Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: Just One Love by Jami Wagner

Today we have the release day blitz of JUST ONE LOVE by Jami Wagner! Check it out and grab your copy today!

Just One Love by Jami Wagner

Genre: Contemporary Romance

About Just One Love

  My entire life is a lie. He launched my salty reputation. Yet, here I am, doing him another favor so he can get what he wants—maybe then I can dislodge him from my heart.   There is an emptiness in my life. Yet I have everything I need, or at least, I thought I did. It was supposed to be a simple deal between friends. Friends? Yeah, right. I should have known we’re too volatile for that.

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Exclusive Excerpt

Abby 

I jump down and grab my knife, but as but as I pull back in what should be the segue into my quick getaway run—dramatic, smooth, commanding, just like in the movies—I’m jerked back. Shit. Shit. Shit. The knife is stuck. “Abby, let’s go!” Beth snaps at me. She’s crouched behind the truck where they can’t see her. “I cannot believe that I trusted that you were going to break up with him like a normal person. Let’s go.” “I’m trying,” I shush back, jerking again on the damn knife. “Just leave it.” “It has my initials on it.” A gift from my mom for my eighteenth birthday. She knows me so well. Not. “What the … seriously?” Beth moves around to the tire and pushes me out of the way. I duck when Jace’s ball cap comes into view over the back of the truck. Then, Beth and I yank on the knife together. Nothing happens. “Let me drive!” Tyler shouts. “Dude, what the fuck is your deal? It’s my truck. I’ll drive.” “But I’m thinking of getting one just like it, and I need to test drive something.” Tyler’s response is quick. “Dude, whatever,” Jace replies as I see the keys flying through the air, right before Tyler comes into view. “What the fuck are you doing, Abby?” he says through the side of his lips. I barely see his mouth move. “Trying to leave. What does it look like?” I whisper frantically. “Whoops!” Tyler drops the keys. He kneels in front of the tire and jerks the knife out in one swift move. Damn. His white T-shirt hugs his bicep, and, oh boy, he looks good tonight. I mean, he’s always had the whole Liam Hemsworth thing going on, but tonight he looks even hotter than a movie star. His hair is the perfect dirty blonde and his eyes are brightest green I’ve ever seen. Don’t even get me started on his smile. Shoot, any girl would agree to whatever he wanted just to see it one more time. I would know. I’ve been that girl. Tyler gives the knife to me and mouths “run.” We don’t hesitate in the slightest. I tuck the knife into my back pocket as I duck to run. The tire is successfully slashed, and I’m not leaving any evidence of my crime at the scene. Hunching behind her car, Beth shoots daggers from her eyes as she stares at me. The look is so intense, I need something else to focus on. Yes, this crack on the sidewalk is a nice distraction. “I can’t believe you,” she seethes. “It’s fine. No one saw us but Tyler,” I say just as Jace begins shouting a string of curses. Jackass. “I should have known you were going to do something crazy tonight. You made breaking up sound so simple,” Beth adds. I shrug and then we both hunker down tighter when the lights of Tyler’s truck flash our way. I crawl around the front of the car and watch them turn the corner. Then, I start to laugh. Beth is still glaring at me. Only now she’s standing with her hands on her hips and looking at me like my mom would when I’d come home past curfew, before she decided she didn’t want anything to do with me. The whole picture makes me laugh even harder. Slowly, Beth’s lips begin to tug into a smile. “You are out of control,” she says and unlocks her car. “There is nothing wrong with that,” I tell her.  

About the Author

 

JAMI WAGNER was born in Wyoming. Still living in the Cowboy State, Jami and her husband are currently writing their own love story with their yellow Lab. Jami enjoys writing Romance and published her debut novella, Date in the Dark, in 2015. Her first full-length novel, Just One Kiss, was published in October 2015 and is the first book in her Black Alcove series. The remainder in the series, Just One Night, Just One Touch, Just One Moment, and Just One Spark are available now. 

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Review: After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published: July 1, 2014

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Format: copy via Booksparks

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.

