Roxanne Rhoads's Blog, page 285

Torment by LM Pruitt

TormentThe Damned SeriesBook FourBy LM Pruitt
Release Date August 8, 2017
Genre: PNR
Book Description:
Enemies are so stimulating.--Katherine Hepburn
If you can look past the part where they're trying to kill you.
The Damned want my head on a platter. The Winged have similar plans.
As for Morning Star and the Power... well, only They know.
One false step... and everything is lost.
CONTAINS SCENES OF GRAPHIC LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL ACTIVITY. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Amazon
Excerpt:
“You’ll catch cold if you stay out here much longer.”I didn’t turn around, continuing to study the skyline. “I’m fine.”“It’s three in the morning. You should be asleep.” He didn’t sound angry about the fact I wasn’t or the fact I was standing outside in late September in sleep pants and a thin cotton tank. If anything, his scolding sounded as if it was for form and nothing else. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”“Yes.” Now I did turn around, studying Barry with the same intensity I’d shown the various buildings of Prague. “Why are you mad at me?”“I’m not mad.” He pulled a cigar from the pocket of his sleep pants but didn’t light it, staring at the tip for a moment before sliding it back in his pocket. “I’m tired, Julie. As I said, it’s been a long day. The next few days—weeks, rather—promise to be equally long. We all need to sleep, to keep our strength up for what lies ahead.”“You haven’t touched me since we got back.” Since he stood in front of my sister and ripped her heart out and then walked away without a backward glance. “You’ve barely said anything all night long.”“As I said, I’m tired.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh. “There’s been quite a bit of upheaval in the last thirty-six hours or so. Quite a bit. Forgive me if I’m not my usual charming self. You have more than enough people here to pay you attention if you’re feeling uncared for.”“That’s not what I meant.” I turned back to the city view, widening my eyes and blinking rapidly in an effort to keep the tears at bay. I didn’t have a problem with using tears as a weapon when they were called for but I wouldn’t use them with him, ever. “You’re right. It’s late. Go to sleep. I’m fine.”“We both know I’m not going to sleep until you do.” I heard the sound of metal scraping over concrete and glanced over my shoulder to find he’d pulled one of the patio chairs free of the table. Sitting down and stretching out his legs, he said, “As long as you’re here, I’m here.”“Barry—.”“Arguing will only frustrate us both, Julie Elizabeth, and we’ve had enough frustration for the day.” He slid further down in the seat, almost slouching, and crossed his arms. “As long as you’re here, I’m here.”“But do you want to be here?” The question tumbled out before I even realized it was in my mind and I bit my tongue, already regretting it. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer that.”“Come here.” When I didn’t move, he uncrossed his arms and held out one hand. “Please.”Crossing the balcony, I took his hand, curling up in his lap and resting my head on his shoulder. We sat in silence for a few minutes before he cleared his throat. “I don’t know any other way to say it. I can simply say as long as you’re here, I’m here. When you want to leave, we’ll leave.”“And where would we go?” Joanne’s face in the instant after Barry verbally sucker punched her, Asmodeus’s face the second after I shot him, flashed through my mind and I hunched my shoulders as if the memory carried a physical blow. “There’s no place left. We burned all those bridges today.”“The thing about bridges is they can always be rebuilt and when they are, they’re stronger than before they burned.” He brushed my hair away from my face, stroking one hand down my back and pulling me tighter against him. “But since you don’t want to leave, the discussion is moot.”“We’re doing the right thing.”“The right thing done the wrong way is no longer the right thing.”“If there was a way to do this differently, we would have taken it.” We’d tried to take it. We’d tried to meet the others halfway. Nobody—Lilith, Asmodeus, the Power, Morning Star—wanted to bend.So we would have to break them.“After the raids begin today, there is no turning back. You and your supporters will be branded traitors. There will be bounties on your heads.” He pressed his lips to my hair, breathing deep. “On all our heads. You’ve never lived through a war.”It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. “No, I haven’t.”“I’ve been through more than my fair share, even considering my age. When it’s impossible to die from manmade weapons, you tend to fight in wars simply to alleviate the boredom.” He turned, pressing his face in to my hair. “And they’re nothing compared to supernatural wars. So far you’ve only seen the pretty side of Hell. There are things which will be unleashed which should never exist out of nightmares.”“On us or by us?”“Both.” His hand shook as he stroked my back and I wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort me or himself. “Some things can’t be unseen or unfelt. You’ll carry it with you until the day you die.”“Are you trying to scare me?”“I’m trying to warn you. Up until now, everything about this war has been theoretical. Until today, no true shots were fired.” He drew back, his face unnaturally somber, even for him. “I know you did what you had to do and I don’t fault you for that decision.”“But I officially started the war.” I nodded. “I know. I’ll live with it.”“Things will get worse.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “They always do.”“And then they get better.” I had to believe that. If I didn’t, then there was a good chance I was wrecking and ruining lives for no reason at all. I pressed my lips to his, lightly, for comfort more than anything else. “Things will be better. We’re going to make them better.”We didn’t have any other choice.

About the Author:
L.M. Pruitt has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember. A native of Florida with a love of New Orleans, she has the uncanny ability to find humor in most things and would probably kill a plastic plant. She knows this because she's killed bamboo. Twice.  She is the author of the Winged series, the Plaisir Coupable series, Jude Magdalyn series, the Moon Rising series, and Taken: A Frankie Post Novel.
http://www.lmpruitt.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LM-Pruitt/364776895104
https://twitter.com/lmpruitt
http://www.amazon.com/L.M.-Pruitt/e/B00427WOW4/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4320796.L_M_Pruitt

Guest Blog - Stepping into Nightmares: The Personal Truths of Horror

 

As writers, we find the pure essence of our truth in the worlds that we write, in the confines of our genre(s) we are able to rip through the self consciousness we can often feel in real life and get to exploring our ideals, moralities, and beliefs. For me, that genre is horror. Whether horrors of the supernatural variety or the horrors of the human heart, there is something deep and intimate within me that responds to horror in a way that nothing else really has.
I’m the horror fan who finds a sense of enlightenment and spiritual awareness in autumn, when those leaves change, the sky is often dark, and there seems to be a constant layer of mist as I feel Halloween fast approaching. If I’m looking for something to watch on television, Netflix, Hulu, etc. I always go to things about hauntings and horror films. If my husband and I are going to the movies; well, you can bet it’s a horror.

