Risking It All by Tessa Bailey Character Interview

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! 

Guess who stopped by to answer some questions for us?  Bowen Driscol from Tessa Bailey's Risking It All novel. EEEKKK!!!!

The BookWhisperer: I think my first question for you, Bowen, is why did you push Ruby away after she learned who you were to her? In my mind, this would be the

best time to build on your relationship as sister and brother.  Did you push her away to keep her safe? 

Bowen Driscol: Protecting someone is a hard habit to break, so yeah, that played into it. Every day, things get a little worse for me and I needed to cut ties before they went bad for my sister, too. It didn’t help that she was about to reunite with our mother…and I wanted no part of that.

The BookWhisperer: We found out that you paint; which I think is amazing! Do you paint to express your emotions? When did you start painting? Also, where do you think you learned it (or got the creative gene) from? 

Bowen Driscol: (laughs) We’re getting pretty deep here, huh? I can say without a doubt that the creative gene wasn’t passed down to me…it just showed up one day. I needed to do something with my hands besides fight, you know? One day, walking home in the neighborhood, I saw this kid painting a store window and decided to give it a shot. It saved me. At least until Sera could find me.

The BookWhisperer: You took on a dangerous role when you signed up to help Sera. What drew you to help Sera in the first place even though you didn’t know her? 

Bowen Driscol: Her eyes. My girl’s eyes are peaceful. Even when she’s angry, she…comforts me. No one ever looked at me the way she did. Like she was trying to see past everything…the surface bullshit that everyone thinks it important. She wanted to see me.

The BookWhisperer: You have an adorable nickname for Sera, “Ladybug,” where do you think that came from? 

Bowen Driscol: (slow smile) The first time I saw her, she was waitressing and Jesus, she was awful. She didn’t belong in that bar, that world, and it was obvious. She was showing her spots, just like a ladybug, hard as she was trying to disguise herself. One look at and anyone would know she was good. The kind of good you protect at all costs, because the world would be a shitty place without it.

The BookWhisperer: We left you joining a new group - so how do you truly feel about

working for the good side now? 

Bowen Driscol: I’m there for Sera. I get to have a life with her in Chicago. An apartment. Take her to dinner. I’d move to the fucking moon for that. Rubbing elbow with cops makes that possible, so I’m there. I’d work with cops the rest of my life for even a single day with her.

The BookWhisperer:  Do you think that this work will clear you slate of all its dark marks

and possibly make you worthy of Sera’s love? 

Bowen Driscol: Worthy? I’ll never be worthy. But when I’m with her, she makes me forget about the dark marks. I’m her man – that’s it. Darks marks and all. And some days, I’m grateful for those dark marks because they prepared me to protect my Sera.

Thank you, Bowen, for stopping by and answering a few questions.  For those readers out there that haven't read Bowen and Sera's story yet, what are you waiting for?

Review: Falling for Jillian by Kristen Proby

Title: Falling for Jillian
By: Kristen Proby
Series: Love Under the Big Sky #3
My Copy: Ebook from Publisher
BookWhisperer's Rating: 

Jillian thought she was a city girl through and through; the fast cars, high fashion, and glamour—she loves it all. But when her ex tells her he’s having a baby with his new wife (after Jillian struggled for years to get pregnant), she hightails it back to Montana to cry on the shoulder of her best friend, Cara.

But in truth, Jillian would rather be comforted by someone else…specifically Zach, Cara’s brother-in-law. Zach is a veteran of the Iraq War who came back to the family ranch to raise his preteen son after the boy’s mother took off. He’s struggling to re-establish a relationship with his son, and warding off the demons of PTSD, which still haunt him. The last thing he needs is bold, brassy Jillian…but why can’t he keep his hands off her?

Falling for Jillian is, by far, my favorite book in this series.  I felt like Kristen Proby brought a whole heck of a lot more to the table in this book than I experienced with the others.  It wasn’t all about Jilly and Zach’s connection between each other, although that was pretty hot, but it contained more than just a love story. 

Jillian comes home from a horrible marriage with a few insecurities under her belt.  She is attracted to Zach but after the last time that they were together, she thinks that he doesn’t want her.  Boy, she was wrong.

Zach got out of a bad marriage as well; a marriage so bad that it put his adorable son, Seth, in danger and brought them both back home to the Lazy K.

So yes, you get lovely, dovey romance in this book but you also get two characters who try to work though their insecurities all while and stubble a few times before they get it right.

What I loved about this book:

Seth - he was such a wonderful character that brought out the best in Zach and Jilly. What he goes through brings this book into a more serious level than what the others had.

