Kelly Cain's Blog, page 11

Book Review: Altered by Kelly Cain

Lovely review from my author friend, Amanda.

Amanda Linsmeier

Liv is a young woman in her a first semester of law school. When her fiancé abruptly breaks things off, Liv is heart-broken.

Enter Nicholas, a classmate who is so withdrawn that he is an enigma to everyone around him. Nicholas is unusually young and unusually quiet, and keeps his past a tightly guarded secret.

While Liv is still reeling from her break up, Nicholas begins appearing in her life and coming to her rescue. Intrigued and grateful to this quiet young man, Liv becomes determined to unravel the mystery of who Nicholas is.

I knew I was going to read Altered from the time I heard the synopsis. It just sounded like something I’d enjoy. Though I’ve never read NA, that I can recall, I am fond of YA, and adult romance. I also am quite fond of the author, Ms. Kelly Cain! But it’s always intimidating reading a…

View original post 428 more words

Cover reveal – ALTERED

It’s here! The cover for my debut novel, ALTERED.

At first, I saw him as everyone else did. But then, I saw him for who he really was. Recognized the beauty beneath the pain. Loved the quirks disguising the insecurity. Embraced the man who hid behind the boy. 
 
But there was so much more… 
More I didn’t know. 
 
And once I did, I couldn’t let go…
Of the boy. 
The man. 
The lover…
 
…even if his past is threatening our future. 
Nothing will alter what we’ve built.

Altered Cover Reveal

Stay tuned for the cover reveal of my debut novel, Altered, from Penner Publishing (pennerpublishing.com) on Wednesday, 12/9. Visit any of the following blogs to see it:

 

Around the World in Books
My Book Filled Life
Author’s Corner
Books Are Magic
Kim Talks Books
C.H. Armstrong Books & Blog
Queen of All She Reads
Charline’s blog and more…
Born Bookish
Comfort Books
Jamie McLachlan, Author
Amanda Linsmeier, Author

Come back and let me know what you think!

Book Review: Altered

Kelly Cain:

Big thanks to Cathie for reading and reviewing my book, and sweet relief for her liking it. I’m still smiling.

Originally posted on C.H. Armstrong Books & Blog:

One of the very best “perks” of being a new author is the friendships I’ve made along the way.  This is something I never anticipated when I signed with my publisher, Penner Publishing.  I imagined the entire process would be a solitary one, but the truth is that I’ve made some of the best friendships of my life among other new authors who are experiencing the same process right alongside me.  One of those authors is Kelly Cain, a new adult author whose debut novel, Altered, is due out on January 26.

Kelly was kind enough to allow me an early read of her novel and, though I count Kelly as a really good friend, the review I’m about to give is entirely honest and 100% unbiased.  I say this because, quite frankly…

I was blown away!

Those who know me know that I’m a prolific reader.  I’ll read almost…

View original 608 more words

Giveaway for A Thing of Beauty

Goodreads Book Giveaway


A Thing of Beauty
by Bianca M. Schwarz

Giveaway ends December 28, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

Author Interview: Kelly Cain

Source: Author Interview: Kelly Cain

Review – On the Rebound (Book 1 of the Irving University series) by Jim Cangany

I love sports (a lot) and romance. I don’t have an opportunity to read many books with sports in the forefront and especially not a romance novel, so I had been looking forward to reading this title for some time now. And even though I’m not a “sweet” romance type of girl, I really enjoyed it and didn’t feel that I was being ‘faded-to-black’ or missing out on a deeper romantic level. I was satisfied when I finished reading.

This is a sort-of-enemies to lovers romance between Greg and Ciara. I say ‘sort-of’ because Greg really holds no animosity towards Ciara, but her preconceived notions of him based on his reputation which was actually cleansed pits them as unnecessary adversaries. She finally spends enough actual time with him to discover what an incredible guy he really is only to throw it all away without even giving him a chance to explain.

This is the second novel I’ve read by this author and he creates such wonderful main characters that by the end, I’m rooting for them to find someone worthy of their love instead of the person they’re pursuing. It’s understandable that Ciara is cautious considering a past heartbreak, but good grief, the small mistake Greg makes solicits a completely unwarranted response. It doesn’t help that her best friend has never been able to see past Greg’s, well… past. The fact that Ciara chooses this woman as her best friend already makes me question her life choices.

In end… I’ll remember Greg Miller for years to come (as I do EJ from Jim Cangany’s first series). Their love interests? Not so much. And it’s not because their love interests are terrible people, they’re flawed just as we all are, but they’re just not good enough for our fellas.

The basketball game descriptions are compelling, especially in the game against “The Machine.” I felt as though I had been dropped into the field house on the tenth row, cheering for our team to pull out the win, experiencing the action as it unfolded. I even had a few pricks in the back of my eyes when Ciara gave her pre-game speech before the big one. But the sports action does not overwhelm what this book is – a romance. That’s always what’s in the forefront when reading this novel.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes sweet romances. Or even if that’s not your go-to, read anyway, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Kelly Cain’s Reviews > Torn: A Dark BDSM Romance Novel

 

Torn: A Dark BDSM Romance Novel (Shattered Lives #1)

by Lexie Syrah (Goodreads Author)






4 of 5 stars
Read from November 08 to 09, 2015

I must confess that I’m not usually a reader of BDSM. I agreed to read it (received an ARC) in exchange for an honest review so here goes.

It’s certainly not a traditional love story/romance, but in their own way, it is a romance, just unconventional. It begins as a man saving a young woman from destitution and homelessness. He offers her a job cleaning and cooking (two things she has to research in order to do btw) in exchange for a room in his house and a fair wage. She gets off to a rocky start and he offers to “punish” her instead of firing her and putting her back on the street.

To me, this is the steamiest scene in the book. He bends her over his knee and spanks her with his hand. The way the author describes the action here, really helps you (especially someone like me) understand why a woman may be turned on by this and maybe recognize something in herself she hadn’t realized before. There are many other graphic scenes certainly, but his one is still the best for me.

As with most romances, there are miscommunications and unvoiced feelings that cause issues, but there are choices made by both main characters that are outside my realm of understanding. I won’t spoil the end, but it definitely doesn’t turn out like most romances.

The writing is solid, the plot interesting, and the characters probably believable in a world I’m not accustomed to. If you read erotica, I’m sure this will be a great read for you. If you read romance, this will be an interesting read as long as you’re not in it for the HEA or even HFN. Of course, this is just book 1 of the series so we’ll have to see how it does indeed end.

RandyRob to be published!

So excited that my short story, Spending the Holidays with RandyRob, will be included in the annual Hot Holiday Reads anthology for Fuse Literary’s (@FuseLiterary) Short Fuse Publishing division. Stay tuned for a release date soon.

Kelly Cain’s Reviews > The Edge of Nowhere

 

The Edge of Nowhere

by C.H. Armstrong (Goodreads Author)





4 of 5 stars
Read from October 14 to 16, 2015

A few weeks ago, it was National Uncles and Aunts Day. The author of this title tweeted out a link to her website article outlining which relatives the various characters in her book were based on. I quickly read through them with a small amount of interest. After finishing this novel last night, although it was extremely late, I immediately went back to that article (after quite a bit of searching) and read with a much greater amount of interest.

The Edge of Nowhere is about a woman who felt her only option in life was to be strong. There’s a good reason for this after going through unimaginable situation after situation. She’s widowed during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl with many mouths to feed-not her first tragedy by far. Even with that, for the life of me, I could not muster sympathy for this woman. She was rigid and unmoving when she didn’t have to be. If she could have tempered some of her strength with common courtesy, she probably could have fared much better without having to make some of the sacrifices she made. I did cheer for her though and wanted her to come to better circumstances, especially for the sake of her children.

This isn’t a feel-good story, nor is it billed that way, but it’s a really good story-a story that I’m glad I had a chance to read. It’s set during a period in our history that was devastating yet the author didn’t steep us in absolute misery where we wouldn’t want to continue reading.

I would have liked to see more of her anger rather than being told she was very angry, but that’s extremely minor in the grand scheme of the story. I could use my imagination to understand how angry she must be.

Overall I would recommend this book, especially to those who like historical fiction, women’s fiction, or just a strong story.