Destined to Succeed - Lisa Harley | Book Review

Rating : C+

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Author: Lisa Harley
Publisher: Self published / Lisa Harley
Release Date: June 2013
Genre & Age Group: Romance / Adult

Goodreads Rating: 4.57/5Amazon Rating: 4,8/5

Destined to Succeed, the second book in Lisa Harley's Destined Series, was our guest for Release Event last week. I haven't read the first book, but really, I haven't felt anything missing, except for wondering Cade's relationship with Loralei and how she could have not choosen him. ;) - have I mentioned, I want me a Cade please :D... 

Destined to Succeed is Cade's and his childhood best friend Suzanna's story. The book begins from the end of Destined to Change, with a short Prologue. And then its pace increases with a tragic event on the farm in present. Then the story of Cade and Suzy B starts from their first meeting at the age of nine. We read their friendship and their growing love with the important moments they share, as if looking through an old photo album, with a smile on our face. The love for each other is so palpable, you can almost feel it yourself. 

Cade Walker is handsome, cocky and a little (!) arrogant, a typical women's men. But with all these traits, when it came to Suzanna, he is caring, protective and sensitive... but they are - and can be - just friends!!!  He lost his parents and shouldered the responsibility of the Walker Ranch at an early age. And loosing his best friend during the same time to a marriage wasn't helping either. He was definitely a womanizer, and every woman was after him - he is what you'd call a sex on a stick - damn! I am not a cowboy fan and even I wanted to have him for myself ;) But he wasn't really interested in them, except for some fun, he never had with any of them what he had with Suzanna once.  My heart went out to him during those days, I must admit... 

Suzanna is sweet and always loyal, she made sure her love for Cade could be seen by the reader from the first moment she laid eyes on him. However, I would be lying, if I say, I never thought to shake some sense into her!!! ;) She was in an abusive marriage with her longtime boyfriend, Branch, from the first day of their marriage I should add. She felt as if, she had no choice and this was her destiny - which I will never understand why - she chose this life. I felt broken for her and IzzyB, especially Izzy B - I had a daughter same age and couldn't bare the thought of happiness around sweet Izzy B. Noone should bare this type of abuse. Wish she reached out for help sooner... 

“Son, when you find the right one, you’ll just know it. Your dick won’t pick her. Your heart will. Always listen to your heart, because your dick can be a lyin’ bastard.”~ Cody

During their teenage years, they came to cross the thin line between a friendship and being lovers, but they didn't have luck on their side; they moved on to others - though they were always close through their lives. SuzyQ had an abusive marriage, that she could only stand for her lovely daughter IzzyB and nothing else to make her happy. And Cade had his share of women; many who he can't even remember their names...

This wasn't my usual cup of tea; however, I really enjoyed reading it and loved Cade, I must add. Lisa didn't just put a simple love story out there; she showed family bonds, friendship and a heavy subject-matter; domestic violence, but never overwhelm the reader or take these issues lightly. Even though I wanted to strangle the two main characters at times, their feelings and frustrations were perfectly reflected which helped the readers to connect them, in a perfect sense. 

I would suggest this book to any romance reader, and fans of sweet love story fans with some taste of reality in their books; you can grab your cold drink - let me warn you, you will need that cold drink at times with Cade out there!!! - settle on your comfy couch, and get ready to have a couple of hours of fun with this fast read. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series...

Cade walked up behind me and pulled my hand with the shot glass up to his mouth. He had me press it to his lips as he slammed it back. He was standing so close to me. His chest was pressed against my shoulder. 
“You havin’ a party without me, hon?” I could feel his breath against my neck. 
“A party just ain’t a party without Cade Walker, right?” I was trying to be funny, but my voice was shaky because he was just too close for me to think straight. He gently turned me around to face him. I felt his finger under my chin as he tilted my head up to look at him. His eyes were smoldering and this might have been the shots talking, but he was totally kissing me with those eyes.

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Broken Promises - Dawn Pendleton | Blog Tour

After three years in Boston attending college, Mallory Wells has come home to Casper, Maine to care for her father, who is dying from cancer. She left Casper without looking back, leaving her small-town life and everyone in it, behind. Including her sexy high school sweetheart.

Luke Bates was devastated when Mallory left him for the city life. He managed to pull himself together and move on, even if only just barely. When Mallory shows up in town, Luke vows to stay away from her at all costs. So why does he keep checking in on her and her father, showing up when he's clearly uninvited? Maybe Luke isn't as 'over her' as he thought.

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Dawn Pendleton is a New Adult & Young Adult author living in Maine with her husband and pup.

Right now, she's working on two manuscripts simultaneously. It's a difficult task for her, but one she's certain will pay off in the end.

Want to meet Dawn?

She is also one of the featured authors of the New Adult Sleepover Weekend. You can find all the details here.

Website † GoodReads † Twitter † Facebook 

Make sure to check out the blog tour kicking off on Monday, May 13th -- HERE.

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Interview With Brent Weeks

I had this interview with Brent Weeks, for my Turkish blog during a blog tour of The Way of Shadows...


Thank you for accepting my interview request, I know you are on a deadline, so I will try not to take too much of your time. I must say, I am not huge fantasy fan (or so I kept saying that and reading the genre over and over again) and still I am fascinated by The Way of Shadow, especially with the characters… It is your first published book in Turkey, so can you tell us a little about yourself? And how you came to be writer ( I heard that story is fairly direct :) )

Thank you for having me as your guest! It feels a little surreal to be doing this. I never imagined I would get to have one of my books published in Turkey! I think I knew I wanted to be a writer from the time I was thirteen years old, when I started my very first novel. I did, however, spend some time trying to convince myself to pursue a career that was actually practical. But I gave up on that and decided to do my best to get published while I was young, so that if I failed I could fail early rather than always wondering if I might have made it. I spent five years on a novel, starting when I was in college. I ended up having to throw it
away, and then I started writing The Way of Shadows when I was 25 years old. I worked odd jobs for a while, and then my wife supported me while I wrote full time. I was 30 when The Way of Shadows was finally published here in America.

The way of Shadows was your first book and a trilogy which all three of them were published consequently in three months. This was a little surprising for a debut author. What’s the story behind it?

After I finished The Way of Shadows, I knew that the smart thing to do while I was trying to get it published would be to write a book set in a different world. After all, it would be ridiculous to write Book 2 in a series if Book 1 never sold. And the book publishing industry is very, very slow. But I had a problem: I loved this story. I didn’t want to tell any other story. So I asked my wife what I should do, and she told me to follow my passion. So I did. I foolishly wrote Shadow’s Edge over the next two years. Then, figuring that I had already gambled everything on this anyway, I went ahead and wrote Beyond the Shadows. All the while, I
knew that if no publisher bought the Way of Shadows, I had wasted the last four years of my life.

But what seemed like a terrible idea turned out to be a brilliant one in disguise. Orbit launched all three books quickly, as you said, and fans loved the idea of not having to wait years in between books. There was only one downside: after I spent six years writing this trilogy, but got them published all within three months, I kept getting emails from fans, asking if I would publish three more books next year!

Without giving away too much, can you reveal what’s in store for the readers when they crack open the way of shadows and of course how did the idea come up? What was the starting point?

The Way of Shadows is primarily the story of Azoth, a young kid on the streets who wants nothing more than to not be afraid anymore. And when he sees Durzo Blint, the most masterful assassin of the age, he thinks that if he can be like that, he’ll never be afraid again. Of course, that’s just the beginning of Azoth’s problems.

It’s a story of love and betrayal and murder and violence and magic and redemption. It starts out pretty grim in the first 50 or so pages, but if you can handle that, I think you’ll like it a lot.

Now you have another series out there as well, Lightbringer. I don’t know when of if we are going to read this one anytime soon here (I sure will do), can you tell us a little about it? I have read that you used magical elements which are very unique, and I am curious.

Oh, I’d love to talk to you about Lightbringer! But seeing as my answers have already been very long, and Lightbringer won’t be coming to Turkey for some time, maybe I’ll just have to come back and visit again.

I am sure after five books under your belt, you have your own fan base now, but I am sure you were and probably still are a fan for someone out there. Who is your favourite author? In this genre and out of it?

The writer who hooked me in the first place and made me want to be a writer was Edgar Allan Poe. I love his mastery of language and envy it still. Of course, Tolkien was a formative influence. When I was young, I would read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, and then read some book at random from the fantasy section, think it was terrible, and go back and re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy again. Now, however, I think is a wonderful time for fans of big fantasy books, from the darker stuff of George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie and Richard Morgan to Peter Brett and Saladin Ahmed and N.K. Jemisin and Robin Hobb to Brandon Sanderson and Brian McClellan -- and those are just the ones that I’ve read in my own limited
reading time!

I am always fascinated about writer’s writing process, what’s it like for you? Do you outline or let the story take you to where it’s headed? And what’s your revision process like?

I do both, but the process is always messy and always different for each book. I tend to spend some time just coming up with cool ideas and fun snippets of dialogue and great action sequences. Then I map out the book as well as I can and at least figure out the big turning points of the plot. But then as I write heading toward those goals, I try to find the best path to get there. I usually have a very strong idea of what will happen at the end of the book, but here as I write my sixth book, I actually have two different possible ideas in mind for the end of book seven. Revision, then, is a huge part of the process, and I’m a writer who is willing to make deep cuts and significant changes to make my book be the best it can be. It’s always painful to have to throw away things that you’ve written that work decently well, but you should always be willing to do it if you can replace it with something that works brilliantly.

And of course, characters and world building. I suppose, one of the most time-consuming processes of writing epic fantasy is world building and complexity and depth of characters. (And I have to admit, you have some complexity in there, I was lost at times :)) what are a few of your favorite world aspects, favourite characters and what inspired them?

I compare myself a little bit to a literary magpie. Do you know this term? A magpie is a bird that likes to collect shiny things, so in their nests you can find the most outrageous and weird assortment of stuff: bits of mirror, bolts, pieces of foil and so forth. I like to do that with world history. I almost never steal characters wholesale from history, but probably my most egregious theft was in the side character Lantano Garuwashi, who is based significantly on the early 17th-century Japanese Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi is said to have killed 60 men in duels by the time he was 30 years old. In fact, he got so adept at fighting that he
came to believe that it wasn’t fair for him to fight an opponent sword-to-sword. So he would use a wooden practice sword against there fine steel. He was also the first person to ever even try to fight with a full-sized katana in both his left and right hands. (Sure, people do it all the time in the movies now, but actually being coordinated enough to make that left-hand sword a real threat is something very few people could do.) His sense of honor led him to only use two swords, however, when he was being attacked by more than one man at a time. Having read a few books about Musashi, how could I not include that?!

I also love to make magic systems that make sense, that seem like they could really work in the real world. And making deep characters is a special love of mine. I love to make characters who not only grow throughout one book, but through all three.

How did you life change after becoming a NYT bestselling author other than the title added
in front of your name?

Very slowly, at first. I guess at some times it’s a good thing that the publishing industry moves at a glacial pace. I noticed mainly that I got busier. And that my editor and agent started replying to my emails much more quickly! Really, it took a few years for my day-to- day life to change. I mean, a big part of my day is spent wrestling with words, and that isn’t going to change whether ten people buy my book or a million do.

But, eventually what happens is you get a second job, and that’s running all the business that you didn’t have before. I have a webpage now, and it needs to be updated frequently. I have twitter and Facebook and Google+. I have contracts to read. I have blog interviews to do. I go on book tours. I go to conventions. I make up contests to give away books. I then have to mail those books out to people. I get royalty statements that are incredibly complex and difficult to understand, and I need to understand them. Now I am very fortunate to have an assistant who helps me keep all these things straight. (She was the one who came and knocked on my door an hour ago and said, “Brent! You need to finish this interview!”)
But the biggest adjustment of all is probably that I have fans. This is a wonderful and curious thing. It’s also something I’d never dealt with before, so it comes with its own set of stresses. All in all, though, I have to say that I am living my dream, and even if filing personnel paperwork with the government wasn’t part of my original dream, being able to write and make a living at it is a huge privilege and a huge blessing. This is the only job I could have that I would be happy doing, so I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to get to be doing it.

Do you know any Turkish writers? And of course what would you like to tell to your newest fans from Turkey?

Sadly, I don’t! For a long time, American pulishers didn’t look beyond our own borders for fantasy writers. They already get so many thousand submissions a year, I think they are just perpetually overwhelmed. In recent years, that has changed somewhat. Polish writer Andrezj Sakowski and French writer Pierre Pavel have both been published in English, but there still aren’t that many overseas authors translated here. Do you have any recommendations for me?

And I would like to tell my Turkish fans that I hope they love my books. I will write for them
the very best books I’m capable of writing and please blame all the errors on the translator!

Interview With Holly Stephens The Author of Second Rate Chances | Blog Tour

Holly Stephens is a new name for my readers, can you tell us a little about yourself? 

I'm 32 years old from Louisiana. I've been married for going on eight years and we have one little boy who is about to turn six. He's my world and he makes it nearly impossible for me to write LOL

I've been writing for about four years now but finally worked up the nerve to actually do something with my stories. I have a notebook full of ideas so hopefully I'll be around for a while. My day job consists of selling plumbing. I'm not joking. We're like interior designers for your kitchen and baths. You'd be surprised how serious some people take picking out a toilet.

On a side note, LSU Football is a religion in my house (even though I prefer baseball). Mardi Gras is a major holiday for us. I love everything Disney related and I hate clowns.

Much like y'all, I LOVE to read. I use to think I'd be lost without my iphone, but now I think if I were to lose my Nook I'd have a panic attack.

  

Your book is a new adult conteporary romance? Why this genre and what do you think about

the New adult hype? 

To be honest, when I started writing SRC I didn't write it to be new adult. I wrote it with the mindset that it was just contemporary romance. Not that I mind the new adult label. So when the cover/synopsis came out and people began talking about it, that's what it was labeled. When I sat and really thought about it, it made sense.

As for the new adult hype, I know a lot of authors/readers are one side or the other on their opinion. For me, I think it's a great addition. You have YA then you have CR. Why can't we have something that's in the middle? If there are people writing and people reading, does it really matter what a books labeled?

There is a strong subject behind the love story and happenings in your book that I don’t

want to reveal too much now. But how did the idea of this book come out, what was your

inspiration? 

Like all good ideas, this one started in the bathroom LOL Music is what drives me so as I was getting ready for work one morning, I had Pandora on and Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade came on. And that one line- This time I will fall for you, over again- really hit me. From there the idea started. A guy and a girl falling in love all over again- a second chance at love. Then I heard The Script's, For the First Time, and the song itself- this couple kind of seeing each other for the first time again just built to the story. I think that's when the amnesia idea came to me. I wanted them to have this second chance, this moment where they really see each other for the first time even though they've known each other for years.

And as it is all about second chances, do you believe in them? 

I think everyone deserves the notion of a second chance but you have to earn it. Does that make sense? Like, don't tell me you're going to change- show me. If I've seen that you're serious, that you're not just pulling my leg, then yeah I believe in them. But it's like that saying goes. Fool one once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

This is your first published book right? How does it feel to be a published author now?

It's surreal. A few weeks ago we were down in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and having dinner with a friend of my in-laws. HE asked what I did for a living and I automatically said, "I sell plumbing." Apparently that was the wrong answer for my husband and in-laws because they promptly said, "SHE'S AN AUTHOR!" LOL I was a little taken aback by their outburst because I'm not used to telling people that. To me it's my side job- one that I'm very proud of- but still. It's not my fulltime job. But regardless, it's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. It's like, I've been talking about doing this for so long and now I have!

And what changed in your life? Can you tell us a little about your journey from writing to publishing? 

Honestly nothing much as changed. I'm a little more stressed because now that I have one book out I have deadlines I want to meet for more books to come. And finding the time now to write those is proving impossible. Thankfully, my husband is a little more understanding now that I have one book out. He's more apt to take over a few household responsibilities while I sit down and write.

Sam and Lily were so natural and realistic together, it felt just right. And Chloe was so mean

and cold, I literaly felt it. =) How do you create your characters? Do you set a goal in the beginning of your story or find their place a long the way?

No, the goal was set at the beginning. I wanted Chloe to be that force you hated. I didn't want people to feel sorry for her. And Sam & Lil, given their history, they needed that natural ability about them. Same with their friends. Even though all this time has passed I wanted it to feel like- once the inital getting over what they were pissed about was out of the way- that they all had this great vibe between them. And her dad? Oh he was also a villian. I had this big powerful man who always gets what he wants in my head.

There is also Sam’s amnesia,you have put the details and behavior very believable out there. What type of research did you have to do? 

When I first started mapping this story out I googled amnesia and read about the different types. Dissosiative was the perfect diagnosis for him. It wasn't this long term condition and the patient only loses a minimum amount of time. It's not like reverted back to being a kid. But over time, the memories return. I knew the moment I wanted him to remember and how it was to happen so it was a perfect fit. But yeah, I spent weeks reading up on amnesia.

There are very sad moments along Sam and Lily’s story, was there a particular scene or

chapter, you had difficulty in putting into words?

A couple. The scene when they have the fight about Toby, that was hard for me to have him pretty much defend Chloe to Lil. It was hard to write because I love her so much and Sam? He's not a malicious person so for him to pretty much tell her that maybe he's got a stronger relationship with Chloe was hard.

What should we expect from Holly Stephens next? 

OH! A lot! LOL I have a packed schedule of things to come that I'm really excited about. Originally I had a book, Risque Business, that I had planned to release this summer but I've put that one on hold for the start of a new series I'm working on.

AND... there is a second, Second Rate Chances, book in the works. I had never imagined writing a second book for it but a source of inspiration struck and now I'm planning it all out. The only thing right now that I can tell you about it, is that it won't be Sam and Lil centered. They will be there but I'm going to focus on another character we've already met. 

Review: Road to Tomorrow - Mary Metcalfe | Novel Publicty Blog Tour

Rating : C

Author: Mary Metcalfe
Pages: 220
Language: English
Publisher: Laskin Publishing

Here is my post for Novel Publicity’s Blog Tour – Road to Tomorrow. What I love about blog tours is, I am usually coming across with a novel, I would not otherwise pick up. Road to Tomorrow is one of those novels. Now, for my review...

Even though, the subject matter is heavy, this is quite a page turner and a quick read. Andrea Garrett is a young wife and a mother. Her husband is a soldier, and they had gotten married before they knew each other better. Sean has an abusive streak, well hidden under his respected demeanor, and he is showing this side of his only to Andrea. In the beginning, Andrea was working hard to find excuses for his violent behavior, in the hopes of having family and the husband of her dreams. When she no longer could stand the abuse, she decided to took of with her two children and ran away. She left her children, with her twin brother and got on the road, to look for their future...  

However, Andrea’s ordeal wasn’t over. While she was on the run, she fell asleep on the wheel and fell into a ditch. Residents of a small town step in to rescue her, however, they also let her husband on where she was. Blinded with rage, Sean was after Andrea, with the aim to kill her. He couldn’t accept her denial and being left. After this point, we witness the story of  Andrea’s decisions, plans, and her efforts of a new life in the shadows of Sean’s threats, with the author’s clear and direct writing. Of course for the details, you have to read the book...

But I can tell you this much, this is an emotional and intense one. The story is about an abusive husband, a deviant child behavior, PTDS and the consequences of those on  young women; her love life, her survival, and her new beginning... A little too much on the social messages part (maybe necessary but still a little over the scale).

Andrea is a very strong character, when she decides something, she acts on it. She struggles even though her marriage was an abusive one, to end it and leave her husband, showing that it can never be easy to leave everything behind and this side of the story makes her a very realistic character.

But I believe the best drawn character was Sean. A friendly, courageous soldier and man, among his friends, but in reality a seriously emotional wreck inside. A man stuck in between two personalities, one a respectable soldier, a good friend, a charming and handsome man and one very abusive, violent husband, an uncontrollable rage. It was quite heartbreaking.  

Richard was far the most annoying character, for me. He questions her sister’s pleas and tried to believe his best friend because he appears to be a respectful man.  There were also two wonderful kids (way too wonderful if you ask me) and a nice new boyfriend (this part of the story was too shallow and fast developed for me).  

The story telling is alluring, and concise, scenery and settings, especially in the town were very vivid, the dialogue, relationships and happenings were well developed and very relatable. However, especially on the relationships part, I had some issues; after, what Andrea has been through, I found, finding and accepting a new boyfriend in her life seemed too easy and quick. So this falls a little away from being realistic. After living all those horrible things with Sean, wanting to have a new life and a new beginning is something believable, but adapting to have a new man and trusting him so soon seemed a little off for me. This might be done like this, regarding to the length of the book and weight of the emotional structure. Because I believe, this is fairly a short book for this type of heavy subject matter.    

Over all, this was an emotional ride with a nicely drawn characters, and presented a heavy issue without overwhelming the readers. And there is suspenseful end, with an unexpected twist.  

About the Book - About the Author - Prizes!!!

About the book: Andrea Garrett is trying to escape her abusive marriage. Fearing for her life, she leaves her two small children with her twin brother and flees her home the day before her husband is due to arrive back from a tour of duty. After falling asleep at the wheel and landing in a ditch, her life takes on a new direction when strangers step in and introduce her to a life she could only have imagined and one that could save her soul and give her children the future they deserve. Get Road to Tomorrow through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About the author: Mary Metcalfe lives in the foothills of the Laurentians, northeast of Ottawa, Canada with her husband, three cats and a very large dog. Love of writing runs in the family. Their daughter is a published literary non-fiction author. Clarion Review described Mary’s debut novel as a “sparkling debut… readers will love being swept along by Winds of Change.”Road to Tomorrow is her third novel in the Look to the Future series. Connect with Mary on her website, blog, Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter.

About the prizes: Who doesn't love prizes? You could win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards or an autographed copy of Road to Tomorrow! Here's what you need to do...

1. Enter the Rafflecopter contest
2. Leave a comment on my blog.

That's it! One random commenter during this tour will win the first gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win--the full list of participating bloggers can be found here. The other two prizes will be given out via Rafflecopter. Good Luck!

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Circles of Lies - Sara Dailey and Staci Weber | Giveaway Promo

Title: Circle of Lies (Red Ridge Pack #2)

Authors: Sara Dailey and Staci Weber

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

Description:

Aiden Wright is trying to figure out who he really is, but the truth could cost him his true mate—or his life.

Life has always been easy for Aiden Wright. He’s smart, athletic, funny, and the ladies adore him. But when tragedy strikes, Aiden discovers the truth about who he really is, and his whole world comes crashing down around him. Aiden thought that being a teenage werewolf was going to be awesome, but it might just cost him the one girl who could make him whole.

Since her mother’s disappearance, Teagan Rhodes’s life has been littered with her father’s empty beer cans and his hollow promises to change. Convinced that others would only let her down, she keeps everyone at arm’s length—but resisting Aiden’s charm is proving to be more difficult than she thought. Throw in a psychotic werewolf hunter out to terminate the species, and one wrong move, one wrong decision could destroy everything.

And here is our giveaway rafflecopter... 

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