Tag: Bewitching Book Tours

Review: Rogue’s Possession by Jeffe Kennedy

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
rogues possession by jeffe kennedyFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Covenant of Thorns #2
Length: 280 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: October 7, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

A human trapped in the world of Faerie, in possession of magic I could not control, I made a bargain for my life: to let the dangerously sensual fae noble known as Rogue sire my firstborn. And one does not break an oath with a fae. But no matter how greatly I desire him, I will not succumb. Not until I know what will happen to the child.

Though unable—or unwilling—to reveal the fate of human-fae offspring himself, Rogue accompanies me on my quest for answers. Along the way he agrees to teach me to harness my power, in exchange for a single kiss each day and sleeping by my side each night. Just as I am about to yield to temptation, I find myself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with an insane goddess. Now my search for the truth will lead me to the darkest of all Faerie secrets.

My Review:

The world of Jeffe Kennedy’s Covenant of Thorns is absolutely built on the premise that one should be careful what one wishes for, because one will almost certainly get exactly that. However, magic wishes (and the fae who inhabit the world she has built) are incredibly slippery; one gets precisely what one wished, the letter of the wish, and not the spirit.

rogues pawn by jeffe kennedyMagic wishes are dangerous currency, and all too frequently turn on the one wishing them. A lesson that Gwynn believes she has learned at a high price during the first book in this series, Rogue’s Pawn (reviewed here). However, Gwynn has crossed to the fae lands from our own world, and sometimes she is too stubborn to accept that the fae do not operate by the kind of logic that she is used to.

Sometimes the fae are too used to being all-powerful to accept that Gwynn does not operate by the rules that they are used to.

Even though every interchange for every conceivable situation (and some that Gwynn finds inconceivable) is handled through bargaining and negotiation, Gwynn continues to find ways to maintain an increasingly tenuous hold on herself as still mostly-human. A task that gets more difficult every day.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Gwynn must use her power to protect herself and those she has come to care for from the Queen who has ruled uncontested for eternity.

But Gwynn has to maneuver through a landscape where the other players withhold knowledge from her at every turn. She is flying blind by the seat of her pants.

Rogue, the fae who brought her to Faerie, keeps vital knowledge from her in order to protect her, until his protection is taken away. Then Gwynn takes on a quest of discovery to determine what bargains Rogue has made on her behalf, what he has broken, and what he has kept.

Because bargains are the coin of this realm. And he may have committed one or both of them to something that will kill or enslave Gwynn if he cannot be found. And because in spite of all the secrets he has kept, and in spite of all the times he has left her in ignorance, once he disappears Gwynn realizes that he truly was bound by negotiations made with others that he could not control.

And that in spite of her best intentions, she cares more than she expected. She might even love him. But she’ll never know what secrets he is keeping from her if she doesn’t rescue him. Even if it kills her.

Escape Rating B+: What makes this series work for me, at least so far, is following Gwynn’s perspective. Not just because she is an extreme case of the fish-out-of-water type, but because she handles it so intelligently. She not only doesn’t understand but she adapts to each situation. I like being in her head.

However, because the reader’s perspective is so closely tied to Gwynn’s, her darkness is our darkness; we only know what she knows. I think I’m identifying with her a little too much, because the way that everyone around her is keeping her deliberately uninformed is driving me mad. It keeps me turning pages, but I’m astounded that she hasn’t made a lot more things explode. Also that so few of the fae who surround her and supposedly want her best interests at heart do not see her agency. They see her magic potential but not her intelligence, or something.

Rogue’s “courtship” of Gwynn is fascinating, because the reader is never quite sure what his game is, and neither is Gwynn. It is very sensual and extremely hot and sometimes sweet as well, but he always has a purpose and it isn’t true love. Gwynn’s right about that. Which doesn’t preclude them needing each other for something deeply important including and beyond great sex. Eventually.

The fae culture of bargaining, negotiation and oaths has layers within layers. Gwynn is still learning, and watching her navigate is one of the tough but compelling parts of her journey.

Even though I’m certain that Rogue’s Possession is the second book in a trilogy, it absolutely does not suffer from “middle-book syndrome”. It comes to a satisfying conclusion, and ends the story in a reasonably good place. It just has some loose ends that I can’t wait to see tied up. Possibly with green ribbon. (Read and you’ll understand)

Rogue Possesion Button 300 x 225

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Post by Author Karen Greco on the Inspiration for Hell’s Belle + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Book Giveaway> ebook giveaway> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Karen Greco, who recently published Hell’s Belle (reviewed here). She’s here to talk about…

Hell’s Belle inspiration: Babe’s On the Sunnyside
by Karen Greco

Hells Belle Banner 450 X 169

Babe’s on the Sunnyside, the bar that Nina and her aunt Babe run, was a real bar located in Providence’s Fox Point neighborhood.

Located on the ground floor of a tenement building, it was the quintessential dive bar. The kind of place where old men from the neighborhood would knock back a few beers. College kids who were cool with the dive bar vibe could be found in the tiny place as well. The conversation veered from motorcycles, to politics, to history, to sports. It was just a fun place to be.

And any place with a huge jar of pickled eggs behind the bar is the perfect bar to enjoy a pint or two.

