Anna Hackett's Blog, page 27

Romance Novellas of the Week

Love sneaky short stories and novellas that you can read like lightning? Check out these action-packed short stories, novellas and short novels recently released or on sale now:



A Taste For Moonlight by Aimee Roseland

Length: Novella
Genre: Paranormal
Price: $0.99
Link








Protecting What's His (Line of Duty) by Tessa Bailey


Length: Category
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Price: $2.99
Link






Before the Mission Ends by Christi Snow
 
Length: Novella
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Price: $0.99
Link

7 Little Secrets

The brilliant author of sexy zombie apocalypse romance, Kylie Scott, nominated me for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Cool, thanks, Kylie.

Like me, Kylie loves some action, adventure and romance...so I think she appreciates Full Throttle Romance and called it "action romance central."

So here's how this award works:


RULES:Display the award logo on your blog.Link back to person who nominated you.State 7 things about yourself.Nominate 15 bloggers for this award and link them.Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the awards requirements.Here I go, baring my soul (-:

1.  I LOVE to travel. I've visited all the continents (except Antarctica, but I will get there one day) and lived on four of those continents. One my favorite places I've visited was Abu Simbel in Egypt with it's amazing rock-cut temples. My next trip...Kruger National Park and Victoria Falls.

2.  I'm addicted to Diet Coke, and salt and vinegar chips!

3.  Until 4 months ago, I only spoke English. I'm currently learning Portuguese and can now have a small conversation.

4.  My husband is the most disciplined person I know. When he sets his mind to something, he's unstoppable. I love him to bits!

5. I have the cutest, smartest little boy (I know, I know, all mothers are biased!) who is turning two very soon. Eek, where did my baby go?

6. I love action movies. My husband is grateful as we never have to fight over what to watch on a Friday night. Can't wait for Star Trek into Darkness, Iron Man 3, Fast and Furious 6, Oblivion, The Wolverine...you get the picture.

7. I drink tea - Earl Grey, hot. I love buying all different variations on Earl Grey tea. Oh, and I have a secret teapot fetish.

Okay, not sure I'll get 15, but here are the bloggers I nominate for this award:

1. Mel Tescho - a fab Aussie who writes hot, sexy romance.

2. Smart Girls Love SciFi and Paranormal Romance - LOVE this blog and visit it frequently for my fix of all things sci-fi.

3. Eleni's Taverna - Eleni is a spec fic writer and all round awesome lady. She has some great stuff on her blog and lots of author visitors.

4. Jenny Schwartz - another great Aussie author who loves some steampunk and contemporary romance.

5. Stacy Gail - one of my amazing antho sisters from A Galactic Holiday who writes super sassy heroines in paranormal and sci-fi romance.

6. Sasha Summers - my other amazing antho sister who writes paranormal, sci-fi and contemporary romance.

7. Pippa Jay - for some adventures in sci-fi, check out Pippa's blog!

8. Bookswagger - book blogger, Marcia who loves trashy romances, aliens, werewolves and anything that goes bump in the night.

9. Christina Phillips (also known as Christina Ashcroft) - lovely Aussie writer of hot historical and sexy paranormal romance.

10. Nina's Literary Xscape - another book blogger I recommend who loves, loves, loves to read.

11. Emmeline Lock - one of my brilliant CPs who helps me polish my stories. Also owner of an amazing sense of humor. One funny gal!

Full Throttle Reviews: In Like a Lion

Review by Marcia @ Bookswagger

In Like a Lion (The Chimera Chronicles), Karin Shah

Dangerous and forbidden…

Research scientist, Dr. Anjali Mehta, lost her beloved family in an earthquake. Only her work cuts through the paralyzing grief, but when she finds her new research subject, reputed mass murderer, Jake Finn, maddeningly uncooperative and inexplicably sexy she’s tempted to run away. How can she burn to touch a killer–a man behind bars?

What she doesn’t know is that Jake is a chimera, a shapeshifter who can change into a lion or a dragon with all the strengths of both even in human form, who believes his ability to shape shift is nothing but a terrifying hallucination, and his overpowering attraction to his new doctor proof positive he’s finally gone over the edge.

And the employer she trusts has an agenda all his own. If she can’t believe the impossible, neither she nor Jake may make it out alive.

Bookswagger Marcia: Four Crowns, good read, on the way to swagger. In Like a Lion is the beginning of a great series. The introduction of the Chimera and the fact that Jake and his brothers are more than one shifter but have one primary base was truly creative. For example Jake being a Chimera can shift into a lion or dragon but he is genetically predisposed to shift into a lion, while his brother a dragon, which I find very cool. I have read my fair share and yours of shifter romances and the Chimera concept is refreshing. We get a new shifter to fall in love with while keeping all the things we love about shifters and their mates.

Dr. Anjali Mehta and Jake were not a couple you would expect to complement each other at first glance. Anjali a super smart scientist who we first meet trying to sneak out of her own apartment building to avoid her neighbor and the hot ex jewel thief held captive for large chunks of his life because of his abilities. Yet when you pull back the layers, it was easy to understand why I liked them together so much. Both experienced great loss and loneliness. They found in each other friendship and a hot romantic connection. They meet while Jake is being held captive a beast which if you yelled beast Jake would probably turn around not knowing you were referring to him actually trusts the scientist Anjali who is supposed to test him. The author totally made it believable. I am looking forward to the rest of the Finn brother’s stories. How could I not with a series brimming with hunky shifters, witches, and others.

Review at Bookswagger

Marcia: A lover of trashy romances, aliens, werewolves and anything that goes bump in the night. Happy Endings Required. For more of Marcia's reviews check out Bookswagger.

Sexy Short Sci-fi Romance

Love sneaky short stories and novellas that you can read like lightning? Check out these action-packed short stories and novellas recently released or on sale now:






Galactic Flame by Mel Teshco

Length: Short Novel
Genre: Erotic Sci-fi
Price: $5.95
Link









NightDrake by Lara Adrian


Length: Short Story
Genre: Post Apocalyptic

Price: Free
Link








Alien Blood by Melissa Aires
 
Length: Novella
Genre: Sci-fi
Price: $3.99

Link

5 Reasons Why I Won't Watch Looper Again

Looper is not the worst movie I've ever watched. I'm happy to say that it was...interesting. It's garnered praise and some mixed reviews. For me, it started out with an interesting high-concept premise involving time travel and has some great actors in it. I had high hopes but in the end, it never quite met them.

I won't be watching it again because:

Image: Colombia Pictures1) Stupid manipulation of Gordon-Levitt's face. I'm guessing it was to make him look like a young Bruce Willis (which I didn't think worked). It was a huge distraction. I thought it was CGI but read somewhere it was make-up and prosthetics.

2) It was slow. Especially the first half which dragged. The second half was better though.

3) The romance was lame. There was a little, but I wanted more! I never felt the romance achieved anything...it was just there.

4) Some of the secondary characters were annoying cliches like inept Kid Blue.

5) Pretty lame explanations or complete avoidance of the complexities of time travel. Lots of references to "don't think about it, it'll drive you crazy" or "my memories of events are fuzzy until you do it" the older Bruce Willis tells his younger Gordon-Levitt Messed Up Face self.

Now, critics have loved this movies and I read somewhere that someone said it was "the best sci-fi movie since Moon."  Well, I found Moon to be another high-concept, slow, verging on boring movie.

I know I sound all doom and gloom, so I'll finish with the positives. I LOVE some Bruce Willis and JGL (I think he's a great actor) and like I said, it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen.

Action Romance Review Snippets

This week I thought I'd share some of my "go to" blogs for checking out new romances. I've shared some intros to some action romance reviews but visit these great sites to read the full reviews.

Review Site: Riverina Romantics
Book: Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 4 Hearts

ARC REVIEW: Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian

This is a whole new world we’re being thrown in to, and one that is not at all very nice. Mira is all grown up and a warrior of the Order in this new peaceful world—if you can call it that. The rules everyone plays by are much different. On the anniversary of Kellan’s death, Mira disobeys the laws she has grown up enforcing, which throws her into a situation she never thought she’d be in and brings her face to face with the last person she even though she’d see again.

I have been a fan of this series since the beginning. Knowing Mira from when she was first introduced and seeing her come full circle as a woman was a very interesting experience. Continue Reading >>


Review Site: Dear Author
Book: Going Under by Lauren Dane
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: A-

REVIEW: Going Under (A Bound by Magick Novel) by Lauren Dane 

Dear Ms. Dane:
 
Your Bound by Magick series is my favorite of your paranormal series. Clan Owen, one of the largest and oldest covens of witches in the United States is recovering from the horror of the Magister, a superpowered enemy that annihilated much of witch-kind, but was beaten back at the end of the last book in the series, Chaos Burning. The fallout of the very public fight against the Magister is that humans have now become aware of the Others who have lived side-by-side with them for centuries. The fight has resulted in a number of human hate groups, led by PURITY, working to marginalize the rights of Others, and perhaps contain the Others in concentration camps. PURITY is sowing fear within the American populace and are working overtime to discredit Others. Continue Reading >>


Review Site: That's What I'm Talking About
Book: Kiss for a Cure by Sidney Bristol
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Rating: A-

Review: A Kiss for A Cure by Sidney Bristol 

Living alone on a space research center, Jordan didn’t plan to do much for the Christmas holidays. In addition, as the illegitimate daughter of two powerful parents (who were forbidden to marry) from neighboring kingdoms, Jordan is used to being alone. So when Jordan discovers that the package from her parents contains a male - a husband none the less, she doesn’t know how to respond.

Cai is from a race of people that requires emotional feedback and physical intimacy in order to survive. Agreeing to marry Jordan seemed like an ideal opportunity to Cai, and he can’t understand why Jordan finds the situation so appalling. Now he’s stuck between wanting Jordan and wanting to give her the freedom she desires. Continue Reading >>

This Week's Awesome Romance Novellas

Love sneaky short stories and novellas that you can read like lightning? Check out these action-packed short stories and novellas recently released or on sale now:





Rees (Tales of Shareem) by Jennifer Ashley/Allyson James

Length: Short Novel
Genre: Sci-fi
Price: $0.99
Link









A Shadow's Kiss by Barbara J. Hancock


Length: Short Story
Genre: Paranormal
Price: $2.99
Link






Close Protection by Mina Carter
 
Length: Short Story
Genre: Paranormal
Price: $2.99
Link

3 Amazing Women Warriors with Kylie Scott

Please make welcome an author who loves some action with her romance (oh, and zombies as well!) And she's here to talk about an awesome topic! Take it away, Kylie Scott:

Thank you for having me on, Anna. Today I thought we’d talk about woman warriors. Relatively ordinary women who feel the need, or are indeed forced, to take up arms and fight for the cause. Because as much fun as a born and bred ball breaker like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider or Xena, Warrior Princess, is, it’s the everyday woman answering the call to adventure and rising to the challenge that works for me. The person putting aside their fear and doing what they gotta do. I love it. Let’s check out some of the humble beginnings of these great women...

Sarah ConnorThere you are, waiting tables, working your way through college when BOOM! A relentless cyborg killer from the future arrives to hunt you down for daring to have quickie sex with someone you haven’t even met yet. Enough to put your head in a spin, isn’t it? I mean, you’d have to ask yourself, is any boyfriend worth this much trouble? Well, when it’s a hot young Michael Biehn you’re going to have to say yes. Sarah rises to the challenge and terminates that cyborg sucker in a hydraulic press, going on to become one of the greatest slightly-crazy arms bearing Mamas of our time.

Ellen Ripley Image - slagheapThere you are, floating through space, doing your thing, when BAM! Skittery alien creature that wants to attach itself in a really gruesome fashion to your face, lay its eggs inside you—eggs which will than hatch and implode from your face before going on to become some gigantic freaky creature who will want to chase you around the ship. Plus it has acid for blood. I mean seriously, was the acid for blood not bordering on over kill? I’m not saying it isn’t cool, but still...

So Ellen is a warrant officer, not particularly high up in the chain of command. Even after surviving the first encounter and blasting the thing into the cold dark reaches of space, she’s still not feeling the love from the muscley marines surrounding her as she’s dragged back into the fray. When the freaky little alien tries to do its thing she’s there to take it on, terrified or not. This is what makes her one of our greats. She converted more teenage boys to feminism than all the suffragettes combined.

Eowyn
Sure, it’s gotta be pretty cool being a noble woman of Rohan. There are the funky medieval style dresses for starters. Then you get to have Karl Urban as your brother. Mmm, Karl. I loves him, preciousssss. So maybe having him as a brother is not the best idea. Never mind. Not one to be left behind while the menfolk saddle up to defend the world from terrible all consuming doom, Eowyn hides her identity and joins the ranks. And thank goodness she did. Her delicate, feminine, smack upside the head dealt to the Witch-king saved the day. A foe that no man might kill? Oh yeah?! How about a woman you icky black robed nut job! Take that!

In my latest book, Skin, it’s been interesting to see the variation in comments regarding the heroine Roslyn. Before the zombie plague struck, Ros was a normal enough young woman working as a librarian. In the new world, she has to learn to deal with the everyday threat of death and dismemberment. Some readers say she doesn’t rise to the challenge while others feel she’s a worthy and realistic female character. Check it out and let me know what you think...

Got a favourite woman warrior I haven’t mentioned? Tell me all about them in the comments.

Six months since the zombie plague struck, former librarian Roslyn Stewart has been holed up in a school with eight other survivors. But now the shelves in the school canteen are bare. The stranger at the gate has supplies that will ensure the group’s ongoing survival, but at a cost. He wants a woman. 

Nick is a man with a plan. He’ll treat Roslyn like a Queen, devoting the rest of his life to protecting and providing for her. In exchange, of course, for sexual favours. It’s the deal of the century given the state of the world. But Roslyn doesn’t see it that way. The first chance she gets she attacks the ex-army man and attempts to escape, forcing Nick to contain her. And so begins his awkward courtship of the woman, with her chained to the bed for security reasons. 

Chained like a dog and forced to spend her every waking moment with a creep, albeit a good looking one, Ros is determined to escape. When circumstances force them to band together against a common enemy their very survival depends on their ability to learn to trust each other. An uneasy partnership develops, but can a relationship with such a difficult beginning ever have a future? 

The hotly anticipated sequel to Flesh, Skin is set in the same universe with a different set of characters.
SKIN available here: Momentum
Kylie's website: www.kylie-scott.com

Full Throttle Reviews: Dangerously Mine by A.M. Griffin

Review by Marcia @ Bookswagger

Dangerously Mine, A.M. Griffin
 
Earth is no longer the place of our dreams, conquered by aliens. Eva is taken after running for her life and her comrades killed. She is being sold on an alien planet whose sellers find her martial arts skills a hindrance to her sell. Visiting Warrior King Taio, finds slavery distasteful and the planets that allow them disgusting. When he sees the slave trader breaking the rules in the treatment of the slave he intervenes and finds himself the owner of a slave he cannot giveaway.

It is against Taio’s belief to own a slave, women are not to be treated roughly, in fact no one on his planet owns a slave but she is his. Eva finds herself falling for Taio but still has to find a way to be herself, she is not a delicate female content to sit on the sidelines dressing in pretty things and coddled. Once she finds out she is the only slave on his planet and he can release her and he is also hiding other things from her all hell breaks loose.

Bookswagger Marcia: Four Crowns, good read, on the way to swagger. I waffled between three and four stars simply because of the ending, It was a little quick on the forgive on the heroines part. But maybe I am an evil chick. So I will not hold that against the author, lol especially when everything was so good. I loved the world, and the funny dialogue. The aliens did not know the heroine was laughing at them and oh how I sympathized with Eva. There was a scene, I don’t even know how to describe it without it turning into XXX, but in one scene because one of the heroes want to be brides, wanted to know what spell Eva cast over King Taio to make him so into her, she tried to force Eva to show her, you have to check it out. I have read more romances then I can count but I have never read that.

Review at Bookswagger

Marcia: A lover of trashy romances, aliens, werewolves and anything that goes bump in the night. Happy Endings Required. For more of Marcia's reviews check out Bookswagger.

SOUL STEALER Giveaway WINNER

Image: Public DomainI am very happy to announce that the winner of The SOUL STEALER Giveaway with the prize of a $25 Amazon Gift Card and 3 Carina Press ebooks of their choice is....

Crystal Young!

Thanks to everyone who entered and helped celebrate the release of the last story in The Anomaly Trilogy .

For those that didn't win, I have a freebie for you too. You can pick up the first story in the trilogy, TIME THIEF, free right now!