Book Blurb:
Climbing the corporate ladder can be hell….
As a collections demon, Zavier grants his “clients” one wish in exchange for their souls. His job sucks, but once you make a deal with Corporate South, they own you. The trouble is, Zavier’s not a very good collections demon, with his tendencies to spurn authority and find loopholes to help deserving clients out of their contracts. He’s under scrutiny from the head of his department, who would quite literally like to see him burn. He just needs to close a simple deal to get upper management off his back. Instead, he meets Ryan.
Ryan is desperately searching for a way to save his dying sister. He doesn’t believe in magic and demons, but he’s out of options. Zavier’s not what he expects in a demon, and even more unexpected is the strong sense of familiarity—very intimate familiarity.
While trying to free Ryan from his contract, Zavier discovers secrets unscrupulous even by South standards. Exposing them could cost Zavier everything, but it might be Ryan’s only hope.
My Review:
Demon of Mine is the first book in author Rayna Vause’s new Hell, Inc. Series and pulled me into a deliciously dark and sexy world of demons and long-lost love. It was remarkable!
Would you do whatever means necessary to save a loved one? Anything? Would you sell you soul to make sure that loved one lived happy and healthy days? Ryan would….and he did just that. But he never thought selling his should would lead him not only into a world of demand, heaven, and hell, but also into a world of love from another lifetime. Talk about a surreal experience. But indeed, Ryan found himself right in that very situation with a demon and supposed former love, Zavier. Now he just had to figure out what to do with all of it…
Xavier never thought he’d see the love of his life – or former life as it stands – again. Nad yet, here he was, granting a wish to that very man and curing all sorts of fates for putting him in this situation. Surely the afterlife couldn’t be that cruel…surely there had to be a way for them to have another chance at love. He sure as hell hoped so…
To say the odds are stacked against these two would be a gross understatement. But maybe, just maybe, with a little faith and some help from the powers that be, love can reign once again.
I adored this story! It was such a fresh and exciting take on paranormal and gave me the excitement back I once had for this genre. Ms. Vause not only gave a fresh spin on heaven and hell, but gave such depth to the two main characters that I couldn’t do anything but devour this book and every word that was written. Beyond all of that, Ms. Vause delivered such a wonderful and emotional love story that was beautiful and sexy. I was so worried for these two and wanting nothing more than for them to find their happily ever after. At times, it seemed like an impossibility but I never gave up…and neither did Ms, Vause.
As I said earlier, I devoured this story and I’m so excited to see what the series has in store for us in the future! I highly recommend this book to both paranormal and M/M fans alike. You won’t be disappointed!
Four-and-a-Half Loves
Excerpt:
Ryan’s heart hammered as he made his way through town heading for home. He clenched the steering wheel in a strangle grip. Tension knotted his shoulders with each block that passed.
“Why me? How did I end up with a ticket to ride on the crazy train?”
“You made a deal with Corporate South, that’s how.”
“Shit!” Ryan slammed on the brakes, his heart leaping into his throat as he caught a glimpse of Zavier in his peripheral vision. A chorus of horns and squealing tires blared behind him.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” He fought to settle his adrenaline-saturated system as he eased his car into a curbside parking spot. Slamming the car into park, he whipped his head toward Zavier. “How the hell did you get into my car?”
Zavier waggled his phone. “This baby can get me in almost anywhere, and once I’ve got your number…” He smiled.
Ryan stared at the phone, then dropped his chin to his chest. “You’ve got me LoJacked. Great. I should’ve known.”
Zavier shrugged. “Look, I’m not stalking you—”
“Hah!”
“I’m not, and I don’t want to scare you either. I just want to talk to you. Get to know you again. You can’t understand what it means to me, finding you, and I really wish you’d stop running from me.”
“I’m not running. I’m trying to get some distance so I can think.”
Zavier raised a brow. “And that’s not running how?”
“Give me a break. You’ve thrown a lot at me in a short amount of time. I think I’m entitled to freak out.”
“Please. Stop making excuses. If you’d stay put and listen for five damn minutes, maybe you’d actually get some answers.”
Ryan shifted his gaze away from Zavier. He watched pedestrians making their way down the sidewalks of Main Street. He rested his forehead against the steering wheel. “Someone like Jason, he’d handle this better. He’s always believed in the outrageous. To me, you’re the stuff of books and movies.”
When Zavier spoke, his words were quiet. “You’re not the only one who’s been thrown by this.”
Ryan looked up, and Zavier’s intense brown gaze locked on his.
“The love of my life. The man I became a demon for is somehow sitting right next to me. I’m looking into his green eyes. That’s huge. When I shook your hand, our life together came back to me. All the memories, all the emotions, they burst through the barrier South put in my head and returned in an amazing and terrifying flood.” Zavier reached out, hesitated, then balled his hand into a fist and laid it in his lap.
A lump formed in Ryan’s throat. Something deep inside yearned for that touch.
“I’ve been a miserable bastard for so long, and now I know why. I want that life back. I want to hold you and never let go, but if I tried I know you’d—well you wouldn’t be receptive.” Zavier’s voice broke.
The raw need in the sound punched Ryan in the gut. He squeezed his eyes shut, shielding himself from the hope and longing rolling off Zavier. He cracked the window, needing air. Too many emotions filled his little Prius, suffocating him.
“Question. Is it me you want to hold, or the ghost of lovers past?”
“What?”
Ryan glanced at Zavier. “I won’t be someone else. Not for you, not for anyone. Every time you touch me, it feels like I’m being shoved out of my body and someone else is taking hold. I am not cool with being body snatched.”
Direct link to the book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25790592-demon-of-mine
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1hAMcJV
B&N: http://bit.ly/1hRGYZY
Kobo:http://bit.ly/1KcDVGS |
Dreamspinner Press: http://bit.ly/1UJgrfC
All Romance eBooks:http://bit.ly/1MsRTWG
Giveaway:
Link to Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b4c0001d178
Author Bio:
Rayna Vause loves to craft romances that mix a little action, a little adventure, and, often, a touch of the paranormal. She’s voracious reader and a perpetual student. Rayna has collected more degrees and certifications then she cares to admit and eventually she’ll probably earn a few more just because. She is a proud geek who injects a little bit of her geeky, tech obsessed soul into every story she writes.
When Rayna isn’t busy make up stories, she’s likely indulging her love of video games. Why? Because playing through the action, adventure, and romance in a role playing game is as good as reading a romance novel and is sometimes great inspiration for her writing. She’s a martial artist having studied American Kenpo Karate. She is also a Disney fanatic of epic proportions.
Rayna is a member of RWA, RRW, and a founding member of Liberty States Fiction Writers. She lives in southern NJ, just a bit outside of Philadelphia and shares a home with a cat who thinks she’s royalty.
Find Rayna on the Web:
Website – http://raynavause.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/raynavauseauthor
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rayna_Vause
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1519982.Rayna_Vause
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/raynavause/
After working as a boilermaker in the steel mills in Ohio, KEVIN P. KEATING became a professor of English and began teaching at Baldwin Wallace University, Cleveland State University, and Lorain County Community College. His essays and stories have appeared in more than fifty literary journals, and his first novel, The Natural Order of Things, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. His second novel, The Captive Condition, will be released by Pantheon Books in July of 2015. He lives in Cleveland.
