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Thursday, April 28, 2016

Blog Tour + Review + #Giveaway: Demigods and Monsters (Sphinx #2) by Raye Wagner @rayewagner @yaboundtourspr




Demigods and Monsters (Sphinx #2)
by 
Raye Wagner
Release Date: April 25th 2016

Summary:

Can Apollo’s curse be broken?
Seventeen-year-old Hope Nicholas is done running. Apollo’s curse has ruled her entire life, limiting her choices and robbing her of the things that matter most. But she refuses to live in fear any longer. In fact, she’s ready to do whatever it takes to break the god’s power over her existence.
When the goddess Artemis instructs Hope to impersonate a demigod and infiltrate a conservatory to get access to the Olympian library, she doesn’t hesitate. As she sees it, there’s nothing left to lose.
But once inside, Hope discovers the only way to get what she needs is to work with her sworn enemies. As the lines between demigod and monster are crossed again and again, Hope has to dig deep for the courage to accept her fate or fight for the freedom to save herself.

Demigods and Monsters is the second book in the Sphinx series.


Buy Links:




Origin of the Sphinx Buy Link:




Curse of the Sphinx Buy Link:



EXCERPT:

The terrifying creature had the torso of a man with dozens of arms extending out like legs of a spider. A true giant, the monster was well over twenty feet tall. Instead of a single head, the beast had several thick necks and heads stacked in a conglomerate mass like the compound eyes of an insect.

Hope cringed.

His arms moved in a blur, pulling books down and putting them back up in a slightly different order. Next to him sat a mammoth-sized trolley, and several other hands were shelving books from it. The sheer number of his hands and heads allowed him to be moving at all angles at all times.

She’d heard of such creatures, other monsters created by the gods, but had never seen one. She shifted in an attempt to sneak away.

“Ho there, young demigod.” The creature bellowed his greeting in a chorus of voices halting her retreat.

She swallowed back her nervousness and faced him.

 “You must be new.” He stepped down from the ladder and shrunk a couple of feet.
“Uh, yeah.” She shifted from foot to foot then extended her hand, hoping it wasn’t too sweaty. “I’m Hope.”

“Aptly named, young immortal.” He smothered her hand with several of his own. “I am Briareus, the librarian. May I help you find something?”





My Review:

Hope is back and still in hiding from everyone who wants her dead. She is still very determined to break the curse that was put upon her family many, many, many years ago. All she wants is to live a normal life and be like everyone else. She just wants to have friends and go hang out with them whenever she wants. She will do whatever it takes to break the curse. Even if it means being around the ones who would kill her if they knew who and what she was.

Hope goes to a Conservatory where Demigods live where she hopes to find all the information she needs to break the curse. She knows that the Demigods will kill her if they find out her real identity. But she is very hopeful that she can keep her identity a secret long enough to find out how to break her curse.

When she gets to the Conservatory she meets some new friends who are willing to help her if they can. But she still can’t trust them completely after all they are demigods. While there she meets Xan. Immediately she is attractive to him but she is confused because she still has feelings for the demigod Athan who after over hearing a conversation between him and his father she isn’t sure if she can trust him anymore.

I have really and truly enjoyed reading Demigods and Monsters. I have enjoyed learning more about all the Gods and the Son of Gods in the world that the author has created. The story was well put together and I never once became bored with it. I also loved following along with Hope on her journey trying to find the info she needs to break the curse. I also loved meeting the new characters and love each and every one of them well maybe that is stretching it little bit. Not all of them were likeable but that is what makes for a good read of course. If you have not read Demigods and monsters then I suggest you do. Oh have you read the first book Curse of the Sphinx? If not then I would like to recommend that you read it first to get the complete work up of Hope and her curse.


About the Author:
Raye Wagner grew up in Seattle, the second of eight children, and learned to escape chaos through the pages of fiction. As a youth, she read the likes of David Eddings, Leon Uris, and Jane Austen. Inspired by a fictional character, Raye pursued a career in nursing, thinking to help the world one patient at a time.
One summer afternoon, when her then young children were playing in the pool, a plot dropped into her head, and she started writing. 
She enjoys baking, puzzles, Tae Kwon Do, and the sound of waves lapping at the sand. She lives with her husband and three children in Middle Tennessee.

Origin of the Sphinx, a novella detailing the story leading up to the creation of the mythological creature, is her first publication. It is the beginning of the Sphinx series. 


