ARC Review: North of Boston by Elisabeth Elo

Title:  North of Boston Author:  Elisabeth Elo Publisher/Publication Date:  Penguin/Viking Adult, January 23, 2014 Format/Source: E-ARC, Publisher Genre: Women’s Fiction Amazon     Barnes & Noble Book Summary From Goodreads Dennis Lehane meets Smilla’s Sense of Snow: a big discovery in the world of female suspense, about an edgy young woman with the rare ability to withstand extreme conditions Elisabeth Elo’s debut novel introduces Pirio Kasparov, a Boston-bred tough-talking girl with an acerbic wit and a moral compass that points due north. When the fishing boat Pirio is on is rammed by a freighter, she finds herself abandoned in the North Atlantic. Somehow, she survives nearly four hours in the water before being rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boat’s owner and her professional fisherman friend, Ned, is not so lucky. Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned and her alcoholic prep school friend, Thomasina, Pirio can’t shake the lurking suspicion that the boat’s sinking—and Ned’s death—was no accident. It’s a suspicion seconded by her deeply cynical, autocratic Russian father, who tells her that nothing is ever what it seems. Then the navy reaches out to her to participate in research on human survival in dangerously cold temperatures. With the help of a curious journalist named Russell Parnell, Pirio begins unraveling a lethal plot involving the glacial whaling grounds off Baffin Island. In a narrow inlet in the arctic tundra, Pirio confronts her ultimate challenge: to trust herself. A gripping literary thriller, North of Boston combines the atmospheric chills of Jussi Adler-Olsen with the gritty mystery of Laura Lippman. And Pirio Kasparov is a gutsy, compellingly damaged heroine with many adventures ahead. My Thoughts Woot! Woot! North of Boston is the first novel that I finished reading in 2014. For a debut novel, North of Boston by Elisabeth Elo is well written and engaging. It has an interesting storyline and a great cast of characters. It’s one of those mysteries in which there is a strong heroine who has to have answers and makes hasty decisions, while getting herself into deeper trouble and putting those around her in danger. It doesn't help that her father encourages her behavior. The scenes are clearly depicted and the edge of your seat action picks up towards the end. Overall, North of Boston was nicely paced and it kept me in suspense until the chilling end. Rating 4/5 I received an E-ARC of North of Boston by Elisabeth Elo from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Cover Reveal: Deceiving Lies By Molly McAdams

Welcome to the 

Deceiving Lies  by Molly McAdams Cover Reveal

Book Summary from Goodreads The irresistible, blazing-hot sequel to New York Times bestselling author Molly McAdams's Forgiving Lies. Rachel is supposed to be planning her wedding to Kash, the love of her life. After the crazy year they've had, she's ready to settle down and live a completely normal life. Well, as normal as it can be. But there's something else waiting—something threatening to tear them apart. Kash is ready for it all with Rach. Especially if all includes having a football team of babies with his future wife. With his line of work, he knows how short life can be, and doesn't want to waste another minute of theirs. But now his past as an undercover narcotics agent has come back to haunt him ... and it's the girl he loves who's caught in the middle. Trent Cruz's orders are clear: take the girl. But there's something about this girl that has him changing the rules and playing a dangerous game to keep her safe. When his time as Rachel's protector runs out, he will turn his back on the only life he's known, and risk everything, if it means getting her out alive.

Wishing You A Happy New Year!!!

The Bad Boy Billionaire's Wicked Arrangement by Maya Rodale Blog Tour Excerpt & Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway!

