Thrift Store Tuesday Finds

I'm sure buying these 6 books at the thrift store isn't really helping my Project Read All the Books. 

Oh well.  

Review: Gentlemen Prefer Curves by Sugar Jamison

In Sugar Jamison’s new novel, Gentlemen Prefer Curves, thirty year old Belinda Gordon has a lot of things going for her. Great friends and family, an amazing business as co-owner of clothing store that caters to the curvier woman, and hopefully a love life soon. The last thing she needs to show up in her hometown is her husband.

Carter Lancaster moved to Durant to be a better father to his 5 year old daughter, Ruby. Now he is constantly thrown in the path of his lovely wife, who left him 4 years ago after 6 weeks of marriage. True, they only knew each other for a few weeks before hastily getting married, but he cannot forgive her for walking out on their marriage. 

Though they both swear they want a divorce, they soon start remembering why they fell in love in the first place. But will the same reasons that tore them apart the first time prevent this couple from a possible second chance at happiness?

I have been patiently waiting for this book for a few months now. I have never read anything by Sugar Jamison, but I caught the synopsis in one of my order magazines. The synopsis intrigued me, plus it fit perfectly for my smutty book club’s reconciliation theme for the month of November. It is the 3^rd book in Jamison’s Perfect Fit series, but you don’t have to read the first two books to read Gentlemen Prefer Curves.

I instantly found Carter and Belinda’s story to be wonderful. Belinda is full of sass and is truly laugh out loud funny. More than the actual romance between Carter and Belinda, I found myself falling in love with Belinda and Ruby’s, Carter’s shy daughter, relationship. As these two characters grow closer you see that they both need each other so much. Though this is a lovely romance story, it is also a love story between Belinda and Ruby. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend that you give Gentlemen Prefer Curves by Sugar Jamison a chance. I’m now about to hunt down the rest of her novels. 

I totally judged this book by its cover...

We are all guilty of it…judging a book by its cover.

As a librarian I know this is true because the books with more appealing covers fly off the shelves faster than a book with a simple cover. I myself am prone to checking out the mass paperback historical romances based on how lovely the heroine’s big ball gown is. I never thought I would find myself rejecting a book based on the cover though.

For over a year now, Wallbanger by Alice Clayton has been popping up as a recommended read for me. Based on the title, the cover, and the synopsis I immediately brushed this book off as a 50 Shades/Bared to You angsty rip off.

The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she's gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor's nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy's athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise. So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly...

In a delicious mix of silly and steamy, Alice Clayton dishes out a hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight...

I seriously thought I had this book pegged. Girl, driven wild by her neighbor’s nightly escapades,  becomes part of his harem in a no-strong-attached relationship in which she quickly realizes that she is madly in love with the wallbanger. Add in lots of angst, some major pity parties, and I knew I would be pulling my hair out if I ever started this book.

I.was.so.wrong.

I mentioned before that this book had been creeping into several of my recommended reading lists. Several of my favorite lists are for humorous romance novels, like Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ books. I love a good laugh in my romances, so I’m always on the lookout for new witty romance authors. Well Wallbanger kept scoring in the top 5 of all these lists. I immediately thought this was because it was so ridiculous that it was funny…not because it was ridiculously funny.

Shame.on.me.

After seeing Wallbanger over and over again on many different recommendation lists, I finally placed it on hold. Remember, just because I check a book out from my library does not mean it will get read. I have on average about 50 books checked out and only a handle get read before guilt sinks in and I returned them. I unexpectedly had to leave town one weekend and threw a few books in my suitcase before rushing out the door, which is how Wallbanger got read.

I didn’t expect much. I certainly didn’t expect to discover two witty and loveable characters in Simon and Caroline. I never expected these two to develop a true friendship and I certainly never expected myself to fall in love with their romance. There was no erotic domineering relationship. No angst-filled torment or weak females. This was a true romance that blossomed out of an awkward beginning and ultimately friendship. Throw in a horny cat, some zucchini bread, a trip to Spain, and you have a witty heart-warming romance that will leave you smiling. 

Have you ever read a book you had originally brushed off?

