Book Review: #Fate by Cambria Hebert

Reviewer: Tabitha Adkins
#FATE by Cambria Hebert                               Format: Kindle
Series: GearShark #6
Published by Cambria Hebert Books, LLC
Publication Date: November 4th 2019
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult Sports Romance, MM Romance          Page Count: 429
Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

 

 

 

 

 

The original Synopsis can be found here.

What’s meant to be will always find a way.

Perfection isn’t an illusion.
I met it, held it in my hands.
But then it slipped right through.

Perfection isn’t an illusion.
It’s elusive, cleverly evasive, and, in many ways, a horrible tease.

I’m not a man to be toyed with.
Quiet, thoughtful, and even sometimes careful,
but never someone to taunt.
Even the most controlled men have a breaking point.
I just met mine.

Why mess with perfection?
You don’t.
Unless perfection messes with you.

This is book 6 in the GearShark series and is NOT a standalone.

The Review:

We have come full circle with the GearShark series, hopefully, by now you have already read the Hashtag series because without it you won’t really understand some of the undercurrents and parts going on with different characters.  This book is an M/M relationship, so let this be a warning if you don’t like those, but I think you’d be missing out if you didn’t read this book and series just because of that.

#Fate is the heartbreaking and breathtaking conclusion to the story that Cambria Hebert started in #Junkie and #Rev with Drew Forrester and Trent Mask.  (If you have not read them, stop and do not read #Fate!)  In this story we get to see new sides to these boys that we have not seen before, but still get the epic bromance that was seen through the Hashtag series and the GearShark series.  The deep and emotional bond that developed still shines through each action that they take throughout the whole book.

I have always loved Trent as a character, and #Fate is his shining role as he takes an almost center stage in this book.  I won’t reveal any spoilers, but the growth in Trent’s character is spectacular and makes me wish he was a real person.

Drew is still that easy to love character that we met when he came up to Alpha U for Ivy in #Poser.  Only now instead of working behind a desk on computers, he drives a car for Gamble’s NRR division of his racing team.

The book starts with a bang and leaves you reading page after page. It comes to a wonderful conclusion rather than the cliffhanger that the first two books left us with.  But as always we are always left wanting more.  As usual, Cambria has done an amazing job with the details that always drag the readers into the world she’s created and keeping them invested in the narrative.

This book as an amazing conclusion to the characters that we fell in love with all the way back in the Hashtag series.  I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, if you haven’t yet jumped onto the #NERD bandwagon you really… really need too.  The best thing about this is, that you don’t have to wait for the next book, because not only is the Hashtag series finished, but so is the GearShark series so you aren’t having to wait the long months that we did!

Until Next Time!

Tabby

HOT New Release Alert! By Cambria Hebert

HOT New Release Alert!

Escape reality and dive into TWO romantic suspense collections, filled with suspense, steamy romance and unforgettable characters!

Take It Off: Volume One includes six full length standalone novels by Cambria Hebert containing alpha men and strong-willed women.

Take It Off: Volume Two is a set of five standalone romantic suspense novels with happy endings, plenty of heat, and no cliffhangers.

Caution: Contents in these sets are HOT!

 

Novels included in Take It Off Volume One:

Torch –

If you can’t take the heat… stay away from the flame.

Tease –

You can look, but you can’t touch…

Trashy–

She’s trying to move on, but the past won’t let her go.

Tempt –

Stranded and alone with not one, but two wickedly enticing men.

Text –

One text can change everything.

Tipsy –

Alcohol isn’t the only thing that can make a girl tipsy.

 

Novels included in Take It Off Volume Two:

Tricks

Love can play tricks on your heart…

Tattoo-

A tattoo gets them in trouble… He will get them out.

Tryst-

Sometimes all a girl needs is a little fling.

Taste-

One taste is never enough…

Taxi-

The meter is running…

 

11 books. 2 box sets. Each book is a standalone novel with no cliffhanger, and a happy ending. Read in any order. Escape reality in eleven different ways.

 

Purchase Information

Please note these box sets are only available in ebook. 

*some links are affiliate links

 

Take It Off Volume One

AMAZON: https://amzn.to/2ujqhCI 

UNIVERSAL LINK (BN, kobo, apple, etc): https://books2read.com/TIOVolOne 

Take It Off Volume Two

AMAZON: https://amzn.to/2HI7aoN 

UNIVERSAL LINK (BN, kobo, apple, etc): https://books2read.com/TIOVolTwo  

 

ABOUT CAMBRIA HEBERT

 

Cambria Hebert is a bestselling novelist of more than fifty titles. She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair.

Besides writing, Cambria loves a pumpkin spice latte, staying up late, sleeping in, and watching K drama until her eyes won’t stay open. She considers math human torture and has an irrational fear of chickens (yes, chickens). You can often find her running on the treadmill (she’d rather be eating a donut), painting her toenails (because she bites her fingernails), or walking her chihuahuas (the real bosses of the house).

Cambria has written in many genres, including new adult, sports romance, male/male romance, sci-fi, thriller, suspense, contemporary romance, and young adult. Many of her titles have been translated into foreign languages and have been the recipients of multiple awards.

 

Awards Cambria has received include:

Author of the Year 2016 (UtopiaCon2016)

The Hashtag Series: Best Contemporary Series of 2015 (UtopiaCon 2015)

#Nerd: Best Contemporary Book Cover of 2015 (UtopiaCon 2015)

Romeo from the Hashtag Series: Best Contemporary Lead (UtopiaCon 2015)

#Nerd: Top 50 Summer Reads (Buzzfeed.com 2015)

The Hashtag Series: Best Contemporary Series of 2016 (UtopiaCon 2016)

#NERD Book Trailer: Best Book Trailer of 2016 (UtopiaCon 2016)

#Nerd Book Trailer: Top 50 Most Cinematic Book Trailers of All Time (film-14.com)

#Nerd: Book Most Wanted to be Adapted to Screen: (2018)

Amnesia: Mystery Book of the Year (2018)

 

Cambria Hebert owns and operates Cambria Hebert Books, LLC.

You can find out more about Cambria and her titles by visiting her website:

http://www.cambriahebert.com

 

Book Blitz: Hometown Girl by Kirsten Fullmer

Hometown Girl Forever
Kirsten Fullmer
(Hometown #3)
Publication date: August 11th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Lizzy is making changes. Her recent move to Smithville and her job at the spa, as well as her boho-chic alpaca farm, are perfect. However, her overbearing socialite mother will not stop interfering with her plans. The woman may have run her life back in Boston, but Lizzie is determined that those days are in the past!

Elliot, a successful big-city architect, is visiting Smithville to check on his latest Spa design. The last thing he expects to find is a gorgeous gypsy-style spa manager and her demanding mother. Elliot is instantly drawn to Lizzie, but doesn’t understand her mixed signals. Unused to small town life, he is completely out of his element and in for one surprise after another.

Lizzy can’t help but be attracted by Elliot’s charms, but he’s exactly the type of man her mother would choose for her. Once Again, Smithville folk interfere with plans at every turn, forcing Lizzy and Elliot to face their personal dilemmas, and each other, head on.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Elliot followed Tara into the spa, steadying his coffee cup, carefully stepping around a short, thin man who was shoveling the flowerbed as if the devil himself were prodding him. The man’s eyes bulged and his glassed hung on the tip of his nose.

“That’s Bobby,” Tara said as they stepped into what would become the spa lobby, “and over there are Gloria and Marge.”

Unsure which of the gaggle of women she was referring to, he nodded and gripped his coffee cup tighter. The women all nodded as he passed. The room was just as cluttered as it had been the night before, but now, instead of boxes, the room was filled with piles of items pulled from the boxes, as well as women of all sizes, ages, and types. Flattening against the wall so the redhead could pass, he scanned the room. “Who is in charge here?” he croaked, afraid to ask.

