Friday, November 11, 2016
Blog Tour + #Giveaway: Don’t Wake Me Up by ME Rhines @merhines @starange13
Title: Don't Wake Me Up
By: M.E. Rhines
Publication Date: November 3, 2016
Publisher: Clean Reads
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
He's charming, funny, and incredibly hot. The only problem is, he's a ghost. When the chaos of school, her over-reactive mother, and her abusive boyfriend gets to be too much, sixteen-year-old Colleen turns to astral projection to escape it all. In the sanctuary of the astral plane, she mingles with the lost souls of the departed. They all need help to move on to the Summerland, and Colleen never turns down a spirit in need.
Until she meets Daemon.
With just a glance, Daemon makes her forget all the turmoil back home. The calm is welcome and addictive, but Colleen knows the peace he offers will leave with him once he crosses over, forcing her to make a desperate decision: sever her ties to her physical body, or sabotage his salvation.
She writes young adult paranormal romance to feed her belief that fairy tales are real and nonsense is necessary.
She also writes adult romances under her edgier alter-ego, Mary Bernsen.
Social Media Links
Blog Tour + #Giveaway: Subversion (One Bright Future #2) by Melinda Friesen @melindafriesen @chapterxchapter @rebelightbooks
Subversion
One Bright Future #2
by Melinda Friesen
Publication Date:
August 31, 2016
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing
“I
surrender my days, my efforts, myself to the OneEarth Bank . . .”
After
fleeing slavery, Rielle James burns with the desire to topple OneEarth Bank and
end its enslavement of young people as Contracts. When she learns that her
friend Nathan has been sold to a logging company where Contracts die or vanish
without a trace, she assumes a false identity and becomes a slave again to help
him escape.
Her
act of subversion uncovers the horrific truth behind the OneEarth Bank’s role
in Contract disappearances and its link to a global pandemic.
Can
Rielle and Nathan escape and expose the truth before it’s too late?
Purchase Links:
OTHER BOOKS IN THE
SERIES
Enslavement
One
Bright Future #1
by
Melinda Friesen
Publication
Date: October 31, 2014
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing
"One
world. One currency. One bright future."
That's
the promise made by OneEarth Bank after a global economic collapse--but only
for those who accept the insertion of a commerce chip.
When
Rielle's parents refuse to comply, government officials tear her family apart.
As punishment for her parent's crimes, Rielle is forced into a Community
Service Contract--a legalized form of slavery--and sold to a wealthy, abusive
banker.
The
Banker's secrets hold the key to Rielle's freedom, but will she risk prison or
even death to escape and search for her family?
Melinda
Friesen was born in Portland, Oregon. She attended school in Texas and met a
vastly interesting Canadian man, who she allowed to drag her to his home in the
wilds of Manitoba, Canada. Living in an igloo wasn't easy. Wait. She didn't
actually live in an igloo, but that would make this story much more
interesting.
Among
her accomplishments are surviving -40 degree weather, gestating four human
being inside her body, and staying happily married to that Canadian man for
over 20 years despite the weather conditions he's exposed her to. And she
writes too!
Melinda
Friesen writes short stories and novels for teens. Enslavement, a YA
sci-fi/dystopian read, is her first published novel and the first book in the
One Bright Future series. Her work has appeared in Freefall Magazine, the Metro
News and the upcoming Forging Freedom II anthology. She was shortlisted in the
Writers' Village International novel contest, spring 2014. Her short stories
have placed in several contests including earning grand prize in the 2013
Central Canada Lit Fest short story contest.
Connect with the Author:
Giveaway:
·
Two (2) winners will
received a physical copy of Subversion by Melinda Friesen (US/Canada)
·
Five (5) winners will
receive a digital copy of Subversion by Melinda Friesen (INT)
Ends November 25, 2016
Book Blitz + #Giveaway: REMEMBER by Joan Carney @XpressoTours
REMEMBER
Joan Carney
Publication date: November 7th 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance
For most people, Christmas is a time of joy and anticipation. But when a freak accident robs Gracie of her memory, the lines between fantasy and reality blur.
Now there’s only one gift Gracie wants for Christmas, and the only man who can bring it is not Santa.
EXCERPT:
I forced my body to a sitting position fighting the outbreak of vertigo that threatened to push me back. Two or three inches of tequila were left in the bottle on the night stand. Christ, I drank way too much. Feet on the floor, I wrapped myself in the sheet, dragging it with me as I stumbled to the door and yanked it open. Victoria waited on the landing wearing a long silky robe, thick waves of blonde hair falling loose around her shoulders. A seductive smile curling her lips.
