Mini Reviews: Ward Against Death, Everything Everything, A Boy Called Cin

Here's a collection of mini reviews I was supposed to write forever ago but just got around to recently (why am I like this). In the case for most of these, I read them a year or two ago so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I did make sure to comment on things that really stuck out to me in particular.

Release Day Blitz (Review & Excerpt): Living Out Loud by Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn

Author: Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, M/M
Release Date: September 7, 2017

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Ben Emerson has lived by his minister father’s rules most of his life. Born into an ultra-conservative church community, he’s finally brave enough to break free and move to San Francisco. Distancing himself certainly helps create a new mindset, but living as an openly gay man takes some getting used to. When he reaches out to Xavier, a childhood friend who lives in the city, Ben isn’t sure how he’ll respond given their thorny history. Ben hopes the familiar connection will help him right some wrongs as well as provide the solace he’s been craving.

Xavier Ramos is who he is, and he doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks. Whether it’s eyeliner, nail polish, tattoos or his love of hooking up, he uses his body as a form of self-expression but doesn’t let anyone get too close. When Ben reenters his life, Xavier helps him experience the city and feel comfortable in his own skin. Seeing the world through Ben’s eyes, he begins to wonder if he’s also not living as freely as he thought. 

When Xavier challenges Ben’s beliefs about sex, it becomes explosive—for both of them. Xavier breaks apart Ben’s sheltered world and shows him what it’s like to live out loud. The more time they spend together, the more Xavier begins to long for Ben in a different way—one that both surprises and scares him. But real life doesn’t fade into the background, so when Ben’s past comes knocking, old habits are hard to break. Testing the foundation of their deepening connection will take a trust that will either bind them…or tear them apart. 

Review: Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan

Author: Heidi Cullinan
Genre: NA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 8, 2017
Source: Netgalley

Summary From Goodreads: 

A single stroke can change your world.

Xander Fairchild can’t stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he’s forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour. 

Skylar’s life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander’s artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There’s something about the antisocial artist’s refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn’t dared to speak aloud, even to himself.

Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.

Review: The Impossible Vastness of Us by Samantha Young

Author: Samantha Young
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: June 27, 2017
Source: ARC provided by bookstore

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: 

I know how to watch my back. I’m the only one that ever has.
India Maxwell hasn’t just moved across the country—she’s plummeted to the bottom rung of the social ladder. It’s taken years to cover the mess of her home life with a veneer of popularity. Now she’s living in one of Boston’s wealthiest neighborhoods with her mom’s fiancé and his daughter, Eloise. Thanks to her soon-to-be stepsister’s clique of friends, including Eloise’s gorgeous, arrogant boyfriend Finn, India feels like the one thing she hoped never to be seen as again: trash.

But India’s not alone in struggling to control the secrets of her past. Eloise and Finn, the school’s golden couple, aren’t all they seem to be. In fact, everyone’s life is infinitely more complex than it first appears. And as India grows closer to Finn and befriends Eloise, threatening the facades that hold them together, what’s left are truths that are brutal, beautiful, and big enough to change them forever…

Blog Tour Excerpt & Review: Regret by Christina Lee

Author: Christina Lee

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, M/M, New Adult
Release Date: June 26, 2017
Format: eARC

My Rating: 3 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: 

When Brian “Brin” Schubert’s condo floods, he takes his co-worker up on the offer to stay on his crappy futon for a while. The last thing he expects is for his friend’s roommate to be the one guy he despises the most. The same guy who stomped on his heart senior year of high school. And by the looks of the girl on his arm, the same man who’s still deep inside the closet. 

Nicholas Dell never predicted that eleven years later, one of his greatest regrets would show up on his doorstep down on his luck. Nick has made some terrible mistakes—story of his life—and he’s been paying for them ever since. And if the guilt and shame aren’t enough, his first crush had to turn into one of the sexiest men he’s ever laid eyes on. 

Nick and Brin have weeks to steer clear of each other. Weeks to avoid strangling each other. But when stubbornness leads to skyrocketing sexual tension, hate-sex doesn’t seem like such an awful way to work through their frustration. Except hate is a powerful emotion, especially when it’s turned inward. And in Nick’s case he’s been drowning in a sea of self-loathing for so long, he can’t see his way out. 

