Roxanne Rhoads's Blog, page 424
August 22, 2014
Guest Blog Bayou Blues by M. M. Shelley

When I began working on A New Orleans Mystery series, I knew that my main character had to be someone who would be able to adapt to the supernatural elements in the story. I also wanted to incorporate my love of Martial Arts, I have been studying Tai Shing Pek Kwar for almost eight years and before that I’ve studied San Soo Kung Fu. It was easy for me to have my main character learn this skill as she has two very capable bodyguards. Why does she have bodyguards? You might ask, well, her family may or may not have connections to organized crime. Those allegations have followed Ava for years and after the death of her father they are more poignant as the news media have created stories indicating it to be true. Ava has made it one of her goals to disprove this; she knows that her father had as many secrets as he had enemies.
Having a Martial Arts skill seemed to be a pretty good skill for Ava to have and so as I wrote the action scenes I wanted to make sure that they were not repetitive and I tried to be a bit more creative with them. My young heroine, Ava Lopez, is not a great student, and she loathes her training, but she picks it up well. Having this skill has helped her out of a few tight spots. She’s a very curious sixteen year old, sometimes too curious, but I think that’s what makes her such an interesting and fun character. New Orleans is a great place that is full of mystery and combined with the supernatural it makes all kinds of things possible.
Thank you so much for hosting me on this tour for Bayou Blues A New Orleans Mystery!

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Urban
Date of Publication: June 2014
ISBN: 978-1500255053 /ISBN: 150025505XASIN: B00L7YLU0W
Number of pages: 322Word Count: 52,500
Cover Artist: Michelle Marquez
Available at Smashwords and Amazon
Book Description:
Sixteen year old orphan, Ava Lopez, has returned to New Orleans, Louisiana, just as a dark entity has taken residence in the bayou.
Not only does Ava have to discover who or what is taking its victims from the Quarter, and leaving their remains in the Bayou. She will also have to maneuver her way around a new school and deal with a new bodyguard.
Ava will have to uncover the mystery before she becomes its next victim.
Excerpt: Prologue
It had been at least three years since he had left New Orleans, Louisiana and Auguste Cheval still wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision in returning. It didn’t feel right, yet he no longer had the option to stay away. His father had skipped out on him again leaving him no choice but to live with his uncle Prosper Cheval. Uncle Prosper was absolutely crazy. He refused to live in town preferring instead to live out in the Bayou. Auguste had to make the long trek from town to his uncle’s shack each and every day, to and from his high school. Auguste attended Ben Franklin, in part thanks to his social worker, who for some reason or another seemed focused on making sure he stayed the course. His social worker Phillips believed that Auguste had the grades and the drive to excel at school; a school where nearly everyone excelled at one thing or another. The only issue Auguste had was that a normal life could never be in the cards for him, but he wasn’t about to tell his social worker Phillips just why that was. How could he even begin to explain it?As Auguste headed deeper into the Bayou he ventured down a narrow pathway that was nearly completely covered over with knee high marshway cordgrass. Auguste had taken the long way home as he was in no hurry to return. His uncle Prosper probably wouldn’t be there, more than likely he was out checking on his traps. A slight sound came from his left. Something heavy was pushing through the marshway cordgrass, but Auguste couldn’t see what it was. So he waited. He didn’t want to move any further until he could see it clearly. In the light of the fading sun, Auguste held his breath as he waited to identify what moved in the cordgrass. In spite of the fact that the sun had reached the horizon, the air remained hot and humid enough to cause his clothes to stick to his body. A man in his early forties rolled out of the cordgrass falling right in Auguste’s pathway. The man rolled until he was on his hands and knees, he lifted his head high up in the air, his chin tilted skyward and his eyes closed. He smelled the dry stillness in the air. His eyes opened and he quickly shifted toward Auguste. His eyes locked in on Auguste and his head made a rather sharp movement almost like a wolf finding the scent of his prey. As the man’s eyes focused sharply on Auguste, a deep low growl escaped his throat. The eerie sound was so disturbing that it caused Auguste to feel ill. As the man leaned onto his back legs ready to pounce on Auguste, a wolf jumped out of the marshway cordgrass and latched onto the man’s throat, dragging him onto the ground and ripping at his flesh. He tried to fight back, sinking his teeth into the wolf’s coat, but to no avail as the wolf tore fiercely away at him. The man screamed out in pain against the assault. Sudden silence signaled that the man had given up the fight. His body grew limp as his life began to ebb, leaving him unable to endure anymore.The wolf turned and shifted toward Auguste, it took a step towards him with a giant paw. The wolf had an unearthly presence as its paws were large and sunk into the earth with each heavy step. Its head was slightly larger than the rest of the body giving it a disproportionate appearance. The wolf’s green eyes looked like they had seen centuries of war and chaos and were filled with a sadness that tore at Auguste’s heart. In spite of his feelings, Auguste found the hint of darkness lurking beneath the wolf’s demeanor disturbing. It was a darkness that wouldn’t think twice about attacking Auguste and harming him, just as it had killed the man without hesitation. Auguste held out his arm as if to prevent it from coming any closer. As he did so, the fading sunlight illuminated the scar that ran from the outside of Auguste’s elbow to the inside of his middle forearm. The wolf sniffed at him before taking another step; then, as quickly as it had appeared, it turned and ran back into the cordgrass leaving behind the lifeless body of the man it had just killed for sport.

M.M. Shelley is a storyteller, wordsmith and dreamer. She has traveled the world extensively in search of the magic which is often overlooked in everyday life. M.M. Shelley is a native of southern California, and a student of mythology from which she gets much inspiration.
www.mmshelley.com
http://mmshelley.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/MM_Shelley
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MM-Shelley/174012559302730
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August 11 SpotlightLisa’s World of Bookswww.lisasworldofbooks.net
August 11 Spotlightfundinmentalhttp://www.fundinmental.com
August 12 Interview and reviewWonderland Reviews www.wonderlandreviews.blogspot.com
August 12 SpotlightMila Ramoswww.jademystique.blogspot.com
August 13 InterviewThe Word at My Fingertips http://ashjellison.blogspot.com
August 13 reviewParanormal Romance and Authors That Rockwww.pratr.wordpress.com
August 14 Spotlight3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy &, Sissy Too! http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com
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August 21 SpotlightBooks Directhttp://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com.au/
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Published on August 22, 2014 03:00
August 21, 2014
Guest Blog and Giveaway Sinful Cravings by Annie Nicholas

Life of a Succubus
Millennia ago, in the world I created for this series, the succubi and incubi gave up their wings along with their demonic natures to appear more human. Even though they’re of the same race, each sex must feed differently.
A succubus must feed every three days or her demonic will take over and she’ll become predatory until she’s fed from any male. To say the least, most make sure to feed on day three to prevent from becoming a mindless, horny sex machine. LOL Things don’t always turn out the way we plan though, do they? Not only are they forced to have sex every three days, they can only feed if they achieve an orgasm. They can’t even live off bad sex.
To make things worse, incubi can only feed from the energy succubi create from when they feed. So if an incubus seduces a succubus, he steals her hard earned energy and she must go out to feed again.
It’s a hard life. ;)

