Showing posts with label book three. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book three. Show all posts

Monday, November 4, 2024

Now scheduling a Release Day Blitz for The Last Portal by Barbara Hartzler

Now scheduling a Release Day Blitz for The Last Portal by Barbara Hartzler

This blitz will be November 12

I am scheduling spotlight stops

To participate in this tour please send:

Your blog name and url

The Last Portal
The Sacred Stones Portal Series 
Book Three
Barbara Hartzler

Genre: Urban Fantasy Portal
Date of Publication: November 12, 2024 
ASIN: ‎ B0DKGCJHYF
Word Count: 50,000
Cover Artist:  FantasyBookDesigns.com

Tagline:  If you love Downton Abbey, Shadowhunters, and world-changing stakes, get ready for an action-packed finale that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page.

Book Description:

The final battle is here. If we fail, we could rewrite history—forever.

I’m Lucinda, the Seer. When every member of my family and the entire Chosen One bloodline shares the same vision, I know we’re doomed. Especially when the villain’s henchmen show up on my doorstep hours later, there’s no denying the truth.

We’re out of time.

It’s up to me and Bella to take charge and end the time travel villainry once and for all.

Too bad Ricky Montrose isn’t going down without a fight. He’s unlocked an alternate reality where everything I’ve fought to protect—my powers, my friends, and the world itself—is at his mercy.

Now, it’s a race against time, and we’ve got two choices:

1. Travel to the past to stop the portal book from ever being created
2. Defeat Montrose before he can put his twisted plan into motion.
It’s all or nothing. So we split up into two teams to defeat the Montrose army. My friends and I have faced impossible odds before. But this time, we could wipe out the Three Societies, erase our past, and destroy the future my family battled to protect.

But with alternate realities colliding and the line between allies and enemies blurring, I’m questioning everything—especially whether I have the strength to save the world.

Can I master my powers, protect my friends and family, and close the last portal before everything we know disappears forever?

I guess we’re about to find out...

The Last Portal is the thrilling conclusion to the historical fantasy time travel series by bestselling author Barbara Hartzler. If you love Downton Abbey, Shadowhunters, and world-changing stakes, get ready for an action-packed finale that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page.


About the Author:

Barbara Hartzler is an Urban Fantasy Academy author writing about Seers, Chosen Ones, sacred stones, and secret societies ... oh my! 

Her stories are full of snarky heroines, supernatural shenanigans, dreamy guys, and normal teens taking on larger-than-life quests to save the world.

As a former barista and graphic designer, she loves all things sparkly and purple and is always jonesing for a good cup of joe. 

Newsletter Sign Up:  https://bit.ly/3YyORcG










Friday, September 23, 2022

Now scheduling a one-week tour for The Beginning of Forever by Cheryl R. Lane #HistoricalRomance



Now scheduling a one-week tour for The Beginning of Forever by Cheryl R. Lane

This tour will be October 17-24 (weekdays only)

I am scheduling guest blogs, interviews, and spotlight stops

To participate in this tour please send:


Your blog name and url

A couple suggested dates during the tour

Please let me know if you wish to review

The Beginning of Forever
Wellington Patriot 
Book Three
Cheryl R. Lane

Genre: Historical romance
Date of Publication: 10/10/2022
ISBN: 9798840206690
ASIN: B0B671WV5W
Number of pages: 252
Cover Artist: Carpe Librum Book Design

Tagline: Bronwyn finds her husband again, who was taken prisoner during the Revolutionary War.  Good fortune seems to finally come their way, but someone from their past seeks to prevent their happiness.  Will they be able to overcome these trying times?

Book Description: 

In book three, Bronwyn travels to Great Britain to find her husband Baldwin in prison.  He is released, is introduced to her family, and finds his strength again.  An urgent request to see his mother in Wellingshire, England, changes the course of his future.

Bronwyn and Baldwin travel back to America to join their children and make a new life for themselves.  They have an opportunity to have their very own plantation, but not without obstacles.  False accusations threaten to ruin their happy home.  Will they ever have their happily ever after?


About the Author:
 

Cheryl R. Lane is the author of the historical romance Wellington Cross Series, the paranormal romance Angel Series, and the new historical romance Wellington Patriot Series. She has been self-publishing books since December 2012.  Her book, Sunrise Kisses, was a finalist in the 2018 Golden Quill Award Contest sponsored by Golden Box Books Publishing. She grew up in East Tennessee and moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, after marrying her high-school sweetheart. They have been married over 30 years and have one son. She also works as a court reporter, and in her free time she enjoys gardening, walking, traveling, reading, taking pictures, and spending time with her family and friends.





Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6653858.Cheryl_R_Lane


Thursday, August 27, 2020

Now scheduling a Halloween Spooktacular tour for Alpha’s Revenge by Catherine Stine



Now scheduling a Halloween Spooktacular tour for Alpha’s Revenge by Catherine Stine

This tour will be October 1-30 (weekdays only)


I am scheduling Halloween feature stops and reviews

Halloween Spooktacular tours feature Halloween theme tour stops and a huge rafflecopter full of prizes.


HTML and social media scripts will be provided for stops.


To participate in this tour please send:

Your blog name and url

Date you can post

Alpha’s Revenge
Royal Alpha Wolves Club
Book Three
Shared World Series
Catherine Stine

Genre: Werewolf Shifter Romance
Publisher: Konjur Road Press
Date of Publication: September 3, 2020
ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-7333901-4-9
ASIN: B08CWVBZM7
Number of pages: 165
Word Count: 42k
Cover Artist: Crown Atlantic

Book Description:

A heartbroken furious alpha, a forbidden childhood crush revisited.

Will karmic justice destroy them both?

From the languid, sexy heat of New Orleans, all the way to the icy Canadian Wilderness, supernatural creatures live shadow lives amongst mortals. But what if one of the most powerful and regal of beings—wolf shifters—found their packs disappearing through longstanding battles and vicious payback?

The Royal Alpha Wolves Club, a worldwide, ancient organization formed to keep order and secrets safe among werewolf packs is faced with this very dilemma. So, when the club leader gives the dire order for all royals to find a mate and produce an heir within a year it’s in the wolf shifters’ best interest. Wayland, though, is not on board.

Meet Wayland Leblanc—legendary royal alpha, hell-bent on revenge for his murdered mate. When the edict comes down from the leader in his new territory that all royals mate and produce an heir within the year or lose royal status, Wayland hits the road. He’s not ready. Instead, he charges up to Canada in his mini-camper, to wreak revenge on Thorn, the Tundra shifter who killed his mate Sabine and their unborn babe. He conscripts an army of coyote shifters in his revenge plot, and stuffs down his lingering heartache by partying with neighboring witches.

What he doesn’t plan for is falling hard for Stormy, Thorn’s mysterious sister. But pursuing a star-crossed Juliet to his Romeo just might cost Wayland and Stormy their lives.

4 books. 4 authors. 4 alphas. 1 shared world.



About the Author:

Catherine Stine is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fantasy, paranormal romance and sci-fi thrillers. Witch of the Wild Beasts won a second prize spot in the ‘19 RWA Sheila Contest. Other novels have earned Indie Notable awards and New York Public Library Best Books for Teens. She lives in Manhattan, grew up in Philadelphia and is known to roam the Catskills. Before writing novels, she was a painter and children’s fabric designer. She’s a visual author when it comes to scenes, and she sees writing as painting with words. She loves edgy thrills, perhaps because her dad read Edgar Allen Poe tales to her as a child. Catherine loves spending time with her beagle Benny, writing about supernatural creatures, gardening on her deck, traveling and meeting readers at book fests.






Catherine on Facebook:

Subscribe to Catherine’s Newsletter:

Goodreads:

Amazon Author Page:


Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Now On Tour Love Spell in London by Shereen Vedam

                                                                                  
                     March 31 Booklikes                      

March 31 Fang-tastic Books

       March 31 SImply Kelina           

April 1 Paranormalists (Interview)      

April 1 Roxanne’s Realm (Guest Blog)
                      
April 2 The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom (Guest Blog)
                          
April 2 Sapphyria's Books        

April 2 Lisa’s World of Books
                                             
April 3 JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder

          April 3 Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read         
                                                         
             April 3 The Book Junkie Reads               
                                                                                   
April 6 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!

April 6 T's Stuff    
                                                                                                    
April 6 Supernatural Central

                    
Love Spell in London
The Cauldron Effect
Book Three
Shereen Vedam

Genre: Regency Fantasy Romance
Date of Publication: March 31, 2020
ISBN:  978-0-9953447-9-2
ASIN: B07ZTBR92H
Number of pages: 265
Word Count:  85,443

Cover Artist: Desiree De’orto

Tagline: By the pricking of my thumbs…

Book Description:

A healing witch hopes her stolen hellhounds’ passionate master will return soon to claim his hounds, and perhaps, notice her. When he does, not only does she catch his eye, but also that of his fiendish dark fae mother.




About the Author:

Once upon a time, USA Today bestselling author Shereen Vedam read fantasy and romance novels to entertain herself. Now she writes heartwarming tales braided with threads of magic and love and mystery elements woven in for good measure.

Shereen's a fan of resourceful women, intriguing men, and happily-ever-after endings. If her stories whisk you away to a different realm for a few hours, then Shereen will have achieved one of her life goals.



Blog – Magic Ahoy! : https://www.shereenvedam.com/blog/



Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/shereenvedam/boards/         




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Now scheduling a one week tour for Witch Tease by Cindy Keen Reynders #PNR



Now scheduling a one week tour for Witch Tease by Cindy Keen Reynders

This tour will be April 13-20 (weekdays only)

I am scheduling reviews, guest blogs, interviews and spotlight stops

mobi available for reviewers 


To participate in this tour please send:


Your blog name and url

A couple suggested dates during the tour

Please let me know if you wish to review


Witch Tease
Wysteria Hedge Haven Clan
Book Three
Cindy Keen Reynders


Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Date of Publication: December 19, 2019
ISBN: 978`677131563
ASIN: 781677 131563
Number of pages: 272
Word Count: 70,000

Tagline: Elizabeth, “Lizzie” Rose, high witch of the Wysteria Hedge Haven Clan, must enlist the assistance of her former lover, Kincaid McAllister, the famous Spirit Wulver, to save her coven from a banshee attack.

Book Description:

As the Wysteria Hedge Haven Clan prepares to celebrate Mabon (autumn equinox) by holding a “Blessing of the Brooms” ceremony at the Royal Witch Arena, a banshee swarm attacks. While clan members are held captive, the banshee leader, Sorcha, barters with the Supreme Witch’s Council to bestow life to her group within the next 48 hours.

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rose, high witch of the Wysteria Hedge Haven Clan, has recently been running late to coven events. She arrives at the arena after the banshees’ attack, and manages to escape.

She hires the famous Spirit Wulver, who is known in the magical world for dispatching demons and evil spirits. When he arrives, she realizes it is Kincaid McAllister—the same man she fell in love with centuries ago, back in Scotland.

Kincaid and Lizzie set aside their personal feelings in order to save her clan. Unfortunately, Kincaid’s typical pest exterminations fail. As a last resort, he plans to travel to the Land of the Fae to consult with the Faery King to determine the best way to get rid of Sorcha’s gang.

Despite the dangers, Lizzie insists on going with Kincaid. After rekindling their love, the two vow to spend their lives together. They find Uaithne; a magical harp that will destroy the banshees. Possession of the item requires the sacrifice of a life. To Lizzie’s dismay, Kincaid offers his.

Refusing to accept Kincaid’s fate, she frees her clan, then begins the process of returning to the Land of the Fae where she hopes to free her lover. Hopefully, Lizzie’s timeless love for Kincaid will unlock powerful magic to fuel her quest.


About the Author:


Cindy Keen Reynders is a contributing editor and staff writer for LCSD1’s Public Schools’ Chronicle. She worked as a book critic for Storyteller Alley and has published articles with True West and Wild West magazines.

She is the author of mysteries The Saucy Lucy Murders, Paws-itively Guilty and A Killer Slice. Additionally, Solstice Publishing released The Seven-Year Witch in March, 2019. The second book about the Wysteria Hedge Haven Clan sisters is, A Witch at Midnight, which was released in July, 2019. Witch Tease, is the next book in the series.

Besides reading, writing and crocheting, Cindy’s favorite activity is seeing new places. She was born in Portland, Oregon and has lived all over the United States and in Misawa, Japan. She has visited Canada, the Philippines, Samoa, Hawaii, both the western and eastern Caribbean and New Zealand.

From baby alligators to glow worms, Cindy has seen a variety of life’s wonders.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cindy.k.reynders           









Thursday, January 30, 2020

Now scheduling a Release Day Blitz for Echoes from the Veil by Colleen Halverson

Now scheduling a Release Day Blitz for Echoes from the Veil by Colleen Halverson

This blitz will be February 24 


I am scheduling reviews, guest blogs, interviews and spotlight stops

request your review copy via this google doc 


To participate in this tour please send:


Your blog name and url

Please let me know what type of stop you wish to host


Echoes from the Veil

Aisling Chronicles

Book Three
Colleen Halverson

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Entangled

Date of Publication: Feb. 24th 2020

ISBN:
ASIN:
Number of pages: 305
Word Count: 88K

Tagline: Love is Always Worth Fighting For

Book Description:

Aisling Elizabeth Tanner is now the leader of the Faerie rebellion. Facing the end of the world, she will have to find the strength to lead the Fae to victory against the threat they face, or risk losing everything, including Finn, whom she’s come to love more than life.      

Warrior Finn O’Connell wants nothing more than to fight by Elizabeth’s side. But an ancient Celtic goddess threatens to take charge of his soul, and he will have to wage a war within himself to save the rebellion from disintegrating into chaos.         

Betrayal leads them into the Fae Underworld, where Finn discovers his greatest sacrifice might be letting Elizabeth go—forever.

About the Author:


As a child, Colleen Halverson used to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting college freshmen. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her husband and two children. She also writes as C.B. Halverson.









Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Now On Tour Shifted Into Love: Hotel California by Phoenix Williams, Shai August, Alexis D Craig, ND Jones


October 8 Fang-tastic Books (Guest Blog)

                   October 8 Sapphyria's Books              
                                             
October 8 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!
             
October 9T's Stuff (Interview)

October 9 JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder

October 9 Paranormalists    (Guest Blog)

October 10 Roxanne’s Realm (Interview)
                      
October 10 SImply Kelina        
                                
October 11 Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read   

October 11 The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom (Guest Blog)

October 14 Booklikes (Guest Blog)

October 14 Books 4 Book Nerds             
                                         
October 14 Supernatural Central (Interview)
               
October 15 Lisa’s World of Books     
                                      
October 15 The Book Junkie Reads (Interview)               

October 15 Jazzy Book Reviews        
                          
                         
Shifted into Love: Hotel California
Shifted into Love
Book Three        
Phoenix Williams, Shai August, Alexis D Craig, ND Jones
                         
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Three Fortnights Press

Date of Publication: October 8, 2019

ASIN: B07XLHVP38

Number of pages: 271
Word Count: 72,000

Cover Artist: Covers in Color

Book Description:

Welcome to the Hotel...you know the rest. It's a lovely place but these paranormal romance writers are taking you on spine tingling adventures with shifters and fantasy creatures that will keep you wishing that you never have to leave.

From paranormal and erotica author, Phoenix Williams -The Haunted and The Hunted

Isabella Robertson is being haunted and that’s the least of her problems.

Shai August’s The Case of the Lost Opera Singer

Special Agent Shifter Colt Landry is going undercover with the unfriendliest Steward Agent he's ever met: Special Agent Witch Theresa 'Reese' Freeman.

Paranormal and thriller author Alexis D. Craig offers No Good Deed

Pallas is a prisoner of his own devices. A veteran of the Fairy Wars, between his PTSD and his curse from the Fae Winter Court, his nightmares leave him trapped within himself and within the hotel he runs, The Presidio. At least, until she arrived.

USA Today bestselling author N.D. Jones brings you A Queen's Pride  

For eighteen-year-old Asha, traveling to Vumaris with her parents, alphas of the Kingdom of Shona, should’ve been a simple matter. Yet, greed and corruption know no boundaries of time and place, turning a family trip into the bloodiest night of Asha’s life. Will Asha and her boyfriend bodyguard, Ekon, survive the night of terror at Hotel California?


Book Trailer: http://bit.ly/2mmvrK7

A Queen’s Pride by ND Jones
Excerpt:

Asha grasped his hand again, tugging him away from the closed door and to a circular pit in the center of the room. With her urging, they sat on a plush, leather couch in the shape of a semi-circle. The burgundy color complimented Asha’s white-and-gold dress.
Picking up the remote from the table in front of them, the television in an open cabinet opposite the pit, Asha clicked the unit on. Sound blared but was quickly lowered.
“I thought we could watch a show. I like funny ones. But you can choose whichever one you want.” Kicking off her sandals and scooting close, Asha handed him the remote control and leaned her head against his shoulder.
Ekon had never met a more even-tempered, sweet girl. She could be mischievous, sure, and a little obstinate, but nothing more than what was typical for an eighteen-year-old with a strict mother. At twenty, Ekon was little better, and he had far fewer responsibilities than Asha.
“Mom only wants what’s best for me.”
“I know.” Lowering his face, he sniffed her gorgeous mane of hair, tempted to run his hands through the dark, curly locks. She smelled of the countryside of his birth—lavender, moss, and with a hint of mint. “What do you want?”
“For you to hold me while we watch some awful but humorous television sitcom. Then for you to kiss me.”
“I shouldn’t have ever kissed you.”
“You don’t mean that.”
No, Ekon could never regret crossing the line with Asha ten months ago. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it. It’s just, I don’t want to mess up.”
“You won’t.”
“You only say that because I’m the first boy you kissed.”
Asha patted his chest. “You aren’t the first boy I’ve kissed.”
“Wait. What?” He shoved her until she sat up. “I’m not?”
“I never said you were.”
True but—
“You are, however, the first boy I’ve wanted to do more with than kissing.”
That stopped his mind from whirling and started his heart racing again. “You can’t go around saying stuff like that.”
Her smirk reminded him of what he already knew. “Okay, fine, we’re the only ones in your suite. But you know what I mean.”
“Actually, I don’t. It’s not as if I asked you to have sex with me right here and now.” A sure hand found his thigh and rubbed. “Unless, you know. We could. No one would know but us.”
“And your mate, if your parents don’t approve of our union.”
“They won’t choose my mate. They’ll weigh in on my choice, but they would never force me into an alliance not of my own choosing. Besides, I don’t have to be a virgin when I take a mate. I only need to be faithful to him, which I will be.” She patted his chest again. “You aren’t ready for us to become lovers, so this conversation is moot.”
Affronted, his eyebrow winged up. “Not ready? Who’s twenty and who’s eighteen?”
“Being twenty doesn’t make you ready. It just makes you two years older than me.” She nodded to the remote. “If you don’t intend on selecting a show, I’ll do the picking. Or,” she kissed his cheek, “we could kiss and touch and pretend we’re going to go all the way but know we really won’t.”
Ekon liked that idea, but her statement about him not being ready, despite his age, had pricked his pride a bit. The sad truth was that she wasn’t wrong. Him not being ready had nothing to do with Ekon having had sexual experience with only one person—a high school girlfriend who broke up with him before beginning college.  His feelings had been hurt, but she’d warranted no stronger emotion, certainly not anger or even disappointment.
Asha, on the other hand, had a way of turning him into knots. Worse, she managed the act with unconscious effort like calling him on his unvoiced fears, while also making herself vulnerable to him by revealing her own desires.
Ekon kissed her, lips gentle, tongue patient. When she opened for him, her moan a scratch behind the ears of his inner lion, Ekon slid inside.
Licking.
Tasting.
Exploring.

About N.D. Jones:

N. D. Jones is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Maryland with her husband and two children. She is a dedicated educator, committed to equitable and excellent education for all students. N.D. has served in the role as teacher, department chair, and professional development teacher specialist, supporting the learning of students and the professional growth of teachers .

