Spotlight!! Treasured by Thursday by Catherine Bybee

Treasured by Thursday (The Weekday Brides #7) by Catherine Bybee
Genre: Adult (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: August 18, 2015
Publisher: Montlake Romance

The seventh and final tale in the dazzling, heartwarming, pulse-racing Weekday Brides series.

Gabriella Masini: She’s a woman haunted by her past, with the scars to prove it. She believes that fairy tales are for other people. An elite matchmaker at Alliance, she’s great at crunching numbers, but something doesn’t add up with her latest prospective client: a billionaire bad boy with his own secrets. When Gabi refuses to be his temporary wife, Hunter forces her hand with an offer she can’t refuse. But marriage to a man like that could never last…or could it?

Hunter Blackwell: Only his bank account is bigger than his ruthless ability to obtain anything he wants. These days, he has a secret reason to settle down, at least for a while—and he thinks the sensual and sassy Gabi will fit the bill perfectly. But when their marriage of convenience becomes downright dangerous, Hunter must decide how far to take his vow to honor and protect Gabi forever.

“I think we should talk about what’s going on here.”

She swallowed. “We’re cooking.”

“Gabi, look at me.”

She shook her head, taking the coward’s way out. If she noticed the lock of hair falling into his eyes a second time, she might have to push it back in place.

“Gabriella?” The smooth texture of his voice was like chocolate on her tongue.

His sticky hand tucked under her chin and forced her to meet his gaze.

He stepped closer, his frame molding to hers and pressing her back against the counter.

She couldn’t breathe.

His thumb traced her bottom lip. “This is a bad idea,” he mumbled her thoughts.

She nodded. “Very poor choice.” Her hands gripped the side of the counter to keep from touching him.

Hunter sucked in a deep breath. “You smell like flowers.”

“I’ll change my shampoo.”

He started to dip his head and she kept talking. “Something musky, so you won’t notice me.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work.”

He was close enough to catch the scent of mint on his breath. “I don’t even like you.” One of her legs lifted and rubbed against one of his.

“I don’t trust you.” His hand moved from her lip the side of her neck.

“You blackmailed me.”

“You tricked me into cooking with your mother.”

She smiled. “The two hardly compare.”

Instead of dropping his lips to hers, he detoured to the side of her neck and kept talking, his breath brushing her skin. “Have you met your mother?”

“That’s sill—”

His lips found her neck.

She moaned and closed her eyes. Such a deliciously bad idea.

Check out my reviews of the other books by Catherine Bybee!

New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, but after graduating high school, she moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned the Weekday Brides Series and the Not
Quite Series. Bybee lives with her two teenage sons in Southern California.

To learn more about Catherine Bybee and her books, visit her website & blog.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Book Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel (The Lone City #1) by Amy Ewing
Genre: Young Adult (Dystopian Romance)
Date Published: September 2, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing is the first book in The Lone City series. This book had a definite The Selection vibe to it with the main characters from lower levels of society being plucked out and put into the houses of the rich and royalty. And Lucien reminds me soooo much of Cinna from The Hunger Games. Before you roll your eyes and think "unoriginal", take note that I did rate this book four stars, because with all that being said, it still stands on its own feet pretty well. Violet and Ash are attracted to each other immediately, then he finds out she's a surrogate. Game changer. Life of a surrogate it pretty crazy. Some are treated well, some not so great. All are treated as if they are pets with their leashes and collars. I liked Garnet right away. He's obnoxious and causes trouble, but you know me! That always gets my attention in a character. I can't help it. So yeah. I'm already Team Garnet, and I don't even know if he's supposed to have a team.

The Jewel kept my attention with very little down time, and what about that ending? I didn't want it to end just yet!!

Click here for an excerpt.

Check out my reviews of the other books in this series!

Amy Ewing is the young adult author of The Jewel, the first in a trilogy from HarperTeen, coming out September 2014.

She grew up in a small town outside Boston, where her librarian mother instilled a deep love of reading at a young age. Amy moved to New York City in 2000 to study theater at New York University. Unfortunately, her acting career didn’t quite pan out. She worked in restaurants, as an administrative assistant, a nanny, and a sales representative for a wine distributor before the lack of creativity in her life drove her to begin writing.

Amy received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children from The New School, where she was lucky enough to meet a fabulous community of YA writers who keep her sane on a daily basis. She lives in Harlem, where she spends her days writing, eating cheese, and occasionally binge watching The Vampire Diaries.

