Are you ready for some football this weekend?!We can’t wait, and it’s about more than just the game for us!
Julie Brannagh, author of BLITZING EMILY(on-sale 1/7), is taking over the Avon Books twitter account (@AVONBOOKS)on Sunday, February 2nd, 2014for a Super Bowl Half Time Twitter Blitz! Julie will be talking about all things love, football, books and more! As if a conversation about all our favorite things AND a giveaway—that includes some hot Avon sports romances—isn’t enough, Julie will also be revealing the awesome cover of CATCHING CAMERON(the third book in her series)!
Julie wants you to join in on the fun! We’d love for you to stop by, chat and say hello!. Just use the hashtag #LUVFOOTBALL during halftime on Sunday, February 2nd (estimated to be around 8-8:30PM EST) and you’re in!
All is fair in Love and Football…
A sexy football star tries to reform his image and his life by rescuing a klutzy and reluctant-to-love opera diva in the first book in Julie Brannagh’s irresistible new series
Emily Hamilton doesn’t trust men. She’s much more comfortable playing the romantic lead on stage in front of a packed house than in her own life. So, when NFL star and irresistible ladies’ man Brandon McKenna acts as her personal white knight, she has no illusions he’ll stick around. However, a misunderstanding with the press throws them together in a fake engagement that yields unexpected (and breathtaking) benefits.
Every time Brandon calls her “Sugar,” Emily almost believes Brandon’s playing for keeps, not just to score. Can she let down her defenses and get her own Happily Ever After?
"I’ve loved her since we were kids. But loving someone gets tough when they don’t love you back." Nixon Black has made mistakes. He made one mistake that would change his life forever. Now he’s working and in school—and he's up to his eyeballs in responsibility--in the form of a three year old, red-headed genius. He gave up dating when Scout was born, but every night he retreats to another life in his mind, one he could’ve had with her. Journey spent her formative years on the arm of any boy that didn’t expect anything out of her. She was hiding from the one person who did expect something in return—Nixon. Years after being cheated on and dumped for the last time, she takes a job at a daycare center where there’s a genius of a ginger haired girl whose last name is Black.
But the roles have been reversed and Journey is no longer Nixon’s first priority. Can he make room for the new Journey? And when he does, will he be able to forgive the old one?
Annalisa believes she finally has a chance to share forever with Micah, but her fear that something will destroy their happiness grows stronger every day. He changed everything to be with her, leaving his horrible past far behind as they begin to see a bright and beautiful future together. Unfortunately, someone in the mob isn't willing to let go of their best hit man.
The second book in the Untouchable trilogy takes you on a journey of love, passion, sacrifice, heartbreak, and hope. She touched his heart, but what happens next should be…Unforgivable.
Before I start my review I want to warn you that if you haven't had a chance to read book 1 Untouchable then you need to turn around and go back to "GO" and Collect $200 dollars because below lies spoilers!!!
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So when Untouchable ended we learned that the new guy Evan Lewis was really Micah Gavereen, the sexy, Italian mob hit man sent to kill Leese. This book picks up where Untouchable left off, with Leese and Micah planning a wedding after he had gotten out of the mob to be with her. I KNOW! Shocker right? I was so happy they fought so hard to be together and overcame the obstacles in the first book. The wedding goes off without a hitch and Leese and Micah spend a very steamy honeymoon exploring each other. Things get so intense between them that Micah has to give her CPR because she actually stops breathing! Talk about hot, that shit had ME holding my breath too! Everything seems to be going so well between these two and they are so much in love that when Leese is briefly kidnapped yet again by the mob I almost held out hope that things would be OK. But this author knows how to keep your emotions in a constant state of FUCKED! Leese is confronted by Micah's old boss D'Angelo and he gives her no choice but to leave Micah so he can have him back. Leese resists at first But when he threatens everything she loves, she decides it would be better for everyone if she did leave. She calls Ryan and explains everything to him and he helps her get away, making it look like she ran off with him. Micah doesn't believe she would just leave and chases her down but she does such a great job hiding that after a while he does exactly what D'Angelo wants him to do. He goes back to being the best hit man in the mob.
