Saturday 28 February 2015

Review: Chasing Ravens by Jessica E. Paige



Chasing Ravens
Book # 1
By- Jessica E. Paige
Genre- YA Fairy Tale/Folklore

Orphaned at a young age, 15-year old Anouk’s punishment for being too outspoken is an arranged marriage worse than any she could imagine. Fleeing on horseback, yet without a sense of where to turn, she stumbles upon an idyllic village where she finds safe haven. Could this be home?

Ultimately, it will lead her to confront the very face of death, yet amidst the danger and darkness, she meets a handsome woodsman and finds a glowing blue flower with power beyond her wildest dreams.

Inspired by Russian fairy tales and steeped in ancient folklore, Paige’s novel is ripe with fantasy, love, and courage.

   



REVIEW

This was a beautiful story that saw a young girl go from meagre beginnings to becoming a hero who saved the lives of many with her bravery. I instantly had a liking for Anouk. 
Cheated of her immediate family, forced to leave her home only to be treated like a slave, my heart went out to this poor girl. I was glad she was able to find some comfort in Devya and that the people there treated her like one of their own.

There was a slow change in Anouk, as she blossomed into a beautiful young woman with a mind of her own. She was strong and brave, with a pure heart, and her actions only showcased her inner fire and beauty all the more. I enjoyed the folktales and lore that were woven into this majestic adventure. It was exciting to walk alongside Anouk on her travels. She showed plenty of courage in the face of danger; with her heart and head set on finding help I don’t think anything would have stopped her. Not even the ghastly trolls.

The one thing that really stood out to me was how Anouk, even after going through hell and back, was able to step aside and allow Vlad his redemption. It spoke volumes about her character. 

This book was an absolute delight to read - storytelling at its best! 




Review: Stuff & Things and What Boredom Brings (A Witches Tale #1) by Rue Volley



Stuff & Things and What Boredom Brings 
by Rue Volley 





Alexandria "Alexi" Elizabeth Carvelle is a typical teenage girl; doing her best to navigate High School, daydreaming of the future, trying to study hard. Her life would all be very normal if her mother had not just passed away leaving Alexi and her father, Christopher, on their own with nothing but a legacy, the only witchy store in Ravenswood - Stuff & Things and What Boredom Brings. On top of everything else, Alexi has now noticed her BFF, Logan...is a boy. 
But all of these things are the least of her problems when a new boy moves into town. His family's arrival disrupts the peaceful life of living in Ravenswood. Their presence has ignited old rumors when they moved into the one place everyone in town avoids, the Haunted Mansion. Suddenly, everything changes for Alexi. The dreams begin and nothing is perhaps what it seemed.

Every town has a secret, but what if that secret is you?



http://www.amazon.com/Witchs-Tale-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00ART79YO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425036213&sr=8-2&keywords=Stuff+%26+Things+and+What+Boredom+Brings

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20932608-stuff-things-and-what-boredom-brings



REVIEW

I’m a huge lover of PNR books, and I was quite excited to read this story because I’ve heard such amazing things about Rue Volley. I will admit, though, that even this was a good read I wasn’t completely enthralled by it. I think I was expecting a bit more witchery and magic, but the first half of the book could have been mistaken for a contemporary teen drama. 
There was mention of Alexi’s witch lineage and the somewhat paranormal past of Ravenswood, but otherwise nothing too unusual occurred. Perhaps it was the author’s way of allowing the reader to get to know the characters without being distracted by everything else going on.

I had a feeling that Kyle was a little more para than normal, and I was intrigued to find out exactly what he was. There also seemed to be a bit of a connection between Kyle and Alexi, and I was excited to see how things would develop. Even once the paranormal elements of this story came into play, I still felt that there wasn’t enough magic and mayhem. There was the incident that changed Logan’s life or rather death, forever, but I still wanted more.

Overall this was a quick read with witty characters that were likeable. The ending promised a lot more of what I was looking for in the next instalment of this series, and I really would like to see if Alexi is able to break the curse and set everyone free, and if she’ll be able to help Logan. 






ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rue Volley resides on earth with her husband, Von Erik, and their two pug sons, Momo and Oshi. She is the author of over 40 books, Creative/Marketing Director for Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, and co-owner of Lovebites Production Company (which specializes in Dark Fantasy Films) She is also an accomplished graphic artist and a screenwriter. Please visit her at ruevolley.com






Friday 27 February 2015

Cover Reveal + #Giveaway: The Hazards of Sleeping With a Friend by Alyssa Rose Ivy

We are extremely pleased to bring you the cover reveal for

Alyssa Rose Ivy's

THE HAZARDS OF SLEEPING WITH A FRIEND!!

 

THE HAZARDS OF SLEEPING WITH A FRIEND is a New Adult romance and the fifth book in Alyssa's Hazards Series. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! THE HAZARDS OF SLEEPING WITH A FRIEND will be available March 26th!!

 
  The Hazards of Sleeping With A Friend - Cover
Cover Design: Once Upon a Time Covers
Cover Photography K. Keeton

Add THE HAZARDS OF SLEEPING WITH A FRIEND on Goodreads

 
Warning: Sleeping with a friend might change your life forever.
Sleeping with Kyle was never in the plans. Pretending to be his girlfriend was one thing, but letting our relationship become anything but platonic was another. The problem with mixing friendship with sex is that inevitably feelings get involved, and when that happens there's no turning back.

When Kyle's life fell apart around him, I needed to help, but doing that meant opening myself up to the most terrifying thing in the world—falling in love.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 

Alyssa Rose Ivy- Author PhotoAlyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.        

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Cover Reveal: Getting Dirty by Mia Storm


We are so please to introduce brand new author Mia Storm with her debut release, Getting Dirty

Releasing on March 19th




Dirty
A poem by Blaire Leon

If sex is dirty, why would I do it with someone I love?
If sex is dirty, then didn’t we all come from the dirt?
What if I like the dirt?
What if I want to get dirty?
What if I want to roll in the mud until I’m so fucking filthy that I’ll never be clean again?


 
When twenty-five-year-old graduate assistant Caiden Brenner asked Blaire Leon how old she was, she said she was a senior. He chose to believe she meant in college. They connect over Lord Byron’s Don Juan and, as their conversations become increasingly thicker with sexual innuendo, Caiden finds himself obsessing over a totally off-limits undergrad who’s bold, beautiful, brilliant, and one of the most passionate poets he’s ever met.
 
But it turns out Blaire hasn't been totally honest. She's the seventeen-year-old valedictorian of her high school class, taking courses at Sierra State while awaiting her acceptance to Stanford.
 

Will Caiden get too deeply into Blaire to back away before he finds out the truth? Or will their connection be enough to seduce him into risking his entire future on Jail Bait?
 
 
 
 
"A thousand and one feels....Getting Dirty is a thrilling, tantalizing forbidden romance you do not want to miss! I not only devoured this book, it devoured me right back!"--Katy Evans, New York Times Bestselling author of REAL

 



 


 

EXCERPT


“What year are you?” I don’t even realize I’ve said it until it’s out of my mouth.
Her eyes flick from the book to mine. “A senior.”
I feel my eyebrows arch before I can stop them. “You look younger.”
She bites her lips between her teeth for a moment. “Is that good or bad?”
“Neither, I suppose.” But my insides burn, knowing that she’s not as off-limits as I originally thought. It’s nearing the end of January. Commencement will be here soon enough. She graduates and all bets are off.
“So…” she says, twisting a finger into the ends of her hair. “I know you like old, dead poets. How do you feel about hearing something fresher?”
I lean toward her. “Such as?”
“I’m reading in a poetry slam tonight. It’s just something over at Tino’s in Jonestown on the fourth Friday of every month. There’s no prize money or anything, but I perform something new pretty much every month.”
“A poetry slam…” I want to say yes in the worst way, but it feels dangerously like a date.
She must read the hesitation in my eyes. “If it’s too weird, no worries. I just thought, since you like poetry…”
She leaves the thought dangling. Like a noose. And I jump right into it. “Yeah. Why not?”
The answer to that rhetorical question is that it’s not May yet and she hasn’t graduated. I’m risking everything I’ve worked the last three years toward. My entire future. But the voice of reason is being drowned out by the raging waves of something rolling up from the deepest layers of my being like an undertow. Something base and essential. And unrelenting.
“Do you want to meet me there?” she asks, standing from her seat and giving me a better view of the entire exquisite length of her.
“Yeah…that’s probably best.” Plausible deniability. No, Dr. Duncan, I didn’t have any clue she’d be there. Just went to hear the poetry.
“Great,” she says as she gathers her book and shoves it in her bag. “It starts at nine. There are usually five or six poets and it’s a random draw, so I don’t know what time I’ll be reading.”
I nod without standing, no longer able to tame my erection. “I’ll be there at nine.”
“You know where Tino’s is?”
Electricity crackles under my skin. I’m really doing this. “Yeah. I’ll find it.”




