GUEST POST AND REVIEW: WHEN IT'S RIGHT by JEANETTE GREY

Today I have a review and guest post from Jeanette Grey, author of When It's Right.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: 12/3/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 79
Source: Author
Rating: 4 stars

"He's the last resolution she intends to break. "

Still licking his wounds after a messy breakup, Nate is at loose ends for New Year's Eve and itching for a wild and crazy adventure to jolt him out of his rut. Now if he could only convince his best friend, Cassie, to break away for an impromptu road trip to Times Square.

Fun as it sounds, Cassie is reluctant to accept Nate's invitation. Little does he know, she's made resolutions of her own-resolutions about finally getting over her long-standing crush on him. Telling herself this trip will be the perfect "last hurrah," she packs her bag.

The trip is a fiasco from the outset. A car that won't start, a freak storm that strands them on the side of the road, and a long drive with too much time for true confessions. Cassie's rocks Nate to the core, leaving him wondering if the best thing that ever happened to him has been right in front of him all along.

Warning: Contains two best friends, a secret crush, and a road trip that leads to tow trucks, unexpected hotel-room sharing, epiphanies, sex, and more.

 

The Story Behind When It's Right

 

While I'm often a little gun-shy about writing tropes, this book features my very favorite one: friends to lovers. It's a trope that never feels tired to me, simply because that's how the greatest love story of my own life went. My husband and I were best friends for four years before we finally got our act together, and I don't think I'll ever get sick of writing that moment of awakening when two people who are already close come to realize they can be so much more.

       

I worked as a teacher for three years, but Cassie is the first character I've ever written who is one. She's also the first blonde, and the first heroine with remotely athletic inclinations.

     

Nate's also something of a first, but only in the way that he isn't motivated by a tragic backstory. Rather, he's a fairly well-adjusted guy who just happens to have made a series of fairly terrible decisions when it comes to love.

       

I started writing this story shortly after learning that my husband had gotten an amazing new job—and that we'd have to move from North Carolina to upstate New York. I didn't even really realize what I was doing until much later, but the plot arc of the book evolved into the main characters taking a road trip from North Carolina to New York City. Sometimes the mind works in mysterious (and not-so-mysterious) ways.

 

One of the major turning points of the book centers around a car accident, where a sudden storm sends our intrepid hero and heroine careening off the road. This time I knew exactly what my subconscious was doing—I had walked away basically unharmed from a similar wreck just a few weeks before. My arms were actually shaking as I wrote the scene.


The only person more shocked than I was that I decided to write a New Year's Eve book was my husband. While we've had our fair share of wild and crazy New Year's Eves, recently we've come to find that we prefer spending them quietly, at home, with just the two of us. Then again, maybe that just made it all the more fun to throw my characters into a New Year's Eve that they spend anything but quietly. J

My Review
I adore holiday novellas, particularly those that surround Christmas and New Years. But I especially love the novellas that have so much emotion in such a small space. The novellas filled with beautiful writing and a heartfelt story that has me wishing for more, yet fulfilled. When It's Right is one such novella, and Jeanette Grey has once again won me with her gorgeous, emotion-fueled writing.

When It's Right is the story of two friends, Nate and Cassie, who've never tried to be more. Cassie has always seen Nate as more, even had a crush on him. But she is resigned to the knowledge that he will never feel that way about her. Nate has stumbled from relationship to relationship, but after the last disastrous end, he finally recognizes that something is missing.

A last-minute road trip to Time's Square for New Year's Eve sets Cassie and Nate in motion. But the trip isn't smooth sailing, it is filled with one bad turn after another. The close proximity and the heightened emotions lead Cassie and Nate to the realization that what they've both always wanted is right there in their hand. Will they have the courage to grab the opportunity for love?

When It's Right was by turns funny and sad. It was also reflective. It was sensual and romantic. This was a fulfilling novella, and Jeanette Grey is an extremely gifted writer. If you're looking for a gorgeous holiday novella, please give When It's Right a try.



