Kassie's Book Thoughts: No Regrets Series

Showing posts with label No Regrets Series. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Release Day Launch & Giveaway: No Regrets Box Set by Lauren Blakely

Lauren Blakely's No Regrets Box Set is live today, and we have all the details for you! There's a fantastic giveaway, and...A SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT from Lauren! Check it all out below and then enter the giveaway!

The No Regrets Box Set is just $.99 RIGHT NOW! But don't wait!

This price is for a limited time only!

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * iTunes

About The No Regrets Box Set: This ebook contains the following books: • The Thrill of It • The Start of Us • Every Second With You The Thrill of It - A new adult story of Love. Sex. Addiction. Blackmail. And Power... When Harley and Trey meet again in love addiction recovery, they must confront all their temptations, as well as her damaged, broken past and his dark family secrets, before they face the question -- how do you love with no regrets when regret is all you know? -The Start of Us - A new adult story of First Times. Last Times. Connections. And No Regrets... When Harley first meets Trey, she only wants a tattoo. What she gets is the most intense connection she's ever had. Trey can't forget her either and doesn't want to let her go. How can one night be the start of something when tomorrow it has to end? - Every Second With You - A new adult story of Sex. Love. Addiction. Heartache. Pain. And Hope. Harley and Trey face new challenges that will make battling blackmail, sex addiction, and a virgin call girl past look easy…

Enter the Giveaway Here!

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The Surprise Announcement from Lauren!!!

Surprise! The Caught Up in Love series is continuing! Bryan - as in Kat and Bryan - has a younger sister and she goes to college in Los Angeles. She has something in common with Kat - Jess also is a huge fan of the movies and she's putting herself through college as a celebrity photographer. I'm so excited to bring you more of these characters and introduce readers to the "west coast" side of the Caught Up in Love cast of characters and friends. Kat & Bryan will both appear in this story and you'll also get to meet Matthew Harrigan's brother who lives in LA (you know this if you read Far Too Tempting). Here's the storyline and the book releases in August.

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About STARS IN THEIR EYES: Celebrity photographer-in-training Jess Leighton desperately needs to crash the wedding of the year. Snapping just one pic of the A-list Hollywood couple tying the knot will pay her way through school, but with security tighter than the bride-to-be's corset, she'll need more than her camera and smarts - she'll need help from her biggest rival, William Harrigan. Hot, motorcycle-riding Will is the last person Jess trusts, but he's her only ticket in. Good-looking, charming, and British, he's a triple threat. And he's got that sexy accent to boot. Soon, sparks are flying off-screen and in front of the cameras as they devise a plan to sneak into the ceremony. But when Jess' new celebrity client raises the stakes with a photo shoot of the maid-of-honor, she wonders if she's in over her head. Blackmail, botox, and the worst Breakfast Club remake in the world? It's all in a whirlwind week's work in Hollywood. The audience loves a happy ending, but in a town where everyone's acting and no one's playing on the same team, can Jess find her own ever after in time?

STARS IN THEIR EYES is part of the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling CAUGHT UP IN LOVE series. It follows the sister of the hero in Caught Up In Us and can be read as a standalone, though you will likely enjoy the other books in the series.

Cover design by Helen Williams/All Booked Out

Pre-Order the Title at iTunes right now and add it to your Goodreads TBR!

iTunes

Goodreads

About Lauren Blakely: Lauren Blakely writes sexy contemporary romance novels with heat, heart, and humor, and her books have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks bestseller lists. Like the heroine in FAR TOO TEMPTING, she thinks life should be filled with family, laughter, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband, children, and dogs. Her novels include Caught Up In Us, Pretending He’s Mine, Playing With Her Heart, and Trophy Husband. She also writes for young adults under the name Daisy Whitney.

Links:

THE THRILL OF IT Goodreads

THE START OF US Goodreads

EVERY SECOND WITH YOU Goodreads

Lauren Blakely Goodreads

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Review & Giveaway: The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely

Title: The Thrill of It

Author: Lauren Blakely

Series: No Regrets #1

Publication Date: November 21, 2013

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Source: Bought

Synopsis:

A new adult story of Love. Sex. Addiction. Blackmail. And Power...

Some say love can be an addiction. Others say it's the thing that makes life worth living. Let me tell you everything I know about love...Love isn't patient, love isn't kind. Love is a game, a chase. A thrill. Love is wild and war-like, and every man and woman must fight for themselves. At least that's how it was for me. A high-priced virgin call girl by the time I started college, I was addicted to love and to sex. Even though I've never had either. I controlled love, played it, and held the world in the palm of my hands. Then I fell down from those highs, and I'm being blackmailed for all my mistakes, forced to keep secrets from everyone, except the only guy I don't regret.

Trey...

With all the other women, I knew what they were. They were temporary. They were pills, they were bottles, they took away all the pain, and numbed the awful memories that wore down my ragged, wasted heart. Until I met Harley. She's the only girl I ever missed when she walked away. But now she's back in my life, every day, and there are no guarantees for us, especially since I don't know how to tell her my secrets. What happened to my family. All I know is she's the closest I've ever come to something real, and I want to feel every second of it.

How can you love with no regrets when regret is all you know?

Add The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely to your TBR Pile--->Goodreads

Purchase The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely:

Amazon ~ B&N ~ iTunes

My Thoughts:

How can you love with no regrets when regrets is all you know?

