Hey everyone! After much consideration, we have decided to overhaul our blog and go with a new name. Both of us feel strongly in our love for the LGBTQ+ community and after recent events, we will no longer be going by Bookishly Slytherclaw. We will now be going by Stocked Up on Starbooks! We hope you continue to join us on our blogging journey and we can’t wait to share our thoughts on books with you all.
Felicia and Stephanie
Last year I was able to read an advanced copy of Meet Me at Midnight and instantly fell in love like I have done with both of Jessica Pennington’s previous books. I am so excited to have been able to interview Jessica Pennington for the blog tour to celebrate her book!
What inspired Meet Me at Midnight?
This book was inspired by my own summer vacations! From the time I was 10, my family has rented a lake house, and the layout in Meet Me At Midnight is almost identical: two small rental houses on a hill, with a large house behind them, where the owners live. Unlike in Meet Me at Midnight, I didn’t have a cute, snarky boy living next door, I just had my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Not nearly as much fun!
All three of your current releases feature some similar locations. With any future releases, do you think you’ll carry on that trend of them being centered in similar locations or do you think you’ll venture elsewhere?
I’m honestly not sure. As far as contemporary romance goes, I do really love writing beachy summer stories. But I also have some ideas that take place during the school year, so who knows! But my current work in progress is actually a romantic fantasy, so that setting is VERY different, and it’s been a fun change of pace!
There are many pranks in Meet Me at Midnight. Were you a prankster when you were younger? What was your favorite prank in the book?
Oh my goodness, I wish I had been bold enough as a teen to pull pranks like Sidney and Asher, but I definitely wasn’t. They were so fun to write, though! It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think it’s probably when Sid makes Asher think he’s wet the bed, and that’s mostly because I love the scenes leading up to that prank and what caused her to do it. But the cherry Kool-Aid would be a close second!
Your books feature a variety of commonly used tropes. Is there a trope that you haven’t used yet that you want to write about?
I love tropes, and I think the one I haven’t done yet that I definitely will in the future is “fake dating.” It’s one of my favorites, it’s actually hard to believe I haven’t used it yet!
Where did you vacation when you were younger? Did you have a favorite location?
My family’s lake vacations were definitely my favorite, and a lot of the locations in both Meet Me At Midnight and When Summer Ends are inspired by actual locations in that area. The cherry-themed restaurant and River Depot in When Summer Ends, and the old-school drive-in movie theater in Meet Me At Midnight are all based on some of my favorite places in northern Michigan (there’s a little tour in my saved IG stories!)
Were you a swimmer? If so, did you compete?
I swam for a few years in early middle school, but that’s it. I grew up down the street from Lake Michigan, though, so swimming was a big part of my life growing up, which is why lakes and lake towns tend to play such a big role in my books. The morning swims in Meet Me At Midnight were actually inspired by a fellow vacationer I met one summer when I was about thirteen—she was a competitive swimmer and her dad would take her out in the mornings to swim across the lake.
How has releasing Meet Me at Midnight been compared to your prior releases?
It’s been strange, since this book released just a few weeks after Covid-19 really started shutting things down. I had to cancel my launch party, and a few book festivals and conventions I was scheduled to attend in March and April. It’s been sad not getting to visit bookstores and see readers like I’d usually get to, but sometimes life is just weird and you have to roll with it, and this is definitely one of those times!
Website: http://itsjess.jpennington.net/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45043589-meet-me-at-midnight
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250187664
Forever Books (Jessica’s Local Indie!): https://www.foreverbooks.net/book/9781250187666
Jordan @ The Heart of a Book Blogger (Interview)
Belle @ Belle’s Archive (Creative Post)
Thank you so much, Jessica! I can’t wait to read more from you in the future!
COVER REVEAL
Title: It’s Only Temporary
Author: Lisa Suzanne
Genre: Contemporary Rock Star Romance
Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs
Photo: Wander Aguiar
Release Date: June 11, 2020
BLURB
It all started because of a bachelor auction.
My girlfriend was supposed to win me, but she issued an ultimatum that resulted in the end of our relationship seconds before I took the stage.
