The Romance Reviews

The Romance Reviews

Friday 29 August 2014

Still The One




Now that Tony is back out causing mayhem, I've put Windows on a bit of a flash sale which ends in two days time! The book is over three years old and to celebrate, it's available for $2.99 of your hard earned money. If you haven't taken the plunge yet, get on it!

Anniversary Convincing....

Never having felt more frustrated, he put the key back in the ignition, ready to go home. He was fooling himself. There was no chance of him cutting Gina out completely. He was a mug, entirely hooked on the way that silly girl smiled at him and called him “dude.” He hadn’t been able to stop being in love with her for years. In fact, the realization he was in love with Gina had made him physically sick a single month after they’d met.
Nick had been raw from a row with his father, involving phrases such as “Why aren’t you more like your brother?” and “wasting your life.” The only way to drown them had been with beer, then tequila following the huge DJ event on the beach in Brighton.
Annabelle had left in disgust, taking the last train back into London. He would need to apologize to her in the morning. Gina had gone from mildly amused at his inebriation to concerned in an hour. She had forced a coffee down his throat and bought him a litre bottle of water to drink through steadily. And their designated driver, Karl, had to stop every ten minutes for Nick to void his bladder, bouncing off the walls of whatever alleyway was nearest. In the car, he had flopped onto Gina’s mini-skirted lap and gazed goofily up at her. She had trailed her fingers along his scalp, his hair on her bare thighs.
“Dude,” she murmured.
“Wasted,” Karl snorted.
“Can you just concentrate on the road?” Gina flashed. “He’s had a hard day—leave him alone.”
Nick started to laugh uncontrollably. Gina held up a few fingers. “How many?”
“Five,” he guessed. Only to realize what he’d said and laugh harder.
“Jesus,” Karl swore.
“Road, fool!”
“There’s only one of you, G, that’s a shame,” Nick murmured.
“Silly boy,” she admonished, continuing to filter his hair through her fingers.
He turned his face into her soft belly and thought he could stay there forever if need be. What would he do without her? Annabelle had fucked off; his father didn’t think much of him at the moment because he was questioning everything his father did. And Gina, sweet, beautiful, fantastically curved Gina, just accepted him as he was. She didn’t want him to be anyone else, not like that insane Candace or credit-card obsessed Kelly or what was that junkie called, the one who loved prescription drugs? Sam! He loved Gina instead.
He sat up.
“What’s up?”
Bile rushed up his throat. “Karl, stop the car!” 
She pushed him out just before the car fully stopped, and Nick heaved out everything in his stomach, and maybe his feet; he’d never thrown up so much. When he was finished, Gina gave him a bottle of water to rinse out his mouth. He sat down on the floor of the car; a small bottle of fizzy water and a packet of ready-salted crisps were placed in his lap. Eyes red from the force of vomiting, he looked up at Gina. She touched the tips of her fingers to her lips and drew them over his cheek. “I know you.”
“You’re my best friend,” he stated, upset by this fact and the indisputable realization that he would never be able to change it.
“And aren’t you lucky!” she laughed.
He’d waited for his feelings to change, for them to go away, or die down, to disappear altogether. He ended things with Annabelle, but tried to have meaningful relationships and concentrated on making his father happy by doing something useful. So he completed his studies in accountancy, assisting with the family business in a committed manner. Every effort he made was so much more worth it after a simple text message from Gina. He treasured a hug from her more than three or four months of incarceration with the girls he chose to replace her. He was the satellite to her world.
A few years ago, he’d finally resolved to make her see what they could be together. He’d gone to Tiffany & Co. and bought her an engagement ring. She had thrown him a congratulations party at the restaurant/bar she had been working at and introduced him to her new boyfriend, who had shaken his hand warily, having heard a lot about Nick. Gina, with a glowing face, had silently asked for his approval, and he had given it. Devastated, he’d kept the ring. He still had it. If Gina had opened the drawer in his bedside table, she’d have seen it. It sat gathering dust while he waited for the right time. There would never be a right time.

He drove back to her house and forced himself out of the car. Brave it. He would tell her tonight, and end his daily torture with her. He knew how amazing they would be together, if she gave them the chance. As he approached the house, he nearly came to a grinding halt. A man peering through a crack in the front door. Instinct kicked in, and the heel of Nick’s hand connected with the man’s chin, then a sharp chop to his neck left him in a heap on the floor. Nick stepped over him, and for the rest of his days, he would marvel at how he didn’t kill anyone. 


Windows on Sale

Wednesday 27 August 2014

What A Man...


Hello there my Tony the Tiger! He's grrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeat! Two down and three more to go...

Caristo on Amazon

Caristo's Blurb

Tony Caristo was just minding his own business, waiting for his selfish bullet-magnet of a best friend to get out of surgery, when the sexiest nurse he’d ever even imagined walked right up to him, all luscious figured, to give him a right telling off with an Irish-lilted wit. All she missed was a fig leaf and a snake around her shoulders. His interest absolutely piqued, he sets himself up to do something about her, pretty damn quick. Tony isn’t a man given to waiting around for good things to happen to him. And Lydia is all good; every single, five foot eight, double F-cupped inch of her. When Lydia asks his best friend, Nick for a favour, Nick reminds him just what a useful friend he is by letting Tony handle it. And Tony cannot wait to handle all of her… 

Lydia Mills doesn’t have any time for nonsense, especially since she’s looking after her younger brother. She just needs to get him into university, without getting him killed by an ex-boyfriend she thought was well shot of. Fed up of literally trying to kick some sense into the fool, Lydia figures her only option is to have someone else do the kicking. Once she turns to Nick Da Canaveze for help as a last resort, he promptly hands her problem over to Tony Caristo to do the hard work, completely convinced that Lydia will come through it all in one piece As she takes in the eejit’s stealth, intelligence, utterly inappropriate wit and gorgeous bum, Lydia soon understands Nick’s confidence in his friend. Moreover, she really starts to worry what she’ll do without Caristo and his busy hands when the job is done. 

On Caristo's Watch is the second in the Italian Knights Series, showing that behind every criminal mastermind is a woman who will drive him to distraction with a look, a quip and a dress made to start all sorts of trouble. 

**Added extras: interviews with the characters and playlist**

Caristo's Excerpt

Tony knocked on Lydia’s door. He was doing this the polite way, as tomorrow they’d have a secure enough location to accost Kelvin Hammond. Good God, what had she been thinking? Well, she had said it was a Christmas party. Nurses hardly held back on the booze when it was free.
Lydia opened the door with a suspicious look on her face, her hair messily finger combed away from her forehead. There wasn’t a stitch of makeup on her face, but her eyelashes curled naturally toward her brows, her cheekbones glossy and tinged red beneath the mocha skin. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards. She had to be the most naturally beautiful woman he’d ever met, even though she wore a top that was bleached at the elbow and pyjama bottoms he’d seen in a toothpaste advert in the eighties.
“Hi,” she said slowly, confused.
“All right, Lyds?”
Her mouth tightened disapprovingly. “When did you start calling me Lyds?”
“About five minutes after I met you. Can we come in?”
We? Who’s ‘we’?”
Tony nodded toward the guys behind him. “These lot. We’re redoing your windows first and fitting a proper security system.”
He edged his voluptuous new friend to the side as the men gave her a polite nod and they entered one by one with all sorts of equipment. “You can’t! I rent this place!”
“Yeah, I know. But your windows as they are won’t support the system. So we have to change them. And your door too. Let’s just go out.”
“No!” She heaved with horror. “Jonathan’s not here! I have knickers drying on my radiator!”
Tony paused to enjoy that image for a moment. “They won’t care. Come on.”
“I’m wearing pyjama bottoms!”
He sighed. “No, still don’t care. We’re going down the road, for a few hours.”
Grabbing her coat, and not bothering with keys as she’d be getting a whole new set anyway, he hustled her out of the flat and down the stairs.
“Why are you manhandling me?”
“I get moody when I’m hungry. And I’m hungry.”
It was best she knew that sort of thing now, to avoid any awkward growls and conversations. “There’s a cafĂ© around the corner.”
“That little Spanish place? Yes, that’s where we’re going.”
Lydia frowned. “And you know that little Spanish place because?”
“I know everywhere in London that does good food.” She made a dismissive noise in her throat. Tony looked down at her. “What was that sound? It was halfway between a goat in pain and a lion giving birth.”
Her mouth fell open for a moment before she burst out laughing. “You’ve missed your calling on the comedy circuit. Although you would have to grow more of a beard than the designer tickle you’ve got on your jaw. And put on another five stone.”
“Who says I didn’t?” he teased. She shook her head.
“You’re a plonker, but you’re lucky this place now has a liquor licence.”
Tony hooked an arm around her shoulders. “I know having a drink is like a blood transfusion for you.”
She gave him a sharp slap on the arm. “Just because I’m Irish!”

