"Ex-Guardian Angel, Ashriel, isn't too happy when the reason for his de-haloed state shows up and requests his help. He has avoided Jo Button for ten years, and could quite happily go another ten without seeing her—until he realizes her battered reputation was his fault."
Author: Silke JuppenlatzPages: 110 pages
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company
Published: December, 2011
Form: E-book
(review copy through the tour for an honest review)Genre: Paranormal Romance
Amazon: Buy / $6.89 (Kindle)Barnes&Noble: Buy / $3.99 (Nook)Decadent Publishing: Buy / €3.99 (e-book)Excerpt: First Kiss
This was a sweet romance, beautiful emotions, anxiety, caring and redemption all in 100 pages. The story is beautiful and has a touching element of forgiveness.
Jo is wounded, she's had enough of the gossip of her being a slut and sleeping with all the men in town - desperate for a change she plans to leave the town of Five Oaks and never return to the wretched place. Unfortunately she hits a stray dog on an icy road and it takes her to the vet, Ash, the one man she's always liked.
Ashriel screwed up ten years ago, he looked away for a second and Jo ended up in the back of a cop car of Brad's, Ash knows she's become quite the slut after that so when she shows up, his reason for getting de-haloed and stuck on earth he's not happy and takes his anger out on her in a form of snide comments.
Finding her outside crying in a broken car on a cold December night soften something in him, and he feels bad for insinuating she's the town tramp. But it's too late, she fully hates him and is very wary of all kindness he shows her, thinking he only wants the only thing this town thinks she can give. Ash is determined to see her in a new light and defend her against the town - because let's face it where she is now, is his fault.
He released her, only to wrap his hands around her upper arms instead. “Don't call me Delaney. My name is Ash, or Ashriel.”
Jo's eyes almost popped from their sockets when he pressed her against the wall, dipped his head, and kissed her. She gasped against his mouth, the unexpected heat of his lips on hers throwing her emotions into turmoil. He drew back when she didn't respond, his hand cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking her face gently. Jo loved his touch, but it was all becoming too much. She stared at her feet.
“Don't,” she whispered. “I know people think I'd—”
“I'm not people.” He tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. “And I know you're nothing like what they say.”
This was truly a very sweet romance with a little paranormal in there with angels and vampires but they were sort of in the background as motivation and thread, the main focus was love, and I loved it! A very beautiful and emotional Chritsmas story, that makes the reader wanna cozy up against a soft planket and have a class of wine and relax, preferably in front of a fire.
Warm, fuzzy, little sexy and definately worth a read!
Rating :
It’s Christmas Eve!
For me, that means it’s Christmas. Tomorrow…doesn’t count for me.
You see, I’m German. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.
I live in the UK now, but Christmas Eve is still special to me.
The whole landscape is just...different. I grew up about an hour's drive from the Black Forest. If you're not familiar with the area, we call it "Voralpen" (Before Alps), because from the Black Forest it's about an hour into the Swiss Alps, and it's quite mountainous already -- as well as extremely picturesque.
When I used to be “home” (does the place you grew up ever cease to be home?) this is how it went:
We’d get up early and help my gran bake the last batch of cookies. “Helping” usually involved making a hell of a mess in the kitchen, eating dough, licking bowls…you name it.
Around noon, we’d bring in the tree.
We usually had one in a pot, and when it got too big to carry, we’d plant it in the garden. It was always a real tree. (Can’t beat it.)
So we carry it upstairs -- third floor -- to the living room. There it would be positioned, and once we were happy, we’d start decorating it. “Lametta” (Tinsel), glass balls in various colors, pine cones with red ribbons, gingerbread men… all that kind of stuff.
Last but not least, we would clip the candle holders on the tree. Yes, real candles. No, we never had a tree fire. It all depends how you position the candles. I still prefer real candles to electric lights, and I totally abhor colored lights. It just doesn’t seem right, you know?
Anyway. :)
Once the tree was decorated, my dad would shoo us out of the living room and close the door.
The only time that living room door was shut, was on Christmas Eve.
We’d go watch some TV at my grans (eating the cookies we helped make) and later would help my mother with dinner. Which she hated, because we’d make more work for her. :)
I’ve never known a Christmas Eve where it didn’t get dark at about 4pm at the latest. Very, very often it was snowing outside, and there was a thick layer of snow on every roof.
It gets very quiet after about 1pm. Few people are out, everyone is preparing for Christmas Eve, shops shut around noon.
At 5pm it is most definitely silent outside. You don’t hear a car anywhere, no one is out.
All but one of the lights would be turned out, and we’d sit in the dimly lit corridor, in front of the closed door.
You see, we were waiting, listening…trying to hear the “Christkind” when it brought presents. We don’t get our presents from Santa. No reindeer, no sleigh… He has his own festival on the 6th of December.
And then…a silvery tinkle from a bell.
The living room door opens, and reveals the lit tree, sparkling in the dark, candles glittering in the silver tinsel… Everything is quiet…until the trumpeter on the church spire begins to play “Silent Night”, the sound drifting out in the dark, across the quiet town.
It was pure magic.
We used to stand at the door, completely overwhelmed.
Yeah, we knew there were presents, but when that door opened and we saw the tree -- we forgot all about them. It simply was so beautiful, it took your breath away.
We would each get one present and unwrap it. It was always a practical one. Socks, underwear, nighties, that kind of thing.
After the first present, we’d have dinner. There was no point whining that you wanted to unwrap presents, or rushing through dinner. We knew it wasn’t going to happen, so we didn’t try.
Once dinner was out of the way, we’d go to the rest of the presents and have fun unwrapping.
I always got several books, and some toys, but to me, only the books counted. Actually, I think in my family, we always gave everyone at least one book.
When everything was unwrapped and all were busy with their presents, it wasn’t unheard of to find me curled up under the tree with my nose in my beloved books. :)
It’s really a tradition that never ended. I always make sure I get at least one book for Christmas, as well as give one.
This year -- one commenter is the lucky recipient.
But we’ll make it a little different.
I want you to go to
http://www.decadentpublishing.com/ and pick a book you would like to win.
Any ebook, from anyone. It doesn’t have to be mine, although I think it’s a great read, especially around Christmas time.
I would recommend one of the "Five Oaks" books though. :)
Come back here and post a comment, listing the title and author you want, and tell me why you want to read that book.
I will pick a winner when I get up on Christmas Day, and I will arrange for the book you picked to be sent to you, from Decadent Publishing.How is that? :)
Have a wonderful Christmas!
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Reserved and shy Jo Button is tired of being the talk of the town. Enough is enough. Time to put her plans in motion, but a mishap forces her to seek out veterinarian Ash Delaney—the one man she has always wanted.
Ex-Guardian Angel Ashriel, isn't too happy when the reason for his de-haloed state shows up and requests his help. He has avoided Jo Button for ten years, and could quite happily go another ten without seeing her—until he realizes her battered reputation was his fault.
Can Ashriel save Jo, even if it means redemption is beyond his grasp, or will he lose his halo permanently along with the woman he's come to care for?
Silke grew up in Germany and is used to things going bump in the night -- and it wasn't always the acrophobic cat, or someone hitting their head on a low beam on the ceiling.
She writes paranormal romance, usually at night, but these days the only thing going bump at "oh-dark-thirty" is her -- usually when she smacks into the sofa while creeping to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.
When she is not writing, she can be found on the back of her dapple gray Paso Fino, somewhere in the Surrey countryside.
Silke likes to hear from her readers.
Feel free to contact her via her blog at
http://www.evilauthor.com, follow her on Twitter, look her up on Goodreads or become a friend on Facebook and G+.
Her books Howl and Smitten are available at all major ebook retailers.
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