My Thoughts

**ATTENTION I FOUND A NEW AUTHOR TO OBSESS OVER**

Seriously I love this book and author so much I ordered her previous novel just pages into this novel. Honestly when I read the concept that Lauren and Ryan were going to take a year off of their marriage to figure things out I wasn’t so sure how this would pan out. Okay so I had my theories on how I thought things would work out and trust me it wasn’t positive. The fact that so many things could’ve happened such as falling in love with someone else, I couldn’t see this ending in a good way.

In the very beginning Lauren cant handle things and she logs into Ryan's emails while there she sees Ryan has written drafts of emails and she checks them out. There are emails to Lauren in them he tells her things he felt he could never tell her. While at first she gets mad but eventually she starts to see things from his eyes. She began to realize how they both took things for granted. She realized how he saw her and most importantly how she saw him. She starts writing her own emails at first they are very mean but slowly but surely they turn emotional. She soon stops seeing how he is doing and starts to focus on her own well being.

I loved the journey that Lauren takes. She takes this time to focus on herself and in the process she becomes closer to her family as well. Although this book is about a marriage, bottom line it all boils down to communication, work and effort. Everyone seems to love the ideal of love but love and attraction is the easy thing. Marriage takes work and effort if you don’t put the work in it can all fall to the wayside in a blink of an eye. However at the same time you have to want to put the effort in. If you don’t than there are bigger issues. But sometimes things are definitely worth fighting for. This book shows us that marriage isn’t perfect that sometimes you have to step back and if your love is strong enough nothing can break that bond. This is hands down one of fave reads of the year. It’s funny, witty, emotional and makes you see life and love in all it’s grit and glory. Taylor Jenkins Reid takes you on a ride on that you soon won't forget.

Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell 

Published: July 8, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via publisher

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Thoughts

This book is all about Georgie and her rethinking the outcome of her life. With a little help from a “magical” landline phone she starts to wonder if this is really how her life should be or if she should redo how things played out years ago.

Georgie is TV writers who with her best friend Seth are partners. She decides to back out on the last minute and not go with her family to a planned trip for Christmas. However in the meantime she starts to think she is losing her mind when she finds herself at her mother’s house and calls her husband on the landline. When she talks to him she finds out that she isn’t talking to her husband but her boyfriend. That is she is talking to her soon to be husband back when they were still in college. Sounds confusing? Surprising not really. We learn of Georgie and Neal’s backstory, how they meet, how she falls for him and how Neal had a fiancée when they started talking.

I just really liked the character of Georgie, how she is flawed and how she struggles with having both a family and career. She feels guilty because she wants a career but also knows she is in a sense losing her family. She knows Neal wants and deserves more and also knows her daughters are way closer to their father than her. Like all Rainbow Rowell books there is a great cast of characters. I loved Georgie’s interactions with her sister Heather and her mom. Not to mention her daughters seem very cute and hilarious. I’m on the fence as far as Seth goes, he seems so selfish to me.

However what I loved most was this whole idea if you could go back and change your past/future would you. I’m a strong believer in you can’t just change one thing, if you do everything will change. One thing can alter your life. I loved how all of this showed Georgie what she was missing. She realized that while she was succeeding in one aspect in her life she was failing in another. She had to decide what she truly wanted and if in fact she really wanted it. All in all this is another gem from Rainbow Rowell. One that will make you think if the things you want out of life are really important in the big scheme of things. 

Review: The Witch of Belladonna Bay by Suzanne Palmieri

The Witch of Belladonna Bay by Suzanne Palmieri

Published: May 13, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy: Amazon for Kindle / Paperback 

Synopsis

It’s the trouble you aren’t expecting that gets you. And it’s all around you, Bronwyn; it’s all around you like the air.…

Bronwyn "BitsyWyn" Whalen hasn’t set eyes on the red dirt of Magnolia Creek, Alabama, for fourteen years—not since her mama died. But with her brother, Patrick, imprisoned for the murder of her childhood best friend, and her eccentric father, Jackson, at his wits’ end while her eleven-year-old niece, Byrd, runs wild, Bronwyn finds herself once again surrounded by ancient magnolia trees and the troubled family she left behind. She becomes immersed in a whirlwind of mystery and magic as she tries to figure out what really happened that fateful night her friend died. And as her bond with Byrd deepens, Bronwyn must face the demons of her past in order to unravel her family’s uncertain future. In Suzanne Palmieri's thrilling new novel, The Witch of Belladonna Bay, readers will learn if love and magic are enough to bring a broken family back together.

My Thoughts

I’ve always been that type of person who believes that there is something more out there. By that I mean I never doubt the unknown. Sometimes there are things that can’t be explained and just are. This is why I really enjoyed The Witch of Belladonna Bay; it has love, family, mysteries and magic. Yes I said magic and by that it’s really just that whole aura of something else out there, however it’s not that spooky kind of scary but more mysterious.

It’s the story of Bronwyn and her return to her hometown to deal with the aftermath of her brothers’ arrest for killing her best friend. She hasn’t been home since her mother died and has never met her niece. She has this ability that she got from her mom and she doesn’t like it. She ran away after her mom died of basically an overdose and her dad isn’t any better since he’s an alcoholic.

She came back home to find the real reason and person who killed her old friend. There are a couple of people who could’ve done it. There’s her brother who was seeing her friend, Bronwyn’s ex who is her friends step brother and even her niece Byrd. Byrd is one of my favorite characters in this story. She has an ire of mystery to her; she has this magic as all the females in the family seen to have but her abilities seem to run the strongest. She sees things and can talk to dead people. While people in the small town love her they are also scared of her.

Wyn’s homecoming also has her having to deal with ghost of her mother. They never had the greatest of relationships. Wyn felt her mom loved her addiction more than her and her brother while her mom knows that she let the drugs take over her life. Her mother can’t rest until she tries to make up for her mistakes.

What I really enjoyed was the whole who done it. I love a good mystery, and this one has layers upon layers. Just when you think you figured something out, something surprises you. I LOVE IT!

Although this was a bit unconventional of a read for me it’s one I’m so glad I read. It’s a beautiful story and I love the whole family aspect of it. Nothing is more important than family rather good or bad they are the core of who we are. To mend the fractured pieces could be the start of a beautiful thing. This is one book that casts a wonderful spell of a tale that I know you will enjoy.

          About the author

Suzanne Palmieri Hayes is the author of The Witch of Little Italy and The Witch of Belladonna Bay. She is also the co-author of I’ll Be Seeing You under the name Suzanne Hayes. She lives by the ocean with her husband and three darling witches. She is currently hard at work on her next novel. 

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Review: Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick 

Published: May 6, 2014

Publisher: NAL Trade

Format: via publisher

Rating 5/5

Synopsis

Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as "the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup." Home to Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.

Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.

Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn't be kissing him. She definitely shouldn't be falling in love.

After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything.

My Thoughts

Simply put… I love and adore this book! This is one of those books that were made for the summer. It’s fun, cute, and has just the right amount of romance. Now I love romance just as much as anyone else but I like the realistic type of romance not all that over the top stuff. It just doesn’t read real to me. This was the perfect balance!

I love the whole idea of this small town where people go to get over a breakup. The cast of characters are funny and quirky what’s not to love? The lead character of Summer is my kinda girl. While she was hit by a breakup she never saw coming to picked herself up again and fell for Dutch the mayor of the town who was perfect for her from the start. Summer brought life and courage to this town and they gave her love and friendships that she never truly had before. I really adored the banter between Summer and Dutch; he was just the right person to play back with all her silly and flirty ways.

Cure for the Common Breakup is that quintessential summer read that you have to dive into. It’s the ideal book to enjoy by pool, on the beach or just sitting around. I dare you not to get caught up in this crazy kooky town and not love every minute of it. So go get it and throw it in your beach bag, this is one book that you will polish off in one sitting. It makes you ALMOST want to suffer a breakup just so you could visit this lively town and its crazy yet wonderful residents.

