**** I have not updated links since switching from fictionalcandy.com to fictionalcandy.blogspot.com The best way to review old posts at this time in in Desktop View (link at bottom of this page) and then using the post archive located on the right-hand sidebar of the page***
Title: His Marriage Bargain
Series: So Inked #3
Author: Sidney Bristol
Published: June 2014
Format: Ebook received for review
A woman who loves too much… When Autumn’s best friend proposes a pretend marriage, the chance to make all the kisses she’s imagined real is too much for her to pass up. She seduces him with her body and enjoys pushing his boundaries and fulfilling their sexual fantasies—but her heart isn’t supposed to be part of the bargain. A man about to take his last breath… Sammi has just weeks left to live out his dying wish—the white picket fence, the house and the wife. If Autumn is the last woman he gets to taste he’ll die a lucky man. Her body, her heart—everything about her calls to him. But love isn’t supposed to be in the plans. In the crucible of passion, these two lovers will find out what they’re really made from, and just how long I do lasts.
By this point, I've read a couple books by Sidney Bristol. I just love her writing. Every book I've read from her has been crazy different, yet entertaining and awesome. His Marriage Bargain happens to be book three in the So Inked series, but it can be read as a standalone. I know this is for a fact, because I've not read the other two books and not once did I feel lost or confused. And I totally adored this story! There was definitely a lot packed into these pages!
Title: Hot Tango
Series: Good Guys Wear Black #1
Author: Sidney Bristol
Published: January 2014, Ellora's Cave
Format: Ebook provided for review Goodreads | Amazon
SWAT officer Cole Westling walks a fine line of control. If his wife knew exactly what he wanted to do to her, he’d lose the most precious thing in his life. Instead, he throws himself into work.
Tanya Westling did not leave her job as a globe-trotting humanitarian to spend her nights playing roller derby and sleeping alone. Armed with a few adult toys and a prayer, she challenges him to a sensual game that will strip away their ideas of what sex should be. Cole’s surprised but it’s his dream come true. With each sexual encounter, the walls between them come crumbling down and each must face the truth of what their marriage has been and what it could be. Inside Scoop: Contains an alpha hero who wants sex at all hours and a heroine who knows what she wants, just not the words to get it. Also depicts criminal activity, the strong arm of the law and a self-rescuing heroine.
I’m kind of new to Sidney Bristol, but I got to tell ya – I am really digging her. The other book I read of hers was How Zombies Stole Christmas, which you can tell just from the title, is completely different from Hot Tango. So I was really interested to see just how this would come out. And if you are curious – it’s awesome.
Title: How Zombies Stole Christmas
Series: No
Author: Sidney Bristol
Published: Dec 5, 2013 Taliesin Publishing
Format: Ebook provided for review
Every creature in Haven snuggled down in their beds, ready for another Christmas, they liked it a lot. But not everyone in this magical land shares their holiday cheer. . . Evelina Frost is a woman used to staying in the shadows, but this year Christmas needs a hero, and with Santa away, it’s up to her to save the holiday from ruin. A figure dressed in white cast a spell and from the frozen land, ghastly zombies appear. Kameron is a creature out-of-place in the frigid land, but he’s carved out a life, away from his Highland moors and pastures, happy to live alone. Until a woman barges into his life, and awakens urges he hasn’t known in centuries.
“I’ll take their Christmas, their cheer and their hope,” the figure says, as zombies descend on the Snow Palace, ripping the trees and presents from the hearth.
Together, Evelina and Kameron delve into the history of their land, fighting a magical blizzard, ice zombies and an all-consuming lust for each other as magic seeks to create another fairy tale from their lives. They must fight together against the odds and save Christmas, though they might lose their hearts in the bargain.
What a crazy and fun and interesting book this was! I suppose I should have gotten the review out a bit earlier, but as it goes with the holidays, time just went too fast. But once I got the chance to read this book I went through it like a blow torch through ice!
Many Thanks go to Sidney for this awesome post! I hope you all enjoy it, and good luck on the giveaway at the bottom! Both books look terrific! And check out my site soon - I'll have a review of How Zombies Stole Christmas!! *liz
Thanks so much to Liz for hosting us!
Lea and I are making it one big party, touring the blogesphere in celebration of the release of The Winter Realms, a loosely related collection of books set in a magical bubble where magic and fairytales are real.
Lea and I put our heads together and we thought, you know, we could tell you all about our books, the neat history we wove in, how we tricked out some typical Christmas mythos with some all new, blingy original stuff—but that’s kind of normal. What if—and stick with me here—what if we let our heroines talk about it for us?
