Tuesday, February 5, 2013

VBT: Giveaway and Review ~My Fallen by Ashlyn Mathews


BLURB:

When a normally quiet and polite Vampire Slayer is tasked to help an arrogant and selfish demon, only trouble can ensue.

Guilt-ridden by a mistake that cost her fellow Slayers their lives and the subsequent tarnished reputation of her brother’s business, Slayer-born Elise Castle agrees to work with the sexy, but arrogant and selfish, Xavier Doom, by bringing in his demon-turned-vampire friend. If she succeeds, her brother can hire more Slayers while Xavier’s status guarantees them more clients.

Xavier is a Fallen, a special kind of demon with an insatiable appetite for women, money and power. When his best friend is kidnapped and turned into a vampire, he hires the best Slayer money can buy. If the Slayer fails, Xavier stands to lose not only his childhood friend, but the opportunity to skyrocket his wealth with the top secret information hidden in his friend’s mind.

Xavier’s arrogance grates on her nerves while his concern and charm reels Elise in. But can she give her heart to a creature like her father, a Fallen, who had abandoned his family for the appeal of money and power? Or will she see Xavier for the good and loyal man he truly is?

Defiant and strong-willed, Elise is a challenge. Yet her strength and courage appeals to Xavier while her no sex policy has him hot for her. As his feelings for her grow, he must make a decision. Give his heart and soul to a woman who can only offer him her love, or walk away from her and seize the chance for more money and power?

Lives and friendships are at stake while love and loyalty is put to the test. Will Elise and Xavier come out unscathed and together? Or will a secret from Elise’s past tear them apart?





An excerpt anyone?

“If you want the truth, then I want something in return.”

Why wasn’t she surprised? “It depends on what you want.”

He took a step, and she held still as he cupped her face in his palms. “You don’t like Fallens. Forget I’m one.”

“Wha—”

“Forget I’m a Fallen and see me as a man.”

The expression on his face, highlighted by the glow from his eyes, told her he was dead serious. In return for him being truthful with her, she only needed to view him as a man instead of a monster? It seemed like an easy bargain. But—

“You won’t know if I’m being truthful or not,” he said. “You’re just going to have to take my word for it.” He smoothed the pads of his thumbs over her cheeks. “And I changed my mind. I don’t plan on staying away from you. Not after witnessing your nightmares.”

She staggered back. “You didn’t—”

“No, I didn’t read your thoughts, but I could see your face.” He advanced and she backed up, against the railing.

“It was either the floor or me plastered to you in the bed, Slayer. I don’t do well when a woman hurts as much as you did in your sleep.”

The concern in his voice blindsided her. He removed her sword out of her grip, placed her weapon on the top rail and leaned in close until his lips nearly touched hers.

“I’m going to kiss you, Elise Castle.”


Purchase link: Amazon


About the Author:

Ashlyn Mathews is a paranormal and contemporary romance author. She is fascinated with strong men and women who walk a fine line between good and evil, happiness and loneliness, and duty to family and love.

A big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Japanese Anime, she incorporates various weapons into her paranormal romances and gives her characters out-of-this-world names just because she can. She lives in the inspiring gloom of the Pacific Northwest with her husband, four young boys and a Golden Retriever that likes to boss her around. When she’s not writing, you can find her at her day job, shuttling her boys to and from soccer practices and games, listening to music, reading, or connecting with others on Facebook and Twitter.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads


Ashlyn will be awarding a backlist eBook in the winner's choice of format at every stop! :-)


The grand prize will be a jewelry holder (similar to the one in the attached picture) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and coffee beans from Seattle's Cafe Vitta and Seattle Theo organic chocolate bar to a randomly drawn host. (US ONLY)

The more you comment the better your chances of winning!


Find the Tour Schedule Here.


My Thoughts:

This story was rather quickly read. My Fallen was a hot, steamy, imaginative, book that grabbed my attention from the first page and kept me in it's hold until well after the last word. 

Elise is a slayer who hates the fallen with good reason. Her father had been a fallen and he broke her mother's heart and then abandoned his children letting them be separated and go into foster care instead of taking care of them. If that wasn't enough of a reason, three of her friends were killed by a fallen while she was helpless to do anything but watch.

Enter Xavier, a high ranking fallen. He wants Elise from the get go. Watching him fight with himself about his feelings for her, and struggle to come to terms with it was like sweet torture. I loved when he got jealous. lol!

He wasn't alone in the struggle to deal with his feelings. Elise had a similar war that she was waging with herself. It's no fun fighting a loosing battle. Especially when you are fighting yourself. :-)

The banter between those two was fun to read. I hope there will be more books to come about these characters.

The plot had romance, paranormal creatures, action, guilt, and loyalty.

I recommend this to everyone looking for a hot paranormal book to devour.

I received a copy of this book from Goddess Fish in exchange for my honest opinion. It was spunky and
hot, a great read.



In My Fallen, Elise can't seem to forgive herself for surviving when her friends died.

Do you hold on to guilt?




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

35 comments:

  1. Not if I can help it. All guilt does is poison everything good in life.

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    1. I agree Brenda. Unfortunately, I tend to feel guilty about everything. :-(

      BTW~ Great name!

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    2. Thank you! Your name is pretty awesome, too! LOL

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  2. I guess i do, it's not helping or anything but i've a tendency to feel guilty instead of accusing others and blaming them ( when sometimes is hould and would be right too)

    Slowly i'm trying to avoid that but it's not easy

    i really like the sound of this book ( and demon becoming vampire^^ ohoh^^)

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    1. Miki, this is definitely right up your paranormal loving alley!

      I feel guilty all of the time even when I can't do anything about it. For example, yesterday's miss-scheduled post, not being able to pick the winner for January's CIG right away, it goes on and on...

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  3. Brenda,
    Thank you for the great review! I'm so glad you loved My Fallen. I had a fun time writing it.

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    1. You are welcome. :-) Thanks so much for a job well done!

      I just have to know, can we expect more books about these characters?

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    2. Definitely! Drake, Elise's BFF, deserves his happily-ever-after. But I'm excited to start Dante's story. He's the Knight who helps commit a crime in My Fallen. What kind of woman will bring him to his knees? I'm thinking the prim and proper kind. Dante has (clears throat) nonconventional appetites in the bedroom. The next book will be entitled Dante's Redemption.

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    3. Oh I can't wait! Please let us now when we can pre-order them or add them on our Goodreads shelves! I am sooo glad that there are more books to come!

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  4. I wish I didn't but I do hold on to guilt. I have certain things that will pop up at odd times. The funny thing is they were misunderstandings and I didn't really hurt anyone, but I still think about them and wonder if it would have made any difference if I did something different. I also struggle with mother's guilt, because I worked outside of the home until recently and my kids tell me the horror stories about babysitters and I wonder if things would be different for them if I had been there all of the time for them all through those years instead of working and going to school.

    I really like the sound of this book and will be adding it to my TBR. I think I'm going to purchase it once I get my gift card I'm waiting on ;)

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    1. I am the opposite. I've always been here for my kids and I sometimes wonder if they would be more independant if that hadn't been the case.

      Maybe the grass is greener on the other side.

      I think you'l really like it Josette. :D

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    2. LOL Most likely it is greener ;) I always tell the hubby, no matter what we do, they will be scarred for life and tell us we have to pay their psych bills LOL

      Thanks, I'm sure I will too.

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  5. I try not to but sometimes I can't seem to help it. I love the excerpt! Another book for my wishlist! :) Thanks!
    -Amber

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the excerpt! It was very good and there will be more books to come! :D

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  6. This definitely seems interesting too! I'm with the person above me I need to stop reading excerpts cuz my TBR list is getting ridiculous lol

    xo_veronica16[at]hotmail[dot]com

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    1. I should feel guilty about the amount of time I spend reading non-school work when I have so much course material to work through but I just can`t (especially because of my ever growing TBR lol)

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  7. I have things I feel guilty for but most of us do. I suppose that's our conscience speaking to us. Hopefully we learn from the mistakes we feel guilty about and attempt to pass that knowledge on to others.
    This book sounds awesome. I will have to add to my TBR pile. Thanks
    lorih824 at yahoo dot com

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  8. Guilt is a big thing in life. Enjoyed reading all about your book.
    debby236 at gmail dot com

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  9. Thank you everyone for your comments. Me, I tend to hang on to any guilt. So, I try not to have any regrets, if that makes sense, lol. Nice to be on your TBR shelves!

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  10. I do occasionally hold on to it. I've gotten better at letting it go as I've gotten older, but there are times when doubt and guilt weigh me down.

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  11. +JMJ+

    I don't hold on to guilt, but it seems that guilt holds on to me! =P

    May I ask a question about the Fallen? I get that they have insatiable appetites and can hurt the people they love in pursuit of those, but Xavier's character arc seems to imply that they can control all those desires, if they so choose. Is that correct? And if so, would Xavier be the first to attempt it? (Okay, that's two questions. Sorry!)

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    1. Of course you can. From my perspective yes and yes.

      It truly was a treat to read. It was different from the other books about vamps and demons and such!

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    2. +JMJ+

      It does sound like the kind of twist I'd like. Thanks, Brenda! =)

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  12. Sounds like a nice read. I'll have to add it to my TBR. :) And for the question, I suppose I do hold onto guilt. Actually I think most of us typically hold regret for many things in our pasts. Throw in an active conscience and I'm guilt-ridden over some really ridiculous things from very long ago.
    "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have kicked that boy in the knee in third grade." :)

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  13. lol! Boys will be boys. I should know I live with four of them. That being said, I'm sure that boy asked for it. You can let go of the guilt over that!

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  14. OOOH, A vampire slayer and a fallen...excellent! Love the excerpt!
    And yes I do hold on to some guilt but only the big things that I have messed up, the small stuff I let roll off.

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  15. Sometimes... it depends on what I'm feeling guilty about. I usually try to let go...

    mestith@gmail.com

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  16. This book looks awesome! (: definitely adding to my to-read list (:

    It depends on what I am guilty about, if its recent, then I try to make it right - but if its guilt from the past - I have gotten a lot better about forgiving myself and realizing I have to learn from it, since I can't change it!

    edibenedetto64(at)gmail(dot)com

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  17. The winner for this stop is Elizabeth! Yay, and My Fallen has been sent to you. The winner of the grand prize was bn100 and the host winner is the Wormhole Blog. Thanks everyone for your comments and for adding My Fallen to your TBR list.

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