MEDUSA'S HEART by JOEY W. HILL - #BLOGTOUR #BOOKREVIEW

Title:  Medusa's Heart

Author:  Joey W. Hill

Release Date: October 31, 2016

John Pierce has been in covert operations all his adult life. He doesn’t know anything else but that and being a Dom, because that’s how he blows off steam and balances the nagging emptiness inside of him. Since he was a kid, he’s carried around an infatuation that’s grown into an embarrassing obsession. He’s in love with a myth—Medusa

“Mad Merlin” Maddock doesn’t think that’s crazy. He believes in powers deeper and stronger than men or gods, a connecting energy like the oceans. To those powers, healing a broken heart could create a ripple effect in the universe impacting all, even if that heart lives in the alternate dimension of folklore and myth. JP is the first one Maddock plans to send across those lines to bond with the woman he’s always wanted.

JP agrees to be his first guinea pig for two reasons. One, Maddock is so damn convincing, and two, the need for her has tripled since he met the guy. If Maddock can send JP into her world, JP will let nothing stop him from claiming her for his own and healing her heart, because he’s sure as hell she’s the missing piece of his.

He just has to make sure she doesn’t turn him into lawn ornamentation first.

I've always loved mythology.  I've passed the love down to my kids.  From a young age they always wanted me to read about the Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses (and even some Norse).  My son tells me every day that he's going to major in mythology in college (I guess that probably means classics).  I read and loved Larissa Ione's Demonica series and I've read and loved every book I've read by Joey W. Hill so reading this book was a no brainer for me.  

One character in Greek Mythology who always fascinated me was Medusa.  What is her story?  How did she come to be?  And why?  Joey W. Hill gives us a new spin on Medusa's story in Medusa's Heart.  In this book we learn that Medusa is misunderstood.  She's been hurt and she just wants love.  We learn to sympathize with Medusa and understand her.  She's a young girl with a curse.  

Of course, as with most Joey W. Hill books, we also have a sexy Dom.  John Pierce Zeus is an ex special ops soldier who, like me, has an obsession with Medusa (for different reasons than me).  He's strong, confident, and dominant, but he allows himself to be vulnerable with Medusa.  He tells her that he wants to serve her, and in serving her, she will serve him.

I really enjoyed this book.  It was longer than most books I've read lately so it didn't feel at all rushed.  But even with the long length it didn't have slow moments.  The whole book was entertaining.  I hope to read more in this new series.  

I give Medusa's Heart FOUR STARS!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Would you like to read Chapter One of the story?

Find it on the author’s web page here: http://storywitch.com/book-nst-mh along with buy links

An RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award recipient in Erotic Romance, Joey W. Hill has well over thirty titles available in contemporary and paranormal erotic romance. Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids. 

Free excerpts from all her works are available at www.storywitch.com, and additional vignettes, character interviews and graphics inspired by the work are at the fan forum site, accessible via www.storywitch.com/community. Subscribe to her newsletter from her home page and receive the latest info about appearances and releases. 

Though much of her work is BDSM, she has built her reputation on award-winning romances with absorbing characters who not only attract fans of the genre, but readers who would "never" read BDSM romance. "Whatever genre you're writing, if the characters are compelling and sympathetic, the readers are going to want to see what happens to them. It can be the coolest storyline ever, but if the reader could care less whether the hero or heroine survive (in fact, in some cases they may be rooting for their destruction just so they can be done with the darn thing), then it's not a story worth reading."

MEDUSA'S HEART by JOEY W. HILL - #RELEASEBLITZ

Title: Medusa's Heart

Author: Joey W. Hill

Release Date: October 31, 2016

John Pierce has been in covert operations all his adult life. He doesn’t know anything else but that and being a Dom, because that’s how he blows off steam and balances the nagging emptiness inside of him. Since he was a kid, he’s carried around an infatuation that’s grown into an embarrassing obsession. He’s in love with a myth—Medusa

“Mad Merlin” Maddock doesn’t think that’s crazy. He believes in powers deeper and stronger than men or gods, a connecting energy like the oceans. To those powers, healing a broken heart could create a ripple effect in the universe impacting all, even if that heart lives in the alternate dimension of folklore and myth. JP is the first one Maddock plans to send across those lines to bond with the woman he’s always wanted.

JP agrees to be his first guinea pig for two reasons. One, Maddock is so damn convincing, and two, the need for her has tripled since he met the guy. If Maddock can send JP into her world, JP will let nothing stop him from claiming her for his own and healing her heart, because he’s sure as hell she’s the missing piece of his.

He just has to make sure she doesn’t turn him into lawn ornamentation first.

EXCERPT from MEDUSA’S HEART by Joey W. Hill

In this scene, John is sleeping on the beach of Medusa’s island, when she decides to pay him a visit…
* * * * *
His propensity for light sleeping came in handy. He roused fully at her approach, nearly silent though it was. It took a few minutes of patient waiting, of keeping his breath the same steady rise and fall, before she drew even closer. He inhaled her earthy floral scent and nearly interrupted his smooth breathing routine, thanks to the slight give of his cushioned mat which told him she’d knelt and stretched out on her hip directly behind him.
He’d told her he wouldn’t lie to her. Not telling her he was awake wouldn’t fall in that category, would it?
For someone as wary as her, yes, it would.
“I’m glad you came back to see me,” he said without moving or opening his eyes. From the ripple of air along his back, he realized she’d been reaching out to touch him, and cursed his overdeveloped conscience as she drew her hand away.
“You don’t have to talk,” he said. “I’ll just keep dozing if you want me to.”
“Yes. I prefer that.”
He grunted, settling his body further. By some miracle, he did talk himself into dozing, probably because drifting back and forth into an awareness of her was a pleasant surprise every time. Then she touched him.
It brought him instantly awake, but this time, conscience be damned, he kept his breathing and body the same as if he’d been in the world of dreams. Because this was like a dream.
He felt the pads of her fingers and the claws together this time. The curved tips grazed his skin a couple inches above her fingertips. She moved her touch along his shoulder, his back.
“I prayed to Athena for strength. And she sent you. I don’t know what that means. I know what I want it to mean, but my wants… I stopped wanting things. I thought I’d stopped wanting things.”
We never stop wanting things, my lady. We just sometimes stop asking because it hurts too much to not have them. He’d felt that way plenty of times. But he stayed silent, because she wasn’t talking to the conscious him.
That smooth worn rope feeling heralded a snake sliding against his upper arm and down to his hip, then it retreated. The other snakes seemed to be keeping their distance and staying still, for he didn’t hear or feel any others. She slid her touch down to his waist and fingered the waistband, the back pocket of his jean shorts. She was obviously intrigued by the way they fit. When that talon slid along the inside of his waistband in back, inadvertently stroking over the crease between his buttocks, he bit back his natural desire to turn and take over.
Had she ever touched a man by choice? Without fear? He didn’t know, and didn’t want to stop her. He remembered her chiding him for thinking she didn’t know how to fix a wheelbarrow, or what a ribbon was. Reminders that he didn’t know much more of her life and world than she did of his.
“You are awake.”
“Yes, my lady. I didn’t want you to stop.” That was honest, for certain. “I thought if I spoke, you would.”
“You are wrong about your body. The scars only make it more interesting. Many women must have enjoyed looking at you.”
“How about you?”
She poked him with a talon, and he jumped, not expecting it. “You seek compliments.”
“I seek to know if I please you, my lady. You’re the only woman I want to pleasure. Stab me again with those claws, I’ll pinch you in a soft spot.”
He kept his tone mild, slightly teasing, but with the underlying threat still in place. He couldn’t see her face to determine her reaction, but he detected that coveted slight catch of breath, and savored it for the intrigued response he knew it was.
“You have no soft spots I can find to pinch back,” she mused, moving to his biceps. “I like this drawing, between your shoulders.”
The tattoo between his shoulder blades was a tangle of stylized snakes, artfully arranged around the words Medusa’s Heart. He’d first had it done when he was a teenager, a simpler, less expensive design. He’d had it re-inked by a top-rated tattoo artist within the past couple years, but even when the original design was faded, its message had never dimmed.
The heart that beat in his chest was all hers.
Medusa was strong and dangerous, with an underlying fragility that called to him. She was a well-shielded, high-powered and damaged submissive soul, the ultimate test for a Dom who craved that challenge. Who craved her. Go big or go home.
He wasn’t going home.

