Tag Archives: New Release Reviews 2016

Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2) by J. R. Ward-a review

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BLOOD VOW (Black Dagger Legacy #2) by J. R. Ward-a review

Blood Vow

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 6, 2016

The Black Dagger Brotherhood continues to train the best of the best to join them in the deadly battle against the Lessening Society. Among the new recruits, Axe proves to be a cunning and vicious fighter—and also a loner isolated because of personal tragedy. When an aristocratic female needs a bodyguard, Axe takes the job, though he’s unprepared for the animal attraction that flares between him and the one he is sworn to protect.

•••••••••

REVIEW: BLOOD VOW is the second installment in J. R. Ward’s contemporary, adult BLACK DAGGER LEGACY paranormal, romance series-a spin off from Ward’s number one selling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. BLOOD VOW follows two separate paths that converge and overlap throughout the story. This is BDB recruit Axe, and aristocratic female/ psychology major Elise’s storyline, as well as Mary and Rhage’s struggle to keep their small family together.

NOTE: If you have NOT read THE BEAST there may be some spoilers in my review.

Told from several third person points of view BLOOD VOW looks at family, friendship, brotherhood and love. Axe, a BDB warrior in training has lost everything in his life. Alone, unmated and angry at the world Axe finds himself in need of a quick influx of cash and when an opportunity presents itself our hero ‘volunteers’ to be the personal bodyguard to a member of the glymera. Enter Elise, an aristocratic female vampire, who is struggling for her independence from an over protective father following the recent murder of a female cousin. What ensues is the back and forth developing relationship between a woman of wealth, and a man who believes he is not worthy of love, and the Legacy trainees dangerous encounter with the Lessening Society.

Rhage and Mary couldn’t be happier now that their family has grown with the addition of Bitty- the young, pre-trans female vampire whose earlier years were marked with neglect and abuse. But Rhage and Mary always knew that Bitty was not completely without blood relations and their worst fears are realized when someone answers their social media search. What ensues is Rhage and Mary’s struggle to keep strong facing the possibility of losing the little girl everyone has grown to love.

BLOOD VOW is an emotional story line that divides its’ focus between the The Black Dagger Legacy, and the original BDB characters but I felt that Mary and Rhage’s story line would have been better suited to the original series as it continues the premise started in THE BEAST. Mary and Rhage are NOT part of the Legacy and yet their emotional battle to retain the child that they love takes up a good portion of BLOOD VOW.

All of the previous story line characters play secondary and supporting roles-Paradise, Peyton, Craeg, Novo and Boone, as well as the introduction of Ruhn who may or may not have caught the eye of the BDB’s legal counsel Saxton. Several (if not most) members of the Black Dagger Brotherhood have cameo roles throughout the story including our resident fallen angel Lassiter whose Christmas plans are left hanging in the balance.

BLOOD VOW is a remarkable story line; an engaging, creative and spirited look at one couple’s struggle to keep their family together; and one man’s desire to be accepted by the woman that he loves. The premise is dramatic and heartbreaking; the characters are colorful and energetic; the romance is passionate and intense. J. R. Ward’s BLOOD VOW is a revealing and intense story of family and love.

Reading Order and previous reviews
Blood Kiss
Blood Vow

Copy supplied by the publisher

Reviewed by Sandy

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Leopard’s Fury (Leopard Series #9) by Christine Feehan-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

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LEOPARD’S FURY (Leopard Series #9) by Christine Feehan-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

Leopard's Fury Banner

LEOPARD’S FURY
Leopard Series #9
by Christine Feehan
Release Date: November 8, 2016
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, paranormal romance

Leopard's Fury

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / The Book Depository /

About the book: Release Date November 8, 2016

Passion melts the will of an ice-cold criminal when he meets the one woman who can tame the beast inside him.

With her own bakery in San Antonio, Evangeline Tregre made a new life far from the brutal lair of shifters she was born into. Though she is all too aware of her leopard-shifter blood, she never felt the sensation of a wild animal stirring inside her. Not until Alonzo Massi walked into her bakery. The powerful shifter is as irresistible as he is terrifying, but his icy demeanor tells her to keep her distance.

Alonzo knows better than to let himself get involved with someone like Evangeline. She doesn’t deserve the type of danger that follows him, or the threat of his Amur leopard. But even with his lean muscle and iron will, Alonzo isn’t strong enough to stay away from the one woman who can make him feel at peace. And when their secret lives draw a mortal threat, Alonzo unleashes the feral passion he keeps pent up inside himself.

•••••••••••••

REVIEW:  LEOPARD’S FURY is the ninth installment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult LEOPARD SERIES paranormal, romance series focusing on the supernatural world of the Leopard shifter. This is baker Evangeline Tregre, and businessman and Mafia Don Alonzo Massi’s story line. LEOPOARD’S FURY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Several previous story line couples and characters play secondary and supporting roles including Jake and Emma, Eli and Cat, Elijah and Siena, Drake and Saria, as well as Joshua Tregre, Evangeline’s first cousin.

Told from several third person perspectives LEOPARD’S FURY focuses on Mafia Don Alonzo Mazzi’s need and draw towards baker Evangeline Tregre. For close to one year Alonzo has been drawn to Evangeline, visiting her bakery, ensuring her safety and making sure no other male comes close to the woman that calms the beast within. Alonzo knows that to begin a relationship with Evangeline Tregre could place our heroine in the direct line of fire when the illegal side of his business world seeks revenge. What ensues is Alonzo’s slow seduction of Evangline, and the search for the person responsible for the threats against Evangeline’s life.

Abandoned as a small child in the Louisiana swamps, Evangeline is a woman who left the Bayou in search of peace and an escape from a life of abuse and neglect. Alonzo’s backstory is heartbreaking and rife with death and destruction. Growing up in an abusive world set Alonzo’s leopard on a path of darkness and revenge. Our hero’s quiet demeanor hides a dark and lonely existence for a dangerous leopard shifter-baring his heart and his soul to Evangeline Tregre places Alonzo in a position to lose it all.

LEOPARD’S FURY is a passionate story line of fated mates. I am pleased that Christine Feehan has returned to her original style of romance writing without the need for copious amounts of graphic violence and abuse against women and children. The premise is entertaining, engrossing, and compelling; the characters are charismatic, spirited but flawed. We are introduced to several new Leopard shifters including Jeremiah Wheating as well as Alonzo’s brothers and cousins-Gorya, Timur and Mitya. The romance is sensual and seductive without the need for abusive power and control.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

Excerpt beige

Alonzo didn’t smile. He rarely, if ever smiled. His gaze was restless, scanning the streets, the sidewalks and most of all, looking through the plate-glass windows of the Small Sweet Shoppe. She was there, just as she always was. Working. Beautiful. Breath-taking. He shouldn’t be there. He was the last man that should ever go into that bakery and put his gaze on that woman, but he couldn’t stop himself. Timur was right. She was his Achilles’ heel.
He sighed and put his hand to the door, shoving it open because he couldn’t stop himself. He was a disciplined man in every area of his life, he had to be, yet for eight months he’d come to the bakery at least three times a week. That was him being disciplined. He’d wanted to go every damn day. He’d stayed away over a month, nearly two. He could count the weeks, days, hours and minutes since he’d last seen her.
“Bad idea, boss,” Timur muttered. He was deadly serious and when he pushed past Alonzo to take a sweep of the small interior, his body in front of his brother’s, he scowled at the woman behind the counter—the one who eventually was going to be the death of his brother if Fyodor kept this madness up.
Alonzo paused inside the door, taking a moment to drink her in. Savor her. Just for that moment before she looked up. He found he was holding his breath. A part of him almost wished she had a man. That she wouldn’t look up, see him and smile that innocent, shy smile that told him she was interested in a monster. On the other hand, if she didn’t smile at him that way, he’d be crushed. Shattered. It had been so damned long since he’d laid eyes on her, and he couldn’t take it one more minute. More, if she was smiling that way for another man, he might commit murder and it would have nothing to do with his leopard.
Her name was Evangeline Bouvier. She was small and curvy with beautiful breasts that called to him. Her hair was a thick, dark silky mass that cascaded over her shoulders nearly to her waist. She wore it pulled back from her face in a thick intricate braid that always made him want to run his hand down it to the very end where it rested in the sweet curve of her ass. And she had a very nice ass. He spent far too much time thinking about it, just as he did every single part of her.
Evangeline glanced up, and instantly it was there. That smile she reserved solely for him. He’d seen countless customers come in over the last few months. She always smiled at them, but not like that. That smile was reserved for him alone and that told him she didn’t have a man. No one had come in and tried to steal her out from under him.
She had a fantasy mouth—one he’d dreamt of many times. He’d woken up every one of those times with his fist on his cock and the dream of her mouth tight around him. Her eyes were a true emerald, startling green, rich and warm and he wanted her looking up at him when he fucked her mouth. He always dreamt of her that way. If she had any idea of the dirty things he wanted to do to her, she’d order him out and lock the door behind him. Yeah, and if any other man ever had the same thoughts about her and he knew it, that man would be dead within the hour.
“Alonzo, I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Even her voice got to him. Low. Sexy. So damned sweet he wanted to take a bite out of her. He stepped up to the counter.

Posted by arrangement with Berkley, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin
Random House Company. Copyright © Christine Feehan, 2016.

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Christine’s publisher is offering a paper copy of WILD CAT (Book 8) to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

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8. Giveaway open to USA only

9.. Giveaway runs from November 8-12, 2016

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Pennies (Dollar #1) by Pepper Winters-Review and Book Tour

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PENNIES (Dollar #1) by Pepper Winters-Review and Book Tour

 

PENNIES
Dollar #1
by Pepper Winters
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Genre: adult, contemporary, dark romance

ebook ONLY 99¢: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 20, 2016

“At 18 I had pennies, but money didn’t make me bold. At 19 I had dollars, but it didn’t dull the pain of being sold. At 20 I had hundreds, but then I met him and was found. At 21 I had thousands, but all I wanted was to be bound.”

“At 23 I had dollars, but life changed and made me rich. At 25 I had hundreds, but it wasn’t enough to stop my killing itch. At 27 I had thousands, but my reputation didn’t set me free. At 29 I had millions, but I met her and could finally see.”

Tasmin was killed on her 18th birthday. She had everything planned out. A psychology degree, a mother who pushed her to greatness, and a future anyone would die for. But then her murderer saved her life, only to sell her into a totally different existence.

Elder went from penniless to stinking rich with one twist of fate. His lifetime of crime and shadows of thievery are behind him but no matter the power he now wields, it’s not enough. He has an agenda to fulfill and he won’t stop until it’s complete.

But then they meet.

A beaten slave and a richly dressed thief. Money is what guided their separate fates. Money is what brought them together. And money is ultimately what destroys them.

She was poor.
He was rich.
Together…they were bankrupt.

•••••••

REVIEW: PENNIES is the first installment in Pepper Winters’s contemporary, adult DOLLAR dark, romance series focusing on Tasmin Blythe (aka Pim), and billionaire Elder Prest.

WARNING: PENNIES is a dark romance with scenes of graphic and implied violence, rape, sexual abuse and torture. PENNIES and the Dollar series may not suitable for everyone ; there may be some triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Tasmin and Elder) PENNIES focuses on the murder, abduction and enslavement of a young eighteen year old girl named Tasmin Bythe who has been sold to a Norwegian business man – a sadistic, sexually and physically abusive monster-by an unknown source. Two years of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of Alrik Asbjorn (aka Master A) and several of his friends has found our story line heroine selectively mute and gradually falling into a darkness from where they may be no return. Enter Elder Prest, a man submerged into the illegal world of arms dealing, power and control-a man known to be a killer and a thief- who would be both Tasmin’s savior and downfall. What ensues is the struggle for Tasmin to remain quiet in the face of her potential freedom when to speak could mean the end of her life-an end she welcomes in more ways than one.

