Release Week Event and Review: On the Record by KA Linde

K.A. Linde Release Week Event

On the Record

8/22-8/28

For political reporter Liz Dougherty, election day—a day of looking toward the future and saying goodbye to the past—seems like a fitting time to start a new relationship. But feelings for her former flame still linger...

The sexy second book in bestselling author K.A. Linde’s Record series decides whether it’s better to pick up the pieces and move on...or to pick up right where you left off.

“Liz,” he growled, “get. In. The. Car.”

“I can’t. I just can’t get in the car with you,” she said. She made the mistake then of lifting her eyes to meet his deep chocolate orbs. Fuck! His eyes were so intense and commanding. She just wanted to get lost in those eyes forever. She swallowed hard and licked her bottom lip. “It’s not a good idea.”

“Goddamn it, Liz. Get in the car!” he yelled. “I didn’t get out of my meetings for the night and drive thirty minutes out of the way for you to tell me to go home. Now get in the car.”

“Seriously, shut up,” she cried, pushing off of the car door. “I made a mistake. People make mistakes.” The car jerked into park and he popped the driver’s-side door open. “What are you doing?”

“I said get in the car, Liz, and you’re going to listen one way or another,” he said, walking around the front of the car.

“What the fuck does that mean?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “I’m trying to have a conversation with you. I’m not in the right frame of mind tonight, and being around you is a bad idea.”

“I like bad ideas,” he said, standing before her.

BRADY

Brady Maxwell III -- State Senator running for the House of Representatives, tall dark and handsome, alpha, played college basketball, family lives in Durham, has a younger brother and sister, father is a U.S. Senator, Adam Cowie

LIZ

Liz Dougherty -- reporter, student at UNC Chapel Hill, journalism major, Morehead scholar, plays tennis, curvy blonde, obsessed with skinny jeans, originally from Tampa, Bar Rafaeli

CLAY

Clay Maxwell -- Brady's younger brother, Yale Law School, dating Andrea, promiscuous, cocky, blonde and blue, black sheep of the family, Todd Finlay

HAYDEN

Hayden Lane -- editor in chief, student at UNC Chapel Hill, journalism major, cross country runner, blonde with hazel eyes, neat freak, driven, originally from Raleigh, parents and older sister, Jamie, in DC, Oliver Cheshire

SAVANNAH

Savannah Maxwell -- Brady's younger sister, freshman in college at UNC Chapel Hill, works on the campaign division with Liz, rebellious, loyal, long pin straight dark brown hair and brown eyes, Victoria Justice

VICTORIA

Victoria Glass -- Liz's best friend and roommate, prefers TAs and professors (at the same time if she can), party girl, wicked smart, loves to travel, originally from New Jersey, Vanessa Hudgens

CALLEIGH

Calleigh Hollingsworth -- reporter, works for Charlotte Times, UNC Chapel Hill alum, Hayden's ex, bottle maroon red hair and bright green eyes, exotic build, self serving bitch, Ariana Grande

Brady, Brady, Brady… sigh…. Why do I have such a weak spot for you! Gah…. Why would I love a man, a politician at that, who wants to have a private affair with a college student? What is it that makes me swoon over him and has me chopping at the bits to get to the last book in the series??? Could it be his smooth and suave demeanor?? Maybe…. Could it be he’s got that whole tall dark and handsome thing going on? Maybe…. Or could it be the dirty mouth that comes out in the bedroom?? Definitely! In On the Record, I may just fallen a little harder for our politician. He just makes my heart burst and stake claim to him as my book boyfriend and nobody else’s! This review will contain spoilers from Off the Record so if you have not read that… get to one clicking! This series is one of my all-time favorites!

Last we saw Liz, she walked out on Brady. She knew that she would only hinder his chances of being the career politician he knew he was meant to be. It was the hardest thing she could ever do. She loved him but she knew love was not going to be enough. She was the distraction. So she went back to focusing on what she knew, the school paper and Hayden. She knew Hayden as there for her. Their relationship was safe. He was the good guy that could love her unconditionally. She had crushed on him for two years and he has expressed interest in moving their relationship forward.

“…she knew that Hayden was the right choice. He was sensible, attentive, handsome, carrying, and he would never hide her. He was a fucking perfect as Victoria described him. But still… he wasn’t Brady.”

She knew though Hayden was the safe bet. She could be happy with him. She could build something with him. Months go by and their relationship continued to blossom. Even though Brady’s sister Savannah worked at the paper with her, she kept all things Brady out of her mind. She didn’t want to follow his career or know what was going on in his personal life. When her senior year rolled around, it was time for Hayden to move forward in his career as well. He had accepted a position in Charlotte Times with no other than the queen bitch herself, Calleigh. Liz was suspicious of Hayden taking job where he would work so closely with Calleigh… never mind that they once had a relationship. Hayden is committed to Liz and convinces her Calleigh is a nonissue. He loves Liz, that Calleigh will not get in the way of their relationship. At this point, I’m like yah right! Calleigh is the biggest bitch ever and I know she will get in the way!!

“She had fucking brought a Senator to his knees… she could handle Calleigh Hollingsworth”

I just love that line! When Liz gets her dream internship with the New York Times, she works hard to juggle her responsibilities. When Hayden makes a surprise visit to the school and sees how Liz is handling the paper he comes down on her hard, this was not how he ran things and he expected more from her. A huge argument follows and Liz finds herself leaning on the one person she never expected, Brady Maxwell. So at this point I’m jumping for joy! I’m all about #teamBrady! I’m like finally!!!!!!!!! Will this be the catalyst that pushes Brady and Liz back together or will this be a bump in the road of Liz and Hayden’s relationship? Will their first real argument be the beginning of the end??

“I’m not doing this again. Next time he breaks your heart, I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want you to call me. I don’t want you to think about me. I’m not part of your life. We might as well have never happened.”

When the secrets and lies start to unravel, my emotions were all over the place! Again KA Linde has the ability to bring me to tears!!!!! Gah!!!!!! The middle book in a series for me tends to be boring at times, for me anyways… It’s normally the book that ties the beginning and the end but I feel like with this book I got a whole different side to the story. We get to know our favorite characters a little more and we get more of some great supporting cast. Clay and Victoria are two of my favorites. Clay is Brady’s younger brother who is cocky and arrogant and I love it! Victoria is the best friend we all want. She’s straight shooter and calls it like it is!

When everything starts to unfold I could not help myself but to find myself saying things like what... oh no she didn’t… oh no he didn’t…and why!!! Why!! Why!! I wanted so much more! I kept watching my kindle timer at the bottom thinking no… no… no…. I’m getting to the end and I don’t want it to end!!!!!!!!!! KA Linde delivers another phenomenal series and the “Queen of Angst” holds her title as this has my emotions on the rollercoaster that I never wanted it to stop! The agonizing wait until November will probably kill me but in the end, I know it will be so worth the wait! I will just leave you with one of my absolute favorite quotes from the book!

“You fucking train-wrecked through my life, and I can’t get rid of you. But at the same time, Liz, my entire body is aching to touch you. I just want to taste your lips and breathe you in, and bury myself inside of you. I feel like I’m going insane, that I’m splitting in two. Because everything tells me I should run headfirst in the opposite direction, but then I look at you, I hear your voice, I see those pleading blue eyes and I’m lost, I forget everything I should do, and I just know what I want to do.”

 

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde has written the Avoiding series and the Record series as well as the new adult novels Following Me and Take Me for Granted. She grew up as a military brat traveling the United States and Australia. While studying political science and philosophy at the University of Georgia, she founded the Georgia Dance Team, which she still coaches. Post-graduation, she served as the campus campaign director for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An avid traveler, reader, and bargain hunter, K.A. lives in Athens, Georgia, with her fiancé and two puppies, Riker and Lucy.

