* Jacquelyn Frank: Author Override | UTC Reviews
* Skye Warren: Author Override
* Narrator Lorelei King: Interview
* Stephanie Tyler: Interview
* Carolyn Crane: Author Override | UTC Review
* J.T. Geissinger: Interview | UTC Review
* Men and Women of the Military Giveaway Hop
* Keri Arthur: Interview | UTC Reviews

Tuesday 31 January 2012

UTC Insider: February 2012


Reading on the Dark Side:
This month we will be featuring Lisa Kleypas' Wallflowers and Hathaways series. Both of which are favourites of ours!

Battle of the Covers: 
Historical Romance books have some of the most cheesiest covers EVER! So we are picking our favourites this month on Battle of the Covers!



Take our button for this event!




My Book Boyfriend Blog Hop - Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series

ReadingBetweentheWinesBookClub


UTC is happy to be participating in My Book Boyfriend Giveaway Hop hosted  by Reading Between the Wines Book Club & As the Pages Turn . The hop will run from 12:01 AM February 1st through to 11:59 PM February 5th, 2012.

What better way to celebrate the month of LOVE then with your favorite book boyfriend? Whether you have a valentine or not, the swoon worthy heroes we find in romances can’t be matched anyway! So why not put on those naughty underwear and curl up with one of these steamy reads this year instead? Make you Valentine’s Day perfect by joining the My Book Boyfriend Giveaway Hop where fellow bloggers offer you the chance to win some of their favorite book boyfriends!




Since February is our Historical Romance month and we are hosting A Scandalous Affair, we are keeping with the theme and decided to give away one of our personal favourite historical romances. Before Karen Marie Moning wrote the Fever series and Urban Fantasy, she wrote Historical Romance. So we are giving away the winner's choice of ANY of the books from Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series.
 




 
Between these books, Annie and Angela have claimed most of the men from this series. We're such harem hoarders :) But can you really blame us?




 
Annie's Harem: 
Circeen Brodie from The Highlander's Touch
Daegus from The Darkest Highlander
Adam Black from The Immortal Highlander

Angela's Harem:
Drustan from Kiss of the Highlander
Cian from Spell of the Highlander

The rest of them you can fight over :)

Created by Lina aka KMM Fan #1

There are seven books in the series:
 


You get to pick which one you win

To enter, please:
1. Fill out the form below
2. Follow us 
3. Like our Facebook Page


Keep Hopping

Review: All Fall Down by Megan Hart

All Fall Down
by Megan Hart

Thought provoking life story. All Fall Down is not your typical Megan Hart book. At least not so much what I'm used to reading from her, although I know she started out writing this type of fiction. However, it's one of those books that you want to stop reading but you can't put it down.

Extremely well written, it tells us the story of Sunshine. She's 19 years old and has three kids, Happy, Bliss and Peace. Sunny was raised in what you would normally call a cult house. Her mother had left her father to join this "religion" and that's all Sunny has known her whole life.

Until one day her mom makes her run away from the house with her three kids and go find her father. This right before everyone in this cult house commits mass suicide. She is now at the mercy of a father who didn't know about her and who has remarried.

Liesel, his new wife, has always wanted children. Now this seems like a gift that she gets to have 3 little ones to care for.  The struggles that every character in this book goes through are deep and heartbreaking. Sunny, living in the world with the blemished. Liesel being a mother. Christopher dealing with a daughter that reminds him of the woman he once loved and left him. Some of them a bit traumatic. Some of them tender.

No happy ending for this story. Maybe a hope it can get better at some point ending. That was the only part I wasn't too happy with in this story, but in a way, it's the only realistic ending for someone that has been through what Sunny has. 


Purchase Links: Amazon

ARC Review: Behind Closed Doors by Sherri Hayes

Behind Closed Doors
by Sherri Hayes
(Daniels Brothers # 1)

Behind Closed Doors is an awesome start to this series and a series I’m sure to follow. Though it’s slow to start, the romance, sexual tension and suspense to this story were enjoyable.

The Daniels Brothers Series consists of four brothers, Paul, Christopher, Trent and Gage. Chris, our first brother, is a divorcee of three years, a proud business owner, and he's enjoying his life alone without the trouble of any women. He has long sworn off women since his ugly divorce until a beautiful woman moved into the apartment below. And to his surprise, this woman will put him in the unavoidable position of becoming her protector.

It’s sweet how a present-time man can still bring out his “defender gene” when its called upon.  Ms. Hayes had not only created a 20th century Knight in shining armor, she has also given us a fine Alpha male. Oh yes, this alpha know when to mark what belongs to him.

Elizabeth Marshall is a beautiful woman indeed, with a hell of a history. She had moved to Springfield to get away from her past, only to have it haunt her present. Unfortunately, moving one hour away is just not far enough to hide or to start a new life.  This girl just had the worse luck to have a stalker who means business.  She’s not my favorite heroine though I commend her for dealing with the issues at hand with composure. A survival of the fittest if you will.

Both hero and heroine quickly absorbed me into their world of “that HOT guy/girl next door” scene. It’s a typical scene but one that never gets old once fully immersed into it. The sexual tension is definitely evident and their coming together was explosive!

I cannot wait to read more of these brothers and especially Trent. I love a good flirt. Unfortunately, I have heard from a “twitter bird” that his story will be last (boo). But alas this twitter bird promised the next brother will be very flirtatious and possibly even more seductive. (twitter bird is Ms. Hayes herself) *giggles*

*ARC provided by publisher
Release Date: February 9, 2012

Coffee Talk
February 9, 2012
Come to the chat about this book
Click here then you will have to sign in and select Book Release Party room!

Follow the Tour

4 Feb 2012: Guestpost at http://www.maldivianbookreviewer.com/
6 Feb 2012: Review and guestpost at http://vampirekiss1967.blogspot.com/
8 Feb 2012: Interview at http://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com/
Enter for a chance to win an ebook copy of Behind Closed Doors.

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2. Fill out the form below


Author Override: Vivian Arend

 
Author Override is the place where authors take the reins and take you on a journey into their world. Some may allow you into their private writing dens. Others may take you along with them on research trips or interviews. Whatever the case may be, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride because here you’ll get an in-depth look into an author’s musings.


My very wonderful friend Beth Williamson (who also writes as Emma Lang) and I got to talking, and we realized both of our next releases feature a to-die-for hero by the name of Matthew. Both books are westerns, although hers is historic and mine is contemporary.

It was too good a chance to miss. So we’ve arranged a little “Ode to Matthew”—five lovely little tidbits proving these cowboys are very good at a lot of things. We hope you’ll enjoy taking a ride with our boys! (The full list of places to visit to read tidbits is listed at my blog.)

In this post we’re going for Cowboys Are Hard All Over…


~~**~~
Matthew
Circle Eight, Book 1

By Emma Lang

A man learns to hold what is his…

It is a vast spread in the eastern wilds of the newly independent Republic of Texas, the ranch their parents fought for … and died for. To the eight Graham siblings, no matter how much hard work or hard love it takes, life is unthinkable without family…

In the wake of his parents’ murder, Matthew Graham must take the reins at the Circle Eight. He also needs to find a wife in just thirty days, or risk losing it all. Plain but practical, Hannah Foley seems the perfect bride for him . . . until after the wedding night.

Their marriage may make all the sense in the world, but neither one anticipates the jealousies that will result, the treacherous danger they’re walking into, or the wildfire of attraction that will sweep over them, changing their lives forever.
~~**~~

Enjoy a snippet from MATTHEW:

She walked through the darkened house with a familiarity she didn’t have a week earlier. It was beginning to feel like home to her. She navigated her way into the kitchen and found a bucket.

“What are you doing?” Matthew’s quiet question didn’t startle her this time.

“Keeping a promise.”

He sat at the table and watched her. Perhaps it was a dream because she wanted him there. The house was so quiet, every move she made seemed to echo. She filled the bucket with warm water, then submerged the nightdress, soaped it up, then rinsed it thoroughly. As she squeezed out the water, Matt made a strange noise.

Hannah peered at him through the darkened room and realized he was shirtless. Her stomach flipped and her body throbbed once, hard and fast. He watched her and groaned over what he saw. What did that mean?

She set the nightdress aside and cleaned the small area on the sheets that had been soiled. The soap was slippery in her hands as she worked. She also kept glancing at her husband out of the corner of her eye. Each movement he made drove her to wonder exactly what he was doing.

After rinsing off the sheet, she picked up the bucket and both clean items. “I’ll be right back. I need to hang these on the line so they’ll be dry by morning.”

He simply nodded, a hazy figure in the gloom. She hurried outside and dumped the bucket, then hung up the nightdress and sheet on the line with shaking hands. The moon was bright, illuminating everything for her.

Something was going to happen; she just didn’t know what it was. Hannah stepped back inside and waited for her eyes to adjust. Matt sat where she’d left him in the chair. Her heart thumped as she approached him, anticipation making her mouth dry and her body tingle.

He wore only a pair of drawers, his hand down the front of them, moving up and down. She stared, fascinated by what she saw.
~~**~~

Buy links: Book releases January 31, 2012
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | B-A-M | Chapters | IndieBound | Powell’s

Emma Lang/Beth Williamson: Website | Blog | Twitter

~~**~~

Rocky Mountain Desire
Six Pack Ranch, Book 3

By Vivian Arend

Nothing comes easy. You’ve gotta work for it.

Matt Coleman always figured at this point in his life, he’d be settled down with a family. Since his ex split for the big city, though, no way will he give anyone else the chance to drop-kick his heart. Physical pleasure? Hell, yeah, he’ll take—and give—with gusto, but nothing more.

Hope Meridan is working long hours to hold on to her new quilt shop, going it alone since her sister/business partner ran off. Sex? Right, like she’s got the time. Not that she doesn’t have the occasional dirty fantasy about Matt. Fat chance he’d dream of knocking boots with her—the younger sister of the woman who dumped him. Nope, she’ll just have to settle for the F-word.

Friends would be far easier if there wasn’t something combustible going on between them. And when casual interest starts to grow into something more, their tenuous bond strengthens in the heat of desire. But it may not survive the hurricane-force arrival of the last person either of them ever wanted to see again…

Warning: Small-town rivals, men in pursuit and family meddling—in good and bad ways. Look for a cowboy who knows how to rope, ride and rein in a hell of a lot more than eight seconds of sheer bliss.

~~**~~

Enjoy a snippet from ROCKY MOUNTAIN DESIRE:

Matt closed his eyes for a second, his throat moving as he swallowed hard. Where their bodies touched, his erection had expanded in girth, the hardness very clear as he pressed into her belly, as if refusing to hide. “You’re killing me.”

“Yup, and doing myself in as well.”

“Why aren’t we going to my trailer and getting ourselves over this crazy lust between us?”

“Because…” She had no idea anymore why.

He grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the countertop of the island, batted her legs apart and stepped between her thighs. Instant full-torso contact dragged a gasp from her as he returned to kissing her, his hands delicately cupping her cheeks as he worked his way across her lips methodically, thoroughly.

Hope widened her legs, clutched his shoulders and held on tight. Wrapping her legs around his hips increased the pressure on all the sensitive spots that were aching—again—for him to do more than simply kiss her.

He pulled away from her mouth and dropped a series of kisses along her jaw, moving up to play with the dangling lobe of her ear. His chin whiskers scratched, and she turned her head, letting him tease her further, scraping his teeth along her neck.

She had the top buttons of his shirt undone before she realized what she was doing.

He bit lightly and rocked his hips, and she shuddered. “Oh yeah.”

