Saturday, March 16, 2019

All Souls Near & Nigh by Hailey Turner (Spotlight, Q&A, excerpt, and review) ANT ADULT title










by 
Hailey Turner
Series: Soulbound 2
 ADULT title





Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date (Print & Ebook): March 19, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): 104,100

Subgenre:  LGBTQ Urban Fantasy



Reader Warning:  This book contains on page sexual assault.








Book synopsis:



You can’t bargain with death if you’ve already sold your soul.



Special Agent Patrick Collins has been reassigned by the Supernatural Operations Agency to New York City. Learning to navigate his new relationship with Jonothon de Vere, the werewolf he’s now soulbound to, is nothing compared to dealing with territorial disputes between the vampires and werecreatures who call the five boroughs home. But the delicate treaties that have kept the preternatural world in check are fraying at the edges, and the fallout is spilling into the mundane world.



Manhattan’s club scene is overrun with the vampire drug known as shine and the subways have become a dumping ground for bodies. When the dead are revealed as missing werecreatures, Patrick and Jono find themselves entangled in pack politics twisted by vampire machinations.



Learning to trust each other comes with problems for both of them, and the gods with a stake in Patrick’s soul debt aren’t finished with him yet. Bound by promises they can’t break, Patrick and Jono must find a way to survive a threat that takes no prisoners and is stalking them relentlessly through the city streets.



Old and new betrayals are coming home to roost but the truth—buried in blood—is more poisonous than the lies being spun. Trying to outrun death is a nightmare—one Patrick may never wake up from.



All Souls Near & Nigh is a 104k word m/m urban fantasy with a gay romantic subplot and a HFN ending. It is a direct sequel to A Ferry of Bones & Gold, and reading the first book in the series would be helpful in enjoying this one. Please see the disclaimer in the Look Inside for content some readers may find triggering.



Author Hailey Turner says All Souls Nigh &Near is: An exciting sequel that builds on the series plot and will keep readers wanting more!


The action, mystery, and heat are kicked-up another gear in this second installment of Turner's addictive, original and immersive Soulbound series.

— Layla Reyne, author of the Agents Irish and Whiskey and Trouble Brewing series



Nobody writes like Hailey Turner. Her world building is extraordinary, as are her edgy action scenes. However, she never loses sight of her central relationship, or her razor sharp and witty characters.

This series is amazing. 

— Bestselling author,  Lily Morton










Q&A with Hailey Turner:





What comes first, the plot or characters?

This is like the chicken or the egg question. For me, it’s a mixture of both. I feel my characters play off the plot, but I need the outline of the book and series to really create a character and their motives. Characters and plot are pretty intertwined when I create a book, so I can’t say one comes first above the other.



Describe a typical writing day.

I usually write in the morning and evenings around work on weekdays, and for a block of hours on the weekend around errands and time spent with friends and family. On weekdays, I get up early in the morning (I’m talking 5:00am here) to get some writing in before work. I try to make time to write every day otherwise it would be difficult to finish a book if I didn’t.



How do you come up with the titles to your books?

I like to have themes with my titles and they tend to have the same sort of word structure for the entire series. For my Metahuman Files series, the titles spoke to the missions in each book. For Soulbound, every title has a hint of the mythology I’ve incorporated into that particular book. It varies with every series but I honestly can’t start a book without a title.


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Excerpt



“Bloody hell, mate,” Jono swore, reaching for Patrick. “What happened?”

Patrick kicked the door shut behind him, which was fine with Jono because it gave him something sturdy to shove the other man up against. Gently, though, because Jono didn’t know what other injuries Patrick sported besides the ones on his face. Jono framed Patrick’s face with his hands, staring at the slightly swollen nose with a strip of medical tape arching over the freckled bridge and faded bruises around bloodshot, tired green eyes.

“I took a potion. I’m fine,” Patrick said, blinking at him.


Jono rolled his eyes before sliding his right hand down to Patrick’s throat, discreetly scent-marking him. The stench of travel, of too many bodies packed too closely together, clung to him. Beneath that was a hint of forest and blood, neither of which stopped Jono from worrying. Beneath all that was the familiar, bitter scent that was Patrick’s alone, and it felt like coming home to Jono.

Fine doesn’t look like you took several punches to the face.”

Patrick’s mouth quirked at the corners. “Gonna kiss it better?”

“Cheeky. Could’ve just asked rather than go out looking for a fight.”

“Hazard of the job.”

“Bollocks.”

Jono shook his head before leaning down to gently press his mouth to Patrick’s. Those familiar plush lips immediately parted, letting Jono in. The quiet sigh he drank down told him more than words how tired Patrick must be. The mage wasn’t one to show weakness, even amongst friends, but Jono had started to learn the little quirks and half-hidden actions that spoke of Patrick’s true feelings.

Patrick was still a hard read on the best of days, soulbond or not, but Jono was figuring him out.




Buy link


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About Hailey Turner:



Hailey Turner is big city girl who spoils her cats rotten and has a demanding day job that she loves, but not as much as she loves writing. She’s been writing since she was a young child and enjoys reading almost as much as creating a new story. Hailey loves stories with lots of action, gritty relationships, and an eventual HEA that satisfies the heart.



Newsletter link:  You can keep up with Hailey's future projects by joining her newsletter, where you can instantly download two free Metahuman Files short stories and the Soulbound short story Down A Twisted Path 















 
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My review:





4.5 out of 5 stars





All Souls Near & Nigh by Hailey Turner is the second book in the ‘Soulbound’ series and continues to follow the adventures of federal agent Patrick Collins and werewolf Johnothon de Vere. Their lives continue to be complicated by the gods meddling in politics and territory disputes and there is still a possibility that Patrick will have his typical effect on his new home city—chaos and destruction—but this time he has backup.  





This gay urban fantasy story is a nonstop adventure and kept me mesmerized by the believable conflict, engaging characters, and amazing combination of pantheons who meddle in the lives of their followers. I think it’s better to have read the first book in the series, A Ferry of Bones & Gold, in order to get to know some of the major characters, but the action will probably draw you in even if you don’t know all of the backstory. There is a list of the cast of characters in the back of each book that will come in handy but I think it is just as fun to jump right into the story and get to know all of these engaging characters, including the gods masquerading as federal agents! Those with triggers should read the introductory warning very closely and those who are squeamish are advised that there are plenty of gory scenes since the were-creatures, vampires, various allies, gods, and, of course, the two main characters, are not shy about fighting their way through whatever obstacles are impeding their progress.



This series evokes the feelings of glee I get from reading Jim Butcher’s and Faith Hunter’s books and I found myself cheering for the good guys and groaning at the capriciousness of the gods involved while booing at the machinations of the villains. I am still a little puzzled about the hierarchy of the paranormal creatures within New York City and bemused at the turf wars between the various human factions even as I slowly absorb the complicated rules governing Patrick’s use of magic. I love books that are multi-layered and unpredictable and this one definitely has some nice surprises, including a understandably sullen teen who threatens to eat his hosts out of house and home plus the lovely romance that is continuing to unfold between Patrick and Johnothon who are learning to trust one another even as the heat between them continues to be incandescent.



I am so thankful I got a chance to read and review this series because I have found a new favorite author to follow and I look forward to reading more of her imaginative and exciting stories (and seeing how the “kid” progresses)!







A copy of this title was provided to me for review
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(1st book in the series)

2 comments:

  1. Werecreatures and vampires, I've always liked both of those in books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you read these, Mary, I thought they were fabulous!

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