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: August 11, 2014
Word Count: 50,000 word
Cover Artist: Kanax
Book Description:
Pia Blyton, a succubus, isn’t ready for an official engagement since her skillset consists of setting kitchens on fire, singing at vampire hellholes, and most embarrassingly, she recently passed out in bed while feeding Valerio Hunan, the most eligible incubus in Lake City. Yet somehow he turns a blind eye to all her faults and still wants to set his marriage tattoos on her wrists.
The compulsion to have sex forces their people to have unconventional relationships. Every three days, she has to orgasm creating energy to survive. She can’t even live off bad sex. Unlike her, Val can’t feed off just anyone. He consumes the energy only a succubus creates and his hunger isn’t on a clock. Most incubi feed legally by luring multiple succubi into marriage with money and power. Val had caught Pia by the heart strings. Sneaky bastard.
When his food supply suddenly stops, he’s faced with starvation. Despite Pia’s adoration, she’s not an all you can eat buffet. He would suck her dry of all her life force within days. In order to save her, Val forces her to leave. With nowhere to go, Pia ends up at the last place she wants to be—her parent’s home, with nothing but her pink suitcase and a list of all her failures.
Pia needs to pull on her big girl panties and figure out why Val’s energy supplies have stopped arriving before he kills some unsuspecting succubus. But the demon inside Val is closer to the surface than either of them realize. When Pia leaves, the only thing on its mind is tracking her down and dragging her back into its bed where she belongs...even if it kills her.
Excerpt One
John snatched my offending finger and kissed the tip. “You were worried?” A shy smile tugged at his lips. No fair.
I yanked my hand out of his grasp. “Of course I was. It’s not like I have suitors waiting in line.” My excuse for worrying sounded thin but I didn’t want to give John the wrong impression. Caring about my suitors was dangerous and falling in love against the rules. Emotional detachment had to be maintained to protect my fragile heart and to ensure my relationship with Val would work. For an incubus, he was oddly very possessive.
“You could have anyone you wanted. You just don’t—”
“Want to.” I finished the old argument between us.
“So.” He stared at his shoes. “You met my brother.”
“Yeah, I did. He wants to suck my soul out of my body like a juice box.” I set my hands on my hips and gazed out at my parent’s wooded property. Val was wandering out there under the bare branches.
Somewhere.
“Sounds like Amel.” He twisted and followed my gaze. “Did he come looking for me here?”
“No, I used the locket you gave me last Winter Solstice.” I scowled and leaned closer so he couldn’t escape my glare. “You didn’t tell me that wasn’t your name.” When pressed the locket would say something and it turned out to be his brother’s name.
His shy smile became a grin. “I didn’t say it was either.” The dumbass’ smile faded. “Wait. You tried to summon me using that name?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah.” Instead of my sweet John appearing in the pentagram, his pissed off big bro showed up and let’s just say he wasn’t happy about it.
“The city is still intact. Did your father defeat him?”
My eyebrows shot up. Dad? Beat a Mazzikim demon? “No.” John feared my father like no one else. That he stood on our doorstep showed how much he wanted my forgiveness. But Dad wasn’t a warrior. Zur-Sin, my vampire suitor and co-ruler of Lake City, however was not only a warrior he also practiced black magic.“How exactly are you still alive?” His whispered question took me by surprise.
“Sin blood bound him.”
The blood drained from John’s face.
Reflexively, I reached out and steadied him. “John, where have you been?”
“Yes, John, where have you been?” Val strolled around the corner of the house, hands in pockets, and looking quite warm in just a suit. Incubus powers?
I jumped at his voice, an undeserved wave of guilt crashing over me as I released my hold of John’s elbow.
Our people didn’t practice love. They saw the emotion as a weakness and I could see their point. Falling in love with a human had almost killed me a few years ago. Sex equaled food for my people and fidelity couldn’t be part of the equation.
My parents managed to have a beautiful four-way loving relationship. Well, until now, with a fourth wife on the horizon. After being raised in such an environment why wouldn’t I crave to have the same? I smiled at Val and held out my hand.
He was willing to give me everything, even his heart, but unlike me he’d been raised in a cold, sterile traditional succubus household. He wanted to love me, he just didn’t know how.
When our hands touched, I half expected to see sparks of desire dance between our fingers. I met his pale blue stare and my stomach fluttered. Would he ever stop affecting me this way? “John, this is Val, my fiancé.” Valerio Hunan had recently moved to Lake City. After a whirlwind courtship over a few days, I agreed to an engagement. My stomach rolled as I recalled why he’d dragged me here today. He wanted my mothers to force me to pick a date so we could publically announce our families uniting.
We had only been living together for a few weeks. In a hotel room no less. His wives hated me. What was the rush?
“Fiancé? I thought you didn’t want to ever get married, Pia.” John’s gaze traveled from Val to me and back again.
“I’m beginning to believe the same thing.” Val murmured under his breath.
I could kick John where the sun didn’t shine. “Shut up. A lot’s changed since you left me high and dry on my day three. So why don’t you answer my question before I ask Val to drag your scrawny ass to your big brother.”

Annie Nicholas writes paranormal romance with a twist. She has courted vampires, hunted with shifters, and slain a dragon’s ego all with the might of her pen. Riding the wind of her imagination, she travels beyond the restraints of reality and shares them with anyone wanting to read her stories. Mother, daughter, and wife are some of the other hats she wears while hiking through the hills and dales of her adopted state of Vermont.
Annie writes for Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, and Lyrical Press.
Website: www.annienicholas.com
Blog: www.annienicholas.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorannienicholas
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Published on August 21, 2014 03:00
August 18, 2014
Guest Blog and Giveaway with Mary Kate Kopec


Love AND Revenge: A Closer Look
Hello and welcome to my Love AND … series blog tour. If you are just joining in, you might want to check out my previous guest blog post Love AND … THE UNEXPECTED SERIES in which I talk about how the series came to be. You’ll find this post at The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom blog, www.creativelygreen.blogspot.com.
Also you can read more about Love AND Bullets at Book Club Sisters http://bookclubsisters84.blogspot.com from Wednesday, August 13th. And you can read more about Love AND Leaving (also from Wednesday, August 13th) at Roxanne’s Realm www.roxannerhoads.com.
Thank you for joining us here today at Fang-tastic Books. Having tackled the series as a whole along with the first two books, I thought it would be good to take a closer look at Love AND Revenge.
Love AND Revenge is book 3, the final story, in the Love AND …series. It is an intense, virtually non-stop action, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of ride. And it is my favorite of the three books. I’m probably not supposed to say that, but it is. I love the story. I love the characters. And I love how it makes me feel. I think, in part, this is because I brought the casts together and integrated the stories into a deeper more complex storyline. Also, the love and relationships came out so compelling, so real … so human. It made me want to know these people. Spend time with them. I didn’t want this book to end. It’s a little bit of magic. I savored every page, and I felt an emptiness and loss when it was time to say The End.
I feel Love AND Revenge brings the characters from the first two books together in a compelling, jaw-dropping, oh-No!, oh-Yes! plotline that keeps the pages turning.
The Inside Scoop
For me, to write characters means to pour a bit of myself into each one. Lessons learned from experiences I’ve had. People I’ve met and internalized. The sum total of my life culminating into the bits and pieces that end up making a character whole. And never has this been more true than in Love AND Revenge with Maddie Monroe. In fictionalized form, she is the closest a character has ever come to being me. She is the one time (as I wrote), when faced with her choices, I simply asked myself what I would do if I were in her situation. She is special to me.
And Seamus. He totally took me by surprise. When I started writing, I was pretty sure I knew the major plot points in the story and the ending, but Seamus went and did the most unexpected thing toward the end of Act I. His actions in that moment changed almost everything that came afterward. It was the first time while writing that I found myself having to completely rethink and re-plan my story. … I’m a fairly organic writer to begin with. I’m not big on lengthy outlines or overviews. I figure out the backstory and characters and then come up with the beginning, a few middle points, and the end. Then I write. But Seamus—well, he did what he felt he needed to do. And in the end, I could kiss him for it. Sure, I really liked my original plans, but there is simply no way the story would have turned out as heart-wrenching and soul-healing as it did had he not changed my mind. And for that, I love him, too.
Having chunked the idea of the original Acts II and III, there is one scene in particular that I had planned on, and in my upcoming Facebook Bonus Material for tomorrow, I will tell you all about it, and why it was originally “The Important” scene.
So . . . the skinny on Love AND Revenge
The story opens up with Maddie breaking up with Seamus. (This is a tiny spoiler alert if you haven’t read Love AND Bullets, book 1, as you find out in the end of it that Maddie and Seamus have gotten together. It’s a tiny spoiler alert in that it’s one of those happy tidbits that round out a story’s ending, but was of no consequence during the story itself.) She doesn’t want to breakup, but after Seamus nearly gets killed in action on an operation gone terribly bad, she realizes she doesn’t want go through the fear of losing him every time he deploys into the field. So it takes everything she has and a few tries (Seamus doesn’t want to let her go either.), but she finally does it. And it breaks both of their hearts. But she forces herself to move on, and she starts seeing a new guy. Seamus can’t stand seeing them together, so he starts taking every field assignment he can to get as far away as he can from seeing Maddie with another man.
And here’s where it gets tricky. I’d love to tell you more. But I can’t. It would ruin the story. Every moment from this moment on in the story is non-stop. Maddie unknowingly has put herself in danger, and it will take the bulk of the STI forces to try to save her … including Seamus. It’s action. And explosions. And revenge. It’s a race against the clock. It’s hope, love, fear. It’s loss and tears. It’s family and friends. And if all goes as planned, it will take you on a fantastic ride that will make you want more, love the characters and story, and need to read it all over again when you’re done.
Thank you for your visit!
Below you will find upcoming blog tour stop info and lots of links for things like book trailers and how to get more information about me and my books.
Coming up tomorrow (Tuesday, August 19th) in my blog tour, I will be interviewed by Eclipse Reviews, www.totaleclipsereviews.blogspot.com. Additionally, Darkest Cravings will be hosting the Top Ten Highlighted Scenes/Moments from the Love AND …series in my guest post at www.darkestcravings.blogspot.com.
In the meantime, you can watch the book trailers at the following links. And you can find my full blog tour schedule on my website and on my Facebook page.
Love AND Bullets Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/MTrON4X1yl0Love AND Leaving Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/QpzL4FJwSWYLove AND Revenge Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/dZ-vxUx3qlU
You can read more about me and my books at:
Website: http://www.marykatekopec.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marykate.kopec
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353265.Mary_Kate_Kopec
All my books are available at Amazon in both print and ebook versions.
Happy Reading to you always,Mary Kate
PS: For bonus blog tour material for today’s stop, visit my Facebook page for the Love AND Revenge Soundtrack! When Love AND Revenge gets made into a movie … and it So should … there are some songs that have to make the soundtrack. They’re they songs that fed my emotional writing state for some of the big scenes in Love AND Revenge. I’ll talk about the songs and how they inspired me, and you can tell me what you think and offer your own suggestions.

