RELEASE BLITZ
Title: The Only Thing
Series: The Donnigans #3
Author: Marie Harte
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 1, 2018
BLURB
"Readers will...read this book from cover to
cover...and then read it all over again."―RT Book Reviews for Just the
Thing Five Stars GOLD
What do you do when a "fake" relationship is so
much better than the real thing?
Hope Donnigan is finally getting her life together. She's
working a job she likes, has some amazing friends, and is steering clear of Mr.
Wrong. Now if only she could get her mother to understand that. Maybe a hot
tattoo artist from the other side town is just the ticket to teach her mom a
lesson.
J.T. Webster fell for Hope months ago at his sister's
wedding. So when she propositions him to be her fake boyfriend to get her
mother off her back, he's all in. The only problem is J.T. had no idea their
pretend relationship would be better than anything real he's ever had...
The Donnigans Series:
A Sure Thing (Book 1)
Just the Thing (Book 2)
The Only Thing (Book 3)
GOODREADS LINK:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34870133-the-only-thing
PURCHASE LINKS
US: https://amzn.to/2Fu7DY6
UK: https://amzn.to/2Kpdt0X
CA: https://amzn.to/2Knm5Vu
AU: https://amzn.to/2Jr9qQh
B&N: http://bit.ly/2HYbSOF
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2FfYuCo
iBooks: https://apple.co/2qSQN0P
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2r3e4xh
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2FfwsqM
Our Review:
A great romance novel. The Only Thing is a stand-alone novel in a series of interconnecting novels. It is technically a part of the Donnigan’s series, but also features characters from The McCauley Brother’s series. This book has romance and mystery with a bit of action. I was surprised by the action, but it added some great depth to the novel.
The plot of this story was written very well. This book is a fake relationship romance. Add in a touch of mystery and you can see why I enjoyed it so much. The author did a great job building up the plot of the story and adding a subplot that was sure to excite. The ending was a surprise as well.
Hope is a good character, but I found her annoying at times. I liked that she was a strong character, but her immaturity shone through at times, which I found annoying. J.T. is a great character. I loved how he is up front and honest about everything. I also love how he is caring and protective as well.
These two characters have had chemistry from the very beginning. It is obvious that they had met before the beginning of this story. That attraction has carried over into this book and allowed it to grow into something tangible. These two characters burn up the pages. What I think it best is that try and deny their feelings, which ramps up the heat.
The writing style in this book is similar to other books by this author. I started reading this author on a whim. I picked up one of her books to read at the beach. From then on, she became my beach read. This book is no exception. The pace is steady. The characters are likeable. It leaves you wanting more.
Overall, this was a great story. While the characters sometimes annoyed me, I really enjoyed the story overall. I hope they write a story about Rena next because I am not quite ready to leave this crazy universe. I would recommend this book to others.
Ratings:
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Heat: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
EXCERPTS
#1
Hope couldn’t find it in herself to blink, focused on God’s
gift to womankind. Her aunt’s invitation to dinner had come at the perfect
time, giving Hope an excuse to avoid her mother’s weekly nagathon. Since her
idiot older brothers had hooked up with the loves of their lives, her mother
had deemed Hope fair game again. So much for their pleasant détente, where Hope
stopped blaming her mother for her many issues and Linda Donnigan stopped
getting on Hope for breathing wrong.
Yet Hope hadn’t anticipated seeing J.T. Webster. He hadn’t
been at the last two dinners Aunt Sophie had invited her to. “Greg?” she asked,
her mind on other things.
Like how incredible J.T. filled out a simple T-shirt and
jeans. The man had the prettiest brown skin, like a smooth chocolate caramel.
Light but so filling. She swallowed a sigh.
Liam was white, and she knew J.T.’s mom had been black. She
also must have been gorgeous, because J.T. had his dad’s height and brawn, as
well as the face of an angel who liked to sin. A lot.
She swallowed a sigh and continued to visually eat him up,
wondering if the size of his hands and feet could be correlated to the size of
other things.
God, get your mind off sex, Hope. His father is here! Aunt
Sophie is here! And you’re off men, remember?
“Yeah, Greg,” J.T. said, looking concerned. “Gas Works Park
ring a bell?”
Geez, she’d seen Greg and J.T. just last week. “Oh, no. No
problems on that front.” To Liam, who studied her a little too intently, she
explained, “Ex-boyfriend. A jerk I ran into. No biggie.” She shot J.T. a look,
pleased when he kept quiet.
Last weekend, Greg, a guy she hadn’t dated or seen in over
four months, had accused her of using her brother to bother him. But Hope
hadn’t thought about Greg the Cheater since she’d dumped him, so she knew her
brothers couldn’t care less about the guy. When Greg had tried to get a little
gropey at the park, she’d taken him down, courtesy of the self-defense classes
her brothers taught.
J.T. hadn’t had to do more than watch her take Greg out.
She’d been so proud of herself… when she’d been able to tear her imagination
from what J.T. would look like naked.
So sad those images replayed themselves over and over again.
“Right.” Liam stared from her to J.T., a question in his eyes.
“So who’s pregnant?” she asked, hoping to shift attention
away from herself.
Rena squealed. “Del is! A tiny little bun in her McCauley
oven.”
Del looked embarrassed, which was funny, because Del could
out swear the mechanics she bossed around on a daily basis and took woman power
to the next level. The woman had arms covered in tattoos, funky ash-blonde
braids, and icy gray eyes that seemed to look through, and not at, a person.
Hope could see a faint resemblance from brother to sister
despite their different skin tones. Both J.T. and Del had the same shape of
their eyes and stubborn chins, just like their father. Only someone as obsessed
with J.T. would have noticed that, she realized, and felt like a moron for
being so enthralled with the man.
Fortunately, Liam and Rena started badgering Del for
details, letting Hope off the hook.
Since she hadn’t yet greeted her aunt, Hope started to turn
and found J.T. suddenly in her way. “Oh, sorry.”
He put a hand out to stop her from bumping into him. And
sweet baby sexy, she felt the touch go from her arm all the way through her
body, centering between her legs. Oy.
#2
J.T. sighed and rolled his head on his neck then stretched
his shoulders. The session had been three hours long, but so worth it. He’d
done excellent work. He glanced around, pride in his efforts enforced by the
artistic feel of the place. His place.
The funky lobby of Tull Paint & Body had been done in
dark colors, the floors a clean gray cement. Artwork decorated the walls, using
pictures the guys and Suke had done in the studio. A few Tull T-shirts and mugs
sat on a rack by the counter, where whoever manned the desk would catch walk-ins
and take payments. Where their apprentice Daisy would have been if she hadn’t
left early to run some errands.
“J.T.?”
He froze for a moment, feeling déjà vu. He kept hearing Hope
Donnigan’s voice in the weirdest places. Although she had actually been at his
dad’s on Friday. He turned to see her standing by the wall-mounted screen to
his right. Huh. She was really here.
“Hope?”
She wore open toed sandals showing off dainty, blue painted
toenails. Shapely legs disappeared under a knee-length, floral sun dress. A
cropped sweater hid her shoulders. She looked like the essence of summer, and
he wanted to kneel down in worship. Innocence radiated from her in waves, as if
begging him to muss her a little and show her just what heels like those would
look like on either side of his head.
He should have felt dirty for wanting to muddy that
innocence. Instead, he grew more aroused. Hell.
“Hi.” She smiled at him.
His heart raced. Damn, that dimple slayed him every time.
“He says hi back,” Suke said dryly. “I’m Suke, one of the
harder working artists around here. I take it you know J.T.?”
Hope nodded. “Great place. I hadn’t realized it was down
here.”
As she and Suke spoke, he watched them interact. Hope didn’t
seem to care that Suke had tattoos up and down her arms, piercings in her nose
and lip, and spiked black hair in a dare-to-be punk style. Nor did she seem to
mind the way Suke was eye-fucking her.
“Hey.” He growled; he minded.
Suke grinned. “I’m leaving for the day. You need me to stick
around and lock up? Maybe walk Hope out to her car?”
“Go.”
Suke chuckled and left.
“She’s nice.”
He laughed. “Suke? She busts our balls on a daily basis, but
we love her. Now what brings you to the lion’s den?”
She grinned. “Is that what this is? The sign outside said
Tull Paint & Body.”
“Yeah, a play on Auto Paint & Body, like a car paint
shop. I worked for my dad before I opened the place, and some of him stuck.”
Jesus, he was babbling.
“Tull?”
He shrugged, searching for calm. “My dad was a Jethro Tull
fan. Sounded cool when I was twenty-five.” He paused, shoving his hands in his
pockets so he wouldn’t tuck a stray strand of her golden hair back behind her
ear. “What’s up, Hope?”
She flushed, now looking uncomfortable. “Ah, this is kind of
awkward. I have a favor to ask.” She didn’t say any more.
She looked so damn adorable. He couldn’t help himself. He
had to mess with her. “Okay. So you want a baby without the commitment. I get
it. You want to make one right here or in the back room? Do you have some
paperwork for me to sign first? You know, about rights for the kid?”
“What? No.” She blinked at him. “Have you done that before?”
“Nah, but I can’t think of a more awkward conversation. So
now that I know you’re not here to use me and abuse me, what can I do for you?”
“Ah, actually…” Her face turned bright red.
He gaped. “Shit. Really?” He took a step closer. “You want
to abuse me? I’m game.”
ALSO AVAILABLE
#1 A Sure Thing
US: http://amzn.to/2dTWE29
UK: http://amzn.to/2dlCQj9
CA: https://amzn.to/2JqpLVc
AU: https://amzn.to/2JoLKfi
B&N: http://bit.ly/2dRs6K2
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2r0XXPT
iBooks: http://apple.co/2dBmy7n
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2r0HV8D
#2 Just the Thing
US: https://amzn.to/2I6amMK
UK: https://amzn.to/2HqoCk1
CA: https://amzn.to/2KqkJcH
AU: https://amzn.to/2r0O9Fx
B&N: http://bit.ly/2vQ77V8
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2HqGSG4
iBooks: https://apple.co/2HQLRmE
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2I28i6g
AUTHOR BIO
Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New
York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books
published with more constantly on the way. She’s a confessed bibliophile and
devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town,
or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a
happily ever after. Visit http://marieharte.com and fall in love.
AUTHOR LINKS
Website: http://marieharte.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marieharteauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHarte_Author
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/263567.Marie_Harte
GIVEAWAY
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