Sunday, July 3, 2016

Week in Review: 6/26-7/2



Books Received for Review

Out of This World by Patricia Eimer
Son of Thunder by Libby Bishop

Books I've Read

The Sight by Chloe Neill
Made for Sin by Stacia Kane
House of Judges by Keary Taylor
Into the Darkness by K.F. Breene
Braving the Elements by K.F. Breene
On a Razor's Edge by K.F. Breene
Demons by K.F. Breene
The Council by K.F. Breene
Shadow Watcher by K.F. Breene
Jonas by K.F. Breene

Reviews Posted

Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan
Flameout by Keri Arthur

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

* Wednesday- Giveaway for Flameout by Keri Arthur

* Thursday- Promo + Giveaway for Eternal Sacrifice by Stacey O'Neale

* Friday- Interview + Giveaway for Vampire Creed by Rain Grey

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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, July 1, 2016

Interview + Giveaway: Vampire Creed by Rain Grey

UFI welcomes Author Rain Grey. 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 love everything cultural from going to the theatre to watching ballet.


What do you enjoy doing on your down time?


I love shopping and reading.


What is your Favorite part of writing?


Character name creation.


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


I usually work early in the morning.


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


I love Anne Rice and anything written by Amanda Hocking


How would you pitch Vampire Creed to someone who has not heard of it before?


It is a story about an ordinary girl who makes a courageous decision.


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


It is set in modern times and because of this the characters face similar challenges to the kind we face.  


Do you have a favorite scene in Vampire Creed?


I love the scene when she dreams about she and Blaine playing on the beach with their child.


Which one character out of all your books was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?


I like the character of a woman who is accident prone whom I am writing about now.


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


The character I mentioned above. It concerns an accident prone woman who creates further tensions for herself because of her clumsiness.
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Rain Grey is a psychologist by profession. However, she has been writing books since she was fifteen years old. She loves anything supernatural and her favourite genres are vampire Romance and ghost fiction. Her home in England is close to the town of Stratford Upon Avon, where William Shakespeare was born.

Find Rain and her books
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Vampire Creed
Goodreads
Barnaby Blaine Rice was a Vampire born in the depression with a very special power to see who people truly were. After a long, empty existence of witnessing the darkest points of humanity, Blaine happens to encounter a beautiful married woman named Mary Slate. Unable to handle his love for the beautiful human, Blaine accidentally kills another Vampire over her and is put under a serious debt with the Vampire Council.

Blaine reluctantly forces himself to forget the woman and allows her to live her life without his intervention. It wasn’t until 50-years-later that the distant memories of the captivating Mary are brought back to the surface. Blaine has the pleasure to encounter the young Wendy Slate, granddaughter of Mary Slate after a criminal vampire keeps her hostage. Blaine got there in time to stop the criminal, but not to stop the beginning of Wendy’s transition into Vampirism.

As he was forced to sire her into this new world, he discovers that Wendy is the most amazing person he’d ever met. Wendy has to make a life-altering decision as Blaine has to deal with his blooming feelings for a woman who was identical to his first love. This modern love story introduces the most influential turning point of these lover’s lives.
 Excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

