mignon mykel { reviews }: review + guest post || PLAYED { blog tour } by Clare James

Monday, October 19, 2015

review + guest post || PLAYED { blog tour } by Clare James

Entangled: Brazen | October 19, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Elite PR, book 2
★★★★

SOURCE: BARCLAY PUBLICITY

Play. Or be played.

The music should be enough. End of story. But Aaron Major is finding out it's not, and now his agent has hired a firm of suits to help launch his debut album, turning his life into a goddamn circus. Smile here. Play there. Be nice. Well, screw that. If Aaron wanted to spend his time shaking hands and kissing babies, he would've gone into politics.

Helping launch the career of country singer Aaron Major should be a cakewalk for PR pro Melody Sharp. Aaron is charming, sexy, and oh-so-appealing when he's on stage. Off stage, though, he's her worst nightmare. A stubborn, ornery, reclusive nightmare without a lick of business-or fashion-sense. The only way he's going to make it in music is with a serious makeover-and quite possibly a personality transplant.

Soon, they're engaged in a game of give and take, and though it's Melody calling the shots, it's Aaron who holds all control...

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{ about clare james } .

Clare James writes contemporary romance and new adult novels with spunky heroines and sexier-than-sin heroes. Her books have made several best-selling lists including the tender love stories in the Impossible Love series; the steamy romantic comedy Dirty Little Lies; and the touching family drama Wednesday. She’s also the author of a new series with Entangled’s Brazen line about the women of Elite PR and their very naughty clients. The first two books in the series are out now!

A former dancer, Clare still loves to get her groove on – mostly to work off her beloved cupcakes and red wine. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and young son, and is always on social media chatting with readers.

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{ day in the life : typical writing day } .

There really is no typical day for me, but this comes pretty close ☺

6:00am – Swear at my alarm clock and hit snooze.

6:15am—Reset alarm to 7:00am and meditate on my day.

7:00am—Rush out of bed because I’m late … due to the mediating.

7:00 – 8:00 – Make the kiddo breakfast and get him off to school, while checking in on social media and eating pop tarts.

8:00—Drink at least one gallon of coffee and get to my emails.

9:00 – Think about writing, but procrastinate some more and get a snack.

10:00- Really start writing and, if I’m lucky, get lost in it.

2:00pm- Realize I’ve missed lunch and have gnawed on all of my pens, and now have ink on my mouth.

4:00- 7:00pm – Homework, sports, dinner, running with the kiddo and the Mister.

7:00pm- Check in on emails and social media.

8:30-9:30pm – Read with the boy. This happens no matter what!

9:30-12:30 – Write books or do admin stuff or finish up on blog posts, like I’m doing now at 11:55pm.

12:30 – Say my prayers, thankful I get to do it all again the next day!

Want to get to know Clare better? Check out her Dear Reader letter!

{ review } .

I liked this one just a little bit more than CAUGHT, but really, side-by-side, the two were extremely different. At least in the image that was being cleaned up.

I enjoyed watching the interaction between neighbors Aaron and Melody. Melody had a great head on her shoulders, even if she had had a rough time of it lately, and Aaron was definitely that quote-unquote musician type guy. I truly enjoyed his character, though. He had a huge career, and as often happens, succombed to the lifestyle. He's fighting to get back to the top, and finds quickly that his answer may be in Melody (who is aptly named, I would like to point out). I loved the way Aaron cared for her...

As is true with every other Clare James title I've read, the interactions were fun, the steamy scenes hot, and the read itself easy to get lost in. Her books are definitely ones that I can go to for a quick-to-get-lost in read, with just enough romance to have me swooning.

I totally want to hear Trophy Girl, by the way... ;)

{ giveaway } .

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No comments:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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