Sizzling Saturdays: Out of the Dark by April Emerson

Release Date: December 4 , 2014

Published by The Writers Coffee Shop

Genre: FICTION/Romance/General

ISBN e-book:   978-1-61213-288-4

Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PHMy Review

This was the first book that I have read by April Emerson and enjoyed it. I really didn’t think I would, since the story was about a woman being engaged to one man and falling in love with another man.

Carina Porter’s parents have given a trip to Italy as a graduation gift, this way she could explore the cuisine and have an adventure. This gives her the opportunity to be another person, do things she would never do. As soon as she is on the plane a man sits next to her and she is instantly under his spell. Stefan and Carina talk about their lives and he dazzles her with his life on the vineyard. Once they are off the plane and it is time to say goodbye, Stefan offers Carina to come stay with him and come to the vineyard. Normally she would say no, but this is the new Carina, and she agrees to go with him. She is given more taken when she spends more time at the vineyard with Stefan but not everything thing as it seems, especially her feelings once she meets Stefan’s nephew, Lorenzo.

As soon as Carina came to the vineyard she was introduced to Stefan’s servants, there is more to their story then meets the eye and Carina uncovers it. I think it was very interesting that the love triangle between the servants was a bit of a foreshadow of how her relationship would be between herself, Stefan and Lorenzo.

As a boyfriend/fiancé, Stefan, was very absent. At first things were great they did things together, but once Stefan was in his business world, he was never around. When he was around he wasn’t really there. He seemed to never truly listen to Carina, there were many times where she would say, “Don’t you remember? I told you I like _____”. He wasn’t only absent with her, but his family as well. Lucy was a young girl in his family and had not attachment to him, as much as he seemed to care for her. Lorenzo on the other hand was always listening and asking Carina what was wrong, he remembered everything she told him as well. Family was everything to him and as a reader I could feel how much they adored him as well.

I found the end of the story very interesting and had many thoughts of, but I of course do not want to spoil that for anyone who wants to read this story.

~~SUMMARY~~

Everyone makes choices in life. Carina Porter may have made the wrong one.

After graduating college, she sits beneath her complimentary blanket in first class dreaming of grand adventures when she lands in Italy. Carina always put others first, but now, she’s resolved to indulge in an extraordinary vacation alone in Tuscany. Finally free from the demands of school and family, she’s determined to break away from her sensible nature and take risks. When a handsome man sits beside her on the plane, those daydreams vanish.

Stefan Savano is dashing and handsome. As he shares tales of his family and vineyard, Carina is swept away by his charm. After a brief courtship, Carina falls hard, but events come to light that make her question whether Stefan is as kind-hearted as he appears to be.

Things aren’t as they seem at Savano vineyard. Carina seeks answers, but it seems everyone is keeping a secret. When Stefan’s nephew, Enzo, pays a visit to the estate she’s drawn to his kind and free-spirited nature, and they form a friendship. Stefan becomes preoccupied with work, and when Enzo’s stay ends, Carina finds herself feeling isolated. It is then that illness and responsibilities require Stefan and Carina to return to his small vineyard in quaint Ravine Creek, New York.

There, Carina meets Stefan’s entire family and the time she spends with Enzo becomes more frequent. She tries to deny her traitorous feelings for him, but their attraction grows each day.

When Carina experiences a tragedy, she learns what true love means and must choose between an unhappy existence and a life of passion.

Her decision could do more than destroy a family—it could be fatal.

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~~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~~

April Emerson moved to New York City after graduating from college with a degree in literature. As a nature lover, living in the city was a culture shock, but she soon began to enjoy being surrounded by so much energy. Submerged in perpetual crowds, April developed a fondness for people  watching, which inspired her to start writing. Drawn to both the light and dark of humanity, she strives to tell sexy and romantic stories with exquisitely complex characters. When she isn’t writing, she loves listening to music or reading a good book while enjoying a glass of wine.