I’ve always been this way. My first exposure to film was horror. I was two or three years old, and Halloween was on television. I snuck out of my room late at night to find family watching it. It stayed with me and for many years growing up, I thought I actually witnessed a guy in a white mask kill an innocent girl in a car. It would be years before I would see Halloween again, at an age where I could separate the fantasy from the celluloid reality, but that night in 1987 planted the seed of horror within me. I was obsessed with vampires, ghosts, and that 80’s icon, Freddy Krueger. All before the age of five.

I was so terrified of these things, and yet, like a car accident I couldn’t look away. In the fairy tales of youth, it was the Big Bad Wolf, the evil queens, and the witches I was most fascinated with and rooting for. I cheered on Darkness in Legend, loved it when Lily became the Gothic queen of the night (sister to the Fates, as she called herself) and I quoted the rhyming goblin Blix whenever I could.

At the age of five Dracula became my spirit animal, and Bela Lugosi and the rest of the Universal Monster actors became my childhood pantheon.

I moved on to chapter books and novels early in life. Kids books never did it for me, and I was an early reader and talker, so the books written for my intended age bracket were too simple and too slow in their use of language. Of course, I immediately went to horror. 

A life long love affair began in those early years and it was horror novels that awakened me to my vocation. Through horror I could get so intimately close to my truths that I understood I was existing in a realm of immense power. 

 As I got older I learned that most people don’t hold the same reverence and respect for the genre as those of us who love it do. Many people look at horror as something with no inherit value, and will avoid it at all costs, or, in the case of literary horror, not even view it as material worthy of being great works of art, which is terribly sad. Because horror done right can be just as powerful as say, Catcher in the Rye.

Horror is a visceral experience. It reaches deep down into you and touches you on all levels. It is really the only genre that can do that all at once. It presses the buttons to every emotion or state of mind that we as humans can experience, and it fires those things off simultaneously, sometimes you’ll feel more than one of these responses at the same time. 

You can feel terror, anger, disappointment, empathy, and relief, sometimes all at once. A good piece of horror will make you as the audience, care about the characters, so you feel a stake in their survival. You also feel a stake in what is going on in their lives outside of the killer/monster/spirit/demon-whatever the threat is-and root for them to come out on top in the end, and when that is taken away, there is no end to the range of emotions you can go through all at once.

It explores morality, goodness and evil, sexuality, loss, grief, and moral ambiguity. Horror is a genre (and all of its subgenres) where a story of terror at its heart is a story of grief. The best haunted house stories almost always begin sprouting from the initial seed of grief that is planted in the earth. Horror allows us to tap into our shadow selves and get so close to it, that you become bedfellows, and it does so while guiding you through a fictional tale, but it is through the comfort of it only being fiction, that we are shown the darker side of our own thoughts. It’s a comfortable release, sometimes shared but always so deeply intimate.

Unfortunately in my career I have seen so much dismissal of the genre. Hell, I’d say it comes in second only to the dismissal of Romance, and so many of those people have such a misunderstanding and preconceived notions of horror books and its authors that it can make for awkward conversation. 

The biggest of these is that we’re weird and disturbed. Something isn’t right in our heads to make us be interested in these dark and brutal things. People think there is something wrong with us. That we’re just slightly off-kilter. We’re morbid and even dangerous. I think many people equate those who love horror-or who produce horror in any kind of artistic way-that we are somehow akin to serial killers and psychopaths. All of these things are so far from the truth. We do find a sense of comfort and a beauty in these darker things, because it allows us to confront our own mortality, and it helps us to confront the dark and the shadows instead of run away from them.

I find a safe space in the horror genre. It is where I can really tap into my reality and my truths, and get to the heart of the issues that I care about. Horror and the supernatural allows me to get to the closest part of myself that I could never do in a memoir, or mundane realistic fiction about everyday life and dramas. I think all of us who love it feel that way, and that’s the beauty of it. We can fear the dark, we can fear the shadows and the very real terrors that can lurk within, but much like the powerful mythology of the Final Girl, we know that in our lives you have to keep moving forward. There is no going backwards. You have to learn and keep moving. 

Horror teaches us all of this and that’s why I love writing it so much. There is wisdom within all of that terror and brutality, if only we’re brave enough to look.

Rise of the NephilimA Blackmoore PrequelMarcus James
Genre: Erotic PNR/Gothic Horror
Publisher: Candiano Books
Date of Publication: 07/24/2017
ISBN:1545039895ASIN: B073q4gb9w
Number of pages: 201
Word Count: 61,272
Cover Artist: Ransom Graphics
Tagline: Sex, witchcraft, and rock and roll on the Sunset Strip
Book Description:
LOS ANGELES, summer of 1987.
Kathryn Blackmoore, the 26 year old heir to Blackmoore World Corp. and the future matriarch of the Blackmoore dynasty of witches has fled the haunted old monied neighborhood of South Hill in Bellingham, Washington looking to trade in a century of rumors, superstition, and her own heartache  for the sun, sex, and music of the Sunset Strip.
Taking up residence in the famed and decaying Chateau Marmont hotel, Kathryn quickly finds herself in an erotic and thrilling journey into the world of Niiq, Arish, and Kuri; members of the band Nephilim, who seem to have the women of the Strip enthralled by their dark and sensuous sound. When bodies begin to turn up all over town and a mysterious and haunting figure fixates on Kathryn, she quickly learns that you can never escape your destiny.
RISE OF THE NEPHILIM is the first of a two part erotic paranormal romance/thriller revealing the beginnings of one of the most captivating characters in The Blackmoore Legacy series. It is a standalone prequel of eroticism, romance, and suspense.
Amazon

Excerpt:
The library was quiet with the exception of the short and humming-to-herself library assistant stacking the books left out or returned through-out the day. The girl was a junior; she was sure of it. She had never talked to her; they had never orbited the same solar system in the day-to-day endless galaxy of Mariner High School, but that didn’t matter.She could still reach inside the girl’s mind whenever she wanted to, and explore everything she kept hidden from the rest of the world. She could travel the fleshy terrain of the girl’s brain and see her hopes and dreams, her fears, her loves, and her longings.She was able to pick out that her name was Tammy. She was a studious girl with dirty blonde curls that hung to her breasts, her skin milk-white and soft, her face delicate and scattered with a dusting of freckles across the bridge of her small nose. Her brown eyes were golden and looked over the spine of each book, scanning their titles and looking up to each aisle to see where they belonged.Kathryn Blackmoore stood from the table where she had been discussing after graduation party plans with her best friend Lila Sifuentes and with her boyfriend Sheffield Burges, excited to finally walk and receive their diplomas and be done with this place forever.She was tall – five feet and nine inches. Her lean body was dressed in a pink-and-white pin-striped collared shirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, the collar popped and buttoned only to her full breasts.A three-tiered pearl necklace glistened in the bright white fluorescents overhead, and her thick shoulder-length feathered mane was a rich auburn that seemed to glow around her like a halo.She gathered her books and began to make her way to the doors to begin the walk through campus back to her home. Her long legs were encased in a khaki, knee-length Ralph Lauren skirt with a slit up the left thigh and a tasseled and thin brown leather belt was fastened loosely around her waist and rested on her hipbones. Kathryn looked at her watch; it was 9:00 p.m. They had been put in charge of the after-party by the entire student body – at least by the Golden Gods, as the popular kids were called – and it was their job to deliver.Somehow by some cruel joke perpetrated by the universe, Kathryn had somehow become one of them. That was a first for her family, and it was no surprise to her that this ascension in the school’s hierarchy was achieved by her relationship with Sheffield. He was one of the kindest and most popular guys at their elitist school, and was a rock star on the Soccer field. It was the school’s claim to greatness and claim to fame. Other schools had football, but Mariner was known throughout the country for their school’s soccer team. In the eighteen years of its existence – as long she had been alive – Mariner was a crowning achievement and had only ever lost three games. Families from the country over, who dreamed of soccer field futures for their children chose Mariner – a public high school – over the best sports-driven private schools.Mariner was a dynasty of Bellingham Washington, and the rite of passage for the exclusive children of South Hill, with their centuries-old Victorian, Tudor, Colonial, and Craftsman mansions that stood on large plots of land between treacherous and almost guard-like evergreens on every street, and sidewalks lined with monstrous oaks and maples. Homes filled with inhabitants of both the living and the dead.Then there werethe Edgemoore kids. Nouveau riche. Most of them were native Californians whose parents moved here in a great rush for cheap land when California’s real estate began to climb higher and higher, and for the chance to get their kid on the Mariner soccer team.Here, on the cliffs on the other side of Bellingham Bay, and staring back at the old genteel mansions, were the castle-like and gaudy estates of Edgemoore.These kids had no respect for the history that still stood in the city, and the almost haunted charm of Fairhaven, that filled the space along the water between these two wealthy neighborhoods. Fairhaven was the last town to merge with the county of Whatcom in 1903, finally forming the greater city of Bellingham. For the city, and everyone in it, there was a difference between the South Hill neighborhood and the rest of Bellingham itself, as if it were still its own town.Connecting the south to the north of Bellingham was the campus of Fairhaven University, which in the 1890s had been the Washington State Normal School. Fairhaven University was carved through the trees and made up of tall, red-orange brick buildings and concrete bridges overpaved pathways in between the green. The city was not unlike Bram Stoker’s description of Transylvania: a place wild and filled with spirits, and fiercer things that lived in the mouth of the Carpathian Mountains that surrounded it.The city was surrounded by cliffs and an endless army of evergreens.Interstate 5 snaked through all of this above the city, so that every exit dipped down into it. Kathryn had grown up here, had been born here, into South Hill’s superstition and paranoia and never-ending fears.South Hill was filled with the descendants of the founding families, and the majority had worshiped at The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.The white wood church with its gorgeous and detailed mammoth windows of stained glass was crowned with a single black-slated roof and spire.The first time Kathryn had ever used her witchcraft against another was the priest who had tried to take advantage of her when she was twelve. It had felt invigorating to watch his body convulse and the blood begin to slip out of his mouth, eyes, and nose – even his ears.When he had hit the floor, his brain fried, she had screamed and run out of the office as soon as one of the nuns and another priest – FatherMalady – opened the door, covering her tear-stained face.It didn’t help anything when she told them what he had been attempting to do when the aneurism hit. She could hear the headmaster’s thoughts, as well as the two nuns and Father Malady, who had sat with his arms folded, his angular and almost rat-like face with his beady green eyes looking at her with a smug grin. They knew she had somehow caused it. She was a Blackmoore, after all; she was a witch and she had used her charms to seduce the priest. To bewitch him and befuddle him and make him lose all of his sense and self-control. She had made him weak on purpose so that she could kill him – to sacrifice him to Satan and make another hit in their diabolical war with the Church.She had said nothing. She wanted to leave and go to Fairhaven Middle School. She was in her last year of junior high and she didn’twant to be in this place any longer, with ruler hits and other obscene punishments. They were more than happy to get her out. Her father,Trevor