Release Day Blitz + Teaser: Tipsy by Cambria Hebert

Tipsy Release Banner

Tipsy by Cambria Hebert

Title: Tipsy (Take It Off #5)
Author:  Cambria Hebert
Release Date:  December 13, 2013
Add to Goodreads

Julie Preston is an artist. But her canvas isn’t paper or clay. It’s hair. She spends her days coloring, blow drying and styling her clients hair at the Razor’s Edge salon. Julie is also annoyed. She went out on a date and had a great time, gave the guy her number and the jerk never called.

So when he waltzes into the salon and sits down in her chair she briefly considers strangling him with the pink cape she fastens around his neck.

Too bad she can’t.

Blue Markson, the guy who never called, is a police officer so causing him bodily harm would be a first class ticket into the slammer. Just looking at him again makes Julie forget why she was mad in the first place, but she’s already learned that Blue is nothing but heartache. So when he starts coming around, acting like he hadn’t made her stare at the phone for days, she tries to brush him off.

Only…

Her life is about to blow up in her face, she’s about to get caught up in a sticky web of crime and the one guy who can help her is the one guy she vowed never to trust again.

Teaser

(unedited and copyrighted by Cambria Hebert)

I leaned back against my padded headboard and tried to calm my rolling stomach. As I sat there, trying not to barf a light sound caught my attention.

It was the closing of the front door.

I perked up, forgetting all about the fact I was suffering from an attack of an unsuspecting hangover.

Had I forgotten to lock the door? I never forgot to lock the door. But I was usually not running from my best friend.

Great.

The one time I don’t lock the damn door is the one time a burglar decides to come a calling.

Too bad for mister criminal I had a plan for something like this. I was the kind of girl that always had a plan.

I crept into the bathroom, being as quiet as I could and reached into the cabinet. I pulled out my weapons (hey, all the crap that women have to do to themselves to look good definitely qualify as weapons.) and gripped them closely to my chest with both hands.

My heart was beating so hard against my ribs that it actually hurt and I had to work to not gasp for breath. Catching my intruder by surprise was key to my plan.

Moving quickly through the dark I moved to the bedroom door, leaning against the wall and peering out into the darkened hallway. I could see the top of the stairs from where I stood, as well as the railing that ran alongside the hallway to keep someone from falling into the stairwell from upstairs.

Courtesy of the nightlight down in the entry way (it came in handy when I wanted a drink in the middle of the night) I saw a shadow move against the wall, the figure was large and distorted against the tall bare wall of the stairwell.

Up until that point I hadn’t been certain someone was in the house.

But now I couldn’t deny it.

There was a robber in my house.

He for sure had nefarious plans.

Too bad for him I had a really shitty night and wasn’t in the mood.

As his foot stepped on the bottom stairs I slinked out of the door and along the wall, keeping my eyes trained on the top of the stairs. He began climbing the stairs (I was very unimpressed with his quietness, or rather lack thereof.) and as he climbed I slipped along the wall, moving through the darkness until I was standing in the corner directly across from the top of the stairs.

I saw his shoulders appear as he continued upwards. He was wearing a dark coat and a dark hat… he was nothing but a large ominous shape in the night.

I swallowed, the sound of my saliva scraping down my dry throat made me wince and my palms were sweaty, causing me to tighten my grip on my weapons.

about the author

Cambria HebertCambria Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series, the new adult Death Escorts series, and the new adult Take it Off series. She loves a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and children (both human and furry) where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads  Website

Buy the Take It Off Series:

Torch by Cambria Hebert

Torch (Take It Off #1)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Teaser by Cambria Hebert

Tease (Take It Off #2)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Tempt by Cambria Hebert

Tempt (Take It Off #3)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Text by Cambria Hebert

Text (Take It Off #4)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Tipsy by Cambria Hebert

Tipsy (Take It Off #5)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Release Day Launch + Giveaway: Unwrapped by Melody Grace

Unwrapped Release Day Launch Banner

We are extremely excited to celebrate the release of Melody Grace’s UNWRAPPED, a novella in the Beachwood Bay Series!! Fans will want to snatch this up and snuggle by the fire for a fun holiday read!