Curse of the Sphinx, the first book in the series, is completed, and set to be released in August 2015.


Author Links:

Blog Tour Organized by:

Release Blitz + #Giveaway: Goodnight By Susie Tate @susietate79 @starange13




  Title: Goodnight
By: Susie Tate
Publication Date: April 28, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance



Life is pain.

That is the reality Goodie has had to accept since she was nine years old. Even before the night her childhood shattered she was never normal: her mind can process people and situations at lightning speed, she has the ability to recall anything she sees or hears with perfect clarity, she can separate from herself if she needs to – making her difficult to torture, difficult to intimidate. In summary, she is the perfect mercenary. A life in the shadows where she can stay in darkness is fine by her. That is until he tries to pull her into the light.

Powerful, arrogant, filthy-rich men are, quite frankly, a pain in Goodie’s arse. She’d much rather take an extraction job in the depths of a Colombian jungle than have to deal with their bullshit. But sometimes the money is just too good to turn down, and this time someone important, who is actually doing something Goodie believes in, needs to be kept safe. Luckily, Goodie is an expert at maintaining an invisible presence, enabling her to keep any interaction with the egomaniacs she protects to a minimum … until she meets Nick Chambers.

Nick doesn’t seem to understand invisible presence, appropriate employer–employee protocol, security precautions, following instructions, or in fact just leaving her the fuck alone. Everything about him, from his ability to laugh at their situation to the perpetual smile on his gorgeous face complete with goddamn dimple, drives Goodie insane, and for some reason makes her feel threatened. Fear is weakness, and if Goodie’s life has taught her anything it’s that you never, ever show weakness.

But Nick is determined, and he’s used to getting what he wants. He’s been effortlessly charming the women in his life since he was five years old, so he knows it won’t be long before he has Goodie right where he wants her. Only some things are so dark, so horrific, they can’t be dragged into the light. Some people are beyond redemption, and Goodnight may be one of them.

This book is a full-length contemporary romance of approximately 85,000 words with no cliffhanger and its own HEA.

Warning
This story involves both swearing and violence from the outset.
  

Amazon US - Amazon UK - Amazon CA 




Nick watched as Goodie’s eyes opened again, and searched for the panic he could have sworn was there before she closed them, but her ice-blue gaze was now blank, all emotion wiped from her expression. She moved quickly, her mouth crashing down on his and her hands going up into his T-shirt.

‘I want you,’ she told him, her voice husky and unbearably sexy as her hands traced over his abs and the muscles of his chest. He sucked in a sharp breath – he could tell something was off, there was an unnatural desperation about her; but with the woman he had been obsessing over finally touching him, he became incapable of rational thought.

‘Christ,’ he rasped as one of her hands moved down to his crotch and all his ability to think was obliterated. He drove both his hands into her soft hair and took control of the kiss, pushing her back to lie on the duvet he had dumped on the floor. He pulled her hands from him and unzipped her hoody, revealing the black bra beneath. Her body was more amazing than he had imagined (and he had a good imagination and had invested a fair amount of time on this endeavour when it came to her, so that was saying something): she was all defined, toned muscle, combined with softer curves. She was magnificent. She rocked against him and her hands went to his belt, frantically pulling at the buckle. Something about her movements jolted Nick out of his lust-induced haze. He dragged his eyes from her breasts and stomach to her face and he almost flinched. Her expression was blank and her jaw was clenched.

‘Goodie?’ he whispered, and her gaze flew from his belt to his face briefly before focusing just over his shoulder. ‘Hey … hey,’ he muttered, grabbing her hands to still them in her frantic attempts to undo his belt.

‘What is problem?’ she asked sharply, her Russian accent thicker than normal and a frown marring her beautiful face.

‘Where did you go?’ Nick asked, his eyes roving her face. He gathered both her small hands in one of his and reached up to cup her cheek, stroking across her cheekbone and up to her crescent scar with his thumb.

‘I am here,’ she said, jerking her head to the side, away from his touch.

‘No,’ Nick told her, ‘no you’re not here. Where have you gone? Why are you so scared?’

‘Scared?’ Goodie spat, wrenching away from him, and then scuttling back against the units next to Salem, who raised his head in surprise.

