ARC Review, Blog Tour & Giveaway: Backfire by Keri Lake

Cover Design: Hang Le
Image Credit: Eric Battershell Photography
Cover Model: Johnny Kane

*** WARNING! This book is for ADULTS only or may be unsuitable for people under 21 years of age due to sexual content, graphic violence, and/or mature themes. Reader discretion is highly advised. If you are easily offended, then this book is not for you and please do not continue. ***

Backfire by Keri Lake
Series: Vigilantes #2
Published: July 9th 2016 by Self-published
Language: English
Print Length: 442 pages
Genres: Dark Romance, Suspense, Erotica
Target Reader: Adult

Ebook: Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon UK • Amazon AU • B&N • iBooks

No matter how unbreakable he may seem, every man has a weakness.

A year ago, my home became a bloodstained crime scene. That night marked the beginning of my hell—the same night I was tortured by my enemies and tossed into an underground prison to die.

They failed. I survived.

Now that I’m free, only one motive burns in my soul: revenge.

Lucky for me, they think Jase Hawkins is dead. Maybe I am. I’ve got nothing but a cold, merciless rage, and Black Betty, the sharp steel blade that never leaves my side.

Then she drifts into my life.

Lucia wants answers—so much so, she’s willing to fall into the darkness where my enemies lie in wait, to kill her for what she knows.

Or to take her for the depraved fantasies her body alone can rouse in a man’s mind.

Me? I want her for the fire in her touch that feeds my addiction, forces me to feel what has become numb, but my appetite for bloodshed runs deeper than flesh.

For my own sanity, I’ve vowed to stay away from her. Because she’s my only weakness, an obsession that leaves me craving more—one that could make even the most steadfast plan backfire.

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REVIEW BY ALEXA

You know how it feels when a sequel is everything you want and even more? Yes, it was what I’ve felt when reading Backfire. Keri Lake certainly has great talent in this genre and in the future, I wish she would write more dark romance.

I wasn’t able to let go this book from the beginning. Jase Hawkins, a broken shell of a man. Destroyed by the world. A thief. A murderer. A selfish prick with a single motive of survival. But some sweet moment could not cover up the quality of this badass guy. Calm and kinky are forced by circumstances to become criminals since childhood.

Lucia is a brave girl and very attractive. She was poor but not pathetic, smart, creative, feisty, and full of surprises. She challenge Jase in every step, made him out of focus but also the true anchor of his messy life. I liked to sew how their chemistry build together. How conflicts strengthen the bonds between them. Their destiny are already established long before their first meeting.

“Lucia saw beneath Jase’s mask, beneath the bones and flesh, and yanked at his soul like a beam of sunlight fighting its way through murky waters of swamp.”

Backfire is the type of story you want to read slowly. Savoring every words, twist, steamy tension, full action package, intrigue and heart felt romance. Beside the early narrative was intimidating, too many characters name and too detailed informations in this book, Jase and Lucia’s story will make you hold your breath from the first moment.

OVERALL RATING

SEX-O-METER

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What Others Are Saying:

“Backfire is dark, gritty, and unapologetic. You’ll be reading it with your heart in your throat and your stomach twisted up in knots. It’s violent, a touch depraved, darkly erotic, action packed and absolutely, positively unputdownable.” -Dirty Girl Romance Blog

“It’s brilliant. It’s rewarding and it is a mind screw done perfectly. You will hear your heart break for what Jase and Lucy go through. You will love, hate and shatter.” -Kathy Coopmans, USA Today Bestselling Author

“So dark and disturbing you read with one eye open, unable to look away -riveted by what’s playing out before your very eyes as Keri Lake takes you on a twisted rollercoaster flying in different directions at great speed.” -Totally Booked Blog

“Once again Keri Lake has given us a wonderfully engaging story which sucks you into a whole other world, making you feel everything and revel in the brutal underworld that she has created. It’s a book you experience,not just read, and if you’re in the mood for this sort of story, it’s going to blow you away with its dark intensity.” -Escapist Book Blog

View the Backfire Book Trailer here:

Backfire Playlist:

Don’t miss out on reading Ricochet! Standalone novel in the series is #AvailableNow

Review • Amazon US • Amazon UK • B&N • Kobo • iBooks

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keri Lake is a married mother of two living in Michigan. By day, she tries to make use of the degrees she’s earned in science. By night, she writes dark contemporary and paranormal romance. Though novels tend to be her focus, she also writes short stories and flash fiction on the many occasions when distraction sucks her in to the Land of Shiny Things.

She loves hearing from readers …

Website | Twitter | FB Fan page | Amazon | Newsletter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Instagram

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Book Review: Ricochet by Keri Lake

*** WARNING! This book is for ADULTS only or may be unsuitable for people under 21 years of age due to sexual content, graphic violence, and/or mature themes. Reader discretion is highly advised. If you are easily offended, then this book is not for you and please do not continue. ***

Ricochet by Keri Lake
Series: Vigilantes #1
Published: July 9th 2015 by Self-published
Language: English
Print Length: 530 pages
Genres: Dark Romance, Suspense, Erotica
Target Reader: Adult

Ebook: Amazon US • Amazon UK • B&N • Kobo • iBooks

The only sure way to destroy a man is to take what he cannot live without.

Three years ago, I had everything.

A beautiful wife.
A son.
A reason for living.

Until a ruthless task force, assembled under Mayor Michael Culling, with a brutal strategy to make the streets of Detroit ‘safe’, ripped away everything I loved in a deadly hunt called The Culling.

They tried to kill me, too. I wish they had. Now I’m cursed by the memories of that night, and the words I whispered to my dying wife.

A promise—to avenge the wrong and set it right.

I’m no longer Nick Ryder. I’m a masked vigilante. Faceless. Loveless. Fearless. A man with nothing left to lose—one who’s seen the dark and violent truth behind the city’s flawless veneer.

Michael Culling doesn’t know who I am. Or what I want. All he knows is that I’ve kidnapped his beautiful wife.

An eye for an eye—isn’t that how the saying goes? And Aubree Culling is the perfect pawn to destroy him.

If she doesn’t destroy me first.

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REVIEW BY ALEXA

“Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injures in the same manner : fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” (Leviticus)

Ricochet sudah menarik perhatianku sejak tanggal releasenya. Tapi aku bisa dibilang berulang kali DNF di chapter awal karena prolog yang sangat mendetail, gelap, dan lambat. Intensitas narasinya menuntut konsentrasi penuh untuk bisa memahami dan menyerap tiap detail informasi dan nama-nama yang ditebar sejak di awal buku.

Benang merah storyline kisah ini mengingatkanku pada versi ekstrim perpaduan Fat Tuesday dari Sandra Brown dan retelling kisah klasik Count of Monte Cristo. Tapi tambahan detail romance yang kuat, intrik mafia yang gelap, aksi laga menegangkan, dan narasi emosional yang merontokan organ dalam membawa kisah ini ke tingkatan yang lebih tinggi dan bisa diterima sebagai kisah yang sama sekali berbeda.

Yang aku suka dari kisah ini, Keri ternyata bukan tipe telling, dia lebih suka showing. Dia tidak menceritakan bagaimana Nick si pembunuh kejam yang penuh dengan luka batin dan alpha male kelas 1 tapi dia menunjukan dengan tiap detail tindakan dan sepak terjang Nick dengan bahasa yang lugas, gelap dan indah. Di satu sisi tindakan kejam Nick untuk membalaskan dendamnya sangat sadis dan digambarkan super detail. Tapi saat dia mulai membuka lukanya selapis demi selapis dalam kondisi blackoutnya. Hatiku ikut patah hati atas semua yang sudah dirampas dari hidup Nick.  Sebelumnya dia adalah suami dan ayah yang berdedikasi, seorang pria yang bahagia, tapi untuk menghancurkan monster-monster dia harus bertransformasi menjadi monster juga.

Sayangnya walaupun Aubree ditampilkan sebagai perfect thropy wife, seorang terapis dan punya kekuatan bertahan dibalik siksaan tapi sampai akhir aku kesulitan untuk bonding dengan karakternya yang tidak konsisten. Dia pasif agresif tapi tidak loveable untukku. Romance mereka panas membara tapi terasa instan, klise dan penuh momen magical pussy dengan maraton seksnya yang hampir mendominasi 35 %. Dengan kelamnya masa lalu dan luka batin Nick, seberapa hebatnya trik terapi Aubree agak mengherankan betapa cepatnya Nick jadi luluh, terbuka dan dan jadi hobby curhat setelah “momen kebersamaan mereka”. Aku lebih menyukai sisi suspens kisah ini daripada romancenya. Bagiku timeline 2 minggu, terlalu singkat untuk menghapus trauma parah dan melibatkan sumpah setia dan proklamasi cinta.

“In the end, he saved me, and in return, I saved him. Eye for an eye, heart for a heart.”

Diceritakan dalam tripel POV orang pertama, banyak twist yang terjadi di 30 persen ending. Mengejutkan tapi agak dipaksakan. Alasan kenapa Nick dan keluarganya juga tetap bias sampi akhir. Ricochet tidak sempurna tapi ini adalah bacaan penutup yang sempurna untuk tahun ini.

OVERALL RATING

SEX-O-METER

Release Blitz + ARC Review & Giveaway: This is War, Baby by K Webster

*** WARNING! This is War, Baby is a dark romance. A really dark one. So dark you’re going to wish you had a flashlight to see yourself to the end and someone to hold your hand. Human trafficking, dubious consent, and strong sexual themes that could trigger emotional distress are found in this story. This story is NOT for everyone.***

This is War, Baby by K Webster
Series: War and Peace #3
Published: February 29th 2016 by Self-published
Language: English
Print Length: 251 pages
Genres: Dark Romance, Erotica
Target Reader: Adult

Ebook: Amazon US • Amazon UK • B&N • Kobo • iBooks

My life had a plan. Until he invaded it and stole it all away. My captor took me and I became a pawn.

His strategy changed and he sent me away to WAR, because money is everything in this world.

In my WAR, though, I found peace.

I couldn’t help but find love where I least expected it, with a man who lived a battle every day of his life
…all inside his head.

But then my captor came back for me.
Yet, this time, battle lines had been drawn and I was protected.

So we thought.
Even though my WAR was raging,
my captor would fight to the death.

The good guys always win, right?
Not always.

All’s fair in love and WAR, right?
Not this time.

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REVIEW BY ALEXA

Baylee (17) never realize her darkest fantasy about her neighbour became real nightmare. Gabe (41) kidnapped her. He gave her the most unforgettable moment for two weeks. This sexy, sadistic, and dominant bastard trained her so she could confront the sexual predators in outside world. He was train Baylee to be a perfect sexual slave for auction.

Well, this is my first read from K Webster and I was so amazed with her skill to play with my mind. Her twisted plot and complexity from the characters is suprised. This is War, Baby give something more than just an ordinary dark romance. She also offer multi-layer conflict that appears simple at first and then turns into something deeper and complicated.

The timeline divided by two parts. Preparing Baylee before meet War and the present time she meet War. First 30% is really match with the label; erotica dark romance. But the 50% in War’s part really surprised me also very touching scene. This is a very unpredictable twist. You need to go blind to read this so didn’t ruin the surprises.

There is a thing that slightly bothers me that Baylee is kinda unfocused and less consistent. She could fantasize random things in unusual moment and then giggling. It becomes weireder because it is happened when she was tortured and have oral sex. Sometimes she appears too naive and short-sighted as teenager but also could act and think too mature for her age. Some Baylee’s training activities hot and intriguing but there are some parts with disturbing content. Please be aware to the author’s warning.

This War, Baby is a dark romance sociology problem with exceptional characters, multi layer conflicts, hot villain, and heart warming romance. So, be patient with ending contains cliffhangers until This is Love, Baby (end of March).

OVERALL RATING

SEX-O-METER

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

K Webster is the author of dozens romance books in many different genres including contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. When not spending time with her husband of twelve years and two adorable children, she’s active on social media connecting with her readers.

Her other passions besides writing include reading and graphic design. K can always be found in front of her computer chasing her next idea and taking action. She looks forward to the day when she will see one of her titles on the big screen.

You can easily find K Webster on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads!

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

 

ARC Review, Blog Tour + Excerpt & Giveaway: Soulless by T.M. Frazier

*** WARNING! This book is for ADULTS only or may be unsuitable for people under 21 years of age due to sexual content, graphic violence, and/or mature themes. Reader discretion is highly advised. If you are easily offended, then this book is not for you and please do not continue. ***

 

Bear & Thia’s epic is FINALLY HERE!

✨✨✨

Soulless by T.M. Frazier
Series: King #4
Published: February 23rd 2016 by Self-published
Language: English
Print Length: 276 pages
Genres: Dark Romance, Suspense, Erotica
Target Reader: Adult

Ebook: Amazon US •  Amazon UK • B&N • iBooks
Paperback: Amazon US

The finale to Bear and Thia’s epic love story.

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REVIEW BY ALEXA

“Home is where you feel the most like yourself. Home is the thing that makes you happiest during this very short life. The person who makes you happiest. I’d never known what a real home was, and now that I’d found it, I was never letting it go.”

Bear has experienced a lot of bad things in his life. But when he found a legal loophole that could save Thia, he will take any risk for her. Bear was changed so much since its first appearance. Bear ver. 3 is more serious, stubborn, possessive also complicated. For moving on and fight for his own happiness with Thia, Bear should be able to fix his own life. Soulless promised answers of all the mysteries behind the hard life of the MC Bear’s father which full of intrigue.

With dual POV between Bear and Thea, their journey will indulge us with nostalgic flashback moments. There is a flashback about Preppy and the routine “ghost” from him that can be a cure because I missed him so much. But it was too much exposed ( Almost put tag “paranorm” in this series), it feels cruel and failed to move on. Interaction Bear and Thia were rough, gitty, intense, and super-hot. Bear adored Thia so much, but she never revealed “smart baddass m” in reality. Beside trust, last call for war’s soldier and first love romance, I couldn’t feel anything from Thia.

What’s troubling me about this book are exaggerated and overly dramatic to unbelievable to be true. It was fast-paced with wild twist and turn until the last page and that’s what makes it interesting. But unfortunately the prison scene and touted war heralded since third book and I expected to be the peak but turned out to be an anti-climax, too rushed and not memorable.

Beside the appearance of King, Ray, Jake and Grace there are new characters that caught my attention. The Barbie proom looking girl with Rambo attitude that I hope will play a part in the next book. This is an intense and dramatic story with full of surprises and should be read in order. In the epilogue when I thought all was safe without a cliffhanger, TM Frazier gives a fishy twist. It seems someone will be return and made us wondering for the next book.

“Until you, I felt like nothing. I was nothing. You gave me everything and I plan to do the same for you. You’re too good for me, but I plan to make that up to you with how good I’m going to be for you. With you. Because of you.”

OVERALL RATING

SEX-O-METER

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Excerpt from SOULLESS by T.M. Frazier

PROLOGUE

I was mad at the world, at the whiskey for not being strong enough, at the drugs for not lasting long enough, at the fucking whores I banged for not getting me off when it was my fault my dick was fucking useless after a bucket of fucking blow. I went so far as to be pissed at random people on the street for laughing or smiling when I felt like I’d never be able to smile or laugh again.

How dare they?

How fucking dare they be move on with their lives like my friend hadn’t just died.

I was on the verge of losing what little sanity I had left when I rode out of Logan’s Beach and set off to find a place, or places, where I could numb myself against the feelings that followed me from town to town, cheap motel to cheap motel, girl to girl, high to fucking high.

Then, this pink haired girl from the past came barreling into my life and it was like for the first time, I’d found a purpose. A real genuine purpose and not just some shit Chop spewed out as orders that I and every other member of the Beach Bastards took as bible, but a true reason to live again.

To WANT to live again.

Someone to live for.

Ti was my chance at some sort of real happiness when Lord fucking knows I had no idea what that really was before her. The only glimpses of real genuine happiness I’d ever had came courtesy of Preppy, King, and of course Grace. Like when King tattooed us for the first time and we loved them, even though they were crooked and downright fucking awful. Like when Grace made me my very first birthday cake. Like the time King Prep and I sat at the top of the water tower and thought the world was ours to take.

Because at that time, it was.

Then there was Ti and my new happiness became the first time I saw her smile. The first time I kissed her. The first time I tasted her pussy by the fire. The first time she let me inside of her, shamelessly pushing through her virginity in a frantic need to make her mine.

Because that’s what she was.

That’s what she would always be.

And I will kill every motherfucker who dares to try and take her from me.

Mine.

❤ KING SERIES  ❤

 

#1 ~ KING:  My Review • Amazon US • B&N • Kobo • iBooks
#2 ~ TYRANT:  My Review • Amazon US • B&N • Kobo • iBooks
#3 ~ LAWLESS: My Review • Amazon US • Amazon UK • B&N • iBooks
#4 ~ SOULLESS: Amazon US • Amazon UK • B&N • iBooks

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T.M. Frazier is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She resides in sunny Southwest Florida with her husband and young daughter. When she’s not writing she loves talking to her readers, country music, reading, and traveling. Her debut novel, The Dark Light of Day was published in September of 2013 and when she started writing it she intended for it to be a light beachy romance. Well…it has a beach in it!

