Thursday, November 30, 2017

The Winners of the November FAOM Giveaway Are...

Hey everybody! It’s been such a great month here on Ups, Downs, Ins & Outs. This first month of the Featured Author of the Month with Linda Oaks has been a blast! But there is one last thing to do before the month is over and Linda steps out of the spotlight to allow someone else their time to shine…

We have to give stuff away!

All month readers, fans and friends have had the chance to enter to win one of two copies of Chasing Rainbows, the first book in Linda’s The Chasing series. I didn’t talk too much about this book beyond sharing the blurb and book trailer earlier this month. Addie and Jake’s story is a tough one. Well more accurately put, their road was a tough one. The love they share with each other – it’s a beautiful, touching thing, and in a couple of ways reminds me of my early relationship with Heli Dad. For all it’s beauty though, it’s got rough spots and moments when you just can’t be sure whether it’s really going to work. And then it does. It does and because of the struggle you know it’s that much stronger, that much better, that much more real.
I hope the ladies who receive the book will enjoy Chasing Rainbows as much as I have and I truly do hope that they will continue on to read the rest of The Chasing series. I’ve read them all now and can safely say that they are all great stories with touching depth, real characters, and moments of perfection that are all too difficult to find.

Enjoy your spoils Martha and Sylvia, and happy reading!!

Monday, November 27, 2017

Have You Missed Out This November?

The month of November is quickly coming to a close – but it’s not quite over yet, which means that you’ve still got time to enter the November FAOM Giveaway and secure your chance to win one of two copies of Chasing Rainbows by Linda Oaks.


Chasing Rainbows is of course the first book in Linda’s The Chasing series and in case you’ve missed it, I’ve been talking about them all month long!


Want to know more about The Chasing series? Here’s a few links to help you out:

Chasing Rainbows and the other titles in the series can be discovered here.

Finding Forever is book 2 of the series and is featured here.

Book 3 The Way Home is spotlighted here but you can also see my review of the book here.

And the final book of the series, book 4, Fighting For a Chance is the topic of this post.

Still want to see more?

Check out my interview with Linda Oaks here and find out more about her and her writing. 

But seriously – don’t forget to enter the giveaway… After all, who doesn’t love a free book?

Friday, November 24, 2017

FAOM: My REVIEW of The Way Home by Linda Oaks

The Way Home
The Chasing series, book 3
by Linda Oaks

About the Book:

“Not everyone you love is going to leave you…but what if they do?"

For Nate Lucas, this was his reality.

When he lost her, he was left with no choice. Life was impossible in Crawley without her. He couldn’t live with all of the memories or her ghost.

He vowed to never return again.

It was business that brought him back and the chance to right a wrong, but then she needed him; his best friend’s little sister. Her life and her child’s were in danger. It was an arrangement until it became more. 

He vowed to never love again; to never allow the past a chance to repeat itself, but sometimes you’re left with no choice. 

When the walls around your heart are finally breached, do you run and save yourself or stay and fight for the chance to love again?

When you lose your way, how do you find the way home? 

The Review:

Nate Lucas lost the love of his young life when he was 18 years-old. We know this story, we’ve read (in Chasing Rainbows) how deeply that death affected the other people who loved her – Natalie Hayes. But for Nate, the pain wasn’t simply about her death; for him, the body blow came from more than just losing her, with her he’d lost his future. Or at least the future he’d seen for himself, for them, the only future he believed he could have. To survive, to go on, he had to leave. He had to keep himself separate, wall himself off and stay away.

But alone is no way to live, and living the way he did through all the years since her death was merely existing. To heal, to really live again would take more.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

FAOM: I'm Giving 'Fighting for a Chance' a Chance Today

I’ve highlighted all of the books in The Chasing series… except this one, the last one. Fighting for a Chance is currently the final book in the series and features a character we met all the way back in the beginning in Chasing Rainbows. In that book, I was left with something of a bad taste in my mouth for Chance and his brother Chase. I am busily working my way through this series and I’m nervously looking forward to this final book.

Will I like the man Chance has become, or will I still have issues with him? Will I find myself rooting for him and Ivy, or quietly hoping that he gets a taste of his own medicine?

If you’ve already read Fighting for a Chance tell me what you thought of it? Should I give him a chance?

Fighting for a Chance
by Linda Oaks
It all began with a secret. 

A cross of paths that altered a life. 

Iris Malone had a plan of revenge. She searched for the man known as “The Savage.”

Chance Logan was one of the most promising heavyweight contenders on the planet. Her plan was simple, to make a savage fall to his knees. She would break his heart like he’d broken so many countless others before her. 

But sometimes even the best-laid plans can begin to unravel. 

What happens when you fall for the enemy?

When you’re in danger of losing your heart to the man you promised to make suffer?

When lines are crossed, and it’s too late to turn back, you have no choice but to live with the decisions you make. 

