Friday, May 30, 2014

BOOK BLITZ [Excerpt + Giveaway!] Blood Oath (The Secret of the Halflings #1) by Samantha Coville


Release Date: 04/29/14

Summary from Goodreads:
Raya Sarian has always known she was different. The water calls to her in a way that isn't human. She has seen things that would scar anyone for life. And her father has been non existent in her childhood.

Because he is a Siren.

A blood drinker.

A monster.

And now she must live with him in a world populated with enemies and dangerous friends. Can she survive the year?



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“Where am I going to school?” It’d be nice to get above ground and enjoy the fresh air and actual people a little every day. And she didn’t want to end up pale like the rest of the underground inhabitants who had suddenly become her neighbors.
“There’s a school room and training dojo in the west wing. The teacher is excited to meet you.”
“You’re joking, right?” Raya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to study with blood sucking freaks and then train in a dojo for…for what?” She wasn’t really sure what a dojo even looked like outside of the movies.
“Self defense is vital to survival in a Siren world. Especially for you. You’re only half siren, Raya. I need to make sure you can protect yourself.” He said this as monotone as his other words but there was an inflection of concern in the last part.
“I’m not a little girl, Christopher. Besides, I packed pepper spray. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”
He stared at her with a cold, steely gaze and Raya wanted to cower in the corner. “If a Siren wanted you dead, pepper spray would do nothing to stop him. Your guts would be spilled over the floor before it could even dream of touching him.”
With that, he turned and walked to the door to leave Raya to herself. But he paused just in the doorway and, without looking back, he said, “People will treat you…differently… when they realize what you are. Don’t give them a reason besides your blood to hate you. Do you understand?”
She nodded her head and, realizing he couldn’t see what she was doing, she added quietly, “Yes.”



About the Author
Samantha Coville is an editor and literary critic at her website, Sammy the Bookworm. She’s been writing short stories for six years and has appeared in magazines, both in print and online. When she’s not doing something book related, she is singing in her church choir or enjoying one of the theme parks in her home state of Florida.

Author Links:
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$20 Amazon Gift Card (INT)
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Thursday, May 29, 2014

[Prologue Reveal & Giveaway] How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You by T.M. Franklin

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Prologue Reveal

Today we get a sneak peek at How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You - a sweet, fun YA romance, coming soon from T.M. Franklin. Don't forget to scroll down to enter the giveaway for a signed ARC, plus some other fun prizes!
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Reviews for Ainsley

How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You will be released June 12th.

Pre-OrderAinsley is Now Available for Pre-Order!

Amazon (Paperback only, for now)
Barnes & Noble (Paperback & Nook)






Add Ainsley to Your Goodreads Shelf

How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You

Giveaway
TM Franklin
T.M. Franklin started out her career writing non-fiction in a television newsroom. Graduating with a B.A. in Communications specializing in broadcast journalism and production, she worked for nine years as a major market television news producer, and garnered two regional Emmy Awards, before she resigned to be a full-time mom and part-time freelance writer. Her first published novel, MORE, was born during National Novel Writing month, a challenge to write a novel in thirty days. MORE was well-received, being selected as a finalist in the 2013 Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Awards, as well as winning the Suspense/Thriller division of the Blogger Book Fair Reader’s Choice Awards.
In addition to MORE and its sequel, The Guardians, Franklin penned the Amazon best-selling short stories A Piece of Cake and Window, which also won a Blogger Book Fair Reader’s Choice Award for Short Story/Fantasy. Her new YA romance, How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You, is Franklin’s first love story without a paranormal or fantasy element, although she believes love is the best kind of magic.
TWELVE, the final installment in the MORE Trilogy will be released in the fall of 2014.
Connect with T.M. Franklin

RELEASE DAY BLITZ [Excerpt + Giveaway!] Unseen (The Heights Volume 1) by Lauren Stewart




Unseen
The Heights Volume 1
by Lauren Stewart

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Off the Hook Publishing
Date of Publication: May 29, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-9881701-9-3
ASIN: don’t have one yet

Number of pages: ~386
Word Count: ~100,000

Cover Artist: Amanda of Pixel Mischief Design

Book Description

An invisible wall built from the tears of those touched by death
An impossible love as divided as the world around them.

After Addison finds a nearly-dusted vampire in the garbage outside her building, her ability to stay off the supernatural world’s radar is deader than the vamp. Almost as dead as she’ll be if anyone thinks she put him there. Should she finish the job somebody else screwed up or move him somewhere humans won’t find him? To keep the Heights hidden, she may have shoved a stake into her own chest. Just when she thinks her life couldn’t possibly get any more dangerous, she finds out who he is.

As vampire king and Prime to all supernatural beings in the North American zone, Rhyse is accustomed to getting what he wants without asking. But he neither wanted nor asked to be wounded in an ambush, waking up chained to a bed with a hole in his chest. Unfortunately, he needs help to discover who tried to kill him. But worse than that, his only ally is his captor, someone unaware she has the power to destroy their entire world.

As a prophesized war brews in the Heights, Addison and Rhyse must decide which carries more risk—trusting someone who could destroy you or trusting someone who could love you?

Available at Amazon
Add it to your Goodreads Shelf



Addison backed up until she hit the counter. It was over. It had been over ever since those chains came off. Ever since she brought him into her apartment. Into her life.
“I saved you. I could’ve left you outside until the sun came up.”
“I imagine you wish you had.”
“Can you…can you not kill me? Just take some, but not all?”
Rhyse brushed her hair behind her shoulder and curled his fingers around the nape of her neck, whispering, “Do you trust me that much?”
“I don’t even trust you a little.” She felt the sting of tears. “I don’t want to be turned. If you drain me, let me die.”
He ran his other hand up her shoulder, to her throat and slowly closed his fingers around it. One move and her neck would break. “To drain you I would have to drink from you. And that, my pet, I will not do.”
She didn’t know what he meant but now seemed like a bad time to argue.
“Did you know what you are? How many of you exist?”
She didn’t answer. Partially because speaking required the air he was cutting off. Then his hands were gone, just like the rest of him.
Was it over? 
When one of the women behind the counter moaned, Addison went to make sure they were alright.
Rhyse was on top of one of them, his fangs obviously burrowed in her neck. The woman moaned again, her legs wrapping around him. One hand clutched his shoulder and the other slapped the wall, searching for a hold.
It had to have been shock that made it impossible to look away. Or run away. The woman’s moans got louder, then crested, and her body went limp. Not in a dead way, but in an I-just-had-the-best-orgasm-of-my-life way.
Get out of here. 
“Leave and they will die.” His voice stopped her after only two steps. “Stay and they will wake up from a very pleasant, very erotic dream.”
She grinded her teeth when she heard another moan. He must have moved on to the other woman. With two to feed from, there was less of a chance he would drain them, but… “Why should I trust you?”
The woman’s moans stopped and she whined, “No.”
“I do not care if you trust me,” he said. “Only that you obey me.”
“Fuck you.” But she didn’t move. “Are they alive?”
“Of course. It is against the law to kill humans.”
“Then let me go.”
“You are not human, Addison.” His voice came from just over her shoulder. 
 “I am. I promise. Totally human.” Somehow he’d missed the fact that seers were human, despite her telling him at least five times.
She heard the shuffling of fabric and looked down to see him wrapping his already-bloody shirt around the arm she’d cut. He tied a knot with the sleeves and pulled it tight. There was no part of this that she understood.
She sucked in a breath when he put his hands on her hipbones. Then another as they slid to her belly and down, pressing her back into him. She felt his heat and a vibration on her back as he made a sound similar to a cat’s purr but scarier. Clenching her eyes shut, she waited for death.
“You should thank them.” His voice was all sex. Dangerous, risky, awesome sex. “They just saved your life.”
They did? “Thank you,” she called out with a shaking voice. “Now that your belly’s full, how about you back off a little?”
“I should kill you, Addison.”
“I’m going to have to disagree with you about that.”
After a moment he stepped away, sighing as if he just made a really tough decision and wasn’t sure it was the right one.
“So,” she said, heading for the door, “it seems like you’re feeling better which is great. I’m really happy for you. Since you don’t need me anymore, I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you around.”
“Come to me, Addison.” His eyes were back to their original inhumanly beautiful color. Though he didn’t quite look calm, he looked satisfied. 
 “No.”
“Come to me or I will snap your neck.”
“Okay.”
“If you had simply brought a human to me, this all could have been avoided.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Total lie—she wasn’t thinking a goddamn thing besides, “Shiiiiit!”
“You and I have things to discuss, and a few memories to alter along the way back to your home.”
Damn it on many counts. “Alter or wipe?”
“Alter, of course. Although my strength has returned, wiping that many minds would still be highly taxing. I prefer to save my power for other activities.”
Like…? Nah, she didn’t want to know.
 He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. Which he’d probably never done before. Minions opened doors for him and she doubted chivalry ranked high on his list of valuable traits. But she went because when you gotta go, you gotta go.
“Did you know?” he asked.
What was it with that question? “Know what? That your victims come while you feed? Yeah, I heard it happens occasionally.”
“Always. They always come while I feed. If it were possible, I would show you.”
“I just heard more proof than I wanted to, thanks.”
“I have no doubt that it would be far more enjoyable to feel you come than to hear her do it.”


About the Author:

Lauren Stewart lives in Northern California with two of the most amazing children that the world has ever seen. She reads almost every genre so, naturally, her writing reflects that. With every book, every story, you'll find elements of other genres--fantasy, mystery, romance, paranormal, suspense, YA, women's literature, all with a touch of humor because what doesn't kill us should make us laugh.



GIVEAWAY
         
5 ebook copies of Unseen

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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

BOOK TOUR [Guest Post + Giveaway!] Don't Fall by Rachel Schieffelbein




Don't Fall
by Rachel Schieffelbein
Release Date: 2014
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:
In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of RAPUNZEL

Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn't even have a best friend.

But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.




About the Author

Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there, with her husband and their four kids. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.

Author Links:
BLOGSPOT | GOODREADS | TWITTER | FACEBOOK



PUBLISHER LINKS
@swoonromance
Thank you so much for letting me take over your blog today! One thing I've been asked a lot is where/when do I write. I have four little kids, so finding the time can be a bit of a challenge!

I do most of my writing at either the dining room table, with my kids in next room (the living room and dining room are open to each other) or sitting in a rocking chair in the living room with my computer on my lap.

I do write during the day sometimes, if my kids are busy eating lunch or watching Wallykazam, then I can get some words in without interruptions. But I get most of my writing done in the evenings after they've gone to bed. Usually with my husband watching hockey in the background. I've gotten pretty good at blocking out background noises! Lol.

Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to have a real writing space. A place just for me. Like one of these:

This is one incredible space.
Writing Nook #countryliving #offices
sweet little study nook, panelled blue walls, ceiling love, tub chair and vintage lamp, mmm xx
But really, who knows? Perhaps I pull from the chaos around me more than I know. Perhaps a room all to myself would just end up feeling lonely. Honestly, I think for most writers it doesn't matter where you write. If you want to writer, any old space will do. :) 

***GIVEAWAY***
1 ebook of Don’t Fall + $10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)


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BOOK TOUR [Excerpt + Giveaway!] Black Abaddon (The Vulcan Legacies) by Sasha Hibbs




Black Abaddon (The Vulcan Legacies)
Release Date: 02/20/14
Evernight Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
Ally Watson struggles to live with the choices she made, the worst of which resulted in her soul mate's death. Michael’s sacrifice to save the girl he loved may have reversed the Apocalypse, but not the permanent damage inflicted by living with his loss.

Ally begins a journey where she soon discovers that death is not always the end, but sometimes the very beginning. With old friends, she journeys to the Nosferatu Nation where she meets with new alliances willing to help her in her quest to defeat the Devourer. At every turn, Ally unearths secrets that threaten to destroy those she loves.

The second installment of The Vulcan Legacies series will put Ally to the ultimate test, forcing her to face her fears and the true destiny she will fulfill as Azrael, the Seraph of Death.


Book One in this series:


Available from:


Ally rubbed her hands in circular motions over the blanket. It
was like if she rubbed the blanket enough times, Michael would
appear in the doorway, smiling at her. He would be alive. Her chest
throbbed and ached, like there was a cavity in her heart, the tissue
slowly eroding, exposing something that was meant to stay protected
because otherwise the bareness was too painful.

Ally eased herself back, laying her head down on Michael’s
pillow. The Ravenscraft sisters must have slept in the other bedrooms
because Ally could still smell his cologne. Tears migrated to the
corners of her eyes, their warmth spilling over her lids and traveling
down her cheeks. Her tears fell on his pillow. Through the haze in her
eyes, she caught a shimmer on his nightstand, the glass in a picture
frame gleaming in the moonlight stealing through Michael’s curtain.
Ally wiped at her eyes and sat up. She took the frame in her
hands and her heart sank in agony. The picture of her former self
staring back at her from within the frame was cruel. He had kept a
picture of her close to him, right where he slept. The photo was black
and white, a close-up of Ally, eyes cast down, a hand reaching up to
tuck a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

Agony soon turned to anger as Ally grasped the wooden frame
in her fingers. She began rocking herself back and forth, her pain and
anger swelling so high she finally threw the picture against the
adjacent wall. Glass shattered and rained down, the frame broken.
Ally stood up, but quickly sank to her knees, shards of glass
cutting into her. She sobbed and cried until there was nothing left. She
picked up the broken frame and brushed off the remaining slivers of
glass. As her fingers moved over the picture, she could feel carvings
on the side of the frame. Removing her photo and setting it off to the
side, she turned the frame over.

“Please, if anyone is listening, if anyone can hear me, let me
die,” Ally whispered through trembling lips as she rubbed her fingers
over the letters carved undoubtedly with Michael’s pocket knife that
said, “Ally Watson Blackwell.” He had cared deeply enough for her
that he secretly gave her his name. She set the broken frame down and
jumped a little at the feel of something downy brushing against her
fingertips.

Ally picked up a black feather, the tip between her fingers.
Suddenly she heard the soft tune of a harmonica. Her flesh erupted in
goosebumps. With one hand clutching the black feather and her other
hand on the floor, she pushed herself up. Navigating her way through
Michael’s house quietly, Ally followed the music. She had heard the
tune before.

She halted at the front door. Whoever was playing the
harmonica was outside on the porch. The music stopped. She froze.
The door swung open as a familiar voice said, “Come on out,
child.”

That voice. It triggered a memory. That tune. A mix of
Southern soul drifting through metal reeds. She recognized it.
Stepping out onto the porch, she glanced over at the man
relaxing in Grandma Blackwell’s rocking chair.

“You….” Ally said in a whisper as she stared at the old man,
the same one from Lou’s House of Blues.

At once Miss Elma came running up the stairs, skidding to a
stop at the old man’s feet.

“Miss Elma! It’s good to see you again, girl,” he said, his
fingers gliding through her black fur. “Guards from the Gates, such
loyal beings.”

“Who are you?” Ally asked.

“I am what I am,’ he said, his gaze sliding over and resting
directly on Ally.

Ally jumped. There were no irises, only pools of blazing white
fire where eyes should have been. “You were the man from
Brunswick, at the bar. Why are you here? What are you?” A torrent of
questions spilled from her mouth. She looked at the old man, his aged
features covering up what lay under his skin.

“His blood cried out to me. The balance has shifted,” he said,
his voice now a deep baritone.

Ally fell, her face down, nose to the porch. She trembled. “Are
you the Authority?”

“My dear child, lift your eyes to mine. Do not be afraid,” he
said.

Ally lifted her head. She felt a warm wet trickle at the corner
of her mouth. She brushed her finger over her bottom lip. She stared
down at her finger, its tip smeared with a trace of blood.

“I’m dying,” Ally said, slowly standing erect.



About the Author
By age 5, Sasha Hibbs' favorite movie was Gone With the Wind. By age 12, she completed her 7th grade book report on the sequel, Scarlett. By 18, she met and married her very own Mr. Rhett Butler and as it turns out, she never had to worry about going back to Tara to win the love of her life back. Fortunately, he stuck with her.  

With a love of all things paranormal, the ambiance of the South with its gigantic antebellum mansions and canopies of Spanish moss, and a love for her husband’s rich storytelling of blacksmiths and the mythology surrounding their origins, it wasn’t long until the world of her debut novel, Black Amaranth, was born.

When not working her day job as a nurse, you can find Sasha dreaming of her next beach trip, reading the latest YA novel, and drinking more white chocolate mocha than she should.  

Sasha lives in mountainous West Virginia with her husband, Tim, and their two daughters, Aeliza and Ava. She is currently hard at work on book two in The Vulcan Legacies series.

***Author Links***
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***GIVEAWAY***
$50 gift card to Evernight Teen (INT)

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Blog Tour Organized by:
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