Blog Tour & Giveaway: Hard to Be Good by Laura Kaye

Welcome to the Hard to Be Good blog tour! This is part of a great series by Laura Kaye. Keep reading to see my review, learn more about this book, and also to check out an awesome giveaway!

(Note - this will be one of my last posts on this blog. Be sure to follow my new blog Paperback Opinion)

Hard to Be Good (Hard Ink #3.5)

Hard Ink Tattoo owner Jeremy Rixey has taken on his brother’s stateside fight against the forces that nearly killed Nick and his Special Forces team a year before. Now, Jeremy’s whole world has been turned upside down—not the least of which by a brilliant, quiet blond man who tempts Jeremy to settle down for the first time ever.

Recent kidnapping victim Charlie Merritt has always been better with computers than people, so when he’s drawn into the SF team’s investigation of his army colonel father’s corruption, he’s surprised to find acceptance and friendship—especially since his father never accepted who Charlie was. Even more surprising is the heated tension Charlie feels with sexy, tattooed Jeremy, Charlie’s opposite in almost every way.

With tragedy and chaos all around them, temptation flashes hot, and Jeremy and Charlie can’t help but wonder why they’re trying so hard to be good...

My Review:

Hard to Be Good is a great little addition to the Hard Ink series by Laura Kaye. It's a novella about tattoo shop owner Jeremy – a character who has been a fan favorite since the beginning! Jeremy has always been the laid back, funny guy – the one who only seems to own t-shirts with sexual innuendos on them.

I've been a fan of Jeremy from book #1, and was hoping he would get his own story, even though he's not part of the Special Forces team. I had no idea he was bi until it was hinted at recently in another book. It was great to see Jeremy find happiness with Charlie, who has recently been kidnapped and tortured. The guys are complete opposites of each other, with Charlie being so shy, but they are a great pair. Both are great characters and deserve to be happy. I loved how all the other characters in the book were so accepting and happy for them.

The book has some VERY steamy scenes. They were a little outside my comfort zone because I'm not used to reading books with gay characters, but that's ok. This book has sweet and funny moments as well. And I loved that they found a one eyed cat and named it Cyclops. About 10 years ago, I found a cute little black kitten outside my work the night before Halloween. I couldn't resist it, so I took it home. There was something wrong with one of its eyes, and it was obviously blind out of that eye. My husband nicknamed it Cyclops. No joke. It ended up being kind of evil, but that's another story...

I am totally looking forward to Beckett's story next! He is the mysterious one of the bunch. This is a great series and I can't wait to see how it ends.

Find this book at the following places:

Amazon

Amazon.ca

Amazon UK

 B&N

iTunes

Kobo

Add it on Goodreads

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About the author:

Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books in contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Giveaway!!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway        

   

New Blog!!!

Hi everyone!!! Please follow me to my brand new blog! I have changed my name slightly, to Paperback Opinion instead of Paranormal Opinion. When I first started this blog 4 years ago, I was reading only paranormal romances (hence the name). Now, my tastes have changed. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good paranormal romance - but I find that I'm reading a lot more non-paranormal romances. I don't want readers and authors to be turned away by thinking that I only review paranormal books on here. And I was ready for a new look anyway ;) Of course, this means that I have to start all over on followers. So help me out and follow my new blog (and share). I will be hosting more giveaways over there!!! 

New blog:

http://paperbackopinion.blogspot.com/

New Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/paperbackopinion

New Twitter page:

http://twitter.com/PaperbackOpin

Thanks for all your support!

Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

 Title: Ugly Love

Author: Colleen Hoover

Source: Purchased

Synopsis:


When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.



Review:

Ugly Love is another wonderful, emotional romance by Colleen Hoover. The heroine in this story is Tate, a young woman who moves to San Francisco to work on her master's degree for nursing. She moves in with her brother Corbin, who is an airline pilot. She meets her brother's friend Miles, who is also a pilot. And he lives just across the hall.

Tate is extremely attracted to Miles, but he is so closed off. He doesn't smile, show emotion, or talk about himself. Miles hasn't been with a woman for 6 years. Tate is the first woman to make him feel something since his life shattered 6 years ago. Miles offers Tate a sex-only relationship. The rules are that she's not allowed to ask about his past or expect a future. Tate agrees, even though she knows deep down that she won't be able to handle not having anything more than just sex from Miles. But that's all he's offering and she will take any part of him that she can get.

The chapters alternate points of view between Tate and Miles. Tate's chapters are told from the present. Miles chapters are mostly told from his past. You know that something big happened to Miles, but it's revealed very slowly throughout the book. You get to know why Miles is the way he is, including why he is so terrified of loving somebody. Every time Tate melts some of the ice around his heart, he pushes her away. He hurts her over and over until she can no longer take it.

This is such an emotional story. I don't want to give too much away, but I just have to say that I hate Rachel. We don't really get to know her, but I hate her for making Miles the way he is. For letting him believe that she blamed him for all those years.

I have to admit, the shift from past to present was distracting to me. It was really hard for me to read about Miles falling in love with Rachel in one chapter, and then read how Tate was falling in love with Miles in the next chapter. I realize it was necessary to show everything Miles went through, to fully understand how hard everything was on him. It was just hard to read.

The sex scenes between Miles and Tate were pretty steamy. I loved it. I knew that Miles was starting to have feelings for Tate, even though he refused to admit it. And I loved the slightly forbidden aspect of their relationship, because they were keeping it a secret from Tate's brother Corbin.

Everything that Colleen Hoover writes is so epic. She invokes so many feelings in all of her books. Corbin totally needs his own book, and so does Miles' friend Ian. I really hope that Colleen isn't finished with these characters!

Visit the author here:

http://colleenhoover.com/

Find this book at the following places:

Amazon

B&N

BAM

Review: Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover

 Title: Maybe Not (Maybe #1.5)

Author: Colleen Hoover

Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

Colleen Hoover, the New York Times bestselling author of Maybe Someday brilliantly brings to life the story of the wonderfully hilarious and charismatic Warren in a new novella, Maybe Not.

When Warren has the opportunity to live with a female roommate, he instantly agrees. It could be an exciting change.

Or maybe not.

Especially when that roommate is the cold and seemingly calculating Bridgette. Tensions run high and tempers flare as the two can hardly stand to be in the same room together. But Warren has a theory about Bridgette: anyone who can hate with that much passion should also have the capability to love with that much passion. And he wants to be the one to test this theory.

Will Bridgette find it in herself to warm her heart to Warren and finally learn to love?

Maybe.

Maybe not.




Review:



 

I'm so glad that Colleen Hoover wrote this follow up novella told from Warren's point of view. I absolutely loved Maybe Someday and wasn't ready to be done with the characters. Warren's character is just hilarious. I was a little curious about his relationship with Bridgette.

Honestly, I hated Bridgette in Maybe Someday. I'm still not a huge fan of her, but I dislike her a little less now. This book shows that she actually has some feelings – she just doesn't like them to show. She's slowly getting better though.

This was such a steamy read. I think these love scenes were steamier than any that I have read from Colleen so far. Colleen – you need to do this more often! I liked it!!! I would have liked to see more steam like this between Ridge and Sydney in Maybe Someday, but that's ok. Oh, and I loved how we got to see why Warren had such a porn obsession. Hilarious!

I definitely recommend reading Maybe Someday first. Find that book here:

Amazon

B&N

BAM

Find Maybe Not here:

Amazon

B&N

BAM

Review: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Title: The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)

Author: Kody Keplinger

Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.




Review:

The DUFF is an interesting and realistic look at teen life. I actually saw the trailer for the movie before I knew about the book. But I always like reading the books first, so I held off on the movie. When I saw the trailer, I just assumed that this was about college life. I love books about college aged students – though I really don't know why because I'm in my thirties... But anyway, I was a little surprised that Bianca – the main character – was in high school.

Honestly, I've been steering clear of young adult books lately because some of them are just too squeaky clean for me. However, The DUFF is not a squeaky clean book. I was actually surprised at how much sex there was in the book. The scenes aren't graphic, but some parents might not want their teens reading this. When a young adult book has sex scenes in them, I'm used to them at least being between two characters who are in love and have been together for awhile. That doesn't apply to most of the scenes in this book, but the characters do eventually fall for each other.

Bianca is a character I really liked. She's a very smart and cynical girl. She's not skinny or beautiful, but her two best friends are. Her confidence takes a bigger hit when Wesley, the school man-whore, tells her that she is the DUFF – the designated ugly fat friend. He is interested in her friends, so his goal is to get in good with Bianca. He thinks that if he is seen talking with the poor chubby girl that nobody is interested in, her friends will think he's a great guy. Bianca's not about to give him the time of day – she throws her drink on him and walks away.

In the beginning I assumed that her friends were using her to make themselves look better. I thought they would be the stereotypical popular mean girls. But they weren't that way at all. They didn't even know what a DUFF was, and they never saw Bianca that way. They were great friends to her.

Things are falling apart at home for Bianca, and she needs some sort of distraction. For some reason, she ends up kissing Wesley and likes it – even though she is convinced that she hates him. She uses him for sex because she doesn't think about all her problems when she is with him. Eventually, she finds out that Wesley's home life isn't so great either. They even sort of become friends. And then more...

In the end, there is a good message about having safe sex and there is also a good message about accepting yourself the way you are. I've been feeling pretty torn about what rating to give this book. I normally don't like books that have sex that doesn't mean anything. And I like some build-up to it – you know, sexual tension and all that. I like the characters to be falling for each other BEFORE they hit the sheets. It bothered me how, in the beginning, Bianca was complaining about all the girls who sleep with Wesley and she talked about how they probably have diseases. So, when she decided to just suddenly have sex with him...it just didn't feel right to me. Bianca seemed to smart for that. However, I liked how Bianca and Wesley changed throughout the book and became better people in the end.

Visit the author here:

http://kodykeplinger.com/

Find this book at the following places:

Amazon

B&N

BAM

Review: Losing It by Cora Carmack

 Title: Losing It (Losing It #1)

Author: Cora Carmack

Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.




Review:

Losing It is the first book in the Losing It series by Cora Carmack. This book is about Bliss, a senior in college who is still a virgin. She is determined to lose her virginity, so her friend takes her to a bar to help her find a man that will help her with her predicament. None of the guys are really interesting her, until she sees one in the back of the bar – reading Shakespeare. His name is Garrick and not only is he handsome, he has an adorable British accent.

She takes him home, but then freaks out once she has him naked in her bed. This scene was so hilariously awkward. I felt embarrassed and I wasn't even the one this was happening to. She runs out of her apartment with a stupid excuse about needing to get her cat – a cat that she doesn't even have. And she leaves Garrick naked in her bed.

If things couldn't get worse, the next morning Bliss finds out that Garrick is her new theatre professor. This book is too funny and completely adorable. I loved how awkward Bliss is, and her need to ramble when she's feeling nervous. Luckily, she didn't scare Garrick away. He still wants her, and she wants him. But she doesn't want him to find out that she is still a virgin and doesn't really have a cat. Oh, and also the whole relationship thing is sort of forbidden...

I'll admit, that it took me a little bit to “get into” the relationship between Bliss and Garrick. Bliss has a guy friend named Cade, whom she finds out likes her in a romantic way. I was actually rooting for Bliss and Cade for a little while. He just seems like such a great guy and I felt bad for him. I really liked how the book ended up though. Luckily, I noticed that the second book in this series is centered around Cade. I'd love to see him happy, and can't wait to read his book!

I really thought that this book was going to be more graphic than it was when it came to sex. It had the perfect amount of steam and sweet romance. If you're a fan of New Adult romances, then I definitely recommend this book. 

Visit the author here:

http://www.coracarmack.com/

Find this book at the following places:

Amazon

B&N

BAM

Name Change???

When I first started this blog in 2011, paranormal romances were all the rage. That's all I read at the time, which is how I came up with the name Paranormal Opinion. Now though, I read more NON paranormal books than I do paranormal books. I was thinking about a name change, but I'm not sure. I have a lot of followers and don't want to confuse people. If I change my blog name, then I will need to get a new blog - and that will mean starting all over with followers. However, I don't want authors/readers thinking that I only review paranormal books and I feel like my blog name is misleading now. Thoughts? Suggestions?