Blog Tour: Paradise City (Paradise #1) by C.J. Duggan

Paradise City (Paradise #1)
by C.J. Duggan
Publisher: Hachette Australia Books
Release Date: April 28th 2015
Genre: New Adult/Young Adult, Chick Lit, Romance, Contemporary

Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

Synopsis:

There's bound to be trouble in Paradise . . .

When her parents decide a change will be good for her, seventeen-year-old Lexie Atkinson never expected they'd send her all the way to Paradise City. Coming from a predictable life of home schooling on a rural Australian property, she's sure that Paradise will be amazing. But when she's thrust into a public school without a friendly face in sight, and forced to share a room with her insipid, hateful cousin Amanda, Lexie's not so sure. 

Hanging out with the self-proclaimed beach bums of the city, sneaking out, late night parties and parking with boys are all things Lexie's never experienced, but all that's about to change. It's new, terrifying . . . and exciting. But when she meets Luke Ballantine, exciting doesn't even come close to describing her new life. Trouble with a capital T, Luke is impulsive, charming and answers to no one. The resident bad-boy leader of the group, he's sexier than any boy Lexie has ever known. 

Amidst the stolen moments of knowing looks and heated touches, Lexie can't help but wonder if Luke is going to be good for her . . . or very, very bad?

I adore C.J. Duggan's books. She knows what readers want and bring to live amazing characters while making us desire to be on the dreamy place she writes about. Paradise City was no exception. It has everything a book written by her always has: sexy boys, a place where everyone would like to live or spend the summer, romance and a moving story.

Paradise City, as other books written by C.J., is what I consider a perfect summer read. The story starts with country girl Lexie. She's dying to be out of her town and what a better place to go than the dreamy city her cousin moved to a couple of years ago. However, not everything in Paradise City is what you would call a dreamy place. Her cousin has changed and seems to hate her, making new friends is more difficult than she expected and the one boy in Paradise City that has trouble written all over him is the only one Lexie can't stop thinking about.

All the characters in this book felt as real as the story. They are moody, funny, rebellious and not thinking clearly when the other sex is around. For example, Amanda. She starts the story as a bitch. She hates her sweet cousin for no apparent reason and behaves like a real witch. However, she ends up being friends with her cousin and confiding in her. Or Lexie, she's the responsible and intelligent one in the story, who always cares about her grades, but when it comes to Luke Ballantine every rational thought she has seems to evaporate and she ends up in some kind of trouble. This is what a teenage romance or a teenage story should be like: with its ups and downs, always keeping the reader invested in the story and enjoying the characters.

Lexie, as you might have guessed by now, is the main character in this new series. She's a sweetheart and you instantly like hear and are dying to see what's she going to do next or what's going to happen to her. You read her point of view the whole story and it's just a shame in some scenes to not truly know what's really happening in Luke's head. However, I think that's one of the aspects the author played with, since some actions catch the reader not expecting what is going to happen next or you start to double think everything, not sure that the intentions in some characters are real.

With a cliffhanger at the end of the story that will leave you breathless and trying to bribe anyone to give you the second book in the story or just repeat Lexie's words in that chapter "Oh no no no no.", Paradise City would captivate you until the very last page. You will want to be in Paradise City, be one of the characters and wish you were seeing hot surfer boys while reading it. I had all my faith in C.J. Duggan's new story and it didn't disappointed me, making me rate Paradise City as the perfect read for this upcoming summer. 

Follow the Paradise City blog tour and don't miss anything!

C.J Duggan is a number one internationally bestselling Australian author of seven independent titles of her popular New Adult Summer series. In addition to her chart-topping indie novels, C.J is set to publish two titles with Hachette, Australia with her brand-new Paradise Series in 2015 (Paradise City and Paradise Road).

C.J lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn't writing books about swoony boys and 90s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos.

The 'Summer Series'

The Boys of Summer (December 2012)

Stan (October 2014)

An Endless Summer (July 2013)

Max (February 2015)

That One Summer (December 2013)

Ringer (March 2014)

Forever Summer (December 2015)

The 'Paradise Series'

Paradise City (April 28th, 2015)

Paradise Road (August 28th, 2015)

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Blogoversary: Interview with Tonya Burrows

Book Addicts!

Today we have one of Anasheh's favorite authors, Tonya Burrows, celebrating our Blogoversary with us. She's the author of hot romance reads like the Wilde Security series and the Hornet series.

And after reading all about her books, I'm definitely giving a try! Go get your fans, ladies, because things can get a little bit hot in here.

SEAL of Honor (HORNET #1)
by Tonya Burrows
Publisher: Entangled Select
Release Date: May 28th 2013

Synopsis:

It’s a good thing Gabe Bristow lives and breathes the Navy SEAL credo, “the only easy day was yesterday,” because today, his life is unrecognizable. When his prestigious career comes to a crashing halt, he’s left with a bum leg and few prospects for employment that don’t include a desk.

That is, until he’s offered the chance to command a private hostage rescue team and free a wealthy American businessman from Colombian paramilitary rebels. It seems like a good deal—until he meets his new team: a drunk Cajun linguist, a boy-genius CIA threat analyst, an FBI negotiator with mob ties, a cowboy medic, and an EOD expert as volatile as the bombs he defuses. Oh, and who could forget the sexy, frustratingly impulsive Audrey Van Amee? She’s determined to help rescue her brother—or drive Gabe crazy. Whichever comes first.

As the death toll rises, Gabe’s team of delinquents must figure out how to work together long enough to save the day. Or, at least, not get themselves killed. Because Gabe’s finally found something worth living for, and God help him if he can’t bring her brother back alive.

