BOOK REVIEW - WHERE SHE WENT by GAYLE FORMAN - IF I STAY # 2 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - RANDOM HOUSE

By: Gayle Forman
Published By: Random House
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 264 Pages

RATING: 5 GRIEVING STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life.

And three years he's spent wondering why.

When their paths cross again in New York City, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night.

Adam finally has the opportunity to ask Mia the questions that have been haunting him. But will a few hours in this magical city be enough to lay their past to rest, for good - or can you really have a second chance at first love?

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I just this second finished, Where She Went. My fingers started immediately typing my review.

I simply adored this book, told from Adam’s pov.

I was endeared to this lost young man, his grieving process for the girl he lost, the family he also lost, his jaded look at his music career and the relationship he was in, that was going nowhere.

Gayle has this sneaky way of building her story, until she has me shedding the tears.

Her words are quite beautiful to read, sometimes I felt like I was just walking around with Adam and his inner monologue and the next I am feeling how crushed and lost he is.

We are spending twenty four hours with Adam and his inner monologue, how he is feeling, what he is going through in that twenty four hour period.

At one stage I was totally lost to why Mia did what she did, but then it came crashing down on me, and it HURT.

My heart got squeezed real tight until it leaked.

Men in general have a hard time expressing their emotions, they aren’t made like women, we can pour our stuff out when prodded enough. Men can need a lot of prodding.

Adam showed me how vulnerable and hurt a guy can be on the inside and the damage it is doing, but they try to hide it. Then they crack.

"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" I scream louder than I've ever screamed in my life, so loud my breath is knocking down trees in Manhattan, I'm sure of it. And as I battle with invisible waves and imaginary vortexes and demons that are all too real and of my own making, I actually feel something in my chest open, a feeling so intense it's like my heart's about to burst. And I just let it. I just let it out.

What Mia did , confused me, because here is this guy who has such a beautiful soul, and she left him.

But, then all is revealed with how these two people just needed time to grow and find themselves, a tough decision by Mia, one that luckily worked in their favor.

"But..." I grasp for the words like a drowning man reaching for floating debris, "... you said you hated me?"
Mia lets out a long, deep sigh. "I know. I needed someone to hate, and you're the one I love the most, so it fell to you."

An engrossing read, that just goes to show, you don’t need four hundred pages to tell a story that endears to the reader. It only takes twenty four hours in each of these characters lives to have made reading a Gayle Forman book, such a beautiful and memorable experience.

So touching and emotional.

All my annoyance melted. "You dumb-ass," I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. "You don't share me. You own me."

*sniffle*

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - IF I STAY by GAYLE FORMAN - IF I STAY # 1 - YA CONTEMPORARY - RANDOM HOUSE

By: Gayle Forman
Published By: Random House, Definitions
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 233 Pages

RATING: 4.5 MOVING STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

The critically acclaimed, bestselling novel from Gayle Forman, author of Where She Went, Just One Day, and the forthcoming Just One Year.

On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I realize now that dying is easy.

Living is hard.

Yay! A story where the parents are ultra cool and hip.

I really adored this story by Gayle Forman. It is my first Forman read and it is this sneaky story that quietly builds until you become this emotional ball that will move you to tears by the end.

Sure you get the horror of what happens near the start of the book, but because Mia is inner monologuing for most of the book, it really was Gramps who made me get emotional.

A small book that packs a punch by the end and has you grabbing for Where She Went. You will understand once you get to the end.

Mia is a musician, she plays the cello, she is that good she has auditioned for Juilliard.

I know it’s silly but I have always wondered if Dad is disappointed that I didn’t become a rock chick. I’d meant to. Then, in third grade, I’d wandered over to the cello in music class -- it looked almost human to me. It looked like if you played it, it would tell you secrets, so I started playing. It’s been almost ten years now and I haven’t stopped.

Adam is her boyfriend, he plays guitar in his band Shooting Star, they are currently on tour.

He’s such the cool guy with his pegged jeans and black low-tops, his effortlessly beat-up punk-rock tees and his subtle tattoos. He is not the kind of guy to end up with someone like me.


You’ve all heard the term, ‘just before you die your life flashes before your eyes.’ That is pretty much how this story is told.

Mia revisits her memories and she is deciding if she should stay.

The book is told over a twenty four hour period.

Gramps did me in, he cracked my emotional exterior and left me in a puddle.

It’s OK,” he tells me. “If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues. “But that’s what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s OK if you have to leave us. It’s OK if you want to stop fighting.”

I had a favorite memory.

Adam lay down on my bed, stretching his arms above his head. His whole face was grinning -- eyes, nose, mouth. “Play me,” he said.

“What?”

“I want you to play me like a cello.”

I started to protest that this made no sense, but then I realized it made perfect sense. I went to my closet and grabbed one of my spare bows. “Take off your shirt,” I said, my voice quavering.

Adam did. As thin as he was, he was surprisingly built. I could’ve spent twenty minutes staring at the contours and valleys of his chest. But he wanted me closer. I wanted me closer.

I sat down next to him on the bed, perpendicular to his hips, so his long body was stretched out in front of me. The bow trembled as I placed it on the bed. I reached with my left hand and caressed Adam’s head as if it were the scroll of my cello. He smiled again and closed his eyes. I relaxed a little. I fiddled with his ears as though they were the string pegs and then I playfully tickled him as he laughed softly. I placed two fingers on his Adam’s apple. Then, taking a deep breath for courage, I plunged into his chest. I ran my hands up and down the length of his torso, focusing on the sinews in his muscles, assigning each one a string - A,G,C,D. I traced them down, one at a time, with the tip of my fingers. Adam got quiet then, as if he were concentrating on something.

I reached for the bow and brushed it across his hips, where I imagined the bridge of the cello would be. I played lightly at first and then with more force and speed as the song now playing in my head increased in intensity. Adam lay perfectly still, little groans escaping from his lips. I looked at the bow, looked at my hands, looked at Adam’s face, and felt this surge of love, lust and an unfamiliar feeling of power. I had never known that I could make someone feel this way.

When I finished, he stood up and kissed me long and deep. “My turn,” he said. He pulled me to my feet and started by slipping my sweater over my head and edging down my jeans. Then he sat down on the bed and laid me across his lap. At first Adam did nothing except hold me. I closed my eyes and tried to feel his eyes on my body, seeing me as no one else ever had.

Then he began to play me.


Adam visits the story through Mia’s memories and then he makes a real appearance.

“That was a pretty boneheaded move you pulled earlier,” I hear her tell Adam.

“I know,” Adam answers. His voice is a throaty whisper, the way it gets after a particularly screamy concert. “I was desperate.”

“No, you were romantic,” she tells him.


This is a beautifully told story that has very heartfelt moments throughout. Moments that make you think about your own life and the impact you have on your family members and friends.

I’m looking forward to seeing the movie in August 2014. I leave you with some Yo-Yo Ma.

Michelle

BOOK COVER REVEAL - ALEX by SAWYER BENNETT - A COLD FURY HOCKEY NOVEL - RANDOM HOUSE - CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Loveswept (Random House) is thrilled to debut the cover of ALEX: A Cold Fury Hockey Novel by USA Today bestselling author Sawyer Bennett! ALEX is the first in a sexy and exciting new series that’s hot enough to melt the ice…

ALEX (A Cold Fury Hockey Novel)

Loveswept Contemporary Romance

Written by Sawyer Bennett

On sale: October 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-553-39300-2

About ALEX:

 So , who needs a bib?
I know you are all drooling and looking at that unzipped fly!
Rather eye catching, jaw dropping cover!
It got my attention.

Hockey star Alexander Crossman has a reputation as a cold-hearted player on and off the rink. Pushed into the sport by an alcoholic father, Alex isn’t afraid to give fans the proverbial middle finger, relishing his role as the MVP they love to hate. Management, however, isn’t so amused. Now Alex has a choice: fix his public image through community service or ride the bench. But Alex refuses to be molded into the Carolina Cold Fury poster boy… not even by a tempting redhead with killer curves.

As a social worker, Sutton Price is accustomed to difficult people—like Alex, who’s been assigned to help her create a drug-abuse awareness program for at-risk youth as part of the team’s effort to clean up his image. What she doesn’t expect is the arrogant smirk from his perfect lips to stir her most heated fantasies. But Sutton isn’t one to cross professional boundaries—and besides, Alex doesn’t do relationships… or does he? The more she sees behind Alex’s bad-boy façade, the more Sutton craves the man she uncovers.

Get your copy of ALEX (A Cold Fury Hockey Novel)

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo | Other retailers

About Sawyer Bennett

USA Today bestselling author Sawyer Bennett is a snarky Southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. Her husband works for a Fortune 100 company which lets him fly all over the world while she stays at home with their daughter and three big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report she doesn’t have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.

Connect with Sawyer

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Street Team

Connect with Loveswept

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Street Team

BOOK COVER REVEAL - IGNITED by J KENNER - A MOST WANTED NOVEL - RANDOM HOUSE - CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

The Men 

Evan Black. Tyler Sharp. Cole August.

Brilliant, fierce, determined. Sexy as hell. And utterly dangerous.

They make their own rules, find their own way, and to hell with anyone or anything who tells them otherwise, be it a cop, a court, or a woman.

They’ve spent over a decade watching each others’ backs, protecting each others’ secrets, and relying on each others’ talents.
They’ve taken risks, said “fuck you” to the law, and made a tidy profit in the process.

There’s not a scheme they’ve concocted that they haven’t pulled off, not a desire they haven’t achieved.
And there sure as hell isn’t a woman they’ve pursued that they haven’t caught.

None, however, have captured their hearts.

None, until now.

The Women

Angelina Raine. Sloane Watson. Katrina Laron.

Three completely different women, each with a unique way of looking at the world.
Each with secrets and ambitions she holds close to her heart.

And each more than capable of standing on her own two feet.

None are looking for a man. But whether because of lust, greed or duty, each woman finds herself in a forbidden bed with the one man
capable of crashing through her defenses and taking her—both physically and emotionally—to her breaking point and beyond.

It’s a dangerous game—and what’s at stake is everything.

Book One -Wanted-

He is everything I crave, all I desperately want—and he is everything I can’t have.

Evan Black embodies my every fantasy. He is brilliant, fierce, and devastatingly handsome. But he is also headstrong, dangerous, and burdened with secrets.

My family warned me to stay away, that I could never handle Evan’s dark dealings or scarred past. Maybe I should have listened. Maybe I should have run. But our desire is undeniable, and some temptations you just can’t fight.

And from the moment we touch—the passion between us consuming us both—I know that I will never be the same.

On sale now http://www.randomhouse.com/author/169248/j.-kenner?sort=best_13wk_3month

Book Two - Heated - 

I know better than to trust him, that I should never risk my heart.
But fierce passion comes at a high price.

I grew up believing in right and wrong, good and evil, black and white—that there were some boundaries that could never be crossed. And then I met Tyler Sharp.

Bold, charming, and dangerously sexy, Tyler always gets what he wants. But his smile can be deceiving, his dealings sordid, his ambitions ruthless. I thought I was the one woman strong enough to resist him, but our need for each other is too urgent to deny.

One look and I’m in trouble. One touch and I’m hooked. One night and I’m his. And once I fall, there’s no going back.

http://www.randomhouse.com/author/169248/j.-kenner?sort=best_13wk_3month

And now Ignited, Book Three . . . .

Learn about J Kenner's books here http://www.randomhouse.com/author/169248/j.-kenner?sort=best_13wk_3month

RELEASE DAY BLITZ & GIVEAWAYS - RUINED by TRACY WOLFF - RANDOM HOUSE

Fans of Fifty Shades of Grey, Bared to You, and Release Mewill be hooked on Ruined, an electrifying journey of emotional and sexual discovery that pushes two damaged souls to their breaking point—and beyond.

He’s the last man Chloe Girard should love . . . but the first she ever could.

Ethan Frost is a visionary, a genius, every woman’s deepest, darkest fantasy—even mine. And, somehow, I am his.

He stole into my life like a dream. Turned my reality upside down and made my every desire come true—especially those I never knew I had. He demanded everything I had to give and gave me everything of himself in return.

But dreams don’t last forever, and ours is no exception. Because my nightmares are darker, and my wounds deeper, than I could ever reveal. And as much as Ethan wants to protect me, the secrets we we share will only tear us apart.

Advance praise for Ruined

“Tracy Wolff knows how to steam up the pages, and she proves it again in Ruined. If you’re looking for a hot read, curl up with Ethan Frost.”—New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Kenner

“Heat sizzles off the page and the oh-so-sexy Ethan Frost will make you swoon!”—USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy

“No matter what Tracy Wolff writes, I’m hooked! Ruined is a fabulously sexy story full of passion, intense emotion, and hope. When it comes to billionaire bad boys that are to die for, Ethan Frost is in a delicious league of his own.”—Bestselling author Virna DePaul

“Definitely a page turner.”—AYA M. Productions

“I really enjoyed the playful banter between Ethan and Chloe.”—Cocktails and Books

“I absolutely loved this book but after that ending, I have a big problem: I want the second one right now!”—Love and Live to Read

“If you’re looking for a good, fast, steamy, sugary guilty pleasure read, then this is your book.”—Paradays

“It’s the perfect amount of romance mixed with naughty moments!”—Inside the Pages of a Book

“It’s very sexy and considering this book is set over a period of two weeks . . . very intense.”—I Love Romantic Fiction

BUY FROM

EXCERPT LINK

SNEAK PEEK SNIPPETS HERE

GIVEAWAY TIME

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J.B. THOMAS - MAMMON - THE FERRYMAN CHRONICLES & STORIES FOR SEVEN YEAR OLDS - RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA - AUSSIE AUTHOR ROAD TRIP - DAY 19

Day 19 is still buzzing along nicely. Now it is time to check out J.B. Thomas. You can read an extract from her book Mammon.

Welcome J.B.

AUTHOR BIO:

I write speculative fiction for young adults. I like to write fast-paced, action stories set in cities where my characters use weapons and modern tech to fight baddies, who are usually supernatural in nature. I live in Perth. I love Great Danes and have lived with two so far: Henry and George. My back garden is also a hangout for ducks, crows, doves and the naughty magpie larks. (They're those crazy little birds that fly from your car to your roof and back again, all day.) My favourite storytellers include Terry Pratchett and Leo Tolstoy but there are far too many to list here. For me, no other film has bested The Matrix as yet. I like animation, especially Archer, The Venture Bros and South Park. I am a proud member of The Colbert Nation. I like to support new writers and you'll find tips and hints aplenty on my blog. I am represented by Leonie Tyle of Tyle and Bateson Publishing.

Author: J.B. Thomas
Series Title: The Ferryman Chronicles
Published By : Random House Australia
Date Released : September 2011
Genre : Urban Fantasy
Book Cover Designer : Mathematics

Mammon

Forget anything you ever heard about possession, exorcisms, salt circles and pentagrams. The modern demon is far more difficult to catch - and even harder to destroy.

After the savage, tragic deaths of their parents, Grace and Joe Callahan learn that they are descendants of the sarsareh - an ancient order of mercenaries who hunt very special prey. Grace and Joe take their place in the Order, but are treated with hostility and fear by other recruits.

For the Callahan siblings have powers that fascinate and terrify. Joe is a Ferryman, capable of opening dimensional rifts, while Grace's telepathic abilities surpass anything the Order has ever seen. To complicate matters, Grace falls for her older, more experienced squad leader, Ivan. Meanwhile, the sarsareh elders have their own plans for Joe.

But none of that will matter if the powerful demon Mammon manages to convince Joe to open a gateway to his demon world and overrun Earth with his armies. 

If he succeeds: game over.

READ EXTRACT HERE - GOODREADS

OR HERE 

Goodreads Link: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12136182-mammon

Short Story : How the Crow’s Feathers Turned Black

Author: J.B. Thomas

Anthology Title: Stories for Seven Year Olds

Published By : Random House Australia

Date Released : December 2012

Social Media Links: 

https://www.facebook.com/jbthomasauthor

https://twitter.com/jbferryman

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jbthomasauthor

Official website: http://www.jbthomasauthor.com/

Tomorrow Jennifer Scoullar will be taking us rural and I will have my review of Breeze of Life by Kirsty Dallas. Awwww Breeze mad me cry at 1.10am in the morning.

BLOG HOP HUGE GIVEAWAYS - CLAIM ME by J KENNER - RANDOM HOUSE - 19TH APRIL - 4TH MAY 2013 #GIVEAWAY HOP #FREE BOOKS

ROMANCE AT RANDOM WEB PAGE

Time for more blog hopping to be ..errr...hopped. Random House have a lovely giveaway that you can bounce about on the hop stops and enter. 

Please note it is USA entries only. 18 Years + to enter.

