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Showing posts with label wild seasons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wild seasons. Show all posts

Excerpt & Review: Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren


What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
But what didn't happen in Vegas seems to follow them everywhere. 

Lola and Oliver like to congratulate themselves on having the good sense to not consummate their drunken Las Vegas wedding. If they’d doubled-down on that mistake, their Just Friends situation might not be half as great as it is now.

... Or so goes the official line.

In reality, Lola’s wanted Oliver since day one—and over time has only fallen harder for his sexy Aussie accent and easygoing ability to take her as she comes. More at home in her studio than in baring herself to people, Lola’s instinctive comfort around Oliver nearly seems too good to be true. So why ruin a good thing?

Even as geek girls fawn over him, Oliver can’t get his mind off what he didn’t do with Lola when he had the chance. He knows what he wants with her now ... and it’s far outside the friend zone. When Lola’s graphic novel starts getting national acclaim—and is then fast-tracked for a major motion picture—Oliver steps up to be there for her whenever she needs him. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who likes all that attention, but maybe she’s the kind who’ll eventually like him.

Sometimes seeing what’s right in front of us takes a great leap of faith. And sometimes a dark wild night in Vegas isn’t just the end of a day, but the beginning of a bright new life...


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Excerpt:
He watches me in a way that feels like he’s seeing more than my face looking up at his or my breasts shifting with his movements. He’s seeing me. The heat of it makes me wild, like skin singed, blood simmering.

“I feel like we have forever to ‘savor,’ ” I whine quietly. “I don’t—”

He reaches for the condom, putting it in my palm and kneeling between my legs. “I know.”

I tear it open, feeling it briefly to orient myself. I’m suddenly nervous and know my hands are a little fumbly, my fingers unpracticed at this. “It’s been a while since I did this.” 

He smiles but says nothing, holding his breath as he watches me cover the head, anchor the condom with one hand, and roll it all the way down with the other. There’s a good couple of inches of him left uncovered and I feel the skin there, marveling until he leans forward, hands planted beside my head.

I can tell he wants to say something, but I also get the sense that it’s nearly too much to articulate without sounding trite or overly sentimental. It’s probably why I’m not saying much, either.

When he leans in, kissing me softly, he asks, “You want me like this?”

I assume he means on top of me again. “Yeah.”



My Review:
We've met Oliver and Lola in the two previous books in the Wild Seasons series. They're 1/3 of the drunken Vegas group that decided to get married. And then get it annulled. But they didn't consulate their marriage like the other two couples. Good thinking because they're friends, and they spend a lot of time around each other and boy would that be awkward. Right? So friend-zone it is.

Well, they may not have done the deed but the sexual tension between them is OUT OF CONTROL. My god. I'm 26 years old and the number of hot flashes I had throughout reading this book was embarrassing. If there's one thing that Christina Lauren does amazingly, it's writing the build-up. It's the way they write the characters that you know belong together, everybody else knows they belong together, but they don't know that yet. 

I read Sweet Filthy Boy I thought Ansel and Mia were my favorites. Then I read Dirty Rowdy Thing and I thought, "there's no way that they can top this, Finn and Harlow will forever be my favorite couple of all time forever and ever the end goodbye." Then I read Dark Wild Night. I will admit, in the safety of my blog, that I'm absolutely terrified to read Wicked Sexy Liar. I don't even want to like another couple more than Oliver and Lola. They were perfect. They were both nerdy. They were both wanted each other so much it was scary, but they didn't want to ruin their friendship. It also didn't help that they didn't know the other wanted them just as badly but what can you do.

Lola was the super creative girl who lived in her head and was full of insecurities. It was so amazing to see the growth she went through during the book. She hit it big time, selling the rights to her graphic novel. So on top of working through her feelings about Oliver, she's going through some pretty big life changes and at times doesn't know up from down.

If I'm being super picky I wish we got a little more backstory on Oliver, but he was definitely my favorite out of the three guys we've gotten stories on so far. And the dirty talking. THE DIRTY TALKING. I thought Finn had a mouth on him *fans self* Oliver can hang right with him in that department. Can I call dibs on him? Even if I called dibs on Finn? And Ansel? 

