Month: June 2016

Gerri Hill – Keepers of the Cave

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While the investigations go on in Dallas and Baton Rouge after the disappearance of a senator’s daughter, FBI agents CJ Johnston and Paige Riley are assigned to the sleepy backwoods of East Texas for a dead-end assignment to infiltrate an all-girls school.

Random disappearances dating back fifty years and more raise red flags that point to a tiny, isolated community of Hoganville. But CJ and Paige fear there will be little distraction from the memories of the one-night stand they shared six months ago.

Nevertheless, they integrate themselves into the lives of the teachers and staff, but soon the odd behavior of the townspeople has them convinced something sinister lurks there. Something, perhaps, that even the residents of Hoganville don’t know about.

REVIEW
Who was your TV girl crush during the 90s? If your answer is Agent Dana Scully, then Gerri Hill’s Keepers of the Cave is right up your paranormal alley!

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Gillian Anderson… Hubba Hubba! ❤

Honestly, paranormal stuff scares the bejesus out of me. I am the absolute worst date to take to a spooky movie. I’ll spend the entire film curled up in fetal position with my ears plugged and my eyes closed. Spooky books are slightly less terrifying, since I have more control of the outside variables (i.e lighting, reading setting, background music). But that doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to sleep with the lights off that night. Despite scaredy-cat tendencies, I couldn’t put down Keepers of the Cave. This book is the ish!

Gerri Hill is a versatile writer who has perfected the pitch and tone for various subgenres within lesbian fiction: traditional romance, paranormal, thriller, crime, mystery. This novel is no exception to her all-encompassing delivery, and you’ll feel the hair raising above your neck as you fall deeper and deeper into the storyline. Keepers of the Cave is categorically a paranormal romance. There are elements in this novel that are extraordinarily unreal (the town of Hoganville, its people, the resident monster, etc.) and this creates an intriguing contrast to its central love story, which is much more conceivable in its cadence.

CJ and Paige’s love connection isn’t built upon the premise of fate and destiny. There’s an initial spark and attraction, but that doesn’t go much further until they’re forced to confront the nature of their connection directly while on assignment together. The back and forth between CJ and Paige as they navigate their way through their own feelings is refreshingly honest and direct. These two kick-ass women grow to love and respect each other, despite their differences and the potential complications that come when you’re working together and sleeping together. No rose-colored glasses here. They’re both well aware of what they like and dislike about each other, and these ladies are all in.

Readers, beware! This book will keep your eyes wide open and the midnight oil burning well into the night!

SOUNDTRACK
1. Mumford & Sons – The Cave
2. Hozier – Someone New
3. Coldplay – Sparks
4. Ray LaMontagne – Can I Stay
5. Death Cab for Cutie – Stay Young, Go Dancing
6. Mumford & Sons – Believe
7. Civil Wars – Same Old Same Old
8. Fleet Foxes – Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
9. Of Monsters and Men – Dirty Paws
10. Civil Wars – Dust to Dust
11. Ray LaMontagne – Be Here Now
12. Kaleo – Way Down We Go
13. Iron & Wine – Woman King

CHEERS!
This book would be best read with a….

PATRON SILVER TEQUILA

Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Everybody!

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Little Big Town

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“It’s a want you, it’s a need you, it’s a hold on through the pain
It’s a get through what you got to ’cause it can’t stay the same
It’s a long talk with the lights off
It’s the last breath in your lungs
It’s the deep end that we jump in
It’s the love that we become”
–Tumble and Fall

Camryn Eyde – Romancing the Girl

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Aimee Turner is a country girl, living and working on her family’s sheep station in rural Australia. Life is easy and full of hard, dusty work, but when her brother Joseph decides to become a contestant in a reality TV dating show, Romancing the Farmer, everything goes to hell.

The station gets overrun by city women and stuck-up producers right in the middle of shearing season. Justine Cason, the ringleader of the circus Aimee instantly detests is an irritating arrogant presence that she is forced to chaperone around the massive property.

The two women find more in common than trading insults the more time they spend together, sparking an unexpected connection neither was looking for. As Joseph navigates the dating scene, and Aimee’s sister Sally navigates a crumbling marriage, Aimee’s life turns on its head in more ways than one when her blooming connection with Justine is the catalyst to leaving the land she loves. 

When the worst fire season in decades strikes their patch of the world, the Turner family must find a way to save themselves and the ones they dearly cherish. Can they put aside their differences to protect each other?

REVIEW
Prior to reading Romancing the Girl, I always assumed that cowboy culture was an exclusively American tradition. I admit, when I thought of cowboys it was never in regard to their actual job of managing cattle on horseback. Cowboys were men who drank Budweiser, smoked Marlboro cigarettes, and hung out at the O.K Corral.

Please excuse me while my Murica bubble bursts, as I am mind-blown that cowboys exist outside of movies, outside of rodeos, and outside of the United States. Learn something new everyday, right?

It’s too bad Aimee’s older brother Joseph didn’t know about FarmersOnly.com before signing up for a reality TV show to try and find true love out on the range. He really could’ve saved himself a lot of trouble. When Justine and her camera crew show up at the Turner Family Station, Aimee’s life is turned upside down and inside out. After witnessing a horrific tragedy during her childhood, she isn’t too keen on hosting any “city slickers” at her ranch. She’s definitely not happy about babysitting Justine, who only seems to aggravate her just by being there. Putting it mildly, Justine is an unwelcome guest in Aimee’s world.

