Cover Reveal: Jump Zone: Cleo Falls by Wylie Snow

Jump Zone: Cleo Falls (Jump Zone #1) by Wylie Snow
Publication date: September 9th 2013
Genre: New Adult dystopian romance

All Cleo wants, all she’s ever wanted, is the acceptance of her tribe and the love of her family... and she almost dies trying to earn it. But the man who saved her, who found beauty in her flaws and loved her without condition, has cruelly betrayed her, and she’s dying all over again.

Was it all lies? His words, his promises, his kisses?  Lost in unfamiliar territory, Cleo will fight the forces that conspire to destroy her homeland, even if she has to do it alone.

Libra longs for freedom—from prison, from pretense, and from his birthright... but he’s caught in a political game where only greed and power can win, and Cleo Rush is the pawn. How much is he willing to sacrifice for liberty? His morals, his principles, the woman he loves?  No matter which path he chooses, people will die, their blood on his hands. And it could be hers.

To save themselves and their world, Cleo and Libra must overcome the double tragedy that binds their families in hatred. Together, they might live. Apart, Cleo will fall.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17619268-jump-zone

Review: Impulse by Debra Webb

Title: Impulse (Faces of Evil #2)
Author: Debra Webb
Genre: Romance - Thriller
Source: FirstReads
Reviewed by: Jasmyn
*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

The Player is a master in the art of torture and murder. No one had ever gotten close to capturing him until Special Agent Jess Harris targeted him with her relentless determination. Jess's actions may have cost her a job with the bureau, but the Player still wants his vengeance and he'll make Jess pay in ways she never imagined. The first victim is Jess's friend-and the killer won't stop there. With each new death Jess becomes more certain that the only way to stop the Player is to give him what he reallywants: her.

Chief of Police Dan Burnett is determined to give Jess her confidence and her life back. With an offer on the table, a position as deputy chief of a new division, can Jess risk staying in her hometown and putting those around her in more danger? Or will she walk away to protect everyone she loves-including Dan, who just may want her back in his arms? The stakes are high, and a single impulse will determine who survives the Player's final, deadly game . . . 

Wow! It's going to be hard to talk about this one and not give away any of the amazing plot. While this is book two in the Faces of Evil series - I don't think you would "need" to read the first book in order to pick up Impulse and enjoy it.

Jess has a history with a very nasty serial killer known as the Player - and now he's targeted her. He will find a way to make her feel the fear by picking off her friends and family one by one before he makes his final move. Jess and Police Chief Dan Burnett are in a race against the clock to find his victims before he can finish them off.

With lots of action and suspense - I flew through the pages constantly asking myself "oh my god - what's next?" With just enough going on that there are no dull moments, but not so much that it became overwhelming, it was the perfect combination of story and suspense.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Impulse
Buy at Book Depository: Impulse

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I want nothing more than to lie down in the mud, but as my knees buckle, his grip on my upper arms tightens, holding me up.  When he stands he pulls me with him.  "Can you run?"

pg. 149 ARC of These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This quote really showed me how exhausted she was.  I can't imagine wanting to just lay down in the mud...gross...I'd have to be beyond worn out to want to do that.  And then to be asked to run???  There must be something really great ahead - or really bad behind.

Cover Reveal: Love, Life, & Lemons by Magan Vernon

Life, Love, & Lemons by Magan Vernon
Publication date: August 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

Designed by: B Design

When life hands you lemons, sometimes you have to say screw the lemons and bail.

Seventeen-year-old Bentley Evans had it all. Then her Dad got laid off.

Now she has to move across town to a small apartment and leave her life of luxury for public school and a job at the local burger place. Just when her world seems like it's crumbling she finds solace in the unlikely punk boy next door, Kai Rowe. But as their relationship blossoms, a  jealous ex-girlfriend and a secret to tell that threatens to bring disaster back into Bentley’s life.

Author Bio:

Magan Vernon is a Young Adult and New Adult writer who lives with her family in the insurance capital of the world. She is in a very serious, fake relationship with Adam Lambert and constantly asks her husband to wear guyliner. He still refuses. She also believes her husband is secretly an alien, disguised as a southern gentleman.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17940365-life-love-lemons?ac=1

Author Links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Review: Obsession by Debra Webb

Title: Obsession (Faces of Evil #1)
Author: Debra Webb
Genre: Romance - Thriller
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

She thought she'd left the murders-and his obsession-behind . . .

Special Agent Jess Harris has spent more than a decade studying the many faces of evil. In her determination to stop a serial killer, she broke the rules, and it cost her everything. With her career in need of resuscitation and her love life dead and buried, Jess jumps at a chance to advise on a case that has the top detectives of Birmingham, Alabama, stumped. But the case forces her to confront all the reasons she put her hometown-and her first love-in her rearview mirror. 

Four young women have gone missing, and Police Chief Dan Burnett will do anything to find them before it's too late-even if it means asking for help from the woman who has spent a decade avoiding him. Jess agrees to lend a hand and welcomes the diversion of a new case, a new life to save to make up for the victims she's lost. But then the unthinkable happens: the crazed serial killer from her past follows Jess to Birmingham. The situation is becoming increasingly desperate-and time is swiftly running out...

Obsession has several layers to it (much like an onion as Shrek would say).  On the top we have the story of a series of kidnappings of young women that are unrelated on the surface.  Thankfully some characters follow their guy and keep looking - the kidnappings are very related in a very twisted way.  The police need Special Agent Jess Harris to put the pieces together - and it's a very interesting and disturbed ride that she has to take to get there.

The next layer we have is Jess, herself.  She is running away in a sense.  Running away from a career quickly going under, and from the serial killer that helped put it there.  This theme hovers in the background, occasionally making itself known so you don't forget it about it (it's important later).

We also have the layer that is Jess and Dan, the police chief.  With quite the history between them they struggle with their feelings for each other and how to act together so many years later.  Theirs is a turbulent relationship throughout the book, never quite sure what they are to each other.

A very exciting read, with a very HUGE cliffhanger - please  have book two ready to go or you will be up all night waiting to go get it and wondering what happens next.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Obsession

Buy at Book Depository: Obsession

Review: Pwned by Shannen Crane Camp

Title: Pwned
Author: Shannen Crane Camp
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Source: Contest Win
Length: Novel
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Reagan West has a perfect life. She’s at the top of the high school food chain as co-captain of the cheerleading squad and she’s best friends with the most evil girl in Albany, Tawny Perez, which means she’s never on the receiving end of her wrath. The only trouble in Reagan’s perfect life comes from the constant threat of her dirty little secret leaking to her fellow classmates and casting her into a lifetime of ridicule. 

Reagan West is a closet gamer and hates her role as the evil cheerleader.

But, as any well versed teenager knows, it’s better to suppress your own nerdy tendencies than to submit to a lifetime of being shoved into lockers and so, Reagan bravely soldiers through life as a reluctant bully… until a boy from her guild moves to her school and becomes Tawny’s next target. The newcomer threatens to reveal Reagan’s nerdy little secret and force her to come to terms with who she truly is. Now Reagan has to decide if she’s going to defend her fellow geeks, or if she’ll continue to be a total troll.

As an avid player of role-playing games (both table top and computer based), I totally understand the closet nerd mentality.  Reagan West is the perfect example of the popular gamer girl - one persona in life, another in game.  It can take a lot to merge them together and be who you truly are - it took an in game friend showing up as a new student at school for Reagan to find herself.  Her adventure in discovery and finding who she really wants to be was at times amusing and others thought provoking.  She will have to make the choice between her horribly awful "best friend" and fellow cheerleader, and the sweet and thoughtful boy that she talks to online every chance she can.

Hot Reads from Harlequin

Title: Fatal (Fatal #1)
Author: Maria Force

Washington, D.C., Metro Police Detective Sergeant Sam Holland needs a big win to salvage her career--and her confidence--after a disastrous investigation. The perfect opportunity arises when Senator John O'Connor is found brutally murdered in his bed, and Sam is assigned to the case. Matters get complicated when Sam has to team up with Nick Cappuano, O'Connor's friend and chief of staff...and the man Sam had a memorable one-night stand with years earlier. Their sexual chemistry still sizzles, and Sam has to fight to stay focused on the case. Sleeping with a material witness is another mistake she can't afford--especially when the bodies keep piling up.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Affair (Fatal Series #1)

Title: Fatal Justice (Fatal #2)

Author: Marie Force

She looked into the dead face of the man she'd dined with the night before

Standing over the body of a Supreme Court nominee, Lieutenant Sam Holland is hip-deep in another high-profile murder case. The fact that she was one of the last people to see Julian Sinclair alive just complicates things even more. On the plus side, her relationship with Senator Nick Cappuano is heating up—but it's also attracting a lot of unwanted media attention and blinding flash bulbs.

The pressure is on for Sam to find Sinclair's killer, but a new lead in her father's unsolved shooting puts her in unexpected danger. When long-buried secrets threaten to derail her relationship with Nick, Sam realizes that while justice can be blind, mixing romance with politics has the potential to be fatal...

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Justice (Fatal Series #2)

Title: Fatal Consequences (Fatal #3)

Author: Marie Force

The murder of two members of the Capitol Cleaning Service might’ve been just another homicide investigation—that is if one of them hadn’t been romantically involved with a married senator from Arizona. Lt. Sam Holland and her team are plunged into another complex case that at first seems open and shut. But as Sam tugs on the threads of the investigation she uncovers a deep, dark Washington secret that threatens the careers of some of the government’s highest-ranking officials. Racing to catch a killer before he can strike again, Sam and her fiancé, U.S. Senator Nick Cappuano, attempt to plan a wedding while her colleague Detective Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales faces life-changing news.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Consequences (Fatal Series #3)

Title: Fatal Destiny (Fatal #3.5)

Author: Marie Force

With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiance, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near, but their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue into a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being.

Sam agrees, but she can't let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness... With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Destiny: A Fatal Series Novella

Title: Fatal Flaw (Fatal #4)

Author: Marie Force

Back from their honeymoon, Senator Nick Cappuano and D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland are ready for some normalcy after the whirlwind of their wedding, but someone has other plans for them. When Sam discovers wedding cards containing thinly veiled death threats, she's not sure if she or Nick is the target.

Already on edge, Sam and her team start investigating a series of baffling murders. The victims are well-liked with no known enemies, and the murders are carried out in a clean and efficient manner. Unable to find a clear motive for the deaths, she feels like she's chasing her tail.

With no obvious connection between the victims, Sam soon suspects that she may be the ultimate prize in the killer's clever game. When the danger starts to hit a little too close to home, she has two goals: find the elusive murderer and manage to live long enough to enjoy her happily ever after.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Flaw (Fatal Series #4)

Title: Fatal Deception (Fatal #5)

Author: Marie Force

The wife of the White House deputy chief of staff has been beaten to death, and their one-year-old daughter is missing. D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland is in charge of the murder investigation, but she's forced to collaborate with Special Victims Unit detectives as well as thorn-in-her-side FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. Then, a cold case of her father's resurrects old hurts—a distraction Sam cannot afford.

As Sam's investigation heats up, so does Nick's political career—and the heat carries over to their bedroom. Will Sam put the pieces together in time to catch a killer and find the baby, or will ambition, greed and lies prove fatal?

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Deception (Fatal Series #5)

Title: Fatal Mistake (Fatal #6)

Author: Marie Force

A critical error.
A Cinderella season cut short.
A star player murdered. 

D.C. is recovering from angry riots after one player's mistake blew the D.C. Federals' chance at the World Series, and Lt. Sam Holland is determined to unravel the twisted web of motives behind the star center fielder's death. Was it a disgruntled fan, a spurned lover or a furious teammate?

While Sam digs through clues, her husband, U.S. Senator Nick Cappuano, fights for his political life in the final days of his reelection campaign as financial irregularities threaten his future. It's a distraction Nick can ill afford with Sam in the midst of another high-profile murder investigation and both of them trying to help their adopted son, Scotty, cope with the murder of a ball player he admired.

Determined to bring the killer to justice, Sam must root out the truth before another mistake proves fatal.

Buy at Barnes & Noble: Fatal Mistake (Fatal Series #6)