Review and Guestblog by Jacqueline Paige, author of Heart

Jacqueline Paige is guest blogging for me today!

Rayne’s journey.

I sat for hours trying to come up with something interesting to write as a guest today. What I ended up with was the idea that I would take you on part of Rayne’s long drive when she fled Chicago and ended up (17 hours later) in Northern Canada. I haven’t done the entire drive she did, but I have experienced long enough drives up North over the years.

I even brought pictures! These were taken on one of my first trips up North, so getting inside Rayne’s head wasn’t all that hard to do. I remember sitting in the car with camera poised waiting for that perfect shot … only hours later to realize that there was so much undisturbed nature on the trip that I could take hundreds of pictures and never quite get enough. I didn’t have to imagine the scenery that Rayne passed, or the miles and miles of trees, rocks and lakes.

These pictures were taken probably about twelve to fifteen hours into Rayne’s journey — right around when she is having a hard time believing there could be so many trees, lakes and rocks. 

  

I at least had someone to talk to during this drive. It’s no wonder Rayne spent a lot of time having conversations with herself.    



Part that fascinated me was the roads that had been carved right through the rocks along the way.        



And some things are beautiful enough you will stop to take pictures. I imagine Rayne stopped for scenes like this one.              
  


I’m sure Rayne was more than pleased she didn’t see this up close though, from a distance is more than enough.



Thanks again for having me here today!!

Thank you for the guest blog. I love the beautiful pictures especially the fourth one!

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Blurb for Heart:

Torn from her sheltered life, Rayne is alone and scared after she discovers her fiancé is not the man she thought he was. Unable to accept the corrupt world he belongs to, she flees to the furthest possible location she can reach on her own. Nothing could ever prepare her for the journey and what she finds out when she arrives.

Is she strong enough to survive on her own?

The epitome of the lone wolf, Devin stays in the wilderness and far away from people, avoiding the decision of whether to accept his title as leader and alpha of the pack. One alluring woman stirs up his resolve and passion when she disturbs his solitary world. The man inside is tempted in a way he can’t understand but his wolf knows he’s found his mate.

Can he have her without succumbing to the responsibilities waiting for him?

Title: Heart

Book I in Animal Trilogy

Author: Jacqueline Paige

Publisher: Eternal Press

Expected TBR date: Nov. 1st

Three women without knowledge of their true heritage...

Three men that have waited for their mate all of their lives...

Hearts and tempers collide with wild passions and animal instincts in the Animal Trilogy.


Here's an excerpt:

If nothing else she was warmer now. How long would the rain last? Do I want to wait it out and then try to find a washroom – in the dark? Rayne shook her head before she could go any further with that thought. There was no way she was getting out of this car until it was light out, rain or no rain. How many hours until daylight? She debated very briefly whether she could squirm around and reach the purse to get her phone. Highly doubtful. Besides being cocooned in the puffy material, the phone was off for a reason and turning it on just to check the time wasn’t worth the risk of Aiden being able to trace the location. Truthfully she didn’t know if that was possible even though all the movies referenced it being so, but understanding what type of man Aiden was and what he was capable of, she wasn’t taking any chances.

Working one arm free from the bag, she shifted far enough forward to reach the ignition; he couldn’t track the cars clock. Turning the key, her heart sunk when she noted the time, there were too many hours left until dawn. She looked out the windshield and froze, her heart jumped into her throat. Afraid to so much as breathe, Rayne stared at the animal a few feet away from the headlight. Her brain first said dog, but that was no dog. That was a wolf; it had to be a wolf. Were wolves that big? It seemed bigger than in any pictures she’d seen.

She sat there looking at it, not sure if she should honk the horn or just sit and try not to get hysterical waiting for it to leave. The car may be metal, but the roof was something this animal could probably get through. As she continued to stare at it she couldn’t help thinking it was a beautiful creature. It’s grey and brown fur looked soft and thick, not that she’d ever be able to find out if it was. It was the way the haunting grey eyes watched her that made her decide not to honk the horn or scream as loud as she could, which had crossed her mind briefly. Rayne was fairly certain it was as surprised to see her as she was to see it. Didn’t wolves travel as group? A pack? She wanted to look around and see if there were more in the trees, but the logical part of her brain said she was better off not knowing. Never argue with the logical part.

She was sure she stopped breathing all together when it took a step closer to the car and then turned quickly back towards the trees. As she was reaching for the keys it stopped and looked back at her for the length of two heart beats before it bolted into the trees and disappeared.

Turning off the key, she sat in the dark leaning back against the seat while she tried to remind her body how to take air in. In this moment with her heart beating so loud she could hear it, or at least it felt that way, Rayne reached the decision that she was not getting out of the car until daylight, and even then was questionable. One more conclusion was also not turning the lights on again; her mental state was much better not knowing what else was outside of the car. She checked to make sure the door was locked, she did know a wolf wouldn’t just walk up and use the door handle, but she felt better knowing that she was locked in and more importantly other things were locked out.

Pulling her arm back into the sleeping bag, Rayne shuffled down as far as she could and closed her eyes. The sooner she slept, the closer daylight was to getting here. Over the noise of the water beating off the car, she thought she heard a howl.

Biography 

Jacqueline Paige is a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children with an over active imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance.

Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.

She began writing in 2006, not submitting her first story until 2009, since then fourteen of her original and entertaining books have been published. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.

Connect with her: Webpage / Blog / Twitter

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  My Thoughts:

I liked Heart but I found a few of the chapters to be boring. Rayne's driving and stoping and driving some more, seemed to drag on.  After she got to her destination the story was much, much better. The remainder of the story made up for the slow parts! 

I liked watching Devin turn from a cranky territorial loner to a man crazy in love. The relationship between Rayne and Devin developed very slowly. There was no insta-love here!

This book had mystery, nature, art, animal attraction, and shifters. I enjoyed it. :D

I liked the characters and I will definitely read the next book in this series to see what happens next. I really hope that we see more of Rayne and Devin.

It reminded me a little of The Amoveo Legend series by Sara Humphreys. If you like that, you should try this.  

I received a copy of this book from Bewitching Book Tours in exchange for my honest opinion.

 

I'd love to know what you're thinking. Please leave a comment!