REVIEW & BLOG TOUR: Up in Smoke by Tessa Bailey

Meet Ex- Navy Seal Connor in UP IN SMOKE!

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Blurb

Never start a fire you can't control...

Connor Bannon is supposed to be dead. Dishonorably discharged from the Navy SEALs, he's spent the last two years working as a street enforcer in Brooklyn for his cousin's crime ring. Through a twist of fate, he's now in Chicago, working undercover to bust criminals. But when a cute little arsonist joins the team-all combat boots, tiny jean shorts, and hot-pink hair-Connor's notorious iron control slips.

Erin "she's getting away" O'Dea knows two things. She hates authority. And... Nope, that's it. When she's forced to operate on the "right" side of the law, her fear of being confined and controlled blazes to the surface. The last thing she expects is a control freak like Connor to soothe her when she needs it most. Worse, something behind the sexy ex-soldier's eyes ignites a dangerous inferno of desire. One that invites Erin to play with fire. And one that could get them both killed...

Excerpt

As if her thoughts had made him appear, Connor strode into the courthouse. Her pulse started beating double time, her stomach muscles tightening. Good Lord, the man was a fucking panty dropper. She’d only been away from him for a few hours and it felt like years since she’d experienced his presence. In jeans and a fitted gray T-shirt that molded to his muscles like her hands itched to do, he personified confidence and authority. Hot, rugged male. His gaze connected with hers immediately and darkened. She thought back to that morning when he’d dressed in the early morning light, his abs flexing as he pulled the shirt over his head. His erection barely contained by his boxers. She’d never been one to beg for anything, but she’d been seconds from offering him her mouth. Pleading for the privilege of sucking him off.

Conner shook his head at her with a sexy half smile on his face, as if he could read her thoughts across the room. He stopped at the metal detector and walked through after the security guard beckoned him forward. When the woman grabbed her wand and instructed him to raise his hands in the air, something ugly reared its head deep inside her. The detector hadn’t even beeped. There was no reason for the personal service. When the woman smiled at Connor and ran a hand down her ponytail, Erin propelled herself forward, boots echoing on the polished marble.

Erin hissed as she drew even with the guard. “If you’re done feeling up my boyfriend, I’d love a turn. We were in a rush this morning.”

The guard dropped the wand, letting it dangle near her thigh. “Did you just hiss at me?”

Erin hissed again.

“Okay.” Connor stepped between them, winking down at her. “We should go. Don’t want to keep the clerk waiting.”

Appreciation spread in her belly like honey. He hadn’t chided her for her behavior or apologized to the woman on her behalf. Instead he’d given the impression they were on their way to get married, appeasing her jealousy in one fell swoop. “That’s right.” She sauntered toward the elevator. “There’s vows to be exchanged. Rings to put on fingers. Shit like that.”

She glanced behind her to find Connor staring at her ass as she walked, so she put a little swing in her hips and savored his groan. Damn. She’d definitely never had this much fun at a courthouse.

A moment later, she and Connor stepped into an empty elevator. She hit the button for the top floor even though the clerk was on the first, and leaned back against the wall, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “How was your morning, baby? Was it worth leaving me in bed, all hot and bothered for you?”

“Fuck no, it wasn’t.” He crooked a big finger at her. “Climb on up here.”

***Up in Smoke is the second installment in the "Crossing the Line" series and can be read as a standalone***

I freaking loved this book!  

From the 1st page I was squirming in my seat from all the hot sexiness that Connor Bannon & Erin  O'Dea have for each other from the 1st time they meet!
Talk about sexual chemistry...these 2 are connected instantly.  They both are damaged and want each other sooo badly.  Tessa Bailey knows how to write naughty alpha males who have such filthy mouths that make you blush in places on your body you never thought could.

The characters and story were well developed and I really liked how Tessa Bailey gives us a good mystery filled with drama, a hero  and what we all love which is 2 characters who have off the wall sex. Literally! tehee

We get to know more about why Connor is the way he is.  He is a protector, a gentleman with the ladies, but behind closed doors, he is the dominant, demanding man who loves to be in control.  Erin makes Connor learn quickly that he can't have what he wants and he learns to control his wants to get what he wants with Erin.

