Friday, October 31, 2014

P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast Redeemed Blog Tour with a Giveaway and Review



I am so excited to have P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense with a Giveaway and Review.

Thanks P.C., Kristin and Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. for allowing me to join your Redeemed Blog Tour!

Please take it away, P.C. and Kristin!







Giveaway

Think you have what it takes fight the darkness with Zoey? Can you wield Old Magick effortlessly like Neferet?

To celebrate the launch of REDEEMED, P.C. and Kristin Cast teamed up with some great companies, like Sinful Colors, 21 Drops, Jamberry, Chrislie, Baby Blue Designs, and For Strange Women, to put together “Goddess Gifts” filled with goodies that represent main characters in the books.

Celebrate the goddess within. Enter to win a Goddess Gift. #HONRedeemed  

Websites for the brands
Chrislie Formulations http://www.chrislie.com/

And be sure to check out the epic finale to P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast’s House of Night series, REDEEMED http://www.amazon.com/Redeemed-House-Night-Novels-Cast/dp/0312594445/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0 

Only US participants (prize being shipped by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc) please, thanks!

The giveaway runs till November 14th.

Follow My Blog Friday #207



If you are new to the FF fun, Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers. Feature & Follow Friday is now hosted by TWO hosts, myself of course and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Now to make this FF interesting we do a FEATURE blogger. If you are interested in becoming a Feature click on the drop down link above FEATURES and Features and Follow Friday and get on the waiting list!  It is also required, that if you participate you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and the two Feature blogs.

This Meme is hosted by Rachel from Parajunkee Review and Alison from Alison Can Read on Fridays.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1.  (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee and Alison Can Read}

2.  (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers

3.  Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.

4.  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.

5.  If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed

6.  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”

7.  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love and the followers.

8.  If you’re new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!



Q: When did you start blogging?

A: I started blogging in May of 2011, It has been 3 years now and the time flew by so fast I can’t even believe it.

Q: What is your favorite part of book blogging?

A: Honestly it’s when I read the comments and stuff that people have to say about the book, I especially love bonding with people over our favorite books.

Q: What type of books do you mainly blog about?

A: Young adult, New Adult, Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary…

Q: What is your favorite book(s)?

A: Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead, The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I am going to stop there because if I mentioned all of them this list would never end haha.

Q: What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

A: The best has to be the people that I’ve met while blogging, We have so much in common and it’s just so awesome and I always felt so alone because none of my real life friends like reading, so meeting those people online and talking to them is honestly the best thing to happen to me ever since I started blogging.

Our Feature - A Thousand Words, A Million Books

1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging eight months ago- on the 24th of March! I remember that day so clearly, because I was supposed to be studying for my physics final, but was too excited with blogger and everything bloggy to concentrate!

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

I'm going to answer this in two parts (cheating, I know, but still:P)

-- the whole array of new books I've gotten the opportunity to read- that I wouldn't have heard of or seen, due to the fact that I live in India!

-- the second is that I have the freedom to do what I want with my blog- I can write any way I feel like, play around with posts and the overall layout when I want, and just the sense that this is entirely my own (which is big, to someone who is still in school- in my country at least!)

3. What type of books do you mainly blog about?

I mainly blog about YA books, as, well, they're awesome- and I'm a young adult! I do some NA, and some Adult, but very little.

4. What are your favorite books?

Even if someone held me at gunpoint, I could never answer this question. So, I usually go with the most recent - favourite book I've read - Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis! P.s. It's BRILLIANT!

5. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?


The answer is the same as my second - that I've gotten the chance to dig deeper into the world of books, with freedom to do what I want, and also, all of the AMAZING books I've won!

Question of the Week: What books would you give to newbies in your favorite genre? (Ex. I'm a newbie to high fantasy and EVERYONE said to ease into it with the Throne of Glass series!)

Paranormal

Dance With the Devil (The Dark Hunters #4) - Sherrilyn Kenyon
Lover Awakened (The Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) - J.R. Ward

Romantic Suspense

Naked in Death (In Death #1) - J.D. Robb
One Summer - Karen Robards
Maggie's Child - Karen Robards
Any Allison Brennan books
Any Karen Rose books
Any Sandra Brown books
Any Beverly Barton books














Thursday, October 30, 2014

Shelley Coriell The Buried Blog Tour with a Giveaway, Review and Spotlight



I am so excited to have Shelley Coriell here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Giveaway, Review and Spotlight.

Thanks Shelley and Hachette Book Group for allowing me to join your The Buried Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Shelley!


 





About the Author:

A former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and restaurant reviewer. These days Shelley writes smart, funny novels for teens and big, edgy romantic suspense. A six-time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, she lives and loves in Arizona with her family and the world's neediest rescue Weimaraner. When she's not behind the keyboard, you'll find her baking high-calorie, high-fat desserts and haunting local farmers markets for the perfect plum.

Social Media Links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

 




THE BURIED by Shelley Coriell (October 28, 2014; Forever Mass Market; $8.00)
"It's cold. And dark. I can't breathe."


Successful, ambitious state prosecutor Grace Courtemanche is at the top of her game. Then she gets a chilling call from a young woman claiming to be buried alive. Desperate to find the victim before it's too late, Grace will do whatever it takes even if it means excavating the darkest secrets of her own past and turning to the one man she thought she would never see again.

FBI agent Theodore "Hatch" Hatcher is a man without roots-and that's the way he likes it. But when a grisly crime shatters Cyprus Bend, Florida, Hatch is dragged back to the small town - and the one woman-he hoped was in his rearview for good. Forced to confront the wreckage of their love affair, Hatch and Grace may just find that sometimes the deepest wounds leave the most beautiful scars-and that history repeating itself may just be what they need to stop a killer and save their own hearts.

Buy Links:

B&N
BAM!
iBooks
IndieBound
Amazon
GooglePlay


Excerpt


Hatch slipped his gun into the holster at his back and walked up the steps of Grace’s back porch. Instead of going inside, he settled his elbows on the rickety railing and stared out at the black. Like the young women buried in those wooden coffins, he and the others trying to crack this case were in the dark. The splintered wood dug into his elbows.

But his team was at his back. Jon was in the middle of the hunt. Hayden, a world-renowned criminal profiler, was walking in a killer’s shoes and getting into the twisted place that was this unsub’s head, and Berkley was giving the killer a face. He smiled. And maybe he’d call Evie, the SCIU’s bombs and weapons specialist. His fiery little teammate had a way of lighting things up. Grace had called the group he worked with his family. He’d always called them his team. They were the men and women he’d fight for and put his life on the line for. Wasn’t that what one did for family? Wasn’t that what he was doing for Alex? For Grace?

His head lolled forward and hung between his forearms. The steamy swamp was clouding his brain again, blurring and tumbling his truths. The first time here the fog had been so thick he couldn’t see anything beyond Grace.

A wedge of light cut across the porch, and Grace’s bare feet padded across the rough boards. She joined him at the railing but said nothing.

He aimed his interlaced hands at the pitch black night. “No bogeymen.”

More silence. She was probably thinking again. About Janis’s fight for her life, about the killer’s next move, about old bones. Grace didn’t know how to unwind and shut down, something that usually came as natural as breathing to him. He sucked in a long breath of warm, soupy night air clogging his throat.

Grace raised an arm, her fingertips sliding down his back, the touch so light it may have been more about him wanting her touch than her actual touch. Shifting so she stood behind him, she ran her other hand down his back. He pulled in a breath, the air sliding through his lungs now lighter and sweeter and cooler. Her fingers brushed along his waist and slipped under his shirt, skin settling on skin.

Every muscle in his torso tightened, trapping the sweet breath in his lungs. And still her fingers traveled, gliding along his ribs, across his chest. His lower body stirred. She pressed against his back, her thighs and midsection molding to his. This time his lower body quaked, sending a tremor to his brain.

He settled his hands over hers. “Whoa there, Princess.” He spun so they were shadowy face to shadowy face. “What’s this all about?”

Grace’s tongue darted over her lips, more nervous than naughty. “Bacon.”

He blinked. “Bacon?”

She knotted her fingers in the bottom of his shirt. “Bacon, Theodore. I am bacon. You are bacon.” With each line, she drew him closer. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip. “You do like bacon, don’t you?”

“It’s…uh…nice. I’m partial to hickory smoked. With grits. And eggs. Over easy.” Easy. Yeah, it would be so damned easy to pull Grace into his arms. He jammed his hands in his pockets because letting them slip across Grace’s skin would take them to a place neither one of them needed to go.

Grace’s lips curved in a soft smile. She rose on her toes, her breath fanning his neck, his jaw. Her hands, her mouth, her words, everything about Grace was so soft and easy. The fog. Must be the fog. A gauzy steam blurred everything but the woman before him. Too close. She was way too close.

He unclenched his hands and settled them on her arms. “I’m not sure what this is all about, but last time we talked about this, about us, forever wasn’t on the table, at least not for me, and that’s still the case.”

“I know.” Her sweet breath danced across his skin.

“Damn it.” He pushed her away, out of arm’s reach. He needed space between them. An ocean would be nice. “Then why are you doing this?”

She closed the space between them in half a heartbeat but didn’t touch him. “Because old dogs die and newborn babies never get a chance to live.” Her lips trembled. “And because someday soon you’ll sail off into the sunset.” She lifted her hands in surrender. “And there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it, any of it. So until then, Hatch, I’m going to make the most of every moment I have with you, and according to Allegheny Blue’s vet, that means having an extra slice or two of bacon.”


Giveaway



http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/26635ce2115/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Manga and Manhwa Wish List



Please list the books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga from your wishlist that you are hoping to add to your shelves in a comment, thanks.


Manga:









After orphan Teru Kurebayashi loses her beloved older brother, she finds solace in the messages she exchanges with DAISY, an enigmatic figure who can only be reached through the cell phone her brother left her. Meanwhile, mysterious Tasuku Kurosaki always seems to be around whenever Teru needs help… Could DAISY be a lot closer than Teru thinks?

Teru gets kidnapped, and Kurosaki rushes to find out where she’s being held. The search takes him to an uninhabited island where Akira is determined to find “M’s Last Testament.” With the entire island rigged to blow up, will Kurosaki save both Teru and Akira in time?








A bargain omnibus edition of the bestselling romantic comedy — final omnibus volume includes all-new material (previously unpublished Volumes 14 and 15 of the series)! Hapless Haruna needs help finding a boyfriend! After failing to win the eye of any guy in high school, Haruna enlists the help of cute upperclassman Yoh to coach her on how to make herself more appealing to the male spec ies. Yoh agrees, with one catch: Haruna had better not fall for him!

Friendship and love are put to the test when Yoh’s friend Asaoka reveals that he likes Haruna. The two boys strike a deal — whoever loses the school sports meet will give up on her! Later, Haruna grapples with an unattractive girl who’s obsessed with Yoh… But can Haruna win against jealousy and sabotage? 










Anise Yamamoto has been told that if she ever removes the rose choker given to her by her father, a terrible punishment will befall her. Unfortunately she loses that choker when a bat-like being falls from the sky and hits her. Anise is granted four cards representing four knights whom she can summon with a kiss. But now that she has these gorgeous men at her beck and call, what exactly is her quest?







Kaoruko Mochizuki runs an herb shop in a small seaside town. One day, a mysterious man dressed in black named Kaname Hibiki enters her shop and reveals that Kaoruko is actually a witch. And what’s more, Kaoruko needs Kaname to help control her awakening power!

The only thing that can keep Kaoruko’s powers in check is a kiss from Kaname, but she can’t help but be drawn to him! While Kaname struggles with his own growing attraction to Kaoruko, he suspects that Kaoruko’s volatile powers will bring unwanted attention from the Black Witches Coven with dangerous consequences for her!










Dimitri Lewandoski is a celebrated tenor in early 1900s Vienna. When he is killed in an accident, his corpse is colonized by the seeds of a vampire master. At first, Dimitri denies that anything has changed, but as the people around him start dying, he is forced to accept the ghastly truth.

Flash-forward to 2008. In Tokyo, Azusa Kikukawa agrees to sacrifice herself as the next breeding ground for the vampire group in exchange for Dimitri healing her fatally wounded young boyfriend. But now that the deal is struck, Azusa finds herself in a strange house and a strange body, surrounded by the men she must choose from for her deadly embrace.




 





High school student Maron Kusakabe has a secret: she’s Phantom Thief Jeanne. She sneaks into private art collections to steal paintings in which demons reside. Jeanne’s task is to seal the demons before they can devour human hearts. So far she’s been able to evade the police on her midnight outings, but now another thief has come onto the scene — Phantom Thief Sinbad — and he’s trying to take the paintings before she does!

Wednesday Wish List



Please list the books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga from your wishlist that you are hoping to add to your shelves in a comment, thanks.










It had to end sometime, but Mara had no idea it would end like this. Experience the mind-blowing conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer trilogy.

*The entire first print run will be signed by the author, Michelle Hodkin.*

Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.

Retribution has arrived.

*The entire first print run will be signed by the author, Michelle Hodkin.*


 





National bestselling author Shannon K. Butcher returns with the electrifying fourth novel in her action-packed, romantic Edge series.

The covert organization known as the Edge is in full rescue mode, having been ordered to find the victims of the dreaded Threshold Project — and also to bring Adam Brink into the fold. Brink previously worked for Threshold, and may know how to stop the terror.

Mira Sage knows Adam’s dark past. She’s created a database of Threshold survivors whose lives were destroyed by the experiments of the twisted Dr. Stynger — and is driven to save them. If working with the duplicitous Adam will help her, she’ll play along.

Even as Mira secretly seeks to prove Adam is still a traitor, Adam has his own agenda that no one must discover. But when the two find their goals pointing in the same direction, Mira will be tested to believe in the one man she can’t trust. The one man she can’t resist.










NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED

On the planet Celta, accepting a HeartMate can be the greatest challenge in the universe.


Antenn, an architect hired to build a cathedral in Druida City, dares not think of his HeartMate. Even though he yearns for her, he’s taken steps to ensure she will be forever unknown to him. After all, how could he, a commoner who grew up in the slums, the brother of a murderer, be worthy of any woman?

Tiana, a priestess, has her own fears about being a HeartMate. She's watched her friends struggle with such a stormy destiny. She's sure her HeartMate has never claimed her due to a terrible scandal involving her Family, and she's set aside hopes for love.

Antenn's gotten the commission of his life. The cathedral will make him famous, but more, it will last for ages and prove to others he can contribute to Celta if the controversial structure isn't destroyed while being built. Tiana, too, is an integral part of this process, but the villain who wrecked her Family is ready with firebombs. Can they trust each other in dangerous circumstances to succeed and to love?









For some, nothing says comfort food like creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, a bubbling potpie or even a pizza loaded savory toppings. For others, a wedge of chocolate cake, creamy milkshakes or freshly baked bread offer enough satisfaction to soothe the soul. Whatever comfort food you and your family enjoy most, you’re sure to find it in this enormous collection of favorites from Taste of Home.

The mac & cheese is hot, bubbling and just begging to be served. But this is no ordinary pasta, it’s loaded with bacon, two kinds of cheese and topped with buttery bread crumbs, and it’s a dish you and everyone you share it with will never forget. The Double-Cheese Mac with Bacon (p.140) you see on the cover is just one of more than 475 home-style recipes in Taste of Home Ultimate Comfort Food Imagine being greeted by the aroma of freshly baked bread or experiencing the anticipation of a slow cooked stew. The nine chapters in this book touch on all the senses, from the smell of sizzling bacon in the morning to the intense taste of a rich dark-chocolate cake. All the comforts you know and love are here: the chicken soup your mom used to make; the gingerbread men you decorated as a kid; the grilled cheese you turn to on a rainy day. Organized by course and cooking method, you’ll find just the thing you’re craving for a leisurely brunch, Sunday dinner or casual potluck. We believe all of the dishes in this book have a special place in your lives, but there are some familiar classics that are universally recognized as pure comfort. We’re talking about the best-ever meatloaf and mashed potatoes, golden biscuits and gravy, savory chicken potpie the meals The Ultimate Comfort Food cookbook would not complete without. Look for the ULTIMATE Comfort icon throughout this book to identify these time-honored recipes, as well as the kid FRIENDLY icon for childhood favorites your kids will love.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

New Releases 2014 (Oct 28)




 




New Releases












Don't Look

At first, they struggle to escape. Then a torrent of blows rains down upon their bodies until their eyes cloud over in final agony. The killer shows no remorse -- just a twisted need to witness each victim's last terrified moments.

Don't Speak

Public defender Rachel Wainwright is struggling to reopen a decades-old case, convinced that the wrong man is in prison. Homicide detective Deke Morgan doesn't want to agree. But if Rachel's hunch is correct, whoever fatally bludgeoned young, beautiful Annie Dawson thirty years ago could be the source of a new string of brutal slayings.

Just Prepare To Die

Rachel's investigation is about to reveal answers -- but at a price she never thought to pay. Now she's become the target of a rage honed by years of jealousy and madness. And a murderer is ready to show her just how vicious the truth can be.









Rare and never-before published short stories featuring fan favorites from the New York Times bestselling series.

It’s been more than ten years since Kelley Armstrong began the Otherworld series and drew legions of fans to a realm roamed by witches, werewolves, necromancers, vampires, and half-demons. Many of the novels have become bestselling favorites, but not all of the Otherworld adventures have been easy to find. At last, Otherworld Nights shares short stories that have previously been available only online or in obscure collections. Fans have long been clamoring for this anthology and they won’t be disappointed — they’ll find plenty of surprises are in store.









TWIN KILLING

Agent Sam Ryan wants out of the Special Investigations Unit. She’s sick of the attitude from her partner, Gabriel Stern. She’s sick of the paperwork. Most of all, she’s sick of feeling lonely. But her boss isn’t about to let her go that easily. He gives Sam a choice: either stay stuck in her office or guard a clone replacement of Dan Wetherton, a government minister. Sam reluctantly chooses the latter.

Gabriel would like nothing better than to be on his own, without a partner to hold him back. Then he learns that Sam has been assigned to protect Wetherton — or whatever it is that’s replaced him. Wetherton’s clone could have come from only one place: Hopeworth, the military base that contains the secrets of Sam’s past. Determined to protect her, Gabriel is drawn into a fight against unspeakable evil. And all too soon, Sam and Gabriel discover that the connection between them is far more powerful than anyone could ever have imagined.








From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a trilogy about the land we’re drawn to, the family we learn to cherish, and the people we long to love.

Book Three of The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy:

Blood Magick


County Mayo is rich in the traditions of Ireland, legends that Branna O’Dwyer fully embraces in her life and in her work as the proprietor of The Dark Witch shop, which carries soaps, lotions, and candles for tourists, made with Branna’s special touch.

Branna’s strength and selflessness hold together a close circle of friends and family — along with their horses and hawks and her beloved hound. But there’s a single missing link in the chain of her life: love.

She had it once — for a moment — with Finbar Burke, but a shared future is forbidden by history and blood. Which is why Fin has spent his life traveling the world to fill the abyss left in him by Branna, focusing on work rather than passion.

Branna and Fin’s relationship offers them both comfort and torment. And though they succumb to the heat between them, there can be no promises for tomorrow. A storm of shadows threatens everything that their circle holds dear. It will be Fin’s power, loyalty, and heart that will make all the difference in an age-old battle between the bonds that hold their friends together and the evil that has haunted their families for centuries.

Don’t miss the first two books in the Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy:

Dark Witch and Shadow Spell — even though she suspects she’s being used as bait to draw out the SIU’s elusive nemesis.









From the glittering ballrooms to the scaffold’s dark shadow, Lovely Velvet Moran has renounced all thoughts of love. To save her family from ruin, she will wed the hard-faced Duke of Carlyle. But instead of becoming a nobleman’s bride, Velvet finds herself a notorious highwayman’s prize — her resolve to escape his forest lair warring with the wicked heat sparked by his caresses.

the path of temptation keeps unfolding

Falsely branded a murderer, Jason Sinclair has secretly returned to clear his name and stop the wedding that would deny him his stolen dukedom. In an outlaw masquerade, he’ll kidnap this sensuous minx and detain her as long as is necessary. But can he bridle the surge of passion that has captured his soul and could imperil them both?

Karina Halle Shooting Stars Launch Blog Tour with a Giveaway




I am so excited to have Karina Halle here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Book Launch.

Thanks Karina and Hachette Book Group for allowing me to join your Shooting Stars Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Karina!







About Karina Halle

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and the USA Today Bestselling author of Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, and other wild and romantic reads. She lives in a 1920s farmhouse on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karina-Halle/140649372629593
http://authorkarinahalle.com/
@MetalBlonde

Buy links
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1pRzvHO
Books-A-Million: http://bit.ly/10vzP9e
IndieBound: http://bit.ly/1pRzovM
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1zdQpZr







About SHOOTING SCARS

Sometimes the right choice can be the deadliest.

When Ellie Watt made the ultimate sacrifice for Camden McQueen, she never thought it would be easy. But walking away with her ex-lover, Javier Bernal, in order to ensure Camden's safety has brought a whole new set of dangers. With Javier's plans for Ellie growing more secretive by the moment, Ellie must find a way to stay ahead of the game before her past swallows her whole. Meanwhile, Camden's new life is short-lived. Fueled by revenge and pursued by authorities, he teams up with an unlikely partner in order to save Ellie. But as Camden toes the line between love and retribution, he realizes that to get back the woman he loves, he may lose himself in the process and turn into the very man he's hunting.


Excerpt

I hadn’t had a panic attack in weeks so it snuck up on me, like a hand reached around from behind me and began squeezing my lungs until there was no breath left. I started gasping for air, my hand at my throat, trying to take nothing in. Tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks in dirty rivulets and my body began to shake.

“Jesus Christ,” Javier swore, nearly taking the car off the road. “Ellie, Ellie. What’s happening?”

I gulped and gasped unable to stop from crying, panic seizing me all over from my shoulders to my feet and I thrashed back and forth in order to get free.

Next thing I knew, he’d pulled the car down a private dirt road that ran between two orchards and he was undoing my seatbelt. He came around to my side and took me in his arms and away from the car. We disappeared into the orchards, the smell of orange blossoms in the air.

He put me down, propped up against a tree and smoothed the hair off of my face. His sunglasses and baseball cap were gone, his hair mussed, his worried eyes searching me.

“Hey, Ellie,” he said gently, running his hand down the side of my face and feeling the pulse under my jaw. “It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay.”

I shook my head, feeling disgusting and messy and lost. I sobbed. “It’s not going to be okay. I can’t do this, I can’t do this.”

He cupped my face in his hands and forced me to look at him. “You can. And you will. You are strong. You are very strong. Right here.” He lay his hand in the middle of my chest. “You will do this and you will succeed.”

I finally found my breath again, the fresh air flowing down the sun-streaked orchard coming into my lungs. “I will fail.”

“You won’t.”

I sniffed. “I don’t even want this,” I admitted.

He cocked his head and let go of my face. “Then why are you doing this?”

“Because you’re making me!” I cried out. “You’re forcing me to!”

His head jerked back. “I am doing no such thing.”

“You are! You’ll kill my Camden if I don’t.”

I didn’t see the outburst coming. Suddenly Javier was in my face, his skin turning red, his eyes narrowing into viper-like slits, all yellow and full of hate.

“He is not your Camden!” he screamed. I closed my eyes.

“He isn’t here with you now,” he went on, words harsh and short, like bullets. “I am here with you.”

“I know!” I screamed back. “And I hate it! I hate it! I hate you!”

Then before I knew what was happening, I had wound up my hand and slapped him hard across his face. The sound ricocheted down the groves.

I waited, surprised at myself, breathing hard. I watched as his face contorted in the same type of shock. And then something odd flashed across his brow. Something like betrayal. I knew betrayal all too well. I knew it had been on my own face when I found out what Uncle Jim was planning to do.

My dead uncle.

I slapped him again, harder this time, my palm stinging like I was being stabbed with a million tiny knives. “That was for my uncle!” I cried. “You killed him.”

Now I wound up for a punch and decked Javier right in the side of the head. “You killed him,” I repeated, tears streaming down my cheeks again. “You keep taking everyone I love away!”

The whole time, Javier just stayed there. Not ducking my hits, not getting out of the way. He just let me, watching me with that same look upon his face.

“Well, come on!” I screamed. “Hit me back. You know you want to!”

I got up into a crouch and decked him in the head again, my knuckles exploding in pain. “Come on!” I pushed my hands into his shoulders and tried to throw him to the ground. He fell easily, and I threw myself on top of him, throwing punch after punch after punch until he finally reached up and grabbed my wrists with both his hands.

“I’m not going to hit you,” he said, gazing deeply at me with wild eyes, his lip bleeding. “You can hit me all you want but if you’re doing it so I can hit you back, it won’t work. You’ll just break every part of me.”

“I want to break every part of you!” I exclaimed but gave up and collapsed on him. “I want you to break,” I whispered, my head on his chest, my eyes focused absently on an orange tree.

“You have,” he said softly, his hand stroking the back of my head. “I told you that you broke me when you left. And you did. I’m not lying to you.”

“You always lie.”

“No. Not now.” His voice dropped a register.

I raised my head to look at him. He brought his hands on both sides of my cheeks and held me there, his eyes searching me for something.

“Angel,” he said through a breath.

He pulled my face to his, my lips meeting his, slowly. Just a taste of blood and tears. Lips and tongue. The sensation pulled me under, the heat that spread from him and through me, the memories mixing with the smell of orange blossoms. All the pain disappeared as our kiss deepened, all the worry, all the danger melted like my lips and his did together.