His lips were warm against her skin, his voice deep and low as he whispered. “I’m thinking we need—”

The door swung open behind them, the glow from the living room hitting them like a spotlight.
~~**~~

Buy links: (ebook releases March 13, 2012)
Rocky Mountain Desire: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Vivian Arend: Website | Blog | Twitter
Ms. Arend is giving one of you the opportunity to win either book 1 or 2 in her Six Pack Ranch series.
To enter:

1. Be a follower
2. Fill out the form below

January 2012 Monthly Wrap Up



Thanks for joining us again for a great month at UTC! For a recap of what's been happening this month, see below:

Author of the Month: Patricia Briggs
A special thank you goes out to Patty, Mike and Ann for bringing us a fantastic month filled with great posts.

Reading on the Dark Side: Mercy Thompson
We had a blast putting together the case for the Mercy Thompson series. You can check out our casting here. There's also a interview with Daniel Dos Santos, the cover artist of those amazing Patricia Briggs titles.

Author Appearances:
Cari Quinn

Battle of the Covers: Best of 2011
There were so many great covers in 2011, but the winner of BEST COVER OF 2011 IS BREAKING POINT BY PAMELA CLARE! Congrats! Yummy Jed!



Reading Challenge updates:
Each month we will be doing updates on the reading challenges we are hosting. If you want, you can list your progress as well!

Blog Hops we are hosting:
In Feb, we are hosting two blog hops. The first is Love is in the Air that will run from Feb 7-14. We are also hosting a Lisa Kleypas only blog hop to celebrate her upcoming release in Feb. This will run from 18-28. Sign ups are still open for both hops. Enter here:

Monday 30 January 2012

Covers to Covet: Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost!

UTC is anxiously awaiting the release of Jeaniene Frost's upcoming release, ONCE BURNED. Night Huntress fans, you have a reason to rejoice because it's getting closer and that means Vlad will soon be in my hot little hands! What do you think of this cover? Are we liking it?


She’s a mortal with dark powers…
After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person’s darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude…until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world’s most infamous vampire…

He’s the Prince of Night…
Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don’t call him Dracula. Vlad’s ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him – a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.
Once Burned releases on June 26th
Purchase links:

Review: Shadow's Stand by Sarah McCarty

Shadow's Stand
by Sarah McCarty
Hell's Eight #5
 

I love a hero who thinks he is a cold hearted bastard, when really he is a big fluffy marshmallow on the inside. All he needs is the love of a good woman to bring out his softer side, soon he will be feeding stray kittens (if he isn't already) and helping elderly women across the street (again, if he isn't already!) Shadow Ochoa is that kind of guy. So when Fei Yen saves him from the gallows and marries him so he will protect her whilst she corrects her crazy father's wrongs, he is a goner. It would all be a very quick happily ever after, if only there wasn't such a large bounty on Shadow's head and Fei's gold wasn't wanted by any scavanger who hears about it.

What I love about Romancelandia is that the bigger and tougher the heroes who claim to love nobody are, the more and more they talk/think about their tender feelings and how they couldn't possible have any. Men *sigh* even in highly romanticized romance they can be dumb as rocks. But, despite that little factor making me smile a little, I did really enjoy this book. I have read Sarah McCarty before, and loved her other historical western series Promises and I thought this was just as good. It had a little more action and adventure in it then her Promises series, which I thought added a lot of excitement to the book but also a very sweet romance.

If you like your heroes, tall, dark, broody and very very sexy which, luckily I do, then Shadow will be the guy for you. There are plenty of his kind of character around so don't expect anything too original, but that didn't stop me liking him. Fei was also good, I like a heroine that doesn't always expect the hero to save her and has a mind of her own, and Fei definitely did, armed with dynamite and a few matches she can pretty much take care of herself!

I haven't actually read the other titles in the series, but if you have, characters from the previous books pop up, and now I have read a little about them I am definietly intrigued about their own stories and will be reading the rest of Hell's Eight as soon as I get the funds!

A good historical western, nothing original but the romance is sweet, the sex is hot and the action is exciting, there are worse ways of passing the time!