Aestas Book Blog

LATEST NEW RELEASES, RECOMMENDATIONS, & PRE-ORDERS — WEEK OF December 11, 2018

December 11, 2018 by Aestas · 2 Comments

RARE SALE ON TOP FAVORITE: The Hookup by Kristen Ashley (Read my Review)
This is a very RARE SALE and HOLY FREAKING SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! This amazing, beautiful, EPIC ALPHA MALE ROMANCE was EVERYTHING I could have hoped for AND MORE. I remember when I read it, my heart was beating so fast and by the end I had happy tears in my eyes from that GORGEOUS epilogue. The hero was the most ALPHA, PROTECTIVE, POSSESSIVE, LOYAL, KIND, SEXY, SWOONY guys you can imagine. His past had left his heart damaged, but when he fell in love with the heroine, he fell HARD and OMG. THEY WERE PERFECT for each other!! She was STRONG, SASSY, and amazing!!! I read this book in one sitting and LOVED EVERY SINGLE PAGE!!! This was pure VINTAGE KA GOLD!!! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Also please note that this is NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE. And there is no stupid drama. Not at all. The blurb makes you think its a triangle but it is not at ALL. I promise. It can standalone! Be sure you grab a copy ON SALE!!!

NEWLY ANNOUNCED: Quiet Man: A Dream Man Novella by Kristen Ashley
I’m so excited for this!!! I adore the Dream Man standalones and this will be a new one! — “Charlotte “Lottie” McAlister is in the zone. She’s ready to take on the next chapter of her life, and since she doesn’t have a man, she’ll do what she’s done all along. She’ll take care of business on her own. Even if that business means starting a family. The problem is, Lottie has a stalker. The really bad kind. The kind that means she needs a bodyguard. Enter Mo Morrison. Enormous. Scary. Quiet. Mo doesn’t say much, and Lottie’s used to getting attention. And she wants Mo’s attention. Badly. But Mo has a strict rule. If he’s guarding your body, that’s all he’s doing with it. However, the longer Mo has to keep Lottie safe, the faster he falls for the beautiful blonde who has it so together, she might even be able to tackle the demons he’s got in his head that just won’t die. But in the end, Lottie and Mo don’t only have to find some way to keep hands off until the threat is over, they have to negotiate the overprotective Hot Bunch, Lottie’s crazy stepdad, Tex, Mo’s crew of frat-boy commandos, not to mention his nutty sisters. All before Lottie finally gets her Dream Man. And Mo can lay claim to his Dream Girl.” — Be sure to pre-order a copy!!!

WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP

HOT NEW RELEASES:

Tall, Dark, and Tempting by Erika Wilde (best friends to lovers, can standalone)
Rock Rebel by Tara Leigh (rocker romance, can standalone)
Permission by TM Frazier (final book in the Perversion Trilogy: Book #1 and Book #2)
The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham (historical romance, can standalone)
For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt (mystery)
Troublemaker by Katie McCoy (best friend’s brother romance, can standalone)
The Blood That Drives Us by MN Forgy (biker romance)
Pandemic by Robin Cook (medical thriller)
Unzipped by Lauren Blakely (romcom standalone)

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Book Review — The Simple Wild: A Novel by KA Tucker

December 6, 2018 by Aestas · 7 Comments

City girl Calla Fletcher attempts to reconnect with her estranged father, and unwittingly finds herself torn between her desire to return to the bustle of Toronto and a budding relationship with a rugged Alaskan pilot…

WOW! WOW! WOW!! This was one of the best books I’ve read all year! And since we’re in the last few weeks of 2018, that’s saying quite a lot! It was breath-taking, captivating, and beautifully written — a story of family bonds, heart-break, healing, and unexpected romance. The story was both slow-building and slow-burning and yet there were times when the sheer depth of emotion had me sobbing like a baby even while I was smiling. I was enthralled by the story and it was really one of those books that just sweeps you away on an adventure — a true escape!

So just to back up a little here, I’d been saving this book ever since it came out in August. I knew I would love it as I’ve loved so many of KA Tucker’s books over the years — in fact, I’ve loved every book of hers that I’ve read! But unfortunately this book was released during an insanely busy part of my summer and I just did not have the time to read it then so I saved it for just that right time when I knew I’d need a winning read and I was right because only a few pages into this book and I was already completely drawn into the story and hooked!

Calla Fletcher was two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when her father reaches out to inform her that his days are numbered, Calla knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.

She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this new subarctic environment, Jonah—the quiet, brooding, and proud Alaskan pilot who keeps her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.

Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. As time passes, she unexpectedly finds herself forming a bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago.

It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.

I loved the vibe of this story! It had a thrill that came with unexpected adventure, deep family feels, a bit of mystery from the unknown nature of her travels, and once you threw in a grumpy sky cowboy into the mix it had an unlikely romance that I couldn’t help rooting for!

“Just don’t make the same mistake I did and fall in love with one of the pilots.”
I chuckle. “I’ll try my best not to.”
“I’m being serious.”
“It’s not a firehouse, Mom.”
She holds her hands in the air in surrender. “Fine. I know. But there’s something about the guys that work up there. I can’t explain it. I mean, they’re crazy, landing on glaciers and mountain ridges, flying through whiteouts. They’re like…” Her eyes search for words within my walls. “Sky cowboys.”
“Oh my God!” I burst out laughing. “Do I seem like the kind of girl who’d fall for some Alaskan sky cowboy?” I can barely get the words out.
She levels me with a flat look. “Do I?”

He saw her as a stuck up high maintenance city girl, and she saw him as a grouchy close minded and judgmental recluse. Even though she was totally out of her element and in a whole new upside down world to the only one she’d really known, the longer she stayed in the wild the more she began to understand and respect their way of life… and the more she began to see that the grouchy sky cowboy she couldn’t stand at first might have a soft spot hidden inside. They each had so much to learn about the other and I absolutely loved seeing them slowly bicker and banter their way to falling in love.

“You should stay another week or two. Or even longer…”
I give him a flat look.
But there’s no hint of humor on his face. “Trust me, Calla, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”

Even though this story was slow-burning, everything that happened was deeply meaningful and in its own quiet, all-consuming way this book had so much heart!! I cried, I laughed, and I felt it with everything I had.

“We both knew this was never going to be easy,” I hear him whisper.
“Yeah, I guess. I just didn’t think it’d be this hard.”

Bottom line, THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!! A stellar story and one of my only 5 STAR FAVORITES of the year!

Rating: 5 STARS! Standalone Contemporary Romance.

EDIT: The author has released an unexpected sequel continuing this story!!! Details below:

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Book Review — Only Love by Melanie Harlow

December 4, 2018 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

A gorgeous former Marine with a tortured soul.
The beautiful, compassionate therapist living next door.
A meddlesome grandma determined to get them together.

SQUEEEEEE!!!! OH MY SWOON!!!! I absolutely love this book!

I’m gonna be honest with you guys, I feel like in the last little while I’ve been in a bit of a book funk — I have many awesome books on my TBR list but I was having trouble finding that right book to fit my mood. Y’know what I mean? My mood strongly dictates what kinds of books I enjoy in the moment so sometimes I want something swoony, sometimes mushy, sometimes I want a book that’ll tear my heart out, sometimes I want something angsty, but sometimes it’s just hard to tell what’s the right fit so I end up playing what I like to call “Reader Roulette” where I just go through my eReader and read the first bit of all the books I’ve bought recently to see what “sticks” to my mood and I probably went through about 10 books today before I started this one and I totally connected with it!

I’ve read and enjoyed several books by Melanie Harlow over the years so it was no surprise to me that this turned out to be another winner!

“I was expecting a proposal on my birthday, and I got dumped instead.

How could I have been so clueless?

Grams knew exactly how to distract me.

The gorgeous former Marine next door who’s been helping her with yard work clearly needs a little therapy. Who better to call than her newly single therapist granddaughter?

She even fakes dementia to get me to visit, and now that I’m here she’s doing everything in her power to throw us together.

Not that I’m complaining. Ryan is the sexiest man I’ve ever met–I mean the full package, from the chiseled jaw to the massive shoulders to the rippling abs. (And yes, his package is full, and he knows exactly how to deliver it.) He makes me want to get out of my head and follow my heart. He makes me want to take chances I never thought I’d take.

He also makes me want to take my clothes off. A lot.

But he’s moody and challenging–one minute he’s an open book, and the next he’s completely closed off. He holds me like he’ll never let go, but insists he wants to be alone.

Some wounds are so deep, only love can heal them.

How can I convince him to let me try?”

Admittedly though, I’ve always had a soft spot for damaged heroes and this hero was absolutely the kind I wanted to read about — strong, silent, brooding, and emotionally wounded. Call me crazy, but that’s just the kind of hero I love seeing a heroine come along and heal!! Yes, I’ve read similar storylines before, but they get me every time when they’re well done and I just get lost completely in the story and without a doubt, this book stole my heart!