Favorite Quotes:

  This was right. He held Cassie closer. Because that wasn't all it was like. It was like every other moment he'd had with her over the past five years--all those moments of friendship and companionship and happiness so profound he hadn't even realized their source. All the smiles and laughter. The casual touches and the embrace of one friend wrapping around another. And it was more. So much more.   ~eARC, 43%


  His mouth opened, and there was nothing but this kiss. His kiss. The press of tongue and a glance of teeth. It was wet and sloppy, careless and yet firm. It tasted like letting go and giving in. Like something so wrong and so right.   ~eARC 50%

 

Purchase When It's Right

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Samhain

 

 

 

About the author:

Jeanette Grey started out with degrees in physics and painting, which she dutifully applied to stunted careers in teaching, technical support, and advertising. When none of that panned out, she started writing. In her spare time, Jeanette enjoys making pottery, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and her pet frog. She lives, loves, and writes in upstate New York.

Website  |  Blog  |  Twitter  |   FaceBook

{WICKED WINTER SATURDAYS} REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY ~ TAKE WHAT YOU WANT by JEANETTE GREY

Baby, it's cold outside! Time to snuggle up with a mug of hot chocolate (or a glass of wine!) and fall into a steamy, sexy book.

Wicked Winter Saturdays is a weekly post we started to challenge ourselves to read more steamy books and have a lot of fun. Feel free to join in. (let us know so we can add a link to your post).

The Autumn Review
Sim-Sational Books
Hackaroo's Review
Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Reviews
Insightful Minds Reviews
Taryn @ My Secret Romance

**The books featured on WICKED WINTER SATURDAYS are for adults. If you are under 18 years of age, or do not like smexy books, please stop here. **

 

 

 

 

Series: Stand alone

Genre: New Adult Erotic Romance

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Publication Date: 3/12/13

Format: eARC

Pages: 141

Source: Received from author for review.

She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.

College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.

With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It's a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.

At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.

Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.

Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.

The story of two college students who decide to use Spring Break, a week and a day, to step out of their quiet lives, Take What You Want is a story that turned up the heat and stole my heart.

Guys, I don't even know where to begin with this book! The story totally took me by surprise, getting off to a wicked hot start. I usually prefer to know the characters a little bit before I know them, if you catch my drift. But Grey really made this work. Take What You Want begins with Ellen, who can't afford to go on Spring Break vacation with her friends, picking up Josh in a bar, expecting a one night stand. Josh, realizing that Ellen honestly doesn't know him, doesn't tell her that he goes to school with her, and takes her up on the offer. The two make a surprisingly erotic and emotional connection, and the one night stand becomes a Spring Break fling. Despite her intention to only let go for the break, Ellen finds herself wanting more with Josh. Josh, who's wanted Ellen's attention since Freshman year, doesn't want to let her go. Each realize they have a chance at a forever type of love, but both need to figure out how to tell the truth about who they really are without pushing the other away.

I adored Ellen and Josh, and I love that Take What You Want is told from both points of view.  Both are pre-med students, living a life of responsibility before fun. Ellen is a character with whom a lot of readers can identify. She is quiet, used to blending in among the crowd. She uses Spring Break, and being alone, to step out of her comfort zone. To finally take what she wants. I loved to see her gain more resolve throughout the story and to not sit and wait, but to ask for what she wants of Josh. It was very inspiring, really. And Josh... I adored him. Josh is a lot like Ellen, quiet and studious, but there is a fire in him that stole my heart. The way he sensed Ellen's hesitations and vulnerabilities, and the way he cared for her, made me swoon. I loved Josh's strength, and his resolve to not let Ellen slip away from him.

As for the steam. Let me just say, Jeanette Grey knows how to catch a reader's attention. As I said before, the story begins with a one night stand, which doesn't seem especially romantic. But, the way Grey wrote the scene, exposing exactly why Josh and Ellen want this, and how each is feeling in the moment, it felt anything but cheap or sleazy. It was very erotic and surprisingly emotional. And that's the very best thing I have to say about all of the steamy scenes in Take What You Want, they are both erotic and emotional. Very, very hot, but also beautiful and thoughtful.

Take What You Want was a pleasant surprise for me. Based on the synopsis and a guest post by Grey, I had very high hopes. All my expectations were exceeded. I loved this book. It is the first of Jeanette Grey's I've read, but it will not be the last. This is a story that I intend to re-read again and again and I am jealous of those of you about to read it for the first time.


