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.
In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground, into the depths of the earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms.
After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, seventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents’ crimes of treason.
Against all odds, Adele must escape from the Pen and find her family, while being hunted by a deranged, killing machine named Rivet, who works for the President. She is helped by two other inmates, Tawni and Cole, each of whom have dark secrets that are better left undiscovered. Other than her friends, the only thing she has going for her is a wicked roundhouse kick and two fists that have been well-trained for combat by her father.
At the other end of the social spectrum is Tristan, the son of the President and a sun dweller. His mother is gone. He hates his father. Backed by only his servant and best friend, Roc, he leaves his lavish lifestyle in the Sun Realm, seeking to make something good out of his troubled life.
When a war breaks out within the Tri-Realms, Tristan is thrust into the middle of a conflict that seems to mysteriously follow Adele as she seeks to find her family and uncover her parents true past.
I added Moon Dwellers by David Estes to my TBR on 12.4.12 and I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read it. I do remember seeing it everywhere at one time and I do love apocalyptic/dystopian novels. Throw in some science fiction for good measure. Have you read any of the series?
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tracy Tappan will be awarding one “Hero” coffee mug: Keith or Brayden or Pete, winner’s choice which one. (US only shipping) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
A star athlete with a notorious reputation, Justine “Justice” Hayes is offered the chance to join the United States’ elite Special Operations Forces. SOF is standing up three new units called “Special Missions,” and Justice’s past as a master thief makes her perfect to lead one of these intelligence-gathering teams.
But an impossible condition stands between her and her dream job.
She has to survive the Navy’s most intensive and grueling SPECWAR training program: BUD/S.
Despite opposition, Justice soon finds herself wearing the rank of a Navy ensign and competing with some of America’s toughest men. Two of these SEAL candidates will come to test her mind and her heart, as much as her will to keep business and pleasure firmly separate. Temptations multiply when she crosses swords with the cocky helicopter pilot who commands her Special Missions flight crew.
Her vow to maintain a professional distance is finally shaken when an unorthodox training exercise goes terribly wrong. In the brutal aftermath, she needs a man who cares about her to help her fully heal. But which hero will ultimately win her…?
The gentleman? The leader? The wild one?
YOU CHOOSE!
In this unique Choose A Hero Romance™, the reader decides which hero will earn a happily ever after with Justice Hayes.
Love every hero in his own way?
You can have as many happily-ever-afters as you want!
When you’re finished with one ending, simply choose another and keep reading.
All endings are available NOW
Read an Excerpt
“Do you realize how close I came to a medical rollback today, and all because you couldn’t mind your own damned business?”
Keith crossed his arms and spoke with an edge. “I didn’t realize the welfare of my boat team wasn’t my business.”
There was enough sarcasm in his tone to make her want to rip it out of his larynx. She gave him an acid glare. “You need to learn to pay attention when I say I’m good.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “A flap of your skin was hanging down.”
“I don’t give a damn!” she yelled.
“I do!” he thundered back. “It would’ve been grossly negligent of me not to send you to medical.”
She clenched her teeth, nausea bubbling at the back of her throat. The length of her esophagus felt like it was covered in road-rash. How awesome would it be if she puked, then fainted in the middle of this argument?
Keith shook his head. “Look at you, Justice. You’re gray.”
She thrust a tautly knuckled fist against her lips. Get through this…get through this… “Before I lose my mind,” and consciousness, “I need to make sure you understand something. On my completely hosed journey to BUD/S, I almost didn’t make it out of PTRR. If I’m rolled back there a second time for an injury, I might not ever escape. So I need you to stop being an overprotective jerk and treat me like a regular candidate—like we agreed—and I need you to do it right now—like I told you yesterday.”
He regarded her flatly. “No.”
About the Author:
Tracy Tappan is a bestselling and award-winning author and the creator of the Choose A Hero Romance™ reading experience, a brand-new concept in storytelling where the reader controls the ending. You can find out more about this exciting new trend at http://www.chooseahero.com.
Tracy’s books in paranormal and military romance have earned both bronze and gold medals in the Readers’ Favorite contests, have finaled for the USA Book News and Kindle Book Awards, and won both the HOLT Medallion and the Independent Publishers Book Award (IPPY) bronze medal for romance.
Tracy holds a master’s degree in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling (MFCC), loves to play tennis, enjoys a great glass of wine, and talks to her Labrador like he’s a human (admittedly, the wine drinking and the dog talking probably go together).
