Review: HOPE RESTORED by Carrie Ann Ryan!

Today we have the blog tour for Carrie Ann Ryan's HOPE RESTORED, the third (and last!) book in the Gallagher Brothers series!

My Review: Don't mind me, I'll just be over in the corner, getting all crazy emotional. I tend to read Carrie Ann Ryan for some good, classic, contemporary romance. And then sometimes she hits me with some real feels, and I just get a little overwhelmed. This is one of those times. I loved Murphy in the previous books, and considering his history, I should have seen this coming. But silly me! Really all of the Gallagher novels are deep, emotional reads - but Hope Restored takes it to another level. I found myself sniffling more than a few times, and I spent much of the latter half of the book alternating between wanting to hug Murphy, Tessa, and the rest of the clan, and wanting to hug my family just so they know I love them.

Once again, this author has made me fall in love with the hero. Carrie Ann Ryan writes some hot, wonderful men. Ones I can't help but wish were real, because I'd like a Gallagher of my own. I really need to check out her Montgomery Ink series, because I'm sure those would be just as amazing. Not only does she write a close family dynamic well, but she does a great job with Murphy's illness. Having lived with and taken care of someone with a life-altering medical issue, I can say that this author wrote the Gallagher's journey with the care it needed and deserved.

The only thing that kept this from being a perfect read for me was the big finale. I could see it coming a mile away, and therefore I didn't find the lead up as suspenseful as it was meant to be. The villain was too over the top when it came to the final evil rant that is required of all baddies.

Cover Lovin': Fits perfectly with the rest of the series, and it's definitely hot!

Recommendation: Technically, Hope Restored could work as a stand-alone, but since the family is such a close knit group, it helps to read the rest of the series first.

Final Rating: FOUR AND A HALF out of FIVE stars (4.5/5)!! Emotional, tear-jerking, and just overall wonderful. I want more Murphy, and really, all of the Gallaghers. This book will definitely be added to the re-read shelf!

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda, Novel Addiction ~!~

The Gallagher Brothers series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan concludes with the final brother who thought he had everything to look forward to, and the one woman who can handle him.

Life isn’t worth living if you don’t fight to live. That’s what Murphy Gallagher learned at a young age when cancer ravaged his body not once, but twice. Over the course of his survival, he lost his parents and his childhood, but he’s been healthy for years and has become a man he hopes his family is proud of. But when his world tilts on its axis yet again, he’ll have to learn what it means to fight not only the unknown but also his attraction to his best friend.

Tessa Stone works hard and plays harder. She’s spent her life trying to figure out who she is in the present rather than looking back. Yet when she’s forced into close proximity with Murphy, she’ll have to not only be his rock but learn how to relax enough to maybe let him be hers, as well. But seduction doesn’t stop when the world seems to, and close encounters of the naked kind might just be the first step in something much more complicated than either of them bargained for. Life, though, is for living, after all.

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EXCERPT:
“What the hell? Why are you in my bathroom? Why are you naked and wet in my bathroom? Boundaries, Murphy! Boundaries!” Tessa was rambling, and she didn’t care. She’d just run five freaking miles to get him and his pretty dick out of her mind, and now she had a real image of said dick in her brain, and she’d never be able to think straight again.

Why did the Gallaghers have to be so sexy? Why did this particular Gallagher have to press all her buttons just right and happen to be naked and wet in her bathroom while she was sweaty and naked right in front of him?

The horror, Tessa thought. The horror.

Murphy winced and waved over at the sink where another towel lay. She recognized this as one of Murphy’s, so she threw it at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to put it on the floor or on top of your towel so I left it over there.”

“Still doesn’t explain anything, Murphy Gallagher.” She would never be able to get the sight or feel of him out of her head now.

“The showerhead in the guest bath broke off. I wasn’t even touching it. When I went to turn on the water, it fell off and sprayed me in the face. The damn thing hit me on the hip on its way down.” He pointed to a growing bruise on his side, and Tessa’s eyes widened, panic leaping into her throat.

Without thinking, she reached forward and slid her fingers down his hip right above his towel. “Oh God, Murphy. Are you okay? You’re bruising so quickly.” She held back tears, annoyed with herself for showing weakness in front of the man who was actually going through this whole ordeal instead of just witnessing it.

He put his hand over hers, and she stilled, aware of what she was doing. Blushing once again, she pulled back and tightened her towel around her chest.

