Thursday 31 August 2017

New Release! #SciFi #Paranormal #Romance by Ditter Kellen - Also Available on Kindle Unlimited

New from Ditter Kellen! Thrasher

Available on Amazon

Ex-CIA agent Melvin Escabar has sworn to live and die by his honor. Love is a weakness, nothing more. Now he spends his time in the underwater fortress of Aukrabah, working to protect the Bracadytes from the land walkers who will stop at nothing to destroy them. Dubbed “Thrasher" by the Bracadytes, Melvin becomes a blood brother to the giant warriors and would gladly die fighting alongside them. He has no time for love, nor does he want the inconvenient emotion. Until the beautiful Arkadian warrior, Kaspyn, is thrust into his life. Kaspyn is fierce, gorgeous, deliciously deadly… Her very presence threatens to thaw Melvin's icy heart.

As the daughter of a king, the Arkadian princess Kaspyn must adhere to certain rules laid out by her father: never show weakness, die with dignity, and know your enemies. Though the Bracadytes aren’t Kaspyn’s enemies, the humans they consort with are another story altogether. Especially the cocksure Thrasher. His sheer arrogance and dominant ways are enough to set her teeth on edge. Not to mention the human blood that pumps through his veins. No, Kaspyn has no use for the land walker, Melvin Escabar, other than a place to store her blade. But something about him draws her in, disarms her…until he haunts her dreams and every waking thought. All Kaspyn knows is she has to get Melvin Escabar out of her system—or risk losing her heart forever.

#kindleunlimited #ku #alpha #shifters #newrelease #shifterlove #DitterKellen #fantasy #alien #vampire #amazon #recommendedreads

Wednesday 30 August 2017

#MidWeekTease Love is for the Birds

Thank you all for the positive feedback on my retelling of Swan Lake. This Wednesday I'm going go for a sweet snip. I hope you enjoy!

Vlad pulled Anna closer, his furry chest tickling her back. “You smell divine.”
She chuckled. “I smell like you.” Rolling over, she rubbed her nose along his. “Oh, bother.” She pushed herself up, grabbing her dress from the floor.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“It’s nearly dawn. I don’t know what’ll happen if I don’t have my dress on when I change. I might appear naked wherever I happen to be at sunset.”
He licked his lips and she knew what he was thinking. “But what if Anastasia is there?”
“Oh, very well,” he grumbled, swinging his legs out of the bed.
“You don’t have to get up.” She nudged his shoulder to knock him down. “I can be a duck here on the floor. I just need to put this on first.”
“Hm, never cuddled a duck before.” His words were muffled as she pulled the dress over her head.
“Ha! I have never been cuddled as a duck either. Be careful you don’t squish me,” she teased. She was about to say more, but abruptly found her eyes level with the bottom of the mattress. Anything she said now would only be a series of quacks.
Vlad slid to the floor, curling around her. “This could work.”
His warmth surrounding her, almost like a nest, she sat down and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, when his snoring made it clear Vlad had gotten back to sleep, she gave up on managing as much herself and waddled toward the door.
Ajar, she was able to work her bill on it and push it open just wide enough for her to pass. She immediately squawked and flapped her wings as feet crashed down the corridor close by her.
“Oh! Sorry, duck,” Anastasia apologized. The little girl looked around and then peered in the door to where Vlad lay sleeping. “He’s so loud,” she complained. “Come, let’s get some breakfast.”
Ana had no trouble sailing down the stairs, but Anna had to jump from one to the next. Eventually she launched herself out far enough to flap her wings and reach the bottom. The indignity of the clumsy flight resounded in a quack.
Anastasia had already run into the kitchen and came out with two pieces of toast. She sat on the floor beside Anna and offered one. “Here. This is yours.”

Wednesday 23 August 2017

#MidWeekTease Love is for the Birds

That's still a working title, but I think it fits Swan Lake, don't you? Love is for the birds, in this case, a swan and duck. Summer is winding down so I can finally start posting again! Here's a little more of Odette and Anna's adventures.

