Hello, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Cristelle
Comby and her new book, “Evil Embers”!
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 $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Cristelle
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Evil Embers
by Cristelle Comby
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GENRE: Urban Fantasy
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BLURB:
There’s “hard to
kill”—and then there’s Bellamy Vale.
After
narrowly preventing the destruction of Cold City, PI Bellamy Vale needs a rest.
Or rather, he needs a plain and simple vanilla case—no monsters or otherworldly
creatures involved! When foreign businessman Eli Smith shows up at his doorstep
with a thick wallet and a request to find his missing sister, Vale doesn’t
think twice before agreeing. If he’d known body-hopping demons and smoke
monsters came attached to this job, however, he might have.
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EXCERPT TWO:
I
started feeling eyes on me about two blocks up. I was hoping it was just one
guy…and that it was the kind of guy I could win a fight against without losing
all my teeth.
I
turned off Maltese Street and into a familiar alley. The rusted-out dumpster
was where it usually was, tall enough for me to hide behind in a crouch. I
wished I had my knife with me. My gun might have been nice too, but too much
noise would have put me back in Morgan’s crosshairs. I was going to have to
wing it.
Another
set of footsteps came into the alley. They slowed down as they got closer. I
heard labored breathing on top of the steps, like the guy was running a mile to
get me. In a voice so low it barely echoed off the walls, he muttered, “Where
is he?”
That’s
all I needed to hear. The moment the intruder got past the dumpster, I gave him
a hip tackle that should have sent him into the opposite wall. But somehow, he
managed to flip me around in mid-air and I was the one that hit the wall with a
thud. I was still shaking my head clear when I saw a fist aimed right at my
nose. I jerked my head to the side, making the attacker’s hand slam into the
brick with a meaty slap. My right fist jabbed into his belly and side, working
his body like a jackhammer.
I
bucked my hips and used my left hand to help flip him over. But once again, he
kept the flip going and I wound up on the bottom before I could blink. This
time the fist struck, and my head went blank a couple of times as the blows hit
home. I wrapped my hands around his arm as the third punch landed and applied
pressure to the elbow. The strangled cry from my attacker’s mouth sounded
familiar.
“Smith?”
I asked in confusion, relaxing the pressure.
“Mr.
Vale,” the shadowy figure said back, confirming my guess.
I
released his arm, and we both got back on our feet, a bit unsteadily. Something
about his gait told me he was a lot less steady than I was right then.
“I…I
must apologize,” he said. “I was quite certain you were a robber of some sort.”
“A
robber that doesn’t use a gun or a knife?” I asked. “In this city?”
He
sighed. “Yes…upon reflection, that theory does seem rather foolish.”
I
took the time to check myself over for any severe damage. Aside from new aches
and pains, nothing was pressing. “What were you doing following me in the first
place?”
“I
was most interested to see if you had managed any progress on the leads we
found.”
“So,
instead of waiting at my place for me to come back, you stalk me across town to
make sure I’m on the job?” I admit I was more than a little offended. Sure, I
can be a bit devious when it comes to getting the money I need, but I’m enough
of a professional to stick with a job until I either figure out that it’s not
worth pursuing or I get paid.
It
made me want to punch my client all over again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY BOOK REVIEW:
This book is an interesting, intriguing, suspenseful, mystery, urban fantasy read!
When I first saw the book cover, I wasn’t quite sure what to
think. To be honest, I found the cover
to be a bit scary and creepy, but still intriguing enough that I was excited to
check out this book!
This
book focuses on P.I. Bellamy Vale and the adventures he gets tangled up in while
trying to solve his client’s cases. Vale
has just come off a major win by defeating Mayor Galatas and her minions in
book one and he is looking for some R&R when a new client, Eli Smith,
bursts in on him at his home. Eli, a
strange businessman hires Vale to find his sister, Sarit, who has been missing
for a few days. However, Eli has no
picture of Sarit, no phone number, and pretty much no information about her –
this is definitely not going to be a simple missing persons case.
This book has an interesting storyline, very detailed writing
style, well-developed characters, is fast paced, and keeps you entertained.
I liked that this book started out fast paced with an action scene and kept the adventure stride mostly on par throughout the book.
Unfortunately, I think that the worldbuilding wasn’t as strong and powerful as it needed to be. I felt that there were gaps and inconsistencies within the current worldbuilding setup. This created several confusing passages and misunderstandings amongst the storyline.
This book genre is marketed as an urban fantasy book and yet the
author found a way to throw in adventure, mystery, intrigue, and suspense
elements into the book. It definitely
added a fascinating extra component to the story!
This book has many unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see
coming! I really wasn’t sure which way
this book was going to go as it seemed quite unpredictable!
This
book is Book Two of The Vale Investigation Book Series. I had not read the first book before reading
this book. There are many references to
the previous book and the characters significantly overlap. It could technically be read on its own as a
standalone. I wasn’t completely confused
or lost. I just occasionally felt out of
the loop and that I was missing important information about the characters and
how they got to the point at where they are when book two starts. So, I personally would recommend reading the
first book, before you start book two.
All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend
it! I think all urban fantasy, science
fiction, and mystery readers will like this book, too!
Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as
helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1COXTPT0R2SYM
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AUTHOR BIO:
Cristelle Comby was
born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, on the shores of
Lake Geneva, where she still resides.
She
attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for
chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in
drawing and acting.
She
is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely
duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor,
and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.
Currently,
she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which
chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the
fictitious town of Cold City, USA.
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CONNECT WITH CRISTELLE:
Website:
Blog:
Email:
Twitter:
BookBub Author Page:
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author
Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
The Book Depository Paperback:
BAM! Books-A-Million
Paperback:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Cristelle will be awarding a $10 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 is 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.
Cristelle ~ Good morning! Welcome back! It is so great to have you here again! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! I really enjoyed reading and reviewing your book, thanks for providing the copy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAre any of the locations based off of real places in your book?
ReplyDeleteAnother great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteDo you share your story with any family members and friends during the writing process?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great cover and excerpt.
ReplyDelete