Book Blitz: Unearth

Unearth
Tricia Barr
(The Bound Ones, #3)
Publication date: December 1st 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Our heroes erased themselves from the Four Corners’ histories and thought they were finally free…until Lily burst their bubble and told them they have to get involved with the cult one last time to stop them from unleashing a great evil buried thousands of years ago. But they fail, and the fifth Bound One is released, fulfilling his vengeful dreams formed over his long imprisonment. Phoenyx and her friends band together for one last fight, and one of them will pay the ultimate price.

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EXCERPT:

Unable to tolerate his intrusion on her personal space any longer, she grabbed his wrist and pushed her will into him.
“Where is Ayanna?” she demanded with all the authority she could instill.
Joran closed his eyes and moaned. “Oh, now doesn’t that feel amazing! I am going to have so much fun with you.”
In one swift motion, he twisted his arm out of her grasp and grabbed both her wrists, holding them against the wall on either side of her head. And then something happened. Lust unlike anything she’d ever experienced seeped into her forearms and spread like venom through her veins, burning her to her core with desire.
“Kiss me,” Joran whispered.
A small voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her to fight, but every other part of her, body and mind, wanted nothing more than to obey him. She did as he asked, pressing her lips against his. When he pushed his hot tongue into her mouth, she opened it to welcome him, allowing him full access to whatever he wanted. Joran, she swooned inwardly.
His hands roamed across her body, pressing and grabbing. Her body responded heatedly to his touch, but something in her mind told her this was so very wrong. Shut up, voice, she said internally, swatting away those pesky thoughts that tried to keep her from enjoying this.
Joran broke the kiss and smiled down at her triumphantly. “Oh yes, we will have so much fun. I love having access to your powers. Ayanna might be my queen, but you will be a delightful toy.”
“Yes, I’m your toy,” she said mindlessly, desperate to please him.
“What the hell!” another familiar voice shouted from the doorway.
Irritated at the interruption, Phoenyx rolled her lusty eyes in that direction. When she saw Sebastian standing there, fuming with territorial rage, the spell she’d been under lifted. The pleasure she had taken in Joran’s large body pressed against hers now turned into disgust and violation, and she used all the physical strength she could muster to shove him away from her.
Joran seemed unphased by her rejection, smiling smugly at Sebastian.
“Ah, Water, welcome to the party,” Joran said. “I was just about to enjoy your mate. Would you like to join us?”
“Don’t you dare touch her,” Sebastian threatened in a dangerously low voice.
“Or what? You’ll splash some water at me?” Joran taunted.
Scared for Sebastian’s safety, Phoenyx pushed off from the wall and darted for him. When she reached him, the two of them fought to put themselves protectively in front of the other as they stared at Joran.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” Joran said. “But pointless. I have not come here to hurt you, my Bound Ones. I have merely come to extend an invitation. I am hosting a coronation ball tonight at Bodiam Castle to celebrate my return to the world, and I would like the four of you to attend. I know you are not yet ready to swear fealty to me, but I trust that in time, you will come to your senses. Consider this ball a temporary cease-fire.”
“Why should we come?” Sebastian snarled, wrapping Pheonyx in a possessive embrace.
“Because you want to see Ayanna,” Joran replied.
“What have you done with her?” Phoenyx barked, hating the taste of him that filled her mouth.
“If you want to know what has become of your friend, you will just have to come and see for yourselves,” Joran shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll recognize her, or is it that she won’t recognize you?”
He laughed sadistically and walked toward the door.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said, slapping a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder fraternally as he passed and went out the door.
The two of them watched him as he went around the corner and the sound of his footsteps disappeared from earshot down the stairs. Now they were alone, and they were still hugging each other for dear life.
Phoenyx met Sebastian’s gaze, his blue eyes a storm of turmoil and conflict.
“I’m so sorry, Sebastian,” she pleaded, all the strength she had seconds again melting under Sebastian’s eyes. “He used my own compulsion against me. I had no choice—”
“I know,” he said, his expression stony, his jaw clenched. “I know.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her in a way that attempted to mark her as his. Then he rested his forehead on hers. “I hate him. He can take you away from me any time he wants.”
“No, he can’t,” she said, shaking her head fervently. “He can take my soul, and he can control my mind and body, but he can never take my heart, because you already have it. I will always be yours.”
“I love you,” he said.
Now it was her turn to mark him as hers. She kissed him just as hard, no tongue, no passion, just pure possession.

