Green Frog Umbrella

Friday, January 3, 2014

Happy New Year Baby Fortune ★★★☆☆

Author: Leanne Banks
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley- Harlequin
224 pages

Lullabies and cowboys? USA TODAY bestselling author Leanne Banks kicks off the new Fortunes of Texas continuity with a story of a single mom and the sexy rancher who sweeps her off her feet!

As she rings in the new year in Horseback Hollow, Texas, single mom Stacey Fortune Jones tries to count her blessings. She has an adorable baby girl, Piper; supportive parents; good friends. Best of them all is Colton Foster, her longtime neighbor from the ranch next door. He always seems to be around when she needs him. Trouble is, she may be starting to need him a bit too much.

She's off-limits, Colton keeps telling himself. The tall, muscular rancher turns to mush every time he sees Stacey. But falling for his little sister's best friend seems wrong on so many levels. She's on the rebound. She's got a baby. She's...complicated. What's a big-hearted cowboy to do?


2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 3



Books I'm sad I missed in 2013:


Origion 
(Lux #4)












Black and Blue 
(Otherworld Assassin #2)












Terminated 
(Revivalist #3)









Archangel's Storm 
(Guild Hunter #5)









With All My Soul
(Soul Screamers #7)

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Feature & Follow Friday #8

This is a weekly meme hosted by: Alison Can Read and Parajunkee that is aimed to help bloggers grow their audience and make new friends. They feature two bloggers every week and have a question for everyone to answer...

This weeks question: What were your favorite books of 2013?

I actually did a whole post that you can read here: Looking back on 2013  Here are the books from that post... (in no particular order)



















Chance Creek Books 2 & 3

If you are wondering why only books 2 and 3... It is because I read book 4 first for the Clean Our Your E-Reader Challenge.  Then I read book 1 but never got to books 2 and 3.  When I saw there was a tour stop open for the Chance Creek Series I jumped at the chance. (no pun intended)  To view the reviews for book one The Cowboy's E-Mail Order Bride and book four The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire just click the links!


★★★★☆

If you read The Cowboy's E-mail Order Bride then you are familiar with Jamie and Claire.  Jamie is the ranch hand that grew up with Ethan and Claire is obviously Ethan's sister.  In the first book she is really snotty to everyone.  In this book we discover why she has such a bad attitude but at the same time the attitude wore on me.  She also struggles with her mothers past and her interior design business.  I really liked Jamie and the story was very good.  Basically Jamie bets Claire that she can't stick around and help with the trail rides.  She bets him that he can't flirt with the guests.  More of Rob's practical jokes show up in this book too and I find myself looking forward to them.  Especially since his book is next.




★★★★★

Yay Rob's book!  Now in this book we get to see why Rob is such a practical joker and we learn more about Morgan.  The half sister that is discovered in The Cowboy Wins a Bride.  I really enjoyed this book from start to finish.  I found Morgan charming and Rob to be a lot more than he had seemed to be in previous books.  I have to say this book ties with book four for my favorite.  I hope that Cora Seton writes more Chance Creek books.  I think the best parts of this book (of course) were the practical jokes.  But the irony was most of them were not played by Rob but on Rob and Morgan.  The end was great.





BLURB:
The Cowboys of Chance Creek Box Set, Books 1 – 3

Ethan Cruz, Jamie Lassiter and Rob Matheson have been friends since they were kids, and they’re about to get each other in a whole lot of trouble—women trouble, that is. When a practical joke kicks off a series of romances, the Cowboys of Chance Creek will never be the same.

Includes:

The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride (Book 1)

When Ethan Cruz finds himself with an e-mail order bride he never asked for, he’s ready to send her right back where she came from—just as soon as he gets to know her a little better. When Autumn Leeds answers a plea for a modern mail-order bride for a cowboy, it sounds like the story of the century, but when she reaches Montana, she’s surprised to find Ethan’s the perfect cowboy husband-to-be. Against her better judgment, her plan to keep her handsome groom at arm’s length while she writes a scathing article on the subject disintegrates into a night of passion spent in his arms.

Ethan knows he can’t keep playing this game – he has to come clean with Autumn and tell her the truth; about the practical joke and about the state of his ranch. Autumn’s in bigger trouble than ever. Not only has she fallen in love with the subject of her exposé – she might be carrying his child. Can she trust a man she’s just met when she knows too well that men always let you down?

Can a love based on lies last?

