Review: The Pursuit of Marriage by Victoria Alexander

Amazon

Book Description:

What lengths would a young lady go to in her pursuit of the perfect match?

And how far would a gentleman go to stop her?

Cassandra Effington is one of the most delicious debutantes to ever waltz across a London ballroom. But while her identical twin sister Delia is now wed, Cassandra is still unclaimed, and everyone agrees her standards are entirely too high. So how could she possibly lose a most unseemly wager with the handsome, scandalous Viscount Berkley? The proposition: She will find him an ideal bride well before he finds her the perfect match.

But Lord Berkley intends to be very hard to please. He's already chosen the right woman, and no lady Cassandra puts forward to him will be perfect enough save the luscious Cassandra herself. And he'll do whatever it takes to make certain no gentleman he introduces her to is enticing enough, until she realizes that the perfect object in her pursuit of marriage is none other than the viscount himself.

Paperback, 400 pages

Published May 25th 2004 by Avon (first published 2004)

ISBN

006051762X (ISBN13: 9780060517625)

edition language

English

original title

The Pursuit of Marriage (Effingtons, Book 8)

series Effingtons #8

characters; Cassandra Effington, Reginald Berkley

setting: London, England, 1821 (United Kingdom)

My Review:

At first I just couldn't get into this book,so I put it down for quite some time.  I think it was more because I was burnt out on the genre. But I did pick it back up and finish it!
I am happy I decided to finish this book.  It made me laugh so much.
I fell in love with Viscount Berkley and all his little plans.
Remember even the best laid plans fail!
Cassandra Effington is very outspoken, I connected with her.  She has always wanted to marry "Lord Perfect".  But as she is now realizing Lord Perfect is perfectly hard to find and may not be what she wants after all!
This story will have you giggling throughout! A terrific reads

Dream Nights With the CEO Blog Tour and giveaway

Dream Nights BCC:

Hotel chain CEO and millionaire Wyatt Monroe is a stick in the mud. Sure, he's hot as sin, even with the tie, but free-spirited assistant Megan Bradford refuses to jeopardize their perfect working relationship. Why mess that up with sex? She knows he's the love 'em and leave 'em type, and she's determined to find a family man.

Wyatt would never cross the line between boss and employee with Megan, no matter how hard it might be to resist the temptation. But when they visit a mysterious B&B in a bid to acquire the property, he starts having erotic dreams about the sexy brunette that make it hard to resist her in daylight. 

Soon the line between reality and dreams further blurs when they learn they were sharing the same erotic dreams… 

Dream Nights Cover:

Title: Dream Nights with the CEO

Author: Kathy Lyons

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 2013

Imprint: Brazen

Dream Nights buy links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

 

Dream Nights with the CEO
by Kathy Lyons
Entangled Publishing May 2013

 My Review:

 I recieved an ARC of this wonderful book for review from the Entangled Publishing group.  And Let me say. I was thrilled to be picked!!!  Thank you Kym from Entangled Publishing and the Jade Lee/Kathy Lyons team.

I just love the cover first, just had to say that, the colors are my favorite colors. Very intriguing, a tad bit of the paranormal thrown in to spice it up a little.
We all have our dream man, and dream of him often.  Don't deny, you know you do!  We also have our nightmares. Well, what if you were having your routine dream or nightmare and wham! your dream man appears and you get all hot and bothered?  If you want to find out, just read how it happened to Megan.
Megan is your everyday Personal Assistant, working for a HOT CEO.  Wyatt is just an average hot, young CEO.
Megan and Wyatt are each having dreams about each other while on a business trip.  They each have the hots for the other, but the other doesn't know.  I love that the main characters really feel for one another and then it all finally comes out!  Megan and Wyatt are totally in sync with each other professionally and it progresses into personally. To me, that's how a real relationship should work. This book will cover everything all romance readers love!

And of course to have the meddling mom, there is always someone meddling in a story!
4.5 stars!! Makes me want to find a B&B and spend the night!! 