Author Bio:
Tricia Barr is a Professional Engineer and award-winning author. Her novel WYNDE earned a Gold Medal in the 2014 Independent Publisher Awards for Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror e-Book. She co-authored DK Publishing’s ULTIMATE STAR WARS (2015), which compiled all canon material moving forward prior to the release of “The Force Awakens.,” followed by the new STAR WARS: THE VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA (2017), which includes content from “Rogue One.” An expert on storytelling, Barr pens a regular series on the Hero’s Journey for the print publication Star Wars Insider magazine. She founded the respected website FANgirl Blog, and her writing can be found on a variety of websites, including Lucasfilm’s StarWars.com, and PopSugar, and Random House’s SUVUDU. She provided editorial services on Del Rey’s STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL READER’S COMPANION (2012).
Tricia Barr is an accomplished podcaster, co-hosting the popular Star Wars podcasts Fangirls Going Rogue and Hyperspace Theories. In her spare time, she competes as an amateur equestrian, earning top ten spots three times in national finals.

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GIVEAWAY!
In honor of the December 1st release of Unearth, book 3 in the Bound Ones Series, author Tricia Barr is hosting a big giveaway where everybody wins! Enter for a chance to win a signed paperback copy of Unearth. You can enter by voting for Ignite, book 1 of the series, for the Reader’s Choice Award. Everyone who votes will get an ebook copy of Ignite. You can increase your chances of winning the grand prize by sharing this giveaway with your friends on social media. Help Ignite become the RCA winner!

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Book Blitz : Enchant

Enchant
Micalea Smeltzer
(The Enchanted Series #1)
Publication date: November 17th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Mara Pryce never imagined that her life was anything but normal and then a strange gray-eyed young man appears at her graduation. When he vanishes without a trace, she’s convinced he’s a figment of her imagination. Then he appears again and shatters her whole world.
Mara is an enchanter, part of an ancient line of Wiccan power, and a war is raging—one of good and evil—between the Enchanted and the Iniquitous.
The Iniquitous want her dead and it’s Theodore’s job as her protector to keep her safe.
When Mara and Theodore arrive at a safe house, where Mara will remain hidden while learning about her powers, they find that the real threat might be a little closer to home than they want to believe.

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Author Bio:
Hi. I’m Micalea. Ma-call-e-uh. Weird name, I know. My mom must’ve known I was going to be odd even in the womb. I’ve written a lot of books. Like a lot. Don’t ask me how many, I don’t remember at this point. I have an unhealthy addiction to Diet Coke but I can’t seem to break the habit. I listen to way too much music and hedgehogs have taken over my life. Crazy is the word that best sums up my life, but it’s the good kind of crazy and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

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Cove reveal: Warning Call

Warning Call
Danny Bell
(The Black Pages, #2)
Publication date: December 21st 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Elana Black. Saving the day even if she has to tear a hole in the universe to do it.
An unbeatable mythological horror has its sights set on Elana, and that’s not the worst of her problems. Gods want to use her, shadowy agents want to eliminate her, and a powerful sorcerer wants to kill her; all as she rushes to stop an event which portends the death of her best friend, Olivia. It’s all catching up with her, and just in time for Christmas. Elana is going to have to figure out how all of it is connected but she’s in over her head, outnumbered, and running out of time.
And she always thought magic would make her life easier.

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Author Bio:
My name is Danny Bell. I want to tell stories and avoid writing author profiles. I read—when I should be interacting with people, I named my cat after a cat I liked in a book, I’m pretty sure I saw a ghost one time—though I’ll never admit it publicly, I’m too tall for the earth, and I’ve never eaten a vegetable. I lied about the vegetable part. Wait… is someone going to read this?

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Spotlight on Risen by Roxanne Heath

Spotlight on:

 Risen

Synopsis:

Ragnarok – the cyclical occurrence resulting in the slaughter and resurgence of the universe – is once more coming to pass, taking with it the best warriors that can be offered up to the jaws of Fenrir and his monstrous kin. When three of the best and most burnt-out warriors decide that dishonor is their only hope of permanently escaping the cycle, they abdicate their home world and make the jump to Earth. Taking refuge in unsuspecting members of a fragmented family they find that, while the fallen soldiers of their home are returning to fight in the battle, Earth’s deceased are mistakenly doing the same. The dead are rising, and their only call is to destruction.

Excerpt:

At that moment the three of them hear a snapping twig and the low sounds of someone or something shuffling through uncut grass. When they hear the wet snarl that accompanies it the three of them wheel around to see several creatures stalking out of the trees, their gait awkward and their eyes blazing yellow.

Ása is the first to her feet, reaching for the staff she’d propped against the log. She takes a firm hold on the canvas-bound grips at either end and begins to rotate them in opposite directions, feeling the internal mechanism engage. Under pressure of her grip the blades swiftly begin to protrude from inside the hollow, thick-walled staff. As the rotational abilities of Ása’s wrists come to an end the blades lock into place, a gleaming fourteen inches of sharp, oiled metal protruding from each end of the weapon. She takes several wide steps towards her enemies, giving her ample room for offensive maneuvers. Behind her and to either side she hears Ari and Egill draw their weapons, and she need not look to see where they’ve positioned themselves. She knows their tactics as well as her own.

Ása closes her eyes for a moment, taking the split second to trigger within herself an adrenaline rush that slows the scene to half-speed. She takes hold of the spear by the middle grips and begins to twirl it, positioning it to her left and to her right, picking up speed until she is essentially wielding a silver blur that makes her both lethal and unreachable. The first of the Risen makes its way into her range and she moves the spear upward, catching it under the chin with a sickening crunch as metal meets bone. Its head snaps backward and it falls. Another takes its place and she catches it in the cheek with the staff itself, watching its rotten face splatter open. With no close enemies she resumes the twirling pattern, backing up towards the sound of Egill’s voice.

The creatures take her retreat as their cue to break from a slow shamble to a fearsome rush. Ása turns away and sprints to the outskirts of the area in which they fight, crossing the mock boundaries in her head and creating a viable gap between herself and her enemies. She stacks the Risen – keeping one positioned behind the other at all times – and when the next of the monsters closes the gap she brings the spear up and twirls it, swinging it against its face twice as she finishes out the move. The momentum of the blunt force trauma to its head snaps its neck, and as the creature stumbles Ása shoves him back. He is the last to fall, and Ása returns to the others where they stand, chests heaving, among blood-stained grass and remains.

“We may be too late,” Egill says in the post-battle silence, slow to catch his breath. “They have already begun to rise.”

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Book blitz:

Mad Magic
Nicole Conway
Published by: Month9Books
Publication date: November 14th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Mad Magic is a beautifully dark and rich Young Adult fantasy from Nicole Conway, bestselling author of the Dragonrider Chronicles.
Josie Barton is a high school student living in terror. Invisible creatures torment her everywhere she goes, constantly getting her into trouble at school, and even haunting her apartment. But just when Josie thinks things couldn’t get any worse . . . she meets the guy from across the hall.
Zeph Clemmont is a changeling with enemies in all the worst places, fighting to undo a curse that threatens to end his life. Survival means he will have to swallow his pride and trust Josie with all his darkest secrets.
With the help of a gun-slinging shaman and the enigmatic Prince of Nightmares, Zeph and Josie are only a heartbeat away from defeating one of the most diabolical faerie villains their world has ever known.

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EXCERPT:

WHAT IS MAGIC?
“Magic is like water. It’s required for all things on this earth to live and it cycles through the world to be reused over and over again. Some things, even some people, soak up more of it than others or require more of it to live. Children are usually more attuned to it than most. They soak it up like little sponges.” Each word from his lips carried a weight I could feel hanging in the air. “Any being on earth is capable of using it, although humans lost interest and forgot how to do that a very long time ago. Most of them can’t even see it or feel it anymore. Their minds have turned to things of metal. It can be that way for faeries, too. In fact, a lot of us have fallen from our former glory to be fed by the machines of the modern world.”
A strange, wild hunger rose up in me so suddenly it made my body stiffen. If magic was real, then surely it had something to do with all the strange things that had been happening to me. I needed to know more—I needed to understand.
“Where does it come from?”
“The moon.” He paused, holding a liquor bottle in each hand as he turned to look me in the eye. “Or at least, that’s what the old songs say. No one knows for sure. But magic is raw energy that we can use as we choose. Even a small amount can accomplish miraculous or even terrible things.”

Author Bio:
NICOLE CONWAY is an author from North Alabama. She graduated from Auburn University in 2012, and has previously worked as a graphic artist. She is happily married and has one son as well as a cat and a dog. She enjoys blogging, traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.

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Spotlight on SMOKE by Roxanne Heath

Smoke by Roxanne Heath

Title: “Smoke: A Novel”

Author: 

Synopsis: Finding a dead man in the woods seems, at first, like any other routine tragedy. Burdened by a lack of scientific evidence, the investigation takes a much darker turn when a series of interviews uncover sordid details from this dead man's past including a history of magic and violence. This story takes the four main characters on a journey trying to determine the cause of death, leading each to question his or her own motivations for wanting the truth, and quickly revealing the consequences of betraying the trust of the dead.​

Excerpt:

They make their way outside, to where the air is sharp and cold and the entire night is still. No sooner has the first lungful of icy air rendered the both of them breathless when Noah turns and veers towards the back of the building, to the tennis courts which are lightly dusted with snow that sparkles beneath the security lights. They stand there for a minute and Noah thinks to himself that this will be a perfect setting. Maybe now, with her blood enchanted by the music, with the night as pretty as it is, with the fact that they do not at all feel like themselves, maybe she’d accept this one fantastic thing.

Londi does not press him for information as to why they are there, but she accidentally lets loose a shivering breath and it is this that breaks Noah from his reverie.

“Sorry,” he says, abruptly turning to face her. “Here.” He takes off his coat and drapes it over her shoulders, despite her protests. No matter what she says, she is visibly shaking from the cold, and his residual heat inside the coat does feel rather nice.

“I don’t need it, I promise,” he says with a small half-smile, before rolling up his sleeves. He does as his father had done so many years ago, calming himself against everything, even against shivering though the night air bites at every inch of his skin. When his heart has steadied enough, he lets the words pass through his lips, much more from memory than understanding. They are barely louder than a whisper, but it is enough.

It is not long before the sigils on his arms are alight, an electric green – an odd distinction to be made, where color was different depending on the one who cast the spell –  and Noah does not even hear as Londi accidentally lets loose a few curses before slamming her hand over her mouth. It is extraordinary to come face to face with something so straight out of fiction and yet here it is in plain sight. There they are, the sigils she’d only seen glimpses of when he reached over to grab a book from his bag or reached up into his locker to retrieve his lunch. These odd glimpses had been nothing but, and now they are real, real and glowing so brightly they looked as though they must burn terribly and against the stark contrast of the dark night. She wants to shield her eyes against this almost painfully-bright vision but is held steadfast. He reaches over and plucks one from his arm, throwing it into the air where it hovers for a moment before bursting outwards into a brilliant green flower over five feet wide.

He tosses several more into the air, plucking from a different sigil each time and every time what he creates is of an equally beautiful quality. As a closing act he plucks one from the opposite arm and turns to face Londi, letting it spark in his hands for a moment before snapping his fingers against it. Closing in on itself before forming in a brilliant, sparkling display, the ring forms above her head then settles gently down until all at once she is surrounded. It gently undulates around her, and she is afraid to move inside of it for what might happen.

“It’s okay. Go ahead,” he invites. “Feel it.”

So she does, and each time it is like passing her hand through a frozen fog.

Noah feels himself growing exponentially fatigued, and so with a small groan he breaks concentration and the ring disintegrates into nothing, leaving their eyes seeing nothing but dense splotches in the wake of its brilliant light.

Londi stands there, shaking, but not from the cold, and Noah looks at her expectantly.

“Well?”

“It… you weren’t lying,” she says. She rolls up the sleeve of Noah’s jacket to reveal her wrist, running her thumb over the spot where she’d let him draw a tiny, abstract looking symbol not two weeks before. He’d claimed it was to ease her mind, to protect her against any bullies she might attract as a result of his friendship. She hadn’t believed him then, and the way she looks at it now in light of the demonstration suggests a mixture of disbelief and horror yet neither is true. More than anything it’s a puzzled sense of belief, albeit one that is threatening to make her float up and away out of her own head.

“No, I wasn’t,” he responds quietly.

“This is for protection?” Londi asks, reaffirming what he’d told her when he’d drawn it.

“Your life has not been entirely kind,” Noah says, a trace of embarrassment in his voice. “But you have been kind to me all the same. I try and protect my allies wherever I can, because I know others will not.”

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Book Blitz: Winter's Siren

Winter’s Siren
Krystal Jane Ruin
Publication date: November 1st 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

For the last five years, Fawn has been the star soprano of a secluded opera house, forced to sing for her kidnapper.
His daughter, Devi, waits patiently in the shadows, hiding a face so horrible that no one who’s seen it will look at it again.
As Fawn plots her escape, whispers spread through the shaded corridors of dark sorcery, warning her that she must flee by the next opening night.
But when Fawn draws close to the exit, it’s Devi who’s standing in her way, leading Fawn to suspect that Devi has something to gain if she fails.
(a dark reimagining of Swan Lake)

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EXCERPT:

Frosty air nips at my nose. I stand almost knee deep in fresh fallen snow, letting the diffused sunlight hit my face. There is no sound. Peace settles over me. In this moment, I truly feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere.
Something cold and wet explodes on the back of my neck. For a moment, I fear the worst. A boil. Pus. My father’s description of my mother’s face plays out in my mind.
But then I hear Andrew laughing behind me. I touch the rough skin on my neck and bring a shaky and damp glove to my face. Snow. It’s just snow.
It’s the middle of the day, and my face is uncovered. To make everything worse, it’s bright outside. Freezing and overcast, but bright.
My hands fly to my face automatically.
“Are you going to let me get away with that?” Andrew laughs again.
I twist around and peek at him through my fingers.
He stands before me, his arms spread wide. A thick coat covers his arms, and in his gloved hands, he holds another snowball. “You have two seconds to stop me!”
I flip my hood over my head and drop down to gather snow in my hands.
Another snowball bursts against my head. The wetness plasters my hair to my face. I hurl my deformed ball in his direction. It misses him completely.
Another wad of snow lands on my neck while I gather a larger, rounder ball of snow. “Cheating!” I throw my handful at him. It lands weakly by his knees.
“Here, let me help you.” He climbs towards me and gathers a nice, solid ball in his fist. He hands this to me, and then stands back and spreads his arms wide again. “Try again.”
I throw it square at his nose.
“Ow!” He covers his face and cries out dramatically. “It’s in my eyes!”
“Stop it! Are you serious?” I navigate closer to him, and he falls back into the snow. I run to his side and hear laughter bubbling out from behind his hands. “Jerk!” I shovel snow over his body, and he laughs all the while.
Then he goes still. I stop.
“Andrew?” I lean in close. “Andrew?”
He lunges out of his shallow grave and tackles me to the ground.
A panicked scream leaves my body as he lands on top of me, heavy and warm. Then a strange sound comes out of my mouth. Something that’s never come out of it before. Laughter.
His braid hangs down, inches from my sunken cheek. Suddenly aware of how close his head is to mine, the laughter dies in my throat, and I slap my gloves to my cheeks.
“You have such beautiful eyes,” he says.
My breath is trapped in my chest. It hurts. I don’t know how much he can see of my face—my hood is pulled low and my hair and hands cover everything else—but I fear it’s too much.
“Andrew . . .”

Author Bio:
Krystal is the author of supernatural and paranormal fiction, living in the Tennessee Valley with a collection of swords and daggers. When she's not hoarding stuffed pandas, hourglasses, and Hello Kitty replicas, she can be found in YouTube hole or blogging about books, writing, and random things at KrystalSquared.net.

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