Early Review/ Expose Me (Fifth Avenue Blog Tour)

Early Review/ Expose Me (Fifth Avenue Blog Tour)Expose Me Series: Fifth Avenue #3

by Kate Hewitt
Format: ARC
Published by Harlequin on 2014-08-01
Pages: 264
Goodreads
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance

TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.

With ruthless determination, Alex Diaz has risen up from his deprived roots to become the head of a global media empire. But he has one last thing to achieve…avenge his friend by destroying the man responsible for her death, Jason Treffen. With stunning talk-show host Chelsea Maxwell about to interview Treffen live on TV, this is Alex's chance.

He'll use her show to exact a very public revenge—and seducing Chelsea, if needed, would certainly be no hardship. But he underestimates Chelsea and the attraction between them, and as their relationship deepens, Alex realizes that to annihilate Treffen could also shatter the life that Chelsea has built to protect herself….

I received this book for free from publisher/pr firm in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is the last book in the Fifth Avenue Trilogy. This has been a really fun series to read and I am a little sad that it has/is ending.

One of the good things about reading this series is, its exposed me (to pun intended) to three different authors and their books that I might not have been exposed to since I don’t read alot of romance books.

I should let you know that Expose Me won’t be available to purchase until the end of July. I was graciously provided and ARC of the book for my honest and sincere review as part of the tour for this series.

Expose me is about Alex and how he plans to bring down Jason for what he has done to Katy and he is determined to make Jason pay for all that he has done.

I loved Alex because he wasn’t born rich like his friends were and he basically crawled his way to like his wealthy friends. Alex is now a famous journalist and is the head a  global media company. He worked hard to get where he is today.

When Alex finds out that Jason will be interviewed by talk show host Chelsea, Alex takes it upon himself to seduce Chelsea. Thinking what better way to get his revenge then publicly in front a nation full of viewers. Sounds like a revenge plan to me. He will do anything to make sure Jason even if it means sleeping with Chelsea. Will he have to go that far?

One thing I liked about Chelsea was that you she didn’t take Alex’s word and he literally had to get proof before she would even think about helping him. Will Alex find the proof that she needs?

When Chelsea meets with Jason to go over the interview she is forced to sign a document stating she was only allowed to ask certain questions. I think Chelsea is beginning to realize that Jason is hiding something and this is his way of making sure nothing comes of it. This blows Alex’s plan out the water because you can see that at this point he is starting to care about Chelsea and thinks about risking her career just for revenge.

I liked Chelsea and how there was more to her then meets the eye. She is like Alex and didn’t have it easy growing up and you can see she put up the walls around her to protect herself. She was okay with it being her secrets but when she is with Alex she thinks its time to finally let someone in. Will she tell Alex her secrets?

I just want to send out a huge thank you to Harlequin books for sending me all three copies in the Fifth Avenue Trilogy to read and review. Another huge thank you to Meryl L. Moss Media for reaching out to ask me if I would like to participate on this book tour and for the little gift bag you sent to me.

The gift bag was called the Summer Essentials and it was filled with all kinds of goodies.

Fifth-Ave-Summer-in-the-City-Kit__1_

Inside the gift bag was:

  • Avenge Me by Maisey Yates
  • Kissing Elixiers All Natural Fresh Breath Mist in Cinnamint
  • Kissing Elixiers Looks Like Love Natural Lip Balm in Mint Vanilla
  • Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream in Natural Glow
  • Not Your Mother’s Beat The Heat Thermal Spray
  • Evian Facial Spray
  • Aromaflage botanical Fragrance & Insect Repellant
  • NYX Glam Lipstick in the shade Essential GLSA12
  • NYX Glam Shadow Stick in the shade GSS10 Vibrant Amethyst
  • NYX Love In Paris a 9 color Shadow Palette Je Ne Sais Quoi (LIP10)
    (shimmer & matte/ browns, silver, cream and plum shades)

 

Early Review/ Scandalize Me (Fifth Avenue Blog Tour)

Early Review/ Scandalize Me (Fifth Avenue Blog Tour)Scandalize Me Series: Fifth Avenue #2

by Caitlin Crews
Format: ARC
Published by Harlequin on 2014-07-01
Pages: 272
Goodreads
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance

TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.

Hunter Talbot Grant III, sports figure du jour, wealthy beyond measure and disreputable by choice, has cultivated a reputation that masks the shadows of his past. When the opportunity to ensure financial destruction for Jason Treffen arises, he can't refuse. But first he must shake off the woman sent to tame him!

Zoe Brook, PR agent extraordinaire, never fails to transform a tarnished star. And Hunter's no different. Except there's a catch. Beneath their scorching mutual attraction, Zoe has a secret—she's also been on the wrong side of Jason Treffen, and she has as much of a taste for revenge as Hunter does!

I received this book for free from publisher/pr firm in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Scandalize Me is the second book in the Fifth Avenue trilogy and this one is written by Caitlin Crews who is another new to me author who has written several other romance books.

It was on her site http://www.caitlincrews.com  that I noticed that the UK covers for this series is different from the US ones. The only difference is that on the bottom of the cover there is various scenes from NYC and I am honestly tempted to try and order them online just for that. Is that crazy of me?

I just want to let you know that Scandalize Me isn’t out yet and it won’t be released until June 24th. I was given an ARC of the book for my review today as part of the blog tour for this new series.

In Scandalize Me we meet Hunter. I think Hunter to date is the ultimate bad boy. He comes from a wealthy family but in his own means is wealthy himself. It was always thought that that he would end up running the family business but instead went the way of an NFL career. Hunter has moved back to NYC after being kicked out the NFL and is going through numerous lawsuits. Hunter is alone as he is estranged from his family and has basically pushed all his friends away. To get through life he has numbed himself and would prefer to keep it that way.

I think all this pain he has, has to deal with Sarah and her suicide. Sarah and Hunter use to date until she called it off and like any typical guy he thought the reason why she ended their relationship was because of another guy. This is probably where Sarah was in with  Jason. When Sarah tried to get Hunter to help her he ignored her and since that day this has been a burden on him. We all go through the what ifs right?

Just like in the previous book, a girl enters the scene and her name is Zoe. Her entering the scene is much different then the previous one because she has purposely hunted down Hunter. She lets him think that she is there to change is image but Hunter knows something isn’t right. Hunter is determined to keep things as is and feels that he isn’t worth saving or changing. But you can see gradually he is intrigued by her and wants to know what is really up.

Yes there is more to Zoe then Hunter realizes and what will he do when he finds out? Will Hunter and Zoe team up wot plot their revenge on Jason?

(Review) The Kingdom of Childhood Blog Tour

Title: The Kingdom of Childhood
Author: Rebecca Coleman
Publisher: Mira (Harlequin)
Pub Date: September 2011
Pages: 352

Source: I received a copy from the publisher/Meryl Moss Media for my review and blog tour participation.

About the book:
The Kingdom of Childhood is the story of a boy and a woman: sixteen-year-old Zach Patterson, uprooted and struggling to reconcile his knowledge of his mother’s extramarital affair, and Judy McFarland, a kindergarten teacher watching her family unravel before her eyes. Thrown together to organize a fundraiser for their failing private school and bonded by loneliness, they begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them. Judy sees in Zach the elements of a young man she loved as a child, but what Zach does not realize is that their relationship is–for Judy–only the latest in a lifetime of disturbing secrets.

Rebecca Coleman’s manuscript for The Kingdom of Childhood was a semifinalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition. An emotionally tense, increasingly chilling work of fiction set in the controversial Waldorf school community, it is equal parts enchanting and unsettling and is sure to be a much discussed and much-debated novel.

When I first heard about The Kingdom of Childhood I was curious to read it and even more so to find out what exactly the Waldorf School is. I was surprised to find out that here in Quebec there is actually a Waldorf School here. When I searched further I found one right here in Montreal.

So in case you are like me and have no clue about Waldorf Schools, let me explain that it was
developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919. A Waldorf education is based on knowledge of child development whose needs change from childhood to adolescence. Waldorf teachers aim to transform education into an art to educate the complete being – thinking, feeling and will.

I have to say it was very interesting what I read.

Judy is one of the main characters in the book and she grew up in a military family living in Germany. When she was older she moved back to the US, got married, had two kids and started to teach kindergarten at a Steiner Waldorf school. Up until the book starts you presume that Judy is having the ideal life but as the story progress you quickly see that her live isn’t so.

Judy is feeling very lonely because her daughter is off at college,  her son is in his last year of high school &  busy with his girlfriend and her husband is busy trying to get his doctoral dissertation so he is always busy. So through this you see that Judy isn’t happy, she realizes her marriage is failing, she is still grieving the loss of her best friend and she is feeling alone.

Then enter Zach. He is sixteen, lonely, getting use to a new town and school  and is trying to deal with the fact that his mother is pregnant and they moved because of her affair. The affair between Zach and Judy is slow at first its like they both are testing the water before going in. They both know its wrong but risk it all just the same because its exciting and thrilling. They are both there for each other when they just need the love and getting over the loneliness. Although as time progresses you see that they are both struggling with it and its Zach that wants to end it because he knows its wrong.

As I was reading this I couldn’t help but feel for both of these characters because they both just wanted to be loved and felt wanted. They could be anyone you know.

When you look back onto the story you realize how much it could be a real life story. You hear of this happening all the time and as a person and perhaps a parent you wonder how this could happen. I know I struggle with this as a parent.

I have to say that I did struggle through the book because I found personally for me it it seemed to start off a little slow and then there would be something happening that peaked my interested and it seemed to go up and down. The book is told in the past when Judy lived in Germany and the present and this didn’t bother me because it was nice to get a little history into Judy and what made Judy not think twice about going into a relationship with Zach.

This is Rebecca Coleman debut novel.

Thanks to Book Trib Blog Tour for allowing me to be a part of this tour. You can click on Book Trib to find out the other blog stops the tour has made and is making.

Following is my excerpt and my part of the scavenger hunt:

I turned into the school parking lot, but it was still full of cars from extracurriculars. “I forgot about that,” I said. “Damn.”

“It’s not a good night for it anyway,” Zach said. “I’ve got a lot of
homework tonight, seriously. And I’m out of condoms.”

*Head over to Good Books and Good Wine on 10/4 for the next installment from THE KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD*

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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