Badass by Alana Albertson and Linda Barlow

Badass
by Alana Albertson, Linda Barlow
Publication Date: May 12, 2015
Genres: Action / Adventure, Contemporary, Erotic, New Adult, Romance

Badass: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance

I f**ked a SEAL—the human kind, the kind who shoots terrorists, sports rock hard abs and tattooed biceps, and scores an easy lay with every girl he ever wants.

I should’ve known better. I should be studying harbor seals’ breeding habits, not conducting my own research into mating rituals of the Navy variety.

He’s a jackass. An arrogant, womanizing, patronizing, Harley-riding jerk.

A one-night stand. One night of the most incredible sex I’ve ever had. Shane is trained to kill with his bare hands in 300 different ways—and he knows 300 ways to f**k me, too.

Now my father is engaged to his mother. And we’re heading to Mexico for the wedding. The prick is blackmailing me. He’s threatening to ruin their big day if I don’t surrender to his demands.

Quit is not in his vocabulary. I hate him, but I know he’ll never give up until he gets everything he wants.

Screw that! I won’t give up—I’ll never submit to America’s cockiest badass.

About Alana Albertson

Alana Albertson is the President of RWA Contemporary Romance Writers, former President of RWA's Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters, and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

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About Linda Barlow

Linda Barlow is the author of 25 novels, with more on the way. She lives in New England with her mysterious spouse (who sleeps during the day, which has often made her wonder if he's a vampire) and their equally enigmatic and nocturnal cat.

Linda has written in various genres, including historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, New Adult romance, family sagas, and general mainstream fiction. Publishers have included Doubleday, Dell, Penguin, Warner Books, Hachette, New American Library/Signet, Berkley/Putnam, Silhouette and Harlequin.

Linda is a USA Today bestselling author. She's proud to have earned a few awards over the years, including the Rita from Romance Writers of America for Leaves of Fortune; New Historical Novelist of the year from Romantic Times for Fires of Destiny; and a Career Achievement award from RT.

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Nicole

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Cover Reveal: Invaluable by Alana Albertson

 

 

I’ll be honest with you—I'm no saint. Sure, when I turned down my 3.6 million dollar football contract to join the SEAL Teams, the media had a field day. Selfless, patriotic, an American hero. But the God's honest truth was that I was bored with that world, the playboy lifestyle, the ass kissing, the lack of integrity. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: “When I go to heaven St. Peter he will say ‘Did you earn your living? Did you earn your pay?’ My reply was with a little bit of thunder ‘I earned my living killing down under.’” You've read the tabloids—I'm infallible, invincible, invaluable. But it wasn't that deep—I just wanted some action.

 

A one night stand with a San Diego coed, no promise for tomorrow. I picked her out of a steamy nightclub—sexy blonde hair, curvy hips, nice ass. After she rode me all night, I took in the ocean view from my condo, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me to get me through my long deployment—I savored the warm touch of a woman, the scent of her perfume and the sound of her laughter. As fate would have it, I crossed paths with Miss San Diego again, halfway across the world in Afghanistan. Turns out she was a NFL Cheerleader sent on a USO tour to entertain my Team. Her convoy was ambushed, and insurgents held her hostage deep in the mountains. I'd gazed into her beautiful blue eyes and given her my word that she'd be safe. And my word is my bond. I'll never win MVP, never get the Super Bowl ring, but some heroes don't play games.

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About Alana Albertson

 

Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

 

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Invincible by Alana Albertson

Invincible
by Alana Albertson
Trident Code #1
Publication Date: March 9, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance, Suspense
Purchase from: Amazon • Nook • Kobo • iBooks •

 Add to Goodreads.

Synopsis: I’ll be honest with you—I’m no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cammies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL. You’ve seen the movies—we’re infallible, invaluable, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid. One harmless fuck with an Aruban whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crooked smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn’t save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life. But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whispered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I’m an American citizen. I was kidnapped on spring break five years ago. You’re my last hope. Please save me.” One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put on the cape and be her hero. Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. Expanded edition, with Annie's POV, 15,000 more words, new twist, more emotion. This is a full length novel, 60,000 words. New Adult Romantic Thriller. This book is intended for readers 18+.

About Alana Albertson

Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

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Blog Tour: Invincible by Alana Albertson

Invincible

by Alana Albertson

Trident Code #1

Publication Date: March 9, 2014 

Genres: Contemporary, Romance,Suspense, Young Adult

Purchase from: Amazon • Nook • Kobo •iBooks • 

Add to Goodreads.

Synopsis:

I’ll be honest with you—I’m no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cam-mies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL. You’ve seen the movies—we’re infallible, invaluable, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid.

One harmless fuck with a Aruban whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crook-ed smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn’t save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life.