Months go by with Leese and Ryan living together in his home state of Colorado and the lines between friends and lovers is starting to blur. Leese is bound to honor her commitment to Micah even though their marriage has since been annulled. While in Colorado Leese is approached one day by a mystery man from L.A. who wants her to be in a televised singing competition that is about to begin filming. When she realizes she might be able to vocally sing her apology to Micah in front of the world she agrees and so begins the next leg of the drama. Week after week Leese sings her heart out in hopes that Micah will hear her and every song choice is picked for that reason alone. When Micah shows up after one of her performances she wants nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and be with him again but her promise to keep him safe from D'Angelo sends her running and Micah is crushed yet again. He is determined to get her back and follows her home but he realizes that something is wrong with him and chalks it up to D'Angelo putting something into his wine from his lunch meeting that day. When Micah confronts Leese at her home he does something violent and Unforgivable that just might end their beautiful love for good.
This book had me in so many knots just remembering all these things is causing my heart rate to pick up speed. I am in love with this series despite the angst and depth of emotion it has drawn out of me. This book is a beautiful blend of Suspense, Drama and Romance. The love story between Leese and Micah is amazing and at times makes you feel on top of the world and other times takes you to the depths of the sea. I have to say that Leese drove me completely fucking crazy in this book. Her relationship with Ryan made me want to tear small kittens in half. I swear my neighbors are probably pissed off at me for stomping and screaming throughout the whole two days I spent reading this. I literally had to fight the urge to hurl my laptop across the room! While Leese is on the run from Micah she gets way to close to Ryan for my taste. Leese and Micah are one of those couples that you root for constantly and you hate anyone who tries to get in the way. What I did love about her is that no matter what happened with Ryan she knew without a doubt that Micah was who she was supposed to be with.
Micah Gavereen is one of my absolute favorite book Boyfriends. Just saying his name makes me giddy just knowing the things this man can do! I loved watching him teach Leese how to have hot SEX! I swear this guy could make the polar ice caps melt! I seriously love him so much I have a hard time with him not being real. In book one he was the torn conflicted hit man who despite his better judgement fell in love with his mark. He had every intention of killing her even though he loved her and seeing him struggle was painful yet beautiful. In this book he was the loving, attentive and hot husband to Leese until that bitch lost her mind! Seeing him so devastated by her abandonment was brutal because you fall so hard for him. Even when he goes back into the mob you can't help but love him, especially when he makes a crucial mistake that ends up being a HUGE catalyst in the story I still loved him.
When everything comes around full circle Micah learns exactly what sends Leese running and handles things himself which in turn sets off a ripple effect that is felt well into the next book. I can't praise this series enough because it's been WEEKS since I read them and I STILL can't stop thinking about it. There is a specific moment in this book that involves a Breaking Benjamin song..
that made me stop and listen to it and I'm glad I did because the lyrics are so hauntingly accurate for the situation and will burn itself into your gut so when you hear it again you will only think of that moment. I loved that about this book. It was so gripping and emotional that a SONG can make me feel those emotions all over again. Lindsay Delagair has become one of my top favorite authors and has done such a good job with this series especially being a new author. I hope you give these books a try because you really need a guy like Micah on your boyfriend list!
He rose slightly and looked at me, “I don’t have this kind of strength, baby—I wanted to wait, but I’ve never needed anything so bad in my life.” pg 14
“Don’t do it. Je t’aime, Annalisa. Please, baby, don’t leave me twice—I couldn’t take it. Tell me now that you want to be with me. I’ll take you away from here and make love to you until the world fades—don’t leave me, again.” pg 266
“We’ve been through hell and back, Annalisa, but it’s all been worth it to be right here, right now in your arms. I love you with more strength than I possess in my body,” pg 345
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lindsay lives in Florida on the west coast. She is married and has three children. Although she holds a degree in technology, writing full-time (someday) is her dream job. She enjoys different genres, but always comes back to writing romance.
He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.
But he’s got his reasons.
His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.
As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade.
So he slipped far, far from it.
Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?
Wrong.
And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.
Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.
When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.
But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.
He knows that. And he’s working on it.
But is that enough to make her stay?
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Be sure to check back on Thursday for our stop on the tour and see Hootie's review of If you Stay PLUS her interview with Courtney Cole!
Author Bio:
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people. Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
