Cover Reveal! Save My Heart by DC Renee

COVER REVEAL

Life and death.  Exact opposites.  One brings great joy.  One brings great sorrow.  But without one, there is no other.

I gave my daughter life when I was just eighteen.  And now, at sixteen, she faces death.

From the minute I heard her little heart beating, she was my everything.  It didn’t matter that her father had left me, his empty promises a whisper in the wind.  It didn’t matter that I had needed to figure out how to get an education while being a young, single mother.  It didn’t matter that I had acted as both mother and father while trying to give her everything I could.  It didn’t even matter that she was born with a big heart that had us in and out of the hospital for all her life.  None of that mattered because just one look at her, one smile from her, and one, “I love you, Mom,” was enough to make any day better.  No love greater existed than that of a mother.

But now I was about to lose her.  My everything.

It would be up to Kieran to hold me up if my world came crashing down.  Dr. Kieran Bell.  He came into my life—our lives—and knocked down every wall I had ever put up.  He wasn’t just my daughter’s doctor; he was my friend.  He was more than my friend.  And now, I knew I’d need him more than ever.  I just hoped against hope that this time, life wouldn’t result in death.

DC Renee has been writing all her life, from cheesy poems in elementary school (i'll share an example just so you know how cheesy: Flowers are my favorite thing; they usually bloom during spring. Pink, blue, yellow and green, so many colors that I have seen...etc.) to short stories and monologues, and eventually fan fictions for Days of Our Lives.

It was thanks to that superbly encouraging fan fiction community that DC found the courage to publish her first book - Let Me Go. It held fast in the top 100 Best Selling Contemporary Romance Fiction Novels on Amazon for over a month, going as low as the top 20's. Naturally, she loves to read, but she also likes watching hockey, dancing for fun, and loves her family.

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Blog Tour for Beyond Death by Deb McEwan

 

Blog Tour ~ Beyond Death 

Author: Deb McEwan 

Genre: Supernatural/Suspense 

Dates: 22nd of May ~ 2nd of June 

Hosted by: Ultimate Fantasy Book Tours 

 

Blurb: 

What really happens when we die? Twenty-something Claire Sylvester is about to find out. The morning after the best night of her life she is taken before her time. Claire is suspended in her mysterious new world. She watches as the secret lives of those she loves unravels, and sadistic villains are punished on the road to their own personal hell. All the while a higher authority ponders her ultimate fate. More than Claire knows depends on her actions and those of the unlikely partner who accompanied her on her journey. What will be her final destination? Beyond Death - a supernatural thriller of love and loss, deceit and revenge, with a little romance and humour.

   

Buy Links: 

Amazon.com ~ https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Death-Afterlife-Supernatural-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00KYTR3A2 

 

Author Bio: 

Following thirty odd years in the British Army, Deb and her husband Allan decided to become weather refugees and settle in Cyprus. Throughout her life Deb has dabbled with writing. Her first book was 'Reindeer Dreams' - a quirky rhyming Christmas story for children featuring Barry the reindeer and his family. Her first grown-up books about aliens and unearthly spiders could be explained as off the wall. The Afterlife trilogy came next with a few 'Jason the Penguin' books in between. The first book in the current series 'Unlikely Soldiers', is set in 1970s Britain, with others to follow through the decades. Deb now spends her time writing, working part-time, avoiding housework and playing tour guide along with Allan. She tries to keep the pounds off by playing netball and long-distance walking. 

Visit her at: 

Website: https://debmcewansbooksandblogs.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.mcewan.7 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/deb_mcewan 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Deb-McEwan/e/B00LMBED2C 

Evolving Ecstasy (ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy Book 3) by Melanie Nowak

Review:

Book 3 is the culmination of this particular trilogy and it starts, and stays for a while, in some serious uncertainty as to what exactly Cain and Felicity are going to do.  Not only is there still an angry vampire running around wanting to get Felicity, but the truth about Sindy is now another issue on the table.  The biggest thing for Cain is that he wants Felicity to have a chance at a real life.  Not one like him, hiding in the shadows and the darkness of night, moving often, and never having a real family.  Vampire covens are not exactly families and the rules for their kind are vastly different.  Felicity's friend, Alyson, seems to have no trouble accepting these different rules, but then again she has someone out there she's waiting for.  Sindy begins to show a new side of her; the side that is ready to start being a little nicer to humans and other vampires.  Over the three books, her character growth has been quite a bit and it is interesting to watch that change.  Felicity goes from the naive young girl she was into a stronger and capable woman.  Not necessarily when it comes to kicking vampire butt, but her character in general changes some.  Cain, however, has the most difficult time it seems to me.  Why?  After surviving so long on animal blood, the vampire within is starting to rebel against him because of his recent sampling of other blood besides animal.  This causes a serious problem that he needs to address before he ends up hurting Felicity accidentally.  Talk about a tortured soul, Cain is definitely that.  His way of thinking is vastly different than many vampires and he is constantly trying to make up for his past.  And the end of this book, I hate to say it but for me personally was a cliff hanger.  One of those moments where things kind of click into place as you are also thinking "What the..."  Yep.  It is.  But guess what?  There is a whole other follow-up trilogy after it!  And I confess that I am really looking forward to see what happens.

5 out of 5 stars!  Want to know more about this trilogy?  Check the past two days posts and you will find reviews and links for the first two books!

Blurb:

ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy 

In this paranormal fantasy, chapters alternate perspective between a vampire and a young woman, as they join an ensemble cast of characters to navigate difficulties of addiction and desire; perils of zombies and vampires; and struggles with abuse, morality and... college. 


Volume 3: Evolving Ecstasy 

The relationship between Cain and Felicity has crested to a peak that leaves them unsure whether to step back from each other for safety, or jump into a future united in death. 
Felicity is unlike any human Cain has known before. She treats him as an equal; a man worthy of friendship, respect and even… love. She embodies qualities of gentleness and loving trust that he has never found among his own kind. This makes her far more desirable to him than any creature of darkness could ever be. 
The venom of Cain’s bite could protect Felicity from hostile vampires, but it would give him a measure of psychic control over her as well. Would Felicity only accept becoming a vampire, due to his addictive venom, coupled with the foolishness of a young girl in love? 
Perhaps there is a brighter future for her in the human world. Is Cain’s desire for Felicity’s love worth the loss of her life? 

*ALMOST HUMAN is a series of successive trilogies, not stand-alone books. Each trilogy is self-contained enough to be read alone as a 3 book set, but the story unfolds chronologically, and the characters do continue from one trilogy to the next. Main storyline closure is in each 3rd book, but there are also story-ties leading from one trilogy to the next in the series. 

*For series updates and previews, visit: MelanieNowak.com

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C402G0?keywords=melanie%20nowak&qid=1447454663&ref_=sr_1_6&s=digital-text&sr=1-6

Lost Reflections (ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy Book 2) by Melanie Nowak

Review:

Lost Reflections is the second book in the Almost Human Series, the first trilogy.  Due to Felicity and Cain's relationship becoming ever closer, Ben keeps getting nastier and nastier about it.  Cain decides that he should tell her about his very long past, and for two nights he explains in detail about his former life when he was a human and then after he turned into a vampire.  It is enough to give Felicity quite a shock and she has to really digest what he has done and wonder to herself whether people really change or not.  After all, Cain is over 300 years old.  And then there is the addictive quality of the venom in his kiss and bite.  Felicity no doubt likes it, and that is what it's supposed to do.  But Cain doesn't really wanting the venom clouding their relationship.  But in his mind, he can already see where things were headed because he has been there before.  Felicity is his beloved, but he can't seem to let her go.  And she doesn't want to.  But certain events begin to change things.  Vampires get angry and vengeful while others change for the better.  We start seeing some subtle changes in the vampire Sindy that are for the better.  But this sparks issues of its own.

Another 5 star read!  Want to learn about book 1?  Well, there is a previous post from yesterday for that too!  And stay tuned, because tomorrow we will be doing a little discussion on the last book in this trilogy!

Blurb:

ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy

In this paranormal fantasy, chapters alternate perspective between a vampire and a young woman, as they join an ensemble cast of characters to navigate difficulties of addiction and desire; perils of zombies and vampires; and struggles with abuse, morality and... college.


Volume 2: Lost Reflections

Felicity has helped her friends to escape the venomous vixen Sindy, but cannot divine the motives of Cain, the vampire who captured first her gratitude, and then her heart.

She finds the historical account of Cain’s past enthralling and frightening. Now she must determine whether the addictive venom in Cain’s kiss is clouding her judgment, and if his thirst for her blood is a driving force too strong for their love to conquer. 

It’s difficult to contemplate such questions while under the attack of a vengeful vampire and his zombie slaves. Felicity’s heart has already been lost to Cain; will she lose her life as well?


*ALMOST HUMAN is a series of successive trilogies, not stand-alone books. Each trilogy is self-contained enough to be read alone as a 3 book set, but the story unfolds chronologically, and the characters do continue from one trilogy to the next. Main storyline closure is in each 3rd book, but there are also story-ties leading from one trilogy to the next in the series.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C3XS4O?keywords=melanie%20nowak&qid=1447450358&ref_=sr_1_8&s=digital-text&sr=1-8

Fatal Infatuation (ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy ~ Volume 1) by Melanie Nowak

Review:

   Let's begin with a good look at the characters in this book.  Our leading lady is Felicity and she has just started college.  Young and naive, she doesn't know much about the real world out there and has never even done the deed with a guy.  She works at a bookshop that has an attached cafe.  Ben is a guy she works with at the cafe and she is interested in at the beginning.  That is, until reality comes crashing down in a rather harsh way when she's attacked by some vampires along with Ben on her way home from work soon after arriving at school.  Turns out that Ben knew there was a vampire problem in the little town.  Enter Felicity's hero, Cain.  Talk about bad boy.  This guy is not only awesome at fighting them off, but he has the air of a true gentleman.  It's bad enough that Felicity finds herself crushing hard on the guy.  Then she's told he's a vamp.  Well, that shakes things up a bit, but nevertheless, she is determined to see past that and finds someone she wants to spend more time with.  Cain can't seem to help himself either when it comes to the beautiful Felicity.  Ben, however, is not nice at all.  The guy has a real hatred of vamps and let's Cain know it every chance he can get.  Ben's seems like one of those shallow college guys only looking for one thing.  As the story progresses, Ben and Felicity seem to constantly be in danger of Sindy, the local vampire causing trouble.  Accustomed to getting what she wants, she finds herself continually rebuffed by Cain.  Now, Cain is not like other vampires.  He lives mostly off of animal blood and travels around trying to teach other vampires how to live more peacefully with humans instead of mercilessly slaughtering them.  
   I have to say, the story drew me in like a moth to a flame.  And the thing was that I became rather invested.  After all, sometimes you just have to know what's going to happen next.  I assure you, it's not boring in any way!  I did find several very interesting elements to this story, including the role of crosses and holy water, Cain's sheer determination when it comes to Felicity, and Alyson since she is a real person of interest at this point.  Great read!

5 out of 5 stars!

(come back tomorrow for an account of the next book in the series!)

Blurb:

ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy 
In this paranormal fantasy, chapters alternate between a vampire and a young woman, as they join an ensemble cast to navigate difficulties of addiction and desire; perils of zombies and vampires; and struggles with abuse, morality and... college. 


Volume 1: Fatal Infatuation 
Felicity views going away to college as an opportunity to mature into a confident young woman, but her new beginning turns out to be more of an adventure than she bargains for when she finds that her school is plagued by vampires! 
Cain is an elder vampire who displays quiet confidence even as he struggles to overcome sins of his past. Surprisingly, he found that in losing his life he gained his faith and a purpose. 
His mission: find the hostile vampires that inhabit this small college town, and educate them to live in peace with humans. Their leader, Sindy, is a wicked temptress who has set her sights on Felicity's new friend Ben. She will be difficult to control, but after meeting Felicity, Cain's most difficult task lies in controlling himself. 

*ALMOST HUMAN is a series of successive trilogies, not stand-alone books. Each trilogy is self-contained enough to be read alone as a 3 book set, but the story unfolds chronologically, and the characters do continue from one trilogy to the next. Main storyline closure is in each 3rd book, but there are also story-ties leading from one trilogy to the next in the series. *For series updates, visit: MelanieNowak.com

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Infatuation-ALMOST-HUMAN-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B001C3ZTXC/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1447449203&sr=1-5&keywords=melanie+nowak

