Author Interview: Elizabeth Maxwell, author of HAPPILY EVER AFTER (& a giveaway!)

Today, today, today…. Traveling With T has author Elizabeth Maxwell, author of HAPPILY EVER AFTER, hanging out at the blog! I recently read (and pretty much devoured) my review copy of HAPPILY EVER AFTER (note: Do not read in the dentist office if you are prone to laughing out loud #truestory) and I enjoyed it so much, so I was excited to get to chat with Elizabeth. And then…. when I found out there could be a giveaway (well you know how I feel about that! ♥♥♥♥ ) Even better… TWO COPIES to be given away! Two! Count them, two! Twins! Doubles! 2 times the happiness! Continue reading →

We’ll Always Have Paris…Pre-order news!

Photo Credit: Sourcebooks

Back in January (or maybe it was December?) Jennifer Coburn contacted Traveling With T about a possibility of a book review for her mother/daughter memoir WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS (in stores April 8th). The cover drew me in, beckoned to me and said “T, come on, you know you want to read me!” But today’s post is not about the review (which will be coming the week of April 8th!) Or is it even about the guest post that Jennifer will be doing for Traveling With T (again, look for that the week of April 8th!) Today is about what pre-ordering a copy of WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS and what will happen when you do! Continue reading →

The Favor by Megan Hart

Photo Credit: Harlequin

Janelle Decker has happy childhood memories of her grandma’s house, and even lived there through high school. Now she’s back with her twelve-year-old son to look after her ailing Nan, and hardly anything seems to have changed, not even the Tierney boys next door.

Gabriel Tierney, local bad-boy. The twins, Michael and Andrew.

After everything that happened between the four of them, Janelle is shocked that Gabe still lives in St. Mary’s. And he isn’t trying very hard to convince Janelle he’s changed from the moody teenage boy she once knew. If anything, he seems bent on making sure she has no intentions of rekindling their past.

To this day, though there might’ve been a lot of speculation about her relationship with Gabe, nobody else knows she was there in the woods that day…the day a devastating accident tore the Tierney brothers apart and drove Janelle away. But there are things that even Janelle doesn’t know, and as she and Gabe revisit their interrupted romance, she begins to uncover the truth denied to her when she ran away all those years ago.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts

Argh! I wanted to love this book. The plot was so great sounding. A mystery, a love affair, secrets, family drama- oh it sounded so good. Yet….. I just couldn’t get into it. I tried. I tried. I TRIED. And i just never could connect. The book dragged and dragged- all the appeal of the plot was missing.

Still, I kept on. Why? Because I wanted to know the secret. And, in the end, the secret was pretty good. But, but, but.. it was by sheer determination that I hung on reading this book.

Do I recommend this book? Sadly, I have to say not. If it’d been a little shorter, or if the pages just hadn’t dragged on- maybe.

*This book was requested through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

Dead Between the Lines (A Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery) by Denise Swanson

Photo Credit: Goodreads

This book was sent to Traveling With T by author in exchange for a honest review.

Dead Between The Lines

Opening an old-fashioned five-and-dime shop in her small Missouri hometown has been a great change for Devereaux “Dev” Sinclair. But when she hosts a reading group there, she learns that bad writing can mean life or death.

To keep her new business in the black, Dev opens up her shop to local clubs. But in the first meeting of the Stepping Out Book Club, the speaker storms out after members attack his poetry’s sexism and scorn for small towns. Later that night, the poet’s body is found outside Dev’s store.

Dev can’t afford for the murder to close her down, so she does a little stepping out of her own to investigate, with help from her two sexy suitors, Dr. Noah Underwood and Deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Del Vecchio. But when the killer threatens Dev, they will have to use every trick in the book to solve the case before she becomes the final chapter in this murder mystery.…

Ahh… a day in the life of Dev- she’s got 2 men wanting to be with her, 2 men that complement her in unique ways, she worries about her grandmother, and she finds out in this book that her dad will be returning from jail. So, Dev is trying to make the money while the sun is shining- which is why she opens up the Dime Store to clubs for bit of extra cash. The first book club meeting, though, may be the last- as the members get peeved with the author for his attitude toward women and small-town life. Dev knew many were peeved when they left, but she did not know who was peeved enough to kill the author or why they did it- was it because of the book club meeting? Or is there much more to this story?

What Dev knows is this: She can’t afford to be shut down while the police are looking for the killer- so off to work she goes. With a little help from the good doctor, Noah, and the hunk-alicious Deputy US Marshall, Jake- Dev is sure to get to the bottom of this mess, quick, fast and in a hurry. Which leaves her to think about other things- such as who is the yin to her yang?

