Today is a super exciting day readers! It’s my first ever (drumroll, please)…

BLOG TOUR & BOOK REVIEW day! Plus, there is a bonus excerpt and giveaway at the end just for you.

When I received an e-mail asking for bloggers to apply to participate in the tour for the first book in Penny Reid’s new Laws of Physics Series, Motion, I could not pass it up. I have read all of Penny’s books the last few years. I have my favorites that I devour over and over and there are others I have only read once and will probably only ever read once. When there’s a new book, I never know quite what to expect and that is my favorite part about it.

Before I dive in to the book, let me tell you a little bit about Penny. She is not your traditional romance novelist. Not at all. You see, Penny started out as a biomedical researcher. She started dabbling in romance when she bet a friend she could write a romance novel that she would love (I am botching some of the details, but this is the jist) and her friend loved it. The book was published, Neanderthal Seeks Human, and was an instant hit amongst lovers of smart romances. This spurred an entire series, then an empire, and now here we are in the latest installment: Motion.

Here’s how this is going to go: excerpt first, then my review of the book, followed by links to purchase the book & read some additional chapters/excerpts for free, how to connect with Penny, and FINALLY the giveaway.

One week.

Home alone.

Girl genius.

Unrepentant slacker.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Mona is a smart girl and had everything figured out a long time ago. She had to. She didn’t have a choice. When your parents are uber-celebrities and you graduate from high school at thirteen, finish college at seventeen, and start your PhD program at eighteen, you don’t have time for distractions outside of your foci. Even fun is scheduled.

Which is why Abram, her brother’s best friend, is such an irritant.

Abram is a talented guy, a supremely gifted musician, and has absolutely nothing figured out, nor does he seem to care. He does what he feels, when he feels, and—in Mona’s opinion—he makes her feel entirely too much.

Laws of Physics is the second trilogy in the Hypothesis series; Laws of Physics parts 1 (MOTION) & 2 (SPACE) end with a cliffhanger.

REVIEW

4.5 out of 5 stars 

Mona, the main character, is a 19-year old physicist prodigy turned Ph.D candidate. She is quirky, intelligent, lovable, and has one weakness: helping her sister. Motion is the story of Mona posing to be her party-girl sister, Lisa, until she can be bailed out of jail. The kicker is Mona and Lisa are the children of mega-star celebrities, think Beyonce and Jay-Z or Kim Kardashian and Kanye West kind of mega-star parents.

Abram is Mona’s brother’s best friend and has been assigned to watch Lisa until their parents return.

The romance between Mona and Abram is a slow burn, which I love, riddled with the conflict that Abram has no idea his “Lisa” is really Mona. Their romance is built on connection and a genuine interest in getting to know the other person, even though Abram can’t know it’s really Mona.

As much as this book sets the stage for Mona and Abram’s romance, it is a lot about family, sisterhood, and friendship. Gabby, Lisa’s best friend and Mona’s former childhood friend, serves as a guide for Mona during her time posing as Lisa. She helps Mona, points out character flaws, challenges Mona to look critically at herself, her relationships, and her life. While the story takes place over one week, it’s action packed and ends with a doozy of a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger wasn’t brutal the the point where I regretted reading the book before the next two were available but it did make me super excited for the next.

Penny Reid did an excellent job setting the stage for the Laws of Physics trilogy. I’m hooked. I love both Mona and Abram. Motion showed us their flaws, the challenges they’ll have to navigate, and the intricacies of self that spark attraction between them. They’re relatable, real characters. The kind of characters that make you wish they were real life people so you could be friends. It’s one of my favorite aspects of a Penny Reid book and something she really knocked out of the park in Motion. If this isn’t enough to consider giving Motion a read, consider: DONUTS make a cameo. Yep, DONUTS. They’re almost a character in this book. Possibly one of my favorites.

Given this is the Hypothesis Series, I want to make some predictions of my own for fun:

I have a hunch Penny Reid is giving us more than one love story with the Laws of Physics series, something I am hoping Space and Time will confirm. I think this story will be as much about Mona’s relationship with Abram as it will be about her relationship with Lisa. Lisa is a very minor character in Motion despite being the catalyst for the entire plot. Even though they are twins, the girls are not close and seem to barely know each other. While their family has fame and fortune, they don’t seem to have close relationships. I hope this is Mona’s growth opportunity. I presume Abram’s growth opportunity will be forgiveness granted “Lisa” isn’t really Lisa at all…

To purchase the book:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2T5iZto

AppleBooks: https://apple.co/2QYvTaB

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/Motion

Nook: http://bit.ly/2R1mpvn

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2ASuOfq

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2DoH8pv

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2T4ebo9

Add to GoodReads: http://bit.ly/2U1pnSv

 

Read the first THREE chapters of Motion and part of the prologue for Space at: pennyreid.ninja (yes, her website is a .NINJA!!! See what I mean about not your traditional romance novelist?). To sign up for Penny’s newsletter and receive free access to the Dear Professor series installments, visit: http://bit.ly/2szN34G

BONUS EXCERPT from Motion:

My stomach rumbled, long and loud, and I pressed my hand against it. Grunting into the darkness, I tossed off the covers and stood from Lisa’s bed. Food on my mind, I slipped out of the room and down the stairs. The kitchen was dark, but instead of flipping on a light—which might’ve alerted Abram as to my whereabouts . . . which he probably didn’t care about so long as “Lisa wasn’t doing anything crazy”—I crept on quiet feet to the fridge and opened it.

Momentarily dazzled by the bright light within, it took several seconds of squinting and blinking before the scant contents became visible. I frowned. In addition to the pizza box, two suspicious-looking containers of Chinese takeout, and various condiments, I found: shredded cheddar/jack cheese blend, a zucchini, a half a pint of mushrooms, and hot salsa. Opening the hot salsa, I smelled it, and then I dipped my pinkie inside and tasted it while examining the lid. It looked, smelled, and tasted fine.

Placing my finds on the island counter, I shut the fridge. The sudden extinguishing of the bright light meant that the kitchen was now pitch black. Shrugging off my lack of sight, I extended my arms and blindly felt my way over to the pantry until my hands connected with the torso of a person.

A person.

A PERSON!

I jumped back on instinct, my leg hitting one of the stools at the island counter and sending it crashing to the ground. My heart in my throat, I screamed, turned, and darted forward, but my feet tangled with the felled stool and I pitched, bracing myself for a gravitational collision with unseen wooden bars and a granite stool top.

But then strong arms caught me, deftly spinning and lifting me into the air. Cold dread rushed through my body, tensing every muscle. I couldn’t think. I didn’t think. Instinctively, my legs and fists pumped, fighting against my captor. Rocks in my throat as I readied another scream, a hand covered my mouth just as I belted it out.

“Whoa! Calm down. It’s me.” Abram’s voice at my ear soothed, his bulky arm a tight band around my torso, my back to his front, my feet not touching the ground. “Calm down. Shhh. Calm down.”

Hot breath teased my hair and neck, and I stilled, relief at discovering it was Abram didn’t quite chase away the viral panic still attached to my hemoglobin, coursing through my veins. I shook. I was shaking. And I was gasping through my nose, greedy for air.

Perhaps he heard or felt my strained breathing because his arm loosened, lowering my feet to the ground, and his hand covering my mouth slid away. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” I said, not sounding convincing. Truth was, I felt like throwing up. “Can you, uh, let me go?”

His arms immediately fell away and I stupidly rushed forward, once more crashing into the stool.

I heard Abram mutter a curse under his breath just as he caught me again, lifting me off the ground again, and saving me—again—from another gravitational collision. This time he turned us away from the stool and carried me across the room.

I didn’t fight him this time. In fact, I relaxed into him. Wired and exhausted, but mostly embarrassed, I allowed myself to be transported without protest. We left the kitchen and I was finally able to see dim outlines of furniture and walls, courtesy of the streetlamp illumination spilling through the windows of the living room.

Abram carried me to my mother’s favorite piece of furniture in our house, a gold velvet chaise lounge said to have once belonged to Napoleon’s sister, Pauline Bonaparte. Depositing me on the soft surface, Abram crossed to one of the Tiffany lamps and pulled the chain, bathing the room in soft blue and yellow, colored light filtering through the stained glass.

He then returned, knelt in front of me, one hand on my leg, the other cupping my cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I said, cleared my throat, unable to lift my eyes higher than his black T-shirt, and said again, “Yes.”

He blew out a breath, pushing his fingers through my hair. By doing so, he forced my chin up and caught my gaze. That wrinkle of worry appeared between his eyebrows, and his very pretty eyes—which glowed and sparkled like polished amber cabochons—moved between mine.

“You really freaked out.”

I stiffened, gritting my teeth and yanking my head back, out of his reach. “I didn’t know you were there.”

Watching me with watchful watchfulness, he let his hand drop slowly until it rested on my left leg, next to his other hand which covered my right knee. “I said your name—twice—when I walked in.”

“I didn’t hear you.” I glanced from his eyes to where his palms were hot on my skin. “And I couldn’t see. I’d just shut the fridge, my eyes hadn’t adjusted.”

“Did you think I was a robber?” His left eyebrow lifted as did the side of his mouth, just a hint.

Clearly, he was trying to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, I still felt shaky. And embarrassed.

“I- I didn’t think,” I admitted, releasing an unsteady breath. “I wasn’t thinking. Sorry I fell.”

“No need to apologize. It wasn’t like you could help it.”

“Yeah. Gravity can be such a downer.”

He made a light, laughing sound. “What?”

“Uh, nothing. Whatever.” No physics jokes!

His frown returned, his fingers flexing slightly on my legs. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Reaching for his hands, I removed them from my knees, setting them away. “I’m really fine. I just don’t like—”

He glanced at my knees. “Being touched?”

“When it’s unexpected.” I crossed my arms.

