Review Tour: Chef Vs Chef by MJ O'Shea #Review #Giveaway

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Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2EUk7Lh
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2JXkJE2

Cover Design: L.C. Chase

Sizzling In The Kitchen Series

Book #1 - Chef In The Wild - Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Blurb

Bobby Diaz has worked his whole life to get where he is – running a restaurant with his two closest friends, no boss, and generally content. When his best friend Baldwin gets the gig of a lifetime, he asks Bobby to take over the restaurant while he’s gone. He’ll miss his friend, but he’s excited to put himself to the test. He can’t believe he’s getting the chance to finally run his own kitchen.

Cal Mayer is thirty and starting over. His last relationship was a failure. His job went down the drain. So when his cousin Pete, a.k.a Baldwin Powell celebrity chef, offers him a gig in his restaurant, he can’t help but to jump at the offer to reinvent himself.

Bobby and Cal don’t exactly hit it off—to put it lightly. Bobby resents getting Cal dumped in his lap. Cal doesn’t appreciate Bobby’s frosty attitude. They’re stuck together day and night, and their chemistry is undeniable… but will it be sweet summer love or a case of too many chefs in the kitchen?

Review 

I truly, absolutely LOVED this book!

The world of Montpelier was warm and friendly and filled with the perfect descriptions for a world built around the kitchen of a small town restaurant. It was like a character unto itself. Murph and Baldwin were great supporting characters in that way that they helped move the story forward with the main characters and they were full of personality and it made me want to read their story. (I hope they have one!)

The main characters made this story. Watching Bobby and Cal’s evolution from the first time we meet them to the end warmed my heart and even made it a little broken at times. I felt for Cal in his decisions and his feelings, even as much as I wanted to smack him to wake him up. The same went for Bobby in the beginning. From enemies who argued and fought for months to tentative friends to more, each step was well paced and flowed so well.

The one hiccup I found that I thought could’ve made this story 5 stars was the sex scene. The author gave us two dynamic characters whose relationship went through this transformation but always had this underlying heat and chemistry. When the time came and the tension broke and they finally woke up to their feelings to have it be in a vague one-off paragraph felt like all that heat and chemistry just fizzled. It was anti-climactic. Do I like sex in books? Yup but I’ve read plenty that made it work so that it didn’t hurt the story or its characters. This TO ME was not one of those times, sadly.

In the end, I still loved these guys, the town, and even the ending. The author is truly a talented writer and she has proven this to me time and time again with every story I’ve read of hers. This one included.

 

MJ O’Shea has never met a music festival, paintbrush, or flower crown she can stay away from. She loves rainstorms and a perfect cup of tea, beach days, music, bright colors, and more than anything a cozy evening with a really great book.

She is from the Pacific Northwest. While she still lives there and loves it, MJ has the heart of a wanderer. So she puts all her dreams of far off places and extraordinary people in her books.

Except for every once in a while when she does what all travelers have to do on occasion… come home.

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Random Review: Kiss Me Forever by MJ O'Shea #Review #Giveaway

Author: MJ O'Shea
Title: Kiss Me Forever
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
House Line: Dreamspun Beyond
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
Length: 200 pages

Reviewed by Jenn

Synopsis

Forever is too long to be alone.

Professor Avery Cook has spent his career researching the mysterious side of New Orleans. Superstitions, legends, and lore—Avery has an academic explanation for all of them….

Until one night when he walks into a bar and his life changes.

In a sea of impossibly beautiful people, Tyson stands out, and he sweeps Avery off his feet with his old-world charm and romanticism. But there’s a darkness in Tyson too, and Avery discovers Tyson is part of a world he thought existed only in books and stories—the paranormal tales he studies at the university.

Tyson’s been lonely for a long time, and he’s falling in love with Avery. But his past is a long one, and it’s full of enemies and danger. The best way to keep Avery safe is to push him away….

Links

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Review

I have been trying to explore more paranormal books lately and this is one that I completely loved! M.J. O’Shea takes us to modern day New Orleans and shows us all the hidden, dark parts of the city and the folklore.

We meet Professor Avery Cook, a certified genius with an interest in all the lore New Orleans has to offer. He teaches at Tulane College and his most popular class is in myths, legends, and the supernatural. When Avery goes out to an exclusive club one night and meets Tyson, a man almost too beautiful to be real, his life and beliefs are forever changed.

I absolutely loved the way the author explores the supernatural in this book, it’s done with a balance of academia that pulled me in and made me believe. Reading this, I could almost hear the music and feel the heavy air of the French Quarters. It’s a sexy, smart, and entertaining book, I think Tyson and Avery are just perfect for each other. There is a "meant to be quality" with these two that you can’t help but love. I so highly recommend this book and I know I’m going straight to look at this author’s other titles for more!

