I am happy to report that I have been given the green light and I can let you all know that I will be going to BEA/NYC this May.
I am super excited about going. I have worked really hard to make this trip possible.
Are you going?
Year: 2015
Review/ After We Collided
After We Collided Series: After Series #2 by Anna Todd
Format: Paperback
Published by Simon and Schuster on November 25th 2014
Pages: 688
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Genres: Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Fiction, General, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Suspense, Thrillers
Book Two of the After series—now newly revised and expanded, Anna Todd’s After fanfiction racked up 1 billion reads online and captivated readers across the globe. Experience the Internet’s most talked-about book for yourself!Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose…except her. AFTER WE COLLIDED…Life will never be the same. #HESSA After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself. Hardin will always be…Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses. Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life. Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change? Will he change…for love?
This is the second book in the After series.
I was pretty excited to start this one because I really enjoyed the first one. This is by no means a quick read because this is another book at 671 pages and it took me roughly a week to read it. Although I have to admit at times I really felt like throwing the book out into the snow and just ditching it but I am going to admit that this book was a train wreck waiting to happen and you know you want to stay and watch.
I won’t get into an exact review because this is the second book in the series and I don’t want to spoil it for the ones who are about to read this or are planning on reading this.
The main focus of the book is of course the struggling relationship between Tessa and Hardin with a little mix of Zed thrown in.
I actually started to fall for Zed because yes he is a bad boy but I think deep down we would be a much better choice for Tessa. I think had I been Tessa I would have seriously thrown the towel in and walked away from Hardin. Tessa gives him chance after chance after chance and he still ruins it. He is ruining this poor girls life. Zed is that guy who truly cares about Tessa and I am sure they would have a perfect relationship.
Yes you can tell that I hate Hardin with a passion. He is nothing but a selfish manipulated jerk who things its okay to tell Tessa who she can and cannot speak to, see etc. This boiled my blood because no man should ever tell his girlfriend that and had it been me he would be gone. He knows how to manipulate Tessa and its sad because she is so naive she doesn’t see this. Is she afraid to leave Hardin? Maybe but I know had it been me I would have been gone along time ago there would be no second, third, fourth etc chances. Hardin is a BULLY in my eyes and one that needs to be taken down a few notches.
Now with that being said will I continue on with the third book, After We Fall? More the likely because I want to see where this goes and if Tessa will develop a back bone to stand up for herself and not put up with Hardin’s crap and lies.
I think I might wait to start the third book just to give myself a break from their story.
Have you read this? What do you think?
February Book Unhauling #2
Its another month and I thought I would share with you the books I am unhauling this month. Have you read any of these?
Books Read:
- After by Anna Todd
- New Uses For Old Boyfriends by Beth Kendrick
- After We Collide by Anna Todd
Those were all the books I have read and enjoyed and with the amount of books on my TBR I know I will never re-read them so why not pass them along to others who will enjoy the books just as much as I did, right?
The following books are books that I didn’t like/enjoy or didn’t finish. The have been sitting on my shelf for the longest time in hopes that I would re pick it up to try again but honestly I think that if I couldn’t get into them the first time I probably won’t get into them again. So its time to take them off the shelf and share them with people who will actually read and enjoy them. Sorry if this list upsets anyone but its only my personal taste and not everyone likes what everyone is reading or has read.
- Call of the Jersey Devil by Aurelio Voltaire
- Once Is Never Enough by Mira Lyn Kelly
- The One-Way Bridge by Cathie Pelletier
- Help For The Haunted by John Searles
- My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman
The total unhauled books for Februaru is 8 and the total so far is 54.
GlossyBox February Edition
Glossybox is a bespoke box of 5-6 luxury-sized cosmetic and wellness samples hand-picked by our beauty experts and mailed directly to your door. No matter which subscription plan you choose, from once-a-month to just once, this box is perfect little present from you to you!
There are four different types of GLOSSYBOX subscriptions: a monthly package ($21/month), a 3-month package ($60), a 6-month package ($115), and a 12 month package ($220). All regular subscriptions are recurring, unless cancelled within the term deadline. Please note that Canadian addresses will incur a $5 shipping fee. So be sure to add $5 on to the above totals.
