Shakuita Johnson's Blog: The Ramblings of Me, page 25

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Published on March 25, 2014 04:23

March 23, 2014

Book Launch Blog Tour – The Queen Of Swords by Nina Mason

Author: Nina Mason

Publisher: Vamptasy Publishing

Heat level: spicy

Formats: Kindle and paperback

Where to buy: Amazon.com (http://smarturl.it/queenofswords

Taglines:

A paranormal tale of undying love.

The story of a love powerful enough to span centuries.

How can she be his soul mate if he doesn’t have a soul?

Blurb:

When Graham Logan, a Scottish earl turned vampire by a dark wizard’s curse, draws the Queen of Swords, he knows he’s about to meet the love of his life. For the third time. But surrendering his heart will mean risking her life…or making her what he is. Neither of which his morals will permit him to do. Graham, who believes he lost his soul to the curse, rages at God: Why give her back only to take her again?

Cat Fingal, the third incarnation of Graham’s twin flame, won’t let him escape so easily. As soon as they meet, she feels she knows him and begins having past-life flashbacks. A white witch, she casts a spell to summon him, wanting answers and to fill the void she’s felt all her life.

Graham has other problems, too. Like the seductress who wants him for herself and the dark wizard who cursed him and killed his beloved the first two times.

Will he find a way to save her this time around? Or will she save him?

Excerpt:

Biting his lip, Graham turned the card of the here and now quickly. Seeing what he’d most feared tightened his chest. The central figure sat in profile upon a throne carved with angels and butterflies. She wore a white gown and a cloak decorated with clouds. More clouds gathered in the background, suggesting a storm was coming. The woman’s left hand reached out toward someone or something unseen in the distance. Her other hand gripped the up-thrust symbol of her suit.

The Queen of Swords.

He’d drawn the card only once before: the morning he’d met Catharine La Croix at a sidewalk cafe overlooking the Seine. To say her resemblance to Caitriona discomposed him was an understatement. He’d been floored by the likeness. He’d also been drawn to it like a sailor to a siren’s song. Unfortunately, he’d had no ship’s mast to rope himself to until the danger passed. Within a few weeks, they were deeply in love. He never suspected she might meet the same fate as her previous incarnation. Not until it was too late, anyway.

He’d done his best to protect her. After seeing Gerard Fitzgerald, the dark wizard who’d cursed him, on the street outside her apartment on Rue de Cherche Midi, he’d kept a watchful eye on her. Being as stubborn as before, she didn’t care for his vigil. One morning, she slipped out after he’d fallen asleep. He’d searched for her everywhere, out of his mind with worry. He’d had her blood, should have felt her, but he didn’t. That evening, he learned why.

Fitzgerald had done it. Of that, he was certain. He just didn’t know why. Now, it looked as if history was about to repeat. And what could he do about it except tear out his hair, beat his fists on the walls, and cry to heaven, “Why? Why give her back to me only to take her again?”

Grief closed around his throat like a strangler’s hands. Coughing to ease its grip, he overturned the card of his future. Surprise stung his heart when he saw The Fool. Squinting, he studied the image of a gaily-dressed youth whose open arms seemed to embrace the world. His right hand held a knapsack, his left, a single white rose. Nipping at his heels was a wee white dog. The Fool, fearing nothing, looked skyward with a dreamy expression as he strode toward the edge of a cliff.

Bewildered, he shook his head. What could it mean? The Fool stood on the threshold. He was the protagonist of the tarot, the archetypal hero embarking on his quest, the soul starting its journey toward atonement. The Fool, in other words, was the polar opposite of the hopeless, faithless tightrope walker Fitzgerald’s dark curse had turned him into over the past one hundred years.

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About Nina Mason, author

Nina Mason is a hopeful romantic with strong affinities for history, mythology, and the metaphysical. She strives to write the same kind of books she loves to read: those that entertain, edify, educate, and enlighten. Three of her books will be published in 2014: The Queen of Swords, an urban fantasy/paranormal romance; The Knight of Wands, book one in the Knights of Avalon Series; and The Tin Man, a political thriller about the dangers posed by media monopolies. She is currently at work on Book Two of the Knights of Avalon series and is itching to get back to a book she started a while back about a merman who falls for an oil company spokeswoman after a phantom tanker capsizes on the coast of the Hebrides islands. When not writing, Nina works as a communications consultant, doll maker, and home stager. Born and raised in Southern California, she now lives in Woodstock, Georgia, with her husband, teenage daughter, two rescue cats, and a Westie named Robert.

Social-media links:

Website: http://ninamasonauthor.com

Blog: http://ninamasonromance.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ninamasonromance

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ninamasonauthor (@ninamasonauthor)

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ninamasonauthor

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ninamasonauthor

Google+: https://plus.google.com/105622637668245901733/posts

Boilerplate interview with the author:

Q. Tell us about your book.

A. The Queen of Swords tells the story of a bookish white witch who returns every century to reunite with her earthbound soul mate. He’s a Scottish earl turned vampire by a dark wizard’s curse back in the Regency era on the eve of their wedding. She came back once before in the Edwardian era only to be killed by his maker in the same manner as before. He believes he has no soul, so can’t understand why she keeps coming back. She believes he does have a soul and that she comes back to free him from the curse. The story follows their journey as they try to work out who’s right and how they can stop history from repeating.

Q. After this, what’s your next project?

A. My current work-in-progress is book two in The Knights of Avalon series. After that, I haven’t decided. Probably another paranormal romance/urban fantasy. I’ve got a stalled manuscript about an oil company spokeswoman who gets involved with a merman during an oil spill in the Hebrides. Might get back to that one, or write one featuring Benedict and Avery, the secondary couple in The Queen of Swords. I’d also like to maybe write a sequel to The Tin Man, my political thriller releasing in August. It tells of two journalists thrown together to solve a series of murders tied to a global conspiracy to take over the media.

