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5 stars

Safe, In His Arms by KL Donn Review!

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arcblurbf1e8f-kl2bdonn2bsiha2b1Alpha. Fierce. Protective.

Onyx Inwood lives a strict life of order and strategy.
He knows every move he makes before he takes action.
As a detective in the NYPD he knows the city streets like the back of his hand.
So why, when he stumbles upon a wandering girl, does his world turn upside down?

Shy. Klutzy. Afraid.

Grace Hawthorne often forgets why she doesn’t like to leave her tiny apartment.
The world outside is huge, unforgiving, full of strangers & danger.
Her step-mother often says she lacks basic human knowledge.
When she meets a big scary man in the park, she forgets why she’s afraid of the world and embraces being safe, in his arms.

— Goodreads — Amazon —

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Krystal is a proud Canadian girl, hailing from Sherwood Park, Alberta. She has a strong dislike for the winter, and a love spring. Married to her husband Steve, for 13 years, they have 4 beautiful red headed spawns ranging in ages 5-12. She has a strong love of coffee, sarcasm, and wine. (Not necessarily in that order either.)
Krystal loves to write about instalove between couples looking for love. She has a passion for contemporary romance and springs into menage as often as she can. Currently, she is working on 2 new series, the Adair Empire a darker, dirtier, and grittier series than what her readers are used to, but boy has she had a ton of fun writing them. The What Happens When series will begin with Anonymous Bride series will begin with Anonymous Bride and continue with untraditional love stories. Bringing you all the good feels, a ton of love, and maybe – if you’re lucky 😉 a surprise baby or two!
With the exception of Anonymous Bride, and Until Arsen you’ll be able to find all her books on all platforms!

reviewsafeinhisarms2

Is there anything KL Donn can’t write?! I mean seriously…

When I read a blurb and it’s got that “Modern Day Fairy Tale” vibe I either skip it or devour it. There’s no middle for me. I either love it or hate it, swoon or roll my eyes. Like with dark romance, the fairy tale trope is a fine balance between creating something new, and keeping the theme. It’s walking a tight rope of heroine that needs help and one that is strong in her own right; between alpha hero and jerky prince.

Safe, In His Arms found that delicate balance between gag me with a spoon and “OMG I LOVE THIS.” Grace Hawthorne is a perfect mix of damsel in distress and independent woman. Trying to find her way in life after being held captive (basically) by her step mother, she’s trying to break the chains that have held her down for so many years.

Onyx Inwood is a man looking for something more than random hookups, but is lost between his job and reality. He hasn’t found the balance either, living his life trying to protect his community. From the moment he meets Grace, the moment he gets a fleeting glimpse, he knows she’s something special.

CUE THE CINDERELLA VIBES.

Safe, In His Arms is a novella. It’s short, sweet, and sexy. I’d say it’s classing KL, but that would be a lie (see the Adair series). Honestly, after the dark and intense emotions she put me through in the Adair Empire, I kept waiting for the crazy twist. Spoiler: It never came. Why? Because I think we all needed something fluffy to keep us sane. There’s only so much death and torture a person can take.

From the description, I was hooked. KL didn’t leave me disappointed either. Honestly, you should just expect a 5 star review from me for any of KL’s books. She blows me away with each and every novella and story she weaves. I’m still waiting for another full length novel, because I can never get enough of her, but I take what I can get.

If this book leaves you wanting anything, it’ll leave you wanting more.

LIKE ANOTHER EPILOGUE *HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE*

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5star

Book Tour

BOOK TOUR for Broken Love Story by Natasha Madison

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Title: Broken Love Story
Series: Love Series #3
Author: Natasha Madison
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 10, 2018
Kindle Unlimited

 

Samantha: 
 
I had the perfect life; a husband who loved me, and two kids who were my world. 
 
Until someone else answered his phone and my perfect life shattered. 
 
When he died, I was left with answers he couldn’t give me and a box full of lies. 
 
He left me broken. 
 
 
Blake: 
 
I fell in love when I was fifteen, knowing she was the one. 
 
For five years, she was my everything—my every breath, every heartbeat, every thought. 
 
She made me promise to move on, promise to find love again, but I broke those promises because I can’t move on. 
 
Two broken souls brought together by tragedy and heartbreak. 
Can a broken love story be fixed?
Samantha

Standing in front of the full-length mirror in my room, I smooth down my black skirt. My blond hair is tied up in a ponytail, my cheeks are sunken in more than normal, and the blackness around my eyes indicates I haven’t slept well since this whole thing happened. Since I found out that not only did my husband die, but that he also married someone else. 

