Release Day Review & Giveaway: Secretes of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl by Karen Booth

Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl by Karen Booth
Release Date: October 16, 2018
Length: 318 pages
Subgenre: Romantic Women’s Fiction

Book blurb:

As sisters, they tell each other all their secrets...except one.

With divorce and infidelity hanging from nearly every branch of her family tree, Katherine Fuller sees no point in marriage. Boyfriends? Sure. Sex? Of course. Wedding vows? No, thanks. Still, when her younger sister Amy gets engaged, Katherine gathers all the enthusiasm she can. She won’t let Amy down. She’s done enough of that for a lifetime.

As the sisters embark on wedding plans, Katherine’s college love resurfaces. It nearly killed Katherine to part from sexy Irish musician Eamon more than a decade ago, but falling under his spell a second time forces her to confront everything she hid from him. The secrets surrounding her mother’s death are still fresh and raw in her mind, but one has haunted her more than the others. She can’t bear to tell anyone, especially not Amy. It could ruin far more than a wedding. It could destroy a sister’s love forever.

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Excerpt 

Katherine and Irish musician Eamon had a super-steamy relationship 11 years ago that ended abruptly when she had to return to the US. Now he’s back in her life, but has been out on the road for a month. This is his return to see her in New York.

At ten on Sunday morning, Eamon showed up at my apartment dressed as the man in black. Black bomber jacket, black jeans, charcoal wool scarf wound around his neck. His dark hair was pushed back from his face, showing off his now-feral beard. His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. I could see how excited he was to be here. This unbelievable man was happy to see me.

“Hi.” I didn't know what else to say. I was so painfully aware of what we both wanted first from each other—everything we stopped short of doing at the Four Seasons.

He carefully set down a battered acoustic guitar case along the wall just inside the door. His canvas duffel didn't get the same treatment, forcefully flung across the floor. “I hope you had the sense not to make any plans today. We are not leaving this apartment.” His voice was rough and my head dizzied with the possibilities.

Plans. If only he knew. The sheets had been washed. Every square inch of my place was immaculate. I was not only wearing really nice underwear, it was a matching set. “I’m not dumb, you know.”

“Wasn’t saying you are. I didn’t want to take off your clothes and have you tell me you got tickets to see Hamilton.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s still impossible to get tickets.”

He smiled wide and uncoiled the scarf. “Funny. You’re funny.” He unzipped his jacket. My breaths got shallower with every tiny stretch of his skin. He looked skinny, and that made me want to feed him, but dammit, I had to focus. All the while, he didn't take his gray eyes off me. He wrapped one arm around my waist, dug the opposite hand into my hair, and nearly made me collapse on the floor with a whisper of a kiss on the corner of my mouth. There was tongue—the sweetest amount, except there was nothing sweet about it. The subtext was nothing but hot sex.

“I don't even get a hello?” I wanted to continue to be amusing or at least get my bearings before this happened. Why couldn't I shut up already and rip off his clothes?

“This is my hello.” He reached down and grabbed my ass, pulling my hips into his.

I smiled as our lips drifted closer together. “I like your hello. I like it a lot.”

“My hello misses you.” Skipping a real kiss, his mouth roamed to my neck. I closed my eyes and gave into his apparent need to torture me. Every inch of Eamon was meant for making me feel good. He was going to remind me of it. With meticulous detail.

  

What I thought about
Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl

I love it when a story pulls me in within the first few pages of Chapter 1 and Secrets definitely had my attention.  Katherine is a bit jaded about marriage and when her sister announces she's getting married, she's got to suck it up and not let her own feelings about holy wedlock cloud Amy's wedding and preparations.

It doesn't hurt that a former boyfriend, now musician and performer is in town.  When Amy takes Katherine to Eamon's concert, Katherine isn't sure what to expect.  She does know one thing and that is Eamon was a shining moment in her life, and even though it was ten years ago, no one has come close to Eamon in Katherine's eyes.

Eamon wants a second chance to see if they really had it all ten years ago, and even though Katherine is nervous about what letting heart go might bring, she can't turn her back on this second chance.

I really loved this story. Katherine has some secrets that she's going to have to spill if she has any chance of making it work and that's really tough for her to do.  That's the crux of the story that plays out during the preparations for her sister's wedding.  Katherine has good reason to not want to put her heart out there, and Eamon is going to have to shatter all of her preconceived notions that all marriages fail.  

