Tag: Andrea Laurence

Review: The CEO’s Unexpected Child by Andrea Laurence

Posted March 24, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: The CEO’s Unexpected Child by Andrea LaurenceReviewer: Rowena
The CEO's Unexpected Child by Andrea Laurence
Series: Millionaires of Manhattan #4
Publisher: Harlequin Desire
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 192
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
two-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

CLAIMING HIS CHILD…AT ANY COST

A shocking fertility clinic mix-up has resulted in Luca Moretti fathering a child with a woman he's never met. There's no way the CEO will walk away from his baby girl. But he has thirty days to convince her distractingly beautiful mother to do exactly what he wants.

Widow Claire Douglas is still reeling from the loss of her husband when she discovers a stranger has fathered her child. And the rich bachelor will stop at nothing to gain joint custody. How can she possibly fight a man with such money and power…and a charm she can't resist?

I don’t read very many Harlequin category romances because every time that I do, I’m reminded why I don’t.

Claire Douglas is a widowed mother who found out that 1) her husband was cheating on her before he died and 2) the baby she thought was her husbands is not and because of a goof at the fertility clinic she used, a complete stranger is her baby daddy. Trying to come to terms with all of that is hard enough but when her new stranger baby daddy threatens to sue her for joint custody of the baby, shit gets real. This isn’t something that the fertility clinic can fix (even though they made her a very rich lady thanks to their goof).

Luca Moretti is a billionaire in charge of his family business. His family runs a successful Italian restaurant chain and that restaurant chain has made them very rich. When Luca was a teenager, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and he’s in remission but lives in constant fear that the cancer will return. His cancer history and some doctors in his past made him believe that he would never father kids of his own so before cancer could destroy his chances at kids someday, he had some semen samples kept on ice for the future and it was those samples that were used to knock up Claire.

He’s a grown man now, living the bachelor life and when he finds out that he has a daughter out there, he’s determined to be a part of his daughter’s life….even if it means taking her mother to court to ensure he gets to see her.

In order for Claire to get to know Luca better so that they can make this co-parenting thing work, Luca suggest getting away for a month. Claire reluctantly agrees and off they go to the vineyard (as I imagine rich folks say) for a month of rest and relaxation…and falling in love getting to know each other. 🙂

Luca comes from a huge Italian family and they’re loud, their gatherings big and crazy so he’s been around kids his entire life. He’s not worried about being a good father, but he’s worried that Claire who blows hot and cold will get in the way of his relationship with his daughter.

Claire is still reeling from pretty much everything that has gone to shit in her life. Her marriage was a farce, the whole mix up with the fertility clinic is still making the rounds in her head and now she’s got a baby daddy that is a completely stranger that wants to become a part of her life. She’s attracted to him and that complicates her already complicated life. She doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

The book started off on the up and up but the more that I read, the more that I wanted to punch someone.

Claire’s attitude toward Luca in the beginning got on my nerves because it was no more Luca’s fault that they were in the situation they’re in than it was hers and yet she took everything out on him. Annoyed the snot out of me even though, as a mother I understood where she was coming from. Her hot and cold attitude got real old, real fast though and I spent a good chunk of this book wanting to punch her ever living lights out.

Luca was understanding about Claire’s attitude toward him even though (like me) he was annoyed about it, but he made it on to my people I want to punch list when he started second guessing Claire and her motives and everything that happens after they get home from Martha’s Vineyard. I mean seriously, you dickhead asshole! Get it together already!

The other thing that didn’t work for me was how cheesy everything was. The way that Claire says Luca’s name annoyed me too. “Oh Luca!” Oh shut up! Everything that happened when they got back from their vacation made me want to gauge my eyes out. I don’t even know why I finished this book. It started off a little on the crazy side but it was interesting but as the story progressed, my enjoyment just kept getting lower and lower until I was happy that it was finally over.

It started off with promise but didn’t hold up which was a bummer.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

two-half-stars


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Blog Tour: Song Playlist for The CEO’s Unexpected Child by Andrea Laurence

Posted March 17, 2016 by Rowena in Promotions | 0 Comments

CEO's Unexpected Child
The CEO’s Unexpected Child by Andrea Laurence
Released on March 1, 2016 by Harlequin Desire

Order the Book:

AMAZON || BARNES AND NOBLE || KOBO

CLAIMING HIS CHILD…AT ANY COST

A shocking fertility clinic mix-up has resulted in Luca Moretti fathering a child with a woman he’s never met. There’s no way the CEO will walk away from his baby girl. But he has thirty days to convince her distractingly beautiful mother to do exactly what he wants.

