mignon mykel { reviews }: { promo + review } UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES: THE CONCUBINE by Shay Savage

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

{ promo + review } UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES: THE CONCUBINE by Shay Savage

UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES by Shay Savage

Book 5: The Concubine

SYNOPSIS:

Royalty requires sacrifice.

As King Camden’s health declines, the need for an heir becomes crucial, impossible to ignore. With no other viable choice, Alexandra must stand stoically by when Hadley comes to the court of Silverhelm as Branford’s concubine. The queen’s edict of duty echoes through Alexandra’s mind as she accepts the loathsome conditions for the sake of the kingdom. The only person more devastated by the circumstances is Branford himself.

As Branford spurns Alexandra’s affections and King Edgar continues to press his post-war advantage, all seems lost to the young couple. Treachery still lies deep within the castle of Silverhelm, and the revelation of the traitor will come from the least likely of sources.

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Excerpt:

“I am a coward,” he whispered.

“Branford…no.” I took a step toward him.

“I am,” he said. “I’m a coward and an idiot. Alexandra, please…hear me out.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded.

“I have hurt you,” he stated. “It was not my intent, yet it happened anyway.

“You barely spoke to me,” I replied as I turned my head and closed my eyes tightly.

“You would not have wanted me here,” he said quietly. “I have been…”

He stopped and sighed heavily, approached me, and dropped back to his knees. I looked down to see him once again and reached out to touch his rough cheek.

“I wanted you here,” I said. He shook his head.
“I am…” Branford paused, and when my fingers brushed his face, I could feel his jaw clenched tightly. “I am afraid. Afraid for you. I brought you into my world to insult King Edgar, and insult him I have, but he does not intend to take the insult out on me and my army. He plans to take it out on you. I have put you in terrible danger out of arrogance and lust for revenge.”

He grasped his thighs as he looked up into my eyes.

“I never should have brought you here,” he whispered vehemently. “You are in peril, and it is my fault! I am to blame! How can you look at me, knowing I did this to you? Now that you know what he will do if I do not have an heir soon or if I refuse Whitney next month—he will not just…just kill you.”

He stopped speaking abruptly, and I could sense the pounding of his heart in his chest and see the panic in his eyes.

“I did not want you to hear him speak such things,” he said.

“He has said worse,” I said, presuming.

“He has.” I saw and felt his anger blaze in his eyes. “I will not allow you to be touched, my wife. I would…I would sacrifice my kingdom before I would allow that to happen.”

“Branford, you cannot—”

“I can!” His eyes blazed. “I would sacrifice all of them before I would let him touch you!”

review .

I apologize for the formatting, but I missed this email and needed to get the post up! So. Book 5 in the saga that is Branford and Alexandra. I'm loving the growth of Alexandra throughout these stories. She's really starting to come to her own and fighting for her husband. Branford still has his moments where he goes all Book Two on her, sweet one moment and then not so nice shortly after, but that's his character, so I'm glad to see it hasn't changed too horribly much.

When we left off, we learned that Branford was essentially being forced to take a mistress to give him an heir, as Alexandra hadn't done so. There's quite the tangled web that comes from that in this book, including some past drama that comes to light. Add to that, and Branford's original desire to embarrass the other King? Yeah, that's going to bite him.

Yet another exciting addition to this novella serial. I'm excited to see where the next book takes us!

PURCHASE LINKS:

Book 5 is LIVE: Amazon US: http://amzn.to/29YhXsh UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HS3GOEM Canada: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01HS3GOEM Australia: www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01HS3GOEM Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-concubine-7 ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1130071073 Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-concubine-shay-savage/1124047443

Book #1:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1rni4pE

Amazon UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01F3Q9TT8

Amazon CA: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01F3Q9TT8

Amazon AU:www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01F3Q9TT8

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/…/ebook/unexpected-circumstances

ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1110442538

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unexpected-circumstances-book-1-shay-savage/1123753150

Book #2:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1T7kj7N

Amazon UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FG5R67S

Amazon CA: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01FG5R67S

Amazon AU: www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01FG5R67S

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/…/unexpected-circumstances-the-…

ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1112879687

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unexpected-circu…/1123781202

Book #3:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/29YRuMh UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01G8X5T3K Canada: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01G8X5T3K Australia: www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01G8X5T3K ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1118452818 Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-consummation-shay-savage/1123854152 Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-consummation-1/ Book #4: Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H3W9AVM UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01H3W9AVM Canada: www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01H3W9AVM Australia: www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01H3W9AVM Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-shortcoming?sp_AC=1 iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-shortcoming/id1124859282?mt=11 Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-shortcoming-shay-savage/1123920320?ean=2940158224034

_______________________________________________________________________

Shay Savage lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family and a variety of household pets. She is an accomplished public speaker, and holds the rank of Distinguished Toastmaster from Toastmasters International. When not writing, she enjoys science fiction movies, masquerading as a zombie, is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and member of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers. When the geek fun runs out, she also loves soccer in any and all forms - especially the Columbus Crew, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. Savage holds a degree in psychology, and she brings a lot of that knowledge into the characters within her stories.

Stalk Shay Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews