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Monday, January 31, 2022

BLACK HEART (BLACK'S BANDITS #5)


He’s untouchable. Unbreakable. 

She plans to destroy him.


Former CIA agent Ian Black has done terrible deeds. Sacrificed his honor and reputation for God and country. He’s a fighter and a survivor. His mission is to rid the world of scumbags who prey on innocent people.


No price is too high, and no one crosses him. Not for long, anyway.


But then Natasha Oliver walks in, threatening to expose the one thing Ian thought dead and buried: his heart.


Natasha’s innocence was ripped away years ago when she was thrown into prison for crimes her parents committed. Now, as the assassin Calypso, she intends to hunt down those responsible for what happened to her.


Including Ian Black. Getting involved with him is madness, but she made a vow - and she will do whatever it takes to keep it.


Until she discovers that the line between hate and love often stands on a razor’s edge...


Release Date: January 25, 2022

Black's Bandits #5

H.O.T. Publishing, LLC

Romantic Suspense

Review copy provided by publisher


Liza's Review:


With the exception of Mendez's book, which is pretty much my favorite book ever by Ms. Harris, I've wanted Ian Black's book more than any other book in any series by Lynn Raye Harris. All I can say is it was totally worth the wait!!!


Natasha Oliver, aka Calypso and Ian Black have been circling each other for years, and I knew once they finally got together, it would be magical and explosive. I loved every moment of this story. I know it was partly because I was so ready for this story, but honestly it was one that kept me totally engaged from page one. I loved Ian Black since he appeared on the page. He seems like such a bad boy, but the more time he's appeared in each story, the more I knew there was way more to his back story. Natasha is such an interesting character. As an assassin for the Syndicate, she has been a bad guy for much of the series, yet she seems to show up and save the day much like Ian Black. The chemistry between them has always be intense, but after they finally got together it was explosive it was so hot.


Readers were finally given the back stories for both Natasha and Ian, and all I can say is both were so heartbreaking, they brought me to tears. Honestly it only made me love each character even more than before. Black Heart was a book that pretty much kept me on the edge of my seat from page one. Ms. Harris delivered not only the book her readers have been waiting for, but she exceeded all expectations I had with this story. I fell in love with Ian and Natash as a couple, and loved getting to see them work together to make their life their own.


Rating: 5 Stars (A)

Thursday, January 27, 2022

MESSING WITH THE BARTENDER (MAID IN MIAMI #3)


Messing With The Bartender: Maid In Miami Book 3


When this single dad needs a wife to impress the Harvard of preschools…his first thought is to enlist the one person he knows can’t say no to him.


Alec: Ever since my world fell apart and I lost my beloved wife, my only priority is my three-year-old son. Before she died, I promised her I’d get our son into a super elite private preschool…I just didn’t know when I made that promise that I’d have to prove I’m married. I never planned to do that again, but if I have to, I will. The only option is trouble…bubbly, flirtatious Bianca Lopez who frequents my bar with her posse of friends. When I hit her with this crazy idea, she’s all in, thanks to her crush on me. Forget preschool. The one who’s learning that fake can be real is me…and I’m wondering if I can I open my heart to love again.


Bianca: It’s absolutely no secret that I’ve crushed on Alec The Hot Bartender for the better part of two years now. I’m not the type of person to be, well, subtle. But, despite all of my obvious advances, he seems to be pretty persistent in his avoidance of me. Until one night, when I find out he’s a widowed father to a sweet little boy, and he asks me to pretend to be his wife to get that boy into some bougie preschool. Kids are so not my thing…but Alec is. How can I say no? The only problem is this whole fake marriage is making me fall harder for him…and his adorable son. I know this man has already loved and lost, so I’m bound to get hurt. But for once in my life, I think I’ve found the family I never knew I needed…and I’m terrified I’m going to lose it.


Maid In Miami:

When five best friends graduate from business school, it’s time for these girls to take on the world. As dazzling, eccentric, and spirited as the city where they all grew up, these dynamos head home to Miami with big plans to launch a high-end housekeeping company. Offering a mix of beauty, brains, and business savvy, it doesn’t take long for Maid in Miami to attract the most elite clients in the glamorous city. That means they are now the maids for billionaires, rock stars, athletes, and South Florida’s most charming bachelors. It turns out, a girl can clean, tidy, and make a place sparkle…until a heartthrob sweeps her off her feet. Then, things can get really messy.


Don’t miss Maid In Miami…unforgettable romantic comedies that will have you laughing, swooning, cheering, and mopping up some happy tears.


Release Date: January 21, 2022
Palm Island Publishing
Maid in Miami #3
Romantic Comedy/Sweet Contemporary Romance
Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Messing With the Bartender is the 3rd installment in the Maid in Miami series by Breezie Bennett, and she delivers a wonderful romantic comedy once again. So many laugh out loud moments in this story, which pulls the reader in from the very first page.

Bianca has been flirting with Alec the bartender from pretty much the first time she and her friends were at Coconuts, with zero reaction on his part. So when he asks her for help getting his three-year-old son Dane into a fancy private pre-school, Bianca is totally unprepared, yet always up for a good time, and says yes.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved Bianca and Alec, and little Dane absolutely stole my heart. I loved that they truly became a family, even though the were only "playing pretend" to get Dane into the school of Alec's late wife's dreams. I loved seeing Bianca discover there was so much more about herself, especially when it came to kids. Alec and Bianca had really wonderful chemistry, and I liked how well they worked together to make a dream come true. I have to say Dane was such a refreshing and joyful character for me. I fell completely in love with this little boy, and loved seeing this little family become real. 

Messing With the Bartender was a great addition to the Maid in Miami series. I love Ms. Bennett features a different friend in each new book, yet always have plenty of friend time as well. I love this strong group of women, and can't wait to read each new book. Messing With the Bartender is a sweet and funny romance that will hit readers in all the right happy feels.


Rating: 4 Stars (B+)

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

UNFORGETTABLE IN LOVE (MAVERICK BILLIONAIRES #7)


Lyssa Spencer is the apple of the Maverick Billionaire's eyes, the sister they adore and vow to protect. But Lyssa isn’t a little girl anymore, and she wishes they could see she’s a grown woman who is perfectly able to take care of herself. Thankfully, her new boss, Cal Danniger, certainly appreciates and respects her abilities. And she appreciates Cal...in every way possible. Yet she can't imagine he’d ever consider dating her, not when her brothers would rip him limb from limb if he so much as looked at her the wrong way. But boy, does she ever want him to look at her exactly that way.


The Mavericks are Cal Danniger’s best friends, as well as his business partners. So when they ask him to watch over Lyssa by giving her a job in the San Francisco Bay Area, of course he agrees. While she impresses him with how smart, dependable, hard-working, and dedicated she is, he’s not at all prepared for the sizzling attraction that takes everything in him to try to fight.

After a passionate and unforgettable night in London that neither can resist, Cal vows never to let it happen again. But he can't stop thinking about her...or wanting her. Between a secret Lyssa is keeping from him, and with the Maverick Billionaires hellbent on protecting her at all costs, do they have any chance of finding a future together?

UNFORGETTABLE IN LOVE is part of Bella Andre and Jennifer Skully’s bestselling series about The Maverick Billionaires. While it can easily be read as a standalone story, you'll likely enjoy reading the other books too.

Release Date: January 20, 2022
Maverick Oak Press, LLC
The Maverick Billionaires #7
Contemporary Romance
Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Bella Andre and Jennifer Skully gave readers the book we have all been waiting for with Unforgettable in Love. Finally, Lyssa Spencer not only gets her story, but readers have another sexy billionaire to fall madly in love with as well.

Lyssa Spencer is the little sister to all the Mavericks, so she is basically off limits to any man they are friends with, and Cal Danniger is no exception when it comes to the Mavericks. However, Lyssa and Cal have the most incredible chemistry and they so get one another. I loved that Cal saw Lyssa as a strong and capable woman in a way no one in her family have even acted like they saw. I loved Cal and Lyssa as a couple so much from page one. I didn't love Cal was so distant with Lyssa at times even because he felt guilty about what each of the Mavericks would say. I could feel how much they wanted to be with one another and it almost broke my heart when Cal was trying to be so brave and stay away.

Lyssa has been one of my favorite characters in the series, and I knew she would have to have a really strong hero to take be able to stand up to all her brothers and not take any of their crap. While Cal freaked out longer than I expected, I still love him as a hero. He had some baggage from his past, so I gave him a pass on some of his behavior. I could feel how much he loved Lyssa, and I knew he was only trying to make everyone happy. Part of what I loved about Lyssa and Cal's relationship was their age difference. He is 20 years older than Lyssa, and yet they were absolutely perfect for each other. I seriously had all the happy feels for them, and loved their emotional story.

Unforgettable in Love was such an amazing addition to the Maverick Billionaires series of books, and I have high hopes with some of the new characters we met in this story, that we will get more stories in the future. Ms. Andre and Ms. Skully once again gave their readers a sexy and emotional story that will pull readers in from the very first page.


Rating: 5 Stars (A)

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

JUST ONE SPARK (THE KINGSTON FAMILY #4)


He’s a playboy rock star living the rock and roll dream...

Until a very real baby scare threatens to bring it all crashing down.

Dash Kingston has learned his lesson and knows his hard-partying lifestyle needs to change. To clean up his playboy image, he needs a fake girlfriend.

There’s just one problem: the perfect woman for the job is a gorgeous blonde who once aroused not just his body but his emotions, sending him running. And leaving her to wake up alone.

For the band’s sake, Cassidy Forrester agrees to play the girlfriend role, but she’s not going to fall for Dash’s charm or sex appeal ever again.

Except this Dash Kingston swears he’s a changed man, and he’s out to win Cassidy over - for good. But only a fool would make the same mistake twice, and Cassidy refuses to let their spark burn her a second time.

Release Date: January 18, 2022
CP Publishing
The Kingston Family #4
Contemporary Romance 
Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Just One Spark was an amazing addition to The Kingston Family series by Carly Phillips. I love a second chance romance, and Ms. Phillips absolutely knocked it out of the park with this story!!! Just One Spark is Dash Kingston’s story and it was totally worth the wait.

Dash has pretty much been a man-whore since the series started. The only woman who has ever made Dash look twice is Cassidy Forrester, who just happens to be the younger sister of his band’s new drummer. Of course the fact that Dash and Cassidy already hooked up and he left her alone in a hotel room because he totally freaked out is unknown to band mate Axel.  However, because of a baby scare, Dash needs a fake girlfriend, and Cassidy is the perfect choice since she is working with the band. 


Cassidy was pretty devastated when Dash was gone when she woke up after their night together. She already has so many trust and abandonment issues, but she is still willing to be Dash’s fake girlfriend if it will help out the band. 

I loved Dash and Cassidy together. They had the hottest chemistry, yet truly were friends as well. I think part of what I loved best was Dash working some hard to prove he was all in for a real relationship.  I’ve liked Dash in past books, but really thought he acted more like an overgrown kid, doing what he wanted without much thought of how it would effect others. He grew and changed so much over the course of this book, and I totally fell in love with him. 

Dash and Cassidy together gave me all the happy feels. They each had to give a little and open up about their pasts to make everything work for their future. This was a super sexy and emotional story and I loved every single moment.

Just One Spark was a beautiful and emotion filled story that i couldn’t put down. The Kingstons family series is one of my favorite from Carly Phillips. I’ve loved each sibling finding their own HEA, and can’t wait to get Aurora’s story next! 

Rating: 5 Stars (A+)

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

THE WEDDING SETUP BLOG TOUR


 About the Story


Title: The Wedding Setup

Author: Sonali Dev

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories


Summary


Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business.


Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how). But a setup arranged by her mother, with a doctor no less, is the last thing she needs. The fact that he checks all her mother’s boxes just makes everything better…and worse.


Then Emmitt Hughes shows up. Her brother’s best friend. The love she once chose over family duties and her responsibilities. The one she asked to leave, and who did. The one who knows the real Ayesha. Torn between a love from the past that could cost her the only person she has left and her sense of obligation to her mother, will Ayesha find the strength to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and finally put herself first? Or is the old Ayesha truly gone for good?


Author Biography



USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore universal issues. Her novels have been named best books of the year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and Kirkus Reviews. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for best contemporary romance, and multiple RT Seals of Excellence; has been a RITA finalist; and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog. 


Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3pWDqM8 


Social Media Links


Website: https://sonalidev.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SonaliDev.author 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sonali_Dev 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonali.dev/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7025918.Sonali_Dev 





Interview with Author Solini Dev

 

The Wedding Setup may be a short story, but it is tremendously powerful. How would you describe it to readers?

 

Thank you. It’s the story of a girl who used to be a rebel who followed her heart and fought for what she wanted, and then her brother’s death leaves her responsible for her widowed mother. It’s about being knocked off your feet and getting stuck, and learning how to stand back up and reclaim yourself.

 

The story invites us to take an intimate look into a mother-daughter relationship. This is a universal theme, however, you also steep the plot in your own Indian heritage. Can you tell readers what this story means to you as a daughter? What it means to you as an Indian woman?


There is so much of my own relationship with my mother in this book. We’ve always been incredibly close. She’s outspoken and confident and she modeled some powerful behaviors for me growing up about owning her own body and her voice. But there were the other parts where she was a product of her time and culture, believing in absolute terms that it is a woman’s duty to nurture her family, to marry ‘at the right time,’ to be a certain kind of mother. These are things she pushed hard. Things I internalized but also fought to do on my own terms and not hers. Ayesha’s relationship with her mother used to be this way, and then a tragedy changes their dynamic. So, it’s an exploration of how battles for identity get derailed by tragedy and grief and what it takes to heal.

 

Ayesha’s mom describes her as obedient, responsible, and “always putting everyone else before her own needs.” After hearing this Ayesha (internally) feels hypothermic. Can you explain how these seemingly sweet compliments completely destroy your heroine?

 

The mother-child bond comes with a kind of intuitive understanding of each other that’s unique to that relationship. So, while Ayesha has lost her fiery spirit and both she and her mother have lost years to their grief and struggle to survive, her mother knows who her daughter is deep down and how much she’s buried. So there’s a very nuanced intent to these ‘compliments’ and they hit the nerve they’re meant to hit. Ayesha’s reaction to these words is her dead parts coming back to life.

 

It only takes a moment—one second—for Ayesha to break free from her ice…a single word from Emmitt has her coming back to life. Why does she have such a powerful reaction to someone she hasn’t seen in seven years?


Ayesha had a crush on Emmitt for many years before they got together. She’s always had a strong reaction to him. The years they spent together as young adults were years when she came into herself, and felt seen and cherished. Then she loses all of that when her brother dies and they break up. So, it’s a combination of things that come together when Ayesha meets Emmitt again. They have a natural connection, but also, with his return come all the memories of who she used to be and how much she used to let herself feel.

 

Ayesha has never forgotten how Emmitt turns “her messy, impulsive, unfettered emotion into something beautiful.” But she has forgotten the effect that she has on him. What buried memories are uncovered as she watches Emmitt react to their reunion?

 

Emmitt has always dealt with the world and the pain it causes him by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But Ayesha destroys his defenses with her ability to love (and do everything else) so fiercely. So, when he loses her he’s already lost his ability to protect himself. Their joint grief is what separated them, so, while they understand each other’s pain they both also understand the loneliness of not having each other to lean on. They’ve had to make the journey to healing individually, but meeting each other again brings up the piece that needs the other to heal.

 

How did you get to know your couple? How were you able to understand what was needed to heal their broken hearts?


The one theme that threads through all my books is finding yourself on the tightrope between personal freedom and responsibility to family and community. Healing is always about finding or rediscovering your love for yourself. So, I understand my characters through that lens: how have they lost themselves? What about themselves do they need to reclaim and fall in love with? A truly connected couple is one who aids this journey in each other, recognizes it, and supports it.

 

In a limited number of pages you not only give readers a living, breathing couple, but also an avalanche of equally interesting characters like Ayesha’s best friend, suitor, aunties…and you even create depth with characters that are no longer living. Why was it so important to spend time with these secondary characters? What do they reveal about your hero and heroine?

 

I believe that as humans we are a sum total of our relationships and the world we live in and build for ourselves. How someone treats other people and how they respond to how they are treated is what constitutes character. 


At its heart, every story is about a person who is somehow at odds with the world they live in or with themselves because of the expectations of their world, and the journey they make to resolve that conflict. Ayesha wouldn’t be Ayesha without her mother and Bela, her best friend and the community she was raised in. Bela has been her wild other half growing up, then their paths diverged, but they continued to be each other’s support. Her mother has become a crutch she uses to hold on to her grief. Emmitt’s grief over his friend has run his life for seven years too. So the secondary characters are just as integral to the story as the protagonists.

 

While the plot focuses on grief, there is also great joy to be found. After all, the backdrop of the story is a giant wedding. What do you personally find the most fun at a traditional Indian wedding celebration?