So yes, I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again, this book is my new favorite Christina Lauren book. I want to crawl inside their brains and hang out for a while. I absolutely can't wait to see what they have in store for us with Wicked Sexy Liar.

*I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


About the Authors:
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced ten New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 28 languages.

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Waiting on Wednesday #44: Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, it spotlilghts upcoming releases that we are dying to read.

This week my WoW is ... Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren!


What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
But what didn't happen in Vegas seems to follow them everywhere.


Lola and Oliver like to congratulate themselves on having the good sense to not consummate their drunken Las Vegas wedding. If they’d doubled-down on that mistake, their Just Friends situation might not be half as great as it is now.

... Or so goes the official line.

In reality, Lola’s wanted Oliver since day one—and over time has only fallen harder for his sexy Aussie accent and easygoing ability to take her as she comes. More at home in her studio than in baring herself to people, Lola’s instinctive comfort around Oliver nearly seems too good to be true. So why ruin a good thing?

Even as geek girls fawn over him, Oliver can’t get his mind off what he didn’t do with Lola when he had the chance. He knows what he wants with her now ... and it’s far outside the friend zone. When Lola’s graphic novel starts getting national acclaim—and is then fast-tracked for a major motion picture—Oliver steps up to be there for her whenever she needs him. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who likes all that attention, but maybe she’s the kind who’ll eventually like him.

Sometimes seeing what’s right in front of us takes a great leap of faith. And sometimes a dark wild night in Vegas isn’t just the end of a day, but the beginning of a bright new life...

Expected publication: September 15th 2015 by Gallery Books

YES YES YES YES GIMME THIS BOOK. I fell in love with Ansel. I fell in love with Finn. I absolutely cannot wait to fall in love with Oliver. Christina Lauren writes books like nobody else and I'm obsessed. 

Pre-order Links:
Amazon

About the Author:
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced ten New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 28 languages.

Author Links:

BOOK REVIEW: Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren



One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.



Published May 13th 2014



“He’s the guy who’ll do a ridiculous robot dance to make you laugh, who’ll lick the tip of your nose, make a fool out of himself for a smile. I’m sure if I tried to wrestle him to the ground, he’d let me win. And enjoy every minute.”

Okay so first off, I loved this book! After devouring the Beautiful Bastard series, I put these authors on my auto-buy list, and I wasn't disappointed.  

Lately I've been reading so many books where the hero is an alpha but he's an asshole a lot of the time. The whole "treat them mean, keep them keen" thing doesn't really fly with me so this book was definitely refreshing in that aspect. This is totally not the case with Ansel. He's sweet and shy but also confident and - yes you guessed it - filthy. The dirty talking alone puts this book on the must-re-read-shelf.
Mia was sweet, if not a little broken. From previous relationships, home life, responsibilities that seem to be dragging. And after graduating and spending the weekend in Vegas, she definitely didn't expect to wake up married. Especially to someone she just met.
I thought his relationship with Mia was really sweet and unfolded naturally. However, I do have to say I figured out Ansel's secret pretty early on so the big reveal wasn't that surprising. It also kind of seemed like there was no good reason for him not to tell Mia. The excuses he came up with were just that - excuses. 
Overall I loved this story and I can't wait for the next one, bring on Whorelow ;) 

“Their eyes meet from either side of me and hold. There’s some sort of silent acknowledgment there, like they’re on the same team—them against us—each trying to see which one can mortify their friend the most. And this is when I know we’re only about an hour and a half from Harlow riding Finn reverse-cowgirl on the floor somewhere. Lola catches my eye and I know we’re thinking the exact same thing.”




About Christina Lauren:
Christina Lauren author photo bw
Yes, there are two of us! Lauren (on the left) and Christina (on the right).
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced eight New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 24 languages.
Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and before she made writing her full-time job, would spend her days doing nerdy research-type things wearing a lab coat and goggles. She is silly Mommy to two littles, wife to one mountain biking homebrewing scientist, bestie to a shoe-stealer, and an unabashed lover of YA and romance.

Christina Hobbs (but you’ll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you’ll probably find her on tumblr. She is married and absolutely not old enough to be the mom of a 14 year old (right??), thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter. She also likes to steal Lo’s shoes.
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