Tag: Terry Spear

Blog Tour: Casablanca Christmas

Posted November 10, 2015 by Rowena in Giveaways, Promotions | 3 Comments

Christmas is just around the corner and romance novelists Samantha Chase, Kim Redford and Terry Spear are here to help get you in the holiday spirit. We’ve asked them all to share their characters’ favorite Christmas memory as well as their own!

Samantha Chase (The Christmas Cottage/Ever After):

For the last 15 years we’ve hosted a dessert open house every Christmas Eve. Up until a year ago, we lived in a super-tiny house. Seriously, it was under 1,000 square feet. One Christmas we had over 30 people come for dessert! It was wall-to-wall people and yet it didn’t feel like it. We were all laughing and celebrating and eating – there were more desserts than you can even imagine – and every time I think of that night, I smile. We were all transplants to the area with no family to spend the holiday with so for that night, we were each other’s family.

For Lacey, it’s about finally getting the man of her dreams at Christmas!

Kim Redford (A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas):

I’ll always remember the sparkling snow outside frosted windows contrasted with the roaring fire inside the huge, stone fireplace at the old lodge near the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

As for my hero, his favorite is memories of riding his favorite horse across Wildcat Ranch to his cousin’s nearby ranch for early morning breakfast with loved ones.

Terry Spear (A Silver Wolf Christmas):

When my dad asked me to let our toy poodle outside, when she wasn’t telling us she needed to go out. I should have suspected something was up. And there were four bicycles for all four of us to ride. My mom and dad and sister and me. It wouldn’t have been the same if there had just been a bicycle for my sister and me. It was a promise to do things as a family that made it so special. And I had a basket on front to carry Taffy, our toy poodle, with us on biking trips.

For the hero and heroine, this holiday will be the most special of all, their first Christmas together, and the making of all new traditions.

Title: The Christmas Cottage/Ever After
Author: Samantha Chase
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492622598

Legend has it that any couple who spends the night in the Christmas Cottage shall have love everlasting…

THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE
Lacey Quinn does not believe in happily-ever-after or the legend of the Christmas Cottage. But her best friend does, and she’s the one getting married. It’s Lacey’s job to make sure everything at the cottage is perfect for the newlyweds. Instead, she finds herself snowed in with the best man, and she begins to wonder if fairy tales really can come true.

EVER AFTER
Ava Callahan wants desperately to believe in love everlasting. But when Brian McCabe walks back into her life and upsets her carefully organized world, her commitment to perfection makes it hard to accept the love that’s right in front of her. Will it take a night in the Christmas Cottage for Ava and Brian to find their happy ending?

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan’s Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her forties to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Teaching creative writing to students from elementary through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams motivated Samantha to take that step as well. Stay With Me (Montgomery Brothers book 3) hit the USA Today bestseller list upon its debut. Catering to the CEO was included in the romance bundle Loving the CEO, a five-book package that made the New York Times and the USA Today bestseller lists. In March 2013, The Christmas Cottage was nominated for two Indie Romance Convention Awards—Best Indie Romance Novella and Best Indie Contemporary Romance—while Samantha was nominated for Indie Author of the Year. When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing Scrabble on Facebook, and spending time with her husband of twenty-four years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1L4dDpc
Apple: http://apple.co/1PT5pRW
BAM: http://bit.ly/1JXN1lu
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1FLxqdU
Chapters: http://bit.ly/1QeyUxL
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1Zm4dg3
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1Pl4Thl

Title: Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas
Author: Kim Redford
Series: Smokin’ Hot Cowboys, #1
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492621478

Warm up this Christmas with a sexy cowboy firefighter who knows how to ignite flames as well as put them out…

He’s hotter than a wildfire
Trey Duval is a rancher, proud as can be of his Wildcat Ranch. He’s also the top volunteer firefighter of Wildcat Bluff, Texas, the town that pulls out all the stops for its Christmas festivities.

City girl Misty Reynolds comes to Wildcat Bluff just in time to help Trey put out a suspicious fire, leading him to dub her his “Christmas angel.” Unfortunately, Misty’s past has left her with terrible memories of fire, and of Christmastime.

As the two are thrown together again and again, Trey finds himself wanting Misty more and more, and Misty feels stronger and braver when Trey is around. Though their trust grows slowly, their passion for each other is burning hot…

Kim Redford draws her inspiration from a Texas lifestyle of cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, rodeos and small towns to create her bestselling novels. When she’s not writing steamy romances, she’s a rescue cat wrangler and a horseback rider. She divides her time between Texas and Oklahoma. A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas is first in her Smokin’ Hot Cowboys series with Blazing Hot Texas Cowboy coming soon. Visit her at www.kimredford.com.

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Lo2S4b
BAM: http://bit.ly/1iO5V9j
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1jeh6Im
Chapters: http://bit.ly/1LXpAPw
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1KBHMZt
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1FhX6i4

Title: A Silver Wolf Christmas
Author: Terry Spear
Series: Silver Town Wolves, #5
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492609506

IT’S A SILVER TOWN CHRISTMAS, AND THE WOLVES ARE READY TO HOWL

CJ Silver and his brothers have returned to Silver Town eager to reconnect with the pack. And with the she-wolf newcomers renovating the old Victorian Silver Town Hotel, it looks like the holidays are going to be very merry indeed.

Laurel MacTire and her sisters are excited to be living in a wolf-run town, but they have another motive— to solve the fifty-year-old mystery of their aunt’s disappearance. When CJ gets a whiff of trouble brewing, his protective instincts kick in—now Laurel has a hotel opening to prepare for, a mystery to solve, and a brawny wolf shifter underfoot. Perhaps she should have resisted the temptation to kiss him so wickedly in the snow.

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal and medieval Highland historical romances. In 2008 Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry also creates award-winning teddy bears that have found homes all over the world and is raising two Havanese puppies. She lives in Crawford, Texas.

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WitjKd
Apple: http://apple.co/1KORNqP
BAM: http://bit.ly/1LNSkWf
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1gNEQ4j
Chapters: http://bit.ly/1ORDtQ5
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1MIVPmR
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1R2JYy6

GIVEAWAY ALERT

Sourcebooks Casablanca is giving away Christmas Book Bundle and if you want a chance to win, use the rafflecopter below to enter.

Rafflecoptor Link: a Rafflecopter giveaway
GOOD LUCK!

*Please note that this is not a Book Binge sponsored giveaway*

3 Comments

Tagged: Blog Tours, Kim Redford, Samantha Chase, Sourcebooks Casablanca, Terry Spear

Guest Review: Savage Hunger by Terry Spear

Posted October 4, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Tracy’s review of Savage Hunger (Heart of the Jaguar #1) by Terry Spear.

In the heat of the jungle, jaguars are clawed, dangerous, and hungry for love. With hopes of overcoming night terrors and thanking the man who saved her life, Kathleen McKnight returns to the Amazon. A jaguar at heart, Connor Anderson doesn’t just protect her, but wants to claim her for his own.

Kathleen McKnight was on an Army mission when it went all to hell. Her men are killed and she’s wounded. She survives though with the help of a man named Connor Anderson. It’s been a year and she can’t stop thinking about the man who saved her life. Now she’s back in the Amazon and she’s hopelessly lost. She was with a guide but became separated and now doesn’t know which way to turn. Connor, with his sister, Maya, come to Kat’s rescue once again and then take her back to their hut.

Connor and Maya are Jaguar shifters. They know almost nothing of their heritage and to their knowledge no other shifters are out there. They head to the rain forest twice a year from their home in Texas to be in a habitat that jaguars feel most comfortable in. After Connor saved Kathleen he couldn’t get her out of his mind and is a bit hung up on her. When he finds her again she looks different but he’s very excited to be able to get to know her more.

Maya wants a mate for Connor. She has no idea if humans can be turned into jaguar shifters but she’s not above trying. She wants Connor to have the woman he’s almost been obsessed with and she wants a sister. Maya scratches Kat and then licks her – turning Kat into a shifter.

Kat has some issues with being turned, once she finds out that’s what’s up. She also sleepwalks and when she does she turns into a jaguar. She can’t control her shifts when she’s awake either and this poses a problem when it comes to the trio getting back to the states.

They head out of the jungle but the drug lord that was after Kat a year ago has found out she’s in the forest and wants her for his own. He’ll do whatever it takes to get to her including following her all over South America.

I’ll start my review with my view on the characters. Kat was a very strong woman and I admired her for the inner strength that she had shown both when she was in the military and when she was turned into a shifter. She took things a lot better than I would have, that’s for sure. She actually almost took them too well but since she was in the middle of the forest with no clue how to get home it’s not like she could just stomp off. lol She had some issues that she was working through but she faced them head on and I really liked her for that.

Connor was strong jaguar. He took care of his sister and then Kat with intelligence and I really liked him most of the time. For some reason there were points in the book when he grated on my nerves but for the most part I found him pretty entertaining.

Maya is Connor’s twin but she certainly didn’t act 30 years old. She was definitely more likeable, for me at least, when she was in her jaguar form. When she wasn’t she acted much younger. I had to keep reminding myself of her age which was a bit annoying. I understood her reasons for turning Kat but I just think she went about it all wrong.

When it came to the bad guys I was a bit confused. I couldn’t figure out why the drug lord, Gonzales, wanted Kathleen. She assumed it was to get back to her for the Army mission as so many of his men died but that was never verified. Gonzales was made to be this nasty horrible person but when it came to actually bring the man himself down it wasn’t too difficult – which seemed didn’t seem to fit with what we had read.

Overall it was an entertaining book but I’m not sure I would read the next in the series.

Rating: 3 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

1 Comment

Tagged: 3.0 Reviews, Guest Reviews, Paranormal, Reviews, Shapeshifters, Sourcebooks Casablanca, Terry Spear, Tracy's Reviews

Guest Review: A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing by Terry Spear

Posted July 12, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Judith’s review of A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing (Heart of the Wolf #9) by Terry Spear.

Meara Greymere is in charge of the cabin rentals on the rugged Oregon coastline, so her brother and his mate could take a delayed honeymoon. But while Hunter is away, the she-wolf intends to play—she just has to convince the right alpha male to rent one of the cabins, and she’ll take it from there. But when Finn Emerson arrives with every intention of pretending to be her lover, she’s not going to take this lying down. She knows he’ll tell her brother what she’s up to and put an end to her game.

Finn Emerson is a Navy SEAL, formerly one of Hunter Greymere’s team members, and now he’s trying to track down a gray wolf, who’s already made an attempt on one of their team member’s lives. Finn believes Hunter will be targeted next, only to discover Hunter is off with his mate on a honeymoon, and he fears Hunter’s sister is in grave danger. But the SEAL soon learns protecting the unpredictable sexy she-wolf is a mission and a half and protecting her isn’t all he wants to do.

This is the 9th book in this Heart of the Wolf series by this author and for the most part, it has received very positive responses by readers and reviewers. I have read several of the previous books in this series and have found them all very interesting, but I think this one is better than a couple–why? I think mainly because the main characters are really feisty and that sense of self, that ease in projecting their own personal power regardless of anyone else’s attitude about it made this a really great story for me.

Meara is the twin sister of the pack Alpha so as far as pack structure goes, she should have some substantive clout with those around her. Yet her over-protective brother has watered down that clout to a great extent in his almost obsessive need to protect and shelter her. She. Wants. A. Mate. and she is not going to allow Hunter to prevent her search. Waiting until he is on his honeymoon is one way, and accepting applications for vacationing tourists for her summer rentals is another way. What she has not taken into consideration is the danger that still stalks their pack ever since the days when they were in a different location. Her brother’s former SEAL pal makes an appearance, even though the person he came to warn was Hunter and not Meara. But he is more than willing to stick around and be available for Meara should she need protection and rescuing. The rescuing part is the best part by far.

Leave it to those horndog wolves to get right down to the mating thing. And a hot woman–a female wolf who is on the prowl is a sight to behold and one that Finn just can’t seem to turn away from, no matter how great the antipathy Meara expresses because he is interfering in her plans. This is a fast-moving stor?y, one that brings old friends back into the story and one that is set in the context of that sexual attraction that almost knocks them all dead and certainly makes an impression on the reader as well. It is often not possible to tell who are the bad guys and who is really trying to protect Meara and those she loves. It’s the kind of story that readers can’t put down, I was certainly one of those. And it is one of the entertaining stories that makes paranormal/shifter tales such a favorite of mine. Top that off with a gorgeous SEAL and what’s not to like? I have come to very much appreciate this author’s writing style–well constructed stories with good movement, well-edited, edgy characters and lots of loving and lots of action. Just about as good as it gets!

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5

The Series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

1 Comment

Tagged: 4.25 Reviews, Guest Reviews, Judith's Reviews, Paranormal, Reviews, Sourcebooks Casablanca, Terry Spear

Guest Review: Dreaming of the Wolf by Terry Spear

Posted February 21, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Judith’s review of Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8) by Terry Spear.

Werewolf pack leader Jake Silver is an acclaimed photographer. He sees a beautiful woman at the art gallery where his photos are on display, and his intrigue turns into wolfish protectiveness. Alicia Greiston has never met anyone like Jake-he’s sexy, alpha, and totally irresistible, and he calls to something primal in her soul.

It’s a great day for wolf shifter paranormal fiction lovers when another of Terry Spear’s “Heart of the Wolf” series appears. It is also another opportunity to check in with some of the characters who have been featured in other books in this series. However, this book is one that I particularly enjoyed because of the realistic content re: wolves as well as a new concept known as “dream mating” which Ms Spear has made a pivotal part of the love story between Jake and Alicia.

This is a story that is chock full of good stuff. Of course, there is the hunky alpha male wolf shifter whose brother is the pack alpha but who is an important individual in the pack leadership. There is the human female who attracts Jake and who brings out all the protective instincts in his powerhouse body as he finds out that this diminutive woman is a bounty hunter who has decided to take on some really heavy hitters in organized crime. There are hot love scenes and chases; intrusive federal law enforcement and local detectives who must be kept in the dark about the existence of shifters; there is the whole dilemma that the reader experiences as Alicia is “turned” and has to go through the first weeks as a shifter without any kind of guidance or information about her new life; and there is the whole shifter mating phenomenon known as “dream mating” and the connection between Jake and Alicia that is strengthened through this unusual process.

This is also a novel that grabs the reader from the very first word, that keeps the tension surrounding the crime figures at peak level throughout, and one which develops the relationship between Jake and Alicia relentlessly in spite of numerous ups and downs. There are surprises and some plot twists that keep the reader off balance. I certainly didn’t expect some of the developments that I encountered. It is a story that is well written by an author whose command of the language enables her to craft word pictures that create this alternate species in such a way that it all seems so real and “normal.” Alicia is a study–a woman whose early life and relationships have not been the best, whose own mother has not been a good role model for choosing wisely in regards to her romantic involvements, and one whose loyalty and close friendship with her mom have launched her on this path of finding and apprehending her mother’s killers. Yet as brave and really well trained as Alicia is in many ways, she is also vulnerable and needing to find the love of a good man, one who will respect and cherish as well as protect and encourage her to be her very best.

Readers familiar with this series will also enjoy the continuation and involvement of Jake’s brother and sister-in-law whose story were featured in an earlier novel. The strong bonds of family and pack loyalty not only form an important social structure in the novel but are an important factor in giving Alicia the strength to go through some daunting experiences as she becomes the target for the mob killers who killed her parents. All in all, it is a fine paranormal romance and is well-balanced between the suspense and the romantic aspects. It is one that has already become a favorite of mine and I am looking forward to reading more of this pack, especially Jake’s brother Tom who is now coming to really desire his own mate after the experiences of his two older brothers. Something to look forward to, and as always, this author is sure to please.

I give this book a rating of 4.25 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

0 Comments

Tagged: 4.25 Reviews, Guest Reviews, Heart of the Wolf series, Judith's Reviews, Paranormal, Reviews, Sourcebooks Casablanca, Terry Spear

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted December 7, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 11 Comments

Hey there!

I hope you all had a great week. My was fairly good overall.

My youngest did it again. She kicked butt and took names and got her orange belt in Taekwondo. She really is doing a great job. I, of course, am a horrible mother and forgot the damned camera! She went up first thing too so I didn’t have time to run home and get it. I suck, I know. My hubby took a couple of shots with his blackberry and 1 came out ok but most came out pretty blurry. I’m gonna post a few anyway cuz I’m so proud of her.

Here’s what I read this week:

I started off the week with The Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston. I really enjoyed her Magnus Pack series so I thought I’d venture over to the Pride series. While I was overwhelmed with love they were definitely cute. The Mane Event had 2 stories in the book. The first was Christmas Pride which Dez, an NYC cop and Mace a shapeshifting lion who has had his sights set on Dez since he was 14 years old. There was a murder involved in the story and some other conflict but overall it was more sex than story. The second story, Shaw’s Tail, involved Shaw, a shapeshifting lion and Ronnie Lee, a shapeshifting wolf. Talk about mixed breeds. lol Ronnie Lee is trying to settle her life down from the craziness of her youth and Shaw is a wealthy hotel owner. Besides their breeds they really don’t have a whole lot in common. This was a really cute story – when the h/h spends the day together and the story shows them going from activity to activity it was highly amusing and very enjoyable. 3.75 out of 5

My second read for the week was Lord of the Highlands by Veronica Wolff. This was a book that I will review for The Book Binge – I’ll let you know when the review posts.

Next up was Bastards and Pretty Boys by KZ Snow. A gay man who’s not quite happy in his 5 month relationship buys a summer home on a lake. His neighbor is hottie mchot hot but he’s not gonna stray…until his “boyfriend” tells him that he’s been with other men. He’s positive that’s sealed the door on the relationship and moves forward with his neighbor. But his neighbor has some secrets of his own. He’s an ex-con and he’s got a man pretty much stalking him. This was a great 74 page read. KZ just has a great way of phrasing the simplest words and making them wonderfully emotional. 4.25 out of 5

After that I read To Tempt the Wolf by Terry Spear. This was an impulse buy while down at the UBS (the first time) but it being a shape-shifter book it was high on my list to read. The story covered Tessa who’s brother is convicted of murder – but she knows he’s not the murderer. Then she finds a naked man on the beach who ends up having amnesia. Not knowing who he is doesn’t stop Hunter from making a bargain with Tessa. She will let him stay at her place and he’ll find out who was the real murderer. Who Hunter really is? An Alpha wolf from a pack that has pretty much deserted him. He falls for Tessa, even though she’s not one of his kind and he can’t mate with her. On top of all this there are humans being turned to wolves, bad wolves stalking Tessa, Hunter’s sister is missing and there’s buried treasure! It is a lot in one book but Terry Spear pulls it off in a way that, hell, it could happen. lol Anyway, an enjoyable read. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Sleeping with the Fishes by Mary Janic e Davidson. My friend gave me this book a couple of years ago and there is has sat on my shelf. And I have to say…after reading it I could have let it sit there a couple of more years and not missed it. The first chapter almost had me putting the book down. Fred, the half mermaid, half human is such an incredible bitch I wanted to slug her…yes, in the first chapter. I did finish reading the book since it was so few pages but I can’t say I enjoyed it too much. I didn’t care abotu Fred, the sea prince, Artur or the water fellow, Thomas. If you don’t care about the characters, do you really care about the story? For me? No. 2 out of 5

The Dickens with Love by Josh Lanyon was released on December 1st and I scooped that puppy up right away. It was 97 pages of wonderful Lanyon goodness. From the first meeting between the two men, to the crazy things that happen (yes, there’s an ocelot involved) I was riveted to my ereader. The story of a lost Dickens novel, a newly uncloseted son of a vicar and a tainted antiquarian is one that I will probably read every year at Christmas time. I think the love and self-awareness that the characters experience was very moving and this is a story I would definitely recommend. 4.5 out of 5

I read a yaoi manga this week. It was ZE1 by Yuki Shimizu and I have to tell ya, that was pretty odd. A guy who’s grandma has died goes to live in this house but he finds out that half of them are dolls and take away pain. It was truly bizarre but the graphics were pretty darned good. The main character’s story was just touched upon in this volume but I’m not sure I want to read any more – IDK, I’ll have to think about it. 2 out of 5

My last read for the week was another book from my shelves that’s been there a long while and that is Black Ice by Anne Stuart. I have to tell ya – I loved this book. From the heroine who seems kind of weak at first but is truly not…to the hero who is working undercover for the good guys but the line between good and evil is so thin he’s not sure where it crosses over anymore. Just a fantastic read. There were a couple of minor discrepancies (editing issues) in the book which were a little annoying but nothing that took away from my overall enjoyment. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future. In fact I have Fire and Ice on the shelf so I won’t have to go buy anything. 🙂 4.5 out of 5