Q. What inspires you to write what you do?

A. All of my paranormal stories are inspired by my love of the history and mythology of Scotland, my interest in the unknowable, and my belief in the redemptive power of love.

Q. When did you start writing?

A. About as soon as I could write the alphabet. When I was a kid, I won an essay contest sponsored by the local library (I was an avid reader and always did the summer reading challenge). Back in the days of typewriters, I wrote a romance novel about a couple of ballet dancers, but never did anything with it. Didn’t try my hand at fiction again until five or six years ago, when I started what is now The Queen of Swords.

Q. What inspired you to write the book?

A. I started the first draft after reading Twilight. While I liked the saga, I also found myself frustrated by the lack of sex and Edward’s lack of history. In literature, vampires originally personified uncaged sexuality, so a chaste vampire seemed counter-intuitive to me. Plus, I felt writing an immortal creature provided fantastic opportunities to build an interesting backstory. What had he/she seen and experienced over the centuries? How was he/she affected by it? My immortal characters all have a history tied to the world and what they’ve seen and experienced has colored them in some way.

Q. Are you a careful planner or do you let the story guide you?

A. I do a bit of both. I work out the characters and their motivations, setting, and where I want the story to go. I also tend to do index cards for each scene or major plot point from start to finish. Once I begin to write, it can go completely off the rails, depending on where the characters want to take it. As long as they’re reaching the touchstones, I let them do what they want. If they go too far off track, I either re-plot the novel or rein them in, depending on which direction seems better at the time.

Q. Who is your favorite among your characters?

A. I love them all, of course. Graham, the hero in The Queen of Swords, is both noble and funny. Callum, the hero in The Knight of Wands, is a good-hearted romantic. Leith, the hero of my WIP, is a bit on the dark side, but still well-intentioned. If pressed to pick just one, I’d have to go with Alex Buchanan, the journalist hero in The Tin Man. He’s very complex and has lots of demons to overcome, but also is a really good guy.

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Published on March 23, 2014 05:00

March 22, 2014

Trip Of A Lifetime

I am in love!!! With a city…Boston to be exact. This isn’t Boston perse but it’s close to it. Bedford I believe but they had the biggest Barnes and Noble I’ve ever seen. I was like a kid in a candy store and even the lady that worked their noted how my face lite up with wonder and joy. I felt like I had come home. I was in heaven. There was a freaking escalator in the damn building! It was two, do you hear me, TWO floors of goodies to choose from. The one week I was there from March 17-21 wasn’t nearly enough time for me. So glad I will be moving there this summer. It’s like everything clicked into place. I even hit up the Museum of Modern Art and saw some wonderful pieces from American, Ancient, and European Art. It was breathtaking. My favorite was the dragon display they were putting up. Too bad it opened Friday and I was leaving to come back to VA that day but I did get a glimpse….

http://www.amazon.com/Conquering-Theana-Series-LeTeisha-Newton-ebook/dp/B00J4YMCUO

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Published on March 22, 2014 14:33

Guest Post – Lillian Mackenzie Rhine

Blurb

Theana ran from Seurri City, home of the wolf shifters now public to humans, to escape a mating with her childhood friend. She wasn’t in the mood for a mate, or the trappings of politics. Then she meets Rafael, alpha of the strongest pack in Seurri, and his beta, Gregori. Suddenly she can’t catch her breath, or keep control of her emotions.

Rafael and Gregori refuse to let Theana get her own way, or deny the love they could share. Perhaps two men for their feisty mate are definitely better than one. Now to stall the would-be childhood suitor, and stop an all out war between the packs—but love is worth fighting for.

Behind The Scenes

My co-author, LeTeisha Newton, and I decided to write this piece based off of a shared thought. She was a well-known paranormal writer with a concentration in shifters and I was, and still am, new on the scene with a main focus on paranormal. We both belonged to a small group of women writers where we were coached on a daily basis with writing prompts and exercises to broaden our writing horizons. In that time, LeTeisha and I noticed that we had similar writing styles and somewhat in-your-face types of personalities. That alone brought us together.

We knew we wanted to do a shifter piece, mainly because I had yet to write one and she was very knowledgeable on the subject (an expert if you ask me). She also added the element of having a tough as balls, dominant female lead based off of my female characters that I tended to write in my other

books. Then once the plot bunnies started to form and me not quite understanding the different personalities of an alpha vs a beta we just organically decided to make them share both personality aspects almost working as one cohesive unit. And with our female protagonist having the interesting task of choosing one of the two as a mate we opted for the fun approach – why not choose both?

Conquering Theana was conceived into this world then. Not too soon after the start (within Chapter 2) a character was introduced that was created for the possibility of expanding the series and once that seed was planted we decided to grow the one book into many. We have now plotted nearly fifteen books into the series and there is no end in sight so watch out for what’s to come. Book 1 just released, March 21, 2014, Book 2 (Conquering Camden…there’s and exclusive one for your readers) is finished, and Book 3

(Conquering Convel) has begun. So keep along with books, the videos, the website, and the blog.

Thank you

Buy Links

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conquering-Theana-Series-LeTeisha-Newton-ebook/dp/B00J4YMCUO

Stalker Links

Blog

http://www.lillianmackenzierhine.com

Blog (Seurri

Wolves)

http://www.seurriwolves.wordpress.com

Blog (LeTeisha

Newton)

http://www.leteishanewton.com

Website

http://www.lillymacrhine.weebly.com

Website (LeTeisha

Newton)

http://www.theshifterqueen.weebly.com

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/LillianMackenzieRhine

Facebook (Seurri

Wolves)

https://www.facebook.com/SeurriCity

Facebook (LeTeisha

Newton)

https://www.facebook.com/TheShifterQueen

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/LillyMacRhine

Twitter (Seurri

Wolves)

http://www.twitter.com/SeurriCity

Twitter (LeTeisha

Newton)

http://www.twitter.com/LeTeishaNewton

–>

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Published on March 22, 2014 14:18

March 21, 2014

Blog Tour – Crazy Maybe by A.D. Justice

Title: Crazy Maybe

Author: A.D. Justice

Release Date: December 1, 2012

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

Sometimes love isn’t enough. Sometimes it’s all you need.

Andi Stone is a strong, smart and independent woman, but that wasn’t always the case. Andi never knew what a “normal” life was like. Having been raised in foster care from the age of six after the death of her parents, Andi became emancipated at 16 after an especially horrible incident forced her into a psychiatric hospital.

Luke Woods, the family black sheep and street-brawler, is determined to be a successful professional boxer despite his family’s protests. He needs Andi’s help to get there. The wedge between him and his family over his past relationship issues and career choices is not easily overcome. Luke must learn to face his past mistakes and learn to trust again.

Fireworks and passions quickly ignite between Andi and Luke in the midst of the chaos that surrounds and threatens them. She never revealed the secrets and lies from her past, but when she publicly inherits her family fortune, the living, breathing past comes back to torment her and threatens all that she holds dear. Can their love for another survive the blows that their pasts continue to rain down on them?

Buy Links

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon CA ~ Amazon AU

B&N ~ Kobo ~ Etsy

Excerpt

ANDI

Our usual table is inhabited by the usual suspects – Shane, Will, Brandon and of course, Luke. He has his back to me and doesn’t know I’m here yet. So I walk to the DJ booth and tell him to queue up a song for me. I had a few drinks at the pub we just left, I’m pissed and I’m really fucking hurt, so I’m going to take it out on the stage. The song, Just A Fool, is actually a duet between Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton, but tonight I’m singing it solo. And I’m singing it with every bit of emotion I have bubbling just below the surface of my cool façade.

The lyrics are perfect for me right now. I obviously feel like a fool because I can’t get over him and I can’t let him go, but I know I should. I feel like I’m weak for wanting him to make this all up to me. For even thinking I could forgive him if he would just do something to take this pain away. Love feels like a cruel joke and no one has hurt me in the way that he has. I just want to forget about love and about him, but somehow he’s in every thought I have and every move I make.

I leave the stage and a friend from the gym I haven’t seen in a while stops me and asks me to dance with him. Another slow song is playing so I step into his embrace and we take the opportunity to catch up. He asks how I’m holding up, knowing how bad my life sucks right now, and I give him a non-committal shrug of my shoulders. Christina taps on my arm and her gaze suddenly shifts and I turn to see what she’s looking at.

Oh. It’s Luke and he is charging forward like a bull, hell-bent on his destination. Which happens to be me at the moment.

“Andi,” he barks at me.

“Yes,” I reply smugly.

I watch intently as he grits his teeth and clenches and flexes his hands. His anger is barely contained and he’s working hard at restraining himself. I know I’m not helping it but I’m no more in the mood to be fucked with right now than he is.

“I need you to come with me,” he finally says.

“No.”

He nods his head, seemingly understandingly, until I realize that I read him completely wrong. He just decided he wasn’t going to argue with me. In the typical method of the men in my life, he picks me up with ease, throws me over his shoulder, and charges back to the front door. People watch with amused expressions as I scream obscenities at him like a lunatic until he reaches the door. Then I realize we’re going outside and there may be cameras that catch me actually acting like a lunatic so I stop.

“Luke – do not walk out that door with me over your shoulder. I’m in the news enough as it is. I don’t need to add any more to it,” I say in my sternest voice possible. This stops him in his tracks and I know he hears the words I didn’t say – thanks to your family.

He puts me down but doesn’t let go of me. “Then walk with me like a normal person would.”

I sigh heavily, not hiding my dislike of his demand, and respond with the typical pissed-off female response. “Fine.”

Book Trailer

About the Author

A.D. Justice has been married for 25 years and has two wonderful sons in college. She is also an avid reader of romance novels and, to her amazement, a self-published author. A.D. enjoys reading many different types of romance books – including drama and suspense, crime and mystery, NA and YA, and contemporary and erotica.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Amazon Author Page ~ Goodreads

Purchase Her Other Book Today

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon CA ~ Amazon AU

B&N ~ Kobo ~ Etsy

Giveaway

1 winner – US winner will get a signed paperback of Crazy Maybe or an international winner will get $10 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 Fun Facts

1. I haven’t met some of the best friends I have in person yet – but I plan on remedying that soon!

2. I love animals – we have two spoiled dogs, a cat, and two horses.

3. I’ve been married 25 years this year.

4. I have two sons – 21 and 19 – both in college.

5. I am a certified open water scuba diver.

6. I think I have an addiction to swag – I keep looking at and buying more of it!

7. Wicked Games was my first book. Crazy Maybe was my second. I plan to continue both series.

8. My next book will be Wicked Ties – the second book in the Steele Security Series.

9. I don’t like having a schedule. Deadlines and scheduled meetings are my arch nemesis.

10. I am a huge Star Wars, Star Trek and superheroes movies fan.

11. I don’t care much about what others think….except when it comes to my work.

12. I haven’t developed thick enough skin yet.

13. Writing isn’t my full time job, even though I would love for it to be one day.

14. I don’t want to be put in a genre box. I want to write in several different categories.

15. I’m pretty out spoken. Unfairness or bullying really pisses me off. Picking on my friends will evoke my wrath upon your head. It’s not pretty.

16. Most of the people who know me in real life don’t know I’m writing books.

17. I will be at several book signings this year and I love to talk to people – so stop by my table even if it’s only for the freebies!

18. I have an MBA in Health Care Administration and a BS in Organizational Development.

19. I am 4 classes shy of having a second Master’s of Science degree but I can’t bring myself to go back to school.

20. I took my horse, Rio, away from my husband because he’s dead broke and the mare he bought me is green broke. I’m not riding a green broke mare. Sorry.

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Published on March 21, 2014 05:00

March 17, 2014

My Writing Process – Blog Tour

Hello and welcome to the My Writing Process – Blog Tour!!!!! Today we will be examining a bit about my writing process and why I do what I do

My amazing fellow Indie Author and new friend ELR Jones tagged me in this amazing event!

And now to answer a few questions….

What am I working on…

I’m currently working on too many things at once. I’m in the process of polishing up and formatting book 2 in my Dark Indiscretions Series, Dark Indiscretions: Monster Unleashed, that gives the ‘bad guys’ story of day to day life. Their hopes, fears, and dreams. I’m working on a Prequel novella to my Dark Indiscretions Series that gives a bit of back story before I go into book 3 in the series. I have a total of 7 books planned in this series at the moment…it can be summed up with this line: Dark Indiscretions…where even the bad guys are afraid of the dark.

I also had an idea for a YA short story that I’m six chapters in about a Amish type group of elemental coven of withches who go through a Rumspringa of sorts to determine which element they will lead with the rest of their lives at 16. It’s in fact titled Rumspringa. It’s very different my Dark Indiscretions Series. Only thing it has in common is the paranormal/supernatural aspect.

Then there is this project I’m working on called Sacrifice Broken. I can’t go into many details at the moment because this is going to be a whole new mythology/world I’m building basically from scratch. I have a few basic ideas and doing a bit of research to get a basic fill but I will be putting my own brand of quirky to the paranormal/supernatural creatures we all know and love. It’s going to be a huge novel because right now it’s a stand alone in my mind. It’s going to be the biggest project I’ve ever done. My currently books are around 35-40K and this one will be a wayyyyyyy bigger than that. Probably around 400-600 pages.

Lastly, I am a poet as well and published a small collection of my poems that is out now called Inside The Heart Of My Soul currently available on Smashwords, BN, and Amazon.

Book 1 in my Dark Indiscretions Series is also available online at Amazon for print and ebook and online at BN for print. Clicking the book image will take you to the Amazon page and wouldn’t you know it…it’s FREE today! Happy St. Patty’s Day!

How does my work differ from others of its genre…

My work is a twist on the traditional vampires, werewolves, or whatever else. I didn’t want to write about such and such being so good and wholesome. I wrote about the bad guys. The guys we love to hate. I wanted to show that even though they kill and don’t have the same morals and the next person, that they are not different. They want what we all want. Love, loyalty, and family. They kill because it’s necessary to their survival. They don’t do it for fun…well not all of them. They try to stay under the radar but sometimes things get out of hand. Half the times it’s the ones closest to us that inflict the most damage. I wanted to bring something to the paranormal world that hadn’t been explored yet. I kind of spliced some creatures characteristics together and made a whole new type of paranormal. My characters say things that other think but will never say.

Why do I write what I do…

I write paranormal/supernatural because I love anything fantasy, mythology, and folktale based. It’s so cool to read about magic and the unknown. You can play around some much in this genre and that’s what I love about it. I can change up things and maybe people will be shocked at first but slowly they start excepting that this is a different style and take on the traditional. There are only so many times you can read about the same old paranormal. I wanted to write new paranormals as well as a new story line dynamic and I don’t think I would have had as much fun writing contemporary romances about everyday life. Not that everyday life can’t be exciting but it just makes it all the more fun to write about enhanced supernatural creatures that defy human logic

Ultimately I write because I enjoy it.

How does your writing process work…

I thought I knew my process…the first book I wrote I sat down and cranked it out chapter by chapter. Well second book was nothing like that. I had scene notes all over my iPhone, notebook, or word document. They would come at random times and in no particular order. I would still go through the book chapter by chapter but I had all these scenes that I wasn’t sure where they were going until I go to it. It eventually all came together in the end. Now the huge project I’m working on I tried Scrivener for a trial and love it. The organization is crazy and that’s just what I need for this one. Character sheets, setting sheets, and the like. All in kind of note card order and can be complied into one document later if you want. I love it.

Some times I like to write in a blank notebook and some times I like to type it out. Just depends really. I don’t outline though. I don’t decide where the story is going. I just let it flow as it comes. I get aha moments in my own world and I’m like I didn’t see that coming. Not outlining keeps the anxiety away. That way if something goes left field I don’t have to change anything. I just work around it and make it flow, if that makes sense.

And that’s my little mini story about my writing journey. I’m always learning something new everyday and daydreaming about the next scene. I love it. I’ve turned a hobby into a part-time job (more like full-time) and met some great people along the way. I look forward to bringing many more stories into the world!

Check out my website

Or check me out on Facebook here and here

Coming up next week!!

Michelle Abbot

I’m a self-published author of new adult romance, and like to write about heroes who begin as the underdog and are protective of their girl. I’m an avid reader of romance, am addicted to coffee and love wine and chocolate, so yeah, not the most healthy eating and drinking habits :-)

I spend way too much time online when I should be writing. I collect teddy bears and occasionally knit a couple of rows on a sweater I started years ago, which I may eventually finish in time to wear for my funeral :-)

My latest work is a new adult contemporary romance titled, Just Stay. I hope to have it published within the next month.

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Published on March 17, 2014 07:00

Book Review – The Elemental Detective by Kirsten Weiss

The Elemental Detective

Author: Kirsten Weiss

Published December 21, 2013 by misterio press

Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Mystery

Series: Book 5 in the Riga Hayworth series of paranormal mystery novels

Word count: 70,647

Available for review: ePub/Nook, mobi/Kindle, PDF, paperback

Get it from:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo

Blurb:

Mermaids, menehunes, and murder.

Riga Hayworth just wants to relax with her new husband on their Hawaiian honeymoon. But a body on a Kauai beach pulls them into a murder investigation, sending the supernatural world into an uproar.

When Riga detects traces of magic at a murder scene, she knows she can’t ignore the call. There’s necromancy afoot, and she must prepare for the battle to come. But can Riga fight the forces of nature? Or will they destroy her and everyone she loves?

Book five in the Riga Hayworth series of paranormal mystery novels, The Elemental Detective is a fun, fast-paced urban fantasy blending romance with the supernatural, and exploring the magic of Hawaii.

My Review

The Elemental Detective

4 1/2 Stars

*** This book was given to me by Reach For The Stars Marketing for an honest review.

***Disclaimer…I didn’t know this book was a part of a series until I started reading it but it didn’t take away for the story itself, in fact, it only made me want to go back and purchase books 1-4

Where to begin…this is my kind of book. Murder, mermaids, and magic all in one black. You have Riga, a PI, who is also a necromancer or just became one (I’m a bit fuzzy, must read other books) and while honeymooning in Hawaii with her husband Donovan, mayhem seems to have followed them to their little piece of the world. Riga doesn’t want to answer the call at first but finds herself knee deep in the muck of it, when Donovan and she stumbled upon the bodies of a man and a seal.

Family and friends are her focus to begin her investigation and you finds out some things that she already knew and didn’t want to see and some she didn’t. Meanwhile the Hawaiian magic seems to have a strange attraction to her husband. They team up to find the source of the murders and uncover some of the mysteries of the island. The main characters are lovable and well written and so is the world Ms. Weiss has created. I found myself spellbound and engrossed in the world and was hungering for more. This is definitely a series that I will be following from beginning to end. In a small way I was even reminded of The Mercedes Thompson novels by Patricia Briggs but only in the thought that magic followed the main female around wherever she went, even when trying to enjoy a honeymoon.

It seemed everywhere they went someone or something was out to stop them and trip them up. This book was so well written that even with all the suspects I had no idea of who it could have even been until it was told towards the end of the book. I didn’t even have a suspicion. I was completely in the dark until it happened and boy was I shocked! Outstanding twists and turns at every corner. I will most definitely be starting this wonderful series from the very beginning.

Excerpt: pages 1 – 3

The palms outside rattled like bones, awakening Riga. A warm salt breeze slipped through the open door, and shivered across her bare skin. Beside her, the mattress sagged, the bed frame creaking an accompaniment to her own, steady breathing.

One breath, rising and falling. Her breath.

Muddled by sleep, she stilled, her heart leaping with a sudden jolt of adrenaline as she understood it wasn’t her husband beside her, weighting the bed. Riga kept her breathing steady, and extended her other senses. Probing. She opened her eyes, peering through her lashes. Through the open glass door, the moon illuminated a winged figure, hunched beside her on the hotel’s bed.

“Brigitte!” Riga sat up, torn between annoyance and the panic rising in her throat. She clutched the sheet to her breasts. “What are you doing here? Where’s Donovan?”

The gargoyle shrugged, the sound of rocks grating together, and the bed shifted. “Monsieur Mosse left an hour ago,” she graveled, a French-accented Lauren Bacall. “And his whereabouts are the least of your worries.”

Riga lurched to the left and reached for the bedside lamp. Instead, her fingers found emptiness, fumbled in the dark, then touched a wooden leg, upright, seemingly supporting nothing. Where the hell had the tabletop gone? Her fingers brushed a rounded stump and it fell over with a crash. Where the hell had the lamp gone?

She swung her feet out of bed, took two steps, and bashed her shin into something hard. Riga felt along the wall and smacked the light switch, cursing. Uncomprehending, she stared. Everything but the bed had been turned upside down. Cushioned wicker chairs. Wooden table. Television… She grabbed her silk robe, draped over an upside down ottoman, and slipped it on, walked to the entertainment center. That was still upright, but the TV inside had been inverted.

Wonder leaked past her anxiety. She sniffed. A trace of magic lingered, wild like a forest glade, elemental. Fae? She regarded the creative destruction she’d slept through, and amended that thought. Stealth fae. Dammit. She fumbled the belt of her robe.

“What happened to Donovan? Where is he?” Riga’s voice sounded shrill, even to her ears.

“Your husband left of his own accord.”

“Alone?” Riga motioned toward the mess. No, it couldn’t be happening again. Not another run-in with the faery world. Not here. Not now. “Did you see who—”

Brigitte’s stone-feathered head reared backwards. “I do not spy!”

“But you saw Donovan leave.”

“And then I waited by ze rocks until you woke up.”

“You woke me up.”

The gargoyle picked at her feathers. “I grew bored, and the sun will rise soon, and we have much to discuss.”

The diamond on Riga’s finger glinted, and she rubbed the back of her wedding rings with her thumb. She and Donovan hadn’t yet adjusted to island time, and both were rising well before daybreak. Donovan had probably woken up while she was sleeping and grown restless, hadn’t wanted to wake her. Of course he was safe. It couldn’t be happening again. That would be stretching the bounds of… She worked the knot on her robe. He was safe.

She swallowed, despising the remnants of fear that made her muscles twitch, and flipped her emotions to anger. Anger was simpler.

