Archive for June, 2015

Today we are excited to announce the release of A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander! This is the second book in the Bakeshop Mystery series and is now available for sale!

Guest Post:

Welcome to Ashland, Oregon the home of the world famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival and home to the fictional family bakeshop Torte and pastry chef Juliet (Jules) Capshaw.


Torte is more than a bakeshop it’s a gathering place for neighbors and friends. Whether you’ve lived in Ashland for your entire life or are just passing through to catch a production of Shakespeare under the stars, at Torte everyone is family. Jules and her staff handcraft delectable cakes and baked goods and offer up a listening ear to everyone who walks through Torte’s front door. That makes it the perfect setting for murder. Sometimes the sweets at Torte are to die for—literally.

While Torte (and murder) may be fictional in A Batter of Life and Death, the town of Ashland is very real and oh so charming. The plaza downtown is a hub for artists, foodies, musicians and travelers from every corner of the globe. Spend an afternoon strolling through Lithia Park with its meandering paths, gorgeous fountains, hiking trails, and ancient trees. Stop for a pint at Oberon’s Tavern or an afternoon sweet at Mix, and then wander up to the bricks to catch a spectacular live show.

One of my favorite things about writing the Bakeshop Mystery series is introducing readers to Ashland and the surrounding areas. I hope that readers will enjoy getting a little glimpse into the world of the theater, Shakespeare, a family bakeshop, and Southern Oregon.

Happy reading and baking!

~Ellie Alexander

 

About the Book:

A Batter of Life and DeathWelcome to Torte–a small-town family bakeshop where the coffee is hot, the muffins are fresh, and the cakes are definitely to die for…

It’s autumn in Ashland, Oregon–’tis the season for a spiced hot apple cider with a serving (or two) of Torte’s famous peach cobbler. It’s also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to promote her family’s beloved bake shop by competing in The Pastry Channel’s reality show, Take the Cake. The prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people would kill for that kind of dough. Literally.

Then, just as Jules dusts off her Bavarian Chocolate Cake recipe and cinches up her apron, the corpse of a fellow contestant is discovered–death by buttercream. What began as a fun, tasteful televised adventure has morphed into something of a true-crime detective show for Jules and everybody else on set. Who could have killed Chef Marco, and why? Can Jules sift out the killer before someone else gets burned?

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Make sure to check out book one, Meet Your Baker!
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About the Author:
Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter to learn more.
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Giveaway:

 

Signed copy of Meet Your Baker and A Batter of Life and Death, 1 pound coffee, Oregon Chai, Gourmet cupcake liners (US)
Ends July 21st

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.

TeaserTuesdays2014e

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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My Teaser for this week is from

The 6:41 To Paris

by Jean-Philippe Blondel

Translated by Alison Anderson

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My Teaser from page 41 in the ARC Paperback.

The last image I have of him.

That angelic mug of his: I felt like blowing it to smithereens.

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Synopsis

Cécile, a stylish forty-seven-year-old, has spent the weekend visiting her parents in a provincial town southeast of Paris. By early Monday morning, she’s exhausted. These trips back home are always stressful and she settles into a train compartment with an empty seat beside her. But it’s soon occupied by a man she instantly recognizes: Philippe Leduc, with whom she had a passionate affair that ended in her brutal humiliation thirty years ago. In the fraught hour and a half that ensues, their express train hurtles towards the French capital. Cécile and Philippe undertake their own face to face journey—In silence? What could they possibly say to one another?—with the reader gaining entrée to the most private of thoughts. This is a psychological thriller about past romance, with all its pain and promise.

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I will be reviewing this book in September. It’s translated from French, and while t’s a bit rough in editing, I’m sure that will all be corrected for the final draft.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

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Things Mysterious Tour Button

Welcome ya’ll.

I have an exciting book to share with you today.

Things Mysterious has a fabulous cover. And wait until you read the blurb!

There’s also a giveaway, so don’t forget to enter!

