Wednesday, April 30, 2014

My review of Flame by Clarissa Wild







Flame by Clarissa Wild

 


This story continues on where Fierce and Fury left off.  Hunter’s brother Jessie is just getting out of prison.  Leafy and Hunter go to pick him up from jail when he is released.  There is some tension between the brothers despite the fact they are happy to see each other again.  Jessie isn’t happy that Hunter got involved with the gang to get him out and Hunter is frustrated that Jessie can’t understand that he felt he needed to do it.  Hunter shows Leafy where he grew up.  He is afraid that she will see him differently if she sees where he grew up and how his relationship with his mother is was.  He is deeply affected by his past and is always afraid it will affect the here and now as well as maybe the future.  Leafy doesn’t care is his place isn’t the best or not or that he didn’t have the best childhood, she still loves him.  It even makes her love him more for it.  Knowing that he over came it and is that man his today.  Hunter doesn’t want his brother to be responsible for all the bills and the cost of his college education.   That and college isn’t really for him, so he decides to drop out.  Jessie is furious when he finds out but not his Leafy.  She understands how hard college is for him and that he tried his best.  Hunter always says that fighting is the only thing he is good at so that is what he decides to do after being turned to for job after job.  How will Leafy deal with this, will she be okay with it or will she choose to lose Hunter?  Leafy’s father doesn’t approve of Hunter at all and wants her break up with him.  She refuses to that and tries to explain that she loves Hunter and he loves her.  With all the things going on and out side forces will they be able to stay together or will they be torn apart?  They love each other more than anything, but is that enough?

This is an amazing story.  I love it so much.  There is a prequel about Leafy’s childhood and how see grew up, Book 1 Fury which where Hunter and Leafy meet and fall in Love, Book 1.5 which is the same story but from Hunter’s POV, then Flame Book 2 which is this book a continuation of their story.   I can’t say enough about this series and how much I love it.  I will drop anything to read these books when they came out.  I love Clarissa Wild.  She is a fantastic author.  I love all the things they have to work though and how it makes them stronger and better.  They go through so much but don’t give up or quit.  Hunter is extremely sexy to me.  A total alpha male and I love it.  He wants nothing more than for Leafy to be proud of him and love him.  He will do whatever it takes for her to be happy and protected.  Leafy loves Hunter so much.  He makes her feel sexy, smart, beautiful, and desired.  She wants to support him and prove to him that he is the best man for her and she could never love anyone more than him.  There were parts of this book that I never saw coming and loved them so much.  Then something else would happen and I would love the book even more.  Another fantastic book Clarrisa. 

Scheduled to be released on May 8, 2014

Sex in the Title

Tourbannersitt
Synopsis
New York City, May 2000. The Internet bubble has burst and Evan, a computer programmer, is fired with an email from his boss. The next day, his girlfriend dumps him, also via email. Afraid to check any more emails, Evan desperately seeks a rebound romance but the catastrophes that ensue go from bad to hilariously worse.
Fortunately, Evan meets Sammy -- someone whose legendary disasters with females eclipse even his own. To reverse their fortunes, they recruit their friends -- Trevor, Yi, and Carlos -- to form a group of five guys who take on Manhattan in pursuit of dates, sex, and adventure.
When Evan, a closet writer, falls desperately in love with a Hollywood starlet, he schemes to meet her by writing a novel that will sweep her off her feet. Sammy knows nothing about publishing but is confident of one thing: Evan's book should have the word "sex" in the title.
With musings about life, relationships, and human psychology, this quintessential New York story about the search for happiness follows five men on their comical paths to trouble, self-discovery, and love.
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Sex in the Title Cover

