Sins & Needles Blog Tour

*I was gifted an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Synopsis & My Review:

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents’ latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.

**The Artists Trilogy is a dark and sexy contemporary ride about three flawed individuals caught in a world where it’s so easy to justify the bad things we do. This is a pure adult read (Not YA or NA). **

"This was a high contrast world and I lived a high contrast life." - Ellie

Sweet Jesus – This book took a toll on me. If my emotions were a person, they would be the person drinking straight from the bottle of Jack; because really, who has time for a chaser or a mixer when you feel like you could cry, scream, and throw things all at the same time?! My emotions don’t.

Sins & Needles is a story about deception, manipulation, justification, and redemption. Ellie Watt grew up being used as a pawn in her parents’ schemes and con jobs, and as if it was in her DNA, she followed in their footsteps and decided to make her living conning men out of money. That is, until she cons the wrong man, and is forced to run back to the only place where she can ditch her alter egos and con lifestyle, and just be Ellie Watt – no schemes, no cons, no games. The only place she can attempt to go legit; Palm Valley. Her plans of making a decent living screech to a halt when she runs into Camden McQueen, her former best friend, and finds out he runs a tattoo business. Correction: a very successful tattoo business. While Ellie sees nothing but dollar signs and sets her plan in motion to con Camden, he devises a plan of his own – one that leaves Ellie with no choice but to agree to his terms, regardless of how dangerous they may be.

You know why I loved this book so much?? Well, one reason I loved this book so much…because it was something foreign to me. This story line was brilliant, and took me to a place I knew nothing about – con artists, fake identities, drug cartels, mafia relations; this story made me experience things I have never come close to being involved with in reality. Sure, it’s nice to be able to relate to the story line and the characters, but every so often you need a book that is purely alien to everything you know; a book that takes you out of your comfort zone. Sins & Needles is that book. The characters were extremely well written, albeit incredibly frustrating at times! Ellie damn near broke my heart when she went through with her plan to con Camden, and Camden kind of scared the hell out of me after he caught her. I mean, this line gave me fucking chills: “I own you, Ellie Watt.”

Sins & Needles by far exceeded my expectations, and I will definitely be waiting on pins and needles until the sequel is released. (See what I did there? Huh? Yeeeeah, you see what I did there). This book will take you on a roller coaster of a journey that will rip you apart, put you back together…and then rip you apart all over again. But it’s worth it; hot damn, it’s soooo worth it!

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Purchase from Barnes and Noble (not available yet)

The Devil's Metal by Karina Halle

(Devils series, book 1)

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid. 

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.

And Dawn has a backstage pass.

*I was given an ARC of this book for review on The Indie Bookshelf. I have tweaked this review a little bit from the original…*

Sex, drugs, and rock & roll; that’s what this book is about. Oh, did I forget to mention demons? Yeah, throw some demons in there, too. Intrigued? Yeah, that’s right, you should be. The Devil’s Metal is an absolute trip that will leave you feeling like you were right there on the tour bus with Dawn, Jacob, and Hybrid experiencing all the highs (literally) and lows with them. Karina Halle perfectly captures the 1970’s lifestyle and uses extensive, but not overbearing details to paint a picture of life during the bellbottom-wearing, Quaalude-popping, rock and roll era. I’m a late 80’s baby, so I never experienced the rock & roll, hippie, Woodstock craziness of the 70’s, but this book made me feel like I was going through the motions right along with Dawn; from living on a sweaty, dirty tour bus to watching the shows backstage to being surrounded by a cloud of pot smoke in the middle of the concert crowd. Karina knows how to paint a picture, no doubt. She also gets a couple extra points in my book for the several Led Zeppelin references (they are one of my favorite bands), and a reference to Lawrence, KS (home of the KU Jayhawks!!) Yeah, I’m a nerd and get excited about things like that; don’t judge me.

There is an omnipresent hair-raising factor that casts a shadow over the entire book that will make you always feel like something just isn’t right; there is just always something or someone that is a little off. There is quite a bit of foreshadowing that leads you to believe maybe the band knows exactly what’s going on and they just aren’t telling Dawn, like this line for instance: “We all lost our souls when we joined this band…” Hmm…do they mean that figuratively or literally?? However, even with all the hints and foreshadowing, the cause behind everything happening isn’t super obvious; Karina picks the perfect moment to pull you out of the dark and bring to light the reasoning behind all these strange happenings…and strange is putting it mildly. I mean, it is just a big bucket of crazy topped with a nice, heaping pile of WTF?!

Karina does a wonderful job of giving each character their own, very distinct personality traits. It’s obvious she spent a great deal of time developing each character into their own, which makes it so easy to love these characters. Well… some of them. The relationship that forms between Dawn and Sage is slow moving, ridiculously teasing, and eventually crazy hot; the friendship between Dawn and her best friend, Mel, is heartwarming, hilarious, and in one particular scene, gut wrenching. One of my favorite lines of the whole book actually comes from Mel when she’s referring to Dawn’s ex-boyfriend: “He’s good for sloppy kisses and cherry popping and looking slammin’ at our prom.” That line makes me laugh every time! Dawn’s relationships with her Tourette’s-ridden brother Eric, Jacob, and the other members of Hybrid add to her likability as well.

The end seriously gave me chills, and I'm pretty anxious to read the sequel. I don't believe this is classified as YA, and most of the material really isn't appropriate for young adults; there is sex, drug use, profanity, and some pretty scary stuff, y'all. The only paranormal books I had read previously involved vampires, werewolves, things like that; I can't remember reading a book that involved demons and all that other freaky jazz that showed up in Lake Shasta, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed that different aspect of paranormal craziness. I'm not big on horror because I'm a big baby, but this book had my interest from almost the very beginning. If you want to read a dark, paranormal, creep-tastic novel with a little romance and a lot of rock & roll on the side, check out The Devil's Metal; it'll take you on one Hell of a ride...

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Not available for purchase through Barnes and Noble

Confetti Covered Quicksand by Amy Asbury

(The Sunset Strip Diaries series, book 2)
Fresh from the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, Amy Asbury is at a crossroads. The grunge scene took over and left her hair band crowd in the dust. Where to go? What to do? It was as if a three year long party had just been broken up and no one remembered where they lived. Everyone was left with an identity crisis. Those who turned to drugs found themselves spinning out of control, especially Amy’s friend Birdie.

The Sunset Strip girls migrated into the mainstream LA club scene and took over the VIP rooms. Read about lots of run-ins with 1990’s stars like Anna Nicole Smith, Pamela Anderson, and many others. What happened inside the clubs? Read about the insane nights of young twenty-somethings on the loose in Los Angeles.

When Amy became overwhelmed by LA, she headed for Aspen, Colorado. Read about the total chaos inside the closed doors of Aspen ski lodges, where cocaine was king. The death of a close friend caused her to sink into an ugly depression. Will she turn to drugs to comfort herself?

This is a true story of a girl in Los Angeles, trying to survive on her looks and struggling with her identity. It is about using drugs and alcohol to cover up pain and humiliation. Can she find happiness in the emptiest, numbest city in the world?

A quote from page 146: “Los Angeles makes me sad. It’s like confetti covered quicksand. You don’t notice you are sinking, because there is always a party going on around you, so sensationally slick and fun.”

Amy finds herself lost, not sure where to turn now that her party scene on the Sunset Strip has officially been taken over by the grunge movement. Does she stick around and become a washed up has-been, does she move? No. She does the only thing that she can think of to keep the party going; she redefines herself and makes new friends who are tuned into the new LA club scene. She manages to make herself an “it-girl” in the club scene, and continues the constant party that her life has become over the past three years. Her life is just as chaotic now as it was during the glam rock scene, which actually surprised me. She’s still hanging out with dancers, getting blackout drunk, obsessing about her looks, and having frequent celebrity run-ins with people such as Tommy Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt LeBlanc, and Anna Nicole Smith.

She finally moves to Aspen, Colorado after having a breakdown, losing a number of her close friends, and trying to distance herself from her friend Birdie, who is now a full blown heroin junkie. As she takes in Aspen, she quotes “I half expected some yodeling son of a bitch to zoom by me on a bobsled or the Von Trapps from The Sound of Music to come frolicking over the mountaintops.” That made me giggle : ) She quickly finds the party scene in Aspen, at which time she finds out the drug of choice that everyone seems to be doing there is cocaine. One guy actually deals coke to his own parents! His own parents! Is this real life?! I was continually shocked reading this book, and I really thought after reading The Sunset Strip Diaries that nothing in this book would wow me the way the stories in that book did; I was wrong.

