Kawehi's Book Blog.: July 2016

Title: The Concubine (Unexpected Circumstances #5)

Author: Shay Savage

Publication Date: July 26th 2016 by Shay Savage, LLC

Plot: Royalty requires sacrifice.

As King Camden’s health declines, the need for an heir becomes crucial, impossible to ignore. With no other viable choice, Alexandra must stand stoically by when Hadley comes to the court of Silverhelm as Branford’s concubine. The queen’s edict of duty echoes through Alexandra’s mind as she accepts the loathsome conditions for the sake of the kingdom. The only person more devastated by the circumstances is Branford himself.

As Branford spurs Alexandra’s affections, and King Edgar continues press his post-war advantage, all seems lost to the young couple. Treachery still lies deep within the castle of Silverhelm, and the revelation of the traitor will come from the least likely of sources.

☆✮ My Short Review ✮☆

☆ I received an ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!! ☆

I know that each reader will have mixed feelings about this read, as I did myself--- but, honestly, it could have been worse. I normally HATTTTEEE other men/women interactions and dreaded this installment like crazy, and yet in the end I somehow liked it.

I know a lot of people might be hating on author Shay Savage right now but please don't. That's not cool.

With the so called "cheating" aspect aside, stakes have certainly risen in this novel with Branford desperately needing an heir and lies and treachery making itself a very pertinent factor in this series. While I cannot divulge anymore, as to would basically give out the entire plot and spoilers, I would advise readers who are sensitive to ow themes to have a breather as it does get better at the end. I mean, remember the saying "there is always a light at the end of th tunnel?". Well, I believe this pertains to The Concubine.

Can't wait for bk6!!! And then the final book in the series, bk7!! Woohoo!!

My Rating:

♥♥♥♥

☆✮ Excerpt ✮☆

“I am a coward,” he whispered.

“Branford…no.” I took a step toward him.

“I am,” he said. “I’m a coward and an idiot. Alexandra, please…hear me out.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded.

“I have hurt you,” he stated. “It was not my intent, yet it happened anyway.

“You barely spoke to me,” I replied as I turned my head and closed my eyes tightly.

“You would not have wanted me here,” he said quietly. “I have been…”

He stopped and sighed heavily, approached me, and dropped back to his knees. I looked down to see him once again and reached out to touch his rough cheek.

“I wanted you here,” I said. He shook his head.

“I am…” Branford paused, and when my fingers brushed his face, I could feel his jaw clenched tightly. “I am afraid. Afraid for you. I brought you into my world to insult King Edgar, and insult him I have, but he does not intend to take the insult out on me and my army. He plans to take it out on you. I have put you in terrible danger out of arrogance and lust for revenge.”

He grasped his thighs as he looked up into my eyes.

“I never should have brought you here,” he whispered vehemently. “You are in peril, and it is my fault! I am to blame! How can you look at me, knowing I did this to you? Now that you know what he will do if I do not have an heir soon or if I refuse Whitney next month—he will not just…just kill you.”

He stopped speaking abruptly, and I could sense the pounding of his heart in his chest and see the panic in his eyes.

“I did not want you to hear him speak such things,” he said.

“He has said worse,” I said, presuming.

“He has.” I saw and felt his anger blaze in his eyes. “I will not allow you to be touched, my wife. I would…I would sacrifice my kingdom before I would allow that to happen.”

“Branford, you cannot—”

“I can!” His eyes blazed. “I would sacrifice all of them before I would let him touch you!”

☆✮ About the Author ✮☆

Shay Savage lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family and a variety of household pets. She is an accomplished public speaker, and holds the rank of Distinguished Toastmaster from Toastmasters International. When not writing, she enjoys science fiction movies, masquerading as a zombie, is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and member of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers. When the geek fun runs out, she also loves soccer in any and all forms - especially the Columbus Crew, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. Savage holds a degree in psychology, and she brings a lot of that knowledge into the characters within her stories.

Author's Links:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

☆✮ Buy Links ✮☆

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Book #1

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Book #2

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Book #3

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Book #4

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Book #5

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO JOIN SHAY'S ON GOING EVENT (THE SAVAGE SANDBOX) WHERE THERE'S GIVEAWAYS AND EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!!

Title: Thick & Thin (Thin Love #3)

Author: Eden Butler

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: July 25th 2016 by Eden Butler

Plot: My love was thick.

Her faith was thin.

Somewhere in the middle is where life found us.

I claimed her when I was a boy.

I held her until I was a man.

She was my first thought every morning, my last smile at night, and a million memories in between.

Then one night, with her warmth still lingering on the sheets, Aly King walked away from me, from us, from our life.

They say time heals all wounds, but not for me.

Not when my heart is empty.

Not when there is nothing but a sea of meaningless faces wherever I go.

It always comes back to her.

Aly needs reminding of how drunk our love made us, before she forgets completely.

Before we lose our chance.

Before we are irrevocably broken.

☆✮ My Review ✮☆

☆ I received an ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ☆

Those of you who have kept up with author Eden Butler's reads are well aware that her Thin Love series holds the most angst and heartbreak than all of her other novels combined. I had looked forward to Ransom getting himself his own story but I never could have imagined the toll it would have taken upon my nerves and heart strings.

Thick & Thin CAN technically be read as a standalone but PLEASE DO NOT attempt tp read it without having knowledge of what's transpired in the previous novels. I feel that for you to get the full brunt of of the story and its characters, you have to travel back to the very beginning with Kona and Kiera's story-- a.k.a Ransom's parents. And by doing so, and thereafter diving into Thick & Thin, you come to realize how much is at stake and the fragile, blissful, and painful reality of what love, family, dreams, and external outside forces can drive into a young couples romance and how much they endure to get their HEA or give their final farewells.

I'm not going to go into details and whatnot of what this story entails and what you can expect, but, be sure to brace yourself and come prepared. It really hits a nail on the down and gritty and the joys and sorrows of the unpredicability and votality of life. Much like how Kona and Keira's stories did.

As a reader who admittedly only went into this series because it interwined the Hawaiian culture, which is part of my own ethnic roots, the The Thin Love Series blew me away and shattered all of my expectations of what could have ever fathomed it was going to be. I normally HATE HATE, ok, well have mixed reactions of ANYTHING to do with Hawai'i in any shape or form but I liked how author Eden Butler was able to interwine it along with other culutral values into this novel without mocking it or grating on anybody's nerves with how she delivered it along with the story context. More so, if anything, it added on a layer of richness and personality of its own-- one of which I respected tremendously.

Now moving on from my babbling about "Hawaiian this, Hawaiian that" nonsense... I REALLY recommend this read to anyone pondering upon taking a chance upon it. It's not lighthearted. I'll give you fair warning of that. But, it is WORTH picking up if you're looking for something with heart and a lot of depth.

My Rating:

♥♥♥♥♥

☆✮ Excerpt ✮☆

“You don’t want to remember?”
I didn’t. Not a single memory. A touch that was new, a taste that was different—that’s what I wanted. Memory came with emotion. It came with commitment, something that would land me back where I’d begun four years ago. I wanted to move beyond that. I wanted more.
“I…I want you to touch me like you don’t know me.” That hand slowed, the friction easing and I couldn’t look at him. “I want you to touch me like a stranger.”
He didn’t stop moving against me. Ransom wasn’t purposefully cruel. He thought he knew me, assumed he knew when I was pretending. But I wasn’t this time. I wanted him to give me what I asked for, not what he thought I wanted, not what I had wanted in the past. But he couldn’t do it. No, he wasn’t a stranger. He knew how close I’d come to climax. So he didn’t stop, only slowed before he moved his hips, release my wrist to pull my face up. And because I recognized how badly he wanted this, and knew that I would end up wanting it, too, I let go of wanting anything else and gave myself up to his touch, his fire, his desire.
“A stranger doesn’t touch you, Aly. Not like this.” And with that one touch, Ransom fractured the reserve I had tried so desperately to maintain. A push of my flesh, finger under my thong, right against my clit, bare, raw and that tactile, desperate urgency eased.
“A stranger wouldn’t know what you whimper when you want it, when you’re so close to falling apart that your breath becomes a muffle of sound.” He tugged at my pants, freed me from anything but the floor under me and his touch. His palm over my naked ass, then he pulled me against his body until he pushed his fingers inside me, working me hard, like no one but Ransom ever had. Ever could.
“No stranger would know that your breath hitches, that you hold everything still, the air in your lungs, even the beat of your pulse when I touch you.” He showed me then, with the dip of his fingers deep inside. And all did go still then—the breath between us, the axis of the world, my beating heart…it all seemed to stop until he moved his fingers over me, sliding until he found his way to a rhythm that made time coil and speed as quickly as it had slowed. Nothing held me back then. No excuses of why he shouldn’t touch me, no lies I told myself about not loving him anymore.
“I’m not a stranger, nani. Your body knows that.” Working faster, deeper, he smiled, pleased and happy when my mouth opened, when the space between us filled with the soft noises I made. His face wasn’t expressionless anymore. It told me all I thought I’d forgotten. The act of touching me, making me come, the noises I made, it was all familiar to Ransom. It was comfortable.
“Strangers don’t know love this deep. If they did, they wouldn’t be strangers at all.” That he whispered against my lips, kissing me like he couldn’t keep from it for another second.
“Ransom…”

“I’ll never be a stranger, Aly, because this body, your heart is mine. It always will be.”

☆✮ The Thin Love Series ✮☆

☆✮ About the Author ✮☆

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Eden Butler is an editor and writer of Fantasy, Mystery and Contemporary Romance novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum.

When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden patiently waits for her Hogwarts letter, edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.

She is currently living under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana.
Please send help.

Subscribe to Eden’s newsletter http://eepurl.com/VXQXD for giveaways, sneak peeks and various goodies that might just give you a chuckle.

Author's Links:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

☆✮ Giveaway! ✮☆

The following goodies are up for grabs and are open internationally!
(2) $10 gift cards from Amazon or B&N, winner’s choice

(1) E-book set of the entire THIN LOVE series

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e5d232163/