Sunday, December 21, 2014

Sharon Bayliss' December Celebration




Semi-finalist in the Kindle Book Review Awards and #1 category bestseller in coming of age fantasy.

About Destruction:

David Vandergraff wants to be a good man. He goes to church every Sunday, keeps his lawn trim and green, and loves his wife and kids more than anything.

Unfortunately, being a dark wizard isn't a choice.

Eleven years ago, David's secret second family went missing. When his two lost children are finally found, he learns they suffered years of unthinkable abuse. Ready to make things right, David brings the kids home even though it could mean losing the wife he can’t imagine living without.

Keeping his life together becomes harder when the new children claim to be dark wizards. David believes they use this fantasy to cope with their trauma. Until, David's wife admits a secret of her own—she is a dark wizard too, as is David, and all of their children.

Now, David must parent two hurting children from a dark world he doesn’t understand and keep his family from falling apart. All while dealing with the realization that everyone he loves, including himself, may be evil.


My review of Destruction
Imagine finding out you’re a wizard. But that’s not all. You’re a dark wizard in a family of dark wizards and your memories were tampered with and that’s why you don’t know this. Poor David Vandegraff. Well, he was a cheater and a liar, but the author makes you feel bad for him. He found out he was a wizard when he gets custody of the kids he had with another woman. He didn’t tell his wife about any of them until they came to live with the Vandergraff family. And despite the fact that this man hid them from his wife for 15 years, you still feel bad for him. Suddenly he has not 3, but 5 children, his business is failing and his marriage is falling apart. Then BAM, you’re a wizard Harry. lol Talk about shock! I read this book feeling so bad for this man. And then things get worse. He has to deal with a very unpleasant woman that wants to buy his crumbling business and he has to worry about a very bad wizard that could come after his family. What’s a new wizard to do?
I enjoyed this book. It seemed to start off so normal. But this story is not your contemporary normal family book. I loved it. Like I said I liked the character David. The kids all had very distinct personalities and each were likeable in their own way. And the wizard world the author created meshed so seamlessly with our own mundane world. I can’t wait to read the next book. I give Destruction 4 stars. 


About Watch Me Burn:

David Vandergraff lost his home, his job, and contact with his oldest son, but remains determined to be a good husband and father despite being a dark winter wizard.

His resolve is tested when a flyer for a missing girl--who happens to be a summer witch--begins to haunt him. David believes a spell needs to use him to save her, so he follows the magic's command and looks into her disappearance. His teenage daughter Emmy resents him for caring so much about a random stranger. But when she uncovers some disturbing evidence close to home, she begins an investigation of her own.

David and Emmy quickly learn that the mystery is not only about a missing girl they barely know, but a deeply personal story that impacts everyone they care about. As their world crumbles, they fear the warning may be true—never mess with summer wizards, because the good guys always win.



Want to know what kind of wizard you are? Here are some clues...


You might be a summer wizard if…

· Your tears taste like sugar water

· You think that Snow White is a little too “edgy”

· You don’t need to carry a flashlight because you have magical, glowing hair

· You sometimes break out into song to illustrate a point

· You are nice to every person you meet (winter wizards don’t count as a “person”)



You might be a spring wizard if…

· Your house is made of bales of hay

· You don’t own a pair of shoes

· When Christmas shopping, you have to pick out a gift for mother nature

· You taste like honey and smell like rain

· You can get lost on the way from your driveway to your house



You might be a winter wizard if…


· You released flying monkeys today

· You melt in the shower

· You can speak to snakes and divorce lawyers

· You have no Christmas decorations, or way too many Christmas decorations

· You’re worried about killing people on accident



You might be a fall wizard if…

· You’re the only one in your family that’s not a psycho

· Your eyes glow amber when you’re mad

· You know you’re about to fall down the stairs, but don’t know tonight’s winning lottery numbers

· You suffer from pre-traumatic stress syndrome

· You get mad at your spouse/children for things they haven’t done yet


It's only fair to make fun of everybody!!! ;D What kind of wizard are you?