 ***** 

Goodie was breathing hard, her exposed chest rising and falling. She desperately wanted to zip her top, but knew that would show yet more weakness. She had perfected the type of meditation that took her out of her own body many years ago. The fact was that there were times in her life that she needed to be able to separate from herself; torture situations being one example, any form of intimacy being another. But nobody, nobody had ever called her on it. Nick made a move forward and she flinched – fucking flinched. What was wrong with her? Salem could feel her tension and flattened his ears against his head, letting out a low growl. She stroked his head and muttered to him that everything was okay in Russian – Salem could smell fear and the only other times Goodie had been as tense as this was when they had been in mortal danger, so she didn’t exactly blame him for his reaction. Nick continued to move towards her, his palms up like he was approaching a terrified wild animal. When he was inches away he reached down to her zipper and surprised her by hooking it together and pulling it up, covering her to just under her chin.

‘Are … are you okay?’ he asked softly, and for the first time since Goodie was eight years old she felt her eyes sting with tears. She blinked rapidly and gritted her teeth. What the fuck was going on? Nick turned and sat next to her on the floor up against the units leaving just a little more space than before, which she was grateful for. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

‘Um, Goodie?’ he asked.

‘Yes?’

‘Look, I don’t want to pry or anything –’ Goodie sucked in a breath preparing to have to explain her reaction to him ‘– but … well, you don’t seem to have the full complement of toes.’

Goodie blinked, letting out a short bark of laughter in her relief (but unusually for her not noticing Nick’s body jolt at that rarity) and staring sightlessly down at her bare feet. Yes, she was two toes down – both her little toes were missing and part of her third toe on her left foot; ugly scars marked where they had once been.

‘I have never noticed this before,’ she deadpanned, curling the few toes she did have into Salem’s fur so that he would settle back down to go to sleep.

Nick sighed. ‘You won’t give anything away, will you. You are the most closed person I’ve ever met. It makes me crazy – do you know that?’ Goodie shrugged. ‘Can’t you just tell me this one small thing? Give me that at least – you know everything about me.’ Goodie rubbed her temple and closed her eyes slowly. After a few silent moments Nick puffed out a frustrated breath and she felt him start to push up to stand.

‘Frostbite,’ she blurted out. She had no idea why, as his questions annoyed her to death, but the idea that he would give up asking them made her stomach clench with actual pain. He eased back down and turned his body towards her. She could feel him watching her face closely.

‘How did you get frostbite badly enough to lose actual bloody toes?’ He sounded incredulous, and weirdly furious, about something Goodie considered relatively trivial. She had been lucky to come out of what happened that winter alive, leave alone largely intact.

‘I lay in the snow for a long time,’ she told him.

‘Why did you do that for God’s sake?’

‘I had to be still, and I had to wait.’

‘Well, that’s just goddamn ridiculous. Whoever ordered you to –’

‘Nobody orders me to do anything,’ she told him. ‘I had a job and I was going to complete it. I knew the risks.’ And she’d finished the job too. The cold had driven her nearly insane and she’d thought she would go blind if she had to stare down the sight of her rifle any longer. Even now she could still feel the surge of excitement as her target finally came into view after so many hours waiting, and the internal battle she had to fight to remain in control of her heartbeat and breathing. She’d resisted the urge to just fire immediately, taken three deep breaths, and on the respiratory pause at the end of the last breath she’d taken her shot. Adrenaline was pumping through her system but she still had to make sure that even after the shot had broken she maintained a slow steady squeeze on the trigger; follow through is everything. So despite the cold and the pain, when she did get her shot she took it; she finished it.

Just like she always did.

Just like she was trained to do.







Susie Tate is a general practitioner and when she's not working she's looking after her four yummy boys under six (okay one is actually over thirty-six but it's the mental age that counts!). This is the first of her books to be set totally outside the medical world and is a little darker than the others, but hopefully still funny at times.