Instead, the singer of the band I’m temporarily playing with won. I’ve been fighting my attraction since the day I met her, and now I’m forced to take her on a romantic date. She may be mysterious and impulsive, but our date proves we’re more alike than I realized.
It may not matter. The woman I was with for seven years wants me back, and I have to decide whether I want to rely on security or take a risk.
Just when I think I have it all figured out, one of them hits me with a secret I never saw coming.
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53313116-it-s-only-temporary
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY: https://bit.ly/IOTgiveaway
AUTHOR BIO
Lisa Suzanne is a romance author who resides in Arizona with her husband and two kids. She’s a former high school English teacher and college composition instructor. When she’s not chasing or cuddling her kids, she can be found working on her latest book or watching reruns of Friends.
AUTHOR LINKS
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/e4j0z9
Instagram: http://instagram.com/authorlisasuzanne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSuzanne
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lisasuzanne
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Suzanne/e/B00CVUBGGE
Website: http://www.authorlisasuzanne.com
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lisa-suzanne
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/AuthorLisaSuzanne
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaSuzanne24 Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lisasuzanne24
I’m a balanced, ambitious ER nurse. He’s the immature guy in a successful band
who’s basically along for this ride called life.
Everything’s going great between us until the night he makes a stupid mistake
that changes everything. When I can’t see a future with him, I end it.
But the two of us are contractually obligated to go on a road trip across the
country, and since his reality show will be filming us, we have to act like
we’re a couple.
He blasts music I can’t stand, stops at strange roadside attractions, and
chooses my least favorite restaurants. Despite all that, I still see the sides
of him that I was starting to fall in love with.
Can we find our way back to each other, or will he just keep driving me crazy?
We say when to jump and how high, and the rest follow like lemmings because to
do otherwise is social suicide.
As cheer captain, I have everything I’ve ever wanted, including Scarsdale’s star
quarterback, Navrin Fox.
There’s just one problem … his twin brother.
Lev Fox knows exactly how to push my buttons—he’s been doing it since
childhood, after all—but when I give into my baser instincts and let the boy I
hate best me in a battle of wills, it’s not only my reputation as Queen Bee on
the line, it’s my heart too.
Secrets, betrayal, and lies—that’s what we Royals do best.
But no one ever said anything about love.
Author Links
My first thought is how to get out of this, except our wedding video has gone
viral and record sales are skyrocketing. My manager thinks following the
newlyweds on the second season of my band’s reality show will keep up the
momentum.
I just have to get Emily to agree to faking this marriage for six months, and
then we can quietly divorce.
Right?
Wrong.
Nothing is quite that simple when feelings blur the line between a contract and
reality.
I ended up with more than just a hangover when I found myself waking up
married.
FEAST OF SPARKS (Thornchapel #2) by Sierra Simone
Release Date: August 1st
Cover Designer: Hang Le
Photographer: Regina Wamba
Add to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44434266-feast-of-sparks
AVAILABLE NOW!!
Amazon US: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks
Amazon INTL: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks
Apple Books: https://sierrasim.one/iSparks
Nook: sierrasim.one/NookSparks
Kobo: sierrasim.one/KoboSparks
Google Play: COMING SOON
Goodreads: sierrasim.one/SparksGR
START THE SERIES TODAY WITH
A LESSON IN THORNS (Thornchapel #1)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OgiJGp
Amazon INTL: mybook.to/ALIT
B&N: http://bit.ly/2UO1VsN
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2HJxKiI
Blurb:
I’m an outcast and a loner, named for death itself. Fate wasn’t supposed to have plans for me.
But then she came back—the girl I once kissed in a thorn-covered chapel in the woods. She came back, and I could no more resist her than I could pry out my own heart. And by some trick of fate, she wants me as much as I want her. The only problem? She also wants the man who owns Thornchapel, Auden Guest.
And so do I.
Eight years ago, I did something to Auden, something terrible. He hurt me back the only way he knew how, and so here we are: our hatred seasoned with pain and my loneliness seasoned with longing. The only thing we can agree on is Proserpina Markham, and she wants us to find a way to be together—all three of us.
