Dale Mayer – Mason Seals of Honor

lizellyn Books ,

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REVIEW

This is a quick easy read with a lot of action.  While I included this as a romance book, there’s actually a lot more military action than romance action.  I prefer books where the military action isn’t quite so predominate.  However, I was entertained.

There’s a bit of humor sprinkled in to break up some of the stressful military scenes.  These were my favorite parts.

I liked the female character because she is strong and intelligent, which is in contrast to a lot of Seals books where the heroine is a damsel in distress.

BLURB

Kill or be killed.

Part of an elite SEAL team, Mason takes on the dangerous jobs no one else wants to do – or can do. When he’s on a mission, he’s focused and dedicated. When he’s not, he plays as hard as he fights.
Until he meets a woman he can’t have but can’t forget.

Software developer, Tesla lost her brother in combat and has no intention of getting close to someone else in the military. Determined to save other US soldiers from a similar fate, she’s created a program that could save lives. But other countries know about the program, and they won’t stop until they get it – and get her.

Time is running out… For her… For him… For them…

Thank You Arc to Dale Mayer!

Link to Amazon:

J.L. Leslie – Let the Waves Come In

lizellyn Books

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REVIEW

This is the epitome of a feel good novel.  It’s an exploration in all different types of love.  It’s got friendship that is as strong as unconditional love.  There’re loves of the past and loves of the present.

The constant comparison in the types of love is seamlessly woven into the story.

The author keeps the reader on their toes (and turning the pages quickly) by not knowing what the eventual outcome will be.  The ending left me feeling completely blissful and happy for the couple.

BLURB

I’m Aubrey Somers. I’ve landed my dream job. I have a great apartment and I still keep in touch with my best friend…even though he lives hundreds of miles away. I’ve even started dating again. I have a lot going for me.

It doesn’t matter that I have to take an anti-depressant everyday or see a therapist every other week. It doesn’t matter that I refuse to drive anywhere. The wreck that ruined everything I had is almost a distant memory. Almost.

But now I have two men in my life. Two men who want to be with me. Two men I never thought I’d have the chance to be with. And I feel like I’m drowning…

“His hungry mouth consumes everything from me. All of my emotions. When he pulls away, I don’t know what to feel. What to want. Who to want.” – Let The Waves Come In

**This book contains explicit language and sexual scenes. It is meant for adult readers only.**

Thank You Arc to J.L. Leslie!

 

 

Rachel Strong – That Girl

lizellyn Books ,

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BLURB

After serving half of a three-year prison sentence, James is out and ready to try and get his life back on track, which means forgetting about the girl who sent him to prison in the first place – despite the fact he’s still in love with her!
Katie knows that she can’t see James, but that doesn’t make it any easier. If she does it could send him straight back to prison, but, she still loves him and is desperate to make things right and tell him how sorry she is for ruining his life.
After accidently bumping into each other, James and Katie can’t stay away from one another and so begin to see each other in secret. After a slight wobble on James’s part, when he decides he can’t take the risk of going back to prison, Katie decides enough is enough and it really is time to move on and put James behind her.
Heartbroken, James decides to try and get his life in order. But due to his conviction it’s not as straightforward as he would like, leaving him miserable and despairing at what his life has become.
When a job opportunity comes up hundreds of miles away he doesn’t hesitate to head south and put his troubles behind him.
Can James and Katie forget each other and move on with their lives without one another?

REVIEW

First off, I got hooked into this story immediately.  I was simply dying to know what had happened to land him in jail.  Things aren’t always as they seem and I couldn’t stop reading until I knew.

What an emotional ride! It was amazing how my feelings about the James changed throughout the book. The surrounding characters add their own perspectives that are quite compelling.  There were times I felt so bad for James and other times where I hated him.  The love-hate relationship continues throughout the entire novel.

There is no doubt in my head that this is a five star book. The range and strength of feelings the author was able to provoke makes this an amazing impassioned roller coaster.  I wouldn’t dare go on a real roller coaster, but I couldn’t put down this book.

