Around the World in 80 Dates - Christa Ann Banister

Amazon

Travel writer Sydney Alexander is ready for one particular journey to end: her frustrating search for a Mr. Right. But things are looking up: Just after landing her dream job, she meets an eligible round of bachelors.

Now Sydney will discover just how far she’s willing to compromise to land her dream guy.

First thoughts after....
I wish Christa and I had been teens early twenties friends.  Sounds like we went through a lot of similar experiences.  (this isn't an autobiography, however certain events did happen in real life)

How distracted did I get???
Around the World in 80 Dates is a fun read!  A lot of it hit close to home throughout the story.  The events could and probably have happened to many single ladies.  I love how Christa put a fun light on things.  I was so wrapped up in the story I had to force myself to put it down at 1am so I could get some semblance of sleep!  LMSO.  Around the World in 80 Dates is a wonderful and sweet Christian Romance I highly recommend.

I give Around the World in 80 Dates.......

 1/2

4.5 Baskets!!!

Sugar, Tobi & COFFEE #Giveaway

Hello!  I got the ultimate privilege to interview Sugar Dubois today!  Sit back and enjoy!!!

Welcome to ForgetthehouseworkI’mreading Sugar! Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thanks for having me Tobi! It isn’t often I’m asked to come and talk nothing but coffee and cake, so I’m happy to be here! Well as you know my name is Tula “Sugar” Dubois. I live in Superior Wisconsin, which is just a few miles south of Duluth Minnesota. I am a ballroom dance instructor and former ballroom dance competitor. I live in the lodge my father bought when I was a year old and named “Sugar’s”. I’ve been fortunate to live there for the last 27 years. After my parent’s passed away I added a ballroom onto the lodge because it was always a dream of mine to teach others the love of dance.

So you’ve lived there your entire life?

Almost, we moved to the lodge when I was one after we left Canada. My father was a cabinetmaker and spent most of his adult life making cabinets for the businesses and homes on the lake.

So I’m dying to know why they call you Sugar. Is it because that’s what the lodge is named?

That’s a funny story! Actually my father named the lodge after me. You see my mother was a baker. She made pies and sold them to the local restaurant so that she could stay home with me. Well as you know I have a sweet tooth, so when my mother baked I often tasted her wares. My father would come home and give me a kiss and say “You taste as sweet as Sugar little girl.” It wasn’t long and he started calling me ‘Sugar Lips’. Eventually it was shortened to Sugar and everyone called me that. Everyone but my mother that is! She called me Tula till the day she died. Now the only time I hear my real name is when my brother Jesse is mad at me!

I bet that hardly ever happens!

Only once a week or so!

Now that we know a little about you, let’s talk coffee! A little bird told me you like coffee, is this true?

Dark Summer - Lizzy Ford

$2.99 on Kindle
A school for Witchlings...
The ultimate choice between Light and Dark...
Where the price of a mistake...is your soul.
Sixteen-year-old Summer doesn’t expect her new boarding school to be any different than the rest: a temporary stay, until her uncontrollable magic gets her thrown out again. In her mind, there’s no point in getting too friendly with anyone. That is, until she notices Decker, the boy who will become the Master of Night and Fire on his eighteenth birthday.
When she learns that this special school has attracted others with magic in their blood, she is hopeful that this time around, things may be different. Besides, she can’t deny her interest in Decker, and when he rescues her one night from the dark forests of the Rocky Mountains, their connection is instant.
Yet a relationship with Decker may prove to be Summer’s downfall, forcing her to choose between Light and Dark, life and death, love – and their souls.
One choice. One soul. One price.

Rita Hayworth's Shoes - Francine LaSala

$2.99 on Kindle
Amy Miller gets dumped on her wedding day and everyone knows it's for the best as her relationship with David had eaten away at her for years. Except for Amy... When her best friend, Jane Austen-Rabinowitz, and Jane's sagacious six-year-old daughter, Zoe, convince Amy to treat herself to an extravagantly priced, super-cute pair of shoes, which purportedly once belonged to a siren of the silver screen, she balks at first, but their allure soon wears her down. Once they are hers, her life turns around. She gets refocused on her career and meets a true kindred spirit, the also-jilted English professor, Decklin Thomas. She's not attracted to Deck at first. But when circumstances lead to them spending more time together, they bond, and Amy starts to believe she may have found her soul mate. But when Deck's former wife goes missing, again, the perfect romance may not be what it seems...