“I’ll be fine. I’m headed into the clinic later anyway for my scheduled blood transfusion. That’s why I needed to jump in your shower. I’m going to be late, and I didn’t have the parts to fix the other one anyway. Since part of the showerhead is still on the wall, at least it’s not spraying water everywhere unless I actually turn on the faucet, but I’ll have to shut off the water to the whole house once I start working on the plumbing. It won’t be a hard job.” Murphy blew out a breath and rubbed his face with his hand, keeping his other hand firmly on the towel around his waist. “I’m sorry for using your shower without asking, but you weren’t here, and I figured I’d clean it before you got back. I didn’t imagine you’d literally dance in naked and bump into me.” He winced, but she saw something in his eyes that looked like interest.

God, this was all just a mess, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

“It’s okay,” Tessa said slowly, trying to get images of Murphy and his pierced dick out of her brain. It wasn’t easy since he was still naked and wet in front of her. “Really. We’ll just forget this ever happened and go about our day. Why don’t you, uh, go to your room and get dressed or something, and I’ll shower and put this whole thing out of my mind.” She spoke quickly and hoped he would agree to forget it all as she’d said. Not that she’d actually forget, but she could lie with the best of them. “Do you need me to, uh, go to the hardware store or something and pick up a new showerhead?”

Murphy shook his head. “I can do it. We have a few on-site that could work, and I can get them at cost to save money. I can even bring a couple home with me if you want so you can pick it out. It’s your house, after all.”

Right. It was her house, and he was her roommate. Her naked roommate. She really needed to stop thinking about that.

“I don’t know what I want for that bathroom yet, I haven’t decided on anything. Liz was the one with the plans for the house.”

His gaze softened. “No problem. I’ll bring a couple by, and you can choose. If you don’t like any, then we’ll go to the store together to find one that you like that will also work in the space you have. Again, sorry for using your shower without asking, and for…” He waved between them.

“For slapping your naked body against mine so close I know exactly what your piercing feels like?” Tessa slapped her free hand against her mouth, her eyes going wide.

Murphy let out a rough chuckle that went straight between her legs. “Yes. That. Though we aren’t thinking about that, right?”

Tessa nodded, her hand still over her mouth lest she make things worse.

“Right,” he mumbled. “I’ll just… I’ll go.” He fled the bathroom, careful not to accidentally brush her on his way by, and Tessa lowered her hand, closing her eyes so she could hide from the world and what had just happened.

This was what happened when you roomed with the guy from your sex dreams.

Bad things.

Bad, sweaty, naked, pierced things.

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Disclaimer: I received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Review: HEAT WAVE by Karina Halle!

 

Today we have HEAT WAVE by Karina Halle!

Type: Contemporary, Romance, Stand-Alone, Emotional, Accents, One-sitting-read, Not-so-brotherly-love

My Review: I'm so happy - I've read so many amazing books in a row. I cannot believe I've been so lucky. Usually after something as good as Managed was, the next book doesn't shine as brightly. But not so with Heat Wave. This book garnered a lot of buzz in the past few weeks, and I totally get why. Not only could I not stand to put this down - so much so that I took it with me to the dentist to read while I was waiting to get fully numb before a procedure - but it was getting my heart rate up. I'm not ashamed to admit there was a time or two I was on the verge of tears. Especially near the end. I could physically feel my heart breaking.

Karina Halle is one of those authors I have heard people talk about, and there's a few of her books on my TBR, but I just hadn't gotten around to reading her yet. And now I'm tempted to kick myself for waiting so long. This author has an excellent writing style, and her emotional punches are dead on. Veronica and Logan were in a very tough situation, and I appreciate that the author didn't just let that slide. They had to deal with the real world consequences. And she created a real sense of community at the resort. By the end of the book, I felt like they were my family too.

Cover Lovin': Very dramatic - I like it.

Recommendation: Stand-alone, so no prior knowledge necessary.

Final Rating: FOUR AND A HALF out of FIVE stars (4.5/5)! This was such a good read. Highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

~!~ Amanda, Novel Addiction ~!~

    They say when life closes one door, another one opens. This door happens to lead to paradise. And a man I can never, ever have. Still grieving the loss of her sister who died two years ago, the last thing Veronica "Ronnie" Locke needed was to lose her job at one of Chicago’s finest restaurants and have to move back in with her parents. So when a window of opportunity opens for her – running a kitchen at a small Hawaiian hotel – she’d be crazy not to take it. The only problem is, the man running the hotel drives her crazy: Logan Shephard. It doesn’t matter that he’s got dark brown eyes, a tall, muscular build that’s sculpted from daily surfing sessions, and a deep Australian accent that makes your toes curl. What does matter is that he’s a grump. Kind of an asshole, too. And gets under Ronnie’s skin like no one else. But the more time Ronnie spends on the island of Kauai, falling in love with the lush land and its carefree lifestyle, the closer she gets to Logan. And the closer she gets to Logan, the more she realizes she may have pegged him all wrong. Maybe it’s the hot, steamy jungles or the invigorating ocean air, but soon their relationship becomes utterly intoxicating. There’s just one major catch. The two of them together would incite a scandal neither Ronnie, nor her family, would ever recover from. Forbidden, Illicit, off-limits – sometimes the heat is worth surrendering to, even if you get burned.  

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PROLOGUE

I saw him first. It shamed me to think it then, it shames me to think it now. But that’s what the truth does to you sometimes. It shames you because it’s only in the truth that you realize how human you really are. What a raw, devastating thing that is, to embrace your humanity and learn to live with all your sharp points, the hollow places, the cracks and the crevices. To be utterly real. To be terribly flawed. Those cracks had always been forming inside me, slowly making their way to the surface over the years. In my family, there wasn’t much you could do but try and hold yourself together, to stick glue on your wounds, to paste over the imperfections. But the cracks still grew, until all of us were held together by crumbling cement, just statues waiting to collapse. That was years and years ago. I was just twenty-two at the time. A baby. I’m still a baby in the grand scheme of things, but there’s something precious about your early twenties, where you think you’re so much older, bigger, than you are, where life is just about to deliver the crushing blows that will knock you off your feet for the rest of your days. The small things become the big things and the big things become the small things and you aren’t quite sure when they made the switch. But in the end, I saw him first. He was mine, even before he knew it. He was mine in some strange way that I still don’t understand. The only way I can think of to explain it is… You just know. There are moments in your life, people in your life, that when they cross your path and meet your eye, you know. Maybe it’s all in the chemistry, certain pheromones that react when they mix together, maybe it’s a smell that triggers a memory, maybe it’s a glimpse at a future you don’t recognize or a hint at the past, a life you’ve lived and forgotten. Whatever it is, you know that moment, that person, is going to shape you for the rest of your life. That’s what it was like when I saw him. Standing over by the windows and staring out Lake Michigan, like he was wishing he could be anywhere but there. I wished the same. My mother’s the deputy mayor of Chicago and this was another one of her fundraisers I felt obliged to attend. It was tradition in my family, for my father, for me, for my sister, to show up and wave the flag of support. It didn’t seem to matter that the stuffy politicians that surrounded these events never paid me any attention. And if they did, it was the wrong kind of attention, always the sixty-year-old man leering after the young thing with the nice smile. Luckily I didn’t smile all that often. My resting bitch face took over whenever I was deep in thought, which was pretty much all the time. But this guy…I felt a kinship with him. I felt like I knew exactly what he was thinking, feeling, and that it was completely wrapped up in and connected to everything that was going through me. I don’t know where I found the nerve to go over and talk to him. He seemed so much older, not quite the sixty-year-old politicians I was used to seeing, but maybe in his early-thirties. More than that, there was some kind of aura around him. Sounds stupid, I know. Whatever it was, it was like he belonged in some whole other universe than here, a star on earth, permanently grounded and yearning to be in the sky. It was usually Juliet’s job to go around and make everyone feel warm and comfortable at these events—hell, in every event—but she wasn’t here yet. And though I could have easily stayed in the shadows, I was pulled to him, like he had a wave of gravity whirling around him. I remember what I was wearing. Strappy flats because I hated wearing heels, a knee-length cocktail dress in emerald green, sleeveless, high-neck. It made me look older and I wore it because my mother always wanted me to look like a lady. With a glass of champagne in hand, I made my way over to the windows, my heart racing the closer I got to him. He looked taller up close, well over six feet. His shoulders were broad, like a swimmer’s, and suddenly I had a vision of him diving into the lake. The navy blue suit he was wearing looked well-tailored but he seemed uncomfortable in it, like he couldn’t wait to get rid of it. I stood beside him for a moment, following his gaze out the window. He seemed lost in his thoughts but out of my peripheral his head tilted slightly and he brought his eyes over to me while I kept staring at that wide expanse of water, stretching out to the horizon. “Can’t wait to get out of here?” I asked, but though my tone was mild, my delivery was bold. It was as if someone else had taken a hold of my body, forcing me to speak. I slowly turned my head to meet his eyes. I was taken aback for a second. He was staring at me like he knew me, even though I’d never seen him before. Then again, I was sure I’d been staring at him in the same way. That feeling of knowing. He knew me, I knew him, and who the hell knows how that was possible. His eyes were brown—are brown—dark with currents of gold and amber, giving them beautiful clarity. Slightly almond shaped. His brows were also dark, arched, adding to the intensity of his gaze. He’s the type of guy whose eyes latch onto you, dig deep, trying to sift through the files of your life, see who you really are. “How did you know?” he asked, a full-on Australian accent rumbling through his gruff voice. It made my stomach flip, my core smolder. How deed you now, is what it sounded like. Funny how I stopped hearing the accent after time. I gave a half shrug and looked back to the party. More people had flooded the room, mingling around the appetizers. My mother was in the corner, a crowd of politicians around her. She didn’t see me. She never did. “Because I think I’d rather be in the middle of Lake Michigan too,” I told him, “then be stuck here with all these people.” “These people,” he repeated. My focus was drawn to his lips, full, wide, tilting up into a smirk. Beneath them was a strong chin and even sharper jaw, dusted with a five o’clock shadow that seemed permanent, like the man couldn’t get a clean shave even if he tried. “How do you know I’m not one of these