I sit on the made bed and look down at my wedding band. My thumb of my right hand touches it, and the lone tear that falls out of my eye lands straight on it. “Mommy.” I look back at Lizzie, who is standing in the doorway wearing a black one-piece dress similar to mine with ballerina flats. 
My mother-in-law went shopping yesterday and bought us all new outfits for today. “We need to put our best foot forward,” she said as I watched her walk in with the six bags. “We can’t let people talk.”

I turned around and walked out of the room, going upstairs. Shutting myself in my bathroom with my back against the door, I cried quietly, trying to hide my sobs. “We can’t let people talk,” I whispered to myself. The hatred I had begun feeling when I remembered my husband.

Lizzie walks to the side of my bed and sits next to me. “I hate this dress,” she says when I put my hand around her shoulder and bring her to me, kissing her head.
“I know, baby,” I whisper, “but after today, it’s going to be all over.”

“That’s what Grandpa A said.” She mentions the name she calls my father-in-law. Grandpa A because you can’t get better than an A. 

“Is everyone ready?” I hear Ethan yell from downstairs. “The limo is picking us up in twenty.”

“Let’s go, baby,” I tell her, getting up and holding her hand while we walk downstairs. My in-laws are both sitting in the kitchen. My mother-in-law in a black skirt and top while my father-in-law has on a black suit. “Where is Daisy?” I ask them.

“Elliot is upstairs changing her. She spilled milk on her dress,” Judy tells me, looking at Lizzie. “You look like such a big girl.” She blinks her tears away.

Elliot comes down the stairs with Daisy on his hip, smiling at me when he walks in. “Okay, you girls go sit in the living room while us grown-ups talk,” my father-in-law says, and the girls both know to leave the room. When he knows they are both out of earshot, he starts. “Today is going to be tough, tough for us all, but we have to stand together. We have to be the family that we are.” I lean against the counter while he talks. “The situation with the other one has been taken care of, and she has been served papers.” I look at him and then at Elliot and Ethan, both of them looking down when our eyes meet. It’s almost as if they feel guilty for meeting this woman. My father-in-law continues, “After all this is done today, we are meeting with the lawyers in person, so we can go over the will, start the paperwork for the insurance, and make sure she doesn’t touch a thing that belongs to him.” I stop listening at this point, turning to look out the window at the backyard.

The swing set that he built in one day to make sure the kids could use it when he left the next day. The patio set he had delivered to us, so I could have somewhere to sit while I watched the girls while he was living with another woman. I shake my head, walking out of the room. I sit on the couch, and the girls come to sit next to me, one on each side. “Today is going to be really hard,” I whisper to them, “but we have to be strong for Daddy.” They both look at me, their eyes exactly like their father’s. “But, if at any time, you need to leave or you need me… I don’t care who is talking to me or who is around; you come and get me.”
“Grandpa A said we had to sit and wait,” Daisy whispers just as Elliot comes into the room and kneels in front of us.

“What is this meeting about?” he asks, smiling at us. The circles around his eyes are just as black as ours. He hasn’t left our house since this happened. 

“Mommy said if we need her that we can go to her,” Daisy says, looking at him and then me, “even if Grandpa A said no.”

He leans in, whispering, “You can come to me too, and I’ll make sure that you get Mommy.” 

“Okay,” Lizzie and Daisy both whisper at the same time, and then the doorbell rings.
We get up, put our jackets on, and one by one file into the black limo that has come to take us to the funeral home. We arrive before everyone else. “We get an hour with him, and then they will open the door,” Adrian says as Judy grabs her tissue and dabs her eyes. 

I look around the funeral home. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, not sure where he is. I haven’t seen him since he kissed me goodbye four days earlier. His last words to me were, “Call you when I can.” That phone call never came.

I follow my in-laws to the big brown door that is closed. “I want to go in before the girls.” Everyone turns to look at me.

“We can keep them in the lobby,” says the lady who greeted us at the door. She told me her name, but I just didn’t listen. 

I nod at her as she turns to ask the girls if they want hot chocolate. Daisy’s eyes get big as Lizzie turns to look at me. I nod my head, giving her permission, so she can go with the woman.
The doors open, and I don’t even know what to expect. I’ve never been to a funeral. Never known anyone well enough to pay my last respects. Judy and Adrian walk in first, followed by Ethan, and Elliot waits with me. I step foot into the room, and it’s so cold that I shiver. The smell of flowers hits me right away, making me turn my head. The number of flowers and wreaths shocks me; the whole room is almost full. Some wreaths blocking others. Rows and rows of brown chairs line the room, all facing toward the front of the room. My eyes land on the brown wooden casket at the front of the room. The open half showing you the white satin inside. I walk down the aisle toward him, and then my eyes land on him. Eric. I can’t take another step forward because my knees give out, and I fall. Elliot isn’t fast enough to hold me up, and my knee lands with a thud. But the pain doesn’t matter because nothing could take the place of the pain in my heart. The sound of wailing fills the room as I look up at my dead husband. 

I feel arms around me; I feel myself lifted; I feel myself almost floating. He isn’t the Eric who kissed me goodbye; he isn’t the Eric who I made promises to; he isn’t the Eric who made all my dreams come true. This isn’t him.

The man with makeup caked on his face isn’t my Eric. My sobs overtake my body as I look at him, expecting him to open his eyes. Expecting something, anything but this. “I want the casket closed,” I say, my voice soft. “I want it closed.”

“Samantha,” my father-in-law starts, “it’s—”

I shake my head. “I don’t want the kids to see him like that,” I say softly. I know that for me they wouldn’t even consider it, but for the girls, they would move heaven and earth. “They need to remember him alive and smiling, not like that,” I say, pointing at the casket.

“Dad,” Ethan says after me, “I agree.” 

“Me too,” Elliot says from beside me. “Close it.”

He just nods at us, then walks to the man standing in the corner. The man looks at him as they have a hushed conversation and then just nods his head. “Do you need some water?” Ethan says to me, and I nod. I don’t bother listening to what else he says; instead, I get up and go to the casket. Standing before the brown box, I look at him, really look at him. You see some bruising under the makeup, and his nose is a little swollen. His hands are folded over his stomach, resting on his black suit. The suit he wore when we got married. Why? I ask him in my own head. Why did you do it? I ask him, hoping I can hear him whisper something to me, whisper anything back. To answer my questions, to give me something; anything to make me understand why he did what he did. Why he left me with so many fucking questions and not one answer. 

The man comes over to close the casket. Eric’s face disappears slowly, the shadow filling his face till the casket finally shuts. “I’m sorry for your loss,” the man says, nodding at me. “If at any time you want it open, we can open it back up.” I turn around now, looking at the chairs that will fill up as soon as the people start coming in. Ethan consoles my mother-in-law, and Elliot stands where we were just sitting, his hands in his pockets. 

“I’m getting the girls,” I tell them and then walk out with my head held high but my shoulders slumped. Defeated is a word that you use so many times not really understanding what can actually defeat you. I know now, my husband dying, him cheating on me, my kids without a father, my dreams of growing old with him gone. Beaten straight down to my core, straight down to my bones. 

I walk over to them as they look up. “Let’s go, girls,” I tell them as they both get up and walk to me. Lizzie takes one hand, Daisy takes the other, and we walk back into the room that holds a piece of our hearts. The room where their father lies, with no answers and no tomorrow.

We stand in that room for four hours while people come up to me and give me their condolences. I nod my head and play the part of the grieving wife. I am the grieving wife, but I’m also the wife whose husband didn’t love her enough to just be with her. The wife who knew her husband was slipping away but couldn’t catch it in time. The wife he said he would love and protect. The wife who stands here between his girls wishing that for one second he suffered horribly. The wife who has to pick up the fucking pieces and lie to her girls about what a great guy he was. The wife who, at the end of the day, just wasn’t good enough. 

We listen as people tell us how amazing he was, how much he loved his family, and how much he loved his girls. The whole time, I’m yelling on the inside, ready to stand in the middle of the room, throw my head back, and yell at the top of my lungs. But I don’t do what I want. I don’t tell them what a fraud my husband was. I don’t tell them that it was almost all lies. I don’t tell them that the day he died, they called his other wife and not me. I don’t tell them that I wasn’t the one with him when he died.

I stand here thinking about this other person—his other wife—and wonder how she would handle this. How she would be with my in-laws. Would she just let them control her and do everything for her? Would she want it to be open and weep for him beside the casket instead of standing next to it? 

I look around the room at all the people who came to pay their respects, and my eyes find someone I’ve never met before. Someone I’ve never seen before, and our eyes connect. His green eyes stare into mine as I watch him nod to me and turn to walk out. As he walks out of the crowded room, I strain my neck to watch his back. I don’t have long to think because Elliot comes up and whispers, “It’s time.”
When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…
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5 stars, Book Review

My review of SWEET BABY JESUS by Gillian Jones

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blurb

mymindseyeRyker

She is the epitome of the girl next door, but with a feistiness that makes my dick throb.
I’m drawn to her like no other. She stirs things in me I have no desire to feel, makes me long for things I shouldn’t.

This is my game. I choose the players. I never play for keeps.

I don’t believe in fate. I make my own destiny. I work hard and play harder. Luck is for pussies, karma for idiots. Me, I make shit happen.

Meeting her fucked up my plan. Threw me off my game.

I’m now face to face with my karma. Her name is Kat Rollins.

Kat

Ryker Eddison is the epitome of a player. You know the type: Mr. Get In and Get Out.

He’s all about the chase, wanting just one night. Everyone knows this, I know this. Still, I find myself craving him, my greedy body betraying what my heart and mind already know: he will only bring me pain.

He’s the guy that girls like me should avoid. I’m smart, I know better. But when I’m with him, I feel things I’ve never felt before. Things I never knew I wanted.

I can’t deny it … I like the chase. The high is explosive but I’m afraid if I give in, I may end up losing more than I can handle: my heart.

Goodreads — Amazon

authorgillian jonesWife, mother, proud Canadian. Shoe addict, red wine connoisseur, lover of laughter and the friendships that cause it. I’m a sucker for those epic romances that steal my breath and leave me always wanting more.

Goodreads — Amazon — Facebook

 

review

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Ok first: JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH, I need to go to CHURCH after reading this book. I curse like a truck driver, but I think Ryker’s got me beat for f bombs. And Lord that man could dirty talk. The amount of times I took the Lord’s name in vain and squealed “OH. MY. GOD” while reading will surely mean a ton of penance for me. I mean JESUS. Kat was a goner before she even realized it.

And I loved every single minute of it.

I’ve read so many good books lately, and I’ve got a TON of reviews I need to get done (including Natasha Madison’s Perfect Love Story which freaking broke me) but instead of doing all the crap I need to do, I read My Mind’s Eye and finished it at 2:30 in the morning and immediately wanted to write this review. That’s how good this book is. I knew when I read Fighting Weight that I loved Gillian Jones. So much so that after one book, I found out she was going to be at the Books by the Bridge event in NYC this year, so I bought my ticket. Literally, just to meet her. (Am I a crazy stalker or is she just that awesome of an author?) So, while procrastinating writing reviews, I decided to grab My Mind’s Eye (which is available on KU-HOLLA). I made a couple mistakes while reading though.

Mistake #1: I was unprepared- so I’m preparing you. Grab your big girl panties, a glass of wine, and settle in for a read that will have you not wanting to put the book down. At all.
Mistake #2: I was expecting a slow burn, and it was, but LORD THESE TWO BURN. Grab yourself a fan too, with that glass-er bottle, of wine because you’re gonna need it. Kat & Ryker fight their attraction to each other for so long, both denying how they’re feeling, that when these two hit the sheets, I’m pretty sure my house could have burned down around me and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Ryker is a huge playboy, not looking to settle down with any one woman. Kat is just dealing with a nasty break up, and looking to relax after dealing with a fire in her dorm the previous year. Ryker freaking growls when he accidentally catches her changing one day (*fans self*) and loses all sense of the English language. Kat pushes him away, not sure she can do the one-and-done thing her best friend thinks will be good for her. Ryker isn’t ready to lose his playboy ways just yet. Though these two fight it, they both end up together when Ryker decides he’s not going to sit around and let someone else take his girl(*sprays water on self*). Ryker is one hell of an alpha male; jealous, possessive, but also caring and supportive of Kat’s dreams. He helps her study and wants her to continue having a good relationship with her friends. Kat is goal oriented, and definitely not a damsel in distress; when Ryker loses his stuff at work, Kat is not afraid to tell him to back off. She may be insecure, but she’s not weak.

In case you couldn’t tell by anything I’ve said previously, I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is so freaking amazing, and it’s safe! By safe, I mean that Ryker isn’t out trying to bang other girls to get Kat off of his mind; and when he does try, Kat seems to be there reminding him of exactly why he hasn’t even wanted to touch another girl since he met Kat. Kat tries to push him out of her mind, and when she does try to get Ryker out, he is right there to remind her that it ain’t happening.

I’m pretty sure I could fangirl over this book ALL NIGHT but you will just have to read it to see. And when you do, message me so we can talk about it. I’m not even kidding.

mymindseye35star