Phoenix Entertainment and Development

Phoenix Entertainment and Development

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Book Review: Finding Flynn by Alexandria Bishop


About the author:

Born in a small southeastern island in Alaska, Alexandria moved to southern Oregon early on in her life. Where she still resides with her young daughter, husband, and fur baby.

She's insanely obsessed with fashion and used to dream of becoming a fashion designer creating new outfits for her Barbie's with her childhood best friend. For now she's loving writing and fulfilling her fashion addiction with shopping.

Along with fashion, Alexandria is a big lover of music. She's always listening to something while writing and creates a playlist to go along with each book she writes. She's always on the hunt for new music and loves getting suggestions from her readers.

Alexandria spends way too much time on social media and would love for you to say hi!

To find more out about Alexandria visit at:
www.alexandriabishop.com
www.facebook.com/authoralexandriabishop
www.twitter.com/allieebishop

For Merch:
http://alexandriabishop.com/index.php/shop/ 




Finding Flynn:

Ashtyn Moretti is ready for the best summer of her life. But her parents have other plans when they drop the bomb that her perfect summer will be spent…

Away from home.

Away from friends.

Away from half her family.

Armed with her Summer from Hell playlist and a Kindle full of book boyfriends, Ashtyn prepares to face what she is sure will be the worst summer of her life. Or will it be?

Flynn James has one thing on his mind—the success of his band Marlowe. He’s focused and doesn’t have time for any distractions, and that includes facing his past. But then a petite brunette comes walking into the pub where he works.

Neither Ashtyn or Flynn were looking for love but they can’t deny their obvious attraction. Ashtyn’s summer has been full of lies. The last thing she expects is for Flynn to be one of the liars too. Can she forgive his lies and turn her summer around? Can Flynn keep his secrets without losing everything? Or will this really be the Summer from Hell?


http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Flynn-Marlowe-Book-1-ebook/dp/B012LJ89MS/ref=la_B012LYT6WK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461090373&sr=1-1 


Review:

The beginning of the story started off very slow, which made it difficult to continue on. However, the story itself seemed to reveal several issues that teenagers and young adults seem to face including; communication, parental divorce, and living up to expectations. I felt the character development needs some work to make you really have any real feelings for both Flynn and Ashtyn. I feel this book has potential with a bit of rewriting.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Book Review: Cuffed by Eden Rose

About Eden Rose

Hello! My name is Eden Rose and its a pleasure to meet you. I have been writing for a long time and once I picked a topic, I couldn't stop writing. My books are very special to me because in some aspect I have had experience in the subject matter one way or another. I love reading romance but I like the main male lead to be a real bad boy, not one who thinks they are bad.

I live in Michigan with my husband and three fur babies! I can be found taking my dog for walks all over town or in a quiet corner reading. I have two degrees in history and criminal justice from a small private college in Michigan where I also joined a sorority.




Cuffed (Lockdown Series Book 1)

I thought I was okay being on my own, but then I realized what I was missing. You.

Chloe is a tough woman who doesn't believe in relationships. She views them as a prison and enjoys being a free bird in life. It's unfortunate for her that she's secretly in love with her hot roommate, Grant. One drunk night, the two best friends hook up and she thinks it means more than it did.

Grant is a person who believes in monogamy and thinks that people should be in relationships. When he wakes up to his best friend in his bed, he panics and drops her off into her own bed.

A few years have passed and the two are now face to face in a business setting. Chloe is a hot shot FBI agent and Grant is about to be her partner. The two realize that there's a sh*t ton of unresolved issues and know that it needs to be fixed before they can work together.

Is this the second chance that is needed for Grant to show Chloe that relationships are not all that bad? Or, will their job affect their budding relationship? Being FBI agents, the job comes first and it's about to throw some wrenches into the road.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuffed-Lockdown-Series-Book-1-ebook/dp/B010MJEYQY?ie=UTF8&keywords=eden%20rose&qid=1460038323&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

*Teaser!
My hand has been grabbed and he laced our fingers together. Such a simple touch shouldn’t mean this much, but it does. “What are you thinking about over there?”

I smile at him and squeeze his hand. “Just thinking about you…”

“How handsome I am?”

I blurt out a laugh and roll my neck. “You are so humble.”

This is what I love about being with him. I love the fact that we can still be silly together and know that we can be ourselves. None of that heavy shit where we have to talk about our feelings and all of that.

“Finally!” I yell and unbuckle my seat belt as he pulls into the garage. I’m half tempted to jump over the seat and molest him.

Grant swaggers over to me and opens the door for me to get out. I laugh when he grabs my hand and kisses the top of my hand. “My lady,” he bows in front of me with my hand to his lips.

Before I can say anything, he has picked me up and thrown me over his shoulders. “Hey!” I yell but he swats my ass and my body falls like a sack of potatoes on his back. “Put me down!” No use! He shuffles me so that my stomach is laying on his shoulder and my body is hanging down.




Review:

 The premise of the book was what drew me to purchasing it. I mean who wouldn't want to read about two friends that made it to the F.B.I. together hook up while they solve cases. The characters themselves were interesting. Each had secrets they kept hidden from the other and had issues with relationships. The beginning was well written and loved the book until I got to the middle. It started to seem like every other chapter Chloe was being thrown into another case which became confusing and somewhat unlikely that a Captain would assign three cases (2 of which are high profile) to Chloe and her team when there are many other agents that could also carry out the investigations. The constant sex in the book was hot, but felt the amount of it took too much away from the story. Now don't get me wrong; I'm all for having a lot of sex in books, but feel like the plot could have been developed better or more detail added to the investigations in addition to what was currently displayed in the book. The ending was great. I loved the little cliffhanger to lure me into the second book. Needless to say, I do look forward to reading the second book in the series to find out what happens to Chloe, and hope it is better than this one.



Monday, April 11, 2016

Book Review: Hearts in the Sand by Jennifer L. Allen



Hearts In The Sand
(JACT Book 2)
by
Jennifer L. Allen

Genre: Contemporary Romance


The last several years of Trevor Monroe’s life have been quite a rollercoaster. He has always been the responsible and dependable one, the one friends and siblings look to for advice, or help bailing themselves out of whatever mess they’ve gotten into. He has certainly earned a month-long vacation to North Carolina’s Outer Banks.


Sara Sands loves her life on the Outer Banks. Sure, the road to where she is today hasn’t always been smooth, but she is the proud owner of a successful company, Sand Tours, doing what she loves, and she couldn’t love her niece and nephew more if they were her own. Life is good.


Fate brings Trevor and Sara together and the chemistry between the two kindred spirits cannot be denied. Against both of their natures, they decide to just enjoy the month they have together before Trevor returns home with his family to record their next album and Sara will return to her normal routine of work and family.

Sparks fly and their bond grows overwhelmingly stronger, will they be able to part ways with their hearts intact when the month ends?

EXCERPT

Just as Alex and Joey step out of the building, a muddy Jeep Wrangler comes rushing into the lot and jerks into a parking space, barking its tires. Muttered curse words in the most angelic of tones float across the parking lot and I can’t tear my eyes, or ears, away from the spectacle if I tried.
The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen gets out of said Jeep, slams the door, and kicks it for good measure. She tips her head back and closes her eyes, her full lips moving but I can’t hear what she’s saying. I wish I could hear what she was saying.
I take a moment to completely check her out: long, tan legs, denim short-shorts, white tank top with pink bikini straps peeking out around her neck. She’s barefoot, and something about that is sexy as hell. Her long, brown hair is in a thick braid down her back.
“Holy hot chick,” Alex says, not quietly, beside me.

Holy Hot Chick straightens herself out, her eyes zero in on our group—all staring in wonder now—probably wondering who had called her “hot chick”, then after staring at us—at me—for a good thirty seconds, huffs and storms into the building.
“Bitches be crazy,” Alex says with a shrug, then hops in the back and begins arguing with Joey about who gets to sit across from Max. “Sit across from your wife...Max wants to sit across from his favorite uncle. Don’t ya buddy?”
“Unca! Unca!”
“Told you!” Alex laughs maniacally. I shake my head; the antics never seem to end.
The side door of the building pops open and the beautiful brunette from the Jeep appears. Smiling and confident, she walks right up to me and sticks her hand out.
“You must be Mr. Monroe. I’m Sara, I’ll be your driver today.”
I’m not entirely sure, but I think my jaw drops for a second before I take her hand and shake. What I’d really like to do is bring her hand up to my lips and kiss it like the goddess I’m positive she must be.
“Trevor. Please, call me Trevor. Mr. Monroe was my dad.” I smile, slightly stumbling over my words.
“This is gonna be epic,” I hear Alex say in a stage whisper behind me. Sad thing is, he probably thought he was actually whispering.
“Sorry about him,” I say, still shaking her hand. “Sorry,’ I grimace, dropping her hand.
“It’s okay,” she smiles. “I guess you’re riding with me?” she asks, raising her brow and drawing my attention from her mouth to the most amazing blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Yeah, I’m riding you. With you. I’m riding with you. Shit.” I tip my head back and close my eyes, very similar to how I just saw her a few minutes ago. “I’m sorry,” I say, but I’m not sure she can hear me over Alex and Joey’s uproarious laughter from the back of the truck. I finally open my eyes and chance a look at her and see that she’s laughing a little, too.
“You’ll have to take me to dinner first,” she winks. “As for the tour, why don’t you get in the front seat while I check to make sure everyone’s seat belts are secure?”
“Can you secure my seat belt for me?” Alex asks. “Ow, what the hel—heck did you do that for?” Alex glares at Ally.
“Behave yourself!” she growls.
“Chase, control your woman! Ow! Son of a—! Switch with me Joe, sit across from your kid. Come on.”
“You think my wife won’t kick you?”
“Trev, I’ll sit up front,” Alex says, making a move to rise.
“Sorry,” Sara says, patting Alex on the shoulder. “Trevor’s too tall to sit back here. It’s in the rule book.”
“But I was born a rule breaker, baby.” Alex says, waggling his eyebrows and giving his best grin.
“You were not,” Ally interjects. “If anyone was born a rule breaker, it was me.”
“You were slow. That hardly makes you a rule breaker.”
“I was supposed to be first.”
“And that just means you’ve been failing to meet expectations since birth. Not that you’re a rule breaker.”
Ally glares at Alex, then looks at Chase expectantly. He rolls his eyes, but still elbows Alex in the side.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“Stop disrespecting your sister. You’re being an ass.”
“Language,” Evie calls out.
“Sorry,” Chase says.
“She started it,” Alex complains. “I only said I was born a rule breaker, she’s the one who started arguing with me.”
“Are they always like this?” Sara asks me as we both take a seat in the cab.
“Yes. At least once a day, every day.”
“Brother and sister?” she asks.
“Twins.” I answer as I buckle my seat belt.
Her eyes dart up to mine with genuine interest, “Really?”
“Yep.”
“That’s so cool. My niece and nephew are fraternal twins.” She smiles that heart-stopping smile again and I swear my ability to form a sentence goes straight out the window. “Ever since they were born I’ve been intrigued by research on twins and twin studies. Interesting stuff.”
“Well, you don’t want to research these twins. Trust me.”
She laughs, and if her smile hadn’t already knocked me on my ass, her laugh would have. It was ethereal, it suited her other angelic qualities…like her voice and her eyes and her smile…
“I sense there is a definite warning there,” she says, still laughing.
“Yes. It says ‘Proceed With Caution.’”


“You’re funny, Trevor Monroe.” I love the way my full name rolls off her tongue. Sara puts the key in the ignition and turns on the truck. The rumble of the engine cuts off conversation in the back. She grabs a small, black, wireless device from the dash and clips it to the strap of her tank top. I’m completely mesmerized by her simple movements.
Sara taps the roof of the truck through her open window, pops it into gear, and we’re off. She presses a button on the steering wheel and a red light blinks on the wireless device. When she speaks, her voice comes through the speakers.
“Hey everyone, thanks for choosing Sand Tours. I’m Sara Sands, and I’ll be your guide today.”


 BUY LINKS


Hearts In The Sand (JACT 2)
Amazon 


Our Moon (JACT 1)
Just $0.99!


 OTHER BOOK BY THE AUTHOR

Change of Heart
Just $0.99!
Amazon 


AUTHOR BIO

Jennifer lives in South Carolina with her husband and their three fur-kids. She is in grad school, pursuing a Masters in Psychology for Clinical Counseling. When she is not at work or taking classes, she is either reading or writing. Books have always been her passion. She also enjoys spending time with her family, traveling to new places, and music.




AUTHOR LINKS
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Review

While this book is the second in the series, Hearts in the Sand, is a standalone book that shows Trevor's life. It took me a few chapters to get into the book, but it soon picked up and enjoyed the read.  Sara and Trevor's characters made me pull for them to find a way to be together. The ending did have me wanting a little bit more, but felt the overall feel of the book was well done.





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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Book Review: Ultimate Betrayals Exposed by Catrina Courtenay


About Catrina

Born and raised in New York, Catrina is a U.S. Veteran, wife, mommy, controller of chaos, domestic engineer and cook. She loves wine, good books, good food and especially anything slathered in Nutella.

Always a storyteller, she enthralled her friend with tales of her wild daydreams involving the latest hot boy band (okay, they weren't called boy bands back in the 80s. They were called Duran Duran), but she never wrote them down.

She eventually grew up and embarked on a not so exciting career in the military, followed by an exciting career working in IT for a few major U.S. corporations and traveled the world. And instead of meeting in their hometown, she met her husband in Cyberspace while he was in Korea.

Marriage and having a child afforded Catrina more time to read, one of her former passions, and eventually, to begin writing.

With the support of her family, she's released her first novel, Ultimate Betrayal: Revelations and is working on the follow up - Exposed.

You can follow Catrina on Twitter @catcourtenay or at www.catrinacourtenay.com
http://www.amazon.com/Catrina-Courtenay/e/B00UOXNUQY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1459959785&sr=1-1





Ultimate Betrayal: Exposed


When you’ve been betrayed by your best friend, and a psychotic serial rapist is stalking your every move, nothing much should surprise Ronnie Harper. Determined to take back her life, she starts fresh, taking on a new business partner and for the first time in years, a man that cares for her. As Ronnie and Erik are throw into one unimaginable situation after another, her faith in herself is pushed to the limit. She doubts the people around her, her own judgment and even Erik’s growing feelings for her. He’s relentless and even when she pushes him away, he won’t give up, though he doesn’t realize it may be the only way to protect him from Jeff and his psychotic brother, Kincaid.
When they are confronted with the worst imaginable situation, Kincaid puts their love to the test. Is their bond strong enough to survive the dark, twisted mind of a sadistic rapist? Or will Ronnie’s past eventually destroy them?

Warning - Ultimate Betrayal: Exposed is NOT a standalone novel. It is the second book in the Ultimate Betrayal Series. I recommend you read the first book, Revelations before reading Exposed.

Also, this book is intended for mature readers, 18 years of age +. It is not intended for the faint of heart, or the prudish. It contains lots of sex. Steamy, hot, backseat of the car sex. It contains some strong language, dark, disturbing themes and yes, there’s a Cliffhanger. Please don’t complain about the lack of an HEA because this book doesn’t have one.
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Betrayal-Exposed-Catrina-Courtenay-ebook/dp/B01B0SFTZ6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8




Review:

I seemed to enjoy this book more than the first. There was definitely more sex than the first book had. However, there were points where it made me lose sight of the actual story. I loved the chemistry between Erik and Ronnie, but started to get a little annoyed by how hot and cold Ronnie was throughout the story. I thought the cliffhanger ending was written much better than the first book which had me looking for book 3.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Book Review: Our Moon by Jennifer L. Allen


About Jennifer L. Allen

Jennifer lives in South Carolina with her husband and their three fur-kids. When she's not at her day job or taking classes, she is either reading or writing. Books have always been a passion! She also enjoys spending time with her family, traveling to new places, and music. Her debut novel, Our Moon, was released in June 2015.
http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-L.-Allen/e/B0106HGVV8/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1


 Our Moon (JACT 1)

Ally Monroe can’t remember her name, let alone the last eighteen years of her life. A car accident erased everything, leaving her in a year-long coma, a severe case of amnesia and the reality that her parents didn’t survive. Released from her long-term care facility to her twin brother, Alex, and her older brother, Trevor, Ally tries to piece together what she can.

While trying to live her life again, Chase Baker stirs feelings within her, making him hard to resist. Guitarist for her brothers’ band, JACT, Chase ignites a fire she’s not sure she can contain. With mysteries of her past looming in the back of her mind, threatening to destroy anything she tries to build with him, Ally needs to decide to unravel the past or live for the future.

Do Ally and Chase have a chance? Or are there secrets in Ally’s past that may ruin any hope for them?

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Moon-JACT-Jennifer-Allen-ebook/dp/B00YDOFMU2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Review:

Our Moon, was a well written story about a girl (Ally) who faces life after a car accident which claimed her parent's lives and her own memory. Her two brothers  cared for her and welcomed her back home when she was released from the hospital. The book itself was nicely done for a debut book. However, I found it a little difficult to get into at first and a bit predictable. I feel this was a very good beginning for Ms. Allen and look forward to reading more from her.