Her Bodyguard in Bliss
Freda Ann
(A Bliss Cay Novella, #5)
Publication date: May 16th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Chance McNally is a former Navy Seal and a hot-headed Irishman who’s at the end of his rope trying to balance a new job while raising a difficult teenage daughter alone.

Along comes Riley Cole, a feisty event planner running a successful business, whose carefully curated life is changed by the constant threat of a dangerous stalker. Afraid for her life, she hires the best bodyguard in Bliss Cay…who happens to be Chance.

With Chance assigned to protect Riley, he must assume the role of her boyfriend in order to keep her safe from danger at all times—a feat easier said than done. When the two are together they’re oil and water, leading to explosive situations as they are forced to tolerate each other’s presence.

With Riley’s world turned upside down over the ever-constant threat of danger, the safety this fake relationship offers is something she realizes she’s been missing in her life. For Chance, Riley may be the spark of fire he needs to finally heal from past traumas.

Will the one person Chance never wanted in his life be the one to persuade him to face a tortured past, and will this relationship stay fiction—or can their growing feelings turn it into fact?

(Book 5 of a standalone series; can be read in any order.)

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EXCERPT:

“For appearance’s sake, and to give you better access to Riley, I strongly suggest the two of you pretend to be a couple—nothing too serious since she’s here on business.”

“Are you kidding me?” Riley exclaims.

“I don’t know about that, Sloane. No one would believe we’re a couple, we clearly have nothing in common, and not an ounce of chemistry to pull it off.” I rest my hands on my hips, looking at my big sister whose eyes widen.

“Well, at least we agree on something.” Riley responds with a smirk.

“Like I said, Riley, it’s just a suggestion, though it’s one I’m confident can only help to assure your safety. The two of you have been in relationships before so I’m sure you can fake it.”

My sister stands and pulls Riley away from the table to talk to her. I walk over to the window, watching the cars drive by while thinking of the utter torture it would be pretending to be Ms. High and Mighty’s boyfriend, but refrain from expressing my feelings.

After much deliberation, Sloane steps closer and tells me, “It’s settled, Chance.” I join them in the middle of the room, when she adds, “You’re now Riley’s new boyfriend.”

I stifle my reaction, as she continues, “You’ve joined her in Bliss Cay for the summer to get to know each other better. That means you’ll need to study the intel I sent you to make your relationship believable. I trust you’ll fill Riley in on the details she’ll need to know about you to pull this off?”

Looking away, I grit my teeth thinking of this woman being privy to my personal life, but push my feelings aside—at least for now.

“Of course,” I glance at Sloane before facing Riley. “Shall we get you settled into your rental house, Ms. Cole?”

“Yes, that would be perfect, but if we’re supposed to be involved,” she rolls her eyes, “you might as well call me Riley.”

“Fine, as long as you don’t ask me to call you honey,” I glare at her, unable to resist.

Sloane looks at me, flicking her head at the door. “Walk with me for a minute?”

“Sure,” I follow her to the hallway knowing what’s coming.

She faces me crossing her arms and wearing her boss face again. “The tension between you two better not escalate any further Chance, so find a way to civilly deal with our client. If you’ve lost your ability to be professional, despite your personal feelings, then let me know now and I’ll take the job.”

“I admit, the woman knows how to push my buttons, but I can handle her. Everything will smooth over before the day is done. Have faith in me, okay?”

Author Bio:

Freda was born in southern New Jersey but grew up in Florida. She has loved writing her entire life. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, she knew it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a published author.

She’s the author of The Hawaii Series, proudly named from her love of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. It’s a three-book series with all of them written as standalone books.

Freda loves her large family, horses, dogs, cat, and close friends. She hosts monthly family dinners at her home in the country, which she shares with her husband.

She loves baking (she owned and operated a cupcake business for years), cooking, yoga, crocheting, nature and traveling with the love of her life.

What helps her write? Music makes her happy! If music doesn’t give her the right motivation, she puts on a romantic movie, usually from the Hallmark Channel, which she can’t get enough of!

Freda speaks her mind and pushes perfection to its limit. She strives to be her best, most positive self she can be in life. With time, determination, and practice, she believes anything is possible.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram

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Book Info:
The Rules of Us by Jennifer Nissley
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Publishing Date: May 9, 2023

Synopsis:
Come out. Break up. Stay friends? In this heartwarming queer love story about love of all kinds, exes navigate new crushes, new feelings, and a newly uncertain future after unexpectedly coming out to each other on prom night turns their lives–and their friendship–upside down. Can they figure out how to move on without losing each other?

