PLEDGED TOUR AND LAUNCH‏: PART 1

PLEDGED by Gwynneth White

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient curse is tearing him away. And the demons who invoked it will stop at nothing – even murder – to claim him as their own.

How can she win against a curse so binding that it has damned countless others to this same fate – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a pledge.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya and confront the curse that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

About this Author: 

I have spent my entire life living in a parallel universe of make-believe characters, only coming back to reality for long enough to check that no one burnt the house down in my absence. A few years ago I decided to commit some of those ‘friends’ and their stories to paper. The ‘Soul Wars Saga’ comprising ‘Pledged’, ‘Sacrificed’ and ‘Saved’ is the result of those efforts. Before that I co-authored two non-fiction travel books – ‘The Complete Guide to 4x4 Trails’ and ‘The Ultimate 4x4 Guide’. Both books became instant best-sellers in South Africa where I live. And before that even, I studied a degree in African History and Politics at the University of Stellenbosch. When I’m not writing, I am a wife to Andrew and a mom to Stephanie, Erin, and Kate, our teenage daughters. My family and I live in a small town outside Cape Town with two dogs, a cat, a horse, and some neglected fish. 

Now that you know a little about me, I would love to get to know you. Please befriend me at: 

Twitter: @GwynnethWhite

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gwynneth-White/172095512890074 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7360328-gwynneth-white 

Blog: http://todayinshenaya.blogspot.com/ 

Email: gwynnethwhite@4xforum.com

Tour: First Visions by Heather Topham Wood (Promo+Giveaway)

I'd like to thank Roxanne @ Bewitching Book Tours for giving me this opportunity to participate in the FIRST VISIONS Blog Tour. There is a TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY at the end of the post. Be sure to thank Heather!

First Visions
By Heather Topham Wood
Second Sight Book One

Two years ago, 21-year-old Kate Edwards became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. While unconscious, she crept into the mind of a missing boy and awoke with the knowledge of his location. Friends and family were skeptical and wary of her new ability to see into the minds of others. Their fears prompted Kate to keep her psychic powers a secret. Feeling alienated, she dropped out of college and spent most of her days holed up at her mother's home.

Now another child has been abducted. Police detective Jared Corbett seeks out Kate for her help in solving the case. Reluctantly, Kate agrees and they must work together to bring 8-year-old Cori Preston home to her family. Although attracted to one another, Jared has a girlfriend with ties to the abduction case and Kate is sarcastic and guarded since her coma. With visions she can't control and an uncontrollable attraction to the detective, she wonders if she can leave the past behind and finally stop hiding from the world. Otherwise, Cori may be lost forever.  

About this Author: 

Heather Topham Wood graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Working full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine, she writes fiction novels in her spare time. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.

First Visions is the first book in the Second Sight series.

CONTACT LINKS: 

http://authorheather.wordpress.com

Http://twitter.com/woodtop255

PROLOGUE:

Kate Edwards Journal

May 8

I always prided myself growing up as being one of a kind. Being fearless and never giving a damn what anyone had to say about it. In high school, I was one of those girls who refused to fit into a mold. I wasn’t with the glue sniffers out back under the bleachers, but I wasn’t sitting with the head cheerleaders either. I felt in charge of my destiny and I was going to pursue my dream of being an artist despite the odds stacked against me. If anyone had told me otherwise, I had no problem telling that person where to shove it.

Little did I know, it sometimes really blows being one of a kind. For starters, I contracted bacterial meningitis in college. What are the chances? Only about 1,500 people in the entire country get it each year. I think there were more kids than that in my graduating class of high school. Once a person has meningitis, she has an eleven percent chance of dying and a twenty percent chance of losing a limb or suffering from brain damage. Nineteen years old and there was a good chance I was either going to be dead or armless.

Lucky for me, I woke up from the coma I fell into. No brain damage, both arms in tact and alive and kicking. Kate was back in business and ready to kick ass and take names. However, fate decided to kick my ass instead. I came back from the dead not the same old Kate. No, I was now Kate with a second sight.

Some people may not understand why I don’t simply bask in the glory of having psychic abilities. Set up a psychic hotline, write a book or maybe open a palm reading shop. My mother and I could move to a mansion and I could rename myself some cool mystical name like Clairvoyant Caterina.

Well, the first reason is— that idea isn’t possible. I have no control over what I see. I’ll go to sleep at night and dream myself unwilling into someone else’s head. It’s unimaginable how truly awful that could be. Do I really care about that special day my mailman spent with his first dog Skippy at the park during the summer he turned eleven? Or do I need to know about the yearlong affair my dentist has been having with his secretary? Worse yet, I haven’t been able to predict anything. I may be able to tell someone what he ate for dinner on a first date ten years ago, but not if he is going to die choking the next night.

Sometimes I think maybe there is some way to control what I see. Or maybe I should be doing something worthwhile instead of destining myself to a life as a shut-in. I just can’t understand why this happened to me. Whose brilliant idea was it to nominate Kate to see inside other people’s heads? And now that I’ve been given this gift, what the hell am I supposed to do with it?     

GIVEAWAY:

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Review: Dire Needs by Stephanie Tyler

Title: Dire Needs
Series: Eternal Wolf Clan #1
Author: Stephanie Tyler
Genre: Supernatural Fiction, Paranormal Romance
Elements: Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Deities, Witches, Ghosts, Demons
Publisher: Signet Eclipse Books, Penguin Group
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 390 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-451-23623-4
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 4/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: The full moon is their mistress. They are predators of pleasure and pain. Feared by humans, envied by werewolves, the Dire Wolves are immortal shifters, obeying no laws but their own bestial natures. Once they were many, but now only six remain, a dangerous wolfpack forever on the hunt…

Rifter leads the pack, embracing the lifestyle and ethics of an outlaw biker even as he battles an ancient enemy who has become a new, powerful force. But with his Brother Wolf raging inside him, howling to be unleashed, he needs to satisfy his hungers. And when he meets a drop-dead gorgeous blonde drinking alone in a bar that caters to both human and inhuman, Rifter’s primal instinct is to claim her.

Gwen has her own desires, long unfulfilled. She hopes a passionate night with the leather-clad, Harley-riding biker will ease her suffering. The seizures that have wracked her body her entire life are incurable—and they’re killing her.

But none of that will matter if Rifter can’t stop the growing threat to them all–trappers who are determined to enslave humankind and use the Dire wolves as part of their nefarious plan.

Review: 

"When Fenrir was killed by the god Odin, Hati created two beings in his image who would become known as Mother and Father Wolf, Dire wolves born in human form so they could walk among the humans without fear, but change to their true form at will."

Thus the Dire race was born, but as the packs grew, they became envious of what the humans had. In their quest to gain power, wealth, and respect, the Dires began killing humans and eventually became uncontrollable. The Elders sent them a warning, but it was not heeded and the Elder set the Extinction upon them. Now there are only six known Dire alphas left, cursed with the inability to die and charged with protecting the very humans their ancestors murdered.

"Rifter needed a woman, Brother Wolf needed to run wild, and their appetites for sex and destruction mingled, rose with a hot howl as Rifter's Harley roared through the winter night."

One night as Rifter was out riding his bike, he stopped at a bar named Bite, because he smelled danger. There at the bar was a young woman who, not only caught the attention of all the men, but Rifter as well. Gwen is a human and for some reason Rifter feels drawn to her.

"She was already living with a death sentence, so why make it harder?"

Earlier that day, Gwen went to a neurology appointment for her seizures, and the truth wasn't good. The seizures are killing her and the medication isn't helping. So with that news, Gwen went to the bar, looking to awaken long-buried instincts she suppressed because of her illness. When she literally felt Rifter walk into the bar, she knew he wouldn't be gentle and treat her carefully.

This fated meeting between Rifter, the reluctant King of the Dire pack, and Gwen, the dying doctor who only wants to live, will change both their lives forever.

I thought it was interesting how in this series the wolf is their natural form and the man their secondary. It's different from how shifter stories are usually written with the man turning into the animal, instead of the animal turning into the man. The coexistence between the men and their Brother Wolves was pretty tame. Everything is equal, they work together, and there isn't any struggle for control between the two. There is one thing both man and wolf disagree on: their goals in life. In Rifter's case, his Brother Wolf's main goal is to become Father Wolf, which can only happen through mating. The fact that there are no Dire females makes that near impossible. Whereas Rifter only wants to die. Although that changes when he meets Gwen.

Rifter is a reluctant hero in Dire Needs. He doesn't want the responsibility of leadership, but knows that he needs to accept that role for the good of the pack. I think what will make him a great leader is his humbleness. He's confident and self-assured in his abilities, but he doesn't gloat about it. Confidence is good, but too much confidence can be a leader's downfall.

"According to Facebook, Rifter left the bar with a human. Twitter confirms."

Okay, am I the only one who thought that the use of social media was hilarious and kind of unbelievable? I mean, they value secrecy and don't want humans to know about their supernaturalness. How in the world could they keep humans from seeing their status updates and tweets? That is the unbelievable part. There is just no way. The hilarious part is the picture I get in my head as I read the quote Stray said above. He sounded like a teenage girl using Facebook and Twitter to stay in the know. He's this huge, masculine guy using social media for confirmation regarding Rifter. That just paints a funny picture in my head.

I really liked Rogue's description of Gwen and I totally agree with him that it's going to make things a whole lot more interesting. Gwen is hovering between life and death, she's a healer and a destroyer. She's dying because of her seizures, but she recently learned that she may yet live. Gwen is a doctor who heals the sick, but she also has the ability to destroy the Dires. It's like Gwen's very existence is liminal, an inbetween exixtence. She's inbetween who she was and who she's going to be. She's half one thing and half another. It's very interesting to think about. I can't wait to see how her liminality affects future events.

With the revelation that there are more Dires in the world than was thought, a great war between the supernatural and humans is beginning, and long-dead prophecies are turning out to be true. Stray will need to call in his brother, Killian, to help in the upcoming battles, but why was Killian kept a secret from the rest of the pack? I can't wait to find out in the next book, Dire Wants.

Standout Quotes:

"You are magic to my logic."

"Forget your science. Embrace your wolf."

About this Author:

NY Times Bestselling author Stephanie Tyler writes what she loves to read - romantic suspense with military heroes and paranormal romance - all with happy endings. Her Eternal Wolf Clan series begins with DIRE NEEDS, which is available March 6, 2012 from NAL.

She also co-writes paranormal erotic romance for Bantam Dell under the pen-name Sydney Croft.

She lives in New York with her husband, her daughter and her weimaraner and she adores her job.

For more information on Stephanie, please visit www.stephanietyler.com or email her at stephanie@stephanietyler.com.

For more information on Sydney, please visit www.sydneycroft.com or email Sydney at sydney@sydneycroft.com.

PART OF.... 

Women of the Otherworld Challenge: Month Five

Today marks the beginning of Month FIVE in the Women Of The Otherworld Series Challenge! If you haven’t signed up and would like to participate, just click image above to be taken to the challenge sign-up post! It is also a great reference for the details concerning this reading challenge!

CHALLENGE: MONTH FIVE

HAUNTED BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG

Eve Levine made a bargain with Fate, and now she’s come to collect, sending Eve off on a quest to retrieve the soul of an escaped demi-demon. Playing ghost world bounty hunter isn’t exactly what Eve had in mind for an afterlife career, but a deal is a deal. Eve never breaks a promise…even when the cost of repaying that debt turns out to be more than this ghost can afford.

  July 1^st – July 31^st, 2012

For this month, our goal will be to read/re-read and post a review the FIFTH book in the Women Of The Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong, Haunted.

Challenge members can either post a review, share your reading experience, create your personal character casting for Bitten, or anything else related to this title within the Woman Of The Otherworld series.

Be creative and have fun with your post!

THIS MONTH'S PRIZE:

ONE participant will be selected to win any book of their choice up to a $15 limit on The Book Depository. The winner will be selected through Random.org. **UPDATE: For every 10 participants, there will be an additional winner!**

To qualify for this month's giveaway:

You all have until July 31^st to link to your reviews or posts to be included for this month’s prize.

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on August 1^st, 2012 

 (the start of month Six of the reading challenge).

**If you missed the last four month's challenges or are not able to read HAUNTED this month, you can post your review next month or any month throughout the entire challenge for that month's prize. You can also leave more than one link during each month of the challenge (example: if you review more that one book at a time), however, you will only have receive one entry for the monthly prize. Don't worry! All your posts will not go to waste and will ALL be counted towards the Grand Prize at the very end of the entire challenge!**

**Most importantly: You do NOT have to commit to the entire 13 month challenge; feel free to join even if you only want to participate for a few months.**

**Mini-Challenges**:

Don't forget to keep an eye out for monthly mini-challenges where participants can gain more chances to win additional prizes! Each month's mini-challenge will be different and they will all have the Women of the Otherworld theme. This month's mini-challenge will be posted mid-July and only then will the challenge be revealed so keep an eye out!

Don't forget to link to your posts here!

Tour Kickoff: Forget Me Not by Belinda Boring (Giveaway)

Forget Me Not (#2, The Mystic Wolves)

Only a fool would think they could steal from a werewolf …

Anticipating a quiet night alone with the man she loves, Darcy’s world is sent into a spin with the arrival of someone from the past—Mason’s. She is further shocked by the intruder’s claim she may not even be the true mate of the Mystic Wolves Alpha. Accusations start to fly, leading to her new enemy being granted asylum, and this is just the beginning of trouble.

Relying on the reassurances of Mason and the support of her friends and Pack, Darcy soon falls under attack. Suspicions are raised, and with no other choice, she must flee with Devlin to safety where hopefully they can untangle the lies hidden behind the use of magic. Time is quickly ticking away, leading to a showdown where everything is on the line.

They need to uncover the truth before it’s too late, or once again, Darcy will need to fight to hold onto her dreams.

Kindle / Nook / Paperback / Smashwords

Author Belinda Boring

A homesick Aussie living amongst the cactus and mountains of Arizona, Belinda Boring is a self proclaimed addict of romance and all things swoon worthy. When she's not devouring her latest read, you can find her celebrating her passion for book on her blog The Bookish Snob.

With all that excitement, it wasn't long before she began writing, pouring her imagination and creativity into the stories she dreams. Whether urban fantasy, paranormal romance or romance in general, Belinda strives to share great plots with heart and characters that you can't help but connect with. Of course, she wouldn't be Belinda without adding heroes she hopes will curl your toes.

Surrounded by a supportive cast of family, friends and the man she gives her heart and soul to, Belinda is living the good life. Happy reading!

Follow Belinda Boring on her Blog / Facebook / Twitter

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Tour: Echo Falls by Jamie McDougall (Review)

I'd like to thank Roxanne @ Bewitching Book Tours for giving me this opportunity to participate in the ECHO FALLS Blog Tour and providing me a copy of the book to review.

Title: Echo Falls
Author: Jamie McDougall
Genre: Supernatural Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Elements: Werewolves
Publisher: CreateSpace
Format: PDF, 238 Pages
ISBN-13: 9781463664046
Release Date: July 15, 2011
Source: Tour Host {Bewitching Book Tours}
Rating:4.5/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: Running from a nightmare stalking her every move, Phoebe Martin arrives in Echo Falls hoping she has finally found a safe place to stop. But trouble has a way of catching up and soon the signs are there.

After a vicious attack in an alley, policeman Aidan O'Bryan is left with Phoebe as his only path to understanding why the Echo Falls werewolf pack - his pack - is being attacked. When another pack member is killed, Phoebe is forced to confront her past before she loses Aidan and everything she has come to love.

Love and duty become one as Aidan strives to prevent Phoebe from becoming the next victim. But with Phoebe just as determined to protect Aidan and her new home, secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart. Will love give Phoebe the strength to trust Aidan and face her fears, or will her past destroy her future?

Review: 

Phoebe Martin has been running from her brother's murderer ever since the night it happened. She moves from town to town trying to find a safe place to settle down and live without fear. She thinks she's found that place when she arrives in Echo Falls. Phoebe has found an apartment, is looking for an office to rent for her photography business, she's making friends and generally beginning to call Echo Falls home. But then the murders begin and the gifts start arriving on her doorstep.

Policeman and werewolf Alpha, Aidan O'Bryan has a murderer in his town. Three werewolves outside of his pack have been murdered; and then there's the young woman who was attacked in an alley that he was able to save just in time. Being the only one who survived, Phoebe Martin has information that could help solve the case before more innocent werewolves are killed. But she refuses to talk about the attack.

As Phoebe and Aidan grow closer and the murderer closes in on Phoebe and her new pack, Phoebe will need to find the strength to face her past and open her heart to love, trust, friendship, the pack, and Aidan if she hopes to protect herself and her pack.

I loved how Echo Falls starts off right away with a high tension situation. Phoebe is being chased by an assailant who then shifts into a werewolf and manages to do quite a bit of injury to her before she's saved by a man (or was it a wolf?). This kind of situation grabs readers attention right from the beginning. Then there's the awkward morning after when she wakes up to find a strange man in her apartment cooking breakfast. I think anyone would freak out waking up to that, which is why she goes straight for the knife.

I thought it interesting that the werewolves in this book can only shift at night and are forced to return to humanity during the day. In all the books I've read with werewolves or shifters, they could all shift whenever they wanted, day or night. And I really like the story or legend behind the reasoning for the night shift only. It's romantic, but also bittersweet, which usually goes hand-in-hand with an origin story like this one.

The mystery of who the Hunter and traitor are was even more gripping with how tight-lipped Phoebe is about her past. By the time she decides to open up it's almost too late. I did have an inkling about who the traitor was though. The green-eyed monster is hard to hide and is usually a reason behind treason. I did find it kind of annoying that Phoebe wouldn't ask for help from Aidan and her new pack. Hadn't she ever heard of strength in numbers? I did admire her protectiveness though. But the question at the very heart of the tale is, will Phoebe find the strength to fight or will she continue to run?

About this Author:

Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi, kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction authors.

A love of fiction has always coursed through her veins and she told stories as a child even before she knew how to write them. Settling into one genre was never her style and she has plans for novels in women’s fiction, urban fantasy and more – all with a touch of romance.

