I just wanted to leave a quick note for everyone who might be wondering why the reviews have slowed down to a turtle’s pace in the last week or so and my commenting has been spotty. After a sudden, severe illness, I had to make the decision to euthanize my 13-year-old furbaby on the 10th. Taking care of me has taken precedence over taking care of a lot of blog things, especially since reading and writing have become difficult. I’m working my way back though and I have some things coming up, including a release day review of the new book in my beloved Secret McQueen series by Sierra Dean, but things will probably still be spotty this week. Thank you so, so much for sticking with me.

My chubby Snowball (guess why she was named that – my kidlet did it) doing what she loved best – sleeping on me.

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Stephanie Draven

Publisher: Entangled Indulgence
Publication Date: Aug 15, 2012
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Publisher

Armed with a sassy haircut, a sharp wit, and a personal list of rules for all life’s exigencies, Grace Santiago is a fiercely loyal Senate staffer who has everything under control. At least until famous political pundit Ethan Castle walks back into her life. Grace hasn’t forgotten their disastrous affair in law school, but she can’t resist his bad boy charm.

When Grace learns that Ethan has been hired as a political gunslinger for the other side, her loyalties—and her heart—are torn in two. Though their sexual chemistry can’t be denied, they find themselves locked in political combat. Ethan believes that all is fair in love and war, but he won’t throw the election—not even to win Grace’s heart. So what can a good girl like Grace do, but learn to play dirty?

Two candidates. One election. May the best man—or woman—win!

Goodreads – Entangled Publishing – Amazon – B&N

Excerpt

How had it happened? Grace wondered. It was a work night. It was past midnight. Yet, somehow, she found herself in the diner’s empty parking lot making out with Ethan Castle in the front seat of his rented Corvette. She couldn’t remember exactly how they got here, but once he’d kissed her, she’d lost all sense of time and sanity, and now the gearshift was in a seriously inconvenient location.

She loved the way he threaded his hands through her hair. The way teeth clashed, tongues tangled, and quickened breath fogged up the windshield. He made her feel completely out of control—totally unlike herself. But when he fumbled with the buttons of her blouse, Grace stopped him. It was one thing to kiss in public. It was a whole other world of wrongness to do more than kiss. “What are you doing?”

At first, Ethan seemed incapable of coherent speech. Then he whispered, “I’m pretty sure I’m trying to undress you.”

Grace looked out the window where an early snowfall on the pavement turned from green to red with the flashing of the streetlight. “We can’t do this, Ethan. We’re grown-ups now.”

He leered. “Which means we can do whatever we want.”

Grace felt shaky. She could still taste his cologne, but it wasn’t stronger than the taste of her own longing. Somehow, she found the inner strength to pull away, lower herself back into her own seat and tuck the hem of her blouse in her skirt. “I know the kind of impression I gave you back in law school. That I was trashy—”

“That’s not the impression you gave me. Not at all. But don’t tell me you aren’t having just as much fun as I am tonight.”

“No, you’re right. I’m enjoying this—I’m really enjoying this. It’s just that we’ve got to stop. I mean, you’re leaving town in the morning, and once you pick a candidate, you’ll be off to Ohio or South Carolina.”

Ethan put his hands on the wheel. “What if I stayed?”

In Grace’s experience, men didn’t stay. Her father sure hadn’t. So she looked Ethan in the eye, and said, “You’re not the kind of guy who sticks around. I know how your job goes. You’re never in one place for long and you love it that way. You thrive on it.”

“That makes me a bad person?”

The car suddenly got a lot colder. Grace pulled her coat over her shoulders. “Of course not.”

He was clearly offended. “The way I remember it, you were the one who didn’t stick around, so what’s the problem now, really?”

That shamed her. “Look, we shouldn’t be doing this. It’s against the rules.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair and tension tightened down the toned length of his forearm where he’d rolled up his shirtsleeve. God, he was gorgeous. It wasn’t really her fault that she turned into a sex-starved lunatic when he was around, was it?

“What rules, Grace? Name the statute.”

In Grace’s opinion that was pretty unfair, considering she hadn’t finished law school. “It’s against my rules.”

“Do you come with a manual or something?” She watched him let go of his irritation. Then he pulled her close, nuzzling her collarbone. “See, I was always the type who opened his toys without reading the directions… Sometimes you just gotta break the rules.”

Grace shivered a bit at his mouth near her ear. “But I like rules.”

She felt him smirk. “Oh, I could give you some rules…”

She didn’t want to think about what he might mean by that. It would surely be her undoing. “Ethan, I’m serious.”

“I know and it’s weird. What’s the story behind all your rules, hmm?”

