Top Pick Round Up

While You Were Dead by CJ Snyder

"...The story line was very interesting and filled with twists and turns. The author created lots of action throughout the book and kept me interested from beginning to end." - CozyReader

Read full review.

Never Seduce a Scoundrel by Heather Grothaus

"Mystery, humor, history and the faintest dash of the paranormal all combine to make for one of the most surprising and fascinating books of the year to date." - Bridget

Read full review.

Wolf Tracker by Maddy Barone

"WOLF TRACKER is an exciting romance with loads of action and sexy men from the future." - Katie Cody

Read full review.

Demon's Bride by Zoe Archer

"With the same breathtaking intensity, insight and enthralling passion that marked this series debut, DEMON'S BRIDE is hypnotically good reading, and brings hints of even greater things to come." - Bridget

Read full review.

Covet by Felicity Heaton

"COVET is hot, sexy, and so romantic that it will leave you breathless." - Vixhen

Read full review.

There you have it! Our 5 stars, Top Pick, keeper must-reads!

We're also having a giveaway of Laura Griffin's TWISTED. Check it out.

Oh, and if you love Erotic Romance, we're having an Erotic Romance Madness Hop from May 10 to 14! Sign up here.

Book Booty (1)

Book Booty is a weekly event hosted by The Romance Reviews on Sundays. Let's talk about about the books we have received the previous week, whether they're something we've bought, won in contest, borrowed from friends/library or received for review. All books should have their (blog) time under the sun.

Today, I'm featuring this book I'd just gotten. I don't normally read Vikings, but I read the first two pages and was struck by how laugh-out-loud hilarious the hero was, so I got it. I'm halfway through, and I'm not regretting it!

What do you get when you cross a Viking with a Navy SEAL?

A warrior with fierce instincts of the past and the rigorous training of America's most elite fighting corps . . .

A totally buff hero-in-the-making who hasn't had a woman in roughly a thousand years . . .

A wise guy with a time-warped sense of humor drilling with the boys . . .

A dyed-in-the-wool romantic with a hopeless crush on his seriously hot, hands-off superior officer . . .

You get every woman's dream-man come true! And even though his adjustment to the modern rules of love may be a bit . . . rough, the outcome will most definitely be . . .

Wet & Wild

What booty did you get this week? Share the goods with us!

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Book Booty post, or share by leaving a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! 

Love Erotic Romance? You may want to join the hop! Erotic Romance Madness Hop. Check it out here.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a Top Pick Round-Up! Stay tuned!

Feature and Follow (1)

Welcome to our blog!

I'm following the blog hops hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

Q: Have you had a character that disappointed you? One that you fell in love with and then "broke up" with later on in either the series or a stand-alone book? Tell us about him or her.

For me personally, not really. But my reviewer Ashia did experience such a thing, and it was heartbreaking for her. It was Gage and Kelsey from Laura Griffin's novella, UNSTOPPABLE. Read all about it here. Fortunately, the main characters have a follow-up full-length novel that would explore their relationship in greater depth, and she is looking forward to that book, which is entitled SCORCHED.

Tell us about yours! If you follow me, I'll follow you, so please leave a comment with a link to your blog!

So what's happening at TRR?

We're having an AWESOME giveaway of Laura Griffin's TWISTED. 5 copies to be won! Check it out.

Oh, and if you love Erotic Romance, we're having an Erotic Romance Madness Hop from May 10 to 14! Sign up here.

FEATURE and GIVEAWAY: Twisted by Laura Griffin

The only thing more terrifying than a killer you don't know… is one you do.

New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin takes readers into the world of high-level forensic experts who solve seemingly unsolvable crimes with her award-winning Tracers series.  Her newest novel of suspense and romance, TWISTED features a rookie cop and an FBI profiler who discover they are after the same killer—or is the killer after them?

Motive, opportunity, and no alibi should make for an easy case.  But while rookie detective Allison Doyle's department has identified a suspect in a young woman's vicious murder, Allison remains uneasy.  Her suspicions increase when legendary FBI profiler Mark Wolfe joins the investigation and offers a startling new theory: the crime is the handiwork of an elusive psychopath just days away from another kill.

Using Allison's contacts at the Delphi Center crime lab, Wolfe gets within striking distance of the killer he has been pursuing for ten years.  But teaming up with Mark is putting Allison's professional reputation—and her heart—in jeopardy.  Wolfe finds the ambitious, stubborn Allison a tempting distraction, but with this brutal predator, the smallest mistake can mean the difference between being the hunter… and the prey.

TWISTED is now available for purchase (Release date: April 17, 2012)!

Amazon

Amazon Kindle

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

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New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense. Her acclaimed novels have won various awards, including both a RITA Award for Whisper of Warning and a Daphne du Maurier Award for Untraceable in 2010. Her debut novel, One Last Breath, won the Booksellers Best Award in the Romantic Suspense category, and her novels Snapped, Unspeakable, and Untraceable were all nominated for Reviewers' Choice Awards by RT Book Reviews magazine.

Laura Griffin's website

More info on the Tracers! The books, character sketches, and the story behind the story.

