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Unworthy
-- EXCERPT: “This isn’t your world Roxanne, and you have one chance to leave. When we’re in there, you’re mine to use.” “Then use me,” I say bravely. The room is lit in black light, and the further I walk into the space, the smaller it seems. “No-one can hear you scream. No-one can help you. It’s just you, me and my demons. “I want to play with your demons,” I say breathlessly, the closer he gets to me. He pushes me against the glass holding my hands painfully behind my back. “Just outside the window are men and women craving to watch what I’m about to do to you.” “Then let them.”
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Can’t Help Loving You
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My thoughts:
First of all, I absolutely loved this dreamy cover- the colours are so vibrant, just gorgeous! I got hooked on Ava and Maddox's story straightaway- their meeting was so romantic and it reminded me of how my own parents met...Only the protagonists of Can't Help Loving You took a bit longer to find their happily ever after. Still, when you belong together, love will find its mysterious way to bind your hearts. When Maddox sees his sunshine Ava for the first time, he knows he can't help falling in love with this free-sprited, amazing girl. What he doesn't know is that their time hasn't come yet. They're at crossroads that are taking them in different directions. Now who doesn't like a good second chance story? There was something so bitterly realistic in their second meeting that my heart just went to the protagonists and hoped that somehow Ava can be set free from the relationship which isn't making her happy. The world-building was great- everything was so full of visual details, so tangible, that I felt as if I stepped into the story. I also liked the balance of sweet and romantic with realistic and moving. And then again all the feelings the book evokes! Both the main characters and the secondary characters were interesting and went through a lot of development ...Life experiences shapes us all, but only love makes us blossom and shine! Lovely, enjoyable reading experience -I need to go back and check out Eve Kasey's previous books! Thank you to Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours and the author for the complimentary review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion. 
Master of Death
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Beast Charming
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: Warlord Tane, Miami Event Center, ‘The Bachelor Ball’ “I do not know how much longer I can endure.” I whispered the confession to Bahre where we stood in front of the raised dais. The fucker’s response was to laugh at me. I discreetly elbowed him in his ribs, then turned to face the forty-seventh female being introduced to me. “Warlord Tane, may I present…” Chet Bosworth, with his overly large teeth and puffed hair paused to look at the card he held in his hand. “Celine Legrand from Canada.” “A pleasure,” I repeated, for the forty-seventh time. Leaning over, as I’d been instructed by Bahre’s beautiful mate, Quinn, I dutifully took the female’s small hand in mine and bowed at the waist. I believed the act was a waste of time. I knew, even before she had approached, that she was not mine. My beast knew as well. I had walked the room earlier, passed by the females as the lined up wearing their fine gowns, eager to enter and meet the beasts. None of the female’s present was my mate. I already knew this truth and yet, I had to endure several more hours of Chet Bosworth and his pontificating nonsense. My beast and I were losing patience. As if on cue, Chet’s conspiratorial whisper carried to both me and the young Celine. “Hold your breath, people, as the alien, Warlord Tane, meets the next gorgeous woman in attendance. Celine Legrand traveled all the way from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, more than sixteen hundred miles, for a chance to win this Atlan beast’s battle weary heart.” The young woman blushed at Chet’s words. I released her with a gentle shake of my head. I did not need to tell these females they were not mine. If this woman were mine, she would already be in my arms. More like, over my shoulder so I could carry her somewhere private and pleasure her properly. Without a live television audience. The young lady took a step back and then hurried away. “Another strike out!” Chet smiled directly into the camera and winked at the lens. “That’s forty-seven in a row, my friends. Is true love in the air tonight? Will one of these women be the answer to a broken-hearted beast’s most fervent wish? Or will this lonely beast, this wounded veteran, who has already been rejected by his own people, be doomed to face the executioner?”
