Libby Cole's Blog, page 5

Review: Down the Rabbit Hole

The shocking, never-before-told story of the bizarre world inside the legendary Playboy Mansion—and, finally, the secret truth about the man who holds the key—from one of the few people who truly knows: Hef’s former #1 girlfriend and star of The Girls Next Door.

A spontaneous decision at age twenty-one transformed small-town Oregon girl Holly Sue Cullen into Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner’s #1 girlfriend. But like Alice’s journey into Wonderland, after Holly plunged down the rabbit hole, what seemed like a fairytale life inside the Playboy Mansion—including A-list celebrity parties and her own #1-rated television show for four years—quickly devolved into an oppressive routine of strict rules, manipulation, and battles with ambitious, backstabbing bunnies. Life inside the notorious Mansion wasn’t a dream at all—and quickly became her nightmare. After losing her identity, her sense of self-worth, and her hope for the future, Holly found herself sitting alone in a bathtub contemplating suicide.

But instead of ending her life, Holly chose to take charge of it.

 

I admit it. I’m one of those people who watched The Girls Next Door, and was totally won over. They seemed to have such fun! Holly and Hef were so cute! Bridget and Kendra were hilarious!

Then they suddenly all went their separate ways. We were left with replacement blondes, and vague answers on what actually happened. Which I always found a bit odd.

Cut to Holly releasing a tell-all, and frankly, I’m amazed it took me this long to get to it. She doesn’t hold back, with some brutal honesty about herself, and how she felt while she was living there. Not to mention the brutal honesty about Hef and Kendra. Wow. Remind me not to get on Holly’s bad side.

I think it takes a lot of courage to lay everything bare like this. I’ve seen reviews calling her a prostitute and all sorts, and I’m not sure that’s entirely fair. Some questionable decisions, sure. But talking so frankly about how those decisions came back to haunt her can only help other women in similar situations. I’m a big fan of peeling back some of the PR gloss!

That said… there is a little bit of playing the victim. Not lots, it didn’t bother me a whole bunch, but enough. She did also “collaborate” with another writer, which is fine for a memoir, but does make you wonder how much of it was polished up for her at the end.

All in all – four stars! Check it out if you love entertaining memoirs that give you a peek behind the curtain to see all the dirt.

 

Almost…

Guess who’s almost ready to show you the cover for the third and final book in the Hawaiian Heartbreak series? This girl, that’s who!

I said almost, calm down.

While we wait, indulge me while I send a prayer of thanks to my cover designer, Carrie at cheekycovers.com. She puts up with a lot. Mostly, she puts up with my nitpicking and left field critiques.

 

“Oh I really like that one… But her elbow looks like a stray boob?”

Gotta keep an eagle eye out for those elboobs. Seriously.

Romance Isn’t Dead

I’m a sappy romantic. I’ll admit it. So unexpected from a romance author, I know! Flowers, chocolates, big gestures, sign me up. But after the flowers have wilted and the chocolates mysteriously disappeared, there’s some really weird things I find romantic.

If I get home after a long day, and the house is all clean and tidy without me ever saying a word about it, then you can bet I’m suddenly in the mood. If dinner’s made as well, then all bets are off.

And I’m not talking in the mood as in, “OK, here’s your reward”. As in I’m suddenly physically very attracted to my husband and not in the mood to wait. A clean house has somehow become a major turn on. What?

Tell me that’s not doing something for you

Which makes me feel very old fashioned! It’s not as if I’m usually responsible for all the chores or anything, we both pull our weight. The best explanation I can think of is that I’m naturally fairly lazy, and unexpectedly not having to do my share is a relief. Then, what can I say, he gets the benefit of that rush of happy hormones.

I’m still working out how I feel about this one. While I do, help a girl out! I’m not the only weird one am I? Anyone else have something odd that gets them in the mood?

 

#WCW: Interview Style with Libby Cole <3

You know what I love about blogging? That we all genuinely chat to each other and get to know each other. I’ve met some fabulous readers and writers through WordPress, and long may it continue.

One of person I’m really glad I’ve met is Jordan. Recently she asked me to do an interview for her blog, and of course I had to say yes. Check it out, I thought she had some really interesting questions!

Words. . . I Need Words. . .

Hey guys! Today I have for you a totally awesome author who just happens to be a totally awesome blogger as well! Libby Cole writes some great romance novels, Hawaiian Heartbreak and Hawaiian Healing, and the third on the way!

Libby also does some awesome posts on her blogs for reviews and even about her every day life. She is a great friend to talk to about writing and reading in general and am so happy to have gotten to get to know her last year! :]

First off, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a former journalist who ran away from reality to be a romance writer. I loved the travel and the buzz of chasing stories for so long, then one day I woke up and realized my daily work had become really negative. I couldn’t take it anymore. I still love reading the news…

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How To Be A Skinny Mini With No Friends

Happy New Year! This is typically when people think about goals for the year ahead, and I’ll admit I fall into that trap. But I like to set the bar low for any resolutions. Really low, so I’m almost guaranteed to feel smug by December.

So, none of this losing weight, or becoming neat and tidy. I would fail. This year I’m aiming to have matching underwear more often. Cross your fingers for me, I have a terrible track record at this!

The goal to lose weight must still be a favourite though, as all of the lifestyle sites I read are currently full of tips and tricks to lose weight without trying. Which is fine, but this one nearly made me choke on my coffee. Can you imagine trying to hold a conversation with someone doing these “hard to notice” movements?!

“So anyway, Claire, then I told my boss-”

*fingers tapping on the table*

“Sorry, am I annoying you? We don’t have to talk about work.”