Our reviewer's (Ashia) musings on Laura's novella Unstoppable.

"TWISTED is an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat excitement with a good dose of romance. Gripping and intense, TWISTED commanded my attention and wouldn't let go..." Click here for the full review of TWISTED.

* * *

Happy days!

Thanks to Simon and Schuster, who are donating 5 print books of TWISTED for giveaway!

We're having a 2-part contest!

Overall Rules:

1. You must be a US/Canada resident.

2. Winners will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy of the title in the mail. 

Part 1 Contest:

1. Two (2) books of TWISTED are being given away in this part of the contest.

2. Be a follower! (GFC, Facebook, Twitter, The Romance Reviews)

3. Leave a comment here on the blog to enter the drawing!

4. If you blog about this contest and the one below, you'll get an extra chance! Please leave your post URL in your entry.

Part 2 Contest:

1. Three (3) books of TWISTED are being given away in this part of the contest.

2. Increase your chances to win by entering your name here. 

3. That's it!

CONTEST ENDS: May 4, 2012

CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT: May 7, 2012

Winners will be selected randomly by the system or Randomizer.org. Good Luck!

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Never in her wildest dreams did Clara Black imagine she'd fly to Vegas just to eat at America's biggest buffet, or that she'd be digging holes in her mother's backyard to unearth her brother's screechy plastic recorder. But if that's what it takes to get past the car accident that changed her life . . . she'll do what she must.

Eight months after losing her fiancé just before their wedding, Clara still can't seem to escape her fog of sorrow. On a visit to her childhood home, she encounters her fifth-grade time capsule and a very special bucket list written by her ten-year-old self. When she impulsively fulfills one item, Clara finds that revisiting the woman she thought she'd become may just be her way out of grief and back to life. With Milk Dud the one-eared wonder dog, her zany but loving family, and an unexpected someone from her past by her side, Clara discovers that sometimes life's unplanned moments are the sweetest, and sometimes the only bridge to your future is your past.


Our reviewer was able to get an advanced copy. Check out her review.

Review Rating: 4 stars


Oh, and if you love Erotic Romance, we're having an Erotic Romance Madness Hop from May 10 to 14! Sign up here.

Whittling the TBR and other Memes

I missed doing these memes and other stuff on the blog, so I'm bringing them back!

Plus some new ones.

Stay tuned!

Musings on Laura Griffin's Unstoppable

I've long been a fan of Bones, and Temperance Brennan sure made forensic anthropology look exciting. So, when I saw that Laura Griffin's books, the Tracers series, feature forensic scientists, I was so excited.

With Laura Griffin's fifth full-length book, TWISTED, recently out, I had a lot of catching up to do! But I hadn't read any of Laura Griffin's work before, so when I saw she had a novella, Unstoppable, I decided to start there. (Unstoppable is also part of the Deadly Promises anthology.) After all, she did say on her website that all her books are standalone.

Kelsey Quinn and Gage Brewer immediately drew me into the story. Since they met and were together for such a short time, when Gage, being a SEAL, was called back into duty, he had no choice but to go. But before he did so, they made a promise to do everything they could to keep their romance and love alive. It was a good and realistic ending for me. I closed the book with a satisfied sigh.

And I was ecstatic when I saw on Laura's website that Kelsey and Gage are going to be main characters in an upcoming full-length novel, SCORCHED. Woo hoo! I love these two characters and I do want to read more about them. I imagine them furthering their romance in SCORCHED, where Gage is going to protect her because Kelsey's in danger. It gives me good shivers just anticipating reading the book. (Coming October 2012)

I searched out the blurb in Amazon (surprisingly, Laura didn't have it in her website), and this sentence made my heart stop: "Navy SEAL Gage Brewer knows his relationship with Kelsey is over and done."

What!!!

How could that happen? This is Romance, where my promised HEA is FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER. I felt betrayed and vowed I'm never going to read Laura Griffin again.

After I calmed down (after a good night's sleep), I realized several things, two things actually:

1. I loved the novella's ending because it was realistic. And to be true to reality, a relationship, even a fictional one, has its ups and downs. If a fictional relationship were smooth-sailing, there wouldn't be any conflict and it would make for a really boring book. THEN, I would probably quit reading.

So though initially I don't like it much, I understood why and how their relationship could be over. Their work would've kept them apart, plus maintaining a long-distance relationship is truly hard. My feelings of being betrayed are slowly ebbing by the second.

Plus, knowing Kelsey and Gage are going to have a second chance, this time in a longer book with higher stakes, I'm feeling stirrings of excitement once again. I'm definitely going to read SCORCHED.

2. That I would feel betrayed means I was really invested in Kelsey and Gage. Somehow, in a little over a hundred pages, Laura Griffin was able to make me care about her characters. And for an author to be able to do that means she's good. Very good. Now why would I stop reading an author like that?

While waiting for SCORCHED, I'm going to go back and read the Tracers series from the first book. And if I'm feeling industrious, you'll read the reviews on The Romance Reviews. *wink*

~ by Ashia