Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Promo + Giveaway: That Killer Smile by Juliet Lyons


That Killer Smile
Bite Nights #3
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

THERE WILL BE HEAT...
Vampire Catherine Adair gave up trying to find her perfect match ages ago. But that didn’t stop her from founding London’s super successful vampire dating site. When a smoldering vampire overlord from her past launches an interspecies speed-dating service, Catherine vows to crush the competition….

WHEN THESE TWO COMPETE

Ronin’s new venture is purely about getting Catherine’s attention. He hasn’t stopped thinking about her ever since the night she gave him the cold shoulder. Nobody gets away from Ronin McDermott that easily...

Excerpt #1:


For a few seconds, I’m lost for words. But as I stare between the bag on the floor and Ronin’s chiseled face, it all becomes clear.
“This is about you wanting me to owe you, isn’t it?” I hiss, fixing my gaze on his left ear. It’s a trick I learned from the last time we met. If I don’t look directly into his eyes, there’s less chance of being drawn into their swirling, blue depths.
He smiles, shaking his head. “You’re unbelievable, do you know that?”
“Pfffft,” I erupt. “I’m unbelievable? I’m not the one trying to tank my business by spreading rumors and launching a dating service. I’m not the one going out of his way to ensure our paths keep crossing in the worst possible ways.”
He frowns, displaying the first sign of irritation since I crashed into the room. “I’ve already told you, mo chridhe, it wasn’t me who started those rumors. And as for the speed dating, well, it was a free country last time I checked. I’m offering you the cash because the fella was injured in my club. Which means technically he’s my responsibility. If you don’t take the money now, I’ll have someone deliver it to his lawyer’s office later. I have their address now, after all.”
He waves the letter in the air like a victory flag.
“I’ll call them up,” I blurt out, voice quavering. “I’ll tell them you’re a madman and not to accept it. I’ll say it’s not your money at all, that you conned the life savings from some poor old man with dementia.”
Ronin arches a brow, tucking the letter into an inside pocket of his jacket. “That’s some novel you’re writing there, Catherine, but I doubt they would argue if I write them a Coutts check, do you?”
I’m all out of ammunition. “I loathe you.”
For a split second, his cocksureness wavers, the steely-blue eyes darkening. But only for a moment. “The problem isn’t me, Catherine,” he says, edging closer. “The problem is you.”
I straighten up. “That’s the most irritating thing about you, Ronin—you always think you know better than everybody else. I’m not sure whether it’s because you’ve been around longer than the rest of us or because you’re just a massive asshole. Either way, you don’t know the first thing about me.”
He flashes a cocky grin, raking his gaze over me as if he has X-ray vision. “You don’t loathe me, mo chridhe. You just can’t get over the fact you’re an uptight puritan who loved the kind of sex I gave you that night we spent together.”
I let out a high-pitched laugh. “That’s right, Ronin. Let’s not forget for one second that the world revolves around you and your penis. Actually, I’m surprised you’re even bothering to get dressed these days. I would have thought you’d have developed a penchant for silky, red pajamas and slippers by now.” I motion to the cigar on the carpet. “Looks like you’ve nailed the smoking part, and God knows the Playboy bunnies must be hiding around here somewhere.”
He scoffs. “Jealous?”
“Please, you’re not that good in bed.”
Except he is—or was. Better than good. But I can’t think about that right now. Or ever again, actually.
“Paulo was right about you,” he murmurs. “You are a mad bitch.”
I close the distance between us in a single stride and smack him across the cheek. It’s like hitting stone. He doesn’t so much as flinch. For some bizarre reason, this ignites a hot stab of lust in the pit of my stomach. His scent—a masculine blend of whiskey, leather, and woodsmoke—infiltrates my senses. I’m transported back to that night some years ago when we went at it like two wildcats in his bed.
I never wanted to come up for air.
I’m standing too close to use the ear trick. His eyes drag me in, two penetrating blue flames, dark with anger. I gulp, allowing my gaze to wander over his chiseled-from-rock cheekbones, rosy Celtic skin, copper hair slicked back from a noble forehead. He may be an asshole, but there is no denying his beauty.
For what feels like an eternity, neither of us move. We remain locked onto each other, energy—good and bad—swirling between us like thick fog.
Quite without thinking, I hiss, “Fucker.” After spending my human life afraid to speak, I never managed to rewire the connection between my brain and mouth.
His blue eyes flash. At once, his lips are on mine and his arms are around my waist. Instead of struggling, I mold myself into the hard contours of his body, my tongue sliding over his, my hands pulling him closer, and I hate myself—Lord, how I despise myself—for how good it feels. It’s as though he brings a magnifying glass up to all the base urges I long to forget, including this—an utterly ridiculous sexual attraction to a demon playboy who’s murdered God knows how many during his thousands of years on earth.
I don’t pull away. I can’t. He absorbs me like a drug. Before I can help myself, my fingers are tangled in his thick, red hair and I’m allowing his hands to cup my ass, grinding against the hard rope of an erection bulging beneath his trousers. We devour each other, eyes and mouths open, until I’m no longer sure where he begins and I end.
But then he takes his mouth from mine, trailing kisses from jawline to neck. Along with the rasp of stubble, I feel a scrape of fangs, sharp as knives, glide across my skin. I shove him away, panting slightly, averting my eyes to the lacquered walnut desk in the center of the room. If I don’t stop this now, I’ll end up sprawled across that table just like all the other women he’s had in here. The worst part is, I’d enjoy it.
“Consider the debt paid,” I say.




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JULIET LYONS is a paranormal romance author from the UK. She holds a degree in Spanish and Latin American studies and works part-time in a local primary school where she spends far too much time discussing Harry Potter. Since joining global storytelling site Wattpad in 2014, her work has received millions of hits online and gained a legion of fans from all over the world. When she is not writing, Juliet enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

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Monday, February 5, 2018

Guest Blog + Giveaway: Defining Human by Candace Blevins

UFI welcomes Author Candace Blevins. Thanks for Joining us!!
 

I pulled strongly from myths and legends when creating my paranormal world. When it came to vampires, I was frustrated by some of the decisions — because if that myth works, then this one over here doesn’t. Also, if I’d followed the oldest myths, my vampires wouldn’t be sexy. I wanted ultra-sexy vampires, but I also like to follow original legends. 

The only way all the myths can be true is if there are different species. And why not? If one vampire came into existence it only makes sense there might be others kinds. Right? My world has three species of vampire:


The ONLY HUMAN series is building up to a big battle between good and evil. Evil has been in control at various times during human history, but good has been in control for nearly eight hundred years (though it was touch-and-go for a while during the second world war). However, the dark forces have found ways around the rules designed to keep their numbers in check, and another war is on the horizon.

Vampires and other long-lived species have to move every fifteen years, give or take. They establish identities and purchase properties under those names decades ahead of time, and many old friends and allies move around together. Some of the most powerful are currently living in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Book one of this series is a supernovel at 409 pages. It’s usually $5.99, but is on sale for a few days at $.99. If you haven’t jumped into this series, now is the time!
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Candace Blevins has published more than thirty books. She lives with her husband of nineteen years and their two daughters. When not working or driving young teens all over the place, she can be found reading, writing, meditating, or swimming. The family’s beloved, goofy, retired racing greyhound is usually at her side as she writes, quietly keeping her company.

Candace writes Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Contemporary BDSM Romance, and a kick-ass Motorcycle Club series.

Her urban fantasy series, Only Human, gives us a world where weredragons, werewolves, werelions, three different species of vampires, and a variety of other mythological beings exist.

Candace's two paranormal romance series, The Chattanooga Supernaturals and The Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, are both sister series to the Only Human series, and give some secondary characters their happily ever after.

Her contemporary Safeword series gives us characters who happen to have some extreme kinks. Relationships can be difficult enough without throwing power exchange into the mix, and her books show characters who care enough about each other to fight to make the relationship work. Each couple in the Safeword series gives the reader a different take on the lifestyle. 

Find Candace and her books
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Defining Human 
Only Human #4
Amazon Kobo BN iTunes
Kirsten negotiated for what she hopes will be two glorious hours with Xaephan, but the Lord of Lust has his own ideas of how the afternoon will transpire, and the consequences of their evening are long lasting.

Her deal with Ryan means she must go to Africa to help guard gazelles for a week. She trains for the event, but her preparation doesn’t cover the Strigorii vampires who have their eye on her. Since she broke up with Abbott, gaining control of her will be like hanging a sign saying they’re more powerful than The Abbott without having to actually fight him.

Throw in complications with Nathan and a few battles with her old enemy Aquila, and Kirsten doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going. She wants peace and quiet with her daughter, but is it possible? Is she too embroiled in supernatural politics to live a normal life? Kirsten feels as if she’s become a game piece in a sick game of chess, and she wants off the board.
Book Trailer:  https://youtu.be/HLUWBFu6IIU
Series Trailer:  https://youtu.be/1dNZydE_LNI



Excerpt:

“Chère, it’s good to see you.” Xaephan walked to a nightstand, opened a drawer, and chuckled. “Your lion follows instructions well.” He stood and inhaled. “He’s close enough to keep an eye on you. Nice.”
“He isn’t my lion. He’s my friend, and he happens to be a lion.”
“He’s more yours than anyone else’s, Chère. Eventually, you’ll have to confront his Pride, but he’s keeping them in check, for now.”
I forgot what I’d intended to say when he lifted a paddle and flogger from the drawer, followed by a large glass butt plug and a worn leather strap.
The first three items were obviously new, but the strap wasn’t, and I eyed it a few seconds while I tried to figure out how to word my question. “The strap has a story. I want to hear it before you use it on me.”
“It belongs to your lion and is on loan to me for the evening.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by using something of Nathan’s to whip me, but I don’t agree to it.”
“Nothing in our agreement says I can’t, Chère. You said I’d have to act in your best interest, and you bound me from tricking you into anything. I said to find a place I could spank you and make you scream without us being heard, and I warned you moving the marks will hurt nearly as bad as receiving them in the first place. Nothing in that agreement says I can’t use something belonging to the Lion King to spank you with.”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t like it.”
He gave me a rakish grin. “Works for me. Our two hours of Earth-time doesn’t begin until we get started, so get rid of the robe and bend over the bed.”
Part of me wanted to bitch about him being a jerk, part of me appreciated the emotional distance it created. I stood, tossed the robe onto a chair in the corner, and bent over the tall bed. I’m short, so I don’t think it worked out quite the way he intended.
“On second thought, tiny human, bend over the chest at the foot of the bed.”


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Sunday, February 4, 2018

Week in Review: 1/28-2/3



Books Received for Review

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Books I've Read

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Binding Magick by Debbie Cassidy
Defying Magick by Debbie Cassidy
Embracing Magick by Debbie Cassidy
Unleashing Magick by Debbie Cassidy
Fearless by Debbie Cassidy
Beyond Everlight by Debbie Cassidy

Reviews Posted

Drakon's Past by N.J. Walters
Witch's Reign by Shannon Mayer

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

* Monday- Cover Reveal for True Storm by L.E. Sterling

* Wednesday- Promo + Giveaway for The Last Wolf by Maria Vale

* Friday- Promo + Giveaway for Blood Awakening by Miranda Nichols

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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, February 2, 2018

Promo + Giveaway: Blood Awakening by Miranda Nichols



Blood Awakening 
Immortal Sleepers #1
Torrid Books Amazon iTunes BN Simon and Schuster
A war has been brewing in the shadows.