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Blog Tour: Scorpio's Kiss by MC Domovitch @Moniquedomovitc @WWVBT


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SYNOPSIS


Scorpio's Kiss is set in New York and Paris amid the glamorous and competitive worlds of art and real estate, Scorpio's Kiss takes the reader from the late 1940s to the 1970s through the tumultuous lives of its heroes. There is Alex Ivanov, the son of a Russian immigrant and part-time prostitute. He yearns to escape his sordid life and achieve fame and fortune. His dreams of becoming a world-class builder are met with countless obstacles, yet he perseveres in the hope of someday receiving the recognition he craves. Half a world away, Brigitte Dartois is an abused teenager who runs into the arms of a benefactor with an agenda all his own. When she finds out that her boss has an ulterior motive, she flees again, determined to earn her living through her art. This career brings her fame, but also the unwanted attention of her early abuser. M C Domovitch's debut novels are compelling tales filled with finely etched characters and a superb understanding of the power of ambition. Scorpio's Kiss promises to resonate with all who once had a dream.   (This was originally published as Scorpio Rising and The Sting of the Scorpio.)

PURCHASE

On Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

mc

Monique was born in the small town of Hearst Ontario, the oldest of ten children. “You can’t imagine the pressure,” she says,laughing. “Anything I did wrong—and I did plenty—was sure to lead my siblings into a life of sin. I therefore accept the blame for any wrongdoings by all member of my family.” When she was twenty years old she moved to Montreal, where she became a successful model, winning the prestigious Modeling Association of American Contest and continuing on to an international career. During this time, she worked with many top photographers and graced many designer runways. “Modeling was a wonderful career,” she says. “I met so many interesting and talented people. I travelled all over the world. After ten years of facing cameras and audiences, I became very comfortable with the public. I had no idea at the time, just how much this ability would serve me later in life.” When Monique retired from modeling, she founded Beauties Modeling Agency in Montreal. Through her tutelage, many Canadian models gained international renown. “I wanted to accept my age rather than try desperately to look young for an unforgiving camera. That was the main reason I retired from modeling when I was still young.” Later, she became a financial adviser and planner, and soon found herself hosting her own national television show about personal finance. After four years on the air, the series ended and Monique soon retired from her financial career, remarried and embarked on her new career in writing. Her success was almost instant. She was singed on by an agent within months of finishing her first novel and soon signed two contracts for a total of six books. She is now hard at work on her ninth, due out in winter of 2015.


    
Follow the entire Scorpio's Kiss tour here

Brought to you by Worldwind VBT

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Virtual Tour + #Giveaway: Lies I Live By by Lauren Sabel @laurensabel @GoddessFish



Lies I Live By
by Lauren Sabel
GENRE: YA Thriller



BLURB:

These are the facts: My name is Callie Sinclair. I am seventeen years old. I live in San Francisco. I love my boyfriend, Charlie. I work for a secret governmental agency. I am a psychic spy. This romantic, action-packed twist on the classic spy novel is perfect for fans of Ally Carter’s Embassy Row series or for any reader who enjoys cinematic writing and stories of romance and intrigue.

At seventeen, Callie is the government’s youngest psychic spy, trained to track dangerous people and weapons in her visions. When another young—and handsome and witty—psychic joins the agency, Callie’s personal and professional lives get messy all at once. If she can’t find a way to change the events she’s seen in her visions, she could lose the people she loves most . . . and her mind. Literally.

Richly painted against the backdrop of San Francisco and Berkeley, Lauren Sabel’s enthralling novel captures the thrill of exploring a unique power in a dangerous world.

Purchase Links:

LIES I LIVE BY:



VIVIAN DIVINE IS DEAD:


EXCERPT:

When I focused on a metal light switch across the room, I felt this intense confidence, this feeling that my life was mine alone, and that I could go anywhere and do anything with it. As this feeling surged through me, I felt heat sliding down my arm into my fingertips. 

“Test your power,” Indigo said.
           
It was like the word “power” flipped some switch inside me. I lost focus, and my gaze slid a few inches over, to a small metal box.

The fire alarm went off.
           
Everyone screamed and ran for the exits, grabbing their kids along the way. Across the room, I saw Charlie and mom headed towards me, and when I looked over, Indigo was no longer by my side. As the sprinklers turned on, and ice-cold drops of water pelted my skin, I closed my fist, and where the spoon had been, there was now a card with a phone number on it. Right then, I knew that everything had changed. 
           
I would never be normal again.


Guest Post:

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?

I start by daydreaming.

Daydreaming is one of the most important uses of a writer’s time. I cultivate places and times to daydream, such as hammocks, hot tubs, baths, night walks through cities, day walks through nature, staring out windows without blinking. These are all places where ideas come to me.