Genre: Romantic Action Suspense
ISBN: 978-0615968957ASIN: B00AP54YTS
Book Description:
Three years ago Giffin Reese fell for the man of her dreams. But it wasn't meant to be. She was already married to a good man. A man who believed in her. Needed her. Loved her. Sometimes in life we do what it calls upon us to do.
It wasn't your everyday protection detail of a Senator plus trophy wife. First, she was no trophy. She came with brains and an attitude. Just what he liked. And two, the case was all kinds of screwed up. A threat with no name on it. Maybe even a leak. And it all turned to hell when the Senator got taken down by a sniper shot.
Devon Monroe still doesn't know what the hell went wrong that day. But he's not going to let it happen again. Someone's serious with an itchy trigger finger, and this time the target is squarely pointed at a certain Senator's beautiful widow. But not if he can help it. It'll take everything he has to set things right, clear his conscience, and prove himself to her. Even if it means dying, trying.
Love and Bullets is an action packed steamroller of mystery, suspense, and rekindled desire. Come join Devon and Giffin as they race against the clock, explore their hearts, and dodge bullets in this story of secrets, deception, betrayal, and love.
Sparks fly and so do the bullets!
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/MTrON4X1yl0
Available at Amazon
Excerpt, Love AND Bullets:
“As you can see, Mrs. Reese, we can quite easily get to you. You cannot be protected, despite what Mr. Monroe seems to think.”Devon? They knew him? How could that be?“So unless you choose the same fate as your husband, I suggest you reconsider your current ventures.”She was baffled. What current ventures? She helped people. How could that be a problem?“What do you mean?” she asked.He continued, ignoring her interruption. “Mrs. Reese, you will die if you do not heed my warning.” As if to emphasize his words, he raised a gun and pointed it in her face. “This is nota negotiable request. Do you understand?”No way did she understand, but she nodded anyway, afraid to ask and not wanting to get shot. What current ventures? What could she be doing that would get her killed? What could she be doing, and had it gotten her husband killed? She felt sick with fear and confusion.Without warning he leaned over and opened her door. Keeping his gun leveled on her, he added flatly, “Now get out. Your ride is coming.”Abruptly the car stopped.You didn’t have to tell her twice. She didn’t hesitate. She jumped out. But before she could get all the way out, the car began accelerating again. And in her efforts to clear the speeding vehicle, she fell to the ground and rolled, skinning her hands and knees.Pain shot through her, and tears stung in her eyes. Giffin attempted to get up, but stumbled back down to one knee. Her arms and legs shook like leaves. She was in a full body tremble. Not for trying, but she couldn’t quite catch her balance, and she realized that her heel had broken.Giffin reached around, and with a shaking hand, removed her shoes. Holding them in her hand, she pushed herself up and tried to stand steady on her two feet. She looked up the road to where her abductors’ car was disappearing into the horizon and a wave of overwhelming relief flowed through her. They didn’t kill her. It was over.But then the other side of brain fought back and asked, What the hell is going on?She was unsurprised now, when Devon pulled around the bend in a shiny silver Lexus sedan and came to a stop beside her.“Get in,” came the voice in the car.
She knew that voice, knew it well. It did something to the pit of her stomach. She got in, tossed her shoes to the floor, and fastened her seat belt. Throwing him a sidelong glance, without humor, she asked, “Just in the neighborhood?”

Genre: Romantic Action Suspense
ISBN: 978-0615988610ASIN: B00BH51P4W
Book Description:
Emma June Carter’s life is as normal as can be. All except the part where once upon a time she was Miss Michigan and a finalist for the Miss American Sunshine pageant. She's a baker and a co-owner of Delectable Delights, a sweet treats bakery that she loves. She has good friends. A best friend. And it was all going so well - until her boyfriend dumped her. The boyfriend that had hinted at love and a life together - and then disappeared.
Detective Jack Haley is good at his job, likes life, and knows how to laugh. Poker and his luxury ride with perfect performance and buttery soft leather seats take the edge off of the grit and grime of his work in property crimes.For them, it was any other day. Until he got the call. And she went out for one last drink to shake off the breakup. A chance meeting in a bar, and neither gets what they came for. They get so much more. Neither know it, but danger is trailing Emma's footsteps, and her life is about to go from normal to hell in six seconds, flat. It doesn't take long before their paths cross again, and this time it won't be so easy leaving.
Love and Leaving is a story about nothing being safe, but in life, having everything to gain . . . at a cost. Jack and Emma will have to decide what is worth it and what isn't.
He's coming, and she's leaving!
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/QpzL4FJwSWY
Available at Amazon
Excerpt, Love AND Leaving:
Emma June Carter, former Miss Michigan, now successful pastry chef and master of all things sweet, sat twirling her pathetic excuse of a lemon twist stormily about in her second, now half-empty, vodka tonic, swearing off men and their many useless promises.Twenty-nine—for real—and three days shy of being thirty, she thought she’d found the one. But after six months of crazy-for-you, non-stop fun and abandon—and a major hint at permanent things to come—Max Stone, man of her dreams, had abruptly called it quits.One phone call. No explanation. And he was gone.Now all she wanted to do—when she wasn’t bawling miserably—was rip his lying heart out of his gorgeous, too-fit chest and feed it to him for lunch. Or at least sit here for the moment, alone, to enjoy a short, self-indulgent and well earned—if you don’t mind—pity party.And a drink or two. Emma wasn’t one for anger or wallowing, but this really hurt, and she just needed a moment to cope. And process. And get a grip. And to stop seeing herself stomping her pain out all over Max’s, now annoyingly, beautiful face.She smiled. Stomping on his face wasn’t the nicest of thoughts. True. But “It’s over. Take care of yourself. Bye.” followed by a dial tone just wasn’t the way it was done. The weasel hadn’t even been respectful enough to do it in person. And now, all she got was voicemail and a visit to his empty apartment. So yes, not a nice thought, kicking the crap out of Max, but Max didn’t deserve a nice thought. And as wishful thinking went, it was a pretty good image, and so even though it really wasn’t like her, it made her smile.“Your drink’s getting low. Lemme buy you another.”Emma dropped her smile and slid her eyes left to the gravelly and deeply masculine voice interrupting her lament to find Mr. Ripped and Ruggedly Handsome in black leather and jeans eyeing her up appreciatively. Good grief. Not another one. She barely suppressed a sigh.Ruggedly Handsome was just that and then some. But he and his molten-chocolaty brown eyes, heavy jaw, thick brows, and perfect lips—minus the hairline scar—were all bad-boy to the bone. And if you weren’t convinced, the spider web and dagger tattoos on his hands and hard-ass biker boots should finish off the story. He was oozing sex appeal like the Hoover Dam had just let loose. And barking up the wrong tree. Emma had had enough of suave and slick.She shook her head, “No thanks. I’m good.”Returning to her drink and her thoughts, it occurred to her that perhaps having a pity party publicly—even if she was situated at the end of the bar, with her face tilted down, hair falling forward, staring morosely into her drink—wasn’t the best signal for personal time. But still. Couldn’t Mr. Ripped and Ruggedly Handsome see that she wasn’t up for company, especially malecompany? Apparently not.Mr. Handsome followed with, “I can see that, and it’s just a drink. Give me a chance.”Oh God. He was going with a lame line. Seriously?Not really wanting to engage hotty biker dude in a verbal duel over drinks, Emma thought to cut him short, so she could get back to her alone time. But she wasn’t the mean type, so she returned his appreciative once over and sighed in mock disappointment, “Sorry, but you’re way too cool for me.”Not-getting-it biker guy edged closer with an undeterred glint in his eye and gave her comment the brush off. “Don’t say that—”So much for being nice.Emma realized her pity party was over. Ruined by Mr. R. and R. Handsome and his annoying persistence. And this time, she dropped a very heavy sigh for real. He made to continue with his pitch, but frustrated by his intrusion, Emma pushed back from the bar, scraping the metal feet of her stool on the stone tile floor beneath, and dropped a ten spot next to her drink as she made to leave.“Hey,” he said, and inappropriately reached for her arm. “You don’t have to go.” But Emma firmly deflected his touch with her hand. “Let me stop you right there. No means no. I’m done. Got it?”The molten look in his eyes wasn’t chocolaty anymore, and he said, “Got it,” like he meant it. And then he called her a bitch as he turned to the barkeep and signaled for another round.Emma stood, shouldering her purse, back to thinking feeding men their hearts for lunch was a good idea and came to the conclusion, Bars are bad. Next time just buy a bottle and take it home.But there wasn’t going to be a next time. She’d sworn off guys, and Mr. Ruggedly Handsome Jerk had just sealed the deal.Shaking her head, fully irritated and no longer feeling any form of self-pity, Emma angled for the door wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of this bar. Two strides into her escape, the front door pulled wide and bright-ass sunshine poured in, silhouetting her view of the incoming human. She blinked to shake off the flashbulb effect and kept marching toward the door. And subsequently plowed headlong into a six-foot tall wall of solid muscle.Bouncing back, jolted, and losing her footing, Emma once again noted that Bars are bad, and this time added, Men are worse. As evidenced by the shadowed cretin blocking her getaway.“Whoa, hey there,” came the solid hands that kept her from stumbling, and the calm, even-timbred male voice that felt soothing on her angry nerves. “You okay?”