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Audiobook Review: Marriage of Inconvenience by MJ O'Shea Narrated by John Solo #Review #Giveaway

Author: MJ O'Shea
Narrator: John Solo
Book: Marriage of Inconvenience 
Series: Dreamspun Desires #16
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Bree Archer
Length: 5 hours thirty-five minutes


Reviewed by Morningstar


Synopsis

Lights, camera, lies.
Kerry Pickering has a problem. As a publicist for Hollywood bad boy Jericho Knox, it’s Kerry’s job to keep Jericho in the news. So far, Jericho’s partying and public escapades have made it easy. But Jericho has a secret, and when that secret is revealed in the most spectacularly disastrous way, it’s up to Kerry to spin it.
The team decides the best course of action is to make the public fall in love—with Jericho’s secret committed relationship. The one that doesn’t exist. Yet.
The team wants someone they can trust. Someone in the inner circle. That someone is Kerry. But what will happen when Kerry realizes that for him, the romance is no longer pretend? Can Jericho love him back, or is he just playing a role?

Buy Links

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Review

I love stories of famous people getting together with not famous people, but add in an arranged relationship and I am in love! And this one hit the spot on all my wants.

Jericho Knox is the bad boy actor who needs an image makeover for a part he really wants on a hot TV series. Who better to help than his PR team who can get him the wholesome girl on his arm showing how in love they are? Problem is Jericho is gay and is so tired of playing the game, but he follows along because he really wants that new part. Of course, one last night out can’t hurt, right? Ahhhh pictures say a thousand words. Kerry Pickering is a publicist who gets called in to find that wholesome girl for the Jericho Knox, but his job quickly changes when Jericho’s sexuality is revealed. Now he’s playing fiancé to a man he finds hot but who basically hates him, leading a life he never wanted, and falling in love.

As with all Dreamspun Desire books a little suspension of reality is needed. Overall I loved these two guys together, especially once they started to live together. Feelings emerge from all the time they have to spend together, and when misconceptions are cleared up it leads the way to more. Kerry caught my heart with his lack of confidence and pure heart. Jumping into the fire that is Jericho’s life is not something that was easy for him but he also didn’t let Jericho run over him just because he was some big name actor. Jericho was a jerk in the beginning but an understandable one. I loved how through each interaction we get to see the real him come out more and more.

A plus for me, in this story at least, is that it wasn’t an easy peasy fall in love and HEA story. There was a tiny bit of angst and some heart break before they could get there. The reason that Jericho struggles in the end was slightly hard to believe because it was suddenly an issue; but again suspension of belief is a requirement for this type of story. The sexy scenes were hot, but definitely low key and perfect for this series.

Audiobook

John Solo the narrator is one of my favorites out there! He gave each character an individual unique voice that made this already fun story even better. He was great with the emotions that needed to be conveyed through each character, his timing and pace were perfect and draw you in (believe me I got mad a couple times people tried to interrupt me!), his general narrator's voice was great, as well.

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Release Day Review: Marriage of Inconvenience by MJ O'Shea #Review #Giveaway

Author: MJ O'Shea
Book: Marriage of Inconvenience
Series: Dreamspun Desires~ Book 16
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: August 15, 2016
Length: 214 pages



Reviewed by Erin



Synopsis

Lights, Camera, Lies.

Kerry Pickering has a problem. As a publicist for Hollywood bad boy Jericho Knox, it’s Kerry’s job to keep Jericho in the news. So far, Jericho’s partying and public escapades have made it easy. But Jericho has a secret, and when that secret is revealed in the most spectacularly disastrous way, it’s up to Kerry to spin it.

The team decides the best course of action is to make the public fall in love—with Jericho’s secret committed relationship. The one that doesn’t exist. Yet.

The team wants someone they can trust. Someone in the inner circle. That someone is Kerry. But what will happen when Kerry realizes that for him, the romance is no longer pretend? Can Jericho love him back, or is he just playing a role?

Buy Links

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Review

Even when you know before you read the first page of a book how it’s going to end, there is something just so comforting about reading those tried and true tropes we all love so much. Marriage of Inconvenience by M.J. O’Shea is your classic bad boy turned good boy along with a fake engagement that of course leads to true love. I’m not spoiling anything by mentioning this because as everyone knows, Dreamspinner Press’s Dreamspun Desires line is all about the HEA and how they get there. 

Knox Jericho is your typical Hollywood bad boy. Attitude to spare, aloof, and condescending, Jericho hasn’t been in LA very long, but he sure is as jaded as they come. Kerry Pickering might not be setting the world on fire doing behind the scenes PR work, but that all changes when Jericho gets caught in the most uncompromising of positions and it’s up to Kerry and the PR firm he words for to rehabilitate Jericho’s less than stellar image. And of course, what better way to do that than by being in a committed, loving relationship? Thus begins Jericho’s and Kerry’s fake relationship … that as we all can guess, isn’t quite so fake after all. 

I like what M.J. did with this often used plot device. Yeah, we’ve all seen this done time and time again, but Jericho and Kerry are so engaging that you can’t help but fall in love with these two. It takes a bit of time though seeing as how Jericho is such a jerk at the beginning, but once Kerry gets through his walls, this was really sweet and cute. It’s nice not to read a book filled with sex scene after sex scene, and I am much more of a fan of flirting and tender and intimate moments that full on sex all the time. I liked what M.J. did with both character’s families and the secondary characters throughout the book added a great deal to the overall story. 

This is light and low angst and though I felt that the drama at the end was a bit much and made me roll my eyes a bit, it didn’t really take away from my enjoyment of Marriage of Inconvenience at all. This is a great book to escape into for a few hours and you’ll wind up with a smile on your face at the end.

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