Thursday, December 31, 2015

Latent Image: A Xandra Carrock Thriller by Joshua Graham



Title: Latent Image: A Xandra Carrick Thriller 
Author: Joshua Graham 
Publisher: Redhaven Books 
Pages: 437 
Genre: Thriller



For fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Sandra Brown, David Baldacci, Brad Thor, and Nora Roberts.

New York Times bestselling author Joshua Graham returns with a new thriller, Latent Image: A Xandra Carrick Thriller.

At the height of President Jennifer Bradley’s inaugural parade, a bomb detonates, followed by shots from a sniper’s rifle. She survives despite the numerous casualties including the Chief White House photographer. The authorities apprehend the only surviving suspect, but before they can interrogate him, he dies mysteriously while recovering in the hospital.

In an effort to hunt down those responsible and prevent future assassination attempts, Special Agent Wade Masterson of the Secret Service recruits photojournalist Xandra Carrick for a dual-role position as the President’s Photographer and clandestine assistant operative.

Xandra’s uncanny gift of second-sight through the lens of a camera thrusts her straight into the center of a deadly terrorist plot that runs far deeper than anyone in the intelligence community ever imagined.

But she may already be too late.

In a tale of vengeance, honor and sacrifice, Xandra must draw upon all she has to stop an insidious plot which threatens to bring the country to its knees with a biological weapon that will decimate the nation’s population.




* Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads *




Amazon | B&N | Kobo




WASHINGTON, DC
January 23
2:28PM EST

IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF THE SNIPER’S SCOPE the target shifted in and out of view. The motorcade drifted down Pennsylvania Avenue, Secret Service agents flanking its side, while Vice President Phillip Marsden and his wife Gwen waved to the cheering crowd on either side of the street behind the cold 16-gauge steel tubing of the barricades. 
Neither of them was the target.
The sniper swung his scope back to the west, where the glare of the sun blinded him momentarily. He grunted, blinked and reestablished his view. The cold January wind bit at his bare fingers as he felt the trigger and anticipated the diversionary strike his partner would unleash half a block away.
Tuning out the trumpet strains of marching bands, the steady drum beats, and the crowd’s applause, he initiated a silent countdown just as Jennifer Bradley, the nation’s newly re-elected president strode past the designated spot.
…four…three…two…one…






JOSHUA GRAHAM is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Beyond Justice, Terminus, and Darkroom, the winner of the International Book Award, Forward National Literature Award, USA Book News Best Books Award, and host of Thriller Radio. His award-winning novel DARKROOM hit 3 bestseller lists on Amazon the night of its release.

CBS NEWS described DARKROOM as a book with "action, political intrigue and well-rounded characters...a novel that thriller fans will devour."

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY described BEYOND JUSTICE as: "A riveting legal thriller...breaking new ground with a vengeance...demonically entertaining and surprisingly inspiring."

Suspense Magazine listed BEYOND JUSTICE in its BEST OF 2010, alongside titles by Scott Turrow, Ted Dekker, Steven James and Brad Thor.

Many of Graham's readers blame him for sleepless nights, arriving to work late, neglected dishes and family members, and not allowing them to put the book down.

Josh grew up in Brooklyn, NY where he lived for the better part of 30 years. He holds a Bachelor and Master's Degree and went on to earn his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. During his time in Maryland, he taught as a professor at Shepherd College (WV), Western Maryland College, and Columbia Union College (MD).

Today he lives with his beautiful wife and children on the West Coast.
Sign up for exclusive updates, interviews, and to be entered for giveaways by subscribing to Josh's newsletter: www.joshua-graham.com/GIA


For More Information:
Visit Joshua Graham’s websites at www.joshua-graham.com or www.joshgraham.net.
Connect with Joshua on FacebookTwitter & Goodreads.





Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Her Billionaire Bodyguard Bridegroom by Lisa Weaver


We're happy to be hosting Lisa Weaver's HER BILLIONAIRE BODYGUARD BRIDEGROOM book blast today!


Title: HER BILLIONAIRE BODYGUARD BRIDEGROOM
Author: Lisa Weaver
Publisher: Kindle Press
Pages: 173
Genre: Romance

His assignment to protect her places their hearts in the line of fire...

The one and only time covert bodyguard Luke Reynolds allowed the line between duty and desire to blur, pleasure came at too high a price. Despite his vow never to become emotionally entangled again, when he discovers a lovely interloper on the grounds of his private estate he's captivated. When the woman disappears from his life as quickly as she entered it, he knows he should be relieved. So why isn't he?

For More Information

Her Billionaire Bodyguard Bridegroom is available at Amazon.



Book Excerpt:

As a motivational speaker, words were Brianna’s livelihood. She had never been at a loss for them. Until now. Her tongue seemed to be paralyzed. Distracted by the impossibly broad shoulders and the taut, six-pack abs currently permeating her line of vision, she somehow couldn’t pull a single cohesive sentence together.

His musky cologne, a perfect counterpoint to the scent of the pine forest surrounding them, teased her senses. The heat radiating from his water-droplet-bejeweled body drew her closer, making her forget all about her initial desire to flee.

