Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Cover Reveal: Evanescent By Carlyle Labuschagne


Evanescent 
By Carlyle Labuschagne 
Young Adult Fantasy 

Synopsis:

Her fall has just begun. Only his touch can save her from the shift that could destroy it all.
Within my blood runs a thing our kind calls the Shadowing Disease. It shadows over, and bends everything to its will. When the first blood- shift came, it tore through flesh and blood, threatening to bend me, break bone, shatter my mind and entrap my heart with its honeyed, seductive poison. It came with vicious intent, moving my thoughts and altering me forever. The shift has caused a rift within me. No one was safe when it entrapped me in its claws of foul lust. But I have the only antidote against the evil that becomes me – his touch alone has the power to release the spurs of sweet darkness that clung on for dear life. I knew what I had to do; the desperation pulled my mind with the deep determination of a hungry predator. But by the time the revelation raised me from the dark dungeon of my bounds – it might have been too late.

Author Info:


Carlyle Labuschagne is a South African debut author working her way into the hearts of international readers with her first young adult dystopian novel "The Broken Destiny". She is not only an author, but works as a sales rep and marketing manager by day. She holds a diploma in creative writing through the writing school at College SA.
Carlyle, loves to swim, fights for the trees, and is a food lover who is driven by her passion for life. Carlyle also writes for IU e-magazine India, an inspirational non-profit magazine that aims at inspiring the world through words. The drive behind her author career is healing through words. Carlyle is also the founder of the first annual book drive – Help Build A Library inAfrica Project.

“My goal as an author is to touch people’s lives, and help others love their differences and one another.”

 
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tour Promo: Repossession By Rachael Wade





Title: Repossession (The Keepers Trilogy #1)
Author: Rachael Wade          
Genre: New Adult, Sci-Fi, Apocalyptic, Romance
Tour Host: Lady Amber's Tours


Synopsis:
Skylla only knows that she has been kidnapped and held prisoner by the foreign invaders and their human allies. And that the world is ending. Or so the humans think. The invaders have made it clear that their arrival is one of hostile intent, and as their takeover spreads, so does the panic across the globe. No one knows how to defeat them, or if it’s even sane to try.

Jet, Skylla’s human captor, is up for the challenge, though. A traitor in Skylla’s eyes, he is working with them. But Jet has his own agenda; one that doesn’t include babysitting Skylla or helping the enemies. And as the human race struggles to keep the invaders from achieving their goal, Jet and Skylla’s paths collide to reveal the truth behind Skylla’s abduction.

The invaders are headed for the water. Jet is headed for the water. But that’s the last place Skylla wants to be. That’s where the future of humanity lies, and where the bridge to their yesterdays was burned. On a mission to take back what is rightfully theirs, Earth’s population is determined to make sure this isn’t the end. But some endings were never theirs to begin with.
*Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations, language, and mature subject matter*



Authors Bio:
Rachael Wade is the Amazon bestselling author of The Preservation Series, The Resistance Trilogy, and the upcoming sci-fi series, The Keepers Trilogy. When she's not writing, she's busy learning French, watching too many movies, and learning how to protect animals and the environment. Visit her at www.RachaelWade.com and www.LightsOnOutreach.com, or come chat with her on Twitter via @RachaelWade.


Excerpt:

The quiet drone of a train’s chugging grew louder as it approached but was still eerily muted, a graceful ghost passing in the night. Minimal light shone from the front car as Jet stepped forward to align himself with its path.
“How do we know where it stops?” I asked, positioning myself next to him.
“We don’t.”
“So …”
“So we have to make a run for it.”
“You mean jump?”
“Yup.”
“As in … jump onto a moving train.”
“Yup.”
“This is crazy.”
“A dangerously disturbing level of crazy. No worries, baby.” He patted my shoulder with a smartass grin. “It’s just your area of expertise.” I narrowed my eyes at him, storing that one away for a future retaliation jab of my own.
Adrenaline spiked as the train grew closer, every nerve ending a live wire to the heart pounding violently in my chest. Jet grabbed my hand, glancing at my gun. “I’ll go first. Once I get a good grip, I’ll haul you up. Whatever you do, don’t stop running. And don’t let go.”
“I should go first,” I raised my voice to speak over the rumbling of the track. “You’re hurt. You’re going to need upper body strength.”
“I’m fine. Don’t fight me on this.”
Blood pounded hot in my ears, my heart rate jumping and hair blowing wildly around my cheeks as the train began to whizz by. The rush in my veins propelled me forward the moment I spotted an opportunity, and I launched into a controlled sprint. Springing upward, I lunged forward and latched on to the side of the car, the metal handle slipping beneath my sweaty grip. I shrieked and latched on harder, hearing Jet’s voice thunder behind me. The train’s vibrations rattled against my chest, sending my senses on high alert.
Clenching the handle until my knuckles hurt, I bit down on my lip to ease the tension and yanked hard to the right, feeling a heavy latch click and shift beneath my fingers. The door slid open and I hauled myself up and inside, grabbing onto the side of the frame to steady myself before flipping around to reach for Jet. He was running full speed after me, his arms pumping tight and sharp at his sides as he tore forward.
“Come on!” I yelled, extending one arm. It only took him a few seconds to catch up, his agile form sending his body off the ground and up onto the car before I could blink. With a loud shout, he clamped onto my arm, his other hand flying over his chest to cradle his gun. I was thrown onto my back with a thud before I knew what hit me, his body covering mine with a crash that left me seeing stars.
“Fucking crazy woman!” he shouted over the rail’s relentless roar, louder now that we were level with it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” His heat pressed into me, his arms caging me in as he stared down into my eyes, his nose aligned with mine.
“Fulfilling my sole purpose to drive you mad, it seems.” I couldn’t help it. The rush sent me sky-high and an explosive laugh escaped my lungs. I shook beneath him, my breath heaving against his chest.
“Damn it, Skylla!” He dropped his head as he gasped for air. “Seriously!” he added for effect, but there was nothing serious in his voice now. He was laughing too, just as deep, just as euphorically as I was, and I decided right then that the sound of Jet’s laugh was almost as sexy as his full lips and ripped body.
“Wanna go again?”
“You’re reckless. I can’t even look at you.”
“You’re crushing me.”
His head lifted, those blue eyes settling on me as his laughter slowed. “You deserve it.”
My hand shifted and found his injured hip; my fingers brushed the bandage through his shirt. He flinched. “And you need to admit when you need help.”
Pushing himself up, he rolled off me and sat back on his heels, wincing and gripping his side, his lips pulling back and teeth visibly grinding with the motion. I sat up and scooted forward, mindful of the gaping railcar door. I reached up and slid it shut, slamming it with a loud grunt until I felt it lock into place. The loud rumble of the wheels hitting the track was muted now, but the rattling hum still thumped away from outside, filling the dimly lit car with a shaky buzz.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Fine. Play it your way. I’m going to see if I can find you some medicine.”
I helped push him backward to prop him against the wall, peeling his backpack from his shoulders first. “Try and rest, I’ll see what I can find out.”
“I’m not letting you wander around these cars alone. Not fuckin’ happening.”
“If you don’t rest and get medicine for that wound soon, I’ll be stuck wandering everywhere alone. That ointment won’t cut it. You’re going to need antibiotics. It’s starting to get infected.”
His gaze snapped up to mine and held my stare. “Finger on the trigger.”
“Fire on your mark.” I smirked.


Tour Promo: Dehumanized By Michael Loring


Title: Dehumanized
Author: Michael Loring
Genre: NA Paranormal / Dystopian
Ryan Zachery lived his life the way all high school teenagers should -
carefree.
Until he was attacked by an unknown assailer and awoke in the hospital with lycanthropy. Taken by armed guards and dragged away from everything he held dear, Ryan was thrown into a US camp made for those 'suffering' from lycanthropy.

They caged the beast, but now he will show them that he will never be dehumanized.

Michael Loring was born in Bristol, Connecticut, but has lived in a variety of places such as Florida and Tennessee. He likes to think of himself as an amateur Lycanthropologist, studying werewolves ever since he was eight years old when he first saw An American Werewolf In London. He spent most of his life switching between home school and public school, always focusing on his passion of writing no matter what. His interest in writing was sparked in the second grade when his teacher encouraged him to write short stories for the class, earning him more than one award at school assemblies for Creative Writing. He currently resides back in his birthplace of Connecticut with a house full of women who like to drive him up the wall until he finishes his chores. Though they seem to avoid him during the night of the full moon for some unexplainable reason...

Monday, July 29, 2013

Tour Promo: Benjamin McTish By June M. Pace


Book Info-

Title- Benjamin McTish and the Door Through the Grandfather Tree

Series- Book  #1
By- June M. Pace
Genre-  YA/Fantasy


Blurb-
It’s Harry Potter meets the Celestine Prophecy in this magical and thrilling ride! The McTish Series is an explosive adventure through a dimensional Gateway into another world, a world of beauty and magic, Coranim...a land of insight, thought and possibilities, that sits beneath the enchanted Gilley Forest.


There is local legend in the small town of Grandlochcheshire that has been passed down for a 100 years about the mysterious disappearance of the Chickering family, that trails on the coat tails of the equally shocking  abduction of the Skeffington Union Rails heirs, Connor and Shelbe. The circumstances that follow this notorious tale enter into the modern world of Benjamin and his two best mates.  


One day Benjamin watches from behind the Rhododendron as a mysterious little woman steps out of a taxi in front of the cream colored house with the forest green trim next door and in one synchronistic moment their eyes lock and a series of visual snippets of unfamiliar events unfold in his mind’s vision. His razor sharp sixth sense allows him the freedom to explore the extrasensory messages coming at him in a frenzied speed, like a derailed freight train.
And when Benjamin finds a peculiar old relic of a key in his grandmother’s garden shed, he could never know his world was about to change forever.


Annabel and Mathilda, two sisters who have moved to Grandlochcheshire from America, have become more than mere friends to Benjamin, they have all become the three Muskydeers (Mathilda’s mispronounced version of Musketeers, which was a huge laugh and of course it stuck), as they are plunged head first into this curious journey.  


In the Gilley Forest they discover that the path they have chosen is inundated with many obstacles as well as intrigue.  Alliances are made with the Forest clan of Gnomes known as the Set, and with the aid of the Vila sisters, Sethina and Morel, as well as some surprising and unexpected allegiances, the three friends take on the test that is the Grandfather Tree.  They must stay on the pre ordained Path of prophecy, portended by the ancient seer Pajah Set, whose ancestry comes from the home of the oldest living beings on the planet, the Elves of the Darmon    However, this is no easy task for the Muskydeers as they have the foulest of sorcery hunting their every move, the powerful dark beauty known to all as Tar Vigorn.


This ruthless Queen is not without humor however, and loves a good game of cat and mouse, as long as she’s the cat. With her biting sense of sarcasm and calculated taunting, she knows just how to unnerve the young Benjamin. Her phantom army known as the Blunt are searching for a way into the Grand Tree and will stop at nothing to infiltrate the pristine world beneath his giant roots.


Once in Coranim the children make the acquaintance of the greatest Medicine Elder alive, Esmerelda Fet.  A most powerful Light Sorceress with a brazen in your face attitude and a thick Irish brogue, who guides the trio on their Path of destiny.  “All tings be possible ya wee chil’ren, if’en ya put yer mind to it!  Thar be nothin ya can’t accomplish.  Ya just need ta be placin all yer carage inta tha middle of yer core whar yer Spirit shines...an ya can do anythin! Ha!”


Filled with many wonders, and home to the Fet clan of Gnomes, Coranim is a magical world of art, sound, thought, invention and discovery....and home to the World Library of Identity, with none other than Dunston Tibbitts at the helm.  
Every being on the planet has a book dedicated to the entirety of their lives.  Dunston reports to Benjamin, “according to what I see here now, this very minute, whatever it is that you are seeking will show itself today and change your Path immediately.  It will put you into a whole new dynamic as they say.”


What could alter the overpowering trajectory Benjamin has followed to Coranim?  How will it change his life?
Find out as our three heroes delve into the mystic, as well as their own inner character, as you watch from the edge of your seat.


Book Two, Benjamin Mctish and the Wizards of Coranim, coming 2013

Cover Reveal: Beasts of Burdin By Alexander Nader

 

Beasts of Burdin

Release Date: February 10, 2014
Target Reader: Adult
Keywords: Urban Fantasy

Back of the Book
Demon hunter Ty Burdin hung up his guns, knife, trench coat and fedora a year ago. Bags packed, hands washed of all demon politics, he’s done. Forever.
In fact, to get far far away, he dragged Nora, his rockabilly secretary, from Miami to the Tennessee mountains where he’s lived a life of peace—if peace can be defined as drowning in scotch and taking private eye jobs to keep the lights on. Jobs for real people. Not demons.
No demons.
He’s retired from that. Remember?
Demon hunters aren’t a dime a dozen, though, and when Ty’s brother asks him for a favor—just one—what’s a brother to do? Agreeing to take down one hillbilly demon shouldn’t take that long. In. Decapitate. Out. Favor complete. Back to the office where Nora and his bottle of whiskey are waiting.
Unfortunately for Ty, staying retired doesn’t seem to be in the cards, and an avalanche of bad luck draws him right back to an agency he despises and the career that nearly cost him his sanity.
This time, Ty has no way out and will have to face his own demons just to survive.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Tour Review: Paradox By Robyn M. Pierce

Paradox
By Robyn M. Pierce
Novella Adult Romance 18+ 

Synopsis:

They knew from the beginning it was wrong.

Everything in her life pointed her away from him.
Everything beckoned him toward her.

When Rachel met Taylor, their connection was immediate and undeniable. With so many things in common, these friends found themselves falling inevitably and too fast to stop. There was but one thing that was between them:
Rachel had a boyfriend.

A year after parting ways, Taylor’s and Rachel’s individual lives have thrust them back toward one another, and the resulting fireworks will leave more than one person burned.(


Caryn's Review:

The question that has plagued many a mind and even kept this reviewer up numerous nights pondering the answer: in terms of relationships, is it better to stay with someone who you are comfortable with, who knows the inner machinations of your heart or leave for someone who challenges you and excites every fiber of your being?  This question is the primary focus for the book’s main character Rachel.  Rachel is a young woman comfortable in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend Josh, until she encounters Taylor, a man who both excites her and shares her video gaming and hookah smoking interests.  While she denies the fact of her attraction to Taylor to both her boyfriend and to herself, she has no choice but to look inwardly at what she truly wants when Taylor threatens to remove himself entirely from her life.
This book addresses a relatable topic that resonates well with the audience.  One can find themselves relating easily to some of the issues Rachel encounters in terms of her feelings for two men.  This book, however, needed to be so much longer.  I found myself questioning why the author decided to cut certain scenes short, rather than further develop both the characters and the plot.  Mostly, I found this book to be painfully predictable and too casual of a read.  At times, I felt as though I was reading a long, but well written blog.  This book has such a good foundation, but I just felt as though the rest was thrown together too hastily.  Even the short “sexy” scene left me wanting more, just as I felt Rachel herself was in that scene.
Overall, I give this book props for connecting with the audience on a subject that is both easy to relate to and one that makes the reader look back on their own past experiences.

Excerpt:

Turning on my heel, I went back to my laptop and plugged my earbuds in. I ignored his
attempts to rekindle the conversation as I turned the volume up.


Facebook dinged at me as soon as I pulled the page up. It was Taylor.


T: Hey.
R: Hi.


Ugh, I thought. Two words exchanged and my mood is instantly better. I grew concerned that
Josh might be right in being worried about Taylor.


T: How are you, pretty lady?
R: Sigh. Just got into an argument with Josh.


I probably shouldn’t have told him, but if talking was going to make me feel better, why not?


T: Oh? What about?


I hesitated before typing


R: …You.


It took him a moment to respond, during which time I glanced at Josh. He was playing his
game and bobbing his head to music that played from his headset. So you turned music up, too…


We’re so similar, I thought.


A ding brought my attention back to my computer screen.


T: Really? May I ask the topic? More specifically than just arguing about me, I mean.
I could imagine his boyish grin and chuckled. I typed slowly, trying to figure out what to say.
R: He thinks you are only having me meet your friends so you can show off what it
yours. That all guys do it because he does it. I think he’s ridiculous.


Taylor was quiet for another few minutes.


T: Is he really such a caveman that he has to mark you as his?


Before I could reply, he continued.


T: Or does he have reason to believe you need to be marked?


My heart raced at the thought. Was there a reason for Josh to feel as though he had to claim
me as his? The only other interested person was Taylor, and I had no intention of going down
that path.
So why did my stomach do flips at the idea?


R: Not that I know of.


I wasn’t lying. There was no reason to lie to Taylor, and I honestly didn’t think there was
anything for Josh to worry about.


T: Good. I would hate for your nature to be compromised over me.
In my head, he sounded teasing. I smiled.
R: Like you could ever do something that would ruin my nature. You definitely aren’t
someone that could make me a worse person than I already am.
T: Oh? I could never influence you, huh? (P.S. You aren’t a bad person, even though
you seem to think you are.)
R: You know me well enough to say that?
T: I think I know you better than anyone else, if I’m being honest.


My heart skipped and I chewed on my lower lip in thought.


R: What makes you think that?
T: When you’re with me, you’re light as a feather. Every photo you have has a weight
added on your shoulders. You hardly smile, and when you do, you look like you’re
forcing it. When you’re with me, you breathe. You smile and laugh and you don’t seem to
worry about anything.
R: So you see all that, huh?
T: Not just that. I see your heart when I look into your eyes, and as beautiful as your
eyes are, your heart is even lovelier. Your soul is painted red – your favorite color, I’ll
assume – and you are full to the brim with passion for life.
R: Stop it, lol… You’re just guessing. Flattery gets you nowhere.
T: Think what you want, Madame. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s what I see when
I look at you.