Thursday, October 23, 2014

REVIEW: "Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: War Cry" by Jim Butcher

Disclaimer: I received a free, advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Release Date: November 11, 2014

Type: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Wizards, Wardens, Vampires, Series, Harry Dresden Mostly Knows What He's Doing (Or Not)

About This Book: A war is raging between the vampire forces of the Red Court and the White Council - a war that the wizards are losing. So desperate are the Council that they've dragooned the experienced and the outcast to reinforce their thinning ranks of Wardens. One of these draftees is one Harry Dresden, Chicago's only wizard-for-hire and a guy who's long been looked upon with suspicion by the supernatural authorities. Now, he's one of them, and his first big mission as a Warden is a doozy: take a small team of greenhorns to a frigid town in the middle of nowhere to rescue a handful of mortals who've been targeted by the Red Court. The question is, why exactly are these particular mortals so crucial to the outcome of the war? The answer will come only if Harry can keep them, and his team, alive for one very long night. This graphic novel collects the critically acclaimed, five-issue series in one volume, and features a bonus section with Jim Butcher's original story outline, sketchbook artwork from Carlos Gomez, cover gallery with roughs from Stjepan Sejic, and more!

My Review: I'm a busy person. I have a full time job, volunteer opportunities, plus plenty to take care of in my home life... so I don't always get the chance to re-read old favorites, and revisit old worlds. So I'm grateful that these graphic novels exist. War Cry is the perfect way to visit Dresden's world, to experience his life for a little longer, without having to commit to re-reading one of the books (which is something that should be savored, and can therefore take some time).

War Cry is a fantastic story, and I'm giving major kudos to the authors for managing to fit everything that happens into a book that is, what, a little over 100 pages? And they do it well - at no point did the story feel rushed, or get jumbled because too much was happening at once. My eyes were glued to the page, desperate to see how Harry would manage to get himself out of yet another bad situation (poor guy).

In short, this is a great read for fans of the series. It is not recommended for newbies to Dresden's world, since it requires some previous knowledge of the Wardens, the vampires, etc. I will say, for readers that have not caught up on Dresden's story, that this graphic novel does an excellent job of explaining what is going on now, why they are doing what they are doing, and where it fits in. So enjoy!

Cover Lovin': This is a great one. We see the team of four Wardens ready to do battle - with Harry front and center. The artist even manages to get each character's personality traits to shine in their expressions.

Recommendation: For fans of the series! The great story and wonderful artwork would make this a great read for anyone, but I doubt anyone but fans of the Dresden Files would get much out of this, as they don't have the extensive back story.

Final Rating: FOUR out of FIVE stars (4/5).


Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda at Novel Addiction ~!~

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Felicity Heaton Blog Barrage: HER AVENGING ANGEL - Giveaway and details how to enter included!


Her Avenging Angel, the seventh book in New York Times best-seller Felicity Heaton’s hot paranormal romance series, Her Angel, is now available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY at her website.

Find out how to enter the Her Avenging Angel international giveaway (ends October 26th) and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website, where you can also download a 6 chapter sample of the novel: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/her-avenging-angel-romance-book.php


Here’s more about Her Avenging Angel, including an excerpt from this paranormal romance novel.


Her Avenging Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 7)
Felicity Heaton
Once a proud angel of Heaven, Nevar is now a servant of Hell, bound to a new master—the King of Demons. Consumed by darkness and driven to seek revenge, he set in motion a series of events that awakened the Great Destroyer, a force that will bring about the apocalypse. Now, he is the creature’s master and the fate of our world rests in the hands of an angel with only darkness in his heart.

Lost in the mortal realm without any recollection of how she came to be there, Lysia is only aware that she has survived a great battle. When she stumbles into a demon bar, she finds more than a chance to discover what happened to her—she finds a dark and deadly angel warrior who stirs fire in her veins and awakens soul-searing passion she cannot deny.

With the mounting threat of the Great Destroyer, the forces of Heaven and Hell against him, and a band of dangerous angels intent on capturing Lysia on his heels, can Nevar protect the beautiful woman who is light to his darkness and find the strength to save the world?

Her Avenging Angel is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. Find the links to your preferred retailer at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/her-avenging-angel-romance-book.php




Her Avenging Angel – Excerpt
Nevar turned down the alley that would bring him to Cloud Nine.

He stopped and frowned. The sign was off and there was no queue of mortals, but the club was open. What was going on? Only one way to find out. He walked towards the door.

The bouncer acknowledged him with a jerk of his chin and he pushed past the huge demon male and stepped into the club.

The lights were on inside, the colourful ones above the bar bathing the area and the demons milling around along its length. No music though.

No mortals.

His gaze sought the female he had met before, although he wasn’t sure why. It had been days since his last visit. She would be long gone, and it was stupid of him to hope that she would still be around, or remotely interested in him.

He headed for the bar, his eyes still scanning the demons for the woman even when he told himself to let her go and shove her out of his head.

A blonde cut into his path, her hands firmly planted on her hips, pale against her red jeans. A flicker of darkness danced in her eyes. Her stance caused her chest to jut upwards, showing off ample cleavage in her low cut black camisole. She narrowed her gaze on him and looked as if she was about to lose her pretty façade, revealing the hideous monster that lurked beneath her skin.

The boss.

And she was pissed about something.

He scanned the club again, frowning as he noticed that the demons present were jittery too, disturbed for some reason. Had something happened?

If it had, he wasn’t sure why the boss was holding him responsible, and the intense glare she was giving him said she definitely thought it was his fault.

“Do something,” she snapped, sharp teeth flashing between her glossy red lips, and flicked her short hair away from her face.

He arched an eyebrow down at her. “I don’t follow. What is your problem?”

She turned and pointed, and the crowd parted.

Nevar’s jaw almost dropped.

The female was there, curled up and sleeping on the grimy black bar top, naked again.

But not exposed.

Dark leathery wings wrapped around her slender form, cocooning her.

His feet moved of their own accord, carrying him across the room to her, unable to resist the powerful pull he felt towards her. The demons stepped back, making more room and allowing him and the boss to pass and approach the female.

What was she?

He cocked his head and his eyes darted over her before settling on her face. She was even more beautiful in sleep, her face soft and peaceful.

“She’s been sleeping there since the other night and she’s ruining my business. I can’t let mortals in when there’s a demon asleep on the bar.” The bite in the boss’s tone caused several demons nearby to edge further away and exchange nervous glances. “Do something.”

The blonde had a reputation as a hard-ass bitch with a temper, but he was damned if she was going to order him around. He had enough bosses in his life already.

“Tell her to leave then.” He cast her a glance as he folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. “It’s not my problem.”

She flashed twin rows of deadly sharp teeth on a hiss. “I tried that… and the bitch attacked me and started ranting. None of us could understand her.”

Nevar struggled to hold back the grin that tried to curve his lips as he thought about the boss getting a taste of her own medicine, served to her by such a delicate looking female. It was probably long past due and was definitely time someone had the balls to stand up to the demon owner of Cloud Nine.

He looked back at the woman sleeping on the bar and drew closer to her, feeling light and hazy as he approached her, as if he wasn’t quite with the world.

She had refused to leave the club. Why?

He had his answer when her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened, revealing sleep-filled hazel eyes that brightened as they settled on him.

She sat up, her black wings falling away from her body to drape across the bar top.

“I waited for you.”

He felt strange on hearing those words leaving her soft lips, as if they had cast a spell on him all over again and pulled him deep under it, leaving him suffused with warmth and peace.

“Can you understand the bitch like the bartenders said you could?” the boss said from beside his elbow and he nodded.

“I can. I don’t speak her language but I know what she’s saying, and she understands English.”

The blonde snarled, “Tell her to leave then or things will get ugly.”

Nevar had no doubt that things would only get ugly for the boss. The little female on the bar could probably lay the whole club to waste without breaking a sweat. What was she?

“I shall ask her nicely for you.” Nevar smirked at the boss and then turned his attention back to the female. “You have to leave.”

Her face lit up, she hopped down from the bar, landing close to him, her bare body almost brushing his, and smiled. “I will leave with you.”

Not quite what he had said and far from what he had intended, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her. He stared down into her eyes, picking out all the flecks of gold amongst green, lost in her all over again.

She stretched, raising her arms high above her head and flashing the entire room. Several of the male demons suddenly looked less nervous and more as if they might risk their balls by pouncing on her.

Nevar growled at them all and used his powers to produce jeans and a top.

He shoved them at her. “Dress.”

She took them and stared down at them, and he began to wonder if she had any concept of clothing and dressing herself.

He snarled at her. “Put them on or I swear I will break your wings off and dress you myself.”

She shrank back against the bar and curled her wings behind her, shielding them with her body as she eyed him with a flicker of fear colouring her face and her feelings.

Nevar sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed slowly. Utter bastard. Maybe he was better off in Hell, stuck in a room on guard duty, away from the world. He wasn’t fit to be near other people, and definitely not her.

He drew in another slow breath, exhaled it and lowered his hand to his side.

“You cannot walk around naked,” he said, trying a gentler approach, one worthy of such a beautiful female. “You must dress.”

She nodded, turned her back on him and set the clothes down on the bar. When she grabbed the jeans and bent forwards to put them on, flashing her bare backside at every male in the bar, Nevar growled and called his wings. They burst from his back, knocking a few of the demon males away, and he used them to shield her from their hungry eyes.

She shimmied into the black jeans and then held the silver-grey halter-top up, staring at it for so long that he realised she wasn’t sure how it worked and was trying to figure it out.

“Here.” He caught hold of her left wrist and spun her to face him, doing his best to keep her shielded by his black feathered wings and keep his eyes off her bare breasts. He took the top from her and eyed her leathery wings. “Can you make them go away?”

She shook her head. “Not right now. I am hungry. Weak. I require sustenance.”

“Same here.” But he didn’t think he was going to get his order of pulled pork buns and chicken wings now. The boss would kick him out as soon as the female was dressed and ready to leave.

