HEA Book Tours Presents: LIGHT IN DARKNESS by Brandy L Rivers

LIGHT IN DARKNESS

Author: Brandy L Rivers

Series: Others of Edenton: Book 6

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

~ SYNOPSIS ~

Sometimes light comes from the darkest shadows…

Lincoln, having been sheltered his whole life, is finally finding his path after losing his mother. Gaining confidence isn’t easy, but he can’t resist going after the woman he craves.

Victoria believes she is a monster. Her past is full of darkness and pain, horrors she would protect Lincoln from. Pushing him away proves harder than she imagined now that his heart is set on her.

A secret is revealed when a group of Other hunters come searching for Victoria, putting Lincoln in danger.

Will darkness consume Victoria? Or will Lincoln’s light show her the truth?

~ PRE-ORDER ~

AMAZON 

~ TEASERS ~

~ OTHERS OF EDENTON SERIES ~

- New Beginnings, #0.5: http://amzn.to/19shmii

- In Too Deep, #1: http://amzn.to/1FsGP7j

- Shadows Fall, A Novellete #1.5: http://amzn.to/1Co7mn5

- Shadows of the Past, #2: http://amzn.to/1CmtcFV

- Fated Love, Novella #2.5: http://amzn.to/1EklEjA

- Falling Into Place, #3: http://amzn.to/1AwCzhw

- Breaking Free, #4: http://amzn.to/1MG5W6U

- Mending Scars, #5: http://amzn.to/1BwVB7T
- Light in Darkness, #6: http://amzn.to/1FonVdS

- Others of Edenton BOXSET #1

Includes: New Beginnings, In Too Deep, Shadows Fall, and Shadows of the Past: http://amzn.to/1MFma1L

- Others of Edenton BOXSET #2
Includes: Fate Love, Falling Into Place, Breaking Free, Mending Scars, and Labor of Love: http://amzn.to/1CX1Q7R

~ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~

Brandy L Rivers

I've always loved books, especially about monsters and magic, so I started writing. I'm working on a prequel and the next few books in the Others of Edenton series, and I have a head full of stories to share.

I'm a stay at home mother with a wonderful husband who lets me write and write to my hearts content.

Social media links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

~ Tour Host ~

HEA Book Tours, PR & More: http://heabooktours.blogspot.com/

Sunday Review: Sage Blog Tours Presents: Madame Lilly, Time of Sanura Vol #3 by Dormaine G.

Title Madame Lilly, Time of Sanura
Author Dormaine G.
Source Received in exchange for an honest review
Purchase Link AMAZON

Blurb

History has a way of repeating itself

Madame Lilly journeys back in time to her great-grandmother's era, the time of Sanura. Both women possess more than a kinship for they are each bound to harmful spirits whom they refuse to relinquish. By the hand of a mysterious being, Elijah, Lilly is transported into the past to witness the dark path Sanura chose—ultimately leading to her demise.

Sanura fights to deny her ability to see the non-living, but the more she refuses the sight, the more the dead flock to her. A dreadful accident takes place, forcing her to finally accept her once unwanted gift. She soon welcomes the dead.

Through Sanura's struggle of growing up an innocent child forced to take on the burdens no one should carry, she ultimately transforms into a frightfully powerful woman. Lilly watches from afar as Sanura grows more commanding with each act of wickedness, until her final downfall. Even then, Sanura refuses to surrender her bound spirits for they need her as much as she needs them.

Review

This was a very difficult story to review. Overall I think this was an average short story. It didn't keep me enthralled but I did finish it in one sitting. So that has to mean something right?

The characters were interesting. I liked the main character for the most part. She was a strong woman but not so strong it was being shoved in your face. I really like when its easy to accept like it was in this book.

The plot moved along rather quickly. I realize for a short novella the plots tend to do that. But I would have liked to have seen more depth in the characters instead of the faced paced plot.

Overall I'm giving this a 3 star. While it was decent in the plot line I really wanted more out of it to slow the pace.

If you like novella's and short stories then you are probably used to the quicker pace. You would most likely like this one.

Gluten Free Friday Homemade Recipe #12: Sweet Potato Muffins

Here is a delicious yet some what complicated recipe for muffins. It's a 5 Star winner.

When I read the original recipe it seemed very easy, it was all white flour. But then I wanted to make it gluten free, organic and milk free. That's when it got complicated! So in the event you don't want to make it gluten free just substitute white flour for all my flour ingredients and that should work for you. And regular buttermilk instead of the buttermilk I made.

If you are making all of the products at one sitting this should take you roughly 1 hour to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.

I think this would taste extremely good with raisins inside of it. I'm going to try it next with that added. You could also add nuts or anything that you feel would compliment sweet potato flavor.

It should be noted the Quinoa flour tastes and smells a bit nutty. So please make sure you use this in a recipe where there are other strong main ingredients. Unless you simply love the taste of nuts!

At the bottom of the post are the instructions for the homemade buttermilk and flours used inside this recipe. I encourage you to make these before you start cooking to make the prep time about 20 minutes instead of an hour.

As always, all the ingredients are organic and gluten free

Happy Eating, and Enjoy!

Ingredients):
Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup wild rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
3/4 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon Mediterranean Sea Salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup hemp buttermilk
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons organic butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/3 cups cooked mashed sweet potato (about 1 medium-large sweet potato)

Streusel Topping:
2 tablespoons organic butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup quinoa flour
2 tablespoons oatmeal (rolled oats)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with organic oil.


Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well. Set aside.

In a pan boil 1 sweet potato until soft enough to mash. Once completed mash prior to putting into the 'wet' dish.

Now combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl, whisking everything together.

Moving on to the streusel topping, cream the butter and brown sugar together in a small bowl, then add the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste. Blend with your fingers to form a crumbly mixture. Set it aside, too.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until not quite blended,  with just a couple of strokes, so the mixture is just barely combined. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Divide the streusel evenly, sprinkling over the tops of the muffins.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly on a rack, then serve, warm.





Additional Directions:

If you do not have these flour and buttermilk already made here are the instructions.

Wild Rice Flour:
Wash rice thoroughly and then soak in cold water for 3 hours. I put ice cubes in my water bowl and had the rice in a strainer. Then place into a sauce pan and turn heat on low. Let the rice dry out but not brown in the pan. Once rice is ready for grinding take 1/2 cup of rice at a time into a blender. Once its the texture you want place it on a cheese cloth overnight to dry out. When the rice has dried out place in an air tight container and refrigerate.

 Quinoa Flour:
Wash Quinoa seeds thoroughly until the water runs clean. Then place on a flat sheet and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Once they have cooled off place 1/4 of a cup full at a time inside the blender. Place inside a sealed container and refrigerate. Will last up to a year.

Hemp Buttermilk:
Take 1 cup of Hemp Milk and place it into a sauce pan. Take 1/4 cup of lemon juice and mix in. Put the burner to low to medium heat and place the pan on it for 5-10 minutes. Stir it moderately to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove from heat and let cool. Then place in a sealed container and refrigerate.

Sage Blog Tours Presents: Mango Girl by Joe Canzano

Magno Girl

By Joe Canzano

Genre: Comic Urban Fantasy

99 Cents @ Amazon

Book Synopsis:

When a Manhattan pizza maker is found dead in his own dough, Magno Girl enlists the aid of her biker ninja boyfriend to help solve the crime – and quickly discovers there’s more to the pie than meets the eye, including a sinister plot that spans the globe.

Magno Girl leaps into action. After all, she can fly, she can fight, and she can use her fearsome superpower, the “Gaze of the Guilt,” to bring a hardened criminal to his knees. But the road ahead is hard. The city’s other superheroes despise her, and the cops don’t want her around, and her own mom won’t stop spitting out advice about marrying a “respectable guy” and trading in her crime-fighting career for a baby carriage—but is she attracted to “respectable guys”? And is she interested in emotional commitment? And will finding real love be her biggest challenge of all?

Welcome to the world of Magno Girl, a wild and absurd place filled with humor, action, and romance.

Author Bio

Joe Canzano’s interest in stories started at the age of three, when his mother read him Peter Rabbit. Unfortunately, his grandfather shot Peter and shoved him into a pot, convincing Joe at a young age to never write a story about a fuzzy animal.

Through his school days, English was the only subject that didn’t put him to sleep. He has a BA in English from Rutgers University.

Joe once wrote a 10,000 line epic poem about an upscale madam and the secret agent who falls in love with her. He figured this would take the literary world by storm since there was nothing like it on the bestseller lists. He soon discovered there was good reason for this. As one editor said, “Epic poetry ain’t what it used to be.” Well, crap. Joe decided to write something else.

Joe’s hero is Wile E. Coyote because he keeps on trying, no matter how many times a big rock falls on his head.

Joe’s short stories have been published in the following places: Akashic Books Online, Happy Magazine, The Chrysalis Reader, The Wisconsin Review, Studio One, Pearl, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Quercus Review
Joe is a rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitar player, and his stories and style are influenced as much by the Ramones and Lou Reed as they are by Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Elmore Leonard, Christopher Moore, and Tom Robbins.

Joe’s publishing company, Happy Joe Control, has several other novels to be released in the near future.


Links:
www.happyjoe.net

www.facebook.com/happyjoecanzano

www.twitter.com/happyjoecanzano

amazon.com/author/joecanzano

goodreads.com/joecanzano

HEA Book Tours Presents: Monochrome My Madness by A. Giannoccaro

MONOCHROME MY MADNESS

Author: A. Giannoccaro

Series: Colour Series, Book 2 ~ Standalone Novels 

Genres: Dark Romance | Romantic Suspense | Erotica 

~ SYNOPSIS ~

“If you love something, kill it. Before it kills you.”

I am a villain, a monster and am here with a plan to execute. She is not part of my plan. She is poison and she is going to kill me.

I will let her, because my broken black heart beats with love for her.

~ Callum

Death follows me like a shadow creeping silently after me, tethered to my blackened soul. I am cursed to carry it with me everywhere I go. It is never far away from me, and I am perfectly happy with that. The dark shadow of death keeps me alive in this rotten fucking world.

Light through the grey shadow changes everything. It changes me.

He took my madness and broke me. I am going to kill him.

~ Shannon

Are you ready to love and let die with Callum and Shannon?

Add to Goodreads

~ PURCHASE ~

AMAZON US | iTunes | B&N | KOBO

~ TEASERS ~

~ EXCERPT ~

★★★ ADULT CONTENT WARNING ★★★

***Exceprt from Monochrome My Madness – Unedited and subject to change. Copyright © A.Giannoccaro 2015***

★★★ Not suitable for readers under 18 and may contain triggers ★★★

  

A prologue to the madness

Callum

There was a time before this time my demons were too much to bear.

My head is pounding and my mouth feels like I ate a bowl of cotton wool for dinner. As I pull my naked self up on the couch, I can see the carnage of my night all over the apartment. The glass coffee table that should be in front of me is shattered into a million tiny pieces on my carpet that is now blood stained. I look at my hands and I just know. I swallow the dryness in my mouth and stand slowly my bare feet crunch and slice open on the glass. I don’t feel the cuts and splinters because my mind is racing full speed to what will await me when I find the person I brought home last night.

Why do beautiful girls seek me out? Do they not sense the danger? I thought girls had a sixth sense about these things?

The morning sun fills the room as a soft breeze blows in off the bay and through the open balcony doors. I can see the one glass door is shattered and the light is fractured as it shines through the cracked pane. The ocean air is cleansing and fresh in my lungs, and it eases some of the heat that sweats out of my naked skin.

I slowly step over the debris that litters my home and the dread becomes worse. I stop when I find my cell phone on the passage floor and type a text to Rowan.

Come now.

I know whatever I find will not be good, the absolute destruction around me is worse than I have ever seen before. What have I done?

I step over woman’s underwear that is shredded into pieces as I walk down the dim passageway into the aftermath of my actions. I step over more glass and the contents of a ladies' handbag, her lipstick, tampons and credit cards scattered across the white tile floor of the passage. Every step I get closer to facing the reality of what I did. Again. I step on her key chain and pain shoots up my leg. Fuck me that hurts. I kick the offending keys out the way they skitter across the floor and land against the wall.

My phone vibrates in my hand, I don’t look at it, I know it is Rowan with a slew of curse words and a message that he is on the way. Again.

I can feel my heart beating in my chest and my hands are shaking, this has to be the worst I have ever woken up to. I see theblood spatter on the wall outside of the guest bathroom and the first flashback crashes into my pounding head and consumes me.

My hands on her throat, as I slammed into her against that wall, her head hitting it over and over. I raped her sinful little body. The wailing cries that escaped her as she begged me, pleaded with me stop. I didn’t stop abusing her body or her mind. The blood smeared down the wall as she sank to the floor and sobbed before I dragged her to my room by her arm.

I cannot control it when this happens. Sweat beads down my chest as it heaves with apprehension at what I am going to see in my room. What I did? This blind rage towards woman, the lack of focus and the fact that I lose touch with reality completely is making me worry for the first time ever. I know I have something wrong with me, but no idea what or how to fix it. I am fucked up, broken and useless. I need help! Where the hell is Rowan, he needs to get here.

I slowly push the door of my bedroom completely open and brace myself for what I will see. I blink my eyes closed and open them slowly to take in what the monster within me has done – this time.

Draped across my white bedcovers that are now spattered and soaked with blood is the body of a beautiful young woman. She isn’t moving and I instantly run to see if she is alive. Please tell me I haven’t murdered her. I don’t want to start killing them. I just hurt them, hurting them helps. It fixes me. She is facing down in the sheets and her back, thighs and ass are a bloodied mess where I took to them with my belt. Her hands are still bound behind her back with a cable tie and the blood has dried where it has ripped into her delicate skin.

I try to breathe in and out, but it feels impossible the smell of blood is ripe in the air. I roll her limp body over so that I can see the face I have destroyed. She is unrecognizable my fists have melted her face into a mass of bruised broken flesh. I am sick, I did this and I don’t even remember it all. I feel her neck for a pulse, it is there, but so weak I can barely feel it. I sit on the edge of the bed hangmy head in shame and try to forget that this is what I do. Over and over, I hurt these women I need help I need to stop.

I hear the front door slam closed, thank God, Rowan is here. “Callum” he yells to find me. I cannot answer I know he can see the carnage as he walks through my home.

“Callum what the fuck!” I hear him yelling again. I just sit there naked, ashamed and completely fucking broken. I can hear him mumbling at someone on the phone. Cleaners, he will get them to clean, but what can I do with her. She is never going to be the same.This one cannot walk away and try to forget.

When he does eventually enter my room, he ignores me. The girl is his first stop I watch as he checks her pulse and shakes his head. He looks at me with that look, the look that says I have disappointed him again. Then pulls out his silenced gun and shoots her in the head that I smashed in over and over again. She is gone in second, he doesn’t even flinch or blink, she is just another number to him.

“I am not letting her live like a vegetable you fucker! Get dressed! We need to talk.” Rowan spits his words out glaring at me his anger is just a simmer he can control it so well. I cannot.

I take a shower and wash the dead girl’s blood off my body, I can hear the shuffles and gasps of the cleaners outside the bathroom door as I try to wash away the evidence of my madness. The water can clean my body, but my mind is so dirty I don’t even want to think.

I find Rowan in my kitchen barking at the men he uses to clean up after a kill, he is usually a lot less messy and this is a big job to fix. He eyes me with the blue eyes that have a hell behind them and shakes his head. “Callum, this is the last time. That in there, that was too far. What is going on? You cannot do this forever! Someone will catch you.” I run a hand over my beard and try to think what caused it, I don’t have an answer, I never do, it just happens.

Sunday Review: Past Demons by A. L. Kessler

Title Past Demons
Author A.L. Kessler
Source This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review
Purchase Lin ks Amazon

Blurb

With her freedom stolen from her by the Father, Tegan had never lived a life of her own. Whisked away to be a bound human to Lucius, she never knew what it was like to have a mate to love and cherish her. Now after losing three hundred years of memories, Tegan needs to rediscover everything she’s worked for and learn every lesson again, but this time something is different. Kaden claims that he is her fated mate.

The reason for Kaden’s exile from the Demon world is no secret: he beheaded his own king. The one thing that makes his exile bearable is being close to Tegan. When Tegan returns he knows he finally has his chance to make her his, but two people stand in his way: Lucius and Tegan’s brother, Zaaren.

The war rages on. With the rumor that someone has raised the Father and the Originals showing signs of waking, the bloodshed will only get worse.

Review
Let me start off this review saying this author is on a Time-Out! I cannot believe she ended the book like she did! Yeah - isn't it a 'horrible' feeling when the book ends and y ou want to scream at the person who wrote it saying "WHYYYYYY!!!!"

Haha -yeah this book evoked a lot of emotion out of me the last third of it.

Okay, where to begin for real ... lets see ... First off it was great learning more about Tegan, her brother and The Father. I loved how they all interacted together and how you got to really see why the characters do the things they do in modern day.

I was very disappointed it ended on this cliff hanger. And I am even more mad that I have to wait to find out what happens ... All I am gonna say is DAMN THAT CAEL!!!

Anyway - This is the forth book in the series. I know the last book I said I can tell how much the author has improved over the course of her writing but each book just keeps getting better. The story lines are deeper and the characters are more rich.

I highly suggest this series to anyone who loves a good paranormal romance.

I give this a 5 star rating because any book that makes me want to stop speaking to the author out of anger due to emotional overload deserves top marks!

Sunday Review: American Sniper by Chris Kyle , Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice

Title: American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

By Chris Kyle , Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice
Source: Purchase on Amazon
Buy Link: AMAZON

BLURB


Gripping, eye-opening, and powerful, American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon.
In this New York Times bestselling memoir, Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade-long career, including his multiple combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and elsewhere from 1999-2009.
Kyle’s riveting first-person account of how he went from Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin offers a fascinating view of modern-day warfare and one of the most in-depth and illuminating looks into the secret world of Special Ops ever written.

REVIEW  

This is an extremely hard review to write. So I am going to place a disclaimer on this one. Usually I take off for horrible grammar and using ( ) in the middle of sentences to clarify what the author is meaning. If I had chosen to do that in this case then this book would get somewhere between a 1.5 and a 3 star rating.

That being said - I am ignoring all of those issues because what I got from this book was so overpowering that I cannot let the grammar stuff pull it down.

This book contained a lot, and I mean A LOT of emotion. There was everything from love and marriage to war, death and infidelity. You ran the gauntlet of trauma that comes from war, and relationships in general. It helped to give an insight as to what goes on inside a military mindset of a sniper.

I have heard and seen the comments that people feel Chris Kyle was an arrogant and cocky SOB who was just out for a legal way to kill people. And I didn't gather that at all. Yes, he admits all he wanted to do was go kill him some bad guys that could potentially harm Americans. But what I took away from this book was a man who was willing, and in some ways did, lay down his life for his country.

I would have to think anyone who joined the military needs the mindset that they want to shoot and kill anyone who would bring harm to our country. Why else join the military? It takes a certain type of individual to get up everyday and kill people. Be it good people or bad people. It is not for everyone, nor should it be. Chris Kyle, and his fellow SEALS, possess a special mindset that allow them to do the dirty work us civilians just can't comprehend.

I don't want to be like them, and I don't want them to be like us!

I have not read a memoir book in a LONG time and I never read non-fiction. So I have nothing to base my opinion of this book against when it comes to the genre and what is expected. What I do know is this book pulled out of me an immense  amount of patriotism, love for family and sorrow for those who end up cast aside once they return home.

I loved learning about his wife's insights and her thoughts. She was very angry at some times and I think it was fantastic to see the real emotion. I will say the parts written by his wife were very well thought out and much more comprehend-able with a focus and point to them. 

Overall I am giving this book 4 stars. I couldn't put it down. It kept me enthralled. It just really needed a better editor....