Breeder #review #scifi #amreading #romance @carabristol

Jun15

Breeder by Cara Bristol

Synopsis
High Commander Dak is the ruling Alpha of planet Parseon. He purchases Omra as a breeder slave because in this world, females are mainly used to bear children. He wants a son and thinks after that duty is done, he will have no other need for her. By law, he is to use Omra to have his child and not for any sexual gratification.

Omra was raised knowing that one day she would be a breeder slave and her sire protected her virginity to increase her value. Her hope was that the male that chose her would not abuse her. When Dak purchased her, she was optimistic because he seemed like a strict but reasonable person.

The Parseon culture judges harshly anyone who takes pleasure carnal activity or attempts to treat females with more regard than dictated. As Dak begins to question the strict cultural norms, it seems that nefarious forces will try to exploit any perceived weakness to cause his downfall.

Opinion
I voluntarily read an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
I was hesitant about reading this book because I was worried that I would not like it. Mainly, because it is out of the range of what I would usually read. The author stated it was a dark romance and while I like suspense, I tend to stay away from the dark romance because it usually deals with issues that I do not find entertaining or like to read about in romance.

Saying all that to say, I love this book.

Yes it is dark. The world in which the author has created is a misogynistic place in the extreme. There is so much abuse towards females in general because it seems that the males hate that they need females to procreate.

Males in this world are divided into two categories: alphas and betas. The alphas run things. They are the ones that own property and are in charge. The betas are in a submissive position to the alpha. They live together after an “anointing” with the alpha as the breadwinner and the beta takes care of the domestic duties. The females are relegated to the role of breeder slaves and treated in some cases worse than a farm animal.

Why did I love this book?
One, I loved the world building. This world was so complex that I could not even think of another book that I’ve read to compare it to. As I was reading, I was on the edge of my seat trying to imagine how Dak and Omra would be able to have a relationship without him losing his position. Then I questioned what it would mean for him to lose his position. Plus the risk of the villain winning had me holding my breath because I could not guess how it was going to end.

Two, I appreciated the changes that Dak made to treat the Omra as more of an equal than society deemed her to be. While he was very strict at times, he was looking at the bigger picture and implications of his actions at all times. In that sense, he tried to be a decent alpha and protector.

Three, the ending of the book left me with hope that even though it is a dark, depressing society for women in general, the inklings of compassion indicate that change will come in time. Dak evolves in the book because he has a modicum of compassion and tenderness in his heart.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
Buy. If you like reading science fiction especially books with major alien civilization world building, this book is for you.

Book details
Series: Breeder trilogy
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 283 pages

buy_this_book

Blissful Disaster by Amy L. Gale #sale #99cents #romance

Jun14
Title: Blissful Disaster
Author: Amy L. Gale
Genre: Contemporary/NewAdult Romance
Published: April 1, 2017
~ ON SALE FOR $0.99 JUNE 11-17~

One night stands.
Career-driven Ali Whitman, never dreamed of having one, until she finds herself waking up next to a handsome tattooed man she knows nothing about. After celebrating her promotion to field reporter at Entertainment Rocks! magazine, she breaks her number one rule – to focus on work without the distraction of the opposite sex.
Rules.
Tyler Young lives by his own set. As bassist for Devil’s Garden, he exudes sexual energy and lives for the moment; no strings attached, no regrets, and no looking back.

When the two are brought face to face during an interview it goes sour, sparking a string of disasters. As their feelings for each other grow, they find themselves living by a new set of rules, but demons from the past haunt their new found love. Is it possible to crawl from the ashes of the aftermath or will it all go down in flames?
Love.
Perfect bliss or complete disaster?

He takes a few steps closer and pulls me toward him by my hips. “No one will die if we’re a few minutes late.”

 

Oh no, I’m not getting blamed for this too. I already have enough going against me when it comes to his band mates. No need to give them another reason to hate me.

 

“He who hesitates is lost.” I step into the shower. Okay, my brain turned to auto-pilot and refuses to let me curb all desires.

 

He winks. “I like the way you think, babe.” He joins me in the shower and positions the shower head so it pulses on his chest. “Ready to get wet?”

 

Way ahead of you.

 

“I’ve never met a girl like you. You tell me exactly how it is. You’re not afraid to try something you never thought you’d do. You’re smokin’ hot with a brain like Einstein. Hell, you even wrote smut about my band in a national magazine and I still can’t get you off my mind.” He presses his forehead against mine. “Don’t you get it? I want you and not just for the few months I’m in L.A. You’ve survived an earthquake and shark attack with me. You’re the one I want by my side in a zombie apocalypse, babe.”
Heat flushes through my body like wildfire. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard would involve the terms shark attack and zombie apocalypse. I’m in, much deeper than I’ve ever imagined. I want this to work with Tyler, but the obstacles aren’t easy to overcome. Yeah I know, nothing great is ever easy, but being together requires Tyler to change his whole outlook on what he wants. Is he ready to do that? I’m finally getting to a place in my career where I want to be, too. I’m not ready to give it up before it starts. We need to think with our brains rather than our hearts. Is there really a chance for us?

Romance author by night, pharmacist by day, Amy L. Gale loves rock music and the feel of sand between her toes. She attended Wilkes University where she graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. In addition to writing, she enjoys baking, scary movies, rock concerts, and reading books at the beach. She lives in the lush forest of Northeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, seven cats, and golden retriever.
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Cover reveal: Pitch Please #sportsromance @LaniLynnVale

Jun12
Title: Pitch Please
Series: There’s No Crying in Baseball
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Genre: Sports Romance
Release Date: September 8, 2017
Photographer: Michael Stokes
Cover Model: BT Urella

 

Baseball is life, the rest is just details.
Everyone who’s played the game has heard those words a time or two. But Hancock has heard them his entire life from his parents. His family has lived and breathed baseball even before he started little league.
Hancock “Parts” Peters has a name that inspires grins across many faces, but the moment those faces get their first look at him, those grins slide away.
Hancock is gruff, filterless, and doesn’t give a crap who he offends. He is the only man in baseball who doesn’t care if he gets an endorsement or not. He’s there to play the game. He’s there to win. He’s there because baseball is his life.
People think he’s a jerk.
And maybe he is. But if that’s how he has to come off to get people to leave him the hell alone so he can play in peace, so be it. The less people he has to worry about offending, the better.
***
Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back. 
Sway Coffman didn’t mean to rock the boat. She was just there to do her job.
Sure, she was a woman in a man’s world. Yes, she beat out several of those men to get the job as head athletic trainer for the professional baseball team, The Texas Lumberjacks. And yeah, she now got hate mail from those men.
But she’s good at her job, and she earned the position.
What she is not good at, however, is talking to men.
Men seem to see her curvy hips, large breasts and thick thighs and automatically think she is incompetent. Because surely a fat girl couldn’t get the job treating some of the most fit and athletic men in the world, right?
Wrong.
This fat girl got the job, and she is proud of it.
What else did she get?
The attention of the sexiest bearded man she’d ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on.
It was enough to bring to her down to her knees…in front of that man, the hot and grumpy baseball player, Hancock Peters.

 

“Mr. Peters!” Someone called from further down the hallway that led to the field. “Mr. Peters! Wait!”
Hancock looked over his shoulder, agitation clearly written all over his face.
“I’ve already told you I won’t be doing it.” Hancock informed the small man.
And he was small.
Maybe not compared to a normal man, but standing next to Hancock the man looked positively minimal.
“Please,” the man continued as if Hancock hadn’t even spoken. “This is a multi-thousand dollar commercial that we’ve been planning for months. Surely you understand that we’re doing it for…”
“Craig,” Hancock growled. “I am not doing the Harlem Shake. Do I look like a man that does the f***ing Harlem Shake?”
Craig, who I guessed was in control of PR, smiled soothingly.
“Parts,” he held out his hand.
I still wondered why he was called Parts, but I wasn’t ever going to ask him.
It was weird, and it was also a freakin’ secret. Everyone in the entire league wondered and speculated why he was called Parts. Nobody knew, though.
“I’ll be there. But only if I can sit in the back and nobody sees me.” Hancock conceded. “And don’t try to move me, or I’m leaving. Capisce?”
Craig nodded his head urgently.
“How much time do we have until we start?” Hancock asked Craig.
“Oh, about twenty minutes or so. Do you need me to bring you anything to drink?” Craig asked, happy now that he’d gotten his way.
But I knew that Craig hadn’t gotten his way.
Far from it.
If I had my guess, Hancock wouldn’t even be in the commercial.
He’d literally stay on the sidelines and make it a point to stay out of each of every shot, just like he did after games when reporters were hoping to interview him.
Then there were the photos that featured him in them.
None of them were taken with his permission.
Other than the one that the MLB used to show his stats during games, I’d never seen one picture with him looking at the camera.
“No, no drink Craig. Thank you.” Hancock waved Craig off.
The moment Craig was dismissed, he hurried back in the direction of the field, a freakin’ skip in his step.
When he rounded the corner, I turned to face Hancock fully again.
“What?” I asked, wondering what that look on his face was about.
“I’m not doing the Harlem Shake.” He repeated.
I held up my hands in understanding.
“I’m not much of a dancer, either. You and me can hang out in the back like the losers we are.” I teased.
I hadn’t meant that either of us were necessarily real losers or anything, and the moment the words left my lips, I realized how it sounded.
“I’m sorry,” I said, holding up my hand. “In no way, shape, or form am I accusing you of being a loser.”
He grinned.
“It’s okay.” He winked. “I don’t dance. I don’t do pictures. In fact, if I had my way, I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
I smiled at him.
“Sway!” Someone called. “Let’s go! We have to sit together in the front.”
Sinclair, the one man in the entire complex that I didn’t want to see, was standing there sneering at me.
“She’s not sitting in the front, Sinclair. She’s sitting with me in the back. We have to talk about what I expect out of her this season.” Hancock rumbled, stopping me with a large hand on my arm when I went to move around him.

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 5, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.

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Cover Reveal: Jacked Off by Cory Cyr #romance #giveaway

Jun9
Title: Jacked Off
Author: Cory Cyr
Genre: Urban/Romantic/Comedy
Release Date: July 21, 2017
Remmy Winters has survived a brutal divorce, the grueling heat of Las Vegas, and being judged on her physical assets instead of her brains. Now, as the CEO of the largest health foundation in the world, getting Dr. Jackson Oriell to fall in line should be effortless. That is until she sees him. Tall, young, and due to inherit billions, he’s nothing more than a modern Neanderthal in a man bun. Regardless of her first impression, she finds herself strangely captivated by this hot mess. She’s never had a problem attracting men, but Jackson isn’t going to come easily or literally. He’s sure to be the challenge of a lifetime.
Jackson Oriell was born in Africa, educated in England, and is now exiled to Texas to spend time with his terminally ill father. After practicing medicine for the last six years in the jungle, he has returned out of love and duty. His main objectives are securing the funds to continue his research and getting back to Jabari. That is until he meets Remmy. Their first meeting is tempestuous and awkward at best. His father’s new CEO is sexy as hell, and everything about the petite spitfire sends his moral compass spinning.

Suddenly, everything he wants includes her. But he’s been holding on to a dark secret for years, and getting involved with Remmy could complicate everything. That one disastrous choice he made so long ago has haunted him and could topple his entire universe, destroying any future relationship with her as well as the reputation of the Oriell Foundation.
Head over to Cory’s Author Page
to enter the HUGE GIVEAWAY!
https://www.facebook.com/CoryDCyr/

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Blog Tour: Infinite Us @EdenButler_ #amreading #romance

Jun7
Title: Infinite Us
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 23, 2017 

“Beautifully written, skillfully interwoven, a wonder of a tale. It’s not often that I am truly impressed, but Eden Butler has blown me away.” New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Amy Harmon

“Infinite Us is a gripping story of the roots that define us, the hardships that test us, and the healing power of love and acceptance. It’s a testament to how far we’ve come and how very far we have to go.” J.A. DeRouen, Bestselling Author of Low Over High

“Eden is a masterful storyteller who takes mere words and turns them into magic. She takes you on an intoxicating journey that refuses to let go. Infinite Us is an unforgettable story that’ll leave you breathless.” Cassie Graham, Bestselling Author of Who Needs Air

“Simultaneously commercial and literary, a thinking person’s romance.” Christopher Ledbetter, author of “Drawn” from Evernight

“Butler shines again in this emotionally moving tale of love, despite life and its trials and tribulations. The writing is crisp, lyrical and the flat out FEELS between the characters leak from the pages straight into your heart. You WILL be moved.” Trish F. Leger, author of the Amber Druid Series.


 Love is timeless…
Nash Nation loves zeroes and ones, over-sized monitors and late office hours. He’s too busy taking over the world to make time for relationships—that is, until his new neighbor Willow O’Bryant barges into his life, and now Nash can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t the first time she’s interrupted his world.

Then, the dreams start. And in the dreams—memories.

Memories of a girl named Sookie who couldn’t count on love or friendship, never mind forever. Memories of a library and a boy called Isaac and secrets made in private that destroyed his world.

The memories seem real, but who do they belong to?

When Nash and Willow discover the truth, life as they know it unravels.

The bridge between this life and the next is shored up by blood and bone and memory. Sometimes, that bridge leads to the place we’ve always wanted to be.

 

It was then that I saw something from Isaac I hadn’t seen before. His stony resolve crumbled and whatever excuses had always kept him from wanting me, from allowing me to act as though I wanted him too, fell away when he began to lower his hand and I held it still against my cheek.

His skin was warm and I could just make out the sharp bite of his calluses against my face. He had an arch along his top lip and eyes like a perfect circle, a play of amber and gold vying for dominance in his irises. Not hazel really, but somewhere in the middle, someplace that said Isaac came from people divergent and varied.

“Riley…” he said, a warning I didn’t want to hear. My gaze didn’t falter; I may have stumbled with Trent, but still, I knew what I wanted, what was best for me, and that was not some overbearing, suit-wearing bully. And Isaac, sweet Isaac, took my lifted chin for the invitation it was, made a sound deep in his throat, and just like that, with a single tilt of his head, stopped fighting and kissed me.

The world went away and I heard the song of hundreds of voices inside of me that sounded so familiar, yet were unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Maybe it was that active imagination of mine working in overdrive. I had wanted Isaac’s touch for months, had daydreamed about it for hours and now that it was here, I realized that my imagination was dull and pathetic. Reality was so much better.

He moved his mouth over mine, tentative at first, but fueled by my reaction and the awesome magnitude of what this felt like, he moved more confidently, more surely. Isaac wanted me and took what I offered freely—his lips soft, directing, his tongue teasing and satisfying all at once, careful of my broken lip yes, but oh, so absolute.

Eden Butler is an editor and writer of Mystery, Suspense and Contemporary Romance novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. 
When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden patiently waits for her Hogwarts letter, edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football. 

She is currently living under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana. 

Please send help.
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