Book Tour: Fire by T. G. Ayer

Title: Fire (Hand of Kali #1)
Author: T. G. Ayer
Genre: Young Adult, Mythology
Source: Book Tour
Release Date: July 25, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Normal people sneak out to a party and have fun. Maya Rao ends the evening by incinerating the guy who attacks her. 

Nik Lucas, sexy, new in town and totally forbidden, happens to walk in on her. Normal guys would run for the hills. Nik knows a whole lot more than he's telling.

Maya doesn't believe the gods are real, doesn't waste her time with mere mythology. But when gods, demons and hellhound's become the new normal and wielding fire becomes her new skill, she must decide what it is she really believes. 

Can Maya accept that normal is something she will never be because it isn't normal to be 
...the Hand of Kali.

BIO:

I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to recognise that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is impossible to practise given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each other's loves – it works wonderfully…

My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha, beautiful Maraes, and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.

ONLINE LINKS:

Website  http://www.tgayer.com/

Blog     http://tgayer.wordpress.com/

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/TGAyerAuthor

Twitter   https://twitter.com/TGAyerAuthor

Goodreads  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5726831.T_G_Ayer

Shelfari   http://www.shelfari.com/tgayerauthor

I don't know much about the Hindu religion, only vague bits and pieces.  And while this book doesn't delve too deep into the religion, it was very interesting to learn a little more about it.  When Maya discovers she is the Hand of Kali, a warrior put on earth to fight demons, she discovers the whole religion she has shunned as false her entire life, is far more real than she could ever imagine and she is nowing playing the lead role in it.  

Maya was wonderfully written, her disbelief and struggle to deal with what she had become was perfect.  I only wish her friends had shown some of the same - they believed and accepted a little too easily to be perfectly believable (although kudos to her for having cool friends).  

Through Maya's adventures, as she tries to save the realm of the gods and man, she gets to meet several of the gods and demons and visit many of the realms she has only heard about.  There are scenes of high adventure and sweet romance - filling the needs for several different genres.  Maya is forced to make decisions that will last a lifetime and prove to everyone that she is worth the the power that Kali has given her.

*A copy of this book was received in exchange for an honest review*

Cover Reveal: Awakening by Christy Dorrity

Designed by Mythic Studios
Awakening: Book One of The Geis by Christy Dorrity
Publication date: September 24th 2013
Genre: YA Fantasy

. . .because some Celtic stories won’t be contained in myth.

A little magic has always run in sixteen-year-old McKayla McCleery’s family—at least that’s what she’s been told. McKayla’s eccentric Aunt Avril travels the world as a clairvoyant for the FBI, and her mother can make amazing delicacies out of the most basic of ingredients. But McKayla doesn’t think for a second that the magic is real—it’s just good storytelling. Besides, McKayla doesn’t need magic. She just moved to beautiful Star Valley, Wyoming, and already she has an amazing best friend, a solo in her upcoming ballet recital, and the gorgeous guy in her physics class keeps looking her way.

 When an unexpected fascination with Irish dance leads McKayla to seek instruction from the mute, crippled, janitor at her high school, she learns that her family is not the only one with unexplained abilities.

After Aunt Avril comes to the valley in pursuit of the supernatural killer that she has been chasing her entire career, people in the valley begin disappearing, and the lives of those McKayla holds most dear are threatened. When an ancient curse, known as a geis, awakens powers that defy explanation, McKayla is forced to come to terms with what is real and what is fantasy.

A thrilling first novel, Awakening is a gripping contemporary fantasy rife with magic, romance, and mystery.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18074584-awakening?ac=1

AUTHOR BIO:
Christy Dorrity lives in the mountains with her husband, five children, and a cocker spaniel. She grew up on a trout ranch in Star Valley, Wyoming, and is the author of The Book Blogger’s Cookbooks. Christy is a champion Irish dancer and when she’s not reading or writing, she’s probably trying out a new recipe in the kitchen.

Author links:

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

Cover Reveal: Not Your Fault by Cheyanne Young

Designed by Clarrissa at bookcoversale.com. 
Not Your Fault by Cheyanne Young
Publication Date: September 12th 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Delaney has a job she loves and a boyfriend who loves her. Working the night shift at a local gym has given her buns of steel and enough endorphins to deal with the ninth anniversary of her brother’s death. When a new owner takes over the gym, Delaney’s forgotten past comes somersaulting back at her. Kris Payne isn’t just her new boss, he’s her ex-boyfriend from high school and he’s got a smile that’s as cocky as he is gorgeous.

Delaney has no business being attracted to the womanizing, muscular man from her past. She tries to ignore his flirtatious nature, and the fact that she has a boyfriend isn’t the thing she feels guilty about. In fact, being in a relationship bothers her a lot less than it should. After all, she can always ditch the boyfriend, but she can’t ditch Kris’ involvement in her brother’s death.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18187033-not-your-fault?ac=1

AUTHOR BIO:
Cheyanne is a native Texan with a fear of cold weather and a coffee addiction that probably needs an intervention. She loves books, sarcasm, nail polish and paid holidays. She lives near the beach with her daughter, one spoiled rotten puppy and a cat who is most likely plotting to take over the world.

Book Blitz and Giveaway: I Breathe You by Lori L. Clark

I Breathe You  by Lori L. Clark
Publication date:  August 2nd 2013
Genre: NA contemporary romance

When a tragic accident leaves Rhane Evans — lead vocalist for the rock band Fate’s Crazy — permanently unable to speak above a whisper and kills the love of her life, she moves across the state to pick up the pieces. Shattered, Rhane struggles to understand what happened the night of the accident, an accident everyone blames her for, even though she wasn’t driving the car.

Enter Ian Callahan. He’s the one person who may have a more tumultuous past than Rhane. Though they try hard to deny the sizzling attraction between them, it proves nearly impossible. When Ian’s troubled past threatens to tear them apart, they begin to believe happiness isn’t in their cards.

Because Fate’s Crazy that way…

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17858320-i-breathe-you?ac=1

Purchase:

Purchase link will be found here come release day: 

-Amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lori%20L.%20Clark&search-alias=digital-text

--B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/lori-l.-clark

AUTHOR BIO:

I read, I write, I run 1/2 marathons for fun. Ten things about me:

1. I’m an only child.
2. I love dogs!
3. I was born in Iowa City, Iowa and lived in Iowa my whole life until January 2007.
4. I worked as a professional psychic reader for 2 years.
5. I’m a Pisces Sun, Leo Moon with Aquarius rising.
6. I’ve written 5 books and am in the process of brainstorming a 6th.
7. I don’t look or act my age!
8. I ran my first 1/2 marathon at age 50.
9. I love 80′s hair band music.
10. My day job is as a claims payment analyst for one of Fortune 500 Magazine’s “Top 100 places in America to work.”

Author links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Excerpt:

Gwen announces that it's time to eat and we make our way to the kitchen with T leading the way. I stiffen momentarily when Ian's fingertips rest gently against my lower back but soon relax beneath his reassuring touch as he guides me forward.

Several times during dinner, I sense Ian's eyes on me, and I glance up. The first couple of times, I quickly avert my gaze to the plate in front of me. But now, a glass and a half of wine later, it's getting harder to shift my attention elsewhere. He watches me through hooded eyes, and I refuse to look away. I reach for my wine and swirl the liquid slowly around in the goblet. I take a long swallow and slowly run my tongue around the perimeter of my tingling lips, teasing him. His eyes darken and the corner of his mouth tips into a half smirk.

After we eat, I stand, offering to help Gwen clear the table. Shockwaves of electricity jolt down the center of my back when Ian steps behind me and whispers into my ear. "Thank God you weren't eating a banana or I might have had to excuse myself from the dinner table for a few minutes." I draw my lips between my teeth to keep a mad case of giggles from erupting.

"I'll go bring in some wood for the fire," Ian offers. Under his breath he mutters low enough only for me to hear, "It'll be the closest thing to a cold shower I can get away with right now."

"Do you want me to help?" I whisper playfully.

"No. You’ve done more than enough already," he shakes his head. Gwen arches an eyebrow at his remark. I understand the meaning behind his words and grin. He shrugs and walks outside with a huge smile on his face.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz and Giveaway: Nice Girl to Love by Violet Duke

Nice Girl to Love: The Complete Collection by Violet Duke
Publication date: July 31st 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

The • Nice • Girl n. 1. female of the species who never does anything or anyone bad: Hands-off, she’s a nice girl. 2. the woman that men take home to meet mom: Find my son a ‘nice girl to love.’ SEE ALSO: a good girl; girl scout; Abby Bartlett

This is the complete Nice Girl to Love serial romance collection, which contains: Resisting the Bad Boy (Book One), Falling for the Good Guy (Book Two), and Choosing the Right Man (Book Three).


THE ONE SHE NEVER THOUGHT SHE COULD KEEP…

Abby Bartlett is the quintessential nice girl. Between teaching, volunteering, completing her PhD, and helping her best friend raise his daughter, Abby never gets the chance to be anything but nice. That is, until the all-wrong-for-her man she’s only ever known from afar starts daring her to simply take that chance for herself. His sage advice? Try something wild and fast.  Preferably him.

An unbridled, hotshot attorney with a not-so-little black book, Connor Sullivan has earned himself quite the bad boy reputation. But in his defense, he’s a very conscientious one. He knows far too well that sometimes in life, love isn’t enough…or worse, not even a factor at all. To avoid that misery–and repel the drama–Connor has a firm ‘nothing over a month’ rule.  Who knew a nice girl would be the one to make him want to break all his rules?


THE ONE SHE NEVER HOPED SHE COULD HAVE…

Abby is well aware that everyone thinks she’s in love with her best friend Brian. He is, after all, the type of man a nice girl should be with—the polar opposite of the bad boy—the kind of guy who didn’t let his wife’s decade-long illness stop him from showering her with a lifetime of love every second until her dying day. But everyone’s wrong; she couldn’t possibly be in love with him.  Because she’s never once allowed herself that option.

It’s taken a while but Brian has finally come to terms with surviving the woman he spent half his life loving, a third of it losing. Truth is though, he wouldn’t have ‘survived’ any of it really had it not been for Abby—sweet, incredible Abby—the woman he’s never once had to picture his life without, never realized he couldn’t truly live without. Until now. Now that he’s finally able to love her the way she deserves, the way he knows she wants to be loved…by his brother.  Who’s giving him exactly one chance to speak now or forever hold his peace.


A DECISION SHE NEVER DREAMED SHE’D HAVE TO MAKE…

And now it’s up to Abby to decide between the bad boy wanting to start a life with her and the good guy fighting for the life they’ve already built.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18209377-nice-girl-to-love

Purchase:

Purchase link will be found here come release day: http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Nice+Girl+to+Love+nina&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ANice+Girl+to+Love+nina

AUTHOR BIO:

Violet Duke is a former professor of English Education who is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page writing wickedly fun contemporary romance novels.  Besides writing and feeding her book-a-day reading addiction, she can often be found tackling reno projects with her power tools and trying pretty much anything without reading the directions first, or cooking ‘special edition’ dishes that laugh in the face of recipes.  Violet lives in Hawai’i with her two cute kids and similarly adorable husband.

Author links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Beginning on Friday (9)

Book Beginnings on Friday at Rose City Reader is the place to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the book.

I just started this one over lunch today and it's been a very sweet and fun romance so far: Something's Cooking by Meg Lacey.  Although the beginning is a little deceptive - it's not really about baseball.

"Josh Redmond Faraday's little league baseball team was behind by six runs, when it was Joey Murray's turn at bad.  The little boy looked over his shoulder at Josh.  His pale face reflected his terror, and the groan of the other kids added to the pressure."

Book Blurb:

Tess Banyon has turned her brilliant recipe and crafting ideas into a multimedia empire, but if she actually had to cook anything herself, she might blow up the kitchen! When she gets her own TV show, she panics because she isn't what everyone thinks she is. Investigative reporter Josh Faraday smells something smoking in Tess's world. His personal crusade to expose who he thinks is the real Tess goes into overdrive when she lands a television show deal--something he'd been working toward himself. Josh secures an assignment to shadow Tess, reporting on her new TV show, but what he's really doing is getting dirt to write his expose. Things get sticky when Tess's family play matchmaker behind the scenes. There's no shortage of fire between them, and after they spend a night together, Josh discovers a story he never expected...or bargained for. 

Review: A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

Title: A Spear of Summer Grass (A Spear of Summer Grass #1)
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source FirstReads
Release Date: April 30 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Paris, 1923 

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savannah manor house until gossip subsides. 

Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.  

Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming-yet fleeting and often cheap.  

Amidst the wonders-and dangers-of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for-and what she can no longer live without.

Africa - a strange and distant place that Delilah has only heard wonderful and fantastic stories of.  When she choses to leave and ride out her most current scandal in Africa, she finds that it really is nothing like what she expected.  Finding the need to restore Fairlight to her former glory and manage the numerous social pitfalls she is notorious for finding and jumping into, Delilah settles into life as best she can.  

She makes herself at home in safaris and expedidtions which really help bring Africa to life and the country becomes a character all on its own.  Delilah and Africa become good friends and fierce enemies with amazment and traged coming hand in hand.  She makes friends and enemies among the natives and with her Brit "neighbors".  This was a book that you need to curl up with on an evening when you can just lose yourself in with wonderful characters and places.

Barnes & Noble:  A Spear of Summer Grass
Book Depository: A Spear of Summer Grass