5 Sniffs Review: FROSTBITE by Lynn Rush

Title: Frostbite

Series: Touch of Frost #1

Author: Lynn Rush

Genre: New Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Suspense

Publisher: Lynn Rush, LLC
ASIN: B00F4K1SJS

Release Date: September 11, 2013
Source: Lynn Rush
Links: Goodreads ☆ Amazon

Amanda gives a whole new meaning to cool...

Amanda Smith is sick of getting chased from town-to-town. So when she lands in tiny Trifle, Arizona, she hopes it's her last move for a long time. Despite hating the smallness of the town, she settles in and finds a best friend, and even a boyfriend. Normality at its finest.

But for a girl who can shoot snow from her hands and lift a two-ton truck over her head like a bag of feathers--normal is not an option.

The scientists who murdered her mother come barreling into Amanda's quiet life. She must decide if she'll run again or stay and fight. The price of either choice might be her life or the lives of those she's come to love...

THE GIST: Amanda Smith and her brother Scott have been on the run since their parents were murdered by Agents of The Center. The Center dabbles in genetic manipulation, and under the guise of allergen testing, used their mother for their experiments. She developed the ability to manipulate ice, and that was passed down to Amanda when she was born. Now The Center wants to study Amanda, so that they can create more like her. Amanda and Scott have settled in Arizona after fleeing Minnesota. They both are finally able to set down roots. Scott has a flourishing smoothie shop and Amanda is soon to graduate high school. She even has a best friend and a guy who's interested in her. But some things are too good to be true and The Center is moving in on Amanda, waiting to make their move.

WHAT I LIKED: FROSTBITE was a really exciting read. There were some totally unexpected twists and turns in the story that made it all the more exciting. I really liked Amanda's relationship with her brother. They are really tight and protective of each other, which is to be expected with the life they've lead, but I just felt that there was something special about their relationship. The mystery behind how their mother got her ice powers, and Amanda after her, was really interesting and I liked how it was revealed gradually.

WHAT I DISLIKED: Oh, boy. I don't really know what I didn't like. Well I definitely didn't like the people of The Center. I didn't like how they thought that they had some kind of ownership of Amanda. I kind of just wanted to punch one of them.

Amanda: "Mandy" to her friends and family. Has a stranger and dangerous power over ice, in all its many forms. Doesn't let herself get close to people, only Scott and her best friend, Georgia. Has feelings for her classmate, Zach.

Scott: Mandy's older brother. Has tried to give her as much of a normal life as he can. He takes care of the Coats Mandy leaves frozen. Owns a smoothie shop in town.

Georgia: Mandy's best friend. Has a connection to Mandy and Scott that goes deeper than any of them realize.

Zach: He has feelings for Mandy and tries to get her to open up and accept him as her boyfriend. He freaks out when he learns the truth about Mandy and pushes her away. When he comes to terms with her abilities, he's loyal and stays by her side through everything.

The Center is a company that works with genetics. Mandy and her mother were products of one of their experiments, disguised as allergen testing. Now they want Mandy, to study and experiment on. They feel that she belongs to them, like property. They are responsible for Mandy's and Scott's parent's deaths. They are relentless and won't stop until they have what they want - Mandy.

When Mandy and Zach first start seeing each other, she fears freezing him to death, so she keeps some distance between them. When she finally lets herself get close to him and knows that she can control her powers, their chemistry is like a slow-burning fire. Even Mandy sometimes wonders if her powers have changed because of the heat she feels when with Zach.

I was really kind of disappointed in Zach when he freaked out after learning the truth about Mandy's powers and pushed her away. She already feels like a freak and like she doesn't belong, so Zach's rejection really hurt her. I can understand to a point, but he didn't even let her explain anything to him. That bothered me.

I did like that once he calmed down and talked to Mandy, that he became even more loyal and devoted to her. He stood by her through attacks by The Center and other life-threatening events. They seem pretty solid by the end of the book, so we'll see how strong their bond really is in the next book, Absolute Zero.

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4 Sniffs Review: UNCOVERING YOU - THE CONTRACT by Scarlett Edwards #Giveaway #Excerpt

Title: Uncovering You: The Contract
Series: Uncovering You #1
Author: Scarlett Edwards
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Dark, Romance, Erotica, Suspense
Publisher: Scarlett Edwards
ASIN:
Release Date: March 27, 2014
Source: R&R Tours
Links: Goodreads

When I wake up in a dark, unfamiliar room, I have no idea what's waiting for me in the shadows. My imagination conjures up demons of the worst kind.

Reality is much worse:

A collar with no leash. A prison with no walls. And a life stripped of meaning.

I am presented with a vile contract and asked to sign. It outlines the terms of my servitude. The only information I have about my captor are the two small letters inked at the bottom:

J.S.

Armed with only my memories, I must do everything I can to avoid becoming ensnared in his twisted mind games. But in the end, it all comes down to one choice:

Resist and die.

Or submit, and sign my life away.

UNCOVERING YOU: THE CONTRACT is the story of Lilly Ryder, a young woman who thoughts she was going to have it all, until it was all taken from her by J.S.

This is a dark romance, meaning that it has elements that show abuse, suffering, and sometimes torture. In UNCOVERING YOU: THE CONTRACT, Lilly is subjected to psychological abuse and suffering. She's kidnapped, then kept in a large, empty, and dark room. She's collared, left alone with hardly any food or water, then offered a way out in the form of a contract. The only clue she has to who her captor is is the initials at the end of the contract "J.S." But the contract is, in a way, another form of abuse, in that she has a way out of the situation she's in, but only if she signs away her freedom.

The prologue of this book really starts things off with a bang. We are shown small snippets from the future, slowly going back in time to the present, when Lilly wakes up in the dark room. My heart was pounding right away, especially with the very first snippet. It left me wondering what could have happened to get to that point, and by the time I got to the end of the book, I was desperately wanting the next book.

That's the only problem I have with books that are separated into parts. They are so short and leave you wanting more from the story. But with UNCOVERING YOU: THE CONTRACT, I was so much on the edge of my seat that none of that mattered.

I also liked how once the story gets to the present, it flashes back to a past event as Lilly is left in the dark room reflecting and remember what has happened to get her where she is.

For this book, I'm only going to talk about Lilly, since she's the main focus of the story, and not much is known about the mysterious J.S.

Lilly goes to an Ivy League college, and has a great future in front of her. She's offered an internship with a great company, and everything is finally working out for her. That is until, the contract that she was working on was scrapped, and she lost everything.

Lilly is a very strong and determined woman. Even though she's hit a hard place, she determined to make it until she can get back to school. It's this strength that keeps her going while she's being held captive by J.S. But she's also really stubborn, and in the situation she's in, that stubbornness could cost her her life.

But I do understand why she's not going to give in so easily to J.S.'s demands. Lilly is a fiercely independent woman, and signing away her freedom to a man who drugged, kidnapped, and imprisoned her, just isn't going to happen without a fight.

The mysterious J.S. is our villain in UNCOVERING YOU: THE CONTRACT. Who he is isn't revealed until the end of this first book, when Lilly is finally able to remember who she knows that has those initials.

The question everyone wants answered is why has he taken Lilly and subjected her to all of this? What is he really after and what does he have planned for Lilly? Part of that is answered when Lilly reads the contract. But then we are left with the question of why J.S. would go to such lengths to get what he wants.

I mean, Lilly is so close to death, because she refuses to sign that "vile piece of paper." And there are no signs that he's willing to let her go, no matter how close she is to death.

But when Lilly finally figures out who J.S. is, she vows to get revenge by taking him down.

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In the dark, I lose all sense of time.

My sleep is thin. My wakefulness is misery.

A vague longing grows deep inside me. The need for submission. A natural willingness ground into me by the madness taking hold of my mind. I feel it rising. The demonic form consumes me from the womb, sapping my strength, and breaking my resolve.

A cry—no, a scream—rings out in the cold furnace of the night. My head jerks toward the sound.

Is it even night? I don’t know.

I am so tired. I am so lonely. I am breaking, and madness is taking hold.

It’s times like this that the animalistic urge to give in becomes nigh insatiable…

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5 Sniffs Review: UNTIL NOVEMBER by Aurora Rose Reynolds

Title: Until November
Series: Until #1
Author: Aurora Rose Reynolds
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Erotica, Romance, Suspense
Publisher: Aurora Rose Reynolds
ASIN: B00FAYSNAK
Release Date: December 26, 2013
Source: Aurora Rose Reynolds
Links: Goodreads ☆ Amazon

November is looking forward to getting to know her father and the safety of a small town. After leaving the big apple and her bad memories for Tennessee, November starts working for her dad at his strip club doing the books. The one time she’s allowed there during club hours she runs into Asher Mayson. He’s perfect until he opens his mouth and makes assumptions. November wants nothing to do with Asher but too bad for November fate has other plans. Asher Mayson has never had a problem getting a woman that is until November. Now all he can think about is making November his and keeping her safe.

UNTIL NOVEMBER revolves around a young woman named November trying to make a new life for herself and forget the hurts of her past. The source of her pain is her abusive mother and cheating ex-fiance. She finally feels free once she moves to Tennessee to live with her dad. Meeting her estranged paternal family and the frustrating Asher Mayson, help her begin a new, happier life. But that happiness is disrupted when her past invades her present, and it's not only November in danger this time.

It's really hard to talk about the story without giving something away, so there might be some tiny spoilers here. November was attacked in an alley in New York, and when she starts receiving threatening "presents" from some creepy stalker, she feels that the two events are connected in some way.

There are two main story lines in UNTIL NOVEMBER. There is the search and capture of November's stalker, and the love story between her and Asher. So on one hand you have suspense and on the other you have romance. Aurora Rose Reynolds wove these two aspects perfectly. Add in a cast of characters that I couldn't help but love (except the baddies), and UNTIL NOVEMBER quickly won my heart.

I loved how November termed all the women that the Mayson brother were involved with as their "harem." And it's no exaggeration, either. There are so many women flocking to them and that they've been involved with that they really could create their own harem. And if you think about it, whether they realize it or not, they did. This "harem" creates some interesting interactions between various characters.

The family aspect and the "Mayson Curse" are parts of the story that I really liked. The Mayson family is really close, and I liked how they all took care of each other, and opened their arms wide to November. It's really close-knit family and that's something that really drew me into the story too.

The Guy: Asher Mayson is the oldest of the Mayson boys, and although he seems like what you would think of a playboy as, he's had his fair share of pain in his life. A lot of women just like the status of having been with a Mayson, and would go to deceptive means to make that happen. Asher has had run-ins with false pregnancy claims, entrapment, and women cheating on him with one of his brothers. He knows that when he meets the right woman, he needs to make her stay. I really liked Asher. He is Alpha in all it's definition. He's possessive, assertive, and easily jealous. But he's also really sweet, sincere, and devoted. And I think that he's the kind of man that November really needed in her life after what happened with her ex-fiance.

The Girl: November has had a tough life. Her mother was mentally and emotionally abusive to her as she was growing up. Constantly making her feel less than what she is. But I really liked that even though her mother was a terrible parent, that November still became a strong woman. She doesn't take crap from no one. She's also been unlucky in love. Her ex-fiance cheated on her with her mother. I mean, who does that? Only a sick and depraved man would cheat on his fiance with her mother. But then she meets Asher once she moves to Tennessee, and though she has some insecurity in their relationship, she knows that Asher is not like her ex-fiance and that she can trust him. November surprises Asher and his brothers. She's not like any of the other women they've been with. She's not prissy, and has no problem getting muddy or rolling around with her dog, Beast. I think that is one of her traits that really drew Asher in.

This is definitely the section I can't say too much about without giving away who the baddie is. All I'll say about who it is, is that it's someone from November's past. The baddie does your classic stalker terrorizing things. Her place in broken into, she's left creepy poetry, and flowers. Once she feels like she's free of this baddie, something else shows up. So November is definitely always on edge, and that's one of the goals of such terrorizing activity. I honestly don't know how she would handle it all without her family and Asher helping her.

This is where the "Mayson Curse" comes into play. Apparently one they first lay eyes on The One, it's like, BOOM, instant love. And for Asher, that is November. And he does everything in his power to make her his.

Their first meeting was one of my favorite scenes in UNTIL NOVEMBER. November had gone to her father's strip club to get the lay of the back office, since she'd be working for him doing the books, and Asher saw her there with her father, "hanging all over him and calling him 'Daddy!'" as he put it. When he finds out that November really is Big Mikes daughter his reaction is priceless and November enjoys the moment immensely since he was being so rude to her. I was cracking up just imagining Asher reaction. The moment was just to hilarious and ridiculous. Asher allowed his anger and jealousy to cloud his senses.

November and Asher both have past relationships that ended because of deception and mistrust, so they both have trouble at first really trusting each other. Asher is bossy and pushy, but November has none of that, although she does seems to be manipulated into doing what he wants in the end.

I loved how November didn't allow the women in the "Mayson harem" to get to her. Asher has women throwing themselves at him all the time, and it does annoy November, but it doesn't really make her jealous. She even tells one particular women where to shove it, when she attacks November's father and his business.

I just really loved the dynamic between November and Asher. They compliment each other and I really do believe that they were meant to be together as the "Mayson Curse" dictated.

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