Isabel Roman's Blog, page 18

#BookBlast Apocalypticon by Clayton Smith @Claytonsaurus

Clayton Smith is a sometimes-writer, sometimes-napper based in Chicago, where he uses neither his bachelor’s in journalism nor his master’s in arts management. He is often calamitous, and good at bacon. He lives with his impressively tolerant wife.
Clayton’s previous works include Pants on Fire: A Collection of Lies and the comedic play Death and McCootie, which debuted at the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival.
Links:WebsiteTwitterFacebook





Clayton will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Blurb:


Three years have passed since the Jamaicans caused the apocalypse, and things in post-Armageddon Chicago have settled into a new kind of normal. Unfortunately, that "normal" includes collapsing skyscrapers, bands of bloodthirsty maniacs, and a dwindling cache of survival supplies. After watching his family, friends, and most of the non-sadistic elements of society crumble around him, Patrick decides it's time to cross one last item off his bucket list.
He’s going to Disney World.
This hilarious, heartfelt, gut-wrenching odyssey through post-apocalyptic America is a pilgrimage peppered with peril, as fellow survivors Patrick and Ben encounter a slew of odd characters, from zombie politicians and deranged survivalists to a milky-eyed oracle who doesn't have a lot of good news. Plus, it looks like Patrick may be hiding the real reason for their mission to the Magic Kingdom... 


Excerpt:


They stood on the trestles and waved as the train pulled slowly away. Horace blew the whistle in two short bursts and saluted from the engine. When the train had cleared the highway, Ben turned to Patrick and said, “Please tell me you remembered to pack an elevator.”
“Yeah, I did pack it, originally, but then there wasn’t any room for my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, so I took it out. But fear not, young traveler, for I have the next best thing. Rope!” He pulled the nylon rope from his bag triumphantly and let it uncoil over the side of the bridge. It dangled just over the edge of the tracks.
"Brilliant. You brought a really useful three-foot rope."
“Well, I’m going to find a use for it somewhere,” Patrick said, hurriedly stuffing it back into the bag. “You just wait.”
“You think we could jump it?”
“Sure. It’s only twenty feet or so.”
“Are you being sarcastic right now, or serious? I can never tell.”
“This time, I’m being serious, mostly. Twenty feet isn’t that many feet. It’ll probably hurt like hell, but we’ll live. Probably.”
“Words every man wants to hear in a world without doctors,” Ben muttered.
“There are doctors somewhere,” Patrick reminded him. “They’re just not you or me.”  
Where to Buy: Amazon
Paperback

#BookBlast: Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens by Mark Speed @doctorhow_tv

Mark Speed has been writing novels since he was fifteen. His comedy writing has appeared in newspapers as diverse as the London Evening Standard and The Sun, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. He performed his solo comedy, The End of the World Show, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011 and 2012. He is currently working on the five-volume Doctor How series.

Amongst other postgraduate and professional qualifications, he has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from City University, London. In 1995 a chiropractor told him he’d never run again. Sensibly, he gave up chiropractors, runs every day and has completed several marathons and a couple of Olympic-length triathlons.
NLP founder Dr Richard Bandler called him a ‘polarity responder’.

Links:WebsiteFacebookTwitter Goodreads
One randomly chosen commenter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card
Blurb:


Doctor How’s famous megalomaniac brother Doctor Who sold his fictional life story to the BBC half a century ago, painting himself as a lone hero. Disillusioned, their four cousins dropped out. For fifty years, Doctor How has held the line against the forces of darkness and stupidity. And he’s not that happy, since you ask.
Illegal aliens try to hack How’s Spectrel (TARDIS is a very rude word where he comes from), just as he suspects his estranged cousin Where has been compromised. When reports come in of mysterious attacks by alien creatures, Doctor How has to rely on his new companion Kevin, a petty criminal from south London, and Trinity, a morphing super-predator, as he counters this threat to humanity’s existence. Bungling agents from MI16, long desperate to capture the Time Keeper’s technology, hamper How’s efforts to combat the alien menace. Can Doctor How keep ahead of MI16, save Where and combat the alien threat?

Excerpt:


There was a red telephone box on the pavement outside. The light inside was bright – so bright that Kevin couldn’t see in – and yet the light didn’t illuminate the area immediately around it. Even the black letters of the backlit TELEPHONE sign were indistinct due to the brightness of the light behind them. The obtrusiveness of the light made it difficult to see what was beyond it. As he walked slowly past Where’s black cab, he noticed that the telephone box was not reflected in its windows or polished paintwork. Thoughts of vampires crept through his imagination.


“Doctor?” he called.

“What now? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“Well, no.”
Once he’d skirted around the phone box, Kevin could see that the Doctor was somewhat stretched. He was standing on the bonnet of the cab, with the tip of one finger on its badge and the other touching the crown symbol above the TELEPHONE sign, which was at the very limit of his reach.“It’d be a lot easier and faster if I could put my whole hand on both of them,” he said.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing, lad?”
“Um. Is it kinda like when you have to jump-start a car with another one?”
“Yes, it’s kinda like that,” the Doctor panted. “And before you point it out in your own wonderfully literal way, yes: I’m kinda like a time-travelling breakdown recovery service.” He paused to catch his breath again, and winced. “And I can tell you it’s not particularly pleasant being the wiring. Thankfully, Where’s Spectrel should shortly recover enough to be able to take a transdimensional feed off mine. Ouch!”

Where to Buy Amazon

#BookBlast The Maid of Milan by Beverly Eikli @BeverleyOakley

Beverley Eikli is the author of eight historical romances. In 2012 she won UK Women's Fiction publisher Choc-Lit's Search for An Australia Star competition with her suspenseful, Napoleonic espionage Romance The Reluctant Bride, which has just been shortlisted by Australian Romance Readers for Favourite Historical in 2013.
In 2011 she was nominated for an ARRA award for her Regency romance A Little Deception, and in 2012 for her racy Regency Romp, Rake’s Honour, written under her Beverley Oakley pseudonym.
Eikli wrote her first romance when she was seventeen. However, drowning the heroine on the last page was, she discovered, not in the spirit of the genre so her romance-writing career ground to a halt and she became a journalist.
After throwing in her job on South Australia's metropolitan daily The Advertiser to manage a luxury safari lodge in the Okavango Delta, in Botswana, she discovered a new world of romance and adventure in a thatched cottage in the middle of a mopane forest with the handsome Norwegian bush pilot she met around a camp fire.
Twenty years later, after exploring the world in the back of Cessna 404s and CASA 212s as an airborne geophysical survey operator during low-level sorties over the French Guyanese jungle and Greenland's ice cap, Eikli is back in Australia teaching in the Department of Professional Writing & Editing at Victoria University, as well as teaching Short Courses for the Centre of Adult Education and Macedon Ranges Further Education.
Preorder The Maid of Milan at The Book Depository
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Beverly will award a $20 Amazon book voucher and a digital copy of The Reluctant Bride to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. 

Blurb:After three years of marriage, Adelaide has fallen in love with the handsome, honourable husband who nurtured her through her darkest hours.
Now Adelaide’s former lover, the passionate poet from whose arms she was torn by her family during their illicit liaison in Milan six years previously has returned, a celebrity due to the success of his book The Maid of Milan.
High society is as desperate to discover the identity of his ‘muse’ as Adelaide is to protect her newfound love and her husband’s political career. 
Excerpt: The following scene takes place when Adelaide has discovered that not only is she in love with the husband she reluctantly consented to wed, but that she wants him to be in no doubt about her desire to take intimacy to a higher level. Adelaide’s mother has perpetuated a lie to hide her daughter’s sinful past, telling Tristan that Adelaide is an invalid who must be kept calm at all costs if she is not to succumb to hysteria.
‘Addy—?’
Tossing aside the bed covers, Adelaide shifted to make room for him, snuggling against his chest when he yielded slightly, nevertheless terrified of his reaction. She was blatantly seducing – no, trying to seduce – her husband for the first time in her life and she had no idea whether he’d be horrified or delighted. She just knew she had to convey to him her receptiveness for taking intimacy to a higher level.
So far so good. He was breathing more rapidly, she noticed, as he carefully removed his boots. She willed him to hurry. She was on fire. She closed her eyes in anticipation, her mind whirling with all the possibilities of what she might say, but the words with which she’d intended to unburden her heart were lost in the passion of his kiss. Scorching. It shocked her, as did the speed with which he moved now as he caged her body with his, his hands roaming over her as he trailed hot kisses along her jawline, down her neck, across her décolletage. Adelaide arched with impatience, resisting the urge to be the one to unbutton his trousers.
‘God, Addy, I love you,’ he muttered as he gripped the hem of her shift to raise it, nuzzling her neck. ‘I’ve never loved any woman as I love you. Are you sure you want—?’
Her reassurance that she’d never wanted anything so much was truncated by a sharp rap on the door and her mother’s nasal whine on the other side.
 ‘Addy? I’ve brought you something to help you sleep. Can I come in?’
Horrified, she and Tristan bolted upright as the door knob turned.
‘Wait, mother!’ Addy pulled the covers up to her chin as Tristan leapt to the floor, straightening his cravat and pulling on his boots with lightning speed.
‘Why, Tristan …?’ Mrs Henley’s cloying smile didn’t fool Adelaide. ‘I didn’t know you were here. I’m so sorry to interrupt.’
Adelaide felt like seizing the mug her mother carried with such false solicitude and hurling it at the wall. Instead, she hurled herself back down onto her bed with a sob as her husband bowed before leaving the room.

