Blog Tour Review with Giveaway: Unlucky in Love by A.J. Renee

Book info:
Title:  Unlucky in Love
Author: A.J. Renee
Publication date: January 30th, 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source:  e-galley from Xpresso book tours which did not influence my opinion
My rating:  3.5  stars

Synopsis:

Lucky in Love.

That’s the name of the dating app I picked, hoping to find Mr. Better Than Average so I can hold off planning my future as a cat lady.

I’ve been distracted eyeballing a tall, dark, and handsome Latin hottie who works in the library with me. He is way out of my league, and a woman has needs if you know what I mean.

Finding a man shouldn’t be hard when all I have to do is swipe left or right. It’ll weed out the slimy men who have Bad Date written all over them.

Yeah, I’m learning quickly that I’m rather unlucky in love after all. The men I pick need warning labels, kissing lessons, and a good talking-to about manners.

Should I throw in the towel, or will this series of bad dates be exactly what I need to win Mr. Right?

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My Review:

The book started out on a pretty good, humorous scene.   And I definitely get the whole dating app scene, part of why I was eager to read this one.  In a way, I feel like the main character was extremely picky though.  I mean, everything was good with the one guy, the kissing started good, but then got a little weird.  I feel like that is something you could work on, especially since he was such a nice guy.  And then there was the guy that she had sex with, and he had an extremely dedicated dirty talk subject, and I guess that could definitely be off-putting.  But even as I thought she was overly picky, I had to think to myself about all the silly little things I have let keep me from giving guys a second chance.  Like, the guy ordered a salad on our date.  Really?  Or again, I just wasn't attracted.  It's obvious who is going to be the Mr. Right in this book, even before he is actually available.  When he does finally become available, all of that is just sweet and perfect!  In this case I would have to say that the last little bit of fight she put up felt a little forced to me, but I guess it was needed as otherwise there wouldn't really have been any drama for the last quarter of the book.  Just happy, sexy times with Mr. Right.  

Overall the writing was definitely fun, with the type of banter I enjoy. The romance was steamy when it was supposed to be, and sweet when that was needed.  I can see reading more books by this author in the future.

 

Author Bio:

AJ Renee is the author behind the St. Fleur series, Beauty Unmasked, Winter’s Surprise, Surviving Paris, and Finding Love at the Falls…. She’s a military wife and mother to three young girls. She graduated from the University of Central Florida with her Master of Science in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology while working at the library.

She loves to write steamy romance with suspense and a happily ever after. When she isn’t writing or interacting with her readers, you can find her spending time with her family or reading. AJ enjoys traveling, researching family history, and all things New Orleans.

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Review: Widower's Aura by A.J. Renee

Book info:

Title:  Widower's Aura  
Author:  A.J. Renee 
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  August 18th, 2016
Source:  E-book for review from author

First, thanks to the author, A.J. Renee for reaching out to me about this book.  I accepted a copy for review, as the synopsis sounded like one of the types of books I've been reading lately as e-books.  I really was not disappointed.

There are two main characters really, Sofia and Noah.  Sofia has just moved away from the city of New Orleans to a smaller town nearby, St. Fleur. She was a juvenile probationary officer there, and she just got to the point where she needed to get away.  And so she is opening a photography business in the small town.  A couple years after she's been there, and has an established business, there is a new guy in town that attracts Sofia's attention from the first time she sees him.

Noah has just moved to town also, he recently lost his wife to a violent crime while he was away in the military.  He is now with his daughter, and takes on different construction and other types of handy-man jobs.  The first time he sees Sofia, he also is immediately affected by her.

The two of them are brought together when Noah's daughter Lexi is caught spray painting an orchid on the side of Sofia's building.  Now Sofia has a bit of an odd ability, she can see the auras of the people around her, and she can tell from Lexi's aura that she didn't do it maliciously, that she needs some attention and maybe some guidance.  And therefore Sofia offers to forgive Lexi's crime if Lexi comes and does volunteer work for her with her photography business.  Sofia and Noah continue to be thrown together through dealing with Lexi, as well as the fact that Noah is the next door neighbor of Sofia's best friend Lindsey.  The two will find many connections as they become more and more attracted to each other, and both will have to work through their own issues to become a real couple and give in to the love they seem to have for each other.

The book started out a little weak, but because I could see the possibility I kept on reading, and it was totally worth it. By the end of the book I was having a lot of trouble putting it down because I needed to know how things were going to turn out.  While I feel that the aura business at times was a little bit extra that didn't necessarily need to be part of the story, some of it did work out to add interesting details to certain situations.  The sexy scenes were pretty good, and I loved all the best friend characters.  In fact, the little excerpt at the end of this book for the next one featuring Lindsey only served to make me very impatient for that book to come out, which isn't until 2017.

I definitely will be recommending this as a quick, fun read, with suspense, romance, and definitely steamy scenes in parts.  I also enjoyed the New Orleans setting, as I am getting ready to visit the city myself in about a month for the second time. 

Oh yeah, and if this sounds good, there is a giveaway going on to win an Amazon gift card and you could buy your own copy of it!  Go check out my post with the giveaway on it HERE.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Widower's Aura by AJ Renee

 
 

Book info:
Title: Widower's Aura

Author: A.J Renee

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 18, 2016

Synopsis

Living in a world full of colors, Sofia Brazier escapes a career gone south as a juvenile probationary officer in New Orleans. After moving to the small town of St. Fleur, Sofia opens a photography business in hopes of ridding her life of all the dark auras surrounding the damaged souls she once tried helping. Her comfortable new life is upended when widower, and ex-security-forces-turned-handyman hunk, Noah Tyler enters the local pub. Noah attempts to avoid the voluptuous beauty who has captivated his every thought. That is, until his daughter vandalizes Sofia’s building and effectively seals their fate. After cutting his daughter a break, Sofia begins tearing down the walls he built after his wife’s death. Just when life finally seems worth living for Noah, Sofia finds herself the victim of a string of crimes. Can he protect Sofia when he failed to protect his own wife?

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Excerpt

His eyes locked onto Sofia’s. Noah tried swallowing but failed. His mouth, which had been fine a moment ago, now lacked even a drop of saliva. The woman was phenomenal. Her hair swept away from her made-up face in a twist, left her long neck exposed. The dress hugged her body and made his hands itch to run up and down those glorious curves. Oh man, her breasts… those breasts were magnificent. If the woman looked this good in clothes, he could only imagine what she looked like out of them. Not that he hadn’t imagined that a hundred times by now. Thankfully the jeans and T-shirt were enough to cover up the proof of his growing desire. He forced his eyes to Lindsey, who also looked beautiful and happened to be giving him a laughing smile. Noah cleared his throat. “Ladies, you look wonderful.” “Thank you,” they told Noah in echo. “Okay, picture time!” Sofia said. Sofia accepted the camera from his hands. Their fingers briefly touched, shooting a bolt of pleasure down to his groin. His eyes shot to hers as she took a deep breath. Taking a step back, she lifted the camera to her face. Noah watched her relax, all distractions disappearing on the other side of the lens. He’d never seen her work and witnessing it was a gift as she captured Lexi’s special day.

 

About The Author:

AJ Renee loves to travel and see family and friends whenever she gets a chance. She has a love of music, movies, and anything that can make her laugh. AJ believes in reading books with humor and mystery that end in a happily ever after to help ease our minds and hearts of life’s daily struggles. She currently resides in Nevada and spends her time with her air force husband, three young daughters, dog, and cat.
 

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