A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner: {Blog Tour} SOUL RESURRECTED, Sons of Wrath #2, by KERI LAKE

As if it wasn't enough to get the next SONS OF WRATH book, this tour also has an amazing giveaway, a Scavenger Hunt, an excerpt, annnnnnnd a guest post! AHHHHH OVERLOAD!

If you recall, I was snowed in earlier this year and had the opportunity to read SOUL AVENGED, book one of the Sons of Wrath series. Click HERE to read my review of that book so that you will understand how excited I was to be reading Logan's story. (And forgive the lameness of the post. I was brand spanking new to book blogging and was just copying from goodreads to the blog at the time!) *happy smile* I am a total Urban Fantasy junkie and Keri Lake's Sons of Wrath hit the spot!

SOUL RESURRECTED (Sons of Wrath, #2)
By: Keri Lake
Release Date: October 31, 2013
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance/Dark Urban Fantasy

ISBN: 978-0-9848517-5-1

As Wrath’s fiercest son, Logan carries the scars of fifty years spent in the most dreaded prison of the underworld, for a sin he’d kill to keep secret. Enduring decades of gruesome torture has left Logan feared by and detached from others, until a female Alexi’s blood resurrects his soul from death and, with it, the pleasures he’s been denied for so long.

Plagued by shame of her own, Calla is drawn to the ruthless demon, Logan, whose insatiable craving for her touch rouses buried passions and, for once, leaves her feeling desired.

A dark and dangerous evil has been reawakened, however, and when Calla is drawn too close to its breeding grounds, Logan vows to summon the violence of Wrath in order to keep her safe. First, though, Calla must save him from a past riddled with deceit and corruption … but only if she can accept the chilling consequences of unearthing his vilest skeleton.

Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Print) | Barnes & Noble (Nook) | Signed Print Copy

BEFORE I GET INTO THE REVIEW...Soul Avenged, book 1, is only 99c for a limited time to celebrate the release of SOUL RESURRECTED! WHEEEE! Click here!

This is Logan's story and it picks up right where we left off with Soul Avenged. It just changes focus from Ayden and Kane to Logan. Logan's background is heartwrenching, ache-inducing, and sad. Despite being a demon, he was saddled with a mother (and I use that term loosely) who abused him when he was vulnerable and basically made his life a living hell, twisting him on the inside until he cannot recognize love. He has a bond with his brothers for sure and respects them and cares deeply for them, but he doesn't use the word love.

At the end of SOUL AVENGED, Logan is on his deathbed and the brothers are freaking out and worried about him. Being fed the blood of a virgin Alexi female demon is what saves his life --- Calla. They get a little more than they bargained for with the blood exchange and it makes for a delicious story.

Gritty and action-packed, Keri Lake has done it again with a book that I just could not put down. Soul Avenged hooked me in the middle of Blizzard Nemo earlier this year. Soul Resurrected had me wishing for a blizzard so that I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything other than devour each page. The wealth of emotions these tough, hot, sexy hunks have just simmering under those tough guy personas will pull at any girl's heart.

This is how I like my urban fantasy - constantly moving, totally gritty, insanely dangerous, with strong male and female characters that have a hidden squishy center, and seem to leap right off the page. Like all the ladies sporting Naamah tattoos from the Kushiel series, I think that pretty soon we'll be seeing Sons of Wrath tattoos everywhere! I'm worried about Gavin, my heart hurts for the Z twins, I can't wait to get to know Ferno, etc. I am fully entrenched in this series and cannot wait for more.

And as if that wasn't enough...I found my name in the Special Contributors section! HOLY CRAP COOLNESS! Thank you, Keri! <3 p="">

About Keri Lake

Keri Lake is a married mother of two living in Michigan. She writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy and loves a good, tragic love story. Though novels tend to be her focus, she also writes short stories and flash fiction whenever distraction manages to suck her in to the Land of Shiny Things.

When she isn’t toiling away on plots and protagonists, she enjoys reading, music and travel. If she could create mystical powers for herself, she’d have the ability to flash to anywhere in the world. And if she could flash to anywhere in the world at this very moment, she’d be staring at the ocean from her adirondack chair on the shores of North Carolina.

Website: http://www.kerilake.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KeriLake
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KeriLakeAuthor
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kerilake/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5335601.Keri_Lake
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Keri-Lake/e/B006VY7EM6

SCAVENGER HUNT

Throughout the tour, participating blogs will be posting a question for readers to hunt down on Keri Lake’s website. Questions can be found throughout the site: book pages, snippets, blog posts and glossary. Most questions will be related to the Sons of Wrath series. A few bloggers will have added bonus questions taken directly from Soul Avenged.