He grinned, holding the door open for her. “I don’t do stereotypes.” 

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Rude Boy




Sir Tony of Caristo is almost ready! In his honour and is only fair, here is the soundtrack to Tony playing "schoolboy" on Lydia Atta Mills' bum:
  1. Akon - Gun Shot
  2. Rihanna - Rude Boy
  3. BoB ft Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You
  4. Missy Elliot - She's A Bxxch
  5. Adele - Turning Tables
  6. Tinie Tempah - Pass Out 
  7. Cee Lo Green - Old Fashioned
  8. Akon - I Won't  
  9. T.I ft Rihanna - Live Your Life 
  10. Mystikal ft Nivea - Danger (Been So Long)
  11. Beyonce - Rule the World (Girls)
  12. The Saturdays - Notorious
  13. Gyptian Major Lazer Edit - Hold You 
  14. DJ Fresh ft Sian Evans - Louder
  15. Goldfrapp - Strict Machine 
  16. Bruno Mars - It Will Rain
  17. Kanye West - Dark Fantasy
  18. Timberland ft She Wants Revenge - Time
  19. Gorillaz - Kids With Guns
  20. Kings of Leon - Radioactive

Sunday 17 August 2014

Early Days



On Caristo's Watch is available for pre-order on Amazon!! Not too long to go now! Here's the blurb...


Tony Caristo was just minding his own business, waiting for his selfish bullet-magnet of a best friend to get out of surgery, when the sexiest nurse he’d ever even imagined walked right up to him, all luscious figured, to give him a right telling off with an Irish-lilted wit. All she missed was a fig leaf and a snake around her shoulders. His interest absolutely piqued, he sets himself up to do something about her, pretty damn quick. Tony isn’t a man given to waiting around for good things to happen to him. And Lydia is all good; every single, five foot eight, double F-cupped inch of her. When Lydia asks his best friend, Nick for a favour, Nick reminds him just what a useful friend he is by letting Tony handle it. And Tony cannot wait to handle all of her… 


Lydia Mills doesn’t have any time for nonsense, especially since she’s looking after her younger brother. She just needs to get him into university, without getting him killed by an ex-boyfriend she thought was well shot of. Fed up of literally trying to kick some sense into the fool, Lydia figures her only option is to have someone else do the kicking. Once she turns to Nick Da Canaveze for help as a last resort, he promptly hands her problem over to Tony Caristo to do the hard work, completely convinced that Lydia will come through it all in one piece As she takes in the eejit’s stealth, intelligence, utterly inappropriate wit and gorgeous bum, Lydia soon understands Nick’s confidence in his friend. Moreover, she really starts to worry what she’ll do without Caristo and his busy hands when the job is done. 



On Caristo's Watch is the second in the Italian Knights Series, showing that behind every criminal mastermind is a woman who will drive him to distraction with a look, a quip and a dress made to start all sorts of trouble. 


**Added extras: interviews with the characters and playlist**


Pre-Order on Amazon

Saturday 16 August 2014

Speak of the Devil...



My Young Adult of a Devil is everywhere else now!

Sympathy on ARE

Sympathy on Amazon

Still need persuading?

A devlish blurb:

Toni has met the perfect boy in...
West who unfortunately happens to have a Devil of a best friend called...
Pierce, dangerously cold and incredibly rude. He sees a world of lies in  Toni straight away. His snap decision to split her and West up brings him right into confrontation with...
Cari, Toni's best friend and guardian. In between the war of words, Cari begins to see beyond Pierce's smart mouth and terrible reputation. Horribly, she starts to feel for him.
As much as Pierce is amused and entertained by his manipulations, he wonders if his energy would be better spent pursing Cari, a girl the complete opposite to his type who makes him remember what morals are.
Not devil like at all.

The thing about the Devil is, he didn't start out evil...


A devilish excerpt:

Pierce put his phone away and before I dug into my steak, he swapped ours over. “This is the medium. That’s the rare.”
       “Good catch.” Whatever appetite I’d had before I turned up tonight had probably taken the long tube back to halls.
       “What about family?”
       “My family?”
       “Yes, Antonia, your family.”
       Don’t get me wrong. I love my name. I really do. I appreciate that when people shorten my name, in my head I’ve turned into a Cockney plumber who has three sugars in his tea, has four kids, and always brings home kippers for the missus. But Pierce full-naming me? Not good. It felt like an insult.
       “It’s just me and my dad. Only child. Dad’s still a publican. He runs about three pubs in the East End. He spoils me.”
       “And your last relationship?”
       Yeah. No. “What about it? You know it’d be easier on you to hire a private investigator.”
       He put down his knife and fork to look at me. Without a sneer or curled lip of disdain, he stared at me. I felt X-rayed. “Are you hiding something? What are you so afraid of me knowing?”
       “Nothing,” I lied. “It’s just the most extraordinary interview I’ve ever had. If you must know, my last relationship ended nine months ago. He was a dick. Anything else you want to know? Favourite food? Music? Single friends? No? Great. Fine.”
       He applauded. “Fantastic performance. Matinee show tomorrow?”
       “I’m a nice person,” I insisted, tears prickling uncomfortably in my eyes.
       Pierce shrugged. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
       “Why not accept it until I prove you wrong? Like normal friends do?”
       He picked up his cigarettes and lit one without hesitation. “You know why people talk about me? Because I see right through them. Every single time. They don’t like it. So it’s easier for them to make up shit about me. And therefore, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, you are not good enough for my friend.”
       Shaking uncontrollably, I tucked a lock of hair behind my hair. How to make a girl feel like crap in ten seconds? “Can you predict the lottery numbers for next week as well?”
       He blew a plume of smoke over my head. “You’re insecure. You keep making jokes to deflect attention from yourself. That top you’re wearing, you keep tugging at it, because you were talked into buying it, and you certainly didn’t choose to wear it tonight. You cling to whoever can support you at the time. That guarantees you being unfaithful. In the interest of you not ruining my friend’s life… Maybe, I don’t know… Leave him alone?”
       I clutched a hand to my chest as Pierce got to his feet, the cigarette perched on the edge of his lip, counting out fifty-pound notes. I felt as if he’d stabbed me. Right in the chest with his poisonous words.
       “Enjoy the food. The company’s not for me.”
       West awoke with a snort. “I’m up!”
       Pierce slapped him on the shoulder. “And I’m off.”
       Without another word to me, he removed the cigarette and walked through the doors of the pub. His eyes boozy and red, West hung an arm around my stiff shoulders. “All right, my sweet? Was he nice to you?” No. He was not nice to me, Weston. “Ah, he paid. Marvellous. See? No problem, right?”
       Big problem, I thought, struggling to avoid West’s groping and compose myself at the same time. Big. Huge. Massive problem.

Sunday 10 August 2014

Shake It Up



Toni, West, Pierce and Cari make love, war and all out vitriol in student London - filled with loans, part time jobs, the bank of Mum and Dad, booze and most of all music:

  1. The Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil Neptunes Remix
  2. Rudimental ft. Ella Eyre Waiting All Night
  3. Amy Winehouse Back To Black
  4. Ed Sheeran Sing
  5. David Guetta ft Akon Sexy Bitch
  6. Gorgon City Ready For Your Love
  7. Sam Smith Money On My Mind
  8. James Blake Limit To Your Love
  9. Nini (Claude Monnet Remix) Sumo, Clarisse Muvemba
  10. Calvin Harris Sweet Nothings
  11. Avicii Levels 
  12. Rita Ora (Switch Remix) I Will Never Let You Down 
  13. Ben Pearce Remix, Le Youth C O O L  
  14. Gorgon City Here For You
  15. Boxed In All Your Love's Gone
  16. RY X Berlin
  17. The xx Sunset
  18. Deadmau5 Raise Your Weapon
  19. SOHN Lessons
  20. Raleigh Ritchie Stronger Than Ever
  21. Leona Lewis Bleeding Love
  22. James Vincent McMorrow Look Out 
  23. Lorde Buzzcut Season 
  24. John Newman Love Me Again
  25. Ed Sheeran Give Me Love