Wednesday, April 23, 2014

BELLA SETTARRA SPOTLIGHTS #MENAGE OF THE SIREN



Menage of the Siren by Bella Settarra

Sirens and Sailors #4


Farris’s fight to keep the ménage together seems doomed when Dr. Jay has to fight for his future while Ademia is fighting for her life…


Ademia loves Farris and Dr. Jay as much as they love her, though neither will admit it. 
When Farris breaks his promise and both men seemingly abandon her on the mainland with no way to get home, she feels she was wrong about them.  Ill and alone, she reluctantly finds herself in the arms of Palben, a man she considered a friend.  When it transpires that Palben believes she is a prostitute, and aims to make money from her, she realizes her life is in serious danger. 

Jay is arrested and locked up after his alleged sexual assault on a nurse who is intent on discrediting him and ruining his career and his life.

Farris resolves to find Ademia and free the doctor in order to cement his ‘family’ together.

But can Farris keep them all together when Ademia is later taken critically ill on Refrainia while he and Dr. Jay are miles away on Eastland, fighting for Jay’s future?




About the Author

Bella’s love of writing started at a very young age.  While at Junior School, she was once asked to write a story that was to be displayed on the window due to lack of wall space (remember Portakabins?)  Unfortunately, once she gets going she tends to run with an idea right up until the conclusion – and it has to have a happy ending!  The story was so long it covered several windows and caused a blackout in the tiny classroom!
She is British and lives in the beautiful English countryside with one of her three gorgeous daughters and her wonderful husband, often referred to as her “current husband” just to keep him on his toes! 
They live in a big haunted house therefore Bella’s housework is never done as the ghost keeps moving things around - the bedroom isn’t the only place where things go bump in the night ;)
Open top cars and country music are among Bella’s favourite things and her fondness of shopping is only surpassed by her love of Châteauneuf-du-pape.
 “Menage of the Siren” is Bella’s fourth book and she is currently working on more titles to add to the “Sirens and Sailors” series.

Bella would love to hear from her readers.  Connect with her at:


Story Excerpt

They parted ways and Dr. Jay led the girls to the hospital. Ademia didn’t much like it there, so she was pleased to have Ligia with her. Dr. Jay was obviously very much at home in the large, white building, but it made the girls feel nervous. It was full of people scurrying about, looking important in their different uniforms. Even the patients seemed very serious.
“I just want Ademia to have a scan of that arm to make sure it’s mended properly,” Dr. Jay was telling Dr. Ernaut, a white-haired doctor with a serious expression.
“Of course, Dr. Jasun,” the older man nodded, using the doctor’s correct name. Everyone on the island knew him as Dr. Jay, which seemed a little less intimidating to the women, who weren’t used to having a medic around, much less one as large and dominant as the ship’s surgeon.
A nurse in a crisp, white uniform came to join them. She couldn’t believe her luck when she saw them arrive. Having set her sights on the handsome ship’s doctor when she first saw him, she was just waiting for the right time to make her move. She had also done her homework and learned that he was in the middle of setting up his own practice on the island of Refrainia. Although the nurse had no intention of moving to the island herself, she knew how much money was tied up in private practice, and she was very fond of money. She was also keen on promotion, and the young doctor was speaking to the one man who could easily get it for her. Two birds with one stone!
“You managed to get her fever under control then, Doctor?” she asked with a wide smile.
“Eventually,” Dr. Jay said, smiling back at the pretty nurse. “She had us worried for a while there, though.”
Ademia was becoming more than a little peeved about the way they were all talking about her as if she wasn’t there. She was even more annoyed at the way the slim young nurse was flirting with Dr. Jay, although she wasn’t about to admit it, even to herself.
“Nurse Reis will do the scan, it won’t take long,” Dr. Ernaut announced.
The nurse led Ademia into a small room while the doctors chatted outside. Ligia gave her friend a hug before finding a chair to wait on in the corridor.
“I’m just going to scan your arm,” Nurse Reis said matter-of-factly as she hauled the large blonde patient rather unceremoniously onto a bed.
Ademia bit her tongue.
“All your results are good but I think Dr. Jasun is just being thorough, given your lack of facilities on that island.” The nurse sneered as she spoke about Ademia’s home. She set up her computer before turning back to the blonde girl, who lay, seething, on the bed with her arm stretched out to one side.
“My doctor’s a very thorough man,” Ademia said bluntly.
“He is that all right,” the nurse said with a salacious grin.
Ademia’s back was well and truly up now. How dare she talk about him like that?
“Do you know Dr. Jay?” Ademia asked through gritted teeth.
“Everyone knows Dr. Jasun,” the nurse replied with a sly smile, as she ran a probe over Ademia’s arm, “But none quite as well as I do.”
“And how well do you know him?”
“Well, it’s a bit of a secret, really,” Nurse Reis went on with a smug expression, “but the handsome doctor and I are what you might call an item.”
“Is that right?” Ademia was trying hard to control her anger.
“Oh yes, though, of course, I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” the nurse continued, as she studied the monitor. “But actually Dr. Jasun and I are very much together, if you get my meaning. No, you probably don’t, do you?” She gave Ademia a superior look before resuming her work at the computer.
“That must be very difficult for you as he lives on Refrainia. He doesn’t get over to the mainland very often, and certainly not often enough to have a relationship with anyone here.” Ademia felt her heart hammering as she tried to keep a cap on her rage.
“Oh, you don’t know Dr. Jasun,” Nurse Reis gloated.
“Well I should, being as how we live together.” Ademia relished providing the information and enjoyed the look of horror on the spiteful woman’s face.
The nurse lifted the probe from her arm and stared back at the large, blonde girl in the small blue bikini. “He lives with you? But you’re so…” Luckily for her she didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t need to.
Her incredulous tone made Ademia’s heckles rise, and she sat up angrily. Taking a deep breath she attempted to sound nonchalant as she answered the snooty nurse. “Oh yes. Didn’t he tell you? We’ve been together quite a while now. I’d be interested to see how he’s had time to have a relationship with you. We’re practically inseparable.”
Ademia relished in the stunned expression on the nurse’s face as she quickly starting shutting down her computer. Leaning over to the young woman, the blonde patient said conspiratorially, “I’m glad you’ve finished. Dr. Jay and I have…er…plans for this afternoon, if you get my meaning. Oh, no, you probably don’t, do you?” With that she heaved her ample body down from the bed and pulled her shawl around her before heading for the door.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

REVIEW: SARAH LEYTON'S SHARING ANNABELLE


Blurb:
Annabelle Rawlings has fallen for not one but two men. When Callum McCray and Mason Webb set their sights on Annabelle, they refuse to give up until they've made her realize that she belongs to them—no matter how many times she tries to deny it. They know she has dark, kinky desires that only they can satisfy.
When the guys are forced to deny their love, and hers, and push Annabelle away because of a deadly threat from their past, they doubt whether they’ll ever be able to win her back again.
Website: SarahLeyton.com
Twitter: @LeytonSarah
Review:
We kick off with Annabelle, a Kansas small town girl in Chicago, working with an interior design firm and going home to an empty apartment. She's thrown herself into her work and enjoys spending her time with her college friend and boss, Noah Briar. Her life is about to be turned completely around when Noah takes on a new client needing their offices redecorated.
Callum McCray and Mason Webb best friends and looking for that special woman they could spend the rest of their lives with. Together. There's more to their interests than just sharing. They are co-owners of a BDSM club called Sin. When Callum sees Annabelle for the first time, he's instantly smitten, and her reactions to him are just as strong. Can he convince her to love him and Mason? Con he get her to accept training as their sub? And what are they going to do to protect her when a mentally unbalanced blast from the past turns up to kill her?

I enjoyed Sharing Annabelle. The sex was steamy, the guys gorgeous, and the right amount of tension and chemistry all there. The sex wasn't overly graphic, but keep in mind this an erotic novel. It might not be safe for work or poolside reading. The BDSM was kept light, as Annabelle is just being introduced to the lifestyle. Between the hot scenes, we get a nice story of a woman finding love and suffering loss only to find love again. The happily ever after rounds out the ending nicely. I'm giving Sharing Annabelle 4 stars!



Friday, April 18, 2014

BLOG TOUR FOR LOVE LINES BY DIANA NIXON




The traces of supernatural powers have always been crossing the world of human beings. Many people know about the existence of healers, mind readers, oneiromancers and wizards. But for centuries their lives have been kept secret and no one has ever heard about Dever, a kingdom of mysteries and magic.
Neither has Eileen Clark, whose life has never been different from the one other teenagers have.
Everything changes the day Eileen receives an invitation to join the ranks of Dever’s students.
Nothing will ever be the same again…
New life, new friends, new enemies…
And love so powerful that no magic will be able to destroy…

Read CHAPTER 1 + Watch book trailer

Books by Diana Nixon:

About the author:
Diana Nixon is a poet and the author of fantasy and contemporary romances.
She was born in Minsk, Belarus, where she currently lives. In 2008 she graduated from Belorussian state University. She has a Master of Law degree and speaks several foreign languages, including English, Polish and Spanish.



Sunday, April 13, 2014

REVIEW: SIXTY YEARS YOUNG #AUTOBIOGRAPHY



About the Book:

Erudite and sensitive, author Michel Robin has earned the wisdom that worldly experience of six decades confers on a reflective man. But in Sixty Years Young, he goes back through time to confront the child that he was and to embrace the ways in which that boy is still who he is now.

In the tradition of philosophers’ and poets’ courageous childhood confessionals, yet with an honesty and clarity all his own, he gives us a real narrative of childhood seen through un-tinted glasses. Revisiting his boyhood becomes a quest for truth. The truth of the man he has become. The wider truth of the world as the boy saw it, the world that grew up around him. The tales of his truths make for episodes at times delightful, at times embarrassing, and always incisive.

This is no safe stroll down Memory Lane. The author relives the beauty and tyranny of being a child. Young Michel commands fairness into his universe with toy soldiers shared with the neighbor boy across the fence of social divide. He lights matches to the housecat’s whiskers. He pursues his first love with a barrage of letters, and gets punished by the school priest. He parries adult intervention with subterfuge or flashes of contrition. Older Michel dissects his world – our world – with the keen intransigence of the boy. It’s a dialogue between two selves. A protest against malice and hypocrisy. A hand held out for love. An ode to life.

It’s also an evocation of Belgium in the post-war years. There are tensions among family members around issues of class and religion. Puritanism contends with fascination for movies, fast cars, beautiful girls. People, events, beliefs all loom into the lens, held in the same lucid gaze, by the boy and by the man that boy has become. As if yesterday was still today. 










Review:

Yes, I know the cover art is in French. The copy I read was in English. It's been far too long since high school French class to have tackled the foreign copy. I will say that if you understand a little about French/Belgian culture, you're going to get more out of this work than most. It would help a great deal more if mid-twentieth century French was your favorite genre.

We kick off the story with the author's birth in Belgium just after the end of WWII. His childhood is encompassed by the bleak rebuilding of Europe and families of all socioeconomic backgrounds struggling to find a new normal. The old social class schools of thought are having to find new ground. Well, everyone else is. The author's family is sticking to the old ways.

The author seems to belong to an upper-lower class family with social climbing aspirations. It took me a few chapters to realize they weren't rich. They just put on airs of being better than their blue-collar neighbors. His perspective shows his parents as emotionally distant and disinterested in him on a personal level. He notes that his being in the home seems like more of a duty than an labor of love. So what does he do? He acts out and cuts up, bringing negative attentions from his classmates and school personnel. He's what we in the Southeastern United States would refer to as a "messy child." He fairs no better with aunts and uncles, with his godparents, or with other would-be benefactors. Being a precocious pain isn't helping him win friends.

As far as scoring a review, I'll admit to finding this one difficult. From a technical aspect, the editing and translation is great. The cover art is interesting and enticing. On these alone, I'd give at least four or four and half stars. However, I have to rate the contents of the story, and that's where the trouble lies.

Let me first say, I like nonfiction, and autobiographies are no different. I'm not fond of a book that spend most of its time whining about ever perceived childhood slight. I had hoped the author would use these bleak childhood experiences to show how they shaped him into a positive person or how they gave him strength to become a writer. It's not a profession for the faint of heart or the lazy. Alas, neither of those things happened. The book ended without much fanfare. Don't get me wrong. The ending isn't as bleak as Jude the Obscure or Tess of the D'Urbervilles. It just ends and then quotes a poem about childhood.

It took me quiet some time to ponder the work and pick out what the book could mean on a personal level. There had to be more than what presented itself on the surface. I came to the conclusion human spirit was the answer. We all have people who think us beneath them. We might even have people who say nasty things about us or to us. No matter where we are in the world, those things remain a constant. We can either let those negative thoughts and actions swallow us, or we can use those experiences to change ourselves and our surroundings.

I can say this book would make for a very safe work read. I feel confident in saying a conservative American reader would find parts of this book offensive. Capitalists aren't thought well of and President Bush is lumped in with the likes of Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. Karl Marx and Albert Campus are noted by the author as being persons of worthy note. A utopian socialist would cheer. Therefore, I can't recommend this to a wide audience. If post World War II style French existentialism is for you, you'll probably like Sixty Years Young. I can't say it was a bad book. Like I said before, it is well written and the technical aspects are very good. I'm going to give Sixty Years Young three and a half stars.



About the Author:
Michel Robin is an international nomad and author of true story-based fiction. He was born in Charleroi, Belgium on February 2nd, 1946, and, due to his extensive travels and wealth of experience, can easily be considered a true citizen of the world.

At 16, Michel bought his first 50cc motor bike and, with no prior experience, took part in the Belgian Juniors Motorcycle Racing Championship placing second behind Jacky Ickx (who went on to become a celebrated Formula One racer). At this time he discovered a love for writing when he submitted his first article for Les Sports magazine’s supplement Les Sports Moteurs. He quickly became a regular contributor to the publication.

Michel continued to race throughout his young adulthood, winning awards and making a name for himself on the competitive circuit in Belgium. He took part in several races, most notably the 84 Hour Nürburgring in Germany driving for Mazda along with a fellow Japanese racer. This constituted the first race pairing of Japanese and Belgian nationalities in Europe. Although Michel studied business in University during that time, he tended to spend more time on the racetrack than in the classroom.    

Throughout his early adult life, Michel, traveled the world writing and reporting on a plethora of subjects including news, opinion, economics, car and motorcycle racing, and more. Journalism turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg for Michel as he quickly embraced the role of a life-long-learner and ventured confidently into the European business sector.

Michel went on to self-fund and found Customer Relationship Management agencies in several countries as well as a number of other start-up companies. He has also been a consultant for multi-national corporations and auto-manufacturers who refer to him as their 'favorite irritant' due to his unique gift of always asking the right questions.

Michel now lives in Portugal with his soul-mate and spends the days writing and planning how to make the world a better place. Sixty Years Young is Michel Robin's first novel.