Common sense dictated she didn’t belong in a secluded lake with a complete—if albeit sexier-than-sin—stranger. But when she made the mistake of looking into his eyes again, that common sense executed an abrupt U-turn. Her heart did a free fall from her tonsils to her toes, taking all of her good intentions right along with it.

The eyes locked on hers were heated. Hungry. She’d thought she’d been melting earlier, when she’d pitted her body against the brutal terrain on her mountain bike, but that was nothing compared to the way this man’s presence ratcheted up her body temperature. Not surprising—he was hot enough to melt an Arctic ice cap.

He extended a tanned hand. “Since we’ve established you have my permission to enjoy my lake, I think introductions are in order. I’m Luke Reynolds. And you are . . . ?”

Surely it would be polite to answer him, but she hesitated all the same. She was in the middle of a secluded forest. The man certainly didn’t look like an ax murderer, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t one. And as for her name . . . well, it had recently been splashed across every newspaper from Maine to Hawaii. As soon as she uttered it, there was little doubt he’d realize his trespasser was none other than “the Reluctant Heiress.”

Brianna cringed every time the media bandied around the moniker they’d coined for her when the truth surrounding her paternity had leaked. She’d taken this vacation to escape notoriety for a while, and she wasn’t ready to give up the blissful anonymity she’d found here.

Fortunately she bore little resemblance, now, to the picture the papers had dredged up to accompany the story. Keeping one arm wrapped firmly against her chest, she tentatively reached out to shake the stranger’s hand.

“Heather. Heather Wright.” Amazingly, the fictitious name rolled smoothly off her tongue—despite her stuttering insides.
His eyes narrowed for a moment as he regarded her, and she was afraid he could see right through her lie. But then his warm fingers wrapped around hers.

“Welcome to my lake, Heather. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”




About the Author
Lisa Weaver loves living in Maine, although she occasionally fantasizes about moving to a state with milder temperatures. On the upside, the long, cold winters give her plenty of time to plot her next romance. 


Lisa also loves books, and can't imagine a world without the written word to enrich us, inspire us, entertain us, and touch our hearts. She's thrilled to make a small contribution to the treasure trove. She began her writing career penning articles and short stories, but it has long been her dream to write romance novels. Thanks to the Amazon Kindle Scout program, that dream is now a reality. 

Lisa is the first to admit her romances aren't serious literature. She thinks of her stories as fluffy, fun, romantic romps--like decadently rich cupcakes, heavy on the frosting.

She loves to hear from readers! Please drop by and visit her anytime at her website, www.lisaweaverromance.com.  You can also keep in touch with the latest Weaver Romance happenings via her Facebook and Twitter pages.

Her latest book is the romance novel, Her Billionaire Bodyguard Bridegroom.
 
For More Information:

Visit Lisa Weaver’s website.
Connect with Lisa on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Lisa at Goodreads.
 

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Justice Is For The Lonely by Steve Clark



Title: JUSTICE IS FOR THE LONELY
Author: Steve Clark
Publisher: Rorke Publishing
Pages: 430
Genre: Suspense


In JUSTICE IS FOR THE LONELY, the stunning new suspense novel by author Steve Clark, Kristen Kerry, a smart, attractive, young lawyer faces the dilemma of trying her biggest legal case while attempting to fulfill the less than moral demands of her client and boss. Kristen’s 
malpractice case has the potential to be the largest verdict of its kind in Texas legal history. She must juggle her strong legal skills with a heavy load of insecurities stemming from a traumatic childhood. The book, which Midwest Book Review says is “exceptionally well written and engagingly entertaining from beginning to end,” features action-packed scenes; complex multidimensional characters; and compelling subplots.
Kristen Kerry made partner at Wright and McGee in six short years. During that time, she worked obsessively and spent most of her personal time alone or slamming punching bags in martial arts training. The “Layne” malpractice case is Kristen’s opportunity to prove she is a trial lawyer equal to any male. Tammy Robberson, a tough talking, morally deficient insurance adjuster handpicked Kristen to represent the defendant hospital in the lawsuit, certain that Michael Stern, senior partner representing the doctor would see the attractive young attorney as another potential conquest. To win the case, Kristen is expected to be competent, wily, and a team player, even if it means sleeping with attorneys her firm is supposedly collaborating with during the malpractice case.
After Kristen fails to charm information out of Tony Caswell, Stern’s associate representing the doctor, Tammy instructs her to focus on Stern himself. She is told to do whatever it takes to gain his trust then betray him so the doctor ultimately bears the liability rather than the codefendant hospital and nurses. Michael Stern who is an attractive, masterful attorney, is also a known philanderer. His wife Diana is a Dallas socialite from very old money. Teaming up with Stern is a risk for Kristen that shakes up her professional and personal worlds. Despite her disgust over the assignment, Kristen finds herself attracted to Stern after she sees him in his role as father of a teenage daughter, but she still knows he might double cross her.
As the case progresses, Stern’s wife, a member of the Texas Pardon and Parole Board, becomes responsible for the release of Leonard Marrs, a sexual predator, who is violent and disturbed, yet very charming. After leaving prison, he becomes obsessed with Diana. When Caswell, whom Stern removed from the Layne case, discovers secrets about Kristen’s past, he teams up with Marrs for revenge against both attorneys. And what better revenge than implicating them in murder?
Clark was inspired to write JUSTICE IS FOR THE LONELY as a means of showcasing story lines and characters from some of his own dramatic cases. He has encountered many fascinating people during his years of private legal practice. Clark states, “While there are many legal genre books, the vast majority involve the criminal system and none, to my knowledge, explore the nasty business of malpractice litigation, particularly its effect on troubled characters.”
JUSTICE IS FOR THE LONELY is much more than a novel with thrilling legal action, gripping subplots, and romance. It offers readers a story of the transformation of a shallow, self-absorbed man who finds love and an adult child of alcoholic parents who overcomes her 
inability to trust anyone.
“I think almost everyone, including men will identify with Kristen and her insecurities, her loneliness,” Clark says, “they will cheer on her courage, even her recklessness, and will be heartened by her integrity and hopefully eager to follow her future adventures.”



* Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.


AMAZON KINDLE / HARDCOVER



Tony Caswell somehow reached his car, bent at the waist and gasping, fearing each step would be his last. This posture helped keep the jewels from being jostled. Kristen’s blood-chilling martial arts scream echoed in his head, only matched by reverberations of his wail. He leaned against the Targa door, trying to breathe. 
His normal hand fumbled inside his pants for the key. Even this small movement reinforced the agony. He wasn’t sure he should -- or could -- drive, but didn’t want to collapse in the street. 
He caught his reflection in the window glass. His face looked purple, and it frightened him. Am I going to fucking die in front of this whore’s house? 
He realized the blow to his crotch may have hit the vagus, the cranial nerve that wandered all the way to the gut. It was sensitive enough that bowels, lungs, everything could shut down. 
The courtyard around Kristen’s townhouse swirled. 
He had to get a grip. 
Breathe.
After a minute, Tony opened the door and tried to sit in his Porsche without his balls touching the seat. That proved impossible. The pain shot from his groin into his belly. He feared he might throw up all over the beautiful leather, so he faced his head out the window.
His throat threatened to close. The spit he tried to swallow stayed mostly in his mouth. While his good hand held up his smashed balls, his bad one searched around his Adam’s apple. The worst pain seemed left of dead-on. He probably wouldn’t die. Probably. Some air reached his lungs, but the distress made him retch. He coughed out something disgusting, but somehow managed to start the car with his left claw.
As he did often when he had to use his left arm, he cursed his parents, in Jakarta chasing oil deals when Tony was born, leaving the delivery in the hands of an incompetent Indonesian obstetrician. Erb’s Palsy they called it, meaning the shoulder got stuck in delivery. Pulling his head out of the birth canal had ripped nerves from his spine. He hid his atrophied hand, when he could, and blamed his greedy parents, too busy to fly to Australia for a real doctor.
More retching carried a disgusting mix of booze, gastric juice, and coffee. He spat, tried not to swallow, but feared he could aspirate crap into his lungs. A pulmonary arrest outside a hospital would be fatal. Even if he didn’t quit breathing, he could get a nasty pneumonia. With his luck it would be resistant staph and he’d die of sepsis next week. At this point, almost something to look forward to.
After a few more breaths of dry Texas winter air, his brain cleared enough to weigh his options. Crawl back to Kristen’s door and beg for help? More likely she’d hammer him again just because he’d seen her tits. Or find an emergency room? Methodist Hospital wasn’t far, but they would ask questions. Lots of questions.
The truth could eventually get him charged with attempted rape. She had said “No.” And he sure didn’t want to complain about getting beat up by a girl. If that got out, he’d be a laughing stock for years.
 The ER would call the police, regardless of the story he invented. Even if he claimed to have been mugged in some random parking lot, the cops might press him for details, where he’d been, who he had been with. A hospital sounded like a bad idea.
He could drive home, ice his nuts, and hope tomorrow would bring some relief. If she hadn't called the police and they showed up at his door. Her torn bra and the scratch on her ear might be enough to get him arrested or at least questioned. Again not good for the rep.
One more alternative. His sister, a nurse at Texas Medical Center. She might have a drug stash. She lived way up the Central Tollway, north of the LBJ. It would take half an hour, but she’d be with him, if things got worse.
Jennifer was the only reason he stayed in Texas. Whenever her brother got knocked down, she was there to pick him up. His mom chased gigolos in exotic lands. Dad had returned to Britain after churning money in Houston. England had been the low point of Tony’s life. Boys at Harrow, sons of earls and MPs, had teased him without mercy about his hand and ineptitude at sports. More than one had pulled his pants down and bent him over. College in Houston was better only because he knew nobody and kept to himself.
He managed to hit the number for Jennifer on his phone. Voice mail. More crap burbled up into his throat, scaring him. He wasn't able to choke out a message. He could drive there anyway, but if she wasn't home it would be a waste of time.
The downstairs lights went off in Kristen’s townhouse. She was going to bed while he flirted with death. The thought of hiring some gangbangers to rape her in a parking garage floated by. Squeezing off a clip from the Beretta he kept in the glove box sounded like fun. Right through her living room window, but he would be suspect number one, since he’d flapped about his hot date to everyone in the firm. Too bad. 
He tapped the gear paddle into drive, still unsure what to do, where to go. Sometime between blows he had figured out she was just using him to get info -- likely been told by Pete McGee to go out with him. Polite rejection would not have been surprising. She had every incentive to string him along, but why go raving nuts over a little tit-grabbing? "Little" certainly applied to the bitch. An A cup for sure, though she had nice erect nips. She had looked like a crazy Amazon warrior, all buff and topless. The image and the sound replayed in his head caused a shiver along his spine.
He decided to head home. Call it a temporary setback. Two hundred bucks down the drain. He’d taken the bitch to the Mansion on Turtle Creek, had bragged to the guys at the firm about his anticipated conquest. And it had been quite a boast, since nobody he knew had had any luck with the standoffish, loner Kristen Kerry. Assuaging a twinge of guilt, he assured himself the lonely girl would’ve been disappointed if he hadn’t tried something.
From his firm, Tony only got trash nobody wanted to do. Kristen had already made partner at McGee’s. She tried cases on her own. She was a rising star. But Caswell figured she had sucked her way to success and was too stupid to appreciate his sophistication. Tony doubted she’d even been to Paris, let alone lived on the Left Bank. Still, if things had sparked, it would have been a coup to have Kristen next to him in the bars frequented by lawyers after work.
He loosed a half-smile. Had Tony seduced Kristen, the joke would have been on her. Although he was the senior assigned associate on the case, Tony had no idea about Stern’s plans on Layne. Stern treated him like a dog begging for scraps, blocking his partnership. 
Caswell had noticed Stern eyeballing Kristen at the first Layne hearing, licking his chops. That over-dressed redneck thought getting laid as important as winning the case. If Stern nailed Kristen, Tony would be humiliated. Glancing at his deformed hand, he wished he was Stern -- tall, rugged, and confident. 
He coughed up coffee and stomach acid he’d already aspirated. Crap, his chest hurt. Like somebody had performed an esophagus exam with barbed wire. Maybe he should get to a hospital. 
Tony pushed the car faster. He tried to concentrate on something other than his distress. Perhaps the Layne case offered the opportunity to hammer both Stern and Kristen without risk to him. A crushing loss would take the shine off their careers. Feed inside information to the plaintiff’s lawyer? Or he could even conduct his own investigation into the disastrous night Brook Layne spent at Adventist Hospital. Dr. Galway’s story made no sense, although obviously Kristen’s nurses were guilty. They had put Layne in a coma by their negligence. But he had practiced law long enough to know not to believe your own client.
He made it another mile when the burn in his balls worsened. He hadn’t thought that possible. His bladder demanded relief. Tony pulled behind a dark Safeway. Unable to get out -- at least not quickly -- he rotated in the driver’s seat and eased the zipper down on his slacks. His crotch screamed. He aimed just outside the door frame. The first squirt felt like a red-hot nail driven up his urethra. To his horror, piss streamed a dull red. 
Shit.  I could lose my testicles. 
Caswell hacked another blob of gunk, zipped up, swiveled back in, slammed the car door, and tapped the shifter. Despite the torment in his crotch -- or maybe because of it -- he jammed the accelerator and sped for Methodist. 
He’d read every Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie story. The perfect murder long intrigued him. He often thought he would’ve made a great detective, strolling the streets of 1930 L.A. or the villages of Devon. 
Every criminal makes a stupid mistake. One stupid mistake that gets him caught.
But Tony was smart.



Lawyers say the world’s worst lies follow, “I do.” And we don’t mean the marriage vow. Although plenty of lies follow those words, too.
We deal in tragedy and every tragedy has two tales. Which is true? Attorneys never know for sure. We’re paid to advocate for and “believe” our side. But that doesn’t mean we always sleep well.
I left some of that uncertainty in the malpractice plot in Justice Is For the Lonely. Was Kristen really sure her client was lying? Was the widow, Betty’s diary true or had it been “improved” by her lawyer? Had Kristen been given the case to win or solely to seduce Stern? Each reader can decide.
Good lawyers must have a common touch enabling them to identify and sympathize with even the guilty. A lawyer who doesn’t know anything about laying bricks or cutting sheetrock may be great on his feet, but won’t truly know people.
Even the evil Leonard Marrs in Justice has a human side, a drug–addicted mother, impotence, and failed relationships. Lawyers see these conflicting forces in people everyday and they help us fashion our fictional characters.
Trials are theater as Scott Turow’s novels show so well. Anyone in need of an idea for a story need only spend a day at a big city courthouse. Agony, tears, and misery abound. Even the victors are rarely satisfied.
In the Kristen novels I can slip into her world easily, and escape bickering litigants. When I’m surrounded by the chaos of litigation, I relax and enjoy her presence almost like we are in love.
Please don’t tell my wife.




Steve Clark has practiced medical law for over thirty years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and listed in Best Lawyers in America.

Steve was an English and history major at the University of Oklahoma, where he also earned his law degree. “I’ve always been a voracious reader and lover of books that I buy faster then I can read them.” The author has attended the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference in Marin County and taken writing classes at the University of Central Oklahoma and Rose State College.

Steve is currently working on the next two books in the Kristen Kerry suspense series.

His latest book is the suspense novel, JUSTICE IS FOR THE LONELY.




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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Trust The Process by Leanne Jones





Trust the Process was written to empower women to create a better present and future for themselves. Within these pages, you will discover the inner strength to grow in ways that will inspire positive changes in every area of your life.

Arranged into 30 daily segments, this daily inspirational tool that helps define powerful ways for women to:

Design a quality life
Make each day a productive masterpiece
Get clarity in your life
Set priorities
Keep the faith, while keeping everything else together!






Find More Reasons to Be Grateful

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

With the chaos of  our  busy  lives,  it’s  easy  to  be ungrateful at times. We are spoiled by material comfort and living a life full of excess. We sometimes take things for granted  and  feel entitled to certain types of treatment, often forgetting that being grateful allows us to keep a positive perspective. Expressing gratitude reminds us that blessings come in all forms and by being grateful, we will become conscious of the many blessings we have already received.
Today, keep in mind that gratitude is an attitude that needs to be cultivated and nurtured. Don't take gracious acts of others for granted or act as if you are entitled to others helping or supporting you. Express gratitude from a humble place within and develop a prosperity consciousness. Be a woman who constantly looks for opportunities to express gratitude.
Acknowledge your blessings and treat others with appreciation and be thankful with an open heart.


 Love Yourself

“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.”
– Steve Maraboli

Loving you and practicing self-care is never a selfish act. Loving and caring for yourself as a woman is an extremely important factor in order to nurture and renew your mind and body before attempting to do the same for others. You can only give away what you have. This is why practicing self-care first can really serve you and others in a positive way.
Instead of constantly feeling stressed or worn out, operate from a place of renewal. Charge your inner self like you do your cell phone. If you don’t re-charge, you won’t be able to function and do what you need to do! Once you are taken care of, you are then present, available, and able to meet all of your responsibilities, commitments, and priorities.
A self-care approach when it comes to your life is always a win-win situation. This is because when you take care of yourself first, everything and everybody from family, work, relationships, and so on, can and will benefit from it too. This does not mean you don’t care about others. It simply means you have your priorities in order instead of consistently putting the needs of others before your own. The idea is to put yourself in a position to be able to help others without forgetting about you.









Entrepreneur / Author / Lifestyle Design Coach

Certified Lifestyle Design Coach Leanne Jones is the author of Trust the Process: 30 Days of Inspiration to Enrich, Enhance and Empower Your Life. Inspirited with a goal to teach women to create themselves and learn how to be the designer of their own lives, Leanne Jones empowers women to evolve and elevate to reach success on their own terms for the life they truly want and deserve.

With an education and background in Business and Entrepreneurship, she is the Co-founder of “The Jones Sisters” which is at the center of all of Leanne's projects, including acting as CEO and COO of her and her sisters own fashion and natural beauty businesses. 

A young mogul in the making, Leanne Jones is richly committed to family, fitness and travel. A former Miss Black California contestant and winner of Miss West Coast's Entrepreneur 2014, Leanne Jones offers immeasurable potential with her outgoing and outstanding personality that makes her unstoppable at achieving beyond her own highest expectations.

For more information about The Jones Sisters please visit: www.officialjonessisters.com

Website:  Trust The Process  or  Jones Sisters


Monday, December 21, 2015

Beautifully Shattered by Courtney Kristel



Title: Beautifully Shattered
Author: Courtney Kristel
Publisher: Amazon
Pages: 412
Genre: Romantic Suspense


What would you do if your world fell apart right before your eyes? If everything you held dear was stolen before you had a chance to say goodbye, would you give up or keep fighting? Adalynn Maxwell didn't decide to give up. She was robbed of her choice. 

After years of therapy, Adalynn finally wants to move on and her brother's sexy best friend Jax lures her further out of her shell. But she doesn’t understand his game and he changes the rules at every turn, making her fall into the waiting arms of the mysterious Doctor Kohen Daniels, whom she can’t seem to avoid. She’s terrified of trusting him, but something about him makes 
her want to bare her soul. 

Adalynn is desperate for that all-consuming love she reads about, but doesn't believe she deserves it. Her desperation to prove to Jax that she isn’t a little girl anymore may ruin her forever. One wrong decision can change her entire future. She has one last choice to make, but will it be ripped away from her like everything else? Will she pay the ultimate price?



* Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.






