Welcome to my weekly meme, Top Play Thursdays!  Every Thursday, I’ll list the Top 5 music plays from my iPod, for the previous week.  I love music, almost as much as books, and would love to share what I’m listening to with you!  I’d love to hear what you’re listening to – make sure to leave a comment and tell me.  Like books, I’m always looking for a new music fix…

Whose ready for Fast & Furious 6?!?!?! I absolutely LOVE this movie franchise and I think that it just keeps getting better & better with each release. It releases in theaters tomorrow, but the soundtrack released on 5/21 and here are my most loved tracks from it.

5. Roll It Up by Crystal Method (Track #9)

4. Bada Bing by Benny Banks (Track #6)

3. Ball by T.I. ft. Lil Wayne (Track #2)

2. We Own It by 2 Chainz ft. Wiz Khalifa (Track #1)

1. Rest Of My Life by Ludacris ft. Usher & David Guetta (Track #12)

 
Trophy Husband by Lauren Blakely was a fun read. The characters were quirkie in a sexy way, creative plot, and excellent dialogue.

McKenna Bell is a successful , beautiful twenty seven year old woman. She has created a successful fashion blog that has gone onto an internet show. Her career is sky rocketing but her personal life is in the pits. She was dumped the day before her wedding. Her fiancé went to Vegas for his bachelor party and ended up with another bride. The other bride is a young, beautiful, perky twenty one year old. She is your typical trophy wife.

One year later McKenna is still feeling the hurt and anger. She runs into her ex with his new wife in her favorite restaurant. They drop the bomb that they now have a baby girl, which they named the name she chose for her children. She is steaming. Not only did she get dumped, they stole her dreams! It’s time to move on, take control of her life, take control of her anger, and get what she wants out of life. A husband.

McKenna and her girlfriends devise a plan for her to find the perfect trophy husband. They create a list of requirements of what the perfect trophy husband must be. He must be under the age of twenty three, he must be extremely hot, he must be built, he must be perfect eye and arm candy, and he must be willing to be a kept man. Hey….if men can do this…than so can a woman. McKenna sets out on her quest. She is not only doing it for herself but for all women.

While working on her quest, she meets the dreamy Chris McCormick. He is drooly surfer boy hot! Not only is he hot, not only does he dress extremely cool, not only does he have muscles, he is extremely smart and witty. They have a lot of things in common and he is just as successful as she is. He is not trophy husband material …he is so much more.

McKenna convinces Chris to enter her Trophy Husband contest knowing he is not Trophy Husband material. Chris enters the contest knowing he is not Trophy Husband material….but he knows he is Trophy
Boyfriend material and will win McKenna at all costs. But will McKenna let Chris win or will she let the cause for all womanhood win? What is more important, true love or equal statis for all women?

Read the book….you will love it!

Thank you Lorelei James for giving readers a glimpse into the lives of her characters in the Rough Riders series. This is a fabulous series full of hot bad boy cowboys and their women. They are extremely erotic and can melt your heart.

This book is not a standalone book. You need to read the series. Each individual story is the continuation of their happily ever afters and the road their lives are on now.

King Of Hearts – Cam McKay’s story (Shoulda Been A Cowboy) and how he still has to deal with his demons.

Rough Road- Cassie West, Trevor Glanzer, and Edgard Mancuso’s story (Rough, Raw, And Ready) . How their unconventional relationship and family dynamics effect
their children. How they deal with their sexuality.

All Knocked Up- Keeley McKay Donovan and Jack Donovan’s story (All Jacked Up). They are now married and baby is on the way. Keeley was not easy before…just wait till she’s knocked up!

If you are fans of the Rough Rider Series I highly recommend this book. If you have not read the Rough Rider series….READ THEM !
 

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Thank you Catherine for agreeing to an interview with me here at Hesperia Loves Books! We are thrilled for this opportunity for our followers to get to know you, and your work better.

I’m really excited about the chance to read your Not Quite series, it sounds amazing! Can you share with my followers a little about the series and the idea behind its creation?

Thanks for having me!

Well, for Not Quite Dating I wanted a normal everyday struggling single mom, who puts her kid first, to find love when and where she least expects it. As for Not Quite Mine, well, that’s easy. The characters from the first book demanded a story of their own. That happens a lot with me!

Not Quite Mine, follows Katie & Dean’s romance. What surprised you the most, about them, while writing their story?

I knew Katie was a deep woman…though on the surface she’s as shallow as they come. So many things have shaped her personality in her life. I think that surprised me.

Katie & Dean have a second chance at romance in Not Quite Mine (which is a subject I love BTW). Do you find it easier, or more difficult, to breath life into a couple who has already shared a history together?

Good question.

I’m not sure it’s harder. It’s kind of like writing two books in one. The reader has to be brought up to date on the history of the couple. So you get to see their first kiss of their first time around, and the first kiss of their second time around. And that was fun. I look forward to writing another story with a similar theme.

Some characters tend to have a louder voice than others. Were there any characters from this book, or series, who may have started out as minor or secondary, who screamed to become more?

Funny… yes. I always knew Monica would get a book (Not Quite Enough, October 2013) but the character that stood out to me was the PI, which I might spin into a different kind of book all together. I don’t know, yet.

Not Quite Mine is book 2 in the Not Quite series, how many books are planned for the series?

I’ve contracted three…but am considering a couple more. So stay tuned!

For my followers who want to read more of your work, where would you suggest they start?

I’m a series writer. I love writing series books and I think you get the most out of series books when you start with book one. Wife by Wednesday is the first book in my Weekday Bride series. Binding Vows is the first book in my time travel Highlander series. You can see all the books, in order, at my website. Hope that helps!

I’m an avid reader who would love to, one day, write a book. Did you always know you wanted to write and what made you decide to take the plunge and make your ‘one day’ a reality?

I always had stories running in my head, but didn’t have this all-powerful dream to be a huge writer. An injury made me leave my day job as an ER RN, and I found myself with plenty of time to write. The rest is history.

I am a mother of 3 with a full-time job & a 2nd full time job blogging. The only way to get ‘ME’ time is by satisfying my healthy reading appetite. How do you successfully juggle work, family and still get “Catherine” time?

Writing is my day job, now at least. And my boys are 17 and 14, so they’re old enough to use the microwave, and one even drives. *sigh* So time got easier. I think in life you ‘make’ time for what is important to you. I know full time moms who write full time. And I know full time lawyers, nurses, business professionals, etc. who write. All of which have families. So again, it’s all in what you ‘make’ happen, even if it’s just a few words/pages a day.

What book is currently on your e-reader/nightstand waiting to be read?

All of them. I’ve been on a deadline and I haven’t had time to crack the spine/open my Kindle in forever! But soon…oh, so soon.

What is next for you? Any upcoming releases that you’d like to tell us about?

Fiancé by Friday is coming August 2013 and then Not Quite Enough is coming October 2013, and another time travel in there at some point. So I’m busy. My fans know I crack out 3-4 books a year.

 

 
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, but after graduating high school, she moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned novels Wife by Wednesday, Married by Monday, and Not Quite Dating. Bybee lives with her husband and two teenage sons in Southern California.

 
First off let me say that I am a huge fan of Kendall Ryan. She is a gifted writer and delivers a good read.

Resisting Her was a sweet, fluffy type of romance. The characters were okay. They didn’t have a lot of fire, backbone, and personality that readers want. The plot was good but the book didn’t quite get into play.

There was a sweet romance that developed between the characters of Cole and Savannah. There was quite a bit of age difference between the two. Savannah is nineteen, at times she seemed like a child and then other times more mature than most forty year old women. It just didn’t gel. She had no backbone and really didn’t have an individual personality. Cole didn’t quite make the Alpha hero list. He was too laid back in most scenes or too accommodating because of his past experiences. He was the type of guy who wanted to fix and take care of women who had issues.

The book gave the couple their happily ever after but left the readers wanting more.

 
Armed And Dangerous is a novella. It is the prequel to the Sugarland Blues series. It is the continuation of the previous series by Jo Davis, The Firefighters of Station 5 (Sugarland Firefighters).

Jo Davis is one of the queens of writing romantic suspense. She writes a fast pace, edgy, gripping story. She has readers on the edge of their seats. At the same time she writes an intense and erotic romance. Armed And Dangerous is no different. It meets all the excellent standards that Jo Davis met with her Firefighters of Station 5.

We first meet Shane Ford in the Firefighter series. He is a homicide detective. He is also the twin brother to one of the firefighters girlfriend. He is friend to all of the firefighters and has helped them through their troubled lives. The fire chief was being stalked by a terrorist and Shane saved the day. He also got shot and obtained some serious injuries.

Armed And Dangerous picks up where the last book has left off. Shane has just returned to work after recuperating from gun shot injuries. He is a bit apprehensive and a little bit intimidated by his work. He is given the opportunity to work a missing persons case undercover with Detective Daisy Callahan. Although he is a homicide detective, this is a good way to ease back into the stressful line of police work. A missing person case should be easy compared to homicide cases. When the case turns deadly, the victims are all members of a prestigious country club, members of a secret sex club, Shane and Daisy must pose as a couple joining the secret sex club. As the mystery unravels Shane and Daisy find themselves wildly attracted to one another. But Shane is not one to settle with one woman and Daisy is not one to take sloppy seconds to anything. They decide their friendship and co-worker relationship is too valuable to lose.

Jo Davis delivered a gritty, suspenseful story while developing extreme sexual tension between Shane and Daisy. The full novel, Serve And Protect, will be out on May 7th, 2013. Shane and Daisy have some sexy adventures ahead.

This week I’m sitting in my chair bouncing because I am SOOOOO excited for the release of Thirty Seconds To Mars new album, Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams, on Tuesday May 21st!!! I am a HUGE fan of 30STM and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on their new music. Here is a preview for some of the songs from the album…

3. Conquistador

2. The Race

1. Up In The Air

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Aspiring indie author who just released Unbeautifully Loved, the first book in the Unbeautiful Life series.

I’m 100% Canadian and I’m a single mom to the best little boy a mom could ask for. Throughout the winter you can find me doing what almost all Canadians do, cheering on my favorite hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers.

I love reading and I love writing, it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with myself. I started out with fan fiction when I was a teenager and then thought what the heck I’m going to try writing a book.