To learn more about Amy Ewing and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

Release Day Launch! Dawn by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Dawn (The Dire Wolves Chronicles #3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy
Genre: New Adult (Paranormal Romance)
Date Published: January 12, 2015
Publisher: Self

It is always darkest before dawn.

Gage and Mary Anne are on the run and determined to break Hunter out of prison so he can finish changing Gage. They look to Mary Anne’s college friend Genevieve and the zany Dire Denny for assistance, but in the end, help comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Hunter must end the hunt even if it means destroying his own brother and giving up on the girl destined to be his. With betrayal surrounding him at every turn, his best chance at ending the hunt is someone he is sworn to hate. 

“What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?” As inconsequential as her answer was, it mattered to me. I wanted to know her tastes and preferences. I wanted to know everything about her.
“My favorite flavor of ice cream?” She leaned up on her elbow. “Are you seriously asking me that right now?”
“I need to know more about you.”
“And that includes learning my ice cream preferences?”
“You know all of that stuff about me, don’t you?” I already knew the answer.
“Rocky Road.” She flushed.
“See.”
“Does that freak you out?”
I ran my lips across hers. “Not in the slightest. It means you cared enough to know. I should have too. I should have noticed you more.”
“You had plenty of other girls to notice.”
“I don’t notice them now.” There was no one else I wanted. I’d never understand how I hadn’t noticed how perfect we were for each other.
“Maybe you will again.”
“Nope. You’re stuck with me.” I was only half joking. I wouldn’t force my company on her, but if it was up to me, I’d never leave her side again.
“Because I already know you’re a wolf?”
“No.” I felt a growl growing inside me. “Because you’re meant to be with me.”
“Oh no. No. No.” She moved away. “None of that. Next you are going to start talking about pre-destined dreams and freaky stuff like that.”
I stiffened. Those dreams were the root of most of our trouble. “This has nothing to do with dreams. It’s about the way I feel. Becoming Dire has made things even clearer for me.”
“But you’re still you, so if it’s just your Dire side…”
I rolled her over so she was under me. “My feelings for you come from both of my sides. They were always there, but this experience has made them stronger. Being with you has made them stronger. Becoming a Dire has only accentuated what I already felt as a human. Things are clearer now, crisper.”
She grazed her teeth over her lip in a nervous gesture, and I couldn’t hold back. I needed to taste her lips myself. I leaned my head down and let my lips connect with hers. The kiss wasn’t gentle nor any of the things I’d promised my kisses with her would be now. It was primal and needy. I was greedy, wanting and needing to soak up every ounce of her.

Check out my review of the of the other books in trilogy!

If you haven't done so already, you need to read Alyssa Rose Ivy's books!! While you're at it take a peek at my reviews too!

Alyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand. You can also read an interview with Alyssa Rose Ivy here.

To read more about this author, visit Alyssa Rose Ivy's Blog and Website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Book Review: The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon

The Dark Sister by Jennifer McMahon
Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal Suspence/Thriller/Mystery)
Date Published: August 4, 2015
Publisher: Doubleday

The latest novel from New York Times best-selling author Jennifer McMahon is an atmospheric, gripping, and suspenseful tale that probes the bond between sisters and the peril of keeping secrets.

Once the thriving attraction of rural Vermont, the Tower Motel now stands in disrepair, alive only in the memories of Amy, Piper, and Piper's kid sister, Margot. The three played there as girls until the day that their games uncovered something dark and twisted in the motel's past, something that ruined their friendship forever.

Now adult, Piper and Margot have tried to forget what they found that fateful summer, but their lives are upended when Piper receives a panicked midnight call from Margot, with news of a horrific crime for which Amy stands accused. Suddenly, Margot and Piper are forced to relive the time that they found the suitcase that once belonged to Silvie Slater, the aunt that Amy claimed had run away to Hollywood to live out her dream of becoming Hitchcock's next blonde bombshell leading lady. As Margot and Piper investigate, a cleverly woven plot unfolds—revealing the story of Sylvie and Rose, two other sisters who lived at the motel during its 1950s heyday. Each believed the other to be something truly monstrous, but only one carries the secret that would haunt the generations to come. 

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon is a dark mystery with layers. I thought I had it figured out, then changed my mind, then changed my mind again, and back again. There are clues, but then something else happens that distracted me from the clues. The story is carried out through generations and is told through multiple point of views in multiple time periods. That sounds like it would be confusing right? But, it's not. It's well told and easy to follow. I felt pulled into the lives of the characters. I even felt chills a time or two, which never happens when I read. This is the first book I've read by this author, but now I have to check out more of her books.

