The Book Voyagers: August 2017

Hello, good morning, good afternoon. Every day I find new books to read. I either TBR them or put them in my wishlist. I love to tell my followers on Twitter about them because I know they would find them interesting too. But sometimes I don't say anything because there are too many? So I'd like for this blog posts to be about them, about the books I find out. Mainly they have a theme to it (?) if you could call it that, so I'd pile them up and write a list with them.

One of my favorite tropes in books is foodie. This means that food participates in the book in some sort of way. It can be that the main characters works in the food business as a baker, chef or food TV producer, or they are owners of restaurants, etc.

Team Phison is a book I recently read and LOVED. It's a novella of two guys meeting each other via a videogame and then developing something more.

For 55-year-old Phil Hutton, finding a new boyfriend is tough, especially since he’s still hurting from his ex leaving him for a younger man. Online dating has been a soul-crushing experience for the restaurant owner. Too many meat-haters interested in microbreweries or something called geocaching. His matches in the multiplayer for his favorite video game have been equally sucky too.

One night, he encounters a newbie who is so helpless, Phil can’t help showing him the ropes. It doesn’t take long for Phil to become interested in his enthusiastic teammate. 28-year-old Tyson Falls from Georgia loves working as a server in a rinky pizza joint and sees the best in everything. As Phil’s online dating matches get worse and his in-game matches with Tyson get better, he finds himself wanting to pursue the easygoing chatterbox with a thick, sexy drawl.

But Phil can’t get past the fear that Tyson couldn't possibly want a fossil like him. If his brain doesn’t stop being so damn insecure, it might be game over for his heart.

Amazon | Kobo | Smashwords | B&N

I haven't read A Pinch of Salt, but the synopsis caught me and I put it in my wishlist ASAP. It sounds like my kind of book and I'm ready to tackle it one day. Three sisters run a catering business, but Millie feels like something is missing still, then single dad Jackson walks through the door.

For the past year, talented chef Millie has been consumed with running her new catering business with her sisters, Dru and Tasha. It isn't until Jackson walks through their door that she realizes something may be missing in the recipe of her life.

For the past year, Jackson has been dealing with the fallout of his wife's abandonment. He's had to learn how to be a single father to their eight-year-old daughter, and will do anything to fill the void her mother left. It isn't until he commissions Millie for his daughter's birthday party that he realizes he's forgotten that he's not only a father, but a man.

They both think they're content in their lives, but sometimes the right amount of spice can turn an okay dish into a magnificent one. A Pinch of Salt may be all that's needed to bring Millie and Jackson the flavor they've been missing.

Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N

Short Soup has been on my TBR for a while. One of these day I need to buy and read it. It just sounds really cute and childhood friends trope is one of my favorites too.

A story about best friends, childhood dreams, and the healing power of Chinese food…

Toni Lau and Dion Chan were connected from birth — first via their parents’ jointly-owned restaurant, then via their bone-deep friendship. But children grow up, and Toni leaves their sleepy hometown looking for more than it can offer.

Now Toni is back, raw with the knowledge that not all childhood dreams come true. Dion is on the brink of realising that both his own ambitions and his childhood friend have the power to derail all of his hard work. But loving Toni — and winning her love in return — has always been on his wish list. Can Dion really put her on the back burner while frying up his chef dreams? Or is it possible that together they can come up with a recipe for happiness?

Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N

I absolutely adored North to You, the book before this one. But do not worry, each book is a standalone! We actually get to meet Bryn in book one and she's the best. Now she gets her very own book. You can get the first book here.

When an entrepreneur and an Army reservist end up in their own reality show fauxmance, they have to decide whether their love exists just for the cameras...or if it’s for real in this warmhearted romance, perfect for foodies and wine lovers!

Bryn Aquino, the former manager of a Filipino restaurant, knows the value of hard work. With a shiny new MBA in tow and an investor, she’s ready to start her own business: a culinary retreat where visitors can relax, cook, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Dubbed Paraiso Retreats, she leases the childhood home of army reservist Mitchell Dunford—who returned from Afghanistan to revive his family’s vineyard—but finds herself in a bind when her investor pulls out of the business.

When the retreat catches an internet live stream producer’s eye through social media channels, Bryn is offered the opportunity of a lifetime—to document her journey in exchange for a hefty paycheck. Excited, Bryn happily agrees to the arrangement...only to find out that she’s going to have to fake an onscreen romance with her indifferent landlord in order to keep her audience interested.

As Mitchell and Bryn put on a show for the cameras, they find their romance isn’t hard to fake. They’ve got more in common under their bluster, banter, and doubts. As their relationship heats up and the cameras keep rolling, the line between show and reality blurs. And when the pressures of family, business, and the audience stack against them, will their romance survive internet stardom? Or was it just for show?

Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N

Legs is the one-night-stand-finding-out-they-are-competition-next-day kind of book. Which sounds fantastic, sign ME UP!

Running into your one-night stand is a special kind of awkward. Competing against him in a wine tasting contest is delicious torment…

On Rachel’s twenty-seventh birthday, she wishes to finally find a rewarding job. What she doesn’t wish is to drink a boatload of wine, sleep with a tattooed bad boy, and drunk email her boss in one glorious, career-ending move. But the fiasco pushes her to pursue a career inspired by her late father’s love of wine: sommelier.

Unfortunately, she’s competing against her infuriating one-night stand, a man as intoxicating as a Pinot Noir.

Two years ago, Jimmy was set to inherit his family winery. Then it got ripped from his grasp. To close that dark chapter of his life, he plans to win a local sommelier contest and use the press to expose his family’s tainted wines.

Jimmy loves studying the streaks of alcohol that cling to a wineglass, known as the wine’s “legs,” but other shapely legs are stealing his focus. Tantalizing legs. Legs that had wrapped around his waist for one wild night. Jimmy, sadly, has a weakness for legs.

He also hates to lose.

Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N

Support authors of color and get their books. Welcome to Mistywood Lane sounds fab and I just want to eat it all, plus the cover looks super cute... and super delicious? Yeeees.

Plan A: Get engaged by year’s end. Book ballroom at the Whittington Hotel for dream wedding and reception.

Cupcake baker Reese Sommers thinks she’s met Mr. Right, but the night he's supposed to pop the question, his enraged fiancée pops up instead.

Plan B: Take time to heal broken heart. No men! Focus on family, friends, feline, finances, and franchises. Take the Sweet Spot Bakery-Coffee Shop to next level.

The next day an incredibly handsome and charming stranger moves to Mistywood Lane. Gabriel Cameron buys the house next door to Reese. Their sizzling chemistry requires revising her list.

Plan C: Family, friends, feline, finances, franchises...and a fling. Hmmm, a little no-strings fun with Mr. Right Next Door? Just the sweet distraction needed. No falling in love, only "in like."

But no matter what plans get hatched, life happens. Gabriel has a plan D. Will Reese take another chance on happily ever after and open her heart?

Amazon | B&N

Taste on my Tongue is a recent release and the blurb caught my attention. I hope I get to read it soon because I love cooking competitions as you already know by the other book in this list that also holds a competition.

Almost pop-star Landon Patton has just turned a corner on the worst two years of his life: dropped by his label and dumped by his ungrateful ex-boyfriend. However, his new agent's brilliant plan for Landon's superstardom doesn’t have anything to do with his music – it’s called Kitchen Wars, and it’s the hottest new reality show on TV.

Landon wishes he could have nothing to do with it.

Since the first morning he mixed flour and water, Quentin Maxwell knew he wanted to be a baker. After becoming the pastry chef at a popular LA bakery, anyone else might be satisfied. But Quen wants to call his own shots. Going on Kitchen Wars to win the money for his own bakery seems like a huge risk, but maybe it's worth it.

They’re an unlikely pair. Landon can’t even figure out how to turn an oven on, while Quentin makes his living with one. But with each passing week on Kitchen Wars, they discover what a great team they make – on set, off set, and between the sheets.

Winning should be everything, but what happens when the tastiest pairing is their own?

Amazon | B&N

Found out about A Taste of Honey via Twitter. I saw it being RT to my timeline and I was ON. It's a foodie romance but also historical romance! The hero is a baker. Like what more do you want? (Pre-order it for $0.99!)

Fire and ice cream...

Robert Moon risked everything, including his father’s hardwon legacy, to open his beloved Honey Moon Confectionery on the busiest street in Lively St. Lemeston. Now he’s facing bankruptcy and debtor’s prison.

When a huge catering order comes in, he agrees to close the sweet-shop for a week to fill it. There’s only one problem: his apprentice is out of town, so his beautiful shop-girl Betsy Piper must help Robert in the kitchen.

Betsy’s spent the last year trying to make her single-minded boss look up from his pastries and notice that she would be the perfect wife. Now the two of them are alone in a kitchen full of sweet things. With just one week to get him to fall in love with her, she’d better get this seduction started...

She soon discovers that Robert brings the same meticulous, eager-to-please attitude to lovemaking that he does to baking, but can kisses—no matter how sweet—compete with the Honey Moon in his heart?

Amazon | iBooks

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Hello my beautiful people! I'm finally writing a blog post after 1717344 years later. I am on a post slump and I hope this one makes me want to write more this month or next month. I wanted to do this one because I find that many people say that there aren't a lot of book on Kindle Unlimited. But when I do check out books I want to buy/read I always see them on KU and I'm like "Should I get KU?"

I hope this list helps someone get some pretty amazing books, or is something that will help people decide if to get KU or not. Thank you!

1. Graveyard Sparrow by Kayla Bashe
Anthea Garlant, a young witch and academic ostracized from polite society for traveling the world without a chaperone. She devises magical accommodations to protect Katriona from the side effects of her abilities- but as she grows more and more attached to the other woman, her professional façade begins to slip.

2. Noble Love by Té Russ

Isaiah Noble has returned home to Sweet Rapids, Nevada to help his family business. When he walks in to Tessa Everett's bakery, he finds more than her desserts irresistible.

3. Out of Focus by L.A. Witt

For the last twelve years, Ryan “Angel” Morgan and Dante James have been partners in every sense of the word. They’re lovers, they run a successful photography business together, and couldn’t be happier. The only problem? They’re both dominants who crave submission. Solution? Bring in submissives for sizzling hot threeway action.

4. To Charm a Billionaire + To Tempt a Billionaire by Michelle Monkou

Billionaire brothers find their other halves in rich businesswoman. Second book has Persian representation.

5. Playlist series by Jay E. Tria

About a Filipino band and the romances they have. First book is about Jill and her breakup with one of the band's member. She gets over it with the help of her friend, Shinta, a Japanese celebrity.

6. The Paths We Choose by M. Hollis

Ever since she left her parents’ house to gain her freedom, she decided to fully own her autonomy. But an unexpected visit from her little brother may change the path she chooses to follow. Add to that a casual fling with the bright architect Mayte González, and Lily’s summer is turning out more interesting than she expected.

7. Revolutionary Hearts by Pema Donyo

Parineeta Singh has always known her purpose in life: to help exact revenge on the invading British and free India. She becomes a maid for General Carton in order to supply information to her brother's Indian revolutionary group. But when her employer is exposed as an American spy, she agrees to help him escape the British Raj. She did not agree to lose her heart.

8. Acute Reactions by Ruby Lang

The man with allergies never gets the girl, at least according to the movies - and Portland restaurateur Ian Zamora wants to be the guy who gets the girl. So to rid himself of the sensitivities brought on by his sometimes-girlfriend's cat, he makes an appointment with allergist Petra Lale. But he suddenly finds himself acutely attracted to the very woman who is supposed to be helping him take care of his problem.

9. Bucket List to Love by CP Santi

When Aya Contreras goes to study to Tokyo, she is assigned a tutor, Ryohei Mori. They don't get along at first but slowly their relationship starts to happen and develops into something more.

10. Between a Rock and a Hot Mess by Phyllis Bourne

After years on the sidelines at weddings, the head of Sinclair Construction now sits home alone on what used to be girls night. Enter the perfect solution - an interactive app where the star of Hot Mess dishes style, beauty and relationship advice guaranteed to transform any woman into a man magnet.

11. Between a Honeymoon and a Hot Mess by Phyllis Bourne

After catching her fiancé cheating, all Hope wants is to get through her sister's Las Vegas nuptials and then return home to cancel her own wedding. But champagne and too many martinis screw up the straitlaced Sinclair sister's best-laid plans. She wakes up the next day with a hangover, a ring on her finger, and in the bed of a man from her past.

12. Higher Love by Alexandria House

Popular travel blogger, Greer Kennedy, is living the good life with a successful career and equally as successful fiancé until one phone call from a friend opens her eyes to the truth of her relationship. Derek Hill is dealing with some serious relationship problems as well. When their paths cross, they mutually, but unofficially, decide to share a night—or three or four—of anonymous pleasure. Will they end up experiencing much more than either of them bargained for?

13. Hearts On Ice by Janae Keyes
She's America's Ice Princess. He's Hockey's Bad Boy.

14. Author duo, GL Tomas, has various of their novels on KU: The Unforgettables, F*THS, Same Page, Lesson That Taught Love, and the sequels to some of these too.

15. Wild by Hannah Moskowitz
Zack Ramos is training for two things: being a parent to his twelve-year-old sister once his mother's early-onset Alzheimer's progresses too far, and running a one hundred mile race through the mountains of Tennessee. His support system is longtime girlfriend Jordan Jonas, who's sweet, sarcastic, and entirely virtual. They have never met in person. Because Jordan, it turns out, was still waiting for the right time to tell him that she's Deaf.

16. Beastly Desires by Nikki Winter

After watching her father murdered before a significant portion of her pride was wiped out by a merciless rogue lion, she soon finds her terror transforming into cold, unerring determination to survive. Not just for herself but for the cub who means everything to her.

17. In Vogue by Lucia Laurent

King of New York fashion and editor-in-chief of the prestigious Couture magazine, Miles Brodeur loves his demanding job and a routine that means he always knows what’s coming next.Alexander Mackenzie is a former model turned magazine editor who is just learning about the politics that exist at the intersection of high fashion and publishing. He’s always dreamt of turning Miles’ head and one night, at a glamorous party, his fantasy becomes reality.

18. The Queen's Game by Carla de Guzman
When her father, the King, dies, Nina is forced to return home after many years away. She is next in line for the throne and her Aunt Delia, the regent, because of her party-girl status, tells Nina she has to fake date quiet and calm Prince Felipe.

19. Second Round by Melanie Ting

When her ex-husband announces it’s time to sell the house, Jackie scrambles to find enough money so her kids can stay in the same neighbourhood they’ve grown up in. Then a plum job falls in her lap—furnishing an apartment for the new coach of the Vancouver Vice hockey team. Making a nice home is one thing she’s good at, and the job has potential. Then the coach walks in.

20. Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember
When Mr. Harving arrives with his daughter Kara to research unicorns, Tumelo assigns Mnemba to them as a guide. The attraction between Mnemba and Kara is almost instant, but Kara is engaged to be married when she returns home. Venturing into the savanna alone, they uncover a plot by a gang of poachers to enslave the unicorns,

21. Romancing the Fashionista by KM Jackson

Manhattan fashion maven and magazine editor Melinda Mitchell shuns the social media spotlight. That is, until a tipsy girl’s night out ends with her first Facebook account and a friend request from none other than her secret high school crush, Nolan Parker.

22. Artistic License by Elle Pierson

Introvert Sophy is content with her independence and solitude. She’s never looked for a long-term relationship, and isn’t sure she wants one now. Mick, apparently born with a face that not even a mother could love, has given up all hope of having one. They have nothing in common. They shouldn’t even like each other. And they can’t stay away from one another.

23. Stake Sauce by RoAnna Sylver

A cute punk-rock vampire and a disabled firefighter-turned-mall-cop with a dark past join forces to battle the forces of evil.

24. Better At Weddings Than You by Mina V. Esguerra

Daphne Cardenas is the best wedding planner around, and everyone knows it. That's why her friend Greg hired her as an emergency replacement one month before his wedding—because he fears his fiancée Helen is falling for the guy they first hired for the job.

25. Keeping the Distance by Clarisse David

Getting involved with a troublemaking basketball player is the last possible thing she needs... Seventeen-year-old Melissa wants to dye her hair cotton candy pink and focus on her ukulele instead of Physics. But she can't. As the daughter of a Catholic school principal, living up to her model student image 24/7 is a must.

