FULL EXPOSURE by Thien-Kim Lam — Happy Book Birthday!

FULL EXPOSURE

Thien-Kim Lam

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In FULL EXPOSURE, Thien-Kim serves up a piping hot dish of a romance featuring a boudoir photographer and an aspiring filmmaker finding love in the middle of Mardi Gras—can a Big Easy fling become the real thing?!

Boudoir photographer Josie Parks never ever takes a vacation. But when a client cancels a New Orleans shoot at the last minute, she decides to fly out from her Washington, D.C., studio anyway. Maybe the trip will reawaken her recently stagnant muse. After all, it’s Mardi Gras season…

Spencer Pham has come home after twelve soul-sucking years in corporate hell to pursue his passion: making a docu-film on his family’s history as the first Vietnamese Mardi Gras krewe. The last thing he expects is getting whacked in the head by a beautiful woman trying to snag some parade beads.

Over some beignets and coffee, Spencer and Josie connect over their artistic pursuits. He offers to show her the real New Orleans, if she’ll help him with the camerawork for his film. Despite Josie’s type-A personality clashing with Spencer’s laissez-faire attitude, they seem to make a great team, and soon, the good times are rolling both on and off camera. But Josie has a life in D.C., and they both have big dreams they’re chasing. When this Big Easy fling starts feeling awfully serious, can they find a way to choose between personal and professional passion?

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ABOUT THIEN-KIM

Thien-Kim is also the founder of Bawdy Bookworms, a subscription box that pairs sexy romances with erotic toys. She’s been featured on Jezebel, Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, and Oprah Daily.

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REVIEW

An adorable meet-cute, a fantastic sense of place, fascinating history of Vietnamese Americans in New Orleans, and an interesting multicultural pairing. I loved that both main characters have tight bonds with their families and they have lifelong friendships.

A much-improved hero compared to the previous book. Being the eldest child, I related to both MCs’ overdeveloped sense of responsibility towards their families. With my Carpe Diem motto, I am not too bothered by their insta-lust and quick attainment of a deep connection after only a few days together. When you know, you know.

I found it odd that there was no interconnection between Spencer’s family and Trixie’s (the heroine of the previous book who is also Vietnamese American).

THE YEAR OF CECILY by Lisa Lin — Featured New Release

THE YEAR OF CECILY

Lisa Lin

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This is the year of Cecily Chang.

San Francisco attorney Cecily Chang is ready to tackle the New Year heads on. So, she makes a list of resolutions that will guarantee it’ll be the best year ever. Doing her filial duty, she prepares to head back to her Brooklyn family home to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Cecily prepares herself for nosy meddling relatives, stuffing herself with food, and the chaos family togetherness can bring. All she asks is that she avoids the boy next door-the one who broke her heart ten years ago. So of course she runs into him. Literally. Which really wreaks havoc with her resolution to avoid drama.

Jeffrey Lee has always regretted how he ended things with Cecily ten years ago. But seeing her again at New Year’s, he’s sure that this is a sign, and is ready to do whatever it takes to persuade Cecily to give him, and them, another chance. Now a successful screenwriter, he will need all the help he can get to make sure this love story gets the Hollywood ending it deserves. Will he be able to convince Cecily that her list of resolutions won’t be complete without him and that love is a resolution worth keeping?

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ABOUT LISA

Lisa has been an avid romance reader and fan since she read her first Nora Roberts novel at the age of 13 after wandering the aisles of her local bookstore. Lisa loves that romance has the power to inspire, and believes that HEAs are for everyone.

Lisa writes light contemporary romantic comedies with a liberal dash of snark and banter. She enjoys delving into the complexity of Asian and immigrant family experiences, and celebrates female friendships in her trademark dry, witty style. As an Asian-American author writing own voices Asian American stories, Lisa hopes that her books will show the diversity of the Asian-American experience, and the importance of every reader being able to see themselves represented on the page.

Having grown up in Pennsylvania and helping out at her parents’ restaurant, Lisa has never bothered to learn to cook. She has two liberal arts undergraduate degrees and a J.D, and in her former life she was an intern, then Legislative Assistant for a PA State Representative. She also worked as a paralegal at a boutique law firm. Lisa is a politics junkie (don’t get her started on the wonder that is The West Wing!), indulges in naps whenever possible, and believes Netflixing in her pajamas and ordering take out qualifies as the perfect weekend. As a self-described Twitter addict, you can tweet her @laforesta1!

REVIEW

An outstanding debut by Lisa Lin. The author seems to be a student of the “write what you know” school of thought because The Year of Cecily came out super authentic and immensely relatable. Ms. Lin’s love of reading Romance shows in her writing as well. The beats and tropes are present in this second-chance, homecoming story that’s infused with a rich Chinese cultural background.

AAPI SPOTLIGHT – HAPPY ENDINGS by Thien-Kim Lam

HAPPY ENDINGS

by

Thien-Kim Lam

With her debut novel, Thien-Kim Lam serves up a sexy second-chance romance about exes with unfinished business. When working together reignites their passion, will these former flames sizzle or get burned all over again?

Trixie Nguyen is determined to make her sex toy business a success, proving to her traditional Vietnamese parents that she can succeed in a nontraditional career. She’s made a fresh start in Washington DC, and her first pop-up event is going well—until she runs into the ex who dumped her. With a Post-it note.

The last person Andre Walker expected to see in his soul food restaurant was the woman he left behind in New Orleans. Their chemistry is still scorching, but he’s desperately trying to save his family restaurant from gentrifying developers. The solution? Partnering with his ex to turn Mama Hazel’s into a vibrator pop-up shop for hungry and horny clients.

Thanks to their steamy truce, both businesses start to sizzle and their red-hot desire soon reignites deeper feelings. But when Trixie receives an incredible career opportunity, will pride ruin their second chance at happiness?

Buy links:

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A promising #ownvoices debut with a multicultural pairing, an admirable female lead, sex positivity, fierce female friendship, strong family ties, and loads of glorious food, Happy Endings is exactly my jam.

I love that there are more and more Asian-American authors writing romance and I’m ecstatic that we are creating main characters who positively represent our heritage and who celebrate the joy of loving freely. It’s wonderful to read books with characters, backgrounds, and situations I can relate to.

Ms. Lam’s debut excites me because she’s fearless in giving her Vietnamese-American female lead a job selling sex toys thereby confronting the issue of the hyper-sexualization of the Asian female in popular media head-on. Trixie’s pride in her accomplishments and her ambition in furthering her career no matter the obstacles delighted me.

For me, this is very much Trixie’s story–her quest for success, her difficult relationship with her very traditional parents, her friendship with the Boss Babes were all fascinating to me. Her romance with Andre only takes second place. I do understand the attraction between them and the intimate scenes were really hot but, in my opinion, Andre needed to be more, to do more to deserve Trixie. His characterization was the weakest aspect of the book for me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading more of Ms. Lam’s Boss Babes.

Thien-Kim Lam writes stories about Vietnamese characters who smash stereotypes and find their happy endings. A recovering Type-Asian, she guzzles cà phê sữa đá, makes art, and bakes her feelings to stay sane. Thien-Kim is also the founder of Bawdy Bookworms, a subscription box that pairs sexy romances with erotic toys. She’s been featured on NPR, BBC America, and NBC.

Thien-Kim brings over 20 years’ experience as a sex educator and sex toy expert into a steamy second-chance romance in her debut, Happy Endings. Selected as the winner of Avon’s 2019 open call for unagented Own Voices submissions, this romantic comedy is filled with heart; it is a story of honoring each person’s culture in an interracial relationship, sex positivity, and exploring non-traditional ambitions even when they terrify you.

