Karilyn Bentley's Blog, page 5

#99cents #SALE on Demon Lore by Karilyn Bentley

Just in time for Halloween, Demon Lore, the first book in the urban fantasy Demon Huntress series, is on sale for $0.99 until October 26th!! This is the first book in Gin Crawford's adventure of becoming the world's newest demon huntress. There are three books in the series out now (Demon Lore, Demon Kissed, and Demon Cursed) with two more coming out next year. Keep reading for all the fun details!

Blurb:Gin Crawford has enough problems dealing with her empath abilities. Finding out she's the world's newest demon-slayer is the last thing she needs. Unfortunately, when she slips on a mysterious bracelet she is given no other choice. On the plus side, her new gig comes with Tall, Dark and Handsome, a mage who may or may not have her best interests at heart. Thrust into a power-play between good and evil, Gin must choose a side before she becomes the next victim in the ongoing battle.
Excerpt:      The evil man-thing stands on my porch, his lips turning in a menacing smile of death. I don’t need to touch him to know he wants me dead. Muscles freeze, trapping my breath in my lungs. Like a rabbit in view of a wolf, I’m immobilized, waiting for death’s blow. Time slows, his gaze locks on mine, trapping me in place.     Move, move, move! My mind screams as the man’s fingers twitch.     But the spike of adrenaline explodes into my limbs too late to stop the backhand blow slamming across my jaw.     I superman it halfway across the living room. Land on the hardwood floor in a thud of pain-ridden limbs. My jaw morphs into a screaming ball of nerves. My head no sooner hits the floor than I hear the bracelet scream, a high-pitched wail quivering through my skin like vibrations from a tuning fork. The bracelet tightens around my wrist, cutting off the circulation, and then it loosens with a pop at the same time I hear the door click closed.     Ohgodohgodohgod, I’m going to die. I don’t want to die. No, no, no, no, no. Pain and terror hold me crumpled on the floor as my mind crawls backward in time.     But I’m no longer a child, fearful of fists and words, cowering on the ground.     I’m a fighter.     My head spins, but I refuse to lie on the floor waiting to be killed, so I attempt to stand. Evil Guy laughs as I ass-plant it. Laughs as a moan escapes my lips. He takes a step toward me, right arm drawn back for a hit. His fist hurls toward my face, but I manage to block it with my left arm. My right arm, the one with the bracelet, shoves forward, slamming into his chest.     His black eyes widen, mouth open in surprise, his hands fluttering to his chest before dropping. I stare at my hand, stare hard, for I’m as surprised as Evil Guy. The bracelet had become a sword, a long, thin spike of metal extending from the silver links, straight into Evil Guy’s heart.     A sword?     Definitely a sword. The flat of the blade rests against the back of my hand, cool metal heating from the warmth of my skin. Small silver links circle around my palm, lending stability to the two-foot long sword.     I’m not sure which scares me more, Evil Guy paying me a visit or the fact the bracelet performed a morphing trick.
Buy Links:Amazon | iBooks | B&N | TWRP
And if you like Demon Lore, check out Demon Kissed and Demon Cursed, the 2nd and 3rd books in the series. Enjoy!
Happy Reading!!

Where to find Karilyn:Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Website  

Michelle Miles: How to become more productive in your daily life

I don’t often recommend products. When I do, it has to be something I truly, whole-heartedly believe in. I’m not a sales person (as evidenced by my own sucky book sales LOL) by any stretch. I’ve tried to sell jewelry and Avon but I’m…just…not cut out for that.

But there is one thing that has transformed me. Not just my writing life, but my life in general. I love to journal but sometimes those blank pages can be daunting. I love setting goals but I can never figure out how to achieve those goals. One of my big goals is to write full time, but I never really sat down to figure out what steps I had to do to make that happen. I mean, I know I need to write books. But how does that break down into achievable steps to get there?

One day I was skimming through my Facebook feed, as you do, and I kept seeing this sponsored ad over and over again. It hadn’t really stopped to look at it until one day, finally, I paused and really looked at the ad. It was for a journal, but a journal designed to help you reach you goals.



Huh. I was intrigued. I followed the link to the Facebook page here.

And then I ended up on their website. I read product descriptions, then went back to the FB link and read all the comments under the ad. Lots of folks loved the journal. After mulling it over for a couple of weeks, I finally decided to take the plunge. I received my journal to start right around July 4 and the beginning of Q3.

Dude, their marketing totally worked on me.

It’s a 13-week commitment. 91 days. I figured I could do that, no sweat. Then if I didn’t like it or didn’t stick with it, I didn’t have to order another one.

Normally, I give up on this stuff a couple of weeks in. But I was determined. Plus, when you write down these goals and commit to them and make up your mind to do it, you get to reward yourself at the end of the 13-week period. My reward is a steak dinner at Outback, because I love steak and Outback.

At the time I started the journal, I’d been struggling to write every day and finish ON THE HUNT FOR THE WIZARD KING. I was stuck and didn’t know how to get unstuck. Plus, I was (still am) in serious debt. I needed to climb my out, somehow, someway. There was one particular credit card that made me angry every time I paid the bill. I have NOTHING to show for a balance with a comma in it. NOTHING. And don’t even get me started on all the interest I’d been paying.

Anyway, with this journal, you start and end the day with gratitude. You can time block your time and you write down your goals—weekly, monthly, lifetime—it doesn’t matter. You write down your targets for the day. At the end of the day, you write you lessons learned and your big wins. Then you can track your weekly progress on the weekly pages.

There are inspirational quotes every day about goals, motivation, positivity.



Over the course of the 13 weeks, I finished Wizard King, proofed it, formatted it, uploaded it. It’s ready for publication. I paid off two credit cards. I revised another 100k word plus novel. I wrote in the journal every day. On weekends, I do an abbreviated version because I don’t focus 100% on my goals Saturday and Sunday because we have a lot to do around the house and with the kid. Plus, my brain just needs downtime. I think about writing enough as it is.

I ordered a second journal for Q4. I’m ready to track new goals. I’m ready to start a new book and pay off another credit card. For me, this is a great tool to measure and see where I am, where I’m going, and how to get there. I like measurable things. I like to see it on paper. I’m a visual person, so seeing really is believing. Seeing progress and knowing I finished two books in 13 weeks makes my life.

This journal, though, isn't just for writers. It's for anyone who wants to make a difference in their lives. Others have used it to help them lose weight, start a business, launch a music career. The possibilities are endless.

If you want to check out the Best Self Journal, click here. I believe in this product.

I believe in myself. I can do this.

And you can, too.

Release Day! Bride, Texas

The Unlucky Bride!!!

What happens when seven authors get together and write a series about a town started by a jilted Bride. Come to Bride, Texas, where love cures broken hearts.

Flood waters and broken hearts…two jilted ex-lovers trapped in Bride, Texas

Laney Baxter’s ironic escape to Bride, Texas couldn’t be more fitting - considering she is a runaway bride! Unfortunately, her plans to hide out have her jumping from the frying pan into the fire when she discovers she is trapped with the one man who broke her heart years ago - Chase Hamilton! Now, she can only hope the rising waters recede just as fast before Chase uncovers the mystery of their past.

Chase returns to Bride, Texas to nurse a broken heart and re-evaluate his life. The family home along the river was supposed to offer him peace and quiet, not the last woman he ever expected to see again. When the river rises, trapping them together, Chase questions whether his heart was really broken or just his ego bruised.

Laney and Chase are forced to face some startling revelations - including the feelings they still have for each other. Can the two work through their tangled emotions before the river recedes, or will long hidden secrets tear them apart?

Available Everywhere! Click here!

Grounded in the Book World #setting #writingromance #amreading

Within the first few pages, readers want to know where the story is taking
place, what scholars call the setting. Setting draws a mental picture in the reader’s mind. It establishes whether the story is dark or light, small town,  big city, or country. What season of the year. What time of day.
One of my favorite romance authors is Emilie Loring who wrote stories back in the thirties and forward. While vacationing recently, I picked up Lighted Windows and written upon the first page is this:

Fifth Avenue. In that quiet hour before dawn when for a trifling interval the city dozes, it never sleeps. The gleaming asphalt, blanched to silvery whiteness by arc lights, stretched ahead illimitably between looming skyscrapers, phantoms of concrete and steel, brick and glass, shadowy and unread as the back drop in a pantomime. Instantly, we know where the author is speaking of. The reader is transported to New York, and specifically, Fifth Avenue, a popular street, in the wee hours of morning when all is quiet.

Here are some sentences about setting: Temporarily Insane by Vicki Batman. I walked to the sofa table positioned in front of the picture window. Sitting on top were various brochures and today’s newspaper. The bold headline caught my eye, hooking me into reading further. The opening paragraph said something about a lead on a case involving an accountant who’d been found dead in Louisiana, apparently poisoned. Was the saying the only good accountant is a dead accountant true? iBooks



Adam by Chris Keniston. The sun rose higher in the sky, casting a warm light across the dry Texas dirt. More than looking for the dog, Adam searched for something the dog could use for shelter but there wasn't a blessed thing large enough to hide anything the size of the animal he'd seen moments ago. A few feet farther, Adam stopped to look back. He could no longer see the expression on the bride's face, but he could feel the intensity with which she watched him and the barren land around him. Probably jilted on her wedding day, definitely stranded in the middle of west Texas cattle country, yet her only concern was for an injured dog. Adam

Shattered by Liz Lipperman. “Out of my way,” he sneered, shoving her to the ground.“Hey, mister, watch where—” Jenny slammed her mouth shut when he shot her a venomous look that sent chills up her spine. Chills that had more to do with the evil in his eyes than the temperature in the airport terminal.Turning back to Villegas, the man with the birth mark pressed his gun into the Texan’s stomach, leaning his body in until his face nearly touched the businessman’s. Eyes wide and breathing faster, Ramón did a one-eighty around the room, as if deciding what to do next. “Welcome to Costa Rica, asshole. We’re here to escort you to hell.” Amazon Demon Cursed by Karilyn Bentley. “Is the ref smoking dope?” T asks, sloshing beer over the rim of his cup as he uses it to point at the field.

“Sure seems that way.” Clearly the refs were in cahoots to prevent us from winning.

The woes of being a die-hard football fan: seeing conspiracy theories at every call.

I glance over my shoulder, into the suite, where mage Aidan Smythe sits on a sofa, his feet propped on the coffee table, surrounded by empty beer bottles and cups. Smythe’s fingers fly across the keyboard of his laptop. Only my mentor would show up to a football game and perform Internet searches for demon activity instead of watching the game.

Mages. Impossible to understand. Impossible to slap out their crazy. Amazon

Saving Hope by Liese Sherwood-Fabre. Their boots echoed through the building’s narrow stairwell, then thudded on the courtyard’s frozen mud as they crossed to the corrugated metal container holding their prize possession —a dull green Lada automobile.

Yuri grunted as he shoved back the top to reveal the car. Once they’d settled inside, he played with the choke and the gas pedal for several minutes before the car’s engine finally whined to life. With a lurch, he steered the car out of the small garage and over the icy ruts into the Siberian night.

Only a few other cars’ headlights, resembling insects’ yellow eyes, flashed past them along the way. Amazon

Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin. Stranje House is an odd place at night when everyone is asleep. It’s as if the old Tudor manor is alive the way it creaks and the windows shudder. I tiptoe in the dark downstairs to the kitchen. Thin gray moonlight whiskers in through the windows and I breathe deep the lingering smell of baked rye bread and onion soup. But something yanks my attention to the window above the baking table. It might’ve been a wisp of fog, or an owl soaring by to catch a mouse in the garden, except it had seemed bigger. If I were prone to fanciful ruminations, I might’ve thought a phantom flitted past. Amazon

A MERRY DEVIL in Tempted at Christmas. The French had a word for it, of course, being the French and the damned enemy, though they were only a day’s sail away across the Channel. The coup de foudre they called it—the stroke of lightning, the moment of force when everything changed.

Everything had changed the first moment Matthew Kent had seen her, the long tall girl striding along the quay in the chilly dawn light. Though it had been more than a month ago, he remembered it as if it were that very morning—the air had crackled with charges of energy that had made it hard to breathe, his vision had sharpened and gone fuzzy at the edges all at the same time, and his legs had felt suddenly unsteady, as if he had stepped ashore for the first time in weeks, instead of in days. As if he had been struck by lightning. Author Central


Is there a book or author whose work you've read that evokes emotion in setting? Share with us!

 

Michelle Miles: Let's have some fun

Okay so. It's my day to blog and I got nothin'. It's been a whirlwind last month with the kid turning 16 (!!!) and marching band and everything else I have going on. So let's have some fun.

Here's a picture of my cat:


Caption it.

OR tell me a story about your favorite pet.

And go!

Yes, I'm Older, But I'm Not Dead Yet!!

This year when I attended the Romance Writers of America conference, I realized I have been attending these since 1991. Yes, for twenty six years I’ve been a member of RWA and attended their conference at least twenty times if not more in my lifetime.
But this time, when I looked at some of the same people who have attended year after year, I noticed how we are all aging. The only time I really feel old is when the body aches in a new joint or I’m short of breath or I can’t keep up. The rest of the time, I feel just like I did when I was sixteen. Hopefully a lot smarter than I was then, but the same age. 
That’s not to say that I don’t see the wrinkles around the eyes, the ones forming over my lip or that the girls don’t stand as high as they once were. But let’s face it, I’m not as young either. So that brings me to this month's post. 
Ten Things Not To Say to an Older Person
You’ve got gray in your hair? — No Sh…Sherlock. Every day when I look in the mirror there it is. I’m hoping it will soon turn silver.I’ll handle the technical stuff…What? You don’t think I haven’t taught myself how to move around on Facebook, Twitter, even learned some coding. Do I want to do it? No, but I’m an author and I have to know this stuff. What were they doing when you were young? — Huh? I’m no longer young? You mean bell bottoms are no longer in style? What about disco? Can you do the hustle?Your grandchildren must adore you. — I’m sure they would if I had grandchildren, but I don’t. Yes, I’m old enough to have them, but first your child must marry or at the very least have a girlfriend. Know any single 32 year old women who are looking for a man?You make a png file and change it to JPEG file and then a pdf and upload them right into your website where people can click…Okay, I’m a very technical person, but you have to remember when I graduated high school, there wasn’t a single computer in my school. The personal computer had not even been invented. Several years later we were all playing Pong on the Atari and that was the first thing close to a computer. We’ve come a long way, baby. And cell phones? Hahahaha…That author is old. She can’t write sex. — Oh honey, I think sex has been around since Adam and Eve. If not you must have been hatched. You have to remember, I grew up reading the first great romances of our times. Authors Like Kathleen Woodwiess and Janet Dailey. They were ground breakers in my opinion. Mr. Grey made a genre popular, but he didn’t invent sex. Remember Beatrice Small, she wrote some of the hottest books I ever read in her golden years. Even at my age, we still have sex. Hopefully, you will too when you live this long.She’s so dated…Hahaha….Yes, I am. I’ve been through so many ups and downs in this business. Honey, any author making good money, even if she’s been around for awhile may be old, but she’s doing something right. There is an author I know who is making six figures a month. She looks like a sweet little grandmother, but she’s rocking the best-seller lists every time she publishes a book. My hats off to her. Good job. She’s kickin your sweet ass, you’d be wise to learn from her.I don’t want to hang with an older woman because I don’t want to hear about her grandchildren. — Wow, this was actually said about me and a friend. The funny thing is I don't have grandchildren. But that tells me you’re not interested in my knowledge or don’t think I have anything of value to add to the conversation. But that’s okay, your mindset tells me not to walk, run.Older people are cranky. — Okay, I admit, I use to believe this. My grandmother’s mouth never had a filter and sometimes mine slips. Maybe we’re not cranky, but rather no longer willing to put up with people’s manipulation or what I refer to as the let me blind you with my brilliance. The blinders were removed sometime in my forties.“Oh, I just love it you’re so active.” —What? I’m only in my sixties. I’m living life to the fullest and doing what I want. This was said to me by my beautiful, thirty-year old dermatologist. I wanted to respond and say, ‘yes, I left my walker out in the hall.’ 
Are these snarky? You bet they are. What did you expect from an aging romance author. Some of these I made up and some actually happened. But I think the one life lesson to be learned from them is we all have value and knowledge, we can learn from each other. Both young and old and in-between has information that can be taught if we all stop and listen to one another.
My life goal is on the day I die, to have written my best words that morning. Lay down for my nap and go off to the next realm knowing I went out kicking and screaming and doing what I love.
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So tell me, what misbelief about your age has someone said to you? WARNING: What you say may be used in my next novel.

Sylvia McDaniel is hard at work on book number forty. By the time she leaves this earth, she hopes to have written 100 books. That's sixty more books in the next twenty years if she lives to be eighty.  Write on!!
www.SylviaMcDaniel.com

Finished the book. Want to read more? #lastlines #runtherace #memorablebooks

While the first line in a book...


hooks a reader into reading more, the last line determines how they will feel when they’ve finished. The protagonist has healed their wound, they’ve run their race and grown as a result. Mostly, we remember first lines and rarely, do we remember last lines. But we do remember how we feel when we finish. And sometimes, if the story is so compelling and we are overwhelmed by the emotions the story raised in us, we just might read that book again instantly.Here's a famous one: “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” From Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell‘It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’ A Tale of Two Cities by Charles DickensThis month, the Princesses bring you last lines. Temporarily Insane by Vicki Batman: He took a deep breath and said something I never-never, ever-ever thought I would hear, “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get lucky.” Amazon
     Demon Cursed by Karilyn Bentley: Nothing will ever be the same, but tomorrow dawns another day. Amazon
      "The Case of the Tainted Blood" in Curious Incidents by Liese Sherwood-Fabre: "There are flasks of tainted blood for us to ferret out. The game's afoot." Mocha Memoirs Press
    IN THE TOWER OF THE WIZARD KING by Michelle Miles: “Sean, what just happened?” Her breath plumed white. “Liam must have used the Time Sphere. He altered time.” Amazon
     One Night with the Professor by Linda Steinberg: Leave it to a college professor to verbalize a paragraph of poetry when only three words were necessary. Leaning into his breath, Nora joined her soul with his. “I love you too.” Amazon
    Hanna by Chris Keniston: "And one of these days I'll find the right woman, just don't get your hopes up it will be at the reception." "I don't care where you find her so long as she's not behind bars." At least that was one promise he should easily be able to keep. Website







Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin: He kisses me and I forget all the other games in the world. I forget Napoleon, and Ghost, and Daneska. I even forget to worry about the future. When we’re together like this, I believe anything is possible. Believing is a lot like trusting. And it is enough. Amazon





Question for readers: what book had you instantly opening it again and rereading?
 
 

Michelle Miles: Never Tell Me The Odds

Whoa. It's August. Hard to believe July is in the rear view mirror!

It's been a hectic one. The kiddo started driving for reals and I have significantly more gray hair. I started a new job in June. Summer band camp started. School starts August 21! And so beginneth the crazy marching season. I'm gonna be a crazy person by the time football/marching season is all over but that is TOTALLY okay. You know why? Because I love it. I *love* marching season!!

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

And to prove it further, the IT folks over at the new day job know it's for sure because I have the Millennium Falcon on my desktop and Daenerys as my login picture. It's a great icebreaker. "You a Game of Thrones fan?" Well, duh. "AND a Star Wars fan?" Double, duh.

I have this really cool Medieval Star Wars art up on my wall in my cubicle and it garners all sorts of comments. It basically combines two of my very most favorite things: Star Wars and the Middle Ages.


I stare at it often. You can get yours for only $15 from the artist. Buy it here.

I also bought THIS AMAZING SHIRT:



Because I'm a super Harrison Ford fan. Isn't it just brilliant? Get yours here.

So, pretty sure I've cornered the market on my nerdism.

What are you a fan of?

Michelle Miles writes contemporary, paranormal and fantasy romance and is a rabid Game of Thrones and Star Wars fan. Visit her website for a list of her books and where to buy.

Hook and Reel You In! Hooking a Reader #wantingtoreadmore #greatlinesfrombooks #RLFBlog

“It was a dark and stormy night.” That is the classic opening line of the novel, Paul Clifford, published in 1830 by English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Often this sentence is mocked as being over the top or melodramatic.
“Last night I dreamt of Manderley again.” From Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and is often not thought of as setting the story up as a flashback. So what is a hook? That’s usually the first line, or the opening line, in a story that is so compelling, the reader is hooked and keeps reading.