A native of San Diego, Tracy is married to a former Navy helicopter pilot, who retired after thirty years of service and joined the diplomatic corps. He and Tracy currently live in Rome, Italy.
Visit her website and join the gang on her monthly newsletter for giveaways, publication updates, and other fun and sexy news.
Oh yeah. A new series , River’s End Rescues, by Jane Blythe. I eagerly anticipate meeting new ‘people’ and watching how their lives grow and change through the danger and suspense Jane Blythe creates in her romantic suspense novels.
Looking at the cover, I thought this may be a bit on the tame side, but I should never have second guessed Jane Blythe. I immediately connected to Meadow, a woman on the run…
She had just enough money to get her to River’s End.
From the moment Abe Black, the sheriff of River’s End, saw her at the diner, he became her protector. Seeing this is a romantic suspense novel, I don’t think it will stay that way. LOL
Abe had grown up in River’s End, and after the war in Afghanistan, he came home to the peace and quiet of the small town of River’s End. He became the sheriff and settled on his own plot of land. He determined it was his lot in life, to maintain a peaceful place for those to come.
I love stories that take place in small towns, a damsel in distress, and a hunkaclicious man who will save her. We quickly meet the characters that live there and they appear as if they could be our own neighbors and friends.
Abe made Meadow an offer…to stay with him until she got on her feet. It felt safe to her. It felt right, and she wondered….
She was running…from a psychopathic husband that wants what belongs to him and will stop at nothing to get IT back.
Jane Blythe has the ability to create characters and worlds that quickly draw me in, never letting me go. I loved that she found a way to write romantic suspense without the woman making some boner move that has her walking into danger. I know it’s hard to come up with new ways to create danger and suspense in the last half of the book without the woman looking like a dumbass and making a stupid move, running straight into trouble, but Jane Blythe did a bang up job of doing just that.
I highly recommend Jane Blythe’s work and can hardly wait to see what she comes up with for the next book in the River’s End Rescues series.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Some Regrets Are Forever by Jane Blythe.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
She will bring sunshine to his life … if he can keep her alive.
All Meadow Smith has ever wanted was to belong. Unfortunately her desire to find her place in the world led to a decision she regrets but can never take back. Now she’s on the run and has to decide if she can put her trust in another man or if she’s safer if she keeps moving. Problem is you can’t run from your problems forever.
Abe Black served his country and now he serves the people of River’s End as Sheriff of the quaint small town. As soon as he spots Meadow he knows she’s in trouble, he wants to help just like he wants to give in to his growing feelings for the sweet woman but he’s been burned before. Can he settle for just trying to keep her alive and then walk away?
ABOUT JANE BLYTHE
Jane
has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark
and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in
because, well, who doesn’t love romance? She has one completed series,
Detective Parker Bell, and one new series, Count to Ten.
When she’s not writing Jane loves to
read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies.
She has a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 200+ collection of teddy bears.
She has the world’s two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and
Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!
Abandoned
at three—whose parents want a kid who sees ghosts?—I learned the world is quick
to punish misfits. I try my best to be a normal, boring human, but the call of
the supernatural just won’t be ignored.
When a stranger shows
up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s no sexy tryst. Instead, I’m
off to the graveyard, digging up the corpse of a murder victim at the demand of
the local vampire coven—and that small felony is just the start.
The spirit of the woman
has gone missing, something that shouldn’t be possible, and everyone is looking
to me for answers. There’s Kase, a vampire who’s both terrifying and secretive.
Grant, a mage with a bad attitude and a lot of power. Troy, the possessive
werewolf-detective next door and Hunter, a mysterious bad boy who isn’t even
close to human.
It’s a race not just
against time but against everything to figure out where the spirits are going,
who’s behind it and if I can trust the men who now share my bed.
I took the stairs carefully, gripping the railing as I went,
trying to peer into the darkness of my living room.
Was it Kase? Had he decided he didn’t care for a human
telling him what to do or where to go? Or perhaps Troy figured waiting until
morning for something between an apology and a lecture was just too far.
Except, I knew it wasn’t them. I could feel it deep in my
bones, the way I knew when the sun rose without looking outside, the way I knew
when a predator was staring at me.
Whatever was here wasn’t anything as trivial as a vampire or
werewolf.