Claim Me is book # 2 in The Stark Trilogy. Mr Damien Stark is rather delicious and a bit on the naughty side. Release Me was a great read. The Masked Blusher and Braine from Talk Supe had a chat review about Release Me. Go check it out!

SYNOPSIS - CLAIM ME

For Damien, our obsession is a game. For me, it is 
fiercely, blindingly, real.

Damien Stark’s need is palpable—his need for pleasure, his need for control, his need for me. Beautiful and brilliant yet tortured at his core, he is in every way my match.

I have agreed to be his alone, and now I want him to be fully mine. I want us to possess each other beyond the sweetest edge of our ecstasy, into the deepest desires of our souls. To let the fire that burns between us consume us both.

But there are dark places within Damien that not even our wildest passion can touch. I yearn to know his secrets, yearn for him to surrender to me as I have surrendered to him. But our troubled pasts will either bind us close . . . or shatter us completely.

Release Me is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.

GIVEAWAY TIME

USA Entries Only
18 years +

10 print copies of CLAIM ME 

10 print copies of RELEASE ME 

5 eBook copies of A VAMPIRES SALVATION 

One Claim Me Scarf !

More entries

More chances to win

So make like a bunny and hop!

Michelle

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BOOK REVIEW - SHADOW HEIR by RICHELLE MEAD - DARK SWAN # 4 - BANTAM BOOKS - 4.5 STARS!

By: Richelle Mead
Published By: Bantam, Random House
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 390 Pages

RATING: 4.5 UNPREDICTABLE ENDING STARS!

Blurb : Goodreads

#1 New York Times bestselling author Richelle Mead returns to the Otherworld, a mystic land inextricably linked to our own--and balanced precariously on one woman's desperate courage...

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born-children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld...

The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy king Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't--or won't--reveal. And as a formidable force rises to also threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon--and risk the ultimate sacrifice...

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

I have wrapped up yet another Richelle Mead series. Woot!

I must say I have mixed feelings about how Richelle ended this series. I understand Eugenie and her fears, but gahhhhhh!! It almost leaves an opening for a rather explosive book # 5. 

Now that, I would read!

I know this is the end of the series..... but, if you read this series and get to the end of Shadow Heir you will understand what I mean.

I would never take points off my review for the ending as I think it was deliberately written to shock. I like that! Richelle gave readers something to talk about and no doubt complain about, lol!!

Fear will make people do things they may regret later. Bottom line, Eugenie has a great fear for her children’s lives and it is currently out weighing maybe the logic of what is right.

I thought this was a great wrap up to a series. I think I would have liked Kiyo being a bit more lethal as he seemed almost too mellow when he entered the storyline...considering.

Oh, the couple twists thrown in were brilliant! I also think somebody needs a bit of a stinky dead fish slap for .... well, I can’t say.

What I can say is Richelle gave me a dangerous quest, a villain who appeared a bit over the edge with the plan that really wasn’t going to succeed, not with Dorian fighting alongside Eugenie, they really do make a good pair and twists that will shock.

I do love Dorian. Richelle allowed that man to evolve. He became very loveable. He has such a quirk to his character one moment, an almost laid back approach in another and then he is the hero in another moment. It was a case of what ‘Dorian’ am I going to have now. I do so love his banter. It is very much owned by him. I also love when I can see a glimpse of him letting down his walls around Eugenie and showing that caring side, minus the banter.That uber smexi side that came out in the early books.

Yowzer!

“I don’t know. Tell me the essentials. What are they like? What are their names? Are they really in good health after being born so early?”

“Their names are Isaac and Ivy,” I began.

“Isaac?” he repeated.

“It’s a nice name. A human name.”

“I’m aware. But it’s not the name I’d give to a conqueror of worlds,” explained Dorian. He considered. “I would’ve gone with Thundro or Ragnor. I might just call him Thundro anyway.”



“But tell me, how are you handling all of it?”



“Why, hello,” he said cheerfully. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything. I was just passing by and thought I’d see if your charming hovel needed any patching. My magic’s quite good at summoning dirt and rocks for convenient household usage.”



Dorian scoffed. “Little Thundro? A terror? hardly, unless perhaps we’re discussing diapers.”



“But it’s very reasonable,” he teased. “I have skills no-one else can teach your children. And it’s be a shame not to pass on my legendary charm and charisma on to the next generation. A tragedy, even.”

“Legendary, huh? That might be an exaggeration.”

“It’s truth, my dear. And I’m willing to put it all at your disposal --- I’m willing to put anything at your disposal --- if it’ll help you and yours. As I keep saying: What wouldn’t I do for you?”


Candace and Charles I adore these two. Candace is quite the character. 

Before I could even muster an answer, she turned and yelled, “Charles, wake up! Just like we practiced!”

And to my astonishment, it appeared they really had been practicing this. I was glad someone had because I certainly hadn’t.


Evan is an addition that has the reader wondering.

I so love Roland. He is just a stand up guy. Always there with a plan and a helping hand.

Volusian, he almost appeared helpful. I really liked his character throughout this series. I wouldn’t trust him, but at the same time, he seemed obliging in this book. 

“Yes, mistress,” he agreed. “And were it up to me, I assure you, I would stay out of your presence for as long as possible, unless I was coming to end your life and rip you limb from limb.”


I personally think Richelle tied up most of her ends.....well there is that ending that is rather..errrr....let’s just say Richelle will pull at your heart strings with that ending.

It wasn’t predictable and I give the thumbs up for that!

Michelle

HOT HOLIDAY HOP & GIVEAWAYS - RELEASE ME - 1ST DECEMBER - 10TH DECEMBER 2012 - SPONSORED BY RANDOM HOUSE

Hey everyone we have the awesome pleasure of being on the HOT HOLIDAY HOP for RELEASE ME by JULIE KENNER. 

We have a Rafflecopter you can enter to be in the running to win some awesome prizes. Random House have kindly sponsored all giveaways. Don't forget to hop to the other blogs to get maximum chances to win.

I enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by E.L. James and Bared To You # 1 and Reflected In You # 2 in Crossfire series by Sylvia Day. Both series rate very well on Goodreads . Fifty Shades certainly made for a discussion point whether it be good or bad. Crossfire series is a softer , yet just as addictive tale of the billionaire and the girl. The characters are dramatically flawed in their own way. 

Without further ado, read on , enter if you think you would like to read Release Me and get to know Damien Stark. I now I have.

Release Me

For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You comes an erotic, emotionally charged romance between a powerful man who’s never heard “no” and a fiery woman who says “yes” on her own terms.

He was the one man I couldn’t avoid. And the one man I couldn’t resist.

Damien Stark could have his way with any woman. He was sexy, confident, and commanding: Anything he wanted, he got. And what he wanted was me.

Our attraction was unmistakable, almost beyond control, but as much as I ached to be his, I feared the pressures of his demands. Submitting to Damien meant I had to bare the darkest truth about my past—and risk breaking us apart.

But Damien was haunted, too. And as our passion came to obsess us both, his secrets threatened to destroy him—and us—forever.

Release Me is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.

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BLOG HOP STOPS

RANDOM POSTING # 74 - BOOK SPOTLIGHT - RELEASE ME by J KENNER - RANDOM HOUSE

For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You comes an erotic, emotionally charged romance between a powerful man who’s never heard “no” and a fiery woman who says “yes” on her own terms.

He was the one man I couldn’t avoid. And the one man I couldn’t resist.

Damien Stark could have his way with any woman. He was sexy, confident, and commanding: Anything he wanted, he got. And what he wanted was me.

Our attraction was unmistakable, almost beyond control, but as much as I ached to be his, I feared the pressures of his demands. Submitting to Damien meant I had to bare the darkest truth about my past—and risk breaking us apart.

But Damien was haunted, too. And as our passion came to obsess us both, his secrets threatened to destroy him—and us—forever.

Release Me is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.

Would you like to read more?

Well, this is your lucky day.

Release Me by J. Kenner (an excerpt)

RELEASE DATE: 1/1/2013

I will be reading this shortly . Big Thankyou to Random House USA, much appreciated. Review will come closer to release date. 

Please note that ICED by Karen Marie Moning is now released. So all you FEVER fans, and for those of you who haven't started FEVER series by Karen Marie Moning, ( adult genre) .....you is missing out, people!!!!

Michelle

RANDOM HOUSE & KAREN MARIE MONING HAVE KINDLY GIVEN EVERYBODY AN EXCERPT FROM ICED - READ HERE !! WHAT A TASTY EXCERPT!!!

Random House & Karen Marie Moning have revealed a preview excerpt to get us all excited......well I was excited the minute I heard there was some more works coming from Karen in the 'Fever World'.

Seriously, how could you not be?

You can find all my reviews for Fever series with the delicious Jericho Barrons * waggles eyebrows* HERE Just scroll down and read.

If you haven't started this series and you are of the adult age ....then what are you waiting for people???

GOODREADS

CHECK OUT THE RATINGS IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.

Anyhoo , without further ado.

READ ON!!!!

WOOT!!!!!!

Scroll and Read!

• Iced: A Dani O'Malley Novel (Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning

THANKYOU RANDOM HOUSE & KAREN M MONING

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - DEARLY DEPARTED by LIA HABEL - GONE WITH THE RESPIRATION SERIES # 1 - 4.75 STARS!!

By: Lia Habel

Published By: Random House Books, Doubleday

Released: Available Now

Details : Paperback from library, 451 Pages

RATING : 4.75 SMEXI ZOMBIE BRAM STARS!!

Book Blurb : Goodreads

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

Loved this book!

What an awesome original concept mixed with this kind of mild steampunk , (referencing automaton’s) , in a futuristic Victorian era.

The year is 2195. I know. Look at the book covers, I bet you didn’t think I was going to say 2195. That whole ‘Gone with the Wind’ cover look ( UK). The World has gone new Victorian. Yes, the etiquette of the days gone by, parasols, big dresses, gentlemanly manners, but ..... cell phones and digidiaries, computers, then.....dirigibles, airships powered by coal, and..........ZOMBIES!!!!

Oh the joy at reading Lia’s very imaginative writing. Yay for the undead, who are technically dead.... but not. They are ‘departed’. You will love the character’s of Company Z.

Lia explains her world very well. Within the first 50 pages I really had a handle on where I had found myself . She did a really cool job of letting the reader inhale her world without us being confused or needing answers.

Abraham R. Griswold. A gentleman, a soldier....a zombie, a departed, a spunk.... in a zombie way.

2193. Bram 16years old, bitten ,departed. 2 years later... a soldier.

Nora Dearly, a student at St. Cyprians. Her father is dead. She is an orphan. She is about to be abducted.

Company Z. Coalhouse Gates- sniper, Chas - Jill-of-all-trades, Tom Todd - Grenadier, Renfield Merriweather III - Engineer & Logistics, Captain Bram Griswold - errr ...their Captain. These are just some of the characters that make up Company Z. The soldiers the government uses that are dispensable. Send a zombie to fight the war on the lines. Who cares if they don’t come back?

Well, I do.

Captain James Wolfe, living, in charge, 7ft of man. Nutbag!

Pamela Roe. What a fierce girl. I loved Pammy. Nora and Pammy get separated due to circumstance. Pammy is a character girls will be proud of. Challenge accepted.

Pamela shines in her storyline. The girl is full of surprises.

We get many POV’s. Bram, Nora, Pamela, Victor and Wolfe. I enjoyed following all these characters about. Sometimes I just had to remember who I was following, whose eyes I was looking through.

There are a pile of subcharacter’s that really are fun to read. Dr Baldwin Samedi, aka Doc Sam, undead, no head. A little creepy when visualising what he does with his head. But, what a lovely guy, head or no head..... gives a whole new meaning to head and shoulders above the rest....hehe.

We spend a bit of this book with Nora getting used to this interesting group of characters. Put it this way, Bram is the best ‘held together’, looking, out the lot of them. I loved how patient Bram was with Nora. He has a wonderful bedside manner about him. Nora needs time finding trust in these characters and Bram gives her that time.

He popped his right eye in and wedged a thumbprint-sized piece of latex foam in with it for support. “Ey, cap,” he said. “What’s up?”


Awwww the teddy bear.

Taking a breath, I opened the door wide. With both hands, my eyes shut, I thrust the bear out into the hall. ‘Keep this in mind, though: one false move, and the teddy gets it!’

They were all once human before their luck ran out.

With war, and its impact on the departed’s bodies, it comes at a price. Loss of limbs , holes etc. The good doctors , living and undead, are there to help Company Z stay stitched up, their bodies  nourished . Bodies that are no longer living, bodies that only have five years approximately from reanimation to turning into the zombiefied, crazy for flesh.... turning into death shells.