Where to Buy: Amazon Book Depository

#BookBlast Good Together by CJ Carmichael

CJ Carmichael has published over 35 novels and has twice been nominated for a RITA award. She likes to write stories about romance, family and intrigue, usually in small town or rural settings. When it’s time to take a break from the computer, she heads to the Rocky Mountains near her home in Calgary where she lives with her partner Michael and their cat, Penny. If you’d like to learn more about her books, check out her website: http://cjcarmichael.com.


The author and publisher will be awarding a print copy of "Good Together" as well as cool author swag to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US only). 

Blurb:Mattie, the eldest of Marietta’s Carrigan girls, married rodeo cowboy, Wes Bishop, right out of high school and raised twin daughters. A happy life, she thought, but now that she’s in her late thirties and their daughters have left for college, her husband has become strangely distant.
Then one night Wes comes home late from a rodeo—with a stranger’s key in his pocket. He won’t talk, but she knows something is wrong.
When her worst fears are confirmed, the hits keep coming. It seems her husband is determined to destroy everything she loves in this world. Thankfully she still has her sisters, and her home on The Circle C Ranch. But more and more she thinks, not of her roots in Marietta, but of her kind, dependable neighbour, Nat Diamond. Over the years Nat has been a constant in her life, but only as a friend. Is it possible the two of them could become more? But if Nat really does have romantic feelings for her—as she suspects—why does he keep pulling away?
Is there something he needs to tell her?

Excerpt: “What’s going on, Wes?” she asked softly.
He grabbed onto his mug with both of his tough, sun-darkened hands and gazed down into it, his posture sagging with a sort of sadness Mattie had never seen in him before.  “Why won’t you look at me?”
He did raise his head then, but only briefly. Getting up from the stool, he went to the far window. The house had been designed open concept with a seamless transition between kitchen and family area. A river-rock fireplace with a heavy walnut mantel grounded the south end of the room. Large paneled windows to the west and north looked out to the pastures and Flathead Lake in the distance.
Mattie set down her mug next to her husband’s and went to stand beside him. She’d lived with this view for nineteen years, but never took it for granted. From here you could see almost all of their land. And it was beautiful.
Wes shifted, putting an extra foot between them. “Mattie—I’ve been thinking it’s time to sell.”
“What?” This was something they’d never discussed. She wouldn’t even have considered it an option. “But—this land is...” She couldn’t find the words to go on. She’d been raised to consider land the most important and valuable thing in the world. Her father’s ties to the Circle C were blood and marrow deep. And, being married to Wes, she’d come to feel the same way about Bishop Stables too.
“I’m getting too old to rodeo, but I’m not interested in breeding and training Tennessee Walkers. That was Mom and Dad’s thing. Not mine.”
She wasn’t surprised that he was making this admission. She’d suspected as much for years. “But—what about the girls?” This land was their heritage, their birthright. But then an ugly suspicion rose up in her. Unlike her father who had made no secret of his disappointment in fathering four daughters, Wes had never seemed to care that they had no sons. After the twins were born he’d agreed with her that their family was complete. “Would you be saying this if we had a son?”
“Of course... Hell, Mattie, that’s not what this is about.”
She was relieved to hear that. But only for a second. She was beginning to see that he’d been thinking about this a long time, and by the firm set of his jaw, he’d already made up his mind.
Without any discussion with her.
This was not how their marriage worked. At least, up until now it wasn’t.
“But, how will we earn our living? We have four years of college to pay for.”
“Even if the girls could fund college on their own—what about us? How will we support ourselves, not to mention save for our retirement? It’s not like we have a big nest egg set aside.” Making payments to registered plans had never seemed important. After all, they weren’t yet forty.
“The proceeds from the ranch will be enough to take care of the girls.” Wes hesitated. “And you.”
Mattie stared at him. Finally he was looking at her, too, and his eyes didn’t look like Wes’s anymore. They were cold and distant as a stranger’s.
Understanding hit her like a bullet. She gasped, felt a physical pain explode in her gut. This must be what it’s like to die. You’re living your life—and suddenly you aren’t.
When he didn’t say anything, she was forced to put words to the awful thing.
“You want to sell the ranch. A-and you want to leave me.”
He moved restlessly from the window, to the sofa, where he straightened a cushion before shifting to the fireplace. Resting one hand on the walnut mantel, he turned back to look at her. “Yeah.”
Mattie clasped her arms around her torso, feeling a wintery chill, and also, a sense that this simply couldn’t be happening.

