Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Promo & Review: Sealed in Sin by Juliette Cross



Sealed in Sin
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN13:  9781619224964
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Author
Amazon  BN  Kobo  Samhain


Sometimes sin looks an awful lot like heaven.

One demon prince may be festering in the bowels of the soul eater Cocytus, but Genevieve’s troubles are far from over. Prince Bamal, demon lord of New York City, still wants her. But this time, he wants her alive, to control her inherent power as a Vessel of Light.

With Jude Delacroix off searching for the prophecy, Thomas—a guardian angel with sea-green eyes and an aura of winter woods—steps into the gap, offering her the power to protect herself.

Yet she hesitates, for the transfer of that power comes through a kiss. While Gen’s love for Jude is true, Thomas stirs a desire where there should be none. Thomas also knows Jude’s darkest secret and plans to use it, if necessary, to win Gen for his own.

While her Vessel power grows and more demon spawn creep from every dark corner of the world, one thing is certain—the Great War between the angels and demons is quickly approaching. And Gen is in a race against time to awaken her full power before the storm breaks.


Warning: Contains a demon hunter with dark secrets, a sexy angel with ulterior motives, and demonic creatures running amok.


SEALED IN SIN ended up being so much better than the blurb. I was thinking Jude would be gone for the whole book and this Thomas person would swoop in and steal Gen's heart, which I would be so mad at and would have to boycott the book in the name of Jude, so good thing that didn't happen. Although there are some crazy love triangle like things happening, you will be happy to know there isn't really a love triangle. WOOHOO!

Now that I put that out there, you are probably like "phew, I can breath." So glad I could help. Gen has learned a lot in a very short time. She has also been through a lot. I think she is handling everything very well considering and her strength definitely makes it easy to root for her. She is very devoted to learning how to fight and protect herself and her skills shine through multiple times in SEALED IN SIN. Jude, what can I say about Jude. He still has a lot of mystery surrounding him, but we get to learn quite a bit more about him throughout the book. I really loved the way Juliette advanced their relationship in SEALED IN SIN as well as the way everything played out.

This series has a lot going for it. A great setting, fantastic characters, action, romance and danger all wrapped up in to make a great overall story. As I already told Juliette, #INeedBoundInBlack. I can't wait to see how it all ends.

I gave it 5/5 stars

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



 

EXCERPT: 

“Hiiii, Juuude.” Mindy actually cooed his name as she crossed into the living room right before the man himself waltzed into my kitchen.

“Hello, Mindy.” As always, he sounded dark and rough, which did strange things to my insides.

Apparently, Dave let him in. Not that a door could or would stop Jude Delacroix from going wherever he damn well pleased. Still, it was nice when he pretended to be human, knocking and stuff, rather than appearing out of nowhere and scaring the bejeezus out of me. He had to put on the whole I’m-normal-and-walk-through-doors routine at my apartment when Mindy was home.

The moment he entered the room, all my senses rose to full alert. The man packed enough heat and power in his aura to melt a girl into jelly. A mere glance from his dark eyes or slight touch from rough hands, and I was lost.

I focused on flipping the pancakes on the stove, still trying to figure out how to tell him about our trip to the House of Hades, the near-miss with Gorham, and the brief and strange meeting with my guardian angel. Kat preferred asking forgiveness rather than permission, or just omitting the admission of any sins altogether. But I had trouble lying, though I seemed to do it often as of late. I especially had trouble lying to Jude.

“Want some brinner?” I asked, plopping another dollop of butter in the pan.

“Brinner? What might that be?” He leaned with his back against the counter next to the stove, splaying one huge hand on the countertop, watching me pour the batter into the pan. How did this man make watching me cook a sexy thing?

“You’ve never heard of brinner?” I glanced at the door to make sure Mindy was out of earshot. “For someone who’s been alive nearly two thousand years, you don’t know a whole lot.”

He slid a finger down my forearm. I nearly dropped the spatula. He leaned closer, his chest brushing my shoulder, voice dropping several decibels. “Educate me.” And just like that, my heart slammed into my rib cage, my thoughts scattering to the wind. I stared at him, knowing my eyes were no longer hungry for pancakes. He pressed warm lips, a feather-soft kiss, to the slope between my neck and shoulder. “Genevieve?” Another press of lips higher up my neck, melting me into goo.

“Hm?” Eyes closed, I welcomed a third kiss just under my jaw.

“Your brinner is burning.”

“Oh, dammit!”

I snapped open my eyes, grabbed the smoking pan and thrust it under the water faucet in the sink. A hissing crackle spit up more smoke.