Anthony "Babe" Silva (via Pinterest).
Anthony “Babe” Silva (via Pinterest).

Babe was owner. He was this very old diminutive man, kind of like the bar itself. The walls were covered in old boxing photos. From what I was told, Babe was a former trainer and a bunch of the pictures on the wall were the boxers that he had trained. The beers were cheap, the ambiance was chill.

The bar was sold, and cleaned up considerably. I entertained buying the place when it went up for sale again a few years ago. But cleaned up and without Babe, it lost the charm–gritty as it was– of the original.

Babe’s now lives on in my imagination, and, I am happy to say, in the pages of Hell’s Belle.

Karen GrecoAbout Karen Greco

An award-winning playwright, Karen Greco has spent close to twenty years in New York City, working in publicity and marketing for the entertainment industry.A life-long obsession with exorcists and Dracula drew her to urban fantasy, where she can decapitate characters with impunity. HELL’S BELLE is her first novel.

To learn more about Karen, visit her blog or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads.

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

hells belle by karen grecoKaren is giving away 10 ebook copies of Hell’s Belle — either mobi or ePub, winner’s choice. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bewitching Book Tours

Review: Hell’s Belle by Karen Greco

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
hells belle by karen grecoFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Urban fantasy
Series: Hell’s Belle, #1
Length: 254 pages
Publisher: Self-published
Date Released: June 14, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Half vampire, half human, Nina Martinez spent most of her life underground as part of an elite secret team of government agents that quietly take down rogue monsters, the human world none the wiser. She moves back to her hometown of Providence, RI to keep an eye on the recent uptick in supernatural activity, and to help run the bar she co-owns with her aunt.

Her attempt at a “regular” life, not to mention a budding relationship with smoking hot FBI agent Max, is cut short because of a string of ritual murders targeting the city’s community of witches.

But Nina’s investigation unearths deadly secrets from her long buried parents. Now the target of supernatural assassins, could Nina be the most dangerous vampire hybrid to ever exist? No wonder she can’t get a date.

My Review:

Booker at the 2011 Time 100 Gala
Booker at the 2011 Time 100 Gala

The story starts with the main character fangirling over the real-life mayor of Newark, NJ, Cory Booker, as he kicks vampire ass into the afterlife. And it just rocks.

After Booker books out of the story, we move up the coast to a dive bar in Providence RI, which is every bit as seedy as Newark, and I didn’t know that was even possible. Our heroine thought she was taking a timeout from her work in Blood Ops, the special branch of the Department of Defense dedicated to permanently dealing with supernatural bad actors, but a vamp stalks into her bar with the not so hidden agenda to stake Nina, and suddenly it’s all hands (and fangs) on deck.

In the process of figuring out why this one rogue vampire is determined to get Nina, she discovers that there is a lot more to her half-vamp/half-human heritage than anyone in her life has ever bothered to tell her, starting with the tiny detail that she isn’t half-vamp/half-human after all.

While the secrets and hidden truths keep boiling up out of the past, and the rogue keeps culling the supernatural population as a way of building up power, Nina has to deal with all her new-found powers going out of whack; a ghost who wants to possess her in order to get revenge on the rogue, and an FBI agent who isn’t sure whether she’ a possible suspect or a possible sex partner or possibly both. Nina’s sure he can’t handle the truth he keeps claiming to want.

The demon running for mayor of Providence may be the most normal part of the case!

Escape Rating B: This first book is one hell of a journey of discovery, both for the heroine and the reader; Nina discovers she only knew half (maybe) of her own story, and the reader discovers Nina’s world. There’s quite a lot of urban fantasy worldbuilding going on in this story.

The concept of a “Blood Ops” unit as an official arm of the DOD is both fun and scary. If there were supes, there would also be Men and Women in Black to take them out. Nina’s snark about the BO division of the DOD makes for great gallows humor.

There are a whole lot of supernatural types and tropes mixed into this soup. Vamps, weres, ghosts, banshees, witches, druids and even hell-hounds of both the good and bad persuasion and even demons. It’s going to take an entire series to straighten out who the good supes and bad supes are. Sounds like fun.

But the action follows Nina. Her heritage makes her strong, but the hijacking of her self-discovery has made her vulnerable, and it’s that vulnerability that makes her interesting as well as potentially dangerous. And definitely endangered. Neither Nina nor her team is quite sure yet whether she is bait or slayer or some of each. Only time will tell. Watching her come to terms with her new knowledge about herself and her place in the world makes her worth watching.

But I’m very much afraid that a demon politician strikes way too close to reality.

Hells Belle Banner 450 X 169

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Post by Author Suzanne Johnson on Supernatural New Orleans + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Suzanne Johnson, the author of the absolutely fabulous urban fantasy Sentinels of New Orleans series. Her latest book is Elysian Fields (review here) and if you love urban fantasy (or New Orleans stories, or terrific heroines) check out this series! (If you love vamps, get Redemption)

Supernatural New Orleans: A Few Theories
by Suzanne Johnson

Elysian Fields Blog Tour

Long before Anne Rice established New Orleans as a haven for world-weary vampires, my adopted hometown had been a hotbed of supernatural activity and legend.

