Giveaway + Blog Tour: Twice in a Lifetime by Jodie Griffin

Making her clubhouse debut Jodie Griffin joins Riptide Publishing to promote Twice in a Lifetime, her new FF romance. Be sure to enter to win a $25 Riptide credit below. Good luck!

Hi! I’m Jodie Griffin, and I write contemporary romance and kinky erotic romance. I’m here to talk about my sixth published book, TWICE IN A LIFETIME, a contemporary female/female story with mature characters—and my first story for Riptide! I’d like to thank all the blog hosts for letting me stop by, and I hope you take the chance to visit all of their sites. Leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win a $25 Riptide Publishing gift card.

About Twice in a Lifetime

When widow Talia Wasserman applies for a job with the local police department, she’s shocked to discover she’ll be working for Lieutenant Eve Poe, an officer she’d met—and been attracted to—during a long-ago citizen’s police academy workshop. Fifteen years later, the spark is still there, and no one’s currently in Talia’s life or in her bed. But there’s just one teeny, tiny problem. Eve is her boss, so she’s completely off-limits.

Eve feels a sizzling connection with Talia from the very first, but Talia works for her, and that’s just a bad idea. Besides, Eve needs to focus on the person sending disturbing emails to her office, and not on the woman who quickly makes herself invaluable to the department. It’s too bad her heart doesn’t agree with her.

Then Eve is badly injured in the line of duty, and Talia’s worst fears are realized. She may lose her chance at happiness with the woman she’s come to love, and she can’t survive that kind of loss twice in a lifetime.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!

About Jodie Griffin

Jodie Griffin didn’t always want to be a writer. She spent hours reading, but school papers were written one painful word at a time. Then a story idea came, demanding to be put on paper. After years of practice, she took the leap, submitted her first manuscript, and hasn’t looked back.

Jodie is also an avid photographer, a chocoholic, and a lover of bad puns. When she’s not writing, she’s likely out stalking the moon for that perfect shot.

Jodie’s own happily ever after includes one incredibly supportive husband and one future heroine. Visit Jodie at www.jodiegriffin.com.

Connect with Jodie:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Jodie-Griffin-165472856805202/
• Twitter: twitter.com/Jodie_Griffin
• Tumblr: jodiegriffin.tumblr.com/
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jodiegriffin/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/authorjodiegriffin/

To celebrate the release of Twice In a Lifetime, one lucky winner will receive a $25 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 27, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info! 

Review: Dear Mona Lisa . . . by Claire Davis and Al Stewart

Tom, shy office clerk by day and drawer of foxes by night wakes up one Monday knowing the most extraordinary week of his life is about to begin. In five days time a lifelong ‘secret’ will be made gloriously public—but will it mean losing the person he loves most?

Getting married…

It seems like only yesterday Tom changed nappies and sang nursery rhymes to a laughing baby. He relishes the demands of being a daddy; especially teaching his little girl to draw and paint as she grows up. But the years tick by and times change. Long-buried secrets must come to the surface which may test even the strongest ties.

Tom and Lawrence…

He writes a list of all the things he has to do before the weekend and sticks it in the middle of his wall. The names and goals hang like threads of a spider’s web, inevitably leading to the centre, and all to the same place.

Dear Mona Lisa…

How to explain?

Each morning he notes the colours of dawn, listens to the birds and waits for the perfect moment. In one hand rests the balance of life and a terrible responsibility, in the other a wedding ring. Difficult days and the past loom, but his friends rally round and one by one the words come to life. Everyone waits as Tom finds the strength to open up and set free the secrets of his heart in a celebration of family, friendship and love.

A quirky story of modern life, set within the breathtaking landscape of Bradford.

You ever feel like you got hugged by a book? Isn’t it awesome?

I just got book hugged by Dear Mona Lisa. It was warm, colorful and full of sweet, sweet feels.

I have always loved the tales these authors put together, the stories tend to be on the quiet side which works so perfectly for their slightly quirky characters. The focus stays on their character driven stories instead of outside craziness. Their characters are so multi-dimensional I want all the focus on them because the story is in the nuances and I don’t want any distraction from a single one.

It’s refreshing to read a story about a couple of more mature MC’s who were an already established couple. That already adds an air of uniqueness to the story, put that together with Al and Claire’s distinctive characters and it’s a recipe for an unforgettable story.

Not very many authors can “show” a tale rather than “tell” it like these two. The first couple of pages read like you’ve been dropped into something that has already started, which makes sense considering the MC’s lives were built well before I showed up, but they always manage to bring it together quickly and organically so I get to be part of their lives right away.

Tom holds a wealth of anxiety and past traumas, he’s a shy man that deals with the crap life has put upon him through his art. He escapes and shares his wishes subtly through the foxes and woodland critters he finds comfort in. His daughter and his partner are his world and he has a great deal of support from his network of friends. Looking at the people around him, he is obviously a good and brave man, Tom doesn’t see that one bit however and it’s heartbreaking as well as understandable.

His partner Lawrence is pure perfection for Tom and I loved their moments together, they balance so well. Tom is an artist and sees the world through slightly different lenses. He feels colors viscerally and has a kindred spririt in his daughter who sees the world the same. He loves her more than anything and is so afraid of disappointing her with his “big news”. He puts it off and puts it off, and in the end, it was basically a non-issue. Considering the stressful buildup, you would think there should be more drama, but it made complete sense with how it turned out. Tom’s offspring would not respond any other way, she is too much like him and was raised surrounded by unconditional love, so it makes sense that she would love the same way in return.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: The Veranda (Lavender Shores #3) by Rosalind Abel

Donovan Carlisle helps countless people in Lavender Shores with his skills as a therapist. It seems, however, that his ability to enable others to live their happiest life only works outside of himself. Donovan truly loves his life, but isn’t able to find a relationship that satisfies his heart’s craving. Maybe the problem is that the only man he wants is off-limits.
Spencer Epstein came to Lavender Shores to find himself. Instead, he married one of the local town beauties. He’d thought his prayers had finally been answered. Then, he met his pregnant fiancée’s brother. It turned out those answered prayers were just cruel twists of fate.
A decade later, after a divorce and crumbling of all Spencer thought was set in stone, he sees his brother-in-law at a masquerade sex party. He takes full advantage of the anonymity and acts on the desires he’s held at bay all those years. The problem is, those silent and frenzied moments didn’t satiate anything. The fire and heat between the two men only grows as secrets are uncovered and they must determine if the cost of their passion is too high.

Once again, Rosalind Abel has written a beautiful story about love, life and the pursuit of happiness without any messy drama or stupid miscommunication angst getting in the way.  Hooray!  I will sing this author's praises til the cows come home for that.

For those of you who have been keeping up with this series, The Veranda is Donovan and Spencer's story.  Donovan we know from The Garden, Gilbert and Walden's story (otherwise known as Book Two).  Donovan is Lavender Shores's resident therapist.  He knows everyone's secrets and has helped many of the town's people through their hard times, most notably talking Gilbert from the edge.  He's older, wiser, quiet and unassuming.  But, he's been harboring his own secret for nearly ten years now.

You see, Donovan is and has been for quite some time, in love with his sister's husband.  Sure, it's unrequited but that doesn't make it any less real.  It was love at first sight that was never acted upon and there's no hope for it to ever become anything more, even if his sister's divorce is now final.  You can't turn a straight man gay; life is not a M/M romance novel, after all.

After a chance encounter at a Pride party, Donovan may have to rethink the past ten years of his life.  Turns out, Spencer may have been harboring a secret of his own.

I really enjoyed getting to know these two men and watching their journey together.  I always love it when I get a story with characters who are older than the normal twenty-two year olds that are in most stories of this genre.  I'm in my early forties with kids who are the same age as most of those characters and it kinda weirds me out to read about the sexcapades of what I consider to be barely adults.

Donovan has a good head on his shoulders and isn't prone to drama.  I really liked that about him.  I loved Spencer more though.  Spencer is a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go after it.  He's got his second chance in life and he doesn't squander it.  He's not repressed but he isn't wild either.  No mid-life crisis for this man!  He's not out to anyone other than his parents and his ex-wife yet but he's working towards it.  I wouldn't say he's closeted, really.  He's got his kids to think about.  He doesn't want to do anything that will hurt them, especially since the divorce is so recent.  Once he makes up his mind, though, hot damn!  He's direct and assertive and, holy cannoli is that some kind of hotness right there!

"I'm not a kid, Donovan.  I'm thirty-nine, a damn good lawyer, a father of two, and I know what I want.  I've known what I've wanted for a long, long time.  Just because I didn't allow myself to have it or act on it doesn't mean I wasn't certain of it."

I've said it before but it bears repeating:  what I love most about this story, this series and this author is the communication.  There's no running away, no miscommunication and no Big Misunderstanding to be found in any of these books.  The characters actually talk to each other; tell each other how they feel.  Communication is so damned sexy!

I love all of the characters in this series.  It was great to see everyone again.  I have fallen in love not only with these two men, but this town and all of it's inhabitants.  Except Erica.  She can take a long walk off a short pier.  That woman has Issues (yes, that's capitalized, because reasons).  She could use a good dose of therapy.  Maybe Donovan could hook her up with a colleague or two.  Or four.  She really needs it.  Bratty woman is bratty.

Review: Letters from Cupid by Ari McKay

After breaking up with his partner, English professor Dr. Derek Chandler feels like a failure who will never win at romance. His aloof colleague, Dr. Macon Pinney, disagrees and pens an anonymous note of encouragement to Derek, which he signs “Cupid.” Thus begins an exchange of correspondence, a courtship through words where the two men find out they have a great deal in common. Meanwhile, Derek reaches out to Macon, not knowing Macon is his anonymous pen pal. Derek reveals through his letters that someone close by has piqued his interest. Could he mean Macon—or has Macon missed his opportunity and lost Derek to another man?

Perhaps the time has come for Cupid to put in an appearance, and when better to do so than Valentine’s Day?

Letters from Cupid is one of the sweetest, more purely old-fashioned romantic stories I’ve read. This was read #3 and it’s become my Valentine’s go-to because it gets the feel of love and what Valentine’s Day is about just right for me and my normally cold dead heart. It’s also refreshing to read a story set in a college about the professors with nary a frat party to be found.

Professors Macon and Derek are uber-Academics and reading the letters between Cupid and Eros give you a big clue why Macon’s not getting laid on the regular but also why they are so perfect for each other. Not everyone gets off on poetry recitation as dirty talk, but if you can find the one other person who does, yay you!

Macon is a loner in his department and his colleagues just go with the assumption he is aloof and uptight when in reality, he’s an introvert who’s more comfortable with his stories than with casual conversation. He’s a prolific writer of Southern Gothic stories and his flair for the purple prose translates well when he assumed the role of Cupid for Derek. Derek and his douchebag of a boyfriend have split and Derek is in the pity party phase of relationship recovery.

Macon has always had a crush on Derek and writing to him as Cupid gives him a level an anonymity that allows him to be more courageous in his words than he would be as himself. Derek eats up the words like a starving man and writes back to Cupid as Eros. At the same time he and Macon, due to meet-cute circumstances, get to know one another so it was almost like getting two romances in one. 

It was sweet to read Derek’s impression of Macon as he got to know him better. Macon doesn’t have a high level of self-esteem and he’s very pragmatic about who he is. But, Derek’s appreciation was open and honest so Macon was able to be the Gothic hero wordsmith he was meant to be for the man he loved.

The two were just opposite enough to get why they would appreciate one another so much and similar enough to believe in an HEA for them from the beginning. Letters from Cupid is nerd love done right and while the communication between the MC’s may be a smidge OTT for realistic academics, it works for the characters the authors created and I’ll read it again come Valentine’s Day. Also, this one would make a fun audiobook *hint* *hint*.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Hot Air: A Villainous Love Story by T.J. Land

Bluster is the most incompetent supervillain around. He’s a klutz. He’s forgetful. His schemes never work. He never remembers to plan his escape, which doesn’t matter given that most superheroes don’t even bother sending him to prison anymore. Hardly anyone takes him seriously. That’s why he decided to retire a while ago. It had nothing to do with the fact that his handsome nemesis, Judge Justice, was forced to hand in his superhero license after finally breaking one too many rules. And Bluster’s decision to give up his retirement on the same day Judge Justice gets his license back is purely coincidental.

Judge Justice is the toughest superhero around. He’s edgy. He’s grim. He wears a lot of leather. As far as he’s concerned, supervillains are criminals, nothing more and nothing less. They deserve everything that’s coming to them. Sure, maybe he’s got a reputation for being harsh. So what? His methods work. When you’re dealing with a town full of caped crooks, no amount of force is excessive…except maybe when it comes to Bluster. That guy’s hopeless. It’s not that the Judge has a soft spot for him, but anyone can see that Bluster’s a bigger threat to himself than to the city. Which isn’t to say the Judge isn’t outraged when Bluster comes out of retirement the same day he gets his license back. He’s furious. Not even a tiny bit thrilled, because he’s not one of those imbeciles who actually likes his nemesis. He’s a professional. That’s why, when the Judge learns that Bluster’s in danger, he immediately appoints himself his guardian. After all, it’s a hero’s duty to protect the weak.

Bluster, however, has other ideas… 

Adorably silly...
Utterly ridiculous...
Fabulously funny...

...and just flat out fun.

Judge Justice, the meanest superhero in town, is called back to action after a year of being suspended for getting a bit too friendly with his fists.  Bluster, his archnemesis who went into retirement the day Justice was suspended, can't let the chance of him finding a new nemesis ever happen so he dons his purple supervillain suit and heads back into action as well. 

I had a ball reading this story!  The over-the-top plot and the snarky banter were just the tip of the iceberg.  While the storyline is intriguing enough to have caught my attention, it was the characters and their interactions with each other that really carried the story.  From the surface, this story looks to be just a fun romp filled with shenanigans and ridiculousness but on a closer look you find an amazing amount of depth to the characters.

While I loved Judge Justice and all his curmudgeonly ways, always growling and sniping at everyone, I adored Bluster.  Bluster is my spirit animal.  He's older, out of shape, has a squinty eye and a penchant for getting himself into the most ridiculous situations.  He can't spell to save his life and he talks to anything.  Seriously.  Cats, birds, zucchini... he can carry on a one-sided conversation like nobody's business.  His failure rate is exponential.  But does that keep him down?  No!  He just picks himself back up and charges right back into the fray.  He's pretty dang fearless.  He's also a bit of a conundrum.  He seems innocent and naive one minute and then wily and sharp-witted the next.

Keeping the pout going full throttle, he raised a thumb to his mouth and nibbled on the nail's edge, eyes flickering to the Leech and away again.  It was an old, favorite move of his, designed to send out the unambiguous message, 'Won't you heal my broken heart with your dick?'

My favorite moments by far are when the Judge and Bluster interact with each other.  Oh, the snark!  The banter!  I laughed so hard and so much while reading this I actually got a stitch in my side.  I could read their conversations for days and never tire of them.

"Don't worry, I can do this."  "The problem is that you've got a history of thinking you can do shit that you demonstrably cannot do.  Remember that time you tried to steal an armored truck?"  "That's not fair.  I was a kid then."  "You were thirty."

This was my first TJ Land story but I guarantee it won't be my last.  This was silly.  It was fun.  It was just what I needed to pull me out of the slump I was in.  I had a blast reading this.  I recommend this to those who like a bit of the ridiculous from time to time.  If you're a lover of shenanigans, you can't go wrong with this charming little tale.