Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Release Day Launch: Be With Me by J. Lynn

We are extremely excited to say that J. Lynn's BE WITH ME has been released!!! BE WITH ME is a New Adult contemporary romance being published by Avon (William Morrow), an imprint of HarperCollins, and is a part of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s With You Saga. Jennifer Armentrout is one of my favorite authors and even inspired the name of this blog.  The emotions of her characters leap off the page and the steam factor is, well... *fans self*.  Go grab a copy of BE WITH ME today! 

Be With Me - Cover
    

  BE WITH ME Synopsis:

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wait for You Do Teresa and Jase have a real shot at getting together or will life get in the way? Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she's in love with her big brother's best friend, but he hasn't spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, life-changing kiss. Then she got out of a terrible relationship. Now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It's time for plan B: college. And maybe she'll have a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real. Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he's not telling anyone—especially not his best friend's incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn't have time for a relationship. But it doesn't help that all he can think about is kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him. As they're thrown together more and more, Jase and Teresa can't keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they're willing to risk to be together and what they're willing to lose if they're not. . . .

EXCERPT:

 “You got a visitor, Tess.” He rested his chin atop my head, which caused my pulse to try

to outrun my heart. “Two of them to be exact.”

“Okay.”

There was a pause. “Are your eyes closed?”

“No.”

His chin slid off my head and then his chest rumbled as he laughed. “Your eyes are

closed.” He laughed again. “Open them up.”

Cursing under my breath, I pried one eye open and then jerked against him. His arm

tightened. “Oh wow …”

The black-and-white horse was the closest, standing mere feet away from me. The brown

one wasn’t too far, shaking its head and making soft snorts. My eyes were wide as they bounced

between the two creatures. “They’re not carnivorous, right? Because at their size, they could eat

me.”

Jase laughed deeply as his hand shifted up, resting in the center of my stomach, just

below my breasts. “Horses do not eat people, you little idiot.”

I started, eyes narrowing. “There’s always a first.”

The lips pulled back on the black-and-white horse as if it was smirking at me.

“This one right here? Mr. Friendly? Jack calls him Bubba One,” he said in a quiet,

calming voice. But air hitched in my throat when his thumb moved in a slow circle over the thin

material of my tank top, hitting against the wire in my bra. “And the brown one is Bubba Two.”

Mouth dry, I wetted my lips. “That’s good for remembering names.”

He chuckled as his pinkie and forefinger started to move up and down, reaching my belly

button and then sliding back up. It was almost as if he was unaware of what he was doing, or the

electrifying response the tiny motions were dragging out of me. “I think so too, but his real name

is Lightning.”

Said horse shook his head, tossing the shaggy mane.

“Lightning seems to be a more suitable name,” I admitted, relaxing as the seconds

passed. Maybe that was his intention. Distract me with the soft, almost innocent touches. It was

working. “What about Bubba Two?

“Ah, the one who is staring at the pail like it’s the holy mecca of grain?” His cheek

grazed mine as I laughed. “That’s Thunder. And we’re going to feed them. Together.”

The friction his fingers created with my shirt sent tiny shivers up and down my back.

“With our hands?”

His answering laugh tipped the corners of my lips up. “Yes. With our hands.”

“After checking out the choppers on them, I’m not so sure about that.”

“You’ll be okay.” He slid his hand off my stomach and wrapped it around my wrist.

Slowly, he lifted my hand out in front of me. “Hold still.”

My heart lurched. “Jase—”

Lightning trotted forward and pressed his wet nose against my hand. I cringed, waiting

for him to eat my poor fingers. The horse didn’t. Nope. It nudged my hand as it whinnied softly.

He guided my hand up over Lightning’s jaw, all the way to the pointy, twitchy ears.

“See?” he murmured. “That’s not too bad, is it?”

I shook my head as my fingers curled along the soft coat. Lightning seemed to anticipate

the direction of the petting, pressing his long head against my hand as my fingers tangled in his

mane. It wasn’t bad at all.

Jase shifted behind me, and in an instant all thoughts of the horses evaporated. His hips

lined up against my backside, and I bit down on my lower lip as I focused on the white splotch

covering Lightning’s muzzle.

I could feel him—feel Jase. And there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he was

affected by how close we were standing. That knowledge and the hard length of him left me

dizzy, just like it had done that Saturday night. An all too warm flush spread down my neck. In

the back of my head, I was rationalizing his physical reaction. He was a guy. Our bodies were pressed

together. If a wind blew on a guy’s private area, they got hard. So I should just ignore it,

but my body was so not on board with my head. My body was operating on a different playing

field. An ache centered low in my stomach. A sharp and sweet yearning raced through my veins.

“Not so scary, right?” His voice was deeper, richer. “They’re like dogs. Well, like a dog

that can carry around two hundred pounds, if not more.” Hand sliding off mine, he stepped back,

and the sudden emptiness of his body was like a cold shock. “Trust me.”

Then he smacked my ass.

Buy Links: Amazon Barnes and Noble
  Release Day Launch

Author Photo   
Jennifer L. Armentrout/J. Lynn Bio: # 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

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  Links:
Website: http://www.jenniferarmentrout.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlarmentrout
 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLArmentrout
 J.Lynn Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/699143.J_Lynn
 Jennifer L. Armentrout Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4476934.Jennifer_L_Armentrout
 BE WITH ME Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17558817-be-with-me?ac=1

Monday, January 13, 2014

Review: Being Sloane Jacobs


Being Sloane Jacobs
Lauren Morrill
3.0/5.0 stars


My overall impression after reading Being Sloane Jacobs was something like "eh, it was cute". The pacing was steady and the writing was fluid and sometimes it even charmed me a little but  I never fell in love with it. In fairness, I never felt the need to toss it aside either.  I think it lands in that dreaded middle zone where I don't regret reading it but I won't remember it in a couple of months either.

The story is about two girls both named Sloane Jacobs.  Hailing from DC we have Sloane Emily Jacobs who is the daughter of a U.S. senator.  She comes from a well to do family and never has to want for anything but her family lacks the closeness and affection that she craves.  She is a former competitive figure skater who had a bad and very public fall a few years prior and gave up skating.  She has come back to it now but is still having trouble landing her jumps and enjoying it like she used to.  From the other side of the tracks we have Sloane Devon Jacobs.  She is from Philadelphia and a longtime hockey player who is now having problems freezing up during games.  Her mother is away in rehab for alcoholism and though her father is loving they both seem to be having a hard time coping with her absence.  The two Sloanes end up staying in the same hotel while on their way to summer camps for their chosen sport.  The hotel mixes up their bags and the two girls are shocked to find out they have the same name.  Since they are both unhappy with their lives and dreading going to their camps they decide to switch places for the summer.

The plot was definitely a stretch.  I had some trouble in the beginning accepting that these girls could go play a totally different sport that they had never done before convincingly enough to pass for someone who had been doing it for years.  I have legs and the ability to run and kick but if you throw me on a soccer field with people that actually play soccer it's going to be pretty obvious that I'm not one of them.  The plot was also fairly predictable.

I liked both Sloanes pretty equally and the dual POV was handled well.  The side character "friends" served their purpose but I felt like we only got to know them at a surface level.  The love interests did nothing for me.  I didn't dislike them but I didn't feel any attachement to either of the relationships either.  I was also pretty disappointed in the lack of attention paid to the family issues.  It was mentioned but never really covered then all just kind of wrapped up with no real development.

Being Sloane Jacobs is a cute book and it's a quick and easy read.  For me it was just a little too much syrup and not enough substance.  I would recommend it but probably only for younger readers or someone looking for a clean, more disney-fied young adult book.