Bliss by Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway!

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Hi peeps, we now have Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau joining us with their brand new release Bliss, now both me and Tams have written reviews for this so you can see the contrast between them and you can gauge how it might fit to your tastes depending on what type of story you like 😉 There is also a brilliant giveaway so make sure to leave your email in the comments box, now I will leave you to enjoy this little nugget, good luck guys <3 ~Pixie~

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Bliss

by

Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau

They’re always happy.

Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.

So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.

If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.

http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/bliss

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Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau, authors of Bliss.  We’re touring the web talking about our influences, our writing process, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at our book, and even a sneak peek or two! And what would a blog tour be without a contest? We’re giving away a copy of the first novel we wrote together: King of Dublin!

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Contest

Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away a copy of our first joint release — King of Dublin. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your twitter, or a link to your facebook or goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! On September 1, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win the prize!

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About Lisa & Heidi

Lisa

Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa her website, at Goodreads, or on Facebook or Twitter.

 Heidi

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write.

Her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms.

When not writing, you might catch her trying to explain British television to her daughter or sipping a drink at her favourite coffee shop.

She also writes queer-flavoured  M/F as Heloise Belleau.

Chat with her on Twitter using the handle @HeidiBelleau.

Browse her website at HeidiBelleau.com or HeloiseBelleau.com.

Check out her books on Goodreads.

Follow her Facebook and Tumblr accounts.

Or contact her using good old-fashioned email: heidi.heloise.belleau@gmail.com

Reviews

Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau - Bliss_325x487Title: Bliss

Author: Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau

Genre: Erotica, Horror, Romance, Sci-fi (Futuristic), Suspense, Thriller

Length: Novel (289pgs)

ISBN: 978-1-62649-138-0

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (18th August 2014)

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts (Combined)

Heat Rating: Explicit

Reviewer: Pixie & Tams

Blurb: They’re always happy.

Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.

So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.

If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.

Purchase Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/bliss

Read the First chapter: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/bliss

Pixie’s Review: ♥♥♥♥ 3 ½ – 4 Hearts:

Hold you horses boys and girls we’re about to enter some dark musings here that will have you horrified. This story is going to take us to a society where crime is barely known, where you don’t lock your doors and everyone is friendly and helpful. Where even the sentenced criminals are happy and helpful and are very eager to please…

Rory has worked hard to be a good citizen, a model citizen in Tophet, a country where crime is rife, and his hard work pays off when he gets a job in the neighbouring country, Beulah, where crime is low and the air is clean. Eager to start his new life he is shocked and appalled when within minutes of being in his new country he is attacked and he gets to see the justice system work its magic. Tate thinks Beulah will be easy pickings, just steal a few items and he will be back in Tophet in no time… after all Beulah doesn’t even have any prisons but he soon learns him mistake when he is caught after he assaults a citizen as he makes his escape. 

Rory isn’t sure about having his attacker in his home but accepts that the laws in Beulah are different to what he knows, rehabilitation rather than punishment and it does seem to work. Tate soon finds that justice is swift, given a choice of a plea bargain of seven years of service or going to trial and if found guilty a life of servitude, well Tate accepts the seven years and then discovers the true horror of his sentence. Rory tries to put the best foot forward but becomes unnerved and suspicious, and when he discovers the truth finds himself in an impossible situation.

Oh this story is so disturbing but so good. Chips are being implanted into criminals to ensure their sponsors safety, but what most of the citizens don’t know is the extra programs in the chips, the ones that make the criminals or ‘rezzies’ do anything to please their new ‘masters’, they will accept degradation and abuse and will be ‘happy’ for it and be eager to please because their real feelings are locked away by the chip and if they start to leak through they suffer unimaginable pain. Rory has no clue what is really happening, he just wants to enjoy his new life and having no clue what is really going on with Tate and on the recommendation of his ‘mentor’ and boss he begins to accept the advances of his ‘rezzy’. When his new colleague and friend, Aaron, suddenly becomes a ‘rezzy’ Rory just can’t believe it and his suspicions are roused. Discovering the truth fills him with horror and he tries to think of a way to sort the situation out, but his ‘mentor’ has other ideas. Tate suffers through humiliation as he is forced to please his new ‘master’, no matter how he tries to ignore the chip it forces him to reach for the happiness he can only get at by pleasing his ‘master’ and making his ‘master’ happy… but when the time comes he has to override the chip or everything will be lost.

This is an excellent story that shows how great technology can be turned into a vicious tool. Rory and Tate are two people who have grown up in the same country but have lead completely different lives, now Rory is an upstanding citizen and Tate is his ‘rezzy’ but even with Tate being chipped Rory finds himself drawn to the man. Tate has a lot to work through when he finally has his chip removed not least the fact that he had always thought that he was straight and he has to work through how to forgive Rory.

Rory and Tate are great characters and we see the story from both their points of view, the story keeps you reading as we learn what is going on and yes there are disturbing parts especially as you know that the ‘rezzies’ aren’t acting under their own wishes but I think that the outcome of this story makes up for a lot of the disquieting feelings as the truth is shattered open to the country as a whole and you actually see the changes that are enforced and the horror that others feel about the truth. It also sent shivers up my spine at the thought of us humans ever having technology like this, imagine being locked away in your own mind and only having views and behaviours that are approved by others *shudder*, being forced to do what others want and not being able to complain and being ‘happy’ doing it… yeah very disturbing. 

I recommend this to those who love stories that make your skin crawl, where love manages to seep through horror, where we have characters who will do anything to right a wrong and where forgiveness and happiness can be still found.

Tams Review: ♥♥ 2 Hearts:

Rory James grew up in Tophet, a place where poverty and crime run rampet. He’s worked hard to earn a degree and a place within the city of Beulah where there is no crime and everyone has a home, food, everyone is safe. But that safety comes at a price young Rory is not aware of, yet.

Tate Patterson is a career criminal who has snuck into Beulah to make an easy score, then cross back over and find his daughter and take her some place safe. He doesn’t plan on running into Rory at the train station, literally. And both their lives change irrevocably with just one hit.

Tate is forced to undergo a procedure where as an implant is placed in his brain to make him compliant, non threatening and happy. But there are side effects of the implant that are vile and horrific. Including the doctors, scientists and officials that are supposed to help these men learn from their mistakes, taking complete and total advantage over them. Turned into
Stepford boys that are always happy. They are violated in the most unspeakable ways including rape and domination, and their brain tells them they are happy about it. If anyone with the implant tries to refuse a command or ask for help they have headaches, nose bleeds, they become physically ill and sometimes pass out.

Poor Tate is trapped inside his own mind unable to tell Rory that he isn’t gay and even though his lips and his body are screaming for the attention, his soul is dying inside. Rory is just so happy to be in a place where being gay is accepted, actually celebrated and embraced. He has been alone for so long that he mistakes Tate’s affections for love, but as Rory slowly starts to understand what exactly is happening in Beulah, he as well is horrified. When his good friend at work is turned into one of these Stepford slaves, Rory has had enough and fights back against the system. The punishment for his crime if convicted? The implant.

Okay, I tried very hard to like this book. I will say that the idea of this type of reality was not only believable and well written, but it scares the shit out of me, because it’s so plausible. But sadly, this book made me physically ill. The way these young men were violated, basically raped, abused and made to think they liked it, they actually begged for it because of the implant, made me throw up in my mouth a little. I was mortified by the content of this story.

There was a little sunshine in the other dark and dangerous context of the book, that was Rory and Tate. They really did fall in love in the strangest way. Rory was a kind hearted individual that had no idea what he was taking part it, he truly thought Tate wanted to be with him. He was always kind and stood up for Tate when it counted. And Tate though a criminal at the start, paid his dues and then some! There is a lot of suspense throughout the story, and to spite my grievances with the content, it was well written.

I’m so so sorry to the authors, but I can’t recommend this book. I can’t condone the type of abuse and violation that was displayed in the story. To each his own though, right. So this is one of those times I’m going to say you decide for yourself if you want to read this one.

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7 thoughts on “Bliss by Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway!

  1. I finished this book yesterday. It was a disturbing read, to be sure, but also very thought provoking. I think the aspect of the story that captured me the most was the role reversals for Rory and Tate. Without the chip’s interference, I think their relationship might have had a very different tone, and later in the book, it’s definitely driven forward by the man who more naturally holds the power.

    s1simka at hotmail dot com

  2. I have had KIng of Dublin on my TBR list for so long. Would love a chance to read it! Lisa Henry is a great author and I have loved everything of hers I’ve read so far. Thanks for the chance to win!
    Sheila
    psshepherd@earthlink.net

  3. Gosh this sounds pretty good. I’ve added it to my wishlist. Thanks for the varying reviews!

    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

  4. Thanks everybody for following the tour, and thank you especially mmgoodbooks for your two very thoughtful reviews. Always appreciated! 😀

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