Hi lovelies! It gives me great
pleasure today to host Anni Fife and her new book, “Luke’s Redemption”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift
Card. Also, come back daily to interact
with Anni and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
exciting giveaway!
Luke’s Redemption
by Anni Fife
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GENRE: Contemporary Erotic Romantic Suspense
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BLURB:
Chased
by her criminal kingpin father, Katya Dalca runs to New Orleans and straight
into the arms of Luke Hunter. Sucked into the carnal world of the French
Quarter, she succumbs to Luke’s potent sexuality. He not only steals her
breath, he steals her heart and the only leverage she has against her father.
She is left with no choice except to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life
alone.
Undercover
DEA agent Luke Hunter thought his newest assignment—recover a stolen flash
drive to gain the trust of the Russian mob—was like any other. But his target
brings him to his knees, and after one taste of her intoxicating beauty, he's
in too deep. Doing his job means walking away, leaving his heart behind with
nothing but a promise to reunite. It's a promise he can't keep.
When
Katya's past reaches out and her world unravels, her only hope is the one man
she is most vulnerable to—Luke.
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EXCERPT ONE:
The
smell of beignets wafted up and distracted, I lifted the bag and took a deep
breath. Whoosh! Fine sugar blew up out of the bag and coated me.
“Shit,
honey, you look sweet all over.”
Oh,
just great.
Blinking
sugar out of my eyes I looked up. And up. He was tall, well over six foot.
Midnight-blue eyes rimmed by a deeper blue-black smoldered lazily down at me.
“You’re holding the best beignets in the world. You gonna stand there or you
going to take a bite?”
“Umm.”
Jeez, Katya. Say something.
“Here,
let me hold that for you.” He took the coffee from my hand. “Go on, babe. Take
a bite. It’ll be the best thing you’ll ever taste.”
Still
struck dumb, I did what he asked and lifted a beignet out of the bag and took a
big bite. Oh! It was like sinking my teeth into a sweet pillow of ambrosia.
“Good
huh?”
I
nodded and stared back at him. Then, without uttering a word, I stuffed the
rest of the beignet into my mouth. He grinned at me, shaking his head. “Want to
wash it down with this?” He held out my coffee.
My
fingers brushed against his. Yikes! I couldn’t stop the slight tremor caused by
his touch. I took a gulp of coffee - half rich chicory, half hot milk - and
finally found my voice. “Would you like one?” I offered the bag of beignets to
him.
“Would
be like taking candy from a baby,” he grinned. “But don’t worry, I’ve got my
own.” He dangled a packet like mine in front of me.
Then
we both stood there and smiled at each other while we gorged on sugary donuts.
He would reach for my coffee to free my hand. Then after I ate some fluffy
yumminess, he’d hand it back to me so I could take a sip. We swallowed the last
of our beignets and licked our fingers.
I
didn’t even know his name, yet I was more turned on than I had ever been in my
life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Anni says: When KATYA DALCA is ten years old, she lives an idyllic life in
Westchester, safe in the knowledge that her father adores her and will always
protect her. But her world explodes when her mother is murdered and her father
sends her away to live with her grandparents. This event and its aftermath,
leave Katya with a deep sense of betrayal and abandonment, inner demons that
continue to plague her into adulthood. When she meets LUKE HUNTER, and he betrays her
not once, but twice, she is forced to face her worst nightmare. I loved
watching Katya grow and learn to overcome her fears. She is a woman who loves
deeply, and fearlessly. But for her to win her happily ever after with Luke,
she has to learn the biggest lesson of all—to forgive.
Interview with Katya Dalca
How did you first meet Anni Fife? (Question borrowed from
Jennifer Lowrey)
I
crept into her dreams one night, shortly before she gave up her city life and
moved to the beach. I kept knocking on her muse until she paid attention and
started taking notes. She could see me running along a cobble-stoned road in
the early hours of the morning. It was deathly quiet. I was in New Orleans,
just after Mardi Gras. She watched me, and realized she was looking through the
scope of a sniper lens. Did it belong to my hunter or my hero? Or both? My
story unfurled at such a rapid pace that she spent the next hour typing
manically on her iPhone. When she turned off the light, and went back to sleep,
my story had been born.