Genre: Romantic Action Suspense
ISBN: 978-0692212103ASIN: B00K7J85EM
Book Description:
Maddie Monroe has had better days. And made better choices. When she wakes up kidnapped--used for bait--and in more danger than she could have ever imagined, it's all she can do to hope that she'll live to regret telling Seamus no.
Ex-Navy Seal Seamus Kincaid knows that the only easy day was yesterday. And in his line of work, enemies happen. He just never thought anyone would use Maddie to get to him. And now her life is on the line.
Maddie's dimples bring hard men to their knees, and her smoothies make them beg for more. She's smart, funny, and just one of the guys. She wields a computer like Seamus wields a knife. And she's a spunky ray of sunshine in skinny jeans and a bop-tail who gives his serious, get-it-done attitude the adjustment it needs. She's happiness in his life, until he scares the hell out of her on a mission gone bad, and she can't deal. Letting her go won't be easy, but losing her forever is unacceptable
Love and Revenge is a story about facing your fears, fighting for what's important, and learning that you can't control life--you can only decide which life you want to live.
Fight for love - die for revenge!
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/dZ-vxUx3qlU
Available at Amazon
Excerpt, Love AND Revenge:
“Maddie,” he said, and reached out to pull her into his reassuring embrace before she could retreat any further. “That was a bad day. One of the worst. But I made it. The whole team did. Everything’s okay.”No. It wasn’t.He held her tightly, but her arms stayed at her sides. His chest was solid, his arms strong, but they no longer brought her the comfort they once did.Every time he had to deploy to suppress a hostile environment—even though it was completely unlike her—all she could do was think the worst. And she didn’t want to do it anymore.Seamus, refusing to accept her withdrawal, kept her close and lovingly whispered into her ear, “Maddie, you are my world, my joy, my laughter, the sunshine in my days. I love you. You are the only woman for me. My family. Maddie,” he whispered low, with his heart in his words, “marry me. Be my wife.”Maddie stopped breathing. Her lungs froze. Her breath got lost somewhere in the silence between the stalled beats of her heart. Unwanted tears blurred her vision, so she closed her eyes and leaned into his shoulder.Seamus cradled her as though she was the most precious person in the world to him, but his words coaxed aching misery into the very core of her bones. Her body. Her heart. They had so much in common. Yet they were so very different.She was the light to his darkness, the laughter to his calculating necessitated tenacity, the warmth to the loneliness of his life, and she knew it. And they both valued family and could see their hopes fulfilled in each other. But she wouldn’t ask, and he wouldn’t offer—and his job was her breaking point.She’d known it was going to tear her apart, facing him down again. But no way was she prepared for this. He was pulling out all the stops, save one. And she knew that if he gave up his field work for her it would be poison to them both, so she never asked and wouldn’t.She just needed to let him go, so he could do what he was driven to do, and he needed to let her.It took everything she had to step back from him, out of his embrace, away from his love. Tears rolled heavily down her face. She couldn’t seem to stop them, and rather than brush them away, she ignored them and stood up straighter, gathering her strength and will.Seamus looked confused, but no less determined. “Maddie,” he said reaching for her again, but she took another step back and out of his reach.“No Seamus. If you really love me, you’ll let me go.”His eyes briefly clouded, then cleared. His ironclad willpower maintained his control.“Maddie, this doesn’t make any sense.”Matters of the heart rarely did.“We can do this.”She shook her head, and his frustration began to break through. “You’re not thinking this through.”It was the perfect thing to say to move her from disconsolate agony to biting anger. He was telling her she wasn’t being rational, and there was a part of her that agreed, but he didn’t get to make that call.“You’re wrong Seamus,” she said with heat in her voice. “I have thought it through, and I’ve met somebody. I’m moving on. I suggest you do the same.”Maddie’s stomach clenched, and she’d gone cold with the pain of her own words. Her heart was breaking, and from the look on his face, so was his. But he said nothing. He just stood there searching for a new tactic, a solution, a way to win the fight, and if she didn’t get him out of there, he’d find one.She couldn’t take much more of this, so she didn’t give him the chance. She couldn’t cave.A desperate force of will incited her tone with something so harsh it made her nearly sick. She didn’t want to hurt him, but before he could find his bearings, Maddie dismissed him with a firmness that shattered like ice across her skin and made it hard for her to breathe. “Please. Leave.”To her relief and misery it worked. And her stomach sank as she watched the light in his eyes fade, shutting her out. Where once she was his joy, now she was not, and the determination in the strong lines of his face turned flat. She could have never imagined how bad this was going to feel. It stabbed at her heart and ground her stomach into bits. She wanted to crumple into a ball and cry the horrible river she knew was coming, but she’d made him let her go.Seamus stood there a moment longer, staring at her with strengthening detachment, and if she wasn’t mistaken, disgust. He shook his head, then stiffly turned and walked out of her room and away from her.

Mary Kate Kopec creates steamy character driven stories of hopeful love. She thinks love and life are worth fighting for and that at times both are filled with hard bits and messy emotions. She likes a good mystery, lots of action, and a heavy dollop of humor to lighten the mood. She writes what she loves and wishes you great enjoyment in everything you read.
Website: http://www.marykatekopec.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marykate.kopec
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353265.Mary_Kate_Kopec

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Published on August 18, 2014 03:05
Finding Inspiration with Claire Fullerton

I was recently asked the following question in an interview: “Where do you go to find inspiration?” The interviewer sited the habit of Charles Dickens, who would take to the streets of London every day in a five to six mile stroll while looking for source material, which left me with an appealing visual image.
I liked the idea of this writer cruising the London streets, his eyes darting hither and yon as he tallied up random impressions.
Because I wanted to answer the question to the best of my ability, I pondered it until it hit me: I don’t go anywhere; I simply live my life with my eyes open and allow myself to be influenced. Sometimes the most seemingly inconsequential things can affect me, and by this I mean strike an emotional cord. They typically happen in the blink of an eye, yet this doesn’t make them any the less meaningful.
What I do is follow the cord once it’s struck and let the impression fully in so I can feel its repercussion. I think inspiration can’t be sought outside of us because it resides within every human being. And because it resides within, there are moments when inspiration is triggered.
Once it is, I think it resonates in such a way that a writer feels compelled to put it into words.
Therefore, it is not so much a question of "Where you go to find inspiration," it's more a question of “What do you do once you acknowledge you're inspired?”
As for me, when inspiration is triggered, I grab a pen.

Genre: Paranormal/Historical Romance
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing
Date of Publication: November 30, 2013
ISBN:0989063224ASIN:
Number of pages: 192Word Count: 50,000
Cover Artist: Elaina Lee/For the Muse Designs
Book Description:
When we are inexplicably drawn to love and a particular place, is it coincidence, or have we loved before?
Enigmatic and spirited Anna Lucera is gifted with an uncanny sixth-sense and is intrigued by all things mystical. When her green, cat-eyes and long, black hair capture the attention of a young lawyer named Kevin Townsend, a romance ensues which leads them to the hauntingly beautiful region of California's Carmel-By-The-Sea where Anna is intuitively drawn to the Madiera Hotel. Everything about the hotel and Carmel-By-The-Sea heightens her senses and speaks to Anna as if she had been there before.
As Anna's memory unravels the puzzle, she is drawn into a past that's eerily familiar and a life she just may have lived before.
Amazon BN Kobo Overdrive

Claire Fullerton is the author of Paranormal/Historical Romance, “A Portal in Time.” Her second novel, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” set in Connemara, Ireland, will be published in March, 2015. Claire is a contributor to numerous magazines as well as a multiple contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series. She is a multiple award winning essayist, a former major-market radio disc jockey, and an avid ballet dancer. Claire hails from Memphis, Tennessee, and currently divides her time between Malibu and Carmel, California with her husband and two German shepherds!
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Published on August 18, 2014 03:00
Excerpt and Giveaway with Tamara Linse