Where to Buy: Amazon

#BookBlast The Maison Chronicles, Book 3

BLURBOne scorching-hot lesson could leave her begging for more.
Reeling from the double whammy of her Dom’s abandonment, and accusations of colluding with a plagiarizing author, all literary agent Camille Winter wants is some low-profile, drama-free quality time.
Just as she’s settling into a Maison Domine cabin with her to-be-read pile and a full slate of spa appointments, she finds herself sweet talked into playing topless assistant so some Dominant can run a BDSM educational demo.
Architect Damien Winter is on a relationship hiatus, so he focuses his dominant energies on teaching BDSM classes. A chance encounter in Maison’s parking lot with a woman who angrily insists she’s no sub—though every line of her body screams otherwise—turns shocking when she winds up as temporary replacement for his demonstration partner.
Damien is unprepared for the way her beautiful submission gets under his skin. And Camille never thought she’d fall, hard, for just the kind of man she’s sworn off. But when her ex’s vague threats turn serious, Damien fears he’s already lost the chance to claim her for his own.
Product Warnings: This book contains a fiery woman burned one too many times and the Dom who entices her to submit to the heat between them.
BUY LINKS: Samhain
AmazonBarnes and NobleAmazon UK

AUTHOR BIO:Skylar Kade, self-avowed hedonist and princess extraordinaire, started her writing career after throwing aside yet another romance she could not bring herself to finish. The run-on sentences! The purple prose! Oh, the horror of it was just too much. So she sat down to write her own tale. Her favorite part about writing is the extensive research.
She currently resides in sunny southern California, alternately cursing the polluted air and adoring the weather. Skylar spends her time asking the cabana boys to bring her more mimosas and feed her strawberries while she dreams up her next naughty adventure.She blogs at the SkylarVerse and with the Nine Naughty Novelists.
AUTHOR LINKS FacebookTwitterGoodreads EXCERPTThree hours later, he was on his way up to Maison Domine. With his smartphone calling out directions, he could keep all his focus on the scenery and the satellite rock station he was piping through his speakers. The freeways of LA weren’t much for the view, but once he hit the mountains…wow. It was like the trees drained away all his tension. Or maybe he was relaxing because he was closer to sating his needs.After missing the turnoff the first time he drove by, Damien pulled a U-turn and crept back down the road until he saw the weathered wood sign with an arrow pointing up a narrow, tree-lined road.His car rolled down the long drive, soundtracked by Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle”, then burst into a wide-open clearing with a jaw-dropping view of the surrounding mountains. A large rustic structure took up the right half of the clearing, with most of the rest devoted to parking. More cars filled the lot than he’d expected for a Friday afternoon, but if other Angelinos had had weeks like his, maybe it wasn’t that big a surprise.Parking his car, he wondered what the large building held. Yes, he’d heard other kinksters rave about the private club, but he’d been to his fair share of upscale establishments before. What set this one apart?The answer sauntered across the parking lot, seeming to come from nowhere and heading for the front door. The woman’s body hit him like a wrecking ball. Every sense went on high alert and his heart jacked up its beat.Jet-black hair spilled around her shoulders in soft curls, obscuring her face. Her arms were crossed as she walked, as if warding off the mild day’s nonexistent cold. Slumping shoulders drew more attention to the beautiful hourglass shape of her back, her body encased in a flowing, black dress that clung in all the right places. She looked tall, maybe eye level to his chin, though maybe that was her black combat boots. Not fragile—supple. Warm.And crying. Her shoulders were shaking as she turned away from the building, facing him head-on. His demolition experts had nothing on that look. He wanted to kiss her reddened nose, wipe the tears from under her eyes. He popped open his door and headed for her.The woman’s eyes widened and she froze, a deer in the headlights.Car door open, keys still in the ignition, nothing mattered but this woman. He approached slowly, not wanting to alarm her. “Are you okay?” His voice echoed through the parking lot, though they weren’t that far apart.The dress swirled around her knees, tossed by the wind whipping around the mountaintop. The soft neckline of her dress draped around her full breasts. His palms itched to cup them.She nodded, letting her hair once again hide her face, which looked like it was made of the finest bone china. “Shitty week.”He took a few steps closer, then paused. He saw faint tan lines on her wrist, barely there, that looked like she’d been wearing a bracelet cuff for some time. “Is he really worth crying over?”Her pink lips clamped shut, then opened. “Look, thanks for your concern, but, really, it’s none of your business.” She swiped aside her hair to reveal twilight-blue eyes cracking with anger.Her defiance stroked down his chest and reached for his growing erection. “I’m sorry, but when I see a submissive alone and crying, I make it my business.” He invaded her personal space until she had to tilt her chin up to meet his eyes, but she didn’t back up. All traces of her dejection were gone. Good.The wind pulled at her curls as she jabbed a finger in his chest, like she was digging straight for his racing heart. “I’m not a submissve.”Her nails weren’t painted or manicured, not high maintenance like many women he’d dated. He found it refreshing. Authentic, like her anger. “Not a submissive?” He grabbed the hand that had poked him and raised her wrist to the light. Her pupils dilated and her breathing tightened. Her tongue darted out across her bottom lip and Damien had to restrain a groan. His thumb stroked along her inner wrist where her pulse was jumping like a living thing trying to escape. “How long did you wear his ownership bracelet while you weren’t a submissive?”She tugged at her wrist. A halfhearted attempt, since her other hand was clenched halfway to touching him. Being the ever-helpful Dominant, he closed the space between them, pulling her wrist up to his lips and laying a kiss on the pale flesh of her pulse point.“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.In response, he let her go and stepped back. “I’m proving a point.”She swayed toward him before scowling and taking her own shuffle backward.Her cocked eyebrow made him ache to play her until she begged to submit. She was a sassy thing and they had some chemistry crackling between them—something he certainly didn’t have with Lara, his demo bottom. “If you’re not a submissive, then I’m the Pope.”“That’s your point?” Her jaw ticced and when her hands fisted on her hips, it made her dress strain across her breasts. She looked beautiful when angry.Through sheer force of will he held his ground, keeping the distance between them. “No, sweetheart, the point was that you’re not crying anymore.”Her eyes spit every insult her lips seemed unable to form. It only made his cock harder. He replied with his most guileless smile, which only seemed to infuriate her. With a clench-jawed scream, she pivoted away and headed for the woods.“See you later,” he called as she retreated. Yeah, coming up to Maison Domine early had been a good idea. He’d need the extra time to learn more about this mystery “not a submissive” woman.

irtual Super Book Blast Tour for Good Together by CJ Carmichael

#BookBlast The Riddle of Prague by Laura DeBruce

Laura DeBruce is a documentary filmmaker and writer. She grew up traveling all over the world thanks to her father’s work with the U.S. Embassy. She and her husband spent twelve years living in Europe including Prague, Paris, Amsterdam and London where she found inspiration to write The Quicksilver Legacy Series. In Prague she worked as a lawyer for the first private nationwide television station in the former Communist bloc.  It was there that she fell in love with the ancient city of Prague and its legends. 
She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband and son and an unruly Golden Retriever. 
Website with blog and trailer FacebookTwitter

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What is the first book you remember making an indelible impression on you?
When I was twelve or thirteen, I read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.  As an adult, I see the political underpinnings of the story, and I’m more critical of the author and Dominique, the love interest in The Fountainhead. But as a young girl, I loved reading my first grown-up book. The idea of a strong and independent individual making his (or her!) way in the world with an internal set of non-negotiable morals made an indelible impression on me. 
Do you have any phobias?
The Riddle of Prague starts out with Hana Silna feeling anxious and trapped as she’s strapped into the seat of an airplane that’s about to take off. I know that feeling all too well even though I fly all the time. I have a phobia of spiders and snakes, too, which is an inconvenient phobia because I love spending time on Sanibel Island off the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Sanibel is, literally, crawling with these creatures.

Ever broken any bones?
No.

Any weird things you do when you’re alone? 
I sometimes sing and I talk to my dog.

What is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is probably from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery. “It is only with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” There are variations on the English translation from the French but those words contain the essence of the meaning. I first heard the quote when I was twenty years old. I had just spent two months in Communist-era Poland on a student exchange program, and I was going to meet an English boy in London. I was generally confused about the state of the world and my own heart.  We went to Wales where the heartbreakingly beautiful beaches with swirling sand and wild ponies and broken castles exasperated my disorientation. The boyfriend read The Little Prince out loud to me, and the simple story of the little prince trying to make sense out of the strangeness of the world made me see my own life a little more clearly. The boyfriend didn’t last but Saint Exupery’s words have stayed with me.   

Blurb:When 18-year-old Hana Silna travels to Prague to reclaim her family’s home, she discovers a riddle that may lead to a long-last flask.
The contents of that flask could change the fate of the world. When a ruthless enemy kidnaps her family Hana has to find the flask to rescue them. On her quest she meets a mysterious man with a penchant for poetry, a Gypsy girl with a haunting past, and Alex, an all-American boy who’s trying to save his sister from a crippling disease.   It’s hard to trust anyone when the stakes are this high — especially when surrounded by experts in deception.
There’s only one flask, and Hana desperately needs to find it.
Excerpt:JFK Airport, New York, 1991

