Gemma Carlson didn’t plan on waking up married.

She also didn’t count on running into her old flame—and her son’s father-turned-country-rock star—Travis Bowers, followed by a night of drunken dares. Apparently one of those involved a ring on her finger and a vow…neither of which she intends to keep. Now with a hangover from hell, this good-girl-gone-bad knows there’s just one thing to do: run.

Travis has been all over the world, but Gemma has never been far from his thoughts. So when he had the chance to catch up over a few drinks, he didn’t hesitate. Of course he didn’t expect it would lead to marriage, or a runaway bride! Travis finally has a second chance and doesn’t plan on losing Gemma again—or the son he didn’t know he had. He proposes—albeit belatedly—a date. Or rather, a few. If they can make this marriage work by starting over, he stays. If not…

Gemma’s not interested; she’s got a son to protect and a heart to heal. But having Travis around could make both a little easier. Still, good girls don’t date rock stars…right?

Good Girls Don’t Date Rock Stars by Codi Gary

*Was gifted a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Good Girls Don’t Date Rock Stars by Codi Gary is a cute HEA read. Little drama, some hot steamy scenes, more drama and a happy ever after ending.  It reminded me of another book I have read recently but this one had a few twists the others did not.

Travis and Gemma are High School Sweethearts that fell in love but made some mistakes. After a chance run in at a Vegas hotel lobby, their relationship is rekindled and the fun begins. After the drunken haze clears, Gemma is faced with the reality of stepping out of her “good girl” persona and run homes .  Lots of Drama happens and then, happy ever after.

I liked the characters in this book and Codi Gary writing skill is effortless.  Both Gemma and Travis were relatable and her secondary characters were the voice of reason at times.  All in all, it was a fun read and would recommend it for something fun.

GOOD GIRLS DON’T DATE ROCK STARS by Codi Gary receives 4 out of 5 PLATYPIRES!!!

TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!

"Without trust, we have nothing."

These are the words which have haunted Melanie Erickson for six years. When she walked out of the house Xavier Ross bought as their forever home, she thought she was closing that door permanently, but fate had other plans. 

Xavier Ross tried to keep everyone at a distance until Melanie came into his life. The more he tried to fight his feelings for her, the more he fell in love. One rash decision fractured the trust that was essential to their relationship. 

Six years later, she is the last person he expects to see walk through his front door. Will Xavier and Mel be able to learn to trust one another again so they can fulfill a dying woman’s wish?

Fragile Bonds by Sloan Johnson

 *was gifted a copy by the author in exchange for and honest review

FRAGILE BONDS by Sloan Johnson is a must read.   I just have to tell you that I love Sloan Johnson. I had just recently found her as an author and she never has disappointed me. She has a way with her charters and storytelling that is sublime.  I could not wait to get my hands on her books.

FRAGILE BONDS is a different kind of love story with many, many layers.   First you have a story of a first love lost. Then a story of finding love in something you never saw. Then the story becomes   a tale of a love story of friendship, plus love of a child and finding a second chance.  Did you get all that?  I know, right!!  I thought, “What am I reading “and it is so much and so intense and yet it all works.  I found myself crying like a baby, then mad and fussing at my kindle, and then crying again but for all the right reasons. To say this tale is a roller coaster of a ride on the emotion level is the understatement of the year.

In the beginning I had a true hate for Xavier and thought he was a jerk but as the story goes along and I saw how he tries to be a good man, change and grow up, I found him enduring.  I loved Alyssa from the moment I met her and Melanie is the chick we all want as our best friend.  Oh, and Jacob, what a little love is he.  The characters all invoke feelings and I bonded with them all.

The only thing, I did not like about the story was there were glimpses of the past between Melanie and Xavier that either I wanted more or less of. I could not decide.  ALL IN ALL, I really enjoyed  FRAGILE BONDS and would recommend it.

FRAGILE BONDS by Sloan Johnson Receives 4 out of 5 Platypires!!!

TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!

All the other girls had a normal childhood, full of Girl Scouts and sleepovers, but Charlie Evans wasn't so lucky. Her life had been spent in and out the Cardiac Care Unit and moving across the country with her military father.

So when Charlie finds out she's moving back to her home town, she hopes things will finally be different. She has learned the hard way not to let anyone in. People always let her down, and it wasn’t easy to trust anyone new. That was until Sam Greyson walks into her life and threatens to knock down every wall she’d ever built to protect herself.

With Sam in the picture, Charlie decides to take one last shot and open herself up. With Sam’s help, she is finally able to let someone see the real, bruised and damaged girl inside. That is until she is forced to make a decision between her own happiness and ruining Sam’s life to be with him. If giving him up meant he could have a normal life…She would do it, in a broken heartbeat.