Genre: literary fiction
Publisher: Willow WordsDate of Publication: July 14, 2014
Number of pages: 330Word Count: 75,000 words
Cover Artist: Tamara Linse
Book Description:
Deep Down Things, Tamara Linse’s debut novel, is the emotionally riveting story of three siblings torn apart by a charismatic bullrider-turned-writer and the love that triumphs despite tragedy.
From the death of her parents at sixteen, Maggie Jordan yearns for lost family, while sister CJ drowns in alcohol and brother Tibs withdraws. When Maggie and an idealistic young writer named Jackdaw fall in love, she is certain that she’s found what she’s looking for. As she helps him write a novel, she gets pregnant, and they marry. But after Maggie gives birth to a darling boy, Jes, she struggles to cope with Jes’s severe birth defect, while Jackdaw struggles to overcome writer’s block brought on by memories of his abusive father.
Ambitious, but never seeming so, Deep Down Things may remind you of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong and Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper.
Available at Amazon BN Smashwords Kobo other international ebookstores and through Ingram.Chapter 1
Maggie
Jackdaw isn’t going to make it. I can tell by the way the first jump unseats him. The big white bull lands and then tucks and gathers underneath. Jackdaw curls forward and whips the air with his left hand, but his butt slides off-center. Thirty yards away on the metal bleachers, I involuntarily scoot sideways—as if it would do any good. The bull springs out from under Jackdaw and then arches its back, flipping its hind end. Jackdaw is tossed wide off the bull’s back. In the air he is all red-satin arms and shaggy-chapped legs but then somehow he grabs his black felt hat. He lands squarely on both feet, knees bent to catch his weight. Then he straightens with a grand sweep of his hat. Even from here you can see his smile burst out. There’s something about the way he opens his body to the crowd, like a dog rolling over to show its belly, that makes me feel sorry for him but drawn to him too. With him standing there, holding himself halfway between a relaxed slouch and head-high pride, I can see why my brother Tibs admires him. I haven’t actually met Jackdaw before, but he and Tibs hang out together a lot, and they have some English classes together. I haven’t run across him on campus.The crowd on the bleachers goes wild. It doesn’t matter that Jackdaw didn’t stay on the full eight seconds. They holler and wolf-whistle and shake their programs. Their metallic stomping vibrates my body and brings up dust and the smell of old manure.With Jackdaw off its back, the bull leaps into the air. It gyrates its hips and flips its head, a long ribbon of snot curling off its nostril and arcing over its back. Then it stops and turns and looks at Jackdaw. It hangs its head low. It shifts its weight onto its front hooves, butt in the air, and pauses. The clown with the black face paint and the big white circles around his eyes runs in front of the bull to distract it, but it shakes its head like it’s saying no to dessert.The crowd hushes.Then, I can’t believe it, Jackdaw takes a step toward the bull. The crowd yells, but not like a crowd, like a bunch of kids on a playground. Some holler encouragement. Others laugh. Some try to warn him. Some egg him on. My heart beats wild in my chest like when my sister CJ and I watch those slasher movies and Freddy’s coming after the guy and you know because he’s the best friend that he’s going to get killed and you want to warn him. “Bastard deserved it,” CJ always says, “for being stupid.” It’s like Jackdaw doesn’t know the bull’s right there. He starts walking, not directly to the fence but at a slant toward the loudest of the cheers, which takes him right past the bull.I turn to Tibs. “What’s he doing?”“He knows his stuff,” Tibs says, his voice lower than normal. The look on his face makes me want to give him a hug, but we’re not a hugging family, so I nod, even though Tibs isn’t looking at me.Tibs is leaning forward, his eyes focused on Jackdaw, his elbows on his knees, and his shoulders hunched. Tibs is tall and thin, and he always looks a little fragile, a couple of sticks propped together. His face is our dad’s, big eyes and not much of a chin, sort of like an alien or an overgrown boy. He has the habit of playing with his fingers, which he’s doing now. It’s like he wants to reach out and grab something but he can’t quite bring himself to. It’s the same when he talks—he’ll cover his mouth with his hand like he’s holding back his words.Tibs is the tallest of us three kids—CJ, he, and I. CJ’s the oldest. I’m the youngest and the shortest. Grandma Rose, Dad’s mom, always said I got left with the leftovers. Growing up, it seemed like CJ and Tibs got things and were told things that I was too young to have or to know. It was good though, too, because when Dad and Mom got killed when I was sixteen, I didn’t know enough to worry much about money or things. They had saved up some so we could get by. But poor CJ. She in particular had to be the parent, but she was used to babysitting us and she was older anyway—twenty-two, I think.Like that time when we were kids when CJ was babysitting and I got so sick. Turned out to be pneumonia. I don’t know where our parents were. Most likely, they were away on business, but it could have been something else. Grandma Rose had cracked her hip—I remember that—so she couldn’t take care of us, but it was only for a couple of days and CJ was thirteen at the time. In general, CJ had started ignoring us, claiming she was a teenager now and didn’t want to play with babies any more, like kids do, which really got Tibs, though he didn’t do much besides sulk about it. But that day she was playing with us like she was a little kid too. We had been playing in an irrigation ditch making a dam. I pretended to be a beaver, and Tibs pretended to be an engineer on the Hoover Dam. I don’t remember CJ pretending to be anything, just helping us arrange sticks and slop mud and then flopping in the water to cool down. I started feeling pretty bad. Over the course of the day, I had a cough that got worse and then I got really hot and then really cold and my body ached. My lungs started wheezing when I breathed. I remember thinking someone had punched a hole in me, like a balloon, and all my air was leaking out. CJ felt my head and then felt it again and then grabbed my arm and dragged me to the house, Tibs trailing behind. All I wanted to do was lie down, but she bundled me in a blanket and put me in a wagon, and between them she and Tibs pulled me down the driveway and out onto the highway. We lived twelve miles from town, in the house where I live now. I don’t know why CJ didn’t just call 911. But here we were, rattling down the middle of the highway. A woman in a truck stopped and gave us a ride to the hospital here in Loveland. Can you imagine it? A skinny muddy thirteen-year-old girl in her brown bikini and her skinny nine-year-old brother, taller than her but no bigger around than a stick and wearing red, white, and blue swim trunks, hauling their six-year-old sister through the sliding doors of the emergency room in a little red wagon. What those nurses must’ve thought.On the bleachers, I glance from Tibs back out to Jackdaw. The bull doesn’t know what’s going on either. It shakes its lowered head and snorts, blowing up dust from the ground. Jackdaw bows his head and slips on his hat. Then the bull decides and launches itself at Jackdaw. Just as the bull charges down on Jackdaw, the white-eyed clown runs between him and the bull and slaps the bull’s nose. Jackdaw turns toward them just as the bull plants its front feet, turns, and charges after the running clown.Pure foolishness and bravery. My hands are shaking. I want to go down and take Jackdaw’s hand and lead him out of the arena. A thought like a little alarm bell—who’d want to care about somebody who’d walk a nose-length from an angry bull? But something about the awkward hang of his arms and the flip of his chaps and the way his hat sets cockeyed on his head makes me want to be with him.The clown runs toward a padded barrel in the center of the arena, his white-stockinged calves flipping the split legs of his suspendered oversized jeans. He jumps into the barrel feet-first and ducks his head below the rim. The crowd gasps and murmurs as the charging bull hooks the barrel over onto its side and bats it this way and that for twenty yards. The bull stops and turns and faces the crowd, head high, tail cocked and twitching. He tips his snout up once, twice, and snorts.While the bull chases the clown, Jackdaw walks to the fence and climbs the boards.The clown pops his head out of the sideways barrel where he can see the bull from the rear. He pushes himself out and then scrambles crabwise around behind. He turns to face the bull, his hands braced on the barrel. The bull’s anger still bubbling, it turns back toward the clown and charges. As the bull hooks at the barrel and butts it forward, the clown scoots backwards, keeping the barrel between him and the bull, something I’m sure he’s done many times. He keeps scooting as the bull bats at the barrel. But then something happens—the clown trips and falls over backwards. The barrel rolls half over him as he turns sideways and tries to push himself up. The bull stops for a split second, as if to gloat, and then stomps on the clown’s franticly scrambling body and hooks the horns on its tilted head into the clown’s side, flipping the clown over onto his back.Why do rodeo clowns do it? Put their lives on the line for other people? I don’t understand it.The pickup men on the horses are there, but a second too late. They charge the bull, their horses shouldering into it. They yell and whip with quirts and kick with stirrupped boots. Tail still cocked, the reluctant bull is hazed away and into the gathering pen at the end of the arena. The metal gate clangs shut behind it.Head thrown back and arms splayed, the clown isn’t moving. Men jump off the rails and run toward him, and the huge doors at the end of the arena open and an ambulance comes in. It stops beside the clown. The EMTs jump out, pull out a gurney, and then huddle around the prone body. One goes back to the vehicle and brings some equipment. There’s frantic activity, and with the help of the other men, they place him on the gurney and slide him into the ambulance. It pulls out the doors and disappears, and the siren wails and recedes.Tibs stands up, looks at me, and jerks his head, saying come on, let’s go. I stand and follow him.

