Book Flick Feature (6) - Featuring Raven's Kiss by Toni Lo Tempio

Happy Friday y'all! It's time for another Book Flick Reading! Please remember, you are welcome to share your link below in the comment section if you have a vlog reading of your own. My Book Flick Reading is just for fun, no matter how nervous or shy I may be. For those that are new to the blog, the idea behind my Book Flick Reading is to share a small snippet from a book I am reading or want to share here with you. I hope you enjoy my videos!

Today's feature reading will be Raven's Kiss by Toni Lo Tempio. This book grabbed my attention first with the vivid book cover then with the blurb. After that I knew I wanted to read this book. Just my luck I get to review it too! I'll keep you posted, but it will be a couple more weeks before I get to it. But after reading the first few pages here with you guys, I am anxious to spend some time with Raven. She is a heroine after my own heart! 

You can find all the author and book info below the video...ENJOY!!

Raven's Kiss

Toni Lo Tempio

BUY THE BOOK:

AMAZON

NOOK

Raven Grace was a college senior with ambitions of a career in law enforcement when she met the demon Aega, whose bite turned her from mortal to Shapeshifter. Now a member of the Recovery Organization, Raven keeps the peace between humans and errant Hellhounds, trolls, wizards and the like while trying to track down Aega and bring him to justice. After a particularly dicey encounter one night with a Hellhound, she goes to the aid of a girl who’s been attacked and near death—and is amazed to find Aega’s bite mark on the girl’s arm. Determined to get to the bottom of this, she revisits the victim’s apartment and there discovers her closet is a portal to a parallel universe, where people she knows lead vastly different lives. She also gets a glimpse of the Recovery Captain there—a six foot, redheaded Scotsman named Finn McPhee, whose sexy accent and even sexier bod sets her senses aflame. Seeking answers, Finn takes Raven to the magickal underworld, where an ancient fae informs them the demon’s quest is rooted in Scottish mythology and magick. As they delve deeper into legend, the truth comes to light—Aega is only a pawn, subservient to another, darker demon…a being who knows the truth about Raven’s heritage, and who orchestrated her return to this parallel universe for the ultimate showdown. Now, Finn and Raven find their passion for one another must take a backseat to Raven’s battle with a dark force who won’t be satisfied until he’s claimed her soul for his very own…

Thanks for stopping by and for joining me today.

Until next time...Happy Reading!!!

Blog Hoppin' It Around! (21)

IF YOU ARE A NEW FOLLOWER PLEASE LET ME KNOW! 

I WILL RETURN THE FAVOR!

This is my twenty-first blog hop hosted by Crazy-For-Books.com and Parajunkee's View Join in on the fun or click here to visit book bloggers to meet new friends, discover great books and just have some fun! 

This weeks questions for Crazy-For-Books:

"Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?"

There is one book that I am looking forward to this summer and that is Karen Chance's fifth book to her Cassie Palmer series, Hunt The Moon. I know there are more books but that is the one book that is sticking out in my mind right now. 

This weeks question for Parajunkee's:

 Q. Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?

Oh that is easy...every single one that is on my computer! ;-) Is that cheating? Okay, for me at the top of my list is Larissa Ione's Horseman series(hopefully all four would be out by the time that bomb shelter would be needed!) and her Demonica series followed by Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer series. Then I would want all of the Sookie Stackhouse series. Next, J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series and last and never least, every book Christina Dodd has out. (huge fan here) Take note that I'll have a second box filled with pen and lots of paper for my own writing!;-)

For ongoing giveaways just look on the side bar, click the image and it will take you to the post with the giveaway. For Felicity Heaton's and Rose Pressey's giveaway the winners will be chosen this Sunday.

Until next time...Happy Reading!

Book Review: Love Immortal by Linnea Hall

THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN FOR: NIGHT OWL REVIEWS

Love Immortal by Linnea Hall

RELEASE DATE: January 30th, 2011

CATEGORY: Young Adult/Fantasy

ASIN: B004KZOTDA

PUBLISHER: KTL Publishing

LENGTH: Novel Length (316 pages in PDF format / 107,000 words)

HEAT LEVEL:  ------ YA NOVEL

BUY THE BOOK: Smashwords :  $0.99 (various formats available)

MY RATING:  3 STARS

Read my rating scale HERE

*This ebook was provided to me by the author for review

SUMMARY:(taken from the authors site) 

Recently graduated from nursing school, twenty-one year old Jewell McKean is thrust into her first real job as an ER nurse in a Level I trauma center. She is inexplicably drawn to a young man as he is brought into her ER one night. Unfortunately she is unable to do anything but stand by and watch him die. Distraught by his death, wishing she had known this man she only just met, she sits by his bedside mourning his death as his heart begins to beat again. 

Collin Sykes knows he should be dead. Soon it becomes clear that his family is keeping secrets from him. To make matters worse, his doctors are keeping secrets from him as well. 

Collin’s uncle Percy has reasons to keep secrets from his nephew. Once a Templar Knight, he is nearly one thousand years old. His long life has brought him nothing but pain. His relationships have doomed him to a millennium of heartache, and there are people who want to kill him because of the secrets he holds.

FAVORITE LINE:“The Family can take care of itself. And the Family can and will take care of you too. No matter what you are told, Family protects Family and if you decide to bring Jewell into your life, then she’s Family too. It won’t be easy, but if you love each other,” she paused, smiling, “it’ll work itself out. If you need anything, you come to me and I’ll take care of it.” ~Aunt Gladys

TEASER:Jewell slowly pulled the sheet back over the man’s peaceful face, trying to imagine that he was only sleeping, though his injuries betrayed the truth. She stood for a minute looking over his shrouded corpse feeling as if she should have known him. That somehow, he was a part of her, their lives meant to be a part of one another’s. She felt that somehow, losing him was like losing a part of herself.

PLOT:

When I accepted Love Immortal for review I was skeptical to say the least. I read the blurb and scanned over a few of the reviews available at the time and it seemed interesting. However, while I am no longer leery of self published authors, I am a little cautious when I see so many high stars for a debut novel which almost lead to me not reviewing Love Immortal. I am glad I placed my wariness to the side and took the chance in reading this book though. I would have missed a jewel, even if it is still in the rough. 

The story is riddled with rich history from the Knights Templar era, intertwined with plot twits that make the story unique in this sense. There are a few instances that muddled real historical facts, however this might have been the authors intention. The author tells a tale of young love, family strength, and the force behind secret societies. Yet, do note that the story's main focus is the love relationship between the two main protagonists, Jewell and Collin. Ms. Hall delves deep into the possibilities of immortality and all the implications it brings, mixing it with the heart felt emotions and the thrill of out smarting the hunters intent on killing the Infinitas-immortals protected by the  Knights Templar. 

While Ms. Hall tells a wonderful story, one that I enjoyed, I did find it difficult at times to follow. Author intrusion and choppy sentences often pulled me out of the story, leaving me confused as to which point of view I was in. There were highs and lows in the pacing, yet, I still felt compelled to continue reading because of her characters and their story. There were also many instances of repetitive descriptions that weighed down the story pacing.

The ending was a bit predictable and followed the age old theme of will our love stand the test of time, but it left the story open to continue on in the sequel the author has planned. 

SETTING:

Love immortal takes place in the lovely state of Louisiana, more specifically, New Orleans! A rich and colorful city indeed!

WRITING:

Ms. Hall writes with great details. She depicts the surroundings well and shows the emotions flowing between the characters and story. Her style is not yet perfected, yet with a little time and practice I believe she has great potential in being a well sought out author. Author intrusion and pacing are the two main things I see that need work, but her story is still very good and worth reading. 

CHARACTERS:

Jewell is your average girl next door and reminded me very much of Bella from Twilight. She did have a bit of a more positive attitude towards life, yet the similarity is still there. She is a sweet and caring girl in her early twenties trying to build a career for herself in nursing. She lives a simple life and isn't interested in dating or fashion for that matter. That is until she meets Collin. A victim of a drunk driving accident that left him fatally injured in the beginning of the story, only to have him heal his severely broken body in less time than it takes for a scrapped knee to heal. He's a very gentle caring soul that watches out for Jewell and what is always best for her. Their love relationship was touching and sweet from the very beginning and showed how young hearts so easily accept the connection love provides. 

   

LAST THOUGHTS:

Ms. Hall has written a story that will appeal to anyone that believes in love. True, the writing needs polishing, but the story is still strong. Young adult readers that enjoyed the tale of Bella and Edward in Twilight just might enjoy Jewell's and Collin's story as well. Given a little more time I believe Ms. Hall will only get better and I will most definitely pick up her next book.

BOOK FLICK FOR LOVE IMMORTAL:

WHO IS AUTHOR LINNEA HALL:

Linnea Hall lives in Memphis with her husband, daughter, three dogs, rabbit, rat, and a turtle. She enjoys going to school and has earned her JD, MSIS, and is currently working on a degree in accounting. In her spare time she enjoys reading or driving around town in her MGB (when she's not fixing it). 

You can read more about the author on her blog Red Velvet Reads! 

MY RATING: 3 stars

Read my rating scale HERE

Until Next time...Happy Reading!!!

Why I Went Self Published with Author Rose Pressey

Good Morning my fine blog readers! Halfway through the week and kicking it off with a great giveaway of HOW TO DATE A WEREWOLF and an awesome contest for an ipad2 with today's guest author, Rose Pressey!  You can catch the details at the end of the post. :-) Don't forget to leave a comment to enter today's giveaway. Winner will be chosen on May 1st!

Help me welcome author Rose Pressey to Bookin' It!

Thank you, Talina for inviting me to guest post today. I'm excited to be here!

Hi, everyone. My name is Rose Pressey. I write paranormal romance with humor and a bit of mystery. Talina asked me to talk about how I came to the decision to self-publish, as opposed to traditional publishing. Self-publishing wasn't an easy choice for me. Over the past few years, I've had a bit of a roller coaster ride with publishing, with my share of rejections. Like many other indie authors, I had an agent, but when she was unable to sell my book, we ended our working relationship. I was sad, but I didn’t give up.

As I searched for another agent, I became frustrated with the rejection feedback. Comments like, “I like the story, but not the characters.” Or, “I like the characters, but not the story.” This had my head spinning worse than it normally does.

I'd always thought I needed traditional publishing to be a real writer. Not true. After self-publishing, for the first time since I started writing seriously, I feel like a writer.  Because, after all, it's about the readers, and writing stories they'll enjoy. I wasn't doing that. I was writing the stories, but no one ever saw them. Prospective agents or editors were the only people reading my work. That's good, but you need readers. Having readers is the best part—and now I have them, and I couldn’t be happier.

Self-publishing is hard work, but completely worth it. I spend a lot of time promoting, working on covers, blurbs, contests, answering emails, and of course, writing. But this is what I wanted years ago; not writing a novel and having it take up space on my computer.

So there you have it, a short summary of how I became an indie author. I hope I didn’t bore you too much.  My two books are now available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. The follow-ups to both will be out soon. Thank you again, Talina for having me on your blog!

How to Date a Werewolf

by Rose Pressey

BUY NOW

AMAZON

NOOK

SMASHWORDS

Romance can be a hairy business—especially when you’re a werewolf. 

As the owner of Got a Mate Dating Service, Rylie is more than happy to step in and lend a hand to lonely lycanthropic hearts all over town. No matter how hopeless Rylie might be in finding her own soul mate, she has a knack for helping others find theirs.

Convinced that she is stuck with a family curse, Rylie is positive she will never find her true love. But when drool-worthy Jack Chandler shows up at her door, Rylie wonders if maybe the curse is finally broken. But Rylie’s life is about to become complicated courtesy of the after-dark crowd. When she begins receiving strange notes and harassment from a jilted client, events careen out of control.

Jack knows she’s more hassle than he can handle. What he doesn’t know is whether she’s seriously in trouble . . . or simply delusional.

Me and My Ghoulfriends

by Rose Pressey

BUY NOW

AMAZON

NOOK

SMASHWORDS

There's always fun to be had on a ghoul's night out.

By day, Larue Donavan is a down-to-earth bookstore owner. But by night, she's a world-renowned psychic investigator dedicated to helping lost spirits find peace. Dead people won't leave her alone and Abraham Lincoln thinks he's in charge of her lovelife. Larue can handle ghosts and undead presidents. It's the living who drive her crazy.

When Callahan Weiss moves to town, the handsome newcomer opens a coffee shop right next door. She's smitten from the start, but she's not the only one -- The boutique owner across the street has her eye on Callahan too, and uses witchcraft to fight dirty. When Callahan gets hit by a love spell, Larue will need more than a little help from her ghoul-friends to save the day...

Rose Pressey enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. The paranormal has always captured her interest. The thought of finding answers to the unexplained fascinates her.

When she's not writing about werewolves, vampires and every other supernatural creature, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties. Yeah, she loves Elvis. She can't help myself. Rose lives in the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky with her husband, son and two sassy Chihuahuas.

To connect with Rose Pressey and keep up to date with all her releases and contests, check out her site and follow her on Facebook and Twitter! She loves hearing from readers so don't be shy!

                                                                                                   

HER TWITTER: www.twitter.com/rosepressey

HER FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/rosepressey

HER WEBSITE: www.rosepressey.com

The pleasure was all mine, Rose! I absolutely love helping authors spread the word about their books, so thank you for stopping in on Bookin' It and spending some time here with us today. 

Ms. Pressey is offering her readers a chance to win an ipad2 for first place winner and a $50.00 USD Amazon gift card for second place winner on her site. It's SUPER easy to enter...HERE'S THE RULES:

1. Before May 5th 2011 Buy a copy of How to Date A Werewolf for $1.99 

    Go to AMAZON , NOOK , SMASHWORDS to get your copy

2. Send Rose Pressey a copy of your receipt via Email  at rose@rosepressey.com 

3. To double your chance of winning, blog, tweet, or/and announce this contest on facebook, send link to where you posted along with your proof of purchase to Rose Pressey via email and she will add your name to the contest drawing twice. GOOD LUCK!!!

Don't forget to comment below to enter the giveaway of How To Date A Werewolf! 

Contest is open until May 1st.

Free Promotion For My Website or Blog...Why Not?

Hello everyone, it's Q here today to ask you one question, can you ever avail of free website promotion and is that even feasible?

YES, of course you can! Nowadays, your small website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

Now you might be asking yourself, how does one go about getting free website promotion? Where do I even start? Well, you can start by just following these simple yet effective steps.

1. Register your website.

Look for the hottest Internet directories and register your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Just type in your search box for Interent Directories and you'll find hundreds upon hundreds of directories that you can register your website for free. Just prep your website and spruced it up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directories of your choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is to offer free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you'll attract visitors in no time.

3. Write a press release.

Well as the writer that you are, release your writing prowess and put together a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and you'll begin to see significant traffic coming to you site!

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters. Why, you ask? So they can link you immediately! Establish and keep expanding your internet contacts and never get tire of requesting and exchanging links. Not only does it generate traffic to your site it also ranks your site higher with the search engines.

5. Write an article.

Since your website is about your books, write an article about the perks of writing a book or about your latest release in the publishing world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.

Don't underestimate the importance of article writing, done right it's a free ongoing traffic generator to your site.

6. Let the whole world know about your site.

What is free website promotion without good old fashion word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!

7. Design a banner ad.

Design banner ads for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap!

8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

Yes, if you didn't know, you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you promote your site for free.

Website Promotion Tutorials can show you how to increase your website's popularity through some of the most powerful free and commercial website promotion tools. Remember, just publishing your Web site on the Internet is not enough for generating the attention it deserves. However, you do not need to pay anything in order to promote your site.

Do a little research and you'll discover -- that there is such a thing as free website promotion!

These bullet points are meant to save you time, hassle, and money when promoting your site in order to increase your traffic, better your rankings and lowering your advertising costs.

I hope you have found today’s tips helpful and I wish you much success in promoting your site!

Q

For more information about Benefits of Marketing Online, please refer to my Internet Business and Marketing Books at http://websiteseotechniques.weebly.com/ 

First Look at Author Felicity Heaton Latest Release ASCENSION

Happy Monday!!! Please help me welcome author Felicity Heaton to Bookin' It! She's here to dish on her latest release, Ascension! I am honored to be the first blog to share the goodies on the first book of her Shadow and Light Trilogy. If the cover isn't convening enough to check out her book, keep reading! ;-) Links have been provided and will take you to where you can get your copy if your so inclined. AND Ms. Heaton has graciously offered a commenter and e-copy of Ascension! All you have to do is, of course, leave a comment and your email addy for contacting purposes in case you are the winner. Winner will be chosen Sunday, May1st.

WELCOME MS.HEATON!

As a paranormal romance author, I’m drawn to exploring the darker side of our world and imagination, and more often than not I do it through my vampires, shape-shifters, immortals, angels and gods. It’s not often a story comes to me that involves witches and demons, and it’s rare that I’m inspired to write a whole series focused on one couple, but that’s what happened with my latest book, Ascension.

Ascension is the story of Lealandra, a powerful witch on the verge of her ascension, a time when the magic that lives symbiotically within her will reach the pinnacle of its power and mature. Most witches don’t survive their ascension and instead fall prey to their magic, which seizes control of them and uses them like a marionette in order to do as it pleases for a short period before its host dies. Lealandra’s odds are dramatically lessened by the fact that someone is out to kill her. They’ve murdered her Counter-Balance, the witch that helped her retain control over her magic by absorbing some of its power, and now they’re after her. No longer able to trust her coven in New York City where the attacks took place, she flees into the city and eventually back into the life of her half-demon ex-lover and demon hunter, Taig. Taig is the son of a powerful demon from the underworld and his mortal wife, and he has serious issues with his demon lineage and that side of himself, enough that he’s never revealed his demonic appearance to Lealandra and can’t bring himself to believe that she could love a monster like him. When Lealandra appears back in his life after six years apart and asks for his assistance and protection, he wants something in return—her.

It’s the first story in a new series for me, the Shadow and Light Trilogy, and the first time I’m writing a series that follows a single couple. I’ve written books in the past that I have then penned a sequel to, but this is different. I set out with the intent of writing a trilogy, and flitted back and forth between doing it or not, but now I’ve fallen firmly on the side of writing it as a series. I’ve really enjoyed building the world for this couple, a place in which their relationship is forbidden due to the continuing battle for dominance between witches and demons, and thinking about the magic involved and the demons too, and the dark sexy and passionate dynamic between the hero and heroine. Taig isn’t pretty as a demon. He’s vicious, scaly, and has horns and wings, but he’s still sexy to Lealandra, and I’m sure that readers will find him attractive even as a demon too! I built a world for this couple that demands further exploration and created characters that I think will leave readers wanting to find out what they do next and how their relationship progresses. The trilogy is about the events that take place as a consequence of them trying to deepen their forbidden relationship and the way they grow as an individual too, with Lealandra’s bond with her magic and Taig’s growing acceptance of his demonic side.

So if you’re a reader looking for an action-packed, magical and passionate urban fantasy romance with a difference, then head on over to my website and check out the excerpt of Ascension: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk

Ascension is available now in e-book format direct from my site, on Amazon Kindle, and other retailers, and will be available next month in paperback.

Ascension

Felicity Heaton

A witch on the verge of achieving phenomenal power, Lealandra must turn to her half-breed demon ex-lover Taig for protection from the dark force that is after her and also from her own magic.

With her Counter-Balance dead and her coven against her, Taig’s blood and power is the only thing that can help her control her magic and survive the ascension and gain the strength to defeat her enemy.

Old feelings come flooding back as Taig allows her into his world and Lealandra finds herself fighting not only for survival but to win his broken heart again and heal the pain in their past. Can he forgive her for walking out on him all those years ago and will he ever believe her when she tells him that he’s not a monster but the man that she loves?

Read the excerpt or find out where to buy: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/

Biography:

Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.

Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.

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

My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk

My blog: http://www.indieparanormalromancebooks.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton

Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/felicityheaton

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