The ARC of The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon was kindly provided to me by the publisher for review. The opinions are my own.

Amy’s heart hammers, and her skin is slick with sweat.

Focus, she tells herself.

Don’t think about the thing in the tower.

Amy knows that if she thinks too hard about it she won’t be able to do what needs to be done.

She looks down at the photo, the old black-and-white print she’s kept all these years, hidden away in the drawer of her bedside table. It’s been handled so much that it’s cracked and faded, one of the corners torn.

In it, her mother, Rose, and her aunt Sylvie are young girls, wearing crisp summer dresses as they stand in front of a sign that says World Famous London Chicken Circus. Each girl clutches a worried-looking hen, but that’s where the similarities end. Amy’s mother is wearing a scowl beneath tired eyes, her hair dark and unkempt; Sylvie is radiant, the one who was going to grow up and go to Hollywood. Her blond hair is movie-star perfect; her eyes are shining.

Someone had scrawled a date on the back: June 1955. If only Amy could travel back in time, talk to those two girls, warn them what was coming. Warn them that one day it would all lead to this moment: Amy alone and out of options, on the verge of doing something terrible.

She bites her lip and wonders what people will say about her once she’s gone.

That she was broken inside, a woman with a screw loose. (Aren’t all women like that, really? Little time bombs waiting? Especially women like her—surviving on monthly boxes from the food pantry, dressing her children in ragged, secondhand clothes that never quite fit.)

What went wrong? they will whisper to each other while fondling artichokes and avocados in the produce aisle of the grocery store.

What kind of monster was she? they might ask after a few glasses of wine, as they sit in tidy living rooms, gathered for book club.

But these people know nothing of true monsters. They will never have to make the choices Amy has made.

The fluorescent lights in the kitchen buzz and flicker. Amy takes a deep breath, looks out the kitchen window. Beyond the gravel drive- way, past the two ruined motel buildings with their sagging, swaybacked roofs, the tower leans precariously. Made of cement and stone, it was built by her grandfather all those years ago as a gift for her grandmother Charlotte. Her own Tower of London.

Amy thinks, as she often does, of that long-ago summer when she was twelve. Of Piper and Margot and the day they found the suitcase; of how, after that, nothing was ever the same.

Where was Piper now? Out in California somewhere, surrounded by palm trees and glamorous people, living a life Amy couldn’t even imagine. Amy suddenly longs to talk to her, to confide in her and ask for forgiveness, to say,“Don’t you see this is what I have to do?”

She thinks that Piper and Margot might understand if she could tell them the whole story, starting with the suitcase and working forward.

But mostly what she wishes is that she could find a way to warn them.

She glances at the old photo in her hand, takes a black marker from a kitchen drawer, and hastily writes a message along the bottom, over the chickens and patterned summer dresses. Then she tucks the photograph into her back pocket and goes to the window.

The clock on the stove says 12:15 a.m.

Down at the tower, a shadow lurches from the open doorway.

She’s out of time.

Moving into the hallway, she latches the deadbolt on the front door (silly, really—a locked door will do no good), then stops at the closet and grabs her grandfather’s old Winchester. Rifle in hand, she climbs the stairs, the same stairs she’s climbed her whole life. She thinks she can hear young Piper and Margot following behind her, whispering, warning her, telling her—as they did all those years ago—to forget all about it, that there is no twenty-ninth room.

Amy takes each step slowly, willing herself not to run, to stay calm and not wake her family. What would Mark think if he woke up and found his wife creeping up the steps with a gun? Poor, sweet, clueless Mark—perhaps she should have told him the motel’s secrets? But no. It was better to protect him from it all as best she could.

The scarred wood beneath her feet creaks, and she thinks of the rhyme her grandmother taught her:

When Death comes knocking on your door,
you’ll think you’ve seen his face before.
When he comes creeping up your stairs,
you’ll know him from your dark nightmares.
If you hold up a mirror, you shall see
that he is you and you are he.

I'm the author of Promise Not to Tell, Island of Lost Girls, Dismantled, Don't Breathe a Word, and The One I Left Behind. My next novel, The Winter People will be released February 11, 2014. I live in central Vermont with my partner and daughter, in an old Victorian that some neighbors call The Addams Family house.

To learn more about Jennifer McMahon and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.