Beware the East Wind (The Mah Jongg Mysteries)
by Barbara Barrett
About Beware the East Wind
Beware the East Wind (The Mah Jongg Mysteries) Cozy Mystery 4th in Series Bowker (August 17, 2019) Paperback: 254 pages ISBN-10: 1948532182 ISBN-13: 978-1948532181 Digital ASIN: B07WJ7KYSW
Beware the east wind! It’s hurricane
season in Florida, and everyone’s attention is focused on preparing for
the latest tempest. But in Serendipity Springs, mah jongg pals Marianne,
Sydney, Micki and Kat are caught in a different kind of whirlwind—a
mesmerizing murder case involving a slain hypnotist/chef and the woman
police suspect of doing her in, her embittered catering partner, Portia.
About the Author
Barbara Barrett started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child to keep her mind off things like her changing body and food cravings. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen.
Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she
began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job as a human
resources analyst for Iowa State Government. After releasing eleven
full-length romance novels and one novella, she returned to the cozy
mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah
jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet,
it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing.
Bamboozled, the second book in
her “Mah Jongg Mystery” series, features four friends who play mah jongg
together and share otherwise in each other’s lives. None of the four is
based on an actual person. Each is an amalgamation of several mah jongg
friends with a lot of Barbara’s imagination thrown in for good measure.
The four will continue to appear in future books in the series.
Anticipating the day when she would
write her first mystery, she has been a member of the Mystery/Romantic
Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America for over a decade. She
credits them with helping her hone her craft.
Barbara is married to the man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.
Do you like urban fantasy and snarky heroines? Then you’ll want to meet necromancer Octavia Hollows and her sidekick Bacon.
We are celebrating the release of The Journals of Octavia Hollows by Stacey Rourke on Audio. This collection features all six journals in the series and was published by The Audio Flow. Come fall in love with this feisty heroine, her pet pig, and the brilliant narration provided by Brenda Scott Wlazlo.
With a touch of her hand, Octavia Hollows can restore life. Yet, she couldn’t save the man she loved from the horrific accident that stole him from her. Octavia thought she could outrun the pain, but ghosts from the past refuse to be silenced. Out of options, she chooses to retrace her wayward journey across the country in search of answers. Surrounded by baffling mysteries of the undead, what she learns about herself along the way might become her greatest weapon.
This six novella series chronicles Octavia’s adventures in:
Wake the Dead
Dead Man’s Hand
Caught Dead
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Dead Ringer
Dead as a Doornail
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Stacey Rourke is the award winning author of works that span genres, but possess the same flare for action and snarky humor. She lives in Florida with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and two giant dogs. Stacey loves to travel, has an unhealthy shoe addiction, and considers herself blessed to make a career out of talking to the imaginary people that live in her head.
One lucky US winner will receive a signed paperback copy of the Journals of Octavia Hollows collection. The book will be signed by author Stacey Rourke and narrator Brenda Scott Wlazlo.
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Dorothy In the Land of Monsters Garten Gevedon (Oz ReVamped, #1) Publication date: October 11th 2019 Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult
Shifters, Zombies, and Vampires? Oh my!
My name is Dorothy Gale, and I think I might be dead.
When my dog Toto and I got swept up in a twister, we landed in hell. A very colorful hell. Like a rainbow dripping in blood. Now it looks as though this dreadful underworld plagued with vampires, zombies, and shifters will be the site of my eternal damnation.
They say this terrifying land called Oz isn’t hell or purgatory and escape is possible, but first I must survive the journey down the blood-soaked yellow brick road to the only place in Oz where vampires dare not tread—The City of Emeralds.
With enchanted footwear and the help of my three new friends—a friendly zombie, a massive shifter lion, and a heartless axe murderer of evil night creatures (who also happens to be the hottest guy I’ve ever seen)—Toto and I have a chance to make it to the Vampire Free Zone. When we get there, I must convince the most powerful wizard in this magical land of monsters to send us out of this radiant nightmare and back to the world of the living. They say he’s just as frightening as this monstrous land, that he detests visitors, and even the most horrifying creatures cower in his presence. But I must seek him out. And when I find him, I’ll do whatever it takes to make him send me home.