About the Author


Mia Storm is a hopeless romantic who is always searching for her happy ending. Sometimes she’s forced to make one up. When that happens, she’s thrilled to be able to share those stories with her readers. She lives in California and spends much of her time in the sun with a book in one hand and a mug of black coffee in the other, or hiking the trails in Yosemite. Connect with her online at MiaStormAuthor.blogspot.com , on Twitter at @MiaStormAuthor, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiaStormAuthor.






 

Thursday 26 February 2015

Release Day Launch: Excerpt + #Giveaway: The Hidden Library by Heather Lyons

THL RDL Banner
 

We are dying to jump back down the rabbit hole with Heather Lyons' THE HIDDEN LIBRARY!

 

THE HIDDEN LIBRARY is an Adult Romantic Fairy Tale, full of adventure and fantasy and the second book in Heather’s The Collectors' Society Series! Check out the latest fantastic installment in this series that brings you some of the classics with a twist.

 
 
  The Hidden LIbrary Cover

Amazon ** Amazon UK ** Barnes and Noble **iBooks ** Kobo

 
Sometimes, the rabbit hole is deeper than expected . . .


Alice Reeve and Finn Van Brunt have tumbled into a life of secrets. Some secrets they share, such as their employment by the clandestine organization known as The Collectors’ Society. Other secrets they carry within them, fighting to keep buried the things that could change everything they think they know.


On the hunt for an elusive villain who is hell-bent on destroying legacies, Alice, Finn, and the rest of the Society are desperate to unravel the mysteries surrounding them. But the farther they spiral down this rabbit hole, the deeper they fall into secrets that will test their loyalties and pit them against enemies both new and old.


Secrets, they come to find, can reveal the deadliest of truths.
 
THL Teaser
 


EXCERPT

We are about to open the conference room door and enter the hallway when he stops. He turns to me, his lovely eyes achingly sincere. “I want to take you on a date when all of this craziness is over. A real one. We’ve kind of gone about this all backwards, haven’t we?”
One corner of my mouth lifts up. “Are you saying you’d like to court me?”
There is no playfulness to his face, no quirk to his own lips. My heart flutters at his seriousness. “Yes.”
He wants to court me.
Too many emotions rush around in a caucus race throughout my body. I have no doubts of Huckleberry Finn Van Brunt’s feelings toward me. I understood them two minutes ago just as well as I did this morning when I woke up and from the night before and from the day in Wonderland where he said, in not so many words, that he was falling in love with me.
I told him he was my north star, and meant it. He countered we are binaries.
He and I . . . We’ve never said those words, though, not the ones that truly spell out fragile, deep secrets of a heart and soul. Words so easily and yet unfortunately uttered by many, be it to express their appreciation of fried bits of potatoes to sports teams on the television. Words offered so frivolously about a variety of subjects and yet can be the most difficult, most painful, most meaningful, most cherished syllables we gift another person.
I have said these words before, to another man. Another man I still love. One I know, in the deepest confines of my heart, that I will love until the last breath escapes my body. A man who courted me in secret and then publicly in the face of astonishment, disapproval, confusion, and, in the end, prophesies.
I have willingly given the man in front of me my heart, though, whether he knows it or not. He now holds it in his hands, and while I pray he is my future, there is still a part of me that bucks in conflicted confusion and delight by this declaration of his.
He wants to court me.
And yet, as sweet and romantic as such a gesture might be, I require no such formalities. My affections for Finn Van Brunt have already solidified into something real and wonderful and meaningful.

 


  
Don’t miss the first book in this series,
THE COLLECTORS’ SOCIETY!

 
The Collectors' Society front cover

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iBooks** Kobo

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Photo

Heather Lyons writes epic, heartfelt love stories and has always had a thing for words. In addition to writing, she’s also been an archaeologist and a teacher. She and her husband and children live in sunny Southern California and are currently working their way through every cupcakery she can find.      