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The Touch of Love
-- EXCERPT: WARSAW, POLAND AUGUST 1939 As the two brothers walked with naive swagger down the city as if they owned it, Ezra’s plan came spilling out with eager enthusiasm: “We’re going to join the Polish army.” Jakob stopped immediately in his tracks on the Warsaw sidewalk. He didn’t care that they were in front of a restaurant with a large window full of patrons who would see their confrontation. For the first time that he could remember since his mother’s death, he found himself in stark disagreement with his older brother. “No way,” Jakob said plainly. This caught Ezra off guard, and he turned to see Jakob standing defiantly behind him. Frustration came barreling out of Ezra: “Well, we have to!” “No way.” Jakob’s body language gave away that he wasn’t budging on the issue. “Think about it, Jakob,” Ezra was now pleading. “War is right on Poland’s doorstep. Look around you. See all of this? This is just a facade. In a few short months, either Germany or the Soviets – if not both – will be invading. What you see around you won’t be here forever.” “So, what if I want to enjoy it while it’s here – instead of running off to war?” As Jakob said it, he could see the light of Ezra’s plan die in Ezra’s eyes. Jakob knew it wasn’t just a plan he was spoiling – it was Ezra’s dream. And in the heat of their abrupt disagreement, Jakob let that spill out as an insult. “You’re the dreamer, Ezra. You always have been. And I’ve always followed you through your dreams. But this isn’t a dream. This is reality. And people die in war.” Ezra knew that what Jakob just said was right – he was a dreamer. He always so easily got swept up into dreams and ambitions that he never stopped to realize their effect on his younger brother. But this time, that wasn’t the case. Ezra’s plan had been thought out extensively before divulging it. Despite his natural inclination to give into the heat of their disagreement, Ezra’s tone calmed down. He loved his Jakob – like nothing else in the world. They’d been more than brothers since their parents’ deaths. They’d been friends. Confidants. Life rafts. Shoulders for each other to both cry and laugh on. So, in this moment, Ezra’s natural instinct toward conflict was overcome by his even stronger inclination to love his brother. “I know, I know, Jakob. I’ve led you on some crazy paths since mom died.” Ezra then put his hand on Jakob’s shoulder to bridge the gap between them – both emotionally and physically. “But this isn’t about my dreams. It’s about what’s real.” “And then what, Ezra?” Jakob’s tone was mellowing out. “We just hope to survive the war? Wouldn’t you rather go somewhere safe and let other people fight a war that isn’t ours?” “We’d survive. Look at us – two orphans that don’t need much, who have always found a way to survive.” Ezra smiled at having just referenced their prior pointless disagreement about whether they were orphans. “And then afterwards, we’ll open an orphanage.” This made Jakob chuckle out loud and playfully push Ezra in the shoulder. “Not funny. But I’ll think about the whole army thing.” “No, I mean it, Jakob. Someone’s gotta show all the other orphans how to survive. Who better than you and me?” Now that they’d made up, Ezra went to put his arm around his brother’s shoulder to keep walking down the Warsaw sidewalk. Ezra’s mind normally would be filled with dreams at this point, now that there was a glimmer of hope for them to enlist in the Polish army. But his dreams were immediately cut short. Jakob wasn’t moving. It was as though he was frozen in place. Ezra quickly turned to look his brother in the eyes to see what the deal was. And for the first time, he saw dreams shining in Jakob’s own eyes. They’d always followed Ezra’s dreams, but now, for the first time, Ezra could instantly tell that Jakob had been struck with his own overbearing dream. The stark light beaming from Jakob’s glance emanated a look different than any other he’d ever seen his brother make before. Ezra curiously followed his brother’s line of sight to see what had unexpectedly and wholeheartedly captivated Jakob. Then he saw it. Or, rather – he saw her. Jakob was staring through the large restaurant window next to them, and at the lounge piano providing background music for the patrons. And seated at that piano was the centerpiece of not only Jakob’s attention, but what Ezra recognized as the centerpiece of Jakob’s very being in this moment. Behind the piano was, undeniably, a beautiful Jewish woman, whose blue eyes had met Jakob’s by happenstance, yet now was staring back at him with a consumption matching his. Ezra knew it immediately by just observing the unspoken spark between his brother and the Jewish woman. Things were now going to be different for the two brothers. 
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Bride and Tested
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- EXCERPT: “I propose a toast.” Mika raises her lipstick-rimmed glass. “To finding an outstanding partner and crushing this year’s wedding season.” “I’ll always drink to the success of my business.” I raise my glass too and clink it gently against hers. “The right person is going to come through. I can tell.” “Is this like the time you could tell Lincoln was going to propose? Because, although you were right, I’m hoping for a better outcome this time.” Preferably one which doesn’t involve getting my heart broken. “Hey, Lincoln wasn’t all bad. You ended up in Enita Springs, you met me and you got his last name out of the deal for Bennett’s Bridal. The power of good alliteration cannot be underestimated.” “True enough.” I laugh. “Are we talking about him yet?” Mika asks, her voice softening. “Specifically, are we talking about what happened this morning because I think we should.” I give a sharp shake of my head. “Definitely not.” Mika studies me for a long minute then nods, too. “Okay. I figured, but you know I’m here when you want to process things.” “I’m probably never going to want to process this.” I’d rather talk about a silent investor than what happened this morning with Lincoln. My face feels ten degrees hotter just thinking about it. “Okay, fine.” Mika nods again and then says, “I’m just going to point out you’re bound to run into him again. Enita Springs isn’t big. Do you have a plan for when you do?” Besides turn and run the other way? No. To Mika I say, “I don’t need a plan. I’m sure it will be fine.” “Because you’ve dealt with all the feelings seeing him brought up or because you’re still avoiding said feelings?” “What’s there to deal with? I was embarrassed, which is understandable.” And the time before I was so nervous I thought my chest was going to explode, but being nervous is perfectly normal. “Besides, it’s stupid. We’ve been divorced longer than we were married.” “Just because time has passed doesn’t mean you’ve dealt with your feelings about the end of your marriage.” “Feelings, schmeelings. I’m avoiding them, and it’s working for me so far.” I take a sip of my wine. “Just like I plan to avoid Lincoln.” “You two were the happiest couple I knew,” Mika says softly. My heart feels like someone’s squeezing it and I’d wonder if I was having a sudden heart attack if I didn’t recognize it for what it is – nostalgia. “We were really happy, as much as it pains me to admit it.” “Why does it pain you to admit it? Being happy is a good thing.” “Not when you squander it like we did.” I take a deep breath, hoping it will help my chest expand again. “You never saw him after you guys filed for divorce. It might be good for you to actually, you know, have a conversation with him about what happened.” Mika raises her glass to her lips and looks at me over the rim. “For closure.” “I have the signed divorce papers, which is enough closure for me. Besides, I’m avoiding him, remember?” “Hmmm.” Mika takes a sip of her wine but doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t need to. I know what she’s thinking, just like I know she’s wrong. I have zero intention of seeing Lincoln again if I can help it. If I do, I can always go with my unofficial plan to turn and run the other way and pray he doesn’t see me. Because if he does, it’s not going to take him long to realize I still have feelings for him. Deep and complicated feelings I have no business having. Especially for my ex-husband. Add in the real reason I didn’t fight for us and, well…avoiding him is my only choice. 
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Trials By Tides: A Zasra Press Anthology
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo -- SNEAK PEEKS: From: The Song Thieves – Eleanor Owen I’d been hearing the song for days. Its whispering voices had danced an aching beat in my mind as we’d pursued it across the waves. Though I should have known better, I still tried to make sense of it, to pick out a melody I could understand. It throbbed in my skull like a migraine. Only when I was under the water did the song start to untangle. In the air, it was a distorted whisper scratching against my thoughts, but with the sea against my skin, I heard its voices clear. They spoke no language that had ever graced a human tongue, as much sound and feeling as it was word. Through ink-dark water I kicked away from the shattered moonlight. Around me, streaked shadows and seaweed wove together into a darkness far thicker than the night above. All the while, I followed the song, deeper, deeper. The strands of it, each voice within it that wove together to make something that was almost music, wrapped around me and pulled me down, yet I struggled to fall into the trance of their embrace. For as mesmerizing as this song was, I heard another, and amongst its voices, I heard my own. From distant depths it whispered a frantic litany, like a discordant thought had clambered from my head. If you ever hear your own voice, get out of there. It was the first lesson Attarin had taught me about song hunting. He’d never cared to elaborate on why. I gritted my teeth and focused on the song before me, the one I had been sent to salvage. I could see it now, a scrap of luminescence snagged between ribbons of seaweed. Lungs burning, I floated before it. Syllables pulsed through me with every swell of the sea. Moments before my outstretched fingers touched it, I recognized a different voice within its chorus. -- From: The Storyteller – R. L. Davennor The tavern door swung open, stopping me mid-sentence as cold and snow scattered everywhere. The roaring fire to my left was enough to keep my old bones from feeling the sudden chill, but indignant muttering rose from the patrons seated near the back. Several silhouettes emerged from the blackness outside. A few members of my audience raised their voices, demanding to know whether the newcomers had lost their minds; no one in their right one would dare brave a blizzard this harsh. Unless they’d come to see me. My fists clenched at my sides. Visitors were now a regular occurrence, disrupting the peace and constantly drawing attention. Despite my best efforts to quell them, rumors had spread far and wide by now: in the north resided not just any storyteller, but The Storyteller. Though I did have a name of my own, that was all anyone had called me for years, and I still hadn’t decided whether I liked it. What I didn’t like were the rumors—because they weren’t rumors. They were true. I could recite any story, old or new, knew the mythos of the gods better than anyone, and adored being the vessel that kept their legends alive. I’d traveled the world and seen things that no other mortal had ever laid eyes on. But such a distinction attracted inevitable attention…and strangers. I studied tonight’s lot. Four of them, led by a man so tall he had to duck to cross the threshold. They said nothing as they stripped themselves of their jackets and furs. Their teeth chattered and their hands shook, but strangely, they didn’t look too bedraggled, given what they’d just endured. I couldn’t even see any obvious signs of frostbite. Impressive, but I wouldn’t let it show. Raising an eyebrow, I waited until they’d crammed themselves into the only empty booth before continuing my story. Whatever the strangers had come for, they would soon leave empty-handed. I’d make certain of that. GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
In the Shadow of a Wish
-- EXCERPT: “The Spelled Ribbon” “You love your family?” “Fervently.” She started walking again. He knew he shouldn’t but asked anyway, “Would you tell me about them?” He followed her, a few steps behind. “What would you like to know?” Everything, he thought, but didn’t give it the substance of his voice. “Your parents?” “Scarlett and Tomas Fareview.” “They must be amazing.” “Why would you say that.” Flustered, Nix turned to smell a flower. “Well…” He stretched the sound, trying to find a reason that didn’t start with because you’re amazing, which would sound like a lie, and ended up saying, “You are unique.” She grinned. “Unique. I like it. Yes. They are amazing. They met, fell in love, and settled in Sevens. That’s the village where we live.” “You smile when you talk about them.” “Well, they are… my life,” she said and continued walking. “I have three older sisters. Jessamine is the oldest, then Tarley and Brinna.