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/authorkalinde

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKALinde

Website:  http://www.kalinde.com/

Goodreads Author Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5421050.K_A_Linde?from_search=true

Buy Link for Off the Record (book 1)

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mBVyjY

Pre Order Buy Link for On the Record (book 2)

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1q95MNi

Pre Order Buy Link for For the Record (book 3)

http://amzn.to/1tFsyvP

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Blog Tour: Sugar On the Edge by Sawyer Bennett

SUGAR ON THE EDGE

BY USA Today Best-selling Author Sawyer Bennett

Last Call, #3

Adult Contemporary Romance

Released July 28, 2014

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks

He’s utterly alone…

Tortured and existing in a dark spiral of despair, bestselling British author, Gavin Cooke, has come to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to escape the seedy lifestyle he had been living in London and in a desperate attempt to regain his writing focus. He’s twisted, bitter and angry at the world. He’s a loner… needing not a single thing other than his Scotch and a laptop upon which he can bang out his next erotic, dark thriller.

She’s running in place and getting nowhere…

Savannah Shepherd’s life is falling apart. Her dream of being a wildlife photographer seems a distant memory and she’s barely able to make ends meet. Driving herself forward with no clear goals apparent, she’s about ready to pack up her bags and head home with her tail between her legs.

Two unlikely lovers…

He’s raw, forceful and a dirty talker. She’s a flowers and romance type of girl. Yet within each other, they find a mutual craving that can only be satisfied by giving in to their desires for one another.

Lust turns into something more… something they were not looking for but tentatively accept. Will it be enough to push them past the obstacles of Gavin’s bitter past?

*SUGAR ON THE EDGE can be read as a stand-alone*

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22671745-sugar-on-the-edge

I have always been intrigued by Sawyer Bennett’s books but for some reason or another, I was never able to get to them to read.  Rest assured I am now stalking her after reading Sugar on the Edge!!!!!!!  What the hell was I thinking not reading her books sooner!!!!!  If you have not read one of her books before, get on it. Do not be like me and push it aside and say, I’ll get it to later… later never comes and trust me, her books need to be read… like now!  I will now buy and devour every book she publishes!  Why you ask…  Girl has skills and can write! Holy shit can she write!  Sugar on the Edge was smoking hot and had me turning the pages like a mad women! She just pulled me into the story and kept me there until the end!  I devoured this novel and now have a mission to go back and read the rest of the books!  Even though this book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.  It’s a complete story told in dual POV.

Savannah Shepherd and Gavin Cooke are polar opposites of each other.  Savannah is the sweet and nice southern girl who is struggling to become a working photographer, working crappy jobs just to make ends meet. Gavin is a British successful author that has smoked, drunk, and sexed his way into depression after a tragedy strikes.  He is forced to get away from things to finish writing his book.   He buys a house on the coast of North Carolina and asked the realtor for a housekeeping service.  Her best friend and roommate, Savannah cleans some houses so she recommends her.  When Savannah agrees to be his housekeeper, she gets more than she bargains for.    Gavin thinks he has Savannah begged for the timid passive type that will cower to his aggressive nature.   But there’s something about her that he’s curious about…  

“I’m attracted to her… sure. But it scares me to think that the attraction is because I can’t quite figure her out.  I normally steer clear of any type of situation that makes me out of my comfort zone, and she definitively makes me uncomfortable.” 

Savannah is also perplexed by him as well,  he thinks she has her all figured out and this infuriates her. 

“I feel like a different person when I’m around him.  When he’s taunting me. Goading me. Seducing me.  I’m so far out of my league that my natural inclination is to turn tail and fun, but there is a dark part to me… way deep down, that wants to explore the feelings he’s conjuring up inside of me with his voodoo magic.” 

Their relationship turns hot and heavy and SMOKING HOT! (Did I mention how hot this book was??!!)  Where he is filthy, she is sweet.  Never has opposites attract been so true! Right when they look like they will balance each other out, the shit hits the fan!  The unexpected happens and Gavin leaves back to England leaving Savannah alone.  Let’s just say I’m so pissed off at this point!  Even though Gavin made clear expectations to Savannah when they started this relationship, I never saw this coming. 

Will Gavin be able to work pass his demons from the past and move forward or will he go back to his self-destructive ways? Will Savannah be able to lead him out of the dark or will the decisions she made be too much for Gavin to handle? It’s one amazing ride and I am so thankful I took a chance on this book!  Thank you Sawyer Bennett for such a fabulous story!  5 huge stars!!!!!!

USA Today Best-Selling author, Sawyer Bennett, is a snarky southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. She is married to a mobster (well, a market researcher) and they have two big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report she doesn’t have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.