As Brin reconnects with Nick, his perception of what really happened in their past begins to change. He’s finally ready to forgive him and take a second chance on the one guy who stirs him like no other. But Nick’s demons are complicated, heart-wrenching…demanding. So devastating, he might never allow himself true happiness—even with the one man who’s always owned his heart.

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Tattered Gloves by JL Berg

  

Author: JL Berg
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 24, 2017

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary:

Head down.

Don’t look up. 

Never make eye contact.

Those were the words I lived by growing up, the words that protected me in an unsafe home. But words are only letters and eventually even they couldn’t keep his hands off me. 

Hoping to leave behind the shattered life of my past, I find myself in a boring, small town, with an aunt I’ve never met and at a school I loathe.

But soon I learn, not everything in this world is as black and white as I’ve determined. Sometimes those we are so quick to judge often need a second, third or even fourth time to make a first impression.

And often, there are friendships and even love waiting just around the corner, if we are brave enough to take the first step.

Am I brave? Or will I hide behind these tattered gloves of mine forever? 

Blog Tour & Excerpts: Lucian Divine by Renee Carlino

Author: Renee Carlino
Genre: NA, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy/Paranormal
Release Date: January 9, 2017

Summary: 

“My guardian angel is a drunk.”

Evelyn Casey's life is at a standstill. She's in her mid-twenties, struggling with the dating scene in San Francisco. Nothing seems to be working out, and she’s starting to think that she’ll live out her days in her crummy apartment with her overbearing roommate, Brooklyn. It's absurd, but sometimes Evey longs for a guardian angel to show up and save the day.

And then he does. Seriously. His name is Lucian and he's a guardian angel, been on the job for two thousand years. His sudden presence in her life is both good—he's brilliant, witty, and warm—and bad—he's brilliant, witty, warm, and hot as -- --. But as perfect as Lucian seems, he’s got problems of his own. He’s taken up drinking and he’s brazenly inserted himself into Evey’s life, going against the greatest cosmic law ever created.

For Evey, the rules are simple: You are not allowed to hook up with your guardian angel. But sometimes fulfilling your destiny requires a leap of faith, a confrontation with God.

Yes, God as in God.

Waiting on Wednesday #46

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

Author: Leila Sales
Title: Tonight the Streets are Ours
Series: None
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Summary From Goodreads: 
Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.
Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.
During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that 

Blog Tour: Love Always, by Candace Knoebel and Sonya Loveday

Author: Candace Knoebel and Sonya Loveday
Series: None
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Source: Publisher

My Rating:  Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

I’ve met boys like him before. Rich. Bored. Always wearing a silver-spooned smile. But there is something different about him that piques my curiosity. The way he looks at me, like he is staring through the bars of a gilded cage he’s never left. Like he is one breath away from suffocating beneath a mound of responsibilities. He is different from the rest because he doesn’t wear his money… his money wears him. I just don’t think he knows it yet.

She’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. She’s everything I’ve never been able to be. Carefree. Whimsical. A dreamer. Her laugh is infectious. She is irresistible. I can’t help but be drawn to her with an intensity that steals my breath and muddles my senses. I want to know her, need to know her, but how can I allow myself that liberty when I don’t have the freedom to make my own choices? Phillip and Maggie think they have it all. Even though they come from opposite backgrounds, they each have bright futures paved out, with no distractions holding them back. Until the fateful day they meet each other. After a brief, adventurous time together in The Hamptons, Maggie and Phillip find themselves saying goodbye just as the spark of love flashes intensely between them. Can their budding connection be enough to survive the pulling tides of change, or will they drift apart before they even have a chance to explore what could have been?

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Life After Falling by Alyssa Rose Ivy

I'm so excited to share the cover of Life After Falling by Alyssa Rose Ivy!

Genre: NA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 15, 2015

Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs!

Summary: One tangled cassette tape. Two tangled lives. Cassidy snaps. She quits her job and fiancé all in the same day and ends up on her parents’ doorstep. In the midst of everything she is determined to fix a broken cassette tape that she thinks holds the key to rediscovering happiness. On her quest to fix the tape she meets Leo, a guy as down on his luck as she is lost. What starts with curiosity leads to something resembling a relationship and maybe a chance at love.

