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REVIEW – Marked by an Assassin by Felicity Heaton
Marked by an Assassin is the the eighth book in New York Times best-seller Felicity Heaton’s
hot paranormal romance series, Eternal Mates.
A snow leopard shifter exiled from his pride twenty years ago, Harbin treads the dark path of life as an assassin, driven by a hunger for vengeance, mercilessly hunting the Archangel members who attacked his kin, murdering his mother and sister.
When a new contract comes in and the mark is a snow leopard shifter, he can’t resist venturing into the mortal world on a personal mission to find out why one from a normally peaceful species now has a price on their head. What he finds in a rundown nightclub isn’t quite what he expects—a beautiful snow leopard female that awakens a fierce hunger inside him.Aya has spent seventeen years living in London, immersed in the underbelly of the fae world, keeping her head down and her tail out of trouble. But when trouble walks right into her life in the form of a sinfully handsome, dangerous assassin, she is pulled into a whirlwind of events that stir up the nightmares of her past but might just give her a shot at putting those ghosts to rest—if she can resist the dark allure of a male she knows is her fated mate.
Can Harbin and Aya resist the passionate fire that blazes between them as they chase the vengeance they both crave? Or will they surrender to their deepest desires?
Marked by an Assassin is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. Find the links to your preferred retailer here:
Excerpt
His leather boots were loud on the polished black stone floor that reflected warm torchlight up at him, a clunk and a scrape as he trudged along the broad arched corridor of the main entrance of the guild, heading towards the first reception room. He adjusted his grip on the black pack slung over his good shoulder and stifled another grimace as he dragged his injured left leg in line with his right and braved another step. Fiery pain bolted up the limb from a point just above his ankle, shooting through his entire body.
Harbin growled under his breath, grinding his teeth together as he bore the pain and forced himself to keep moving. He could rest soon. He could sleep for days and forget his injuries and the fight that had brought him dancing too close to death.
Again.
But, fuck, it had been a good fight. It had been worth it. The pain. The taste of blood on his tongue. The sharp crack of bones breaking beneath his fists and the metallic tang flooding the air as his claws rendered flesh. A judder went through him, a brief flare of pleasure that wracked his tired and battered body. It had been worth it, for that momentary and elusive sense of calm and belonging, of retribution and release, and the one thing he craved above all others. The one thing that fuelled him, drove him to keep striding forwards, stopping him from looking back, and that he did his best to pretend didn’t exist inside him like an eternal bloody flame.
Penance.
Penitence.
Harbin pushed away from those two words. They had no place inside him. They were impossible for him to achieve, the one thing beyond his grasp, forever just out of reach. His sins were too great. Atonement was nothing more than a dream.
Or maybe a nightmare.
One that haunted him despite his best efforts to escape it.
Voices rang along the black walled corridor towards him and he ignored them, not interested in the idle banter of the rest of the guild males as they took a welcomed breather from their profession in the safety of their home. He was only interested in taking a breather himself. A long one. Maybe those days might roll into a week of sleep.
He sighed at the thought.
His broken body probably needed that much rest in order to recuperate swiftly, and gods knew his mind needed that amount of time to pull itself back together. Unlike some members of the guild, he didn’t have the advantage of being able to accelerate his healing process. The elves were lucky sons of bitches.
Although, you couldn’t pay Harbin enough to make him switch places with Fuery. The male’s eyes were verging on black now, only a sliver of violet remaining around his pupils like a dying corona of the light in him. How long before Fuery lost himself to the darkness?
Hartt, the chief and founder of their guild, often wore a look when he was watching Fuery, one that told Harbin that the elf knew their comrade was circling the drain and it was only a matter of time before the darkness consumed the last of him and transformed him into something straight out of a nightmare.
Harbin dragged his bad leg up and managed another step, quickly shifting his right before his fractured tibia gave out under his weight. It was times like these, when he was fresh from what had felt like more of a war than a fight, but had emerged the victor against all odds, that he couldn’t help wondering just what colour his eyes would be if the darkness that lived within him could show in them just as it could with the elves.
Would they be darker than midnight?
Was he as close to falling into the abyss as Fuery was?