Title:  The Bad Boy Billionaire's Wicked Arrangement Author:  Maya Rodale Publisher/Expected Publication Date:  Avon Impulse/HarperCollins,  December 31, 2013 Genre:  Contemporary Romance Order Links Amazon     Barnes & Noble     iTunes Book Summary from Goodreads The first installment of a sexy, whirlwind romance about a modern day heroine writing historical romance novels based on her romantic misadventures with the bad boy billionaire. Jane Sparks has accidentally announced her engagement on Facebook—to the infamous Bad Boy Billionaire, Duke Austen. As soon as it’s discovered that Jane and Duke barely know each other (One hot kiss at a party does not a relationship make), she’ll be humiliated. And then Duke does something Jane never expected. He plays along with her charade. With his hard partying, playboy reputation jeopardizing a fifty million dollar investment deal, Duke realizes an engagement with the hot but oh-so-proper librarian could be just the thing to repair his reputation. This good girl tempts him to be very wicked…but just with her. It’s unprecedented. Inconceivable. Totally alluring. As the unlikely match of librarian and tech entrepreneur set out to convince the world—and the internet—that their love is real, something unexpected happens: they start falling for each other. But Jane is secretly writing a historical romance novel that could expose their carefully constructed romance…unless two perfect strangers are content to be perfectly scandalous together. Excerpt: The Bad Boy Billionaire’s Wicked Arrangement By Maya Rodale Bar Veloce—the next day @TechCrunch: Duke Austen’s startup, Project-TK , is rumored to be seeking $150m investment at a $1.2 billion valuation. Here’s why it might not happen. Is the third time a charm for Silicon Alley party boy Duke Austen? After the spectacular flameouts of his first two startups, he’s on the verge of a major win—as long as investors can overlook his reputation for hard-partying and worries about him paying more attention to the hot supermodels instead of hot new products. Even if he gets the funds, Austen’s prospects of remaining in charge of the company he founded are slim, unless he cleans up his act. Read More . . . “This.” I set down the damned invitation on the bar. “What is this?” Roxanna asked, looking up from her iPhone. We often met here after work for drinks and supper before returning to our microscopic, claustrophobia-inducing Chelsea apartment. “This is the invitation to my tenth annual high school reunion. In other words, I have just been invited to a party to showcase what an utter failure I am.” “What are you talking about? You have ditched Bumblefuck, Pennsylvania, and your boring ex-boyfriend for the glamorous life of a single working girl in New York City.” “I’m working as a library assistant, which is a step down from my previous job as head Librarian. I told everyone I was going to write a novel but I only have a word document that reads ‘Untitled Romance Novel’ and not much else. And I still love my ex-boyfriend, thank you very much. And he’s been dating. I saw it on Facebook. I have not been dating.” “No, you’re just having hot and heavy hook-ups with strangers. Much better if you ask me,” Roxanna said with a grin. I had told her a little bit about what had happened at the party last night, leaving out the most embarrassing bits. Which is to say, I left out most of the story. “One hook-up. Once. And while I was pawing at some random guy in the library like an adolescent, everyone else has gotten married and had children. Look—” I said, pulling up the list of my friends on Facebook, many of them from Milford High School. “Melissa, married. Has a baby. Rachel and Dan, married. Two children when some people don’t have any! Kate Abbott, who was totally horrible to me throughout high school is ‘seeing someone special.’ And it’s only a matter of time before Sam posts MARRIED! BABY! He keeps posting about dinners at all romantic places around town.” “What, all three of them? You have to unsubscribe to his status updates,” Roxanna said dryly. “I don’t know how,” I grumbled. “Technology mystifies me.” “Here, let me see if I can do this on your phone,” Roxanna said. I handed it over without a second thought. “I’ll take care of this while you pine away for the days of card catalogues, horses and bayonets.” “We were voted Most Likely to Live Happily Ever After,” I said glumly. “Aww, should we go home and look through your yearbooks?” Roxanna asked, pushing her red hair over her shoulder. She was tough as nails and just what I needed. In return, since she was a disaster at things like laundry, cooking, and paying bills, I helped make sure she had clean clothes, Wi-Fi, and didn’t subsist exclusively on bourbon and popcorn. “No, it will only make me feel worse,” I said with a sigh. I knew because I had already looked through them. It was all the inscriptions that slayed me. Stay in touch. Don’t ever change. Growing up, I had this idea of what my life would be like, and I did everything I could to make it happen. Good grades, good school, career in the library sciences, which would allow me some flexibility when Sam and I married and had kids. We planned to get engaged after he finished his dissertation. Then he’d get a job as a professor at the nearby Montclair University. We planned to have a house on Brook Street—I knew just the one—with great bookshelves and a yard for the kids. Maybe a couch from Pottery Barn. . Then POOF—fired. Then POOF—dumped. Sam had coldly explained that he wanted to see more of the world. Date other people. Be with someone more adventurous. Someone who didn’t have every detail of her life already pre-ordered. “Ah, this will make you feel better,” Roxanna said when the bartender set down our drinks: a glass of chardonnay for me and bourbon on the rocks for her. “Cheers.” “I just had this idea of what my life would be like by now,” I said as Roxanna messed around with my phone. “And so did everyone else. I had already planned my wedding on Pinterest. Now he’s squiring some girl around town to all the romantic spots while I’m working at the low level job I had in college and I’m hopelessly single.” “Personally, I wouldn’t give a fuck what my loser high school classmates thought of me,” Roxanna said, sipping her bourbon and still messing around with my phone. “I know. I’m seething with