“What is it Victoria? If something’s broken in your room, you can call down to the management and they’ll come fix it.” My steady tone belied the tequila induced numbness in my tongue and teeth.
“Um… no, it’s something else,” she lowered her voice, fidgeting with the belt on her robe. “But I’d rather not say it out in the hall. Is it okay if I come in?”
I stepped back to let her in, leaving the door open, and waited to hear the dire emergency that only I could fix.
She didn’t speak, but pulled the tie on her robe and let it fall to the floor revealing only a lacy black thong underneath. Holy shit is she stacked!
“Wait, what? What are you doing?” No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t take my away. Her breasts seemed to magnify in my vision, begging for my touch. Was it the alcohol or her tight naked body staring at me that took away my ability to think? My blood pulsed loud in my ears.
“It’s okay, Jack, you don’t have to pretend anymore. I know you want me.” Her voice matched the air outside. Warm, silky, sultry.
I tightened the sheet around my waist and poked my head out into the hall to see if anyone had witnessed her crazy stunt. Thank God, no one had.
“No one’s there, Jack, they’re out back in the pool. We’re all alone now.” A slight push from her hand and the door clicked closed.
Never before had a woman come on to me so boldly. It was intimidating, but exciting as hell. Heat flashed through my body. Her mesmerizing breasts, pointing at me as she approached, seemed to shift in my wavering vision like a Picasso painting. My hands ached to reach out, and I clutched the sheet to control them.
A few feet stood between us and the large bed. Conflicted between throwing her down on the satiny soft sheets and tossing her out the door, my feet edged back with every step she took forward. I kept one eye on Victoria as I sneaked a peek behind me. If I didn’t take a stand, this situation would spiral out of control, fast.
“Victoria, stop.” My hands grasped her shoulders keeping her at arm’s length, but my heavy arms couldn’t support them. They drifted down. Her gooseflesh rippling under my fingers made the breath catch in my throat.
She leaned in. The heady scent of her jasmine perfume infused the air, further intoxicating me. Her lips, gliding down the side of my neck, left a trail of warm gentle kisses. My racing pulse made the room swim even more than before and I tightened my grip to steady myself. She turned her head, I felt her soft hair brush a whisper across my chest. Gracie.
Gracie’s soft laugh echoed in my ear. Her beautiful sun-kissed face a vision behind my closed lids. My hands anchored at her waist, I pulled her closer. I’ve wanted this for such a long time.
Heat radiating off her body stoked the fire in mine. My tongue ran along the seam of her eager lips, teasing, sampling, savoring. Mmm, peppermint candy.
“Jack.” She gasped against my lips. Her arms tightened around my neck, drawing me in, urging me on.
Any reservations I might have had in the beginning were now nonexistent. I’d reached the point of no return. I deepened the kiss, sweeping my tongue into her mouth, meeting hers, trading places. In a full embrace, our bodies angled toward the bed.
“Gracie, baby, I’ve dreamed of this so many times.”
Victoria’s body stiffened. Hands pushed back against my chest. “What did you call me?”
“Baby? I didn’t mean…”
“Did you just call me Gracie?”
“What? No, I didn’t, I…”
“Yes you did! You called me Gracie, you son of a bitch. How dare you! You’re seducing me and thinking of someone else?”
“Me? I am? Wait a minute…”
Her hand cracked against my face so hard, my head swung like a saloon door and I tasted blood in my mouth. The bell signaling the end of the first round rang in my ears. She gathered up her robe, tossed a few more irate insults at me and flounced out the door, slamming it behind her.
What the hell just happened? Victoria? Gracie? My head swam, going back and forth between the bed and the door, replaying the events of the last few minutes. Shit, did I really do that? I’d never called a woman by the wrong name before. Gracie’s got me so damn twisted up inside, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.
I eased my still burning body onto the mattress cradling my comfort in a bottle. The last few gulps of tequila slid down my throat with ease. But soon the spinning room had me gripping the sheets for balance.
Stomach churning, my clumsy feet scrambled for the bathroom, making it just in time to empty its meager contents into the porcelain bowl. It didn’t take long, but my head throbbed from the effort. I splashed water on my face, noting in the mirror the red hand imprint on my cheek. For a skinny little vixen, Victoria sure packs a wallop.