Stalk her: Website • Facebook • Twitter  • Amazon  • Goodreads

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Signed Set of Lawless & Soulless
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ARC Review + Release Blitz & Excerpt: My Black Hole Heart by A. Giannoccaro

*** WARNING! This book is for ADULTS only or may be unsuitable for people under 21 years of age due to sexual content, graphic violence, and/or mature themes. Reader discretion is highly advised. If you are easily offended, then this book is not for you and please do not continue. ***

My Black Hole Heart by A. Giannoccaro
Series: Colour #3
Publication Date: December 15th, 2015 by Self-published
Language: English
Print Length: 175 pages
Genres:  Dark romance, Erotica
Target Reader: Adult

Ebook: Amazon US • Amazon UK

Three Crime Families
One Legacy
One Little Girl

Avery Spillane-Leahy the daughter of two killers, the criminal prodigy of the biggest kingpin in modern time. She is flawless, but only on the outside.

Loss, love and lust can crack even the toughest diamonds.

Inside she is a gaping hole, nothing that gets close is safe from her ruthless blade. She cares for no one, so that no one can wound her. She learned from what Rowan and Callum lost and became an empty vessel unable to be harmed by emotion.

One scorned brother, an old flame and an angel of death dare to come into her world. They will all leave again, some of them in coffins, but they will all go.

The question is what will be left of her?

When the Colours fade and the Grey Madness is gone she is left all alone, a Black Hole Heart with nothing left to lose.

“The root of all suffering is attachment.”
~Buddah

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REVIEW BY ALEXA

After last book from Colour series finally published, I’m not sure feel relieved or lost. Although Ash has been successfully challenged me to break all my reading limits through this dark romance series, I must admit that My Black hole Heart has the most rough journey than the previous books. I could enjoy it when I can stop thinking and questioning every detail of its aspects, and began to follow where Ash tried to lead me.

I had experience with Ash’ s twisted and complicated characters, but it wasn’t prepared me to meet Avery. This girl is the extreme product from nurtured wrong parenting and three mafia families’ feud. Avery had numbness and loss of empathy with humans and everything around her. She was intelligent, melancholic, and sadistic. Honestly, she’s difficult to understand.

This story has slow paced and unusual multiple POV. We will see the mindset of every character that appears in this book which unfortunately have similarity and filled with twisted mind. I hope Ash gives characteristic differences in each narrative according to each character, that would be an interesting thing. It also kept me guessing who’s the main (anti) hero of this book?

Every character will open the “color” and their deepest identity. All inner restlessness, darkest secrets, and plans will be revealed here. Opponents and allies are very difficult to differentiate between the characters that appear in between. The main conflict is the mafia family drama but the twisted surprise never fails to shock me. After I was broken-heart not find love story here, and after all the challenge I faced inward along this series, I thank Ash gave me a beautiful HEA for Avery.

A beautiful ending, full of surprises, epic and emotionally drained. Thanks for this journey Ash!

OVERALL RATING

SEX-O-METER

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Excerpt from MY BLACK HOLE HEART by A. Giannoccaro

I am a killer. I have been since I was fifteen. My young girl hands curled around the handle of a knife as I filleted a man, his screams are etched into my mind forever. Sticky blood coated my fingers with every slice I made through his flesh. I knew long before that what life had in wait for me, so I never tried to change it. I was born a killer. I didn’t choose it, it chose me. I have a black hole heart that beats nothing but the blood of others.

The saying goes – it takes a village to raise a child. My village was not pretty, they are dark dangerous and deadly. My father Rowan is an assassin. My mother was a murderer too. Both were born from murderous fathers. The other people in the village that raised me are just as bad. Callum, my uncle of sorts, is the kingpin of a criminal empire. He sells drugs, diamonds, weapons, people and death. There are others, none of them are anything other than evil. I am the heir to my father’s murder mill, to Callum’s empire and to this black hole heart that is filled with emptiness. My village is fucked up.

As a result, so am I. Nurture versus nature. My nature is screaming out for something else. I was nurtured to be a killing machine, the queen of a villainous empire and a ghost without a heart. I was nurtured into a beautiful monster, the Hummingbird. Now there’s a fracture in my nature and I don’t know what to do with it. I’m feeling things I have no right to feel.

❤ COLOUR SERIES  ❤

 

#1 ~ Colour My Ugly:  My Review • Amazon US • Amazon UK
#2 ~ Monochrome My Madness:  My Review • Amazon US • Amazon UK
#3 ~ My Black Hole Heart: Amazon US • Amazon UK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Facebook | Goodreads

Author of the Colour series, a dark romance.

“Our skin is clothing enough to cover what we hide inside.”