4 STARS!

Another fun trek with the guys on the Portland Storm NHL team!  I always enjoy seeing these players and their friends and families interact, but I wasn’t drawn in to the romance nearly as much on this one as usual.  I think a bit of it was that they were slow to act on anything other than flirting, but another part was I was less intrigued with what was going to happen because the plot was something that we’re seeing play out in real life every day these days it seems.  I read to escape, so I don’t necessarily need to see it brought into a book.  It was written well though and brought through some good emotion … and who can’t love spending time with this team? 🙂

It’s all about the playoffs this year for the Portland Storm, and they are so close they can taste it!  Nate Golston has worked hard to improve his game and is enjoying the run more than he can say! When fans from an opposing team start stirring up ugliness and trouble, he fights hard to keep the hurt in his heart from screwing up his game play and making him lose his focus on ending this season right!

For a couple of years now, sports reporter Anne Dennison has had quite a flirtmance going with Nate.  They’ve never taken it further than the flirting, but now that she’s working on producing a behind-the-scenes web series on the Storm, they are spending a lot of time together!  If she acts on her feelings for him, it could cost her the job she’s fought through so much to earn … is it worth it?

ARC received via the Author

4 1/2 STARS!

A touching story about surviving the unexpected and learning to live again!  I really enjoyed the characters and the plot of this book … highly recommend you read it.  The only thing I wasn’t overly fond of was the going back and forth between the present and the past every other chapter or so for much of the book.

Annie Rush has it all! … or so it seems … a handsome husband, her dream job producing her own TV show in LA and her first baby on the way … and in the blink of an eye it’s gone.  She wakes up in a hospital setting, clueless as to what has happened or why she’s there, unable to talk or move the way she should be able to … and is told that she’s lost a year of her life.  As Annie starts a long road to recovering herself and her life, she learns that time isn’t all that she lost.

She cocoons herself with her family in Switchback, Vermont remembering her life there on the maple tree farm that generations before her had cultivated.  She reconnects with old friends, an old beau, and with the person she used to be and lost on the road to her success.  When she picks back up her passion for cooking and producing, she is faced with new opportunities and a new life on the horizon.  Will she choose to walk away from home again?

ARC receive via Edelweiss

5 STARS!

A quirky friends-to-lovers romance that will have you smiling!

Olivia Lincoln has gotten herself into quite a predicament this time .. and she needs the help of her best friend Danny to get out of it!  She knows Danny will help her, because he’s always been her go to guy … that’s all it is … right?

Danny Ellis likes having a good time and enjoying life, but he decided long ago that settling down and having a family will not be in the cards for him.  Imagine his surprise when Liv comes to visit and announces to the town gossip that they are engaged and having a baby!

What starts out as a favor for a friend turns serious quickly when attractions that aren’t supposed to be there get out of control.  Best friends forever … right?

ARC received via Publisher

4 STARS!

A big part of this book is secrets and lies keeping them apart, so the amount of time we have seeing their romance is not as much as we might want.  I enjoyed the story, I just wanted a little more time of them actually enjoying each other.

Iolanthe Petrakis was an innocent, sheltered young lady the night she met and seduced Alekos Demetriou.  She had no clue that the man she was having a night of passion with had a history with her father.  When Alekos finds out that this beauty in his arms is his enemy’s daughter, he sends her away without an explanation.

When Iolanthe discovers she’s pregnant, she attempts to tell Alekos, but he thinks she was all a set up pawn and doesn’t treat her well when she visits him.  She’s scared and doesn’t manage to get out the words that she’s pregnant.

Ten years later when Iolanthe is now alone in the world other than their son, she needs help … Alekos’ help.  To get him to agree to what she needs, she’s going to have to tell him about their son. What she doesn’t expect, is his demand that she marry him right away!

ARC received via the Author/VA

3 1/2 STARS!

A fun, sexy read!  I had a really hard time getting into this book, but once it picked up, I really enjoyed it!  Fun characters!

Griffin Montgomery is a Coast Guard search and rescue pilot and he absolutely loves his job.  There’s nothing he likes better than helping people.  He puts it all out there and pulls off some very risky rescues.  Like the one that just got him grounded and on leave!  He doesn’t know what to do with himself if he can’t fly, so he’s milling around town and meets the lovely Chloe Widmore at the local coffee shop.

Chloe leads a quiet life.  As a professional letter writer, she can work anywhere, and loves to come out to the coffee shop on a regular basis to have the bustle of people around her while she works on her letters.  It’s her lucky day when she meets hot, flirty Griffin!

