Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wednesday's Words & Quippish Quotes: SPRING!

Today is the first day of spring and I couldn't be happier! I don't even care that there is snow covering the ground, just knowing it's almost time for daffodils and bluebirds and lilacs and tulips makes me so happy! Before I know it, I will be reading away the days in my hammock - I cannot wait!



“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses.                          That it can be good again.”    ― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay
“I want
To do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.” 
― Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” 
― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” 
― Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard's Egg
“When snow melts, what does it become?'
It becomes water, of course'
Wrong! It becomes spring!” 
― Natsuki Takaya
"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come."  - Robert H. Schuller 
















Saturday, March 16, 2013

New Release Announcement & $50 Amazon Giveaway: Surrender Your Love by J.C. Reed



Surrender Your Love
J.C. Reed
Release date: March 15th, 2013
325 pages

Blurb: Meeting Jett was like lightning. Dangerous. Better left untouched. And better forgotten. But lightning always strikes twice.

Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, doesn’t do relationships. When she’s sent to a remote estate to finalize a real estate deal, she discovers her new boss is no other than the guy she left naked in bed.

Sexy, dangerously handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield attracts trouble, and women, like a lightning rod. But the night he meets Brooke he gets more than he bargained for. The green-eyed millionaire playboy isn’t used to taking no for an answer, and he isn’t about to start now.

When he proposes two months of no strings sex, Brooke is intrigued and accepts his proposal. Little does she know Jett’s determined to claim the one woman he can’t have, pulling her deeper into his dangerous world.

A man who doesn't take 'no' for an answer.
A woman afraid to surrender to love.
Two lives that are about to cross...and secrets laid bare.

Author links:


Goodreads print book giveaway:

Buy Links: 
Barnes & Noble: Surrender Your Love


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Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Nikki Duncan's Handcuffed in Housewares

Four years ago today, on a day not unlike today, Nikki Duncan signed her first publishing contract with Samhain Publishing.
That story was kicked off by a one sentence story idea tossed out as a challenge. With its inception, the Sensory Ops series was born.
Since that story, Nikki was also challenged, by her first editor, to write contemporary novellas. Now, with 13 books available, she's revealing the cover of what will be her 14th book. To celebrate the anniversary and the cover reveal, Nikki is also sponsoring a giveaway. Use rafflecopter below to enter, just say you heard about it from Laura @ The Revolving Bookcase! 
And now, for the awesome cover...
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Big News & Giveaway: Inside Out Trilogy by Lisa Renee Jones

Those of you who are regular followers of The Revolving Bookcase know that If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones was easily one of my favorite books of 2012. Well, since it's initial indie release last year, there has been huge excitement surrounding it. First, it was picked up, along with it's yet-to-be-released sequels, by Pocket books. Next, a series of novellas featuring Rebecca's Lost Journals were released. Then it was announced that the Starz network optioned the trilogy for a series with a possible release later this year! And today, the print copy is being released by Pocket with it's beautiful new cover. And all of this excitement is so well-deserved by Lisa Renee Jones, who is absolutely one of the hardest working authors I've known. To celebrate all of this fantastic-ness, I'm re-posting our dual review of If I Were You AND giving away the first two ebooks of Rebecca's Lost Journals: The Seduction and The Contract (read my review)! Just enter using the rafflecopter below and good luck!





Dual Review of If I Were You:
Laura's Review:

After being teased by the first chapter a month or two ago, I was extremely excited and anxious to finally be able to read this book. I was not disappointed at all! Author Lisa Renee Jones has managed to create a book that is not only a well written and engaging story, but does double duty as a super-hot and sexy romance novel as well. A great feat indeed! It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of her previous work, but If I Were You is, by far, my favorite of hers to date. I just loved it! From page one, it grabs your attention with an interesting and suspenseful storyline and in-your-face sexuality. I could not put it down! I was vacationing in Ireland when I read it, and I found myself wanting to stay in bed and read instead of going out to sight see. It's been compared to Fifty Shades of Grey with good reason - damaged and super-possessive male introduces (somewhat) innocent female into a whole new world beyond her imagination. He's super possessive and super protective (swoon!) and the sex is oh-so-very hot, and I have the feeling it's just going to get hotter in the upcoming books. For those tentative readers who are shying away from the BDSM books, this one would be a good one to start with because it's introduced and discussed without being overly graphic (yet?). I loved the mystery aspect and storage wars theme, and I learned a little about both art and wine while reading it - what more could you ask for in a book?! After having only read book one of a planned trilogy, I already can tell I'm going to like this series even more than the Fifty Shades one. I cannot wait for book two!

If I Were You: 4.5/5 stars
Cover: 4/5 stars
Audience Rating: R (explicit sexual content)

Tanya's Review: 

                                                                                                                     
This is the first & only book I have read by Lisa Renee Jones and I need to remedy that fast.  This book had me from page one and I had a hard time putting this one down. Everything about this book made me want more. Every page I read I had more questions. What happened to the woman who wrote the journals? Who was the man in the journals that could make a woman do such things? Where can I find these men? Who  can you trust? I love a good mystery and when you mix in some smoking hot love scenes I am all for it. I felt that there really was not that much BDSM in this book, just a slight mention of it but I have a feeling we will be seeing some more of it in the next books. I enjoyed watching this somewhat shy woman go after her dreams and into this very different world than her ordinary teachers life. Our heroine has some choices to make and I am unsure of who she should trust as there are two very dominant powerful men that are having an interesting power struggle over her. I can not wait for book two in this series as when this one ended I was in shock and I really wanted just maybe another chapter to answer some of my questions.This is one read I am definitely telling fans of Fifty to read. 


  If I Were You :    4/5 stars                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
 Cover:      4/5 stars    


Links to buy
Amazon paperback: If I Were You
Kindle version: If I Were You
Barnes & Noble: If I Were You


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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Review and Giveaway: A Killing Touch by Nikki Duncan


A Killing Touch
Sensory Ops Series, #4

Nikki Duncan
Samhain Publishing
March 5, 2013
230 pages

Synopsis: 
Journalist Lana Quinn has a way with hard-hitting news. The story she’s uncovered has potential, but she needs the help of her best friend’s FBI team. She’s been rescued by them, worked with them, and partied with them, but convincing the second in command to believe her theory—that a killer’s touch sets off a lethal allergic reaction—is a frustrating challenge.
Especially since he excites her, body and mind. He’s a danger she shouldn’t indulge.
Aidan Burgess is resistant to helping Lana, but not for the reason she thinks. She has a knack for landing herself in trouble, which means she needs protection. Protecting her means staying near her, a journalist, who like all journalists uses whatever—and whomever—it takes to get her story. It’s a case he wants to refuse.
Especially since she lights a fire in his blood. She’s a danger he can’t afford.
As Lana follows up on lead after deadly lead, learning to trust and rely on each other becomes their only lifesaving hope. If their pride doesn’t become their final pitfall.

Excerpt:
  
Aidan wouldn’t miss her.
Not five minutes later, a cab pulled up to the curb. The back door opened. One strawberry-red, strappy stiletto followed by another and leading up to a set of evenly tanned legs extended. A delicate, pristinely manicured hand grabbed the side of the door and Lana stood from the back seat.
One man dropped his briefcase. Another man tripped over it.
She caused a stir without trying. God help a man if she decided to pour on the charm.
Checking his watch, Aidan saw she’d timed her visit for just before the end of office hours. Dr. Grayson and his staff would want to be wrapping up and heading home. They’d be distracted and likely have their guards dropped. Unless Ava’s scenario of the doctor’s fear was true. Whatever Lana’s plan was, she intended to use their haste to her favor.
Lana shook her hair back and as cool as Lana Turner in her prime she strode with confidence toward the ornate glass doors. She didn’t bother looking around because she cared only about her targeted destination. She’d walk right past Aidan if he didn’t speak up.
“Lana.”
The ball of her foot scraped across the concrete, tripped her up. She recovered before he had to step in to catch her, though he wouldn’t have minded feeling her in his arms again. At least on a public sidewalk he knew he’d be able to stop touching her.
“What are you doing here?” She put sneering emphasis on you. She’d spoken the same way in the pub. Her sniping tone gave her feelings away even when she blocked them from reaching her face.
“You asked for my help.”
“I didn’t ask you to follow me.”
“How could I follow you when I was clearly here before you?”
“You… Why are you here?”
“Because I knew you would be coming here with some plan to get a scoop. A plan that could land you in trouble like that kidnapping ring did. Like The Killing Cupid.”
His blood heated at the memory of backing her up on that serial killer case. He hadn’t known her before the kidnapping case, but in the time it had taken him to carry her to the ambulance she’d gotten beneath his skin.
Watching her set herself up as bait on Valentine’s Day, when a woman like her should be on a date surrounded by romance, had sliced into him. Staying out of the way while she all but invited a sociopath into her home to rape and kill her had driven him onto an uncomfortable and violent ledge.
Lana cocked a hip and flashed her perfect teeth. “So you admit I may be on to something?”
“Reluctantly.” He took her elbow and pulled her away from the people exiting. He’d almost stalled her long enough for it to be too late for her to get to the doctor today. “I also think you’re jumping in before you know enough facts. It’s what you do. It’s going to get you killed.”
She rested a hand on his arm and glanced up from beneath her thick lashes. His dick throbbed. His spine tingled. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or pull her into a dark corner to devour her. Damn the woman’s touch.
“God.” He jerked away. She never stuck to one kind of behavior. One time she’d be hard as forged steel and the next she’d be Southern charm. It made her tough to predict and impossible to resist.
http://nikkiduncan.com/bookshelf/bookshelf/a-killing-touch-sensory-ops-book-four/
Review: 

I loved this book! It had the perfect amount of romance and suspense with just that touch of sci-fi thrown in there to keep things really interesting and unique (if slightly unbelievable). I've only read more traditional romances from Ms. Duncan prior to this, all of which I've enjoyed, but I really think this is where she shines. The chemistry was off the charts hot, the story was fast-paced and gripping, and I got so immersed in these characters' lives, I didn't want it to end.
This was book 4 in the series Sensory Ops. I hadn't read any of the previous books from the series prior to reading this one and it stands alone just fine. She gives just enough backstory to keep get you up to speed, but I doubt anyone who has read the others would be bored.  I'm definitely going to pick up the other books in the Sensory Ops series as soon as I can!

****Nikki is generously giving away a PDF of her Sensory Ops novella, A Killing Cupid OR an ebook from her backlist (winner's choice). All you have to do to enter is be a follower of our blog in some way and leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen in one week on March 12th! Good luck! ******

A Killing Touch: 4.5/5 Stars
Cover: 4/5 Stars