Ellie Reads All the Books: Sarina Bowen

Reviews

Review: Fireworks by Sarina Bowen

08:29

Title: Firework (True North #6)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance

Release Date: 13 Nov 2018

Author's links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 4 Stars

Blurb

Skye Copeland is on paid leave from her broadcasting job after accidentally drawing a pecker on the traffic map.

Let that sink in. Like it’s her fault the traffic pattern created a perfect schlong?

Skye isn’t laughing. She needs this job. And that’s the only reason she’s willing to chase down a story in her least favorite place—that hell on earth known as Vermont.

A quick trip. In and out. Much like - never mind. She can sneak into the town that once tried to break her, get the story and slide back into the good graces of her producer. Easy peasy.

But things go sideways the moment she steps over the county line. Her stepsister is running from a violent drug dealer. And the cop on the case is none other than Benito Rossi, the man who broke Skye’s teenage heart.

His dark brown eyes still tear her apart. And even as she steels herself to finally tell him off after twelve years, the old fireworks are still there.

Things are about to go boom.

Review

This is the next installment in the True North series and it's a small town romance mixed with second chance at love with heroine returning to her hometown.

Benito and Skye's story has an easy, natural flow, though I was not a fan of the childhood/young adulthood flashbacks. The felt the narration style and the omniscient 3^rd person POV clashed with the rest of the story. I liked the perspective their added to the present-day relations between the MCs (the supporting cast) but not the way it was presented.

Benito is close to perfect as any romance hero can be in my eyes – caring, loving, fighting the good fight (a police officer going after drug dealers), loyal to his friends and family.

The heroine was more complex, there a bigger internal conflict with Skye – having to do with her past, her job, her future as a whole. I’m conflicted about her view of her own sexuality but I would say is demisexual, just doesn’t know the word for it. Either way, he is patient and supportive and I love him for standing by her but also giving her time/space to figure things out.

Overall it's a light-hearted, easy read despite touching on some heavy subjects as poverty, abuse, broken families, drugs

Loved catching up on the Rossis and the Shipleys, loved the small town sense of community and support. It could be just wishful thinking of everyone running a successful business in a small town without a single financial care in the world, but it’s a wishful thinking that makes feel good and happy and that’s why I read romance. Sometimes I am all about the darkness and drama, other times good people getting good things works perfectly for me.

CW for crooked cop, verbal (sexual) abuse

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Billionaires

Review: Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen

04:08

Title: Brooklynaire (Brooklyn Bruisers #4)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Genre: Sports romance, hockey, boss-assistant, tech billionaire

Release Date: 12 Feb 2018

Author's links:

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My rating: 4 Stars

Blurb

You’d think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You’d be wrong.

For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don’t know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.

When Rebecca gets hurt, I step in to help. It’s what friends do. But what friends don’t do is rip off each others’ clothes for a single, wild night together.

Now she’s avoiding me. She says we’re too different, and it can never happen again. So why can’t we keep our hands off each other?

Review

I loved this friends-to-lovers romance so much. I have been waiting for Becca and Nate's story since we met them in the first book and the long wait was totally worth it. It was such a fun, sexy story, with very little angst and a lot of good humour and intense emotions. I'm generally wary of boss-assistant romance but I think the imbalance of power was handled well here. It certainly was a main obstacle before the couple getting together but it was discussed in details and the solution they came up with was a good one, working for them both.

The story is told in alternating chapters of first-person POV of Nate and Rebecca and this is not my favourtie writing style but I got used to it pretty fast. We get flashbacks to their times together through the years written in a third-person POV which I found weird and not fitting very smoothly in the overall narration despite them being important and contributing a lot to the story.

I liked Nate, the geeky tech billionaire, hockey team owner, who has had feelings for his assistant for years and has kept them under lock and key because he valued their friendship and didn't want to risk ruining it and driving Becca away. Becca was fun and all kinds of amazing too, aware of her precarious situation if/when she starts a relationship with her boss. I loved how she came off as smart (despite never finishing college), how good she was at her job.

There is an easy flow to the story, a natural progression of the romance with a few setbacks, btu nothing outrageously improbable (probably except for the Alex plotline which went in a weird and unnecessary direction towards the ed). It's a true friends-to-lovers romance and we see so much of the friendship between the Nate and Becca before they became lovers and it also continued after that. The way the interacted with their friends and families presented their world as full and vibrant. Nate's AI project was hilarious and brought so much comic relief into some tense moments.

We see a lot of hockey action but the story takes a look also a look into the darker side of the sport (concussions and head injuries which were explored indirectly through Becca's fall on the ice and its consequences).

I have a minor quibble with the way Becca was presented as financially struggling which I found odd with her being the personal assistant to the CEO of a multi-million company. While I understand her difficult financial situation with her having to help support her family but it felt overdone and threw me out of the story.

The book ends with the sappiest of epilogues which made me so very happy. We get the perfect completion of the series though I wouldn't mind reading more stories about the Brooklyn bruisers.

Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook

Contemporary Romance

Review: Pipe Dreams by Sarina Bowen

23:43

Title: Pipe Dreams (Brooklyn Bruisers #3)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Genre: Sports romance, hockey

Release Date: 2 May 2017

Author's links:

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My rating: 4 Stars

Blurb

A goalie has to trust his instincts, even when taking a shot to the heart…

Mike Beacon is a champion at defending the net, but off the ice, he’s not so lucky. A widower and a single father, he’s never forgotten Lauren Williams, the ex who gave him the best year of his life. When Lauren reappears in the Bruisers office during the playoffs, Beacon sees his chance to make things right.

Lauren hates that she’s forced to travel with the team she used to work for and the man who broke her heart. There’s still undeniable sexual tension running between her and Mike, but she won’t go down that road again. She’s focused on her plans for the future—she doesn’t need a man to make her dreams of motherhood come true.

Lauren plays her best defensive game, but she’s no match for the dark-eyed goalie. When the field of play moves to Florida, things heat up on the beach.

One of Mike’s biggest fans doesn’t approve—his teenage daughter. But a true competitor knows not to waste the perfect shot at love.

Review

After not enjoying very much the second book in this series, this was one such a nice surprise. I didn't expect Lauren would get a book of her own, and then I would have never guessed who her love interest would be. This was the sweetest, most touching of romances. I love love stories with single dads, they always tug at heartstrings and this was no exception.

We have two amazing characters put in a very difficult situation and finding their way back to each other after a most painful breakup.

I have to admit I severely misjudged Lauren based o the previous books. We see her true self here and her ice queen attitude was just an act to hide a heart that felt too much. She was amazing and I could relate both to her pain and her hopes and dreams. We see an independent woman moving on from a terrible break up the only way she knew how. Getting a degree, working hard, trying to have a family of her own.

It took me a while to forgive Mike. It's not the fact that he left Lauren that I resent but the fact that he did so with no explanation. I just can't accept people not talking things through, just making up decisions and not discussing them with their partner.

Their coming back together was not easy for either of them. And M's kid didn't help matters. But it was worth all the hardship. It felt real and natural because finally, they were communicating. Mistakes were made and some lessons were learned the hard way but their HEA was a most deserved one. And oh, so sweet, a bit too sweet for my personal taste.

I'm not very fond of pregnancy and child-birth bits in romance, most often than not they feel too staged and not-believable to me as was the case here. It's a personal hangup rather than a weakness of the story.

If you are looking for a great redemption story of second-chance love with some fun and sexy times, some hockey players shenanigans, one special teenage girl, and an ice queen with the kindest and most forgiving heart, you should definitely read this romance.

Purchase links: Amazon / iBooks / Kobo

Reviews

Review: Keepsake by Sarina Bowen

00:47

Title: Keepsake (True North #3)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: Contemporary romance, Small-town
Release Date: 25 Oct 2016

Author's links:
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My rating: 5 Stars

Blurb

There's a first time for everything.

Lark Wainwright used to be fearless. Her life was a series of adventures, each one more exhilarating than the last. But her recent overseas adventure was one too many. Now she’s home and in one piece. Mostly. But her nights are filled with terror.

When her best friend offers her a stay at the orchard in exchange for help at the farmers’ markets, Lark jumps at the chance to spend fall in Vermont. But her nightmares don’t stop. Desperate to keep her fragile state a secret, she relies on the most soft-spoken resident of the Shipley Farm to soothe her when her dreams prove too much.

Zachariah is a survivor, too. It’s been four years since he was tossed aside by the polygamist cult where he grew up. He’s found a peaceful existence on the Shipley’s farm, picking apples and fixing machinery. But getting thrown away by your own people at nineteen leaves a mark on a guy. He doesn’t always know what to make of a world where movie quotes are the primary means of communication. Before hitchhiking to Vermont, he’d never watched TV or spoken on the phone.

Actually, there are a lot of things he’s never done.

Zach and Lark slowly grow to trust one another. One night they become even closer than they’d planned. But Lark may still be too broken to trust anyone. When she pushes Zach away, he will have to prove to himself that he's good for much more than farm labor.

Review

This is the third book in Sarina Bowen's True North series of small town romances set in Vermont and in it we return the Shipley's farm which was the setting of book 1.

While I was not a huge fan of Bittersweet and quite enjoyed Steadfast (Jude's story) and I absolutely loved Zachariah and Lark in Keepsake. We met Zach in the first book, and was taken with him right away - a virgin hero raised in cult, who was cast away and is now trying to make it in the world on his own. I couldn't wait to read more about him and his story delivered and then some.

Zach is as perfect as one can be while also being very real - hard working, hard loving, loyal and honest and all too good looking. It's easy to overdo his lack of knowledge of the real world and fall in the traps of presenting him as way too naive/sheltered. Luckily, this was not the case. Zach had missed iconic moments of history and lacked most of pop culture knowledge but he was not totally clueless about sex and sexual attraction and he has managed to fit in the world rather well.

He is a complex character who made mistakes but genuinely wanted to help, to be useful, to be needed and loved, such a universal human emotion. He had his own abandonment issues to deal with together with the feelings of doubt and insecurity of not being good enough.

And Lark was wonderful too. She was Zach's opposite in so many ways - world savvy, experienced but when they met she was lost and confused and lived in fear. Her issues and the consequences of her ordeal in Guatemala were far more serious that anyone thought. They all missed the signs of how shaken up she really was, she was good at hiding and pretending. Even with Zach. I appreciate how her PTSD was presented and treated as a serious issue, not downplayed or used just for thrills. love can't cure and can't solve all. It took a lot of effort and time but the end result made it worth it.

My only quibble is with the epilogue. While I love me a good epilogue, it felt superfluous here, didn't really add anything significant to the story. Still, it did hint at potential new stories in the series and I hope Sarina Bowen will get to write them.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

Reviews

Review: Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen

00:00

Title: Rookie Move (Brooklyn Bruisers #1)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: Sports romance
Release Date: 6 Sept 2016

Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads
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My rating: 4.5 Stars

Blurb

In high school they were the perfect couple—until the day Georgia left Leo in the cold...

Hockey player Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart, and succeed in the NHL. But on the first day he’s called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team’s coach—who has a long simmering grudge, and then by the Bruisers’ sexy, icy publicist—his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.

Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do—and saying hello again isn’t much easier. Georgia is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when a press conference microphone catches Leo declaring his feelings for her, things get really personal, really fast....

Review

This is a spin-off series of The Ivy Years series on NA college/hockey romances which I absolutely love. This first instalment is about Leo Trevi who is DJ's brother (from The FifteenthMminute). It's a second chance/reunited lovers story and I very much enjoyed it.

I'm an avid reader of sport romances and this one of the best I've read lately. It has an easy flow to it, a nice balance between sports talks and the romance plotline.

Both Georgia and Leo are well rounded, full fledged characters with their strengths and weaknesses which only make human and easy to relate to.

Their chemistry is undeniable and their love for each other is still there after 6 years apart, but they both needed some growing up in order to be able to be together after what happened to Georgia. They had to come clean to themselves and each other and act like adults in order to get their HEA.

As most of Ms Bowen's previous books, at the heart of this light-hearted and fun story we have a serious real-life issue portrayed with compassion and understanding. It's something that happened a while ago but has lasting effects on everyone in this story.

Ms Bowen creates a great cast of supporting characters and I'm already looking for their stories in the next books in the series. I very much liked the way the team/friendship dynamics worked in this story, as well as family relationships portrayed in all their complexity.

Overall, this is a funny and heart-warming sports romance, a feel good read I can recommend to everyone.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

Review

Review: Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen

06:28

Title: Bitterweet (True North #1)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: Contemporary romance, Small-town
Release Date: 14 June 2016

Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads
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My rating: 3 Stars

Blurb

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the orchard.

The last person Griffin Shipley expects to find stuck in a ditch on his Vermont country road is his ex-hookup. Five years ago they’d shared a couple of steamy nights together. But that was a lifetime ago.

At twenty-seven, Griff is now the accidental patriarch of his family farm. Even his enormous shoulders feel the strain of supporting his mother, three siblings and a dotty grandfather. He doesn’t have time for the sorority girl who’s shown up expecting to buy his harvest at half price.

Vermont was never in Audrey Kidder’s travel plans. Neither was Griff Shipley. But she needs a second chance with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay—a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.

They’re adversaries. They want entirely different things from life. Too bad their sexual chemistry is as hot as Audrey’s top secret enchilada sauce, and then some.

Review

I will start with saying that I absolutely love Sarina Bowen's writing. Her Ivy Years series is my favourite NA series and her M/M hockey romances Him and Us, co-written with Elle Kennedy are just as amazing. I was really excited when I heard she will be writing a new series, sort of small town romances and I jumped at the chance to read the first book, Bittersweet.

On paper I should have loved this, a sexy hunk ex-sports star in college turned into a farmer and cider maker and the super sexy, somewhat flighty college hook-up who is trying to make it in the restaurant business.

I enjoyed a lot in this story, yet it ended as an OK read for me. Whole food business and Audrey's struggles and adventures in it were quite fun to read. And what I liked the most in this book is Griff's life on the farm - the interactions within his family and friends, the small-town feel - shone through the story and warmed my heart.

The romance is where I struggled a bit. It's a second-chance love story, with Griff being more involved even back in their college days. Their present-day chemistry was off-the-charts, but for the relationship lacked depth. It read like your usual, cliched and stereotypical NA college affair - it was all about lust and sexual pleasure and felt like feelings and real intimacy were lacking, at least initially.

I expected more maturity in the relationship, both Griff and Adrey acted like adults in the other aspects of their lives, or were at least trying to live up to their responsibilities and the expectations the others had of them.

In general I think there are one too many stereotypes (the evil ex-girlfriend who turned out to be a nice person after all, the super evil mother who also had a change of heart by the end, and more) which make the story just average and in many ways predictable.

I still enjoy Ms Bowen's style and have high hopes for the next books in the series, which I definitely plan to read. If you don't mind some instalust and NA angst in your romance, you should give this one a try. It wasn't a big hit with me but it might work better for you.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

PS: The second book, Steadfast, which tells Jude's story is out already and I enjoyed it much more and will be reviewing it soon.

Elle Kennedy

Review: Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

00:00

Title: Us (Him #2)

Author: Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Genre: NA Romance, Hockey, M/M

Release Date: 8 March 2016

Author's links:

Sarina Bowen: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Elle Kennedy: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 4.5 Stars

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Synopsis

Can your favorite hockey players finish their first season together undefeated?

Five months in, NHL forward Ryan Wesley is having a record-breaking rookie season. He’s living his dream of playing pro hockey and coming home every night to the man he loves—Jamie Canning, his longtime best friend turned boyfriend. There’s just one problem: the most important relationship of his life is one he needs to keep hidden, or else face a media storm that will eclipse his success on the ice.

Jamie loves Wes. He really, truly does. But hiding sucks. It’s not the life Jamie envisioned for himself, and the strain of keeping their secret is taking its toll. It doesn’t help that his new job isn’t going as smoothly as he’d hoped, but he knows he can power through it as long as he has Wes. At least apartment 10B is their retreat, where they can always be themselves.

Or can they?

When Wes’s nosiest teammate moves in upstairs, the threads of their carefully woven lie begin to unravel. With the outside world determined to take its best shot at them, can Wes and Jamie develop major-league relationship skills on the fly?

Review

I loved the first book about Wes and Jamie (my review) and was excited to hear that there will be a sequel. It's rare that we see in romance how life goes on for our favourite couple after they get together and I'm very much interested in how couples make it work in the long (or shorter) term.

This book brilliantly shows us two young dudes, hockey players (Wes - an NHL super star in his rookie season and Jamie - a kids hockey coach). They love each other, they have the support of Jamie's family but life/professional obligations force them to keep their relationship in the closet. And they both understand the need to act this way but over time it all takes its toll.

I felt their struggles to make their relationship work were real and very convincingly presented. I liked how despite their love and the strong chemistry between them, there were moments of insecurity, confusion, the occasional quarral which all made their story not just a fairytale but real-life experience I found believabel and easy to relate to.

In short, I loved everything in the story. I liked how it explored some serious issues modern day couples face - the financial difference between Jamie and Wes was treated with care and understanding and it's an important element in any relationship and is often neglected in romance. There is also the routine, daily stuff that new couples need to work out, to find the right balance between their work commitments and family time.

Jamie and Wes were young sports guys and they just wanted to be normal, like the rest of the hockey guys they knew and didn't feel the need to be activists, though I appreciate the significance given to the issues of homophobia and hate speech Jamie had to deal with at his work place. I think the problem was handled well, sending the right message without being preachy.

IAs a whole the story had smooth flow to it, nothing felt pressured or forced, the conflcits when they came up were resolved in a manner that worked well for me. It was not all serious issues, there were smexy times and lots of fun banter (both between Jamie and Wes, and as a whole among all the characters). Blake was ridiculous but also fun and sweet and surprisingly good friend and I really, really want to read his story too.

Us is a sweet and loving NA sports romance mixed with some serious issues, treated with care and understanding. It's a worthy sequel to the first book and a refreshingly non-fetish, real contemporary sports mm romance (just a quick side note, Jamie is actually bisexual and I find the presentation of his sexuality as one of the best I've read.) I greatly recommend this series even if you are not a fan of sports or NA romances.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

College

Review: The Fifteenth Minute by Sarina Bowen

06:08

Title: The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years #4)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: NA Romance, College
Release Date: 13 Oct 2015
Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads
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My rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis

Freshman Lianne Challice is known to millions of fans as Princess Vindi. But sometimes a silver screen sorceress just wants to hang up her wand, tell her manager to shove it, and become a normal college student. Too bad that’s harder than it looks.

She’s never lived a normal life. She hasn’t been to school since kindergarten. And getting close to anyone is just too risky — the last boy she kissed sold the story to a British tabloid.

But she can’t resist trying to get close to Daniel "DJ" Trevi, the hot, broody guy who spins tunes for hockey games in the arena. There's something haunting his dark eyes and she needs to know more.

DJ's genius is for expressing the mood of the crowd with a ten second song snippet. With just a click and a fade, he can spread hope, pathos or elation among six thousand screaming fans.

Too bad his college career is about to experience the same quick fade-out as one of his songs. He can't get close to Lianne, and he can't tell her why. And the fact that she seems to like him at all? Incredible.

Review

The Ivy Years is one of my favourite NA romance series and what I like the most about it is that Ms Bowen doesn't shy away from heavier/controversial topics in her stories. Mostly she manages to incorporate them skillfully in the romance but this time things did not quite work out for me.

The story explores a difficult and very sensitive topic - the impact of false accusations of rape on the hero (DJ) and the way the college dealt with it or rather failed to deal with it in a fair and non-judgemental way.

Actually, I found this aspect of the story to be well presented, with sympathy for both parties involved (though we see the girl only briefly towards the end). I liked how Ms Bowen explored the effects of such accusations to DJ and his family. His fears for the future, his self-doubt and hesitancy to get involved with other women, to allow himself to have feelings and dreams and aspiration made me feel deeply sympathetic to him and the situation he found himself in.

In a way a understood DJ as a character, I understood where he stood and what he wanted to do. His development through the story felt natural to me and I was really happy about things working out for him.

On the other hand, I found it more difficult to connect with Lianne. She is a film-star, but she is actually shy and insecure, nerdy and inexperienced. This discrepancy in her character felt forced and artificial most of the time. In general, I like nerdy, smart heroines who are often underestimated and under-appreciated because they are good-looking too but I couldn't quite connect with Lianne.

It's their romance that I didn't enjoy very much in the story. It felt weak and not particularly memorising. There was an attraction and some chemistry but they were not really suited for one another. The timing was particularly bad for him.

That said, I applaud the bravery of Ms Bowen in exploring topics that are usually avoided in NA romance - disability, serious social, family and financial difficulties, STDs, slut-shaming, rape accusations). Her very open and honest treatment of these issues makes her stories real and engaging. Her writing is powerful and polished and it draws you quickly into the fates of the characters she creates.

Overall, this is a nice story and despite my issues with it, I think fans of Ms Bowen and the series will enjoy it.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

My reviews of the previous books in the series:

The Year We Fell Down - 4.5 Stars

The Year We Hid Away - 4 Stars

The Understatement of the Year - 4 Stars

The Shameless Hour - 4 Stars

College

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fifteenth Minute by Sarina Bowen

21:30

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Title: The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years #5)
Author: Sarina BowenGenre/Themes: New Adult, College, Romance
Release Date: 13 Oct 2015
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Pre-order links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo

Synopsis

She’s never lived a normal life. She hasn’t been to school since kindergarten. And getting close to anyone is just too risky — the last boy she kissed sold the story to a British tabloid.

DJ's genius is for expressing the mood of the crowd with a ten second song snippet. With just a click and a fade, he can spread hope, pathos or elation among six thousand screaming fans.

*** *** ***

Why am I waiting for this? - One reason only, I loved all the previous books in the series and I can honestly say that The Ivy Years is one of my favourite NA romance series right now.

Here are my reviews of the rest of the series.

Elle Kennedy

Waiting on Wednesday: Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

21:30

Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Title: Him
Author: Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy
Genre/Themes: M/M romance, hockey
Release Date: 28 July 2015
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Pre-order links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo

Synopsis

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend...and a big one to learn about himself.

*** *** ***

Why am I waiting for this? - Sarina Bowen's Ivy Years series is my favourite NA romance series and I quite enjoyed Elle Kennedy's The Deal and The Mistake, so I'm prett excited about their collaboration on a M/M hockey novel.

Blog Tour

Blog Tour, excerpt, review and giveaway for The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen

03:48

Title: The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years, #4)Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Tour Hosted by: As the Pages Turn

Purchase links: Amazon + Amazon UK + B&N + Kobo + iTunes

Synopsis

The girl who’s had everyone meets the boy who has no one.

For Bella, the sweet-talking, free-loving, hip-checking student manager of the Harkness men’s hockey team, sex is a second language. She’s used to being fluent where others stutter, and the things people say behind her back don’t (often) bother her. So she can’t understand why her smoking hot downstairs neighbor has so much trouble staying friends after their spontaneous night together. She knows better than to worry about it, but there’s something in those espresso eyes that makes her second guess herself.

Rafe is appalled with himself for losing his virginity in a drunken hookup. His strict Catholic upbringing always emphasized loving thy neighbor—but not with a bottle of wine and a box of condoms. The result is an Ivy League bout of awkwardness. But when Bella is leveled by a little bad luck and a downright sinister fraternity stunt, it’s Rafe who is there to pick up the pieces.

Bella doesn’t want Rafe’s help, and she’s through with men. Too bad the undeniable spark that crackles between the two of them just can’t be extinguished.

Excerpt

I held her a little closer as we danced. The band had no vocalist, but I could hear Louis Armstrong’s voice in my head. Give me… a kiss to build a dream on. “I’ve always loved this song,” I confessed.

“Wait, really?” Bella stood up taller so she could look me in the eye. “Have you listened to the lyrics? The guy gets a single kiss, and he basically says that it’s enough — he’s just going to fantasize about it for the rest of his life. I mean… what a rip.”

I bit back a smile. “It’s romantic.”

“It’s unsatisfying,” she countered. “Here, I’ll show you.” Before I knew what was happening, Bella came closer. Her silky thumb stroked once across my cheekbone. Then she stood up on her toes and kissed me.

The first press of her sweet lips against mine stopped my breathing. Though you couldn’t have paid me to resist her. Sheer instinct made me lean into that kiss with my entire being.

Bella’s mouth melted onto mine, and a needy little sound issued from the back of her throat. Heaven. I deepened the kiss, and our tongues touched once. She tasted of red wine and desire. An electric pulse traveled the length of my body. Unbidden, my hands pulled her closer, my fingers in her hair…

The sound of applause brought me back to earth with a thunk. The song had ended, and the band segued into some kind of swing tune. Bella and I broke apart on a gasp. For a second we just stared at each other. “See?” she said eventually.

But I didn’t have the faintest recollection of the point she’d been trying to make. “What?”

Amusement tickled her features. “Never mind. I hear my wine glass calling me.” She tugged on my hand.

Books in the Ivy Years Series

Purchase Ivy Years Series: Amazon + Amazon UK + B&N + Kobo + iTunes

About Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen writes steamy, angsty contemporary romance from Vermont’s Green Mountains. (Her ancestors began logging and farming Vermont during the 18th century. These were rugged, outdoor types without benefit of a laptop or a good latte. It boggles the mind.) Sarina enjoys skiing, skating and good food. She lives in Windsor County, Vermont, with her family, eight chickens and too much ski gear and hockey equipment.

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Giveaway

The giveaway is open internationally and ends 05/03/2015.
(1) An Ivy Years Notebook (It’s super cute)
(1) eBook box set of Ivy Years #1-3
(1) Signed paperback of The Year We Fell Down

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review

The Ivy Years is hands down my favourite NA series at the moment. I loved all the books so far but the first one, The Year We Fell Down stands on its own for me.

Book 4, the Shameless hour, tells the story of Bella who is the student manager of the hockey team whose players have been the main characters in the previous books. She had a very central role in The Understatement of the Year, which I'd recommend to be read before you start with The Shameless Hour.

Bella is an intriguing heroine - open and easy going, loves sex and is not ashamed of it. I have to admit that sometimes I can't quite connect with characters who go for no-string sex and avoid relationships at all cost. My own very romantic and monogamous heart earns for true-love relationships but I also like to read about the journey from just hook-ups to real intimacy and Bella's journey along that road was not an easy one.

While Bella was strong, independent and very much liberated, Raffe was her opposite in many respects. He was confident and certain in his beliefs but he was also quiet, a bit introverted, and most importantly a 20-year old virgin in college. I loved everything about him, really.

After the initial hook-up between him and Bella, they for most the story they are just friends. He came into her life at a terrible time for her and acted as the pillar of strength she had never thought she'd need. We see Bella as any other college girl, somewhat vulnerable, despite her bravado, she had her own insecurities and old-time hurts. The abuse she suffers throws her completely off her game and it takes Raffe's strong and loyal support and ultimately his love for her to help Bella get back to her old self.

The story explores the intricacies of shame, the lack of inhibitions and restraints and the consequences of it. I really liked the intense dynamics family/friends/lovers dynamics Ms Bowen so successfully examines in this book. Both Raffe and Bella have complicated relationship with their families, for different reasons.

This college romance digs deep into some very serious issues affecting young people - harassment, physical and verbal abuse, slut shaming and how they affect everyone involved. Bella lost her confidence, came to question herself and her choices. slut shaming but ultimately, she got her revenge. Raffe had no major conflict to deal with but he won me over with his acceptance of Bella for who she is and with his loyal support and care for her when she was at her lowest.

The story also deals with the issue of STD which is not very often covered in NA romance. This sensitive subject was treated with respect and no judgement which I very much appreciate.

I only had two minor issues - Bella's family sudden change of heart and acceptance didn't fit well in the story for me, and also I was annoyed by the fact that Bella never got the discuss her STD with Raffe. I feel it was an important issue initially, well-developed and examined, but then kind of got forgotten.

I also like to congratulate Ms Bowen for writing a truly diverse story - there were characters with different ethnic and social background, queer characters and the story created a sense of inclusion. i loved the fact that this diversity was not presented as an/the issues in this book, it was treated as a fact of of life and people were ok with each other.

Just like the previous books in this series The Shameless Hour brings together some sweet and sexy times with some serious issues which college students often face. A recommended read for fans of NA romance!

College

Review: Shooting for the Stars by Sarina Bowen

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This review counts to the TBR Challenge 2015, hosted by Wendy at the Misadvetures of a Super Librarian. This month's topic is contemporary romance and this winter sports romance fits the bill.

Title: Shooting for the Stars (Gravity #3)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre: Contemporary romance, sports
Release Date: 16 March 2015

Author's links:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 3.5 Stars
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Synopsis

For one night she had everything.

Pro snowboarder Stella Lazarus has always loved her brother's best friend. But the one time she tried to show him, she was shot down faster than you can say "competitor disqualified."

Until one blissful night in Tahoe, when Stella finally gets her man.

Or does she? In the morning, Stella and Bear wake up to horrible news. The sort that sends them racing back to Vermont, and straight into the arms of guilt and family obligations.

For all of Bryan “Bear” Barry’s life, three natural laws held true: his best friend Hank was destined for greatness, Hank’s sister Stella was off-limits, and Bear would always manage to negotiate the rocky paths that life threw his way. In the space of two days, that’s all shattered.

Bear can't believe he slipped up so badly with Stella. Even if his best friend wasn’t lying broken in a hospital bed, it would still be unforgivable. Determined to do better, he devotes himself to his friend's recovery, denying himself the very person he loves. And the very thing he needs.

Review

I love Sarina Bowen's NA college/hockey series, The Ivy Years, and I rather enjoyed the previous book in this adult/winter sport series, Falling from the Sky.

This one worked even better for me. Little sister and big brother's best friend coupled with friends-to-lovers trope is one I generally enjoy and most sports romances are a hit with me. This is nicely done, low on angst, easy flowing and overall all sweet love story.

Both Bear and Stella were sports people and I really loved this aspect of the story. Their romance happens at a bad time for both of them - Hank's incident chnages both their perspective on life and it brings them closer together as well as tearing them apart.

Stella was a great heroine and I'm happy that Ms Bowen created a strong-willed woman determined to make it in the sports world. She had so much going against her, (her brother's success and subsequent incident, her own serious illness as a child, the resistance/lack of support from her family), yet she never gave up and worked hard to follow her dream of free ride snowboarding.

She was just as stubborn in her affection for Bear. He was also an itneresting character. Coming from the wrogn side of the tracks, always in the orbit of the Lazarus' family but never quite one of them. His life was in a complete trumoil, losing his safe ground and wandering where to go next, yet he stood by Hank and his family. His selflessness and loyalty totally won me over. And it was easy to relate to his sense of loss of direction in life, feeling of inferiority, not deserving someone as strong and determined as Stella.

There was some going back and forth in their romance, some angst but also really intense feelings and sense of characters belonging together. I really liked the way Hank accepted things, no over-the-top drama, just a normal reaction of being happy because Bear and Stella are happy together.

The ending was a bit too sweet for me, wrapping things nicely for everyone, more of a fantasy and wishful thinking than reality, but romance is meant to leave you happy and hopeful for the characters and this one did just that.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

*** *** ***

More of my reviews of Sarina Bowen's books:
Falling from the Sky (Gravity #2) - 3.5 Stars
The Year We Fell Down (Ivy Years #1) - 4.5 stars
The Year We Hid Away ( Ivy Years #2) - 4 stars
The Understatement of the Year (Ivy Years #3) - 4 stars

College

Cover reveal, blurb and excerpt for The Sahmeless Hour by Sarina Bowen

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Here is the cover The Shameless Hour, book 4 in Sarina Bowen's Ivy Years series. It's beautiful, isn't it!

Title: The Shameless Hour (Ivy Yeasr #4)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Genre: New Adult, Romance, College

Date of publication: 1 May 2015

Pre-order at iBooks

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Synopsis

The girl who’s had everyone meets the boy who has no one.

Rafe is appalled with himself for losing his virginity in a drunken hookup. His strict Catholic upbringing always emphasized loving thy neighbor—but not with a bottle of wine and a box of condoms. The result is an Ivy League bout of awkwardness. But when Bella is leveled by a little bad luck and a downright nasty fraternity stunt, it’s Rafe who is there to pick up the pieces.

Bella doesn’t want Rafe's help, and she’s through with men. Too bad the undeniable spark that crackles between the two of them just can’t be extinguished.

Excerpt:

I heard the band start to play the classic one-two Merengue rhythm that I’d heard my whole life. On the dance floor, the energy picked up as the geezers began to move to the faster beat.

“Let’s go,” I said, standing up. I offered Bella my hand.

But Bella shook her head. Even worse, she scooted her chair toward the wall.

“Don’t leave me hanging,” I said, my hand still waiting in the air. “Come on now. Nobody puts Bella in a corner.”

On the other side of the table, Bella’s sister snorted into her white wine.

Bella rolled her eyes. Hard. “You did not just quote Dirty Dancing.”

I leaned down near Bella’s ear. “I did. Now get your ass out of that chair, like the girl in the movie, or I’ll have to put you in a fireman’s hold.”

Her mouth tight, Bella stood up. Not one to waste an opportunity, I clasped her hand, tugging her onto the dance floor. When we were right in the center, I put one hand onto Bella’s waist and took her opposite hand in mine. She was as stiff as a piece of wood. “Shake it off, chica. This is supposed to be fun.”

“Your job tonight was to make my life less embarrassing. Not more.”

“I am doing that. We’re going to be the best looking dancers on this floor, and everyone in this mausoleum is going to wonder how I got so lucky as to be here with you. Now listen to this rhythm, okay? Just step to the beat. And let your hips absorb the motion.” I began to move to the music. The merengue is a Dominican dance, and every kid in my neighborhood can merengue before his fifth birthday. It’s just not that complicated.

With nervous eyes, Bella began to move.

“Use these hips,” I prompted, touching the silky fabric of her dress. As I watched, she loosened up a tiny fraction. “Yes! But even more. You look great. I wouldn’t steer you wrong. And think of pressing the balls of your feet into the floor.”

Biting her lip, Bella moved with me.

“That’s it! See? Nothing to it.” Just like that, we had a proper merengue going on.

“Can I sit down yet?” Bella asked.

“Not even close,” I laughed. “See, I knew you could move.”

Bella pouted. “We’ve seen each other’s moves, Rafe.”

She lifted her eyes, and the heat in them went straight to my dick.

Jesucristo. That was the trouble with getting so close to Bella. I was always going to be susceptible to her. Anything she did to remind me of that night was always going to knock me right over.

“Ha.” She said. “I finally found a way to shut you up.” Bella put a little more effort into her merengue then, looking smug.

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Meme

Waiting on Wednesday: Shooting for the Stars by Sarina Bowen

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Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Title: Shooting for the Stars (Gravity #3)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance, Snowboading

Release Date: 16 March 2015

Add on Goodreads
Pre-order: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

Synopsis

For one night she had everything.

Pro snowboarder Stella Lazarus has always loved her brother's best friend. But the one time she tried to show him, she was shot down faster than you can say "competitor disqualified."

Until one blissful night in Tahoe, when Stella finally gets her man.

Or does she? In the morning, Stella and Bear wake up to horrible news. The sort that sends them racing back to Vermont, and straight into the arms of guilt and family obligations.

*** *** ***

Why am I waiting for this? - I love Sarina Bowen's NA series, The Ivy Years. Book 1 in the Gravity series, Falling from the Sky (my review) was a nice sports romance and I'm interested in reading more of this series. Hank's sister sounds like a wonderfully unique heroine :)