Mayland, had been the one to insist she go to Catholic School.He feared the Blackmoore name as much as anyone else, regardless of the fact that he had married her mother, Annaline Blackmoore in 1961.He had loved her so much that he had wanted to save Annaline from what he saw as the Blackmoore curse. He thought that she would be far from the devil’s reach if he could marry her and make an honest woman out of her. A God-fearing woman who would go to mass everySunday and keep far from her family’s other practice, aside from Blackmoore World Corp. – a multi-billion-dollar-a-year international company which handled almost all the shipments of goods, most legal and some more questionable, of the entire world – was running the Church of Light, the Spiritualist church that her great-grandmother Aria had started in 1898, where she would commune with the dead, read palm, tarot cards, and tea leaves.It was a place where for a hefty sum, Aria could be hired to work her witchcraft for others, no matter the intention. The Church of Light was then run by Aria’s daughter Fiona, and now her daughter Mabel, her mother’s older sister. Annaline had been too adventurous for that anyways, and so Trevor’s plan meant nothing one way or the other, as Annaline was too much of a wild child, concerned with music festivals and poets and drinking while smoking pot and cigarettes.This fact did not stop Trevor Mayland from worrying about “his girls,” as he called his wife and daughter, and sending Kathryn to boarding school, only a few blocks from her actual home, to only visit on the weekends, was extremely easy for him.Yes, she had had enough at that point, and the death of the priest put a smile on her face – a smile she had to fight back when they almost hesitantly told her that she was finished and would be going back home.They were witches; this was true, and Father Malady had known this. A man of forty-seven, straight from Ireland – in Kilcommon,County Mayo – where the Blackmoores had originated from, and where they still lived inside the great limestone citadel known as Blackmoore Hall on the shores of Broadhaven Bay.Everyone in that part of Ireland knew of the Blackmoores. They believed them to be a family who grew into their wealth because of a pact with the devil, and those who knew them gained fortune or befell ruin simply for knowing them.During the witch hunts her ancestors had fled the Black Moor and built a rustic cottage with a thatched roof along the cruel and wild sea, in hiding from both the evils of Christian men and the even greater and ancient evil that had tormented the clan of the Black Moor for centuries before finally escaping. He was a dark and bloodthirsty God who had tried to make slaves of the clan and had forced them to sacrifice the weak and the innocent to his altar.They had finally escaped him, turning their back on him and refusing to write his name down or speak it from their lips. This went on for two hundred years, until all those who had known him had died, and he had grown weak from being forgotten. They left the moor in the year 1145 and journeyed northwest, as far from the wood and that deity as possible. They were secluded and far from wealthy, and then suddenly in 1845, they began to buy up nearly thirteen thousand acres of land and built a great, almost castle-like home. They were all certain that the family was finally reaping their rewards for the trade of their souls.This had never been the case. The reason for the wealth was far more mundane; Katy Blackmoore of New Orleans – where the familyhad moved to in the 1780s – denounced the family and the many evils that served the Dark God of the Wood who wished to wipe out the Blackmoores, and left for Spain. She returned almost a year later married to Spanish royalty, and bequeathed a fortune enough for a kingdom to her father Tristan, her brother Nicholas, and her grandparents Sarafeene and Malachey, in exchange for being left alone by them so that she could live a normal life.She had lost her mother to her family and their Legacy – the name of their great curse – and she was certain that if she separated herself from her family and lived a good Christian life, never summoning her witchcraft, then she would not lose her husband, and her children would never suffer the loss of a parent, or the feeling of knowing who you were and what you were would end up killing the one you loved.The Blackmoores had agreed and with that money, they made the family flourish. First in New Orleans and Ireland, and then later, the family moved west and north, and all points in between. Spreading out all across the United States, England, France, Italy, and Ireland, in vesting in industry and especially shipping; and acquiring and building fleets upon fleets of ships, until there was no one to rival them.By the time the family had arrived in Fairhaven to begin building their empire in the “Gateway of Alaska,” as it had been known, the residents of the city were openly hostile – being fueled by the legends and superstitions of immigrant priests and servants who whispered about the dangerous and devilish Blackmoores of Kilcommon and their mission to take over the Christian world and hand it to the devil and his fallen angels, wrapped with a big bloodstained bow.It was shit, but superstition is slow to die, and even in 1979, the people of South Hill still feared the Blackmoore name and what it meant if you talked to them. Kathryn had suffered that for so long, and for the longest time, Lila Sifuentes – the only Latina in the school –had been her only friend.Her father had always loved Kathryn, but up until his death a week after the incident – due to the sudden brain tumor that claimed the lives of those who have unprotected sex with a Blackmoore – he had always been slightly wary of her, as if he could see the curse deep under her veins.Unprotected sex with a Blackmoore always seemed to kill seven to twelve years later, and always of a severe seizure and hemorrhage caused by the tumor. Blood pooled from the nose, mouth, and other parts of the face, and the body would convulse. They would be biting their tongues so hard that often they bit the tip off completely. Every witch in her family always hoped and often believed that they would be the Blackmoore to survive the curse, that their lover would be strong enough to beat it back.They always died, and her father had been no different.Kathryn had been dangerously beautiful all her life, with a statuesque body and icy eyes – the palest of blues – and soft olive skin with an always-perfectly-feathered auburn mane lik ealion, and the latest fashions straight out of Vogueclothing her. She had a husky whiskey voice, much like the actress Kim Novak. She had loved Bell, Book, and Candle, so the comparison was flattering; besides, she thought Kim Novak was a magnificent and stunning creature.

