Showing posts with label #Mythology. Show all posts

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Ensnared by Elisabeth Naughton - Review and Excerpt Tour

From New York Times Bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton, comes ENSNARED, a new novella in her ***Eternal Guardians Series*, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights**!

Be sure to grab your copy today!

AmazonUS ~ AmazonUK ~ AmazonCAN ~ AmazonAU

Download the Free Kindle App

Author: Elisabeth Naughton

Publication Date: 12 February 2019

Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts, INC

Series: Eternal Guardians

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Mythology/Fantasy

Age Recommendation: 17 and Up

Rating: 4 Stars

~ I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~

Book Description:

**From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton comes a new story in her Eternal Guardians series…**

RYDER–Mysterious, powerful, every woman’s fantasy come true.

For thousands of years, Ryder has reveled in his role as an immortal messenger—a dream weaver sent to seduce and manipulate. Until he’s ordered to deceive a fantasy of his own.

Zakara, the daughter of one of the mightiest Eternal Guardians, is his perfect woman. But she’s impervious to Ryder’s advances. Each attempt to sway her to his will pushes him deeper into a dreamscape she seems to be controlling. To survive, Ryder will need to find a way to master his sexy new prey. Because if he can’t, he risks forever condemning himself and the woman he’s grown to love to a never-ending nightmare drawn straight from the twisted depths of hell.

My Review:

One of my true bookish joys is getting to go back to worlds that have stolen my heart but then quietly slipped away as the world's characters have found their HEA's, so you can well imagine my joy over Ensnared! I have beeb following along with the Eternal Guardians for so long now that when the worlds story arc started to see it's end I felt bereft, getting this glimpse of them all again just brings home how much I love these characters and this world. I hope that Elisabeth will be able to find more of these gems to share with us and perhaps one day we'll get the stories of the children's children...I mean it's not too much to expect/want her to keep this going for year and years is it? ;-)

Ensnared is the story of Ryder, a messenger for Zeus (he's such a jerk that Zeus) and Zakara the beloved daughter of Callia and Zander, whose story you can read in Entwined, book 2 of the Eternal Guardians series. As always I love that you can almost always dive into a 1,001 Dark Night Novella having never read the series before and be perfectly content. Ensnared is no exception which is wonderful because if it were any other book in the series I would tell the reader that they want to start at book one. The Eternal Guardians world builds upon itself in each book so starting at book one is important typically, but you will be fine here, though it will make you want to go back and read from the start and meet the moms and dads that started this journey with the PitA Zeus.

I was completely enamored with Ryder and Zakara, I loved Ryder's over all storyline and his sweet Alpha Male personality. Zakara is just refreshing in her individuality, I love that while she becomes a kick butt heroine she always retains her gentle spirit. Their love story is sweet and totally steamy and the way that Elisabeth always makes things work out in the end will have you smiling and wanting more...which we should be getting, squee!

This is a great read for any fan of the series or anyone just curious to see what the Argonauts are all about! Grab this one up and sit back and enjoy!

~ HAPPY READING ~

Direct Link: https://video214.com/play/GNFDwkQ0CG3GRJGZZmvKQQ/s/dark

Excerpt:

Happily ever after wasn’t in his future. Reality and dreams—as he’d learned long ago—did not intermix. It was too dangerous. And he’d spent months successfully avoiding her, only to have Zeus send him straight to her now.

Only now that he was here, some part of him was thankful he no longer had to avoid her. He knew he should go on fighting the attraction but he didn’t want to. She was everything he’d been denying himself. Everything he craved. That connection he’d been missing for so damn long. For tonight, at least, he wanted to indulge in the one temptation he knew he could never truly have.

“I wondered when you’d return.”

She turned at the sound of his voice and lifted surprised eyes to his. Violet eyes. Mesmerizing eyes. Eyes that softened and warmed the instant they locked on his. “I was tied up all day with family stuff. This was the soonest I could get here.”

Damn, he didn’t remember those eyes being quite that brilliant.

“Thankfully, you’re here now.” He reached for her hand, silky soft skin sliding over his much rougher palm, and drew her toward him. Her lithe body brushed up against his without even the slightest hesitation.

“Where is here?” she asked, tipping her face up toward his, teasing him with her plump, pink lips beneath the softly swaying palms in the warm breeze.

“Right where we left off.”

He lowered his lips to hers with a kiss that sizzled along every one of his nerve endings and taunted his rock-solid self-control. But before he could deepen the kiss and tease her with the promise of a little pleasure, he registered that the water beneath his feet had turned cold, and the warm breeze that had once been ruffling his hair now left a shiver down his spine.

He drew back, lifted his head, and glanced around the beach, only to gasp at what he saw. No more palm trees, no more powder white sand, no gently lapping waves. The water was now still and black, the shore a mixture of rough sand and small round stones, and there was no more tropical foliage rising from the beach. Instead, steep, rigid mountains stood tall against a starry sky. Mountains covered in pine and fir and spruce and cottonwood.

“What in all the gods...” Still holding her hands, he turned to the left and looked back behind him, no longer seeing his bare footprints in the soft sand as they’d been moments before. Catching nothing but the dark rocky shoreline as it curved around what looked to be a small bay in a rather large lake.

“Something wrong?”

Her sweet voice drew him back around, and he looked down with wide eyes, shocked she didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned. “I...”

Words faltered on his lips. Had he altered the dream right there mid-kiss?

ABOUT ELISABETH NAUGHTON:

Elisabeth Naughton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Elisabeth: “I was never one of those people who knew they wanted to be an author at the age of six. I didn’t have imaginary friends. I didn’t write stories in my journal or entertain my relatives by firelight after Thanksgiving dinner. For the most part, I was just a normal, everyday kid. I liked to read, but I wasn’t exceptional at it. And when my teachers complimented me on my writing abilities, I brushed them off. I did, however, always have a penchant for the unique and absurd. And as my mother told me all throughout my childhood, I should have been an actress—I was a drama queen before my time. “Years ago, my husband bought me Scarlett: The Sequel to Gone With The Wind. If you ever saw the book, you know it’s a long one. I sat and read that thing from cover to cover, and dreamed of one day being a writer. But I didn’t actually try my hand at writing until years later when I quit my teaching job to stay home with my kids. And my husband? After that week of reading where I neglected him and everything else until I finished Scarlett, he vowed never to buy me another book again. Little did he know I’d one day end up sitting at a keyboard all day drafting my own stories. “My writing journey has not been easy. I didn’t just sit down one day, decide I was going to write a book and voila! sell my very first attempt. As most authors will probably agree, the path to publication is filled with hours of work, pulling all-nighters I thought I’d given up in college, sacrifices, rejections, but a love I discovered along the way I just can’t live without. Instead of a big, thick book to read by lamplight (I do read much smaller ones when I get the chance), I’ve traded in my reading obsession for a laptop. And I’ve never been happier. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful family and fabulous husband who put up with my writing—and obsessive personality—even when life is chaotic. More than once my kids have been late to swimming or baseball because I needed just five more minutes to finish a scene. Their support and encouragement mean the world to me. I also have amazing friends and a support network I couldn’t survive without. So to all of you out there who have encouraged me along the way, sent me emails and fan letters, phone calls and congratulations, I just want to say, thank you. You make this whole writing gig that much more enjoyable. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.”

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Author Goodreads

Elisabeth Naughton’s ENSNARED – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:

February 13^th

I Smell Sheep – Review & Excerpt

Kaidans Seduction – Review & Excerpt

Nerdy Dirty and Flirty – Excerpt

TjLovesToRead – Excerpt

February 14^th

It's All About the Romance – Excerpt

Jen's Reading Obsession – Excerpt

Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt

Reads & Reviews – Review & Excerpt

The Reading Cafe – Review & Excerpt

February 15^th

Cup of Tea Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Diane's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Ilovebooksandstuffblog – Excerpt

Read-Love-Blog – Excerpt

Shelleen's Musings – Review & Excerpt

February 16^th

AC Squared Book Blog – Excerpt

Kick Back & Review – Review

Obsessive Reading Disorder – Review

The Bo0ki3 – Excerpt

February 17^th

Books are my friends, come see why – Review & Excerpt

Canadian Book Addict – Review

Little Shop of Readers – Review & Excerpt

Reads All the Books – Review & Excerpt

February 18^th

All Things Dark & Dirty – Excerpt

Ginreads – Review & Excerpt

Tfaulcbookreviews – Excerpt

February 19^th

Cupcakesandbookshelves – Excerpt

Dreamer's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Life in the Book Lane – Review & Excerpt

Missy Michelle, Book's, Review, Competition's, Blogs – Review & Excerpt

February 20^th

Brittany's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Family, Books and Food – Excerpt

Louise's Book Buzz – Review & Excerpt

February 21^st

A British Bookworm's Blog – Review

Just A Girl High On Books – Review

Lynn's Romance Enthusiasm – Review & Excerpt

TMBA Corbett Tries to Write – Excerpt

February 22^nd

Ash P Reads – Review & Excerpt

Books 2 Blog – Review & Excerpt

My Nook, Books & More – Excerpt

Smut Book Junkie Book Reviews – Excerpt

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Ensnared by Elisabeth Naughton - Release Day

From New York Times Bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton, comes ENSNARED, a new novella in her ***Eternal Guardians Series*, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights**!

Be sure to grab your copy today!

AmazonUS ~ AmazonUK ~ AmazonCAN ~ AmazonAU

Download the Free Kindle App

Book Description:

**From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton comes a new story in her Eternal Guardians series…**

RYDER–Mysterious, powerful, every woman’s fantasy come true.

For thousands of years, Ryder has reveled in his role as an immortal messenger—a dream weaver sent to seduce and manipulate. Until he’s ordered to deceive a fantasy of his own.

Zakara, the daughter of one of the mightiest Eternal Guardians, is his perfect woman. But she’s impervious to Ryder’s advances. Each attempt to sway her to his will pushes him deeper into a dreamscape she seems to be controlling. To survive, Ryder will need to find a way to master his sexy new prey. Because if he can’t, he risks forever condemning himself and the woman he’s grown to love to a never-ending nightmare drawn straight from the twisted depths of hell.

EXCERPT:

She’d never been to this beach. She didn’t know if it was somewhere in Argolea—the blessed realm created by Zeus for the ancient heroes’ ancestors—or if she was somewhere in the human realm. All she knew was that she liked it. She liked how peaceful it was. Liked how breathtaking the scenery was. Liked that here—wherever she’d taken herself this time—no one was telling her what to do or pressuring her to be something she wasn’t. “I’d say you look lost, but something tells me you are exactly where you want to be,” a deep male voice said at her back. Kara whipped around, her long blonde hair blocking her vision before she brushed it aside, and stared at the man reclined on a padded chaise lounge on the beach. A man and chaise that hadn’t been there only moments before. A man who was vaguely familiar though she couldn’t figure out why. “I...who are you?” she asked. “Who do you want me to be?” His question made her blink. Who did she want him to be? She had no idea. All she knew was that an odd heat was building inside her. One she’d never experienced before. When he only continued to stare at her, she narrowed her eyes, running her gaze from his thick dark hair down his very muscular body. With his hands clasped behind his neck, his expression expectant, he looked relaxed and just the slightest bit amused. But there was a mysterious glint to his blue-green eyes that belied his stress-free exterior. And though he was gorgeous—tall, dark, and handsome in every way with that chiseled jaw, lush lips, and mesmerizing eyes—something in the back of her mind warned her to be careful. “Where did you come from?” she asked hesitantly. “We both know you weren’t here two seconds ago.” One side of those perfect lips curled. “I’m sure if you concentrate, you’ll know exactly where I came from, Zakara.” She didn’t like his riddles. And she didn’t like that he knew her name when she was still struggling to figure out who he was and why he was so familiar. But the longer he stared at her, the warmer she grew. And as his words circled in her head, it suddenly hit her like a baseball bat right to the forehead. “You’re that guy...” Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. “From my dreams.” He chuckled—a low, deep, captivating sound that was too perfect to be real. “That I am.”

Direct Link: https://video214.com/play/GNFDwkQ0CG3GRJGZZmvKQQ/s/dark

ABOUT ELISABETH NAUGHTON:

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Author Goodreads

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Hunted by Elisabeth Naughton - Review and Excerpt

From New York Times Bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton, comes HUNTED,a new novella in her ***Eternal Guardians Series*, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights**!

Be sure to grab your copy today!

GoodReads ~ AmazonUS ~

AmazonUK ~ AmazonCAN ~ AmazonAU

Download the Free Kindle App

Author: Elisabeth Naughton

Publication Date: 26 June 2017

Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts

Series: Eternal Guardians, book 8.75

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Recommendation: 17 and Up

Rating: 4 Stars

~ I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~

Book Description:

Erebus – Dark in every sense of the word, a skilled and lethal warrior, and sinfully sexy by design.

Since the dawn of modern man, Erebus was Hades’ secret weapon in the war between the immortal realms. Until Hades lost the minor god in a bet to his older brother Zeus. For the last hundred years, Erebus has trained Zeus’s Siren warriors in warfare and the sexual arts. But he’s never stopped longing for freedom. For a life filled with choice. And lately, he also longs for one Siren who entranced him during their steamy seduction sessions. A nymph he quickly became obsessed with and who was ripped from his grasp when her seduction training was complete. One he’s just learned Zeus has marked for death because she failed the last Siren test.

Before Erebus can intercede on the nymph’s behalf, she escapes Olympus and flees into the human realm. In a fit of rage, Zeus commands Erebus to hunt her down and kill her. Erebus sees his opportunity to finally go after what he wants, but he’s torn. Freedom means nothing if the Siren at the center of his fantasies doesn’t truly crave him back. Because defying the gods will unleash the fury of Olympus, and if he chooses her over his duty, whether she joins him in exile or not, the hunter will become the hunted.

My Review:

Where to start, where to start. Obviously you 'guys' don't need me to tell you any more how much I love the 1,001 Dark Nights series of novellas. This publisher has put together an amazing group of authors and set a standard in giving both the author and readers what they need. I have said it before and will likely say is again (sorry) but there is just something about a novella that comes out of 1,001 Dark Nights that is so much different than the typical novella. The authors always write them in such a way that you can just pick up any one, never having read the series before, and dive in with out feeling overly lost or confused and with out truly spoiling any of the previous books. I am not sure if this was something the staff at 1,001 asked of the authors when they began this project or if it just happened organically but it is one of my favorite things about these books.

Now, on to Hunted, which is just another fantastic addition to Elisabeth Naughton's Eternal Guardians world. Hunted is a fast paced, action packed romance that is a swoon worthy thrill ride. You will love the chemistry between the two characters, the depth of each character, particularly, in my opinion, Erebus. Erebus is a character I could really use some more of. I'd love more of his history as one of the oldest gods. A god that has been used and abused by the others for eons and has grown increasingly fed up and now with the fate of Sera in his hands knows he simply can not take it anymore. Sera is a kick butt (thanks Amazon for not letting me use the word I want to use, ha) heroine She is brave, confident, determined, and actually rather sweet. Her world gets turned upside down when memories of her past, before she was taken to Olympus as a Siren, start to return. Like Erebus she soon discovers that she can not continue the path she is one and must create her own, find peace for her pass, and maybe piss off good ol' Zeus in the process.

I love the world that Elisabeth has created with the Eternal Guardians series, I love that while we are 8.75 books in I still want more and can still see a future great reads laid out in front of me. If you love Paranormal Romance with a great big side of Mythology (and really who doesn't?) then this is a fantastic series to pick up. Hunted is a quick read at only around 120 pages, but it is jam packed with an amazing story and leaves you completely fulfilled all while ready for the next adventure! Thank you for another great read Elisabeth Naughton!

~HAPPY READING ~

Excerpt:

“You’re okay, Sera. I’ve got you. I’m going to get you out of here.”

Long minutes passed where she continued to tremble, and it felt as if his heart had taken up permanent residency in his throat. But slowly, as the heat of his body seeped into hers, her shakes slowly subsided, and she relaxed against him. He took that as a good sign. Lifting the shirt from her wound, he breathed easier when he saw the blood flow had lessened. She was going to have a nice-sized goose egg, but swelling outward from the impact was better than swelling inside the brain, and he knew that was an even better sign.

His pulse inched down. Glancing at her familiar face resting against his shoulder, he brushed a lock of wet hair back from her cheek, and as he did something warm and sweet slid through his chest. An emotion he hadn’t felt before. A yearning that wasn’t just sexual.

The feeling was so strong, so foreign, it threw him off kilter. He didn’t have emotions. He was a god who’d learned long ago that emotions were dangerous. And yet... Somehow he recognized the feelings taking up space inside him now had been spawned by fear. Not fear that she was going to drop to her death and that he was going to miss out on the rough, hot sex he’d been envisioning since the moment he’d recognized her in the woods, but fear that something bad would happen to her. That he’d never see her again. That he would lose her.

Sweat broke out along his forehead, and an odd tingle started in his chest. He told himself it was her heat making him feel weird. Not denial. Not anything else. But even that didn’t sound right, and he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do next.

“Sera.” The word was a whisper, a plea, a demand. “Sera, wake up and look at me.” He needed to see her eyes. Needed her to explain what was happening to him. Needed to know if she felt it too.

She didn’t move. He knew she was breathing. Knew she wasn’t in any real danger. But the danger to him was suddenly all he could focus on. “Agápi. Open your eyes. Look at me, baby.”

She sighed and snuggled closer. But the reaction didn’t fire him up and make him ache to take her as he expected. It brought a calm over him that was more unsettling than the fear he’d felt before.

He didn’t know what was happening.

ABOUT ELISABETH NAUGHTON: Elisabeth Naughton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Elisabeth: “I was never one of those people who knew they wanted to be an author at the age of six. I didn’t have imaginary friends. I didn’t write stories in my journal or entertain my relatives by firelight after Thanksgiving dinner. For the most part, I was just a normal, everyday kid. I liked to read, but I wasn’t exceptional at it. And when my teachers complimented me on my writing abilities, I brushed them off. I did, however, always have a penchant for the unique and absurd. And as my mother told me all throughout my childhood, I should have been an actress—I was a drama queen before my time. “Years ago, my husband bought me Scarlett: The Sequel to Gone With The Wind. If you ever saw the book, you know it’s a long one. I sat and read that thing from cover to cover, and dreamed of one day being a writer. But I didn’t actually try my hand at writing until years later when I quit my teaching job to stay home with my kids. And my husband? After that week of reading where I neglected him and everything else until I finished Scarlett, he vowed never to buy me another book again. Little did he know I’d one day end up sitting at a keyboard all day drafting my own stories. “My writing journey has not been easy. I didn’t just sit down one day, decide I was going to write a book and voila! sell my very first attempt. As most authors will probably agree, the path to publication is filled with hours of work, pulling all-nighters I thought I’d given up in college, sacrifices, rejections, but a love I discovered along the way I just can’t live without. Instead of a big, thick book to read by lamplight (I do read much smaller ones when I get the chance), I’ve traded in my reading obsession for a laptop. And I’ve never been happier. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful family and fabulous husband who put up with my writing—and obsessive personality—even when life is chaotic. More than once my kids have been late to swimming or baseball because I needed just five more minutes to finish a scene. Their support and encouragement mean the world to me. I also have amazing friends and a support network I couldn’t survive without. So to all of you out there who have encouraged me along the way, sent me emails and fan letters, phone calls and congratulations, I just want to say, thank you. You make this whole writing gig that much more enjoyable. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.”