Happy Book Birthday! Giveaways and Fun Facts by Elizabeth Reyes

In honor of her first book release three years ago, September 6th-17th is everything Elizabeth Reyes and several, several blogs are participating in this wonderful event to share some love to this amazing author. I have read all of the books from The Moreno Brothers series by the ever-wonderful Elizabeth Reyes. They're light, steamy, full of good relationship tension and drama and they go by soooo quick. They're perfect for summer, but if you're having tough time letting summer go, I say give them a try and hopefully you'll enjoy them. Elizabeth has written two other series--one about fighters on The 5th Street and one about Fate. I hope that if you ever give these books a go, you'll find them entertaining and sweet. Ok, so since I've only read The Moreno Brothers series, I decided to pick this guest post among all of these topics because I thought that it'd introduce the series to you as well as Elizabeth as a writer. I hope you enjoy!

Title: The Moreno Brothers

Author: Elizabeth Reyes 

Genre: Contemporary romance 

Age Group: Upper YA (Forever Mine and Sweet Sofie), New Adult 

Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Buy Links for the books: Amazon 

Book Description: You can find each book description on Elizabeth's Goodreads page

Fun facts about The Moreno Brothers series by Elizabeth Reyes

• I started writing Forever Mine in the tenth grade. The first seven or so chapters were put away into a drawer for many years. I finally found it one day and decided I needed to finish it.
• The Moreno Brothers was never going to be a five-book series. In fact, originally it wasn't going to be a series at all. I was just writing a love story about a high school senior who had two brothers and several friends who falls hard for the new girl in school. One story only.
• When I finally finished Forever Mine the first time, it was about ten chapters shorter than the final everyone has read. After going back and finishing it, I put it away again because something about the ending just wasn't doing it for me. I pulled it out again two years later and rewrote the ending. During this two-year hiatus, I did take it out and tweak here and there so the whole gang was in my head all the time. But then I sat down finalized the ending. Only then, when it was truly done, did I feel completely depressed because I missed my characters. That was when I decided there had to be more.
• When I decided there would be more, it was The Moreno Brothers for a reason. I was only going to write the stories of the three brothers, until Sofia and Eric's story started to come to me as all my new stories come to me—relentlessly, at night, and when I’m trying to sleep.
• Sweet Sofie was supposed to be a 30-40k word short novella. This was when I found out I'm incapable of writing anything short. Consequently I've always said I was going to write Moreno Brothers’ holiday novellas, but I'm afraid to even start because I'm certain they will turn into full-length novels!
• Romero's story was never supposed to see the light of day. But I tell you once my readers plant the seed the story takes on a life of its own. His story came to me slowly and then just started to snowball and I had to write it. His by far has been the one I was most nervous about putting out there, especially since he is so different from his more proper counterparts in the series.
• I've often mentioned that my muse takes over all the time. This is probably hard to believe, but some of the twists and sudden changes in the plots take me by as much surprise as they do my readers. One perfect example of when my thoughts actually made it into the narrative is when Angel is sitting in his car watching Sarah and the coach talking in the bleachers. Try as he might to stay calm about it he finally starts walking toward them. The very next line after that happens is "He had no idea what he was going to say or do, but even the voice in his head couldn’t stop him." Okay, that voice? That was me! I sat up straight as I often do when the story starts to write itself thinking WTH!? What's he gonna do? LOL
• (Whispers) I actually toyed with idea of having Sofie leave Eric for Brandon. (Dodges tomatoes and eggs from angry Eric loyalists.) But I didn't!! =D Still, I felt Brandon needed his happily ever after, and that's why I'll be giving it to him very soon. Of course, there will be a ton of turmoil, angst, and heart-stopping twists before he gets it. Hey! If he wants it just like all my other guys, he'll have to take it like a man! ;)
• Many have mentioned enjoying reading about these second-generation Morenos. There are still quite a few first-generation stories that haven't been told, but let the record show that the seed has been planted. ;)
• I still crack up when I read certain scenes in Romero, especially the ones with Manny and Max.

