Giveaway – Bewitching The Vampire by Brooklyn Ann @XpressoTours

Posted on July 28, 2023 by fundinmental

Bewitching the Vampire
Brooklyn Ann
(Brides of Prophecy, #9)
Publication date: July 21st 2023
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

The Lord Vampire of New Orleans meets his match in the leader of the local witch coven.

Magic is returning to Earth, and Raina Callahan’s witch coven is growing more powerful. She’s been warned to be wary of catching interest from dangerous people, and sure enough, she discovers that someone is following her. Her stalker turns out to be the owner of a vampire-themed club—who really is a vampire. And although he is dead sexy and charming, Raina is not okay with his surveillance or his intent to claim her as his. She will use every means of magic at her disposal to thwart him.

Valentin St. Scarasse, Lord Vampire of New Orleans, has a weakness for voluptuous women with magic in their blood. Just when he has his sights set on what promises to be a delicious meal—and maybe a few passionate nights in bed—the Thirteenth Elder commands him to watch over the witch and her coven and keep them safe. But when Raina catches Valentin spying on her, the witch and the vampire embark on a battle of wills that will only end if they surrender to the heat between them.

As the Evil One’s cultists invade the city, Raina and Valentin must learn to trust each other and together, help their communities form an alliance that both sides swore would never happen.

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EXCERPT:

The sun had set by the time they left the restaurant. Raina groaned to see Valentin leaning against her car. “Did you even have time to feed?”

The vampire smirked and put his hand over his heart. “I’m touched that you care.”

“I just want to make sure that you aren’t planning on biting one of us.”

“And now you wound me.” Valentin gave her an unfairly sexy pout. “Ms. Callahan, I told you that your safety is of utmost importance to me. Now, may I have a ride, or will you make me walk?”

“Can’t you fly?”

His laughter held the texture of roughened velvet. “That is a rare ability with my kind.”

Raina wanted to ask more about what he could do but held her face in an impassive mask. “I guess you’ll have to take an Uber, then.”

With that, she and Alma got in her little Nissan Leaf and drove home. But when they pulled into the narrow driveway, Valentin was waiting on the curb, just outside the protective wards.

Raina glared at him as she got out of the car, noting that he remained outside the barrier. “I thought you couldn’t fly.”

“I can’t.”

“Did you turn into a bat then?” Alma asked him. “Or teleport?”

“I have my ways.” Valentin stood and dusted off his jeans. “You may as well invite me in.”

“Hell no,” Raina said as she shut her car door. “I’ve seen enough movies.”

The vampire laughed. “I don’t need an invitation to go inside your house. I’ve been in there before. You both have interesting taste in art. I especially like the movie posters. I’d just appreciate it if you to let down your ward.”

“No.”

His pout twisted things beneath her ribs. “I am tired of being outside.”

“Then go home.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Raina threw up her hands in exasperation, and she and Alma went into the house. They tried to ignore the fact that a vampire was lurking outside and watch a movie, but ended up turning it off and going to bed early. Despite her exhaustion, Raina tossed and turned for an hour, countless questions burning in her mind. She gave up on sleep, put on her robe, and went outside. Valentin was still sitting on the curb, reading a book.

He looked up with a smirk. “I’m glad you’re here to alleviate my boredom.”

“Who is Xochitl’s uncle?” Raina demanded, marching up to him.

Valentin’s eyes widened, and he visibly shuddered. “Probably one of the most terrifying beings in existence. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to tell you about him.” He sighed. “I honestly am sorry. I hate all these unknowns and uncertainties.”

“Me too.” She thought of her own concerns with the Nightwatch Society visitor and Xochitl’s email that gave her more questions than answers. Remembering the email, she found herself blurting, “Xochitl said you were watching me during the backstage meet and greet back in February. She said you looked like you wanted to eat me. What did she mean by that?”

The vampire’s lips curved in a wicked smile. “Exactly that.”

“But what—”

Suddenly, he stood behind her. Too late, she realized she’d stepped passed the protective barrier. Valentin’s fingertips swept her hair to the side, and his lips grazed her neck as he whispered, “If you’re asking if I want to sink my teeth into your pretty neck and taste your powerful blood, the answer is yes.”

Before she could respond, he appeared in front of her, his green eyes glowing like dark emeralds. “Or, if you’re asking if I want to part your luscious thighs and plunge my tongue into your plump pussy until you scream my name in pleasure, the answer is also yes.”

Raina shivered uncontrollably as the mental picture he painted sent frissons of arousal jolting between her legs.

“Of course, I will not do either unless you ask me to,” he finished while his eyes continued to blaze emerald flame.

Finally, her faculties recovered enough for her to pull away and step back into the safety of her barrier. “Just because I’m fat doesn’t mean I have low enough self-esteem to fall for your attempts to flatter me.”

Valentin’s eyes hardened. “Just because society often lauds thinner women as paragons of beauty doesn’t mean I have to change my own personal tastes. Nor does it make you any less beautiful. Furthermore, I’ve never felt the need to feign attraction to someone. My flirtations are sincere. It’s one thing if my advances aren’t welcome, but quite another if you think I’m a liar.”

Author Bio:

Formerly an auto-mechanic, Brooklyn Ann thrives on writing romance, urban fantasy, and horror novels featuring unconventional heroines and heroes who adore them. Author of historical paranormal romance in her critically acclaimed “Scandals with Bite” series, urban fantasy in the cult favorite, “Brides of Prophecy” novels, rockstar romance in the award-winning, “Hearts of Metal” series, and horror in the “B Mine” series, horror romances riffing on the 1970s and 1980s B horror movies that feature a Final Couple instead of a Final Girl.

She lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho with her gamer son, rockstar/IT Guy boyfriend, three cats, a few project cars, an extensive book collection, and miscellaneous horror memorabilia.

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Giveaway – A Sense For Murder by Leslie Karst @dollycas @LeslieKarst

Posted on July 28, 2023 by fundinmental

A Sense for Murder (A Sally Solari Mystery) by Leslie Karst

About A Sense for Murder

A Sense for Murder (A Sally Solari Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – California
Severn House (August 1, 2023)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1448309050
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1448309054
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BXPY61Q1

Chef Sally Solari has – to her own bewilderment – built a reputation as a talented sleuth who keeps tripping over dead bodies. But getting mixed up in the curious case of a cookbook killer threatens to be the final chapter in not just her investigating career . . . but her life.
It’s the height of the tourist season in Santa Cruz, California, and Sally Solari has her hands full, both juggling crowds of hungry diners at her French-Polynesian restaurant Gauguin, as well as appeasing her father, who’s distressed at the number of homeless people camped out in front of Solari’s, the family’s Italian seafood restaurant out on the historic fisherman’s wharf.
Nevertheless, when Sally gets the opportunity to volunteer at a farm-to-table dinner taking place at the hip new restaurant and culinary bookshop Pages and Plums, she seizes the chance. Not only is it a fundraiser for an organization aiding the homeless and seniors, but up for auction at the event is a signed boxset of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Sally’s hero, the renowned chef Julia Child.
But then the Pages and Plums dining room manager turns up dead – the locked cabinet containing the precious books now empty – and the irrepressible Sally once again finds herself up to her neck in a criminal investigation. She may have a sense for murder, but can Sally outwit a devious killer with a taste for French cooking before the villain makes mincemeat of her, too?
A Sense for Murder is a fast-paced, super fun culinary cozy mystery that will have your brain working and your mouth watering. And if you haven’t met sleuthing chef Sally yet, it’s safe to jump right in.

EXCERPT

If not for the clatter of my bicycle bouncing down the wooden planks of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, I felt certain that every tourist I whizzed past would have been startled by the loud rumblings emanating from my empty stomach.

I’d set off on my morning ride with only a cup of coffee for sustenance, and the effects of the initial caffeine buzz had now been replaced by a severe case of low blood sugar. As a result (notwithstanding the million-dollar view of the historic fisherman’s wharf stretching out from the sparkling beach and the iconic roller coaster rising up behind), the only thing on my mind at that moment was the prospect of biting into one of my father’s famous ricotta-and-mascarpone-filled cannoli.

I spotted Dad’s tall, stocky figure standing in front of Solari’s Restaurant as soon as I rounded the bend near the end of the wharf. He was turned toward me, waving, so I waved back, then quickly grabbed hold of my handlebars as I hit a nasty bump in the road. Once closer, however, I realized he wasn’t waving at me. He hadn’t even noticed my arrival. Rather, he was shouting and gesticulating at a form sprawled on the sidewalk at the corner of the building.

‘Why the hell do you insist on camping out here?’ I heard him yell as I approached. ‘You and your kind are driving away my business!’

Wheeling up to the front entrance, I clipped out of my pedals and leaned my red-and-white road bike against the restaurant’s whitewashed wood siding. Through the neon Budweiser and Amstel Light signs hanging in the window above, I could see a table of early lunchers chowing down on plates of crab salads and linguine.

‘Hey, Dad. What’s going on?’

‘Sally.’ He turned to me with a frown. ‘I didn’t hear you ride up.’

‘Probably because you were making quite a bit of racket yourself.’

The person at his feet – a thin, gray-haired man wrapped in a dark green sleeping bag – pushed himself to an upright position and regarded the two of us with dull eyes. A fat seagull pecked at a discarded French fry not three feet from where he sat.

Dad returned the man’s gaze with an angry stare. ‘I’ve been trying for five full minutes to get this guy to move his sorry ass away from my restaurant, but he pretends like he doesn’t even hear me. Maybe I should just call the cops on you,’ he said to the cocooned man, ‘and let them deal with it.’

‘Maybe if you tried treating him like a human being, your powers of persuasion would be a little more effective,’ I responded. ‘I mean, really: “you and your kind”?’ But my father merely shook his head and turned to walk back inside Solari’s, clearly now annoyed not only with the guy in the sleeping bag but also his only daughter.

About Leslie Karst

Leslie Karst is the author of the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari mystery series and Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG. After years waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock band, she decided she was ready for a “real” job and ended up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as an attorney that Leslie rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking and once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, Leslie spends her time cooking, cycling, gardening, observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock, and of course writing. She and her wife split their time between Santa Cruz, California, and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

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