 

Kathy Lyons Bio (aka Jade Lee):

A USA Today Bestseller, JADE LEE has been scripting love stories since she first picked up a set of paper dolls. Ball gowns and rakish lords caught her attention early (thank you Georgette Heyer), and her fascination with the Regency began. And as a Taurus, she lives to pit a headstrong woman against a tortured hero just to watch them butt heads on the way to true love. Flesh wounds are rare, but the healing and laughter are real.

Now an author of more than 30 romance novels, she finally gets to set these couples in the best girl-heaven of all: a Bridal Salon! This way she gets to live out all her wedding fantasies, one by one. (Let’s be honest, what girl has only one idea for her dream wedding?)

And don’t forget Jade’s other name, KATHY LYONS. That’s Jade’s lighter, contemporary side she’s writing for Entangled Publishing and what

Dream Nights is all about!  For more on Kathy visit her on her website, Facebook, or Twitter.      

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Review: Kissing the Maid of Honor by Robin Bielman

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

ebook, 230 pages

Published May 13th 2013 by Entangled: Bliss 

 

 

Book Description:

Kissing her best friend's brother never felt so right…

Sela Sullivan is resolved to be the best maid of honor ever, even if it means tolerating the best man. Insufferable, too-handsome Luke Watters is not only the guy who humiliated her at a kissing booth in high school, but he also happens to be her best friend’s older brother. Positive he’s the same arrogant jock, Sela vows to focus on her duties and steer clear of the frustrating—and frustratingly tempting—Luke.

As a world-renowned extreme-sports photographer, Luke is used to undertaking life-risking adventures. But risking his heart for the beautiful Sela Sullivan, who clearly still hates him for his rejection all those years ago? He didn’t see that coming. Sela inspires a passion he’s never known, and the more time they spend together, the more he craves her. But can he prove to the maid of honor he’s become a man of honor?

My Review

I was given this by the author for an honest review.

A story of true best friends, Vanessa and Sela. A wish gone terribly wrong, Sela went to the town's wishing well and wished that Luke (Vanessa's brother) would stay far away from her during Vanessa's wedding. After her wish she finds out that not only is Luke already in town, he will be the Best Man (she is the Maid of Honor) and he will be taking all the pictures of all the wedding activities.
Sela has always had a crush on Luke, but in high school he embarrassed her. The first day Luke sees Sela, he doesn't recognize her, she is able to show him how she has changed and what he missed while he's been traveling the world as a photographer.
As the story flows we see Sela and Luke falling in love and it really is romantic how it unfolds. Very true to life, unlike alot of romance novels we read. Sela tries to hide it from her best friend, but must confide and Vanessa takes it all in stride.
My favorite part is when Sela thinks Luke is leaving for an assignment after the wedding and he surprises her in front of his family and the whole town. The endings are not always my favorite part, but for this book it definitely was!
Highly recommend this book, it might even go on my reread list!!!

Review: Forever My Lady by Jeff Rivera

Amazon
(The covers are different on Goodreads and Amazon. This cover is from Goodreads.)

Book Description:

A Contemporary Romance | New Adult | Award-Winning Book

#4 Bestselling Book on Amazon
#1 Bestselling Teen Romance
#1 Bestselling Contemporary Romance
over 30,000 eBooks downloaded in 3 Days!