Spotlight: Inspire by @CoraCarmack

We are so incredibly excited to be able to bring you the Release Day Launch for Cora Carmack's INSPIRE! INSPIRE is a New Adult Paranormal Romance novel and the first book in her new Muse Series!! Holy canoli, y'all. Go out and get this today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

About INSPIRE:

Kalliope lives with one purpose.

To inspire.

As an immortal muse, she doesn’t have any other choice. It’s part of how she was made. Musicians, artists, actors—they use her to advance their art, and she uses them to survive. She moves from one artist to the next, never staying long enough to get attached. But all she wants is a different life— a normal one. She’s spent thousands of years living lie after lie, and now she’s ready for something real.

Sweet, sexy, and steady, Wilder Bell feels more real than anything else in her long existence. And most importantly… he’s not an artist. He doesn’t want her for her ability. But she can’t turn off the way she influences people, not even to save a man she might love. Because in small doses, she can help make something beautiful, but her ability has just as much capacity to destroy as it does to create. The longer she stays, the more obsessed Wilder will become. It’s happened before, and it never turns out well for the mortal.

Her presence may inspire genius.

But it breeds madness, too.

Excerpt:

I can feel Wilder’s breath against my lips. More than that, I can see it. The sun has set and the temperature has dropped, and air fogs between us. There’s something about actually seeing it, like our lips are touching, we are touching, despite the distance between. And as we sway from side to side, my heart gradually begins to pick up speed.

The strains of guitar music flowing out from the restaurant are nearly indecipherable over the heavy heartbeat in my ears. But Wilder must hear it. His hands are strong on my body, guiding my movements, and I’m practically clay in his palms.

We dance, eyes on eyes, lips nearly on lips, and there is lightning beneath my skin each time his body brushes against mine in a new way. His touch is firm, but gentle, never pushing or pressuring, though I can tell from the dark look in his eyes that he’s just as affected as I am. The music shifts, building to a crescendo, and he spins us. My chest pushes tight against his, and I bite back a gasp. I don’t know if it’s the cold or him or some combination of both, but the tips of my breasts are painfully tight. Just the pressure of my bra is enough to rub them raw.

I remember the night at his apartment, the way he’d taken his time learning my body. I think of the heat of his mouth on my skin, and the memory alone is enough to make me shiver and clench.

He’s back to being business, grown-up Wilder tonight in his button down and glasses. Only now that I know him, it doesn’t seem like such a stark difference. He is neither the straight-laced man nor the tattooed bad boy. Or perhaps he’s both. Regardless of what he’s wearing, Wilder is caring and loyal and strong and so sexy that I’m having trouble remembering why I shouldn’t push him into the backseat of his SUV and crawl on top of him.

About Cora Carmack:

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Author Goodreads ** INSPIRE Goodreads

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Discard Friday

Oh who knows why this gem from 1991 hasn't checked out in 8 years. 

Spotlight: Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover

Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover
The Rules of Scoundrels # 4

By: Sarah MacLean

Releasing November 25^th, 2014

Avon Romance

By day, she is Lady Georgiana, sister to a duke, ruined before her first season in the worst kind of scandal. But the truth is far more shocking-in London’s darkest corners, she is Chase, the mysterious, unknown founder of the city’s most legendary gaming hell. For years, her double identity has gone undiscovered...until now.

Brilliant, driven, handsome-as-sin Duncan West is intrigued by the beautiful, ruined woman who is somehow connected to a world of darkness and sin. He knows she is more than she seems and he vows to uncover all of Georgiana’s secrets, laying bare her past, threatening her present, and risking all she holds dear...including her heart.

GoodreadsLink

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Author Info

Sarah MacLean grew up in Rhode Island, obsessed with historical romance and bemoaning the fact that she was born far too late for her own season. Her love of all things historical helped to earn her degrees from Smith College and Harvard University before she finally set pen to paper and wrote her first book.

Sarah now lives in New York City with her husband, baby daughter, their dog, and a ridiculously large collection of romance novels. She loves to hear from readers. Please visit her at www.macleanspace.com

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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