Blog Tour: Losing the Ice by Jennifer Comeaux

 

Welcome to my stop on the Losing the Ice Blog Tour hosted by IFB Tours.

Losing the Ice (Ice #2)

by Jennifer Comeaux

Release Date: February 23rd, 2015

Summary: Courtney and Josh are in love and excited to finally compete as skating partners. When they take the ice for their first competition, they want to show everyone, especially Josh's family, they are the perfect pair. But ice is slippery, and one misstep puts all their dreams in jeopardy. Now they must show each other both their love and their partnership are strong enough to survive.

Cindy's Review: 

After finishing the first book, Crossing the Ice, I was ecstatic to find out that there is a second book. So I decided to look around for it and it turns out only Amazon has it. I got the first book on Barnes and Nobles, but it seems like they don't have it this time. But luckily I found this blog tour that was going on. I signed up really last minute, so thank you Shane so much for letting me on this tour. 

Now onto the book. Courtney and Josh are oh so cute. And I couldn't wait to see how they moved on with their life. Well, they haven't moved very far since the last book. Courtney and Josh are not getting any support at all from his family and when Josh falls hard on ice and gets a concussion, everything is 10 times worse. He started having mood swings. He's scared to be on ice. He can't remember how to play the piano. And worse, he pushes Courtney away.

Although dealing with all this was hard, Courtney tried hard to be there for Josh, to support him, and get Stephanie to help. Josh is really lucky to have someone like Courtney by his side. I still feel more could have happened though. Like another plot twist or something else to make Losing the Ice a bit longer. 

This was a really short sequel, compared to the first book. It seems more like a novella to me. Although Losing the Ice does contain lots of tension and drama, I still enjoyed the first one better. 

Thank you, Ms. Comeaux for this opportunity to read and review the book. It was definitely a lovely read.
The Rating: 8~

Author Bio: 

Jennifer Comeaux is a tax accountant by day, writer by night. There aren’t any ice rinks near her home in south Louisiana, but she’s a die-hard figure skating fan and loves to write stories of romance set in the world of competitive skating. 

One of her favorite pastimes is traveling to competitions, where she can experience all the glitz and drama that inspire her writing. Jennifer loves to hear from readers!

Links: 

Author Website: jennifercomeaux.blogspot.com

Twitter

Facebook

Amazon

Goodreads

Giveaway:

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Book Review: Beautiful Curse by Jen McConnel

Beautiful Curse
by Jen McConnel
Release Date: December, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Genre: YA Fantasy, Retellings
Get a Copy: 
       Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Sixteen-year-old Mya Jones is cursed.

She is, hands down, the most beautiful creature on earth. But beauty can wound, and Mya finds herself reviled and shunned by her peers. If there is even a chance that she could start over, Mya longs to take it, no matter the risks.

So when the strange Mr. Merk offers her a new life away from home, Mya is hesitant but hopeful. Only she didn't count on the mysterious Ross, or her feelings for him.

Cindy's Review:  
Beautiful Curse started out quite mysteriously. Things happen without any reasons, like the main character suddenly getting so gorgeous, it's scary. So as the suspense continues on, the protagonist gets taken into this mythical, magical world, like an escape route to her problems. 

I didn't read the whole synopsis, which I think is even better, because I was left in suspense who the love interest really was. **I didn't include that part in the synopsis.** When Mya, the main character was brought to a different world by the mysterious Mr. Merk, he told her that his master needed her there. Mya was completely in the dark when it comes to Ross. Not only that she doesn't know anything about him, but she can only be with him if she can't see him. She also can't see some invisible servants and butlers. 

As I started to read on, this plot really reminded me of Jessica Day George's Sun and Moon,Ice and Snow, which turned out that they both were retellings of the same myth. 

We start to see the trust begin to form between Mya and Ross, Mya does something that ends up breaking apart this mythical world and returning Mya to her old, terrible life. Soon, all our questions are answered and Mya does anything she could to save Ross. 

It's really hard for me to explain this without mentioning the real myth, so I apologize for sounding all choppy and not thorough. 

Overall, I thought Beautiful Curse was a really fun read. I enjoyed the suspense immensely and was really glad I got kept in the dark. It's really exciting to find out who those mysterious characters really were. :)

The Rating: 8~

Author Bio:
Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).

She is also a former reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and a proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW.

