Thick As Thieves Blog Tour

BLOG TOUR ALERT! And it's to celebrate the release of Thick as Thieves, the fourth MM romance in the Aster Valley series by Lucy Lennox. Now, I was meant to read this, but I somehow cancelled my preorder (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!), so instead, this is gonna be a spotlight-type post!

But, in case you're not sure about Thick as Thieves, let me give you a quick once over, shall we?

Thick As Thieves Cover Reveal!

I'm going back into the world of Aster Valley. It's been a long time coming since I audiobooked both Right as Raine and the prequel novella, Winter Waites. And I have read a few other Lucy Lennox's titles (Hostile Takeover and Hijacked, the latter co-authored with May Archer), but I always wanted to come back to Aster Valley and, out of all the titles in the series, Thick As Thieves was the one that always grabbed my attention. 

I will put the blurb down below (as I want you to see why I'm excited to read this - yes, it's has friends-to-lovers troupe, don't judge me too harshly), but I am thrilled to be involved in the cover reveal of this! And, hopefully (if I get my ducks in a row), my review for this will be up in the coming few weeks! 

But first, the blurb (as taken from Goodreads):

Julian:

I've been in love with my best friend since forever. Okay, fine. Like, kindgergarten. It started out platonic, obviously, but then became... nope. Still platonic. The problem is that Parker Ellis has been straight since forever. And that makes it difficult to convince him the two of us are meant to be together.

And now there's no point. All is lost. He's gone and gotten engaged to his high-school sweetheart which means I have to grin and bear it while pretending to be the happy, supportive best man while he prepares to commit his life to a woman I can't even fault. She's great. We've all been friends forever. I know he'll be happy with Erin, just not... just not as happy as he could be with me.

Parker:

I'll admit. Sometimes I press the easy button. Like when Julian Thick had offered me half his sandwich back in grade school after noticing I didn't have any food. Or when I'd needed a date to homecoming in tenth grade and Erin told me she was it. Or when I'd used the one thing that came easy to me, skiing, to get my college tuition paid for. Or when Erin had showed back up in my life six months ago and told it was time to marry and start a family...

But for the first time in my life I'm facing something that's not at all easy. It's my wedding weekend and I've just been left at the altar. Not only that, but when my best friend whisks me away to drown my sorrows in a snowy cabin in Aster Valley, I accidentally discover Julian's been keeping secrets. Big secrets.

The kind of secrets that lead to hot experimental kisses in front of a blazing fire, tentative physical exploration in a way I'd never imagined before, and the kind of intimate, true confessions I'd never even dreamed of between me and the one person who's always been my true home.

But after twenty-plus years of thinking of Jules as my friend without benefits, is it truly possible to change who we are to each other? There's no easy button this time, but I'm willing to do the work. I only wonder if Julian is ready to trust I really mean it.

SpoOOoky Mini-Reviews

Yes, I know it's November. But I read these two in October (one I finished on All Hallow's Eve) so I'm going to pop these here in one post and hopefully, by the time you read them, you can forgive me. 

So, the two reads. One was a free short story/novella that acts as a prequel (of sorts) to a MM romance I read a few weeks back for a blog tour (Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox) - Luca and Marcel - and the other was a YA thriller that I had high hopes for as it felt perfect for Halloween - It's Behind You by Kathryn Foxfield. 

Ok, I'm not going to do my list of info, so I will say that Luca and Marcel was free on Amazon and I enjoyed their characters in Hostile Takeover, while It's Behind You was gifted to me by the UK publisher, Scholasticv, in exchange for an honest review/reaction. 

With all that out of the way, let me do a quick overview of both stories. 

With Luca and Marcel, this acts as a prequel (of sorts) to Lucy Lennox's MM romance, Hostile Takeover. When billionaire hotelier Luca Bernardi discovers his assistant can't come with him on an important business trip (due to her breaking her leg), he panics. Thankfully, she calls in a backup - PA to renowned venture capitalist, Marcel Abbott. Only... she was a little under the influence of heavy narcotics when she made the call and wires are definitely crossed as when Marcel turns shows up wearing sequins and a tiara (he came straight from a bachelorette party), Luca wonders if his PA might have accidentally hired him a rent boy and Marcel is confused over why Luca is acting all flustered around him? 

