by Jasmyn | Jun 25, 2019 | Readers, Romance
Title: All the Wrong Places
Author: Randi Perrin
Genre: Contemporary Romance
American-born, Australian-raised Rachel Kennedy was born to be an actress–all the way down to her drama queen ways. But when a bad day leaves her life and her dream in ruins, she’s not sure what to do next. Her silver spoon-upbringing never prepared her for that.
With a bank account at nothing and an inability to pull off a convincing accent for casting directors, Rachel’s about to give up on everything. Not on her best friend’s watch. Lily is there to help her every step of the way–if the definition of help involves convincing her to take drastic measures, each one blowing up more than the one that came before.
Once Lily shoves Rachel into the let’s-get-drunk-and-screw-a-stranger phase, she winds up tangled in the arms of Christian Whitmore, a cop with a sinful smile, sexy stubble, and impeccable timing. He’s there to pick her up when she falls and to take her out for fish and chips at her favourite place.
But then again, so is his identical twin brother, Kevin. Double. Trouble.
Stuck at a major crossroads in her life, can Rachel ever find happiness again, or is she just looking in all the wrong places?
Introducing Rachel Kennedy: Today’s Community Theatre Actress, Tomorrow’s Star
I’m Lily May and I’m here with the hottest thing in this hemisphere, Ms. Rachel Kennedy. Let’s get to know our up-and-coming star with a little banter. She’s got excellent fashion sense, a hot car, and perfect pitch.
LM: Would you like to tell us who you are?
RK: You just told everybody who I am.
LM: *eye roll*
RK: *big, cheesy grin* I’m Rachel Kennedy.
LM: And you are…
RK: An actress.
LM: And…
RK:
LM: *sighs heavily* And American. You are American.
RK: *blushing* Yes, I’m American. Baseball is boring, though, and I don’t like apple pie.
LM: What brought you here to Aus?
RK: You know the answer to these questions.
LM: *sweeping gesture toward the audience* But they don’t. Talk to the people, Rach. Your people. Your audience.
RK: My dad is Australian, so after my mum died, he uprooted my entire life and decided to move back to his homeland.
LM: Have you always been an actress?
RK: Yes. My mum was an actress and I knew I wanted to be one too, follow in her shoes.
LM: Are her shoes as fancy as your five-inch Louboutins?
RK: We had more than enough money, but I don’t really remember her wearing designer shoes. She was more about flowers than shoes—we always had fresh flowers around. Those are my lucky audition shoes, don’t knock them.
LM: Knock them? Hell, I’d like to steal them.
RK: Stick your too-big foot in them and you’re dead.
LM: American, actress, hot—who is lucky enough to call themselves your best mate?
RK: *wraps an arm around LM’s neck* Why, that would be you. Duh.
LM: Do you see a conflict of interest in my being your best friend and conducting this interview?
RK: As if a conflict of interest has ever slowed you down before. I’ve seen you do way worse.
LM: You’ve been an accomplice to way worse.
RK: Shhhhh. Don’t go spilling my skeletons before I’m famous.
LM: Get ahead of them. Admit them. Go on, tell us what you do for a living. *nudges RK in the ribs*
RK: I’m a pole dancer, just like you, only I keep my knickers on.
LM: My knickers stay on, thank you very much. Everything else, well, that all depends on how big the notes are.
RK: Let’s get this straight right now, before she keeps going. I teach pole aerobics at the gym. Lily’s the stripper. Not me. I will not take off my clothes for money, no matter how desperate I get.
LM: You’ve clearly never been desperate enough.
RK: Let’s keep it that way. Desperation, like the color orange, doesn’t look good on me.
LM: Orange? There are a whole lot of colors that don’t go with that fiery, red hair.
RK: *checks the time on her phone* Can we wrap this up?
LM: Do you have somewhere more pressing to be?
RK: No, not really, but you’re boring me.
LM: Okay, okay … lightning round. What’s your dream role?
RK: Evita.
LM: Who is your girl crush?
RK: You, of course.
LM: Boy crush?
RK: My boyfriend, Mark. Right?
LM: You keep telling yourself that. He’s a douche.
RK: I love it when you have my back like that.
LM: Someday you’ll come crying to me and I’m just going to say, “I told you so.”
RK: Never. Not gonna happen. No need. We’re perfectly happy together.
LM: There you have it folks, a truly shallow interview with our next musical theatre superstar, the ever sweet and quite delusional, Rachel Kennedy. She is going places, you guys, so be sure to catch her at the community theatre here in Brisbane while you still can, before she leaves us to return to her birthplace to take her rightful place on Broadway. Goodnight folks!
Want to know all of Rachel’s story? Did Mark finally get his head screwed on straight and propose? Did she ever become desperate enough to strip? Pick up a copy of All the Wrong Places, out now at your favourite online retailer
About Randi Perrin
English may be Randi’s first language, but she’s the most fluent in sarcasm, and it shows in her writing. She is known for creating snarky, realistic characters—badass heroines who can hold their own and flawed, yet lovable heroes. Like Randi, her characters run on caffeine and swear words.
Her characters are often built around dichotomy, much like Randi herself. Although she is the least romantic person in the world, she writes romance. She also refuses to pick a lane on the romance highway, sometimes writing contemporary, other times paranormal, but always smokin’ hot.
She is the author of the Earthbound Angels paranormal romance series, several contemporary romance novellas including Anticipating Temptation and Mi Amor, and a gay romance novella entitled Wreck You. She has also had several short stories published in anthologies. Her next full-length novel, a romantic comedy entitled All the Wrong Places, will be out in Summer 2019.
by Jasmyn | Jun 24, 2019 | Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy
What if we weren’t as unique as we thought we were? What if we were just one form of evolution from DNA placed by aliens around the universe? What if we found a way to find others that were like us – but different?
The Damocles sets off on this very mission, following coded coordinates to a planet far away (like so far I can’t really comprehend). When they come out of deep sleep as they approach the planet Didet, they are about to come face to face with Earther’s ancient cousins (of a sort). As they prepare to drones to scan the planet before they make contact, their ship has a hissy fit (yes, a hissy fit, the crew talks about the propulsion crystal as if it were a person). They are forced to make contact before they are prepared, and they are trusting Meg, their language specialist, to get them through first contact.
I loved first contact. It was stressful and suspenseful, and Loul (the Dideto) and his POV were fantastic. I loved the hurdles of them trying to learn complex concepts such as trust, family, and question mark. I was excited every time they had a breakthrough and the awe and wonder on both sides. Meg does an amazing job of learning to communicate, and her love of discovery shows in each of her pages.
Now, this might sound like a bit of a dull story, but it was far from that. We have the Dideto government trying to make moves, the media trying to find a new scoop, and the workers just trying to figure anything out. Several times things start to fall apart and the struggle to keep things on track (and not give anyone a reason to shoot at anyone else) is clear in so many of the interactions.
And the ending – well, it was pretty intense for a while. But the actual ending – the last few pages (minutes?) were a bit of a letdown. I wanted to see how it all turned out. I wanted to know just a little bit more about how everyone’s story ends. Still, a story that I will be listening to again.
The narrator did a fantastic job. Her portrayals of both the Earthers and the Dideto were fantastic. She caught the emotion and did a great job of distinguishing voices and personalities.
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Title: Damocles
Author: S.G. Redling
Genre: Science Fiction
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When Earth is rocked by evidence that extraterrestrials may have seeded human DNA throughout the universe, a one-way expedition into deep space is mounted to uncover the truth. What linguist Meg Dupris and her crewmates aboard the Earth ship Damocles discover on Didet—a planet bathed in the near-eternal daylight of seven suns—is a humanoid race with a different language, a different look, and a surprisingly similar society.
But here, it’s the “Earthers” who are the extraterrestrial invaders, and it’s up to Meg—a woman haunted by tragedy and obsessed with the power of communication—to find the key to establishing trust between the natives and the newcomers. In Loul Pell, a young Dideto male thrust into the forefront of the historic event, Meg finds an unexpected kindred spirit, and undertakes an extraordinary journey of discovery, friendship, and life-altering knowledge.
Told from both sides of a monumental encounter, Damocles is a compelling novel about man’s first contact with an extraterrestrial race.
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by Jasmyn | Jun 19, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Romance
Lady Scandal finds herself wedded to Lord Randolph after losing a bet. An interesting start to the story, and if you’ve read the first book in Wendy LaCapra’s Furies series (which I highly recommend), then this doesn’t seem all that unusual for the group of women who run the gaming parties.
But that really isn’t the truly scandalous start of the book. It started when Sophia (Lady Scandal) found out that Lord Randolph was more than she thought. He wasn’t just someone to satisfy an inch and wrap around her finger. He was trained under her father – a father she hated – as a ruthless political spy. And now Sophia is convinced he’s using her.
And maybe he is? I can totally see where Sophia is coming from, but Lord Randolph is far more than anything she really expects, and there are a few things she will end up teaching him and he will teach her.
This book isn’t just a romp through historical romance. It has one heck of a suspense storyline that kept me on the edge of my seat. There were a few places that I feel like things were glossed over just to keep the veil around who the bad guy really is in place, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. It seemed unnecessarily convoluted because of it. Kasai – Kasai sounds like a horrible person – and the fact that he can cast such a shadow over our couple without actually making an appearance for a very long time, just shows how much his specter alone can influence and manipulate.
I really really enjoyed their time at the Quaker farm. Elizabeth was an odd breath of fresh air and honesty, and her way of life and way of putting things into perspective left an impression on both Sophia and Randolph that I think will last into their future.
In the end, we have just as many loose ties as we did at the beginning – just different ones. As one part of the Fury’s lives seems to wrap up – something else blows wide open. Looks like I’ll need to read the third book in the series to get the final scoop on everything.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
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Title: Lady Scandal: The Furies (#2)
Author: Wendy LaCapra
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romantic Suspense
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He had everything under control, until she proved him wrong…
London, 1784
Sophia Baneham has lived in the poison of her dead father’s shadow for longer than she cares to admit. Now she exists outside of polite society’s influence, holding gambling parties for London’s most dangerous men. When a man walks into one of her soirees, a compelling mix of charisma and icy control, he offers the lady of sin a wager she can’t refuse…
Lord Randolph is a spy in the service of His Majesty, but he’s given an oath to protect the daughter of his mentor. Even as his gamble of marriage starts to spiral out of control and his passions ignite, Randolph is determined that he’ll handle things his way…
But when danger closes in, Randolph won’t just have to protect Sophia from an intended killer. He’ll have to protect her from himself…
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