I’m sure this sounds kind of odd, so let me explain a bit more. You see, Lea and I wrote sisters. Half sisters, both of whom are the daughters of Jack Frost, and that’s where it gets interesting…
Evie: Alright, I’m here and I even managed to find something to wear that doesn’t have baby puke on it. You guys, you’re special. This doesn’t happen for just anyone. Do you know how much puke babies can make? Talini: That’s…lovely?
Evie: Sorry, it’s just a big deal to be out without the kids. We’re supposed to be doing something here, aren’t we? I guess they don’t roll us out for just any reason.
Talini: Ha! You mean you don’t know?
Evie: Not really. I missed a snow-mail, didn’t I?
Talini: Oh god, yes, yes you did. You’re supposed to be interviewing me. Do we need to take two while you get your shit together?
Evie: No, no. I can do this. Just ask you a few questions?
Talini: Yes.
Evie: That’s not hard. Okay, what’s your favorite color?
Talini: I’m pretty sure they meant serious questions. But it’s chestnut—like my man’s skin. Yummeh, delicious chestnut. Can we hurry this up?
Evie: Is chestnut even a color? Oh for fuck’s sake, it doesn’t matter. Do you know how little sleep I got last night? Fine. *sigh* Real questions. Okay, so, how do you like being a Frost? Oh, and chestnut? I ask for a color and you give me a tree?
Talini: Bite me. Being a Frost? Well, it’s gained me sisters I never imagined having and it’s better than being the offspring of the Unseelie King—talk about the devil…
Evie: Are we supposed to?
Talini: No.
Evie: Oh. Okay. Also, our family’s pretty big. I’m fairly certain even I don’t know how many sisters we have. Moving on! What’s your earliest memory of Dad?
Talini: Seeing as I didn’t even know about him until I was twenty-one or so, I’d have to say seeing him with the Unseelie King’s Banshee Blade at his neck in the middle of the Unseelie Court. Evie: Nice. How did I miss that? Right, I live in Baby Land. I know we haven’t had a lot of time to talk, but why don’t you tell me a little about this guy you’ve been shacking up with lately?
Talini: Shacking up? Wow—you’re so, what’s the word? Yeah, that. We need to work on your interpersonal skills. My guy is HAWT. He’s thoughtful, stubborn, good in the sack…so actually, now that I think about it he’s a lot like me, LOLOL!
Evie: My interpersonal skills? You’re the one who was stranded and went nucking futz on a deserted planet. Anyway, where’s your mutt? I know I saw that little trouble maker around here somewhere. What is he? Where did you get him?
Talini: He’s not a mutt—he’s a fucking FOX! Say it with me Vie—FOX! An arctic blue to be precise—geebus—you and Kian always fucking with my fox. I got him where all arctic blues come from…the arctic. I visited the North Pole a few hundred years ago and his mama was caught in a trap. She’d died and he was left alone. He was mine from that point on. Wish my mom had been caught in a trap. Poor TikTok…I’m his mama now so it’s all good.
Evie: Got any big plans for the holidays this year?
Talini: Sun, sex. Sex, sun. Beer—by the way who the hell knew beer tasted so good? They even make those little thingies on them so they pour in your mouth even FASTER. So yeah, sun, sex, beer, maybe a trip back to our ice planet for a little getaway.
Evie: I miss beer. Kameron drinks weird, ancient kinds of stuff. I get—water. Anyways. What kind of underwear do you wear?
Talini: What kind of question is that?
Evie: I’m scraping the barrel here. You only get so many coherent sentences from me at a time, so that’s my question. What kind of panties do you like to wear?
Talini: I think you’re pushing the boundaries of sisterly-love. But because you asked, I don’t wear panties. I’m commando all the way, Vie. ALL. THE. WAY.
Evie: I don’t think I needed to know that…
Well, that’s it for today. The Winter Realm is waiting for you, are you ready?
Do you have a question for Sidney or Lea? Two random commentors will win copies of either How Zombies Stole Christmas or Starry Night.
It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing. Website | Release Announcements | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | YouTube | Pinterest
Lea Griffith began sneaking to read her mother’s romance novels at a young age. She cut her teeth on the greats: McNaught, Woodiwiss, and Garwood. She still consumes every romance book she can put her hands on, but now she writes her own.Lea lives in rural Georgia with her husband, three teenage daughters, two dogs, a cat, and a Betta fish named Coddy George. When not working at the EDJ, she’s usually at her keyboard writing. She loves romance and nothing is off-limits when it comes to her muse. Website | Twitter | Facebook Fan Page | Goodreads
Every creature in Haven snuggled down in their beds, ready for another Christmas, they liked it a lot. But not everyone in this magical land shares their holiday cheer. . .