And in It's Behind You, five teen contestants enter one of the UK scariest reality TV shows (Imagine Most Haunted on ITV2 or E4) - staying the night in a haunted location. This episode is in haunted caves where a ghost haunts who eats the hearts of lovers and suffered a cave in only a few years ago. But as the night begins, things take a turn and secrets slowly come to light. And that's when the body count begins...

HOSTILE TAKEOVER - Blog Tour Review

Yes, am breaking my SpoOOoky Halloween reading month with a book review that I agreed to do back in... er... July and is in no way spooky. In fact, it's romantic. I know - another MM romance. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME SINCE THE UK FIRST WENT INTO LOCKDOWN?! I SEEM TO BE HAPPY READING LOW TO NO ANGST MM ROMANCES WITH HUNKY COVERS ... for the story, never for the hunky model on the cover. Nope. Not for the cover model AT ALL! Just... don't look at my Kindle app on my iPhone - the samples I've downloaded would tell a totally different story. 

ANYWAY, moving on. So, back ground, I had an out-of-the-blue email from PR company, Social Butterfly, chatting that I read MM romance and wondered if I would be up for reading Lucy Lennox's upcoming standalone, Hostile Takeover. I was intrigued by the idea and I knew that I wanted to do an extract reveal, but it took me a little longer to say yes to reading I was in two minds over this one. Then I went "Barring the one or two moments in my first Lucy Lennox, Right As Raine, that upset and stressed me out no end, I really enjoyed myself so this should be fun" then dived in. 

Title And Author: Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox
Publisher: Self-Published [?]
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by PR company, Social Butterfly, for blog tour in exchange for honest review/reaction.

It was meant to be a prank. Only it's wasn't, not really. And now, years later, Grey Blackwood is out for revenge. That's what's made him an excellent billionaire venture capitalist. So when he does a hostile takeover on Ellison York's father's company, he wants the whole family to suffer. 

But he doesn't know that Ellison has regretted the fall out of what happened 15 years ago. That, though it was a dare, he wanted what happened with Grey to happen and the guilt of not speaking up sooner has haunted him. Plus, Ellison is trying get away from being a corporate lawyer and out from his father's manipulative clutches. So when Ellison's father phones and begs him to save the company, Ellison reluctantly goes to help and is shocked at seeing Grey again, hotter than ever. 

Two weeks. Ellison can work for Grey for two weeks and, somehow, figure out what to do about his father's company, right? But the lines between enemies to lovers is blurred and getting blurrier by the minute... 

HOSTILE TAKEOVER - Sneak Peek!

SNEAK PEEK TIME!!! 

I seem to be dipping my toes into MM romances over the past few months, haven't I? And, because of this, I am thrilled to share you a sneak peek into the upcoming MM romance standalone novel from bestselling author, Lucy Lennox, Hostile Takeover. 

Hang on... maybe it'll be best if I just show you the blurb as, while I am planning to read this (for a possible/maybe blog tour), I am planning to stay firmly in the dark on this. I wanna go in as blind as possible.

So, this blurb is taken from the author's website and from Goodreads:

It was supposed to be a prank. A silly frat boy dare.

One hot moment in a hidden storage closet. One kiss. No consequences.

But if you get that close to a man with fire in his eyes, you’re gonna get burned, and I was no exception. One taste of Grey Blackwood ruined me for life.

The way Grey sees it, I was the one who did the ruining. I humiliated him. Wrecked his life. Destroyed his future.

Doesn’t matter that he’s clawed his way back and then some. Doesn’t matter that he’s already top of the Wall Street food chain. The man’s ruthless. Heartless. And he likes his revenge served cold.

Now he’s taking down the companies owned by every frat boy who did him wrong. And when he comes for my family’s company, the quiet life I’ve built for myself far away from Manhattan comes crumbling down, too.

But when Grey’s standing in our boardroom, threatening a hostile takeover and demanding I negotiate on behalf of my family, I don’t see an enemy. I see the chance I’ve been waiting for.

The chance for another night in his arms, and hopefully a whole lot more.

Let the negotiations begin.

