Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Currently Reading: In This Moment by Autumn Doughton

In This Moment by Autumn Doughton
Obtained From: Tantor Media for review at Ramblings from This Chick

Why I chose this one: It sounded like a book that I would really enjoy and so far I am.  The readers for this one are great for their parts.
Date Started: September 15, 2014

About In This Moment:
A year ago, Aimee Spencer's world imploded, and she has been running ever since. She doesn't want to feel. She doesn't want to remember. To bury the ghosts that haunt her, she is living a life that has become unrecognizable. 

Cole Everly has grown accustomed to girls throwing themselves at his feet, but when Aimee trips and literally lands in his lap one afternoon, she's not at all what he expects--difficult, damaged, and closed-off. If Cole needed to make a list of qualities to avoid in a girl, Aimee would probably match up with every single one of them. He knows that he should stay away, but he's drawn to her in a way that he can't exactly explain. 


In this honest and absorbing story, Aimee and Cole struggle to sort out the thin spaces between loss and love. Ultimately, they will need to learn how to navigate through the pieces of the past if they want to hold on to the future and each other.



Currently Reading - Private: London by James Patterson and Mark Pearson

I'm starting a new feature on my blog, aiming to get me back into blogging and back into writing reviews, because if I tell you what I'm reading and format up this post maybe I'll make sure to review when I'm done.  So that's the point of Currently Reading, to share what I'm currently reading.  Hopefully it will be followed quickly with a review, whether it's a quick one or a full one or it will direct you to Ramblings From This Chick where I also review.  So wish me good luck!

Private: London by James Paterson and Mark Pearson
Obtained From: My wonderful local library. 
Why I chose this one: I picked up the first Private book a few weeks ago and I was hooked.  I finished Private Games yesterday and quickly read over 250 pages in this one last night so I hope to finish tonight. So far it's fast paced like any Patterson novel and it's easy to read and provides an interesting and twisted story.  Patterson has been a go-to author since I read Along Came a Spider back in college (around 20 years ago).  I admit I had slacked off his books lately, but I'm glad to be picking them up again.  They are not great literary tomes, but they are fun and take me away from real life for awhile.

About Private: London:
SOMETIMES WHEN THE NIGHTMARE ENDS - THE TERROR IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING

For Hannah Shapiro, a beautiful young American student, this particular nightmare began eight years ago in Los Angeles, when Jack Morgan, owner of Private - the world's most exclusive detective agency - saved her from a horrific death. She has fled her country, but can't flee her past. The terror has followed her to London, and now it is down to former Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, head of Private London, to save her all over again.

In central London, young women are being abducted off the street. When the bodies are found, some days later, they have been mutilated in a particularly mysterious way. Dan Carter's ex-wife, DI Kirsty Webb, is involved in the investigation and it looks likely that the two cases are gruesomely linked.

Dan Carter draws on the whole resources of Private International in a desperate race against the odds. But the clock is ticking... Private may be the largest and most technologically advanced detection agency in the world, but the only thing they don't have is the one thing they need - time.

James Patterson's white-knuckle rollercoaster has just reached London. Buckle up, it's one hell of a ride!




Fall Bloggiseta To Do List




It's that time, Bloggiesta is my second favorite blogging thing after the Read-A-Thons.  But it is very helpful to me.  Yes during this time, we as bloggers make a To Do list of things we would like to get done between Thursday September 18th and Sunday September 21.  During this time there are challenges and chats and general things to inspire us to work on our blogs.  And boy does my blog need some work, it has been woefully neglected so here is my to do list:

  • Work on scheduling meme posts for next 3 weeks
  • Work on scheduling reviews for next few weeks, write at least 5 for my blog
  • Write up all due reviews for Ramblings from This Chick Blog
  • Clean up labels
  • Work on updating review archive
  • Clean up review format and other meme formats, make templates so I can just put the relevant information in.
  • Clean up sidebar, update links
  • Clean up blog-related email
  • Organize my calendar, prioritize reviews
  • Attend at least 1 chat
  • Participate in some of the mini-challenges

That's it for now and probably more than I can ever accomplish, but it gives me something to work towards.  Want to join?  Click on the Bloggiesta Button at the top and join in!

Top Ten Tuesday - Sept. 16

A new-to-me meme to participate in is Top Ten Tuesday.  I have always enjoyed seeing this one on other blogs I read so I decided it was time for me to participate. 

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  So go there to check out more info, link up and see the future topics.  There are a bunch I am looking forward to.