As for being happy myself, I’d given up on that idea years ago. When I closed my eyes at night, all I craved was the dark.
But she made me want to dream again.

Buuuuuut the true star of this book was the heroine’s grandma. OH MY GOSH she MADE this book!!! I actually really loved that there were 3 POVs in this book — the heroine, the hero, and dear old match-making grams!!

I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.
If ever I had a magic spell for making a man fall in love, it was baked into my apple crumble pie.
No less than three of my friends had made it for their fellows who were dragging their feet, and the next thing you know, they were down on one knee. We used to call it Cupid Pie! I felt confident that if anything could get Mr. Woods to open up to Stella, that was it. So we were going to make him one, and she was going to bring it to him.
But I wasn’t going to tell her that.
I’d tell her I always baked two pies, and then I’d tell her I didn’t have any room in my freezer for the second one, so why didn’t she just take it next door?
Clever, wasn’t I?

LOL you guys that woman was brilliantly hilarious. She was sharp as a tack but so innocently played the ‘little old lady’ role while expertly creating scenario after scenario that threw the hero and heroine together. I seriously highlighted every scene she was in!!

“So, Grams, what is the secret ingredient in the meatloaf?” Emme asked. “It was delicious.”
Her eyes sparked. “Oh, you silly girl. I put the same secret ingredient in everything I make.”
“Vodka?” I guessed.
“Love, of course,” she said, touching her heart. Then she paused. “But there is whiskey in the glaze. Everything’s better with booze in it.”
…
“Are you still ‘just friends’?” Emme demanded.
“No, actually. We’ve decided we’re more than just friends.”
“I knew it,” Grams said, looking pleased with herself. “Mark my words, girls, that meatloaf can work wonders.”

Another thing I loved about this book was there was NO stupid! Mistakes were made to be sure, and with a hero as tortured and damaged as this one there were bound to be rough patches, but everything that happened was understandable and always made me sympathetic to them so it really created just a wonderful reading vibe.

Grams clucked her tongue. “I knew men like that. They came home after the war with such tortured souls. So heartbreaking.”
“It is,” I went on, feeling protective of him…
“But it’s not hopeless, Stella. He just needs someone who can make him feel loved unconditionally.”

If you’re looking for a SEXY, SWOON-FILLED, ADDICTIVE new book to read, definitely try this!!!

Rating: 4.5 STARS!! Contemporary Adult Romance. Can standalone.

LATEST NEW RELEASES, RECOMMENDATIONS, & PRE-ORDERS — WEEK OF December 4, 2018

December 4, 2018 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

NEW RECOMMENDATION: The Simple Wild: A Novel by KA Tucker (Read my Review)
WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!! Without a doubt, this was one of the very BEST BOOKS I’ve read all year!!!!! It was breath-taking, captivating, and beautifully written. It drew me right into the story — the adventure, the romance, the family, the love, the loss, and the healing. It was slow-building and slow-burning, but the sheer depth of the emotion had me sobbing like a baby even while I was smiling!! I absolutely LOVED everything about it. This book was a true ESCAPE. It was a LOVE story, an ADVENTURE story, a story of how sometimes the most unexpected roads lead you to the best places. THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!! A stellar story and a rare 5 STAR FAVORITE!!!! It’s a standalone! Be sure to grab a copy!!

WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP

HOT NEW RELEASES (NOW LIVE):

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (friends to lovers romcom standalone)
Wrapped in Love by Lexi Ryan (single mom holiday romance, standalone in The Boys of Jackson Harbor series)
Misadventures with a Country Boy by Elizabeth Hayley (standalone romance in Misadventures series)
Fumbled Love by Lila Rose (sports romance standalone)
Lies by Aleatha Romig (dark romance, Web of Sin Book 2)
Defiance by Cherise Sinclair (erotic romance, novella in Masters of the Shadowlands series)
Bound by Love by Cora Reilly (mafia romance in Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles)
The Dirty Ones by JA Huss (thrilling standalone romance)
My Bad by Lani Lynn Vale (biker romance in The Bear Bottom Guardians MC series)
The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson (Royals series)
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices series Book 3)
Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts (post apocalyptic Chronicles of The One Book 2)
The Darkest Captive by Gena Showalter (paranormal romance, standalone novella in Lords of the Underworld series)

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LATEST NEW RELEASES, RECOMMENDATIONS, & PRE-ORDERS — WEEK OF November 27, 2018

November 27, 2018 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

SURPRISE BOOK: Maybe Now by Colleen Hoover
OMG. OMG. OMG. LOOOOK YOU GUYS!!! This is a FULL LENGTH NOVEL!!! — “What is more important? Friendship, loyalty or love? Colleen Hoover and Griffin Peterson collaborate once again to bring fans of Maybe Someday back into the musical world of Ridge Lawson and Sydney Blake. And Maggie. And Warren and Bridgette. — This full length novel is a follow-up to the New York Times bestselling novel, Maybe Someday. For the best reading experience, Maybe Now should be read after Maybe Someday and the spin-off novella, Maybe Not. However, Maybe Now can also be read immediately following Maybe Someday.”

WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP

HOT NEW RELEASES (NOW LIVE):

Only Love by Melanie Harlow (a gorgeous former Marine with a tortured soul, the beautiful, compassionate therapist living next door, a meddlesome grandma determined to get them together, standalone in One and Only series)
Until Cobi by Aurora Rose Reynolds (Alpha romance, standalone in Until Him/Her)
Love With Me by Kristen Proby (friends to lovers, standalone in With Me In Seattle)
Playing by Heart by JB Salsbury (rock star romance standalone)
Perfectly Inappropriate by Stacey Kennedy (BDSM romance standalone)
Hunky Heartbreaker by Kendall Ryan (sexy romance, standalone novella)
Fatal Invasion by Marie Force (romantic suspense in The Fatal Series)
Her Mafioso King by Terri Anne Browning (forbidden romance in The Vitucci Mafiosos)
Irish Crown by Nashoda Rose (damaged hero romance, standalone)
A Gentleman for Christmas by Prescott Lane (holiday romancem standalone)
Knights Rising by Bella Jewel (biker romance, Rumblin’ Knights)
Someone to Trust by Mary Balogh (historical romance, standalone in Westcott series)

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DETAILED LIST: NEW RELEASES

Only Love by Melanie Harlow — New Release!!

Can standalone: A gorgeous former Marine with a tortured soul.
The beautiful, compassionate therapist living next door.
A meddlesome grandma determined to get them together.

“I was expecting a proposal on my birthday, and I got dumped instead. How could I have been so clueless? Grams knew exactly how to distract me. The “cute boy next door” who’s been helping her with yard work clearly needs a little therapy. Who better to call than her newly single therapist granddaughter? She even fakes dementia to get me to visit, and now that I’m here she’s doing everything in her power to throw us together. Not that I’m complaining. Ryan is the sexiest man I’ve ever met. He makes me want to get out of my head and follow my heart. He makes me want to take chances I never thought I’d take… But he’s moody and challenging–one minute he’s an open book, and the next he’s completely closed off. He holds me like he’ll never let go, but insists he wants to be alone. Some wounds are so deep, only love can heal them…”

Until Cobi by Aurora Rose Reynolds — New Release!!

Can standalone: “He knows exactly who she is to him the moment he sees her for the very first time. That doesn’t mean it will be easy for him to convince her to take a chance on him.

She knows she could fall hard and fast for a guy like him. A man who seems to show up every time she needs him, but she knows better than to just hand over her heart.

Knowing his future with her is on the line, he begins to tie their lives together. As the invisible rope that connects them tightens and things between them heat up, an unknown threat emerges…”

Love With Me by Kristen Proby — New Release!!

Can standalone: “He heals hearts for a living. More than that, medicine is his life. To become the leading cardiothoracic surgeon on the west coast, he’s made sacrifices. No social life. He barely has time to sleep. Love? Forget about it. But when everything goes horribly wrong on his table, and he unexpectedly loses a patient, he is suspended from work.

She collects unwanted strays. A dog with one eye, a three-legged cat, a bird that swears like a sailor? All part and parcel of her veterinary business. It helps pass the time. Until he calls out of the blue to ask her out on a real date…

Spending extra time with him is dangerous. Her feelings for her best friend have always been stronger than simple companionship. If she gets attached, what happens when he goes back to work and leaves her behind?

But as the weeks progress, falling for each other is inevitable. This time, his heart is the one that will need fixing before both of them end up broken…”

Playing by Heart by JB Salsbury — New Release!!

Standalone: “Jesse Lee is the worst! He’s a multi-millionaire, triple-platinum-selling, Grammy-Award-winning man-slut—a worldly, self-indulgent heathen. I wouldn’t sleep with him if he were our last chance to ensure survival of the human race. The only reason I put up with him is because he’s my boss’s brother.”