people?” “Because you’re over here and not over there. How come you keep answering my questions with more questions?” He studied me for a moment. My blood pounded in my head and I felt a giddy kind of thrill at how this was progressing. If anything, I was proud for holding my own with this handsome stranger. He was the first man I ever really felt at ease with. He cleared his throat, offered me a quick smile before he nodded at the lake, his hands sliding into his pockets. “She almost looks like the ocean, doesn’t she?” “Not quite the same as Australia, I would imagine.” “No hiding this accent, is there?” He glanced at me and stuck out his hand, which I shook for a moment, warm palm to warm palm. “I’m Logan Shepard. Australian. And the reason I’m here is because I was invited by a friend of mine. I’m only in town for a few days and he didn’t want to go alone. He’s over there.” He nodded at a tall black man in the corner, listening intently to another man. “Warren Jones,” he said, as if I should know him. Perhaps I should. He probably thought I was one of them. “He’s local and the key piece to my investment.” I wasn’t one for business talk—I never had anything to contribute other than lamenting student loans—but I wanted him to keep talking. “What’s your investment?” “Starting my own hotel,” he said. “In Hawaii. Have you ever been there?” “Once. When I was eight. I think we were in Honolulu. I remember a city, anyway. Waikiki Beach.” “This hotel is in Kauai. The Garden Isle. Went there once as a teenager and couldn’t get it out of my mind.” I didn’t know the right things to say. I wanted to ask more about the hotel, what it means when you have an investor, but I didn’t want to appear dumb. I kept my mouth shut. “You haven’t introduced yourself,” he said. “Protecting a secret identity?” I smiled, close-lipped. “Not really. I’m Veronica Locke. American. And I unfortunately I don’t have much else to add to that.” “Locke?” he repeated, eyes darting to my mother. “Are you the daughter of the deputy mayor, Rose Locke?” “One of them,” I told him. He nodded quickly. “I see. No wonder you’d rather be in the middle of the bloody lake. I bet you have to do this stuff all the time.” “It’s not so bad.” I took a sip of my drink so I didn’t have to say anything more and looked away at the crowd. The bubbles teased my nose, making my eyes water. I could feel his gaze on me as he spoke. “I’m sure you have plenty more to say about yourself though. Where do you work? Student?” “Culinary arts,” I told him. “I’m one of those crazy people who dream of being a chef one day.” He frowned. “Why is that crazy?” I gave him a look, forgetting that most people have no idea how hard it is. “Because it’s a long road, long hours, and nothing is guaranteed. People think being a chef is easy. They see Gordon Ramsey or Nigella Lawson and think it’s all fame and food and money and they have no idea what it’s really like. I’m not even out of school and already I feel half-beaten.” He was still frowning. He did that a lot, I would soon learn. “Sounds like life to me.” His eyes dropped to my lips and something intensely carnal came over them, like suddenly I was the food, not the wannabe chef. “Did you want to get a drink somewhere. After this? When you’ve done your daughterly duties?” I swallowed hard. I didn’t know what a drink meant. Just a drink? A date? Was it sex? I started going through my head, trying to think of reasons why it was a bad idea. My legs were shaved, did my bra and underwear match? Did I have a condom? I had taken the pill this morning, even though my last boyfriend and I had broken up months ago. I hadn’t been with a guy, let alone a man, in a long time. Don’t flatter yourself, I quickly thought. What makes you think he’d be interested in you that way? “Yes,” I said when I finally found my voice. “Yes, I would like that.” A spark flashed in his eyes, lighting them up in such a way that made my toes literally curl. Damn. I was in trouble with this man. “Any way you can get out of your duties sooner?” he asked. I couldn’t help but smile, raising my brow at his presumptuousness, while simultaneously trying to hide the fact that I was freaking out. I looked around the room and tried to judge how likely it was that someone would notice if I was gone. My mom was still surrounded by a wall of people and no one was paying any attention to us, standing by the windows, already removed. A sad thought hit me, sliding past before I could really dwell on it: no one even notices when I’m here. “If we’re quick and sneaky,” I told him. “Being quick isn’t in my repertoire,” he said, “but I could give it a shot.” Again. Damn. I wasn’t one to blush but I could feel my cheeks heating up and hoped my skin supressed the flush. He was so much older than me in so many ways, the last thing I wanted was to appear the naïve schoolgirl. And I didn’t know what to say to that. He was staring at me with those dark eyes, a look so intense yet sparkling with charm and something…wicked. I’d never find out how wicked they could be. “Ronnie!” A melodic, ultra-feminine voice sliced through the moment like an unwieldy machete, causing me to flinch, my fingers tightening around the stem of the glass. Oh no, I thought. Not now. Logan’s head swiveled toward the sound of the voice, like a hound picking up a scent. I didn’t bother looking over, I kept my focus on him, watching his expression intently. It changed, as I knew it would. She had walked into the room. He saw her. And like it was for so many men, that look of lust I had thought was for me, was now for her. That’s when I knew it was over. Whatever thing I had felt for him, it didn’t matter anymore, not when she was in the room. Nothing ever mattered as long as she was around. I might have saw him first. But he was all hers after that.             Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Racing the Sun, Sins & Needles and over 25 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books. Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK. Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more. FACEBOOK TWITTER GOODREADS AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

