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Monday, April 3, 2017

The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden book blitz


The Rainbow Clause
Beth Bolden
Publication date: April 3rd 2017
Genres: Adult, Romance

Heisman winner. Member of the National Championship team. NFL Rookie of the Year. Quarterback Colin O’Connor knows he’s become the ultimate romance novel cliché: all the success he’s ever dreamed of but nobody to share it with. Too bad it’s not as simple as asking out the next girl who intrigues him – because the next girl to intrigue him probably won’t be a girl at all.

Unexpectedly, the solution comes in one neat package: Nick Wheeler, lead journalist for a leading sports and pop culture blog. Hired by Colin’s team, Nick comes to Miami to shine a spotlight on the NFL’s most private quarterback.

The heat in Miami rises when Nick discovers that Colin is nothing like the hollow personality he pretends to be in interviews and he’s even hotter in person than on his Sports Illustrated cover. Nick knows this is the story of his career, and after spending his teenage years as a bullied, closeted teen, it hits very close to home. What he needs is to help Colin share his story while keeping their growing relationship from boiling over in the press, but what he wants is to tell the world.

Goodreads / Amazon



Author Bio:

Beth Bolden lives in Portland, Oregon with her supportive husband and their beloved cat. She wholly believes in Keeping Portland Weird, but wishes she didn’t have to make the yearly pilgrimage up to Seattle to watch her Boston Red Sox play baseball. She’s a fan of fandoms, and spends too much of her free time on tumblr.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published two novels, The Lucky Charm and Getting Lucky, and a short story, Eye of the Storm. Her next novel, Summer Attractions, will be released in August 2016.

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cover reveal for Dragon Splendor by Ophelia Bell


Dragon Splendor
Ophelia Bell
(Immortal Dragons #3)
Publication date: April 7th 2017
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Nobody said finding your fated mate would mean an instant happily ever after. For immortal gold dragon Aurum, meeting the lover who’s haunted her dreams for centuries is only the start of her problems. The ancient satyr, Calder, knows he’s destined to mate a dragon. The problem is, he made a vow never to take a mate until he’s completed his mission to track down the slippery nymph who betrayed his race. Caught in the middle of the pair, young ursa Nicholas only knows he desperately wants two people he can’t have. He would do anything to make them both happy, even if it means breaking the laws of his own race, and setting into motion a chain of events that will get all three of them exiled. With a war between ancient allies on the horizon, the trio soon realizes that victory might just go hand in hand with surrender where matters of the heart are concerned.

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Author Bio:

Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren't apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don't mind being with a woman who's in charge, at least on the surface, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.

Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.

If you'd like to receive regular updates on Ophelia's publications, freebies, and discounts, please subscribe to her mailing list: http://opheliabell.com/subscribe/

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At First Blush by Beth Ellyn Summer from Bloomsbury Spark book blitz

The Amarant Blitz





Paranormal Romance
Date Published: February 2017


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A fictional world brought to life, a dark romance that promises eternity, and a secret that threatens to end it all.


Crimson Wilkinson is a teenage girl who, having survived a dark childhood, finds her escape in reading a popular vampire series. After some investigation, she becomes a very active part in the very true vampire stories the world thought were fiction and falls in love with their author, Nicholae Albaric, the sweetly lonely vampire celebrity. But her happiness is short-lived as she discovers she has a rare gene that makes the carrier extremely powerful if turned into a vampire, and she is targeted as the vampire community’s number-one most-wanted, some who want to kill her before she becomes a threat, and others who want to use her powers to their own ends.


Other Books by Tricia Barr


Ya Paranormal/Fantasy

Phoenyx Blake has a secret. When she wakes in a dungeon with three strangers, she is forced to face it, which isn’t easy seeing as her cellmate, Sebastian, has starred in her dreams. As days pass, they learn they are each one of the four elements bound in human form and they have been abducted by an ancient society that plans to kill them and steal their powers. If they hope to escape, they must master their powers, and Phoenyx must learn to let go of fear and let love in, before it’s too late.



Excerpt

Kerrich entered the coven house with a smile on his face, walking past all the other vampires with a sense of self-importance, for he had news for Delilah, news that would intrigue her greatly.


He walked down the hall toward Delilah’s master bedroom, not making eye contact with the girls who watched him with curiosity. Of course they should stare. Kerrich knew how pleasing he was to look at. But he would never pay these girls any mind; his attention and complete devotion belonged to Delilah.