Review: The One & Only by Emily Giffin

The One & Only by Emily Giffin 
Published: May 20, 2014

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via purchased copy

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

My Thoughts

This book kicks off my official summer reading. I love, adore and admire Emily Giffin’s writing. I love it because she writes about women for women. I love how she’s so real and makes her female leads strong yet flawed. The One & Only is my favorite thus far. Okay so maybe I’m a tad biased since I’m from Texas and am I HUGE football fan. This read rang very true to me and my Texas roots.

It’s the story of Shea who is working for her old college in the athletic department but who desperately wants to write. She is recently dealing with the loss of her best friends’ mom, who was like a mother to her. While dealing with this she is also on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend whom no one thinks is good enough for her. She’s basically just going through the motions at this point in her life. All the while she starts to think a little too much about her best friend Lucy's dad. She is torn she knows she shouldn’t be feeling this way, first off its Lucy’s dad and secondly his wife just past. Shea and Coach have always had a connection…football. Besides her writing it’s the one passion in life. While I won’t give it all away this is a story of hope, loss, love, finding yourself and accepting new beginnings. I love how it shows you can find love in all places, even places you never thought you could. I also enjoyed how it played out the romance and never rushed it. Sometimes real love takes its course. It’s something you can’t rush and it will play out the way it’s meant too. It’s something you can’t force and that’s what I loved about this story. Although it’s not the ideal romance it’s one that’s meant to happen, it’s one that despite all the odds against them and everyone telling them it’s a bad idea their love is bigger than it all.

The One & Only is one of those books that just about everyone can enjoy. There is romance for the ladies and then the football aspect of it for the guys. This is one that I pray makes it to the big screen. I can totally picture this as a movie and hope to see it come to life one day. The only thing that I didn’t care for? The Dallas Cowboys references. Lol! As a Houston native and a Texans fan there has always been that rivalry between the two cities but besides that this book is utterly flawless in my eyes. 

Blog Tour: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan 

Published: May 1, 2014

Publisher: Dial Books

Format: via BookSparks PR

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue--the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word--at least not in a language Josie understands.

My Thoughts

What can I say? I fell in love with this book and Josie from the start. I’ve been in a reading funk as of late and this pulled me out in the nick of time. This is the freshest new book I’ve read in a LONG time. The story focuses on Josie who is a very independent and opinionated young girl who is too smart for her own good. She is all but a genius when it comes to books and school but has no clue when it comes to the real world, especially things like feelings and love. She loves her family friends and especially her sisters. She is determined to ruin her sister’s upcoming wedding since she thinks the guy isn’t the right fit for her. She doesn’t understand how her sister could fall in love with someone whom she sees as a know it all. Josie doesn’t get how love isn’t a science, that sometimes we just simply fall for someone just because. Love isn’t something you can learn it just is. Josie soon understands this whole “love” thing when she falls for some. However little does she know that the “real” thing is closer to her than she realizes.

I loved the interaction between Josie and her family. They are a very tight knit family who are always there for one another. I simply loved and adored Josie from the get go. She is quirky,funny and sassy…she is my kinda girl. She overthinks every situation yet she is so enduring you can’t help but to fall in love with her. While her actions might seem a bit drastic her intentions are only for the best. The way her relationship with her sister is written and how they play off each other makes perfect sense in how the story ends. Her sisters reasoning in how she feels about her sister and fiancé is so heartwarming and touching it made me a little teary eyed.

Her relationship with her best friend and neighbor Stu is also a bright spot in the book. Their one liners and back and worth shots towards one another is classic. They never hold back and tell each other [almost] everything. I like the whole guy/girl friendship they are cleaver and make the perfect pair. I will admit from the very start I was rooting for these two to get together. I just felt their connection right off, it’s undeniable.

Love and Other Foreign Words is a book that is simply amazing! It’s one everyone should read and I guarantee you will fall in love with Josie her quirkiness and all. She is one the freshest characters written in a while and Erin McCahan is to thank for that. She wrote a funny, touching and wonderful read that will pull you in and won’t let you go until the very end.

What are you waiting for? Go on and get it NOW!