Blog Tour: A Little Too Hot by Lisa Desrochers (Review + Giveaway)

Today I am so excited to talk about A Little Too Hot, the newest release by Lisa Desrochers. This tour is brought to you by the fine folks at RockStar Book Tours.

I've reviewed Lisa's books before, but if you're new to the blog, or new to Lisa, here's what you need to know:

Lisa Desrochers is the USA Today bestselling author of A LITTLE TOO FAR , courtesy of HarperCollins, and companions, A LITTLE TOO MUCH (Nov 12, 2013), and A LITTLE TOO HOT (Jan 21, 2014). Also in stores is her YA PERSONAL DEMONS trilogy (Macmillan).

She lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.

Find out more about Lisa and her work here: WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS


Before we get into the steamy details, here's an overview of A Little Too Hot:


A Little Too Hot is the third companion book in the A Little Too Far series by: Lisa Desrochers.

Publication Date: Jan. 21, 2014
Publisher: William Morrow Impulse
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: New Adult
Source: Here's where things get interesting. I've reviewed a lot of books on this site but I've bought them all with my own money. However, the e-ARC of A Little Too Hot was received via Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. (Pretty freaking awesome of them to do it, and I thank them)
Page Count: 284 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Google Play

The cover is simple and matches the cover art of the previous novels. And like I've mentioned in my reviews of the first two books here and here, I wasn't a huge fan of the cover art. But OMG, do I love the stories. A Little Too Hot was no exception. Here's the blurb (don't worry, this post is a spoiler free zone):


From USA Today bestselling author Lisa Desrochers, comes the third book in her sizzling New Adult series.

If you play with fire…

Tossed out of college and cut off by her parents, Samantha West is in pretty dire straits. So when her rocker best friend hooks her up with a job dancing at a gentlemen’s club, who is she to turn it down? Plus, there are rules to dancing at Benny’s: No touching, keep your clothes on at all times, and never get closer than three feet. Unfortunately for Sam, her first private client makes her want to break every single one of them.

Harrison Yates is scorching hot, but he’s got a past that involves being left at the altar not too long ago. Sam is determined to make him forget about his ex, but when she makes her move, it flings her life into a spiral of chaos she never saw coming.

Because Harrison Yates isn’t who he seems to be. And his secret will probably get her killed.

Sounds amazing, right? Add it to your goodreads shelf or buy your copy here: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Google Play


Praise for A LITTLE TOO HOT

“Every page is deliciously breathtaking, wickedly sexy and sensational. A LITTLE TOO HOT is wonderfully unique and a LOT HOT! I am a HUGE Lisa Desrochers fan.”
— Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author of REAL, MINE, and REMY

“Lisa is brilliant at creating sizzling sexual tension and impossible circumstances that make the reader hold their breath all the way to happy ever after. Sam and Harrison are more than A Little Too Hot, they are scorching!"
— Jay Crownover, New York Times bestselling author of RULE, JET, and ROME

“Lisa Desrochers’ best yet! A LITTLE TOO HOT is hotter than hot with all the emotional punch to back it up!”
— Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author

But what did I think about the book?

My Rating: 5/5 screaming kitties - I flipping loved it!

I think it's official: I'm a Lisa Desrochers fan. It started with a crush after the first book in the series, A Little Too Far, and has blossomed into full on fan status. This book, A Little Too Hot, did not disappoint.

Sam was introduced as an ancillary character in A Little Too Far but you don't need to have read A Little Too Far to understand this story. Her story really starts here and is very exciting.

The characters are believable, which is always a big issue for me. Harrison and Sam are tough but vulnerable in ways we haven't seen in other characters in the series. I really like Sam. She's not a victim. She's tough and does what it takes to get by. I admire that quality in her.

About a quarter of the way into this book I was shocked by a major twist, like jaw-dropping shocked. So believe me when I say A Little Too Hot is a fun and wild ride.