You can visit Keri Lake’s Scavenger Hunt page by clicking on the button. Record your answers on the Answer Sheet. At the end of the tour, you’ll be able to submit your responses via Google Doc right on the Scavenger Hunt page. The individual with the MOST correct responses will win a MYSTERY PRIZE, valued at $125.

Here is the question assigned to this blog:

Which brother was sentenced to time in the most feared underworld prison?

CHAPTER 1

Some lives just weren’t worth the trouble of saving …

The dark room swallowed Logan, as he lay sprawled on his bed—just as he’d been left after ditching his date with death. A stomach-turning sensation of thickened skin and tingles swathed his body, closing in on him, phantom sensations crawling over his flesh that kept him awake. Every five minutes or so, he willed an arm or a leg to move. No go.

Shadows danced across the wall on the occasions that one of the Catatones guarding the mansion passed through the floodlight below his window. He focused on them only because his neck had been propped in that direction and he had no choice. Good thing, though. She had been assigned to watch over him and slept somewhere beyond his periphery, the reminder heating his blood every time her sleepy moan drifted across the room.

The fury could’ve split him right down the middle.

Her blood ran through him—pumping in his veins, feeding his heart, keeping him alive.

Calla’s.

The woman who’d gotten him stabbed with Demortis, the only element capable of taking down a demon, now swam through his body as the only element capable of saving him. Her blood. Pure. Probably the closest he’d ever come to being righteous.

The irony was enough to leave him scratching his own eyeballs out of his head—that is, if he could reach the damn things. Like a bitch slap from the gods, who probably sat around drinking beers over the shit, poking fun at him.

The side effect of returning from the dead?

Feeling like the fucking dead.

Logan tightened his lip, wishing he could kick his own ass for being so stupid. Not like he’d had to save her or anything. Hell, being a demon meant being the exception to human rules.

And being a son of Wrath meant never having to play by any species’ rules.

Yet for some reason, one lodged so deep inside his brain he couldn’t even begin to explain, he’d felt the need to intervene. Not so much for her sake, but because the little prick trying to rape her had taken a jab at the psychopath buried in Logan’s bones. Taunted him.

Then finally tripped his kill-switch.

Yeah, that’s what Logan told himself, anyway, because no other excuse could possibly justify why he couldn’t stir a single muscle in his body for anything having to do with her—Calla. The girl they’d picked up at some underground party, so high on Shine she’d have probably let every one of the brothers have a go at her if they’d been the ravaging bastardly types.

Lucky for her they weren’t.

“Should’ve walked away,” he muttered, his voice the only part of his body he could control.

A zing of pain shot through Logan’s feet, flexing them into an unnatural, paralyzed position. “Ah, shit!” Hadn’t his feet been numb just seconds ago?

Not even forcing his muscles to relax shook the sting away, one like a strike to the level of his bones, as if they shattered with impact.

He held his breath and clenched his teeth while the pain crept up his leg. “Motherfucker!” He spoke past gritted teeth, keeping his voice low to keep from rousing his babysitter, but damn, his back arched like one of those tetanus-infected bastards, his eyes squinting so hard they could’ve popped backward into his brain.

Black smoke curled behind his lids, and a deep laughter mocked him as the agony reached his spine. Trembling in the bed, Logan clamped his mouth shut and allowed the convulsions to run through him.

In silence.

He’d known pain—gut-turning, put-me-out-of-my-fucking-misery pain. Nothing compared to what wracked him at that moment, as if nightmares could invade the body and inflict injury. The burn, like molten lava oozing in his veins, seeped into his every cell, searing him from the inside. Sweat trickled down his temple at the same time as a chill burst deep inside his bones and swept through his limbs, leaving behind a wake of nausea.

That black smoke carried the familiar sensation he’d felt once or twice in his life—from the quick witted son of a bitch that brought the toughest demon males to their knees: absolute death. Stygius. The place in the underworld from where no soul ever returned.

With shallow panting breaths, he allowed the blackness worming its way into his mind to take over as something dark and wicked laid claim.

All Logan could do was let it take him.

Guest Post

“I hate these fucking drinks.” Ayden stood up from the bar she’d been leaning against and turned to face Calla, pulling the colorful umbrella out of a frothy, bright red beverage that looked like something she’d scored at a 7-Eleven.

Calla stared down at her own colorful concoction. “I dunno. Tastes fruity. What’s in it again?”

“Not enough alcohol.” Ayden twirled the straw through the frozen layers. “The clothes, the drinks, this is why I hate going undercover.” She glanced down at the skirt and flowy top that allowed a peek at half her breast. “Ridiculous trends.” Her lip curled. “Shit looks like something Annabelle wore back in her heyday.”

“A pitbull dressed like a poodle.” Calla laughed as her gaze swept the bar, confirming that both Calla and Ayden fit in with the fashionable females that packed the place. “But yeah, this top is going to be the first to go when we get back.” Her skin prickled with the exposure of the back and the thin crisscross wrap that covered it. In front, a black sequined hanging v-neck gave a nice flash of cleavage.

“C’mon. I’m sure they’re somewhere on the dance floor.”

They were a group of male lycans who traveled in packs to the higher-class bars in the nice hoods. Underground slave trafficking. Ayden had decided the only way to find the bastards, was to make herself a victim and go undercover. They needed someone to spill the location of where the girls were being kept, but up until that point, all Ayden managed to spill in her haste for information, was a lot of blood.

A glint of silver from below caught Calla’s attention.

“Hey, lift your holster, it’s peeking out of your skirt.”

A downward glance and Ayden hiked up her skirt, adjusting the dagger strapped to her thigh. “Thanks,” she said over her shoulder. “Let’s get this shit over with. Gavin’ll have my ass for going solo on this.”

Bodies gyrated around them as they made their way onto the dance floor, the heady scent of arousal and sweat crinkling Calla’s nose as she dodged flailing arms and hips pumping in the same rhythm as couples engaged in sex. It wouldn’t surprise her if some were getting it on right there on the dance floor. The club, so packed on the weekends, boasted a heavy crowd of Shiners, meaning they were all lost to the hallucinogenic effects that made them horny as hell—a very dangerous place for any other girl.

In the thick of the swarm, they reached a small circle of about a half dozen males—all of them young, handsome, muscular—traits sure to lure an unsuspecting female. The smell of wolf had Calla looking away to keep her blue eyes from turning gold, as she and Ayden approached. In the center of the circle, four clearly messed up females stumbled over each other, dancing themselves into a stupor.

Ayden leaned into the tall, dark-haired one with a flashy red shirt, whispering something in his ear. A grin spread across his face and he patted the blond beside him. From inside his pocket, the blond pulled a plastic bag, quarter filled with silver capsules. Shine.

That’s how they operated. Taking girls out back, giving them drugs and kidnapping them. At least a dozen girls had gone missing from Detroit alone in the last two months.

Ayden passed her drink back to Calla, who set them down on a nearby pedestal table. As Ayden reached for the bag, the blond snatched it back. “Shit ain’t free, baby.” He grabbed himself through his leathers. “I need a favor, first.”

The two males signaled Ayden and Calla to follow, and led them through the crowd, down a hall and out a back door to the alley. Winter chill brushed across Calla’s skin, forcing her to cross her arms over her chest as she stifled a shiver.

As the four gathered beside the brick wall of the building, the scent of wolf mixed with garbage from the dumpsters turned Calla’s already sickened stomach.

The dark-haired male placed a capsule to his tongue and raised his brow at Ayden. She gave a demure smile, leaned in and kissed him, taking the capsule in her mouth. He stepped toward her, backing her against the alley wall and slipped his hand inside her jacket, presumably fondling her breasts, though Ayden didn’t make much sound to indicate he’d hit the spot or anything.

Calla bit her lip and turned her attention back on the blond who held the silver capsule between his thumb and forefinger. She drew in a deep breath and opened her mouth for the offering. The tiny capsule hit her tongue and, eyes riveted on her mouth, he rubbed it with his index finger, forcing her to close her mouth around his finger as he pushed it in and out of her lips. Another hand slid up her thigh and Calla mumbled a gasp.

Once his finger slipped out of her mouth, she drove the capsule between her back teeth and cheek with her tongue, to avoid swallowing it.

He leaned in to her ear and whispered, “Wanna go somewhere and get warm?” His breathy voice held an urgency that had Calla wanting to punch him in the face.

She forced a smile and nodded.

The blond pushed off of the wall and grabbed tight to her wrist, leading her through the alley.

Calla threw a glance over her shoulder at Ayden who’d knelt to the ground and was unzipping the leathers of the dark-haired male.

Crap. She’d need to spit the capsule out soon or risk falling prey to its affects before the thing completely dissolved and then she’d be screwed—in more ways than she cared to imagine. Already her vision had begun to fog.

Before he seemed to notice, she prodded her finger up into her gums and scooped out the capsule, lowering her hand to her side before she flicked it discretely into the side of the building.

As if he sensed something, the blond craned his head, frowned as she greeted him with an over the top smile, and faced forward again.

Calla’s heart thrummed in her chest. Her head felt light and her eyes could hardly focus on the white cargo van across the parking lot—the one they were headed toward, with no windows, that screamed nobody would know what went down inside.

No doubt, the guys ‘tested’ the goods before delivering them.

The blond opened the side door and offered a hand to her. “It’s much warmer in here. I’ll crank up the heat.” His hand rubbed along her arm, intentionally too close to her breast. “You’re nearly frozen.” He licked his lips, his eyes cast downward somewhere along her gaping cleavage.

An outcry hit the night and the blond startled at what was clearly the agonized cry of a male, followed by the distinct rip of a growl that’d become something of a trigger for all Alexi soldiers.

When the blond turned back to Calla, a swirling silver coated his eyes. “What’s this shit? A trick?” His fingers dug into her jaw as he gripped tight to her chin. “Who the fuck are you?”

Gold glowed in Calla’s periphery and she couldn’t help but smile. Revelations were always something of a big moment for Alexi soldiers. Like having to come clean and confess a lie.

Before he could react, she kicked up her knee, knocking his nuts, forcing him forward, as she drew her dagger from her boot and held it to his stomach. “You’re going to tell us where to find the girls,” she said, very happily seizing the upper hand. A lightning flick of the knife and she jabbed the blade into his shoulder, taking in a moment of pleasure as he cursed and fell to his knees.

“Fuck … you.” He rasped as Calla yanked another dagger from her second boot and propped it below his chin.

An object rolled across the parking lot, landed at his bended knees and Calla allowed him to look down at it.

Snarls accompanied the tight quiver of his muscles as the head of his buddy, in wolf form, stared back with a glossy, vacant shine to its otherwise menacing eyes. A nice smooth cut at the neck meant he didn’t stand a chance of fighting. The blond lurched against the dagger at his throat.

Ayden approached, casually wiping the blood off her dagger with what looked like a torn piece of dark-hair’s flashy shirt. “Unless you want to meet the same fate, I suggest you talk. Bitches don’t fuck around, dog. I’m not in the mood to play games.” Ayden crossed her arms, staring down at him. “Where are the girls?”

“Sold. Every one of them.” The smugness in his voice taunted Calla’s fist.

Ayden obliged, forcing Calla to lower the blade from his throat as she knocked the male’s head to the side with a powerful punch to his face. “To?”

He spat blood and licked his split lip. “Our best fucking customers.”

Calla gripped his sweat-slick hair and pushed the dagger into his throat. With his head tugged back, neck taut for slicing, his nostrils flared with each heaving breath he exhaled.

“Go ahead and kill me. Both you cunts are dead when our pack brothers find out.”

A grin stretched Ayden’s lips. “Oh I don’t plan to kill you. I’ve got some very persuasive friends who will surely get you to talk. By any means necessary.”

Calix’s Bentley rolled up at that moment, and the black-tinted passenger window rolled down, revealing Gavin’s handsome smile.

“Good evening, ladies. Might I take this shithead off your hands for you?”

At the flash of red in Gavin’s eyes, the blond squirmed in Calla’s grip. “Let me go!”

Calla placed a hand over his mouth, muffling his demand.

“With pleasure.” Ayden opened the trunk of the car as Calix rounded the vehicle, helped Calla drag the blond along and threw him inside. She held him down and cranked the knife into his shoulder then yanked it out.

“Ah fuck!” The blond twisted inside the trunk and sat up at the same time Calix slammed it shut. The thunk made Calla’s shoulders bunch a moment, nose scrunched at the thought of what he’d hit.

“Stay warm, asshole,” Calla said, wiping her hands together.

Both women stood watching as Calix hopped into the driver’s seat and gave a salute through the window before the Bentley drove off.

“Feel like finishing off the other four?” Ayden asked beside her.

“How bout a drink first? My head’s still a little foggy from the Shine.”

“As long as it’s not that fruity shit, I’m game.” Ayden jerked her head and Calla followed her back inside the bar.