“There goes brinner.”

“You’ve made more than enough already.”

He motioned to the ten-high stack with a smirk. I couldn’t even think about eating now. Not after that kiss. And not with this guilt weighing me down.

Something registered in his gaze. He reached out his hand.

“Come here.”

From his expression, I wasn’t sure if he planned to give me a hug or a spanking. I wouldn’t mind either. Taking his hand, I let him pull me into his arms.
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Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories. She has a B.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University, a M.Ed. in gifted education, and was privileged to study under the award-winning author Ernest J. Gaines in grad school. Her love of mythology, legends, and art serve as constant inspiration for her works. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes. Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.

Find Juliette and her books
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Monday, April 20, 2015

Guest Blog & Giveaway: Piercing the Darkness by Angela Dennis

UFI welcomes Author Angela Dennis. Thanks for Joining us!!

Music and Writing: An Intricate Connection

I’m so excited to have the opportunity to be here.  Thank you much for the invite!   

I’m a fairly passionate person, so there are numerous things that catch my fancy. However, my creative pursuits have always centered around two things, music and writing. This may simply be because I can’t sketch worth a darn, or because I don’t have the patience for intricate arts like glass-blowing or creating stain glass that require a lot of sitting and waiting. But mostly, I think it is because music and writing are intricately connected.

Thanks to my mom, to whom I will be forever grateful, I started playing the piano when I was very young, close to time I started walking. I was blessed with a teacher who believed not just in the strict discipline of learning an instrument, but also in the creative endeavor of writing music. So, from the beginning, I began to write songs. Mainly they were about my dog, or how much I liked to play outside…things I loved at the time. But it taught me that music was a fantastic outlet for my emotions. It was a way to express my dreams and desires.  

Now jump forward several years to when I first discovered books. I love books. The smell of them. The feel of them.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my Kindle as well. But there is something extremely satisfying about sitting down with a cup of coffee and a brand new paperback. That feeling is somewhat irreplaceable.

I was in grade school when I first put pen to paper. It was a dark story about ghosts and witches, which, I’m sure, gave my teacher pause. But I loved it. I loved having an outlet for my raging, overactive imagination.  I never stopped writing. And, clearly, I never stop writing about ghosts, witches, and other things that go bump in the night.  But now when I sit down to write, I always have a playlist ready to go. Music evokes such strong emotions in me, I do my best writing when it’s blasting in my ear buds.

Piercing the Darkness was the first book I’ve ever completely written to music. The writing stage, editing stage…all set to a soundtrack.  And I’d love to share that soundtrack with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. But I should warn you…I discovered Imagine Dragons while writing this book, as you can probably tell.On Top of the World – Imagine Dragon.
  • Pompeii – Bastille
  • Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
  • It’s Time – Imagine Dragons
  • Something I Need – One Republic
  • Let Her Go – Passenger
  • Tiptoe – Imagine Dragons
  • Monster – Imagine Dragons
  • Amsterdam – Imagine Dragons
  • Bleeding Out – Imagine Dragons
  • RipTide – Vance Joy
  • What You Wanted – One Republic
  • All the Way – Timeflies
  • Say Something – A Great Big World
  • Demons – Imagine Dragons
  • For the First Time – The Script
  • Closer to Love – Matt Kearney
  • Oblivion -- Bastille
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Angela Dennis lives outside Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, son and a sheltie with a hero complex. When she is not at her computer crafting stories, she can be found feeding her coffee addiction, playing peek-a-boo, or teaching her son about the great adventures found only in books.

You can visit Angela at her blog www.angeladennisauthor.blogspot.com.

She loves to hear from her readers, so don’t forget to find her on Twitter to chat.

Find Angela and her books
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The Piercing Darkness
Shadow Born #2.5
Amazon BN Samhain iTunes Kobo
 Love knows no bounds.

Cursed by the dark mage who killed her, Hilda Janssen has wandered the Earthly plane as a ghost for fifty years, finally finding her place as an IRT hunter, policing supernatural misfits trapped on Earth after a brutal war.

When a demon attacks, putting her team in mortal danger, Hilda sacrifices herself to save her friends. She’s already died once; what difference will doing it again make? But instead of meeting a final death, Hilda is cast into the Void, a magical prison from which there is no escape.

Her only hope is Cade Kerrigan, the lover she left behind after her first death. Their bond and his magic are the only things strong enough to pull her through the Veil. But Cade has no idea his soulmate came back as a ghost, and he isn’t too happy to have been left in the dark.

They must put aside the baggage of the past to save Hilda from a fate worse than death.

Warning: Contains star-crossed lovers destined for a second chance, a whirlwind of powerful magic, and a love so strong it defies even death.
Excerpt:

Everything hurt, even her teeth. Hilda eased to her hands and knees, spitting dirt from her mouth. She had no idea how much time had passed, and she didn’t really care. All she wanted to know was where the hell she was.

She tried to stand, but pain brought her back to her knees on the damp ground. Rubbing at her burning eyes, she shook her head. Her vision was blurry at best, and all she could see for miles was dirt and darkness. The air was thick with humidity and stank of wood smoke, burning her lungs each time she inhaled.

Wait. She was breathing. Ghosts didn’t breathe. And they didn’t hurt.

Her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the ground. She ran her fingers through the soggy earth at her side, realizing she could feel it. Fighting back her growing alarm, she brushed her fingertips across her face. She could feel that too, and it felt solid.

Holy shit, she still had a body. She had no idea how that was possible, but she was going with it. This time when she stood, she was prepared for the instant pain and weakness, so she managed to stay on her feet. She spun around, searching for something, anything, other than the endless darkness.

She definitely was not still on the Earthly plane. This place felt different. The air was gritty, felt dirty against her skin. And something about it seemed…wrong.

As her eyes adjusted, she realized there were globe-like fixtures scattered beneath the ground. They shimmered with pale blue light that barely penetrated the dense atmosphere.

But it was bright enough she could make out the outline of a hillside in the distance. Maybe if she climbed to the top she could get a better look around.

She wrapped her arms around her chest to try and get warm, realizing she was naked.

How she had missed that was anyone’s guess, but it was irrelevant. It wasn’t as if she could pull a pair of pants and a sweater out of thin air. She’d figure it out later, once she got her bearings.

Bare feet dancing across the rough, pebbled landscape, she kept her eyes focused on the hill in front of her, confident her salvation lay on the other side. The farther she walked, the more confused she became. This plane didn’t fit the description of any plane she’d heard of, and the education Brenna had given her had been fairly extensive. There was a tingle of doubt in the back of her mind, a part of her that was convinced she was finally completely dead and this was her afterlife. But she refused to believe that.

So she moved forward, step by painful step, against the wind’s resistance, through the thick layers of fog, until she was only a few yards from the hillside. Now that she was close, she realized the hill was made of a series of jagged stones, jutting out at various dangerous looking angles. It would take a miracle for her to reach the top, but she was known for beating the odds. She’d never know if she didn’t try.

Her hand was clutching the first notch in the rock when she heard it. A mix between a growl and a hiss echoed through the night. It was so loud, she unconsciously released the rock, pressing both palms over her ears to block it out. The ground shook with the force of whatever was coming and the wind stopped abruptly as if it too was running away.
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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Week in Review: 4/12-4/18



Books Received for Review

- Edge of Dreams by Diana Pharaoh Francis - eARC- NetGalley

- Carpe Demon by J.C. McKenzie - eARC-Author

- Maxon by Christina Bauer - eARC- NetGalley

- Bruja by Aileen Erine - eARC- NetGalley

Books I've Read

Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis
Waking the Dragon by Juliette Cross
Her Wild Hero by Paige Tyler
Edge of Dreams by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Reviews Posted

 Altar of Reality by Mara Valderran
Total Surrender by Rebecca Zanetti
Vengeance of the Demon by Diana Rowland

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

* Monday- Interview for Bound by A.M. Hudson

* Tuesday- Interview & Giveaway for Retaliation by Imogen Rose

* Thursday- Promo for Demon's Vengeance by Jocelynn Drake

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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.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Review: Altar of Reality by Mara Valderran





Altar of Reality
Release Date: February 22, 2015
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
ISBN13:  9781620076798
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Review Copy Source: NetGalley
When sixteen-year-old Madeline suffers her first grand mal seizure, she finds herself in an unfamiliar reality, surrounded by strangers wearing familiar faces. Her best friend, Brandon, tells her that the world has fallen to chaos, the aftermath of World War III ten years ago. Madeline doesn’t remember anything from this life— especially not the explosion four years ago that killed her parents and landed her in a coma, or the Lord Commander; a zealot leader of the Southern Territories now searching for her.

Madeline barely has time to process everything before waking up to the life she’s always known. As soon as she dismisses it all as a strange and vivid dream, she finds herself back there once more. Unsure if she’s truly caught in the middle of a brewing rebellion, or teetering on the brink of insanity, she finds herself flipping between the two lives. Her heart becomes torn between two versions of the same boy and the lines between her realities begin to blur as she struggles to save her lives in both worlds.