About the author:

Sharon Bayliss is the author of the dark wizard family drama, The December People Series. When she’s not writing, she enjoys living happily-ever-after with her husband and two young sons. She can be found eating Tex-Mex on patios, wearing flip-flops, and playing in the mud (which she calls gardening). She only practices magic in emergencies.





Enter to win!! Get a paperback of your choice of Destruction OR Watch Me Burn. International entries welcome. Also join The December People Winter Celebration for more giveaways!!


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Monday, December 8, 2014

My life as a 6th grade super Zero by Peggy Martinez plus an awesome giveaway!!

 My Life as a 6th Grade Super Zero by Peggy Martinez 
You’d think being a superhero would be cool. And you’re right. It would be cool, especially since the entire world is filled with plain old regular people. Superheroes and supervillains are kind of hard to find, but not as hard as some people like to think. So, anything would be better than being just a normal, everyday 6th grader, right? Wrong. The only thing worse than being an average kid would be being what I am, and that is a hero with a totally useless, mega wonky, super power. I’m a dud—a zero. That’s me, Theo Perkins, a 6th grade super-freaking-zero.  
  
Praise for the Book 
"This is definitely a book that I would have no problem sharing with my kids. Your superheroes have the most creative powers!" -Lindsay Galloway, Contagious Reads. 

  


 
add to goodreads




Excerpt 
My mom and dad are superheroes. Even my sister, who is in high school and has no time for her kid brother, is a superhero. Talk about a lot of pressure, right? Mom has super strength and dad has super speed. My sister, Marcy, has super hearing, which makes it really awkward if you have to go to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. And that’s where I come in. My name is Theo Perkins and I’ll be starting Juniper Springs Middle School in a few days. The trouble is, I just got my own super powers and they aren’t exactly what I had in mind. I figured, you know, with all the awesomeness floating around in my family, I was bound to get some super cool powers when the time came. Man, was I ever wrong. I’ve heard stories about some kids getting weird, useless powers and even some kids getting powers that glitch more than they work. But I thought those were just made up to scare super kids into being good. It turns out that not only are they true, but I am one of the lucky (not!) super kids who got a mega dud for a super power. Instead of beginning my first day of middle school as a superhero, I’m beginning it as a super ZERO. 

My Review

Theo Perkins was starting sixth grade as a superhero. He’s nervous that his powers will be wonky or lame. He got stuck with lame. Lame. But he’s in the secret superhero club that meets at school and is lead by a teacher that is a super. They share their powers with each other and Theo learns that his power isn’t so lame after all. At least he doesn’t super belch. But the super group must come together to figure out why all the kids in school are acting the same. Same clothes. Same lunch and the same weird fake accent? Can the group of 6th grade supers stop the super villain and save the school?
I admit that I haven’t read many books for this age group, but I have read this author and this cute middle grade book definitely lived up to her other books, in my opinion. It was cute and funny and it was a blast to read aloud to my kids. There were colorful characters and the problems were kid sized and not overwhelming. I really enjoyed this book and my 6 year old did too. We give it 4.5 stars! 


  

Author Peggy Martinez 
When not writing, Peggy Martinez can be found spending time at home with her husband, her teen son, and four little girls. She loves reading, writing, soap making, aromatherapy, gangster movies, prepping for the zombie apocalypse, and downing insane amounts of Twizzlers and Kazoozles. As if being a wife and homeschooling mom of five doesn't keep her busy enough, Peggy is a full time Author who has six published books, including The Time Warper Series, State of Decay, Sweet Contradiction, and Unnatural Occurrence. The 6th Grade Super Zero series is Peggy's first Middle Grade book series, but she's pretty sure it won't be her last! 



 

  Book Blast Giveaway 
 $100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 12/29/14 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. 

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Monday, December 1, 2014

Watch me Burn by Sharon Bayliss Cover and trailer reveal!

I am thrilled to take part in the cover and trailer reveal for Book 2 in The December People Series, Watch Me Burn!

So without further ado...




A note from the author:

Thank you to artist Michelle Johnson and the whole team at Curiosity Quills Press for creating a cover I love! 

If you haven't guessed it by now, you'll see a butterfly on the cover of every book in The December People Series. The butterfly is a symbol of transformation, hope, freedom, and generally creepy crawlies turning into beautiful things. And also...look how pretty! ;)

Instead of the broken glass from Destruction, this butterfly is surrounded by fire, and it's probably obvious why from the title. Watch Me Burn is the summer book in the series. All the books center around my winter wizard family, but each book takes us deeper into a different season. Summer wizards are the "light" wizards, but light also means HEAT and FIRE.


More about Watch Me Burn:

David Vandergraff lost his home, his job, and contact with his oldest son, but remains determined to be a good husband and father despite being a dark winter wizard.

His resolve is tested when a flyer for a missing girl--who happens to be a summer witch--begins to haunt him. David believes a spell needs to use him to save her, so he follows the magic's command and looks into her disappearance. His teenage daughter Emmy resents him for caring so much about a random stranger. But when she uncovers some disturbing evidence close to home, she begins an investigation of her own.

David and Emmy quickly learn that the mystery is not only about a missing girl they barely know, but a deeply personal story that impacts everyone they care about. As their world crumbles, they fear the warning may be true—never mess with summer wizards, because the good guys always win.




If you're new to The December People Series, start with Destruction--99 cents for a limited time!


Enter to win!! Get a paperback of your choice of Destruction OR Watch Me Burn. International entries welcome. Also join The December People Winter Celebration for more giveaways!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Redemption Creek #3


Book: Redemption Creek
Author: Abbie St Claire
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Never underestimate the power of a woman…
Money can’t buy every girl in town…
Nice guys finish last…sometimes.
Between trying to sell the company and fixing his private life, Dane Lawrence underestimates Wrenn’s stubborn streak and seeks out the help of his grandfather. Little does he know, he’s being seriously played, but by whom?
Wrenn fights her attackers with everything she’s got and she’s grateful that Stephan taught her to shoot, but there were bullets that even she didn’t see coming.
When the nightmare’s return, Wrenn’s physical health in in serious danger. Dane whisks her off to France to save her from herself. Can Wrenn finally put the pieces of her life together and find the redemption she deserves?
I’ve spent many years crafting stories in my brain. Finally, after the encouragement from those that love and support me the most, I put my first story out by self-publishing in 2013.
That first milestone created a writing monster in me that couldn’t be stopped and filled a void I cannot explain. Each story is a true gift from my heart and a sacrifice from my soul, since I find it difficult to let the characters go.
At home in Texas, my husband and I share our life with children that mean the world to us and include a couple of fur babies. When we aren’t busy watching sports and betting on the game, we are entertaining with friends.
I do have a writing cave, but honestly, most of my work comes from the kitchen, the heartbeat of any home. Since noise doesn’t disturb me too much when writing, I can write and keep the pulse on the family at the same time. And… Possibly enjoy my favorite, sinful treat… Cookie dough!
The writer-reader world is my lifeline. I’m addicted and each time I get a message from a reader, I’m thrilled. There’s quite a few stories planned for the next several months. I’m hoping the readers fall in love with my next series, The Creek Series. A story that is guaranteed to bring out all the emotions.
Other Books in the Series:
Broken Creek  (Book 1)– OUT NOW! **FREE 24/25th Nov**
Forgiveness Creek (Book 2) Out Now!!
Giveaway
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Saturday, November 15, 2014

Tristen: The Last Seeker by Fleur Camacho



Title: Tristen: the Last Seeker
Author: Fleur Camacho
Release Date: Oct 16, 2014
Paperback Release Date: Nov 13, 2014
Find on
Goodreads