“That makes sense. But your reaction, even after you knew it was me—” He paused and sat back on his heels, as though debating how to continue and finally settling on, “It was a big reaction.” Abram continued to study me with his big, pretty, knowing brown eyes. “Hey, I would never hurt you.”

I winced, just a little, my gaze falling to my knees where his hands had been. I wanted to huff a laugh and roll my eyes, maybe say something like, I know, don’t be ridiculous.

But the word “Okay,” small and fragile sounding, slipped out instead. I immediately wished it back, because I didn’t understand it. I didn’t know why I’d said it, and I hated not knowing.

Get ahold of yourself, Mona. Pull it together. You are fine. Nothing happened.

Meanwhile, he continued his examination of me, I felt his stare, assessing my downturned face. “Out of curiosity, and no big deal if you don’t want to say, but did something happen to you this last year?”

My back straightened and I sucked in a slow, deep breath before asking calmly, “Like what?”

“You’re very . . . different than you were before.”

“Because I don’t want you touching me?” I tried to infuse my words with challenge, strength—wanting to shake off any earlier impression of weakness—and mostly succeeded. Peeking at him, I gauged his reaction from behind a hastily built wall of dispassion.

But then Abram dropped his chin to his chest, a massive grin lighting his features, and the fragrance of him hit me. My lashes fluttered as though he’d blown dust in my eyes, penetrating my wobbly wall of dispassion and sending it crumbling to the ground.

God, he smelled so good, and—unlike visual stimuli—I couldn’t stop whatever cascade of relaxing, soothing, melting awareness smelling his scent set off. Unthinkingly, I leaned forward an inch, chasing and inhaling the smell of him while he cleared his throat, like he was trying not to laugh.

Why he was fighting a laugh, I didn’t know, but the apparent genuineness of Abram’s struggle to subdue his grin only served to increase his attractiveness.

A moment later, he lifted his eyes and they connected with mine. He’d conceded to a shy smile. It was quite a smile.

“Yes,” he said.

“Yes?” I parroted dumbly. What were we talking about? And would it be weird if I buried my nose in his neck?

“Yes. You not wanting me to touch you means that you are very different now than you were before,” he explained.

I appreciated the completeness and thoroughness of his sentence.

My cheeks were hot. I pressed my hands against them while I examined him with suspicion. What was he doing to me?

“How so?” I asked, hoping to keep him talking so I could hunt down the splintered pieces of my concentration.

His eyebrows pulled together as his shy smile became a smirk. “You’re telling me you don’t remember?”

“Tell me your version of events,” I demanded, side-stepping a lie and still holding my cheeks.

“Uhh . . .” He scratched the back of his neck, peering at me like I both confused and amused him.

I was used to confusing people, but not amusing them. My cheeks burned hotter.

“Do you even remember?” I pushed, knowing my tone was belligerent.

He made a sound like he was choking on a laugh. “Yes. It’s hard to forget waking up to a naked girl in my bed.”

Jaw dropping, my eyes grew to their maximum diameter.

Naked. Girl. In . . . bed?

“Are you serious?” I whispered, my mind darting in all directions, attempting to form a reasonable hypothesis for Lisa’s behavior and coming up completely empty. Suddenly, I couldn’t catch my breath.

He shook his head, giving me an astonished once-over. “You honestly don’t remember?”

My mouth opened and closed as I struggled to speak, but it was no use. I was too . . . I was too many things. Shocked. Confused. Incredulous. ANGRY.

LISA!

What had she been thinking? She’d been eighteen! How would she have liked waking up to find a strange, naked, eighteen-year-old boy in her bed?

I was beyond shocked. I was horrified. I was electrocuted by the reality of my sister’s brazen-slash-creepy quotient, because I couldn’t imagine doing anything in the same sphere of possibility. I was beginning to believe that if my twin and I were represented by a Venn diagram, our only areas of overlap would be physical. A minor sliver of shared corporal characteristics, and that was absolutely it.

“Lisa?”

Blinking at Abram, and promptly becoming tangled in his searching gaze, I realized he was still there. And I was still here. And my hands were still pressed against my cheeks as I warred with what I now identified as hot mortification.

What else could I do? I shot to my feet and marched out of the living room, dropping my hands and running up the main staircase.

 

 

Pre-order the rest of the series today!

Space

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2SL7P09

AppleBooks: https://apple.co/2WOXsrj

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/SpacePR

Nook: http://bit.ly/2I1Rekw

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2GzSvwS

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2RRny94

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2tfBT5C

 

Time

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Gk59Aq

AppleBooks: https://apple.co/2MYQ73J

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TimePR

Nook: http://bit.ly/2TFwsIH

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2RTODZD

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2Sm1Zmu

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2WSQbXe

Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.

Connect with Penny:

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2AXQQxj

GoodReads: http://bit.ly/2sCQ1pi

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2W67eow

BookBub: http://bit.ly/2U3dKdW

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2lakzsD

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2FDLziw

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2sDBr0u

Stay up to day with Penny by joining her mailing list: http://bit.ly/2szN34G

 

Enter the Giveaway:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ee2f7e8650/