Guest Review by Julie: Leave the Light On by Laura Trentham

Series:	Cottonbloom #4
Pub. Date:	Aug. 1, 2017
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Length:	350 pages
Source:	NetGalley

Sutton Mize is a good girl who toes the lines, worries about appearances, and always does what's expected of her. Her engagement to a prominent attorney is more of a merger than actual relationship and she's..mostly okay with that. Until she's presented with an incriminating set of panties, belonging to her bestie, under the front seat of her fiancée's Camaro..that she just drove in to Abbott's garage to have restored as a wedding gift. To make matters worse, Wyatt Abbott, the bane of her childhood existence, is there to witness her mortified reaction. Instead of embarrassing her, however, he agrees to her rash plan of a fictional relationship as payback. 

Guest Review by Julie: Forever Mated by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #4
Pub. Date:	Jan 10, 2017
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	100 pages
Source:	Author

Professionally, Kyra is a confident and intelligent woman. When it comes to relationships, however, that same confidence disappears leaving her struggling on the dating front. She's made a fool of herself once in the love department and has no desire to repeat the experience. But there's just something about Zac that calls to her inner lioness. 

Guest Review by Julie: Break Me by Tiffany Snow

Series:	Corrupted Hearts #2
Pub. Date:	March 14, 2017
Publisher:	Montlake Romance
Length:	316 pages

Picking up two months after Follow Me ends, China is discovering the ups and downs of dating and relationships. And it's not all good. To the amusement of social media, her romance with Jackson has its fair share of hiccups. He's looking for commitment while she's...hesitant. Some of her waffling over Jackson was petty, but that may be the age thing along with her OCD quirks. Her relationship with Clark, however, appeared to be just friends, until Clark opened up over a personal matter. Now I'm wondering (okay, I'm hoping) if things will get complicated down the road...

Guest Review by Julie: Follow Me by Tiffany Snow

Series:	Corrupted Hearts #1
Pub. Date:	Oct 4, 2016
Publisher:	Montlake Romance
Length:	295 pages

China is a smart, socially awkward, computer programmer whose OCD tendencies border severe. Most of the time, I got a kick of her personality. Sometimes her extreme logic was annoying though and I couldn't decide if it helped or hindered her in some situations. 

Guest Review: Survival Instinct by Janie Crouch

Series:	Instinct #3
Pub. Date:	July 11, 2017
Publisher:	Calamity Jane
Length:	244 pages
Source:	Tasty Book Tours

Chloe Jeffries is a petite control freak with endless energy. Writing for a popular tv show let's her channel that energy into a lucrative and creative endeavor, but it's the voices in her head that provide the show with its entertaining storylines. Unfortunately, one of the voices is louder than most and has decided to stalk someone on set. Chloe doesn't know who the intended victim is, but she's willing to help figure it out..within reason, of course. She never expected someone like Shane Westman to show up and disrupt the little bubble of creativity she's created on the set, nor did she expect to be attracted to someone who has the personality of an ice cube.

Guest Review by Julie: This Kitten's Got Curves by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #3
Pub. Date:	Dec 28, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	102 pages
Source:	Author

Burned by what she believed to be her forever love, Rachel has sworn off men. However, this sassy female doesn't stay down and out for long. At the urging of her best friend, Rachel decides to use the dating app to get back on the cart. Gareth needs to find his mate before his birthday or he may lose the alpha position to his pack and that's not an option. Even though he's been looking, nothing satisfies his bear and in semi-desperation, he decides to use the Shifter app. However, with one glance at Rachel's profile, both man and bear are taken. 

Guest Review by Julie: Hungry as a Wolf by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #2
Pub. Date:	Dec 7, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	105 pages

Luke has been hot for Jasmine, his best friend Theo's little sister, for a long time. In theory, he feels it's deeper than a physical attraction. Unfortunately, he can't really test that theory because of the unspoken 'best friend code'-and the "Do not touch little sister" message is getting harder and harder to ignore each day. However, when Luke learns Jasmine is just as attracted to him..well, with the alpha lion away this wolf shifter is coming out to play! 

Guest Review by Julie: Must Love Lions by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #1
Pub. Date:	Nov 28, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	116 pages

Max is a relatively open minded lion shifter, creating a dating app to see if shifters and humans are capable of being compatible enough to have a romantic relations-from a scientific aspect of course. Alexis is a human reporter sent to interview Max regarding the app and unlike Max, she appears to be in the camp of separate species..until she actually gets to know a little bit about Max. 