About the Author:
Marcus James is the author of five novels and has contributed to several anthologies with Alyson Books and has been a contributing writer for Seattle Gay News. He lives in Seattle with his husband and Staffordshire terrier. He is 32 years old.
Website: https://marcusjamesbooks.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjamesbooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusjamesbooks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjayftw/
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Halloween Virtual Book Tours

Halloween is Coming- the perfect time to promote your paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and horror books

Sign up for any package touring in October and get 10% off using code 10OCTOBER

Sign up here: http://goo.gl/dNgqXv

Can't be combined with any other offers or special pricing

Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem

Handbook for MortalsLani Sarem
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: GeekNation Press
Date of Publication: Aug 15, 2017
ISBN: 9781545612392
Number of pages: 448Word Count: approx. 107,000
Cover Artist: Ryan Kincaid
Tagline: A young woman goes to Las Vegas to join a magic show only to learn that falling in love is more dangerous than magic.
Book Description:
Zade Holder has always been a free-spirited young woman, from a long dynasty of tarot-card readers, fortunetellers, and practitioners of magick. Growing up in a small town and never quite fitting in, Zade is determined to forge her own path. She leaves her home in Tennessee to break free from her overprotective mother Dela, the local resident spellcaster and fortuneteller.
Zade travels to Las Vegas and uses supernatural powers to become part of a premiere magic show led by the infamous magician Charles Spellman. Zade fits right in with his troupe of artists and misfits. After all, when everyone is slightly eccentric, appearing ''normal'' is much less important.
Behind the scenes of this multimillion-dollar production, Zade finds herself caught in a love triangle with Mac, the show's good-looking but rough-around-the-edges technical director and Jackson, the tall, dark, handsome and charming bandleader.Zade's secrets and the struggle to choose between Mac or Jackson creates reckless tension during the grand finale of the show. Using Chaos magick, which is known for being unpredictable, she tests her abilities as a spellcaster farther than she's ever tried and finds herselfat death's door. Her fate is left in the hands of a mortal who does not believe in a world of real magick, a fortuneteller who knew one day Zade would put herself in danger and a dagger with mystical powers...
Handbook for Mortals is the first book in the series of this urban fantasy, paranormal romance series by author Lani Sarem.
Following Zade through the trials--and romance--of finding her own place in the world, readers will identify with their own struggles to fit in, reflected in the fantastic, yet mundane world of Zade's life.
Handbook for Mortals is in development as a motion picture set to debut in 2018.
Handbook Series      Amazon

Add it on Goodreads
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/BWegIoTJO2g

Excerpt:“Hopefully I wasn’t interrupting something important,” Mac said, with no attempt at feigning actual sincerity. I could tell he didn’t care that he had interrupted, or that he had been rude.“Just kindness.” I responded. I don’t think he expected my answer to be truthful, and he looked taken aback. He had probably expected me to say “Oh, no worries! Nothing important.” He made no comment, but backed off a little. When he continued talking, he had a bit less snap in his voice.“I’d like to schedule a crew call for you once your contract has been signed. You, me, and all of our techs, so we can go over your trick and map out how it will be safely implemented into the show.” He knew that calling what I had done a “trick” instead of an illusion I would take as a slight. It’s sort of like telling someone who had just won an Olympic gold medal and was proudly wearing it around their neck, that their necklace was cute. Mac kept incessantly tapping his Sharpie on the side of his clipboard and shifting his weight between his feet.I stood up slowly and calculated, looking him square in the eye, which probably surprised him a bit, since he was at least six feet tall. I’ve always enjoyed the luxury of being a tall girl. I’m five foot nine inches and so while I don’t usually tower above any guys I know, I can definitely look them directly in the eye. Most girls who at five feet five inches (which, I believe, is an average height for a woman) have to look up. My height was an advantage that I never took for granted and here, again, I was happy that I didn’t have to look up to him—figuratively or literally. In heels I could even be as tall or taller than him and I’ve always loved that part about being the height I am. I half smiled and slowly spoke, “Maybe you misunderstood. I don’t show anyone how it’s done. That wasn’t just for the audition. I handle this illusion on my own.”Mac held still for a moment, and then glanced up from his clipboard, looking irritated. He pursed his lips and flared his nostrils. The tapping stopped. He dropped the clipboard from his stomach and held it in his hand while pointing his finger directly in my face. “Listen, lady, I don’t know who else you worked for, but we don’t do that Lone Ranger stuff around here. I’m the technical director and in charge of everyone’s safety, no matter how stupid you want to be. You do what I say, and I keep your pretty self from getting hurt. Got it?” I’m fairly certain he growled at me as he spoke.Myriad thoughts ran through my head and I’m pretty sure several seconds passed in silence as we stared each other down. I could feel my hands tightening into fists. I really did want to punch him. I could see it happening. I’m not strong by any means but I’m also not a wimp. I wouldn’t have broken anything, but he would have been bruised and sore. I quickly ran through the possible outcomes of punching the technical director on my first day of work. It didn’t really seem to be the best idea.I leaned into him so closely that it might have looked like to an outsider that I was about to kiss him. I huffed a little and my words were slow and deliberate. “I understand this is your job and all, but I don’t think you’re listening to me,” I hissed. I tapped his chest with my finger and he jolted a bit at my touch. He looked at me like I was speaking some kind of foreign language.“I’m not listening? Lady, you need your ears cleaned,” he snarled back. He turned around to walk away, as if that was the end of our conversation. If he was trying to piss me off more, it was working.I grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks and swinging him around to face me. My face had flushed and I’d raised my voice to a full yell. “And you need to get some manners. I’m not showing you how it’s done, okay? If we have a problem I can go to another show where the technical director doesn’t have a God complex. I’m not a girl who needs a knight in shining armor.” I was practically snarling at him.Mac gritted his teeth and looked like he might hit me, but I knew that wasn’t really an option for him. Guys like him didn’t hit women, no matter how mad we made them. He laughed loudly. “Ha! Good luck finding a Technical Director who will treat you like the princess you clearly think you are. If I found you locked in a tower, I promise I’d leave you there.” Mac whipped around again and this time saw Riley, who had been standing just a few feet away from us the whole time. Riley was pretending not to be paying too much attention, but you could tell that was all he had been doing. I couldn’t blame him. Mac glowered at Riley and barked, “Where’s C.S.? Riley, go find Charles. Now!”“On the move,” Riley replied with a nervous, almost panicked look on his face as he ran off to the side and disappeared.

About the Author
Lani Sarem always wanted to work in the entertainment industry. She began acting at age 3 and continued to act and perform through her early years. Lani started writing scripts when she was 11 and over the years has done everything from writing, acting, band managing and helping start and work festivals. She's managed bands like the Plain White T's and Blues Traveler and toured with everyone from Ryan Adams to Gnarls Barkley. Lani has appeared in films like Mall Cop 2 and Jason Bourne. Make sure to catch her in her latest film Trailer Park Shark on the Syfy channel this July as Roxy.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LaniSarem
Facebook: www.facebook.com/handbookformortals
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rockanrollgypsy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HandbookSeries
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handbookformortals/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/laniers/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17052081.Lani_Sarem
Web: http://www.handbookseries.com/



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Trailers - Hunt for Evil by Amy Jarecki

One of the things I like about book trailers is they impart the tempo and the tone for the book. Music instantly reaches inside us and elicits emotion. The object is to catch attention in 15 seconds, which is super difficult. 

Trailers can be longer than 15 seconds, of course, but Facebook recommends 15 second clips because any longer and people are more likely to move on.
When I made the trailer for Hunt for Evil, I chose music that reminded me of Mission Impossible. A romantic suspense, Hunt for Evil is the first book in a new series that featured highly trained military personnel who are recruited into the exclusive and elite espionage agency called ICE (short for International Clandestine Enterprise). 
Do you like book trailers? If so, what do you like most about them?
Check out the trailer for Hunt for Evil  https://youtu.be/9xrnqBBX2WM



Hunt for EvilICE Book OneAmy Jarecki
Genre: Romantic suspense
Date of Publication:  August 1st, 2017
ISBN: 9781942442257ASIN: B071JS2JST
Number of pages: 340Word Count: 90,000
Cover Artist: Dar Albert
Tagline: Who knew battling international terrorism would lead to ravenous passion?
Book Description:
When Navy SEAL Commander Logan Rodgers winds up on a botched mission in the Gulf of Oman, his quick action in saving MI6 asset, Olivia Hamilton, brings him to the attention of the international espionage arena.
Recruited by the mysterious and elite International Clandestine Enterprise (ICE), Logan faces Olivia again, but this time they’re on the same team. Sparks fly as the two compete in a clash between skill and keen intellect, until a French girl is kidnapped by a suspected terrorist.
Posing a married couple, steam erupts between the pair while Logan and Olivia dive deeper into an ISIS kidnapping ring. But when Olivia becomes the kidnapper’s next victim, she enters a madman’s hell. And as Logan races against time to save her, one thing ravages his soul. If he fails, the woman he loves will be lost to him forever.
Intro Price .99
Amazon      Kobo      BN      Apple
Excerpt:
Her heart nearly stopped when a hand slid over her mouth and another disarmed her. “I’m Commander Rodgers from the USS Washington, and you’re coming with me now,” an American growled in her ear. From the girth pressing against her back, he was solid—but Olivia could take him.Grinding her teeth, she threw an elbow to his sternum. He blocked—so like a hotshot. Few people were fast enough to react to one of her strikes. But she’d nail him with her second try. Whipping around, she aimed a kick at his groin, but he blocked that, too. At least six-two and faster than an asp, Rodgers stopped her next kick by catching her ankle and giving it a twist—a warning.“Enough. Come.” Jesus Christ, his eyes were the color of a teal lagoon and they drilled into her like daggers.She shook her head. God, she wasn’t about to go anywhere with dagger-eyes. Not without a fight.Suited up in scuba gear, his facemask cocked atop his head, the man had to be daft. “What the fuck, Aquaman?” she whisper-shouted. “If anyone sees you, we’ll both be shot before the first question’s asked.”His eyebrows slanted downward over those damned eyes. “Yeah?” he whisper-shouted back. “Everyone on this boat will be dead in fifteen. If you want to live, you’ll do as I say.”Olivia’s mouth went dry. She blinked, shaking her head. He had to be mistaken. One more day and al-Umari’s ass would be hers. “Are you off your trolley? I’ve put too much into this project to have it blown to smithereens. Call off your dogs before you cock-up the entire op. Now.”“No can do,” he said like her hard-earned cover wasn’t about to become the greatest wipeout in MI6 history. “Sorry to ruin your party, but there’s a bomb attached to the hull. Can’t be killed, can’t be dislodged, and if you stand here arguing with me for one more second, you’ll explode into so many pieces, you won’t make a meal for a goddamned minnow.”Those are my choices?“Christ!” She jammed her finger under his nose. “When this is over, your ass is mine.”



Praise for HUNT FOR EVIL:



“Jarecki steps out of her historical comfort zone and nails it! A smashing debut to a new series.” ~ Reviewer Monique Daoust



“(Hunt for Evil) is a thrilling story of special ops filled with danger, excitement, and intense moments.” ~ Reviewer AnnMarie Spiby



“Widely lauded historical romance writer Amy Jarecki has taken the plunge into romantic suspense and may have released one the most exciting books of the year.” ~ Jenerated Reviews




Book Two in the ICE series, BODY SHOT, will release on August 29th
Has the rugged blue-eyed closer met his match?

