“In this un-put-downable romance, Madden-Mills skillfully balances the emotional with the physical to produce a love story that’s equal parts scorching and sweet.” —Publishers Weekly
Beauty and the Baller, an all-new emotional and steamy opposites attract, fake relationship standalone romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is available now!
An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.
Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.
Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.
Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.
The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.
Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?
Fall in love today FREE in Kindle Unlimited! Amazon: https://amzn.to/3CRMSE1 Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/BeautyBaller Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3CRmo5r
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About Ilsa Madden-Mills Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She's addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.
Connect with Ilsa Amazon: http://amzn.to/2nY2pxT Instagram: http://bit.ly/35xfNfo Stay up to day with Ilsa by joining her mailing list: http://bit.ly/2ZWaTYh Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2EESfM9 Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2GaR6cn Book+Main: http://bit.ly/2s4j9ci Website: https://www.ilsamaddenmills.com Join her Unicorn Girls Group on FB, the best way to keep up: http://bit.ly/37B6Nay Sign up for phone alert for book releases (max of 4) Text ROMANCE to 21000 *Text message rates apply*
I was provided an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this second installment to the series. This focuses mainly on astronomy and Mia's attempt to find what the Kibsu lost. In the fist book Mia and her mother were involved in the space program and war efforts in WWII. In this book Mia is traumatized by the loss of her mother and is doing everything she can to protect her own daughter, Lola from the Trackers. Mia does what she can to nudge the space program in the right direction, but she and Lola stay out of the limelight and instead are trying to find the knowledge their ancestors lost. Much like the first book the blend of history and science is done extremely well! We learn quite a bit about the planets as Voyager 1 & 2 roam the cosmos and we learn about archeology as Mia and Lola search for a long lost artefact and decipher a forgotten language.
We also get insight from the Tracker side, Samael is one of the trackers, whose family has been hunting the Kibsu for generations. He is not like his father or brothers. He has compassion and plans out his actions. I believe this is a trilogy and I'm looking forward to see how the rest of his story plays out if there is another book. Overall I enjoyed this and I'm looing forward to reading more from the author. I really enjoy how much time and effort he puts into researching his books and the amount of information he gives readers in a digestible way.
As with the last book I highly recommend reading the "Further Reading" section as it again gives insight into the research the author did to write the book. It gives context to the scientific and historical context of the book and what he chose to change and why or what events he kept and why. I love learning about the things that inspired an author during the creation of a book. You can tell alot of time went into the research to write this book. There are some really interesting facts in this section, I found it worth the read! It also sounds like there may be a third book in the series.
My only real issue was this was sometimes hard to follow. This switches perspectives somewhat abruptly, and in the ARC the chapters don't indicate who is telling the story. It isn't not always obvious for several paragraphs to figure out who the I is in the chapter. Sometimes it is talking about Mia and Lola, while other chapters are about Samael and his brothers. It isn't always obvious who the chapter is about. There are chapter headings about when the chapter takes place. This books comes out soon so perhaps in the final version there will be a label of who the chapter is about. The Entr'actes are all about historical figures so those are easy to understand who they are about.
Neuvel has a very unique writing style that will appeal to every reader's taste. I actually like it, but again it will be a personal preference. The writing switches from standard paragraph format to a dialogue format that almost looks like text messaging. If you like books told in epistolary format or mixed media, you likely won't mind. If you don't like a more mixed media format, it is something to consider.
I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the author, all opinions are my own. I'm a long time fan of the author's work, and this one is a knock out! I loved every minute of Nova and Ronan's story.
This follows former NFL quarterback turned high school football coach Ronan, who is still grieving the loss of his fiancée. The people of the small town of Blue Bell, Texas where he is coaching happens to be where our female lead Nova is from. Nova and Ronan have met before, but when she moves home to take care of her sister and deal with her own grief, she finds Ronan is her new neighbor. Not sure he remembers her from their brief but steamy one night encounter, they don't exactly make the best of impressions on one another. Ronan has become the town's golden boy, and the town will do anything to make him stay as the coach. They are willing to do just about anything to get him to settle down and make Blue Bell their coach and they encourage Nova to make nice with her neighbor. The town's antics are kind of ridiculous. Booster organizations can get kind of crazy in real life when you have a competitive team (not sure if they are this crazy though).
Ronan isn't really bought into the antics of the community and the boosters, and he has plans for this future that may or may not involve high school football. He is undecided if his short term lies in Blue Belle. What he does know is that he is attracted to Nova and he is tired of being asked to date and marry every eligible bachelorette in town. He also needs an assistant to help him with his day to day responsibilities as coach. Nova needs a job, so when an opening as a part time teacher and personal assistant to the Head Coach opens up she reluctantly takes it knowing that it might not be a good idea. She has no formal teaching qualifications and she too is attracted to Ronan. Spending time as his assistant might not be the best idea especially because he is always surrounded by an entourage of women trying to garner his attention. They come to an arrangement that helps them both out, but it kind of backfires when their fake dating finds them having feelings for each other.
I love this! I loved the banter between Nova and Ronan. I loved Nova as a big sister to her neuro-diverse sister who is navigating being a teenager, dating, and the loss of their mom. I really love the relationship that Nova and Sabine have with each other. Nova has alot on her plate, but she figures it all out. I really liked the growth we see between Nova and Ronan. They both have to deal with grief and let go of past relationships to move on together. This has great side characters and wonderful humor. This also has some steamy scenes without being over the top. I highly recommend this if you like fake dating, enemies to lovers, and sports romances.
Genre/Tropes: Contemporary Romance/Office Romance/Fake Dating/Friend to Lovers
From USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author comes a “fun and flirty!” fake dating situation between two coworkers that quickly straddles the line between friends and lovers.
WANTED: A SITUATION-SHIPI’m a single female that’s tired of relationships ruining my life. However, there are times when a date would be helpful. If you’re a single man, preferably mid-twenties to late-thirties, and are in a similar situation, we might be a match.Candidate must be handsome, charming, and willing to pretend to have feelings for me (on a sliding scale, as the event requires). Ability to discuss a wide variety of topics is a plus. Must have your own transportation and a (legal) job.This will be a symbiotic agreement. In exchange for your time, I will give you mine. Need someone to flirt with you at a football party? Go, team! Want a woman to make you look good in front of your boss? Let me find my heels. Would you love for someone to be obsessed with you in front of your ex? I’m applying my red lipstick now.If interested, please email me. Time is of the essence.
About the Author:
USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author Adriana Locke lives and breathes books. After years of slightly obsessive relationships with the flawed bad boys created by other authors, Adriana has created her own.She resides in the Midwest with her husband, sons, and two dogs. She spends a large amount of time playing with her kids, drinking coffee, and cooking. You can find her outside if the weather's nice and there's always a piece of candy in her pocket.
I was provided an ARC via the author, all opinion are my own.
This is the long awaited story of best friends Alyssa and Maddox. If you haven't been keeping up with the Blairwood series so far, I think you can get away with reading this as as standalone. If you want to know more about the other couples mentioned in the book and Maddox and Aly's friends you will want to read those books as well but I don't really think they are necessary to get to the heart of this story. Anna gives you the information you need to connect with the characters without having their full backstories. I do recommend them though, they were all great reads!
Alyssa and Maddox have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Their parents are wealthy and their social circles are elite. Maddox has been in love with Aly since they were kids, but she is oblivious to his feelings. She is kind of oblivious in general. Like many college students approaching graduation, she has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up. Throw in an unexpected pregnancy with an absentee father and unsupportive parents, and she really has no idea what to do with herself. Fortunately, she has supportive friends who are willing to take her in and help her get on her feet during this crazy time in her life. We do see her character grow up quite a bit in this book.
I'm not a big fan of pregnancy tropes in general, but if you like them this is a good one to check out. I do like friends to lovers and I think that trope is really done well in this book. Maddox is a great friend. While this focuses on his relationship with Aly, he is a great friend to all of the characters in the book. He is the epitome of kindness and generosity. Aly and Maddox suffer from a lack of communication throughout the book. Lack of communication is always a trope I dislike a book, especially when dealing with more mature topics. Maddox and Aly don't want to jeopardize their friendship, but their unconventional living arrangement leads to growing feelings. This causes them to not talk to each other about their feelings or hide things from each other. I did have a hard time connecting with Aly and Maddox, but after some reflection I think that is a me problem not a problem with the book. I think I'm getting too old for new adult/college romances and YA. I am finding it harder and harder to enjoy younger characters. I do think Anna wrote them well, and their actions and conversations were realistic given where they were in college/life.
Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for.
The War of Two Queens, the stunning continuation in the Blood and Ash series from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout is available now!
War is only the beginning…
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book four in her Blood and Ash series.
From the desperation of golden crowns…
Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.
And born of mortal flesh…
Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.
A great primal power rises…
Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most.
Casteel The click and drag of claws drew closer as the weak flame above the lone candle sputtered and then went out, pitching the cell into darkness. A thicker mass of shadows appeared in the open archway—a misshapen form on its hands and knees. It halted, sniffing as loudly as a godsdamn barrat, scenting blood. My blood. The smooth bands of shadowstone tightened around my throat and ankles as I shifted, bracing myself. The damn stone was unbreakable, but it did come in handy. A low-pitched wail came from the creature. “Mother—” The thing exploded out of the archway, scurrying forward, its keening moan becoming an ear-piercing screech. “—fucker.” I waited until its stench of decay reached me and then pressed my back against the wall, lifting my legs. The length of the chain between my ankles was only about half a foot, and the shackles wouldn’t give an inch, but it was enough. Planting my bare feet into the creature’s shoulders, I got a good, most unfortunate look at the thing as its foul breath blasted me in the face. Man, the Craven was not a fresh one. Patches of gray flesh clung to its hairless skull, and half of its nose was gone. One entire cheekbone was exposed, eyes burning like hot coals. Lips torn and mangled— The Craven twisted its head down, sinking its fangs into my calf. Its teeth tore through the breeches and into flesh and muscle. Air hissed between my gritted teeth as fiery pain burned its way up my leg. Worth it. The pain was more than worth it. I would spend an eternity taking these bites if that meant she was safe. That it wasn’t her in this cell. That she wasn’t the one in pain. Shaking the Craven free, I dragged the short chain over the thing’s neck as I crossed my feet. I twisted at the waist, pulling the dull bone chain tight across its throat, ending the Craven’s screams. The shackle clamped down on my throat as I kept turning, cutting off my air as the chain dug into the Craven’s neck. Its arms flailed on the floor as I jerked my legs in the opposite direction, snapping the creature’s spine. The spasming became more of a twitching as I hauled it within reach of my bound hands. The chain between my wrists, connected to the shackle at my throat, was much shorter—but long enough. I grasped the Craven’s cold, clammy jowls and brought its head down hard, slamming it against the stone floor by my knees. Flesh gave way, spraying rotting blood over my stomach and chest. Bone split open with a wet-sounding crack. The Craven went limp. I knew it wouldn’t stay down, but it bought me some time. Lungs burning, I unwound the chain and kicked the creature away from me. It landed by the archway in a tangled mess of limbs as I relaxed my muscles. The band around my neck was slow to loosen, eventually allowing air into my burning lungs. I stared at the Craven’s body. At any other time, I would’ve kicked the bastard into the hall like usual, but I was weakening. I was losing too much blood. Already. Not a good sign. Breathing heavily, I looked down. Just below the shadowstone bands, shallow slices ran up the insides of my arms, past both elbows and over the veins. I counted them. Again. Just to be sure. Thirteen. Thirteen days had passed since the first time the Handmaidens swarmed this cell, dressed in black and as quiet as a tomb. They came once a day to cut into my flesh, siphoning my blood as if I were a damn barrel of fine wine. A tight, savage smile twisted my mouth. I’d managed to take out three of them in the beginning. Ripped their throats out when they got too close, which was why they’d shortened the chain between my wrists. Only one of them actually stayed dead, though. The damn throats of the other two had stitched themselves closed within minutes—impressive and also infuriating to witness. Learned something valuable, though. Not all of the Blood Queen’s Handmaidens were Revenants. I wasn’t sure how I could use that information yet, but I guessed they were using my blood to make brand-spanking-new Revs. Or using it as a dessert for the lucky. Tipping back my head against the wall, I tried not to breathe too deeply. If the stench of the downed Craven didn’t choke me, the damn shadowstone around my throat would. I closed my eyes. There had been more days before the Handmaidens showed the first time. How many? I wasn’t exactly sure. Two days? A week? Or—? I stopped myself there. Shut it the fuck down. I couldn’t go down that road. I wouldn’t. I’d done that the last time, trying to clock the days and weeks until there came a point when time simply ceased to move. Hours became days. Weeks became years. And my mind became as rotten as the blood seeping from the Craven’s ruined head. But things were different in the here and now. The cell was larger, with no barred entrance. Not that there needed to be one with the shadowstone and the chains. They were a mix of iron and deity bone, connected to a hook in the wall and then to a pulley system to lengthen or shorten them. I could sit up and move a little, but that was about it. However, the cell was windowless like before, and the dank, musty smell told me they once again held me underground. The freely roaming Craven were also a new addition. My eyes opened to thin slits. The fuck by the archway had to be the sixth or seventh one that had found its way into the cell, drawn by the scent of blood. Their appearance made me think there was one hell of a Craven problem aboveground. I’d heard of Craven attacks inside the Rise surrounding Carsodonia before. Something the Blood Crown blamed on Atlantia and angry gods. I’d always assumed it was due to an Ascended getting greedy and leaving mortals they’d fed on to turn. Now, I was beginning to think the Craven were possibly being kept down here. Wherever here was. And if that were the case, and they could get out and get aboveground, so could I. If only I could get these damn chains to loosen. I’d spent an ungodly amount of time pulling on the hook. In all those attempts, it may have slipped a half-inch from the wall—if that. But that wasn’t the only thing different about this time. Other than the Craven, I’d only seen the Handmaidens. I didn’t know what to think about that. I’d figured it’d be like the last time. Too-frequent visits from the Blood Crown and their cronies, where they spent their time taunting and inflicting pain, feeding, and doing whatever they wanted. Of course, my last go-around with this captivity bullshit hadn’t started that way. The Blood Queen had tried to open my eyes first, coax me to her side. Turn me against my family and my kingdom. When that hadn’t worked, the real fun had begun.
Add The War of Two Queens to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3nQgT13
About Jennifer L. Armentrout
#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. She spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Border Jack Apollo. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was an Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.
War is only the beginning… From the desperation of golden crowns And born of mortal flesh A great primal power rises As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.
The War of Two Queens, the highly anticipated fourth book in the Blood and Ash series from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout is available now!
War is only the beginning…
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book four in her Blood and Ash series.
From the desperation of golden crowns…
Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.
And born of mortal flesh…
Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.
A great primal power rises…
Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most.
#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. She spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Border Jack Apollo. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was an Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.
