ARC Review: Aftermath by L.A. Witt

Title: Aftermath 
Series: Vinos and Veritas #5
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Heart Eyes Press
Release Date: March 29, 2021

Brent Weyland was the life of the party until an injury ended his hockey career. Now he’s retreated alone to a lakefront house, trying to make sense of a life and body that don’t feel like his anymore.

Jon Norquist was happily married right up until he wasn’t. Now a single father in his forties, he’s trying to figure out what comes next. In the meantime, he pours his heartache and regret into the lyrics he sings for the wine bar crowd a couple of nights a week.

When a friend coaxes Brent out for a night of wine and music, he puts Brent and Jon on a collision course. Their chemistry is instantaneous. Jon gives Brent’s battered body a much-needed remedial lesson in pleasure. And Brent gives Jon a reason to smile again.

Multiple reasons, actually. Neither man wants anything serious, but love has a habit of showing up whether it’s welcome or not. No matter how hard they try, the two can’t help having feelings for each other, even as life continues to throw them curveballs.

But they’ve both got baggage to unpack and hurt to move past, and if they can’t leave their pasts in the past, they might just miss out on an amazing future.

L.A. Witt is one of those authors who I highly enjoy and Aftermath was no exception to the rule. There was so much that I loved about this installment in the V&V series, that we're just going to get into it.  

Jon and Brent for starters were such a great couple to watch be together. Brent going out for the first time in a while because of his accident brings us the first meeting between the two men and holy sparks fly. The chemistry that the two fo them have is unreal. It may seem like it will be nothing more than a friends with benefits type of deal but watching them fall in love is just beautiful. Jon being a single father didn't stop him from devoting time to both his son and Brent and Brent was more than happy to let the relationship between Jon and his son not affect him even if he wanted to spend more time with him. They brought out the best in each other and Jon was such a huge help to getting Brent to where he needed to be. 

Even during the climax when Murphy's Law goes into effect, they made it through it and came out even stronger than before. Even the cast of side characters had me charmed and that includes Jon's ex. Okay maybe Brent's father I could have done without but he played a key role in the story and I couldn't fault L.A. Witt for having wrote the character. 

I would love to see more about these two in the future however and that's why my rating:

4/5 Stars 

ARC Review: Cowboy (Busy Bean #2) L.B. Dunbar

 Title: Cowboy (Busy Bean #2) 
Series: World of True North 
Author: L.B. Dunbar
Publisher: HeartEyes Press
Release Date: March 1,2021 

Pregnant at forty-two? Back the cow up...

Harland Bull Eaton has lost many things—his first wife, his beloved mother, those three women he proposed to . . . Oh, and there was that time he almost lost the family dairy farm due to a scandal. He’s losing faith in just about everything, especially love. 

But one night, his friends give him a dare. No commitments. No heartbreak. Just buy that gorgeous redhead a drink. The big-city bombshell he’s set his eyes on swirls him into a tailspin that lands them in bed for a one-night stand he’s pretty sure he’ll never forget. But this time, he swears, he won’t let his heart ride herd on his common sense. 

Recently separated and newly unemployed, Scarlett Russell is at a crossroads. With no other plan than visiting a friend in Vermont, the last thing she expects is a hunky, silver fox offering to buy her a drink. Even less expected is when she raises that offer to “take me to bed, cowboy.” She just wants one night to forget everything gone wrong.

Turns out once won’t be nearly enough. Won’t ever be enough, feeling the way she does. But secrets and an unexpected surprise are a lot to handle . . . unless these two can break a trail to an unexpected happily ever after.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

So this book, this book right here. From the very start I was laughing and enjoying this story. LB Dunbar drew me in from the very first sentence. Bull and Scarlett were a great couple. Seeing both of them being in their 40s and finding their love with each other and the trials that they both had to overcome. Also surprise baby was always worth the read. 

Both of them had so much heartache when they decided to have their one night stand at the very beginning of the book and having never expected to see each other again set everything in motion. Life throws curveballs as both of them quickly learn. Watching them be there for each other no matter what was happening. Both of them deciding that Bull will be part of the baby's life regardless of the situation, the love and respect for one another, was out of this world.

The spicy scenes were well written and the two of them had such great chemistry together both during those moments and the rest of the story in just their interactions with each other and other characters. 

Overall Rating: 4 Stars 

ARC Review: Sweetheart (Busy Bean #1) by Sarah Mayberry

Title: Sweetheart (Busy Bean #1) 

Author: Sarah Mayberry
Publisher: HeartEyes Press
Release Date: March 1, 2021

I just wanted to get my hands on his beans

Four years ago, I had a ridiculous crush on my sister's boyfriend. But when they moved away together, I put Beck out of my mind and my heart. But now he's back, and roasting the best coffee in Vermont. I need to convince him to supply the Busy Bean. And I need more of those kisses we accidentally shared outside the coffee shop. He still makes my heart race faster than a triple shot of espresso. 

She should be off limits, but instead she's pushing mine

Her sister burned my life to the ground, so Haley Elliot is the last woman I should bring into my bed. Although our business relationship is giving way to something more than a fine grind. Neither of us can help ourselves. And what’s worse, I think I’m falling for her.

But it’s a small town, and ours is a big secret. And when her sister blows back into town, suddenly the coffee isn’t the only thing brewing...

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for one of the first titles in Sarina Bowen's World of True North. Sweetheart is the first title in the Busy Bean section of WOTN and this was my first book by this particular author and I wasn't disappointed with it at all.  

Haley and Beck were such an interesting couple to watch grow together. After having been Haley's boyfriend for over a year, Beck wanted nothing to do with Haley due to past history. Seeing Beck put that behind him and actually give Haley a chance to prove that she wasn't just like her sister, they discover just how much they really have in common. Seeing Beck stand up for and protect Haley when she needed it proved just how much he cares for her. On the flip side Haley became the person Beck needed to move on with his life and understood where he was coming from with her sister having been treated too much of the same treatment over the years. 

The supporting cast was also a great set of characters and being able to see some of the characters from Sarina's own True North series was great as a follow up to what was going on in the lives. The writing was good, the story was sweet and spicy at just the right moments. I'm hoping we get to see more of these characters as the rest of the series continues; even if it is just a glimpse to know how they are doing.

Overall Rating: 4 Stars

Book Review: The Falling In Love Montage

Title: The Falling In Love Montage 

Author: Ciara Smyth 
Publisher: HarperTeen 
Release Date: June 9th, 2020 

Synopsis: 

Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.

But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.

Review: 

My first book and review of 2021 everyone. This book was everything, so let's get into it. 

Saoirse was a great character to follow along with, she may not believe in happy endings but watching her fall in love and see how she grew was an adventure and there was a lot of emotions seeing her follow along with the plan to just have fun with Ruby. Ruby to me was the opposite of Saoirse and which is why I felt that they were able to click as well they did. Their chemistry was there and I wanted so much for them. 

The writing was very well done and flowed well. The humor and emotions that went into the story brought it to life, so that it felt like was there with the cast. The story also went into some heavier topics such as early onset dementia and seeing how they was put on the page was well done from what I know of. 

The ending of the book really got to me and I'm not going to say why because of spoilers but it left me emotional in a good way. Its definitely a story about falling in love and realizing how great of a feeling it is. 

Rating: 4 Stars 

Blog Tour - The Choice

 Title: The Choice
Author: Allison J. Kennedy
Release Date: May 23, 2015
Publisher: Booktrope
Format: e-ARC
Rating 4/5 Stars

About the book: How do you heal from your past when you're still trapped within it?

I lost myself the night of the party. Just like that, my innocence and my sanity were torn away.

I would like to say that time heals all wounds, but it doesn't. And I would like to say that falling in love is what rescued me, but it wasn't. Nobody told me what to expect in the coming days and weeks and months after conceiving a rapist's child. Years later, my wounds are still just as fresh as the night they were made. It would be so easy to disappear and allow the memories to consume me.

But that's the choice, isn't it? To live instead.

**This book contains rape triggers. Discretion is advised.

 Excerpt:

I squeezed the remaining water out of my hair with a towel as I stood naked before my bedroom's floor-length mirror. I examined a few bruises on my legs and one on my shoulder from where Tyler pinned me down with his elbow. They were yellow and purple and seemed to be fading. I touched them lightly and saw in my mind's eye the entire thing from start to finish, thankful that this time I didn't fall apart.

But nightmares followed me to bed that night just like before. Only this time, I didn't wake up from them. They plagued me from the moment I fell asleep until a sound outside jolted me back to life.

I lunged upright in bed, heaving for breath. Sweat trickled down my face and neck. The room was too dark; it was suffocating me. I reached for my lamp but it wouldn't turn on, so I darted across the room to flip on the light. The power was out. The tree outside crashed against my window with a gust of angry wind. I raked air into my lungs, pressing my back against the wall as I sank to my knees. I couldn't even remember what I had dreamt. I only knew what I felt.

My body shook with each sob, my bare legs hugged tightly to my chest. This all just needed to end. I felt like I was losing my sanity more with each passing hour.

 Review: 
Allison wrote this wonderful read. I know what you're thinking; how is a book about rape wonderful? Well it's wonderful because she wrote this about such a difficult subject and managed to not glamorize anything about it. This book managed to hit me right in the feels because I could feel the pain and the agony right along with her. 

May even ended up pregant with her rapist's child and all I could think of was what was she going to do. It is her choice after all and while this is never an easy subject to read or write about, it hit several points on this.

If you're looking for a book in which will make you feel and explores a subject that is almost never talked about then The Choice is the one for you.

Add to Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25727856-the-choice
Author’s Website - http://www.allisonjkennedy.com/

About the author: Allison was born and raised in the mountains of Oregon, birthed of the crisp, clean air and rainy forests. She now resides in Oklahoma City, though she is still thoroughly attached to her home and finds much inspiration for her stories whenever she has a chance to return. As the spouse of a police officer and a full-time photographer, she is on her toes 24/7.

Purchase Links
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Choice-Allison-J-Kennedy/dp/1620158051
Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-choice-allison-j-kennedy/1121089743?ean=9781620158050