Tara scanned the noisy room. “There she is, come on…” she said, dragging Elliot forward by the elbow.

Elliot shuffled through the piles of supplies as Tara called out to friends. Being a good-sized man, he had to twist and turn to fit through the narrow spaces Tara easily passed. Forced to hold his half-full coffee cup over his head, Elliot muttered apologies for stepping on feet and bumping into women. Finally they reached the other side of the large room.

Gaping behind him at the sea of supplies and bodies he’d traversed, Elliot was caught off guard when he turned to see the gypsy woman he’d met the day before standing in front of him with a clipboard.

Her eyes were bright, and her riot of black curls were held back from her face with a headband. She wore a cream-colored tunic unlike anything Elliot had ever seen. It was rumpled, loose, and long to her hips, and the top of the bodice was comprised of multiple layers of lace. Over the frock she wore a loose-weave grey jacket that hung open, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Soft netting hung out the bottom of the frock at her hips, and around her neck she wore what he could only categorize as a necklace, but was actually a long chain with charms and feathers and scraps of lace shimmering all around it.

He stared at her in shock, not only because of her clothing, but because it was her. The strange bohemian woman had danced in and out of his scattered dreams all night. His eyes roamed over her all the way to the floor, taking in her grey leggings and laced boots, unable to miss her very shapely legs, before traveling back up to her face. This gypsy woman was going to run his spa?

Her perturbed expression clearly asked if he was finished gaping.

Feeling quite the clod, he hurried to extend his hand, forgetting momentarily that he held a coffee cup.

Lizzie jumped back, raising the clipboard in order to miss the torrent of black liquid as coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup.

Elliot jerked the cup back and staggered sideways into a pile of boxes, splashing coffee across his slacks and shoes.

“Let me help you,” Lizzie said, tossing her clipboard on a stack of boxes and grabbing a towel from a nearby pile of linens. Bending, she brushed at the coffee on his shins and shoes.

Embarrassed and numb with what he could only describe as uncharacteristically cloddish behavior, Elliot stood like a statue, his coffee cup held at arm’s length, still dripping onto the hardwood floor.

Author Bio:

Kirsten is a dreamer with an eye for art and design. She worked in the engineering field, taught college, and consulted free lance. Due to health problems, she retired in 2012 to travel with her husband. They live and work full time in a 40′ travel trailer with their little dog Bingo. Besides writing romance novels, she enjoys selling art on Etsy and spoiling their three grandchildren.

As a writer, Kirsten’s goal is to create strong female characters who face challenging, painful, and sometimes comical situations. She believes that the best way to deal with struggle, is through friendship and women helping women. She knows good stories are based on interesting and relatable characters.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

 

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Book Blitz: Shipley’s Secrets by Jen Simmons

Shipley’s Secrets
Jen Simmons
Publication date: December 10th 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Growing up in foster care, Malcolm has never known his birth family. The first twelve years of his life is riddled with trauma and abuse. His only dream in life is to make it to eighteen years old so he can join the military and change his fate. When Malcolm’s placed in the care of a new foster home, he meets Adler and Sal. Three boys having grown up with no family, no connections and no hope of a steady life, they find something in each other they never thought they’d have. Family. After a horrific trauma occurs in this new foster home, Malcolm, Adler and Sal are thrust into uncertainty and an indefinite separation from each other. That is, until an unlikely savior steps in.

Trauma brought three boys into the lives of the Keating’s. The love they carry as brothers will guide them into the life they’re meant to have. Their shared dream of joining the military just a short time away. Loyalty to each other and their newly built family is the glue that binds all those dreams together. But with loyalty and the need to protect each other, comes secrets.

Clara has had her own fair share of trauma. After a life altering event, Clara vows to move on with her life and be happy despite all that is stacked against her. When she meets the mysterious Malcolm, her curiosity about him leads her to an unlikely turn of events. And a life she never expected. Which way will her heart sway? Will the path it takes tear apart a brother’s bond?