If Auden wants to earn her as his submissive, then he has to earn me as well.
But with the discovery of bones behind the altar and the carnal revel of Beltane fast approaching, it’s becoming clear that Thornchapel’s secrets are much deeper and older than any of us could have ever guessed. And no matter how bright and merry a feast of sparks may be, it’s always followed by ashes.
And darkness.
Excerpt:
Shame, hot and prickling, needles everywhere at my face and chest and belly as I begin to bend down to the floor. The cool air that caresses my pussy is now everywhere as the position begins to expose my most secret flesh, and there’s no pretending away the reality of what I’m doing. I’m doing something I’ve never done before, I’m offering up the filthiest part of me for inspection, and despite everything the three of us have shared in the past twenty-four hours, I’m flooded with shame. It’s real shame now, not play-shame, and my safe word floats to the top of my mind, a buoy in the clear waters.
Convivificat.
I don’t want to safe out right now, I’m nowhere near the edge, but it’s nice to have it there all the same. Reassuring. There’s nothing they can do that I can’t stop.
And anyway, this is who I am—who I’ve been growing into ever since I found the words to define it.
About the Author:
Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.
Connect w/Sierra Simone:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sierra-Simone-497450453680395/?fref=ts
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraSimonesLambs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSierraSimone
Amazon : http://amzn.to/1PDR4K4
Goodreads : http://bit.ly/1oo9WEh
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thesierrasimone/
Website: http://authorsierrasimone.com/
Subscribe to Sierra’s newsletter:
sierrasim.one/getmyemails
I’m so excited to be apart of the cover reveal celebration for Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington. I’ve read both of her previous books and they were some of my favorite contemporaries so I definitely can’t wait for her next book.
Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Publisher: Tor Teen/Macmillan
YA RomCom
OFFICIAL BOOK SUMMARY
They have a love-hate relationship with summer.
Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year–in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet.
But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note–Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy–the woman who kicked them out.
Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them.
LINKS
Add MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT on GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43524420-meet-me-at-midnight
Pre-Order Meet Me at Midnight
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250187666?aff=macmillan
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/meet-me-at-midnight-jessica-pennington/1131253770?ean=9781250187666
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250187664?tag=macmillan-20
FEAST OF SPARKS (Thornchapel #2) by Sierra Simone
Release Date: August 1st
Cover Designer: Hang Le
Photographer: Regina Wamba
Add to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44434266-feast-of-sparks
PRE-ORDER FEAST OF SPARKS (THORNCHAPEL #2) TODAY!
Amazon US: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks
Amazon INTL: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks
Apple Books: https://sierrasim.one/iSparks
Nook: sierrasim.one/NookSparks
Kobo: sierrasim.one/KoboSparks
Google Play: COMING SOON
Goodreads: sierrasim.one/SparksGR
START THE SERIES TODAY WITH
A LESSON IN THORNS (Thornchapel #1)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OgiJGp
Amazon INTL: mybook.to/ALIT
B&N: http://bit.ly/2UO1VsN
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2HJxKiI
Blurb:
I’m an outcast and a loner, named for death itself. Fate wasn’t supposed to have plans for me.
But then she came back—the girl I once kissed in a thorn-covered chapel in the woods. She came back, and I could no more resist her than I could pry out my own heart. And by some trick of fate, she wants me as much as I want her. The only problem? She also wants the man who owns Thornchapel, Auden Guest.
And so do I.
Eight years ago, I did something to Auden, something terrible. He hurt me back the only way he knew how, and so here we are: our hatred seasoned with pain and my loneliness seasoned with longing. The only thing we can agree on is Proserpina Markham, and she wants us to find a way to be together—all three of us.
If Auden wants to earn her as his submissive, then he has to earn me as well.
But with the discovery of bones behind the altar and the carnal revel of Beltane fast approaching, it’s becoming clear that Thornchapel’s secrets are much deeper and older than any of us could have ever guessed. And no matter how bright and merry a feast of sparks may be, it’s always followed by ashes.