The Cowboy Wins a Bride (Book 2)

All Jamie Lassiter wants is to marry his best friend’s sister and settle down for the rest of his life in Chance Creek. He’s saved his money, bought into the Cruz Guest Ranch and he’s ready for that wedding, but Claire Cruz is nowhere to be found. Claire’s too busy leaving Montana behind to care about cowboys or their wedding plans. She’s got plans of her own – a trip around the world. She’ll go as soon as she buys her tickets and she doesn’t care if she ever sees Chance Creek again.

Desperate to change Claire’s mind, Jamie proposes a bet: give him six weeks to convince her to marry him. If he can’t, he’ll pay for her round-the-world tickets himself. Claire can wait six weeks if it means free tickets and a chance to get a little revenge on a man who once broke her heart. She’s got only one stipulation: Jamie can’t touch or flirt with her – or any other woman – while the bet is on.

Now Jamie’s on the run from a bevy of cowboy-groupie ranch guests, and Claire’s learning she cares about the ranch – and Jamie – more than she dreamed possible.

Maybe it’s time to lose that bet. As long as Jamie loses it first.

The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Book 3)

Rob Matheson doesn’t know how much longer he can keep up the tough-guy act. As his buddies get married one by one, he’s left with the sinking feeling he lost more than his dreams when he traded them for a thick skin. Now Rob’s father has issued a challenge – he’ll give 200 acres to the first of his four sons to wed. Could this be a chance to become the man he really wants to be?

Morgan Tate’s worked for years to climb the ladder to a top job at Cassidy Wineries, but Duncan Cassidy, the boss’ son, always stands in her way. Now he’s issued an ultimatum; marry him or he’ll make sure she never works in the wine industry again..

Rob offers Morgan a proposition – marry him and split the land. Now they’ve got sixty days to fall in love, and a passel of family and friends determined to keep them apart. Will it take the biggest practical joke of all to convince the world – and themselves – that they’re truly meant to be man and wife?

Now Available – The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (Book 4)

Bella Chatham will lose everything – her veterinary practice, her animal shelter, and even her home – if she can’t find another source of income, fast. So when her best friend signs her up for the hot new reality television show, Can You Beat a Billionaire, Bella accepts the challenge and hopes against hope she can win the ten million dollar prize. If she doesn’t, it’s bye-bye pet clinic and shelter, bye-bye Chance Creek, Montana, and hello to marriage to the billionaire for a year!

Evan Mortimer, billionaire, can’t believe he’s reduced to competing in a television contest to win a wife. Unfortunately, it’s the only foolproof way to secure his position as head of Mortimer Innovations. At least he’ll be able to dump his “spouse” at the end of the year; he’s much too busy to be tied down to a country bumpkin cowgirl.

As the contests heat up, so do the sparks between the contestants. Will either of them remember in time that it’s not who wins or who loses – it’s how they play the game that really counts?




AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Cora Seton loves cowboys, country life, gardening, bike-riding, and lazing around with a good book. Mother of four, wife to a computer programmer/eco-farmer, she ditched her California lifestyle eight years ago and moved to a remote logging town in northwestern British Columbia.

Like the characters in her novels, Cora enjoys old-fashioned pursuits and modern technology, spending mornings transforming a neglected one-acre lot into a paradise of orchards, berry bushes and market gardens, and afternoons writing the latest Chance Creek romance novel on her iPad mini. Visit http://www.coraseton.com to read about new releases, contests and other cool events!

Website: http://www.coraseton.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoraSeton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoraSeton

Cora will be awarding a $100 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.








Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 2




Day 2 The Pros & Cons of blogging:

I haven't been blogging all that long so I'm kind of winging it here...

Pros-

  • I can share my passion for books with other people who have a passion for books.
  • I don't have to see that glazed expression people get on their faces when I talk about books.
  • It's fun!
  • I feel like I'm part of something.
  • Sometimes authors stop by my blog or tweet links to my blog and that's just awesome.
  • It gives me an outlet to express my thoughts whether good or bad.
Cons-
  • Sometimes when I'm really into reading I just want to go to the next book and not write the review.
  • I feel uncomfortable writing negative reviews.
  • It's a lot more work than people seem to think it is.
  • It's not just about writing your own blog but visiting others blogs and sometimes I don't feel up to commenting.