Once I have daydreamed a character into being, I start to ask her questions. I’m always surprised by her answers, as she usually says things I would not normally think. Through this interview process, she invents her own background. I also find out what is unique about her, such as Vivian Divine being a teenage movie star, or Callie Sinclair being a psychic viewer for the government.

Once I’ve figured out her identity and what she does, I start to research situations in which people like her exist. From this research, a whole fictional world based on a real world comes to life around her.  The complications of being a person in this situation also presents itself through this research, although how the character reacts to these complications is purely her own.

Then I freewrite. I just keep typing until I have enough words to show to my writing group, who help me to craft these words into a more linear plot.  Based on their suggestions, I edit what I have, create more, and outline a believable plot that I would want to read.  This happens until the very end of the book, and this daydream/freewrite/get feedback/outline/edit cycle continues until the day the book is printed.



Thanks!
Lauren

AUTHOR BIO:
Lauren Sabel lives in the quirky dark spaces of her mind, and she tries to shed light on these spaces in her books. After publishing VIVIAN DIVINE IS DEAD in Summer 2014 with Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins, she confronted her lifelong fear of being psychic by writing LIES I LIVE BY (pub May 2016). Since in this YA thriller, teenage psychic spy Callie Sinclair works undercover for the government, forced to hide her real identity from everyone she loves, Lauren is now certain she’s on the CIA watch list.

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Giveaway:

$50 Amazon or B/N GC




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Book Blast + #Giveaway: The Dawning of Scarlett by Jennifer Osborn @hondagirljen @GoddessFish



The Dawning of Scarlett
by Jennifer Osborn
GENRE: YA Paranormal


BLURB:


As a pale revenant—the vampire faction believing all life is sacred—sixteen-year-old Scarlett Ellis has learned to hide in the human world. She goes to night-school, works at a coffee shop, and her uncle Chasem trains her in martial arts. No matter what, she has to be prepared, because when she turns seventeen, she’ll be of Dawning age—and her biological father Apollo vows to see her dead first.

Expecting her Dawning to be impossible, she accepts the fact that she will become a rogue, forever hunted by revenant renegades and outcast by her own people. Scarlett thinks she’s prepared for this—until the curly-haired Nicholas Lightener walks into her life and asks her out on a date.

Torn between her feelings for Nick and the danger of the revenant world, Scarlett’s strange life is turned inside-out when she’s kidnapped and forced to do the one thing she swore she’d never do. Plus, she has no idea whose memories keep appearing in her dreams, or if they can even help her. Determined to free herself from a death sentence, Scarlett must fight to become who she was born to be.


EXCERPT:

He moves so fast it’s almost a blur. I force myself to quit thinking, quit reacting to every action and strike, but I do succeed in keeping him from hitting my body. After a few minutes of the blistering attack, I find my strength flagging. I become slower, and Chasem takes advantage of it, hitting me hard on the shoulder, and I drop one of my Kali sticks. Chasem drops both of his and reaches out, lifting me by the neck toward the wall, pinning me hard against it. 

"Never, ever give up! Do you hear me? Never!" he screams, his hot breath on my face. I squirm and struggle to get free of his grip but find I'm stuck.

His gaze is fierce, his lip curled up in a snarl. "Fight!" he screams again, but it's as if I can't convince myself that I can get free. My visions starts to darken from the lack of oxygen, and Chasem releases me. I collapse in a puddle, heaving hard and coughing, trying to suck air into my lungs though my burning throat.

I see Chasem pace for a few moments with his hands on his hips, like he doesn't know what to do. All around him, the mirrors tremble slightly, as if they’ll shatter at any moment. Chasem reaches for his water, takes a quick drink, then hurls the bottle toward the wall. I've never seen him like this. He’s usually so contained—tough, but contained. Now, he seems like a caged lion. 

He turns towards me and leans down. "You can't be like this, Scar. You can't. You have to keep fighting, no matter what. Do you understand? It will be a matter of life or death. Never surrender, do you understand?"


AUTHOR BIO:

After working in the legal and technical fields for many years, Jennifer Osborn took the plunge into full time writing in 2015. She is the award-winning author of The Shilund Saga and The Sentinel’s Insurgency.  When not writing, she listens to a different muse and creates paintings and collages of all sorts.

She lives in the Cincinnati area with her husband, three dogs and two cats.

You can find out more about her at




Giveaway:

3 eBooks of The Dawning of Scarlett via iBooks






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