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Title: Things Mysterious

Author: Matthew Chabin

Publisher: Roane Publishing

Release Date: June 22, 2015

Keywords: Romance, Mystery, Paranormal, Mortality, Literary

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goodreads-badge-add-plus for awaken

Blurb:

Dasan Garret is a disappointed man.  Recently divorced and just returned from a traumatic tour of duty in Iraq, he moves back to his hometown of Portland, Oregon only to find himself unexpectedly alone.  His old friends are all gone, moved away, locked up, or dead.  Women seem to occupy a parallel universe.  With no community and few prospects, he takes a job as a night watchman and withdraws ever deeper into the shadows of his mind.  Until one day when he meets Edenia, and she lights up his world like a bolt of pure energy.  She seems perfect: vibrant, gifted, kind, sexy, a sudden and unlooked-for reprieve from the sad ruin of his life.  And yet there remains a nagging sense that something isn’t right.  Could it be that he is merely slow to trust the happiness she offers him?  Or is there something behind that waver in her laugh, that fleeting look of sadness in her eyes?

The mystery deepens when one day Edenia disappears.  Dasan believes he must find her in order to go on living.  But to find her again, he will have to confront a devastating truth about her life, and his.

 

Purchase Links

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Enjoy this excerpt!

She appeared in front of him, emerging from a double hedgerow of women’s clothing, holding a faded, sunflower yellow, antique-looking slip up to the light.

Dasan paused and swiveled left, blinking up at some Maoist propaganda posters on the wall.

“It’s all been done, yes, hate to be a killjoy, but I’m afraid it’s aaalll been done.”

She was speaking. He glanced back, looked around. She appeared to be talking to the slip.

Say something!

He managed an inquiring “Hmm?”

“It…” she said as she turned and placed the slip back with its peers, “…has all been sampled…and quoted…and copied…and done and nearly done to death. Aesthetically speaking, we’ve painted ourselves into a corner, we of the post-everything era. We may be doomed.” She stepped back between the rows, ducking down after something hidden, and he lost sight of her.

Her voice came muffled through the wall of garments. “We’re nostalgic for the old days, when beauty was truth and truth was what we said it was. At least then, we knew what we were looking at.”

Dasan waited, unsure of his cue. He could hear her moving around back there. He decided he’d try honesty. “I guess if this was a movie, I’d say something all witty and suave like…or if I had any idea what you’re talking about…”

She lifted her head out of the aisle, smiling generously, as if he had said something witty and suave, which he was pretty sure he had not. She was pretty, with her hair slightly messed and hanging in her face like that, her smile, dark eyes…

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sort of regurgitating crap from my art history class. Pay no mind. I am the pedantic bitch-queen of the monologue.”

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Author Matthew Chabin

Matthew Chabin was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and grew up in Portland, Oregon.  He served four years in the US Navy as a ship crewman, journalist and public affairs liaison.  He studied literature and philosophy at Southern Oregon University.  After graduating in 2010, he started teaching English abroad, working in the Czech Republic and volunteering with the Dalai Lama’s affiliate organization, Tibet Charity, in Dharamsala/Mcleod Ganj, India.  He currently lives in Nagano Prefecture of Japan with his wife, Marie, and cat, Futa.

His work has appeared in Gravel: A Literary Journal, Southern Pacific Review, Piker Press, and Black Denim.  He is the author of a memoir, Equaling Heaven, which he hopes to see published in the near future.

 

Matthew’s Links:

Facebook

Link for Things Mysterious on Goodreads

Click on the banner below to follow the tour for more fun stops!

Things Mysterious Tour Button

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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I’ve read almost all of Anthony Renfro’s stories and wait anxiously for new ones.

I have a new cover to reveal for Killer Treads.

Also, Anthony has it free to download on Monday, June 29th and Tuesday, June 30th. Links to get your copy are provided below.

Let’s get to that new cover art shall we?

Ready!

Set!

Ta – Da!

Killer treads

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My Review

Hey, look at that. A tread mill, like new, for only twenty bucks. What a steal.

He’s been meaning to get in shape, get rid of that spare tire around his middle.

He should have slowed down, caught the warning signs that something was seriously wrong with the deal. Not been so impulsive.

Alas, it’s too late now, and the deal is going to cost him much more than cold hard cash.

This story teaches you to never buy something when the deal seems too good to be true.

Kind of fun, kind of gory, and I liked it.

3 Stars

A short story about a man who sees a flashy ad online advertising a twenty dollar treadmill. He buys the machine, too cheap to be scared, and realizes much to his dismay that this machine has a taste for blood. Big Bob better run like his life depends on it, because in many ways it does.

Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars: Kind of fun, kind of gory, and I liked it.

AMAZON

EBOOK:

US / UK / AU / CA

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Author Anthony Renfro

Anthony Renfro

Anthony Renfro lives in Apex, North Carolina. He is a reader, writer, runner, husband, father, and stay at home dad – one of the toughest jobs anyone could ever do. He was born in Bristol, Tennessee, and is a graduate of UNC-Greensboro.

You can find him at many spots on the web, but if you really need to find his center in the social media storm it would be at his blog, apoetryjourney.wordpress.com.

Now reach out, just beyond the light, right into that big black space, and let him take your hand on a journey into cold dark places. You will be scared, and you may even be terrified, but in the end you might just find you liked the ride.

Find him on:

Blog ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

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Until the next time…..

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Welcome to my Second Quarter Update For

My Horror Reading Challenge

Hosted by Cornerfolds

Cornerfolds

Challenge Guidelines

  • This challenge will run from January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015, and you can join at anytime.
  • Books must be read and reviewed in 2015.
  • Audiobooks, re-reads, short stories, and crossovers are fine.
  • If you’re a blogger, grab the button below and create a post or page about this challenge and your goals with a link back to this post.
  • You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can track your progress on Goodreads, Shelfari, Booklikes, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
  • Sign up on the designated Mr. Linky below with your post, shelf, etc. and comment on this post.
  • I will make a post each month for you to link your reviews.
  • There will be giveaways at the halfway point and at the end of the challenge in December.

Challenge Levels

1-5 horror books: Running Scared
6-10 horror books: Brave Reader
11-15 horror books: Fearless
16+ horror books: Horror Hound

My personal challenge goal will be Brave Reader to start since I’m also participating in several other challenges for 2015.

Challenge Update Schedule

March 26th – First Quarter Update
June 25th – Second Quarter Update & Giveaway
September 24th – Third Quarter Update
December 24th – Challenge Wrap-Up & Giveaway

Lists To Get You Started

Best Horror Novels
Best Teen Horror/Suspense/Thrillers
Ghost Stories

I’m going for Horror Hound – 16+ Horror Books

Click on the covers for my reviews.

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2.

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4.

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11.

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Only two more to go and I could add a lot more than that!

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See you in September for the third quarter update! 

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

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This is my own version of a weekly book haul and all things new on fuonlyknew.

Another fun way to share your book news and enjoy others is The Sunday Post hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Head on over and leave a link to your Sunday Post and hop around to visits others.

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Some chit chat.

I’ve been sitting here at my computer for over 10 minutes and came up with zilch to talk about!

I got distracted by Big Bang Theory so I figured why not share some fun stuff from my favorite show.

Enjoy!

Here are some funny bloopers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv6eLJf_Gr8

and some favorite scenes.

I just love this show. I can watch reruns and laugh just as hard as the first time. LOL

I’ll be hopping over to check out your Sunday posts so be sure to leave me your link!

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Here are my new books for review.

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New ones just for fun!

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And here are some freebies for ya!

Click on the covers to get yours and remember to make sure they’re still free before you click that buy button.

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Books I reviewed this week. Click on the covers for my reviews.

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What I’ll be reviewing next week.

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What I won.

Print books

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Huge thanks to the blog hosts, authors, and tour organizers for these wonderful prizes

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Other Posts on my blog this week.

Their coming is just the beginning…Dawn Of Destiny, EPIC Series #1 ~ My Review and Giveaway

The Star Seer’s Prophecy ~ New Release Sale and Giveaway

The Authorship Adventure Series by Ella Medler

Teaser Tuesdays #119 ~ Shadow Of Danger by Kristine Mason

The EPIC Series ~ Dawn Of Destiny and Outlaw Trigger ~ Reviews and Giveaway

The Children Of Darkness ~ Book Blast and Giveaway

#M9B Friday Cover and Chapter Reveal and Giveaway ~ Into The Dark by Caroline Patti

The Friday 56 #67 ~ Shadow Of Darkness by Kristine Mason

Reviewing Hope For The Wicked and Pennies For The Damned by Edward Lorn

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Have you joined TSU yet?