“Whatsherface is one of those holier-than-thou types. She’s bossy, has a horrific singing voice, and she’s so ordinary, she practically blends in with the eggshell-colored walls—the complete opposite of anyone I’d bang. The only reason I put up with her is because my career is on the line.”

Perfectly Inappropriate by Stacey Kennedy — New Release!!

Can standalone: “She knows that her problems are painfully average. She got engaged, and her fiancé cheated. She gave up on her dream job and settled on a more practical one. She scrimped and saved to buy a home, only to realize how empty it was. So when she hears about an exclusive dating app that matches subs with highly trained doms, she does something she never thought she’d do in a million years: She signs up. The last thing she expects to find is a man whose sizzling touch reawakens the woman she used to be…

He has no time for relationships. His sole purpose is to win reelection. That’s why he pays a premium to the discreet app that satisfies all his dark desires. But after she is vetted and arrives for their week together in his penthouse, it’s blatantly clear that she’s running from her demons. She’s more than willing to be her escape—until their emotions get tangled up in their games. Now, to become worthy of her heart, he will have to prove that he’s more than a fantasy.”

Hunky Heartbreaker by Kendall Ryan — New Release!!

Can standalone: “Everything’s bigger in Texas. And that includes Duke Wilder’s sexual appetite. Together with his twin brother, he runs a whiskey distillery, and when their business takes off—suddenly he’s got it all. Success. Money. Family. But he doesn’t have a woman to share it with.

When Valentina storms into his life, her presence is only supposed to be temporary. She’s a feisty attorney hired to help clean up his company’s recent legal mess. He never counted on her being the one to turn his whole world upside down…”

Her Mafioso King by Terri Anne Browning — New Release!!

Can standalone: “She was everything I wanted and nothing I could have. I was never supposed to love her. My future has been set in stone since birth, down to who I am expected to marry. With our inner circle now compromised from my bastard of an uncle, it looked like my future had arrived earlier than expected.”

“He walked away from me without a backwards glance, deciding power was more important than me. I accepted that and moved on. Now he was back, ready to take over for his sick father, and no longer someone else’s husband. He says he wants me back. He tells me he still loves me, that he never stopped. But how could I trust him when there is so much more at stake this time?”

Irish Crown by Nashoda Rose — New Release!!

Standalone: It was one night together.
I wasn’t supposed to see him again.
I never thought I would.

And then, the six foot three cement graffiti wall of badass strides back into my life, and does it full force. Now he’s protecting me from his past and I’m protecting myself against the heated chaos he erupts in my body. It doesn’t help that he can do playful and sweet, when he’s not doing bossy. But the overly confident, playboy Deaglan Kane is danger, has no boundaries, and is totally off limits. And I know behind his walls there’s a man with a dark and damaged past. A man more dangerous. A man who may be the greatest threat of all.

A Gentleman for Christmas by Prescott Lane — New Release!!

Standalone: Some say “chivalry is dead.” I don’t think so. Most women I know like a gentleman. Protective, opens doors, treats women with respect, typically follows the rules. But a gentleman doesn’t fall for his best friend’s woman. Current or ex. And that’s what I’ve done.

During the Christmas season of all times — that magical time for decorations, gifts, family… Yes, the girl who was off-limits for so long, who I’ve loved all my life, has come back in town and possibly back to me. I can’t follow the gentleman rules this time. There’s too much at stake. I let her go once. I won’t let her go again. What happens under the mistletoe, stays under the mistletoe. Or does it?

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LATEST NEW RELEASES, RECOMMENDATIONS, & PRE-ORDERS — WEEK OF November 20, 2018

November 20, 2018 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

COVER ANNOUNCED: Free by Kristen Ashley (Chaos series #6)
OMG! This is the final book in an amazing biker romance series! — “Through good times, bad times and times of war, Cole “Rush” Allen grew up in the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Along this journey, he watched his father, Tack, and his MC brothers fight, sweat, bleed and die to steer the Club to legitimacy. And they’ve got one more battle on their hands. A battle they have to win. But when Rush meets the woman who put herself right in the thick of it, he knows he has to stop at nothing to get her out. Rebel Stapleton has lost someone she loves to murder and she’s the kind of woman who’s going to do something about it. She puts her career on the line, and her life, to bring the man who did it to justice. That is, she does this until Rush Allen intervenes. Chaos is at war and they’re about to face the ultimate showdown. They’ll have to negotiate skeletons from the past, enemies becoming allies, and loved ones in the line of fire on their ride to be… Free.” — Be sure to pre-order your copy and check out this full list of KA books!