My mother says when we face our fears, we tap into a reservoir of courage. I’m not so sure. I’m strapped to this seat like a captured beast, and all I feel is panic. The airplane screams down the runway and thrusts its 800,000 pounds of steel into the sky. We’re taking off in the middle of a thunderstorm. My seatmate, immersed in a book, seems oblivious to the danger.
He’s got curly, blond hair that’s a little on the long side and one of those perfectly sculpted noses, and he’s wearing jeans and a batik-patterned shirt. Early twenties, I’m guessing. Not much older than me. The airplane gives a sickening lunge, and I tug the seatbelt tighter. My seatmate glances over, a bit eagerly, with piercing blue eyes.
“You all right there?” he asks with a crisp, European accent of some kind.
“I’m fine.” I’m not fine at all, but I don’t want to tell him that.
“This is the amazing part.” He gestures out the window, twirling his hand as if he’s conducting the storm outside. “Look!”
“I’d rather not.” The plane shakes, and I grab the armrests.
I’m only on this flight because my mother has inherited a house in Prague. Actually she’s reclaiming a house—the one where she grew up. The one the Communists took from her family when they seized all private property. My mom and dad had to escape when the Soviets invaded Prague in 1968. Now the Iron Curtain has lifted, and the people who left can finally return without being thrown into jail. Unfortunately for my mother, now means surgery and doctors. She’s at a hospital and can barely walk down the hallway, much less haul herself onto a plane. This didn’t matter to the bureaucrats in charge of the restitution of property. If the transfer of the house doesn’t happen immediately, they say it might not happen at all. That’s why my mother is sending me, her only child, in her place. That’s why I’m on this airplane instead of at the hospital at her side, where I should be.
Buy Links: AmazonBarnes and Noble

#BookBlast: Moccasin Trace by Hawk MacKinney

With postgraduate degrees and faculty appointments in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction.



Hawk began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series… murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national attention.  Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series is due out this fall with another mystery-thriller work out in 2014. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012.
"Without question, Hawk is one of the most gifted and imaginative writers I have had the pleasure to represent. His reading fans have something special to look forward to in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Intrigue, murder, deception and conspiracy--these are the things that take Hawk's main character, Navy ex-SEAL/part-time private investigator Craige Ingram, from his South Carolina ancestral home of Moccasin Hollow to the dirty backrooms of the nation's capital and across Europe and the Middle East."

Barbara Casey, PresidentBarbara Casey Literary Agency
Hawk will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Blurb: … it was about the land…a tale of love and loss and hope…

“The most engaging and brilliantly crafted historical work since Margaret Mitchell’s great classic.”
Barbara Casey
Author, The Gospel According to Prissy

Hamilton Ingram looked out across the fertile Georgia bottomlands that were Moccasin Hollows, seeing holdings it had taken generations of Ingrams to build.  No drop of slave sweat ever shed in its creation.  It was about the land…his trust, his duty to preserve it for the generation of Ingrams to come…
It is July of 1859, a month of sweltering dog days and feverish emotional bombast.  Life is good for widower Rundell Ingram and his Hazel-eyed, roan-haired son, Hamilton.  Between the two of them, they take care of Moccasin Hollows, their rustic dogtrot ancestral home, a sprawling non-slave plantation in the rolling farming country outside Queensborough Towne in east Georgia.  Adjoining Ingram lands is Wisteria Bend, the vast slave-holding plantation of Andrew and Corinthia Greer, their daughter Sarah, and son Benjamin.

Both families share generations of long-accepted traditions, and childhood playmates are no longer children.  The rangy, even-tempered Norman-Scottish young Hamilton is smitten with Sarah, who has become an enticing capricious beauty—the young lovers more in love with each passing day, and only pleasant times ahead of them.

But a blood tide of war is sweeping across the South, a tide that might be impossible to stand before.


Excerpt:
He took special care to have quiet times for Sarah, 'specially since night before last. He got real excited when she told him she might be with child again.  She hadn't been sleeping well, often wanted him to rub her aching back.  Now he knew why.
Threadbare clothes and unshorn hair gave Hamilton Bothington Graeme Ingram the look of a run-down, unkempt derelict instead of heir to one of the largest non-slave plantations in Saint George Parish.  He ducked under what was left of the split-rail fence with its crooked corner post.  Rails and most posts had long gone up in the smoke of hoards of campfires.        
"Step wide."  He reached back to help her through.  "I don't want the mother of our children to step on a canebrake rattler catchin' sun on this fine day."
"Lord have mercy."  Sarah clutched her bonnet in her hand so as not to get it snagged in the coiled tangle of wire.  "I suppose it's up to me to get used to your hoverin' over me again."           
"Yep," he grinned.  "Reckon my favorite sweetheart will have to do just that."
"Your favorite sweetheart?"  She giggled, wrinkled her nose at him.  "Just listen to you and your Ingram fiddle-faddled talk."     
He grinned as she brushed back strands of the golden hair Hamilton loved to run his fingers through.  She gathered her mended skirt, slipped her hand into his, and quickly stepped wide over the fallen post.         
"C'mon..."  Her voice lilted soft, and she squeezed her grip on his hand.  "Let's hurry."
Her singular tenderness refused to let the devastation around them blight their few alone-times.  In the spoliation around them, such times when they managed to make it just the two of them held a more-than-special meaning.
Buy Links:AmazonBarnes and Noble 

#BookBlast Emma Calin's Knockout

Novelist, philosopher, blogger, poet, would be master chef. A woman pedaling between Peckham and Pigalle, in search of passion and enduring romance.
Emma Calin writes romance novels and gritty short stories about love and survival in the 21st century. She has published a number digital and paperback books which are available from Amazon worldwide.
She blogs about her dual life in St-Savinien sur Charente in South West France and Romsey, a market town in England. She feels extremely lucky to be able to experience the world and life through these two, very different, lenses. She spends any time she can, when not writng, on her tandem exploring the countryside.
Emma also records and produces audio books and plays the trombone (although not at the same time).
Novels, Short Stories and Novelettes by Emma Calin
Shannon's Law ((Passion Patrol Series - hot cops, hot crime, hot romance)
Steamy police action romance- another in the Passion Patrol Series - available 28th February 2014


Mailing list for latest launch newsBlogWebsite: Facebook: Twitter: About.me  

THIS BOOK IS $0.99 ON AMAZON DURING THE DATES OF THIS TOUR.a Rafflecopter giveaway



Blurb:
KNOCKOUT!
A Mafia conspiracy. A female undercover cop. Her target: international sportsman and playboy Freddie La Salle.
Can she fake it? Can she nail the gangsters before her cover is blown? What happens when his charm kicks in, passion takes control and she falls for this charismatic suspect?
KNOCKOUT! The No 1 Kindle Bestseller from Emma Calin
Interpol cop, Anna Leyton, spirals down into a hopeless vortex of sexual and emotional turmoil as she fights to keep her professional cool. But who is deceiving who in this fast moving ride across continents? What motivates the art loving prize-bull of a lover Freddie La Salle?  An action-filled pulse-pounding adventure novel. A tense and erotic romantic affair. Can a relationship survive when it is founded on deceit? Can she prove her man is innocent? Can she escape with her life and her love?
The power of love and trust stands against greed and crime as conflicting forces grapple for that KNOCKOUT punch.
Authors note: This book is quite 'strongly flavoured' and features uninhibited, but straightforward steamy sexual scenes between consenting adults and true-to-life street language that would occur in high-stress situations.
Excerpt:


from Chapter 1 – Drinks and lies with an irresistible stranger .
“Give me your business card Miss Leyton - I’ll call you to fix all the details.”
Business cards - sure - every sales person always has a pocket full! She thought swiftly on her feet. She could hardly give him a police one.
“I was at a meeting this afternoon and handed them all out so I have none left just now... I was not expecting...”
“A rude stranger who hijacked your taxi!” he interjected.
“Not so rude,” she replied with a look at his masculine face, his tough looking jaw, his bull-like neck and those gentle brown eyes. Although his manner exuded confidence almost to a point of arrogance, those eyes shone out a deep kindness. Everything warned her off this guy. Everything she felt as a woman was sweeping her onwards - as if she had fallen into a raging river of warm seductive water where it was useless to struggle. He finished his beer. She declined his offer of second vodka... but boy did she need one.
“So, I’ll let you go and take your number?” he suggested.
She scribbled her personal cell phone number on a coaster. He took it and stood up, towering above her. His shoulders were twice the width of hers. She found herself staring at his lower abdomen and waist. He had no stomach but was ridged and flat. A little lower was the bulge of his bull credentials. She forced herself to look up and then stood. As if it were the most natural thing in the world he moved beside her and placed his hand on her back.  

Novels, Short Stories and Novelettes by Emma Calin
Shannon's Law ((Passion Patrol Series - hot cops, hot crime, hot romance)
Steamy police action romance- another in the Passion Patrol Series - available 28th February 2014
Knockout! (Passion Patrol Series)
A Mafia conspiracy. A female undercover cop. Her target: international sportsman and playboy Freddie La Salle. Can she fake it? Can she nail the gangsters before her cover is blown? What happens when his charm kicks in, passion takes control and she falls for this charismatic suspect?An action-filled pulse-pounding adventure novel. A tense and erotic romantic affair. Can a relationship survive when it is founded on deceit? Can she prove her man is innocent? Can she escape with her life and her love? Available in print and e-book formats.
The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection
An anthology of stories from the engine room of the human condition. Five stand-alone titles published over the last two years, from No. 1 bestselling short story writer, Emma Calin, combined in this great value 'boxed-set'. Available in print and e-book formats.
Sub-Prime
Two powerless beings are swept together in a transient struggle for survival. Could the human spirit transcend the brutality and indifference of their brief experience before they are once again swept helplessly apart? E-book only.
Escape to Love
A woman on the run from domestic violence with no one but her vulnerable autistic teenage child as a companion, lives in isolation and fear. While her hand to mouth scenarios are played out in the shadow of a threatening suspense, a story of crime and love unfolds around her. E-book only.
 The Chosen
A woman, a man, a van and a plan. What do painting and decorating, Thai brides, self-help manuals and pay-day loans have in common? J.A. knows the answer. Follow his his quest for love and happiness in The Chosen. E-book only.
Angela
A mystery tale of a late night taxi ride where the final passenger may not be all that she seems. E-book only.
Love in a Hopeless Place
A mature woman stumbles into a discovery of herself that she had never suspected. E-book only.
Where to Buy:AmazonAmazon UK

#BookBlast The Price of Sanctuary by Gaylon Greer

Working with traveling carnivals and itinerant farm labor gangs during his teen and early adult years took Gaylon Greer up, down, and across the United States and introduced him to a plethora of colorful individuals who serve as models for his fictional characters. A return to school in pursuit of a high school diploma while serving in the Air Force led to three university degrees, including a Ph.D. in economics, and a stint as a university professor. After publishing several books on real estate and personal financial planning, as well as lecturing on these subjects to nationwide audiences, he shifted his energy to writing fiction. Gaylon lives near Austin, Texas.
 Gaylon’s Web Site:  http://gaylongreer.com/
Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/Gaylon-E.-Greer/e/B000APV4BE/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kxEUXWou4A


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blurb:


Accustomed to a life of privilege, Shelby Cervosier new finds herself running for her life. Accused of killing an American Immigration agent, Shelby has undertaken a mission on behalf of a secretive American espionage agency in exchange for a promise of legal amnesty and political asylum in America. Now, however, the agent who coerced her into accepting the assignment wants her dead to cover up the bungled mission. Two hit men compete for the bounty that has been placed on her head.
Shelby and her younger sister flee into America’s heartland in search of a safe haven. They find only fear and danger, however, when they are captured by one of the assassins, Hank.
Prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her sister safe, Shelby cooperates with her capturer. Deciding that his feelings for them are more important than bounty money, Hank takes the sisters under his wing and secrets then away to his hideout: a farm in a remote corner of Colorado. They become a part of his extended family; they have finally found sanctuary.
Their safe new world is shattered when the second hit man, a relentless psychopath, captures Shelby’s little sister and uses her to lure Shelby and her lover into a middle-of-the-night showdown on an isolated Rocky Mountain battleground. 

  


Excerpt:


With Carmen's legs wrapped around her waist, Shelby held the child close and caressed her back and shoulders. “You remember Hank, don't you, sweetheart?”
Carmen clung tighter, pressing her face against Shelby's neck. “I don't like him. He hurt you.”
Shelby stroked her little sister's hair. “Things were mixed up. He was trying to help us.”
“He's mean. He took you away.”
“He brought me back, though. He wants us to be together.”
Carmen loosened her grip and sneaked a look at Hank.
Shelby reached out and stroked the side of his face. “We hurt him too. He just wants to help us. To love us.”
Hank smiled at Carmen and asked, “Is Snaggly still with you?”
She leveled her grave, shiny black eyes on him and nodded.
“Do you suppose I could say hello to him? I've missed him a lot.”
Carmen turned her gaze back on Shelby.
Shelby set the little girl on her feet. “Go get him. It's all right.”
Mounting the stairs slowly, Carmen seemed to question the wisdom of the move, but she must have reached a decision upstairs. She bounded back down cradling the snaggletoothed, clown-faced rag doll in her arms. As she approached Hank, she slowed but kept moving until she was close enough to pass the doll to him.
Squatting, he turned it one way and then another to examine it. “Looks like he's doing okay.” He twisted the doll to face him. “You having a good time here, Snaggly?” As if he were listening, he nodded and wrinkled his brow. “I'm sorry I acted so mean when I first met you. There was danger, and I needed to get you away from that place.”
Eyes carefully focused on the doll, he nodded again. “Uh-huh. Yes, I liked you more and more as we traveled together. I really hated taking Shelby away, but it was the only way to keep you guys safe. We came back as soon as we could. Shelby loves her little sister more than anything in the whole world, and I love Shelby.”
He shifted his gaze to Carmen. “I'm having trouble understanding what Snaggly says.”
Carmen giggled. Hank held the doll out to her, and she edged closer to accept it.
“Do you think he understands why we left him with Jason and Linda?” Hank rested a knee on the carpet. “Why we had to stay away so long?”
“He kind of understands.” Carmen hugged the doll.
“How do you think he feels about it?”
“It's okay. He likes you a little bit.”
“That's good.” Reaching out, Hank caressed the doll's face. “I like him a lot.”   
Where to Buy: Amazon