Click on the widget to friend and follow me!

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Fora list of my reviews go HERE

For a list of free books updated daily go HERE

For all of my giveaways go HERE

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So, what did you get to read this week?

Got any recommendations?

I’d love to know and thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew.

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I’ve read all of Edward Lorn’s stories. Full length and short ones. They were horror with a supernatural or paranormal element to them for the most part.

The Larry Laughlin series is horror of a different sort. The deep, dark, twisted, human behavior. The mosters that prowl these pages are human in form only. All else about them is evil with a capital E!

Check out my reviews.

Enter darkness.

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Hope For The Wicked

Larry Laughlin #1

By Edward Lorn

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Genre: Thriller, Suspense

goodreads-badge-add-plus for awaken

My Review

The title is perfect for this story. Is there hope for the wicked? Should there be? When you meet Larry and Mo Laughlin, you’ll be asking these questions.

Larry and Mo are a married couple and retired killers. They aren’t nice people. They are bad people. Bad people, that kill worse people. But I kind of liked them. Well, I liked Larry. Mo scared me. Of the two, I’d say she was the happy clam when they came out of retirement.

Their private investigation company isn’t doing that well, so when a job comes along with a two million dollar payday, they jump back into the business one last time. They should have stayed retired.

They head to Mexico to find their client’s daughter and bring her back if possible. Whether she’s alive or dead, their orders are to kill all those responsible.

Larry and Mo should have listened to their inner voices. If the money’s too good to be true, it usually is. And they find out in the most brutal, horrific way.

One thing about Edward Lorn, he isn’t afraid to take you into some of the darkest, most disturbing places. You emerge eventually, dirty, disgusted, and glad it wasn’t you.

I must warn you, this is graphic horror with sexual deviants and a whole bunch of psychopaths bent on getting their pleasure however they can. My stomach almost couldn’t take it in one particular scene.

And this was how the author got me to care about two killers. Sure, they killed people worse than themselves. They did it in cruel ways. And they enjoyed it. But they were still more likable than the other guys.

There are times when I laughed, times when I wanted to stop reading because I couldn’t take it anymore, and times when I cried. That’s some fine writing.

5 Stars

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Book Description

Sometimes, bad people do good deeds.

Larry and Mo Laughlin are retired killers turned private investigators with monetary woes. So when their handler introduces them to the Trudeaus, one final job is placed on the docket.

Jacob and Bernice Trudeau need their teenage daughter, Amy, found, and they also want the men responsible dead. Two million dollars is an offer Larry and Mo can’t refuse.

To find Amy, the Laughlins must travel to Mexico, where they are thrust into a world of debauchery so foul they will be forever changed.

One crazed pimp, a veterinarian turned doc-for-hire, and an enigmatic facility called “The Show” lie in wait for the wayward couple.

Is there any hope for the wicked?

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Pennies for the Damned

Larry Laughlin #2

By Edward Lorn

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Genre: Thriller, Suspense

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My Review

This is the second story in the series and picks up a short time later.

Larry survived Mexico. He went back to his roots. To all those bad memories of “Family Time’ with his dad. He’s not planning on killing anymore after one last job. The job, kill his father.

His father is going to be released from prison and Larry can’t stand the thought of his father out there somewhere, preying on more innocent kids. He’ll take him out and be done with it.

But life has more for Larry. He’s confronted by some unexpected visitors, his house is blown to bits, and he’s saddled with a teen age girl as his traveling companion. He’ll let her tag along until he can find a safe place for her. Then it’s a race to save his brother, because the killers will use Jaime to hurt Larry. And that’s not going to happen if he can help it.

I sometimes wonder how Larry would have turned out if he hadn’t hooked up with Mo. She is definitely the deadlier of the two. She enjoyed the killing for killings sake and I feel she stuck to only killing bad people so Larry would kill with her. If Larry didn’t kill, would she have married him? I wonder.

Larry has a little bit of humanity left in him. I don’t now how. He’s seen and done so many dark, ugly things. I tore through this story, wondering where he’d go from here. Would he keep killing? Would he take his own life? Would he find some kind of peace within himself?

Definitely not for the squeamish, this is an excellent new chapter in Larry’s life. I urge true dark horror and thriller fans to give it a go.