This feels very enemies to lovers so I, of course, am here for that! Now, before I share the tease, I want to quickly thank you to Sarah from Social Butterfly PR for emailing me out of the blue one day and going "You seem like fun, wanna be involved in this?". And if you want more info on Hostile Takeover, you can find out more by visit Lucy Lennox's website at lucylennox.com or you can tweet her at @lucylennoxmm!

Now, ONTO THE TEASE!

eBook Review - Hijacked

BLOG TOUR REVIEW TIME!!! Yes, I know, September is my Crime/Thriller reading month, but I only decided this a few weeks ago and I agreed to be involved in this review blog tour a few months earlier. So, yes, I am screwing up my reading plans (like always), but this sounded like a fun read, and I am a sucker for fun reads! Hang on, let me get the basic details up and then we can dive in!!!

Title And Author: Hijacked by Lucy Lennox and May Archer
Publisher: Self-Published (?)
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by PR company, Social Butterfly PR,  in exchange for honest review/reaction. 

The first book in the Licking Thicket spin-off series - Licking Thicket: Horn of Glory  - we follow Dr Carter Rogers as he's about to leave the small towns of Licking Thicket and Great Nuthatch to provide medical care for those in need in Venezuela. But his grandfather decides that Carter needs a bodyguard and hires ex-marine William Riggs who, when they first meet, Cart can't help noticing how attractive Riggs is, nor how Riggs seems to hate him on sight. 

Riggs screwed up. The security firm he works for, Champion Security, lost a huge client who create the gaming sensation, Horn of Glory, and it's Riggs's fault. Now, the creator of the game, Buck Nutter has vanished and is planning to sell his "Magic Seed" (aka a backdoor code for the game) to highest bidder. Because of that, he's punished by being bodyguard to Dr Carter Rogers.

 
As the two spend time together, lines beginning to blur and when a monologuing, hypochondriac drug lord snatches them, things between them get a really blurred and complex.

HI-JACKED Cover Reveal!

COVER REVEAL TIME, FOLKS! Are you ready for it?

And yes, it's a little outside of the Pewter Wolf Read's comfort zone. It's a cover reveal for an adult MM romance. I know I'm dipping my toe into this for a little while (mainly due there events of the last year), so when Sarah from Social Butterfly PR emailed and said "I saw you're reading a few MM romances, fancy a cover reveal from New York Times bestselling authors, Lucy Lennox and May Archer?", I was intrigued. But then I read the blurb (which is what am putting down) and went "Oooh, this sounds like a fun read to have on kindle, by the pool with a cocktail (when we're allowed to go on holiday and be by the pool safely, of course). I wonder what the cover's gonna look like..." and that's when I realised I had to show you guys the cover...

Renowned cardiologist Carter Rogers is used to having things under control. His life, his prestigious reputation, his career, his future.

Things he can’t control this time around:

• His meddling grandfather 

• His annoying gamer cousin

• Buggy South American jungles

• Being the meat in a feuding cartel sandwich

• Getting kidnapped by a monologuing drug lord

•Falling for his very hot, very mouthy ex-Special Forces bodyguard

In short, Carter’s peaceful, well-planned life has been… hijacked.

Audiobook Review - Right As Raine

Slow putting my toe into MM romance over the past year or so. But have been a little uncertain over trying new authors in this genre as I discovered that I seem to enjoy romances that have very little to no angst and when trying someone new in a genre you're only just started checking out, it can be very hit and miss. So, when I, on an impulse, bought this audiobook, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the romance/angst or not. IMPULSE BLIND BUY!!!

Tiller is the first openly out American Football player and, when he was first signed, he was forced to hire Mikey (his Coach's son) as a private chef. They both decided to that this situation was only for a short period of time. That was five years ago, and the two have grown to like and respect each other (and have crushes on each other). So when Tiller gets an injury and needs time to recover, Mikey puts his foot down and makes the pair go away to a private cabin in Aster Valley over Christmas.

One night, they cross the line and decide that whatever this is can only happen in Aster Valley. But what happens when the real world comes knocking? And what happens when Mikey's dad find out? Will they call time on their relationship or will they realise there's more to life than American Football?