But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whis-pered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I’m an American citizen. I was kidnapped on spring break five years ago. You’re my last hope. Please save me.”

One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put on the cape and be her hero.

About the Author: Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

4 Stars

Review: Patrick, a Navy SEAL, wanders into a brothel in Curacao for a moment of pleasure while on land leave from his ship. He chooses a girl that ends up admitting to him that she was kidnapped and forced into sex slavery, and she asks him to help her. Not certain whether to believe her, Patrick leaves and tries to forget what he heard. He wasn't able to forget, however, and he looks into the girl's story. All of it checks out and Patrick, being the true hero that he is, chooses to accept the challenge of rescuing the girl, Annie, when all other efforts have failed.

Patrick has to leave Annie to return to the US from his current tour, but he promises her that he will return for her - that he will not let her down. Annie finds it difficult to believe in much anymore, and hope is one of her biggest enemies, but she did hold out hope for him. At the last minute, her pimp ends up moving her, along with all of the other girls, back to a different island, so Annie's hope is seriously shaken. Patrick and several of his friends are able to find her, however, and they get Annie safely out of the house, along with another surprise that Annie had hidden from Patrick.

The fact that Patrick was able to so easily find Annie leads him and his friends to question why no one was ever able to find Annie before - especially as there had been many sightings and possible clues out there. He is drawn to Annie and each of them feels so connected to one another, without really understanding why. Patrick is able to get Annie back to her actual home, and, due to his lifestyle and not wanting to be found out for finding her, he wants this to be the end of the story. Annie didn't survive the five years of her captivity by giving up easily, however, so much of the story is her quiet strength and will to survive and figure out who she is, as well as trying to keep Patrick in her life.

So, my understanding is that this is a re-release of this book. I did not read the first book, so I can't address that story, but I will say that this story seems to fit the synopsis better than what some of the first reviews felt that it did. I think that there is still much of the story that could be fleshed out - only to draw you in more and really help you understand what the two main characters are going through, as this book is in both of their POV's. I feel that we get a pretty good picture into Patrick's head, but Annie...there is so much that could be added to her story, while she was waiting for Patrick to come back, when she first arrived back home, when she was waiting for Patrick to come back from deployment, etc. It's still a good story, and I can't wait to read the next book, as this one ends up on quite the cliffhanger in regards to another character that was mentioned several times throughout the story. There are still some editing errors that I noticed, but I did receive an ARC for my review, so I know that sometimes final errors are fixed.

Overall, I think that this is an impactful story and, while hard to read due to the subject matter, I think it has an important message as Annie realizes that telling her story is not only empowering to her, but to other women that might be experiencing something similar.

Jessica

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Release: Invincible by Alana Albertson (Extended Edition)

Invincible

 by Alana Albertson
Trident Code #1
Publication Date: March 9, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance,Suspense, Young Adult
Purchase from: Amazon • Nook • Kobo •iBooks •
Add to Goodreads.

Synopsis: I’ll be honest with you—I'm no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cammies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: “Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL.” You've seen the movies—we’re indestructible, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid.

One harmless fuck with a Curaçao whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crooked smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn't save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life.

But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whispered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I'm an American citizen. I was kidnapped from a cruise ship five years ago. You're my last hope. Please save me.”

One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew that this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put the cape on and be her hero.

About the Author: Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

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Book Blitz: Invincible by Alana Albertson

Invincible
by Alana Albertson
Trident Code #1
Publication Date: March 9, 2014 
Genres: Contemporary, Romance,Suspense, Young Adult 
Purchase from: Amazon • Nook • Kobo •iBooks • 
Add to Goodreads.

Synopsis: I’ll be honest with you—I'm no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cammies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: “Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL.” You've seen the movies—we’re indestructible, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid.

One harmless fuck with a Curaçao whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crooked smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn't save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life.

But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whispered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I'm an American citizen. I was kidnapped from a cruise ship five years ago. You're my last hope. Please save me.”

One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew that this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put the cape on and be her hero.





About the Author: Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads



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TBR Recommendation: Alana Albertson

Okay, so I came across this book, Invincible by Alana Albertson, several months ago and have been waiting for it to come out. It looks like a tough, dark read because it is some people's reality. The sex slave trade is unfortunately real - but anyone could do the right thing. Does this guy? Oh, AND he's a Navy SEAL. This also looks like the first in a series called The Trident Code.

Synopsis: I’ll be honest with you—I'm no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cammies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: “Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL.” You've seen the movies—we’re indestructible, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid.

One harmless fuck with a Curaçao whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crooked smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn't save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life. 

But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whispered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I'm an American citizen. I was kidnapped from a cruise ship five years ago. You're my last hope. Please save me.”

One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew that this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put the cape on and be her hero.

Check out Alana Albertson on Goodreads