Dio Rodriguez grew up on the streets and knew all too well the hard, cool feeling of the barrel of a gun tucked down the back of his jeans. But his hard exterior softened when he met Jennifer. Jennifer understands Dio like no one else and makes him want to be a better man. Suddenly a drive-by shooting lands Dio in a prison boot camp and sends Jennifer to the hospital. When Dio learns that Jennifer is pregnant, he realizes that he must find a way to turn his life around and return to his lady. But can trainee Rodriguez get his act together among the hardcases in prison? And will Jennifer be waiting for him if and when he does?
(From Amazon)

My Review:

I thought that this was a descent love story but could use some work on the storyline.
First, the beginning of the book is actually the end of the book. I would rather have had all the back story first then the ending. But instead we got the ending twice.
And I loved the love letters between Dio and Jennifer while he was in boot camp, but I didn't understand half of them because they were in Spanish. Not that its a bad thing, but for someone who doesn't understand the language you kinda loose the feelings.
And I would've liked to have a bit more information on Dio's mom and brother once he gets out of boot camp. More on how Dio and his mom resolved their issues.
I did have times where I just wasn't interested in reading anymore, and I did want to quit reading a few times but I kept going. 
( I was given this book by the author for an honest review)
I was very surprised by alot of the reviews I saw on Amazon.  But I get it, most reviews that show up on there are the good reviews.  But on Goodreads.com you will see some more honest reviews.  And some more like mine that show the reader wasn't impressed much by the story.  

Whats Going On.

So my life has been pretty busy and I haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd make a little post on whats going on.  And find out whats going on with all of you!
I have read just a few books, and I really need to get my reviews posted.  I am so behind on that and reading. 
Let me just say, that I am loving life in our new house!!!! Only thing is, its way way bigger than the tiny house we moved out of and there is WAY more to clean.  and some how I think laundry double more there are NOT more people in the house.  But we are definitely able to do more.  We have more room to play inside and outside as well.  We are staying active for sure, as long as its not raining.  We try to go out.  My oldest has been playing basketball in the driveway, and the youngest rides her bike in the driveway.  My hubby and I will also take her around the block, but couple weeks ago when I did that-she took off>  Mommy had to run around the block!
On Mother's Day, it was nice although quiet, I only had one of the four kids at home.  The little one talked her daddy into taking me out for breakfast, but we got up late and everywhere was way packed.  That's ok.  So she and I planted some flower seeds then saw a snake!  Hubby the hero disposed of that!  Then I went to visit my mom- and my other two kids were there!!!! They had made me little baskets while they were at their other grandmother's house.

My son filled his with Hershey's Kisses and my daughter had gotten a tiny plant for me.  My stepson spent the weekend with his real mom-as he should. 
Yesterday (Wednesday) my mom took me and my youngest out to get our nails done!  Callie is 4years old, so this was thrilling for her!! And of course she picked her favorite color, orange. 

Back to books and whats going on here.
Reviews coming:  Kissing the Maid of Honor by Robin Bielman,  Dream Night with the CEO by Kathy Lyons and Forever My Lady by Jeff Rivera.    Just to name a few.
I have two more books for upcoming giveaways.
I will be doing an update post for the reading challenges that I signed up for. 
Here at home, I am trying to update my book spreadsheet that I have.  I have a full 3-ring binder with my most read authors and all of their books, I mark off the ones that I have or have read.  But unfortunately  I haven't updated it in forever.  I need to get to work on that, so that when the library book sale comes around I don't buy any repeats!

So my fellow readers, whats going on with you?  Do you have alot of books on your TBR list?  Any plans for Memorial Day weekend?  Any books to recommend to the rest of us?
I love hearing from all of you, even if I don't respond to each and everyone of you.

Bought, Borrowed & Bagged

BB&B (Bought, Borrowed and Bagged) is a weekly meme, inspired my The Story Siren and Pop Culture Junkie, where we share with you the books that we have bought, borrowed or bagged (won) plus a recap of the previous week's reviews, upcoming reviews, on going events and any news we want to share with our followers. 

 Bagged

 Gifts from Aneesa Price

 

Immortally Embraced by Angie Fox

Oceans of Red Volume Two by Willow Cross

Ghosts and Lovers by Aneesa Price

Bought

Freebies on Amazon

The Accidental Demon Slayer  by Angie Fox

 Kallos by Khelsey Jackson

Lord of Devil Isle by Connie Mason 

The Queen's Guard, Violet by Traci Hall