“Happy Endings is my love letter to all Asian women,” says Thien-Kim. “We live in a society that fetishizes us, but Trixie explores her sexuality on her own terms and wants to help the women in her life do the same. She may stumble a bit, especially when love is on the line, but she’s got her Boss Babes by her side. Just like how I have my Boss Babes in my corner.”

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BIG CITY HEAT: A High-Rise Romance Anthology

BIG CITY HEAT

A High-Rise Romance Anthology

The heat is rising. And the champagne is on ice.

Love contemporary romances in the Big City? Say yes, and you’ll love this collection of hot and steamy stories set in city high-rises, each perfect for reading in one sitting.

Within these pages, find an exotic cocktail — billionaire, fake, curvy women, older men, interracial, LGBTQ, straight, office, mafia … and much, much more.

Get these HOT stories from the TOP stories of some of the biggest, sexiest city high-rises.

A portion of net proceeds goes to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Buy here:
mybook.to/BigCityHeat
books2read.com/BigCityHeat

STORY DESCRIPTIONS

The 57th Floor – Hazel Storm
When a client meeting sends matchmaker, Madelyn, hurtling to the high-rise office of CEO Peter Waring, she doesn’t expect to be blown away by this way-too-hot older man. But hookups with clients aren’t allowed, and now, Madelyn has to find Peter the perfect match.

A Change of Plans – PE Kavanagh
Ways to make the best of a NYC blizzard:
1. Take shelter in a luxury penthouse
2. Stock up on all your favorite snacks
3. Get stranded with your big sister’s best friend, who happens to be the woman of your dreams

A Hole – Phoebe Alexander
With meddling friends and myriad misunderstandings, can Ace and Ella find their happy ending? Or will Ella just become the punchline of Ace’s next joke?

The Wolf of Wall Street – Lucy Eden
CEO, Luis Pine and Executive Assistant, Aurora Douglas have a million reasons to keep their relationship strictly professional, except for one … fate.

44th & Blue – Jodi Payne
When Benjamin Waters’ law firm moves to the 44th floor of a Midtown high-rise, the last person he expects to encounter is his casual hookup, Cole Turner. Cole is working on the finishing touches to the office space, wearing a sexy tool belt and threatening to disrupt Benjamin’s carefully compartmentalized life.

Courtney – Jayce Ellis
Courtney intends to relax, relate, release, when he comes home after a decade abroad. When he meets Tracey, his plans abruptly shift, and now getting to know the cautious, but sinfully gorgeous man is the only thing on his mind.

The Right Note – Bree Kraemer
In a high-rise in Chicago, Eliza and Henry are unaware that the other even exists. Until music brings them together.

Felling Bechet – Stella Williams
Bechet Cross seems the perfect fling for Isis Hale. No strings, no games, until he fell.

Asylum Club – Aidy Award
I need this job at the infamous Asylum Club, but I don’t submit for anyone. Not even the sinful billionaire owner whose dominant side drives me crazy in all the hottest ways.

The Glass Tower – Emily Gray
While Zel Thatcher dreams of escape from a glass prison, Regina Prince restores the passion for music he thought was lost. Can they overcome his uncle’s malice to find love and a fairytale ending?

Make Me Beg – Moni Boyce
Teagan Palmer hates Reid Beckett. Unfortunately, the sexy, ruthless fixer is the only one standing between Teagan and the hit on her life. An enemies to lovers, mafia romance.

Global City Tryst – Maida Malby
One alluring French-Filipina beauty. One sexy US Air Force officer. One torrid weekend tryst.

Lust at first sight strikes Maddie Duvall and Aidan Ryan in Manila. A day at the beach with friends and family does not give them an opportunity to succumb to their mutual attraction. Both single and available, they agree on a secret weekend affair. No strings, no promises. Satisfy their desire for one another and they’re done.

Or so they say.