Kaelyn Hamblin never felt particularly extraordinary, growing up in a strong Irish household in the heart of Boston for most of her young life. Her humdrum routine remained markedly unchanged for longer than she cared to remember; until that day. The day when a beautiful stranger drifted into her hole-in-the-wall bookshop and changed her life forever.

Tyrian knew from the moment he locked eyes on her that she was the one. His one. The singular being within all of time and space that was made for him and him alone. His world was not one of niceties and pretty things; bringing her into it would be dangerous. But he would protect her. He had to. After all, it was foretold.

Worlds collide, marking the beginning of the end to an age long battle warring between the forces of darkness and light in the universe. The fate of all rests on the shoulders of a lone druid and her band of human hunters to quell the rising tide of evil threatening to overtake everything and plunge the connected realms into eternal darkness.

“A Witty and Hot fantasy like no other.” -Stephanie Hansen, Metamorphosis Literary Agency President.
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Miranda Nichols enjoys her too short-lived moments in Boston visiting family. That’s why her stories tend to travel there. She’s had years of professional experience perfecting detail-oriented work and it shows in her writing. A current student working towards her MFA, she’s following her lifetime calling. She's a loyal friend who's not afraid to tell it like it is. Like the smell of fresh popcorn, her fantasy romances tempt you and keep you coming back for more.

Find Miranda and her books
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Thursday, February 1, 2018

Review: Witch's Reign by Shannon Mayer

Witch's Reign
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Publisher: Hijinks Ink Publishing
Desert Cursed Book #1
ASIN:   B0778ZCG8Z
Genre: Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Author

I am cursed by the desert I was born in, and now I wander the space between the Walls meant to hold my kind-the supernatural kind- in.

If I can find a way out, if I can find a way to escape, perhaps I can outrun this curse. But that means passing through the Ice Witch's realm-something no one has returned from.

But life has a funny way of changing directions on you. A freak accident. A child in danger. And a damn Warlock named Merlin who thinks he can manipulate me.

It looks like I'm about to start a journey I never planned on, to face a Witch who has never been challenged, in an attempt to survive a storm of magic, danger, and trickery.

If I'm to be honest, I must start off by saying that If I had known that WITCH'S REIGN was part of the Venom world, I would not not have given it a chance. Thankfully there is only one mention of 'super dupers' in WITCH'S REIGN.

WITCH'S REIGN is part of the same world as Shannon's Venom series—even has some of the same characters—, but it feels different. Which in my book is actually a good start. Unfortunately I feel that we are missing a lot of information. Some backstory is explained and some secrets are revealed, but I always felt like something was being left out.

Let's talk about some of the characters. Zamira is an interesting character that I need to know more about before I can say if I really like her. I mean, for the most part I like what I know so far, but I feel like I need all the information that hasn't been revealed yet. I actually liked Maks—her 'partner' for most of the book— even with his secrets and look forward to finding out more about him. I also want to know more about Zamira's brother, I hope he has more of a spot in book two. I hated Steve from the start and won't be the slightest bit sad if he's killed off quickly along with his 'mate'. I love a good sidekick, but i felt that Zamira was a little too attached and trusting of Lila a little too quickly. I thought Lila was neat and definitely has potential, but I would have just liked to see a little more time go by before there was blind faith there. Especially due to what Lila was and who her loyalties ultimately are to.

I defiantly feel like WITCH'S REIGN has potential, but I'm not hooked yet.

I gave it 3/5 stars

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

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Promo + Giveaway: The Last Wolf by Maria Vale


Dear (Potential) Reader, 

There is so much vying for your attention, I'm grateful you’ve read even this far.
I know I’m asking a lot from you.

I’m asking you to take time with a new writer when there are so many great ones already out there.
I’m asking you to take a chance on a new direction in a well-loved genre, in which the wolf is not a vicious beast to be subjugated and feared, but rather the human form is a useful tool for protecting the wilder self.

