COVER REVEAL: SAVAGED BY NACOLE STAYTON

Title: Savaged
Author: Nacole Stayton
Genre: Contemporary Romance 18+
Publication Date: September 12, 2014
Cover Design: Sommer Stein
Event Organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

Synopsis

The twist of a knife shredded Niko Kincaid’s world all around him, leaving him with two choices—accept his fate and die, or fight to live. He chose to fight, but the aftermath became a daily reminder, carved into his once flawless flesh. Despite years of self-imposed solitude, Niko hungers for companionship and suffers from an aching loneliness that the darkness cannot satisfy. He temporarily soothes his pain with women, hired women, whose only purpose is to service him. Easy. He didn’t expect a complication like Cambree Evans, but desperation corrupts even the most innocent. When emotions blend with lust, will Cambree's softness and ability to look past Niko's flaws be the one thing that releases him from his own personal hell? Will the monster in the dark prove that his savaged heart is worth saving?

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About the Author

Nacole Stayton is the Amazon Bestselling author of The Upside of Letting Go, as well as other new adult and contemporary romance titles, including A Graceful Mess and In the Lyrics. She is twenty-something years young and currently resides in the Bluegrass State where she spends her days working at a local hospital in the billing department and nights writing vigorously on her current novel. She has a passion for helping others and wears her University of Kentucky gear proudly. While her husband loves all things outdoors, Nacole enjoys the finer things in life, like getting pedicures while reading on her Kindle. She is passionate about her faith, family, and The Vampire Diaries.

Connect with the Author: 

  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page

COVER REVEAL+GIVEAWAY: IN THE LYRICS BY NACOLE STAYTON

Title:  In the Lyrics

Author:  Nacole Stayton 

Genre:  New Adult 18+

Publication Date:  February 7, 2014

Cover Design:  Toski Covey Photography and Sommer Stein of Perfect Pear Creative

Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

Synopsis

Hensley Bradley is the definition of the girl-next-door. She’s kindhearted, beautiful, and talented. Bored with her mundane life, thoughts of fleeing her small town begin to consume her. With aspiring dreams to use her voice as a one-way ticket, she suddenly discovers that music might not be her only passion.

After a fallout back home, Colby Grant decides to leave his family’s farm, determined to show his father he’s more than just a wanna-be country singer. With his All-American good looks, it doesn’t take long for girls in his new town to focus their eyes on him. But things aren’t what they appear from the outside, and it isn’t long until Colby feels he doesn't fit into the perfect world that so quickly embraced him.

A chance encounter places Hensley in Colby’s path, but it isn’t her natural beauty that first captures his attention – it’s her voice.

When love and music mix, will the combination blossom into a beautiful melody or wither into a heart-wrenching tune?

Warning: This book is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit language and sexual encounters

Add to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18110409-in-the-lyrics

About the Author

Christian “Nacole” Stayton is twenty-something years young and currently resides in the Bluegrass state. She spends her days working at a local hospital in the billing department and nights writing vigorously on her current novel. She has a passion for helping others and wears her University of Kentucky gear proudly. While her husband loves all things outdoors, Nacole enjoys the finer things in life like getting pedicures while reading on her Kindle Fire. She is passionate about her faith, family, and The Bachelor.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest / Amazon Author Page

Giveaway (offered directly from the author ~ see graphic for details)

2 Advanced Reader Copies of In the Lyrics

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GRACEFUL MESS BY NACOLE STAYTON BLOG TOUR + REVIEW

Title:   A Graceful Mess

Author:  Nacole Stayton

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Erotica

Publication Date:  August 27, 2013

Photographer: Toski
Cover Designed By:  Perfect Pear Creative

Event organized by: Literati Author Services

Synopsis:

Hiding behind the anguish from my past, my coyness seeps off of me like an aroma. I have felt like a stranger in my own skin, trying to claw my way out for far too long, allowing very few people to see past my façade…until my eyes met with his. I felt a sudden rush of energy all the way to my core. It jolted me in ways I never thought possible.

Never in a million years would I have expected to be in the mess I am today. It all leads back to the night Parker Porter turned my world upside down. The night his hazel eyes undressed me, peeling away the layers of the woman I tried so hard to be. He awoke desires that burned deep within me and changed me in one quick glance, leaving me vulnerable and exposed, picking up the shattered pieces of my carefully constructed life…a life I should not be living…a life I was not born into, but placed into by the state of Maine.

Parker opened a door that I am far from closing until I have answers and am able to face the life I was destined to live. I just have to decide if his love is worth the mess.

“They say be careful of the quiet ones.” –Grace

Warning: This book is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit language and sexual encounters.

Find it on Goodreads

Our Review:

This may tell you everything you need to know about this book: I read it in one sitting. I think it took 4 hours--only stopping for coffee and donuts. So, as you can guess, I really enjoyed it! Hahaha, it did read really, really fast. Although you could've shared the donuts! ;)

At the very beginning we have an interesting scene from Grace's past--that will come in to play later--and then we plunge right into her current life. She's graduating from college and has a summer before law school and it's in this time frame that we get to see the romance blossom between Grace and Parker. Because this novel is shorter than others, the pacing of their story is fast and I quite liked it. Nacole Stayton explained the gaps in time very nicely and I never felt that I was missing out on any part of their story.

I completely loved their story because Grace is pretty inexperienced and awkward. And that is so awesome and great. There is a part fairly early on that I seriously laughed for five minutes straight because you can just see the train crash coming...and it just cracked me up...Let's just say she caught him doing something he should've waited to get home to do...and had NO idea...giggling now just thinking about it. That being said...I enjoyed the happy and carefree first half of this story because it was simply that. It is obvious angst is coming, but I pretended it wasn't!

I found the adoption storyline interesting and I absolutely loved that the families involved were shown in a positive light--no abuse or horror stories about evil parents or siblings here. I also enjoyed the secondary characters; none of them were strongly featured but their contributions were important to adding conflict, relief, and humor throughout the story.

I was grateful for that too. As all of the events unfold, she is hurt by not knowing things...but really at the end of the day they meant her no harm and loved her so much. Not every adoption story goes that way, so it was a refreshing direction. She has some growing up to do, and it was cool to see it play out. Park...he didn't handle a few things the way he should have, and again I could see the train crash coming but this time I was not laughing. The last few chapters are hard for Grace in way too many ways. Whoo! 

We both discussed how much writing growth we see having read a previous novel of Nacole's before (and enjoyed that) so it is even more enjoyable and exciting because she writes sooooo good! 

I liked this story so much that I wish that it was longer and that Nacole Stayton would write a new story about ANY of the secondary characters; I'd love to read more about them all. As would I. Can we have Carson up first? I need to know more about that guy! 

Shelley: 4 Stars
Courtney: 4 Stars

About the Author

Christian “Nacole” Stayton is twenty-something years young and currently resides in the Bluegrass state. She spends her days working at a local hospital in the billing department and nights writing vigorously on her current novel. She has a passion for helping others and wears her University of Kentucky gear proudly. While her husband loves all things outdoors, Nacole enjoys the finer things in life like getting pedicures while reading on her Kindle Fire. She is passionate about her faith, family and The Bachelor. Her hair color changes with the seasons and she has a weakness for tattoos, iced coffee, and happy endings.

 Social Media Links

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest

Tour Schedule is here

Tour-Wide Giveaway (Open Internationally ~ some prizes limited to US Residents)

2 ~ signed paperbacks of A Graceful Mess

1 ~ A Graceful Mess Tumbler

5  ~ ebooks of A Graceful Mess (gifted from Amazon)

10 ~ bracelets w/postcards

a Rafflecopter giveaway

REVIEW: THE UPSIDE OF LETTING GO BY NACOLE STAYTON

Haley Martin is no stranger to loss. One tragic event takes her entire family, leaving lingering nightmares to torment her at every turn. She decides the only way to let go of those nightmares is to literally move away from all that is familiar. Boarding a Greyhound bus, she leaves behind her past filled with heartbreak and misery, in hopes of starting a new life.

By accident she meets Kyler King, a beautiful young man with a tragic past as well. He has no interest in settling down with anyone. With a reputation as being emotionally unattainable, he uses this façade to hide the burdens he bears every day.

As Kyler and Haley’s physical attraction becomes deeper, the secrets they have kept hidden threaten to surface. An unannounced visitor causes their pasts to collide with their present. Will their secrets prove to be too big of an obstacle, hindering their happily ever after, or will letting go be the key that locks their bond forever?

Warning: This book is intended for readers 17+ due to explicit language and sexual encounters.

