Review for -IN FIVE YEARS by Rebecca Serle * * * * *

 

Title: In Five Years

Author: Rebecca Serle

Genre: Women's Fiction

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Atria Books

(March 10, 2020)

Hardback: 272 pages

ISBN: 978-1982137441

A Good Morning America, FabFitFun, and Marie Claire Book Club Pick

“In Five Years is as clever as it is moving, the rare read-in-one-sitting novel you won’t forget.” —Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day—a striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers.

She is nothing like her lifelong best friend—the wild, whimsical, believes-in-fate Bella. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content.

But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake. In Five Years is an unforgettable love story, but it is not the one you’re expecting.

This book was as close to perfect as it gets. I won't go into any specifics but whatever book you thought was the best, that made you almost suffocate with emotion, and made you stop and wipe your eyes and blow your nose---double it and it still may not come close to this book. I read it in less than a day and expect it will be with me for a good long time. This is what friendship and love should be for everyone!

Review For HOT AND BADGERED by Shelly Laurenston-* * * * * Plus Deleted Scene

Title: HOT AND BADGERED

Series: The Honey Badgers #1

Author: Shelly Laurenston

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shifters

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Kensington

(Mar 28, 2018)

Paperback: 432 pages

ISBN: 978-1496714343

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

Copy provided for the purpose of providing an honest review.

 This does not affect my opinion of this book.

It’s not every day that a beautiful naked woman falls out of the sky and lands face-first on grizzly shifter Berg Dunn’s hotel balcony. Definitely they don’t usually hop up and demand his best gun. Berg gives the lady a grizzly-sized t-shirt and his cell phone, too, just on style points. And then she’s gone, taking his XXXL heart with her. By the time he figures out she’s a honey badger shifter, it’s too late.
 
Honey badgers are survivors. Brutal, vicious, ill-tempered survivors. Or maybe Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan is just pissed that her useless father is trying to get them all killed again, and won’t even tell her how. Protecting her little sisters has always been her job, and she’s not about to let some pesky giant grizzly protection specialist with a network of every shifter in Manhattan get in her way. Wait. He’s trying to help? Why would he want to do that? He’s cute enough that she just might let him tag along—that is, if he can keep up ...

One of the funnest reads I've enjoyed so far this year. I love a good paranormal romance and when the author can entertain you with laughter too, that's worthy of another star! Though this book centers mostly around Charlie MacKilligan, it's definitely as much about her sisters and her love for them. 
Laurenstein infuses her characters with the animal traits of their shifter animal and they are above awesome and fascinating. This book had a lot of characters in it that I'm sure were from her earlier Pride series (which I have not read but will definitely dig out now) but it in no way lessened my enjoyment of this fabulous cast of shifter characters. 

Shelly Laurenston

Originally from Long Island, New York, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelly Laurenston has resigned herself to West Coast living which involves healthy food, mostly sunny days, and lots of guys not wearing shirts when they really should be. Shelly Laurenston is also The New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author G.A. Aiken, creator of the Dragon Kin series. For more info on G.A.’s dangerously and arrogantly sexy dragons, check out her website at www.gaaiken.com.

A Deleted Scene from Hot and Badgered

After a quick shower, a change of clothes, and a much-needed thermos of coffee, Charlie headed out with her sisters. Instead of going directly into Manhattan, though, they went to Brooklyn where the shifter-only division of NYPD had its offices.

She’d had no idea what to expect from such a thing. A shifter-only NYPD? She didn’t know that sort of thing existed, but here she was. To meet with a “Polar bear named Crushek,” Britta had told her. Then she’d added, “Don’t worry. He only looks like a serial killer. He’s actually quite nice. You know…for a polar bear.”

Charlie had thought Berg’s sister had been joking or exaggerating about the serial killer thing. Or maybe it was some sort of bear-on-bear bigotry. But as she gazed up at the six foot nine, three-hundred-plus polar bear glaring down at her and her sisters—while sitting no less—with impenetrable black eyes from under thick white hair tied in a loose ponytail that was long enough to hang over one shoulder…she began to seriously question Britta’s idea of what “actually quite nice” might mean.

“So…ummmm…in conclusion…” Charlie, rarely at a loss for words, glanced over at Max who, for once in her entire life, seemed to be stunned into complete silence, simply staring at the giant.

“Anyway, we need information about that jewelry heist in Manhattan,” Charlie rushed to finish.

There was more silence for another full minute before Crushek finally asked, “Who are you people again?” He leaned across his desk a bit and sniffed. “I don’t recognize the scent.”

Charlie cleared her throat. “Well, um, I’m Charlie MacKilligan and this is—”

“I don’t want your name. I know your name. Your name is meaningless. Who are you?”

Max leaned into her a little. “I think he means—”

“Right! Right. Such an interesting part of our lives now.” Charlie cleared her throat. “I’m a honey badger-wolf.” She pointed at Max. “Honey badger. Only.” She then gestured to Stevie. “Honey badger-tiger.”

“Really? Tiger?” He glared harder at Stevie. “She’s so tiny.”

That’s when Stevie burst into tears.

Mortified, Charlie looked at her baby sister. “Are you sobbing? Why are you sobbing?”

“He’s going to kill us all,” she squealed through her tears.

“What’s wrong with her?” Crushek asked, appearing faintly disgusted.

“She’s mentally ill.”

Max snorted and quickly looked away, but Stevie slammed her hands down into her lap.

“I am not mentally ill!” she screeched, and all the shifters in the room turned to look at them. “I have a panic disorder and bouts of depression! I do not hear voices!”

The polar abruptly stood and walked away.

“Is he coming back?” Charlie asked Max, but her sister was too busy doubling over in her chair, laughing hysterically. Of course, she did manage to spit out, “I love our family!”

Resting her elbow on the arm of her chair, Charlie leaned her head into her hand so she could rub her temples with her fingertips. “I’m getting one of my headaches.”

Stevie placed her backpack into her lap and began digging inside. “I’m sure I have something for that.”

Charlie quickly placed her hand over her sister’s, stopping her from pulling out the plastic bag of drugs she kept with her at all times. All of them were prescribed and never abused, of course, but she also knew a room full of cops—shifter or otherwise—would be way too interested in that stash for Charlie’s comfort.

“Let’s hold off on that,” Charlie gently suggested, not wanting to set her sister off again.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine. I just wonder—”

A slamming phone had the three sisters looking at the corner office, and the clear glass allowed them to watch as the woman inside picked up her phone’s receiver and then slammed it down six more times before storming out into the main room. She shut the office door behind her. So hard that Charlie was shocked the glass didn’t break.

“They put reinforced glass in a few years back after they had to replace it for the fourth time,” a detective sitting at the desk behind them quietly explained.

“Where’s Crushek?” the woman bellowed and Charlie watched the shifters not in the woman’s line of sight make a desperate run for it. “Was my question unclear?”

“He went to the file room, boss,” someone called out. “You know how he feels about computers.”

The woman stalked over to Crushek’s desk. She grabbed a notepad and pen and began writing something out.

Stevie said against Charlie’s ear, “She’s full-human.”

“No way.” Charlie shook her head. “No way.”

“I don’t have allergies,” Stevie reminded her. “Trust me. She’s got lion all over her but she’s not a shifter.”

And yet the shifters in the room—whether bear, cat, or canine—appeared terrified of a not particularly tall or in-shape Latina woman.

Finishing her note, she tossed the pen—accidentally hitting one of the nearby cops in the back of the head—and picked up the pad so that she could slam it down again on the desk.

As she straightened up, she asked the room, “Can anyone explain to me why I decided to have a child?”

“Love?” someone called out.

“That cat gave you no choice?” another asked.

“Biological need?” Stevie suggested. When her sisters gawked at her, “I thought she really wanted an answer.”

Ignoring everyone, the woman continued, “All I can say is never mate with a lion. Because you’ll have a son and he will make it his business to make your life and the life of every one of his teachers absolute hell.”

“I warned you,” one of the female detectives stated. “I told you when we first met. You can love ’em, you can screw‘em, you can marry ’em, but do not have sons with ’em. And I should know.” She raised her hands, palms up as the full-human stormed off. “I’m head of my Pride.”

