Blog Tour: Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Title: Boyfriend Bargain

Author: Ilsa Madden-Mills

Genre: Hockey Romance

My Review

"Who can turn down a bad boy hockey star with a big . . . stick? Zack is hot hot hot, and Sugar is the perfect blend of sweet and sassy! Their chemistry sizzles in Boyfriend Bargain!" -- Melanie Harlow, USA Today bestselling author

"A sports romance that has an emotional past, present, and future filled with love, lust and so much understanding moments between the characters that Ilsa has so beautifully created..." --Cristiina Reads

"Ilsa Madden-Mills has once again KILLED me with her writing. Boyfriend Bargain is the PERFECT new adult college sports romance." --Mells View

"It's a definite must read and in the running for my "Best Reads of 2019!" --Bibliophile Chloe

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills returns with an all-new swoon-fest of a novel about what happens when you take a chance on love. 

Wanted: one hot guy with rock-hard abs and a big stick

Broke and desperate, Sugar Ryan has no use for arrogant, bad boy athletes . . . until she’s forced to bargain with the cockiest of them all.

If only he knew she was alive. 

Her mission? Get on this hockey player’s radar any way possible.

Zack Morgan is the king of the ice and the bedroom—but nothing prepares him for the mystery girl who shows up everywhere he does—frat parties, his favorite bar, and finally his front door with an offer he can’t refuse. The only rule in her boyfriend bargain: no falling in love.

But after one smoking-hot hook-up, he’s done with pretending and vows to make their fake relationship real. Too bad she can’t trust a player with a reputation for breaking hearts. 

Will this hockey star score his forever girl or will their Boyfriend Bargain end in heartbreak?

Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her contemporary romances ranging from new adult angst to romantic sports comedy. 

Seven of her ten novels have placed in the Amazon US Store Top Six Best-seller List: Dirty English hit #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You hit #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things all placed #6 in the Amazon US Store.

The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, hit #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.

HOSTED BY:

Release Blitz: Things We Never Said by Samantha Young

New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young returns to Hart’s Boardwalk with a searing and emotional new standalone romance…

Local metalsmith and gift shop owner, Dahlia McGuire, likes her quiet life in Hartwell, Delaware. It's the perfect place to hide from her family in Boston and the tragic events that led to their estrangement. However, when her father, the person she loves most in the world, needs her, Dahlia has no choice but to return to Boston to face her ghosts. One of those ghosts happens to be her ex-boyfriend's best friend, Michael Sullivan. The man she was never supposed to fall in love with.

Michael Sullivan has never forgotten Dahlia McGuire. Some might say he's never gotten over her. For years he lived with the anger of her desertion and now newly divorced he's finally ready to move on. That proves impossible when Dahlia returns to Boston and reawakens their explosive connection. Despite everything, Michael wants her back, but  Dahlia can't seem to let go of the tangled emotions of the past. She flees home to Hartwell.

Determined to fight for their second chance, Michael follows Dahlia to Delaware, takes a job with the local police department, and does everything in his power to convince her they belong together.

However, when the unthinkable hits the quiet seaside town, Michael finds himself trying to unravel more than the mystery of Dahlia's McGuire's broken heart. It's time for truths left unsaid to finally be spoken or Michael and Dahlia might find themselves torn apart forever…

What people are saying about Things We Never Said

“Samantha Young once again delivers the perfect balance of emotion and wit, tension and levity… a visceral, beautifully penned story.” Vilma Iris

“The love and pain that went into writing this story is so evident throughout that you just don’t want to put the book down… Another MUST read by Samantha Young.” Badass Bloggettes

“Dahlia and Michael have chemistry that is explosive… I loved how they loved each other.”— Kathryn, Tsk, Tsk What to Read?

“Oh my word, I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved and devoured this book… Things We Never Said deserves ALL the stars.” —Lucie Lu’s Book Reviews

“Angst and heartache. Drama and suspense. Steam and longing. Slow burn and the most swoon-tastic hero... Things We Never Said HAD IT ALL.”— Angie’s Dreamy Reads

“Oy, what a beautiful yet heartbreaking story is this one.” — BJs Book Blog

“This is a great addition to this series… highly recommend!” —Reading with 2 Book Lovers

“This is a second chance love story at its finest.” — Amy, Garden of REden

Buy Now Links:

Amazon – https://amzn.to/2ULN5m0

iBooks US – https://apple.co/2UNdsbu

Kobo US – http://bit.ly/2BnLADq

Nook – http://bit.ly/2MTxuy4

Smashwords – http://bit.ly/2HZeUFT

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/2I9twlt

About the Author

Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series, Hero, and Fight or Flight. Samantha’s crossover romance/women’s fiction novel titled Much Ado About You will be published by Berkley (release date tba). Her debut adult paranormal romance novel War of Hearts releases under the pen name S. Young in October 2019.

Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author. When she’s not writing books, she’s buying shoes she doesn’t really need and searching for nooks and crannies to shelve her ever-expanding book collection.

Connect with Samantha Young

Facebook Author Page - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaYoung/

Join “Sam’s Clan McBookish” - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1520019958258238/

Instagram - @authorsamanthayoung

Twitter - @authorsamyoung

BookBub - http://bit.ly/2vuzsOc

Review: Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an arc by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Ilsa Madden-Mills book, and it certainly won't be my last. I'm not a huge contemporary romance reader, nor do I read a ton of new adult at this point of my life. I tend to get annoyed by the characters, not the case with this. This was entertaining, kept me interested, and was well written. I didn't find the characters to be immature or over the top. They were college kids doing college stuff, and I felt like their actions were appropriate for kids in their early 20s dealing with stressful situations and relationships.

This follows Sugar and Zack, aka “Z” as they both navigate some stressful events in their life. Sugar has grown up working for everything she has. Her father disowned her and her mother and she has been working hard to prove her worth to her father and his well off family. All Sugar wants is to be accepted into Vanderbilt’s prestigious law program, and she thinks #1 draft pick for the NHL Zack can help her get off the waitlist. Zack not only is a great hockey player, he looks like a god from whatever pantheon you prefer. He’s got a reputation for being a player, one that is fueled by the constant string of ladies crawling all over him. When Sugar approaches him at a party to strike up a boyfriend bargain to help her with her law school dilemma, they have instant chemistry, and the sparks and steam pretty much don’t stop. What Sugar doesn’t know is that Zack harbors some skeleton’s in his closet in the form of severe anxiety, which is part of the reason he agrees to her boyfriend bargain, that and her wants to see her again after their steamy first interaction. Zack is overwhelmed by needing to win a hockey championship, performing for his team and the NHL, and he is overcome by guilt of having it all when he feels like he caused someone else to lose it all. Sugar and Zack navigate their “fake” relationship as they realize there might be something there, all the while dealing with their own internal baggage. They push and pull each other at every step, but eventually they realize that their bargain and the struggles they face are better faced together than apart.

I really enjoyed this. It was fun, dealt with mental health and anxiety in a very real and respectful way, and I always appreciate when couples actually talk through their issues instead of just glossing over them and just accepting that love and chemistry is all you need to be happy. I look forward to reading more of Ilsa Madden-Mills books. I do wish there had been more actual hockey in the book, I am a bit of a tomboy and really like hockey and would have loved a bit more of the sport, but that’s just me.


View all my reviews

Release Blitz: Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Title: Boyfriend Bargain

Author: Ilsa Madden-Mills

Genre: Hockey Romance

Release Date: May 5, 2019

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills returns with an all-new swoon-fest of a novel about what happens when you take a chance on love. 

Wanted: one hot guy with rock-hard abs and a big stick

Broke and desperate, Sugar Ryan has no use for arrogant, bad boy athletes . . . until she’s forced to bargain with the cockiest of them all.