Unwrapped by Melody Grace

You are invited to join friends and family in Beachwood Bay for the wedding of the year…

Lacey James is wild, spontaneous and up for anything.
Daniel Sullivan is careful, sensible, and mending his broken heart.

It’s a match nobody saw coming, but when the unlikely pair get stranded together on the way home for the holidays, Lacey finds her long-term crush impossible to ignore. As the snow keeps falling, and a friendly game of truth or dare gets way out of control, Daniel discovers that the one girl he wants more than anything is the last person he expected.

But when the snow melts, will their night together be more than just a memory? And will they make it to Beachwood Bay in time for the wedding? Anything can happen this holiday season!

Fall in love with the latest installment of the internationally bestselling Beachwood Bay series by Melody Grace.

Add to Goodreads

 Buy Links:
AmazonB&N • iTunes

Unwrapped Teaser

about the author

Melody Grace is the USA Today bestselling author of UNBROKEN and UNTOUCHED. A small-town girl turned SoCal beach-lover, she spent years with her nose in a book before deciding it was time to write them for herself. She loves bad boys, good books, and pistachio-flavored ice-cream.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

giveaway

–ebook set of the Beachwood Bay series
–signed copy of Unbroken

a Rafflecopter giveaway

InkSlinger PR Blogger Button

Release Day Launch + Teaser & Giveaway: Thou Shalt Not by JJ Rossum

Thou Shalt Not banner

Thou Shalt Not by J.J. Rossum

Thou Shalt Not by JJ Rossum
Release Day: December 9, 2013
Add to Goodreads

Luke Harper was finally starting to settle into his life – a life that had previously been full of more heartbreak and pain than most people ever experienced. He had a job he loved, and was blissfully content in his on-again, off-again relationship with the striking, and highly sexual, Holly. But, life throws Luke another curveball with the arrival of the alluring April, a woman stuck in a tumultuous, violent marriage to a famous athlete. Luke soon finds himself torn between what is safe, familiar, and right, and what is dangerous, unknown, and forbidden.

Buy Links:
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | Smashwords

Teaser

She was looking down into the water.

“You know, if I knew you better I would probably push you in,” she said very nonchalantly, as if letting me know the water temperature.

“If I knew you better, I would probably beat you to it,” I replied.

She turned to me, her eyes full of mischievous energy.

“Oh really?”

Her hands quickly went up and grabbed my shoulders, and mine instinctively grabbed her waist. I could feel her grip tighten when I touched her, and her eyes widened.

“If I go in, you are going in with me,” I said, shuffling my feet closer to the edge.

Her hands moved along my shoulders and her feet edged closer to mine.

“I’m a grown woman,” she said. “Threats involving water don’t scare me.”

Her bottom lip curled up under her teeth as she smiled, repeating what I had said earlier. Or mocking me, perhaps.

I tightened my grip on her hips and flinched, pretending I was about to throw her in.  She gasped slightly, hands grabbing my shoulders tightly again. Her hips arched forward and she leaned up on her toes as if in reflex.

“I thought you weren’t scared,” I said, pulling her closer to me. “People usually don’t gasp when they are ready for what’s about to happen.”

She was less than a foot from me, her face getting much closer to mine.

“It depends on what’s happening,” she said, looking up into my eyes.

I wasn’t thinking about throwing her into the water anymore. Everything within me wanted to pull her tightly in and kiss her right there, in front of the pool in the house her husband bought with all the millions of dollars he had made throughout his career. Kiss her on the spot where he probably threw numerous parties. Kiss her on the lips I wished were mine, and not his.

The look in her eyes told me she wanted the same. At least I thought they did. I hadn’t been in a position where I felt like this for someone in a long time. Thankfully, my hands were around her waist or I surely would have been able to feel them get clammy, nervous, like a high school kid on his first date with the prom queen he never thought he could get.

