Book review: Drain Me by Lana Sky

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Drain Me
The Ellie Grey Chronicles #1

Author: Lana Sky
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Vampire
Released: October 7th 2014
Review Source: Purchased

When diagnosed with a fatal illness at the age of twenty six, Eleanor Gray is resigned to her fate—at least until the enigmatic Dublin Helos appears and makes her an offer she knows she should refuse:

Life or Death?

With a decision as harmless as checking the wrong box on a mysterious questionnaire, Ellie is plunged into a dangerous world where souls are sold to the highest bidder and pleasure is fueled by pain.

The rules of this new life are simple: submit everything—mind, body and soul. But the further Ellie falls under Dublin’s control, the more she comes to realize that it’s not just her sanity at stake, but her heart and a whole lot of blood too.

This is a New Adult  novel recommended for ages 18+ due to sexual content and mature subject matter

Ellie was dying. Her parents were dead and her sister was traveling the world, mooching off the money their parents left. She was alone and dying. The harmless question of 'would you choose life or death?' sent Ellie's life into shambles. Of course, she said yes. But she didn't actually anticipate to live.

Drain Me is a worldwind of emotions. It took two unusual characters, placed them together and the result was twists and turns. Nothing happened the way I expected and I finished the book with a kind of empty feeling. I want more on the unexpected things, more on the relationship (if I can even call it that) between Ellie and Dublin.

Ellie was an interesting character. She confuses me a lot, the things she says and does doesn't match up to the fact she wants to live. She chose to live, but it's the choices after that speak louder. Turns out she's just very stubborn and has very little to care about in the world. She wants to live but not as she knew life before. Truthfully, I don't understand Ellie. I like that I don't understand her because it makes her unpredictable. Unpredictable is nice change.

Vampires are 100% the way to my heart. The majority of my absolute favourites books/series are revolved around vampires so the bar is set really high for me. Lana Sky took vampires back to the good 'ole times to when they weren't nice. When they weren't good characters where everything wasn't easy and painless. It was a refreshing read and a credit to the paranormal genre.

Book Review: Filthy Beautiful Lies by Kendall Ryan

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Filthy Beautiful Lies
Filthy Beautiful Lies #1
Author: Kendall Ryan
Reading Level: Adult Fiction
Genres: Erotic Romance
Released: August 18th 2014
Review Source: Free on Amazon (time of posting)

I have no idea why she auctioned off her virginity for a cool mill. Regardless, I'm now the proud new owner of a perfectly intact hymen. A lot of good that will do me. I have certain tastes, certain sexual proclivities. My cock is a bit more discriminatory than most. And training a virgin takes finesse and patience - both of which I lack.

Sophie Evans has been backed into a corner. With her sister's life hanging in the balance, the only choice is to claw her way out, even if that means selling her virginity to the highest bidder at an exclusive erotic club. When Colton Drake takes her home, she quickly learns nothing is as it seems with this beautifully troubled man. Being with him poses challenges she never expected, and pushes her to want things she never anticipated.

I am a fan of Kendall Ryan's books. I've read a few and when I saw that this one was free on Amazon, I immediately downloaded it. This is the first book in the Filthy Beautiful Lies series, the series contains four books in total. And trust me, you'll be reading all of them. Especially how Ryan ends this first book, OMG!!!! 

Alright so when I read the synopsis of Filthy Beautiful Lies, I felt like this subject had been written before by others but being that it was Ryan, I would take a chance at it (plus it was free). Well I'm glad I did because as I turn the pages, I kept getting deeper and deeper into the story. So even if this "storyline" has been told before, Ryan really does a fantastic job in capturing the readers interest. Now the ending, I wanted to punch someone. How could she leaves us hanging like that. Ughhhhhh, I need more right then and there. Still, job well done. 

If you love a sexy romance thats a bit out of the box, then you'll want to read this book. The story follows Sophie, who is so desperate to save her twin sister's life that she actually sells herself on the black market and gets a pretty penny too. So who is the a-hole that buys her, that would be Colton Drake, yes let's all hate him for a moment. Why for a moment, because after you begin to know him and how Sophie describes him, you actually become jealous of Sophie. LOL! Yes what he did was wrong on so many levels, but at the same time he had his reasons to and better him then the other sleazy creeps that could have bought her. So give Colton a chance before we judge him and learn all about these two and what their backstories are and if they bring with them any baggage. 

Highly recommend for those old enough to read this type of fiction and that like a good steamy story that has more to it than just two sexy people. 

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Check out all the books in the Filthy Beautiful Lies series:

Book Review: Delinquents by Mark Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth

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Delinquents
Dusty #2
Author: Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth
Reading Level: New Adult
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Released: October 22nd 2014
Review Source: Purchased

The innocent girl with a delinquent heart has to live with her bad choices. Secret hope and hurt feel like falling while she learns how to breathe again, but there's still freedom in trouble.

The runaway with blacked-out eyes is losing his grip. Crushing two hearts in one fist, his addiction bends rules and breaks deals, but the boy born for bliss isn't going anywhere without a fight.

Love is knowing they should stay away, but love is illogical at best.

She's afraid to let go.

He won't let her.

This is how silliness and foolishness grow up.

Here, forever is a lie.

Every once in a while you come across a series that is very unassuming. It appears to be your typical YA/Romance coming of age, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, some drama ensues, and in the end they have their happily ever after. That is exactly what I thought when I first began reading this series with book one titled Innocents (The Dusty Series by Mary Elizabeth). Well half way into the first book I started to see the shift and I started to realize this wasn’t just another typical YA book. By the end of the first book I was already biting my nails to the bone in anticipation and stress over where the characters were leading us.

Well book two of this series, Delinquents, picks up where the first book left off. Right from the very beginning on page one we are thrown into the fire with these characters. The story follows Leighlee “Bliss” McCloy and her secret relationship since she was about eleven years old with Thomas “Dusty” Castor. In this book they are both into their teenage years and the angst factor is just amped. Dusty has so many issues with drugs and alcohol and this in turn causes him to treat Bliss horribly at times, yet underneath his addiction and pain he truly loves her more than anything he has ever loved in his life. She is the only light in his life but he struggles to make good decisions and constantly does things that little by little are tearing her down and leaving her broken. In turn, like so many people who love an addict, Dusty becomes Bliss’ addiction. Just as much as his drugs and addiction are killing him and bringing him down, her addiction of him is doing just the same thing to her. The author does a really amazing chapter towards the end of this story that shows just how parallel they both are physically and emotionally in his addiction to drugs and her addiction to him. To top this off they have kept their relationship secret since they were kids because Bliss’ best friend is Dusty’s sister and she doesn’t want to lose the friendship, and her parents also wouldn’t approve of her with Dusty. So not only are they dealing with all this whirlwind of drama and sickness, but they have to do it in secret and then put on their game faces to those around them so as not to attract suspicion.

I hate to say that this story was emotionally draining and that I broke down in tears on more than one occasion, because I don’t want to deter people from taking on something that is a bit deeper than usual. This is truly a book series worth reading. Sometimes I think we need to push ourselves into feeling a little uncomfortable and not relying on that typical formula that most books follow in order to feel something a little more real. Life is not always a Rom-Com. Life has ups and downs, life has tears and heartache. We don’t just get the glossy description of despair in this book…we get the nitty gritty details that really caused me to feel it down to my bones. Someone asked me if there was a happily ever after in this story before she would know if she could read it. I said in all honesty that to say yes or no either way would be misleading. I will say that we aren’t necessarily left one way or the other. What we are left with is hope, and I think that is the most realistic ending to a series I have read in a long time.

I give this book and series as a whole 100 stars (which would be 5 stars here)! Pull up your big boy and girl pants and take a chance on something that I promise will touch your soul, make you think, and give you the chance to look around at what is good in your life and not take it for granted.

Book Review: Innocents by Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth

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Innocents
Dusty #1
Author: Mary Elizabeth, Sarah Elizabeth
Reading Level: New Adult
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Released: July 12th 2014
Review Source: Purchased

The girl with an innocent heart knows all about bad choices, but has yet to make them for herself. Searching for freedom, she finds it in the delinquent down the hall.

The troublemaker with summer-sky blue eyes knows he should stay away, but can’t resist the blissful wonder who makes his house a home.

She’s a hopeless romantic. He’s just hopeless.

She’s his reason, but he might not catch her when she falls.

She loves him. He loves her crazy.

This is what happens when a love made of secrets is kept with rules instead of promises.

I was recently rec’d this book by an author who I respect. Before reading a book I usually read up on reviews from others who have already read it. I have to admit that going into it I was a bit nervous because everyone was saying that it was a heavy plot and it was the type of story that once it was done they couldn’t stop thinking about it. The book I’m referring to is Innocents by Mary Elizabeth, book one of the Dusty Series. Let me tell you, once I started this book I could not put it down. I read until the wee hours of the night, in the car (if I wasn’t driving of course), walking around the house, etc. It just gripped me right from the beginning.

The book is a coming of age story if you will. It follows Leighlee “Bliss” McCloy. She moves to Oregon when she is in elementary school and immediately befriends Rebecka Castor. They are attached at the hip from the very start and remain that way all the way through. Rebecka has a brother, Thomas “Dusty” Castor, who is a year older then the girls. Immediately they all intermingle since they, and all their friends, are so close in age. The story starts with them in elementary school and goes through to high school. As Leighlee and Thomas get older they are draw together and end up having a secret relationship that no one else knows about. They keep it hidden because Leighlee spends a lot of time at Rebecka’s house sleeping over and whatnot and if anyone knew her and Thomas were in a relationship she would no longer be allowed to have such free reign at Rebecka’s home. The problem and angst begins as Thomas gets older and begins to have series issues and problems. I won’t get into specifics, but even though we know he truly and madly loves Leighlee, he treats her terribly. Being that she is so young and impressionable she constantly lets him get away with his bad behavior and it is heartbreaking to sit back and witness as a reader. You just want to shake her or hug her and tell her that this isn’t what love is supposed to be like. She isn’t supposed to let herself be treated this way.

I think as girls a lot of us put up with stuff from boys in our adolescents that we would never put up with as adults, but imagine that typical juvenile behavior and multiply it by a thousand in this book between the two of them. Yeah…it’s that bad how he treats her (no…there is no physical violence of anything like that). I have never read a book before where I was so conflicted with really wanting the main two characters to work out and be together, and enjoying their alone time moments together, and to also want this young girl grow a back bone and say enough already and move on. But then there is also the issues with Dusty that you really feel bad for on some level because his parents let him do whatever he wants with no consequences so he has no one to call him out and get him the help he needs. They either don’t notice, or don’t care, that he is drowning.

There is a second book to this series (Delinquent) that I am just about to begin, so this first book was finished open ended and unresolved. I am really hoping there is some happy ending/resolution in the second book but I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m on pins and needles and think it could go either way. I give this book 5 stars! I would give it 10 stars if I could! Definitely read this book. It is a story that stays with you way past when you close the book.

Series Highlight: The Aspen Valley Series By Colette Auclair + Derb-E Treat Giveaway

  

The Kentucky Derby is just one week away and we are giving away promo codes for the eBooks Thrown, Jumped, and Branded in Colette Auclair’s award-winning Aspen Valley series!

THROWN (December 2013; $5.99) is the first book in The Aspen Valley Series.  Professional horse trainer Amanda Vogel dreams of riding jumpers in the Olympics, but after seeing her best friend die in a riding accident, she’s so traumatized she can’t compete. Broke and desperate, she takes a summer job in Aspen teaching some big-shot widowed movie star’s spoiled daughters to ride—and braces herself for three miserable months. But the movie star is funny, down-to-earth, and gorgeous—and his spoiled daughters are just desperate for a mother figure. By Labor Day, she has to choose between capturing a gold medal…and the man who has captured her heart.

JUMPED (August 2014; $5.99), the second book in The Aspen Valley Series, is Colette Auclair’s steamy sequel to her “page-turning debut” (Library Journal), Thrown. A young woman in the equestrian fashion business finds herself head over heels for her ex-husband.  Thoroughly enjoying herself at her best friend Amanda’s wedding, Beth is shocked when she is seated next to her ex-husband, Finn, at the reception. Determined to not let this fluster her, Beth strikes up a conversation only to learn Finn isn’t the same man she walked away from. 

Relieved the reception is over, Beth is looking forward to a relaxing weekend against the beautiful backdrop of sunny Aspen at Amanda and Grady’s estate.  Little does she know Finn will be partaking in the weekend activities.  But just as Beth decides to keep as much distance between her and Finn as possible, Finn has a terrible accident and Beth is stuck being his bedside nurse.  Over the course of the weekend, Beth and Finn discover that the wounds of their failed marriage are not all that’s left. There are sparks…and hope. But just as they decide to give it another try, Finn confesses a huge secret that could destroy everything he’s fought to get back—Beth, their relationship, and another chance at love.  Will Beth turn away, or will she take a leap of faith and say “I do” once (again) and for all? 

BRANDED (December 2014; $5.99), the third book in The Aspen Valley Series, will take readers on a wild and dreamy ride through the beautiful valleys and mountains of Colorado.  Professional, polite, and pearl-wearing, dressage rider and resort consultant Cordy Sims is the last person anyone would expect to initiate a weekend of debauchery. And yet, that’s exactly what she does after meeting a handsome stranger at an Aspen resort. Agreeing that they’ll leave personal details at the door, they indulge in a memorable weekend of carnal recreation. On Sunday night, Cordy doesn’t want to leave this charming, seductive man, but she must play by her own rules.

On Monday, Cordy sits in a meeting at the ad agency that’s hired her as a freelancer, and her professional and personal worlds collide. Turns out agency owner Jack Cormier looks just as good in the boardroom as he did in the bedroom. Forced to work together, Cordy and Jack can’t ignore the chemistry that crackles between them, or the deeper feelings that have developed. But secrets and scars from their pasts may prove too formidable, even for a love that’s as powerful as it is unexpected.  

Praise for The Aspen Valley Series:

“The story portrays two convincingly flawed but likeable characters who find each other’s aults both provocative and exciting, as they try to decide whether a second chance at marriage is worth the risk.”

—Publishers Weekly on Jumped

“There is enough tension among all the forces at play to keep the pages turning. Debut novelist Auclair is a 2012 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, winner of the 2011 Winter Rose Contest, and a finalist in the 2011 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest.  Recommended for most romance fans.”

—Library Journal on Thrown

Colette Auclair has been a copywriter for more than twenty years.  She’s ridden and shown horses since she was ten and owns a lovely twenty-year-old Thoroughbred mare.  Thrown, her first novel, was a 2012 Golden Heart finalist in the single-title contemporary romance category.  It also won the 2011 Winter Rose Contest (Yellow Rose Romance Writers) and finaled in the 2011 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest (NE Ohio Romance Writers Assoc.)  Jumped is second and Branded is third in the Aspen Valley series.  Please visit coletteauclair.com.

 

A Pocket Star EBook Kentucky Derb-E Treat! The Aspen Valley Series

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Read an Excerpt from STILL ALICE, Now a Major Motion Picture!

Still Alice written by Lisa Genova

Now a major motion picture with Sony Pictures Classics starring Julianne Moore.

In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember. Now a major motion picture from Sony Pictures Classics starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth, and Kristen Stewart.

Excerpt from Still Alice:

As she ran along the river, she became mindful of nothing but the sounds of her Nikes hitting the pavement in syncopated rhythm with the pace of her breath. She didn’t replay her argument with Lydia. She didn’t acknowledge her growling stomach. She didn’t think about John. She just ran.

As was her routine, she stopped running once she made it back to the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Park, a pocket of manicured lawns abutting Memorial Drive. Her head cleared, her body relaxed and rejuvenated, she began walking home. The JFK Park funneled into Harvard Square through a pleasant, bench-lined corridor between the Charles Hotel and the Kennedy School of Government.

At the other end of the corridor, she stood at the intersection of Eliot Street and Brattle, ready to cross, when a woman grabbed her forearm with startling force and said, “Have you thought about heaven today?”

The woman fixed Alice with a penetrating, unwavering stare. She had long hair the color and texture of a teased Brillo pad and wore a handmade placard hung over her chest that read AMERICA REPENT, TURN TO JESUS FROM SIN. There was always someone selling God in Harvard Square, but Alice had never been singled out so directly and intimately before.

“Sorry,” she said and, noticing a break in the flow of traffic, escaped to the other side of the street.

She wanted to continue walking but stood frozen instead. She didn’t know where she was. She looked back across the street. The Brillo-haired woman pursued another sinner down the corridor. The corridor, the hotel, the stores, the illogically meandering streets. She knew she was in Harvard Square, but she didn’t know which way was home.

She tried again, more specifi cally. The Harvard Square Hotel, Eastern Mountain Sports, Dickson Bros. Hardware, Mount Auburn Street. She knew all of these places—this square had been her stomping ground for over twenty-five years—but they somehow didn’t fi t into a mental map that

told her where she lived relative to them. A black-and-white circular “T” sign directly in front of her marked an entrance to the Red Line trains and buses underground, but there were three such entrances in Harvard Square, and she couldn’t piece together which one of the three this was.

Her heart began to race. She started sweating. She told herself that an accelerated heart rate and perspiration were part of an orchestrated and appropriate response to running. But as she stood on the sidewalk, it felt like panic.

She willed herself to walk another block and then another, her rubbery legs feeling like they might give way with each bewildered step. The Coop, Cardullo’s, the magazines on the corner, the Cambridge visitors’ center across the street, and Harvard Yard beyond that. She told herself she could still read and recognize. None of it helped. It all lacked a context.

People, cars, buses, and all kinds of unbearable noise rushed and wove around and past her. She closed her eyes. She listened to her own blood whoosh and pulse behind her ears.

“Please stop this,” she whispered.

She opened her eyes. Just as suddenly as it had left her, the landscape snapped snugly back into place.

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Still Alice is now in theaters!!!

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.

Book Review: Opposing Sides by C.M. Doporto

Opposing Sides
University Park Series Book 1
Author: CM Doporto
Reading Level: New Adult
Genres: Romance | Sports | Contemporary | Academic
Release Date: May 30th 2014
Review Source: Author | Amazon (Free download)

College senior, Lexi Thompson, finds herself in a relationship to be wed to the university’s star baseball pitcher, Collin Norris. Collin’s damn hot but it’s his lack of spark that has Lexi thinking twice before she says ‘I Do’. When she’s forced to tutor bad boy football quarterback, Raven Davenport, she soon discovers all the things she’s missing in her relationship with Collin. Will she succumb to the temptations enticing her or will Collin be able to convince his sweet, innocent fiancée that his love for her is genuine despite his lack of affection? (This story will be told in 3 installments)

 

So this read happen by chance. I had seen it on Amazon while browsing and saw the football player and baseball player on the cover and thought to myself, "this looks like something I would like". I saw that it was free to download, so I said "why not". Well unfortunately that was as far as I got with it, I downloaded it and then forgot all about it. I have a really busy reading schedule due to all the review books my team gets and that is what I call "pleasure reading", and those books just sit around for a long time waiting on me to pick them u sometime. Every once in a while Ill binge read on those "pleasure reads" but honestly, it been a while. So thanks to my recent trip to Vegas and the fact that I didn't want to brother my roommate with the light being on, I pulled out my iPad and checked my library on the kindle app, to see what I had waiting to read. Immediately the cover of Opposing Sides caught my eyes. So I began reading it at that exact moment. 

I was hooked right away, I would read at night or if we would come up to the room to change. Then on the flight back, I inhaled what was left of the book. Just ask my roommate that weekend, I couldn't stop talking about "Raven" and she downloaded right away. This book brought me back to when I fell head over heels for Miranda Kenneally's Catching Jordan book. They shared similarities like football and fun sexy characters you immediately connected with. I don't know about you but I'm a HUGE fan of any book, be it YA, NA or adult that contains some type of sport or athlete in it. Usually these books are great reads. So its no surprise how much I LOVED Opposing Sides. So when I finished reading it on the plane, let me tell you how annoyed I was, I was 30,000 ft above in the air with no wi-fi to access Amazon, so I could download the next book in the series. 

Once on land and everything in order, I began texting the author and just tweeting "HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BOOK". So I really hope this review serves it purpose and EVERYONE downloads this story, because just like I am, you will be caught in "The Raven's Trap" too.

Alright I guess I should write about the story a little bit. In Opposing Sides, you are introduced to Lexi, a senior in college. Lexi is dating the school's all-star pitcher. These two are engaged to be married and everyone is thrilled, well except maybe Lexi. Say what? Yea Lexi has been questioning her relationship with Collin. She wonders if they are together because it's the right thing to do and/or everyone approves, like their parents. Collin is not the most expressive loving fiancee, he puts his sport before everything and Lexi isn't sure she is ready to accept that anymore. Lexi doesn't think its to much to ask to get some affection that shows her how much Collin loves her and is ready to be married to her.

This is when you cue in the university's sinful Raven in the picture. Lexi has been assigned to tutor Raven and this seems to set things in motion right away. Raven turn son his super charm and Lexi has some serious work ahead of her to fight that charm. What will happen when the bad boy football player pays more attention than the handsome baseball player? One of these sports will come out victorious in Opposing Sides. Download your FREE copy today and get trapped in "The Raven's Trap".

–– Have you checked out the University Park series giveaway we are hosting? You don't want to miss out. CHECK IT OUT today before the giveaway ends. 

Book Blitz: University Park Series by C.M. Doporto | Teasers | Giveaway - #TheRavensTrap

I am thrilled to share with you all the UNIVERSITY PARK series written by C.M. Doporto today. If you have been keeping up with OUaT's twitter, you know I have been raving about the Opposing Sides: Book 1. I read it on a flight back from my latest trip. It was FANTASTIC. I'll be sharing a review very soon and I've already started reading The Same Sides: Book 2.

So it comes with great pleasure to share with you all today some teasers and some giveaways you don't want to pass up. Also for a limited time, C.M. Doporto is offering book 1 for free download. Just click on the logos below to download today.

College senior, Lexi Thompson, finds herself in a relationship to be wed to the university’s star baseball pitcher, Collin Norris. Collin’s damn hot, but his lack of spark has Lexi thinking twice before she says ‘I Do’. When she’s forced to tutor bad boy football quarterback, Raven Davenport, she soon discovers all the things she’s missing in her relationship with Collin. Will she succumb to the temptations enticing her, or will Collin be able to convince his sweet, innocent fiancée that his love for her is genuine despite his lack of affection? (This story will be told in three installments)

 

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The engagement's off and with Collin behind her, Lexi has decided that the temptations of Raven Davenport are too strong to be ignored. It doesn’t take long for Lexi and Raven to find themselves wrapped in each other’s affection, but not without the challenges that life poses. But can she withstand the world he’s created or will the forces that are against them rip them apart? Love, faith, betrayal, and heartache ripple through their lives as they fight to be on the same side.

Lexi’s determined to keep her word and stand by Raven’s side because her love for him is too strong to deny. As Raven learns to deal with the issues that are destined to destroy him and their relationship, their love is taken to a new level. As doors are closed and new ones are opened, Lexi and Raven find themselves in a heavenly bliss, but not without the challenges from Raven’s past. With a true test of love, Lexi and Raven have to decide if they are willing to do whatever it takes to be on the winning side.

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Born and raised in the United States of America in the great state of Texas, CM Doporto resides there with her husband and son, enjoying life with their extensive family along with their Chihuahua, Mexican Red Head Parrot and several fish. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, where she is associated with the Young Adult Special Interest Chapter. To learn more about her upcoming books, visit www.cmdoporto.com and sign up to receive email notifications. You can also like CM Doporto’s fan page on Facebook and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads and Pinterest.

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Thanks to Doporto, we have some great prizes to giveaway. For US residents; we have 2 sets of paperback copies of all 3 books plus some swag. And for international readers; we have 2 sets of eBooks of book 2 & book 3. Remember to download book 1 since its free. Terms and conditions are found HERE. Enter below, good luck!

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