Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Buns, by Alice Clayton {ends 2/25}

The Bryants had owned this property for almost one hundred and fifty years. And like so many other family-run hotels, they'd relied too much on "but this is how it's always been done," which simply doesn't work anymore in this modern age. With Yelp and TripAdvisor helping everyone make their vacation plans, reviews could make or break a place. And they'd had their share of bad reviews in the last few years. Couple that with the recent economic crisis and belt-tightening across the board for vacationers, and they were in danger of losing their beautiful hotel.

Unless ... 

... they had me. Which they did. I rolled my neck, cracked my shoulders a bit, and settled in for the final leg.

I had a hotel to save.

Buns is the third book in Alice Clayton's Hudson Valley series, all of which can be read as standalone novels. I already did reviews on Nuts and Cream of the Crop, so I was looking forward to Buns. The characters from the other books play supporting roles in Buns, as well, and it's fun to see where they're at in their lives.

Official synopsis:

Clara Morgan is living the dream, if you can call rebranding hotels that are desperate for a new life and running any kind of marathon a dream. Which she does. But the career she loves and the endurance races that keep her adrenaline pumping have kept her too busy to put down any roots. Growing up in foster care, she’s never been able to establish traditions of her own, which may be why she’s fascinated by the rituals that generations-old family resorts are known for. She’s especially interested in the Bryant Mountain House, and not just for their secret recipe for the yummy, gooey, can’t-get-enough-of Hot Cross Buns….

Archie Bryant, the man with the Buns, is fifth generation and one-day-owner of the charming yet run-down Bryant Mountain House in Bailey Falls, New York. He’s determined to save his family’s legacy from the wrecking ball the old-fashioned way—by gritting his teeth and doing what needs to be done. There’s no way Archie will be influenced by the new hotel branding expert his father brought in to turn one hundred and fifty years of tradition on its head just to attract a faster, younger, slicker crowd. But when some of Clara’s ideas start bringing in new, paying customers, Archie can’t deny that she may have just given him a shot at keeping his resort open.

It’s sticky, it’s messy, it’s sweet, it’s Buns.
Although I related most to the main heroine of the second book in the series, Cream of the Crop, Clara and Archie's story was definitely fun to read. Clara is a "hotel fixer": her job is to visit hotels, find out what could make them better/more profitable, and suggest fixes to management. When she meets Archie Bryant, however, whose father owns the Bryant Mountain House hotel, she starts falling for him ... and it's probably not the best idea to get involved with the boss's son!

(they do, anyways, of course!)

Archie comes with his own baggage: his wife passed away a few years ago, and was only 32 years old. He hasn't dated anyone since then, but he finds himself falling for Clara as well.

This was a very cute read, as are most of Alice Clayton's books. I really liked that the characters from Nuts and Cream of the Crop—Roxie and Leo, and Natalie and Oscar, as well as some of their friends, too—make cameos in this book, as they all live in Bailey Falls, where the hotel is located. This gives readers of the other novels in the series the chance to "check in" on them and see what they are up to. The book mentions that the main heroine here, Clara, has known Roxie and Natalie for a while, as well.

I'd recommend this novel for anyone who likes a quick and easy read, and/or for people who like romance stories. You don't need to have read the other two in the series to read this one, as they are all standalone novels, for the most part, but they're helpful in knowing things about the secondary characters from the other books that show up here.

4 stars out of 5.

The Hudson Valley series, by Alice Clayton:
#1: Nuts (my review, purchase)
#2: Cream of the Crop (my review, purchase)
#3: Buns (purchase)

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. All Amazon links are affiliate links which means I receive a portion of any sales.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a paperback copy of Buns!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Sunday, February 25th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be contacted via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Paperback copy of Buns, by Alice Clayton

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Nuts, by Alice Clayton {ends 11/20}

Fired.

Fired?

Fired.

F O R. B U T T E R.

I sat in my car outside Mitzi's house, tucked high up into the hills. I'd packed up my knives, plucked my last check from her perfectly manicured gel tips, then trudged to my 1982 Jeep Wagoneer.

Fired. Over butter. I should have known better than to turn my back on cream being whipped. It can go from stiff peaks to buttery squeaks in seconds. 

I've read a few of Alice Clayton's books, and they're always quite funny, with a dash of sauciness thrown in; her characters are always strong women, who enjoy their love lives.

Official synopsis:

From New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton, the first in a brand-new romance series telling the humorously sexy tale of Roxie, a private chef who gets a taste of love—but is it to stay, or to go?

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

This was a predictable novel, but very cute. Roxie had moved out of her small town in order to attend culinary school in California, about as far away from New York as you can get, but her mother now has the chance of a lifetime - to be on The Amazing Race with Roxie's aunt, her sister - and needs Roxie home for the summer to run the diner. Roxie is now a private chef in L.A., but has recently been fired by one of her clients (over whipped cream turning into butter! Ha), so the timing works out perfectly.

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GIVEAWAY: complete set of the Redhead series, by Alice Clayton - ends 11/22

Last month, I reviewed Wallbanger by Alice Clayton, and it's just been announced that Clayton now has a major book deal for three full-length books and one novella.

Her new series, the Cocktail series, will start off with Rusty Nailed, the sequel to Wallbanger, and will be released in June 2014. The next two books in the series, Screwdrivered and Mai Tai'd Up, will be released in September 2014 and December 2014.

The novella, coming out in January 2015, will be the beginning of a brand new Hudson Valley series.

To celebrate this news, I have a complete copy of the Redhead series by the author to give away! I haven't read these, but I've heard they are hilarious, and based on my review of Wallbanger, I wouldn't doubt it.

GIVEAWAY:

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Contest will end on Friday, November 22nd, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified on November 23rd via email. Winner has 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be selected. U.S./Canada only, please.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Quick Pick book review: Cream of the Crop, by Alice Clayton

• Opening lines: "Can you raise the blinds a little bit? The sun is setting; it makes for a nice view," I directed.
  
  "While you reel them in?" Liz teased, letting the soft atfernoon sun up into the conference room.
  
  Forty-seven floors up, you got a helluva nice sunset across the Hudson River. It made the room seem warm and inviting, and with the powerful backdrop of Manhattan behind me, what client would dream of saying no?
• Reason I picked up the book: I'm a fan of Alice Clayton's books, and this is book #2 in the Hudson Valley series; book #1 is called Nuts, and I reviewed that one too. The characters from that book are also recurring characters in this installment.
• And what's this book about?
Manhattan’s It Girl, Natalie Grayson, has it all: she’s a hot exec at a leading advertising firm, known industry-wide for her challenging and edgy campaigns. She’s got a large circle of friends, a family that loves her dearly, and her dance card is always full with handsome eligible bachelors. What else could a modern gal-about-town wish for? The answer, of course, is... cheese.

Natalie’s favorite part of each week is spending Saturday morning at the Union Square Farmer’s Market, where she indulges her love of all things triple cream. Her favorite booth also indulges her love of all things handsome. Oscar Mendoza, owner of the Bailey Falls Creamery and purveyor of the finest artisanal cheeses the Hudson Valley has to offer, is tall, dark, mysterious, and a bit oblivious. Or so she thinks. But that doesn’t stop Natalie from fantasizing about the size of his, ahem, milk can.

Romance is churning, passion is burning, and something incredible is rising to the top. Could it be... love?
• Recommended for: Anyone who likes a fun romance story, with a bit of small-town Americana woven in. 
• Favorite paragraph: Size-eighteen women weren't supposed to show off their legs, which I did. They weren't supposed to show off their cleavage, which I did. Size-eighteen women were supposed to wear trench coats in the winter, long sleeves in the summer, and somebody better cancel Christmas if they wore a dress that showed off some cleavage. Size-eighteen women were supposed to dress like they were apologizing for taking up too much space. Fuck that noise. I took up space. I took up space in a city where space was at a premium, and I never apologized for it. And right now, I knew exactly how much space I was taking up, strutting down Fourteenth Street to the song playing in my head, with a bag full of delicious and already fantasizing about my favorite pastime.
  