She writes what she sees as a dearth in the romance genre--African/African American love with a paranormal twist. She spends a lot of time developing the mythology of her novels, as well as the execution of the paranormal element. When she writes a book with witches and shapeshifters, for example, she thinks it's important to show what it means to be a witch and shapeshifter. That's one thing a reader of books by N.D. can look forward to. The paranormal is not a sidebar in her novels. It's center stage and critical to the plot.





The Haunted and The Hunted by Phoenix Williams

Excerpt:

I was running.
That should have been my first clue that something wasn’t right. My fat ass didn’t run for fun. Yet, here I was, breasts jumping in the cheap Walmart bra, long thick legs burning as I ran down a never-ending foggy corridor. Bright magenta, gold, and teal lights swirled in the smoky mist that surrounded me. Numbered doors passed by in a blur.
Screams echoed all around me so loudly that I could barely make out the snarl in my own throat. Every muscle in my body ached. My mouth was filled with the salty tasteof my tears. My soul felt like it was being ripped in half and, yet, I continued to run.
“Bella.”
The smoke and whiskey voice had my heart pounding harder than it was already. My legs pumped faster. Sucking in gulps of the fog, the bright colored lights swirled faster before my eyes. Rounding a corner, I slammed face-first into a solid body. Arms like steel bands wrapped around my thick waist.
“Bella,” the voice groaned. “You’re mine.”
Sitting up straight in my bed, I placed a shaking hand on my pounding heart. I glanced at the clock and groaned. Three thirty-one in the morning. I had less than ninety minutes of sleep left but I knew there would be no going back to dreamland.
This was the fifteenth night in a row that I’d had the same dream. Each time I got closer to the voice, the details of the hallway were clearer. I had tried everything to get rid of it. Meditation. Exercise. No sweets after sundown. Getting pissy drunk. None of it worked.
“Three more weeks,” I assured myself.
In three weeks, I would have answers.
In three weeks, I would meet with the Seer in Hell Fire Valley.
I just hoped I could survive until then.

About Phoenix Williams:

Based out of Illinois, Phoenix Williams is an erotic romance, paranormal romance, and street lit author and lover of all things quirky.

She is a Jane of all trades. Award-nominated author. CEO. Producer. Screenwriter. AAMBC Journal contributor. As an author, she has built a brand that specializes in romance and self-acceptance.

She has been an author for Delphine Publishing since July 2015. Phoenix has created several series, the award-nominated Bird Family series, her bestselling Sex, Lies, and Friendship series, the Phoenix After Dark collection, and her first paranormal series, Queens of Beasts.

Phoenix Williams is currently creating two new series, Club Sugar and The Celestials. She is also working on adapting her Bird Family series into a Motion Picture.





No Good Deed by Alexis D. Craig

Excerpt:          

His rifle felt heavy in his hands, fingers numb, palms sore from firing and climbing, finding places to hide from the unrelenting onslaught of Goblin troops. The air was too warm, his feet hurt from walking, and the smell, all the fucking gods and saints, the smell. A mix of crushed lily of the valley and powdery iris overlaid with the metallic tang of blood and ichor, never failed to turn his stomach and make his teeth sweat.
Around the corner, he knew, was the ambush that would end the lives of the five fae with him. Why and how he survived was still a mystery that had no answer. Especially considering it led to him losing his wings not a week later. He wasn’t even supposed to have a gun, not really. He was a medic by training and had been en route to the mobile field hospital when their convoy had been ambushed, leaving him stranded with the remnants of his escort.
There’s a certain heartrending irony about the medic surviving and being unable to save anyone else.
Pallas could almost count down to the moment when the whole scene would erupt in a fountain of gunpowder, lead, iron, and blood. The fact he knew it was coming didn’t make the pounding of his pulse in his ears slow or still the shaking in his hands, but it gave him a little bit of comfort for when the time came.
“What are we hiding from?”                               
“Fook me!” The soft, feminine voice over his shoulder scared the soul out of him and sent him flailing, crab-walking backwards away from her sudden appearance.
She was… new. Not part of the dream. With her mane of long black curls, mocha skin, and incongruously cute white tank top and blue starfish pajama pants, she’d just appeared out of nowhere with her strange smile and sharp eyes. Dropped whole cloth into this theatre of combat without a weapon, wings, or any kind of protection whatsoever.
“Who the… how the… I...”  Pulling a hand down his face, Pallas blew out a deep breath as he tried to collect himself, his mind’s internal clock screaming that they needed to take cover because the assault was inbound. “Who are you… how did you…”
The explosion that took out a large part of the wall next to them killed his questions, his escorts, and rocked both of them off their feet.
“Holy hell!” The woman, barefoot and wide-eyed, was on her feet and yanking him away from the site before his mind had a chance to kick in gear. “You coulda warned me!”
He could have done nothing of the kind because the moment she touched him, her soft, delicate hand warm on his forearm, his brain did a hard reboot. It would have been easier to ask him to speak the language of butterflies—he could, but it would take a minute for him to think about it. The power rolling off her was immense, and natural, so far as he could tell, and so heavy it was like she cast no shadow. It clouded his thoughts, overwhelmed his senses. It made no sense.
Once his mind came back online, he yanked her down the block and posted up behind the cover of an old delivery van.
“Who are you?” Pallas demanded as he rounded on her. He kept a hand on his rifle but didn’t raise it against her. “How did you get here?”
Her eyes were dark, fathomless like black coffee and just as warm. Back straight, shoulders back, she was a tiny little thing, very slight of frame, that barely came up to his armpit but carried herself like she could take him and three of his friends, too, with little to no resistance.  “I could ask you the same thing.”
“You first.” The breeze was hot and oily like car exhaust as it rushed over his skin, the scent of approaching Goblins and the rumble of associated heavy artillery. They needed to move out, now. To his amazement, she touched her wrist and a black hairband materialized for her to remove and tie back her unruly locks into a thick braid. There was heavy magic in play here, and frighteningly enough, he had no idea as to its origins. Last thing he needed was to cross another member of the Fae Legion.
“I’m a Bishop,” she murmured as she looked around, her eyes taking in every single detail from the rooftops of the buildings along the bombed-out streets to the varying abandoned cars.
“By name or profession?”
She squinted at him for what seemed like a long damn time before quirking an eyebrow. Whatever scrutiny she’d given him, he’d apparently passed because she offered him her hand. “Syta Bishop, of the Sedona Bishops. And I don’t know how I got here. Where’s here?”
Pallas couldn’t help the way his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. Aside from Sedona being maybe 250 miles from his physical body’s location, there was no way for this to be happening. Right? Was this just a trick of his mind? His subconscious or the curse finding a new way to fuck with his equilibrium and mental health?

About Alexis Craig:

Alexis Craig was born in Tucson, Arizona and moved to Indiana when she was eleven. She's been there ever since, not counting the three-year stint in New York for college.

She is an avid reader of romance novels and forensic science manuals, a wife, a godmother to many, a loving aunt, avid ghost hunter, and collector of rescued pets.

In her free time, she tends to wander through haunted houses, bike along the Indianapolis Canal downtown, and travel to new places.





The Case of the Lost Opera Singer by Shai August

Excerpt:
Plainview, Texas was almost the exact place where the landscape of deciduous trees started to recede to the land of desolate scrub brush, and the tires of the luxury sport utility vehicle rode like a dream over the miles of broken blacktop of West Texas. Opera music, Magda Olivera’s nineteen ninety-three recording of a selection of Adriana Lecouvreur blasted through the custom speakers. The opera singer’s unusual voice and singing style was still controversial even after her death.
She chose to be surprised by his choice of music, but she shouldn’t have been deceived by the golden boy persona that he cultivated. Her regular partner, Artis Patterson was fascinated by Special Agent Shifter Colt Landry, ‘Mr. Perfect’ she called him sighing like a preteen whenever she said it. Reportedly, he’d never broken a single rule and there were so many rules, which is why her service record looked like triptych of ink splatters. She’d had moments to study Agent Landry through her friend’s eyes and her own. He was too everything; too handsome, too sexy, too by the book, too perfect from his brown speckled green eyes to his blemish free butterscotch skin to his spotless Agency record.
She fanned herself, October should never be this hot. The dog days of summer were indeed real as the heat wave was on outside the SUV as evidenced by the waves bouncing off the blacktop. Inside, Colt Landry’s brooding had raised the temperature of the SUV with his smoldering good looks and the waves of heat that emanated from his hard body or maybe it was just her own body temperature that was soaring. The air conditioner was blowing full blast, but it didn’t seem to cool her in the least.

Colt

The scent of her was everywhere. They’d only been driving for eight hours, but mentally it felt like they’d been together for eight days. In his twelve years as a Steward Agent never had he wanted to quit a mission before it started, she was a quiet, non-communicative distraction. If they’d shared more than twenty words the whole drive, he’d be dismayed.
He’d seen Special Agent Witch Theresa ‘Reese’ Freeman and her partner several times at Headquarters, he’d just never been in close sniffing range. Now he could feel his beast prowling the perimeter of their mind, pushing him. No, urging him to lean over the console and breathe in a nose full of her scents. Her natural body scent was that of apricots and honey, but the scent of her magic was warm brandy. Combined, the trio of smells were a heady intoxicant that had him partially drunk and ready to sink his teeth and manhood into her.
He needed to distract himself from the glorious smells. “Want to review our cover story one last time? Before we get too close to prying eyes and listening ears?” They were still an hour from their destination according to the in-dash navigation system.
“How do you know we aren’t being observed already?” she challenged, her Alabama accent was thick, like her hair and her lips and her hips and her thighs, which was visual eye candy to him. His gaze could barely stay on the road with her leaned back in the passenger seat with one perfect thigh crossed over the other in a tight white romper.
Stifling a groan as his mind and that of the beast began undressing her for the hundredth time since they’d left Headquarters in Houston. “I’d assume that you would have informed me if you suspected surveillance. Was I incorrect in my assumption?”
“No.” That no dropped from her lips with the force of a bomb. That no felt like a curse word, she didn’t seem pleased to be around him at all and it made the beast want her more. They loved a short chase, but Reese was more of a big game hunt.
“I’m Troy Wilmington the Third,” Assuming his poshest, oil and gas money had greased the skis of his whole life Texas accent, he practiced, “and you are my blushing bride, Felice Wilmington.”
She looked down on the French-set diamond banded ring with the four-karat emerald cut diamond sparkling in the middle, courtesy of the property room. Every woman on the floor had inhaled dramatically when the Special Agent Warlock in charge of the Property Room brought it out.
“You’re a stockbroker or some type of finance guy. I, Felice can’t be bothered to know the details, just as long as you keep me in pretty baubles.” She flashed her left hand, showing the ring and the matching tennis bracelet that dangled beautifully from her slim wrist, against her creamy dark skin. Skin he wanted to lick to see if it tasted of apricots and honey.
“You’re a classically trained opera singer,” he started in the posh accent, but dropped back to his own natural one. “Can you really sing opera?” he asked skeptically.
“Do you really believe Zosime would send an Agent undercover who couldn’t do the assignment?” she countered, referring to the centaur head of the Shifter and Magic Task Wardens.
The paranormal version of the Federal Bureau of Investigations that they worked for, even though the Stewards were older than the FBI, CIA and MI-6 combined. The Stewards were the police force shifters and witches called when the regular human police wouldn’t do. You didn’t want human cops trying to arrest a pack of werebears, that’s how you got massacres.
“You’re a witch who sings opera? More than that, you’re a Freeman witch, given that thick Alabama accent means more than likely, you hail from Freemanville, Alabama, and as far as I know, Alabama is not a hot spot on the opera touring companies.” The woman was a fascinating mix of contradictions and he wanted to undo the knot. He chuckled. More than her scent had gotten to him, she was invading his psyche more every minute. He should turn this SUV around and head back to Houston.

About Shai August:

Shai August is a country girl with a big imagination, more than a touch of wanderlust and a never-ending desire to live in both an RV traveling the world and a library. Her love language is words of affirmations followed by books, bacon and bourbon.

She's a born and bred Louisiana native, but is currently doing an impression of a yellow rose of Texas. She is fluent in English, sarcasm and memes. Her goal is to write fast paced, character driven paranormal fiction for women of color.





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