Thursday, August 29, 2013

Blog Tour - 'Lovers Unchained (Curse of the Dark Witch Book 1)' by Siren Allen




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You may recall that Miss Siren Allen has been a previous Sexy Sunday guest here on my blog. Well, today is my stop on the tour for her new paranormal erotica novel AVAILABLE NOW, Lovers Unchained - Curse of the Dark Witch Book 1, and boy do I have a bunch of stuff (including my review, an excerpt and a giveaway) to share to get you interested! Read on and enjoy! 

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Synopsis

Title – Lovers Unchained
Series – Curse of the Dark Witch
Author – Siren Allen
Genre – Erotica, Paranormal
Publication Date – August 15, 2013
Publisher – Torrid Books http://www.torridbooks.com/
Cover Artist – Gemini Judston - http://www.geminijudson.com/Gemini/Welcome.html 


A Cursed Demon
Twenty years ago Jude made a huge mistake resulting in him and four of his best friends being cursed by the Dark Witch. For twenty years he has searched for his mate-the only being able to break the curse placed upon him. Until he finds her he will not be able to release the pent up sexual energy that is driving him insane. On his journey to find his mate he is captured and held prisoner by Lana, a vicious vampiress.

A Sex Crazed Vampiress
Lana is intrigued by Jude's ability to resist making love to her. She doesn't know of the curse placed upon him years ago. No matter how hard she tries to seduce him she always fails. His life means nothing to her and she is ready to end his existence, but first she must know what prevents him from succumbing to her seduction. She wonders if it's her or if Jude is like this with all women. To test her theory Lana places one of her female prisoners, Carissa, and Jude together. To her dismay, sparks ignite between the two captives.

A Witch on a Mission
Carissa is searching for her friend who is rumored to have been captured by Lana and her men. She doesn’t plan on finding love but she can’t resist the attraction she feels for her fellow captive, Jude. She senses the desire raging through him and yearns to ease the tension coursing through his muscled body. However, their lust for one another angers Lana and can only lead to one thing…death for both her and Jude. 

***
Now that Jude has found his mate he must get them both to safety before Lana destroys them. 

Will Jude lose his mate so soon after finding her or will they escape Lana's wrath and form a bond so strong nothing and no one can break it?





Excerpt
*HEADS UP: CONTENT BELOW IS NOT PG-13*

Lana straddled him. She ran her hands up his chest.

Jude kept his eyes closed. “Why didn’t you teleport in?”

“I was trying to be polite.” She licked his nipple. Between her legs, she felt his cock jerk and felt his hardness through her leather suit. She wanted him badly; more importantly, she wanted him to want her. He was an obsession she couldn’t get rid of; a puzzle she couldn’t figure out. 

Lana ground her sex against his, drawing a moan from both of their throats.

“I have some friends I want you to meet,” she whispered. She pulled back a little and watched for his reaction. nfortunately, all he did was yawn; he didn’t even open his eyes.

“Aren’t you a little curious as to who I want you to meet?” Once again, he ignored her. His nonchalance only made her want him more. Every time he ignored her, or pretended to not want her, it only made her work harder to please him and make him want her. Every prisoner she owned would give their last breath to have her show them the amount of attention she wasted on Jude.

Lana licked his nipple again. She refused to give up; defeat was not a feeling she was accustomed to. She placed soft kisses from his nipple up to his neck, and then nibbled along his jaw line. She tried to kiss his lips, but he turned his head causing her to kiss his cheek instead. Lana hissed in frustration.

She was tired of playing games with him. When she told her brother about all the problems this slave was giving her, he asked to borrow Jude for a month to train him, but Lana said no. She wanted to be the one to break him. She gave him plenty of chances to give in to her demands. If she couldn’t have him by choice, she would have him by force.

Without warning, Lana teleported Jude to her bedroom, where they landed on her bed; she quickly climbed off of him.

“Handcuff him to the bed,” she said to her servants waiting in the shadows. She was tired of playing nice. It was time for her to be the bitch he thought she was. 





My Thoughts:

This is flat out an EROTIC paranormal read. There is plenty of sex - in fact it's practically ALL sex, but the great thing is that I never got to the, "God, ENOUGH already!" point. I didn't feel that way because it's completely integral to the story line. There has to be sex or it simply wouldn't make sense...and it's fun, steamy stuff, to boot.