Wilde Nights in Paradise (Wilde Security #1)
by Tonya Burrows
Publisher: Entangled: Brazen
Release Date: June 10th 2013

Synopsis:

He’ll guard her body all night long.

Former Marine Jude Wilde’s motto has always been “burn bridges and never look back,” so nobody is more surprised when Wilde Security is hired to protect assistant district attorney Libby Pruitt, the woman he loved and left. Although she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with Jude, they’re forced to fake a relationship for her safety. He can’t ignore the heat still simmering between them, and when her stalker’s threats escalate to attempted murder, he’s left with no choice but to whisk her away to a friend’s safe house in Key West, FL. 

Cooped up in paradise together, Jude begins to chip away at Libby’s resolve to hate him. But even as she gives in to his proximity and her body’s demands for his, she refuses to fall for his charms again. Maybe a torrid affair in the sun is exactly what she needs to get him out of her system. But when her stalker tracks them down, can they escape the steamy Key West night without anyone getting hurt?

No, I didn’t write all of the books last year. I wrote SEAL OF HONOR in the summer of 2011, sold it in the spring of 2012, and then it released in 2013. During that three year period, I wrote two more manuscripts that haven’t been published. I wrote WILDE NIGHTS IN PARADISE in early 2013, WILDE FOR HER over the summer, and then started work on my upcoming release HONOR RECLAIMED last fall.

It’s been a fun year. I’ve spent my entire life wanting to be a published author and then after I finally signed my first contract, it was another year before SEAL OF HONOR released—so the whole journey’s been a lot of hurry up and wait. Then to have three books come out in a span of six months, it was crazy. And awesome. So awesome. I still get a kick out of typing my name into Amazon and seeing my books pop up. I don’t think that will ever get old!

I’ve always been fascinated by the military and even flirted with the idea of joining the Army right out of high school, but ultimately decided it wasn’t the path for me.

Even so, I never saw myself writing about military men. I used to write mysteries when I was younger—so I had lots of homicide detectives in my stories—but then graduated into romantic suspense as I grew up. I loved Iris Johansen’s books, so many of my early heroes were mercenaries who just happened to have some type of military training in their backgrounds. When I tried my hand with the paranormal genre in the mid-2000s, that thread of military stayed in my work and I created a team of special ops psychics, but after several failed attempts to get the first book in that series published, I again shifted back to pure romantic suspense. At the time, I was listening to Susan Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series during my long commutes to school and back and I thought, “Hey, I can do that.” So I went home and started thinking up my own SEAL team, which eventually turned into HORNET. And the rest is history!

Yes! In HONOR RECLAIMED, you will learn a few new things about one of the Wilde brothers and meet a character who will (hopefully) lead off another series.

I’ll be working on the last three Wilde Security books, as well as the next HORNET book. I’m also in the planning stages of a top secret new series. ;)

Wow. This is a tough question. Kind of like asking a mother to pick her favorite child!

I loved writing about all of them for different reasons. Gabe from SEAL OF HONOR was my “first born”, so he’ll always have a special place in my heart. Jude from WILDE NIGHTS IN PARADISE was just a complete blast to write and he also surprised me with how deeply wounded he really was. Cam from WILDE FOR HER was just an all-around good guy, so I couldn’t help not falling hard for him. And Seth—God, he just breaks my heart, so I loved giving him his happily ever after in HONOR RECLAIMED.

J.R. Ward—I CANNOT WAIT for The King!

Nora Roberts/ J.D. Robb—she was my first romance novel and I’ll always be a fan.

Gena Showalter and Larissa Ione—what can I say? I love me some hot alpha demons.

Kevin Hearne--adore his Iron Druid books

John Sandrord--been a huge fan for years and will buy anything he writes.

And in romantic suspense, I love Suzanne Brockmann, Cindy Gerard, and Roxanne St. Claire.

I love, love, LOVE to travel so I look at setting research as a way to sate my wanderlust. I tend to choose locations that interest me, that have an interesting history or culture. I try to showcase each setting's beauty as well as its ugliness.

From my books…? Hmm. I think I’d trade places with Libby from WILDE NIGHTS IN PARADISE. Yeah, Jude broke her heart but he did it with the best intentions and I mean, he carried her ring around with him for 8 years. How could you not want a guy who loved you THAT MUCH? Plus, he’s funny. I have a thing for funny men.

From another author’s book? Oh, I’d trade places with Bella from J.R. Ward’s LOVER AWAKENED in a heartbeat. A. Heartbeat. Zsadist is mine!

Hah! If I’m anywhere but at my desk, no. If I try to sit on the couch to do some editing, all three of them are right there in my face demanding attention.

I am planning another series, but it’s all iffy at the moment so I’d rather keep it close to the chest for now!

Writing has always been my one true love. I wrote my first novel-length story in 8th grade and haven't put down my pen since. I received a B.A. in creative writing from SUNY Oswego and I'm now working on a MFA in popular fiction at Seton Hill University.

When I'm not writing, I spend my time reading, painting (badly), exploring new places, and enjoying time with my family. Give me a good horror movie over a chick flick any day. (And, let's be honest, I'll take a bad horror movie too!) I'm a geek at heart and pledge my avid TV fandom to Supernatural and Doctor Who. I'm also a big fan of The Voice. What can I say? Guilty pleasure.​​

I share my life with two dogs and a ginormous cat. I'm from a small town in Western New York, but I suffer from a bad case of wanderlust and usually end up moving someplace new every few years. Luckily, my animals are all excellent travel buddies.

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