Bad Book Covers

This is terrible. Yup.

Have you seen worse?

Heart of Dixie Romance Reader's Luncheon Recap

I most certainly have been enjoying attending all the different conference in the past year. It all started with RWA13 in Atlanta followed by Southern Magic Luncheon, Romantic Times 2014 in NOLA and just recently the Heart of Dixie Romance Reader's Luncheon in May. 

I heard about this luncheon when I went to the Southern Magic Luncheon in November of 2013. I was quite excited because Eloisa James was attending. At that point I had never read a book by Ms. James but I knew the name! Before the luncheon I was able to read 5 of her books. I thought her writing was smart, witty, and delightful. You can instantly tell that Ms. James is intelligent and she works that into her novels. Her writing is top notch and she includes a plethora of historical facts. Besides being a romance writer, Ms. James is also a creative writing and Shakespearean  professor (impressed yet?)

I thought I would showcase some of the pictures I got. If you have the opportunity check out your local RWA chapter and see if they have an fabulous luncheons. It is a great way to meet your favorite authors and find new reads and friends. 

My new autographed books from Ms. Eloisa James

Swag from Heart of Dixie Luncheon

Ms. Eloisa James telling a hilarious story from her daughter's middle school graduation!

COVER REVEAL: #Allbrokedown by @CoraCarmack

In this second book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack’s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can’t only fight for what you believe in . . . sometimes you have to fight for what you love

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians—you name it, she’s probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He’s in for a different kind of fighting. And though he’s arrogant and infuriating, she can’t help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it’s trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He’s met girls like her before—fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn’t think he’s broken, and he definitely doesn’t need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about, his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

Pre-Order Your Copy Today!

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iTunes

And don’t forget to grab your copy of ALL LINED UP Today!

Amazon ** Barnes & Noble ** iTunes

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 **ALL BROKE DOWN Goodreads

EEEK! I cannot wait! I really enjoyed All Lined Up and I can't wait to get my hands on All Broke Down! Talk about a cover!

Until We Fly by Courtney Cole

Ex-Army Ranger, Brand Killien, has always been good.  A good friend, a good soldier, a good everything. . The problem is, good hasn’t gotten him anything but a crushed heart. So after licking his wounds, he decides to move on.  And moving on doesn’t include being good anymore. Bad sounds so much better.  Jaded and detached, Brand is determined to never open himself up to anyone again.  It’s not worth the pain.  Instead, he becomes closed, hardened, aloof.  But then he’s called back home for a family emergency… a family that he is estranged from.  A family that he put out of his mind a long time ago for very good reasons…reasons that involve secrets and pain.  Reasons he tried hard to forget.    But home is where the heart is, and it just might be where Brand finds his again.  Why?  Because home is where Nora Greene is.  A fiery, red-headed spitfire, Nora is a thing from his past.  A beautiful, feisty thing.  When Brand left, she was away at boarding school.   But she’s back now. And she wants Brand, scars and all. 

UNTIL WE FLY on Goodreads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

And don’t miss the other Beautifully Broken, now available:

IF YOU STAY

IF YOU LEAVE

BEFORE WE FALL

Praise for the Beautifully Broken Series:

"I loved If You Stay. Like, really really loved it. The kind of love that kept me reading until 2:40 am and left me crying, smiling, devastated, and elated. The best kind of book love." - Andrea, The Bookish Babe

"Beautiful, raw, gritty, emotional and breath-taking are just a few of the words I can find to describe this book...reading this book was one of the best experiences I have had." -Amanda, Globug and Hootie Need a Book

"In If You Leave, we continue the wild ride Courtney Cole started us on in If You Stay. This raw story of heartbreak and hope solidifies Cole's standing as a rising star in hot contemporary romance." --- New York Times Bestselling author of Down to You, M. Leighton
"Another raw, gritty masterpiece with a sexy-as-hell Army Ranger to swoon over." --- K.A. Tucker, author of Ten Tiny Breaths

ABOUT COURTNEY COLE:

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.

Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter SignUp | Pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Project Read All The Books: June Recap

Hello July…goodbye June! Summer Reading is almost over folks! We only do a 6 week program at my library, so we will wrap everything up on July 16^th. Only 2 more weeks…I can make it!

If you went to Vegas for ALA Annual Conference…I hate you. No…well just a little. While everyone was out in Las Vegas living it up, I went to Washington DC for a short visit. It was my first trip to the Library of Congress, which was beautiful. I have always been a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson so I felt extremely privileged to see his collection and the mark he left on America through books.

Library of Congress - Washington DC

Now on to the books for June. According to my Goodreads I read 18 books in June. Only 7 of them were from the TBR bookcase though.

Count as of May: 120 TBR books

Read: 7

Added: 11

Current Total: 124

Here are the 7 books I read from my TBR bookcase: 

The Prince by Tiffany Reisz

Never Love a Highlander by Maya Banks

The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Delicious by Shayla Black

Rogue Stallion by Diana Palmer

Twin of Ice by Jude Deveraux

Circle of Deception by Carla Swafford

I really need to do better. If you are wondering where the 11 books came from I can explain that. I went to another local Romance Writers of American Chapter Luncheon – where ELOISA JAMES was speaking! She did an amazing job and I had a wonderful time. I ended up with 10 books from there. Also, my sister gave me an autographed copy of Hillary Clinton’s new memoir, Hard Choices.

Goal for July: 8 TBR books

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Review

I have been saving this review for a while. Thanks to Net Galley I was given an ARC of Mary E. Pearson’s new fantasy young adult novel, Kiss of Deception, which is the first installment in her new Remnant Chronicles series. I had never read anything by Pearson but based on the summary, I was quite intrigued.

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

 I cannot express how much I loved this book. I read it in March and I have been saving my review closer to its July 8^th publication, but I cannot wait any longer. The main reason I love Kiss of Deception is the suspense of finding out who the assassin is and who the prince is. The story is told between alternating viewpoints of Lia, the assassin, and the prince. I was on the edge of my seat and I was constantly changing my guess. Don’t worry, the mystery is revealed in the first book. I can’t wait to see how this trilogy is going to play out. There is a cliffhanger ending, so be warned! I’m very sad to wait until the second installment, The Heart of Betrayal, in 2015 but I have been constantly recommending this book. I already had a list of library patrons who are eager to get their hands on it as well.  

Fans of The His Fair Assassins books by Robin LaFevers will love this trilogy! 

Head over to My Friends are Fiction to check out their LEGO cover of Kiss of Deception! 

Robin LaFevers vs. Jeaniene Frost

Which ARC do I read first? 

I can't decided! 

Which title are you the most excited about? What other books are you looking forward to?