Review & Giveaway:Inspire by Cora Carmack

About INSPIRE:

Kalliope lives with one purpose.

To inspire.

As an immortal muse, she doesn’t have any other choice. It’s part of how she was made. Musicians, artists, actors—they use her to advance their art, and she uses them to survive. She moves from one artist to the next, never staying long enough to get attached. But all she wants is a different life— a normal one. She’s spent thousands of years living lie after lie, and now she’s ready for something real.

Sweet, sexy, and steady, Wilder Bell feels more real than anything else in her long existence. And most importantly… he’s not an artist. He doesn’t want her for her ability. But she can’t turn off the way she influences people, not even to save a man she might love. Because in small doses, she can help make something beautiful, but her ability has just as much capacity to destroy as it does to create. The longer she stays, the more obsessed Wilder will become. It’s happened before, and it never turns out well for the mortal.

Her presence may inspire genius.

But it breeds madness, too.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

What I thought about Inspire

Kalli is a muse. Her job is to inspire those with artistic aspirations. But there are consequences -- too much of her power to inspire and there's a risk of madness in the human lucky enough to have a taste of what she offers. What all this means is that Kalli has a very lonely life, unable to get emotionally close to anyone.  Until she meets Wilder. He's different.

Wilder has come home to help out his mom and sister after a family tragedy. He's sacrificed a lot of his past life for the mundane life of an accounting job and babysitting for his younger sister.  When he meets Kalli, there's an immediate attraction.

Something sparks between the two of them. At first, Kalli runs from him, not wanting to hurt him, but she really can't resist him especially when he turns up to help her one night when she's in deep trouble. After a few chance meetings like that, Kalli decides to take a chance on having a "real life" with Wilder. He's not an artist. He won't have any need for what she can offer to him. That makes him safe(r) in Kalli's estimation, and then there's that attraction between them and the feeling that she belongs with him.

The reader gets a close up view of what Kalli and Wilder are thinking as fate draws these two together.  There's a lot of internal narration in the first 2/3 of this and less action, and I had mixed feelings about that.  While it definitely helped to build my understanding and sympathy for Kalli and her loneliness, it did drag the pace of the story a bit which was really my only complaint with this title.

Things start really moving toward the last 1/3 of Inspire, and there was lots of action and angst, as Kalli realizes that Wilder is not exactly who she thought he was. I loved the reveal of Wilder's true calling to Kalli, and it sets off a chain of events that convinces Kalli she has to take some drastic measures if she wants to be able to stay with Wilder. 

There's great chemistry between Kalli and Wilder, and he's quite the smooth talker in and out of the bedroom, so in terms of appeal, yeah, Wilder will probably make your book boyfriend list!  While there were some elements of Inspire that I'd seen in other paranormal titles, I found myself really connecting with Kalli and wanting her to be happy. Inspire ends on a major cliffhanger that is sure to have you anxious for the next book in this series.

Overall, a great start to this paranormal series.  Can't wait for book 2!

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Join the the other stops on the tour!

Cora Carmack’s INSPIRE Blog Tour Schedule:
 

December 15^th

Smart & Savvy with Stephanie – Review & Character Interview

Desert Divas Book Addiction – Review

Book Angel Booktopia – Review

Tales of the ravenous reader - Review

In Between The Pages – Review

The Book Cellar – Guest Post

December 16^th

Between Order and Randomness – Excerpt

Lost in Lit – Review & Character Interview-Kallie and Wilder

The BookWhisperer - Review

NC 2 DC – Review

The Cover Contessa – Review

Movies, Shows & Books – Review

December 17^th

Typical Distractions – Review

K-Books – Review

Book Boyfriend Reviews – Review

Britt's Book and Life Blog – Review

The Boyfriend Bookmark – Review

Romance Addict Book Blog – Dreamcast

December 18^th

Author Groupies – Review

Booklovers For Life – Review

Bloggers[Heart]Books – Excerpt

Snuggling on the Sofa – Review

Mary Had a Little Book Blog - Review

Ficwishes – Review

December 19^th

Red Hot + Blue Reads – Review

Worn Down Glories – Excerpt

Jen in Bookland – Review

Vi3tbabe – Review

Ticket to Anywhere – Guest Post

December 20^th

Four Chicks Flipping Pages Review & Playlist

A Life Bound By Books – Review

Watcha Reading – Character Interview-Lennox

Keep it Fictional - Review

December 21^st

Literati Literature Lovers – Review

The Shadow Realm – Review

Nose Stuck in a Book – Author Interview

StuckInBooks – Review

December 22^nd

Anna's Book Blog – Excerpt

Lovin' Los Libros – Review

Spare Time Book blog – Review

shelf life – Review

Novel Grounds da - Review

Mean Girls Luv Books – Review

December 23^rd

Stuck In YA Books – Review & Guest Post

LuLo Fangirl – Review

Give Me Books – Review

The Irish Banana Review – Review

Step Into Fiction – Review

Krista's Dust Jacket – Review

December 24^th

Grown Up Book Reviews / Mundie Moms – Review & Author Interview

The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club – Review

Up All Night Book Addict – Review

Wendi Galbreath – Review

Behind Closed Covers – Review

Cocktails and Books – Review

About Cora Carmack:

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

 

Author Goodreads

 

INSPIRE Goodreads

Cash for the holidays! A Davenport Christmas by M. Leighton

You loved Cash and and Olivia in M. Leighton's  
Down to You.  

And now you can love them again, just in time for a little mistletoe action! 

M. Leighton's giving everyone the best present ever--

a FREE Cash and Olivia holiday story!  

A Davenport Christmas will be posted on her blog on December 21, just in time to be read with some eggnog, a sugar cookie, and carols playing in the background. 

Sign up to follow her blog via email, and you'll get it right in your inbox, the second it's posted! (...and--psst!--there may be some more Cash and Olivia action on the blog coming in the new year, so definitely make sure to sign up to get blog notifications!)

AND! There's a giveaway, too! Of course there is, it's the HOLIDAYS! 

Enter the Rafflecopter, and you'll be entered to win one of TEN signed copies of Down to You. How's THAT for a little holiday cheer? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Don't forget to sign up to follow  Michelle's blog via email--it's beginning to look like Christmas... A Davenport Christmas... and you definitely don't want to miss it!

Cover Reveal:ASA by Jay Crownover

We are so excited about the cover reveal for
Jay Crownover's ASA! 

ASA is the sixth and final book in Jay's Marked Men Series,
published by HarperCollins. 

Check out the hot cover and don't forget to 

pre-order your copy today!

I love this series!

   

Amazon US ** iBooks ** Barnes & Noble ** Kobo

Starting over in Denver with a whole new circle of friends and family, Asa Cross struggles with being the man he knows everyone wants him to be and the man he knows he really is. A leopard doesn’t it change its spots and Asa has always been a predator. He doesn’t want to hurt those who love and rely on him, especially one stunning arresting cop who suddenly seems to be interested in him for far more than his penchant for breaking the law. But letting go of old habits is hard, and it’s easy to hit bottom when it’s the place you know best. 

Royal Hastings is quickly learning what the bottom looks like after a tragic situation at work threatens not only her career but her partner’s life. As a woman who has only ever had a few real friends she’s trying to muddle through her confusion and devastation all alone. Except she can’t stop thinking about the sexy southern bartender she locked up. Crushing on Asa is the last thing she needs but his allure is too strong to resist. His long criminal record can only hurt her already shaky career and chasing after a guy who has no respect for the law or himself can only end in heartbreak.

A longtime criminal and a cop together just seems so wrong . . . but for Asa and Royal, being wrong together is the only right choice to make.

And don’t miss the previous books in The Marked Men Series!

RULE

JET

ROME

NASH

ROWDY

And don't miss Jay at 3pm EST over at the Between The Covers page on Facebook today! Come chat with her!

About Jay Crownover: 

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She also introduced the dark and sexy world of The Point that started with BETTER WHEN HE's BAD and is currently working on her newest series The Saints of Denver. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.      

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter 

 ** ASA Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads

Review & Giveaway:Vision of Darkness by Tonya Burrows

A psychic DEA agent works to unravel the mystery of a cursed lighthouse and falls in love with it’s keeper.

VISION OF DARKNESS 

 is the first in the brand new 

D.I.E. Squadron romantic suspense series

 and will be released December 1, 2014. 

Fans of Christine Feehan's Ghost Walker series, or Rebecca Zanetti's FORGOTTEN SINS, will love this new series from Tonya Burrows!  

VISION OF DARKNESS is now available at Amazon.

VISION OF DARKNESS

A beacon of light...

Undercover DEA agent Alex Brennan doesn’t believe in the paranormal, despite the exhausting nightmares that reveal things he shouldn’t know. When sleep deprivation causes him to make a horrible mistake on the job, he is driven to find answers. Dreams guide him to a lighthouse in Three Churches, Maine, where he finds an inexplicable and comforting familiarity in the arms of the lighthouse’s beautiful keeper, Pru Maddox.

A whisper of memory…

Deadly misfortune has long plagued Pru’s family, the result of a curse “The Green Lady” placed on the lighthouse. Skeptical, Alex searches for less ghostly explanations, though he can’t deny that the town has had more than its fair share of disappearances, suicides, and accidents. As their passion simmers, Alex digs deeper, and his dreams turn violent, frightening, and very real.

A vision of darkness...

To keep Pru safe, Alex must embrace his abilities and unravel the lighthouse’s mystery. Except someone—or something—wants the past to stay buried...and will do anything to keep it that way.


What I thought about Vision of Darkness

Alex is running from an undercover job gone bad only to find himself in the creepy little town of Three Churchs. There he runs into Pru at the local diner and although he's been warned away by multiple people, he finds himself wanting Pru and decides to stay in town.

Then the fun starts. Well not really fun because people are missing and dying. At the heart of the story is a ghost tale at the lighthouse where Pru lives that seems to have something to do with the accidents, murders and missing persons.

When one of the locals dies, Alex becomes a suspect and he has to complicate his relationship with Pru by lying about his real identity. Some of the townsfolk don't want him messing around with Pru and then there's his schrizophrenic brother warning him away from the lighthouse and the woman he's s falling in love with. Alex doesn't believe in ghosts and he determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious occurrences at the light house, although it seemed like his friend Nick did most of the sleuthing to figure out the ghost story.

There's alot going on here and I really liked that about Vision of Darkness. Alex was an interesting character, especially his refusal to recognize his own psychic skills. When his friends show up to help, it's clear that they have some special skills too.

But in spite of so much going on, I found the story a bit slow for the first 2/3 of the book. And even thought the pacing is slow, there's still more suspense than romance. I liked Pru and thought her and Alex made a good couple but they didn't connect at a level that had me believing in them outside of the ghostly connections. Maybe that's what the author intended, but  I like more romance in my romantic suspense reads.

I did find the D.I.E. squadron an interesting concept and would read more in this series because of it.

So overall, an interesting start to the series.  More suspense and paranormal than romance.

Spread the love and enter to win the tour-wide giveaway!

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Keep up with the tour by stopping by one of these fabulous sites:

Dec 1st ~ 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! and For the Love of Bookends

Dec 2th ~ CMB Writes

Dec 3th ~ MsRomanticReads

Dec 4th ~ Literary Treasure Chest

Dec 5th ~ Parajunkee’s View

Dec 8th ~ Becky on Books and Feeling Fictional

Dec 9th ~ I Smell Sheep and Read Your Writes

Dec 10th ~ Reading Between the Wines Book Club and Bibliophile Mystery

Dec 11th ~ Seeing Night Reviews

Dec 12th ~ Archaeolibrarian – I dig good books!

Dec 15th ~ Red Hot + Blue Reads

Dec 16th ~ Bea’s Book Nook

Dec 17th ~ Reviews by Crystal

Dec 18th ~ Becky on Books and Romance Junkies

Dec 19th ~ The La La Land of Books and Kit ‘N Kabookle

Tonya Burrows

 

Tonya Burrows wrote her first romance in 8th grade and hasn't put down her pen since. Originally from a small town in Western New York, she’s currently soaking up the sun as a Florida girl. She suffers from a bad case of wanderlust and usually ends up moving someplace new every few years. Luckily, her two dogs and ginormous cat are excellent travel buddies.

When she's not writing about hunky military heroes, Tonya can be found at a bookstore or the dog park. She also enjoys painting, watching movies, and her daily barre workouts. A geek at heart, she pledges her TV fandom to Supernatural and Dr. Who.

Connect with Tonya at: 

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google + | Pinterest | GoodReads

Review:Love and Leprechauns & Love and Mistletoe by Zara Keane

 

 Tattooed in Tipperary, True Love in Ballybeg.

Olivia Gant is determined to escape her abusive husband and build a new life. Only desperation drives her to rent business premises from Jonas O’Mahony, the man who tattooed her behind and broke her heart. Can she maintain a haughty distance?

Jonas is a struggling single father. The last person he wants next door is the beautiful-but-infuriating Olivia. A childcare crisis forces him to strike a bargain with her: the lease to the cottage in return for babysitting. Can he resist her allures?

When Olivia’s ex is clobbered to death with a garden gnome, the fickle finger of suspicion points to Olivia and Jonas. Can they prove their innocence, or is their happily ever after doomed?

Buy Link: Amazon 

What I thought about Love and Leprechauns

Olivia Gant has an escape plan to get away from her abusive husband, but her best laid plans go awry when the verbal agreement for the lease on her new cafe falls through because single-dad Jonas O’Mahony moves into one of the properties with his son. 

Jonas and Olivia have history between them, some good, but mostly bad because their short time together ended with the death of Jonas' brother. Olivia was there when the accident happened, and the family blames her.  The woman just can't seem to get a break when it comes to the O'Mahony family.

But when Jonas rents the remaining cottage to Olivia, they can't deny the feelings they still have for each other.  Not only is Jonas still attracted to Olivia, but she's also good with his special needs son Luca. Things are looking up for both of them, that is until Olivia's estranged husband is murdered and Jonas and Olivia become suspects in the case and the subject of Ballybeg gossip.

I really love my visits to Ballybeg.  Zara Keane has created a lovely world of small town characters that ring true to me. Just about everyone in Ballybeg knows each other and their business, but there's a certain charm to the location and the townsfolk, even when they are holding grudges or messing in someone else's life. 

Both Jonas and Olivia have some mileage -- they've both made mistakes and they are both looking for happiness.  They don't waste time grabbing it when they realize they still have strong feelings for each other. There are some great subplots here too, with Jonas dealing with being a single parent to a child on the autism spectrum. This part of the story tugged at my heart and Zara Keane's sensitive and realistic treatment of Luca was a special part of the story for me. 

I liked the unexpected murder mystery in this one and I really didn't suspect the killer until it was revealed.  But mostly, I liked the story of two people getting a second chance at being together and having a future, even though their past had some very low moments.  

Love and Leprechauns is another lovely installment in this series. I love how I feel transported to another place when I read this series.  Recommended.

ARC provided for review.

Kissed by Christmas…

Policeman Brian Glenn wants a promotion. Studying for a degree in criminology is the first step. When a member of Ballybeg’s most notorious family struts into his forensic psychology class, his hopes for a peaceful semester vanish. Sharon MacCarthy is the last woman he should get involved with, however hot and bothered she makes him get under his police uniform. Can he survive the semester without succumbing to her charms?

…Loved by New Year.

Sharon’s had a rough few months. She knows her future job prospects depend on finally finishing her degree. When she’s paired with her secret crush for the semester project, she sees a chance for happiness. Can she persuade Brian that there’s more to her than sequins, high heels, and a rap sheet?

Buy Link:  Amazon

What I thought about Love and Mistletoe

Another sweet love story from Ballybeg and this one has a lighter feel to it than Love and Leprechauns.  Sharon MacCarthy hs a reputation for trouble and dating a policeman is probably the last thing anyone in town would expect.  When Brian and Sharon realize they are both in the same class at the university they attend and become project partners, they begin a love affair that turns serious.

This novella doesn't have a lot of conflict in it, and that was okay by me.  I like that in a holiday story, along with the touch of humor in this novella.

Another great trip to Ballybeg!  

ARC provided for review.


About Zara Keane

http://zarakeane.com/

Zara Keane grew up in Dublin, Ireland, but spent her summers in a small town very similar to the fictitious Ballybeg.
 
She currently lives in Switzerland with her family. When she’s not writing or wrestling small people, she drinks far too much coffee, and tries – with occasional success – to resist the siren call of Swiss chocolate.