Romance in the Ruins ~ The Calm After the Storm by Mya O’Malley ~ Giveaway

Posted on March 26, 2015 by fundinmental

Welcome to my stop for The Calm After the Storm by Mya O’Malley.

Living on the Gulf Coast, I am familiar with hurricanes. When I read hurricane, I wanted to check this out and share it with others who may be interested. A little romance in the aftermath is not a bad thing. 🙂

Be sure and enter the giveaway below.

Add me to Goodreads now.

The Calm After the Storm by Mya O’Malley

Can true love shine through the darkest storm?

The storm of the century raged through the northeast, causing destruction and despair, millions were left without power and hope. Weeks later, countless people were still devastated by the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, Emma Riley among them.

Determined she didn’t need the help of a man, Emma was convinced that she could brave the aftermath of the storm on her own. That is, until Jake came into her life.

After having suffered heartbreak and embarrassment, Jake Mack, a utility foreman, volunteered to travel north from small town, Georgia to assist with the aftermath of the storm. Jake was decidedly done with women. But he didn’t count on meeting Emma or falling in love so quickly. Can he trust this woman or will his past get in the way and ruin the relationship with the one woman he truly loves?

Amazon

Excerpt from The Calm After the Storm:

Jake and his crew had now been in the suburbs of New York for a few days. His first thought upon entering this area was his surprise at the devastation. Sure, he had heard about the destruction on the news and had seen footage of the aftermath of Sandy, but it still hadn’t prepared him for the actual sight of Sandy’s rage. Telephone poles were down, trees were snapped in two, and houses were completed destroyed by the storm. Seeing all the destruction only strengthened Jake’s resolve that it had been the right thing to come. He felt proud to be able to help out and be a part of the solution to the horrible aftermath of this disaster.

As the day was wrapping up. Jake and Chris met up with some of their crew in the next town to finish one more area before calling it quits. The chill in the air was something that Jake had prepared for, but was not accustomed to. Clutching the new flannel he had purchased right before his trip, he put it on over his thermal shirt. Thankful for his thermos filled with hot coffee, Jake grabbed it but quickly tossed it aside.

“Come on, Chris! I asked you to stop drinking my coffee. Now there’s none left,” he said as he shook his head, irritated at his friend.

Chris looked up at his boss sheepishly. “Sorry, man. I didn’t sleep well last night. I needed some caffeine.”

“Well, that makes two of us.”

They rode until they approached the utility pole that needed attention. Jake and Chris were among the first to arrive and got busy setting up for the job. Within minutes, the rest of the assigned crew trickled in. The workers were now familiar with the details and routine of this job, so for the most part they worked in silence, focused on getting this last job done so that they could grab some dinner and hit the sheets. It was cold and dark, the night chill settling in upon them. Jake supervised and helped his crew perform their individual duties as quickly as possible. As they were just about wrapping things up, Jake headed over to Steve, one of the older guys directing traffic. He looked frail and tired.

“Hey, Steve. I got this. Why don’t you call it a night, huh? We’ll meet you at the hotel for some dinner.”

“Nah, Jake, we’re almost done here. I’m good,” Steve said as he looked up at Jake with glaring dark circles under his eyes.

“Steve, go. I’m serious. Get in a hot shower and we’ll meet up for dinner. Boss’ orders. Now go and take Andy with you,” Jake gestured toward another man on the crew who looked like he was ready for bed.

Shrugging his shoulders, Steve made his way to one of the smaller utility trucks, calling for his co-worker to join him. Jake took over the responsibility of directing traffic, slowing people down and stopping cars when necessary. Yawning, he waved a small SUV along, noticing that the approaching driver was slowing down, much more than necessary. Jake squinted his eyes to get a better look. The car came to a stop when Jake stepped up to it and its window rolled down. Looking back at Jake was a woman who appeared pretty, even in the diminished light. Wait, scratch that—she was stunning, with long, wavy hair and piercing eyes. His heart faltered just a bit.

“Hi. I wanted to thank you guys for all of the hard work that you’ve been doing. We really appreciate you guys coming up here. I think I speak for everyone,” she said as she smiled widely. Her smile hitched his breath ever so slightly. Jake smiled back. This was certainly a change. Since he had been in this area, some people waved, some people smiled, others remained with their eyes straight ahead, but nobody had yet offered any thanks verbally. So different from the Southern hospitality way of life where he grew up, Jake mused.

Here it was different, the pace of life was much faster. People always seemed to be in a rush, and they minded their own business for the most part. Sure, being so close to the big city must be nice and the landscape was quite beautiful at times, but he didn’t think this lifestyle was something he could ever get used to. It seemed too stressful, too impersonal. He would be glad to be back home when his job was finished.

The woman leaned over and offered Jake a box of donuts, disposable coffee cups, and a box of hot coffee. Jake was impressed.

“Thank you, that was very thoughtful!” Jake gushed, thrilled at the idea of hot coffee. He thought he felt warmth spread across his cheeks despite the chill in the air.

The woman stared back and smiled at Jake for a minute and then set her eyes on the road ahead. She waved as she pulled away.

“Wait!” Jake called out. “Wait, what was your name?” But the words were lost. The mysterious woman with the coffee and donuts was long gone.

“Guys!” he called out as his crew worked on cleaning up for the night. “Guys! Our guardian angel just appeared, and she brought coffee!”

The coffee and donuts were gladly received, but the idea that someone would go out of their way to show a random act of kindness truly touched Jake. He felt the warm liquid slide down his throat and knew that he would always remember the woman’s thoughtfulness. Who was he kidding? That woman’s beautiful face was what he would most remember. He just wished that he had gotten her name.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mya O’Malley was born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, where she currently lives with her husband, daughter and three step-daughters. The family also consists of two boxers, named Destiny and Dolce, and a ragdoll cat named Colby. Mya earned an undergraduate degree in special education and a graduate degree in reading and literacy. She works as a special education teacher and enjoys making a difference in the lives of her students.

Mya’s passion is writing; she has been creating stories and poetry since she was a child. She spends her free time reading just about anything she can get her hands on. She is a romantic at heart and loves to create stories with unforgettable characters. Mya likes to travel and has visited several Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and Costa Rica. She is currently working on her sixth novel.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Pinterest

GIVEAWAY

$50 Blast Giveaway

Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 4/16/15

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 readinglight.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Giveaway & Excerpt ~ Heartsearch: Betrayal by Carlie M A Cullen

Posted on February 19, 2015 by fundinmental

I love the covers for the Heartsearch trilogy by Carlie M A Cullen.

They are a brand that is easily recognizable, labeling the books ‘written by Carlie’.

Betrayal_front_cover

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SYNOPSIS

One bite started it all . . .

Joshua, Remy, and the twins are settled in their new life. However, life doesn’t always run smoothly. An argument between Becky and her twin causes unforeseen circumstances, an admission by Samir almost costs him his life, and the traitor provides critical information to Liam. But who is it?

As Jakki’s visions begin to focus on the turncoat’s activities, a member of the coven disappears, and others find themselves endangered.

And when Liam’s coven attacks, who will endure?

Fate continues to toy with mortals and immortals alike, and as more hearts descend into darkness, can they overcome the dangers they face and survive?

EXCERPT

Joshua looked at the artefact and traced the swirls on the hilt with his index finger absentmindedly. What was it the book said? He leaned forward to check the wording. ‘Infuse the blade with his own blood’. That’s what he needed to do to protect himself. Without a second thought or any hesitation, he drew the dagger across the palm of his hand, opening a deep cut. Allowing the blood to pool, Joshua then placed the blade in it and watched with fascination as it absorbed the fluid without a trace.

When all the blood had gone, Joshua held the hilt in his uninjured hand and stared at the wound he had inflicted. All that remained was a pink line, the cut had completely closed and healed.

Abruptly, a mild vibration like a low voltage electric current eased through the knife and into his hand. It wasn’t painful or unpleasant, just a tingling effect. He gripped the handle tighter, wondering what would happen next. A surge of power coursed through his entire body, rocking him back in his seat. If the chair had been less sturdy, it would have toppled backward and taken Joshua with it.

As the effects of the power took hold of Joshua his lips peeled back into a wide grin. There was no amusement in his face or eyes; it was the maniacal leer one saw on the faces of villains in movies just before they committed a heinous act.

He sat forward, his head held high. The muscles of his back, shoulders, and arms rippled and spasmed. He bared his fangs as the sensation both thrilled and amazed him in equal measure.

Holy shit! This is almost as good as sex, he thought, chuckling to himself. The intense awareness of invincibility and strength, as the dagger’s sublime energy connected with every molecule in his body was intoxicating and addictive.

Joshua rose. Stretching to his full height, he stood to attention like a Grenadier Guard on duty at Buckingham Palace and lifted his chin. In a voice filled with wonder, awe, and an abundance of conviction and self-belief, he announced, “I am a God!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carlie M A Cullen was born in London. She grew up in Hertfordshire where she first discovered her love of books and writing.

She has always written in some form or another, but started to write novels in 2011. Her first book was published by Myrddin Publishing in 2012. She writes in the Fantasy/Paranormal Romance genres for New Adult and Adult.

Carlie is also a principal editor for Eagle Eye Editors.

Carlie also holds the reins of a writing group called Writebulb. They have published four anthologies so far, two for adults and two for children, all of which raise money for a local hospice.

Carlie currently lives in Essex, UK with her daughter.

Website / Twitter: @carlie2011c / Facebook / Linkedin / Amazon / About.me

Wattpad / Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

These are a few of the awesome gifts! Aren’t they beautiful?

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Find the Carlie Cullen Heartsearch series on Amazon by clicking on the covers below.

Review of Heartsearch: Lost, Book I

Guest post for Heartsearch: Found, Book II

Review of Heartsearch: Found: Book II

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Growl by Ashley Fontainne ~ Review & Excerpt

Posted on February 2, 2015 by fundinmental

OOOO, such a beautiful and eerie cover.

I have a special affinity to trees and I would love to wander through the swamp.

I can hardly wait to get to the story inside.

Me thinks, that is not so beautiful. LOL

Title: Growl
Author: Ashley Fontainne
Publisher: RMSW Press
Pages: 315
Genre: Gothic Horror/Suspense
Format: Paperback/Kindle

Purchase at AMAZON

MY REVIEW

I saw the cover and knew this was a book I would have to get my hands on. I mean, those eyes, they ‘speak’ to me. The font drips and oozes badness into the murky water of the swamp. 😈 I have an idea of what lies between the pages and I am very eager to begin reading. I can hardly wait to get all the gory details. The story got my attention from the beginning and held me captive until the end.

S.I.N was an appropriate name for her. Sheryl Ilena Newcomb had been a cheerleader and flaunted her sexuality. It was an era of love and she and her peers gave and received it freely. She did the normal things teenage girls do, worked, studied, played and fell in love. She’d had only one boyfriend and their dream was to escape the small town they grew up in.

But that was not to be.

It had begun when she was nine years old and she never could have imagined what the future held for her.

Three months later and the memories were fading. They are taken their toll, both mentally and psychically. She was learning to live with her inner monster. The ordeal had left her physically damaged, she had lost an eye and the physical scars would never disappear. She learned to compensate for its loss. The family had hid all evidence of the event at Caney Creek in a small town called Junction City,Mississippi.

Now, she is the guardian, the protector. It is her job to pass on the knowledge to the next one. She writes it all down, hoping it will be a panacea, so she can rebuild her life, her life in Junction City, Mississippi.

Ashley’s writing is outstanding. I was able to feel the little girls terror as she lay in bed, alone, the monster determined to take her, and only her cat, Tinker, to save her. I can smell the competing smells at the wake. It reminds me of fairs and carnivals, where there are so many overwhelming smells, even when I am starving, I find it hard to eat anything. I hear the generations of Kovlin women, all talking at the same time, competing against each other to be heard.

I love the story and the twists Ashley puts in. I did not see the biggest surprise of all coming and Ashley gave me a good one near the end. I had my thoughts, but I didn’t take them as far as Ashley did.

I love the Native American reference to their belief in tokens, animal guardians. The mixture of mysticism, religion and the paranormal are just the right blend to make this a novel a huge success. I would highly recommend Growl by Ashley Fontainne.

This is not just S.I.N.’s story, but mankind’s.

4 Stars – Would Highly Recommend To Others

SYNOPSIS

My name is Sheryl Ilene Newcomb. And yes, my initials are S.I.N. A funny little piece of whimsical humor my parents found amusing when I arrived.

Then, it turned out to be true. Looking back with wiser eyes now, my family and I concluded that the events leading up to my transformation started the summer I turned nine. But the day we realized there was a problem, and no turning back, was a week before I started my senior year at Junction City High. The day the fangs and claws appeared and the monster inside of me emerged.

When mutilated corpses appeared near a pile of brush down by Caney Creek, everything changed. Because evil woke up and growled, its ominous rumblings heard by every living thing in Locasia County, Mississippi.

EXCERPT

It was all over—for now. The ending completed, and the living nightmare of what happened in our sleepy little town nothing more than a permanent stain embedded in my mind and body. I stared at the words on the page, the white paper covered in bright blue ink. The empty pages behind it waited, impatient for me to add more. They sat in mocking silence on the desk in front of me. A twinge of apprehension slithered up my back.

What am I doing?

During the last three months, I thought I’d done a decent job of stopping the memories. None of what happened was something anyone could be prepared to endure. No longer did the vile sounds and unbelievable images pop up during the middle of the day. I felt a sense of pride I stopped them without the use of medication. With the support of my mom and dad and the Lord above, I worked daily to bury the horrific events.

I shivered at the disturbing recollections. When the crystal clear images of the final battle exploded inside my head, they turned my slender torso into a shivering pile of goose bumps. I was unable to stop the screams of agony and anger when my mind replayed the events at night. Physical and mental anguish would slam into my body and soul as I fought not only the animal inside of me, but the one that stared at me from inside my mind.

The eerie visions of the final confrontation were as terrifying in my mind’s eye as the actual day they occurred. Dark, jade-green eyes lit from within bored through my own with their anticipatory killing stare. The growl from its furry throat would seem as loud in my memories as it did when it happened. The flexed muscles of the creature jerked in its readiness to shred me down to a bloody pile of mush. The bright moon’s rays shimmered off of its stark white fangs. One swipe of the enormous paw or bite from the strong jaws would end it all. My cries of sorrow erupted at night when the images of the dismembered corpses appeared inside my mind. They were seared into my memory banks. I hadn’t experienced a moment of heart-stopping, frozen-to-one-spot freakouts in two months during the daytime. I whittled them down to only haunting my dreams at night.

Progress, plain and simple.

A sound caught my attention, so I lifted my stare from the ruled, white paper on the desk and looked out my bedroom window. My sharp, one-eyed gaze glanced over to the pool and settled on the old, rusty swing at the edge of our backyard. I recalled with a slight smile the day last week when I took my first step out of the house and sat outside for almost an hour. The warmth of the sun and the gentle urges of my mother’s voice lured me into the water—at least the shallow end. I considered it a big leap in my recovery progress since I had developed a strong distaste for water. I had sat on the bottom step, the cool water barely up to my shins, and fought the urge to run back inside and lock myself inside my bedroom. The task of quelling my paralyzing fears had taken every ounce of mental strength to overcome. It was beyond weird at my age, but I felt safe in my adolescent bedroom. It was my territory. But I also knew it would become my prison if I didn’t learn to live outside its four walls again. Like a normal, sane person lives.

A quiet snicker from my lips bounced off the walls of my room. Sanity. Normalcy. Those ships sailed away eons ago, pulled under the dark waters of the mighty Mississippi River, never to be seen again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning and International bestselling author Ashley Fontainne is an avid reader of mostly the classics. Ashley became a fan of the written word in her youth, starting with the Nancy Drew mystery series. Stories that immerse the reader deep into the human psyche and the monsters that lurk within us are her favorite reads.

Her muse for penning the Eviscerating the Snake series was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Ashley’s love for this book is what sparked her desire to write her debut novel, Accountable to None, the first book in the trilogy. With a modern setting to the tale, Ashley delves into just what lengths a person is willing to go when they seek personal justice for heinous acts perpetrated upon them. The second novel in the series, Zero Balance focuses on the cost and reciprocal cycle that obtaining revenge has on the seeker. For once the cycle starts, where does it end? How far will the tendrils of revenge expand? Adjusting Journal Entries answered that question: far and wide.

Her short thriller entitled Number Seventy-Five, touches upon the sometimes dangerous world of online dating. Number Seventy-Five took home the BRONZE medal in fiction/suspense at the 2013 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards contest and is currently in production for a feature film.

Her paranormal thriller entitled The Lie, won the GOLD medal in the 2013 Illumination Book Awards for fiction/suspense and is also in production for a feature film.

The suspenseful mystery Empty Shell, released September 29, 2014. Ashley then delves into the paranormal with a Southern Gothic horror/suspense novel, Growl, scheduled for release in the Spring of 2015. Plus, she will be teaming up with Lillian Hansen (Ashley calls her Mom!) to pen a three-part murder mystery/suspense series entitled The Magnolia Series. The first book, Blood Ties, is due out the Summer of 2015.

Ashley also hosts The WriteStuff, a popular BlogTalk Radio show, each Friday night at 10 p.m. CST.

For More Information

Visit Ashley’s website.
Connect with Ashley on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Ashley at Goodreads.
Visit Ashley’s blog.
Contact Ashley.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

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New Release & Giveaway ~ Afterlife of Alanna Miller by Demelza Carlton

Posted on January 15, 2015 by fundinmental

I have read some of Demelza Carlton’s work and have loved it all.

I am really excited to share her this series with you and learn about it myself.

This will be a MUST READ for me!

I will be starting with the first one and you can get it for free here.

AFTERLIFE OF ALANNA MILLER

(Book Three in the Nightmares Trilogy)

By Demelza Carlton

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Synopsis:

Five years ago, Nathan’s world came crashing down. The witness protection program stole the woman he loved and now he’s lost everything – including hope that she’s still alive. His security job is a daily reminder of the girl he failed to protect, dragging him deeper into despair.

Forced to assume the identity of a dead girl, Caitlin struggles to rise from the ruins of the life she lost. A career change summons her home, but Perth isn’t the safe haven it seems. Someone is hunting her – one of her kidnappers, a long-lost relative or another terrorist with an axe to grind?

When nightmares from their past threaten to engulf Nathan and Caitlin, can a broken hero and a girl living another woman’s afterlife finally fight their way free?

Purchase from Amazon

Trailer for Afterlife

Or watch it HERE

Afterlife Excerpt

“I know something you won’t miss about Melbourne,” Jo said as she peered through the window.

The packing tape made a tortured sound as I used it to seal another box. “What? The ever-changing weather?” I scrawled BOOKS across the top of the box with my marker, then decided to label the sides, too.

“No. The commute to uni. Squeezed into a packed train carriage with all those crazed commuters, forcing yourself not to freak out at the sheer number of strangers touching you…I’ve seen your face on the train. It’s like you’re trying not to scream.”

I smiled wanly. Trying not to stab someone, actually. Five years and my skin still crawled if anyone touched me. Maybe I should have become a nun, not a doctor. No, I wouldn’t be allowed to carry a knife everywhere if I were a nun. Plus, there was the matter of having killed people…”I’ll be able to walk to work now. I told you that apartment next to the hospital was a good investment.”

She stuck her tongue out. “I’m an accountant, not an investment adviser. But I still think you should’ve rented it out this year, before you moved in. Six months’ rent is a lot of money to throw away…”

It wasn’t about the money. It was about having my own space, brand new, that no one else had lived in or done things in. A place without a past so I could create my own future there. Of course I picked Perth. After so much time away, I wanted to go home. With a new name, a new career and a whole new life…but it was home. Someone else’s afterlife…haunting the place where I’d nearly died. It was fitting. Every time I looked at St Elsie’s Hospital next door, I’d remember my time there as a patient and hopefully have more sympathy for my patients. Or go to pieces and be admitted to the psychiatric ward.

No, I told myself. I was prepared to go back and face any demons that I hadn’t slaughtered in the past. Given they were probably on their last legs after their last encounter with me, it’d be an act of mercy to put them out of their misery. Euthanasia, even, though that wasn’t legal in Western Australia.

A blurry hand waved before my eyes. “Hello? Are you even listening to me?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Jo. I should have been.”

“I hope you introduce me to him soon, because any man who can make you daydream that deeply has to be drool-worthy. I want to know his name, his bank balance and how many times in a night.”

