Kissing Madeline

Kissing Madeline by Lex Martin
ASIN: ?
Pages: ?

Source; Author

Publication Day: April 26, 2015

Appearance:

What’s the worst thing about wanting a sexy NFL football player? Everyone else wants him, too. 
 After catching my boyfriend getting deep-throated by a skanky cage girl, I’ve learned my lesson – never date a professional athlete. Never. Besides, I have more important things to worry about, like not blowing my shot to make it as a broadcast reporter. I won’t let anything get in my way, not even the new “it boy” of the NFL and my hot-as-hell neighbor.
What's the worst thing about getting death glares from his new neighbor? It doesn't make him want her any less. 
I’ve worked my ass off to make it to the pros. The last thing I need is the complication of a relationship, especially since my last one was a total train wreck. But I can’t stop thinking about the feisty girl next door with the smart mouth. And I’d love nothing more than to show her what to do with that mouth.
Friends with benefits might be the best idea he’s ever had. Or the worst. 

Kissing Madeline is a companion novel to DEAREST CLEMENTINE and FINDING DANDELION. Each book is a stand-alone.

Hello everyone and Happy Release Day to Kissing Madeline by Lex Martin! This is the third book in the Dearest series, the first two I have not read >.< I was sent a copy by the author and Between the Sheets for review and I promise that my review is 100% my own opinion. I also participated in a release day blitz which has an AMAZING giveaway which you can enter HERE if interested. Alright, let's get into my thoughts:

Kissing Madeline follows a fresh new reporter who has just landed a job at a local news station and comes home to find her pro-martial arts boyfriend with another woman, a cage girl to be exact. Heartbroken, she sweats off of professional athletes which may seem easy at first until she meets Daren, the new NFL super star. She loathes him from the start, but his easy going nature soon wins her over and she finds herself in a very awkward friends with benefits relationship. While the relationship starts simple, it quickly escalates as they try to figure out what they both want in the relationship and in Madeline's case, if she can trust another man to not break her heart.

As a character, Madeline is super easy to relate to, she's spunky and fun and not afraid to speak her mind. Her passion for her job is really inspiring and while she's careful with who she trusts (dating-wise), there's still this air of love and compassion that surrounds her. 

Daren is everybody's favorite athlete who has just the right amount of sweetness and gentleman qualities to make you instantly fall in love with his character. He's faithful and loyal to the end and there's quite a couple of heart-swooning moments in this book from his part.

Of course I can't forget Jax, Clementine, Sherrie, Quentin, and company. They create on the best group of friends I've ever read about. They're supportive at the rights times and aren't afraid to tell you what they think when something's going on. There's also Spencer, Maddie's creepy as hell boss who needs to stop being a creep, Roger, Maddie's nicer and supportive boss, and Nicole who I still don't like, but I don't hate her as much. Overall, Lex Martin creates these really memorable characters that will tug on your heartstrings and make you fall for them.

As far as romance goes, the relationship between Maddie and Daren is so sweet and adorable! While there were definitely times where I wanted to shake them both for being so blind to their feelings, their development from friends with benefits to a full relationship was so endearing and lovely to read. Despite everything being super cute, there are a good number of curveballs that are thrown and this is my little warning that feels are sure to come.

I don't have much to say about Lex Martin's writing other than she knows just when to insert a twist that manages to make my heart stop. I didn't anticipate some things that happened so when certain things were set into motion, I couldn't click the next page button fast enough.

Due to some graphic scenes, I'd recommend this to an older age group, but overall this book was really fun and heartwarming to read. The beginning takes a bit to pick up, but once you're hooked, you're in it for the whole thing and there's no going back. Now I need to pick up the first two books in the series, kind of contradictory, but I'm just not ready to say goodbye to these characters yet.

4 out of 5 stars

Foreverly Obsessed,

RELEASE: Kissing Madeline

Title: Kissing Madeline (Dearest, #3)

Author: Lex Martin

Release Date: April 27, 2015

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Cover Design by: Krista Ritchie

 

Blurb

  What’s the worst thing about wanting a sexy NFL football player? Everyone else wants him, too. After catching my boyfriend getting deep-throated by a skanky cage girl, I’ve learned my lesson – never date a professional athlete. Never. Besides, I have more important things to worry about, like not blowing my shot to make it as a broadcast reporter. I won’t let anything get in my way, not even the new “it boy” of the NFL and my hot-as-hell neighbor. What's the worst thing about getting death glares from his new neighbor? It doesn't make him want her any less. I’ve worked my ass off to make it to the pros. The last thing I need is the complication of a relationship, especially since my last one was a total train wreck. But I can’t stop thinking about the feisty girl next door with the smart mouth. And I’d love nothing more than to show her what to do with that mouth. Friends with benefits might be the best idea he’s ever had. Or the worst.   Kissing Madeline is a companion novel to DEAREST CLEMENTINE and FINDING DANDELION. Each book is a stand-alone.  

