Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 118

Cover Art Reveal for D.T. Dyllin's Feeling Death

Book one of the Death Seriesby D.T. Dyllin


Samantha Bevans is having the best sex of her life—but it's not with her husband. Fortunately for her marriage, the affair is all in her mind. Isn't it? As an empath, she senses other people's emotions. But her connection to the man with the chiseled face and haunting eyes seems so real.
There's no time for fantasies with a serial killer loose in Pittsburgh. The killer is targeting dancers at a strip club where Samantha used to bartend, back when drugs were the only cure for the torment of her abilities. As a member of a special task force, Samantha uses her talents to sense the victims’ final thoughts. Just when she thought the case was complex enough, she discovers one of the victims was thinking about her fantasy man when she died.
Who can Samantha trust when she can’t trust her own mind? An empath feels the emotional environment around her…and Samantha is surrounded by death.
Details:Expected publication: April 25, 2013Coming to print and ebook   Author Bio:Cynical-Optimist. Chocolate-holic. Sarcasm Addict. Paranormal Believer. Self-Imposed Insomniac. Sci-Fi Geek. Animal Lover. Writer…are just a few words to describe D.T. Dyllin. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two very spoiled GSDs. Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

ANNOUNCEMENT: Christina Courtenay's Gilded Fan Released Early!

I just got a wonderful email and immediately rushed to Amazon to purchase this, the latest in Christina Courtenay's Japanese Historical Romance series. The first was The Scarlet Kimono (see my review here ).


You can nab your kindle copy right now on Amazon. I'm informed it has a very feisty heroine. I can't wait to review it here on Book Babe. Also, all Choc Lit books can stand alone without their counterparts.

How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?

It’s 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn’t trust?

Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can’t keep his own eyes off her?

During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive…

That's all. I just wanted to share. I've been waiting eagerly for this release.

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Amanda Price

Book: OutmaneuveredAuthor: J.L. HammerHeroine: Amanda Price
I’d like to thank Book Babe for the invite to the “Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week.” Life’s a wild ride. What separates the women from the girls is having that inner strength: when life knocks you down, you get right back up, determined more than ever to persevere. I come from a long line of strong and opinionated women (which equals trouble). When I create my heroines, it is natural for me to gravitate toward women with a backbone. I’m sure like most writers, I live vicariously through my characters. I create situations and then manipulate the outcome. Can life get any better than that?I'd like to introduce the readers to Amanda Price, the heroine from OUTMANEUVERED. She’s feisty and never backs down from a challenge. For years she dealt with the critical remarks from her family. After her father’s betrayal, Amanda walks away and vows never to return. Years pass and she has etched out a life for herself, almost three thousand miles away in Washington D.C. As soon as FBI Special Agent Cruz Romero knocks on her door and accuses her of kidnapping her father, her life is never the same. He fires question after question at her, and she knows that he’s already found her guilty. He wants to know what caused her eight-year estrangement from her father—well, too bad. The attraction between Amanda and Cruz crackles and sizzles. Although she isn’t interested in answering Romero’s questions, she is interested in him and decides to take what she wants:Romero smelled so good—so male. Before she realized what she was doing, Amanda laced her fingers through his jet-black hair and pulled his lips to hers. There was no delay, no shock. His response to her was instant and hungry. Her tongue glided across his. He tasted like wine and something peppery. The warmth of his hands cupping and tightening on her waist sent sparks of desire shooting across her skin. Amanda arched toward him, pressing herself against his solid body. He trailed his mouth along her jawline.“How I want you,” Romero whispered.Once again he returned to her lips. Every inch of her felt on fire. She deepened the kiss. She pulled him closer, wishing she could climb inside of him. Amanda slid her hands across his chest, down his flat stomach. His muscles flexed under her fingers. Slowly, she brushed her fingers lower…Like a splash of ice water, he shoved her away. Cold swirled around her. Amanda lay half sprawled on the sofa, half on the floor. She realized he was no longer there, but standing, facing the window.“What? —”He drew in a labored breath. “This can’t happen. You are under FBI protection. This needs to stop.”“But we’re two consenting adults.”“It doesn’t matter. I’m here to protect you—not to mate.” His voice was strained.Amanda bolted to her feet. Her spine snapped ramrod straight. “Excuse me—mate?”“You know what I mean.” “Screw you,” she hollered. All hot and bothered, she stalked out of the room, slamming the bedroom door in her rage.
Blurb:A missing influential CEO—a handsome, ambitious FBI agent—and a smart-mouthed blonde bombshell—in the end, who will be outmaneuvered?To FBI Special Agent Cruz Romero the assignment seems cut and dry: shadow Amanda Price, the estranged daughter of a missing high-powered CEO, and find evidence linking her to his disappearance. The last thing Romero expects while on surveillance is for her to strut right up to him, insisting they've met before. Once he gets a good look at this familiar sassy blonde, he knows he’s in trouble. He must throw her off track before the entire investigation is jeopardized. As the evidence stacks against Amanda, Romero brings her in for a round of heated questioning and his suspicion of her guilt deepens with every evasive answer. When a sniper makes an attempt on her life, he is forced to protect her. Plunged into a maze of deceit, Romero fears that his blinding attraction for Amanda might be his fatal downfall.
Visit my website at http://www.jl-hammer.com

