Thursday, January 31, 2013

ATOMR Presents Beauty From Pain by Georgia Cates‏

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTY FROM PAIN!
Title: Beauty From Pain
Author: Georgia Cates
Release date: January 31, 2013
Genre: Contemporary romance
Age Group: Adult

Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Inspiration for BEAUTY FROM PAIN 
By Georgia Cates 
Where did the inspiration for Beauty from Pain come from? My readers. 

My last published work was classified as new adult and it received a warm welcome from readers. They liked my racier story. I felt more open to write scenes I couldn’t for the “normal” young adult genre. But I still wasn’t satisfied and wanted to take it up another degree. 

What can I say? I’ve fallen in love with adult contemporary romance. 

What is Beauty from Pain about? I’ll tell you what it’s not about … Not the perfect man and the perfect woman having the prefect love affair. Beauty from Pain is unconventional to say the least. Laurelyn’s scruples could be questionable. Jack’s maybe even a little frightening, all while being hot as the devil’s ass. Their relationship will be considered bizarre by some. (Most.) And I’m okay with that. It’s different. And interesting. That’s always all right in my book.

Buy Links:

Amazon:
 http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-From-Pain-Series-ebook/dp/B00B8A9I90/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1359613038&sr=8-3&keywords=beauty+from+pain+kindle

Barnes & Nobles: Not Available Yet

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280526

Book Description:
They agreed on three months...but their love knew no boundaries.

Jack McLachlan is a winemaking magnate and easily one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors. His success and wealth makes him no stranger to the complications of romantic relationships and that’s why he goes to extreme measures to avoid the hassle. He prefers simplicity in the form of a beautiful female companion with no strings attached. He arranges relationships like business deals and they’re always the same. No long term relationships. No real names.

It’s his game and his rules. He’s content to play as usual, but when Laurelyn Prescott enters his life, his strategy must change because this player is like none he's ever encountered. His world is turned on its head after he begins a three month affair with the beautiful American musician. Nothing goes according to plan and as he breaks more and more of his own rules for her, she’s exceptionally close to becoming something he never thought possible. His ultimate game changer.

Beauty from Pain Excerpt #1 

Jack McLachlan’s POV 

I sit in the dark corner and scan the room like a starved predator searching for prey. I haven’t chosen her yet, but the woman who will share my bed for the next few months is in this room right now. 

I watch a lovely blond approach my table. “What can I bring you?” Hmm. A waitress—not at all my usual taste. 

I have a type. Attractive. Mature. Refined. This barmaid meets the attractive requirement well enough, but she’s void of refinement or maturity as displayed by her choice of apparel—a white, barely there tank top and frazzled cutoff denim shorts. She doesn’t do it for me. Plus, my last two companions were blond. I want a different flavor this time, but no redheads. I want a brunette. A beautiful one. 

I remind myself I’m not in Sydney where I have an endless variety of sophisticated women from which to choose. My choices are more limited in the small town of Wagga Wagga, but that doesn’t mean I have to settle for the first attractive woman I see. 

“I’ll have a Shiraz.” 

I’m prepared for a more prolonged relationship this time—three whole months instead of the usual three or four weeks. I’m looking forward to keeping this one around a little longer, and that’s all the more reason to be certain I make a wise choice. 

I begin my search of the club with the first table toward the front of the room. A brunette beauty sits with a group of women. I watch her for a while, but decide she’s too friendly with the woman sitting next to her. Lesbians aren’t in my repertoire. 

I spend the next hour scanning the club and come up empty-handed. I’m discouraged. No one stands out as the one and this club is by far my best bet for meeting single women in this town. Maybe I should consider coming back another time when it’s not open mic night. Tonight, the place is crawling with boozed college students. 

Tonight’s search has been a failure, but at least the karaoke was entertaining. 

I’m finishing off the last of my wine before I leave when an announcer from the club takes the stage and asks for the next singer to step forward. A small group of people across the room nominates one of its own. My view of the poor bastard is blocked by the crowd of intoxicated kids standing between us, but I’m certain this is going to be another delightful train wreck. 

The club erupts into cheer and chants. “Do. It. Do. It. Do. It.” A young woman walks onto the stage and stands with her back to the crowd as she lifts a guitar from its stand. She lifts its strap over her head and then tosses her long brown hair over one shoulder. When she’s finished settling the guitar into place, she circles around and sits on the stool in the middle of the stage. 

She’s beautiful. And somehow overlooked during my search. 

She’s wearing a short ivory dress and a denim jacket with brown cowgirl boots. She bares her thighs as she lifts her feet to rest on the bottom rail, but she’s careful to push her dress between her legs so she doesn’t provide a peep show to the crowd. 

She strums the borrowed guitar a few times and then leans into the microphone. “Is everyone having a good time tonight?” 

She’s American. I think. Her accent sounds different—not like what I’ve heard in the past. 

The crowd erupts into a drunken cheer and I hear a man’s voice yell over the crowd, “It’s better now, sweet thing!” 

She smiles and adjusts the mic. “I’m not from around here. It’s my first night in Australia.” 

“Leave with me and I’ll make you feel right at home!” a man shouts from the back of the room. 

She ignores the fat, ugly bastard yelling at her. “I don’t know what kind of music Australians like, but this has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember.” She strums a few more chords. “This is ‘Crash Into Me’ by the Dave Matthews Band.” 

She sings it slower than the original, putting her own twist on it. Her voice is raspy and sexy, her eyes closed. She oozes eroticism. She tilts her head and opens her eyes when she begins to sing the chorus. I swear it feels like she’s looking right in my direction, singing to me. “Oh, and you come craasshh … into me. And I come into … you … And I come into you … in a boy’s dream … in a boy’s dream.” 

The stage lights shine in her face and common sense tells me she can’t see me sitting in the dark corner at the back of the club, but that doesn’t stop me from hoping. 

She finishes the chorus and shuts her eyes again. Her long legs bounce against the rail of the stool to keep rhythm and I fall victim to her siren’s song. She has bewitched me. And I want her. She’s the one.

Giveaway for each blog: (1) Beauty From Pain- ebook format. Winners will be given a coupon code to redeem their book through Smashwords by the author. Open International.



About the Author: 
Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an author and hasn’t looked back yet. 

When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing. When she’s being domestic, she’s listening to her iPod and visualizing scenes for her current work in progress. Every story coming from her always has a song to inspire it. 

Author social media links: 

Beauty from Pain Excerpt #2 

Laurelyn Prescott’s POV 

I unlock the door and all but fall inside the empty apartment. Addison is out with Zac for their first postcoital date. I have no idea where Ben is, but I’m glad to be alone. I don’t want to explain why I’ve returned from a date with a man I can’t name. 

It’s still early but nothing is on television, so I change into my pajamas and go to bed. Sleep doesn’t find me easily because my mind keeps racing with thoughts of what Mr. Nameless has asked me to do. 

It’s shocking. It’s bizarre. It’s interesting. 

His proposal sounds so wrong, but it’s a fascinating idea. I’d never had a relationship where I didn’t walk away hurt. With what he’s proposing, I know how things would end. There would be no chance of a broken heart. He said it would be the best three months of my life. I’d experience new and wonderful things. He’d make my fantasies come true. 

It takes hours for me to doze off because I can’t stop thinking about the things Nameless said. But I do fall asleep, only to be awakened by Addison sneaking into our bedroom again. Does she think that Ben is stupid? He has to know what she’s doing with Zac. 

I look at the clock: 6:27 a.m. this time. She almost made it to a reasonable hour. 

She slides into bed next to me. “Tell me I’m not going to wake up to this for the next three months,” I say. 

“I make no promises. I see you’re here so the good-looking suit must not have been a serial-killing weirdo. How did it go?” 

She was dead wrong about the weirdo part. “It was a bizarre date to say the least.” 

“I’m finding out Aussie guys are different.” 

I can think of many words to describe Nameless, but none do him justice. There needs to be a new word for what he is. “Different doesn’t even begin to cover what this guy asked me to do.” 

“Ooh, that doesn’t sound good.” 

“My first thoughts were that it was crazy, but now I’m not sure. I’ve had time to think about it … and it might be sort of hot.” 

Addison sits straight up in the bed. I have her full attention. “What did he do? Ask you to give him a hand job under the table at dinner?” 

I can’t bring myself to tell her the part about how he wouldn’t tell me his name or anything personal about his life. “He asked me to date him for the next three months and then walk away without any further contact.” 

She lies back on the bed. “So, the guy isn’t into long-distant relationships? Seems pretty reasonable since you’ll be nine thousand miles away. Zac and I sort of have the same arrangement.” 

No, it’s not the same, but I can’t tell her the rest. “I guess. He told me he was rich and he would make the next three months of my life the best I’ve ever had. He said he’d make my fantasies come true.” 

“Umm, the best three months of your life and fantasies coming true? What’s holding you back?” 

“It just seems pointless to date someone when I know it’s going to end in three months.” And then there’s the whole issue of having sex with someone I don’t love. I’m not sure I can do that. 

“You’re overthinking it, Laurelyn. The guy’s rich and he promises you the best three months of your life. It’s a no-brainer.” 

I can’t believe I’m considering it. “You think I should do this?” 

“If you don’t, will you go home and wonder what you might have missed?” 

The answer is clear. “Of course I would.” 

There’s a knock at our bedroom door. “Come in,” Addison says. Ben opens it. 

“There’s a delivery in here.” 

Addison’s face lights up. “What kind of delivery?” 

“It’s flowers and a catered breakfast.” 

“Awesome!” she says, throwing back the covers. “See? I told you I knew how to play the game.” It looks like Ben is going to find out about Zac sooner than she’d planned. 

We walk into the kitchen and there’s a floral arrangement on the counter next to a basket of breakfast pastries. Addison holds a bottle of champagne in one hand and orange juice in the other. “Mimosas for breakfast. Can you believe that? And this isn’t cheap champagne. It’s expensive. Very expensive.” 

She takes the card from the blank envelope and her smile fades after she reads it. “Oh. This isn’t for me.” 

I feel a surge of hope. Could all of this be for me? From him, the man with no name? “What does the card say?” 

She holds it up. “‘You won’t regret saying yes.’ It’s signed, ‘from Lachlan.’” 

I smile, but bite my lip in a failed attempt to hide my pleasure. His name is Lachlan. 

I’m confused by this unexpected confession. He said names weren’t part of the game, so what has changed? Maybe he decided he is more interested in a normal relationship than the bizarre one he proposed last night. 

I pluck the card from Addison’s hand because I want to read it for myself. I rub my thumb over his written words. The penmanship is masculine. I’m sure he signed it personally. 

I hear a pop as Addison opens the champagne. “Laurie, this guy is jockeying hard for you, girl.” 

Ben’s arms are crossed and he looks pissed. “Come on. You just met this guy. Doesn’t this seem like a little much?” 

“I’d love it if a guy did this for me.” Addison tops up her champagne with some orange juice. “This is a guaranteed panty-dropper in my book.” 

“Addison!” 

Ben storms out of the kitchen and slams his bedroom door. “You shouldn’t have said that in front of him, and we both know why.” 

Addison reaches for a pastry. “Oh, he’ll get over it. So, what are you gonna do?” 

There’s nothing wrong with trying it. If it doesn’t feel right, I can always back out. “He asked me to meet him tonight if I wanted to discuss it further. I think I’m going to go.”

Wombstone (Vampireland, #1) by Jessica Roscoe Book Promo

Mia Blake wasn’t the first girl that was taken by the vampires.

She had heard all about the girls who were missing, and even though they were only “missing”, she knew in her heart that those girls were dead. 

She felt sad for them, sure. But more than that, she felt glad that they had been strangers – not someone she knew, and certainly not her. Things like that didn’t happen to girls like her. 

They always happened to someone else, and that’s why she barely blinked as she made her way across an empty football field, through a deserted parking lot, to meet a fate she had arrogantly assumed was reserved for other people.

She was a stupid girl.

She paid for it.
Writes Urban Fantasy / horror. Lives in Perth, WA. Loves expensive wine, gourmet coffee and all kinds of food. Currently working on a vampire novel (due May) and a mini-me (also due May). Grew up devouring Christopher Pike novels. Reads things by awesome people like Richelle Mead, Lilith St Crow and Kim Harrison .

Website:
 http://jessicaroscoe.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wombstone-A-Vampireland-novel/119054381506021

Wombstone, Book 1 in the Vampireland series, is due to be released in March 2013. Read the first chapter here.

Chapter One

This is not a story about love. There is no happy ending. There is only darkness, and the struggle to avoid being consumed by it. This is a story about survival.

I don’t really know where to start, but there must be a place. A place before the world went dark, before I learned of the horror that existed in this world. Back when I was just a girl – though that seems so long ago, I sometimes wonder if it was just a dream.

I could start at the beginning, but where is the beginning? Was it the night I was taken? Or the balmy summer I spent falling in love, the last summer that I walked under the sun without it burning my flesh?

Maybe I should start with the night innocence came to a crashing halt. The night I was taken. Yes, I will begin my story there, in a frozen parking lot with a silent scream.

I was eighteen years old the first time I died. When I was first taken, I thought that that was it for me. I waited to die, to be torn apart by sharp teeth and vicious hands.

And I did die.

I just didn’t expect to wake up afterwards.

It was the last week of semester in our final year. I had just finished a mammoth session filling out college applications with my best friend, Evie. I remember little details – the way the last few falling blossoms from the Northern Red Oaks on campus looked like drops of fire on the early snow; the way my fragile human heart hummed with excitement that school was almost over; the way everything looked clean and new blanketed in snow. Most of all, I remember the stab of worry I had felt at taking the shortcut through the deserted football field to get home.

Blair Academy was smack in the middle of Blairstown, New Jersey. A hundred and fifty-something-year-old institution that sprawled luxuriously over four hundred manicured acres. It was preppy and expensive, and I was there because my father had attended school there, and his father before him. My father was dead. My mother was a high-powered corporate attorney who spent most of her time in her New York loft apartment with my stepfather, Warren. She had never really wanted children, and thought she couldn’t have any. She had lucked out with me – although she probably didn’t see it that way – and so I had never really had much to do with her. My father was everything to me. My mom moved to New York a few months after he died. She was meant to come home every weekend after her long week at work. She never did. I didn’t really mind. I didn’t resent her for not being my mother – I had never known or expected anything more from her, and I knew she loved me despite her maternal shortcomings. After Dad died I usually split my time between living on campus during the school week and spending weekends at our house, a few miles from school.

What I loved to do more than anything else was run. I was on the track team and when I was in the middle of a run, it was like I could fly. The college scouts had been at our annual running meet, and I had just filled out my application to a handful of elite track programs.

My best friend Evie was as poor as I was wealthy. She was on a full scholarship right through high school, and she was smart. She whipped my ass in most things academic. I had always been bright, but next to her I – and the rest of the general high school population – looked like a bunch of dumbasses. Needless to say, having a best friend who was a genius made study much easier. The girl had a natural talent for teaching and mentoring. Her parents weren’t dirt poor, but they struggled, and to have Evie at a school like Blair Academy made them so happy. Really, they were like my adopted family. People always asked if we were sisters, I don’t know why. We were both short and sarcastic but she was strawberry blond to my brunette, curly to my straight and had green eyes that were nothing like my blue ones. I had skin that turned brown after a day in the sun, where she had pale alabaster skin that practically glowed.

“You ok to get back to your room?” Evie asked, jerking me out of my idle thoughts.

I stopped as I realized we were standing at Evie’s car. She shook her set of keys and looking at me expectantly.

“I’m not going to my room,” I replied.

“Going to suck face with Jared?”

“You make it sound so endearing, Evangeline,” I said petulantly. “And yes, I am going to see Jared. I will most likely suck his face at some point tonight.”

“Gross,” Evie said. “He’s like my brother. I’ve known him forever.”

“So have I,” I reminded her. “And I sure am glad he’s not my brother.” I raised my eyebrows suggestively and laughed.

Evie made a face. “Get out of here before I throw up on you.”

I exchanged goodbyes with Evie and made a beeline for my own car. Teachers and day students got to park right at the entrance of Blair but most live-in students had to trek almost a mile to the regular boarding school parking slots. Sighing, I hoisted my bag higher on my shoulder and walked past a crown Victoria, a Bentley and a Ferrari before reaching the average-looking old clunkers in the student parking lot.

As soon as my feet touched the snow-covered oval, all thoughts of trigonometry and English lit dissolved. A jolt of adrenaline hit my stomach as I thought about finals, about Jared, about my eighteenth birthday in a few weeks. Everything was going so good.

Trudging through the silence, I began mentally making lists for an end-of-finals party at my perpetually parent-free house. Keg. Food. Decorations. New clothes. So, naturally, I wasn’t even looking where I was walking when the vampire stepped out from behind a shiny black truck. He was so close I almost tripped over him. I jerked back to reality, cursing myself for being so inattentive.

He was wearing jeans and a black sweater, and looked kind of like a thirty-something soccer dad with chocolate brown eyes, a hint of European heritage in his olive skin – Italian, maybe? – and black hair cut tight to his skull. He was the furthest thing from threatening I’d ever seen – during the day in a crowd I’d let my eyes linger on that handsome face – but at midnight in New Jersey, anything was possible, and all too often it was the threat of violence stepping out from behind a car. I averted my eyes and veered to the left, quickening my pace. My thoughts instantly shifted from beer and clothes shopping to serial killers and the can of bear spray in my handbag.

Pulse quickening, I passed hot dude and kept walking towards my car. It’s cool, he’s probably just a new teacher in the wrong lot. And then he spoke.

“Mia!” He called after me. I froze for a moment, then began to walk again. Faster, pushing my stride wider. Just get to the car.

He laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle that sounded like caramel and in any other situation would make me melt. Instead, it made me shudder inwardly, adrenaline spiking into my muscles.

“Sorry, gotta run!” I mumbled awkwardly, almost at my car.

“Mia Blake, don’t you remember me?” He padded casually after me, the timid mouse. “Ryan. We were in Bailey’s drama class together last semester.”

Bailey was a washed-up ballerina who liked to yell at her students. Of course I knew her, but I definitely didn’t know Ryan. He looked kind of old to be a student – not to mention,way too hot for me to forget.

I turned to face him, but kept walking backwards towards my car. The Honda Element sat less than twenty feet away.

“Oh, sure” I lied. “Bailey sucks.”

Ten feet to my driver’s door. I’m probably just being stupid, I thought, an unfortunate side effect of growing up two hours from New York. We might have been in a nice suburb, but even so – nice people generally didn’t loiter in parking lots and teenage girls rarely walked to their cars alone. Blairstown was a place where everyone was still on alert after 9/11, even me, and I’d only been eleven when the towers had fallen. Three girls had already gone missing from high school parking lots in New Jersey that year.

I am such an idiot. I should have gotten a ride with Evie.

Five feet. Walking backwards was harder than it looked, and my silver ballerina flats were getting ruined in the damp snow. Not that I cared about my stupid shoes.

“Well, gotta go.” I slid my key into the door of my car and unlocked it with a satisfying thunk.

“That’s not a bad idea,” he said, stepping so close, so fast, that I jerked back in fright. I heard the click of a car door opening nearby, and two more guys started to walk towards us.

I pulled the can of bear spray out of my handbag, the safety switch already off. He grabbed my wrist faster than I could push the nozzle down to spray a load of mace into his face, and squeezed so hard I could feel bone crunching on itself. I gasped and let go of the can. It bounced on the asphalt and rolled underneath a blue Camry a couple of cars away from us.

“Somebody help me!” I yelled, kneeing him in the groin.

He barely reacted. That figures, I thought to myself. No balls.

“Let go of me!” I demanded. “Help!”

“Stop struggling and be quiet,” he said calmly, his grip like an iron vice on both my wrists. He smiled, showing straight white teeth and matching dimples.

I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as I could, then fell hard against the car behind me as a fist slammed into my face. I saw stars and choked, warm blood dribbling from my nose.

Great, he probably broke my nose.

I looked up to see the taller of the two offsiders pointing a gun at my face. “No more noise,” he ordered in a thick South American accent.

With my eyes half shut, I gestured to my handbag. “Take it,” I said numbly, not feeling anything but utter shock at the turn of events in my otherwise normal night. “Here, take my grandmother’s ring. It’s worth at least-”

“Mia.” He cut in. “Honey, I don’t want your ring, or your Canal street knock-off.”

My heart dropped at what that could mean, and bile rushed up in my throat. Before I could swallow it back, I threw up all over his expensive-looking black loafers. I bet nobody had ever done that to him before.

“Goddamn it!” He swore, looking at the mess I had made. “Ford, get a towel or something.”

The shorter of the two guys – the one not pointing a gun at me – scurried towards a black van.

I stared in shock as he jogged back to us with a pink rag covered in oil, knelt down, and started wiping Ryan’s shoes.

“It’s not a knock-off,” I protested.

Nobody said anything.

“My boyfriend is going to kick the shit out of you.” Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“Boss, we need to get going,” the dude with the gun urged.

Ryan nodded, kicking “Ford’s” hurried hands away from his feet. “Dose her!” he barked, and something sharp stabbed into my forearm. My mouth formed a horrified ‘O’ as I saw the taller guy pressing the plunger down on a syringe that was already deep in my skin. He’d moved so fast, I hadn’t even had time to scream.

How did he do that so fast? “What-wha-” I spluttered through a mouth full of cotton wool.

A thousand thoughts ran through my addled mind, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t yell out. Couldn’t even close my stupid mouth. I was literally frozen.

They are going to rape me and kill me and I am going to die.

They are going to bury me in the woods under the snow and nobody will ever know what happened to me.

Or maybe they’ll keep me alive in an underground basement.

Or maybe they want my kidneys.

I am so screwed.

And one terrified thought rose above the rest.

I don’t want to die.

The stuff stung as it made its way into my bloodstream, but the pain was short-lived. I didn’t even have time to collect my gaping jaw from the pavement and close my mouth before blackness descended over my vision and I crumpled like a rag doll. Rough hands carried me through the night air, and I landed somewhere that smelled like oil and cigarettes.

The last thought I could form before the darkness closed in was I should have run when I had the chance.

Cover Reveal: Found (The Crescent Chronicles, #3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy‏

Title: Found (The Crescent Chronicles, # 3) 
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy 
Expected release date: Summer 2013 
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Age Group: New Adult 

Cover Designer: Once Upon a Time Covers http://www.onceuponatimecovers.com/

Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours 

Goodreads: 

Book Description: 
Levi might be hot, strong, and have a cool set of wings, but it's not enough to make up for keeping Allie in the dark. 

Allie's tired of being left with more questions than answers. She's tired of loving a guy who refuses to level with her. Most of all, she's tired of her life spinning out of control. Desperate to save Jess no matter the personal cost, Allie has to face the possibility that the only one she can trust is herself.
About the Author: 
Alyssa Rose Ivy is a Young Adult and New Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

FMB Presents Thunder by Taryn Kincaid Blog Tour Stop

Title: Thunder
Series: Sleepy Hollow #2 | 1Night Stand
Author: Taryn Kincaid
Genre: Paranormal, erotic romance, urban fantasy
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Format: Ebook
Pages: 36

Purchase: Decadent Publishing | Amazon

Book Description:
Lonely young witch, Veronica Hardwicke, has struggled to get on with her life after the death of the elderly husband who’d left her a fortune and a sprawling estate in mystical Sleepy Hollow. When frightening things go bump in the night on a stormy Fourth of July, who better to call than the sexy developer and contractor, Sean Jones, who's been renovating her mansion for months?

Sean may grace the tabloid pages with a different supermodel on his arm every night, but it's Veronica who drives him nuts. Ignoring his instinct to stay away, he answers her summons.

Will the thundering passion of their 1Night Stand tear down the barriers between them?

Excerpt:
Veronica paced back and forth in the grand entry foyer of the Belmont mansion, the kitten heels of her Prada mules clacking on the marble floors.

The rest of the place might not be finished, but she’d insisted on having a few rooms completed, so at least she felt like she was living in a home, rather than a massive, never-ending construction project. Well, her contractor had insisted, even though working around the main entrance and central hallway created more work for him and his crew. But she was forced to admit he was right.

Her cell phone chimed on top of the antique credenza shoved flush against one wall. She leaped for it. Probably Geneviève, to regale her with all the fun she was having inParis. Or Sean, to advise her he couldn’t make it after all. She sighed and read the text message on the small screen.

Congratulations, Veronica. 1Night Stand has found your date. Have a good time.

With both anxiety and mounting excitement, she stared at the screen and waited. No other info. Outside in the night, thunder boomed. She jumped then laughed at herself.

Ghosts are one thing, but freaking out at the weather now? Cripes, you really do need this date!

She let her imagination run wild, then texted back for more details:

When? Where? Who?

An insistent pounding at the front door jarred her out of her fantasy. She swung the door open on another explosive crack of thunder.

Sean stood on her doorstep, his soaked T-shirt molding sculpted pecs and abs, his drenched hair flattened over his brow. Rain poured down as he fiddled with his iPhone, a bemused expression on his face. Behind him, jagged arrows of lightning tore the dark sky. He glared at the screen, glanced at her in confusion, then back at the screen.

Veronica’s own phone pinged again. Thunder roared. She read the message in disbelief.

You’re looking at him.

About the Author:
TARYN KINCAID is a multi-published author of sensual romance. Her 1Night Stand series stories, LIGHTNING and THUNDER are available from Decadent Publishing and wherever eBooks are sold. Her Regency romance, HEALING HEARTS, for Carina Press; her erotic paranormal, SLEEPY HOLLOW DREAMS, for The Wild Rose Press, are also available wherever eBooks are sold.

Website | Blog | Twitter: @TarynKincaid | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Amazon Author Page |

Link to full tour schedule: 

Giveaway: 1 Ebook copy of Lightning or Thrunder by Taryn Kincaid + swag

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Xpresso Presents The Voice by Jennifer Anne Davis Book Blitz

The Voice by Jennifer Anne Davi - YA Contemporary novel - Publication date: January 29th, 2013
During her abduction and assault, Audrey begins to hear a voice. She hopes she’s not going crazy, because after what she’s experienced, that’s the most logical explanation. However, as she begins to listen to the voice, Audrey realizes that someone may be telepathically trying to help her.

Unfortunately, rescue isn’t all she needs. In order to leave behind the constant reminders, she flees to her Aunt Kate’s house in San Diego, and assumes a new identity. It works—until the eighteen-year-old twin boys who live next door threaten to break through the protective walls she’s worked so hard to build.

Between Caleb going out of his way to befriend her and Justin avoiding her at all costs, Audrey doesn’t know if normalcy will ever find her again. But one thing is certain: When a familiar danger resurfaces, it’s the same voice that she turns to—a voice that is not only real, but a lot closer than she realizes.

Gripping and tastefully told, The Voice is a story of healing, trust, and courage. 

The Voice 
Jennifer Anne Davis 
Copyright 2013 

Chapter 1 
Lying in the dark cabin, I tried not to think about the foul smell of body odor mixed with the stench of urine. I tried not to think about how hungry I was, or when I would eat again. About the plastic zip ties cutting into my wrists, or the spider crawling up my arm. I kept trying and failing. There was nothing to do but think. 

Audrey? he spoke in my mind. 

“Here,” I replied, still not understanding who or what the voice was, hoping I wasn’t going crazy. Though, after what I had been through, crazy wasn’t too far off. Instead, I focused on what the voice was saying. After weeks of being stuck here, he was the only thing keeping me grounded and giving me hope. 

I need you to do something for me. 

He sounded drained. “Are you okay?” I asked. 

Scream. 

“What?” 

I need you to scream as loud as you can. Now, Audrey! Scream! 

Bill had left the cabin only five minutes earlier, and I was afraid to make any noise. What if he was still outside and heard me? Would he come back in? I was so sore and bruised that I couldn’t handle anymore. 

Scream! he urged. 

Finally trusting the voice, I sucked in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and screamed as loud as I could. At first I sounded like a cat that was being strangled, the sound barely audible and grating on my ears. But I kept trying, and the noise transformed into something loud and fierce. 

Yell the word “help.” 

“HELP!” My throat was raw, but that didn’t stop me. I took all of my hurt and anger, and used those emotions for the energy needed to sustain the scream. 

Then a thumping came from the other room—maybe the front door. My body shuddered. Shimmying to the edge of the mattress, I tried to stand, but my legs gave out, and I fell to the rough, wooden floor, landing on my knees. With bound hands, I inched my way to the corner of the room, as far away from the door as possible. 

Keep screaming! 

I wanted to curl into a ball and disappear, but I did what the voice said and let out a shrill, loud cry for help. The sound bounced off the walls, echoing. 

Wood shattered in the other room. I kept yelling, wishing that I had the power to destroy Bill with my scream. 

The doorknob twisted. Please don’t hurt me again . . . please don’t touch me . . . no more, please. No more. 

The door exploded open. Instead of Bill, there stood three hunters dressed in camouflage and bright orange vests. One held a shotgun, and another held an axe. I froze in horror. The men looked at one another and then back at me. 

Audrey, tell them who you are. Your name. 

“I’m Audrey Marshall. Please help me.” 

“The kidnapped girl?” the older guy on the right asked. I nodded. “I’m calling 9-1-1. You’re going to be all right now,” he said reassuringly, his cell phone already at his ear. 

“Thank you,” I whispered to the voice. But he didn’t respond.

Book trailer:

Goodreads:

Interview with Jennifer Anne Davis 

*Every author has their story about their road to publication. How was your road? 

Long! I wrote a book and tried to get it published with little success. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing or even what genre I was writing. Then I entered an essay contest and won! My essay was published in a book and this fueled my desire to keep on writing. I realized then that I love to read young adult novels and decided to write the book I wanted to read. I outlined THE VOICE, wrote it in four months, revised it for almost a year, then sent it out to agents and publishers. I had several people interested in the story. I ended up going with a small publishing house that specializes in YA books and I couldn’t be happier! 

*How did you come up with the idea for THE VOICE? 

I kept having a reoccurring dream involving a girl that was locked in a cabin. At first I planned to have her guardian angel rescue her but then I realized that there were too many stories involving angels at the time. I liked the idea of telepathy, so I just kept playing around with the story until I had something that worked. 

*How does it feel like being a debut author? 

It’s an odd mixture of pure joy and complete and utter fear. I am so excited that my dream of becoming a published author is here! When I saw the advanced reader copy of my book with my picture and name on it, I cried! It was so surreal. But the thought of people reading and judging my work is hard. I really hope people enjoy the story. I’m trying to grow thick skin because I know not everyone will love it, and that’s okay (at least that’s what I keep telling myself). I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about its release day!!
AUTHOR BIO
Jennifer Anne Davis Jennifer graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in English and a teaching credential. Afterwards, she married her high school sweetheart, worked as a legal assistant, and taught high school English. Jennifer is currently a full-time writer and mother of three young children. Her days are spent living in imaginary worlds and fueling her own kids’ creativity.

The Voice is her first novel.

Visit Jennifer online at www.JenniferAnneDavis.com

Author Links:

Monday, January 28, 2013

FMB Blog Tours Presents Her Guardian Lover by Carrie Pulkinen

Title: Her Guardian Lover 
Author: Carrie Pulkinen 
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Publisher: Breathless Press 
Format: Ebook 
Length: 73,372 words 


Book Description: 
Guarding April is a hard day's work. But opening his heart to love her could be the end of life as he knows it. 

April May Carter, a twenty-nine-year-old small town high school teacher, dreams of finding a man to whisk her away from the Hicksville she's stuck in. She wants it all—the husband, the house, the kids, the car. But her dreams of living the perfect life are shattered during a school shooting. 

Damian is supposed to keep April safe. He's an angel, but you wouldn't guess that judging from his attitude. A tragic event in his past has left him so bitter and resentful that he won't let anyone get close. But the moment, Damian sees April, he's blindsided by the beauty. She awakens a part of his soul he thought had long ago burned out. 

April should hate him, but she sees through his abrasive exterior and finds the compassionate, loving man beneath. Can Damian let go of his past, accept his responsibilities, and let her love him? Or will he spend the rest of his existence alone and miserable?

My Review

5 of 5 Her Guardian Lover

Wow this is the first book I have read by Carrie Pulkinen and it will not be the last. This story captivated me right from the start. First I love stories with angels in them and secondly I love a story where there is a tortured soul that is looking for redemption and finds it. What do you do when your heart is broken and you are left with nothing but heart ache? What do you do when you have experienced a school shooting and are afraid because your life flashes before you? 

April is a high school teacher who loves her job. She has this dream that she will get married, have kids, and have a great house and car and live the American Dream but that all changes one day when there is a school shooting and her perception on life changes. April is rocked to her core when the shooting occurs and wonders if things will ever be the same. 

What she does not realize is that her fellow teacher Damian is her guardian angel and he is there to protect her. Only problem is once Damian gets a really good look at April his hardness and walls he has built up around him start to crumble because she makes him feel something he has not felt in a long time. He wants her and not in the guardian way. He wants to give her all her hopes and dreams but is it to late for him and her? Will April love him the way he loves her?

This is a must read story! I can't tell you how much I loved it. Once I started reading it I could not put it down I had to keepo reading it till the end.
About the Author: 

Carrie Pulkinen has always been fascinated with the paranormal. Of course, when you grow up next door to a cemetery, the dead (and the undead) are hard to ignore. Pair that with her passion for writing and her father's insatiable love for monster movies, and you've got the perfect recipe for an exciting storyteller. 

Carrie spent the first part of her professional life as a high school journalism and yearbook teacher. Now she's able to channel her love of the English language into stories of amazing sex with devilishly handsome men. In her free time, Carrie likes to read, take pictures, and play with her kids. She invites you to contact her at carrie.pulkinen@hotmail.com, or visit her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarriePulkinen


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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Human No Longer by Kathryn Meyer Griffith Book Promo

Blurb of Human No Longer 

…a vampire novel of approx. 90,000 words by Kathryn Meyer Griffith 

Blurb of Human No Longer by Kathryn Meyer Griffith 

Blurb: 

Jenny and Jeff Sanders on a summer night become the victims of a bizarre crime, leaving Jeff dead and Jenny in a coma. Their attackers aren’t caught. 

She returns to her children and her life. With Jeff’s death his business and their income are also gone. Jenny, a novelist, hasn’t written a book in years, so she must move back to her childhood home in Summer Haven, Florida, where years before she and Jeff destroyed a sadistic family of vampires. 

At least her brother, Joey, who owns a local diner, is there to help. 

But Jenny has no appetite. She’s edgy. Her eyes hurt. Could be trauma from the attack. Grief. Until one night, after they’ve moved into the rundown family farmhouse, she can’t resist the night woods and going out to drink animals’ blood. 

Gradually she accepts the truth. Her attackers were vampires. Now she’s becoming what she once hunted and fears she must either kill herself or run. She can’t abandon her children, but promises never to drink human blood; to find a way to live in the human world. It’s not easy. They renovate the farmhouse, which local gossip says is haunted. At night she hunts, and hides what she’s becoming from everyone. She fights to be a good mother and not let the bloodlust overpower her. Gets a job and attempts to fit in. 

People, bodies emptied of blood, begin dying. Like years before. With her blackouts, she fears she may be the killer and confides in Joey. While a detective, investigating her husband’s and his daughter’s murders, complicates things. 

Jenny suspects it’s her attackers doing the slayings. They’ve found her and demand she join them–or her family will die. When she resists, her children are taken; to save them, she becomes part of the vampires’ killing spree. Becoming a monster like them…until she finds a way to outwit and ultimately destroy them. 

In the end it takes supernatural intervention, a ghost, and the help of a childhood friend to set her, and the world, free from the vampires once and for all. ***

Human No Longer Backstory 
By Kathryn Meyer Griffith 

Amazon Kindle address: http://www.amazon.com/Human-No-Longer-ebook/dp/B00AU50VD6/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356736168&sr=1-9&keywords=Kathryn+Meyer+Griffith 

Human No Longer. It’s my 17th published book – yeah! – and my fourth vampire novel. First, let me tell you where I got the idea for it. About five years ago, I was still trying to please the agent (who I no longer have) who’d sold four of my earlier paperback novels to Zebra in the 1990’s and, because she didn’t seem to like any of my new potential concepts, I asked her what she would like to see. Out of nowhere, she said, “You know your 1991 Zebra vampire novel, Vampire Blood? I liked that one a lot. The characters. Well, how about writing me a sort of sequel with basically the same cast, but with this premise: A woman, a mother, after being turned into a bloodthirsty vampire, must learn to adapt to the human world and still be a good mother. You know, how would she deal with everything when she had children she loved; didn’t want to hurt or leave them…but still had the need to feed on blood? Still had all the urges and desires of a vampire? 

Yikes. I hated the idea but, to please her, I went ahead and begrudgingly wrote the book. I tentatively called it The Vampire’s Children or The Vampire Mother or something like that. I finished it. Not too happy with it. I had never liked writing what other people wanted me to write. Stubborn, I guess. 

My agent, in the meantime, had begun her own online erotic (which I don’t much care to write) publishing company and when I’d gotten done with the novel she was too busy to even read the finished book. She handed it off to an apprentice intern. An intern? What? Who didn’t like it at all. Duh. So, disgusted, I tucked the file away on my computer and, fed up with the whole agent thing, returned to writing what I wanted to write. An end of days novel called A Time of Demons and a new vampire novel where the evil vampire wasn’t a mother. In 2010 I went with a new publisher, Kim Richards at Damnation Books/Eternal Press, and she contracted not only those two books but asked me if I’d like to rewrite, update and rerelease all 7 of my older out-of-print Leisure and Zebra paperbacks going back to 1984. Heck yes, I said! So for the next 2 years I was busy doing that. Some of those books were over twenty-five years old and very outdated. Their rewriting, editing and rereleasing took a lot of work and time. 

Then, in late 2012, I decided to take a very old book of mine (Predator) which was contracted to Zebra Paperbacks in 1993 but, in the end, never actually released, and just for the heck of it, as my 16th novel, self-publish it to Amazon Kindle Direct. Just in ebook form. A kind of grand experiment. The first time I’ve ever tried self-publishing. See how it’d sell. Dinosaur Lake. A story about a hungry mutant dinosaur loose in the waters of Crater Lake that goes on a rampage. Hey, I wrote Dinosaur Lake before Jurassic Park, the book, ever came out! Really. I had my cover artist, Dawne Dominique make a cover for it…and it was stunning with a dinosaur roaring on the front. And I did everything else myself. Editing. Proofing. Formatting. With forty years and endless publishers behind me I felt I was capable. And it’d been selling so well I decided to self-publish another one…and I remembered the mother/vampire book. Hmmm. So I revamped (ha, ha, inside joke), polished, and self-published it, as well. I retitled it Human No Longer. Got my fabulous cover artist, Dawne Dominique, to make me a lovely haunting cover with a troubled-looking woman standing outside a spooky house, with two children behind her in its shadows, on the front and voila! All in all, I don’t think the book turned out half bad. In fact, with the changes I made I think it’s not bad at all. Now I just hope my readers will like it. 

So that’s the story of Human No Longer. My 17th published novel.*** 

***************************************************************************

EXCERPT 2 of Human No Longer by Kathryn Meyer Griffith: 

Shutting her eyes, she lingered at the door and listened to the night animals beyond the glass. They were frolicking out there in the autumn murkiness among the crispy leaves and cool dirt covered ground. Little creatures, with nocturne eyes and speedy feet, full of hot blood. 

The mother in her fretted over leaving her children alone in the house but the hunger overpowered the mother and she snuck outside into the darkness. 

She told herself they’d be fine. She’d be back shortly. That she should reward herself for her self-restraint all day. She hadn’t attacked one living person. Hadn’t gone crazy or hung from the rafters by her feet. She’d done well. 

She told herself that killing innocent little animals wasn’t all that creepy, wasn’t all that bad, considering the alternative. It didn’t work. She loved animals and hated having to kill them at all for any reason. Or had. But, she had to keep reminding herself, animals died every minute of the day to fill humans’ stomachs. Right? Was what she did any worse than that? All she wanted was their blood. It was her food. 

She felt guilty only until she captured the large fox, humanely snapped its neck to drink the blood (which tasted better than anything she’d ever drank or eaten) and then was too exhilarated to think of anything but further feeding her hunger; not even that she could run faster than she ever had, could see like an owl through the darkness, smell her prey miles away and that her teeth were changing. When she stuck her finger into her mouth she could feel the points. Oh, great. Little fangs. Oh, Lord, could this get any weirder? She thought about those horror movies she’d seen over the years where some unlucky human had been bitten and was slowly turning into god-knows-what and couldn’t believe or accept it. Was in shock. Now she knew exactly how they’d felt. 

Though, in the end, she did feel regret for killing the poor fox and the one the night before. But, yes, it was better than feeding off homo sapiens. Damn straight it was. 

After ingesting the blood she felt as if there was nothing she couldn’t deal with. No problem she couldn’t solve, no disaster she couldn’t avert. She was superwoman. 

This wasn’t so bad, was it? It’d occurred to her perhaps if a good person became a vampire that might be the key. Good person equals good vampire? Bad person equals bad vampire? She could only pray that was the case. Oh, it could be worse. She could lust after human blood and not be able to resist. Now that would be a deal breaker. 

She absorbed the night poised beside a towering tree, its limbs shifting in the wind; inhaled the dizzying perfumes of the forest. Her lips on the verge of smiling. She felt better than she had since she’d come out of the coma weeks ago. 

Her new world revolved around her in slow motion. The night birds cooed in their nests. The air danced among the dying leaves. Insects skittered between limbs and under bushes. On the breeze there were aromatic wisps of brewing coffee and chocolate (cake she thought), fresh baking bread and as always now, blood. Animal blood in the small bustling creatures hiding out all around her and in the distance the cloying scent of human blood. Her children asleep in their beds. Amazing. 

God, the night was beautiful. 

That’s when she saw the pale figure hiding between the trees to her left. A tall man dressed in drab clothes watched her. 

She merged deeper into the woods among the thicker underbrush but when she looked back, he was still on the fringe observing. 

Waves of uneasiness rippled through her and the vertigo was unbalancing. This man stalking her wasn’t her friend. This man was dangerous. If he was a man. 

She ran all the way home at a speed she never would have imagined a human capable of. More like flying really. Her feet barely touched the ground, her night eyes so keen she never once collided with a tree or stumbled over a rock. 

Within seconds she was inside the farmhouse peeking out the windows; the mysterious stranger nowhere in sight. Thank God.***

About Kathryn Meyer Griffith... 

Since childhood I’ve always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. I began writing novels at 21, over forty years ago now, and have had seventeen (ten romantic horror, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and two murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press and Amazon Kindle Direct. 

I’ve been married to Russell for almost thirty-five years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha, live cats Cleo and Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes. 

Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith: 

Evil Stalks the Night (Leisure, 1984; Damnation Books, 2012) 

The Heart of the Rose (Leisure, 1985; Eternal Press Author’s Revised Edition 2010) 

Blood Forge (Leisure, 1989; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2012) 

Vampire Blood (Zebra, 1991; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011) 

The Last Vampire (Zebra, 1992; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition 2010) You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZU77j_q4S8

Witches (Zebra, 1993; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition 2011) 

The Nameless One (short story in 1993 Zebra Anthology Dark Seductions; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011) 

The Calling (Zebra, 1994; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011) 

Scraps of Paper (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2003…soon to be an Amazon Kindle Direct ebook) 

All Things Slip Away (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2006; Amazon Kindle Direct paperback & ebook 2012) 

Egyptian Heart (The Wild Rose Press, 2007; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011) My self-made 


Winter’s Journey (The Wild Rose Press, 2008; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011) You Tube Book Trailer address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYCs2DVhHg

The Ice Bridge (The Wild Rose Press, 2008; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011) You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HZqu-my1g

Don’t Look Back, Agnes novella & bonus short story: In This House (2008; ghostly romantic short story out; Eternal Press 2012) You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3q9rZryFMo

BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons (Damnation Books 2010) You Tube self-made Book trailer with original song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0-U9c2Lwfo

The Woman in Crimson (Damnation Books 2010) You Tube Book Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRBvDI5G4Y

The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Fiction: Volume 1 (I did the Introduction) 

Dinosaur Lake (from Amazon Kindle Direct 2012) 

4 Spooky Short Stories (Amazon Kindle 2012) 

Telling Tales of Terror(I did the chapter on the Putting the Occult into your Fiction) 

Human No Longer (Amazon Kindle 2012) 

My Websites: 

(to see all my book trailers with original music by my singer/songwriter brother JS Meyer)