Blog Tour: Rumor Has it by Farrah F. Polestico!

Rumor Has It
Published on Nov 30, 2015
by Farrah F. Polestico
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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It’s senior year and it’s now or never. Callie Rivera always wanted to be part of her school’s drama club, and she finally musters the courage to audition for Shakespeare’s classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Only she got the audition dates wrong and landed a role that only existed in her wildest dreams. And her co-actor? None other than Landon Arcival, theater actor extraordinaire, not to mention Callie’s (former) crush— or so she says.



Callie is living the dream, until she wakes up to a nightmare. According to the rumor mill, she is sleeping with different guys in her school. Of course, it isn’t true, but who would believe her? And the worst part? It may or may not be her fault the rumors spread in the first place.



What to do? Callie finds herself in the middle of a hot mess. But then Landon proposes the perfect plan that can fix everything, but only if they don’t fall for each other first.





Farrah F. Polestico wanted to be a lot of things in life— an engineer, a nurse, an astrophysicist. But it wasn’t until she was thirteen when she knew for sure she was going to be a published writer. And now she is. When she’s not up all night writing her next book, you can find her reading anything and everything from a Charles Dickens novel to old grocery receipts.

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Book Tour: More Than You Know by Jennifer Gracen


More Than You Know
The Harrisons #1
By: Jennifer Gracen 
Releasing December 29, 2015
Zebra Shout

A Zebra Shout Fresh New Romance

Hotel owner Dane Harrison, middle brother of a wealthy Long Island family, needs a lounge singer for his new luxury property. With her stunning voice and amazing curves, Julia Shay is perfect. She also seems to be the only woman in New York City who isn’t falling at Dane’s feet. And despite her feisty attitude and his rule against workplace affairs, he wants her—in his arms, in his bed, anywhere and everywhere.

Julia loves her new job, and she knows better than to think she can keep it and Dane. Even if he wasn’t her boss, Julia’s painful history has given her ample reason to steer clear of rich, powerful charmers. Still, their chemistry is unlike anything she’s known, and when it becomes too much to resist, they agree to one no-strings night together. But instead of quenching the fire, the intense encounter only proves how much they have to lose—or win…
            The sleek car had already pulled onto the Cross Island Parkway when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and answered with a smile. “Hey, Tess. Almost at the restaurant, maybe another twenty minutes or so.”
            “Damn,” Tess sighed. “I hoped you’d be running late, or I wouldn’t be. I’m still at the office.”
            “Oh.” Dane let out a chuckle. Tess worked in midtown Manhattan. “Well, that puts a crimp in our plans, huh?”
            “Yeah. I’m so sorry. But listen, I can make it up to you, and you’ll thank me later,” Tess wheedled.
            “You’ll still stay over tonight, right? I should be home by the time you get back after the club. I’ll see you in the morning?”
            “Yes, you will.”
            “Good. Because I really don’t know what time I’ll get out of here. Gotta finish this proposal.”
            “Don’t work too hard,” Dane said with affection.
            “And hey, don’t forget to eat something.”
            “I won’t, Mother Hen,” she joked. “My assistant already ordered me dinner, it’s on its way.”
            “Good.” Dane looked out the window at the passing scenery as the driver maneuvered the car from the Cross Island to the LIE. It was early spring, and the trees were finally budding, a sea of yellowgreen and white and pink. The sky was a deep blue above the branches as the sun had just set, but sincethey were heading east, the changing colors of the sky were behind him.
            Tess had called him the day before to tell him about the club on Long Island, and its singer. “It’s a martini bar, over in Glen Bay. On Friday nights, they have a regular singer who does everything from standards to Adele. Jeannie and her husband went there with friends two weeks ago and according to Jeannie, this woman’s got a knockout voice, and is something of a knockout herself. So, since you haven’t found your chanteuse yet, want to go check it out? I’ll come with you.”
            “Sure,” he’d said. “Your best friend is a good enough reference for me. Why not? I’ve been looking all over Manhattan; maybe I just didn’t look far enough east. Frankly, I never considered looking on Long Island.” He hadn’t. And was getting desperate . . .
            Now, Tess sighed. “I wish I could go with you tonight! Damn. Sounds like it’d be a good evening. I always have fun with you.”
            “That’s what I’m here for, Tesstastic: a good time. Rain check. We’ll do it again,” Dane assured his younger sister. Only two years apart, they were more than siblings, they were truly friends, and he adored her. “Everything else okay with you?”
            “Nothing new and earthshaking since yesterday morning,” she said with dry amusement.
            “Get back to work, then, so you get home before midnight. And eat, Missy!”
            “I will, I will! Stop nagging me. Go have a good time for both of us.”
            “Not a problem,” Dane said assuredly. Tess chuckled. “Of course it isn’t. Who am I talking to? Wherever you go, you have a good time. It’s just a given. I think fun finds you.
            “Yes, I do,” Dane agreed with a grin. “And yes, it does.”
            By the time Dane strolled into the martini lounge, it was close to ten-thirty. It was a nice enough place; not as worn as some of the bars he’d gone to in the city, but not as upscale as some of the others he’d frequented. And to him, there was a distinctly different vibe in a Manhattan bar or club compared to a Long Island one—or anywhere else, really. New York City had a feel and energy all its own. Nothing and
nowhere matched it.
            He’d grown up on Long Island, not far from where he was now. The second son of a multigenerational, multimillionaire family, Dane had been born and raised in one of the most affluent communities on the Gold Coast of the North Shore. He had led a charmed life, despite his family’s dramas, explosions, and scandals. When it was time to go to college, he got out of that mega-mansion of misery and went out of state. But neither his lively years as an undergrad at Duke nor his time at the Wharton School of Business could keep him from returning to New York by his midtwenties. He was a true New Yorker, it was in his blood. He loved living in the city, he loved the business he’d started and grown there, and he loved the vitality. He thrived on it. Long Island, though nice, just felt . . . muted. Smaller. Quieter. And that wasn’t for him. Dane was all about color and sound, living large, taking life for a ride.
            He smirked as he remembered Tess joking that a good time always found him. It was true. He loved life, so it loved him back. He never dwelled on negative things. There was no reason to. He was an upbeat, satisfied man, living a charmed life, so he just went with the flow.
            The bar was dimly lit as he found a small table for two in the middle of the room. The waitress he’d passed on the way in brought his drink to him as he sat down. He’d heard the last bars of a song as he’d entered the midsize room, but now it was all applause. The audience obviously liked the singer, or the song, a lot—plenty of the gigs he’d gone to recently didn’t get such an enthusiastic response. In fact, some of the patrons were too cool or sophisticated to acknowledge the entertainment, much less applaud like this audience was. This, to Dane, was a good sign. He sipped his dirty martini and glanced around to gauge the crowd before he looked at the singer.
            But when he looked up and saw the woman onstage, everything just . . . shimmered. Maybe it was the air around her, maybe it was the woman herself, maybe there was something in his drink? Dane experienced something akin to when he’d done mushrooms back in college. The air seemed to actually twinkle and glow. It was the damnedest thing. Dane sat very still as he stared at her. Dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, big dark eyes, delicate pale skin, and an hourglass figure made for debauchery, encased in a navy blue sheath dress and matching stilettos. Beautiful and sultry, her presence was powerful, tangible. Time seemed to hang for a few seconds, spin out and slow . . . then everything was normal again as the singer spoke.
Jennifer Gracen hails from Long Island, New York, where she lives with her two young sons. After spending her youth writing in private and singing in public, she now only sings in her car and has fully embraced her lifelong passion for writing. She loves to write contemporary romance and romantic women’s fiction for readers who yearn for better days, authentic characters, and satisfying endings. When she isn’t taking care of her kids, doing freelance copy editing/proofreading, reading, or talking to friends on Twitter and Facebook, Jennifer writes. She’s shocked her family hasn’t yet staged an intervention for her addiction to social media. But the concerts she gives in her car and the dance parties she has in her kitchen are rumored to be fabulous.

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Blog Tour: Level Up by Cathy Yardley

LevelUp_Banner
Welcome to my tour stop for Level Up by Cathy Yardley. This is a romantic comedy and the tour runs January 4-22 with reviews, interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for the full schedule. 
LevelUp-Cover

Level Up (Fandom Hearts #1)
by Cathy Yardley
Contemporary, Romance

Geeky introvert Tessa Rodriguez will do whatever it takes to get promoted to video game engineer– including create a fandom-based video game in just three weeks. The only problem is, she can't do it alone. Now, she needs to strong-arm, cajole, and otherwise socialize with her video game coworkers, especially her roommate, Adam, who’s always been strictly business with her. The more they work together, though, the closer they get…

Adam London has always thought of his roomie Tessa as “one of the guys” until he agreed to help her with this crazy project. Now, he’s thinking of her all the time… and certainly as something more than just a roommate! But his last girlfriend broke up with him to follow her ambitions, and he knows that Tessa is obsessed with getting ahead in the video game world.Going from friends to something more is one hell of a challenge. Can Tessa and Adam level up their relationship to love?

Goodreads 

 She shrugged, then sighed. "Listen, I need to apologize."

"For what? Getting me involved in this deadline?" He shrugged. "No worries. If it was a problem, I'd tell you.'
"Not that." She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, her arms crossed. "At the restaurant. You know." She swallowed hard.
"What, the kiss?" He let out a snort of laughter. Who apologized for kissing?
"If a guy had done that to a girl, I'd have a real problem," she said. "It was...you didn't have any chance to consent. It's just not something I agree with."
He blinked. She looked serious. "Trust me, I'm all for consent," he said, equally serious. "But it was just a kiss, Tess. And you were doing it to prove a point."
"That's no excuse." She looked miserable. "Seriously. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."
Now he was strangling, whether on laughter or something else entirely, he wasn't sure. "You mean, like when you're kids, and somebody hits you and then you get a free shot?"
Now she looked surprised. "I wouldn't have put it that way..."
Before he could really think about it, he leaned in and kissed her. Hard.
He'd meant to just make it light, a quick buss and a "we're even," to take the charge off the situation. But frankly, he was running on a sleep deficit, he'd been thinking about her and that kiss for the past few hours, and as soon as his lips touched hers and he heard her little gasp of surprise, he smiled.
And then she grabbed him in surprise, pressing her damp front against his bare chest.



I can totally relate with characters who are into games, tech and are a little bit awkward. However, what makes me definitely pick a book are the goals the characters have set and the journey as they strive to achieve them. Both elements definitely caught my eye as I read through Level Up's synopsis.

To achieve her dream of being a video game engineer, Tessa must face the challenge of proving herself to an otherwise male-dominant industry. Earning the respect of her team, particularly of her roommate Adam was quite a hard feat for her yet at the end, she earned it while discovering her strengths as well. Though her instant change in personality was quite jarring, throughout the story, she was able to open herself up to new friendships and also letting people in to her head and her heart. The story between her and Adam definitely developed as she became confident with herself and has shown her caring and loyal side that Adam came to respect and later on, love.

This book has equal parts romance and self-discovery. What stuck the most to me was Tessa's perseverance to be more open to experiences, knowing her strengths and fulfilling her dreams. We all can definitely do a Tessa especially now that a new year has begun.




cathy yardleyCathy Yardley needs to get out more. When not writing, she is probably cruising the Internet, sleeping or watching D-list movies and adding to her unnatural mental store of character-actor trivia. She is a closet fangirl for Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and too many others to name. Her family is considering performing an intervention for her addiction to pop culture. Want to read more of her writing? Sign up for her notification list, and get a free novella, Hooked, from the Fandom Hearts series!  http://www.cathyyardley.com/notification-sign-up

$25 Amazon gift card (INT)

Ends Jan. 27, 2016
Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible. Must be 13 or older to enter and have parental permission if under 18. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary to win.

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This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.


#romanceclass podcasts!


Have you read one of the #romanceclass novels? Check these podcasts and your favorite book may be one of them! If you attended the 5th FilReaderCon, we had a live reading there as well. Let's just say there were a lot of feels. 
The readings were performed by theater actors Gio Gahol and Rachel Coates and was produced by Tania Arpa and Mina V. Esguerra.

As of today, there are 3 podcasts available. You can subscribe to their YouTube channel here: X.

First one is Ana Tejano's Fall Like Rain, followed by Mina's Never Just Friends and the latest one, which is Blast From Two Pasts by Kristel Villar.  The actors did a great job in capturing the characters and i highly suggest listening to them with headphones/earphones. ;)
Loved them? Buy all of the episodes of Season 1 in Mp3! When you buy in Gumroad, you'll also be given a guest pass to the next live reading! You are also helping out the authors!

This digital product package contains: 
1. The 10 episodes of the first "season" in mp3 format
2. Audio interviews with the authors in mp3 format
3. A complimentary GUEST PASS to the next live reading event in Metro Manila, Philippines in PDF

Romance novels featured in Season 1:
Fall Like Rain by Ana Tejano
Never Just Friends (also published as Fallen Again) by Mina V. Esguerra
Blast From Two Pasts by Kristel S. Villar
Songs From Our Breakup by Jay E. Tria
Cover (Story) Girl by Chris Mariano
Just for the Record by Six de los Reyes
The Boyfriend Backtrack by Dawn Lanuza
Finding X by Miles Tan
The Kitchen When It Sizzles by Chrissie Peria
In Over Her Head by Anne Plaza  

Which one is your favorite so far? Or which book are you most excited to listen to?