She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles. She has also enjoyed writing the So You Want ebook series for authors looking to establish their names online.

CONTACT LINKS: 

 

Website: 

http://www.inkyblots.com 

Twitter: 

http://www.twitter.com/#!/JMScribe

Facebook: 

http://www.facebook.com/authorjaimemcdougall

Excerpt (Chapter One):

Keep running, keep running, keep running. Phoebe’s lungs burned as her mind screamed the mantra. Keep running, keep running.

How many steps can there be?

She should know. She lived in this apartment building.

Tears ran down her cheeks and her lungs burned for air. Only the random irrational thought broke through the panic keeping her feet moving down the steps. Keep running. Keep running. The light of the emergency exit came into view. Almost there…

The door to the stairwell slammed open with a hollow boom. She tripped and clung to the railing to steady herself.

Keep running.

The shock of the cool night air sent a shiver of relief through her body. She’d come out a side exit into an alley. If she could just get to the front –

Suddenly she was thrown to the ground from behind. She hit the concrete, what little breath she had knocked from her lungs. Blood began flowing from where her head hit the ground, and small sparks of light floated into her vision.

How did he catch up so fast?

Desperately she tried to gulp down as much air as she could, willing her lungs to cooperate. Instinct kicked in as the attacker slashed at her, and she curled into fetal position.

A dog. He’d turned into a dog. A big dog with vicious claws and teeth he used to tear into her exposed back, thigh and shoulder. She slowly regained her breath but could only use it to scream her throat raw.

Her vision faded, taking the small sparks of light with it. Searing pain ripped through her shoulder as a claw dug down against her bone. One last, long scream tore from her lungs before she was left gasping and sobbing, her fear slowly smoldering into rage.

Things can’t end like this.

She opened her eyes as the dog stood over her, trying to get to her throat. A paw came into her line of vision and she saw her chance. She reached out, grabbed it and squeezed with all the strength she had.

The dog yelped and tried to twist away, but she held on with all the strength she had. She knew she’d only bought herself time. She couldn’t move the dog off her and she couldn’t squeeze his paw all night. He tried uselessly to bite her, his jaws having no strength so long as she squeezed his paw. But she could already feel her strength waning.

Suddenly the weight of the dog flew off her, taking the paw out of her grip. Without thinking, she used her one cooperating arm to drag herself toward the front of the building.

She shivered, her arm giving out, and caught a glimpse of a second dog. No. A wolf… Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she listened to the dogs fighting, the battle just a few steps away. She tried her best to curl up against the building wall and willed the growling and snapping to go away. They sounded like they were tearing each other to pieces.

The universe granted her wish, the battle ending with the sound of two bodies hitting each other and a sharp whine. She shivered and softly whined as well, dreading the approach of the winner as one of the dogs yelped and ran away.

A few moments later warm, human hand brushed the back of her head and she screamed again. If it could be called a scream. Her throat burned and rebelled at her abuse of it.

“Ssh. You’re safe now.”

She tried to scream again and move away, but her body wouldn’t obey her commands. She groaned as the full force of the pain washed over her.

He murmured and she relaxed her desperate grip on staying conscious. Sleep seemed so tempting, the black abyss singing a siren’s song to her. Her rescuer – or captor – tried to soothe her, but something dark and dangerous in his voice betrayed him. He was different. She tried to bat away his hands but gave up after a few attempts, not sure if her good hand was actually moving.

As she slipped into the darkness, she wondered if death had merely granted her a short reprieve from the inevitable.

Echo Falls was read during the Wicked Wildfire Read-A-Thon

Tour Kickoff: Immortal Voyage by C.G. Powell (Giveaway)

Immortal Voyage

Before the time of the great pyramids, there was a place like none other, a city of glass and metal rising from the depths of the ocean. Shrouded in mist, the island of Hy-Brasil and its capital Atlantis lay hidden from the rest of the world by its people, a race of long lived, interstellar nomads.

What secrets would you keep to save your kingdom? On the Queen’s deathbed, the sonless King Rowe is force into a promise to allow his five daughters to marry for love. A promise he wished he had never made, and one he will have to break, to save the kingdom from his squabbling, incompetent son-in-laws.

The youngest of five daughters, Jael, spent most of her time at her father’s side learning to run a kingdom. Believed to be the King’s favorite, Jael is shocked when he betroths her to a longtime friend of his, Prince Sarik of Hy-Brasil. Soon she will learn that world is full of secrets and one of them is her very own birth. Will the secret that bonds her to Sarik be the ultimate downfall of a kingdom?



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