When I began writing my Sentinels of New Orleans series, which began with the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, it was a given that NOLA would be my setting. Even without the hurricane, however, it’s hard to go wrong setting a paranormal story here. I don’t know if there has ever been a study of the most popular setting for paranormal fiction, but I’d be shocked if New Orleans wasn’t No. 1 in the U.S., perhaps the world.

Why? I came up with four reasons the Crescent City (called this due to the crescent shape of the Mississippi River as it winds through the metro area) is such a paranormal hub. In no particular order….

Elysian Fields by Suzanne Johnson1. Age. It’s no Rome or Paris or London, but by U.S. standards, New Orleans is a very old city, founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, in 1718. What’s more unusual, it has retained much of its original architecture thanks to a total miscalculation by military leaders during the Civil War. The city was the largest in the South, a major port that controlled the Mississippi River, and the economic hub of the Confederacy. But the military leaders put most of the defense around the northern perimeter and left the river itself defended only by three small forts. The Union ships sailed right on in and took control of the city early. So unlike Atlanta and other Southern cities, New Orleans was not burned to the ground. In fact, the city itself saw no fighting at all.

As a result, the French Quarter is still intact and its crumbling buildings might have been repaired a bazillion times over the centuries, but they retain the flavor of the original French colony and, later, Spanish outpost. It’s the most European of American cities, and it’s hard not to walk a deserted side street late at night and not feel the ghosts of the past around you.

2. Population. As a port city, New Orleans has always been peopled by a large array of nationalities. French and Spanish colonists were there early, as well as Italians who worked the docks and Irishmen the wharves. There was also a very large population of free people of color in New Orleans, many of whom arrived from the French colonies of the West Indies. Most prominent among them were those from what today is Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They came to New Orleans to start a new life, in one of the only Southern ports where they were legally allowed to own land and businesses, and brought with them voudou, their version of the African belief system. New Orleans and “voodoo” became linked, and its mysticism gave rise to many legends and traditions.

Today, the voodoo shops and museums are mostly tourist traps, but in the parishes outside the city, and some of the back rooms within it, it’s still practiced.

River Road by Suzanne Johnson3. Violence. In the last decade, New Orleans has pretty much reigned as the per-capita murder capital of the U.S. It’s nothing new, however. In the early 1800s, when the privateer/pirate Jean Lafitte ruled his kingdom of a thousand ruffians and sailors just south of the city, New Orleans had already established a reputation for violence. My own theory is that the city’s violence has stemmed from the unholy trinity of population, weather, and poverty.

Lots of nationalities means a lot of clashing ideals and beliefs. Port cities tend to violence, as ships’ crews and dockworkers let off steam, usually fueled by plenty of alcohol. Where people die violently, spirits linger. New Orleans’ violent history has contributed to its generally being considered the most haunted city in the U.S. (And for you Sentinels fans, the ghost of Jean Lafitte himself, no stranger to violence, is believed by many to haunt the Lafitte Blacksmith Shop Bar on lower Bourbon Street.)

4. Geography. There’s a joie de vivre in South Louisiana unlike any I’ve encountered in my moves to different parts of the country, and I attribute it to the fact that there’s a fragility to living there. I mean, if you live in a bowl-shaped city below sea level, in the direct path of Gulf hurricanes, and protected by a shaky levee system, there’s a “party hard because it all might be gone tomorrow” attitude that keeps the city feeling more like a Caribbean outpost than a captain of American industry. Even before things like levee systems were invented—and before the advent of air conditioning—half the city’s population could die of mosquito-borne yellow fever on any given summer. Folk superstitions and urban legends stemming from this “here today-gone tomorrow” attitude are widespread. Add the surrounding swampland, fog on the river thick enough to drown in, the abundance of massive live oaks and Spanish moss, and the world’s largest population of alligators, and you add an extra creep factor where the paranormal thrives.

Have you been to New Orleans? What do you think most evokes the paranormal there? (I haven’t even mentioned the above-ground cemeteries!)

Suzanne JohnsonAbout Suzanne JohnsonOn Aug. 28, 2005, Suzanne Johnson loaded two dogs, a cat, a friend, and her mom into a car and fled New Orleans in the hours before Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

Four years later, she began weaving her experiences and love for her city into the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series, beginning with Royal Street (2012), continuing with River Road (2012), and now with Elysian Fields (August 2013).

She grew up in rural Alabama, halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’ birthplace, and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years—which means she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of SEC football and fried gator on a stick.

She can be found online at her website or her daily blog, Preternatura. As Susannah Sandlin, she writes the best-selling Penton Vampire Legacy paranormal romance series and the recent standalone, Storm Force.

To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website or blog or follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads.

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Suzanne is giving away a grand prize of an iPad 2 and five $20 gift cards to winners’ online retailer of choice. All prizes are open internationally!

To enter, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Elysian Fields by Suzanne Johnson

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Elysian Fields by Suzanne JohnsonFormat read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, paperback
Genre: Urban fantasy
Series: Sentinels of New Orleans, #3
Length: 386 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Released: August 13, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

The mer feud has been settled, but life in South Louisiana still has more twists and turns than the muddy Mississippi.

