It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story by Lauren Morrill
Published by: Farrar Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Young Adult
A delicious love story with all the toppings, Lauren Morrill’s It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story is a contemporary YA rom-com about love, friendship, and pizza, perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han.
After her mother gave birth to her in the bathroom of a local pizzeria, Beck has been given the dubious privilege of having minor fame, free pizza for life, and a guaranteed job when she turns sixteen—a job she unfortunately can’t afford to turn down.
Now she’s stuck with her geeky co-workers instead of taking Instagram-ready shots with her best friends (and her epic crush).
But maybe the pizza people aren’t all bad. Maybe that pizza delivery guy is kind of cute. And maybe there’s a way to make this Bathroom Baby thing work for her. Because when disaster strikes the beloved pizza place that’s started to feel like home, she’s going to need a miracle—one that might even mean bringing her two worlds together.
“Gentlemen, I present to you my selection from table eight,” she says, ignoring him. Thanks to my training, I know table eight is the round banquette in the back corner. It’s usually favored by families or rowdy groups of unchaperoned tweens. “On this plate is a piece of pizza, yes. But not just any pizza. This is pizza that came from somewhere else.”
There’s a beat of silence while everyone looks at the slice.
“No fucking way,” Jason whispers.
“Way,” Julianne replies. She leans back against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest with a satisfied smile. “We do not sell stuffed crust pizza here at Ye Olde Hot ’N Crusty. Someone brought this in from outside.”
Even I can barely suppress a gasp.
“What kind of asshole goes to a pizza place and brings pizza from another pizza place?” Greg says, bending down to observe it like a NASA scientist.
“I wish I knew, friends, but I didn’t see who left it. Now should we vote?”
“Why bother? Julianne clearly wins,” Greg says with a shrug. He reaches for his note card and shoves it back in his pocket.
“She’s got my vote,” Frank says, taking the shoe and tossing it into the cardboard box behind the counter that’s used as a lost and found.
“That’s two!” Julianne says. She flashes me a big, open-mouthed smile, like can you believe it? But then she remembers who I am and the smile drops before she turns to Jason. “You’re welcome to vote, but either way, I believe you have lost. And so I’d like to direct you to the cleaning supplies. Those bathrooms need some attention.”
Author Bio:
LAUREN MORRILL grew up in Maryville, Tennessee, where she was a short-term Girl Scout, a (not so) proud member of the marching band, and a trouble-making editor for the school newspaper. She graduated from Indiana University with a major in history and a minor in rock & roll, and now lives in Macon, GA with her husband and sons.
Join us for this tour from Feb 24 to Mar 10, 2021!
Book Title: Love and Other Moods by Crystal Z. Lee Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 18 yrs +, 322 pages Genre: New Adult, Own Voices, Multicultural Romance Publisher: Balestier Release date: December 2020 Tour dates: Feb 24 to Mar 10, 2021 Content Rating: PG + M for drugs (only two pages), suggested sex scenes (nothing explicit), some triggers (assault)
Book Description:
Love and Other Moods is a coming-of-age story set in contemporary China, about falling in love, learning to adult, discovering strength and finding one’s place in the world. Naomi Kita-Fan uproots her life from New York to China when her fiancé’s company transfers him to Shanghai. After a disastrous turn of events, Naomi finds herself with no job, no boyfriend, and nowhere to live in a foreign country. Amidst the backdrop of Shanghai welcoming millions of workers and visitors to the 2010 World Expo, we meet a tapestry of characters through Naomi: Joss Kong, a Shanghai socialite who leads an enviable life, but must harbor the secrets of her husband, Tay Kai Tang. Logan Hayden, a womanizing restaurateur looking for love in all the wrong places. Pan Jinsung and Ouyang Zhangjie, a silver-aged couple struggling with adapting to the ever-changing faces of their city. Dante Ouyang, who had just returned to China after spending years overseas, must choose between being filial and being in love. All their dreams and aspirations interweave within the sprawling web of Shanghai. This multilayered novel explores a kaleidoscope of shifting relationships — familial friction, amorous entanglements, volatile friendships — in one of the most dynamic metropolises of the twenty-first century.
Crystal Z. Lee is a Taiwanese American bilingual writer. She has called many places home, including Taipei, New York, Shanghai, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She was formerly a public relations executive who had worked with brands in the fashion, beauty, technology, and automotive industries. ‘Love and Other Moods’ is her debut novel.
An explosion at a university research facility exposes a tie between an unauthorized experiment and a classified military program to create fearless soldiers. Reclusive scientist ALLYSON BOWEN is stalked by crazed soldiers who want her silenced, but her drive to discover what happened to the scientists who disappeared from the lab has her joining forces with CALEB CRAFT, soldier and computer specialist, as they expose the company who funded the Prometheus Project. Negotiating death threats, hit squads, and a growing attraction, Allyson and Craft fight against the elusive Team Echo in order to put the failed experiment back in Pandora’s box forever.
Team Fear: An elite Special Forces unit involved in an experimental program to create fearless soldiers.
Background: Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill.
Mission: The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this steamy romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
The tension drained from his rigid frame. Craft took a deep breath and stopped fighting the compulsion to answer her questions. “We were introduced to the program as an experiment. The best of the best taking war fighting to the next level. Once we’d signed on the dotted line, we were released from our units and reassigned to Team Fear. Before we knew who was on the team, we were injected with shit that made us lose our minds.”
“Wait. Describe it.” Her features were animated, curious and engaged. “Losing your minds how? What does that look like?”
“It looks like grown-ass men rolling in a river of glass. Horrific pain. Sensitivity to light. Headaches. We lost time.”
“Meaning?”
“We blacked out. Woke up bruised or bloody. Couldn’t remember training. Hell, half of that time, I wondered if I’d sold my soul. The doctors took months to titrate the proper dosage, which varied by individual.”
“Why did you stay?”
“Honey, do you really think they gave us a choice? We signed up for the program. We stuck it out. End of fucking story. Once the men in lab coats normalized our dosage, we no longer felt fear.”
She rested her elbows on the table, leaned on her folded hands. “Was it worth it?”
EXCERPT 2:
He skimmed those long fingers along her throat, trailing flames down her neck, exploding like the snap and pop of a log in the fire.
“Touch me, Caleb.” Gripping his waist, she pulled so she stood cocooned between his body and the wall. She lifted on her toes. “Taste—”
His mouth swallowed her words, her thoughts, until she no choice but grab hold or fall. Then he wrapped her in an embrace that pulled them together like magnets. Close to him now, caught in his gravity, she opened to the sensations. Firm lips. Demand. The brush of his hand at the small of her back. Under her shirt. Skin-to-skin and those flames burned brighter. The touch traced a line up her spine, engulfing her in sensation. Sparks in her veins as his hands stirred and churned. Then he gripped the back of her neck, tilted, and took the kiss deeper.
She was lost. Free floating, experiencing, memorizing every touch. Lost in the kiss, in the strength of the arm around her, in the heat of his body. Something smooth and enticing took her. Not to weakness, but strength, as he simply melted her bones so that the only thing holding her up was his hand, his strength.
Leaning back, he watched her with dark, mysterious eyes. The green almost fully black. His chest heaved. “I thought to take it slow.”
“If that was slow, I don’t think I can handle fast.”
Survive By the Team
Team Fear Book 3
5 stars. “Every Team Fear novel seems better than the last.” -Jess Molly Brown
Team Fear: An elite Special Forces unit involved in an experimental program to create fearless soldiers.
Background: Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill.
Mission: The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this steamy romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
He is about to meet the woman he can’t walk away from.
Mandi Gault’s brother died in a conspiracy threatening Team Fear–a defunct military team–so when she winds up in the hospital, a former teammate is forced to leave the safety of the team’s compound. He recognizes her attacker as a member of a rogue military unit with orders to eliminate Team Fear. Now they’re on the run while they unravel why Team Echo wants her dead.
As the danger escalates, they share a wild night of down and dirty fun that would put a blush on a corpse, but he made it clear it was one and done. Now he must decide if he’s brave enough to forget about vengeance and live.
Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill. The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this fast-paced romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
“A rollercoaster ride … [that] keeps the reader riveted.” –Splashes Into Books
Team Fear: An elite Special Forces unit involved in an experimental program to create fearless soldiers.
Background: Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill.
Mission: The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this steamy romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
Sergeant Rose is a former Special Forces soldier turned fearless through a classified program designed to inhibit the physiological reactions to fear, but the secret cocktail of drugs has lethal side effects. The soldiers are still fearless, but they’re also angry, paranoid, violent, and potentially suicidal, making them a danger to anyone close to them, which sends Rose on a mission of revenge against the military and the scientists who used Team Fear as guinea pigs to further a twisted agenda.
A discredited chemist fired for rushing testing protocols, Debi works as a bartender and longs for a way to redeem an impulsive, life-altering mistake. When she is kidnapped and nearly killed by the men sent to destroy Team Fear and all evidence of the experimental program, she has no choice but to join Team Fear on their quest for vengeance. Now she’s in the crosshairs of a rogue military team bent on her destruction.
The threat of annihilation should be enough to prevent Rose from acting on his fantasies about the beautiful scientist, but he can’t fight fate, the Army, and their explosive chemistry. As they’re drawn deeper into the conspiracy, will their relationship survive the truth?
Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill. The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this fast-paced romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
Reads like a Jason Bourne type flick. -Typical Distractions
Team Fear: An elite Special Forces unit involved in an experimental program to create fearless soldiers.
Background: Military trained, medically enhanced, designed to kill.
Mission: The surviving members of Team Fear are out of the military and in a world of secrets, lies, and cover-ups in this steamy romantic suspense series by Cindy Skaggs.
As a member of an elite Special Forces unit, Ryder bleeds red, white, and blue until a tragic accident causes Uncle Sam to cut the experimental team loose. The government program created a near-invincible fighting force but left the men with horrific side effects. When a fellow soldier loses his tether to reality and does the unthinkable, Ryder goes underground to protect his new wife.
Lauren thought her marriage was perfect until her husband disappeared. Now she’s determined to move on alone, but when someone tries to kill her, Ryder returns to protect what’s his.
The threats to Lauren intensify and Ryder must call in his disgraced team to protect her. She’s not safe alone, but loving a fearless soldier might be her most dangerous mission yet.
Cindy Skaggs grew up on stories of mob bosses, horse thieves, cold-blooded killers, and the last honest man. Those mostly true stories gave her a lifelong love of storytelling and heroes. Her search for story took her around the world with the Air Force before returning to Colorado where she’s turning her lifelong love of storytelling into fast-paced romantic suspense. She has an MFA in Creative Writing, three jobs, two kids, and more pets than she can possibly handle. She also plays the flute, makes crazy-good sculptures out of tortilla dough, and can wrangle the neurotic dog without getting mauled. Find her @CLSkaggs on Twitter or www.CSkaggs.com to sign up for her newsletter.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
A $10 Amazon Gift Card and a signed print copy of the first book in the series: LIVE BY THE TEAM (International winners will receive TEAM FEAR ebooks 1-3 instead of the signed first copy)