Published April 19th 2013 by Nacole Stayton

Where to Find The Upside of Letting Go: 

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Where to Find Nacole Stayton:

Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

I really had high hopes for this one, but am still having pretty mixed feelings about it. I struggle when I think the words "the premise was great" because it is the best I've got. It was missing something that would push it over the top into the love category that I needed it to. I think it might be how hard of a time I had with connecting with Haley for a pretty long while. In some aspects her Jersey attitude was seriously mean. I get that some people don't get the slowness and differences of the south, but since I was born there and never left I might have a biased opinion! Haley's struggles are heartbreaking and the feelings when she let us in on those were a lot of the parts that I enjoyed the most. She is definitely lost and this story epitomizes letting go and finding your way back, hence the title! 

Courtney, I also had high hopes for this novel and I DO think that the premise was a good one, the execution is what left me wanting. Poor Haley is suffering from the ginormous pain of losing her entire family and the resulting consequences of her actions after their deaths--she feels a ton of guilt from pushing away those who tried hard to help her through that time. She escapes to Alabama to start over and is lucky enough to be paired with a very patient, understanding, and vivacious roommate. She fights so hard against the pain --at the expense, sometimes, of giving herself a chance at happiness at all. She wants to have a fresh start but doesn't want to have love?!! Then the sabotage of the love triangle that she allows to happen before she ends it --FINALLY. I felt for Haley because of the horror of what happened to her family and I also found myself frustrated by her insistence on not trusting anyone, including herself at times.

I must first say that I love Kyler's name. This may because because I have a couple of favorite book boys named Kai, but I really, really like it, so I really, really liked when she called him Ky. I feel like I had a hard time connecting with him too. His entrance into the story was very stunted and hot and cold and made me feel like I was learning how to drive a standard vehicle again including those jarring stops and starts. Once he opens up though, I liked him a lot better and no longer felt this way. Add in his family drama past and present to hers and the angst is heavy. These two deserved a big break, and I was grateful for the scenes between the two of them that didn't involve apologizing or apologizing for what they've dealt with and why they're reacting a certain way. Those scenes saved the day. I liked that even though he begins with much more of the  player attitude, when he decided that he wanted to work for more with Haley he stuck with it. No back and forth on his part and I thought that was awesome.

I saw Kyler as also suffering from losing his family too...he used many of Haley's same vices to escape the pain of losing. When he and Haley try to have a 'friends with benefit's type relationship, he's the first one to throw in the towel and call it quits because he wants more. This was a definite plus for him. He's also the one that exhibits almost superhuman strength in his ability to forgive or understand some of Haley's indiscretions--the kiss, the too close relationship with Jude. He does some jealousy induced dumb things but for the most part he's very solid. I think I might actually like him better than I liked Haley and I chalk that up to the sympathetic way he was characterized. 

The scenes where they open up to each other were beautiful, because the things that happen to these two are just heartbreaking. Even without the dramatic things that happen to them in the now, each of their stories in the past and how they deal with it made me sad. I guess I should say the scenes were more about them dealing and finding peace together than really giving a lot of background to their families. Or to me it seemed that way, but in some ways this didn't hurt the path of the story. 

Agreed, Courtney. They work because they understand each other's pain. And I will say this for the novel...the writer gets it--she know exactly how to explain the inability to properly find words to comfort someone when there is loss. These two don't need words because they understand the void left behind after losing so much..and lose they do. It's not just their families...but other soul crushing losses happen along the way. Another plus for this novel--the use of therapy and the virtues of forgiveness, patience and giving multiple opportunities.

There were many moments that went to fast, and a good majority in the beginning. The pace smoothed out better and found a rhythm so it brought it back around to being really enjoyable. The timeline switches weren't necessarily clear, so that took a little getting used to, but was better once we figured out that she was doing that. Jude's storyline was moderately unnecessary with everything else that was going on and made me want to throttle Haley! It ended up being a way for her to come full circle, but she definitely was playing with fire! Heart attack commenced a couple of times. 

The pacing threw me a little and, in my opinion, was what could use more work--the glossing over or quickness at which some things happen...there were definite times when i just felt like the relationship moved too fast or months just disappeared and I was invested enough that I would've liked to see more about how their relationship progressed. My only other minor note would be that the secondary characters (while they are secondary) sometimes felt underdeveloped too.

How I thought things were going to end...oh..em....gee...I would not have been thrilled with that turn of events. No spoilers, but thank goodness it didn't end that way. You'll think it too, and probably freak out a little, but keep going!  Yeah, there was definitely a point when I thought I wouldn't be able to handle one more bad thing happening. But then the epilogue happened and I appreciated that here there was an upside and the title comes full circle.

Finally, I loved the author's note at the end and knowing that she's experienced loss and that she's willing to share that with her readers, I found that to be special and insightful.

Shelley:  3 1/2 Stars
Courtney: 3 Stars