“No, it’s fine, please continue.”

“OK… So I told my boss-”

*eye roll*

“Seriously, what have I done?”

 

I’ll stick with the gym, I think.

Review: Sweet Obsession

Everyone knows Brooke Wicks loves to have a good time. She’s not interested in getting serious, settling down, or limiting herself to one man. So when she meets the sexy, irresistible Mason King, she sees another opportunity to let loose and go wild. But the gorgeous Aussie isn’t interested in just a quick fling with Brooke, and if she wants to get into his bed, she’s going to have to do it on his terms.

Loving fast and hard has always been Mason’s philosophy. He doesn’t want a meaningless connection, he wants it all, and he wants it with Brooke. When she makes her one desire known—to hit it and quit it—Mason wages a plan to ensure Brooke keeps coming back for more. Or so he hopes.

Getting her attention was the easy part. Keeping it might be damn near impossible.

***

I absolutely LOVED this book. Mason was swoony, Brooke was kick ass, and the two of them together was fireworks.

It’s hard for me to review a book like this without giving it all away, because all I want to do is tell you every delicious detail. It should be five stars. Should be.

Buuuuuut one of the reasons I loved it so much is also one of the reasons it got knocked down to four stars. Brooke was in charge of her own sexuality and not afraid to take what she wanted. Mason knew about her past, and was totally fine about it. Like I assume she was also fine with his past. How refreshing!

Aaaaand then at the 75% mark the book ruined that for me. There was an admirable recovery, and I’m still happy to daydream about Mason, but he’s certainly not one of my book boyfriends anymore. Sigh.

Still, four steamy stars, and you should definitely check it out!

P.S. Merry Christmas to me, I finally got book three ready to go to the editor! So excuse my absence, but now that monkey’s off my back, I’m happily back in the blogosphere :)

Lovely Ladies

There’s a great trend in December, where people post something each day that they’re grateful for.

I’m not organised enough to do it every day, but in that spirit, here’s a shout out to all the wonderful women who stick by each other every day.

Love y’all.

Reality Strikes Again

This picture is causing me a problem. Let’s start from the beginning so I can say why.

Those of you who are reading my current series will know, when I set the book in Hawaii I decided to make full use of the beautiful scenery. It would be a crime not to. For a romance novel this means many things, including… apply your morning sunscreen everywhere.

I admit, thinking over all the beautiful spots in Hawaii wasn’t hard. Talk about spoiled for choice. Having a ridiculous amount of options meant that it also wasn’t hard to think up realistic places where a newly in love couple might sneak away for “privacy” and “alone time”.

But in Hawaiian Homecoming (first draft has passed the halfway mark by the way, woohoo!) we’re back in New Zealand. What is it, when it comes to writing about your own country, that you have to fight yourself to see it through rosy glasses? To see all the gorgeous tourist traps, rather than “ugh, Auckland, your traffic is just the worst“.

But I’ve had a think and remembered my many beautiful holidays around New Zealand, and of course I’ve already talked about Waiheke being one of those. Vineyards! Beaches! Fewer people, giving us options for “privacy”!

And really, why wouldn’t you get a bit carried away in a vineyard. They’re so pretty.

But now we go back a square. I spent a weekend in Martinborough, where there is also many vineyards,  and you can have a lot of fun cycling from one to the other for wine tastings. And this picture shows the moment where I realised there was a small problem with my plan. Can you spot it?

Those vines do not give much cover! There’s a difference between a little exhibitionism, and risking arrest for public indecency.

I do like the idea of love among the vines, though, so I’m sure I can come up with a fix. And if you have a solution, do tell me!

Well, Damn. Muscular Men Make Bad Boyfriends?

This just in, apparently muscular men make bad boyfriends. Hot off the press from the University of Westminster, the study’s found the more muscular the man, the more likely he is to be sexist and even hostile to women.

Maybe if we just don’t talk? I could live with that arrangement.

The reasoning for it (researcher’s words here, not mine, don’t shoot the messenger) is apparently men who are sexist also work on being muscly, because it fits their idea of what a “real man” looks like.

Now, they only surveyed 327 British men, so I’m hopeful it’s all a big misunderstanding. And I, for one, am not going to stop daydreaming about muscular men.

Besides, this is what we have book boyfriends for. So they can be the perfect man, reality be damned ;)

Anyone else come across this problem with muscular but sexist men? I’ve never noticed, but maybe I was too busy staring…

 

 

Finally!

It’s here! It’s finally here! I know, I’m sorry, the cliffhanger was mean, but now you can have your answers. Hawaiian Healing has just gone live on Amazon, and you can check it out here  http://www.amazon.com/Hawaiian-Healin...

There’s already some lovely reviews on Goodreads, so thank you to my advance readers who took the time to share their thoughts. There’s even a review that’s already been posted to Amazon – super quick!

If you’re an advance reader and for some reason haven’t got your copy yet, please tell me. I don’t want to leave anyone out in the cold, and every now and then the mailing list develops a few kinks. Not the fun kind ;)

For now… I’ve had my break, and it’s on to writing the third and final book. 8,000 words down, several thousand more to go.

 

Kayla came to Hawaii to heal her broken heart. Not to get it smashed all over again. 

Jay took over her mind and body, consumed her, and then he was gone. 

All she has left are the questions she can’t run from any longer. Can she survive without him? What’s more important, love, or the life she’s built at home? And why does it suddenly seem like Jay’s hiding something? 

The second book of three in the Hawaiian Heartbreak trilogy. This book is recommended for readers over the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content.