 
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced copy in exchange for a review. 

Weekly Reading Update 5/5 - 5/12/16!

I was on vacation this past week, so you'd think I would have read a lot, right? Nope! We were down in Disney World, so my family and I were running all over the parks. I may have also vegged out at the pool, reading a lot of Star Magazines. Sometimes you just need some mindless reading material while hanging out poolside. So now on to what I did manage to read!

First up was Brave Enough by M. Leighton, the third book in the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series. I read and reviewed this one for Romance Reviews Today, and it was definitely worth a read. It might actually be my favorite of the series, I'm not sure. And even better, it can be read as a standalone, so if you want to give it a shot - I'd say go for it! But be sure to check out Strong Enough (book 1), and Tough Enough (book 2).

Next up was Alex by Sawyer Bennett. I have been a part of a Facebook group called The Locker Room for a while now, and Sawyer Bennett is one of the coaches (aka administrators). I love what I have read by the other authors, so I'm working my way through all the coaches' backlists. I can't believe I've never read anything by Sawyer Bennett before! Alex was a fun read, and I can't wait to continue with the next book in the series, thanks to my library's digital collection.

I also read Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy, the direct sequel to Never Tear Us Apart. Oh man, if you want an emotional read that will mess you up - look no further. This is the third series I've read by Monica Murphy (I didn't finish the other series, but I am working my way through them), and I'm fairly positive she just sits around thinking up ways to torture her poor, innocent characters. And she's just so good at it! She breaks me heart every time, and I love her for it all the same. It's hard to review such an emotional read - but I somehow managed it. You'll be able to see my review at Romance Reviews Today!

Just yesterday, because I couldn't put it down, I read the entirety of Make Me Sin by J. T. Geissinger. Okay, if you really need a good cry, look no further. This is definitely going on my wish-list, because it was just.. so good. Painful, but good. Like sometimes when you get a massage and it hurts, but it's a good hurt? I already own the first book, Sweet As Sin, because that's another one I couldn't put down. And now I'm desperate for Brody's book, which better be next (and SOON) or I will start tearing my hair out!

And because I'm still in my rockstar phase, I moved immediately to Taking The Lead by Cecelia Tan. As of typing this post (Thursday afternoon) - I haven't actually finished it yet, but it's oh-so-good so far. I've been procrastinating all of my unpacking because I just can't bring myself to put this one down yet. You're lucky I took a break to type up this post!

So that's it for me this week. Anything I read on your TBR? Or have any spectacular reads to share?

Happy Reading!

~!~ Amanda, Novel Addiction ~!~