Teaser Tuesday: The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (You do not want to ruin the book for others.)

Share the title & author so that others who enjoy your "teaser" may add the book to their TBL pile.

"I am a redneck! New to this school!" he yells. "I wanna be a cheerleader, so I can be cool!" His motions are herky-jerky, fists balled up tight, shooting directly out at me. I feel them like punches in my gut. "I'm just a farm girl, short and flat!" he continues, hands smoothing down his own chest.

I feel the blood rush to my face and I know I'm bright red. I want him to stop. I need him to stop. I feel small and ugly and country.

page 52; The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker

Review: Hidden Summit by Robyn Carr

Hidden Summit
Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #17
Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: December 27, 2011
Mass Market Paperback {p.347}
Source: Publicist
Genre: Contemporary
Leslie Petruso, Conner Danson
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Sick of running into her cheery ex-husband and his new wife, Leslie Petruso accepts a job at the Virgin River branch of Haggerty Construction and takes the high road right out of town. Now she's got Paul Haggerty's business running like a well-oiled machine. In fact, things are so busy Paul jumps at the chance to hire an extra set of hands.

Just like Leslie, Conner Danson has been burned by love. But if Leslie was disappointed by her relationship going bad, Conner was decimated. He's got no time for women…although he spends an awful lot of time pretending not to notice Leslie. And she's pretty busy "ignoring" the chemistry between them.

According to Conner and Leslie, they have only one thing in common—they're done with love. But everyone in Virgin River can see that things are heating up at Haggerty Construction. And as far as Paul Haggerty can tell, the best thing he can do is hang on to his hard hat and watch the sparks fly!

This installment of the Virgin River series features two new residents of the town. Both of which came to Virgin River to escape past events in their lives. Conner who was an eye witness to a murder and Leslie who is trying to get away from her cheating ex and his new very pregnant wife.

The two of them find love when they were only looking for something casual. Even with them saying that, you could tell as the reader that they both had already started to develop feelings for one another.

As usual, Carr paints a beautiful picture of the town and the supporting cast of characters. We were also introduced to the female lead of the next installment, and re-introduced to the one for installment after that.

Hidden Summit also brought a little suspense along with the romance. Conner and Leslie had a nice, stable romance, which is good considering both of their ex-spouses were cheaters. But on the other hand it was a little too good, almost perfect, which is never the case in reality.

I enjoyed this installment and I loved catching up with the town residents. Although I enjoyed Conner and Leslie’s romance, I didn’t feel all that invested in or connected to them as I did with previous romances such as Colin and Jillian or Kelly and Lief.

List of Five ~ January 2012

I got the idea of making a list of the books I'm going to read for the month from a similar feature done by GalleySmith. Although she lists 10 books I'm only doing 5, to take into account ARCs I may receive or just falling into a reading slump.

Hopefully this will also cut down on the time I spend sitting in front of my bookshelf trying to decide what to read next. Plus maybe it will help with my need to read my own books. I have this problem of putting books on the shelves in favor of reading newer, shinier books and forgetting all about the previously purchased ones.

My goal is to stick to this 5 with the addition of others throughout the month. I may not read them in the order they are listed, but it is my goal to read all five.

January 2012 List of Five:

• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
• The Queen of Kentucky
• A Perfect Storm
• Deliver Me from Darkness
• Baby, Come Home

In My Mailbox {78}

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I'll post what books I've received either by mailbox/library/store.

I'll try to post an entry of IMM every Sunday that I receive books by mail/library/store of that week.

Books via Blog Win

Darn Good Cowboy Christmas by Carolyn Brown {Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell}
Cowboy Casanova by Lorelei James {Scorching Book Reviews}

Books via Lendle Me {referral code: RFPMZ09X}

One Hot Momma by Cara North

Books via Publisher/Publicist

Hidden Summit by Robyn Carr
Midnight Reckoning by Kendra Leigh Castle
The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Firelight by Kristen Callihan
A Perfect Storm by Lori Foster
Fat is the New 30 by Jill Conner Browne

Books via Reader Service

Open Doors by Gloria Goldreich

Secrets of the Lost Summer by Carla Neggers

Seduction by Brenda Joyce

The Summer Garden by Sherryl Woods

Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey

A Cold Creek Secret by Raeanne Thayne

Antonym Reading Challenge Review Link ~ First Quarter

For you bloggers that decided to participate in this challenge, please copy and paste the above image icon onto the sidebar of your blog.

Add your review links for January - March in the linky.
Anyone can join. Just sign up HERE. You don't need a blog to participate.

**Bloggers: Link your REVIEWS on the Mr. Linky below. Include blog name, book title, and highlight the antonym. (ie. "Hot" Ice (Book Obsessed) or *Cold* Fire @ Book Obsessed)

**Non-Bloggers: Post your reviews with other book sites (ie. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, Shelfari, etc.) and post the link to your review in the linky. Or post your review in the comments section. Your comment should include the title of the book, author, state in which the book takes place, and the date you completed reading the book. (bloggers do not need to include the date because your blog posts are dated)

When you sign up on the Linky, put the direct link to your review. You can either list your books on your challenge post, sidebar, or a page dedicated to your challenges.

Happy Reading!!!

{If you'd like to follow my progress, you can find it here.}

This is NOT the place to sign up for the challenge

Please link to your Antonym REVIEW posts here

50 States Challenge Review Link Up ~ First Quarter

<br /> <a href="http://www.book-obsessed.com/2011/10/50-states-reading-challenge-2012-sign.html/"><img alt="Book Obsessed" src=" http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc365/avidbookaholic/blog%20banners%20buttons%20and%20pics/flag.jpg” /></a><br />

For you bloggers that decided to participate in this challenge, please copy and paste the above image icon onto the sidebar of your blog.

Add your review links for January - March in the linky.

Anyone can join. Just sign up HERE. You don't need a blog to participate.

**Bloggers: Link your REVIEWS in the Linky below. Include blog name, book title, and the state the book takes place in. (ie.  Book Obsessed "Lover Awakened" - NY)

**Non-Bloggers: Post your reviews with other book sites (ie. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, Shelfari, etc.) and post the link to your review in the linky. Or post your review in the comments section. Your comment should include the title of the book, author, state in which the book takes place, and the date you completed reading the book. (bloggers do not need to include the date because your blog posts are dated)

When you sign up on Mr. Linky, put the direct link to your review. You can either list your books on your challenge post, sidebar, or a page dedicated to your challenges.

Happy Reading!!!

{If you'd like to follow my progress, you can find it here.}

This is NOT the place to sign up for the challenge