Evelina Frost is a woman used to staying in the shadows, but this year Christmas needs a hero, and with Santa away, it’s up to her to save the holiday from ruin. A figure dressed in white cast a spell and from the frozen land, ghastly zombies appear. Kameron is a creature out-of-place in the frigid land, but he’s carved out a life, away from his Highland moors and pastures, happy to live alone. Until a woman barges into his life, and awakens urges he hasn’t known in centuries. “I’ll take their Christmas, their cheer and their hope,” the figure says, as zombies descend on the Snow Palace, ripping the trees and presents from the hearth. Together, Evelina and Kameron delve into the history of their land, fighting a magical blizzard, ice zombies and an all-consuming lust for each other as magic seeks to create another fairy tale from their lives. They must fight together against the odds and save Christmas, though they might lose their hearts in the bargain.
Three hundred years spent on an ice planet has not broken Talini. As a daughter of the Fae, Jack Frost, she is made of all things ice and snow. But then she meets a man who warms her as no one ever has and she is set adrift with desire.
He has contracted to find a woman lost for three centuries.
Kian has searched for a long time. Jack Frost has agreed to pay him a lot of money to find his daughter and he’s determined to see his goal met. Then he meets a woman who makes him shiver and shake, thawing his cold heart.
She has been lost but now he has found her.
Together they will set on a journey that will lead them down a perilous road. They will forge a bond as fragile as a snowflake but as strong as forever. Together they will prove that love can bloom amidst the frost.
Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it.
Her online journal spans a decade, beginning with the day a thirteen-year-old inherits an extreme form of the family ‘gift’. Every day whatever she touches converts into something new: bunnies, bubbles, bombs, and everything in between.
Lette’s search for a cure leads her to Stefan, whose fairy-tale looks hide a monstrous legacy, and to Rag, an arrogant, crabby ex-angel with boundary issues. The three face an army led by a monster who feeds on children’s fear. But it’s their own inner demons they must defeat first.
Adonia has been isolated from society her entire life. Banished from her pack for crimes committed before her birth, she lives a solitary existence with her mother in the wilds of Siberia.
Zephyr has been sent by the ruler of winter, Jack Frost, to find a daughter he just found out existed. When Zephyr finds her, the storm that erupts is both literal and figurative.
Fated to mate, Adonia and Zephyr must find a way to put an end to the blizzard burying them in snow. Battling forces of nature neither of them understands, they are trapped inside Adonia’s small cabin, waiting for…the inevitable.
Many Thanks go to Sidney for this awesome post! I hope you all enjoy it, and good luck on the giveaway at the bottom! Both books look terrific! And check out my site soon - I'll have a review of How Zombies Stole Christmas!! *liz
Thanks so much to Liz for hosting us!
Lea and I are making it one big
party, touring the blogesphere in celebration of the release of The Winter
Realms, a loosely related collection of books set in a magical bubble where
magic and fairytales are real.
Lea and I put our heads
together and we thought, you know, we could tell you all about our books, the
neat history we wove in, how we tricked out some typical Christmas mythos with
some all new, blingy original stuff—but that’s kind of normal. What if—and stick
with me here—what if we let our heroines talk about it for us?
I’m sure this sounds kind of
odd, so let me explain a bit more. You see, Lea and I wrote sisters. Half
sisters, both of whom are the daughters of Jack Frost, and that’s where it gets
interesting…
A woman who doesn’t have time for love… A hot night full of hotel-destroying sex was all Kellie wanted from her client-turned-sex god. Between family and work, there isn’t room for love, just hot, sweaty lust. An arrangement for mutual gratification is exactly what Kellie wants, but every kiss, each mind-blowing orgasm twines her heart around a man she cannot have. A man building a new life… Quinton’s assumptions about the So Inked shop owner are turned on their head after one session under her tattoo machine. Kellie’s not the vandal he’s looking for, but she’s the woman he wants. In his bed, on the desk or under the stars, he’ll take her any way he can get her. But Quin has secrets and someone is out to destroy him. Someone who has their sights set on Kellie now.
What’s a girl to do when her parents gift her with a man for Christmas? Caught between two kingdoms, Jordan has given up the privileged world of intergalactic court life to become an interstellar biologist researching space sharks. Unexpectedly saddled with a husband from a race who are rumored to be sex fiends, her life is yanked in a direction she doesn’t want. But Cai isn’t human and he must have the emotional feedback of a mate in order to survive. Charged with protecting Jordan, can he win her heart and keep her safe from harm? Will they survive the challenges that arise…sexual, emotional and political? Time is ticking away and it’s not on their side.
********** Guest Post **********
A lint picker.
Really.
I think that was the worst gift I have ever been given.
I was in high school and we were attending the yearly holiday party thrown by a family member. Since my birthday is in December, I get a lot of people handing me two gifts, one with Christmas wrapping and one with more generic paper and even more “I forgot” gifts that are clearly something grabbed from a pile and wrapped. Anyways, one year my uncle gave me a battery operated lint picker. The kind you might use on a sweater that gets those little annoying bits off the knit. It’s a practical kind of gift.
Except this is Texas and I owned maybe two sweaters. I also had no idea what a lint picker was for or what it did or even why I needed one. I think there was a lot of staring at it before someone kindly told me what it was and how it worked. It was the most awkward gift exchange right behind a size of 2XL red silky panties a naughty Santa gave 9 yr old me on accident.
We’ve all received gifts that made us really question what the giver was thinking about. Honestly, it’s not about the gift, it’s about the thought behind it. But we’d all be lying if we didn’t admit that those gifts we will never use or are so out of left field, don’t stick in our minds and make us laugh a little. Think back with me on your worst gift. What were you thinking when you opened up the packaging and saw…it…
When I started writing A Kiss for a Cure, I asked myself the question: What is the worst present Jordan, our heroine, could receive? She’s very much a woman of her time, progressive, intelligent and self-sufficient, despite her privileged upbringing. A few things came to mind, but they would all have made for a boring story, so I skipped them and went for the worst possible idea in my arsenal.
You’d think that parents know us best and can give us that thing we really want. My parents are fantastic gift givers. I can’t remember the last time I returned any present they’ve given me. But not everyone has such talented parents. ((Okay, I give them a list, but they follow it to the letter!))
Jordan’s parents aren’t quite as in touch with her as mine. Or most parents for that matter. On the surface, it appears that they’ve meddled in her life again. Because what do they give her?
A husband.
Really.
It’s sort of a mail order husband – in space.
I can’t tell you more or it might spoil the story, but suffice to say Jordan would do just about anything to be able to return this present!
What’s the most unfortunate gift you’ve ever received?
It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.
Jordan froze, staring at the seven-foot-long box wrapped in silvery paper. The one sent by her parents. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it. No, that pounding came from the box. From inside the box.
Blood drained from her extremities. Her chest constricted until she panted for breath.
What had her parents done this time? She clenched her hands and gritted her teeth. In the history of bad, over-the-top and gaudy presents, she feared this might be the worst.
She turned her back on it and put a hand to her stomach. She needed to sit down, preferably on something soft and forgiving, but her furniture had yet to be delivered. The only furniture in her new quarters was her bed. Everything else was packed up in the utilitarian beige plastos she’d purchased secondhand from a shipper to get her things to university. They showed their age with scrapes and dented sides, but they were so sturdy nothing had ever been broken in moving them from place to place. Plastos were stacked against the walls, in groupings in the middle of the floor, and in her bedroom. Everywhere. Her new quarters looked like a cargo hold.
Again, the pounding came from the box, but louder. She jumped and spun to face the box. Whatever was in there wanted out. She leaned against the wall and stared at the silvery paper. Light from the floor-to-ceiling windows made glimmering patterns against the surface of the package. She could escape the room, since her upgraded quarters had a real bedroom and a kitchenette, but whatever was in the box would still be there.
Sucking in a deep breath, she crept toward it until she could touch the top with her fingertips. It was cool against her skin, even through the paper. Bending, she put her ear against it and gently rapped. The box rang hollow.
Maybe she’d heard something in the Center clanging. There was always the chance there was construction going on over the holidays since most people were away for several weeks. Or maybe one of her plastos had fallen.
Something knocked from inside the box.
I don't know about you, but I think this book sounds fantastic, and I can't wait to read it!! How about you? So tell us, like Sidney asked earlier, what is the most unfortunate gift you've ever received? I can think of a few right off the top of my head, but those will have to remain a secret for now so the wrong people don't find out I busted on them LOL! Thank you, Sidney, for the awesome post!
What’s a girl to do when her parents gift her with a man for Christmas? Caught between two kingdoms, Jordan has given up the privileged world of intergalactic court life to become an interstellar biologist researching space sharks. Unexpectedly saddled with a husband from a race who are rumored to be sex fiends, her life is yanked in a direction she doesn’t want. But Cai isn’t human and he must have the emotional feedback of a mate in order to survive. Charged with protecting Jordan, can he win her heart and keep her safe from harm? Will they survive the challenges that arise…sexual, emotional and political? Time is ticking away and it’s not on their side.
********** Guest Post **********
A lint picker.
Really.
I think that was the worst gift I have ever been given.
I was in high school and we were attending the yearly holiday party thrown by a family member. Since my birthday is in December, I get a lot of people handing me two gifts, one with Christmas wrapping and one with more generic paper and even more “I forgot” gifts that are clearly something grabbed from a pile and wrapped. Anyways, one year my uncle gave me a battery operated lint picker. The kind you might use on a sweater that gets those little annoying bits off the knit. It’s a practical kind of gift.
Except this is Texas and I owned maybe two sweaters. I also had no idea what a lint picker was for or what it did or even why I needed one. I think there was a lot of staring at it before someone kindly told me what it was and how it worked. It was the most awkward gift exchange right behind a size of 2XL red silky panties a naughty Santa gave 9 yr old me on accident.
We’ve all received gifts that made us really question what the giver was thinking about. Honestly, it’s not about the gift, it’s about the thought behind it. But we’d all be lying if we didn’t admit that those gifts we will never use or are so out of left field, don’t stick in our minds and make us laugh a little. Think back with me on your worst gift. What were you thinking when you opened up the packaging and saw…it…
When I started writing A Kiss for a Cure, I asked myself the question: What is the worst present Jordan, our heroine, could receive? She’s very much a woman of her time, progressive, intelligent and self-sufficient, despite her privileged upbringing. A few things came to mind, but they would all have made for a boring story, so I skipped them and went for the worst possible idea in my arsenal.
You’d think that parents know us best and can give us that thing we really want. My parents are fantastic gift givers. I can’t remember the last time I returned any present they’ve given me. But not everyone has such talented parents. ((Okay, I give them a list, but they follow it to the letter!))
Jordan’s parents aren’t quite as in touch with her as mine. Or most parents for that matter. On the surface, it appears that they’ve meddled in her life again. Because what do they give her?
A husband.
Really.
It’s sort of a mail order husband – in space.
I can’t tell you more or it might spoil the story, but suffice to say Jordan would do just about anything to be able to return this present!
What’s the most unfortunate gift you’ve ever received?
It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.
Jordan froze, staring at the seven-foot-long box wrapped in silvery paper. The one sent by her parents. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it. No, that pounding came from the box. From inside the box.
Blood drained from her extremities. Her chest constricted until she panted for breath.
What had her parents done this time? She clenched her hands and gritted her teeth. In the history of bad, over-the-top and gaudy presents, she feared this might be the worst.
She turned her back on it and put a hand to her stomach. She needed to sit down, preferably on something soft and forgiving, but her furniture had yet to be delivered. The only furniture in her new quarters was her bed. Everything else was packed up in the utilitarian beige plastos she’d purchased secondhand from a shipper to get her things to university. They showed their age with scrapes and dented sides, but they were so sturdy nothing had ever been broken in moving them from place to place. Plastos were stacked against the walls, in groupings in the middle of the floor, and in her bedroom. Everywhere. Her new quarters looked like a cargo hold.
Again, the pounding came from the box, but louder. She jumped and spun to face the box. Whatever was in there wanted out. She leaned against the wall and stared at the silvery paper. Light from the floor-to-ceiling windows made glimmering patterns against the surface of the package. She could escape the room, since her upgraded quarters had a real bedroom and a kitchenette, but whatever was in the box would still be there.
Sucking in a deep breath, she crept toward it until she could touch the top with her fingertips. It was cool against her skin, even through the paper. Bending, she put her ear against it and gently rapped. The box rang hollow.
Maybe she’d heard something in the Center clanging. There was always the chance there was construction going on over the holidays since most people were away for several weeks. Or maybe one of her plastos had fallen.
Something knocked from inside the box.
I don't know about you, but I think this book sounds fantastic, and I can't wait to read it!! How about you? So tell us, like Sidney asked earlier, what is the most unfortunate gift you've ever received? I can think of a few right off the top of my head, but those will have to remain a secret for now so the wrong people don't find out I busted on them LOL! Thank you, Sidney, for the awesome post!
