Guarded by Carmen Fox: Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway!!!

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Today we are touring Guarded by Carmen Fox

Title: Guarded

Series: The Silverton Chronicles, book 1

Author: Carmen Fox

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romance/Suspense

Rating:

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

When everyone's existence depends on the lies they tell, trust doesn't come easy.

Ivy’s neighbors have a secret. They aren’t human. But Ivy has a secret, too. She knows. As long as everyone keeps quiet, she’s happy working as a P.I. by day and chillaxing with her BFF Florian, a vampire, by night. When a routine pickup drops her in the middle of a murder, her two worlds collide. While Florian knows how to throw a punch, deep down he's a softie. His idea of scary? Running out of hair product. It’s time Ivy faced facts. Even with a vampire on stand-by, one gal can only kick so many asses.

For help, she must put her faith in others. A human, who might just be the one. A demon, who will, for a price, open the doors to her heritage. And a werewolf, who wants to protect her from herself.

Torn between these men, Ivy must tread carefully, because one wants her heart, one wants her body, and one wants her dead.

Guarded was a nerve-wrecking read, not in a bad way. Ivy has too much going on! First, how you going to be a P.I. but on the run your damn self? That was the first question I asked myself. Second, how you supposed to be on alert all the time because Mr. Big Bad trying to find you but start letting everybody in the house? SMH. Now that that's out my system, let discuss Guarded. Like I already said, Ivy is on the run from Mr. Big Bad so she kinda hides herself from people. Her best friend, Florian, lives across the street from her and he don't even know her secrets. Florian has some secrets of his own that he's keeping but Ivy already figured that out but didn't tell him. See, Ivy is special. She is able to identify paranormal creatures. So she knows that Florian and his family are vampires and her neighbors are a werewolf pack. All these said people think Ivy is maybe human. Anywho, Ivy is working as a P.I. when her boss send her on a job to pick up a statue. Easy peasy right? WRONG! This one job is like a dam bursting.

While Ivy is trying to figure out why demons are teaming together to find this statue, Mr. Big Bad has found a way to mess with her head. Not only does he show up but a past friend of Ivy's dad shows his face. He drops some history to Ivy that throws her for a loop. She finds out her heritage and who she is meant to be. Of course, one thing leads to another and these two bump uglies. Of course, this is after Ivy meets a dude at the coffee shop. To make complicates worst, Ivy's mom hooks her up with the sexy werewolf alpha that stays next door. That makes three men. All of which she let in her house. This letting people in her house thing is big because Ivy is able to make guards that protect her. She has to give permission for anybody to enter. Remember that. Now Ivy has to figure out the statue, hide from Mr. Big Bad, and figure out which man she wants to be with.

Guarded kept me interested. I wanted to know what the heck was going to happen at every turn. I did however get confused when one minute Ivy is talking to someone and the next she waking up from a dream. That irritated me to no end but that did stop about mid book. YAY. I was happy with the ending because the person Ivy does choose to be with will be a great fit for her and it won't be all about responsibilities. WOOT WOOT. Overall, Guarded receives a cool sultry heart. You will get more detail then a YA book but not throughout the book to make you need to change your panties. LOL. Happy reading.

Check out these videos:

Video Trailer | Review Trailer | Audio Excerpt

Let learn about the author:

Carmen lives in the south of England with her beloved tea maker and a stuffed sheep called Fergus. An avid reader since childhood, she caught the writing bug when her Nana asked her to write a story. She also has a law degree, studied physics for a few years, dabbled in marketing and human resources, and speaks native-level German and fluent Geek. Her preferred niches of geekdom are tabletop games, comics, sci-fi and fantasy.

She writes about smart women with sassitude, about pretty cool guys too, and will chase that plot twist, no matter how elusive.

Expect to be kept guessing.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER, Carmen’s first urban fantasy novel, was published in March 2015. To find out more, visit her at www.carmen-fox.com. 

Carmen can be stalked at the following locations:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Book Page

Excerpt time:

A growl from behind made my skin crawl. I whipped around. Florian’s face was grim, his posture unnatural and stiff.

The hairs on my arms stood on end, and I suppressed a shudder. “Are you all right?”

“Can’t.” He propped his hand against the wall. “Not feeling well.”

My gaze followed the direction of his stare. Large crimson stains pooled on the immaculate living room carpet. Oh crap. Blood.

I turned back. Florian’s pupils dilated to form two black marbles, trained on me. His canines lengthened, coming to sharp and lethal points. The pounding of my heart overrode my motor skills, and for a second, I stood rooted to the spot.

This wasn’t how I’d envisioned his secret being revealed to me. I’d pictured cupcakes, and maybe tissues at the relief of finally being straight with each other, not a full-out blood frenzy.

Finally, the switch labeled “common sense” flipped and triggered me into action. I fingered the guards in my pockets. The small plates were my only chance.

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The Sephra's Tear by Robyn Bachar: Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway!!!

Welcome everyone to The Sephra's Tear Blog Tour!!! 

Here's some background on the author:

Robyn Bachar enjoys writing stories with soul mates, swords, spaceships, vampires and gratuitous violence against the kitchen sink. Her books have finaled twice in the PRISM Contest for Published Authors, twice in the Passionate Plume Contest, and twice in the EPIC eBook Awards. As a gamer, Robyn has spent many hours rolling dice, playing rock-paper-scissors, and slaying creatures in mmorpgs. 

You can find Robyn online at www.robynbachar.com and on Twitter at @RobynBachar.

Robyn can be stalked at the following locations:

Website | Newsletter | Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Google+ | Goodreads | LibraryThing | Shelfari | Amazon

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Title: The Sephra's Tear

Series: Just One Spell, Book 1

Author: Robyn Bachar

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Rating:

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Just one spell will change their fates...

Cordelia is a pawn of House Dorchada—a notorious noble family comprised of thieves, assassins and dark wizards. Desperate to avoid their poisonous politics, Cordelia plotted her escape for years, but her carefully laid plans are jeopardized when her father commands her to marry an aged lord of Frostever.

With only a few short months left before her wedding, Cordelia’s salvation hinges on creating a Sephra’s Tear—a forbidden amulet that causes overwhelming lust in its victim. A black market buyer promises a life-changing amount of coin as payment for the Tear, but being caught creating it carries a death sentence.

Two wizards are needed to produce the passion to fuel the erotic spell, so Cordelia recruits the aid of peasant wizard Nathaniel Ravenwood. Nathaniel has long denied his desire for the beautiful Cordelia. As a noblewoman and a Dorchada she is as dangerous to Nathaniel as a viper, but the fortune she offers is a temptation he can't refuse.

Dealing in dark magic comes with a price, and Cordelia and Nathaniel risk losing their freedom—and their hearts. Their fates depend on the one spell that will free them, or destroy them.

Let me just say, Cordelia and Nathaniel were meant to be together. Poor Cordelia has a snow balls chance in hell of surviving under her father's roof. Her brother Bryce is a dickhead and her father is a mega dickhead. Can you see how much I DO NOT like those two? They constantly beat the crap out of Cordelia anytime she does anything they do not like. Unfortunately for Cordelia, her father forbid her from using magic to protect herself. Yep, they made her weak on purpose. On top of making her weak, Cordelia's father is about to marry her off to an old dude, just nasty. What they don't know is Cordelia is already planning her escape route but still needs some extra help.

Nathaniel is a low class wizard. He is pretty much a pleasant trying to learn magic at the stronghold. Nathaniel does not have the boundaries like Cordelia so he is able to explore all kinds of magic. Currently, Nathaniel is trying to discover where his mother came from. She was secretive about her past life and when she died, it left him with his stepfather and brother. He and his stepfather Erik never really got along well and when Nathaniel's little brother Gunnar came along, Nathaniel could see the favoritism. Nathaniel never took it out on Gunnar but as soon as he could leave he sat out on his own. Now Gunnar is of age and wants to join the apprenticeship program at the stronghold but Nathaniel can't afford it yet and Gunnar's father is against it. This is why Cordelia and Nathaniel teamed up to make the Sephra’s Tear.

Overall, The Sephra’s Tear was a clean read. There were a few twist and turns but I was disappointed when I figured out one of the main plots in the middle of the story. I love for the crescendo to be WTF moments. I didn't get that with the big reveal. What did throw me for a loop was Cordelia's interactions with her cousin Marcus. He always seemed like he was up to something shady. The funny haha is that he was up to something but there was a moment where he appears in the book and I go," well I didn't see that coming." I loved seeing Cordelia and Nathaniel's love grow. I think they both were attracted to each other from jump but the difference in their class was a deterrent. The Sephra's Tear gets a sizzling cool rating because the book is pretty cool but there are some sizzling moments between Cordelia and Nathaniel.

Grab you copy at these location:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Scribd | iTunes | All Romance eBooks

Garb it at Smashwords for $1.99 Use Coupon Code: ME32Q

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Check out this excerpt:

Nathaniel’s study was located in the lower levels of the stronghold, carved out of the stone the city was built upon, where the wizards of limited financial means lived and trained. The décor changed with each floor she descended, the layers of artistry and comfort stripped away until the walls and floor were bare gray stone. Like everything in White Harbor, the lines dividing the wealthy and the poor were clear. Cordelia enjoyed the tangible privileges of noble birth, but she knew she wouldn’t have them for much longer. She’d gladly give up silk and perfume for the freedom that wool and sweat would bring her. When she arrived at Nathaniel’s door she paused and inhaled a deep breath. Cordelia had committed many small larcenies, and a Sephra’s Tear would be the boldest sin she had ever attempted. Cordelia’s hand trembled as she raised it, and she knocked and opened the door when she heard him bid her enter. Seated at the aged desk dominating the room, Nathaniel glanced up from the book he had been reading. Surprise flickered across his face for a moment before he rose. “Lady Dorchada. I won’t have your money until the first of next month.” “Yes, I know.” “Then to what do I owe this honor?” Though the question was phrased respectfully, his tone was suspicious. She couldn’t blame him—a Dorchada at one’s door was never a harbinger of good news. Cordelia stepped into the tiny room and let the door shut behind her. He had a desk, a small alchemy table and a stove for heat. There was one other chair, but it was occupied by a tall stack of books. She glanced at it and gave Nathaniel a pointed look. Rounding his desk, he cleared the books away and waved his guest to take a seat. “Thank you.” The stiff chair was uncomfortable, but Cordelia sat in it primly. “I apologize for the interruption. I will try not to keep you long. I have a new business proposition.” “You have my attention.” Nathaniel returned to his seat and watched her with a neutral expression. She hesitated as the well-rehearsed speech vanished from her thoughts. Cordelia cleared her throat and tried to phrase her request as politely as possible. “I need assistance with casting a somewhat difficult spell, and I hope that you may be able to aid me.” “What sort of spell?” Nathaniel tended to be brusque, and his straightforwardness added to the anxiety tying her stomach into knots. “One that would require discretion, should you choose to be involved.” Nathaniel sat back and folded his hands in his lap. “All of our dealings require discretion, my lady. Thus far I’ve been impressed by your caution.” Cordelia nodded. “Thank you. It is a Sephra’s Tear. A potent Tear.” The wizard’s dark eyebrows rose to nearly his hairline. He raised his folded hands, covering his mouth to hide his expression. She admired his composure in response to such an unusual request—he probably didn’t often have women arriving unannounced at his door to ask that he make love to them until they both collapsed. Then again, he just might, considering how attractive he was. Nathaniel was older than Cordelia, but not by much. Unbound, his long black hair fell past his shoulders. As with most wizards Nathaniel’s hands were slender, hinting at dexterity instead of strength, and he had high, sharp cheekbones that most of the noble ladies in White Harbor would kill to be graced with. His plain, charcoal robes were well made, but were durable instead of fashionable. Cordelia found his eyes to be his most interesting feature; pale, crystalline blue, Nathaniel’s eyes were mesmerizing, though they were usually filled with suspicion when looking at her.

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Spotlight & Giveaway: The Reaper's Daughter by KM Randall

 Welcome everyone to the Spotlight Stop of:

The Reaper's Daughter

by KM Randall

 

Let's hear about the author:

As a girl, K.M. always wished she’d suddenly come into magical powers or cross over into a Faerie circle. Although that has yet to happen, she instead lives vicariously through the characters she creates writing fantasy and paranormal.

When K.M. is not busy writing her next novel, she serves as a freelance editor and writer. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in English-Lit from Nazareth College of Rochester. K.M. lives in Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region with her husband, her extremely energetic little boy, and their crazy goldendoodle Luna (short for Lunatic) 

Stalk K.M. at the following location:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Here's a little about the book:

Title: The Reaper's Daughter

Series: The Reaper's Daughter, Book 1

Author: KM Randall

Genre: Paranormal/Dark Fantasy

I've always felt like an average girl ... except for my strange relationship with death. You could say I like to court it. Whether I'm soaring through the air as a flyer for Specter University's cheer squad, or speeding down the steepest mountain with only grace and balance keeping me from an icy end, I've always needed to feel a rush. But now Death is courting me―in more ways than one. First, there's Rishi, a rogue death deity who has a penchant for annoying me nearly to my grave and whose intense gaze has the power to see right through me. Then there's Hades, who I'd rather had stayed just a myth. Now that he knows I exist, he's not going to leave me alone until I meet the same end as my mother.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention her? I spent my whole life thinking she had died when I was a baby, but now I've found out she's much more than dead. Fifty years ago, Hades banished my mother from the underworld and took away her ability to cross over souls―souls that have wandered lost through the world ever since. Now she wants me to clean up the mess.

You may have heard of her before...

They call her the Grim Reaper.

Check out the book trailer:

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Don't forget to order your copy:

Amazon | BN 

We have an awesome excerpt:

Present 

THE ROLLING GREEN of her eyes was dimming fast, losing color and life to the quick click of time that beat out her days and nights, a perpetual circle that was now fading to a close. Light brown hair that had been recently styled into looping curls was limp against the black pillowcase―a metaphor for her wilted spirit, I mused, thinking offhandedly how proud my English professor would be at my thoughtful use of language.

 I sighed. I didn’t want to be here.

 When her eyes met mine, I knew she saw me for who I really was—what I really was. She reached out an eager hand to take mine. I didn’t want anything to do with it. But it wasn’t because her fingers were slick with blood, deep crimson dripping down her arm and fingernails from where she’d so precisely placed a razor blade to her vein and dug deep, thinking she’d be free of her pain. It was because her face reflected back to me all the times I’d felt I’d been given a shitty deal. Current situation: case in point.

 “Hi,” she whispered, her once pink lips fading with every pump of her life, which was idly dripping away from her to the plush white carpet below. I could smell the newness of it, the fresh aroma of a recently laid floor. That’s going to be a bitch to get clean.

I looked around her bedroom, at the dance trophies and pictures of smiling friends, and wondered why.  Why me? “Blake …” Hearing my mother's warning tone, I looked over at her where she stood in the shadows, overseeing my tutelage.

 “Why can’t we just call an ambulance? It’s not too late. They could save her,” I whispered fiercely, staring at the girl’s hand stretched out to me as if I were her savior and not her end. “We should save—”

“It’s not for us to decide, you know that. We are only here to bring souls over, not save their mortal lives. Take her, she wants to go.”

 “And will she still feel the same when she’s looking down at her body?” I asked, not even bothering to check my mother’s expression when she didn’t answer. Suicide wasn’t a peaceful death. It was pain―that much I knew.

 I choked back the tears that wanted to rise in my eyes for this girl, for me … I turned to her once more and leaned down, brushing a strand of her hair from her graying face. “What’s your name?”

 Barely blinking, her pale eyes darted to me. “Carly,” she said, choking around her words.

“Just hold my hand and I’ll help you cross,” I said softly, forcing myself to meet her gaze so that someone would witness her ending as they had her beginning.

 She smiled slowly, and I saw that in life she had been pretty. When she’d believed. When she’d had hope. 

“The light?” Her eyes widened, glittering green for a brief moment in their otherwise colorless depths at the prospect of going somewhere beautiful after this life had been so cold.

I nodded, although I didn’t really know where she would go. I was only in training, but I hoped it was someplace good, where her tormented soul could rest.

She had small, feminine hands, I thought, as she laced her slippery fingers around my longer warm ones. She didn’t last long, her pulse giving one last flutter before sputtering out. 

The room was suffused with the silence left behind in the absence of such a simple thing. The thundering lack of a person’s heartbeat had never seemed quite so loud. As life departed Carly’s mortal coil, her soul lifted from the body, but unlike some souls I’d seen that were light and buoyant, at peace with the next step in their existence, hers was outlined in darkness, and it rippled, suspended in space like a special effect in a bad horror film. Her gaze turned from her body to me, sorrow coming to settle on the slope of her bowed shoulders and in the recesses of her eyes. Regret was a fickle creature. It always came too late.

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Bleeding Love by Harper Sloan: Blog Tour and Giveaway!

 

Title:  Bleeding Love
Series:  Hope Town, Book 2
Author:  Harper Sloan
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating:  5 Sweltering Keys

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

I've loved once. I gave everything that I had to that love. Blindly believing that nothing could ever take that feeling away from me. Away from us. And when my little world of happiness was ripped from my fingers, I felt a loss that still haunts me to this day.

Now I use that lingering grief as a shield to keep my heart from loving again. It's that fear that keeps me from letting anyone, except my daughter, get close enough to make it hurt. To make my heart bleed when I inevitably lose again.

Until the day I met Liam Beckett and everything I thought I had protected myself from was shoved back in my face.

He's on a mission to prove to me that a love worth having is a love worth fighting for.

*Bleeding Love is the second book in the Hope Town series. It will follow Liam and Megan. Each book in the series is a HEA and can be read as a standalone.

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Angel Lover by Tricia Skinner: Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Hola chickies!  Today we are featuring one of my new all time favorite paranormal authors back to the Diaries, Tricia Skinner with a book review on her latest in the Angel Assassins series, Angel Lover!

Title:  Angel Lover
Series:  Angel Assassins, Book 2
Author:  Tricia Skinner
Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Rating:  4.5 Sweltering Keys

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

There’s no danger greater than falling for your enemy…

The Nephilim are bound. Their powers cursed. But half-angel Kasdeja will do anything to free them from Heaven's tyranny. When Kas is approached by a striking, mysterious woman, she tells him his greatest enemies hold the key to his freedom.

Mariel keeps herself shrouded in secrets, using them to hide her true self. For she is not just employed by the Renegades--enemy fallen angels—she is a double agent, working on the sly for Heaven. Her directive is to seduce the gorgeous Nephilim—despite her insecurity about such sensual acts.

For Mariel is playing a dangerous game, and falling for Kas could only cause trouble; her assignment isn't just seduction. It's destruction.

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Bleeding Love by Harper Sloan: Pre-Release Day Blitz!

Meet Liam & Megan in the newest stand alone

in the Hope Town Series by Harper Sloan!

Releasing:  July 14th

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK  |  Nook

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Fighting to Breathe by Aurora Rose Reynolds: Blog Tour & Giveaway!

Title:  Fighting to Breathe
Author:  Aurora Rose Reynolds
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating:  4 Sweltering Keys

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Lea Lamb and Austin Wolf were young when they fell in love. They never imagined the future could hold anything other than together-forever.

When Lea’s father dies in a tragic fishing accident, she's crushed under the weight of her grief and catches a glimpse of another type of future, one she knows she's not strong enough to face.

Austin is angry. For the past fifteen years, he's believed the woman he loved with every ounce of his soul left him without so much as a backwards glance.

When Lea unexpectedly returns to their hometown, all the years of heartache inside Austin bubbles to the surface and presents itself as blinding rage.

Faced with the truth about the past, a newly discovered secret, these former lovers will learn that if they want to have any chance at the future they’d given up on all those years ago, they will have to rescue one another from drowning in pain so debilitating it will leave them both fighting to breathe.

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