Guest Review by Julie: Diffraction by Jess Anastasi

Series:	Atrophy #3
Pub. Date:	Jan 2, 2017
Publisher:	Entangled
Length:	352 pages

Until now, I hadn't really noticed Kira. I knew she was the ships doctor but she typically stayed in the background. She's smart and quiet, with a deep seated need to help others, regardless of the rules. And Varean has her breaking all sorts of rules. At the start of the story, her connection with Varean felt a like insta-lust but as they progressed, it morphed into deeper feelings neither would admit to, giving a poignancy to their relationship for most of the story. 

Varean was interesting. He's a quiet guy, who has a lot of abilities, but never uses them to free himself. He's thrown his lot in with Kira with mixed results they need to iron out. He has plenty of secrets-whether he knows them or not is another matter-and there's no doubt he has feelings for Kira, but finding out who he really was threw me for a loop! 

Their romance was the humming sound in the background. Unlike Zander and Mae, Kira and Varean didn't have a lot of personal time together. Varean and Kira's romance had a solemn tone, if you will, than the others did, but I think it fit the storyline since Diffraction was a darker book than the first two were. 

Instead of romance driven, Diffraction was plot driven. And man, what a story it told! It felt like the in-between book of the series with all the information it contained. Plenty of suspense, Rian's crew splits up when they have to abandon ship, new allies are introduced, favorite characters gave me a few surprises and tears, and a few twists had me glued until the end. Obviously, I've enjoyed this series since I've read three books in two days!

Reviewed by Julie H. for Bambi Unbridled

Julie is a transplanted military brat that now calls the Midwest home with her own romantic hero, daughter and two furbabies. While she toils the day away in a medical office, she would really rather be reading! Julie loves historical romance, steampunk, romantic suspense, military romance (duh!), paranormal and urban fantasy.  She loves a kickass take-charge heroine, lots of action, and the all-important HEA. Julie can get down with an alpha male, but she does not discount a nerdy hero with a sexy brain.

Julie and Bambi met at the RT Convention where they found themselves standing in many lines, sharing their similar reading interests, and fangirling over attending authors.

Guest Review by Julie: Slow Burn by Pamela Clare

Series:	Colorado High Country #2
Pub. Date:	Sept. 19, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	287 pages
Source:	NetGalley

As best man and maid of honor, Eric and Victoria will be spending a lot of time together helping with Lexi and Austin's wedding. Victoria's only back for the week, and although Eric has been warned about hitting on her, he's not going to decline if she hits on him. However, the more time they spend with each other, the harder it is to pretend it's just lust and not something more. 

Guest Review by Julie: The Darkest Corner by Liliana Hart

Series:	Gravediggers #1
Pub. Date:	May 23, 2017
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Length:	368 pages
Source:	NetGalley

A small town mortician, Tess Sherman is sweet and smart with a red head's temperament. She's also introverted, a terrible cook, and talks to herself more than she should. She's been saving her pennies to purchase the local mortuary, but someone else sweet talks the owner into selling out to them. Suddenly, Tess finds herself managing a group of men who are definitely not in the mortuary business. One in particular catches her eye, but she's been burned by a bad relationship and is no hurry to start again. 

Deacon Tucker is a man of many secrets. Burned from his previous job because of his moral compass, he now leads a select group of men called The Gravediggers- an intelligence strike force team created to combat domestic terrorism. He's had his eye on Tess for the last two years, but his current position isn't tailored for a relationship. When his boss tells him to bring her in on the current situation, he decides he's going to go for full disclosure with Tess and hope for the best.

Tess and Deacon's romance came on fast and hot! They had an easy banter between them that was fun to read and their chemistry provided amusing fodder for the rest of the town to feast on. 

The vast amount of information on mortuaries did drag the story out at times, but the unique environment had me curious enough that I learned more than I wanted..and discovered a morbid interest in a topic that gives me the willies just saying the word. Filled with an amusing variety of characters, Last Stop embodies the nosy, yet protective, nature that comes with living in small towns. Tess's gambling-addicted mother and Russian mafia connected grandmother raised my eyebrows with their antics a few times, while the "binocular watching" women as the Gravediggers work out had me cracking up!

The first book in the series, The Darkest Corner was a lot of informational set-up for further books in the series. The concept of the Gravediggers is pretty nifty with "dead" guys trying to keep the spread of terrorism from home soil and reminded me a little of Lora Leigh's Elite Ops series-except the Gravediggers had more mystery than suspense. My curiosity is now spiking about the guys' pasts, and I'm hoping the next book will provide more answers!

