Review – Angel Betrayed by Cynthia Eden

Sammael–call him Sam–was an angel once. An Angel of Death. But the dispassionate, watch-from-above thing just wasn’t working for him when it meant watching evil torture innocent souls day in and day out. It might have cost him his wings, but these days he gets to apply the direct method on the bad guys. Problem is, what’s making his life difficult is a bad girl…

Seline O’Shaw needs protection, and with the hounds of hell on her tail, she’s not going to quibble too hard about where she gets it. Sam’s virtue is questionable, but he’s smoking hot, massively powerful, and owes her a favor. So what if she’s getting a little case of angel lust? There are some damn deadly sins after her hide…

Wow. Just wow. I started reading Angel Betrayed fairly late at night and was resentful when I had to set it down at 3am to get some sleep. I couldn’t wait to get back to it! Seline had me intrigued from the beginning. She’s not your average heroine. As a half succubus/half fallen angel, she isn’t out to save the world, she’s just trying to save her own ass. When she is sent to kill Sam, the biggest and baddest Other around, she sees her chance to finally be free of the Other that commands her. It’s not often I get an anti-hero and anti-heroine in the same book and I loved it.

Both have been betrayed in the past and struggle with trust, while they slowly start to fall for each. As more is revealed about Seline, a vulnerable side starts to emerge from her tough-girl image. That side was just as fascinating to me as the succubus who will do anything to survive. And Sam’s ability to embrace and support her tough side while sheltering the vulnerable made me fall in love with him. Watching the ultimate badass lose his mind when the woman he can only describe as “mine” is in danger is both beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking.

The world building in this book is superb. It’s one I was able to step into easily and not want to leave. New Orleans and a cast of complex secondary characters sets the perfect backdrop for this over-the-top romance. If I could give Angel Betrayed more than 5 stars, I would.  I was hooked from page one and sighing happily at the end. One of my top five paranormal reads of the year.

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 26th, 2012
Format: Print and digital

Preorder:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

 

*eARC received from NetGalley

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Take Me Away! by Cynthia Eden

Happy summer, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying these long, lazy days. (And a big thanks to Fatin for inviting me over!)

I recently tried to explain my romance addiction to a friend.  As I talked to her, I realized that I have five main reasons for loving romance novels:

1. The happy ending.  Come on, I love that feel-good ending! After watching my depressing local news stories, I NEED my happy romance ending.
2. The emotion.  Romance novels take me on a roller coaster ride. I can laugh, I can cry, I can root for my characters…all from the comfort of my cushy couch.
3. The heroes are hot. Um, do I need to say more on that?  No?  Okay.
4. The heroines are strong and smart (and they’re hot, too!).  I love reading about capable heroines who can kick-butt and capture the bad-boy heroes’ hearts.
5. The stories entertain me.

 

And you know what? It’s really item 5 on that list that I like the most. When I open a romance novel, I am looking for an escape from reality, for just a little while. I want an adventure. I want excitement. I want entertainment.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve got to experience hundreds of lives (thousands?) because I’ve had so many adventures within the pages of books.  I’ve traveled to exotic locales, had dozens of careers…all because I opened books.

What more could I possibly want?  So, this summer, when the sun dips low in the sky, you can find me in my hammock, swinging a bit (okay, for the ten minutes I manage to squeeze away from my family), and I’ll be reading my treasured romance novels. I’ll be escaping, even if that escape just takes place in my backyard.

Now, what about you? Why do you enjoy romance novels?  Tell me, and you will win a copy of my new release, ANGEL BETRAYED (digital or print copy—winner’s choice).

Here’s the blurb for ANGEL BETRAYED—this way, you’ll know what type of “escape” you’ll find in this book (warning—danger and hot fallen angels are dead ahead!):

***

Sammael–call him Sam–was an angel once. An angel of death. But the dispassionate, watch-from-above thing just wasn’t working for him when it meant watching evil torture innocent souls day in and day out. It might have cost him his wings, but these days he gets to apply the direct method on the bad guys. Problem is, what’s making his life difficult is a bad girl…

Seline O’Shaw needs protection, and with the hounds of hell on her tail, she’s not going to quibble too hard about where she gets it. Sam’s virtue is questionable, but he’s smoking hot, massively powerful, and owes her a favor. So what if she’s getting a little case of angel lust? There are some damn deadly sins after her hide…

***

I’ll post the winner tomorrow at noon.

Best,

Cynthia Eden

www.cynthiaeden.com

ANGEL BETRAYED—Available 6/26/12 from Kensington Brava

When you betray an angel, there’s all hell to pay…

 

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DFRAT – The Digital Publishing Revolution by Wendy Soliman

I’d like to pretend that I’m a visionary. That I predicted the explosive impact that digital publishing has had on the reading public and was in on the ground floor. If only!  Sadly, I can’t bring myself to lie.

I can’t remember a time when I haven’t been oblivious to the world because I’ve had my nose buried in a book, (the type that trees died for). That’s why, when I resumed my career as an author—no, make that, tried to start the career I’d always wanted to forge but never had time to explore—I went down the traditional publishing route. Against all the odds, my first effort at a Regency romance was taken up by a small London publishing house. As you can probably imagine, I was euphoric, and absolutely convinced I was the next Jane Austen. Nothing would stop me now.

Except, of course, that it did. Four more Regencies were sold to the same house but the sales were negligible. Minimum wage? I wish! Still, at least I’d learned one thing. I wrote books that professional publishers were interested in buying. That had to mean something, right? But the whole process was so damned frustrating. Hurry up and wait is the name of the publishing game. You rush to get a book finished, submit it and then wait months, often for a form rejection no one bothers to sign. There had to be a better way.

What about this digital business? It seemed to be taking off and, from what I’d heard the wait times were much shorter. And that, as they say, was that. I’ve had a love affair with e-books ever since and now have over twenty of them with my name on the cover.

I’m fortunate enough to be with Carina Press, who publish my historicals and a series of marine crime mysteries. We’ve had boats for years and I never waste an experience.

The Hunter Files feature my youngish retired detective, Charlie Hunter, who lives aboard his trawler yacht in Brighton Marine, England and just wants to be left alone. Except it doesn’t quite work out that way and he gets dragged back into his cold cases, simply because he can’t say no. Risky Business, follows on the heels of Unfinished Business. Once again Carina artists have come up with an awesome cover. What do you think of it?

The recurring theme in these books is Charlie’s quest to find answers for the senseless murder of his mother twenty years previously. It’s what made him give up a promising career as a jazz musician and join the police force instead. At last he seems to be getting somewhere—at least that’s what he thinks at the end of Unfinished Business. Risky Business plunges him into the murky world of fixed dog racing. Cleo Kendall asks for his help, convinced that her father, who’s serving a life sentence for murder, isn’t guilty. Everyone thinks the case is closed. Charlie doesn’t agree, especially when his investigation points towards his difficult stepbrother, who may be involved with his mother’s murder and Cleo’s family.

With the detective chief inspector watching his every move, Charlie delves deeper and deeper into dangerous territory. But someone doesn’t want Charlie getting to the bottom of this case–ever. Fighting against the bad guys, Charlie unearths more clues about his mother’s demise, which strike much closer to home.

Risky Business $5.39 from Carina Press: bit.ly/KEefji and all on line book stores.

Check out my website: www.wsoliman.com, read the first chapter of Risky Business and leave a comment here letting me know who Cleo’s father was convicted of killing. I’ll draw a winner at random and a copy of Risky Business will be yours. Good luck!

I’m on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wendy.soliman.author

Or follow me on twitter @wendyswriter

Thanks for stopping by, Wendy

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