27 July 2013

Blog Tour Stop: Axel by Harper Sloan


Hello my lovelies!!

I have an exciting surprise for all of you today. Axel is coming to Ever After Romance Book Blog! Yup! You heard it right. He's bringing his usual hunky self along with Izzy and the rest of Security Corps. And if that isn't enough for you, Ms. Harper Sloan will be here for an exclusive interview about Axel and the gang and she has come bearing some awesome giveaways for all of you. 

First up, we're going to have Ms. Sloan's interview, which kindly answered some of the most inane questions from moi. I will also be posting my review for Axel. And if you scroll down at the bottom of page, you will find a Rafflecopter Giveaway where seven (that's right folks, seven) ebook copies of Axel will be given away along with a $10 Amazon giftcard.

I do hope you enjoy what we have in store for you today. And oh, don't hesitate to comment, gab or whatever about Axel, about Ms. Harper or whatever. I would love to hear from you guys!

 

~♥~ Interview with Ms. Harper Sloan ~♥~

What inspired you to write the story of Axel and Izzy?  

Axel.  He was the bones to the story.  Everything and everyone else just kind of followed.  I hadn’t actually planned on the story going in the direction it went.  The only think I knew was that Axel would be Axel.  I was driving home from carpool one day and he just popped in and wouldn’t leave.  The rest is…beautiful history! 

How difficult was it for you to incorporate domestic abuse into your story, emotionally and research-wise? 

VERY.  There were times when I was writing that I had to stop completely and regroup.  It was hard to physically put my mind in that place but even harder with the knowledge that it is a real situation for way too many people.  There were a few times that I had considered taking it all out.  There were even more times that I wanted to throw my computer across the room.  Emotionally it was heartbreaking, research wise it was difficult to take, but in the end I like to think I gave Izzy back something she had lost…something important that could maybe help someone else in her position.  It’s not pretty, and I know this…but it is unfortunately very real.
 
I know music played a big part in your writing process, and there were a lot of songs you mentioned at the beginning of the book, name your top five.  

Oh boy…only 5? 

Yup!

Okay.  I think I can do that. 
1. Disturbed ‘Down with the Sickness’ because without that song there is no way in hell I would have been able to slip into psycho.  I like to refer that song as Brandon’s theme song.  
2. Maroon 5 ‘Sad’, it touched me.  The first time I heard that song all I could think about was Izzy.  And the version sang by Amber Carrington is haunting, so haunting.  
3. Incubus ‘I Miss You’, fitting and a kick ass song. 
4. Tim McMorris ‘Overwhelmed’, if you read the book—you get this.  J 
5. Coldplay ‘Fix You’, it’s everything that Axel and Izzy are…it is my book theme song.  

If Izzy were to sing one song to Axel, what would it be?

 Etta James ‘At Last’

Perfect. What about Axel? What song would Axel sing to Izzy? 

‘Baby Got Back’?? Just kidding!   Dave Matthews Band ‘Crash Into Me’, when I heard that song loop through on my iTunes while writing I just KNEW it was his song for Izzy.

Favorite scene/part of the book? 

Toss up.  Between the dock and Christmas.  Both.  But if I had to pick one of those it would be the dock scene.

Awesome choice. I love the dock scene as well. Is there a particular scene that as you read it now, you're thinking, ugh, I wish I did this or I wish she said this or he said that?

YES!  The ‘after smudge’ scene.  I wouldn’t change much…but there is ONE Izzy line that to this day makes even me mad as hell.

I love Maddox! (Sorry, Axel) Are we going to see a Maddox-Emmy tandem or you're still dreaming up the perfect heroine for him? Because you know,  I'm totally applying for the job. (Not joking here.)
HAHA!!!  I will admit, I have a BIG soft spot for Mad, and knowing his story…well—I have fallen hard for the silent giant.  But, YES!  Emmy is made for Maddox.  He doesn’t know it yet, but that man won’t be able to say no forever!  ;)

Great. Thank you, Harper for giving us a time out of your day to answer our questions. We're definitely looking forward to Cage and the rest of the boys. ;)

My pleasure. ;)




Fate hasn’t always been friends with Isabelle West. In fact, fate has been a down right bitch.
Isabelle has learned the hard way how hard life can be when fate isn’t by your side. It can hand you dreams on silver platters, but it can snatch them right back and hand you nightmares. One thing Isabelle knew for sure fate was consistent with was taking away everything she ever loved.
For the last two years Isabelle has been slowly clearing the clouds of her past. Happiness is finally on the horizon. She has a thriving business, great friends, and her life back. All she has to do is jump over the last hurdle…her ex-husband.
When problems start causing her to fear her new life, and memories that are better left forgotten start rushing to the surface the last thing she needs is a ghost from her past to come knocking on her door.
Axel never thought he would look into the eyes of Isabelle West again, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to now. He’s carried his anger for so long he isn’t sure he can just turn it off, but when he is faced with protecting her and an unexpected desire to have her again, life gets a little more complicated.
How will Axel and Isabelle deal when all their cards are put on the table and everything they thought was true blows up in their faces?


Check out my review for Axel here!!


Purchase Axel on Amazon / Smashwords

About Harper Sloan



Harper lives in small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of Peachtree City. She (and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they dubbed 'Estrogen Ocean', much to her husbands chagrin. Harper has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books; you can almost ALWAYS find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad reality TV and cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero--the super alpha kind!

Harper started using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep at night; and with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to just relax. It didn't take long before a head full of very demanding alphas would stop at nothing to have their story told.

 Connect with Harper on: Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Email / Instagram

 Giveaway

A rafflecopter is set up for chances to win 7 ebooks or a $10 Amazon Gift card.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Axel by Harper Sloan

Axel (Corps Security, #1)Axel by Harper Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 Fantastic Debut Stars!!!


"Love Conquers All"

I apologize in advance for what may be a long-winded review.

Izzy West and Holt "Axel" Reid were high school sweethearts. They were happy and they were in love. But their happiness would be short-lived. Axel signed up for the marines and left Izzy alone with a promise of course that they would be together after basic training.

What happened to Izzy after Axel left was a tragedy of epic proportions. She lost both her parents and due to miscommunication and a set of pissed off poster parent, lost Axel as well.

Forward to years later, Izzy's bad luck continues. This time, an abusive husband was bent on breaking her spirit. After a horrible confrontation that almost resulted in her death, Izzy was finally out of her abusive husband's clutches.

She moved on with the help of a couple of friends, Dee and Gage, and tried to piece back her life together. Just when she thought, she was finally free of her nightmare, the specter of her abusive husband once again intruded into her life. And this is where Axel comes in…

Now onto my proper review…

You know the saying, everything is bigger in Texas. Well, this book, while it's not set in Texas, is you would call "big." Bigger than life characters with a lot of going on their lives. There is nothing tame about this book especially when it came to lead male character. Axel is big. Please, get your minds off the gutter right now because I'm merely talking about his muscles. (Yeah, right.) Seriously, Axel is your typical alpha male with a dirty mouth and a slightly caveman personality. In spite of that, I totally fell in love with him. He was, in my opinion, what every girl needs, gorgeous, hot, bossy and sweet, in other words, totally lovable.

Izzy on the other hand was a tad whiny for my taste and immature. Considering she was 30 years old, some of actions were more like actions of a 16 year old girl rather than a 30 year old woman. Case in point, she just saw Axel after believing he was dead and believing he had abandoned her, but do you know what she did? Yup, she ran away and absolutely refused to talk him. I mean, any normal woman who went through hell like she did would have railed against Axel and ASK HIM QUESTIONS!!! Like hello? Why did you not answer my letters? Or maybe she could have kicked his ass but no, Izzy chose to run away.

And not only that, she totally acted out like a spoiled 16-year old and she got upset when Gage called Axel to fetch her. She really tried my patience. To be honest she almost pulled my rating for this book to 2 stars. It nearly did. It wasn't until the very end that she earned points from me after going badass on her ex-husband.

Izzy's badassness aside, there one point though that really made me like this book as a whole. Aside from Axel, which was a given, I loved the way Harper Sloan handled the sensitive topic of spousal abuse. She was spot on especially the part where Brandon, Izzy's ex-husband had slowly but surely isolated her from her family, her friends until she realized she had no one altogether. So when the abuse started, she was stuck. Brandon made her dependent on him and without friends and family, the abuse just festered until Izzy herself felt helpless to get out. It reminded me a little of The Blue-eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas where the heroine, Haven also suffered abuse in the hands of her husband. So to me that added a realistic layer to the story.

The secondary characters for me were okay. I liked Greg but I didn't fall in love with him. He reminded me too much of Tex. LoL! But Greg is supposed to be hot but to me he was too cuddly. So yeah, reminded me too much of Tex so he didn't do anything for me. Maddox on the hand, I can totally see myself falling in love with. We get a glimpse of what might be in store for him in the future. I'm totally all for that whole tortured hero shit. Plus, factor in Emmy who totally had a crush on him which Maddox doesn't seem to return, I'm hooked, baby. I'm a total sucker for the unrequited crush/love story trope.

Final thoughts…

In spite of the sometimes excessive drama surrounding the characters, this for me is still a wonderful story about second chances. If you enjoy that type of trope, then this story is for you. And one more thing, if you're looking for a polished book, then you would be disappointed with this. The writing style wouldn't work for everybody but what it lacks in sophistication, the author's voice strong enough to carry the whole book. Yes, you do get echoes of Kristen Ashley's style but given time, I feel that Ms. Sloan can and will develop her own distinct voice.

Overall, not bad for a debut. Not bad at all. ♥

ARC is provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Axel on Amazon / Smashwords 

26 July 2013

Review: Facade by Nyrae Dawn






Hmm, I'm kinda torn as to how to rate this book, so I'll settle for 3 to 3.5 stars.

This book wasn't bad but after falling in love with Charade, Facade was somewhat a disappointed for me. I say somewhat because there are parts of this book that I really loved. Sadly, there were also parts that I didn't love that much. To be honest, I almost gave up halfway through the book because it just got too depressing and I got really bored waiting for something to happen. I'm glad I hang on though because I would have missed the last 25-30% of the book, which was really great.

I thought Adrian was a wonderful character in Charade. I was intrigued with him and I wanted to know him more. But we didn't really get to know him in this book either. Yeah, there was that big twist near the end that left me stunned but other than that, I really didn't more out of his character.

Delaney was okay. I didn't love her but I like her enough. I definitely understood her need to please everyone even if it ended up destroying her but I thought she was a strong character. The best part about her character was her relationship with his brother, Maddox and her mother. Although, I never understood why her mother hated her. I know that her mother hated her because Laney's father was paying more attention to Laney than her mother but I just felt like there was more to it that. But there wasn't.

Still, I would definitely recommend this book to NA readers. Nyrae Dawn is great author and she always writes interesting characters.

*ARC provided by Forever (GCP) via NetGalley.