Like the characters in Deep Down Things, the author Tamara Linse and her husband have lost babies. They had five miscarriages before their twins were born through the help of a wonderful woman who acted as a gestational carrier. Tamara is also the author of the short story collection How to Be a Man and earned her master’s in English from the University of Wyoming, where she taught writing. Her work appears in the Georgetown Review, South Dakota Review, and Talking River, among others, and she was a finalist for Arts & Letters and Glimmer Train contests, as well as the Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize for a book of short stories. She works as an editor for a foundation and a freelancer. Find her online at tamaralinse.com and on her blog Writer, Cogitator, Recovering Ranch Girl at www.tamara-linse.blogspot.com
Website http://www.tamaralinse.com
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Published on August 18, 2014 03:00
August 16, 2014
Gargoyle Erotica with Christina Harding

Underneath the Gargoyle is my debut erotica, which was released on August 4, 2014. As you can probably guess, this book is a paranormal gargoyle erotica.
The first step I had to take when I decided to delve into the realm of writing paranormal erotica was to decide what paranormal animal I wanted to include in my story. I wanted something unique, something that hadn’t been completely exhausted already by other authors in this genre. While there is some other gargoyle erotica out there, I still felt like gargoyles are largely underrepresented in the paranormal world in general.
By choosing to feature gargoyles in my erotic novelette, I felt like this predetermined the setting of my story: a gothic Catholic cathedral. And so, this welcomed another source of taboo for this erotic short. Setting an erotica in a church opens the door for all sorts of smutty, totally blasphemous, sex scenes. I enjoyed pondering all the options available with this setting.
By coincidence, shortly before deciding to write the first draft of Underneath the Gargoyle, I watched Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. Those who are familiar with this movie will also be familiar with its loveable gargoyles. I have to admit that while I was writing Underneath the Gargoyle, I was imagining the ones from this movie. However, I only borrowed aspects of them such as their ability to transform from “living” to stone. The resemblance between them stops there. While the gargoyles in the Hunchback of Notre Dameare cute and wholesome, readers will find the ones in Underneath the Gargoyle are far from it.
Once I had settled on the setting for my story and envisioned the basis of gargoyles with Hunchback of Notre Dame, I was able to delve deeper into the specific characteristics of all the gargoyles. In doing so, I was surprised by how many options gargoyles afforded me. Given the definition of gargoyles, they could all be different shapes and sizes. And so in a sense, I felt as though I was not writing an erotica about gargoyles, but about a variety of creatures. It gave me all sorts of flexibility in terms of their physical characteristics and sexual capabilities.
After writing a story about gargoyles, I am more surprised than ever by how underrepresented they are within the paranormal realm because they offer a writer’s imagination endless possibilities. If you would like to give Underneath a Gargoyle a read, it is available from these retailers: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Smashwords, Screwpulp. You can also add it on Goodreads and you’re welcome to read my blog where I review erotica or follow me on twitter!
Thank you to Roxanne for inviting me to appear as a guest post on her blog!

Genre:Paranormal BDSM
Book Description:
Trisha is a Catholic choir member and believes nobody knows the extent of her promiscuity. Little does she know the gargoyles are watching her.
Amazon US ♥ Amazon UK ♥ Amazon AU ♥ Smashwords ♥ Screwpulp ♥ Goodreads
Visit the Author at http://christinahardingerotica.blogspot.com
What Readers Are Saying:
"This was fun to read -- clever and sexy and laugh-out-loud funny." ~Editor of Underneath the Gargoyle
"Smoking hot erotic short! Perfect for those who love paranormal erotica as well as those who prefer the taboo. Loved it and look forward to reading more by this author about what happens under the catacombs." ~5★ review by Bella Swann Erotica on Amazon
"A very sexy read! You won't want to miss this: father/son fantasies, supernatural creatures, and just about every kind of erotic situation you can imagine. Highly recommended!" ~5★ review by Fionna Guillaume on Smashwords
"Great first story! Paranormal/monsters aren't usually my thing but really glad I gave this one a try. I'd be lying if I said it didn't turn me on; it did, a lot. Hopefully the start of a great series of novelettes." ~5★ review by Adrian Ward on Smashwords
"I thought it was steamy in the graveyard, but move past that and find her confessing of her "sins" to her boyfriend's father...Holy Smoke!! That doesn't even scrape the surface, with the rest of the story. I really enjoyed it! It was short, but there was so much that added depth to the characters and the plot. I highly recommend this one and will be reading many more from this author." ~5★ review by Booklover on Amazon
Published on August 16, 2014 03:00
August 13, 2014
HELLini Cocktail Is Fang-tastic


HELLini Cocktail Is Fang-tastic by Diana CacheyIn Venice, Italy, Giuseppe Cipriani invented the now famous Bellini cocktail, a delicious mix of sparkling wine and peach juice. The fizzy drink started as a seasonal specialty at Harry’s Bar, a historic landmark and favorite Venetian hot spot teaming with tourists and made infamous by celebrities likeErnest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock, Truman Capote, Orson Welles, Aristotle Onassis, Barbara Hutton, Peggy Guggenheim,Woody Allen (the list goes on!)



Genre: Romance/paranormal.
ISBN: 1481031767ISBN: 9781481031769
Number of pages: 160Word Count: 40,000
Tagline: Among the romantic canals of Venice—and oh so many Italian distractions—can a stunning American lawyer and her psychic sister help the Ghosts of Venice solve a hushed-up crime?
Book Description:
Louisa Mangotti is a gorgeous American lawyer and Interpol expert who, after being offered a job working with the international crime unit in Venice, receives a mysterious postcard from the Venetian Ghosts, the ancient protectors of the Republic. But Louisa assumes her bad-boy ex, Matteo, sent it in a quixotic attempt to gain her attention. Louisa may have dismissed the ghosts, but the ghosts aren’t quite done with her.
When the bodies of two glassmakers wash up on Murano Island, the cryptic messages persist. Reluctantly, Louisa calls upon Matteo to help decipher the clues. And before she knows it, a flame that was never fully extinguished is rekindled. Sensing that her sister is in over her head, Barbara Mangotti rushes to the rescue, only to be lured away by two handsome Venetian men.
With time running out, can the two beauties solve a crime that could threaten the city of Venice itself?
Available at Createspace and Amazon

Diana Cachey is a licensed attorney, published academic, and former adjunct law professor. She also holds a BA in English, and while in law school, she was the first female editor in chief of her university’s law review. The author of the novel Love Spirits, she has trained with several New York Times best-selling writers, including Robert Allen, with more than seventy-two million books sold. For more than a decade, Cachey has been traveling to Venice, the setting of her novel, on extended trips several times a year. The cafés, restaurants, and many other haunts of Venice play a prominent role in her sexy paranormal mystery-romance about a beautiful American lawyer guided by the Ghosts of Venice in the investigation of a hushed-up crime.
https://www.youtube.com/user/dcachey
https://www.whathappensinvenice.com
@dianacachey
https://www.facebook.com/diana.cachey
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diana-Cachey/153347544749839
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Published on August 13, 2014 03:01
Spotlight on Emerald Fire by Valerie Twombly


Genre: Paranormal Erotica
Publisher: ResplendenceDate of Publication: 7/2/14
ISBN: 978-1-60735-787-2ASIN: B00LHCCQRA
Number of pages: 103Word Count: 30K
Cover Artist: Les Byerley
Book Description:
Ever since Brock lost his mate and son in a tragic murder, he’s been unable to move on. When urged to go back home and bury his past, he never expected to meet Sarah. The demon is strong, sexy, and kind-hearted. Everything a man could want in a woman.
Sarah has longed to discover the mate who completes her and finds herself wondering about the demon who left the house next door shrouded in magic. After he appears in her camera lens, it’s an instant attraction and doesn’t take long to realize he belongs to her.
When Elias steps into the picture, Sarah must fight the urges he stirs inside her. She can’t believe fate has given her two mates. Now she is faced with a decision. Choose the one who promises nights of passion and undying love, or the other who can only offer her his broken heart.
Available at Amazon Resplendence and ARe
Excerpt:Sarah stood outside the house and watched while Brock unraveled the magic woven around it. The demon fidgeted and paced, and on more than one occasion, she worried he would run from her. She hoped, once inside, he would be able to find peace. Something in her gut told her his jitters were not all due to the opening of old wounds. She realized she actually made him nervous. When she’d caught him admiring her assets, she’d been anything but angry. His roving eyes had sent moisture between her thighs and a longing that nearly had her shoving him to the floor to sate her desire. Hot, inviting, he made her mouth water. She wondered if he tasted anything like the spicy cinnamon scent she inhaled every time she got near him and decided she needed to find out. Would it be in poor taste to seduce him when he was at his weakest? For some reason, she didn’t care, and that was really out of character for her.
“Sarah?”
She looked up and met his dark, brown eyes, noting a twinkle of mischief in them.
“Find something you like?” he chuckled.
Shit. She’d been caught staring at his ass. Well, it wasn’t her fault he filled out a pair of jeans like nobody’s business. Not to mention he was standing two steps up from her which put the muscular perfection right at eye level. She curled her lips upward. “As a matter of fact, yes. Yes, I did.” There, let him chew on that! She hoped he’d take it as a hint of her interest.
He tipped back his head in laughter. “Well, I guess I deserve that after I gawked at you.”
He pushed the door open, his features immediately schooled. Her heart ached for him and longed to see the sexy smile again. Her new goal was to get him through this and help him move on. She wanted to get to know the real Brock. The one who wasn’t in pain. “I’ll go first just to make sure it’s safe.” He slipped past the threshold and disappeared. Sarah remained on the first step, waiting for him to give her the all clear. Minutes later, he stuck his head out, his face ashen. “You can come in.”
She made her way up the remaining steps and through the doorway, not sure what she would find inside and half expecting her senses to be assaulted. She took in a deep breath and found the air to be crisp and clean. She must have had a puzzled look on her face.
“The spell kept everything out so there’s no mildew or mold,” he stated matter of fact.
She glanced around the spacious kitchen and felt as if she’d stepped back in time. The white porcelain refrigerator and gas range with its side storage compartment were state of the art for the period when the house had been previously occupied. Everything glistened as if freshly cleaned, waiting for the museum patrons to walk through the time capsule. She noticed Brock no longer stood next to her so she moved across the linoleum floor to the beige carpeted living room. She found him standing in the center, staring down at the floor.
“Brock?” She walked up and stood next to him. He didn’t respond and almost seemed to be mesmerized except that his hands balled into fists then released, only to repeat the process. Her heart fractured. Clearly, this was where he had found his mate. She reached out to touch him but hesitated unsure how he would respond. “Brock, maybe this wasn’t a good idea. I think we should leave.”
He lifted his head and glanced around the room. “No. I need to face my ghosts. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be this difficult.” He ran his fingers through his short, blond hair. “Hell, I’m not really sure what I was expecting.”
It was heartbreaking to see him so vulnerable. This time, she didn’t stop herself from placing a hand on his arm.
“Is this where…?” She couldn’t finish the question without her voice giving away her emotions.

As a child, Valerie would often get into trouble for peeking at her mother’s favorite TV show, Dark Shadows. She can still hear her mother saying “It will give you nightmares.” She was right of course, but that did not stop Valerie from watching. As an adult, her love of the fanged creatures never waned. She would watch any vampire movie she could find.
Being a true romantic, Valerie was thrilled when she discovered the genre of paranormal romance. Her first read was one of Lara Adrian’s, Midnight Breed Series and from there she was hooked.
Today, Valerie has decided to take her darker, sensual side and put it to paper. When she is not busy creating a world full of steamy, hot men and strong, seductive women, she juggles her time between a full-time job, hubby and her two German shepherd dogs, in Northern IL.
Valerie is a member of Romance Writers of America and Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Romance Writers.
Web http://www.valerietwombly.com/
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Published on August 13, 2014 02:30
August 11, 2014
Guest blog and GIveaway: Echoes of Paradise by Deanna Kahler

Fictional Characters, Real People and Alter Egos
Guest blog post by Deanna Kahler
We’ve all read books where we really related to or connected with a character. The person may have reminded us of ourselves or who we long to be. Even though the character is fictional, he or she may feel real to us. Why is it that something make believe can seem so true to life?The reason, I believe, is that each character is created as a result of the author’s experiences and desires. Some characters are partially based on real people. Others share a few of the author’s personality traits. And then there are the “alter egos,” those characters who represent the author’s hidden desires or innermost fears. For example, the author may have always thought skydiving seemed fascinating but is too terrified to ever try it herself, so she creates a character that is fearless, adventurous and loves to skydive. This gives her to opportunity to live vicariously through the character and also explore a scenario or way of living that is uncomfortable, unfamiliar or risky. Every experience, thought, fear and desire shapes us into who we are. In the same way, each fictional character represents an aspect of ourselves. As a result, these characters have a lot in common with real people. They’re relatable because someone like them exists in real life. It’s very unlikely that anyone could come up with a character that shares nothing in common with any living person. We write about what we know or have come to understand, and that includes all the people we have ever come in contact with — from the grocery store clerk to your best friend to your favorite teacher.
I love the characters in my book, Echoes of Paradise. Celeste shares some personality traits with me. Sue is my polar opposite. Andy represents the demons of my past. Chip is the bubbly, carefree child I wish I could have been. They are a beautiful blend of fictional characters, real people and alter egos.

Genre: Paranormal Romance / Visionary Fiction
Publisher: Rose Petal Publications
Date of Publication: Originally Released 1/1/2014Reprint / New Cover 6/21/2014
ISBN: 978-0615863399ASIN: B00HT2KX2C
Number of pages: 228Word Count: 54,937
Book Description:
Connor’s dead. But she can still feel him. Is it just her imagination or something more? Celeste wants to know. And she’ll stop at nothing to find out.
A once-aspiring artist, Celeste is going through the motions of life. She’s stuck – in a job she doesn’t love, with a man who isn’t right for her, in a web of painful memories from the past. Adding to her despair is the sudden and unexpected death of Connor, her true love. As she struggles to make sense of the world around her, strange coincidences and mysterious events lead her to question her sanity. When the happenings persist, she wonders if Connor’s spirit is trying to tell her something. Her jealous husband Dave insists it’s all just her imagination. But when Celeste’s young son has an experience of his own, she is determined to uncover the truth.
Join Celeste as she risks her marriage, her career, and her own safety to escape the demons from her past and unravel the mysteries of life and death. With so much uncertainty, there’s only one thing Celeste knows: her world will never be the same.
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/-jGCYT1my9E
Available at Amazon and BN
Short Excerpt:
Celeste began sobbing uncontrollably. She struggled to see the road ahead of her through tear-filled eyes. The landscape became a fuzzy blur of moonlight and shadowy trees. The world around her spun into an unrecognizable mix of darkness streaked with occasional rays of dim light. As she drove blindly ahead, she felt as if she were plunging into nothingness. And she didn’t even care.She would have continued in her oblivious state, but somehow, out of nowhere, she heard a very clear and distinct male voice pop into her head. She thought that surely she must have imagined it, because it sounded like Connor.Pay attention.Suddenly a deer darted out in front of her, its startled eyes aglow from the blazing gold headlights. Blood pulsed through her veins as she abruptly swerved her car to the right, narrowly missing the animal. With her heart still pounding, she took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure.“That was close,” she said aloud to herself. “Stay focused, Celeste. Keep it together.”Although she was alone in her car, she noticed a distinct presence. It felt like Connor was somehow with her. First the voice, and now this? Surely she must be losing her mind! Even so, she had an irresistible urge to talk to him. Maybe it was silly or useless, but she couldn’t fight this desire brimming inside of her. She didn’t just want communication with her deceased former love; she needed it—even if it was one-sided. She began to have a conversation as if he were right there with her.“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay in touch with you and try to be a part of your life in some way. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you or able to help you. I’m sorry for the night I left you. I’m sorry I didn’t let you get closer to me or tell you that I love you. I’m just so sorry.”Tears streamed down Celeste’s face like the rain on a shiny glass window, and she gasped for air. What she wanted most right now was to know that Connor still existed somehow, somewhere. She wanted proof that his spirit lived on. She wanted to know that he was alive and well in heaven. Although she had been raised Christian, her faith had faded as she’d grown older. Life’s circumstances, unanswered prayers, and the cynical, materialistic world around her had left Celeste with doubts and questions. She now wondered if God and the afterlife even existed at all. She wanted to believe. She just didn’t know how.Right after she spoke to Connor, a song came on the radio. The words caught her attention, and she stopped crying long enough to listen. It was a tune by Nickelback titled “Someday.”For a brief moment, Celeste noticed a tingling sensation run down her spine. She felt like Connor was speaking directly to her through this song. It felt as if he were trying to respond to her. Were the words to this song meant for her? Did he somehow hear her cries? Was he trying to tell her he was going to help her in some way?“No,” thought Celeste. “You’re being ridiculous. This is all just a coincidence. Connor can’t hear you or help you—he’s dead.”
Somehow, even though her rational, logical mind told her this, her heart told her otherwise. Maybe Connor really was alive in the afterlife. Maybe he really could hear her. She needed to know the truth. She wanted answers.

