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!
The Long Night: Blood Will Be Served M.G. Darwish (Fortier, #2) Publication date: September 9th 2019 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Suspense
The Vampire Alfred, is known as the Fortier. Vicious, renowned and feared.
Alfred Zeidan is proclaimed Fortier, the Strongest amongst the vampires. After ending a century old feud between the two most prominent vampire houses, he sets out to rid his race of a shadow that has long haunted them.
The Elders have been the deciding factor in the fall of so many civilizations that date back to Carthage and the Romans. So many have fallen to them, but now Alfred as the Strongest takes on this challenge.
No one has ever considered a world without the Elders running it, would it spread chaos in the Underground? Or will it shift the balance of the supernatural completely? One thing is for certain: Alfred intends to see this through. Will he succeed? Or will succumb as those before him?
Excerpt 1
They mentioned the City Morgue and the name Lexa Sonej. She wasn’t a native. Only then, any doubt I had about the existence of the Beast perished. Only the Beast could inflict wounds similar to mine.
Time to visit the dead.
I leapt over the roofs of houses until the City Morgue came into sight. That was the safest way to travel on the surface, you see. Humans are always looking below.
I jumped down right at the entrance. It was late, so probably the best time for me to examine an unattended body. Perhaps I could find a trail or two. I noticed a light emitting from inside. The coroner could still be around.
With luck, he probably used another door and left it unchecked so that he could leave too. So, I went behind the building and sure enough, found another door. The gate was locked, but it didn’t matter. I jumped, high enough to pass right over it. I opened the door into pitch darkness. He probably knew the place so well that he had it completely memorized.
Lucky for me, I didn’t need light to see anyway. I could smell the rotten corpses. Even when humans freeze the bodies, they emit a smell – undetectable to humans but not to me. I followed the smell, using it to find the clear route to where I needed to go.
I strolled through a narrow corridor, staying completely silent; no breaths, footsteps, nothing. I am more comfortable amidst darkness than I am in light, for the dark accepts all, while the light judges harshly.
A large double door stood before me. This was the way to the corpses, of that I was sure. I gently opened it and slid inside. The coroner was looking at me straight in the eyes. “What are you doing here?” he said, sharply. His heartbeat increased.
“I’m looking for Lexa Sonej,” I said to him. I figured it was best to avoid spilling his blood, and if I could somehow get his help, it would save me quite the trouble.
“Well, you’re in the wrong place, buddy,” he said, then cracked up. “Only dead men linger here.” His beats returned to normal, I wonder if he knew how correct his statement was about to be.
“Need to examine the body, if you don’t mind.”
“You with the cops?” he asked, as he narrowed his brows.
“Not exactly.” He probably hated cops. I could even smell traces of drugs in his possession. “Her family hired me to find the killer,” I added.
“A PI, eh? Well, you definitely look the part, but you should tone down the Sherlock look. Holy shit, it’s not the sixties,” he laughed before he got up from his chair and walked towards what appeared to be little cupboards with numbers on them.
“Sherlock died in 1957.”
“A smartass too apparently,” he whispered as he pulled open one of those cupboards, revealing a bed with a body on it. I’ve never seen such a barbaric thing in all my life.
“You have quite the stomach I’ll tell you that,” he said to me, then paused for a second. “Most people freak out or even puke their guts out when they see a body like this.”
“A body like what?”
“Like this,” he said as he removed the covers. I didn’t budge, but that sight was not right. Her throat was hollow, completely empty and void, she had sewing marks on both of her arms and towards her stomach.
“She was dismembered?” I asked.
The coroner nodded. “That’s very observant. We had to sew back the parts just for the burial. His poor family almost feinted at the sight of her. What kind of an animal does this in your opinion?” he asked me. His pulse didn’t change, so he was merely making small talk.
“No animal can do this,” I said, leaning closer towards the corpse.
“Then what can?”
“A beast,” I said.
M.G. Darwish is an award nominated author who writes dark, twisted and action-packed fiction. He tries his best not to base his characters on anyone he knows in real life to avoid that extra weird conversation about how they were brutalized and killed in the book. Oh and he’s terrified of a penguin uprising more than ghosts and demons.
He is best known for his Secret of the Moonlight which was featured on Wattpad.
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those
neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything
like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in
your stacks.
When teen psychic Dawn Christian gets involved with a fortuneteller mentor and two girls who share her mysterious talents, she finally belongs after years of being a misfit. When she learns her new friends may be tied to freak accidents in town, Dawn has an important choice to make – continue developing the talent that makes her special or challenge the only people who have ever accepted her. This novel is aimed at young adults, and at adults who enjoy paranormal YA such as the Twilight series, House of Night, and The Vampire Diaries series, Meg Cabot’s The Mediator series, or Lois Duncan books.
I love a good paranormal young adult story and when I saw they compared
it to the Twilight series, House of Night, and The Vampire Diaries
series, Meg Cabot’s The Mediator series, or Lois Duncan books, I thought
it was hard to go wrong.
Halloween is the perfect time of
year to binge-watch supernatural shows. For your viewing pleasure, here are my
top ten favorite movies and TV shows featuring wolf shifters in either a
primary role or as fun supporting characters.
In no particular order…
MOVIES and TV
1. The Underworld movies. Seriously badass Lycans.
2. Wolf (1994), starring Jack
Nicholson. Can’t go wrong with Jack
Nicholson.
3. An American Werewolf in London
(1981). A classic. Humor + Horror.
4. Ginger Snaps (2001). Teen angst. Dark humor + horror.
TV
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Seth
Green as Oz, the musician/werewolf who loves Willow.
6. Vampire Diaries. Michael
Trevino as Tyler Lockwood, a broody bad boy with heart.
7. True Blood. Joe Manganiello as Alcide
Herveaux = soooo sexy.
8. The Originals. Joseph Morgan
as Niklaus Mikaelson. A vampire/werewolf hybrid, 100% badass. So are the other
hybrids on the show.
9. Supernatural. Entertaining
werewolves on both sides of the “good vs. bad” fence.
10. Legacies. A Vampire Diaries
spin-off chock-full of werewolves and other teens from the preternatural
community.
Jasmine Moon
Black Hills Wolves
Celia Breslin
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher:Decadent Publishing
Date of Publication: June 3, 2016
ISBN:9781683610458
ASIN:B01GKB9WMO
Number of pages:108
Word Count:36,400
Cover Artist:Fiona Jayde
Book Description:
Tech mogul and workaholic Wolf Evan Luparell has little time for distractions but takes a break for his brother’s wedding in South Dakota. When asked to escort another wedding attendee from the airport to Los Lobos, he agrees. Then he meets the curvy spitfire, and she ignores him.
Designer and Wolf Mina Carver didn’t mean to be rude to the handsome, glowering man claiming to be her ride, but she was busy working. Now she must endure a ride to the Black Hills with the cranky but sexy Dominant Wolf. Unexpected mating energy sparks between them, but still—should she dismiss, or kiss him?
Kisses win and they agree upon a no-strings fling. But with each wedding activity throwing them together, and their powerful chemistry and mate compatibility complicating matters, can two workaholics truly have their fun then walk away?
Evan tipped his
head and eyed the ceiling. Prompt replies, punctual people. Striking deals and
hitting deadlines. These items made his world tick. Not loitering around a miniscule
airport pulling a Waiting for Godot moment on infinite repeat for a no-show, flakey
designer from California.
God grant him
patience and balls of steel when he showed up without the designer and the
all-important wedding dress, because his future sister-in-law Darci would
certainly be unhappy. […]
He took a deep
fortifying breath and froze. Airport smells assailed his senses—the sharp tang
of bleach and lemon-scented cleaners, […] coffee, donuts, fried fast food, and
under it all, the distinct musk of wolf.
Female wolf.
She smelled damn
good. His wolf perked up, and his legs propelled him toward the empty baggage
claim, where one bright-pink suitcase covered in Hello Kitty stickers sat,
unclaimed, on the unmoving L-shaped conveyor belt. Her scent, stronger here,
socked his gut, and his gaze shot to the corner.
