Stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for UNMASKING LOVE, a Holiday for Romance Novel by Peggy Bird + #Giveaway

Welcome to my review stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for UNMASKING LOVE, a Holiday for Romance novel by Peggy Bird. Already a huge fan of Peggy’s amazing characters and stories, I am truly enjoying this series built around holiday fun. Can you guess which holiday we are treated to in this one? Stay tuned for a fun giveaway after my review.

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for UNMASKING LOVE:

Getting a life do-over in the small theater town of Ashland, Oregon, has suited lawyer Julie Payne to a T. After ten years in the Portland prosecutor’s office, she’s enjoying her new, easy lifestyle, and she’s not looking for any complications.

Trace Watkins comes to town seeking the same refuge from life as a big city banker. A new job might make Ashland his permanent address, and he likes what he sees of the place, especially when he meets Julie one hot Halloween night.The sparks fly instantly between the costumed couple, and Julie and Trace waste no time connecting beneath the sheets while literally hiding behind their masks.

But when the holiday hook-up ends, their real identities present a serious snag: Trace manages the bank Julie happens to be suing. The only way they can turn this trick into a treat is if both of them are willing to face their pasts and finally bury the skeletons in their closets.

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Julie ‘Greer’ Payne feels she has no choice but to leave her dream position in the Portland prosecutor’s office after falling victim to the manipulations of a man who she believed cared for her. On the way home to California, car trouble sidelines her in Ashland, Oregon. In just the few days she spends in this wholesome and inviting town, Julie decides it’s as good a place as any to start over – new job, new name (she drops Greer for her true name, Juliet/Julie), and very quickly makes new friends. Life is good and when Halloween comes, she decides to throw a party to get to know the rest of the town.

Trace Watkins comes to Ashland with the idea of a new job, and a quieter life from that in Portland. It happens to be Halloween and his old college buds talk him into dressing as a Shakespearean character and going with them to a Halloween party. Only planning to stay a short time, he has no interest in such things until he sees his Juliet across the room. Mesmerized and intrigued, he must find out who she is and meet her. When she disappears and the crowd moves outside to watch a parade, he finds her again. What happens next is only the beginning of a wonderful romance, a town mystery, and a steamy love match as sweet as any amount of Halloween treats, or is it all just a trick of the heart?

UNMASKING LOVE by Peggy Bird is a fun, sweet, romantic, and definitely deliciously sexy story centered around one of the most fun holidays, and when Margo Keyes and her hubby, Tony Alessandro show up, everything comes to head. I can't help but thank the writing gods for Peggy's decision to put Trace and Tony in the same pages. (I have a huge crush on Tony.) I only wished he’d hung around a little longer, although having sexy Trace around made up for it. The banter between Trace and Julie is fun, intimate, teasing, and very sexy.

I enjoy the way Peggy has branched this series out of her original Second Chance series so we are treated to visits with those wonderful characters as well as making new acquaintances. Great characters I don’t mind visiting with any time. Tony can come to my house whenever he wants and stay as long as he wishes.

I highly recommend treating yourself to the wonderful and sweet holiday romance, UNMASKING LOVE by Peggy Bird. You might even think yourself tricked a bit when you find out there’s a bit of evil lurking among the pages. I have to admit I was only half tricked, but it was definitely part of the fun.

Happy Reading Everyone!

About the Author:

Peggy Bird lives in the Pacific Northwest where she sets most of her novels. To stay out of trouble—and the rain—she writes stories about smart women and sexy men and creates the occasional piece of glass art.

If you’d like to learn more about Peggy and her fabulous books, please visit her website, and feel free to follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, she’d love it.

TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UNMASKING LOVE, a Holiday for Romance novel by Peggy Bird, Crimson Romance, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank You.

   

Tasty Review Stop on the BELIEVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Tasty Review Blog Tour for BELIEVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird. I am a huge fan of Peggy’s stories because she’s never let me down in conjuring sexy men that I can fall in love with, and strong vibrant women that make me wish I can be them. The wonderful couple, in BELIEVING AGAIN, is no exception but this time, she’s added a twist. She gives us a look into the heartbreaking world of the homeless veterans who return from war and bring a piece of it with them – in their thoughts and dreams. Oh, and be sure to hang around - there's a giveaway!

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for BELIEVING AGAIN:

As the youngest woman ever to make detective in the Portland Police Bureau, Danny Hartmann has racked up an impressive record. It doesn’t keep her warm at night, but it does make up for feeling she’s somehow disappointed her family with her career choice. Called to the scene of the murder of a homeless veteran in a transient camp, Danny doesn’t expect it to be anything other than another case she clears.

Then she meets the man who made the 9-1-1 call and everything changes.

 Jake Abrams, a volunteer doctor at the Veterans Medical Services Clinic, doesn’t have much faith in anything other than his work and the vets he cares deeply about. Not shy about voicing his opinions, even to the cops investigating the murder of one of his patients, he annoys Danny with his snarky remarks.

However, working the case, she has to rely on Jake to help her find her way around the transient camps under the bridges and in the city’s huge wilderness park. As they work together, their attraction becomes mutual and passionate.

But Jake has demons. Like the vets he cares for, he carries scars both mental and physical from his service in the National Guard in Iraq. He fears Danny will turn from him in disgust when she discovers them. She’s afraid his experience in Iraq makes it impossible for him to love someone who does what she does for a living.

When the murderer of the homeless vets comes too close to Jake, it’ll be up to Danny to save his life. It’ll be up to their love for each other to save them both.

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Danny Hartmann is woman who takes her job seriously. She lives, breathes, and thrills at being a cop. She long ago decided that any man who wants to be part of her life must accept this or hit the road. All of this becomes first, and foremost, in her thoughts after she meets a handsome doctor who not only takes his job as a surgeon as seriously as she does hers as a detective, but also takes caring for his patients just as seriously as she does protecting them.

Jake Abrams, a veteran himself, introduces her to a world unseen by most but currently the center of her investigation as well as the delights of a relationship with a man willing to give his all to her in the same way he does his patients. Fearful that she may lose herself in his world, his family, and his love, Danny pulls back when he tries to convince her there’s more to life than being a cop.

When the danger of the case encroaches closer to Jake and the veterans that they both try to protect, Danny must trust her skills, her instincts, and the love she’s developed for this stubborn, relentless man or risk them all losing their lives.

BELIEVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird is a poignant, action-filled, suspense romance that unlike the others in the series that are truly second chances at love, this one takes us through the beginnings of love, only to have it fall apart but then gives this matched pair a second chance at love in the end. Jake and Danny together is a match made in heaven. Each is stubborn, sharp-witted, and accepting of each other’s fears yet individuals with their own way of looking at the world. Jake reminds me very much of one of my favorite heroes created by Peggy – Tony Alessandro from TOGETHER AGAIN. Like Tony with Margo, Jake isn’t willing to give up on Danny and their happily-ever-after. Once he decides that she’s the only woman for him, he will stop at nothing, including giving her up, to prove to her that they are meant to be together. This endears Jake Abrams to me in a way that other hero-types can’t. Actions really do speak louder than words.

The suspense of the murder mystery behind the romance keeps the story tight and the reader on the edge of their seat as Danny and Sam try to find out who is shooting up the homeless camps and why the victims are all Jake’s patients. The clues are there but I was still surprised. That’s a good thing.

I highly recommend BELIEVING AGAIN, book five in the Second Chance series by Peggy Bird for anyone who loves a good suspense story, the thrill of falling in love, and experiencing those first moments in a love affair as well as the fear that it’s not going to work out. Thankfully, it does and you’ll love the way it ends. Jake is one patient man and so sensitive, you just want to hug him - all the time.

Happy Reading Everyone!

About the Author:

Born in Philly, Peggy Bird spent most of her adult life in the Pacific Northwest where she has happily grown webs between her toes and moss

behind her ears. She pursued a number of careers—nurse, legislative staffer, lobbyist, public affairs consultant, non-profit association executive, workshop teacher, oh, and mother and wife—before deciding to leave it all for what she loved through every stage of life—writing. She’s been published in anthologies, magazines, newspapers and in the brochures, newsletters, and reports of her consulting clients and employers. Unless you count speeches for politicians, she’d never written fiction until a cast of characters began inhabiting her daydreams. A glass artist and a gallery owner were there. So were a sculptor and a jewelry designer. When some dead bodies showed up, a couple of cops and a deputy DA arrived. Soon they began to fall in love with each other and work for their happy-ending. Bingo. Peggy was a romance writer.

