Troubles and Treats Blog Tour and Giveaway

Troubles and Treats (Chocolate Lovers #3) by Tara Sivec

Release Date: November 30, 2012

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Synopsis

Drew and Jenny have spent years being the envy of their friends with their out of control sex lives - well, not really. Mostly it makes their friends want to throw up in their mouths a little.

With two little kids and two busy lives, for the first time, Drew and Jenny aren't on the same page in the bedroom. Drew will stop at nothing to get his previously amorous wife back in the sack and Jenny will do anything for a full night of sleep.

Carter and Claire, and Jim and Liz are their usual (un)helpful selves and are full of advice for the disconnected duo, wanting nothing more than to help restore order to the usually happy couple's lives.

In the third installment of the Chocolate Lovers Series, will Drew and Jenny find the spark that's been missing in their marriage, or will they trouble they're having cause a stickier situation than the time Jenny poured honey all over Drew and he fused himself to a tree?

Excerpt

Basically I'm afraid to have sex with my husband. He's always loved my vagina. He even has a shirt that says ''I love my wife's vagina." What if having sex with me now is like fucking a bowl of Jell-O Jigglers? That is not at all hot. Especially if they're green Jell-O Jigglers. I'm not saying my vagina is green, but I'm sure it's jiggly. I shook it a little when I looked at it in the mirror and it definitely wiggled when it jiggled. Vaginas should never jiggle.

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Tara Sivec is The Queen of funny smut. The fucking Queen. Who wouldn't want to get into the mind of The Queen?! Well, lucky for us peasants, she has given us a glimpse into the hilariously genius workings of her brain with The Chocolate Lovers Series. In case you skipped the ginormous text above, the third and final book of the series, Troubles and Treats, will be released on November 30, 2012. Can I get a "HELL YEAAAAAH"?! The first two books of the series, Seduction and Snacks and Futures and Frosting (click on the titles to read my reviews) are now bestsellers and will make you pee yourself from laughing so hard. Seriously. Don't say I didn't warn you. They can both be purchased on Amazon and don't worry, I've made the ability to buy them a little easier on you. Just click on the beautiful covers below and it will take you to the Amazon link; see, I'm here for y'all. You're welcome. 

      

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About the Author

WEBSITE - FACEBOOK - GOODREADS - TWITTER

Tara Sivec is a best selling author, wife, mom, chauffeur, cheerleading coach, soccer coach, babysitter, short-order cook, genius and albino squirrel hunter. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two kids. In her spare time she likes to read, write, and cover things in chocolate. Most of her material comes from real life experiences with family and friends. Lucky for them, the names have been changed to protect the innocent (aka, drunk).

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Kiss Me by Jillian Dodd

(The Keatyn Chronicles, book 2)

I’ve always written scripts for my perfect life.

But no way could I have ever scripted this.

My life is so far from perfect, it’s not even funny.

All because of a stalker.

I’m at a boarding school where I have to lie about who I am.

I can’t see my family.

I’m tutoring a Hottie God that tortures me with his smile.

The most popular girl already hates me.

Bu there’s this boy.

This hot, sweet, sexy boy.

So I’m going to stop trying to script my life and just live it.

Because who knows how long I have left.

*I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

“If only boys came with warning labels. Like, yours would be: Do not kiss when drunk. Riley’s would be: I’m going to sleep with you and your best friend, too.” – Keatyn

Okay, let me just start off by saying that if the boys at boarding school are all as hot, sweet, athletic, charming, adorable, funny and whatever other adjective I can think of, as they are in Kiss Me…I wish I would have known about that sooner. I probably would have begged my parents to send me away! Seriously. My bags would have already been packed and loaded in the Jeep. I would have been strapped in my seatbelt with bells and whistles on yelling, “Let’s goooooooo! Hurry uuuuuuup!” So to sum that up: Keatyn’s boarding school sounds like a feasting ground. And this girl’s hungry.  

Kiss Me starts off on the same night Stalk Me ends; Keatyn got a weak-in-the-knees kiss from Aiden on top of the Ferris wheel, she learned she made the dance team at her new boarding school, and starts to think that maybe this new life won’t be so bad after all. This second book in The Keatyn Chronicles takes you through the beginning of Keatyn’s journey in boarding school and follows her through new friendships, new relationships, and as if you couldn’t tell by title…lots…and lots of kissing.

For those of you who read my review of Stalk Me, you know I was 100 percent, all lady parts aboard the Team Cush train…and if you didn’t read my review, well, you should have. But now you know. I just loved Cush and I honestly didn’t think there would be any way Jillian would be able to sway me to another guy, no matter how many fine pieces of meat were roaming around Keatyn’s boarding school. Welp…Jillian Dodd, I underestimated your abilities to make an even swoonier (yeah, swoonier. I made it up, deal with it) character than Cush. So, in the words of Joey Tribbiani: “Hey Dawson. How YOU doin’??” ;)

I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I don’t want to say who she ends up with, but I will say this; I’m not a big fan of Aiden because he kind of acts like a girl, and I want Keatyn and Dawson to be together, get married and have lots of babies. Well, don’t hold me to that; who knows what kind of hotness creation will be in the next book to make me change my mind…again.