She is calculating, remember? I thought to myself. If she hadn’t wanted it to get to this point she never would have asked you over to her house. She wants this as much as you do.

I wasn’t sure which shoulder angel was feeding me that line but whoever it was, I knew they were right.

My hands pulled her closer until her feet were between mine; our legs and waists touching.

“You have really strong shoulders,” she said. Her voice was soft and she tilted her head up toward mine when she spoke.

Do it, I told myself. Kiss her.

My heart was racing, and I could hear the beating in my ears. My hands moved up her body and found her neck. My fingers laced in her hair behind her head and I pulled her up.

Praise from Tarryn Fisher

Salty. This book is salty. There is no sweet. You’ll be hard pressed to find a unicorn. It is sexy and frustrating. I grow so tired of “perfect” steamy hero’s. I don’t like perfect. I like my men a little nerdy and aggressive. Luke is way nerdy. We have a lot of male perspective books coming out, but most are written by women. I’m really wondering at this point if we are getting it right. As for the actual storyline…I was riveted. Hero is playing with married woman fire. He has a hot, little blonde on the back burner. I didn’t know who to root for. The author’s writing style is what I’ll praise most. It’s so different. Polished. And I love being in a man’s head. They’re simple, but damn are they dirty. I.LOVE.THIS.BOOK.

Bonus Chapter at the end of Thou Shalt Not

After you finish Thou Shalt Not, you will be able to briefly reunite with Caleb and Olivia from Tarryn Fisher’s Love Me With Lies series as she gives us one last glimpse into their life.

about the author

JJ Rossum traveled the world as a child, and called many places “home”. Currently, home is Portland, Oregon, where he is at work on other novels that were hatched while people watching during many airport layovers.

Facebook | Goodreads

giveaway

–10 e-book copies of Thou Shalt Not

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book News, Weekly Recap & Upcoming Releases! {16}

Cover Reveals!!

Finding My Forever by Heidi McLaughlin

Finding My Forever (Beaumont #3) by Heidi McLaughlin
Release Date: December 30th 2013

Everywhere I look, my friends are settling down – marriage, children, white picket fences; but not me. Marriage isn’t in the cards for me. I’m a ladies man.

A rock star.

I was born and raised in the industry.
I love everything about my life, especially the attention from the women that my status brings me.

Women find me. I don’t chase. I know what they want and they know I’ll deliver.

But after one look, one touch, one night… now I’m the one doing the chasing.

I need to find a way to show her that I’m serious, that I can change.

I need to find a way to show her that I can love her fully, and only her.

I need to find a way to show her that she’s my forever.

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle
Release Date: February 24th 2014

***A Standalone Horror Romance coming February 2014***

Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive 

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

***This is NOT New Adult***

Nude Caucasian Woman

Surrendering to Us (Surrendering Saga #2) by Chelsea M. Cameron
Release Date: January 2nd 2014

They’re finally together. But the Universe seems intent on tearing them apart…

Rory Clarke might not be Lucah Blythe’s boss anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can sneak off to the boardroom for hot sex whenever they want. Keeping their hands off each other in the workplace is harder than they could have imagined, and that’s not the only obstacle they have to deal with. Between Lucah’s troublesome brother Ryder, and Rory’s bff Sloane’s inability to understand locked doors, they’re drowning in drama.

But it’s only about to get a lot worse when a blast from Lucah’s past surfaces, and chaos at Clarke Enterprises threatens to take away everything Rory has worked so hard for. Can the couple weather the storm and surrender to each other, or will the challenges of staying together destroy their relationship for good?

Phenomenal X by Michelle A.Valentine

Phenomenal X (Hard Knocks #1) by Michelle A. Valentine
Release Date: 2014

Good Girl. Notorious Bad-Boy. One Phenomenal Love.

From the mean streets of Detroit rises the newest superstar of professional wrestling, Xavier Cold, better known as Phenomenal X. His muscular physique makes men cower before him and woman lose their minds with desire.

Anna Cortez is fresh out of college and naive to the harsh realities of the real world. Tired of living under the thumb of her conservative family, she defies them when she accepts a job as the assistant to wrestling’s most notorious bad-boy. Phenomenal X has an animalistic nature that even good girl Anna finds hard to resist.

One night forced to share a bed in a sold-out hotel, lines blur between them and they quickly learn that one lustful night changes everything and neither one of them will ever be the same.

Savor by Monica Murphy

Savor (Billionaire Bachelors Club #3) by Monica Murphy
Release Date: January 21st 2014

New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy concludes her sexy Billionaire Bachelors Club series with a fiery romance that refuses to be left at the office…

Bryn James can’t take much more. Smart, sexy Matthew DeLuca is everything she wants in a man, but he’s also her boss—the youngest, hottest vineyard owner in the Napa Valley—and he doesn’t see her as anything more than his shy assistant. That’s all about to change. Armed with a hot new look and an attitude to match, Bryn is determined to catch Matt’s eye… professionalism be damned.

With his winery’s grand reopening approaching, Matt is trying to stay focused, but Bryn is suddenly making it very difficult. He’s always thought her prim demeanor effortlessly sexy, but Matt can’t deny that her transformation is jaw-dropping …and going to make it very difficult to keep his hands to himself.

But when one thing leads to another and suddenly Matt is stripping Bryn bare, he’ll be faced with the biggest risk of his career—and his heart. Can he convince her—and himself—that this might just be more than a no-strings office affair?

Redesigned Cover!

Red Fox by Karina Halle

Red Fox (Experiment in Terror #2) by Karina Halle

Snippets!!

★ From Abbi Glines’ Facebook, an excerpt from Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6)!

MISBEHAVING surprise sneak peek:
Momma took a long pull from her cigarette and then put it out in the plate beside her. She was running out of time, because I wasn’t about to let Jason come to the door. I didn’t trust Momma. She would test him and I wasn’t sure he could pass the test.
“He’s your Logan. Girls don’t marry their Logans.”
She was back to talking about him being my Logan again. That made absolutely no sense. I didn’t even know a Logan. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her. “What are you talking about?”
Momma cocked an eyebrow at me. “Jason Stone is your Logan. He’s wealthy and impressive and handsome. He’s a fairy tale. But don’t get serious. Guard your heart.”
I let out a frustrated sigh and dropped my arms. “Why are you calling him my Logan?” I asked.
“Gilmore Girls, sweetheart. Gilmore Girls. If you had bothered to watch it with me like I asked you several times, you would know what I mean. Hank is your Dean. He wasn’t meant for you either. He was just the first heartbreak you keep going back to. Now you’ve met your Logan.” – an excerpt from Misbehaving by Abbi Glines. Release date December 17, 2013

And another sneak peek from Abbi’s Facebook for Rush Too Far!

 Blaire reached for the suitcase that Grant was holding. “He’s right. I should go. This was a very bad idea,” she said with a hitch in her voice. Grant didn’t let the suitcase go easily. She tugged hard to get it out of his grasp. I could see the unshed tears in her eyes and it tugged at my conscience. Was there something I was missing here? Did she really expect us to open our arms wide for her? – A little Rush Finlay for your Friday afternoon. And YES that is a tiny sneak peek of Rush Too Far coming in May 2014

★ Julie Kagawa has a snippet from The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) on her blog! You can read it here.

★ Jeaniene Frost has a hilarious excerpt of Up From the Grave (Night Huntress #7) here. It’s Ian!

★ Karina Halle put up chapter one and a teaser of Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) which you can read here and here.

Other News!!

★  Larissa Ione (author of the Demonica series and The Lords of Deliverance series) is writing a novella! It’s called Azagoth and will be releasing June 10th 2014.

Even in the fathomless depths of the underworld and the bleak chambers of a damaged heart, the bonds of love can heal…or destroy. 

He holds the ability to annihilate souls in the palm of his hand. He commands the respect of the most dangerous of demons and the most powerful of angels. He can seduce and dominate any female he wants with a mere look. But for all Azagoth’s power, he’s bound by shackles of his own making, and only an angel with a secret holds the key to his release.

She’s an angel with the extraordinary ability to travel through time and space. An angel with a tormented past she can’t escape. And when Lilliana is sent to Azagoth’s underworld realm, she finds that her past isn’t all she can’t escape. For the irresistibly sexy fallen angel known as Azagoth is also known as the Grim Reaper, and when he claims a soul, it’s forever…

★  Until You (Fall Away #1.5) by Penelope Douglas was released early! Go get your copy! Amazon

Weekly Recap

Reviewed on the blog this week:

Books to review:

Under Different Stars by Amy A. Bartol The Redhead Plays Her Hand by Alice Clayton Pieces For You by Genna Rulon Secret by Brigid Kemmerer After the End by Amy Plum Quintessentially Q by Pepper Winters

Blog Tours:

Covert Assignment Tour Banner

Nov RDL Tour

Gabriel's Redemption blog tour

Out Of Time Tour Banner

Don’t forget to check out the giveaways listed on the blog on the right!

Upcoming New Releases!!

Blue Lines by Toni Aleo Falling by E.K. Blair Thou Shalt Not by J.J. Rossum These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner Avoiding Temptation by K.A. Linde Reviving Izabel by J.A. Redmerski A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire The Fine Line by Alicia Kobishop Elect by Rachel Van Dyken Snakeroot by Andrea Cremer Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle

Book News, Weekly Recap & Upcoming Releases! {15}

Cover Reveals!!

Untie Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unite Me (Shatter Me #1.5; #2.5) by Tahereh Mafi
Release Date: February 4th 2014

Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi’s New York Times bestselling Shatter Metrilogy, this book collects her two companion novellas, Fracture Me andDestroy Me, in print for the first time ever. It also features an exclusive look into Juliette’s journal and a preview of Ignite Me, the hotly anticipated final novel of the series.

Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner’s point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can’t stop thinking about her—and he’ll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow.

Fracture Me is told from Adam’s perspective and bridges the gap betweenUnravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam’s more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji, and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam cares about.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent and The Hunger Games. This captivating story, which combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, was praised as “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love” by Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Unbroken by Jessica Sorensen

Unbroken (Shattered Promises #2.5) by Jessica Sorensen
Release Date: December 2013

Alex thought things were already complicated, but then Gemma shows up possessed by Stephan and she wants to kill him. Normally, he would eliminate someone in Gemma’s position to protect himself, but his feelings for Gemma won’t allow him to do that. She’s too important to him and he knows he has to save her without hurting her.

But can he find a way to save her before someone gets hurt?

Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley

Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4) by Kristen Ashley
Release Date: December 30th 2013

Far too young, Apollo Ulfr lost Ilsa, his wife, the love of is life and the mother of his two children. The grief of her loss does not settle in his soul, it solders to it. But when he discovers there is a parallel universe where his wife may have a twin, he feels there’s hope and sets about bringing her to his world so he can have her back.

But Ilsa Ulfr of our world is married to the parellel universe’s twin, Pol, who is not a good man. Not in any way. She’s on the run from him and the last thing she wants is to be transported to a fantastical world and be forced to take his side as his wife, even if he is not Pol. And Apollo finds the broken, bitter Ilsa nothing like his beloved and he further wants nothing to do with her.

But darkness is looming and evil is amassing. Apollo must protect his land and keep his family safe, including the new Ilsa.

Snippets!!

★ A Thanksgiving snippet from Cassandra Clare’s tumblr for City of Heavenly Fire!

“Did Brother Zachariah just steal our cat?”

★ The prologue of Rush Too Far by Abbi Glines is here! Rush Too Far releases May 2014.

They say that children have the purest hearts. That children don’t truly hate because they don’t fully understand the emotion. They forgive and forget easily.

They say a lot of bullshit like that because it helps them sleep at night. Such sayings make for good, heart-warming clichés to hang on the walls, to bring out a smile in people passing by.