On days like today, he felt as if he was. Every inch of him hurt now as it sank in that he was home and his mission was done, but it wasn’t a physical pain. He could no longer feel the hot burn of his wounds. He could only feel the cold burn of the hollow inside of him, the scraped out chasm where his heart used to be.
Harbin idly rubbed his chest with his free hand, not feeling the pain as his left shoulder blazed, his healing skin rupturing again beneath his tight black t-shirt. Warm wetness bloomed there, soaking into the cloth before trickling down his biceps.
“You look like hell,” someone muttered as they passed him, heading towards the doors.
Harbin ignored them and kept moving forwards, determined to reach the sanctuary of his quarters and lock himself away for a week of uninterrupted sleep.
He finally stepped into the first reception room, an equally black affair that had always looked as cold and imposing to him as he supposed it was meant to be. Hartt had done a good job of creating the perfect image for their guild, building a black fortress in the middle of what had once been little more than a wasteland in the free realm of Hell. An entire town had sprung up around the guild, catering to those who were drawn to it, either as a client.
Or an assassin.
Harbin had visited other assassin guilds in Hell and none had the nightmarish quality of their home. He put half of their business down to pure aesthetics. People saw the guild and it matched the image in their head of what an assassin’s home should look like—cold, dark and dangerous—and they gave it their business. Hartt had been a clever son of a bitch when he had started the guild all those centuries ago. The elf certainly had a head for business.
One that matched his head for killing.
“Hartt’s seeing people about it now.”
Harbin glanced across at two young males where they lounged in the horseshoe of black velvet couches near the unlit monstrosity of a marble fireplace to his left. They were both new recruits as far as the other guild members were concerned, having only completed a few easy jobs for little pay.
The blond raked his fingers through his short hair and cracked a wide grin. “I might go for it.”
Harbin snorted at that at the same time as the young wolf male reclining near the blond.
“I’d pay double to see you go up against a shifter… and a cat no less. At least that Harbin guy isn’t around to hear about it.”
That stopped Harbin in his tracks and he frowned across at the two males, studying the brunet wolf to see if he was speaking the truth. A cat shifter?
He had turned towards them before he had even contemplated moving and was at the back of the couch where the wolf shifter lounged before he had even realised he had moved. He stared down at the pup and the male slowly lifted golden eyes to him, his expression falling slack and lips parting as he took him in.
Harbin couldn’t blame the kid for looking shocked at the sight of him. He rarely interacted with the other assassins, definitely never with the rookies, and he probably looked as if he had been dragged through the darkest reaches of Hell.
Which he had.
“Cat shifter?” he said and the male nodded dumbly. “Hartt has a job requiring the elimination of a cat shifter?”
The wolf gathered his wits and shot him a cocky smile, one that irritated Harbin because it said what the wolf wouldn’t. It asked whether he was hard of hearing or just plain crazy. He hadn’t lost his mind. Not yet anyway. He just wanted to be sure that he had heard things right, because in the close to twenty years that he had worked with Hartt as an assassin, there had never been a job involving a cat shifter.
The blond kid got off the other couch and quickly crossed to his friend, hunkering down beside him and bringing his mouth close to the wolf’s ear.
“What the hell are you doing? That’s Harbin… Hartt said not to mention it around him,” the blond whispered so low he practically mouthed the words, but Harbin’s sensitive ears picked them up.
Harbin narrowed his silver eyes on both males, his lips compressing into a thin line as he contemplated the only reason why Hartt would want to hand out the job before Harbin could hear about it.
The cat shifter was a snow leopard.
He growled, flashing short fangs at the males, and shoved away from the couches, limping quickly across the black floor towards the door in the corner of the room to his left that would lead him to Hartt’s office. He shoved it open, the slam of it hitting the black wall on the other side echoing around the room at his back and the corridor in front of him, and snarled as he picked up his pace. His left leg trembled under the strain but he gritted his teeth and pushed onwards, the fire burning up his blood keeping him going.
Someone had put a contract on a snow leopard shifter, one of his kind, and he wanted the details.
He wanted to know why Hartt wouldn’t give the job to him.
Silvery fur rippled over his forearms before he could stop it, a brief flash of his other form brought out by his agitation. He sucked down a breath and controlled it, his skin cooling as the fur disappeared.
It wasn’t as if he held any allegiance to his kin anymore. He had burned that bridge twenty years ago and there was no way in Hell of reconstructing the charred remains of it. The thought that Hartt believed he was incapable of dealing with a snow leopard shifter mark was insulting. He could be as methodical and removed from the situation as he always was. The rage that had consumed him in the aftermath of the event that had driven him from his pride had made sure of that. It had killed all of his softer emotions and only a hunger for bloodshed and death remained.
He passed several doors to other offices, his own included, his gaze locked on the black door at the end of the corridor ahead of him. If Hartt was in an interview, the assassin in question was about to get a rude interruption and shown the door in a not too friendly fashion.
Harbin slammed the flat of his left palm into the door and it flew open.
Marked by an Assassin is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback.
Find all the links and a fantastic 4 chapter downloadable sample of the book at her website:
Books in the Eternal Mates paranormal romance series:
- Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince
- Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
- Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
- Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
- Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
- Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
- Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
- Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior – coming soon! (YAY!!!!!!!!! ❤ )
BLP REVIEW ~ Tracy
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a paranormal junkie – I love the genre and Shifters in particular, so this installment of the Eternal Mates series was right up my street!!
I have a real love of the world that Felicity Heaton brings to life in this series. Her layering and world building makes it easy to picture in your mind the scenes in the book as they play out. There’s an overlap of other stories that can be found in each book, it’s subtle but ties together very nicely and gives you a ‘Oh yeah, that happened in xxxx’s story’ moment when you are reading. For me, this continuity and the consistent timelines that Felicity threads through the books all add to the story arc.
Marked by an Assassin is Harbin and Aya’s book. Both are snow leopards living far from their homeland but they have a connection – in more ways than one!!
The Assassins Guild that Harbin works for has been hired to hunt down and kill a snow leopard, a task that our hero makes sure he gets to take on as he is intrigued as to what the shifter has done to warrant the hit. At first, he doesn’t recognise Aya as one of his pride as he’s been gone from his village for two decades after being used and duped by an Archangel huntress. He has become hardened and cold since the events all those years ago and is determined that he will carry out his job and it’ll be nothing more than another assignment, even though the mark is another snow leopard, but when he encounters the female things don’t go quite to plan.
Aya lives in London, keeping her head down and flitting among the fae, and has done since not long after the night the Archangel team decimated her village and killed their kin. She seems to be a mark in this game but as things progress Harbin stats to wonder, is she as innocent as she seems or is there more going on that at first glance?
The story is action packed as you’d expect from Ms Heaton. There are secrets and lies, betrayals, a deep need for revenge on both their parts but is it for the right reasons? The connection and chemistry between our leads is obvious pretty much from the start though it takes one of them a little longer to realise what’s going on and when the penny finally drops they have to make some tough choices and decide what they should do for the best.
We meet up again with some of the characters we have already been introduced to in the series so far and get a glimpse into one or two characters who I’m hoping will have their own stories to tell in the future! 😉
Another great read and addition to the Eternal Mates series. I can’t wait to see what happens next!!
For me it’s a 5* read!
Marked by an Assassin BUY LINKS:
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Author Bio |
 Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too. If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series. If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter |
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RELEASE BLITZ ~ COWBOY RESURRECTION by Mia Hopkins
He’s gonna need a longer rope…
Ball-busting business woman meets no-holds-barred cowboy…
Visit the rodeo in COWBOY RESURRECTION, the second book
in the Cowboy Cocktail series by Mia Hopkins…
About COWBOY RESURRECTION
Marketing hotshot Monica Kaur has put her big-city life on hold to help bail out her brother’s failing business. Now she’s got three months to plan and promote a rodeo, the first her tiny hometown has ever seen.
To ensure the rodeo’s success, Monica enlists a local hero, a rancher’s son who’s made a name for himself on the bull-riding circuit. Problem? She can’t stop daydreaming about the cocky bastard—and all the things she longs to do to him out behind the chutes.
Professional bullfighter Dean MacKinnon is home helping his family while his father fights cancer. Haunted by bad memories, jaded by love, Dean finds escape in a no-strings-attached go-round with brainy, sexy Monica, whose close-knit Sikh-American family would sooner run him out of town than see her with a notorious rodeo Romeo.
In private, Monica and Dean play as hard as they work. But as the rodeo draws near, that clean break they promised each other is getting more and more hung up in the rigging.
Warning: Contains rope play, motel nooners, a blue-eyed charmer with a taste for kink, and a brown-eyed princess with a taste for cowboys.
On Sale in Digital: March 15, 2016
Amazon | Kobo| iTunes | B&N | Samhain| All Romance | Books-A-Million
Add COWBOY RESURRECTION to your TBR pile on Goodreads!
CELEBRATE THE RELEASE WITH A GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize: $30 Gift Card to Amazon
5 Runner-Ups: A digital copy of COWBOY VALENTINE by Mia Hopkins
Givaway link:
Excerpt:
“So,” he whispered against her lips. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice was barely audible, a ghost of air carried away by the wind.
“I think you know.” He kissed her again, and before she knew what was happening, he’d pulled her down to the ground with him. The dry grass and soft blanket of flowers crinkled like hot paper beneath them. He sat down and she straddled him, her knees crushing petals that looked like orange fire in the desert.
Dean took off his hat, placed it on the ground, and traced a trail of hot kisses down the side of her neck. Pleasure ran a circuit through her body, firing her nerve endings as her lust rose to high tide.
She dug her hands through his dark hair. It was silky, long enough to curl. When he began to lay hot, open-mouthed kisses on her throat, she grabbed his hair in her fingers and tugged at it gently. A low moan rumbled in his chest.
His lips found hers again. They quickly established a rhythm of breath and tongues that pulled all consciousness from her brain. She was flying, far too high on Dean to realize she was riding him, rubbing herself against the hardening bulge in his jeans.
He broke their kiss and rested his forehead against hers. He let go of her waist and dragged his fingers through her hair, clasping it and gently pulling it back until her lips parted with a gasp.
“Tell me what you want.” His deep voice sent shivers up her spine.
She was silent, paralyzed with pleasure.
“Tell me what you want, Monica,” he said again. His firm tone made her insides clench. Already she could feel how wet she was, how ready.
“You need it. Same as I do.” He touched her face and skimmed his fingertips down her throat. “Don’t you?”
“I do.” She was still. “But no one can know about this.”
“I understand.”
“Dean, I’m serious. Not a soul. Promise me.”
He nodded. “I promise.”
See what people are saying about COWBOY RESURRECTION:
“Wow, wow, and wow…The love that blossoms between [the hero and heroine] is unrushed, genuine, true. *sigh* I loved this book from start to finish and highly recommend it, and not just for fans of western romance.”
—Goodreads review, 5/5 stars
“The writing is excellent, the emotions leap off the page, and the sex is downright earthy…This is a feel-good romance with a strong, career-minded heroine, a swoon-worthy working class hero, a great setting and lots of lovingly detailed sex.”
—Jill Sorenson, RITA-nominated author of romantic suspense
BLP REVIEW ~ Tracy
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the books in the Cowboy Cocktailseries that I’ve read so far and Cowboy Resurrection was no exception.
Monica and Dean came from very different background but had to work together when he agreed to help her plan a rodeo in their small town.
They were attracted to each other from the get go but due to her overbearing, protective and honour conscious family they couldn’t be open about their fling. Monica’s family expected more of her than to settle with a cowboy regardless of how she felt about things.
They were hot and passionate together and it broke my heart a little when she had to bow to pressure from her family, return home to the city and leave her heart behind.
Having been hurt in the past by his ex, would Dean pull up his cowboy pants and fight for his girl or would he move on, get back to his old life and forget her?
A great cast of characters, catching up with Dean’s brothers and his folks was fun and let us find out more about them.
I can’t wait for more of this great series by Mia Hopkins
Check out the first book in The Cowboy Cocktail series, COWBOY VALENTINE!
Forget chocolate and flowers. This homegrown honey is all the sweetness he craves.
Small-town life is nothing but a waiting room for eighteen-year-old honor student Corazón Gomez. Work and school leave little time for love, but with a full-ride Ivy League scholarship and a one-way ticket out of the boondocks, who needs it?
The answer appears on Valentine’s Day when her old cowboy crush ambles into the ice cream parlor where she works, inviting her to go on a late-night ride in his truck. For the first time she wavers between staying on the straight and narrow, and going off-road with the handsome heartbreaker.
After four years working on ranches all over the country, Caleb MacKinnon is back on the family farm helping out his mom and brothers while his father fights cancer. The one bright spot: smart, funny, and wickedly sexy Cora.
From the start, they both know this blazing-hot love affair can’t last. But when autumn comes and Cora has to leave for the East Coast, Caleb must find a solution to keep himself—and his heart—from falling apart.
Warning: Contains hard, cherry-poppin’ sex in a pickup truck and a cowboy charmer who talks dirty in two languages.
Book 1 Available at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Google Books | Kobo | BAM
Author Bio:
Mia Hopkins writes lush romances starring fun, sexy characters who love to get down and dirty. She’s a sucker for working class heroes, brainy heroines and wisecracking best friends.
When she’s not lost in a story, Mia spends her time cooking, gardening, traveling, volunteering and looking for her keys. In a past life, she was a classroom teacher and still has a pretty good “teacher voice” and “teacher stare.”
She lives in the heart of Los Angeles with her roguish husband and two waggish dogs.
You can also visit her online at the following places:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads | Pintrest | Instagram
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RELEASE BLITZ ~ Enemy Red by Marie Harte
ENEMY RED
Mark of Lycos #1
by Marie Harte
The magic of love lies in the arms of his fiery enemy.
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About ENEMY RED:
Title: Enemy Red
Series: Mark of Lycos #1
Author: Marie Harte
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: March 15, 2016
Publisher: Totally Bound
Format: Digital
ASIN: B01C4A54LS
Digital ISBN: 9781786510082
Synopsis:
No one likes an arranged marriage, and Fenris, a golden wolf in the Silver Clan, plans to avoid it as long as he can. But the Wolf in the Forest has heard the prayers of another and grants the female her wish.
Unfortunately for Fenris, his destined mate is an alpha in her own right, and an enemy who plans on taking the Silver Clan, and Fenris, apart one bite at a time.
Until Fenris bites back.
Find out more at: Amazon
Excerpt from ENEMY RED:
Wishing for a towel, he decided to let himself dry off naturally. As he stood in the calm and listened to the water flow, he noticed the sudden silence around him. Too quiet. Not good. As if thinking about trouble conjured it, Fenris suddenly found himself surrounded by unfamiliar wolves, a few foxes and one huge-ass grizzly bear.
“Shit.” Several of the wolves had reddish fur. Red wolves encroaching on his clan’s territory? “What the hell are you assholes doing on Silver land?”
He didn’t expect them to answer, nor was he surprised when they suddenly attacked. Shifting into his wolf, he dodged one set of claws and rammed into another wolf, knocking it back. Teeth tore into his hind leg before he kicked himself free. Turning, he met another pair of attackers and narrowly avoided getting his throat ripped out. With a vicious bite, he ripped into the ear of one wolf and shoved a fox away by gouging down his belly.
Then a large, red wolf hit him in the side and knocked him down. He fought back for a split second before the strangest feeling settled over him. He took the wolf’s scent deep into his lungs and smelled female…and something more.
Animalistic desire knifed through him. Between one heartbeat and the next, his anger turned to lust. He sprang to his feet and shoved the female down. When she rose, he mounted her, his instinct to mate overriding his senses. Fenris forgot everything but the need to release deeply inside the quivering wolf beneath him.
Just as he readied to thrust, something knocked him to the ground. A massive grizzly snarled and razed a blow to his head that stunned him. Other red wolves turned on him, biting and gouging, until he lay covered in blood. Still, the desire inside him throbbed, growing with every painful breath he took of that beautiful, red wolf with the strange, yellow eyes.
She barked at the others. Cease. Leave off. This one is mine. Then she pounced and closed her jaws over his throat. Despite the danger of the situation, Fenris sighed with a strange contentment before blackness overtook him.
BLP REVIEW – Tracy
I love a good shifter story and while I enjoyed Enemy Red, I did wish it was a bit longer.
Fenris was determined that neither him nor his twin brother were going to be mated as his uncle had decreed so he decided they should leave their pack – except his brother seemed to have other ideas as did fate!!
Fenris loses track of time and eventually ends up being caught by Rudra, the Alpha of the Red Clan – a mixed shifter pack who live a distance away from the Silver Pack he belongs to and too near the humans for comfort. Our lead male has an instant attraction to the Alpha female and things trot along at a pace from there.
It was a quick, fun read that I got through in an afternoon. The addition of some history/background on both the main characters and the events that lead to the clans, except from the Silver Clan, being banished from the Great Forest would have added to the book and given it more depth, but overall I still liked their story!
I’m hoping that Marie will give us more in this series.
I rate Enemy Red 3.75*
About Marie Harte:
Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way.
She’s a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after.
Visit Marie’s website and fall in love.
Connect with Marie: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter |Amazon | Goodreads
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BLOG TOUR ~ By the Rules (Evergreen Grove #3) by Elisabeth Staab
By the Rules
(Evergreen Grove #3)
by Elisabeth Staab
M/M Romance
Release Date: 1/19/2016
He thinks I want him because of the rumors around town. Because I think he’s easy. I want AJ, because he’s AJ.
No liars. No suits. Absolutely no straight guys…
AJ Fabin’s list of rules keeps him safe. Since getting kicked out of his parents’ home and attacked by a former escorting client, his rules and his life in the tiny town of Evergreen Grove provide a quiet haven. He may be lonely, and he may stick out like a sore thumb, but the folks like him well enough. When he’s not dodging his old pimp, things are peaceful.
Hayden Price is having a quarter-life crisis. Engaged to a woman he can’t connect to and working a job he secretly hates, he comes to Evergreen Grove to help his mother through a health scare. Returning to his childhood home makes Hayden reevaluate a lot of things, including himself. When he meets AJ and finds he can’t stand the mouthy jerk—almost as much as he can’t stop thinking about him—he has a lot more to change than his career.
To be together, they’ll both have to break all of their rules.
By the Rules is book 3 in the Evergreen Grove series, but reads as a standalone.
Amazon | ARe | iTunes | Google | Kobo | B&N | Goodreads
Excerpt #1
(AJ’s POV)
You know that movie where the devastatingly handsome billionaire falls head over heels for the former rent-boy with a heart of gold and they ride off into the sunset with their limo, their unicorn collection, and a cuddly little Bichon Frise?
Okay, me neither.
Nobody’s ever gonna make that movie, because nobody would buy the premise. Not even if Julia Roberts does make the prospect look all kinds of glittery-ever-after on camera. And for real, I’m telling you I could rock a string of diamonds just as well as her (I could!), even if you wouldn’t catch me dead in an evening gown. Or doing a douche who drives a five-speed penis-mobile.
Well…maybe it would depend on the penis-mobile.
God bless Richard Gere’s fine ass in a three-piece, though. I may have a rule against dating a guy like the one he plays in Pretty Woman, but there’s nothing wrong with a little fantasy. Like a big ol’ slab of red velvet cake, it may not be healthy for you to eat, but looking doesn’t cost any calories.
Rule #1: Watch out for rich guys in business attire. They’re sleek, gorgeous, and powerful looking, like jungle cats, and as likely to take a chunk out of you when your back is turned.
Rules aside, Gere’s chiseled cheekbones help me stay awake when I’m stuck behind my ratty, wood-paneled check-in desk, working dusk to dawn at The Grove Inn. Not much else going on at night in the speck of a town that is Evergreen Grove, NC.
Once in an extremely blue moon we get a flurry of activity after dark like a tired traveler or two, but mostly it’s me, my laptop, and my movie marathons. Next up is An Officer and a Gentleman, because I’m all about indulging a good movie star crush. Gotta get my feel-goods where I can.
Excerpt #2
(Hayden’s POV)
“Did you shower already?”
He sniffs like the concept is beneath him. “I’ll shower at home.” He’s limping when he walks over to grab his backpack.
That ankle’s hurting him and it’s my fault. I was an ass for trying to show him up. “Hey, listen. Sorry about knocking you down like that. Really.” I close the gap between us to offer a hand, but he doesn’t even make a show of accepting. I don’t really know what to do with that. In my world, you shake a guy’s hand. For appearances if nothing else. For the sake of politeness. So you don’t burn bridges with a contact you might need later.
AJ and I clearly aren’t playing by the same set of rules.
He looks down at my hand. “It’s boxing. It happens. I’ll be fine. Don’t let it keep you up at night.” Except he winces when he takes another step. He doesn’t want me to know he’s in pain.
That limp of his drives the guilt I was already feeling deeper into my gut. “Hey.” I pull on his arm to get his attention. “Stop. Are you planning to walk to that motel where you work? It’s all the way on the edge of town. Why don’t you come with me to my mom’s? It’s closer, and then I can give you some ibuprofen and a ride.”
My grabbing hand pulls AJ’s shirt down and to the side, exposing a piece of one of his tattoos. I noticed it before—one of those dancing guys with a flute—whaddyacallit? A Kokopelli.
“Isn’t this a fertility symbol?”
“I prefer to think of him as a traveling gigolo. Seemed to fit at the time, Suit.” When AJ lets out a heavy breath and our eyes meet, I realize I’ve been running my fingers over the black lines on his chest without thinking—or permission.
Shit. I pull my hand back. The heat of his skin seeping into mine reminds me of things better left in the past.
I clear my throat. “Sorry. I didn’t—I was only curious. About the ink.” Jesus, that was a shitty slip and an even shittier save attempt. There are rules about these things with guys. Touching should be brief, impersonal, and possibly pain-inducing. Unless somebody died.
AJ hasn’t moved and hasn’t responded to my offer of a lift home. In order to fill the silence, I decide to ask, “Hey, I was wondering. Those tattoos…”
What are they covering? Where did you get those scars?
AJ lunges, putting us molecules from being chest to chest. Hard, chilly blasts of air conditioning remind me that he’s fully dressed and I’m wearing nothing but an undersized towel that is currently holding on with sheer luck and probably not enough determination.
“Yeah, I’ll bet you were wondering. I’ll bet you’re curious about a lot of things, aren’t you, Suit?” He looks me up and down appraisingly. I assume he’s trying to make me uncomfortable.
It’s working.
BLP REVIEW – Tracy
Oooops, I did it again….. I read a book from a series without realising it! I really do need to pay attention when I sign up for ARCs – but when I was offered the chance to read Elisabeth Staab’s book by Anna over at Herding Cats & Burning Soup I jumped at the chance ‘cos the gal hasn’t steered me wrong with her book suggestions before now!
Anyhoo, the small fact that I hadn’t read the first two books didn’t in any way detract from my enjoyment of By The Rules and has given me another series to go back and start from the beginning, even knowing how things have turned out for the respective lead characters. I’m definitely gonna check out more of Elisbeth’s books when I clear my ARC list ‘cos I really like her writing style.
I’ve read m/m before and for the most part enjoyed it – especially those written by some of my fave authors – and if I’m being honest, By The Rules kinda surprised me, in a really good way.
There’s something hot and sexy about two guys falling for each other and getting together. Hayden & AJ’s story was no exception but there was more to their story than just sexual attraction, heat and sex!
AJ is a larger than life, confident mouthy guy who doesn’t care what people think of him or his brightly coloured trainers. Hayden is a confident, successful control freak who lives to work. Or are they?!?!
By The Rules is a story with depth. It showed how people can often seem to be one thing when they are really something completely different.
Most of the focus of the story was on the guys actually getting to know each other. Hayden had so many layers to peel from the rainbow unicorn that was AJ to find the ‘real’ Mr Fabin while our sparkly blonde had to overcome his dislike of, and preconceived ideas about, the ‘Suit’.
There were a few twists and unexpected turns that kept me wondering just how things were gonna go for our couple. The story flowed really well, had some excellent banter and one liners which had me laughing out loud at times.
I give By The Rules 5 sparkly unicorn stars!!! *****
About the Author
Elisabeth Staab started hunting mutant hedgehogs back in 1842… Oops, wrong bio… Elisabeth Staab digs coffee, saucy stories, and sexy things that go bump in the night. Once, she ate dinner in a jail and liked it. She lives in the Washington DC area with her incredible family and does her best to juggle life while ignoring the laundry.
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