Thor, Seth’s dog – Adorable and I want him. 

How we still got to catch up on all of the characters that we fell in love with in the last two books. 

The ending…..oh, dear me, the ending.  So wonderful

Release Day Launch: Falling for Jillian by Kristen Proby

 

We can't wait to share this Release Day Launch for Kristen Proby's FALLING FOR JILLIAN with you! FALLING FOR JILLIAN is an erotic contemporary romance and the third book in the bestselling Love Under the Big Sky Series, published by Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Check out this amazing book below and grab your copy today!

 

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Booksamillion | Indiebound | iBooks

FALLING FOR JILLIAN Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby comes the third romance in the Love Under the Big Sky series, featuring a veteran struggling with PTSD and the one woman who can help him recover—and learn to love again. Jillian thought she was a city girl through and through; the fast cars, high fashion, and glamour—she loves it all. But when her ex tells her he’s having a baby with his new wife (after Jillian struggled for years to get pregnant), she hightails it back to Montana to cry on the shoulder of her best friend, Cara. But in truth, Jillian would rather be comforted by someone else…specifically Zack, Cara’s brother-in-law. Zack is a veteran of the Iraq War who came back to the family ranch to raise his preteen son after the boy’s mother took off. He’s struggling to re-establish a relationship with his son, and warding off the demons of PTSD, which still haunt him. The last thing he needs is bold, brassy Jillian…but why can’t he keep his hands off her?  

And don’t forget to read the first book in the Love Under the Big Sky Series…

LOVING CARA

SEDUCING LAUREN

EXCERPT: “Okay, plug them in.” I run to the porch and plug in the lights, then run back into the front yard to see them. “Oh, they’re so pretty!” “Thank God they all work,” he says as he tosses the black shoe down to the ground and then moves carefully down to the ladder. “It would be a bitch to have to take them back down.” “I checked them,” I assure him, and when his foot finally lands safely on the snow and he turns to me, I hit him on the arm. “You shouldn’t have done that! You took ten years off my life!” I throw my arms around his torso and squeeze him tightly, then back away. “No, you shouldn’t have been on that ladder. If I catch you on one again, I’ll spank your ass until it glows.” My jaw drops as I gaze up into his frustrated face. For once in my life, I’m speechless. I scowl as I pull myself together and clench my fists. “You wouldn’t dare . . .” “Put yourself in danger again and see if I don’t,” he replies calmly and crosses his arms over his chest. “Did you come here to bully me?” He sighs and pulls his beanie off his head, pushing his fingers through the messy brown strands. I want to sink my fingers in that thick, dark hair. “No. I came because you won’t answer your fucking phone so I can apologize for the other night.” “I don’t want your apology,” I reply and throw the extra lights and staple gun back into the tote and turn away, but he catches my arm and turns me back to him, takes the tote, and sets it down. “I’m going to give it anyway.” His jaw is firm. “I had no right to kiss you like that in the parking lot for everyone to see.” I jerk back, mortified. “You’re apologizing for kissing me?”

   
  About Kristen Proby: New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kristen Proby is the author of the bestselling With Me In Seattle and Love Under the Big Sky series. She has a passion for a good love story and strong, humorous characters with a strong sense of loyalty and family. Her men are the alpha type; fiercely protective and a bit bossy, and her ladies are fun, strong, and not afraid to stand up for themselves. Kristen lives in Montana, where she enjoys coffee, chocolate and sunshine. And naps.      

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Author Goodreads ** FALLING FOR JILLIAN Goodreads

 

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Review: Risking it All by Tessa Bailey

Title: Risking it All
By: Tessa Bailey
Series: Crossing the Line #1
My Copy: Ebook from Author
BookWhisperer's Rating: 

NYPD detective Seraphia Newsom will avenge her brother’s death at any cost. Even if it means insinuating herself into a rough, Brooklyn street gang and going so far undercover, she’s not sure she’ll be able to get out. Every minute she spends in their midst means the clock ticking down on her life, especially when she overhears something that could get her killed.

Bowen Driscol is the heir to a crime enterprise. He never asked for the job, but with his father behind bars, he has no choice but to step in and keep the operation running. But when the NYPD blackmails him with a piece of damning information in exchange for aiding an undercover cop, he finds himself on the other side of the law for the first time in his life.

Bowen knows the danger Sera is in, and keeping her safe trumps saving his own ass. The problem? She can’t know he’s on her side. And there's the matter of the seriously inconvenient heat sparking between them that's incinerating his resistance. But Sera only sees Bowen's past, and men like him are the reason her brother is dead. If they're to get out alive, he'll have to risk exposing the man beneath, and hope to hell he doesn't blow the whole operation in the process.