Sometimes, the first line is dialogue. Sometimes, not. Sometimes, the main character is in action and the story takes off with a bang. Sometimes, not. Whichever the hook is, this is the author’s opportunity to draw a reader in and ultimately, the reader will continue on reading way past bedtime into the wee hours.

Like you, I've picked up a book, flipped to the first page and read a little. That first part is what snagged me into wanting more.
I asked the Plotting Princesses to share the first three opening lines of their stories. Have fun! Temporarily Insane: “Stop it, Hattie!” Trixie had some nerve. Her reprimand, the one which skewered a stabbing pain to my right eye, sounded terribly out of character, like she had little patience for me. Find Temporarily Insane at: Amazon      Demon Cursed: My stomach slams into a metal railing as surgically enhanced double D’s press into my back. Cheap beer soaks my arm. A not-so-feminine yell shatters my eardrums. Amazon    Saving Hope:Alexandra Pavlova jolted upright, her maternal senses snapping to alert. The garlic she’d placed about the room tinged each breath and settled on her tongue. For two days, she’d spoon-fed the girl warm broth and tea with honey and arranged garlic cloves to nurse her daughter through a bad cold.    Amazon Hannah: “What the hell are you doing up there?” Not expecting her cousin Connor to be finished with the horses so soon, Hannah Siobhan Farraday almost teetered off the stone pillar at his bark. “Taking in the view.” Amazon  
My Little Texas Tornado: "Say, you're that heiress, aren't ya?" "Heiress?" "To the winery." "Oh, uh, yeah. That's me. I guess I'm not used to the title." Colt grunted. Even covered in mud the woman was breathtaking. It never occurred to him that pushing someone into the mud could be so much fun. He'd like to try it again, without the element of danger involved. He laughed out loud at the thought. Amazon


School for Unusual Girls: “What if Sir Isaac Newton’s parents had packed him off to a school to reform his manners?” I smoothed my traveling skirts and risked a glance at my parents. They sat across from me, stone-faced and icy as the millpond in winter. Amazon






Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: "At the Feast of Saint Allan in the tiny village of Bocka Morrow, it was said a girl could bewitch a man into loving her with one bite of a polished Allantide apple. Nessa Teague, being the daughter of the Rector of Saint David’s Church, and a quiet, dutiful sort of girl who never gave her parents a moment of worry, had never tried to bewitch anyone. Never picked or polished an Allantide apple. Never taken any part in the charming but heathen tradition. She had simply never believed in the power of enchantment.” Amazon
One Knight Only: Maggie Chase gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white as she navigated the tiny car through a torrential downpour. The windshield wipers swished back and forth at a speedy rate—which, due to the pouring buckets of rain, turned out to be not so speedy after all. Her bright lights reflected off the sheets of rain and she squinted, as if that would help her see through the dark deluge. Amazon
  One Night with the Professor: Desperate, Nora Pena stood in trepidation at the closed door of her history professor’s office. This was her last option. She had to ask Tremaine the Terrible for help. Amazon  
  What intrigues you to pick up a book and read? The cover? The back cover blurb? Or the first page?
 







       

 

Happy Independence Day!

Photo Credit: Pexels.com
Happy Independence Day!
Here in the States, we're celebrating our independence. It's a day off for most of us. A day for BBQ and fireworks and family time. The kid, husband and I are grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. We are likely skipping the fireworks because it's 1000 degrees outside and the crowds...oh, the crowds. I have a big problem with a million people crammed within two square miles oohing and aahing at the sky. Don't get me wrong, I love the fireworks but I hate the crowds and the five hours it takes to get home from said fireworks.

So we're gonna hang at the house and stuff ourselves silly. There is even homemade banana pudding in our future. We're going to watch some baseball and feel 100% all American.

Photo Credit: Michelle Miles
Oh and before I sign off... the most patriotic thing I've done in my life was watching the lighting of the faces at Mt. Rushmore while singing God Bless America and the Star Spangled Banner. There was so much national pride bubbling up in me, I nearly burst. Totally serious, y'all.

What's the most patriotic thing you've ever done?