Ad

Friday, July 12, 2013

{BBReview/GIVEAWAY/Guest Post} "Succubi & Incubi Assn., 1: Counterpart" By K.J. Hunter-Brown


Title: Counterpart
Author: K.J. Hunter-Brown
Series: Succubi & Incubi Assn.
Genre: New Adult - Paranormal/Romance
Publishing Date: May 21st, 2013
Cover Design: Redbird Designs


Description:
For twenty year old Maya Simmons, being a succubus wasn't much of a worry. It was when she needed to fulfill the demon inside her that annoyed her. The lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and sex wasn't one she bragged about, especially to the one guy she knew she could never have, Tristan James.

Much of Maya's college life consisted of flirting with Tristan, seeing Tristan, watching Tristan, but never once did she ever attempt to taste the empowering energy that consisted inside him. She wouldn't dare. It almost helped that he had a girlfriend.

But when a threat of Tristan's life comes into play, and a rogue succubus is out to kill, Maya must play detective with her fellow succubus and incubus, Melinda and Daniel, before it's too late. Not only does she need to find out who's killing people, but Maya needs to make sure no one finds out, especially Tristan, and especially the SIA.

Sometimes, secrets become too much to handle. And the one thing Maya always wanted may be within more reach than she thought.

But it could be too late, because the clock's ticking and the heartbeat's slowing.

---

About the Author: 

No one really knows what they're going to be until they actually experiment different things. I did that, and now I know what I want to be.

I could say something like, "I've been writing since I was some young age" but that would be a lie. I have been reading since I was able to understand the word 'the'. So, it really all started when I read book after book, and then soon enough I had read so much books that even I was starting to get sucked into the fictional life.

On a cloudy day, I decided to write my first novel (I didn't really have anything else to do). The thing here is that I'm known to have a weird imagination, and I guess the first time I got told that, was the day I actually realized that I did. Which led me to putting my weird imagination on paper, turning it into a novel, and loving the fact that I actually did it. And had fun with it.

I was born and raised in New Zealand. (Yes, it's that little country beside Australia. No, it's not a part of Australia.) I dream big, and have family and friends that support me with each step I take. I spend a majority of my time reading, writing, watching Sci-Fi movies (I'm a nerd and proud!), listening to music, and going on an adventure with my characters (that's my favorite one). I am also a part-time reviewer on Step Into Fiction (That site totally rocks by the way.)

I believe that if you really want it, you can have it. I'm not saying it's going to be easy because it probably won't be. As for me, I'm excited to go on this journey and introduce everyone to the imagination that is mine, and weird.

Buy Counterpart at: Amazon

---

Guest Post:
First off, I would like to thank Becky for allowing me onto her blog to talk about my writing process and ways that help defeat writer’s block.

Okay, so for everyone, they’re different. For me, I don’t have a ritual. I don’t sit down at a certain time of the day and expect myself to write for so and so hours. I don’t even plan when I write (okay, that’s kind of a lie. I plan five minutes before).

If I were to do all of the above and force myself to throw those words onto a word document, it would just end up with me backspacing every single word and starting over a few days later. It doesn't work for me when I just push it out. I know this may sound weird, but I wait for it to hit me. And it does work. Counterpart took me a little under two months to write, and half of those times I was writing on average 10,000 words a day. But there were times that I just forced myself to write and I never appreciated it as much as I appreciated the work I did when I let it come to me.

But if there are things that I must do when writing, it’s these:

  1. I love sound. I can work in silence, but sometimes listening to the “tap-tap-tapity-tap” gets annoying, so I need music of all things. The TV is okay too, but that does get annoying.
  2. I have to have a coffee beforehand, or in the middle… actually, I’ll only drink coffee while I write.
  3. For some odd reason, I can’t really write when other people are in my sight. And I know that sounds weird, but the presence of another being becomes distracting, so I have to move. Lately though, I've been getting better and I can now write with ONE person in the room. Hahha.
  4. I don’t take breaks until a chapter is done (okay, maybe a few when a good song comes on and I just need to break out singing).
  5. And last but not least, I only write at night. It’s as simple as that. I turn nocturnal when I’m writing. You don’t even know how serious I am with this one. I sleep during the day. Work at night.


Another thing that writers hate is writer’s block. I get this all the time. There is not a week that I don’t have writer’s block. What I do to get rid of it is a lot of simple things that maybe other people could try.

  1. Simply step away for a few minutes and think about it while I’m “pretending” to watch TV.
  2. Maybe I’m hungry? Eggs were my brain food for a long time.
  3. Sometimes I have to just move my legs, because I always write with crossed-legs (like I am right now) and your body just needs to move, so I try walking.
  4. A big one for me and this is related to the above one, but I like to do a little workout. Actually this one is my favorite. When I have writer’s block or when I’m simply bored, I find myself just doing anything that involved pumping my heart up a few beats, and forming a sweat. It helps me because it clears all my thoughts, especially when I’m listening to music.
  5. Another way to get rid of writer’s block is to just think about why I’m in that place to begin with. It could be because I've put in something that really isn't going to fit, and maybe I need to rethink that scene for me to get rid of the block. Sometimes it can be a little thing in my story that’s holding me back from writing more, so when I fix up that little thing, I’m usually back to writing. 

So, I hope any of this interests anyone. This was really fun to share my secrets. Haha. And once again, thank you.

---

Review:
I honestly didn't really know what to expect when it came to Counterpart. I haven't read a whole lot of books about succubi, which now that I think about it I don't know why, so I didn't know if I was going to like Counterpart or not. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book. It's about 400 pages long, but just like I was told by my good friend Ashley, it's a very quick read. The story really grips you from page one and doesn't let go till the end. I honestly found the whole story fascinating and fresh.

I really love Maya's character. I found I related to her very easily and I absolutely loved her snarky attitude. She has a really great group of friends surrounding her, and I loved each of their personalities as well. There was a lot of feeling in this book, which I absolutely adored. I really empathized with Maya and could completely relate and understand how she was feeling at all times. I think that is the one thing that really had loving this book. It made me empathize so much. The second thing that really had me hooked was how well the scenes were described. Every scene was vivid and I felt like I see exactly what K.J. wanted me to see, especially the sex scenes. Even though there is a lot of sex, she's a succubus what do you expect, it never felt too raunchy or graphic. The sex scenes were very well done and I didn't feel like I blushing the whole time or looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody could read what I was reading. Very tastefully done.

In my opinion there are two endings. The "real" ending is a nice book 1 closer. It wraps mostly everything up pretty nicely, but it still shows that there is more to be told in book 2 of this series. It isn't a cliff hanger ending, but it still hints of a lot more to come. Then there is the second ending, as I like to call it. Just after the last chapter there is a chapter in Tristan's point of view during an earlier event in the book, and OMG is it a cliff hanger. At least for me it was. It left me with so many questions, and kept talking about things basically in code. I need to know what the heck is going on! All I will say without spoiling anything too soon is I need to know what that note was talking about. Just know the note Maya will get has to do with something in Tristan's POV and I need to know!! lol

Overall:
I absolutely loved this book! The entire story line was fresh and fascinating. It is a long book page number wise, but it is still a very quick read in terms of how gripping it is. I think the sex scenes were done extremely well. I never felt like I was reading a porno or that it went too far in details. It was tastefully done, but still thrilling. The end was perfect, and the POV chapter by Tristan is a complete cliff hanger. I need to know more immediately. Definitely a great read, I am so happy I got the chance to review it and I am so happy I enjoyed the read so much. I highly recommend picking this book up!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5

---

Giveaway:
There is a really awesome giveaway as well! The prize? THREE e-book copies of Counterpart are up for grabs. Just fill out the rafflecopter below for your chance to win =D

This giveaway is not hosted by Book Bite Reviews.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


**The books cover, description, and info was all provided by the blog tours host Step Into Fiction. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This novel was sent to me in exchange for an honest review for the blog tour.**