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Review: All For This by Lexi Ryan

Released August 4, 2014

New Adult Contemporary Romance

**ALL FOR THIS is book three in the Here and Now series. It is not a stand-alone and it’s intended to be read after LOST IN ME and FALL TO YOU.**

What if you would never remember the day you made the most important decision of your life?

That’s what they’re telling me about the day of my accident—the day I put on Max’s ring and chose him over Nate. I’m counting on the wisdom behind a decision I don’t remember making.

Max is amazing—sexy, sweet, and kind. I was starting to believe happily-ever-after might be in my future after all. Then the unthinkable happened and my world imploded. If I’m going to make this work with Max, I need my missing memories, or at least answers from about those five days before my accident.

But what does my future hold if those answers aren’t anything like I imagined?

There are no words to describe how truly amazing the final book, All For This, in the Here and Now series by Lexi Ryan is.  This book had me guessing until the very last page that I turned and I read it in one complete sitting, unable to put it down because I just had to know if it would be Nate or Max for Hanna.  This book was a 4.5 star read for me and I highly highly recommend this series to everyone who likes romance, a meddling family, a rock star, a jock and a little mystery all wrapped up into one.  Lexi Ryan hit this one out of the park!

The first book in the series, Lost In Me,  give the reader a taste of what is to come later.  We have Hanna, a girl with a horrible self image and an even worse sense of self worth, who has amnesia after taking a bad fall down a flight of stairs.  Waking up in the hospital, she doesn't remember the events of the last year of her life, and how she came to have Max's engagement ring on her finger, when the last she remembers, it was tucked away in her jewelery box.  Trying to piece together the last days before the accident, Hanna discovers that she was involved with the Sexy rocker Nate, often travelling around the US to see him while he was on tour.  Their involvement was a secret from everyone, even her sisters' who she was extremely close with.  What a cliff hanger ending this book has!  I actually gasped when I read it and had to re-read twice to make sure Lexi Ryan actually wrote those words I was reading.

 The second book in the series, Fall To You,  gives the reader a glimpse of Hanna torn between two men that she loves, still not knowing how she fell down the stairs or why she had on Max's engagement ring.  She begins to have more memories of her time with Nate, some amazing ones and others that make her think she understands why she chose Max after all.  Trying to move forward with her life and the news that she received at the end of book one, she thinks her decision is made, when a situation occurs that shocks her to her very core and throws her into the arms of the man that you would least expect.  And que holy cow cliff hanger number two!

The third and final book, All For This, picks up immediately where the last fell off and has the reader eagerly turning each page, sometimes while holding my breath, to see what will happen.  Hanna is beginning to realize that maybe she will never regain her memory of the final day before the accident, and if it really was an accident at all.  Was it Nate's ex-girlfriend and mother of his child that pushed her down the stairs? Or could it have been the mother of Max's daughter who so desperately wants him back that she will lower herself to any means possible?  I had my theories as I was reading, and let me tell you I kept changing them until I finally gave up at the very end.  Who would Hanna finally choose in the end?  I will state that this reader was team Nate all the way until I turned the very last page!  Lexi Ryan answered every question that I had as a reader and boy did she do it with flair!  I was shocked by some of the truths that came out and that made All For This, an even better read for me.

"It's different because you're mine more than you were ever his.  You might love him, but you need me.  And if you choose him, you'll always wonder if you and I could have made it work."

I knew, if I touched you, it'd be more than a kiss.

I need you. 

I'll feed you.

I'll be your dying bliss.

 All For This was a great ending to a perfect love triangle trilogy.  I would give it 5 stars!  All For This was the third book in the Here and Now series.  It is not a stand-alone you need to read the other books to understand this one.  This book was told in multiple POV's and I am so glad because you definitely will want to know what each person is thinking.  I am a huge fan of Lexi Ryan and this series made me love her even more.  

