Friday, August 16, 2013

REVIEW: "Patrick Eats His Peas, and other stories" by Geoffrey Hayes

Disclaimer: I received an electronic galley of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Type: Graphic Novel, Juvenile, Patrick needs to listen to his mother, Cute, Great for parents to read to their kids.

About the book: Patrick Bear is the perfect playmate. Equal parts adorable and bratty, this endearing hero transforms daily routines into fun adventures. As he keeps his parents on their toes from breakfast to bedtime, Patrick also keeps early readers coming back for more. In this second Patrick TOON Book, four classic stories beloved by parents and librarians are given new life by the uncontested master of children’s comics. (Description from Amazon.com)

My Review: This graphic novel for kids actually features several stories - including "Patrick Eats His Peas," "Patrick Helps Out," "Patrick Takes A Bath," and "Patrick Goes to Bed." I do not have small children myself, but I am very familiar with babysitting, and I occasionally work in the Children's department of my library - and this is something that I believe would fly off the shelves. Children can really relate to Patrick, heck, I can relate to Patrick! And parents will enjoy the expressions and exasperation expressed by Patrick's Mom and Dad.

Each story has it's own charm, and the book itself includes a guide on how to read graphic novels to your child. As a big graphic novel reader, I never really thought about how one might teach a child to read graphic novels, or how to read one to a child - but the publisher thought of everything, and included some tips for a confused or unsure parent. Definitely pick up "Patrick Eats His Peas, and other stories" by Geoffrey Hayes!

Cover Lovin': I think this cover is adorable - mostly because that is my exact reaction when I am forced to eat peas. The cover fits the book perfectly, and it is definitely something that a child would be interested to read, or have read to them.

Recommendation: For young children, definitely. This is a great book for a parent to read to their kid - the child will totally understand where Patrick is coming from, and the parent will love Patrick's parents facial expressions. Cute and worth a read for families.

Final Rating: FOUR out of FIVE (4/5). Great children's book, and something I would recommend in my own public library.

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda ~!~
 
(Review cross posted on Goodreads.com)

Monday, August 12, 2013

PROMO BLITZ! Author Felicity Heaton is offering "Love Immortal" for only 99 cents!!!


Felicity Heaton is offering fantastic savings on one of her vampire romance novels, Love Immortal. Between August 10th and August 23rd, this long paranormal romance is available for the bargain price of only $0.99 / £0.99 at Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books and Apple iBooks/iTunes stores. That’s a $3 saving on the normal cover price, so grab this perfect vacation book while you can and let it whisk you away to London, Paris and Greece!


You can also grab the first books in her three major paranormal romance series for absolutely FREE. Read about the books and find all the links at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-romance-ebook-offers.php

Here’s more about Love Immortal, including a peek at the book:

Love Immortal
Felicity Heaton
Rescued from werewolves by the most breathtaking man she's ever seen, Lauren is dragged into the fight of her life and a dark world she never knew existed. There, she discovers that she's the latest reincarnation of a goddess and must drink the blood of her immortal protector, Julian, in order to reawaken and continue her three thousand year old mission to defeat Lycaon, the original werewolf.

With the help of Julian and an organisation of people with supernatural abilities, Lauren fights for her life, their future and the fate of mankind against Lycaon and his deadly army, but can she succeed when Lycaon has killed all of her predecessors?

Can she crack the armour around Julian's heart and seize her happily forever after with him? And can Julian bring himself to trust Lauren with the fragments of his heart after everything he's been through?

 

Grab the offer at these ebook stores:



 

 

Love Immortal – Excerpt

 

Julian leaned forwards, his elbows coming to rest on his knees. She could see down his collar. The light was dull but she could see enough to tell that he was good looking. Her gaze darted to the lamp beside her bed. If she could just turn that on, she would see him properly at last. She would see that her instinct about him had been right.

He was more handsome than anyone she’d ever met.

Her heart skipped.

A soft look entered his eyes, his expression earnest and open.

“I am your guardian, Lauren,” Julian said in such a calm and gentle tone that the tight feeling inside her began to melt away. She liked how he said her name, pronouncing it slowly and carefully as though he was savouring it. “I would bleed myself dry if you willed it. I am yours to command. It is not a matter of strength, but if you believe it is, then use mine until you find your own.”

Her heart thudded now, hard and heavy against her ribs. God, could this man be any more wonderful? All of her tension melted and her bones began to follow it. Warmth glowed inside her, happiness that this man believed in her even though he barely knew her. He believed that she was strong and she could feel the truth in his words. He would do everything he said. He would lend her his strength, and he would bleed himself dry for her.

“Would you really do that? Bleed yourself dry?” she said, captivated by the romantic notion of him doing anything for her, even risking his life. She wanted to hear him say it again.

His pale eyes narrowed slightly and she couldn’t take hers away from them. There was something about his eyes. She could look into them for forever. The world could end and she wouldn’t care if he were looking at her as he was now.

“If you desired it,” Julian husked. Tingles chased down her back, spreading through her. “My blood is yours. If you needed it all, you would have it.”

Even when he talked about blood, she felt intensely drawn to him, willing to do whatever he asked if he could promise her eternity with him. It was crazy. Insane. She didn’t know enough about him to be dreaming that kind of future. Perhaps she’d been alone too long. But then, a man had never looked at her the way that Julian did.

With love.

With intense passion.

With need that said he might die without her.

If he kept looking at her like that, she would go through with the awakening just so he would continue.

“How much blood do I normally need… to awaken?”

“Enough that I am too weak to protect you. Should Lycaon attack, we will be vulnerable.”

Those words sent an unpleasant shiver through her and made her realise that she didn’t like the idea of Julian bleeding himself dry for her after all. She didn’t want him to die. She wanted him to live. Even the thought of her awakening weakening him left her cold. Had he learned from experience that they were vulnerable during her awakening?

“Is that why we’re here?” Lauren leaned forwards a little, her eyes still locked on his, searching them for answers.

He nodded. “It is. The Ghosts will protect us. They do not fully understand the situation, but they will not fail us should there be an attack.”

“Would you fight?” That question made her stomach turn.

He nodded again, solemn and slow.

“Why?” She sat back in the armchair, horrified by the thought that he would risk his life for her by fighting when he was weak.

“Because my duty is to protect you.”

Lauren didn’t have a response to that. He really did believe in his duty, and he’d carried it out for millennia. He knew his purpose in life and he was sticking to it. She knew hers and couldn’t decide whether to embrace it or bury her head in the sand.

It wouldn’t get her anywhere if she did that though. Burying your head in the sand didn’t stop death.

Julian was still looking at her with a soft tenderness in his eyes. How far would he go for his duty? She tried to think of a way to test him, to plumb the depths of his dedication to her.

“Would you do anything I asked?” Lauren said cautiously, looking deep into his eyes to check if he was telling the truth when he answered.

He nodded again. The look in his eyes hardened for a moment and a shadow of pain crossed them. Lauren leaned forwards again. What had he been thinking? She hated seeing hurt in his eyes. When he’d left her room this morning looking so sad, it had torn her apart inside with worry. Something terrible had happened to him in his past. It had to have to make him look at her as though he was dying inside.

“Even kill Lycaon?” she said.

“If I could.” His voice was low and as cautious as hers had been.

“If?”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “It is forbidden. The death of Lycaon is your duty and yours alone to carry out. I cannot interfere in that battle, just as Lycaon cannot interfere with my existence. When Illia died, Zeus realised his mistake. Zeus did what he could to help you. He made me immortal as you wished, and he made me invulnerable to the threat of Lycaon, but he could not change your curse to make you invulnerable to Lycaon’s blade. He could only ensure that you would be reborn and that I would be there to awaken you.” Julian leaned closer, his eyes on hers, and then cast them downwards at the floor. “If I could spare you from the horrors of battle, I would.”

There was an edge to his voice. Lauren could read between the lines. He wanted to protect her and it seemed duty didn’t have anything to do with it.

Lauren stared out at the night through the crack in the curtains of the middle window. The sky was growing light in the distance above the building opposite. The air in the room was heavy, hard to breathe, thick like tar in her lungs. She didn’t know what to say. Did Julian want to protect her for another reason? Was that reason anything to do with the way he looked at her sometimes?

Did it have anything to do with her, or was there more to her reincarnation than she knew?

“Am I always the same when you meet me?” she said slowly, unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer to that question.

“Your instincts sometimes carry on,” he said in a distant tone. She continued to stare out of the window. “There is a reason you are drawn to swords and combat.”

“A shinai is very different to a real sword… but when I’m facing my opponent in kendo, when I’m fighting, I feel a strange kind of peace, as though everything is right in the world. Is that my instincts too?” She glanced at his katana where it rested on the bed beside him. She’d never held one before. How was she supposed to fight with a sword when she was used to nothing more than a glorified bamboo stick?

“Perhaps. The principle of combat is the same in real life as it is in kendo, and I will train you.”

Her gaze darted to him long enough to see he was looking at the sword now, and then went back to the window and the beginning of dawn.

“I will see to it that you can fight, Lauren. Do not fear.”

The niggling feeling of doubt and fear in her stomach disappeared. She was sure that he would keep his word and teach her how to fight. She just wasn’t sure how good she would be at it. She was only at second grade level in kendo.

She pushed away her worries and watched the sky. The dawn was fast becoming beautiful, as peaceful as she felt inside. Pink traced the sky. Gold lined the scattered clouds.

“Do I always look the same?” It was the question she’d originally wanted to ask and the one that she feared the most.

“Yes.” His eyes were on her now. She could feel them. A blush touched her cheeks and she was glad that the low light would hide it from him.

“Sound the same?”

“Yes, but the language is often different.”

Lauren looked at him, her heart on the verge of falling into her stomach. It had risen so high, so far into her throat that the drop was dizzying, like plummeting down a rollercoaster.

Julian had mentioned that Illia had changed him. She had desired him to live. In her heart, Lauren knew what that meant. Illia had loved Julian.

Had Julian loved Illia?

Lauren was just a carbon copy, a replication of the original that he’d loved.

Her heart hit her feet. She frowned at the sky, trying to pretend that she found it interesting even though it had lost all its colour and warmth the moment she’d realised that all the looks Julian had given her were really about Illia.

She tried to say something but the words stuck in her throat. She coughed to clear it and then breathed deep in an attempt to steady herself so he wouldn’t hear the hurt in her voice when she spoke.

“Will I remember my past lives when I awaken?” Her voice was still tight. She feared that he would notice her change in feeling—her hurt. If he did, he didn’t mention it.

“I do not know.” His gaze was still on her. She could feel it and she wished she couldn’t. She wanted to make him leave. She ached for her old life—for the time when she’d been normal, not some reincarnated demi-goddess. “Sometimes you remember little things.”

Lauren stared into the distance, hoping that she remembered nothing this time. The thought that she was continually reincarnated had begun to feel comforting but now it choked her. It made her feel small and insignificant. To Julian, she was just another Illia. It was probably instinct making her fall for him, not her real feelings.

She was such a fool.

She’d been an idiot to think that someone like Julian would really look at her that way. When he looked at her, he was looking at Illia. Well, whatever he believed, she wasn’t Illia. She didn’t know who that woman was, but she was sure that Illia had been strong and brave and everything that Lauren wasn’t.

Lauren wanted to laugh at herself but her gut twisted when she thought about Illia. She pressed her hand to it, surprised by the violent feeling. Jealousy had never hurt like this before.

Gentle fingertips against her jaw made her start. Heat danced around the spots they touched. Julian slowly brought her head around so she was facing him. Her gaze dropped to her bare feet. She couldn’t look at him now. If he saw her feelings, she didn’t know what she would do. Right now, she felt vulnerable and weaker than ever, and one wrong look from him could break her.

His fingers brushed through the strands of her wet hair, his caress tender and soft, very careful.

“You seem so different this time,” he whispered and her heart started at a pace, lodging itself in her throat and trembling. “Your hair…”

“It’s dyed,” she said, eyes shooting to his.

“I know.” There was a faint hint of a smile in his shadowed face. Her insides flipped. What he said next made them jig and her head spin. “It suits you. It brings out warmth in you that I have never seen before.”

Her eyes widened. Warmth that he’d never seen before? Were all her predecessors cold? Even Illia?

“I understand that this is difficult for you, Lauren. Each time you are so different, you react so differently, but it is always hard for you to come to terms with what is happening.” His fingers paused in her hair, resting gently against her scalp. His palm brushed her cheek and she was tempted to lean into it. “I should have reached you sooner. I am sorry that I took so long… and that because of me you have less time to make your decision.”

There was such an earnest look in the depths of his pale blue eyes, tinted with regret, that Lauren found herself reaching up and covering his hand with hers, wanting to comfort him. Her fingers closed over his, pressing into his palm. His hand was so warm.

“How did you find me?”

“I told you. I can sense things. That sense is strongest when it comes to you. It guides me to you.” He paused and drew a deep breath. This time, he didn’t sigh. The hurt was back in his eyes. “I normally find you faster, but I was… delayed.”

Lauren knew better than to probe into that answer. Whatever the delay had been, it had pained him. As much as she wanted to know, she couldn’t ask. After the way he’d looked at her this evening, she never wanted to hurt him.

Because he already held a world of pain in his eyes.

His hand left hers and she sat back, again becoming aware that she was only wearing a towel, only now she didn’t care.

Lauren stared deep into Julian’s eyes, mesmerised by every dark fleck against palest blue. A sense of calm filled her, as though she’d found a haven in a storm and knew that she was safe at last. The things he’d told her lost their frightening edge. Everything seemed strangely normal.

Everything felt fine again.

Julian was immortal—a vampire of sorts. She’d lived thirty lifetimes and was on a mission to stop the king of werewolves before he managed to get revenge on the ancient Greek gods. Soon her latent abilities would awaken and she would become immortal again. Perfectly normal. Completely insane.

When she looked into Julian’s eyes, the world was right again. When she looked into his eyes, strength surged through her and she was ready to take on Lycaon and defeat him at last.

It felt so warm and quiet here with him, drifting through her life one breath at a time, one heartbeat after another.

Lauren frowned.

“Is the hypnotism thing a power of yours too?” It had to be a power. He hadn’t told her all of his abilities yet and she was sure that this was one of them.

“Hypnotism?” His left eyebrow rose and then they both knitted into a frown.

“Yeah. You did it the night we met and you’re doing it now. When I look into your eyes—” She cut herself off when it struck her that he wasn’t hypnotising her. There was another possibility. She really did like him. First, the instant attraction, then the jealousy and now she turned into a daydreaming little girl whenever he looked into her eyes. She might as well just melt into a puddle around him. It was fortunate that she could speak or look at him at all without falling apart. Lauren chided herself. She was stronger than this. No man was about to reduce her to a quivering wreck. “Forget I said anything.”

The ardent way he looked at her sent a blush blazing across her cheeks. Standing, she turned away and walked into the bathroom, taking her clothes with her.

She stopped in front of the mirror and looked in the reflection at Julian. Her stomach flipped. He was watching her, his gaze drifting down her back towards her legs.

Was she really different to Illia? Warmer? If anyone would know, it would be Julian.

When Julian looked at her, did he see her or did he see Illia?

She hoped that he saw her.

Because when she looked at Julian, she saw a man who was stealing her heart piece by piece.


Grab the offer at these ebook stores:



 

 

About Felicity Heaton:

Felicity Heaton writes passionate paranormal romance books as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. 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, Felicity Heaton’s best selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series she writes as F E Heaton or any of her stand alone vampire romance books she writes as Felicity Heaton. Or if you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try Felicity Heaton’s new Vampire Erotic Theatre series.

In 2011, five of her six paranormal romance books received Top Pick awards from Night Owl Reviews, Forbidden Blood was nominated as Best PNR Vampire Romance 2011 at The Romance Reviews, and many of her releases received five star reviews from numerous websites.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:






 
Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda ~!~