Odette spent a night with another golden angel of a man. They met amid a dance, and returned to one another until ending a room together. In an odd twist, he vanished before Odette escaped to the lake.
“What happened?” Anna asked when Odette arrived with furrowed brow.
“That man, Olaf, he disappeared in the night. I don’t know where he’s gone.”
Anna sniffed. “Does it matter?”
“Maybe… he’s different.”
Anna tried to recall anything particular about the young man, but could think of nothing.
They both grew feathers and swam off, not discussing further as each slept during the day.
When the same young man followed Odette the next night, Anna did notice something. Not in the man, although he bore a resemblance to Siegfried, but in Odette. She focused on Olaf in a way Anna hadn’t seen in years.
“You’re in love,” Anna accused the next morning while Odette yawned. Their transformation was moments away, but Anna wanted to say this clearly.
“I am?” She dropped the hand covering her yawn and smiled. “Yes, I guess I am.”
“Well, it’s a terrible idea,” she snapped, running into the water. Her clothes were wet only a moment before they turned into feathers.
What life could Odette hope to have? If there was a way to be married in spite of this curse, wouldn’t Anna have done that and returned to Vlad? Odette could be so selfish, unthinking.
“Anna? Wait!” Odette called but the duck flew away whenever she came near. Not off the lake, just to the other end. She wasn’t leaving without Odette, but she didn’t want to talk right now.

Please enjoy all the other contributions this week!

Tuesday 15 August 2017

AVAILABLE NOW! Creatures: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance #99cents #release

DO YOU DARE TO BRAVE THE BEASTS?
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CREATURES is a collection of otherworldly tales from today’s indie-favorite New York Times, USA Today, and International bestselling authors!
You are about to enter the realm of Creatures, a boxed set packed with more than twenty enthralling tales of urban fantasy and paranormal romance! From witches to vampires, shifters to fae, and every dark creature known to lurk the pages of fantasy fiction, you’re sure to find yourself up past your bedtime and reading well into the witching hour!
So curl up on your sofa with a steaming cup of tea and PreOrder today if you dare brave the beasts!

FEATURING TITLES FROM...

New York Times bestselling author A K Michaels
USA Today Bestselling Author Gina Kincade writing with Kimberly Gould
USA Today Bestselling Author Erzabet Bishop
USA Today Bestselling Author Bianca D'Arc
USA Today Bestselling Author Heather Marie Adkins
Boone BruxMorgan WylieFelicia BeasleyKyoko MJules BarnardMonica La PortaAoife Marie SheridanAlex OwensJuliana HaygertE. M. MooreSkye KnizleyShelique LizeLydia SherrerWendy OwensS.M. BloodingStephanie Marks
J & L Wells with Laura Greenwood


   
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If you love the paranormal mixed with fantasy, romance, a little bit of blood, and a whole lot of epic heroes, you will love this set!
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Saturday 12 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Muffy Wilson @sexymuffywilson @mermaid @siren @seawitch @fairytale

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Muffy Wilson.

1.    When did you start writing?

 I wrote from my teens, I guess. I majored in English in high school and college. When I got into the workplace, much of what I did required that I write proposals, proformas, tutorials, presentations and all sorts of marketing guides and brochures. Those were some of the most enjoyable aspects of all my jobs as I rose through my career. As I rose in management, I exercised my creative writing with reviews and appraisals. I really didn’t start writing fiction until 2010 when an old high school boyfriend came back into my life and “inspired” me. It has been a love/hate relationship ever since! Love in that I love my readers and fans that enjoy my work and encourage me and hate in that so much time for us Indys is required marketing all our hard work. Now, I know a lot about marketing and have done it all my life, but it requires time, and that time is taken away from what I love most about what I do—writing.

2.    What makes your stories unique?

 I would like to think that my love stories reflect life. That they are believable and intriguing. Life’s complicated, messy, fun, loud, intricate, exasperating, multi-layered and a lot going on. One day you’re up the next day, you aren’t. The thing about writing is it is a way to get away but it is still familiar ground. That’s why we identify with, or fall in love with, or hate the protagonist or antagonist. I want my stories, whether they are romance or paranormal, to ring true to a reader, to draw them in and captivate them until the very last page. My work has often been compared to Anne Rice and the Bronte Sisters, so it tends to the floral and descriptive. It is like stringing word after word together like pearls and when done, you have an elegant piece of jewelry. It is painstaking and requires thoughtful deliberation. But that, for me, is the fun. I want you to feel the sun on your face, the glint of broken glass in the window as it streams across the room to your face and warms you. It isn’t enough that it is light and warm out. So for me? I want my readers to experience my writing. And I hope they do.

3.   Is there a common thread that runs through your books?

 No, not per se. I try not to write cliff hangers, that the story resolves, but in the two-book series, I want my readers to be satisfied, but curious about what happens in the nest book without being frustrated with the first book. That said, all my books are about love for example, in The Para-Portage of Emily, love spans a century and a seafaring ghost is unsettled in the afterlife, returning night after night to reunite with the wife he lost in childbirth. It is a gripping tale and complicated with riveting twists and unsurprising turns written in a style that would be common in the time but set in contemporary surroundings. Other of my works are fully contemporary provocative love stories.

4.   If money was of no concern, what would you envision as your perfect lifestyle? (where would you live, what would you do all day, etc.)

Fortunately for me, I am living my life in the manner and style that suits me. I am comfortable, loved and have a new wee pup, Buddy. He is a pure white 2 year old Havanese we rescued with a brown nose and amber eyes. It is so much fun having him with us. He is so sweet and loveable. We miss our wee Burt, but I know Burt would want us to honor his memory by giving another homeless pup the life that Burt enjoyed. So, I am very happy right where I am doing what I am doing with the people I love around me.

5.   Besides writing, what things are you most passionate about?

 I love to cook and I used to love to travel, but not so much anymore. I have really become a home body, working writing and helping other authors promote and market their own work. I enjoy my friends both in the flesh and online. I have met some wonderful people in my travels. My father was in the Air Force and we lived everywhere between Alaska and France. I came of age in France nearly driving my parents to the brink! And language. I speak French and Spanish is my next personal improvement project, when I get caught up with all my writing projects.

6.   Not limited to writing, what do you believe to be some of your greatest accomplishments so far?

In my writing, I have made the USA Today Bestsellers List three times for my work, Amazon and International Bestseller a few more times and awards for my work. It has made me very proud and humbled. Yes, there’s a but…
I consider myself a work in progress no matter how old I get. I hope I am a better person, day by day. I hope I have become more generous, more loving and forgiving, of myself and others. I hate confrontation, but being an ambitious woman in the 70’s there was a lot of confrontation. In my “real Life” I rose, without a college degree, to become the youngest, Midwest Regional Director for IBM in the Real Estate and Construction Division in Chicago. That’s a mouthful! Anyway, I was 36 when I was promoted to that position and transferred from San Francisco. Married for less than a year, my husband and his 14-year-old son followed me and we started a new life together. It was exhilarating, hard, long hours and huge rewards. But my crowning accomplishment was become Vince Jr’s mom. If God took me tomorrow, I would be satisfied that He had allowed me to be the mother to what became a fine young man of whom I am so proud.

7.   Name a few of your favorites 

Red is my favorite color, it’s passionate. I love the music of The Little Sparrow, Edith Piaf/ She is passionate, too! I’ve always loved The Good Wife on television but I am obsessed with Investigation Discovery. I get hooked on all the stories of swamp murders, cold cases and the endless pursuit of good over evil. I love golf, Manhattans, dinner at home and the company of my husband of 32 years. Each year is an amazement to me and a joy beyond my expectations.

Was it fate, design, or—perhaps—black magic? Who’s to say?

It was sensuous, erotic, insatiable as they fought to extinguish the passions that flamed their heat by indulging in every desire that swept them into one another’s arms. Their shared hungers fanned an appetite no amount of indulgence could satisfy.

