Safe Bet by Monica Murphy Release Tour & Review

Safe Bet by Monica Murphy

Release Date: January 10th, 2017

Series: The Rules

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb:

Sydney Walker’s new job is perfect. As the live-in nanny to the most famous quarterback in the NFL and his beautiful wife, she couldn’t have it any better. Their kids are adorable. Her bosses are more than generous. Plus, there are hot football players at the house all the time. Life can’t get much better than this.

Until her life turns into an absolute nightmare. The media is abuzz with rumors that she and her boss Drew Callahan are having a torrid affair. Everyone knows the truth—except the public. So Drew’s wife Fable comes up with the perfect idea.

She creates a fake relationship between Sydney and one of the rookie players on Drew’s team. Wade Knox is forever indebted to Drew and Fable and readily agrees to the set up. Pretending to be in a romantic relationship with the hot nanny for a week—how hard can it be?

Crazy how it only takes one week for two people to fall head over heels in love…

(This mash-up new adult romance features characters from both the One Week Girlfriend series and The Rules series.)

Review:

Well, this book was sweet. I loved being in Drew + Fable world again. It felt like going home, and I am so happy they are still as strong as ever, together. 

Safe bet is a fast read filled with a really nice and sweet romance.

Sydney is a really down to earth girl. She made some mistakes (who didn't when they were 17?) but she is determined to make amends and go on with her life. The job at Challahan's is the perfect fit for her. She really likes it and the independence it brings is good for her. 

Wade has grown up and became an adult. I remember him from the first two books, and I am glad he chose the right path to walk on. He is really nice and cares a lot about Sydney. Which was so refreshing! The lack of drama in this book was pure relief.

On the romance side, Safe bet was good. Believable. This sort of thing could have happened in real life. There wasn't much drama to it, which brings this book a wave of freshness - I believe this is becoming a trait for Monica Murphy, which is good. 

All in all, Safe bet was a good read. I highly recommend it to all romance lovers, and young adults out there!

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2iBpT8e

Pre-Order Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2h3sneQ

iBooks: http://apple.co/1UmRqrX

B&N: http://bit.ly/2eDwVcK

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2e4OnWL

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2eXAKYn

Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2e4N5LG

About the Author:

Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both self-published and published by Random House/Bantam and Harper Collins/Avon. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance.

She is a wife and a mother of three who lives in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she's not writing, she's reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She's a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.

Connect with Monica:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicaMurphyauthor/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5934418.Monica_Murphy

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1YUl0Vm

Website: http://monicamurphyauthor.com

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/IW5U0y

One Wild and Precious Life as an EU Trainee: I'm the Badass Party Coordinator

November Rain party 18/11/2016

In addition to my work at the European Commission, I am also the Coordinator of The Euroball and Parties Subcommittee.

Who would have ever thought?

When we were signing up for coordinator positions, I went to the meeting just to see what the trainees were up to, I swear. And then this position was free, and I looked at the trainees and I was like "Guys, this is a really cool position, is there anyone who wants to do it?"

And I was met with silence. O_o that was my expression, literally. I kept going "Come on guys, this is a great thing! It's fun!" Noone raised their hand. I literally thought about it for like a second, and then said "You know what? I am gonna do it." Everyone in room that knew me started cheering. And I was like, oh well, this is gonna be interesting. 

And that's how I became the Coordinator of The Euroball and Parties Subcommittee.

When I was walking home I kept thinking between the lines of "What the fuck have you gotten yourself into?!" and "OMG this was the best idea I've ever had". Oh well. Along the way I learnt (the good and the bad way). And met incredible people. To which I am the most grateful. It's unbelievable how trust is essential in these things. I would have never thought. But then again, I am the kind of person "if we have a deal, we have a deal".

The first party that I organised was November Rain and it was a bloody success. There were 250 people attending. The theme was 80'/90's. I remember I was walking around the party greeting people and thinking "Holy shit, I did this. This is my party, and it's the best party ever". And I've been to many parties in my life, and let me tell you this party was absolute awesomeness. I was so happy. I was so proud. I felt like I did something really good for the trainees. Everyone was having a blast. 

The second party I organised was Red Love Christmas Party. It was close to the Christmas holidays. The dress code was red red red. Loved it! There were about 150 people attending. The slogan of the party was All I want for Christmas is EU. It was a success too. 

You know what? I love organising parties. It's exhilarating, and the preparation, and little drama, and excitement - it all makes it fucking awesome. 

I feel like I really developed many skills. And met so many great people that I know I can rely on. And many people that I definitely know not to rely on. 

You know, you'd think that at the EU Commission people would be more fair. Yeah, before you give the fair speech, let me explain. I think here in Brussels I finally understood why Slovenian politicians do the things they do when they get elected (Okay, also true that they have some predispositions beforehand, but still). I would have never believed that Trainees like me would behave in a certain way. 

Okay, so we have a Traineeship Committee, which is constitute of 5 people that got elected at the beginning of the traineeship. And to be honest with you, it's not like they have any real power, more like a lot of additional work. But man.. what I experienced with these people is freaking unbelievable. 

I'm a pretty laid back, chilled person. I don't obsess over little details and I have a strong faith that things will be okay in the end. And they usually are. 

Not in their case, though. So much stress for nothing. So much criticising for little or unimportant things. They'd be like "Oh, it was a great party great job, BUT *insert here a 10-item list of things they thought could have been done differently/better*. Which after the first party was completely shocking to me, as I was there and I spoke to people and everyone was happy. With the music, with the place, with the prices. But no, they have to criticise things just because. Just because they could, I guess. 

I'll be honest here, at the middle of it I actually considered quitting this Subcommittee. The perks were getting outnumbered by the odds. It's seemed like there was only stress and having to answer the committee people, to be criticised a bit more, when they did almost nothing to contribute. Which is sad, cause as I said I love organising parties. But dealing with these people is a completely another planet. 

Which leads me to the second part.. I hate people taking credit for the things they haven't done. Which the Committee did on many occasions. Actually, all occasions. It was either "them" organising and inviting people to the event, or putting their name first and then putting my Subcommittee on the second place. Which. What. The. Fuck. ?! 

Or deciding who is gonna be on the guest list - cause they were so there to know who actually contributed to the organisation of the party. Mah. I don't like anal people. What I also don't like are people who get voted on something and then they start thinking they are Gods and start treating their equals as the last piece of shit out there. Bloody egotrip. I mean, the behaviour of some of the people on the Committee was downright bullying. And rude. And patronising.

With all due respect, I don't deal with this type of people. You either talk to me as a normal person, or we are not talking at all. And especially considering how much they actually contributed to the organisation of the parties (I'll give you a little hint here: beside selling the tickets on office hours, they did nothing) you'd think they would be a little more respectful toward people who are trying to make something good and fun for others. Guess not. 

But you know what my father said? 

Concentrate on the people who tell you you did a great job, not on the people who criticise you just so they can feel superior. Which is what I did. Sometimes it's easier than others, I'll say. 

But the important thing is this: I am still here and I am still trying. 

Which in the end of the day, is all we can do. 

We Should Always Create Possibilities For Ourselves

That time of the year has arrived. 

Despite the terrible events that have happened in 2016, I must say that for me it was a good year. 

At the beginning of the year I stayed home. I finally had holidays! Well deserved holidays. Which felt good for about 2 months. After that I became a bit bored. So I started running. I figured that my mind was a better place after a run. It's unbelievable! Who would have ever thought? Another thing that I figured was also that even when tired, a run fills you up with so much energy. You'd think it's counter-productive but it really isn't. Ah, the beauty of life.

I had so much free time, I started applying for jobs. To US. I got rejected by Harvard. Which I guess is something. Let's say that it was a bit depressing. Sending out applications is always depressing to me. You put all this energy in and then gah, people don't even deign you with a reply. In May I became seriously bored and made the decision to go back to UK. It's been my dream to move to Newcastle one day, and there was no better time than present. 

Another thing I decided at the beginning of 2016 is that now is the time to do all the things I've always wanted to do but didn't due to Uni/work/money/life. 2016 was gonna be the year I will put my 3 year plan into motion. Now I am single, young, and free. I only need to take care of myself, and therefore I am able to make this sort of decisions. They only affect me.

What is my 3 year plan? 

3 years. 6 cities. 6 months each. 

Rome. Berlin. Nice. Newcastle. New York. Paris.

And not just travelling. But living. Living it. Breathing the city. Take it all in with all the good and all the bad and to do with it the best that I can. And work. Work in the psychology field. Companies don't give out lifetime contracts anymore anyway, so 6 month plan is perfect.

And then decide where to settle down.

It's a good plan I shall say.  

So in May I decided to put my 3 year plan into motion. I booked the ticket to Edinburgh. I packed my stuff and left for an adventure. I visited my friends in Edinburgh ofcourse. I missed them. I still do. 

And then I moved to Newcastle. My first destination. And it was still as beautiful as I remembered. I still love you Newcastle.

I did not think it was going to be easy.. But I didn't imagine it being so hard either to get a nice entry level job. I kept getting offers for sales ... which wasn't really for me. In the end I ended up as a supervisor at Barburitto. And it was nice. I really liked my manager. He was the best boss ever. Work was kinda fun. Plus I could boss people around and not feel bad about it cause it was my job. 

I didn't make many friends in Newcastle. Very few. People were always coming and going. And people living there were very.. English. Yeah, I didn't make many friends. 

I got my heart broken, too. That was a quite painful experience after so many years. But then again, it's always painful when your heart gets broken no matter how much time has passed. 

In the healing process I started going around. And by around I mean everywhere nice. I visited all the beaches in the Newcastle larger area. Whitley bay, South Shields, North Shields, Tynemouth. Every lovely day that I had time off I went to the beach. I had a summer after all. Oh, I made the attempt to go to as many happy hours in Jesmond as I could. Jesmond is still a magical place to me, but you really need friends to go there. Going alone is not as fun, sadly. 

In the end of September I packed my stuff and sat on the bus to Brussels. On the long journey I thought about a lot of things that happened this summer, and I made the decision that I was done with UK. I spent almost 4 years there. If I'm not feeling it by now, then chances are I never will. It's sad, but in the end it is what it is. And, UK, we aren't.

I moved to Brussels in October. I got the EU Commission traineeship!! The one that I wanted! My dream came true! I did it! 

After 3 months here I can honestly say that this has been the absolute best time of my life. I am the happiest I've ever been. 

Work is great. The European Commission is awesome. Is this huge machine and every person is a little piece of the puzzle that gets the whole machine turning. It's overwhelming sometimes. I attended lots of trainings about cool stuff such Mind mapping!

I am also the Coordinator of the Parties and Euroball Subcommittee. Which means I get to organise really cool parties for the EU trainees. And I love it! I made a November Rain party in November and it was a huge success. And I did a Red Love Christmas party in December and it was a success too. People were happy. And I was super happy. Doing good for people is the ultimate goal for a higher life satisfaction. I love my life here.

I've met so many great people from all over Europe. Young adults full of hopes and dreams for a better future. All sociable. All very nice. Ok, some are not, but that's a given - it's statistics. 

I visited Paris again in October! And I had the best time ever. The weather was so nice, and I was wearing dresses everyday and I met my friends, and I love Paris. I have to make it to Paris. Have to. Everytime I visit I get this overwhelming feeling of happiness and life seems so good, and I owe it to myself to live there at least once. 

I went home for Christmas, and I had a great time there too. My cat was super happy to see me. I saw my friends and family and it was lovely. Going home is always relaxing .. as long as there is an expiring date :P

Books wise, I read a lot of good books. I completed my challenge of the year!

  The top 5 books I've read this year are:

But my absolute favourite was A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas! This book is brilliant!

As for new year plans and wishes..

I want to stay in Brussels for another 6 months. I love it here. And I'd like to stay at the house that I am now with my current flatmates. They are the best people ever, and our home is actually a home. Which is everything.

I want to find a job in the psychology field. 

After 6 months I should implement another city in my plan. Paris hopefully. 

I am going to India with Justina for a month to meditate and party. 

I am going to learn French and speak it fluently by the end of 2017.

That is all, I think.   

I wish you a very happy new year and may all your wishes and plans come true!

Create possibilities for yourself, and always remember: Be brave.

With love,