Stevie suddenly leaned forward. “I can tell by your tawny mane.”

The She-cat grinned at Charlie’s sister and winked. “Thanks, honey.”

“What are you doing?” Charlie asked Stevie.

“Enjoying the banter,” she replied with a happy smile.

The polar walked back to his desk and handed Charlie a thick stack of papers. “Here.”

Charlie glanced at the first page. It was the report she needed. “Oh! Thank—”

“Now get out.”

“Ooo…kay. Well, no need to get bitchy.”

“Maybe,” Stevie snarled, “we shouldn’t call the man-eating animal bitchy.”

“Or maybe you should just sack up. Besides, I doubt he’d eat your bony ass.”

“I have a high metabolism!”

Completely disgusted with everyone, Charlie started to get up, then realized Max was again doubled over in her chair, hysterically laughing.

“Seriously?” Charlie demanded.

“I can’t help it!” she squeaked back. “I just love our family!”

Review For THE ALMOST SISTERS By Joshilyn Jackson- 5*

Title: The Almost Sisters 

Author: Joshilyn Jackson

Genre: Women's Fiction

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: William Morrow

(July 11, 2017)

Hardback: 352 pages

ISBN: 978-0062105714

FTC Disclosure: Copy from library

WITH EMPATHY, GRACE, HUMOR, AND PIERCING INSIGHT, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GODS IN ALABAMA PENS A POWERFUL, EMOTIONALLY RESONANT NOVEL OF THE SOUTH THAT CONFRONTS THE TRUTH ABOUT FAMILY, RACE, AND THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND REALITY—THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES ABOUT OUR ORIGINS AND WHO WE REALLY ARE

Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’s weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comic-book convention, the usually level-headed graphic novel artist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. She remembers he was tall, black, and an excellent French kisser—but not much else.

It turns out the Caped Crusader has left her with more than just a fond, fuzzy memory. That pink plus sign on the stick isn’t wrong: she’s having a baby—an unexpected but not unhappy development. She always wanted to fall in love and have a child, but as a young woman, she learned exactly what betrayal felt like. Now she’s thirty-eight and dead single, having walked—no, run—away from every man she might have married, trying to avoid more loss, more regrets.

Before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional lily-white Southern family, her perfect stepsister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Leia wants to help, but Rachel is married to the very man who broke her heart all those years ago. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, has been hiding her rapidly progressing dementia with the help of her lifelong best friend, Wattie. Birchie is Leia’s only living paternal relative, a proper yet fierce woman who has long lived by her own rules in Birchville, Alabama, the small town her family founded generations back. Now this grande dame has started a row at the church fish fry that has set every tongue wagging, pitted neighbor against neighbor, and made it plain to Leia that her grandmother needs some serious looking after.

Heading seven hundred miles south, Leia plans to put Birchie’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and break the news of her blessed event. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked away in a trunk in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her unborn son and the possibilities of his absent father, and the warm and friendly—yet deeply flawed and contradictory—world she thinks she knows.

Enchanting, wry, honest, and hopeful, The Almost Sisters compels us to explore our own origins and the stories we tell ourselves.

I read a lot of great books each year and twice that many good books. This book was just so much more than great. It made me laugh out loud, cry a few tears and nod my head with understanding when reading about this small southern Baptist town. This author so knew what she was talking about when she expounded on this small town. Been there, grew up there and it ain't changed a damn bit!
This book has so many layers- family loyalty, a budding romance, unplanned pregnancy, second chance romance, family secrets, racial tension, and a fabulous mystery in a trunk. If this is not optioned for a movie, I'll be so surprised. There is little I can say that has not already been said about this book but it has definitely risen to the top of the list of books that I will try to push on every reader in my orbit so anyone that knows me just give up now and read this fabulous book. Just know that once you start it everything else will go to the wayside till you finish that last page.


View all my reviews

Jackson's latest novel, THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE, is now out in paperback. Her new book, THE ALMOST SISTERS, launches July 11th, 2017

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and Someone Else's Love Story. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, and three times been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly.

She lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, their two children, and way too many feckless animals. 