Sparkly and witty as a 1940s screwball comedy, and filled with quirky characters and lots of delightful surprises, Rita Hayworth's Shoes is a story of bouncing back, a heartwarming and potentially heartbreaking romance, and even a mystery rolled into one fun, hilarious page-turner!

Hottie McTottie Monday 2

Welcome to HottieMcTottie Monday!!!

Today I'm going with sharing some AWESOME Book Covers!

This week I'll share some of my FAVES!

So, there are just a few of my FAVE Hottie McTottie covers! Just click the pic to find out more!

What are some of your fave Hottie McTottie covers?  


Image credit: curaphotography / 123RF Stock Photo

Cover Reveal - The Karmic Connection ~ Libby Mercer

Cover Reveal!!!

What is the universe up to?


Guilty of nothing more than working too much - or so they say - Adam Stowe is dumped at a "wellness center" in the middle of nowhere by a couple of concerned colleagues. When he meets Lorraine, the beautiful and bewitching yoga instructor, his spirits start to lift, but once he discovers what a flighty fruitcake she is, they drop back down to subterranean levels.

For Lorraine Jameson, Luna Wellness Center was a beacon of solace when her life was falling apart, and she can't stand the way Adam's toxic energy is poisoning the peace. He embodies everything negative about the life she discarded eighteen months ago. Despite being fiercely attracted to the arrogant man, she's determined not to let Adam Stowe anywhere near her
heart.

Adam and Lorraine couldn't be more unsuitable as a potential couple... so
why is the universe so dead set on uniting these two?


The Karmic Connection is a different kind of love story with a cast of quirky
characters and a mystical, magical New Age-y flavor.
Coming April 25, 2013
Cover design by Sue Traynor

Follow Libby with the links below!
https://twitter.com/LibbyMercer1
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Libby-Mercer-Author/184901528274900?fref=ts
http://www.amazon.com/Libby-Mercer/e/B0084US5S2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 (my author page on Amazon)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17618169-the-karmic-connection (the new book's Goodreads page)

Circle of Lies - Sara Dailey & Staci Weber

 Circle of Lies

by SARA DAILEY & STACI WEBER

Aiden Wright is trying to figure out who he really is, but the truth could cost him his true mate—or his life.

Life has always been easy for Aiden Wright. He’s smart, athletic, funny, and the ladies adore him. But when tragedy strikes, Aiden discovers the truth about who he really is, and his whole world comes crashing down around him. Aiden thought that being a teenage werewolf was going to be awesome, but it might just cost him the one girl who could make him whole.

Since her mother’s disappearance, Teagan Rhodes’s life has been littered with her father’s empty beer cans and his hollow promises to change. Convinced that others would only let her down, she keeps everyone at arm’s length—but resisting Aiden’s charm is proving to be more difficult than she thought. Throw in a psychotic werewolf hunter out to terminate the species, and one wrong move, one wrong decision could destroy everything.

Sweet Evil - Wendy Higgins

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

On Amazon

Be Still My Soul - Joanne Bischof

Night’s chill tickled her skin. Lonnie pressed her hands together and glanced up. He was even more handsome up close. Having grown up the shy, awkward daughter of Joel Sawyer, she’d hardly spoken to any boy, let alone the one who had mothers whispering warnings in their daughter’s ears and fathers loading shotguns.

Pretty Lonnie Sawyer is shy and innocent, used to fading into the background within her family, and among the creeks and hollows of the Appalachian hills. Though her family is poor and her father abusive, she clings to a quiet faith. But when handsome ladies’ man and bluegrass musician Gideon O’Riley steals a kiss, that one action seals her fate.

Her father forces her into a hasty marriage with Gideon—a man she barely knows and does not love. Equally frustrated and confused by his new responsibilities, Gideon yearns for a fresh start, forcing Lonnie on an arduous journey away from her home in Rocky Knob.

Her distant groom can’t seem to surrender his rage at the injustice of the forced matrimony or give Lonnie any claim in his life. What will it take for Gideon to give up his past, embrace Lonnie’s God, and discover a hope that can heal their two fractured hearts?

Gideon only ever cared about himself. Now that Lonnie is his wife, will he ever be worthy of her heart?First Thoughts After.....
I would have liked a bit more at the end to seal the story off...unless there's a sequel?

How Distracted Did I Get??
Be Still My Soul is a interesting historical women's fiction. For myself I prefer a little less heaviness in a story, however it is well written and I would highly recommend it to those that love the more serious side of Women's Fiction.