Giveaways

One of them is US, one is international. Be sure to participate in the right ones and I wish you all good luck since the prizes are ah-mazing!

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Meet Elizabeth

"I write because I must. It's not a choice or a pastime, it's an unyielding calling and my passion."Elizabeth continues to answer to her calling on a daily basis. Since releasing her debut novel Forever Mine (Moreno Brothers #1) in 2010 she has now published 10* novels total and fast at work on the next. The excitement her Moreno Brothers, 5th Street, and Fate series have garnered have far exceeded her wildest dreams. It is with as much excitement that she'll continue to put out books related to these series as well as introduce brand new ones very soon.

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Top Ten Tuesday

 

Top Ten Characters I’d Like To Switch Places With For 24 Hours

Okay. Here’s the deal. I’m not going to explain “why” with each character, I’ll just state it here that I know they have difficulties in their lives and sometimes it seems like these obstacles are completely insurmountable, but these gals are awesome! They’ve got great friends, they’re loyal, loving, kick-ass (even if they don't do that in the literal sense of this phrase, they're still bright, strong and witty) characters and it’d be fun and thrilling to spend a day in their skin and to get to know their situations even better. So that’s why I chose these characters, however, it was a difficult choice and I had to leave out so many good characters starting with Alex from the Covenant series, Tessa from the Infernal Devices series, Layken from the Slammed series, Samantha from “My Life Next Door”, Sydney from the Bloodlines series etc. I love all of them and I’d love to get a glimpse of their life for real. That’s the reason why I, again, drew these out of a hat randomly. All right, want to know who made it? Here you go:

You get why I think Ms. Granger is one of the most amazing characters ever, right?
Would love to experience 24 hours as her, although, I bet I'd get Harry and
Ron killed like in the first 5 minutes. Probably even less than that.

1. Hermione from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
2. Rose from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
3. Georgina from the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead
4. Clary from the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
5. Katy from the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout
6. Meghan from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa
7. Sarah from the Moreno Brothers series by Elizabeth Reyes
8. Abby from Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
9. Nora from the Hush Hush saga by Becca Fitzpatrick
10. Aspen from What a Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn

What do you think of these characters? Who would you add? Which characters did you choose? Leave a link to your TTT and I’ll check out yours :)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted @ The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday

 

Top Ten Books for People Who Like Adult Contemporary (or Mature YA) Books

Thoughtless by S. C. Stephens

Don’t fancy reading about cheating, but this book is so much more than that. What if the person you fall in love with, while in a commited relationship, is your soulmate? What if even when you love the person you’re with more than anything in the world is not your soulmate? What if friends grow to lovers and lovers grow to friends? What if you’re the only person in the world one can trust their whole life with? This is one of the best emotional stories I’ve read and I can’t even begin with how much I love Kellan Kyle. Ugh.. Definitely a recommend!

Love Unscripted by Tina Reber 

Haven’t we all dreamed of dating a handsome movie star? Well, Taryn hasn’t, but she’s going to get the chance to date one. Ryan and Taryn are the cutest little couple and they’re so great together. The only thing is that he’s Robert-Pattinson-famous and can’t even to a pub, shop, theatre, hotel without screaming fans already waiting for him. They follow him everywhere. Moreover, he’s surrounded by paparazzi 24/7. And there’s the fact that someone from his past is trying to break him up with Taryn. Can they take the heat, survive under the pressure and get their happily ever after?

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Well, I didn’t read this one to be exact. Okay.. I read it, but I just went through it and didn’t read it correctly. But, I read “Point of Retreat“ which is the sequel to this book from Will’s POV (it’s not a parallel story to “Slammed“, it’s a sequel) and it was absolutely amazzzingg!! I loved  every second out of the sequel and I bet you will, too. Will’s just brilliant, sweet & hot and crazy in love with Lake. Not a chapter went by without me crying over this book. Also, if you're a fan of poetry, this book will melt your heart!

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

It's is like a better version of “Fifty Shades of Grey“. I know a lot of people love FSoG. In my opinion, it was okay, but the writing was poor and yeah.. Something was missing, although, Christian Grey is one hell of a guy! There isn’t that much kinky stuff in "Bared to You" and it was more to my taste than FSoG. It's is a story about two broken souls trying to commit to each other, but when they’re as broken as they are, will their relationship be as broken as well? Can this relation even exist?

Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard

This book is somewhat similar to BtY and FSoG since the male lead is more experienced and has fooled around while the heroine is more laid back. “Gabriel’s Inferno“ differs from the previous two books due to being more intellectual. There’s comparison to Dante and Beatrice and their lovestory which is similar to Gabriel’s and Julia’s. Also, this book doesn’t involve that much sex (while the sequel is supposedly more steamy in this category). I loved that Julia was very independent.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Have I mentioned already that I love Jamie McGuire and Travis Maddox? I cannot possibly waint for “Walking Disaster“ (BD from Travis’ POV) to hit the stores! Travis, what the heck did you do to me? I love him. I love this story and I love, love, love Abby, Shepley and America (best freaking bff everrr!!). There’s fighting, drinking, dancing, sex, love, crying, laughing and friendship like no other. It’s really a beautiful disaster and either ment to blossom or end up in the ruins.

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

Ever heard of Rose Hathaway? What about Dimitri Belikov? Or Adrian Ivashkov? Oh, you have? Well, that’s just great, because Georgina Kincaid is like the grown version of kick-ass Ms. Hathaway and she’s a succubus trying to live a normal life in Seattle. She’s got the greatest friends who, of course, are demonic (and angelic) and make as sarcastic jokes as Adrian, she can change her appearence with little effort and has the greatest sex life. However, she’s graving for normality and stability. When she meets her favorite author – Seth Mortensen – she falls head over heels without knowing it herself. There’s also Roman – a handsome and exciting guy who she also ends up falling in love with. These two relationships are totally different. Who will she choose? Will she make her decision before it’s too late? Will she even make one? In addition to her love life you get to see how she kicks ass in her demonic life and read some one-liners that crack you up for minutes.

The Moreno Brothers series by Elizabeth Reyes

Looking for a hot-blooded stunning brothers (and their friends) who are protective as hell over their love interests? They’re sweet, honorable, strong, hot, romantic and get easily heated. They’re the Morenos: Angel, Alex, Sal and Angel’s friends Eric and Romero. They’re so similar, but at the same time so different. It’s a pretty fun series with some sad moments and I bet you’ll love all of these five men if you give them a chance (my favorites are Alex, Sal and Romero). The first and the third one are more mature YA, but the other three definitely fall to the adult contemporary romance category.

Easy by Tammara Webber

I haven’t read this one, but I own a copy and want to read it so badly already. I’ve heard only great things about “Easy“, especially Lucas. I’d love to read it ASAP!

The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher

I don't even have the words to describe how unbelievably mad this book made me. Or how sad. Or how happy. I mean.. I gave this book a three on goodreads, beacuse I absolutely hated this book so I couldn't possibly give it a five. But I couldn't give it a one either, because I absolutely loved it. It was so, so heartbreaking, so sweet, so fun, so emotional, so traumatizing. It was a great book. Even more, it was a fantastic book! It left me speechless. I was drowning in the ocean I had created with my own tears whil I was reading this book. It was so effed-up and so.. Eh, I don't even know what else to say, just read it! You won't regret it. The main thing I loved about it is that every choice we make matters and we ourselves are the cause of our happiness (or sadness). I loved this books so much and hated it so much that.. Yeah, no words. Read it!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What would you add to this list? What genre/book did you choose this week? Leave a link to your TTT and I’ll check out yours :)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted @ The Broke and the Bookish.

Some Cover Reveals by Different Authors

I bet some of you have already seen these, but incase you haven't, I hope you're as happy to see them as I am. I'll just gush over the covers right away so.. if you don't want to read it, that's fine, scroll down a little bit and you can see all three of those beautiful covers :)

When Brodi Ashton put this up, I almost drooled over my keyboard. I haven't been able to read "Everneath" yet, but I'd love to read it next month (keeping my fingers crossed I'll get a check after this sentence by the end of July). Brodi Ashton has an amazing cover artist and I'd like to get my hands on her books just so that I could look at their covers and hold those gorgeous books in my own hands. Love them!

Elizabteh Reyes' books are like guilty pleasure: they're not the best books I've read, but they're smooth, easy to read, make you smile and make you fall in love with the characters. She's writing a new series (which I believe is sort of a spinn-off of the Moreno Brothers series. Can't wait to read them!) and her first book "Fate" had its cover reveal on her blog a few days ago. I'm in love with this cover and I hope (/think) this series will be as good as her previous work. Looking forward to reading "Fate" as well as "Noah" (I've had it for a while now, but haven't found the time to read it) and "Gio".

Richelle Mead just published her second novel "The Golden Lily" in the Bloodlines series and in order to praise her fans who've liked the Bloodlines facebook page (26 000+ fans, what do you say?!), she revealed the cover for the third book in the series: "The Indigo Spell". It's in its early stages and doesn't have the Golden Lily tattoo on it, but it's still sooooo beautiful, don't you think? Now that I have my own copy of "The Golden Lily" on my bookshelf, I can tell you that it's even more beautiful than I thought. I cannot wait to see the final cover version of "The Indigo Spell". Loving it so far :)

All right, so the covers are in the next order:

1. "Everbound" by Brodi Ashton
2. "Fate" by Elizabeth Reyes
3. "The Indigo Spell" by Richelle Mead

Oh, and while I'm at it, maybe some of you don't know but Jennifer L. Armentrout's "Obsidian" trailer will be out soon (presumably on July 6th according to JLA's twitter). I'm so, so, so excited, I can't even express myself.. Daemon Invasion has just ended and thanks to Sztella and Pepe, the cover models for the Lux series, we'll get to enjoy the trailers pretty soon :) You can check out the pictures from Daemon Invasion and some teaser pictures on JLA's blog.

The Moreno Brothers Sari

Elizabeth Reyesi Moreno vendade sari on kohati üsna klišeelik, kuid kiire, kerge ja mõnus ajaviitekirjandus. Leian, et pole mõtet kirjutada kõigist eraldi, seega teen postituse, kus kirjutan paar lauset iga raamatu kohta ning oma arvamuse sellest. Kokkuvõtteks paneksin sarjale hindeks 2,5-3/5. Midagi uut sarjast otsida ei tasu, kuid meeltlahutavad tegelased (eriti Romero) ja pingelised situatsioonid (mis on küll kohati ekstreemsusteni viidud) panevad lugema küll.

“Forever Mine“. Peategelasteks on Sarah ja Angel. Sarah ema on vangis ja tüdruk peab kolima tädi juurde. Olukorraga kaasnevad ka õpingud uues koolis, kus Sarah kohtub kooli jalgpallimeeskonna staarmängija Angeliga. Kõik läheb hästi, kuid Angel ei tea, et Sarah parim sõber Sydney, kellega tüdruk igapäevaselt räägib ja kelle juurde näitsik uuel semestril kolib, on hoopiski poiss. Mõtteid, mis edasi juhtub? Arvatavasti oskab igaüks 1+1 kokku viia. Hindeks paneksin 2/5.

“Always been mine“. Peategelasteks on Sarah nõbu Valerie ja Angeli vend Alex. Alex on poiss, kellel pole kunagi püsisuhet olnud ja ka Valerie ei otsi seda. Angeli ja Sarah suhte arenedes lõbutsevad nood kaks samal ajal, kuigi kumbki ei tunnista, et nad on üksteisest sisse võetud. Asjad muutuvad tõsisemaks ja Alex astub tõsiselt pange. Uhkus ei luba ju vabandada ja selgitada ka. Aasta pärast lahkuminekut kohtuvad noored taas ja Alex on valmis Valerie’t tagasi võitma ja kuigi nad leiavad tee teineteise juurde, on paar väikest muret: kui Valerie pärast Alexist lahkuminekut oma murtud südant parandada üritas, kohtus ta ühe mehega, kes nüüd naist jälitab ja ähvardab ning kes jälgib naise iga liigutust, lisaks võistleb Alexiga Valerie ülemus, kes ei kavatsegi naljalt alla anda. Teades Moreno vendade kurikuulsat temperamenti tõotab sellest olukorrast pingeline sõit kujuneda. Hinne: 3/5.

