ARC Review: The Seduction of Phaeton Black by Jillian Stone

cover courtesy of author's website

The Seduction of Phaeton Black (Phaeton Black, Paranormal Investigator)

By Jillian Stone

Publish Date: March 27, 2012

Publisher: Brava

Format: ARC

Source: Publisher

FIRST LINE

(may differ from final copy)

“Oh, please no, madam, he is a beast.” The harlot wailed.

There is a beast or vampire stalking the streets and Scotland Yard is desperate to close the case. Having already fired Phaeton Black after he embarrassed them over the Jack the Ripper debacle, they now are crawling on the hands and knees begging for his help.  Phaeton, currently living in a brothel, really wants nothing to do with Scotland Yard but wanting to prove a point (that there are supernatural entities out there) he agrees to aid them. Phaeton’s character is crude and sleazy and at times borderlines on repulsive. I am guessing he is written this way to make the reader be disgusted but as the story continues you find that he can be a very decent guy (when he wants to). Some readers will love this about him and others (me included) just found it to be a bit much.

During Phaeton’s investigation he ends up taking on a sexy partner (in more ways than one). America Jones is looking for the pirates that have stolen her deceased father’s ships. She is having a tough time finding someone to help her, until she meets Phaeton. The two complement each other. America is no ordinary woman and obviously Phaeton is a rake. America in a way provides the comic relief much needed in this book and her sassiness is a fun addition. Even though Phaeton loves his rakish ways, he finds that America might just be the woman for him.

The two stories weave in and out and at times can be very confusing. Phaeton needs to find the seductress that is leaving bodies everywhere and all America wants to find is her ships. There are many interesting characters that are introduced and we also come to find out that America can also see the supernatural side of Victorian London. The Seduction of Phaeton Black is definitely an adult romance but bordering on erotica at certain points throughout the story. The crude language at times made me not want to continue reading but underneath there was a decent plot line happening.

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In Leah's Wake Book Club Week 4/23-4/29

In late April (23-29) Terri is running a ‘Book Club Week’ on her blog, with a range of events to help book clubs, reading groups and readers in general get more out of her contemporary fiction title, In Leah’s Wake.

There is a dedicated page on Terri’s blog that people can visit for updates – they can also enter a competition to win an Amazon voucher worth $100 or one of five signed paperback copies. In addition, a book club/reading group will have the opportunity to win a set of up to 20 copies of Terri’s next novel, Nowhere to Run.

How can clubs/readers get involved?

Book clubs/groups and readers can get involved in so many ways! Submit a question for Terri, share some of the topics you’ve been discussing about the book, submit a short piece (100-200 words) on your favorite character – any of these activities will give you an entry into a competition to win an Amazon voucher worth $100.

To enter the Book Club Competition and be in with a chance of winning a set of 20 copies of Terri’s upcoming novel, Nowhere to Run, for a book club or reading group, simply submit a collective summary of what your group or club thought of In Leah’s Wake. If your club/group hasn’t read the book yet, you can also submit your views on why you’ve chosen to add the title to your reading schedule.

Entries can be sent to donna@novelpublicity.com at any point until 14th April 2012. 

 

EVENTS

MONDAY 23RD APRIL: WELCOME TO IN LEAH’S WAKE
Terri shares a candid introduction to the book and her success so far and talks about the role of book bloggers and reviewers in boosting In Leah’s Wake up the charts

TUESDAY 24TH APRIL: THE CHARACTERS OF IN LEAH’S WAKE Terri invites readers and bloggers to share their thoughts on their favorite characters within In Leah’s Wake and talk about the moments they loved most

In the evening enjoy a live Q&A session with two pivotal characters from the novel: Zoe and her daughter, Leah.

WEDNESDAY 25TH APRIL: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
An interview with Terri looks into the story behind the story: how Terri came to write In Leah’s Wake and how it came to be the “little indie book that could” selling over 100,000 copies so far!

THURSDAY 26TH APRIL: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Answering questions by submitted book clubs, readers’ groups, readers and bloggers, Terri will share her thoughts on the novel, the writing process and what lies ahead

In the evening enjoy a Q&A session with Terri Giuliano Long and the chance to put forward your questions live

FRIDAY 27TH APRIL – SUNDAY 28TH APRIL: IN LEAH’S WAKE: IN DISCUSSION
Share your views on some of the discussion topics raised in the In Leah’s Wake reading guide. We’ll be publishing your thoughts along with any new discussion topics you suggest.

SUNDAY 29TH APRIL: LOOKING AHEAD: NOWHERE TO RUN
Terri shares her thoughts on her upcoming novel, Nowhere to Run, and talks about what it’s like to work on a very different kind of story.

Review: The Little House by Philippa Gregory

cover courtesy of HarperCollins-AU

The Little House

By Philippa Gregory

Publish Date: February 2, 1998

Publisher: Harpercollins

Format: Paperback

Source: Personal

Challenge Met: 2012 TBR Pile

FIRST LINE

On Sunday morning, on almost every Sunday morning, Ruth and Patrick Cleary drove from their smart Bristol flat to Patrick’s parents’ farmhouse outside Bath.

Ruth and her husband Patrick’s life change drastically after Ruth loses her job and Patrick is offered an offer he can’t refuse. One of the changes is that Patrick’s overbearing parents have bought them the little house at the end of their road. Patrick thinks it would be great to live so close to his parents and since they have an (unplanned) baby on the way, Patrick finds it to be an ideal situation. Ruth does not feel that way. Ruth and Patrick’s mother Elizabeth do not get along. In Elizabeth’s eyes, Ruth can’t do anything right. As the story progresses, Elizabeth’s emotional abuse takes its toll on Ruth until Ruth can’t figure out what is real and what is not. Of course, Patrick thinks his mother walks on water and believes everything that she says.

This is my first book that I have read of Gregory that isn’t historical fiction and I wasn’t disappointed but I wasn’t blown away. Throughout reading The Little House my forehead was in a permanent frown because I was just frustrated at times with Ruth and her lack of backbone, Patrick and his bratty ways, Elizabeth with her holier-than-thou attitude and Frederick and his oh-well approach. Gregory does well to make the reader emotionally involved with the characters. The dysfunction of the family itself is intriguing and you figure out really quick that Patrick had no chance at a normal life being raised the way he was and Ruth was just perfect prey for him. How Ruth handles her “problem” is a bit of a shocker.

If you are looking for an acceptable psychological thriller to read I would suggest The Little House. The beginning is a bit slow but it lays the groundwork for the rest of the story and the ending will surprise you.

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Guest Post + Giveaway: No Remorse by MaryLynn Bast

This is the first stop on my blog tour for the release of my first novel No Remorse. Thank you Kelsey for having me and thank you all for stopping by! 

I got into the story for No Remorse when a good friend of mine sent a link to a short story contest featuring werewolves about two years ago. I had never written about werewolves and thought it would be a good challenge. Every werewolf story I ever read or watched on TV was always about men and I wanted to change that up a bit. I wrote the beginning with a woman in mind and it begins like this:

“The wind howled as she ran through the heavily wooded forest. Or was the howling the beast that haunted her? Amber knew she should keep running, but stopped in her tracks. She was tired of always running from the darkness that followed her everywhere. She gave in to the hot searing pain, falling to the ground, quickly shedding the clothes that bound her to the human world. Throwing her head back, screaming when her flesh crawled and her bones began the painful cracking and popping. Rain poured through the trees while Amber clawed at the wet soggy ground, her head feeling like it would explode. The flashes of lightening, followed by the loud rolling thunder, swallowed her howls of pain. On all fours, Amber panted, the transformation was complete. She was alone in her own world of nightmares.”

I wrote the short story, but never submitted it to the contest. I was involved in writing Softest Touch, so I set Amber aside. However, the werewolf kept calling; that passage had stuck with me. So I went back to visit with Amber a bit more and it all began to slowly take shape in my mind. Working through my ideas, getting them written down, I then went back through many, many times. Adding here, taking away there until Amber’s character finally took shape and I was able to move the story forward.

I was sitting in Japan when those final words were typed at 3am in the morning. Of course I jumped up, did a silly happy dance and then sat staring at the screen thinking now what? I had no plan in place as to what I was going to do, didn’t even know where to begin. I have written all my life as a hobby, but never got anything to the point of being novel length and I was at a total loss as to what to do. Finally with guidance from friends I was able to get through the beta reading and editing process and as a result No Remorse is finally published and is available through www.amazon.com. Here’s the LINK.

No Remorse is a fantasy romance novel detailing Amber’s life as she remains on the run all her life, hiding because she has special abilities that no other werewolf has. The packs ruthless council leader has been plotting for decades to capture and experiment on her to find out the source of her abilities, and what those abilities actually are. Even Amber is still learning her of own capabilities. Being alone, Amber is tormented with the memories of her past and being ripped from her mother’s side. Concealing her identity from the world that she is a werewolf and hiding from the council makes for a lonely life on the run. When she runs into Blake, she struggles with her emotions and what it takes to be around other werewolves. Amber must decide if she will stay with Blake, possibly risking his life in the process, while learning to deal with ongoing pack issues, and the council.

No Remorse is the first book of the series. My plan is to write four more stories. Softest Touch is the second story in the series and was actually the first story I was working on. No Remorse moved ahead and came out first because it seemed to be a better beginning for the series. My website www.heartofawolf.com shows my plans for the series and gives a detailed history of how werewolves came about, in my world anyway.

I have several short stories that I am working on as well. One of which is “A Justified Kill” that will be coming out mid-summer in an Anthology. This story will give you a glimpse into Amber's life before No Remorse and who her wolf chooses as her fist victim.

Please visit www.heartofawolf.com to find more information and to follow my blog. I am on twitter, Facebook, author page, email: MaryLynnBast@heartofawolf.com.

GIVEAWAY

Go to www.heartofawolf.com to view contest rules to win First Prize: Signed No Remorse book, Bookmark and $20 Amazon gift card. Second Prize: Signed No Remores and Bookmark. Other prizes include 5 ebook givaways for No Remorse and 5 ebook give aways with your choice of Vampyre Kisses or Werewolf Decent.

Once again, Kelsey, thank you for having me and for everyone who has stopped by. I look forward to hearing your comments, thank you all!

Claws and Canines, MaryLynn Bast

Paranormal Romance Review: My Lord Vampire by Alexandra Ivy

cover via author website

My Lord Vampire (Immortal Rogues, Bk 1)

By Alexandra Ivy

Reprint Date: January 30, 2012

Publisher: Zebra

Format: Paperback

Source: Publisher

FIRST LINE

Gideon glided through the vaulted marble corridors of the Great Hall.

The vampire Nefri divides the magical Medallion that created the Veil (a utopia for all vampires) into three pieces and places them into the care of three women for safekeeping after rogue vampires decide to go after the Medallion’s power. In My Lord Vampire, we follow the arrogant Gideon Ravel on his rescue quest of one of the woman holding the Medallion, Lady Simone Gilbert. Simone has a dark secret of her own and there is a reason she wants everyone to believe she is the “Wicked Temptress” and remain apart for others. The first vampire traitor, Tristan, has located Simone and it is Gideon’s mission to protect her from him. Gideon is instantly attracted to Simone which makes protecting her just that much easier.

This first installment of Ivy’s republished Immortal Rogues trilogy fell short for me. There is little romance and the characters just weren’t strong or unique in my mind. I did think that the premise of having the vampires living behind a Veil different but the story doesn’t touch on this alternate world much. If you are looking for a light, quick paranormal read with the standard mysterious vampire then I think you would enjoy this.

PURCHASE MY LORD VAMPIRE

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Hurry over to FACEBOOK and enter for you chance to win a heart lock pendant from Tiffany's. Contest ends March 31st!

Guest Post: author M.J. Rose

M.J. Rose: I've been fascinated with lost fragrances since long before I started writing The Book of Lost Fragrances... since I found a bottle of perfume on my great grandmother's dresser that had belonged to her mother in Russia. Here is one of those lost fragrances that stirs the senses and the imagination... (researched and described with the help of the perfume writer Dimitrios Dimitriadis)

RAVEL - FAUN

Parfums Ravel was established in the 1940's in Nice, France, and opened a subsidiary company in New York shortly thereafter. A good example of mid-century perfumery, Ravel's Faun became the first and perhaps most esteemed of almost 20 scents launched by this all-but-forgotten brand. A citrus-rich aldehydic opening belies a heart that is more intense in nature… a rich plummy nucleus is married effortlessly with a green, slightly mossy facet. It is earthy and damp, evoking images of a moist forest floor. A raw, animalic note lumbers up from beneath that feels furry and leathery in equal measures. Faun feels both earthbound and slightly ethereal… a genderless perfume that could have been enjoyed by both sexes. Unfortunately, by the late 1950's, Ravel closed its doors indefinitely, leaving behind a portfolio of scents that are rarely seen or heard of today.

SYNOPSIS:

A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra--and lost for 2,000 years.

Jac L'Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances--and of her mother's suicide--she moved to America. Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it's financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing--leaving a dead body in his wake--Jac is plunged into a world she thought she'd left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother's disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L'Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation - or is it just another dream infused perfume?

The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra's Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet's battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac's quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

AUTHOR BIO:

M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of eleven novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her next novel THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES (Atria/S&S) will be published in March 2012. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the '80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors - Authorbuzz.com. The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose's novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype. She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com.

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.

For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her WEBSITE. You can also find her on Facebook.

Be sure to check out the other stops on The Book of Lost Fragrances Virtual Book Tour and follow it on Twitter using the twitter hashtag: #LostFragrancesVirtualBookTour

True Crime Review: Never See Them Again by M. William Phelps

cover courtesy of Kensington Books

Never See Them Again

By M. William Phelps

Publish Date: February 28, 2012

Publisher: Kensington Books

Format: ARC

Source: Publisher

 FIRST LINE 

(may differ from final copy)

It was just after six o’clock on the evening of July 18, 2003.

This is my first true crime by M. William Phelps and I wasn’t disappointed. Phelps offers insight into the brutal slaying of 4 teenagers that no newspaper could articulate. The timeline was laid out so that someone like me (who isn’t from the Houston area and never heard about this crime) could follow easily. Each time that I put the book down the story stayed with me, beckoning me to finish.

Phelps starts his book with the discovery of the 4 teens and takes the reader thru clues that were right there but because of mislabeling and an understaffed police department, the discovery and conviction of the killer doesn’t come to pass until October, 2008. The reader feels the hopelessness and frustration that family members went through. One thing that is obvious is that there were a few people that never gave up and because of them the killer was eventually caught.

I will definitely be picking up another book written by Phelps. Caution to some people, Phelps goes into vivid detail of the crime scene and it is not for the faint of heart.

PURCHASE NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN

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