I give Be Still My Soul.....

3.5 Baskets!!!

Hottie McTottie Monday 1

For my first Hottie Mctottie Monday I want to introduce you to Carter and Molly from Racing to Love ~Carter's Treasure!

Hope you enjoy my interview and can't wait to see what you think of Hottie McTottie Mondays!

Carter: Hey Tobi, it’s nice to meet you, this is my wife Molly.

Tobi: Hi, please come in, have a seat. I’ve got drinks and snacks just help yourselves. I am so

excited that you agreed to do an interview. I know how busy you both are.

Molly: (grinning widely and a bit smugly – I might add) Oh, we couldn’t miss this one, could we

C: You are never going to let me live this down—are you, Gorgeous? (He feigns anger for
second before he cracks and winks at his wife.

T: Are you embarrassed Carter? I sure didn’t mean to do that. (snickering)

Transcend Time Book Blitz

Remembrance

Michelle Madow

Series: Transcend Time Saga #1

Publication date: July 27th 2011

Genre:YA Time Travel

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12177772-remembrance

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

My review of Remembrance

____

Memes

Who likes memes?  I love WOW!  SO, I've been debating starting joining some like WOW and for Monday I'm starting my own.  What memes would you be interested in watching here on Forget the Housework, I'm Reading.....?  Anything you LOVE or HATE?  Please let me know!

Racing to Love Series

Who loves hot guys?  Who loves hot guys in Motocross???  I do I do I do!!!  If you haven't checked this series out yet I highly recommend grabbing it up and digging in!  Both books got 5 Baskets!  Yep that's right!  AND I've come up with a meme I'm going to start Monday and for a while it'll feature the hotness from RACING TO LOVE series by Amy Gregory!  (You'll find out about my meme in a post later today! )

RTL~Carter's Treasure
From the outside, Molly West had everything, beauty, brains, and a career she d retired from not once, but twice. Being in the limelight and in a sport that was male driven, she was often surrounded by men. She ignored first the boys, and as she got older, the men. Her cold shoulder and patented not a chance in hell look were usually enough to get her point across. Molly had no plans in changing what was a perfectly good system. That is until she walked into the pits. Carter Sterling had traveled the racing circuit since he was a boy. He d heard all the old standbys, She s out there somewhere, love comes along when you least expect it. Good things come to those that Yeah, he d heard them all. The last place he expected to meet the love of his life was on a pro track. All she did was smile, and he knew, looking into her sapphire blue eyes, Molly West was his. Forever. If it was only that easy. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he had a gripping feeling in him. An overwhelming need to protect her a girl he d just met. Carter had learned a long time ago that gut feelings are almost never wrong. Molly now held his heart in her hands, but it was going to take a lot more than just love to protect her from the past she thought she d buried a long time ago.

Red Carpet Romance - Jean Joachim

Why is gorgeous, rich movie star, Quinn Roberts, sharing his space with a baby he calls “Junior”, if it isn’t his own? Susanna Barnes, his beautiful live-in nanny, can’t figure him out and Quinn refuses to comment. Though wildly attracted to him, his distance from the adorable child puts Susanna off.
Daughter of “Coach Joe”, famous college basketball coach and an assistant art curator at a well-known art museum, Susanna lost it all at the hands of a drunk driver. Her dad was killed and her job given away while she recovered in the hospital.
Forced to find another job, she relies on her experience with her sister’s two kids to show Quinn she can take charge. Their overwhelming mutual heat melts his guarded heart and her reserve until a slip of the tongue shatters his dreams. Will she unravel the mystery of Junior’s birth and will they regain lost trust?

ON KINDLE

Soul Bender - Robyn Jones Blurb

How much can a soul take before it breaks?

Anna Pierce has a vampire boyfriend, a driver's license, real friends for the first time since she was
five, and now she faces one of her biggest challenges, senior year at a mostly all girls Catholic high
school. Sure, she's a member of the talking crowd now, but she'll never be like everyone else. How can
she when the first of her kind has camped out in her dreams?

Little dead girl Emily decides Anna's destiny can wait no longer. It's time for this generation's Touched
girl to hunt. Trained in a virtual dream landscape to destroy all in her path, Anna must choose between
her destiny, the one beat in to her on a nightly basis, and her legacy, the one instilled in her by her
parents.

Along the way, old enemies remain dutifully obsessed, new foes lurk in the shadows, and odd Little
Duckie Anna Pierce sets out to be social.

Available now!

