The Traveling Man by Jan Harvey-Berrick Blog Tour + Giveaway

Title: The Traveling Man (Traveling, #1)

Author: Jane Harvey – Berrick

Release Date: January 27, 2015

Genre: Contemporary Romance

   

Blurb

I was ordinary. Nice. He was extraordinary. And he wasn’t always nice. Moody and difficult, brilliant and beautiful, Kes scared me and he protected me. He could be incredibly hurtful and incredibly thoughtful. He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for me. He challenged me, he took me out of my safe little box and showed me the world could be magnificent. He was everything I wasn’t.

Aimee Anderson is ten when the traveling carnival first comes to her nice little town. She doesn’t expect her world to change so completely. But meeting Kestrel Donohue puts her life on a different path. Even though she only sees him for the two weeks of the year when he passes through her home town, his friendship is the most important of her life. As a child’s friendship grows to adult love, the choices become harder, and both Kes and Aimee realize that two weeks a year will never be enough.    

Purchase The Traveling Man today!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | iBooks

Selene's Review

5 Smooches

I was on the journey before I even knew our story had started.

Funny the way things work out.

I am IN LOVE with this story!!!!

I wasn't really sure what to expect going in but if I did actually have expectations, they would have certainly been blown away.

I adore love stories that begin when the MC's are young, they grow up together and their feelings eventually turn romantic.  Relationships like that just GRAB me from the get-go.

I didn't know it then;  I didn't understand what it meant, but whenever I looked at him, my skin felt warm, like my own personal sun was shining just for me.  - Aimee

The setting of this story is so unique (to me anyway).  I've never read a story set primarily in a carnival environment before this and I found it captivating.  There were many things you'd expect having only a "stereotypical" idea of what a carnie lifestyle might be like.  Since the story is "carnie-centric," Aimee is the outsider seeking approval most of the story which I find to be an interesting twist!

"I felt almost accepted as I strutted along beside them, my head held high.  I was Kes's girlfriend, and I wanted everyone to know it."  - Aimee

The thing I love most about this story .... it's Aimee's love for Kes.  It's unconditional, it's innocent, it's whole-hearted.  It's consuming.  And it consumed me.  Kes suffers from a learning disorder but Aimee sees past it and sees the man Kes is despite it.  GAHHHH!!!!!  I couldn't get enough.

So, imagine my surprise when there is a cliffhanger.  YES!!!  A cliffhanger.  Now I RARELY encourage anyone to start a series before it is complete but I will totally make an exception for The Traveling Man.  The story is so very unique ... I just can't imagine anything about it being forgotten for the second installment is released.

   

About the Author

 

  I lived in London for over 10 years and have a love affair with New York. It's only since I have moved to the countryside, that the words have really begun to flow. I live in a small village by the ocean and walk my little dog, Pip, every day. It’s on those beachside walks that I have all my best ideas. Writing has become a way of life – and one that I love to share.

Connect with Jane

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Twitter

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All Broke Down by Cora Carmack Blog Tour & Giveaway

All Broke Down

Cora Carmack

Rusk University #2

Release Date October 28, 2014

  

In this second book in New York Times and USA Todaybestselling author Cora Carmack s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can't only fight for what you believe in... sometimes you have to fight for what you love.

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians you name it, she's probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He's in for a different kind of fighting. And though he's arrogant and infuriating, she can't help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it's trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He's met girls like her before fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn't think he's broken, and he definitely doesn't need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about: his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

5 Pickle Smooches

Rusk is a private school.  Expensive and privileged.  People here tend to just assume that you come from a background like them ... - Silas

I am officially in luffs with the Rusk University series!  All Broke Down, the second book in the series, sealed the deal ... I'm hooked!  Cora's writing is solid, witty, and evokes the feels!

Silas and Dylan meet in jail of all places.  He sees her as the seemingly privileged, beautiful good girl and she sees him as the gorgeous yet troubled bad boy.  While their first impressions are spot-on in some respects, there is more to them both than meets the eye.

Silas is one screw up away from losing his spot on the Rusk University football team which means losing his scholarship.  Graduating from Rusk is Silas' only hope for making his former life a distant memory.  It doesn't help matters when his past shows up in the present and threatens to destroy everything he's built.  Out of desparation, maybe even lust or maybe even something else, Silas turns to Dylan for help.

I completely connected with these characters.  Every emotion they experienced and shared, I was right there with them.  The chemistry between Silas and Dylan is smokin' hot and beyond that ... Silas is just in a league of his own.

As much as I loved All Lined Up (and I did love it!), I loved All Broke Down so much more!  Cora kicked the steam factor up a notch or two and, well, it is Silas!  Yes, there is emotional turmoil and, yes, there is angst but Cora also brings the LOL's and I LOVE that!

