A.L. Butcher's Blog, page 68
October 27, 2021
The Cursed King – Blog Tour – Romance
The Cursed King
Inferno Rising Book 4
by Abigail Owen
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Airk Azdajah, the rightful King of the White Clan, spent half a millennium being tortured by the false High King Pytheios. The only reason he’s alive is a curse— the man to kill Airk will be consumed in his own fire. Which is why Pytheios kept Airk alive, barely, unable to shift in his prison cage, driving the creature half of him into madness. Airk escaped, but he’ll never be truly free. What good is a king who can never let his feral dragon loose, never fly, and never lead his people? He’s better off dead.
Angelika Amon is the last unmated phoenix. The problem? She has no powers. Zip. Zilch. Angelika hates being dormant, especially now that her three sisters are blissfully mated to powerful dragon shifter kings and are very much part of the fight to take down the rotting king Pytheios, their parents’ killer. What good is a useless runt of a phoenix in a battle to save the dragon kingdom?
Desperate to find some way to help, she offers herself to Airk as a mate — just for political leverage. But a dormant phoenix is no damn use to him just like a dragon who can’t shift is no use to her. Until Pytheios sets his sights on Angelika for himself…
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Entangled Publishing
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Multi-award-winning author, Abigail Owen, writes adult paranormal romance & upper YA fantasy romance. She loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.
Abigail attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero, their angelic (mostly) kids, who are growing up way too fast, and 2 adorable fur babies.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads * Newsletter
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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October 24, 2021
Home for the Holidays – Audiobook Event
Check out this awesome Facebook Event – Home for the Holidays – and the chance to win a fantastic audiobook starting on 19th November 2021. Sign up here and take part https://www.facebook.com/events/395867058678198/
A select group of authors joined forces with me to bring you amazing audiobooks narrated by great voice actors. Here’s what you can win as a GOING guest: http://uviart.blogspot.com/2021/10/home-for-holidays.html
October 21, 2021
Uncovered Treasures – #Pirate #Fantasy #Romance
Uncovered Treasures: Challenge of the Deep
The Fifth Elemental Book 1
by Gina Manis
Genre: Pirate Fantasy Adventure Romance
A new element is on the horizon.
Five years ago, Brier left everyone behind, including the woman he loved, Celine. The sea has now become his home, and the waters are not as calm as they once were.
A storm blows in and wrecks his vessel on a deserted island. At least, that is what he thinks until the mage from his past shows up. Alice isn’t the sweet nun he remembers. She pushes him away, but there are dangers on this island, and he can’t leave her alone.
Alice can’t believe her sister mages have sacrificed her to do the bidding of the Elemental Fire. He wants to make Brier the Fifth Element by giving him peace and love, only to strip it away and turn him into an Elemental God.
Loving Brier is not an option. It doesn’t matter he makes her feel things she never has before. To let him in, she will give her heart over to be broken.
The temptations of love will only bring death sooner.
This is a pirate fantasy adventure romance built in an Elemental World and will be a total of three books. It is told in an exciting new twist from mostly a man’s point of view. See personally the thoughts that run through a man’s head when he comes up against his greatest challenge. The love of a woman.
Gina Manis grew up in South Alabama, where country living is a way of life. She has a small farm with lots of animals, and she is proud to live a simple life with her family.
Growing up, she had problems with reading until a friend had her open up a romance book one day, and the lights came on. She started to write poetry and short stories, and though she liked it, she didn’t feel she was good enough to become a writer.
She worked hard in her career as a manager to businesses until she started her own online, where she was successful for eleven yrs.
As her family grew with a husband and four children, a mother and lots of animals, she gave it up to live a more leisure life and started writing in her free time again.
Now she is looking to publish all the books she has written finally. Romance books have always been a passion of hers, and that is what she writes. She loves fantasy, suspense, mystery, and giving birth to characters that go in them.
Her first book to publish, The Water Princess, will be just that, the first. There will be many more to come in the future.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon
October 20, 2021
Insurrection Blog Tour – #Scifi #Romance
Insurrection
Dark Desires Origins Book 3
by Nina Croft
Genre: SciFi Romance
Malpheas is one of the most powerful demons from Earth, but when he wakes up from cryo on the other side of the galaxy, he notices something is wrong—he’s human. Oh, hell no. In order to get his powers back, he must remove the sigil on his arm by carrying out three good deeds. But acts of kindness aren’t exactly his strong suit. Working undercover as a security officer investigating a suspicious death, he’s assigned to work with Hope, the most softhearted woman he’s ever met. If she can’t teach him how to be good, no one can.
Hope is in a pot of trouble, and if anyone finds out what she did, that pot would quickly boil over. She just needs to lay low until she can figure out a way to fix this mess. But when she’s ordered to show Mal the ropes and introduce him to everyone, sorting out her problems becomes impossible. Mal is sexy as sin, broody as hell, and believes she can help him change his bad-boy ways. Fine. If that keeps him from discovering her ties to the rebellion, she’ll teach him how to be a perfect angel.
As they work together, though, it becomes clear that Hope isn’t the only one with a hidden agenda, and their irresistible attraction to each other just adds fuel to the fire. When secrets are exposed, they must make the impossible choice between doing what’s right and doing what’s necessary.
Light meets dark, good meets evil…and love can hurt like Hell.
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia, which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of nine-to-five work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain. Nina writes all types of romance, often mixed with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Partner Pursuit Blog Tour – #RomanticComedy #Chicklit
Partner Pursuit
New York Friendship Book 1
by Kathy Strobos
Genre: Romantic Comedy, ChickLit, Women’s Fiction with Romance as a central element
When a workaholic lawyer meets a fun-loving music marketing executive for opposites attract, friends-to-lovers adventures, which partnership will she choose?
Workaholic lawyer Audrey Willems is not going to take any chances with her bid to become a partner at her New York law firm—especially with only six months until the decision.
Until she bumps into Jake—her new neighbor. Jake is a fun-loving music marketing executive who might just be The One.
He’s funny, caring, supportive—and able to kill water bugs in the bathroom.
But Jake will never date a woman married to her job. His father was a workaholic lawyer who never had time for family.
And she’s just got the case of a lifetime—the one she needs to win to make partner. Working 24/7 at the office may not even be enough hours to pull off a victory.
If only she had not met him now.
Audrey is determined to prove that she can juggle work and romance—even if managing court cases, candlelit dinners, and bike rides around Manhattan is a lot harder than it looks. She keeps canceling dates for yet another case crisis.
But when making partner is like a game of musical chairs and the last seat is a business-class alone, which partnership will she choose?
Kathy Strobos is a writer living in New York City with her husband and two children, amid a growing
collection of books, toys and dollhouses. She grew up in New York City and graduated from
Stuyvesant High School, Harvard-Radcliffe University and Columbia Law School. She previously worked as a lawyer. She left law to pursue her dream of writing fiction full-time and getting in shape. She is still working on getting in shape.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$30 Amazon
October 17, 2021
Der Fluck Des Kriegers – #Fantasy
Wer mit Monstern verhandelt, nehme sich in Acht! Ein Held schmiedet einen unseligen Pakt mit einer Hexe und erfährt, dass der Zauber nicht gebrochen werden kann.
Mythische Erzählungen in einem Land der verbotenen Magie.
Eine Dark-Fantasy-Novelle zu den Geschichten von Erana.
https://books2read.com/DerFluchDesKriegers
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/der-fluch-des-kriegers
October 10, 2021
Review – Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome – L J Trafford
Review – Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome
L J Trafford
5 Stars
The Romans are often remembered for their alleged debauchery, orgies and wild-living emperors – Tiberius Nero, Egalabus, Caligula – but 2000 years or so later, with different moral codes (largely influenced by the staid Christians) what do we know of the intimate lives of the Romans?
Trafford takes us on a journey – covering topics such as what made a ‘good’ Roman male and female? Why were there so many phallus icons?! What did the emperors and empresses (and their mothers) get up to? How did the Romans view homosexuality, virginity and adultery? How was sex linked to religion?
The tone is light-hearted, but that doesn’t detract from the research which has been done. Trafford looks at the sexuality of women – which many scholars do not cover – there is far less evidence for what women thought of marriage, their wants and needs in bed and what evidence there is often comes from male sources. There are few female voices that speak out, but there are some – and Trafford makes sure they are heard.
Propaganda also played a part in shaping the evidence – later emperors besmirching the names of predecessors, or powerful men accusing their rivals of all sorts of salacious things. The author ensures that the reader does not take everything at face value.
Overall, it’s an entertaining, informative romp through an aspect of Rome many historians skim over. Trafford brings an air of humour, which is probably just as well. Oh yes, and did I mention there were a lot of phalluses?
October 4, 2021
Politics Makes Strange Deadfellows – Blog Tour – #Mystery
Politics Makes Strange Deadfellows
Kate Matthews Mystery Series Book 2
by Jane DiLucchio
Genre: Cozy LGBTQ Mystery
Kate Matthews expected to face challenges when she was elected to the Santa Barbara City Council. She hadn’t counted on her sister-in-law, Michelle, being one of them.
Kate understood that Michelle was mentally ill and periodically homeless. What she didn’t understand was why Michelle turned up in Santa Barbara only to disappeared again—until the police announced that Michelle was wanted in connection with a murder.
Wading through the morass of Michelle’s life in order to find out the truth while also handling Council politics and issues proves to be more complicated than Kate could ever have anticipated. When her wife and children become entangled in the quagmire, Kate finds out just how much she is willing to do to save her family.
Going Coastal
Kate Matthews Mystery Series Book 1
A client dying on her massage table is traumatic enough for Kate Matthews, but when the police declare that death a homicide, her life is upended as she is cast as the major suspect.
None of this is what Kate expected from her move to the peaceful, beach town of Santa Barbara, California. After a near-fatal heart attack, an early retirement from her Los Angeles law firm, and a change in careers, Kate envisioned a quiet life with her wife, Alicia, and their grown children.
Since her client, Celia Tucker, held a politically-influential position on the California Coastal Commission, the murder becomes a media event. Kate finds herself and her family sucked into the maelstrom. The former lawyer has all she can do to find the truth behind Celia’s death without adding her own name to the body count.
Jane DiLucchio is a late bloomer when it comes to writing.
She spent many years as a teacher (first elementary school and later at the community college level), massage therapist, and backyard farmer before giving in to the little voices that kept sounding off in her head.
Since there’s a thin line between a psychotic and a writer (psychotics try to convince everyone that the voices they hear are real; writers write it down and tell everyone its fiction), Jane finally decided to give in to the voices rather than undergo intensive psychotherapy.
Jane and her wife are raising their two cats in a loving home in Southern California. (Actually, the cats allow Jane and Sue to live with them in return for certain personal services, but that’s another story entirely.) Jane continues to raise crops, travel, write, and spend time with her friends and family – all activities she loves.
Website * Facebook * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon
October 2, 2021
The Shining Citadel – Hardback edition
In a dark world where magic is illegal and elves live as slaves, a desperate elf and her human companion seek aid from the mysterious sorcerer, Archos and his lady, the sorceress Dii’Athella. Hoping to unearth the secrets of the Shining Citadel, lost for centuries in the mists of magic and time, they begin a dangerous and arduous journey. Could these secrets change the lives of an oppressed people or will such information bring about a worse fate? Yet all is not as it first appears for the corrupt Order of Witch-Hunters watch from afar and one man’s obsession leads to a deadly trap. Avarice and betrayal are everywhere; who can be trusted? Creatures long thought dead rise in the darkness, and forgotten magic burns with a bitter flame. Who makes the rules in this game of intrigue and lies? Shattered beliefs and unwelcome truths abound in an adventure filled with magic, passion, greed and revenge. An adult dark fantasy/fantasy romance. 18+ rating – contains scenes of both sex and violence. Extra warning – contains elves!
Hardback https://amzn.to/3B5lPEM
Scary October – Phobias
As we are approaching Halloween – the scariest time of the year – I thought I’d share a post about phobias.
As I’m a wordsmith let’s start with the etymology – phobia comes from an ancient Greek word meaning aversion/fear of something. And to complicate matters the prefix can be of Greek or Latin origin – apiphobia (fear of bees). The prefix is Latin (api) and the suffix Greek. The Greek term would be Melissophobia. There are also a few medical terms with the suffix phobia which aren’t actually fears – Hydrophobia is an old name for rabies (fear of water would be aquaphobia). Photophobia is a complaint linked to the eyes and sensitivity to light (although on a Halloween theme Dracula had a fear of daylight and it caused him harm).
What is a phobia? Wikipedia defines ‘it as a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear or an object or situation.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia. The fear can be disabling.
The NHS (That’s National Health Service for the non-Brits) states
‘A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.
Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object.
If a phobia becomes very severe, a person may organise their life around avoiding the thing that’s causing them anxiety. As well as restricting their day-to-day life, it can also cause a lot of distress.’
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/overview/
https://www.britannica.com/science/phobia
Those affected will go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object and if it cannot be avoided they experience significant distress.
This is not just a dislike of something – it’s a terror, a primal fear of the thing or situation which results in mental and often physical symptoms. (Although confusingly certain terms – such as zenophobia or homophobia are used to describe the hatred/dislike of a certain group in society. These are not actually phobias.)
Specific phobias may include animals – spiders, snakes, lizards, cats, bats or whatever.
Social phobias (Complex phobia) – include situations where a person is terrified other people are judging them – such as in a job, a relationship, meeting new people or even leaving the house. They can be very debilitating and make life difficult (trust me on this I have experience of it)
Agoraphobia(Complex phobia) – a fear of not being able to escape a situation or environment (or enclosed spaces). Often goes with social phobia. The fear of leaving home – this can lead to panic attacks and other physical manifestations of the fear.
Women are affected by phobias twice as often as men (or possibly admit to it more readily). Those with phobias are at a greater risk of suicide or other mental health difficulties. Those lucky folks who don’t experience the fear often find it hard to comprehend why someone is frightened of the situation – to the extent they don’t go out, experience the ‘fight or flight’ scenarios, and come up with ways to avoid what they fear. Many people with phobias understand they ARE phobias and often ‘irrational’ but are powerless to override the fear.
Physical symptoms can include shortness of breath, sweating, palpations, gastric upset, nausea, trembling
It’s one of the most common mental illnesses – up to 18 percent of Americans experience phobias, 26 percent of Swedish women and similar numbers elsewhere. In the UK over 10 million people have some form of phobia. In the UK a fear of snakes is believed to be one of the most common phobias (we only actually have 2 native snakes – the grass snake and the adder and only the adder is venomous). Spiders feature highly too. Don’t come to my garden – we have lots of them
Some phobias are easier to deal with, and avoid the situation/object, than others. For example – I have Coulrophobia – the fear of clowns and Pediophobia – the fear of dolls and puppets. (Human looking puppets like ventriloquist dummies, manikins etc. I can cope with the muppets and animal puppets). These are relatively easy to avoid (unless you foolishly tell your work colleagues and they all come in as evil dolls and clowns for Halloween.) 12 % of Brits have a fear of clowns.
I also have a level of agoraphobia – I hate crowded and noisy places, I’ve had panic attacks and anxiety moments a few times and I go out of my way to avoid the situations. It’s become worse after the Covid pandemic.
I knew someone with a fear of trees (xylophobia – fear of wooded places) and it meant he could be afraid to go someone. We have a lot of woods in Britain – and he didn’t want to risk driving past.
Social phobia and agoraphobia are often hard to cope with – costing people their jobs, friends, social lives, and ability to form relationships.
There are some quite bizarre phobias:
Koumpounophobia – fear of buttons on clothing
Coprophobia – fear of defecating (I can see how this would be very difficult to deal with)
Alexktorophobia – fear of ducks
Ancraophobia – fear of the wind/drafts
Apeirophobia – fear of infinity
Genuphobia – fear of knees/kneeling
Nomophobia – fear of being out of mobile phone range
Pogonophobia – fear of beards
Porphyriophobia – fear of purple (I definitely do not have this)
There are lots – basically there is a fear of pretty much everything. Oh and the fear of everything is panphobia and the fear of fear is phobophobia…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phobias
https://www.healthline.com/health/list-of-phobias
https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/mental-health/phobias
https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/phobias/related/list-of-phobias/
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