“Sweet Sofie“. Peategelasteks on Sofia ja Eric. Eric on üks Angeli kahest parimast sõbrast ja Sofia on Angeli, Alexi ja Sali noorem õde. Sofie on terve oma elu pidanud taluma vendade pidevat järelvalvet ja poisid ei suuda küll tema ilule vastu panna, kuid hoiavad siiski eemale, sest keegi ei taha Moreno vendade (ja Ericu ning Romero) viha alla sattuda. Kui sarja teistes raamatutes võtab armumine kauem aega, siis kolmandas osas algab kõik juba esimestelt lehekülgedelt. Lugeja saab aimu noorte lapsepõlvest ja sellest, kuidas sõprusest ja imetlusest kujuneb armastus. Kuigi Eric on justkui pereliige, ei võta Moreno vennad uudiseid Ericu ja Sofie tunnetest just hea meelega vastu ning kui kõik juba sujub, tulevad noorte teele üha uued ja uued takistused. Hinne: 2,5/5.

“Romero“. Nagu nimigi ütleb, on üheks peategelaseks Romero, tema väljavalituks on aga Isabel. Romero on Angeli teine parim sõber, kes ei ole ülikoolis käinud, on suure suuga, impulsiivne, karismaatiline, keeva verega ja kellel on oma ee.. Detektiivibüroo? Luureagentuur? Isabel see-eest on kooliõpetaja, tark, haritud, korralik, kaunis ja prestiižikast perekonnast pärit. On ilmselge, et Izzy perekond ei kiida heaks tütre suhet Romeroga, kuid kindlasti pole perekond ainsaks takistuseks, noored kaevavad ka ise enda suhtele auku, kuhu hiljem mõnusalt sisse potsatada. Hinne: 2,5/5.

“Making you mine“. Peategelasteks on Morenode kõige vanem vend Sal ja noor kokk-kokteilivalmistaja Grace. Kui teised sarja paarid olid enam-vähem üksteisega sama vanad, siis Grace on Salist mõned aastad noorem. Grace kandideerib Morenode esimesse ja algsesse restorani tööle ning Sal intervjueerib tüdrukut. Kummalegi ei jää just kõige parem maitse suhu, kuid Alex võtab Grace’i tööle ning Sal ja Grace on sunnitud üksteisega aega veetma. Kuid kumbki ei tunnista, et nad ei teeks midagi muud parema meelega, kui veedaks päeva teineteise kõrval, mis sest, et mõlemad on jäärapäised ja pärast esmamuljete vahetamist ei saa nad absoluutselt läbi. Kõik siiski laheneb ja noored armuvad, kuni tuleb hetk, mil Sal keerab suurema käki kokku kui tema vennad, Eric ja Romero kokku. Hinne: 3/5.

Kuna lulgesin kõik raamatud peaaegu et järjest, siis lõpuks tekkis tüdimus küll, kuid ma ei lugenud raamatuid õiges järjekorras. Ehh.. Ajaviitekirjandus. Kerge lugeda kuskil rannas näiteks, kuigi ma pole kindel, kas peale e-raamatute ka paberkandjale trükitud  eksemplare on võimalik soetada. Minu lemmikuteks tegelasteks olid tõenäoliselt  Eric Alex, Valerie, Romero ja Sal. Sydney ka.

Hinne sarjale: 2,5/5.

Lugemisjärjekord:

1. “Forever Mine“
2. “Always been mine“
3. “Sweet Sofie“
4. “Romero“
5. “Making You Mine“

The Moreno Brothers Series

Elizabeth Reyes’ “The Moreno Brothers“ series is quite cliché, but a fast and enjoyable read. I didn’t think it would be necessary to make posts about each of the books from this series, so they’ll all be included in this one. There isn’t anything original about the series, but there are some entertaining characters, e.g. Romero & Alex, and intense situations (which are sometimes quite extreme). 

