Wednesday, May 14, 2014

A bit of a walk on the dark side, with Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters

Title: Tears of Tess
Series: Monsters In The Dark #1
Author: Pepper Winters
Format: Personal Purchase
Published: August 2013

A New Adult Dark Contemporary Romance, not suitable for people sensitive to grief, slavery, and nonconsensual sex. A story about finding love in the strangest of places, a will of iron that grows from necessity, and forgiveness that may not be enough.

“My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.
Then it all changed.
I was sold.”

Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.

For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.

But lusty paradise is shattered.

Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror.

Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.

Can Brax find Tess before she’s broken and ruined, or will Tess’s new owner change her life forever?

Wow. Sometimes a book comes out, and there is so much hype, you wonder if it will really be that good. That's how it was for me with Tears of Tess. I'd heard countless rave reviews. I was super excited to read it, but afraid it would hit the mark, like so many other books have done. So what was the result?

New Pack Order - by Eve Langlais (Excerpt!)

With the death of Roderick, an evil hybrid vampire, Marc and the other freed wolves should have breathed a sigh of relief. Instead, a new menace has arisen. It will take courage and cunning to battle it–or a cold hearted vampire who, despite his loner ways, not only forms a bond with a shewolf and a rogue, but establishes a New Pack Order.

Marc can’t escape the me mories of what he did while under Roderick’s mental control, but he can attempt to atone. He begins his quest by saving a female Lycan who needs guidance—and a mate. The problem is convincing her to accept his help, and his love.

Thaddeus has lived too long to waste his time playing the games the other vampires indulge in. However, when it comes to keeping his kind safe from the notice of humans, he’ll do what it takes to stop a madman intent on starting a war. He embarks on a one man quest to avert disaster, but along the way discovers even a killer can become a hero—and a lover.

Antonia might regret losing her humanity, but with a werewolf and a vampire at her side, she discovers an inner strength and passion to not only live, and fight, but to love, not just one, but two very special men.

"New Pack Order"

(Pack Series #4)

by Eve Langlais

Zombies and Suprbat - Hell Yeah! (Review & Giveaway, Confessions Of The Very First Zombie Slayer by FJR Titchenell)

Title: Confessions Of The Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know Of)
Series: Standalone
Author: FJR Titchenell
Published: May 6, 2014 - Jolly Fish Press
Format: Ebook received for review

The world is Cassie Fremont’s playground. Her face is on the cover of every newspaper, she has no homework, no curfew, and no credit limit, and she spends her days traveling the country with her friends, including a boy who would flirt with death just to turn her head. Life is just about perfect—except that those newspaper headlines are about her bludgeoning her crush to death with a paintball gun, she has to fight ravenous walking corpses every time she steps outside, and one of her friends is still missing, trapped somewhere in the distant, practically impassable wreckage of Manhattan. Still, Cassie’s an optimist. More prone to hysterical laughter than hysterical tears, she’d rather fight a corpse than be one, and she won’t leave a friend stranded when she can simply take her road trip to impossible new places to find her, even if getting there means admitting to that boy that she might just love him, too. Skillfully blending effective horror with unexpected humor, this diary-format novel is a fast-paced and heartwarming read.

Confessions Of The Very First Zombie Slayer (that I know of). Yeah, it's a mouthful. I wasn't sure of what to expect with this book. The blurb sounds awesome, right? Well, no worries, the book followed suit!

Title: Payment
Series: The Payment Series Boxed Set
Author: Cassandra Carr
Published: May 2014 - C-Squared Publishing
Format: Ebook for review

The Payment series (Prized, Possessed, Purgatory)-

Catrina Carter is in over her head. Way over her head. She’s in debt and, short of bankruptcy, which wouldn’t happen fast enough to pay the creditors nipping at her heels, Catrina has few choices. Eviction is coming any day, and even though she traded in her great car for a “more affordable” model, it's about to be repossessed too. Catrina goes to Debt Management Associates, or DMA, for help.

The cost for DMA's help is something she never thought she could pay, but out of options, Catrina agrees to serve a man who pays her debt in full, and begins training in how to please him. Jared. Her new benefactor. He is tasked with helping Catrina get her life back on track, in addition to taking his pleasure with her and ordering her to oblige friends, colleagues, and even total strangers sexually on his whim.

When Catrina leaves the DMA program after her one year term of service, will she be able to keep the lessons Jared literally spanked into her topmost in her mind, or will old habits rear their designer heads?

I was pretty excited to read the Payment Series, by Cassandra Carr. I've read many of her books, and she is undoubtedly one of my favorite authors. So to say I was excited to see what she would do with a darker subject matter would be putting it lightly!

Lucas Maxfield - I love you! (Review of Breakable by Tammara Webber)

Title: Breakable
Series: Contours Of The Heart #2
Author: Tammara Webber
Published: May 6, 2014 Penguin Berkley
Format: Print copy received for review

He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.

I finished Easy and I was oh-so-more-than-ready to read Breakable. I mean, I was like a rabid dog, frothing at the mouth to take a bite. What I found inside Breakable drove me insane – in all the best ways. I was expecting a basic retelling of Easy, but in Lucas’ point of view. WRONG!! I mean, yes, this book does cover a lot of the things in Easy, but it is SO much more. Today is release day for Breakable, and I’m ecstatic to share my thoughts on the book with you.

Easy by Tammara Webber is everything I want in a book!

Title: Easy
Series: Contours of the Heart #1
Author: Tammara Webber
Published: Nov 6 2012, Penguin Berkley
Format: Print Copy received for review

Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl's struggle to regain the trust she's lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy.

Ok this is one of those books that completely stole everything I had, and I was completely invested in the story of Lucas and Jacqueline. This is one of those series where book one, Easy, is in Jacqueline's point of view, and book 2, Breakable, is in Lucas' point of view. Their story hit me hard out of no where, and I was blown away!

Title: Perfect 10
Series: Stand alone
Author: Erin McCarthy
Published: May 13, 2014 by Cosmo Red Hot Reads from Harlequin
Format: Galley - thank you HQN!

Katrina’s Lesson in Social Media Disasters or How Technology Can Bite You In The Ass!

Katrina Phillips is an expert social media manager. But that doesn’t mean she can’t make mistakes. Horrible, hide-in-your-closet-forever mistakes... like accidentally syncing her BootyBook app with her online profiles.

Blammo. Now everyone in the world can see who Katrina has dated and how they rated in appearance, sexual performance, and (OMG) detailed descriptions of their manly parts! Now her phone is blowing up with irate exes—and an out-of-the-blue text from the only guy who came close to a perfect score...

Katrina has had a thing for Drew Jordan since forever ago, even if a booze-fuelled one-nighter did destroy their friendship. So why is he suddenly texting her now—and is it because she rated his Sexy Staff Of Manliness as “magnificent”? Now the only way to satisfy her curiosity is to reunite with Drew... and rate him all over again!

Bite Size Review!

I picked this book up on NetGalley because it was by one of my very favorite authors, Erin McCarthy. So I didn't even have to read the blurb or anything. Perfect 10 turned out to be a fun and quick read!

Cover Reveal: Hard To Come By by Laura Kaye

Caught between desire and loyalty…

Derek DiMarzio would do anything for the members of his disgraced Special Forces team—sacrifice his body, help a former teammate with a covert operation to restore their honor, and even go behind enemy lines. He just never expected to want the beautiful woman he found there.

When a sexy stranger asks questions about her brother, Emilie Garza is torn between loyalty to the brother she once idolized and fear of the war-changed man he's become. Derek’s easy smile and quiet strength tempt Emilie to open up, igniting the desire between them and leading Derek to crave a woman he shouldn’t trust.

As the team’s investigation reveals how powerful their enemies are, Derek and Emilie must prove where their loyalties lie before hearts are broken and lives are lost. Because love is too hard to come by to let slip away…