    

  DEAREST CLEMENTINE (Dearest, #1 - Clementine & Gavin) Amazon | Nook | Kobo | Paperback

Twenty-year-old Clementine Avery doesn't mind being called bitchy and closed off. It's safe, and after being burned by her high school sweetheart and stalked by a professor her freshman year of college, safe sounds pretty damn good. Her number one rule for survival? No dating. That is until she accidentally signs up for a romance writing class and needs material for her latest assignment. Sexy RA Gavin Murphy is more than happy to play the part of book boyfriend to help Clem find some inspiration, even if that means making out...in the name of research, of course. As Gavin and Clem grow closer, they get entangled in the mystery surrounding a missing Boston University student, and Clem unwittingly becomes a possible target. Gavin tries to show Clem she can handle falling in love again, but she knows she has to be careful because her heart’s at stake…and maybe even her life.

  FINDING DANDELION (#2 - Jax and Dani) Amazon | Nook | Kobo | Paperback  

  When soccer all-star Jax Avery collides with Dani Hart on his twenty-first birthday, their connection is instantaneous and explosive. For the first time in years, Jax isn’t interested in his usual hit-it and quit-it approach. But Dani knows better. Allowing herself a night to be carefree and feel the intensity of their attraction won’t change anything when it comes to dealing with a player. So when Jax doesn’t recognize Dani the next time he sees her, it shouldn’t be a total shock. The fact that he’s her new roommate’s brother? That’s a shock. Dani doesn’t regret that night with Jax, just the need to lie about it. Since her roommate has made it clear what she thinks about her brother’s “type” of girl, the last thing Dani wants is to admit what happened. Jax knows he’s walking a fine line on the soccer team. One more misstep and he’s off the roster, his plans to go pro be damned. Except he can’t seem to care. About anything… except for the one girl who keeps invading his dreams. Despite Jax’s fuzzy memory of his hot hookup with his sister’s friend, he can’t stay away from her, even if that means breaking his own rules. But there are bigger forces at work–realities that can end Dani’s college career and lies that can tear them apart. Jax realizes what he’s losing if Dani walks away, but will he sacrifice his future to be with her? And will she let him if he does?

About the Author

Lex Martin writes new adult novels, the sexy kind with lotsa angst, a whole lotta kissing, and the hot happily ever afters. When she's not writing, she lives a parallel life as an English teacher. She loves printing black and white photos, listening to music on vinyl, and getting lost in a great book. Bitten by wanderlust, she's lived all over the country but currently resides in the City of Angels with her husband and twin daughters.

Connect with Lex

Dearest Series Fan Group | Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Blog

Giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Planning Ahead (9)

Hi everyone! Okay so I've been failing quite a bit with keeping up with everything I plan to do and I promise it's all for a good reason in the name of academics and education. So AP tests are coming up in the first two weeks of May which means studying trumps reading/blogging. This is the first year I'm taking APs so my stress levels are literally off the charts (I'm not very good at studying...). Anyway, I'm going to start planning and scheduling ahead so I can at least get one-two posts up for the next three weeks.

With that being said, this Planning Ahead post will encompass both this week and next week and the same will happen for the 10th post. (Does that make sense?) It just gives me a little more leeway with how I want to schedule things and I'll try to specify when each post will be up if it's ready. Alright, enough talking, let's get into it~

Paranormal Keepers by Jen Naumann

I'm still currently reading Paranormal Keepers...okay I haven't started yet...but I'm going to try this week!

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

So I had to go ahead and pick up another fantasy book even though I am currently reading three other books...but it's a lot of shorter and I guess I just needed a break from all the political things happening in the other books...

Just Pru by Anne Pfeffer

I started this a while ago, but put it on hold and it's time to pick it back up because I am scheduled for a review this week (April 26 - May 2). Haven't read far enough to really get a good sense of the story, but I'm hoping I like it cause it sounds adorable.

Dragons are People, Too by Sarah Nicholas

I received a copy from Entangled Teen for review. The publication date for this book is April 28 so my review will be up around that time depending on when I finish it.

