Daily Archives: April 6, 2022

Graphic Novel – The Nightmare Brigade by Franck Thillez #FranckThillez #Papercutz

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I haven’t done many, if any, graphic novels, but The Nightmare Brigade by Franck Thillez, with Yomgui Dumont (Illustrations) made me think of Scooby Doo and the gang, so I had to have it.

Do you read grahic novels?

The Nightmare Brigade #1: The Case of The Girl from Deja Vu

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I jumped at a chance to read The Nightmare Brigade by Franck Thillez because it made me think of Scooby Doo and the gang and I love them.

I haven’t read a lot of graphic novels, but I used to read a lot of comics as a kid. Reading The Nightmare Brigade brought back those memories. The illustrations are awesome, so richly detailed that I found myself investigating each panel for clues as to what is terrifying Sarah in her nightmare. That’s when I found out that what happens to the dream brigade in the dream, happens for real, whether it’s an injury, death, or anything else. But, they do have special powers, whether it is walking for someone who can’t walk, being able to go through walls, or flying. Each power will be needed to help those who are having the nightmares…and, eventually getting rid of their nightmare permanently.

There is even more danger than them being real in the dream, they must prevent anyone or anything from following them out and, if things go terribly wrong, they could be stuck in someone’s dream…forever. The Nightmare Brigade deals with real issues, mystery and danger.

I think this is a fantastic glimpse into an adventure series that will delight middle graders. You will not get all the answers, but when I found out about Esteban it only whet my appetite for more. There is more going on than first meets the eye.

To sum it all up…I loved it. I think the youngsters will too. And, they will get a bit of knowledge on the brain, nightmares and dreams.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Nightmare Brigade by Franck Thillez.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

The Nightmare Brigade is a dream team led by Professor Angus. With his two young sidekicks, 14 year-olds Esteban and Tristan, they have one goal: help people get rid of their worst nightmares. With unique skills, the team members can literally infiltrate their patient’s nightmare to seek its root and destroy the cause. Things are shaken up a bit, however, when they meet the young Sarah. The Brigade has a feeling they have seen her before… Then, an insomniac is invading other’s dreams. How does he do it and how can he be stopped? It’s a paranormal story you won’t want to sleep on!

This first volume in The NIghtmare Brigade features a diverse cast of adolescents tackling themes that everyone faces as they grow up: fears of aging, abandonment, and death. It creates page turning intrigue by weaving outer mysteries with character secrets. Intended for readers eight and up, this dazzling horror mix is perfect for fans of Stranger Things, Tim Burton, and Inception, and is sure to become a reader favorite for school and home libraries alike.

ABOUT FRANK THILLEZ

Franck Thillez, a former engineer in new technologies, is the author of about fifteen successful crime novels. With the adaptation of his novel “Room of Death” (wonner of the SNCF prize for French crime fiction), Franck Thilez is also a screenwriter.

ABOUT YOMGUI DUMONT

After having completed his studies in applied arts, Yomgui Dumont has worked wherever he was able to move a mouse and a pencil: cartoons, multimedia, advertising, and the press. His first series are Raph’ and Potetoz, Chamres noires, and E;cole de PAN. He has published around twenty graphic novels and teen novels.

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Giveaway – The Best Friend’s Guide To Taking Risks by Kadie Scott & Nicole Flockton @AOwenBooks @XpressoTours

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The Best Friend’s Guide to Taking Risks
Kadie Scott & Nicole Flockton
Publication date: April 4th 2022
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

All it takes is one weekend…

Everyone knows that the biggest risk you can take with your best friend is to cross a certain line.

When it comes to relationships, Hunter Lancing is not a risk taker. Between his parents’ terrible divorce and his own bad decisions, he’s been burned. Computers make more sense to him. Everything has a rule. Everything is defined. Like his computers, his best friend is defined, constant, and comes with rules he won’t break.

Part-time children’s party princess Natalie Morgan dances to the beat of a drum no one else can hear. The only person who truly gets her and is never scared off by her sometimes zany ideas is Hunter. But she has a big problem. Natalie keeps having all these…feelings…for her bestie.

But on a weekend getaway, a game of risky dares and one-upmanship that was supposed to just be for laughs may end up with both of them crossing the friend zone line.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

—

EXCERPT:

“Please be home,” she half-pleaded, half-muttered.

She glanced behind her. Checking the shadows. Not that she needed to. Her best friend since forever lived in the posh part of Sacramento thanks to his innovative tech company and savvy business mind. The man always had been a geek to his core, and it had paid off. In millions.

She brushed at a stray tear rolling down her cheek with an impatient hand. Holding them in during the party had been an act of sheer valor, not wanting the kids to get a water-logged princess. Besides crying generally wasn’t her thing. But her business was everything to her. She loved what she did, and that woman…

“Come on Hunter.” She knocked again, a little more frantically.

Slipping her phone from her purse, she scrolled to the contact labeled “Lancelot”—a play on his last name—and the phone started ringing as she knocked again. If he didn’t answer, she’d leave.

“’Lo?” A sleepy voice came over the line with a grumble.

She blew out a breath in sharp relief. “Let me in.”

“Nat? Call me at a human hour.”

“I’m at your door.”

Pause. No doubt his mind taking a second to catch up to her words. “Of course you are.”

“It’s only eight o’clock,” she pointed out dryly. “On a Saturday night.”

And he should be surprised dammit. Natalie wasn’t a party girl by any stretch of the imagination—or at least not the adult kind. Her sister Lexie, on the other hand, could give Studio 54 in the seventies lessons on how to party. All in the name of research for her podcast on dating, she claimed. But 8pm was hardly party time anyway.

“I pulled an all nighter working on code a friend asked me to review. I only just fell asleep. Hunter grumbled as the sound of echoing footsteps on his wooden stairs filtered through the phone. Then a series of beeps—no doubt the alarm—followed by several clicks of locks. She hung up as he cracked the massive metal door open, paused, then swung it wider, his dark brown gaze taking in every inch of her.

“Let me in. Don’t you recognize a damsel in distress when you see one?”

“Sorry.” He hurriedly stepped back, closing and locking the door behind her. After an owlish blink, he tipped his head. “Your tiara’s crooked.”

She started to lift a hand to right it only to stop herself with a scowl. “Yours would be too, if you went through what I did tonight.”

Tonight definitely deserved a title. Party-gate? Abandoned-princess-gate? Never-trust-a-knight-to-show-up-when-he’s-needed-gate?

Thick eyebrows winged high, and was that a twitch to his lips? It disappeared as his gaze slid down her body again, then back up to land on her probably tear-and-mascara-streaked face, and a frown formed between his brows.

Natalie crossed her arms, trying to hold in body warmth, but that only served to plump her breasts over the top of her corset. They were practically to her chin, so she dropped her arms again.

“You didn’t bring a jacket?” he asked.

“I accidentally left the matching fur stole at the party I just finished,” she tossed over her shoulder. She might just never get it back. Facing that mom again was not high on her To Do list about now.

“You seriously have a matching fur stole?”

Hunter flipped on the hall light and Natalie blinked rapidly, but not at the harsher lighting. No, what was setting her retinas on fire was the sight of Hunter in a pair of low-slung black pajama pants and no shirt.

Holy hell, her BFF had muscles.

Her gaze was glued to the eight pack – yes eight – of muscles ridging his stomach. When the hell did he get those?

How long as it been since I’ve seen him without a shirt?

Author Bio:

Award-winning contemporary romance author Kadie Scott grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it. Kadie also writes sweet contemporary romance as Kristen McKanagh, and award-winning paranormal and YA/NA fantasy romance as Abigail Owen. No matter the genre, she loves to write happily-ever-afters that shine with home, heart, and humor. Kadie currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero husband and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.

Author links:
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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USA Today Bestselling author Nicole Flockton writes sexy contemporary romances, seducing you one kiss at a time as you turn the pages. Nicole likes nothing better than taking characters and creating unique situations where they fight to find their true love.

On her first school report her teacher noted “Nicole likes to tell her own stories”. It wasn’t until after the birth of her first child and after having fun on a romance community forum that she finally decided to take the plunge and write a book.

Apart from writing Nicole is busy looking after her very own hero – her wonderfully supportive husband, and two fabulous kids. She also enjoys watching sports and, of course, reading.

Author links:
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram


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Giveaway – Savage City by L Penelope @leslyepenelope @XpressoTours

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Savage City
L. Penelope
(The Bliss Wars, #1)
Publication date: March 31st 2022
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

For Talia, death is only the beginning of survival…

When a tragic accident cuts my lonely life short, instead of heaven or hell, I’m stolen away to a terrifying city of warring shifter clans—the Nimali and the Fai. The Nimali mistake me for their missing princess. Her father, the dragon king, is identical to my own. But in this world, he dotes on me with the love and affection I always craved. And in a land with no tolerance for outsiders, feigning amnesia and impersonating shifter royalty may be the only way to survive.