jealously.” Truly, I kind of was. “But since you clearly do care, why don’t you show up with a totally hot, successful date?” I sighed and smiled. “It would make everyone jealous, wouldn’t it? No one would ask me if I missed my old job, why Sam and I broke up or how my novel writing is going. The problem is your plan requires me knowing a hot, successful guy. The only guy to ask me out since I moved here is José at the bodega.” “Speaking of hot, successful guys, why do you have a friend request from DUKE AUSTEN?” Roxanna looked up at me, her blue eyes wide and her mouth open in shock. “Hey, why do you still have my phone?” “Jane! Is this the guy you hooked up with?” Roxanna held out my phone showing the Facebook profile of That Guy. All dark eyes, tousled hair, unshaven. Like a pirate or a highwayman or some rogue up to no good. Yeah, that was the guy. “I think so. It was dark. I had a mask on,” I said. I figured he was just some charming but scruffy guy who was probably a struggling actor who tended bar at some hipster dive in Williamsburg. Totally un-dateable. “OMG,” Roxanna said. Gasped, really. “OMG.” “What?” “Jane, this is DUKE AUSTEN,” she practically shrieked. Then she looked around as if someone might overhear this conversation. As if he were Somebody. “I can see that. But who is he?” “He’s only the billionaire co-founder of Project-TK. See, you do know someone hot and successful. OMG do you ever!” “He didn’t look like a billionaire.” “Why? Cos he didn’t wear a suit and grey tie and wave around fat cigars and a bottle of 26-year Macallan? Welcome to the startup world, Jane. Where the billionaires look and act like the guys next door.” OMG, indeed. “He caught me on my hands and knees,” I whispered, horrified. “And shushing people at a party.” “And then he hooked up with you. I spent all day working on a story about him, in fact,” Roxanna said. She grinned wickedly before launching into everything I needed to know about him. “His company is seeking a series C-round of financing but everyone is freaking out because he’s a brilliant disaster and they’re afraid he’ll blow it like he did in his first two companies. Even if he gets the money, the investors might force him to step down. He can code and he can sell anyone on anything. But then he was always getting wasted and missing work or getting embroiled in all sorts of scandals with models. And there are rumors of drug use. He’s all kinds of bad news.” “Why can’t I just find a nice guy with a steady job and benefits?” “Oh, the romance. Oh, be still my beating heart,” Roxanna said dryly. “I have an idea.” Roxanna grinned wickedly and started doing something on my phone. I reached for it, and she lunged away. “Hey, Jane, watch the drinks.” “Roxanna, what are you doing?” “This.” She held out the phone. Heartbeat: stopped. Breathing: stopped. My life: Over. Duke Austen was tagged in Jane Sparks’ life event Jane Sparks and Duke Austen got engaged Everyone would see it. My mom, my dad, my sister. Everyone from Milford, my co-workers at the library, everyone I had ever known that had an Internet connection. Sam. He would see it. And then all those people would see that it had been a joke, a prank or the desperate and wishful thinking of a lonely girl. Haven’t I had enough mortification? I couldn’t do it again. I couldn’t answer all those people saying sweetly (or not so sweetly) “I thought you were with so-and-so. What happened?” It hurt too much to always say I don’t know when things kept going wrong. Instead, I shrieked and lunged for the phone knocking over my class of chardonnay. It shattered, spilling all over the bar and dripped down into my nude patent pumps. My life was in shambles. And there was wine in my shoe. “What have you done?” I gasped. “I just got you a hot date for your high school reunion. You’re welcome.” “No, you just got me a fiancé!” “Even better, right? I hope he gets you a giant diamond ring,” Roxanna said dreamily. “Although, he’s probably only a billionaire on paper—or he will be once Project-TK has their IPO. But don’t worry, I’m sure he’s got a few actual millions tucked away.” “How do I undo this?” I frantically jabbed at the screen. It was so unsatisfying. “I have no idea,” she said with a shrug. “Facebook settings are impossible to figure out.” “Roxanna!” My phone dinged with an incoming text message from a number I didn’t recognize. 917-123-4567 : Meet me at Soho House in ten minutes for celebratory drinks. Jane Sparks: Who is this? 917-123-4567: Your fiancé Who’s that girl? Meet the heroine who captured the heart of the bad boy billionaire By Maya Rodale What’s not to love about a bad boy billionaire? Modern day Wallflower Jane Sparks can’t think of any reasons not to…other than the possible broken heart. But his kisses are damn hard to give up. Here’s what you need to know about the girl who captures the heart of Duke Austen, the bad boy billionaire. 1.  She’s a small town girl, living in the big city. After one really bad day in which she lost her job and got dumped by her boyfriend of twelve years, Jane does the sensible thing: ditches her small town life and moves to New York City for bigger and better adventures. 2.  She’s a librarian by day…A lifelong book lover and librarian, Jane lands a job at the New York Public Library. True fact: I had a really awesome day researching NYPL! It’s definitely a great place to visit in the city. 3.  …And a romance novelist by night. She’s always kept a stack of romance novels under the bed, but now she’s determined to write one. The problem: she doesn’t have an idea for a story. The solution: Duke Austen, the bad boy billionaire. He definitely gives her something to write about (and it’s The Wicked Wallflower, a historical romance). 4.  The hero calls her Sweater Set. Because Jane wears sweater sets. She’s a good girl who plays by the rules, likes things just so and hasn’t done a daring thing in her life. Until now…Duke tempts her in ways she never imagined (and gives her pleasure she’s never imagined). Soon enough this good girl is breaking all the rules.  For more of Duke and Jane’s sexy romance, check out The Bad Boy Billionaire's Wicked Arrangement and The Bad Boy Billionaire’s Girl Gone Wild. Question: Are you a small town girl or a city girl? Rafflecopter Giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Covet's December Release Day Blast & Giveaway!!!