Book Trailer

About the Author

Liliana Hart is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly Bestselling Author of more than 40 titles. After starting her first novel her freshman year of college, she immediately became addicted to writing and knew she'd found what she was meant to do with her life. She has no idea why she majored in music.

Since self-publishing in June of 2011, Liliana has sold more than 3 million ebooks and been translated into eight languages. She's appeared at #1 on lists all over the world and all three of her series have appeared on the New York Times list. Liliana is a sought after speaker and she's given keynote speeches and self-publishing workshops to standing-room-only crowds from California to New York to London.

Liliana can almost always be found at her computer writing or on the road giving workshops for SilverHart International, a company she founded with her partner, Scott Silverii, where they provide law enforcement, military, and fire resources for writers so they can write it right. Liliana is a recent transplant to Southern Louisiana, where she's getting used to the humidity and hurricane season, and plotting murders (for her books, of course).

Find Liliana Hart Online

Website Mailing List Goodreads Amazon Facebook Twitter Pinterest

---

Reviewed by Julie H. for Bambi Unbridled

Julie is a transplanted military brat that now calls the Midwest home with her own romantic hero, daughter and two furbabies. While she toils the day away in a medical office, she would really rather be reading! Julie loves historical romance, steampunk, romantic suspense, military romance (duh!), paranormal and urban fantasy.  She loves a kickass take-charge heroine, lots of action, and the all-important HEA. Julie can get down with an alpha male, but she does not discount a nerdy hero with a sexy brain.

Julie and Bambi met at the RT Convention where they found themselves standing in many lines, sharing their similar reading interests, and fangirling over attending authors.

Hosted by:

Guest Review by Julie: Power Game by Christine Feehan

Series:	GhostWalkers #13
Pub. Date:	Jan. 24, 2017
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	464 pages

Ezekiel Fortunes is a skilled doctor, has the mad skills of a hunter, telepathic, and he's extremely loyal to the select few who've earned it. So he sounds like a total bad ass, yet he only adds to his credentials with his behavior towards Pepper and Wyatt's triplets. (see Spider Game for the backstory, but in short, the triplets were an experiment gone wrong and they produce venom in their systems that kill). He's a total marshmallow and thought nobody knew about his jaunts out with the girls, singing and telling stories..swoon worthy moment, lol! With babies on the brain, Ezekiel becomes aware of how empty his life is beyond the team and his siblings. He's a protector, but wants someone who is independent and not afraid to lean on him, and vice versa, when needed; a tall order that's hard to fill. 

Guest Review by Julie: A Tangled Web by M.L. Sparrow

Pub. Date:	Feb. 1, 2017
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	94 pages
Source:	Author

I'm always leery of picking up a young adult story. I'm never sure if the story will be dripping in teenage angst or if it will be balanced teenage angst. Having said that, A TANGLED WEB turned out to be a really good-and reasonably balanced-read. And I admit it, I was leery when I started reading.

The story began slowly; teenage angst, lies, and misunderstandings played out before my eyes and had me questioning if I wanted to continue on. Happily I did, and found myself caught up in the earthquake, the ensuing aftermath and the wait to see what happened next. That part alone had me holding my breathe in high anticipation of an ending I wasn't sure would happen!

Guest Review by Julie: The Undying Legion by Clan and Susan Griffith

Series:	Crown & Key #2
Pub. Date:	June 30, 2015
Publisher:	Del Rey
Length:	336 pages

Cast of characters:

Malcolm MacFarlane-a monster hunter

Simon Archer-magician/scribe

Kate Ansthruther-exemplary alchemist 

Penny Carter-gadget queen galore

Charlotte-tweenie werewolf 

Then toss in some Egyptian gods, nasty blood rituals, a crazy necromancer, zombies, and a fantasy/steampunk London, only to discover a story that seems to combine some of my favorite movies- A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Sherlock Holmes comes to mind-into a fast-paced, suspenseful, and convoluted storyline I was fascinated with from start to finish! 

Guest Review by Julie: Lethal Game by Katie Reus

Series:	Red Stone Security #15
Pub. Date:	Jan. 10, 2017
Publisher:	KR Press, LLC
Length:	180 pages

Lethal Game has pulse pounding suspense and action along with the bonus of two great romances! A second chance for old flames, government secrets being sold, Russian mercenaries, a most-wanted hacker extraordinaire, and one cute dog.