Don't miss Soul Walker the 1st book in the series!  (I gave it 4.5 Baskets!!!)

The Secret World of Alaina Downs - Rebecca Rynecki

Welcome to my stop on THE SECRET WORLD OF ALAINA DOWNS blog tour by Rebecca Rynecki!  I'm very excited!  I enjoy being the first stop!  On top of that it sounds like Ms. Rynecki is from my neck of the woods!!!  Woo hoo!  So, sit down and enjoy!

Title: The Secret World Of Alaina Downs

Author: Rebecca Rynecki

Genre: New Adult/Fantasy

Number of Pages: 252

When Alaina stumbles into a world that she only thought existed in her mind, she is understandably a little bit freaked out. Who wouldn't be? Characters that she had written down years ago are walking, and talking, and telling her that she is the only one who can save the princess and the kingdom of Isleen. Um...okay. As she travels down to the southern kingdom with Sir Gabriel, a really hot knight, she falls off horses, has an interaction with an evil witch, gets attacked by a sea creature, and even falls from lust into love.

First thoughts after.....
I need $3.99 in my book budget......LOL  Seriously though, I'm ready to jump into the next book!

How distracted did I get?
The Secret World of Alaina Downs is a fun new adult fantasy/romance/adventure.  I loved Alaina as a character who's thrown into an unknown world.  Honestly, I'm having a hard time writing this without giving anything away.  I want you to be as surprised by the book as I.  I'm not an adventure story kind of gal but this story had me hooked at every turn and feeling the emotions of Alaina and Gabriel.  I give The Secret World of Alaina Downs......

 1/2

4.5 Baskets

Buy Links: 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-World-Alaina-Downs/dp/1477514392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348093662&sr=8-1&keywords=the+secret+world+of+alaina

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-secret-world-of-alaina-downs-rebecca-rynecki/1111949268?ean=9781477514399

Author Bio:

A graduate of Hollins University in southwestern Virginia, Rebecca now lives in the hills of Connecticut with her husband and young son. When she's not working as a librarian or plotting out the sequel, she bakes, dances around the house...and sings...really badly. The Secret World of Alaina Downs is her first book.

Where to find Rebecca:

Blog: http://rebeccaryneckithequestsandperils.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BeccaRBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaRyneckiAuthor

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rebeccarynecki/

Tumbler: http://questsandperils.tumblr.com/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEx7bPtwlPo&feature=youtu.be

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449801.Rebecca_Rynecki

Book two: The Knights Ill Thought Bargain

Two years have passed since Alaina and Gabriel left. Forty years have passed in Isleen. The king is dead. The queen's powers are weakening, and an evil sorceress is intent on furthering her own agenda. An agenda that involves a bargain that Gabriel made.

Buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Knights-Ill-Thought-Bargain-Alaina/dp/1481823566/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-knights-ill-thought-bargain-rebecca-rynecki/1114171950?ean=9781481823562

Echoes - Robin Jones Gunn

In this dramatic contemporary romance by bestselling author Robin Jones Gunn, Lauren Phillips enters the wild, uncharted territory of the Internet on her home computer and "connects" with a man known only as "K.C." As she struggles to recover from a broken engagement, Lauren keeps busy by working full time and striving to finish her college degree. But her correspondence with K.C. quickly becomes the thing she loves most...and the source of dreams she cannot bear to relinquish. When the opportunity comes for them to meet after a year of corresponding, Lauren faces a tough choice: Is she willing to risk everything...including a broken heart? Readers will stay "on-line" to find out in this bestselling former Palisades release, now the third book in the new Glenbrooke series.
Will Lauren risk losing her heart...to a man she's never met?
Lauren Phillips tries to keep busy while recovering from a broken engagement. Then one day, through her home computer, Lauren accidentally connects on the Internet with a mysterious man she knows only as K.C.
Lauren's e-mail relationship with K.C. quickly becomes the thing she loves most in life..and the source of dreams she cannot bear to relinquish.
After a year of corresponding, the opportunity appears for them to meet. Lauren faces a tough choice: Is she willing to risk everything...including another broken heart?

First thoughts after....
I would like to read more for the future of Wren and KC.


How distracted did I get??
Echoes is a sweet romantic read.  Lauren goes through what a lot of single women go through in the single lives.  The ups and downs are true to life and you really feel for the characters.  The story to me was so real I was stressed right along with the character.  I did dishes today but the boys got bologna sandwiches for lunch because I wanted to finish the story and discover the end.  I give Echoes......

4 Stars

Stuck on You - Heather Thurmeier

$3.82 on Kindle
$4.74 on Nook
If being forced to team up with reality TV’s favorite bad girl wasn’t enough, falling for her brother might just make this reality show a real nightmare.

Paige Anderson agrees to be on a new reality show called Treasure Trekkers, a show where contestants use handheld GPS units to find hidden caches filled with prizes, with her good friend Cassidy. But when Cassidy is unable to compete, Chip Cormack, the show’s producer, steps in with a last-minute replacement to be Paige’s partner—Zoe Oliver, reality TV’s favorite bad girl.

Jack Miles (aka Miles) is a mountain climber with the body to prove it. Miles convinced his climbing partner Ben to come on the show with him for one reason—to prove to Ben that they can still hike together, regardless of the fact that Ben lost his foot in a tragic accident. Miles isn’t about to let anything get in his way of winning—not even beautiful Paige.

But when Miles and Paige are thrown into an alliance with their teammates, working closely together leads to more than just good strategy. Can Paige steal Miles’ heart while surviving Zoe long enough to win the game?

First thoughts after.....
And I'm ready for the next!  LOL  

How distracted did I get?
Stuck on You is a great sequel to Falling For You!  Paige is back and is still having confidence issues.  Especially when she meets the hottie mctottie Miles who is a rock climbing teacher!  (he even teaches kids...le sigh...)  As the book progresses Paige is gaining confidence in herself.  I loved watching her grow through the book.  I will admit there was a twist at the beginning that made me cringe but it grows on you some....Anyway....for a fun Romance you should definitely to grab Stuck on You!  

I give Stuck on You........

5 Baskets!

Keep up with Heather!
http://heatherthurmeier.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HeatherThurmeierAuthor?fref=ts

Fornarina Affair - Ellis Drake Blog Tour

The Fornarina Affair

A recent art history graduate, Ana Moreno is thrilled when one of her former professors invites her to Rome to research a newly discovered painting by Raphael. But how does making an appointment to see a piece of art lead to murder? That's what Ana wonders when she discovers the dead body of a curator in the famous Borghese Gallery.
Between glittering balls, sunny Rome, the archives of the Vatican, and romantic Florence, Ana not only has to solve the mystery of Raphael's greatest love affair, but also a murder--or she may never make it out of Rome alive.

Buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Fornarina-Affair-ebook/dp/B00AL2DZYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358036638&sr=8-1&keywords=fornarina+affair

First thoughts after....

I would like more at the ending about the characters futures especially if this is a stand alone.  I know I always want more but that's a compliment.

How distracted did I get??
The Fornarina Affair was a fun quick read.  I won't have a long review because it's a little shorter in length.  Ana is on the trip of a lifetime.  She's determined and smart.  The story kept me guessing through most of the book.  There are mysterious handsome men that keep you wanting more.  I give The Fornarina Affair........
4 Baskets

Where to find Ellis:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ellis_Drake

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5817005.Ellis_Drake

Blog: http://ellisdrake.blogspot.com

Don't miss these other books by Ellis Drake

Tweet The Police blurb:

Rick thought being a sheriff's deputy in the small New Mexico town of Ultima would be a quiet job--but that was before he met Mrs. Pendergast, the local busybody who fancies herself an amateur sleuth.
When Mrs. P sees a tweet asking for help on her new smartphone, she's determined to find out if the "tweep" is okay; and it's all Rick and her granddaughter, Sylvie, can do to keep up with her.

Aspen House Blurb

Immediately after graduating from college, Miranda Morton suffered a severe illness. Now she has 100 dollars in her bank account and is on the verge of homelessness. That’s why she accepts a job she’s totally not qualified for: personal chef to rock god Michael de Bracy at a remote mountain retreat. Although Miranda expects to face challenges in cooking for de Bracy and his five friends, her real problems turn out to be much more serious: three people are viciously murdered with an ax during a freak snowstorm, and no one sees or hears a thing.

Now Miranda finds herself stranded in the mountains with a killer. Even worse, she thinks the killer might be the man she’s fallen head over heels for, Michael de Bracy. Can Miranda protect herself and her heart until the police arrive

Hanged To Death:

College intern Rachel finds out just how much of killer art and museum politics can be while setting up her first art exhibit.

Leave a comment WITH EMAIL and be entered to win one of Ellis' eBooks!  Please make sure to leave email or I won't know how to reach you!  Thanks! Contest ends March 10, 2013