In case you missed any of my reviews, and some of these look like they are for you, just click on the cover to read my review and get a copy of your very own.
Does this sound like something that will help you get at least one small stack off your TBR shelf? Come on, join in!
Can You Read a Series in a Month?
Remember the days before book blogging, when you didn’t have a COLOSSAL list of books to read, because you didn’t know about all of them yet? When you discovered a great series and literally just gobbled it up because you had no review book commitments and, quite often, nothing else to read anyway? When you didn’t know about a series until long after it was published from beginning to end and you COULD just binge read the whole thing? Wouldn’t it be fun to do that again? Not to mention, I KNOW you have a least half a dozen series you’ve been dying to read and just haven’t made time for. Which is why Berls and I are challenging you to read an ENTIRE series in a month.
The Rules
Pick 1 series. Yes, just 1. Announce which series you’ve picked on your sign up post.
Read EVERY book in the series. You don’t have to read novellas or short stories, just the core books.
Read them all between 12am (your time) August 1st and 11:59pm (your time) August 31st. They MUST be marked (on Goodreads) as started and finished in the month of August to count.
Enjoy bragging to everyone about how you’re all caught up on whatever series you read (AKA – have fun)!
The Nitty Gritty / Inevitable Questions
Here’s some questions that we’ve anticipated (and asked each other as we figured it out) and we can update this section as we get more questions (assuming there will be).
Q: Can I read more than 1 series?
I know we have some reading over-achievers out there who want to do more. Go ahead, we’ll cheer you on, but there’s no bonus points or higher levels for reading more than 1.
Q:How many books constitutes a series?
We’re going to say 3 published books – so if it’s a trilogy it counts. If you want to take on a 40 book series, be our guest. And good luck!
Q: Can I have started the series?
You can’t reread an ENTIRE series. But if you have less than three books remaining in a series (so 2 or 1) you may reread 1 or 2 books, so that you’re reading 3 books. For example, if you’ve read 3 books in a 5 book series, you could reread 1 book and then read the 2 unread books, bring your total to three.
Q: Does the entire series have to be published and complete?
No. But there must be at least 3 books published for it to count (or if you’ve already read 1 book, 4 published). So if there’s going to be six books, but only 4 are published and you’ve read the first one, it counts. So if it’s a trilogy that not yet complete, that wouldn’t count.
The giveaway!
Bragging rights! Nah, just kidding. We will be awarding $5 Gift Cards to Amazon, selected randomly from everyone who successfully completes the challenge. I think I MAY be able to make a “I Read a Series in a Month logos” too, to help with the bragging. 😛
Sign up and Grab our Button!
So it’s time to sign up! We just need to you make a simple sign up post (on your blog, Goodreads, Facebook, etc) declaring your intention to participate and letting us know what series you will be reading. I’ll have my sign up post next week if you need an example… I have to decide which series I’m going to pick of the MANY I’m considering!
Sign-ups are Open through the 15th of August. If you start late, any books you read during the month of August may count toward your series completion. Be sure to link DIRECTLY to your post, not just your blog home page. Sign up HERE.
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I saw this fun challenge, Can You Read A Series In A Month, and thought, “I have the perfect series to read”. I recently won the third book in the Rick Yancey series, The 5th Wave, from Jessica @ a Great Read. When I read it had been made into a movie I checked it out further and found the first two books in a bundle on Amazon and they were on sale, so I grabbed them.
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Will I read more than one…I don’t know.
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What series would you read if you joined the challenge?
. The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.
Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.
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Sorry fellow bloggers, but I didn’t have a chance to do a 56, so I am sharing my review for Celeste Files: Unforgotten by Kristine Mason…and her new release.
If you love a realistic paranormal novel…you’ll love this stand alone series!
Kristine Mason’s paranormal suspense novels for the Celeste Files series have amazing covers and a fantastic subject matter, so I am very happy to be sharing my review for the third book in the series, Celeste Files: Unforgotten, with you today. I will also be sharing the cover and blurb for Book IV, Celeste Files: Poisoned below, so be sure and check that out too.
I love the characters more and more with each story.
I am a huge fan of Kristine Mason, a MUST READ author for me. With the latest novel in the Psychic Core stand alone series, Celeste Files: Unforgotten, I am carried deeper into Celeste’s world. The stories will stand alone, but I believe you will love the books so much, so you will want to start at the beginning.
Again, I am captured from the opening pages.
What do a toy clown, a toy bear and a toy cowboy have in common? You’ll have to read the story to find the answer.
The dead talked to Celeste, but this time they came to her daughter, Olivia. Celeste’s husband, John, is not a fan of her gift, so I wonder how he will handle this new development. He is a wonderful man and I have a lot of faith in him.
Celeste sees Olivia, playing with her ghostly friend. She had known the chances of Olivia being psychic were great, but she never had never prepared herself for it. She’s just a baby, not even two years old. What do they want with her?
She found Livy in Sophie’s room. Sophie is Jessica and Dante’s missing daughter. If you would like to know what happened to her, check out Ultimate Fear by Kristine Mason. That is a fantastic story of its own and may draw you into another of her series, The Ultimate CORE trilogy, romantic suspense at its finest.
We also now have a dog entering the picture and I love it. Ruth has joined their family because of the dangerous trances Celeste goes into when the ghosts come a calling. Ruth does double duty, also being able to sense when a ghost is present.
I love all the complex characters I have watched grow and develop, adding kids and partners to their growing family.
I love the sexual banter between Celeste and John. But, drat, those pesky ghosts seem to pop up at the most inopportune times. It’s often funny, as they grab intimate moments here and there.
The realistic relationship between them is not all roses and sunshine. John is a man’s man, a protector of women and innocents. He is a man of science and facts, not the supernatural. His biggest problem is being unable to help or take away the visions and pain. He feels helpless, yet he is always there.
There is a new development with Celeste’s gift and I can see Kristine Mason taking us into a new direction. I am so looking forward to watching Olivia grow up.
Celeste Files: Unforgotten by Kristine Mason has everything I LOVE in a paranormal romance thriller. Visions, ghosts, hauntings, vengeance, romance, a serial killer, murder…She sprinkles bits and pieces of goodies ( some of you may not call them goodies) throughout the story and they make me smile, yell, gasp and ooh and aah.
I received a copy of Celeste Files: Unforgotten by Kristine Mason in return for an honest review.
Seven years ago, CORE agent, Dante Russo and his wife, Jessica, faced a parent’s ultimate fear…their ten-month-old daughter was abducted. With no clues, not a single sighting or trace of evidence to keep hope alive, the case went cold…until now.
When the ghosts of murdered children begin to haunt psychic Celeste Kain, she’s forced to get involved in her most challenging case yet. The ghosts know who has Sophia. They know her kidnapper intimately. They know him as Daddy, and as their killer.
Using psychic visions and the clues the young spirits provide, Celeste and her husband, John, travel across the country, desperately searching for the girl and her kidnapper. The dead children have made their warning clear…find Sophia before Daddy kills again.
To learn more about Dante and Jessica’s story, be sure to check out Ultimate Fear (Book 2 Ultimate C.O.R.E.).
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Check out another amazing cover for the just released Celeste Files: Poisoned by Kristine Mason.
The walls are infected, the foundation is diseased…this house is poisoned.
CORE agent, Hudson Patterson and his wife, Eden, recently moved into a century-old mini-mansion. But their dream home has become a living nightmare—occupied by a malevolent spirit who will only share the residence with them and their daughter…in exchange for their souls.
Psychic Celeste Kain is four weeks away from giving birth. The last thing she wants to deal with is the dead. But when she realizes an evil presence is terrorizing Eden, she will go to any length to help her sister. Especially when she discovers there isn’t just one ghost in Eden’s house, but many other tortured souls trapped within its infected walls.
To put an end to the haunting, Celeste uses her unique gift to connect with the ghostly residents. But the wicked entity who has been feeding off the other spirits’ pain and misery has other plans. It wants Celeste and her unborn child, and imprisons her inside the ghost house. Now powerless, unable to free herself and in labor, Celeste needs to fight to find her way back to her body before the entity can take what it wants…her baby.
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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
All covers link to Amazon and I am an affiliate, BUT I cannot help but tell you. Kristine Mason is a master storyteller and I would highly recommend buying the book sets, because you will want to read them all! Except, I have yet to read the Reality TV series.
The Celeste Files of the Psychic CORE series are paranormal and supernatural novels that star Celeste, from the very first book in the CORE Shadow Trilogy, Shadow of Danger. I love the mix of psychics and ghosts, with murder and thrills. Check them out below.
Perfectly twisted is the beginning of another series, CORE Above the Law, that takes the characters even further than I thought they would go. I am LOVING it!!!
When the Exlathars escaped the battle that night, their silhouetted figures merged with the sky, their wings swatted at stars and the Coltis people were too busy celebrating their victory to realise that there wasn’t one.
Now the Exlathars are back. And they bring with them remnants of everybody’s past.
Back in England, Dezaray discovers just how deep Coldivor’s connection to Earth really goes. But she cannot change their past and she cannot see how to alter their future. So it seems the ripples that shake the surface are only a glimpse of what’s brewing beneath.
‘Caught in the Ripples’ delves deeper into the Water Rushes saga, answers questions the first book raised and plunges you into an ocean of intrigue and magic.
They thought the Elenfar was the end…turns out it was only the beginning.
Here is a closer look at the realm of Coldivor in the multiverse known as The Nynthst:
Coldivor is made up of two parts:
Taratesia: their original home and the land they fled from when the Vildacruz invaded.
Melaxous: The land they fled to for safety though it is derelict and barren.
There are 7 empires of Coldivor and each empire holds their own power to wield and use to protect their realm.
In Prelang, you will find the Premoniters, gifted with visions of the future. Using their ability, Premoniters can play a hand in stopping unwanted events, helping to tip the scales of good and evil.
Prevolids Peak homes the Prevolids. Those with the ability to see through as many layers as they wish. They can see straight through an iron building or down to the bottom of the ocean.
Fuatrass is the empire for those with extraordinary strength. Their bodies are stacked with rippling muscles and when in battle, Fuertés are able to double in size.
Born of ice and fire, those who live in Ochi’s place are gifted with the ability to greatly alter the temperature of something to freezing cold or scorching hot. They are able to conjure both ice and fire from thin air and use them to take down enemies and forge weapons.
Telathrodon is where those with the power to pass from place to place, reside: Teltreporthis. They are gifted with the ability to teleport, flitting from here to there on a whim.
Those living in Travisory are handed the gift of time. They are able to see what has previously happened in a place no matter how long ago it may have occurred. Completely immersed in a scene, Travisors can witness first-hand an act that transpired. Some took it upon themselves to join the Court of Coldivor where they serve as investigators of crime scenes.
Spee’ad Sphere is the site for those with incredible speed, those that race by in a barely visible blur hurtling objects and people out of their paths. It is actually a Spee’ad that Dezaray encounters in the beginning chapters of ‘At Water’s Edge’.
Elanice is no longer on the map. It is instead marked as the Elentri Burial ground, the empire that the Vildacruz wiped out the minute they arrived. The Vildacruz were brutal, killing every single Elentri…well, all except one.
McPherson is a young British expat living in Dubai and working as a kindergarten teacher. When she is not at work immersed in a world of imagination and fantasy created by the children, she is immersed in her own worlds of imagination and fantasy at home, dreaming up tales and writing them down. ‘At Water’s Edge’ is S. McPherson’s debut novel and the first in the romantic, fantasy series, ‘The Water Rushes’.
I tried to embed these quizzes, but couldn’t make it work.
Tthey look like such fun, please visit the link to share your thoughts.
Villains *sigh*, what gloriously devious creatures. No story would be complete without them. The hero wouldn’t be a hero without the villain to defeat. The story would not be as gripping without the villain adding that raging conflict. No character’s mind is as deliciously twisted as that of the villains.
I don’t deny it, I say it proud: I for one, adore villains. The characters we all love to hate. Don’t you love them too?
Take the quiz below and find out just how well you know your villains. Would you recognise them if they were sitting right beside you?
Don’t you just love heroes? My list of the ones I could rave about is endless, and not just the classic D.C. and Marvel delights but all heroes! Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, Jon Snow, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Heroes are the good guys; the reason we embrace the story. They are the person we root for. They give us hope and show us qualities we like to think exist in all of us. I often like to imagine what my ability would be if I were a hero. It remains a toss-up between invisibility and telekinesis. Hmmm…
Anyway, how well do you know your heroes? Take the quiz below, called: ‘Weapon of Choice’. Can you identify the hero based on their weapon?
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.”
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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.
I love the cool cover created by Sabrina Sun for Homicide in the House by Colleen J Shogan.
Homicide in the House by Colleen J Shogan has so many elements that relate to our current political climate, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Government shutdown. Political machinations. All decisions are compromised. Give to get. It’s not selling out your soul when you bend…not break. Representatives park themselves and build a kingdom. I could get on a rant, but let’s talk about the book.
Even though Homicide in the House by Colleen J Shogan is the second book in the Washington Wodunit series, I don’t feel my reading suffered from not having read Stabbing in the Senate first, where Kit was accused of murdering her boss. Will dead bodies follow her through Capitol Hill?
Right off, I like Representative Maeve Dixon and Kit, her right hand. When Maeve is suspected of murder, it is time for Kit to put her thinking cap on and begin her own investigation. Colleen kept me guessing who amongst the suspects was the guilty party.
Homicide in the House by Colleen J Shogan meets all the requirements for a cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth and her trusty friends. Some lovable and not so lovable characters along with a critter and easy reading and I would vote yes to adding this to your reading list.
I received a copy of Homicide in the House by Colleen J Shogan in return for an honest review.
3 Stars
Synopsis:
Kit Marshall has bounced back from her first brush with the law, when she was suspected of murdering her senator boss. Now she is working for a freshman congresswoman, Maeve Dixon, a young Gulf War veteran representing North Carolina. It’s February, and Kit is feeling out of sorts. A government shutdown has just been announced, wreaking havoc on the Hill, and Dan, Dixon’s chief of staff and Kit’s supervisor, is an inexperienced lightweight flying blind. Then there’s Kit’s distracted live-in boyfriend, Doug, who doesn’t seem any closer to popping the question. Kit’s best friend Meg is up to her eyeballs with her new beau and oversight committee job, and Clarence the beagle mix will certainly not win Capitol Canine if Meg has to campaign for him all by herself. Bad as things are now, they are about to get much worse.
Early one morning Representative Dixon is caught standing over the corpse of Jack Drysdale, the Speaker of the House’s top staffer, a man she argued with in front of the press the day before. The murder weapon was the Speaker’s gavel. This item was entrusted to Dixon at the time, leading the police to believe they’ve found their killer. To save her job, Kit must clear her boss’s name, and quickly. Dixon’s career may be over if the police declare her a suspect or an anonymous blogger known as Hill Rat breaks the story. Solving this murder will test Kit’s courage and all her fledgling powers of deduction as she roams a spooky, sparsely populated Capitol Hill looking for clues and sounding out suspects.
About The Author
Colleen J. Shogan is a senior executive at the Library of Congress. She is the former deputy director of the Congressional Research Service and previously served as a staffer in the United States Senate. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American government at Georgetown University, Penn, and George Mason. Colleen is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her BA from Boston College and her doctorate from Yale. A member of Sisters in Crime, she lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband Rob Raffety and their rescue mutt, Conan. Her first book, Stabbing in the Senate, won the Next Generation Indie Award for Best Mystery in 2016.
The cover for Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee is awesome.
Deliciously spooky and eerie and I LOVE it!
What do you think?
MY REVIEW
I have been eagerly anticipating the second book in the Dead Things series, Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee, even since I read the first book, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. The covers are so amazingly creative, I would grab the book for that reason alone.
Dark Dream and Dead Things by Marina McAtee picks up where Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things left off in this dark magical world.
The prophecy is yet to be fulfilled by the Triad, Ember, Tristan and Kai. The teenagers can barely control their powers, yet they jump in with both feet. It’s not like they have a choice.
There is humor in their dark world. For example, Kai is helping Ember dress and talking about her boobs…the writing cracked me up. Kai and Rhys, with the baby werewolf, is hilarious and sweet. Another example of the fun writing:
If Rhys had to carry her to the car, he didn’t want her waking up and chewing on his boyfriend like a squeaky toy.
Witches, wolves, fae, a one-eyed dog and a resurrected cat all live and love in the same home. The danger surrounds them and it is hard to know who to trust. Who will live and who will die?
A very deep and dark look into the paranormal and supernatural world. The characters also struggle with real world issues, like love and getting through the teenage years.
I felt like I stepped into an episode of Supernatural.
The story is not over and the series needs to be read in order to get the full picture.
I received a copy of Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee in return for an honest review.
4 Stars
Dark Dreams and Dead Things (Dead Things #2)
by Martina McAtee
Genre:YA Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Release date: July 15th 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
17-year-old November Lonergan spent her whole life feeling like an outsider. She was right. She’s a reaper like her mother; like her two cousins, Kai and Tristin. The supernatural world believes they are part of a prophecy to save them from an evil known as the Grove. Ember just wants to survive high school and fix the fallout from bringing back her friend.
Old enemies are lurking; waiting for their opportunity to strike but the pack has a new problem. A group of legendary hunters has resurfaced, threatening the reapers and anybody who stands with them. They are making good on their threats too; attacking those closest to the pack.
Their only hope of defeating the Legionaries involves trusting a stranger to perform a dangerous spell to advance Ember and her cousin’s powers. But Ember has a secret; a secret she can’t tell the pack. One that leaves the pack vulnerable.
An attack on pack allies, leaves one member of the group injured and another missing, along with a mysterious girl named Evangeline who may play a bigger part in this than any of them realize. As the Legionaries are closing in, the pack must trust their enemies, enter hostile territories, and play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a psychopath. Their entire plan lynches on a dangerous bargain, but rescuing one member of the pack could mean losing another in their place…possibly forever.
You can see my 5 star review for Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things HERE. I am loving this series and the fantastic world that Martina McAtee has created.
Martina McAtee lives in *******, Florida with her teenage daughter, her best friend, two attack Chihuahua’s and two shady looking cats. By day she is a registered nurse but by night she writes young adult books about reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. When she isn’t working, teaching or writing she’s reading or watching shows that involve reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. Her debut novel Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things is set to release on August 31st, 2015. She is currently working on the second book in the Dead Things series due to release in 2016.
(Mermaids of Eriana Kwai, #2)
Publication date: July 25th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
From award-winning author Tiana Warner comes the sequel to Ice Massacre, the #1 Amazon Kindle Best Seller.
Meela has just returned from the Massacre—the annual attempt to wipe out the mermaids threatening her people’s survival. After forming an unlikely connection with Lysi, a mermaid she was trained to kill, Meela is determined to stop the war between humans and merpeople for good. She knows of a legendary weapon that could bring peace if she uses it against King Adaro, ruler of the Pacific Ocean. But her people have plans for future Massacres and refuse to help her uncover it.
While Meela works in secret to unearth the Host of Eriana, Lysi is held captive under Adaro’s tyranny. Sent to the battlefront, Lysi joins forces with a band of rebels that could either bring her freedom—or have her executed for treason.
Separated by the vast Pacific Ocean, Meela and Lysi must find a way to defeat King Adaro and end the war that has been keeping them apart.
Grab book 1 – Ice Massacre – for only 99¢ until July 31st!
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EXCERPT:
Hanging from the crooked branch of a maple tree wasn’t that glamorous—not what my people would expect from an honoured Massacre survivor. Legs swinging to try and get a foothold, strands of hair clinging to my face, I heaved myself onto the next branch.
This would have been easier if I’d had the use of both hands.
Out of breath and halfway up, I paused, deciding how best to continue. The tree had forked and my legs were splayed, one foot against each trunk. In my fist, the owlet gave a feeble hoot.
I glared at him. He could hardly be called cute, with his sparse white fluff and oversized feet.
“Your family reunion better be worth all of this,” I said.
I pushed off one trunk and wrapped my limbs around the other, then shimmied higher until I was level with the nest.
Two owlets peered back at me, identical to the one in my fist.
“Gaawhist,” I said. Home, sweet home.
I placed my rescue next to his siblings, where he toppled sideways and blinked a few times. I poked him to make sure I hadn’t squeezed him too tightly. He ruffled himself and settled in.
Maybe I couldn’t help everyone survive, but I could, at least, save this one life.
I just hoped the mother would return soon.
I leaned against the trunk and caught my breath, my thoughts turning back to what I’d come here for. I inhaled slowly, letting the sweet scent of maple buds calm me.
From this height, the wooden, mossy cabin below seemed less imposing. I could see how these grounds might have once been used for camping—back when seaside camping was not a life-threatening activity. Now, this cabin was one of many classrooms at the Safe Training Base. Once a place to connect with wilderness, now a place to learn the best way to slaughter a sea demon.
Author Bio:
#1 AMAZON KINDLE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Tiana Warner was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her horse, Bailey, and collecting tea cups.
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
The Friday 56 is hosted by 
so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
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.
, won the Next Generation Indie Award for Best Mystery in 2016.