Unless.......

Lia has such fun with her character’s but at the same time you really get to love the undead . They were all human once. They all have a sad story to tell of loss of family when they were bitten.

‘Hey , she’s hot. Literally. And circulation, I find that very, very attractive in a woman.’

Chas is the girl in Company Z. Poor love is falling apart a bit. I love her whole girlfriend attitude. She is so girlfriend around Nora you forget she is departed.

One of the zombies, a girl, gave a little squeal of excitement. ‘Yay, she’s not a loser! We are so having a sleepover!’ I recognized her voice from the hall.

‘Can I watch?’ quipped a boy zombie without a nose.

I found myself forgetting Company Z were not the best looking. It was their personalities that shine through. I’m already feeling sad for when their time is up. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Book boy snapped his volume shut, and removed his glasses from his nose. ‘I speak the truth! in all of these books the girls are throwing themselves at the romantic heroes - romantic heroes who are dead, who drink human blood. Be of good cheer, my brothers, for I tell you, there is hope!’

One of the other guys, a large black boy, rolled his lone eye. ‘OK, you’re cut off. Someone get him a cook book or something?’



‘We’re weapons, Nora,’ Bram said. ‘Very expensive, fussed-over weapons, but to the larger government we’re nothing more. And like weapons, they figure in the budget that they’ll lose a few of us.’

‘Nobody in the army spends a great deal of time trying to fish a gun out of a river,’ Ren said, cracking open his book again. ‘Far easier to buy a new one.’



‘The pink one, I think, but....do you have any dresses that are tight on you?’

Chas was losing patience. ‘Tight?’

‘Yeah, you know.....’ I rolled my eyes, but pointed to my chest. ‘Up here. She’s way smaller than you. Not that I’ve been looking, or anything.’

‘Are you complimenting my girl’s boobs?’ Tom muttered beneath the blanket.

I looked at the lump, and deadpanned, ‘Yes, I am.’

The lump shifted in a self-satisfied way. ‘Thank you, you’re very kind.’

Due For Release
25th September 2012

I was always a bit afraid of the zombie, Lia Habel will show you a deeper side. Her story, although humour is woven throughout, there is still a serious side with action and bad zombies wanting to have a num on you. There is a romance or two , that are very gentlemanly , well it is Victorian era/future. Couple of humourous twists that had me laugh out loud. Should be fun to see where that goes, in Dearly Beloved.

Funnily enough you won’t go ewwwwww when Bram kisses the girlJ

I kind of think Pamela’s character shone through a bit more in this first book. But, things are about to change, I think we will be seeing Nora in a new light.

I may have to beg the publisher for a copy of Dearly Beloved.

Michelle

RAPTURE RELEASE GIVEAWAY (intl.)

Welcome to the world.....

RAPTURE by LAUREN KATE

The fourth and final installment of the FALLEN SERIES

And to celebrate it's release......

let's have a giveaway!

Thanks to the awesome crew at Dymocks Bookstore, Garden City (Western Australia) I have a stack of Fallen Series cover cards to giveaway.  Each pack has a card displaying the cover image of each book. So that's four gorgeous cards for each winner!! 

Each card has a foil print of the Fallen logo in the bottom right corner :)

How many winners will there be?  hhhmmmmmmm.........

10

That's right......10 winners will be selected to each receive one of these great packs!

PLUS......
As it's the fourth book in the series 
4th place will also receive a copy of the book Rapture  !!
via the Book Depository

And it's open International

Entry is easy....

***Be a GFC follower of Novels On The Run***

Extra entries for Tweeting, Facebooking & Blogging the comp!

Leave a comment below with your GFC name and links to any extra's you did.

+1 GFC follower

+1 Tweet... +1 FB.....+1 Blog

Comp ends midnight Aust EST 18th June 2012

GOOD LUCK

& ENJOY!

MARISSA

TEASER TRAILERS - RAPTURE by LAUREN KATE

Well it's not long now till the release of Lauren Kate's RAPTURE....Book 4 of the Fallen Series

Random House Australia have released 2 teaser trailers so I thought I would pop them up for you all to check

Don't forget....Rapture is released 12 June 2012

Be sure to check back as I will have a giveaway to coincide with the release!!

ENJOY!

MARISSA