Favorite Quote:

  But this time, he didn't get dressed. Instead, he sat down beside her, gazing at her with all the admiration he'd held for three long years. It didn't matter which Ellen was looking at him. They were both beautiful. Both amazing and smart, and if anything, the duality between her studiousness and her sensuality only made her all the more attractive to him.  ~ eARC, 21%

 
  He kissed her long and deep, then held her gaze with his, never looking away.
  There beneath the stars, he fell into her, trying to tell her with his body that he knew her. To tell her who he was. That he was hers. Not just for a week and a day. But for as long as she would have him.  ~eARC, 42%
 

Preorder Take What You Want at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Samhain

 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

About the author:

Jeanette Grey started out with degrees in physics and painting, which she dutifully applied to stunted careers in teaching, technical support, and advertising. When none of that panned out, she started writing. Her stories include futuristic romances and erotic contemporaries, and almost all of them include hints of either science or art.

When she isn't writing, Jeanette enjoys making pottery, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and her pet frog. She lives, loves, and writes in upstate New York.

Connect with Jeanette at:
Website  |  Twitter  |   FaceBook

{GUEST POST} JEANETTE GREY, AUTHOR OF TAKE WHAT YOU WANT

 Today I would like to welcome author Jeanette Grey to the blog! Jeanette is the author of the upcoming book, Take What You Want.  I will be posting my review on March 2nd. I asked Jeanette for the story behind Take What You Want, but first, take a look at the book.

Series: Stand alone

Genre: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Publication Date: 3/12/13

She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.

College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.

With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It's a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.

At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.

Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.

Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.

 

The Story behind Take What You Want

-       Take What You Want started based on a random writing prompt, which suggested writing a story about a 'spring fling'. The prompt evoked ideas of sunny getaways in tropical climes. The problem? I've never been able to afford that kind of getaway. In the end, it was lamenting my lack of cool vacations that led me to the concept for this book: what if two people who felt like they were the only people in the world who couldn't go on a trip for spring break ran into each other and decided to make the best of the not-so-great situation, together?

-       While the exact setting of the story is never specified, it's set in a town that's loosely modeled after Binghamton, New York. People who know the area may be able to recognize parts of the SUNY Binghamton campus, as well as several bars, restaurants and diners from in and around downtown Binghamton and Vestal.

-       I tend to make a playlist for each character to help me get into the characters' heads. Ellen's playlist is mostly contemporary indie music with lots of female lead singers and lots of themes about wistfulness and not having things you don't quite know how to ask for—The Weepies, Ingrid Michaelson, Dar Williams, Ellery. Josh's is more 90s alt rock; while there are things he wants but doesn't have, his style is more to sublimate it or get angry about it. Think Nirvana and R.E.M. with a little bit of newer acts like The National and Mumford and Sons mixed in.

-       One of the major arcs in the book has to do with Josh wanting to pursue a different career path from the one his father has picked out for him. This is near and dear to my heart. In my senior year of college, my father and I sat down to have a heart-to-heart about my own change in plans, away from a graduate study in science and toward more creative endeavors. Like Josh, I was scared out of mind. Also like Josh, the conversation did not go anything like I had imagined it would.

-       This is probably the steamiest book I've released to date, but on the first draft it was a little bit less so. It was one of my invaluable critique partners who suggested, to bring the story full circle, it needed one more love scene at the end. And boy, she was right!

-       The original working title for the book was A Week And A Day, because that's how much time Ellen and Josh think they have together at the outset of the story. As the book evolved, it became about something deeper than I'd expected, though. It was all about deciding what you want from love, from life, and from your career, and then putting aside all of the doubt and the external pressure to just go for it. Thus, Take What You Want.

Thanks to Jeanette for sharing the story of Take What You Want.

**Okay. I was already excited about reading Take What You Want, but now I am positively dying to get started!**



Preorder Take What You Want at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Samhain


About the author:

Jeanette Grey started out with degrees in physics and painting, which she dutifully applied to stunted careers in teaching, technical support, and advertising. When none of that panned out, she started writing. Her stories include futuristic romances and erotic contemporaries, and almost all of them include hints of either science or art.

When she isn't writing, Jeanette enjoys making pottery, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and her pet frog. She lives, loves, and writes in upstate New York.

Connect with Jeanette at:
Website  |  Twitter  |   FaceBook