Please note that if you use my referral link and sign up I will receive points that I can use towards a free box, so I invite you to use THIS LINK it will be greatly appreciated. Please note that these boxes are purchased with my own money and I am in no way being compensated by Glossybox.
I love the packaging of the February box, don’t you?
As soon as the box came I was ripping into it. It smelled good and I was curious to see what the smell was and where it was coming from.
The first item I spotted when I opened up the packaging was this Rituals Cosmetics Foaming Shower Gel Sensations in Yogi Flow. I had no idea what to expect when I used it the first time but let me say a little goes a long way. It actually comes out like a shaving gel but lathers up really nicely. I used a lot more then I probably should have but lesson learned. It smells really nice too. Its a long lasting scent which is nice because there is not a lot of shower gels that do that. It has ancient Ayurvedic ingredients of almond oil and Indian rose.
This was a full size item at 6.7 fl oz for $15.00 and this isn’t to expensive if you had wanted to repurchase. Its available online in seven scents.
Another full size item is the Julep Color Treat in the shade Heart Leigh nail polish. There is metallic specks along with white sparkles and teeny tiny little hearts which is perfect to wear this month of February. Its limited edition. Its $14.00 for 027 fl oz. Which mean seem expensive for a nail polish but its really good because its a 5 free oxygen formula that is vegan and gluten free and its actually good for you to use because it allows your nail beds to breathe. I noticed a difference when I use this to regular nail polish.
This was something that pecked my interest when I saw it in the box. Its Unwash Bio-Cleansing Conditioner. This is suppose to replace your shampoo and conditioner. It cleanses without stripping your natural oils. moisture or color. I will be keeping this for when I go on vacation because I always have a problem with hotel showers and getting the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair completely so this will be something that I plan on using them.
The full size is $36.00 for 13.5 oz and I got a deluxe sample of 2.5 oz Thankfully there is a few places in NYC that I could pick this up if I really like it.
I think this was making the box smell so good. Its the Teadora Nourishing Beauty Bar in Rainforest at Dawn. Its a bar of soap that hydrates and firms your skin leaving it soft and glowing. Its suppose to smell like a Brazilian rainforest. If this is what its suppose to be like sign me up because I want to go. The scent was citrusy with some bergamot and lemon blended with woods, florals, basil and eucalyptus. I can’t wait to put this into the bathroom to use.
Its full size and it sells for $5 for 1.5oz.
Finally the last item in the box is Royal Apothic and its their Tinties Lip Butter in Pink. I love the vintage like packaging of the lip butter don’t you? The lid is a rose gold which I think adds to the packaging. It has the soothing ingredients of argan, grape seed, almond oil and shea butter. Its a tinted lip butter that isn’t too bright and when I put a little on it looked very natural. It leaves your lips soft and not sticky.
This is a full size item and it sells for $14.00 for 0.12 oz
So this month we got four full size items and one deluxe sized sample. This is month four and I have to say that I really enjoyed this months box. Its nice to see them staying on par each and every month. So as long as they keep it up I will continue to support GlossyBox.
Guest Post/ Budapest Romance author Rozsa Gaston
Budapest’s Thermal Bath Spas: the Backdrop for Budapest Romance by Rozsa Gaston
My inspiration for my sixth and latest novel Budapest Romance? Time spent in the thermal bath spas of Budapest, the exotically spiced city of my father’s youth.
Some years ago I traveled to Budapest at the end of November to settle my late father’s estate. I stayed at a thermal spa hotel where I discovered the delights of soaking in Budapest’s thermal pools. The city is built upon over one hundred natural hot springs and is known as Europe’s ‘City of Baths.’
With ten days to while away while finalizing paperwork, I made the acquaintance of a fellow traveler taking the waters at my hotel. Ready for safe adventure but not encouraged by the cold, gray weather to walk around, we decided to visit thermal bath spas all over Budapest. Both inexpensive (averaging about $12 a day) and plentiful, most of them are open year-round.
I returned from Hungary to my corporate job in Manhattan, with the memory of time spent in Budapest’s thermal pools soaked deep into my soul. I had never experienced such abandon to pleasure before: day after day of languorous lounging in warm, mineralized waters. My fellow bathers, mostly Budapesters with a handful of foreigners thrown in, showed me how to be fully present in the moment. It was a gift I’ve remembered forever, although I don’t always apply it.