2014 Book Blogger New Years Challenge Day 1


  1. Learn some web design- I want to make my blog prettier!
  2. Socialize with other blogs- I have a bad habit of reading blog posts and not commenting.
  3. Participate in challenges- I love challenges and they keep me motivated.
  4. Social media- I am terrible about updating Twitter and Facebook.
  5. Goodreads- I haven't been very active on Goodreads lately and I miss my friends!  
  6. Schedule posts- I have a bad habit of not writing posts right away and skipping to the next book.
  7. Update blogroll- I have added a bunch of new blogs that I follow but haven't updated them to the blogroll.
  8. Participate in more blogtours- It's fun.
  9. Make my blog a priority- As much as I love reading it's all for nothing if I don't keep blogging which I love!
  10. Participate in more memes- I love Feature & Follow Friday... I'd love to find more to add to that.


2014 Reading Challenges



I'm planning to read 50+ books for this challenge in 2014

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children

At first I was going to go with a smaller goal and work my way up but I figure I read over 200 books in 2013 I'm sure that I can manage to make it past that in 2014 and most will be older... 

According to my Goodreads "My Books" page I have 352 books in my to-read category.  Now, that may not sound like a lot to some of you but what you have to understand is when there is a series I only put the next book in the series in my to-read list.  Because, what if I hated book 4 and decided not to read book 5-8 of a series?  So keep that in mind while I do this challenge.  

There were several new books published in 2013 that I have not read yet.  I've become leary of reading a book I'm really looking forward to right away because I tend to set myself up for disappointment.  For example Allegiant.  If I had only waited and read reviews I could have saved myself that pain.  So, in addition to weedling down my ever growing to-be-read pile I would also like to read some of those 2013 new releases that I put off.

In addition to new releases I discovered many new authors this year that I'm dying to read.  Some of them I may not have added the books to my Goodreads to-read list yet.  But they are in my to-read list in my head!  During my experiment with reading Christmas books for 2 weeks this year I discovered some excellent new authors in the contemporary romance genre which I haven't read much of and am looking forward to exploring. 




I'm planning to read 25 books for this challenge in 2014
Aluminum – 5 books
Bronze – 10 books
Silver – 25 books
Gold – 50 books
Platinum – 75 books
Diamond– 100 books

Last I checked my NetGalley percentage was exactly 80%.  That was before a bunch of books that I had requested months ago got approved.  Now I have all this catching up to do!  The other day I was bored and requested a bunch more books so if I get approved for those I'm in big trouble.  The idea of posting which books that I read each month sounds great.    As far as Edelweiss goes I have been planning to sign up but have been to busy to do so.  I spent like an hour reading about how to sign up and request books but that's as far as I've gotten.  So my Edelweiss part of the 2014 goal is to sign up and request a few books.  I'll get back to ya on the rest. 


I signed up for both the vampire and shifter challenges on:

Both challenges are to read 10+ books... vampires and shifters.  Which are my favorite types of books so I will have no problem hitting that goal at all.









Here are the Categories 

Classics are the new black – read a classic novel
It’s a serial thing – you’ve read the first in a series (or even three of them), it’s time to read another!
Lost in translation – time to read a book that was first written in another language and then translated.
It’s about time! – read a book that has been sitting on your shelf for at least two years! (and haven’t read it yet!)
By the numbers – read a book with a Number in the title
Weird Science! – read a book that features some form of science – and maybe discover an untapped passion.
I just love a good Duet – a book written by more than one author.
New Guy in Town – read a Debut book written by a new author.
Almost Human – read a book from the perspective of an animal – or an alien – or a robot! (at least feature an ‘almost human’)
Chunkster-time! – read a book that is longer 500 pages. (Time to dust off War and Peace)
Random Rescue – go to a used book store and RANDOMLY pick a book! (could even be from a grab-bag)
Under-Aged Writer – read a book by an author who is not yet 21. Here's a little help.
Time for exercise – read a book that is set in or around a sport or exercise activity (like yoga or baseball). This can be fiction or nonfiction!
Make-Believe - This category is just for YOU! (and anyone who wants to try it!) Here is your chance to let others know what would get you outside of your Comfort Zone!


Here are the levels
I plan to read 8-10 books for this challenge.


I’m a little Scared: 3-4 categories
It’s not so bad out here!: 5-7 categories
Look at me, outside my comfort zone!: 8-10 categories
Outside In!: 11-13 categories
No Box can Contain Me!: I did ALL 14!



I thought about posting lists of books that I will read for the challenges but I have decided to wait on that. I may add to this post with more details but I'm afraid I'll end up changing my mind as I always seem to do every time that I pick certain books to read within a time-line. So, that's it for now! I'll be tagging all of my TBR Pile Reading Challenge books so everyone can keep up with my progress. Have a great new year ya'll!
























Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A Look Back at 2013


     I've decided to do a look back at 2013.  A lot has happened in 2013 as far as reading and reviewing books goes... for me at least.  I've read too many books in 2013 to show them all.  According to Goodreads, I read 229 books!  So here are some firsts and favorites as I look back on 2013:


  • I discovered NetGalley
  • Started this blog, a Facebook Page and a Twitter account
  • Learned how to blog and all about social media
  • Found Feature & Follow Friday
  • Met lots of book bloggers and made some friends
  • Compared BookLikes to Goodreads
Firsts-
     As odd as it may seem to some of you these genres are new to me.  I have read primarily fantasy, urban fantasy and paranormal romance for years.  So here's a few firsts in genres for me:  
  • Time Travel Romance
  • Contemporary Romance
  • Christmas Books
New Favorite Series:
  • Lux
  • Guardians of Eternity
  • The Infernal Devices
  • Fantasyland
  • Iron Druid
  • Shifters Unbound
  • Virgin River
New Favorite Authors:
  • Jennifer Sage
  • Rosanna Leo
  • Kristen Ashley
  • Mina Khan
  • Bobbi Romans
  • Peggy L. Henderson
  • Dana Marie Bell
  • Patrick Rothfuss
Favorite Books of 2013!
This was really difficult to pick and I'm sure later I'll think of some that missed the list.  Some that were on favorite series I didn't add to favorite books because I loved all the books such as Dana Marie Bell.  So, last but not least in this look back... my favorites! (In no particular order)





Friday, December 27, 2013

Feature & Follow Friday #7

I have been so busy that I haven't posted to this blog in two weeks!  I thought a good way to start back would be with Feature & Follow Friday.  So happy #FF everyone, it's good to be back!!

This is a weekly meme hosted by: Alison Can Read and Parajunkee that is aimed to help bloggers grow their audience and make new friends. They feature two bloggers every week and have a question for everyone to answer...

This week's question:
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! What books did Santa stuff your stocking with this holiday season? Do a holiday book haul for us!  Pictures!!!

Sweet Tea, Fried Chicken & Lazy Dogs is about life in North Carolina it's sort of an auto-biography of the authors stories that he posted in a newspaper.  Each story is only 2 pages so I've already read a few.  It seems pretty cute.  

Normally I go through non-fiction phases where I find books about things that interest me and research like a mad woman.  The China Study is that type of book.  I've only skimmed it but it seems to be a fairly scary tell all about why our diets effect our health.  Hopefully I'll get in a researchy mood and can read some of that one soon.  





Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Unlikely Angel ★★★☆☆


Author: Genie Gabriel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Goddessfish Promotions
210 pages


A child psychiatrist running from violence and a former bodyguard grieving the wife he couldn't save form an unlikely alliance to rescue her kidnapped children. In a crumbling mine tunnel on Christmas Eve, their lives depend on a mutt rescued from the streets, a determined mother and an Unlikely Angel.

EXCERPT:

Two weeks before Christmas, Mitch decided he had waited long enough.
“Come on, mutt.” Mitch grabbed his coat and a pair of work gloves. “Let’s go find the twins.”

Gabe bounded to his feet and bumped the doorknob with his nose. He sniffed and marked around the yard while Mitch pulled the Ferrari out of the garage. As soon as the dog jumped into the car, Mitch drove to a lot selling Christmas trees. He selected one that would fit nicely in Julia’s small apartment and strapped it to the top of the car.

The mutt hung his head out the window, riding in silent watchfulness until the apartment building was in sight. “Woof!”

“You have to be quiet or we’ll get caught smuggling you in.” Under cover of the falling twilight and a bushy evergreen tree, Mitch and the dog walked quickly toward Julia’s apartment.

As soon as Julia opened the door, the dog pushed inside and sniffed out the twins, quickly falling back into their game of hide and seek. Within seconds, the twins’ giggles let Julia know the dog had found the children.

“I brought a tree.” Mitch stood the evergreen upright.

“I see that.” Julia bit her lip as she walked around the tree. “Nice choice. Bushy all around.”

“I had three picky sisters who trained me in the fine art of Christmas tree selection.”

Julia smiled. “They trained you well.”

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