The chaos around
the woman stunned him silent. Large, paper coffee cup, half-eaten banana, and a
quarter of a powdered doughnut perched on a brown paper bag next to her. Crumbs
splattered the linoleum and the woman’s long-sleeved blue blouse in a thick
layer of white, sugary dust. On her other side, two pink garment bags lay like
corpses, along with a bubblegum-pink unzipped duffel as long as her
outstretched, denim-clad legs. Some of the bag’s contents—pads of drawing paper
and large swaths of fabric—protruded over the opening, the fabric splaying over
her legs in a rainbow-colored blanket. Her feet peeked out of the mess, encased
in sparkling pink UGGs. Good grief, sequins? She smacked her shiny boots
together in a poor imitation of Dorothy and bobbed her head from side to side
in time to some music only she seemed to hear. Her shoulder-length red hair,
the color of ripe dark cherries—his favorite fruit—gleamed under the harsh
airport lighting and curtained most her face from his view, save a pert nose
and small chin, both speckled with a generous amount of freckles.
He’d
always liked freckles.
Clearing his
throat, he stepped closer, but she didn’t flinch in surprise or look up. Her
attention remained on the tablet on her lap, the stylus between her pale,
freckled fingers swiping without hesitation over her screen. […]
He positioned
himself right in front of her wiggly, booted feet. “Excuse me, J—”
“Sh.” She raised
her arm and flicked her hand in the universal get lost gesture.
He gaped at her.
“Excuse me?”
Another wave of
her hand while her stylus streaked across her tablet screen with the other.
“Not interested.”
Nice voice. Low
and husky. Her attitude, on the other hand… “But—”
“Go away.” Her velvet
voice carried a stubborn edge.
In other
circumstances, he would’ve admired her strength. But he’d wasted copious
amounts of time hunting for the clearly inconsiderate and irresponsible female.
“Fine. Get your own damn ride to Los Lobos. Jasmine.”
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!
I must confess, my playlist isn’t
the typical fare of “Monster Mash” and “Love Potion Number Nine.” It’s about
the soundtrack I like to listen to when I’m writing my paranormal tales. These
are for my series Booke of the Hidden that takes place during all of the month
of October and culminates on Halloween. The series wraps up with the fourth
book, THE DARKEST GATEWAY. Tea proprietor Kylie Strange finds and opens the
mysterious Booke of the Hidden, and must capture deadly creatures she’s
unwittingly unleashed, while juggling the advances of an alluring and dangerous
demon and a very human and handsome sheriff. So I need different tunes to get
me in the mood.
So let’s start with “Devils” from Say Hi.
Because my urban fantasy deals with a supernatural Booke and a demon guardian
who gets intimately close to Kylie, the song deals with the devil getting hold
of everything in the singer’s life, even “he make it to my heart”—just like
Kylie.
The next one is Valerie Broussand’s “A
Little Wicked”, because Kylie and Erasmas Dark, the demon, do get a little
wicked. Especially when she can’t decide between the handsome sheriff or the
demon. Who would YOU chose?
And then there’s “In the Shadows” by Amy
Stroup. This mysterious and evocative tune really takes you there. There
may be humor in these books, but there is still something not quite right,
not…quite…human going on. It’s a song that gives me the shivers.
And just to lighten things up—and
because the First Werewolf comes out of the Booke and bites one of Kylie’s
friends—there’s the incomparable Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves
of London”. Who doesn’t like a werewolf with a pina colada in his hand
“…and his hair is perfect.”
And finally, a haunting song that
will spirit you away, right to the dark shadows of Samhain, Halloween, with all
the dangers and powers that shimmer and awaken this night. Loreena McKennitt’s “The
Mummer’s Dance” recalls strange and secret Celtic festivals in a darkened
wood lit only by moonlight.
The
Darkest Gateway
Booke
of the Hidden
Book
Four
Jeri
Westerson
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Romance
Publisher: JABberwocky Literary
Date of Publication: October 2,
2019
ISBN: 978-1-625674-25-8
ASIN: 978-1-625674-23-4
Number of pages: 301
Word Count: 90,181
Cover Artist: Mayhem Cover
Creations
Tagline: “Whoever said country
life was dull didn’t know Moody Bog.”
Book
Description:
With the arrival of Samhain, the
supernatural Booke of the Hidden is set to release a barrage of deadly creatures
onto the hapless village of Moody Bog, Maine.
Tea proprietor Kylie Strange
knows the showdown is coming and wants to end the Booke for good. But the only
way to accomplish this is a journey to the Netherworld and get the help of the
only being powerful enough to destroy the Booke: Satan himself. And, though the
brooding and elusive demon Erasmus Dark has captured Kylie’s heart against her
better judgment, she ignores his repeated warnings that the mission guarantees
her doom.
The sound grew
louder. It couldn’t be anything except hoofbeats. They clopped, not in a gallop
but in a leisurely canter. And soon, there was the Dullahan coming around the
curve. His head looked even greener and slimier under his arm than it had
before, if that were possible.
His weirdly
roving eyes spotted me easily. He kicked his red-eyed horse’s sides and hurried
toward us. All the while, he swung that spine whip. With each revolution around
his headless neck, the weapon grew longer and longer.
I kept the spear
close to my side. I didn’t want that whip to catch it the way it had gotten the
crossbow the last time.
He was almost
upon me when he shrieked, “Kylie Strange!”
“That doesn’t
work on me, you idiot!” I yelled.
The face frowned
under his arm. It cast its googly eyes toward Erasmus and opened his mouth to
yell his name.
“He’s a demon,
remember? We’ve been through this before. Boy, you sure have a short memory.
Must be because your brain is decaying faster than the rest of you. Looks like
a bad case of melting Roquefort you got there.”
His dead face
either grimaced or it really was melting. “Then I don’t need to say your name,”
he said in a high screechy voice.
He spun the
whip. Before I could get out of the way, it came at me and wrapped around my
body, trapping my arms at my sides. I barely got out a yell before I was yanked
off my feet.
The horse
started galloping and I was flung out behind it almost parallel to the road. I
couldn’t bring the spear up. I was whipping around in the air and getting a
little seasick, but it was better than being dragged behind on the asphalt.
There wouldn’t have been much left of me after that.
The bones of the
spine whip were digging sharply into my skin. I tried wriggling free. If
Headless decided to fling me off a cliff, there wasn’t much I could do about
it. I knew Erasmus must be around somewhere, but this was up to me to figure
out…if I could.
The Dullahan
galloped around a sharp curve and I was thrown and dragged through the limbs of
pine trees shouldering the road.
“Dammit!” I
yelled, spitting out pine needles. “I am so going to kill you!”
He lifted his
head up with his other arm. It swiveled and glared at me. “Not if I kill you
first, Mistress Strange.”
“No need to be
so formal,” I grunted, struggling. I slammed into some holly bushes and OW!
The face cackled
and turned away, tucked back under his arm again. Then I looked up and saw what
he was cackling about. The next curve of the road didn’t have any nice prickly
holly bushes or spikey pine boughs. It was just granite all the way up the rock
face. “Shit!”
About
the Author:
Los Angeles native JERI WESTERSON
is the author of twelve Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Mystery novels, a series
nominated for thirteen national awards from the “Agatha” to the “Shamus”. Her
fifth novel BLOOD LANCE was named one of the Ten Hot Crime Novels for Colder
Days by Kirkus Reviews, and her sixth, SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST, was named Best
of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. For BOOKE OF THE HIDDEN, her urban fantasy
series, Publishers Weekly said, “Readers sad about the ending of Charlaine
Harris’s MIDNIGHT, TEXAS trilogy will find some consolation in Moody Bog.” The
fourth and final in the series, THE DARKEST GATEWAY, releases October 2, 2019.
Jeri also writes the humorous SKYLER FOXE LGBT MYSTERIES under the pen name
Haley Walsh. Jeri’s short stories were included in several mystery anthologies,
including Shaken: Stories for Japan (for the 2011 Earthquake Relief Fund). Jeri
was also featured on two local NPR shows, “My Awesome Empire” and KVCR-Arts.