I also really liked the story between Katherine and her sister Amy and the family secrets that have colored both of their lives.  Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl really had it all for me -- a second chance romance and a tender resolution of past family hurts and secrets.  I just loved it all.  Definitely recommended. 


An ARC was provided for review.

“Tender and touching, hot and heartfelt, Karen Booth’s Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl is a joy to read. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I’ve rarely rooted so hard for a couple as I did Katherine and Irish crooner Eamon. This was a love story I could truly believe in!” – Tiffany Reisz, USA Today Bestselling Author

"This book was heartfelt, it was emotional, it was beautifully told, and it was absolutely one of my favorite books of 2018." – 5 stars, Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

"Rich, warm, and complex, Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl is a story for anyone who's ever lost her way, a story about being found again, about what it means to believe you deserve to love and be loved."  

– Serena Bell, USA Today Bestselling Author of Head Over Heels

Giveaway: Win a signed print set of Karen Booth’s three Romantic Women’s Fiction novels: Secrets of a (Somewhat) Sunny Girl, Bring Me Back and Back Forever, or 1 of 2 e-copies of Bring Me Back!

About Bring Me Back: Nearly forty, Claire Abby had thought life would be a whole lot smoother by now. Single parenting her college-bound daughter is trying, her journalism career is fading, her sister’s a handful, her dad is worse, and her mom has been gone so long it’s hard to remember what it was like when she was here.

So it’s both a lucky break and a jaw-dropping distraction when Claire lands an interview with British rock star Christopher Penman. Claire spent her teenage years fantasizing he was her boyfriend. In person, Chris is everything Claire feared—off-the-charts sexy, ridiculously charming, and utterly nerve-wracking. He's not about to discuss the rumors he’s dodged for a decade. She must earn his trust and unearth the truth, but she never banked on the heartbreaking secret behind it.

His blockbuster story is her first priority when she returns home, a nearly impossible task when Christopher starts calling. And flirting. There's no denying his wit or his buttery British accent, and once she agrees to see him, it's beyond anything her teenage brain ever imagined. But when Christopher's painful past repeats itself, can Claire smooth out her life and save the man she could never forget?

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About Karen Booth

Karen Booth is a midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on ‘80s music and repeated readings of Forever by Judy Blume. An early preoccupation with rock ‘n’ roll led her to spend her 20s working her way from intern to executive in the music industry. When her kids came along, she traded late nights for early mornings, writing contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Karen was a finalist for RT Magazine’s Series Romance of the Year and Gold Seal of Excellence, and the 2018 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages.

Connect with Karen: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Release Day Review: Crossing Hope (Cross Creek #4) by Kimberly Kincaid

 

From USA Today bestselling author Kimberly Kincaid comes CROSSING HOPE, the next standalone title in the Cross Creek series, now available! A series filled with rugged, salt of the earth heroes who happen to be brothers, and strong family dynamics, CROSSING HOPE is filled with heart, humor, and heat. Grab you copy today!

Marley Rallston would rather be anywhere other than too-small-for-a-map-dot Millhaven, Virginia. But thanks to a heap of debt, what was supposed to be a quick trip to fulfill her mother’s dying wish has turned into an extended stay with the family she never knew she had and the father who never wanted her. To top it off, now she’s being forced to do community service with the town’s biggest bad boy, when all she wants to do is make enough cash to get out of Dodge? Life can’t get much worse.

The only thing Greyson Whittaker cares about is his family’s farm. He’ll do anything to keep Whittaker Hollow in the black, including live up to his rough, tough reputation by running the place by himself, no matter the cost. Mandatory community service with the daughter of their biggest rival is the last thing he wants or needs. But the more time Greyson and Marley spend together, the hotter their attraction burns, and the more the unlikely pair begins to realize that forbidden fruit just might taste the sweetest…

Grab your copy today!

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    EXCERPT:

Marley’s boots clapped to a halt on the linoleum at the same time her heartbeat cranked way, way up in her chest. She blamed the former on the way the deputy—who had nervously picked her up from The Corner Market—had stopped short beside her, as well as the sight of her oldest brother Owen’s best friend standing a few feet away, his face locked in disbelief. The latter was entirely the fault of the man planted next to Lane, though. Between his tanned skin, the tall, muscular frame that nearly gave Lane’s a run for its money, and the inky black tattoo curling from beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt all the way to his left elbow, Marley really couldn’t help the visceral reaction.

Even if the guy was leveling her with a dark and stormy gaze that said he didn’t like what he was looking at in return.

“What the hell is going on here?” Lane’s voice crash-landed in Marley’s thoughts just in time to chase the flush from her face. What did she care what this scowling stranger thought of her, anyway? She had bigger problems at the moment, thanks.

Case in point. “I, uh,” Deputy Collingsworth stammered, turning roughly the color of summer strawberries as he cleared his throat. “I made an arrest.”

“I can see that,” Lane replied tightly. “What I meant was, would you care to elaborate on exactly why it is that you’ve arrested my best friend’s little sister?”

Marley’s gut fluttered, but she refused to let the sensation get anywhere near her face. She’d known exactly what she was doing when she’d claimed those groceries as her own. Even if the steel bars and jail cell were a whole lot more real now that they were standing starkly in front of her.

Deputy Collingsworth straightened. “She was shoplifting at The Corner Market. Travis Paulson caught her red-handed, and she admitted it, to him and to me. What else was I supposed to do?”

Shock streaked over Lane’s face, but it didn’t last. “Radio me, for starters,” he hissed, and the guy next to him released an audible, oh-please scoff that sent Marley’s brows hooking up. She opened her mouth to tell Lane and the deputy and God and anyone else within earshot that she didn’t want any special treatment.

But Lane was already shaking his head, the thought forgotten. “You know what, never mind. We’ve got a more immediate issue to deal with here.”

“Okay,” Woody said, enough of a question hanging in his voice that Lane huffed out a breath.

“I’ve also made an arrest, as you can see.” He jerked his chin at Tall, Dark, and Scowling. “And we can’t put two people of the opposite sex in the same jail cell.”

The guy’s face changed then, sending another curl of heat through Marley’s blood. “By all means. Ladies first,” he said, gesturing grandly at the single cell. His smirk was its own entity, taking over his unnervingly rugged and (ugh) undeniably good-looking face as if it had a life of its own. He could fill Wrigley Field with his arrogant attitude and ultra-cocky bravado. Even then, he was brimming with so much of both that he’d probably have to use a crowbar to cram it all in. Too bad for him and his sexy little smile, Marley was packing boatloads of backbone, herself.

And she was in just the mood to let it fly like a fifty-foot flag.

“Oh, no. Really. Age before beauty,” she maintained, planting her hands on the hips of her cutoffs and smiling so sweetly at the wide-open door to the cell, she damn near needed a root canal. “After you.”

The guy’s black brows shot toward the tousled waves falling over his forehead. “It wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me to step on your cute little toes. Please. I insist.”

Oh, my God, was this guy even for real?

What I thought about Crossing Hope

In this forbidden love tale, Marley is living temporarily at Cross Creek with her newly found brothers and fathers. She's plotting her escape when a good dead puts her in direct contact with Greyson Whittaker, her brother's farming rival. After being forced to do community service together, things heat up quite nicely for Marley and Grayson.

Greyson doesn't want to fall in love, but he knows one that and that is he doesn't want Marley to leave town.  He thinks she's trusting him until an incident has her on the run.  Greyson and the Cross brothers have to do decide whether they want to go after her or not.

This is a fairly low stakes love story with just a touch of drama.  Marley and Greyson are good together and the family drama is resolved in a way that doesn't crush anyone.

Overall, a pleasant story of love between two feuding families that left me with hope for the future of Cross Creek.

An ARC was provided for review.

 

And don’t miss the first three standalone titles in the Cross Creek series, CROSSING HEARTS, CROSSING THE LINE, and CROSSING PROMISES!

Hunter Cross has no regrets. Having left his football prospects behind the day he graduated high school, he’s happy to carry out his legacy on his family’s farm in the foothills of the Shenandoah. But when a shoulder injury puts him face-to-face with the high school sweetheart who abandoned town—and him—twelve years ago, Hunter’s simple life gets a lot more complicated.

Emerson Montgomery has secrets. Refusing to divulge why she left her job as a hotshot physical therapist for a pro football team, she struggles to readjust to life in the hometown she left behind. The more time she spends with Hunter, the more Emerson finds herself wanting to trust him with the diagnosis of MS that has turned her world upside down.

But revealing secrets comes with a price. Can Hunter and Emerson rekindle their past love? Or will the realities of the present—and the trust that goes with them—burn that bridge for good?

Amazon

Cocky farmer Eli Cross plays twice as hard as he works. When his latest stunt drums up a heap of negative PR for the family farm, he grudgingly agrees to play host to an ambitious New York City photographer. Her feature on Cross Creek could be just the ticket to show the country what the Cross brothers do best…which is more problem than solution for Eli.

Scarlett Edwards-Stewart has photographed everything from end zones to war zones. She’s confident she can ace this one little story to help her best friend’s failing magazine. At least, she would be if her super-sexy host wasn’t so tight lipped. But the more Scarlett works with Eli, the more she discovers that he’s not who he seems. Can his secret bring them closer together? Or will it be the very thing that tears them apart?

Amazon

For Owen Cross, the only thing that matters more than family is farming. As the oldest Cross brother, the land is his legacy, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make Cross Creek a success—including hiring local widow Cate McAllister to manage the bookkeeping tasks that are growing in his office like weeds. Cate’s as pragmatic as she is pretty, and she rattles his hard-fought composure at every turn.

Cate had known a lot of things about her husband before he died three years ago in a car accident, but how much debt he’d gotten them into wasn’t one of them. She needs her job at Cross Creek, even if her boss is both gruff and gorgeous. But Owen’s a family man, through and through, and the last thing Cate is interested in is anything—or anyone—with strings attached.
 
As Owen and Cate join forces to right the farm, they discover there’s more to the other than the surfaces shows, and that passion can be found in unexpected places. Can Cate heal from the loss of one family to gain the love of her life? Or will the past prove too much for the promise of the future?

Amazon

About Kimberly Kincaid: Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance that splits the difference between sexy and sweet. When she’s not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as “The Pleather Bomber”, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. Kimberly is a USA Today best-selling author and a 2015 RWA RITA® finalist who lives (and writes!) by the mantra that food is love. Kimberly resides in Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.  

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Review: Rock Reclaimed (Rock Revenge Trilogy #2) by Cari Quinn & Taryn Elliott

I’m the black sheep son.

The one no one ever knew about.

The one your mum wouldn’t want you to bring home.

I have the Kagan face and the Kagan voice and let’s be real—the legendary Kagan d!ck.

And now I was a rockstar too, on my way up. Soaring so high no one could rip me back down to earth.

Finally, I had it all…and then there was Zoe. Sweet, trusting Zoe, who was so much stronger than she looked.

The only woman who could bring me to my knees.

I would do anything to protect her. To keep her mine. And to protect my new family, the one I was sure I never wanted.

They didn’t understand how far I’d go to get the pot of gold. And then it was too late. There was no turning back.

No keeping them safe.

I’d made promises to the devil, and the devil always got his due.

One way or another.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Fall in love with Ian Kagan, our new rockstar anti-hero in the continuation of our super hot, romantic suspense trilogy, Rock Revenge. The trilogy occurs in the Oblivion world though it can be read on its own. Rock Reclaimed 2 is a full-length novel with a cliffhanger. The story concludes with a HEA in Rock Redemption 3.

Buy Links

 Amazon | International

What I thought about Rock Reclaimed

Having obtained a potential contract and interest from Ripper Records, Ian Kagan is in the States, playing gigs and falling in love with Zoe Manning, an artist, photographer and relative of Lila Crandall.  Did I mention that Ian is also involved with some shady characters and the target seems to be Simon?  

Most of the book is devoted to Zoe and Ian falling for each other.  Ian is a bit of a sympathetic character.  Although he's done some bad stuff, he's also likable and I got the sense he has turned the corner with finding love and a new family in Simon.  But he's also made commitments with the bad guys too, so that's not good.

Zoe is much like Ian.  There were times I didn't like her and then I did.  She seems very young and at times immature for someone as worldly as Ian, but there's a lot about contrasts in this book and their relationship fits. It takes Zoe a little time to give in to Ian's seduction, but I did like the fact that when she did, she was all in.  It didn't feel like insta-love here, but I did like where their relationship was at the end of the book before things took a bad turn.

There's a nice mix of Oblivion characters in this book which made me want more, and Donovan comes out from behind his phone and makes some personal appearances which I loved.  

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It works very hard for Ian's story to have a different voice and I appreciated that.  It left me wanting to know what will happen to Ian, Zoe, Simon and Margo.

There is a cliffie in this book.  I can only hope that the authors don't go "there" again!!! *bites nails while waiting for Rock Redemption. 

An ARC was provided for review.

More about the Rock Revenge Trilogy & Other books set in the Oblivion World