Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 9

$25 Giveaway + Excerpt: SECRET BLEND

 

BLURB:

When longtime courtroom rivals Rachel Richards and Brady Craft get appointed to the bench in Bourbon Springs, Kentucky, tempers flare as they are forced to share chambers.

Working closely with the obstinate-yet-sexy Brady is not an attractive idea to Rachel—although she has to admit that Brady himself is pretty damned attractive.

Rachel doesn’t have to run for office to keep her judgeship, but Brady does. He draws a formidable opponent, Hannah Davenport, a wealthy co-owner of Old Garnet Distillery, where some of the finest Kentucky bourbon is crafted north of town along Old Crow Creek and near the historic springs which gave the town its unique name.

And Hannah just happens to be Rachel’s best friend.

As the judicial race heats up, so does the relationship between the judges—so they decide to keep it a secret.

But can any secret be kept in little Bourbon Springs, Kentucky?

SECRET BLEND is the first book in the Bourbon Springs Series, an upcoming nine-book series of smooth, sensual, sexy, slow-burn contemporary romances set amidst the lush and rolling Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass of central Kentucky.

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EXCERPT

“I believe congratulations are in order,” Brady acknowledged as Rachel arrived in his midst. He offered her his hand, and she shook it.

Rachel couldn’t remember the last time she’d shaken his hand or touched him at all. He had a very strong grip, but his hands were remarkably soft. She considered him; even with that five o’clock shadow he still looked pretty damn good that late in the day, and his tousled dark hair added to his allure. He had a latter-day Greek-god quality about him that Rachel had always found a bit too attractive, just a shade too distracting and unnerving.

“Thanks,” she said, feeling herself blush. “I was surprised.”

He nodded, and she figured he had to be thinking you weren’t the only one, sister.

“Look,” he said, placing his drink on a nearby table, “I’ll tell you straight out, but this shouldn’t come as an unexpected revelation.”

“Tell me what?”

“Well, that I plan to run for the seat myself.” Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, come on, Rachel,” he said in a mocking tone. “You can’t be that shocked.”

The pure exhilaration of the day had been destroyed by his pronouncement. She should’ve realized he would run for the bench against her and felt stupid for her naiveté. Taking a deep breath, she stiffened, and stood up straighter.

“Well, that’s good to know,” she said in a flat tone. “Thank you for telling me yourself.”

She nodded to him, turned on her heel, and left. As she walked away, she thought she actually heard the jerk laugh at her.

But then she felt his hand gently pulling on her arm.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jennifer Bramseth is an attorney in the active practice of law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Kentucky native and life-long resident, she lives within ten minutes of the state’s oldest bourbon distillery and works within five minutes of two others. A graduate of Centre College and the University of Kentucky, she loves a good Kentucky bourbon with water and ice.

http://www.jenniferbramseth.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennife...

http://www.tsu.co/jennbramseth

@jennbramseth (Twitter)

jenniferbramseth (Instagram)

BUY Links:

Buy links not yet available; no Amazon author page as yet

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Buy Links

Free on BN

$0.99 on Amazon

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-blend-jennifer-bramseth/1122058332?ean=2940152169447






http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Blend-Bourbon-Springs-Book-ebook/dp/B00YV666B6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8











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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

The author will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you cannot embed the code, please use this HTML link:

Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

Movie Review: San Andreas

Sometimes simplicity works. And that’s what this disaster movie was: simplicity itself. A geologist has been studying ways to predict earthquakes. Her prediction method works and … holy cow, the big one’s coming! Now she has to dodge multiple pre-shocks as she tries frantically to reach her step-daughter and save her.

That’s it. That’s what the movie’s about.

The tension here is pretty much nonstop. There’s a bit of interpersonal conflict going on, but it’s just enough to humanize the main characters as they fight to survive.

There’s no ridiculous scheme to stop the earth from shaking. There aren’t twenty points of view to keep track of. This is just pure, undiluted disaster movie.

I’ve been in the mood for this for a long time; I finally found it.

My only quibble is that the ending was a bit abrupt.

If you like disaster, try this one!

Book Review: Secret Life of a Vampire (Love at Stake, #6)

The undead son of Cassinova has quite a reputation to live up to!

Jack meets Lara when he throws a bachelor party for Ian and things get a bit out of control. Lara, a police officer, is called to the disturbance. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. All Jack had to do was erase her memory. It worked fine on her partner. And the paramedics. And hotel security …

But Lara won’t forget, and she can’t get Jack out of her mind. When a student goes missing from a local university and her roommate shows signs of memory loss, Lara hopes Jack isn’t at fault — and that he can help her find answers.

I have to admit that while the silliness of guessing what Jack was (alien, bionic man, lizard man, etc.) kept me entertained, I’m getting a bit weary of the fact that a man is a vampire is the main romantic conflict. It might work better if the women’s responses were significantly different from one another.

I’d also like to see some movement of the overarching plot. Time to kill the big bad guy and find a bigger badder guy.

But the charm of this series does continue.

Movie Review: Avengers Age of Ultron

This movie contained some laugh-out-loud one-liners. I particularly liked Hawkeye saying, “The city is flying and we’re fighting an army of robots. And I have a bow and arrow. Nothing makes sense.”

Indeed. Nothing made sense.

Honestly, the movie was long, dull, and ridiculous. The plot was thin, the character development almost painful (especially the budding romance between the Black Widow and Hulk — who works awfully well in a team for who/what he is).

During the first movie, I didn’t understand what Hawkeye and The Black Widow were doing in a group that also included Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and The Hulk. This issue was addressed in this movie (point in its favor) but ultimately I don’t feel like they fight in the same league. They have skills, but seriously …

Overall, that was two-and-a-half hours of my life I’ll never get back.

All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire (Love at Stake, #5)

Poor Ian. The man is almost 500 years old, and until recently (book 4, to be exact), he looked 15. Luckily, thanks to a new stay-awake-during-the-day drug, he has aged 12 years, one for every day he stayed awake.

Finally, he is ready to find the love of his life, the woman who wouldn’t have looked twice at him before because he would have looked like her younger brother.

But Ian is looking for love in all the wrong places, as the saying goes. Among other things, he’s determined that only a vampire will do. And he starts his search in a male strip club for vampires.

In a fun new change of pace for this series, Toni knows from the start about the existence of vampires. In fact, she’s trying to find proof of their existence in order to help her best friend and roommate, who is in a mental ward after a vampire attack in the park. She’s attracted to Ian from the start, and a little hurt that he doesn’t think mortals are “good enough.”

Time is Relative for a Knight of Time: Giveaway + Excerpt

Blurb:

Meet Rolland Wright – a seventeen year old orphan living out of his car in rural Woodland Hills, California. Aside from grappling with the fact of being abandoned by his drunken father two years previous following his mothers mysterious murder, his life mostly revolves around finding a warm place to sleep at night. When one day he is attacked by men claiming to have killed his father, Rolland discovers a strange ability to slow the flow of time around him, beginning a journey that takes him to places outside of time, space, and eventually to the early 19th century to fight the sinister General Andrew Jackson. With the help of a rag-tag group of historical and mythical figures with various supernatural abilities of their own (Joan of Arc, Jesse James, etc) known as the Knights of Time, Rolland solves the mystery behind his mother’s murder, falls in love, battles the evil Edward Vilthe – reaper of souls, and finds a home of his own in the paradise known as Eden.

The Time is Relative series chronicles the origin story of the mythical figure Father Time, beginning with the award winning first novel, Time is Relative for a Knight of Time. All dates and events are historically accurate. The participants… maybe not.

TV Review: Continuum Season 1

Available on Netflix Streaming, I present to you for your summer binge-watching: Continuum Season 1!

This show starts off fairly well. A terrorist attack takes down a building and the people responsible are all sentenced to death. Kiera, a protector (future cop), helps with the arrest and is present at their execution. Except, things don’t go as expected. Instead of dying, the 7 terrorists + Kiera go back in time 65 years to 2012.

Kiera meets Alec, a young man who invented her impressive implants and suit, when she tries to call for backup. She doesn’t realize she’s in 2012 yet, and that the only person who can hear her is the boy who invented the technology she uses to kick ass.

After a strong series opener, this show spun its wheels for a few episodes. It even started to feel like a cop drama with a slight scifi element to it for an episode or 3. From the start, I found myself more curious about Alec, the boy who would be king (or the corporate equivalent) than Kiera, a woman who wanted little more than to return to her husband and child and who didn’t have much of a sense of right and wrong beyond the immediate, legal definition.

But even during the cop-drama stage, things were moving. The 7 terrorists did not remain a coherent unit (they never were to begin with) and they slowly developed personalities and agendas. One of them doesn’t even want to have anything to do with violence. He just wants to live his life in 2012, using his knowledge of the past to get rich off the stock market. He ends up becoming an ally of sorts to Kiera, though I suspect he has a hidden agenda. I think they all do.

And the show rallied in the last few episodes! The second-to-last episode and the season finale were incredibly exciting and have me raring to go for season 2, which is also available on Netflix. Actually, 3 seasons are available with a 4th and final season coming soon.

I’d give this show a solid 4/5. The good things about the show are a solid mystery about how events occurring now are shaping the future and the development of secondary characters, including plots and hidden agendas. The one weakness the show has is the main character, Kiera, who by the end of season 1 isn’t much more than a pawn nor does she seem to have any real depth. Maybe the next season will see more growth in her character … it needs to or she’s going to be overshadowed by her supporting cast.

Overall, I really do recommend!

Book Review: The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake, #4)

Jean Luc, famous French fashion designer and vampire, has to go into hiding because people are starting to wonder why he hasn’t aged in 70 years! He decides to his out in Texas, where he meets Heather, schoolteacher, single mom, and aspiring designer. Although she’d prefer to design clothes for real women.

Aside: Has anyone ever noticed that the concept of designing clothes for women bigger around than my thumb is very popular in books, but never seems to penetrate the actual fashion industry? Just saying…

Anyway, Heather is in danger when Jean Luc’s ancient enemy decides she’s his woman. Unfortunately, he’s killed several of Jean Luc’s women in the past, and Jean Luc is determined to save this one.

We also learn in this book that vampires aren’t the only supernatural creatures in this author’s world. There are werewolves too. I like werewolves.

Madison’s Song Cover Reveal

Cover artist: Tamian Wood

Her voice is enchanting; his soul is black…

Madison Carter has been terrified of Scott Lee since the night he saved her from an evil sorcerer – then melted into a man-eating monster before her eyes. The werewolf is a slave to the moon, but Madison’s nightmares are not.

Despite her fears, when Madison’s brother, Clinton, is bitten by a werewolf, she knows there is only one man who can help. A man who frightens her all the more because even in her nightmares, he also thrills her.

Together for the first time since that terrible night, Scott and Madison drive to Clinton’s home only to discover that he’s vanished. Frantic now, Madison must overcome her fears and uncover hidden strengths if she hopes to save him. And she’s not the only one fighting inner demons. Scott’s are literal, and they have him convinced that he will never deserve the woman he loves.

*Stand-alone companion to the Cassie Scot series

Ebook Release: July 15, 2015

Tentative Paperback Release: September 15, 2015

Book Review: Be Still My Vampire Heart (Love at Stake, #3)

This quirky series continues with Emma, the vampire slayer, out to rid the world of vampires. Except the malcontents (the bad vampires) don’t think a mere human could possibly kill them, so they blame the good vampires. Angus, a 500-year-old vampire, is charged with convincing Emma to discard her deadly mission, but first he has to convince her not to kill him.

I’m enjoying the way the books in this series build upon one another. The characters from the previous books are never truly gone, and there are fun new characters being introduced all the time (Dr. Fang, newly turned vampire from the Bronx).