Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: Reawaken (Under My Skin #2) by Christina Lee

Christina Lee releases Reawaken (Under My Skin #2) today! Discover more about the hurt/comfort romance and enter in the giveaway to win a $10 Amazon gift card!

REAWAKEN

UNDER MY SKIN SERIES, BOOK 2

CHRISTINA LEE

M/M ROMANCE

RELEASE DATE: 11.02.17

Cover Designer: KANAXA

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2gtg143

BLURB

Losing his adoring husband shattered Tristan Rogers world. For the past few years, he’s been going through the motions, running their dog grooming business while hiding the loneliness he feels down to his bones. When he witnesses an ugly breakup between a pretentious customer and his boyfriend, Tristan can’t help but intervene. Something about the unassuming younger man calls to him, and he can’t help wondering if he’s experienced some heartache of his own.

Life took a tragic turn for Jonas “West” Hollis as a teen, and he’s felt indebted to his overbearing lover ever since. Tristan’s kindness draws him from the start, but with his dreams finally in reach, West can’t risk getting close to someone else. Not now that he can live his life and stand on his own merit.

From innocent texts to companionable rides on Tristan’s boat, what starts as an unexpected friendship between the men sparks into undeniable attraction. Neither are ready for anything deeper than a couple of passionate nights wrapped in each other’s arms but their connection becomes too intense for either to ignore. If Tristan and West want to heal their broken hearts, they’ll need a considerable amount of trust and courage—not only in themselves but also each other.

EXCERPT

“Promise you won’t let me drown?”

“If I did, I’d miss out on whatever meal you promised as payback,” he replied with a smirk. “And believe me, I’m all for that.”

A nervous laugh jumped from my throat, even though the idea of cooking for him—for anybody, really—thrilled me. I pulled the sticky orange life vest over my neck and fastened it, figuring I’d bob around at first and get used to the water.

After I jumped in, I stuck close to Tristan, still nervous that I’d somehow float away from him and feel abandoned in this giant body of water.

“You ready to try without the life vest?” he asked in a tentative voice.

My pulse pitched, but I still nodded. I knew he wouldn’t leave me stranded or let anything happen to me.

“We’ll just practice floating.”

Tugging me closer to the edge of the boat, he helped unsnap the vest. As he fished it over my shoulders, his gaze met mine. “It’s okay. I got you.”

He placed the vest on the platform, where my fingers were digging into the edge for dear life.

Tristan moved behind me, his hands winding around my waist, and I immediately felt goose bumps line my skin. Just like I did when I was lying in bed with him. His lips found my ear, and it made all the hair along my nape stand on end. “Breathe, West. It’s going to be okay.”

Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys. She's addicted to lip balm, coffee, and kissing. Because everything is better with kissing.

She writes MM Contemporary as well as Adult and New Adult Romance. She believes in happily-ever-afters for all, so reading and writing romance for everybody under the rainbow helps quench her soul.

WEBSITE

http://www.write-brained.com/

FACEBOOK AUTHOR

https://www.faceook.com/AuthorChristinaLee/

FB FAN GROUP: THE SWOON ROOM

https://www.facebook.com/groups/594101567395032/

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/authorchristinalee/

NEWSLETTER

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GIVEAWAY

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Review: Whitecott Manor by Emma Jane

Alistair Ellis is the proud gardener for beautiful fifteenth-century Whitecott Manor, in England's West Country. His life changes forever following a gas explosion at the manor, in which his boss—and love of his life—dies. However, his boss hasn't exactly gone for good and Alistair still finds himself involved in conversations with the deceased.

Circumstances improve when he meets Noah, the handsome dog groomer for the manor's new owners. Although there are some issues: Noah is already engaged and Alistair suffers from cynophobia—an acute fear of dogs!

This story has a quirky British flavour that I love. with a manor house, a ghost and dogs, quite frankly, what's not to love? Ammiright?

This story really was a joy to read. Alistair, the gardener of Whitecott Manor is gutted when his boss - and lover - is killed in a gas explosion... until he realises that Emmett (and that name, my British friends of a certain age, has to be heard only in Hyacinth Bucket's voice!) is still hanging around, seen only by Alistair. Despite him being a ghost and only a secondary character I really liked Emmett and his mother-henning of Alistair. Especially when he refuses to go when Alistair bonks his nephew in a bid to matchmake Alistair with someone better (Noah). I have to admit a small part of me wanted this to end up being an Alistair/Emmett love story. The other part of me though was more than happy with  the Noah relationship because Noah is lovely. He loved dogs, 'nuff said. Goodhearted, he was far too good for his wanker of a boyfriend and I'm glad he met Alistair. 

Written with a wit that I appreciated, and a cast of characters to love and hate, this book was great and I'm really looking forward to more by this author!

And just for those Brits of a certain age...

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Pawsitively in Love by M.J. O'Shea

What Austin Lloyd lacks in academics, he makes up for in his love of the animals who frequent his pet salon. He’s not lucky in romance, though, and his family would like him to settle down with a good man. Austin—and his golden retriever, Maggie—couldn’t agree more.

Evan Partridge isn’t good at letting people in. His messy family life and the past that’s shaped him aren’t worth bringing up. But his pug, Dexter, sure likes the pet salon owner.

Austin and Evan get off to a rough start, but being friends soon turns into something more. Unfortunately, Evan’s secretive behavior nearly does the relationship in, and the budding love affair almost crashes and burns when Evan’s troubled sister shows up on his doorstep.

Not speaking to each other is killing them both, but Evan doesn't know how to keep Austin and help his sister at the same time. He just knows he has to try. Winning back Austin’s trust back, however, is going to take a whole lot of work.

Would it be a bad thing if I said that I like the animals in this book a hell of a lot more than I liked the people?

Well, maybe not Austin; his patience and love of animals makes him awesome. He has a very supportive family, but self doubt often nudges him, and he sometimes feels that people would think more highly of him if he'd gotten a college degree. He still has a successful pet grooming business, and it's there that he meets Evan and the absolutely scene stealing pug, Dexter.

Evan's an okay guy, even if he's standoffish, and at times, cold. He doesn't do relationships and is only interested in friendship, and an easy friendship is what develops between he and Austin.

I was happily chugging along, reading about these two men who are obviously attracted to each other and fighting that chemistry tooth and nail. I was excited to see that moment when it would reach the breaking point. (It didn't disappoint)

And Evan had changed! He became someone likable, someone with feeling, and suddenly he wanted to experience things with Austin.

It was all great, until it wasn't.

I had a lot more fun reading about the little pugs antics than I did about a neighbor who seems to always be there, inviting Evan over to dinner every night of the week (uh... that's not normal, right?) or Evan's sister, Della, the most hateful woman in the world.

It was Della who ruined this book.

What was easily a 4 star read about two men who were transitioning from friendship, to attraction, to more, took a steep nose dive off a cliff, hit every rock on the way down, slammed into the water below, and promptly blew up.

Yes. Della is THAT bad. She was so full of hate and anger and venom that it was literally giving me anxiety while reading. I had to skip over every piece of dialog she had, or I would have never been able to finish the book.

And if that weren't bad enough, Evan kept making bad decision after bad decision.

I was just about done. Any good feelings I had left were resting on poor little Dexter's shoulders, so I Youtubed some videos of pugs to get me back to my happy place.

I was able to finish the book, but I was in no way impressed with its ending, because there was no real resolution. Evan crawled back to Austin with the little bit of spine he grew, asking for forgiveness that Austin was all too ready to give him. And if there was a solution to the Della situation, the reader wasn't made aware of it. The ending went from shitstorm to rainbows and candy canes in 3 pages.

It's a shame really, because I tend to really enjoy M.J. O'Shea's writing. But, I think in this case, she wrote the villain a little too well, and ended the story a little too abruptly.

On the bright side, I spent far too much time looking at pictures of adorable Pugs, so it wasn't all bad.

Check out on Dreamspinner Press or Goodreads!