Release Blitz & Top Five For FORBIDDEN PROMISES by Katee Robert

Title: Forbidden Promises

Author: Katee Robert

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 30, 2017

Publisher: Grand Central/Forever

Series: The O’Malleys #4

Page Count: 336 pages

ISBN-13: 9781455597031

Some lines should never be crossed . . . not even for love.

Sloan O'Malley just left her entire world behind-her family, her wealth, and even her real name. For the first time in her life, she's free. She can live the "normal" life she's always wanted. A life without fear. But there's nothing safe about her intensely sexy next-door neighbor.

Jude MacNamara has no room for innocence in his life. Only revenge. Still, he's never been able to walk away from the forbidden, and Sloan-who is every inch of pure, mouthwatering temptation-has forbidden written all over her. Only after it's way too late does he discover the real danger: claiming Sloan as his puts a target on her back. To protect her, Jude is willing risk everything . . . and to hell with the consequences.

 O'Malley series: 
THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
THE WEDDING PACT
AN INDECENT PROPOSAL

Add FORBIDDEN PROMISES to your TBR pile on Goodreads! Then keep reading to get an EXCLUSIVE (and totally hawt!) sneak peek at FORBIDDEN PROMISES. Also, be sure to enter the giveaway for an O'Malley heroes candle set + a $30 Amazon gift card. Three (3) runner-up winners will get their choice of an eBook from Katee’s backlist.

Download at:  

Amazon → http://amzn.to/2oQ7Ikw

B&N → http://bit.ly/2nWvcFc

iBooks → http://apple.co/2mxsWi0

Kobo → http://bit.ly/2mxvcG9

Top 5 List for Lisa's Loves(Books of Course)

5 to 7 GIFs telling your story with comments

Sloan O’Malley took off from Boston to start her own life, which is great and all, but she keeps getting distracted by her super-hot neighbor who never seems to have a shirt on.

Determined to be a confident, independent woman, she makes a pass at him.

Jude being a maybe-honorable-hitman, shuts her down.

Except he’s not big on self-control and he wants her like whoa so…

But Jude hasn’t been super honest with who he really is—the last MacNamara left alive…and bent on revenge.

And when their respective pasts come calling, their hearts won’t be the only thing at risk.

This was not my favorite book of the series. I never felt like I connected with the characters. For some reason I took an instant dislike to Jude and never felt that he would be a type that I would enjoy being around so he kind of ruined the story for me.

 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. Her 2015 title, The Marriage Contract, was a RITA finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it 'a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension."  When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. 

Connect with Katee at: Website | Facebook | Twitter| GoodReads | Instagram

Release Week Blitz/Top 5 List & Giveaway for GRAND SLAM by Heidi McLaughlin

Title: GRAND SLAM

Author: Heidi McLaughlin

Series: The Boys of Summer, #3

On Sale: May 23, 2017

Publisher: Forever

eBook: $4.99 USD

Add to Goodreads

Win the game. Lose your heart. 

Everyone knows who I am and that I could have any female fan I want. That's supposed to be the "perk" of playing left field for the Boston Renegades. But I don't want just any woman; I want her. 

She should be just another face in the crowd, but I can't stop thinking about the one night we spent together-and her look of regret the morning after. 

Because Saylor Blackwell is the kind of woman who haunts a man. Smart, sexy as hell, and one of the best managers in the business. She's every ballplayer's dream woman. And I'd do anything to make things right with her. 

I'm done sitting on the bench when it comes to Saylor Blackwell. Time to swing for the fences.

GRAND SLAM EXCERPT

Release Blitz & Giveaway For THIRD BASE by Heidi McLaughlin

Title: THIRD BASE

Author: Heidi McLaughlin

Series: The Boys of Summer, #1

On Sale: April 4, 2017

Publisher: Forever

Trade Paperback: $14.99 USD

eBook: $3.99 USD

Add to Goodreads

Ethan Davenport is already Boston's most eligible bachelor. In his second season with the Boston Renegades he has set his eyes on the girl behind the visitors' dugout.

That girl is Daisy Robinson, a journalism student at the University of Boston and a die-hard Renegades fan.

But with new found love comes challenges and Ethan and Daisy have to deal with his crazy schedule, school finals and his presence on her campus for some much needed media training.

For Ethan nothing can come between him and Daisy, until a secret that she's been keeping threatens to destroy them both.

 Top 5 List For 

 favorite movie quotes that represent your book

There’s no crying in baseball

God, I just love baseball

Who the hell are you? I’m the player to be named later.

How can you not get romantic about baseball?

All the arguing in the world can't change the decision of the umpire

THIRD BASE Release Day Blitz Excerpt

Release Week Blitz/Giveaway & Top 5 Funny Lines From THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Jessica Lemmon

Title: THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR
Author: Jessica Lemmon
Series: Billionaire Bad Boys, #2
On Sale: Oct 25, 2016
Publisher: Forever

It's Tag Crane's job to be the life of the party. Traveling from one exotic locale to another is just part of running the luxurious Crane Hotel empire. But even paradise isn't perfect. Devising a new business strategy is keeping Tag up at night-and so is the Great Dane barking at all hours in the apartment below his. To muzzle the problem, Tag charges downstairs . . . right into the most beautiful, blond distraction he's ever seen.

Dog-sitting by day, bartending by night. It's not exactly the life Rachel Foster dreamed of. But when Tag Crane rushes in, all mountain-man shoulders and obscenely sexy smile, needing her help for the Crane Hotels, it's a fantasy come true. What's the harm in a fun no-strings fling? Only a fool would give her heart to a billionaire player like Tag-until suddenly the one man who can't be caught is the one flirting with forever . . .

GR

BUY THE BOOK HERE

Amazon   Barnes & Noble  Books-A-Million  Google Play

iBooks  Indiebound  Kobo

THE SERIES

The Billionaire Bachelor, #1

The Billionaire Next Door, #2

The Bastard Billionaire, #3

Series Page on Goodreads

Top 5 funny lines from The Billionaire Next Door

by Jessica Lemmon
When I wrote Tag Crane’s story, I knew it was going to be clever. I mean, come on. The same guy who said to his oldest brother, Reese: “You look like you’re going to climb to the top of his building and start swiping at low-flying planes” in The Billionaire Bachelor had to have some great one-liners in his own story, right? According to readers, YES. Reviews have hailed The Billionaire Next Door as “hilarious” and “laugh out loud funny.” Throw in smoking hot, emotionally charged, and you have the recipe for a Jessica Lemmon book.
But don’t take it from me. Here are the top 5 funny lines from tBND. Enjoy, and happy reading!
#5: On accusing his dad of being a terrible retiree because he won’t leave Tag alone about work… “Stop being ridiculous. Go drink your Metamucil or something.” Rhona’s giggle punctuated the air and Tag added, “And take your Cialis.”
#4: This one is cheating a little because Lucas, Tag’s best friend says it, but it earned my number four spot because, well… I love Lucas! “I figured you and Reese split Chicago singles right down the middle, but with him engaged”—Luc dipped his voice to add the word again—“that puts you in charge of sexually pleasing the remainder of Chicago’s females.” Tag couldn’t help laughing. “You’re an ass.” “With great power comes great responsibility, my friend.”
#3: Tag’s response when Rachel accuses him of not acting like a billionaire… “You don’t act like a billionaire.” She arranged herself and rested against his solid chest. “I take it you weren’t impressed with the whisking-you-away-to-Oahu-by-private-plane bit? Because I have to tell you, that’s my go-to move.”
#2: That one time Rachel accuses Tag of thinking she was a hooker… His chuckle turned into a belly laugh and he had to put a hand on his stomach to catch his breath. “No, sweetheart, I thought you meant you were one of his regular girls. Girlfriends. Not that you curled his toes for money.”
#1: Rachel’s reaction upon learning Tag’s name… “Tag,” he answered, letting go of her hand. “Tag? As in you’re it?” Tag as in Taggart, but he’d die before she found out he was named after his great-great-grandfather Crane. “Yeah. As in you’re it.”

A former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an impressive frame. When she's not writing super-sexy heroes, she can be found cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want.
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