Friday, July 24, 2015

Of Love and Darkness Review & Excerpt + #Giveaway

 
Of Love and Darkness
Twisted Fate
Book #1
Tami Lund


Genre: Paranormal Fantasy, Shifters
Release Date: June 24, 2015
Publisher: Soul Mates Publishing

ASIN: B00ZJ7SRB8
Pages: 181
Word Count: 60k

Goodreads Rating: 
My Rating: 4.0

Book Description:

OF LOVE AND DARKNESS kicks off the new Twisted Fate shape-shifter series. There are two kinds of shifters: Rakshasa and Light Ones. Rakshasa want to snack on human bones. Light Ones want to protect the humans.

Unfortunately, the Rakshasa are currently winning the battle, as the Light Ones are not fertile. Only one type of Light One, exceedingly rare females called Chala, are able to produce offspring. The Rakshasa know this, and have managed to nearly decimate the population.

Enter Gavin Rowan, a cursed Rakshasa who believes he is a Light One. He feels all his Rakshasa urges to kill, but has been cursed to protect the Light Ones instead.

Throw Sydney Amataya into the mix. She is a Chala– except she doesn't know it. At least not until Gavin saves her from a Rakshasa attack and then declares her as his mate.

But that’s not how Sydney operates. Encouraged by her cross-dressing Fate, William, she refuses Gavin’s claim. If he wants to mate with her–once she gets over the shock of discovering this supernatural world, that is–he's going to have to woo her, impress her, wine and dine her. Romance her. She deserves no less, end of the world be damned.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25620605-of-love-and-darkness

My Take on the Book:

:Sigh: I don’t exactly know what I expected or how I felt about this book. There was both too little and too much going on. And while I do love a good alpha male read, I don’t like when it’s too overbearing. With that said, in my opinion there were too many Alpha male overturns and times where I was overwhelmed and felt like the machismo was being forced down my throat.

I felt that while the story was good & entertaining it was missing something, making it lack that spark that I was expecting when I read the synopsis.

I don’t know if it’s a series I’ll lose myself in but I’ll reserve judgement till I’ve read book 2. There are plenty of stronger follow up for me to know that I should always give the series until the end of book 2.

Now while there was a lot I wasn’t really feeling about this read, there was a lot I enjoyed. I liked a lot of the characters and their personifications. I enjoyed the theme and I even liked the romance. I did like Sydney’s independence and strength but she was also too trusting and that rubbed me the wrong way so while I enjoyed the romance and I liked Gavin and Sydney together, I don’t think I like the characters separately. So major kudos to Ms. Lund for her ability to make me root for a couple like Sydney and Gavin. I even had some really heart wrenching moments while reading this book.

On a completely positive note, I liked the writing style and felt that while there was a lot of information, that it was written in a very clear and direct way. The story was easy to envision which is a definite plus. I'm also a really big fan of the cover. :D


4 Quills

Give this book a try if you’re looking for a quick shifter romance read. While I’m still on the fence about my feelings, I genuinely feel it’s a book a lot of readers will enjoy. It has action, romance and rivalries. But most importantly is the lack of a dreaded love triangle!

Available at Amazon

Excerpt
It was silent for long moments before Sydney realized the two animals had stopped fighting. She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and saw that one of them, the larger, bulkier one lay on the ground in a pool of blood, his lifeless eyes staring at her, unseeing. Sydney swallowed back bile and turned away from the grisly scene.

And found herself staring at Gavin’s T-shirt-covered chest, as he crouched in front of her and cradled her wounded arm with more gentleness than she would have given him credit for. She tried to wrench her arm free and let out a gasp of pain.

“Stop moving,” Gavin commanded in his gravelly voice. He gently slid her shredded coat off her shoulder, as if he meant to inspect the wound more closely.

“Where the hell were you?” Sydney demanded. “I just got attacked by a rabid dog. A really big dog. I need to go to the hospital. I need a rabies shot. Damn it, that hurts.” She hissed as he ripped off the arm of her sweater, instead of trying to tug the entire thing over her head.

“Hey,” she protested, “that’s my favorite sweater.”

Gavin gave the sweater a look that indicated he could not quite understand why it was her favorite, and then he prodded the wounds on her arm. Blood poured freely from four long slashes, dripping off the tips of her fingers and onto her now-ruined coat.

“I doubt he had rabies,” he muttered as he continued to inspect the wounds. “And I just rescued you, so you’re welcome.”

Sydney gaped at him. “Rescued me? Rescued me? You ran like a cat when somebody pulls out the water hose, you moron. There were two dogs. One jumped out at me and the other attacked him. They started fighting and I somehow got caught in the crosshairs. We should probably get the hell out of here though, because only one of them is dead back there. The other one might decide to come back and attack us.”

“He won’t,” Gavin said with an odd inflection in his voice. “But you’re right, there are others, and the scent of blood will bring them relatively quickly. Especially your blood. What are you?”
To Sydney’s utter horror, he leaned close to her wounded arm and sniffed, like a dog checking out another dog’s scent.

She gave her arm another jerk, but Gavin held her in a death grip. “What are you doing?” she asked as he bent closer still and then . . . licked her wounded arm.

“Ew!”

Gavin’s eyes glazed over, as if he had fallen under some sort of spell. He blinked dazedly for a few heartbeats, his hands grasping her arm in a tight enough grip she thought the appendage might go numb. And then he bent his head and licked her wounds again, this time with earnest, licking over and over, as if he intended to clean up every last bit of blood. By the time the entire area was cleansed of all traces of blood, he was panting heavily and his eyes were still glazed. Sydney couldn’t be certain, but the bulge in his pants seemed to have gotten larger.

“Gross,” she snapped. “Now I have to get a rabies and a tetanus shot. I hate shots. Can you get hepatitis this way? I bet you have some sort of sexually transmitted disease, and now you’ve given it to me.”

“No disease,” he managed between pants and licks.

“I’m supposed to take your word for it? Get away from me.” She twisted her shoulder, and slid her arm out of a grasp that had gone slack. She was startled that she only experienced a twinge of pain, and when she looked down at her arm, her eyes widened as she realized the four long gashes were no longer bleeding, and in fact, appeared to actually be healing right before her eyes.

“What the . . .?”

“Chala,” Gavin whispered, his eyes still glazed and, were they glowing? It was the third time that evening she thought she saw glowing eyes. Sydney glanced up at the darkened, cloudy sky and wondered if it wasn’t some trick of the lights in downtown Detroit.

“Chala,” he whispered again.

Sydney gave him a cross look. “My name isn’t Chala.”

“You are a Chala,” Gavin said. The glazed look faded from his eyes, and while they still appeared to glow faintly, they had taken on a far more calculating look. Despite her current situation, she couldn’t help but think he had lovely silver-blue eyes.

“And you are my mate.”
 

About The Author

Tami Lund likes to live, love, and laugh, and does her best to ensure the characters in her books do the same. After they've overcome a few seemingly insurmountable obstacles first, of course.

Tami is multi-published, both self and with a few publishers, including Crimson Romance, Liquid Silver Books, and Soul Mates Publishing. Chances are, there is a new book coming out soon. Be sure to stalk her on social media, so you know when.

And most important, if you enjoyed one of Tami's books, please let other readers know by leaving a review on the site from which you bought it, or on Goodreads. Otherwise, how will they know which book to read next?

Connect with Tami


Enter The Giveaway Here

Paw Print Bracelet (picture attached)

Lightbearer collection – all three books currently available in the series (Ebooks)

Into the Light – first book in the Lightbearer series – free (Ebook)

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