Heartless by Vanessa Marie

*I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an Honest Review

I do not even know where to start with this book except to say EMOTIONS, EMOTIONS, and EMOTIONS!!!  Heartless by Vanessa Marie is a journey you do not want to take UNLESS you have a big box of Kleenex with you. My emotions were all over the place on this read. One minute I was laughing so hard with all the sarcasm and banter between the characters and the next minute, I was crying like a baby.

Charlie is a tough, smart -mouthed girl that keeps everyone at a distance, with good reason, except for her Dad, her best friend, Jules, and his Mom, Callie. That is until she meets gorgeous, stud muffin, Sam. Then Charlie is faced with letting her walls crumble a little and being exposed to this man that walks into her life or staying hidden away. There is so much LIFE that happens to these characters.

This is a crazy read.  I loved Charlie and it was the first time, in a long time that I loved a female character.  Vanessa Marie writes Charlie as more of a true to life character with all the internal dialogue and talks about the truth of life’s messy details. This is a tough, strong, sassy woman that thinks maybe too much and I really related and liked her. In fact, I liked all the characters.

The characters and their relationships made this book for me. At times the story dragged a little but I had to keep reading to find out if the character was ok.

HEARTLESS by Vanessa Marie receives 4 out of 5 Platypires

TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!

From the moment they meet, their connection is perfect in every way but one.

It’s New Year’s Eve, 2006, and Justine James is fronting her dead-end band for a less-than-adoring crowd. But there’s one person there who sees what she could be—one person who changes everything for her.

Dillon Pierce clawed his way up from the LA streets with no one to count on but his best friend, Ash. Their years of struggle finally pay off when their band, Outlaw Rovers, gets signed and their single takes off. With Ash as the magnetic lead singer and Dillon as the band’s musical soul, they’re destined for greatness, provided Dillon can keep Ash from self-destructing first.

Dillon might not be fronting Outlaw Rovers, but he’s always been the only one Justine sees. She’s followed his career from afar and when he shows up at her crummy New Year’s Eve gig, nothing will stop her from meeting him. They forge an intense connection, rapidly moving from friends to musical soul mates. Justine wants much more, but she’s not willing to climb over groupies and industry bottom-feeders to make it happen. Dillon becomes a fixture in her life, but she has to figure out how to keep him out of her heart.

Outlaw Rovers begins to implode as Justine’s star is on the rise. The years that follow bring equal parts fame and ruin. For Justine, a new love supplants her old heartbreak, and Dillon has to reboot his life after losing nearly everything that matters. Despite the odds, Dillon and Justine remain devoted friends and musical collaborators. After all the missed chances, wrong turns and painful detours, can they finally find the happiness together that seemed destined from the start?

ALWAYS by Amanda Weaver

*was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I want to start off by saying how impressed I was with this being the first novel I have read by Amanda Weaver. I found Always to be extremely well written and very much a true love story of friendship. Isn’t that where love should start?

Always is a standalone novel but you will want more of this rock and roll group.  Always begins with two Rock Stars, one at the top of his game and one up and coming, and they forge a friendship like no other and surrounded by music. Justine James and Dillon Pierce stand together as friends and face everything life has to throw them and in the end we get a HEA. I found this story one of the most realistic reads. The problems and hurtles that they each face and experience can be reflected in everyday life. The glamour and allure of major rock stardom is stripped to the bare bones and some of the ugly is shown.

The characters are amazing and honest and we all have friends that take us down roads that we may not belong on. I found the relationship with the secondary characters to be just as important as the main characters and really they are what drove the story. Yes, this is a romance but it is about falling in love at maybe not the right time. I really enjoyed Justine and Dillon’s story.  It was a “clean” read; drugs and sex and lots of happenings but not descriptive over the top long details.

ALWAYS by Amanda Weaver receives 4 out of 5 Platypires!!!

TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!

Book One in the time travel, fantasy romance trilogy, Highland Secrets!

She never believed in magic…

Claire McGowan, Scotophile and historical romance novel addict, finally saves up enough for her dream vacation to Scotland.

She never imagines she’ll get sucked back to the seventeenth century while running on the beach—that’s what she gets for exercising when she should be relaxing.

He knows with a harsh certainty magic exists...

The Fae have taken his brother—Laird of his clan. Duncan MacLeod finds a bonnie naked and confused lass. He’s convinced Claire arrived in 1672 through the Faery Stones—a magical portal he’s been scouring the lands for over the past six months.

At last, he has someone who’s been through the Faery Stones and can help him find them—and get his brother back.

Duncan promises to help Claire get home, even though his desire to have her wars with his vow.

Torn between familiarity of the present and what she wants in the past, can Claire help Duncan find his brother and get back to the future? Will she even want to?

The Tartan MP3 Player by C.A. Szarek

*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review

The Tartan MP3 Player by C.A. Szarek is a fun little novella.  The story was completely out of my comfort zone. I normally do not read about time travel and different realms but C.A. Szarek made it fun plus there was a steamy romance with a hot Scottish man in a kilt. Count me in!

Duncan, aka the Hot Scott, finds Claire naked on a beach and the adventure grows from there.  I loved the characters and how they all interacted with each other.  Since I am not really into all the fantasy, I just threw myself into it and it was easy to just believe what was laid out in front of me.  Since I am such a newbie, C. A. Szarek explained the realms without being to descriptive and losing me. Well written and fun, I would definitely suggest this little gem for a quick fun read with a little steam.

The Tartan MP3 Player by C.A. Szarek receives 4 out of 5 Platypires!!!

Texas Hugs and Happy Reading!!!

Trina is a quiet, reserved music teacher at an inner-city elementary school. Because of the traumatic events of her childhood, she’s skittish of people in general, but men especially frighten her. However, when Lucca Ellis appears in her life, he refuses to take no for an answer. Will he be able to help her overcome the past that has kept her a prisoner for over eight years?

Kat is a woman scorned and out for revenge. Wronged by the men in her life, she thrives on belittling and dominating all men that she comes in contact with. Her end goal is to make the one man, the one who stole her life away as a child, pay for his actions, and she doesn’t care who she has to destroy to get there.

These two lives that both thrive on control, were never supposed to overlap, but anything can happen… When the Sun Goes Down.

When the Sun Goes Down by Erin Noelle

*Was gifted a copy by Author in exchange for an Honest Review

When the Sun Goes Down by Erin Noelle is a fun -filled, sexy, have no idea what is going on until I do ride. I read this book in one sitting and enjoyed it so much.  I stayed in the dark and without giving away anything, I thought I had it all figured out and BOY, was I wrong. 

Trina is an ICE QUEEN that finds joy in teaching music to children. Kat is a control freak that hates men.  Lucca is a sweet, all in kind of guy and Leo, oh Leo, he is obedient and wonderful.  Somehow each of the characters of When the Sun Goes Down intertwines to form a crazy story of childhood lost, revenge, healing and love. I have to stop a minute and tell you how much I love LEO. I adore him and want to just hug him so tight.

I loved When the Sun Goes Down. It started out and I thought there was no way it would all end pretty but it does.  It was a well written, not rushed, enjoyable read with a different vibe to it.

When the Sun Goes Down by Erin Noelle receives 5 out of 5 Platypires!!!

Texas Hugs and Happy Reading !!!

**AUTHOR NOTE - This is NOT a BDSM Romance**

We're thirteen girls, captive, slave to our master. 
A master we've never seen.
Obedience will become all we know in our shallow existence. It is the only emotion we're permitted to feel.
When we're bad, we're punished. When we're good, we're rewarded. 
Our scars run deep. Yet we survive, because we have to... 
because HE teaches us to.
All of us are special, we feel it with everything we are.
He has us for a reason, but it's a reason we don't know.
We've never seen his face, but we know that something deeply broken lies beneath the darkness. With every touch, with every punishment, we know it. 
Then something changed. 
He showed me who he truly is.
Now I want him.
I'll go against everything I know to be with him. 

A monster. 

My monster. 

Loving him is a sin, but a sinner I am. I won't stop until I see every part of him. Even the parts he keeps locked deep down inside. 

I am Number Thirteen, and this is my story. 
No one said it was pretty, or right, but it's mine.

NUMBER THIRTEEN by Bella Jewel

*I was gifted a copy in exchange for and honest review

NUMBER THIRTEEN by Bella Jewel is one of those books you will either LOVE or HATE. I do not think there is any in between. Some of the subject matter can be disturbing and I have to tell you that the first chapter of this book was the hardest thing for me to read!!! There is a little of a romance but more of a story of how to love yourself when you are completely broken and finding trust in others.

The story centers on William and Number Thirteen, with a back and forth POV but again, this is not a love story, but yet it kind of is.  I was surprised how much I liked William and could relate to him.  I thought he was going to be a MONSTER but well, he has his reasons. I know it sounds strange but when I first read the synopsis of the book, I had to have it.  I was thinking, Stockholm syndrome and I thought if done right, it would be an interesting read.  Well, it was not Stockholm syndrome but I cannot even really explain it. What I can tell you is that EVERY ONE is this book is in some way broken and by the end of the book, a little less broken.

I think the essence of NUMBER THRITEEN is that in some way the core of who we are, even when someone has done something horrible to us, that is out of our control , is our choice.

I liked NUMBER THIRTEEN. I think you have to read and finish the book with an Open mind.

I do not think this one is for everyone. There are some steamy scenes but not until like 60 % into the book and if you are looking for a BDSM, this is not it.  It has a Beauty and the Beast real life kind of theme to it, which is my favorite story of all time.

So, to recap: I liked NUMBER THIRTEEN. Characters were relatable and the writing was smooth.  Had lots of surprises, turns, and really scary parts but at the end everyone was just a little less broken. With that said……..

NUMBER THIRTEEN by Bella Jewel receives 4 out of 5 Platypires!!!

TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!!