I've always loved mythology.  I've passed the love down to my kids.  From a young age they always wanted me to read about the Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses (and even some Norse).  My son tells me every day that he's going to major in mythology in college (I guess that probably means classics).  I read and loved Larissa Ione's Demonica series and I've read and loved every book I've read by Joey W. Hill so reading this book was a no brainer for me.  

One character in Greek Mythology who always fascinated me was Medusa.  What is her story?  How did she come to be?  And why?  Joey W. Hill gives us a new spin on Medusa's story in Medusa's Heart.  In this book we learn that Medusa is misunderstood.  She's been hurt and she just wants love.  We learn to sympathize with Medusa and understand her.  She's a young girl with a curse.  

Of course, as with most Joey W. Hill books, we also have a sexy Dom.  John Pierce Zeus is an ex special ops soldier who, like me, has an obsession with Medusa (for different reasons than me).  He's strong, confident, and dominant, but he allows himself to be vulnerable with Medusa.  He tells her that he wants to serve her, and in serving her, she will serve him.

I really enjoyed this book.  It was longer than most books I've read lately so it didn't feel at all rushed.  But even with the long length it didn't have slow moments.  The whole book was entertaining.  I hope to read more in this new series.  

I give Medusa's Heart FOUR STARS!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

About Joey W. Hill

An RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award recipient in Erotic Romance, Joey W. Hill has well over thirty titles available in contemporary and paranormal erotic romance. Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids. 

Free excerpts from all her works are available at www.storywitch.com, and additional vignettes, character interviews and graphics inspired by the work are at the fan forum site, accessible via www.storywitch.com/community. Subscribe to her newsletter from her home page and receive the latest info about appearances and releases. 

Though much of her work is BDSM, she has built her reputation on award-winning romances with absorbing characters who not only attract fans of the genre, but readers who would "never" read BDSM romance. "Whatever genre you're writing, if the characters are compelling and sympathetic, the readers are going to want to see what happens to them. It can be the coolest storyline ever, but if the reader could care less whether the hero or heroine survive (in fact, in some cases they may be rooting for their destruction just so they can be done with the darn thing), then it's not a story worth reading."

MEDUSA'S HEART by JOEY W HILL - #EXCERPTREVEAL

Title: Medusa's Heart

Author: Joey W. Hill

Release Date: October 31, 2016

John Pierce has been in covert operations all his adult life. He doesn’t know anything else but that and being a Dom, because that’s how he blows off steam and balances the nagging emptiness inside of him. Since he was a kid, he’s carried around an infatuation that’s grown into an embarrassing obsession. He’s in love with a myth—Medusa

“Mad Merlin” Maddock doesn’t think that’s crazy. He believes in powers deeper and stronger than men or gods, a connecting energy like the oceans. To those powers, healing a broken heart could create a ripple effect in the universe impacting all, even if that heart lives in the alternate dimension of folklore and myth. JP is the first one Maddock plans to send across those lines to bond with the woman he’s always wanted.

JP agrees to be his first guinea pig for two reasons. One, Maddock is so damn convincing, and two, the need for her has tripled since he met the guy. If Maddock can send JP into her world, JP will let nothing stop him from claiming her for his own and healing her heart, because he’s sure as hell she’s the missing piece of his.

He just has to make sure she doesn’t turn him into lawn ornamentation first.

EXCERPT from MEDUSA’S HEART by Joey W. Hill

In this scene, John is sleeping on the beach of Medusa’s island, when she decides to pay him a visit…
* * * * *
His propensity for light sleeping came in handy. He roused fully at her approach, nearly silent though it was. It took a few minutes of patient waiting, of keeping his breath the same steady rise and fall, before she drew even closer. He inhaled her earthy floral scent and nearly interrupted his smooth breathing routine, thanks to the slight give of his cushioned mat which told him she’d knelt and stretched out on her hip directly behind him.
He’d told her he wouldn’t lie to her. Not telling her he was awake wouldn’t fall in that category, would it?
For someone as wary as her, yes, it would.
“I’m glad you came back to see me,” he said without moving or opening his eyes. From the ripple of air along his back, he realized she’d been reaching out to touch him, and cursed his overdeveloped conscience as she drew her hand away.
“You don’t have to talk,” he said. “I’ll just keep dozing if you want me to.”
“Yes. I prefer that.”
He grunted, settling his body further. By some miracle, he did talk himself into dozing, probably because drifting back and forth into an awareness of her was a pleasant surprise every time. Then she touched him.
It brought him instantly awake, but this time, conscience be damned, he kept his breathing and body the same as if he’d been in the world of dreams. Because this was like a dream.
He felt the pads of her fingers and the claws together this time. The curved tips grazed his skin a couple inches above her fingertips. She moved her touch along his shoulder, his back.
“I prayed to Athena for strength. And she sent you. I don’t know what that means. I know what I want it to mean, but my wants… I stopped wanting things. I thought I’d stopped wanting things.”
We never stop wanting things, my lady. We just sometimes stop asking because it hurts too much to not have them. He’d felt that way plenty of times. But he stayed silent, because she wasn’t talking to the conscious him.
That smooth worn rope feeling heralded a snake sliding against his upper arm and down to his hip, then it retreated. The other snakes seemed to be keeping their distance and staying still, for he didn’t hear or feel any others. She slid her touch down to his waist and fingered the waistband, the back pocket of his jean shorts. She was obviously intrigued by the way they fit. When that talon slid along the inside of his waistband in back, inadvertently stroking over the crease between his buttocks, he bit back his natural desire to turn and take over.
Had she ever touched a man by choice? Without fear? He didn’t know, and didn’t want to stop her. He remembered her chiding him for thinking she didn’t know how to fix a wheelbarrow, or what a ribbon was. Reminders that he didn’t know much more of her life and world than she did of his.
“You are awake.”
“Yes, my lady. I didn’t want you to stop.” That was honest, for certain. “I thought if I spoke, you would.”
“You are wrong about your body. The scars only make it more interesting. Many women must have enjoyed looking at you.”
“How about you?”
She poked him with a talon, and he jumped, not expecting it. “You seek compliments.”
“I seek to know if I please you, my lady. You’re the only woman I want to pleasure. Stab me again with those claws, I’ll pinch you in a soft spot.”
He kept his tone mild, slightly teasing, but with the underlying threat still in place. He couldn’t see her face to determine her reaction, but he detected that coveted slight catch of breath, and savored it for the intrigued response he knew it was.
“You have no soft spots I can find to pinch back,” she mused, moving to his biceps. “I like this drawing, between your shoulders.”
The tattoo between his shoulder blades was a tangle of stylized snakes, artfully arranged around the words Medusa’s Heart. He’d first had it done when he was a teenager, a simpler, less expensive design. He’d had it re-inked by a top-rated tattoo artist within the past couple years, but even when the original design was faded, its message had never dimmed.
The heart that beat in his chest was all hers.
Medusa was strong and dangerous, with an underlying fragility that called to him. She was a well-shielded, high-powered and damaged submissive soul, the ultimate test for a Dom who craved that challenge. Who craved her. Go big or go home.
He wasn’t going home.

PRE-ORDER Today

Amazon US

Amazon UK

An RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award recipient in Erotic Romance, Joey W. Hill has well over thirty titles available in contemporary and paranormal erotic romance. Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids. 

Free excerpts from all her works are available at www.storywitch.com, and additional vignettes, character interviews and graphics inspired by the work are at the fan forum site, accessible via www.storywitch.com/community. Subscribe to her newsletter from her home page and receive the latest info about appearances and releases. 

Though much of her work is BDSM, she has built her reputation on award-winning romances with absorbing characters who not only attract fans of the genre, but readers who would "never" read BDSM romance. "Whatever genre you're writing, if the characters are compelling and sympathetic, the readers are going to want to see what happens to them. It can be the coolest storyline ever, but if the reader could care less whether the hero or heroine survive (in fact, in some cases they may be rooting for their destruction just so they can be done with the darn thing), then it's not a story worth reading."

WORTH THE WAIT by JOEY W. HILL

Title: Worth the Wait

Series: Nature of Desire #9

Author: Joey W. Hill

Release Date: May 30, 2016

Is he worth the heartbreak? At nearly forty, Julie isn’t so sure she’ll ever find a man who is, so she’s vowed that all her big 4-0 decisions will have zip to do with relationships. A successful theater manager, she agrees to travel to North Carolina and help a friend put her erotic performance theater on its feet. Julie has always been curious and drawn to the BDSM world, and now she can safely explore that world in the environment she knows best.

Desmond Hayes is the roofing contractor repairing their rundown theater building, but he’s also a rigger, well-known in the BDSM world for his rope artistry. He’s not just a top, though; he’s a Dom whose unexpected quirks mesh too well with Julie’s eccentric personality and awaken her submissive side.  

From the time he was born, Des has been fighting the odds against him. Because of that, he’s kept his relationships inside the BDSM scene, with clear boundaries. While Julie has almost given up on finding a person worth loving through better or worse—or pleasure and pain—Des never expected to receive that gift. 

He’s not letting that treasure get away—no matter how much rope he has to use to bind her to him.

Read Chapter One and find buy links HERE - http://storywitch.com/book-nod-wtw

“Joey translates the world of BDSM with such intense power and exquisite beauty. LOVE is the most powerful element entwined through the Dominance and submission.”  --Goodreads, Jx PinkLady

“So why do you come to the orchid conservatory?” Julie asked. “What do you like about it, beyond the obvious that it’s amazing?”

Des stopped before a trio of white orchids. “Notice the shape of the petals. When I look at them, I imagine transforming the female form into the same shapes, using rope. I get a lot of ideas from gardens, particularly orchids.”

He traced the air before one of the flowers. “Imagine that’s her thigh, lifted, bound to her ankle. Her back arched, arms behind her so her breasts form this curve here… I’d suspend her, but I’d also twist a rope beneath her, so it would become the stem of the flower and anchor her.”

As he described it, she could see it. “Why does it give you such a charge? It’s not just about tying a woman up so you can do whatever you want to her. Or is it?”

He gave her a quick, very male smirk. “That’s a very important perk. But yes, there are other reasons. I explore a lot of rope disciplines, and one of my personal favorites is semenawa, torture rope. Not as scary as it sounds. It's about contrasting stimuli."

He shifted behind her. "Pull all your hair over your right shoulder."

He could say things in a manner that wasn’t saying them at all, as much as commanding them. What made it so intoxicating was that he pulled it off in such an unexpected moment. Des didn't appear the commanding sort…at first glance. Yet he could compel a woman’s attention with his unwavering gaze, the set of his jaw and an energy that emitted from him even when he was saying nothing at all.

"The other right shoulder." His voice held heat with humor, acknowledging the reason for her distraction. When he shifted closer, his breath stirred the fine hairs on her exposed neck. His body didn't touch hers, but a dense aura stroked her, a cushion of magnetism between two closely aligned bodies, the strength of his interest in her, his desire.

Curving his hand over her hip, he put his lips over the pounding pulse in her throat. A small breath escaped her, a shudder swaying her into a light brush against him. He moved in, and his lips parted, tongue teasing her.

"See how the top part of the orchid is slightly twisted?"

She nodded, her eyes fixed on it. His grip left her hip and cupped her hand, her knuckles nested in his palm. His thumb came over them to press into the flesh at the base of her fingers while his other fingers constricted, capturing her hand fully. Slowly, as his mouth stimulated a thousand nerve endings in her throat, he began to turn her wrist. Not a lot, but his hold and the angle made her gradually aware of pressure and his strength, discomfort edging toward pain. Just when she thought she was going to have to ask him to stop, he did, holding her hand at that unnerving stress point.

His lips created a lot of mad swirling between her chest and the folds of her sex. His inflexible restraint on her hand sent a bolt straight to her core just as powerful. The mix of sexual stimuli had her reaching for his hand on her other hip to steady her, even as things became far less steady.

"Imagine I can tie you in the shape of that flower,” he said, lifting his mouth a fraction from her skin. “I can. You’ll struggle between pain and ecstasy, and I’ll use both to break you into a world of your mind you can't imagine, where every reaction you have belongs to me. I have full command of your senses, your body. You're not even sure if your soul belongs to you anymore. You’re stretched to your physical limits, but you’re aroused, too, not wanting the tension to end.

“Earlier, you asked what kind of Dom I am. That’s your answer.”

WANT TO READ HOW WORTH THE WAIT BEGINS?

FREE CHAPTER ONE: http://storywitch.com/book-nod-wtw

I've read several of Joey W. Hill's Vampire Queen books and several of her Knights of the Boardroom books, but this is the first Nature of Desire book that I've read.  As I've said a lot lately most series are hard to jump into midway through.  I find that I don't understand what I'm reading or who I'm reading about, but Worth the Wait was not like that.  It can definitely be read as a standalone.  I didn't miss anything.  The only thing that reading about the other characters did was make me want to read the other books.  I intend to this summer.  

Des and Julie are not the typical young couple that I read about and I loved that.  I can't really relate to the 20 something floundering women that a lot of books are about.  Not many women can.  Julie is real.  She's experienced some of life and she now knows what she wants.  She's grounded (at least until Des suspends her in his ropes).

Des is not the typical sex god that I read about.  He's referred to as skinny.  But his personality overwhelms you.  He's strong, Dominant, confident, and becomes sexy as you read about him.  He also has a background which made me cry.  

Worth the Wait is a BDSM book, but it's so much more.  Joey W. Hill doesn't just write sex and sexy.  She writes emotions and makes you experience everything her characters experience.  It's real writing, real emotions, and real characters.  No fluff.  

I love Worth the Wait, will be reading the rest of this series, and give the book FIVE STARS!

An RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award recipient in Erotic Romance, Joey W. Hill has well over thirty titles available in contemporary and paranormal erotic romance. Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids. 

Free excerpts from all her works are available at www.storywitch.com, and additional vignettes, character interviews and graphics inspired by the work are at the fan forum site, accessible via www.storywitch.com/community. Subscribe to her newsletter from her home page and receive the latest info about appearances and releases. 

Though much of her work is BDSM, she has built her reputation on award-winning romances with absorbing characters who not only attract fans of the genre, but readers who would "never" read BDSM romance. "Whatever genre you're writing, if the characters are compelling and sympathetic, the readers are going to want to see what happens to them. It can be the coolest storyline ever, but if the reader could care less whether the hero or heroine survive (in fact, in some cases they may be rooting for their destruction just so they can be done with the darn thing), then it's not a story worth reading."