She has served two terms as president of the Southern California Chapter of
Mystery Writers of America, twice president of the Orange County Chapter of
Sisters in Crime, and as vice president and California Crime Writers Conference
co-chair for the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. See more about Jeri
at JeriWesterson.com, BOOKEoftheHIDDEN.com, and
SkylerFoxeMysteries.wixsite.com/novels.
I read this a long time ago, 1.16.15, rated it on Goodreads, but forgot to write the review. Sooooo, here we are. I love the Goodreads cover, so that is the one I am sharing.
I read this back in 2015, but never wrote the review. I have a ton of notes, so that must mean I would be sharing too much. Don’t want to spoil anything. Ya know, a group of kids goes in the woods, I think we all know that some are going to be left behind.
S ize up the situation, surroundings, physical conditions, equipment
U se your senses
R ember where you are
V anquish fear and panic
I mprovise and improve
V alue living
A ct like the natives
L ive by your wits
Most of the characters left a lot to be desired, so it was hard to feel sorry for them. They are seriously damaged
I didn’t see where the story was going and I do love the twist. Brutal. I wanted blood and guts and gore and I got it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Wherewolves by John Vamvas & Olga Montes.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Using a fun, explosive
style, full of new slang and fresh dialogue, WHEREWOLVES is the story of
a group of high school seniors, most “military brats”, who are headed
for an army-type survival weekend.
The underdogs, Jeffrey and
Doris, do not want to go as they fear for their safety among the disdain
and cruelty of the popular students. Sergeant Tim O’Sullivan, their
teacher, as well as their dysfunctional parents pressure them into
going, but it is an unforgivable act by their peers that propels the
pair to go. Likewise, Elie, a student resented because of his Arab
roots, is even more determined to prove himself this weekend. In the
background, a news report cautions of a wanted couple with alleged
super-human strength supposedly brought on by a new drug on the streets.
In
the woods, the students hike, hunt, camp, and soon act in unity as the
forest brings them closer together. But does it? O’Sullivan leaves them
alone for the night. The students bond, chant, tell campfire tales, and
quickly lose their fears and inhibitions. HOO-AH! Though sexual tensions
are high, it soon turns to violence and everything quickly turns sour.
When
the kids start disappearing one after the other, the remaining begin to
unwittingly “act like the natives” carving spears, ready to face
whatever is out there. What has gotten into them?
Amid the
blood-curdling growls and the gruesome deaths, the story’s underlying
layers are revealed. We see how misconceptions, prejudice, greed, fear,
and hatred bring out the worst and best in them.
What is out there? Can it really be werewolves?
ABOUT JOHN VAMVAS
John Vamvas grew up in one of Montreal’s (Canada) roughest boroughs. His high school teachers always told him that he’d be in jail or dead by eighteen. Thank God for the Arts. Actor, playwright, screenwriter and now novelist, he has been writing with his writing partner/wife, Olga Montes, for over twenty years. He loves words, especially dialogue, and has a lot of fun coming up with new ways to say the same thing.
Mother, preschool French teacher, avid reader, Olga dreamed of being a writer as a child and spent many high school lunch hours working on her writing with her English teacher. She has a college degree in Professional Theatre and a university degree in Spanish and French grammar and literature. She was on her way to becoming a translator for the UN when she heard of an open audition at one of Montreal’s biggest theatres. She almost didn’t get the role, though, because the director and co-star, John Vamvas, was scared of falling in love with the actress and ruining the play. That was 1992. She and John have been writing and working together on stage, screen, and in life ever since.
The eerie cover of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell makes me think of Jack the Ripper and ghosts. Are you creeped out yet?
Jonathon has made himself a prisoner in Raven Hollow Manor, along with his daughter, Holly. He lost his love, Anna, but her ghostly presence lingers.
His past is coming back to haunt him when a serial killer goes wild in the foggy nights of London.
He is able to transform himself and I loved it. He becomes a cat, a Great Dane, or a mist in the night. Being immortal allows him to see without being seen. He is very protective of Holly and struggles to allow her some freedom. He is easily able to ‘spy’ on her, assuring her safety. After all, he knows first hand the monsters that lurk in the shadows. His oasis is by Anna’s gravesite. He reads Poe and Robert Frost to her.
