New Releases: 4/2-4/8

Tue. April 4th

 Brimstone by Cherie Priest
 Bound (Alex Verus #8) by Benedict Jacka
 Buck Naked (Cougarville #1) by Evangeline Anderson
 The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood #15) by J.R. Ward
 Defy the Stars (Defy the Stars #1) by Claudia Gray
 The End of the Day by Claire North 
 Ever My Love (MacLeod #10) by Lynn Kurland 
 Fighting Attraction (Redemption #4) by Sarah Castille 
 Gauntlet (Arena #2) by Holly Jennings
 The House of Binding Thorns (Dominion of the Fallen #2) by Aliette de Bodard
 Mars One by Jonathan Maberry 
 Perfect (Flawed #2) by Cecelia Ahern 
Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren
 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence
 Shadowcaster (Shattered Realms #2) by Cinda Williams Chima
 Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean
 True North (True Born Trilogy #2) by L.E. Sterling
 Waking Gods (Themis Files #2) by Sylvain Neuvel

 Wanted and Wired (Tether #1) by Vivien Jackson
 Winter Tide (The Innsmouth Legacy #1) by Ruthanna Emrys

Happy Reading!!

Review: Lynchpin by Shannon Mayer

Lynchpin

Author: Shannon Mayer

Release Date: April 4, 2017

Publisher: HiJinks Ink Publishing

Rylee Adamson Epilogues Book #4

ASIN:  B01N192K0Q

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: Author

From HiJinks Ink Publishing & Shannon Mayer comes the final epilogue to the USA Today Bestselling RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS. With over 1.4 million books sold, Shannon Mayer proves once again she can dominate her genre right out of the gate.


My name is Alex, and I am a werewolf. As a boy, I was trapped halfway between human and wolf. Rylee rescued me and I became the first outcast to join her pack.

In the Battle Against Orion, I sacrificed my life for hers and became the pillar which holds the Veil separating the human world and the supernatural world, closed. I kept the demons from spilling into the human world and left Rylee and our pack behind to live on.

But something is calling me back to the land of the living and the journey to get there terrifies me. I must pass through the darkest levels of the Veil to prove my worth, and will come face to face with my past and all of those I've lost along the way. My deepest fear is that I'm not strong enough and I will prove unworthy.

If I don't at least try though, I'll remain forever with the dead and separated from my pack.

Eternity is a long time, but this decision and journey may very well tear me apart before I reach either destination. May the gods have mercy on my soul.

I have really enjoyed reading the other books in the Rylee Adamson Epilogues, but LYNCHPIN just didn't fully do it for me. Don't get me wrong I REALLY love Alex and I was REALLY sad when he died, but I have a HUGE issue with people coming back from the dead. Especially when that person died in such a way that Alex did, saving the world and all.

The only thing that made Alex coming back from the dead a little easier to stomach was that Alex had to work really hard to get out of veil. He had a lot of obstacles that he had to overcome and a lot of levels to fight through. Having said that, there were still a lot of issues for me. The dialogue and situations in LYNCHPIN felt artificial and too easy which made it really hard for me to connect with the story.

One of the great things about LYNCHPIN is that we get a lot of answers to some questions we have had since close to the beginning the storyline in the Rylee series. LYNCHPIN also sets up some things for the showdown that happens in the 7th installment of the Elemental series, DESTROYER.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Interview + Giveaway: Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson

UFI welcomes Author Vivien Jackson. 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 gamer: board, PC, Xbox, RPG, you name it. I won two role-playing awards at a con in ’95 for playing AD&D and Vampire: The Masquerade. My family and I stalk PAX-South in San Antonio every year, and I have been known to go out during an ice storm to a purchase a much-anticipated game on release day. It’s a sickness, but probably not fatal. We don’t get a whole lot of ice storms in Central Texas.

 

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

I mom for two kids, wife for a dude, and obey two very exacting Chihuahuas and the occasional visiting cat. Sometimes, the kids sleep, and then I either play games or read books. Unless we’re in the middle of a Game of Thrones or Doctor Who season, and then I have a standing date with the DVR.

What is your Favorite part of writing?

Falling in love with the characters. Hands down, they are the brightest magic. Someday, if I do my job well enough, readers will love them as much as I do.

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

It’s funny, some writing buddies and I were talking the other day about deadline food: you know, the stuff you eat when you’re barreling toward a deadline and don’t dare fall asleep because the story might slink away in the dark? I hear the all-cake-all-the-time diet works for some folks, but if I ingest sugar I’ll fall asleep right on my keyboard. So mostly I eat protein bars and breakfast tacos and drink a lot of coffee and wine. My mom sent me a news clipping (from an actual newspaper! I know! Relic!) that gave scientific evidence supporting a coffee+beer one-two punch to increase focus and happy thoughts. So now I feel all justified in my poor nutrition habits. Thanks, Mom!

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

So, so many. Too many! But I’ll try to keep the list as shortish as possible, so readers don’t fall asleep (see above regarding efficacy of coffee+booze). On the urban fantasy side, I dig Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim and Chuck Wendig’s Miriam Black books, but my all-time favorite is Darynda Jones’s Charley Davidson series. (Or is that one PNR? It does have kissing and Hottie McYumface, Reyes Farrow, but it’s also first-person, supernatural female badassery, so I dunno.) I just started on Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series – I know, I’m way behind the cool kids on this one, since book 19 is set to come out this summer – and I’m liking it a lot, even though shifters aren’t usually my thing. My go-to re-readable PNR is Jax Garren’s Underlight series, which is set in my hometown, Austin, and just nails the weird/cool/Texan vibe.

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VIVIEN JACKSON is still waiting for her Hogwarts letter. In the meantime, she writes, mostly fantastical or futuristic or kissing-related stories. When she isn’t writing, she’s performing a sacred duty nurturing the next generation of Whovian Browncoat Sindarin Jedi gamers, and their little dogs too. With her similarly geeky partner, she lives in Austin, Texas, and watches a lot of football.


Find Vivien and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Wanted and Wired
Tether #1
Buy Link

A rip-roarin' new snarky, sexy sci-fi paranormal romance series with the perfect balance of humor, heat, and heart. Now that Texas has seceded and the world is spiraling into chaos, good guys come in unlikely packages and love sprouts in the most inconvenient places...

Rogue scientist • technologically enhanced • deliciously attractive
Heron Farad should be dead. But technology has made him the man he is today. Now he heads a crew of uniquely skilled outsiders who fight to salvage what's left of humanity: art, artifacts, books, ideas-sometimes even people. People like Mari Vallejo.

Gun for hire • Texan rebel • always hits her mark
Mari has been lusting after her mysterious handler for months. But when a by-the-book hit goes horribly sideways, she and Heron land on the universal most wanted list. Someone set them up. Desperate and on the run, they must trust each other to survive, while hiding devastating secrets. As their explosive chemistry heats up, it's the perfect storm..

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US Only

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Week in Review: 3/26-4/1

Books Received for Review

Ride the Storm by Karen Chance

Books I've Read

Veiled Menace by Deborah Blake
Drakon's Prey by N.J. Walters
Burned by A. Blythe
A Portrait of Pain by Jane Washington

Reviews Posted

Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves
Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein

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

* Monday- Promo + Giveaway for Immortal Unchained by Lynsay Sands

* Wednesday- Guest Blog + Giveaway for Between a Wolf and a Hard Place by Terry Spear

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

BlogLovin

Networked Blogs

Facebook
Pinterest Board

You can also add me (as in Stacy) to your friends on these sites if you're on them.

Twitter

Goodreads

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 * I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.

Review: Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein

Rose Petal Graves

Author: Olivia Wildenstein

Release Date: March 29, 2017

Publisher: Self-Published

The Lost Clan Book #1

ISBN13:  9780997334340

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Ancient secrets cannot remain buried forever.

Founded two centuries ago by a powerful tribe of Gottwa Indians, Rowan was a quiet town, so quiet that I fled after graduation. Staying away was the plan, but Mom died suddenly.

Dad said she suffered a stroke after she dug up one of the ancient graves in our backyard, which happens to be the town cemetery. Creepy, I know. Creepier still, there was no corpse inside the old coffin, only fresh rose petals.

As we made preparations for Mom’s burial, new people began arriving in Rowan, unnervingly handsome and odd people. I begged them to leave, but they stayed, because their enemies—my ancestors—were beginning to awaken.

ROSE PETAL GRAVES sounded like something I totally wanted to love, but it just didn't get there.

Catori was actually pretty likable. She had a likable personality and it was very easy to connect with her feelings. Unfortunately, none of the other characters in ROSE PETAL GRAVES pulled me in. I mean, no one could NOT like her dad, but that was about it. I could take or leave all the others.

The romances/love interests fell short for me. There were 3 contenders and I didn't really feel the connection with any of them—and I really hated that Cat jumped from guy to guy so easily. I think there needed to be more development, but it kinda just all felt like it was thrown together at the last minute with the expectation that we would totally get it. I didn't.

The storyline wasn't bad. I enjoyed the Native American and Fae folklore and I thought the ideas behind the plot were original. The ending just was. Nothing was really resolved and it didn't leave me wanting more. I can't say that I would read more, but then again, I haven't ruled it out.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves

Blood Rose Rebellion

Author: Rosalyn Eves

Release Date: March 28, 2017

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Blood Rose Rebellion Book #1

ISBN:   1101935995

ISBN13: 9781101935996

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

The thrilling first book in a YA fantasy trilogy for fans of Red Queen. In a world where social prestige derives from a trifecta of blood, money, and magic, one girl has the ability to break the spell that holds the social order in place.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell—an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic—Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.

Her life might well be over.

In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.

As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romanies, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.

I'm on the fence with how I feel about BLOOD ROSE REBELLION. On one hand, I enjoyed the overall storyline, but I was also incredibly bored at many points in the book which took away my overall enjoyment.

What I liked: I liked Anna—for the most part. I loved the world that the story takes place in. It felt well thought out and real. I liked learning about the Luminate society and watching Anna navigate her way through it.

What I disliked: The pace was incredibly sloooooow. Like put me to sleep, have to skip paragraphs slow. Although I liked Anna overall, she did a lot of dumb things that led to most of her problems. It got to the point that it was hard to feel sorry for her when what she did blew up in her face.  None of the other characters really grabbed my attention. The romance was utterly bland. I would have rather it just been left out altogether.

SO, yeah. There were probably more disliked that likes, but I still read it all the way through, so that is something. I probably won't read book two, but I'm not mad at myself for reading BLOOD ROSE REBELLION.


I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Guest Blog + Giveaway: Between a Wolf and a Hard Place by Terry Spear

UFI welcomes Author Terry Spear. Thanks for Joining us!!

Bestselling author Terry Spear is known for her fantastic paranormal romance novels, including Between a Wolf and Hard Place, available April 4th! But what paranormal stories does she enjoy most when she’s not hard at work on her next book? Read on for Terry’s favorites!

Stardust—She’s a fallen star and witches want to use her essence to make themselves young again while brothers in the kingdom are killing each other off so that one will end up with the crown. One by one, they become ghosts and watch to see which brother ends up with the prize. It’s a really funny movie—and it’s a romance!

Practical Magic—She’s a witch from a family cursed to never be able to find a man who they can love— or else he dies. But she’s wished on a star for a man with one blue eye and one brown, figuring no one like that will ever come to see her. That is, until the sheriff comes to investigate the disappearance of a man who returns from the dead to terrorize them. The sheriff isn’t into the paranormal, so he’s got a lot to learn.

Hocus Pocus—The witches need a virgin to make them youthful, and the kids must destroy the witches before they become all powerful. The kids trick them into believing sunrise has already come to escape. The witches put up quite a battle but end up turning to stone and disintegrate into dust.

Ghost—I love this one because of the love story. The hero wants his wife to know his murderer is his best friend before he can move on. Very touching, and sexy, with newlyweds whose married life is cut short. Whoopi Goldberg is hilarious as the medium who serves as his vessel so that he can return to his dead wife to hold her one last time and say goodbye.

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USA Today bestselling author TERRY SPEAR has written over 35 paranormal romances featuring werewolf and jaguar shapeshifters. In 2008, Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry also creates award-winning teddy bears that have found homes all over the world. She lives in Spring, Texas.

Find Terry and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Between a Wolf and a Hard Place
Heart of the Wolf #21
Amazon  BN  iBooks  Kobo 

Wooing a she-wolf isn't as easy as it looks in this bold paranormal romance from USA Today bestseller Terry Spear

In Silver Town, the secrets run deep...

Alpha werewolf Brett Silver has an ulterior motive when he donates a prized family heirloom to the Silver Town hotel. Ellie MacTire owns the place with her sisters, and he's out to get her attention.

Ellie is even more special than Brett knows. She's a wolf-shifter with a unique ability to commune with the dead. Ellie has been ostracized, so she protects herself and those she loves by revealing nothing-not even when strange and dangerous things begin to happen in Silver Town. And especially not to the devastatingly handsome and generous wolf who's determined to win her over...

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