BLOG TOUR: ROME by JAY CROWNOVER ~ REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

(banner linked to tour schedule)

 

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the Rome Blog Tour, hosted by Literati Author Services. My stop includes a review of Rome and tour-wide giveaway. You can also find my reviews (and giveaway) of the Marked Men series here.

Series: Marked Men #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 1/7/13
Format: ARC
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars

Cora Lewis is a whole lot of fun, and she knows how to keep her tattooed bad boy friends in line. But all that flash and sass hide the fact that she’s never gotten over the way her first love broke her heart. Now she has a plan to make sure that never happens again: She’s only going to fall in love with someone perfect.

Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He’s stubborn and rigid, he’s bossy and has come back from his final tour of duty fundamentally broken. Rome’s used to filling a role: big brother, doting son, super soldier; and now none of these fit anymore. Now he’s just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes the only color on his bleak horizon.

Perfect isn’t in the cards for these two, but imperfect might just last forever . . .

I have a book hangover, and I have no regrets. I set out to read the first half of Rome before bed, and every intention to follow through. The problem, this book was so great...so incredibly great....that I ended up "one-more-chaptering" and before I knew it, I had a finished book clutched to my chest and it was 3am. Sure, I was exhausted the next morning, all day, but when I have a book that will not let me go, a book that had me crying into my pillow as I read, white-knuckling the whole way through, it's best to not fight it. I was powerless against Rome and I am way okay with that.  

 

Rome surprised me, both the book and the man. Cora surprised me too. Their story surprised me in the very best way. I don't really feel that I had a particular path in mind for them, but I did in a way expect for a linear path for Rome and Cora. Well, I should have known better because their story was far from my presumptions, and I loved the windy and twisty path that led Rome and Cora to their happily ever after. It was sad. It was sweet. It was complicated. It was sexy and romantic.

 

Like the first two books in the series, Rome includes much page time with the entire Marked crew and their significant others. Rule and Shaw definitely played a huge part in Rome; Jet and Ayden were around a fair amount as well. All indications are good for Nash, Rowdy and Asa having wonderful stories to tell in the future, particularly Nash, since his book will be up next. With the lady who appears to have caught his eye and the bomb that's dropped near the end, Nash's book will clearly be heavy and spectacular. I can't even believe that Asa is now a part of the crew. I despised him so much in Jet, but sometimes the most infuriating and surprising characters have the best stories to tell.

 

Needless to say, I loved Rome. I love the Marked Men series. I can't wait to read the remaining books in the series. I am so so happy I gave the Marked Men a chance.

 

 

Favorite Quotes:

  "What did you call me?"
   "Captain No-Fun."
   He let out a chuckle that sounded rusty from lack of use and he shook his head at me."Staff Sergeant No-Fun is more accurate.
   I gaped a little in surprise that a sense of humor actually lurked somewhere under all that muscle and broodiness.
   "I call my dad 'Admiral Ass Hat, he doesn't really think it's funny."
  The scar on his forehead twitched again. "Your dad was in the navy?"
  "Oh yeah. He was totally Popeye."
  "Was he really an admiral?" There was a shade of respect in his tone.
  "Yep, so you can imagine how thrilled he was trying to rein me in when I was younger."
  He chuckled again and this time it didn't sound so much like it hurt him. His eyes glinted at me as he pulled the door open to follow Rule out into the Colorado sunshine.
  "I don't know, Half-Pint, something tells me reining you in is probably a pretty good time."


  "Because I'm freaked out that whatever I say might be the wrong thing. And right now, being with you is the one thing that feels solid and real... You're so full of color, so vibrant you never get lost in all the gray in my head. I don't want to lose that."

  Happiness wasn't something I remembered bright and clear, but this feeling, it was powerful enough that I understood why men went to war over it, fought to the death for it.
 

 

 

The Marked Men Series

 

   

(covers lead to GoodReads)

 

 

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

GIVEAWAY 

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About the author

I'm supposed to share interesting details about myself so that my readers get to know me so here we go in no particular order: I'm an natural redhead even though I haven't seen my real hair color in years, I'm a big fan of tattoos and have a half sleeve on either arm and various other pieces all over the place, I've been in the bar industry since I was in college and it has always offered interesting insight into how men and women interact with each other, I have 3 dogs that are all crazy, I live in Colorado and love the snow, I love music and in all reality wish I could be a rock star not a writer or a bartender but I have zero talent so there is that.

I love to write, love to read and all I'm interested in is a good story with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.

 

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