Book Highlight: Touch Me by Skye Malone

Title: Touch Me #1
Series: Touch Me
Author: Skye Malone
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Wildflower Isle
Publication Date: February 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-940617-30-5
Cover Designer: Karri Klawiter

Caitlin Faire was only expecting a simple night out to celebrate her best friend’s twenty-first birthday. But enter one gorgeous and mysterious guy, and inexplicable visions that can’t possibly be real, and you have an evening that becomes anything but simple.

Suddenly, she’s seeing visions everywhere. Being overwhelmed by strange impulses she can’t control. She thinks she’s going insane.

Until she almost kills the first man she touches.

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Dark eyes meet mine.

Everything slows, like the world melts into molasses and in it, I’m stuck. A guy stands in front of me, his body only inches away, and suddenly, he’s the only one in the room. The dancers fade into shadows and mist. The music is the low thrum that underscores the world. And there’s just him. Black skin, dark as I’ve ever seen. Sculpted arms hinting at a strong body, as if everything of him is muscle and sinew. He’s about my age, at least six-foot-two, and easily the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. And he smiles like he knows me. Like he’s saying hello.

His hand reaches out. Brushes a shadow, a girl, and shimmering mist ghosts away from her to caress his arm like a lover. His smile broadens.

The mist absorbs into his skin.

He nods to me, still friendly. Still like we’re acquaintances who’ve simply run into one another on the street. And then he’s gone into the shadows and the crowd comes rushing back again.

I gasp. Bodies buffet me on all sides, crushing me, and my exhilaration is shattered. The music is too loud. The lights spin like deranged kaleidoscopes, blinding me. I’m hot, covered in sweat, and the emerald green dress is glued to my skin. My pulse is flying but my body keeps moving like it can’t help itself, like it’s lost to the rush of swirling lasers, pounding music, and fog.

Fog that’s pouring into me.

My eyes go wide. Flecked with sparks of color and light, clouds of it rise from the dancers like mist over a pond. Tendrils stream away from those nearest to me, moving like charmed snakes to coil around my body, slipping over my dress, my skin, and then vanishing inside me.

It’s so not a fog machine. Not this. Sweet God, what’s happening?

Skye Malone is a fantasy and paranormal romance author, which means she spends most of her time not-quite-convinced that the things she imagines couldn’t actually exist.

Born and raised in central Illinois, she hopes someday to travel the world — though in the meantime she’ll take any story that whisks her off to a place where the fantastic lives inside the everyday. She loves strong and passionate characters, complex villains, and satisfying endings that stay with you long after the book is closed. An inveterate writer, she can’t go a day without getting her hands on a keyboard, and can usually be found typing away while she listens to all the adventures unfolding in her head.

Skye also writes YA urban fantasy as Megan Joel Peterson and is the author of The Children and the Blood trilogy.

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Release Blitz & Giveaway: Perfect Game by Collette West

Title: Perfect Game
Author: Collette West
Genre: Contemporary/Sports Romance

For New York Kings' first baseman Scott Harper, scoring women is easy. He's ready to get naked anytime, anywhere. But when a hacker leaks his nude selfies, he's unprepared for the scrutiny his full-frontals receive.

Carrie McKenzie has a love-hate relationship with her body. No longer the fat chick guys can ignore, she wins the job as the Kings' clubhouse reporter. With her svelte new figure, she nabs an exclusive interview with Scott to get his take on the scandal.

However, the two are already on a first-name basis after Scott came on to her in the hotel bar, and she woke up in his arms. The problem is that Scott doesn't do relationships and Carrie doesn't date jocks, yet the way they burn up the sheets is deserving of more than just a one-night stand.

Scott shows Carrie that he has a sweet, caring side beneath all the swagger. But can she really trust her heart to the biggest player in the game? 

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Excerpt

I turn around, and my eyes zero in on the door. My heart starts hammering in my chest because Scott is standing there looking absolutely incredible in a crisp, white shirt and tight, black pants.

"Oh my God, he came alone,” I mumble, hardly believing it to be true as my heart skips a beat. I thought for sure he’d want to show me up by draping some rail-thin model on his arm. “Damn it. Why does he always have to look so amazing?”

"'Cause he's Scott Harper,” Grey chuckles. 

Chase is waving Grey over, and she gives me a wry grin. 

“Poor Jake never stood a chance, did he?" She gives my hand a quick squeeze before moving through the crowd to join her husband.

I turn my back to the revelry and face the wall, trying to collect myself. This is going to suck so bad. Yeah, I accepted Jake’s offer just to piss Scott off because I'd thought he’d bring one of his past flames in a surefire tit-for-tat move, but he didn’t. Now, I feel like an idiot. I thought Scott didn’t want to be seen with me in front of his teammates because I don’t quite measure up to the standard he’s used to. But this is a couple’s party, and he flouted the rules and came here stag, willing to be the odd man out, just because of me. 

He'd asked me to go with him and I'd said no, but he hadn’t asked anyone else either. He'd been serious. He hadn't just offered me some secondhand invitation because his friend had beat him to it. He really wanted to go with me, and I messed it all up by coming with Jake. 

Damn it.

I feel myself start to shake, but then a familiar hand grazes the exposed skin on my back, making me shiver.

"Hey, Care Bear.”

I glance over my shoulder, and Scott’s face is so close that I can almost taste the velvety softness of his lips. I’m lost in the moment as I find myself turning into his strong, hard frame, loving how his hand never leaves my body. Instead, his fingers skim the curve of my waist, following my every movement. His gray eyes are stormy with desire when we finally come face to face. He wasted no time in coming over to me, and my heart flutters at the thought. He’s sending a clear message: He’s here because of me, and he doesn’t care who knows it. 

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About Collette

Collette West grew up as somewhat of a jock-nerd hybrid. Entering the world three weeks premature, her dad nearly missed her birth because he had seats behind the dugout for a sold-out, highly-anticipated match-up between two of baseball's biggest rivals. Not to be outdone, her book-loving mom taught her how to read by the time she was three. A love of the game coupled with an appreciation for the written word were instilled in Collette's impressionable brain from a young age. No wonder her characters believe in the philosophy: sports + romance = a little slice of heaven.

Splitting her time between the Pocono Mountains and Manhattan, Collette indulges her inner fangirl by going to as many games as she can from hockey to baseball and downloading every sports romance novel in existence onto her iPad. When she's not clicking away on her laptop, she enjoys walking her dog in Central Park, satisfying her caffeine craving at the Starbucks on Broadway and keeping an eye out for Mr. Right. But above all, she loves dishing with her readers. Email her at collette_west@yahoo.com.

She is the author of NIGHT GAMES, GAME CHANGER and GAME ON.

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Book Review: The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Author: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Poppy
Release Date: January 1st 2010
My Rating: 5 cups
Source:Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “Duffy,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out a way to adequately express how much I enjoyed reading this book. I loved it, actually. The DUFF is one of those books that surprised me, because I did not expect to like it this much.

The first thing that stood out while I was reading this book was how real the entire thing seemed. I felt like I myself was back in high school (thank God I wasn't!). The dynamics were all there, the relationships were there, everything that I remember high school to be was in this book. It might have to do with Keplinger's age while she was writing the book, but still, she had an amazing ability to capture all of that and put it on paper and make it seem genuine.

I adored Bianca and Wesley. Bianca is the type of girl that has a mildly bad time in high school. She's not the popular one or the pretty one. She doesn't fall for every line guys her age through at her, which I personally thought was awesome. She seems like the girl you'd deem "the crazy one", until you actually get to know her and understand her. I was so sad because of her family situation.

Wesley is a difficult guy to like at first. I didn't quite understand him in the beginning, but then certain scenes made me realize he is so not the guy I thought he was.Yes, he was always chasing girls, but what teenage boy doesn't? I liked how he respected Bianca's wishes and how he didn't try to push her to open up about what was bothering her. And eventually, like Bianca, I ended up liking him a lot.

There are so many good themes in this book: sex, alcohol abuse, bullying. And they are presented not in a preachy way, but in a natural, "shit happens sometimes" kind of way. However, the most important thing in my opinion, is when Bianca is shown that everybody has self esteem issues and that everyone has that something they don't like about themselves. That I think was the best lesson Bianca got in this book and that is why I loved The Duff so much.