Friday, December 15, 2017

ARC : The Chosen (Amid the Winter Snow anthology) by Thea Harrison






Blurb:

As the snows fall and hearths burn, four stories of Midwinter beginnings prove that love can fight its way through the chillest night...

THE DARKEST MIDNIGHT, by Grace Draven
The mark Jahna Ulfrida was born with has made her a target of the cruel and idle all her life. During the long, crowded festivities of Deyalda, there’s nowhere to escape. Until a handsome stranger promises to teach her to save herself…

THE CHOSEN, by Thea Harrison
In her visions, Lily sees two men fighting for her tiny country’s allegiance: the wolf and the tiger, each deadly, each cunning. One will bring Ys chaos and death, one a gentler path—but she’s destined to love whichever she chooses. The midwinter Masque is upon them, and the wolf is at her door…

THE STORM, by Elizabeth Hunter
When her soul mate died in a massacre of the half-angelic Irin people, Renata thought she’d never feel happiness again. She’s retreated to the snowy Dolomites to remember her hurts—until determined, irrepressible Maxim arrives to insist on joy, too. And before she can throw him out, they discover a secret the Irin have to know…

THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, by Jeffe Kennedy
As a blizzard threatens their mountain keep, the new Queen Amelia of the Twelve Kingdoms and her unofficial consort Ash face their own storm. Ash knows a scarred, jumpy ex-convict isn’t the companion his queen needs. But when a surprise attack confines them together in their isolated sanctuary, the feast of midwinter might tempt even Ash into childlike hope…



 Review
Its no secret that I have a love affair with Thea Harrison's Elder Races novels. Ever since I read Dragon Bound it has been one of my most favorite [and reread] series. And let's not mention how I feel that if Dragos, Pia and Peanut and their new bundle were real how I'd definitely be invited to Cuelebre manor for dinner. 



But I digress..first off thanks to the author for providing this ARC for an honest review.
The story begins at an abbey that is under siege (and I use that term loosely) by Wulfgar, the Wolf of Braugne. If you're familiar with the Elder Race novels (you don't have to be to completely enjoy this read) then you know about the Other lands that run parallel to present day Earth. There are doorways in different parts of the world that open up to a different dimension where Others live. In these lands sorcery is king and the setting is somewhat medieval. There is no electricity and machines do not work in the Other lands (especially guns).
Wulfgar is at he Camael abbey requesting assistance with his campaign for justice. It is his belief that an Other land King is responsible for the death of his half brother and he needs the abbey's help. Lily is one of the inhabitants of the abbey and is also good friends with Margot, the Prime Minister of the abbey. To build faith, and to not officially put their abbey and their land of Ys under siege, Margot grudgingly agrees to let an abbey liaison assist Wulfgar. Lily is that liaison. 
The abbey itself is full of soldiers and witches. Wulfgar knows that the current winter that the land is in is not natural. He thinks there are weather mages creating such inhospitable weather in order to force him back to his native lands to abandon his campaign. He needs the abbey's assistance to weed them out. Lily discovers more. What begins as a hesitant partnership, each side having ulterior motives, morphs into a partnership and a foundation for something more. 
I know Thea Harrison as never producing anything that doesn't include mounds of action, plenty tension and a good dose of love and steamy love scenes. Her selection in this anthology was no different. I loved the Lily character, but I actually loved Wulfgar's character more. In the midst of a skirmish I got the best sense of who Wulfgar is at his core. He is unrelenting and his strength isn't relegated to just his body, it also includes his purpose. As he fights we get a glimpse of what victory in battle to him is, its pushing your body past the point of necessary functions. Not allowing the need for oxygen or rest to stop you from victory. Wow! That definitely let me know the type of person Wulfgar is. The reader is also privy to Lily's past and how it laid a foundation for her confidence in the goddess of the hearth and what she knows must be done for the survival of Ys. The two, Wulfgar and Lily, make the perfect partnership and I hope they are successful in Wulfgar's quest. I hope TH keeps us readers updated with their progress. This is definitely worth the read.
 

Thursday, December 14, 2017

NEW RELEASE : What the Hail (Hail Raisers #4) by Lani Lynn Vale

Title: What the Hail
Series: Hail Raisers #4
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Genre: MC Romance
Release: December 14, 2017
Model: RJ Ritchie
Photographer: Furiousfotog

He’s wanted her since he repossessed her car and made her cry.
Baylor Hail knew two things. One, he hated crying females. Two, it was even worse when he was the one to make that female cry.
He never meant to do anything but his job, but when one thing leads to another, suddenly all he can think about is the broken woman whose car he towed.
She’s wanted him since he patted her back and told her it was okay to cry even though she knew he was lying. 
Nothing ever goes right for Lark.
Not when she got married. Not when she tried to leave her abusive husband, and not when she arrived in a new town with a fresh, clean slate.
That clean slate came courtesy of a secret organization that specializes in helping abused women find a way out. They set her up with a whole new life. It just turns out that it happened to be right smack dab in the middle of another woman’s old one.
That woman also happens to be down on her luck, something that Lark learns the hard way when on her first day there, her car is towed by a handsome stranger.
It’s been two years since she’s felt any kind of sexual attraction toward a man, and she reacts badly. We’re talking full-on, hysterical breakdown as he loads her car onto his tow truck while looking at her like she’s lost it.
Maybe being crazy isn’t all that bad.
The next thing she knows, she’s spending time with the sexy stranger and life couldn’t be better—even though she still doesn’t have a car.
She thinks she’s in the clear, that she’s got it all figured out… well, that is until her ex-husband finds her again.
Now the ball is in her sexy stranger’s court as he decides whether or not her kind of crazy is worth getting killed over.
Turns out, for Baylor Hail, maybe it is.

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 5, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.

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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Cover Reveal : Law & Beard (The Dixie Warden Rejects #8) by Lani Lynn Vale

Title: Law & Beard
Series: The Dixie Warden Rejects #8
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: March 8, 2018
Photographer: Furious Fotog Cover Model: Joe Adams
Winnie thinks she has the perfect life. Two beautiful, healthy children. A police officer husband. A job that she loves. Oh, and let’s not forget that she’s a nationally ranked marathon runner. Fast forward six months, and her perfect life has imploded. Winnie finds herself in a completely new world, and this new world is a brutal bitch. In this new life of hers, her husband is gone. He realizes, at the worst possible time, that he’s no longer in love with her. He’s in love with her best friend. So he leaves, and doesn’t look back. Her sixteen-year-old daughter is in trouble with the law, and she’s barely making ends meet thanks to losing the job that was keeping her and her tiny family afloat. Then, the last thing that could make it all bearable, her running, is ripped out from under her, too. Thanks to a spinal stroke that leaves her unable to walk, let alone run, she’s having to relearn how to do the simplest of tasks—such as putting on her own pants. She’s at the lowest of lows, and the last thing she wants is a sexy, bearded, motorcycle riding alpha to tell her how to live her life. But Steel Cross never asks her what she wants. *** The moment Steel Cross sees Winnie’s daughter steal some shoes for her younger brother, he knows he’s in trouble. He’s a sucker for misunderstood teens. After all, he was once one himself. He knows he can’t just walk away, and the moment he sees that troubled teen’s mother, he doesn’t just know it, he feels it. Down to the very bottom of his soul. With his share of hard knocks, he knows that he shouldn’t step in and make his move on a fellow police officer’s ex. There’s a code, after all, yet he just can’t seem to help himself. He’s done being the good guy. Sometimes he just wants to be bad. And Winnie makes him realize that being bad is still kind of good. As long as you’re with the right person.

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 8, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.
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