This is a quick read with an interesting premise and though part of a series can also be read as a stand alone to a degree. Don't get me wrong...I am anxious for the story to continue and to find out what happens with these characters, but though there's a cliffhanger at the end, Siren still wraps up this part of the story nicely so you can still close the book and go, "Well, good...at least THAT happened," instead of chucking it across the room going, "BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS?????" 

One of the reasons I am obsessed with the tv show "Supernatural" (other than my beloved Jensen Ackles...I digress) is because it takes traditional folklore archetypes and turns them completely on their heads. This is what Siren seems to be doing here. I found it interesting that the main characters Jude (a demon) and Carissa (a witch) seem to be the good guys (at least so far - who knows in Book 2!) and that certain immortals can match with a mate that is typically an enemy of each others' kind. I hope that brings some more interesting story lines down the road.

Overall I enjoyed the first installment of this series, though if I have a complaint, it would be that it actually seemed a little too short. I felt like the author could've spent a little more time delving deeper into the characters' back stories, because let's face it - immortals are fascinating. But to be fair, that may be to come as well and I hope so. Otherwise, if you like to dive into otherworldly realms full of immortal creatures both beautiful and hideous and get a heaping serving of shmexy while you're at it, then download Lovers Unchained yesterday.

Rating: Four Smooches! (out of five)  smiley Kiss smiley Kiss smiley Kiss smiley Kiss


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Meet The Author



"Hi, my name is Siren Allen. I’m a writer and lover of all things erotic and romantic. I reside in southern Mississippi where I write steamy romances that are guaranteed to make you blush. When I’m not listening to the characters in my head and jotting down their adventures, I am busy working as a Clinical Laboratory Technician. 

I love to travel, preferably with my husband, so he can do all of the driving. I enjoy time with my family, who are just as silly as I am. I have no children…yet, wish me luck! My hobbies are reading, writing and shopping, though I hate trying on clothing. If I wasn’t a writer or a Laboratory Professional, I would probably be a Secret Agent. But that’s the beauty of being a writer; you can create your own world and be whoever you want to be. In my imaginary world, I am Queen and my siblings are my minions." 






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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Cover Reveal and Giveaway - 'Bird of Prey' by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba

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Publication Date – November 25th 2013
Title –   Bird Of Prey
Series – Sémya Slotin Mystery #1
Author – Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba
Genre – Mystery Romance
Publisher – Ever After Edition
Cover Artist – Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba


Synopsis

This was supposed to be an easy case…

Sémya Slotin had spent the last three years living in London with her best friend Polliannah Koch staying away from solving cases. After Hawaii, she was taking a break from puzzles, cases and mysteries that could potentially get her killed.  Instead, she had been doing her second and third favorite things, drinking and selling expensive vintage wines and having earthshattering sex with the mysterious, sexy, beautiful but ever so secretive Josh Heinz. Life in London was good….until her funds ran out. Too much wine drinking, not enough wine selling!

When fashion designer and adoptive mother, Annika Slotin, summoned her back to Paris to hire her for what Sémya considered being the easiest case of her amateur sleuth career, all she could think of and seeing was money signs and a well-deserved Cuban holiday once it was solved.

What Sémya didn’t see was her stumbling on the fresh corpse of supermodel Johanna Cartier. She didn’t think that male model turned fashion designer Julian Marais-Caldwin, who also happened to be Sémya’s ex, would be suspected of brutally murdering her. Johanna was his girlfriend, his muse and he loved her. Sémya didn’t see the dead bodies piling up or the conspiracy theories.

 Sémya was a little rusty. But then again, it was supposed to be an easy case and she was going to solve it.  One vintage wine at a time… Sémya Slotin was officially back in business!





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Excerpt:
(from the ARC version - subject to change with final edits)
Chapter 14

Camera left…camera right…camera left…camera right… Sémya had been staring at her board for the past three hours. Maybe she should take a break and go work at the store today.  Or maybe she should give up all together and book their Cuban holiday. London was so cold right now they should just go soak up some sun.

She shifted her attention to her phone. She was still waiting on Gary Finch’s aliases from Sergey. She had been reading Emma’s emails over and over again. Nothing about another flat popped out. What she found instead was the number of the moving company she was going to use for her move but–

“Wait a minute!” She finished her glass of 2005 Wolf Blass Black Label Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon. “Where is that file?”

Emma had a file called expenses on her laptop. Maybe just maybe, some of these expenses were taxi fares to this mysterious place. Johanna couldn’t always be two steps ahead of them. The woman had been dead for more than two weeks! She should also check Oyster card records for tube stations or buses. Expenses…she would need to speak to Eileen and Julian. But first let’s see what she could find on her own.

Emma’s passwords were always the same or just a variation. The name Peter was always coming up. Then again Sémya had access to her email account she could always reset it if she couldn’t find it. 

“p-e-t-e-r-t-f-l-1,” she mumbled and typed. The access had been granted. Yeah! Emma lived in the small flat near Hammersmith station. She printed out her journey history of the last three months. Hammersmith to Oxford Circus kept showing up which made sense. It was her regular journey to work. East Putney Station was also showing every three weeks and not on the weekend which could mean that it was an errand she was running for Johanna. Sémya highlighted it. The last trip was…the day she died. “What’s in Putney Emma?”

She checked if there were any other suspicious travels. A bus route came up a few times. She was either going to Chiswick or to Chalk Farm.

“So…which one is it?” Josh whispered in her ear and made her shriek. “Sorry, I thought you heard me,” he said sliding on the sofa next to her, only wearing a towel. He picked up the bottle of wine off the floor. “Already?”

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon…in Paris,” she told him.  She had one glass with her sandwich. “Is that the kind of shit I have to expect now that you’re my boyfriend?”

“Nagging you about your drinking? That’s not new,” he shrugged. He smoothed his damped hair back. He smelled like aftershave and peppermint. Josh seductively nibbled her shoulder, “Good afternoon,” he groaned and took her in his arms.

“We promised Polli, no more hanky panky on her sofa.” She gently pushed him away. “Go put some pants on!”

He reluctantly got up and entered her bedroom, “Where is she anyway?” He came back out with a tank top and flannel pants on.

“With the mysterious John, she didn’t come home last night so I’m guessing he is back,” Sémya told him. As soon as this case was resolved she would have a serious conversation with Polliannah about John Smith. She might even create a small board…

“So what do we have here?” Josh said with a coffee in his hand. He looked at her board and whistled. “And I thought your board in Honolulu was crazy!”

“Oh…did you now?” she giggled. “There are two murders on that board.” She got up and added the information from Emma journey’s history.

“Do I have a board?” he asked her.

“No!” she shouted back without turning around. I made a board for everyone…so yes Josh Heinz you do have a board…

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said tilting his head toward the board.  “Which is it?”

“I’m not sure.” She pointed at the map. “Emma lived in Hammersmith, it’s a four lines station but still the only time she took the bus was for the same trip.”

“I haven’t taken the bus in London in years but the way I see it  I would only use it if it would take me as much time or less time than the tube,” he said and yawned.

“Good point… for commoners like me, we use the bus for twenty minutes or less trip.” She circled the twenty minutes travel zone around Emma’s flat. “Okay…” she mumbled walking back. “So…I’m thinking that she was going east.”

“Do you have her bank statements?” he asked.

“Yes, and before you say anything…it may not be very legal–”

“There’s a charge on the seventeenth for Bramwell Eatery, isn’t that in Notting Hill?” he asked her.

“Yes...let me check the journey history.” She jumped up, “Yes, she used that route on that day!”  She sat back next to him and grabbed her laptop. “I need to check the expense file…I copied her hard drive,” she explained.

“Yeah…that’s not illegal at all,” he joked.

“She wasn’t dead then…at least we didn’t know she was!” She opened the March spreadsheet. “Can you check the March statement for the same expense?”

He wrestled through all her papers. “Got it! And I even had the Oyster journey.”

“The twenty-second?” she asked, looking at the expense for Dinners.

“Yeah, it could just be Emma’s favourite restaurant,” he said.

“No baby, it’s not.” She got up and went back to her board. “Charges are too high for it to be hers, it’s for Johanna.” She put her hand on the Emma side of the board, “Emma was a hard core vegetarian. She would have never gone to this place for herself.” She pointed at the map, “The bus records indicate less than thirty minutes between both trips…they don’t deliver,” she said with a wicked smile on.

“She called her assistant to pick up and deliver her food order.” He looked disgusted.

“Bigger picture, baby…her second flat is in Notting Hill and walking distance from Bramwell Eatery,” she shrieked. Where was a chilled glass of wine to celebrate when you needed one? “I need to do the same thing with East Putney?” she said and joyfully straddled Josh.

“Did you just call me baby?” he asked, caressing her flat stomach. He kissed her neck and brought her face closer. “Now I deserve a reward…”

“I tell you what, if you help me crack that case, I’ll take you to Cuba with Polli,” she mumbled. He was weakening her defences and she needed to stay focused. “Better yet, you’ll take us. You seem to have strange deep pockets,” she giggled.

He got up still holding her by her thighs. “Deal!”

“Heinz, put me down. I have calls to make,” she moaned. They were heading to her bedroom. “I’m very busy…big case.”

“I have a big case for you right here,” he grunted and laid her on the bed.

“Seriously? I have to tell Ally about Notting Hill. She could contact the restaurant and maybe trace the number used to place the order…It could be Gary Finch’s,” she said trying to justify herself.

Josh was just nodding back; he was very busy removing her knickers. “Do what you’ve got to do and I’ll do the same,” he whispered so close against her ear it made her whole body shivered and moaned. “Baby…”

“You devil man, you,” Sémya moaned back. 





Sémya Slotin Mystery Soundtrack Vol.1 





Meet The Author



"I was born in Quebec City, Canada from Gabonese parents but grew up in Paris and Libreville the Gabonese capital until the age of 18. Are you yawning yet? I am... 

French is my first language and my next novel Bird Of Prey will be released in both languages...wish me luck!

I moved back to Canada in 1999 after high school in Libreville to study Cinematography and Digital movie production in Laval University in Quebec then The International Academy of Design and Technology in Toronto. After graduating in 2003, I decided to sell my soul to the corporate world and worked in the Benefit Outsourcing Industry for seven in Toronto before reconnecting with her first passion writing. 

I finally went back to school to study creative writing at Georges Brown College in 2010 and 2011. I started to write The Coulda Woulda Shoulda Series as an assignment and finished Book One in late 2011 before moving to London. 

And the rest as they say is history... Almost two years later, I'm in London and wrote three novels. One has already been released This Could Have Been Our Song! A coulda woulda shoulda ballad... (Book one) the other two will be released by March 2014."


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GIVEAWAY! 
(Aug 5th – Sept 5th)

Prizes:
2 - $5 Amazon Giftcard
5 – Arc eBook (mobi) of Bird of Prey 
(Ready Late September)




Thursday, August 15, 2013

Blog Tour - 'It All Started With A Lima Bean' by Kimi Flores





Delighted to be a part of Kimi Flores' tour for her new romance It All Started With A Lima Bean. Check out my review below and don't forget to enter the giveaway! The book is available now and purchase links are included below. Please feel free to leave comments for Kimi or myself (authors and bloggers love to know that the time we put into this matters to you!) and don't forget to subscribe to my blog so you know when other features and reviews are posted as well. (pssst, over here → smiley Wink )




Synopsis:

A past that haunts can be laid to rest through the act of forgiveness, even if the person you forgive is yourself. It must be gifted freely.

Abby Sullivan cherishes the life she is creating for herself in her hometown of Santa Barbara, California. She adores her best friend and supportive family. Her job as a kindergarten teacher offers her life hope and purpose. She is very talented at many things, especially hiding the pain of her past. That is until her world collides with Caleb Hunter’s, giving them both a lesson in forgiveness and love.

A life changing love is cruelly snatched by sickness and death. A person must be willing to give love, the greatest gift of all, to receive love.

A successful writer, Caleb is living life day-to-day. Giving refuge to his sad and lonely heart since his wife's sudden death from cervical cancer, his primary focus becomes honoring her memory by rearing their five-year-old daughter, Madison. Yet, when Madison Hunter walks into Miss Abby’s kindergarten class, everything changes for all three of them.

With a little nudge from a loving mother-in-law who has everyone’s best interest at heart, anything is possible, especially when forgiveness and love gift even more blessings than ever imaginable.



Cast:



















My Thoughts:


If sweet and wholesome love stories are your thing, then RUSH to download this book right now, cuz THIS is your book!