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Teaser
Sex in the Title Teaser 1
Sex in the Title Teaser 2
Excerpt
“Why do I feel the need to succeed in an art form that’s doomed to extinction?” Evan asked, in despair.
“Just because I don’t read novels doesn’t mean they’re doomed,” said Heeb, as he unwrapped his Snickers bar.
“Look, novels made sense as an entertainment form back in the 1800s, when the closest you could get to a soap opera was Dickens and Balzac. Today, you can get dicks and ball sacks on Internet porn, so even soap operas don’t cut it.”
Heeb was somewhat distracted by his Snickers chocolate bar now. Compared to the hospital food, it seemed to Heeb as if it were the quintessence of pure and natural food – grown organically from the earth and full of goodness for the body and spirit. His mouth began to salivate, just looking at the large bar of chocolate and imagining beneath it the nutty and creamy filling that would provide his mouth with an instant orgasm.
Somewhat pained by the social obligation of having to offer some of this heavenly treat to his neighbor, Heeb extended the bar out to Evan while hoping that Evan would decline. To Heeb’s substantial relief, Evan quickly shook his head, almost irritated with such a frivolous interruption of their all-important discussion.
“You’ve got interactive games, DVDs, Internet, 3D films, and an ever shrinking attention span,” Evan continued, as Heeb proceeded to take an enormous bite of his chocolate bar. “Novels don’t stand a chance against such easy and immediate gratification. These days, people just consume whatever gives them the fastest form of amusement, without any concern for the long-term effects that these empty pleasures may have on their constitution.”
Heeb blissfully focused for a moment on the easy and immediate gratification of his Snickers bar, as he methodically chewed on the large chunk of candy bar that filled most of his mouth. He wasn’t at all concerned about its long-term effects on his constitution.
“Are you listening to me?” snapped Evan, somewhat irked that his neighbor seemed so untroubled by the social and technological trends that would doom literature.
Heeb’s mouth was obviously stuffed, but it was clear that Evan wanted an immediate answer.
“You gotta have sex on the cover,” Heeb blurted out, rather unclearly, with his mouth full.
“Sex under the covers?” Evan asked, trying to make out what Heeb said.
“No. Sex on the cover,” Heeb replied, with his words just as garbled by his glutted mouth.
“Sex undercover? As in, undercover sex?” Evan asked, trying again to decipher what Heeb said, and now impatiently convinced that whatever Heeb was trying to say was going to be an annoyingly irrelevant, inappropriate, or unsatisfying response.
“No.” Heeb shook his head and took a few more bites before trying to speak this time. “You just have to have the word ‘sex’ on the cover.”
“What do you mean?” Evan asked, still not sure that he was hearing Sammy correctly. By now, Sammy had finished most of his chewing and could enunciate properly.
“I mean, the book can be about sex on the covers, sex under the covers, or undercover sex. Or anything else really. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve got the word ‘sex’ on the cover.”
“You mean the cover of the book?”
“Yeah. Even better: make sex the first word in the title. Like Sex and the City did.”
“But that was television.”
“It doesn’t matter. If it’s a novel about racecar drivers, call it ‘Sex and Speed.’ Or if it’s a work of historical fiction set in antebellum Texas; call it ‘Sex in the South.’”
Evan looked like a priest hearing sacrilege from a proud atheist for the first time in his pious career.
But the appalled expression on Evan’s face only goaded Heeb on more: “Suppose you’ve written a mystery thriller about an evil scientist who changed his identity into someone totally unknown. Don’t just call it ‘Unknown’; call it ‘Sexual Unknown.’”
“Sexual Unknown?” Evan repeated, incredulously.
“Yeah, that still works.”
“How could that possibly make sense as a title?”
“Look, if the disguised scientist is now generally unknown to people, then he’s probably also sexually unknown to them.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“OK, maybe that’s not a good example,” Heeb conceded, before continuing, undeterred. “Take a novel about a man’s self-discovery. A good title for it would be something like ‘Sexually Searching Self.’ You get the idea. Just have the word sex in there, and make it prominent enough so that it’s the first thing that people see when they see your book.”
“Sammy, you’re more full of bullshit than a Texas ranch!” Evan exclaimed, in an agitated, high-volume reaction.
“All right, maybe I’m overstating things a little. Look, I’m a math guy, not a literature guy. So I’m looking at this from a purely statistical perspective: all else being equal, your novel is more likely to sell if it has the word ‘sex’ in the title than if it doesn’t. That’s all I’m saying.”