Global City Tryst, a Carpe Diem Chronicles novelette, is the prequel to Singapore Fling.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

HAZEL STORM
Hazel Storm writes stories about love between characters with conscience. Over the past two decades, she has been vegan, raw vegan and vegetarian. She loves hot yoga and cool martial arts.
Learn more and join Hazel’s newsletter here: www.hazelstorm.com

PE KAVANAGH
PE Kavanagh writes smart and steamy contemporary romances with a splash of suspense and a sprinkle of magic. She’s committed to the life-changing powers of true love and great orgasms. www.pekavanagh.com

PHOEBE ALEXANDER
Phoebe Alexander writes bodypositive, sexpositive erotic romance and lives on the East Coast with her husband, sons and multiple fur babies.
Learn more and join Phoebe’s newsletter at www.phoebe-alexander.com

LUCY EDEN
Lucy Eden is the nom de plume of a romance-obsessed author who writes the kind of romance she loves to read. She’s a sucker for alphas with a soft gooey center, over the top romantic gestures, strong & smart MCs, humor, love at first sight (or pretty damn close), happily ever after & of course, dirty & steamy love scenes. www.lucyeden.com

AIDY AWARD
Aidy Award writes curvy girl romance, about real love, and dirty fun, with happy ever afters because every woman deserves great sex and even better romance, no matter her size, shape, or what the scale says. www.aidyaward.com

JODI PAYNE
Jodi Payne’s addictions include nonfat lattes, tequila any way you pour it, Broadway and live music. Her men are imperfect but genuine, stubborn but likable, often kinky, and frequently their own worst enemies as they stumble along the path to their happily ever after. www.jodipayne.net

JAYCE ELLIS
Jayce spends her days divorcing “happily married couples” and her nights writing about people like her: Black, queer, fighting for their happily ever afters, with her husband and two turtles by her side. www.authorjayceellis.com

BREE KRAEMER
Bree Kraemer writes contemporary romance, sometimes with a lot of hot, steamy sex and sometimes with just a little. She lives in Ohio with her husband and 3 kids, All of which are teenagers and make her want to pull her hair out. Hence her use of the F-word and the drinking of margaritas. www.BreeKraemer.com

STELLA WILLIAMS
Stella Williams is a Blogger, Booktuber, and Romance Author, who lives in Washington State. She has a degree in Anthropology from The University of California, Santa Cruz. Stella prides herself in using her studies to create diverse worlds and characters for her novels. Her latest project is a magical paranormal romance series entitled “Secret of Ceres.” www.serpentinecreative.com

EMILY GRAY
Emily Gray is an author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. While ensuring her characters get their HEA, she lives on coffee and chocolate.
www.emilygray.org

MONI BOYCE
Moni Boyce is a writer, filmmaker, poet and author of contemporary and paranormal romance. She considers herself a bookworm, film buff, foodie, music lover and an avid world traveler having visited 33 countries and counting. www.moniboyce.com

MAIDA MALBY
Maida Malby cooks up multicultural, foodie, international contemporary romance stories filled with sizzling heat, mouthwatering spice, and a whole lotta love.
She is a member of select writing groups and romance book clubs. Her To-Be-Read Mountain and book reviews are featured on her website www.maidamalby.com

A SWEET MESS by Jayci Lee – Release Day Review and Giveaway

A SWEET MESS

by

Jayci Lee

Korean-American author Jayci Lee delights with A Sweet Mess, a delicious and light-hearted romantic comedy that readers will devour and ask for more.

Aubrey Choi loves living in her small town nestled in the foothills of California, running her highly successful bakery away from the watch of her strict Korean parents. When a cake mix-up and a harsh review threaten all of her hard work and her livelihood, she never thought the jaded food critic would turn out to be her one-night stand. And she sure as hell never thought she’d see the gorgeous Korean hunk again. But when Landon Kim waltzes into her bakery trying to clean up the mess he had a huge hand in making, Aubrey is torn between throwing and hearing him out.

When she hears his plan to help save her business, Aubrey knows that spending three weeks in California wine country working with Landon is a sure recipe for disaster. Her head is telling her to take the chance to save her bakery while her heart—and her hormones—are at war on whether to give him a second chance. And it just so happens that Landon’s meddling friends want them to spend those three weeks as close as possible…by sharing a villa.

