EXCERPT REVEAL: Blood Guard (Mission #1)

If you haven't heard by now, let me be the first to fangirl all over you when I tell you that Megan Erickson has a new vampire book releasing in just a few short weeks. She only recently crossed into the paranormal world with her Silver Tip Pack series, and I have to tell you - if she does vampires half as well as she does shifters, we're all in for a real treat.

Today I have an excerpt for you from the first book in her Mission series, BLOOD GUARD.

Blood Guard (Mission #1), by Megan Erickson
Publish Date: September 12, 2017
Publisher: Loveswept
Genre: adult paranormal romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

(Synopsis) Tendra: One minute, I’m a bartender in gritty Mission City; the next, I’m whisked away by a vampire named Athan who tells me that I’m the lifeblood of his clan. It sounds unbelievable, but he’s got evidence I can’t deny. Turns out, Athan belongs to an underground society of vampires who feed only on humans with their consent. Their enemies have no such qualms, and they want me dead. The only thing standing in their way is strong, sexy Athan. And the closer we get, the more tempted I am to let Athan feed. . . .

Athan: How could I have known when I snatched this snarky, beautiful human off the streets that she would change mydestiny? As a loyal soldier, I must deliver Tendra to our future king—my brother. Empowered with the blood of ten generations of the Gregorie breed, she is fated to rule as our queen. But there’s something between us that’s so intoxicating, so carnal, I can’t help wanting Tendra for myself . . . even if it’s treason.

The panic welled in my chest. I was trapped in a strange apartment with a strange man who probably outweighed me trifold. I opened up my mouth to scream but he held up his hand and said in a deep voice. “You scream, and I’ll just put you to sleep again.”

My jaw snapped shut. I focused on breathing. In and out. In and out. I wanted to thrash and yell, and holler, but he’d somehow knocked me out before and I would be useless if he did it again.

I glanced around. The only light was from a small, dim bare bulb above us. The rest of the room was in shadow. There was nothing I could use for a weapon, not even my shoes. I focused back on the man in front of me. “How’d we get here?”

“I carried you,” he answered, his voice a rumble that I felt down to my bones.

Something moved in the corner of my vision and I peered into the dark. A form materialized, and I must have been dreaming still because Brex was there. He stalked toward me, rubbed against my leg, then sat down by my feet like a feline guard. I tried to be calm, but I was close to losing it. I didn’t date. Was this how people dated now? Maybe it was a thing. “Why is my cat here?”

My captor didn’t move, and half of his face was in shadow. “I brought him.”

“I don’t keep my ID on me, so how’d you know where I live?”

“I didn’t need your ID.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “I’ve been watching you.”

Oh, just fucking great. A stalker. I’d be lucky if I made it out of here without him wearing my skin like clothes and my head in a freezer. “Okay, cool. Well, uh, hi. I’m Tendra. I applaud you for your unconventional, um, greeting. Want to untie me? We can go for a drink. I make a mean screwdriver.”

Confusion flickered over his face, then his scowl deepened, like uncertainty angered him. “No.”

I didn’t want to make him mad, but I’d never been great at keeping my mouth shut. Sometimes me opening my mouth was the reason we had to move. “Do you want money? Because I’m sorry to say, you kidnapped the wrong girl. Especially because I just paid rent. I’m eating peanut butter out of the tub for the next week.”

Again with the angry confusion. He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t want your money.”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, now you have me here. What do you plan to do to me?” The panic was slowly switching over to anger, the fight instinct my mother instilled in me strong as ever. If he was going to kill me, maybe I could piss him off enough that it would be quick. “Because I’ll tell you right now, I will fight you to my dying breath and then come back from the dead and haunt you until I convince you to cut your own dick off.”

His expression didn’t change. “Charming.”

I was signing my death warrant, but I couldn’t resist getting a shot in. “Fuck you, you creeper.”

His chest rose as he inhaled sharply. “Right, so let’s have it out. I’m your guard, because you’re destined to be delivered to my older brother in order to make our clan stronger.”

I didn’t move. Not an inch. Because holy shit, not only was he a creepy stalker, but he was out of his gourd, too. I couldn’t just have an evil stalker. Oh, no, I had to have a lunatic one, too. Zero of what he said made sense, so I focused on one thing at a time. “Excuse me? Clan? What are you, cavemen?”

I thought he’d take offense, but instead he just looked bored. “No, not cavemen. Vampires.”

I blinked.

And blinked again.

But nope, he was still there. This was still happening. Only me. If I made it out of here alive, what a story I’d have to sell about my stalker who thought he was a vampire. I had visions of the guy trying to bite my neck with his blunt teeth. Which made a giggle bubble up in my throat, which turned into a laugh, which turned into me throwing my head back in hysterical laughter until tears streamed down my cheeks.

When I dropped my head and focused on him through my tears, he was watching me carefully, that impassive expression still on his face.

He reached down and picked up Brex by the scruff of his neck, which immediately ceased any and all amusement on my part. “If you hurt my cat, swear to God—“

Brex yowled and swiped a paw across the man’s face. A thin line of scarlet bloomed on his cheekbone before the man dropped Brex, who scurried off to hide under a small table near an old couch. “Good job, Brex!” I shouted after him. “Now come back and finish the job!”

I turned to my stalker, and whatever I was about to say died in my throat. I watched as the cut sealed up and vanished before my eyes.

Gone.

No mark, no blood. No nothing.

And those dark eyes were still trained on me.

Megan Erickson is a USA Today bestselling author of romance that sizzles. Her books have a touch of nerd, a dash of humor, and always have a happily ever after. A former journalist, she switched to fiction when she decided she likes writing her own endings better.

She lives in Pennsylvania with her very own nerdy husband and two kids. Although rather fun-sized, she's been told she has a full-sized personality. When Megan isn't writing, she's either lounging with her two cats named after John Hughes characters or... thinking about writing.

Connect with Megan:

Website: meganerickson.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormeganerickson/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MeganErickson_
Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2wlessh
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2voYMHc

RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Disorderly Conduct (The Academy #1)

Disorderly Conduct (The Academy #1), by Tessa Bailey
Publish Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Avon
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 STARS

(Synopsis) You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone…

Police academy cadet Charlie Burns can’t believe his luck when the gorgeous blonde he meets in a bar murmurs those magic words: “Nothing serious, ’kay?” Mind-blowing, no-strings sex with Ever Carmichael—it’s the holy grail of hookups for a guy who’s too busy following in his law enforcement family’s footsteps to think about getting serious. Charlie’s all about casual…that is, until Ever calls it quits and his world tilts on its axis.

Ever knows that when you control the relationship game, you can’t get played. But for the first time, she wants more than short-term satisfaction. Step one: end her fling with commitment-phobic Charlie. Step two: sacrifice herself to the ruthless NYC dating scene. Yet everywhere she turns, there’s Charlie, being his ridiculously charming self. No online match or blind date compares to the criminally hot cop-in-training, but they’re over. Aren’t they?

If love is a four-letter-word, why does the idea of Ever seeing someone else tie Charlie up in knots? Now he’s desperate to win her back…and a little date sabotage never hurt anyone, right?

Disorderly Conduct has Tessa Bailey stamped all over it from the dirty talking NYC cop-in-training to the ball-busting chef that he can't seem to quit. Tessa has taken us back to the law-enforcing alpha males that she does so freaking well, and I've never been more happy about getting all up in a cop's business. 

Disorderly Conduct sort of flips the standard romance formula around a bit. Charlie and Ever make an instant connection in a bar and follow it up with an amazing night of no-strings sex. Both of them are total commitment-phobes and are perfectly happy with frantic quickies for a limited time only. But, then Ever's mother turns her life upside down when she gives her some words that convince her to try finding a lasting, loving relationship. No matter how much Ever likes Charlie, he's made it clear he's married to his job, and everyone else comes second. So, she calls an end to their fling so that she can find a nice, permanent man to settle down with. 

All that happens in the first 15% or so of the book. The stage is set as Ever creates an online dating persona in her attempts to find Mr. Right. And Charlie, for some inexplicable reason is determined to thwart her every attempt so that he can keep his favorite hook-up girl available whenever he wants her. Now I know - Charlie sounds like a total douche. But, the ways he goes about trying to convince Ever that a relationship - especially with the guys she's looking at - is not what she wants is kind of adorable. And the fact that he has no idea he's doing all this because he likes her more than just a one-month stand is frustratingly funny. 

Thankfully, we get to be in Charlie's head for half the book, so we can bear witness to the turmoil going on within him over his antics. He doesn't want to hurt her, but he doesn't want to leave her. He doesn't want to date her, but he doesn't want to stop sleeping with her. He doesn't want to get to know her, but when he learns things about her, he realizes he is fascinated by her. 

Ever is a tough-as-nails chick. She's starting a new catering business with her BFF and has left a long string of "just sex" relationships in her wake. It's all she knows. She can admit to herself that a real relationship with Charlie is really what she wants, but she also knows that he doesn't want that. She does the right thing and cuts him loose so that he can go be a lieutenant on the police force like his brother and his father, without the complications of a girlfriend. She's brave, and I loved that about her. 

Poor Charlie doesn't know what he wants. He thinks he knows, but all that changes when he meets Ever. And it takes him a good long time to get his head on straight and see what he really wants. Unfortunately, by that time, things have sort of gotten out of his control. So, of course, that's when it really gets interesting. 

We meet the side characters that will make up the books in the rest of The Academy series, and I'm already looking forward to reading all the HEAs of theses academy recruits. 

REVIEW: Rule Breaker (Rules of Engagement #1)

Rule Breaker (Rules of Engagement #1), by Sienna Snow
Publish Date: November 1, 2016
Publisher: Forever Romance
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher
Genre: adult crime/suspense romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) She controls a technology empire. He controls her.

At just twenty-eight years old, Arya Rey has become queen of the tech world. While she is highly respected as a philanthropist and fearless businesswoman, no one would suspect that beneath her controlled exterior simmers a private passion. A desire never spoken of in Boston’s elite social circles. A need for submission, for satisfaction, for the kind of exquisite pleasure that can only be provided by one man . . . her billionaire ex-lover Maxwell Dane.

It’s been five years since Max and Arya last met. Five years that they’ve longed for the feel of each other’s skin. Max always takes what he wants, and he wants Arya back. But it’s more than the memory of her broken heart that makes her resist. During their time apart, Arya has collected secrets of her own. She can give Max her body, but can she give him the truth?

I love getting sucked down the rabbit hole of a new-to-me author. It was like that for me with Sienna Snow. Rule Breaker was suspenseful and glitzy and so super sexy, and as soon as I was done, I had to read more. And not just because it was obvious that the story arc introduced here wasn't over yet, but because I found myself fully invested in the characters that were introduced.

The characters in the Rules of Engagement series are not your typical 20- and 30-somethings. They are all rich. Like, CRAZY rich. Billionaire with a B rich. And they're all brilliant, too. But, Rule Breaker drives home the point that, even though our main characters are beautiful and rich and smart, that does not mean that they can't still be idiots and do dumb things when it comes to love and relationships.

Rule Breaker is a second-chance love story. Arya and Max had a very intense relationship five years earlier until Max ended things abruptly and broke Arya's heart. Arya threw herself into her tech and security work and between she and her two best friends, she hid herself away from Max in an attempt to forget. Five years later, Arya and her friend Milla's company was just merged with another company in a billion-dollar deal - and the company it is now intertwined with is Max's. He's spent this time planning how to get her back, and it's time to set his plan in action. 

Max is absolutely a force of nature. He is determined and possessive and alpha to the millionth degree. And dominant doesn't even cover it. In ALL ways. Initially, when I learned of his and Arya's back story, I was totally in favor of Arya blowing him off forever. Or at least making him grovel. A lot. But, Max isn't the groveling type, so I remained firmly in Arya's corner for a long time as she continued to try and deny that she still loved him. 

But, Max does apologize. And through his actions, he won me over. Completely. Yes, he's overbearing and steamrolls Arya half the time, but his motivation was clear. Everything he did was done out of love and concern for Arya. And Arya definitely deserved his concern, since she has some really dangerous people after her for what's inside her brain. 

The ending is scary and suspenseful and exciting. And, although Arya's and Max's story of getting together reaches a conclusion in Rule Breaker, it's clear that the danger isn't over - it just gets transferred to her BFF and business partner Milla. 

Arya, Max, Milla, Lex, Carmen and Thomas are all compelling characters with so much story to tell. In addition to the romantic suspense, there's also a very rich BDSM thread woven in (Max also owns a BDSM club - I mean, what billionaire wouldn't?). Rule Breaker has a little bit of everything to thrill a wide variety of romance lovers. Be prepared for an exciting and steamy ride.