“Forever Mine“. Main characters are Sarah and Angel. Sarah’s Mom’s in prison and she has to move in with her aunt and go to a new school. She meets Angel – the handsome starplayer and captain of the football team. Everything goes well between them, but the sad thing is, that when the semester’s over, Sarah returns home and will move in with her best friend Sydney. But what Angel doesn’t know is that Sydney’s a guy. Any thoughts, what happens next? Probably everyone can put one and one together. Rate: 2/5

“Always been mine“. Main characters are Sarah’s cousin Valerie and Angel’s brother Alex. Alex’s a guy who hasn’t been in a relationship and Valerie isn’t looking for one. While Angel’s and Sarah’s relationship progresses, Alex and Valerie have fun together, make out etc, but neither admits that they have deeper feelings for each other. Things get more serious by time, but then Alex messes up. Pride is more important to Alex than Valerie and he doesn’t explani his actions to her. A year after the break up, they meet again. Alex is ready to apologise and take her back. Even though they find a way back to each other, there are a few bumps in the road: during their break up Val met a guy and things didn’t work out, but the guy’s obsessed and wants Alex and every other guy out of the picture, also, Valerie’s boss is in love with her, too. Knowing the nutorious temper of the Moreno brothers, it doesn’t take a huge IQ to realise, what will go down in this book. Rate: 3/5.

“Sweet Sofie“. Main characters are Sofia – the little sister of the Moreno brothers – and Eric – one of Angel’s best friends. Sofie has been tolerating her brothers’ controlling behaviour during her whole life and although boys cannot resist her, they stay away because they’re scared for their health and life. In this book, Eric and Sofie have been in love with each other for years, but cannot act on their feelings. It’s a friendship and admiration which grows into an irresistable love. Even though Eric’s like a brother to all the Morenos, the brothers do not take it easily that he’s in love with their little sister. However, they soon realise, that he’s serious about Sofia and give them their blessing. It seems like a happy ending, but there will be other obstacles in the way. Rate: 2,5/5. 

“Romero“. Like the name all ready says, one of the main characters is Romero and the other one’s Isabel. Romero’s Angel’s other best friend. He hasn’t been to college, he has a big mouth, he’s impulsive, charismatic, hotblooded and has his own small company which provides security, surveillance etc. Isabel, on the other hand, is a teacher, she’s smart, beautiful, neat and from a prestigious family. It’s obvious that Izzy’s family won’t approve this relationship, but her family’s not the only obstacle in the road – these two lovebirds are digging their grave themselves and not realising it until it’s too late. Rate: 2,5/5.

“Making you mine“. Main characters are the eldest brother of the Morenos – Sal – and a young and beautiful cook/coctail maker Grace. They have a small age difference, she’s pretty young, tho, Sal’s not that old – 25 if I remember correctly. Grace wants to become a cook in one of their restaurants and Sal’s interviewing her. Neither of them thinks it was a perfect interview, but Alex hires Grace and they are forced to work together. Neither if them admits they have feelings for each other and that they’d enjoy nothing more than to spend a day with each other. It’s probably because after the first impression Grace thinks that Sal’s just a jerk, Sal thinks Grace’s a liar and too young to cook well enough for the best restaurant in town. Even so everything works out great and they fall in love. Happy ending? Umm.. Unlikely, because Sal messes up more than his brothers, Eric and Romero all together. Rate: 3/5

Because I read them all in a short period of time, in the end I got tired, although, I didn’t read them in the right order. It’s a really fast and easy read. Great to read in a beach, though, I’m not sure that there are print copies available. I read them in e-book versions. My favorite characters were probabloy Alex, Valerie, Eric, Romero and Sal. Sydney, too.

Rate for the series: 2,5/5.

Reading order:

1. “Forever Mine“
2. “Always been mine“
3. “Sweet Sofie“
4. “Romero“
5. “Making You Mine“