A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. She's a graduate of Western Michigan University, and she also earned her MS in Library Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

Links: 
Twitter 
Author Website: http://www.jenmcconnel.com/  
 

Cover Reveal: The Revolution of Ivy by Amy

The Revolution of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #2)

by Amy Engel 

Release Date: November 3rd, 2015

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Goodreads Summary: Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside  Westfall's borders. But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for.  

Links: 

Goodreads

Amazon

Kobo

Author Bio: 

 Amy Engel was born in Kansas and after a childhood spent bouncing between countries (Iran,Taiwan) and states (Kansas; California; Missouri; Washington, D.C.), she settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where she lives with her husband and two kids. Before devoting herself full-time to motherhood and writing, she was a criminal defense attorney, which is not quite as exciting as it

looks on TV. When she has a free moment, she can usually be found reading, running, or shoe shopping. The Book of Ivy is her debut YA novel. Find her online at http://amyengel.net/ or @aengelwrites. 

Giveaway: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: One Song Away by Molli Moran

One Song Away 
by Molli Moran
Release Date: December 1st, 2014
ebook, 200 pages
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Buy a Copy:
      Amazon 


Goodreads Summary: She needs a fill-in boyfriend. He needs a favor. It’s the perfect, no-strings arrangement until they both realize it’s too real…

Sophie-Claire Wright’s life is like a bad country song on repeat. She keeps running into her cheating ex, her songwriting career isn't taking off, and her roommate just kicked her out of their apartment. With nothing to lose, she decides to do the one thing she said she’d never do: she moves back home. She left her small Southern town with big dreams, but now she’s going home with empty pockets.

Life moves at a slower pace in Sophie’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hometown, but her well-meaning, matchmaking mama doesn't have a slow gear. Sophie invents a boyfriend to hold off her mother’s efforts, but she’s out of luck when her mom wants to meet him. Sophie panics until she runs into Jake Cooper. Her high school crush (and former best friend) is back in town, too, and when he asks her for a favor, she agrees...on one condition. He says he’ll be her fill-in boyfriend, so it should be simple: re-introduce him to her family and then “break up” with him after a few weeks.

Sophie is sure she’ll be able to resist Jake this time. Sure, she was in love with him years ago, but that was then. This is now, no matter how great he looks, or how she feels around him. But she didn't bargain for moments that feel all too genuine. Dates that don’t seem fake. Kisses that leave her shaken and wanting more. Sweet moments where she forgets they aren't really dating. And she didn't count on old feelings resurfacing and complicating their arrangement—which is starting to feel less like acting and more like the real deal.

Soon, Sophie can’t tell which kisses are real or fake, but she knows she’s in deep...and she thinks Jake is, too. When she gets a chance to go back to Nashville and chase her dreams again, she has a choice to make: stay or go? Continue hoping that the life she wants is one song away, or finally write her own song?

Book Review: 
The title somewhat has a poetic feel to it. One Song Away kind of makes sense considering that Sophie is an inspiring songwriter. Anyways, fill-in boyfriend? Yep. I think so. I totally love those cliche ideas and things that people will probably never do. Or maybe they do. Not sure. :)

Let's start off with the characters. 
Sophie Claire - a country girl going to the city to make some big bucks. But in this case, she wasn't successful and had to go back home. Okay. Had some bad taste in men along the way. No new besties. And well, no other place to live. I guess. Sophie was a bit intriguing. She didn't really have that much story to her other than being the main character. 

Jake - Of course, the love interest is always more mysterious. Since we don't really know his side of the story to begin with. Jake definitely sounds like a hunk. He's supposed to be model status and all. Jeez. Wonder where all the model status boys of my city went. :D But anyways, ex-best friend of Sophie. Interesting. And she always had a crush on him. And Jake turned out to be even hotter than when he was in high school! Good riddance! Jake is interesting, I guess. Kind of flirty.

I think I liked the idea behind the characters more. The plot of fill-in boyfriends and faking things that turned out to be real. Well, it's always been there for Sophie. So the real question is does Jake want it to be real? Although Sophie keeps on telling herself she won't fall for Jake again,who is she kidding? She was in love him before. He got a hot personality. And the looks. Kind of successful. How can you not fall for that?

Well, I really liked the book just kept on flowing. It wasn't super long, but not too short. Very satisfying. So if you're looking for a fun, quick, new adult read, here's one for you. 

The content is not very explicit. At all. There is one intimate scene. Plus some little romance here and there. I was expecting more since she's probably college age. But otherwise, a fun breezy read!

The Rating: 7~

Happy Reading~