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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lesley young. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2015

Blog Tour: The Australian by Lesley Young

The Australian
Series: Crime Royalty (#2)
by Lesley Young
Pub Date: March 25, 2015

SYNOPSIS:

Charlie Sykes takes everything and everyone at face value—and believes life would be a lot easier if everyone else did, too. Aussie Jace Knight, international hotelier and purported playboy, has never met anyone like the absurdly literal and obliviously beautiful American who applies for his personal assistant position. The trouble is, how do you pursue a woman whose definition of flirting comes straight out of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary? That, and he’s not the only one after Charlie. Seems Mr. Knight might not be a reformed criminal after all. 

Soon, Charlie’s immersed in a whirlwind of international espionage that takes her from the hip streets of Sydney to the majestic Great Barrier Reef and the wild, desolate outback. A dangerous trap’s being set, but how will Charlie protect herself and prevent a tragic betrayal, when she can’t even sort out what her heart’s telling her?



Touring Down Under’s never been more exciting!

Sizzling romance and character development and intricate plot! —Lesley Young’s electrifying THE AUSTRALIAN nails the elusive triad

Readers of Lesley Young’s The Frenchman compared her writing to Kresley Cole’s and Samantha Young’s, only faster-paced and edgier. Now, she delivers again in her brand new stand-alone book, The Australian—an unexpected, heart-thumping story about a vulnerable girl who moves Down Under to start her life fresh and falls in love with a dangerous man.

You’ll root for this heroine from page one!!

Charlie Sykes takes everything and everyone at face value—and believes life would be a lot easier if everyone else did, too. Aussie Jace Knight, international hotelier and purported playboy, has never met anyone like the absurdly literal and obliviously beautiful American who applies to be his personal assistant. The trouble is, how do you pursue a woman whose definition of flirting comes straight out of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary? That, and he’s not the only the one after Charlie. Seems Mr. Knight might not be a reformed criminal after all. 

Soon, Charlie’s immersed in a whirlwind of international espionage that takes her from the hip streets of Sydney to the majestic Great Barrier Reef and the wild, desolate outback. A dangerous trap’s being set, but how will Charlie protect herself and prevent a tragic betrayal, when she can’t even sort out what her heart’s telling her?

Review a book you and your readers will love!!

This novel’s original, funny, and pulsating. It features shiver-inducing passionate sex scenes, and edge-of-your seat plot twists and turns. But most of all, you’ll find yourself attached to Charlie Sykes right away, and your desire to see her succeed will tug you fast down and deep into an unforgettable story.

Crime Royalty Series


My ReviewMy Review

EXCERPT

I slid into a soft leather upright, and put my satchel on the floor beside me. Mr. Knight said nothing.
I waited, calmly, expecting him to peruse my prominent breasts, especially since my nipples were no doubt peaked through my thin blouse and bra. But, he did not, which I greatly respected. Instead, he openly appraised my face, and finally, smiled.
“So Miss Sykes, what brings such a beautiful yank to Sydney then?”
“My looks are not at all pertinent, Mr. Knight.” His smile dropped. “I chose Australia spontaneously,” I offered, having enough sense not to share the Muriel’s Wedding detail. “I simply moved here to start fresh.”
He leaned forward in his chair, examining me much closer, eyes narrowed. “There are only a few reasons why a woman such as yourself leaves America for down under . . . Miss Sykes.”
I waited for his assumption.
“You’re running from someone. An ex? Husband? Boyfriend?”
I did not like the way he eyed me just then.
“Incorrect on all counts,” I informed him. “I have never had any of those. But I do not believe my sexual history, or lack of it, is pertinent to the job interview.” As I spoke, his full lips had popped open and his eyebrows had hiked farther up, creating strong lines in his forehead.
“Here we go,” I thought, frowning. Something I was doing was confusing him. Of course, I had no idea what it was. My tone of voice? Something I had said? It was like trying to figure out  an alien alphabet. I cleared my throat. “However, you can be rest assured I am in Australia for no reason other than a desire to live life, finally, and that I have no intentions of leaving.” I did not want him to think I was not capable of a long-term commitment to the company should things work out.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Lesley Young is an award-winning journalist by day and a compulsive romance novelist by night. Her most recent series—Crime Royalty Romance—features unforgettable heroines who fall in love with dangerous men while on adventures abroad. Her fast-paced novels are rich with intricate plots, sizzling romance and gripping character development. You'll root for her characters from page one!

AUTHOR MEDIA LINKS:



GIVEAWAY

Monday, February 8, 2016

#ShareTheLove Giveaway Blog Hop!



It’s time for our annual Share the Love giveaway hop! This hop is a little different and all about sharing our favorite bloggers and authors with you! There’s a giveaway at every blog so visit them all and find out who all we just adore.

This is such a fun idea, and perfect for Valentine's Day. I have come to love and interact with so many great authors and bloggers over the last year, and I am ecstatic to share a few with you. So without further ado, I am sharing the love with the following people who I think deserve a little more attention (in no particular amount or order):

Deanna's World

Now, Deanna is my book bestie. We are horrible influences on each other when it comes to hoarding books or makeup. While we live a world apart, we find ourselves shopping together at least once a week. Heaven help us when we meet in person. So hop on over to Deanna's World. She does great reviews of books and beauty products. And sometimes you will catch us having crazy conversations or interviews with one another.

Addicted to Romance

I found Renee's blog this past year and I find myself peeking in whenever I am about to read something new. We have a lot of the same tastes, and she writes the most detailed and eloquent reviews (without giving spoilers). If you are addicted to romance like we are, she is someone to connect with.

Lily Harlem

I was introduced to Lily Harlem through Deanna, and love to interact with her on social media. Lily writes steamy romance novels and usually has some very interesting blog topics. If you have not read anything by her yet, you should give it a shot. I am particularly excited about one of her new releases, Rule Breaker, which I have scheduled for review this week.

A.D. Starrling

A.D. Starrling was a fabulous find for me last year - particularly since she writes outside of my normal genre. But Seventeen, her action series, knocked my socks off. It got a few 5 star ratings from me, and I am anxiously awaiting the next book. I like to say that her writing is "brainy" - you can be reading about the chemical composition of something or other without even knowing it because your adrenaline is going so high. PLUS - how cool is this - I am getting to name a character in one of her books! This is super duper exciting for me.

Lesley Young

Lesley Young gave me one of my favorite heroines for 2015 in her contemporary romance, The Australian. She is super nice and interactive on social media, and I think more people need to know about her! I hope we get to see more Crime Royalty soon as well!

Giveaway

Now that you know all about these lovely ladies, let's get to the #Giveaway! Enter to Win below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Hop

Don't miss out on the rest of the great recommendations.  Follow the Hop!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Review: The Frenchman by Lesley Young

The Frenchman 
by Lesley Young
Series: Crime Royalty, #1
Pub Date:  Dec. 2, 2014
Publisher:  Self-Pub
Pages:  276
Format: eARC
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
  

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:


Fleur Smithers rarely veers off the straight and (excruciatingly) narrow. So moving to the seaport town of Toulon to live with her newfound biological mother—an inspector with the French National Police—for one year is a pretty major detour. 

Son of France’s crime royalty family and international rugby star, Louis Messette, is devoted to his sport, famille and nothing else. But the carefree American he meets one night changes everything. She sparks a desire in him like no other. Possession takes root. She will do as he commands. 


Bit by bit Fleur slips into the Frenchman’s realm of wanton pleasure agreeing to his one condition: that she keep their affair secret. She serves up her heart without reservation in the hub of the glittering Côte d’Azur, and the along the soulful Seine in Paris, unaware of the danger she is in. For her new lover’s family business will pit her against her mother, the police woman sworn to bring down the Messettes. And by then, far more than Fleur’s heart will be on the line.

I am not a francophile, so this is the only frenchy book I have read (at least where the main setting and characters were France/French). I think I liked it enough to read more frenchy books in the future - assuming the male characters are big handsome broody bastards like Louis. I don't care for the frenchmen that are characterized as effeminate. Once Louis was described as the dark and handsome rugby player, I could not help but envision him as Stuart Reardon. So that certainly helped along with the reading of this book. It may have even prevented Fleur, who was ridiculously and unbelievably naive, from getting on my nerves quite so much. I mean seriously, there is only so much willful blindness I could take.

This book was told in first person from Fleur's POV. The writing was very flowery, which I usually do not like. However it seemed to fit in to this story and made me think of the French as melodramatic and over-the-top. There was some mystery, family drama, relationship drama, slight mob-type activity, and reasonably steamy sex. It was a good read, but I would have liked it to be more detailed I think. We got mainly surface facts without learning anything too deep about any of the characters. I didn't feel like actions were fully explained... particularly the situation where Fleur sent Louis packing. I didn't get it. The book would have also benefited nicely from an epilogue.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Crime Royalty Series


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Friday, May 15, 2015

Review: The Australian by Lesley Young

The Australian 
by Lesley Young
Series: Crime Royalty #2
Pub Date:  March 25, 2015
Publisher:  L.A.Y. Books
Pages:  286
Format: eARC
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
  

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:


Imagine leaving behind all that you know and starting over halfway around the world. Imagine you’ve got no gut instinct to rely on, no natural-born ability to read people or sort out lies from truth. Imagine your heart goes haywire every time you stare into a certain pair of deeply mesmerizing dark eyes. Now you’re in Charlie Sykes’ (highly sensible) shoes . . . 


Charlie Sykes takes everything and everyone at face value, and believes life would be a lot easier if everyone else did, too. Jace Knight, international Aussie hotelier and purported playboy, has never met anyone like the absurdly literal and obliviously beautiful American who applies to his personal assistant position. 

The trouble is, how do you seduce a woman whose definition of flirting comes straight out of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary? That, and he’s not the only one after Charlie. Seems Mr. Knight may not be a reformed criminal after all.

Charlie soon finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of dangerous international espionage that takes her from the hip streets of Sydney to the majestic Great Barrier Reef and the wild, desolate outback. A terrible trap’s being laid, but how will Charlie protect herself and prevent a devastating betrayal when she can’t even sort out what her heart’s telling her? 



I don't give many 5-star reviews (only 5 out of 125 books to date this year). So you know when I do give a 5-star, I really enjoyed the book. And I really really enjoyed this book, mainly due to our quirky female lead character, Charlie Sykes. She is my favorite female character of the year so far.

Charlie suffers from Pervasive Development Disorder... which seems a bit like Asperger's to me. She has trouble with social clues and deciphering emotions. This makes Charlie a very literal, logical and straight-forward person. I loved the way her mind worked - and I think we would get along very well. I felt very protective of her throughout the whole book, so I was absolutely livid at these law enforcement officers who were putting her through the ringer. I wanted to throttle them! And since I work in the same field, that is saying something. Charlie was obviously not equipped to deal with the situations they were putting her in - and they knew it. She is such a different sort of lead character than we usually see in contemporary romance, it was refreshing to have someone so unique and endearing.

Jace Knight (great name) is our anti-hero, a rich bad boy trying to go straight and doing that the best way he knew how. You can tell that Jace has never met anyone like Charlie, and he is captivated by her from their first meeting. He was also very protective of her, and I loved him for that (even though he did trick her a couple times). I could not fault anything with their relationship - the pacing worked well with the story and Jace seemed to honestly care about Charlie.

The "villains" in the story are who we usually think of as good guys - intelligence agents and international law enforcement. Working in this field, I cringed at the actions these people were taking. I can only hope people in my agency would never conduct themselves in this fashion.

Overall, The Australian was a breath of fresh air. I recommend it to fans of contemporary romance who are in a reading slump, or are looking for something different than the standard, often annoying, new adult heroines pervading the genre at the moment.

Some of my favorite Charlie-isms:
  • I do not believe it is appropriate or professional to engage in coitus with one's employer.
  • Arousal was not a mental disorder.
  • Apparently on occasion when I am exposed to new environments I go wide-eyed like an imaginary alien might upon arriving on Earth. 
  • It was worse than the second grade spring blossom play when all I was supposed to say was part of a poem, "violets are blue," and instead, peed my pants. 
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Crime Royalty Series


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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Bambi's Top 10 of 2015!



Best Contemporary Romance

Kristen Ashley is my comfy pajama author. The one that I am most comfortable with and know will never disappoint me. So as long as she is writing, I will probably have one or more of her books in my top 10 every year. My all time favorite Ashley hero/book is Tack in Motorcyle Man, so I am really enjoying the continuing story of the Chaos MC in the Chaos series.  

Walk Through Fire gets the nod from me for 2015 because of the FEELS.  This book had so much of them. The heroine, Millie, had such a heartwrenching story. Then we have our broody damaged biker, Logan/High, who could also turn poetic on a dime.  And Ashley puts it all out there seamlessly. 

I did try to read this one on my lunch break at the office one day - big mistake. No one wants to walk around the rest of the afternoon with ugly cry face.

Best Romantic Comedy

I did Truth or Beard in audio during a road trip towards the end of the year, and I cracked up so many times. All the truckers passing me on the road must have thought I was a bit nuts. The story was full of quirky characters and small town southern goodness.  The narrator, Joy Nash, did a fabulous job bringing the heroine to life and making me nostalgic for my hometown in Tennessee. I really look forward to this series continuing in 2016.

Best Romantic Suspense

Shattered is a dark and twisty romantic suspense set in New Orleans that absolutely knocked my socks off.  I loved the bad boy anti-hero, Jax Fontaine (awesome name)! Cynthia Eden really gets into the head of serial killers in this series, so the suspense is superb. I picked this one as my favorite because of the hero, the setting, and because I could not figure out the villain until he was revealed towards the end.  I recommend reading the series in order as there is a lot of character crossover.

Best Historical Romance

This is the debut novel from Susanne Lord and I was very impressed. She drew out my emotions with good character development, connections and exceptional writing style. I fell in love with the vivacious and good-natured Charlotte and was cheering for her the entire book. In Search of Scandal was a beautiful and poignant story.

Best Ugly Cry Book

Speaking of beautiful and poignant stories, Kim Holden delivers one in Bright Side. This book was hard to review because it evoked so many emotions and ugly cries, and I didn't want to spoil that for anyone else by saying too much. Kate was the most inspirational heroine that I have read - her character made me want to be a better person. Don't start this one without a box of tissues nearby.

Best Dialogue

I am awarding Forever Your Earl the award for best dialogue this year. This book was so chock-full of witty one-liners and sexual innuendos that I was smiling for the entirety of the read. Eva Leigh/Zoe Archer delivered a clever dialogue and the best banter I have read between characters in historical romance.

Best Action Series
My ReviewMy ReviewMy ReviewMy Review

I came across A.D. Starrling quite by accident this year and fell in love with the Seventeen series, which is totally out of my normal genre. My favorite book so far is King's Crusade, featuring Alexa, the most kickass heroine ever.  Every book in the series has been packed with action and suspense that kept my blood pumping to turn the page as quickly as possible. Starrling writes intelligent books - so you feel a bit intellectual as you are immersed in mythology, chemistry, supernatural powers and other topics that will exercise your brain.

Best Audiobook Narrator

I have loved the Kate Daniels series since I first discovered it several years ago. However this year I decided to do a re-read of the entire series, but I did it in audiobook. I am so glad I did. I now have a bit of a girl crush on the narrator, Renee Raudman. She is uber talented, and I think it would be fun to watch her work. Her inflections, accents and personalities for each character are so unique and engaging, and she conveys emotions that will jump out and grab you. I look forward to more audiobooks by Renee in the future.  And of course, more Kate and Curran!
Renee Raudman
Source:  Tantor Media
Favorite Heroine

Lesley Young wins my vote for the most unique (and my favorite) heroine of the year.  Charlie suffers from pervasive personality disorder, which made her literal and logical to an extreme degree. I felt very protective of her character the entire time that I was reading. After 8 months and 300+ books, Charlie still stands out to me as the most distinctive heroine I read this year.

Favorite Hero

Nalini Singh always delivers a great story and unique characters, but she has outdone herself with Naasir. We met him in earlier books and he really stole the show from that point forward for me. Naasir is one of a kind, a hybrid creature/man who at times was childlike in behavior. I was utterly enchanted by him and hope there is much more of him in future books of this series. I encourage you to give this one a listen in audio if you are able.  The narrator, Justine Eyre, gave Naasir a wonderful accent that only added to his appeal.