5 Stars

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Book Description

Ex-hitman Larry Laughlin got out of Mexico alive, but now he’s a haunted man. The final step to laying his ghosts to rest requires killing his newly paroled father. Before he can take action, though, a trio of killers break into Larry’s house, and he overhears their plan to murder his brother, Jaime, too. Old habits kick in, and Larry emerges the sole survivor. But while he’s gathering hidden funds to finance his plans, he’s ambushed by an unlikely traveling companion: a young abused teen named Brooklyn, who refuses to be left behind.

Larry and Brooklyn set out to save his brother and complete his patricidal task, but one wrong misstep drops yet another aching tragedy on Larry’s burdened shoulders. Nearly mad with his hunger for vengeance, Larry seeks his final nemesis in the heart of New York City. But what he finds will threaten more than just his life: Larry Laughlin damned himself long ago.

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Author Edward Lorn

Edward Lorn

Edward Lorn is an American horror author presently residing in the southeast United States. He enjoys storytelling, reading, and writing biographies in the third person.

Once upon a time, during a session of show and tell, a seven-year-old Edward Lorn shared with his class that his baby brother had died over the weekend. His classmates, the teacher included, wept while he recanted the painful tragedy of having lost a sibling. Edward went home that day and found an irate mother waiting for him. Edward’s teacher had called to express her condolences. This was unfortunate, as Edward had never had a baby brother.

With advice given to her by a frustrated teacher, Edward’s mother made him start writing all of his lies down. The rest, as they say, is history.

Edward Lorn and his wife are raising two children, along with a handful of outside cats and a beagle named Dot. He remains a liar to this day. The only difference is, now he’s a useful one.

In January of 2012, Edward Lorn self-published his debut novel, Bay’s End. Later that year, he contracted with Red Adept Publishing to bring his sophomore effort, Dastardly Bastard, to the world. For the Halloween season, Edward published a collection of short stories entitled What the Dark Brings. His novella, Hope for the Wicked, was picked up by Red Adept Publishing and is coming soon.

Find Edward online:

Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Purchase Links:

RAP Pennies of the Damned

RAP Hope for the Wicked

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Until the next time….

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

 

This is a really fun meme!

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!

My 56 for this week is from

Shadow Of Danger

The CORE Shadow Trilogy #1

by Kristine Mason

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My 56

“We found the first body here.” Roy pointed toward the first area sectioned off by police tape and approximately twenty feet from the road. “The other three were found deeper in the woods. Lying nearly side by side.”

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My Review

There’s nothing like a good suspense thriller to get the old endorphins pumping and Kristine delivers. I read this some time ago and recently realized I’d not written a review. I reread this in one night and it’s just as exciting the second time around.

Celeste Risinski is a clairvoyant. It’s not something she wants. It just is. She’d be perfectly happy to skip the horrific visions and nightmares that jolt her, screaming, from her sleep.

She senses something different about these dreams. A deeper, more personal connection.

The sheriff calls on an old friend from CORE,  a private investigation agency, to assist and apprehend the killer before he kills again. Ian, as owner, distances himself from Celeste because of a mysterious family history, and sends John Kain, an FBI agent, to help with the investigation.

That’s about all I can tell you without spoilers.

Let’s get to the good stuff.

The characters. The two main ones are Celeste and John.

John is wounded and bitter. He needs this case to get him back in the game. What he doesn’t need is some chick who thinks she has visions.

Celeste is learning to better control her visions. To interpret and use them more efficiently. This also paints a target on her back. What she doesn’t need is some sexy know it all FBI guy scoffing at her. Brushing aside her visions as ridiculous.

So you see what’s coming, don’t ya? Yep. These two meet. Sparks ignite. Even though they don’t much care about each other when they first meet, the chemistry is firing on both burners.

I had as much fun following this reluctant yet burning romance as I did with the murder investigation.

About that. Kristine leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow. The opening scenes are about a murder. But that doesn’t reveal who’s doing it or why.

Trying to solve the crime is like following a trail. It moves forward, sidesteps, backtracks to cover it’s steps, and jumps forward again.

There are some strong secondary characters that I’m sure will have larger roles in other books in this series. And there are some surprises and a huge secret that will be revealed.

Looking for something to keep you up into the wee hours, reluctant to stop until you reach the end? This oughta do it!

5 Stars

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Synopsis

Four women have been found dead in the outskirts of a small Wisconsin town. The only witness, clairvoyant Celeste Risinski, observes these brutal murders through violent nightmares and hellish visions. The local sheriff, who believes in Celeste’s abilities and wants to rid their peaceful community of a killer, enlists the help of an old friend, Ian Scott, owner of a private criminal investigation agency, CORE. Because of Ian’s dark history with Celeste’s family, a history she knows nothing about, he sends his top criminalist, former FBI agent John Kain to investigate. John doesn’t believe in Celeste’s mystic hocus-pocus, or in her visions of the murders. But just when he’s certain they’ve solved the crimes, with the use of science and evidence, more dead bodies are discovered. Could this somehow be the work of the same killer or were they dealing with a copycat? To catch a vicious murderer, the skeptical criminalist reluctantly turns to the sensual psychic for help. Yet with each step closer to finding the killer, John finds himself one step closer to losing his heart.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Leave your link and I’ll drop by your 56.

M9B-Friday-Reveal Banner

Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!

This week, we are revealing the cover AND Chapter One of

Into The Dark by Caroline Patti!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

IntoTheDark_eCover1800x2700

A girl’s sweet sixteen party is supposed to be among the most memorable events of her life. But on the night of hers, Mercy Clare wakes in the waiting room of a hospital with no memory of how she got there. To make matters worse, she’s wearing something she’d never be caught dead in: her best friend Lyla’s clothes.

Mercy’s nightmare is just beginning. The doctor arrives to tell her that it’s she who lies in the hospital bed waiting to die. A trip to the bathroom confirms Mercy’s fears, as Lyla’s face stares back at her and Lyla’s curvy figure pokes through her tight clothes.

But finding out what’s really going on won’t be easy. Because if Mercy wants her body back, it might just cost her Lyla’s life.

add to goodreads

Title: Into the Dark
Publication date: August 18, 2015
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Caroline Patti

Amazon | Kobo

Chapter-by-Chapter-header---Excerpt

Chapter One

Mercy

A TV, bolted high on the wall, buzzes in the background, the faint sound of the local news reporter’s voice robotically reciting the events of the evening. “One dead and another in critical condition … ”

The waiting room is empty of people. Plastic chairs line the walls. Magazines are strewn about. How did I get here?

The news reporter continues to speak. “What appears to be a suicide occurred tonight in the alley behind local watering hole, Wally’s Pub. Closed for a private party, owner Kate McCrimons had no comment on tonight’s event. Relatives of the victim, high school teacher Matteo Andreas, were not available for comment.”

It’s all coming back to me now. The party. The alley. Seeing Mr. Andreas with the gun in his mouth. Oh God.

“Hey, you’re awake.” Jay stands before me holding two coffee cups.

“Did you bring me here?” I rub my temples with the palm of my hand. My head is pounding.

“You don’t remember?” Jay’s eyes narrow and tiny creases indent his furrowed brow. He doesn’t look at all like his normal goofy self. His brown eyes are concerned and focused intently on me.

I close my eyes and hold my head in my hands. “I feel sick.”

“Kate is on her way,” Jay continues. He sits down next to me and sets the cups on the table. “Just a warning, she’s pretty freaked out.”

Tiny waves of nausea roll in my stomach. My mouth is dry and parched. “I’m gonna throw up.”

“Shit.” Jay jumps from the chair. I can hear him scrambling around the room. The noise is making me feel worse.

Something bangs into my legs. I open my eyes just a little to see a garbage can. Jay sits back down next to me and holds my hair back as the contents of my stomach empty. My stomach clenches as I grip the sides of the can. I hate throwing up. I hate the convulsions, the acid taste that fills my mouth, and the way a single strand of spittle dangles from my lip like I’m a drooling dog. Luckily, this is happening in front of Jay so it’s only moderately mortifying. Having known him all my life, he’s seen all sides of me: the good, the bad, and the worse.

“Here.” Jay slips a napkin into my hands. He rubs my back lightly. “Should I get a doctor?”