Thank You Arc to Rachel Strong!

AUTHOR

Rachel Strong is a romance author and lives in Lancashire, England, with her husband, three children and little dog Daisy. Rachel works part time as a Health Care Assistant at her local hospital, but her real passion is writing.
  Ever since she can remember Rachel has been writing stories but never really took it seriously, until summer 2012 when her husband discovered one of her stories, read it and convinced her that it was good. She loves writing and creating characters, sometimes a whole day can pass her by, just sat at her lap top, typing away.
When she’s not writing, Rachel loves to read slushy romance novels and chick-lit and when she finds a spare moment she will be found curled up on the sofa with her nose in a book.

 

Elodie Nowodazkij – Love in B Minor

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REVIEW

I love this rock star romance because of the love interest twist.  I truly appreciate the originality in the story line.  It’s not your typical rock star story.

Each character has more than their fair share of sadness in their pasts.  The author uses their pasts to create both a connection between them as well as a conflict.  The way that the author incorporates the past into the present was outstanding and made this a really good romance.

The romance part of this book was worthy of 5 stars.  Unfortunately, I didn’t care for a significant twist at the end.  Nonetheless, I would highly recommend the book.  I won’t say anything more on that subject for fear of spoiling the ending.  And hey, if you read this book you may feel completely differently about the ending.

Love in B Minor

BLURB

No promises. No fake tomorrows. That was the plan. 

New city. New life. At least, that’s what nineteen-year-old Jen Harrison believes. On the surface, she’s living her dream: dancing in a prestigious dance company in Paris. But her sister’s death and the mistakes she’s tried to bury haunt her. She’s become a pro at hiding who she truly is, and she definitely doesn’t want a guy to derail her, but a one night-stand she can do. Nothing more. She definitely doesn’t plan to see the sexy stranger who made her laugh for the first time in years ever again.

Girls don’t walk away from Lucas Wills. Bad boy turned rock star, he’s got his share of groupies. Always upfront, he doesn’t promise fake tomorrows because love can destroy everything. Been there, done that. His ex not only lied to him, she stomped on his heart, used him to become famous, and almost ruined him. So, waking up alone after a night beyond his wildest imagination with a girl he just met shouldn’t upset him, shouldn’t inspire one of the saddest songs he’s ever written, shouldn’t make him want to chase after her.

When Jen, the one-night stand who got away, auditions to be a dancer in Lucas’ next music video, they can’t stop their growing attraction. But Jen’s secrets and his ex could shatter the careers they tried so hard to build and their hearts…they will have to decide what’s more important and if love is worth the fight.

Thank You Arc to Elodie Nowodazkij!

Overpriced Books – Does Size Matter?

lizellyn Bookish

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Do you think that $7.99 for an 117 page book that has a large font and loads of spacing between lines is overpriced?

I won’t mention the actual book or author I’m referring to, but the book was written by a Best Selling Author and the book was the third volume in a trilogy.  As I fell in love with the series in book one, I was frantically eager to read the second in the series, which didn’t compare to the first.  I still loved the characters and knowing that there was another book in the series made me compelled to read volume three.

Being on a budget, I was thrilled to get a copy from the local library.  When I stood at the counter checking out the book, my first reaction was “Wow – that’s a short book.”  When I quickly flipped open the book, I was further disappointed to see that not only was the book thin, but the font was huge and the spacing ridiculous.

I read the novella.  Essentially it was a long epilogue that didn’t offer any twists or any extra perspective on the characters.  Very Disheartening!

Even though I didn’t actually purchase the book myself, it made me think about how irritated I would be if I had shelled out cash for the book.

I’m not naive enough to be ignorant of all the publishing costs involved in selling a book.  There is obviously a minimum cost to producing books.  But was this book overpriced simply based on the author’s past sales?  That seems very short sited on the side of the publisher.  This publisher is in the process of publishing a spin off to this series.  Before I read this book, I was very much looking forward to reading the spin off.  I feel like the publisher has cheated the readers by over charging for this book.  Honestly, I’m less likely to purchase the books in the spin off.

