Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year, Everyone!!



Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it's midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year! 


~ Ogden Nash

Friends of Jillian Dodd Are Showing Their Appreciation!



“THANK YOU Jillian for all that you do!”


Friends of Jillian Dodd are showing their appreciation!

In appreciation for the hard work and effort indie author Jillian Dodd does behind the scenes for authors, her writing friends are offering YOU the chance to win one of her books! You can choose from one of the Keatyn Chronicles:  STALK ME or KISS ME. Or maybe you prefer one of the titles in the That Boy series: THAT BOY or THAT WEDDING. All books are New Adult contemporary romance. Good luck!



For More Information on the Books:



About Jillian Dodd:

Jillian is the author of the That Boy series and The Keatyn Chronicles. She grew up on a farm in Nebraska, where she developed a love for Midwestern boys and Nebraska football. She lives in Texas with her family.

Author social media links:




GIVEAWAY:
(1) eBook copy of STALK ME (Keatyn Chronicles, #1), 
KISS ME (Keatyn Chronicles, #2), 
THAT BOY (Volume 1), 
OR
THAT WEDDING (That Boy, #2). 
Open International. 
Books will be gifted from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

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Cover Reveal: Blood Promise by Ashlynne Laynne

BLOOD PROMISE by Ashlynne Laynne
The Progeny Series #3
Release Date: January 2013


"Their love is fated by an ancient prophecy. Now the promise is fulfilled.”

Ascher Rousseau is a half-human, half vampire whose life has been a series of prophecies and predictions. After finding incredible love and passion with Shauna—a Wiccan with powers beyond anything he’s ever known—he seals to her and hopes for happiness. But his enemies seek to destroy all that he loves, and he finds that happiness never lasts for long.

Darkness is descending and a vampiric revolution is nearing. A new brood of hatchlings is born to join their darkling brothers, in preparation for war. A preordained chain of events is set into motion that could lead to the rise of the demonic “cloaked one” and his half-human fallen children, while ending humanity—as we know it.

Can a supernatural love and the loyal bond of a family save the Rousseaus and the world from certain extinction?


About this Author:

Ashlynne Laynne has always had a soft spot in her heart for vampires but grew tired of the garlic fearing, sun loathing creatures of old. An avid horror movie fan, she tends to enjoy media and music that is of a younger, more eclectic nature. This was the catalyst for her writing The Progeny Series. The vampire/witch pairing is unique and different when most books pair vampires with werewolves.

The infinite possibilities, for such a wicked and unique couple, intrigued her. There is no shortage of romance, steam and surprises in The Progeny. These books are for adults and contain adult sensuality and themes, but minimal profanity. She loves writing on the edge and teetering between the erotica and romance genres. She thinks of Ascher and Shauna as the damned version of Romeo and Juliet.

In her spare time, Ashlynne enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with her family. She juggles the hats of wife, mother, full time employee and part-time writer, hoping to write full time one day soon.

Ashlynne lives in North Carolina with her husband and teenage son.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Challenge Review: Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong

FROSTBITTEN
BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG



Title: Frostbitten
Series: Women of the Otherworld #10
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Urban Fantasy Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Elements: Werewolves, Demons, Shapeshifters, Necromancers
Publisher: Bantam Books, Random House Inc.
Format: Hardcover, 339 Pages
ISBN: 9780553806625
Release Date: September 2009
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 5/5

Purchase Here: Kindle // Paperback

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: Being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And Elena Michaels couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. Now their bond will be put to the ultimate test as they follow a bloody trail of gruesome slayings deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

There’s nothing the werewolf community dislikes more than calling attention to itself. So when a pair of rogue man-eaters begins hunting humans, it’s up to Elena and Clayton to track down the predators. But any illusions their task would be simple are quickly dispelled. For even in werewolf terms, there’s something very disturbing taking place in the dark Alaskan forests. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural is on the hunt—a creature whose origins seem to spring from ancient legends of the shape-shifting Wendigo.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Clayton and Elena find themselves confronting painful ghosts from their pasts — and an issue neither of them is eager to discuss. For one of them has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and as every wolf knows, there can be only one Alpha. They’ve always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead...and the other to follow?

Review:

Elena Michaels is tracking a young werewolf who ran with two known man-eaters, Liam Malloy and Ramon Santos. She only wants to speak to Reese Williams and warn him about Liam and Ramon's backstabbing tendencies. But with a reputation like hers, Reese isn't going to stop for a chat, so he takes off for Alaska.

Coincidentally, Alaska is where a number of possible wolf kills has taken place, and Jeremy sends Elena and Clay to investigate. With strange wolf behavior, missing friends, mythical shapeshifters, and a pack causing all sorts of trouble, Elena has a lot to handle and she gets a taste of what Alphahood will be like.

The first thing I realized when I read the names Liam and Ramon was that these are the two werewolves that attack Derek and Chloe in the Darkest Powers series. It seems that when they couldn't pin their kills on Reese, they went after a young, not necessarily naive, werewolf.

Being from Minnesota, I was able to really appreciate Elena's remark about the Minneapolis Airport and the Mall of America being traps for the directionally challenged. I've never been in the MSP Airport, but the MOA really is a trap for those who don't know where they are going. I can't even find my own way in that place.