He stopped before her door, waiting for his mistress to give him permission to enter. Not a second after, the door opened by no other force than simply Delilah’s will. His goddess sat on her lavishly garnished canopy bed, wearing a penoir of white lace, reading a book by candlelight. She is more lovely everyday, he thought. She is like the Moon, with luminescent flesh and ringlets that are spun of the night itself.


She raised her pretty eyes from the pages of her book and trapped him in her gaze.


“What news do you bring?” she asked, her voice like tiny bells.


He came around her bed and knelt on the floor beside her.


“I have been keeping a close eye on him, just as you instructed,” he said. “And I have noticed a strange new development. For several months now, he has been watching a mortal girl.”


 “A girl?” she mused. “I didn’t know he hunted girls. His tastes have changed.”


“No, he isn’t hunting her,” Kerrich said. “He just watches her. For some reason, he seems very interested in her.”


She looked away thoughtfully for a moment.


“Kerrich, do you love me?” she whispered, stroking his cheek ever so tenderly.


“With all my heart, mistress,” he vowed, wanting so badly to take her snow white hand and plant a kiss on her fingers.


“I want you to follow this human. Watch her closely, but do not let him know you are watching. I want you to find out what is so special about this girl, what he finds so interesting about her.” She looked down into her lap, with a smile that was an impossible merger of innocence and wickedness. “She will be the key to my revenge.”


About the Author

Tricia Barr always loved creating worlds and romances through writing; however, loving history and the idea of travel more, she pursued a degree in Anthropology. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 and looked hard for a job in her field for two years before she realized that her degree would not allow her the travel opportunities she truly wanted.


Now she works as a writer and a jack-of-all-trades with her husband, Eric Barr, leaving them both plenty of time and freedom to travel on their own terms as they raise a family.



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Doll House by John Hunt


4 ****

Olivia is ready for the next chapter in her life. She is starting college. Before she even gets to spend one night in her new dorm she is kidnapped. For the next 5 years she is help in a tiny room that is all pink, everything is bolted to the floor and there are 2 kidnappers who never visit her alone. one wears a Gorilla mask, her beats, rapes and tortures Olivia in the most unimaginable ways.  The Jackal stands by and watches and never speaks, but when the Gorilla has had his fun the Jackal cleans her up and tends to her wounds. At first she thinks maybe he could be an adversary but soon realizes he is actually the leader.

Five years later the Gorilla visits her alone and takes his mask off while raping her. She figures out a way to get rid of him and escapes. While escaping she realizes she is not the victim. She finds and releases 2 other girls as well. Now home disfigured and terrified because the Jackal is still free, Olivia tries to put a life together.

To me this book basically has 3 parts. The first part is the kidnapping, torture and finally breaking free. The 2nd part is Olivia's returning home to her father. Her Father has become an alcoholic during her imprisonment.  Olivia and her Uncle do and intervention on her Father and get him the help he needs. Olivia also talks him into moving. Then the 3rd part of the book is Olivia starting to heal. But we also have the full on return of the Jackal and his plan for Olivia and the other 2 girls he was holding.

The book is a very dark story, but it is also a story of hope and healing. Depends on how you read it.  Like it or not this book is not that far from reality. We hear about these type of things to often lately in the news.  This book is not for the young or the faint of heart. Parts of the book are very hard to read or even think about.  That being said it was next to impossible to put it down though.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

In The Prison of Our Grief by S.E. Amadis




About the Book
Title: In The Prison of Our Grief
Author: S.E. Amadis
Genre: Action Thriller
A harsh prison in England.
The grisly, tragic murder of three babies.
The murderess is on the loose... And Carrie Anne's made friends with her.
Will she be able to find out the truth in time? Or will she become this sadistic murderess' next victim?
Once again, Carrie Anne finds herself in the centre of another terrifying ordeal...

In this exciting sequel to Patricia, we follow seventeen-year-old Carrie Anne Houghton and her new comrades-in-arms in a whirling, dizzying, action-packed adventure that spans two continents, from the glitzy high-rises of New York City to the lonely expanses of rural Canada to the glamour and colour of Mediterranean tourist resorts.
Persecution, murder, lies and deceit. Traps, stormy Gothic settings, abandoned mansions and secret passageways. All of this comes to vivid life in the pages of In the Prison of our Grief.
A gripping, fast-paced, action-packed thriller featuring a strong female protagonist and a quirky male counterpart. This book can be read as a standalone.

Author Bio
I could never write about a happy, conventional couple living in a happy, conventional, suburban neighbourhood with two cars and one and a half children, a dog and a pet bird, working at happy, conventional, uneventful jobs.
My heroes and heroines have to walk through fire (or rather, crawl through fire), get strangled, beaten, shot at, drowned, poisoned, get caught in tornados or earthquakes or get attacked by mutant gnats. Or, they have to strangle, beat, shoot, drown and poison other people.
A story with anything less than these dramatic, hair-raising elements was always too boring for me to even consider telling.
I believe in magic. I believe that the world is full of mystery, and that there are more things in heaven and earth than could ever be dreamt of in our conventional, logic-based philosophies.
Outside of that, as a dry, mundane list of facts about me, I’m a single parent from a village near Montreal, Canada, who now enjoys the freaking great good fortune to live happily with my two sons on the almost-tropical south coast of Spain, basking in summer eight months of the year. Typical activities include running a marathon with the kids to school every morning and cooking frequently for an Always Hungry teenaged son with four stomachs.

Links

Author website: www.SEAmadis.com

Twitter: @seramadis
Amazon author page, on:
or

You can purchase the book at:
or

Book Excerpts
ust kill her? Deal that final blow in one merciful instant. Why did you torture her? Are you a sadist? Do you get off inflicting pain on babies, for shit’s sake?”
I blinked. I had no idea how to answer him. Deep inside I was longing to defend myself, but horror made me mute.
“I-I didn’t do it,” I whispered in as loud a voice as I could. My throat felt closed off and dry, and it was all I could do to force out even the slightest sound. Tears welled from my eyes, poured out onto my cheeks. “I didn’t do it,” I whispered again. “You’re making a mistake...”
Mr. Walsh froze, his calm gaze resting on me almost as if he were a friend. He glanced down, at the knife in his hand, at my slender wrist pulsating with terror and dread at every heartbeat. Tears streamed freely down my face now. He reached out a finger and caught a tear on the tip of his finger. Studied the droplet as if suddenly filled with compassion.
“Are these... tears of... remorse, because you’re sorry for what you did, Carola?” he hissed. “Or... are you crying because... you’re scared of what I’m going to do to you?” His face twisted up. “Do you think Agatha was scared of you, when you did those... horrors... to her? Do you think she cried, and screamed in vain for someone to come and save her? Do you think she died filled with agony, believing at the very last moment of her life that no one cared about her or loved her enough to come to her rescue?”
He drew the blade against my wound, pressing harder this time. A thin spot of blood welled up, blended with the filth on my sleeve.
“Yes. You couldn’t cut through the bone, because that blunt kitchen knife simply wasn’t up to the task. But you did cut her flesh all the way down to the bone. You tortured her.”
He posed the sharp edge of his knife over the wound in my arm, studied the angle the way a butcher studies his prime cuts.

“And that’s exactly what I’m going to do to you...”

The White Raven by Carrie D. Miller blitz


The White Raven
Carrie D. Miller
Publication date: April 1st 2017
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Finally, after nearly a thousand years, Aven Dovenelle is truly happy. In her thirteenth life, she’s settled into the now witchcraft-friendly Salem, Massachusetts, where she has opened her own shop and made great friends—there’s even a possibility of love blooming.

Despite her contentment in this new life, the truth of Aven’s existence haunts her. She is cursed to live life after life, with all the memories of her horrific past. For all her powers, she’s never discovered why she was cursed nor how to break it. Hope may come in the form of a mysterious white raven, who has followed Aven through each of her lives. Although they have a connection that neither understands, it may prove to be her salvation.

An evil force from Aven’s past isn’t finished with her. Driven by vengeance and hate, he emerges to torment her anew and threatens all she’s built. He strikes without warning—her loved ones are caught in the wake of his attack and may not survive the encounter.

The cost of her happiness and freedom could be too high as Aven uncovers the truth about her curse and that dark magick lingers.