Jillian and Henry are the kind of couple who do everything together. They take the same classes, have the same hobbies, and applied for the same super-competitive scholarship so they can go to the same dream college. They even come out as gay to each other on the same night, after junior prom, prompting a sudden breakup that threatens their intertwined identities and carefully designed future. Jillian knows the only way to keep everything on track is to approach their breakup with the same precision and planning as their scholarship application. They will still be “Jillian and Henry”–even if they’re broken up.

Except they hadn’t planned on Henry meeting the boy of his dreams or Jillian obsessing over a cool girl at school. Jillian is desperate to hold on to her best friend when so much else is changing. But as she and Henry explore what–and who–they really want, it becomes harder to hold on to the careful definitions she has always lived her life by. Stuck somewhere between who she was with Henry and who she might be on her own, Jillian has to face what she can’t control and let go of the rules holding her back.

Before I begin my review I quickly have to thank TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for graciously providing me with an eArc of the book to read for my review stop today.

This is completely off-topic but I have to say that I am loving the color scheme of the covers that publishers are using with the yellow/mustard almost vintage look this last little while.

The book is told from Jillian’s point of view and as much as I appreciate that I wish it would have also been told from Henry’s point of view as well. I enjoyed knowing how Jiliian was feeling and what she was going through but I always wanted to know the same thing from Henry. I think that that could have added a whole other dimension to the book.

With that being said our two main characters are Jillian and Henry. Plus side characters of family and love interests. I found them to be believable. They were both smart driven people. The only downfall is that they let their emotions dictate what they did. I loved that both Jillian and Henry were flawed and not perfect people and friends that we read about in so many young adult books. Yes, we like to believe everything is honky dory but in real life, it’s not. Nobody is perfect.

Jillian and Henry are best friends who are trying to navigate themselves and their sexuality. Jillian is a junior in high school and she has her life and Henry’s planned out. They are both graduating with honors and are planning on going to the same university and following the same dream of studying video game design.

Jillian and Henry have been dating for years and things seem to be going better than expected until Henry puts a kink into that dream. How will Jillian cope? Can she be true to who she really is?

I do have to say that the book started off a little slow but if you push through it it’s so worth it in the end. This was definitely not a light one-sitting read. As I read YA books now (we clearly know that I am not the targeted demographic) I have to applaud the authors for writing about these important themes and topics that are so important in this day. I only wish we had these kinds of books when I was a young adult.

I know after reading this that I will definitely be checking out Jennifer’s future books.

Book Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62562913
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593484908/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rules-of-us-jennifer-nissley/1142194708
IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-rules-of-us/18850067?

About the Author:
Jennifer Nissley (she/her/hers) is the author of THE MYTHIC KODA ROSE, which was published by Simon & Schuster in Summer 2021. Although her first love is writing, she is powerfully attracted to video games, horses, and pretty much any piece of clothing or interior design with an animal on it.
She received her MFA in Fiction from Stony Brook Southampton and lives in Queens with her wife and doggo, but sadly no horses.

Currently, she’s at work on multiple writing projects.

Author Links:
Website: https://jennifernissley.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenissley88
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer.nissley/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20377665.Jennifer_Nissley

Tour Schedule:
https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2023/03/25/tour-schedule-the-rules-of-us-by-jennifer-nissley/

This Will Hurt I
Cara Dee
Publication date: May 9th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
Standalone Part I of II Angst Awakening Friends to Lovers Single Dad Slow Burn
Maybe the heart needs to break before one can put together the pieces correctly. This is Jake and Roe’s story.

I used to think leaving the Marines and moving to LA was the defining moment that changed my life. I was gonna become a documentary filmmaker and see the world through my camera. Then I met Roe Finlay.

Never in a million years could I have imagined…well, everything we went through. I sucked at expressing how I felt—which was emotionally stunted most of the time—but Roe seemed to get me. I became…dependent. Attached. Not in a sexual way or anything—I wasn’t gay. Far from it. Or bisexual like Roe, for that matter. No, this was different. I just wanted to be close to him. He made me laugh like no other. We were a fantastic team. We lived together. Worked together. He was my best friend.

He was everything. He was my defining moment.

Until he decided to commit to his f—to his girlfriend.

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EXCERPT:

Just go home, you fucking moron. You don’t belong in LA.

I made my way across campus, feeling more out of place every time I left class.

I was leaving behind a good career in the Marines for…random classes at Santa Monica College. Learn videography in twelve weeks. Study the art of documentary filmmaking in one semester. Then I thought about why I’d left the service. How sick I was of seeing death through my lens. Combat photography had been such a fucking fluke anyway. I was infantry. I was more at home on the front lines in Afghanistan than… But no. No. No, I was here because I couldn’t stand the war anymore. I didn’t wanna see another dead soldier, hear another explosion, witness another crying child surrounded by blood and debris.

I went to the coffee shop on the corner of the street where Nikki worked. She had the car, and we’d go home together once she was off her shift.

I ordered a coffee and found an empty table by one of the windows.

Sounded pretty good, though, didn’t it? Go home with my girlfriend at the end of the day… Except, it was her car, her apartment, and my savings were almost gone. By next month, I’d have to take that bartending job in West Hollywood where the tips were so good.

By then, I’d be twenty-seven.

I retrieved my pen from the inner pocket of my jacket, and I opened the notebook.

Final project. Final project, final project, final project. I needed content. I understood filming. Documenting. But coming up with my own content for a fucking college class’s final project? I was doomed.

“There you are! Fuck, I thought I lost you, man.”

I furrowed my brow and glanced toward the man’s voice—that belonged to someone I definitely didn’t know. But he was coming toward my table, and he was staring right at me.

No, wait. I recognized him. He was in my class, wasn’t he? Out here, I had developed a radar for East Coast people, and he had a New York accent. Otherwise, not much about him stood out. Average height, dark hair, fairly fit, on the lanky side, probably a bit younger than me.

He sat down in front of me, out of breath, and removed his messenger bag. “Look, I’m just gonna come out and say it. I have two hundred bucks, I’m living in my truck, and I have one network connection that I desperately wanna use. He told me to send him my final project—see if he could make some calls—but as has become painfully clear in this class, videography isn’t my thing. I understand fuck-all about goddamn HDV, SxS, and the difference between standard definition and hi-def.” He leaned forward. “Dude, y’all were talking about memory cards, and I thought we were discussing a fucking festival in Austin.”

That…was SXSW. South by Southwest.

“Anyway—in short, I have an idea,” he went on. “There is an artistic approach to it, but I’ll admit, it’s more of a come-hither for networks, something I think will sell. To get a foot in the door. But I need a partner, and I’ve watched you in class. You know your way around the equipment and the editing software. When the professor asks his dumb, insane questions, you actually know the answers.”

Was this how he talked to people he’d never met before? I didn’t even know his name.

I guessed if you were desperate enough and living out of your car, you cut to the chase faster.

That might very well be me in the near future.

So if he had an idea…

I extended my hand. “I’m Jake.”

He gave me a puzzled look, before he seemed to remember he’d just jumped into the conversation with no preamble. Then he flashed a dimpled grin and shook my hand.

“Roe. It’s Monroe, but everyone calls me Roe.”

Author Bio:

I’m often awkwardly silent or, if the topic interests me, a chronic rambler. In other words, I can discuss writing forever and ever. Fiction, in particular. The love story—while a huge draw and constantly present—is secondary for me, because there’s so much more to writing romance fiction than just making two (or more) people fall in love and have hot sex.

There’s a world to build, characters to develop, interests to create, and a topic or two to research thoroughly.

Every book is a challenge for me, an opportunity to learn something new, and a puzzle to piece together. I want my characters to come to life, and the only way I know to do that is to give them substance—passions, history, goals, quirks, and strong opinions—and to let them evolve.

I want my men and women to be relatable. That means allowing room for everyday problems and, for lack of a better word, flaws. My characters will never be perfect.

Wait…this was supposed to be about me, not my writing.

I’m a writey person who loves to write. Always wanderlusting, twitterpating, kinking, cooking, baking, and geeking. There’s time for hockey and family, too. But mostly, I just love to write.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Newsletter

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A Seasonal Song
Dan Shaskin, Deb Wesloh
Publication date: March 21st 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Discover love and music in the sultry streets of Miami with “A Seasonal Song.”

Clarissa Bianchi, a talented violinist, lands her dream internship with the Miami Orchestra, but little does she know that she will also discover the love of her life. Jack Williams, a rugged rock guitarist with a broken heart, meets Clarissa and is instantly drawn to her beauty and passion for music. Despite their different musical backgrounds, their mutual love for music brings them together on a journey filled with passion, growth, and unforgettable memories.

As the summer draws to a close, Clarissa and Jack must navigate their intense feelings for each other and determine if their love is strong enough to withstand the distance between Miami and Boston. Will their hearts play a different song, or will the romance come to an end?

“A Seasonal Song” is a love story that will leave you humming a sweet tune long after you turn the last page.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Current Year

Clarissa gazed at the horizon as she sat on the beach. The breeze provided little relief from the oppressive heat and humidity. Her cotton shirt clung to the contours of her body as sweat dripped down the back of her neck. The wind and humidity disheveled her long brunette hair.

She paused and whispered under her breath. “Here I am, again. Back in Miami.”

They say history repeats itself. From her perspective, she concurred.

So much heartache, so much love, and such beautiful memories. The smell of the ocean brought a tear to her eye. The tear slowly trickled down her cheek, dropping from her chin into the ocean.

She smiled as she thought of her last summer in Miami. Some would categorize it as a summer fling, but the passion and intense emotions they shared were real.

Jack was twenty-seven and designed custom yachts. She was twenty-one, a sophomore at Berklee College of Music. An unlikely pair, but perhaps their paths collided for a reason.

She strolled to the water’s edge. The sand stuck to her feet, leaving deep imprints on the beach. The waves crashed against her legs, throwing her slightly off balance. She steadied herself as she walked back to her towel.

Her mind drifted back to her job last summer at the Purple Penguin Café. Where it all began.

As she remembered when she first met Jack, her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing became slightly labored.

Last summer at 6:30 p.m. on June 25th Jack walked into The Purple Penguin. She chided her silliness for remembering the exact date and time, but she did, and the memory was as crisp as if it had happened yesterday.

Last year

All teal chairs and tables were occupied at the eclectic-furnished café. Loud conversations inundated the room.

Several people waved, trying to get her attention. She was exhausted, and her feet ached. She wished her shift would end.

As she served a table, he entered the café and waited to be seated.

A table soon opened, and the hostess assigned him to her section. She finished serving her current table and approached him, greeting him warmly.

“Hi. My name is Clarissa. What can I get for you?”

His warm brown eyes glanced up from the menu and met hers. “Hi, nice to meet you, Clarissa.”

It surprised her to hear her name. Although she always introduced herself, the customers rarely repeated her name.

“What’s in that silver penguin shaker thing I saw you take to the other table?”

“Shake Your Penguin, our signature cocktail. It’s a mix of Absolut Vodka, pomegranate juice, lime soda, and berries. It’s very popular and tastes great. I should know. I’ve sampled a few of them.” She winked and laughed.

He smiled. “I’ll take your word for it. Let’s start with one of those Shaky Penguin things.”

She returned a few minutes later with his drink.

He took a sip. “Wow, this is good!” Jack continued. “Listening to your accent, you don’t seem to be from around here. Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want.”

Clarissa laughed, “It’s okay. The short answer is, I’m from everywhere.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Well, when I was growing up, I was an Army brat. Between the ages of two and nineteen, I lived in eight states, and three years in Stuttgart, Germany.”

Jack smiled at her. “Sie müssen dann fließend Deutsch sprechen?”

Clarissa smiled. “Yes, I speak German, but fluent is an exceptionally strong word. Let’s just say I can converse in German with few errors.”

She found him intriguing. Perhaps it was the warm manner he talked to her. She calculated he was slightly older than her, maybe in his late twenties. He had a sincere smile and kind eyes.

“Most of our clientele are tourists and stay at the Purple Penguin Hotel next door,” she said. “We don’t get many locals. Are you from around here?”

“I’m originally from Boerne, Texas, just northwest of San Antonio. I’ve lived in Miami for five years. A business client is staying at the Penguin Hotel. I just dropped him off, saw the restaurant, and here I am. Never been here before.”

“How’d you get from Texas to Miami Beach?” she asked.

“I’ve always loved the ocean. Growing up, I spent my weekends in Aransas Pass hanging out on the beach. I’m experienced in construction, saw an opening in Miami, and here I am.”

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Playing For Keeps
Julie Hammerle
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication date: May 8th 2023
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

USA Today bestselling author Julie Hammerle’s quirky romantic comedy about two strangers, a fake relationship, and a teeny mid-lie crisis…

Bryce Barrett has disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, technically she’s just temporarily hiding out in a teeny Midwest town, away from her ruined marriage and professional demise…at least until she can figure out her next steps. But when she bumps into her ex—dressed in what could be only described as “dumpster chic”—she does the only reasonable thing a woman can do: panics and pretends the cute security guard on the scene is her new boyfriend.

Free-spirited nomad Jake Warner knew returning to his hometown was a bad idea. It’s bad enough that his family’s pressuring him to step into his dad’s hypercompetitive shoes and settle down, but when a complete stranger (cute, though possibly unbalanced) enlists him as her fake boyfriend, Jake knows he’s making some questionable choices…especially when he inexplicably goes along with it.

Now these two mismatched misfits are temporary allies against a town filled with happy, normal, and annoyingly stable people. Fake dating keeps everyone off their back while they plot their respective escapes. But nothing botches a plan more than unexpected chemistry…

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EXCERPT:

“Ted, hello.” Bryce offered him her hand, and he pulled her in for a quick, friendly kiss on the cheek. She stiffened up. Damn it, is that moldy cheese smell me? No. It’s Ted. It must be Ted.

After he let her go, Ted spoke to the woman next to him, “Ree, this is my ex-wife, Bryce. Bryce, this is Rita, my girlfriend.”

We lah-dee-frickin’ da, Ted went and got himself a girlfriend.

But I have beaver slippers.

Bryce bit her lip to keep from laughing or crying, she wasn’t sure which.

Rita offered her hand to Bryce. “It’s nice to meet you. Ted has told me so much about you.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too.” Bryce greeted her ex’s new girlfriend with a perfunctory handshake as she took the opportunity to give Rita the once-over. She was the kind of effortless beauty Bryce, with her hair dye and multi-session workouts and (previously) gluten free, vegan diet, had only ever dreamed of being. Rita, whose luminous face apparently had no need for makeup, wore her long, dark hair in a cascade over her shoulders. Her white pants and nautical-striped shirt were right out of a J. Crew catalog.

Bryce folded her arms across her dingy, dirty t-shirt.

“What are you doing in town?” Ted asked.

He was definitely staring at her pants—or, well, his pants. She crossed her legs, trying to hide the big, gold “Michigan.” “I’m…I live here.”

Ted laughed. “You live in Wackernagel?”

Bryce frowned. “Well, I have the house here.”

“Yeah, you do, but I…I figured you’d sell it the first chance you got.” Ted laughed. “What about work?”

He hadn’t heard. Somehow news of her great professional demise had not reached Ted.

Bryce said a quick prayer of thanksgiving for loyal friends, Ted’s aversion to social media, and the fact that their work circles didn’t overlap. His high school teachers’ crowd didn’t have much contact with Big Law beyond Bryce.

“I’m taking some time off.” Bryce crossed her arms.

“Like, a sabbatical?” Rita asked.

Bryce nodded. Sure, let’s call it that.

“Good for you.” Tim smiled softly. “I’m glad you’re finally taking some time for yourself.”

Yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Bryce shot him a relaxed, self-assured smile. Might as well let him keep thinking things are wonderful. No harm in that. “Things are going really well for me here, in fact. I’m fixing up the house”—or, technically, redecorating it with old chip bags, empty wine bottles, and assorted other garbage—“and I’m really finding myself”—by binge watching TV shows, eating ice cream, and sleeping all day.

“That’s great,” Ted said. And his eyes were back on Bryce’s pants.

These stupid pants. They were blowing her cover. Her current outfit screamed everything but “I’m thriving!” Bryce chuckled, trying to make light of her oddball clothing. “I see you’ve noticed what I’m wearing.”

Ted’s eyes widened. “I have. Have you?”

She tamped down any annoyance at his semi-snide tone.

Author Bio:

USA Today best-selling, RITA nominated author, Julie Hammerle (she/her) writes romantic comedies for adults and teens. Before settling down to write “for real,” she studied opera, taught Latin, and held her real estate license for one hot minute. Currently, when not writing, she ropes people into conversations about Game of Thrones and makes excuses to avoid the gym. Her favorite YA-centric TV shows include 90210 (original spice), Felicity, and Freaks and Geeks. Her music playlist reads like a 1997 Lilith Fair set list.

She lives in Chicago with her husband and her two kids and a dog.

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