Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Blog Tour, Review, & Excerpt: Blood to Dust - L.J. Shen


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His name is Beat, and I should hate him.

Bound, blindfolded and bruised, I'm tied in his basement, waiting for the men who stripped me from clothes and humanity to collect his debt to them. Me.

His name is Nate and I should hate him, but I don't.

I'm not supposed to know his real name, even worse, I'm not supposed to care. He is nothing to me but means to an end. The plan is simple: break free, collect the pieces of my broken soul, kill the bastards and run away.

His name is Nathaniel Thomas Vela, and I've never seen his face, though I hear that it's beautiful.

Behind the rugged and handsome exterior, there's a quiet murderer, a killer who thinks guns are for pussies and ends people with his bare hands.

His name doesn't matter, neither does his face, but what does matter is my heart. And right now, sadly, it's his.

Blood to Dust is a standalone, full-length novel. It contains graphic violence and adult situations some may find offensive.

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Review
5 Stars
I don't have one, but I do have a place I can call my own. It's called revenge, and I will seek it, find it and soak in it.

Prescott "Pea" Burlington-Smyth isn't your average rich politician's daughter, at 25 years old her affluent life is behind her. She's desperate to get revenge against the people who cruelly tore her from her happy way of life. No longer naive, she lives life on the edge, peddling drugs, seeking the perfect opportunity to tear down the men who made it so easy for her father to disown her. Underneath the strong mask she wears she is still a hurt, broken girl. Things go wrong though and she finds herself locked away under the care of two men, held captive with the threat of death from the very same men who stole her innocence away. She won't go down without a fight, starting with profiling the two men watching her, Beat and Ink. They're easy to profile, until she finds instant attraction to the man behind the mask, Beat is so much more than her captor, he could be her savior.
Nate "Beat" Thomas Vela has lived a life of circumstance, now stuck under the thumb of a powerful drug lord, he's doing what he has to do to get out free. At 27 he's a criminal, a killer, and a soldier, watching over a girl he knows has more fight in her body than she shows. He doesn't like the assignment, he doesn't agree with the methods, with harming a girl, but he also can't let anyone else take the job. Something about Pea has his attention, his body responding in a way it hasn't in so long. Then she opens her mouth and as he gets to know the girl, beyond the attraction, he has to question if she's worth taking on the odds for. There could never be a them, but he's not so sure that following Archer's directions is the right path anymore. Can he put his trust in this girl with pretty words and a crazy desire for revenge?
Can they make it through the bloodshed, the death, and the fear and come out alive, together? Is the attraction more or is it just another lie in a long list of deceit?

I gulp as I scan his eyes for the very first time. Honey brown, almost greenish...and full. So full. Full of things I shouldn't see. Of soul. Of pain. Of a story behind a man I mustn't personify.

I am blown away, there is no other way to explain how I feel upon finishing Blood to Dust. I want to ignore the rest of my life and read it again. It's hard to narrow down what it is about L.J. Shen's newest novel that spoke to me so much, because there's no one thing that made this book a 5 star read. Separated into parts or combined as a whole, this entire novel was book perfection for me. The setting is one I know well, but also easy to picture from Shen's descriptive words. The characters are relatable in an odd sort of way, damaged yet strong, full of life and hope. The roles of captor/captive were so well written I could feel as attraction and emotion grew between them, changing their roles, changing their views. Then there's the characters' thoughts and dialogue that all flowed so well together. The alternating POV allows the reader into both Nate and Pea's heads, giving you a chance to feel alongside them. We live the deceit, we feel their fear, their hopes, and we get a very close look at the chemistry that's growing between them. I highlighted more from Blood to Dust than I've ever highlighted in any other book, including school books. I couldn't stop fawning over L.J. Shen's incredible writing ability. I was so captivated by Pea and Nate, I think they're my favorite book couple to date.

She's aiming straight for my fucking heart, this chick. Shot after shot in the dark. And sooner or later, I know, even in the pitch black, she's going to hit her target.

While it's not the darkest book I've ever read, it definitely holds the market for the most deceitful. In a game of cat and mouse, L.J. Shen makes you fall in love with two characters that are vengeful and haunted, yet so beautiful it hurts. Their desire for freedom, to remove the chains that held them to a life that wasn't really living, was so powerful for me, I could feel the desperation. It's a story of the haves and have nots, the choice between right and wrong, and attraction that outweighs any other thought. Blood to Dust is a fast-paced, stunning novel with a twisting, crazy plot and two strong characters you can't help but fall in love with. 

Thin walls, thin floors. This paper house will crumble under the weight of my truth. 

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I suck in my cheeks so that my mouth won’t break into a shit-eating grin of the douchebag variety. My left hand is still on the wheel, while I use my right one to grab the back of her head roughly and pull it into my lap. She unzips me and I help her by lifting my ass from the seat to give her better access. My dick is swollen, stiff and ready to get to know those pinks up-close. She reaches for my boxers and strokes my cock in her hand. It jerks its appreciation in response. I’m still not sure why she’s doing this. We weren’t on good terms when we left Hussein’s house, and I was under the impression she’d let me sweat before letting me into her pussy or mouth again.
Prescott leans farther down, her hot breath on my cock. I roll my head back and fight to keep my eyes open. Crashing into a traffic light would slow us down, but it would be fucking worth it with her mouth on my dick.
Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of blow jobs. Girls usually suck (no pun intended) at knowing the pace and rhythm that works for me. And Pea’s right, most chicks can’t even get half my cock down their throats, anyway. But this is fucking Prescott Burlington-Smyth. I’d take anything she offered me. Herpes included.
I feel her tongue swirling around my tip, painful desire tensing every muscle in my body. Her mouth is sweltering and her silky locks pale, but dirty like her soul, are all over my lap like a sheet of gold. She hasn’t even sucked me yet, but my balls are already tightening, ready to burst.
“Oh, fuck, Baby-Cakes.” I fist her hair and drag her mouth deeper into my groin, lurching myself up from the seat as far as this fucking car allows me, begging for more contact. My head lolls against the headrest and I’m struggling to draw a steady breath. What is it about this girl that makes me forget how to breathe?
She opens her mouth and takes some of me in a leisured suck, then comes up for air. Then she does it again. And again.
After a few minutes of her licking and nibbling through my length, even I have to admit—she gives terrible head. The California highway is potholed, scarred with the impact of earthquakes and the blistering sun, and the car hits bump after bump. Every time it does and my dick meets the back of her throat, she gags with a ghastly sound. She sometimes moves her jaw from one side to the other. I can feel her teeth. It’s like a getting a BJ from a shark. But even though she’s exceptionally untalented at sucking cock, I don’t want her to stop. Her mouth’s on me and that’s enough to make me want to say crazy things to her. Things I’m sure I’m incapable of feeling, anyway.
Ten minutes into the blowjob, Prescott throws in the towel and straightens her posture, eyebrows pinched together. Rage lights up her face.
“You’re not going to come, are you?” Her lips are puffy and bright pink. Just thinking about the fact that they’re swollen because they were wrapped around my cock puts a dark, sinister smile on my face.
“Nope.”
“I thought you said you’re always hot for me.”
“I am.” Is it a good time to tell her she shouldn’t quit her day job as a drug dealer because she sucks like a garbage disposal? “I’m saving my spunk for marriage,” I joke. But she doesn’t laugh. She stares at me seriously, tears pulling at the edge of her eyes. I move my gaze quickly from the road to her face, back to the road. We can’t stop. It’s too dangerous. . .
Fuck it.
I swing onto the shoulder of the freeway, inches from the concrete divider, and lift the handbrake quickly.
“Yo, Pea, what’s up?”
I know she cries. A lot. Over the past few weeks, I saw her pink eyes, the puffy skin beneath her lashes. She cries, but never in front of men. Always alone and in the dark. So why now?
“This is stupid.” She shakes her head, wiping away a tear using the sleeve of my hoodie. Even now, she looks sad, but not helpless. “We need to move. We still have to take pictures for the new IDs.”
“Why are you crying?” I insist. Fuck the fucking pictures.
“It’s stupid, just start the car. We’re running out of time.”
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
She looks out her window, tapping it with her fingertips, obviously embarrassed.
“I’mscadyo mighsto likee me,” she mumbles.
“What?” I move closer, which rewards me with another hit from her stress ball, right into my groin this time.
“I’m worried you might not like me anymore!” She yells, throwing her arms in the air. “What if you decide to ditch me before we get to Godfrey and Seb, or the minute you get your new passport?”
I take her face in my hands without thinking much of it. The need to touch this girl is overwhelming in a way that fucks up every single working cell in my brain. Carefully, I bring my nose to hers, my lips hovering over her pinks, staring right back at her.
“If you think I’d ever bail on you, you’re out of your beautiful, twisted mind. And if you think just because I didn’t come, I don’t find you attractive anymore, you’re a psycho. Because there’s nowhere I’d rather be than between your legs. And if you think that you’re damaged goods because of what those lowlifes did to you, then you’re an idiot. It’s just the opposite, Pea. They built a woman who’s untouchable. So many people have tried, me included. But you’re stronger than anything, which is why we’re sitting in this stupid car right now, chasing freedom. You think I don’t like you?” I breathe into her mouth.
I’m fucking crazy about you.

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L.J. Shen is a best-selling author of Contemporary Romance novels. She lives in Northern California with her husband, young son and chubby cat.

She enjoys the simple things in life, like chocolate, wine, reading, HBO, spending time with her girlfriends and internet-stalking Chris Hemsworth. She reads between three to five books a week and firmly believes Crocs shoes and mullets should be outlawed.


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