Will Iris’s plan for revenge ruin the chance at a love of a lifetime? Will she fight for a chance to love a savage or will she lose everything when the truth is finally revealed?

Someone was going down.  

Someone would pay. 

Do you care to place your bets as to who will be standing at the end of the final round?



If you’re like me and still need to read this book, you can get your copy of Fighting for a Chance here:
Amazon US  //  Amazon UK  
Amazon CA  //  Amazon AU 
iBooks  //  B&N  //  Kobo  //  Smashwords 

Saturday, November 18, 2017

FAOM: Taking a Look at THE WAY HOME

After learning earlier this week in Linda’s interview that Nate, in The Way Home has been her favorite character to write, I was increasingly interested in reading the book. I’m just starting his story but obviously I recognize Nate from his mentions and brief appearances in Chasing Rainbows and Finding Forever. I’m truly very intrigued by him – what’s his whole story, the little I do know only makes me what to know more after all, what happens, what changes, and more how does that change him? I can’t wait.

Have you read The Way Home yet? What did you think? Did you love/hate Nate and his story?

The Way Home
by Linda Oaks

“Not everyone you love is going to leave you…but what if they do?"

For Nate Lucas, this was his reality.

When he lost her, he was left with no choice. Life was impossible in Crawley without her. He couldn’t live with all of the memories or her ghost.

He vowed to never return again.

It was business that brought him back and the chance to right a wrong, but then she needed him; his best friend’s little sister. Her life and her child’s were in danger. It was an arrangement until it became more. 

He vowed to never love again; to never allow the past a chance to repeat itself, but sometimes you’re left with no choice. 

When the walls around your heart are finally breached, do you run and save yourself or stay and fight for the chance to love again?

When you lose your way, how do you find the way home? 



Want to read it? Need a copy? 
You can get The Way Home here: 

Amazon US  //  Amazon UK 
Amazon CA  //  Amazon AU 
B&N  //  iBooks  //  Kobo 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

REVIEW: A Rancher's Heart by Vivian Arend

A Rancher’s Heart 
Heart Falls, book 1
by Vivian Arend
Released: November 14, 2017

About the Book:

Caleb Stone is wearing too many hats and it’s making him crankier than usual. He’s a cowboy, a father, and the head of his large family—and has been since tragedy claimed his parents over ten years ago. The ranch is struggling, but it’s the title of single dad that’s got him tangled up in knots. He needs a full-time, live-in nanny at the Silver Stone homestead in Heart Falls, Alberta, to help with his two little girls, but the woman about to arrive on his doorstep? Tantalizing, tempting, and trouble with capital T’s.

Tamara Coleman doesn’t regret the choices that led to losing her job, but she definitely needs a fresh start. When a friend recommends her for a nanny position in a new town, she swears this time it’ll be different. No more acting on impulse—except sexy, gruff Caleb is exactly the kind of man who pushes all her buttons. And what’s more, it’s so much fun to push his in return. Sparks fly between Tamara and her gorgeous boss, but she can’t risk her position, and he doesn’t dare risk his heart.

With two people fighting their true natures, something’s going to give. Luckily, there’s more than one way to capture a rancher’s heart.

The Review:

When it comes to Vivian Arend books I’ve come to expect a couple things: main characters who may not realize their own strength but have it spades, interesting characters with depth, personality and heart, and heat. A Rancher’s Heart delivers all that and more. As the first book in a new series we’re being introduced to a whole host of new things – a new “main” setting, a new central cast of characters, and new relative history. Put together that can be a good thing or a bad one. In my opinion, A Rancher’s Heart is all good.

In this opening book of the Heart Falls series those of us who’ve read the books of Arend’s Six Pack Ranch series are lucky in that not every little thing is unknown to us – you don’t have to read those books to understand the story told in A Rancher’s Heart but a little bit of back story never hurts. (Right?) Tamara Coleman, our heroine, is a woman with a heart of gold and a spine of steel; when she thinks something needs to be done or said she does it, damn the consequences. Fortunately for her that steel spine sees her through, even while that compassionate heart may cringe at the results of her actions. After all, if she can stand up to all the craziness of being part of the Coleman brood, she can handle just about anything. Even helping raise two little girls who’ve been hurt in the past.

Caleb Stone is a man who has had little choice in his life but to stand up and bear responsibility. He always acts in what he believes is best for his family’s ranch, his younger siblings, and his two seriously precious daughters. The course of his life, ever since his parents died years earlier, has left very little room for kicking back, for taking it easy, for going with the flow. Or for doing the things that would simply make him happy from day-to-day. Through the years he’s taken kicks – to his pride and his heart – but he musters on the best he can, though without much hope for anything better for himself.

So what happens when two strong, take-charge personalities collide?

From the first moment, there are sparks. Tamara and Caleb are determined to keep things professional though and do their best to ignore the building heat between them. They do a pretty good job of it for a while too by keeping their focus on Caleb’s young daughters.