Website | Author Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | THE HIDDEN LIBRARY Goodreads

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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THL Available Now









Blog Tour: Excerpt: Play My Game by J. Kenner




playmygame

For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You comes an erotic, emotionally intense eBook novella from J. Kenner, bestselling author of Release Me. Following fan favorites Damien Stark and his wife, Nikki Fairchild, Play My Game is the story of their first Valentine’s Day as newlyweds, and offers an alluring glimpse of Jackson Steele, the alpha male featured in Kenner’s upcoming novel Say My Name. Includes a special preview of Say My Name, the highly anticipated first novel in J. Kenner’s new trilogy in the Stark series.

  I never imagined that anything could top our honeymoon, but life as Mrs. Damien Stark is sweeter than any fantasy. We are forever bound by our love and our desire. His touch is my greatest treasure—and is purely mine alone. Yet no matter where we go, the ghosts of our pasts follow. We can’t escape our secrets, or the people who desperately want to bring us down. Even on Valentine’s Day, neither of us is safe. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Damien, to fulfill his every need. His kiss is my calling, his passion my truest bliss. The dangers we face, we now face together—and nothing can make me run.
 
Play My Game is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.


Add it to your Goodreads list here!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes








EXCERPT

 
Damien laughs. Two best friends discussing a honeymoon. Why do I feel like Im facing a performance review?
My grin is pure wickedness. Dont worry, Mr. Stark. As always, you scored a perfect ten.
He kisses me again, long and lingering, then pulls me close. I sigh happily and lean against him, trying as always to absorb the fact that this is my life now. He is my life now.
I love you, I say softly, then feel the tightening of his arms around me in response to my words.
Youre my everything, Nikki. And I love you desperately. He takes my hand and leads me back to our bedroom. He tugs the apron over my head, then slowly unbuttons the shirt I am wearing. He eases it off my shoulders, and it falls gently to the floor behind us. Im naked beneath it, and the material caresses my back as it falls, making me shiver from both the sensuality of the moment and in anticipation of Damiens touch.
He doesnt disappoint.

 

About J. Kenner

Julie Kenner (aka J. Kenner and J.K. Beck) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over forty novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres. Praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations,” J.K. writes a range of stories including super sexy romances, paranormal romance, chick lit suspense and paranormal mommy lit. Her foray into the latter, Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, is in development as a feature film with 1492 Pictures. Her most recent trilogy of erotic romances, The Stark Trilogy (as J. Kenner), reached as high as #2 on the New York Times list and is published in over twenty countries. J.K. lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and several cats.
 


 







Release Day Launch + Exclusive Excerpt: The Reality O by Candy Sloane

The Reality O Banner


 Today is the release day launch for Candy Sloane's The Reality O. I am so excited to share this erotic comedy with y'all. Candy is sharing an excerpt with us today, so be sure to check out all the info!!!


Blogs Taking Part in the Release Day Launch

The Chiq Blog
G & Co. Book Blog
The Sassy Bookista
Unknown Book Reviews


 
Exclusive Excerpt

 
Behind the Scenes

Make me come for the very first time.
Twenty-five-year-old busty, blond, green-eyed, straitlaced librarian,
looking for a guy to be able to do what no one before him has.

Above you’ll find the joke “Casual Encounters” post my best friend Allie put on Craigslist without my knowledge.
On the bright side, she’d referred to me as busty. On the not so bright side, her bawdy prank started a chain of crazier than crazy events that neither of us could have predicted.
Her post was true. I’d never had an orgasm during sex, or anything else I’d done with someone else. Yes, even with tongues, fingers, and things stuck in places my mother and your mother would not want to hear about things being stuck.
My lack of orgasm without my trusty vibrator wasn’t something I bragged about, but I also didn’t think it was that weird.
I mean, Allie told me it was, but it was like rule number one of being friends with her to never believe anything she said. Her self-described sex life rivaled the tips in Cosmo magazine—the good parts that revealed confidences you were pretty sure no human had ever actually experienced, not the embarrassing anonymous stories that made you feel better about your own boring sex life.
Or at least, they’d made me feel better about mine.
I received the first response to Allie’s post while I was at work shelving books in the miniscule poetry section of the Bangor Public Library. I was using my recently awarded Masters of Library Science degree to its fullest for sure.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I picked it up with one hand and squeezed it between my ear and shoulder, balancing a huge volume by E.E. Cummings in my other hand.
At the time I didn’t notice, but now, yes, I see the irony.
“Hello,” I whispered, glancing around to make sure I was alone among the shelves. We weren’t supposed to take calls in the library, and that day I wished I would have followed the rule I continually got reprimanded for breaking.
“I want to make you come,” a breathy voice oozed from the receiver, “I’m going to suck on your sweet, throbbing clit until…”
“Excuse me!?!” I screamed. Well, as loudly as you can in the middle of a library. My heart was pounding so chaotically the people using the free internet could probably hear it anyway.
“I’ll start by licking you nice and slow, all around your honey pot, till you’re begging for it, desperate for more. Then I’ll—”
I hung up. My throat ached. My face dimpled with sweat.
Honey pot? I was too freaked out to even appreciate the humor in a guy trying to talk dirty while using Winnie the Pooh as his muse.  
Yes, freaked out. I was not turned on. I was terrified. I studied the phone number in my recent call list. It was local.
I tried to gather myself, smoothing my tight ponytail as I went back to shelving, but I couldn’t get his voice out of my head. I kept hearing him. The men I went out with never talked to me that way. No one had ever talked to me that way. I certainly didn’t like it, but I also couldn’t deny the adrenaline shooting and pinging through each limb like my body was a pinball machine.
I picked up a slim Anne Sexton paperback—yet another irony in hindsight—and squatted down. His voice still echoed. My thighs burned as I glided my fingers along the back spines on the bottom shelf looking for its space.
My phone vibrated again.
I glanced at the number before I answered, not the breathy-voiced sicko, another local call. I should have just let it go to voicemail. I should have, but I didn’t.
“Hello,” I answered, hesitantly, rubbing one finger along the frame of my glasses—chunky and bright red, a perfect contrast to my olive green eyes and the one style decision that always made people wonder about me.
“Hey baby,” a growl slithered over the line, “I hear you need a real man.”
“Who is this?” I whispered.
“Your daddy.”
I held out the phone and stared at it like it had come to life. I could still hear his voice thrusting through the receiver.
“You want it, don’t you? I’m going to bend you over a table and shove my twelve-inch-cock into your dripping wet pussy again and again, my finger right—”
I clicked end and threw my phone on the ground. My pulse was pounding so feverishly against my neck it was choking me. What the hell was going on?
Also, who in this world had a twelve-inch-cock? How did he walk with that thing unless he used it as a cane?
My phone came to life again, buzzing and lighting up from where it lay on the floor, like a horror movie where you thought the monster was dead, but really he was invincible.
I picked it up with the tips of two fingers and looked at it, yet another local number I didn’t recognize. I clicked for the call to go to voicemail.
It was 11:00 a.m., too early to take lunch, but I didn’t care. My phone vibrated in my hand as yet another call lit up the screen. I forced it to voicemail and texted Allie to drop everything and meet me at The Sundown.
If it was too early to take lunch, it was definitely too early to have a drink, but I needed one. It had to be five o’clock somewhere considering it was sex o’clock on my phone.

   IMG_0243
 


 
Fifteen Contestants, Twelve Episodes & One Very Big O

When my best friend Allie posted about my need for an inaugural O on a prominent dating website it was meant to be a joke. 
A joke she was supposed to delete. 
But her post started an internet and media frenzy and, when I was offered fifty thousand dollars to star in my own reality competition show, I had no choice but to say yes.
The Orgasm Virgin was supposed to help me meet a carnal companion who could finally bring me to climax.
Unfortunately, the one person I want to win the undying allegiance of my, well, you know, can’t be in the running at all.
Now in an L.A. mansion with fifteen very persuasive contestants vying for my attention and one undeniably sexy Production Assistant secretly getting it all the word ACTION has a whole new meaning…

Candy Sloane is an erotica author and the fictional creation of Lisa Burstein from the New Adult novel Sneaking Candy. The Orgasm Virgin is her debut novel.

Author's Note: This book is about sex. There are men kissing women, women kissing women, and men kissing lady parts. It is not meant for readers under eighteen, or my mother.
 



 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR


5430977

Candy Sloane is an erotic romance author and the fictional creation of Lisa Burstein from the New Adult Novel Sneaking Candy. The Reality O is her debut novel.  

Lisa Burstein is the author of the Young Adult Novels: Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie, and the New Adult Novels & Novellas: Sneaking Candy, The Next Forever, The Possibility of Us, and Again. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.


Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads



 


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