Monday, November 5, 2018

Promo + Giveaway: Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews (@ilona_andrews, @AvonImpulse)


Diamond Fire
Hidden Legacy 3.5
Amazon  BN  Kobo
together with their parents

NEVADA FRIDA BAYLOR

&

CONNOR ANDER ROGAN

invite you to join

their wedding celebration

November 6, 2018

Summoning, weather manipulation, and other magical activities strictly forbidden.

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Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Oregon with their two children, three dogs and a cat. They have co-authored two series, the bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels and romantic urban fantasy of The Edge.


Find Ilona and her books
__________________________________
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Sunday, November 4, 2018

Week in Review: 10/28-11/3



Books Received for Review

Echoes of Fire by Suzanne Wright
The Dragon Tamer by Ava Richardson
City of War by Debbie Cassidy

Books I've Read

The Society by K.A. Linde
A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein
The Dragon Tamer by Ava Richardson
Echoes of Fire by Suzanne Wright

Reviews Posted

Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter (@HarlequinBooks)

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

* Wednesday- Haunted Halloween Spooktacular: Diamond Moon by Celia Breslin (@CeliaBreslin, @RoxanneRhoads, @DecadentPub)

* Thursday- Promo: Entangled Halloween Sale Blast (@entangledpub)

* Friday- Promo + Giveaway: Never Let Me Fall by Abbie Roads (@Abbie_Roads, @SourcebooksCasa)

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* 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.

Friday, November 2, 2018

Promo + Giveaway: Never Let Me Fall by Abbie Roads (@Abbie_Roads, @SourcebooksCasa)


Never Let Me Fall
Fatal Dreams #3
Amazon  BN  Apple  Indie Bound

Seeing is believing...

Thomas Brown can't see color, but he can see people's true souls. His abilities allow him to work with criminal investigators and deliver justice to families of the wronged. And he's starting to accept that his life will forever be in black and white...

Then he encounters Helena Grayse, and everything changes. She brings vibrant color to his world, and he brings acceptance and belief to hers. But Helena's past is quickly catching up with her, and Thomas is in the crosshairs.

As an enemy hidden in plain sight threatens their every move, they'll have to rely on their love to beat the darkness.
Excerpt:

Never Let Me Fall
Abbie Roads
Excerpt

Across the endless sea of gravestones, Thomas spotted a canopy erected to protect the mourners from the elements. The fabric flapped and snapped in the wind. A metal grommet hitting one of the legs made the endless clng, clng, clng noise. The sounds grew in volume, became unnaturally loud. He reached up to cover his ears. But before he could get his hands into place, his vision winked out. Gone. Blackness.

He just stood there. Frozen. Not from fear, but from acceptance. He was blind, and he should be freaking out. But then, blinding himself had been something he’d contemplated in his darkest moments. He’d always thought blindness would grant him an odd sort of relief. No more gray existence, no more seeing the shadow of death. Ignorance really could be bliss, right? The only thing that had kept him from following through was not wanting to be dependent on anyone for anything.

Light flashed in his dark vision like far-off lightning. His sight blinked back on. Everything was the same. But everything had changed.

He still stood in Sundew Cemetery, but it was as if everything around him had faded into the background and a spotlight gleamed on a woman in front of him.

She stood no more than fifty feet away, a beacon of light, a burning flame that he couldn’t look away from.

Her body was bundled against the cold, her thick, black coat zipped up over her mouth with the hood pulled down over her forehead. The tiny bit of skin he saw was the palest of—his mind searched for the name of the right color—pale peach. Her skin was pale peach. Pale. Peach.

Holy motherfucking son of a bitch.

He saw color. Color. She brought vibrancy to his gray existence. And she carried no shadow of death. Not even a wispy hint. If love at first sight existed, he loved her for these gifts.

At this distance, it should be impossible to see the color of her eyes, but they were gold and shining right at him, locking him in place with their brilliance, their luminescence, and some ethereal quality that made him think of purity and perfection.

Call it instinct, call it pheromones, call it instant visceral attraction—his dick went hard.

“Thomas? Are you all right?” The question he’d been asked too much lately punched him in the head, breaking his attention on her.

Sound clicked back on. He heard the canopy flapping and the metal clanging. Almost as if his

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Abbie Roads loves Snickers Parfaits and acrylic pour painting. It’s her new obsession. The pour painting. Not the parfaits. Though the parfaits would qualify as an obsession too. She spends her days a mental health counselor always looking on the brightside, but at night she likes to write dark and dangerous things—with kissing and sexy times. She loves reading inspirational quotes and stories about serial killers. She is married to her favorite fellow and they have two cranky old rescue dogs that are not spoiled. Not at all. Okay. Maybe a little. Alright, the dogs are terribly spoiled, but they do give lots of cuddles and kisses in return.

Her first book RACE THE DARKNESS was a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Pick for Fall.

Find Abbie and her books
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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Haunted Halloween Spooktacular: Diamond Moon by Celia Breslin (@CeliaBreslin, @RoxanneRhoads, @DecadentPub)

UFI welcomes Author Celia Breslin. Thanks for Joining us!!

My family loves to binge-watch paranormal movies and TV shows for Halloween, especially those involving vampires and werewolves. Here are our top ten picks for your All Hallows’ Eve viewing pleasure…

1. The Underworld movies.  Love all of those digitally rendered Lycans!

2. Wolf (1994), starring Jack Nicholson. Seriously, it’s *Jack Nicholson*. Enough said. :-)

3. An American Werewolf in London (1981).  Classic.

4. The Lost Boys (1987).  Naughty vampires, wicked good fun.

5.  Blade (1998).  Action!

6. From Dusk Till Dawn, (1996).  And more action!

7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and its spin-off, Angel. Vampires, werewolves, and more, oh my!  Joss Whedon rules.

8. Vampire Diaries TV series and its spin-off, The Originals.  Sexy, naughty vampires, kickass werewolves, and a whole slew of entertaining witches.

9.  True Blood TV series. Vamps, wolves, witches, and the fae. Fun, funny, dark, and bloody.

10. One last movie, and my all-time fav, The Cabin in the Woods (2012).  Funny, a bit scary with some good and creepy transformation effects, and chock-full of great lines such as:  “Yeah, uh, I had to dismember that guy with a trowel. What have you been up to?” and, “Hey, shh, no. I totally get it. I’m sorry I let you get attacked by a werewolf and then ended the world.”

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Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for vampires, werewolves, and the Fae. When not writing, you’ll find Celia editing for others, exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies.


Find Celia and her books
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Diamond Moon
Black Hills Wolves #12 
Amazon Kobo iTunes
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Human-wolf hybrid Darci Diamond spends every full moon locked in auntie’s basement in Southern Oregon. Her excruciating shifts terrify her, the last one causing her heart to stop beating. Seeking a cure, she journeys to Los Lobos.

Ross Luparell returns to the struggling Tao pack, using his millions made in the tech industry to build homes for pack families in need. He never imagined he would also find his one true mate. But when a hybrid with the biggest green eyes he’s ever seen lands on his doorstep in the middle of a wicked summer storm, there’s no denying it. She’s the one.

She wants a normal human life, free from pain-filled shifts. He won’t give up on her Wolf, and will do whatever it takes to help her accept her true nature. But can he convince her to trust him with her heart?



He reached out with his Wolf senses. The feedback froze his fingers on the doorknob. Female. Damn, she smelled good. Human. Wolf. Wait…both? The copper tang of blood hit his nose. And injured.
    He flung open the door. His abrupt move caught his visitor off guard, one small, white fist raised to knock. The woman startled and fell forward. Catching her, he pulled her inside, kicking the door shut with his foot.
    She sagged against him, a shivering bundle of wet woman. Underneath the dampness, her scent drop-kicked his gut. Apples and cinnamon. Roses and honey. His body perked up, taking extreme notice. He fought the growl of possession threatening to tear out of his throat. Holy hell, had his potential mate just walked into his home in the middle of a storm?
    The scent of her blood jump-started his brain into action. He lowered her gently to the floor. “Jesus. You okay?”
    His instincts urged him to check her for wounds, but he was a stranger and didn’t want to spook her. But goddamn, he wanted to touch her. Peel off her wet clothes. See all of her. With a jacket covering her torso, tight jeans hiding her legs, and her ball cap pulled low on her face, all he’d seen so far was her quivering pale chin, full red lips, and those delicate, trembling hands.
    “S-s-sorry, d-dripping all ov-v-ver your f-f-floor,” she said, teeth chattering. Her snow white fingers curled on the hardwood, arms trembling with her effort to keep herself upright. Blood streaked the wood. A line of liquid crimson slid down her jaw and dripped from her chin onto her jacket.
    To hell with propriety. “You’re injured. Let me help you.” He pulled off her cap and damn near swallowed his tongue.
    Big green eyes blinked up at him from a face so pale it made him think of moonlight. Drenched, short black hair lay plastered to her head, the ends framing features reminiscent of the fairies his sister loved to draw for the hidden-object games she designed. Ethereal beauty. My beauty. He stroked a knuckle down her cheek then ran his thumb over her soft, full lower lip.
    She flinched and batted his hand away, falling to her side in the process.
    Ross snapped back to reality with a healthy hit of guilt. “Shit. Sorry.”
    His gaze shot to her forehead where a two-inch cut sent blood trailing over her prominent cheekbone with its silky-smooth skin he’d so enjoyed caressing—
    Shit. He gave himself a mental ass kicking for scaring her. “I’m Ross. You’re safe here. Promise.”

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Monday, October 29, 2018

Review: Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter (@HarlequinBooks)

Shadow and Ice
Release Date: October 23, 2018
Publisher: HQN
Gods of War Book #1
ISBN:  1335041109
ISBN13: 9781335041104
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Edelweiss

Gena Showalter, the New York Times bestselling author who brought you the Lords of the Underworld, introduces a scorching new paranormal romance series… Gods of War.

Knox of Iviland has spent his life competing in the All Wars, where vicious warriors with supernatural powers fight to the death to claim new realms. One winner takes everything—and all losers die. Enslaved as a child for his ability to control shadows, the most ruthless champion in history will stop at nothing to kill his king. But first he must win the battle for Earth. When a fearsome weapon imprisons every combatant in ice, centuries pass without progress…until she walks in.

Vale London craves a fun arctic getaway with her foster sister before settling down to open a bakery. Street-tough but vulnerable, she is unprepared to find ancient gods escaping a frozen cave—merciless beings who target her when she inadvertently enters their war.

Though Vale is now his enemy, Knox is consumed with lust and a fierce need to protect her. But only one combatant can prove victorious, and he will have to choose: live for freedom, or die for love.

I could not connect with the story in SHADOW AND ICE.

A lot happened in SHADOW AND ICE, but I was both confused and bored for most of the book. The world was confusing, there was a lot of info dumping—which caused more confusion—and I had to force myself to read until the end. I will admit that I did skim quite a few pages.

The world didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. Details were sparse, but when you did find out information, it didn't really make a lot of sense.

I liked both Knox and Vale as individual characters, but I didn't feel the chemistry between the two. It didn't feel believable. I actually really liked Vale's sister Nola and would have liked to have more of her in the story.

Knowing that Nola's story is next kinda makes me want to read it, but I don't know if I could force myself to read it if it was more of what SHADOW OF ICE brought us.

I gave it 2/5 stars

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