Amazon     Kobo     BN     Apple     
Amazon UK     Amazon Australia     Amazon Canada

About the Author:
Amy embarked on her writing journey shortly after she completed an MBA with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her first manuscripts were suspense novels and were never published. She calls them baptism by fire—lessons in learning to write fiction. These lessons, combined with several writing conferences and classes, led her to write her first published book, Boy Man Chief, which won the League of Utah Writers award for Best Manuscript, and the Spark Book Award.
A lot has happened since, with some of the highlights being Rise of a Legend winning the national RONE award for Best Time Travel; hitting the Amazon Top 100 Bestseller list; and a host of other accolades.
Amy enjoys the freedom of authorship and the opportunity to work creatively every day. She has lived in Australia, Bermuda and has spent extensive time in Scotland. Whenever possible, she visits the places she writes about to add vibrant realism to her stories.
She loves writing Scottish historical romance, and now she’s adding romantic suspense to the mix. Come along for the ride!
Website: http://amyjarecki.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyjarecki
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amyjarecki/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5306959.Amy_Jarecki
Instagram: @jareckiamy

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Bewitching Thursday

Military Heroes Turned ICE Spies - Hunt for Evil by Amy Jarecki #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/r9X430eE3Jg

INTERVIEW - Hard Miles (Chisholm Falls, #1) by Trish Arcangelo #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/RiUV30eE3G7

INTERVIEW with LANI SAREM (Handbook for Mortals) #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/JSd430eE3vn

Review: Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/LJ2x30eE3rN

Interview Trish Arcangelo Author of Hard Miles
http://www.tenastetler.com/interview-...

SPOTLIGHT - Cashed Out by Michael H. Rubin #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/TkfW30eE3p5

Beyond The Rules by Anna Del Mar: Book Tour with Giveaway #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Au4o30eE3jV

Available for Pre-Order Flesh by Laura Bickle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074XBJ697/

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Giveaway Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan
https://paranormalists.blogspot.com/2...

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/7cg430eE423

The truth hurts more than secrets and lies - The Accalia (The Accalia #1) by H.L. Girton #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/TdZC30eE44J

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/ObWu30eE3ZR

Love Across the Universe #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/rSmv30eE3T5 #spacebeachlove

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/yQz630eE3Wk

Spotlight & Giveaway: Hard Miles by Trish Arcangelo #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/CwfO30eE3Dv

Excerpt Spotlight: Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/wnLM30eE3xj

Hard Miles Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/qUQ230eE3BD

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Giveaway Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/sXwS30eE3LN

Kinglet by Donna Migliaccio #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/5fvn30eE3Qg

Hard Miles Book Tour + Giveaway
http://booksdreamslife0829.blogspot.c...

A Bewitching Wednesday

Music Playlist for Beyond The Rules by Anna del Mar #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/7lwt30eCp2w

Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox with interview and giveaway #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/lQLC30eCpcS

Giveaway: Cashed Out by Michael H. Rubin #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/YQOJ30eCp7f

Midweek Escapes with Author Donna Migliaccio #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/xvgU30eCq2Q

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Giveaway Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Tovj30eCpYz

Hunt for Evil by Amy Jarecki #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/uNou30eCpQi

Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/40BN30eCpLw

Guardian Unforgiven by Nollen Bradley - Book Tour #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Pgwe30eCpot

Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox Spotlight Tour #Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/cYc930eCpjF

Torment Tour & Excerpt! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/5Elq30eCqxD

The Accalia by H.L. Girton #BookTour #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/rMof30eCqsk

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/T9PT30eCqkS

The 5 Big Lies You’ve Been Told About Self-Publishing, And Why They Tell Them #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Gmax30eCqi4

Love Across the Universe- Science Fiction & Romance Anthology #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/SFw430eCq8z #Spacebeachlove

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Giveaway Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/G0U030eCpT9

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Giveaway Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan

For the month of August Fire Quill Publishing is launching their campaign for upcoming novel Just off the Path, written by Weston Sullivan. 

This fairy-tale retelling of the classic Grimm brother’s tale: Hansel and Gretel, will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s dark, it’s twisted and it’s all the famous fairy characters sketched in a way that you wouldn’t see coming.

Fire Quill Publishing have taken this one a step further. It’s a deal of a lifetime and one that you surely shouldn’t miss.




They are running a giveaway for more shares. 

So all these pictures you can share via your social media and you might stand a chance to win an iPad. It’s not the first time they are doing this. They have recently give an ipad away with one of their other facebook release day parties and is doing it with future facebook parties too. So, if you like to win something other than books or giveaway cards, go have a look what they are doing and become part of their campaigns. 


JUST FOLLOW THE INSTUCTIONS BELOW


Share the top picture of winning a brand new ipad with your friends and family on all the social media outlets. 

Follow the instruction below in gaining your extra entry but you need to go and post the screenshot in the Authors street group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1838574233124616/ to gain extra entries. 

There will be a post up just for that. Post your screenshot of the social media share in the comments for extra entries.

Giveaway will be chosen in the event that will happen September 5th and 6th on facebook. So go and join in on all the fun.


Just off the Path
Weston Sullivan

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing

Cover Artist: Joemel Requeza and Sandra Valente

Release Date: September 5, 2017

ISBN: 9781546869832


DESCRIPTION

Hansel never asked to be a hero. He never wanted to fall in love with Rapunzel, Queen of the East. He didn’t ask to be raised by Gothel the Wretch, and he certainly never wanted to be credited for her arrest. But more than any of that, Hansel never wanted to lie: but he did. He lied about everything. He thought that he was done with it all when he and his sister Gretel retreated into the woods to reclaim their land, but he should have known better. 

