Cover Reveal & Excerpt: The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years, #4) by Sarina Bowen

I've been looking for the perfect New Adult contemporary series to sink into during the warmer days of Spring, that I could just lazily read and enjoy. This is definitely that series I'll be hopping all over. There are four books and one novella in the Ivy Years series so far and today I'll be revealing the cover for the fourth book, The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen. I also have an excerpt to share with you guys, that Sarina was nice enough to let me post today. 

The Shameless Hour

The Ivy Years, #4

by Sarina Bowen

Expected Release: May 1, 2015

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Age Demographic: New Adult 

The girl who’s had everyone meets the boy who has no one.

For Bella, the sweet-talking, free-loving, hip-checking student manager of the Harkness men’s hockey team, sex is a second language. She’s used to being fluent where others stutter, and the things people say behind her back don’t (often) bother her. So she can’t understand why her smoking hot downstairs neighbor has so much trouble staying friends after their spontaneous night together. She knows better than to worry about it, but there’s something in those espresso eyes that makes her second-guess herself.

Rafe is appalled with himself for losing his virginity in a drunken hookup. His strict Catholic upbringing always emphasized loving thy neighbor—but not with a bottle of wine and a box of condoms. The result is an Ivy League bout of awkwardness. But when Bella is leveled by a little bad luck and a downright nasty fraternity stunt, it’s Rafe who is there to pick up the pieces.

Bella doesn’t want Rafe's help, and she’s through with men. Too bad the undeniable spark that crackles between the two of them just can’t be extinguished.

To PreOrder The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years, #4) by Sarina Bowen please visit iBooks.

Click here to check out the other books in the series!

Excerpt from The Shameless Hour Written by Sarina Bowen

I heard the band start to play the classic one-two Merengue rhythm that I’d heard my whole life. On the dance floor, the energy picked up as the geezers began to move to the faster beat.

“Let’s go,” I said, standing up. I offered Bella my hand.

But Bella shook her head. Even worse, she scooted her chair toward the wall.

“Don’t leave me hanging,” I said, my hand still waiting in the air. “Come on now. Nobody puts Bella in a corner.”

On the other side of the table, Bella’s sister snorted into her white wine.

Bella rolled her eyes. Hard. “You did not just quote Dirty Dancing.”

I leaned down near Bella’s ear. “I did. Now get your ass out of that chair, like the girl in the movie, or I’ll have to put you in a fireman’s hold.”

Her mouth tight, Bella stood up. Not one to waste an opportunity, I clasped her hand, tugging her onto the dance floor. When we were right in the center, I put one hand onto Bella’s waist and took her opposite hand in mine. She was as stiff as a piece of wood. “Shake it off, chica. This is supposed to be fun.”

“Your job tonight was to make my life less embarrassing. Not more.”

“I am doing that. We’re going to be the best looking dancers on this floor, and everyone in this mausoleum is going to wonder how I got so lucky as to be here with you. Now listen to this rhythm, okay? Just step to the beat. And let your hips absorb the motion.” I began to move to the music. The merengue is a Dominican dance, and every kid in my neighborhood can merengue before his fifth birthday. It’s just not that complicated.

With nervous eyes, Bella began to move.

“Use these hips,” I prompted, touching the silky fabric of her dress. As I watched, she loosened up a tiny fraction. “Yes! But even more. You look great. I wouldn’t steer you wrong. And think of pressing the balls of your feet into the floor.”

Biting her lip, Bella moved with me.

“That’s it! See? Nothing to it.” Just like that, we had a proper merengue going on.

“Can I sit down yet?” Bella asked.

“Not even close,” I laughed. “See, I knew you could move.”

Bella pouted. “We’ve seen each other’s moves, Rafe.”

She lifted her eyes, and the heat in them went straight to my dick.

Jesucristo. That was the trouble with getting so close to Bella. I was always going to be susceptible to her. Anything she did to remind me of that night was always going to knock me right over.

“Ha.” She said. “I finally found a way to shut you up.” Bella put a little more effort into her merengue then, looking smug.

© 2015 Sarina Bowen. From The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen, published by Rennie Road Books. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Sarina Bowen writes steamy, angsty Contemporary Romance and New Adult fiction from the wilds of Vermont.She is the author of The Ivy Years, an award-winning series set amid the hockey team at an elite Connecticut college.

Waiting for more Ivy Years? You can read more about upcoming volumes in the four book series at http://www.sarinabowen.com/theivyyears. Also, the Gravity series.

Sarina enjoys skiing, espresso drinks and the occasional margarita. She lives with her family, eight chickens and more ski gear and hockey equipment than seems necessary.

To be kept abreast of new releases, please feel free to sign up for the mailing list at http://www.sarinabowen.com/contact. Or visit the her Facebook page, or tweet her @sarinabowen.

Cover Reveal for The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen + Giveaway

Alright guys, today is the day that I've definitely been waiting for! I'm so excited to get to participate in this cover reveal for The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen, that was graciously hosted and organized by Lola's Blog Tours. I've had the absolute pleasure of exchanging a few emails with the lovely Sarina about this amazing series and I'm definitely excited for this particular book in general. If you're a fan of LGBTQ books, then you are going to be excited for this one too. 

The Understatement of the Year 

Ivy Years #3

Sarina Bowen

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age category: New Adult

Release Date: October 1, 2014

Buy Links: Amazon and Kobo

Add to Goodreads Shelf

What happened in high school stayed in high school. 

Until now.

Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexual preference from everyone. Including himself.

So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left wing could destroy Graham’s life as he knows it.

John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it’s worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only “out” player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused.

And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.

Rikker didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won’t even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former… best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn’t doing so well. He drinks too much and can’t focus during practice.

Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won’t be easy is the Understatement of the Year.

Warning: unlike the other books in this series, this heartbreaking love story is about two guys. Contains sexual situations, dance music, snarky t-shirts and a poker-playing grandmother.

Excerpt from The Understatement of the Year

Bella grabbed the front pocket of my Vermont sweatshirt and actually pulled me through the din of the most crowded room, toward a table where Graham sat in a booth, across from Hartley.

Ugh. I had no idea this would be so cozy. In fact, there was nowhere for me to sit. For a second there I felt like it was seventh grade all over again, and I didn’t know where to sit in class.

That’s how I met Graham — seventh grade Spanish. We were the two runts in the back row with terrible gringo accents and no friends. The teacher always made the class pair up to practice dialogue. Graham and I were partners.

Hola, Miguel.

Hola, Juan.

Te gusta el futbol?

Sí, me gusta el futbol.

The early days of middle school had been awkward. But this? So much more awkward than that.

“I’ll sit on Graham’s lap,” Bella suggested, grabbing a slice of pizza off the tray.

“Naw, let me find a chair,” I said, turning quickly into the crowd. And lo, by the grace of God, I found one in front of an ancient pay phone. Setting the chair at the end of their booth gave me some much-needed distance. Bella sat on the end, boxing Graham into the corner. Bella’s hand found its way onto my knee about two seconds after I sat down.

Someone filled my glass. “Have a slice?” Hartley offered.

“Thanks, I already ate,” I said quickly. But I sucked back some of the beer. It was pretty wimpy stuff, but I’ll bet the price was right.

“Tell us about your transfer,” Bella prompted while the others dug in. “You said you’d tell it over beers.”

Right. Too soon. “Well,” I hedged. The thing was, I’d told people I was gay many, many times. I was actually pretty good at it. But you don’t say it when you’re all trapped at a table. You have to drop the bomb when your victims are free to walk away from you. Because even the people who are going to turn right back around and be there for you often need a minute to digest the idea.

And the fact that Graham was sitting three feet away, staring at his slice of pizza as if it might reveal the secrets of the universe, made this a particularly bad time. I didn’t want to look vulnerable in front of him. I’d tried that before in my life, and it ended badly. Very badly.

“Thing is, I haven’t had enough beer yet to tell it.”

“There you go with the buildup again,” Bella said, nibbling on a slice.

“Yeah? Well my stories don’t usually disappoint.” That was a bit of pointless bravado. But it was probably true.

I happened to glance toward Graham then. And even in the low light of the pizza place, I saw him freeze. And I realized just how far a little smack talk about stories I might tell would freak him out. I hadn’t meant it like that. But the effect on him was instant and powerful. His jaw went hard and his fist clenched on the table.

Easy, boy. “Tell me about the practice schedule,” I said to change the topic.

There is a tour wide giveaway for the cover reveal of The Understatement of the Year that I am super excited to share with you. The awesomely talented Sarina Bowen is giving you a chance to win a signed set of paperback books which includes: The Year We Fell Down (Ivy Years #1), The Year We Hid Away (Ivy Years #2) and Blonde Date (Ivy Years 2.5). The giveaway is open internationally. You can enter the giveaway below, good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Website Twitter Facebook

Sarina Bowen makes her home in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where she lives with her family, eight chickens and a large pile of skis and hockey equipment. She is a graduate of Yale University.