Jay kisses the top of my head and I flinch. My head snaps up too quickly and I stare at him while the room around me sways. “What are you doing?” I have to close my eyes again as another wave of sick crashes over me.

He takes his hands off me. “What?”

“Why’d you kiss me?” I peer at him sideways.

“I’m sorry.” He says it like a question, and then he looks at me like I’m nuts. “I was just trying to make you feel better, Ly.”

“Okay, but … ”

He called me Ly. As in Lyla. My best friend Lyla. “Why are you calling me Ly?” My pounding head cannot take this conversation.

“That’s what I always call you.” Jay shakes his head. His mop of curls swishes along his forehead. He brushes it out of his eyes by raking his hands through his hair. “How much did you drink tonight?”

I’m not quite sure.

The smell of my own sick is singeing my nostrils so even though it makes the room spin, I raise my head to look at him. A few strands of long, dark hair fall across my face. Hesitantly, I reach up and pull a clump around so I can see it better. My eyes cross as I stare at the nearly black hair. What the hell? Frantically, I pick at it, like an addict with a fixation.

“Lyla, what are you doing?” Jay asks.

I drop the pieces of hair and smooth them back. “Nothing.”

“You’re acting really weird.”

I’m acting weird? He’s the one who keeps calling me Lyla for God’s sake!

“Here you guys are!” Lyla’s older sister, Kate, speaks with an exasperated tone. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. There’s like sixty waiting rooms in this place.” She takes one look at the garbage in front of me and exhales, annoyed. Being a bar owner means Kate has plenty of experience with vomit.

“You okay?”

Slowly, I nod as I slide the can away from me with my feet. She sits in a chair just across from us. “I brought you some clothes.” She holds out a brown paper bag to me and waits for me take it.

“Don’t give me any grief about what I picked. I was in a hurry.” Kate’s appearance is frazzled. Deep brown curls spill forth from the messy bun of hair piled on top of her head. Her feet jiggle up and down. Kate always fidgets when she’s nervous.

In the bag I find Lyla’s “Crazy for Cupcakes” tee, a pair of jeans, and some flip-flops. Why did Kate bring me Lyla’s clothes?

“Do we know anything?” Kate asks.

“No,” Jay tells her. “We’re still waiting for the doctor.”

“Is Eric here yet?” Kate asks about my dad.

“Not yet,” Jay answers.

My dad is on his way. Relief sinks in knowing that in a few minutes I’ll be able to hug him and he’ll make everything okay again.

“You want some coffee?” Jay reaches for the cup and holds it out to Kate. He gestures toward me as he says, “I got it for Ly, but I don’t think she wants it.”

I do not. I hate coffee.

“Sure.” Kate takes the cup and sips slowly. She gives me a reproachful look when she says, “You drink too much coffee as it is.”

I start to protest, to tell them both that it’s Lyla, not me, who insists on stopping every morning at Peet’s, but Kate quickly adds, “Well, go change. This isn’t exactly the place for heels and cleavage.”

Cleavage? I look down and see what she means. I’m busting out of the seams! This isn’t my dress. This is Lyla’s dress. I would never wear a dress like this. For one thing, it’s pink. And it looks like dip-dyed ace bandages wrapped around my body. I hold the bag close to my chest hoping to conceal my heaving flesh. Wait. I don’t have heaving flesh. And I don’t have raven hair. Something is very, very wrong.

“Okay.” As I stand to go, I teeter on Lyla’s five-inch stilettos. Jay catches my elbow and steadies me.

“You need some help?” he offers.

“I got it.” I think. I cannot get away from them fast enough.

Not only do I feel like I’m going to vomit again, but I also feel like I’m having a mental breakdown. My hair is a different color. My breasts are like cantaloupes. I’m not wearing my own clothes. I swallow hard to push down the panic and a touch of bile.

Kate eyes me suspiciously. “Do you want me to come with you, just in case? You don’t look so good.”

“I’ll be fine,” I say, hoping to reassure both her and myself. I don’t have much confidence that I can walk far in Lyla’s shoes. For a split second I think about going barefoot, but decide against it. Luckily, it turns out the bathroom is just across the hall.
Lyla’s dress clings to me like Saran Wrap. I must look like Bambi learning to walk as I concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. The carpet of the waiting room isn’t that treacherous, but the slick, overly polished hallway isn’t as forgiving. My left ankle rolls and I stumble just as I reached the bathroom door. Damn!

The bathroom is dark. I flip the wall switch and the light flickers, groans, and burns nearly out, casting a ghoulish yellow glow of light over the room. “Great.”

I grope my way toward the sink. It is then that my eyes adjust to the dark, and for the first time I see my reflection. Only it isn’t my face peering back at me. It’s Lyla’s, my best friend since the third grade. Leaning in closer, I stare, mouth agape, into the mirror. Her blue eyes are rimmed with multiple coats of black eyeliner. The red of her lipstick is faded, leaving her lips with only a hint of berry stain. My hands explore, skimming the sides of her cheek, hoping, praying that at any second the illusion will shatter. Despite my desperate hopes, the reflection never morphs from Lyla’s into mine.

I rack my brain trying to piece together everything that happened tonight. It’s my birthday I suddenly remember. We were having a party at Kate’s bar. A party I didn’t want. Lyla had talked Gage into being my date. Well, more like forced. But we were having a good time. He’s really nice. I went outside; I remember that part. And my teacher was there, that letch Mr. Andreas, and he grabbed me. He kept saying all this weird stuff to me and I tried to get away and that’s when Gage came out and started yelling at him. Mr. Andreas had a gun. And he … and he …

I remember the sound of the gun going off, and the brief second of relief I felt when I realized he hadn’t shot Gage. But then I saw all the blood. There was so much blood.

I stagger backward knocking into the stall door. It swings open and I drop to my knees over the toilet. I heave and heave, but nothing comes up. I curl into a sitting position. My fingers knot into my hair.

When I finally stand up, I expect—okay hope—that everything will have returned to normal, that I’ll be me again, and that seeing Lyla was just some sort of weird post-traumatic stress thing. But when I look in the mirror, I don’t see me. I see her.

This isn’t possible. There’s no way. I must be dreaming.

That’s the only explanation. This is just a dream. A very strange, twisted dream.

But it isn’t a dream. I press my hand to the mirror. It’s solid. It’s real. This is really happening.

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” I curse as the mother of all freak-outs rumbles inside me. What am I supposed to do now?

 

About-the-Author

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Caroline T Patti is the author of The World Spins Madly On and Too Late To Apologize. When she’s not writing, she’s a school librarian, mother of two, wife, avid reader and Green Bay Packer fan. You can chat with her on Twitter:@carepatti or find her on Facebook.

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Children of Darkness

The Children of Darkness, book one of the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers by David Litwack

“But what are we without dreams?”

A thousand years ago the Darkness came–a time of violence and social collapse when technology ran rampant. But the vicars of the Temple of Light brought peace, ushering in an era of blessed simplicity. For ten centuries they have kept the madness at bay with “temple magic,” eliminating forever the rush of progress that nearly caused the destruction of everything.

Childhood friends, Orah and Nathaniel, have always lived in the tiny village of Little Pond, longing for more from life but unwilling to challenge the rigid status quo. When their friend Thomas returns from the Temple after his “teaching”—the secret coming-of-age ritual that binds the young to the Light—they barely recognize the broken and brooding man the boy has become. Then when Orah is summoned as well, Nathaniel follows in a foolhardy attempt to save her.

In the prisons of Temple City, they discover a terrible secret that launches the three on a journey to find the forbidden keep, placing their lives in jeopardy. For hidden in the keep awaits a truth from the past that threatens the foundation of the Temple. If they reveal that truth, they might release the long-suppressed potential of their people, but they would also incur the Temple’s wrath as it is written:

“If there comes among you a dreamer of dreams saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”

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Praise for The Children of Darkness

“A must-read page turner.” Kirkus Review

“Litwack’s storytelling painted a world of both light and darkness–and the truth that would mix the two.” Fiction Fervor

“The Children of Darkness is a dystopian novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.” C.P. Bialois

“A fresh perspective on our own society…[an] enjoyable read that will make you wonder just how society will judge us in the future.” Lexie

 

 

David LitwackAuthor David Litwack
The urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter’s editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.

Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned.
After publishing two award winning novels, Along the Watchtower and The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, he’s hard at work on the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers.
David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

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Ends 7/12/15

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

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