Hansel needs to find a way to fix this, otherwise he will be responsible for Grimm’s destruction, or that is what he thinks. As Hansel isn’t the only liar in Grimm.



Amazon       Amazon UK     Amazon DE    Amazon CA     Amazon AU     
 UNIVERSAL LINK 


ABOUT WESTON SULLIVAN

After graduating with a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida in 2017, Weston Sullivan moved to New York City to live and write in the heart of the industry. In late 2016, he began working as an intern in the submissions department of BookFish Books. His short story, "On the Hillside", won the Anspaugh Award for Fiction in February of 2017, and his novel, JUST OFF THE PATH, is due for release in early September. 

He likes to believe that he is in charge of his own destiny, but at the end of the day, he knows that he was born to serve his two beloved cats.


Website: http://www.westonsullivan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westonjsullivan
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/sullivan_weston

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62675405-weston-sullivan

HOW TO ENTER FOR THE IPAD GIVEAWAY

STEP 1: Like our Facebook page FIRE QUILL PUBLISHING https://www.facebook.com/Firequillpublishing/
STEP 2: Go to the pin post Just off the Path Pre Order special and share that picture. Then take a screenshot and post it in the comment section of the pin post.
STEP 3: Join the event that is taking place on the 5 of September for the release of JUST OFF THE PATH, where we will announce the winner of the ipad. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/490159974659363/permalink/490227964652564/



HOW TO GAIN MORE ENTRIES
STEP 1: Join the author’s group that is mentioned above.  There will be a post you can add all your screenshots where you shared. The more you share it with family and friends on social media the more your name will go into the hat.

We will run this till the end of the release day party on facebook. We will draw the winner of the ipad on there. There are amazing prices up for grabs, including a gift card of 300 dollars to the person sharing the event the most. You do not want to miss this one.

If anything is unclear or you have questions please do not hesitate to contact firequill publishing via facebook or through their email at Carlylel@firequillpublishing.com
erikab@firequillpublishing.com

A Bewitching Tuesday

The 5 Big Lies You’ve Been Told About Self-Publishing, And Why They Tell Them #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/WRnf30eAthT E Van Lowe

Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/3hFo30eAsyD

Cashed Out by Michael H. Rubin #BookTour #Giveaway #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/nYaY30eAsrV

Beyond the Rules Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/jG6Q30eAskn

Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/WCFm30eAsv6

Giveaway: Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/7vV730eAsEI

Just Off the Path by Weston Sullivan
http://www.boundlessbookreviews.com/s...

Guardian Unforgiven by Nollen Bradley: Blog Tour, Review, Giveaway
http://diariesof2thickchicks.blogspot...

Torment By LM Pruitt #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/VJGa30eAtpf

The Accalia Book Tour
http://booksdreamslife0829.blogspot.c...

The 5 Big Lies You’ve Been Told About Self-Publishing, And Why They Tell Them- with E Van Lowe #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/hD0930eAteG

Love Across the Universe #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Wp1730eAt4o #spacebeachlove

Spotlight: Kinglet, by Donna Migliaccio #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/9U9e30eAsYY

Pre-Order Sale and iPad Just off the Path by Weston Sullivan #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/Q4SL30eAsWd

Just Off The Path by Weston Sullivan Book Tour and Giveaway #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/T9hI30eAsSV

HUNT FOR EVIL by Amy Jarecki #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/NdEd30eAsLq

Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem – Book Tour #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/BXrF30eAsHY

Webinar The 5 Big Lies You have Been Told About Self-Publishing and Why They Tell Them #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/l2Ir30eAtc4

A Bewitching Monday

Beyond The Rules by Anna del Mar #bewitchingboktours http://ow.ly/vXrn30eyCuX

Book Review: Through Her Eyes (#4 Mind’s Eye Series) by Deborah Camp #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/tY1y30eyEks

The 5 Big Lies You’ve Been Told About Self-Publishing, And Why They Tell Them #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/5Hm330eyEdT

Author Interviews – Love Across the Universe #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/bT6e30eyDCo #spacebeachlove

Our First Dance by P. Nelson #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/DiWz30eyE6T

The Accalia by H.L. Girton #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/ZxIz30eyE4F

#Spotlight ; Torment by LM Pruitt #bewichingbooktours http://ow.ly/1Ze730eyEvy

Through Her Eyes #Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/6f1N30eyEte

Hunted: A Jonathan Harker Novel Book Tour
http://booksdreamslife0829.blogspot.c...

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/z5OO30eyE9a

Pre-Order Sale & Giveaway: Just Off the Path by Weston Sullivan #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/bppk30eyDjw

Hunt for Evil Spotlight Tour! #Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/ybZH30eyD9s

Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/NnX330eyCYm

Guardian Unforgiven Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway! #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/IU3P30eyCVp

Join the Multi-Author Party Friday on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/34171...

Guardian unforgiven #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/NSIo30eyCS9

Hunted: A Jonathan Harker Novel by Christopher Draven: Book Tour #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/RAtU30eyDf5

Through Her Eyes (Mind’s Eye #4) by Deborah Camp #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/IQcu30eyEot

Pink Lock Picks and Sequined Witch Hats by Carla Rehse #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/U8SP30eyDVY

Our First Dance Spotlight Tour #bewitchingbooktours http://ow.ly/U3SY30eyDHC

Think You Know About Self-Publishing? Think Again- E Van Lowe #bewitchingbookours http://ow.ly/BKFG30eyEbA

Spotlight & Review: Dark Rooms by Sionna Fox #bewitchingbooktous http://ow.ly/JDaW30eyCHa

Spotlight & Giveaway - Cashed Out by Michael H. Rubin #bewitchingbookurs http://ow.ly/aEjF30eyCzh