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I enjoy the Dime Store Mystery series! It’s fun, cute, and Denise writes small-town characters that are interesting and nice to read about. While I’m a bit more of a SCUMBLE RIVER fan, this DIME STORE mystery changed that. Dev has hit a groove with me in reading and I found myself not comparing to Scumble River as I have in the past. One thing I really liked about this book was that Denise is allowing us to see chapters from the male’s point of view- something I don’t remember her doing in Scumble River (although, perhaps I have forgot!) Getting to know Jake and Noah a bit, through their own thoughts and not the actions we see in the Dev chapters, added a bit to this book.

Even though recently, I went on a bit of rant about love triangles and their length, I actually like love triangles (as long as they don’t go on too long!) Right now, the love triangle with Dev, Noah and Jake is fine. Cute. You’ll hear it first when the triangle needs to leave the building, though.

Overall, enjoyable! A nice cozy mystery with some great characters. Definitely add this to the TBR list!

*Dead Between the Lines was sent to Traveling With T by author in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

Tuesday Mashup

So it’s been a minute since we’ve had a Mashup- but it’s back today!

Got some crafty, got some bookish, and have a few giveaways!

So buckle up, put on a smile, and let’s get to a Tuesday Mashup! Continue reading →

The Chase (Fox and O’Hare) by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Photo Credit: Random House

Nick Fox and Kate O’Hare are back in THE CHASE!

Target: Carter Grove, former White House chief of staff with an eye for pretty things that does not belong to him (that is until he steals them).

Mission: Find the missing Chinese artifact, steal it back from Carter, and save United States and China’s relationship.

Outcome: Read the book for a fun and thrilling adventure-laced with sexual chemistry between Nick and Kate.

Nick is enjoying his role working with the FBI- he gets to hang out with Kate, show off his skills, and enjoy some perks. Kate, well, Kate is still wishing she could put Nick behind bars (that is, when she’s not hoping for him to be in her bed). But Kate, Special Agent, is mostly about business. And business is finding the artifact without China ever knowing it had been stolen. Using Carter’s ego and a nod to the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, Nick is able to create a plan that gets Kate and him access to Carter’s house.

But, this is a Evanovich/Goldberg book, so nothing is that simple. And it’s going to take some fancy scheming of Nick’s, some hard work of Kate’s and some extra connections to pull it off!

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Really enjoyed THE CHASE. Kate and Nick have incredible chemistry and are the best set of partners that I’ve read about in some time. The “flirtationship” between them is laced with chemistry, fun, and easy to enjoy- much like the earlier days of another Evanovich series.

Looking for a fun read with some action, irresistible characters and some laughs? Put THE CHASE on your list!

*This book was requested through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh (TLC Tour) and Giveaway

Today, Traveling With T is a stop on THE MOON SISTERS by Therese Walsh tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. THE MOON SISTERS released last week till a good amount of book buzz (and it’s so deserved!) Read here for the other stops on the tour (and to see what they are saying about the wonderful THE MOON SISTERS.

Oh and just to get your excitement level up to RAINBOWS! SPARKLES! UNICORNS! Level- yes, folks, we have a GIVEAWAY!!!! (Excuse me, while I squee and dance around the house rocking out to Katy Perry’s ROAR a bit…) Scroll down to the bottom of the page, find that Rafflecopter link and click it! Continue reading →

Happily Ever After by Elizabeth Maxwell

Photo Credit: Touchstone Books

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Happily Ever After

Sadie Fuller, 46, divorced, mother to an 11 year old. No time for romance. Looking at her, you might think that romance never crosses her mind. You’d be wrong. Because while the outside package would lead you to believe that Sadie is just a middle-aged mom and has no time for anything besides work and her daughter, inside is a whole other story. Sadie by day lives the suburban mom’s life… But at night, she writes steamy, best-selling erotica under the pen name KT Briggs.

Life is ok for Sadie. She’s got her daughter, a house, makes money writing her “mommy-porn”, and even has a weekly date with a man she met in the personals. But life is getting dull, Sadie has put love and romance aside (her weekly meetings are strictly taking care of business). One night, as she writing a new story about Aidan and Lily, she gets interrupted. And life turns from same old, same old to something else. When Sadie sees an incredibly good-looking man in Target, a man who looks vaguely familiar, but is very confused as to why he’s in Target- she slowly begins to realize why he looks familiar: It’s Aidan. Her character, Aidan!

