#HorrorOctober Book Promo: In the Service of the Boyar #Dracula

Welcome to another book promo on Lipsyy Lost & Found where I’m always thrilled to support indie authors & publishers. Today I’m spotlighting a paranormal romance Dracula novella! Intrigued? Read on!

In the Service of the Boyar ~ Jason Graff

Publication date:  August 22nd 2016
Genres: Horror/ Paranormal Romance

In the land of the Boyar, a boy will fall in love and become much more than a man.

 Fleeing with his family from danger, a boy catches a glimpse of a girl named Fifika. They are part of the same clan of travelling workers, who have been contracted by their Boyar, Count Dracula, to dig up the earth from beneath his ancestral home. Smitten, the boy becomes her playmate there in Carpathians where the count resides and whose hillsides are filled with enchanted beasts. The children spend their days exploring the mountains surrounding the castle of the count. When they encounter him, he reassures the children that they have nothing to fear in his land.

 Some of the other members of their clan are not so sure. Some even try to hunt the wolves they feel threaten them in the night. These hunts end in tragedy but certain clan members refuse to learn from them. When tragedy visits Fifika’s family, the Boyar invites her and the boy to come to his castle and learn from his English tutor. The find John Harker to be lazy and fearful, forcing Fifika to take up both of their educations. Over the course of these lessons, the boy, no longer merely smitten, falls deeply in love with Fifika. When he finally learns Fifika’s secret, he realizes he can never leave the land of the Boyar, where Dracula is hardly the only source of enchantment.

Goodreads // Amazon

Meet the Author

 

Jason Graff is an educator as well as a writer of essays, poetry and fiction. His work has been featured in journals, such as Per Contra, Carrier Pigeon Magazine, Shadowgraph Quarterly, The Ignatian to name a few and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

In the Service of the Boyar, published by Vagabondage Press is his debut novella. His lives in Little Falls, NJ with his wife, editor and muse Laura and their son Warren.

 

Website/Blog // Facebook // Twitter

Thanks to Jason for getting in touch! If you’d like to be featured on Lipsyy Lost & Found drop me a line (see contact page).

The Ceruleans Print Party #Giveaway

Today I’m celebrating with Megan Tayte, whose fantasy/paranormal romance series The Ceruleans is available for the first time in print this June. 

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IN SEARCH OF THE MEANING OF DEATH, SHE’LL FIND THE MEANING OF LIFE

The Ceruleans: mere mortals infused with power over life and death. Five books, one question: If the might of the heavens were in your hands, would you be sinner or saint? 

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To celebrate Megan has arranged a giveaway in which you can win a copy of all five books in the series. 

Enter Rafflecopter Giveaway

Find out more about Megan and her books using the links below:

Amazon UK // Amazon USA 

Website // Goodreads // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

My Soul Immortal by Jen Printy

Title: My Soul Immortal
Author: Jen Printy
Series: Fated Eternals #1
Edition: Digital Review Copy, 310 pages
Publication Details: February 15th 2014 by Red Adept Publishing, LLC
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
Disclosure? Yep! I received a free copy in exchange for an HONEST review.

Goodreads // Amazon

An endless love, for an endless price.

Jack’s immortality is exposed when he prevents a liquor store heist, forcing him to flee to protect his secret—a secret not even he understands. But when he meets Leah Winters—a mirror image of his decades-lost love, Lydia—his very soul is laid bare. He begins to question his sanity. Is she real, and if so, what does that mean for Jack and his secret?

Jack’s not the only mystery man in town. A stranger named Artagan hints at knowledge Jack is desperate to possess. But can he trust Artagan, or does the dark newcomer harbor deadly secrets of his own?

As Jack’s bond with Leah grows, so does the danger to her life. Jack must discover just how much he is willing to risk in order to save the woman he already lost once

Review

My Soul Immortal was such a shock to me; I could not put it down, and found it to be a well-written, unique take on the paranormal romance genre, which let’s face it – gets pretty tiresome pretty quickly.

The first book in the Fated Eternals series introduces us to Jack. He’s tall and handsome, he loves books, and he’s immortal…what more could you want?

When Jack gets shot playing the hero in a robbery he has no choice but to pack his (minimal) belongings and choose a new place to live. He can’t risk being found out. A dart to a map decides his fate, and fate it really is, as once there he bumps into Leah (literally), who is the spitting image of his soul mate, Lydia, whom he has spent years trying to forget.

As Leah and Jack realise that their bond is stronger than anything they have ever known, and Leah finally understands that her weird dreams were in fact memories of her past life with Jack, they find themselves in increasing danger, and Jack is not prepared to lose her again.

Like I said earlier, I couldn’t put this book down. I read it in two sittings, over two days and I loved it! I thought the whole past-life, fated eternals thing really made this a different kind of paranormal romance story, and I loved that Jack was simply immortal, not a fang in sight. 🙂

The only slightly negative things I have to say about this book is that at first I thought Jack’s characterisation was a bit off – I think Printy struggled in writing from a male point of view and some of the things he said and thought about didn’t quite ring true to who he was. And the other, was that I didn’t write this review straight after finishing the book (my bad), and when I came to start it, it took me a while to even remember what had happened, so as much I enjoyed it at the time I can’t say it was a memorable read for me.

However, I do remember how hooked I was, and how much I enjoyed Jen Printy’s writing. I hope to read more from her; I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up the next in this series!

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I STILL Haven’t Finished

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish (click the link to visit them) who pick a different topic each week.

This week the topic is: Series we are yet to Finish.

I used to class myself as the great unfinisher of series…what can I say, I just get bored easily! However, for that reason alone, I’m quite reluctant to start new series these days, so this topic wasn’t as easy as I first thought.

I do still, of course, have some outstanding series that I haven’t finished or caught up on yet…

1. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy: I have read 8 books in this series and only have two to go, one of which I own but I just hit a wall with it. I do really want to finish this one though, I love Derek Landy!

2. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins: I really loved the first book, but still haven’t got round to the second one which was quite a long time ago now, the third is probably on its way already.

3. Dark Eden by Chris Beckett: For ages I thought this was a stand-alone, so ever since I realised it’s a series, I’ve been needing to read them all!

4. Divergent by Veronica Roth: I’m not sure if I’ll read the last book in this trilogy as I’ve heard such bad things about it. I do kind of want to read spin-off ‘Four’ though.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis: I know this is TERRIBLE considering how much I love the rest of this series but I never read the last book. For some reason as a child I never got that far, and now as an adult, and knowing vaguely what happens I just don’t think I can!

6.The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare: I don’t even know where I got up any more, book 4 maybe? I had a definite love/hate relationship with these books but I do want to finish them…I think I’d have to go back and read them all over again first though…and who’s got time for that, right?

7. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: I only made it to the 3rd book in this mammoth series, but I was loving it. I just need to get my hands on the other books.

8. The Immortals by Alyson Noel: I think I read two of these…but two was enough.

I’m sure there’s at least two more but I can’t think of them right now!

The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs

Title: Dinner with a Vampire
Author: Abigail Gibbs
Series: The Dark Heroine #1
Edition: Paperback, 549 pages
Publication Details: October 11th 2012 by Harper Voyager
Genre(s): YA; Paranormal Romance
Disclosure? Nope, I bought it second hand.

Goodreads // Purchase

One moment can change your life forever…

For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape…no matter how hard Violet tries.

Yet all the riches in the world can’t mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dangerous Kaspar Varn.

Violet and Kaspar surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds – but it’s a passion that comes at a price…

Review

It’s been quite a while since I read a vampire book, the last one was The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – which was A-Mazing – so Dinner with a Vampire had a tough act to follow and while it didn’t even come close, it was entertaining!

On a night out Violet Lee gets separated from her friends and witnesses mass murder on Trafalgar Square. It doesn’t take long for Violet to figure out that the murderers are not altogether normal. They’re fast and strong, and dress a bit odd, and of course they can’t let her go because she’s seen too much – you know the deal.

She is basically captured and given the choice to become one of them or become their food…

It’s not the most original plot, let’s face it, but to say it’s only about that would be an injustice, there is quite a lot of other, interesting stuff, going on as well.

I was really torn with this book to be honest. I couldn’t stop reading, but so many things infuriated me along the way. Violet is this feisty, smart-mouthed girl, who doesn’t seem to care a great deal that she’s being imprisoned by vampires, or that she’s away from her sister who is suffering with cancer. It made it hard to warm to her.

One of the first things she does after she’s captured is steal all of Kaspar’s (the vampire prince) condoms because she’s sick of hearing him have sex every night. It was obviously supposed to show her feisty side and the first signs of jealously or something, but it was just a bit odd, and felt quite juvenile in terms of plotlines.

This is also a book in which things don’t quite ring true at the time, and you just think the author is a bit crazy, but eventually it does all come together and make sense. I applaud Gibbs for doing that well, it was one of the reasons I couldn’t stop reading but it was so frustrating.

I found Gibb’s writing a bit hit and miss too. She sets the scene very well, and I loved the descriptions of the vampires and the hunters at the beginning, but it definitely got a bit muddled in places, mainly because of the alternating points of view. I really didn’t think we we needed Kaspar’s narration!

However, I liked the whole prophecy thing, and the romance was pretty hot, apart from a major anti-climax towards the end – I mean, I won’t give away spoilers but just know that something really pissed me off!

Meh, I don’t know if I’ll read the next one…maybe if I find it in a charity shop like I did this one.

Book Blitz: The Violet Hour

Welcome to another great promo post at Lipsyy Lost & Found. I’m thrilled to host a stop on the book blitz tour for Andrea L. Wells’ debut release, The Violet Hour.

How stunning is that cover!?

(I have one copy of the ebook to give away and you can also enter the blitz-wide draw to win a Kindle Fire HD so keep reading…)

About the Book

The Violet Hour by Andrea L Wells
Series: The Violet series #1
Publication date: May 2015
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Goodreads // Amazon // B & N

Synopsis
Still shocked over her mother’s mysterious death, California socialite Logan Keller is handed a one-way ticket to her long lost roots in Wyoming where love, deceit and danger await. Though she could forget everything staring into Luke Callahan’s eyes, Logan is quickly thrust into a fight for survival. Taking fate into her own hands, she begins unraveling the dangerous deceptions that abound at every turn. Her father is keeping secrets and Luke is keeping more. But Logan is keeping the biggest secret of them all.

The Violet Hour is a page-turning captivating twist of young romance and the supernatural.

Meet the Author

The Violet Hour Series has been begging to escape Andrea’s subconscious for more than five years. Focusing on a wonderful career, handsome husband and two beautiful children by day, she began feverishly penning the series by night. Now a full-time writer, Andrea debuts The Violet Hour.

Facebook
Website
Instagram:@andrea.l.wells

Giveaways!

One Lipsyy Lost & Found reader can win a copy of the ebook here, via Rafflecopter

Blitz-wide Giveaway:

Enter to win an Amazon Fire HD via Rafflecopter

Many thanks to Andrea for the giveaways, and to Xpresso book tours for all their great work. You can sign up for tours, book blasts, and more by heading to their website. The image below will take you there.

Lazy Saturday Review: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Title: Shadow Kiss
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #3
Edition: Paperback, 460 pages
Publication Details: November 13th 2008 by Razorbil
Genre(s): YA; Paranormal Romance
Disclosure? Nope, I bought it.

Goodreads
Purchase

It’s springtime at St. Vladimir’s Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason’s death, Rose hasn’t been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can’t concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even “bigger” secret . . . .She’s in love with Dimitri. And this time, it’s way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever…

These books will be the death of me. I swear not a lot happens for 300 pages and then BAM just before the end Richelle Mead hits us with a brick and makes it impossible to not buy the next book. What’s up with that!?

In this, the third book in the series, everyone is concentrating on graduating to become fully fledged Moroi Guardians, or for the Moroi themselves (vampire royalty) just staying alive long enough to be assigned on of the said guardians.