Tristen wakes to find a man watching him from the mirror. A chill runs through Tristen’s body as the familiar robed priest stares at him longingly. The priest struggles to open his mouth; the stitches that lace his lips together slowly rip apart and jut raggedly from his mouth. His bloody lips stretch wide as he leans towards Tristen, trying to suck him into a deep black hole.
Ever since Tristen, a sixteen year old teenager, is assigned to work with Ailey on a school project, his life takes a thrilling and alarming turn. Tristen can’t stop the inexorable pull he feels toward Ailey; just being around her draws him in completely, blindly and with disastrous consequences. At the same time, an evil priest invades Tristen’s dreams and threatens to kill his mom.
Soon, Tristen and his friends find themselves magically transported to Fifteenth Century France and Tristen discovers that he is the last-born Seeker - destined to save the past and the influential figures who shape it. When someone tries to kill him, Tristen must make a choice: embrace his destined purpose and risk losing everything or be stuck in the past running for his life forever.
This is not a novel about vampires, werewolves or ghosts. This is not your regular romantic, time traveling, coming-of-age story. This is the first book in a magical, paranormal, fantasy series about a regular kid who finds out he is destined to become the new Seeker to save the world from a bloody ending. If Tristen had known that pairing up with Ailey would trigger a magical ancient prophecy ushering in the beginning of the end of the world, he might have stayed in bed that day.
I could feel her hand inches from mine as we lay, side by side, on the sand.  I shifted to my side and studied the way the wet curls in her sun-kissed hair hung in ringlets spread out on the sand, just waiting to be touched.  My hand automatically reached out toward her fingers, brushing them.
She opened her eyes and looked at me.  An overwhelming sense that we, somehow, fit together overcame me.  Somehow deep inside me, I felt that she was meant to be a part of my world.  It was like our souls were reuniting.  It was crazy and made perfect sense at the same time.
Suddenly she jerked up.
“That was so stupid!”


Fleur Camacho loves to read and travel.  Sometimes she reads so much that she gets sucked into the story and ignores everything she supposed to do.   Travel is always the top priority on her list and comes before fixing up the house, putting in grass or buying her dream car (an antique Ford Mustang).
She also likes to hike, paint, be healthy and read boring economic reports.  She is the wife to an uber-cool and sexy husband and a mom to two awesome children.
She practices positive inevitability and believes that if you don’t take the chance on something you believe in, you’ll never know what you could give to the world. 
The TRISTEN book series began as a conversation with her husband, after watching the tv show Heroes. They talked about what ability they would pick if they could have any power. Since she loves to experience different cultures, she decided that she would love to have the power to travel around the world and through time. Her husband liked this idea and told her that she should write a book about it. She wrote one page and then forgot about it. One day, her husband read the page and encouraged her to keep writing. She picked it up on and off until one day she finally decided to get serious and finish her book already! She hopes to complete at least five books in the TRISTEN series and already has the beginnings of the next series bouncing around her brain.

Fleur’s Blogs about writing | life | her book

Friday, November 14, 2014

The Secrets of Lunar Falls by Lashell Collins

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Secrets of Lunar Falls
Media Kit
Author Lashell Collins
Genre: Paranormal/Romantic Suspense/Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: October 31, 2014


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When veterinarian, Dr. Carly Tipton, takes a new job in the tiny farming community of Lunar Falls, she expects to build a new life for herself. She expects to meet new people and have new experiences. Maybe she’s even expecting a little adventure. But what she’s not expecting is to fall head over heels in love – not with the town, and certainly not with its ruggedly sexy sheriff, Gabriel Masters. She’s also not expecting all the secrets Lunar Falls is hiding. Secrets that could destroy everything she ever believed was true about her own heritage and the family she left back home.

Gabe isn’t ready for Carly when she blows into town. That woman has the power to bring him – a man born and raised to be a GrandAlpha – to his knees, and she’s human! That simple fact alone makes her dangerous to Gabe’s position within the pack. But the fact that he can’t seem to stay away from her tells him that this woman is the one. Human or not … she’s his mate. And now Gabe has to find a way to make their bonding complete without sparking a civil war among his people.
Secrets of Lunar Falls is book one of an adult, sexy shifter romance trilogy.

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My Review

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Hidden in the dense brush, he watched as the hybrid ran toward her and followed her back into the house. Then he stayed close by until he felt her fear dissipating. He hadn’t meant to frighten her. He hadn’t meant for her to sense him at all, he only wanted to check on her, make sure she was okay, just as he had done each night from the moment they’d met. And being completely honest with himself, he knew that he’d just wanted to see her. If only for a moment.

He rose from his crouching position and stood on two legs, sniffing the air and catching her delicious scent. Then he drew in a deep breath and let it out in a frustrated huff that sounded more like a growl than a sigh.

Inside the house Carly attempted to let the strange sensation go as she readied herself for bed, but when she slipped between the sheets she had difficulty falling asleep. She tossed and turned for nearly half an hour before finally drifting off. But the memory of her sensual experience in the garden lingered, even in her dreams, and Carly soon found herself in the woods at Wolf Creek, running.
She was wearing a knee-length billowy night gown and running barefoot among the trees, a smile on her face as she relished the tingle on her skin. She looked up at the bright, shining moon as she ran through the woods, and she laughed. The sound echoed all around them.

Them.

She wasn’t alone. She smiled at the wolves running all around her, running with her. She was one of them, wild and free, and they ran and ran for what seemed like hours.

Then she was standing in a clearing of the forest, her canine companions milling about around her. One of them, a large black wolf with glowing gray eyes, stepped out from among the others and walked toward her. She reached out to him, staring into his smoky eyes, and suddenly he wasn’t a wolf anymore. He was a man, crouched down before her. She smiled as Gabe Masters slowly stood, completely naked, looming tall and imposing as he stared down into her eyes. She felt his hands running along her now naked body, heating her still tingling skin. Then his hands were in her hair as he gently pulled her head back. He leaned in close, his lips and his nose lightly brushing over her skin as he sniffed her neck, inhaling deeply. An act that caused her body to shiver. Then his tongue retraced the path his nose had just taken, running from the base of her neck all the way up to the back of her ear, and she moaned loudly.

She woke with a start at the sound of her own voice, and she looked around the bedroom in a heated frenzy. Her cotton nightshirt was drenched with sweat and totally plastered to her damp skin, and she sat up wiping the thin sheen of perspiration from her forehead as she softly panted. She’d never had such a vivid erotic dream before, and never about someone she actually knew. A singer or two. Maybe the latest Hollywood hunk, but Sheriff Masters? She’d only met him a few days before, and granted the man was sexy as hell, but why was he starring in her very real, very wet dream? An erotic dream about wolves, no less.

“Shit. What is wrong with me?” she mumbled to herself.

Throwing back the covers, she got out of the bed and pulled her nightshirt over her head, stripping naked, save for the tiger’s eye necklace she rarely took off. She walked over to the armoire and opened the door of the wardrobe and took out a fresh nightgown, slipping it over her head. Then she tossed the damp one into the hamper on her way out of the room.

She walked through the dark house to the kitchen and opened the freezer, reaching in to grab a single cube of ice. Then she ran the frozen sliver of relief across her chest in an effort to cool off as she tried to push the enticing image of Gabe Masters licking her neck from her mind.

Outside, not twenty feet away, he sat at her back door, feeling her nearness. Smelling her arousal as it mingled with her mouth-watering scent and wafted through the open kitchen window. And as he sat there reveling in the essence of her, he wondered what it would feel like to really run his tongue along her beautiful neck.

Secrets of Lunar Falls Website:


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Lashell Collins is an American author of romantic suspense, contemporary and paranormal romance. She spent the last twenty years of her life working in veterinary clinics and garden centers in her home state of Ohio, and is now living her dream of writing full-time. When she's not busy tapping away on her laptop and living vicariously through her characters, she can usually be found watching TV, rocking out to Slash, stuffing her face full of Chinese food, or riding on the back of her husband's Harley-Davidson. Give her a shout, she loves to hear from readers!



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