Dear World ... In case you missed it, Silas Moore is jaw-dropping, mind-blanking, word-fumbling gorgeous.
And he made me a sandwich.
I think that means I'm winning.
At everything. Or maybe that's just the marijuana. - Dylan

If you're anything like me, you have a million books on your kindle and your TBR has more than enough reading material to last most people a lifetime!  That is the *only* excuse I have for not picking up a Cora Carmack book sooner.  I mean, seriously ... you only hear great things about her books ... it's just a matter of deciding to read one.  And I'm so glad I did!  And I'm so glad that I started with this amazing series!!

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Links:

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Author Goodreads

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LOVING MR. DANIELS

 

Synopsis:

 To Whom it May Concern,

It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.

When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.

When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.

Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.

It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.

It was ours.

And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for loving Mr. Daniels.

-Ashlyn Jennings

Purchase:

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5+++ smooches

There is something about the tragic stories of Shakespeare. It’s as if we all know how it will end, but the adventure makes it worth it.

This is how I feel about these forbidden romances.  You know it is a train wreck… a heart-break waiting to happen and yet you have to experience it.   And, what an experience Loving Mr. Daniels is!  I have a new author crush on Ms. Cherry!  She seriously blew me away.  This is her DEBUT novel… WHAT?!??!  Still can’t believe that!  This is in my top three reads this year and absolutely somewhere in my top ten ever!

Let me start with our MCs.,  Ashlyn and Daniel.  Oh how I loved them both.  These two have each been through extreme heartbreak and find everything missing in their lives in the wrong place, each other. 

I hated that I couldn’t tell her how beautiful she looked each and every day. I hated that, when she walked into my classroom, I had to pretend that she wasn’t on my mind…. I hated how close we were but how distant we felt.

This starts off like most student/teacher romances.  Girl and guy meet… there is an intense connection… walk into the first day of class and tadah!!!!   That’s about where the similarities end though. 

What makes Loving Mr. Daniels more special than all of the others out there?  The writing for one.  It is so fluid… so poetic.  The FEELS!  From the first chapter I was on an emotional roller-coaster.  From grieving to giddy, swooning to heart-broken, from extreme hilarity one moment to raging mad the next…  this book takes you on a journey.  More than one actually.  This isn’t just Daniel and Ashlyn’s story.  So many relationships  are formed, tested, lost…   It is a rare thing to feel as connected to supporting characters as the MCs but Brittainy does it and does it beautifully.  Gabrielle and Ryan… WOW!  I won’t even go into who these characters are bc I won’t spoil anything but they touched me to my soul. 

Being a teenager is a curse and a gift. It's the age where fairytales cease to exist and Santa isn't real but parts of our hearts want to say 'What if...

With all of the tragedy… and there is a lot in Loving Mr. Daniels.  There is also love and trust.  Above all there is hope.  Where would any of us be without that?  This is a book I feel that just about everyone can relate to and will be touched by.  I cannot say enough good things.  If you haven’t read it yet, seriously move it to the top of your TBR. You will not be sorry!

5 Smooches

Anyone on this planet would be lucky if they had the chance to love Mr. Daniels.

Yet I was the luckiest.  Because for a moment he loved me back. - Ashlyn

Holy tear-jerker Batman!

I put off reading this book for a bit ... I wasn't in the mood for another student-teacher romance.  I'd recently read one and just wasn't feeling it. 

Someone really should've smacked some sense into me!  Loving Mr. Daniels is phenomenal!  Yes, it is a student-teacher romance but it is SO, SO much more.

There are so many facets to this story that I didn't expect.  Brittainy explores many different relationships and the complexities of them in ways that I was not expecting.  This book made me cry too many times to count.  This book made me swoon too many times to count.  This book made me feel so happy and so sad at the exact same moment too many times to count.  Brittainy is clearly an emotional master manipulator.

I love you slowly...

I love you deeply...

I love you quietly...

I love you powerfully...

I love you unconditionally...

I love you gently and hard, slow and fast.  Before time and after...

I love you because I was born to do so...  -Daniel

Seriously.  *SWOON*

Even though there is a forbidden element to the story, there is absolutely no 'ick factor'.  Ashlyn and Daniel are close in age and they met before they realized their relationship was off-limits.  Her estranged father being the assistant principal only complicates matters.

I strongly recommend this book ladies!  It is a definite must-read and worth ever single tear.  And there will be many I promise.  This is my first Brittainy Cherry read and it most definitely won't be my last.

What Our Readers Thought:

We read Loving Mr. Daniels with our fantastic reading group!  Here is what some of the girls had to say!

Brandi:

"I expected to like Loving Mr. Daniels based on the positive reviews I had seen....what I didn't expect was to LOVE this book. One of my favorites of 2014. A beautiful, heartfelt, and emotional love story that made me live and experience every single word Brittiany wrote."

Hilarie:

"This was one of the most well written books I have ever read! I could feel the chemistry from the moment Daniel and Ashlyn met and the array of emotions I went through with this book was crazy."

  

Jennifer:

"Definitely took me on an emotional ride. I was worried that this was going to be yet another forbidden teacher student romance; I am happy to say this book was so much more! The connection between Ashlyn and Daniel jumps off the page."

Donna:

 "A five star read, made me ugly cry!"

Twosome Tuesday: Bang by EK Blair

They say when you take revenge against another you lose a part of your innocence.
But I’m not innocent.
I haven’t been for a very long time.
My innocence was stolen from me. Taken was the life I was supposed to have. The soul I was born with. The ruby heart embedded in a life full of hopes and dreams.

Gone.
Vanished.

I never even had a choice.
I mourn that life. Mourn the what-ifs.
Until now.
I’m ready to take back what was always meant to be mine.

But every plan has a fatal flaw. Sometimes it’s the heart.

**Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only as some scenes may be particularly disturbing.**

Amazon | B&N | Ibooks

5 - beautiful & tragic f-ed up SMOOCHES

Mind-fuckery at its finest.

Seriously.

This book had me reeling and talking about it FOR DAYS with my BBs (blogging besties).  I've been racking my brain trying to come up with the best way to review this book without giving anything away because anyone who spoils this book is an a$$hole.  You *MUST* experience it without knowledge of what goes on.  Period.

I really, really loved this book .... cliff hanger and all.  Yes, there is a WICKED cliff hanger but it's so worth it not to wait.  Trust me on this.

I loved the book's heroine Nina.  She is scheming up one heck of a payback and while I totally don't get why she's directing it at Bennett, I completely see why she feels the need to blame someone for changing her life so tragically.  Her childhood is HORRIFIC and makes her current state of existence understandable.  She is a survivor, plain and simple.  Yet the transformation she makes gives me so much hope for her and the life I want her to have.

There is so much I want to say about the men (yes MEN) in her life but, again, I don't want to spoil anything.   Pike, Declan, and Bennett are easy to love and just as easy to hate depending on where you are in the book.

*sigh* this is frustrating.

E.K.'s writing is flawless and poetic.  And dirty.  So, dirty.   I think she just might be brilliant.  The story is captivating .... I was engaged from start to finish.  And I have no doubt I will stalk E.K. until the series continues.

This book is not for everyone.  I had to step a bit out of my comfort zone (there is some abuse that is hard to stomach) but I still loved it.  Bang is one ride wild .... one I highly recommend!

4.5- “Life’s cruel, and I’m its bitch.”- Smooches!

Well, hell.  I have put off writing this review for a few weeks now… hoping something brilliant would come to me and I am still as emotionally drained and fudged in the head as I was then.  So, here goes nothin’!

“The heart is a weapon—a self-inflicting weapon—that if not trained properly, can destroy a person.”

Nina, our heroine is all sorts of screwed up.  She has had a shit life and the flashbacks to her past ripped me apart.  I’ve read that some did not connect with her and that is unfortunate because I totally did.  My heart ached for this tortured girl.  She was taught early on to harden her heart, not to feel and she could survive anything

.

The hero…  there isn’t really ONE hero.  There are three guys in Nina’s life, all completely in love with her.  I guess we could call them past, present, and future.  I can’t say too much about these men without giving the story away and this is a book that you do NOT want ruined.  It is interesting to see how they all fit into the web Nina is spinning.

This review is so vague but really it has to be.  All I can say is WOW.   This mind fuck was SO unexpected.  Did you read Ryan and Candace??? That sweet romantic love story.  Well, if you have any preconceived notions about EK’s writing… throw those out of the window now.  This is no fairytale…   Bang is dark and gritty and filled with suspense.  It was twist after jaw dropping twist.  I literally hung my mouth and said WTF?!? more than just a few times.  That ending… just EPIC!!!  I had one hell of a hangover and am DYING to know what happens in the next book.  Yes, it ends in a cliffie and while usually I recommend and hold off on reading a series until all books are out, I wouldn’t advise waiting on Bang.  I think the story is SO freaking good and unforgettable that you won’t need to reread when book two comes out.  

Why 4.5 and not 5 stars?  Agh I debated with this but there is one INSANE act in this book that still is not sitting well with me.  I think had this thing happened with Nina’s past guy rather than her future, I could have accepted it more.  But, it just didn’t fit IMO and left me really grossed out.  Taking out that one crude instance and this would have been a five star for me!  I loved it.  Great job EK!!!!!  I NEED book two… soon!!!