Review + Amazon Giveaway - The Best Part of Me (McKenna #1) by Jamie Hollins

This is my stop during the blog tour for The Best Part of Me by Jamie Hollins. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 10 till 23 October, you can view the complete tour schedule here: http://www.lolasblogtours.net/blog-tour-the-best-part-of-me-by-jamie-hollins/

The Best Part of Me (McKenna #1)

by Jamie Hollins

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age category: Adult

Release Date: September 20, 2016

Blurb:

He’s content to stay in the shadows…

Ewan McKenna’s days and nights are filled with drink orders, beer kegs, and noisy bar customers. Now that he’s put his tumultuous past behind him, he’s more than happy to live a solitary existence running his family’s pub. After years of walking the line between good and bad, Ewan now needs control and order to rest peacefully at night. What he doesn’t need is the fiery, intriguing woman who’s found her way into his thoughts and his bed.

She’s ready to step back into the light…

Spending the summer getting her hands dirty in her aunt’s garden in a tiny town outside Boston is exactly what Quinn Adler needs. She’s ready to shake off the grief of losing the people who meant the most to her and to start feeling again. What she doesn’t expect is to find a man who sets all her senses on fire. When the pieces seem to be nearly in place for a bright future, everything falls apart.

Will Quinn’s love be bright enough to cut through the darkness of Ewan’s past?

"If sex were a living thing with arms and legs , if it could breathe,eat and talk, then it would surely look like Ewan McKenna."

Whenever I crack open a romance novel, I know it will be a quick and fun read. I am not looking for anything too deep or anything that can't be interrupted by a needy 3 year old or a load of laundry. This book fit my romance novel needs and more. It was a fun read that wasn't over the top and wasn't too unbelievable. In fact, I could totally see this story line playing out and that made it even more fun. 

Quinn is a young woman that has had a hard year and is looking for some peace when moving in with her Aunt for the summer. Instead, she finds the damaged and good looking (duh) Ewan who has never really connected with a female besides in the bedroom and is not looking to be saved. Without giving too much away, there is some hidden drama and steamy sex scenes throughout the book that make this a definite page turner.

Like any romance novel there are parts that you will roll your eyes and think to yourself, "Ya, right!" But, there are also pages where you find yourself dying to know the ending and what happens with Quinn and Ewan. It was a good mix for me and I am looking forward to next book in the series.

You can buy The Best Part of Me here:

- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Part-Me-McKenna-Book-ebook/dp/B01KY7Z5MQ/

- Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Part-Me-McKenna-Book-ebook/dp/B01KY7Z5MQ/

- B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-best-part-of-me-jamie-hollins/1124652956

- Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-best-part-of-me

Jamie Hollins was born and raised in rural Northeast Ohio. After graduate school, she embarked on a perilous career in Human Resources where she met plenty of real life characters. When she’s not writing or chasing after her toddler, she enjoys reading and golfing. Jamie lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and their dog, Winston. Jaime Hollins is an up and coming author that you for sure want to follow.

You can find and contact Jamie here:
- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Goodreads
- Pinterest

- Instagram

Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of The Best Part of Me. One winner will win a 50$ amazon gift card and a signed copy of The Best Part of Me by Jamie Hollins. This giveaway is open international.

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Happy reading,

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and reactions are my own! 

Goodbye, Star Valley

These last few weeks I have been doing a lot of walking through my neighborhood and the trails that surround it. It has been pretty nostalgic and I find myself looking back over the past two years of running through these roads.

I never wanted to be a runner, I don't have the body to be a runner, I am not the fastest runner, but about 2 1/2 years ago I set out to run three times a week and little did I know it would start one of the biggest passions of my life. A passion I wasn't asking for but a passion and I definitely needed at the time.  Motherhood was a hard transition for me, I am not the type of person that can be needed 24/7 by somebody else, I need my own time and I need my own goals. I had never not worked and all of a sudden, I found myself at home with a miniature human being who relied on me solely to thrive. I knew that being home with him was best for my family, but I needed to find something to throw myself into. I didn't start running to lose weight or to become a healthier person, I started running to become a better mother.

I know all the mile markers in this neighborhood. When I pass tthe 35 MPH sign know that I've gone 1 mile from my house, when I enter the trail I know that I have a short mile and a half until the end of it. On Mother's Day of last year, I ran one of my fastest 10K races with my best friend by my side, through this neighborhood! I set goals and I crushed those same goals, all in this neighborhood. When I was caught in a downpour, I went to visit the fire station for shelter and for a Ziploc bag to keep my phone dry. When I was out of water on a day that turned out to be a bit hotter than I expected, I stopped by Lisa and Jay's house so they could fill up my water bottle. This past New Year's eve, I went on a run with my sisters and we laughed and joked the whole way. Something that I never thought would happen! Imagine that, it is possible to run and talk at the same time! There were a lot of early morning and late night runs in the dark training for my Ragnar midnight run. And trust me a lot of jumps along the way. It all happened in this neighborhood, where Ryan and I bought our first house, welcomed our first baby, and found out that we would be moving to Japan.

Lots of stroller miles logged on these roads!

Mother's Day 10k with Briana!

While discovering my passion for running, I also finally realize that running is about so much more than the actual exercise. It's about meeting people that you have something in common with. It's about finding mom's that need someone to talk to you just like you do. And most importantly it's about showing yourself that you can do so much more than you ever thought possible. Who would have thought that I would be the type of person who looks for a running group to join in my new country, before my house was even packed? It is wild and I can not wait to get back into it. 

Goodbyes can be sad. Especially when you have no idea if you will ever visit this area again. But, I can't wait to set new goals and crush them. I can't wait to meet new running friends, and call my friends back here and share the goals of overcome. I am so excited to look out at the ocean as I can run, what a difference from having to watch my step for snakes and cacti! There have been some tears on my walks, yes, but there have also been so many smiles and so many laughs thinking about everything that I did throughout the streets and the trails of Star Valley! 

Thank you, Arizona for the memories!