Dog-Eared Daydreams

Save the Date by Carrie Aarons Release Date: June 24, 2018
About Save the Date You know that pact you make with your childhood best friend of the opposite sex? The one where, if you’re both still single, lonely and hopeless at thirty, you’ll marry each other?
This is the story about what happens when you hit the big three-oh and have to make good on that pinky promise.
Personally, I think love, romance and all of that nonsense is a crock of, well, you know. And Reese Collins, the boy who used to put worms in my hair at backyard barbecues, knows that better than anyone.
But when he moves to the same city I’ve happily, and singly, inhabited for years, memories of oaths past resurface. Reese is like a dog with a bone; a really hot dog and that bone just happens to be me.
He won’t stop hounding me, and the crazy thing is, my frigid, traitorous heart is starting to cave. For my best friend.
It seems so far off, when you’re a kid playing Monopoly in your treehouse. But when that clock strikes …

Note: An advanced reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author via Give Me Books Promotions.
With every new release from Carrie Aarons, the more confident I am in the decision I made to put her on my go-to list of romantic comedy authors. In her latest published novel, Save the Date, Aarons gives readers the story of two single best friends, journalist and fashion blogger Erin Carter and NICU nurse Reese Collins, nearing their respective thirtieth birthdays. This wouldn't seem that big of a deal but these besties made a pact when they were fifteen: if they were both single by the time they turned thirty, they would marry each other. Erin's never taken that fifteen-year-old pinky promise of theirs seriously, but with Reese moving back to Philadelphia, it looks like he's intent on making good on it. His persistence is slowly knocking down Erin's defenses, but Erin's faith in love is non-existent, fearful of getting hurt. However, her reticence may end up hurting some…

Cry Baby by Ginger Scott Date Released: June 22, 2018
About Cry Baby Tristan Lopez is loyal to his brothers. He doesn’t really have a choice, born into a gang that has a chokehold on every kid that roams its streets. He gave his life to them willingly, knowing if he did then one day this kingdom, led by boys drunk with power and ruled by fear, would all be his.
He was loyal through it all. Loyal when prison took his dad away. Loyal when his face was touched by the cold metal of the rival gang’s gun. Loyal even though his mom begged him to run the moment she returned home from rehab.
He thought about becoming someone else. It was hard not to crave the life of a regular 17-year-old. It’s the only reason he stayed in school—to pretend. But he always fell back in line.
Loyal.
Riley Rojas didn’t belong in Tristan’s real world. She should have only been part of the fantasy, one of the many faces he got to pretend with amidst rows of metal chairs and desks and whiteboards with assignments. But …

Note: An advanced reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author via Wordsmith Publicity.
I may be in my forties but young adult (YA) stories continue to hold a special place in my heart. Maybe it's because this was the genre that originally set me on my way back in high school to becoming the book hoarder, erm, bookaholic that I am today. It may no longer be the number one go-to genre for me, but I do keep an eye out for those stories that call to me--those extra-special YA reads that capture my attention with their blurbs and synopsis and that I hope will lay claim over my affection while and after reading them. This is where an author like Ginger Scott steps in. You see, I've read a number of her novels and based on my experience with her YA books, her stories are the kind I won't regret reading. This was the case with Cry Baby.

From a young age, Tristan Lopez pledged his loyalty to a family tied together not by blood but by power and necessity. The gang his father had fo…

I Don't by Andrea Johnston Release Date: June 24, 2018
About I Don't “I Do.”
My name is Whitney Wheeler and I’ve dreamed of saying those two words since I was ten years old. I thought my dream was finally coming true.
Fate, however, has other plans. My perfectly planned life hits a snag eight days before our wedding. I walk in on my fiancé on the couch with someone who isn’t me. Trying to “blow off” that visual, and without thinking, I accept an invitation to take a road trip with the boy who broke my teenage heart.
Lucas DeCosta is all man, and surprise surprise—a male stripper. Beyond his movie-star good looks, his oh so sexy dance moves, and those big brown eyes, I find a kind heart and the overall goodness of the boy who still sets my heart on fire.
Each time he looks at me, I feel it.
Zing. Zang. Electricity. It.
When life hands you lemons . . . take a shot of tequila and hand fate the keys to your life. Because, sometimes the best thing to say is “I Don’t” before you can eve…

Note: An advanced reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.
What's a bride-to-be to do when she catches her fiancé cheating on her a little over a week before their wedding? Why go on a road trip with the first boy to break her heart, of course! Well, maybe that isn't what all women in that situation would do, but in Andrea Johnston's new standalone romantic comedy, I Don't, that's exactly what Whitney Wheeler does. She needs time to wrap her head around what the man she loved has done to her. She's been planning her wedding since she was a little girl and her boyfriend of three years turned fiancé was the perfect fit for her. He had all the qualities she demanded in the man she was to spend the rest of her life with. But after what he did, she's at a loss. Her best friends think she needs a breather, something to take her mind off recent events. That "something" turns out to be a stripper--a stripper named Lucas DeCosta, the boy she crushed o…

Daniel (Legacy Ranch #3) by RJ Scott Date Released: June 20, 2018 Love Lane Books

About Daniel Daniel worked hard at college, using coping strategies to shut himself off from any situation that might hurt. But, persistent nightmares and fears for his future drive him to revisit the past. Now Legacy might be the only place to give him a chance at peace.
After the tragic loss of his parents, Corey is head of the family now, and the welfare of his three younger sisters are what matters the most. Corey is desperate to find Daniel, tell him the truth and somehow convince him to keep secrets. Even if this leads to heartbreak.
When the world crumbles around Corey, and Daniel is running scared, Legacy ranch is their only hope.
A new story set in the world of Jack and Riley Campbell-Hayes and the Double D Ranch, Texas.

Read my five-starred review of Daniel.
Add Daniel on Goodreads.
Find the Legacy Ranch series on Goodreads.
Purchase Links Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU

An Excerpt from Da…