A few years later I was downsized from my job at a hedge fund. During the next six months, I wrote a memoir. It wasn’t very good, but a necessary first step in my writing career. The one thing it taught me was how much I loved to write, how fully in the moment I was every second I spent in the act of creation. In order to hone my skills further, I took an online romance-writing course with Writer’s Online Workshops.
I decided to write a romance based on two foreigners, a Dutch man and an American woman who discover each other in Budapest’s thermal bath spas. Both are there to heal from injuries. My hero has a neck injury due to a motorcycle accident. My heroine is mourning the recent passing of her father.
Kati’s inner wound is in not having known her Hungarian father, who didn’t raise her. She is in Budapest not just to settle his affairs but to fill in missing pieces of herself. She was brought up by her American mother’s side of the family in New England, and knows next to nothing about Hungarian culture. But with her Hungarian face and name, she has always known there was something different about her.
The guilt-free enjoyment of pleasure Kati observes amongst Hungarians in Budapest speaks to her soul. Jan introduces her to the city’s glories and helps her discover the half-Hungarian side of herself she never knew she possessed.
By the time Kati returns to New York, she’s a changed woman. No longer a prisoner to the Puritan work ethic with which she grew up, she can’t forget either Jan or the way she felt with him while soaking in Budapest’s bubbling warm waters. Was it her father’s spirit that inspired her trip and led her to Jan? Whatever it was, she feels pulled back to him and soon visits him in Holland. You’ll have to read Budapest Romance to find out what happens next. All I’ll tell you is that it’s life-changing for both Kati and Jan. Their story is tender yet spiced, similar to Budapest’s sweet yet spiced ambience.
Excerpt:
Taking a long swig of beer, Jan eyeballed Krisztof. Why was it this rich-looking guy looked as if he’d lost something? Jan made a note to ask Kati later about her friend’s status. Had his wife left him? He looked like she had. Jan realized this was exactly his own situation, but he wasn’t feeling nearly as bad about it as the man sitting next to him appeared to be. If that was indeed his story.
“Have you known Kati for a long time?” Jan asked Krisztof.
“About two years. We met at an alumni event in New York.”
Jan had no idea what an alumni event was. But his senses told him they hadn’t been a couple.
“What about you? Have you known Kati Dunai long?” Krisztof asked, his tone formal.
“No, but I’d like to.” Jan gave him a meaningful stare.
“Sorry I’m getting in your way tonight. She’s really helping me out,” Krisztof replied, without giving any clue as to exactly how she was doing that.
“Great. I hope she doesn’t help you out too much. Understand me, friend?”
Krisztof stared at Jan, his lips a thin line that finally curved upward at both ends into the smallest hint of a smile. Finally, he spoke.
“Perfectly.”
They both turned back to their beers.
Budapest Romance was my first completed novel. I published five other novels before Audible.com brought it out in December, 2014. This is typical of a writer’s journey and made it all the more exciting when the book came out, seven years after I wrote it. The audiobook is narrated beautifully by actress Romy Nordlinger of All My Children, One Life to Live. Here’s what Nordlinger says about Budapest Romance:
“You will not want Rozsa Gaston’s elegant and atmospheric Budapest Romance to end. This inspiring journey is a haunting story of true love that is all at once simple, beautiful, universal and loaded with heart. You will fall in love with the characters and get lost in the old time elegance of journeying to the romance of Budapest. As delicate as the snowflakes falling upon the majestic baths of Budapest, the fleeting beauty of Budapest Romance is arresting and to be savored.”
Dear reader: If you read Budapest Romance and post a review on Amazon I will be delighted to thank you with the gift of a free eBook edition of any of my other books, Paris Adieu, Black is Not a Color, Running from Love, Dog Sitters, or Lyric.
May your 2015 be as effervescent as the bubbling warm waters of Budapest’s thermal baths.
Win a free eBook edition of Budapest Romance. Contest expires on March 14, 2015 and is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only. To enter the contest, send an email to author Rozsa Gaston at rgaston AT optonline DOT net.
Blog Tour/ Budapest Romance
Title: Budapest Romance
Author: Rozsa Gaston
Publisher: Rozsa Gaston
Pages: 266
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Paperback/Kindle/Audible
When Kati Dunai travels to Budapest to settle her father’s estate, the last thing on her mind is the pursuit of pleasure. She’s a busy international conference planner, her life rooted in Manhattan.
But from the moment she sets foot in the city of her father’s youth, it’s pleasure that pursues her. At the thermal bath spa hotel where she’s staying, she meets a Dutchman who reminds her of Béla Dunai, her Hungarian refugee father, who fled his homeland shortly after its 1956 revolution.
Jan Klassen is in Budapest to mend from a motorcycle accident. His scars have healed on the outside, but inside, he cannot forgive himself for the consequences his son now lives with forever.
Jan has never met a woman like Kati before. Her blend of New England restraint with gypsy spirit captivates him. While Jan introduces Kati to Budapest’s leisurely pace of life, Kati introduces Jan to her own leisurely pace of sensual exploration as their attraction to each other grows over six magical days.
When Kati returns to New York, their relationship continues. But it’s not just an ocean that separates them. Kati’s corporate job with frequent travel is the antithesis of the slow-paced pleasures she enjoyed in her father’s favorite city, one of Europe’s crown jewels.
Which will Kati put first—her new career or her new love; a man who reminds her of the father she never fully understood? And is it the Hungarian pleasure-loving side of herself that she really needs to understand before she can offer her heart to the man who has awakened her to who she truly is?
For More Information
Budapest Romance is available at Amazon.
Audio edition available at www.audible.com/BudapestRomance with actress Romy Nordlinger of All My Children, One Life to Live narrating.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Rozsa Gaston writes playful books on serious matters. Women getting what they want out of life is one of them. She studied European intellectual history at Yale, and then received her master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia. In between, she worked as a singer/pianist all over the world. She lives in Bronxville, NY with her family.
Her books include Budapest Romance, The Ava Series: ParisAdieu, Part I and Black is Not a Color, Part II, Running from Love, Dog Sitters and Lyric. Her upcoming novel is Sense of Touch, a fictionalized story of Anne of Brittany and Queen of France.
For More Information
Review/ Budapest Romance
Before I begin my review I have to send out a huge thank you to Rozsa for sending me her book to read and review and thank you to Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour for this book.
I was sent an email from Pump Up Your Book looking for bloggers to be a part of this blog tour and I quickly replied back with a yes please include me in this tour.
I was lucky enough to have gone to Budapest in the summer of 2013 and instantly fell in love with the city. I want to go back one day and actually see more of Budapest because there is so much to see and do and I would love to see the city at night. I believe the banner picture is the Chain Bridge and the Hungarian Parliament building.
This was the first time I heard of Rozsa Gaston and her books and after reading Budapest Romance I will be checking out her other books thats for sure.
I really enjoyed reading the book and actually any books that takes place in places that I have been too because I always look for mentions of places I went to and this book was no exception. We didn’t go to the baths but we have been to the market and it was beautiful.
Reading Budapest Romance made me feel like I was transported back to Budapest. Rozsa did an amazing job and maked you feel like your a part of the story. Perhaps it was because I was there that made me feel like that but I have to say after reading this book I really want to go back very soon.
The main character, Kati lives in NYC (another favorite city of mine) and she is a international conference planner who is going to Budapest to wrap up her father’s estate. The last thing on Kati’s mind is finding someone and falling in love with them and this is exactly what happens to Kati because she thinks that this is the right time for a romance to happen.
Its at one of the Hungarian bath house that she meets Jan who is a social worker from Holland. Jan goes to Budapest yearly on doctor’s orders to take advantage of the bath houses to help him with his neck and back pains that he had suffered when he was in a motorcycle accident. The relationship started out sweet with smiles and glances across the baths until Jan finally has enough courage to approach Kati.
Kati hestiated at first because she is still grieving the loss of her father and I think she realized that this long distance relationship couldn’t possibly work but gradually with signs from her father to move on with her life she lets things progress with Jan.
Can their love survive the distance?
This was a super fun read and it was just what I needed.