MeetTheAuthor

Check out Zack's Comedic Review of Sex in the Title over at Goodreads

Zack Love graduated from Harvard College, where he tried to create a bachelor’s degree in Women. With the bachelor portion of that degree in hand, he settled in New York City but – to afford renting his bed-sized studio – found himself flirting mostly with a computer screen and stacks of documents. Determined not to die a corporate drone, Zack decided to sacrifice sleep for screenwriting, an active social life, and Internet startups offering temporary billion-dollar fantasies.
To feed his steady diet of NYC nightlife, he regularly crashed VIP parties in the early 2000s and twice bumped into his burgeoning crush, a Hollywood starlet. But – much to Zack’s surprise – neither of those awkward conversations led to marriage with the A-list actress. Zack eventually consoled himself by imagining fiascoes far worse than those involving his celebrity crush. In the process, he dreamed up a motley gang of five men inspired by some of his college friends and quirky work colleagues. And thus was born Sex in the Title. But the novel is not autobiographical: Zack never had his third leg attacked by any mammal (nor by any plant, for that matter). In fact, keeping his member safe has been one of Zack’s lifelong goals – and one of the few that he’s managed to accomplish.

SITT Award Graphic

1) Winner of five categories in the 2013 Novel Grounds Literary Awards:
-Most Original Story -Author of the Year -Favorite Indie -Favorite Book Couple -Favorite Supporting Character
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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Out of Practice Aphrodite



Out of Practice Aphrodite
By: S.E. Babin


SYNOPSIS:

Abby’s major screw-up brings the wrath of Zeus upon her head. He offers her a choice—work for him or spend the rest of her days hanging out in Hades with her ex-husband. For Abby, this choice is a no-brainer, especially when Zeus says the only thing he wants her to do is make a love match. She’s the Goddess of Love. What could go wrong?

Everything.

Abby stumbles into an ex-lover, a dead demi-god and the realization that a crucial relic has been stolen right out from underneath Zeus’ nose. Eris, the Goddess of Chaos and Discord, is behind the theft and murder and the faltering powers Abby is trying to keep secret. With Zeus breathing down her neck, she’ll need to keep her wits about her as she races against the clock and Zeus’ imposed two-week time period.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Not only is she struggling with a budding attraction to a sexy lawman and feelings for long-time friend, Hermes, she’s also trying to keep everyone out of the path of a vengeful goddess while saving the Earth and Olympus from the reign of a tyrant. What’s a goddess to do when the fate of the world rests upon her fashionable shoulders?


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EXCERPT (1)
Zeus was going to be less than pleased with this recent development. We’d avoided tangling with law enforcement for this exact reason. My mind was blank and I couldn’t think of a single way out that wouldn’t involve using magic and digging our hole that much deeper.
And here I’d always thought getting arrested would be much cooler. Turns out it was anything but. The cool kiss of metal hugged my wrists as one of the deputies turned me around and put the handcuffs on. I stole a glance at Ares. He was furious.
Good. Serves him right. Artie had a confused look on her face and seemed not able to believe this was happening. Once the deputy had lowered my head and unceremoniously shoved me into the patrol car, I began to think madly. Artie tumbled in next to me, but Ares managed to get the special treatment and ended up in the back of Marshall’s cruiser.
I snickered, but at Artie’s outraged look, I cleared my throat and plastered a sober expression on my face. Secretly I found our debacle a little hilarious, but I knew it was only a matter of time before Zeus got wind of our hijinks. Then we were really in for it.
“What do we do?” hissed Artie.
I leaned my head back against the seat leather, trying not to think about what other suspects may have left behind. “No idea. We could blink out of here, but it could cause us more trouble than it’s worth. Any ideas?”
“Not one,” she grumbled. “And these handcuffs are uncomfortable. Why do all of those TV shows make getting arrested look so glamorous?”


EXCERPT (2)
My stomach plummeted and a feeling of foreboding stole over me. “Well, where is it?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“Not here,” the harpy answered again. “But what you seek and what you need to seek might be two different things,” the bird said cryptically.
Another thing I loved about magical beings – vagueness. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I said and waited for it to elaborate.
“Enter the nest and find what you don’t know you’re seeking. But beware I cannot hold off Eris’ compulsion for too much longer. I will be forced to contact her soon.”
I hoped soon was more like an hour or two, but knew I couldn’t be that lucky.
I decided to push my luck in another way. “Why aren’t you allowed to eat me? I asked. I figured the answer would be something along the lines of my powers were needed to take over the world or something equally fabulous. Instead, the harpy raised the ick factor to the extreme.
“Don’t despair, Aphrodite. Eris claims the right to crunch your bones. I’ve no doubt you’d taste deliciously of the brine and sea.”
Eww. I raised my hand in farewell to the harpy, who only tilted its head to the other side and continued to stare at me. I made sure I was out of hearing distance before I muttered, “And I bet you’d taste like chicken, you creepy bastard.”


My Review:



This story was very cute and entertaining.  I personally love mythology of any kind so this was right up my alley.  In this story Aphrodite did a no-no and Zeus’s way of punishing her is to have her bring two people together, make a love match.  This doesn’t seem right to her cause this is what she does.  Knowing Zeus like she does, she knows he must be up to something else.  He gives her 2 weeks and if she doesn’t complete the task she will be sent to Hades where her ex-husband is for eternity.  There is definitely more to this than he is telling her.  So her best friend Artie(Goddess of the Hunt) and Abby(Aphrodite) head to this small town where Zeus tell her the two people are.  Things get a little out of control when they get there.  They run into Abby’s ex-boyfriend, Ares(God of War).  He has some not so good news for her.  Oh and she has 2 others on her special little team Keto and Hermes.  Hermes and Abby have the beginnings of something that may lead to more if given time.  They learn that the two people she is supposed to bring together are Orpheus and Eurydice.  So now instead of bringing two people together she has to bring two demi-gods together.  Things just keep getting better and better for Abby.  The go to find Orpheus and when they do they run into Eris(Goddess of Chaos and discord).    Now Abby is positive there is more at work here than what she is told.  Of course the police come and Abby is immediately attracted to the handsome lawman who shows up at the scene.  He is mortal and it would never work but she can’t help how she feels.  On top of all this Abby’s powers haven’t exactly been working perfectly.  So what is a girl to do?  Stuck with feelings for two hot and sexy men, a dead line with Zeus and powers that don’t always do what she wants them to do.

This story was great, very entertaining and funny.  I love how she took the basics of mythology and then put her own twist on them.  There were twists and turns, while you tried to figure out what exactly Zeus wasn’t telling them.  Reading as the goddess of love was trying to figure out her own love life.  She can make any two people come together but her love life is a mess.  You see things from her perspective that maybe you hadn’t thought about before.  Her struggle with feeling for two people at the same time, seeing different things she could love in both of them.   Her trip to see the Fates was one of my favorite parts of the book for sure.  I would definitely read another book in this series if there ever was one. 





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Sheryl has had a book in her hands pretty much from the time she could hold things with her hands. Her love of reading turned into a curious exploration to see whether or not she could write her own. Beginning with random, terrible poetry and a slightly popular reimagining of Beowulf's Grendel in her high school English class, Sheryl spent way too much time in the library, killing any chance of her becoming a cheerleader or anything even remotely cool.

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My Review



This story was very cute and entertaining.  I personally love mythology of any kind so this was right up my alley.  In this story Aphrodite did a no-no and Zeus’s way of punishing her is to have her bring two people together, make a love match.  This doesn’t seem right to her cause this is what she does.  Knowing Zeus like she does, she knows he must be up to something else.  He gives her 2 weeks and if she doesn’t complete the task she will be sent to Hades where her ex-husband is for eternity.  There is definitely more to this than he is telling her.  So her best friend Artie(Goddess of the Hunt) and Abby(Aphrodite) head to this small town where Zeus tell her the two people are.  Things get a little out of control when they get there.  They run into Abby’s ex-boyfriend, Ares(God of War).  He has some not so good news for her.  Oh and she has 2 others on her special little team Keto and Hermes.  Hermes and Abby have the beginnings of something that may lead to more if given time.  They learn that the two people she is supposed to bring together are Orpheus and Eurydice.  So now instead of bringing two people together she has to bring two demi-gods together.  Things just keep getting better and better for Abby.  The go to find Orpheus and when they do they run into Eris(Goddess of Chaos and discord).    Now Abby is positive there is more at work here than what she is told.  Of course the police come and Abby is immediately attracted to the handsome lawman who shows up at the scene.  He is mortal and it would never work but she can’t help how she feels.  On top of all this Abby’s powers haven’t exactly been working perfectly.  So what is a girl to do?  Stuck with feelings for two hot and sexy men, a dead line with Zeus and powers that don’t always do what she wants them to do.

