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Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione

What a tormented, incredible hero and yet a fun, sexy book!

Larissa is one of the few authors (for me) that can add campy humor and make me laugh out loud instead of rolling my eyes.  I mean, come on, UGH makes me snicker every single time!  I love it!   

The humor helps balance the smoldering intensity of the sex and the bloody action of the plot.  Anyone who’s read the first two books in the Demonica series knows that Wraith is going to burn the page up, and boy does he ever.  

But what I most admire about Larissa’s writing is how she builds these impossible romances.

Wraith is dying unless he steals Serena’s charm.

Serena will die if she doesn’t have the charm.

Although he’s half incubus, Wraith is violently opposed to touching a human woman.  Serena is not only human but also a virgin, and must stay that way, or she’ll lose the charm (see above).

Although he’s half vampire, Wraith despises all vampires because of the torture he received at their hands.  So of course, he must use his vampire skills not only to win the huge external conflict of the story but to also keep Serena alive.

Seriously, you have to wonder how she’s going to pull this romance off, even though we know they’ll end up together in the end.  Oh, and by the way, there’s this really bad guy who’s trying to kill them all and the whole world at the same time.

My only complaint — at myself, let me assure you — is that I can’t remember all the plot details from the first two books.  In my older age (combined with my brain being stuffed with my own storylines), I just can’t always remember who the characters are who show up again, and there is quite a bit of cross over.  However, Larissa beautifully explains who people are for the befuddled with poor memories like me.  Not an infodump or a huge backstory that slows the plot down — just a nicely dropped few lines about where we’ve seen this bad guy before.

And of course, a few lovely scenes with Lore to make me slobber for his book, Ecstacy Unveiled.

Well done, Larissa!

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Giveaway: Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler

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Congratulations to Larissa and Stephanie for their book releases today!  It’s no secret that I love the Demonica series (I made the kids wait to go into The Dixie Stampede last year until I could finish the book!!), and I’ve got Jake’s book sitting on my shelf, begging to be read, so what better way to celebrate than to give a few good books away?

Comment on this post to enter or e-mail me once at joelysueburkhart AT gmail.com before midnight CST Thursday, Jan. 28th.  I’ll announce the winner Friday.  Anyone on the planet may enter, even if you’ve won something from me before, and I do not retain your names/e-mail addresses after the contest is over.

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Demonica Series Giveaway

 

As promised, I’m giving away the complete Demonica Series by Larissa Ione, including Pleasure Unbound, Desire Unchained, and Passion Unleashed. 

Desire Unchained was my reward book for finishing Revision Xibalba, and boy, do I feel rewarded!  The book was so good that I made the monsters sit in the van and wait at the Dixie Stampede (while we were on Spring Break vacation) until I finished the last 10 pages!!

Rules:  

  • Anyone on the planet may enter, even if you’ve won something from me before.
  • If your snail mail address doesn’t qualify for Amazon Prime shipping of the paperback versions, then I’ll supply a gift certificate of $20 to any online book retailer of your choice.
  • To enter, simply comment on this blog entry, or drop me a note with subject LARISSA IONE GIVEAWAY to joely AT joelysueburkhart DOT com.
  • Entries will be accepted through midnight CST Monday, April 6th.
  • Winner will be announced Tuesday, April 7th.

Spread the word!

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Freebies, Contests, and More

I’ve already blogged about how much I loved Larissa Ione’s Pleasure Unbound — and how I can’t wait to earn my reward by finishing Revision Xibalba so I can read Desire Unchained!  I even picked Pleasure Unbound to win it all in DABWAHA and was thrilled to see my first author blurb in Desire Unchained!  How cool is that?  Here’s your chance to win some freebies from Larissa by spreading the word.

I plan to give away the entire Demonica series when Shade’s book is out, so stay tuned!

Smart Bitches and Dear Author are sponsoring Save the Contemporary.  Spread the word to win a copy of the latest Lisa Kleypas release.

For more blogosphere contests, check out Paperback Writer’s post.