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.

Blog Tour: Heart-Shaped Hack by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Summary From Goodreads: 

When Kate Watts abandoned her law career to open a food pantry in Northeast Minneapolis, she never

dreamed it would be this difficult. Facing the heartbreaking prospect of turning hungry people away, she is grateful for the anonymous donations that begin appearing at the end of each month. Determined to identify and thank her secret benefactor, she launches a plan and catches Ian —a charismatic hacker with a Robin Hood complex—in the act.

Ian intrigues Kate in a way no man ever has. But after learning he’s snooped around on her personal computer, she demands retribution. Impressed with her tolerance and captivated by her spirit, he complies and begins to slowly charm his way past her defenses. Time spent with Ian is never boring, and Kate soon finds herself falling for the mysterious hacker.

But Ian has enemies and they’re growing restless. In the hacking world, exploiting a target’s weakness is paramount, and no price is too high to stop an attack. And when Kate learns exactly how much Ian has paid, she’ll discover just how strong her love is for the man who has hacked his way into her heart.

Waiting on Wednesday #44

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

Author: J. Lynn
Title: Forever with You
Series: Wait for You
Genre: NA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Summary From Goodreads: 
Some things you just believe in, even if you've never experienced them. For Stephanie, that list includes love. It's out there. Somewhere. Eventually. Meanwhile she's got her job at the mixed martial arts training center and hot flings with gorgeous, temporary guys like Nick. Then a secret brings them closer, opening Steph's eyes to a future she never knew she wanted—until tragedy rips it away.
Nick's self-assured surface shields a past no one needs to know about. His mind-blowing connection with Steph changes all that. As fast as he's knocking down the walls that have kept him commitment-free, she's building them up again, determined to keep the hurt—and Nick—out. But he can't walk away. Not when she's the only one who's ever made him wish for forever...

Release Day Blitz & Giveaway: Exposed by Brighton Walsh

Hey guys! I'm so excited that EXPOSED is out today! If you're a fan of suspensful new adult romance novels, then this is the perfect book for you! Don't forget to enter the Giveaway at the end of the post and check out my review of EXPOSED coming up later this month!

Cover Reveal: Love Always by Sonya Loveday & Candace Knoebel

Title: Love Always,

Authors: Sonya Loveday & Candace Knoebel

Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 25th, 2015

Cover Reveal: Diamonds are Forever (Secret Diamond Sisters #3) by Michelle Madow

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas … but that doesn’t matter when you live there. Sisterhood, first crushes and scandalous secrets explode in book three of Michelle Madow’s The Secret Diamond Sisters.

Title: Diamonds are Forever

Author: Michelle Madow

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: October 27, 2015

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Series: The Secret Diamond Sisters #3

Format: Print

ISBN: 978-0-37321-152-4

Trailer Reveal: Nowhere but Here by Katie McGarry

\Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Thunder Road
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 26, 2015

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Summary From Goodreads: 

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer 

vacation among relatives she never knew she had, on 

thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both. Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down. No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Release Day Blitz: Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London

Don’t miss the release of Entangled Crush’s first book, Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London!

Book Blitz: Deep Blue Eternity by Natasha Boyd

DEEP BLUE ETERNITY

by Natasha Boyd 

NA Contemporary Romance

Published by Eternal Romance: March 26th, 2015

Summary:

Livvy is on the run. And she’s escaped to the one place nobody will ever find her. But the isolated cottage isn’t empty. Her refuge is home to a troubled stranger, Tom, there for reasons of his own. 

In the intimacy of the abandoned cottage, and the remote wilderness of the island, the electrifying connection between them is impossible to ignore. Both running from their histories and shielding dark secrets, their pasts catch up with them and collide in an unimaginable way.

Deep emotions and powerful chemistry face a painful battle with the tangle of lies, and scars of the past. When the truth emerges, hearts will be shattered.

Waiting on Wednesday #34

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

Author: Emery Lord
Series: None
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: March 31, 2015 

Summary From Goodreads: 

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics. The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.
It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?