“How many…?” My eyes widened as her hands eloquently described fast-paced sex. “None, Jo. If I’d slept with a man, I’d have told you.”

She sighed, the deep sort that said her heart ached for me. “It’s been five years. No one can go that long without wanting sex. I know you got hurt, but I know you slept with that sleazy guy in Perth, which means you’re hardly afraid of intimacy if you let him touch you. Now, I know you’re not pining away for him, so why haven’t you even flirted with anyone else?”

Because I don’t want anyone to touch me. And when the man who’s saved your life several times over, risked his own life and his sanity, plus killed for you and stayed at your side until you recovered, believes he’s not good enough for you, you start to believe that no one will be. Why would I settle for a one-night stand with someone who wouldn’t kill for me?

Six years ago, I’d have told Jo all of this, but now I couldn’t. After what happened, some stories were best left untold. And I’m not sure she’d look at me the same way if she knew about the people I’d killed, Even if they did deserve it.

“I haven’t met the right one,” I replied curtly. “I’m looking for a hero who’s not just Prince Charming.”

Jo grinned. “A knight in shining armour and awe-inspiring sword skills?” Her hands described the size and nature of his sword.

“A knight, maybe, but with dented armour and maybe scorch marks up the side, to show he’s taken on an army and he’d walk through fire for me. A sword with a few nicks in it, so I know it’s not just for show. And later, when we’re alone, he’d take it all off and he’d make me feel like I was his whole world.”
She burst out laughing. “So, you’re after Sir Perfect with experience? Men like that don’t exist. You might get some of it, but not everything. Just as long as you don’t settle for some sleazy bastard who fools you into thinking he’s perfect, I guess.”

BOOK ONE

Nightmares Of Caitlyn Lockyer

Synopsis

Six months ago, Nathan’s sister was brutally murdered.

Now the former playboy desires only one thing: revenge.

Late at night, Nathan trudges down the beach where his sister’s body was found. He’s searching for answers, but all he finds is a new nightmare: another girl’s tortured body.

Only this one isn’t dead . . . yet.

The unlikely hero becomes the prime suspect. Saving Caitlin’s life was just the start. Nathan must win her trust and unlock the memories hidden in her nightmares to find out who’s really responsible . . .before it’s too late.

Purchase FREE on Amazon

BOOK TWO

Necessary Evil Of Nathan Miller

Synopsis

“And now in breaking news, Caitlin Lockyer has been found. In the early hours of this morning, a man discovered her body dumped on a south-west beach. A police spokesperson would not confirm whether the girl known as the Absent Angel is alive or dead…”

Caitlin wakes in hospital, her damaged body telling a brutal story of torture, kidnap and rape that she will never forget. Her only lifeline is Nathan, the mysterious man who saved her life and promised to protect her. But Nathan is a broken man, hounded by his own demons and secrets he can’t bear to tell.

Burning for retribution, Caitlin will stop at nothing to get her life back. Can she trust Nathan to help her – or will his past destroy them both?

Purchase from Amazon

About the Author:

Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.

She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray-drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.

Sensationalist spin? No – Demelza tends to take a camera with her so she can capture and share the moment later; shipwrecks, sharks and all.

Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.

The Ocean’s Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by the Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn’t leave her alone.

The suggested reading order for each series is as follows:

Turbulence and Triumph series:

Ocean’s Justice

Ocean’s Trial

Ocean’s Triumph

Ocean’s Gift series:

Ocean’s Gift

Ocean’s Infiltrator

Water and Fire

Ocean’s Depths (to be released in 2015)

Nightmares Trilogy:

Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer

Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller

Afterlife of Alanna Miller

Mel Goes to Hell series:

Welcome to Hell

See You in Hell

Mel Goes to Hell

To Hell and Back (to be released on 1 February 2015)

The Holiday From Hell (to be released on 26 March 2015)

If you’d like more information about the background behind her books, you can visit her website at: demelzacarlton.com

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New Release ~ Body Market by DV Berkom with Excerpt & Book Trailer

Posted on December 22, 2014 by fundinmental

DV Berkom has a new novel available, Body Market, A Leine Basso thriller.

If you like a strong female protagonist, this series is for you.

Leine Basso kicks ass and takes names.

Will yours be one of them?

Check out the awesome cover!!

SYNOPSIS

A retired assassin is called in when a celebration south of the border turns into a nightmare.

Former assassin Leine Basso is hired by a wealthy Beverly Hills power couple to find their missing daughter, Elise, last seen partying with her boyfriend at a club in Tijuana. At first, police believe the two teenagers are the victims of a carjacking. But when Leine finds their missing vehicle with the boyfriend’s mutilated body inside, and the local cartel warns her away, she knows if Elise isn’t already dead, she will be soon, or worse.

In the lethal world of organized crime, there’s always a worse.

As Leine races to uncover the reason behind Elise Bennett’s disappearance, she must also battle the powerful interests fighting to keep her from the truth.

CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME BOOK TRAILER

I love hot, fast cars and this one is talking loud and clear to me.

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1

LEINE BASSO CROUCHED in the shadows next to the hulking metal shipping container. The odor of oil mixed with hydraulic fluid and diesel clashed with the briny sea air. Bright spotlights pierced the darkness casting a harsh yellow hue over the container yard. Leine checked her watch: eleven o’clock. Only three hours before the China Blue Star was scheduled to leave port for Hong Kong.

Three hours to find one shipping container in a massive sea of identical containers.

Lou paid off the security guard, which gave Leine only a short window to find the container before he released the dogs.

She adjusted the fit of the pack, tightening the straps so it molded to her body. She’d pared down the equipment as much as she could, but it was never enough.

C’mon, Lou. Give me some good news.

She closed her eyes and imagined the young face in the photograph. A lead from the trafficker’s hard drive had led her to a seaport currently run by cartel thugs on the west coast of Mexico. She hoped she wasn’t too late.

Three hours.

“Leine.” Lou’s voice came over the wireless earpiece.

“I’m here,” she replied.

“Left, three aisles, number fourteen-thirty-four-twelve.”

“Got it.” Gun drawn and keeping to the shadows, Leine moved along first one aisle, then another, searching for shipping container 143412.

There it is.

Stacked three high, the 40 foot-long steel boxes loomed above her. The one she was looking for was stacked 40 feet in the air on top of two other boxes. She moved to the end of the bottom container and reached for a handhold. Before she could grab the next one, someone seized her pack and yanked her off, slamming her back-first into the pavement. Her nine millimeter skittered across the asphalt, disappearing in the darkness between two containers. The impact took her breath away, the pain from a recent rib injury spiking through her like a spear.

Leine rolled, narrowly missing a kick to the face. She grabbed her attacker’s foot and gave it a vicious twist. The assailant corkscrewed and landed on his side with a grunt.

Ignoring the deep ache in her side and with adrenaline fueling her, she sprang to her feet and kicked the gun from his hand.

