Monday, October 17, 2016

Release Day Blitz ~ Chasing the High by Beth Michele ~ (Reviews, Teasers + Giveaway)

Release Day Blitz ~ Chasing the High by Beth Michele ~ (Reviews, Teasers + Giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ
Title: Chasing the High
Author: Beth Michele
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 17, 2016

BLURB

Left at the altar. Dumped. Abandoned. Jilted.

That only happened in books. Fictional disasters like the kind I wrote. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me, Sam Stone. My life was supposed to be orderly. Organized. Perfect.

But I had no control over my fiancé’s decision to leave me.

What better place to be alone while nursing my broken heart than in paradise, right? Two weeks of sandy beaches and tranquil waters to quietly rethink my life.

That's what I thought anyway—until Drew Mariano came along and shook everything up.  He shookme up.

He made me forget myself.  And that was good.

He made me want to take chances. And that was hard.

He made me feel high on life. And that was amazing.

But I was afraid…the higher I got…

the harder

I was going
   
 to fall…



5 Stars

*copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement*

After being left at the altar, Sam takes off for two weeks to Hawaii. On the plane he sits next Drew, and to say they get off on the wrong foot is an understatement. Once they get to Hawaii they meet again and spend time together. Will this just be an Hawaiian fling, or will they continue once they head back home?


I've never asked for an ARC or any book for that matter without reading the blurb, but this offer didn't really come with one. It just came with the tagline and I wasn't disappointed. This was an amazing read. I loved Drew and Sam. The chemistry and tenderness that they shared was present from the very beginning. I loved the natural progression of their relationship. Even though it takes place over a fairly short time period it was paced very well and felt like a much longer time period than it actually was.



I adored watching Sam and Drew grow, open up to one another and watching them fall in love was sweet and just a little magical. This was a well-written story. The characters were lovable and engaging. The storyline was interesting and it held my attention. This story is filled with sweetness, romance, steamy sex and most of all love.  While this is not the author's first book, it is her first MM story. I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future. Highly recommended!!





4.5* A brilliant MM debut from this author, who's a new one to look out for. 

This is a tale that a fellow reader and reviewer had been blown away by, and so I asked the author for a copy, which she graciously provided for my reading pleasure. It's her first venture into MM, which I wouldn't have known had I not asked her - the writing was 'right now', punchy, without any faux frills, her leads felt real and at the end, I wanted MORE. The only reason that this wasn't a 5* read for me, is that she left these guys at the start of their HEA, not in their full-on HEA. Whilst I realise that that is pretty contemporary and 'keeping it real' of her, and given what I read of the guys, realistic for them, I'm greedy and a massive romantic, so I certainly hope she writes more of them, or at least has a few bonus scenes/outtakes with them on her website at some point.

I liked that she brought the guys together in a believable way, that they had an interesting beginning that didn't look like it might actually end up as a beginning, and that there was realistic angst and logical, believable reasons for their...foibles. Sometimes too many authors can be quick to jump on a bandwagon and go with what's popular (heavy angst, sex bordering on erotica - and copious amounts of it, mental health issues, etc.) but it didn't feel as if BM was doing so. I don't think that she had any kind of pattern or MO in mind - her guys felt real and sort of a little damaged by some of the stuff they'd experienced, but not to the point of wallowing in it or becoming consumed by it, and she wrote the tale she needed to tell, and that they needed. She delivered. Full Stop.

Their romance started on a holiday, and yes, things can be much more intense when time is limited and you're doing the 'what happens in X, stays in X' thing, but BM kept it pretty real in how it faltered a little, how it got back on track, how she made 'them' work, how they continued to be there for each other (to explain too much would Spoiler the tale), how they continued to support each other, how they built on what was kind of a 'not real life' beginning (sorry to be contradictory, but I think you'll get what I mean) and made it real-real. Lasting. 

BM's writing and her guys and where she left them drew me in, made me not want to sleep in order to keep reading, and then made me want to read more of them. I hope she turns Sam and Drew into a series. 





GIVEAWAY

There is a giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway






AUTHOR BIO

Beth Michele is an author of M/F and M/M New Adult and Contemporary Romance. She writes stories with heart, about love, life, and everything in between. She is a Connecticut native who loves spending time with her husband and two children. If you can’t find her, though, she’s probably hiding out with either her laptop or Kindle somewhere quiet, preferably a spot overlooking the ocean. She has an affinity for Twizzlers, Swedish Fish, and makes a damn good hot chocolate.




AUTHOR LINKS



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