If you’d like to learn more about Peggy Bird, please feel free to visit her website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads. She loves hearing from her readers.

GIVEAWAY:

Peggy is giving away a $10.00 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card to one lucky person tour wide so feel free to enter for a chance at winning – you can buy her books! Please use the rafflecopter for entry. Thanks and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BELIEVING AGAIN, a Second Chance novel by Peggy Bird, Crimson Romance, available in ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links or cover below for purchasing information

   

Unwrapping: Review of LOVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird

When Peggy Bird wrote and asked me to consider reading and reviewing her upcoming release, LOVING AGAIN, book 2 in her Second Chance series, I hesitated because it was a contemporary. Then to be fair, I read the blurb - aha, the story involves a murder - I was hooked. I'm quite pleased that I gave this author and her story a second chance.

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for LOVING AGAIN:

One spring evening, at an art gallery opening, Portland police detective Sam Richardson meets Amanda St. Claire, a talented, young glass artist. He’s immediately attracted to her. Trouble is, they’re introduced by Amanda’s boyfriend, restaurant and club owner Tom Webster.

Then Webster is murdered and Amanda’s accused of killing him. Amanda and Sam grow closer as they try to clear her name. But as much as Sam wants her to stay she runs to Seattle to escape the notoriety of her trial.

Sam follows and convinces her to come back to Portland and to him. But when she does, strange things begin to happen. Another glass artist publicly accuses her of stealing his ideas. She’s stalked while out running errands. The sensor on the back door to her basement keeps going off, as if someone is trying to get into her house. Her studio is repeatedly broken into.

Then, two more people are killed and the evidence points, again, to Amanda as the killer. And this time, Sam’s life is threatened, too. On her own Amanda comes up with a plan to protect him. A plan that means she will have to shut him out of her life. But she can’t let anything happen to him, not after everything he did for her.

Even if it means losing the only man she’s ever loved.

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Just as glass artist Amanda St. Claire has begun to get her life back on track after a long year recovering from the bad press she got as the main suspect in the murder of her boyfriend, Tom Webster, life throws her one more curve. On the eve of leaving Portland, for a what she hopes will be a new start, Sam Richardson, the man who put his career on the line for her, tells her he wants her to stay - for him.

Sam Richardson hasn't been able to get Amanda St. Claire out of his mind. Since the first time he saw her, he's been unable to get her out of his mind. Then after working so closely with her to clear her name and find the real killer of Tom Webster, Sam knew he needed to tell her the truth about how he felt about her and try to convince her to stay or at least come back to him some day. It turns out to be a chance worth taking.

After one night of passion, Amanda leaves but Sam is never far from her thoughts. They share emails and phone calls until one day when Sam appears at her show to plead his case. She surprises him by telling him that she missed him just as much and that she is returning to Portland. They decide to see where this thing might go. All seems well once Amanda is back in Portland and happily working in her studio again. Then strange things start occurring - her house alarm goes off at strange times, she has the feeling she's being watched, and then a fellow artist accuses her of stealing his ideas. When two more people are murdered and it looks like she's the main suspect once more, Amanda fears turning to Sam not because she doesn't believe he'll take her side but because someone has threatened to harm him if she doesn't cooperate and keep her mouth shut. 

LOVING AGAIN, book 2 in the Second Chance series by Peggy Bird is a gripping, fast-paced story that sucks in the reader very quickly and holds them there as the mystery surrounding Amanda St. Claire deepens even as the passion between her and Sam heats up substantially.

Having not read book 1 in the series, I was surprised and pleased by how quickly Peggy caught me up with the back story and kept me glued to this one. LOVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird works so well as a stand-alone that even if you haven't read BEGINNING AGAIN - which I plan to read as soon as I get a chance - you will want to after reading LOVING AGAIN.

I highly recommend this contemporary romance for its steaminess, it's thriving mystery and its characters who create a real world feel that many contemporaries tend to be lacking. Read LOVING AGAIN by Peggy Bird if you love a mystery that keeps you guessing right up to the last kiss.

Happy Reading Everyone!

LOVING AGAIN, book 2 in the Second Chance series by Peggy Bird, Crimson Romance, release date, November 12, 2012 in ebook formats.