Second to No One by Natalie Palmer

"Things change. People change. Jess and I weren't above it."

Gemma's first year of high school isn't starting out the way she hoped. Jess is back from California, and before she can memorize her class schedule their summer romance comes to a screeching halt. To add to her misery the gorgeous new girl in school also has eyes for Jess, and despite Gemma's unfailing attempts to win him back she keeps finding herself alone.

But when a late night car crash lands her a three-month grounding and twenty hours of community service, she discovers that there's more to life than just romance and boyfriends.

Unpredictable and heart wrenching, Second to No One is the perfect continuation to the magical beginning of the Gemma and Jess romance.


Christina's Review: The sequel to Second Kiss is just as great as the first. I loved this book. I love the characters Jess and Gemma and I love reading about their relationship. They have their misunderstandings but they are best buds. It makes you wish you had a best bud like that growing up. I am excited to read more of the Jess and Gemma story!

Second Kiss by Natalie Palmer

'Even my most humiliating moments seemed funny somehow when I told them to Jess.' Gemma Mitchell is a normal girl who somehow gets herself into abnormally embarrassing circumstances. And while she thinks she's the biggest loser in school because of them, there are a few people in her life who would disagree. One of those people is her best friend, Jess Tyler, who is opposite to her in every way. He's popular, good looking, athletic, and intelligent, and he can't get enough of Gemma. But while Gemma is dealing with problems like wrong locker combinations and Valentine's Day dances, Jess is living in a world of serious issues that are foreign to Gemma, until she realizes that he's holding on to her for dear life. Humorous and true to life, Second Kiss is an entertaining saga about a boy and girl who find that their lives have a lot more meaning once they have shared them with each other. (Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

Christina's Review: I really loved this book. I love the relationship between Jess and Gemma. It is such a cute story.

Cover Reveal: Diamond Rings are Deadly Things

Adrielle Pyper knows how to plan a wedding, and she is especially good at pleasing bridezillas. But when her biggest client and best friend is murdered just three days before the wedding, Adri’s world falls apart. She moves to the resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, and starts from scratch. Thanks to Adri’s impeccable taste and unique style, she lands two celebrity clients, and her business seems headed for success--that is, until someone vandalizes the specialty wedding dresses she imported from overseas. The race is on to uncover a secret hidden within the yards of satin and lace before Adri becomes the next victim. With a delightful blend of mystery, toe-curling kisses, humor, and spine-tingling thrills, Diamond Rings are Deadly Things is a romantic suspense novel that will keep you turning pages long into the night.

About Rachelle J. Christensen: Rachelle J. Christensen is a stay-at-home mom of four cute kids. She has an amazing husband, three cats, and five chickens. Rachelle was born and raised in the small farming town of Rupert, Idaho which is adjacent to the setting in her latest mystery, Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things, due out this July. Her new website www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com partners with the characters from the novel to bring readers an interactive look into the mystery of crafting and wedding planning.
Rachelle graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in psychology and a music minor. She enjoys singing and songwriting, playing the piano, running, motivational speaking, and of course reading.
Rachelle’s first novel, Wrong Number, was awarded Outstanding Book of the Year from the League of Utah Writers and was also a 2010 Whitney Finalist. She is also the author of Caller ID, a nonfiction book, Lost Children: Coping with Miscarriage for Latter Day Saints, and a novella with a Timeless Romance Anthology, Fall Collection.

Visit www.rachellechristensen.com to learn more about upcoming books, or catch up with her on Facebook or Twitter.

Diamond Rings are Deadly Things is available at
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Deseret Book

Enter Rachelle's giveaway below! Thanks for stopping by!

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Be Mine (Book 2 in the Love and Trust Trilogy) by Shannon Guymon

Synopsis taken from Goodreads: Men are terrifying to Bailey Downing. Not that she wants anyone to know that, but with her mom insisting she fall in love and Kam Matafeo pushing her to feel things she doesn't want to feel, Bailey is determined to make a nice, safe choice. Dean Hogan is the perfect man for her. Smart, wealthy, charming and best of all, safe. But when her romance begins to unravel with Dean, she's faced with a choice: open her heart, or stay safe, cold and lonely. Kam is determined to help Bailey no matter what it takes and with the support of her sister Taryn and her brother Rob, she makes the decision to be brave. But Kam's ex-girlfriend Meredith isn't shy about wanting him back. Bailey will have to learn to fight for what she really wants. The question is, would she rather be safe or would she rather be loved.

Christina's Review: Another great read from Shannon Guymon! Be Mine continues from where Come to Me leaves off; only this time the story focuses more on Bailey and Kam. One thing that I love about reading Shannon Guymon's series are the characters from the previous stories show up and you get to read more about them and their story. In the Love and Trust Trilogy you get appearances from the Kendall sisters from the Love and Dessert series. It's so nice to sit back and relax with a good book. This one won't disappoint. It is a good clean story with good characters and good conflicts. I also love that you get to read the next book in the series so quickly. It always stinks to wait months or even years for a sequel to come out. And isn't the cover incredible!?! I'm excited to read book 3!!!

Rewind to You Cover Reveal and Giveaway

Cover Reveal, About the Author, a Sneak Peek of REWIND TO YOU and Rafflecopter Giveaway

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Author: Laura Johnston

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.

Genre: Clean Contemporary YA Romance

Release Date: September 15, 2014; Available for PREORDER now

One last summer before college on beautiful Tybee Island is supposed to help Sienna forget. But how can she? This is where her family spent every summer before everything changed, before the world as she knew it was ripped away.

But the past isn’t easily left behind. Especially when Sienna keeps having episodes that take her back to the night she wants to forget. Even when she meets the mysterious Austin Dobbs, the guy with the intense blue eyes, athlete’s body, and weakness for pralines who scooped her out of trouble when she blacked out on River Street.

When she’s with Austin, Sienna feels a whole new world opening up to her. Austin has secrets, and she has history. But caught between the past and the future, Sienna can still choose what happens now…

About the Author:

Laura's Official Website * Facebook Page * Twitter * Goodreads

Laura Johnston lives in sunny Arizona with her husband and two children. Growing up in Orem, Utah with five siblings, a few horses, peach trees, beehives and gardens, she developed an active imagination and always loved a good story. Laura enjoys running, playing tennis, sewing, dancing (deduced to dancing around the kitchen while cooking dinner these days), traveling, writing, writing and more writing, and above all, spending time with her husband and kids. REWIND TO YOU, her debut novel, was inspired by the loss of her father as a teenager.

A Sneak Peek of REWIND TO YOU:

Giveaway: Signed Copy of REWIND TO YOU and $25 Amazon Gift Card

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Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. The winner, chosen by Rafflecopter, will be announced here on April 29th as well as emailed. The winner will have 5 days to respond at which point a new winner will be chosen. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.

Author of Screaming Divas visiting the blog today

Welcome to the Screaming Divas blog tour. For this stop on the tour, we have Suzanne Kamata here to guest blog for us. Awesome, right? I got to ask Suzanne this question:

"I really like books that have a theme other than to entertain. What does Screaming Divas teach girls about growing up? What do you want readers to take from it?"

So take it away, Suzanne!

When I wrote Screaming Divas, I set out to entertain myself -- and future readers down the road. On the surface, Trudy, Harumi, Cassie, and Esther are not great role models. Trudy sets fire to a guy’s bedroom after he dumps her; Harumi lies to her parent; Cassie experiments with drugs and sex; and Esther has a hard time standing up for herself. They do a lot of things that I wouldn’t want my daughter to do, but I wouldn’t mind her reading about those things and understanding what the results of certain kinds of behavior might be.

Maybe the bigger takeaway here is that if you want to something to happen, you have to be proactive. The spirit of D-I-Y is all through this book, as well as my previous novel Gadget Girl, in which my main character creates a manga series and builds a following for it. In Screaming Divas, Trudy wants to make her life better and pursue her dreams of rock-and-roll fame, so she starts a band from scratch. They write their own songs, they get gigs, they make it all happen themselves. That was pretty much the whole idea behind the Riot Grrrl Movement, which inspired this book. So, yeah -- Girl Power! Girls can do anything. They just have to believe in themselves, and not give up.

Find Screaming Divas at
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Goodreads
The Book Depository 

If you would like to win a copy of Screaming Divas, enter on the Rafflecopter below. Thanks for stopping by.
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Blog Tour Stop for Borrowed Angel by Erica Kiefer

 

I am happy to be the first stop on the blog tour for the book launch party!

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

“A day at a time, a week at a time, we hoped we would survive this.”

Borrowed Angel is the poignant story of a mother who lost her first child to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). In this captivating book, the author describes her journey through the gauntlet of grief and reveals how hope can be found even amid tragedy.

Weaving spirituality with a practical approach to healing, Borrowed Angel reflects on motherhood, the grieving process,
and the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Christina's Review: Borrowed Angel by Erica Kiefer is a heart-wrenching and heart-warming story. It is non-fiction and is a very personal account written by Erica after she lost her baby who died from SIDS. I was in tears from page one. I could only read a few pages at a time so that my kids wouldn't ask me what was wrong. It started off so heart-wrenching as you read the account of her baby's death. As the book describes their grief and the ways they cope and hold tight to the gospel the mood of the book changes slightly and becomes heart-warming. She talks about the things that happened to help her after her son died, the people Heavenly Father put in her path to help her.  It is a really good book; full of hope and reminders to cherish the time we have with our loved ones. You feel her testimony through her words. There is life after death. Families can be forever! Even if you haven't suffered a loss this is a really good book. She has really good insights. It was a good reminder that our time on earth can end at any time. We don't know how long we have to hold our precious ones close. I know after reading this I gave each of my children more attention and a little extra love because I could. When you read this book have some Kleenexes nearby!

 

Click here to link to the launch party!

Click here to link to the Rafflecopter Giveaway!

 

Come to Me (Book 1 in the Love and Trust Trilogy) by Shannon Guymon

Book Synopsis taken from Goodreads: Will the past repeat itself? Rob hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to women and his epic failure with Kit  Kendall is still very fresh. Rob might be successful in sports and in business but does he have what it takes to be successful in love? When Rob gets to know Wren Tyler, his sous chef, he's willing to try again even knowing he could get hurt. Wren on the other hand, is very attracted to Rob, but she knows she's not in his league. So when he starts to pay her attention, who could blame her for being a little suspicious? But have Wren's past heartbreaks destroyed her ability to trust? And will Rob be able to overcome his past failures and become the man Wren needs him to be? Only true love will be able to heal Wren's heart and help her trust again.

Christina's Review: If you loved the love and dessert trilogy, you will love the first book in Shannon's newest Love and Trust trilogy- Come to Me. It was fun to read about Rob to see if he had learned from his past mistakes or would history repeat itself? Shannon does a fabulous job developing her characters. In fact you get to see more of the characters from the love and dessert series! The characters are great. There is more chocolate and other yummy sounding desserts and entrees! Reading this might make you hungry :) I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down. And look at that cover, it's gorgeous!! I'm looking forward to books 2 and 3!!