And darkness.
Excerpt:
I can feel that beat, that pulsing, between the three of us so strongly right now, and I know Auden and Poe can too. I know they can feel that what we have together is more than biology, more than our odd little religion, more than years of knowing each other.
Those things we have with the other three in our group.
But this? This holy, ravening, primal, and marrow-deep need for each other? This is something unique to the three of us, and there’s no denying it, no arguing with it.
Fighting it is as pointless as screaming up at a storm on the heath.
Auden reaches down with his other hand; I hear the tear of fabric. The muscles in his arm contract and flex as he works her underneath her skirt. “So wet, little bride,” he purrs. “So ready to be fucked in this little hole.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me forward before I can react, and he guides me to her. Past the tear in her cute librarian tights to the place where she’s wet enough that a man could shove in with a single stroke. My shaft—huge and latex-shiny in the dark—pulses as Auden presses my fingers into her with his own until two of my fingers are curling up inside her and both our hands are wet.
Poe rocks against us both, her hands scrabbling for any kind of purchase until she manages to brace one on the bookshelf behind her and the other on Auden’s shoulder.
“Please, please fuck me,” she begs, and I know at this point she doesn’t care who she’s talking to. Auden or me—or hell, maybe Rebecca or Delphine or Becket.
“Oh, we’re going to,” Auden growls, and I like that we, I like it so much that I couldn’t deny Poe is right about fixing whatever is between the three of us even if I wanted to.
Could I have ever been content without knowing this? Knowing the feel of Auden’s hands on my hips as they are now, guiding me between Proserpina’s waiting thighs as she wraps her arms around my neck? Knowing once again the feel of being between them, as I was that night, of Auden reaching around me and gripping my cock with a casual arrogance that has me shuddering?
He notches my tip against her, his hand moving past me to grip her arse under her skirt, and then he brings us together, like we’re his to join. His pets to breed, his concubines to amuse him. It’s this I’m thinking of as I sink deep into Poe, letting out a long breath as her sweetness grips me, squeezes me.
“How does she feel?” Auden asks in my ear. He sounds bored, but I know that trick for what it is; I know that when his blood gets hot, his voice gets cold. And maybe it’s the thrills dancing up my body from the head of my cock to the soles of my feet, maybe it’s Poe biting her lower lip like she wishes it were my mouth she was nibbling—or maybe it’s the sheer fucking filth of this moment, Auden and me wedging her against the bookshelves in the dark while the others continue to laugh and drink only a stone’s throw away—
Whatever it is, I want to test Auden’s coolness, I want to make him feel for me just a little bit of what I feel for him always—desperate, clawing ache. A pining so animalistic and rough it shames me.
I want him to shame me.
And maybe it’s that last impulse more than anything that makes me do it. I turn my head to his—he’s so close that I can feel his breath on my cheek, so warm in the cool air of the library—and I kiss his throat. Right next to his Adam’s apple, right in the little hollow there. I kiss him and then I part my lips just enough to taste him with a small dart of my tongue. He tastes like clean skin with just the barest hint of sweat, like a man just beginning to get worked up. And he smells—God, he smells how he always smells.
Like this wonderful, terrible place tucked into the wild, wind-whipped moors. Like Thornchapel.
He stills at the touch of my lips, as if he can’t bear to breathe, and then at the flicker of my tongue, he lets out a low sound of fury. For a minute I wonder if he’ll hit me again, and I don’t care how wrong it is, how against the rules of kink, I want to eat up all his passion, all of his energy, I want him to be lost like me and I want to see it and feel it and take it into my body to remember as long as I live.
He doesn’t hit me.
He bites me.
About the Author:
Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.
Connect w/Sierra Simone:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sierra-Simone-497450453680395/?fref=ts
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraSimonesLambs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSierraSimone
Amazon : http://amzn.to/1PDR4K4
Goodreads : http://bit.ly/1oo9WEh
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thesierrasimone/
Website: http://authorsierrasimone.com/
Subscribe to Sierra’s newsletter:
sierrasim.one/getmyemails
Stuck in Fiction 