New Orleanians are under attack from a copycat killer mimicking the crimes of a 1918 serial murderer known as the Axeman of New Orleans. Thanks to a tip from the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, DJ Jaco knows the attacks aren’t random—an unknown necromancer has resurrected the original Axeman of New Orleans, and his ultimate target is a certain blonde wizard. Namely, DJ.

Combating an undead serial killer as troubles pile up around her isn’t easy. Jake Warin’s loup-garou nature is spiraling downward, enigmatic neighbor Quince Randolph is acting weirder than ever, the Elders are insisting on lessons in elven magic from the world’s most annoying wizard, and former partner Alex Warin just turned up on DJ’s to-do list. Not to mention big maneuvers are afoot in the halls of preternatural power.

Suddenly, moving to the Beyond as Jean Lafitte’s pirate wench could be DJ’s best option.

At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

My Review:

The term “Elysian Fields” refers to a separate section of Hades reserved for gods and heroes. It’s also a street in New Orleans. (So far, all the books in Johnson’s Sentinels of New Orleans series are named for streets in New Orleans.)

The reference to Hades is particularly appropriate in this case, because a lot of the action in this story has to do with manipulating that faction known in DJ Jaco’s universe as the “historical undead”.

There’s a necromancer in town, and he’s decided to bring the Axeman of New Orleans back from the dead to bury his axe in DJ’s skull–after he cuts a wide swath through the streets and alleys of the rest of the city, of course.

This third installment of this urban fantasy series is full-to-the-brim with action, adventure, mystery, and more than a touch of on again/off again/on again romance. Some questions get answered, but more questions get asked. There is certainly no happily ever after. If anything, the stakes are raised in DJ’s personal and political relationships.

DJ is now the lone sentinel for New Orleans. She has the chance to see if she and her former co-sentinel, Alex Warin, can finally act on their mutual sizzling attraction. Naturally there are a ton of roadblocks, and not just the fact that Alex likes his universe neat, tidy and rule-abiding and DJ is a rule-breaking chaos magnet.

Royal Street by Suzanne JohnsonDJ is still trying to help Alex’ cousin Jake, who got turned into a loup-garou (read that as werewolf with an uncontrollably bad attitude, but worse) all the way back in Royal Street. Jake’s uncertain temper finally boils over and he bites her. A whole lot of the angst in the story is driven by the uncertainty of the political fallout if DJ turns furry during the full moon, since the consequences are prison or death for both her and Jake.

That necromancer who is bringing in the Axeman can probably control any of the historical undead. Including DJ’s very good friend the famous historical undead pirate Jean Lafitte. Lafitte remained a pirate because the man couldn’t stand to be controlled by anyone, including the government, when he was alive. Being dead for over two centuries hasn’t changed that. And the more we see of Lafitte, the more I wonder about how he really feels about DJ. I think she underestimates his emotional involvement. We’ll see.

Then there’s her mysterious neighbor Quince Randolph. DJ was right, he was definitely up to no good. He was up to way more no good than she thought, and she should never have let herself be alone in a room with him. Why she trusted him even that far I’ll never know. Let alone what came after.

And we have vampires. Do we ever. And because we have vampires, DJ is up to her neck in political complications–even if this time it isn’t strictly the vampires’ fault.
Blame it all on the elves. And on DJ’s propensity to leap well before she looks, a tendency guaranteed to always take her out of the frying pan and into yet another fire. Assuming that she didn’t start the fire herself.

Escape Rating A-: The Sentinels of New Orleans series is completely made of awesome. If you love urban fantasy, get Royal Street, which is not only a fantastic series start but also a heartrending story about the post-Katrina recovery (see review for details).

DJ is a chaos magnet of the first order. (If Loki or Coyote turn out to be one of her ancestors, I would not totally be surprised, but I digress). Everything she touches turns sideways. It makes her a fantastic character to follow, but probably too scary to live with.

Which leads to the love quadrangle. I think it’s a quadrangle. Jake-Alex-Quince-Jean. She started the series interested in both Jake and Alex Warin, who are cousins not brothers. She can’t get over her guilt about Jake becoming a loup-garou, basically an uncontrollable werewolf. and she and Alex have been both friends and work partners for years now. But Alex needs square corners–and DJ is a rebel. There are long-term problems that are short term covered by really hot chemistry.

River Road by Suzanne JohnsonQuince Randolph has been up to no good since he showed up in River Road (reviewed here). How much no good (it’s a ton) turns out to be a huge part of Elysian Fields. Quince is out for Quince and he’s not listening to DJ. He’s one of those smarmy bastards who is just sure he knows best. Why DJ trusted him in the same room with herself, I did not understand. Even out of expediency.

Then there is the pirate Jean Lafitte. I have a strange feeling that his, well, feelings for DJ may be more than DJ believes they are. Just because he is one of the historical undead doesn’t mean that his heart can’t sneak up on him.

But the plot of Elysian Fields has to do with magical power and the control of political power, as well as how closely intertwined those two are. Also a huge, giant, axe-wielding red herring. The political skullduggery was impressively underhanded. Also occasionally overhanded along with a couple of curveballs.

It was easy to guess who the “little bad” was, but the “bigger bad” came out of left field, particularly in the “why” department. There are clues lying around that DJ’s future is going to be very, very messy.

And that’s what makes this series so fascinating. Even though parsing out DJ’s potential love interests is entertaining (very) what keeps this reader glued to her iPad is watching the heroine grow and cope with each adventure and change and devastation that comes her way.

DJ Jaco kicks ass. Sometimes after she sets it on fire.

Elysian Fields Blog Tour

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Post by Author Elise Sax on Dreaming Up a Crazy Bunch of Characters + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Elise Sax, who recently published the funny and suspenseful second installment in The Matchmaker series, Matchpoint (read my review here). If you want to get the full giggle-fit, start with An Affair to Dismember. This series is too much fun to be contained in just one book. (I would love of book of Grandma Zelda’s matchmaking tips!)

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How in the World Did You Dream Up Such a Crazy Bunch of Characters?
by Elise Sax

Matchpoint by Elise SaxElise: I was asked this question, recently. And I thought: Crazy? Who are you calling crazy? Really, I don’t set out and decide to create crazy characters. They just wind up that way. I think it’s a matter of perspective. I see the crazy in people—that’s what attracts me to them. People tickle me, and I seem to highlight that tickle in my stories. One of those characters is Ruth Fletcher, the elderly and feisty owner of Tea Time, the tea shop in the town of Cannes, California—where everything goes down in Matchpoint and the other Matchmaker series books. Hi, Ruth.

Ruth: It’s rude to comment on a person’s age.

Elise: I’m sorry, Ruth. That’s the writer in me coming out.

Ruth: I mean, what would you think if I call you “Middle-aged Elise” instead of Elise?

Elise: I see your point. I’m sorry.

Ruth: Or “Hippy” and I don’t mean you’re a progressive liberal or anything. I mean HIP-py. Hips! You got me? You know where I’m going?

Elise: Uh…certainly, Ruth. Yes, “Hippy” would hurt my feelings. Please, just call me, Elise.

Ruth: You writer folks think you’re something special and can just say whatever you please about anybody. And FEISTY! That’s a condescending word if ever I heard one. How about I describe you as “nosy” or “sluggish?”

Elise: That would certainly hurt my feelings. I understand, Ruth. Lesson taken.

Ruth: You look like a coffee drinker to me. You a coffee drinker? I hate coffee drinkers. Tea is a real drink. Why don’t people drink tea, anymore? I’ll tell you why! Because they’re stupid, that’s why.

Elise: Uh, Ruth I was just explaining to the readers that I write funny, sexy books that are fast-paced and a lot of fun to read.

An Affair to Dismember by Elise SaxRuth: I guess that’s true. They’re pretty zany, too. But you made my life pretty miserable in Matchpoint…all those crazy cult people invading my shop and all wasn’t too much fun for ME, I can tell you.

Elise: Ruth, let me interrupt you there. I think you have to say SPOILER ALERT when you talk about the plot like that.

Ruth: And Gladie going off with those two handsome men at once in Matchpoint. I don’t know how she felt about that little plot device. I mean, a woman can get tired. Not me, of course, but Gladie seemed tired. You know, you could give ME two handsome men in the plot. How come you never did that?

Elise: Well, Gladie is the main character, and well…

Ruth: Or even ONE handsome man. What’s the matter writer lady? You think I’m too elderly and feisty for two handsome men? Sheesh! Yep, you look and act like a coffee drinker. Get out of my shop!

Elise: But I didn’t get my latte! Ahem, well, that’s an example of one of my characters in Matchpoint. Don’t be afraid. The others are quite as…feisty.

Elise SaxAbout Elise Sax
Elise Sax worked as a journalist for fifteen years, mostly in Paris, France. She took a detour from journalism and became a private investigator before trying her hand at writing fiction. She lives in Southern California with her two sons. An Affair to Dismember, the first in the Matchmaker mystery series, is her first novel.To learn more about Elise, check out her website and blog. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads,and YouTube.

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Elise is giving away gift cards — one winner gets a $50 card for Amazon, and two winners get a choice of a $10 card at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bewitching Book Tours

Review: Matchpoint by Elise Sax

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Matchpoint by Elise SaxFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Genre: Romantic suspense
Series: The Matchmaker, #2
Length: 290 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Released: July 30, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Since joining the family matchmaking business run by her eccentric Grandma Zelda, Gladie is always looking for love. But when an unbearable toothache knocks her out of commission and into the dentist’s chair, she prays only for relief. No such luck. Emerging from an anesthetic haze, Gladie awakes to find that not only is her tooth still throbbing, but her dentist is dead—and the lead suspect in the murder, office receptionist Belinda, just so happens to be Gladie’s first real client. Now it’s up to Gladie to find Belinda a man and keep her from being locked up behind bars.

As if that weren’t enough distraction, two gorgeous men are vying for Gladie’s attention: Spencer, the playboy chief of police, and Holden, Gladie’s secretive, gorgeously muscled neighbor. Still, Gladie’s not complaining about having a helping hand or two when the case leads her to a dangerously bizarre cult. She may have met her match—and if she’s not careful, it could be her last.

My Review:

I sympathize with Gladie, I don’t like going to the dentist either! But Matchpoint is about way more than a bloody clever way to avoid getting your teeth drilled.

Gladys Burger is California’s answer to Stephanie Plum. And so far (this is Gladie’s second case) it’s a damn good answer. Because Gladie seems to be making up her mind about a few things. And her zany relatives are both fewer in number and considerably on the sane side of the fence.

Gladie has come to Cannes, California to go into the matchmaking business with her Grandma Zelda. Not only does Zelda really have a gift for making matches, she’s positive that Gladie has it too. So far, Gladie has caught more murderers than she’s matched couples (see An Affair to Dismember for details of Gladie’s first case, oops, I meant match).

Everyone in town remembers Gladie’s gift for matching murderers with police handcuffs, so they want her to catch the killer this time, too. Especially since Gladie was right there at the scene of the crime. Unfortunately, she was knocked out by anesthesia while someone offed the dentist and removed his face. She just had the misfortune to find his faceless (not headless, faceless!) corpse.

Faces are a big deal in this case. One of the two men possibly vying for Gladie’s affections (of course there are two) is the hot manwhore police chief, who is being chased by all the women on Facebook (yes, I do mean Facebook) who all think they are “in a relationship” with him. There’s a “Keystone Kops” aspect to the chase that is much funnier than it should be.

Gladie’s other romantic possibility is her mysterious next-door-neighbor, the man with no past.

And the aliens have invaded Cannes. Okay, they’re not really aliens. It’s a cult that believes the aliens are about to arrive in their UFO. The townspeople are ready to murder the entire bunch of alien-lovers.

But no one is hunting the dentist’s face-stealing murderer. Except Gladie. Naturally, there is someone hunting her. Because no one involved in this comedy of suspenseful errors is exactly who they seem to be. Except Gladie.

Escape Rating B: Matchpoint is every bit as much fun as An Affair to Dismember (review here), or possibly even a bit more.

An Affair to Dismember by Elise SaxGladie has been with her Grandma Zelda four months, and she is starting to settle into life in Cannes. The author has got her characters and background built too. The story is just a bit tighter than the first book, and everything clips along just that much faster.

The citizens of Cannes are an absolute hoot. The sideplot of the police chief’s sleeping around was not just funny but built on the characterization from Affair, as did the hilarious send-up of the Trouble wedding.

I could still do with a bit less of Gladie’s fat-shaming, but the quotes from Zelda’s matchmaker’s tips that start each chapter are winners every single time.

There is a mystery in Matchpoint, and it’s not obvious. The red herrings were quite carefully planted. I kind of figured out who towards the end, but definitely not why. The alien lovers proved a terrific distraction, even if I never did figure out quite what they were up to. Or care. Watching them drive the townspeople into a tizzy was much too much fun.

Most importantly Gladie made a romantic decision, which I will not reveal. It made sense in the context of the overall story arc. I just wonder if she sticks to it. And if he proves that he’s capable and worthy of being stuck to in the long run. In the short run (or short bed bounce) both Gladie’s choices were definitely yummy!

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***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

 

Guest Post by author Susannah Sandlin on the Unsung Heroes of Paranormal Romance

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Susannah Sandlin, who is on tour with her Penton Legacy series. Perhaps I should say welcome back? Susannah’s alter ego, Suzanne Johnson, visited me on April 25 to talk about her other fabulous series, The Sentinels of New Orleans (Royal Street, River Road, and the forthcoming Elysian Fields). The Penton Legacy is more paranormal but equally fantastic. I poured through the whole series like an addict, so I hope more are coming!

Take it away Susannah…

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The Unsung Heroines of Paranormal Romance by Susannah Sandlin

We might as well admit it. We read paranormal romance because of the hot guys, right? Sure, there are worlds to save and dragons to slay (well, unless the hot hero IS a dragon, of course). Sure, there are heroines. But it’s the guys we love.

Only, wait a minute. Don’t we need heroines to make heroes out of these guys who (we might as well admit this too) are often on the bullying, mulish side when we first meet them? I think as readers we focus on the heroes, but authors need strong heroines to hold their own with these bad boys and help them find the potential hero lurking inside. I mean, everyone loves Zsadist, right? But without Bella, would he have turned into hero material or continued to self-destruct?

But we also want our heroines to grow and change as well—to have the hero complete something inside them. It shouldn’t be all one-sided, right?

At least those were my thoughts as I went about looking for heroines to help my Penton vampires become heroes.

Redemption by Susannah SandlinAidan Murphy, the hero of Redemption (reviewed here), is a 400ish-year-old Irishman who in his human life was a simple farmer. He had a wife and a young son he loved dearly, but their family story ended tragically and he blames himself. He needs, as the title suggests, redemption. So Aidan needed a level-headed woman who had been through her own blame game but figured out how to survive it, and who could look at him and see the natural leader and compassionate person beneath the vampire. He finds that in a human doctor, Krystal Harris. Krys has been through an abusive past but fought her way out of it. She’s tough and doesn’t want to be managed, so she has trouble trusting anyone enough to relinquish control—or at least share it. Together, Aidan and Krys make a healthy relationship out of a rocky, unhealthy beginning.

