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Friday, September 18, 2020

Second Chance Fate by Ella J. Smyth



Second
Chance Fate
Second
Chance Academy
Book
One
Ella
J. Smyth

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance /
PNR
Publisher: Unapologetic Romances
Date of Publication: Oct 30, 2020
ISBN: 979-8664544787
ASIN: B08CSXWG72
Number of pages: 252
Word Count: 63,800
Cover Artist: Ella J. Smyth

Tagline: Homework on top of a
life sentence for murder? You've got to be kidding me.

Book Description:

"My name is Amber Whitman,
and I’m seventeen years old. Just over one month ago, I was taken from my home,
from my parents and everything I’d ever known. The reason? I’d killed three
strangers.

Not on purpose, you understand.
It was an accident. But the government decided I was too dangerous to be kept
around normal people. I now live at the Farkas Academy for Magical Advancement.
I was told I’ll be here for years. Until somebody decides I’m no longer a
menace to society. My only solace are three boys who are as trapped as I am.

But things are not as they seem.
My survival may depend on figuring out quickly who to trust and who to run from
at the Second Chance Academy."

This is book one of the Second
Chance Academy series, a #whychoose medium-burn novel with a HFN, a grumpy cat,
and three men trapped by their past.














Excerpt
 “Welcome to my class, Amber. I expect you’ll
get great benefit from it. I hear your powers are elemental in origin?”
I wasn’t sure
how to answer this. Aware that every student in the classroom was staring at
me, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what my powers are.”
Other than
calling down lightning. I wasn’t going to say that out loud, though.
Mrs. Palmer
nodded. “That’s okay. That’s what this class is for. To help you figure it out,
and, more importantly, how to control it.”
Behind me,
somebody hissed, “Before she kills us all.”
The teacher
looked up sharply and said, “Ah, yes. Sharon. Why don’t you come forward and
show us how much control you’ve learned after your first lesson.”
A shocked,
“But—” was quickly interrupted by Mrs. Palmer. “No ‘but.’ Come on. Show us.”
Sharon walked
past the front row to stand next to the teacher. As she passed, she threw me a
nasty glare as if it was my fault the teacher had her up front to demonstrate.
Mrs. Palmer
clapped her hands. “Right, class. Pay close attention. Sharon, please create
three water bubbles above your head. One large and two slightly smaller. You
don’t have to move them in any way. Just keep them in position for thirty
seconds.”
Sharon’s face
tightened into an expression of pure focus. Clearly, she’d done this before.
She closed her eyes and brought her palms together. I stared at them, wondering
if I was imagining the light-blue glow around her skin.
But no, the light
grew in intensity. Sharon pulled her hands apart, and between her palms, a
shimmering bubble grew. When it was the size of a child’s head, she stretched
her hands high and released the bubble. It rotated slowly, catching and
reflecting the light, creating fantastic reflections on the walls of the
classroom.
This was the
first time I’d seen practical magic at play. Sharon had created a water ball
out of thin air, right in front of me. The other students were equally
spellbound by the beauty of the creation.
But they’d
witnessed this before. To me, it was brand-new. Would I be able to do something
similar? Could I control lightning the way Sharon seemed to juggle water so
effortlessly?
She had created
a second, smaller bubble, and was about to finish her task by doing a third
one. Soon, all three balls rotated above her head, bathing her in an eerie,
blueish light.
That’s when Mrs.
Palmer clapped her hands again sharply. “Well done, Sharon.”
My roommate
gasped, clearly not expecting the smacking noise. Her concentration broke, and
the three bubbles disintegrated above her head into a torrent of water. Her
outraged scream was drowned out by howling laughter. Our hysteria increased at
Mrs. Palmer’s sheepish, “Oops.”
Sharon’s pretty
hair hung around her face like a curtain of beetroot-colored noodles. Her
designer top clung to her like a piece of plastic wrap, showing her bra and
belly-button piercing. She looked like a drowned rat.
I would have
felt sorry for her, had she not acted like such a bitch to me ever since we’d
met. Mrs. Palmer rushed to console her, her expression one of concern. Except
when she passed me, I could have sworn she winked at me.
My jaw dropped.
Had I seen this right? Had my new teacher set this up to embarrass Sharon? Her
next words confirmed my suspicion.
“Class. Quiet,
please. Before Sharon gets a new change of clothes, I would like you to
consider this: You’ve all had several lessons in Elemental 101 already. And yet
even a star student like Sharon finds it difficult to control her water powers
when distracted.
“I would like
you to consider how difficult this is for somebody who’d never had any formal
training. If I hear anybody else attempting to make new students feel
uncomfortable or bully them, I will not hesitate to bring this to the head
witch’s attention. Am I making myself clear?”


And just for one
moment, the harmless, middle-aged Mrs. Palmer looked dangerous enough to make
us think twice about messing with her
.

About
the Author:

Ella J. Smyth writes steamy urban
fantasy romance, full of adventure and excitement. Ever since she discovered
#loveislove and #whychoose, she has embraced her motto “Unapologetic romances
because love needs no excuses.” She guarantees a happy ending, even though she
puts her characters through hell to get there.

Ella is currently working on a
Reverse Harem Academy series called Second Chance Academy. Book one of the
series, Second Chance Fate, will be released on the 30th of October 2020 and is
available on preorder.






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Thursday, September 17, 2020

Excerpt Tour She's the One Who Thinks Too Much by S.R. Cronin





She’s the One Who Thinks Too Much (Book One of the War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters)
by S.R. Cronin

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

GENRE: Historical Fantasy

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

BLURB:

It’s the 1200’s, and the small realm of Ilari has had peace and prosperity for generations. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy, however.

Ryalgar, a spinster farm girl and the oldest of seven, has always preferred her studies to flirtation, yet even she finally meets her prince. Or so she thinks, until she discovers he’s already betrothed. Embarrassed, she flees her family’s farm to join the Velka, the mysterious women of the forest known for their magical powers and for living apart from men.

As a Velka, she develops her telekinesis and learns she has a talent for analyzing information. Both are going to come in handy. For she’s continued to meet her prince at the forest’s edge, thinking being his mistress isn’t such a bad deal. Then she learns more about his princely assignment. He’s tasked with training the army of Ilari to repel the feared Mongol horseman who’ve been moving eastward for years, killing all in their path. And, her prince is willing to sacrifice the outer farmlands where she grew up to these invaders, if he has to.

Ryalgar isn’t about to let that happen.

She’s got the Velka behind her now, as well as a multitude of university intellectuals, a family of tough farmers, and six sisters each with her own unique personality and talents.

Can Ryalgar organize all that into a resistance that will stop the Mongols? She thinks she can.

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



Exclusive Excerpt


Coral and I had been close growing up, of course. There is almost no way two sisters less than a year apart are anything but. Yet, it was a closeness of convenience, even of necessity. Our next sister, Sulphur, was a year and a half younger than Coral and we both had less in common with her than with each other. Don’t get me wrong. Sulphur was easy to love, despite the unfortunate name my father saddled her with. But she was different from the rest of us, pretty much from the day she was born.

Coral and I grew up more like partners in crime than as friends. We were two girls working together to keep five little sisters out of trouble and two parents out of our hair. It was the way kids in a family usually worked together, whether they realized it or not. Family dynamics is everyone’s first and most basic lesson in social skills.

Once I entered the forest, I missed Coral more than I expected. I ran down the steps of the lodge to greet her and I was hugging her before she’d gotten her second leg completely off the little donkey.

“Careful.” She laughed at my uncharacteristic burst of affection but I knew she appreciated it. She’d missed me, too.

Over the next few days, the women I lived with gave us plenty of time and space to visit, and no one expected me at my classes while she was there. Later, it would occur to me each of them had a similar memory, a recollection of their first visit by a loved one from the old life.



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

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels.  She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is.

All her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.

Author Social Media Links:


Amazon link for the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BY4RLX1  

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

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

S.R. Cronin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.


Follow the tour and comment; the more they comment, the better their chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 



Show Me by Sharon C. Cooper


Show
Me
An
Irresistible Husband Novel
by
Sharon C. Cooper


Genre:
Contemporary Romance 


Just
when he thought finding a wife was out of his reach…


Colton
“Cole” Eubanks is laser focused on building wealth and settling
down with a special woman before he turns forty. Accomplishing one
out of two isn’t bad. Unfortunately, there’s no ‘love of his
life’ on the horizon, unless he counts the one woman who’s been
starring in his nightly dreams—Malaya Radcliff.

After
being dependent on one person after another for years, Malaya has
finally learned to stand on her own. There’s only one thing she
hasn’t been able to accomplish—gain full custody of her daughter.
Her ex-husband never fights fair. His wealth always wins. This time
Malaya’s determined to come out on top. So when Cole, the man she’s
been secretly in lust with for over a year, makes her an offer she’d
be crazy to refuse, Malaya wants to say yes. But that means
sacrificing her newfound independence. Yet, his enticing proposal has
her thinking—why not?








Also
check out the other two books in the series:


DO
ME by Sheryl Lister

LOVE
ME by Delaney Diamond



Award-winning and
bestselling author, Sharon C. Cooper, is a romance-a-holic - loving
anything that involves romance with a happily-ever-after, whether in
books, movies, or real life. Sharon writes contemporary romance, as
well as romantic suspense and enjoys rainy days, carpet picnics, and
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She’s been nominated for
numerous awards and is the recipient of Emma Awards (RSJ) for Author
of the Year 2019, Favorite Hero 2019 (INDEBTED), Romantic Suspense of
the Year 2015 (TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES), Interracial Romance of the
Year 2015 (ALL YOU’LL EVER NEED), and BRAB (book club) Award
-Breakout Author of the Year 2014. When Sharon isn’t writing, she’s
hanging out with her amazing husband, doing volunteer work or reading
a good book (a romance of course). To read more about Sharon and her
novels, visit
www.sharoncooper.net



Follow
the tour
HERE
for special content and a giveaway!














Hide and Seek by Jo A. Hiestand


Hide
and Seek
The
McLaren Mysteries Book 12
by
Jo A. Hiestand


Genre:
Mystery 

Playing
a mystery game seems the perfect way to celebrate Jamie Kydd’s
promotion to Detective Sergeant rank. But the game turns real when a
body turns up in the pretend crime scene. Perhaps worse than spoiling
the party, the corpse is someone Jamie knows.
Even
though the police take on the case, Jamie asks his friend, former
police detective Michael McLaren, to also investigate—concerned
that the victim’s criminal past may dampen the Constabulary’s
usual fervor to nab his killer. It seems to have been a smart
decision, for the police aren’t expending a lot of energy on the
inquiry.
Suspects
float around McLaren…half truthful, hard to find. More like wraiths
than flesh and blood. If the victim’s burglary partner, ex-wife, or
childhood friend didn’t kill Dan, who did? It’s a desperate game
between McLaren and a killer who’s playing Hide and Seek.






**
On Sale for only .99 cents!!**














Books,
Girl Scouts and music filled Jo A. Hiestand's childhood. She
discovered the magic of words and the worlds they create: mysteries,
English medieval history, the natural world. She explored the joys of
the outdoors through Girl Scout camping trips and summers as a
canoeing instructor and camp counselor. Brought up on classical, big
band and baroque music, she was groomed as a concert pianist until
forsaking the piano for the harpsichord. She also plays guitar and
has sung in a semi-professional folkgroup in the US and as a soloist
in England.
This
mixture formed the foundation for her writing. A true Anglophile, Jo
wanted to create a mystery series that featured a British police
detective who left the Force over an injustice and now investigates
cold cases on his own. The result is the McLaren Mysteries, featuring
ex-police detective Michael McLaren. Jo's insistence for accuracy --
from police methods and location layout to the general feel of the
area -- has driven her innumerable times to Derbyshire. These
explorations and conferences with police friends provide the detail
filling the books. She also writes the amateur sleuth Linn House
Mysteries under the pen name Jessie McAlan. In 1999 Jo returned to
Webster University to major in English. She graduated in 2001 with a
BA degree and departmental honors.
She
has employed her love of writing, board games and music in other ways
by co-inventing a mystery-solving game, P.I.R.A.T.E.S., which uses
maps, graphics, song lyrics, and other clues to lead the players to
the lost treasure. Jo founded the Greater St. Louis Chapter of
Sisters in Crime, serving as its first president. Besides her love of
mysteries and early music, she also enjoys photography, reading,
baking, and her backyard wildlife.Her cat, Tennyson, shares her St.
Louis home.










Follow
the tour
HERE
for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon






The Reluctant Wizard by A.A. Warne


The
Reluctant Wizard
by
A.A. Warne

Genre:
Middle Grade Fantasy 


By
day, wizards rule the world. At night, warlocks seek to destroy it.
Now, one boy will challenge them both. 

Eli
never wanted to be a rebel. All he wants is an end to the famine and
war threatening his community. To save his mother and baby brother
from marauding warlocks, Eli is forced to make a heartbreaking
decision. He must travel to Terra Magicae, the mysterious land of the
wizards, to study magic. In exchange, the wizards will protect his
family, but this protection comes at a price: once Eli enters the
Grand Wizardry Academy, he may never come home. 
Full
of lush landscapes and magical marvels, Terra Magicae is more
wondrous than Eli ever imagined… and more dangerous. At first,
Eli’s struggles to fit in at the Academy seem ordinary. But the
more he questions the wizards, the more he suspects a sinister
purpose behind their bizarre rules and tests. For a dark secret lies
at the heart of this mystical land, one so terrible it threatens not
only the students at the Academy but the lives of everyone Eli
loves. 
To
save them all, Eli must step into the midst of the battle between the
wizards and warlocks and defy both sides. He must become the rebel he
was always meant to be.










A.
A. Warne writes elaborate, strange, dark and twisted stories. In
other words, speculative fiction.

Located
at the bottom of the Blue Mountains in Sydney, Australia; Amanda was
born an artist and grew up a painter before deciding to study
pottery.
But
it wasn't until she found the art of the written word that her
universe expanded.
A
graduate of Western Sydney University in arts, Amanda now spends her
time wrestling three kids and writing full time.







Follow
the tour
HERE
for special content and a giveaway!

$50 Amazon 






Sirens Unbound by Laura Engelhardt



Sirens Unbound
Fifth Mage War Series
Book One
Laura Engelhardt

Genre: Epic Urban Fantasy
Date of Publication: July 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1071259191
ASIN: B07VZXVSDY
Number of pages: 424
Word Count: 125,000

Cover Artist: Rena Violet

Tagline: A magical epic about sirens, fae, and family ties.

Book Description:

Dr. Amy Bant faces the challenge of her career as she seeks to develop a cure for magical blindness. Manipulated by the mages and military alike, she devotes herself to perfecting a procedure that will unleash magical powers not seen since the days of Aphrodite and Morgan le Fay. In pursuit of the medical answer, Amy will uncover truths that have been hidden by mages, fae, and even her own family. Actions have consequences, and the decisions made by the Bant family will set off the most destructive war the world has ever seen.

In this first book of the Fifth Mage War urban fantasy epic, the Bant family is pulled onto opposing sides of a looming war. Born protectors, they will travel the world to save the people they love from those who would destroy them. In this tumultuous time of prophecies, politics, and magick, can the family stay together?

Meet the Bant Family:

Cordelia crosses oceans in her quest to save the Yorkshire fae from extinction.
Amy single-mindedly pursues medical answers, ignorant of the secrets others are keeping.

Thomas discovers inner strength as he breaks with his familiar life to protect the mage he loves.
Mary attempts to hold her family together, unaware that her mother is still watching over them all.

Mira, the matriarch who sacrificed everything to keep her family together, is now forced to confront her painful past in order to keep her children safe.




About the Author:

An avid sf/fantasy reader, Laura Engelhardt writes the kind of book she likes to read: fantasy with intricate worlds and complex characters facing moral dilemmas. She started writing plays in college, then moved to Germany, where she continued to write while teaching ESL to executives. After moving back to the U.S., she supported her playwriting by teaching ballroom dance and working retail. Deciding that living in her parents' attic wasn't for her, Laura went to law school and then spent the next seventeen years as a lawyer and compliance officer in New York City. In 2017, she quit Wall Street and began helping people resolve disputes as a mediator and arbitrator. She now lives in New Jersey with her family.






Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Audio Blog Tour: What’s That Growing in My Sour Cream? by Brad Graber


Author: Brad Graber

Narrator: Derek Neumann

Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

Publisher: Dark Victory Press

Released: May 26, 2020

Genre: Humor