He sighed again and pushed the image of delicious food from his mind. He could find somewhere to eat once he had lured her out of the club and ditched her.

He crouched in front of her and opened the tube of material that formed the lower half of the halter-top. “We will do this the hard way then. Step into it.”

She did as instructed and he slowly tugged the top up her long legs, biting back a groan as the feel of her thighs against his hands and his position had him instantly rock hard in his loincloth. No one would notice with his armour in place, but he didn’t like how quickly his body responded to her, or that they might see the effect she had on him.

She might see.

Was it because she was a demon and he was subconsciously thinking about her giving him Euphoria? Was his body hard-wired to see a female demon now and automatically prepare for sex?

He ground his teeth and cursed himself.

If it was, then it was his own damned fault.

He would ditch her as soon as he could and continue his mission, and forget all about Euphoria. He didn’t need it. He wouldn’t go back to whoring himself for a fix. It wasn’t worth the pain and humiliation.

If he wanted pain and humiliation, he could just return to Hell.

“Pull it up over your chest.” Nevar averted his gaze and rose to his feet.

She wriggled in the corner of his vision and then grumbled something as her arms moved. She waved the two lengths of fabric that were designed to hold the top up.

“What do these do?”

Nevar took them and placed them around her neck, and slowed as her silken hair brushed his skin and the heat of her washed over him, becoming painfully aware of how close she was to him, the bar at her back stopping her from being able to move away.

He breathed in her sweet dewy fragrance and savoured the soft warmth of her skin as his thumbs brushed her neck. He drank in her beauty as she tilted her head back, bringing her eyes up to his, and listened to her breathing as it hitched with each sweep of his skin across hers. She filled all of his senses, stealing his awareness of the world from him and narrowing it down to only her. He stared down into her eyes, mesmerised by the way they widened and overflowed with dark allure, and how her lips parted, tempting him to taste her and making him hunger for her.

He swallowed hard, forgetting what he was meant to be doing, transfixed by her and lost in the moment.

“I told you not to linger.” Asmodeus’s deep voice rumbled through the silent room and shattered the spell she had cast on Nevar. “I should have known you would.”

Nevar drew back and looked over his right shoulder, towards his dark master.

Asmodeus’s golden eyes fell on the female and widened. “What is she?”

Nevar kept asking himself the same thing.


Her Avenging Angel is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback.

Find all the links, a fantastic 6 chapter downloadable sample of the book, and also how to enter the giveaway and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/her-avenging-angel-romance-book.php


Books in the Her Angel paranormal romance series:
Book 1: Her Dark Angel – FREE in ebook at selected retailers


About Felicity Heaton:
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Her Angel series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:

A HUGE thank you to Felicity Heaton for sharing her book release celebrations with us here at Novel Addiction! Make sure to check out the giveaway (link above), and find out more about the amazing books Felicity has written.

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda at Novel Addiction ~!~

Sunday, October 19, 2014

COVER REVEAL: "City Lights" by Julie Morgan!



City Lights by Julie Morgan Cover Reveal


Synopsis:
Music brought them together. A gamble with love could break them apart.

Blaine has reached rock and roll stardom. After surviving an overdose, Blaine was forced into a decision; change and be a better person, or continue down the dangerous path and lose everything he has worked for. Making the decision to change, he turns his focus and attention to writing and producing music in an effort to keep the bright lights of live performances and potential drugs at an arms distance. 
Bassist to the band Blaine is producing, Penelope knows all too well who he is. He’s the sexy as hell, but also drug addicted singer of the mega band, Deep Ember. As excited as she is to get her band signed, she’s none too thrilled to find out her producer is Blaine. Leaving her boyfriend back home to follow her dreams, Penelope will find herself in uncomfortable situations with Blaine. He’s expressed a genuine interest in her and she feels drawn toward him in return. Unfortunately, knowing who he is and what he’s done puts up an invisible wall between them.
Emotions will be on the line and chords will be played… but can Blaine win over the heart of a woman who’s made it clear she wants nothing to do with him? Will Penelope be able to trust her emotions and will Blaine be able to prove he is not what his reputation says he is?


So what do you think of City Lights? This is Blaine's story, who you met in Southern Roots, book one in the series. I had a great time writing the story and even more fun creating the image. 
Thanks go out to Jordan Hill, the model featured on the cover, photography by Michael McCann and illustrations by Stella Price.
Look for City Lights when it publishes October 28th!


About the Author
Originally from Burleson, Texas Julie always had a love of books, especially paranormal stories. Julie finally took the leap and began writing with encouragement from her family. 
Having worked in IT her entire career, Julie now spends her free time writing. Living in Central Florida with her husband and daughter, her favorite pastime is reading children's stories to her daughter, especially those around animals.


Connect with Julie Morgan:
Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/juliemorganbook
Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/JulieMorganBook
Blog: 
http://juliemorganbooks.com/
Amazon: 
http://www.amazon.com/author/juliemorgan
Good Reads: 
https://www.goodreads.com/juliemorganbooks


Southern Roots buy links: