Margo Bond Collins's Blog, page 148

Waking Up Dead with the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club

Waking Up Dead was the December ALT read for the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club, hosted by Felicia Day, Bonnie Burton, Veronica Belmont and Kiala Kazebee. The main read was Laurell K. Hamilton’s Guilty Pleasures.

Check out the video below, where they discuss Waking Up Dead starting at 55:35.

I must admit to some (okay. a LOT of) fangirl squee-ing over Felicia Day discussing my book, and I am now a huge fan of Veronica Belmont, too. This is my new favorite book club (and would be even if they hadn’t included my novel!).

Favorite Non-Fiction Reads of 2013

Today’s entry into my Favorite 2013 Reads Lists is for non-fiction entries (see part 1 here). I read a lot of these non-fiction books in my job as college professor, but also simply because I R Nerd. For the most part, I tend to gravitate toward academic works about popular culture, especially of the SFF variety, but sometimes I also read books about my Ph.D. specialization of eighteenth-century British literature–it seems like a good idea to keep up with the newest idea in the field, though none of those books made it into my favorites list this year. See below for those books that did make the list (in no particular order):

The Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman’s Zombie Epic on Page and Screen, ed. James Lowder (BenBella Books, 2011).

This collection of essays offers some interesting insights into a television show that I find both fascinating and frustrating (I spend far too much time yelling at the characters to set a perimeter guard, you idiots!). I was particularly fascinated by David Hopkins’ claim that Carl is the true protagonist of both the comic book and the television series in the essay “The Hero Wears the Hat,” and Arnold T. Blumberg’s essay “Four-Color Zombies” gives a compelling history of zombies in comics and the laws (yes, laws!) forbidding them. The rest of the essays are strong, too—and they’re all written in language that is nicely accessible to both scholars and laypersons.

TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural. Ed. Stacey Abbott and David Lavery. Toronto: ECW Press, 2011. Pp. xvii + 326.

TV Goes to Hell currently stands as the only published volume of academic essays on the series (though there have been special issues of journals devoted to the show, including, for example Transformative Works and Cultures No. 4). As such, this book is an invaluable contribution to the growing scholarship surrounding the CW’s Supernatural, a series now in its tenth season. This volume covers only seasons one through five—with a short epilogue by Lavery discussing season six—but it does so with impressive depth and breadth. In part, that scope is generated by the fact that the book is divided into six disparate categories: Comedy and Music; Time and Place; Gender and Sexuality; Narrative and Storytelling; Folklore and Religion; and Auteurs, Fans, Critics. In the introduction, Abbot claims that Supernatural is “a hybrid series, mixing horror and the road movie with melodrama, but . . . it privileges horror as its dominant generic mode, visually and narratively” (4). However, in its many approaches to Supernatural, this collection highlights hybridity over horror, covering everything from the difference between folklore and “fakelore” (Mikel J. Koven and Gunella Thorgeirsdottir, “Televisual Folklore: Rescuing Supernatural from the Fakelore Realm”) to the connections between economy and religion (Erin Giannini, “‘There’s nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he’s on a holy mission’: Using and (Dis)-Abusing Religious and Economic Authority on Supernatural”) to the series’ representations of fans and authors (Brigid Cherry, “Sympathy for the Fangirl: Becky Rosen, Fan Identity, and Interactivity in Supernatural” and Alberto N. García, “Metafictional Strategies in Supernatural”). (You can read my full review of this book in Studies in Popular Culture, Spring 2013.)

The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous, ed. Asa Simon Mittman and Peter J. Dendle. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2012.

I first read this book when it initially came out in 2012, but I found myself returning to the essays within again and again throughout 2013. Like the monsters discussed within it, The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous is perhaps best initially described as what it is not. It is neither an encyclopedia of monsters nor a compendium of monster studies. Despite including essays that deal with monsters from ancient Greece and Rome to modern cinema, it is not an historical overview of monster studies. It is not a geographically complete discussion of monsters, though it includes discussions of monsters in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Though echoes of, for example, Jeffery Jerome Cohen’s seminal 1996 collection Monster Theory resound throughout the collection, it is not an homage to previous theorists. But it includes elements of all of these things. Therefore, The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous is a hybrid. In that hybridity, it echoes its subject. (You can find a full copy of my review of this book in the academic journal Monsters and the Monstrous.)

Fan Culture: Theory/Practice. Ed. Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.

I’ve recently become interested in what it means to be a “fan”–as an academic, as an author, and as a fangirl lurking on the edges of fan culture, I am interested in what constitutes “fandom” and why it’s important in our current culture. In 2013, I ran a discussion on academic fandom at the Marginalised Mainstream conference in London; as part of my preparation for that discussion, I read this collection of fascinating essays. Among my favorites: Simone Becque’s discussion of oppositional readings in Twilight fan fiction and Catherine Coker’s essay on fan fiction as political statement.

Gelder, Ken. New Vampire Cinema. London: Palgrave MacMillan/British Film Institute, 2012. ix + 155 pages.

AND

Weinstock, Jeffrey. The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema. New York: Wallflower Books/Columbia University Press, 2012. 144 pages.

Despite their apparent differences in scope – Gelder’s book covers only the last twenty years of vampire cinema, whereas Weinstock discusses a more general history of vampire movies – Ken Gelder’s New Vampire Cinema and Jeffrey Weinstock’s The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema offer remarkably complementary readings of the vampire in film. In particular, both Gelder and Weinstock deal with the ways in which vampire films “endlessly and in so many ways talk about vampires and vampire movies” (1) in order to build “narratives around the vampire’s capacity not just to create a disturbance but to endure it and survive” (vi). Ultimately, these two books deserve to be read together as they work together to illustrate the importance and cultural value of vampire cinema. (You can find a full copy of my review of these two books in the academic journal Monsters and the Monstrous.)

Spotlight On: The One by Lorhainne Eckhart

Title: The One

Author: Lorhainne Eckhart

Genre: Adult Romance

Publication: December 23, 2013

Margaret Gordon was once a prominent  Seattle surgeon, until a slip of the knife leaves a young boy without a future. Margaret is fired and returns to her hometown, the perfect spot to hide out from everyone and to lick her wounds, with no one around but her horse.



Margaret never considered herself a horse person. In truth, she understands horses better than people. And when the now-widowed Joe Wilde drives in one morning with a teenage boy and a horse with a problem, Margaret turns into that klutzy teenage misfit that silently carried a torch for Joe all through school. But when smooth-talking Joe convinces Margaret into working with the temperamental horse, she grows closer to his son Ryan, and soon learns the horse’s issues have more to do with father and son, and Ryan’s anxiety over the fact his father is now dating a woman who is only interested in the sexy Joe Wilde, and not his misfit of a son.



The only problem is Ryan wants Margaret to be his mother, so he takes matters into his own hands setting Margaret in his father’s path, every chance he gets. Even though sparks fly and sizzle between them Joe believes Margaret has despised him all his life, and decides all his  rebellious son needs is a mother. But when Joe proposes marriage to the wrong woman, his son takes off with a backpack and a feisty horse, into the Backcountry.



Except to Joe’s surprise, it’s Margaret who saddles up her horse,  and heads off alone with him in over a hundred of miles of wilderness in a race against time and the elements to find his son. And with his son’s life in jeopardy will that be enough for Joe and Margaret to put aside their differences and realize that the other is, The One?

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TOUR SCHEDULE




January 6th

TattooedBook Review 




January 7th




January 8th

Booksand Their Worldly Realm




January 9th

Musingsof Immortals




January 10th

RipeFor Reader




January 13th

DealSharing Aunt




January 14th

CoullCritiques




January 15th

MythicalBooks




January 16th

Dalene’sBook Reviews




January 17th



Paulette’sPapers



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About Lorhainne

2012 was an amazing year in the publishing world for me, and it started with The Forgotten Child, which landed on the Amazon bestseller list for western romance and romance series. 2013 has seen me posted in the top 100 authors on Amazon for romantic suspense, mystery/thrillers, and police procedurals.



Where did it all begin? In 2008, I published my first novel, The Captain’s Lady, a contemporary military romance, through The Wild Rose Press. I’ve since received the rights back from my publisher, and I rewrote the book and republished it with a brand new title, Saved.



I write edgy romantic suspense (Walk the Right Road Series), western romance (Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series), and young adult mystery, and I warn my readers to expect the unexpected. I’m a mother of three children and we live on a small island in the Pacific Northwest. I encourage you to contact me by email; I do answer every email I receive.



Stay tuned. There is more to come from the Walk the Right Road Series and Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series, as well as a brand new western romance series coming later this fall, The One.



And to my readers and all of you who have shared my stories with your family and friends, a big, heartfelt thank-you.

Twitter | Facebook

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Giveaway

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Spotlight On: Severed Ties by Angie Skelhorn (+ Giveaway)

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Title: Severed Ties

Author: Angie Skelhorn

Genre: Paranormal/YA

Publisher: Damnation Books

Release Date: Dec 1 2012

Edition/Formats Available In: E~Book & Print

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Synopsis

By the use of divination and magic, some ties can never be severed.

In the beginning, by the light of the Full Moon, Frankie connects with Candice’s energy through dream time and witnesses her involvement in a terrifying act of violence. After receiving information from Sandra that their childhood friend is missing, they pack their bags and head to the inner city to find her.

Frankie, afraid for her own safety, has a chance encounter with a local named Calvin who is plugged into what’s happening. Using his workable ideas—as well as Frankie and Sandra consulting tarot, ordinary playing cards, astrology, and spell-casting—they set forth to free Candice from the dangerous situation she is in.

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Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Damnation Books

Goodreads

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Author Information

My name is Angie Skelhorn and I live in Canada. My interest include tarot, and other forms of divination, astrology, spirituality, mythology and harness racing. I gear my writing toward Witchcraft and Spiritualism. I’ve been published in Circle Sanctuary Magazine and online at Witchvox, WitchesandPagans.com and GlobalGoddess.org.

I authored No Reins and Till Death and Beyond - Publisher, Club Lighthouse Publishing. My newest release is Severed Ties - Publisher, Damnation Books- book launch December 1, 2012.

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Author Links

Book Goodies

Blog

Cold Coffee Press

Facebook Author Page

Goodreads

Readers Favorites

Witchskel WordPress

Website

You Tube

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Book Trailer

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Excerpt

Sandra leaned against the door frame, reached into her low-rider jeans’ back pocket and produced an envelope. She passed the folded paper to her. Frankie stared at the picture, reading the words: Child Find, Missing; young female seventeen, eyes hazel, brown hair, height 5’7”, weight 120.

“How could you keep this from me?” she asked, tightening her grip on the envelope.

“I didn’t. Yesterday, my mom received her Visa bill. She gave me the envelope when she saw Candice’s picture. I phoned her parents. They are in the middle of a divorce. Her mom said when they first split, she began to stay out late. Then one day she just never came home.”

“We have to find her. The police haven’t been able to,” Frankie said, waving the envelope.

“We will do what we must do to track her. Did you bring your cards?”

“Yes.”

“Come with me,” she said, grabbing her hand. She dragged her into the dish room stopping to retrieve her Tarot deck from the pocket of her jean jacket.

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Giveaway

Rafflecopter Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NTRlOWM0MjVjNzgyNDUyYmI3ZGQ0M2U0MTFiYjAwOjExOA==/

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Cover Reveal: One Week by Elisabeth Staab

One Week

By Elisabeth Staab




Blurb: 




HE HAS A LEGACY TO SAVE… 



Michael Hale’s company is in jeopardy. In the wake of his father’s death and his transition to CEO, projects are circling the drain, and that could cost him everything. Come to find out, the consultant hired to fix things is the “one who got away” many years ago. This time he’s playing for keeps, and he intends to win.



SHE SHOULD NEVER SAY NEVER… 



Elise Jackson swore she wouldn’t come near Michael Hale again. He sucker punched her professionally, and he broke her heart. Still, a job’s a job, and they can both be adults. But high emotion and late nights working lead to passion neither of them can deny.



They have one week. Can the two of them pull Michael’s company out of the fire and heal their old wounds?









Release Date: 

January 15, 2014




EXCERPT


















She hardened her gaze and met his stare, but there in the dim

light of his apartment his eyes had turned the color of dark amber. And

holy cow, those lashes could make any supermodel cry with envy. “Okay,” she

said. “So what’s your truth?”

She had said that, hadn’t she? His palm skimmed her waist and

she damned herself for being sensible. “That… that probably is true.”

What Elise did know was the way he touched her

now might well fry her brain. She needed to back away while she still had some

semblance of her dignity. She managed one step. “Maybe I don’t. My point is,

neither do you.”

Another step. “Whatever. Thank you for trying to protect me. It

was a misguided, unnecessary effort, but thank you for being concerned.”

Finally, with a clench of fists and a huff of breath, she turned on her

throbbing heel and stormed for the door.

New Year, New Link Giveaway – Waking Up Dead + $10 Amazon Gift Card

Waking Up Dead has a new link, so I’m opening up this new year with a giveaway that runs through 2/1/2014!

I will be giving away two ebook copies of Waking Up Dead and a $10 Amazon card. Click the Rafflecopter link to enter!

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Enter to Win

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Waking Up Dead

When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, when she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex, she went to Alabama. Now she’s witnessed another murder, and she’s not about to let this one go. She’s determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up dead in Alabama?

Reading Recommendations from 2013

This is a re-post from my part of World Weaver Press’s Reading Recommendations . . . and in the next few days, watch for more reading recommentations, because I can’t stop thinking about all the great books I read in 2013!

Sunshine by Robin McKinley (Berkley, 2003)

I re-read this book every year or two—I just finished the latest re-reading in November. McKinley does a beautiful job of setting up a world that is almost, but not exactly, like our own. The eponymous protagonist almost seems to ramble sometimes, but the voice is perfectly her own and the things she reveals about herself are beautifully woven back into the plot. Also, the vampires are creepy as all get-out!

Also, a quick shout-out for McKinley’s Shadows—a 2013 release from Nancy Paulsen Books. Good stuff! I especially like the uneasy relationship between Maggie and her stepfather Val.

Quiver by Holly Luhning (Pegasus Books, 2011)

Unlike most of the books I read, Quiver is not speculative fiction. It’s a psychological thriller about obsession—specifically, obsession with Elizabeth Bathory, the psychotic sixteenth-century Hungarian countess who bathed in the blood of her (many!) victims in an attempt to make herself younger. Luhning’s depiction of a dissatisfied academic pulled further into a world of horror and intrigue is both compelling and unsettling.

Horde by Ann Aguirre (Feiwel & Friends, 2013)

Horde is the conclusion to the Razorland trilogy that began with Enclave and continued in Outpost (and there’s also a novella, Endurance; I just started it!). I recommend all three. Enclave includes one of the most original post-apocalyptic societies I’ve ever read about, and Horde does a great job of wrapping up the issues the first two books set forth. The vampiric/zombie-esque monsters are appropriately terrifying and the research into the vagaries of war is impeccable.

Equoid by Charles Stross (Tor, 2013)

This novella is a great entry in Stross’ Laundry Files series. I always love reading about Bob Howard, a computational demonologist who protects England (and the world!) from Lovecraftian nightmares and navigates the British bureaucracy with (almost) equal aplomb.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (Little, Brown, and Company, 2013)

I loved Black’s short story of the same name and was initially a little disappointed to discover that the novel was not, in fact, a continuation of the same story but rather a new story set in the same world. But that disappointment quickly disappeared as Black’s novel drew me in. The vampires here, as in McKinley’s Sunshine, are horrifying—and being the single (potential) exception to that rule makes the love-interest vampire equally terrifying and attractive, adding up to the kind of vicarious adrenaline rush that draws me to vampire tales in the first place.

I’ll be adding to this information with new posts over the next few days–watch for it!

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My own debut novel, Waking Up Dead, came out in 2013, too.

When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, when she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex, she went to Alabama. Now she’s witnessed another murder, and she’s not about to let this one go. She’s determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up dead in Alabama?

BBB BLAST: The Lovers Duet & Rough Riders Series by Selene Chardou (18+ ONLY)

Out From Under



(The Lovers Duet #1)

Paperback, First, 350 pages

Published

July 31st 2013

by Midnight Engel Press, LLC 



 Trista Lennon is strong,

independent and only desires freedom. Freedom from the control of her

parents, freedom from the motorcycle gangs she has had to put up with

her whole life and freedom from a relationship that will trap her into

the very life she has no wish to ever live.

The day before she’s

supposed to leave for Stanford University to pursue her dreams, her

world is shattered. After a tragedy that tears her family apart, Trey,

her cousin, Talia, invites her to L.A. Her life is all the sudden

Hollywood stars and sunshine, late nights and wild parties.

And then she meets him.

Linx

Carter isn’t looking for a relationship. He survived a dysfunctional

marriage with his childhood sweetheart, which produced two sons, an

inability to trust women and a multitude of lies. He merely wants to

recuperate from a rough, six month tour Winter’s Regret just completed

with superstar band, Scarlet Fever, and enjoy a little peace and quiet.

Until he sees her.

Trista and Linx fight their attraction for one another like war on a battlefield.

She

has a closetful of secrets and he would rather be single and pathetic

than date a teenage girl who seems older than her years. However the

passion between them is too much to resist and they realize in order to

heal one another, they must destroy the walls they have constructed so

tightly around their hearts.

COVER TALK

I am a visual person and the reason why I

worked closely with my cover artist on this particular cover was because I

wanted to convey two different characters and worlds colliding.

The woodsy background is very symbolic and

important because the lead female character, Trista Lennon, grew up in the

small town of Pine Bluff, Nevada, which is controlled by the Demon’s Bastards

MC. Her oldest brother, Trey Lennon, is also a member of the outlaw Bastards

charter club.

Linx Carter, the lead male character, is a

bassist for Winter’s Regret, a very successful hard rock band, and the reason

why he doesn’t face the camera was symbolic and important too. He always wants

to go unnoticed even if he is covered by tats and fly underneath the radar.

The directness you see in Trista’s eyes is

very symbolic of her character too. She faces everything head first and

sometimes she speaks before she should but she is direct, very in your face and

not scared of much but having a brother who is an MC member, I think her character

act’s appropriate for what she has grown up around.

The cover is understated and very much

opposite of the novel, which starts like a slow burn and then everything

converges and the reader is taken on a wild ride they are not bound to forget

any time soon.

I don’t consider this a woman’s novel at all.

I think guys would definitely enjoy it too since the story is told from both of

their point of views, which are very different from one another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Too Deep



(The Lovers Duet #2)

Paperback, First, 360 pages



Published

October 7th 2013

by Midnight Engel Press, LLC 



 In too fast…

Trista

Lennon-Carter received a phone call that will change her tranquil life

with her husband, rock star Linx Carter, in the blink of an eye. All she

knows is her brother, Trey, is either dead or being held against his

will in Northern Ireland and despite him being the Demon’s Bastards’

Sergeant-at-Arms, he needs her help.

In too far…

To save

Trey, Trista will have to take Linx back to the very place she grew up

and the same place she’s wanted to escape from her entire life. She will

also have to involve the very Motorcycle clubs she has no wish to deal

with ever again. When it is a life or death situation, she would do

anything to save the only family she has left.

In too deep…

The

club life has become ingrained in Trista like a tattoo and to save her

brother, she will be forced to become the person she most feared was a

part of her all along: a vengeful, fearless murderer who will stop at

nothing to save Trey. With her life and that of her husband’s at stake,

will she survive the nightmare their world has become, or will it drag

them back into the criminal cesspool she has finally managed to escape?

The

stunning conclusion to The Lovers Duet, Trista and Linx’s journey will

be one of strife, hardship and beyond the boundaries of anything they

have ever had to face before. Will they be able to endure or will the

past and their current present ruin their future happy ever after?

EXCERPT


“THIS IS BULLSHIT!” Trista

screamed.

She looked like a wild yet

untamed filly with sweat-soaked hair, crazed blue eyes and a crimson colored

complexion. She was beyond pissed and Linx didn’t have a clue how to calm her

down, especially since she was speaking to his Prez and there wasn’t much he

could say without getting a personal beat down of his own from his fellow

members.

“Listen to me, young lass,

because I will only take insubordination for so long before I rip you a new

asshole.” Dizzy stood and glared down at the young woman and Linx visibly

flinched.

He’d always hated the

feeling of being helpless and right now, there was fuck all he could do about

the present situation.

They’d accompanied Naomi to

the gun range and although Trista could hold her own with small caliber

weapons, she was useless when it came to the big guns. Uzis, Steyr AUGs and

AK-47s were not easily controlled and she fucked up royally, even after

instruction by Naomi. She wouldn’t be allowed to make the trip to Belfast.

“You will stay here where

you are safe. This is a dangerous operation.” Dizzy walked over and poured

himself a healthy glass of Macallan before he sat down at the head the table in

the chapel again. “Ronan, Quinn and Lennon will be in Belfast to do a messy

job. In and out…Trey is alive and we have to get him out of Northern Ireland as

soon as possible. You don’t need to be there if all you’re gonna be is dead

weight, lass. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.”

“But he’s my brother and I

want to see him. I want to be there when he’s rescued.” The tears streamed down

her face and although her shoulders slumped in defeat, there was a certain

defiance about her posture he knew she wasn’t ready to give up just yet, not

even if there was a slither of a chance she could go and help save her brother.

“The answer is still no and

it won’t change. You have got to stay here where we can keep you safe. The boys

leave tomorrow morning so it’s best if you just get drunk with the rest of

those eejits out there and fuck your man until he can’t get his pecker up again

because it’s the last bit of Irish injection you’re gonna be havin’ in youse

for a while.”

Linx grabbed Trista by the

shoulders and escorted her out of Dizzy’s office while she sobbed on his

shoulder.

“Baby, you know I’m gonna

bring Trey home for you so please don’t cry. That will get us nowhere and we

both know I’m on borrowed time as it is. I have two weeks to get this done and

almost one week has passed already.”

Trista’s shoulders heaved

before they collapsed and she wiped the tears away in complete and utter

gut-wrenching frustration with hands that clawed at her gorgeous face. “It

still doesn’t make a fuck all bit of difference. Dizzy tricked me—he fuckin’

played us, Linx. He had no intention of allowin’ me to go to Ireland with you

guys. He never wanted me involved in the first place because he’s a sexist

fuckin’ prick.”

Linx kissed the side of

Trista’s forehead and held her close, inhaling a mixture of vanilla and freesia.

“Yeah, he’s that too, but I can’t say I’m sorry you’re not goin’. I would be

worried about you the whole time and if I’m too busy thinkin’ about you, I

can’t do my job properly. There’s nothing wrong with you stayin’ here at the

clubhouse until I get back. You’re safer here than any other place, you feel

me?”

“Yeah, I’m feelin’ you all

right but first I need some chronic and a couple glasses of Macallan. Someone

has got to be holdin’ some grade-A shit around here and I’m not givin’ up till

I find it.”

“Follow me.” Linx grabbed

her hand and led her to a game room where a fifty-inch television was mounted

to the wall and several of the brothers from the club played Mine Craft while

other young couples necked, smoked and drank while chatting animatedly with one

another.

“Trista, Linx—over here!”

Naomi shouted as Ronan rolled his eyes. Quinn sat next to a gorgeous brunette

with creamy skin, wide steel blue eyes and small Irish features. They all

passed around joints and while the two women held bottles of Bud Ice, the guys

were taking shots from a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Cillian and Gisela entered

and took a seat cater-corner to them next to a couple that were all over each

other to the point where it might have been a good idea for them to get a room.

“Hey, you two—cut that shit

out. Some of us wanna keep our liquor down.” Cillian slapped the girl on her

arm and she finally separated from the man she was pawing.

Linx poured himself a shot

of Jack Daniels and took a shot while Naomi lit up a joint for Trista. He

looked up and recognized the young woman as Maeve “Misty” Cox, the only girl in

a family full of boys and the guy she was with as someone who shouldn’t have

been there.

“What. The. Fuck.” Trista

grabbed Linx’s wrist as her face turned a fierce crimson and her blue eyes

slowly grew colder than an Eskimo’s dick. “That

motherfucker.”

Linx knew it was too late.

It was on and he could only hope he could keep her calm enough not to blow his

cover because one way or another, the man in question was going to get an

earful.

Naomi looked from Trista to

Linx and back again, her brown eyes wide with concern. “What’s the matter?”

“What the fuck is a Demon’s

Bastard doing in a Lucifer Saints clubhouse during lockdown?”

All the sudden, every pair

of eyes in their vicinity were on the two of them and Linx could only hope the

blowback his wife was about to cause wouldn’t be enough to do major damage the

night before he had to leave for Northern Ireland.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elle Chardou is a world traveler and author of several different series.

Ms.

Chardou is the author of The Ties That Bind Trilogy, The Atonement

Series, The Hart Family Saga, The Vamp Saga, The Supernaturals,

Undertow, and Beginnings: Book I (The Plague) series.

She is

currently working on A Summer to Remember from the brand new Seasons of

Love & Lust series, Only Love (The Atonement Series) and Queen of

the Immortals from The Vamp Saga series.

Ms. Chardou has lived

abroad in Stockholm (Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San

Francisco Bay Area and Portland. She currently resides in Las Vegas,

Nevada.

The Beautiful People:A Writer’s Journey ~ Follow Elle Chardou on Twitter ~ 

Like Elle Chardou on Facebook

********************************


Selene Chardou

is a featured author at



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Spotlight: The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard

Title: The Forgotten Ones

Author: Laura Howard

Genre: New Adult Fantasy

Series: The Danaan Trilogy #1

Published: April 28, 2013

Allison O’Malley’s plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she’s been in love with for as long as she can remember.



What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison’s mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn’t trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother’s sanity.

Amazon | B&N

Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

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BBB BLAST: The Breakneck Series by Crystal Spears (18+ ONLY!)

Teaser from Shadowing Me (Unedited)

 

A

look into Chapter One

Subject

to change as rewrites may happen.

Chapter One

I slam harder into this nameless face’s mouth, willing

and begging her to gag on my cock. I need to inflict some pain. It’s true I’m a

sadist. Not a sick ass sadist. I just need to cause a little pain in order to

cum. I don’t have a fucked up tragic past that makes me the way I am. I just

need it to release. Regular fucking doesn’t do it for me. I found that out when

I was fifteen and I wrapped my arm around my girlfriend’s neck, choking her as

we both came. She was shocked, yet she didn’t run away. She simply got dressed,

hopped on over to her piece of shit computer, and waited for the slowass

internet to dial up. She then Googled my need to choke her to cum. We

researched for hours upon hours until we figured it out. I was indeed a motherfucking

sadist. She was my best friend and gently let me down, telling me she could no

longer see me. That shit broke my heart. We had been fucking one another since

the age of thirteen, and when I choked her, I knew it scared the living shit

outta her. Who could blame her? I sure the fuck couldn’t. Once I figured out

that was exactly what I needed to get off, I started seeking out older women. Women

that knew what I needed. I’ve fucked and hurt countless women, and they enjoyed

that shit. See, this bitch that has my cock in her mouth right now just isn’t

doing it for me. I shove away from her and start cursing at her for being in a

club she doesn’t understand. Everyone knows what I need here. 

Dammit.

She cries that she doesn’t understand, and I zip my pants,

pat her gently on the shoulder, and tell her to do some research. I’m clearly

not in the mood to try again with another nameless cunt so I say my goodbyes to

my best friend. He happens to own this club, and my President and his wife are

about to take it out and he has no fuckin’ clue. As I walk out and the fresh

air hits my face, I breathe it in deep, welcoming the feeling into my lungs. I

felt like I was suffocating in there. There isn’t anything worse than being

tortured by your own fuckin’ downfall. I straddle my bike, start her up, and

head to the clubhouse, praying I don’t run into Tatiana. I want that girl bad,

so fucking bad, but not even she can get my dick hard unless I think about

tying her up and putting some welts to her. I just know she’s waiting for me. Something

in my bones can feel it when I pull into the clubhouse parking lot. I light up

a joint and make my way to the building. As soon as I open the door, walk

through the hall, and start taking the steps up to my new room… I get the scent

of sex. I fling open my door and the doobie falls outta my mouth, hitting my

new carpet. I can’t even think about Winter kicking my ass for burning a hole

in my new carpet because the beautiful, sexy, young Tatiana is naked on my bed.

I kick the door shut and stomp on my joint as I watch the show she’s putting on

for me. Her small delicate fingers work her clit around and around as her eyes

stare directly into mine. Her breathing is heavy and by her smell, I know she’s

about to cum. She’s about to cum so hard, but what throws me off is my dick

starts twitching in my jeans and that snaps me outta my Tatiana induced coma.

“T… whatcha doing’ here darlin?” I laugh, barely making

it seem as if she’s affected me.

She grins at me. Her eyes twinkle with mischief and I

know she’s up to no good. I know Tatiana so well; I just know my bitch is

trying to make a point.

“Oh, Shadow baby, I’m about to cum so hard. That’s what

I’m doing’ here.” She answers, her breath ragged, full of sex.

I watch. Fuck do I watch. I’ve wanted this girl since I

watched her plop down on the couch in the old clubhouse and eye fuck me like no

one’s business.

“Say… T… darlin’,” she begs.

I grin and push my shades up to the top of my head and

cross my arms. She wants to play games. I’ll play.

“T… darlin’,” I breathe out huskily. 

And that’s when it happens. That’s when my devilish,

curious girl let’s go, cumming all over my bed. Her chest heaves up and down

for a few moments before she stands, snatches up her dress and throws it on. I’m

still fuckin’ dazed as to why she just did this.

“Why?” I smirk.

She gracefully walks over to me, placing her hand on my half-hard

cock and murmurs into my ear. “Because now when you lie down in your bed every

night… You’re gonna think about laying with my cum. You’re gonna think about me

touching myself, and how badly you wanted to be the one to do it.”

Fuck

Me.

Stay

tuned for more info on Shadowing Me, releasing after Resenting Me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SCENE OUT OF MY SERIES SO FAR IS…



Midway through Chapter 31 and Chapter 32 in Withstanding Me.  Be advised 18 and older.





“STORM?”

Mason.

“I’m here,” I croak, my voice

hoarse. He enters the doorway and drops down in front of me. I’m gasping for

air, and he surveys the room. “Oh shit baby. You fought; you fucking fought

back.”

I nod my head yes, as I rub my

throat. “Tatiana.” I gasp and take off on my hands and knees until I can get

upright.

“MACE,” I scream out hoarsely.

Oh god, oh god.

“We’re back here,” Mace yells back.

When I stumble through the door of

the room, I stop, and Mason slams into my back.

“It’s not our blood.” Mace answers

quickly and points to the right. “It’s that motherfucker’s.”

Berry, Rap, and Winter. I take off,

bounding down the steps, one floor after another. When I hit the landing, my

ankle almost gives out as I run and bang on the bathroom door. Rap calls back that

everything is okay and I fly towards the utility closet.

“ANGEL,” Braxxon roars.

“She’s in here,” I call back as I

work to remove all the shit I threw on top of the crawl space door.

Both Mason and Braxxon run up to the

door. “Where the fuck is she?” Braxxon curses at me.

“I locked her in the damn crawl

space. She was trying to play fucking Rambo.”

Braxxon pushes me outta the way, and

when Mason picks me up by my arms, I give way and start bawling. Fuck, what a

nightmare.

“It’s okay.” Mason croons.

“No it’s not. I couldn’t figure out

the safety on Sniper’s gun,” I gasp through my tears. “I almost died. That’s

not okay.”

Mason stiffens beneath me.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?”

Winter yells as Braxxon helps her outta the crawlspace. “GOING AROUND SAVING

EVERYONE BUT YOUR OWN FUCKING SELF.”

He stiffens more beneath me.

“I… I promised Mason that I wouldn’t

let anything happen to them.”

Rap and Berry come out of the

bathroom. “Storm threw us into the tub, and took off after Tatiana, Mace, and Winter.”

Mason pulls away and stares at me.

“She tried strangling the Russian

that was trying to rape me too,” says Tatiana while coming down the other side

of the hall.”

Motherfuck.

“I FUCKING PROMISED,” I scream,

jerking away from Mason and walking towards the downstairs couch.

“Storm,” Mason growls low as he sits

beside me. “What are they talking about?”

“Don’t ask me to make promises, and

then not expect me not to fulfill them, Mason,” I say while rubbing at my neck.

I lift my fingers and see blood.

Hearing the sirens, I cringe. Fuck,

all this, and now the cops?

“What did I fuckin’ tell you about

your life meaning just as much as theirs?”

I look into his brown eyes and say.

“They’re important to you, so they’re important to me.”

He flinches. “You’re important to me

too Storm, not just them.”

I say nothing. I just blink and lay

my head back. I’m too emotional to be sharing feelings right now.

“Wait. Where’s Piper?” I fling

myself up.

Mason puts his hand on my chest.

“She’s fine. Sniper found her hiding in one of the cars.”

I let out a breath before realizing

two other people are missing. “Bom-Bom? Creamy?”

Shadow snorts. “Those bitches took

off.”

Good for them.

“I’m so fuckin’ pissed at you,”

Winter hisses behind me.

“Get over it. Your ass is pregnant.”

I’m tired of this shit.

“LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE. ALL OF YOU.

SEND THE FUCKING COPS TO MY ROOM.”

And I walk my pissed off ass up the

stairs to my room.



***

 Chapter 32

ZZ’s POV

The following afternoon…



I’ve left Storm alone. She needs

time. I think. But I gave her last night after the cops and coroner left; I

also gave her this morning. If she wasn’t hurting and pissed off at everyone,

we’d be celebrating the fact we had no casualties for the first time. This

woman put her life on the line for my entire family. Not once thinking about

herself. That is straight up fucking love. I knock on her door, and push it

open when I hear her sniffling.

“I’m not mad at you ZZ; you can go

away now.” She mumbles from the bed, and the breath rushes from my lungs. I

feel my heart pound fast when she calls me ZZ.

This isn’t happening. She’s not fucking

pushing my ass away now. I kick off my boots and crawl into the bed beside her.

I wrap my arms and legs around her and nuzzle my chin into the crook of her

neck. “It guts me when you call me that.”

She sniffles some more. “I don’t

know what you want from me. You ask me to protect them, and I did. Then you get

mad at me.”

Jesus Christ she’s killin me. I

loosen my hold, and rolling her onto her back, I lay on top of her. I run my

fingers through her bangs and then look down into her eyes. I try to keep my

focus off of her neck. It’ll just piss me off. “I didn’t think you would take

it that far Storm. No matter what, I always want you to take care of yourself

too. Always.” Her blue eyes blink at me.

“The Russians you went after?”

Of course, she tries changing the

subject. I don’t know what this shit is where she’s not wanting to share her

feelings now, but it’s pissing me off.

“The rest left; they’re not coming

back. Stop changin the fuckin’ subject.”

She shrugs underneath me and I slump,

placing my chin in between her tits. I’ve really got to fix this.

“I love you.”

She gasps and then starts pushing me

away.

What the fuck?

“You don’t fucking love me,” she

screams jumping up from her bed. “You don’t say shit like that.”

Jesus what did I do?

She throws a glass of pop at me,

drenching me from head to toe. What the hell?

“Storm, stop,” I say calmly as I

shrug outta my cut and fling the damn pop off.

“NO. TAKE IT BACK.”

Oh, for fucks sake.

“Not happening darlin. I love you,

plain and simple. Deal with it.”

A candle flies at my head, and I

duck. Shit, she’s on fire.

“TAKE. IT. BACK.” She seethes.

“No.”

What is this shit? I withstand her;

she withstands me? I’m sick of it.

“You only think you love me because

I keep saving our fuckin’ family.”

I start moving for her, and she

starts back away.

“What the fuck do you think you’re

doing?”

I shake my head with a laugh. “That

right there is one of the reasons I love you.”

She stops moving. “What reason?”

“Because you just called my family

yours babe. That’s one of my reasons.”

She gasps and starts backing away

again. What the fuck is this going to take?

“I love you.” I say again.

“STOP FUCKING SAYING IT.”

Oh, fuck it.

I advance on her. If I have to use force,

I will. I slam her back against the wall and cover her mouth with my hand as I

lock her between the wall and me. Her blues eyes widen with shock. “I fuckin’

love you, Storm. I fuckin’ love you hard, baby. Deal with it. I love every

single thing about you. Your tiny little figure, your black and blonde hair,

that cute little nose stud, those pouty little lips, those big blue eyes, the

way you love me, the way you love our family.

You’re not giving up. I won’t let you. You once told me that’d I fall in love,

and it would be with you. You remember that?” She nods under my hand. “You took

me, a man that didn’t do love, and you owned me Storm. You fuckin’ own me.” I

remove my hand and her body flings into mine, her hands moving quickly tugging

off my shirt. “I love you.” I need to hear her fucking say it.

“I love you, too,” she cries,

unbuckling my jeans. Thank fuck.

Our clothes fly everywhere and we

collide, gasping and pulling at one another, bare skin to bare skin. My heart’s

pounding a hundred miles an hour as I toss her onto her dresser. I smack her

thighs and dig my fingers into her skin as I drag her to the edge and ram into

her.

“FUCK.”

Her head leans against the wall

behind her, her tits bouncing as I thrust in and out of her. She looks so

fucking gorgeous with my cock buried deep. “Tell me you love me,” she moans.

SHIT.

I groan as her walls suffocate my

cock. “I love you.”

Her ankles dig into my ass, pulling

me in deeper. I look in between us and watch as her pussy sucks my cock in and

out. It’s the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. My cock covered in her

juices. I pull out and drop to my knees.

“What are you—?”

Her voice muffles out as my tongue

thrusts into her pussy. She tastes so fucking good. “Ride my face, baby,” I

groan biting her clit.

“Oh god, don’t fucking stop. Don’t fucking

stop.”

Her hips start moving in a wave as I

work her with my tongue. I bring two fingers up to my mouth and suck on them. I

return my mouth to her aching pussy and round her puckering lips with my

fingers, shoving them in.

“FUCK.”

I don’t stop; I know she likes ass

play. I continue to pump my fingers in and out of her as she rides my face. She

starts shaking beneath me. She’s about to come and I want to be inside her when

she does. I back up, stand, and replace my mouth with my cock, continuing to

fuck her ass with my fingers as her cunt sucks at my dick. I lean in and take

her mouth with mine. She licks and sucks her juices off my face, and her pussy

grabs ahold of me so fucking tight I can’t hold it in any longer.

“COME,” I groan into her mouth, and

she does, fuck does she. I bite her lower lip as I shoot inside of her. I

remove my fingers and drop my head to her neck, kissing it softly as we both

try to catch our breath.

After a few minutes of silence, she

finally whispers, “You really love me?”



I lean up and look at her as I ram

my limp dick inside of her playfully. “Yeah.” I say, and for the first time today,

she smiles. 

 Crystal Spears has always had a passion for literature. She fell in love

with reading at an early age. After spending a decade in business

management, she began blogging and book reviewing, only to find that

that didn’t satisfy her craving. So, she began to write. Like any Indie

out there,

she had goals and dreams. She wrote Talania – a trip down memory lane,

a beautiful, contemporary romance novel. It almost made it to the top,

just almost. Someone told Crystal to write what she knew. She gave

serious thought to that advice.

For many years, her father had been CEO of a well-known gun and surplus

store in Texas. He then bought a tattoo shop where Crystal found herself

surrounded by bikers. Hardcore bikers. The Bestselling Breakneck Series was born when Crystal decided to write what she knows. Don’t get the wrong idea. Her Breakneck series is completely fictional, but based on things seen and heard, she now had a place to start writing from that knowledge. Seize Me

was hardcore, and Crystal became the writer known as the chick with no

boundaries. She took the critics the wrong way and made her next

bestseller Withstanding Me a little tamer. Readers were quick to

point out that they did not like that and demanded that Crystal return

to gritty writing. When asked if she would write gritty from now on, her

only answer was… “I’ll write what my readers want me to write, and I’ll

also write what I feel.”

Crystal resides in Indiana with her soon-to-be husband and their two

children. They have a pit named Dozer, two fish, and one fancy rat. They

enjoy the outdoors, and camp, fish, and go boating as much as possible.

But, while the soon-to-be husband is out hunting this winter, Crystal

will be writing three novels and planning her wedding.

Crystal is a perfect example of never giving up on a dream or a goal.

Her goal was to publish a book; her dream was to become a bestseller.

She did both of these, and now, she feels that she’ll never regret

leaving business management to become a writer. She stays humble, loves

meeting new people, and is extremely excited to be a part of so many

signings in 2014 with some top notch Authors.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon profile ~ Breakneack Facebook Page



Buy Links

Amazon.com/Talania-trip-down-memory-lane-ebook

Amazon.com/Seize-Me-Breakneck

Amazon.com/Withstanding-Me-Breakneck

******************************** 


Crystal Spears

is a featured author at



To see the entire list of Featured authors for this event along with all the details visit the website..

>>>BIKERS – BABES & BOOKS<<<