Tag: Rachel Van Dyken

Release Day Blitz: The Playboy Bachelor by Rachel Van Dyken

Posted April 11, 2017 by Rowena in Promotions | 2 Comments

Forever Books held a super secret release day blitz for a book that nobody knew was coming out and we are pretty stoked to be participating in the blast. Rachel Van Dyken is a pretty popular author and she’s got a new book coming out that you won’t want to miss. Check it out!

The Playboy Bachelor by Rachel Van Dyken
Series: The Bachelors of Arizona #2
Also in this Series: The Bachelor Auction
Release Date: April 11, 2017
Publisher: Forever, Hachette
Genres: Contemporary, Romance

She’s no Sleeping Beauty. And he’s definitely no prince . . .

Margot McCleery could have lived her whole life without seeing Bentley Wellington again—her ex-best friend and the poster boy for Hot, Rich Man-Whores everywhere. But Margot’s whiskey-augmented grandmother “buys” Bentley at a charity bachelor auction, and now suddenly he’s at her door. Impossibly charming. Impossibly sexy. And still a complete and utter jackass.

Bentley’s just been coerced by his grandfather to spend the next thirty days charming and romancing the reclusive red-haired beauty who hates him. The woman he abandoned when she needed him the most. Bentley knows just as much about romance as he knows about love—nothing. But the more time he spends with Margot, the more he realizes that “just friends” will never be enough. Now all he has to do is convince her to trust him with her heart . . .

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Excerpt

“I’m writing a kissing scene!” she blurted, mentally kicking herself for screaming it in his face. “And the guy’s a complete jackass. Since my only experience with jackasses is you…” Her voice was shaky, just like her body. Could he tell how much she wanted him? How much she hated that her response was this—raw. “I-I figured you were the only one who could show me what it’s like.” Good one, Margot. Do you really have to sound so…desperate?

“What what’s like?”

“A kiss. From a jackass.”

“Got the jackass part.” He treaded water and then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her deeper into the pool until they were on the opposite end, his body pressed against hers. At least his eyes were still locked on her face. “And you’ve never been kissed?”

She rolled her eyes. “Not by someone like—”

“If you keep insulting me, this kiss won’t ever happen, Red.”

“Don’t call me that,” Margot whispered. Was she so weak that she’d forgive his abandonment for one kiss? “Please?”

“This kiss.” His calculated gaze didn’t make her feel any better about the situation. “How long does it need to be? How deep? Where do you want my hands?”
Margot’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not how kisses work! You can’t just map out the kiss. That takes all the romance out of it!”

“Oh, so you want romance?”

“Yes! No! I mean. I didn’t say that!” Her face flamed, and she sagged in defeat. Admitting she wanted romance kind of felt like she was on the losing end of the little battles they’d been having, like she was giving him an in. And if he got in, he’d only hurt her again.

“I was joking,” he said, just before his lips brushed hers. His tongue slid across her bottom lip and then sucked it for a few seconds before he slid it into her mouth and deepened the kiss.
Her lips softened beneath his gentle coaxing, and his hard thighs pressed against hers as a deep hunger awakened within her.

Oh, this was bad.

So bad.

And very, very good at the same time.

Teasers

The Bachelor’s of Arizona

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About the Author

Rachel Van Dyken

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of New Adult, Regency, and contemporary romances. When she’s not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. She keeps her home in Idaho with her husband, son, and their snoring boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers!

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Review: The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken

Posted February 11, 2014 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: The Bet by Rachel Van DykenReviewer: Holly
The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken
Series: The Bet #1
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: June 25th 2013
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Includes a special sneak peek of THE WAGER by Rachel Van Dyken! The #1 New York Times bestseller...

"I have a proposition for you." Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. It's been years since Kacey's seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they're engaged for her sake-so be it.

But Kacey wasn't counting on Jake's older brother Travis still being there. She calls him "Satan" for a reason: she's never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis's gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart . . . and Kacey's more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear-she never should have accepted Jake's deal ...

80,000 words

The Bet started a bit slow, but picked up after the first few chapters. It was light and silly, just what I was in the mood for.

Kacey and Jake have known each other all their lives. She thought she was in love with him for a long time, until he ruined it after one lovely night together. Now, after years of silence, he’s asking for her help; pretend to be his fiance to make his dying grandmother happy. The last thing she wants is to deceive is family, but if it will make his sweet grandmother happy, she’ll do it.

Too bad Jake forgot to mention his older brother Travis would be home. Travis has always been the bane of Kacey’s existence. Unbeknownst to her, Travis had a huge crush on her and that’s why he constantly played pranks on her and tormented her. As far as she’s concerned he’s a mean bully…except the man who shows up to bring her home from the airport is sexy and sharp – not at all how she remembers Travis.

Over the course of the weekend Kacey and Travis get to know one another a lot better and Jake shows he hasn’t changed much. Too bad she’s there acting as Jake’s fiance and can’t indulge in what she’d like with Travis.

As I said, this was a light read. It only took me an hour or so to read it. The antics of Kacey, Travis and Jake were a little over-the-top silly sometimes, but I found myself smiling over them instead of becoming annoyed. This may be because I was in the mood for just this time of read when I picked it up, but I can’t deny I enjoyed it.

I wanted to punch Jake in the junk a couple times, but in the end I couldn’t hate him. I have a feeling he’ll get what’s coming to him.

3.5 out of 5

This book is available from Forever. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

three-half-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted December 17, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 0 Comments

Happy Tuesday!

Yes, this post is going up on Tuesday because I’m seriously hella behind. Things are falling by the wayside as work is wiping me out completely every day. It’s obviously one of the busy seasons here at the church so I’m just trying to keep afloat. I actually only worked half a day yesterday to try and catch up with laundry, housework and completing my holiday decorating. I thought this post was gonna get done at that time but apparently there was just too much to do! lol Crazy.

Anyway, things here are gearing up for Christmas. The kids are so excited about Christmas. We’ll go to my in-laws this Sunday to celebrate as that’s the only time we can all get together. It will be weird on Christmas to just be at home with the hubby and kids. As ALL of my family is all out of state now it’s just us four. I’m sad I won’t see them in person but Skype will be busy that day. 🙂

So….what I read last week:

I started off the week with Christmas Kitsch by Amy Lane. A wonderful book about 2 boys who are so very different but find what they need in the other. It was great and I highly recommend it. You can read my review here. 5 out of 5

Love this chicks hair!

Next was Jealous and Freakn’ by Eve Langlais. The story was about a woman who has known her mate was since she was 10 but he thinks he sees her as a sister and refuses to acknowledge her as his mate. Along comes another shifter and lo and behold, he’s her mate as well. Once he gets jealous he finally decides to admit that he’s wanted her for years but thought it was wrong. This was a fun and funny story that I really enjoyed reading. 4 out of 5

Elite by Rachel Van Dyken was a re-read. I wanted to read Elect which is book 2 in the Eagle Elite series but it’s a complete continuation from book 1…which I hadn’t read for a while. I wanted to be completely in the know so…it was re-read time. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Elect by Rachel Van Dyken is the continuing story of Trace & Nixon but also adds Chase, Nixon’s cousin into the mix to make a nice little love triangle. I’m not a fan of love triangles but this one was very readable and didn’t drive me batty – yay! 🙂 You can read my full review of the book here. 4 out of 5 

The Scandal in Kissing an Heir by Sophie Barnes is the story of Rebecca who was orphaned and taken in by her aunt and uncle who are horrid. She would do anything to avoid marrying the ancient suitors they have courting her – even fake madness for two years. Now she’s looking for a younger husband and she’s got her eye on Daniel. Daniel HAS to get married according to his uncle or he’ll be cut off. Turns out marriage is the best thing that ever happened to him. Great story. Liked both Rebecca and Daniel a lot. 4 out of 5

Forgiveness: Alek & Rose by Amanda N. Richardson was the story of, you guessed it, Alek and Rose who grew up together and were close friends who were each afraid to stated their true feelings. Then Rose disappears for a year and then comes back to finally tell Alek what’s up, why she left and how she feels about it. The characters were immature at best and Alek had serious anger issues. Rose seemed strong on one hand and then weak at others and I couldn’t get a true handle on her. This one was ok but really not my cuppa. 2 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

The Valentine’s Arrangement by Kelsie Leverich was about tattoo artist Ronnie who lusts after her soldier client Kale. They start a no strings sexual relationship which quickly turns to love. The love happened rather quickly even though they were parted for months. I guess I thought that because Ronnie didn’t talk to Kale the entire time he was deployed. This was a good one but I did have some issues with it. 3 out of 5

His Teddy Bear by Eve Langlais was about a short chubby bear shifter named Teddy who finds out her mate is big, bad, beautiful wolf shifter, Reece. Reece dates tall, leggy blondes so when he first realizes that Teddy is his mate he’s not thrilled. He then gets to know her, despite Teddy’s best efforts to constantly run away, and finally realizes that its what’s inside that counts. Yes, Reece was an ass but I really liked him by the end of the book. 3 out of 5

 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Taming a Wild Scot by Rowan Keats

Happy Reading!

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Review: Elect by Rachel Van Dyken

Posted December 15, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Warning: 
This review contains spoilers of book 1!

Would you die for the one you love?

Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family’s enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him.

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family’s sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend… But Trace isn’t ready to give up on a future with Nix–and if he won’t fight for them, she will.

In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . . 

We discovered in book one of the Eagle Elite series, Elite, that Nixon Abandonato is the mafia boss of the most powerful mafia in Chicago. He’s only 21 but he is one badass mofo, let me tell ya. While he is a badass he and his friends, who are from other mafia families as well as his own, want peace. They want the families to be able to get along. This might be a tall order as there is nothing but strife between them at the moment. 

Nixon and Trace are in love. We saw most of their love story in book one but here we get to see it x100. The problem with that is that Nixon’s cousin, best friend and Trace’s bodyguard, Chase, is completely in love with Trace as well. He doesn’t want to be but he can’t help himself and while he doesn’t want anything to come between him and Nixon it comes to the point where he’s only thinking about betrayal to be with the woman he loves. This is compounded by the fact that Nixon is more or less pushing them together thinking that Trace will be safer if she’s away from him as he has enemies. Probably not a good idea. 

Trace loves both Nixon and Chase but each in different ways. She’s been pushed away from Nixon so often that while it feels wrong to be with Chase, but he’s very comforting for her. He’s a great friend. She doesn’t actually believe Chase when he tells her how he feels and believes that he’s just being charming and playing a part. That’s until a plan gets put into action to find a rat in the organization, find out who killed Trace’s parents when she was six and to take that person down. In order to do that Nixon has to put himself on the line and the outcome is devastating for everyone – people die, a rat is found, a man redeems himself…and that’s just part of the story. 

I would love to go into great detail about this book but I just can’t without giving up huge spoilers and part of the power of the story is how it unfolds. Was I frustrated when we kept getting clues and not told what the hell the big secret was? Oh absolutely. I’m not a patient girl when it comes to stuff like that! lol But in the end the way it played out was completely satisfying and very well done. 

The story is well written and done is such a way that we get many different points of view. It’s alternating 1st person POV’s between Nixon, Chase and Phoenix. I would have loved to have gotten Trace’s POV in this book as well (as we did in book 1) but that was not to be. Despite not having her POV I thought that the insight we received about what was happening from those three was wonderful. I really like Nixon so very much – much better than I did in the last book. Chase I didn’t like as much. I think it was because he was betraying Nixon and I thought Nixon and Trace were the better couple. He was a good guy though so I couldn’t outright hate him. Trace I liked much better in this book. The multiple bouts of crying she had in the last book went by the wayside and she learned to turn her tears into anger. You go girl. 🙂 

The book had me, again, on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next with the plan, with the mafia, with Trace and Chase and Nixon – all of it. The intensity of the characters working together (or not), and how that will all turn out in the end, to be a real page turner. I really enjoyed the book and even the who love triangle thing which I normally will not read. This was worth all the nail biting in the end. I would never have thought that I would enjoy not only a love triangle but a story about the Mafioso. Who knew? I guess when it’s done as well as this one was it’s easy to love the books.

I definitely recommend this book and its predecessor. I can’t wait to read book 3 in the series too see what happens next with these awesome characters.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 
Rachel Van Dyken 

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Review: The Bet by Rachel van Dyken.

Posted November 11, 2013 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Bet - Rachel Van Dyker
Rowena’s review of The Bet (The Bet #1) by Rachel Van Dyken.

“I have a proposition for you.” Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus’s mouth. It’s been years since Kacey’s seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they’re engaged for her sake-so be it.

But Kacey wasn’t counting on Jake’s older brother Travis still being there. She calls him “Satan” for a reason: she’s never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis’s gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart . . . and Kacey’s more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear-she never should have accepted Jake’s deal . . .

Kacey has known the Titus boys since she was a little girl.  Jake was her best friend and Travis was her worst enemy and one day she had everything and then one night, she lost it all.  Her family.  Her best friend.  And her second family.

Jake and Kacey were inseparable growing up.  They were there for each other and then they dated and then they stopped dating and then stopped talking.  Travis has always been around but Kacey called him the devil because he tormented her when she was young and she didn’t like him…at all.  Too bad Travis has been in love with her for his entire life.  He was just terrible at showing her, let alone telling her.

I’ve never read anything by this author before but I was looking forward to reading this one because it sounded like something fun and while this book was fun, there were times when I wanted to wring the hero, the heroine and the hero’s brothers necks.  I know that these guys were pretty young.  Kacey and Jake are 21 and Travis is 23 but man did they act all kinds of childish in this book.  They yelled at each other a lot, they pranked each other a lot and at first, I thought it was funny but over the course of the book, it just got old.

I did enjoy getting to know both Travis and Kacey because when they weren’t driving me up the wall with not saying how they feel (Travis) and saying stupid shit (Kacey).  But as I kept reading the book, I began to really like the two of them together. Travis was hot and I loved the way that he loved Kacey, from afar.  He was so good for her and to her that I was going to be royally pissed off if she started having feelings for Jake again.

At the end of this book, there’s an excerpt for Jake’s story.  I’m mighty curious to see how Van Dyken redeems Jake because he was a total douche in this book.  I didn’t hate him but I didn’t exactly like him either.  I did love the hell out of Grandma Nadine though.  She was pretty awesome.

Overall, this book was cute and it was funny.  There were parts that drove me up the wall but not enough that it ruined my enjoyment of the book.  I thought that Van Dyken did a great job of turning Travis and Kacey’s relationship around and I loved seeing them fall in love with each other.  I will definitely be reading more from this author and I would also recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance and New Adult books.  It’s cute.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

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

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