Author Bio:
A transplant from the concrete sidewalks of New York City to the sunny beaches of Southern California, Ms. Carney enjoys writing stories about women who are strong—whether by nature or circumstance—and the men who love and respect them for who they are. Things that make her happy are rainy days (too much sun is a bore), writing the perfect first line, family get-togethers, reading books that grab her heart, and finding new connections in her genealogy research. Bold coffee and dark chocolate fuel the artistic fire inspired by her family, friends, and psycho, lizard hunting cat.
Cover Reveal: Celtic Fire by Liz Gavin @LizGavin_author @XpressoTours
Celtic Fire
Liz Gavin
(Highland Celts Series, #1)
Publication date: January 31st 2017
Genres: Adult, Historical, Paranormal, Romance
REDUCED PRICE UNTIL RELEASE DAY ONLY
This is a standalone, historical/paranormal romance. Its mature themes – violence, religious war, and pagan rituals – might not be appropriate for audiences under 18.
When ancient gods ruled and Druids kept Faith alive, the Celts thrived as a democratic, matriarchal society. Then savage Roman soldiers swept across Europe, killing and enslaving. The Celts did not succumb without a fight. Their Old Ways survived centuries of ruthless domain until another menace loomed: a tortured god worshiped in cold stone buildings. The sacred shores of Avalon began to drift away, the mists threatened to hide the island from mortal eyes forever.
Against the bleak backdrop of war, the gorgeous Scottish Highlands stood tall, sheltering its inhabitants from greedy invaders. Yet the reach of the eagle banners was long and the highlanders turned to the Goddess for protection. However, the sacred groves felt silent and grim as Avalon faded away. Once sad, pealing bells began to sound strangely comforting while the high walls of monasteries offered an alluring barrier from violence. Caught in the middle of this centuries-old war, a young High Priestess might be Avalon’s last chance.
Wise beyond her years and powerful like no other Priestess in her lifetime, Rowen had served the Goddess faithfully, forsaking her family and the company of her soulmate. When the Lady of the Lake asks for another sacrifice, it might be one too many for her scarred heart. How could she obey the Goddess without betraying Caddaric? Could she trust Eochaid, who embodied everything she despised and hated? Would she be able to fulfill her duties without losing her soul?
Caddaric had been Rowen’s companion in countless lives; but, now, they existed in different realms. Beautiful Rowen lived in the mortal world while sweet Caddaric remained in the sacred isle of Avalon, watching over her. Could he step aside to allow another man – a flesh and blood man – to become her protector?
Eochaid had sworn to protect the Old Ways. The rude warrior never quite understood his faith yet his loyal heart belonged to the Goddess. A gorgeous, fiery High Priestess was not in his plans. He would risk his life to protect Rowen; but, would the Goddess safeguard his heart? Could he defend the bewitching maiden from himself?
When stakes were so high that a simple mistake could cost their very world, a priestess, a Druid, and a warrior must learn to trust each other and the mysterious ways of the Goddess. Their success would save Avalon. Their failure would tear the island from the human realm forever, condemning it to oblivion.
Failure was not an option.
Author Bio:
When Liz Gavin was in Second Grade - just a couple of years ago, really - her teacher told her mother the little girl should start a diary because she needed an outlet for her active and vivid imagination. She was a talkative child who would disrupt the class by engaging her colleagues in endless conversations. She loved telling them the stories her grandfather used to tell her.
Apparently, the teacher wasn’t a big fan of those stories, and Liz’s mother bought her a diary. She happily wrote on it for a couple of months. Unable to see the appeal of writing for her own enjoyment only, she gave up on it. She missed the audience her friends provided her in class. She went back to disturbing her dear teacher’s class.
Since then, she has become a hungry reader. She will read anything and everything she can get her hands on – from the classics to erotica. That’s how she has become a writer of erotica and romance, as well.
As a young adult, she participated in a student exchange program and lived in New Orleans for six months. She fell in love with the city and its wonderful inhabitants. NOLA will always hold a special spot in Liz Gavin’s heart. Nowadays, living in Brazil, Liz’s creativity has improved many times because it’s such a vibrant, gorgeous and sexy country.
Welcome to her world of hot Alpha males and naughty, independent women. Add a touch of the paranormal in the presence of some wicked souls and you’ll get the picture.
Sit back, fire up your Kindle and enjoy the ride!
Release Blitz + #Giveaway: Keepin' The Faith by Beth Rinyu @bethrinyuwriter @starange13
Title: Keepin' The Faith
By: Beth Rinyu
Publication Date: November 11, 2016
Cover Designer: Q Designs
Genre: Romantic Comedy
I had always been a good girl ruled by my catholic guilt, until one little slip-up in college led me down a different path. Now, I'm just trying to be the best mom I can to my little girl, making ends meet - cleaning houses by day, hosting sex toy parties at night, and holding out hope that Prince Charming truly does exist.
Then I met him - handsome, successful, and hardworking. The perfect Prince Charming.
Right? Wrong. So wrong.
I'm carefree.
He's a perfectionist.
I'm broke.
He's rich.
I'm a single mom.
He doesn't have patience for kids.
And…Did I mention, he's my new boss? A boss who has me thinking more impure thoughts than a teenage boy with their first dirty magazine, a boss who is totally out of my league, and a boss who I'm impossibly attracted to.
Sometimes a girl must give up the illusion that fairy tales exist and realize happily ever afters only happen in movies. I'm not a princess, and he's not a prince.
But when an unconventional fairy godmother intervenes to work her magic, maybe just maybe, I'll get to wear that crown after all.
Ever since I can remember, I have always enjoyed Creative Writing. There was always something about being able to travel to a different place or become a different person with just the stroke of a pen - or in today's world a touch of the keyboard. I am the author of The Exception To The Rule, An Unplanned Lesson, An Unplanned Life, Drowning In Love, A Cry for Hope, A Will To Change, Blind Side of Love, When The Chips Are Down and Easy Silence.
My life is not as interesting as my books or the characters in them, but then again whose life is? I'm a mom of twin teenage boys, a crazy Border Collie and a cat with an identity crisis! I guess you can say writing is my form of relaxation.
Social Media Links
VBT + #Giveaway: Behind the Bonehouse by Sally Wright @Sally_Wright5 @GoddessFish
Behind the Bonehouse
by Sally
Wright
GENRE: Mystery
BLURB:
It wasn’t until thirty years after the attacks, and the lies, and
the intricately orchestrated death, that Jo Grant Munro could bring herself to
describe it all in Behind The Bonehouse. Her work as an architect, and the
broodmare farm she ran with her uncle, and her husband Alan’s entire future -
all hung by a thread in 1964 in the complex Thoroughbred culture of bluegrass
Kentucky, where rumor and gossip and the nightly news can destroy a person
overnight, just like anywhere else. It was hatred in a self-obsessed soul,
fermenting in an equine lab, boiling over and burning what it touched, that
drove Jo and Alan to the edge of desperation while they fought through what
they faced.
Excerpt:
Wednesday,
July 3rd, 1963
It
was five in the morning, and Alan Munro was alone, again, in the lab at Equine
Pharmaceuticals. He’d just looked at the notes in the formulation notebook Carl
Seeger, Equine’s lab director, had entered the day before, and he tossed a red
lab crayon on his desk with a look of deep disgust. He rubbed his eyes with
both hands, and leaned back in his chair—then pushed himself up and limped,
slightly, less the longer he walked, to the research corner in the back of the
plant.
He’d
converted a fifty-four gallon drum into a mixing tank they could use to develop
the proper methods for converting a beaker-size experimental batch of his new
horse de-wormer paste into an intermediate batch, before they moved to a
commercial size tank.
This
latest mixture was way too thin, and the solids hadn’t properly dispersed in
the methylcellulose, and as Alan read the batch sheet he muttered words
he’d almost never used since he’d come
home from World War II. At 8:35 Alan walked into the main lab and asked Carl
Seeger if he could speak to him for a minute.
Carl
was weighing white powder on a double pan balance, and he didn’t look up before
he’d slid the powder off one pan into a large glass beaker and replaced the
brass weights from the other in their wooden rack. “I’m busy right now, Alan. I
should be free in an hour or so.” He spoke calmly and quietly, his thin mouth
tucked under a wispy mustache, his pale brown eyebrows pulled down in
concentration, half-hiding his small hazel eyes.
“It’s
important, Carl.
An Interview with Sally Wright
What
inspired you to write Behind The
Bonehouse?
Behind
The Bonehouse is the second Jo Grant novel and the
character of Jo Grant Munro - a woman architect and partner in a hands-on
broodmare care business with her Uncle Toss in Versailles, Kentucky - looks
back on the trauma of what happened in the mid-'60s from thirty years later
because she knows she's not well, and needs to look at how it affected her and
her husband (while she's here to do it), because she couldn't any earlier.
