Treason (The Grimoire Saga #2) & Heritage (The Grimoire Saga #3), S.M. Boyce - Book Blast

 Kara Magari ignited a war when she stumbled into Ourea and found the Grimoire: a powerful artifact filled with secrets. To protect the one person she has left, she strikes a deal that goes against everything she believes in. But things don’t go as planned.

Braeden Drakonin can no longer run from who—and what—he is. He has to face the facts. He’s a prince. He’s a murderer. He’s a wanted man. And after a betrayal that leaves him heartbroken, he’s out for blood.

To survive, both Kara and Braeden must become the evil each has grown to hate.




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Kara Magari isn’t normal, even by Ourea’s standards—and in a world of shape-shifters and soul stealers, that’s saying something. To the royalty, she’s a loose cannon. To the masses, she’s a failure. But Kara’s arrival in Ourea started a war, and she’s going to end it. 

An ancient isen named Stone takes an interest in Kara’s training, and it turns out he has more answers than he originally led her to believe. In an effort to unearth a secret that might end the bloodshed, Kara instead discovers an ugly truth about her family—and how much she has in common with an infamous mass-murderer. 

Braeden Drakonin has slowly rebuilt his life after the betrayal that tore it apart. His father wants him dead, and frankly, his so-called allies wouldn’t mind that either. Private alliances are formed. Secrets are sold. Tension is driving the armies apart. A single battle will end this war, and it’s coming. Braeden may be a prince, but it will take more than that to survive. He must take the fight to his father’s door—and win.

Buy Links:

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About the Author:

International Amazon Bestseller. Fantasy Author. Twitter addict. Book Blogger. Geek. Sarcastic. Gooey. Odd. Author of the action-packed Grimoire Saga.

S.M. Boyce is a novelist who loves ghosts, magic, and spooky things. She prefers loose-leaf tea, reads far too many books, and is always cold. She’s married to her soul mate and couldn’t be happier. Her B.A. in Creative Writing qualifies her to serve you french fries.

Boyce likes to update her blog a few times each week so that you have something to wake you up in the morning.

Connect with the Author:

Website I Facebook I Twitter I Goodreads

Giveaway:

One Lucky Winner will get a Signed Copy of Lichgates (Grimoire Saga #1) by S.M.Boyce. 

Giveaway Open to US Residents Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lichgates (TheGrimoire Saga #1), S.M. Boyce - Book Blast

Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things—Ourea.
Kara, a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her in a sunken library. With no way out, she opens an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by Ourea's royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old conflict—a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her undoing.
For twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.

About the Author:

International Amazon Bestseller. Fantasy Author. Twitter addict. Book Blogger. Geek. Sarcastic. Gooey. Odd. Author of the action-packed Grimoire Saga.

S.M. Boyce is a novelist who loves ghosts, magic, and spooky things. She prefers loose-leaf tea, reads far too many books, and is always cold. She’s married to her soul mate and couldn’t be happier. Her B.A. in Creative Writing qualifies her to serve you french fries.

Boyce likes to update her blog a few times each week so that you have something to wake you up in the morning.

Connect with the Author:

Website I Facebook I Twitter I Goodreads

Giveaway:

One Lucky Winner will get a Signed Copy of Lichgates (Grimoire Saga #1) by S.M.Boyce. 

Giveaway Open to US Residents Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nosetalgia (My Name is My Name, Track #10), Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar - The Review

...this is timeless, simply 'cos it's honest

                         9.4

Two dope emcees illustrate the dope game from the perspectives of a dealer and a washed up dealer's son.

The Concept

Cocaine, coke, crack, dope.

It's a fact of life in the hood.

Who better to speak on it than Pusha T, a former dope boy who still celebrates (and always has since appearing on the hip hop scene) his association with the dope game, and Kendrick Lamar, a young man grown up around the dope (in his very house it seems) but doing his best to take the other road (a personal anti-drug use stance).

Oh and a dope beat from Nottz.

The Characters, The Cast, and their Craft

Pusha T delivers an honest verse as a successful drug dealer, both as a happy go lucky young kid at school and a happy living, stressed out unrepentant adult, faced at any moment with impending death.

Lamar takes up the role of a washed up drug dealer's son, with an auntie who's hooked on the dope.He also briefly switches into the character of his washed up drug dealer dad.

As for the craft, suffice it to say, they both spit pure honest fire!

The Story

Pusha T uses the imagery of baby powder and nappy rash to clue us in on how early in his life he was introduced to the dope game. He goes on to detail his life as the big man pushing dope at school, getting girls, and generally just living it up. A doctor easing the pain of the hood with his drugs. 

And then as a grown man the stakes are far higher, with death such a frequent occurrence that the only response it evokes is a tattoo of the dead man's name, a bigger chain?, and a redistribution of the dead man's assets - including his girl.

Kendrick Lamar enters the scene with a continuation of the death theme, asking; "you wanna see a dead body?" He then proceeds to detail how the crime and stress involved in the dope game affects a dealer's family. With his auntie hooked, his younger brother crying and he himself having nothing but trouble on his mind all the time. He goes on to speak on how, his dad starts every now and then to get high off his own supply, and resorts to underhand tactics to keep himself in the game but eventually loses it all.

Enter Kendrick as a young man to console his dad with promises of getting him a kilogramme of cocaine and thus making him a rich man however he decides to sell it. His dad is having no talk of his son doing cocaine though and wants to know the meaning of Kendrick's talking out the ass.

Kendrick then tells his dad that he raised him right and the dope he's talking about is himself.

The Resolution

It is easy for a good ear listening to the song as one story, to envision the young drug pushing Pusha T, from the first verse growing up into Kendrick's dad from the second verse.

And then the song becomes a powerful message of how, people in the hood should focus on improving themselves, or their children, and then their professions would become the new dope/cocaine that gets them rich.

The Verdict

The best example of how you can speak about the truth of your life, in a bad or good situation, and use it to inspire (subliminally or directly) your community.

Best song I've heard this year.