    There was nothing quite like walking along the salt withered boardwalk of Oceanside Wharf. The unsteady sea roared to my left. The waves were nothing but a dark blur on the horizon that eventually licked the corners of the sandy beach. The lack of seagulls, the cloudy sky, and the stillness in the air told me one thing; there was a storm coming. Usually, these walks by myself were the only way that I could relax after a long day, but tonight was different. Despite the buzzing, yellow streetlamps that hovered over my head, everything about the atmosphere just seemed so much darker than normal.
            Everything was ordinary that night, but it seemed too ordinary. Something about the way that my feet padded against the wood seemed to sound too familiar. Something about the way the salty air smelled seemed too perfect as if it were manufactured in a perfume bottle. I ached to see the stars through the cloud cover, but something told me that those wouldn’t look right either. The cold air whipped my long hair around my face, causing me to wrap my arms even tighter around my torso. This made me feel a tiny bit more secure, but I couldn’t deny the way my heart pounded in my chest.
I walked this route every day after my night classes; it was my daily routine. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something didn’t seem right. My skin broke out in a layer goosebumps that I couldn’t get rid of, no matter how hard I rubbed my arms. The hair on the back of my neck stood up on end. My eyes were peeled for some type of disturbance in the normality of my walk, but I couldn’t find anything. I found myself peeking over my shoulder every so often, but I found nothing but an empty, dimly lit street and a growing distance from the brightly lit university.
These walks had grown more and more intimidating since I first met him. He came to the roller skating rink one night while I was working at the concession stand. We were pretty slow considering that the rink was rented out for a few child’s birthday parties. Every so often, a kid would ask for some candy, but I mostly spent the night leaning against the counter, blankly staring into the rink. That was when I first saw him, standing on the other side of the rink. He was wearing sunglasses inside, which I thought was extremely weird considering that the sun went down at least an hour before he arrived. He didn’t skate and he didn’t talk to anyone. I assumed he was there to watch the kids, but his sunglasses made it hard to gauge what exactly he was staring at. He was so still as if he were able to lock his muscles in position. It made me uncomfortable, but then again, a lot of things made me uncomfortable.
It didn’t become an issue until two women approached me at the stand.
“Excuse me?” The smaller one pulled me away from my thoughts.
“Hello ladies,” I put on my best customer service smile.
They both smiled politely before the plump one spoke, “We have a problem.”
“Yes?”



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Thursday, June 30, 2016

Promo + Giveaway: Eternal Sacrifice by Stacey O'Neale


Eternal Sacrifice
Mortal Enchantment #4
Amazon
The explosive conclusion to Stacey O’Neale’s award-winning Mortal Enchantment series reveals the secrets of the fantasy world!

Valac has stolen two of the sacred objects. In a bid to rule all four courts, he has threatened to use Excalibur to cut the mist that protects Avalon—ultimately ending the lives of thousands of elementals. As the Akasha, Kalin has the power to stop him. And she refuses to lose anyone else she loves.

Will she have to sacrifice herself to save them?

Desperate to save Kalin’s life, Rowan searches for the long-lost creator of the mist. But what he finds is the very last thing he expected. Everything he thought he knew about his past is turned upside down, and he questions whether he’s meant to be the savior or the elemental that destroys them all.

Told from Kalin, Rowan, and Marcus’s perspective, the final installment to the series follows their journey of courage, duty, sacrifice, and love.
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Award-winning author, Stacey O'Neale, lives in Annapolis, Maryland. When she's not writing, she spends her time fangirling over books, blogging, watching fantasy television shows, cheering for the Baltimore Ravens, and hanging out with her husband and daughter.

Her career in publishing started as a blogger-turned-publicist for two successful small publishers. Stacey writes young adult fantasy and adult science fiction romance. Her books always include swoon-worthy heroes, snarky heroines, and lots of kissing.

Find Stacey and her books
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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Early Review + Giveaway: Flameout by Keri Arthur


Flameout
Author: Keri Arthur
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Signet
Souls of Fire Book #3
ISBN:   0451477901
ISBN13: 9780451477903
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher
Emberly and her red hot partner, Jackson, have hit an impasse in their battle against the crazed humans infected by a plague-like virus derived from vampire blood. Their quest to unearth the leader of the group leads them into an ambush—and leaves Emberly at odds with her former lover, Sam, who’s pressuring her to join his Paranormal Investigations Team.

To make matters worse, three local witches have been kidnapped—and if their spells fall into the wrong hands, Emberly’s powers could end up smothered. With time ticking until the virus consumes the world, Emberly and Jackson must race to save the witches, find a cure, and smoke out their nemesis—or go down in a blaze of glory...

I'm finding FLAMEOUT a little hard to review. I have really enjoyed the characters of this series as well as the storylines, but FLAMEOUT was not my favorite installment of the Souls of Fire series so far and I can't put my finger on what it is that makes me feel that way. I will try to figure it out as I write this review.