Where does your name come from?
I
was named for my grandmother, Ekaterina. She was Russian. Katya is a derivative
of that. I love my name! And my surname, Dalca, means lightning. It’s why my
father called his business Lightning Transport.
Are you close to your family?
For
the longest time I wasn’t. My father hurt me deeply. Only when I learned that
he was hurting too, did I find a way to forgive him. But Luke and Lily are the
center of my life now. I breathe for them. And I know that we will teach Lily,
and all the children I pray we’ll have together, to value family and keep them
close. Luke has also taught me that family is not always only blood. It comes
along when you need it most, often in the shape of a close friend or a much
needed foster parent. You just need to open your heart to recognize it.
You’re very beautiful. Does this effect how people perceive you?
Thank
you for saying that. And yes, sometimes people think I’m cold and aloof. But
I’m not that at all. In fact, I often feel too deeply. Luke gets that, and so
do the people who matter most to me in my life. And I guess that’s all that
counts.
If you could make any one thing happen, what would it be?
For
Thane ‘King’ Kingsley to get what’s coming to him and fall in love. Laughs!
Seriously, I wish I could go back in time and save my mother. If she lived, she
would have saved my father from himself. He would never have shut me out the
way he did. And I think we would have been a very happy family. She shrugs. But
then I wouldn’t have met Luke, had Lily….it would be like the Butterfly Effect,
change one thing and it changes everything.
When you’re upset or freaked out, what gives you away?
I
tend to hold my breath. She blushes. But Luke loves it when I do that, says it
turns him on. Waves her hand. Next question please.
What is your greatest fear?
That
the people I love will leave me. But with Luke’s love, I’m learning to let go
of that fear.
Describe yourself in three words.
One.
Man. Woman!
What do you own that is most precious to you?
Well,
besides the baby things I kept from Lily, I think it has to be a photo I found
in a box of my father’s personal stuff that was hidden with his secret cache.
It was taken by the pool at our house in Sterling Ridge. I was five years old.
I’m sitting on my father’s shoulders. He’s got one arm up holding me in place,
and the other is wrapped around my mother. Mom and I are laughing. But papa,
he’s got this mysterious smile. I like to think he’s smiling like that because
he knows everything that’s important to him is right there in his arms.
Luke is definitely hunkalicious. What do you love most about his
body?
His
arms. They’re immensely strong, the muscles so clearly defined. For me, they
embody the potency of Luke’s protective spirit. And when they wrap around me, I
feel so safe, like nothing can ever hurt or threaten me. But then I also love
his chest, his abs, his neck, … OMG. Just thinking about Luke’s delicious body
has me all hot and tingly!
Do you like the way Anni Fife ended your story?
Oh
yes! But gosh, it took me so long to tell Luke I loved him. Thank goodness he
was so patient. It was like he could read exactly what I was thinking. Have you
read the new Bonus Epilogue that Anni published on her blog? Luke asks me to
marry him and I tell him ‘yes’ in record time. So that makes up for it, don’t
you think?
If you have any questions you want to
ask Katya, email me and I’ll add them to the list.
Happy Reading. Anni xx
**Disclaimer: I received a
complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REVIEW:
After
Katya learns of her kingpin father’s plan to not only force her into an
arranged marriage, but to a man she ultimately despises, she knows she must get
as far away as she can – and fast! But
before Katya leaves she must secure her future and safety. Since Katya is worried her father will come
after her she takes a flash drive which details his criminal activity as an
insurance policy.
Luke
is a sexy DEA Agent who is assigned to go undercover and retrieve the flash
drive that Katya stole. In order to do
so, he must get close to Katya. However,
he gets too close and actually falls in love with her.
There
are fireworks between Luke and Katya!
After a night of steamy passion you could totally feel the chemistry
between these two characters!
I
liked Luke and Katya, but found them to be somewhat ridiculous. However, as far-fetched as their actions
seemed, it’s also what made these characters realistic. I personally couldn’t forgive and forget as
easily as Katya, but I am sure there are many women out there who would – and
have.
Luke
is HOT!! His sexiness definitely helps
overlook some of his flaws – but he does come with baggage! Later in the book he does have some redeeming
moments, which does help make up for the heartache he put Katya and I through –
lol! But still for me, it’s a long road
uphill for complete forgiveness.
Sadly,
I found Katya to be somewhat pathetic as she fondles over Luke and allows him
to treat her like crap. There’s even one
point where SHE feels guilty and sorry for him betraying her! But I guess I have never had that intense
relationship with someone that I could look past no matter how they acted or
treated me – where love was the only thing that mattered.
Katya
is betrayed by Luke not once, but TWICE!!
His number would definitely be deleted out of my phone and I would not
give him another chance! But Katya is in
love and wants to be with Luke regardless.
I know holding grudges is never the answer, but if someone broke my
heart the way Luke did it would take me quite a while to just get over it.
This
book is well researched and thought out.
There is extensive detail that makes it easy to picture – including the
steamy scenes! The book’s pace is mostly
steady, but does contain a few slower, dragging scenes throughout. This book also switches between multiple POVs
– which wasn’t actually confusing, it was written well enough to easily follow
and I liked hearing from the different perspectives. I also really liked the supporting characters
– very interesting and entertaining! I
am so looking forward to discovering more about the sexy King Security men!
There
were only a couple of things that I didn’t like in this book. I hated the long timeframe wait between the
main characters. Five years just seemed
a bit too drawn out. Also, I wish Katya hadn’t
forgiven Luke so easily. He hurt her, he
broke her heart, he used her, and so much more, and she just let him. Yes, I wanted these characters to get
together, but I think Katya should have made Luke work for it a bit more.
All
in all, I really did enjoy reading this book!
There is so much to this book!
This book is full of excitement, action, mystery, suspense, crime,
passion, betrayal, regret, heartache, forgiveness, love, secrets, second – and
third chances! I would definitely
recommend this book to anyone interested in a complex romantic suspense book
filled with hot, steamy, passionate scenes!
Did you find this
review helpful?
If so, please, please,
please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3U06OUCYCFHZX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Last
year, Anni Fife closed the door on a
twenty-year successful career in television production, to fulfill her lifelong
passion, writing. In the space of one month, she closed her business, packed up
her city life and moved to a small seaside village. ‘My writing has always been
constrained by client briefs,’ Anni says. ‘Now, I finally have the opportunity
to write to the beat of my own heart.’ LUKE’s Redemption is Anni’s debut novel
and she hopes you enjoy it as much as she loved writing it. Anni loves to spend
hours walking on the beach searching for pansy shells, more hours drinking red
wine with her gal posse, and the most hours writing romance novels filled with
women you can relate to and men you love to dream about. She is currently
working on her second novel, GRAY’s Promise.
Anni
is published by The Wild Rose Press.
Join
Anni’s Posse and get regular updates and Bonus Treats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH
ANNI:
Website:
Facebook:
Email:
info@annifife.com
Twitter:
Amazon Author Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble:
All Romance:
Apple iTunes:
Kobo:
Book Strand:
The Wild Rose Press:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY
INFO:
Anni will be awarding a $25 Amazon or
B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Hi Ally. Thanks so much for hosting me again on Fabulous and Brunette. Hope your readers enjoy learning more about Katya. Best, Anni xx
ReplyDeleteHi Anni! It's great to have you back! Congrats again on the new book and good luck on the rest of the book tour! Excellent character interview! Thanks for hanging out with us today :)
DeleteWhat an amazing interview, thank you so much, was a pleasure to read it!!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the post and the interview. Sounds like a great read. Thanks for sharing. Blessngs
ReplyDeleteHi Lawri. Thanks for visiting. xx
DeleteWhat was the best book that you have read in the last year? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteGreat review - sounds like my kind of book:)
ReplyDeleteInteresting review. I want to read this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, MomJane. It's on sale at $2,99 so I really hope you give it a go. Anni xx
Delete