Covets have all the sexiness, emotion, and happily ever after that readers have come to expect and love from Entangled. They are firmly grounded in the contemporary world, but each novel brings in supernatural twists, breaking the contemporary and paranormal rules, alike. To find out more about their titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books you’ll be coveting next, visit the Entangled website, follow them on Twitter, LIKE their Facebook page, and join the Book Club.


Today I'm happy to be featuring Covet's December releases:

Beg Me to Slay by Lisa Kessler

He’ll slay her demons, but it may cost her heart…

Four years ago Tegan Ashton was attacked. Determined never to be a victim again, she devotes her life to martial arts and self-defense. When her assailant returns to finish what he started, only one person can help her.

Gabe is a private investigator by day and demon slayer by night. After losing loved ones, he vows to defend people from a threat they don’t realize exists.

The relationship is supposed to be strictly business, but fighting demons together stirs up emotions they never expected. Turns out demon slaying is a breeze compared to facing their scarred pasts and even worse - hearts.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

Ashes by Sarah Gilman

Journalist Ambrosia Pellerin accepts an assignment involving the legendary phoenix, expecting, if nothing else, a little entertainment. Instead, she winds up pregnant—by a surprisingly human-looking firebird, Reece Bennu.

As the Phoenix prince, Reece is next in line to the throne and expected to marry a purebred royal. A common human such as Ambrosia is not in the cards. He swears, though, he’ll never be an absentee father.

As Ambrosia’s due date grows closer, so do the soon-to-be parents. But will their tentative love survive the prejudice of Reece’s grandmother, who will stop at nothing to tear the two apart?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

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