But, really, how long can they hold out when every day the want grows stronger until it becomes a need? What happens when suddenly your enjoyment of a normal day comes to depend on the presence of another? And how will two people who can normally handle anything life throws at them, handle falling for each other?

I really enjoyed reading Caleb and Tamara’s story. It had moments that made me laugh out loud, sections that made me cry, and pages that held me entranced by the possibilities. Tamara fits in to the Stone family perfectly and is the breath of new life desperately needed, not just by Caleb, but all the Stone siblings. Caleb is the perfect stable foil for Tamara’s frequently spontaneous nature. Together they’re an ideal combination to make for a long, happy, interesting life full of love, laughter, and plenty of heat.

😍  💋  😍  💋  😍  💋  😍  💋  😍

Interested? 
Get your copy of A Rancher’s Heart now.  
Kobo 
Nook 



Monday, November 13, 2017

FAOM: A Chat With Linda Oaks

One of the things I am looking forward to most as I do the Featured Author of the Month posts is having a chance to talk to the authors – to ask them questions about their writing, their books, their goals, and so much more. When I read a book, well okay – after I finish a book I often think to myself “I wonder what the author was thinking when they wrote this?” I cannot tell you how excited I am to be in the position of being able to actually ask that question now when it crosses my mind – or you know any of the other dozens of random questions that may come to me.

Author interviews are always interesting to me – sometimes the responses I get to questions I’ve asked are surprising. I mean that seriously, sometimes I’ll see the response and say “No way!” or “Really???? Wow.” Other times I read the authors responses and I end up thinking to myself that this person (regardless of their being an author I’m interested in) could be my new best friend! LOL. But really, to me, interviews offer an intriguing glimpse into the minds and lives of the authors featured in them. Linda’s interview was no different and you know, that’s a good thing.

I had to start, as I very frequently do, by asking Linda why or how she decided to become an author. It’s an important question – the answer could be deep, could be silly, or somewhere in between, but all things considered can offer significant insight. From there, well let’s just say my questions, like the possible answers to that first very important question, ran from deep to silly, and back again. Now without further ado, I think this is a great time to share with you the interview that I had with this month’s FAOM Linda Oaks.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

FAOM: A Little About FINDING FOREVER

The second book in a series makes the reader one of two things: extremely excited because they loved the first book and can’t wait to see what happens next in the authors world, or extremely nervous because they loved the first book and can’t wait to see what happens next in the authors world. There’s a third option I suppose – a little of both. Having truly enjoyed the first book in November’s FAOM Linda Oaks’ series The Chasing I’m actually going to slide myself into that third position and say that I’m both excited and nervous. I’m just diving in to book 2 myself and I’m honestly looking forward to what I’m going to find.

Finding Forever (#2, The Chasing)
by Linda Oaks

What if forever was never meant to be?

Kara Thom had always been the confident one until the fateful day her heart was shattered. She lost the one person she thought would never walk away…

Devon McGraw, the man who had promised her forever.

When Kara returns to her hometown for a wedding, fate intervenes throwing her and Devon together once again. Their chemistry is stronger than ever before, but Devon is not the same guy that Kara fell in love with. The man he’d become had a past, and it was complicated.

He wanted a week, but Kara wants forever.

Will Kara forgive Devon’s past or will her own ruin any chance of her finding forever?


Get a Copy of Finding Forever for Yourself Today:
Amazon     //     B&N 
Smashwords   //    Kobo 


Still need to read Chasing Rainbows book 1 in the series? Enter to win a copy HERE or buy your copy at:

B&N 
Kobo 

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

An Historical Romance Debut Release

My love affair with romance began many years ago when I picked up a historical romance novel in my older sister’s room and started reading. While my interests have spread much wider through the romance genre since that long ago day, I still love going back in time and reading romance as it may have played out in other times. It is with that in mind I highlight a new release from a debut author today!

The Petticoat Letters
by Kelly Lyman

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, Nora Bishop’s home is burned to the ground – along with her dreams, plans and all her family members except one. At 20-years-old and still unmarried, she moves to Manhattan to live with her Loyalist uncle, hoping to find her brother who has joined the Patriot cause against her late family’s wishes.

But, battle breaks out and she finds herself at the mercy of one American ranger, Alex Foster, who is the only person in a position to bring her to safety. Her growing feelings toward Alex and his passion for freedom help her re-evaluate her stance on the case for independence and makes her question her loyalties further.

When she is asked to spy for the rebels, she agrees.

But can she partake in the act of treason and do what is asked of her when the sadistic Captain William Roth seems to watch her every move and threatens the life of her brother who has been captured?

And how can she grow closer to Alex when the war threatens to tear them apart?


Interested?

Get your copy today at:
Amazon  //  B&N 
Kobo (coming soon)

And you can connect with the author online here:
Facebook  //  Twitter  //  Instagram