WOW!!! I will be honest with all of you and say that I was thrilled to read The Thrill of It, but I was also a little nervous. I was thrilled to read this book because I loved reading all the teasers Lauren Blakely posted on her facebook page. I was nervous because I didn't know how a girl working as a call girl could be a virgin, and not only is she a virgin call girl, but she falls in love with the sex addict. I always wondered how that was going to work out. But let me just tell you that Lauren Blakely is a genius! I'm not kidding. Lauren Blakely knew how to throw these two broken characters, Trey and Harley, together and write a heartwrenching, emotional, dark, and addictive read.

I will not bend. I will not break. I will not go back to the way I was.

Harley is a nineteen year old damaged and broken virgin call girl that is addicted to both sex and love. I know what you are thinking. How can a virgin be addicted to both sex and love, right? Well Harely is emotionally damaged and she needs to feel that she is in control, that she is the one that controls her life and her emotions. Love and Sex provide this sense of control for Harley. She is addicted to the power and control she feels when she is doing her job as being a call girl. From the beginning of The Thrill of It, Harley is trying to figure out the girl she wants to be. She is Barb's- Harley's mother, but I can't bring myself to call her that- pretty daughter and she is her pimps, Cam, high-priced call girl. Now, being part of the SLAA group and having Trey in her life she is trying to find the girl she wants to be, and face the decisions she's made in the past. I developed an emotional connection with Harley's character, and I felt every single of her emotions. Harley's character develops immensely by the end of The Thrill of It :).

I wanted to numb myself in pleasure, in women, in sex. I wanted nothing but euphoria, but never-fucking-ending ecstasy.

Trey is a twenty year old damaged and broken sex addict that has problems letting people in and telling the truth. Trey turns to sex to numb the pain and suffering he is experiencing for his loss. Trey is addicted to the fix, thrill, and numbness sex provides for just a few minutes, days, or weeks. After being scarred for sleeping with a married women, Trey decides to turn his life around by joining the SLAA Group. Just as Harley, Trey is emotionally damaged, but unlike Harley he is unable to freely open up to others about his emotions. The loss he experiences and not being able to express how he feels about it, makes Trey a closed person to sharing his story. Did I mention that the boy is covered in tattoos? I loved Trey's tattoos and the story and meaning behind each of his tattoos. I loved Trey's character from the very beginning because he just felt real to me.

I was her pretty pony. Her little doll of a daughter. Then I became a prize to help her catch men.

I just feel the need to mention both Trey and Harley's parents, because they are the reason these two characters are emotionally damaged. Barb is Harley's mother, but we are just going to call her Barb because I can't stomach saying that she is her mother. Why? Barb doesn't see Harley as a daughter, she sees Harley as a friend or sister that she could talk to about her sexual life. What's wrong with that? Harley had to listen to her mother having sex at a very young age, and she saw so many men walk in and out of her home. I just HATED Barb for the damage she caused Harley.

Dust off your hands. Don't look back. Don't even breathe a word.

Trey's parents are a whole different story, but they are not as worse as Barb. It's Trey's parents fault that he is unable to open up and be honest with others. When Trey tried to open up to them about their loss, they didn't want to hear about it. His parents decided to look ahead and keep living their lives without giving thought to their loss. I can't say that I hated his parents, because they were just dealing with their own suffering in a different way. I just didn't like that they are to blame for Trey not being able to speak up.

We are just a guy and a girl trying to figure out what it's like to be with someone when it's not a game, when it's not an addiction, when it's not a transaction.

Trey and Harley's relationship is messy, complicated, addictive, honest, and there is sexual frustration. Both Trey and Harley haven't been in committed, real, or love relationship. They don't know what honest love is or what a relationship between a guy and a girl entails. The only type of relationships they know are fake, a quick fix, and don't involve any kind of emotions. But being in a relationship both Trey and Harley learn to have hope and faith in each other, and they develop a new healthy addiction for each others love. The sexual tension is intense! Trey had me swooning, panting, melting, and weak in the knees. We get both the innocent sweet kisses and the intense hot kisses. Once Trey and Harley get together they start to realize that being in a relationship were a girl and a guy share the same honest love for each other gives them the ugly beautiful in life.

...we might be damaged, but we are perfectly damaged together.

Every page, every moment, every part of Trey and Harley's story was a thrill :D! The only problem and thing that I didn't like about the Thrill of It, is the killer hang-over! Why Lauren, just why did you have to end it like that? I kept scrolling and wishing that more words would magically appear. I also can't remember the last time I abused my kindle highlighter while reading a book. Trust me when I tell you The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely is a MUST READ!!!

Final Verdict: 5 Stars

About the Author:

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in TROPHY HUSBAND, she thinks life should be filled with hot men, cool clothes, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.

Find Lauren Blakely:

Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Gooodreads

Giveaway:

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Teaser Tuesday #24: The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along :D! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today I'm going to share two teasers from The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely :D! I finished this book over the weekend.

Teaser #1- Harley:

I want to cover myself up. I want to hide my new self. I want to slather my face with makeup.
I also just want to be me.
But I don't know who she is. I don't know who I am. I am two people. Torn and tattered in split halves.

Teaser #2- Trey:

I wanted to numb myself in pleasure, in women, in sex. I wanted nothing but euphoria, but never-fucking-ending ecstasy. I wanted the opposite to take the pain away.

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