Sportochick's Musings Review and 2 Giveaway's
for Felicity Heaton's Ares Blog Barrage
Ares, book 1 in New York Times best-seller Felicity
Heaton’s hot new paranormal romance series, Guardians of Hades, is now
available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release of Ares and Megan’s
romance, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY and sharing sneak peeks of the
book.
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Enter Sportochick's Musing International Giveaway
(ends December 17th) for ONE ebook of your choice from Felicity's back list excluding Ares
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Here’s more
about the book and the sexy Greek god hero and his heroine…
by Felicity Heaton
Prince of the Underworld and Lord of Fire, Ares was banished from his home by
his father, Hades, two centuries ago and given a new duty and purpose—to keep
our world and his from colliding in a calamity foreseen by the Moirai.
Together with his six brothers, he fights
to defend the gates to the Underworld from daemons bent on breaching them and
gaining entrance to that forbidden land, striving to protect his home from
their dark influence. Caged by the manifestation of his power, held apart from
those he loves by his own fire and starved of physical contact, Ares lives a
cold existence driven by duty and the desire to return to his world.
Until his world collides with a daemon who
steals his power and a mortal female who shatters the ice around his heart and
awakens the true fire within him—a soul-stirring passion both dangerous and
seductive.
Megan has wandered far from her home,
driven from everyone she loves by the devastating realisation that she is
different to them all. Unsure who to trust in the world, she keeps to herself,
until a fateful stormy night brings a temptingly handsome warrior crashing into
her life and into her heart—a warrior who seems to hold powers more frightening
and marvellous than her own.
When the New York gate comes under threat,
and Ares is put to the test, will he choose his duty and regain the power he
needs in order to save his world or will he choose the desires of his heart and
sacrifice his fire so he can be with the woman becoming his whole world?
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SPORTOCHICK'S MUSINGS REVIEW
Yummy is all I can say about this new series. The seven brothers with entirely different characters in looks, personality and powers fired up my imagination for their stories that will be coming in this new Guardian of Hades series. All the brothers are introduced and dispersed throughout the story with Ares being the main character. Like all siblings there is lots of tension and secrets between them.
This book was powerful in setting up the series. A rollercoaster of emotions are intertwined with an intricate complex fast-paced plot. It had drama, death, fear, anger, hopefulness, loss, hopelessness and love. The reader will learn the purpose of the seven brothers and what drives them. Above all this is a beautiful love story. It won't drive you to tears but it will warm you heart.
Megan's character evolves as you read and it finally becomes very clear towards the end of the book why she is part of this story. Her personality is an oxymoron by being fearful and fearless with this in mind the reader will appreciate what she does with her powers to protect those she loves.
There were points in my reading when I got confused with all the brothers and the who, what, etc. I just wrote their names on a pad and made notes behind them. That did not take away from the story for me but it made me slow down my reading.
The villain, Amaury was very cool. I know he was a villain but I actually liked him, well except that he wanted to kill them and steal their powers. He added additional tension to the story keeping the reader guessing how this plot was going end and he sets up the next book.
This book is a 5 STAR read and I know the readers who love paranormal romance will love this story. Grab your copies at the following locations and leave a comment on how you liked the book.
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ARES – Excerpt
The world came back but it wasn’t the alley
where the man had grabbed Megan. It was the balcony of an apartment. Had they
somehow teleported? The Frenchman had disappeared in the blink of an eye too.
It was incredible.
Cold wind gusted against her back and light
rain splattered on the shoulders of her black jumper, soaking into the already
heavy wet wool. She looked over her shoulder at the dark city. New York. They
hadn’t gone far then. The city swirled, shifting and distorting as her head
spun, and she pressed her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, waiting for
the dizziness to pass. The man named Esher released her arm.
She cracked her eyes open, her heart
thumping painfully against her breastbone as everything began to sink in. Her
coat, bag and the gun had all been left behind. She was alone with three men,
and the only one who had shown her an ounce of compassion was unconscious
again.
What the heck had she gotten herself into?
Esher slung her protector’s free arm around
his shoulders and helped the white-haired one move him past her. Her handsome
warrior’s head hung forwards and his heavy black leather boots dragged on the
tiled floor of the balcony.
She went to follow and then stopped when
she noticed the black curling ribbons that trailed behind them, clinging to
them in places. Her gaze dropped to her arms. Similar threads of darkness
wrapped around the sleeves of her thick black jumper. They drifted downwards
towards her hands and she hastily attacked them, sweeping them away, and kept
brushing her arms long after the black smoke had gone. Her head twirled again
and she froze, scared to move in case she passed out too. She couldn’t let that
happen. God only knew what these men might do to her.
One of the men slid the glass door open and
they disappeared into the apartment.
Megan inched forwards and peered through
the glass. A bedroom. The two men set her protector down on a crimson covered
double bed and Esher removed his tattered coat and then his black t-shirt.
She told her eyes not to drift away from
her gorgeous saviour’s face but the sight of him topless was too tempting to
resist. Every inch of him was honed, sinewy muscle, the sort that spoke of a
physically intensive job rather than hours at the gym. Considering the way he
had fought, she wasn’t shocked to find he had the body of a warrior to match
his skills.
The white-haired man appeared in the
doorway and she jumped and stumbled backwards into the balcony railing.
Megan didn’t like his commanding tone but
she was several storeys above what looked to be Central Park, and there was no
way of reaching the apartment door without passing through it, so she gathered
every ounce of her courage and followed him inside.
Her gaze shifted to her protector and her
steps slowed. Would he be alright? Esher laid him down on the bed. She stopped
walking before she reached the next room, concern for her protector turning her
around and drawing her towards him. He needed to heal and she could help him do
just that.
Esher’s dark gaze slid to her and narrowed.
His black eyebrows pinched tightly together and his fingers paused at his work.
Something in his eyes warned not to come any closer to him or the man she
wanted to heal.
“You would be wise to leave him.” The
white-haired one’s voice came from behind her and she forced herself to face
him, aware that he was right and she was in no position to do anything other
than as he bid.
Both of these men were obviously powerful
like her protector, and clearly just as dangerous, and she didn’t want to give
them a reason to hurt her.
He leaned on the back of a deep crimson
couch in a light coffee-coloured living room, his arms folded across his chest
and pale eyes locked on her. His long black coat grazed the floor, buttoned
over his chest but open further down. It split at his waist to reveal long legs
clad in black jeans and polished leather shoes. A thick navy roll-neck jumper
covered him up to his jaw, so the only skin visible was his face. The only
other colour he had about him was the light blue lining of his coat.
Megan’s gaze darted to the door directly
opposite her, at the end of the channel between the wall on her right and the
couch to her left. An exit. He stood and blocked her path to it. Her heart
accelerated again and she slowly drew in a deep breath, hoping to calm it. She
wasn’t sure what this man wanted with her, but he had eyes as cold as
Antarctica and radiated the same dangerous vibe as the man who had protected
her and the one called Esher.
Were they in some sort of gang?
A gang with super powers.
She glanced back at the one who had
protected her. Esher had moved him onto his front on the bed and was covering
him from the waist down with the wine red bedclothes. Was he going to be okay?
Esher moved around the bed and stood between her and the man. Protecting him?
She looked up into his blue eyes. They held hers, dark and challenging, daring
her to attempt to pass him to reach the other man.
She only wanted to heal him, but both men
seemed reluctant to let her near him right now, especially this one. She knew
without a doubt that if she tried to go to him, he would stop her and he would
use force to do it.
She looked back at the white-haired one.
They had appeared out of nowhere and looked
as comfortable with that power as the man had with his incredible ability to
make fire out of thin air. All her life, she had searched for people like her,
always believing that she was alone in the world. Now, there were four others
like her. It was both exciting and frightening, and she had a thousand
questions she wanted to ask them, but right now there was something more
important than getting answers.
And he was lying unconscious in the other
room.
Megan dragged together what fragments
remained of her courage, stepped further into the living room and came to stand
against the dark cream wall opposite the white-haired man.
“What do you want with me?” she said,
surprised by how calm she sounded.
The desire to heal the man shortened her
temper and boosted her bravery too. The white-haired one clearly wanted to
question her and the quicker he did so, the quicker she could set to work on
the one they were now protecting.
He raked pale icy eyes over her.
Esher moved into the room and propped
himself up against the narrow wall that divided the bedroom from another
smaller room. He brushed his hand over the longer lengths of his dark hair
again, preening it back to reveal the shorn sides. The action of raising his
arm caused the open sides of his long black coat to fall away from his body and
lifted the hem of his blue-grey shirt. He sighed, lowered his hand to his side,
and alternated between staring at her with murder in his stormy eyes and
looking back into the bedroom with ones awash with concern.
“Tell me what happened,” the white-haired
one demanded and she straightened, refusing to let her fear show even as her
blood rushed like a torrent through her ears and her heart trembled like a
timid thing in her chest.
“I was walking home during the storm and
took a shortcut.” She held his gaze, trying to play it cool.
Esher ruined her illusion of confidence by
glancing back into the bedroom. Her eyes leaped to him. His held concern that
quickly turned into darkness that unsettled her. The muscle in his jaw tensed
and his hands curled into fists.
“He will be fine, Esher,” the white-haired
one said. Esher’s head whipped around, causing the long top of his hair to fall
down the right side of his face, his expression startled at first and then
softening. He nodded, preened his hair again and resumed his glaring at her.
She swallowed and looked back at the other one. He smiled but it held no
warmth. “You were walking home?”
Neither of them sounded local. In fact,
they didn’t sound as though they were from anywhere in North America, and
neither had her protector. She couldn’t place their accents though. European?
Like the other man had been?
She nodded and cleared her throat. “The power
was out and there was a man ahead of me, so I took a shortcut down an alley.
That’s where I met your friend. I thought he was going to attack me.”
“Why would you think that?” he said,
darkness in his tone, as though she had offended him by thinking his friend had
been out to hurt her.
“He had a gun and was coming towards me.
What else was I meant to think?” she snapped and then reined her temper in when
his eyes darkened a full shade and Esher pushed away from the wall.
The white-haired man held his gloved hand
up. Esher moved back again and glanced towards the man on the bed and that
sense of darkness returned, his eyes deepening in colour until they verged on
black.
“Esher.” The other man stood and went to
him. He reached a hand out towards his shoulder and then drew it back before
touching him.
Esher slowly looked across at him and
frowned, a touch of confusion crinkling his brow. His eyes lightened again.
“Daimon?”
Was that the other man’s name?
Esher blinked and looked around the
apartment, something about him making her feel that he had lost track of his
surroundings. He seemed surprised. His deep blue eyes met Daimon’s icy ones and
then flitted to the man on the bed.
“You know he is too stubborn to die. He
will be okay... will you?” Daimon flexed his fingers in his black leather
gloves, his hand hovering centimetres away from Esher’s shoulder, and Esher
nodded.
That was a strange question to ask. Nothing
had happened to Esher after all. He hadn’t been involved in the fight. She
studied him while he was distracted and his gaze snapped to meet hers. Hers
instantly hit the wooden floorboards.
“Keep going.” Daimon returned to his
position opposite her, at the back of the deep red couch.
“The other man. I didn’t realise he was
behind me and your friend ran past me. They fought. It was hard to make out
what happened. The lights were out for most of it.” She paced two steps
forwards so she could sneak a glance into the bedroom at the man. He lay with
his face turned towards her and she stared at him, remembering how he had
fought and the power he had used, and what had happened. “I watched them fight
and then there were fireballs from both sides.”
“Both sides?” The confusion in Daimon’s
voice shone in his pale eyes too.
Megan nodded and pointed to the man on the
bed. “He unleashed them first and then the other man... he was French. I think.
He touched him on his chest. It hurt him. He was in pain.”
Her hand shook and her eyebrows furrowed.
She wanted to go to him and heal him, to take the pain away even though he was
unconscious and couldn’t feel it now. He had sounded so pained as he had
screamed at the storm and had looked to be in agony when he had collapsed after
the man had released him. He had suffered but it hadn’t stopped him from protecting
her, shielding her in his arms and bearing the brunt of the fireball the man
had launched at her.
“And?” Daimon’s voice snapped her out of
her memories and she looked at him. He wobbled in her vision and she blinked to
clear away the tears that had risen into her eyes.
“The man let him go and suddenly he could
use fireballs too. He was going to kill him.” She looked back at the man on the
bed. “I did the only thing I could do to protect him. I shot the man... God, I
shot him... I could have killed him. I shouldn’t have done that... I shot a
man.”
It sank in cold and fast, stealing her
strength and leaving her shaking. She had fired upon a person and she had done
it with the intent of murdering him. She buried her fingers into her wet
shoulder-length hair and dragged it out of her face, her hands trembling
against her head.
“You shot a daemon and you should have
killed him. The bastard should be put down for raising a hand against us.”
Megan lifted her chin and caught the look
of sheer disgust on Esher’s face before he turned away and went into the
bedroom.
She looked at Daimon. His pale gaze
followed Esher and then slowly shifted back to her.
“Your friend said he needed to get his
power back,” she said and Esher was in front of her before she could blink,
black mist clinging to his long coat and curling over his grey scarf.
He grabbed her by the neck of her damp
black jumper and shoved her against the wall so hard it shook and pain shot
outwards from her shoulder.
“What did you say?” His breath washed over
her, his face so close to hers that he was all she could focus on.
His eyes darkened but then brightened, a
corona of blue shining around his pupils. His grip on her tightened and she
couldn’t contain her gasp as he hauled her closer to him and a terrible
darkness crossed his handsome face.
ARES is
available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks
stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback.
Find all the
links, a fantastic 4 chapter downloadable sample of the book, and also enter
the giveaway and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift
certificate at her website:
My Reviews of the Guardians of Hades Series
Book 1: Ares My Review Amazon
Book 2: Valen My Review Amazon
Book 3: Esher My Review Amazon
Book 4: Marek - Coming in 2018
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, her best-selling Her Angel romance series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm romance series or any of her stand alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try her Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series. Or if you like hot-blooded alpha heroes who will let nothing stand in the way of them claiming their destined woman then try her Eternal Mates series. It’s packed with sexy heroes in a world populated by elves, vampires, fae, demons, shifters, and more. If sexy Greek gods with incredible powers battling to save our world and their home in the Underworld are more your thing, then be sure to step into the world of Guardians of Hades.
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3.5 Stars