This story was great, very entertaining and funny.  I love how she took the basics of mythology and then put her own twist on them.  There were twists and turns, while you tried to figure out what exactly Zeus wasn’t telling them.  Reading as the goddess of love was trying to figure out her own love life.  She can make any two people come together but her love life is a mess.  You see things from her perspective that maybe you hadn’t thought about before.  Her struggle with feeling for two people at the same time, seeing different things she could love in both of them.   Her trip to see the Fates was one of my favorite parts of the book for sure.  I would definitely read another book in this series if there ever was one.

One to Protect

Title: One to Protect (One to Hold #3)
Author: Tia Louise
Release Date: April 21, 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tour Host: The Book Nuts Author Promotions




Readers are saying…

"If you're looking for a fun, intriguing, and HOT story...this is it!! 5 STARS!" --Aleatha Romig, NYT and USA Today bestselling author of the Consequences series

“Derek is hot! Patrick is equally hot! Put these two hot men together and what do you get?!? Panty Dropping holy mother of god hotness! The gang is back and I couldn't be happier!” —Karrie, Panty-Dropping Book Blog

“Each scene flowed into the next effortlessly… drama, suspense and then a scene that will have your pulse racing and your eyes dilating.”—Daphnie, Bound by Books blog

“5 of 5 breathtaking stars.” –Lisa, Goodreads reviewer

“The sex scenes are hot, and the story is great! The love Derek has for Melissa just pulls you in and you know he would do anything in his power to make sure she is safe, which makes him a new addition to my book boyfriend list!” —Chrissy, Reading Past My Bedtime blog





Synopsis:


One scar.
One betrayal.
No escape.


When Sloan Reynolds beats criminal charges, Melissa Jones stops believing her wealthy, connected ex-husband will ever pay for what he did to her. 

Derek Alexander can’t accept that—a tiny silver scar won't let him forget, and as a leader in the security business, he is determined to get the man who hurt his fiancée.

Then the body of a former call girl turns up dead. She’s the breakthrough Derek’s been waiting for, the link to Sloan’s sordid past he needs. But as usual, legal paths to justice have been covered up or erased.

Derek’s ready to do whatever it takes to protect his family when his partner Patrick Knight devises a plan that changes everything. 

It’s a plan that involves coloring outside the lines and taking a walk on the dark side. It goes against everything on which Alexander-Knight, LLC, is based.

And it’s a plan Derek’s more than ready to follow.

Note: Standalone, M/F, HEA.







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Excerpt:


Nikki continued talking, but I wasn’t listening. Cold realization flashed in my brain like lightening striking a tree.
Jessica Black. It was the name on the email Melissa had put in front of me that day she visited our offices. The day she dropped a nuke on all my dreams of a life with her, when she revealed my former “mentor,” her ex-husband Sloan Reynolds’s secret double-life. He had high-end escorts all over the country, and Jessica Black was his first careless slip. Melissa had found it.
Nikki was still reminiscing as I spun around in my chair, shaking my computer awake. Fingers flying over the keys, I pulled up all the information I could find on the dead girl.
She’d been living in Baltimore for a year. I wondered if she followed him from wherever they’d hooked up the first time. Why would she do that? Was it possible she was in love with him? Was it for the money? Had he promised her anything?
It didn’t matter. She’d disappeared off the police blotter from the time she arrived there until now, when she’d turned up dead.
Reasons scrolled across my brain of all the possible causes of death, but looking at her beaten face, all I could see was the photo Melissa had put in front of me all those months ago.
My instincts were on high alert. Sloan was getting antsy, and I knew what he wanted. Jessica Black might look like the real thing, but she wasn’t it.
Substitutes would never fill the possession he felt. I’d followed enough of these twisted fucks to know. He was coming for Melissa, and it was just a matter of when.

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Meet The Author:

Tia Louise is a former journalist, world-traveler, and collector of beautiful men (who inspire all of her stories... *wink*)--turned wife, mommy, and novelist.
She lives in the center of the U.S.A. with her lovely family and one grumpy cat. There, she dreams up stories she hopes are engaging, hot, and sexy, and that cause readers rethink common public locations...It's possible she has a slight truffle addiction.
Books by Tia Louise:

ONE TO HOLD (Derek & Melissa), 2013
ONE TO KEEP (Patrick & Elaine), 2014




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