Straight up: there's no "deed" done in this story. Knowing this going in, I still got a little frustrated with that fact. BUT!!! I mean this in a good way, attributing it to the author properly conveying our characters' frustration in abstaining. Kimi understands that less is more. Unlike other romances I've read that don't contain "the act," this novel doesn't cover up the want to, and right on to that, because let's face it, folks. That's real life. Even the most determined of couples that decide to wait till they marry to be together are experiencing the misery of not doing so. Right? Right. Unless there's something terribly wrong, but we're going to assume that's not the case here, because it is, after all, a romance novel. And so I thought Kimi did a great job here of being realistic and not making her characters come off as pious and super-human in their ability to maintain their chastity. And since neither our hero nor heroine are virgins, that was quite a tight-rope to walk...and walk it successfully she did.

(That doesn't mean I don't wish they did it...cuz Caleb's friggin' hot! lol *8-> day dreaming )

While I will say that even the angsty parts of this story were relatively benign in my opinion (maybe I've just experienced too much over-the-top drama in my own life...hmmmm...paging Dr. Phil... smiley 1zvaluu ), I very much enjoyed snickering at Kimi's descriptions of the "Power Moms" whose children attend our heroine Abby's kindergarten class. As I live in Los Angeles, I've discovered that there is just no one quite like a rich, bored California mom in her expensive track suit who thinks her kids' shit don't stink, spends her time gossiping with the other Power Moms, allows her children to bully others, makes life miserable for the teachers and flirts shamelessly with the other dads regardless of either party's marital status. There's a reason why the "Rich Housewives" franchise is so successful - because the truth is what's funny. Or rather, how some people gloss over their truth is funny. Kimi nailed it.

Another highlight to me was the secondary characters peppered throughout the story. One of my favorite things when reading a romance is to try and figure out whose story may be next, or which characters' have enough revealed to let the reader know that there's already a book out there with their story that I just have to find. Abby's best friend Leah - a sassy Latina who is a good girl but maybe doesn't always dress like it, tries desperately to loosen up her best friend (who cluelessly happens to possess a porn star's physique) even a little bit so she can snag too-good-to-be-true Caleb. Then there's Caleb's womanizing douchebag of a cousin Stefen, who sees nothing wrong with being a womanizing douchebag, but his redeeming quality is how much he adores his little niece (Caleb's daughter), so you know he's "fixable" at least. I look forward to the next book in this series, which will tell Leah and Stefen's story. Oh how the sparks will fly! I'm guessing Cousin Bri can't be trailing far behind...

Oh...the engagement scene is pretty brilliant, I have to say. Creative and impossible to top for any man. I keep telling my guy friends that if they want to know what women really want, they need to read romance novels... smiley Tongue

Overall I found this first novel by Kimi to be an enjoyable, well-written read with several chuckle-able (it's totally a word) moments throughout and plenty of sweet moments that don't cross the line into Sap City. Kimi knows how to reign it in and make her point while still being endearing and heartfelt. And NO CLIFFHANGER!!! YAY!!! smiley 16a3c6a

Rating: Three And A Half Smooches! (out of five)  smiley Kiss smiley Kiss smiley Kiss 



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Meet The Author



Kimi lives in So Ca with her high school sweetheart, prom date, and now husband of over 20 years as well as with her two boys that bring so much joy and laughter to her life. There is never a dull moment in Kimi’s day with these three guys by her side. Her family and she are happily involved in volunteer work with several local non-profit organizations. They believe that everyone needs to do their part and a portion of her sales will always go to charity.
At an early age, Kimi discovered the magical world of imagination. Many stories were written as well as illustrated by her as a child. Not realizing at the time that she had dyslexia, schoolwork became extremely difficult, and her confidence as a reader and writer dwindled. Thanks to a high teacher who took the time to invest in her, Kimi found a love for literary legends such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Jane Austen. This teacher helped Kimi create one of the happiest school memories she holds. Discovering in college that she had the learning disability was terribly discouraging since help was not readily available and her reading and writing confidence fell once again.
Needing to find a distraction when her husband unexpectedly ended up in the hospital for a week, Kimi explored the indie reading world. Jumping in with everything she had, Kimi pushed herself to read over 150 books last year. During that process, many characters reappeared in her imagination and insisted that their stories be told. Putting all self-doubt and barriers aside, she started writing the outlines and drafts for the four books in her Intertwined Hearts Series as well as bits and pieces of the three books in her next series, Down by the Bay.
Her message to you is similar to that of pop icon, will.i.am’s: ~You can focus on your problems or you can focus on your dreams ~




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