Kissing Madeline by Lex Martin

I received a copy from the author for review and I'm going to be participating in a release day blitz on the 27th. Hopefully I'll be done with this book tomorrow or Monday and have a review up around that time.

I pretty much lay out what needs to be reviewed this week so I'll just have the covers and names linked without an explanation:

April 26 - May 2

Just Pru by Anne Pfeffer

Dragons are People, Too by Sarah Nicholas

Kissing Madeline by Lex Martin

May 3 - May 9

Summer by Summer by Heather Burch

This was supposed to go up last week, but in the rush of things I'm going to bump it back a week because I don't have time this upcoming week for post it. 

Paranormal Keepers by Jen Naumann

Just one more quick note and that is I made a new banner for my summary title! Before each review starts, I always have the summary of the book, usually taken off of Goodreads, and for years now it's just been the typed out word "Summary" while everything else got turned into banners. I finally remembered to make a banner for it and thought I'd share it before featuring it on my next review. The image is from the lovely blog The Cutest Blog on the Block as are most of my banner images and edited with an online photo editor:

Also, I lied one more thing. Episode Three of the Little Black Bookmark Podcast is LIVE so be sure to check it out! We talked about Sacrificing Books and played a game of Would You Rather:

Foreverly Obsessed, 

TOUR STOP: Wolf's Ghost

Wolf's Own: Ghost by Carole Cummings

ISBN13: 9781632163240
Pages: 374
Appearance:

Summary:

Untouchable. Ghost. Assassin. Mad. Fen Jacin-rei is all these and none. His mind is host to the spirits of long-dead magicians, and Fen's fate should be one of madness and ignoble death. So how is it Fen lives, carrying out shadowy vengeance for his subjugated people and protecting the family he loves?
Kamen Malick means to find out. When Malick and his own small band of assassins ambush Fen in an alley, Malick offers Fen a choice: Join us or die.
Determined to decode the intrigue that surrounds Fen, Malick sets to unraveling the mysteries of Fen's past. As Fen's secrets slowly unfold, Malick finds irony a bitter thing when he discovers the one he wants is already hopelessly entangled with the one he hunts.

“Nice attack,” Malick panted as he spun, swept the sword down on a forward feint then followed with a cross with the knife for a compound attack. 



The Ghost didn’t answer, didn’t even seem to hear, merely whirled back in a counter-defense, whipped yet another of those cursed little knives. Advanced again with a sweeping cut of the long knife that nearly took Malick’s nose off as he spun out of his dodge of the damned throwing knife. Little shit was really trying to kill him. 



“You’re—” Malick ducked under a press with the long knife, feinted to his right, watching for another of the little knives to come whistling at his head. “You’re very skilled.” He just managed to keep the wheeze out of his voice. 



Again, the Ghost was silent, concentrating, entirely focused on what his body was doing and what Malick’s was doing in response. 



Focus, purpose—all smooth economy and lethal drive, this pretty man with the hard glare and soft braid. Compact corded muscle and sinewy-sleek limbs; hard lines and angles; sculpted, silky masculinity, and every last ounce of it was out to part Malick very decisively from his life. Too focused, perhaps, too driven. Fast and seamless, but foreseeable, if one paid attention. No personal little flourishes to the moves, no stepping outside the lines of that perfection of skill. Malick could almost count out the steps himself, trace the shapes of the positions in his own head just before the man made them. Like he was performing for a trainer, or reciting the instructions in his head as he followed the steps. The technique was nearly faultless, every move in perfect form, every parry and advance styled and structured—a flawless copy. 



“Let’s see what you do with this,” Malick muttered under his breath as he lunged in with the knife and followed with an indirect attack with the sword. His eyes narrowed when the knife was smoothly parried and the sword deflected with a forward press. 



Malick smirked. 

Control—that was the key, and Malick had never seen a body so completely under the control of the mind that inhabited it. Control was generally a good thing. Except when it equaled predictability. 



No surprises from this man, none but the deadly drive behind his attacks and the apparent conviction that the only way this could end was with one of their corpses cooling on the damp, dirty stone of the alley. He could beat Malick with his speed and determination—he was more skilled, and more focused in his attention to it—but Malick had to wonder what would happen if he changed the rules. 


Grinning now, Malick lunged again, forced an opening when the man parried, and caught him in a spinning counterattack with a hard shove of his boot to the solar-plexus. A thin whoof huffed from the man’s chest, and his eyes went wide before they narrowed down to slits, nostrils flaring and lips pressing tight. Malick could almost hear the, Hey, that’s cheating! that was all too obvious in the man’s indignant glower. 



