Review: The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

Rating: 3 stars

Pub Date: September 7, 2014

Publisher: self-published

Genre: new adult contemporary romance, sports

Format/Source: Kindle ebook, purchased

Status: book 1 of the Game On series

Summary:

The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all... No falling in love

Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy right?

Too bad he's committed to making her break every rule...

Football has been good to Drew. It's given him recognition, two National Championships, and the Heisman. But what he really craves is sexy yet prickly Anna Jones. Her cutting humor and blatant disregard for his fame turns him on like nothing else. But there's one problem: she's shut him down. Completely.

That is until a chance encounter leads to the hottest sex of their lives, along with the possibility of something great. Unfortunately, Anna wants it to remain a hook up. Now it's up to Drew to tempt her with more: more sex, more satisfaction, more time with him. Until she's truly hooked. It's a good thing Drew knows all about winning.

Happy Anniversary to Me! + New Feature Alert

Last week Mary Had a Little Book Blog celebrated three years (more or less) in existence, but this week I'm celebrating another personal and professional anniversary: my one year mark working at the library!

Last year I mentioned getting the job, but I haven't talked very much about my life at the library, but I'd like to start doing that so I'm also going to start a new feature on the blog called 

(that's kind of the first time I've made a
graphic for the blog. Does that look terrible?)

So mixed in with reviews and discussions and rambly things, I'll also be posting about life in a library in the hopes that you'll understand library policies a bit better and ways to support authors/libraries/books. Do you have any questions about life behind the shelves? Let me know in the comments, and I'll try to answer in an upcoming post!

Mary Had a Little Book Blog Turns 3

Wow. Three years, huh? Hardly seems like any time has gone by at all.... Wait, no, that's a lie. Three years is a long time, and in that time I have gone through several Big Life Changes such as:

I moved to Dallas

I started working at a science museum

I moved again (still in Dallas)

Job at the science museum changed

I moved again (still in Dallas)

Job at the museum changed again

And again (yay, big promotion)

And again (SO MANY RESPONSIBILITIES)

And one more time (ummm....wut)

I got a second job at the library (wheeeee!)

I quit the museum

I moved again (still in Dallas)

I got a promotion at the library (WHEEEEEE!)

I'd say this has been probably the most impactful three years of my life, and through it all, I've had the book community at my back. But....this year, trying to juggle both jobs was more difficult than I ever expected, and I had to take an unexpected and unannounced break from the blog. Sure, I missed talking to you guys about books, but I was still doing that on Twitter only minus the stress of formatting and sounding "official" or whatever and page views and unique visitors and HTML and images and all that other stuff that will occasionally make you go insane. It's not exactly that I lost sight of the blog, but I felt like the blog wasn't what I wanted it to be. I was tired and facing an extreme bout of depression. Taking a mental breather was good.

Eventually I fell in love with ya again (2015 marked an upswing in the number of new adult and romance titles I read and a severe decrease in ya), and then I missed blogging more than I was glad to be taking a break. Hence, my glorious return! Huzzah! Seriously, it's good to be back. But now, rather than posting every day because I feel like I have to, even if I don't have anything unique or interesting to say, I have no problem waiting a few days. Suddenly I am made of chill when it comes to the blog, rather than being an obsessive weirdo. It was not a good look for me.

Ironically, though, the blog/my platform did hit a couple really amazing milestones statistically. During my break, I reached 100,000 total page views and in November, I reached 3,000 Twitter followers. You can't live and die or blog by stats, but I remember how excited I was when I hit 1,000 page views overall (it took four months) and how excited I was when I hit 1,000 page views in a month (it took another two months) and how excited I was when I hit 1,000 page views on a post (it took.... several months more). Those numbers are not indicative of the quality of anything, but.... it's still cool to think that sometimes I have something to say and people are listening (because even all the times I've looked at my blog while messing with the format or whatever doesn't equal 100,000 worth of hits).

So thank you guys for sticking in there with me. Thanks for reading and commenting and subscribing and sharing!

Love,
Mary

PS Totally going to do some giveaways this month. Just fyi. 



Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: October 20, 2015

Publisher: Knopf Book for Young Readers

Genre: young adult science fiction
(if general mind-f*ckery were a genre, tho, it'd be that)

Format/Source: arc/publisher & hardcover/Amazon

Status: book 1 of the Illuminae Files trilogy

Summary:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Mary Had a Little Book Blog gets a face lift

Notice anything different? Of course you do! Mary Had a Little Book Blog has been in existence for three years now, and for at least two, I've wanted to get a design change. The incredibly talented Hafsah of Icey Books & Icey Designs has always been my dream designer, and a couple months ago, Hafsah made my dreams come true with this design (which, btw, made me cry the first time I saw it).

Sooooooo I figured to celebrate my new look and Hafsah's brilliance, I'm going to do a little giveaway (we all know how much I love those)! This will be open to the US & Canada.

Prizes: 1 winner will receive a planner, journal, or print of your choosing (up to $25) from the Icey Designs shop + a Kindle copy of Hafsah's sci-fi ya novel Unbreathable (yep, she writes too!). 2 winners will receive Kindle copies of Unbreathable.

Giveaway ends 12 am cst December 1.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Rating: 4 stars 5 stars*

Pub Date: February 24, 2015

Publisher: self-published

Genre: new adult sports romance (hockey)

Format/Source: ebook, purchased from Amazon

Status: book 1 of the Off-Campus series
(companion series so not direct sequels)

Summary:

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy... 

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice... even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date. 

...and it’s going to be oh so good. 

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn't take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn't going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

Cover Reveal: Inflict by Cora Carmack

Today I'm really excited to share some new covers for one of my favorite people, Cora Carmack. Last year Cora published her first paranormal new adult, Inspire, the story of immortal muse Kallipe. Inspire released with a gorgeous cover, which you can see here, but when Cora was working on the sequel, she decided she wanted to update the covers, and that's what I'm sharing today! These beautiful covers were designed by Regina Wamba of Mae I Design.

Inspire
Muse Series #1

by Cora Carmack

December 15, 2014

 

Summary:

Kalliope lives with one purpose.

To inspire.

As an immortal muse, she doesn’t have any other choice. It’s part of how she was made. Musicians, artists, actors—they use her to advance their art, and she uses them to survive. She moves from one artist to the next, never staying long enough to get attached. But all she wants is a different life— a normal one. She’s spent thousands of years living lie after lie, and now she’s ready for something real.

Sweet, sexy, and steady, Wilder Bell feels more real than anything else in her long existence. And most importantly… he’s not an artist. He doesn’t want her for her ability. But she can’t turn off the way she influences people, not even to save a man she might love. Because in small doses, she can help make something beautiful, but her ability has just as much capacity to destroy as it does to create. The longer she stays, the more obsessed Wilder will become. It’s happened before, and it never turns out well for the mortal.

Her presence may inspire genius.

But it breeds madness, too.

Book Links:

   

And now, the cover of Inflict!

(if you don't have Thoughts about Wilder,

I don't think we can be friends)

Inflict
Muse Series #2

by Cora Carmack

January 2016

 

Summary:

Wilder Bell made a dangerous bargain...

For a chance at love, he gave up his life.

History knew Kalliope as an ancient Greek muse, but to Wilder, she was simply the woman he wanted to fall asleep with every night and wake up next to every morning. He made a deal with Hades, but the only thing the Lord of the Underworld deals in is death. Now Wilder is wasting away in a cold and wretched afterlife, waiting for Kalli to come for him. She will come. He has to believe that. Because the alternative is worse than death.

Kalliope lived her entire existence knowing that she was both a blessing and a curse to anyone she encountered. Wilder was no different. She loved him, and she got him killed. Now to get him back, she’ll have to face a scheming god, a perilous task, and death itself. But before it’s done, the Underworld will take more from her than she ever thought possible.

To be made whole, all must first be lost.

Check out the full cover copies for both books!

About the Author

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, Losing It, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Author Links:

  

Cover reveal organized by: