Review and Giveaway: Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

My rating: 4.25/5.0

I received this book from the author for a tour stop with Pump Up Your Book Promotion.

My Review:

Sins of the Flesh is a wonderful start to Caridad Pineiro's new Sins series. I was taken in by the story and I am looking forward to picking up where this one leaves off when Stronger than Sin comes out.

Caterina Shaw is an amazing heroine. She has had a tough time of things, but she remains true to her self and strong. I think she makes the perfect heroine because she is smart and sexy, feminine and tough all wrapped up in one. Being all of those things makes her a perfect match for the hero Mick. Mick is tough guy to the core. Former army and currently a man-for-hire, he has morals and he has a family. He is tired of a life of one-night-stands but doesn't think he's good enough for any one woman. The one place where his soft spot shows is with his family. His love for family shines through from the beginning and only a very special woman can break through the walls he has constructed around his heart.

Add to the great hero and heroine a very engrossing plot line and a lot of unanswered questions that are slowly answered and you have an exciting story.

If it doesn't grab you in the first 25 pages I encourage you to continue because I guarantee that shortly after that the story really takes off and then the book is very hard to put down. The different paranormal storyline is fascinating as it explores science experiments and genetics gone wrong more than vampires and werewolves. But it doesn't go into it too deep to bog the story down, it adds just enough to make the story interesting and different. So if you like your romance paranormal but you want a little something different and if you want an amazing (and hot) romance then Sins of the Flesh is the book for you.

About the Book:
Caterina Shaw's days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment-a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body-and she's been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run.

Mick Carrera is a mercenary and an expert at capturing elusive, clever prey. Yet the woman he's hunting down is far from the vicious killer he's been told to expect: Caterina is wounded, vulnerable, and a startling mystery of medical science. Even more, she's a beautiful woman whose innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her exactly how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both . . . for a dangerous group is plotting its next move using Caterina as its deadly pawn.

Giveaway:

I won a really great lunch tote promoting Caridad Pineiro's Sins of the Flesh release on a twitter contest.  When it came I was sent two of them so I am willing to share one with a lucky reader.  I would share my book but it's autographed and I'm hanging on to it.  Just leave a comment and you are entered.  For extra entries you can twitter, follow me on google, rss or twitter.  Just leave a comment with what you do.  The contest is open to the US and Canada and will end 12/15.

Book Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

Announcing: Touching Wonder - A Christmas Radio Special

You are invited to visit uReadBooks.com to listen to this new Christmas audio special!

uReadBooks presents:

Touching Wonder -

A Christmas Radio Special

Does it seem like you have heard the Christmas story a few too many times for it to still hold the wonder that it once had? With his instant classic, Touching Wonder, author John Blase breathes new life into the story of the Nativity. Just in time for the holiday season, uReadBooks.com presents a half hour Christmas special featuring excerpts from this new book.

About the book:

Little children understand how amazing the Nativity story is. But, sometimes, as we become men and women, we put away the childlike with the childish. The result? We lose something vital—the wonder of it all. When author John Blase went looking for the lost wonder of Christmas, he went back to the place he’d last seen it—the stories from Luke 1-2. What he found fills the pages of his new book, Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas (David C Cook, September 2009), with flesh and bone and dust and night and a baby’s cry; the intimate union of human and divine—the Incarnation.

By boldly imagining the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke, writer, editor, and former pastor John Blase has created an instant classic for Christmastime. In a tale that reads like a novel parallel parked by the record of Scripture, Blase beckons those who could use a little wonder in their lives to step onto the stage of history and witness the long awaited coming of the Messiah. With Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible translation as his backdrop, Blase adds his own voice and commentary to the historic events, exploring the renowned drama from an array of viewpoints.

In Touching Wonder, readers will meet a cast of unruly unlikelies—a frightened teenaged girl, a worried carpenter, a collection of senior citizens, a disillusioned young shepherd, even an angel or two—moving toward the realization that the little one just born is the One. This imaginative retelling of the grand miracle will leave readers wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and heart-full. The Lord is come!

In this lovely and distinctive book to be read…and re-read…and pondered in the heart, young and old will recapture the wonder of the Christmas story by seeing through the eyes of those who lived it. The book’s graceful design and Amanda Jolman’s beautiful line drawings combine to make this a thoughtful Christmas gift as well as a wonder that families will treasure for years to come.

Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas

by John Blase

David C Cook/September 2009

http://www.davidccook.com/

http://www.johnblase.com/

To listen to or download the program, visit www.ureadbooks.com/touchingwonder.

Virtual Book Tour: Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

Join Caridad Pineiro, author of the sensual suspense novel, Sins of the Flesh (Grand Central Publishing, Oct. ‘09) , as she virtually tours the blogosphere in November on her third virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

My review is coming later today.  Thank you to Caridad Pineiro for sending and autographing a copy of the book for me to read.  I have a giveaway coming later today also.

