Death Doesn't Bargain by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Excerpt + Giveaway)

I am thrilled to be a stop on the book tour for Death Doesn't Bargain by Sherrilyn Kenyon, hosted by JeanBookNerd! Read an excerpt below but be sure to check out the tour schedule at the end of this post, or click the banner above, for more!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Series:	Deadman's Cross Trilogy #2
Genre:	Adult, Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction
Publication Date:	May 8, 2018
Pages:	384 (Hardcover)
Published By:	Tor Books
Website:	Sherrilyn Kenyon
	Death Doesn't Bargain on Goodreads

Where to get:

Death Doesn’t Bargain is the second historical fantasy title in New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Deadman’s Cross series. Where Deadmen tell their tales, and every soul is damned or redeemed by the final choices they make.

The Deadmen are back...

But so are the demons who have broken free of their eternal prison and are bent on mankind's destruction. The worst of the lot is Vine, determined to claim their lives for taking hers. She will see the world burn...and has the perfect lure to destroy them all. One of their own.

Kalder Dupree has never known a day of mercy. Born to the cruelest of mer-races, he sacrificed himself for his crew and is in Vine's hands. He expects no mercy or rescue.

Yet Cameron Jack is determined to set Kalder free. As a Hellchaser, it's her calling, and she cannot allow even a not-so-innocent to be tortured for an act of kindness that spared her damnation.

To defeat evil, it sometimes takes an even worse evil, and Cameron is willing to do whatever she must to make this right. If Vine thought she had her hands full before, she hasn't seen anything nearly as powerful as Cameron's resolve.

(Goodreads)

Praise for Death Doesn't Bargain

"Kenyon (Born of Legend) puts the lie to the old adage “Dead men tell no tales” in the jam-packed, appealing first book of her Deadman’s Cross historical fantasy series." ―Publishers Weekly on Deadmen Walking

Excerpt

“There’s a debt I owe, from long ago. One I promised to keep sacred.”

“And?”

“And I failed. Vine knows the source of it, as she was there when the bargain was struck between us.” Devyl should have killed her then. Too bad he’d been married to her at the time, and had thought to keep his family intact. Stupid him for being sentimental.

“Care to fill me in on it?”

Not really. Devyl didn’t want to confide in Thorn. Long ago, they had been the bitterest of enemies. It was hard to get past that. Hard to trust someone he’d once spent years trying to slaughter. 

Ready for more? Be sure to check out my review of Deadmen Walking, book one of the Deadman's Cross Trilogy!

New York Times and international bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon, is a regular at the #1 spot. With legions of fans known as Menyons (thousands of whom proudly sport tattoos from her series and who travel from all over the world to attend her appearances), her books are always snatched up as soon as they appear on store shelves.

Since 2003, she had placed more than 80 novels on the New York Times list in all formats including manga and graphic novels. Current series are: Dark-Hunter®, Chronicles of Nick®, Deadman’s Cross™, Nevermore™, Silent Swans™, Lords of Avalon® and The League®. Her books are available in over 100 countries where eager fans impatiently wait for the next release. The Chronicles of Nick® and Dark-Hunter® series are soon to be major motion pictures while Dark-Hunter®, Lords of Avalon® and The League® are being developed for television. Join her and her Menyons online at SherrilynKenyon.com and www.facebook.com/AuthorSherrilynKenyon

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram

Three winners will receive a Set Copy of both books in the Series and a Pin (DEADMEN WALKING & DEATH DOESN'T BARGAIN) by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Must be 13+ to enter

Open Internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

May 8 - JeanBookNerd
May 8 - TFAULC Book Reviews
May 9 - Bookish Lifestyle
May 9 - Playground of Randomnes
May 10 - Crossroad Review
May 11 - A Dream Within A Dream
May 12 - Reading for the Stars and Moon
May 12 - TTC Books and More


May 13 - Bri's Book Nook
May 14 - Cover2CoverBlog
May 15 - Booklovers For Life
May 15 - BookHound
May 16 - Diane's Book Blog
May 16 - The Cozy Reading Corner
May 17 - Books A-Brewin'
May 17 - Movies, Shows, & Book
May 17 - Lady Amber's Review & PR

Book Review + Giveaway: Deadmen Walking by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I am thrilled to be a stop on the book tour for Deadmen Walking by Sherrilyn Kenyon, hosted by JeanBookNerd! I have a review for your reading pleasure, but be sure to check out the tour schedule below, or click the banner above, for more!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Series:	Deadman's Cross Trilogy #1
Genre:	Adult, Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction
Publication Date:	May 9, 2017
Pages:	384 (Hardcover)
Published By:	Tor Books
Website:	Sherrilyn Kenyon
	Deadmen Walking on Goodreads
My review copy:	Received in exchange for an honest review

Where to get:

Hell On Earth

When the Chthonians brought the primal gods to a truce at the end of their great war, part of the pact they forged was that the worst of the evil the gods had unleashed against each other and mankind would be forever banished.

But forever is a long time. And nothing can contain those determined to find a way back.

To catch evil, it takes evil . . .

While Thorn is able to contain the demons unleashed on the ground, the ones who prey on the innocent sailors and sea faring travelers are beyond his reach.

For the sake of humanity, he makes a shaky alliance with an old foe, Marcelina. In the form of the ship they sail upon, she assembles a team under the command of Captain Devlyn Nathaniel Bane, one of the most notorious and bloodthirsty pirates to ever sail the high seas.

Damned and murdered by his own, Bane is out for revenge. With his own secret agenda, he agrees to take charge of the motley crew of pirates and brigands, and to protect the seas from the preternatural terrors that seek to devour every unwary soul they can take.

Theirs is a sacred and deadly task, as they are hunted by their prey and human authorities alike. If they fail, the world will fall to the ancient gods of chaos, and anarchy will reign. Most of all, the Southern gate, where the greatest, most powerful darkness is imprisoned, will be opened and there will be no stopping it.

It’s yo ho ho and a bottle of high seas stakes where the souls of all humanity are the ultimate prize and bargaining chip.

(Goodreads)

Praise for DEADMEN WALKING: A Deadman's Cross Novel

"Kenyon (Born of Legend) puts the lie to the old adage “Dead men tell no tales” in this jam-packed, appealing first book of her Deadman’s Cross historical fantasy series...this piratical tale is filled with swashbuckling, death, glory." ―Publishers Weekly on Deadmen Walking

“Kenyon’s writing is brisk, ironic and relentless imaginative.” ―Boston Globe

“Arguably the most in-demand and prolific authors in America these days.” ―Publishers Weekly

“[An] engaging read.” ―Entertainment Weekly

I will admit to being a hardcore Sherrilyn Kenyon fan. I will also admit to the fact that my love of her books has waned, slightly, over the last few years. Don't get me wrong. I love her books and I love her writing, but I got bored of the same formula: Tortured guy and (sometimes) tortured girl meet and eventually fall in love, healing the wounds of each other's past.

At the same time, I can't fault her because this works. While her novels follow a similar formula, she has the ability to make each story its own. The backstories are different, the current predicament is different but connected to her overarching story line. These facts, and amazing writing talent, are what keep me coming back again and again.

I can't get enough of her. There's a reason her books are one of the few that I've managed to re-read over the years. The woman knows how to write.

Deadmen Walking, while set in the same universe as her Dark-Hunter novels with familiar characters, is a new and fresh take on this world. Our characters are pirates and the story takes place in 1715 and 1716. I've got a soft spot for pirates (I can thank Johnny Depp and teen-Andrea for this), so I was excited about this new trilogy.

Sherrilyn doesn't introduce us to Deadmen Walking's main characters right away. We first meet Captain Paden Jack in the prologue, followed by his sister Cameron in the first chapter. Unlike her previous novels, she doesn't focus solely on our hero and heroine (Devyl and Marcelina), but allows for additional narratives, which keeps the story flowing.

Devyl and Marcelina have known each other for centuries, always at each other's throats, but unable to escape the other. I'm not going to explain too much about their relationship to avoid spoilers, but I enjoyed watching their relationship change over the course of the novel as we learned more about their pasts.

As always, Sherrilyn doesn't just create a story with her main characters but forms bonds and relationships between the secondary characters. However, these characters are anything but secondary. They all stand on their own with their own personalities, secrets, and stories to tell. While weaving her tale of Devyl and Marcelina, we are getting hints and tidbits as to what is happening with Cameron, Kalder, Thorne (those of you familiar with her Dark-Hunter series will be rather familiar with him), and others.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series with the next installment, Death Doesn't Bargain. 

New York Times and International Bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon, is a regular at the #1 spot. With legions of fans known as Menyons (thousands of whom proudly sport tattoos from her series and who travel from all over the world to attend her appearances), her books are always snatched up as soon as they appear on store shelves. Since 2003, she had placed more than 75 novels on the New York Times list in all formats including manga and graphic novels. Her current series are: Dark-Hunter, Chronicles of Nick, Lords of Avalon and The League, and her books are available in over 100 countries where eager fans impatiently wait for the next release. Her Chronicles of Nick and Dark-Hunter series are soon to be major motion pictures while Dark-Hunter, Lords of Avalon and The League are being developed for television. Join her and her Menyons online at SherrilynKenyon.com and www.facebook.com/AuthorSherrilynKenyon

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube

Three copies of Deadmen Walking: A Deadman’s Cross Novel and poster by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Must be 13+ to enter

Open Internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

May 9th - JeanBookNerd
May 10th - Reading for the Stars and Moon
May 11th - Wishful Endings
May 12th - Captivated Reading
May 13th - Booklovers For Life

May 14th - Jump Into Books
May 15th - Her Book Thoughts
May 16th - Crossroad Reviews & Sabrina's Paranormal Palace
May 17th - A Dream Within a Dream
May 18th Thursday - Bookish Lifestyle & Movies, Shows, & Books

Book Review: Safe at Last by Maya Banks

Genre:	Adult, Romance, Paranormal
Publication.Date	June 23rd, 2015
Pages:	256
Published By:	Avon
Website	Maya Banks
	Safe at Last on Goodreads
My review copy:	Bought

Where to get:

The third book in the beloved #1 bestselling author’s sexy, romantic suspense Slow Burn series…

They say young love doesn’t last, but a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with unique abilities and the hometown golden boy were determined to defy the odds. For Zack Covington, Anna-Grace—his “Gracie”—was the one. Until one night forever alters the course of their future, when a devastated Gracie disappears without a trace, leaving Zack to agonize over what happened to the girl he loved. As the years pass, his desperate efforts to find her uncovered nothing.

Now working for Devereaux Security, he stumbles across a painting featuring a special place only he and Gracie would know. The image is too perfectly rendered for it to be coincidence. His Gracie must be alive. When he finally tracks her down, he is shocked—and heart-broken—to discover the wounded shell of the girl he once knew and still loves. Her psychic gifts are gone, and worse, she believes he betrayed her all those years ago.

Zack has enemies, and once his weakness is discovered, Gracie becomes a target for revenge. He’ll have to save her before he can earn her trust and her love. And he vows they’ll never be torn apart again.

(Goodreads)

"I could never hate you, Gracie," Zack said against her lips. "Never. I've always loved you. I always will."

"You're still my Gracie," he whispered. "You haven't changed a single bit from that beautiful girl I fell in love with so many years ago. That I still love. Will always love."

I'm a fan of Maya Banks. Her books are great brain candy, and I adore her Colters' Legacy series. I even loved the first two books in this series, Slow Burn. But unfortunately, I didn't like Safe at Last at all. Actually, I kind of hated it.

It stinks to say that after enjoying books 1 and 2 immensely, but Safe at Last wasn't up to par with them in the slightest for a few reasons:

- This book was so repetitive and the writing was weak. We got explanations for the same things multiple times. Like I don't need to hear the story of Zack losing his virginity to someone else more than once. It hurt enough to read the first time. But even beyond that (and my own jealousy), there were many things that were repeated unnecessarily and it got so daunting. Plus, the storytelling was flimsy. Things worked out because of *shrug* plot and there were inconsistencies because of *shrug* plot...except the plot wasn't strong enough to handle all that nonsense and it just made the writing seem weak.

- The romance was forced. This one is a huge bummer because the romance in Maya Banks' books is one of my favorite things, but it was lacking in this one. I think the divide between the main characters was just too big to really mend (for good reason) and when the author took the story in the direction she wanted it to go, the characters were forced on each other. Based on their backstory, they had potential---but with everything that happened in between then and the time of the story threw it all off kilter and it just did not work. At all.

- Zack had more chemistry with Eliza. This one got on my nerves. Often. When there was already such a huge struggle getting Zack and Gracie together, I didn't think making Eliza Zack's close best friend was a good idea. She seemed better for him than Gracie was and that was conflicting to me. I kind of wanted her to be the actual love interest, so the romance would start WORKING, but I also wanted her to go away because I didn't want to pay attention to her quite yet---which I say because her story comes in book 4.

- I was bored. This is the biggest issue. Every other problem I had could be gotten over if it weren't for the fact that I forced myself through this whole thing. Partly because I needed answers and partly because I desperately wanted things to get better. I wanted the romance to become less strained, I wanted the actual story to become compelling. Sadly, none of that happened and I was left so disappointed with this book.

Overall, I still love Maya Banks and will give book 4 in this series a try at some point, but Safe at Last itself was a huge disappointment. If you read this series, I recommend skipping this one since they all can stand alone just fine.