Monday, November 24, 2014

Winter Wolf by RJ Blain Excerpt

Winter Wolf by R.J. Blain
Urban Fantasy / Thriller / Supernatural Suspense
Date Published: November 24, 2014

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The Hunted Wizard

When Nicole dabbled in the occult, she lost it all: Her voice, her family, and her name. Now on the run from the Inquisition, she must prove to herself—and the world—that not all wizards are too dangerous to let live.

The savage murder of a bookstore employee throws Nicole into the middle of Inquisition business, like it or not. Driven by her inability to save the young man’s life, she decides to hunt the killer on her own. Using forbidden magic to investigate the past, she learns that the murderer is in fact a disease that could kill the entire werewolf race.

Forced to choose between saving lives and preserving her own, Nicole embraces the magic that sent her into exile. Without werewolves, the power of the Inquisition would dwindle, and she could live without being hunted.

Nicole’s only hope for success lies in the hands of the werewolves she hates and the Inquisition she fears, but finding someone to trust is only the beginning of her problems. There are those who want to ensure that the werewolves go extinct and that the Inquisition falls.

But, if she fails to find a cure, her family—including her twin sister—will perish…



EXCERPT


Almost everyone in the store had a phone. Dormant devices, from reading lights to mobile chargers, littered the tables. One woman, browsing books nearby, had four battery-powered devices in her purse. One was a phone, and like mine, it hungered. Its need was strong; its battery waned to the point of failure.

If I wanted, I could charge it for her.

No one would notice if I did. Maybe the woman would wonder how her phone hadn’t died before she got home. It only had a few minutes left. It’d take me all of ten seconds to fix it for her. If I did, I wouldn’t be so aware of it. But to do so, I’d have to touch her—or her phone. Some things I could manipulate without having a direct conduit, but cell phone batteries were tricky, greedy things.

I cringed a little, setting the thriller book down. I picked up the next nearest title. I flipped it over, not reading the text on the back. Did I dare? Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the woman browsing through the books. All it would take was a few seconds. I could charge it without her noticing.

That was one thing I was actually good at.

I put the novel I held down and wandered to the same table, careful not to look at her. Book by book, I investigated the titles, circling to where she stood.

“You’re Nicole Thomas, aren’t you? The actress. You’re her.” My quarry appraised me with a pleased expression.

People normally recognized the mainliners, people with beautiful faces and voices to match, people who didn’t avoid crowds.

In short, people other than me.

I met her gaze, abandoning my perusal of novels. “I am,” I replied, wincing a little at the sandpaper-rough quality of my voice. At least I hadn’t been reduced to a whisper—yet. My fatal flaw was my rough, grating voice. Chronic laryngitis did that to a person. It ruined careers, as it had mine, though I hadn’t quite given up on being an actress. I’d already lost the ability to sing.

I wasn’t going to let a stupid disease take everything away from me.

The woman smiled, not seeming to mind talking to someone who sounded more like a zombie than a human. “You’re taller than I expected. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She thrust out her hand.

We shook.

I left her phone alone.

“They keep putting me next to giants,” I quipped. It was true. When I did manage to get on the silver screen, I worked alongside actors easily a foot-and-a-half taller than me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” I matched her smile. She didn’t tell me her name, and I didn’t ask for it.

It took all of my will not to fiddle with her phone. All it would take was a murmured word and a thought, and it’d be done. It would have been easy to charge the battery when our hands had been clasped together, but I hadn’t dared.

If, sometime later, she noticed her phone had magically been charged—literally—she might remember me. She knew my name.

And in true cowardice, I couldn’t bring myself to help her. If she connected the strange behavior of her phone with me, she might tell someone. If she did, I’d be as good as dead—or worse. I had dabbled in the occult, and the occult had dabbled back, and there were those who didn’t like when that happened.

The last thing I needed was them finding me.








About the Author
RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.

When she isn't playing pretend, she likes to think she's a cartographer and a sumi-e painter. In reality, she herds cats and a husband. She is currently on a quest for a new warrior fish.

In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she is satisfied.



Favorite Books & Series

In no particular order:

Anne McCaffrey's Pern
Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar & Gryphon Series
Jim Butcher's Codex Alera & The Dresden Files
Brandon Sanderson's Elantris
Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega, Dragon Bones, & The Mercy Thompson series
Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time


Author Links


Buy Links



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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Review:Charming The Beast (Purgatory Book 3) by Cynthia Eden

He’s a man with a beast inside…

Connor Marrok never intended to work for the Seattle Para Unit. He’s not one of the good guys—he’s a real monster, and the beast he carries doesn’t exactly play nicely. But now he finds himself being blackmailed into a new assignment. It’s supposed to be his last gig. His mission? Protect the beautiful Chloe Quick. Keep her alive. Destroy her enemies. Easy enough…until he starts to fall for Chloe.