About The Author

About the Author:

Kirsten Weiss is the author of the Riga Hayworth paranormal mystery series: The Metaphysical Detective, The Alchemical Detective, The Shamanic Detective, The Infernal Detective, and The Elemental Detective.

Kirsten worked overseas for nearly fourteen years, in the fringes of the former USSR and deep in the Afghan war zone. Her experiences abroad not only gave her glimpses into the darker side of human nature, but also sparked an interest in the effects of mysticism and mythology, and how both are woven into our daily lives.

Now based in San Mateo, CA, she writes paranormal mysteries, blending her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.

Kirsten has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer reruns and drinking good wine.

You can connect with Kirsten through the social media sites below, and if the mood strikes you, send her an e-mail at kirsten_weiss2001@yahoo.com

@RigaHayworth
Kirsten’s Website: http://kirstenweiss.com

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Published on March 17, 2014 04:00

March 11, 2014

Cover Reveal – Orange Blossom by Sarah Daltry

Orange Blossom will be the penultimate title in Sarah Daltry‘s bestselling New Adult romance series, Flowering. The reading order and information about the other titles follows.

Title: Orange Blossom

Author: Sarah Daltry

Cover Design: Shoutlines Design

18+ New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: April 4, 2014

“I’ve never understood a year. A year was always a measurement of something bad for me. A year in my father’s prison sentence, a year since my mom’s death, a year left of school before I could get far, far away from here. Now, as I look down the end of my college career, with only a little more than a semester to go, a year seems like something magical. It has been a year since Lily chose me, since she sat with me on the old swing set and made a decision that I was worthy of her. And every minute of the entire year has been better than the last.”

You already know their stories: Lily, the perfect princess, always living someone else’s life. And Jack, the broken boy, who had stopped believing in hope. Somehow, though, they found each other and what was one night blossomed into a love story.

Now, a year later, Jack and Lily are dreaming of the future. Despite all of his promises to himself that he would never be indebted to anyone, Jack makes a new promise – this time to Lily – that he will be there for her forever. But when life unravels for them, he starts to pull away, and Lily worries he’s out of reach for good.

When Jack does the unthinkable, Lily is left destroyed. Is it possible to have a happily ever after? Does love ever really save anyone?

Series Reading Order: Forget Me Not, Lily of the Valley, and Blue Rose can be read in any order. There is some crossover in scenes between the titles, but each stands alone as one character’s story. Star of Bethlehem is a direct continuation from Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley. Orange Blossom and Ambrosia (releasing June 6, 2014) assume readers have read the other four titles and read as sequels. In essence, the first three are #1, Star of Bethlehem is #1.5, Orange Blossom is #2, and Ambrosia is #3.

Tit le: Forget Me Not (Lily’s Story)

Author: Sarah Daltry

Cover: Shoutlines Design

18+ New Adult contemporary romance

This is a coming of age story, but it isn’t always sweet and innocent. If dirty talk, bedroom toys, and threesomes offend you… this is not your book.

“No one tells you when you start school just how homesick you will be, or how hard it will be to start life over with no direction and no friends or family. No one says that becoming your own person is terrifying.”

I never wanted anything but Derek, my brother’s best friend. When I chose a college, it didn’t seem to matter that he would be an hour away. We could survive it. After all, we were in love. But almost immediately, things change between us. I blame myself. Maybe I’m just not sure how to be a girlfriend and independent.

Life seems to be getting away from me – and then there’s Jack, the guy down the hall. He’s rude and vulgar and my parents would be shocked by him, yet every single time I see him, I feel like I’m being pulled toward him. It’s physical, sure, but there’s something in Jack’s eyes – and I want to know him.

I know I don’t always make the right choices, and I’m the only person at fault when everything falls apart. How do I tell Derek, the guy who was supposed to be everything, that I don’t feel like fighting for him anymore? And do I run to Jack, when I know his past is way too much for me to handle when I’ve just turned 19? Finally, where do I end up in all of this? Can I be more than just someone else’s idea of what I should be?

Title: Lily of the Valley (Jack’s story)

Author: Sarah Daltry

Cover: Shoutlines Design

18+ New Adult contemporary romance

Jack’s story isn’t pretty. He’s suicidal, depressed, and he uses meaningless sex and alcohol to survive. However, the story is about finding light in the darkness, but sometimes the road there isn’t always easy to walk.

“No one tells you about pain. They tell you that it hurts, that sometimes it’s consuming. What they don’t tell you is that it’s not the pain that can kill you. It’s the uncomfortable numbness that follows, the weakness in your body when you realize your lungs may stop taking in air and you just can’t exert enough energy to care. It’s the way taste and color and smell fade from the world and all you’re left with is a sepia print of misery. That’s when the shift starts – the movement from passive to active. I fall asleep, hoping that the morning will bring back the pain. At least the pain is a thing.”

I’m a plague, a cancer. My mom is dead – and my father is in prison for it. I survived high school because college was my way out. I needed to escape, to get away from my family and the people who tortured me, but it hasn’t grown any easier.

I don’t pretend that I’m a good person. I drink far more than I should, and I use my best friend, Alana, because together, we thrive on destroying each other – as well as the parts of us we hate. I don’t believe in love, but sex is fun and it also makes me feel something.

The morning I see Lily, the beautiful princess who smells inexplicably like strawberries every time I see her, I realize I’m in trouble. I should hate her. I want to hate her, because the alternative terrifies me. However, as she continues to crash into my life (often literally), I can’t avoid feeling something that is the one thing I swore I would never feel. I can’t fall in love, because people like me don’t live in a world where love saves anyone.

