Release Blitz & ARC Review!- Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #2) by Julia Keith, Emily Minton

Title:  Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #2)

Author: Julia Keith, Emily Minton
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publication Date: February 28th 2016

Plot:  ***NO CLIFFHANGER. THE BEAR CHRONICLES OF WILLOW CREEK ARE WRITTEN SO THAT EACH INSTALLMENT IS A COMPLETE STORY AND CAN BE READ ALONE*** 

Eli Artair thought his cousin was crazy when he decided to marry a human. When he said he loved her only a few days later, Eli knew his cousin had totally lost his mind. There’s no way a shifter could fall in love so easily, especially with a human. 

He changes his mind when he meets Liza...

Liza Calder thought her sister was crazy when she married a man sight unseen. When she called a few days later to say she was in love with her husband, Liza knew her sister had gone totally loco. No one can fall in love that fast, especially with a stranger. 

She changes her mind when she meets Eli....

Can two people that don’t believe in love at first sight discover it in each others arms?

Hard is an erotic shifter novella. If you don’t like insta-lust that turns into insta-love, a sex starved bear shifter, a heroine that craves her mate, or tons of smoking hot sex this is not the book for you.

☆✮ My Review ✮☆

☆ I received an ARC via The Hype PR in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!! ☆

I think I'm one of those special people who only notices sign ups last minute and am literally racing against time to get my review done in time for the blitz.

Luckily for me, though, this book was addictive to get into and I read it pretty fast.

Hard, picks up right after Rough left off-- *and YES, I encourage you to read these in order*-- and felt more whole and complete than its predecessor. While I did enjoy bk1, my biggest complaint was that I didn't feel a lot of character personality, rapport with the other protagonist, and not much plot. It was basically, the male lead had to find a human mate to minimize exposure of his town inhabitants and after he does, then BAAAAMM! Lots and lots of sex.

What works for Hard, was that it had more going on and natural turmoil coming into the picture. I liked the whole backstory and explaining of why Eli does not like humans, and why he's so adamant against taking a non-shifter female~~ journeying on to him meeting Liza who happens to be his alpha's sister in law and how he succumbs to his fate despite his dad's objections of it.

And as for Liza, after living in a foster home and not having much to call your own~~ to coming full circle, and discovering a new beginning with a family to call your own and a love of a lifetime.

For those of you who are hopeless romantics with a sprinkle of paranormal, hot sex, and destiny in the mix-- this is for you!

I can't wait for more from this series!

My Rating:

♥♥♥♥

☆✮ Teasers ✮☆

☆✮ The Series ✮☆

Rough (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek Book 1)

ONLY 99¢!!!

☆✮ About the Authors ✮☆

Emily Minton

USA Today Best Selling author, Emily Minton is a Kentucky native. She is proud to call the Bluegrass State home. She claims she bleeds blue–Wildcat Blue! She has been married to her husband, David, for over twenty years. They share two wonderful children. Emily loves to read and has more books on her kindle than most people could read in a life time, but she intends to read every single one. She has published nine books, but there are many more are floating around in her head. She hopes to get them all on paper before long. 

Author's Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Julia Keith

Julia Keith is a UK native based out of Bradford England but she loves to go back to her family roots in Scotland whenever possible.

Although Trapped With An Alpha is her first published novel, Julia has been a part of the Romance community for years through blogging and reviewing.  Her love of Paranormal Romance inspired her to start some of her own stories and after sharing one with her now Co Author Emily Minton, she decided it was time for the world to meet the characters she had grown to love so much.

Author's Links:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

☆✮ Buy Link ✮☆

Cover Reveal!- Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #2) by Julia Keith, Emily Minton

Title:  Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #2)

Author: Julia Keith, Emily Minton
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publication Date: February 28th 2016

Plot:  ***NO CLIFFHANGER. THE BEAR CHRONICLES OF WILLOW CREEK ARE WRITTEN SO THAT EACH INSTALLMENT IS A COMPLETE STORY AND CAN BE READ ALONE*** 

Eli Artair thought his cousin was crazy when he decided to marry a human. When he said he loved her only a few days later, Eli knew his cousin had totally lost his mind. There’s no way a shifter could fall in love so easily, especially with a human. 

He changes his mind when he meets Liza...

Liza Calder thought her sister was crazy when she married a man sight unseen. When she called a few days later to say she was in love with her husband, Liza knew her sister had gone totally loco. No one can fall in love that fast, especially with a stranger. 

She changes her mind when she meets Eli....

Can two people that don’t believe in love at first sight discover it in each others arms?

Hard is an erotic shifter novella. If you don’t like insta-lust that turns into insta-love, a sex starved bear shifter, a heroine that craves her mate, or tons of smoking hot sex this is not the book for you.

☆✮ Teasers ✮☆

☆✮ The Series ✮☆

ONLY 99¢!!!
Amazon http://amzn.to/20F5L4s

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/1VIuq4G

☆✮ About the Authors ✮☆

Emily Minton

USA Today Best Selling author, Emily Minton is a Kentucky native. She is proud to call the Bluegrass State home. She claims she bleeds blue–Wildcat Blue! She has been married to her husband, David, for over twenty years. They share two wonderful children. Emily loves to read and has more books on her kindle than most people could read in a life time, but she intends to read every single one. She has published nine books, but there are many more are floating around in her head. She hopes to get them all on paper before long. 

Author's Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Julia Keith

Julia Keith is a UK native based out of Bradford England but she loves to go back to her family roots in Scotland whenever possible.

Although Trapped With An Alpha is her first published novel, Julia has been a part of the Romance community for years through blogging and reviewing.  Her love of Paranormal Romance inspired her to start some of her own stories and after sharing one with her now Co Author Emily Minton, she decided it was time for the world to meet the characters she had grown to love so much.

Author's Links:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Blog Tour Review- Rough (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #1) by Julia Keith, Emily Minton

Title:  Rough (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek, #1)  

Author: Julia Keith, Emily Minton
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publication Date: Feb 1, 2016

Plot:  ***NO CLIFFHANGER. THE BEAR CHRONICLES OF WILLOW CREEK ARE WRITTEN SO THAT EACH INSTALLMENT IS A COMPLETE STORY AND CAN BE READ ALONE***
Ethan Artair lived his life happily in Willow Creek. Living among shifters, he was able to live free and allow his bear to do the same. Everything changed, the day a reporter came to his little town and made everyone’s life a living hell. As mayor, he had no choice but take a human wife to disprove the reporter’s claim that no outsiders are allowed their town. Disgust filled Ethan when he met his new wife, but his disgust quickly changed to something he never thought he could feel for a human, lust. 

Amelia Calder is forced to live with the scars of her parents’ death. While growing up in foster care, her only desire was to see her younger sister be happy. Knowing her minimum wage job would never be enough to care for her sister, she made the only choice she could. She decided to move to a town she had never heard of and marry a man she had never met. Fear filled Amelia when she finally met her new husband, but her fear quickly changed to something else, something she's never felt before, lust. 

Can lust turn into love, between a human and a bear shifter?

☆✮ My Review ✮☆

☆ I received an ARC via The Hype PR in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!! ☆

This moves at a really fast although the two main characters don't meet till the 30-40% line. It's easy to read, easy to get into, but sadly it finishes sooner than you can blink. I mean, wow, I wanted, MORE quite frankly and wanted to see more character progress and development between Ethan and Amelia. It felt very short and rushed.

For Ethan, who is a bear shifter and the leader/mayor of Willow Creek, his small town is placed in jeopardy after a reporter threatens to unravel it. To placate the situation, he (reluctantly) orders for male and female shifters to integrate themselves and find a human mate, him being the first.

From there, he meets Amelia, a girl trying to escape a broken homelife, while working herself to the bone with two dead end jobs and trying to keep her and her family structure of her and her younger sister intact.

Amelia, does not know what to expect when she signs up to be an online bride and gets selected by Ethan. She knows nothing of shifters, nothing of their ways or their mating tendencies, nor of what she's about to be be brought into in the town of Willow Creek.

But, like Ethan, something sparks in her after their first meeting and for Ethan a primal urge to claim, cherish, and protect.

For all those who love paranormal romances, this one is for you. You'll definitely eat up every single bit of it.

I really can't wait for the next book in this series, as it looks to be on Ethan's second in command and a game changer that personally I did see coming but still surprised me nonetheless. Can that other girl that Amelia saw in the ad as a bride get a HEA as well? For some reason I just formed a soft spot for her and really would like to see her involved in this shifter goodness as well.

Anyway, see you all for bk2!

My Rating:
♥♥♥♥

☆✮ Excerpt ✮☆

AS DISGUSTED as I was at taking a human wife before, my revulsion is completely gone now. The moment I caught the spicy-sweet scent of her arousal, I knew she was mine, my fated mate. She’s the one woman I’ve spent my entire twenty-nine years looking for. Now that I’ve found her, there’s no damn way I’ll ever let her go.

Her brown hair reminds me of the earth after a long rain, beautiful and rich. Her skin is like porcelain, with a few freckles sprinkled across her nose. The scar on her face doesn’t take away from her natural beauty. She’s small, barely above five feet in her sandals. Her body is curvy, with luscious hips and succulent breasts. It’s all I can do not to take her on the floor in front of everyone. My bear is desperate to claim her in front of everyone, making it known that she is taken.

“You’re mine.” I growl out, looking into her jade green eyes.

Taking a step back, a frown instantly mars her beautiful face before she murmurs, “Excuse me?”

Ignoring her question, I grab her hand and pull her through the airport at a swift pace. My eyes roam the space, looking for somewhere, anywhere we can get a minute of privacy. Finally spying a bathroom, I jerk her inside and shout at the men standing at the urinals. “Get the fuck out.”

Within seconds, zippers are up and the men are rushing out the door. Letting her go, I place her at the back wall. “Stay right there.”

Pushing the doors open to each stall,  I make sure they’re all empty, before pushing a trashcan in front of the door. As soon as I’m done, I turn to look at the human woman shaking on the far side of the wall.  Again the thought “mine” crashes through me and my bear goes wild, clawing my insides in his need to get to her.

She places her hands flat on the wall behind her, never taking her eyes off me. “What’s wrong, Ethan?”

“Not a damn thing.” Walking towards her, I can hear her heart beating in a quick rhythm and smell fear radiating from her. Above that though, I can smell her need for me. She’s in heat, and I’m going to take care of her. I’m going to make her mine forever.

Reaching her, I place my hand on her cheek. My large hand covers the entire side of her face, threading into her dark hair, making her appear even smaller than she is. Tipping her head back, I look down into her eyes and say, “I need you right now, Amelia. I’m sorry, I can’t wait.”

Her green eyes meet mine, and they are filled with both trepidation and excitement. “But we’re not married yet.”

I nearly tell her that I only need to mark her once and we are more than married, we’re mates. Instead, I gentle my voice, “You were mine the minute you got off that plane. A piece of paper isn’t going to change anything.  I need you now.”

My eyes are drawn to her slender throat, her pulse beating erratically “We’re in a bathroom. I don’t want my first time to be in a bathroom.”

Her words take a second to register in my brain, and I can’t stop myself from crushing her against my body. She’s mine, only mine and completely untainted. I will be the only man to ever feel the pleasure her body can bring. I take a minute, attempting to control my need, before responding. “I won’t take you here, but I need to mark you.”

She wiggles in my arms, looking up at me with a look of confusion. “Mark me?”

Shit, this is where having a human mate is going to be tricky. She doesn’t understand what I need as a bear shifter. Even after I explain what I am, she may never understand. Taking in a deep breath, I lean forward and run my beard-covered cheek over her scar, letting know it doesn’t bother me. “I want to smell myself on you. No, I need to smell myself on you.”

“What did you just say to me?” she asks, her body shaking with a mixture of both need and fear. Her head may be telling her she should be afraid of me, but the rest is urging her to take me any way she can get me.

Moving my hands to her hips, I pick her up and press her upper body into the wall, forcing her to wrap her legs around me. “I’m gonna lick your pussy, until your taste is the only flavor on my tongue. Then, I’m gonna pull out my cock and come all over you.”

Her eyes flare with indecision. “Uhm… I’ve never.  I uhm...”

Cutting her off with a deep kiss, I get my first taste of her as I carry her to the sinks. I continue to explore her mouth, sliding my tongue along hers, while placing her on the counter. Finally pulling back, I go to my knees, spreading her legs apart. Pushing her dress up, I take in her cotton-covered pussy. Rubbing my nose over her mound, I can’t help but breathe her essence in deep. “You smell so damn good.”

☆✮ Teasers ✮☆

☆✮ About the Authors ✮☆

Emily Minton

USA Today Best Selling author, Emily Minton is a Kentucky native. She is proud to call the Bluegrass State home. She claims she bleeds blue–Wildcat Blue! She has been married to her husband, David, for over twenty years. They share two wonderful children. Emily loves to read and has more books on her kindle than most people could read in a life time, but she intends to read every single one. She has published nine books, but there are many more are floating around in her head. She hopes to get them all on paper before long. 

Author's Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Julia Keith

Julia Keith is a UK native based out of Bradford England but she loves to go back to her family roots in Scotland whenever possible.

Although Trapped With An Alpha is her first published novel, Julia has been a part of the Romance community for years through blogging and reviewing.  Her love of Paranormal Romance inspired her to start some of her own stories and after sharing one with her now Co Author Emily Minton, she decided it was time for the world to meet the characters she had grown to love so much.

Author's Links:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

☆✮ Buy Links ✮☆

BOOK REVIEW...Renegade Lady (Renegade Sons MC #1) by Dawn Martens, Emily Minton

Title:  Renegade Lady (Renegade Sons MC #1)
Author:  Dawn Martens, Emily Minton
Publication Date: January 25th 2014 (first published January 22nd 2014)
Goodreads URL: HERE
Plot:   Jenna “Ice” Chandler grew up as part of a motorcycle club. She considered it her home, until one wrong move made it her prison. After months of abuse, she is rescued by Chipper, who takes her to Big Clifty, Missouri, home of the Renegade Sons MC.

Kiddrick “Kidd” Jones is the president of the Renegades. He knows there is something special about Ice the moment his older brother, Chipper, brings her into the club, but stays away, because she is too young.

When time comes for Ice to take her place in the club, she has two choices, become an old lady or a club whore. Not believing in love and knowing a man can never be faithful, she decides to earn her spot on her back.

With each passing year, Kidd's feelings for Ice grows and the urge to make her his becomes stronger. Frustrated and jealous, he finally decides it’s time to make her his.

Will Ice finally thaw out and give love a chance, or is Kidd fighting a losing battle?

WARNING: Renegade Lady contains adult situations some readers may find offensive. This is a raw and gritty story involving explicit sex, graphic language, violence and drug use. Not intended for readers under 18.

MY REVIEW:

*My review is kind of on the rough side but it does give a detailed recount of majority of the book. If you don't wanna know then don't read!! I just thought I'd give you a heads up! *

In the beginning of the story, we meet sixteen year old Jenna who had just lost her mother due to a drug overdose. She then goes to her father’s MC club in hopes that he’d take care of her but boy is she wrong!!

Her father, Brew, gives her to one of the men in the MC and now the club becomes her prison. She is then repeatedly raped, beaten, and shared (sometimes in threesomes) by her “old man”(or husband in the MC world) Timmons.

Luckily for her, Jenna is later rescued by Chipper, another biker but from another MC club. He and his old lady take her in along with the Renegade Sons MC and that's where she meets Kidd, the then VP (later President) of the club.

Jenna is instantly smitten with Kidd and he with her but he knows that he cannot make a move on her until she is 18. He then bides his time with club business with the MC club that Jenna had comes from and takes up a club whore from there during that time.

A year or so goes by and Kidd returns with his FB only to find a matured Jenna and Chipper’s old lady on her deathbed (from cancer).

Shortly after, Chipper’s wifey passes away, and then Jenna turns 18. Kidd knows that it’s now or never to make his move and claim her as his as there are other men wanting to have a piece of her and perhaps make her their old lady as well.

He proceeds to seducing and has sex with Jenna but during that very night his previous dalliance dies in a car crash and Kidd unforgivably lashes out at Jenna and blames her for his fling’s passing.

Jenna, hurt from this, then resolves to never let Kidd in her heart again and that she will be nothing more than a club whore and no one’s old lady.

Six years pass, and Kidd feels remorseful (yeah buddy, you were such a douche to her!) for what he said to Jenna but she ain’t having it. She now goes by “Ice,” which is a nickname that Kidd gave her for being such an Ice Queen to him.

Kidd tries to woe Jenna again but one can only imagine the hurt and betrayal she feels after feeling like she was thrown away like nothing.

Now, throw in some revealing secrets, a whole lot of sex and drama, and a sprinkle of mayhem and you got yourself a story!!

I now can’t wait for Daisy and Preacher’s story and hope that he begs on his knees for her to take him back now that she is pregnant (with his child) and wants nothing more to do with him. Serves him right for being such a wh*re!

I also hope for a Timber, Reese, as well as Chipper story as well since all these guys need some real loving. I mean, Timber is a cool guy; Reese, has a baby mama who’s an ultimate b*tch to him; and Chipper really needs someone to help him move on and learn to love again.

Pretty please can this happen?!


My Rating:
-Overall : 8.5
-Plot : 8.5
-Writing : 8.5
-Characters : 8.5
-Cover : 9

Where to get your copy!:
Amazon