I want to pretend to be the confident person I used to be, but I’m not her, I can’t pretend. Not even wearing a mask can transform me into a different person. When the song ends, I thank the stranger for the dance when I feel him behind me. My whole body breaks into chills. I know if I turn around, I will come face-to-face with Jax. I’m not ready, but my body doesn’t want to listen to me anymore. I slowly turn around toward the one person that I want more than anything.
I’m taken aback when it’s not Jax. This is a new stranger. The man staring intensely down at me wears a blood red mask that covers his entire face, except for his lustful lips. He looks like the devil; the mask even has horns at the top. I blink a few times, expecting this devil mask to disappear and a simple black Casanova mask to take its place. 
Automatically, I take his offered hand. 
Mr. Secretive pulls me close so there isn’t any space between our bodies. I can feel his hard muscles underneath his tux. My breathing has become embarrassingly noticeable, and I’m pretty positive that my skin is on fire when his hands start to roam my bare arms. I look up at his face, trying to see his eyes, but with the lack of light on the dance floor, it’s impossible to tell the color. 
I’m so confused, everything in me tells me this is Jax. He’s the only one who can ignite my skin, that makes my whole body burn. But my mind can’t process why he’s in a different mask. 
Because this isn’t him. This is Mr. Secretive. 
He still hasn’t said anything and I don’t want to break the spell he has me under. He continues to grind his groin into my pelvis with the beat of the music, making it painfully obvious how aroused he is. By the pool of moisture gathering in my panties, it’s safe to say I’m in the same boat as him. The song is almost over when I get a quick whiff of his cologne. 
And I know without a doubt who’s behind the mask. 
I shouldn’t have doubted myself. I knew it was Jax before I turned around. I know him. My body knows him. I can feel him even from across the room. It’s as if my body, my soul, wants to haunt me forever. To torture me some more by reminding me what I can never have. 
Jax.
Reaching up, I thread my hands through his velvety soft hair. I pull his head down to me and press my lips to his. Jax releases his hold on my hips to cup my face as he deepens the kiss. I meet his tongue eagerly, loving the taste of him. I nibble on his lip and he growls into my mouth, turning me on even more. He’s the one to pull back first. I smile when I see he’s as breathless as I am. We’ve both just run an imaginary marathon. 
The smoldering look he gives me makes me shiver. I’ve never wanted anyone as desperately as I want him right here, right now. Without thinking long enough to talk myself out of it, I grip his hand and lead him off the dance floor. If there wasn’t people everywhere I would be sprinting with him to the nearest closed door. I weave us through the crowd and out to the hallway. I pull him along while I find somewhere for us to be alone. 
The first door we come to is locked. Same thing for the second one. We both sigh in relief when the third door opens. As I tug him in after me, my heel catches on the rug and I start to fall, but his grip on my hand saves me. He holds me to him as if he’s afraid to let me go. Spinning me around, he roughly slams his body into mine, banging my back into the wall. His hands are everywhere. 









Courtney Kristel graduated from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, but she couldn't shake her true passion for writing. She's currently working on the second novel of the Beautifully Series, Beautifully Mended. When she isn't creating stories to share with the world, Courtney usually has a book in her hands or is searching for new music to add to her writing playlist.  

Her latest book is the romantic suspense, Beautifully Shattered.

For More Information:
Visit Courtney Kristel’s website.
Connect with Courtney on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Courtney at Goodreads.
Visit Courtney’s blog.












Three Promises by Bishop O'Connell



Three PromisesTitle: Three Promises
Author: Bishop O'Connell
Release Date: December 8, 2015
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Format: Ebook

Promises bind, but some promises break...

From the author of The Stolen and The Forgotten comes a collection of stories between the stories, a glimpse of the American Faerie Tale series characters in a whole new light.

For more than fifty years, Elaine has lived the life of an outcast elf, stripped of her rank and title in the fae court. Surrounded by her beloved collection of stolen artwork, we may just learn the secret behind her exile, and the one promise too important to break...

It's the day we've all been waiting for - Caitlin and Edward are getting married!  But few weddings ever go without a hitch. Old promises were broken, and new vows will be made...

In The Stolen, Brendan vowed to help Caitlin rescue her young daughter from the Dusk Court, even if it meant sacrificing himself. Alone and in torment, he has come to accept his fate.  Until an unexpected visitor finds her way into his life...

Plus, an exclusive bonus story about the mysterious Legion of Solomon.




ORDER INFORMATION
Three Promises is available for order at  



AMAZON | B&N 



Bishop O'Connell is a consultant, writer, blogger, lover of kilts and beer, as well as a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Born in Naples Italy, while his father was stationed in Sardinia, Bishop grew up in San Diego, CA where he fell in love with the ocean and fish tacos. While wandering the country for work and school (absolutely not because he was in hiding from mind controlling bunnies), he experienced autumn in New England. Soon after, he settled in Manchester, NH, where he collects swords, drinks, writes, revels in his immortality as a critically acclaimed "visionary" of the urban fantasy genre, and is regularly chastised for making up things for his bio. He can also be found online at A Quiet Pint (aquietpint.com), where he muses philosophical on the life, the universe, and everything, as well as various aspects of writing and the road to getting published.

For More Information
Visit Bishop at his website

Visit him at the following locations:
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 December 8
Book featured at 3 Partners in Shopping
Book featured at Kristy Centeno
December 9
Book featured at Chosen By You Book Club
Book featured at Books That Hook
December 10
Book featured at Queen of All She Reads
Book featured at What Is That Book About
December 11
Book reviewed at Books, Food and Me
December 14
Interviewed at Don't Judge, Read
December 15
Guest blogging at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf
December 16
Interviewed at I'm Shelf-ish
December 17
Book featured at Harmonious Publicity
December 18
Book featured at Griperang's Bookmark
Book reviewed at Pink Fluffy Hearts
December 21
Guest blogging at Leigh Anderson Romance
December 22
Book reviewed at Books Are Love
December 23
Book featured at A Title Wave

Friday, December 18, 2015

Demons by Ednah Walters

Demons 
Demons by Ednah Walters 

 Demons continues the Runes series by USA Today bestselling author Ednah Walters. What happened to Eirik after he left his friends on Earth and went to Hel? Eirik Baldurson—son of Baldur, God of Light—failed living as a Mortal. He lost the girl of his dreams and nearly got his friends killed. Now, he's gone to the underworld to meet the mother he’s never known. Torn between his duty to her and the man he used to be, Eirik struggles to find himself, until a witch appears in his world. Feisty and stubborn, she is a reminder of everything good he left behind. Celestia Devereaux proudly attends a charter high school for “gifted” teenagers who embrace magic. Witches. However, she keeps a terrible secret—a prediction that she would one day be responsible for massive destruction and death. Though Celestia uses her clairvoyant abilities to help people, she worries that it is just a matter of time before she goes over to the dark side. Her world changes when she unexpectedly astral projects to a place she didn’t believe existed and meets a tortured man who needs her help. Will helping him cause her fears to come true, or will he sacrifice everything to save her?

  amazon 

  Praise for Demons Ednah Walters just keeps getting better. Demons is one Hel of a ride! ~ Karen Lynch, USA Today Bestselling author of Relentless series A beautiful addition to an already mesmerizing world. Be ready to obsess over a new book boyfriend! ~ Melissa Haag, Bestselling author Judgement of 6 series

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
 EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She is a stay-at-home mother of five humans and two American short-hair cats (one of which has ADHD) and a husband. When she is not writing, she’s at the gym doing Zumba or doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans.



  100_Amazon_Paypal   
  Book Blast Giveaway - $100 Amazon Gift Card or $100 in Paypal Cash 

Ends 1/1/16 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. 

Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Tree of Life by Dawn Davis


Title: The Tree of Life 
Author: Dawn Davis 
Publisher: Friesen Press 
Pages: 304 
Genre: Historical Fiction


Two accidental time travelers explore Canada in 1939 in THE TREE OF LIFE, the first installment in the Tower Room series by Dawn Davis.

As THE TREE OF LIFE opens, Charlotte Hansen and her friend, Henry Jacobs, are hanging out in the old mansion where Charlotte and Leo, her grandfather, live. Henry is there to practice the piano, and Charlotte is waiting for him to finish so that she can supervise his work on a massive school project researching the 1930s. When Leo leaves the house to pick up his friend Gwendolyn Fenton—whom Charlotte does not like—the two eleven-year-olds prepare tea and cookies for the grown-ups’ visit and then rush to the Tower Room. The room is located on the top floor of the mansion. Charlotte is not allowed in the room without permission; but she is headstrong and ignores the directive. After leaving the tray of tea and sweets on the tabletop, Charlotte pulls Henry underneath the table with her.

The children soon hear Gwendolyn telling Leo about a magical brooch from her childhood. Suddenly, a large hand grabs Charlotte, who clutches Henry tightly before the hand thrusts the pair into nothingness. After Charlotte regains consciousness, she and Henry meet the younger version of Gwendolyn, a spoiled force of nature determined to appropriate the brooch her late mother left her brother. The friends learn that they are still in Rose Park, the neighborhood they both call home, but the year is 1939.

As Charlotte and Henry realize that they have traveled backward to move forward, the purpose of their time travel is revealed: Charlotte is there to help Gwendolyn resolve the pain of her past. During the adventure, Henry advocates against the anti-Semitism and racism of that time, and Charlotte learns to look beyond her own desires to help a person in need.

The idea for THE TREE OF LIFE and the Tower Room series came to the author after she attended a centennial celebration at her daughters’ school. “What might happen,” Davis thought, “if two children lived their research instead of simply reading about it? This one step outside the restrictions of time became the foundation for the series.”

As in THE TREE OF LIFE, the next three books will highlight different time periods in Canadian history, with the one constant being the appearance of Charlotte and Henry. Although the children will appear in each book with different names and bodies, they will be easily recognizable as eternal soul mates, and the harbingers of love and connection for those who have stumbled and lost their way.



* Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.


AMAZON KINDLE / PAPERBACK



They needed to work on our outfits for school on Monday.
There was to be a parade in the playground, a decade fashion show parade. Since most of the parents refused to scour the bins at Good Will for appropriate clothing, Henry and Charlotte were the only ones so far who had volunteered. Technically Henry did not volunteer. Charlotte signed his name in invisible ink and was planning on informing him later this afternoon. She would tell Henry that he would get special marks for being in the parade (a lie) because Henry was motivated only by marks. Their grades were already as high as they could go, mostly for bringing in a lot of old junk from Charlotte’s great aunt Dilys’s decaying trunks; printed spun rayon dresses, white nubuck open-toed Cuban-heeled shoes, step-by-step instructions on how to pluck out all your eyebrow hair and draw on fake eyebrows that had a larger arch, one of the first ballpoint pens ever made (1938), a picture of a chesterfield suite in mohair that cost $1.95 at the Adams Trade-in Store Special, and a spring hat with a lilac ribbon purchased at Fairweathers for $2.00 and still in the bag. In reviewing her list, Charlotte found one item to be extremely interesting. In the 1930s, a hat cost more than a chesterfield.
It irked Charlotte that she needed to refer to her lists to remember how many items she had collected because Henry never needed this crutch. He could recite any list, any page of a book, any tiny print on a newspaper, even if he had only seen it once and for less than a second.
That’s because Henry had a condition called eidetic memory bog.
A bog is a swamp, a very damp place where unpleasant things grow and multiply. This was Charlotte’s way of describing the interior of Henry’s skull.
Eidetic memory: an article in a newspaper, a children’s story, musical notes from dingy old manuscripts, the script on a Chinese menu, junk mail forced through the mail slot, recipes, etc. etc. misc., all absorbed, imprinted, collated and filed away for future reference, word perfect. Although Henry denied it, Charlotte believed he had this disease because of his permanently crossed eyes. Therefore his brain was unable to process information the way the brain of a normal person (like Charlotte’s) did by sucking up facts through perfectly aligned eyeballs and expelling it all through the very same portals. Henry’s out-take portals were plugged by all the surgeries he had when he was a toddler, and Charlotte feared that someday Henry’s brain might explode from all the useless information he could not eliminate.
A handful of people knew he had this illness, and Henry utilized it sparingly.
“Because I appear to be blind, I overcompensate by having an unusual ability to retain data that may or may not be useful in the world at large,” Henry once told Charlotte. “Is that so unusual?” 
Of course she immediately had to set him a test.
Henry was lounging around on Charlotte’s bed, breathing her air and staring at her ceiling and moving his lips in a really annoying way so she said: “Let me show you something.”
He ignored her for a while but finally cranked his head over to where Charlotte was stitching together a hole in the leg of one of her stuffed animals.
“What?”
She dropped the dog and held the World Book up to his face.
“Look at this.” She pointed to the section on German wirehaired pointers. She let Henry look at the article for three seconds and then she whisked the book away and sat cross-legged on the end of her bed because Henry was taking up all the middle space.
“What about it?” he asked.
“What kind of dog is a German wirehaired pointer?” Charlotte asked.
“A hunting dog,” he replied immediately.
“How did it come to be?”
“It’s a cross-breed which means the dog was developed by breeding a German short haired pointer with a poodle pointer.”
“And how much does it weigh?”
“About twenty-five kilos.”
“Does it like having its ears scratched?”
Silence.
“How many times a day do you have to take it out for a walk?”
Silence.
“What do you do if the dog howls in the middle of the night?”
Angry silence.
“How long does it take the average German short haired pointer to devour a bowl of food, and what happens if one freshly cooked pea is buried in the midst of its food?”
Confused silence.
“What good does it do you to be able to memorize this anyway?”
Superior silence.
“Facts are meaningless,” she said. “Experience is everything.”
“Shut up,” Henry said. “There is only one fact that is significant. I blend in. I get along just fine.”
In fact, Henry did not get along just fine, and if it weren’t for Charlotte, he never would have survived at Rose Park Public School.
For some reason the mere presence of Henry on the playground at school annoyed a few of the boys in the grade five class, the ones who weren’t very bright—Tyler MacKenzie in particular. Tyler invented a few colourful names which he felt best described Henry’s exterior; cross-eyed creep, frogman, slimebucket, and monster boy were a few of the favourites. These insults usually bounced off Henry, drifting into the air like soap bubbles, which then quietly burst, leaving Henry unharmed. He didn’t seem to hear the words directed at him. But once Henry made the mistake of getting in Tyler’s way. He was standing at the southern end of the playground reading a book he had projected onto the wall of the school, the same brick wall Tyler and his friends were using to see who could slam a baseball the hardest.
Henry didn’t know he was in the way because he was not present to the reality of the moment.
He returned abruptly when Tyler stood before him, blocking his view of the wall.
“Hey, slimebucket, we’re playing a game here. Move.”
Henry didn’t.
“Or maybe we could use you as a target and just aim for your nose.” Tyler touched Henry’s nose lightly with his fingertips. “That would be easier to hit than the wall.”
Henry brushed aside the grubby fingertips and stared straight at Tyler.
“Smell,” he said, “is stored in the limbic area of the brain.” His voice was measured and precise. “That’s why whenever I smell dog shit, I think of you…”
“In fact, all our memories and emotions are stored in the limbic area,” Henry told Charlotte five minutes later as they were both hurried off to the nurse’s office. Charlotte got an elbow in her eye trying to defend Henry whose upper lip had been cut right open.
He continued to talk as blood pooled in his mouth.
“The emotional content we all have stockpiled is extremely personal,” he said matter-of-factly, shifting the ice pack from the staffroom freezer to spit in the yogurt jar from the daycare centre. “And everything we possess inside here,” he said, tapping his forehead with three fingers, “is warehoused instantly with no conscious intervention on our part at all.”
So much for blending in.




Dawn Davis is a writer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Before becoming a writer, Davis worked as a teacher after completing her education at York University and the University of Toronto.
The Tree of Life is Davis’s debut novel, and the first book in her Tower Room series.




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