My Bad Boy Summer by Ann Herrick @ann_herrick #YA #Romance #Adolescence

Blurb:

Why do good girls fall for bad boys?

17-year-old Vija Skalbe wants to be an all-American girl—no matter how hard her parents try to impose their strict Latvian standards on her. She feels unsure of herself with one foot in each country.

Then Nolan, a folksinger, steals her heart at a coffeehouse. When Nolan stops at their table, it’s Vija’s friend, Caprice, who does all the talking. But it is Vija who gets his phone number—and later the back seat of his motorcycle. Soon she is cruising from one adventure to another, dizzy with joy, her new-found freedom and the excitement of being with the kind of guy who is a challenge.

However, when her father has a heart attack, Vija must take over running the family lawn-care business. She feels overwhelmed until sweet brainiac Joel volunteers to help. He shares the workload and lifts her spirits with his humor. But it is Nolan who fills her heart.

It doesn’t matter that Nolan wants everything his way. Or that he’s constantly eyeing other girls. Or that he can be pouty and punitive. Or that he says she’s seeing things all wrong. Until it does matter. But Vija’s in so deep. Will she deal with Nolan’s controlling tactics, or is she too far under his spell? Or will Nolan give up his bad boy ways for her?

About the Author:

Award-winning author Ann Herrick grew up in Connecticut, where she graduated from The Morgan School and Quinnipiac University. Her books have received the ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Readers Award, the IRA/CBC Children’s Choice Award and EPPIE Young Adult Finalist Award.

The vast majority of Ann’s books are HFN (Happily For Now, with the possibility of Happily Ever After. The characters are in their teens, after all, so Ever After would be a *really* long time.) Two books have positive endings, but not the standard HFN or HEA, but with those possibilities if the reader reads very carefully between the lines at the end of the story.

She now lives in Oregon with her husband, who was her high-school sweetheart. Their daughter is grown, married and gainfully employed, and has given them their only grand-dog, Puff, a bloodhound-rottweiller-beagle mix, and six grand-kitties. While Ann misses the East Coast, especially houses built before 1900, she enjoys the green valleys, fresh air and low humidity in Eugene, Oregon.

Review:

Maybe it’s because I candy-striped when I was in high school and had a patient my age in a body cast from a murder-cycle accident. Maybe it’s because I was terrified of my mother and of heights, so climbing out a bedroom window and running out to meet my friends wasn’t an option. Besides, there was nothing out there to break my fall from the second floor.

But all I could think about while I read this book was, “That girl needs to be grounded.” And, “Vija’s in an abusive relationship with that Nolan kid. She needs to get away from him. Why can’t she see how much Joel really cares about her?” Am I really that far over the hill? Although, at seventeen and even thirty I admit I was pretty desperate for affection and allowed myself to be used. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on Vija.

The fact that I had such a visceral reaction to the characters shows how real they were. And I did keep reading. But Vija really should have been grounded. And I guess I am getting too old for YA books.

Author Website:  http://annherrickauthor.com/

Heat Rating:  PG

Length:  151 Pages

Digital Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/Bad-Boy-Summer-Ann-Herrick-ebook/dp/B01G9F1F7Q

Thanks for visiting.

Deadly Undertaking by J. Q. Rose

Blurb:

Lauren Staab knew there would be dead bodies around when she returned home. After all, her family is in the funeral business, Staab and Blood Funeral Home. Still, finding an extra body on the floor of the garage between the hearse and the flower car shocked her. Lauren’s plan to return to her hometown to help care for her mother and keep the books for the funeral home suddenly turns upside down in a struggle to prove she and her family are not guilty of murdering the man. But will the real killer return for her, her dad, her brother? Her mother’s secrets, a killer, a handsome policeman, and a shadow man muddle up her intention to have a simple life. Welcome home, Lauren!

About the Author:

J. Q. Rose is an avid reader, photographer, and blogger with blogs about writing and growing a vegetable garden. Janet and her husband are snow birds who spend winters in Florida allowing them to garden twelve months out of the year. Summer finds her up north camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her grandchildren.

Review by Rochelle:

It’s all your fault again, Ms. Rose! I should know better than to pick up one of your books at bedtime. I had to reschedule a doctor’s appointment because I read all night and was too tired to go to the VA the next day. Or later that day. I get confused when I read all night.

Lauren Staab returns home to help with her family’s funeral home. Of course there are bodies there. When she calls 911 to report finding one on the garage floor, they think she’s pranking them at first. But she’s not, and she has to figure out who the faceless corpse was, why it was left in their garage, and whether she or her family is in danger—with a little help from her high school buddy turned hunky cop.

Needless to say, Deadly Undertaking was a major page-burner. I really did read all night and miss an appointment the next day. Well-drawn characters, suspense, humor (fortunately, my neighbors are either night owls or hard of hearing because I laugh loudly) combined with good editing—I was in heaven!

Heat Rating:  PG

Length:  159 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://store.payloadz.com/details/2395820-ebooks-mystery-and-suspense-deadly-undertaking.html

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40-50% of the net proceeds from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40-$2.99. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $1.70-$2.10.

Download the file from the publisher onto your computer as you would any other file. I’ve created a folder for books on my computer, with subfolders by source (Marketing for Romance Writers, Net Galley, Authors who find me on Kindle lists, etc.). That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Some publishers send books in all digital formats. If my Kindle breaks and my kids buy me a Nook, I won’t have to replace all of my books. If you have a Kindle and your hubby has a Nook, you won’t have to buy separate copies, so buying directly from the publisher can save you money.

Moving the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your e-reader charging chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder into which you’ve downloaded the book to Documents/Books directory on your e-reader. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle

All in the Family by Roseanne Dowell

 Blurb:

Taking over the police chief’s job in her hometown should have been easy for Callie Johnson. At least that's what she thought. After working in a big city, small town crime would be a breeze. What a surprise when she arrives to find her grandmother, the judge, accused of murder. As if that wasn't enough she’s attacked while walking to her car. Between criminal investigations, her nutty family’s antics and her Aunt Beatrice Lulu's matchmaking, Callie definitely has her work cut out for her. Will her grandmother be exonerated? Can Callie ward off her aunt’s unsuitable suitors? What other surprises were in store for her? More importantly, can she find the person who attacked her?

Review:

All in the Family is a pleasant read with funny, engaging characters who pull you in, keep you interested, and make you laugh out loud in public places. The book is well-paced, but there were some glaring editorial glitches. Most of the book is written in third person, but there were places where it jumped into first person narration. There was also some major head-hopping—changing point-of-view in the middle of scenes. I know Ms. Dowell and she’s usually very professional. I confess, I’m very disappointed. But then, she’s changed publishers. Maybe her new one doesn’t have the same standards as her old one.

As I said, All in the Family is a very pleasant read. If you’re not as nit-picky as I am, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot.

Length:  179 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $8.95

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/All-Family-Roseanne-Dowell-ebook/dp/B00F04GZH8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397332354&sr=8-1&keywords=All+in+the+Family+%2B+Roseanne+Dowell

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle