In His Keeping by T.J. Adams (excerpt, spotlight and GIVEAWAY) GFT

In His Keeping
by T.J. Adams

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GENRE: Paranormal Romance

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BLURB:

At eighteen, Elise Duxten must end her life. Her younger sister, Marly, lies dead because of her. To pay for her crimes she sell’s her soul to the devil in exchange for her sister’s life.

Matrix, King of the crossroads, the Devil’s right hand man for the last twenty years, is willing to make the deal, eager for another pawn. To sweeten the exchange he gives her one year to mourn her decision before he takes her for good.

In that year he's determined to torment her, driven by envy at the strength in her soul. Though having lived years apart, the same heartless man, Manx Sloazan, destroyed their lives.

With her remaining life, Elise must teach her sister to live without her and find the courage to say goodbye. It won't be easy. Sloazan is determined to make Elise pay for a bungled drug sale and Matrix wants to torture her soul. Or does he?

With Elise, Matrix has discovered something he thought he'd lost. His heart. But he is the devil's, without the ability to choose. When the time comes, will he be prepared to let her go in order to save her soul? Or will the Devil make sure he gets what is his due?



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Exclusive Excerpt:

It was his way, the infinite manipulator.

He toyed with me, using his words as a blanket against the chill of my fears. Understanding this hardened me. A spark of heat began in my belly and threaded throughout my body. I clenched my teeth with the awakening of my resistance. I needed a mantra to help me survive. If I stripped myself of what made Elise perhaps I would endure. Nothing can harm you when you have nothing to give.

The ground disappeared, vanishing, leaving only a platform big enough for the two of us. It crumbled like dominoes, starting at my feet and running in an arc outward around me—the ground I was unaware I’d been walking on. The scream, which burst out, became lost in the roar of breaking rock and gusting wind. My ponytail whipped around hitting me in the face. I collapsed to the floor of my platform. The strength in my legs vanished. My fingers dug into nothing. The hardness of the rock gave no purchase.

My screams split the air, but for seconds, minutes, hours, I never heard them. Only the dry rasp made me stop.

I curled in a ball like a baby, lashed by the wind and the heat. The heat.

With no understanding of how long I'd remained tightly wrapped around my own body, I surfaced. In a slow unfolding I pushed up and stood unsure if the muscles had returned. The adrenaline firing through me shook my body.

My refuge, the platform, had shrunk, stretching to the edge of my toes and disappearing below, way below. A burning heat swept across my face. The air rose on the hot drafts funneling past like a hot chute. I dared a look and screamed the last breath in my throat. Licking flames and molten larva crackled and flowed beneath me. The shock toppled me, my balance gone once my mind collapsed. Hands on my arms supported me. A firm grasp held me in place. Behind, a hard body pressed against me.

“Having fun yet? Please don’t close your eyes. It’ll ruin the effect.”

“Oh god…god.”

The words came out, between my gasping breaths, in response to my brain’s overload.

“I’ll try and take that as a compliment.”

I attempted to push back from the edge, but his body blocked my path. With no other way of barricading my fear I disobeyed and closed my eyes, turning my head sideways into his chest.

He wouldn’t let me fall. He couldn’t. The Devil always kept his promises, or so he said, and I had one year left to live, which meant this was his enjoyment, nothing more.

The feather touch of a finger ran the length of my neck from my ear to my shoulder, tracing a line of fire. Next his icy breath chilled where his finger traveled before his words whispered in my ear. “Look, Elise.”

He grasped my chin with his forefinger and thumb moving my head forward. “This is my gift to you.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

TJ Adams couldn’t decide what she wanted to be when she grew up and travelled instead. She returned from overseas with the thrill of adventure still inside, so decided to train as a commercial light aircraft pilot, flying out of the remote aboriginal communities of north Western Australia.

A badly damaged eardrum clipped her wings, and she returned to Perth to complete a BA of science. During this time she meet her husband halfway up a rock face, while engaging in one of her favorite past times, rock climbing.

Somewhat tamed, TJ Adams and hubby settled in the Perth Hills with their three children.

When her children were little, TJ Adams found her new passion—books. Countless books later and the idea of becoming an author emerged.

Her favorite genre is paranormal with her first novel Bound under contract with Eternal press. Unable to stop her fingers from tapping, TJ Adams has since formed a partners with another Perth author, Renee Hammond, to complete the Hells Gate series. In His Keeping is her latest release.

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The tour dates can be found here

In His Keeping by Maya Banks (VBT, review, excerpt and GIVEAWAY) Tasty Book Tours (ADULT title)

In His Keeping  is an ADULT title
Slow Burn #2
By: Maya Banks
Releasing January 27th, 2015
Avon Romance






Blurb
#1 bestselling author Maya Banks continues her suspenseful and steamy Slow Burn trilogy with this second book-a twisting tale featuring a strong yet vulnerable heroine in danger and the sexy alpha hero who must save her.

Abandoned as a baby to a young wealthy couple and raised in a world of privilege, Arial has no hint of her past or who she belonged to. Her only link lies in the one thing that sets her apart from everyone else—telekinetic powers. Protected by her adoptive parents and hidden from the public to keep her gift secret, Ari is raised in the lap of luxury, and isolation. That is, until someone begins threatening her life.

Beau Devereaux is no stranger to the strange. As the head of Deveraux Security, he’s more than familiar with the realities of physic powers. So when a family friend approaches him about protecting his daughter, he’s more than ready to jump on board. What Beau isn’t prepared for is the extent of his attraction to his beautiful and powerful client. What began as a simple assignment, just another job, quickly turns personal as Beau discovers he’ll do anything at all to protect Ari. Even if it costs him his life.

Excerpt:

Gavin had always had an understanding for what money and power could achieve, but it wasn’t until Arial, the name they’d chosen for their precious baby girl, that he fully appreciated or felt there was a purpose for the wealth he’d accumulated his entire adult life. As though he’d always been preparing for something so important. In the moment that innocent baby girl had arrived on their doorstep, he’d known that his wealth would finally serve a greater purpose.

It had all come down to this and to what he had been able to provide his wife—and now his daughter.

Ari was theirs. There was a paper trail he’d meticulously crafted documenting his wife’s pregnancy and the fact that after so many miscarriages he’d taken her away and kept her in com- plete isolation and privacy to give birth to their daughter.

A birth certificate listing date of birth, his and Ginger’s names as the parents, even the small clinic he funded where she’d been “born.”

Now, for the first time, they were returning to the United States with their daughter, assured that Ari’s past was airtight. That all the i’s were dotted and t’s crossed. All they had to do was resume their lives, but even with the confidence that Ari’s past was unshakable, Gavin wasn’t fool enough to ever even think about relaxing his guard. Their lives would be forever al- tered, and he didn’t have a single regret for the changing course of their destinies. He had all a man could ever hope for—wish for. It was all finally his, a fact he gave thanks for every single day since that snowy Christmas night when Ari had entered their lives.

He’d carefully explained to Ginger the changes to their lives that would occur, that they would have to exercise complete caution in every aspect of their day-to-day lives. He’d worried that Ginger would feel imprisoned, that she’d grow tired of liv- ing such an isolated existence, but he should have known that his wife—like him—would do anything at all to protect their daughter.

An unbreakable bond had been formed that night when Ari had been left on their doorstep. It was inexplicable and instantaneous, as if she’d always been meant to be theirs. And that bond had only strengthened until neither of them could remember their lives before Ari was a part of their family.

The very first thing Gavin had done in his preparation to return to the United States was to quietly sell his house in Con- necticut, because he wanted no trace of their past before Ari. No chance of Ari’s mother showing back up at the same place she’d left her baby, asking for her back.

He’d systematically worked during the months they were out of the country to remove them from the public eye. He’d sold off several of his businesses and invested the proceeds so that his family would always be secure.

He’d bought a huge home under a dummy corporation that could never be traced back to him and made sure that the secu- rity was impenetrable. And then he’d worked to turn it into Gin- ger’s dream home. A place she would love and wouldn’t be upset over being confined to so much.

She laughingly told him that she had everything she could possibly ever want. A husband she loved and a daughter she adored. No sacrifice was too great for her if it meant keeping her family.

Seeing Ginger so happy for these last months had given Gavin a sense of purpose he’d never before experienced. After so much sorrow and loss, the woman he loved sparkled with life, love and laughter. Every day she delighted in discovering some- thing new about motherhood and their precious baby girl.

Gavin knew in his heart that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect them both. No price was too high to pay. No, he hadn’t done it cleanly or by the book. He should have notified the police and social services. And pursued adoption through the proper channels.

But he only had to look into his wife’s eyes as she stared at that tiny baby girl and he knew he could never risk losing their daughter by doing things the “right” way. He could live with his conscience and even live with his soul forever being damned just as long as Ginger was happy. He’d brave the fires of hell and the devil himself before ever being the cause of her eyes losing their shine.

Link to Follow Tour
Goodreads Link
Goodreads Series Link


Buy Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo 





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Author Info

 Maya Banks is a #1 USA Today and New York Times bestselling author whose chart toppers have included erotic romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, Scottish historical romances. She is the author of the Breathless Trilogy, the KGI novels, the Sweet series, and the Colters Legacy novels.
She lives in the South with her husband and three children and other assorted babies, such as her two Bengal kitties and a Calico who’s been with her as long as her youngest child. She’s an avid reader of romance and loves to dish books with her fans and anyone else who’ll listen! She very much enjoys interacting with her readers on Facebook and Twitter as well as in her Yahoo! Group.

Author Links:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



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GIVEAWAY


Rafflecopter Giveaway (Three Print Bundles of KEEP ME SAFE and IN HIS KEEPING)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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My review:

4 out of 5 stars

In His Keeping by Maya Banks is part of the ‘Slow Burn’ series that combines exotic paranormal powers and thrilling romantic suspense.  This particular story centers around Arial (Ari) Rochester, who suddenly needs to utilize the remarkable psychic powers that she has had minimal experience developing.  Danger results in her contacting Beau Devereaux, and enlisting the help of his security agency, but has the unexpected result of her discovering ties to the Devereaux family that neither realized existed.  Unfortunately, since threats escalate and threaten both of their respective families, they may not have the time or luxury of exploring the relationship and seeing where it can lead, unless Ari learns to harness her abilities in a hurry and survives long enough to do so.


This imaginative tale combines wondrous concepts of the potential use of extraordinary mental abilities with an exciting suspenseful story that follows the age-old struggle between good and evil.  Although the opening is a little slow and the writing not quite as crisp as I have come to expect due to the exciting ‘KGI’ series , the action eventually begins to intensify and develops into the delicious combination of sizzling intimacy and exciting fight scenes that characterize this author’s works.  The heroine was a bit irksome to me at first, as I prefer proactive and capable females, but she grew nicely during the course of the story.  I was able to read this work as a stand-alone, although I am sure that it would be helpful to learn the story behind the events alluded to that center around a couple of the secondary characters, who have a cameo in this book.  The villains are a little nebulous, but definitely evil, and I suspect that there is an underlying threat that will tie the entire series together.  I am always fascinated by the concept of psychic phenomena, and the differing abilities described add a nice twist to this fun read which celebrates romance and adventure, and I look forward to reading more about the Devereaux family and the mates who change their lives.


A copy of this title was provided to me for an honest review