~~CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR~~

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Praise for Out of the Dark 

“I could recommend this book. It’s hot and I really liked the suspense element. I hope to read a book a out Stefan and his life after Carina.”  – Liz  Goodreads Review

Read Me Friday: In the Cards by Jamie Black

Title- In the Cards

Author: Jamie Black

Release Date: December 9^th, 2014

Lindsay and Levi met 8 years ago at a resort in Florida, he embarrassed her and she never forgot him. After Lindsay fleas from New York to Malibu, leaving her friends, family and ex-fiancé, to find herself and see if she can forgive her ex-fiancé, Rob, after his betrayal. Levi on the other hand likes to stay to himself and keeps his distance from his family and everyone around him. He learned early on after his mother left him and his father that people you care about can hurt you.

When I first read the synopsis I thought that Levi was going to be a guy that would lead Lindsay on and break her heart in the end. Maybe that was his plan but he wasn’t that guy at all. One he sorted out his feeling and understood them, he tried to explain himself to Lindsey.

Lindsay on the other hand had such a big heart! She didn’t need to take care of Levi after his accident, but she did. She tried to get to know him and was so thoughtful. While Levi was in the hospital she knew he would like a book to read, so she went to the library for him. She also knew he is very particular about his food, so she would bring him something each day so he wouldn’t need to eat the hospital food. I was not a fan of the people around Lindsay; everyone seemed to want to tell her how to live her life and how what she was doing was so wrong, I am so glad she had Levi on her side!

Together Lindsay and Levi found themselves and helped each other grow as people. They taught each other life lessons and that would bond them together!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales!!!!

Since this is our first Black Friday/ Cyber Monday as a blog, we wanted to spread the word of all the different sales of our favorite books and authors!

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

On Sale for $.99 on Amazon

   

Review: You and Everything After By Ginger Scott

Title- You and Everything After

Author- Ginger Scott

Release Date- December 5th, 2014

Ginger Scott is one of my favorite authors that I have found thing year!!! Since August I have read every one of her books and I beyond excited to read her latest, “You and Everything After”! Now I am a HUGE fan of Nate and Rowe and I have to admit I had a little trouble reading while they were in the background and every now and again I read the two books at the same time.

We met both Cass and Ty in “This is Falling”, but they were only supporting characters and we really did know their story. Cass Owens is and is rooming with her twin sister and a girl named Rowe. Right away we learn that Cass is dealing MS and is the main reason she needed to give up her passion, soccer. Cass also has a reputation for being easy, this was her way of dealing in high school, she just didn’t know how the gossip would affect her. Then there’s Ty Preeter he is in graduate school and dorming with his freshman brother Nate. Ty is a real ladies man, who doesn’t do girlfriends and is viewed as strong, invincible, confident, intelligent—arrogant. He has also lost his ability to walk after an accident, ruining all chances he had to play baseball in college. Everything is about to change for both of them and they both might just find love.

This book starts at day one in college and could be read as a standalone. Ginger Scott did a great job incorporating the same events that happened in “This is Falling”, but used different perspectives on these events (of course I compared the books as a read, flipping between the two books). If you have read the first book, don’t worry, in no way by reading this book will you know what will happen next, and you will not lose interest!!! While reading the first book I absolutely fell in love with all the characters and while reading You and Everything After, I fell in love with all of them even more!

Both Cass and Ty are very interesting characters that are both over coming physical limitations and these things only make them stronger and bonded them. I have to say my favorite scene in the book was when Ty talks to Cass’ dad on the phone, and that is all I am going to say about that.

I am now off to read Thing is Falling once again to get my fill of all these characters, and I cannot wait for the third book to come out!!

Review: The Gates Legacy Series by Lorenz Font

Titles- Hunted and Tormented

Author- Lorenz Font

Publisher- The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing

Review for The Hunted

There is a plague in vampire community, and the Vampire Council will stop at nothing to stop it and that means they are all after, Harrow Gates. He did not know he was the people who started this vampire disease until Pritchard took Harrow in and explained everything to him. Pritchard has taken him in as one of his own; feeding him, going him a place to stay and giving him clothes to wear, but there’s more to Pritchard then he first says and he seems to be hiding something. Then there is Jordan, a girl with an agenda she has made known, kill the man who turned her. This may not be as easy as she thought it would, she now has a friend and has an attraction to Harrow, which she can’t explain.

I haven’t really read many vampire books, to be honest the only one I have read was Twilight. This book was nothing compared to that. Lorenz Font did a great job creating a world that was very vivid and imaginative. It was very interesting to read a story where they explain why and how humans and vampires are different and how they are the same. Also the vampires seemed like humans; they got dirty, showered, they didn’t glitter in the sunlight, and they got sick. I thought that having a disease that was plaguing the vampire community was very interesting!

There were numerous POV and it confused me at times, the change of POV sometimes just happened. There was no indicator on who the POV was on now, it would just switch and I would have to figure out through reading who the story line was now following. Once I got past the confusion, I enjoyed the numerous POV, but still wish there was some sort of warning when the new view came into play.

I really enjoyed reading this novel and I can’t wait to begin reading the second book in the series! I know it will keep me engaged just as much as the first one did!!

Review for  Tormented

Tormented takes place where Hunted left off, Allison, Harrow and the rest of the survivors are morning the loss of their beloved Pritchard Tack.

I didn’t think I would like another book in this series a much as I enjoyed the first book, but Lorenz Font, did a great job with this one as well. There was so much action that kept me guessing and engaged. I loved the new characters that were introduced and development of old characters. It was very interesting to get more of the POV some of the vampires in Goran’s Harlem.

Of course I missed hearing Harrow and Jordan’s story as the bulk of the book, but I enjoyed hearing about Allison and Tor. Finally, seeing Tor’s past to see who he really is and things he went through in the past. WOW!

Jordan and Harrow continued to take on their new parental roles. I adored Gail and the relationships she has with all the people in her family, and she certainly has a BIG one

Wonderland Wednesdays: Transformed by E.V. Fairfall

Title- Transformed

Author- E.V. Fairfall

Publication date: January 1st 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

This book grabbed my attention right away, I found the story line to be very interesting and unlike anything I have ever read before. Time passed and before I knew it I also almost done with the story. Transformed touched upon love, friendship and respecting the Earth and the all creatures that live on it.

Thea has always lived among the Earth with her brother, but she hasn’t seen him in a very long time. She has been keeping herself busy, while keeping an eye on the Willipords, whom have been tormenting Thea for years by not only killing her numerous times but animals around her. She decides that she needs to teach this family about compassion, but in order to do so she go back on a promise that she made to her brother, and transform into a human for the time being. Thea thought her plan was great, but she didn’t know now that she was human she would be plagued with the emotions, and falling in love was definitely not part of her plan. Thea’s plan was to make the Willipords’ son, Brice, to fall in love with her and show him what compassion really is. Instead Chamber walked into her life threatening to ruin all she had laid out.

Character wise Thea was very easy to like, she had and innocence when it came to the relationships with the other characters. While she was human she was new to all her human emotions, and she has never really done most of the things she was now doing. Chamber was very sweet to her while Brice would call her awkward behind her back. Brice was a very unlikable character; E.V. Fairfall did a great job molding someone who was unlikable and deceitful.

If you are look for a different kind of Paranormal YA book, I suggest you read this one!

WELCOME!!!!

Welcome to the new and improved Adventures in Bookland

Each week there will be certain themes for certain days

 Mad about Books

On Mondays we will be discussing a book that we are absolutely mad about!

Wonderland Wednesdays

On Wednesdays we will be posting our favorite fantasy/paranormal books

Read Me

Fridays we will be posting some books that we will be reading in the coming week

Other than those there days our blog will be the same as before! We will be posting everything that we were before and hopefully so much more!!