Widow Claire Douglas is still reeling from the loss of her husband when she discovers a stranger has fathered her child. And the rich bachelor will stop at nothing to gain joint custody. How can she possibly fight a man with such money and power…and a charm she can’t resist?

Andrea Laurence is here today to share her playlist for her book The CEO’s Unexpected Child that came out by Harlequin Desire on March 1, 2016. Check out what songs inspired her book.

Playlist

Admittedly, this playlist is a little all over the place. I listen to a lot of different genres of music and it all comes together into a crazy playlist. Luca and Claire have a complicated and untraditional relationship, and not one that I think has been captured in the perfect song. I tried to find songs that represent their hurt in the past, their willingness to move forward, and finally to fall in love.

Better Love – Foxes

The Woman Before Me – Trisha Yearwood

Broken – Seether

Believe – Cher

Bring Me to Life – Evanescence

Demons – Imagine Dragons

With Arms Wide Open – Creed

I’m Ready – Bryan Adams

I’m A Believer – Monkees

Andrea Laurence

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

Andrea Laurence has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she learned to read at a young age. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to finally be able to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own “happily ever after” with her boyfriend and their collection of animals including a Siberian Husky that sheds like nobody’s business.


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Guest Review: Jingle Spells by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair, and Andrea Laurence

Posted December 30, 2014 by Jen in Reviews | 0 Comments

jingle spellsJen’s review of Jingle Spells by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair, and Andrea Laurence

To protect Christmas, this family of wizards will have to use a whole different kind of magic…

Part of the Winter clan, the Evergreen family is considered magical nobility. While Evergreen Industries in picturesque Gingerbread, Colorado, might look like an ordinary office building, this is where the magic of Christmas unfolds. Above Santa’s workshop, the Evergreens hold court, manage Christmas and, sometimes against their will and better judgment, fall in love. When it comes to love, the Evergreens know that sometimes you have to play a little naughty to get exactly what—or who—you want from Santa. Celebrate the holidays with Evergreen siblings Cole, Ethan, Dash and Belle in this enchanting collection from New York Times bestselling authors Vicki Lewis Thompson and Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair and Andrea Laurence.

The best way I can describe this book is that if the Hallmark Movie channel wrote a Christmas book, it would be Jingle Spells. Whether this is a good or bad thing probably depends on your feelings about Hallmark style holiday movies. Do you like quick little stories with lots of cute but not much substance? If not, this is not the book for you. In the right mood, I like a cutesy holiday movie, which was pretty much how I felt about Jingle Spells.

The book contains four connected novellas, each one about one of the Evergreen siblings: Cole, Ethan, Dash, and Belle. The Evergreens are wizards who live in Gingerbread, Colorado and are in charge of Christmas. They direct the elves who make the toys, manage the human Santa, keep the world believing in holiday magic, and just generally make Christmas happen.

Though the stories are all connected (and should be read in order), each story is complete and traces a couple. What did I like? The premise is kind of ridiculous, of course, but for some reason at Christmas that kind of ridiculous seems more whimsical than idiotic. It was funny to imagine what it would take to organize Christmas. The siblings have to deal with HR issues (with the elves), a Santa Claus going through a midlife crisis, public relations situations, etc. It’s an entertaining premise. The sex scenes were on the whole hot and interesting, which actually kind of amused me in a book with elves and Christmas cheer. Despite the fact that each story is written by a different author, I thought the style remained fairly consistent throughout. Each sibling did have their own “voice,” but I didn’t notice any inconsistencies or jarring changes between each section.

While I enjoyed myself, the stories are very, very light on world building and character development. Things that are seemingly a big deal, like how if people stop believing in Christmas the magic will die, are never explained, just mentioned. There are supposedly other wizard clans, but they don’t seem to interact or have much to do with the winter clan. There’s no real explanation for why the Evergreens are in charge of Christmas or how the current set up came to be. Each story ends VERY abruptly, too. In some of the stories (notably Cole’s and Ethan’s), there are some seemingly huge obstacles preventing the couple from being together, but then they’re just dispensed with in a couple pages of exceptionally weak explanation leading into a rushed, permanent HEA. I was left feeling frustrated that just when the stories were getting good, they were over (which is often the way I feel about Hallmark style movies, incidentally).

I really only wanted one or maybe two stories–more depth, less breadth. I’m not sure whose story I would like to see most. I was very interested in uber-smart, logical Cole and would have liked to hear more about him, but Ethan was a charmer and really adorable. Dash was sexy and intense and brought a much-needed edge to the book (if you can call a guy who makes Christmas ornaments and enchants the magical sleigh “edgy,” which you probably should not). I definitely thought Belle’s story was the weakest. As a character she was kind of melodramatic, her hero was forgettable, and the plot of that book was a bit too cliche and twee, which is saying a lot in a cutesy Christmas book. I would have preferred a longer story about any of the brothers rather than a rush through all of them like we get here.

I’m glad I read Jingle Spells, but like a made -for-TV holiday movie, the Christmas cheer is fun but fleeting.

Grade: 3.25 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Nocturne. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.  This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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Book Spotlight: Facing the Music by Andrea Laurence (+ a Kindle Fire Giveaway!)

Posted September 13, 2014 by Tracy in Giveaways, Promotions | 0 Comments

Facing The MusicFive years ago, high school sweethearts Ivy and Blake’s relationship imploded and both their lives were changed forever. Ivy became a rock star and Blake lost not only his dreams of a successful NFL career, but his reputation. Ivy’s angry song about their breakup, called “Size Matters,” hit the top of the charts and Blake became a national laughingstock. He’s salvaged his career and returned to Rosewood to be the high school football coach, regaining his status as town hero and leading the boys to the state championships.

When a tornado whips through town and destroys the high school gymnasium and stadium, a committee is formed to help rebuild and plan some charity fundraisers. Blake’s grandmother requests that Ivy return to Rosewood for the events. Forced back together for the good of their hometown and their careers, Ivy and Blake have no choice but to put aside their differences, stop running from their pasts, and finally face the music.

 

Excerpt

Ivy pressed her hands against Blake’s shoulders, pushing him gently until he was lying back on the blanket.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Whatever I want to.”

Blake arched his eyebrow at her, but he didn’t complain. He held perfectly still as her nimble fingers moved down the front of his shirt, undoing each button and exposing the expanse of skin beneath it. Her palms ran over his skin, relishing the feel of his chest hair tickling her hands. She leaned forward, letting her tongue glide along his collarbone, and then she crept down his body to the button of his jeans.

“Your hair tickles,” he said.

Ivy gathered up the long, wavy strands of her hair into one hand and swept them over her shoulder. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Not on your life,” he said between tightly gritted teeth as her fingertips brushed the edge of his waistband.

“That’s what I thought,” she said with a smile. “Now, stop complaining.”

Ivy settled between his legs, resting on her knees as she unbuttoned his jeans. She tugged at his back pockets, pulling his jeans down the length of his legs and throwing them out of her way. She moved back over him doing the same with his underwear, which thankfully, this time, were a pair of charcoal-gray boxers. They slid easily out of her way, leaving nothing between her and her goal.

She leisurely traveled back up his legs. Her fingertips gently brushed along the puckered pink scars of his calf and across his kneecap. By the time she reached his upper thigh, he was nearly trembling. Ivy wasn’t sure if it was with anticipation, emotion, or pain.

His hand reached out and snatched her wrist as she moved higher. “This hardly seems fair,” he said. “You’re wearing entirely too much clothing for me to be wearing so little.”

“Who’s doing this? You or me?”

Blake acquiesced and released her hand. He crossed his arms behind his head, giving himself an excellent vantage point for overseeing her activities. “You are, ma’am.”

“That’s right. Now are you going to keep critiquing everything I do, or do I need to put something in your mouth to shut you up?”

A wicked grin crossed Blake’s face as he looked at her. “May I offer a suggestion?”

“I have several ideas of my own,” she said.

Buy Links
Amazon: http://amzn.to/RSWFCR
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1thSDBN
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1lDKwcN
Books-A-Million: http://bit.ly/1jpY0vv

 

AndreaLaurenceAuthor Biography
Andrea Laurence has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she learned to read at a young age. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to finally be able to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own “happily ever after” with her boyfriend and their collection of animals including a Siberian Husky that sheds like nobody’s business.

 

 

Social Networking Links
Website: http://andrealaurence.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAndreaLaurence
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrea_Laurence
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5398672.Andrea_Laurence

 

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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