Andrea Jenelle's Blog, page 7

The Bodyguard

Katherine Center's newest release turns familiar tropes upside down.Hannah can flatten an aggressor twice her size. She may be small, but her stature is not a reliable indicator of her suitability to guard one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet. She wants nothing more than a way to forget the disastrous end to her relationship, her feelings about her mom's death, and her own emotional distance. Even though she doesn't want to become the fake girlfriend of a man whose abs and chiseled profile make her lose her train of thought, he is an assignment that is a means to an end.Her assignment is more than she bargained for. The reality of Jack Stapleton is a man who will give her piggyback rides to protect her from rattlesnakes. It is a man who will defend her against his brother's disparaging comments. It's a man who does what she's always had to do herself - give her a safe place to land.I loved watching evolution of Hannah and Jack’s relationship. He’s awed by her comptence instead of being intimidated by it. He’s intrigued by her composure, and loves trying to upset it. Whenever he sees cracks in her no-nonsense facade he does everything he can to burrow even further beneath the surface. Hanna is attracted to her new client. How could she not be? He’s a household name, gorgeous and charming in a diffident way she didn’t expect. But she’s recovering from a betrayal she didn’t see coming and it’s making her question things she thought she laid to rest a long time ago.How does a man who has everything convince the woman who thinks she has enough that she deserves more? How does a woman who has made a life for herself that is “safe and content” go out on a limb and take a risk on a guy that’s the antithesis of everything she thinks she wants?My Favorite Quotes:“We’re very dismissive, as a culture, about heartbreak. We talk about it like it’s funny, or silly, or cute. As if it can be cured by a pint of Haagen-Dazs and a set of flannel pajamas. But of course, a breakup is a type of grief. It’s the death of not just any relationship - but the most important one in your life. There’s nothing cute about it. “Dumped” is also a word that falls short of its true meaning. It sounds so quick - like a moment in time. But getting dumped lasts forever. Because a person who loved you decided not to love you anymore. Does that ever really go away?” - Chapter Three“You looted our friendship. You firebombed the trust I had in you. You nuked my faith in humanity. You’re the Enola Gay of best friends.” Chapter Eleven“We fell quiet as we approached the house, and I thought about sticking my hand in his back pocket as a little homage to heartbreak, and my two exes, and how mean life always is. But maybe that was crossing the line.” Chapter Seventeen“I made my voice soft. You can’t make people love you. But you can give out all the love you want for yourself. You can be the love you wish you had. That’s the way to be okay. Because giving love to other people is a way of having it for yourself.” Chapter Thirty-One

Maggie Moves On

My Review:I  couldn’t put down Lucy Score’s newest release from Read Forever Publishing. It was the perfect summer read and the perfect way to celebrate International Kissing Day. It made me realize several things:1. Having a Hot Landscaper Guy in your corner can be an out of body experience in the best way. 2. Teasing, light-hearted cinnamon roll heroes can be savage and insatiable in bed. 3. The world really does give us signs if we’re paying attention.4. Hard work and no play means you need to slow down.5. Love will find you — and stake its claim. Whether you are looking for it or not.A kiss should alter your world, upset your axis, make every thought you had dissolve into a puddle you couldn’t remember if your life depended on it. It should make you breathless and speechless. Just like Maggie and Silas’s first kiss:“Maggie looked ravaged. Her hair was tousled, lips swollen and pink, cheeks warm, eyes glassy and bright. It made him want to dive back in. Instead, he took a very deliberate step back.”Maggie finally has her hands on the house of her dreams. Even though her partner Dean thinks it’s a moneypit and this flip is the one that will fail. This flip is definitely different. It’s the biggest project she’s ever taken on, but more than that, it’s special to her in a way none of the other homes have been. Things are proceeding according to plan until she has unexpected visitors, she becomes convinced the house is hiding secrets, she has to make peace with the curmudgeonly town historian, and she gets distracted by the way her new landscaper’s butt looks in jeans, the way he smells, the way he kisses and the way he listens.From the moment he sees Maggie, in a dirty t-shirt with her arms full of tools and her hair in a pony tail, he knows she is THE ONE. He just has to convince her that this town and this man are a solid bet, that she will be happy putting down roots instead of chasing down the next big thing. Their attraction is undeniable. He makes sure she has fun. He makes sure she has room to breathe and articulate her vision and her wants to herself. He gives her space and wings - things she’s always had to demand for herself. He’s an irresistible, golden retriever of a man who knows his way around her body and her heart. She doesn’t want to throw away what they have, but she doesn’t know how to fit it into her life. She drives him crazy. She’s practical and driven and smart. She makes him laugh and she makes him sigh. She makes him want things he’s never wanted with anyone else. He grew up around solid marriages full of respect and empowerment, and he knows he can give that to her if she’ll give him the chance. Maggie and Silas’s story was about the moments of clarity that upend your life. Those moments that put you on a path you don’t think you want, even if it’s a path you need to take. Their story is about trusting someone enough to let them hold your hopes and dreams, and them letting them in so they can build them with you. This is the perfect summer read! It has an intriguing mystery, a supporting cast of unforgettable quirky characters, and banter and intimacy that will burn your retinas!You won’t regret diving into this steamy, swoony, sexy read

Always Be My Duchess

My Review:She calls him “Gargoyle” when they first meet. Because the mask he dons is one made of stone. He has a reputation of being immovable, implacable, callous and cold. Heartless in his pursuit to obtain whatever he wants. He’s a Duke with deep pockets - and that means the world falls flat on its face to woo him. Genevieve doesn’t know he’s a duke when he surprises her in the dark streets and she pulls her weapon on him. She doesn’t know he’s a duke when she saves his life, when they’re plastered against each other in an alley. Lysander Blackstone, the Duke of Montcroix never acts rashly. He has learned to be calculating, methodical and distanced. But Genevieve Valery makes him reckless. She makes him want to do things not because it is expected or necessary for his survival. He shouldn’t crave more of her sarcasm because she doesn’t show proper respect for his title or his esteemed countenance. Instead, she burrows into his every thought, destroying his concentration with the ghost of her laughter and the specter of her smile. With the promise of how she would feel falling apart in his arms. Genevieve accepts the Duke’s offer of a fake engagement because she is desperate. Their bargain is straightforward. To anyone looking in on the arrangement from the outside, she is a distant cousin from France and they have fallen unexpectedly in love. There is so much more happening behind the imposing doors of the ducal residence. Genevieve learns that Lysander is anything but cold. He rivals the golden splendor of Apollo when he plays the cello. His smile has the brightness of a solar eclipse after a storm. He is guarded, not callous. He is wary, not implacable. I loved every single thing about this wonderful new romance by Amalie Howard. Like one of his concertos, or one of her jetes, their love builds from the first humble notes into an inferno they are helpless to deny. Their music is the backdrop to their relationship, and you will need ice water on hand when it overwhelms them after his cello solo and her birthday performance. A huge thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.Some of my favorite quotes:She closed her eyes, hating and hoarding the memory of the sound of her name in that deep, gravelly voice, his French accent so perfect it reminded her of home. But she did not want to think of him and home in the same sentence…it led to many alarming thoughts that maybe, one day, he could be the safe harbor she craved. They stood there in a moment of complete accord, underlying emotion and unexpected connection heightening everything else. The press of their fingers. The wild beating of her heart. The need gathering like a hurricane in the pit of her stomach. The look in his eyes.Their eyes met and held for a suspended moment. Don’t leave, he wanted to shout. His bloody eyes pricked, even as his fingers keyed a frantic rhythm into his thigh. He could show her his heart with music, but there weren’t any instruments near, bar his own unskilled voice.“I want to be the man who deserves you. I want to earn every smile, every kiss, every touch you deign to give. I want the chance to prove I can be worthy of you. I’m not asking for forever, but if you could find it in your heart to give me another chance, I promise to earn that forever."

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Miss Aldridge Regrets

My Review: Lena hides in plain sight. Hiding who she is, especially her racial background, is essential for career survival. Even with the benefit of her disguise, she ekes out a living as a lounge singer on the fringes of society. She is constantly evading unwanted attention from men who think she’ll be an easy target, making herself smaller to fit into the tiny spaces they expect her to occupy. When her best friend Maggie finally decides to off her abusive, controlling husband, Lena gets caught in the crosshairs of the murder investigation. Salvation comes from an unlikely place – a miraculous offer to star in a Broadway show because of a distant connection to her deceased father. Before she knows what’s happening, Lena is bundled up and finds herself on a steamer headed for the United States. The luxury aboard the ship is like nothing she has ever been exposed to, and she’s lured into a world of decadence and temptation and overindulgence. She’s the decoy for convincing wealthy patrons to sponsor the show she’ll be starring in. But nothing is what it seems. Lena is playing an essential role in an elaborate plot designed by the most unlikely of villains. This gritty portrayal of the underbelly of the cabaret entertainment industry in the ominous dawn of the era of Hitler was impossible to put down. Lena’s character is nuanced, fully fledged and riveting. Her struggle to forge a place for herself outside of the confines of a world determined to stifle her is heartbreaking and relatable.The mystery at the core of the story is intriguing and was completely beyond my powers of deduction. The plot revelation and resolution are completely unpredictable. If you are looking for a complex historical thriller told from the perspective of a narrator whose story is rarely told, this book is for you.

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The Bride Goes Rogue

My Review: This was one of my last reads of May and I cannot stop thinking about it. There’s an alpha hero whose dirty talk sets the room on fire and a woman who refuses to let herself become the object of his existence.

Katherine has been following the rules her entire life. And she’s finally asking why…. why is she so wrapped up in meeting the expectations of others when it only brings disappointment? Why is she so focused on shaping her life around the person everyone else thinks she needs to be? She’s beginning to realize that the answer to that question is that she never allowed herself to want more or demand more or expect more. That Katherine, who had no idea on what she was missing, is a girl she wants to leave behind. So Katherine becomes a fierce heroine who throws the rules out the window. She’s determined to forget the man who didn’t think she was enough, who allegedly found her as insipid and boring as dishwater. She’s launching her journey of self-discovery with a trip to a scandalous masquerade. Behind the safety of a mask, you can indulge your fantasies. She engages in her first tryst with an enigmatic man who calls her his little queen and his kitten. In flawless French, his costume the perfect match to her own. A man with the perfect scruff of whiskers on his chiseled jaw, a hard body made to protect and cherish, and a sexual appetite she cannot resist.From the moment he enters the page, you know that Preston is an alpha hero who is going to fall so hard in love it will completely rearrange his world. He doesn’t need or want a wife. He wants revenge on the man he believes ruined his father. He can’t afford to get tangled up in the man’s daughter - even though they were betrothed as children.

This sensual love story had all of the romance trope moments I live for: a woman reveling in her own sexuality; a man who resists her allure but wants to strangle any other man who even touches her arm; groveling, groveling and more groveling. It is a mesmerizing, electric story of a man who realizes his life looms empty without the woman he once scorned. It is the electric, vivid story of a connection neither can deny, and the impulsive, reckless lengths they will go to for its indulgence. Most of all it’s about waking up in the middle of loving someone, and realizing you are a complete goner, before you even knew it had begun.

My favorite quote: If you think I won’t fight for you, that l won’t tear this city apart with my bare fucking hands to make you mine, then you are dead wrong. - Ch. 25

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You Were Made To Be Mine

My Review: The Palace of Rogues series is a study in everything romance should give readers. Each installment explores how every love story is unique and unforgettable. The newest release, You Were Made to Be Mine, is a reminder that a world full of horror and villains and terrible, painful memories is also a world full of wonder and light and love. This slow-burn romance is about seizing your joy when you’ve been given “a box of knives.” All Aurelie has been given is a box of knives. Their jagged edges have ripped apart the very fabric of her life. They have taken every one she knows and loves away from her and forced her to make her way in a cold world that seems determined to grind her down to nothing beneath the heel of its boot. Aurelie fiercely believes that escaping the knives means crossing the ocean.Christian Hawkes has lost hope in humanity. The tragedy and senselessness of war, and the brutality he experienced at the behest of his enemies, has jaded him. He is given a mission he can’t refuse if he wants to recapture some measure of financial stability. His target is described as a wayward, frivolous woman and his task is to restore her to the arms of her fiance. From their first meeting, Christian is confounded. This reserved young woman with the gentle smile and light touch seems anything but frivolous and wayward. When he learns her story his anger is overwhelming. He wants to draw and quarter everyone who has brought her pain and throw their bones to a pack of tigers. A courageous emigre and a hardened spy find themselves completely undone in each other’s presence- irrevocably drawn to each other from the moment of their first meeting.This book is …- a mission to right an unforgivable wrong that banished innocence and trust forever;- a blood stained handkerchief that reveals everything you are trying to hide -both your identity and your attraction;- a shared song in a parlor with sideways smiles and the brush of hands and shoulders;- and the sweet savage bHer truth was hers. She could feel what she felt. He would be the cliff against which her emotions could wash. He could take it.uild of stolen glances and gazes so intense they excavate the soul.Aurelie and Hawkes’ love story is beautifully, lyrically portrayed by the deft, masterful hand of Julie Anne Long. The most recent release in the Palace of Rogues series further cements it as a historical romance series I will cherish and read again and again and again.Thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC… I relished everything about this glorious romance!My Favorite QuotesTrust was freedom, she understood now. It was a luxury. Without it, life was a cell. No emotion could ever get through unfettered and it seemed a hellish way to live.But it was everything else about her- the undefinable and definable qualities- that made her feel like his.She perversely wished it was impossible to smile, because she did not want to seem so easily charmed. She mistrusted a man who had such power; she didn’t want to be at a man’s mercy ever again. When she smiled, something solemn and intent briefly flickered across his face, as though she’d just handed a delicate gift to him. Something he wasn’t certain he deserved.It was now clear that they were coming into focus to each other. As though each of them was a sun, burning away each other’s obscuring mists.It’s just…surely…the entire world cannot want to assault me. It cannot all be like a box of knives.Her truth was hers. She could feel what she felt. He would be the cliff against which her emotions could wash. He could take it.

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From the Jump

My Review:I loved this friends to lovers, forced proximity (only one bed) romance! It releases on July 19th and is the perfect closed door romance to read poolside while the kids are thrashing around in their floaties.Liv plays it safe. Always. Her childhood taught her to be a self-reliant woman with a meticulous plan and a nest egg against the hard times. The only time she lets her guard down is when she's around the gang of friends she met in college.The five of them, she, Phoebe, Selene and the two guys who were juggling jelly beans- Mac and Deiss. Mac is an open book, a golden retriever everyone loves and indulges. Deiss is inscrutable. He deflects questions about his past and doesn't talk about his family. In the eleven years they''ve known each other, Liv can remember very few in-depth conversations.Liv's career implodes and suddenly she's joining her friends for their annual getaway. Something she's never done. But Phoebe isn't the one who retrieves her from the airport- it's Deiss. And they have three hours of silence to fill. For the first time, Liv thinks the secret crush she's nourished may be flirting with her. Especially when they end up sharing a bedroom.When they return from the trip, Liv's life becomes even more chaotic. All of the changes are forcing a serious re-examination of priorities and she starts to question why she ever imposed limits on what she wants out of life and who she wants to spend it with.This slow burn, low steam, closed door romance is the perfect poolside or beach read. A huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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A Thousand Miles

My Review:Summer is for road trips and I adored this second chance, road trip romance!Dee and Ben haven't spoken in ten years, Yes, ten years. And now he wants her to accompany him on a commemorative road trip. Out of the blue. She never got over him. He never got over her. They were inseparable the entirety of their childhood and adolescence, the yin to each other's yang. And then everything that had been growing between them was suddenly there and they couldn't ignore it. And then he broke her heart. Dee is finally in a place in her life that she can escape the doubt and insecurity that riddled her past. The last thing she wants to do is make herself vulnerable again,. She may never recover this time. But the heart wants what it wants. And Ben and Dee want each other. No one else is just right and nothing seems complete unless they have each other. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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No Funny Business

My Review:Do you have the courage to pursue your dreams and reinvent your life? If you do, you’ll love this romantic comedy releasing from Penguin Random House on July 12th. Olivia has always dreamed of making it big in the world of stand-up comedy. She spends her days in the boring world of corporate law, and moonlights at comedy clubs trying to catch her big break. She finally gets that break from her agent and ditches a client dinner to get onstage. Her staid employer has never appreciate her sense of humor. In fact, she doubts he can see the humor in anything. Her schedule realignment makes her one of the jobless. She should feel more apprehension. But she doesn't--- she feels free for the first time in longer than she can remember. And then her agent comes to her rescue again. There's been a cancellation on a comedy tour and she's the replacement the main attraction wants to accompany him. Nick Leto is on the verge of making it big. He's already had a comedy special, and his good looks and leather jacket only add to his appeal. He's one of the most charismatic people she's ever met, and the way he reels in a room is both awe-inspiring and envious. The most appealing thing about him though becomes his belief in her. This was a wonderful romantic comedy about jumping off a ledge, into a sea that's probably full of piranhas, and finding both happiness and fulfillment. It's a story about finding love without giving up on yourself. I loved it for the Seinfeld references, the gritty portrayal of life on the comedy circuit, and of course the fact that it's a road trip romance with fascinating side characters and a discussion of the merits of Twizzlers.Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this delightful release in exchange for an honest review.

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For Love of the Bard

My Review:I loved this story about finding the threads of who you used to be...This is a second chance romance set in a town famous (or infamous) for its absolute devotion to the genius of Shakespeare. Miranda left Bard's Rest for a reason. Yes, she wanted to make a name and a place for herself out of the shadow of her larger than life parents. But she was also running from heartbreak. A heartbreak named Adam that shattered her teenage dreams beyond repair. So she left town and channeled her heartbreak into writing a YA book series that has morphed into her entire existence. She runs a literary agency and moonlights as an anonymous writer. And of course her books reflect her own teen angst and frustration and the MC's love interest bears a remarkable resemblance to the man who trampled her heart. A family emergency calls Miranda back to the town she's been trying to forget. It's a precipitous event because the bucolic setting will give her the peace and quiet she needs to finish the last book in her series. And then of course she stumbles across the man that has loomed in her mind since that fateful night that changed the trajectory of her life. He's more handsome and appealing than ever. He's sarcastic, and his wry humor captivates her again. They are thrown together to put on the annual theatre production for the town's theatre production and the sparks fly. But Miranda has secrets and so does Adam. Highly recommended for fans of Jen DeLuca !!!! A sincere thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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