"I'll make you beg for my goddamn hands on you..." - Connor"your welcome to try." - Erin

Their back and forth taunting and teasing had me entertained and giggling like a school girl.

I'm loving this series and can't wait for the next installment with the other characters.  

Go get this book!

**ARC kindly provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review**

5 Cherries Popped

      

**************************

About the Author:

Thank you for your interest in my books! I'm Tessa and I live in the crazy, loud, overcrowded borough of Brooklyn, New York. I love it here. This city is a constant source of inspiration, which is why I've decided to set my most recent books in the Line of Duty Series here.

I moved to New York when I was eighteen, the day after I graduated high school. Threw my suitcase in the back of a Chevrolet Cavalier and drove across the country to find my adventure. I'm still finding it, little by little.​Thank you for being a part of it.

Stalk Tessa: Website |  Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Signed copies of Risking it All & Up in Smoke

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REVIEW & BLOG TOUR: Repaired by Melissa Collins

A Man without a past meets a man without a future in Repaired by Melissa Collins

Now Available!

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Blurb

Liam Davis is a man without a past. That’s what he wants everyone to believe, anyway. Hell-bent on erasing any memories of his previous life, he knows that starting over is all he can do. Hiding who he is, where he’s from, why he’s running, and especially who he’s left behind, Liam has run away from everything he’s ever known. His plan works perfectly until one day when Parker Ryan threatens to expose his carefully concealed world.

Parker Ryan is a man without a future. Sure, he’s a partner in one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, but he’ll never be more than a failure in the eyes of his boss, his father. Rather than break away from his father’s standards, he finds himself mindlessly pursuing them, in turn sacrificing anything that would actually make him happy.

When Liam’s and Parker’s lives collide, the ugly truth about who they really are, and who they hope to become reveals itself when they least expect it. As both of their lives become wrecked beyond all belief, they’ll learn how to rely on each other in their journey to become Repaired.

Excerpt

The loud bang on the garage doors scared the shit out of, making me jump out of my skin. “Shit,” I yelled after hitting my head on the bumper. Despite calling out, “One second,” the banging continued. More than a little dizzy, my anger mounted as I walked toward the door. “Chill the fuck out,” I muttered as I wiped my hands on a work rag. The row of windows stretching through the mid-line of the door was tinted so that only someone on the inside could see out. They were designed that way so anyone peering into the shop wouldn’t be able to see what kind of cars were parked inside—a security tip I offered to Paulie after I’d started working here.

The man standing on the other side must not have heard me because he continued his relentless banging. At this rate, I’d be surprised if his knuckles weren’t all bloody and cut up.

Knowing he couldn’t see me did nothing to stop me from staying to the side. My initial intention was simply to check out who the hell was trying to break down my door. The last thing I needed was some psychopath ruining my night, but as I peered out the window, the last thought running through my mind was that he was a psycho.

Dressed in a modern grey suit, he was the epitome of class. The baby blue shirt underneath made his eyes pop, of course the anger simmering there amplified them as well. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked like he was trying to ward off some massive headache. Either he really was a psychopath, playing his part of the deception perfectly, or he was in a bind and genuinely in need of help. Watching him run his fingers through his thick dark brown hair, he let out a deep huff of breath. The door muffled his words, but I swear I heard him say, “Just my fucking luck.”

Having uttered that phrase more than a few times in my own life, I decided I’d let him in and see what he needed. The fact that my dick was twitching in my pants at the mere sight of him didn’t hurt his case much either.

He stood at attention as he listened to me unclicking the locks. The doors rolled open revealing his long, lean frame. This guy was money. It was written all over him, from his shirt to his shoes, from his shiny cufflinks to the BMW key dangling from his finger.

“Can I help you?” My voice was gruff, and I hoped he thought it was from his less than polite request to be seen, rather than the reaction I was having to him.

He eyed me, scanning my body from head to toe. Annoyance was written all over his face and my attraction quickly morphed into annoyance. “Excuse me,” I prompted when he still hadn’t spoken a single word. “You knocked on my door. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Uh, yeah,” he answered, running his hands through his hair once again. “Hit a pothole down the road,” he explained somewhat distractedly. He pointed in the direction in which I assumed his damaged car sat.

