Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts

Summers are supposed to be fun, right? Not mine. I’ve got a job at my dad’s company, which is sponsoring a college scholarship competition. I just found out that, in addition to my job assisting the competing interns, I’m supposed to vote for the winner. Totally not what I signed up for.

My boss is running the competition like it’s an episode of Survivor. Then there’s Carlos, who is, well, very distracting––in a good way. But I can’t even think about him like that because fraternizing on the job means instant disqualification for the intern involved.

As if that’s not enough, an anonymous informant with insider intel is trying to sabotage my dad’s company on social media... and I’m afraid it's working.

Much as I’d love to quit, I can’t. Kristoffs Never Quit is our family motto. I just hope there’s more than one survivor by the end of this summer.

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Entangled Publishing

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
Laurel wants to spend time with her workaholic father, the geeky dad who used to spend a ton of time with her. She's willing to do anything, even be the assistant/spy to the new set of interns.

In this young adult novel, not only is the connection between a daughter and father explored, but also that between friends. How perception is reality and first impressions aren't accurate descriptions of the real person deep inside.

From outward appearances, Laurel looks to be a spoiled, rich daddy's girl who has the world at her fingertips and not a care in the world. While the other interns duke it out in a survivor-like competition to win a full scholarship, they resent the girl who is there to help them, seeing her as she appears to be.

Each intern has their own set of challenges and strife, which makes Laurel feel as if her need to spend time with her father is indulgent and not important. Settling for a few minutes to and from work in the car is worth working a 9-to-5 for Laurel.

Laurel doesn't come off as whiny or spoiled or entitled, so I got her position. When surrounded by people who all have deeper issues than you, what you're going through is trivialized, like it's not important. It is important. Life isn't a competition to see who has it worse, to the point you don't need help/attention/love because your lot in life isn't as bad as someone else's. Everyone is equally important.

Laurel was surrounded by people who put out into the world, "let's talk about me, because your issues aren't as important as mine," which feels narcissistic and dismissive, not true friend-like behavior, when she was already putting everyone else first.

Amongst the angst, Laurel's longtime crush is one of the interns, when he doesn't even remember her name after an entire school career together, along with another employee's daughter, who has never given her the time of day. The other three interns are strangers, and more willing to get to know Laurel.

The bond that forms between them was sweet, while their real-life issues will be sure to resonate with every reader. The crush of budding first love, while getting to know one another as friends first was sweet, broody, and angsty deliciousness.

The 'mystery' of the novel was predictable, and I wished another character was chosen as the villain of the story, but it created a fast-paced, addictive page-turner of a read.

I definitely recommend Spies, Lies, and Allies to young adults and those young at heart, looking for a fun, light, yet equally emotionally deep novel. Lisa Brown Roberts has become my go-to young adult fix.

Young Adult age-range: 12+, includes kissing and cussing.

Lisa Brown Roberts still hasn’t recovered from the teenage trauma of nearly tweezing off both eyebrows and having to pencil them in for an entire school year. This and other angst-filled memories inspire her to write YA books about navigating life’s painful and funny dramas, and falling in love along the way.

Her almost forever home is Colorado, though she occasionally pines for the days when she lived within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean. Her house is full of books, boys, four-legged prima donnas, and lots of laughter.

Connect with Lisa

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Google+  ~  Instagram

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts to read and review.

Playing the Player by Lisa Brown Roberts

Trina Clemons needed the money. Why else would she - the most organized, prepared student in school - spend the summer as a nanny and partner with the biggest slacker ever? Now she's ready to tackle nannyhood with her big binder of research and schedules. Just don't ask her about the secret job of "fixing" the bad habits of a certain high school player...

Slade Edmunds prefers easy hook-ups, and Trina is definitely not his type. She's all structure and rules, while Slade wants to just have fun. Fortunately, Trina has no idea about the bet Slade made with his best friend that he can totally get her to unwind by the end of summer...

Then the weirdest thing happens. There's chemistry. A lot of it. But nothing gets between a boy and a girl like a big, fat secret...

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a straight/gay BFF bromance, an irresistibly kissable bad boy, a good girl who wants to be kissed, some epic babysitting fails, and the occasional f-bomb.

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
5 Angsty Stars

Lisa Brown Roberts is a favorite of mine in the young adult genre, finding her teen characters to be realistic role models, and the narrators of Playing the Player are no different. As an adult reading this genre, I believe teens will devour this book, as well as a more mature audience.

Trina is a hard-working, serious girl, who's as equally flawed as she is good. A well-rounded, human character with pain and hopes and dreams.

Slade is a slacker who has no idea what he wants out of life. He's a down-to-earth, uninspired charmer who can wrap anyone around his finger. But no matter how big of a player he comes off to be, he has a good heart and a conscience.

Trina and Slade create the perfect balance as they get to know one another on the pages of the novel. A bit of a love-hate, push-pull chemistry and tension as they partner in their nanny duties. Both have a secret that will hurt the other's feelings, creating delicious angst that rides along the journey with the characters, both feeling guilty.

As the driving force between the couple, the kids were a hoot, the BFFs were the voices of reason, and the parents were trying their best, even if unconventionally. All around, Playing the Player was a good story, with strong characters, and the budding romance of a sweet crush.

I read the book in one sitting, a few times experiencing a gamut of emotions: heart-clenching, gut-twisting, and barks of sharp laughter at the awkward encounters.

Recommended to fans of the Young Adult genre.

Young Adult age-range: 13+

Lisa Brown Roberts still hasn’t recovered from the teenage trauma of nearly tweezing off both eyebrows and having to pencil them in for an entire school year. This and other angst-filled memories inspire her to write YA books about navigating life’s painful and funny dramas, and falling in love along the way.

Her almost forever home is Colorado, though she occasionally pines for the days when she lived within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean. Her house is full of books, boys, four-legged prima donnas, and lots of laughter.

Connect with Lisa

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads


Brought to you by

Erica reviewed her personal copy of Playing the Player by Lisa Brown Roberts for this post.

Resisting the Rebel by Lisa Brown Roberts Blog Tour

Spirit committee leader Mandy Pennington is secretly in love with her best friend, Gus, but when he hooks up with her archenemy at a party, she decides to win him over once and for all. She just doesn’t know how. But who better to help than hot loner Caleb Torrs?

Caleb’s got his own problems, but when he sees Mandy pining over Gus at a party, he thinks she’s finally smoked the spirit stick and lost her mind. Maybe he has, too, because he just asked Mandy to be his fake girlfriend. She’ll get her loser friend’s attention, and he’ll get his stalker ex off his back. It’s a win-win.

But soon one fake date blends into the next and before he knows it, he actually wants to kiss Mandy. For real. Too bad their plan is working, and Gus is finally noticing the one girl Caleb just might be falling for…

Disclaimer: This book contains a villain pretending to be a hero, a hero pretending to be a villain, a disco-dancing heroine, two overprotective sidekicks, a little bit of bad language, and a whole lot of swoony kissing.

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N   ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

After she and Caleb sat down, a group of guys sat on the other side of her, laughing loudly and fake punching each other until one of them noticed her.

“Yo babe, you need company? I got room on my lap.” He leered at her.

A swirling vortex of anxiety and anger shot through Mandy. She hated guys like this, who just invaded her space and made rude comments like she was some toy, not a real person. She turned away from the jerk hoping to ignore him, but instead she met Caleb’s stormy dark gaze. Uh oh.

Mandy put a restraining hand on Caleb’s arm but he ignored her, leaning over her to get in the guy’s face. “Shut your pie-hole, unless you want a taste of my fist.”

Mandy closed her eyes and sighed. Great. Now she had not two cavemen to deal with.

The other guy tensed up. His blue eyes, which looked glazed, met hers. “You with this asshole?”

Caleb leaned in close, his spicy scent overwhelming her as his voice rumbled in her ear. “Take your pick, Disco. The devil you know or the one you don’t.”

Holy crap. He was practically smoldering. She grabbed her soda and took a long drink, then glanced at the blue-eyed jerk.

“Yeah,” she finally said, “I’m with him.”

Blue Eyes shrugged. “Your loss.” He turned away, saying foul to his friends that she chose to ignore.

Caleb leaned forward again but she pushed him back, locking eyes with him. “Caleb. If you hang out with my friends, there’s basically one rule. Don’t be a jerk. And no fighting.” She was suddenly aware of her hands still on his chest. Muscles flexed underneath the fabric of his shirt.

“That’s two rules.” Caleb’s hands reached up to cover hers. His eyes narrowed. “You’d rather I let that guy harass you?” His grip tightened, flattening her palms against his chest. Cammie and J.T. goggled at them, open-mouthed, while Jiro smirked and Liam shook his head, smiling.

“I--I--um--” How could she possibly form a coherent sentence when Caleb was filling up her senses like this, his heartbeat racing under her hand? The theater darkened and the speakers vibrated with the soundtrack from the movie previews, but Mandy couldn’t see or hear anything except Caleb.

Caleb released her hands, shifting in his seat to drape his arm over her, his fingers tangling in her hair, then drifting across her neck before setting on her shoulder. Every nerve ending in her body roared to life, and she was pretty sure that fire really was his secret super power.

“W-what are you doing?” she managed to whisper.

In the dim light from the screen, she saw him tilt his chin toward Blue Eyes. “Being an excellent fake boyfriend. He keeps watching you. I want to make sure he gets the message to leave you alone.”

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Jordan – ☆☆☆☆
Mandy has been pinning over Gus for years, but after witnessing him hook-up with her frenemy at a party, she's ready to win him over. Enter Caleb Torrs, hot loner bad-boy, who can't seem to shake his stalker ex. Caleb and Mandy find themselves faking a relationship as part of a mutually beneficial agreement. But suddenly, all the fake dating is starting to turn into real feelings.

This one was kind of a slow start for me and it took some time for me to warm up to the characters. In fact, Mandy, the female lead, kind of drove me bonkers at first. The whole disco-dancing, spirit committee, and all around joiner was a bit much. Also, Mandy suffers from ADHD and in the beginning of the story I felt like it was very evident, but once I got over that hill it was a little easier to get into the flow of things. In fact, she slowly started to grow on me and somewhere along the way, I actually started to feel more in sync with this disco girl! She was just such a nice down-to-earth character. On the other hand, Caleb, our bad boy male lead, totally had me won over. Resistance was futile. I was totally smitten with him!

Honestly, in the beginning I was worried I wasn't going to enjoy the book at all, but somewhere along the way I started to get more and more into it. Surprisingly, by the end I realized I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I just found the whole thing to be quite charming and it gave me all the feels! All in all, it was a solid 4 stars for me and I look forward to seeing what Lisa Brown Roberts does next, and I think readers will too.


Erica – ☆☆☆☆
4 Teenage Angst Stars.

Lisa Brown Roberts is a new-to-me author, and I look forward to reading more of her works. The writing style flowed fluidly and at a nice pace, with age-appropriate behavior by the characters.

Mandy has ADHD and learning disabilities, and I give mad props to the author for showing how that isn't an indicator on intelligence. Mandy is a joiner, natural leader, and the masses follow her with smiles on their faces. Mandy was an enjoyable character to read, down-to-earth and level-headed (for the most part, but that is plot-related).

Caleb's an awesome, swoon-worthy leading man. Introspective and introverted, he's seen as the bad boy because he's not a joiner.

Opposites attract in the time-tested trope of 'let's play pretend to be together.' Caleb's being stalked by an ex, and Mandy wants her crush since kindergarten to notice her as more than just a friend, so they begin a faux-romance that feels very real for the both of them.

My only complaint is how Mandy believed Gus over her BFFs and boyfriend, and every girl she came into contact with. For a smart girl, she was purposefully being obtuse, but it was realistically done, no matter how frustrating it was to read. I wanted to shake Mandy several times and say, "Girl, I wish you had a momma who could tell you how to spot the signs of a player."

Overall, I think young adults will get the warm and fuzzies from Resisting the Rebel, and those young at heart will get an injection of first crushes and first loves.

Young adult age-range: 13+, parental discretion with a handful of swear words and the dubious actions of one of the characters, but not above the norm of true-to-life situations. Sexual content: kissing.

Lisa Brown Roberts still hasn’t recovered from the teenage trauma of nearly tweezing off both eyebrows and having to pencil them in for an entire school year. This and other angst-filled memories inspire her to write YA books about navigating life’s painful and funny dramas, and falling in love along the way.

Her almost forever home is Colorado, though she occasionally pines for the days when she lived within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean. Her house is full of books, boys, four-legged prima donnas, and lots of laughter.

Connect with Lisa

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Resisting the Rebel by Lisa Brown Roberts to read and review for this tour.