And what sort of screwed up world did I live in where
vampires and werewolves were trivial?
When I reached the ground floor, that chill worsened. I
struggled to breathe, and the darkness wasn’t run of the mill, as if someone
forgot to turn on a light. It was deeper, as though light wasn’t just absent
but devoured. Something was there inside it, shifting, staring back at me.
My wrists burned, as if fire licked along the edges of the
scars there. It crept up my arms, searing me, and when I would have screamed,
someone closed their hand over my mouth.
“Trust me, you don’t want it to hear you.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jayce Carter
lives in Southern California with her husband and two spawns. She originally
wanted to take over the world but realized that would require wearing pants.
This led her to choosing writing, a completely pants-free occupation. She has a
fear of heights yet rock climbs for fun and enjoys making up excuses for not
going out and socializing.
Mad Dog Ophelia Bell (Second Skin, #1) Publication date: April 20th 2021 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Not even the king of Los Angeles’s underground can stop me from loving Celeste.
Arturo Flores could make me disappear with a snap of his fingers, and nearly did. Limping away from a beatdown when I was seventeen didn’t change the fact that his daughter was worth the pain. Running into her in my tattoo shop twelve years later, she still makes my blood run hot with a glance.
But I’m not that clueless teenage boy anymore. And Celeste isn’t the only one I want.
Leo is a temptation I crave, but in our world, admitting desires like mine could get me killed. The gangbanger is as ruthless as he is beautiful, yet he can’t see anything beyond Celeste. That hurts like hell to admit, but I would sooner die at her crime lord father’s hands than let either of them get hurt.
I’m prepared to let them have each other when Leo comes to me with an offer. One that could connect the three of us in a way that flies in the face of the world we live in. His proposal ignites a fire in my veins. If it fails, we’ll all get burned, but for a man with nothing to lose, I’m just desperate enough to take that chance.
My pulse speeds up at the mere mention of what we did back then. “I thought we knew each other well enough.”
He tilts his head back and stares at the ceiling. “Maybe conversations aren’t really our thing.” Then he spears me with a sharp look that makes my insides go molten.
“Maybe not.” My heart pounds so hard it’s difficult to breathe. My feet have a mind of their own when I start to walk again. I pass by him, feeling his gaze on me all the way as I head around the corner and through the door to the locker rooms.
The space smells musty and old, a mix of stale sweat and lemon cleaner. There are no showers—just two rows of lockers with benches in front and a restroom with a trio of toilet stalls and a row of sinks beyond another door. The boys’ side is a mirror to the girls’ side, though less used due to the majority of students being female. The gleaming chrome of brand-new locks on the lockers catches the sparse light from a high window.
I pause in front of the locker at the far end. This was where it happened. My eyebrows twitch at the etched lines engraved into the metal in the center of the locker: M + C. Reaching out, I trace the letters. They weren’t there before. Did he come back? Or did these initials belong to some other lovesick teenage girl?
His intense gray eyes are fixed on my fingertips. He closes the distance, takes my hand, and raises my fingers to his lips.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, finally able to say to him what I never had the chance to until now. Taking a deep breath, I brace myself for a more detailed apology, but all thought disappears when he hauls me close and slams his mouth onto mine.
Author Bio:
Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren’t apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don’t mind being with a woman who’s in charge, at least on the surface, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.
Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.
If you’d like to receive regular updates on Ophelia’s publications, freebies, and discounts, please subscribe to her mailing list: http://opheliabell.com/subscribe/
(Story Ballads Book #2) by: Mia Kerick Genre: YA Coming of Age Gay Romance Release Date: March 3
Summary: Kyle is a swaggering bully; Lenny strives to be invisible.
Kyle has been left alone in the world; Lenny is the world’s biggest loner.
When Kyle saves Lenny from drowning, their lives will never be the same.
After a brutal encounter with school bullies, Lenny swims out into the ocean, determined to let the current whisk him away. Next thing he knows the meanest kid in town is pulling him from the waves, promising to be his Dead Sea, and to never let him sink.
All Kyle wants is to get out of beach cleanup, is that too much to ask? So he goes for a swim, only to come upon the most epic “nobody” in the senior class drowning in a riptide. Lenny’s haunted gaze grips him, and Kyle makes the impulsive decision to save his life or die trying. And through this ordeal, Kyle and Lenny are transformed.
Kyle’s heroic act sets him on the straight and narrow, and he opens his heart to the young man he dragged from the ocean. Lenny changes too but is still unable to reveal the truth of his pain. While drowning in a sea of secrets, the reformed bully and wary victim fall in love. But staying afloat in the Dead Sea is not as simple as it seems.
Award-winning gay romance author, wife, and mother of four, Mia Kerick, knows that a satisfying romance novel is riddled with challenges. For true love to prevail, the leading men are going to have to put in some effort. But the HEA is oh, so rewarding.
From Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester to Brokeback Mountain’s Ennis and Jack to Twilight’s Edward, Mia has a great affinity for the tortured hero in literature. Her contemporary gay romance focuses on such tropes as coming of age, hurt/comfort, and forbidden love. She firmly believes that sometimes you have to break his heart to save him. In Kerick’s books, the course of true love truly never does run smooth.
Mia’s books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine. They have won a 2019 IPPY GOLD award for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction, GOLD award for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction, a 2018 YA GOLD MOONBEAM Children’s Book Award, a YA Readers’ Favorite Award, several Gold Rainbow Awards in YA and adult categories, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, a YA Indie Fab Award, a First Place Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, a First Place Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award, and more.
Mia cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.
I want to start out by saying how wonderful it was to be surprised! I love book surprises and M O Mack delivered. She’s Got The Money started out as what I thought would be a cozy mystery, then developed into a deeper suspenseful thriller.
Charge…I picture him as the Marlboro Man, except a little more ruggedly handsome. He is a killer, the head of Suite #45, a group of assassins.
An innocent young woman on the run, Emily owes them one million dollars for saving her from her old life. She ends up working for them to pay back the money.
It made me think of Charlie’s Angels and Bond, James Bond.
For the first half of the book, I was pretty lackadaisical. I was enjoying it. It was good and an easy read. Then…it takes a twist and has me questioning everything, my mind trying to unravel the questions this twist created. What is true? Who to trust?
The characters are more complex, as is the entire situation with Emily, than I initially thought. I love that M O Mack was able to catch me so offguard. It kept getting more dangerous. I read faster. I became more invested in the characters and what was going to happen to them.
Even though I didn’t read the first book…yet (which was free when I wrote this review), I didn’t feel like it made this book any less enjoyable. Laughter, humor, danger…and a little bit of romance makes for an intriguing series that left me wanting more.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of She’s Got The Money by M O Mack.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
From M.O. Mack comes another fast-paced standalone thriller, SHE’S GOT THE MONEY.
TO SAVE THE HIT MAN SHE SWORE TO WALK AWAY FROM, SHE’LL HAVE TO BREAK ALL THE RULES. INCLUDING HIS RULES.
When Emily escaped her old life, she never imagined ending up
here: running the front office for a crew of dangerous hit men. Even
worse, now she owes them money for protecting her from her abusive
husband.
This new situation is ten times deadlier than the life
she fled, but every attempt to leave lands her deeper into their world.
Especially now that her boss has been taken by some very bad people.
And they want money. A lot of it.
She could walk away. She should walk away. Because to save him means
she’ll have to do the unthinkable. And then there’s no turning back.
ABOUT M O MACK
Obviously, M.O. Mack is a cover. Don’t bother looking for the author’s true identity. He/she must remain secret due to the sensitive information written in his/her stories…
Okay, most of all that is total rubbish! M.O. is a full-time author from the great state of Arizona, who loves making stuff up and hates a slow story. The faster the better! Most days, M.O. tries to avoid the news (too violent) so it doesn’t interfere with writing funny, but quasi-violent stories.
Wallflower (wohl-flou-erh): Identifier for someone who is shy and/or awkward. For reference, see Viola Kent.
Seventeen-year-old Viola Kent likes being invisible. Well, not literally, but she’s content being a loner, reading her books, and hanging out with the animals at the shelter. She just wants to keep her head down and get through her senior year at Durham High.
Driving Dare Frost to school every day wasn’t part of the plan.
And when Viola finds out her dad recruited Dare, his number one player, to be her friend?
Her inner Slytherin demands revenge.
The solution: Get Dare to be her fake boyfriend.
Convincing the star athlete to pretend is easier than she’d thought it would be. The hard part is protecting her heart. With every word, touch, and kiss, Viola’s feelings become more real.
The problem: Viola knows she’s falling for Dare—but he doesn’t believe in love.
This book features two sets of soulmates, one happy pooch named Hermione, so many sizzling kisses and answers the question:
Can a dork and a jock fake their way to true love?
“Come on, Dare. Show me your moves. Or did you run out already?”
Dare walked toward me until the top of
my thighs hit the couch cushion.
“I’ve got a ton of moves, flower.
We haven’t even tried half of them.”
I blinked. “Really?”
He nodded. “I’m just trying to ease you into this,
make sure you’re comfortable. I don’t
want to move too fast.”
Please, do,
I thought.
The words that came out of my mouth
were, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
It had sounded good, quippy and totally
aloof in my head.
But Dare took it as a challenge.
“I’m going to enjoy this,”
Dare said.
Before I could respond, he gripped the
backs of my legs and lifted slightly, making me gasp and throw my arms about
his neck. In the next instant, I was
balanced on the couch back, my legs on either side of his hips as he took a
step forward. There hadn’t been that
much space between us to begin with. So,
the next thing I knew his body was mere inches away from mine.
My cheeks flamed, and he drank in my
reaction.
Author Bio:
Cookie O’Gorman writes
YA & NA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns,
quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her
books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her novels ADORKABLE,
NINJA GIRL, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan
Wilder, The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Badand WALLFLOWER are out now!She is also the author of NA sports romance, The
Best Mistake.
The Warrior King Abigail Owen (Inferno Rising #3) Published by: Entangled: Amara Publication date: March 9th 2021 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
MY REVIEW
The Warrior King by Abigail Owen is Book III in the Inferno Rising series. Even though the storyline is familiar, dragon meets phoenix and….Abigail Owen always adds those little bits that make an amazing story unputdownable and the characters to die for.
The Warrior King is Meira and Samael’s story and it is a HOT one.
Being an empath and a Phoenix, Meira enjoys the solitude of working with computers. She has chosen her mate, not for love, but to get her revenge for the death of her parents.
A glance in the mirror from Samael changed their lives. Meira uses mirrors as portals, but she couldn’t understand how he was able to see her. That had never happened before. What does it mean?
She must forget she ever saw Samael, .but he is her intended mate’s friend and protector. He thinks of King Gorgon as a father figure. He would be assigned as her protector and I foresee some problems. I wondered how this would work out and Abigail Owen never fails to surprise me. She takes me to places I can’t go on my own and makes me love every minute of it.
The torment that Meira and Samael go through trying to do the right thing and not betray a good man and friend like King Gorgon is torturous and agonizing. Her Phoenix “lights” up when he is near and his dragon fights to take control, to be free to claim her.
The Phoenix’s are desired by the Rotting King Pytheios. When a dragon is unmated, his body rots and a Phoenix can save him and declare him High King. He wants all of their powers and will do anything to obtain them.
Meira and her sisters are protected by more than dragons. We have werewolves and Carrick, a gargoyle, who play a role. We have Maul, a Hellhound and Vincent Van Goat.
Do dragons have pets? Meira has rescued a kitten and I wonder if it will become a dragon snack or a clan pet.
Meira’s comment…”release the Kraken”, had me cracking up, creating some wild visions dancing in my head.
Dragons flying, slashing, clawing, fighting to the death, going down in flames.
I have read each book as it has been published and Abigail Owen includes bits and pieces to update what’s happening in each book so you can follow along. It didn’t take me long to catch up. BUT, I would have loved to binge read the entire series, fully lost in this world.
While each book tells the story of a couple, a Phoenix and a dragon falling in love and mating, each story has unique events that keep adding to the book surprises, and twists and turns, that I love so much.
With tears in my eyes, some of the good guys fall. I love that Abigail Owen is not afraid to kill off a character if it improves the story and gets my emotions all riled up.
The mating is HOT! and the future, though filled with danger, is bright, hopeful. I love that it ends on a positive note, leaving me feeling good and wanting more.
The secret they have fought to keep has been exposed. There are four Phoenix sisters and Angelique’s story will be told. She may be a Phoenix and daughter of the past king of the White Clan, but she has no power…does she?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Warrior King by Abigail Owen.
4 Stars
SYNOPSIS
Meira Amon is the most reserved of the phoenixes, finding computers easier to deal with than people and their messy emotions. But she wants revenge against the Rotting King Pytheios for the murder of her parents just as much as her sisters. Offering herself as a queen for their ally, dragon shifter King Gorgon of the Black Clan, only makes sense.
