Blog Tour: Liam Davis and The Raven by Anyta Sunday

Welcome to the blog tour kick-off for Anyta Sunday, 

celebrating her latest novel

Liam Davis & The Raven

Blurb:

Liam Davis is a serious journalist, and he’s good at it.

Or at least, he was. Until the chief of Scribe, the campus magazine, makes him give up his politics column to write for the party page —the party page that is problematic for two reasons: One, it threatens Liam’s chance of getting the traineeship with his apathetic father at his prestigious newspaper company, and two, he has no idea what it means to party, let alone how to capture this new audience’s attention!

But Liam Davis is no quitter. He’s determined to prove to his father, the chief, and above all himself that he can do it—and do it well.

Life doesn’t make it easy. Not when Freddy Krueger comes stalking out of the shadows to attack him. Luckily the Raven, the campus vigilante—the vigilante getting hate mail sent to Scribe’s opinions page—comes to his rescue.

Now, between finding the perfect angle for his party page columns and making friends (and perhaps something more?), Liam needs to find this mysterious Raven — not only to thank him, but to warn him to watch his back.

An excerpt:


Just a few pathways stretched between me and my reporting assignments for the semester. Maybe I’d be reassigned the student politics column I wrote last year. Or, since the final year of my undergraduate studies had finally accepted me into its embrace, maybe the chief would give me my promotion—

Clash! Thunk!

I hit metal and tumbled, landing with a smack against the pavement. The newspaper ripped. A tingle of pain burst through my wrists and everything blurred. An amused voice sounded from my left, and I shifted into a crouch, brushing the grit off my grazed palms.

A guy in a black-and-silver wheelchair sat with his arms folded. “If you wanted to catch my attention, you could’ve started with ‘hello’.”

“I didn’t see you,” I said, plucking up my glasses and getting to my feet. The frames were a little scratched, but not too bad. I slid the glasses back on.

The spiky-haired guy smiled. Tattoos of hummingbirds trailed up his arms, and his pierced brow was spectacularly arched.

“Sorry,” I said, collecting the paper and folding it. “Are you all right?”

“Better than you are.” He rolled his wheelchair back a few feet and then forward again. “Chair’s good too. Word of advice, watch where you’re going next time.”

Well . . . he had a point. I should be more observant, especially considering I prided myself on noticing details others tended to overlook.

Someone behind me caught his attention, and he waved. Sparing one more amused glance my way, he rolled around me and up the path.

A splash of rainwater hit my nose. The clocktower in the distance chimed the hour.

I jogged the remainder of the path just as the splashes snapped into a downpour.

Sopping, I scurried into the concrete block of hideousness.

Surely, the day could only get better.

Buy this book:

About the author:

A born and raised New Zealander, Anyta Sunday has been exploring the literary world since she start reading Roald Dahl as a kid. Inspired, stories have been piling up in her head ever since. Fast forward to her mid-twenties and jump a few countries (Germany, America, and back again), and she started putting pen to paper. When she’s not writing or chasing her kid around, she’s reading, hiking, watching Joss Whedon series, attempting Pilates or curling up with her two cats. Updates on her projects can be found at anytasunday.com.

  

A special thank-you from Anyta to:

Caroline Wimmer for the amazing cover art! I love how this so wonderfully captures the tone of the book and its setting.

Teresa Crawford for developing the story and discussing how best to shape the direction of the novel.

Lynda Lamb for keeping me sane while I took so long to get this one ready, and then for going through and catching all my nasty spelling and formatting errors. 

HJS Editing for such wonderful and thorough copyediting and making my characters actually sound American.

There are prizes to be had!!! Enter the raffle for your chance at winning one of these awesome prizes.

Prize 1: An e-copy of Liam Davis & The Raven (Mobi/e-Pub/PDF)

Prize 2: An e-copy of Liam Davis & The Raven (Mobi/e-Pub/PDF), and any one of my backlist books.

Prize 3: An e-copy of Liam Davis & The Raven (Mobi/e-Pub/PDF), any one of my backlist books, and a $10 Amazon voucher.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, happy reading!








Promotional post. Materials provided by Pride Promotions.

ARC Review: Haunted Halls by M. Raiya

Blurb:

College should be a blast for Evan: Same state where he grew up, just a few hours from home, tuition is free, and there's nothing but new experiences and opportunity in front of him. All he feels is homesick, alone, and adrift. Whatever thrills his roommates eludes Evan.

He is distracted from his misery by Gabriel, who seems to come and go in the blink of eye. But he's beautiful, confident, proud—everything Evan is not. Most of all, he's a mystery, and one that Evan is determined to solve …

Sandra's rating:




The writing in this was really good. Unfortunately, insta-love and emo-teens and selfish decisions that were made to look like selflessness, something that even an unusual explanation for ghostery antics couldn't rescue, dropped the rating down.

I didn't buy the romance - Evan felt too desperately lonely, and seemed to do exactly what Gabriel feared. He fell for the first person to show any interest in him, and then made a decision, that was seemingly selfless, but caused pain nonetheless, no matter how you cloak it.

I think that if the story had been longer, if we'd been given a bit more time to explore the budding relationship, understand why Evan fell so hard so quickly, this might have worked better. I also didn't quite understand why he felt so lonely and adrift, as we're given no reasons for this or background information why he would feel that way.

I would have liked to see him have more time to come to terms with being gay, as I thought the acceptance came to quickly and too neatly, considering he denies being gay to his friends and/or roommate even after he's fallen for Gabriel. I wasn't given an explanation why he was scared to come out of the closet, considering that his relationship with his parents is described as loving, and that we're not given any kind of indication that they would be anything other than supportive of him.

Spotlight: The Colors Of Blue by Lance McCulloch

Today we shine the spotlight on Lance McCulloch's debut novel

Blurb:

Sara Field has a unique gift - she can see the auras of others. However, her gift for picking up colors fades after her fiancé betrays her in the most heartbreaking way possible. Meanwhile, Rick Wheeler has suffered the tragic loss of his wife, and finds himself collapsing under the pressure to build his financial empire. Together, Sara and Rick connect, feel comfort in one another, and fall in love during one extraordinary weekend in rural Colorado. As the story unfolds, readers see two very broken people fall in love as McCulloch ties together the beauty of nature and the human spirit. The themes of adventure, love, intrigue, passion, and happiness are woven together tightly in this epic romance. Through strongly developed characters and rhythmic prose, readers are taken on a riveting journey that joins two hearts together and provides a renewed promise of true love and lasting happiness.

A note from the author:


I’ve always believed that each of us has a story to tell. Since high school, I wanted to write a book. However, the subject, genre, and even the story never developed until I closed the door of my office and wrote the first line. This did not occur until I was in my 40’s. Like any story, the author must have some motive to push us over the edge and start writing. Mine arrived in the form of motivation, seeking the way out of a failing technology business and a need to escape all that can go wrong with a small company.

In the fall of 2009, I found myself in the most difficult position I had ever faced. I had started a gear and technology business years earlier and by 2008 had developed and patented a unique technology. This led to a multimillion dollar distribution contract between my small company and a public company out of Dallas, Texas.

ARC Review: Take A Look by Gene Taylor

Blurb:

Jordan Baldwin has a job at a popular coffee shop, a cool apartment downtown, and a charming hunk of a new neighbor who doesn’t mind taking a chance on him. Jordan’s also got a smartass mouth on him, just like his new boyfriend, Grant Heathman. Compatibility is definitely a plus.

Grant writes a review column called “Take A Look” for the local newspaper, which intrigues Jordan even more since Grant is blind. But Grant takes Jordan to a new Italian restaurant and shows him how it’s done, leaving the place with only a modest 4-star review. Just when Jordan doesn’t think Grant can impress him any further, the surprises keep on coming.

After a bad review, Jordan finds himself kidnapped, roughed up, and mistaken for Grant. Now Grant and Jordan must hide out before the next “look” they take is from a coffin.

Sandra's rating:





It is very tricky and difficult to write an engaging novella, and sadly this one didn't work for me. It's too fluffy for the topics it attempts, and too short to cover them adequately.

The relationship between the two MCs developed way too quickly, and the dialogue was, while attempting to be humorous in many spots, falling rather flat. The whodunit was too neatly wrapped up, Jordan's father was too connected (not only does he know an investigator, but also an eye surgeon, who both make time at the drop of a hat), and the whole story felt too rushed.

There was no depth to the relationship, which developed from meeting in the hallway of their apartment building to having coffee that same morning, to having sex that night and then immediately being attached at the hip and spending little time apart. Yes, I realize sometimes that happens, but it still has to be believable. And unfortunately, this wasn't.

I liked the plot quite a bit, and I think that if time had been taken to let things develop at a more natural pace, instead of insta-lust/love and rapid forward movement of the timeline, this would have worked better for me. I also thought that the angsty part about Grant's vision could have been handled a bit better, and for someone who had only lost his vision a few years prior, he seemed very well adjusted - something that didn't ring entirely true for me.

The writing is quite good, but due to the shortness of this story, it felt flat and more telling than showing. I didn't care about either character, and I had a hard time believing the whodunit aspects of this story.

Book Review: Sex and Candy by Diana DeRicci

Blurb:

Can one wedding be the turning point of four different men?

Brad's dream of happily ever after with his best friend, Geoff, is destroyed when he receives a wedding invitation to Geoff's wedding -- to a woman. After accepting that waiting for the man has gained him nothing, he intends to wipe him clear of his heart and mind. With a night at Blue Dogs. Tristan is captivated by Brad and what begins as a night of pure release starts something for Tristan that he can't deny. A wanting to know the other man beyond sex. Can Tristan win Brad's heart away from an unrequited love? It may not be as easy as he'd like when Geoff reappears begging for forgiveness.

Sandra's rating:








High on the sexy times, high on the fluffy, sweet part, loads of subplots and low on pages, this novella suffered from trying to do too much without ever actually delving deeply enough into any one subject. And that's a shame.

Attention!! Mild spoilers after the break! Read at your own risk!!!

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Book Review: Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan

From the blurb:

Entomology grad student Adam Ellery meets Denver Rogers, a muscle-bound hunk of sexy, when Denver effortlessly dispatches the drunken frat boys harassing Adam at the Tucker Springs laundromat. Thanking him turns into flirting, and then, much to Adam’s delight, hot sex over the laundry table. 
Though Denver’s job as a bouncer at a gay bar means he gets his pick of geek-sexy college twinks, he can’t get Adam out of his head. Adam seems to need the same rough play Denver does, and it’s damn hard to say no to such a perfect fit. 
Trouble is, Adam isn’t just shy: he has obsessive compulsive disorder and clinical anxiety, conditions which have ruined past relationships. And while Denver might be able to bench-press a pile of grad students, he comes from a history of abuse and is terrified of getting his GED. Neither Denver nor Adam want to face their dirty laundry, but to stay together, they’re going to have to come clean. 

Heather's rating:





"You like dirty talk. I knew that from the laundry, but you really like it, don't you? You liked having your throat fucked, like having somebody come on your face, like being my late-night snack all sprawled on a table. You're a dirty boy, Adam." He licked the long length of Adam's thigh. "I really, really like dirty boys. I like to eat them right up."

::Swoon::

Yes, Heidi, yes. You know what I like and you love to give it to me. (---> Starts muttering obscenities inside my head to the not present Heidi Cullinan)

So this book worked for me. As someone without OCD and someone who isn't involved in the BDSM world, I can't attest for the factual nature of this book. However, was it that special brand of Heidi Cullinan; sugary sweet and scorchingly hot? Yes, yes it was. It was dirty talking, kinkaliciousness with lots of affectionate pet names thrown in.

Compared to the mental minefield of Disasterology 101, this book almost seems like OCD-lite, but I still think that the difficulties that Adam faced came across as really authentic. I love reading about people with physical or mental challenges so this book was right up my alley. Combine Denver and Adam's issues with some dirty talk and I'm sold, hook, line, and sinker.

The relationship with Adam and Denver evolved nicely though the course of the book. I liked the gradual progression of their relationship and the slow way they came to trust each other. I also enjoyed the side characters and what they brought to the story.

All in all a great, hot read by one of my favorite authors.

Buy this book: Riptide Publishing, Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble

Thanks for reading my review! <3