Buy here

Bud’s Christmas Wish By Ashley Nemer

Bud’s Christmas WishBy Ashley Nemer
If a dream is a wish your heart makes, can it hear those things we want even if we don’t know what they are?  When sorrow brings young Lucy home to a land full of mystery, steeped in tradition and colored with unspoken magic, she finds herself reevaluating her life and her own place in it.  Things are never what they seem, and people are seldom what you THINK them to be if all you base it on is what your eyes see and not what your soul speaks. There’s a fine line between destiny and duty, but when both are blended with love, who knows what miracles can occur at Christmas? 

[image error] About the author:Ashley is married and lives in Houston with her husband Tony. They have two dogs named Toto and Doogie. They have been together for almost 8 years and he brings her more joy than she could ever imagine as a child. She loves to read and has been hooked on the romance genre ever since her lifelong best friend Laura gave her "Ashes to Ashes' by Tami Hoag to read when they were younger.

Ashley finds her strength through her family, especially her parents. They always support her in life and they push her to strive for greatness. There once was a motto that Ashley heard in her youth through her Taekwondo life 'Reach for the Stars' and that is what Ashley has always done. It was through her upbringing that the values Ashley has and display's came from. With her Parents always cheering her on in life she was able to grow up having faith in herself and her ability to conquer the world.
Website  Facebook   Twitter
Excerpt:She sat in the chair watching him. The sincerity in his voice and the look in his eyes when he spoke about her granddad and the words he said. She had to stop and think about it, did he really only have two drinks a night? How had she not noticed this before?“Please Lucy, give me a chance, one night ta show ye that I can fulfill ya dreams and give ye everything that ya could imagine ya needed. Everything ye could ever want.”

A Tip from Tara: The Word Hiss

Many of you know that besides being a writer, I'm also an editor. When I'm not writing, I'm sitting here looking at someone else's writing, leaving comments about their story, correcting their grammar and punctuation, explaining what a head hop is...and I've decided to every now and then, when I have a free day on here, to provide a few tips for writers.

I actually had an editor tell me this long ago, and now I'm sharing it because I'm seeing it more and more. So, here goes:

Can you pick the correct sentence?

A. "How could you?" she hissed.

B. "You'll pay for this," she hissed.

C. "Leave me alone," she hissed.

If you answered B, you are correct. Tell me, how do you hiss a sentence without an S? And yet, you see the word hissed used as a dialogue tag all the time in sentences such as A and C. WRONG!

So when you find yourself using HISSED as a dialogue tag, stop and look at that sentence. If you're saying "Your ass is grass!" you're on the right track. You can really hiss that! Try it. Say it out loud. Your assss is grasssss.

But if you are saying "Leave me alone," eh...

Have a fantasssstic day!

Rock Idol by Veronica Tower

Confession: I don't watch reality shows. I don't watch TV, period. But I am, oddly, really enjoying this Reality With a Twist series. Perhaps I love the same juicy stuff as everyone else, it just needs to be in written form for me?