The weapon pinged off the side of the container and bounced into the shadows, out of sight. Before she could get clear, he scissored his legs and caught her at the knees. She sprawled forward.

This time she couldn’t ignore the pain.

Winded, she slid a knife free from the sheath attached to her leg. She pushed off the ground, rolling to a crouch as her opponent climbed to his feet, a knife in his hand. He lunged forward. Leine parried with a thrust to his throat. At the last second, he ducked.

They circled each other like roosters in a cockfight, both acutely aware of the weapon in their opponent’s grip. Leine feinted left and rushed forward, scoring a direct hit on the man’s shoulder, slicing through the black fabric of his shirt and drawing blood. He pivoted and came at her from the side but she rotated her torso, narrowly missing a slash to her kidney. She turned to face him as he came at her again. At the last second she stepped wide, allowing him to slip past her. Using his own momentum, she shoved him forward. He stumbled a few steps, recovered, and spun to face her.

Leine swept her arm forward in an arc and released the knife. The blade buried itself in his eye socket, a scream dying in his throat as his hand flew reflexively to his face. He collapsed to the ground as he exhaled his last breath.

“Leine. What’s going on? Are you okay?” Usually unflappable, the sharpness in Lou’s voice betrayed his concern, even over the radio.

“I’m fine.” Her hand supporting her now-throbbing rib, she leaned over the body with a grimace and extracted the knife, wiping the blade on the dead man’s shirt. The tattoos on his forearm suggested cartel affiliation. Leine doubted he was working alone. “Just some unexpected company.”

“Did you find the container?”

Leine scanned the metal boxes above her.

“Got it.”

“I don’t have to tell you to be careful, right?”

“No, but it’s nice to know you care.”

Leine grabbed the man’s legs and gritted her teeth as she dragged the body into the dark gap between containers. She removed his transmitter, turned off the voice activation, and slid on the earpiece. She didn’t want the next gunman to come along and sound the alarm before she had a chance to subdue him. After she retrieved the weapons she checked to see that the body couldn’t be observed from the aisle. Satisfied, she walked back to container 143412.

With a quick glance to be sure the fight hadn’t attracted company, she latched onto a vertical handle at the end of the first container, wedged her toe onto a hinge, and began to climb.

As she was preparing to hoist herself up and over the top of the container, she heard movement below her and froze.

“Where are you?” the voice muttered in Spanish, clear enough for Leine to hear through the transmitter.

She craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the man below her. Compact in bearing and dressed in black like the man she’d just killed, instead of a knife he carried a modified sub machine gun.

“Answer me,” he snapped into his earpiece. When he received no reply, the man stepped over the smear of blood left by his compatriot. It looked like he might continue on when he abruptly stopped. Leine held her breath. If he glanced down, he’d notice the blood. With her left foot wedged onto the barest of toeholds and gripping the top of the container with her left hand, Leine slid her gun out of its holster, ready to fire—something she was loath to do since the sound would bring others.

The man pivoted 180 degrees, scanning the area, his gun in front of him. Leine ignored the muscles screaming in her left hand as the metal cut into her flesh.

He stood still for another moment, observing his surroundings. After a few seconds, he touched his earpiece.

“He’s not here.” The person at the other end acknowledged the transmission. “I’ll keep looking,” the gunman said as he moved out of Leine’s line of sight.

She released her breath in a quiet sigh and slid the gun back into her shoulder holster. With her right hand now free, she grabbed onto the top of the container, relieving her left hand. She waited a couple of beats to make sure the gunman was clear and then pulled herself up and over.

The higher vantage point worked well to monitor the yard. When the other gunman had traveled far enough that he wouldn’t hear her, Leine shrugged out of her pack and set it aside. She stretched flat onto her belly and put her ear to the container. There was no discernible movement inside.

That didn’t mean much.

“I’m on the roof,” she said in a low voice.

“Hear anything?” Lou asked.

“No.”

Leine unzipped the main compartment of the bag and pulled out a battery pack and a mini plasma cutter and placed them on the roof beside her. Next, she reached into another compartment for a fiber optic night vision camera and a collapsible light hood.

She deployed the hood and marked the area to be cut, then flipped the plasma cutter’s switch to on and adjusted the amps. Angling the tip as she cut, the small hole took only a few minutes. Turning off the cutter, she stowed it back inside the pack along with the hood.

Alert for movement on the ground below her, she activated the camera and fed the probe through the hole, watching the video feed on the small LCD monitor as she did. At first, all she could make out were the metal ribs of the container. She fed the line further into the dark interior and a moment later the camera swept past an object. Leine pulled up on the scope to get a better look. The object moved. Two tiny light circles appeared and blinked off and on.

As she angled the camera for a better view, she realized she was looking at a dark-haired girl huddled in the corner, her eyes glowing dots in the camera’s lens. Leine pulled back for a wider shot. Dozens of bodies came into focus, placed side by side on the floor of the container with no room between them. Most were lying prone—except for the young girl.

“I’ve got something,” Leine said into the mic.

Lou let out a sigh as though he’d been holding his breath.

Another girl, this one with light-colored hair, sat up and looked first at the girl in the corner and then at the camera.
Leine’s heart beat faster. From what she could tell, she matched the picture.

Amy.

“Is she there?” Lou’s clipped tone gave away his anxiety.

“Yeah. I think so. And she’s not alone.”

Leine relaxed her shoulders, relief flooding through her.

“Let’s get them out of here, Lou.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Image of D.V. Berkom DV Berkom is a slave to the voices in her head. As the author of two popular thriller series (Leine Basso and Kate Jones), her love of creating resilient, kick-*ss female characters stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, mysteries, and thrillers, and longing to find the female equivalent within those pages.

Raised in the Midwest, she received her BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Many, many cross-country moves (and several years) later, she now lives just outside of Seattle, Washington with the love of her life, Mark, an ex-chef-turned contractor, and writes every chance she gets.

For more information, please visit her website at www.dvberkom.com.

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Author Pages

Amazon / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / itunes / Kobo

The Kate Jones Thriller Series, Vol. 1 box set (includes the 1st four novellas in the series) is now available for $3.99,

(The Kate Jones Thriller Series, Vol. 2 includes Cruising for Death (#5), Yucatan Dead, and A One Way Ticket To Dead, is now available for $8.99 (bought separately they would be 12.99)

Check out all these beautiful covers for the Kate Jones thrillers by DV Berkom.

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Teaser Tuesday #23 – Are Mermaids Real? – Ocean’s Justice by Demelza Carlton

Posted on September 16, 2014 by fundinmental

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page.

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Demelza Carlton has a new series and it is a whale of a tale.

(Ocean’s Gift – Turbulence and Triumph Series, #1)

These are prequels to the Ocean’s Gift Series.

I love how she throws in some of the Ocean’s Justice, so beware.

Look at this awesome cover.

Does it speak to you like it does to me?

MY REVIEW

Yippee! Another mermaid story, Ocean’s Justice by Demelza Carlton.

A humorous and sexy introduction to Demelza’s new Ocean’s Justice series. Recommended for adults.

This novella only took me a couple of hours. I was curious, happy, sad and left wanting MORE.

I love a kickass female protagonist, no matter WHAT she is!

A woman on a ship of superstitious men cannot be good. But she has two men that will do whatever they can to see that she is okay and stays that way.

William McGregor pulled her from the sea. He quickly becomes her protector, her hero. Little does he know, she can take care of herself. He is a gentleman and proves that chivalry still exists.

Charlie, the embarrassed young man, whose clothes she wears, has a serious crush on her.

Allchin – what a great name for the cook. Hints at the humor in Demelza’s wonderful tale.

She is in a world where she knows nothing and cannot communicate. Where did she come from?

Her introduction to chocolate is a sensual one.

Her first taste of rum was a doozy.

Demelza Carlton has a way with words. Her descriptions are vivid and place me right in the middle of the action, like a fly on the wall.

I love her blend of savagery and humor. Even during the worst parts, I usually have a smile on my face. I hope that doesn’t tell my badness.

At the end of the novella, Demelza asks, “What is your favorite part of the story?” It’s hard to choose just one.

I smiled through so much, I will have to say, the part that put tears in my eyes. BUT, I cannot tell you that part. You will have to find out for yourself. If you love mermaids, Ocean’s Justice is a MUST READ.

I wanted to be able to say, “Tell me what hurts, you great big baby, so I know what to tend first.”

5 STARS Would Buy It For Them (lol)

SYNOPSIS

Cast adrift on the Indian Ocean, eighteen-year-old Maria is saved by the crew of the steamship Trevessa.

She can’t tell them her tragic tale, so the superstitious sailors make up their own stories – and some would sacrifice her to the seas to save themselves from the coming storm.

Scottish engineer William McGregor boarded the Trevessa in search of adventure. He finds a crew convinced their ship is cursed, as he fights to protect the mysterious girl and bring her safely to shore.

When the sharks start circling and the storm closes in, are sirens more than just a myth?

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Demelza Carlton’s Mel Goes To Hell Series is fantastic.

I love this series and you can check out my review links below.

5 STAR Review – Mermaids walk among us – Ocean’s Gift by Demelza Carlton

There is more to this series that I have placed high on my TBR list (sigh).

My 5 STAR Review – Freakin Friday #17 Mini Review for Welcome to Hell by Demelza Carlton FREE

My 5 STAR Review – What is it like to work in Hell – Find out by reading See you in Hell by Demelza Carlton

My 5 STAR Review – Is there Redemption for the Baddest of All – Mel Goes To Hell by Demelza Carlton

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Do you believe in mermaids? 😉

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Sharkman is Alive and he is Coming for You, says Steve Alten

Posted on September 4, 2014 by fundinmental

Steve Alten is a New York Times Bestselling Author.

I am a huge fan of his Meg series and am eager to catch a glimpse of Sharkman.

If you are a shark lover, or just liked to be creeped out, check out his newest upcoming release.

Sharkman by Steve Alten is available for preorder now.

Click on the cover below for an awesome adventure into the Meg Series by Steve Alten.

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Harry Potter meet Hope – Killer’s Instinct by Dawn Dalton & Judith Graves – Review

Posted on August 27, 2014 by fundinmental

KILLER’S INSTINCT by Dawn Dalton & Judith Graves

Genre: Young Adult/Paranormal

The cover of Killer’s Instinct made me very curious about the story inside.

Harry Potter step aside, there’s a new girl in town and her name is Hope.

Sooooo, let’s head to the Most Wanted Monster school and learn the tools of the trade with Hope and her crew.

Cover designer: Gaetano Pezillo

Photo: Siiri Kumari

Model: Johanna Taiger

Interior Art: Jeff Dalton

MY REVIEW of Killer’s Instinct by Dawn Dalton and Judith Graves

I did a tour for Killer’s Instinct a short while ago, because it sounded right up my alley. And we will be spending some time in alleys. I didn’t have time to review it then, but Judith Graves offered me a copy for review. Thank you so much Judith. I really wanted to read this.

OMG, I was right about Killer’s Instinct. I love it. It started out okay, but by the end I was bummed that I had no more to read. It is a young adult, paranormal novel that even us older folks can love.

I love the title, but the cover is creepy good. I saw the synopsis and it made me think of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. I was so looking forward to a fun adventure and I found it.

A teenage girl is determined to hunt down her zombie mom. I can read a bunch of psychological crap into that. LOL As she walks the streets, searching, she finds her training is not enough to battle the monsters she runs across. So it’s off to school……

Most Wanted Monsters Organization, like Hotel California, you can never leave.

Hope is special. She sees dead people. She can see behind the monsters mask. She was older than her years. She never had time to watch movies and read anything other than books her Dad thought she needed to be a hunter. Her defense had been avoidance, don’t let them know she could see them.

Hope – a hunter. She is strong, impulsive and alone.

Caddoc – privileged, arrogant and cowardly. His dad had been a hunter until he turned into an overweight drunk and drove his mother away.

Hyde – a fighter, a loner and full of rage. His parents gave him an ultimatum. It was either the psych ward or Le Manoir.

Kain – a machine, not social, as emotionless as a bioroid. He is a nerd, smart, strong, and dependable. His mother had died and his dad had dumped him at an orphange.

The jock, the geek, the rebel and the freak.

Why were such an unlikely group teamed together?

They were all fighting their inner demons and I saw early on they would come together.

As I read on, I began to wonder if there was more going on than meets the eye. Maybe the food wasn’t the only thing that was fake at La Manoir.

I am really enjoying Killer’s Instinct now, at 57%. It is written with a young adult Harry Potter feel, but the story is changing and coming together in a way I never saw. I am excited for the group. I can see all their potential……..maybe even their future.

Would Hope’s childish, impulsive need to prove herself turn out to be what saves them all? Reality was so much different from stories – the werewolves were bigger, the vampires meaner and their teeth sharper.

Imagine a vamp mesmerizing you, his gaze holding yours and you are unable to look away. His teeth gently brush against your neck as the hairs rise on your nape. A werewolf hovers over you, his saliva dripping off his teeth onto your face.

Zombies attacking vamps, heads falling, biting, chomping, blood and gore flying, slipping and sliding in body parts, the smell of blood and burnt flesh making it hard to draw a breath.

Sometimes the POV change confused me, but I quickly adjusted and read on.

I sit here, finished, trying to think of how to tell you how amazed I am at the writing and creative storyline. I never saw the story reaching such momentum that I hated for it to be over. I thought it would be a fun, young adult read for a summer day, but boy did it go down a different road. Harry Potter on steroids. The action is gruesome, but it is written in such a way that it does not make me cringe. I almost border on laughter at times. Written as if it could be included in a Supernatural, Sam and Dean, episode. ALMOST humorous.

“You have developed a Killer’s Instinct, Hope, but you must be prepared to face the consequences.”

5 Stars – Would Buy It For Them (lol)

KILLER’S INSTINCT

SYNOPSIS

Where there is NO life – there’s HOPE.

Hope sees beyond the veil to where the dead walk among the living — creepy flashes from a never-ending macabre dream. But when her mother crawls from the grave and her zombified corpse goes MIA, Hope’s last thread of normal snaps with a vengeance.

Enrolling in a militia-style school for monster hunters seems her best bet for tracking down Mommy-dearest and putting what’s left of her mom to rest. But does Hope have a true killer’s instinct? The stakes are raised when she’s partnered with three unique male recruits, each with their own personal demons to slay if they want to survive basic training. In a place like Le Manoir, all bets are off.

Pick up a print or eBook version right now!

AMAZON

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dawn Dalton is the author of creepy young adult fiction. When she isn’t dodging monsters, you can find her at creepy crossroads with her husband and two hounds — you know, just skulking around. Dawn also writes adult thriller, romantic suspense ad contemporary young adult under the last name Ius. She is represented by Mandy Hubbard at D4EO Literary Agency.

BLOG | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM: DawnDalton

Judith Graves has multiple young adult novels and short stories published with Leap Books, Orca Book Publishers, Compass Press, and, under the pen name, Judith Tewes, is also published with Bloomsbury Spark. In addition, Judith is abscreenwriter and playwright, writes freelance articles for literary magazines, and facilitates writing workshops for both adults and young adults.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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Click on the cover to get your Amazon copy of Killer’s Instinct by Dawn Dalton and Judith Graves,

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There’s a new Vampire in Town – Love Without Blood by Raz Steel

Posted on August 20, 2014 by fundinmental

Love Without Blood is the debut novel by Raz Steel – the only male finalist in Romantic Times 2006-2007 American Title Contemporary Romance Contest for previously unpublished authors.

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Montlake Romance (June 25, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 147780840X / ISBN-13: 978-1477808405
Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars – 22 reviews

Raz Steel’s Website

MY REVIEW

Love Without Blood by Raz Steel is a fun and original slant on a vampire romance fantasy novel. The characters include Dr Lara West, a surgeon, a male vampire pretending to be gay, a gay male nurse who knows his secret and his parents, an evil vampire, and a government agency with an vampire agenda. Let the hunt begin.

“Dr West. I came to your house because I can’t go to a hospital. do what you can for me.”

And that is how Dr Lara West begins her journey into the world of vampires.

Lara’s dream was to be the youngest Chief of Emergency at Jefferson Memorial, smack in the middle of gangbanger territory. But she has something else to be afraid of.

A vampire working in a hospital and pretending to be gay, this has got to be good.

Raz Steel shifts the point of view between the past and the present, then and now. It caught me by surprise and confused me for a while, but I quickly caught on and became captured in the story.

She is approached and recruited by Jake Plummer after her run-in with Robert, the vampire who appeared at her home demanding she remove a bullet and then proceeding to set her house on fire with her in it. Jake works for the WPAVU – Witness Protect Agency Vampire Unit and recruits her, telling her he will keep her safe.

In the beginning it didn’t really make a lot of sense and kept repeating itself, scene after scene. I couldn’t understand her wilingness to go along with everything. Then I thought, it’s a novel, just let it go and let’s see where the story takes me.

I can’t help but laugh at Bobby/Roberre, even though he is quite the monster.

Lara seems to be the “dumb blond”, if you know what I mean, but she goes on and on, like the energizer bunny,

I know they will all cross paths and I think I know what’s coming. I am curious to find out if I am right. I can’t help but look at this in a comical way, like Supernatural and Buffy. You know, monsters, but having a good time chasing them. Gruesome, yet funny. Well, I was close to predicting the outcome, but there is a surprise or two and I definitely enjoyed the ride to the end. I would be interested in reading more about this team of hunters.

I won Love Without Blood by Raz Steel (a first edition paperback) in a giveaway. My thanks go out to Laura at fuonlyknew.

3 Stars – Would Recommend To Others

Click on the cover below to get your Amazon copy of Love Without blood by Raz Steel

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The Spotlight is on The Jones Men by Vern E Smith – Book Blast Giveaway

Posted on August 4, 2014 by fundinmental

I am originally from Flint, Michigan, which is just around the corner from Detroit. I am very familiar with the Detroit area, so when I saw this book, I had to share it with you. I love crime stories and this one was too close to home to pass up.

The Jones Men: 40th Anniversary Edition

by Vern E. Smith

Genre: Crime
Published by: Rosarium Publishing
Publication Date: May 2014
Number of Pages: 264
ISBN: 978-0989141185

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Purchase Links:

SYNOPSIS

DETROIT, 1974

To become the King, you have to take the crown. It won’t be given up lightly. Heroin kingpin, Willis McDaniel, has been wearing that particular piece of jewelry for far too long, and youngblood, Lennie Jack, thinks it would look really good on his head. When a junkie tells Jack about a big delivery, the young Vietnam vet makes his move. Feeling his empire crumble, McDaniel puts the word out to find whoever’s responsible. The hunt is on, the battle is engaged, and the streets of Detroit run red with blood.

In 1974 Vern E. Smith took the crime fiction world by storm with his debut novel, The Jones Men. Heralded as “a large accomplishment in the art of fiction” by the New York Times, The Jones Men went on to be nominated for an Edgar Award and became a New York Times Notable Book. The art of crime fiction has never been the same since.

READ AN EXCERPT

For Bennie Lee Sims’ wake, Lennie Jack chose the sky-blue Fleetwood with the chromed-up bumpers and the bar-line running from the trunk to the dash, dispensing six different liquors with chaser.

Joe Red brought the car to a halt in front of Fraser’s Funeral Parlor on Madison Boulevard. He backed it in between a red El Dorado with a diamond-shaped rear window and a pink Lincoln with a leopard-skin roof.

Lennie Jack wore a medium-length Afro and had thick wide sideburns that grew neatly into the ends of a bushy moustache drooping over his top lip. He got out of the passenger seat in a manner that favored his left shoulder. He had on a cream-colored suede coat that stopped just below the knee, and a .38 in his waistband.

Joe Red was shorter and thinner and younger than Lennie Jack. He got his nickname for an extremely light complexion and a thick curly bush of reddish brown hair; it spilled from under the wide-brimmed black hat cocked low over his right ear. He had on the black leather midi with the red-stitched cape; he had a .45 automatic in his waistband.

They came briskly down the sidewalk and went up the six concrete steps to the entrance of Fraser’s.

An attendant in a somber gray suit and dark tie greeted them at the door.

“We’re here for Bennie Sims,” Joe Red said.

“Come this way,” the attendant said.

He guided them down a narrow hallway past a knot of elderly black women waiting to file into one of the viewing rooms flanking the hall on either side. The hallway reeked of death; the women wept.

They passed three more doors before the attendant led them left at the end of the hall and down a short flight of stairs. A single 60-watt bulb illuminated the lower level. The attendant went past the row of ebony- and silver-colored caskets stacked near the staircase and stopped at a door in the back of the room.

“They’re in there,” he said. He turned and headed back up the stairs. Lennie Jack rapped softly at the door. They stood a few feet back from the doorway to be recognizable in the dim light.

The door cracked.

“This Bennie Lee?” Lennie Jack said.

“Yeah, this it,” said a voice behind the crack.

A man with wavy black hair in a white mink jacket and red knicker boots let them in. He relocked the door.

The room smelled of cigarette smoke. A row of silver metal chairs had been stacked in a neat line on one side, but most of the people come to pay their respects were scattered in the back in tight little clusters, talking and laughing.

At the front of the long room, near a small table of champagne bottles, Bennie Lee Sims’ tuxedo-dad body lay in a silver-colored coffin with a bright satin lining.

His face was dusty with a fine white powder.

Lennie Jack walked over to the coffin. He dipped his fingers in the silver tray of cocaine on top and sprinkled it over Bennie Lee.

Joe Red stepped up behind him and tried to find a spot that wasn’t covered. He finally decided on the lips and scattered a handful of the fine white crystalline powder around Bennie Lee’s mouth and chin.

They moved through the crowd, shaking hands and greeting people. Almost everybody had come to see Bennie Lee off.

The Ware brothers were there: Willie, the oldest at twenty-four; Simmy, who was twenty; and June, who often swaggered as if he were the elder of the clan but still had the baby-smooth face and look of wide- eyed adolescence. He was seventeen.

Pretty Boy Sam was standing in one corner with his right foot resting on one of the metal chairs. He had smooth brown skin and almost girlish features, topped off by a pointed Van Dyke beard. His good looks masked a violent temper.

Pretty Boy Sam had worn his full-length brown mink and brought his woman to pay his respects to Bennie Lee Sims, who had two neat bullet holes right between the eyes and underneath all the cocaine on his face.

Slim Williams was there with his woman. He was a tall, thin dark-skinned man whose left eye had been destroyed by an errant shotgun blast. He now wore a variety of gaily colored eye patches the way he had heard Sammy Davis did when he lost his eye. He had on a patch of bright green and red plaid and stood conversing on one side of the room with Hooker, Woody Woods, and Mack Lee.

Willis McDaniel was not there, but then, he never came. He had probably never considered it, but it was a source of irritation to the others.

Joe Red said, “Hey Jack, he the man. He don’t hafta come see nobody off if he don’t wanta come. Ain’t none of these people thinkin’ bout makin’ him come. Who gon make him come?”

“Why he can’t come like the rest of the people?” Lennie Jack said. “Has anybody ever thought of that, you reckon? He too big now to bring his ass out here to see a dude off? He probably had him ripped anyway. I don’t understand how these chumps let an old man like that just get in there and rule.”

“Now we both know how he got it,” Joe Red said. “He took it. He say, ‘Look, I’m gon be the man on this side of town cause I got my thing together and I got plenty big shit behind me. Now what you motherfuckers say?’ Everybody say, ‘You the man, Mister McDaniel.’ That’s the way he did it.”

“That is the way to take it from him, too.” Lennie Jack said. “We gon get lucky pretty soon. I think he can be had and I know just the way to do it. I got some people working on it. The first thing they teach you in the war is to fight fire with fire, you know?”

He took the tiny gold spoon on the chain around his neck and scooped a pinch of cocaine off the tray Joe Red handed him. He brought the spoon up to his right nostril and sniffed deeply.

The crowd was beginning to drift to the corner of the room where Slim Williams was holding court. Slim was thirty-seven, and much older than most of his audience. Lennie Jack was twenty-six, and Joe Red had just turned twenty-one three days ago.

Slim Williams had diamond rings on three fingers of his left hand, and he was waving them around in a dazzling display and talking about Joe the Grind.

“Joe used to walk into a bar with his dudes with him–he always carried these two dudes with him everywhere he went. He’d walk into a place fulla people and say, ‘I’m Joe the Grind, set up the bar! All pimps and players step up to the bar and bring your whores with you.’”

Slim Williams chuckled. “Then Joe would talk about ‘em. He used to say, ‘You ain’t no pimp, nigger. What you doin’ up here? I ain’t buying no drinks for you. Sit down!’”

Slim Williams laughed; so did everybody else.

“Joe used to rayfield a chump bag dude too,” Slim Williams said. “He used to tell ‘em ‘Just cause you got eight or nine hundred dollars worth of business don’t mean you somebody.’ Then Joe would throw a roll down that’d choke a Goddamn mule and tell the chump: ‘Looka here boy, I just had my man sell forty-two thousand dollars worth of heh-rawn, and I got twenty more joints to hear from fore midnight. Gon sit down somewhere, you don’t belong up here with no big dope men.”

They laughed again and somebody passed the coke tray.

June Ware took his pinch and squared his toes in the eighty-dollar calfskin boots from Australia, via Perrin’s Men’s Shoppe on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

“What happened to Joe, Slim?” June Ware said.

“Oh, somebody shot ‘im in the head in an after-hours joint,” Slim Williams said. “And lemme tell you, youall shoulda been there to see Joe’s wake. It put this thing to shame. Compared to Joe’s, this thing ain’t nothing. This light-weight. They say there was coke in the block wrapped in foil and pure heh-rawn set out on silver trays with diamonds in the sides.

“So they partied all night till twelve the next day, then they all went to Joe’s funeral. After the funeral was over, everybody got on the plane with his woman and went to Jamaica for two days.”

“Say what?” June Ware said.

“Yeah, that’s the truth,” Slim Williams said. “And you shoulda seen that funeral too. They say a broad came over from Chicago in a white-on-white El Dorado, and she was dressed in all white with a bad-ass mink round her shoulders. Then when she came out of the hotel the next day for Joe’s funeral, they say she was in all black. She went to the graveyard and threw one hundred roses on Joe. Then she got in her ride and split. Don’t nobody know who she was. When they had Joe’s funeral march, there was one hundred fifty big pieces lined up for blocks down Madison Boulevard. They pulled a brand new Brough-ham behind the hearse, and when the march was over they took the car out to the trash yard and crushed it.”

“Goddamn Slim!” June Ware said.

Mack Lee, who was twenty-two years old and decked out from the top of his big apple hat to the tip of his leather platforms in bright lavender, came their way with his woman on his arm.

The woman looked about nineteen; she wore diamond-studded earrings and a matching bracelet. She carried a tray of glasses and an unopened bottle of champagne.

“We oughta drink a toast to Bennie Lee,” Mack Lee said, “and ask the Lord how come he made him so stupid.”

The laughter rippled through the room; Mack Lee popped the cork in the champagne bottle and poured the rounds.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A native of Natchez, Miss., Smith is a graduate of San Francisco State University, and the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He began his journalism career as a reporter for the Long Beach, Calif. Independent Press-Telegram.