Category: M/M Supernatural Fiction

A Stella Review: Vampire Prince (Paranormal Nobles #1) by S.J. Frost

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Vampire PrinceThree years ago, Sebastian Beaumont, was starving and struggling on the streets. An offer for safety and shelter was nothing but the lies of a vampire. Since then, he’s been trapped, surrendering his blood and body as a blood slave to vampires, all for the hope of gaining one more day of life and maybe, someday, his freedom.

Having crossed more than three hundred years of life, Valentin Wyndham, is a prince among vampires. Memories of betrayal still haunt him and love isn’t something he seeks. When his need for blood becomes too strong, he breaks his usual habits and visits a blood house. Though he tries to resist, he can’t help but be captivated by the beautiful Sebastian.

Unable to deny the intensity between them, Valentin frees Sebastian from the blood house, but danger follows them both from those who don’t want to let Sebastian go.

Vampire Prince is the story of Sebastian, a young man taken from the streets three years ago by Wesley with promises of a better life (or at least some food) and brought in his blood house as a blood slave, where people like him, runaways and people no one is going to miss, are used and abused by vampires. This mansion is become his prison, but he has no choice, he needs to stay safe and play the good boy, pretending to enjoy the entertainment he provides vampires. But Sebastian is really tired, three year in this life are really too much and he knows the time for his death is near.

Prince Valentine has just moved to Savannah from England. He doesn’t like the kind of blood house he’s going to, but it’s his only choice at the moment to not become a danger with his thirst. There he meets Sebastian and the insta-attraction will bring them to a sweet and steamy relationship.

I enjoyed this story a lot, I haven’t read the previous edition so I’m not sure about differences or changes SJ Frost made in the plot/writing. I found the writing good and I was surprised by the plot, I was waiting for the usual “vampire story”, instead I got an interesting and original book, light and funny. I felt soon a connection with Valentine and Sebastian, both well developed and likeable.

I can say I am particularly curious to read the next books in this series. Sal and Basil, Valentine’s friends, were both so well done, sometimes took away attention from the MCs.

The reason why I can’t give Vampire Prince an higher rating is that I often found myself bored by too many sex scenes and sugary sentences  (a little too much even for me). Still I can’t wait for the next one.

Cover art by Scarlet Tie designs. I really like this cover, it’s mysterious and dark, and it soon caught my attention.

Sales Links:  MLR Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon |

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 236 pages
Published November 28th 2015 by MLR Press (first published March 7th 2014)
Original TitleVampire Prince
ASINB018GKSB74
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesParanormal Nobles #1
CharactersSebastian Beaumont, Valentin Wyndham settingSavannah, Georgia (United States)

A MelanieM Review: Dragon Consultant (Supernatural Consultant #1) by Mell Eight

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Dragon ConsultantThe FAA has been struggling with dragons attacking their planes, and hire Dane, a supernatural consultant, to look into the matter. What Dane finds in the woods is not quite the problem he expected: a group of dragon kits and their sick father.

When he learns the real reason the family was in the woods, his case only grows more dangerous, and while Dane is plenty experienced at watching his own back, taking care of baby dragons and their handsome, distracting father almost makes danger look easy.

I love Mell Eight.  This author’s imagination never fails to take me places guaranteed to hold my attention and make me wonder about the boundless possibilities that could exist if magic were let loose.  And of course, there would be dragons.  All sorts of dragons and in this case dragon kits.

Dragon Consultant is really one set of mysteries after another.  A mystery of identities, a mystery of espionage and government coverup plus so much more.  Unbelievably so, it all takes place in 101 pages.  This story is crammed full of things that cry out of fuller explanations and more details.  But what the author delivers is so wonderful, so compelling, that all I can do is beg for a prequel to go along with the sequel that I know is coming.

Most of that has to do with the character of Dane, the supernatural consultant hired to deal with the dragons attacking the planes at the airport.  Of course, he is much more than that, as are the dragons attacking the airport and the situation they are in.  Nothing is as it seems, including Dane.  It takes a while for some of who he is to come out and then it only makes him more intriguing because of the gaps its leaves. Oh, the layers Mell Eight has in store for the readers here.  Peal one back, and there are five more waiting to be discovered.

I think I feel that way about the characters.  There is a mystery about them that we are still waiting to uncover, their backstories are missing  and I think the author has done that purposely so. The father?  His background still spotty. The kits?  They too have histories waiting to be filled in and I am hoping that means that this will be a long and satisfying series.  I am so eager to settle in for the long haul to find out what each kit and/or new egg will mean to the story and universe the author is building.

There is action, suspense, and plenty of drama.  Some of those scenes towards the end?  White knuckle indeed.  But I can’t give out  details because its such a short book it will go into spoiler territory.  The tale moves so quickly, you will fall in love with the individual dragon kits with a swiftness that will make you blink,  and then the you are moving towards an alarming conclusion, then its over…for now.

That one of those layers I was talking about.  You see from the cover, its seem like this might be a goofy, sort of humorous tale of dragon children and their foster father.  Not really.  That aspect is there, of course.  But things are chillingly scary,  there are evil loose ends flapping about at the end of the story (why else would you need sequels), so remember those layers when opening these pages and be prepared for a darned wonderful story!

Its one I definitely recommend, along with its author.  Now I just have to wait for the next book to arrive.  Grab this one up, catch up with me and lets see what the next one has in store for us, the dragon kits and…oh that would be telling.

Cover art by Aisha Akeju is unexpected.  Cute, whimsical but lacking just that touch of dragon magic I have come to expect from this artist.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 101 pages
Published December 9th 2015 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781620046777
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series: Supernatural Consultant 

Cover reveal for Eden Winters ‘A Bear Walks Into A Bar’ (Cover reveal, excerpt and giveaway)

A Bear Walks Into A Bar


 Release Date: January 16, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books
Cover Artist: Jacqueline Sweet

Blurb

It takes one strong alpha with a tight grip to keep a mountain full of shifters under control. Sawyer Ballantine’s contending with an uppity wolf leader and a herd of shifter elk bound and determined to take over. He might be the lone bear on the mountain, but he’s not going to allow another four shifters to just move in, especially not when they whiff of power. They’ll either be his in all ways, or they’ll be gone.

Dillon, Jerry, Kevin, and Brad have no one but each other since their shifter groups kicked them out. The young bear, wolves, and fox make a merry ménage, pooling their meager shifter skills and serving beer. They’ve stumbled into more than they understand, caught in the dispute between the Urso of Ballantine Mountain and the elk. But winter’s setting in, and they don’t know how to keep Dillon safe for hibernation.

And then a bear walks into their bar.

 

Pages or Words: 63,000 words
 Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Consensual Non-Monagomy

Excerpt

“Where exactly are you going? Would you at least tell me that?”

“A town nobody’s heard of about thirty-five miles from home.” If Sawyer needed to hide, he’d find a similar out of the way spot. Too bad this particular spot sat on the border between elk and predator. Just because they lived off vegetation didn’t mean his rivals weren’t a threat—an expert marksman had joined the herd a few years ago. He’d been tough and stringy, but ceased being a problem.

Conversation grew impossible when Sawyer fired up his bike. Mother Moon, but he loved the rumble of the big Harley between his thighs, the wind on his face, tempting his sensitive nose with a million different scents: moss, pines, rabbit, clover, chicken barbequing on a grill at a campsite downhill, all awaiting him once he reached his mountain.

Fluffy clouds overhead cast shadows over the scenery, and the crisp scent of snow drifted over the highest mountaintops. Colorado. No greater place existed on earth.

Occasionally he caught a whiff of human emotions: anger, fear, sorrow, lust. Especially lust.

Damn, he needed to get laid.

Buy the book: All Romance Ebooks | Amazon

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Meet the Author

You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of “Hey, y’all!” in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs!

Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world’s record for curriculum changes to the point that she’s never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit.

She’s trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as “What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?” In the process of her adventures she has written fourteen m/m romance novels, has won several Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches.

When not putting characters in dangerous situations she’s a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist.

Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and on the backs of motorcycles.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Bayou Book Junkie, The Hat Party, BFD Book Blog, Mikky’s World of Books, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Ogitchida Book Blog, Love Bytes, Boys on the Brink Reviews, Velvet Panic, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, V’s Reads, Charley Descoteaux, Happily Ever Chapter, Multitasking Mommas, Bonkers About Books, KathyMac Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook, 3 Chicks After Dark, Andrew Q. Gordon, Alpha Book Club, Tara Lain

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Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘A Bear Walks Into A Bar’ by Eden Winters.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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Like Your Romance Superpowered? Check out ‘Stronger, Better, Faster, More’ by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne (guest post and giveaway)

CGKH_StrongerBetterFasterMore_coverin

Stronger, Better, Faster, More by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Release Date:12/29/2015
Cover Artist Mina Carter

Buy it here at Loose id or other links here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is so happy to have Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne here today to talk about their latest story, Stronger, Better, Faster, More and Superpowers.  Welcome, Carlin and Katey!  Tell us more!

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Superpowers we Love by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

Thanks so much for letting us stop by today, Melanie. For our book birthday, Carlin and I decided to talk about a major theme of our new book, Stronger, Better, Faster, More: SUPERPOWERS. What we love, both personally and to write. Read on, and remember to enter our giveaway.

Katey: So, obviously I love superpowers, and obviously Carlin does too, since we met geeking out over Marvel characters. But when it comes to favorites I think I have two clear winners, both of which I have now written about: Pyrokinesis and Superspeed.

Superspeed, at last at last, is featured in Stronger, Better, Faster, More. As the title might imply. I love this power because there are so many great iterations of it and how it affects the character who has it. Some can turn it on and off, which is convenient. Others are constantly sped up, though, which is Vel Chandrasekhar’s ability/problem. So he’s constantly feeling like the whole world is moving in slow mo, constantly having to slow down how he talks, eats, walks, constantly being super impatient with everything. Except he’s actually mega-patient, in his world.

That has been, by far and away, one of my favorite things to write about ever. I’m glad this book and Vel gave me the chance!

Carlin: I actually love superspeed too, when presented the way Vel’s was in Stronger, Better, Faster, More where the character’s entire world is sped up. I’ve found that, in both reading and writing, I’m drawn most to superpowered characters whose abilities either come with drawback when using it, like Beau’s endurance, or is something they have to manage in their everyday life, like Vel’s superspeed.

When writing superhumans, you always run the risk of creating a character that’s too large or powerful to relate to, and I feel like drawbacks help a character stay accessible to the reader. When you see a character struggling to manage the side effects, it makes you want them to succeed. When they go into a fight or rescue situation knowing it’ll mean intense pain for them later, it makes that sacrifice and risk a lot more meaningful.

As for me? I’d go with teleportation. It’s hard to beat fast, free travel.

Title  Stronger, Better, Faster, More by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

 

 

Book Blurb

When he gets super-endurance powers out of nowhere, being a culinary student and kids’ soccer coach isn’t enough for Beau CGKH_StrongerBetterFasterMore_coverinWarren–he has to be a superhero too. A sweet, hardworking trans man from a close knit family, it’s important to Beau to use his new abilities to stand up for people who can’t protect themselves. When he runs into a speedster at a fire rescue, he doesn’t expect it to be his high school crush, Vel Chandrasekhar. Turns out Vel got superspeed when Beau go his endurance, so they decide to make their single supe act into a duo.

With their immediate attraction and superpowered libidos, it’s not long before Beau and Vel are roommates-with-benefits. That’s the idea, anyhow, if only Beau can keep from falling back into his old crush hard, since Vel’s self-esteem issues have left him skittish about relationships. Just when things are at boiling point between them, though, their search for their own superhero origin story leads them and their families into mortal danger. The only way to survive the truth is to depend on each other–and admit they’re a lot more than friends.

  • Genre: M/M,  Paranormal, erorom
  • LengthNovel (72k)

About the Authors

Carlin Grant is a queer writer who likes to put the focus on LGBTQIA+ characters and has a sweet tooth for romance. Growing up in backwoods North Carolina left them with a love for the characters, culture, and folklore that is common in the rural South, and these themes often show up in their stories. When they’re not writing, Carlin enjoys reading, video games, superheroes, mixtapes, and visiting the beach. They currently reside in coastal NC, where they spend most of their time chasing after their toddler.
Katey Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of superpowered romance, even though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or, possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.) Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in Ohio. In her spare time she enjoys comic books, B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills.

Giveaway

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prize provided by the authors.  Good luck and happy reading!

RAFFLECOPTER:

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