Goodreads / Amazon

PROLOGUE:

Calico, California

1886

They are close. I sense their hatred. Though I am prepared, I must force myself to be calm. I do not fear what comes although I know I will be dead soon. Running from this place now is not something I wish to do, nor do I care to fight anymore. I’m ready to seek out a new land, a new time, and to continue on to the next life I am cursed to begin.

My Pyrenees is at attention by my side, ears pricked and hackles raised. “It is time to go, my girl.” She whines and lowers her head, her big brown eyes pools of concern. “You go ahead,” I say with a smile. “I’ll be along soon.”

I hear the gallop of fast-moving horses and the shouts of agitated men as they approach my home. The sound of heavy boots bounding onto the porch makes my skin prickle. Torchlight fills the windows and I steel myself. The front door splinters when one of those heavy boots comes through it.

“I knew there was somethin’ not right about you.” The man in the lead is Morris Stiles, the town’s bully. I’m sure he took quick ownership of the lynching party so he could exercise his insatiable need to inflict pain and suffering without the threat of retribution. Not to mention the chance to snare himself a witch.

His face seethes with hostility. The men who crowd into the room behind him wear the same expression. The grin forming on his face as he looks me over is filled with decaying stubs that once passed for teeth. Many months ago, I offered to ease his pain, but was met with the back of his hand followed by a brown, revolting gob of spit aimed at my face.

Life in Calico has been filled with hardships. Each time I felt a modicum of acceptance, someone like Morris Stiles would speak against me. My goats and chickens were taken one by one, and the sheriff was not the least bit sympathetic or helpful in retrieving them. I am not one to back down so I held on, hoping for the relief of simply being ignored.

Now, yet another angry mob is at my doorstep. I know my lover has not had a direct hand in this. I am certain that due to the effects of much drink, his lips recounted events he should have kept hidden. I confessed to him this very morning that I am, in fact, a witch, and his reaction was what I had expected. I am unable to hide my true self for very long, and I am either revealed by my actions or by my simple confession. I will not deceive my lover with lies and trickery. I have told myself time and time again to stay away from love but the pangs and yearnings cannot be ignored, not even by one such as myself.

There is no fear on my face as I glare at the five men who have invaded my little home. Each one averts his eyes. As I inhale, my lungs fill with the thick, heavy air the men brought with them—full of sweat, dirt, whiskey, and anger.

I glower at the still grinning man. “Morris Stiles, you are a fool.” My voice resonates throughout the room. The sound makes the men jump and look around, wide-eyed.

Morris grunts and spits a brown mass onto the floor. “Them’s funny words coming from a whore a’ Satan!”

I scoff. “Tell me one thing, just one thing—any of you—that I have done to remotely reflect the work of the devil?” No one meets my eyes and nothing intelligible passes from their lips. Feeling the mood of his men shift, Morris lurches forward.

“Don’t matter! You do things no livin’ person should be doin’. Ain’t but God himself that can mend a broke back, or make Jenny’s fever break even after Doc said nuthin’ could be done. You got wrong in you, woman, and we gon’ fix that!” He lunges for me. Emboldened by Morris, three other men follow. I do not cry out as they grip my arms and shoulders with rough, dirty hands. Morris binds my hands in front of me. The smell of their breath and body odor stings my nose. I am ushered from my home with shouts and laughter. The night is fresh and crisp after the all-day rain. I welcome the clean air into my lungs.

“Why don’t she fight?” someone mutters behind me. “Why don’t she scream? Ain’t never known a woman not to go screamin’.”

“’Nother thing that ain’t natural ’bout her. Like them purple eyes!”

I am shoved up onto an old, work-worn mare. A timid voice comes from behind the rest.

“But she made Pa’s leg stop hurtin’. He’s able to get out in the fields again. Ma said it was a miracle and that God was workin’ through her.”

“Shut yer mouth, boy!” Morris slaps the young man hard on the back of the head. He grips the boy by his collar. “Yer Pa’s lucky she didn’t turn that leg into a cloven hoof!” He pushes the boy backward and turns to face me.

“We gonna show you what we do to witches!” He throws his head back and hoots manically. Several men follow suit; some punctuate their exuberance with gunshots into the air.

The horse underneath me snorts and pulls back from the man holding the reins, jerking her head from side to side. He yells obscenities at her and yanks her bridle. I run my hands along her taut neck and make her listen to my words in her mind. She calms to the song I sing to her.

