East of Ecstasy by Laura Kaye Release Day Blast

We are so excited it's release day for Laura Kaye's EAST OF ECSTASY! EAST OF ECSTASY is the final book in her Hearts of the Anemoi Series. See below for a note from Laura and an excerpt!!

   

  East of Ecstasy Excerpt:

Laura Kaye ~ You guys! I can’t believe release day for East of Ecstasy is finally here! This is the final book in my Hearts of the Anemoi series, which includes: North of Need, West of Want, and South of Surrender. The Anemoi were wind gods the Greek associated with controlling the wind, weather, and seasons. In East of Ecstasy, hero Devlin Eston is the heir to the East Wind which has long been associated with unluckiness, misfortune, and, thanks to Devlin’s father, even evil. Devlin himself has been the victim of father’s evil, and thereby finds himself an outcast among his own divine family. In this scene, heroine Annalise Fallston—who gets visions that she’s forced to paint in order to quiet them in her mind—sees Devlin for the first time. Here’s what she says: 

 Forcing the chaos in her mind away, Anna dipped her brush into the gray and stepped to the canvas. Motion captured her attention from the corner of her eye. The Dark Man, the subject of her recent paintings, stood in the doorway and leaned against the jamb. Anna jumped and her pulse raced, but this time, anger flooded in instead of fear. “I will deal with you on my own damn terms,” she said, taking a perverse amount of pleasure from putting a figment of her imagination in its place. Because that’s all he was. He didn’t move or speak. Not that he could, since, you know. Figment.Of.Imagination. Anna rolled her eyes, done with being scared and so pissed to have to do this again that she was nearly out of her mind. “I’m doing your damn painting already. So just leave me alone.” She cut her gaze back to the expanse of white, but the desire to see if his image would still be there if she looked again drove her to distraction. Finally, she gave in and…he was still there. Completely still.Blatantly scowling.Totally unfathomable. Was this a vision? Another image she’d have to paint? Her heart tripped into a sprint, and she couldn’t look away from him. Like the compulsion that forced her to paint these images, Anna couldn’t help but return his stare and memorize his masculine features. The sharp angles of his face, the harsh set of his mouth, the dark shadows around his even darker eyes.Black eyes. Blades of black hair hung low over his forehead and just touched the hooded shirt he wore under his short, scuffed leather jacket. He’d crossed his arms over his chest, and the position caused his biceps to bunch up under the worn leather. In fact, everything about him appeared worn—the coat, the threadbare jeans, the scuffed boots. None of it struck her as the kind of shabby chic you could buy in some upscale store for a small fortune, either. The whole effect was rough. Dangerous.Deprived. Deprived? What a strange way of describing him. But as Anna’s gaze swept over him again, the thought stuck. For his height, he seemed thin, with his lean hips, clad in old black jeans, a trim waist, and pronounced cheekbones. Her fingers twitched around the nearly forgotten paintbrush. What would it feel like to cup that harsh face in her hand? Anna gasped and tore her gaze away. She had to blink to pull herself out of the haze of thoughts. Frustration surged through her and tensed the muscles of her shoulders and neck. She didn’t want to be working on another of these paintings as it was, so the last thing she needed was to lose a bunch of time daydreaming. Or would it be daynightmaring? As she stared at the blank canvas, the image of the shackled man behind the prison bars filled her mind’s eye. Definitely the latter. Curiosity pulled her eyes to the left again. The doorway was empty.

So, did you have a favorite line from the excerpt?

Thanks for reading! Laura

   

  

About EAST OF ECSTASY: The final chapter in the award-winning and bestselling Hearts of the Anemoi series… 

  She’s the only one who can give him the strength to save them all… Annalise Fallston made peace with postponing her big-city dreams to care for her ill father, but lately she's been filled with a restlessness not even her beloved painting dispels. Worse, the colors don't speak to her as they always have, and all her efforts produce dark, foreboding images of a dangerous man and a terrifying future. Devlin Eston, black-souled son of the evil Anemoi Eurus, is the only one who can thwart his father's plan to overthrow the Supreme God of Wind and Storms. But first, Dev must master the unstable powers he's been given. Distrusted and shunned by his own divine family, he never expected to find kindness and passion in the arms of a mortal. But Devlin's love puts Annalise in the path of a catastrophic storm, and in the final Armageddon showdown between the Anemoi and Eurus, sacrifices will be made, hearts broken, and lives changed forever...or lost.

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Catch up on the whole series with the Hearts of the Anemoi box set featuring the first three books: North of Need, West of Want, South of Surrender!

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About Laura Kaye: 

 Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Ex-Factor (Diamond Girls 1) by Elisa Dane ~ Release Day Blitz Excerpt #Giveaway

Ex Factor

by Elisa Dane

Release Date: 04/22/14

Summary from Goodreads:

Nevaeh Evan’s life is uprooted after her father’s death, when she moves in with her aunt and cousin, Livvie. Her plan to lay low at her new high school isn’t working. Her friend’s jerky boyfriend keeps asking her out, the guy she likes treats her like garbage, and the thought of tumbling again makes her want to hurl.

So when her aunt pushes her into joining the elite X-FACTOR cheer leading squad, Navaeh goes along with it.  But Nev feels she doesn’t deserve to be happy. Not after what happened the night her father died.

Bodie Scott knows about grief all too well. Critically injured in an alcohol related accident the year before, Bodie struggles with the fact that he’ll never play football again, and he’s so far behind in credits he can’t see straight. That is, until he meets Nev. Haunted by their bloody pasts and wary of a shared future, Nev and Bodie turn to one another for comfort and support, and realize they’re not so alone after all. And when the party scene at school threatens the life of a loved one, the two stop at nothing to keep the past from repeating itself.

Available from:
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Excerpt

“Ahh... Mr. Scott!” My gaze automatically swept to the front of the classroom, Keltar’s loud, obnoxious voice almost impossible to ignore. “So good of you to grace us with your presence today. I trust you’ve learned something during your time away from school? Violence is never the answer, young man.” Frowning, the surly Santa wannabe begrudgingly swept a pink slip of paper from a tall, muscular boy dressed in dark clothing.

My heart jumped a little in my chest as I surveyed the colossal mass of male student at the front of the class. What the hell were the people of Indigo Falls feeding their sons? Some type of über growth hormone? Over half the guys in the school looked as though they belonged on the cover of a weightlifting magazine—chiseled, as if cut from granite. And what was that about violence, and time away from school? Had he gotten into a fight? From his size, he looked like someone who could deliver massive amounts of pain with ease.

The new guy stood in complete silence as Keltar continued on, delivering the same tired speech he’d given me upon entering the room. The same nervous feeling that had plagued me when I entered the school just a short time ago returned with a vengeance, and I caught myself struggling to breathe. What the hell? The new guy, whoever he was, had a bizarre effect on me, and to be honest, it was freaking me out a little. I mean, hell... I hadn’t even seen his face and I had butterflies whirling in my stomach. How was that possible? What kind of person had that type of effect on people?

He turned around then, and the answers to my unspoken questions all but slapped me upside the face. 

Holy Mary, Mother of Pearl...

If boys were classified into two shades: light and dark, my Paper Thief, Eli would hover somewhere in the realm of ivory or beige. But this new guy was dark. We’re talking black down to the very pit of his soul type dark.

Ebony eyes void of emotion swept over the room before finally settling on his seat: the empty chair next to Erin. Short, dark hair hugged his skull, bringing attention to the chiseled line of his jaw. His features were strong, hard, and entirely masculine—beautiful. No joke, he looked like an avenging angel hell bent on mayhem and destruction. Bad. The boy was bad to the bone.

Heat scorched my neck and cheeks and my pulse ratcheted up another notch.

Electricity arced through the air as he neared the table, and the oxygen in the room seemed to thin even more. Incapable of speech or movement, I sat open-mouthed, gaping at him like an imbecilic fool. The black T-shirt he wore stretched across his broad chest like a second skin, and revealed a set of arms, one of which sported a wicked tribal tattoo. His gait was confident, yet lazy, and clearly shouted “I don’t give a fuck. I’m only here because I have to be, so stay the hell out of my way.”

Erin cleared her throat and cast me a knowing “Well, well, well. Look who thinks the bad boy is hot” smirk.

The boy’s most stand out feature was a jagged scar which ran from the center of his skull, down along the top of his left ear. It ended just below the left half of his jaw. The skin was thick, raised and silvery pink making it obvious that whatever trauma had placed it there hadn’t happened that long ago.

Heat scored the base of my skull, and I reached, as if on autopilot, for the fat, rigid bump that crawled across my hairline. How had he gotten his scar? A hundred different scenarios played out in my head, none of which included the circumstance that had earned me mine.

About the Author
I'm a lover of books (YA & Adult romance), chocolate, reality television, and am a proud mother to three All Star cheerleaders. Woot!

I write Contemporary YA romance with cheerleaders. Yep. I write what I know, and it's my hope that my stories will not only take you on a romantic journey that will warm your heart, but that you'll find a new respect and interest in the sport of Cheerleading you may not have had before.

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#Review ~ Renegade Lady (Renegade Sons MC #1) by Dawn Martens & Emily Minton

Jenna “Ice” Chandler grew up as part of a motorcycle club. She considered it her home, until one wrong move made it her prison. After months of abuse, she is rescued by Chipper, who takes her to Big Clifty, Missouri, home of the Renegade Sons MC.

Kiddrick “Kidd” Jones is the president of the Renegades. He knows there is something special about Ice the moment his older brother, Chipper, brings her into the club, but stays away, because she is too young.

When time comes for Ice to take her place in the club, she has two choices, become an old lady or a club whore. Not believing in love and knowing a man can never be faithful, she decides to earn her spot on her back.

With each passing year, Kidd's feelings for Ice grows and the urge to make her his becomes stronger. Frustrated and jealous, he finally decides it’s time to make her his.

Will Ice finally thaw out and give love a chance, or is Kidd fighting a losing battle?

WARNING: Renegade Lady contains adult situations some readers may find offensive. This is a raw and gritty story involving explicit sex, graphic language, violence and drug use. Not intended for readers under 18.

4.5 Stars

I won’t be his old lady. I won’t be anyone’s old lady. He wants to treat me like a whore, I’ll show him. I’ll be one.

I’m out of my book funk! Hallelujah!!!

Finally.

So how did this miracle happen? Well, I was re-reading parts from one of my favorite Biker books, when it put me in a serious Biker-boy-mood. I wanted something badass and a story with a kickass Alpha. As I was surfing, I came across this gorgeous cover and once I read the synopsis, I figured meh! I’ll give it a go. And HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. I could not put this down.

Jenna’s life changed when Chipper saved her. When she lost her mother, she immediately went looking for her father, who was VP of the Mateland Chapter of the Renegade Sons. It was at her father’s club is where she was raped and abused by a fellow brother. Chipper is a brother from the main chapter in Big Clifty, investigating club business, where he finds Jenna in an awful predicament. He decides to take to her home. It is there that Jenna finally finds a home, and where she meets Kidd, Chipper’s younger brother.

“God, baby, your pussy feels like silk. It’s the best damn feeling in the fucking world. There’s nowhere I’d rather than be than sunk deep inside you, claiming you, proving you’re mine.”

As soon as Kidd meets Jenna, his first reaction was pure shock. Jenna is bruised, beaten and looks completely broken. Something about her unsettles Kidd, but she’s only sixteen at the time. He tries his best to stay away, even taking an assignment away from the club just to try and weed her out of his mind. As soon as he comes back, he comes back to a grown-up Jenna, who’s only four months away from turning eighteen. He needs to buy his time, but unfortunately he didn’t come back from his assignment alone.

When Jenna finally turns eighteen, Kidd immediately claims her as his, but things don’t get any easier for them. Complications arise and Kidd does something unforgiveable. Jenna feels used and betrayed. In her eyes, there will be no her and Kidd. The Club life is all she knows, but she can only stay if she becomes Club Property by way of becoming an Old Lady or a club whore. Her choice is made and Kidd is none too happy.

“Stay away from me, Kidd,” I say, trying to keep my emotions at bay. “Miss me all you want. It ain’t going to change anything. I miss you too. I miss the friendship we had, but when I think on it, I remember… I remember it was all just a lie. You used me, treated me like shit, then threw me away,” I say moving away from him.

“It wasn’t a lie. You mean the world to me,” he whispers.

“Everything about you is a lie. If you ever cared anything about me at all, just leave me alone. Just stay the fuck away from me,”

Reading this story just solidifies my love for strong, and often times, promiscuous heroines. I fucking loved Jenna’s character. With everything she went through, she came out stronger and took no shit from anyone. This chick can hold a grudge. As for Kidd, well, lets just say he deserved the hurt Jenna inflicted on him, but not all of it. She’s been Ice cold to him for six years. Six years of her sleeping around and flaunting it in front of Kidd. Normally I would frown upon these actions, but honestly, I was happy that she didn’t pine for him.

“No fucking way, baby. If you give me your heart, lay it right in my hands. I promise I will protect it until the day I die.”

This book floored me. I liked Kidd’s character, and I hate to admit it, but I also fell in love with Jenna’s other men: Chipper (her father-figure), Timber & Reese (her other lovers). Kidd had a lot of competition with Timber & Reese, always finding ways of preventing her from becoming either one’s Old Lady. Competition = pure Alpha goodness. LOL!

I seriously cannot wait for Daisy & Preach’s story, which will be the next book. As a matter of fact, I’m salivating over it. This will definitely be one of my go-to biker series.

ONE THOUSAND FACEBOOK LIKES #GIVEAWAY

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Signed Paperback copies of There is No Light in Darkness AND Darkness Before Dawn by Claire Contreras Plus Swag

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Release Blitz ~ Love, In English by Karina Halle

Genre: Contemporary Romance   

Synopsis

He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter.

I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now.Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.
***

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks.

Excerpt

Claudia shrugged and pulled down at her yellow tee. “Not my problem. Eduardo is nice but Ricardo is really nice.” “How did it happen?” I asked, kinda wanting the sordid details. She was coy. “The way it usually happens.” “Did you make the first move?” Another shrug. “Why not?” I swear, a shrug and a “why not?” were the Spaniards’ go-to answer for everything. “Well, then I guess it seems safe—and a little boring now—to tell you that I have a crush on someone.” Her brows quirked up. “Other than Mateo?” “What?” “You are sleeping with Mateo, no?” “WHAT?!” “No?” “No!” I exclaimed, appalled. “Why does everyone keep thinking that?” “Because you are always together,” she said simply. She took a sip of wine. “The attraction is very obvious. So, I figured you must be sleeping together.” “He’s married!” “Yes, but you are not.” I shook my head adamantly. “It’s wrong. I don’t want to be the other woman. I’ve seen my dad go for the other woman, and I can’t put Mateo’s daughter through that,” I said. “Or his wife,” I quickly added. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t have feelings for anyone else.” “Yes, it does mean that.” “Maybe you are meant to be together.” “We’re not! There isn’t even a together. We’re just friends. I haven’t done anything about it, and so far my feelings are totally one-sided.” Claudia got up off the couch and brought a pack of cigarettes out of her front jean pocket. “If you think it is on the one side, you have not seen the way he looks at you.” She walked over to her small patio table and pulled out a chair. I got up and stormed after her, my nerves dancing excitedly. “What do you mean, the way he looks at me?” I asked, lowering my voice in case there were people around listening. I felt like bouncing off the walls. She slid the ashtray toward her as I sat down. “You do not see it. But I do. I think everyone does. He looks at you like…like you’re his favorite food.” “Favorite food?” She lit her cigarette. “Yes. You’re like his favorite food in the whole world. He wants to have you, eat you, devour you. He thinks about you all the time, craves you. But he cannot have you for one reason or another. Perhaps you upset his stomach. Maybe he is on a diet, yes? All he wants is a taste, but he cannot even have that. That is how he looks at you.” I sat there, stunned, as some of her smoke blew in my face. That’s how Mateo looked at me? Like he wanted to eat me? I was pretty sure that’s how I looked at him. Just last night I was contemplating nibbling on his earlobes. “And yes,” she said, leaning closer to me, a small smile on her lips, “that is also how you look at him.” Great, a mind reader. “But you are more subtle about it. You try not to let everyone know. But, we know.” “There is nothing to know,” I reminded her, poking the table with my finger for emphasis. “We are not sleeping together. He is married. I have a crush. That is it. The end of the story.” “A crush?” she questioned. “Vera, I think you’re in love with him.” No fucking way. Not love. That did not happen with me, not ever and not now. “You can’t fall in love in a week,” I told her heatedly. “You can fall in love in a second,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “The heart has no regard for time.” With that sobering thought, Claudia told me about her ex-boyfriend and how they fell in love at first sight then took the conversation back to Ricardo and their exploits. I envied her so badly right then and there. She could fawn over Ricardo, kiss him, fuck him, and no one would ever bat an eye. It was okay for them to be together. It wasn’t forbidden. I gulped the rest of the wine and left her apartment, heading back to reception to meet Cristina for my next one-on-one, my mind and heart and hormones all over the place. Lo and behold, Mateo was walking up the path toward me. He was on the phone, smiling. His shirt was off and slung over his shoulder, exposing his bare chest, abs, and arms. Holy fuck. For a moment, I was sure that time had stopped. Or maybe ever single nerve, cell, vein, bone, muscle in my body just slowed as I took him all in. From his thick-veined forearms to his sculpted shoulders and broad chest peppered with neatly-trimmed chest hair, to his six-pack abs, he had, by far, the best body I’d ever seen on a man. He kept himself in fine-ass shape, looking more like a young athlete than anything else. He and David Beckham had more in common than I thought, although David’s skin tone wasn’t as mesmerizing. Mateo’s color was amazing, just beautiful, this dark, golden bronze that covered him everywhere. I wanted so badly to just touch him, to lick the sheen of sweat off his skin. I bet he tasted like victory. And to think this was the man that Claudia said wanted to taste me. I really, really wanted to believe her. Meanwhile, I was just standing there like I was melting into a puddle of myself. I clamped my mouth shut as he walked past and I heard him say into the phone, “No, mi tesorito, it was easy, I didn’t injure myself.” He was beaming, talking about the game, to his wife. To his tesorito. And he called their relationship complicated? This was complicated. He winked at me in acknowledgement, his smile becoming broader. I tried to smile back but it wouldn’t come. I just stared at him, feeling stupid, foolish, and strangely rejected. In a perfect world I may have been his favorite food, but it still wasn’t what he got served every day. I turned around and walked down the hill, my heart feeling like a pincushion. “Vera!” I heard him call out from behind. I stopped and nervously glanced over my shoulder. He was holding the phone’s receiver to his chest, grinning at me. “I need to ask you your question.” “What?” I asked, hoping it was quick. “Who is your favorite Spaniard here?” Seriously? And yet I couldn’t lie to him. “You,” I said, more to myself than to him. Then I turned around and walked away as quickly as I could.  

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About the Author

With her USA Today Bestselling The Artists Trilogy published by Grand Central Publishing, numerous foreign publication deals, and self-publishing success with her Experiment in Terror series, Vancouver-born Karina Halle is a true example of the term "Hybrid Author." Though her books showcase her love of all things dark, sexy and edgy, she's a closet romantic at heart and strives to give her characters a HEA...whenever possible.

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she’s preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

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