I felt like this as the steamiest book out of the three. And that's saying something because the other books are Hot with a capital 'H'. But it wouldn't be a Lisa Desrochers romance if A Little Too Hot wasn't pushing a boundary or two.

All the twisty turns, surprising action, believably likeable characters, and steamy romance make A Little Too Hot my favorite book in the series. I loved it, and I think you will too.

But wait, there's more! As part of the tour the author, Lisa Desrochers, is hosting a giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Want more? Check out the other two books in the series:

My review of A Little Too Far

My review of A Little Too Much

Or drop into these stops along the A Little Too Hot blog tour:

Jan. 30th - The Irish Banana Review - Review + Guest Post
Jan. 30th - Stuck In YA Books - Review + Excerpt
Jan. 30th - adventures-in-word - Review
Jan. 30th - The Bookmark Blog - Review
Jan. 30th - All in a Book - Review
Jan. 30th - Booklovers LaceyCat - Deleted Scene or Excerpt



Have you read any of Lisa Desrochers books? Share your thoughts here:

Internet Killed The Video Store

Earlier this week I weighed in on the changes facing the publishing industry. My feeling on the matter is that change is inevitable and although publishing will look different after e-voluion, most major players (aka the big 5) will still be around.

I believe this because even though the internet changed several aspects of the entertainment industry already, most major players are still in the marketplace - albeit, they look a little different.

The cautionary tale, is video. Internet killed the video store. Well, redbox helped. Together, they killed ‘em dead. Is there something to be learned there?

I used to think streaming video was weird. Now, I only have Netflix and Hulu. I don’t have cable. I don’t have local channels. I consume all of my television via the internet, instantly. If I want to rent a movie I drive to the corner and rent from a redbox (redbox is clumsy and burdensome compared to the immediacy of streaming. The only reason to go to redbox versus streaming is limited content releases. If I really want to watch a movie and only redbox has it – for the time being- I’ll drive to the corner to get it. I don’t even buy movies from Walmart anymore because once their available for streaming I can pretty much watch them whenever I want. I find I only buy used DVD’s/BlueRay’s when I want to watch an oldie-but-goodie that I can’t find on Netflix or Redbox).

It’s funny for me to think about getting cable…why would anyone buy cable when you can stream a heck of a lot of content for less? I wont go back.

I also used to buy exclusively paper books. Never an ebook for me. Four years ago I got a kindle for Christmas. I thought, “he he, I’ll use this because it was a gift but I’m still a paper book girl.” And then, one night, I finished a book at one in the morning. I wanted to know what happened next. I didn’t want to wait until B&N opened at a reasonable hour. I didn’t want to drive to a book store. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I wanted to know what happened next and I wanted to know it right that minute. I immediately downloaded the next book in the series and started reading.

Timeliness. Immediacy. As much instant gratification as a book can offer – I got all of those things from my kindle. I’m hooked.

I spent a lot of money on books last year (much to my husbands chagrin) – but I only bought two paper books (one was a gift for my in-laws, who still don’t have ereaders). That’s it. Two paper books. Sure, big 5 publisher site ebooks are only 30% of their revenue but are ebooks only 30% of the entire market? Could the big 5’s limited revenue from ebooks speak more to their unwillingness to price ebooks at market rates than to the success of the ebook as a platform?

But here’s the bigger issue, publishers, *waves you to lean in and listen*

Now that I’m digital, I wont go back.

Just like streaming eliminated my need to own cable, the access to digital books eliminates my need to own paper books. There, I said it. I don't need paper books anymore. Just like I don’t need to cook over a fire now that I have an oven. Or how I don’t ride a bike to work now that I own a car. Or the way I don’t write my books by hand with a pen and paper now that I have a computer.

The technology of books has evolved. And like all evolution, there's no turning back. Now that I have an ereader I don't need paper books.

Since past consumer behavior is the greatest indicator of future behavior, I have to imagine once the book reading public goes ereader, they’ll never, or rarely go back to paper books.

The distribution model for consuming books is changing. What are your thoughts about ereaders?


Want more on the battle between ebooks and paper books?
Check out this post by The Passive Voice and this post by PV as well.

Check out this interesting dialogue between JA Konrath and CEO of Kennsington Publishing

Changes in Publishing

If you’ve been on the internet the last several days you’ve probably heard some of the noise about the HuffPost article: Self Publishing: The Myth and the Reality. Some people responded and more people responded to those people. All this talk about traditional publishing vs every-other-type of publishing really got me thinking. Before I go down this rabbit hole I want to state that I am not published. I haven’t self published or signed a contract with anyone. I don’t have a horse in this game other than I want to make publishing my profession *cracks knuckes*.

After reading this post, and this one, this one, this post, and this post I was reminded of something. The state of publishing today seems an awful lot like 1930’s Hollywood (but with way less glam and money. You know, back when movie companies owned actors, via their contracts, for a period of time or for a number of movies. It was also a time when production companies made genre films. Fox was known for it’s musicals. Universal was known for westerns. Sound familiar?

The state of Hollywood today is different. Today, actors have their own union (aka screen actors guild). And production companies still hire actors by contract, but they don’t own them like they did back in the day. Their contracts allow them to release multiple movies in various formats (from various production companies) in a year. I should note that I’m not privy to the specifics of any publishing or acting contracts. Rather, I’m speculating that actors have more freedom than authors because actors tend to release various titles, from various production companies, throughout a given year without having to adopt a pseudonym.

Some people think traditional publishing contracts are unfair. Others think the contract terms are more than fair. One thing is certain:

The winds of change are whipping around the publishing industry. There’s a flashy business quote we throw around at my Day Job a lot: “If the rate of change outside is greater than the rate of change inside, the end is near.” – Jack Welch.

Think about that, publishers, agents, and writers.
Is the rate of change outside B&N greater than the rate of change inside? Yes…and we see where they are headed.

Is the rate of change outside the big 5 publishing houses greater than the rate of change inside? From my perch, on the outside looking in, I can say: Probably, yes.

The end of big 5 publishing as we know it is near. But the end doesn’t have to be out of business, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it end. This ending is actually a beginning. A call for action, innovation, and rebirth.

Who knows what the future will hold. Maybe it means, as JA Konrath suggests, smaller advances but bigger percentage of royalties. Maybe it’s buying print only rights and erights stay with the author(although, that's unlikely, especially if ebooks are the future). Maybe it means the big 5 slash their SG&A overhead by doing any number of things. It’s fun to speculate, but I don’t have the answers.

What I do know is most of the big 5 will survive this change. I know it because we see it in film (Fox is still around, but they do things differently), music survived (Napster didn’t kill music as we know it. Artists are still making money, albeit differently). Just like the affordable Care Act didn't kill insurance companies (did I mention my day job is in insurance?). The Affordable Care Act changed a lot of elements about the insurance industry but the big insurance companies all survived. How? They changed the way the sell (direct to the consumer – sometimes cutting the middle men out completely *coughs*), they change the way they price their products *nudges publishing with elbow*, and they changed the way they operate to ensure they can continue to offer insurance to their customers. Just some ideas here, guys.

Publishing must change. Must. There’s no getting around it. But publishing leaders are smart, experts in their given field, and in positions to make change happen. Change can be exciting. And change can be good for writers, especially if writers help shape the future of publishing (which I think we are seeing).

Publishing needs to take a long hard look at how they can change to meet the growing customer demand. A demand that is markedly different from the consumer 10 or 15 years ago. The growing population of book consumers that want more, faster, easier, books.

I don’t have all the answers. I actually have none of them. But I do know that if big 5 publishing doesn’t evolve to meet the rate of change in the marketplace the writing is on the wall.

What do you think about the changing landscape of publishing?


Need more on the debate? Check out his post by Chuck Wendig and his Follow Up Post