Here are a few other things that made Kiss Me pretty freaking great:

1)     “Keatie”

2)     Greek mythology references (I geek out hard when it comes to mythology)

3)     H.O.M.E.C.O.M.I.N.G.?

4)     The naughty librarian

Kiss Me was a good sequel to Stalk Me, and I can’t wait to read the rest of this series. The main reason I didn’t give Kiss Me 5 stars is because it lacked the suspense factor. We get little bits of information on her stalker, but he plays a pretty minor role in this book. I loved that there seems to be ends tying up with Brooklyn and Cush, and I must say, I was pretty dang surprised by both of those story lines. All-in-all, Kiss Me is another great read by the lovely Jillian Dodd. Is it too early to ask about Date Me??? ;)

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Purchase from Barnes and Noble

Waiting on Wednesday (5)

*This is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine. "Waiting on Wednesday" spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly anticipating.*

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Bad Rep by A. Meredith Walters

Expected Publication Date: December 2012

 

Synopsis on Goodreads

"Who gives a damn about their reputation? Oh, that would be me! Especially since mine had gone straight to hell in the span of thirty minutes."

Maysie Ardin is soaking up the summer before her junior year of college, shopping, hanging by the pool and shopping some more. But when her black belt in spending lands her in trouble with her parents, she is forced to take a second job at a local bar to dig herself out of a deep financial pit. 

She thought she'd be miserable. But then Maysie didn't count on Jordan Levitt, the hot, pierced and tattooed, drum playing bartender who also happens to be very interested in her. And the feelings are totally mutual. 

It had the makings of the perfect romantic set up. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy has girlfriend? Okay, maybe not.

But attraction is a hard thing to ignore and soon Jordan and Maysie find themselves in the middle of a gossip induced firestorm. Maysie has to learn whether she can set aside her fear of public disapproval in order to be with the one she wants. Or will she let the opinions of others dictate her life and heart?

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

*This is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine. "Waiting on Wednesday" spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly anticipating.*

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Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Expected Publication Date: November 27, 2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we're not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O. 

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she's ever heard. Each moan, spank, and - was that a meow? - punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O. 

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter). When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension's gonna be thick...

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight. 

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Full of rage and without a purpose, former pianist Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone discovering her past and to make the boy who took everything from her pay.

All 17-year-old Josh Bennett wants is to build furniture and be left alone, and everyone allows it because it’s easier to pretend he doesn’t exist. When your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, a hot mess of a girl who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. The more he gets to know her, the more of a mystery she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he may ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a slow-building, character-driven romance about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

“I miss him today. I miss him every day. I went to Home Depot tonight just to walk through the lumber aisle and try to breathe.” – Nastya

I can count on one hand the number of times I couldn’t find words to describe something, and this is one of them. The Sea of Tranquility left me speechless and essentially inarticulate.  I sat in front of my laptop just watching the cursor blink on the blank screen for almost twenty minutes trying to find the right words to describe the wonderful perfection that is this book. No matter what I say, it’s not going to be enough; I know that already. There are not enough words or phrases or stupid clichés or metaphors for me to describe what this book did to me, but damn it, I’m sure going to try.

This is the story of a horribly broken girl, a loner boy, and their journey to help each other. On a tragic, fateful day while walking to a piano lesson, Emilia Ward becomes the victim of a brutal random act of violence. Her heart stopped for 96 seconds. She was dead. The doctors managed to save her life, but the Emilia Ward everyone knew and loved stayed dead on the operating table, and was reborn Nastya Kashnikov; a girl who wears all black clothing that leaves little to the imagination, an inch-and-half thick coat of make-up, and sky high stilettos. She refuses to speak a single word to anyone at all because if she doesn’t speak, she doesn’t have to answer questions about that horrible day. Then after moving two hours away to live with her aunt and escape all the memories that Brighton holds, she ends up meeting someone who just might be the key to her second chance; Josh Bennett.

Josh is a loner who chooses to keep to himself, although no one really makes an attempt to break his “force field.” He has an ugly cloud of death hanging over his head that seems to keep people at a distance, because what do you say to a kid who has lost his entire family? He minds his own business, builds furniture in his garage, and hangs out with his best and only friend Drew on occasion. Then Nastya starts showing up in his garage to sit and watch him work every night. Their bond becomes tighter, and Josh starts to realize that this silent, mysterious girl just might be his undoing.