Do you consider the length and pricing when choosing books to purchase?

I apologize for the tone of this post.  I love to read and I usually try and stay positive on my blog, but I can’t help but rant today.

See Related Post:

How to end a book series?

 

Cookie Dough Frosting (gluten free)

lizellyn Sweets , ,

My daughter and I went on a cookie dough binge following my birthday when I decided to have cookie dough for my birthday instead of a normal birthday cake.

From cookie dough, we launched into the land of cookie dough frosting.  It was so good when we used it in the chocolate cupcakes that we followed up with whoopie pies stuffed with cookie dough frosting.

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Of course, I like to eat the frosting by the spoonful.

Cookie Dough Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

10 Tbls. butter, softened

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c almond flour

1 1/4 c powered sugar

3 Tbls. almond milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Beat sugar and butter until fluffy.  Incorporate the rest of the ingredients. Beat until perfect consistency.

See Related:

See BirthdayPost: (recipe for gluten free cookie dough included)

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Whoopie Pies Are For All Occasions

red and green whoopie pies

HAPPY BAKING!

 

 

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

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Happy National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Hope you take advantage of the “holiday” and indulge.  Today, I served a light chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and a bit of chocolate ganache.

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As seen in a previous post:

CHOCOLATE GANACHE is the BEST add-in ingredient for ice cream!

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Here’s a bowl of peppermint ice cream with swirls of chocolate ganache.  Peppermint is a great flavor for the winter time holidays, but the chocolate ganache could just as easily and tastily be added to vanilla, coffee, mint, cherry, peanut butter, or any other flavor ice cream.

Chocolate ganache is better than chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, and hot fudge!

  1. The taste is rich, creamy, and delicious
  2. The texture is smooth, not hard chocolate chips or magic shell
  3. It stabilizes in the ice cream and doesn’t inhibit the flavor of the ice cream – like adding chocolate sauce that is runny and eventually overtakes the flavor
  4. Doesn’t ruin the texture of the ice cream by melting it

How to add chocolate ganache to the ice cream

  1. make the ganache, see directions below (allow to cool while making ice cream)
  2. make the ice cream, any flavor you choose, see video below
  3. Add 1/3 of freshly made ice to a serving bowl that can be placed in the freezer, drizzle about 1/3 of the ganache over the ice cream, add another layer of 1/3 of ice cream and 1/3 of the ganache over the ice, repeat again with final 1/3 of ice cream and 1/3 ganache
  4. Take a knife and cut through the drizzled ganache (do not blend entirely, you want to leave ribbons of chocolate – see photo)

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How to make chocolate ganache:

Place 1 cup of chocolate chips in a large size bowl.  Heat 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream in pot on stove on high temperature. When the cream is boiling, pour the cream over chips and stir with a whisk until all the chips have melted and smooth texture has been attained.  (allow to cool while making the ice cream)

Here’s a video on how to make 2 ingredient ice cream.

See Related:

Screen Shot 2015-07-26 at 6.06.39 AM Brownie A La Mode

ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

Colleen Hoover – November 9

lizellyn Books

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Review

WHY? Why? Why? Why did I read the book so quickly?  I wish I had savored it.  I literally couldn’t put it down.  I’m trying to calculate how long I need to wait to read the book again.  I need to have enough time that when I read it again it will feel like a fresh story in my head.  Unfortunately, a good story tends to stay stuck in my head for a long time.

Yes, I cried.  Tears were streaming down my cheeks – a true sign of a 5 star book.  I haven’t read a Colleen Hoover book where I haven’t ended up crying at some point (or many).  At least I didn’t get caught reading/crying in public this time.  I’ve learned that I need to read Colleen Hoover’s books in private.

Seriously, I loved how the story unfolded!  It’s a wonderful book about being beautiful both inside and out, no matter what type of scars one holds.

Blurb

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

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See Related:

Colleen Hoover – Confess

Colleen Hoover – Losing Hope

Screen Shot 2014-10-22 at 8.55.28 AM to Colleen Hoover!