Was it love at first sight? Perhaps. Many thought it might have been the work of the unscrupulous Sea Witch, Hermione, long a bitter and banished King’s Court Matron. So, was it the crafty wiles of Hermione, scheming to seek her sordid revenge or was it a simple matter of serendipity? All we know for a certainty is that two young royals, one landed and one not, met during a raging storm as fierce and intense as the love they would none too soon escape. Was it fate, design, or—perhaps—black magic? Who’s to say? What we do know is that it was sensuous, erotic, insatiable as they fought to extinguish the passions that flamed their heat by indulging in every desire that swept them into one another’s arms. Their shared hungers fanned an appetite no amount of indulgence could satisfy. After all, it happened…Once upon a time…
Later that evening when ship went dark and quiet, the sea turned pitch-black and started to roll with silent insistence. This was great fun for the little princess as she rode the waves with searching eyes once more into the cabin windows. She found her prince, again, and to her delight, he saw her as well. Locking eyes, she bobbed with the tossing waves and reached out to him as he leaned out and extended his hand. She ignored the darkening sky until the crack in the sky of lightening drew her attention. The young man withdrew his hand and pulled himself back into the cabin as he gathered himself to out of the cabin to his men on deck. The winds rose and the sails unfurled, bellowed from the night fury. She heard commands and screams as the ship rolled and ropes unfurled to do their work. Alarmed, the young princess grew scared for all aboard the ship as she stayed alert to avoid being hurt herself.
The sea was viciously dark against the waves as they uncurled in a white so brilliant and speckled with iridescence, they resembled the most valuable of pearls. The white rolling waves crashed down upon the swells of the ocean with a loud and resounding smash, then danced quickly across one to another until the wave expired, only to be followed by another and another, then another. It seemed, as she rode the waves cautiously, that the waves were building strength, that the sound of them crashing onto the swells was getting louder, building to a fevered pitch bringing with it a foreboding of disaster. Her fear for their safety was mounting and upper most in her pounding chest was her search, rising with panic, for the young elegant man. At once, a wave curled over the ship, sending men into the sea and causing Saira to lose sight of her prince.
The violent seas were perilous even to the princess herself, so as she looked for him quickly, but deliberately, she was careful of waves tossing debris, trunks, ropes, planks, harpoons and other tools, and bodies in tumbling masses to her front. When the center mast broke, the furious wind brought it down on the middle deck splitting the ship nearly in two, pitching everything into the gaping darkness of ocean.
Frantically, the little princess searched the shifting wreckage for her prince. She knew not his name so could not call out to him, not that he would have heard her over the resounding force of the ferocious seas. She felt something, or someone, hit against her tailfin and when she spun to check, it was the disappearing outstretched hand of a sailor. She could not save him, the dark grasp of the sea pulled him away from her so quickly. When she finally spied the prince, his eyes were closed. His arms and legs dangled from his limp and tossing body, now weaken by his fight for survival. He appeared lifeless and sent Saira into a heightened fear as his body could not bear his weightless life and he drifted slowly to the waiting onyx depths below.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. I look forward to hearing from you. You’ll see all of my contact information below and various ways of staying in touch. In the meantime, blessings from Southwest Florida, otherwise known as Paradise.

Thursday 10 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Savannah Verte @savannahverte #legend #lore #dragons #demons #magic #soulmates #assassin #epicfantasy #revenge #quest

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Savannah Verte.

Who do you trust when you learn those you trusted lied to you?

Everyday immortal Bree Brigand gets a rude awakening as her family is slaughtered. Not only is the cursed, suicide blade of legend and lore real, but it has chosen her. She must quickly learn to fast-track a course she’s never navigated, in a world she thought only existed in campfire stories. But, only after coming to terms with the facts…her family is not her family.

Truths and lies collide in a world where the hunters and the hunted trade places faster than she can discern who is which, and everyone is an assassin. Can she find and claim her destiny? Or, will being marked by a male who is not her one true mate ruin everything, and clip this dragon’s wings before she can become all she is meant to be?


I was shaking with rage, but dropped my voice to a whisper. “What do you mean, these are the assassins? What am I then, a spring lamb for the slaughter? Why would you bring me here?”
The next sound that came from her lips was something between a cackle of laughter, a sigh of exhaustion, and an odd bark. “Because Asa, in this world, everyone is an assassin. The difference between them, is which side they are on, who they work for, and if the price or prize is worth the risk. Right now, you are not a prize here. The safest place for you to be, is in plain sight, able to identify others. Out there,” her head jerked backward over her shoulder, “you’re the unknown, you’re the rogue, and you’re the potential pawn in a game you don’t know that you’re playing. Now that you’ve tripped into this world, and all but announced your presence, the only option to keep you safe, is to expose your throat while looking them in the eye, which simultaneously exposes theirs.” She reasoned.
“That’s insane.” I hissed.
“That’s the world you were born to. Your parents knew it. What they didn’t know, was when they became the target. I choose to think that if they had known, or had even the slightest indication, you would not have been conceived. But, they are gone, and here you are. I thought I had succeeded in keeping you from this world. I was wrong.”
“So you are saying that my parents were assassins too?”
“Hear me clearly. You come from a long line of assassins. Your world now is filled with them. Trust no one. You will be safe until the time you are not. Do you still think it was so wise to come here?” She challenged with her hand on her hip.
I was dumbfounded. Why in the world would my mother have told me to remember and find this? Surely she must have known. It made no sense. “Did they know?”
“Who?”
“The Brigands?”

For more from Savannah Verte, visit her on the web:
Website  

Tuesday 8 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Catherine Vale @valeromance #vampire #shifter #hybrid #supernatural #occult #mates

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Catherine Vale.
What happens when a dragon shifter chooses 
a fae for his mate? Magic Fire!
My jaw dropped before I could stop it. I seemed to have stumbled upon a grand hall of sorts, like the kind dwarves would burrow deep into a mountain’s core. The ceiling shot up at least a hundred feet above, revealing an opening from which one could see the stars, beautiful and twinkling and beckoning me forth.
And in the middle of it all, a man sat on a log in front of a healthy fire, roasting something on the end of a stick. I crossed my arms and straightened up, feeling his presence so profoundly and so suddenly that it actually took my breath away—not that I’d let it show, of course. No human could throw me so off-balance, yet he wasn’t a supernatural like me.
I inhaled softly. Not like a werewolf breathing in the scent of its prey, but like a snake who flicks its tongue out for just a second to taste the air.
Shifter. The word flashed through my mind when his head snapped up, eyes darting in my direction. He must have scented me when I let my guard drop, so startled to find a shifter in our fairy wards that I momentarily forgot myself.
Fuck it. No sense hiding now. We both knew the other was there.
“Hey,” he barked, shooting to his feet and marching around his bonfire. Attractive shifter that he was… I couldn’t stop myself from skimming his muscular figure, made more prominent by the fact that he was shirtless and totally ripped.
Chestnut brown hair, tousled and thick—begging for someone to run their fingers through and tame it. A chiseled jaw and light eyes: gray, if I wasn’t mistaken, and beautiful. Oh, and a six pack that probably made human women weep at first sight, with a tantalizing V-cut guiding my gaze down to the low-hanging waistline of his olive-green sweatpants. Yum. Yum times a thousand.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, handsome face contorted somewhere between surprised and annoyed. I could deal with that. The shifter raised his stick between us, maybe to intimidate, but the now obvious marshmallow on the end was on fire. It bubbled up as I stared at it, my eyebrows shooting up, as it finally fell off and landed on the floor of the cave with an oddly satisfying splat.
I looked up, biting back a grin. “Wow. Terrifying.”
“Yeah, well…” He tossed the stick back toward his happy little bonfire. “I don’t need a weapon to throw you on your ass. Answer the question.”
“No need to be rude, shifter,” I fired back, temper prickling at the thinly veiled threat. Arms still crossed, I stepped out of the shadows completely and into the cave, noting the flash surprise, this time surpassing the annoyance that I called him out. Surely he could sense me too. “My sisters and I are camping at the base of the mountain. I…” I swallowed hard. “I couldn’t sleep and went wandering. No foul intentions, I swear.”
I raised my hands innocently. Lying had never come easily to me, or to most fae. We preferred to play with our words, saying one thing and meaning another, but not outright lying. And this wasn’t a lie. Just not the whole truth.

For more from Catherine Vale, visit her on the web:


Saturday 5 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Dariel Raye @pendarielraye #Druids #ancientlegend #Assassin #MardiGras #Carnivale #Vendetta #Angels&Demons

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Dariel Raye.
1.   When did you start writing?
I started writing stories as soon as I was able to write, and included them in the package deals I made for my custom paper dolls in first grade. Yep, I stayed in trouble in first grade, but an entrepreneur was born 😉 The stories started out simple, and evolved into these deep, dark escapes as I grew older.

2.   What makes your stories unique?
My paranormal romance/urban fantasies are also interracial/multicultural stories that offer a positive view of heroines, mostly of African and Native American descent. Racial and social issues are subtly addressed from a more universal perspective without detracting from the romance or spoiling the much sought-after escape. Despite racial or cultural differences, love always transcends all.

3.   Is there a common thread that runs through your books?
Three main characteristics or elements seem to show up in most of my stories…
·     grandmothers, their powerful influence and wisdom
·     strong, educated heroines with exceptional street smarts who fight for what they believe, physically or socially.
·     And heroes who are protective, supportive, and willing to sacrifice themselves for the women they love.

4.   If money was of no concern, what would you envision as your perfect lifestyle?
First, money has nothing to do with this, but I would not be chronically ill. I’d live in a ranch house outside the city limits so I could own lots of land, not far from where I live now, within walking distance to the beach. There, I could have 2 cats, 2 – 3 dogs, and 2 – 3 horses and my house would be connected to the barn so I could reach my horses no matter what kind of weather we faced. Inside, I’d have a studio with 3 distinct areas for my music composing, recording, and teaching (piano and voice), my writing, of course, and my art work (mostly sketches). I’d also own a shelter for stray and abused cats, dogs, and horses, hire staff to keep it state-of-the-art, and two resident veterinarians.

5.   Besides writing, what things are you most passionate about?
Animal rights, human rights, particularly children, women, and minorities because they have been systematically denigrated and relegated to secondary positions in nearly every society. They are abused and victimized constantly despite their contributions. I'm also passionate about music, true friends, and family, including my precious German Shepherd/ Pit Bull fur baby who has turned out to be quite the protector.

6.   Not limited to writing, what do you believe to be some of your greatest accomplishments so far?
Playing over 11 musical instruments and being named counselor of the year are among my most prized accomplishments. Although I spent most of my career as a mental health therapist and substance abuse counselor, while in the secondary and college systems, I helped over 300 students get scholarships, including academic and music. Above all of these things, I am proudest of raising a beautiful, compassionate daughter with wisdom beyond her years. She continues to be a blessing to me.

7.   Name a few of your favorites 
·     My most favorite things besides books, music, and art are horses and dogs. Their loyalty, majesty, and willingness to forgive humble me. We can learn so much from them.
·     Green and brown are my favorite colors
·     I’m addicted to Game of Thrones, and binge watch it on Amazon Prime’s HBO subscription.
·     Also love The Blacklist, Haves and Have Nots, Queen Sugar, Supernatural (love those brothers. LOL), The Strain, Into the Badlands, and Outsiders to name a few.
·     Some of my favorite movies are Ryan’s Daughter, Working Girl, and The Edge (crush on Anthony Hopkins’ artistry). As for recent movies, I really enjoyed The Accountant.
·     Songs are classics like Rachmaninoff’s Variations On a Theme Of Paganini, and Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, and on the more contemporary side, John Legend’s All Of Me. I can also get lost in the polar opposites, Kiss’s classic Who Wants To Live Forever and Rihanna’s Where Have You Been.
Broken dreams, an ancient enigma tainted by the past, a mystical bond beyond time and space.

Thrilled about receiving funding for her new outreach program, Jaci meets Andreus and embarks on a journey wrought with mystery and answers to questions that have plagued her for years.

Three years after the accident, Jaci Allen believes she is as lost now as she was the day she awakened to the sudden, tragic deaths of her husband and two year old daughter. Throwing herself into her work has allowed her to avoid the reminders of her broken dreams, leaving her dangerously empty inside, always seeking…something.

Accused and convicted of the murder of his adoptive mother’s husband at the age of sixteen, Andreus admits his guilt, but acknowledges to himself that his memories of the night the abusive man was killed remain incomplete at best.

Meeting Jaci ignites the awakening of Andreus' frightening special gifts – gifts he has not only tried to hide from the rest of the world, but from himself. Can two shattered souls find a way to heal one another?
Andreus slid his tongue across his pointed incisors…
While the world changed outside, he had undergone a secret metamorphosis inside these walls, and searching for answers about who and what he was had turned up absolutely nothing.

Whatever the explanation, the sense of something lying in wait was always with him, ever present, and it had been a part of him as far back as he could remember. Everyone around him felt it, their fear of him instinctual. The reaction he received from most people reminded him of deer sensing the presence of a lion, but Helen, his adoptive mother, had been different. She had accepted him, even when she saw his skin instantly knit together seconds after being wounded.

Andreus closed the door on his memory of her again, putting it away safely until later when he needed her image to help him get some much needed sleep. Playbacks from his nightmares haunted his days as well, hounding him with swords clashing, molten rocks exploding, deep chasms filled with fire splitting the Earth, multi-timbre voices of war, and huge wings rushing toward him, claiming him. Even now, Helen’s image held the power to offer him a measure of peace. She was the only one who had ever cared for him.

He walked over to one of the exercise bars on the prison yard, set his playlist to a classical mix of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy, and inserted his earbuds. When he looked up, the group of inmates who’d been hanging around the bars just seconds ago had sauntered off, giving him a wide berth. He had no interest in getting to know them or sharing their company for that matter, but being left alone within these four walls with nothing but his own disturbing thoughts made the maintenance of sanity a challenge.

Like most of his possessions, he had purchased the electronic device with “gift” money he’d earned for keeping another inmate safe. Easy money. All Andreus had done was to allow the bullied prisoner to sit with him in the mess hall and hang with him in the yard for a few days. He maintained a calm demeanor, never advertising his services, but business always came his way, particularly since the casinos had opened.

Andreus heard footsteps approaching from behind as he contracted his muscles and continued his daily exercise routine. He already knew exactly who approached before turning around, so he didn’t bother to stop what he was doing.

“Shannon, you too. The warden and the social worker want to see you.”

As if he hadn’t heard the guard, Andreus took his time finishing his last set of pull-ups, then leapt down from the bar. He snatched his t-shirt from the concrete bench and pulled it over his head. The moment he turned to face the guard and four other inmates, he saw and smelled their fear.

For more from Dariel Raye, visit her on the web:


Thursday 3 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Amanda Pillar @amanda_pillar #fae #succubus #assassin #magic #alpha #supernatural

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Amanda Pillar.

Death is coming for Lori Hardcastle.