Malick broadened his grin, waggled his eyebrows. With a deep breath he was all too aware might be his last, Malick turned to his right, left himself open—clear invitation—then swept the sword under his own arm. He caught the man in the momentum of his own spin to turn the offensive, putting them in positions opposite of where they’d been just a second ago. Lunged in again with a sideswipe of his foot toward the backs of the man’s knees. Turned it into a spinning kick to the thigh when the man dodged backward. Malick drove in right up close at the resulting stumble, one long knife tangled with Malick’s sword, the other grinding at the hilt of Malick’s knife.

“Figures you’d fight dirty,” the man growled, glaring directly into Malick’s eyes like it was the lowest form of insult he could imagine. 

Malick’s brain went a little wobbly. 
Almonds. He smells of almonds. Sweat and leather and metal polish, too, but mostly almonds. Right. And so does cyanide. Pressing in close, so close they were chest to chest for a heady half second, Malick backed the man another two steps toward the wall of the building. Brick to his back and his left, Samin to his right and Malick in front of him. Two more steps and he’d be neatly cornered. 



“C’mon, love.” Malick kept his smile and let his eyelids droop halfway. “Everyone likes it dirty now and again.”


GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AUTHOR BIO:

Carole lives with her husband and family in Pennsylvania, USA, where she spends her time trying to find time to write. Recipient of various amateur writing awards, several of her short stories have been translated into Spanish, German, Chinese and Polish.

Author links:

http://www.carolecummings.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4520226.Carole_Cummings

https://www.facebook.com/carole.cummings.9

https://twitter.com/CummingsCarole

Perception

Hello everyone! Welcome to my post/entry for the Elephantine Publishing's Perception event. I was contacted by them and asked if I would like to read and review five super short New Adult Novels and have the opportunity to change one of the endings. Of course I said yes so here I am with my reviews. If you'd like to read my entry, you can find it HERE. Alright, let's get into it.

Starting off with the basics, Perception consists of five different stories written by Mary Laufer, Scott C. Davis, Heather Hildenbrand, Nealy Gihan, and Linda Davis. Each story is super short and I mean really really short. The whole book (epub) came out to be 150 pages including acknowledgements and everything. To be completely honest, I had some trouble reading the stories because they were all so short and rushed. I finished the stories with sort of a "that's it?" feeling for most of the stories, but I guess that's when the writing new endings come into play.

My Boyfriend is a Senator by Linda Davis

This is the first story in the anthology and I have to say it is probably the most confusing. I didn't exactly understand what was happening for most of the story - the main character remains nameless and all you know about her is that her boyfriend is a married senator. She spends the story just toying with the idea of how people would react if they knew she was dating a senator, how they'd treat her different, and as she meets different people she debates telling them. Then she meets this older woman and finally lets it all out. The confusing aspect to the story was probably the writing and the lack of context, but it definitely leaves this open for interpretation at the end.

The Missing by Mary Laufer

There's only one word to describe this story and that is injustice. I almost chose this one to rewrite because that ending made me want the bunch my computer screen in frustration. This follows a teacher who struggles to gain control of her class, particularly one of her students named Theresa. Theresa is gorgeous compared to the MC and constantly breaks the dress codes and disrupts the class. Then one day she goes missing and the MC is almost sure she knows who the culprit is, a fellow teacher Theresa claimed to be in love with. However, there's a whole lot of evidence, planted or not, that points to her. Just the way this story ended made me want to groan in frustration.

The Outlaw by Scott C. Davis

This is probably the most random story out of all these stories. The other ones focused on some sort of revelation and this one was about a man who's wife leaves him and he essentially gets robbed by an neighbor who happens to be an outlaw. I don't exactly understand how that fits in with the others, but I guess he did get some sort of revelation while he was tied to a chair watching the outlaw rob him. He gets pretty touchy with pearls...

Drive by Nealy Gihan

This is the saddest story and I couldn't even understand what was going on. The MC Simona is this spunky girl who's in love with this "bad boy" named Trevor. She's been through a lot in life and has only one promise to herself and that is her virginity. After dating Trevor for a while, she decides to bring him to visit her parents since she needs to get some stuff anyone and they're getting divorced. Then something goes terribly wrong, something so horrifying that it completely rips her in half. I know that sounds a bit ominous, but I'm going to leave it at that. Just know that at the end I was internally screaming "NO! Don't do it!!"

Talisman by Heather Hildenbrand

Last story in the book and the one I chose to rewrite! This follows a girl named Avery who has been running away from these dark monsters her entire life. She doesn't know why they are following her, but she thinks it has something to do with the Talisman she has from her father. One night, the monsters break into her foster home and she runs in Lochlan who explains to her what is going on. She finds out that the Talisman is an angelic object, the monsters are demi-demons, and she has the power to use the Talisman's power by reciting a prayer. Again I did find this a bit rushed like the other books, but it was a bit more interesting and developed world and character wise which made it a tad bit more enjoyable to read.

3 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

Top Ten Favorite Authors of All Time

Hey guys, so it's not Tuesday...but I was super busy yesterday so I didn't get the time to really sit down at all until it was super late. Anyway, I also really loved the topic for this week so I thought I'd go ahead and do a Top Ten. So, Top Ten Tuesdays are a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is: Top 10 Favorite Authors of All Time! Let's get started~

AMY HARMON

I don't think I really need an explanation for this answer, but I'll explain anyway. Amy Harmon is by far one of my all time favorite authors - her book A Different Blue was one of my top reads of 2014 and a book that completely changed how I looked at life. I've read 2 other books but her and they continue to amaze with just how beautifully they were written and the amazing characters that she brings to life.

BRANDON SANDERSON

One book was all it took for me to completely fall in love with Brandon Sanderon's writing and storytelling skills. I can't begin to express how much I love Warbreaker and I'm currently reading the Mistborn Trilogy which is driving me insane in the best way possible. Again there are no other words to say that can express how amazing his books are.

N K JEMISIN

I've only read one book by NK Jemisin, but I currently own all of her books. I'm not usually someone who buys all the books an author has ever written based off of one book, but her novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was so unique and fascinating that I couldn't help myself. I'm currently reading the sequel to that book and so far it's so intense and good (even better than the first one!)

KATJA MILLAY

Katja Millay wrote another one of my top 10 of 2014 books and I don't think I've quite recovered from the amount of emotions this book gave me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she publishes something in the future because her writing is just so beautiful and The Sea of Tranquility left me completely speechless - so speechless I couldn't even write a review for it!

NICHOLAS SPARKS

Another author that came as a no brainer - Nicolas Sparks has taken my heart and repeatedly stuffed it with emotions until it has burst open. I haven't read everything he's ever written, but the ones that I have read have made me so giddy inside, I had to include him for making me smile so much my cheeks hurt.

ROBIN LAFEVERS

The His Fair Assassins trilogy is one of my all time favorite trilogies in the history of trilogies and it's all due to the Robin La Fevers's amazing talent to create those beautiful stories. She combines fantasy and history together so flawlessly and literally gives me so many feels my mind cannot even comprehend. I need more books by her because it's seriously killing me right now!

STEPHANIE CHONG

Stephanie Chong wrote one of my very first favorite paranormal romances. Her Company Angel series (Where Demons Fear to Tread & Demoness of Waking Dreams) gave me a whole new perspective on love, forgiveness, compassion, and a lot more. She manages to weave these heart wrenching stories with a deep and beautiful message that completely blew me away.

JULIE KAGAWA

I first read Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series in seventh grade and absolutely loved it. It still amazed me that it took me around four years to pick up her new trilogy - Blood Of Eden, of which I've only read the first book and it was so freaking good! I need to continue on with that trilogy as well as pick up her new series soon. And if I have the time, I need to visit Meg and Ash again~

JRR TOLKIEN

After a long debate between Tolkien and CS Lewis, Tolkien won and only because The Lord of the Rings were the first books to completely change my life. Words cannot even express how much I love those books - they just opened my eyes to the amazing world of fantasy and I'm so grateful for that.

TRUDI CANAVAN

I'm putting Trudi Canavan last because I haven't even finished one book by her, but I had to put her on my list anyway. I'm about halfway done with the Priestess of the White (Age of Five #1) and I can't put into words how blown away I am by the book. There's just so much imagination and intricate political schemes that are happening so far that my mind is spinning. I also currently own 3/4 of the trilogies she's ever written and I am not ashamed about it because I know I'm going to love them. 

So that's my Top 10! That was a lot harder than I expected and there are so many authors that I wanted to mention. This is just part of my top favorite authors, really they were the first that came to mind but now that I'm thinking about it, I have a bunch more. Before I start listing another bunch of authors, I'm just going to finish off this post. Thanks so much for read and let me know in the comments who some of your favorite authors are!!

Foreverly Obsessed,