Archive for November 20, 2012

Shunned Giveaway and Review. More Amish Bloodsuckers!

Posted: November 20, 2012 in Action/Adventure, Creatures, fiction, giveaways, Paranormal or fantasy, reviews, Series, Uncategorized, Vampires
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Great news. I am hosting a giveaway for Shunned, The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy – Book Two.

My giveaway for Chosen – Book One ends at midnight November 20th.

For those who haven’t read Chosen, it will be free on Amazon November 21st – 23rd! You can get your copy and catch up on the series. You’ll be all ready for Shunned. You can purchase Chosen here .

Book Three, Reckoning is set to be released December 1st. I’m hoping to have a giveaway for it also, along with my review.

Shunned

The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy #2

by Barbara Ellen Brink

Shunned (Amish Bloodsuckers, #2)

ADD to Goodreads

I’m still lovin the cover art for this series. Take your time and really look at it!

They’re back! Most of my favorite characters are back plus I got to meet some new ones. Not saying they’re all nice, but they’re definitely interesting.

Spoiler Alert

Shunned is Book Two in The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy and just wanted to gives you a heads up. I don’t believe I will be giving anything away. I’ve tried to make this entertaining and fun without revealing any of the really relevant points of the story line.

Shunned takes up right where Chosen left us and Jael, the Chosen one, is in for big changes. She’s going to Minnesota to stay with her Amish grandparents. Til now she’s lived a somewhat normal teen-age life, except for the daily training in slaying vampires and the fact that no one is allowed to visit her at her house. But now she’s going to be living in an Amish community, learning and living by their customs.

Until recently she didn’t even know she had grandparents and she’s worried about how they will receive her. After all, her parents left the community before she was born, sneaking off in the night in order to protect their child from the Bishop, the community leader and a vampire. Most of the folks who live at Loon Lake don’t know about the vampires in their midst or about the Chosen one. Jael will be playing this on the down-low.

Knowing that her best friends Shadow and Brianna, now a couple, will be coming to spend the summer in Minnesota at Bree’s grandmothers house, only 20 miles away, gives her the courage to go to Loon Lake and face her newly discovered family.

Upon her arrival:

Jael drew a deep breath and moved tentatively closer, grasping the handle of her book bag at her side. She paused a few feet from the porch and looked into blue eyes faded with time.

“Grandma? I’m Jael.”

The woman seemed to weave like a thick blade of grass in the wind and then she stepped off the porch and put out her hands.

“Jael?” Tears filled her eyes and she closed them for a second, before reaching out and taking Jael’s hands in hers. She pulled her close and kissed her cheek. She smelled of onions and cinnamon and her hands were worn and rough with calluses, but the joy in her eyes made everything right.

I love that her grandfather calls her little one. He is gruff and stern but also tender and giving. Jael’s fears evaporate and she begins to settle in.

I had plenty of laughs reading about her attempts to fit in. She learns to bake bread, of course, gathers the eggs, and milks Elsa the goat. She does all of this at the crack of dawn. And she finally consents to wearing Amish garb, long drab dress, prayer cap, and all.

The dress won’t help when she has to battle with a vampire. She gets in quite the fix then, but she improvises really well and manages to stay alive.

Jael has brought vengeance with her to Loon Lake and to the Bishop and his growing gang of vampires. She will not stop until his reins of leadership are broken and the vampires are all dead.

There is a story inside Jael’s story. One about another Jael from long ago, back in 1142 B.C. Present day Jael sees the other Chosen one in her dreams, like watching a moving picture. At first she’s confused by the dreams, but then I felt she drew strength from them. She came to accept what she was here for, what her purpose  was.

She may have matured but she’s still a teen-ager, with all the angst, insecurity and rebellion. I love her even more.

Things start to get dangerous and messy in Loon Lake and the stakes get higher. Her uncle Seth reappears and along with Bree and Shadow, they are right in the thick of it.

There are some great reveals and surprises as you read Book Two and one heck of a cliffhanger ending. I am so hooked!

          This series is heating up!!

I need to tell you that these are not stand alone books. You need to read the series from the beginning, but at only a few dollars a book, it’s so worth the price.

Giveaway

Barbara is offering two books for the giveaway. Paperback or e-book (winners choice).

Entry is easy. Just leave your email address and answer this question, “Do you prefer a tropical Christmas or one blanketed with snow?”

This giveaway ends on December 3rd.

My giveaway for Chosen – Book One ends at midnight on Nov.20th. You can still enter to win the first book in this series. Just go here .

Not required, but I’d love it if you followed my blog.

About the author

Barbara Ellen Brink is a multi-published author of mystery and suspense. She lives with her husband and their two mutts in the great state of Minnesota where mosquitoes are the only bloodsuckers she’s actually ever seen. This is Barbara’s first foray into the world of Amish and Vampires – both of which scare her – but it isn’t the last. The 2nd book in The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy – SHUNNED – is now available. The 3rd book – RECKONING – will be available for December 1st!

Author Website/blog: http://www.barbaraellenbrink.com

Amish Bloodsuckers website: http://www.amishvampireslayer.moonfruit.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraEllenBrink

Twitter: BarbaraEBrink

To purchase The Amish Bloodsucker novels, just click on the images below.

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For more books by Barbara Brink click on these images.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. Wishing you the best for the holidays ya’ll!

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Adrift in the Sound Free Nov. 20th – 22nd

Posted: November 20, 2012 in Adult Fiction, fiction, Freebies!, Literature, Mytery/Thriller, reviews
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Adrift in the Sound

by Kate Campbell

Adrift in the Sound

It’s early 1973. The time of anti-war protesters, free love and dope.

Lizette is homeless and looking for a place to get warm. She winds up at Sandy’s place. Sandy is a snake dancer and srtips for a living. She lets Lizette stay as long as she cleans the house and takes care of her snake.

Next door is the crash pad for Rocket and some of the guys from his softball team, The Franklin Streetdogs. We’ll never know if they could be any good as all the guys do is get high and eat anything and everything.

Lizette spends her time between Sandy’s and Rocket’s. She is crushing on Rocket and he kind of likes her too, feels sorry for her. Her weird chirps and gestures don’t bother him, but the guys want her gone.

So Lizette finds herself out on the street again and this neighborhood is dangerous.

She can’t go home. Because of her mental problems, she’s estranged from her father. He can’t cope with her.

“My dad doesn’t want me,” she whispered. “He told me to get out. No one wants me.”

After she witnesses a murder and is viciously attacked and raped, she decides to head to her friend Marian’s place on Orcas Island. It’s the perfect place to hide and heal.

Marian is happy to see her and helps her get back on her meds and eating properly. She is eating for two now.

Lizette starts painting again and awaits the arrival of her baby.

This is only a small part of the story. There is so much to experience.

I really enjoyed learning about Orcas Island and meeting Poland and Abaya, the Lummi tribal leaders. They encourage Lizette and support her.

I liked Rocket. Not sure why. I have a feeling the author had something to do with that:)

Lizette is a sad character. She can also be sly and manipulative and surprisingly outspoken.

While doing my review research, checking my post-it notes in the book, I went back to the beginning and started reading to refresh my memory. Before I knew it I was at Chapter 12. Well, I had to keep going, and I read the whole book – to the end – again.

I got a lot more out of it the second time, enjoyed it even more, as I wasn’t taking notes for my review. I really got the full effect.

Kate’s writing is superb, her research shows in the details, and her characters, the ones I liked and the ones not so much, kept me captivated.

Adrift in the Sound tells of life in the early 1970′s, a time not often told about. The era of the hippie is ending and the time of the yuppie is coming soon. I was too young to experience it as an adult. I feel I experienced some of it with Lizette and the other characters.

I wasn’t kidding about reading this twice. When I told my sister about it, she laughed. She said I should see my face, I was so animated. That was when I knew my rating was going to be 5 Stars.

       

Adrift in the Sound is free for everyone from Nov. 20th – 22nd! Go here to get your copy.

Before I even finished writing my review this showed up in my inbox.

laura thomas,
Are you looking for something in our Literature & Fiction department? If so, you might be interested in these items.
Adrift in the Sound Adrift in the Sound [Kindle Edition] by Kate Campbell
Price: $3.99

Amazon, are you reading my mind?

About the author and where to find her.

Kate Campbell

A novelist, a journalist, an adventurer, Kate Campbell grew up in San Francisco and has lived and worked throughout California and the West. Like every good Westerner, she can swim, ride and shoot. Her novel “Adrift in the Sound,” was a finalist for New York’s 2011 Mercer Street Books Literary Prize. Her new book for writers: “Between the Sheets: An Intimate Exchange on Writing, Editing, and Publishing,” chronicles the final editing of “Adrift in the Sound” through a spirited exchange with her editor and co-author Thomas T. Thomas. An award-winning journalist and photographer, Campbell’s environmental and political writing appears regularly in newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S. She lives in Sacramento and, in addition to writing fiction and poetry, publishes the Word Garden blog at http://www.kate-campbell.blogspot.com  .

Goodreads

Purchase Kate’s books by clicking on the images.

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