“Let me grab the keys to the tow truck.” Walking away from him, I felt his stare on my back.

By the time I walked back out of the office, he was gone. “What the hell?” I mumbled to myself, wondering where the hell he’d gone. For a split second, I actually wondered if I’d conjured him up from thin air to keep myself occupied as I closed the shop by myself. But the smell of his cologne still hung in the air, his heat like a shadow lingering in the open space.

Loved this book! 

Seriously i cried, laughed, swooned, totally had me emotionally hooked.

Melissa Collins knows how to write! And she knows how to write M/M stories to perfection.

Liam & Parker's story grabbed me from the beginning of the book.  I really enjoyed how Melissa got us into the heads of both characters as though we were there with them.  This story is told from the POV of both main characters.  

Liam is a good man who has a past that he keeps secret to everyone, including himself sometimes which while reading made me want to slap him upside the head to just spit it out!  Stop being so damn difficult.  I loved that Liam is a grease car junkie and his knowledge of cars comes out all the time.

I want Liam's 68 Camaro!!!  It's super hot & with him in it or standing next to it, it's even hotter :)

Parker is one freaking hottie lawyer who wants to feel accepted and loved.  He is sooo into his work that when he meets Liam, he realizes that he needs to live his life and wants to feel what it's like to be in love without following his "Dad's" rules of what he should be.  Parker wants a happily ever after, and when he meets Liam, he sees that it won't be an easy road to get there but he is willing to sacrifice what he needs to to get there. 

Liam & Parker's relationship throughout this book had me swooning.  I loved how they made each other laugh, cry, pissed off but then when it came down to showing how much they loved each other....  

Well damn!  Hot hot hot!!!

I have read M/M books before but this just totally had my cherries popping!

Well done Melissa, well fucking done!!!

Melissa Collins delivers another story that will capture your heart.  Strength, determination, love are all rolled into this beautifully written story.

Go get this read and find out if Parker & Liam can get their happily ever after!

**ARC kindly provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review**

5 Cherries Popped

     

The Author:

Melissa Collins

Melissa Collins has always been a book worm. Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book. She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher. Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students. Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it’s been a dream.

Her passion for writing didn’t start until more recently. When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it. It wasn’t long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa’s brain and The Love Series was born.

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EXCERPT REVEAL: Manwhore +1 by Katy Evans

MANWHORE + 1  by Katy Evans

EXCERPT

FOUR WEEKS

I’ve never been so hopeful as when I board the pristine glass elevator at the M4 corporate building. A handful of employees ride along with me, murmuring perfunctory greetings to each other and to me. I think my mouth must be on vacation because I can’t seem to force it to speak. But I smile in reply—my smile nervous, nervous but hopeful, definitely hopeful. My riding companions step out on their floors one by one until I’m alone, riding up to the executive floor on my own.

Toward him.

          Toward the man I love.

          My body is raging. My blood is pumping—my blood is storming—my thighs are shaking. My stomach feels filled with little earthquakes that just won’t quit, then they turn into a full-fledged roil when I hear the elevator ting at his floor.

         Stepping out, I’m in corporate nirvana, surrounded by sleek chrome and pristine glass, marble and limestone floors. But I hardly have eyes for anything except the tall and imposing frosted glass doors at the far end of the room.

          Framing those doors to each side is a pair of sleek designer desks, for a total of four.

          Behind these desks are four women in identical black-and-suits, sitting behind their gleaming dark-oak desks, working quietly behind their flat-screen computers.

          One of them, the forty-year-old Catherine H. Ulysses—right hand of the man who owns every inch of this building—stops what she’s doing when she sees me. She arches her brow, then seems both tense and relieved as she lifts the receiver on her desk and murmurs my name into it.

          I. Am. Not. Breathing.

          But Catherine doesn’t miss a beat as she motions me toward the huge frosted doors—those intimidating doors—that lead into the lair of the most powerful man in Chicago.

          The human being with the most powerful effect on me.

          This is what I’ve been waiting for, for four weeks. This is what I wanted when I left a thousand messages on his phones and what I wanted when I wrote a thousand others that I left unsent. To see him.

          For him to want to see me.

          But as I force myself to step forward, I don’t even know if I’ll have the strength to stand before him and look him in the eye after what I did.

          I’m wracked so hard with nervousness and anticipation and hope—yes hope, small but bright, even as I shake like a leaf.

          Catherine holds the door open, and I struggle to hold my head high and walk into his office.

           Two steps inside I hear the swoosh of the glass door shutting behind me and my systems halt at the familiar sight of the most beautiful office I’ve ever been in.

          His office is all vast marble and chrome, twelve-foot ceilings, and endless floor-to-ceiling windows.

          And there he is. The center of its axis. The center of my world.

          He’s pacing by the window, speaking into a headset in a low, low voice—the kind he uses when he’s pissed. All I can make out are the words have to be dead to let her fall into his clutches …

          He hangs up, and as if he feels me in the room, he turns his head. His eyes flare when he sees me. His green eyes.

          His achingly familiar, beautiful green eyes.

          He inhales, very slowly, his chest expanding, his hands curling a little at his sides as he looks at me.

          I look back at him.

          Malcolm Kyle Preston Logan Saint.

          I just walked into the eye of the most powerful storm of my life. No. Not a storm. A hurricane.

          Four weeks, I haven’t seen him. And he still looks exactly as I remember. Larger than life, and more irresistible than ever.

          His striking face is perfectly shaven today, and his sensual lips look so achingly full I can almost feel them against mine. Six-feet-plus of perfectly controlled male power stand before me, in a perfect black suit and a killer tie. He’s the very devil in Armani; strong-boned, square-jawed, gleaming dark hair and those penetrating eyes.

          He’s got the best eyes.

          They twinkle mercilessly when he teases me, and when he doesn’t tease me, they’re mysterious and unreadable, assessing and intelligent, keeping me guessing about his thoughts.

          But I had forgotten how cold those eyes used to be. Green arctic ice looks back at me now. Every fleck of ice in those eyes gleaming like diamond shards.

          He clenches his jaw and tosses the headset aside.

          He looks as approachable as a wall, his shoulders stretching his shirt, which clings to his skin like a groupie. But I know he’s not a wall; I’ve never wanted to throw myself at a wall like this.

          He’s walking towards me. Every step he takes makes my heart pound as he moves with that quiet and confident own-the-world stride of his.

          He stops a few feet away and shoves his hands into his pants pockets; and he seems so big all of a sudden, and he smells so utterly good. I drop my eyes to his tie as the little candle of hope I walked in with starts to flicker with doubt.

For every sin there is a sinner!

Manwhore + 1 is now available for pre-order

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Submit your proof of pre-order and get an early peek at Ms. Manwhore, the last of Saint and Rachel's passionate love story. Click here to enter: http://www.katyevans.net/pre-order-bonus/

Blurb

The unexpected love story that began in MANWHORE continues heating up the pages in MANWHORE +1 by New York Times bestselling author Katy Evans...

Billionaire playboy? Check.

Ruthless businessman? Check.

Absolutely sinful? Check.

Malcolm Saint was an assignment. A story. A beautiful, difficult man I was supposed to uncover for a racy exposé.

I intended to reveal him, his secrets, his lifestyle--not let him reveal me. But my head was overtaken by my heart and suddenly nothing could stop me from falling. I fell for him, and I fell hard.

Malcolm Saint is absolute Sin, and I've become a hopeless Sinner.

Now that the assignment is over, Saint wants something from me--something unexpected--and I want this wicked playboy's heart. But how can I prove to the man who trusts no one that I'm worthy of becoming his plus one?

Manwhore (Book One)

Now Available

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About the Author:

Hey! I’m Katy Evans and I love family, books, life, and love. I’m married with two children and three dogs and spend my time baking, walking, writing, reading, and taking care of my family. Thank you for spending your time with me and picking up my story. I hope you had an amazing time with it, like I did. If you’d like to know more about books in progress, look me up on the Internet, I’d love to hear from you!

Website: www.katyevans.net

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Email: authorkatyevans@gmail.com