She just wants to escape.

Chloe is tired of being a prisoner. She wants to get away from her Para Unit guard and run fast into the night. So what if Connor is the sexiest guy she’s ever met? Chloe knows trouble when she sees it, and Connor is one big, dangerous package of trouble. But, when an obsessed werewolf begins stalking Chloe, she realizes that her paranormal bodyguard may just be the one man she needs the most.

Their attraction is primal.

Every moment that Chloe and Connor spend together increases their attraction. Chloe has never felt a need so strong or a desire so dark. The beast that Chloe carries inside has always been silent, but Connor is stirring up her animal instincts. And as the danger and desire begin to twist together, Chloe wonders just how far she’d be willing to go…in order to spend one more night in Connor’s arms.

This is the 3rd book in Ms. Eden's Purgatory series. And I loved this one because of Shane and Chloe. These are two damaged folks but together they work. I am so glad she wrote this book and hope that there are many more in this series.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Burdin of Choice Teaser Tour and Giveaway

Welcome to the teaser tour for Burdin of Choice, book two in the Beasts of Burdin series by Alexander Nader. Burdin of Choice is now out and the first book, Beasts of Burdin, is only .99 cents for a limited time! To celebrate we have Alexander Nader on the blog to talk about the books and himself. Stick with us, there's a giveaway at the end!



Interview with author Alexander Nader:


Can you tell us about your book in 10 words?



Smart mouthed, alcoholic private eye decapitates dastardly demons with style.



Tell us 10 interesting facts about yourself.



I’m not very interesting. Does that count as number one? No? Eh, I’m counting it anyway. #2 I have a hard time answering questions seriously. #3 I find idiocy to be among the highest forms of comedic gold. #4 I’ve dubbed myself ‘The class clown of word smithery.’ #5 Someone else named my blog ‘Eloquent Until the All Caps Cussing’ after I sent them a particularly profane (yet enlightening) email. #6 My hair is the source of my hidden super powers. What’s that? What super powers? Shoot, I wasn’t supposed to tell, now they’re not hidden. *Waves hand, erasing memory of last three seconds* #7 I consider my wife and kids the greatest accomplishment in my life. No. Really, that one’s serious. They rule. #8 I can only come up with 8 quasi-interesting facts about myself.



What was your biggest obstacle you had to overcome when writing?



My stomach. You see, I write on my laptop which I keep on my lap;portable computers are aptly named like that. So anyway, depending on how many cakes I’ve had that day, my belly sticks up. The thing blocks my view of the bottom part of my screen and I can only suck it in for so long before I blackout. After I blackout, I usually wake up in another state wearing someone else’s fez and that really interferes with my writing. I should probably go on a diet. Maybe low cal. Or low carb. Or…ooohhhhcake.



Where do you get your ideas?



I keep a house elf named Darby. Every time I need a new story I just ask Mr. Darby what he thinks I should write about. You should hear some of the stuff he comes up with. It’s literary gold. Hopefully no one ever finds out that I have him or they might….*Stares suspicious* *Waves hand, erasing 5.3 seconds of memory*



Where do you like to write?



Atop a pile of $100 bills on a beach that never sees anything but slightly overcast days with a temperature of a consistent 73 degrees Fahrenheit while Alton Brown cooks me scientifically correct hush puppies and a Vintage Trouble plays ‘Jezebella’ on repeat. But I usually just settle with my couch.



What kind of research did you have to do for your books?



So much demon research. All of the demons from the Burdin series are real. It took a lot of time to pick out which ones were good to use. You wouldn’t believe how many demons gave me bad directions and misinformation while I was scouring the underworld for perfect candidates. It took a long time, but finally I traded a crossroads demon my soul if he would just write the book for me. I like to think things worked best that way.



What is your writing schedule like? Do you force yourself to write daily?



My writing schedule stays busy. I’m constantly working on writing when I’m not working. As motivation to keep my writing up, I’ve allowed Mr. Darby to kick me in the shin if I go more than 24 hours without writing. It’s the only form of payment I offer the little guy, but he seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of it.



What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Welp, I’d like to say a whole lot. I’d like to say I’ve got a story in an anthology called ‘Memoirs of Dr. Renfield’ coming out December 1st. I’d like to say Burdin 3 comes out in June 2015 and I’d like to tell you about the secret super hero novel I’ve been working on, BUT I made a deal with a crossroads demon and I think my soul is due any minute now. OH MY GOD HERE HE COMES SOMEONE SAVE….



About Burdin of Choice (Beasts of Burdin #2):

Ty Burdin is back. Back to drinking and back to avoiding demons. He is, of course, the leading expert in his field. In both subjects.



That’s probably why, when a customer offers him way too much money just to locate a missing car and some mysterious cargo, he readily agrees. The dude is human after all—Ty’s prime target client base.



Along with the money comes a slew of disappearances which Ty tries to ignore while tracking down that car, because, of course, those missing people might be demon related, and as he’s said before, that’s agency business. Not his. Period.



Until today.



Ty Burdin is to back drinking as well as everything he vowed never to get involved with again.



Question is, which one will kill him first? The booze, the demons, or the Agency?



Burdin of Choice at J. Taylor Publishing | Goodreads | Amazon


Don't miss out on book one, Beasts of Burdin. Now only .99 cents at Amazon for a limited time!

About Beasts of Burdin:
Demon hunter Ty Burdin hung up his guns, knife, trench coat and fedora a year ago. Bags packed, hands washed of all demon politics, he’s done. Forever.



In fact, to get far far away, he dragged Nora, his rockabilly secretary, from Miami to the Tennessee mountains where he’s lived a life of peace—if peace can be defined as drowning in scotch and taking private eye jobs to keep the lights on. Jobs for real people. Not demons.



No demons.



He’s retired from that. Remember?



Demon hunters aren’t a dime a dozen, though, and when Ty’s brother asks him for a favor—just one—what’s a brother to do? Agreeing to take down one hillbilly demon shouldn’t take that long. In. Decapitate. Out. Favor complete. Back to the office where Nora and his bottle of whiskey are waiting.



Unfortunately for Ty, staying retired doesn’t seem to be in the cards, and an avalanche of bad luck draws him right back to an agency he despises and the career that nearly cost him his sanity.



This time, Ty has no way out and will have to face his own demons just to survive.


 

Also find it at J. Taylor Publishing | Goodreads

About the Author:


Alex lives in the tourist infested hills of east Tennessee with his amazing wife/muse and three superb children. He would tell you more about how awesome they are, but you probably wouldn’t believe him. When he’s not hanging out with them he’s making pizzas. When he’s not doing that he’s working at a bookstore and occasionally he jots a few words down. He’s a big fan of good music, good storytelling, and mixed martial arts.



He once wrote a short story about pirates to his wife via text message that blossomed into a full length novel and never stopped after that.



Facebook |  Twitter |  Goodreads | Website










Giveaway:
$10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Review: Generation 18 by Keri Arthur


Generation 18 by Keri Arthur

Book 2: The Spook Squad Series

A serial killer striking every twelve hours.

A Kite monster murdering at random.

Though neither event seems related, Agents Sam Ryan and Gabriel Stern quickly discover a link between the two–the military base known as Hopeworth. But are the serial killings a military cover-up that has gone dangerously wrong, or is there a deeper, more personal reason behind the murders of the red-headed adoptees? And are the so-called random attacks of the Kites nothing more than a methodical clean-up of a past mistake?

As the investigation continues, Sam discovers a connection between herself and the murder victims, a connection that implies a link to Hopeworth itself. But if she is a product of the military, why does Hopeworth appear to know nothing about her?

With the killings escalating and the danger drawing closer to home, Sam not only has to battle to bring a killer to justice, but to save Gabriel’s life.

And the one person who seems to hold the key to what is going on, as well as what has happened in Sam’s past, is the mysterious man who saved her life. But does she dare believe his words or the dreams she seems to share with him?

Because this mystery man may not be just her enemy, but the enemy of humankind itself

Loved this book. Especially the mystery with the serial killer. It had romance, suspense, and action. plus we get to learn more about the Sam's history and new abilities. Of course Gabriel is still fighting Sam as a partner even as they grow closer. I am looking forward to the last book in this series.

I got this book from netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I give it 4 1/2 star here but on my goodreads and amazon It'll have to be 4 since they don't do 1/2.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Review: Memory Zero by Keri Arthur


I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and I loved it. The main characters were very well rounded and even though Sam knows next to nothing about her past and has to deal with a brutal betrayal and to figure out what she is. She handles it with all with class and ballsy style I loved. No shrinking violets here.
Gabriel is a shifter who is older than Sam and he's had a hard past with partners and wants no part of another one. I had fun watching them work together to stop her ex partner, dealing with her newly awakening powers, and Gabriel refusal to have a partner. I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy. Also may I say I need an autocook and a self driving car. Greatest ideas ever. LOL.