She just won’t go away, though, and I don’t know if I can keep running. The voices and the darkness hover over me and they threaten to bring me back to the safety of my hate, but the stupid scent of strawberries lingers on the horizon, as something like hope.

Title: Blue Rose (Alana’s story)

Author: Sarah Daltry

Cover Design: Shoutlines Design

Warning: This book deals with topics of abuse and may trigger reactions in people who have experienced those things in their own lives. It remains a story about healing, but it’s not always an easy journey.

“Four. My life has been shaped by four people. Four men, to be more specific. My father, my stepfather, my best friend, and my boyfriend. The first two shaped it in horrible ways, but what I am, who I am, is all because of four men.”

Over the last twenty years, I’ve learned how to keep secrets. It doesn’t really matter, since everyone already seems to think they know everything about me. So I hide. I avoid confrontation, I treat Xanax like a magic pill that will make it all go away, and I become everything they think I am. A slut. A whore. Nothing but trash.

I can only name two guys who have ever made me feel like I was more than that. Jack is my best friend and I’ve loved him since I met him. Now, though, he’s in love… with someone else, and I guess I need to get over him. Somehow.

And then there’s Dave. The guy I never gave a chance. The guy I used almost as much as people used me, because I wanted to pretend I was someone worth loving. Two years have passed since we last spoke, but I don’t know how to stop thinking about him.

My new therapist is making me face my past, and she tells me that life inevitably changes without our permission. I believe it, but I know what I am. I hear what she’s saying to me, and I want to try again with Dave, to help Jack find joy, to love myself, and to move on. I just wonder if anyone can do that, really.

Title: Star of Bethlehem

Author: Sarah Daltry

Cover: Shoutlines Design

18+ NA contemporary romance

This is a holiday novella-length story that follows Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley.

“With you, Jack, it was the first time I ever felt real. It was the first time anyone looked at me and saw substance. It was the first time I wanted to make someone see me.”

Jack: New Year’s Eve. I’ve somehow managed to get here, and now I’m wearing a hideous and unreasonably itchy sweater, because I want to impress Lily’s family. I want to do anything for this girl who has made me believe in second chances.

Lily: The house is beautiful and shining with light, but it feels empty. At least until Jack gets here. I know how desperately he wants this – a family, love, a home. If I can be the person who can give it to him, it’s all I need, but I hope I can keep him from seeing how hollow it all really is.

About the Author:

Sarah Daltry writes about the regular people who populate our lives. She’s written works in various genres – romance, erotica, fantasy, horror. Genre isn’t as important as telling a story about people and how their lives unfold. Sarah tends to focus on YA/NA characters but she’s been known to shake it up. Most of her stories are about relationships – romantic, familial, friendly – because love and empathy are the foundation of life. It doesn’t matter if the story is set in contemporary NY, historical Britain, or a fantasy world in the future – human beings are most interesting in the ways they interact with others. This is the principle behind all of Sarah’s stories.

Sarah has spent most of her life in school, from her BA and MA in English and writing to teaching both at the high school and college level. She also loves studying art history and really anything because learning is fun.

When Sarah isn’t writing, she tends to waste a lot of time checking Facebook for pictures of cats, shooting virtual zombies, and simply staring out the window.

Sarah has also written Bitter Fruits, an urban fantasy romance, and Backward Compatible, a gamer geek romantic comedy.

Author Social Media Links:

Website: http://sarahdaltry.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahDaltryAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahDaltry

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sarahdaltry/boards/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/sarahdaltry

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A6CNV08/?tag=wrioutwor-20

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Published on March 11, 2014 04:00

March 6, 2014

Release Day – Tracker by Shannon Mayer

I am honored to post the release day of Tracker by Shannon Mayer. I stumbled upon these books last year and have devoured them since then. It’s one of my favorite series to day! I hope you enjoy the post about The Rylee Adamson Novels.

AUTHOR NAME: SHANON MAYER

BOOK TITLE: TRACKER (A RYLEE ADAMSON NOVEL, BOOK 6)

DATE PUBLISHED: MARCH 6, 2014

GENRE: PARANORMAL URBAN FANTASY ROMANCE

PUBLISHER: HIJINKS INK PUBLISHING, LTD.

COVER DESIGN: DAMONZA

PURCHASE LINK

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IJFWM2C/?tag=wrioutwor-20

BOOK SYNOPSIS:

“My name is Rylee, and I am a Tracker.”

When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I’m the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot.

Bringing my allies together as war approaches is my number one concern. But that means I have to play nice with a vampire who is blackmailing me. If I don’t, I’m screwed and my family is dead.

But I don’t play nice. And I have a backup plan. Kinda.

Throw in some new weapons being developed that work around supernaturals and I have more problems than I can handle on my own.

Good thing I have a kick ass team.

Even if they are on the other side of the world from me.

EXCERPT FROM TRACKER:

Alex sat up and moved to my side, pressing himself against me. He tugged at my jeans.

“Alex hungry.”

“In a minute.” I dropped a hand to his head and he grabbed my hand in his mouth.

“Hungry.” He mouthed around my fingers. I stared down at him. This was weird, even for Alex.

“Alex, I said in—” He tugged me so that I faced the side window, where the sash was closed except for an inch or so. Just large enough that I could see the ice blue eye staring in at us.

Holy fucking hell, Faris was here? Why now, why so soon?

I grabbed Alex around the ruff. “I’m taking Alex out for a pee.”

“I thought he was hungry?” Pamela stood.

“That too; could you go see what there is for canned food in the house?” I was all but dragging Alex, who was now trying to go with Pamela. Liam stood on the far side of the room, opposite Milly, and seemed lost in thought. Another time I would have been worried, but at that moment I was just glad he wasn’t noticing me.