Will all the secrets kept between these lives break the loyalty of this family?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

—

EXCERPT:

Clara

Standing up straight and looking into the mirror, I see Sal standing behind me, wet from a shower. His chest is bare with the exception of a thin silver chain, a cross attached and dangling from his neck. The only thing he has on are gray track pants, hanging low on his waist, showing the perfect shape of his toned hips and slender build. The definition of muscle from his chest to his stomach as it makes its way down his body has my mouth watering. God, he’s perfect. He has a towel in his hand, the motion of drying his short hair halted at the sight of me in his bedroom. His dark eyes burn into mine. I can feel his stare all the way to my toes. Those familiar goosebumps are back and covering every inch of my skin. Without breaking eye contact, I explain my intrusion into his personal space, “I…I um, the door was open.” He looks over at the door then back at me. Heat rises up my neck and I feel it coloring my cheeks. I turn to face him, my face red with embarrassment. The tension is heavy that I came in without being asked and found him half-naked. “You said you wanted to talk to me? Before I left.”

He doesn’t say a word, just walks towards me and puts the towel onto the chair next to his bed. As he passes me, he lays a hand on my waist. Sal pulls me closer to him as he turns. His arms wrap around my waist and I’m surprised at the intimate way he hugs me. Sal holds me tight, like he’s missed me. It’s strange but feels so good. His hand moves up my back and rests on the back of my head. I sink deeper into his arms. My hands come up to rest on his chest, my cheek pressing against him just below his neck. He holds me as if I’m cherished, as if I belong here in his embrace. Inhaling deep, I’m lost in the sweet scent of sandalwood, sawdust and fresh cut grass. He pulls away from me a little, just enough so that our bodies still touch. His forehead comes down to rest against mine. My eyes are closed, and I can feel his breath against my lips. I don’t move, I don’t breathe. Sal removes the band holding my braid at the base of my spine, releasing my unruly hair. I exhale the breath I’m holding as his hands separate my braid section by section. He slightly pulls on my hair as he climbs his fingers up toward my scalp. The curls surround me, the smell of lavender from my conditioner overtaking his scent. He rubs my scalp, keeping his forehead against mine. It’s the best feeling. The tenderness of my head from the heavy braid easing a little from his attention. His hands move around to my neck, his thumbs caressing my jaw. His voice is like gravel when he finally speaks. “You. Are. So. Beautiful.” Each word he says as a statement, with so much passion behind each word. “When I’m around you and I can’t hold you like this, I can’t breathe.” He lays a kiss on my forehead, then each of my cheeks. “I want to take you somewhere. Will you go somewhere with me, tomorrow?” His hand now rests on my cheek. The look in his eyes makes me feel needed. Wanted. I can’t believe that so quickly I would feel this safe and secure with Sal. Just knowing that no matter what he asks of me, I won’t deny him.

Watch the book trailer here.

Author Bio:

Jen was born in San Diego, California and was raised in Lubbock, Texas. Jen’s life took her into a career of nursing. In 2008, she earned her Registered Nursing degree and began caring for patients in a fast-paced Intensive Care unit. Her dreams led her to obtain an undergraduate degree in Nursing followed by a Master’s degree in Nursing Leadership and Organizational Management. Jen has always loved reading and books. The idea suddenly came to her one day to sit down and start writing Shipley’s Secrets. The process at first, was a release from the busy day to day life of a Registered Nurse in healthcare management.

Jen’s inspiration to finish and self-publish came in the form of encouragement and love from her husband Jason. Jen gets her inspiration from authors like Pepper Winters, Jamie McGuire, and Colleen Hoover. Jen hopes that the inspiration from writing Shipley’s Secrets will inspire her to keep writing in the young adult and contemporary romance realm.

Jen likes to read, write and watch movies in her free time. Any chance to drink champagne and eat pasta, she jumps on. Jen lives in Northern Colorado with her husband Jason, daughter Alyssa and their dog Lady Simmons.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

 

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