Let's just jump right in. The relationship between Emberly and Jackson has just sort of lost it's luster to me. FLAMEOUT has the characters hiding out and constantly on the move so they don't really have the time to connect and some other things came out in FLAMEOUT that makes me think that their relationship was meant to feel like that at this point. Then there is the person she loves in this lifetime, Sam. He seems to be a little more open to her, but I don't know if anything will ever come to that or if Emberly will be in a position to actually take him if he wants her. There is a lot of hurt there.

On top of the lack-luster relationship part of the book, I felt like I was reading the first two books in the series. I wanted something to really make FLAMEOUT stand out. Although it developed the overall series storyline, I didn't really feel that anything HUGE happened to set it apart from the other books until the end. There is a LOT of feels going on at the end of FLAMEOUT. Tons of action and a little something I saw coming, but didn't think would really happen. I honestly have NO clue what will happen next. I will admit that I was a little devastated though.

Ok, I guess I figured out what my issues were after all. No matter what, FLAMEOUT is a continuation of the overall storyline of the series. If you have enjoyed it so far, FLAMEOUT can not be skipped, you must pick up a copy and find out what happens next. The ending alone makes me want to read more.

I gave it 3/5 stars

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


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Monday, June 27, 2016

Early Review: Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan

Shadow Rider
Release Date: June 28, 2016
Publisher: Jove
Shadow Book #1
ISBN:  0515156132
ISBN13: 9780515156133
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Publisher
The #1 New York Times bestselling “queen of paranormal romance”* is back with a sexy new series starring a Chicago crime family that hides a dark, mystical secret...

Whether it’s fast cars or fast women, Stefano Ferraro gets what he wants. When he’s not fodder for the paparazzi, he commands Ferraro family businesses—both legitimate and illegitimate.

While their criminal activity is simply a rumor yet to be proven, no one knows the real truth. The Ferraros are a family of shadow riders capable of manipulating light and dark, an ability Stefano thought ran in his family alone—until now…

With little left to her name, Francesca Cappello has come to Chicago in hopes of a new life. She wasn’t expecting to attract the attention of a man with primal hunger in his eyes, driven to claim her as his to protect and to please. And if he discovers her secret, it could ruin her...

I absolutely loved everything about SHADOW RIDER. I didn't want to put it down and when it was over I raced to Goodreads and the authors website to see if I could find out when the next book would be coming out and I was so sad when I couldn't find out any information about it. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long to get my next fix.

I have absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to SHADOW RIDER. I thought every scene was interesting and I thought all the characters brought a little something extra to the story. I honestly can't wait to learn more about each of Stefano's family members. The action scenes were both highly entertaining and full of surprises. I loved the world and the different parts that made up the shadow community. What an interesting ability. The family has a hard job, but they do it the right way in my opinion.

Let's talk about the relationship of the story. Stefano comes off really strong and he's definitely over protective, but he loves with everything he has and treats Francesca like a queen. Francesca is hiding a lot and takes a while to open up, accept the new world and relationship she found herself in and really show how much she cares, but when she does she jumps all in. Together Stefano and Francesca are so much more than I can even explain. They complement each other perfectly and are HOT in the bedroom.

I can't wait to see what will come next for this series. If book two is anything like SHADOW RIDER I predict that it will be a must have series on my bookshelf. CAN'T WAIT for more!

I gave it 5/5 stars

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

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Week in Review: 6/19-6/25



Books Received for Review

Nightshades by Melissa F. Olson
Dragon in the Blood by Juliette Cross

Books I've Read

Chaos Rises by Pippa DaCosta
Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter
Nightshade by Melissa F. Olson
Dragon in the Blood by Juliette Cross

Reviews Posted

Boundary Born by Melissa F. Olson
The Curse of Tenth Grave by Darynda Jones

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

* Monday- Guest Blog + Giveaway for Worth Dying For by Kory M. Shrum

* Tuesday-  Release Day Giveaway for Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

* Wednesday- Promo + Giveaway for Phantom Embrace by Dianne Duvall

* Friday- Cover Reveal for Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh


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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.