Holly knows that he is an immortal. Authors have the freedom to create the immortal they want to portray, and I love Ilona Caldwell’s version.
I begin to wish for his happiness, for him to move on and create a new life, without Anna.
Enter…Walter Deverough, a detective on the hunt. I wonder….I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and SHE will scorch the earth with her need for revenge.
We, also, have Leland…a hero to the end.
Fast paced. Suspenseful. A vampire of a different color. Great world building as I pictured him walking the streets of London, damp and weary. Ilona Caldwell draws pictures with her words.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Jonathan is the immortal master of Raven Hollow Manor – a decrepit mansion riddled with superstition, murder and restless ghosts. Beneath it lies a restless malice.
Its previous owner driven mad, violently kills his guests
with a rusted ax, creating the perfect venue for Jonathan to seclude
himself in a prison of his own device.
When the streets of
London begin to run red with blood; the bodies exhibiting disturbing
signs and baffling wounds, the identity of the killer remains elusive to
police.
The bodies are just the beginning of Jonathan’s
troubles. A mysterious letter accusing Jonathan of committing the
murders appear, raising suspicion in the police. Hidden beneath the
mangled bodies, Jonathan soon realizes he is being forced to face demons
he thought died in a forlorn past he attempted to escape.
One
thing Jonathan knows for certain: He must deal with the demons of his
past if he is to survive his future. Not only him but those he has come
to love as well
ABOUT ILONA CALDWELL
My name is Iona Caldwell. I’m the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London’s Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. When I’m not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, I’m spending time out in nature. I love books. My biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe. I blog about many things but mostly everything bookish.
All of my novels are stand-alone novellas, each with a cast of people I hope my readers will come to love as much as I have.
I do accept reviews but they’re very selective and I urge you to check my review policy first.
I love to love a bad guy and Alpha Prime is one I would never want to cross paths with unless….I loved this complex novella of good and bad, but is anyone all good or all bad, not these fabulous, unique characters.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Born a demon, it took humans to transform him into a monster.
Tracy Hardwick is a wodnik, a water demon who absorbs his
victim’s souls. His parents used his gifts for their own gain. They made
him kill until he landed on death row.
The prison sold him to an
evil corporation who wiped his mind and surgically altered him to be
the perfect killing machine. He became their ultimate weapon.
Now,
Tracy’s mind is busting through their wipe. He’s waking up. And so are
all the souls of his victims. They’re talking to him, telling him what
to do. They don’t want to go back to sleep. He doesn’t want to kill
anymore.
But if he doesn’t kill, the corporation will wipe his mind again.
Tracy’s going to have to listen to the voices in his head.
Or he’ll remain a monster forever.
Download Voices of Reason now and enjoy some time with a madman.
Connect with Gwendolyn
Visit www.gwendolyndruyor.com for more about the author and her many diverse endeavors. And her dogs. Don’t forget to check out her dogs.
“A great story of murder, mystery . . . and well-developed
characters.”—Margie Hager, Netgalley Reviewer on A Drop of Magic
“A Drop of Magic is a damned fun and original read, with sass,
action, hot men, and a whole lot of magic.” —Diana Pharaoh
Francis, author of the Diamond City Magic, Magicfall,
and Horngate Witches series
Deeper into the shadows. . .
The paranatural community isn’t done with Alex. She’s been summoned
to the fae court, and she’s got her hands full trying to prepare.
But her date with the fae will have to wait. There’s been a death
at the gallery, and the man she hoped would be a part of her future
is the prime suspect.
Bitter enemies pull her into the middle of a paranatural war for territory
that has her dodging police, swords, teeth, and claws—not to
mention the truth. The deeper she digs, the more secrets she
uncovers, and the less certain she is about the innocence of the one
man she wanted to trust.
She thought she was done with murder and monsters, but she’ll have to
enter the belly of the beast if she hopes to save her friend.
With the world clinging to a fragile peace forced on the Fae by humanity
after the Faerie Wars, metalsmith Alex Blackwood is plunged into the
world of the half-fae who traffick in illegal magical artifacts. Her
best friend’s murder and his cryptic last message place her in the
crosshairs of a scheme to reignite the decade-old war between humans
and fae.
Worse, violent attacks against her and the arrival of a fae knight on a
mission force Alex to face a devastating revelation of who
and what she is. To catch a killer, retrieve a
dangerous artifact, and stop a war, Alex will have to accept that
she’s an unregistered fae “halfer” with a unique magical
talent—a talent that would change everything she believes about her
past, her art, and her future.
Her world is crumbling around her, and Alex will have to decide who to
trust if she and the world are going to survive.
“A Drop of Magic is a damned fun and original read, with sass, action,
hot men, and a whole lot of magic.”
—Diana Pharaoh Francis, author of the Diamond
City Magic, Magicfall, and Horngate Witches series
Born and raised in
Colorado, L. R. BRADEN makes her home in the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains with her wonderful husband, precocious daughter, and
psychotic cat. With degrees in both English literature and
metalsmithing, she splits her time between writing and art.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Michael Okon will be awarding a $50 Amazon Gift Card, then 5 signed copies of the book (US ONLY) to randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
MY REVIEW
Michael Okon writes some great novels and I am excited to read Witches Protection Program. I am a sucker for a great cover and that gun has me very curious. What do you think it contains?
Wes is the black sheep of the family. Is it because of his reading disability? It made him seem slow and he had to work harder just to maintain what others found so easy.
Now…he was being sent to DUMBO at the Witches Protection Program, having to abandon his dream job. He doesn’t believe in witches, elves or anything magic, but I have a feeling that is about to change.
Enter Morgan…who denies her legacy as a witch and heir to Pendragon, a very successful make-up company.
I can’t help but laugh at Wes and Alistair. A comedy of errors…or should I say ego. Wes needs that chip knocked off his shoulder.
Morgan’s best friend is not a witch, but she aspires to be. Her spells made me think of Charmed (a TV show) and I couldn’t help but laugh at the wording of her spells. The question is…will they work?
Will the frog turn into a prince or will the prince turn into a frog? I laughed my way through the entire scene. Michael Okon’s ability to make me visualize the scene as it unfolds, makes it uproariously funny and sticks with me throughout the story.
Witches Protection Program by Michael Okon is Charmed. The magic and romance runs AMOK. The serious and humorous collide in this wickedly fun paranormal story of greed justice and romance.
4 Stars
Wes Rockville, a disgraced law-enforcement agent, gets one last chance to prove himself and save his career when he’s reassigned to a 232-year-old secret government organization.
The Witches Protection Program.
His first assignment: uncover a billion-dollar cosmetics company’s diabolical plan to use witchcraft for global domination, while protecting its heiress Morgan Pendragon from her aunt’s evil deeds. Reluctantly paired with veteran witch protector, Alastair Verne, Wes must learn to believe in witches…and believe in himself.
Filled with adventure and suspense, Michael Okon creates a rousing, tongue-in-cheek alternate reality where witches cast spells and wreak havoc in modern-day New York City.
Read an Excerpt
The narrator filled in more information. “It wasn’t until this land became my land that the government decided to create an organization to protect women at risk. The Davina Doctrine went against everything that the Willas stood for. Even though they ran the risk of persecution, the Davinas chose to work with law enforcement to expose the evil deeds of the rival sisterhood. President George Washington established secret legislation under Title VI of the Control Act of 1792. The law was enacted to protect the good witches that exposed the evil deeds of their sisterhood.”
The screen went dark. There was only a chair in the center of a dimly lit stage. A single spotlight focused on the top of the blond actress’s head. Wes was right; it was the actress he’d suspected. She had a hit sitcom and two Emmys, and there was some recent Oscar talk about her last movie.
“Yes. There are witches. Living among us. They are women who believe in using their power to protect love and life. And then there are some who use their powers for all the wrong reasons.”
The camera came to rest on her beautiful face. She winked saucily as she placed a triangular witch’s hat on her head. “Welcome to the Witches Protection Program.”
Alastair smiled broadly. “I love that part.”
“That was Jennifer Anis—”
About the Author:
Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with a degree in English, and then later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling in his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.
Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children.