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. It was a different kind of smile, unguarded. He could see it was because she was talking about her family. “Then me. And I have one brother, Mattias. He’s the youngest.” “And how old is Mattias as the youngest?” “Eighteen.” He considered the state of her skirt and boots when he’d met her. “And you all live together in Sevens?” She nodded. “How old is your oldest sister?” “Jessamine? Twenty-seven.” “And no one has left?” Nix thought this strange. She shook her head and continued walking. “It isn’t because we are opposed to the idea, but with respect to marriage, none of us want anything less than what our parents have. Our parents adore one another. The other factor is that living in Sevens—and my parents’ refusal to leave it—has made it difficult to meet anyone and to make a living to find the means to leave.” She stopped under an archway where peach roses grew over to the other side, reaching out to touch one. Nixus noticed a red ribbon tied around her wrist. It would have seemed an insignificant trifle, except it was wrapped with a swirl of golden magic. “What is this?” He reached out and touched the ribbon with a finger. The magic kissed his skin with a warm caress. Positive magic as opposed to the alternative, which heightened Nix’s curiosity. Auri looked surprised by his touch, her eyes jumping from where he’d touched her to his face. That blush he liked worked its own magic against her skin, and she grabbed ahold of her wrist. “This? A gift from my mother. Just a ribbon. She gave each of us one.” She paused, then added, “We don’t have a lot of extra, not with seven of us. It’s just a ribbon–” “It appears to be more than that–” She tilted her head, and her brows bunched. “What do you mean?” Nix could tell she didn’t know it was spelled, and just by looking at it, he couldn’t tell what it was for. As far as he knew, Auri’s mother had taken it to a local witch who’d cast a protection spell for each of her children. He didn’t remark on the magic and instead said, “It’s obviously very important to you. That makes it a very special ribbon.” She smiled, looking away, and twisted the ribbon around her wrist. “Yes. You’re right.” She started back down the path. 
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Love You Right
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- EXCERPT: “Kell,” she whispered against his mouth. “Thank you.” “For what?” “For this.” She motioned at the romantic dinner he’d created for the two of them, the wide table in this conference room an ample spread for a… Ample spread. “We haven’t even had dinner. Thank me after.” She batted her eyelashes. “Is that an offer?” “Rachel,” he said, moving his hand from her waist to cup her ass. “That’s more than an offer.” He started to kiss her again, but she put her fingers on his lips. “If we don’t eat dinner first, we’ll never eat. And I have a meeting here in this very room, to try to pitch the deal again, in three days. Boundaries, Kell – boundaries. I refuse to have sex on this conference table.” “The thought never, ever occurred to me,” he lied. “Liar.” “Caught.” With a deep laugh he adored, she reached for the bottle of wine. “How about you uncork this and we start with a lovely glass.” “Fine. The table is off the table.”
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Love in Twinkle Falls
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: “They’re gonna be here any minute, babe. Are you done over there?” I peek at Bridgette on the other side of the kitchen. “Yes, the profiteroles are ready.” While washing her hands, I sneak up behind my fiancée, enveloping her in my arms. I pull her hair back and nuzzle her neck. “That tickles, and you’re slowing me down. I wanna freshen up a bit before they arrive.” “Just reminding you how much I adore you.” Bridge lets go of the dish towel and turns around pecking my lips. “This will have to do for now. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Grabbing the towel, I hold the end and pop her backside with it. “Don’t forget the flour on your forehead.” “Hey, watch it buddy.” She looks over her shoulder flashing a smile that warms me all over. “I’ll let you know when I see their car coming up the drive.” “Okay,” she yells from the powder room under the stairs. I sure hope mother doesn’t give Bridgette a hard time about the wedding planning. I know just how involved and pushy she can get. The last thing I want is for my fiancée to have any more added stress leading up to the big day. This visit is going to be interesting, to say the least. I’m getting an odd feeling about them showing up so last minute, especially after mentioning the news they wanted to share with me. A couple minutes later, I yell, “I see their car, you almost ready?” Hearing footsteps, I turn around. “Whoa, look at you. How am I supposed to focus on my parents with you dressed like that?” “You act like I’m half dressed. It’s just a sundress and heels. I wanted to look nice.” “Babe, you look nice in jeans and a t-shirt. Mom already likes you, remember? And you won dad over the first time he met you.” Grabbing her hand, I pull her into me, as she utters, “I like dressing up sometimes. Can’t I look good for my man?” “I’m only saying you don’t have to try to look good. You’re beautiful inside and out no matter what you wear.” The doorbell rings as she tips her head up for a kiss. “Saved by the bell.” She winks and lowers her arms. 
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