About Sins of the Flesh

Caterina Shaw’s days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment – a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body — and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run.
Mick Carrera is a mercenary and an expert at capturing elusive, clever prey. Yet the woman he’s hunting down is far from the vicious killer he’s been told to expect: Caterina is wounded, vulnerable, and a startling mystery of medical science. Even more, she’s a beautiful woman whose innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her exactly how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both . . . for a dangerous group is plotting its next move using Caterina as its deadly pawn.

About Caridad Pineiro

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Caridad Pineiro wrote her first novel in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project – to write a book for a class lending library. Bitten by the writing bug, Caridad continued with her passion for the written word through high school, college and law school. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Caridad’s passion for writing led to a determination to become published and share the stories she loved with others. In 1999, Caridad’s first novel was released and a decade later, Caridad is the author of over twenty novels and novellas. Caridad hopes to continue to share her stories with readers all over the world for years to come.
When not writing, Caridad is an attorney, wife and mother to an aspiring writer and fashionista. For more information on Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com or www.thecallingvampirenovels.com.

Read an Excerpt

The day the music died, Caterina Shaw did as well. Not physically, although she understood the death of her body was inevitable. She had come to terms with that reality some time ago. She had even managed to deal with the blindness caused by the tumor eating away her brain. But then the pain had become so great that it had silenced the music, stealing away the only thing that had made life worth the anguish.
“You understand this treatment is new and uncertain,” Dr. Rudy Wells explained, his voice smooth and comforting. The touch of his hand, warm and reassuring, came against hers as it rested on her thigh.
“I understand,” she said and faced the direction of that calming voice.
Another person abruptly chimed in, his tones as strident and grating as a badly played oboe. “We’ll begin with laser surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor followed by two different courses of gene therapy.”
Two? she wondered and sensed Dr. Wells’ hesitation as well from the tremble that skated across his fingers. He removed his hand from hers and said, “Dr. Edwards believes that we can not only shut down the tumor growing in your brain, but possibly regrow the portion of your optic nerve that the tumor damaged.”
Caterina’s only wish when considering the experimental treatment had been to stop the pain so that she could play her cello once again. So that her last months would be filled with the vitality her music provided.
It was through her music that she lived. That her mother lived, Caterina thought, recalling the passion she had felt as a small child when her mother had played the piano for her; the way her mother’s fingers had coaxed life from the keys much like she now did with a stroke of her bow and the deft touch of her fingers on the strings of her cello.
Or at least like she had up until the cancer had put an end to her music, bringing her life to a close. Except now she was being told something different.
Caterina had never thought about eliminating the tumor. Every prognosis so far had been that she was terminal. Now these new doctors told her not only that might she live, but that she might actually see again too. She didn’t dare believe that she would be able to get her old life back completely, as well as her sight but . . .
“You think I’ll be able to recover? To see again?” Caterina asked, needing to be sure she had understood correctly.
“The risks are great, my dear,” Dr. Wells urged gently.
“But you qualify for the human trials because of the advanced state of your illness, Ms. Shaw,” Dr. Edwards added, annoyance at his partner evident in the staccato beats of his voice.
Her advanced state which could possibly bring death even with this treatment, Caterina thought. Not that she feared her end. What she did fear was letting the pain in her head rob her of the one thing she could not live without.
Her music.
She knew without hesitation that it was worth any risk to regain that part of her. To drive back the illness so she could play her cello once more and reanimate her heart for as long as she had left if the treatments couldn’t stop the tumor.
“What do you need me to do?”

Extras!

For Behind the Scenes blogs where readers can find out about the places where the book is set, you can go to: http://www.caridad.com/books/paranormal/sins-of-the-flesh/

Caridad Pineiro’s SINS OF THE FLESH VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘09 will officially begin on Nov. 2 and end on Nov. 27. You can visit Caridad’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of November to find out more about this great book and talented author!

Waiting on Wednesday - November 25

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week it's another one of my favorite authors who will be releasing a book early next year.  Ever since I picked up Harlan Coben about 3 years ago I have read each of his new ones as they have come out and have worked on his backlist too.

Caught by Harlan Coben

Release: March 23, 2010

Wendy is a reporter on a mission: She's chasing down the lowest of the low-sexual predators-and exposing them on national television. Her big break comes when she nails a child advocate who works with abused and underserved children. She's there, cameras rolling, when the cops cuff him and the guy realizes his life is well and truly over.

Three months later, the perp is off the grid, missing and presumed dead after the father of a victim claims to have killed him. Wendy, proud to have taken the man down in front of a shocked television audience, has moved on to the story of a missing girl, Erin, in a nearby suburb. The whole country is obsessed with finding this child, and Wendy should be well on her way to journalistic superstardom.

Then is all comes unhinged: Wendy gets a phone call that changes everything. A group of local fathers, out of work and not above vigilante justice, begins to take matters into their own hands on Erin's behalf. Secrets long-buried rise to the surface and Wendy begins to wonder if her assumptions that fateful night three months ago were based on solid investigative journalism-or if she has unwittingly been part of a grand manipulation aiming to destroy and innocent man.

So what are you waiting on this week?