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~
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.
Blurb: Into the paranormal world: It’s all fun and games until someone’s life is threatened.
Adalric Bachmeier is the leader of his vampire coven and not accustomed to being patient, but to win his beloved’s affection, he tries to be just that. Unfortunately, time runs out too soon. Adalric can’t put off returning to his coven, as well as his duties, any longer, and he plans to take Seth Goodwin with him, willingly or not.
Seth never would have believed that creatures of myth and legend existed. Coming face to face with a vindictive, bloodthirsty vampire opens his eye
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Reviewer: Lisa
Review: This is a wonderful series to read and lose yourself in. The paranormal world is a dangerous world to live in, but it is worth it when there is someone who loves you so much, that he would give you the world. Seth’s introduction into Adalric’s world is not good, he is running scared, but there is this bond he feels for Adalric. The bond of a mate. Adalric has to have great patience waiting for Seth to give in and love him back. I wish this book had a few more chapters to read, but would read it more than once.
s real quick to a whole new set of evils in the world. He can’t figure out why Adalric continues with his overtures of friendship, especially when he’s been nothing but rude and cold to the guy. After all, Seth wants nothing to do with a vampire.
Adalric insists that Seth must go with him to his coven, and he uses the guise of marking him as taken—making him off-limits to other vampires—to finally sink his fangs into the human. Even though Seth finds great pleasure in Adalric’s arms, when the truth of their relationship comes out, will their fragile bond withstand the tension? Or will it snap, sending Seth running?
Review: As much as I’m attracted to paranormal stories, and yes, the vampires do hold an exquisite appeal, I’m not fond of an unchallenging plot as was the case with this one. The shallowness here was almost boring.
A Vampire coven leader finds his beloved (mate). His mate has been introduced to the paranormal world through violence and is now utterly afraid of any creature non-human. The Vampire seduces and misleads the human to get him on his grounds. The human throws a fit, and before our eyes, everything magically changes as “the bond” does its thing. Of course, to heighten the intensity, there is the bad Vampire there as well who attacks his Master’s beloved in order to throttle the Old Master and take leadership for his own. But true love prevails and Happily Ever After occurs.
I was utterly put off from the magic changing of feeling on Seth’s part. So unchallenging for Adalric, the text implication that he was wondering how to woo his beloved went out of the window in a matter of a few pages. Why couldn’t there have been more depth between the lovers? Why couldn’t there have been something in their personality, the chemistry needed to make the declaration of love credible? Why Fate is implored all the time for a feeling that is supposed to grow, evolve, and overrule all other? Would it be so hard to put the pair through some work toward that goal?
I don’t know, everything about this plot – the romance and the action – was so blasé, so been-there-done-that and read-one-read-em-all, that I found no real enjoyment in this. I simply want more and this book was found lacking for my tastes.
Genre: Paranormal / Shapeshifters / Alternative World
Length: Novella (30K)
Publisher: Siren Publishing (August 27th, 2013)
HeatLevel: Moderate
HeartRating: ♥♥♥ 2.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie & Lisa
Blurb: An average human, Nathan Evans has never thought that the day would come when the shape-shifters acknowledged his rare existence in their world. When all of a sudden many shifters come after him, he notices that Felix Wright, a stunning white tiger-shifter, has been ahead of the race all along.
Felix takes a liking to Nathan. The human becomes the most precious item in his collection. When the rumor spreads that he possesses the only human, there is an attempt to take Nathan away from him. Realizing that he fights for Nathan’s safety, Felix begins to develop strong feelings for his object. Such feelings take him by surprise, starting conflicts between him and the human.
Despite Nathan and Felix’s issues, the attention from the surrounding islands focus on the precious being. The persistence to take and sell Nathan angers Felix, which encourages him to express his feelings and protect his human. But will they take Nathan away from him?
As enticing as the blurb sounds the book itself was an utter disappointment. The story revolves around a world other than Earth. Supposedly, once upon a time there were portals that connected this world (for which we have no name) with Earth, and shifters, this world’s inhabitants, could come and go. It was like, years ago a panther shifter adopted Nathan and when – for some unknown reason – the portal were closed – he came back with his adopted son to his planet. Nathan is the only human here and rumors always went around about him, but for some reason it is only now, at his twenty-three years old, that the shifters are showing a greater interest in his existence.
Out of the blue as Nathan gets out of his house, he is chased by a growing number of shifters. His father and friends try to help him hide but they fail and eventually Nathan is captured by Felix, the ruler of an unnamed island.
All the above information is of course not properly provided to us. The story has no sensible plot, rather dishes out information and characters without bothering making a proper introduction. We have no clue about the background of this world. The how’s and why’s, the mechanics and they lifestyle of the shifters around here. We have no idea how the politics go, what is norm, and what not. What are taboos, what is a proper behavior for people and how the dynamics of different kinds of shifter’s work between them. We never get to learn how Nathan managed to reach twenty-three years old and no one realized he couldn’t shift. We never got to learn the mating mechanics, how the bond works, what does it mean for the mates. It’s all a huge jumble of insensible, ludicrous events that held no logic, let alone realistic value.
Felix kidnaps Nathan for his “collection,” and that is surreal. Even so, we never got to see that precious “collection” of his. The idea behind it was probably meant to make you sympathize (later on) with Felix, whom had been grown in a strange environment with his parents constantly absent, and his “friends” always wanting something from him, leading to a cold person who treat all and everybody like objects.
Nathan feels an attraction to Felix the moment he lies eyes on him (as he was chased by Felix that is), but he can’t allow himself to feel that way, because well obviously the man doesn’t see him as a person with feelings. While on the trip back to Felix’s island Nathan allows Felix to have sex with him (condoms are used), but he refuses to acknowledge that he likes it, even as his body betrays him. As soon as they reach the island though, Felix treats him coldly again and Nathan forbids him from touching him again.
There is this constant back and forth between Felix and Nathan. The time span and the continuously changing of heart, the inconsistency of feelings and actions is incredulous. I literally couldn’t believe what I was reading. My only question that unfortunately was repeated over and over with every single line I read was “why? Why are these characters acting the way they do? What is the purpose behind anything they do?” and of course I never got an answer for that.
The chemistry and intimate scenes between these two characters – that by the way were incredibly shallow, with no amount of depth or personality, and utterly unappealing – was glaringly absent. Nathan’s character was a complete mess in all his actions/reactions. When the mating claim happened, I was left with my jaw hanging and disbelieving everything. Nothing, nothing made sense. Felix had sex with Nathan the first time (the mating ritual, and don’t ask what that entails I never found out, supposedly had three stages) and Nathan acted as a virgin, as if he didn’t already have sex with Felix on the boat. Immediately they hit the shower for the next step and we were supposed to see the why as the story moved on. For this step, though Felix uses condoms (I came back to this) even as his first ejaculation was seeping down Nathan’s thighs. Again, why? At this point Nathan whines about not being able to have sex with Felix because his member was too big… For which I have no comment, I’m rendered speechless. And after an intense exhibition of orgasming two or three times non-stop (literally non-stop, try to imagine that) the scene ends and we never get to understand what the ritual really was or how it works.
I could keep going on. Bottom end this story in my opinion is in serious need of a couple of editing rounds and a good, hard revision. While at it, it would be nice for the author to properly “build” this world and give the plot a sense, a meaning, and a purpose. As it is, it only gets half a heart from me for the nice idea.
Lisa’s Review:♥♥♥♥ 3 1/2 Hearts
This is book one in this series and they should be read in order. Normally I would say that it is so that you will have an insight into who each character is and their lives but it is more fun to start with book one. I am not really sure if I like this book yet or not, I will see after I read the next book. It is a great story don’t get me wrong, but it seems like Felix is just like a tempermental little boy instead of an man and a leader. He see’s Nathan as an object not as a person.
Nathan is the only human in the shifter world and is worth quite a bit, even though Nathan doesn’t think so. He is a lot smaller than the shifters, teaches swimming to students and lives with his shape-shifting father. He was an orphan and stuck in the shifter world. He was basically adopted by a shifter and is well adored. When shifters come to take the only human he runs in fear, always intent to make his way back to his father. However Felix kidnaps him and takes him to his home. Intent on making him just another precious object. Or so he thought in the beginning.
Felix starts getting feelings for Nathan and it leaves him with a lot of questions. However he knows that he wants this human and will do everything to protect what is his. Now all he has to do is prove to Nathan that he is not an object but a desired mate. There are many that will try to take Nathan away from him, but he must protect him and show him that he is falling in love with this sexy man.
Like I said it is a great story, it just comes off as a bit weird the way Felix come off. One thinks that a leader, an alpha is strong both in mind and body but Felix doesn’t come off that away. It left me with questions that were unanswered. However it did catch my attention from the start and kept it all the way to the end. It gives you sexy men, passionate sexual encounters, arguments, feisty comments, excitement, adventure and a bit of danger all wrapped up into a cool book.