This week's topic is: 

Top Authors I've Only Read One Book From But NEED to Read More (links go to author's Goodreads page)

  1. Larissa Ione - yes somehow I have missed out on this great author. I read the first one in her new Moonbound Clan series, Bound By Night which was amazing, so now it's time to check out book #2, Chained by Night and then her Demonica series.
  2. Marata Eros - I loved The Darkest Joy so I can't wait to check out the next book in the series and some of her other series as well.
  3. Jen Frederick - I read Unraveled which was actually the third in The Woodlands series, so I am anxious to go back to the beginning of this series and I have to say she is on my must read list for anything new and anything I missed.
  4. Melissa Bourbon - I love A Killing Notion so I will be checking out more of her A Magical Dressmaking series.
  5. Kendra Elliot - I read the first in her new Mason Callahan series and will read all new books in it and plan to go back and read her Bone Secrets series as well.
  6. Melissa West - I really enjoyed Pieces of Olivia. I have Gravity already on my TBR pile and I can't wait for more in the Charleston Haven series.
  7. Lia Riley - She may just be my favorite, I loved, loved, loved Upside Down and I am getting ready to read Sideswiped.  This Off the Map series is amazing!
  8. Megan Hart - Yes it has taken me this long to read something by this incredible author but Flying has me wanting to read more!
  9. Catherine McKenzie - Another author that has been around for awhile and I just got a chance to read.  I've already requested another of her books from the library, I loved Arranged that much!
  10. Sarah Castille - Can you say hot?  Not only was In Your Corner my first book by Sarah Castille but it was also the first I have read that features MMA.  And I can't wait for more MMA and more of Sarah's books. Against the Ropes is currently on my wishlist!

Any other authors you would suggest?  Would love to hear some of your favorites that you have just read one and are dying to read more.  Tell me in the comments and/or link up in The Broke and the Bookish's linky.



Forgive Me by Eliza Freed Excerpt Spotlight and Giveaway

FORGIVE ME by Eliza Freed 
(November 4, 2014; Forever Yours E-Book)
 
When two lost souls find each other are they still lost?
At twenty years old, Charlotte O'Brien is suddenly lost and can't seem to find her way home. In the wake of her parents' tragic death she replaces a healthy mourning period with an emotionally and sexually intense relationship with Jason Leer, a fellow lost soul and an unlikely lover. She's a student of diversity, a lover of Manhattan, and about to be a junior at Rutgers University. He's a steer wrestler, an Oklahoma State cowboy, and the hottest thing Charlotte has ever laid eyes on.

Charlotte buries herself in Jason. When they're together it's everything, but when they're apart it's utterly frustrating. Can love survive when distance is measured in more than just miles?





Pre-Order Now!

About the author:
After graduating from Rutgers University and returning to her hometown in rural South Jersey, Eliza Freed discovered her creativity and gift for story telling as a corporate trainer and spent years perfecting her presentation skills and studying diversity. It was during this time she became an avid observer of the characters we meet and the heartaches we endure. Her years of study have taught her laughter is the key to survival, even when it’s completely inappropriate. She currently lives in New Jersey with her family and a misbehaving beagle named Odin. An avid swimmer, if Eliza is not with her family and friends, she’d rather be underwater. While she enjoys many genres, she has always been a sucker for a love story…the more screwed up the better.

Social Media Links:

Excerpt:
“To exist in silence as I lay my soul bare”

And so it goes. The days are blurs of Sean, Jenn, and Margo helping me with the administration
of my life. There’s a will, a house, cars, belongings. Too much to comprehend. And my nights are Jason Leer.

He comes when the others leave; always here within minutes of loneliness setting in. He
saves me from my thoughts and my memories. Two days ago I showed him the key under the
turtle rock and now he no longer knocks. Knocking would imply asking permission to come in and he’s already here.

Something’s different about tonight, though. Sean and Michelle brought dinner over and
drove Dad’s tractor back to their house. They left an hour ago, later than expected, and he’s still
not here. I haven’t slept without him since the funeral and now that he’s absent, the depth to which I need him scares me.

I look in the mirror as I brush my teeth and my face is distraught. I refuse to let myself
consider why. Too afraid it has more to do with Jason’s absence than with my parents. That’s
impossible, though. Did he say he had something to do tonight? Did he say anything? Do we ever say anything? I thought I understood. Until tonight. Now that he’s not here the last week no longer makes sense.

I button the last button on my favorite nightshirt and climb into bed. It’s enormous and
cold without him. The silent darkness allows the memories to seep in. The moonlight invades my
room and everything is gray and sad. Why?

Why did you die?
 

Why aren’t you here?

Where the hell is Jason Leer?


Tears fill my eyes, and I roll onto my stomach and bury my face in my pillow. I can’t be
without them. They have to come back. I hear the truck tires on the gravel of my driveway and
hurry out of bed. His truck door moans as he closes it and I go to the back door to meet him. I open it just as he’s fitting the key into the lock.

His smile fades as the look on my face registers. He steps to me and wipes the tears from
my face, which makes me cry a little more.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he whispers, so as to not disturb the quiet that’s descended on the
house. He smells of cigarettes and dirt. Actual dirt. And I’m so thankful he’s here.

“Worried I wasn’t coming?” Jason moves closer to me and I lose my breath as he pins me
up against the wall. I nod my head slowly, my eyes never leaving his.

“I came as soon as the rodeo ended.”

“Did you forget the rodeo?”

“No. I know the rodeo is on Saturday.” Jason’s face turns to confusion. “I didn’t know today is Saturday,” I say, and my complete disconnection from the living makes me start to cry
again. If my parents were alive, I would know what fucking day it is.

Jason pulls me close to him and kisses the side of my head as he runs his fingers through my hair.

“I need a shower,” he says, but I can’t be concerned with what he needs.

I lay my soul bare; Jason’s to do with me what he wants because I can’t seem to care about it anymore. He forces me back to the wall and presses his body against mine until I can feel him. Until I can feel something.


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