For Ryin, falling in love is the worst kind of betrayal…

As a Fai warrior in captivity, I’m forced to serve my enemy even as I plot their destruction. The lost princess returned much changed, now the heat between us crackles irresistibly. While helping her heal using my magical talents, I begin to question what I thought I knew about the Nimali. She remains as forbidden as ever, but she also might be the key to freedom for me and my people.

Caught between two enemy factions balancing on the knife-blade of annihilation, our lies are the only thing keeping us alive, but they just might be our undoing.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

—

EXCERPT:

On top of the wall, silence reigns as the soldiers wait for word. We all stare toward the ground, anticipation a dark cloud suspended over us as sharp eyes scan the gloom for either a member of the scouting team that went out an hour ago or a Revoker, red eyes flashing and fangs covered in gristle and blood.

The first person who runs into view is tall and familiar and very much Nimali. His armor is blood spattered, but he appears uninjured. Others sigh audibly in relief, but my jaw tightens. Prince Shad. I wouldn’t have minded if he’d been grievously injured. My daimon silently chastises me for the unkindness, but I can’t help it. There are only two Nimali men who could have killed Dove, and he’s one of them. Until I’m certain it wasn’t him, I have to act like it was.

A bear and a lion are close behind him—part of the prince’s honor guard. The bear’s gait is hampered by a pronounced limp, though she still eats up the ground with long strides. Then my focus returns to the prince. He’s carrying something—someone—over his shoulder like a sack of beans. His bounding steps cross the distance easily, and then he’s at the rope ladder a soldier threw down. He climbs it with one arm while holding what I can see now is an injured woman.

Blood pours down her back from gashes that I’m sure were made by a Revoker’s claws. Her clothing is odd. A short, loose dress, oddly patterned and flimsy—I’ve never seen anything like it before, not on a Nimali or a Fai. Why anyone would go into No Man’s Land without battle armor is a mystery, but the woman is also barefoot. Begrudging respect bubbles up from my chest for the way the prince is able to negotiate the climb with that much dead weight, carried awkwardly. He could have shifted into his other form and flown up, but his own claws might have further injured her. And he is definitely treating her like something special.

The reason becomes clear when he finally gets to the top and one of the soldiers reaches out to help him with his burden. Prince Shad shakes his head and gently lays the woman down on her side, revealing her face.

I’m too far away to see at first, but when the soldiers in front of me gasp and immediately kneel, I get a glimpse. Princess Celena lies there, bloodied and battered. Her rich, chestnut skin is ashen, taking on an almost gray pallor. I’m frozen in place for a moment viewing her small form, her strange, tattered clothing, the odd way she’s braided her hair.

Then I’m shoved hard from behind, stumbling forward through the kneeling men and women.

“Where is the healer?” Prince Shad roars, but I’m already there, crouching down beside the princess. My daimon joins me seconds later, eager to fill me with its essence and lend me its healing power.

Celena’s back is ravaged, the wounds already bubbling with the poison from the Revoker’s talons. They look fresh, so it’s not too late to heal them if I’m quick about it. I hold out my hands and close my eyes, letting my daimon fully take over. Its energy flows through me, using my physical body as a conduit for its power.

Through my daimon, I sense the damage, the torn flesh and the toxins that have already entered her bloodstream. The healing energy pulls the poison out, a sticky black substance that leaks onto the stone of the wall. The flesh, layers of muscle and skin, is knit back together until there isn’t so much as a scar left. I silently thank my daimon and it retreats. Then I open my eyes.

Prince Shad is staring down at his sister. When the blue light of my power retreats, his dark eyes flick up to mine.

“I removed the poison,” I tell him.

“All of it?” I nod. His lips flatten into a grim line. “We’re taking her back to the Citadel. Come with me; the king will want to be sure.”

Author Bio:

L. Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning author of fantasy and paranormal romance. Equally left and right-brained, she studied filmmaking and computer science in college and sometimes dreams in HTML. After living on both coasts, she settled in Maryland with her husband and their furry dependents. Sign up for new release information and giveaways on her website: http://www.lpenelope.com.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub


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