“Pee first.” I said and opened the front door, all but shoving the werewolf out. I didn’t really want to see Faris, but since we all knew I was going to help him, no time like the present to start working with the prick.

Alex went tearing around the side of the house and I ran after him, our footsteps muffled in the snow. I yanked a sword from my back as I rounded to the window I’d seen Faris’ eye—just in case. A pair of boot prints were set in the snow, but no vampire waited for me.

Alex sniffed the ground, lifted his leg and peed on the boot prints. “Piss on vampires.” He grumbled, showing his teeth. I stepped closer, and lowered my blade to rest into the snow. Etched into the window, where the sash covered it, were two words.

Watching

You

Well that was just fantastic, just the way to end an already shitty day. Like I needed that reminder when it had been less than twelve hours since I’d been locked in his stupid cement coffin. A shiver travelled the length of my spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

“Come on, Alex. Let’s go inside. And don’t mention the vampire. Got it?” I slid my sword back into its sheath.

“Gots it.” Alex shook his leg a couple of times, shaking off the extra pee. We went back inside, and no one had missed us. Pamela puttered around in the kitchen, and Alex raced into her, yelping about his empty belly. Milly sat in her chair, curled up and brooding. Liam sat on the other side of the room seemingly watching her, but I could see that he was zoned out, not really here at all.

Good and bad I suppose. I didn’t want anyone knowing that I had to deal with Faris very soon, but to have Liam be so out of it . . . again, I wondered at what Giselle had said to him. The only obvious thing was, whatever she’d said, it likely hadn’t been good. And I had a bad feeling it had more than a little to do with me.

Just fucking peachy.

I went to his side and sat beside him. No point in beating around the bush. “Hey. What did Giselle tell you?”

He glanced up, his silvery golden eyes a not so subtle reminder that he was no longer human. “Nothing that concerns you.”

I blinked a couple of times, surprised. “No? Then why can’t you tell me?”

His jaw ticked, and his voice grew in intensity with each word. “It was for me, and no one else. If Giselle had wanted the rest of you to know, she would have had you all in there.”

A pit opened up, somewhere near my guts, rolling with acid. This wasn’t like Liam; he didn’t keep secrets. Neither of us did, not from each other.

“Seriously?” I stood and strode away from him, hurt curling through me. Shitty part about loving someone was this kind of crap, and how easy they could stab you with mere words. I’d prefer to get run through with one of my own blades. Stupid ass male.

He followed me out of the living room, through the kitchen and out the back door onto the rickety porch.

A whisper of voices made the hair on my neck stand up, even knowing that what I heard was Giselle’s spirit guides. No time for that right now.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Liam growled. “You don’t get to know everything.”

Links to other books in the Series

PRICELESS (THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS, BOOK 1)

IMMUNE (THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS, BOOK 2)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPD5BY6/?tag=wrioutwor-20

RAISING INNOCENCE (THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS, BOOK 3)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJJ1SEC/?tag=wrioutwor-20

SHADOWED THREADS (THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS, BOOK 4)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DZUICMA/?tag=wrioutwor-20

BLIND SALVAGE (THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS, BOOK 5)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FL0E10E/?tag=wrioutwor-20

ALEX (A RYLEE ADAMSON SHORT STORY)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8XIAZ4/?tag=wrioutwor-20

AUTHOR BIO :

Shannon Mayer lives in the southwestern tip of Canada with her husband, dog, cats, horse, and cows. When not writing she spends her time staring at immense amounts of rain, herding old people (similar to herding cats) and attempting to stay out of trouble. Especially that last is difficult for her.

She is the author of the The Rylee Adamson Novels, The Nevermore Trilogy, A Celtic Legacy series and several contemporary romances. Please visit her website at http://www.shannonmayer.com for more information on her novels.

CONTACT LINKS

Website: http://www.shannonmayer.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShannonMayerAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheShannonMayer

Blog: http://www.shannonmayer.com/news/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Shannon-Mayer/e/B005L43124/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1393944310&sr=8-2-ent

Fun Stuff:

Shannon Mayer Author Interview

Rather than have a list of Q & A as I’ve seen oh-so-many-times-and-looks-rather-dry (similar to a succession of popcorn farts), I thought I’d do something a little different.

I thought I’d tell you a story about a girl who loved horses and believed in magic. She grew up in a family of mixed nuts, seven kids in total from a variety of marriages, and to date none of the kids would be deemed ‘normal’, herself included. As she got older, she told people that she believed in magic and they shushed her and said that magic wasn’t real, to stop being silly. They told her, that she needed to get her head out of the clouds, and out of the books. So she told them she loved horses and everyone thought she should pursue a career with animals.

Soon, she stopped telling anyone about the magic she saw and dreamed about, and everyone just thought she loved horses. I mean, that’s even what she went to school for, working with horses. The girl became a farrier (and if you ask her clients they all think she did a smashingly good job), shoeing horses for a living. Hell, she even met a cute boy at college (something she’d previously not managed to do regardless of her raging hormones and batting of her eyelashes). They fell in love, and got married. Now this is where things get interesting. The twist in the story if you will.

The boy she married, he was pretty smart. He could see that there was something more to her than just loving horses.

He could see the magic she kept so carefully hidden; and he believed in her magic.

And he told her to use it.

Now that was a scary time for her, learning to use that magic. She made mistakes, people laughed at her, and at times she almost gave up. But that cute boy kept cheering her on, and now . . .well, now the story is pretty simple.

She makes magic every day, for a living, with the words she writes, spinning stories and creating worlds out of nothing but the belief she has in her heart. The cute boy still cheers her on, and she still loves horses, but now . . . .now the people around her realize that magic isn’t that far away. Not if you know what you’re looking for.