  Oscar the Dairy Farmer. 
• Something to know: I LOVED that the main character, Natalie, was a size 18, and that the author mentions it (see above paragraph). Finally a romance novel featuring a curvy girl like myself!
• What I would have changed: Nothing that I can think of.
• Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
• Where can I find this book? Click here to order on Amazon.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. 

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Book Review: Wallbanger

Wallbanger, by Alice Clayton.

Unreal ... More spanking and then the unmistakable sound of a male voice, groaning and sighing. 

I got up, moved the entire bed a few inches away from the wall, and huffed back under the duvet, glaring at the wall the entire time.

I fell asleep that night after swearing I would bang back if I heard one more peep. Or groan. Or spank.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Caroline.

My friend The Romance Bookie highly recommended Wallbanger in her review, and I was excited to randomly receive a copy in the mail a few weeks ago. It ended up being a cute story, although some parts weren't entirely to my liking.

Official synopsis:

Definitely an intriguing cover ... 

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.
-

Caroline and her girlfriends in this book kind of reminded me of the women in Sex and the City - always hanging out and gossiping. I really liked how the author included some other POVs (other than Caroline's) in the novel, as well as texts between many different characters and other conversations. There was one chapter where we get to snoop on their thoughts, but that one went on a little long, in my opinion.

The main male character in this book, Simon, was definitely a "book boyfriend" as well (one you'd like to exist in real life ...), and he and Caroline were great together. I will say that I was surprised to learn at one point that she is 26 (my age) and he's 28 in the novel - she has a great job and fantastic friends and apartment, and I had assumed she was in her early 30s, for some reason.

This novel is good if you're looking for a light, fun read (I'd say "summer read" but it's already October, ha), and it does have my recommendation overall - however, I was hoping it would have been a little better than it actually was.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Book Review: Last Call, by Alice Clayton

This is the beginning of the end of this love story. Where girls are beautiful and boys are handsome and cats are rock stars. Where friendships endure and relationships mature. Skirts are flippy and emotions are trippy and everyone gets a happy ending ... don't they?

This novella is the last book in the Cocktail series by Alice Clayton. I reviewed Wallbanger back in October 2013, and I have Mai Tai'd Up to review but haven't been able to read it yet. The second book, Rusty Nailed, focuses on Simon and Caroline as well (characters in the first book), and the third and forth, Screwdrivered and Mai Tai'd Up, focus on different couples in the same Simon/Caroline realm.

This one, Last Call, wraps up Simon and Caroline's story, but I found that you didn't need to have read Rusty Nailed to enjoy this one, though I do recommend reading Wallbanger to have some sense of their back story.

Official synopsis:

From NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton, known for her “deliciously addictive” (The Book Vixen) novels, this Cocktail series novella reunites readers with Caroline and Simon from the wildly successful Wallbanger.

Simon and Caroline are back for another round of baking, banging, and big life changes. Settling in, but never settling down, Caroline has finally struck a balance between the professional and the personal. As one of the top interior designers in San Francisco, she travels all over Northern California between nook time with Simon.

Perpetual globetrotter Simon has cut his frequent flyer miles in half over the last year, preferring to balance his professional and personal life, as well.

The next step in their lives seems preordained—toasts, veils, and the aisle of rose petals. But when an accident on a photo shoot in Southeast Asia brings Caroline the most terrifying phone call she could ever imagine, she has to ask whether “till death do us part” is a more realistic prospect than faces most couples.

It’s been a grand adventure, and Caroline and Simon wouldn’t go out without the best surprise ending ever. One part sexy, one part laughter, a dash of exotic locales, and one pink nightie, mixed with passion, and you’ve got Last Call. Served with a side of Clive.

In case you're wondering - Clive (in that last sentence) is their cat.

I found this to be a cute and easy read. In Wallbanger, Caroline meets Simon, her next-door neighbor with whom she shares a wall, and whom always seems to have a harem of women showing up at his door. Their meet-cute ends with them (SPOILER) falling in love, and I assume their relationship is explored more in Rusty Nailed.

In Last Call, all of their close friends are either pregnant or getting married, and it leads Caroline to ponder if she and Simon should take that step too. It makes her nervous even thinking about it, but she soon realizes she loves him and doesn't want to lose him.

Even though this series is classified as "erotica," compared to other erotica books I've read it's rather tame in that regard - I'd classify it as maybe PG-13 rated, if it was a movie. So if you're looking to get into the genre but don't want to dive in, so to speak, the Cocktail series would be a good fit.

Last Call will be in stores on January 6, 2015 - click here to preorder. 4 stars out of 5.

The Cocktail Series

• #1: Wallbanger
• #2: Rusty Nailed
• #3: Screwdrivered
• #4: Mai Tai'd Up
• #4.5: Last Call

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this novella to review. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Year in Review: The Best and Worst Books of 2015

2015 is now gone and done, and although I didn't read as many books as I wanted to (57, according to Goodreads), I still managed to read and publish a good amount of reviews this year.

Here's the list sorted by rating and also alphabetical order, as well as an Amazon link if you're thinking of purchasing/reading any books.

* = guest review

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Book Review: The Redhead Plays Her Hand, by Alice Clayton

Review by: Gwendolyn Mulholland

An impromptu dinner party ensued, and after dinner was over, we all ended up on the cushiony chairs in the backyard, Winter in Los Angeles was chilly at nighttime, at least enough that the cashmere throws I brought out were necessary. Snuggled in a large love seat, Jack played with my hair, as we laughed and chatted with our friends. Strings of white lights dotted the fig and plum trees out back, and the potted lemon trees that framed the patio threw off their fragrance into the night. I leaned into Jack's warmth, his breath heady and thick with brandy as he and Holly went back and forth about his shooting schedule. He'd be leaving in a few weeks, but this time was different from when we'd been apart in the past. This time I got to stay here, in my home that I'd worked so hard on and barely gotten to enjoy before heading off to New York. Now I was able to work where I lived, and I relished my surroundings.

This contemporary romance is very coming of age and doesn't leave much to the imagination when it comes to sexual situations. It is a far cry from sappy romances with their hints or innuendos towards what is going on in the bedroom. That said that fact that it was out there made it a little less offensive and able to move past it without feeling sucked into the wording. The book is not all romance but is sprinkled with humor and treads on some serious issues such as Hollywood's obsession with weight, the stress media places on celebrities, and how hurtful people can be from behind a computer screen.

Official Synopsis:
Grace Sheridan is flying high. With scorching passion from her gorgeous Brit superstar Jack Hamilton plus the lead role in a new television dramedy, she could just pinch herself. Then a demand from her show’s directors to drop fifteen pounds brings her back down to earth with a thump. Forced to subsist on air, cucumbers, and boot camp, Grace wonders if the body that brings the newly crowned “Sexiest Man Alive” to his knees is just too booty-licious for Hollywood. Jack, meanwhile, seems overly enamored of the celebrity lifestyle. Forbidden by his publicity-conscious manager to reveal his relationship with Grace, he’s hitting the industry party scene way too hard.

As Grace’s bod incites fiery debate about the message of “thin is in,” Jack’s jealous fans are downing the hate-erade, viciously slamming her curves. Grace longs for Jack’s support, but he’s showing up late and disheveled to her most important moments. With tempers between them flaring, Hollywood’s most talked-about redhead might have more to lose than a few stubborn pounds. She and Jack were clearly made for each other—but will the day ever come when they can walk the red carpet together, hand in hand?

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