26. Second Chance by Chelsea M. Cameron

Serena's thrilled to be living with Anna and her girlfriend, Lacey, and working in the Violet Hill Cafe. What she definitely didn't plan was running into her ex, Fiona Davis. They'd been best friends that had turned into something else, but everything had crashed and burned before the end of high school several years ago.

27. Beach Thing by DL White

Ameenah Porter, daughter of successful New York restaurateurs, moves to the beach town of Black Diamond to fulfill her dream of opening a smoothie shop. She doesn’t need the distraction of a new man but the tall, dark and handsome Wade, who’s staying in the giant sized home at the end of her block, is irresistible.

28. Prom Queen Perfect by Clarisse David

Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl. Alex dela Cruz has it all. Looks, money, and a killer sense of style. When the annoyingly gorgeous Adam Cordero calls her selfish, she decides to prove him wrong by transforming Christy Marquez from an invisible misfit into a ruling princess of Asia Pacific Academy.

29. The Dark Wife by S.E. Diemer

Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny. But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself.

30. Dare to Love by CP Santi

Hot, tatted anthropologist Alex Roces is exactly the kind of guy Gia should avoid. But when they end up sharing a house, Gia finds Alex’s charms increasingly difficult to resist.

31. Summer in Napa by Marina Adair

Lexi has no husband and no restaurant. But she does have a three-step plan: First, convert her grandmother’s bakery into her dream bistro. Second, ignore Grandma’s matchmaking attempts. And third, avoid Marco DeLuca, her ex’s commitment-phobic, distractingly sexy best friend.

32. I've always wanted to try R.S. Grey's books. And I think all her books are on KU. They all sound like amazing rom coms? The Foxe & the Hound, The Allure of Julian Lefray, The Allure of Dean Harper, and more.

33. The Hooker and the Hermit by Penny Reid and LH Cosway

When Ronan is sent to Davidson & Croft Media to reshape his public image, he never expects to cross paths with shy but beautiful Annie, nor does he expect his fierce attraction to her. He couldn’t be happier when her boss suggests pairing them together.

34. glitter blood: a chapbook by Kayla Bashe

Poetry about nature, aliens, disability, cute girls, and outer space.

35. The Wind City by Summer Wigmore

Wellington. The wind city. New Zealand’s home of art and culture, but darker forces, forgotten forces, are starting to reappear. Aotearoa’s displaced iwi atua – the patupaiarehe, taniwha, and ponaturi of legend – have decided to make Wellington their home, and while some have come looking for love, others have arrived in search of blood.

36. Find You in Paris by Alix Nichols

If there's one man that store clerk and amateur photographer Diane Petit really, really, actively hates, it's fragrance mogul Sebastian Darcy who stole her father's company--and wrecked the man's health in the process. But the arrogant SOB had better brace himself because Diane has vowed revenge. And revenge she will have.

37. All three books from Claire Contrera's Heart series are on KU! Kaleidoscope Hearts, Paper Hearts and Elastic Hearts.

38. Beyond Surrender by Kit Rocha (+ All the Beyond series books are on KU if you want to binge!)

Opposites don't just attract, they combust. Together, Nessa and Ryder have a chance for something more than the lives they've always known. But this is war--deadly, bloody war--and the only way to happily-ever-after is straight through Eden.

39. Thorn in My Side by Shyla Colt

Working with the quirky visionary is trying as they bump heads and go toe-to-toe in a way few others are brave enough to attempt. Though he loathed to admit it, Olive made his blood boiling in more ways than one. If they can avoid killing one another, they might discover something else worth fighting for.

40. A Champion's Heart by Piper Huguley

Champion wants to redeem himself with his former sweetheart and doesn’t expect much, but the hair and eyes of one of Delie’s young children tugs at his heart. In this story of sacrifice, Champ and Delie struggle to learn about love and both must grow A Champion’s Heart.

41. One series I absolutely adore is Chasing the Dream by Elizabeth Briggs. All of the books in the series are available on KU, my favorites are: More than Fashion and More Than Comics.

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