This was yet another surprise fantastic read from this series. At first, I thought, eh...it just sounds like an average romance, just takes place on a singing TV show... it's actually a lot more.

Ember Blaze saw her career go down the crapper. She was one of those teen stars who belted out a couple of hit songs and then met cocaine. She's been given another chance by being a judge on Rock Idol. She loves her job, loves helping aspiring stars find their voice.

But something can mess it all up, or I should say someones... Rick is a contestant with the hots for her, and bit by bit, Ember finds him harder to resist, despite the age difference between them. BUT, the head honcho of the show doesn't want anything scandalous going on and when a fellow judge (who, you could say, wishes to divert attention from her own issues or merely take someone else down with her or place blame) decides Ember has to go, Ember could very well lose her job. Their romance is pretty hard to keep under wraps.

Mitch...omg, he made me laugh so much with his nasty comments. LOL. 

There's more steam than actual sex, there's drug use and its consequences--both temporary and long term--there's great musical advice and food for thought. I actually found myself learning things I'd never even thought about regarding rock music, performances, talent, etc.

It was one of those reads I picked up and honestly didn't want to put it down. I found myself trying to read it in one sitting, until my eyes grew heavy or I realized dinner just wouldn't make itself. I wanted to know what happened next so darned bad.

I thought the heroine's POV could use more emotion at times. I mean, I knew what she was feeling, but didn't FEEL it with her, if that makes sense, but I can't say it bothered me enough to detract a star.


Good, solid, fun read. I look forward to the next in this series.

Five stars. I received this from Sizzling PR in exchange for an honest review.

Evernight Holiday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Evernight Holiday Blog Hop!
We love the holidays, we love making our readers happy and we love giving away swag. What better way to do that than to hold a blog hop?
 
Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each site on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering an iPad 2 as the grand prize! To be in with a chance of winning the site prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning that iPad 2! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/#!/evernightpublishing. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so. 

My "little" prize: One lucky commenter will walk away with ebook copies of mine and D.F. Krieger's Daring Desires series. This includes The Submission and The Publisher's Proposal. My only requirement: you must follow Book Babe.
The Submission
The editor is always right... Katia Lane, a down on her luck writer, finds this out the hard way. When she submits an erotic tale to Daring Desires Publishing, one head strong woman meets another as an author/editor war ensues. There's no room for a diva in the publishing industry...and Sylvia L. Avers means to demonstrate this to the fledging writer. When you submit a manuscript to Daring Desires, you submit more than a book...you submit yourself.
As a BDSM conference nears, both women prepare to face off. Which one is going to be the top space?


The Publisher's Proposal (Book Two)
Sylvia must fess up her secrets to making her authors shine, but things go too far when Ivy, the publisher at Daring Desires Publishing, wants to use Katia as her own personal learning tool for BDSM. What ensues is a catfight between editor and boss, as both try to win over author Katia Lane.
Katia never expected BDSM to come up when she's invited to meet with the publisher for dinner, but sure enough, a ménage is in the making. What Katia can't understand is, if Sylvia asked her to come, why isn't the editor enjoying this too?

And for your viewing pleasure...

Second Chance Christmas by Dahlia DeWinters

From one Christmas to the next, it's amazing what can happen, and in this case, the heroine's life changes drastically. Can a second chance Christmas erase the bad memories of the first?

Naomi is house sitting, and she's not 100% recovered from an emotional break down. But when her illegal movie downloading leads to almost frying someone else's computer, she must call a computer service for help, never mind it's Christmas Eve. And a man from her past swoops in to the rescue.

The story is filled with surprising quirks of humor and sarcasm. Loved the way the heroine thought and I smiled more than once at her wit. Zach...is so sweet. I give major thumbs up to this author for NOT doing the overdone to death alpha male. I'm so sick of alpha males. Thank you, Ms. DeWinters!

The sex is sensual and vivid without once ever crossing that fine line from erotica into porn. I felt the love and desire radiating off the page and never once grew uncomfortable or squeamish.

My favorite part is a brief mention about the Japanese, pottery, gold and silver, and cracks. It was awesome, and the message it conveyed was one we would all do well to remember. *I don't wish to ruin the surprise for anyone.*

My quibble: The heroine's emotional breakdown was never made clear to me. I couldn't figure out, really, WHY she did what she did. I never once got the impression she loved the man in the beginning so why did she react as she did? *Again, no spoilers here.*

Four stars. I received this from the author with no strings attached.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

One of the most thought evoking tear jerking romances I have ever read in my life. No, it is. It's the only one that has had such an effect on me.


Lou is a young woman whose never left her hometown, never done anything remarkable. She's too scared, for reasons I won't reveal in this review. She lives with her parents, has a spoiled rotten sister, a boyfriend so wrapped up in marathon training he never really gives her the time of day. When she loses her little cafe job, she has to find something fast, because the whole darned household is dependent on her. And this leads her to Will.

Will had, at one time, a bright future. He ran his own company, sky dived, traveled the world, was a force to be reckoned with. Now he is confined to a wheelchair with only the use of his neck, mouth, and a few fingers. He's pumped full of meds with a little bag of urine for his waste. He is a breathing, talking vegetable. And he is miserable.

Lou enters his life like a whirlwind, but Will wants to die.

But people love him. Lou comes to love him. His mother loves him. They don't want him to die. Who is being selfish here? Would they want to live like him? Is he the selfish one for wanting to leave? Basically, Lou has six months to change his mind, to make him see he has reasons to live, but there's a fine line between convincing and just making someone else's decisions for him. She doesn't like when he tries to tell her what to do, so where does she get off doing it for him?

It becomes an obsession for her, her haste to "fill those little white rectangles (calendar) with a lifetime of things that could generate happiness, contentment, satisfaction, or pleasure. I would have to fill them up with every good experience I could summon up for a man whose powerless arms and legs meant he could no longer make them happen by himself."

But at the same time, he in a way, guides HER. Two of the most unlikely people...from two very different walks of life understand each other. Just who is saving who?

She can change his mind or she can give him the best six months of his life. This story is proof...that love is about personality: not physical attraction, not sex, not money. Love can happen to anyone, able bodied, quad, blind...

There is no happy ending for a person paralyzed from the neck down, but even so, I cried my heart out. I cried at many parts of this novel, just realizing how a quad lives their life, the little struggles they face that the able-bodied take for granted: parking, smoothness of paths, so many things.

My only quibble is at times the heroine got on my nerves, mostly at her home. Her dad basically called her stupid half the time, her sister was a snarky wench for whom it was okay for her mooch and run off and get educated, but Lou had to stick around and support the entire family with no thanks hardly at all. I mean the stupid sister didn't even want to part with the larger room. The home life was terrible and I'd have liked to see Lou stick up for herself to them.

Regardless, best book I've ever read. It will forever be with me. Very touchy/controversial subject, but the moral is clear: everyone should have a choice. It skillfully shows both sides of the assisted suicide issue: from those who love the person and from those who are living the pain.

Five stars. I received this on Edelweiss.

Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: Mabel Cody

Ya'll have heard of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show...but did you know he had a niece? Her name was Mabel and she was a stunt woman! Considering she was hanging off airplanes in 1921, I'd say she was one of the first.


This photo is from Florida State Archives.
She's shaking a pilot's hand. The webpage
contains some great pictures, the only ones
I could find. Please go there.
I cannot take credit for it, but 
this should be shared.She was a part of Mabel Cody's Flying Circus. One time, she stood in a moving automobile going 70 mph and grabbed a ladder hanging from a passing airplane. The ladder broke and she fell to the sand, sustaining a dislocated shoulder and a broken forearm.  But she got back up and even attended the premiere of the video.

She wing walked, parchuted, and changed planes midair. She was also pretty darn feisty judging by the quotes I dug up. I first came across her name in a history book, but it told me very little so I came online to find out more. There's a good page dedicated to her here and I have taken these quotes from it. 


"Every time I sit down to sew or to write a letter, some timid member of my sex wants to tell me what she thinks about me risking my own neck!
"For heaven's sake! It's my neck, and I guess I'll risk it any time I feel like taking a chance," she told the Times-Union.
And here's a video. How cool is this?