Half-Succubus, half-Sídhe, Lori has been on the run since she was seventeen. Worried that her vengeful family will find her, she’s been hiding in the Borderlands, a magical plane nestled between the fae and human worlds. However, when her path crosses that of a dangerously sexy fullblooded fae, will she be able to survive the encounter?
Conrad Death is a cleaner (he doesn’t like the term ‘assassin’) for the fae White Queen. His latest mission: find the half-breed daughter of the Count of Tears. Easy. Except no one knows what she looks like, her real age, or even what name she uses. However, Conrad isn’t daunted by simple details – he’s finished every job he’s ever started. But when he meets a smoking hot Succubus in a Borderlands bar, his life is thrown into turmoil.
Conrad Death didn’t really like the term ‘assassin’.
He much preferred the human word ‘cleaner’. After all, that’s what he’d spent most of his adult life doing: cleaning up other people’s messes. Namely, the messes left over after people had pissed off the White Queen, Gwyndolen Dubois.
His liege.
More like his slave mistress.
But that was just semantics, or so the court chamberlain liked to tell him.
The White Queen solved her problems with clandestine murder. The Black and Red Queens were also renowned for their capricious natures, but were a little more…blunt about it. Because of that, they tended to nurture their reputations as complete and utter hard-asses, at least, that’s what Conrad figured. The human media loved it: the intrigue alone kept several of their magazines in business.
‘Night Court: Deadly After Dark’.
‘Day Court: Suns of Anarchy’.
He’d read those two headlines in just the last week.
The White Queen, however, liked to have a positive and – ugh – chirpy public image, all the while tidying up her court when the mood struck her. And it seemed to have been striking her a lot more frequently of late.
Conrad was currently kicking his heels in an antechamber to the chamberlain’s office. The waiting room was full of priceless artifacts, gold-filigree hangings and the occasional rare human antiquity, mostly of the Egyptian kind. And all about cats. The chamberlain had a thing for them. Put the whole ‘crazy cat lady’ thing into a new sphere.
“Death, there you are.”
“Lady Whisky.”
She hated the nickname he’d given her – it was really Countess Whiskertine – but he couldn’t be bothered with the formalities, and she had to tolerate him.
The chamberlain stood in the doorway to her office, hair tied up in an elaborate bun. Her slit-pupilled stare bored through him, but he didn’t so much as blink. Staring contests with Cait Sídhe were important to win.
Eventually, she blinked and waved a hand at him. Following her into the office, he took a seat without invitation. The room was spacious, and was probably the size of an entire human apartment. It had a wall of books on the north side, and then a wall of glass on the south. In the very middle – he’d bet money on its exactness – was a large mahogany desk, with two red leather chairs in front. Incongruously, to the far left, there was a cat scratcher and plush rug made of sheep hide.
Conrad didn’t want to picture the chamberlain kicking back in her cat form, playing with mice. Come to think of it, he’d never seen a rodent within a hundred yards of this area. Gross. He did a lot of disgusting stuff, but eating rats was beyond even him.

For more from Amanda Pillar, visit her on the web:



Tuesday 1 August 2017

#CimmerianShade ~ Isis Pierce @isiswrites #witch #Vegas

Get ready for 22 doses of hot, heart-pumping romance from the darkside with heroes and heroines to keep you turning the pages! Grab this 24-author set now for only 99 pennies! This is a limited edition, and the steal-of-a-price is for a limited time featuring stories from award winning, bestselling authors.

For your reading pleasure, we'll be featuring each author with a story of her choice for the next few weeks. Some will include interviews, and all will include excerpts. Today's featured author is Isis Pierce.

Back her in a corner and she'll give you hell. 

When Samantha Smith agreed to cast a spell to sneak her friend Sassy into the hottest paranormals’ club in Vegas, she never thought she’d actually get caught. Now she’s facing a trial and the possibility of losing everything—including her magic, and maybe even her life. To get out of legal trouble, she might have to sleep with a vampire or go to hell with a bounty hunter. Maybe both. And that’s a whole new kind of trouble.
She needed to find her cousin, Mystic. She already knew about the Sassy disaster and Samantha’s night with the vampire. She could stay with her while she figured out why a man that looked like a serial killer was asking about her.
The magical community has a survival saying, “Two is one and one is none.” Which basically meant by herself Samantha was fucked. With her cousin, she was safer than alone in a potentially unfriendly situation. Potential kitten killer classified as a hostile fucking situation. She was screwed.

For more from Isis Pierce, visit her on the web: