FAOM: Winner, Winner, Ch--... Signed Book!

Wow! Simply, wow. I cannot tell you how much fun it has been for me this month to work with Amanda – the author otherwise known as A.M. Johnson. Having not just the opportunity to ask her whatever I wanted during my interview with her, but in watching and interacting with her on social media, in reading all her work that I could get my hands on this month, and in appreciating her generosity for donating a signed paperback to give away to one of you fine folks.

She is, as I have come to learn this month, quite simply an amazing writer. She has the ability to put you in to her characters heads, to put their hearts in your chest, to destroy, and to recreate. She takes pain and with the magic of the written word turns it in to joy. She doesn’t shy from using societies tough realities as part of her books – something I admire and truly like in my reading. And, well honestly I could continue for a really long time if left to it so… Let’s just flip back to my original descriptor: she’s an amazing writer.

But for me the fun is not quite over. I do, after all have one last task that simply must be taken care of. And it is perhaps one of the best parts of the FAOM. It’s time for me to announce the winner of the December FAOM Giveaway! Before I do that I want to thank A.M. Johnson, Amanda, for offering up a signed copy of one of her paperback’s and being willing to leave it up to the winner as to which book they want. So, thank you Amanda.

Now…

By random draw (using random.org & rafflecopter.com) from accumulated entries, it is with great pleasure that I announce to the world that the winner of this month’s FAOM Giveaway is... 

Karlie Davis!!

Congratulations Karlie, both Amanda and I will be in touch shortly so that your chosen prize novel will be headed your way as soon as possible. Make sure you check your email!

So Karlie… what book are you going to choose??

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Happy Reading!!

FAOM: Review of Possession; To Be or Not

Holy Christmas trees people. It has been an INSANE December around the Corner Table House and in all honesty, these days I’m sort of feeling as if I’m hanging on by my fingernails. (The ones I’ve been looking at for days and thinking ‘I’ve got to remember to cut those damn things!’) As ever, reading is the break I can use to escape all the shit storm of my own life and focus on something else, at least for a little while. This month hasn’t been too different on that accord, so now it’s time for me to share with you my thoughts and feelings about one of the A.M. Johnson books (she is the December Featured Author of the Month, after all).

Possession

Avenues Ink series, book 1

I’ve gushed about this book more than once since I read it earlier this month and then proceeded to mow through the other two books in the Avenues set. Needless to say I really loved them all – the brothers Declan, Liam, and Kieran each have compelling, interesting, heart-wrenching stories. Each of them has demons that he’s trying to overcome.

For Declan, those demons are a very real, very threatening, thing.

His mental illness is one that has made him different from a young age. It made it difficult to be with people – to interact or to connect with them. The voices in his head are relentless and have driven him to the brink more than once. Then Paige appeared in his life. She brought acceptance, love, and silence. And when she left it destroyed him.

This book is about being willing to open up again. It’s about being willing to be vulnerable and to put yourself and your heart at risk again. For Declan it’s about putting his sanity at risk.

I’ve read a few of A.M. Johnson’s books now and I can honestly say that each one has touched me in a different way. Each one has moved me to tears, to laughter. Each story has reached into my chest and squeezed my heart to bleeding.

Possession did all of this and more. I finished this story a little bit in love with Declan myself – at least part of the reason why I dived so quickly and thoroughly into the rest of the series was simply to see more of Declan. (But then there was Liam (oh my God!) and then Kieran, LOL!) I adored Paige and Declan’s story because it was raw, it was emotional and real, and it left you – aka ME – dying for more.

So obviously, I recommend this book and the others in the Avenues Ink series as must reads. I think you’ll enjoy them. God knows, I did.

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I hope everyone has had a brilliant Christmas season and that their holidays have been wonderful. Until next time, happy reading!

FAOM: Books, Books, Books, Forever Still

I have been simply plowing through A.M. Johnson’s books the past week – in fact, I’ve very nearly finished the Avenues Ink series and no surprise I’ve loved every page of them! Based on what I’m seeing about the books of her Forever Still series I will probably have three more books in my Kindle by Christmas too.

But honestly, when you laugh, cry, fall in love, and sigh with happiness with each and every story, you can’t really complain can you?

Now since the first I’ve been eyeing the Forever Still books and wondering about them. I’ve read the blurbs – though I’ve completely avoided looking at the reviews beyond the averaged ratings – and from what I could ascertain they are the types of stories that (just like Sacred Hart) are going to rip my heart out page-by-page, and then slowly put everything back where it belongs, only better than when things started. As a twist, and because I could, I asked Amanda how she would describe the series as a whole in just a sentence. This is what she said:

“The Forever Still series is about survival, about learning to overcome the walls we build for ourselves and learning that we are worthy of love.”

Anyone else’s heart already twisting up a bit in anticipation?  

So today, let’s take a look at the books of the Forever Still series and what they’re stories are about…

FAOM: Heat Things Up with Beneath the Vine

I read a lot. There’s really no other, simpler, cleaner way to say it: I read a lot. My library houses books that are (or would be) for the most part classed under romance but these days saying “oh, I read romance” is sometimes not enough. Sometimes it takes a little bit more, and I think sometimes that little bit more is important. After all, the genre on a whole has had a bad rep for years – I still get laughing remarks from friends and family about reading my “porn stories” – and yet romance novels are one of (if not the) most read genres world wide. And I think that fact is because there are so many possibilities and so many sub-genre’s that are all technically classed (or could be) as romance.

For instance: erotica. Those books that lean on and rely most heavily on the sexual interactions of their characters. There is still a romantic storyline in erotica, most of the time, but it uses (or revolves around) the sex. Every once in a while a good erotica novel is just what a person needs. But depending on how heavily dosed with sex it is, too many on a regular basis is too much for me.

But in that every once in a while….

If you read last week’s interview with A.M. Johnson (this month’s Featured Author of the Month) you would have seen us talking about the erotica pen name – Lillian Bryant – she used to release Pressure (no longer available for purchase) and Beneath the Vine. She also talked about how she would, someday, like to go back to the BTV world and give other characters stories of their own. Today I want to spotlight that book for all of you that love erotica, whether you’re full time fans of the genre or, like me, love the stories occasionally.

Beneath the Vine

a stand-alone novel

Selene Cavalier spent the majority of her time behind her cello. Her dull life was made up of dark notes, hard work and sheet music. 

Bennett Monterosso did what he had to do to get his family’s winery up and running. He didn’t have time for his old ways. His quiet dominance had been silenced. His need was just waiting below the surface, until now. 

Having her—it was all he could think about as he watched the young woman behind the cello.

Gage Calibri left his best friend, his home and his tarnished past five years ago. He suppressed his darker tastes, his physical appetites, and his secrets until he no longer had a choice. 

It only took one night for these three lives to collide and to be altered forever. 

This wasn’t what they were expecting. This wasn’t who she was. Each moment they sank deeper, each minute they felt more, each second they took her further.

Unhinged… restrained… this obsession… this love… it was all consuming.

*For Mature Audiences Only... Strong Sexual Content*

If you’re intrigued, you can 

get your copy of Beneath the Vine here. 

I’ve already downloaded mine for that rainy day when I could use something hot to warm up!

 And don't forget to

enter to win a signed paperback of your choice 

by A.M. Johnson!!!