{Book Review} Hide & Seek by Aimee Laine

Hide & Seek by the lovely and talented Aimee Laine is a hardcore romantic’s dream come true.  It’s filled to the brim with conflict, intrigue, heart-melting romance, a hot guy who is flawed but sweet, a heroine who knows what she wants, and enough sexual tension to set the house on fire. Not to mention the poetic writing style and scenery I disappeared into like a daydream.

Five big ones from me! ☆☆☆☆☆

Let’s begin with the cover.  Yummy, right?  What a spectacular view.  The cityscape of Paris isn’t bad, either.

The blend of colors and different fonts give a sense of warmth, and the delicious man-god staring at something we can’t see adds a bit of intrigue.

Here’s the blurb

Lie, cheat or steal, no one can catch Tripp Fox. Except one woman.

Lexi Shepherd’s knack for finding whatever is asked of her isn’t sheer luck. It’s a gift from the Greek god Zeus.

That Lexi doesn’t use her ability to search for “Mr. Right” comes from one of many personal rules she has set for herself. Number one is not to let fate dictate her future.

Falling in love with Tripp breaks all the others. 

Despite her principles, Lexi’s unable to stay away from the bad boy, and she finds herself toeing the grey line of the law for him.

Zeus, though, didn’t give Lexi and Tripp their talents to make their relationship a simple, easy alliance. He designed it to be exactly the opposite. Impossible. Always.

With their separation, Lexi expects Tripp to forfeit love in favor of destiny. He, on the other hand, intends to beat Zeus at his own game. With a plan in place, Tripp challenges Lexi to take the one action no one else can.

Find him.

The question isn’t can she … but will she?

Lexi is bored with her life as a real estate agent, though her moral compass won’t let her use her Zeus-given abilities to find anything that will get her into trouble.  Until she runs into the delicious Mr. Fox on the beach one night.  I could almost feel the sparks flying between the two, and my own anxiety jacked up because I wanted her to say to hell with her misgivings and be with him.

Hide & Seek is essentially a story about trust.  Lexi and Tripp’s talents work against one another, and it’s that air of distrust that stands between them along with Zeus’s little paradox he cursed them with.  Add to that an ex-fiance who won’t take Tripp’s no for an answer, and her Daddy who wants to keep her happy, and there is one giant mountain Lexi and Tripp have to climb to find happiness together.  One quiet enjoyable for us readers to squirm in our seats while we follow along with their ups and downs.

I quite enjoyed this tale and I have to say, it had THEE most romantic ending of all time.  Well done, Ms. Laine.

3 must-read series’ to ask Santa for #giveaway

Welcome, and thanks for stopping by on your tour around the Mid-Winters Eve Blog Hop.  I know I’m always looking for some recommendations for great urban fantasy and paranormal romance reads, so I thought I’d share some recent finds I thoroughly enjoyed.  You can take them off to the nearest mall and whisper them into Santa’s ear.  I’ve already made my list.  Have you?

Maybe I can put something a little extra in your stocking this year.  Click the logo above to continue along the tour and enter to win more great prizes.

GIVEAWAY – International

I’m going to give away the following to one lucky commenter:

An eBook copy of

The Glass Man

Into the Unknown

AND an Advanced Reader’s copy of my new novella, Touch of Frost

What do you have to do to win?

Just leave me a comment at the bottom of this post recommending your favorite UF or PNR book or series before 7pm on December 27th.  I’ll choose a poster at random and post the winner on December 28th.  Don’t forget to leave me a way to reach you (email, twitter account, facebook account, etc.)

Here are my top 3 must-read series for the PNR & UF lovers

3.  Demonica Series by Larissa Ione – Steam rating – 4/5

The covers of this series aren’t very imaginative (though quite identifiable), but the content within is unique and held me rapt book after book.

This series centers around a hospital for demons, Underground General, starring mainly the three seminus demon brothers, Eidolon the doctor, Shade the finder of things and heavy-hitter of the bunch, and Wraith, the vampire, all three incubus’s and faced with nearly impossible relationships.

I love the relationship between these three leading men, each starring in their own book in the series, along with their half brother & sister, Lore & Sin later on.  The fights they get into would scare you skinny, but Ione does a great job of showing their deep-rooted affection for one another when things go awry and they lean on the others for support.

The sex scenes are descriptive enough to be satisfying, but not so raunchy as to offend those of us with more delicate tastes in that department.  As each of these tasty men meet the loves of their lives, we see their struggle with what they are and the relationship they want–always with a price attached.  If I’ve come near the end of the book and I’m still squirming in my seat, I call it a keeper.  The endings are short and sweet, and often set up a little something for the next book in the series.  Definitely on my have-ta-read list.

2.  Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs – Steam rating 1/5

Mercy Thompson is a VW mechanic, not your typical profession for a heroine.  I loved it.  She’s also a walker, a coyote shifter different from other types of shifters and werewolves because she can transform instantly and holds a little magic from her native heritage.

This series has lots of action and excitement, as well as some romance and suspense.  She lives in a trailer and the alpha of the local werewolf pack is her back yard neighbor, whom she pisses off by putting a junky looking VW bug between their houses.  You see, Adam is a bit of a neat freak and a control freak, but because she’s not part of the pack, nor is she defying him outright, he can’t do much about it.  It sets off their relationship on a very interesting and tension-filled path.

Add in a sexy ex-boyfriend who somehow manages to become her room mate, a yummy vampire who may or may not have a romantic interest in her, and the heat continues throughout the books.  I was a little disappointed that all of the sex takes place off camera, but it didn’t detract enough to affect my enjoyment of the series.

1.  Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews – Steam rating 4/5

I’m not big on the covers for this series, but what I found within gave me immense enjoyment.  I’ve always loved a post-apocalyptic sort of setting, and this one delivered quite a unique one.  Magic has destroyed a lot of the world.  When it flares, it knocks out all electronic devices and leaves everything dark except for the fae lanterns that come on for safety.

Kate is … well, I’m not really sure we learned exactly what she is, only that her father is powerful and she has to remove any traces of her blood she may leave.  If dear daddy finds her through the magic in her blood, she’d be in trouble.

The icing on this intriguing cake is Curran, the lion shifter beast lord.  He’s scary as hell and yummy enough to star in a fantasy or two, especially when he challenges Kate to a bet (which she loses) and the penalty is for her to serve him supper … naked.  Ha!  The tension between these two picks up heat in book two as Kate is dragged more and more into shifter business and other disasters that affect the beast lord enough he jumps in to help.  I can’t wait for the next one of this series to come out.

I’ve given you my favorites, now don’t forget to leave yours in the comments below for your chance to win.  Good luck!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Be well.

Love lots.

Smile often.

Happy release day! #IntoTheUnknown

Happy release day to my fellow authors, J. A. Belfield and Aimee Laine.  Our collective short stories release today with J. Taylor Publishing in the Into the Unknown anthology.

Woo hoo!  I can’t believe it’s December 1st already.  All year it seemed like October took a million years to arrive for the release of my debut novel, and now Liam Kane (Hero from The Glass Man) is starring in his own little short from his perspective.

After being inside Lila’s head for so long, it took some serious brain twisting to get into Liam’s head and voice.  After a few drafts, I finally managed it.  I think.  I’ll let you be the judge.

Here’s the blurb:

Three men never expected love to wreak so much havoc in their lives.

In Marked, Darkness & Light’s Sean Holloway is on a mission—to find the perfect gift for the woman of his dreams. When all conventional choices turn out to be the wrong ones, each failed attempt convinces Sean his self-imposed task is impossible. But in the world of the Holloway Pack, anything is possible if it can be kept a secret.

In Misguided, Little White Lies’s Wyatt Moreland is hot on the trail of a wanted man when a rumor about his fiancée halts his progress. His desire to keep her safe wars with her need to be involved in his work and could derail their entire wedding unless he finds out the truth before she does.

In Tempted, The Glass Man’s Liam Kane made a promise to the fae he loves never to use his power to harm others. When a horrific event angers him, the energy boiling inside seduces him into walking a dark path. He has but one choice: resist his own nature or give up the one he loves.

Will the three men make the right choices? Or will their actions destroy their futures with the women they love?

For anyone who loves paranormal romance and urban fantasy, this is a great taste of three different worlds, three different writing styles and three wonderful love stories.  It also includes the first chapters from J. A. Belfield’s Darkness & Light, Aimee Laine’s Little White Lies, and The Glass Man.

 

To kick off the release, J. Taylor Publishing is hosting a terrific giveaway.  Click here to check it out.

I won! Sort of #deathmatchresults

So, back in October, the lovely and talented (and way too fast of a writer for my liking), Ms. Aimee Laine, challenged me to a write-off rematch during National Novel Writing Month in November.

Being the non competitive person I am (yeah right *snort*) I grudgingly accepted.

The rules:  First one to hit 50,000 words and send it off to Judge Julie–who had to verify we didn’t type “and” 50,000 times–wins, gets to do a happy dance and point and snicker at the non-winner

The spoils:  The non-winner has to write a blog post bowing down to the winner & send chocolate

Sweet!

November first came and the heckling began.  Check out Judge Julie’s post here to see samples of our back and forth.    Hehe  It was a blast!

Here are my daily totals, the diagonal line representing the daily goal to hit 50k by the end of November.  Day 5 was a good one.  Any other writing day I can usually manage about 2,500 words.  For some reason when Aimee and I are racing, I can pump out anywhere from 5-10,000 words per day.  Crazy, right?

Although I cursed myself for accepting the dual while it was going on because Aimee is such a formidable opponent, I got so much done it was worth all of the stress.

Thanks to our friendly (mostly ) competition and despite being sick for half of the time, I set a new personal record.  Fourteen days after NaNoWriMo began, I crossed the finish line.  Woo hoo!  Though, my victory is a little empty this time.  Ms. Laine went on vacation for a whole week where she didn’t write, and if she hadn’t, she might very well have won.

Oh well.  I guess we’ll just have to have another rematch soon to settle this like the proper ladies we are.  *snort*

Click here for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate from Amazon or Barnes & Noble

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Glass Man

by Jocelyn Adams

Giveaway ends December 17, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

Only two days to go! #IntoTheUnknown

This is an eventful week for me.

First, I’m so excited about the release of Liam’s short, Tempted, coming out in the Into the Unknown anthology with J. Taylor Publishing in only … two days.  Eek!  Just in time for reading over the holidays.

What could be better than more Wyatt Moreland (Little White Lies, by Aimee Laine), Sean Holloway (Darkness & Light, by J. A. Belfield) and Liam Kane from The Glass Man?

Here’s the blurb:

Three men never expected love to wreak so much havoc in their lives.

In Marked, Darkness & Light’s Sean Holloway is on a mission—to find the perfect gift for the woman of his dreams. When all conventional choices turn out to be the wrong ones, each failed attempt convinces Sean his self-imposed task is impossible. But in the world of the Holloway Pack, anything is possible if it can be kept a secret.

In Misguided, Little White Lies’s Wyatt Moreland is hot on the trail of a wanted man when a rumor about his fiancée halts his progress. His desire to keep her safe wars with her need to be involved in his work and could derail their entire wedding unless he finds out the truth before she does.

In Tempted, The Glass Man’s Liam Kane made a promise to the fae he loves never to use his power to harm others. When a horrific event angers him, the energy boiling inside seduces him into walking a dark path. He has but one choice: resist his own nature or give up the one he loves.

Will the three men make the right choices? Or will their actions destroy their futures with the women they love?

Yes!  You can read it in only two days.

Two!

Don’t have an eReader?  You can download a free application that will allow you to read kindle books right on your computer.  Click here to read more.

I have another event coming up this Saturday evening.  My initial launch party in my childhood hometown was in a busy bookstore where there were lots of distractions.  The one in the town where I now live will be in a small shop where I am the host and center of attention.  I have to read in front of a bunch of strangers I have to entertain for an hour and a half.

Yikes!

I’ve planned the snacks and beverages, worked out the seating details with the wonderful owner of ReVIBE who has graciously loaned me her store for the event, and selected my passages to read from The Glass Man.  Usually planning will set me more at ease, but I’m still a little nervous.

Will anyone come?  Will they like my book?  Will I have planned enough food?  I guess I’ll find out on Saturday.  I’ve never been a great public speaker and I know this will be good for me.  It comes with the author territory, right? 

Wish me luck!

What do you have going on this week?

Click here for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate from Amazon or Barnes & Noble

What’s a guy to do with a woman who hates to cry? #sixsunday

This six comes from Tempted, soon to arrive in the Into the Unknown anthology with J. Taylor Publishing.  This is from Liam Kane’s point of view, the hero from The Glass Man.

Lila hates it when he gets all sentimental with her.

I pressed my lips to hers, let them drift up over her peach-soft cheek, over her long lashes to her brow.  “My only wish is to keep the peace in this world and bring back the innocence I saw in your eyes a few minutes ago.”  I moaned as I recalled [Lila's] face at the moment of her climax.  “I’ll see it restored one day, just watch and see.”

A dull pain rippled out from my gut.  It took me a second to realize she’d hit me.

Don’t forget to click on the logo above to see the other entries this week.

Coming December 1, 2011

Cover Reveal – Into the Unknown

I’m so excited to announce another release.  SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!  Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system, here’s the deal.  My wonderful and talented publisher, J. Taylor Publishing, put together this great anthology that includes short stories from the leading men of all three debut novels, Sean from Darkness & Light, by J. A. Belfield, Wyatt from Little White Lies, by Aimee Laine, and Liam from The Glass Man by, you guessed it, ME!

So, without further blathering on by me, here it is:

Book Blurb

Three men never expected love to wreak so much havoc in their lives.

In Marked, Darkness & Light’s Sean Holloway is on a mission—to find the perfect gift for the woman of his dreams. When all conventional choices turn out to be the wrong ones, each failed attempt convinces Sean his self-imposed task is impossible. But in the world of the Holloway Pack, anything is possible if it can be kept a secret.

In Misguided, Little White Lies’s Wyatt Moreland is hot on the trail of a wanted man when a rumor about his fiancée halts his progress. His desire to keep her safe wars with her need to be involved in his work and could derail their entire wedding unless he finds out the truth before she does.

In Tempted, The Glass Man’s Liam Kane made a promise to the fae he loves never to use his power to harm others. When a horrific event angers him, the energy boiling inside seduces him into walking a dark path. He has but one choice: resist his own nature or give up the one he loves.

Will the three men make the right choices? Or will their actions destroy their futures with the women they love?

If you loved the books, you’ll absolutely have to have this excellent companion to give you another point of view from your favorite heros.