PENNIES is a story revealed in present time and through written memories of a girl who has, for all intents and purposes, died and been resurrected as Pim. Her thoughts are poured into a ‘diary’ of sorts-she writes to no one, and no one listens-a reminder of who she was and what she has now become. The premise is dark, controversial and tragic. The abuse is humiliating, painful and life-threatening; the heroine borders on the abyss between life and death on more than one occasion. To disobey means reprimand; a reprimand means pain, blood and broken bones.

Pepper Winters has reached into the inky darkness for her latest story. There are moments of graphic violence, disturbing implications, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The imagery is dark and alarming; the violence is intense and extreme; the pain is heartbreaking and tearful. PENNIES is a complex and impassioned novel of suffering; an all consuming tale about betrayal, revenge and survival; a powerful and violent story of one woman whose freedom was stolen for a million and a half pounds. Give me a ‘penny’ for your thoughts!

Copy supplied by the tour provider

Reviewed by Sandy

excerpt

 

Fuck this.
I stalked forward.
My hand came up.
The urge to soothe her catapulted my fingers to her cheek. My skin erupted from her delicate heat. I’d already had my single touch when I’d petted her hair. I wasn’t permitted a second.
But it didn’t stop me.
One second, she stood close, arching her chin at the door.
The next, she was across the cage, flying into a stack of boxes that tumbled in a clatter of butcher knives, butter knives, and sharp forks.
Her eyes turned luminous in the gloom, locking on mine with rage.
Shit.
I’d forgotten myself by feeling sorry for this beaten wraith, but she hadn’t forgotten her overwhelming hatred of men.
I didn’t look away. But I didn’t explain myself, either.
I’d borrowed her for the night. If I wanted to touch her, I could. The fact that she’d leapt away meant I could report her to her master and have her punished.
Or you could punish her instead.
The distance between us grew thicker as we breathed fast.
I waited…wanting to know just how deep her education in pleasure flowed. Tearing her gaze from mine, she swallowed hard. Piece by piece, she hid her loathing, replacing it with reluctant acceptance.
Inching closer, her toes nudged aside sharp blades as she made her way to me and fell to her knees on the cold concrete.
Half of me jolted with insane lust. Most of me shied away with repulsion as her straggly hair covered her face but not before I saw the twisted disgust and echoing despair.
“Get up,” I murmured. Even though my voice was low, the cavern of the garage amplified it, layering it with bite.
Instantly, she swooped up. The crackle of her joints and misused cartilage in her bones sounded like tiny gunfire.
“Don’t kneel. Not in here.” 


 

 

 

About the Author

Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some of them include writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex… her books have sex.

She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends.

STALK Pepper: Website | Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads

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Spider Game (Ghostwalkers #12) by Christine Feehan-Review and Giveaway

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SPIDER GAME (Ghostwalkers #12) by Christine Feehan-Review and Giveaway

Spider Game Banner

SPIDER GAME
Ghostwalkers #12
by Christine Feehan
Genre: adult, contemporary, paranormal romance
Release Date: January 26, 2016

Spider Game

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / The Book Depository /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 26, 2016

The Cajun dive in the middle of the godforsaken swamps wasn’t exactly Trap Dawkins’ idea of fun. But the GhostWalker wasn’t there for a good time. He was looking for her. Cayenne. It’s where she found her victims. Poor suckers. Then again, who wouldn’t want to leave a place like this with a woman like her?

It’s not Cayenne’s fault. Locked up, experimented on and never knowing kindness, she was bred this way—with a heart of pure venom. Trap understands her. He survived his own dark past and he shares her desire for getting even. But now Trap’s greatest danger is Cayenne herself. Because what’s inside her is hard to control—especially when it’s aroused by a lover as reckless as Trap.

••••••

REVIEW: SPIDER GAME is the twelfth installment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult GHOSTWALKERS paranormal, romance series focusing on an elite group of ‘genetically enhanced’ men and women known as the Ghostwalkers. These ‘supersoldiers’ are part of an unauthorized government experiment performed by Dr. Peter Whitney-a man tantamount to evil incarnate. This is Dr. Trap Dawkins, and Cayenne’s storyline. Trap and Cayenne were first introduced, along with a new team of Ghostwalkers, in Viper Game (Ghostwalkers #11). SPIDER GAME can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.

Told from several third person points of view including Cayenne and Trap, SPIDER GAME continues to focus on the dangerous experiments of Dr. Peter Whitney. Cayenne is considered a failure; an experiment gone horribly wrong and, along with Wyatt Fontenont’s children (Viper Game #11), was tagged for extermination. Rescued by Trap and Wyatt, Cayenne found herself alone without any food, clothing or a place to live. To stay alive, Cayenne resorted to some unethical tactics in order to survive in the Louisiana Bayou. When Trap discovers that the Cayene is the woman ‘made’ especially for him, he sets out to ‘trap’ his wayward mate but in doing also brings the hunt for Cayenne to his front door.

Cayenne is a Ghostwalker with enhanced special abilities brought about by ‘spider DNA’. Cayenne is a dangerous soldier whose training saw the death of many Ghostwalker Teams, and the potential for many more. Trap is a billionaire researcher; an inventor whose past has threatened to destroy once again. It is the nature of the male Ghostwalker to provide, protect and be all alpha male when his female is threatened by an outside source but Trap’s over protective nature leaves something to be desired.

The secondary and supporting cast includes Wyatt and Trap’s new team of genetically enhanced soldiers including Malachai, Mordichai and Ezekiel Fortunes; Jo and Draden. There are a few cameo appearances ( and several mentions of) by earlier Ghostwalkers including Gator and Flame, Lily and Ryland, and of course, Nonny who is everybody’s loving grand-mere. Violet Smythe’s return and her ambitions for the vice-presidency sets up some revealing information and the potential for a more dangerous mission for all of the Ghostwalkers.

But….there comes a time in every author’s career where a change in direction is needed or required; where the long quiet muse has finally awakened some dormant need in many authors to push the boundaries of the character to a dark and dangerous abyss that borders on a free fall of questionable choices, and in this SPIDER GAME has fallen into the dangerous area of questionable actions and behavior of the leading hero. This is also true of most of Christine Feehan’s series-the amount of abuse, graphic violence, and aggression towards women is elevating at an exponential rate, and her heroes are the perpetrators of much of the abuse.

In SPIDER GAME, Trap is an over protective alpha male but his actions towards his mate borders on abusive. His bi-polar emotional and physical outbursts would give anyone whiplash. When a beloved series by a favorite author crosses over into a territory where mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse is hidden behind the proclamation of love and protection, it is time to question the author’s motives: From where did this anger come? To whom is it directed at? And why is the target always the women or female lead? Trap Hawkins is NOT a likeable hero; he tries to justify his actions at every opportunity but he comes across as a controlling, jealous, and abusive pr*ck. This is not romance or romantic; this is not love or even akin to anything near love; this is all about power and control. At times, there were scenes of questionable consent that bordered on sexual assault, and for a powerful heroine she took it without question or a fight. An abuser hides behind and uses ‘love’ to justify his actions and Trap Dawkins tries to justify his actions as a need to protect. Cayenne has been tortured, experimented upon, and abused for years by scientists all in the name of the ultimate weapon of destruction, and her ‘freedom’ forces Cayenne from one abuser to another (from the proverbial frying pan into the fire)-this is NOT the love of a protective male but the need to control; to break the will of an injured animal that must succumb to the abuse in order to survive.

SPIDER GAME is a sexually graphic story line with scenes of questionable consent and graphic acts of power and control. In the past, some of Christine Feehan’s male leads (especially in the Dark Series) have ‘forced’ their females into a mating, bordering on rape and sexual assault, but the frequency of abusive situations is increasing, and I am having a difficult time looking past the act and seeing a potential, positive outcome for these story line heroines. Many readers become one with the story, with the leading hero or heroine to experience the ultimate fantasy romance but when romance becomes abuse, perhaps it is time to find another hero (or series) with whom to fall in love.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy

 

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Christine’s publisher is offering a papercopy of SPIDER GAME to ONE(1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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9. Giveaway runs from January 25 to January 30, 2016

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