Gray everywhere. As I stand on the porch of my aunt and uncle’s home, all I can see is the great gray expanse of prairie on every side. No trees, houses, buildings, people, nothing at all breaks the broad sweep of flat gray country that reaches to the edge of the gray sky in every direction. The sun scorched the plowed fields into a dusty, gray mass that expands to the horizon line, the endless gloom broken only by the little black shadows of the fissures running through it like the marbling of a corpse.
Even the grass is dead and gray—the hot sun singed the blades until they were the same lifeless gray color that blankets everything. Years ago, the house was a pristine white, but the torrid summer sun burned and blistered the paint and the heavy winter rains battered it away, and now the house is as weathered and gray as everything else here. It’s fitting for what it’s like to live here in Middle of Nowhere, Kansas. It looks like what it is—bleak, leached of any color, any excitement, anything interesting at all—drained of life. Gray is gray is gray is my life. It surrounds me from all sides, all the time. And it sucks. Thanks a lot, climate change.
I came to live with my Uncle Henry and Aunt Emily on a crappy little farm when my parents died in a car accident. I was thirteen. Because Emily was the only family I had left, she got stuck with me. She could have refused me and left me as a ward of the state, but she was kind enough to take me in. Even though I don’t share the same connection with Emily and Henry that I did with my parents, they’re still family—the only family I have—so, I may complain about this being the middle of nowhere, but it’s better than being in an orphanage or foster care or some group home. Yeah, their place is tiny, and old, but at least it has four walls, a floor, and a roof.
The two-bedroom farmhouse I live in is as weathered and brittle as the farm it’s set on. One story with no attic and no basement, the only feature it has is a cyclone cellar which we’ve had yet to use since I’ve lived here. It may lack color and any of the luxuries most people in America have these days—cable, wifi, consistent hot water to shower with—but I am grateful I have somewhere to live, even if life here is so gray that the grayness proliferates, turning everything in it to a gray as dry as dust.
When Aunt Emily came here to live with Uncle Henry, she was a young, pretty, vivacious woman with golden hair and bright emerald green eyes—or I thought I remembered her that way. Even she’s gray now. Just like it changed this once green land, the sun and wind have changed her, and her once sparkling green eyes are now dim and muted, tinged with a melancholy gray. Living here in this sweltering, exanimate world has stolen her radiance and left her ashen. It’s exhausted the red from her cheeks and lips, and now they’re pallid and gray too. Once she was curvy and a little plump. Now she’s gaunt and never smiles. Can’t blame her for never smiling, living in this dull, gray crap hole.
When I first came to her, Aunt Emily would startle when I laughed. She’d scream and look at me like I was nuts, shocked I could find anything to laugh at in this gray place. Uncomfortable and bored out of my skull, I’d laugh trying to entertain myself, trying not to let the depression get the best of me, but after being here for four years, I get it now—what is there to laugh about when all that’s here is gray?
Uncle Henry never laughs either. Morning to night, all he does is work hard. If he knows what joy is, he doesn’t let on. From his gray beard to his rough boots, Henry is also gray, stern, and solemn. With a permanent stone face, he almost never speaks. It’s like he’s made of hard, gray stone. If he didn’t work so much trying to make this gray land yield something, I’d think he was stone—a gray statue of a man.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s me that’s gray, or the lens I see the world through. Before my parents died, my life was a bright white, like a pristine sheet of paper wishing for a colorful story to grace its surface. Then the black smear of tragedy struck, and it’s as though the thousands of tears I shed diffused the black that blemished my bright whiteness, spreading it over the unsullied parts like watercolor, leaving my world gray. But I don’t think I’m gray. Not yet. I don’t think it has spread to me yet.
—“Dorothy in the Land of Monsters” Oz ReVamped #1 Chapter 1 – The Cyclone, pgs. 1-2
Author Bio:
Garten Gevedon lives in New York City with her family. She’s a sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal author who loves taking fairy tales and turning them inside out. You can visit her online at www.gartengevedon.com.
Whoa…Willow Rose sure knows how to grab me by the throat, leaving me gasping, hoping…will they get to her in time?
No one thinks it will happen to them…a school shooting…
Eva had found her long lost sister, and now she has found that she has a long lost brother and her estranged father. And they need her help. She can’t say no.
Her characters are unique, fascinating and complicated.
Willow Rose has so much going on in Say You Love me that my head is spinning. She has an ability to spin a complicated web, making me wonder how it will all come together.
Why…what…who…
The villain is having a great time and sharing it, streaming it live online, the viewers scream for blood. Disgusting, frightening, and it unfolds like a Criminal Minds episode.
Eva Rae also has a full plate when it comes to her personal life. It is complicated, but she brings some of it on herself, unable to make the commitment to her cop boyfriend, Matt. I love him. He has the patience of a saint, but everyone has their breaking point. Her ex wants her back. Sure, they had good times and the kids would love it, but….
I don;t like what happens at 70%, but I’m not telling.
Willow Rose wrote Say You Love Me while hurricane Dorian was threatening the coast. I love that she worked that into the story and created more nail biting and danger. Never too much suspense for me and she gives me a steady supply in all her books.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Say You Love Me by Willow Rose.
4 Stars
Former FBI-profiler Eva Rae Thomas is back and embedded in a true nightmare
reaching deep into her own family.
What would you do if your brother was accused of a horrible crime, and you
were certain he didn’t do it?
Life is not done throwing Eva Rae Thomas curveballs.
A phone call turns her life upside down – once again. The call is
from her father, the man she hasn’t seen in thirty-six years, not
since he kidnapped her sister in a supermarket.
Now, he is back in Florida, and he needs her help. Her younger brother –
who she didn’t know existed – has been arrested on Amelia Island.
The boy is in a coma after being shot by an officer during the
incident. But his father doesn’t believe the police, and he asks
for Eva Rae’s help to prove it.
At the same time, a serial killer is planning one of the most horrific
mass killings in history.
Will Eva Rae find it in her heart to help her father after what he did to
her? Will facing him again set her free or pull her under?
SAY YOU LOVE ME is the fourth book in the Eva Rae Thomas Mystery
Series and can be read as a standalone.
The Queen of Scream aka Willow Rose is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author
and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 60 novels.
She writes Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense, Horror,
Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy.
Willow’s books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners with twists you won’t
see coming. Several of her books have reached the Kindle top 10 of
ALL books in the US, UK, and Canada. She has sold more than three
million books.
Willow lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters.
When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and
watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Kendra is an author of mystery romance novels. A woman after my own heart. She is also a ghost whisperer. She doesn’t leave her comfort zone, whether in fashion or personality. That will all change when Jenna seeks her help
Jenna is her best friend and quickly becomes a ghost. Fantastic personality and I can relate to her. She is afraid for her FBI father and hangs around, refusing to go into the light. She wonders how Jenna could be her best friend and she not realize she was gay. It makes her question herself. Kendra’s mind just never went there.
The plot thickens and bodies fall.
Kendra will be working with Derek Knight, who Jenna was investigating the death of numerous FBI agents with. I feel a romance in the making. The attraction was quick and it developed rapidly, them being pushed together all day, every day.
Of course, I knew she would have to do something stupid, ignoring her intuition. It happens in all romantic suspense novels. It can be frustrating, but builds the suspense, knowing she’s in big trouble with a capital T.
Well, I was right about one thing, but it wasn’t the killer and it didn’t go down the way I thought. I love when an author can surprise me and keep me guessing. And…now I know.
There’s more to come in this series and I want to be there with the gang. I can imagine all the hoots, laughs and danger that will be coming their way.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Unorthodox by S Peters Davis.
4 Stars
Ghost-Riddance!
A short story by S. Peters-Davis
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wandered around, waiting for someone to see me?” I studied her misshaped face. Her eyes read, ‘who gives a rip.’ A deep sigh later, I zoomed through the air to catch up with her. “So, what’s your name?” Something about her seemed familiar to me.
“Go find someone else to pester.” Only a short side-glance at me, and she hiked on, trekking through the forest, ever closer to where my bones lay.
“How long have you been able to communicate with the dead?” I would engage her, make her listen to my story, and why would that even matter? All of my family had long passed from this world. “Do you ever take a beat to rest?”
She stopped and glared at me. “If I talk to you for a minute, then will you leave me alone forever?”
“Forever?”
Her eyes misted over. “I’m not feeling friendly. I don’t wish to chat, and certainly not to a stranger. Can’t you see I’m upset?” A tear took a nosedive and slipped off her chin.
“Who’s responsible for your misery? I’ll haunt them ’til the end of time.” I stomped my foot, even though it made no sound and actually slipped below the ground surface for a second.
She laughed. Her voice rose above the birdsong and then ricocheted off the trees eerily like a haunted forest. She fell to the ground with uncontrolled gasps and guffaws of laughter. Her eyes leaked a lot as she rolled half in and half out of the ground, and then suddenly, she stopped with a hiccup. Her brilliant blues swept over me. She sat up with her legs stretched out in front of her.
“I meant what I said, not a joking matter haunting someone ’til the end of time.” I folded myself to the ground beside her, arms crossed over my chest to impress my seriousness on her.
Her full, shapely lips stretched into a smile. “So, why are you stuck in the forest? Who are you anyway?”
“Landus James, at your service.” I reached my hand toward her, and she grabbed it. My eyes went wide as did my mouth that we could actually touch each other.
“Yea, so…what does one ghost say to the other?” She grinned and stood.
I followed suit, rising from the ground as I recognized those lovely blues staring back at me. “Zee?” I held her at arms-length. “How? Why?”
“You’re not the only one wandering through this forest in search of your significant other.” She studied me, scanning. “What happened to you? Half of your face is gone.”
“It is?” I touched my cheeks, feeling raw tissue and bone on the right side of my face. Something I’d never been able to do before now. What a nightmare I must look like after being mauled by a grizzly. “I had no idea my spirit-self would be portrayed as I must have appeared in death.” I studied her face, parts swollen, discolored, and gory. “What happened to you?”
“Someone attacked me from behind. I don’t know who as I lost consciousness with the first blow to the back of my head. I had gone looking for you the next morning. You had taken the gun long before nightfall, looking for supper while I set up our camp.” She looked around me, her focus on the ground underneath the branches of a big oak tree, where my bones rested. “All this time I’ve been looking for you, and there you are.” Her attention drifted back to me. “Let’s go bless your bones, then I’ll show you where mine lay to rest.”
We ambled over to the tree. Zee spoke the words, “Blessed are those who live in love.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the south. “Let me take you to where I lay so you may speak a blessing for me.”
We moved with the wind as it hurled us between the trees and shrubbery. My heart lifted to heights it hadn’t visited for many centuries. Our fingers entwined a little tighter as we passed through miles of wooded terrain. Then suddenly, Zee drew my body closer, we slowed and settled beneath a huge walnut tree.
“Here I am,” she said, looking toward the ground.
Her remains resonated within my spirit, and I knew exactly where she lay. “You lay here.” I bent to touch the earth, and my hand vanished below the surface. “Blessed are those who live in love.”
As soon as the last word left my lips, everything went dark, and I wondered if I’d gone to hell…
* * *
My body shook incessantly to the words, “Wake up. Wake up right now! Landus, please wake up.”
I opened my eyes to Zee. Her lovely unmarred face hovered above mine, the sun creating a halo around her beautiful blonde hair. “Where are we?” I asked, raising to my elbows and looking around. The forest appeared the same.
She pinched me.
“Ouch. Why’d you do that?” I stared at her, noticing how beautiful she looked. How fresh and alive her cheeks blushed.
She started laughing like before.
The brambles, sticks, and dirt poked into my forearms, and I sat to brush it off, realizing I could actually feel the outside world.
My breath sucked in, my lungs filled, I breathed.
“We get a second chance, darling.” Zee settled on my lap, her lips gently finding mine.
I responded, fervent for more but not fully understanding how we could be together after being apart for so long.
She pressed her body against mine. Her heart thrummed against my chest.
We were alive.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she drew back, licking my lips as we parted. “I want you right now, right here.”
I sucked in another breath, fully aroused and on fire for her. “Blessed are those who live in love.”
“Ghost riddance,” she muttered against my lips and then proceeded to rip my shirt from my body.
Unorthodox
A
Kendra Spark Novel
Book One
S. Peters-Davis
Genre: Paranormal
Suspense-Thriller Romance
with a good dollop of
Supernatural
Publisher: Books We Love
Publishing
Date of Publication: September
15, 2017
ASIN: B073MZZPVM
ISBN 978-1-77362-303-0
Number of pages: 153 pages
Word Count: 63,000
Cover Artist: CoverUp.Net
Book
Tagline:Kendra’s ability of
communicating with the dead is requested by her FBI criminal analyst friend to
stop a killer from murdering agents.
Series
Tagline: Kendra sees ghosts, and then her BFF, Jenna, becomes one. The two
friends and FBI agent Derek Knight fight for justice to the victims of heinous
crimes.
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, suspense-mystery
romance author and communicator with the dead, is requested to hop on the first
flight to D.C.
Jenna Powers, FBI criminal
analyst and estranged best friend of Kendra, gets ghosticized in a fatal
accident before relaying all the details of the FBI killer case.
Derek Knight, a dedicated FBI
Special Task Force agent, takes lead on the case.
The investigation into the FBI
agent killings continues as Kendra, Jenna – yes, even after death – and Derek
work together on the case before Director of the Special Task Force Jackson
Powers’ number is up. He’s Jenna’s father and the end-game of the killer’s
target list.
Somehow the elusive killer
remains undetected, until Kendra’s unique ability produces results and a final
possibility at stopping his killing spree before it’s too late.
Tagline: Trafficked girls marked to lose their souls by a malevolent
supernatural entity require someone with explicit abilities for their rescue.
Will Kendra be able to save them?
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, suspense-mystery
writer and communicator with the dead, signs on to the next FBI Special Task
Force case, trafficked girls that are marked to lose their souls.
Jenna Powers, ghostified criminal
analyst, sticks close to the case as she and Kendra are also marked by the same
malevolent supernatural force.
Derek Knight, lead FBI Agent on this
case, learns of the malevolent entity and the deeper paranormal realm of
danger.
Kendra’s unfiltered feelings for
Derek struggle to take a backseat, and as the menacing threat grows more
intense, so does her passion for Derek.
Derek faces uncertainties he’s
never dealt with in his past, like malicious entities and the loss of his heart
to love. How can he protect Kendra against forces he can’t see?
As boundless supernatural danger
intertwines with the future reality of the trafficked teens, Kendra and Jenna
realize only they can shoulder the rescue by calling in a voodoo priestess…
Tagline: A cold-case
investigation ends in facing the ultimate psychopaths, a highly-accredited
police director gone crime lord and a beautiful malevolent “albatross of a
spirit.”
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, Derek Knight, and
“ghosty” Jenna Powers, members of an FBI special task force, investigate a
cold-case and end up facing the ultimate psychopaths, a highly-accredited
police director gone crime lord and a beautiful malevolent “albatross of a
spirit.” Both want Kendra for her unique abilities but might settle for Jenna
instead.
Derek stops at nothing to keep
Kendra and Jenna safe, but what if the worst-case scenario happens, an
unstoppable villain and villainess of the dark plane that picks the earth plane
as their stomping ground?
S. Peters-Davis writes
multi-genre stories, but loves penning a good page-turning suspense-thriller,
especially when it’s a ghost story and a romance. When she’s not writing,
editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, playing with grandchildren,
or enjoying time with her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
As DK Davis, she also writes YA
and NA paranormal, supernatural novels that involve diverse and mature subject
matter.
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In Some Mornings by J. L. Lora, a new city and a sexy morning arrangement give two friends a second chance at love. Come check out this sexy, standalone contemporary romance available today. Don’t miss the sale of Some Nights, the first companion novel featuring the heroine’s sister. Be sure to enter the fun giveaway as we celebrate the release of Some Mornings!
New city. New job. New life.
Recently divorced single-mom, Sierra Torres’ life is a hot mess. And now, her car’s been stolen. When she reports the theft, a tall and broad-shouldered blast from her past walks in. Years ago, he disappeared without a trace after a perfect seven minutes in heaven.
The provider. The supporter. The survivor.
Police officer Matthew Hunter lives to serve and protect, not only the people of Baltimore City, but what’s left of his family. He’s the responsible one—the reliable cop. Seeing Sierra again ignites a fire in him he thought he extinguished a long time ago. One look into her fiery brown eyes and it all comes back. But Sierra’s not interested in romance—just a little fun.
However, hearts have a mind of their own. Feelings deepen each time they see each other. Soon, that’s not enough. They crave more. But when things begin to unravel after their past catches up with them, are their seven minutes in heaven over for good?
Advanced Praise
“A great read from a new author to me. I loved how Sierra and Matt were not perfect characters. They had human foibles and vulnerabilities which made them more real. And when they get together, prepare for steam.“- Tripip (Goodreads)
J. L. Lora is a Dominican-American author. Her stories explore the dark side of good characters, people living in the gray areas of life while playing the cards life has dealt them. She loves strong heroines and their equally powerful Men. She currently lives in Maryland, pursuing her dream of writing compelling, sexy, can’t-put-down stories about empowered, badass alpha heroines and take your-breath-away alpha heroes.
The dead are easy to talk to. Live people, not so much.
Charlie Sulliven thinks she knows all the secrets of the dead. Raised in a funeral home, she’s the reluctant “Ghoul Girl,” her reputation tied to a disastrous Halloween party. But navigating her life as a high school sophomore is an anxiety-inducing puzzle to her. She haunts the funeral home with her parents, emo older brother, Garth, their pistol-packing Gramma, and the glass-eyeball-devouring dachshund, Lothar.
Chewed human bodies are appearing in her parents’ morgue…and disappearing in the middle of the night. The bodies seem tied to a local legend, Catfish Bob, who has resurfaced in the muddy Milburn river near Charlie’s small town. When one of Charlie’s classmates, Amanda, awakens in the cooler as a flesh-eating ghoul, Charlie must protect her newfound friend and step up to unravel the mystery…and try to avoid becoming lunch meat for the dead.
I
don’t know what else to say. My brain just shuts down.
She
is wearing the sheet, wound around her like a toga. It trails behind her bare
feet, sort of like a painting about Greek goddesses I’ve seen in art books.
She’s leaning over another body stored in the cooler unit on a cart. Her back
is to me, and I can only see her pale skin and her burgundy-black hair
shuddering.
“Amanda.”
She
turns at the sound of my voice, seeming only to hear me for the first time. Her
face is covered in dark blood. In her hand, she’s holding a big chunk of purple
flesh. Her eyes are half-closed. The autopsy incision on the elderly body below
her has been ripped open, and I’m pretty sure that what she’s holding is a
lung.
“So
hungry…” she murmurs.
I
retreat until my back presses against the cold door. A whimper escapes my lips,
and I drop the laundry basket with a sharp crack of plastic on the tile floor.
This has to be a dream. A screwed-up anxiety dream that I’ll wake up from any
moment now…
Amanda’s
black eyes snap open. She stares at the chunk of flesh in her hand. “I…Agh…What’s
going on?”
Lothar
waddles over to her and begins to beg. Bile rises in my throat. “That’s Mrs.
Canner,” I manage to answer. “She’s seventy-two and died of surgery
complications for varicose veins. Deep vein thrombosis, I think. I don’t
remember.” I’m babbling, trying to keep the bile down.
Amanda
drops the lung with a wet splat. The dog scrambles to it and begins scarfing it
down. Her hands are trembling. She presses them to her temples. “I don’t
understand. I don’t understand.”
I
nudge the laundry basket closer to her with my foot. “I brought you some
clothes. And, um. Food. You should get dressed.”
I
think I should be afraid. I think I really ought to be. But Amanda seems
genuinely confused. She reaches for the clothes I’ve brought her. To be polite,
I know that I should really look away. But I can’t move. I am not turning my
back on her. My heart pounds, and I struggle to take deep, uneven breaths.
Amanda
unwinds the sheet and slips into my clothes. Though I avert my eyes, I see that
her shoulder and side are still torn open. But my mother hasn’t begun the
autopsy yet, so there is no Y-incision across her chest and abdomen.
“Do
you remember what happened to you?” I manage to ask. I congratulate myself for
having a rational thought. Woot.
Her
voice is halting, and her brow wrinkles as she struggles to button my jeans. “I
remember…something was chasing me. Jesus, it hurt…” Her hand comes up to her
neck, and she seems to remember, fingering the edges of the wound. “Am I in a
hospital?” she asks again.
I
suck in a breath. “No. You’re at my house.” It’s not a lie. Not really.
She
scans the room, as if registering the sight of the cadavers. “You’re the girl
whose parents run the funeral home. The Ghoul Girl.”
“It’s
gonna be okay,” I tell her.
“Why
am I here?” Her breath makes ghosts in the cold air.
“The
Sheriff found you, alongside the road.” That’s true also, even if not the whole
truth. “I think we should get you upstairs, so you can talk to my parents…”
She
shakes her head, and her dark hair slaps across her face. “No. I…Oh my god. I’m
here because…somebody thought I was dead?”
I
swallow hard. “Yeah.”
About the Author:
Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology-Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs. Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.