Thank you for sticking with us!

Michelle and Amy

Book Review: Nothing but Trouble by J L Hammer

Title- Nothing but Trouble

Author- J. L Hammer

Publisher- Entangled Publishing

BOOK REVIEW:

Nothing but Trouble kept me on the edge of my seat! Frankie works at a gentlemens club, Glitz, as a server who made a deal with the wrong person, a loan shark, Domino. When Domino approaches Frankie to star in porn in order to settle her debts, Frankie gets nervous and flees. She decides to go to her Uncle’s, but on the way she crashes her precious Mustang. Frankie then tries someone to help her and she finds a cabin, where she literarily falls into Wes’ cabin. The first meeting between Frankie and Wes was too funny, him in the bath tub, while she is hanging from the celling that she just crashed through. Wes is a cop who thinks Frankie is up to something, but then again Wes has trouble trusting women after his ex cheated on him. It seems the more Frankie stays with him the more trouble finds her, and every time you think Frankie and Wes are in the clear something always seems to follow.

There was a very interesting cast of characters all of them unique in their own way; Lily is Frankie’s next door neighbor who can stand her own, Ginger whose son has leukemia and will do anything to help him, Jim and Wayne who are Wes’ next door neighbors, both interesting in their own way and so many more!!

This story combined suspense, romance and humor and I loved all three together!!!

Book Review: Black Rose by Kris Thomas

BOOK REVIEW:

Wow! Black Rose, was a gripping and suspenseful novel that takes readers into an adventure           with Lillian Locke, who has been kidnapped, and Richard Haines, who is trying to find her.

This debut novel from Kris Thompson, was able to keep me in suspense the whole time reading!!

Lillian Locke thought she had the perfect life; she was in college, her best friend was sharing an apartment with her and she had the perfect boyfriend. The only thing was girls were going missing from campus, even though this was happening Lillian never thought this would happen to her, that’s when he got her! She doesn’t remember how she got abducted all she know is when she woke up, it was dark, smelled and she was chained to the wall by her ankle. Then there’s Richard who did everything in his power to find his girlfriend Lillian after she was kidnapped.

I enjoyed the back and forth POV between Richard and Lillian, it was very interesting to see what they were both doing on the same day. I also like how each time the narration changed the day in which they were on, which it was day counting on how long Lillian held captive vs how many days she had been missing from Richard, was labeled.

It was also interesting to see how all the characters coped with thing differently. The girls that were held captive coped differently after they were raped or beaten, some talked, some stayed quiet and some became physical, showing not all people cope with trauma in the same way. They all bonded as sisters together and did this by talking about their lived and people they loved. Richard, his family and Lillian’s family also coped with losing Lillian in different ways. It showed how not all people cope with loss the same way, the only thing they had in common was that they all loved Lillian and all wanted to find her!

Book Review: For Real by Alison Cherry

BOOK REVIEW:

What a great story about a relationship between two sisters!!! Claire’s sister, Miranda, caught her boyfriend cheating on her. In order to get back at Miranda’s ex Claire says they should go on the same reality show that he is going on. Little do they know is the show is not what they expected it to be.

I have to admit I read this story in one day, completely taking full advantage of the rainy day we were having. This was such a great read that kept me engaged the whole time and I could not put it down!!!! I am also a huge fan of Amazing Race and loved that the reality show in the book was just like the show. Each time a clue was read, I heard Phil Keoghan’s voice explaining each challenge, a plus for sure!!!

The relationship between Claire and her sister was very believable; they treated each other how some sisters really do act. Even though they had their issues they were there for each other very step of the way. I think that they both grew and developed with in the book as well.

The last thing I have to say is that is not how I thought the book would end?!?!?! Most times when reading a story you know what is going to happen, but in this case I was VERY wrong and I was never happier to be wrong.