In the first 2 books you get to see how Hanna copes with her life after falling down the stairs and getting amnesia.  Through out the stories you will get glimpses into the past and present.  Of course you also get to see how she has fallen for 2 men and how she is trying to remember why she made the choices she did without memory of the choices.  She is so torn and when a surprise and a tragedy happen she will fall into the arms of one of the men and she thinks finally her choice has been made.  Well with a twist of fate her whole life will change again.  She has to decide what she wants and who is best suited to give her the life she has always wanted.  But what happens when both men can give her what she wants but in different ways? 

Relief hits me center mass and splinters out through my limbs.  Because there's still a we.  I bring her hand to my mouth and press my lips to her knuckles.  If I could package the intensity of my love in a single gesture, if I could prove to her how hard I'm willing to hone on, she wouldn't doubt us for a second.  When she settlers her head against my chest again, I squeeze my eyes shut and say a prayer that I'll be enough for her.-- Max 

"It's different because you're mine more than you were ever his.  You might love him, but you need me.  And if you choose him, you'll always wonder if you and I could have made it work."  "You can leave, but you're taking my heart with you.  You can choose him, but part of you will always be mine." -- Nate

"Do you think you can win me with a kiss?  Did you think I'm so fickle that your mouth on mine is enough to convince me to break Max's heart?"-- Hanna

 I honestly don't know how any woman could choose between these 2 men because they both seriously stole my heart.  I was torn myself between who she should pick.  I know most readers will have there favorite between Max and Nate but honestly I would have been happy with either choice, and that in itself is surprising to me because when I read a love triangle book I honestly pick and side and stick to it.  But Lexi will make your head spin with what choice to make and thankfully it was her brilliant mind that made the final choice for Hanna because my goodness I would have kept them both! I am so glad to finally have all the pieces to this fantastic puzzle and I really hope we get a story of the man who was not chosen because he definitely deserves and HEA after everything he has been through.   

Thanks again for a great ending and I am looking forward to so much more!  

I really don’t know if I can express in words how I feel about this series.  I don’t think my words can give it justice!  I’m serious!  The Here and Now series has just moved up the ladder to one of my favorite series I have read.  It has so many elements that just pull you in!  I love the suspense, the drama, and the hotness that Lexi Ryan has poured into this book!  I devoured every book and just loved them!  Ms. Ryan keeps those wheels turning in your head until the last chapter!  I kept going back and forth in my theories and was totally clueless how things would end… even at 90%!!!!  That’s just how amazing she is!  Normally I can have a book figured out by the half way mark. Yah, not with this one!  It’s just another reason why I have to declare Ms. Ryan an evil genius!    

So from reading the first two books we know that Hanna wakes up in a coma after falling down a flight a stairs.  She cannot remember the last year…. And what a year it’s been!  At her side is the handsome and charming Max, she has crushed on him for as long as she could remember.  And since that does not include the last year, she does not know they’ve been dating and he recently proposed.  Then we have the uber sexy rocker Nate.   When he slips into Hanna’s bed one night she is confused as to why she would have a boyfriend and yet another man is sneaking in her bed.  Hanna is a faithful person and knows she would not be dating both of them at the same time.  So their story unfolds…. 

“I think it’s time for me to look beyond here and now.  Here and now is all I let myself think about this summer, and look where that got me.”

Gawh!  Is all I can say to that! lol.  Hanna’s story is told in all three POV’s and alternates between past and present.  Slowly but surely Hanna’s regains her memory and the story of the past year unfolds.  Which man holds her heart??  A part of me was rooting for Max, who doesn’t want to fall in love with your childhood crush and live happily ever after??  Then I would root for Nate, the chemistry between them was off the charts smoking hot! He pours his soul into his lyrics and sings to Hanna about his love.  But they want to very different things in life.  My heart was torn in two by these men.  They were without their faults but that’s why I loved them both. 

The final book in this series will answer all the questions left unanswered!  The ending made my heart melt and I loved every second of it!  Thank you Lexi Ryan for an absolutely AH-MA-ZING series that made me laugh, cry, angry, happy, sad, and finally I felt joy!  Hanna is finally able to get the happy ever after she so deserves, but with whom???? 

“It’s different because you’re mine more than you were ever his.  You might love him, but you need me.  And if you choose him, you’ll always wonder if you and I could have made it work.”

Lost In Me (Currently FREE!)

    

Fall To You

   

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

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