This story did something to me. I read the last 60 or so pages at work, and after I finished it, I was sitting at my desk with tears streaming down my face. Six people came up to me and asked if I was okay. Do you want to guess what their faces looked like when I told them I was crying because of a book? Well, let’s put it this way: I think they all assume I’m the most emotional, possibly unstable person in our office now. *shrugs* It does start out slow, but I think I needed that. If you read this…nope, scratch that…WHEN you read this, please don’t give up on it. It is a slow start, but trust me, it’s necessary and it adds to the beauty of the journey. The slow building relationship between Josh and Nastya is just so incredibly perfect, and the way Katja manages to make their chemistry dance right off the pages and come alive is brilliant. I love these two characters so, so much.

The Sea of Tranquility raised the bar for all other books I read in the future. This story moved me beyond words. I went through an almost unbearable amount of emotion throughout this book, but it was worth single bit of it. Every smile, every laugh, every tear, every sob, every “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” that I yelled at my nook…it was worth it all.  This story is absolutely captivating, and you can be damn certain that when Katja Millay publishes another book, I will be one of the first people to get my little hands on it. 

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan

(Undeniable series, book 1)

The story of Deuce and Eva…

An undeniable connection that stands the test of time.

Unforgettable moments.

Love and pain and everything in between.

I was five years old when I met Deuce, he was twenty-three, and it was visiting day at Riker’s Island. My father, Damon Fox or “Preacher”, the President of the infamous “Silver Demon’s” motorcycle club – mother chapter – in East Village, New York City, was doing a five-year stint for aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon. It was not the first time my father had been in prison and it wouldn’t be the last. The Silver Demon’s MC was a notorious group of criminals who lived by the code of the road and gave modern society and all it entailed a great big fuck you.

“Never forget the day Eva came bouncin’ into my fucked up life, shakin’ pigtails, singin’ Janis, wearin’ Chucks and sharin’ peanuts and straight up stole any decency I had left which wasn’t a whole lot but she fuckin’ took it and I’ve been hers ever since.”

“I don’t remember the day I was born but I remember the day I found out why. His name was Deuce. He was my ‘why.’ And this is our story. It is not a pretty one. Some parts are downright ugly. But it’s ours. And because I believe everything happens for a reason, I wouldn’t change a thing…” – Eva

When I read the synopsis for Undeniable, three words immediately came to mind: Sons of Anarchy. I have been hopelessly addicted to that show since the very first episode, so of course I absolutely had to get my little mitts on this book. That being said, I was a little worried. I didn’t want to read it and constantly compare it to SOA because…well…you can’t really match SOA. Despite my back and forth attitude, I decided to read it anyway and Jesus H Christ, I am so glad I did.

Undeniable takes you on the journey of Deuce and Eva, and believe me when I say, this isn’t a pretty journey. It’s not like driving through the countryside on a sunny day with the windows down enjoying the breeze; no, it’s not that at all. It’s ugly. It’s dark. It’s gritty and disgusting and beyond fucked up and yet somehow it’s still incredibly riveting.

Okay, now onto my thoughts on the characters. I had a pretty serious love/hate relationship with Deuce. There were so many times during this book that I just wanted to smack the shit out of him, but then he’d turn around and call her darlin’ and say some other sweet shit and I’d be right back on Team Deuce. Now…when it came to Eva…I absolutely loved her. Yep, absolutely fucking loved her. Was she fucked up? Incredibly, but I am immensely drawn to characters like her. And honestly, what about their love story wasn’t fucked up? Not…much. But honestly, any girl that rocks Chucks all the time gets some serious cool points in my book (I live in Chucks and cowboy boots.) I loved that she had that badass attitude from growing up in the MC world, and even at her lowest, she was still likable to me.

So why didn’t I give Undeniable 5 stars? Well, a couple reasons; the way Deuce acts towards Eva when he first meets her and she’s a child seemed a little bit creepy. It just didn’t really sit right with me. Also, some of the things he did to her throughout the book just pissed me off to the point that I couldn’t quite rate this book as perfect.

However, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a wild ride. There is some seriously disturbing material (rape is just one example) so check yourself before you wreck yourself, but honestly, it’s an incredibly captivating story. It will make you cringe and want to punch someone, and then 5 minutes later you’ll start getting an little tingly feeling down south and wish you weren’t reading this around other people. Undeniable takes you on a seriously dark, disturbing ride but if you’re anything like me…you’ll want to hop on the back of Deuce’s bike by the end.  

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Purchase from Barnes and Noble (only available as nook book)

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

*This is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine. "Waiting on Wednesday" spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly anticipating.*

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The Program by Suzanne Young

Expected Publication Date: April 30, 2013



Synopsis from Goodreads

In Sloane's world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program. Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane's parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they'll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who's been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone - but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He's promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it's getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.