Cover Reveal & 1st Chapter: Chase Me by Laura Florand

 

As most know I’m a huge fan of Laura Florand’s writing so I’m thrilled to be part of the Cover Reveal for Chase Me her newest installment in the Paris Nights series (previously named Paris Hearts)! As a special bonus Laura Florand is sharing the first chapter of Chase Me, and it sounds sexy and fun!  After reading I'm dying to get my hands on this book!

THE ULTIMATE FANTASY ESCAPE IN LAURA FLORAND’S CHASE ME

Book 2 – Paris Nights – on sale April 2016

“Silky and addictive.” – RT Book Reviews

CHASE ME

by Laura Florand

April 2016 / Ebook & Trade Paperback / Original / Fiction

$4.99 ebook / 978-1-943168-04-0 / $14.99 trade / 978-1-943168-06-4
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon | Kobo |  iBooks

  

 

About the book:

Laura Florand, bestselling author of The Chocolate Thief, combines smart dialogue, provocative sensuality, laughter, a touch of danger, and two irresistibly strong characters in Chase Me, an ode to the romance of Paris and the beauty of falling in love.

A Michelin two-star chef at twenty-eight, Violette Lenoir could handle anything, including a cocky burglar who broke into her restaurant in the middle of the night.

Or so she thought.

Elite counterterrorist operative Chase “Smith” had been through things that made Hell Week look easy. But nothing had prepared him for a leather-clad blonde who held him at bay at knifepoint and dared him to take her on.

Now if only saving the world didn’t require he ruin her life.

Two people who thought they could handle anything now have to take on each other.

It's a battle neither one expected.  But with their futures on the line, they have nothing to lose...but their hearts.

Warning: This book contains one arrogant Navy SEAL, nights of Paris passion, and a woman who wants to have it all.

  Chapter One:

PRAISE FOR LAURA FLORAND’S NOVELS:

“Chocolate, Paris, and a Greek god for a hero; this delectable confection has it all!” – Library Journal Starred Review

“(Florand) captures the nature of love, its fierce, soul-warming necessity, in a way that will make you as happy as the finest bonbon could.” – Eloisa James, The Barnes & Noble Review, a Best Book of 2013 selection

“Florand outdoes herself with this exquisite confection… painstakingly crafted and decadent as the sweets it portrays, leaving the reader longing for just one little taste.” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“Adorable, charming, whimsical.” – Smexy Books

“Florand serves up a mouth-watering tale of slow-burning passion and combustible consummation that’s as perfectly crafted as the hero’s surprisingly complex confections and as silky and addictive as the heroine’s dark chocolat chaud.”– RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!, RT Seal of Excellence, RT Reviewers Choice nomination Best Book of 2013

“A delectable summer bonbon.” – NPR Books

“This is one of the cleverest, most persuasive enemies-to-lovers stories I’ve read in a long time.” – Dear Author, RECOMMENDED READ

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Florand burst on the contemporary romance scene in 2012 with her award-winning Amour et Chocolat series. Since then, her books have appeared in ten languages, been named among the Best Books of the Year by Library Journal, RT Book Reviews, and Barnes & Noble, received the RT Seal of Excellence and starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist, and been recommended by NPR, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. In 2015, NPR gave her the enormous honor of naming her Chocolate Kiss to its list of the Top 100 Romances of all time.

For more information, please see her website: www.lauraflorand.com.  

More Praise for Laura Florand’s Novels

“The battle of pastries is an erotic subtext for their love affair, and every bit as decadent.” – Publishers Weekly

“All the elements of [Florand’s] successful recipe for reading pleasure—headstrong heroine, dashing hero, sinful desserts, and sultry situations—come together in another deliciously entertaining offering.” — BOOKLIST

“Full of whimsical charm, great dialogue and what turns into a very sexy romance. The author weaves the food these two create into their romance so well… a truly charming book. Highly recommend.” – USAToday.com  

“Sweet, sexy, and all around delicious. I’m addicted. I can’t wait for the next book.” – Nalini Singh, NYT bestselling author

Review: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Plus One by Elizabeth Fama
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: April 8th 2014
My Rating: DNF

A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law. Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge--a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece--a Ray--in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol's violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn't forced them on the run together--a boy the world now tells her she can't love. Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day/night divide, Elizabeth Fama's Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

Plus One was another book where I fell hard and fast for the gorgeous cover, but unfortunately the book didn’t end up living to my expectations. The story had a lot of potential to go far, I was immediately sucked into this day and night divide; people were either Smudges (could only be up and about during the night or Rays (did everything during the day time). I was intrigued in finding out how this division first came about, and how people coped with the curfews in place. I know for one I wouldn’t be able to live the life of a Smudge. And plus when your family was divided like Sol’s family was, her brother had recently been transferred to a Ray and had no contact with her for the past two years, so had to care for her ill grandfather all on her own, along with going to school and working too. Sol really had a lot to deal with, but I liked how tough and resilient she was, she would literally do anything to care for her grandfather, even kidnapping a baby to see him happy.

The whole aspect of kidnapping the baby, mix up and being chased down was a part I really enjoyed, I couldn’t understand why and how the mix up would happen, I was dying to know who was behind it all. But most of all I wanted things to go back to the way they were for Sol, she had jeopardised a lot in taking the risk that she did, but I liked how she wasn’t all alone, the unexpected alliances she found in Jean and D’Arcy I did appreciate. I had a feeling of how things would develop between D’Arcy and Sol and I liked the slow burn relationship that came about. I didn’t really know if I could trust D’Arcy at the beginning, but as the story progressed I got to know his character more, the more I admired the risk he posed to himself and his family by helping Sol and to be honest he was such a sweetheart when everything was falling apart Sol. Also you know guy’s who continue to help or lurk about even when you’ve told them you’re fine, are the ones I could never resist.

The fact that I DNF’d Plus One was largely because up until a certain point the story went well over my head for me. I was truly invested in the beginning to find out what really had gone down, but after new characters were thrown in the mix and I wasn’t getting any answers you could say I sort of lost interest. I did want to find out how things would end for all our characters, but this year I’ve made the resolution that if a book doesn’t keep my interest up until a certain point, then I just admit defeat, instead of forcing myself through like I did with so many books last year, which is a real shame with Plus One as it had been a book which I’d really been looking forward to reading. Fama’s writing however was exquisite, so much so that I shall be looking forward to picking up more of her books. Hopefully they work out better for me than Plus One did.

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey
Publisher: Penguin UK
Publication Date: September 16th 2014
My rating: 4 stars 

THE 1st WAVE Took out half a million people. THE 2nd WAVE Put that number to shame. THE 3rd WAVE Lasted a little longer. Twelve weeks . . . Four billion dead. IN THE 4th WAVE, You can't trust that people are still people. AND THE 5th WAVE? No one knows. But it's coming. For Cassie Sullivan and the rest of Earth's remaining human survivors, the situation was already desperate when the 5th Wave hit. It's about to get worse. No one yet knows the depths to which Earth's conquerors - the Others - will sink in order to rid the Earth of the human infestation, nor have they guessed the heights to which the human spirit can reach. Characters introduced in Book One will come to the fore - and others will face the ultimate test.

I LOVED The 5^th Wave, so much so that I pre-ordered The Infinite Sea immediately. But being the mood reader I was I couldn’t get into The Infinite Sea no matter how many times I tried. So I was overjoyed when watching the film The 5th Wave (which I loved) reignited my enthusiasm to give The Infinite Sea another go and I’m glad that I did.

Things weren’t left in the best way in The 5^th Wave; I was worried that we wouldn’t be seeing much of one of my favourite characters that I had become thoroughly attached to. He’d gone on to show that despite being different he could still have strong feelings for another human being and how he put his neck on the line and the affection he shared despite lots of people not trusting him, made me want to have the faith that things would be okay. Once again the chapters were confusing to start off with as we didn’t know whose perspective we were being told the story from. I did enjoy the back story that we were able to get from particular characters, but once again I found myself gravitating towards chapters from my favourite characters. Even though the perspectives from other characters (like Ringer) were an integral part of the story, I wanted to go back to being with Cassie and find out what was going on with her and the others, so you could say that I was slightly disappointed of that small snippet we were given at the end and then left hanging for more! (highlight to  view spoiler) to be honest I was expecting more from Evan and Cassie, more of their romance to develop, it was clear that they perfect for one another. I love how with their kept promises, they always wanted to come back to one another and how Evan was always looking out for Cassie. But time really wasn’t on their side, with the odds stacked against the humans, them never knowing who was a human or not and the others upping their tactics, Evan and Cassie then could only make use of the time they had L

Despite this being my only complaint, I still enjoyed reading The Infinite Sea, I enjoyed the twists that Yancey gave us along the way (the introduction of Evan’s ex was a particular favourite of mine, and I enjoyed the anticipation of watching it enfold, honestly she was such a formidable force to be reckoned with). But also how when kids had hope that they were finally making some sort of progress, something else would kick off and all hope would get chucked out the window. But I liked how these characters continued to battle despite death and despair all around them, I especially liked Ringer’s strength as a character. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, I liked how Yancey sprinkled humour throughout the story, Ben was pretty banged up for the most of the story, but he was such a funny character, he was quick to bring a smile to my face with his witty comments. So overall although I didn’t end up enjoying The Infinite Sea as much I did The 5^th Wave, I will still be eagerly anticipating the release of The Last Star (thank goodness the release is just around the corner) to see how things will pan out for these characters that I have become far too attached to!