I was interested in considering how it feels to be wrongly
accused - which we all face sometime, in some way, minor or major. I fictionalized
a business conspiracy that my father (an orphan, raised in an orphanage, who
managed to become a chemist) faced in his small scientific business when it was
just getting off the ground. I took the wrong that was done him, changed it to
a very different business situation, and cranked it up to a much more horrific level,
partly because I wanted readers to know something about a manufacturing
business, which very few people do.
When
did you know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was five or six I
wrote bad westerns, and would have said I wanted to be a writer if anyone had
asked. I wrote and performed songs in high school and college, then did
biography articles for magazines while I worked my way through enough life that
I had something to say. I started my first novel when my younger child was two.
What
is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?
I was in the first grade,
like most people, though my parents read me interesting books long before that
that were supposedly for much older kids, and that gave me a real appreciation
for what a book could be like and made me hunger to read on my own.
What
genre of books do you enjoy reading?
I read biography, history,
all kinds of fiction - mystery, thriller, historical novels and classic
literary fiction like Austen, Tolstoy and Trollope.
What
is your favorite book?
I can't pick just one. I
can't. I love all kinds of books for all kinds of reasons. Pride And Prejudice, Anna Karennina, Mere Christianity, PD James' Original Sin, Sayers' The Nine Tailors - I could go on and on.
Who
is your favorite author and why?
Again, I can't pick just
one. C.S. Lewis for what I've learned from him and the breadth of his intellect
and imagination; Dick Francis for his horse related mysteries; Daphne Du
Maurier for Rebecca; Austen for Persuasion and much more; PD James'
mysteries; Mary Stewart's Merlin books; Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon thrillers
- there're so many authors I love.
If
you could travel back in time, where and when would you go?
I feel sure I'd go to
England or Scotland, but when is harder to say. I'd have to be able to choose
my circumstances. I wouldn't want to be living as a serf, or go before the
Magna Carta, or during one of the plague years. I'd want to be in the country,
during a rare interval of peace, living in a beautiful house. (But then wouldn't
we all?) I'd want to be able to read and write, and maybe be there when Samuel
Johnson was alive, or when I could know Jane Austen. Being able to talk to both
of them would make putting up with a lack of plumbing and central heating worth
the inconvenience.
When
writing a book does the writing come easily for you, or is it a difficult task?
It's both. Some things are
easy. Sometimes the visuals, and the character details come easily in a
momentary rush, but a lot of it's hard - which doesn't mean I don't love it. I
do a whole lot of detailed research, which is both easy and hard depending. I'm
definitely a perfectionist who revises compulsively in order to get it right.
Do
you have any fuzzy friends? Like a dog or cat?
We've had dogs all our
married life, and also a cat who was born here, but at the moment I have an
eight-year-old boxer dog named Jake who's a real hit. He's super well behaved
and smart as a whip. I rode horses for thirty years, but can't anymore, and
part of the pleasure of writing the Jo Grant books in the Lexington horse
industry in the early '60s is that I get to relive my life with horses and
describe what it was like. They're all individuals, and getting to work with
them and know them well is a great privilege.
What's
your to-die-for favorite food?
Well, I like to cook, and we
have a small vegetable garden in raised beds. Picking my own strawberries,
slicing them with brown sugar and putting them on really good vanilla ice cream
(cream, milk and vanilla without eggs to muddy the flavor) is probably my
favorite thing. It's a small window of time, so I don't take it for granted.
Do
you have any advice for someone who wants to be an author?
If you want to write and
become rich and famous, you're doing it for the wrong reasons, and the chances
of that happening are slim to none anyway. If you care way more about writing
than whether you get published - if it's something you have to do whether an
editor ever pays attention - then you may be a writer.
Secondly, when you send you work out, and you're fortunate
to get negative feedback from agents or editors, pay real attention. They may
be right, they may not. But you need unvarnished input from the outside world.
AUTHOR BIO:
Edgar
Alan Poe Award Finalist Sally Wright has studied rare books, falconry, early
explorers, painting restoration, WWII Tech-Teams, the Venona Code, and much
more, to write her university-archivist-ex-WWII-Ranger books about Ben Reese,
who’s based on a real person.
Breeding
Ground, Wright’s most recent novel, is the first in her new Jo Grant mystery
series, which has to do with the horse industry in Lexington, Kentucky. Wright
is now finishing the second Jo Grant novel.
Sally
and her husband have two children, three young grandchildren, and a highly
entertaining boxer dog, and live in the country in northwestern Ohio.
Giveaway:
Book Bundle (US only)
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
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