It was wrong. So wrong. And I didn’t care. Like I had so many times before, I was willingly bad.  

Giveaway





http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/26635ce2117/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Brenda Novak The Heart of Christmas Blog Tour with Giveaway




I am so excited to have Brenda Novak here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Giveaway.

Thanks Brenda and Goddess Fish Promotions for allowing me to join your The Heart of Christmas Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Brenda!

 




AUTHOR Bio and Links:

New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author of more than fifty books. A four-time Rita nominee, she has won many awards, including the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Daphne, and the Holt Medallion. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised over $2 million. For more about Brenda, please visitwww.brendanovak.com.

Links:

www.brendanovak.com

https://www.facebook.com/BrendaNovakAuthor

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Christmas-Whiskey-Creek-ebook/dp/B00K9ZWHK2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1407782784&sr=1-1&keywords=Brenda+Novak

BarnesandNoble.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heart-of-christmas-brenda-novak/1119221344?ean=9780778316398

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-heart-of-christmas/id877463296?mt=11 








Blurb:

Just call her Christmas Eve

Eve Harmon has always enjoyed Christmas, but this year it reminds her of everything she doesn’t have. Almost all her friends are married now, and that’s what Eve wants, too. Love. A husband and kids of her own. But the B-and-B she manages and even Whiskey Creek, the small Gold Country town where she was born and raised, suddenly seem confining.

As Eve turns thirty-five, she’s worried that her future will simply be a reflection of her past. She’s dated all the eligible men in the area. There’s no one she could even imagine as a husband — until a handsome stranger comes to town. Eve’s definitely attracted to him, and he seems to have the same reaction to her. But his darkly mysterious past could ruin Eve’s happily ever after — just when it finally seems within reach. Just when she’s counting on the best Christmas of her life!


Moving slowly to compensate for her hangover, she managed to prop herself against the headboard and, once there, frowned at her bedmate.

Who the heck was he?

She had no idea, but she was relieved to see that he was no bum off the street. He wasn’t even one of those “he looked a lot more attractive last night” kind of pickups everyone joked about. This guy was so far above average that she began to wonder why he wasn’t already taken. Heaven forbid that was the case! She didn’t see a ring on his left hand, which rested on the pillow above his head. But he had to have some story. If he looked this good sleep-tousled, she could only imagine what he’d be like once he had a chance to clean up.

It was his bone structure, she decided. Those pronounced cheekbones. The narrow bridge across his nicely shaped nose. The distinct ridge of his upper eye sockets. He also had a strong chin and a manly jaw, which certainly didn’t detract.

So maybe she couldn’t point to just one or two features. With his long, sandy-colored hair spread across his pillow, he resembled a fallen angel — and his body further enhanced that image. Although bedding covered his lower half — thank goodness — she could see his torso. He was built like a greyhound or panther, lean and sinewy and ideally proportioned with very little body hair. What body hair he did have was golden and downy, as appealing as his tanned skin.

He’d make a nice subject for a painter, she mused, someone looking for refined masculine beauty — a man who could even be called elegant.

But not everything about him was elegant. When she looked closer, she could see that he had some very unusual scars .

What types of injuries could’ve caused those? she wondered. It seemed to her that he’d been shot, and more than once. Several round, bullet-size marks dotted his chest. Then there was a long, jagged scar on his side that must’ve come from something else….

Out of nowhere — he didn’t open his eyes first, so she had no warning — he grabbed her wrists in a crushing grip and slammed her onto her back.

Eve gasped as she stared up at him. Gone was the image of an angel, fallen or otherwise. Shocked at being so easily and unexpectedly overpowered, she couldn’t even scream. His fierce expression, as if he was intent on causing her bodily harm, made it worse.

Had she brought home a homicidal maniac? Was he about to kill her?

The terror that surged up must’ve shown on her face because he suddenly came to his senses. He gave his head a shake. His expression cleared and, letting go, he eased off her and slid back onto his side of the bed.

“Sorry about that. I thought…” His words trailed off, and he covered his eyes with one arm as if he needed a moment to pull himself together.

Her heart was now pounding in unison with her head. But once she could speak somewhat normally, she prompted him to finish his sentence. “Thought what?”

His lips turned down. “Never mind. I was dreaming.”

She pressed a hand to her chest as though she could slow her galloping pulse. “It couldn’t have been a pleasant dream.”

“They never are,” he muttered.



Giveaway

Brenda will be awarding a $100 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $50 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn host.

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