Just one problem…
Samael Veles worked his lowborn ass off to become the fiercest warrior of the Black Clan. He has pledged his life to protect his king at all costs. Yet somehow, in the middle of war, he took one look at a woman in a reflection and gave up his heart. When that woman turns out to be the phoenix promised to mate his king and help bring peace to their kind, he has no choice but to accept it.
Until her fire unexpectedly destroys the king after they’ve wed. Now Samael must choose between his loyalty to his clan and protecting the queen who might be his mate from his people’s wrath, one of which will unlock a destiny no one could have ever imagined…
Meira tried to get closer to Gorgon, tried to take it back, to pull her fire back into herself. Bile stung her throat, blending with the vomit-inducing stench of burning flesh. The king stared back with shocked, awful, horror-filled eyes as her flames consumed him. He fell to his knees, and she could see him fighting the flames, his own black fire flaring out like sunspots only to be devoured by the red gold of her own fire in an instant.
One kiss was all it had taken.
They hadn’t even gotten to the undressing part, let alone the sex part. She’d turned on her flames and he’d kissed her lightly, so sweet. Except then he jerked back, a silent howl of pain contorting his features.
Already his bronze skin had turned charred before cooling to gray. Other parts continued to burn, glowing bright embers, and parts of him were sifting to ash. Like her mother in that field all alone.
“No, no, no,” Meira cried, hardly aware of the words pouring from her mouth.
She fell to her knees beside him, reaching in past the flames, which didn’t hurt her, to take his hand, already ashy against hers. “I’m so sorry. I’m here. Look at me.”
His eyes, already solid gray, shifted in his face as if searching. Could he see her? “I won’t let you die alone.”
A thunderous thud rattled the door. Samael.
By this time, most of the body had turned to ash.
Another slam against the door, this one causing a crack to appear in the thick wood. “Let me in!” Samael shouted, his voice muffled.
Meira forced herself to her feet. Her hands were shaking so hard, it took three tries for her to manage to unlock the door. She jumped back in time to get out of the way as Samael slammed it open. The door hit the wall behind with such force it embedded in the rock, small fragments of wood and stone falling to the floor, the gritty sound loud in the sudden silence as the man on the floor finished disintegrating and the fire disappeared all at the same time.
Samael ran to the heap of burned flesh and knelt beside it, he ran his fingers through the dust and ash then made a fist, seeming to grasp for control.
He won’t hurt me.
Meira shouldn’t be sure of that. He was Gorgon’s captain and would believe what his eyes were telling him. That she’d killed his king, the man he was sworn to protect.
“What have you done?” Samael asked in a low voice.
Hands to her mouth, Meira could only shake her head in horror. Was he asking her? Or asking his king?
Samael turned his head to spear her with a dark gaze full of rage, his fire sparking, like looking into an abyss that was reaching out for her. “What. Have. You. Done?”
No mistaking those growled words were directed her way. “It’s—” She had to stop and swallow around a throat so dry it felt coated in dust. Coated in a nameless man’s ashes. “It’s not—”
Samael bolted to his feet, crossing the room in two long strides, backing Meira up against the rock wall of the cavern the suite was carved from. “Don’t you dare say it’s not your fault.”
She should be terrified. This man had every right to kill her here and now. She’d heard many of Ladon’s men speak in hushed tones of respect about Samael’s skills when it came to killing. A rational person would be cowering and begging for her life.
But part of her she didn’t know even existed refused to be that woman. Not in front of him.
Samael’s emotions, released from their bonds, swirled and eddied around her like a riptide—anger, grief, blame. And one other, above all others. Protectiveness.
For her? Or his clan?
Author Bio:
Multi-award-winning paranormal romance author, Abigail Owen, loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, alpha heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of sexy shifters! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, Dr. Seuss quoter, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal hero (who she totally married!) and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.
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.
Tessa Von Hellengaard is a real witch. Magical spells aside, she’s snarky and selfish, and the other witches in her silent spell coven are fed up with her. Their plan to reform Tessa involves taking away her magic, saddling her with one hundred extra pounds and sending her to a weight loss spa. For good measure they call in Liam Kennedy, a charming and sexy fairy godfather, to teach her some manners.
Desperate to regain her magic and determined to shed the weight, Tessa soon realizes that protecting her heart from Liam will prove to be her greatest challenge.