I am paraded down the main street through town towards the cemetery where the gallows stands. Many outlaws have met their end in this manner, and it appears so will I.

The cemetery is unusually bright this evening with torches on every fence post. They cast a harsh yellow glow onto the weathered wood of the gallows. I am aware of the shouts, calls, and other verbal assaults around me, but I hear nothing except the steady beating of my heart. I focus on controlling my movements and breathing. I will not give them the satisfaction of seeing my fear. While I am not afraid of death itself as I have done it eleven times before, it is the act of dying I fear. But I am pleased by the method they have chosen, for it is a fast end if done properly.

I am shoved up the steps and I will my legs to keep up. I am jerked around into position in front of the freshly tied noose of new rope. Morris presents it and me to the crowd—the ringmaster to this circus.

“Lookie what we got here!” He shoves me forward as if they couldn’t already see me. “By her own confession to Roy Shackleford, she’s a gawd damn witch!” The crowd becomes deafening.

I catch the eye of the town preacher at the far end of the massive throng. His face is smug and his eyes dance with spiteful glee. Under my glare, his grin falters and he moves behind a large elderly woman who’s covered herself in a quilt and grasps a wooden cross tightly in her meaty fists.

Morris continues to speak random sentences describing my unnatural and ungodly ways, inciting the crowd further. I look upon their hateful faces, devoid of any resemblance to the humans they were earlier in the day. I pity them all for their small, feeble minds. I become aware that Morris is attempting to put the noose around my neck.

“I wish to speak!” I yank myself away from Morris’s grip. Much to his dismay, I am stronger than I have led him to believe.

I am booed and hissed at, and the crowd calls for my immediate death. I clench my teeth and hiss back at them. “Silence!” The force in my voice, the unearthly sound I make, strikes them dumb. “You will listen.

“Almost half of you have benefited from my healing skill.” My gaze seeks those I readily find who have been under my care. Their eyes do not meet mine.

“I have caused no harm to any of you, nor your land, nor your property. I have done only good deeds. Refute that, anyone!” People shift their feet and hide their faces behind those in front of them. The people in the front look at the ground. In the silence, I hear the flapping of large wings and see the heavy flames of the torches dance in the air currents. I cannot see the creature but I know it. I have always known it. A sharp, angry cry from the bird peals out above the crowd. There are gasps and cries of fear; some crouch down as they stare into the black sky. I feel strangely calmed by the bird’s presence.

Morris steps forward to speak, and my thoughts close his windpipe. He grips his throat, his eyes widening. My eyes warn him not to proceed. I will be allowed to speak, Morris, but you no longer will.

“As I look at each of your faces, I know none of my words will make the slightest difference. Your minds are small and petty. The only danger here is you. You believe you are ridding the world of some great evil tonight. But all you are doing is worsening your own lives. Ponder that as you lay your heads on your pillows. The evil here is you, for there is none in me.”

I release Morris from where he stands still gasping for air. As he tries to recover himself, he waves several men forward to put me back into place. Coughing is all he can manage as he puts the noose over my head and jerks it tight. When he is close to my face, he spits at me. The smell of it would be nauseating if I could feel anything other than rage.

He shoves each man out of the way so he is the one to pull the lever that controls the trap door upon which I stand. He stumbles and is still sputtering to get words out, but he can only cough and spit. As my last act of defiance, I make those the only sounds that will ever come out of his mouth. My petty revenge makes me smile.

The movement of the well-worn mechanism opening the trap door is loud in my ears. It is all I hear though I’m certain the crowd has reached a frenzied state. For the length of a breath, I am suspended in midair. I look above the crowd as I plummet downward, seeing a flash of white wings in my periphery.

I relax my neck and let the noose perform its job without resistance. I want this over quickly, to have my neck snap immediately. The noose tightens as my weight pulls my body down. The pain is but a quick jolt and then the world is black and silent to me.



Author Bio:

Carrie D. Miller was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on October 31, 1970. She credits her vivid imagination, as well as her sugar addiction, to being a Halloween baby. In a former life, she was an executive in the software industry for many years. Her career in the technology world included software product management, website design, training, and technical writing just to name a few. Although Carrie’s written a great deal over the decades which has been read by thousands of people, software documentation allows for about as much creativity as pouring cement. At the age of 45, she decided to chuck it all to become an author which had been a life-long dream.

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