Griffin is a daredevil, bonded to his group of best friends who are like brothers to him that he writes the “Naked Men” blog with.  Chloe is a creature of habit and pattern.  They each have a memorable moment in their past that has helped carve them into who they are today … will these two people that are quite different actually be able to make a relationship work?

5 STARS!

A fun read that flows nicely and keeps you wanting more!  One of those relationships that happened too fast to be utterly believable, but they work so well together that you enjoy it regardless!

Sexy rodeo champ Blake Hartwell is quite the catch, but Karly Ewing is planning to throw him back in!

Blake and Karly had a whirlwind romance that led to them having a quickie wedding in Vegas!  Happily-ever-after was wanted by all, but Karly got cold feet and ended it.  Now she’s hunting Blake down to get his signature on divorce papers.

When a delay keeps her stranded on his ranch longer than she planned, will it give Blake time to figure out why she threw them away all those months ago?  And when Karly finds out the secrets Blake has been hiding, will it be an even bigger set-back?

ARC received via the Author/Asst

The Best Friend Bargain by Robin Bielman
Release Date: August 8, 2016
About the Book:

Olivia Lincoln has a plan guaranteed to get her life back on track. A plan that involves her best friend, Danny. And he’s on board, too…until she blurts out that they’re engaged and expecting a baby, and the news spreads like wildfire. The problem? Danny doesn’t do marriage. Or family. And everyone knows it, including Olivia. As irritated as he might be, protecting Olivia is what Danny does. But put best friends under one roof, add house rules begging to be broken, accidental nakedness, and pancakes in bed, and what started as a marriage between friends threatens to turn into the real deal…which would ruin everything.

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Best­Friend­Bargain­Kisses­Sand­ebook/dp/B01IN8O470
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the­best­friend­bargain­robin­ bielman/1124115686?ean=9781633756649
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the­best­friend­bargain/id1135506719
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30624984­the­best­friend­bargain

Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads

About the Author:

When not attached to her laptop, USA Today Bestselling Author Robin Bielman can almost always be found with her nose in a book. A California girl, the beach is her favorite place for fun and inspiration. Her fondness for swoon­worthy heroes who flirt and stumble upon the girl they can’t live without jumpstarts all of her story ideas. She loves to go on adventures, and has skydived, scuba dived, parasailed, gotten lost in the wilderness (and only suffered a gazillion bug bites for it) hiked to waterfalls, and swam with dolphins. In her spare time she also likes to put her treadmill to good use while watching her favorite TV shows, take hikes with her hubby, indulge her sweet tooth, and play sock tug of war with her cute, but sometimes naughty dog, Harry. She dreams of traveling to faraway places and loves to connect with readers. Keep in touch and sign up for her newsletter on her website at http://robinbielman.com.

Social Media Links (Twitter, Facebook, etc.):

Website: http://robinbielman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinbielman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobinBielmanWriter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinbielmanwriter/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5825070.Robin_Bielman

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

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5 STARS!

Really enjoyed this country tale!  With a huge fondness for Nashville and country music in my heart, I related with this story immediately!  It was sweet watching the love that still exists show through, climactic as we watch them try to save patient lives when time is of the essence, and emotional to see what an impact family or lack-there-of can have on a life.

Renowned from afar, Neurosurgeon Vivian Maguire has no choice but to return home to Nashville for personal reasons.  She left this town and it’s memories behind 7 years ago to make a career for herself.  She doesn’t expect to find the man she left behind still working at their hometown hospital.

Famed Neurosurgeon to the stars, Reece Castle can’t believe his eyes when the woman who crushed his heart all those years ago walks back into his hospital.  They both have a past they don’t like to share, and demons left to fight … can there still be a future left for them or just bittersweet memories?

ARC received via the Author/VA

4 STARS!

A sweet little holiday romance!

As usual with a short novella, it goes by too fast and you’re always left wanting more, but I enjoyed getting to know Maddie & Noah!

Maddie has been crushing on her neighbor for over a year now, and just her luck, when she finally gets his attention, it’s because of a catastrophe involving a light bulb, a broken ladder and an ER visit!  Will this finally be the year she has a date to kiss on New Year’s Eve?

ARC received via the Author

4 STARS!

When the hunt for a family member takes Ellie Price deep into the remote Rocky Mountains, will she make it out alive after finding herself in the crosshairs of some dangerous men?

George Holloway is a socially awkward loner, but he’s the best survival expert that Search and Rescue has.  He doesn’t want to take city girl Ellie Price into the mountains, but when she looks at him with those big, dark eyes, he can deny her nothing!

Ellie is determined to do anything she can to find her father!  When desperate times draw them closer, will George and El be able to go their separate ways when this is all over?

ARC received via NetGalley