Feb 24, 2015

Kristen Callihan's SOULBOUND: Release Week Blitz + Excerpt + Giveaway!

  

About Soulbound:



A Darkest London novel, book #6
by
Kristen Callihan


Once two souls are joined... 

When Adam's soul mate rejected him, there was more at stake than his heart. After seven hundred years of searching, his true match would have ended the curse that keeps his spirit in chains. But beautiful, stubborn Eliza May fled — and now Adam is doomed to an eternity of anguish, his only hope for salvation gone... 

Their hearts will beat together forever...

No matter how devilishly irresistible Adam was, Eliza couldn't stand the thought of relinquishing her freedom forever. So she escaped. But she soon discovers she is being hunted — by someone far more dangerous. The only man who can help is the one man she vowed never to see again. Now Adam's kindness is an unexpected refuge, and Eliza finds that some vows are made to be broken...
  
 
 
  

Buy Soulbound here:

 
  
 

About Kristen Callihan:


 
Kristen Callihan is an author because there is nothing else she'd rather be. She is a three-time RITA nominee and winner of two RT Reviewers' Choice awards. Her novels have garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, as well as being awarded top picks by many reviewers. Her debut book, Firelight, received RT Book Reviews' Seal of Excellence, was named a best book of the year by Library Journal, best book of Spring 2012 by Publisher's Weekly, and was named the best romance book of 2012 by ALA RUSA. When she is not writing, she is reading.
 
 


Excerpt:


 
Eliza sat back on her heels, while Adam merely stared at her as though he had all the time in the world. “Fine,” she said. “Three weeks. I free you and you help me.” She gave him a warning look. “I’ll need your word that you will help me, that this” she waved her hand between them, “isn’t merely a way to trick me into freeing you.”
“This business was your idea, woman,” he said with affront.
“Nevertheless, I’ll need your word.”
The demon’s nostrils flared with a sharp exhalation. “My word then.” Eliza did not look away from him, and he glared back in obvious exasperation. “What now?”
“I’m merely considering if I ought to trust your word,” she said.
A low growl rumbled in his chest as he bared his teeth. “I keep my word, whether I want to or not. My word is my bond. Honor, Miss May. Unlike you, I have it.” 
“How dare you—” 
“How dare you?” He craned forward, the muscles along his shoulders bunching. “Not so long ago you broke your promise of fealty. To me!” 
“Oh, yes, how quick you are to remind me.” Eliza leaned close, grinding her teeth to keep in a shout. “You enjoy being quick, don’t you?” 
His thick, dark brows furrowed. “What in the bloody blazes are you talking about?” 
“You gave me all of ten seconds to make a choice.” Eliza’s fists ached from clenching them. “And what a choice. I was dead, my body sliced open, my blood on the ground. I would have done anything, anything,” she thumped her fist to her chest, “to get back my life.” 
“So that makes it better?” he snapped back in outrage. “Desperation gives you leave to go back on your word?” 
“No. That is not what I meant.” 
“Then you agree that you bloody well have no honor—” 
“You never explained what was involved. You never said I’d be chained to you, like some animal, for the rest of my days,” Eliza shouted. “I was told I would be a GIM. I was ready to serve you in that manner. You knew full well that’s what I believed. If anything, you swindled me!” 
All at once, he sagged, though he still eyed her with resentment and distaste. Well, she had a healthy helping of those feelings for him too. 
“Tick, tock, Eliza,” she mimicked. “You rushed me because you didn’t want me to think things over.” 
When he broke eye contact, his hard jaw twitched. 
“I’m correct, aren’t I?” Ire and a red rage surged up within her. “And you have the brass to sit on your high horse and talk of honor. Well let me tell you something, demon. There is little honor in forcing a person’s hand. Or using your power to coerce those weaker than you.”
A black scowl twisted the demon’s face as he glared at some distant point. “Fine. May I continue, or have you more complaints to heap upon my head?”
“Please do continue,” Eliza granted.
His golden gaze flicked back to her. “I want to kiss you.”
“No.” The word burst out of her with force. “Absolutely not.”
Unfazed, Adam shrugged. “Unless you have something to offer in exchange for your freedom, Mellan and Mab will, as you say, merely hunt us down, and you’ll be back to where you started.”
“Then I shall find out what he wants.” Eliza straightened her back. She could do that. She must. Like hell was she going to kiss this demon.
Adam simply gave her a slow, wicked half-smile. “Fortunately for you, lass, I already know what he wants. What they both want. More than controlling you. More than torturing me, even.”
“Then why in blazes haven’t you used it to secure your own freedom?” Eliza blurted out.
“I’m only alive because they cannot break me into revealing where this item might be.” The belligerence burning in his eyes was gone in a blink, replaced by a look of pure cunning. “However, I might be persuaded to help you use the knowledge. All I require is— ”
“Fine,” she snapped, irritation getting the best of her. “I’ll kiss you.”
Silence fell, and Adam stared at her with those eyes of his. Devil’s eyes. Eyes that made a woman forget herself. Heat rose up over her breasts and crawled along the back of her neck. Eliza grasped her skirts, her fingers twitching. She would kiss him. Kiss a man who had brought her nothing but irritation. Maybe she’d bite him to boot.
His chest, gleaming with sweat, rose and fell in a soft pattern. A bead of perspiration broke free from the top of his shoulder and ran down along the firm rise of his pectoral muscles, straight toward the dark nub of his nipple. All this time arguing with him, she’d forgotten his state of undress. Not so now. She’d have to press up against those hard muscles, touch his skin. Eliza wrenched her gaze back to his face, and his sinful lips curled in a knowing smile.
“You know,” he said casually, “I believe I shall pass for the moment. I’d rather it be when you aren’t wearing such a sour face. Kills a bloke’s ardor, you realize.”
Eliza blinked. And then his meaning hit her. “Why you…rutting…cheap, trickster…”
He laughed, a flash of even teeth. “Come now, Eliza, fret not.” He stopped then, that obnoxious smile growing and heating with promise. “I’ll take that kiss soon enough. ”
She rose to her feet in a rustle of skirts. “And I’ll be sure to bite that wicked tongue when you do!”
She marched out of the cell, slamming it behind her, as he began to laugh again. Bastard. She might just leave him here to rot after all. His laughing taunt echoed through the dark. “Now that I know tongues are involved, I’ll be sure to collect.”



GIVEAWAY:

Feb 4, 2015

"Waiting On" Wednesday #178: Edison's Alley by Neal Shusterman & Eric Elfman!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
        


Edison's Alley
(The Accelerati Trilogy, #2)
by
Neal Shusterman & Eric Elfman 

Publication date:
February 15th, 2015
 
 
Fourteen-year-old Nick has learned that the strange antiques in his attic bedroom were left there by the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla. They are pieces of Tesla's Far Range Energy Emitter, capable of transmitting 'free energy' to the globe. Some components of the contraption are still missing, but the objects themselves seem to be leading Nick and his friends to their current owners. 

However, members of the Accelerati, a menacing secret society of physicists, are on the hunt too, and their brazen leader, Dr. Alan Jorgenson, will stop at nothing to foil Nick and steal the objects. It takes a dangerous build-up of electromagnetic energy in the atmosphere to reverse everyone's fortunes--and lead Nick to his destiny. 

Readers who enjoyed the strange science, quirky humor, and out-of-this-world plot twists in Tesla's Attic will be captivated by this second book in the electrifying Accelerati Trilogy.
 
 


I loved the first book in the trilogy Tesla's Attic, and I can't wait to read more. I know that Edison's Alley will be another entertaining novel full of awesomeness.
 
 
What are you waiting for this week?
  
Leave me your WoW links!

Feb 3, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Fantasy Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read & I Want to Read!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created & hosted @ The Broke and the Bookish. 
For more info about it, check out the post HERE.
     
 

So, My Top 10 Fantasy Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read & I Want to Read are:

 
  

What about you? 
   
Leave me your TTT links!

Feb 1, 2015

#ReRead2015 & #flightsoffantasy January Update!

Every year, I sign up for reading challenges (I love them). And every year, from the ones I've signed up for, there are a few that get more attention from me a.k.a I read like crazy for them. This year, it seems that those challenges will be The Re-Read Challenge & the Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge.

So far this year, I read only fantasy, despite my 2 reading slumps this month. When I read, I read. ;) And I read a mix of re-reads & first-reads, most of which were eARCs of upcoming books.


  
For this challenge (and obviously, for the Flights of Fantasy, too), I re-read the first 3 Harry Potter books.

  
Once again, I absolutely & totally loved delving into this world. What I especially love about the series is that every time I read them, a new character becomes my most favorite & a new book becomes my most favorite. I mean, I love all the characters, and I love all the books, but it changes with every book. At the moment, my most favorite book is Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, and my least favorite is Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban. It's curious, because even though the 3rd one was never my most favorite, when I first read the series, I actually loved it more than the first 2 books, and the 2nd one was my least favorite. Since then, with every re-read, this changed. And the last time I re-read the series, I didn't have a least fav book. I guess that changed... again ;) Also, I must point out, that the last time I re-read the series, my most favorite character became Harry Potter, and now, he still is, and I don't think that will change (for the first time). Another thing I must mention is that the first chapter of Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone is one of my most favorite chapters in the whole series, and it gets to me every time, and of course that happened again. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to re-reading the rest of the series, and the re-read of these  books actually ended my first reading slump this year, which actually started before 2014 ended. So, yes, the Harry Potter series will never stop being amazing, and I'll never get enough of it!


I also started re-reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This is the first time I'm re-reading it, but just like the first time I read it, I don't want it to end, like ever, so I want to read it slowly & cherish every word, and experience the magic & the characters, so yes, I read only a 4th of the book, up until the opening night & stopped. It might be weird, and it's something I almost never do, but I'll return to it (hopefully soon) & I actually can't wait, but at the same time, I don't want to, because I know once I continue, I won't be able to stop, and I don't want it to be over! So, yes, I'm postponing it...


  
For the Flights of Fantasy Challenge, I obviously count the Harry Potter 1-3, but I also read 2 more MG fantasy upcoming books:

  
Rose and the Silver Ghost is the lovely finale to the magical Rose series, and Flunked is the first book in the interesting & fun spin on the well-known fairy tale characters - Fairy Tale Reform School series. Great book, and unique spin on the classic fairy tales. Both reviews will be published in February & March.


That being said, I actually started 3 more fantasy novels that I hadn't finished yet. The first is obviously the re-read of The Night Circus, but I also started:

  
The Skull Throne is the upcoming 4th book in one of my most favorite adult fantasy series - The Demon Cycle. I read around 40% so far (and this is the book that helped me get out of my 2nd reading slump), and once again Peter V. Brett has done an amazing job, and I know I'll finish it soon. I only started George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin yesterday. It was a spur of the moment thing. I've always wanted to read it, but never got around to it, and I was on our tablet, so downloaded the free version of this classic, and started reading it, and if I wasn't stopped by the low battery, I probably would've finished it, but I know I'll get back to it soon. It's a fun children's fantasy, and I love Curdie as a character, and I'm looking forward to finishing it.


So, obviously, it was a fantasy month for me. Even the one novella I read this month was also a fantasy. It's actually part of Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle series, too.

I don't see my fantasy kick finishing soon, so I'll continue with fantasy. Then again, I am a moody reader, so it all depends on that.
 
 

 Happy Reading Everyone!!!!!