Musical Games @Evie_author #ARC #Campaign #musicalgames #kinlochseries #steamyreads #contemporaryromance

Welcome to Musical Games – Book 4 in the Kinloch Series

Book Information

Title: Musical Games
Author: Evie Alexander
Publication date: January 27th 2023
Release platforms: eBook, print book and Kindle Unlimited
Universal link: mybook.to/MusicalGames
eBook ISBN: 978-1-914473-06-7
Print Book ISBN: 978-1-914473-07-4
ASIN: B0B65JP5FT
Page count: 336
Genre/subgenre: Contemporary Romance/Romantic Comedy
Musical Games on Goodreads
Musical Games on Bookbub
Musical Games on Amazon

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Author Information

Evie Alexander

Evie Alexander is an award-winning author of sexy romantic comedies with a very British sense of humour. A self-confessed ‘method writer’, Evie has taken it upon herself to live a full and messy life, from which romantic and personal failures become fodder for her laugh-out-loud plotlines.

Imaginative, passionate and frequently called ‘bonkers’ by her friends, Evie’s interests include reading, eating, saving the world, and fantasising about people who only exist between the pages of her books.

Her novel Highland Games won Best in Category in the The CHATELAINE Book Awards for Romantic Fiction and Women’s Fiction 2021.

Evie lives in the West country with her family, where she pens her steamy stories from the Smut Hut.

Follow her blog for musings about the writing process, book reviews, and details about her stories, and follow her across social media for even more. https://eviealexanderauthor.com/musical-games/

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Content

Tagline:

He’s never been kissed, and she’s about to rock his world…

Blurb:

Bubbly actress Sam is on the brink of the bigtime — all she needs is one lucky break. But when she drops everything for the chance to meet Hollywood’s biggest star, she blows it by blurting out a lie.

Now, she’s got ten days to write an album with a man who wants nothing to do with her.

Shy electrician Jamie has never set foot outside Scotland — or his comfort zone. Then beautiful and vivacious Sam gatecrashes his world, and he’s unwillingly swept up in her grand plan. But though Jamie has the voice of an angel and the body of a god, he’s never even kissed a girl… and fame is the last thing on his mind.

As the songs emerge, so do feelings — but Sam’s determination to reach the top is matched only by how fast her lies are catching her up.

When the duo are offered the opportunity of a lifetime, the spotlight illuminates their glaring differences. Can Sam and Jamie face the music, or will fame tear them apart?

Musical Games is a steamy, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, laugh-out-loud, dual POV romantic comedy. Featuring an extremely hot virgin hero and a big-hearted heroine with a runaway mouth — there’s no cheating, no cliff-hanger, and you’re guaranteed a happy ever after (HEA).

Tropes:

Grumpy/Sunshine; Male Virgin; Cinnamon Roll Hero; Opposites Attract; Forced Proximity; Love/Hate; Small Town; Scottish Highlands; Hollywood; Steamy

Keywords and phrases:

romance; romantic; contemporary romance; romcom; romantic comedy; comedy; standalone; love story; HEA; happy ending; happily ever after; scotland; scottish romance; scottish highlands; castle; funny; sweet; sexy; steamy; heat; funny; hilarious; laugh-out-loud; feel good; humorous; humor; opposites attract; grumpy/sunshine; musical; hollywood

Hashtags:

#musicalgames #kinlochseries #contemporaryromance #romcom #steamyreads #scottishnovel #bookrelease #booklaunch #comedy #eviealexander #kindleunlimited #romanticcomedy #scottishlovestory #romanticcomedybook #laughoutloud #newrelease

My review

Musical Games is part of the Kinloch series, and this is book 4. I have only read Musical Games and it reads well as a standalone novel.

This author can write sexy scenes! The sex is detailed, but tastefully done, giving sizzling heat and tenderness to this 18plus romantic story and the developing love between actress Sam and electrician Jamie.

Scottish hunk Jamie is inexperienced, and at 27, is still living at home when lively Sam turns his life around making him reassess his virgin status! Furthermore, she introduces him to the potential of an exciting music career as a singing duo.

Initially, I thought Musical Games (a steamy romantic comedy,) was somewhat instalove for my taste but Evie Alexander’s warm- hearted tale won me over and I really enjoyed this.

The characters are well written, and engaging, the on off love plot of attraction/love/uncertainties is relatable, simple and effective.

Musical Games is an entertaining, sexy and amusing romance (I loved the part about his mum finding her big Jim!) And the ending wraps everything up in a lovely smiley way. Recommended for sexy romance fans.

My rating: 4.5 stars

A new author to me and I am glad I signed up to be an advanced reviewer. ARC copy gratefully received and all opinions are my own.

Please support my review efforts by following my bookstagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

All my links are available via: https://linktr.ee/mjmallonauthor

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January 23, 2023 8

The Poison Ember Serpentstone Book 2 @AMObstWriter #new #book #preorder #ARC #review

Blurb

Faced with a task that could turn them into monsters, Sarnd and Jessa must decide whether to run away or save the world.

Six years ago, twins Sarnd and Jessa thought they’d rid their world of the malevolent Serpentstone. Since then they’ve worked hard to set their shocking past behind them.

But the Serpentstone has returned, and they’re asked to carry it to an abandoned mine where it will be sealed deep underground. The Stone appears to be much weaker than it was, but they learned the hard way never to trust it.

The Stone starts to regain its terrifying power, and while Sarnd is desperate to complete their mission so he can go back to his new life, Jessa has other ideas.

As their mission becomes a race against time, can the twins learn to trust each other again and avoid becoming the creatures they fear the most?

Buy the thrilling sequel to The Hungry Fire and enter a world of chaotic magic, treacherous allies and underdog heroes!

Release date: 23rd July, available to preorder now.

Review

Thank you to the author for an advanced reader’s copy which I read and review freely and without bias.

This is book 2 in the Serpentstone series. I managed to read book 2 without any problems. But ideally, it would be best to read the 1st book in the series: The Hungry Fire (Serpentstone Book 1) which is available at special offer price via this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08TCFWY8B

SARND: “I’m a monster, created by my so-called parents as a weapon using the corrupted power of the Serpentstone.”

The Poison Ember is a story of magic, power, fighting, sparring, revenge, adventure and secrets. “Known to the Academy as the Orufasu, the Stone was the greatest concentration of magical power ever discovered.”

“The Stone was so mighty, and had the power to strip away all that she thought she was, turning her and Sarnd into projections of its own violent and callous will. How could they be deluded enough to think they could come near it and survive?

And now, here he was, carrying a bag that held the greatest concentration of magic ever found. Against his will, he was caught up in a new adventure—one likely to end in tragedy rather than triumph.”

It’s a tale in which you suspend belief and take a magical journey into a land created wholly by the author’s imagination. Amusing in parts, I appreciated the revelations about the stone, the sibling banter, and uncertainties of trust played out between Sarnd and his twin sister Jessa.

The latter chapters of the story became more exciting as the adventure continued.

Overall, this is a well written, high fantasy adventure tale. Please note: a fair amount of dialogue and the story is delivered with quite a few characters to get to grips with, which is (not uncommon with high fantasy books, but usually there is one central character who is the main focus.) In this story, there are three main protagonists – the twins, Sarnd and Jessa, and of course the stone, who also becomes a character in many ways.

My rating: an enjoyable 4 stars. Recommended for high fantasy, epic fantasy, adventure, sword and sorcery fans.

Author Bio:

An Australian living in the United Kingdom, A.M. Obst has always loved to daydream and make up things about places that don’t exist. An avid reader of fantasy novels, he has also been spotted holding books from other genres, including science fiction, crime, thrillers, horror, romance and historical adventures.

Follow my reviews…

Featured and latest reviews: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

And on my blog:

MJ’s Book Reviews

https://linktr.ee/mjmallonauthor

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June 20, 2022 3

8 Steps to Side Characters #ARC #Review #Launch @Sacha_Black

Side-Characters-Information-Sheet Download

MJ’s Review

8 Steps To Side Characters is part of Sacha Black’s many writing craft books – other titles include: 13 steps to Evil, 10 steps to Hero, and the Anatomy Of Prose.

Thank you so much for an ARC copy of 8 steps to side characters which I freely give my review and opinion of.

Sacha Black’s writing style is engaging, humourous, clear and informative. I definitely learnt a lot about writing side characters and also discovered how important these pesky folk are!

I had some laugh out loud moments. Here’s an example:

“If you don’t layer your conflict, and you only have world ending levels of conflict at every opportunity, it’s like electrocuting your readers over and over again.”

Yes, this had me in chortles.

Also, there are many light bulb moments too.

“It’s a misnomer that to create big universal feelings you have to describe giant emotions. It’s actually the small, unique and intangible things about our loved ones that create that effect.”

And…

“One thing all readers share in common is a heartfelt solidarity for a character going through shit times.”

“Just because you craft characters to be one way for the majority of the time, say, kind and tolerant, doesn’t mean they have to be that way or feel that way for the entire story.”

I read this on my kindle and highlighted lots of passages to refer to later.

At the end of each step she summarises all the important ideas that she has mentioned. There are also Questions to consider. Plus she makes it all really clear with real examples from film, and books (with spoiler warnings for well known books.)

Recommendation: Read this! Highly recommended – a must read and one to refer back to. 5 stars.

Download

INSTAGRAM / YOUTUBE TIPS SERIES

She’s been sharing a tip a day from the book in a IGTV / Youtube video series. If you’d like to watch the tips or share the series, you can by visiting her on instagram or YouTube:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/sachablackauthor/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCmGEeUxCRW5ZVxwJ_mEunw

Live Events

Join Sacha on launch day, 29th July, in her Facebook group for a live Q&A session. If you have any questions about writing, publishing, marketing, her books, unicorns or anything in between, hit her up on sachablack@sachablack.co.uk and let her know, or drop it in the Facebook group/event page here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelauthors/

Event: https://fb.me/e/GVZcAjmm

Your Side Characters and You LIVES

As part of the launch week, Sacha will be interviewing nine authors all about their side characters, their favorite side characters from books and films as well as their tips for creating better characters. And She’ll be doing that all LIVE on instagram every night at 8pm from the 30th July to the 8th August.

Friday 30th July – Mark Lefebvre from Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing Podcast
Saturday 31st July Jeff Adams from Big Gay Fiction podcast
Sunday 1st August Katlyn Duncan YouTuber and author
Monday 2nd August Daniel Willcocks, my Next Level Authors cohost, book coach and horror authors
Tuesday 3rd August Crys Cain, host of Write Away, cohost of TASM and author
Wednesday 4th August Kristina Stanley, CEO of Fictionary.co
Thursday 5th Helen Scheuerer author of fantasy
Friday 6th Miranda Bridges romance author
Saturday 7th Elaine Bateman urban fantasy author and staff writer at Indie Author Magazine
Sunday 8th August – if I haven’t collapsed, will be a solo show from me!

Buying Links:

Universal purchase link textbook: books2read.com/sidecharacters

Universal purchase link workbook: books2read.com/sideworkbook

Impressive! Or what…

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July 29, 2021 2

Poetry Review – Poetry of The Heart and Soul by Sarah Northwood : #Review #Poetry

Synopsis via Amazon:

To all those who wear their hearts on their sleeve because I know sometimes that can get messy.

Sarah Northwood, award-winning author of multiple novels and multi fiction writer presents her fourth poetry collection, Poetry of the Heart and Soul. This moving collection is split into roughly three parts. Beginning with relatable pieces which delve into the mind of anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, then exploring what it is to love and feel loved. Ending with uplifting and inspirational pieces, each poem includes a footnote from the author.

My review:

I am part of Sarah Northwood’s advanced reader/beta reader group. It has been such a delight to discover a new author/poet via Kaleigh @(Cooking The Books) who invited me to beta read Sarah’s book.

I’m glad that she did as I thoroughly enjoyed Poetry of The Heart And Soul. It’s a beautiful collection of poetry – personal to the author in many ways and shared in a thoughtful, generous and accessible way.

There are considerate touches in this collection – the asterisked explanations of some of the poems enabling the reader to get a deeper insight into the author’s thought processes whilst writing Heart and Soul. For instance, in Fears, she explains that the poem was written at a time when she was fed up of giving life to her fears.

There are three lined poems like Minor Key, touching upon the subject of melancholy and Fly which manages to be magical in its brevity. Longer story type poems grace this collection too – such as Lost.

I loved all the poems but especially:

Falling (inspired by a visual cue)

Blue (which was originally a lyrical piece to put to music)

Cease and Desist – that made me smile – our British obsession with the weather!

Reach Out (suicide prevention)

Imagination

Everybody

Presently (about holding back the years.)

More than Once (on the subject of life and marriage.)

My Kind of Romance

A Mother’s Love

My rating 5 stars. Highly recommended for poetry enthusiasts.

Sarah Northwood is a multi-genre British fiction author. She enjoys writing stories and poems for children, young adults and adults alike.

Author’s blog: https://www.sarahnorthwood-author.com/

Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Authors Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-j-mallon Collaborative Group: https://www.facebook.com/pg/5SpiritualSisters/

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June 17, 2020 9

My Kyrosmagica Review of Creeping Shadow By Caroline Peckham

Goodreads Synopsis:

A man waits in Vale, a world void of humanity.

A mother vanishes, her disappearance concealed by the police.

A girl collapses, black magic invading her blood.

And a boy linked to them all must fight to save his family.

Earth is just one of seven worlds. Gateways divide the realms and those who pass through must earn keys, participating in challenges that will separate the fearful from the brave, the weak from the strong, and the witless from the cunning.

Sixteen year old Oliver Knight knows nothing of the other worlds or his family’s dark past. But when his adopted sister succumbs to a deadly curse the truth is revealed and he is plunged into an unknown land in a desperate bid to save her. However, a sinister enemy is on the rise and the danger they face at every turn throws those around them under suspicion. In order to survive, Oliver must figure out who to trust, who to believe and, ultimately, who to fear…

I received an ARC copy from the author, Caroline Peckham in exchange for an honest review.

My review:

Well, I’m so glad I decided to read this. It has a heck of a lot going for it, full of mysteries to solve, a girl appears in the middle of the road, and is welcomed into the family, a missing mother…… It is reminiscent of several books, to begin with it reminded me of A Series of Unfortunate Events with the children’s mother going missing, and the two distraught youngsters Oliver and May being sent off to a strange Grandfather’s house to live. I have to say their Grandfather Ely has one seriously cool house that has an enormous tree growing in it!

There is a fair amount of world building to begin with, Creeping Shadow is part Science Fiction, part Fantasy with magical beings called Mages. In the beginning you will encounter a plentiful amount of characters to get to grips with but don’t let this put you off.

As the story unfolds it begins to be more reminiscent of Hunger Games, with a new perhaps more interesting slant, focusing on teams working together to achieve a shared goal rather than individuals trying to kill each other. An element of danger still exists in the race to secure a key to one of the kingdoms making it an exciting, gripping, read. The teams compete against each other for a key but they also work together in their individual teams to reach their goals. Cooperation is the focus and the way to win, nice touch. The action really hots up when the race starts, the contestants hoping to get a key. This is crucial for May as the only way to cure her from a deadly curse is to get a key to travel to another kingdom.

I particularly loved this quote about the effect of the curse on her body:

“May’s eyes were opened but they roamed unseeing, bloodshot and red. What scared Oliver more were the dark bruises that covered her body and the thick, black veins that slithered like snakes between them under her skin.”

We are introduced to a whole bunch of weird creatures and many obstacles to overcome. There are shadow creatures called varks, fire bats, wolver bats, a platform and a ladder challenge, an abyss, a waterfall, a whirlpool, and even hogtrouts, and luggerfish!! I’m not going to tell you what all of these are you will have to pick up a copy of the book to find out!

I particularly enjoyed the chapter in which Oliver and May tumble over a cliff, a fantastic fight scene follows, no more about it as I don’t want to spoil it for you!

If you like a bit of developing romance then you won’t go away empty handed, the main characters Oliver and Anna, supply the love interest and it is sweetly done.

The characters are well crafted I particularly liked the brother and sister, Oliver and May, and also Rogan and even Quinn! As well as this the matey banter between Oliver and one of the other team members, Rogan, is well written and entertaining.

It is an ambitious novel for a debut novelist, with shifting points of view, world building, multiple characters, as well as a Fantasy/Science Fiction framework. I have to say that on the whole I’m pretty impressed. Perhaps there are a few overused phrases and the odd typo but there is very little in this advanced readers copy to find fault with. I would definitely like to find out what happens next, and I look forward to reading more from Caroline Peckham. This is a series with five books in all!

Highly recommended.

But unless you can get your hands on an ARC you’ll have to wait until December 10th for Creeping Shadow to be released!

My Rating:

4 stars.

Links:

http://carolinepeckham.com/upcoming-fantasy-series/

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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November 1, 2015 8

Trees of Reverie Readathon

I’m joining in the Trees of Reverie Readathon, hosted by Sarah on Tumblr, here’s a link to her post about this: http://treesofreverie.com/post/131283792785/trees-of-reverie-october-read-a-thon

This runs from 12am on Saturday, October 17th and runs through to 11.59pm on Sunday, November 1st, so fingers slapped I’m a bit behind, it’s already October 18th and I’m just starting! Still my excuse is I’m still participating in the #redeyereadalong and I wanted to devote some time to reading something slightly different for the Trees of Reverie read-a-thon…..

So I will be reading Creeping Shadow by Caroline Peckham.

The title Creeping Shadow sounds in keeping with my theme of creepy, stuff and nonsense leading up to Halloween.

The hashtags for the Trees of Reverie event are:

| #treesofreveriereadathon | #treesofreveriebookishchallenge |

I received an ARC of Creeping Shadow from Caroline Peckham, more details of that here if you’re interested in receiving an ARC for an honest review: http://carolinepeckham.com/2015/10/13/arcs-for-honest-reviews-creeping-shadow-a-ya-fantasy/

Here is the Goodreads Synopsis:

A man waits in Vale, a world void of humanity.

A mother vanishes, her disappearance concealed by the police.

A girl collapses, black magic invading her blood.

And a boy linked to them all must fight to save his family.

Creeping Shadow will be released 10th December 2015 on Amazon Kindle.

As well as this I have the following in mind to read next on my TBR’S, a Fantasy contemporary by fellow blogger, author pal Helen Jones : Oak And Mist (The Ambeth Chronicles #1)

Helen Jones blogs at Journey To Ambeth : http://journeytoambeth.com/

Goodreads Synopsis:

‘The end of everything? Great, no pressure then.’

Alma Bevan didn’t mean to go on a quest.
But when she disappears between two trees at her local park and reappears in Ambeth, she finds they’ve been expecting her.

And now she has to find a lost sword or the consequences for humanity will be dire. With no idea where to look, despite help from her new friend Caleb, things become even more complicated when a handsome prince of the Dark expresses an interest in her.

All this plus homework too?

Travelling between worlds is hard enough without having to manage a suspicious best friend, complicated love interests and concerned parents. Add in some time-twisting, a mysterious bracelet and a group of immortal beings all vying for control of a lost sword, and it’s enough to make any fifteen year old girl want to give up. But then she wouldn’t see Caleb any more. Or Deryck…

Oak and Mist is book one of The Ambeth Chronicles. Book two, No Quarter, is coming soon.

And if my eyes go a bit squiffy reading off readers I have one of these in mind as a diversion, my kitty is guarding them and it’s a secret at the moment which one I might chose!

Hope you like the sound of my TBR’s for the Tree of Reverie Read-a-thon.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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October 18, 2015 7