He was teasing her, and he had every right to. She knew she was eccentric, and that was probably the polite way of putting it. But her rules came from a very serious place. When she was young, her parents didn’t speak English very well. She’d had to translate for them. Even as a very little girl, she’d had to pay attention, be disciplined, and act like a little adult or else they wouldn’t have money, food, or a place to sleep. Her dad was always sure that a big payday was around the corner, some new wild scheme that was going to make them rich, but whenever he came into any money, he always blew it. Bad decisions, poor impulse control…it had made her childhood hell. And she’d promised herself that she’d never be like him.

That’s why she had rules.

But all of that was too sore of a subject to share with Ethan. It was too embarrassing. That was the problem with letting anybody get close to her. They’d find out that not even somebody as messed-up as her dad was willing to stick around for Grace’s sake. So she had to pull away. “Ethan, I like order. I like lists and routine. Meeting you in a diner in the middle of the night isn’t the kind of thing I do.”

“But you’re here anyway, aren’t you?”

There was that. A very good point. And it wasn’t because anybody pushed her into it. She’d wanted this and she’d done it. Which was a rare and precious thing even if  it went against all her better instincts. “I have no explanation for this.”

“I can explain it,” Ethan said, softly stroking her shoulder. “When you saw Blain Halloway, you thought of me. Just like I said you would. That’s why you’re here.”

Holy Mary, Mother of God. There it was again, that look of total sexual confidence. That predatory glance, like he was about to eat her alive. And come to think of it, she really wanted to be devoured. Ethan Castle made her heart race in a way the senator’s grandson never did, but this kind of mad excitement wasn’t something she could trust. “Ethan…I like you. I really do. It’s just that I don’t know how to fit you into my life. I don’t even know when we’re going to see each other again.”

Ethan grimaced. “I don’t know, either…”

Grace bit her lip and they both lapsed into silence.

Running a hand through his hair, Ethan finally asked, “So, this other guy, does he fit into your five-year plan?”

“We’ve got a lot of history…”

He gave a sigh that sounded like resignation. “Tell him if he ever stands you up again, I’m gonna have something to say about it.”

So, this was good-bye, then. That was for the better, wasn’t it?

Ethan leaned into her. “I’ll take you home. Just let me kiss you goodnight.” When she looked wary, he added, “Just a kiss.”

It was just a kiss the way the Gettysburg Address was just a speech. Ethan started with a captivating premise, his hands on her cheeks, his lips soft. But then he drew her deeper into it, the rhetoric of his tongue soaring as he captured her own. Finally he made his closing argument by biting her lower lip and pulling her tightly against his chest until she was breathless.

It was another thrilling, electrifying, heart-stopping kiss. Unfortunately, if it was a good-bye kiss, why did it leave her dazed, dewy, and wanting more?

Stephanie Draven is currently a denizen of Baltimore, that city of ravens and purple night skies. She lives there with her favorite nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked husband. And when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she writes her books.

Stephanie has always been a storyteller. In elementary school, she channeled Scheherazade, weaving a series of stories to charm children into sitting with her each day at the lunch table. When she was a little older, Stephanie scared all the girls at her sleepovers with ghost stories.

She should have known she was born to hold an audience in her thrall, but Stephanie resisted her writerly urges and graduated from college with a B.A. in Government. Then she went to Law School, where she learned how to convincingly tell the tallest tales of all!

A longtime lover of ancient lore, Stephanie enjoys re-imagining myths for the modern age. She doesn’t believe that true love is ever simple or without struggle so her work tends to explore the sacred within the profane, the light under the loss and the virtue hidden in vice. She counts it amongst her greatest pleasures when, from her books, her readers learn something new about the world or about themselves.

Stephanie also writes historical fiction as Stephanie Dray and has a series of forthcoming novels from Berkley Books featuring Cleopatra’s daughter.

Goodreads – Website – Twitter – Facebook

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Barbara and I had all sorts of plans for being productive this week and getting some reviews up. And then family members got sick, or went out of town, or came into town, and Thanksgiving preparations began…

Basically, we’re takin’ the week off.

Friday we’ll have a Black Friday Hop for y’all (are any of you going out shopping that day, and if so, for what?), and on Saturday Barbara’s got a cover reveal and excerpt. Or something cool like that.

We’ll be back to our regular scheduled programming next week!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y’ALL!

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The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

It’s a chance to share news, recap events from the past week, showcase books and things we’ve received and share news about what’s coming up in the week ahead on our blog.

Good morning y’all!! Barbara is having a lazy weekend, so now y’all are stuck with me. BE EXCITED.

Last Week on the Blog:

I started the week off with a review on Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Deity. This is the third book in the Covenant series, and each book gets better and better. If you haven’t read any of the books yet, you’re missing out!

Next up is my review for Laura Kaye’s One Night with a Hero. Despite a few minor issues, I liked the book. It was a quick read, and it left me with a smile on my face at the end of the book. What more could I ask for?

Wednesday brought y’all the next prize in our 2nd Blogoversary Giveaway. Barbara actually introduced me to Vivan Arend last year, and her Rocky Mountain series is my absolute favorite of all her books. Sexy cowboys y’all. ‘Nuff said. We’re giving away the first book, Rocky Mountain Heat, along with some other goodies. There’s still time to enter, so head on over and check it out.

Last up this week was Barbara’s review and dream cast for Greta and the Goblin King. She gave it an A-, which makes me even more excited to read the book now. Thank you Itching for Books Blog Tours for including us on the tour!

Other Random Stuff:

After I got the “business” reading out of the way, my reading week has been focused on clearing out my TBR list. The public library system in Memphis was AWFUL, so I didn’t have access to the books I wanted to read, unless I bought them. But now I’ve moved to a place where people actually read, and I now have the opportunity to catch up on what I’ve missed.

First up was Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews. SO GOOD. Andrea and Raphael are so cute together. Next up was a whole slew of YA books I’ve been dying to read: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins (LOVED!), Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins (Cal.. SOB), and The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (Awwww.. Adrian and Sydney, how I love thee). And the last book in my binge was By a Thread by Jennifer Estep. The Elemental Assasin series is one of my faves, and I’m so excited that I can catch up on the latest releases.

I’m in the middle of The Pledge by Kimberly Derting, and the heroine is sort of driving me nuts. I understand that sometimes life is scary, but it’s annoying when the heroine spends most of the book frozen with fear and unable to even talk. Pull up your big girl panties and just deal with it. For heavens sake.

From Barbara: I’ve only read four books that I haven’t reviewed on the blog and two were 1 star at Goodreads – so, so, so bad. I don’t even know if they’re worth mentioning. I don’t know why I keep buying her, I guess I thought she wouldn’t have destroyed the Nauti series, but Laura Leigh’s Nauti Temptress was just terrible. Then I read Theresa Mummert’s White Trash Beautiful. Holy [shishkebobs]. Worst. Book. Ever. I already had it when Jane Litte wrote her 1 star review or I wouldn’t have bothered with it but I was up at 3 and thought it would amuse me. OMG It horrified me. Anyway, I didn’t write up full reviews on GR even, just little rants.

Upcoming Schedule:

I’ll be reviewing Provoked by Rebecca Zanetti. It’s the fifth book in a series of which I’ve never read, but I’m about half way through and it’s going all right so far.

I’ve also got The Promise by Kate Worth coming this week. A historical romance by a debut author, I first heard of it from Kimba’s review. Somehow the author contacted me and ended up sending me my very own copy for review. I can’t wait to get to it!

Barbara is reviewing Renegade by J.A. Souders and Crewel by Gennifer Albin. If she’s really feeling ambitious, she’ll post a review for The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa. Go Barbara!

Also, we’re participating in the Gratitude Giveaway Hop, so look for that on the 15th.

Last Week’s Haul

(I don’t get nearly as many books as Barbara does, so I consider “haul” to be a very generous description here.)

For review:

Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep

Return to Sender by Fern Michaels

And the hubs has banned me from Amazon or any other book store for awhile, so I haven’t bought any books this week. Apparently I went overboard last month. Oops.

And that’s it for this week’s edition of the Sunday Post. Hope y’all have a great week!

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Our dear, dear (uh huh) friends at Feedburner have been yanking us to and fro about when they’re going to pull the plug on our newsletter subscriptions. The cutoff date was supposed to have been earlier this week, so beyond that, we’ve been on borrowed time.

I’ve looked into a half dozen different options to switch over to and it just came down to what’s simplest. I don’t want to fill in fancy forms and templates to pack your email with (well, okay, I’m just lazy), so I’ve decided to just stick with a basic WordPress format. The default is delivery once per day at 7:00 central time, but I believe you can change that to as often as you like.

I’ve already turned off the Feedburner email subscriptions and imported them into WordPress. It should be a seamless transition other than the look and I may have to play with that a tiny bit but as you’ll see next week, I’m not going to have a problem with that.

There are a number of people still reading the blog through various feed readers – I have no idea what Feedburner is going to do with that service, but I really encourage you to sign up for our email subscription instead. It’s only sent once per day when there’s a post, no spam, I never use your email address for anything else. I won’t even enter you into the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes!

If anyone has any questions or concerns about this whole thing, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Thanks for your patience!

~Barbara

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