​I know differently. Children love like no other. They have the capacity to love more fiercely than anyone else. That much is true. That much I know. Because I lived it. By the age of ten I knew hate and I knew love. Both all-consuming. Both life-altering. And both completely blinding.

​Looking back now I wish someone had been there to see how my mother had sown the seed of hate inside of me. Inside of my sister. If someone had been there to save us from the lies and bitterness she allowed to fester within us, then maybe things would have been different. For everyone involved.

​I never would have acted so foolishly. It wouldn’t have been my fault that a girl was left alone to take care of her ailing mother. It wouldn’t have been my fault that the same girl stood at her mother’s graveside, believing that the last person on earth who loved her was dead. It wouldn’t have been my fault that a man destroyed himself after his life became a broken, hollow shell.

​But no one saved me.

​No one saved us.

​We believed the lies. We held onto our hate, and I alone destroyed an innocent girl’s life.

​They say you reap what you sow. That’s bullshit, too. Because I should be burning in hell for my sins. I shouldn’t be allowed to wake up every morning with this beautiful woman in my arms, who loves me unconditionally. I shouldn’t get to hold my son and know such a pure joy.

​But I do.

​Because, eventually, someone did save me. I didn’t deserve it. Hell, more than anyone it was my sister who needed saving. She hadn’t acted on her hate. She hadn’t manipulated the lives of our family members, not caring about the outcome. But her bitterness still controlled her while I had been delivered. By a girl…

No, she wasn’t just a girl. She was an angel. My angel. A beautiful, strong, fierce, loyal angel who had entered my life in a pick-up truck, carrying a gun.

★ It’s an excerpt from Burned (Dani O’Malley #2; Fever #7) by Karen Marie Moning!

 The king stirred from his reverie and stared down at the unconscious female in his wings.

Half a million years since he’d last seen her. Held her. Touched her.

It was no illusion. She was here. She was real.

She felt as small and gossamer fragile as the new worlds he spun.

He inhaled. She smelled the same as she had on the day he’d met her, of sunshine on bare skin, moonlight on silver oceans and enormous, sky-no-limit dreams. He closed his eyes and opened them.

She was still there.

After an eternity of grief and regret, he held the only thing he’d ever wanted more than he wanted to be God.

A second chance.

He’d imagined this, dreamed it, hungered for it beyond reason.

They are replaceable, one and all, insisted the Fear Dorcha, his dark traveling companion through insanity. You will forget her.

But he never had.

Grief will pass, lisped the Crimson Hag, one of his more exquisitely terrible creations.

But it never did.

He, who had once been whole was halved without hope of ever being complete again. And when you’ve known that kind of love, to exist without it is to live a half-life where nothing else ever feels real.

He’d fabricated their reunion in countless illusions, slipping in and out of madness for millennia, talking to her as if she were beside him, answering. Drawing to his side one mortal woman after the next that possessed the body, the hair, a pale imitation of the passion, never seeing them, calling them by her name, pretending they were her until they died.

He’d lived lie after lie to escape the unbearable truth: She’d left him by choice, killed herself to escape him. He’d come to believe she’d never loved him at all, or worse—had stopped loving him because of the things he’d done.

Gazing down at her now, he found it easy to pardon Cruce for stealing her, forcing her to drink from the Cauldron and erasing all memory of their time together.

Somehow his soulmate was at long last the very thing he’d struggled to make her: Fae, immortal unless killed in one of a very small number of ways. (He intended to eradicate all of those ways immediately.) Funny how things turned should time enough pass. But the king knew the natural state of Universes was not to list toward entropy, rather wholeness. Universes were healthy. It was sentient beings with free will that were the true disasters.

So what if he’d suffered an eternity of hell without her? If someone had offered him this bargain a half a million years ago, said—you need only endure a half a million years without her to have her for all time—he would have taken it in a human heartbeat. What was a brief time of madness for eternity with her?

Fire to his ice. Frost to her flame.

He was whole again.

The Unseelie king bent his head and kissed her. Lightly. Reverently. He’d sliced open his soul and bled it out over memories of the woman he would never kiss again. Deep in his chest, thunder rolled.

Lashes fluttered. She opened her eyes. He drew back and stared down at her, unable to speak. Creator of worlds, God, Devil, whatever he was, words failed him now. His massive black wings shuddered with the depth of his feeling. He shifted and resettled them.

There was wonder in her gaze as she stared up at him: a moment of precious, pre-conscious dawn where all is dew and promise and anything at all might bloom.

Beginnings are fragile things.

Was it as he hoped? Was the power of true love greater than the power of the Cauldron of Forgetting? Did the body recall despite the damage done the mind? Memory, carved into gray matter, never obliterated. What would she say? What would her first words to him be?

Time ground to a halt and, as a human might hold his breath, the Unseelie king held his existence in silence, filling the frozen moment with tiny miracles: the blush of her skin, the curve of her lips, the arch of her brows.

Was that a flicker of confusion? Of duality preceding recognition? He knew her face intimately, had never forsaken a nuance, yet these were expressions he’d had no cause to learn.

After all she’d been through—eternities about which he knew nothing and might have contained any number of atrocities spent as they were at the Seelie Court with Cruce—but more recently kidnapped, interred in a tomb of ice and nearly killed by the power-hungry prince, he sought to reassure her:

“My love, you are safe. I have you now.” He paused, to lend emphasis to his next words, a pledge he would keep until the end of time, which he was fairly certain he was in some fashion or another. “And I will never let you go again.”

Envisioning their joyous future together as immortals, he waited for the first sound of her voice in half a million years…

She screamed.

★ You can read the epilogue from Until You (Fall Away #1.5) by Penelope Douglas on her Facebook here! It’s told in Madoc’s POV.

★ A snippet from Ilona Andrews’ Avon book! You can read it here.

Other News!!

★  If you haven’t heard Sylvain Reynard’s new novel announcement, you can read the blog post here. His next book will be called The Raven.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel Series comes a dark, sensual tale of romance in a city shrouded in mystery…

Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery restoring fine works of Renaissance art.  But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley.  Raven is only semi-conscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attacker’s screams.  Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her…

Cassita vulneratus.

When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. She returns to the Uffizi, but no one recognizes her and more disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of the events leading up to her disappearance, Raven also learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history – the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the baffled police force identifies her as its prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence’s wealthiest and elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth about her disappearance. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets…

★ Gayle Forman’s next book will be called I Was Here, and it comes out in the first half of 2015.

This gritty, powerful new YA novel follows Cody Reynolds in the months following her best friend Meg’s shocking suicide. Delving into Meg’s secret life as she searches for answers, Cody discovers both her strengths and her vulnerabilities, testing her ability to love, to protect, and to forgive.

You can read about it on her tumblr here.

★ Jeaniene Frost’s next novel will be called The Beautiful Ashes, book one of the Broken Destiny series. You can read her blog post here.

Weekly Recap

Reviewed on the blog this week:

Books to review:

Be With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout Before We Fall by Courtney Cole Gabriel's Redemption by Sylvain Reynard Holy Frigging Matrimony by Emma Chase

The Fine Line by Alicia Kobishop Elect by Rachel Van Dyken Four Seconds To Lose by K.A. Tucker

Blog Tours:

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished Sarah MacLean banner

T. Gephart series banner

undertow blog tour banner

REMY blog tour Banner

Don’t forget to check out the giveaways listed on the blog on the right!

Upcoming New Releases (so many good books releasing next week!)

Addicted for Now by Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie Cherry Girl by Raine Miller Kissed by a Dark Prince by Felicity E. Heaton Bitter Sweet Love by Jennifer L. Armentrout Knight & Day by Kitty French Out of Time by Jen McLaughlin Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally Gabriel's Redemption by Sylvain Reynard Kicking It Anthology Before We Fall by Courtney Cole Full Throttle by Erin McCarthy Castle Hill by Samantha Young Spellbound by Sylvia Day The Ever After of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen Holy Frigging Matrimony by Emma Chase Otherwise Unharmed by Shay Savage