I thought it interesting that Elena may or may not have a familial connection with the Russian Pack. Elena's mother was an Antonov, and there are a few Antonovs in the Russian Pack. It's an old werewolf family in Russia, apparently. Roman Novikov, the Alpha of the Russian Pack, invited Elena, Clay, and Jeremy to Russia to see if there is indeed a connection. I'm really curious about this myself, I would love to know if Elena has family in the Russian Pack. That could possibly help her in the long run when she becomes Alpha of the North American Pack.

One of my favorite moments was when Elena visited Lynn Nygard and saw a painting of herself as a wolf on Lynn's wall. That is way too coincidental that Lynn had a print of one of Jeremy's paintings.

We know Elena's history with her foster fathers and brothers, how they sexually abused her, some even raped her, and that was all brought to the forefront of her memory when she received a letter from one of her foster fathers, asking for forgiveness as part of his therapy. So when she met Travis Tesler for the first time and he tried to rape her (and the numerous times after that first meeting) she was brought back to that little girl who just tried to hide from it all. But Elena, being who she is now, was finally able to fight back. Elena is probably my favorite character in this series, and the strength she showed in Frostbitten just reinforced that.

Then there is the Stillwell family. They were former members of the Pack, but left and moved to Alaska when the Alpha ascension was taking place. Dennis still kept in contact with Jeremy, though, but hasn't made contact when he said he would. This is another thing Jeremy asked Elena and Clay to check out. I don't want to say too much about them, because they play a big part in the Tesler takeover, but in the end the Pack gains a new member from this family. Plus two more possible members if Reese Williams decides to stay, and if Morgan Walsh decides to head south after his experiment in Alaska.

With a mythological shapeshifter race (which one it is, I won't tell) and a rogue werewolf pack close to waging war in the Alaskan Wilderness, Elena must act as mediator and take matters into her own hands before more innocent humans are killed. This is all definitely a great way to get Elena ready to be Alpha.

"So, what do you think of your pack?"

About this Author:

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Tour: As I Wake by Sarah DiCello (Promo+Giveaway)

Tour Hosted by Bewitching Book Tours



As I Wake
Breaking Fate Collection Book 2
Sarah DiCello

Genre: YA Historical Romance with a time travel twist
Publisher: Taylor Street Books
Number of pages: 200
Word Count: 60,000
Cover Artist: Heather Moreland

Readers entranced by As I Close My Eyes will once again be thrust into the enchanting life of Danielle Grayson in As I Wake, the second book in the Breaking Fate collection.
A secret of Dani’s past is revealed and she must find the answers before it’s too late. Can she change the fate of her one true love or will he suffer the same destiny for all of time?

As Dani rekindles her relationship with Ben she finds herself torn between her present day life in Sugar Hill, Georgia and a new past she has yet to discover. But something in her past makes her question the journey she has chosen. Time is running out and she is the only one who can understand the path that must be taken. But will it be enough? Has the story of Dani and Ben been written in stone never to be undone?






As I Close My Eyes
Breaking Fate Collection Book 1
Sarah DiCello 

Genre: historical YA with a time travel twist 

You know you are alive, but what if you are dead?

Danielle Grayson is a beautiful, intelligent young woman in present-day Georgia, but when she closes her eyes, she becomes someone else in a different time, one hundred years earlier in fact.

Danielle's other life is as entrancing and romantic as her current one, and the contrast between the lifestyles is intriguing and enlightening (they didn't have iPods in 19th century USA, apparently), but what starts out as being dreamlike soon becomes real and strangely familiar.

Worse, whatever happens to her as Danielle seems to change the past, if it is a true past.

And when she finds she is not alone in being able to flip between the two worlds, life, love and death become really disturbing.
Available from Amazon.com - here
Available from Kindle - here 




Excerpt As I Wake

Something is digging into my spine. A pebble? No. A piece of glass? Maybe, but it’s round and dull. And I’m wet. Just underneath my head, although I can feel water slowly making its way down my neck and into my back, saturating every fiber of fabric. Shadows move in between rays of fading evening sun from a window just above my head. Someone is talking. It’s a man. Again, a voice I recognize. I must have passed out and can feel Ben’s hands on my shoulders gently shaking me. As soon as I hear his name in my head I’m relaxed and the cold, wetness beneath me no longer matters. Nor does the object piercing my lower back. I’m lying on a wood floor moving the tips of my fingers in and out of the deep grooves in the planks. My ring finger stops on a nail sticking out of one of the floorboards. The head of the nail is round like the object making an indent in my skin.
“Elizabeth. Can you hear me?” Shouts a dark figure hovering over me.
I find myself in the same precarious situation in this black hole of time travel. I can’t speak, though I know in a few moments I will be able to sit up and assess the situation. I assume that I went deeply into Cape May again, but oddly don’t remember a bit of it. Is it me they are calling? It can't be. I'm Caroline, not Elizabeth.
Everything looks different as I blink my eyes open and catch glimpses of the scenery around me. It’s dark and smoke has filled the air. I can faintly make out faces in front of me and feel brushes of clothing against my cheeks as people try to get closer.
These faces aren’t familiar. Where is Rebecca? Where’s Grace? Who has Grace? I can feel my heart beat faster and faster, sending me into a shutter of anxiety. I keep my eyes open for a few more seconds, longer than I’ve been able to so far. Everything looks strange.
When am I?


About this Author:


Sarah DiCello is new to Taylor Street.
She writes fantasy / romance.
She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs. She graduated from Shippensburg University with a degree in Communications/Journalism.
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