A lot of the story surrounds the last test for the trainees, a six week long field experiment where they’re assigned a Moroi to protect and can be attacked at any time by the guardian teachers pretending to be the crazy, murderous vamps known as Strigoi. Rose can’t wait to prove herself, but one thing is getting in the way – Mason’s ghost, and he’s not the only thing she is seeing.

I enjoyed Shadow Kiss. It just sort of ambled along nice and pleasantly for a while and then the shit hit the fan and I have no words. Mead upped the ante in respect of the action, and the romance, and I need to know what’s going to happen next with Dimitri and Rose, and Adrian and Lissa. Ahh too many good characters!

The more I read of this series, the more it stands out in the vampire genre. There’s definitely a lot more to it than you’d think, but I feel like the plots are getting thinner as it goes on.

The Vampire Academy Series is available in paperback from Waterstones now.

Book Promo: My Soul Immortal by Jen Printy

Today I have a great promo post for you, for Jen Printy’s YA Paranormal Romance My Soul Immortal. I’ll be reviewing this in near future, which I look forward to (especially after watching that awesome trailer), but here’s a little teaser in the mean time!

Title: My Soul Immortal
Author: Jen Printy
Series: Fated Eternals #1
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
Page Count: 310
Format(s): Paperback; Kindle
Published: February 15th 2014 by Red Adept Publishing, LLC
 
Links:
Goodreads
Website

Purchase:
Amazon
B&N

Synopsis

Jack’s immortality is exposed when he prevents a liquor store heist, forcing him to flee to protect his secret—a secret not even he understands. But when he meets eighteen-year-old Leah Winters—a mirror image of his decades-lost love, Lydia—his very soul is laid bare. He begins to question his sanity. Is she real, and if so, what does that mean for Jack and his secret?Jack’s not the only mystery man in town. A stranger named Artagan hints at knowledge Jack is desperate to possess. But can he trust Artagan, or does the dark newcomer harbor deadly secrets of his own?As Jack’s bond with Leah grows, so does the danger to her life. Jack must discover just how much he is willing to risk in order to save the woman he already lost once.

An endless love, for an endless price.

Book Trailer

 

Meet the Author

Since childhood, Jen Printy has been writing. Whether working on stories about a fantasy world or everyday life in Maine, Jen loved losing herself in the worlds she created on paper. The arts in all forms have always been an important part of Jen’s life, a love instilled in her by her father. When Jen isn’t writing, she’s sculpting as a freelance doll artist.

Jen lives with her husband, two daughters, and diva dog Cookie in southern Maine, where she loves spending time friends and family, finding treasures along the seashore, or enjoying a Guinness at her favorite local pub.

What People Are Saying About My Soul Immortal

 
“I loved it!! Every aspect.” – Michaela, Goodreads

My Soul Immortal by Jen Printy is a beautiful tale of love, loss and second chances.”

– Dianne, Goodreads

“I look forward to seeing what new adventures book two will bring.” – Pink Fluffy Hearts

Of River & Reyn: Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

Title: Immortal Beloved
Series: Immortal Beloved #1
Author: Cate Tiernan
Edition: Paperback, 400 Pages
Published: September 1st 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton
Genre(s): YA; Paranormal
Disclosure? Not really, I got it for free from YALC UK

Goodreads
Purchase

Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something’s got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe–until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with this book. It started off pretty dire to be honest and I was just about to give up on it when I glanced at some of the reviews on Goodreads. Most of them said the same – a terrible start but that it gets much better. So I persevered.

I guess I am glad that I did, because it did get much better, but I’m still not entirely convinced.

Immortal Beloved starts with our protagonist Nastasya and her group of friends whose entire mission in life is to party all night and sleep all day. It’s all a bit cliched. We soon learn that they are immortal, and apparently the only way to spend their time is to get wasted and hook up with each other, or any willing mortals they can find.

I found the whole thing pretty boring and repetitive.

The point at which something worthwhile happens is when Nastasya’s best friend/sort-of boyfriend/immortal life partner, Incy uses ‘magick’ to break a cab driver’s back for no apparent reason. This, thankfully, doesn’t sit well with Nastasya. She develops a conscience overnight, realising what a terrible path she she is on with her terrible immortal friends, and she decides to leave.

She runs away to America to find River, an immortal she met a hundred-or-so- years earlier when she was involved in a car crash. River, a mysterious, hippy-type, had told Nastasya to seek her out at River’s Edge when she’s ready to be a better person.

I couldn’t help but think that this is where the book should had started – instead of the mess that was the first 70 pages – then as a reader we’d wonder what had driven her to this point, and the cab-driver incident could be revealed in a flashback. But it’s not my book, what do I know!?

River’s Edge turns out to be a working farm, which acts as a sort of rehab to immortals who want to be reminded to appreciate every day.

Because of the relative length of our lives, so many things lose importance or become lost themselves […] we forget how to value things, how to feel things. We forget how to love. […] What we start off doing here is to give you a crash course in relearning the significance of moments, of minutes.

I did kind of like that idea, but the constant descriptions of Natasya scrubbing vegetables and washing dishes in order to appreciate every moment was just way too dull. It was like she’d entered into the dullest cult on the planet.

However, there were a few saving graces in this book. Enter Reyn – the viking-esque, grumpy hottie whom Nastaya recognises but can’t place. Between Reyn and good magick classes, Nastasya starts having flashbacks to when she was growing up in Iceland (another saving grace) before she knew she was immortal.

Without giving away the whole plot, let’s just say that Reyn becomes Nastasya’s public enemy #1, but he’s just so damn hot! Can she resist him?

Thwooooarrrrr!

And that, my friends is the ONLY reason I have to continue with the series. Hot, Viking Reyn – a combination of Eric Northman and Hemsworth’s Thor in my mind. More please.

Immortal Beloved is available in paperback from Waterstones. Click here to see how you can get 10% off.

An Alcoholic, a Teashop and an Angry Vampire Ex!

Kissing with Fangs by Ashlyn Chase

Claudia Fletcher has her MBA and a stellar resume, so when the bar she manages burns down, she could easily move on to bigger and better things. But something about the bar owner, Anthony Cross makes it impossible to leave.

Anthony has never let on to the general public that he’s a vampire, and most of his staff members have no idea Boston Uncommon was a safe gathering place for supernaturals of all kinds. Now that it’s nothing but ash, the tentative peace among warring factions is starting to crumble. The last thing he wants to do is put Claudia in danger, but he also knows there’s no way he can let her go…

Anyone who knows me will probably be surprised when I say that I’ve never actually read any Vampire Erotica before. No, seriously. Unless you include Slash Fiction…which I don’t! 😉 So when I saw this on NetGalley I thought I’d give it a go, and although I didn’t LOVE LOVE it, I’m glad I did.

The story isn’t bad, and the writing isn’t bad either, it’s just a bit too…shallow…for my liking.

Vampire meets girl, girl is an alcoholic bar manager so Vampire coverts bar into teashop. Vampire’s Vampire ex is a crazy stalker bitch who doesn’t like girl very much. ‘Paranormals’ are being experimented on, so Vampire and his ‘Para’ friends must stop them which is quite difficult when all he wants to do is have his wicked way with girl.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of light-hearted trashy lit now and again, and this did satisfy that but I wanted more. More than anything, I wanted Anthony to be a better, hotter vampire. I mean he seemed pretty good at Teh Sex, but he was a lame vampire. There was no mystery or danger about him, in fact, if I hadn’t been told, I wouldn’t have believed he was a vampire at all. He didn’t drink anyone’s blood, he didn’t have any bloodlust, and he didn’t even see fit to do away with his stalker ex who was threatening to kill his ‘beloved’. Rubbish.

But, I did enjoy parts of Kissing with Fangs. It was a quick read with some nice touches (err hello, Merman!) and I definitely wouldn’t be put off reading more in the series/from the author (just less of the ‘she worried her lip’ please!).

Disclosure?: I received an Advanced Review Copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley. Many Thanks!
Title: Kissing With Fangs
Author: Ashlyn Chase
Details: Paperback, e-book, 384 pages
Expected publication: March 4th 2014 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating: 2/5