If only he knew she was alive. 

Her mission? Get on this hockey player’s radar any way possible.

Zack Morgan is the king of the ice and the bedroom—but nothing prepares him for the mystery girl who shows up everywhere he does—frat parties, his favorite bar, and finally his front door with an offer he can’t refuse. The only rule in her boyfriend bargain: no falling in love.

But after one smoking-hot hook-up, he’s done with pretending and vows to make their fake relationship real. Too bad she can’t trust a player with a reputation for breaking hearts. 

Will this hockey star score his forever girl or will their Boyfriend Bargain end in heartbreak?

Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her contemporary romances ranging from new adult angst to romantic sports comedy. 

Seven of her ten novels have placed in the Amazon US Store Top Six Best-seller List: Dirty English hit #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You hit #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things all placed #6 in the Amazon US Store.

The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, hit #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.

HOSTED BY:

O.W.L. Magical Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

So I stumbled across this read-a-thon about a week into April, and realized that I could participate too.  I have been horrible about posting on twitter and instagram but I'm still doing all the prompts.   My original TBR only had a few books on it, but as the month progressed I realized I could complete more of the prompts than I initially realized.  Towards the end of the month I was struggling to finish a few of the prompts, so I turned to graphic novels because I knew I could finish them quickly.  This was such a fun read-a-thon!

What I Read

• Ancient Runes - Retelling
• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• OK technically I cheated on this one, I started this one in March, but I read most of it in April.
• 
• Arithmancy - Work Written by More than One Author
• Hotel Dare by Terry Blas (author) and Claudia Aguirre (illustrator)
• 
• Astronomy - "Star" in the Title
• Star Mage #1 by J.C. De La Torre (author) and Ray Dillon (illustrator)
• 
• Care of Magical Creatures - Land Animal on the Cover
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
• 
• Charms - Age-line: Read an adult work
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• I cheated a bit on this one too, I finished it on May 2nd.  It was almost 500 pages and took me almost all month to read.  
• 
• Defense Against the Dark Arts - Reducto: Title Starts with an R
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
• 
• Divination - Set in the Future
• Skyward. Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, and Antonio Fabela
• 
• Herbology - Plant on the Cover
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• 
• History of Magic - Published at least 10 years ago
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
• 
• Muggle Studies - Contemporary
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young 
• 
• Potions - Next Ingredient: Sequel
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
• 
• Transfiguration - Sprayed Edged or Red Cover
• The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• 

Check out Book Roast for all of the info on the readathon.

Review: The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows the Milton family through three generations starting before WWII when Ogden and Kitty Milton first meet, marry, and begin their family. Ogden begins his very successful career and eventually buys and island. The island becomes their summer home and center of the Milton family. The Milton’s are a wealthy, upscale family who never do anything unexpected or impolite. Kitty has raised her children to never make anyone feel uncomfortable and for nothing to ever be out of place. The Milton’s keep their privilege and prejudice in check in public, yet as the story progresses we come to find that both come with great guilt on their part but to act on that guilt would upset the balance in society. Nothing is ever done to make a Milton look bad, anything potentially embarrassing is quietly hidden. Things are done a certain way, regardless of right or wrong, one’s desires, or basic human decency. Many times it is mentioned what one ought to do and what one ought not to do. As the grandchildren are faced with the care of the island, Evie, Joan’s daughter comes face to face with some of her family’s history, her own relationship with the island, and her own issues with privilege and how she was raised.

This book touches on quite a few heavy topics such as racism, anti-Semitism, feminism, white privilege, and more; which is perhaps part of the reason why I didn't love this book. There were so many threads, I think I would have preferred the book had focused in on one of the issues and stayed with it versus jumping around the many members of the Milton family and their guilt. I'm also not a fan of books that jump around in time, this does not have a linear timeline, and the chapters jump between different parts of history related to the story. You never know which character or which time period you are going to venture into until you begin each chapter. While this is very well written, the pacing was a bit off for me because of the way the timeline jumps around and jumps between characters.

There were several threads of the story that I felt were not clearly explained in this nearly 500 page book. The author writes beautifully, but leaves many plot threads unanswered. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not, but I believe some of it is done by design. The reader is meant to infer the answers versus the author telling you the answer to your question. This happened far too many times and I’m left with a lack of closure at the end. I wanted more about Elsa, the German woman whom Ogden Milton befriended in the 1930s, but she is barely mentioned in the book yet her part is significant. I have several questions that remain unanswered.



View all my reviews

May TBR

I had a great reading month in April, May is shaping up to be a busy month with outdoor sports.  That means it is the perfect time to read my physical books since my kindle is not ideal for reading in sunny weather.  One of my goals was to read more of the books on my shelves and spring/summer is the perfect time to do that.  I'm excited to get to some of the books I picked up at my local library sale.  I also picked up some great kindle books on World Book Day and through the many daily deal emails I get for kindle books.  I'm really looking forward to reading those as well. 

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• The Librarian: A Pirates Revenge (The Librarian #3) by Eric Hobbs
• I read book 2 in April and I'm anxious to finish out the trilogy.  This is a fun middle grade/YA retelling based in classic fairy tales.  The first two books had solid foundations in Peter Pan and Oz.  I'm looking forward to getting to seeing where this one takes us.
• Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout
• I was hoping to get to this in April but I ran out of time.  This comes out in June and is one of my most anticipated reads of 2019.  
• The Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills
• This is a standalone hockey romance due out May 5th.  It sounded good, so jumped on the chance to read and review it.  Madden-Mills is a new author to me, but I don't think I'll be disappointed.
• Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
• This a relatively new release, but it has gotten a ton of hype.  It is a YA Fantasy, with some mythology/religion elements from what I can tell, political intrigue, and supposed to have an awesome female warrior lead.  I've only read the first chapter so far, and it is interesting.  I may listen to the audio of this instead as some reviews have said the pacing is slow.
• The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland
• This is my 11 year old son's favorite series.  I promised him I'd the first book if he'd give Percy Jackson a try.   I knew he would fall in love with Percy and the gang if he would just give the books a chance.  He wouldn't read them for some reason, probably because I told him they were good and he'd like them, same thing with Harry Potter (though he has read the first 3 of those).  He started Percy last weekend and has devoured them. He is almost done with the first series, lucky for him I have all 10 books and The Kane Chronicles.  I have to keep my promise, so I'm going to read this in May.
• Courting Darkness by Robin LeFevers
• I'm so excited there are more books in this series.  I really loved the original trilogy, and this follows Sybella, one of the assassins trained at the convent of the daughters of death.  It was a really interesting concept and I'm looking forward to meeting the new characters as well as revising old friends.

Audiobooks

As usual I've got a bunch of books on hold at the library.  I've been requesting new and popular books, so things have been coming in slowly.  Hoopla and the available now option have been great in the interim.  Libro.fm also had a bunch of free books on Independent Bookstore Day so I've got several new books I can listen to whenever I want now.  Audiofile's Summer Reading AudioSYNC Program kicked off last week and I picked up their 2 books for week 1, the are doing 2 books a week from April 27th through August 1st.  They always have amazing titles and narrators.  My son and I are looking forward to listening to the titles on our long drives to and from basketball practice.  

• Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
• I still haven't gotten to this one.  It is high on my priority list for May.  
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• This has gotten so many good reviews, and it is narrated by Cassandra Campbell who is one of my favorite narrators.  This is listed as a coming of age, historical fiction, and mystery on Goodreads so we'll see how I like it.  It sounds interesting, and I think I can use it for a reading challenge prompt.
• Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen
• This is the final installment of the Nyxia Triad.  The Genesis crew is still trying to win the prize and escape with their lives from the planet they've flown so far in space to get to.  I'm anxious to get to this one as I've really enjoyed the series so far.