I get this uncontrolled excitement when Tessa Bailey releases a new book and it is in my hands for my reading pleasure.  It is one of the best feelings ever because I know that I will not be disappointed in her writing, the characters, the action, and the passion loaded into her books.  Risking it All had all of that and a lot more. 

We know Bowen from His Risk to Take and Riskier Business, which centers around Troy and Ruby.  Bowen, being Ruby’s best (and only) childhood friend, protected her while she hustled pool and we were all left with the shocking news at the end of Riskier Business of who Bowen really is to Ruby. And he got his own book!!!! *happy dance time*

Let’s dive in..shall we?

I was very nervous about the character Sera because in the beginning because, you know that she has bitten off more than she could ever chew but when an opportunity presents itself to take her brother’s killer down, Sera jumps on it. 

Bowen (long side note coming: one of the best alpha-male characters that Bailey has ever written.  I officially believe that he is my favorite on so many levels and I want him for my own) is a complex man who longs for the day when he no longer has to watch his back.  After taking over his father’s ‘business’, Bowen has done some things that he is definitely not proud of so when the chance to help Sera opens up, Bowen jumps for it.

Both Bowen and Sera became amazing characters in my eyes.  Their individual stories were heartbreaking however, together, they turn the heartbreak around when they are with each other and it is beautiful. In Sleepless in Seattle terms, they are “MFEO” (Made For Each Other.)

I don’t want to give too much away because I want you to enjoy all the twist and turns like I did but I will say that I am so excited to say that the ending has opened up and entire new world to these characters and I can’t wait to see what it brings.   

Review: It Ain't Me, Babe by Tillie Cole

Title: It Ain't Me, Babe
By: Tillie Cole
My Copy: Amazon.com
BookWhisperer's Rating: 

A fortuitous encounter.

A meeting that should never have happened.

Many years ago, two children from completely different worlds forged a connection, a fateful connection, an unbreakable bond that would change their lives forever…

Salome knows only one way to live—under Prophet David’s rule. In the commune she calls home, Salome knows nothing of life beyond her strict faith, nor of life beyond the Fence—the fence that cages her, keeps her trapped in an endless cycle of misery. A life she believes she is destined to always lead, until a horrific event sets her free.

Fleeing the absolute safety of all she has ever known, Salome is thrust into the world outside, a frightening world full of uncertainty and sin; into the protective arms of a person she believed she would never see again.

River ‘Styx’ Nash knows one thing for certain in life—he was born and bred to wear a cut. Raised in a turbulent world of sex, Harleys, and drugs, Styx, unexpectedly has the heavy burden of the Hades Hangmen gavel thrust upon him, and all at the ripe old age of twenty-six—much to his rivals’ delight.

Haunted by a crushing speech impediment, Styx quickly learns to deal with his haters. Powerful fists, an iron jaw and the skillful use of his treasured German blade has earned him a fearsome reputation as a man not to be messed with in the shadowy world of outlaw MC’s. A reputation that successfully keeps most people far, far away.

Styx has one rule in life—never let anyone get too close. It’s a plan that he has stuck to for years, that is, until a young woman is found injured on his lot… a woman who looks uncannily familiar, a woman who clearly does not belong in his world, yet a woman he feels reluctant to let go…

Just putting a warning out there that this book messes you.  I knew going into this book that it would be something that might slightly damage me and it did more damage than slightly. 

It is also an extremely harsh book.  There are no rainbows and unicorns running around in this book; so warning number two.  Seriously, take this warning; if you can’t handle a harsh life, violence, and just a whole lot of sadness then you might want to rethink this book.  But if you can handle it, this book is totally worth the ride.

When I say that this book was hard-core, I mean that it is hard-core.  Styx has led a hard life and so has Salome (Mae); neither knows of the kind of world that either has lived but their connection is so powerful that it just works.  They both find that it is not easy and the world around doesn’t make it any easier. 

The action, drama, and suspense are what made this book such a great read for me. Plus, reading how Styx was such a hard-core, alpha male, Prez of this biker gang that when he showed his sweet and soft side, it just made him whole.  And I am not going to forget the fact that Mae did not let any of these huge bikers get away with anything when they were around her.  I loved how she put them in their place.

A final note about this book, OH MY GEE, the ending…how could you write an ending like that?  Stuffed with revenge and left where I have to continue this series immediately.