I am always on the lookout for something new and A Gentleman and A Rogue by Stephanie Burkhart, a steampunk romance, fits the bill nicely.
Have you read any steampunk?
A Gentleman and a Rogue by Stephanie Burkhart
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GENRE: Steampunk romance
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Lady Keira Russell is destined to bring compressed natural gas to Britain. Her inner courage and mental toughness rarely falter – except when Prince Edmund Windsor is involved.
Edmund of Wales is from the future. His last jaunt through history muffed up the time line. Now, he’s here to set it straight and win Keira’s heart.
For Keira, if it isn’t one obstacle, it’s another. Queen Victoria has sponsored a competition to find a cleaner fuel source than coal. Keira’s father is trying to build a windmill and the Ridgecrofts are working with gasoline. Then there’s Edmund, whose sensual kisses and heated stares distract her down to her bones.
Keira has a choice: trust Edmund’s notorious mischief-making or put her faith in Queen Victoria to make the right decision, but if Keira makes the wrong choice, the future of Great Britain will be changed forever.
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EXCERPT
The song ended and Edmund grabbed her hand, tugging her toward the nearest hallway. At first, she wanted to protest; call out for her father and defy Edmund’s wishes, but then reason kicked in. She wanted — no, needed — answers. And, she had plenty of questions.
They entered the main wing, and passed two rooms before Edmund opened a door and dragged her inside. Books littered the shelves. The library. A beam of light from a full moon shined through the window, casting Edmund’s features in sharp, contrasting shadows. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. His eyes narrowed, giving his expression a dark, hard edge. He looked like a devil in this moment. She steeled her shoulders, ready to do battle Silence grew between them as they both set their postures. Damn Edmund. She wanted to kiss the devil senseless. Thankfully, she still had her wits.
“What are you doing with Jonas Byron?” Edmund’s voice was cold and exact.
“Dancing.” She surprised herself with the ease of her retort.
“Looked more like flirting to me.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “No.”
“You are a horrible liar.”
“Keira, you can’t trust him.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Curious, you’re the second man tonight to tell me that.”
“Grayson has your best interests at heart. You need to listen to him.”
“He’s been missing for four years.” She paused, glaring at him. “Like you have. And I thought you weren’t coming back.”
“I’m here now, and I’m not leaving you again.”
She tilted her head and laughed. Oh, yes, he’d leave her again, and she had no intention of letting her heart get broken.
Edmund lunged forward, placed his hands on her waist, and pulled her against the length of his hard, muscled body, trapping her arms between them so her hands rested on his chest. His emerald eyes flamed with desire. Her heart turned over in response. His unique scent, spice and currants, weakened her resolve. As her memories flooded through her mind, her lips ached “God, Keira, don’t test me like this.”
~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Author Bio: Stephanie Burkhart is a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. She was born and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. After serving 11 years in the US Army she currently calls Castaic, California her home. Stephanie was married in Denmark in 1991 and has two young sons. She adores chocolate, is addicted to coffee and enjoys early morning walks. She’s also an assistant den leader for her son’s Cub Scout den and is a Boy Scout mom. She writes paranormal, contemporary, and steampunk romance and has two children’s books published with 4RV Publishing.
Still recovering from the traumatic events of the past year, newlyweds Aggie Malone, police chief of Dogleg Island, and Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady are looking forward to a carefree day of picnics, pirates and buried treasure with their precocious—and uncannily perceptive– border collie, Flash. But when Flash discovers a body in a shallow grave on the deserted Wild Horse Island Nature Preserve, a tangled knot of conspiracy, murder and deception begins to unfold, revealing that the things that are buried are often the most dangerous and the only pirates you have to fear are the ones that live next door.
Fifteen hundred miles away, an ex-con and a fifteen year old girl embark upon a crime spree that will earn them the nicknames “Bonnie and Clyde”. As they make their way inexorably south, Aggie, Grady and Flash are thrust into the middle of a murder investigation that leads to the arrest of one of their neighbors and the attempted suicide of another. When a search of the dead girl’s belongings reveals a priceless emerald bracelet and two of the islands most popular residents go missing, the puzzle becomes even more complicated. Grady and Aggie struggle to put all the pieces into place while Flash, ever obsessed with understanding the human condition, wrestles with a more painful dilemma: how do you tell the good guys from the bad guys when they are so often the same person?
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EXCERPT
Finding things, for Flash, was not difficult. Sometimes the things he found were useful to Aggie, like car keys or missing socks or a stick with blood on it. Sometimes they were not so useful, like broken beer bottles in the sand or bad-smelling toads in the back yard. But for the most part he liked finding things—except for the things that were buried. The bad things were almost always buried. And finding them never made anyone happy.
He pawed at the wet, loose sand until he found what he knew was there, then stepped back, waiting for Aggie, feeling unhappy. When she got there she looked down, and he heard her catch her breath with a choked, wet sound. The weight of the unhappiness was so heavy then that Flash sank to the ground, his head between his paws. Aggie knelt beside him, resting a hand on his fur, her breath coming fast and shallow.
“Oh, Flash,” she whispered.
Grady demanded from the telephone, “What? Is Flash okay? What happened?”
Flash had uncovered a scrap of fabric, too dirty now to determine its original color or purpose. And attached to the fabric, also black with dirt and the beginning of deterioration, was a human hand.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
Donna Ball is the author of over a hundred novels under several different pseudonyms in a variety of genres that include romance, mystery, suspense, paranormal, western adventure, historical and women’s fiction. Recent popular series include the Ladybug Farm series by Berkley Books and the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery series. Donna is an avid dog lover and her dogs have won numerous titles for agility, obedience and canine musical freestyle. She divides her time between the Blue Ridge mountains and the east coast of Florida, where she lives with a variety of four-footed companions. You can contact her at http://www.donnaball.net
The Sound of Running Horses, Book Two in the Dogleg Island Mystery series, is available July 15 2016 in paperback, and for Kindle and Nook. Buy it from Amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GOLP4FE
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GIVEAWAY
Donna will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Drop Dead Handsome by M K Scott has a cover that stopped me in my tracks. I love trees and will always stop and check out a book that shows trees, forests…any of my wooded friends. Add to this a cozy mystery, well, what more can I ask for?
How about you? Would you like to join me in the forest?
The Painted Lady Inn is open for business and limping along in the B and B world. A high school reunion package assembles Donna’s least desirable classmates, including the backstabbing cheerleader, her narcissistic high school crush, and Arnie, whose cheesy poem had everyone calling her, hot mama. It’s all something she liked to forget. These are the normal guests.
An octogenarian self-proclaimed sleuth, Father Christmas, a dognapping couple, and a pair who is copying everything in the Inn to set up their own competitive establishment rounds out the group. Maria, the sister-in-law, has a matchmaking agenda for Donna. Daniel, her brother, finds himself serving as a referee with one guest’s multiple wives.
High school reunions can be murder. Detective Mark Taber is on the trail of the murderer, when he isn’t interfering in a smitten Arnie’s determined bid to woo the no nonsense innkeeper.
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EXCERPT
“Hello. Welcome to The Painted Lady Inn. Thanks for choosing the Lady for your weekend getaway.” She held the smile in place, questioning her choice of a name for her bed and breakfast. Daniel remarked it sounded like something out of a horror movie, as if it would come to life.
The woman didn’t answer, but took two more steps closer, then placed her bag on the floor. “I’m glad to be here before the sun sets.”
“You made it.” Her cheeks were starting to ache from continually smiling. Well, that and acting like a genial innkeeper. Why couldn’t she’d just be normal Donna Tollhouse?
“Yes, yes, I did.” The woman glanced around the foyer that had several open doors to the front parlor, library, and dining room. Her lips pursed as her eyes flicked upward.
No dust anywhere and the floors gleamed where they weren’t covered by a floral runner.
“May I have your name, please?”
The woman gave a nervous laugh, which seemed out of place.
“Lorena, Lorena Fitzgerald.”
Convenient, since she was the first name on the list. Her hand gripped the heavy reunion basket and held it out to Lorena. “Compliments of the inn for your stay.” The woman’s French tipped manicured hand wrapped around the basket handle beside Donna’s. “Enjoy the reunion.”
Lorena’s eyes widened. “There’s a reunion? What type?
Donna had relinquished the basket unaware that her guest didn’t merit it. Too late to take it back too, especially since the woman was now poking through it making pleasurable noises. With her luck, the couple out antiquing would hear about it and expect one too. Well, she did have a couple cases of Reunion Red.
“Ah yes, the local high school is having a reunion. Thirty-one years.”
Lorena fanned her free hand in front of her as if overcome by the thought of a reunion. “Thirty-one years. Goodness, I’ve only been out of school barely twenty years.”
Taking a page from Detective Taber’s book, she ran a hand over her face, hoping to hide her smirk. Okay, the woman looked good, but not that good. A woman in her thirties would wear something a little more playful, edgy, or even more casual. The shoes and sweater set declared her mid-forty. Once she recovered her innkeeper face, she dropped her hand.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
K. Scott is the husband and wife writing team behind The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries. Morgan K Wyatt is the general wordsmith, while her husband, Scott, is the grammar hammer and physics specialist. He uses his engineering skills to explain how fast a body falls when pushed over a cliff and various other felonious activities. The Internet and experts in the field provide forensic information, while the recipes and B and B details require a more hands on approach. Morgan’s daughter who manages a hotel provides guest horror stories to fuel the plot lines. The couple’s dog, Chance, is the inspiration behind Jasper, Donna’s dog. Murder Mansion is the first book in The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries. Overall, it is a fun series to create and read. Drop Dead Handsome is the second book in the series. Killer Review should be out in October 2016.
The author will be awarding a prize to multiple winners such as $50 Amazon Gift Cards, $15 Target or Groupon Gift Cards and other GCs and books to randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.
Simply The Best has such a fantastic selection of romance novels, I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. No matter what genre is your fave, you are bound to find it here.
Simply the Best: A Collection of International Digital
Award Winning Romances
by L.A. Sartor, Laurel O’Donnell, Kathy L Wheeler, Dale Mayer,
Charity Tahmaseb, Cynthia A Clement
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GENRE: Multi-genre
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BLURB:
This collection of multi-genre romances features winning novels from the International Digital Awards, including historical, suspense/thriller, short historical, contemporary, paranormal, and young adult. Simply the Best of all worlds!
Death haunts anthropologist Meg Pearce…In her last summer before college, an innocent camping trip ended in a friend’s disappearance…and destroyed her life.
Angel’s Assassin ~ Laurel O’Donnell
When Damien enters Aurora’s life, tempting her with promises of dark passion and forbidden lust, he threatens to tear her peaceful world apart with shadowy secrets of his own.
Be Mine This Christmas Night ~ L. A. Sartor
At Christmas, finding love and a family seems even more possible…unless you’re keeping a secret.
A Hunter 4 Rescue ~ Cynthia Clement
Worlds Apart. Joined by Love
A unit of elite alien warriors, known as Hunters, crash lands on earth and their leader is torn between getting his men to safety or protecting the human woman he has bonded with.
The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet ~ Charity Tahmaseb
Sometimes staying silent is the biggest lie of all
No one expects the girl who has mastered the art of keeping quiet to join the speech team. But Jolia does. When a crush-worthy rival offers to coach her in secret, she can’t say no. But secrets have a price, and this one might cost Jolia everything.
The Mapmaker’s Wife ~ Kathy L Wheeler
In the midst of his worn-torn country, love posed the greater danger.
A flippant proposal and an attack on her person finds one young woman married to the
mapmaker who only needs someone to take control of his ungovernable child. Feelings quickly shift into something less platonic and when the enemy gains vital secrets, her suspicions land her in jail.
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EXCERPT
from The Mapmaker’s Wife ~ Kathy L Wheeler
“Miss Ruthers?”
“Yes. It’s me, Mr. Williams.”
“Good heavens, you’ll catch your death.” He leaned over the edge, gripping the wood rail. She thought she caught concern, however fleeting. “You haven’t a coat.”
“No, Mr. Williams. I didn’t have much time, I’m afraid.”
“You’d best come in.” At his grim tone, she cast a glance to the bank of trees behind. “Now, Miss Ruthers. It’s freezing out.”
Clutching her torn shirt tighter with one hand, Elizabeth lifted her skirts with the other and trod up the wood stairs, head held high. Dignity was her only salvation. With a confidence she didn’t feel, she marched past him and into a kitchen a bit larger than the one she’d fled.
Dishes filled the sink and the floor needed a good sweeping. His limp seemed more pronounced as he filed in and hung the lantern on a hook next to the door. He shut it softly, staring at her all the while, arms folded over a broad chest.
The heat in the kitchen, after the cold night, seemed stifling and overwarm. His eyes moved over her, pausing at her throat where her frozen hand secured her shirt in a fist, rising back up to her damp hair, dripping puddles on the floor. She was so warm, she felt faint.
After a long pause, he asked, “Is there something you wish to tell me, Miss Ruthers?”
“I-I accept your proposal.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
This multi-author boxed set will be sold for $0.99 cents.
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author known for her page turning plotlines and
heartwarming characters. A prolific writer, she specializes in Romantic Suspense, but also writes thrillers, comedy, and contemporary romances.
Award winning author Kathy L Wheeler loves travel, fantasy football, NBA and musical theatre. As an avid reader of romance and patron of the theatre, her main sources of inspiration come mostly from an over-active imagination. Kathy writes contemporary and historical romance, from sweet to spicy.
L.A. Sartor is a bestselling, award-winning author. She began telling stories around the age of 4 when her mother, at L.A.’s insistence, wrote them down and L.A. illustrated them. As an adult, she writes suspense and action-adventure novels with a dash of romance, and screenplays—she’s had a contracted adaptation! She lives in Colorado with her husband whom she met on a blind date. L.A. loves to travel and thinks life is an adventure and we should embrace the journey.
Laurel O’Donnell is a best selling author and has won numerous awards for her medieval romances, including the International Digital Award and the Holt Medallion Award.
Charity Tahmaseb has slung corn on the cob for Green Giant and jumped out of airplanes (but not at the same time). She’s worn both Girl Scout and Army green. These days, she writes fiction (short and long) and works as a technical writer.
Cynthia Clement is an award winning author who began writing when she was a teenager. Her novels reflect her love of romance, strong honorable heroes, and suspense intertwined with the intriguing and unexplained.
I saw so many fun things about his book, I wanted to share it with you. If you have kids, now is the time to some summer reading, so check it out and let me know what you think.
Queen of Likes by Hillary Homzie
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GENRE: middle grade/tween
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BLURB
Like everyone at Merton Middle School, Karma Cooper’s smartphone is almost another body part. She’s obsessed with her LIKES on Snappypic. When her parents shut down her social media account and take away her smartphone, Karma’s whole world crumbles. She has to figure out what she actually likes and how to live life fully unplugged. This book will jumpstart conversations about how social media is changing the ways tweens are growing up.
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GUEST POST
Why I named my main character Karma
Names are powerful. In the Judeo-Christian, we believe that the creator spoke the world into existence. It’s definitely not quite as quick on my end. But certainly there’s great power in a name. In fact, I spent quite a bit of time naming my characters. I wanted to make sure that names fit their personalities. In another words, I want to imbue their names with their essence.
Today, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about naming my main character of my new middle book, Queen of Likes. Before telling you why I named my character I’d like to describe her to you. Twelve year-old Karma Cooper lives in Portland, Oregon. Her parents were originally from San Francisco and discovered the Portland area while on a retreat (so they are former hippies). Karma’s a seventh grade and has achieved a certain status in her middle school because of all the followers she has on her social media account, Snappypic. By the way, this is a fictional social media platform so don’t go looking for it! I wanted to make sure that I kept the book feeling timely. After all, what social media platform is en vogue changes from year to year, month-to-month, sometimes even week-to-week. That’s why I thought it would be best to make up a site.
Karma is someone who in sixth grade was shy and didn’t receive a lot of social attention. However, when she began to post photos online, they generated some attention. She started to get more and more followers, which gave her a sense of belonging and increased her self-esteem. Unfortunately, she began to look outside of herself for validation. She viewed the number of likes she got on Snappypic as a measure of her value as a person.
I chose the name Karma because of two reasons. The first reason is because when my second son was in middle school he was friends with a girl named Karma, and I just thought it was such a memorable name. As a bonus, this girl a dynamic person and an independent thinker. I decided I’d really love to use that name from one of my books one day.
The second reason is that karma in Hinduism and Buddhism means the sum of the person’s actions in this and in previous states of existence and that sum decides your fate. Unfortunately, Karma thinks that all of her posts determine her fate. She’s not looking at the posts themselves but at people’s reactions to her posts. What she needs to learn is to look inside herself for what she likes versus what other people think of her. Her life doesn’t go the way she wants to go. At least at first. Her parents cut off her social media account and take away her phone. However, when she does a service project and volunteers in the local historical society (and takes a photography class), she learns to value herself. She stops looking outside of herself for validation. When this begins to happen, Karma’s life heads in a more positive and fulfilling direction.
EXCERPTS
Where are all my likes? I refresh the page. And . . .
Nothing.
I shake my phone as if that might help.
Still nothing.
This doesn’t make sense. I used the filter that everyone else on Snappypic is really into. It makes everything seem dreamy. But with only 45 LIKES, the sun is losing its brilliance and looks lonely and unloved.
Maybe I need to turn it off and on?
I turn off my phone and restart it. I text Ella Fuentes: Did you see my photo? I add a smiling emoji.
No response.
I know Ella’s up. It’s late morning. She’s my best friend. Maybe she’s reading or drawing, but she’s definitely up.
If she wasn’t doing something else, I’m sure she’d like my photo. I try a couple of other girls I know. Nothing. It’s late Saturday morning and all my followers have to be up by now.
As of 11:07 a.m. today, I have 12,032 followers on Snappypic. My followers are pretty much all the kids at Merton Middle School and a bunch of other middle schools around Portland. But I have two middle schools in Mission Viejo. That’s all the way down in Southern California. I didn’t know where it was until I checked it out in Google Maps. Usually between four hundred and nine hundred followers give me a thumbs-up on anything I post. So yeah, I get more LIKES than anyone I know at school.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself that this is happening to me.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
Hillary is the author of the tween novel, THE HOT LIST (Simon & Schuster/M!X) which Booklist says “captures the angst of young teen friendships and fragile identities.” She’s also the author of the middle grade novel, THINGS ARE GONNA GET UGLY (Simon & Schuster/M!X), a Justice Book-of-the-Month, which was just optioned by Priority Pictures, and the forthcoming QUEEN OF LIKES (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin M!X, April 2016), which is about social media, as well as the humorous chapter book series, ALIEN CLONES FROM OUTER SPACE(Simon & Schuster/Aladdin), a Children’s Book-of-the-Month Best Books for Children. Emmy-nominated Suppertime Entertainment developed the books to become an animated television series and it was sold to ABC Australia. Hillary’s young adult fiction has been published in TEEN MAGAZINE and anthologized (MUDDVILLE DIARIES, Avon Books). She has sold non-fiction and fiction projects to Klutz Press/Scholastic Books, The Learning Company and John Muir Books. With her frequent writing partner, Steven Arvanites, she has had film projects developed by Brooklyn Weaver’s Energy Entertainment. Hillary got her start performing and writing sketch comedy Off-Broadway, and was a Heideman Playwrighting Award Finalist. Hillary holds a master’s degree in education from Temple University and a master’s of arts degree from Hollins University in children’s literature and writing. Currently, she’s a visiting professor of children’s literature and writing at Hollins University. Visit her on the web at www.hillaryhomzie.com and follow her on Twitter @HillaryHomzie and visit her on Facebook.
With the recent passing of Mardi Gras, there is no way I was going to miss sharing This Would be Paradise by N D Iverson. All I can say is, “I got out just in time”.
This Would Be Paradise by N. D. Iverson
GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic
BLURB:
In a world where a virus has spread turning most of the population into flesh eating monsters, there are two friends partying it up in New Orleans when the infection hits. Far away from home, they are trapped and trying to make sense of all that has happened with the help of new friends and enemies along the way. Zombies aren’t the only thing to fear…
EXCERPTS:
The doors opened with a buzzing sound. The main lobby was devoid of people; even the receptionist behind the front desk was gone. Usually there was at least one person standing there with the phone glued to an ear. Did I sleep through a fire alarm or something?
I slowly made my way to the buffet area, looking around for a sign of life. Everything was set up but looked like it hadn’t been touched. Strange, considering it was already afternoon. Normally stale cereal and that one scary looking sausage that seemed to have been there all week would be all that was left by now.
I poured myself some coffee from the giant stainless steel percolator, watching the steam waft up from the foam cup. The smell alone helped invigorate my dulled senses. Sipping the hot liquid, I started to look around to figure out what was going on and maybe see about some maid service. We weren’t messy people, but somehow our hotel rooms always managed to look like a disaster zone – overflowing garbage, towels on the ground, running out of the mini-shampoo bottles sized for the head of an infant.
All the tables in the dining area were open, no one sitting around enjoying the mediocre hotel-provided food. I felt my hackles rise. Usually there was at least one person or group in here at all times. A noise that sounded like someone eating caught my attention and I stepped over to the booths that lined the wall.
“Hello?” I called out as I rounded the tall booths.
The sight that greeted me was not what I had expected. A woman covered in what appeared to be blood, was kneeling over a larger mass on one side of the booth. Her shirt was torn down the front revealing her daisy spotted bra and deep scratch marks on her chest. She snarled at me, flecks of whatever she’d been eating spraying from her red stained lips. I took a big step back.
She slowly got up from the booth, all her attention now focused on me like I had just insulted her outfit. I could see the thing she was on before much more clearly now. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! It was a man. There was a gaping hole in the body cavity, knotted intestines dangled down the side. I retched at the sight. Did I unknowingly step onto the set of a horror movie?
The woman had managed to get herself out of the booth, slipping a little on the blood coated floor. The coffee fell from my hand, as she started toward me, her face contorted into a feral mask. I took off running back the way I’d come, my earlier fatigue forgotten as adrenaline pumped through my veins.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
D. Iverson is young author trying to find her niche in the world. She has a business degree; to which she is still trying to find a practical application for. She has bounced from half-baked ideas of becoming a forensic pathologist (cut short when the option for attending an autopsy came up and she rather quickly decided maybe that wasn’t for her), a member of a rock band (sadly, neither her nor her friends could play instruments or sing, not that it’s a requirement these days…) and many more. This Would Be Paradise is her first completed book, which has started a chain reaction of one-too-many book ideas dancing around in her head. She plans on wrangling in these ideas and making full fledged books from them. So keep an eye out on the horizon for more works to come! For more information, please visit her website at: http://ndiverson.weebly.com/
You can purchase This Would Be Paradise here: Amazon and at all major eBook retailers!
GIVEAWAY
D. Iverson will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host.
Maddie Palmer lost everything when her ex-husband betrayed her. Years later, she’s rebuilt her life. It’s safe and stable—everything she thought she wanted. Until a dangerously sexy ex-con appears in Lost Coast Harbor…
Gabriel Reyes just did six years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s returned, determined to expose the men who set him up. His best chance at redemption is seducing the straight-laced woman working for the enemy…until he realizes he’s the one being seduced.
As passion ignites, Gabe and Maddie find themselves drawn deeper into the corruption behind the town’s richest family… even while facing the greatest danger of all—losing their hearts.
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EXCERPT:
“I had a lovely night, not that it’s any of your business.” The lie rolled off her tongue.
Gabe didn’t move. “I’m sure he was everything a date could be. Polite. Clever. Though it’s hard to take a man seriously when he orders the butternut squash ravioli at a restaurant that serves steak.”
“He’s a vegetarian,” she said absently, before the full meaning of his words settled on her. “Wait a second. You watched me? You spied on my date?” Her voice rose with every word, and only her desire not to wake the neighbors kept her from shouting.
Gabe shook his head. It was a rueful motion, directed more at himself than her. “I started to. Then I remembered that was creepy as hell and went to the diner. Where I ordered steak and eggs, by the way.”
“Still, the fact that you thought that was okay, even for a second…”
He stood, the movement fluid and hypnotic, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him as he prowled toward her. “Don’t fool yourself, Maddie. I’m not okay. I forgot how to be okay long ago. That’s what you’ll get with me, but I’ll do my best to make it worth your time, if you feel like taking a risk.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Like so many good ideas, Lost Coast Harbor was inspired by a few rounds of margaritas. One sunny afternoon, Lily Danes and Eve Kincaid went to a Mexican restaurant for snacks and tequila and left with the idea for a new series. Inspired by their love of noir movies and 1940s crime novels, they imagined a gritty small town full of crime and corruption, where intrigue and mystery can lead to love and passion.
www.lostcoastharbor.com
www.lilydanes.com
www.evekincaid.com
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GIVEAWAY
The authors will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
On their way to apprehend a temple thief, Gurken Stonebiter, a templerager of the temple of Durstin Firebeard, and Pellonia, a little, but infuriatingly clever, girl stumble onto a quest to save a town from an evil dragon. The dragon is demanding sacrifices of maidens, and the town is fresh out. Can they discover a way to sate the dragon’s bloodlust and save the town?
Along the way, Gurken and Pellonia meet up with Maximina, a half under-elven woman that also happens to be a tad psychic, a ranger with a dash of necromantic ability, a smidgen of samurai training, and just enough time living as a rogue to acquire the ability to sneak up on and stab a foe in the back. Maximina is full of clever ideas on how to gain a tactical advantage over her foes, and on occasion they even work.
During their adventures, Gurken, Pellonia, and Maximina face a snarky unicorn, do battle with a terrible frost giant, contend with a rival adventuring party bent on their utter humiliation, and confront the end of the world in the form of an evil sorcerer and a teeming dragon horde. Can they save the world one more time?
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EXCERPTS
“We’ve run out of maidens,” the mayor told the crowd in the morning, shaking his head sadly. The mayor stood beside a wooden pole with chains and manacles attached to it. The manacles were empty. “I’m afraid that last night, the last maiden in the city, shall we say… disqualified herself.
“Trollop!” said a voice in the crowd.
“In about five minutes, the dragon will be here and we’ll all be scorched and eaten alive. Please, don’t panic. There’s nothing to be done.”
The people in the crowd looked around at one another.
“Can’t we still pretend she’s a maiden?” said a voice in the crowd.
“A good idea, for sure,” said the mayor. “But the dragon can tell these things, he’s got a unicorn with him. I’m afraid we’re doomed. Nothing to be done about it.”
“You can’t fool a unicorn,” someone in the crowd shouted.
“How about a male maiden? I’m sure we’ve plenty of those. Roger here, for example.”
“Hey! I’m not a maiden!”
“Sure, sure, we all believe that.”
“It’s no good anyway. The dragon quite prefers that the maiden in question be a woman,” said the mayor.
“The dragon’s really quite particular,” another voice criticized.
“What about a young maiden? I mean, technically, if we can just find someone young enough…” said someone in the crowd. He turned and looked at Pellonia, as did the rest of the crowd.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
JOSH POWELL, wielder of the Sommerswerd, destroyer of the thread, expeditioner to Barrier Peaks, discoverer of his magic talent, and venturer into the Tomb of Horrors is known for having survived a harrowing adolescence full of danger and fantasy. He’s gone on to write The Berserker and the Pedant and Dragon Apocalypse and is currently working on the yet to be named third book in the series.
He also spends some not inconsiderable amount of time wiggling his fingers over a keyboard as a software engineer. He lives with his wife, Marianne, and two amazing children, Liam and Chloe, in sunny California, where winter is, most decidedly, never coming.
Josh Powell will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.
An epic journey of suspense, murder, and sacrifice
Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a facial transplant surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. When his friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances, Matthew uncovers his friend’s secret: a new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities. While trying to find the people responsible for murdering Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. He must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper, who has a secret of her own, and Alice, who helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world. They stumble onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions that leads Matthew all the way to the White House.
The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon who weaves politics, medicine, and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller.
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EXCERPT
Guaarrr. It sounds like water draining from a very large bathtub, through a very large hole. I just killed myself. I just killed the patient. Dr. Matthew MacAulay looks down on the operating room table at the gaunt, graying man. Matthew quickly scans the operating theater. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the short wide man in
the observation area.
I just killed myself, Sarah, and Amanda.
They have been hijacked into performing a face transplant. The patient is unknown. Mr. Glock, the short wide man, hovers in the far end of the operating room. He made it clear that if the patient did not survive, the three of them would be following him in short order. The 9 mm Glock with a silencer on the end gave credence to his profanity-laced words of warning.
Matthew looks across the operating room table at Amanda Soto, forty-two, an American of Spanish ancestry. She has been his scrub nurse, assisting him in the operating room for the last three years. Divorced, one child.
It will take a few more seconds for the monitors to tell everybody what Matthew already knows. Amanda already knows. She is right across the table. She saw him use the robotic arm to dissect the vessel and mistakenly cut the large artery in the neck. An operating room nurse of Amanda’s experience has seen it all. When Matthew looks into her eyes, they flash ever so quickly an acknowledgement that it is all over. Instead of any words, she quietly unclamps the suction. Now a dull hiss fills the air. To the casual observer, or the short wide man holding a 9 mm Glock pistol in his fat stubby hands, nothing really has changed. Amanda, anesthetist Dr. Sarah Larsson, and Dr. Matthew MacAulay act as if all is going well.
Matthew cannot help but glance over to the man with the 9 mm Glock. In his mind he names him Mr. Glock. Adrenaline surges through Matthew’s body and time slows. The short wide man, Mr. Glock, has gray eyes. Pale, gray eyes. Very pale, almost tired. Matthew remembers reading somewhere that people with gray eyes have the best visual acuity. They make the best marksmen, the best assassins. He wonders if this was true.
ABOUT
Arundel is a practising surgeon. This experience brings realism to the story. The novel asks what would happen if a surgeon were to develop the perfect face transplant. This would allow people to have a new face, in essence create a new identity. You can create the perfect double, the perfect Doppelganger.
I am so excited to share Kristine Mason’s Perfectly Toxic.
For all you hardcore thriller lovers, this is a MUST READ!
Sooo, buckle your seatbelts because this will be a wild ride into the mind of one of the most wickedly evil villains I have ever had the “pleasure” of meeting.
Perfectly Toxic by Kristine Mason is a thriller that stars Melanie Scarlet. I love the CORE and am so excited to finally read Mel’s story. The language and sex scenes are pivotal to the story and I think Kristine handled them well.
“I think I broke her.”
With a start like that, I knew I was in for a horrific ride into the twisted psyche of Adeline. I can hardly wait to dive into all the creepiness to come, and I know there will be plenty of it. As I read along, mini movies played in my head. When I was done reading, I felt like I needed to take a shower.
Well, what can I say about Perfectly Toxic. I had three pages of notes, but it just wasn’t working for me. So…I tossed them out and here I am, just telling you about my feelings about this, hmmm, horrifying thriller and the sadistic, psychopathic, crazy as a loon villain, Adeline and her cohort, Rodney.
I laugh at Frankenstein. that was a comedy compared to what these two were up to. What they were doing goes so far past that, I am finding it difficult to put into words the events in Perfectly Toxic. The lives lost and the torture suffered under their hands remind me of the evil men behind human testing during the holocaust. Both of them belong under the jail, not in it.
The most repulsive thing of all, Adeline revels in it. She loves to watch her toys squirm. There is nothing she won’t do to get what she wants. Feelings…what are those? She sure doesn’t have any warm and fuzzy ones. She is ice cold and beware, to be near her could be hazardous to your health. She is very smart, well educated, manipulative and broken. Something is very wrong with her. OMG, she is not just a psycho, she is bat shit crazy and evil beyond words.
I love all the CORE characters, but I can relate well to Mel, an ass kicking, swamp raised, don’t look at me cross eyed kind of gal. She is the Ice Cream lady. She is also a cleaner. You need something to disappear, just contact Mel. She hides her girlie girlness behind a really sharp knife. She’s the type to stab you with the knife, then cook dinner with it. She is married to Cash, but it doesn’t seem to be going so well. They are both stubborn and have strong personalities. She hangs with men more than women and I do that too. I love that she goes to the dock when she has heavy thinking to do. The water calms her and it has the same effect on me. I have spent many a day Sitting on the Dock of the Bay…wasting time.
Mel’s cousin, Bobby turns up missing and the mystery begins.
When Mel takes Harrison to meet Cash for help, the scenario could be hazardous to Harrison’s heath, but it is laughable. The who’s dick is bigger scenario had me cracking up. Cash’s mantra to control his anger is Unicorns are magical. Imagine seeing a huge hunk of a man repeating those words over and over. His therapist had called his and Mel’s relationship – TOXIC.
Cash buys Mel flowers from the gas station just because. I can relate to that. Mr Wonderful, my hubby, brings home flowers from the grocery store. The element of realism is coming through loud and clear. I love their snarky and sensual dialogue.
Cash’s housemate is a German Shepherd named Dolly. They served in the Army together and she is the one who came home in a wheelchair. I love dogs, so I had to mention her.
Kristine ramps up the suspense as the search for Adeline takes on new meaning. Each of Kristine Mason’s stories read as the most twisted Criminal Minds on steroids episode. They are unique and original.
I am totally engrossed in the love story and then Kristine shocked me, woke me up and the pacing reached a level of urgency I hadn’t felt before.
I would love to be one of her characters, kicking ass, fighting evil and having some hot and heavy sex with a stud. What an adventure and one I only live through in Kristine’s words, hanging on each one.
NOW, we get to the best part, the last quarter of the book. I know how the story will end, villain 0 vs good guys 1 and the guy gets the girl, but, man oh man, the rollercoaster ride to get there leaves me breathless. The nail-biting, rapid breathing, sitting on the edge of my seat is the suspense reading an armchair junkie like myself lives for. I read a lot of mystery and suspense thrillers and it is books like Toxic and authors like Kristine that feed my need for thrills.
I can’t believe that the story lasted only six days. So much happened, so many emotions ran AMOK as I read, my head was spinning. I had to turn around and read it again. I would apologize for rambling on and on, but eh, I can’t help myself.
I received a copy of Perfectly Toxic by Kristine Mason in return for an honest review.
5+++++ Stars
BLURB
What do you get when you mix a mad scientist, a psychopath, an ice cream lady and a repo man? Something perfectly toxic…
Melanie Scarlet is a knife-wielding badass who knows how to dispose of a body, and make evidence disappear. But Mel, a.k.a., the Ice Cream Lady, draws the line at one thing: she refuses to live with her husband, Cash Maddox, unless he quits the repo business that nearly got him killed—no matter how much she loves him.
To thaw Mel’s heart and convince her to leave the Everglades and move back home to Tallahassee, Cash is finally ready to retire from his adrenaline-fueled job…until homeless men begin vanishing. As Mel investigates the disappearances, Cash’s temper goes into overdrive when he realizes his wife has been keeping a dangerous secret from him. She’s been doing more than scooping ice cream—she’s a cleaner for the underground criminal investigation agency, Above the Law.
Mel isn’t the only one with a secret. A scientist has created a drug that will cure psychopaths by deadening the urge to dominate, hurt and murder. To prove his chemical combination works, he uses the homeless as test subjects. He breaks and scrambles their minds, turns them into killers, then tries to fix them. But what if the scientist creates a killer he can’t fix? A true psychopath he can’t control? As Cash joins Mel and the ATL crew, they learn firsthand, the results could be…toxic.
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EXCERPT
“You’re seriously not staying here?” Since she’d left him, there hadn’t been a time that she hadn’t stayed with him when she’d returned to Tallahassee. And those times had been great, until the topic of their marriage and his job had come into play. Then they’d fight, she’d leave and they wouldn’t speak for weeks. A vicious cycle, but one he’d become familiar with—until now. She was changing things up on him, and he didn’t know how to react. He did, but his therapist would likely have a frickin’ stroke.
“Well, you’re seriously not going to change and I seriously want a divorce. So, yeah. I think it’s best if I stay at a hotel.”
He pulled her close. “Stay with me.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “No.”
He pressed his body against hers and slid his hand along her rear. “Give me a few days.”
“I’ve given you two years,” she said, breathless, her gaze shifting from his mouth to his eyes.
She had him there, and he had nothing to counter her argument. She had given him two years, and he arrogantly figured she’d eventually come back to him.
“You’re right,” he said honestly.
“I’m right?”
He nodded and walked her backward. “I don’t want a divorce, but we can’t keep going on the way we’ve been.” He pressed her against the foyer wall. “Give me the time you’re here to prove we can make this work.”
“I’m here to find Bobby, not deal with our marriage.”
“I know, baby. We’ll find him. I promise. I’ve already put word out on the street that we’re looking for him.” He leaned closer. “Just give us a chance.”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “I can’t keep doing this. It hurts too much.”
Knowing he was hurting her left him hollow and shameful. “I’m sorry.”
She punched him in the arm. “You’ve said you’re sorry more times than I can count. Do something about it.”
He kissed her.
She pushed him away. “Not with sex.”
“That’s right. You have your period.”
“I lied.”
“And I just want to kiss you.”
She stared at him, her eyes unreadable. “Sometimes I hate you,” she said, then shoved her hands through his hair and captured his lips.
His therapist would tell him to end the kiss, that they weren’t solving anything, only prolonging the hurt. His therapist could go fuck himself. He had his woman in his arms and she was kissing him. Running her hands through his hair in that possessive way he loved. Pressing her breasts against his chest as if she couldn’t get close enough. Skimming her tongue along his in a way that him hard and ready.
The damned horn beeped again. Mel tore her mouth away from his, then gave him a push. “I’m leaving.”
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ABOUT KRISTINE MASON
Kristine Mason is the bestselling author of the popular romantic suspense trilogies, C.O.R.E. Shadow and Ultimate C.O.R.E. She is currently working on her next trilogy, C.O.R.E. Above the Law, along with a series of Psychic C.O.R.E. novellas.
Although Kristine has published a few contemporary romance novels, she focuses most of her energy on her romantic suspense stories, which she loves for their blend of dark mystery/suspense and sexy romance. She is fascinated with what makes people afraid, and is famous for her depraved villains whose crimes present massive obstacles for her heroes and heroines to overcome.
Kristine has a degree in journalism from Ohio State University and lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, four kids, and two dogs. If she’s not writing, she’s chauffeuring kids, gardening, or collecting gnomes. Oh, and she makes a mean chocolate chip cookie!Connect with Kristine on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kristinemasonauthor, Twitter https://twitter.com/KristineMason7 or email her at authorkristinemason@gmail.com. You can also find out more about Kristine’s books at http://www.kristinemason.net
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GIVEAWAY
Kristine Mason will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN to two randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.
I am always on the lookout for something new and A Gentleman and A Rogue by Stephanie Burkhart, a steampunk romance, fits the bill nicely.
A Gentleman and a Rogue by Stephanie Burkhart
Author Bio: Stephanie Burkhart is a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. She was born and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. After serving 11 years in the US Army she currently calls Castaic, California her home. Stephanie was married in Denmark in 1991 and has two young sons. She adores chocolate, is addicted to coffee and enjoys early morning walks. She’s also an assistant den leader for her son’s Cub Scout den and is a Boy Scout mom. She writes paranormal, contemporary, and steampunk romance and has two children’s books published with 4RV Publishing.
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
JOSH POWELL, wielder of the Sommerswerd, destroyer of the thread, expeditioner to Barrier Peaks, discoverer of his magic talent, and venturer into the Tomb of Horrors is known for having survived a harrowing adolescence full of danger and fantasy. He’s gone on to write The Berserker and the Pedant and Dragon Apocalypse and is currently working on the yet to be named third book in the series.
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5+++++ Stars
Kristine Mason is the bestselling author of the popular romantic suspense trilogies, C.O.R.E. Shadow and Ultimate C.O.R.E. She is currently working on her next trilogy, C.O.R.E. Above the Law, along with a series of Psychic C.O.R.E. novellas.