Has anyone ever frustrated you to the point that you just wanted to kiss the living heck out of them? No? Umm… Me neither? But this is exactly what happens with Aimee and Justine. Readers can feel the heat rising from the pages when these two are within the same vicinity of each other. Without even trying, Justine has an uncanny ability to get under Aimee’s skin. As it turns out, this is exactly what she needed. More specifically, Justine is exactly who Aimee needed to open her heart, heal from the past, and help her move forward with the future. Romancing the Girl is a powerful story about love and family, and pulling together during moments of joy and pain. It’s a wonderful read that will warm you from head to toe. You’ll be daydreaming about riding across the great plains with a beautiful cowgirl after this one.

Btw, FarmersOnly.com is a real thing. Their commercials are super cheesy and borderline creepy. This particular one made all the women look like they’re one hop step away from Stepford Wife status. They REALLY need to hire better advertisers. We’re looking for humans, not scary robots.

SOUNDTRACK
1. Little Big Town – Turn the Lights On
2. Cam – Untamed
3. Old Dominion – Snapback
4. Brett Eldredge – Lose My Mind
5. Keith Urban – Your Body
6. Dan + Shay – Obsessed
7. Thomas Rhett – Die a Happy Man
8. Blake Shelton – It Ain’t Easy
9. Zac Brown Band – Whatever It Is
10. Little Big Town – Tumble and Fall
11. Lady Antebellum – I Run to You
12. Keith Urban – Break On Me
13. Lady Antebellum – One Great Mystery
14. Zac Brown Band – Tomorrow Never Comes
15. Little Big Town – Live Forever

CHEERS!
This book would be best read with a….

FOUR HORSEMEN
-1 part Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey
-1 part Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
-1 part Johnnie Walker Black Whiskey
-1 part Jameson Irish Whiskey

Pour into a shot glass. This drink is NOT meant to be sipped. This is meant to be taken as a straight shot. If you sip, you will gag! You may want to have a lawn mower handy, since this drink will put a thick lawn of hair on your chest.

**Sneak Peek**

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“Swallowing to reintroduce moisture to her suddenly dry mouth, Aimee found herself transfixed by Justine’s questioning eyes. What was she if she wasn’t friend or foe? Justine inched closer and Aimee wet her lips as she tried to formulate a response. “You’re…” Aimee said too breathlessly for her liking. She sounded like a love-struck fool. Trying to sound more assertive, she cleared her throat and tried again.”

Harper Bliss – The Road to You

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Workaholic Katherine and free-spirited singer Ali have disliked each other since college. Fate, however, keeps bringing them together and the paths of their lives keep crossing. Are some differences in personality simply too vast to overcome? Or are some things just meant to be? 

REVIEW
Ever heard of the joke… What does a lesbian bring on the second date?

This may be an over-generalization, but the progression of love and romance between lesbians is Looney Tunes Roadrunner fast. What’s an example of a potentially lesbifastandfurious relationship?

Week 1: Two lesbians bump into each other at the local IKEA. They reach for the same wonderfully Scandinavian-patterned duvet cover, make heavy eye contact, and are instantly smitten with each other. Within a few hours, they’re exclusively dating. They’re Facebook official.
Week 2: Those three little words have been exchanged. All is right in the world. Everything is hearts. Lovely hearts. K + A = 4Ever 143-637 ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Week 3: The wheels on the  UHaul go round and round. They’re now sharing the Scandinavian-patterned duvet cover under the same roof, and they’ve adopted a cute domestic short-hair from the local animal rescue and named him Ingvar.

Thankfully, this love story doesn’t play into that hand. The Road to You is a slow-burn romance that develops, not during the course of days, weeks, months or years… but decades.

The beginning of Katherine and Ali is less than ideal, to say the least. They both find each other in compromising positions (literally), and from the very start, it’s a love-hate sort of thang. But as they say, there’s a very thin line. In every chance encounter over the course of nearly two decades, the air is always thick with tension and red-hot chemistry between Ali and Katherine. There’s a push-pull dynamic between the characters and because of the nature of this interaction, neither end up in the dreaded “friend zone” with the other.

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For the readers, the underlying attraction between the two characters always feels like it’s only one or two stitches away from bursting at the seams. When the stars finally align and every moment that they’ve experienced together and apart map them to the most important moment of their lives, you’ll be jumping out of your skin to see what happens next.

SOUNDTRACK
1. Carla Bruni – Quelqu’un m’a dit
2. KD Lang – Constant Craving
3. Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine
4. Brandi Carlile – Dreams
5. KT Tunstall – Other Side of the World
6. Meiko – Reasons to Love You
7. India Arie – Ready For Love
8. Ani DiFranco – The Whole Night
9. Tracy Chapman – The Promise
10. Shawn Colvin – When You Know
11. Indigo Girls – Power of Two

CHEERS!
This book would be best read with an….

ANGEL’S ENVY KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY

**Sneak Peek**

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“When you become close friends with someone, especially a fellow lesbian, there comes a time when you just cross over into the platonic-only zone, and you start seeing the person differently. More like family than a potential love interest. That’s how I’ve regarded Katherine for a while now, although, as I was tossing and turning through the night, I had to-very freely-admit that, between her and me, there’s always been this undercurrent of possibility.”