“Sting” (Spark Series #4) by Jennifer Ryder – My Review

Title: “Sting” (Spark, #4)

Author: Jennifer Ryder

Genre: Steamy Erotic Romance

Release Date: 27th February, 2015.

 

SYNOPSIS

Going undercover has its challenges. When Detective Ryan Clark is sent to the sleepy coastal town of Fremantle to dismantle the country’s most lethal drug syndicate, it’s worth the risk. Even if he becomes a fatality in the war against drugs.

Ryan finds himself coming back to the same coffee shop. Blondie, the local barista, has him hot under the collar and reaching for his piece. He knows the attraction isn’t just one-sided.

She’s trying to keep her distance.

It only makes him want her more.

Willow Asher left it all behind, but not by choice.

After two long years, she’s finally getting somewhere. Willow has a busy café with her buxom business partner, Gabby, who is the closest thing she has to family.

Although Willow’s past still plagues her thoughts, she’s determined to have her happily-ever-after. As soon as her demons stop haunting her.

What she doesn’t need is the complication of Mr Sexy-Brown-Eyes, who seems to be drinking more and more coffee.

She doesn’t want the questions.

She’s still trying to get her story straight.

*** For over 18 years. Contains Adult themes. CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE***

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 My Review

Complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

I have been a fan of Jennifer Ryder’s work ever since her first book, “Spark”, came out last year. Her ability to create stories with believable and relatable characters always draw me in, and ever since she introduced us to Detective Ryan Clark in “Spike”, I have been very curious to find out if this very sexy man would end up surprising me. I am happy to say that he has – and in the best possible way.

Being an undercover cop has its ups and downs, but Ryan loves his job, despite the sacrifices he has to make whenever he is working on one. This time, he is moving to the small town of Fremantle in order to bust a major drug cartel, but it does not take long before this charismatic man gets more than he bargained for.

Willow Asher, the local barista is a very guarded, but attractive woman, and Ryan quickly becomes rather intrigued by her. Granted, her beauty is what catches his attention first – he is a man, after all – but the way she conducts herself whenever he is around soon makes him realise that here is a woman who has the ability to make Ryan think about more than his career: could she be the woman he, unknowingly, has been waiting for? Equally important, how is it fair to start a relationship with someone when he cannot be completely honest about whom he is? Finally, what secrets is Willow keeping, and will she find herself able to confide in Ryan eventually?

Read the book and these questions will be answered. 😉

Like I said in the beginning of this review, Ryan took me by surprise. I was already aware of the fact that he loves his job, and that he is very good at it, too, but what made me fall head over heels in love with him was experiencing the love he has for his family, his sense of loyalty to the people closest to him, and, finally, the way he does not seem to be reluctant to let his feelings for Willow develop. This man truly has the biggest heart rarely seen: he is a protector, a friend, and, yes, a very sexual man – but what woman in their right mind does not long for these three character traits in a partner? I cannot think of a single one. Moreover, he has a wicked sense of humour that made me snort-giggle, or downright laugh, sometimes; lastly, the fact that he becomes a bit of a romantic sap – his own words, not mine – when he realises the depth of his feelings for Willow made me swoon completely. Ryan felt so real to me, and you all know how much I appreciate that in the books I read.

Willow is quirky, sweet, and rather funny as well when she lets her guard down. Being forced to uproot her life and ending up a successful business owner, making some good out of a horrible situation, made me admire her a great deal. Her circumstances in life also made me very sad, and I found myself glued to my Kindle, near desperate to learn what had happened to her: she is quite a mystery. However, the way she, in the end, allows herself to let go, both emotionally and sexually, was a joy to experience. My romantic heart was almost filled to burst when Willow finally realises that there is not only darkness and fear in the world – no, there is also light and hope, even for her. So, yes, I developed quite a girl crush on her.

As always, Miss Ryder’s storytelling skills are incredible. Her passion for her story and her characters shine through, and her ever-present wit and dry humour made me lose myself, forgetting about the real world for a few hours. If I did not need to sleep sometimes, I believe I would have read “Sting” in one sitting, actually – that is how immersed I was in this romance novel.

This review would not be complete if I failed to mention Gabs – Willow’s friend and business partner – because this character is simply hilarious! Despite her own past heartaches, she has managed to pull herself up and lead a life that is pretty close to perfect for her and her daughter, Sienna. Trust me when I say that the antics of this woman will have you laughing so hard that you will come pretty close to pee your pants. 😉

If you, like me, already are a fan of Miss Ryder, I am sure you have bought a copy of “Sting” by now. However, if you are new to the Spark Series, I will have to urge you to pick them up asap. In my honest opinion, you do not have to read the first three books in the series in order to enjoy “Sting” – it can definitely be read as a standalone novel – but I would still recommend them to all lovers of romance novels: these books will make you laugh, cry, swoon, and even slightly turned on.

Miss Ryder, thank you for giving us the story of Ryan and Willow. It has been a real pleasure getting to know them. ❤

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon US

Amazon UK

iBooks

Barnes & Noble

 

 

 Interested in the Spark Series?

Then check them out below!

“Spark” (Spark #1): Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | B&N

“Spike” (Spark #2): Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | B&N

“Strike” (Spark #3): Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | B&N

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

New Adult and erotic romance writer, and author of the Spark series.

A sexy imagination, a life-long love of books and a sucker for romance, Jennifer Ryder couldn’t stifle her creativity any longer.

Writing steamy adult romance has become her new focus. Living on a rural property in New South Wales, Australia, she enjoys the best of city and country.

Her loving husband is ever willing to provide inspiration, and her two young cherubs, and sheep that don’t see fences as barriers, keep life more than interesting.

Jennifer placed third in the International Stringybark Erotic Short Fiction Award 2013.

SOCIAL LINKS

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Blog Tour: “Kick” (Savage Saints MC #1) by Carmen Jenner – Teasers, Purchase Links, Excerpt & Giveaway

Title: “Kick” (Savage Saints MC #1)

Author: Carmen Jenner

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: 26th January, 2015.

SYNOPSIS

When I was ten, my father indoctrinated me into the family.

A brotherhood who would fight, protect, and give their lives for one another. A club whose ties ran thicker than blood, murkier than the dirt and grime that tainted my soul. Stronger than the bonds that connected me to my own family.

A band of brothers where loyalty was kept and paid in a currency of blood.

When I was twenty-seven, I betrayed that brotherhood.

I’ve spent every day since running, avoiding paying back that debt.

My name is Daniel Johnson, and I have betrayed everyone I ever loved.

This is my story—if you’re screwed up enough to want to read it.

***Warning: KICK contains graphic violence, profanity, drug use, and explicit sexual situations of a taboo nature. Intended for an 18+ audience only. Not intended for pussies.***

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PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1z3NZL8

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Jwnbb8

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1JwnFOl

iBooks: http://tinyurl.com/m4mjlqk

Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/l3soqkc

Enjoy the excerpt!

 

“You gotta let go now, Princess. I gotta hand you over.”

Her panicked gaze meets mine. “He’ll shoot you.”

“No, he won’t.”

“Yes, he will.”

I smile down at her. “What are we just gonna stand here forever, you in my arms, your dad holding a gun to my head? If he shoots me, he shoots me. Ain’t nothing I can do about that, Princess. At least I’ll know I did one thing right.”

She takes a deep, shaky breath. “I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

I nod, because it’s true. If Slayer hadn’t come at a deal, Prez would’ve eventually killed her, and he’d have tortured her some more first. “Promise me somethin’?”

“What?”

“Get on your feet and then get the hell outta here. Prez will come looking for you again. He’s not a guy who likes to lose. Take as much money as you can, and get the fuck away from this life, otherwise you’re gonna wind up filling a body bag way too young.”

Lauren is wrenched away from me then. She screams as the Italian carts her off toward the clubhouse, flailing and slapping at him despite her injuries.

“Daniel!” she screams, reaching out toward me as he struggles to get her inside. Without thinking I take a step forward, but I’m attacked from behind. My knees go out from under me and I’m shoved face-first into the ground. Some heavy motherfucker sits down on my back. I buck, trying to unseat him, but I’m whacked in the back of the head until I stop.

“Well, isn’t that fuckin’ touching? The Angel scum, in love with my daughter? Didn’t I warn you away from her once before?” Slayer asks, circling me like a predator circles prey. The biker using me for a chair shoves his gun against the back of my skull.

“Yeah, I did,” Slayer continues, and he motions for the guy on top of me to force me to stand. I’m dragged up by the hair and presented to Slayer. “At the rally, where she fuckin’ went missin’!” His red, blotchy face almost touches mine. He’s so close I can see the blood vessels snaking out from the corners of his eyes. He’s fucking high. His daughter’s been locked up, raped, beaten, treated like a fuckin’ animal over some shit that she shouldn’t even have to know about, and the arsehole’s gettin’ high as a fuckin’ kite instead of findin’ her? He makes me sick. He’s everything I hate about the life. And he’s more than likely exactly where I’ll end up, because this is what we are—this is what livin’ in the club gets you: bitterness, enemies, and a shit-tonne of bad blood.

KICK Book Trailer: http://tinyurl.com/o84xd5g

 

Join the KICK Release Day Party: http://on.fb.me/1t9xQnN

Support the KICK Thunderclap campaign: http://bit.ly/1EcrVCz

Enter the KICK Paperback Giveaway: http://bit.ly/1t9xYnn

Visit the Saint Savage MC official website:  http://savagesaintsmc.blogspot.com.au/

Additional books by this author

 

Welcome to Sugartown

Amazon: http://amzn.to/13X0U6S

B&N: http://bit.ly/1yjefiK

iTunes: http://bit.ly/1skhr98

 

Enjoy Your Stay

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1tqG4Bc

B&N: http://bit.ly/1zaoEhy

iTunes: http://bit.ly/1sqXUVI

 

Greetings from Sugartown

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1yjdLJp

B&N: http://bit.ly/1qw1Jbs

iTunes: http://bit.ly/1yjeZ7w

 

Welcome to Sugartown Website:

http://www.welcometosugartown.blogspot.com.au/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carmen Jenner is a thirty-something, USA TODAY Best Selling Author, doctor, pilot and CIA agent. She’s also a compulsive, flagrant prevaricator who gets to make things up for a living.

While Sugartown may not technically exist, Carmen grew up in a small Australian town just like it, and just like her characters, she always longed for something more. They didn’t have an Elijah Cade, though.

If they did, you can be sure she would have never left.

SOCIAL LINKS

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Trailer Reveal: “Kick” (Savage Saints MC #1) by Carmen Jenner – Synopsis, Teasers & Preorder Links

Title: Kick

Series: Savage Saints MC #1

Author: Carmen Jenner

Publisher: Carmen Jenner

Genre: Adult, Dark Romance

Cover Designer: Cover It! Designs

Release Date: January 26, 2015

Synopsis

When I was ten, my father indoctrinated me into the family.

A brotherhood who would fight, protect, and give their lives for one another. A club whose ties ran thicker than blood, murkier than the dirt and grime that tainted my soul. Stronger than the bonds that connected me to my own family.

A band of brothers, where loyalty was kept and paid in a currency of blood.

When I was twenty-seven, I betrayed that brotherhood.

I’ve spent every day since running, avoiding paying back that debt.

My name is Daniel Johnson.  I have betrayed everyone I ever loved. 

And I’ll betray her too.

This is my story—if you’re screwed up enough to want to read it.

Warning: KICK contains graphic violence, profanity, drug use, and explicit sexual situations of a taboo nature. Intended for an 18+ audience only. Not intended for pussies.

ADD TO GOODREADS

Pre-Order Now

B&N / KOBO / iTUNES

 

 

Book Trailer

JOIN THE KICK RELEASE DAY PARTY HERE

 

SUPPORT THE KICK THUNDERCLAP CAMPAIGN HERE

 

ENTER THE KICK PAPERBACK GIVEAWAY HERE

 

 Author Bio

 Carmen Jenner is a thirty-something, USA TODAY Best Selling Author, doctor, pilot and CIA agent.

She’s also a compulsive, flagrant prevaricator who gets to make things up for a living.

While Sugartown may not technically exist, Carmen grew up in a small Australian town just like it, and just like her characters, she always longed for something more. They didn’t have an Elijah Cade, though.

If they did, you can be sure she would have never left.

 Author Links

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

GOODREADS
TSU 

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Cover Reveal: “Dirty Angels” (Dirty Angels #1) by Karina Halle – Synopsis & Excerpt

Title: “Dirty Angels” (Dirty Angels #1)

Author: Karina Halle

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: Spring / Summer 2014

Synopsis

For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.

When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.

Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.

As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.

That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.

Unless she ruins him first.

***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains…well, they’re even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, please do not read. This ain’t no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book***

Enjoy the excerpt, everyone!

There was a strange moment of silence and I concentrated hard, trying to hear more than the obvious. They were all waiting. Waiting for the order. Waiting for the man in charge to speak.

He did.

It came from the left of me. His voice was cool, calm and collected. I didn’t have to see to know who had taken me. The man I’d heard so much about. The man I’d been taught to fear.

“Gentleman,” he said and I could almost feel his infamous eyes on my body, “remove the bag.”

There was a rustle and my face was immediately met with cool air that seized my lungs and bright lights that blinded me. I scrunched up my face, afraid to look, to see. Now it was all so real and I wanted to stay in the dark.

“Who did this?”

Suddenly cool hands were at my swollen cheek and I flinched.

“Who did this?” my captor repeated, an edge to his level voice, his cigar-laced breath on my face.

“Sorry,” Franco mumbled. “It was the only way to quiet her.”

A heavy pause filled the room like deadweight. Finally the fingers came away from my skin and my body relaxed momentarily. I felt the man stand in front of me, bending over so he was in my face, the spicy scent of tea and tobacco emanating off of him.

“Look at me Luisa Reyes.”

Chavez, I thought to myself, I will always be Luisa Chavez.

“Darling, aren’t you curious to where you are?”

“My name is Luisa Chavez,” I said. I opened my eyes to see golden ones staring right back at me. It was like looking at an eagle. “And I know where I am. I know who you are. You are Javier Bernal.”

He raised his brow in amusement and nodded. I’d seen his picture before, on the news. There was only one and that was his mugshot but even in that photo, his eyes made an impression on you. They saw right into your depths and made you question yourself. He was one of the men whom Salvador feared, even though Salvador had more power. He was the one I had been told to watch out for, the supposed reason why I’d always been locked in the compound or escorted by the local police to go shopping.

And yet here I was, tied to a chair in a cold, leaking basement with nothing in it except five cartel members, a video camera and a knife that lay on top of a stool in front of me.

All of that for nothing. I could escape Salvador but I could never escape the cartels.

I had asked for this fate.

“You know why you’re here,” Javier said with deliberation, straightening up in his sharp black suit. He walked over to the stool, swiping up the knife, and glancing at me over his shoulder. “Don’t you?”

I could only breathe. I wanted to look at the others, at Este, at Franco, at the two other mystery men, but I was frozen in his gaze like a cow in headlights.

“What is the knife for?” I asked, my throat painfully dry.

“You’ll find out after,” he said. “It is for your husband. For your Salvador.” He stepped to the side and waved his arm at the camera. “And this is also for him.”

He eyed someone over my shoulder and gave a sharp nod. I heard a rip from behind and a piece of duct tape was placed over my mouth. I squirmed helplessly and the lights in the basement dimmed. The men stepped to the side while Javier went behind the video camera. A white light came off the front of it and bathed me in an eerie glow.

Javier cleared his throat, his face covered in shadow and said loudly, projecting to the camera, “This is Luiza Reyes, former beauty queen of the Baja State and property of Salvador Reyes. Salvador, we have your wife and we have a long list of demands, demands which I know you can meet. I expect full cooperation in this matter, or she dies in the next seven days. If she’s lucky. I’ll give you some time to think about what you’re willing to give up for her. Then we’ll be contacting you. Good bye.”

The light on the camera switched off but the rest of the room remained dim.

“I hope your husband checks his emails often. It would be a shame to have to put this on YouTube.”

There was a smirk on his face at that as he slowly walked toward me, the knife glinting in his hand. His eyes burned through the shadows, then grew somber.

He held up the knife. “I think it’s only going to hurt the first time.”

My eyes focused on the silver of the blade but the terror inside me grew too strong and my urge to breathe through the duct tape became too difficult. My lungs seized in panic, pulsing dots appeared in my vision. I felt a hand on my collarbone, gripping the edge of my blouse and then everything went black.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With her USA Today Bestselling The Artists Trilogy published by Grand Central Publishing, numerous foreign publication deals, and self-publishing success with her Experiment in Terror series, Vancouver-born Karina Halle is a true example of the term “Hybrid Author.” Though her books showcase her love of all things dark, sexy and edgy, she’s a closet romantic at heart and strives to give her characters a HEA…whenever possible.

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she’s preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

Karina is represented by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.

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