Monday, January 25, 2016

Release Blitz: Paradise Fought: Abel by L.B. Dumbar




Title: Paradise Fought: Abel
Series: Paradise #1
Author: L.B. Dunbar
Genre: Contemporary New Adult Romance/MMA
 Release Date: January 25, 2016



Blurb

I'm not a fighter.
I was born into a fighting family. As the middle child, I was overlooked in favor of my older brother.
He took the negative attention, too. In comparison, there's nothing special about me.
I’m not as big as Cobra. I’m not as strong as Cobra. He's the alpha.
I'm a beta.
The second son.
The lesser one.
The one never encouraged to fight, never encouraged to do anything, but stay out of my father’s way.

I'm not a lover either - but I wished to be – that’s why I needed her.
I met a girl in the pouring rain.
Sounds cliché, but it's true. It changed everything.
Because of love, I learned to fight.

Betas come second, but in this fight, my story is first.




Links to Buy

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






Excerpt

If I thought I was going to make a speedy getaway, I was wrong. My savior caught up to me, half way down the walk, outside the finance building. He was quick and a large hand wrapped around my upper arm.

“Whoa, sister,” he said, slightly out of breath. “You almost got away from me again.”

“What?” I questioned. I had no idea what he meant: again.

“Never mind,” he muttered, his hand still on me. I looked down at it and he immediately released me. My eyes pinched as I realized I didn’t mind his hand on my skin. There was something nonthreatening about him. He seemed rather innocent, studious, actually. His shirt was buttoned almost to the top and tucked into his pants. The sleeves secure at the cuffs. His jeans were snug and hugged him well. He wore dark rimmed glasses that screamed smart. Brown boots looked too new on his large feet. It was like he had the right parts but the wrong combination.

His blue eyes were soft and easy to look into. They practically spoke to me, but I had no idea what he was saying. His dark hair was disheveled, a bit shaggy, but cool looking. He kind of looked like a pop star, which was a little too sugar sweet for me. His form was questionable. It was hard to tell what kind of body he had under those clothes. He looked rather preppy, like half the guys at this university. I didn’t want to think about it. I’d just sold my soul for another semester.

“So when do you want to do this?” I asked. His blank stare told me he had no idea what I meant.

“Us,” I said, pointing between him and me.

“I…” His voice trailed off as he gawked at me. His expression changed from confusion to shock.

“I didn’t buy you to sleep with you,” he said, a touch of disbelief in his voice. His face turned crimson, then fell. “Why, have you done that before?” It was my turn to be surprised and offended.

I turned on my heels and began stomping away from him. He was too quick and he caught me again. His hand on my arm halted me. This time he didn’t release me when I peered down at his fingers wrapped around my bicep.

“Look. I need help,” he blurted. His face pinked a little, and it was sweet. “I don’t need help with sex. I need help with before.” His tone dropped, and he looked side to side to see if anyone would hear him. I took his meaning.

“You don’t know how to do foreplay?” I questioned in a loud whisper, trying to hide my astonishment. How could anyone have sex and not know a touch of foreplay?

His face pinked again.

“Not that,” he said, sounding like a child. “The flirting. The dating. The…other stuff.”

I was stunned. I stared at him, taking in his features again. He was kind of cute, leaning toward the potential for good looking. He couldn’t possibly need help with this request. The confusion on my face made him speak.

“I don’t know how to flirt.” The words swirled between us.

“I don’t understand.” I didn’t. I didn’t know what he wanted from me.

“I need lessons how to be…cool: with girls. Call it a tutoring session. I need to learn how to be…seen.” His voice took on a touch of sadness. He couldn’t possibly be serious. I continued to stare at him. My mouth might have actually dropped open a bit, and I noticed he was watching my lips. It was a little exciting the way he stared at them. I licked them and his pupils dilated, filling in more black over the blue. His expression changed. Knowingly, he blinked when he realized I was teasing him. His lip quirked up and a dimple showed in his cheek.

“I need to date you,” he blurted. “To learn how to do, what you just did to me.”

Review
 
This is the story of a young man that has lived in the shadow of his brother who decide to come into his own anyway he can do it.

Abel has suffered the harshest thing a person can experience, the indifference and cruel words of a parent. He has never felt worthy of life and knows he will never be as great as his brother Cain, so he decides to become what he thinks will make his father happy, all the while going to school to be what he wants to be in his mind. He has always been just a part of the scenery at school and has always had his secret love, but she doesn't know he exists. Then the day comes where he sees the opportunity to not only help her but possibly have the ability to show her what he is really all about.
Elma is at her wits end with the way things are going in her life. She has lost her brother, her mother is on a spiral staircase to drunken hell. She works to attempt to have a life and the money needed for school, and with all this going on she never expected to go to register for school only to find out there would be no money for that coming semester. Then a gesture from what she thinks is a stranger begins the turning point in her life.
Let the lessons in life begin. 
The couple come together in a not so general fashion and to say it was an easy route is far from the truth. They have a lot of trauma that stands in the way of them getting what they want and at times. I found myself getting really ticked at Elma for her treatment of Abel, but then I would get mad at Abel for acting the way he did toward Elma. In the end they got it right and become an awesome couple.
Some of the parts of this story broke my heart, to know what these young people were going through and the fact that these things happen to children everywhere, made the way the author wrote this story seem more real and intense. There were times that the recount of their journey left me a little teary eyed. That is exactly what makes a great book. When you can travel the full range of emotion within the space of a few pages, you know the person who wrote it has great things coming ahead.
The side characters in this book added depth to it. I am dying to get Abel's brother Cain's story. 

*** Review by Tammy ***





Author Bio


L.B. Dunbar loves the original legend of King Arthur. Inspired by this classic tale, she pulled over to the side of the road to take notes when it hit her that if King Arthur lived today, he'd be a rock star. A lover of fairy tales, myths, legends, and anything with happily ever after, she loves to read and write contemporary romance. Her Legendary Rock Stars series is complete with the final tale: The Trials of Guinevere DeGrance, but the story began with The Legend of Arturo King. She also wrote The Sensations Collection, which includes five stand alones based on the five senses in a small town setting near Lake Michigan. Raised on one side of that lake, she grew up in Michigan, but now lives on the other side, in Chicago. Mother to four, wife to the one and only, and teacher to hundreds of former students, she looks forward to sharing more stories in the future.



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