As Sadie tries to help him find Lily and figure out why a witch named Clarissa has highjacked her story, she just wants to reunite Lily and Aidan, get them back in the story for some steamy romance time. However, Aidan may wind up teaching Sadie a thing or two and show her that happily ever after is not just for the books, that happily ever after might be where you least expect it.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts

Quirky fun. This book is pure quirky fun. Yes, it’s going to stretch your mind a bit, and yes, the idea of characters coming to life from a book is a bit out there. But, that is what makes it such delicious fun! This book is not a “thinker” book, you are not going to want to run out and change the world after reading it. It’s going to make you laugh and have fun, though, and that is way better!

Read HAPPILY EVER AFTER if you are looking for a fun read, not light and fluffy, just fun and quirky. Enjoyable, laugh out loud fun- add this to your To Be Read list!

*Thanks to Touchstone Books for sending a copy of HAPPILY EVER AFTER to Traveling With T for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

The Trouble With Honor by Julia London (plus giveaway!)

Photo Credit: Harlequin

Title: The Trouble with Honor

Author: Julia London

Imprint: Harlequin HQN Price: $7.99 U.S. / $8.99 CAN.

Release: March 2014

Format: PBMM

ISBN: 9780373778454

E-ISBN: 9781460327098

Desperate times call for daring measures as Honor Cabot, the eldest stepdaughter of the wealthy Earl of Beckington, awaits her family’s ruin. Upon the earl’s death she and her sisters stand to lose the luxury of their grand home—and their place on the pedestal of society—to their stepbrother and his social-climbing fiancée. Forced to act quickly, Honor makes a devil’s bargain with the only rogue in London who can seduce her stepbrother’s fiancée out of the Cabots’ lives for good.

An illegitimate son of a duke, George Easton was born of scandal and grows his fortune through dangerous risks. But now he and Honor are dabbling in a perilous dance of seduction that puts her reputation and his jaded heart on the line. And as unexpected desire threatens to change the rules of their secret game, the stakes may become too high even for a notorious gambler and a determined, free-spirited debutante to handle.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

So this is my first Julia London book and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But, this cover.. THIS COVER- it intrigues me. The look on Honor’s face. The blue dress. The background. Oh, how this cover intrigued me.

Did the cover set my expectations a certain way? Yes. Did the cover lead me astray? No! Honor is similar to Scarlett O’Hara- she knows what she wants, knows what she needs and works to get those things. She may have to scheme to get them, but she has no problem with that.

It occurs to me as I read THE TROUBLE WITH HONOR, life in this bygone era was tough for women. Since Honor and her sisters are not married, when their stepfather dies, they will stand to lose their home, their place in society. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Is THE TROUBLE WITH HONOR perfect? No, there are a few things that I didn’t just love- I understood Honor’s motivation, but I didn’t always agree. But, for the most part, I was entertained. And that is really all that matters!

Fans of historical fiction romance and regency era times will find this a nice beginning to the series and eagerly await more stories from the Cabot women.

Photo Credit: Harlequin

Author Bio:

Julia London is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly best selling author of more than twenty romantic fiction novels. She is the author of the popular Desperate Debutante and Scandalous historical romance series, including the upcoming The Last Debutante, the fourth and final book in the Secrets of Hadley Green series. She is also the author of several contemporary women’s fiction novels with strong romantic elements, including Summer of Two Wishes, One Season of Sunshine, and Light at Winter’s End.

Julia is the recipient of the RT Bookclub Award for Best Historical Romance and a four-time finalist for the prestigious RITA award for excellence in romantic fiction. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Julia’s website: http://julialondon.com/about/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuliaFLondon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JuliaLondon

Where to buy THE TROUBLE WITH HONOR

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound, Harlequin

GIVEAWAY:

Thanks to Harlequin Books (whoo!) Traveling With T has a giveaway for you: A copy of THE TROUBLE WITH HONOR and Replica Deck of Playing Cards from Regency Era! Giveaway is open to US/Canada only!

Photo Credit: Harlequin

Just Click on the Rafflecopter Link for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

Fallen Beauty by Erika Robuck (Blog tour and Giveaway!)

Photo credit: Penguin

Squee! Traveling With T is a stop on the FALLEN BEAUTY tour. Why am I so excited? Well, I developed a major literary love for Erika Robuck after HEMINGWAY’S GIRL. I cried for her character, Mariella. I loved her fiery spirit. And (no one throw anything at me) since I’ve never been what you would call a Hemingway fan, for Erika to make me care for him, care about these characters- well… I was hooked. So, when the opportunity knocked at my inbox about being on the FALLEN BEAUTY tour, I did not hesitate. So today, for your literary pleasure, there is a review, info about Erika and the tour, and a giveaway (sparkles, shimmers, rainbows and unicorns!) Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the link to the Rafflecopter page to enter the giveaway (but first read all the great info!) Continue reading →