ALTAR OF REALITY was a fun read. It was very easy to follow along to and the world was interesting and engaging.

Madeline has seizures and when they happen she finds herself in an alternate world where everyone she knows is, but they have all led a very different life. I connected with Madeline's struggle to keep each world where it belonged. It's hard to see someone you love acting like a totally different person in one world then have to face them in the other. She had a hard time with that and I could totally see where her struggles were coming from.

I wasn't crazy about the whole love triangle aspect of ALTAR OF REALITY. It was awkward and I didn't think she fit with either brother. Then enters a third love interest. She seemed to like him, but I'm not sure it was genuine on his end. I don't have a huge draw to any of them.

I look forward to seeing what Madeline will do next, she has a lot of inner conflict to deal with. She has a big heart, but I don't know if that big heart will get her in trouble or lead her towards where she should be.

I gave it 4/5 stars

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


Friday, April 17, 2015

Review: Total Surrender by Rebecca Zanetti

Total Surrender
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Forever
Sin Brothers Book #4
ISBN:  1455574503
ISBN13: 9781455574506
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: NetGalley
A fight he must win...

Piper Oliver knows she can't trust him. They warned her that the tall, dark, and sexy black-ops soldier Jory Dean would try to win her over with his steel-gray eyes and deadly charm, but she won't be conned by this man they call a traitor. All she has to do is figure out the science necessary to save his life, and she's done. Something isn't adding up, though, and she won't rest until she uncovers the truth-even if it's buried in his deep, dangerous kiss.

A passion she can't resist...

Jory will do anything to reunite with and save his brothers-even kidnap the gorgeous woman who's working to deactivate the deadly chip in their spines. But the forces determined to destroy his family won't let them go so easily. Keeping Piper alive is more than he bargained for-and so is his burning desire for her. But with every second bringing him closer to certain death, can he afford to lose himself in her hot and willing embrace?

We've been waiting and waiting and Jory's story is finally here. Piper was stubborn and a little too naive. She is a total bad ass when it comes to computers and hacking and she is working on fixing the prisoners chip problem before the deadline comes and he dies from it. Jory is strong and loyal. He misses his brothers and is ready to escape and get back to them. The only problem is that the sexy woman that is working on his chip problem has gotten under his skin and now she's in danger and doesn't believe him.

The connection between Jory and Piper is there from the beginning, but Piper has a lot of things to work through before she gives in. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the answers we got in book 4 and the constant twists in the storyline kept me glued to the pages. I loved how the new characters (even those that seemed to not matter) fit into the storyline. There has been a major showdown in every Sin Brother book and TOTAL SURRENDER'S showdown is even better because of all that happened.

TOTAL SURRENDER was a great way to finish out the Sin Brothers series, but I am still left wanting more. There is still so much story potential and I want to see what happens next with the Dean brothers and their families. Things were left off in a way that makes me think there could be a spin-off? One can hope!

I gave it 4/5 stars

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

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Promo: Demon's Vengeance by Jocelynn Drake



Demon's Vengeance
The Complete Final Asylum Tales
The complete novel that comprises Demon’s Fury, Demon’s Vow and Inner Demon.

Powerful warlock and tattoo artist Gage has managed to escape the magical Ivory Towers who terrorize the rest of humans and monsters—but at a price. Now he must join forces with his nemesis, Gideon, to stop an entity that is using forbidden Death Magic to commit gruesome murders across the nation. And if that’s not keeping him busy enough, an investigator recruits Gage to help her track a killer … who might be targeting tattoo artists.

When Gage discovers a demon locked away, it offers him access to dark magic in exchange for its freedom—a dangerous opportunity, but one that could save his loved ones. Gage must choose between what is right and what is easy.

For More Information
  • Demon’s Vengeance is available at Amazon.
  • Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
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Love comes in many varied forms. There is the love of family, love of country, and love of chocolate. But for Jocelynn Drake, one truly treasured love is the love of a good story. This Midwestern native spends the majority of her time lost in the strong embrace of a good book. When she’s not hammering away at her keyboard, frowning at her monitor, or curled up with a book, she can usually be found cuddling with her cat Demona, walking her dog Max, or flinging curses at the TV while playing a video game. Outside of books, cats, and video games, she is completely enamored of Bruce Wayne, Ezio Auditore, travel, tattoos, explosions, fast cars, and Anthony Bourdain (but only when he’s feeling really cranky).

Find Jocelynn and her books
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