When things start heating up, both in and out of the kitchen, Aubrey will have to make a choice—to stick it out or risk her heart.

Buy this book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250621108

Asian-American main characters, lots of hunger-inducing food descriptions, and classic romance tropes. How can I turn that down? That’s essentially what I write too.

I like the choice of having the Korean leads be beautiful people in successful occupations–an influential food critic in Landon and a talented baker in Aubrey. I like that this story is light, focusing on the travails of a romantic relationship instead of societal struggles that minorities face in the US. We have too many of those stories and not enough of this kind. The angst comes from the yearning, the risking of professional reputation versus personal desires.

While there’s instalust, the sex scenes are sweet and not explicit. The food scenes are sumptuous, so don’t read this hungry. Friendships are tight and mothers are honored. Overall, Ms. Lee’s storytelling is enjoyable. She handled one of my most disliked tropes quite well and the push-and-pull was just enough to cause tension but not too much to make me give up on the couple.

As the title suggests, this book is both sweet and a little bit of a mess. In the early copy I read, there were several times when the transitions between Aubrey’s and Landon’s points of view weren’t smooth and the time jumps weren’t clear. Also, the dual daddy issues were too much and the cover, while cute, didn’t reflect the ethnicity of the lead characters. These are minor issues and don’t stop me from recommending A Sweet Mess to Romance readers who are looking for books that reflect the diversity of the society we live in today.

JAYCI LEE writes poignant, sexy, and laugh-out-loud romance every free second she can scavenge and is semi-retired from her fifteen-year career as a defense litigator. She loves food, wine, and travelling, and incidentally so do her characters. Jayci lives in sunny California with her tall-dark-and-handsome husband, two amazing boys with boundless energy, and a fluffy rescue whose cuteness is a major distraction. She is the author of A Sweet Mess.

Website: https://jaycilee.com/
Twitter: @authorjaycilee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaycilee

Macmillan is giving one of my followers a digital copy of Jayci Lee’s A Sweet Mess. All you have to do to enter is Follow @carpediemchronicles on Instagram and Like my bookstagram of the book. Comment there or return here to let me know you’ve entered. I will draw the winner on Tuesday, July 21 at 12 noon Central time.

BOOK A MAGICAL TRIP

“A book is a magical thing that lets you travel to far-away places without ever leaving your chair.” ~ Katrina Mayer

I grew up in the Philippines and, coming from a poor family, I did not have the resources to travel out of my birth country until I was already a working adult. Thankfully, I had a bookworm for a father and a teacher for a mother who both encouraged me from a young age to read books that took me all over the world before I was able to actually travel to the locations in which they were set.

Judith Krantz’s I’ll Take Manhattan familiarized me with New York City landmarks prior to my first visit there in 1994 and gave me the confidence to set my novella New York Engagement there. I had seen the grandeur of the Sydney Opera House through Emma Darcy’s Harlequin romances set in Australia before I beheld it for the first time in 1998. Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence had me enthralled with the South of France years before I toured Europe in 1999. Imagine how often I’ve been to England from reading books by Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Barbara Cartland, Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood, and Johanna Lindsey. Truly, if there’s a special passport that gets stamped every time I travel in books, I would have to renew it every year.

I want to believe that this is the same for millions of readers all over the world. In reality, however, the US-centric world of Romancelandia has limited book travel options to Asia. There’s Sonali Dev’s angsty A Distant Heart which transported me to India and Hong Kong, Sherry Thomas’s epic The Hidden Blade and My Beautiful Enemy duology set in Imperial China, and Mina V. Esguerra and her Romance Class cohorts’ works which always bring me home to the Philippines.

There are a few others but I feel strongly about the need for many more books to take readers to the biggest continent on Earth without leaving their homes. That’s why, when I started writing, I’ve chosen to conjure the magic of traveling through books by setting my first series in my home region of Southeast Asia. I’d like readers of Carpe Diem Chronicles to not only visit the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand when they read Boracay Vows, Singapore Fling, Samui Heat, and Palawan Promises, but also to experience the cultures through the languages, customs, and food I feature in them.

People fall in love all around the world. The magic is in witnessing that love blossom within the pages of a book.

*This article was first posted at Read-A-Romance-Month https://www.readaromancemonth.com/2019/08/rarm19-maida-malby-book-a-magical-trip/

It was also featured in the All the Ups and Downs blog during the Singapore Fling Book Blog Tour with Lone Star Lit.

SINGAPORE FLING Lone Star Lit Book Blog Tour

SINGAPORE FLING is on a book blog tour with Lone Star Literary Life from November 12 to 21. Get to know more about me and Singapore Fling through special features like Maddie’s Top Five List, an Author Interview, my thoughts about traveling through books, a favorite recipe, and a Scrapbook Page. There will also be book reviews and fantastic giveaways.

Here’s the schedule (Bold links are published posts):

11/12/19 	Top Five 		The Clueless Gent
11/12/19 	Bonus Post 		Hall Ways Blog
11/13/19 	Review 			Forgotten Winds
11/14/19 	Author Interview 	Chapter Break Book Blog
11/15/19 	Guest Post 		All the Ups and Downs
11/16/19 	Review 			Missus Gonzo
11/17/19 	Review 			Reading by Moonlight
11/18/19 	Scrapbook Page 		That's What She's Reading
11/19/19 	Review 			StoreyBook Reviews
11/20/19 	Guest Post 		The Page Unbound
11/21/19 	Review 			The Book Review

Check out these giveaways!

1ST PRIZE (US only)
Kindle Fire 7 + Signed Copy of Singapore Fling
2ND PRIZE (US only)
Signed copies of Boracay Vows and Singapore Fling + charm bracelet
3RD PRIZE (US only)
A signed copy of Singapore Fling + spice paste packets (Hainanese Chicken Rice and Laksa)
4TH PRIZE (international)
eBooks of all three books in the Carpe Diem Chronicles series

NOVEMBER 12-22, 2019

blog tour services provided by:

CRASHING IN ON LOVE by Taylor Love

CRASHING IN ON LOVE

by

Taylor Love

SYNOPSIS

After crashing a wedding in Jamaica can two strangers find love?

Tamara Reed spends her days seeing the worst that love has to offer as a divorce lawyer. Yet she still finds herself drawn to weddings and a secret part of her heart still believes in love. Crashing a wedding while on a much needed vacation, finds her meeting a tempting man. He not only catches her attention but sets her blood on fire. After an intense night with him she sneaks home to forget her vacation fling. That’s easier said than done, as memories keep her up at night and her vacation boo tracks her down. Is she ready to take a chance on love?

Benjamin Thompson went on vacation for a little work and a lot of relaxation. Who knew when he took a detour to watch a random wedding he’d get a chance to “play” as well. The woman he meets takes his breath away and knocks his socks off in the sheets. Barely exchanging any info before having the wildest sex of his life, he wakes up to find his sexy siren gone. Hooked after one taste, he tracks Tamara down only to find that she wants to keep their passionate night a onetime deal. As a successful Realtor he’s accustomed to tough negotiations. But he’s determined to close this deal no matter what it takes.

Tamara Reed is a jaded divorce lawyer who sees the worst that love has to offer as a divorce lawyer with a “tiny” soft spot for love. While on a long overdue vacation she meets a tempting man that has her throwing all caution to the wind. But reality comes rushing back all too soon. What she didn’t know was her vacation boo was a determined man used to getting the things he deemed important and he wasn’t going to let her go easily.

Fate may have thrown these two together but both have early family scars, that left them believing love was painful and may not be in the cards for them. Can they overcome childhood demons that have shaped their perceptions of love and relationships, to forge something new and lasting with each other?

Buy it here: https://books2read.com/CInOnLove

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