Graveyard Shift by Angela Roquet

   This book is no doubt a mishmash of different religions and faiths all brought together in a rather sacrilegious story about a three-hundred-year-old girl named Lana that is a reaper of souls.  She is low on the totem pole in Limbo City and has no aspirations of greatness.  She doesn't want the lime light or extra responsibility.  Her boss, Grim (the original reaper), has other plans for her.  He doesn't trust Lana, that's for sure, but someone has recommended her for a certain task because of her unique ability to see more into a soul than the other reapers do.  It's the reason why she bends the rules so often for them.  It turns out that Maalik is the one who has gotten her this new job she didn't ask for in the first place.  Maalik likes Lana a lot, and few could resist his looks and charm.  However, Lana keeps him at arms length and does her best to keep it that way.  But it's hard to do with him popping up so often and now being on the council with Grim.  Not to mention, her life is starting to spiral out of control now with this new job.  She and the others on her team are looking for a soul to replace a thousand-year-old woman named Khadija.  She is very powerful.  In fact, she is the one that created Lana and made sure that she had the unique ability she does so that one day there would be someone to find a replacement for her.  If they don't find the replacement, Hell is going to break loose.  And unfortunately it's starting to slowly happen already.  Lana's team is repeatedly attacked by demons when they go out to harvest the souls on their list.  It seems like they always know when and where they will be, which makes Lana think there's an inside man spilling secrets.  Still, she must finish the job and try to stay alive in the process, which could prove tricky.

   My first thought when I started reading this book was one word: weird.  And it is definitely weird.  But mainly because it introduces ideas and a story that are new to me as a reader.  It's a unique look at the after life, and although I don't harbor the belief that it will be anything like this when we die, it was a very entertaining and different read.  I really liked the story line and the uniqueness of the book really does go a long way.  It pushes your thoughts and imagination to stretch beyond the normal box of our minds.  If you are looking for something new and different, then this is it!

4.5 out of 5 stars!!

Battle for the Afterlife Saga: Blue Courage by CJ Davis

   Reese is a highly trained Navy Seal who is good at what he does.  He has the strength and the guts to do what it takes to get the job done.  And it so happens, this job is going to Mexico and extracting a friend's daughter from a very dangerous cartel.  In the process he is wounded and taken hostage.  While being a prisoner, he meets the beautiful Kate.  He is instantly drawn to her, almost like they have met before.  But he would have remembered if they had.  Unfortunately he and Kate are killed during the rescue mission and Reese finds himself in the Afterlife.  Except this Afterlife is nothing like you would think.  It's not angels and cherubs with harps, and rainbows in clouds.  It's very much like Earth.  It has a city with a wall surrounding it, and guess what?  It comes complete with Lost Souls, or what we would think of as something like a zombie.  They stay outside the city gates waiting for unsuspecting prey.  Occasionally you will find one inside the city because they had recently turned into a Lost Soul.  Lose your focus in this world, become complacent, and you're done for.  Once you die in the Afterlife, there is nothing left of you.  You don't get to go back to Earth reincarnated or anything.  Despite having the ability to live forever, it's still a somewhat dangerous place at times with the Red and Blue factions against each other.  The Blues take a more peaceful approach to things and help others during their earthly lives.  The Reds are just the opposite.  The most powerful of them were some very bad people when they were alive on Earth.  And then there are the Greens who are neutral.  They don't want to get caught in the middle of the fighting, should it happen.
   This is the time when the Centennial happens during the Afterlife.  Every one hundred years is a race between the Reds and the Blues, and everyone watches.  If the Reds win again, there could be a tip in power and the truce between the two factions could be broken.  Reese finds out that he is a Blue and a very powerful one at that.  He will be a part of the small team participating in the Centennial.  It's a dangerous business because one can die from the Reds, large beasts, or Lost Souls in this race.  To make matters worse, Kate is in the race with him, and he must fight his instinct to continually keep her safe.  This race is even more important than his feelings for her.  The question is whether he could sacrifice her if it came down to it, so that the Reds won't win?

   This was a very different outlook on the Afterlife.  It was intriguing to thing that it's much like our lives here and now on Earth, but more dangerous in some ways because of the mighty beasts, Lost Souls, and the possibility of war between the Reds and the Blues.  While it seems a bit cut and dried to have two factions that seem like one is obviously good while the other obviously bad, Davis does a good job of weaving a story more complicated than it seems.  The farther you get into the book, the more you are able to see this.  I thought it was a particularly nice touch adding the Lost Souls to the book.  We would consider them to be zombies, but here they are lazy bums who lost their focus in the Afterlife and became complacent.  Never bettering themselves, they turned into something awful.  It is full of adventure, that's for sure.
   The very beginning I felt was a bit rushed and not everything was clear, but much of it became clearer as I read more of the book.  In fact, I felt like it became much more interesting once Reese entered the Afterlife.  After all, that's where all of the major action went down.  There were also quite a few grammatical errors.  It just needs a little more polish for it to be a really good book!
       I enjoyed how different this book was and hope to see more in CJ Davis's future novels!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Death Collectors Series by Jessica Sorensen

The silence of a heart...the shadow of trees...the blackened lake.  Bones Breaking.  Someone can't breathe.  It hurts...there's so much blood.  A last breath is strangled away.  A red "x" stains it all.  An empty hour glass.  Murder.

 

 Ember Edwards has a very unique gift.  She knows how someone will die just by touching them.  And she occasionally sees the Grim Reaper hanging out around her.  It's more than just a little creepy and with having to stare death in the face so much it wears on Ember quite a bit.  There are down sides to having such a gift.  She found out long ago people were not accepting of it.  Like when her father went missing and she called the police saying that he was going to die.  While she was just trying to stop it, it made her a prime suspect.  They never found his body.
   Two new guys show up at her school and the weird thing is that she can't sense their deaths.  One of them; Cameron, makes her feel like she is coming unraveled when she touches him while the other; Asher keeps her calm.  Ember starts having feelings towards Asher, but is still attracted to Cameron as well.
   While she deals with the two of them, Ember starts learning about Angels of Death, Grim Reapers, and Grim Angels (which are a product of the two plus human blood).  Grim Angels are tortured souls.  Easily depressed because of their "gift" of seeing death, their minds can break because of it and they go insane.  The more that Ember learns, the more she wonders whether she is a Grim Angel.

                          Who are Asher and Cameron really?

   In the second book, Ember is an even more precarious situation.  If her life wasn't threatened enough in the first book, it's even more so now.  She has to come to terms with her blood line and the fact that she may become the very last Grim Angel left.  If so, she must make a choice between good and evil.  But first she must survive the taunting of the Reapers.  They constantly mess with her mind and the whole town is getting crazy possessed by them.  Ember's "gift" has also evolved some and now she can see dead people as well.
  Cameron has found a way into Ember's thoughts and now is her constant companion whether she likes it or not.  He insists that he cares about her and is just trying to help, but Ember has her doubts about that fact.  She misses Asher.  He had to leave at the end of the last book and hasn't been seen since.
   Later in the book Asher suddenly returns.  He can no longer stand by and just watch while Ember is in so much danger.  Ember's own brother tried to kill her because he has given in to his Reaper blood.  Raven, her best friend, is possessed by the most powerful man/Reaper around.  Everyone is out to get Ember but Cameron and Asher.  But can she even trust them?  Her dad always said to never trust anyone.  Maybe he was right.

"Everyone thinks I'm a traitor and Michael made...he made me..." He sucks in a sharp breath  and the words spill out of him. "He made me human again, or at least, stripped me of my wings."
My jaw drops. "Like your mother?"
"Yes," he whispers, shutting his eyes. "I've been banished."  (Asher and Ember)

   This series is a real mind bender!  It's like a thriller/paranormal/romance wrapped all into one!  The thriller side being the mental side of it.  Ember has to deal with a lot of mental hardship as she sees things that she always has to question whether they are real or not.  Then there is death every step of the way.  It tortures her to no extent that she cannot touch anyone without seeing their death every single time she touches them.  Then there is Ember's family.  They seem just as crazy as she is, or worse.  Her mother drinks and does drugs.  Her brother is on depression medicine.  He smokes pot a lot and stays closed up in the attic painting.  Then there was her dad.  He used to steal cars until his disappearance.  Naturally, Asher and Cameron offer her somethings that she didn't think she would ever have.  But a normal life is not one of them.  And in the end, the decisions she makes will shape what happens to humans and Angels for the rest of eternity.
   There are two versions of this series.  There is this version and then there is the adult version.  For the adult version look for Ember-X or Cinder-X.  They are more explicit and romance oriented, while still giving it an air of suspense and danger!



*quotes via Jessica Sorensen (Ember-X and Cinder-X)
*images via Jessica Sorensen