Author Spotlight

Friday Favourites #5: Tammara Webber

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The latest feature on my blog, Friday Favourites, an Author spotlight where you have a chance to learn more about my favoruite authors in a blitz interview and see what their favourite books are, enters its second month. In this edition, please welcome, Tammara Webber, author of some of my favourite New Adult books, the series Contours of the Heart. 


Friday Favourites


Favorite place
My bed faces a wall of windows with a view of the city and just enough sky to watch the sunrise. My husband and I sit with coffee and talk in the early morning before he goes to work and I go to my desk to write.

Favorite food and drink
My other favorite place is a Salvadoran restaurant on the ground floor of the building where I live. I love going there and sitting at the bar at the end of a long day, or sometimes in the afternoon. The food is delicious—I’ve never had anything there I didn’t like—and the bartenders are friendly and skilled and know exactly how I want my drink mixed. (My favorite drink is a margarita from this restaurant – Don Julio reposado, Cointreau, lime, no sugar – my husband hates it because it’s so sour, haha.)

Favorite music 
My favorite song for years now is Holcombe Waller’s song “Hardliners,” which is what Jacqueline and Lucas listen to in Easy. My favorite band at the moment is from my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. They’re called Green River Ordinance and I love just about everything they’ve ever done. (They’re fabulous live, too.) You can find a sample of their songs on my playlist for Sweet: https://www.youtube.com/user/tammarawebber

Favorite TV series
At the moment – Walking Dead is my favorite. I’m also watching Game of Thrones. Both are super gory and sometimes I need a break from it so I watch a favorite movie like The Princess Bride. Also waiting impatiently for Pinky Blinders to return because OMG, Cillian Murphy. *swoon*

Favorite hobby
I love to read, of course! I also lift weights. I’ve been doing that since I was twenty-one – I like taking walks if it’s nice out, but if I’m running, something is chasing me.

Five books that made me want to be a writer (in no particular order)

 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - and the Kindle edition is free on AMZ
classic romance

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Young adult, realistic

You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
Fiction, classic, Southern American

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols
Young adult, realistic

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolff
Fiction, Classics

Thank you!
Author Bio and Links

I’m a hopeful romantic who adores novels with Happy endings because there are enough sad endings in real life. Before writing full time, I was an undergraduate academic advisor, economics tutor, planetarium office manager, radiology call center rep, and the palest person to ever work at a tanning salon. I married my high school sweetheart and I’m Mom to three adult kids and four very immature cats.




Her newest release is Sweet (Contours of the Heart #3) – a spinoff/standalone novel, which I absolutely loved!
Synopsis


He’s the love of her life, but he doesn’t know it.
She’s his one moment of sacrifice in a lifetime of survival.

He was damaged and wild, but resilient.
She’s always been obedient. Now she’s restless.

Home for the summer between college and med school, Pearl Torres Frank knows two things: Boyce Wynn is the embodiment of everything she should run from, and everything she wants to run to. Rebellious and loud. Unconcerned with society’s opinion of him. Passionate. Strong. Dangerous.

And one more trait he hides from everyone but her:
Sweet.

Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo |Amazon UK


Don't forget to stop by the blog next Friday when it's time for Jessica Topper to share her favourite things and give you her book recommendations!

New Adult

Review: Sweet by Tammara Webber

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I've been a lot NA lately, some m/f, some m/m, some college, some plain simple/complicated life of people in their 20s. I'm very happy to say most of my NA choices have been a success and I've enjoyed them a lot.

Title: Sweet (Contours of the Heart #3)
Author: Tammara Webber
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Release date: 27 April 2015

Add to Goodreads
My rating: 3.5 Stars




 Synopsis

He’s the love of her life, but he doesn’t know it.
She’s his one moment of sacrifice in a lifetime of survival.

He was damaged and wild, but resilient.
She’s always been obedient. Now she’s restless.

Home for the summer between college and med school, Pearl Torres Frank knows two things: Boyce Wynn is the embodiment of everything she should run from, and everything she wants to run to. Rebellious and loud. Unconcerned with society’s opinion of him. Passionate. Strong. Dangerous.

And one more trait he hides from everyone but her:
Sweet.

Review

Sweet by Tammara Webber is one of those NA romance which go straight into my favourite NA romances. I've read and very much loved both Easy and Breakble (my review) and Sweet is a companion novel to them. We meet both Boyce and Pearl in Breakable but even you haven't read it, I can guarantee you can enjoy their story on its own.

Ms Webber has created a lovely romance/coming of age story of a small-town bad (good) boy and good sheltered girl coming together. The story is told from dual POV and the reader is taken back and forth in time since the characters met as small kids.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and complexity of the relationship between Boyce and Pearl. There is nothing simple or cliche about their friendship, love and HEA.

There were a lot of plot twists that kept the story dynamic and were often a surprise for me. Boyce's background and family situation were heart-breaking but presented in a realistic manner without going over in melodrama. He is no longer the punk-ass teenager we met in Breakable but a young man trying to build a decent life for himself. I loved seeing him coming into his own, dealing with a lot of issues at home (and previously, in school) and becoming a caring and responsible adult. s;;d;.c

In a way, Pearl is his perfect opposite - she is sheltered, has a loving family, graduated from college. Yet, Boyce and Pearl have had this strong connection and intense chemistry ever since they were very young and which I absolutely loved. They both struggle to overcome their misgivings and fears and to be together.

The supporting characters were great and added diversity to the story, we even see Lucas/Landon all too briefly. Another strength of the story is the captivating, very tangible small-town in the Gulf atmosphere created by the author. Ms Webber is a great story-teller and Boyce and Pearl's romance had an easy, engaging flow to it.

I have a minor quibble with the final part of the story. The ex-boyfriend drama felt too much and it didn't fit the story very well. 

This was one-true-love type of romance and the epilogue completely reflected the title, sweet and a bit of sexy. There is just a minor element in it that threw me off guard and I wasn't happy about (the Ray and Arianna thing) but overall I'm pretty satisfied with the way things worked out for Boyce and Pearl.

If you like well-written captivating NA romance, this is a recommended read for you!

Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo |Amazon UK

New Adult

Release Day Blast for Sweet by Tammara Webber

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This post is part of the Release Day Blast of Sweet by Tammara Webber! Check out the blurb, a short excerpt and a hot teasers below!



Ttile: Sweet (Contours of the Heart #3)
Author: Tammara Webber
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Release date: 27 April 2015

Add to Goodreads
Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo |Amazon UK

Blurb


He’s the love of her life, but he doesn’t know it.
She’s his one moment of sacrifice in a lifetime of survival.

 He was damaged and wild, but resilient.
She’s always been obedient. Now she’s restless.

 Home for the summer between college and med school, Pearl Torres Frank knows two things: Boyce Wynn is the embodiment of everything she should run from, and everything she wants to run to. Rebellious and loud. Unconcerned with society’s opinion of him. Passionate. Strong. Dangerous.

 And one more trait he hides from everyone but her:

Sweet.
*** *** ***

Excerpt:

Boyce watched me, a lit cigarette in one hand and a koozied beer in the other. We hadn’t spoken since that kiss, other than his usual juvenile quips during biology—the ones that drove Mel and Mr. Quinn insane and made Landon smirk and shake his head and had me biting the inside of my cheek to suppress my smile.

At first, I’d been confused, then disappointed, and then angry. I’d worked my way to acceptance, like when I’d known I was drowning and there was nothing I could do. He’d merely gone back to being Boyce Wynn, who did what he wanted and who he wanted. And I’d gone back to being Pearl Frank—star student, social royalty, good girl.


But I couldn’t forget that kiss. The fixed glint of his eyes across the fire said that neither could he.

About the Author: 


New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Easy and Breakable (Contours of the Heart series - NA), as well Between the Lines, Where are You, Good for You and Here without You (Between the Lines series - YA/NA).

I'm a hopeful romantic who adores novels with happy endings, because there are enough sad endings in real life. Before writing full-time, I was an undergraduate academic advisor, economics tutor, planetarium office manager, radiology call center rep, and the palest person to ever work at a tanning salon. I married my high school sweetheart, and I'm Mom to three adult kids and four very immature cats.

Author links:  Website / Facebook / Twitter / Intsgram



Meme

Waiting on Wednesday: Sweet by Tammara Webber

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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: Sweet (Counturs of the Heart #3) 
Author: Tammara Webber
Genre/Themes: Romance, New Adult
Release Date: 27 April 2015

Add on Goodreads

Pre-order links: Amazon / iBooks
Synopsis

He’s the love of her life, but he doesn’t know it.
She’s his one moment of sacrifice in a lifetime of survival.

He was damaged and wild, but resilient.
She’s always been obedient. Now she’s restless.

Home for the summer between college and med school, Pearl Torres Frank knows two things: Boyce Wynn is the embodiment of everything she should run from, and everything she wants to run to. Rebellious and loud. Unconcerned with society’s opinion of him. Passionate. Strong. Dangerous.

And one more trait he hides from everyone but her. Sweet.
*** *** ***

 Why am I waiting for this? - Easy is one of my favourite NA romances and it's companion novel, Breakable (my review), was a great read was well. We meet Boyce and Pearl int he second book and he got me intrigued right then and there. I can't wait to see how things between him and Pearl work out in the end.

College

Review: Breakable by Tammara Webber

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Title: Breakable (Contours of the Heart #2)
Author: Tammara Webber
Date of publication: 6 May 2014
Genre:  Romance, New Adult, College

Author's links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads
Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo / Book Depository

My rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis

He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.

Review

Easy was one of the first New Adult books I read and I really enjoyed it. I thought the book completed the story of Lucas and Jacqueline and I didn't expect a sequel or another boo about them. So, when I learned that there will be a companion novel to Easy told from Lucas' POV I was both excited and a little weary. The stories  told from the other character's POV are very popular right now, but most of them are not successful since they  often feel like you are reading the same book.

I'm very, very happy to tell you that this was not the case with Breakable and it is a worthy companion novel to Easy which complemented the original story in the perfect way.

The narrative is divided in two parts - Lucas'POV (present day) and Landon's POV (his teenage years after the tragedy in his life and before meeting Jaqueline). I loved the Landon parts best of all. They gave insight in young Landon and how the death of his mother and later the attitude of his father made him the man he was when he met Jacqueline.

His suffering, his troubles at school and his first love (or so he thought at the time) were very convincngly presented. I felt deeply for young Landon who had to deal with his guilt and pain on his own. His friend Boyce was a  great supporting character and I enjoyed their relationship a lot. Still, I felt this plotline was left incomplete. I'm curious how things worked out for Boyce and I'd be happy for him to get a book of his own.

The part of Lucas were interesting and they dd show all the conflicting emotions he felt for Jacqueline since the first moment he saw. Yet they told things were already new and hence, they were less interesting. Lucas' fixation on Jacqueline seemed a bit stalkerish, especially at the beginning and his duplicity did bother me as much as they did in book 1. At the same time, Lucas was very gentle and considerate with her, he never pushed her into anything she wasn't ready for.

Unlike the relationship with Boyce, Lucas' friendship with Joseph seemed to lack depth and it didn't add anything to the story or to his character. 

Another minor quibble I had was the lack of dialogue/communication between Lucas and Jacqueline. We've already read it in Easy and it was probably omitted to avoid repetition but this made the narrative seemed disjointed at times and it  didn't flow as smooth as in book 1.

Overall, it's a great New Adult story, very emotional and intense with sensual, yet gentle love scenes. The book explores some heavy issues of violence against women, family issues, dealing with grief and guilt, and ends with a very optimistic happy-end. It's a must read for all fans of Easy and New Adult romances in general.

ARC

Teaser Tuesday 56

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Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:
• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) or a few more “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

My teaser this week comes from Breakable (Contours of the Heart #2) by Tammara Webber. It's a companion novel to Easy (Contours of the Heart #1) and it releases on May 6. I was lucky to get an ARC and just finished it. It's an emotional NA story which complements book 1 in the best possible way. 

But I wasn't fine. I was anything but fine. That night had shattered me. I'd walled myself in to keep from breaking further, but no defense will protect you from every possible pain. I was just as breakable as everyone else - the girl in my arms included. But I could hope. I could love. And maybe, I could heal. 

Synopsis

He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.


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