Guest Review & Giveaway ~ City In Embers by Stacey Marie Brown

Today we have great pleasure in having our very first guest reviewer on the blog. RL Griffin is an author that Donna discovered many years ago and for those that regularly follow our blog you will know that she is also an avid fan. Well, RL Griffin had been pimping these books in her fan group and she offered to review them for the blog, so we said, yes of course!

 

 

 

Review of City in Embers for The Romance Cover ~ reviewed by RL Griffin

  

 

I want to thank The Romance Cover for allowing me to take over a review for them. I suck at reviews, so I’m going to make it more of why you should read Stacey Marie Brown...sorry if this is not really what you want in a review. 

 

There are books that hit everything you need when you read them, this series was exactly that for me. It could be the timing, the genre, the storyline, but I loved both City in Embers and The Barrier Between so much I’m reading the other series just to get more of Stacey’s writing. 

 

Although I write books, I am also a huge fan of authors and read incessantly. Like you all I get really excited when I find an author that speaks to me through their work and quickly read everything they’ve ever written, if I have time. I was in the middle of writing Quiet Lies, which is sort of depressing for me, and I had just released Sunshine & Whiskey when I found myself in the dreaded book funk. It happens to all book lovers every now and then. We all have our strategies on how to get out of them, reread our favorites, and watch bad television. For me, it’s read something totally different. So I reached for Stacey Marie Brown’s City in Embers. It’s a fantasy and not my typical read, at all. Sometimes the purpose of reading something so left of my usual read is to find it so appalling to my senses I can go back and start reading my normal stuff, effectively pulling me out of my book funk. This time it was to lose myself so completely in a story that I am obsessed with it. 

 

One thing that all my favorite books have in common is a smart, bad ass female. (Of course there are exceptions) I find myself not really liking books if the female is not strong. You do not have to worry about that in any of Stacey’s books. Zoey is a collector of fairies and is in love with her partner. Honestly, I don’t plan on telling you much of the plot in this because I won’t do it justice. Zoey is bad ass. 

 

Here’s the thing about fantasy books, you step outside what you believe to be true and surrender yourself to the world the author created. If you do that the author has done his or her job, if you find yourself thinking “oh this could never happen” then the author hasn’t accomplished what they need to in the book. 

 

Stacey’s writing is fantastic, the scenes she paints with her words vivid and the storyline kept me wanting to more. As soon as I finished City in Embers I started The Barrier Between which I’m not sure if I liked it better or if it was just as amazing as the first book. There are two additional books planned and I’m salivating for them. I keep messaging Stacey hoping for hints, which she denies me.  

 

Here is what I love:

 

• Bad ass female lead
• Hot as hell male character
• No instant anything, you have to work for the sexual tension
• Character development is amazing
• Sprig- we all need comic relief with our end of the world tales
• The intricate weaving of a tale that pulls you in 

Now, I am the first to admit that everyone is not going to love this book like me. However, I believe in this author. Her writing is top notch and I urge you to give it a try. In an effort to help with that I’m going to giveaway an eBook of City in Embers and The Barrier Between to the winners of whatever contest The Romance Cover wants to do.

 

   

City in Embers ~ Buy Links:

 

 Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1MrhCLX

 Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1CBId8U

  

The Barrier Between ~ Buy Links

 

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1O9KQjm 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1Htm0GD

 

Giveaway:

 

To win an eBook set of City in Embers and The Barrier Between just leave a comment on this blog post or on the Facebook post. Winners will be picked in 48 hours.

 

 

Thanks to RL Griffin for taking the time out of her hectic schedule for doing this and if you are a fan of romantic suspense, don't forget to check out her By A Thread series which is a fantastic read. This woman is also multi-talented so if you are in the mood for a more dark, grittier romance, then check out Razorblade Kisses, which is one of Donna's go to books and then...see multi-talented...RL Griffin's romantic comedy Sunshine & Whiskey, which will have you in tears of laughter...there is something there for everyone.