Loving Without Limits

Lexi has always been an avid reader, and at a young age started reading (secretly) her mother’s romances (the ones she was told not to touch). She was the only teenager she knew of who would be grounded from reading. Later, with a pencil and a note book, she wrote her own stories and shared them with friends because she loved to see their reactions. A Texas transplant, Lexi now kicks her boots up in the Midwest with her Yankee husband and her eighty-pound puppies named after vacuum cleaners.

Win – Paradox Lost by Libby Drew

Why Time Travel Would Be My Superpower of Choice

 

Please note: Leave a comment for Libby at Hearts On Fire Reviews before 2/6 for a random chance to win a copy of Paradox Lost! 

 

We’ve all thought about it. If we could possess one ultimate power that bent the rules of our current lives, what would we choose? I’ll admit teleportation has been near the top of the list. But no matter how nice it would be to trim the hours of driving I do each day, it’s a short-sighted wish.

 

No, what I would love most of all is the ability to travel through time. It’s something I’ve been obsessed with since childhood, and I’m thrilled to finally give life to that fantasy through these characters, Reegan and Saul, and this book, Paradox Lost.

 

In Reegan’s time, the year 2145, only travel into the past is possible. So far. Forward time travel is coming soon for Reegan and Saul, but that’s a different book. A future one. In the meantime, my character Reegan has his dream job: Time Travel Tour Guide, visiting as many historical events as he wants. He even gets paid for it. It’s a good thing all that interference in past events won’t cause a time paradox. Unfortunately, Reegan’s about to discover paradox-free time travel isn’t as safe as he thought it was.

 

Time travel stories are tricky to write, mostly because the idea of the time paradox has become an accepted fact. It’s not a fact. It’s speculation, and with Paradox Lost, I “disprove” it in order to give my characters a whole new set of time-travel related traps. The most agonizing, of course, being that people from different centuries have little hope of staying together, no matter how in love they might be.

 

Can love truly conquer all? Even centuries? Grab a copy of Paradox Lost and find out!

paradoxParadox Lost: Time travel tour guide Reegan McNamara’s job—taking eager tourists whenever they want to go—is usually a breeze. A trip back to 2020 to watch a world-changing speech seems no different, until a woman runs away from his tour group before the jump home. Now her tycoon husband is demanding her safe return—or Reegan will lose more than just his job.

 

PI Saul Kildare’s business is running on borrowed time. Due to a messy break with the police, he can’t get a referral to save his life. When an enigmatic stranger bangs on his door one night and promises a windfall for a missing-person case, it seems too good to be true. But the two men have an immediate connection, and Saul can’t pass up the chance to spend more time with Reegan, even if he is clearly hiding something.

 

Saul knows he shouldn’t trust Reegan, and Reegan knows he can’t get involved with Saul. But as their attraction evolves into feelings neither can deny, will they have the strength to take a leap of faith – together?

 

On sale now!


Carina Presshttp://ebooks.carinapress.com/38B6627E-809C-473B-8726-ABB79A1846A9/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=210F300A-2FE8-44D3-A109-AE0F83C0C3E3

 

Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Lost-Libby-Drew-ebook/dp/B00F942VQI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390493010&sr=1-1

 

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paradox-lost-libby-drew/1116912932?ean=9781426897832

 

Audiobook: http://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Lost/dp/B00I11Q3HY/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_audd?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390843273&sr=1-1

*

 

Libby glimpsed her true calling when her first story, an A.A. Milne /Shakespeare crossover, won the grand prize in her elementary school's fiction contest. Her parents explained that writers were quirky, poor, and often talked to themselves in supermarket checkout lines. They implored her to be practical, a request she took to heart for twenty years, earning two degrees, a white-collar job, and an ulcer, before realizing that practical was absolutely no fun.

 

Today she lives with her husband and four children in an old, impractical house and writes stories about redemption, the supernatural, and love at first sight, all of which do exist. She happens to know from experience.

 

Libby’s State of Mind received rave reviews for being fast, clever, and relentless and was nominated for a Bookie Award for Best M/M Novel of 2011. 40 Souls to Keep, Libby’s third novel, has been described as intense and heart-poundingly good and was praised by Publishers Weekly for maintaining a high level of suspense.

 

An avid supporter of gay rights, Libby donates her time to the Trevor Project and organizations that work to support marriage equality.

 

Leave a comment for Libby before 2/6 for a random chance to win a copy of Paradox Lost! 

Pre-Release Review - Silvia Violet – Willing Hands (Wild R Farm #4)

willing


Reviewed by: Lexi
Genre: M/M Paranormal



Summary: Will has a temper as wild as the bear he holds inside. Normally he’s an easy-going, caring guy, but if someone crosses him, he uses his claws and shifter strength to set them straight. His temper ruined his chance at the career he wanted, but now he’s working at Wild R Farm, enjoying the camaraderie and longing for more with one special man.

 

No one at the farm knows much about Ryan. He’s done time in prison and he carries scars that tell of something horrible in his past. When he gifts Will with one of his rare smiles, Will decides to do whatever it takes to get him to smile more often. Will is used to being a protector, and even when he learns Ryan’s dark secrets, he refuses to turn away. What he doesn’t realize is that he needs Ryan’s quiet strength as much as Ryan needs someone to show they care. Ryan’s past threatens to send him running, but Will and the rest of the crew of Wild R prove that no matter the danger, they take care of their own.

 

Review: Will was the bear shifter Tristan met in captivity in the last book, Taming Tristan. He was strong, capable but never stayed in one place too long. His bear had a temper and more often than he would care to admit, he ends up scaring people. He feels he lost out on the opportunity to become a vet and carried around the worry he would once again fail to control of his bear, thereby losing this new life he was starting to build on the Wild R.

 

Ryan was the skittish human who didn’t speak much and occasionally would gift Will with shy smiles that Will desperately wanted more of. Ryan’s past was dark and dangerous, but anyone who watched how he handled the horses under his care knew, that despite what came before, Ryan was a good person. Not that Ryan wanted believe it.

 

Will made Ryan want things he hadn’t wanted with anyone for a very long time. Will was gruff and growly, but he didn’t scare Ryan. When Ryan saw Will shift for the first time, and I thought maybe Will’s bear helped Ryan to come out of his shell a bit because he wasn’t great with people but he was excellent with animals.

 

The details of Ryan’s past were divulged a bit at a time and several times I was ready to take Will to the side and council him that he too needed to share. When Ryan’s past rose up to threaten Will and the ranch, Will needed to do some fast talking and quick maneuvering to keep Ryan from running. Being on his own for so long, never fully trusting anyone, Ryan didn’t know how to lean on his friends at the ranch.

 

There came a point near the end where I had to disagree with Will. Personally I would have hogtied and put Ryan under the bed instead of allowing him to participate in a search. I had a conniption fit myself and a, “Oh, no, you did not!” moment. Somebody needs to sit down with that boy and explain to him there are things you never, ever do.

 

In the end both Ryan and Will changed, each giving the other something that prompted them to strive to be better. They discovered they both had a strong circle of friends who were more like family. The sweet moments of their growing relationship caught fire turning smoking hot. I enjoyed that Ryan’s issues didn’t magically go away, nor did Will’s insecurities over his bear’s temper. Something else to note, the Wild R was full of people who’ve been drawn bright and vivid so that even as I’ve read through the series, they didn’t turn faceless… and reminded me why I bought a roll of duct tape for Wes and Tristan.

 

If you like shifter stories, growly and impatient bears, battered souls, a place where friends are more like family, with a bit of action, then you may enjoy Willing Hands.

Source: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?p=24879

Author Giveaway – Cardeno C

 walk Leave a comment at Hearts On Fire Reviews by 2/5 for a random chance to win one book of your choice from Cardeno’s Home Series, including the upcoming Walk With Me (Home #7)!  Read Mandy’s review here.  Walk With Me will be released February 7 from Dreamspinner Press.  Buy Link

Source: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?p=24834

The Line

The Line - Angel Martinez

I hate that moment when I sit down to write a review of something I loved and the only thing I can think is, "Wow, I really liked that." Then I spend an half hour writing a review that doesn't say exactly that because it's not really helpful. What I end up with is a mediocre review for something that I loved and no one has any idea why.  That's what happened when I wrote and sent in my review of The Line by Angel Martinez. Later I look at it and say, well fiddlesticks, I can do better than that but by then everything is up and offical. 

 

The Line is a unique twist on vampire hunters. Even though I love, love, love characters with wings, Rafael stole my heart. He wanted to be this big fearsome force to be reckoned with when time and again he gave of himself. Lan goes from perplexed to possessive in all the right ways. The two of them coming together ... le sigh.

 

Wow, I really liked The Line.

 

Review can be found at Hearts On Fire Reviews: 

 

Rafael Schiller is the top vampire of his territory until a strange creature came to town, hunting his kind. Predator becomes prey and Rafael decides he cannot fight the vampire hunter and chooses to flee. Lan was cursed centuries ago, becoming a Krsnik. He has hunted vampires ever since, needing their blood in order to survive. Lan has been alone for so long but an encounter with a vampire who speaks to him as if he were an individual and not a monster, piques his interest.

 

I don't wish to give away spoilers so I'll be brief. This a quick but very enjoyable read that gives us a different kind of vampire hunter. Enemies to lovers, Rafael must find it within himself to be devoted to one person regardless of the complications. Lan struggles with his nature, looking for a compromise that would keep Rafael alive.

 

If you like vampires, a Krsnik with a tortured past, a different kind of deadly hunter of the night, or watching natural enemies make their way to being lovers, then you might enjoy this story.

Source: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?p=24877

Quick Enjoyable Read

The Billabong - Jack Byrne

This is an historical, GFY story set in the Australian outback about a widowed rancher and mysterious stranger who saved him from a snake bite. It is a short read. The different setting gave the story an interesting twist. I still have no idea why they swing the tea or why the rancher lived in a tent and not a house. The brush fire was horrifying to think about and the chemistry between the two was well paced and convincing. The point where I had a hiccup was the overwhelming corruption but since I know nothing about Australia in that time period it could very well be a part of the history for the area. All in all, I enjoyed the story.

Reading progress update: I've read

Scottish Highlanders - Charles MacKinnon

Hum...

Secrets and Ink - Lou Harper

I'm not sure what to say. I know that I'm in the minority when it comes to how I feel about this book. The writing is good and I enjoy flawed characters. Up to a certain point I really, really did like this. Then Jem took a nose dive and I had a problem understanding him. He didn't think at all. I don't know if it was because of his accident (and if it was, it wasn't mentioned in the book) or if he was really that dense normally and i didn't catch the signs at the beginning. I fully expected him to die. He didn't think things through, ever. All the mistakes he made should have killed him or possibly his friend at the grocery store. I had no idea why the cop would continue to be interested. 

 

Most of the people I know who have read this, love it to pieces. I don't. I don't hate it, I'm just not sure how I feel about it so I'm not going to rate it. 

Writing Resolutions: 2014 And Beyond

I've been thinking about goals I would like to set for 2014. Keep them simple yet challenging is my thought. Then I read this post, Writing Resolutions: 2014 And Beyond, and decided to adopt it for my own. I posted the link but in short:

I Will Understand The Value Of Writing Advice
I Will Try New Shit
I Will Think More About Writing Than I Will About Publishing.
I Will Stop Thinking Of Myself As A Brand.
I Will Protect Myself From Malefaction
I Will Give My Work The Time It Needs.
I Will Earn My Audience
I Will Respect The Role Of Storyteller
I Will Get Excited About What I’m Writing.
I Will Write.

What did I get myself into?

Second Skin - Genna Donaghy

O.o

 

30% in. *blink*blink* This would definitely be a book club talker. There's enough bad mojo going on in this world: crime syndicate, gray area detective agency... actually there is a lot of gray area. I'm sorta frustrated with my hero. The Jamieson, the dog, is killin' me. I think I despise the detective agency more than the hero does. What I need is a good dose of a white hat. Too many black hats right now filling the story with doom and gloom. Had to take a break before I threw my reader at the wall.

Favorite Holiday Read So Far This Year.

Blame It On The Mistletoe - Eli Easton

I sorta suck at reviews but I had to make a little note. This was a little gem for me. Friends to Lovers. Lots of firsts for both characters. Cute and sweet without being sugary. A dash of humor that wasn't over the top. Very enjoyable read that is on my reread list. I wish it was long enough for it to go to print because I would put it on my bookshelf. I would definitely recommend this.

This is what happens...

(Dude. That is a huge picture.) I should keep better tabs on my purchases. I accidentally preorder this at two different sites. *head desk* Obviously I really wanted to read this one. I need to keep a better list of what I have and then double checking.

Free on amazon at the moment

Reblogged from Mandy, I read obsessively :
Hanging Loose - Lou Harper

This book is free on amazon.com for the next few days.

When I Get It Wrong ... Woe, Buddy.

This past summer I participated in the GoodReads Love Has No Bounds Event. People choose from a selection of pictures/prompts to write a story about. I wrote Playing For Keeps for the prompt I picked. That was my second attempt at a contemporary story and I was very satisfied with the outcome.

 

In June, an emergency call went out for prompts people were unable to complete. I took on an emergency call for a Historical Scottish Laird Shifter. I had 30 days to turn in the story which sounds like plenty of time until you plan it out. I had three days of research, two weeks to write the story, and then ten days to work with an editor to polish it up.

 

Did I say already that I don't know anything about Scotland or the topography of the highlands or kilts? How about I didn't understand until too late the effect a historical (even in an alternate universe)would make on the words I used in the manuscript. I had to give a best guess to how much or how little the landscape changed in 1000 years. Did the houses have fireplaces? How did they cook their food? What type of food did they eat? What types of cloths did they have? Were there knights? Did Scotland have castles in the highlands? What was the forest like? Why was Scotland considered poor until King David? What do you mean some of the Scottish kings preferred to speak French? How old are the tartan patterns? 

 

What I actually knew was embarrassingly little. But I forged and rolled with it. Because there are shifters in the story then technically it is an alternate world and some aspects would have to change to accommodate the supernatural.

 

Then the plot I picked, which I thought would equal 20k tops, turned out to be much bigger. I made the decision to complete the relationship piece and then go back and finish out the storyline once I completed Striker.

 

I had no idea how much I got wrong until I come back to complete Fated.

 

So there I was researching castles and dwellings when I came across a reference that implied King Malcolm IV was not present at the Battle of Renfrew. Noooo. I made a trip to Half-Price Books and raided their reference section on Scotland.

 

So I dug and dug until three weeks later I came to the conclusion that I had too many things wrong. Depending on which history book I read, Malcolm was either a good guy or a bad guy. It seems that feudal system his grandfather, King David I was loved and hated. He, Malcolm, and Malcolm's successor, William all spoke French and thought of themselves and Frenchmen, not Scottish. 

 

Malcolm was king for a little over a decade, crowned when he was about 12 years old. Everybody wanted his piece of the pie and there was battle after battle as Malcolm continued to institute and up hold his grandfather's ideas and policies.

 

Somerled, King of the Isles was approached by some powerful men who wanted to put another person on the Scottish throne and they asked for his help. One thing led to another and bam we have the Battle of Renfrew. And the battle wasn't led by Malcolm. Nope. The High Steward (<-- who knew there was a High Steward/) Walter fitz Alan led the battle and won the day.

 

Other things I missed? Well, lets see. Fitz Alan's army was predominately Scoto-Norman knights and men-at-arms. Their numbers weren't as substantial as Somerled's 15,000 but their superior armor and weapons gave them an advantage and Somerled's army was--well, they were practically slaughtered. One of the history books record exactly how Somerled died and how his first born son died next to him. (Really sort of poetic.) And yes, in some of the books Somerled was consider a hero trying free Scotland form the Norman influence but in other texts he was reported to be greedy for the kingship of Scotland since the Battle of Renfrew was his second attempt to wrestle Scotland from Malcolm.

 

There was a castle there called Renfrewshire, recently built by Walter fitz Alan.

 

Even though some clans claim that they can trace their tartan pattern back a 1000 years, kilts weren't mentioned in any written text until around the 16th century. *head desk* Essentially, the texts on the first recorded kilts described them as belted cloaks. Is that something I can use?

 

Thane was not used until 14-15th century, not quiet sure exactly when. All I know is that it wasn't used in the 12th century. I finally found the title designations for David's feudal system, in Scottish Gaelic nonetheless, which I also discovered that even though the highlanders would have used the Gaelic term, the kings had them translated over to French-Latin. So to make things more difficult, if Ewen is in the company of the king's nobles he would use the French titles and if he's with his men he would use the Gaelic.

 

There were so many little things that I didn't catch. I realize that I only had three days of research before, and this is fiction, with shifters which flips everything into an alternate universe but still--I felt AWFUL that I had so much wrong on something that was only supposed to be a place and time to begin the story. Aside from the beginning, the rest of the story takes place away from the overall political intrigue. The plot is about breaking the curse after all. But to fit Ewen and his kinsmen into that time period I ended up changing some of Ewen's history in order to put him in favor with the rulers and nobles. Even Roi's background got a makeover because I hadn't realized the Irish Catholic influence on the isles was as deep as it was.

 

My plan to have Fate and Destinies finished by the end of November was scrapped. This week felt I had enough research under my belt to begin making the changes and adding actual word count. I can't even guess when it will be completed but at least I'm writing on it again.

 

If you haven't read the free read, Fated, just keep in mind that it's ALL made up. Ewen and Roi live on a different timeline. And when it comes to Fate and Destinies it will be like reading a different story--for the most part. I'm keeping a good portion of the scenes that didn't have to be altered but they will be spread out so the relationship doesn't feel rushed.

 

In a couple of days I will have an excerpt for y'all since the Prologue is pretty much finished (at least I don't think that I'll be adding anything to it right now).

 

Thank you for stopping by and reading!

 

Source: http://lexiander.blogspot.com/2013/12/when-i-get-it-wrong-woe-buddy.html?zx=891506a751861cbd

Plagiarist Alert: Elizabeth Nelson

Trinity - Elizabeth Nelson

Plagiarist Alert!

Her blurb is actually author, Roni Loren's bio.

This thief has plagiarized Kristi Avalon's, Billionaire Bodyguard. (http://www.amazon.com/Billionaire-Bodyguard-Book-Bodyguards-ebook/dp/B00ALJDTIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386185918&sr=8-1&keywords=Billionaire+Bodyguard)

The author's photo is stolen also http://www.businessinsider.com/author-elizabeth-nelsons-fake-photo-2013-12

 

I wouldn't be surprise if this thief's other books are also plagiarized. Spread the word if you can.

Pulling Out Of A Sleeping Funk

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