she wants real love–even if that opens her up to pain that could send her back into her emotional shell forever.

Holly recommended this book to me and said, "You're going to like this book so read it."  What's a girl to do?  I read it, of course.  And once again, Holly wasn't wrong.

This book follows post-college student turned publishing intern, Rachael Hamilton as she falls head over heels in love with the starting NFL quarter for the New York Leopards, Ryan Carter.  Yeah, he really does play for the Leopards.  But he's hot so I didn't laugh too much.   Ryan and Rachael meet when she mistakenly walks in on Ryan being "serviced" at a party that wasn't the party she was looking for.

They couldn't have been more different from each other.  He's an athlete and she's a nerd.  She has no idea who he is and she's not that impressed with him, either.  In fact, she thinks he's pretty much an asshole and he's not a fan of her either.  He thinks she's a gold digging whore that is trying to pull one over on one of his friends and he's got his eye on her.

It wasn't hard for me to fall into this story, at all.  I absolutely adored the book and came to love the characters.  I had some frustrations with Rachael's character but not enough that the story itself was ruined.  I wanted to smack her around a few times just as I wanted to smack Ryan around some but overall, the story wrapped me up for a few hours and I enjoyed my time with these characters.

The romance between Ryan and Rachael wasn't easy but it was fun and the side characters added more depth to a story that I came to love.  I thought Parr did a great job of sucking me into Ryan's world and into Rachael's world as she tries to figure things out.  Where she stands with Ryan and where she stands with herself when she chooses to be with Ryan.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  It's a great book with characters and a story that kept me interested the whole way through so I'm a happy camper and am thrilled that Holly made me read this book.  She knows my reading tastes so well.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here in e-format.

Judith's review of Any Duchess Will Do  (Spindle Cove #4) by Tessa Dare.

What’s a duke to do, when the girl who’s perfectly wrong becomes the woman he can’t live without? 

Griffin York, the Duke of Halford, has no desire to wed this season—or any season—but his diabolical mother abducts him to “Spinster Cove” and insists he select a bride from the ladies in residence. Griff decides to teach her a lesson that will end the marriage debate forever. He chooses the serving girl.

Overworked and struggling, Pauline Simms doesn’t dream about dukes. All she wants is to hang up her barmaid apron and open a bookshop. That dream becomes a possibility when an arrogant, sinfully attractive duke offers her a small fortune for a week’s employment. Her duties are simple: submit to his mother’s “duchess training”… and fail miserably. 

But in London, Pauline isn’t a miserable failure. She’s a brave, quick-witted, beguiling failure—a woman who ignites Griff’s desire and soothes the darkness in his soul. Keeping Pauline by his side won’t be easy. Even if Society could accept a serving girl duchess—can a roguish duke convince a serving girl to trust him with her heart?

Readers of historical romance fiction know that a Tessa Dare story will be a really great read.  How these stories keep cropping up is, of course, the wonder of the creative process.  In this series about women who find themselves outside the acceptable boundaries of polite society, who are by nature square pegs in round holes, or for some reason find themselves in Spindle Cove, readers are presented with stories that pique the interest from start to finish, that push the boundaries of the imagination and take the historical romance in unexpected directions.  How wonderful that a duke who is in a "marriage war" with his mom would choose the serving girl to be his prospective duchess.  And the bargain that Griff and Pauline make--one where he will pay her a king's ransom on order to "fail" her duchess lessons--are the context of some of the wit and humor Tessa Dare is famous for.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to read and review this novel.  It's a very fun read, one that is satisfying from the standpoint of reading a novel that is well written, well-edited, and which tells a story full of color and humor and romance.  It isn't overly long but of sufficient length to allow full character development, teasing out the story line so that the reader really wonders how these to very different people will be able to resolve the differences and close the social gap that lies between them.  All in all, it's a novel that shouldn't be missed and will please and delight Tessa Dare fans--well, just about anyone who reads it.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

The Series:



You can read more from Judith at Dr J's Book Place.

This book is available from Avon Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.