13 July 2014

Blog Tour: Until We Fly by Courtney Cole



 Synopsis

Ex-Army Ranger, Brand Killien, has always been good.

A good friend, a good soldier, a good everything. .
The problem is, good hasn’t gotten him anything but a crushed heart.

So after licking his wounds, he decides to move on. And moving on doesn’t include being good anymore.

Bad sounds so much better.

Jaded and detached, Brand is determined to never open himself up to anyone again. It’s not worth the pain. Instead, he becomes closed, hardened, aloof.

But then he’s called back home for a family emergency… a family that he is estranged from. A family that he put out of his mind a long time ago for very good reasons…reasons that involve secrets and pain. Reasons he tried hard to forget.

But home is where the heart is, and it just might be where Brand finds his again.

Why? Because home is where Nora Greene is. A fiery, red-headed spitfire, Nora is a thing from his past. A beautiful, feisty thing. When Brand left, she was away at boarding school.

But she’s back now.

And she wants Brand, scars and all.

Praise for the Beautifully Broken Series:

"I loved If You Stay. Like, really really loved it. The kind of love that kept me reading until 2:40 am and left me crying, smiling, devastated, and elated. The best kind of book love." - Andrea, The Bookish Babe

"Beautiful, raw, gritty, emotional and breath-taking are just a few of the words I can find to describe this book...reading this book was one of the best experiences I have had." -Amanda, Globug and Hootie Need a Book

"In If You Leave, we continue the wild ride Courtney Cole started us on in If You Stay. This raw story of heartbreak and hope solidifies Cole's standing as a rising star in hot contemporary romance." --- New York Times Bestselling author of Down to You, M. Leighton

"Another raw, gritty masterpiece with a sexy-as-hell Army Ranger to swoon over." --- K.A. Tucker, author of Ten Tiny Breaths

My Review

4.5 Branded stars!

Brand. A good friend, a good soldier, a good everything but never seems to be good enough to be loved. When Jacey broke his heart for the last the time in Before We Fall, Brand decided to move on with his life. Hurray! But then a family emergency forces him to go back to his hometown, which the last place he wanted to be in. The last place he expected to find…her.

Nora Greene has loved Brand from afar for a long time. On the outside, she’s had the perfect life but nothing could be further from the truth. When a tragedy brought Brand and Nora together, she finally got her chance to be with Brand even for a little while.

I’m usually not a fan of heroines chasing the hero or being the aggressor in the relationship but I made an exception for this one. Why? Because BRAND DESERVES TO BE CHASED for once. He deserved to be first. Nora gave that to him.

But Nora was keeping secrets. Big ones. My jaw dropped when I found out what these secrets were. My heart just ache for her and I wanted her to have Brand even more. Brand himself was battling his own demons and I loved that Nora was there with him. While their relationship started out as nothing more than a sexual convenience, it became apparent that they were made for each other as the story went along.

What I loved even more aside from Brand and Nora, are the twists and turns that Courtney Cole masterfully placed throughout the book. This book literally started out with a bang. Fortunately, the revelations just kept on coming and that ending was everything I could have hoped for. In other words, this book kept me on my toes and kept me up all night reading because I just couldn’t put it down.

Definitely my favorite book in the series and Brand is definitely my fave hero in the series as well. Plus, I’m glad how everything tied very nicely together in the end.



An ARC was given to Ever After Romance Book Blog in exchange for an honest review.
 
And don’t miss the other Beautifully Broken, now available:

ABOUT COURTNEY COLE:

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.

Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.


 

Review: Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid

Neanderthal Marries Human (Knitting in the City, #1.5)
Synopsis

There are three things you should know about Quinn Sullivan: 1) He is madly in love with Janie Morris, 2) He’s not above playing dirty to get what (or who) he wants, and 3) He doesn’t know how to knit.

After just five months of dating Janie, Quinn—former Wendell and unapologetic autocrat—is ready to propose marriage. In fact, he’s more than ready. If it were up to Quinn, he would efficiently propose, marry, and beget Janie with child all in the same day—thereby avoiding the drama and angst that accompanies the four stages of pre-matrimony: engagement, meeting the parents, bachelor/bachelorette party, and overblown, superfluous wedding day traditions. But Janie, much to Quinn’s dismay, tosses a wrench in his efficacious endeavors and challenges him to prove his devotion by going through the matrimonial motions, no matter how minute and mundane.

Will Quinn last until the wedding day? Or will he yield to his tyrant impulses?

Regardless, one thing is for certain, Quinn Sullivan will have to learn to expect the Spanish Inquisition (i.e. the unexpected) if he plans to have and keep Janie Morris as his wife.

Again, you must read ‘Neanderthal Seeks Human’ first before reading this book.

This book is written in first person, alternating POV (Janie Morris AND Quinn Sullivan; but more Janie than Quinn.)


***This book is not a standalone. It is the sequel to ‘Neanderthal Seeks Human,’ it is book #1.5 in the ‘Knitting in the City’ series, and it is a full length, 105k word novel.


My Review
4.5 stars!

Penny Reid has been my go-to author when it comes to quirky, off-beat, funny and unique romance and Neanderthal Marries Human provides that in spades.

Quinn finally convinced Janie to tie the knot and Neanderthal Marries Human tells the events leading up to their big day. And while I expected the humor, being that this is Penny Reid we are talking about, I was pleasantly surprised by the steam I found in this book. I mean, YOWZA!! And it's not even that graphic but damn, I found this book seriously hot! Admittedly, I'd forgotten how alpha Quinn can be and Ms. Reid just reminded me of that. And Alpha Quinn is incendiary.

One of the things I loved about this book is Janie and Quinn's relationship and how much they've grown to love and trust each other. Yes, Quinn will do everything to make Janie happy and vice-versa. They both learned how to let go of their prejudices and simply learn to trust and be happy.

Another favorite is we get to really know more about Quinn and his family. We know from reading the first book that Quinn was estranged from his parents. In this book, we get know more about why. It's also nice to see more of Dan and of course, the rest of the hilarious knitting ladies.

Heads up! Some of the events in this book intertwines with some of the events in Friends Without Benefits. So it's safe to say that you'll have a better reading experience if you've read at least the Neanderthal Seeks Human and Friend Without Benefits before reading this one.

So if you loved any book from this series, read this book. If you love lots of humor and fun in your romance, read this series!!

An ARC was provided by Penny Reid in exchange for an honest review.