More information about Laura’s work can be found at:
Spooktacular
Guest Blog – Binge-worthy Shows for Halloween
Halloween month is the perfect
time to binge on surreal, spooky, otherworldly shows. Here are some of my top picks for your
viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
* Wacky witches and a good vs.
evil struggle: Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina
* Zombies in a quarantine zone,
aka Seattle: iZombie
* Vampire Diaries spin-off, a
school for all the preternatural folk: Legacies
* Surreal setting and quirky
people with powers: Legion
* One sexy devil and a kickass
cop: Lucifer
* Harry Potter-esque fantasy with
magicians/college students: The Magicians
* Flawed superheroes and some
“wibbly wobbly timey wimey”: The Umbrella
Academy
Happy viewing and Happy
Halloween!
Xo,
Celia
ORIGINS
Tranquilli Bloodline
Book 3
Celia Breslin
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Date of Publication: September 9, 2019
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 94,000
Cover Artist: Melody Pond
Tagline: The Chosen One is home. Bad little vampires beware…
Book Description:
In HAVEN and DESTINY, San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli finds love and fights her vampire family’s enemies. Now, in ORIGINS…
En route to reunite with her estranged father in Italy, Carina is kidnapped by a human organization intent on vampire genocide. Beaten, starved, and forced to fight fellow captives, she finally manages to escape. Along the way, she encounters the group’s leaders—their identities shock her to the core.
Once home, Carina warns her family of this new threat, but dear old dad is missing. In his absence, the Tribunal, the governing body for all vampirekind, lies in disarray, with an old enemy making a bid for her father’s throne. What’s worse? The usurper wants her for his queen…and slave.
With a human-vampire war looming on one side and a vampire-vampire battle brewing on the other, Carina will have to rally her troops, take back the throne, and fulfill her destiny as the Chosen One. If not, her whole world will fall, taking everyone she loves with it.
The car stopped. I couldn’t convince myself to step out. What if this was a freaking, injection-induced hallucination? What if I was still back in the damn prison?
Besnik helped me out.
The mansion’s mammoth double doors eased open. The man illuminated in the doorway chased away the numbness, pumped my heart so hard it might pound right out of my chest. He opened his arms wide, calling me. My lips curled upward in the first true smile I’d cracked since the last time he’d held me in his arms. That man, my man, loved me more than any other on this whole damn planet.
“Alexander.”
I ran to him.
Alexander’s arms closed around me, his hold so tight I could barely catch a breath. Tremors ran through his hard body, again and again.
“Carina,” he croaked, voice sandpaper rough. “Carina.”
Nuzzling his neck, I planted fevered kisses along his tan, heated skin. He’d fed recently to be this warm under my lips. Temptation had me licking his pounding pulse, nipping at the vein. Couldn’t resist it. My fangs slid home.
Energy exploded between us, our mate bond bursting to life and tearing away whatever magical wall had separated us for far too long. My bite, the catalyst, his blood the cure. Awash in the force of our reunion, Alexander staggered then clutched me closer while I pulled out of his neck and laved the rapidly healing holes.
As our power continued to bubble and stitch us back together, he whisked us into the grand entryway, planted my ass on an ornate, antique cabinet, and devoured my mouth like a starving man. His hands roamed everywhere, searching, cataloguing, as if to reassure himself this wasn’t a hallucination, that I was really here, in his arms, relatively unharmed.
The more he kissed me, the more those wonderful, golden threads of our connection resurrected inside me, around me, between us, and I felt like freaking Sleeping Beauty awakened from her magical slumber by a kiss from her fated handsome prince. The silly thought made me giggle against Alexander’s seeking mouth, and then I was crying while my love cupped my face between his hands, wiped away my tears with his thumbs, and pressed tender kisses to my forehead, my cheeks, the tip of my nose…
“Alexander.” I fisted his shirt tight. Please, God, let him be real. “I… I don’t want to wake up.” Please, don’t let this end.
His smoky blue eyes bored into mine, his brown hair spiked in every direction, a bit longer than in my memory. It’s not a dream, baby. You’re here. You’re home.
Oh my God, I can hear you. I swiped some willful bits of hair away from his forehead, touched his full lips, ran my fingers along his strong jaw, taking in the whole handsome, bad-boy package. You’re back in my head. I’d never been happier to have someone inside my mind. Silence was seriously overrated.
And back in your arms.
About the Author:
Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for werewolves, vampires, and the Fae. Her stories are action-packed and typically include one of the many varieties of romantic entanglements: fated mates, second chance, rescue romance, opposites attract, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and more.
When not writing, you’ll find Celia exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies, as well as everything in the Marvel Universe franchise. Of course!
* Heat Rating: Spicy to Erotic Romance * No Cliffhangers * Happily-Ever-After or Happy-For-Now
MY REVIEW
A Darker Shade of Evil is an anthology of fabulous authors and because the book is 15,061 pages on my Kindle and I am only at 6,205, I will be sharing four soul sucking novels and highly recommend these steamy reads for adult only.
Alone in the Dark by Khardine Gray – USA Today Bestselling Author
Forbidden love. I’m hooked. It seems to go hand in hand with the supernatural world that I love to get lost in. Some very hot, steamy sex, but the story takes priority. I quickly fell in loe with the characters and the supernatural world they live in. Witches, lycans, werewoves, fae, good and evil, battle as a war brews and the threat of Razal rising looms on the horizon. What more could I possibly ask for? Well, I was sad to see it end and that’s what I am asking for…MORE, because it ended all too soon. 4 Stars
The Devil Upstairs by Dariel Raye – USA Today Bestselling Author
He rose from his grave, after a very long time, and he knew that mean war was on the horizon. He was the last of his kind and that made me very curious about him. It’s Christmas and with it come memories of how he came to be. His mission has a name: revenge. Kat is unemployed, with no one to care but her best friend, Shell. What is she doing going out partying and rent is overdue? She felt pulled…and watched. I can relate to her inability to keep her mouth shut when angered Words came out without censor. She is naive and innocent, and she has no idea of what is coming. Forbidden love. Wow. Intense, hot sex and a love to last a lifetime….however long that may be. 4 Stars
Soul Bonded by Lori Titus – USA Today Bestselling Author
Natasha had been brought up to not be chasing demons. Well, obvious to me that’s gonna change. Christopher had become a drunk since leaving Special Ops. How will they come together? Enter: Victor Ramshead. Natasha cared for her mom, who has dementia, but couldn’t keep a caregiver because she would blurt out their psychic visions and scare them away. Her parents trained her about the supernatural world, but she is gonna need to bone up on it to face what is to come. When the demon wants you and makes an offer you can’t refuse, well…What price will be paid? It felt like a prequel and gave me just enough to want more of the good and evil characters and the fight to come. 3 Stars
Succubus Unleashed by Muffy Wilson – USA Today Bestselling Author
I knew the girl that would steal my heart would be different, but not this different.
Sapphira must find a mortal man to stand at her side and rule the clan as Queen Mother, all while perpetuating their species by producing children, being new blood into the fold. She marveled in her new body as I tried to figure out exactly what she is and when I did, I loved it! She is a water creature, and I am hooked right there. She has scales and wings, and now, two legs. The feelings Brock invoked in her were new to her. Is he the one? They would have to fight to together, and she was ready when he called. I was quickly caught up in her sweet innocence and couldn’t help but love her. I fell right into their insta love. It was magical and easy. Wow, just wow. Intense romance and hot sex, along with the lovin’. 4 Stars
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of A Darker Shade of Evil Anthology.
4 Stars
Deadly demons, diabolical devils and other creatures of the night will hold
you spellbound in this one-of-a-kind anthology. In a world of dark
delights, they trifle in forbidden passion, suspense, and kick-ass
battles. It’s all right here for you in this captivating urban
fantasy and paranormal romance anthology!
Brought to you by USA Today and International Bestselling Authors, these
stories of sexy alpha heroes and heroines will keep you turning the
pages. Devils, demons and their lethal hunters will draw you into
their conquests, twisted deceptions, scorching heat, and yes, even love.
Don’t miss A Darker Shade of Evil!
One-click now will claim your copy!
* Heat Rating: Spicy to Erotic Romance
* No Cliffhangers
* Happily-Ever-After or Happy-For-Now
by the following brilliant USA Today and Bestselling Authors!
Khardine Gray, – USA Today Bestselling Author– Alone In The Dark
Dariel Raye, – USA Today Bestselling Author – The Devil Upstairs
Lori Titus, – USA Today Bestselling Author – Talons
Muffy Wilson, – USA Today Bestselling Author – Succubus Unleashed
Keta Diablo, – Bestselling Author – I Spy A Demon
Marilyn Harlow, – Bestselling Author – Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend
Gracen Miller, – Bestselling Author – Hex
Michelle Scott, – Bestselling Author – The Demon’s Prisoner