I’m always only there for the food and dancing! Fine, and getting to dress up. And the wine. Also, maybe the chance to hang out with family and friends I only see at weddings. And the drunk aunties and uncles.

 

After readers devour The Wedding Setup, which of your other books would you recommend they read next?


First, thank you so much for devouring The Wedding Setup! I’m incredibly proud of my Raje series, a set of retellings of my four favorite Jane Austen novels set in a politically ambitious Indian American family from Northern California. Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors is a gender flipped Pride and Prejudice. Recipe for Persuasion is a two-generational homage to Persuasion set on a Food Network show. Incense and Sensibility, the love story between a gubernatorial candidate and a yoga therapist who can save him but also destroy his campaign, pays tribute to Sense and Sensibility. And the upcoming The Emma Project (May 17th 2022), which is a gender flipped Emma that explores what it means when a person with tremendous privilege offers charity to someone who has much less.


The Wedding Setup Excerpt 


Goose bumps rose across Ayesha’s skin, one sharp dot at a time. 


“Ayesha.” 


That was it. Just that one word. Her name. In a voice that was its own ghost. 


She squeezed her eyes shut. One tight squeeze. Tight enough to hurt, tight enough to almost dislodge the false eyelashes Andre had pressed into her lash line one by one with the precision of a surgeon. Then boom! she was in control again and back to Ayesha on Ice. 


Eyes blank, face set, she turned toward the voice. 


Emmitt


The impact of him was a body blow. 


The entire universe stilled. Words weren’t a thing. Or sound. Breath? What was that? 


Ayesha! Get a grip. 


No grip. That’s how it had always been. She’d had no grip when it came to Emmitt Hughes. Not even a little bit. Not when she’d spied on him and Ajay playing Mario Kart and Minecraft and GTA for hours, for years. Not when she’d yearned and dreamed and spun stories with him at the center. 


I’ve made my love for you, my god. 


It was the cheesiest of lines from one of those Bollywood songs her parents had played on repeat at the restaurant. Amma had loved translating the over-the-top lyrics and explaining their nuances.


Back when Amma was full of stories and songs and laughter. Before Ajay. 


Ajay. 


Her brother’s unspoken name fell between them like a glass bauble and shattered. 


“You remember Emmitt,” Edward had the gall to say. 


Bela shot him a glare. 


You didn’t tell me he would be here. Ayesha threw the silent accusation at her traitorous best friend, who gave her nothing more than another worried look. 


No, Eddie. Remind me again who he is? The snarky words stuck in Ayesha’s throat. Old Ayesha would have said them. Old Ayesha said everything. 


“Emmitt,” New Ayesha said, every feeling buried under her customer-is-king voice from the restaurant. “Nice to see you again.” 


His Adam’s apple bobbed in the long column of his throat. How was he still so darned beautiful? 


One swallow, and then he smiled back. Banking feelings where no one saw them had been his thing. Emmitt the Wall. That’s what Ajay had called him. Her brother had been best friends with him since Emmitt had moved to Naperville in fifth grade after his parents’ divorce. Years of friendship, and he’d still held Ajay at that slight distance he’d been so good at. Something she would always wish she hadn’t cured him of.


You broke me, Ayesha.You broke every defense I’ve ever had against the world. 


She, Ayesha Shetty—too tall, too dark, too outspoken, too intense, too ambitious, too everything for everyone else had been just enough to break through Emmitt the Wall. 


“It’s nice to see you too,” he said gently, sounding . . . she dug through her brain to come up with the right word. Grown-up? Contained? 


Good. Because Ayesha was all those things now too. Not a grenade with its fuse pulled, ready to blow up the world.


Liza's Review:


The Wedding Setup was a wonderful and emotional story from Sonali Dev. Ayesha has changed since her brother's death seven years ago. She no longer argues with her mother and tries to be the perfect daughter, and it truly a shell of her former self. When Emmitt walks back into her life, it seems his presence alone starts to break down the walls she has surrounded to keep her true self hidden.


I adored this novella length story so much. I could feel the love and emotions as I read, and I totally fell in love with Ayesha and Emmitt as a couple. I both laughed out loud and had all the happy feels from this story. Sonali Dev has been an auto-buy author for me from the moment I read her first book, and The Wedding Setup was another winner.


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