Monday, November 4, 2013

Guest Blog & Giveaway: Reflection of the Gods by Lisa Llamrei

UFI welcomes Lisa Llamrei Author of Reflection of the Gods. Thanks for Joining us!!

Top Five Settings in Reflection of the Gods
 
When writing Reflection of the Gods, I had to explore a number of different settings. These are my favorites:


Toronto, Ontario
 
Das’s birthplace, and mine, is North America’s fifth largest city. Das may have left it on an unhappy note, but the city has shaped both his world view and his art. One of the world’s most multicultural cities, there are over a hundred languages spoken, and a variety of cultural festivals each year. It is the third most popular city in the English speaking world for both theatre and movie production. It is the base for The National Ballet Company, The Canadian Opera Company, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. With over 1,600 parks, zoos, skylines, it’s a photographer’s dream.


Hill of Tara
 
The ancient seat of kingship in Ireland, it is the birthplace of Aislinn. The Lia Fàil, or Stone of Destiny, was said to sing when touched by the rightful High King of Ireland. According to legend, it was brought to Ireland by Aislinn’s immortal ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Dannan.



Kilkenny Castle – Kilkenny, Ireland
 
During Aislinn’s human incarnation as Alice Kyteler, Kilkenny Castle is a looming presence. After her arrest for witchcraft, the castle serves as her gaol.
Built in the early thirteenth century, it was continuously occupied for more than seven hundred years. Over the centuries, the building underwent several renovations and additions. But, the façade retains the original thirteenth century shape. From across the river, at the level of the town, it appears much as it did to Aislinn as she tried in vain to escape its shadow.


Kyteler’s Inn – Kilkenny, Ireland
 
While my account of Alice Kyteler’s life is highly fictionalized, it is based on a historical person, who really was a banker (aka usurer) in Kilkenny in the early fourteenth century. Known as the witch of Kilkenny, she really was the first woman ever sentenced to burn as a witch in the British Isles, and she really did escape her prison. The likelihood is that she accomplished this with the help of influential friends and thereafter lived out her life in England, but I prefer the version where she is spirited away by her demon lover. Her former home still stands in the medieval section of Kilkenny, where it now operates as Kyteler’s Inn. And yes, it is included on lists of haunted places in County Kilkenny.


Algonquin Park, Ontario
 
The site of the final conflict of the book, Algonquin Park is larger than Prince Edward Island, or about the size of the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It’s located in the heart of the Canadian Shield, and offers stunning vistas of largely unspoiled wilderness. Much of it is remote, offering ample space for bands of immortals to wage a war unnoticed by surrounding human communities.
__________________________________

Lisa Llamrei was born in Toronto. She studied languages at York University. At various times, she has been an actor, professional belly dancer and holistic nutritionist. She presently lives in Durham region with her four daughters, and she works at a school of holistic nutrition. Reflection of the Gods is her first novel.


Find Lisa and her books
__________________________________

Reflection of the Gods

Amazon   Kobo   Alchera Press
 "This is the story of how my third life began. And how my second life ended. They’re the same thing, you know—endings and beginnings. We’re taught to believe they’re different, but in order for one thing to begin, something else must end."

Newly divorced Das MacDermott longs for a fresh start. As he packs up and prepares to move out of the city, he spots a young woman being held at gunpoint by three men. Despite being outnumbered and unarmed, Das does his best to intervene. Once liberated, the victim seems oddly ungrateful, but on an apparent whim decides to join Das in his new life in rural Ontario. Aislinn, as she is called, returns the favour; with her encouragement and support, his start-up photography business takes off, and more importantly, Das is saved from loneliness and self-doubt.

Das, however, is never quite able to fully dismiss the contrary aspects of Aislinn’s nature, and is strictly forbidden from asking about Aislinn’s past. All seems too good to be true, and indeed it is. Aislinn’s unusual talents and odd behaviour, unbeknownst to Das, come from her demigod status. Aislinn is half-Sidhe, daughter of Fionvarra, Ireland’s fairy king, and a human woman. Sidhe wars have so disrupted the mortal world that Aislinn has joined with other immortals in an effort to permanently separate it from Tir N’a Nog, the fairy realm.

Born in ancient Ireland, Aislinn spends millennia as the plaything of the cruel and narcissistic gods. The pain of being neither human nor Sidhe is offset by her relationship to the Fir Bolg, another race of fair folk who take pity on her lonely state; and the refuge she takes in being Das’s lover and protector. As Das comes to accept the possibility that Aislinn belongs to a supernatural world, he discovers that the two worlds are set to collide in a way that may mean the destruction of all humanity.
__________________________________

__________________________________
Tour Wide 
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Sunday, November 3, 2013

Week in Review: 10/27-11/2


Books Ive Bought/received

* Galilee Rising by Jennifer Harlow- eARC- Author

* The Sharpest Blade by Sandy Williams- eARC- Netgalley

* Avenger's Heat by Katie Reus-ARC- Publisher

* Bittersweet Magic by Nina Croft- ECopy- Publisher

Books I Read

Avenger's Heat by Katie Reus
Galilee Rising by Jennifer Harlow
The Sharpest Blade by Sandy Williams
Chaos Born by Rebekah Turner
Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin
Waking Up Dead by Emma Shortt

Reviews Posted

Darkness Awakened by Katie Reus
Secret Unleashed by Sierra Dean
Archangel's Legion by Nalini Singh

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* New Releases for the week. Was there anything you were looking forward to reading?

* Monday- Promo and Giveaway for Jennifer L. Armentrout's Sentinel Tour

* Tuesday- Guest Blog and Giveaway for Four Weddings and a Werewolf by Kristin Miller.

* Wednesday- Promo and Giveaway for The Sentinel by Holly Martin

* Thursday- Interview with Matthew Quinn Martin for Nightlife.

* Friday- Interview and Giveaway for Darkness Splintered by Keri Arthur

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* Did you know you can follow UFI on these other sites?

You can also add me (as in Stacy) to your friends on these sites if you're on them.
 
 
 * I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Review: Darkness Awakened by Katie Reus

Darkness Awakened
Author: Katie Reus
Release Date: November 3, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Darkness Book #1
ISBN13: 9780989776646
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Author

Years ago he ended things between them to protect her…

As leader of one of the fiercest werewolf packs in the south, Finn Stavros is in full battle mode 24/7. He has no choice—he’s one of the few beings strong enough to fight the Akkadian demons, whose mysterious escape from hell threatens the entire world. With the battle turning bloodier by the second, Finn is ready for anything…until his vampire long lost love shows up on his doorstep in desperate need of his help, sending his heart into a tailspin. He agrees to help her, unaware that she carries a shocking secret that will turn his life upside down.

This time, he’s not letting her go…

Vampire Lyra Marius curses the day she met Finn. The ruthless werewolf promised to love her forever, but he rejected her instead—before she could share her life altering news. Pregnant, kicked out of her coven, and cast aside by the love of her life, Lyra struggled to raise their rare shifter-vampire daughter Vega alone among humans. When the 16-year-old is kidnapped and used to fulfill a frightening prophecy, Lyra swallows her pride and turns to Finn for help. But how long can she fight her feelings for him and keep him from guessing the truth about who Vega really is? As they race against the clock to save their daughter, they must defeat the lethal threat imposed by demons infiltrating the human world and a hell gate that could not only reveal their existence to mankind, but destroy the world in the process.
 
I had to double-check the previous Katie Reus books I have read because the blurb reminded me so much of another book of hers (which I found to be DESTINED MATE, which does get a slight character shout out in DARKNESS AWAKENED). There are of course differences but it definitely had the same feel to it. Vampire Lyra goes to ex lover Finn for help finding her kidnapped daughter. Little does Finn know that her daughter just happens to be his.

There were some pretty predictable parts of the story but overall I enjoyed it. Finn and Lyra had a brief love affair 17 years ago. Finn pushed Lyra away to protect her and has regretted that decision every day since then. Lyra is understandably hesitant to trust Finn again but has no where else to turn when her daughter Vega is kidnapped. Although she is immediately reminded of how it felt to be with him she tried to hold herself back. She lasted longer than I thought she would. Their chemistry is electric from the start. You know right away that they will end up back into each others lives for good. We get some background on the characters but I wish we could have gotten more as I felt like I didn't really know them or why they acted like they did. We meet some interesting secondary characters, setting us up for who might be featured in the future. I am actually excited to learn more about Drake and how he ended up where he did.

DARKNESS AWAKENED was a quick easy read. It had little issues but it has great potential and I would not pass up reading more.

I gave it 3.5/5 stars

Friday, November 1, 2013

Interview & Giveaway: Darkness Splintered by Keri Arthur

UFI welcomes Author Keri Arthur. Thanks for Joining us!!

 What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

How about... even though I hate the taste of coffee, I adore the smell of it. That and freshly cut grass. Does that make me weird?  lol

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

If I'm not watching movies, I'm out in the garden weeding (I swear the weeds where I live have super powers—they grow incredibly fast and will not be destroyed!) I'm also a hobbyist photographer, so I'm often heading off somewhere for the day to take pics

What is your Favorite part of writing?

Starting a new story and gradually getting to know all the characters who populate it (I am not a plotter)

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

I haven't really got any set routines as such. I can pretty much write anywhere if I need to. However, I do like to listen to music when I write, and I have a set playlist of songs that is on repeat. It's gotten to the point now that when I hear the music, the muse goes into writing mode.

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?

I actually don't read much urban fantasy these days (I used to, but now that I'm published in the genre, I prefer to read outside of it. Feels more like relaxation that way). But my favs would be Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Jacqueline Carey, Katherine Kerr, Raymond E Fiest, Andre Norton, C J Cherryh...there's a ton of others, but I'm in the UK at the moment, and haven't got access to my bookshelves. I do also re-read the Lord of the Rings regularly.

My fav non-genre authors are Dick Francis and James Herbert. I also read a whole lot of regency romances.

What can you tell me about the world that your Dark Angels Series is set in?

It's set in a future Melbourne—it's where I live, and a city that I love, so it just made sense to set both it and the Riley Jenson series there. It's a world where vampires, werewolves, reapers, ghosts, witches and sorcerers live side by side with humans,  but it's also a world in which the life of all those beings now hang in the balance. If our heroine doesn't succeed in stopping the keys to hell being found and used, then it will literally become hell on Earth

Do you have a favorite scene in Darkness Splintered?


I do, but I can't say what it is because that would be a massive spoiler

Darkness Splintered is the 6th book in the series. Do you find it easier to write about Risa now or when you first started?

I'm actually find it harder to write the books now, simply because Splintered is the penultimate book in the series, and I have to start tying up all the threads both in this book and in Darkness Falls, the last in the series.

Which character was your favorite to write about in all of your series? What about the hardest to write about?

My usual answer to this question is generally the one I'm currently writing. But I guess there's one character that totally changed my life—one character that allowed me to give up work and concentrate on writing full time—and that is Riley Jenson. I think she is, and will always be, an all-time favorite.

The hardest to write—that's a tough one, because I enjoy writing all my characters, good or bad. But the hardest thing to write in any series is a character's death—and I've written a few of those over the years (Some welcomed by readers, some not!)

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?

After Darkness Splintered, the next book in line is Fireborn, which is the first of the Souls of Fire series. That comes out June 2014. Then, in Nov 2014, it's Darkness Falls, the last of the Dark Angels series
__________________________________

Darkness Splintered
Dark Angels #6
When Risa loses the second key to hell, she angers several powerful people, and she’s starting to feel the pressure from all sides. She gets a visit from her father, who gives her an ultimatum: Get back the key or he will kill her friends.

Risa also finds herself under the scrutiny of the vampire council, some of whom consider her a monster who should be destroyed. But they offer her a bloody bargain: Take on the lethal head of the council, Madeline Hunter, and others will support her.

As the search for the keys to hell heats up, Risa realizes that she has no choice. For the sake of the people she loves, she must find the keys — and get rid of Hunter — before the second gate is opened and brings the world closer to all hell breaking loose...
__________________________________

Keri Arthur, author of the New York Times bestselling Riley Jenson Guardian series, has now written more than twenty-eight novels. She’s received several nominations in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards and has won RT’s Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy. She lives with her daughter in Melbourne, Australia. 

Find Keri and her books
__________________________________
US Only
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Interview: Nightlife by Matthew Quinn Martin

UFI welcomes Matthew Quinn Martin Author of Nightlife. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I’m a huge Toto fan. Not just of the band itself, but of the individual members and the work they did as session musicians. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a studio ensemble that has had as big an impact on popular music other than the legendary Funk Brothers. Actually, when I was doing on-set re-writes on Slingshot I kept slipping Toto lyrics into the dialogue. None of it made it to the final cut, but I’d love to see the outtakes one day.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
Downtime? What is this downtime of which you speak? Seriously though, I enjoy playing music, either on my record player or on one of the various musical instruments littering my house.

What is your Favorite part of writing?
Reading over something I’ve written the day before and thinking that it doesn’t suck. That’s a red-letter day for me.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
I’ll treat myself to a can of Moxie when I finish or sell something. Other than that it’s helpful to have a “door” that you can keep closed. But headphones usually work if I happen to be stuck writing in a public place. Even if they aren’t plugged in they are a nice sign for others to “keep out.” Fellow writer and frequent collaborator Libby Cudmore makes little writing shrines out of Altoid tins so she can create a personal writing space anywhere. She made me one…and it has a Moxie button in it.

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?
Harlan Ellison is a big influence. I still remember the first time I read Strange Wine. It would have been in the late 80s and I was in my mid-teens. The opening story, “Croatoan,” gave me a string of nightmares that I hope will go away at some point. But more than just that, the story showed me just where the boundaries of genre fiction were…and totally obliterated them, just blew them right to cinders. If I ever write something that has ten percent of the impact or depth of “Croatoan,” then I will consider myself a success.

How would you pitch Nightlife to someone who has not heard of it before?
Not your kid sister’s vampire novel.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that Nightlife is set in?

The city of New Harbor is based (more than a little) on my experiences growing up in New Haven, Connecticut. I chose to fictionalize it because the city itself is a small one. Places like New York, Chicago, London, etc. are so massive and mythic that you can set just about anything there and as long as you don’t get too specific about the details and there will be room for that “willing suspension of disbelief” to kick in. No one can really know all there is to know about New York. In a more intimate setting you run the risk of taking people familiar with the area right out of the action with too much creative license. This is especially true in horror/fantasy. You are already asking your reader to accept that there are creatures lurking in the shadows––best not to blow that by situating an apartment building in an industrial area or a park where there isn’t one. There’s a certain freedom in working like that, but there are challenges to it as well.

Do you have a favorite scene in Nightlife?
I do…but I’m not going to say which because I don’t want the other scenes to get jealous.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
I had a lot of fun writing Gabby, especially the scenes in her headspace. There is something freeing about seeing the world through six-year-old kid logic. The other characters could all vie for “most difficult” at various points during the writing and revisions.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
Right now I’m hard at work on the sequel, Nightlife: As the Worm Turns. It’s a broader and more epic story (and a longer one). After that, I’ve got my eyes on a stand alone supernatural horror novel…but I’ve learned that it’s best not to plan too far ahead.
__________________________________


Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, it wasn’t until Matthew moved to Manhattan that he realized he was a writer. These days, he lives on a small island off the North Atlantic coast of the United States where it gets quiet in the winter…perhaps too quiet. . .


Find Matthew and her books
__________________________________

Nightlife
For centuries an ancient evil has slept beneath the streets of New Harbor. This Halloween, it wakes up.
An action-packed debut horror novel from talented new writer Matthew Quinn Martin, Nightlife pits a feisty bartender and a mysterious loner against bloodthirsty terrors as alluring as they are deadly.

Nightclub bartender and serial heartbreaker Beth Becker might be a cynic. But when her best friend goes missing Halloween night, Beth knows it's up to her to find out what happened.

Her quest will take her on an odyssey through the crumbling city of New Harbor, Connecticut. Along the way she meets a homeless prophet warning of something he calls the "Night Angel"-a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on the forgotten. And she will form an unlikely bond with a hunted stranger who knows all too well what stalks the streets at night.
_________________________________

Review: Secret Unleashed by Sierra Dean

Secret Unleashed
Author: Sierra Dean
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN:   1619214458
ISBN13: 9781619214453
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Request: Author

After her last mission tested the limits of her humanity and took her out of this world, Secret’s friends, determined to keep her safe from her old nemesis Alexandre Peyton, keep ushering her from one babysitter to the next.

Couch surfing would be a lot more fun if Alexandre would let up on her long enough to allow her to get in some alone time with her lovers. Including Holden, her self-appointed shadow.

As if living out of coffin isn’t bad enough, Secret literally brings down the house while hunting a rogue, causing the council to exile her from New York—for her own safety, of course.

With her list of people to trust getting shorter and shorter, Secret ends up embroiled in a mystery to find a vampire warden gone AWOL and a missing artifact. Things go from bad to worse when she falls into the hands of a man who will prove that humans can be the worst monsters of them all.

Warning: Contains a cross-country journey, an unexpected family reunion, heated lovers’ embraces and a hell of a lot of trouble.

This is such a fun series. It's not hard to get caught up in Secrets life and the drama it brings as it unfolds. SECRET UNLEASHED kicks off shortly after the events of book 5, a lot happens and it will leave you mentally drained by the end.

Secret always ends up caught in the middle and I love the way she thinks and handles every situation thrown at her. Secret's love life is crazy. There is Desmond and Holden, they are both sexy, supportive, and love Secret like they should. I am so conflicted, I don't know who I want Secret to love! She will just have to continue to love both of them. There were some really scary points in SECRET UNLEASHED. I didn't think everyone would make it out alive and I was right. There is no way that Secret won't be forever changed by the events that occurred. SECRET UNLEASHED also manages to bring us a good bit of fast and hard answers to some of our most sought after questions. Where is Secret's Dad? Who really is Sig and why is he so interested in Secret?

There really isn't anything I don't like about this series. The characters, the flow of events, the plot, the world, it is all well written and keeps me coming back for more. What could possibly happen next? Who knows but I will be on the roller coaster every step of the way.

I gave it 4/5 stars