Absolution by Susannah SandlinMirren Kincaid, aka The Slayer, is the bad boy of Absolution. Before being turned vampire, Mirren—of Norse/Scottish descent—was a Scottish gallowglass warrior. A killer for hire. After being turned, he became the executioner for the vampire tribunal. He’s dealt a lot of death and torture in his four centuries of living, and he is very good at it. Until he was asked to do something that made him realize he’d become a monster for people who were worse than the ones he was being sent to kill. So he’s filled with self-loathing and badly in need of absolution. It comes in the unlikely guise of a tough motor-mouth named Gloriana Cummings. Glory has her own issues, because she’s never been accepted. She isn’t well-educated. But she’s resilient and smart, realistic and brutally honest. She doesn’t give a crap about Mirren’s past, because she sees who he is now. Together, Mirren and Glory make an odd, but healthy, twosome.

Omega by Susannah SandlinWill Ludlam, the hero of Omega, is known around the community of Penton as the playboy of the vampire world. He uses his devastatingly good looks and quick charm to keep a wall around himself a mile wide. Because Will has the biggest, most horrible secrets of all of them, and he has no intention of letting anyone in. Especially his annoying partner doing security patrols around Penton, who hates men—especially him. Randa Thomas has only been turned vampire five years, while she was on active duty in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Growing up in a military family surrounded by alpha males, she’s had to be tougher, smarter and better than her brothers and father to prove herself. Now she’s a newbie vampire and having to prove herself all over again. Will’s just the kind of guy she hates—rich, smooth-talking, and has had everything handed to him. So you just KNOW these two are going to make an interesting couple.

Next up, in a few months, we will find out what makes our psychiatrist-turned-vampire Cage Reynolds tick. And who will be the one to save him…if he can be saved.

p.s. everyone, Absolution  (the 2012 Holt Medallion winner and Prism Award finalist) is $2.99 for Kindle for a limited time.

Susannah SandlinAbout Susannah SandlinSusannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.To learn more about Susannah, visit her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads

Review: Redemption by Susannah Sandlin

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Redemption by Susannah SandlinFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback, audiobook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: The Penton Legacy, #1
Length: 371 pages
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Date Released: June 12, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

The world’s vampire population is on the brink of starvation since the vaccine to treat a global pandemic rendered human blood deadly to them. Their only hope for survival is a handful of rural areas that the vaccine never breached. The tiny town of Penton, Alabama, is one such enclave, where the immortal Aidan Murphy has established a community of vampires and their willingly bonded humans. Together, they live in peace—until Aidan’s estranged brother descends upon the town and begins attacking its humans. Whether the rampage is a result of his centuries-old feud with Aidan or the civil war threatening to erupt in the vampire world matters not. All that matters is the blood. Desperate to save his adopted family, Aidan breaks one of his cardinal rules, kidnapping an unvaccinated human doctor—and unexpectedly falling in love for the first time in nearly four hundred years.

My Review:

The major drawback with eternal life seems to be eternal politics…at least if you’re a vampire. Live and let live does not seem to be part of the personality that survives the change, or at least part of the personality of those that survive changing.

Nor, it seems, do the bonds of family or brotherly love. At least not the family you’re born to. The family you make seems to be something else altogether. Susannah Sandlin’s Penton Legacy series is very much about the bonds a person (or vampire) takes by choice being much stronger than the bonds of blood.

Ahem.

Aiden Murphy is the vampire mayor of Penton, Alabama. Now there’s a strange concept. He’s also a 400-year-old Irish farmer. Of course he’s a vampire. Which doesn’t negate either of the other two things. Aiden has turned away from just a hunter and a killer. Penton really is a town, in every sense of the word. His vampires cooperate with the humans among them. He could enthrall and enslave them, but Aiden believes it’s better to work together, and so does every vampire in his scathe. All 50 of them. And their entire human community are volunteers.

Having a scathe of 50 warriors may make Aiden the most powerful master vampire in North America. His community is a threat to the Vampire Tribunal, or it may be a way for all of them to survive, if they can get their heads out of their aristocratic asses and see the humans as partners instead of prey.

All some of them see is a rare feast after a vampire pandemic. Humans suffered a worldwide epidemic, which they cured with a vaccine. Humans aren’t aware that the vaccine rendered human blood poison to vamps. Very few humans are not vaccinated–think polio. Vampires are starving worldwide.

Except in Penton. All of the human members of Aiden’s little paradise are vaccine-free. They’re protected.

Until the Tribunal sends Aiden’s long-lost (and well-lost) brother Owen to destroy the community and kill Aiden. Killing Aiden will release his protection and provide a fresh banquet for all those starving vamps.

The first casualty of this war between brothers is the town doctor. His replacement: a woman who holds the key to Aiden’s locked-up heart, but only if he breaks all the rules he has come to live by.

And only if she dies first.

Absolution by Susannah SandlinEscape Rating B+: First of all, this book was just plain fun. I not only read it straight through, but immediately started the second book in the series, Absolution, the instant I finished it. So far, the series is absolutely terrific vampire toffee. I’ve bitten into it and I can’t unstick myself.

Dr. Krystal Harris is the kidnapped doctor heroine. The romance between Krys and Aiden contains more than a touch of Stockholm Syndrome! She’s kidnapped and falls in love with her kidnapper. Just because it gets “lampshaded” doesn’t make it not be there. And Krys was abused by her father, which was the explanation for why she had no confidence in herself and no friends. It felt like just one tick too much tragedy in her background. YMMV. And she and Aiden seemed to be set up for the “fated mate” trope into the bargain.

But I enjoyed their story so much that I completely overlooked all of it and went along for the ride. Aiden and Krys are two very wounded people who actually do belong together. They both resisted falling for each other in ways that were hot to watch/read.

And the set up of the community of Penton along with the worldbuilding as a whole were terrific. The idea that if there were vampires, they wouldn’t want us to know (of course) and they would or would not adjust to changes in the world. Aiden’s cooperative model vs. the Tribunal’s coercive operation. I could see why the people who chose to live in Penton would make those choices.

Also, the characters of the rest of Aiden’s scathe were worth reading about, and not just the vamps who are the heroes of the next books in the series. 400 years plus gives a person a lot of time to develop some serious quirks.

Susannah Sandlin is the alter-ego of Suzanne Johnson, the author of Royal Street and River Road (reviewed here and here) She’s definitely worth reading whether she’s writing about vampires in Alabama or ghosts and witches in New Orleans!

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***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter by Jillian Stone + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways
The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter by Jillian StoneFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Phaeton Black, Paranormal Investigator #3
Length: 289 pages
Publisher: Kensington Books
Date Released: June 25, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

From steam-powered bunkers to steamy boudoirs, paranormal detective Phaeton Black knows his way around Victorian London. But sometimes, when you slip down a rabbit hole, there’s no turning back. . .

If The Portal’s A-Rockin’

Phaeton Black is missing. Sucked into an alternative universe–courtesy of Professor Lovecraft’s Trans-Dimensional Injection Portal–the illustrious investigator is nowhere to be found. Even the bewitching Miss America Jones, who’s pregnant with Phaeton’s child, has no clue to his whereabouts. But when a spy fly’s microphone picks up Phaeton’s voice in the parlors of Paris, she enlists his dearest friends to track him down–before his deadliest enemies find him first. . .

Don’t Come A-Knockin’

Accompanied by the dashing Dr. Exeter, his delightful ward Mia, and a trusty duo of Nightshades, it’s off to the City of Lights for the determined Miss Jones. Unfortunately, there is something about Paris in the fall that brings out the devil in Dr. Exeter–and the beast in mild-mannered Mia, whose animal urges transform her into a gorgeous panther. With physical reality unraveling on both sides of the cosmic rift, the good doctor must extract Phaeton Black from the clutches of a diabolical techno-wizard–or both could lose the women they love to love. . .forever.

My Review:

Any romance reader who loves the “when I kissed the teacher” trope, known slightly more formally as the “lessons in seduction” story, is going to adore The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter. This story, set in the paranormal, steampunkish, alternative universe invented by Jillian Stone of her Phaeton Black series, is firmly (pun definitely intended) of that vein.

Dr. Exeter being the teacher who both educates and gets seduced by his student, Mia.

Mia is legally an adult, but she has been Exeter’s ward for the past ten years. He’s seen her grow from child to woman and he’s having a difficult time changing how he thinks about her. Mia, on the other hand, has no problem whatsoever seeing him as the only man she’ll ever love.

Exeter wants a normal life for Mia. It’s not going to happen. Mia is a shapeshifter, and her other form is a deadly panther. The only way that Exeter, a powerful sorcerer in his own right, has discovered that she might be able to control her form shifting, is through sexual release. Not only can neither Exeter nor Mia bear the thought of another man initiating her sexually, but who else can either of them trust with the secret of her other identity?

Meanwhile, Mia must gain control of her cat. Their friend Phaeton Black is still in the hands of the alternate world wizard Propero, and his lover America Jones is very near her delivery date with their child. The child will have special powers, and needs the protection of everyone in Phaeton’s circle. The baby needs her father back, but the number of nefarious powers at work seems to be growing.

In the middle of these plots and counter-plots, Exeter is increasingly distracted by the depth of his new-found feelings for Mia. He starts out with the intention of helping her control her power, but discovers that in addition to Mia’s sexual awakening, he experiences an emotional awakening that shakes him.

It’s amazing how many times he has to let her go before he can be convinced that he belongs with her. Being a powerful wizard does not make a man any more knowledgeable about the matters of his own heart.

Escape Rating B+: The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter is a very erotic variation on the lessons in seduction story. The need to control Mia’s panther shifting provides a fantastic excuse for those lessons and for Exeter to put down the barriers between guardian and ward that he has maintained for ten years. This was foreshadowed in the previous book in the series, The Moonstone and Miss Jones (reviewed here). so I’ve been looking forward to this story.

The worldbuilding of this alternate version of London (and Paris) is definitely a continuation of the Phaeton Black series. To understand about the Moonstone and who they are rescuing, you’ll need to have read the whole series, starting with The Seduction of Phaeton Black (reviewed here). For anyone who likes steamy steampunk, this is not exactly a hardship. The series is tremendously good dirty fun.

I would love to see more in this world. While the dangling issues from Moonstone were resolved in this story in addition to Mia and Exeter’s love story, there were a whole bunch of things from this alternate world that I would like to see explored. Could we go back? Please?

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

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***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.