In this reworking, werewolves fall into two categories: Pack, who must be wolves for three days out of every thirty—self-aware wolves, but not magic, any bullet can kill them. And Shifters, who don’t have to change and so remain human, the apex predator, rather than wolf, the maligned and despised outsider. 

Still like any romance, its foundation is in the growing love between two characters: the worldly half-Shifter Tiberius who hates the wolf inside him as bestial and monstrous. And the unworldly Silver, who is fully Pack and believes her wild self to be sacred. 

Silver is a runt with a displaced hip when she is a wolf and in a society that determines position by fighting wild, this means she is at the bottom of the hierarchy—the last wolf.  Tiberius, however, discovers real strength in her perseverance and fierceness. For her part, Silver recognizes something about him: that by denying his wild, Tiberius has sown the roots of despair.

But this is not only a love story between two people, it’s also a love story about the Great North Pack, because despite our fascination with lone wolves, it is the pack that really defines this most social of all animals.

 I imagined the Great North as something beyond family or community, something tight- knit and loving and brave and frightened. And intensely vulnerable. I imagined, like most embattled societies, the pack would be very conservative, with a traditional culture, a history, a language that was part of its identity. I chose to base that culture loosely (very loosely) on the world of 9th century England, partly because I love the sound of the language of Beowulf. To me, it is gruff and beautiful and haunting, like a wolf’s howl. But also because 9th century England was a place of great insecurity. One never knew when Northmen might show up and destroy everything you loved.

It was the Great North’s first Alpha, Ælfrida, who forced her pack to change. With humans decimating the forests of England, she dragged her pack from the Old World to the vast forests of northern New York, she re-wrote laws in order to allow new wolves to join their bloodlines, she forced her wolves to leave their isolated territories, so that they could learn human ways and protect the Pack using human law.

What results is a society that is both human and decidedly not, both harsh and loving, severe and tender.  The way I imagined wolves fighting daily for their lives would be.

I have loved every minute of researching and writing these books. I can only hope that you will enjoy reading them. 

Stay wild,
Maria

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The Last Wolf 
The Legend of All Wolves #1
Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Chapters | iBooks | Indiebound

For three days out of thirty, when the moon is full and her law is iron, the Great North Pack must be wild.

If she returns to her Pack, the stranger will die.
But if she stays…


Silver Nilsdottir is at the bottom of her Pack’s social order, with little chance for a decent mate and a better life. Until the day a stranger stumbles into their territory, wounded and beaten, and Silver decides to risk everything on Tiberius Leveraux. But Tiberius isn’t all he seems, and in the fragile balance of the Pack and wild, he may tip the destiny of all wolves…
Excerpt:

The day of the first waxing crescent of fall is when all of the wolves who live on the Homelands traditionally run the perimeter and make sure that our land is properly marked before the ground freezes and damaged posts become hard to replace.
The entire Pack is wild. Barking and wagging tails, they lick each other and jump around each other, their ferocious jaws open and gentle. They chase mice through windrows, their hind legs scratching leaves into a brightly colored explosion high in the air, so that the pups can twist and turn and catch them in snapping teeth as they spiral down.
Not me. I have to pull on heavy muck boots over thick socks with jeans shoved inside. And I won’t mark our territory the way wolves are supposed to. I will mark it on an iPhone 6 Plus, crammed into the big pocket of a thick orange vest. All because Ti refuses to phase and John doesn’t like it.
“He tells himself he’s human,” John says. “But if he lies to himself, what makes you think he’s not going to lie to us?”
So because I am Ti’s schildere, I have to stay in skin too. Keep an eye on him.
“I mean, what were you thinking?” I ask as Ti fits the Outlast cap over his clipped skull. “When you came to a bunch of wolves asking for protection. That you’d just keep on being a human? Was that your grand plan?”
“I didn’t have a grand plan. What I had was a hole in my stomach, a vague set of directions to my mother’s pack, and a need to survive. I changed long enough to fight; I never thought you’d be asking me to give up my humanity.”
“No one’s asking you to give up your humanity, but if you refuse to admit what you are, it is going to rise up and bite you in the ass.”
“Well, how about you?”
Me? I love changing. I—”
“I know you love changing. You do it all the time. The second Sten doesn’t need your thumbs, you evaporate, and there’s nothing left but clothes hanging from a branch. I may be a crappy wolf. But you… You’re a crappy human.”
I cringe, because he’s right. I’ve never been happy in skin, but then those stupid fire fairies burrowed into my body all those days ago, and that spark has caught fire and burns so fierce that now when I walk beside him and hear his quiet, low voice or look into those gold-flecked black eyes, my tendons strain and my muscles coil and my lungs open up and my blood beats hot and fast. The only way I know how to deal with need is to run hard and far until I collapse, unable to feel anything at all.
A brindle pup barks worriedly at my feet. All of the other wolves have disappeared, fading like a whisper in the woods.
“I know, Leelee. We’re coming.”
“She’s going with us?” Ti asks.
“We’re supposed to take her along. Help her learn the farther reaches of the Homelands.” Leelee scampers on ahead, leaping awkwardly over a huge downed log and sliding down the other side, her fur covered in the sooty brown decay.
Ti clears it in one stride and stands close, not helping me exactly, but I know if I falter, his big shoulder is there for me to grab on to. I make it by myself, but I appreciate his silent gesture.
Leelee watches, her head cocked to the side, as I take a running jump over one of the numerous small, mucky streams that crisscross our land. I slip down the other side, my foot sinking into a soft bruise in the moss. She yips and worries, waiting for me to pull my boot out with a dull sucking sound.
I lift her up and give her an open-jawed kiss on her ear, but she sees a squirrel and won’t stop squirming until I set her down.
“No farther than the Stones, Leelee.”
When we finally catch up, she’s clambering over the variously sized rocks that form rough circles around the ancient central stones. Over the years, the circle has encroached farther and farther into the forest, surrounding the trees.
Leelee marks one of the stones.
“What is this?” Ti asks.
“It’s, um…the Gemyndstow? The memory place? But we just call it the Stones.”
“Like a graveyard?”
“Graveyards are for bodies, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“So, no. Coyotes eat our dead. That’s why we call them wulfbyrgenna. Wolf tombs. The stones are only for wolf names and the date of their last hunt so that we can remember.”
When Ti crouches down and looks at one near the front, Leelee runs up to him and looks too, trying to figure out why it is so interesting.
As soon as he stands, she marks that one too.
An ill-advised squirrel runs across the outer rim of the Stones, and Leelee turns quickly to run after it, the wind tickling her fur and the scent in her nose. I know that feeling of taking it all in—moldering pine needles, owl pellets, borer beetle, tree sap, two-year-old porcupine den, sassafras bush—until the scent of prey hits you right in the back of the throat and everything tenses and you chase, even if your tummy’s little and full and all you really want is for the thing, whatever it is, to escape so you don’t have to eat it, but still you can’t help but hunt.
She peels off after her squirrel, looking behind to make sure we’re watching.
The squirrel chitters at her from the safety of a maple. Ti stares, his hands fisted by his sides, as Leelee scampers and bounds and falls on her back and twists her little legs in the air, her belly dotted with leaf litter. A tiny furrow cuts through his usually impassive brow, and his mouth, while still tightly closed, turns down a little at the corners. His wild—that seductive scent of crushed bone and evergreen—radiates thicker now, and when I touch his arm, he jolts as if from a waking dream and blinks down at me, looking in this moment like a lost boy.




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Maria Vale is a journalist who has worked for Publishers Weekly, Glamour magazine, Redbook, the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a logophile and a bibliovore and a worrier about the world. Trained as a medievalist, she tries to shoehorn the language of Beowulf into things that don't really need it. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two sons and a long line of dead plants. No one will let her have a pet.

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