The stories in this book are just as ridiculous, which just goes to show you that even though the glam rock scene on the Sunset Strip died, Amy still found a way to keep her party alive. It was kind of mindboggling just how much energy she put into completely revamping her look, attitude, and trying not to look “white trash” just so she could keep partying with the “in-crowd.” When one of her close friends died, I was a little bit heartbroken. I kind of had an inkling it was coming, but I just didn’t want to believe it.

Like I said in my review of The Sunset Strip Diaries, Amy’s writing style makes you feel like you’re right there with her experiencing all of this craziness first hand. It’s captivating, scandalous, and incredibly delicious.  

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Purchase from Barnes and Noble

The Sunset Strip Diaries by Amy Asbury

(The Sunset Strip Diaries series, book 1)
There comes a time in every girl’s life, where she has to choose good or choose bad. Amy Asbury chose bad, hands down. Good meant wallflowers, secretaries and subservient wives. Bad meant power – and a possible escape from a life of secrets.

At twelve-years-old she was trying to make sense of a drug-addicted father and his disturbing behavior. By fifteen she was dealing with horrendous depression, blackouts and rape. At sixteen she was in a mental institution for suicidal tendencies and violent behavior. She could never be normal. The only place for a girl like her was Hollywood.

This is a true story of the social ascent (and eventual decline) of a girl in the Sunset Strip music scene of the early 1990’s. From crazy parties to glittered junkies and man-eating strippers, Amy has chronicled what life was like back in the days of excess and debauchery. It is not just a fascinating look into an amusing time in pop culture, but also details the mindset of a young woman trying to find confidence and self-worth in a life full of pain and chaos.

The party came screeching to a halt when the Grunge movement took over and heroin became more prominent. How far off track can a person go before it’s too late?

WARNING: This book contains substance abuse, profanity, and disturbing sexual situations,

This book chronicles the life of a confused teenage girl trying to find her way in life, and desperately wanting to become a part of the party scene on the Sunset Strip. She succeeds, and the stories of her three wild years being a popular staple on the Strip are shocking, somewhat depressing, and at some points even a little bit horrifying.

Amy’s childhood was anything but normal; her mother has completely turned her back on her and acts like she doesn’t exist and she is coping with the realization that her father may have sexually molested her when she was just twelve-years-old. She does however show off her humor to lighten up the book in some situations, whether it’s from her dousing herself in knockoff perfume (where she says “I’m sure I smelled like an old lady’s crotch"), to trying to teach herself about sex by listening to the Beastie Boys album, Licensed to Ill, to finally describing herself as “a giant heaving bowl of crazy with sprinkles on top.” Even through the humor, it was easy to see this was a troubled girl. By the age of fifteen, she had been date raped, videotaped, blackmailed, contracted VD, was bulimic, suicidal and failing school. By the age of sixteen, she had been put in a psych ward twice. That just sounds like the definition of path of destruction.

Her stories while on the Sunset Strip are just outrageous…that’s really the only way I can describe it. She tells of her relationships with glam rockers from various bands like Swingin’ Things, Alleycat Scratch, Glamour Punks, and Big Bang Babies, befriending various strippers (and as she finds out, one hooker), and details partying and frequently blacking out at hot spots on the Strip; The Rainbow, The Roxy, Whisky, El Compadre, and Gazzarri’s were a few of her most frequent hangouts. She rarely worked, never had any money, and relied solely on her looks and mooching off of her friends to support her Hollywood lifestyle. She’s determined to make it to the top no matter what the consequences. She eventually does become a hot commodity on the Sunset Strip, and then the Grunge movement takes over and she soon realizes the whole scene that has been her life for the past three years is in serious decline, if not already dead. Should she stick around Hollywood and live life as a has-been, or should she try to turn her mess of a life around?

I won’t lie; some parts of this memoir are actually rather disturbing. The number of times she gets raped is shocking, and her complete disregard for everyone is just sad. Overall, it was an easy read, and her writing style coupled with frequent diary excerpts makes you feel like you are right there partying on the Sunset Strip with her. You get an inside view of the crazy, glitter-covered Sunset Strip in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and I can’t wait to read the sequel to see just what became of Amy after the death of glam rock. 

Purchase on Amazon Kindle

Purchase from Barnes and Noble