Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Review: Vengeance Borne by Amanda Bonilla

Vengeance Borne
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
ISBN13:  9781625172501
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Author

Fated to Hunt…

As the local hunter, and a ward of the Sentry, a secret organization dedicated to eradicating the forces of evil, Jacquelyn has been protecting the small town of McCall, Idaho for the past five years. The hours are horrible, the pay is nonexistent, she has to work with her jealous ex-boyfriend – and forget about quitting. She’s in for life.

Destined to See…

When a rugged drifter comes through town, Jacquelyn immediately knows what he is – an Empath who can read emotions and sense what others are thinking – even though it’s clear the handsome stranger has no idea what, or how powerful, he is…

A Town in Peril…

When people in McCall start turning up dead, viciously ripped to shreds as if by a wild animal, Jacquelyn knows better. Furies are loose in Idaho and hell-bent on exacting revenge. But against whom? And for what purpose? Jacquelyn has until the full moon to stop the Furies’ killing spree and save the people of McCall, figure out how to work with her ex – oh, and there’s a handsome stranger in town who’s in desperate need of some schooling…

As a ward Jacquelyn (aka Jax) is charged with protecting the small town of McCall Idaho. It is not a glamorous job but she takes it seriously and when people start dying she steps up to solve the mystery and take down the killer. Her ex boyfriend Finn happens to be her bearer and does everything in his power to try and snag her back but Jacquelyn is sick of his use of power towards her. When Micah strolls in to town she is instantly drawn to him. Micah just happens to be a powerful bearer that has no idea what kind of life he will now be living. 

Although I enjoyed the story I felt the beginning was not as easy to get through as I had hoped and it lagged at a few points. It took me a bit to like Jax, I thought she took unnecessary risks and had a bit of a whiny attitude. As the story progressed I got to know who she was beyond that and why she does what she does. You could not help feeling what she was feeling (or not feeling at points). I never really liked Finn. Although he was protective of Jax he was extremely hot-headed and I could not get over his use of his gifts. He crossed lines and it made me cringe every time Jax was near him. I enjoyed Micah from the get go. He was just as damaged as the rest of the characters but he just had this draw to him that you could not resist. I rooted for him in his role to the story as well as his relationship with Jacqueline.

Ok it might seem as though I did not enjoy VENGEANCE BORNE that much but I really did when all was said and done. The new world that Bonilla has envisioned and brought to life for us was interesting and the characters grew on me. She did a great job explaining her characters gifts as well as drawing the audience (aka me) into her story. The Sentry of Evil series has promise and I look forward to seeing what Jax does next!

I gave it 3.5/5 stars

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New Releases: 9/1-9/7


Tues Sept 3

 Chimes at Midnight (October Daye #7) by Seanan McGuire  
 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst
 Eternal (Winterhaven #3) by Kristi Cook
 Eternity (The Fury Trilogy #3) by Elizabeth Miles
 Scorched by Mari Mancusi 
 Styxx (Dark-Hunter #23) by Sherrilyn Kenyon 
 Sweet Legacy (Medusa Girls #3) by Tera Lynn Childs 
 The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

Thurs Sept 5

 Dangerous by Jax, Jacquelyn Frank

Happy Reading!!
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Monday, September 2, 2013

Guest Blog: The Outside by Laura Bickle

UFI welcomes Laura Bickle Author of The Hallowed Ones Series. Thanks for Joining us!!



An Amish Heroine in the Apocalypse
By Laura Bickle

I live not too far from a large Amish settlement, one that I visited often as a child. I used to see the Amish girls my age over the fence and wonder how their lives were different from mine. I admired how strong and self-sufficient they seemed. It later occurred to me that these traits, combined with their incredibly strong sense of community, could make the Amish uniquely equipped to survive certain types of disasters. In THE HALLOWED ONES and THE OUTSIDE, I explore how the Amish would survive a plague of vampires that devastates the world.

I thought it would be interesting to view this disaster through the lens of a young woman. When I was developing Katie, the heroine of THE HALLOWED ONES and THE OUTSIDE, I wanted her to have many of the qualities I saw in the Amish community. She’s very strong, in a quiet and enduring way. She values her community, loves her family, and isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.

But I also wanted to give her some challenges. Katie longs to see what’s on the other side of the fence, to experience life in the outside world. She wants to experiment with jeans, makeup, and movies on her Rumspringa. Rumspringa is the time in Amish life when young adults can dabble in the outside world before choosing to commit to the Amish church for life. Her community feels a bit too small, and she’s curious to experience the world beyond.

That’s one of Katie’s chief internal struggles, one I think that we all can relate to. We all have to decide to what degree we’ll balance the duty of being a citizen in a community with our individual desires. Katie comes from a world where the collective is very important, but she is a teenager, and has the desire to define who she is for herself.

In an ordinary world, Katie would have the luxury of time to resolve these issues. But the outside world has come to Katie, and in a way that’s not what she imagined. Contagious vampirism has overtaken civilization. The world beyond Katie’s community has gone dark and silent. There are no cars on the road, no radio signals, no lights in the distance, no telephone. Bloodthirsty vampires have devoured humankind, leaving only shells of houses and empty cars behind.

Katie is exiled from her community, shunned for defying the new rules of survival. She must find a way to survive a horrific new landscape with only her two outsider friends and a horse. Together, they seek answers and other survivors on an empty road that seems to lead to nowhere.

As much as Katie has searched for her own individualism, she ultimately wants to the road to lead her back home, to return to her family and community. But she fears that there will be no home to return to, that her settlement will fall into darkness. In her nightmares, she returns to a place of burned houses and empty roads, with no chance for reconciliation.

For a young woman like Katie, that can be the greatest devastation imaginable, greater than any individual pain or loss.
 
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Laura Bickle’s professional background is in criminal justice and library science, and when she’s not patrolling the stacks at the public library she’s dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs (she also writes contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams).



Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and six mostly-reformed feral cats.


Find Laura and her books
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The Outside
The Hollowed Ones #2

BN   Amazon Print   Amazon Kindle   IndieBound 
One girl. One road. One chance to save what remains…

After a plague of vampires is unleashed in the world, Katie is kicked out of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. Now in exile, she enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two “English” friends and a horse by her side. Together they seek answers and other survivors—but each sunset brings the threat of vampire attack, and each sunrise the threat of starvation.

And yet through this darkness come the shining ones: luminescent men and women with the power to deflect vampires and survive the night. But can these new people be trusted, and are they even people at all?

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, it’s up to one Amish girl to save her family, her community, and the boy she loves . . . but what will she be asked to leave behind in return?
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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Week in Review: 8/25-8/31


Books Ive Bought/received

* Archangel's Legion by Nalini Singh- eArc- Negalley

* Inhuman by Kat Falls- eARC- Netgalley

* Dragon Rising by Jaime Rush - eARC- Netgalley

Books I Read

Silver and Stone by J.D. Thompson
Blood and Champagne by J.D. Thompson
Origin by Jennifer L Armentrout
Dragon Rising by Jaime Rush
Descendant by Lesley Livingston
The Devil You Know by J.M. Gregoire

Reviews Posted

Heart of Venom by Jennifer Estep

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

* Monday- Guest Blog for Box Office Poison by Phillipa Bornikova

* Tuesday- UFI participated in a blast tour for  Triangles by Kimberly Ann Miller

* Wednesday- Promo and Giveaway for The Devil You Know by J.M. Gregoire

* Friday-  Guest Blog and Giveaway for The Demon's Desire by Kendra Leigh castle

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 * I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.
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Friday, August 30, 2013

Guest Post & Giveaway: The Demon's Desire by Kendra Leigh Castle

UFI welcomes Kendra Leigh Castle Author of The Hearts of the Fallen series. Thanks for Joining us!!



The Demon’s Desire: A Soundtrack

By Kendra Leigh Castle



Every book I write has a soundtrack.  Some are short, some are really long (you should see how stuffed my iPod is), but all have at least a few songs that really speak to parts of the story I’m telling.  With that in mind, I thought I’d share my soundtrack for my new release, The Demon’s Desire, with you today!  There were only a few songs I played out for this one, but they’ll always make me think of Meresin and Dru. Enjoy!



1. Love You in the Dark by Sombear (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SJtSsC2kUI)

2. Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua830TJ1jxA)

3. Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ArpRWcGe0)

4. Follow Me by Muse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO49PZwTPco)

5. Lamplight by A Silent Film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OViuPLc-0PE)
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Kendra Leigh Castle was born and raised in the far and frozen reaches of Northern New York, where there was plenty of time to cultivate her love of reading thanks to the six-month-long winters.  Sneaking off with selections from her mother’s vast collection of romance novels came naturally and fairly early, and a lifelong love of the Happily Ever After was born.  After graduating from SUNY Oswego (where it also snowed a lot) with a teaching degree, Kendra ran off with a handsome young Navy fighter pilot and has somehow accumulated three children, three dogs, and one enormous cat during their many moves.



While stationed in a remote corner of the Nevada desert, Kendra penned her first romance, and a career often spent working in fuzzy slippers and pajamas was born.  Her work has garnered both critical praise and award nominations, but the best part has been connecting with readers who share her love of dark romance (not to mention heroes with sharp, pointed teeth).  Kendra currently lives in Maryland, and can usually be found curled up with her laptop and yet another cup of coffee working on her next book.  She loves to hear from her readers, and can be contacted via email or her Facebook page.

Find Kendra and her books
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 The Demon's Desire
Hearts of the Fallen #2
He’s as dark and dangerous as the storms he once commanded…and she can’t get him out of her heart.Dru has spent two thousand years fighting to keep the people of Terra Noctem safe. In all that time, she's only opened her heart to one man, with disastrous results. But when her city takes in a group of renegade Fallen, she finds herself drawn to the brooding and tormented Meresin, despite the fact that he seems to be the least redeemable of them all. When his instability hits a breaking point, Meresin’s only chance at survival is a perilous journey into a place from which few ever return. What he never expected was that confronting his demons would mean risking not only his future, but Dru's as well...and that one stubborn vampire might give him back not just hope…but his heart.
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 Tour Wide
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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