Deanna Kahler is an accomplished writer and proud mom. Her work has been published in numerous corporate newsletters and magazines across the country. She began writing as a young child and enjoys the opportunity to reach others and make a difference in their lives.
Echoes of Paradise is her second book. The story is close to her heart because it was inspired by some of her own experiences. Deanna is now working on a follow-up novel, Visions of Mortality, scheduled for release in 2015. The book will feature some of the same characters and also have a paranormal/afterlife theme.
Deanna holds a bachelor’s degree in communication arts from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, where she graduated with departmental honors. She lives with her husband and daughter in a Metro Detroit suburb and enjoys writing, dancing, walking, and visiting parks in her spare time.
For more information, please visit www.deannakahler.com
Author photo by Steven Jon Horner Photography
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeannaKahler
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/echoesofparadise
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Published on August 11, 2014 03:00
Interview and Giveaway Taming Darkness by Kat Daemon

Please tell us about your latest release.
Taming Darkness is the story of Lucifer Morning Star, the world’ most infamous fallen angel, and the one woman who was able to hold temptation over him. Luce is getting through his days, passing the time while waiting for the Apocalypse when a human girl named Maria catches his eye. Maria is twenty-three, naive of the world around her and months away from taking her final vows to be a nun. In an attempt to lure her away from God, Luce finds himself falling again as Maria shows him a glimpse of heaven once more.
Do you have a special formula for creating characters' names? Do you try to match a name with a certain meaning to attributes of the character or do you search for names popular in certain time periods or regions?
Most of the names in my Darkness series have very particular names. I even go into the meanings of names in book 2. I gave Lucifer the alter ego of Lucas Starr because Lucas still means light, and as we all know Lucifer was the light bearer. He is known biblically as Lucifer Morning Star, so I just slightly changed the spelling of Star to Starr. Maria is representative of the Virgin Mary, so that is obvious. Kael, Ru’mel and Lilith are all names of demons in mythology. Evelyn is my oracle, and the name Evelyn means life. I feel that suits her since she sees how all life will grown and change.
Is there a character that you enjoyed writing more than any of the others?
Writing Lucifer is very natural to me. I often feel like he’s standing next to me feeding me his lines and I can’t type fast enough. I adore writing him, villain and all.
Did you find anything really interesting while researching this or another book?
I did a lot of research on the character of Lilith. I found some fascinating facts about her. Some I used, others I just filed away for future books in this series. They definitely shaped her character, and she is a strong presence in book one. She has more demonic traits that the fallen angels. She is a shapeshifter who knows what she wants and will do whatever it takes to obtain it.
With the book being part of a series, are there any character or story arcs, that readers jumping in somewhere other than the first book, need to be aware of? Can these books be read as stand alones?
I wrote book two first, so I actually feel that readers can start the series at two (Killing Darkness, it will be out in the fall) and then go back and read one (Taming Darkness). One acts more like a prequel, but of course they are being released this way so you can read them in order.
Do you write in different genres?
I do. This series is paranormal, but I also write in horror and magical realism.
What are your guilty pleasures in life?
Starbucks coffee and black eyeliner.
Other than writing, what are some of your interests, hobbies or passions in life?
I make venetian masks. I collected them for so long, and then finally took the plunge and started making them. I work in paper mache and leather. I’ve sold many of them to people all over the United States.
What was the last amazing book you read?
I’m a big Game of Thrones fan, so I’m making my way through that series. It is pretty epic!
Where can readers find you on the web?
www.katdaemon.com That is my website which has the links to my twitter, facebook, pintrest and email. Please feel free to contact me, I ADORE hearing from readers! I love all of your questions and comments :)

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: April 16, 2014
ISBN:1497495350ASIN: B00JRHVFOC
Number of pages: 174 pagesWord Count: 54,000
Cover Artist: S.P. McConnell
Book Description:
Since he was sentenced to earth eons ago, Lucifer has always lived by three simple rules: Humans are toys that are meant to be played with, love is a useless emotion, and the only creature worth fighting for is himself. To him, nothing matters but his own enjoyment, whether it be manipulating those around him, or indulging in the sins of the flesh with Lilith.
Then he found young, sweet, and innocent, Maria, who is everything that Lucifer detests. She has devoted her life to her one true love, God. Unable to resist a challenge, Lucifer sets his sights on tempting Maria away from his enemy. Disguising himself as Lucas Starr, he creates a world that not even Maria can resist. He never planned on having the tables turned on him.
Imagine Lucifer’s surprise when Maria brings him to his knees and shows him a glimpse of heaven once more. Blinded by his arrogance and an unlikely vision, Lucifer falls again, this time forgetting that some lines should never be crossed. When his greatest opponent, Michael, shows up, all Hell breaks loose.
Will Maria be able to accept Lucifer for who he truly is, or realize what Michael already knows: some destinies can never be changed?
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Excerpt:
There are many places that I have called home over my lifetime. I have rooms in every corner of the globe. Yet, I have such a fondness for Manhattan that I made a penthouse on the Upper East Side one of my more permanent lairs. I acquired the building during the stock market crash of 1929. Amazing what people are willing to give up when they are in a state of panic. Although the entire building is mine, I prefer to spend my time at the top, watching the city, keeping a close eye on humanity. This particular evening, I was host to a party, an impromptu event in which many of my minions had brought with them a human counterpart to tempt and indulge. All around me, the weak were lost in laughter, swimming in the sensation of sin as they turn a blind eye on their conscience. Bodies were draped over chaise lounges with veins full of heroin, brains closed to common sense. Girls danced for men with dollars while greedy hands in the corner bet their house over a card game. In the back rooms, people fucked like dogs, cheating on their spouses, and snorting lines of cocaine off of the bodies of the camouflaged demons that would later chain them to the beds. The air was thick with smoke and fragrant with booze. It was a typical Saturday night. I sat cast in shadows, a king on my throne, observing the jesters that provided my entertainment. Sometimes, human behavior fascinated me. But mostly, I was watching Lilith. She was sitting on top of the bar, with no less than a dozen suitors at her feet. Leave it to Lilith to break my one guest rule. Red leather high-heeled boots ran up her legs, black hot pants revealed too much flesh, and a red halter top tied her up in one neat package. Her skin might as well have been white marble, with lips red as roses begging to be kissed. Lavish, flaming red hair spilled over her breasts, hitting her hips in thunderous waves. She was the vision of a ripe, delicious, cherry waiting to be plucked. One of my favorite features was her eyes. They were always changing color, alternating between green and yellow. What was even more fascinating was that she could spin them at will, hypnotizing any man that needed to be soothed. The primitive beings before her fought hard to serve, hoping for a fraction of consideration, but her eyes were on me. They always were. Hopping off of the bar, she walked toward me, her body swaying in a seductive rhythm, her hips demanding my attention. She offered me a half empty glass of bourbon, and made herself comfortable in my lap. Stretching out like a cat, she lay against my chest and raised a lazy hand beneath my chin, tracing my chiseled jaw with her finger. Had it been a normal night, I would have enjoyed her this way, but I knew it wasn’t for me. It was all part of the act for her fans, whose hungry eyes longed for her, with tongues hanging and dicks waving. I pulled her hair out of my face, rested it on her shoulder, and took a generous gulp of the bourbon. “Rough day at work, dear?” I asked while eyeing the strings of her shirt knotted at her neck. It didn’t seem to be tied very tight, and I was tempted to pull it apart. “If only it were. You know I like it rough.” She purred in my lap. “May I ask what the great Lucifer has been up to? I haven’t seen you around lately.” I handed her the glass and revealed my secret. “I found a new toy.” “Oh? I’m in need of a new toy.” She took a drink from the glass and licked her lips before laying her head against my shoulder. “I keep breaking all of mine.” She gestured toward the bar, where the men were begging for her return. Her fingers unbuttoned my two top buttons. She slipped her hand inside and ran her fingers over my pecs. She was warm, like me. “I’m not sharing this one,” I declared. “You never do,” she said, pulling her hand back a tad more defiant than I would have liked. Sitting up and slamming back the bourbon, she leaped from my lap, taking a step back toward her fans. “Lilith...I think I might keep this one for a while. This soul may be a bit harder to acquire.” She turned and looked at me for a moment, contemplating my intent. “I never interfere with your work, just as long as it doesn’t interfere with me.” “Go have fun. Work up an appetite, and when you get hungry, come back to me.” She leaned down and placed a firm hand on each armrest, looking into my eyes with her wild, animal instincts. She kissed me fiercely, and added, “I always do.” “One more thing,” I said grabbing her wrist and kissing the inside of it before she fled toward her toys. “That blonde with the great hair, but bad teeth...” Lilith turned a lazy head and noted who I referred to. “Do you want him?” she offered. “I want his watch,” I said, my eyes locked on the Rolex that was in all likelihood a family heirloom. Lilith laughed. “Is that all? Consider it yours.” Then she made her way back to the crowd to break a few hearts, and perhaps a few necks as well.

Kat Daemon grew up in New York where her imagination always seemed to get the best of her. When she’s not hanging with demons, she’s usually armed with a strong cup of coffee and dreaming up her next tormented character.
You can find out more about Kat and her books at www.katdaemon.com
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Published on August 11, 2014 03:00