Welcome to my Saturday Screams where I share books that, well, make you scream!
Today I’m doing something different. Instead of sharing a review or two, I’m sharing some books for my Spooktacular Reviews that I did last year for Halloween. I share a review for a scary story each day of the month and I’m using some books from my TBR pile this year. This is my partial list so far, not including some ARCs and review books that I’ll be sprinkling in.
I’m also looking for suggestions, so lay em on me! I’m especially looking for some good werewolf, haunted house and creatures books.
So much drama. Petra is in treatment for cancer. Sig, her coyote sidekick, is lost without her. And her husband, Gabriel, is still missing. And now there’s a flesh eating mermaid on the loose.
Petra is such a strong woman. She’s overcome some truly crazy obstacles in the world of alchemy and finally married her true love. It all sounds rosy, but the Big C is kicking her butt. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine cancer as her deadliest foe. As she weakens and all things point to a bad ending, she uses her remaining time and strength to find Gabriel. And nothing, not a crazy would be alchemist or a deadly mermaid, will stop her.
Witch Creek was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I adore Petra and always pictured her as a fierce warrior, strong and unstoppable. But cancer has weakened her. My heart went out to her. Her once strong body so gaunt and weak. The face staring back at her from the mirror, a stranger. She may be down but don’t count her out, though. I loved that she still had a trick or two up her sleeve. And when the unthinkable happened, I had to stop, go back, and read it again, stunned.
Sig still brings a smile to my face. A loyal companion to Petra and always looking out for her. But he’s still a wily coyote and up to some fun antics.
And the mermaid, Muireen. She’s a nasty one. Tricky and not too pretty to look at, she likes her meals raw and wriggling. Don’t get too close. She lurks just beneath the surface. Hungry. Waiting.
While not as fast moving as the previous books, Petra’s story is still a strong one and the saga is still addictive.
5 Stars
~~~~~
Synopsis
In the backcountry of Yellowstone, evil moves below the surface . . .
Following Nine of Stars comes the next chapter in Laura Bickle’s critically acclaimed Wildlands series.
As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has battled supernatural horrors and experienced astonishing wonders. But there’s no magic on earth that can defeat her recent cancer diagnosis, or help find her missing husband, Gabriel. Still, she would bet all her remaining days that the answer to his disappearance lies in the dark subterranean world beneath the Rutherford Ranch on the outskirts of Temperance, Wyoming.
Gabe is being held prisoner by the sheriff and heir to the ranch, Owen Rutherford. Owen is determined to harness the power of the Tree of Life—and he needs Gabe to reveal its magic. Secretly, the sheriff has also made a pact to free a creature of the underground, a flesh-devouring mermaid. Muirenn has vowed to exact vengeance on Gabe, who helped imprison her, but first . . . she’s hungry. Once freed, she will swim into Yellowstone—to feed.
With her coyote sidekick Sig, Petra must descend into the underworld to rescue Gabe before it’s too late . . . for both of them.
Peering through the cattails, she saw a man with a fishing pole, standing on an outcropping. He seemed alone, caught in a bit of reverie, gazing at his line skipping along the surface of the water.
She dipped below the surface of the water, toward the shiver of the fishing line. With green-spotted fingers, she lifted the struggling fish from the hook. The line jerked away.
The man swore.
Muirenn lifted her head above the water.
“Holy shit.” The man stumbled backward. “I didn’t realize you were swimming there . . . I . . .”
His expression changed from embarrassment to curiosity as he looked at her. The pupils of his eyes dilated. “Who . . . are you?”
Muirenn gripped the fish close to her chest, giving a small smile.
The fisherman crouched on the rock, setting his pole beside him. “Wow. You’re uh . . . green? Is that real?”
Muirenn cocked her head and slipped forward a bit in the water. The edge of her tail skimmed above the surface.
“Is that like . . . one of those tails that the girls have at that park in Florida? For a movie or something?” His suntanned brow wrinkled. “No. That’s real,” he decided. “You, um . . . want the fish? You can have it.”
She was within arm’s length of him. She released the squirming fish into the water.
“You wanted to let it go? Look, I . . .”
The man talked too much. She swam closer, tentatively.
The fisherman looked at her, at her dappled skin and the dark rust hair spreading into the water. She wouldn’t ordinarily have been so bold. The weight off her tail was going to her head. She let him take in the black of her eyes, the gills on her throat. He gazed in wonder, and his fingers twitched to a small square piece of plastic on top of his tackle box.
“Can I take your picture? What . . . are you?”
A smile played across her lips, and she spoke to him in a silvery voice. “I’m the Mermaid.”
“Wow. I . . . wow. I’m, uh, Norm. Do I, like, make a wish or something?”
“You can, if you want. I’ll listen.”
She reached up with delicate fingers to touch him. Her fingers brushed the pockets of his fishing vest, playing with wonder over the bits and baubles there meant to lure the attention of fish. The man forgot about his camera and stared, transfixed.
Muirenn reached up for his collar . . .
. . . and dragged him down into the water.
He splashed and flailed. She brought him down—down to the bottom of the creek. It wasn’t so far, but it was far enough for a land dweller. He couldn’t fight her for long. He thrashed until his lungs grew heavy with creek water. He convulsed as the lack of oxygen reached his heart and filtered up to his brain. And then he stopped.
Muirenn grinned, showing row upon row of shark-like teeth. She ripped off his arm and began to chew. It had been so long since she’d had anything but the errant fish that wandered into her realm . . . this was a meal worth waiting for.
The creek ran red.
Red as the idle red-and-white bobber drifting on the surface of the water.
About Author Laura Bickle:
Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.
Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.
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:
Witch creek
A Wildlands Novel #4
by Laura Bickle
Genre: Dark Fantasy
My 56 from the eBook.
The world was much different than it had been when she strode through it on two legs.
It was poison.
~~~~~
Read on if you want to know more.
Synopsis
In the backcountry of Yellowstone, evil moves below the surface . . .
Following Nine of Stars comes the next chapter in Laura Bickle’s critically acclaimed Wildlands series
As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has battled supernatural horrors and experienced astonishing wonders. But there’s no magic on earth that can defeat her recent cancer diagnosis, or help find her missing husband, Gabriel. Still, she would bet all her remaining days that the answer to his disappearance lies in the dark subterranean world beneath the Rutherford Ranch on the outskirts of Temperance, Wyoming.
Gabe is being held prisoner by the sheriff and heir to the ranch, Owen Rutherford. Owen is determined to harness the power of the Tree of Life—and he needs Gabe to reveal its magic. Secretly, the sheriff has also made a pact to free a creature of the underground, a flesh-devouring mermaid. Muirenn has vowed to exact vengeance on Gabe, who helped imprison her, but first . . . she’s hungry. Once freed, she will swim into Yellowstone—to feed.
With her coyote sidekick Sig, Petra must descend into the underworld to rescue Gabe before it’s too late . . . for both of them.
Some call them disabilities, but for others they are gifts:
– A voiceless child painting visions of death.
– A killer with a deadly message plagued by a burden of guilt.
– A priestess divinely empowered to absorb others’ pain.
– A soldier fighting for courage in the face of fear.
– A broken warrior-priest on a mission of vengeance.
– A thief desperate to escape the burden of his memories.
Betrayed by mind or body, these people struggle to
survive in a grim world that takes no pity on the weak. Yet they will
discover that they are simply different, not damaged.
This collection of dark fantasy short stories will keep you turning the
page as you experience life through the eyes of the
differently-abled.
Pick up this uniquely heart-wrenching
book today because you want to feel what it means to live with a
disability.
What Readers Are Saying:
This collection of stories keeps you engrossed right through to the end. –
S.S.
These stories about people trying to overcome, or at least come to terms
with, the hardships of their lives. Worth the read! – T.E.
This is one of those books that leaves you wanting more. – S.S
I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist–words are my
palette. Fantasy is my genre of choice, and I love to explore the
darker side of human nature through the filter of fantasy heroes,
villains, and everything in between. I’m also a freelance writer, a
book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend
hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the
pages of fantasy novels.
Fantasy provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane
problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It
transcends age, gender, religion,race, or lifestyle–it is our way of
believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and
discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand
new way. Fiction at its very best!
It is the summer of 1933 and nearly two years since that fateful
Halloween night in Plains, New York.
Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, eighteen-year-old Cletus Blake spends his
days working to help his family through the massive economic
recession spreading throughout the United States and many other areas
of the world. As society struggles to accept that the economic surge
of the 1920s are long gone, Cletus also clings to the memory of his
last phone conversation with his cousin Dorothy. Having formed and
maintained a relationship with two of her close friends – the
recently married Reginald and Gail Carr Johnson – the three find
solace in regular communication with one another.
Like Dorothy, Cletus possesses supernatural abilities inherited through
his bloodline. His vivid dreams and visions – including ones of a
beautiful young Romani woman and twin baby boys – continue to
increase in strength. Meanwhile, Reginald and Gail begin falling prey
to dark adversaries that have been lying in wait.
Evil surrounds at every turn, old friends race to help, and ancient evil
re-emerges. A war between worlds brews beneath the surface,
threatening to rip the protective seams that keep the portals
sealed.
Then in the midst of it
all, Cletus happens upon a caravan traveling through his Ohio town.
The very familiar Romanichal family’s history ties not only to his
own past, but to all the kin of the four men that experienced worlds
outside of their own on that summer solstice in 1844. All are linked
to a future that will reunite the Blakes and the Livingstons, two
families that at one time, shared a very unlikely
friendship.
Kindred is the second
full-length novel in The Birthrite Series. Picking up from where
Descent and Sacred Atonement: A Novelette left off, the story
continues to challenge all that is known about light and dark, good
and evil. Passion, intrigue, and secrets abound as history unravels.
Revelations uncovered in previous installments are given new
perspectives, taking the reader on a thrilling ride into a world
where nothing is ever what it appears to be.
Tiffany Apan grew up among the thick forests of the Appalachian Mountains in
Northeastern Pennsylvania. It was there she began honing artistic
abilities and received much of her creative inspiration. A misfit
among her peers (she was the only one in her fifth grade writing
class obsessed enough with Vikings and Norwegian mythology to write
poems about them), Tiffany was highly active in the artistic
community in Wilkes-Barre, PA, involving herself in all music,
theater, visual arts, and writing. Eventually, she settled quite
comfortably into a role as “that artsy kid in black” who sits in
a coffee shop, drinking endless amounts of coffee and tea while
writing furiously in a journal or sketchpad.
After graduating high school, she left the Northeastern PA ghosts for the
Southeastern PA zombies (Pittsburgh). Upon the move, Tiffany became
involved with the indie film scene, landing supporting roles in a
couple films. This also gave way to the release of her music with
partner in crime, Jason English. Since then, she has gone on to act
in several films and theater productions with starring and supporting
roles, release music to critical acclaim, and receive accolades for
her writing and producing.
The Appalachian Mountains serve as a backdrop for many of her stories,
including The Cemetery by the Lake and The Birthrite Series.
You can check out more of her work (writing, music, film, etc) on
her website, blog, Amazon, and other social media.
Symphony of Ruin Christina Lay
Publication date: July 25th 2017
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy
Synopsis
Death is stalking The City. From out of the catacombs, a deadly monster has arisen. Unfortunately for alchemist’s apprentice Remy the Rat Boy, his master is away and it’s up to Remy to discover the nature of the monster and put an end to its killing rampage. His search for answers takes him high into the elegant chambers of the city’s elite, and down into long forgotten ruins, into depths untraveled and unimagined for centuries. Lost in the ancient ruins with only ghosts and creatures of the darkness for companionship, Remy must use every ounce of wit and conjure every scrap of magic at his disposal in order to survive the labyrinth and save The City from its shadow self.
A magical and thrilling journey by award-winning author Christina Lay, inspired by the game and artwork of Dungeon Solitaire: Labyrinth of Souls. For more information on the Labyrinth of Souls fiction project, visit shadowspinnerspress.com
Death made its nightly rounds of the old quarter. Skeletal toes scraped the cobblestones and bones rattled in the keening wind blowing down from the steppes. The scythe of oblivion spared no one; man, woman or child might be snatched. This alone was reason enough to raid Master Marek’s pantry and Remy could think of several others as he cleared a space on the long table against the wall. He placed one knee on the well-worn surface and tested its strength. The table wobbled only slightly on uneven legs.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” his friend Glyn asked from behind him.
“Not only is it good, it is excellent. Top notch. One of the best I’ve ever had.” Remy grabbed at the row of shelves to steady himself as he climbed up. The collection of bottles and jars rattled alarmingly. He paused as they settled. Nothing fell except a tuft of what looked like dried moss.
When he’d first moved in, Remy would have needed to use a footstool to reach the tabletop and he’d have to stand on the rickety table to reach Marek’s stash of quality liquor. Now if he stretched full length, he could finger the row of colored glass bottles on the top shelf while still on his knees.
Some of the bottles were filled with dyed water. He knew this because he was the one who’d drained and refilled them. His master never noticed because Marek rarely partook of the odd offerings of beet brandy, moss wine, crabapple cider and so on that his clients sometimes paid him with. No, Marek reserved his imbibing for the good stuff in the cut crystal decanter, an amber brandy he shared with Remy on Winter’s solstice, and then only by the wee thimble full.
Remy remembered its heat coating his throat, the flavors of caramel, loam and wealth, and the comforting affect a mere sip had on his state of mind. That was what he needed now—comfort. Glyn had just brought him the news of their mate Abernath’s death. Abernath, a robust young man of seventeen years—the same age as Remy and Glyn—had been found dead in an alley the night before without a fresh mark on him.
Remy’s long fingers tweezed the decanter toward the edge of the shelf. Glyn took an audible breath, sucking air out of the room in the process, braced to flee at the first hint of disaster. Glyn would rather face death than Master Marek in a rage.
“Marek is in the Giant Mountains,” Remy assured him, voice a little pinched from the effort of stretching to his full length and a tiny bit beyond. “I’ve had no word from him for weeks. He’s not about to pop up in the middle of the night with no notice. He likes his fire to be lit and his supper warm when he returns from a long trip.” The decanter tipped forward and Remy caught it with his other hand. As he eased back his sleeve caught on a jutting handle and brought a little pot thudding to the tabletop. The pottery cracked. Something black and viscous oozed out.
“Ox balls,” Remy muttered, and clambered down from the table.
“What is that?” Glyn backed up as if a jinn might spring forth from the ooze.
“Nothing to worry about,” Remy said. He gave the scratch marks on the lid a closer look. Ox balls and a pig’s poker to boot. “Nothing to worry about immediately anyway. Come on. Where’s your cup?”
Author Christina Lay
Christina Lay is primarily a writer of fantastical fiction, with frequent forays into mystery and mainstream. Many of her short stories have been published in anthologies, magazines and online. She’s won five awards for her short fiction, including second place in the Writers’ Digest Short Fiction competition in 2003. Her novels have also won
awards, including first place in the Rupert Hughes Writing Competition at the Maui Writers Conference, First Place in the Journey Conference Novel competition, and she was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association competition. Death is a Star, her first novel to be published, was released in February 2013.
Christina was born in Eugene, Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon in 1988 with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Political Science. She’s worked a wide variety of jobs, from pastry shop clerk to computer software support to cost accounting and bookkeeping for nonprofits. Her favorite job so far has been administrative assistant in a Victorian House Museum. The goal is always to spend as much time as possible writing. For fun she likes to study languages through poetry, take way too many pictures with digital cameras, and be herded by her border collie, Lazlo.
•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!
My Teaser for this week is from
Black Beauty
Everleaf #0.5
by Constance Burris
Genre: Horror / Dark Fantasy / Series
My teaser from7 % in the eBook.
“I’m going crazy,” she thought. This time she did laugh, and the snakes, which were the same rusty brown color as her dreads, returned her smile.
I had no idea what this book was about. I just couldn’t resist that title and cover. It takes right off and gets dark fast. Having fun!
~~~~~
Read on if you want to know more.
Synopsis
At Vista Apartment Complex, life drastically changes for a few of its residents when they decide to do business with Crazy Jade—the supposed voodoo witch that can grant your wish, for a price.
Shemeya wants the confidence to stand up against the girls bullying her at school, but she soon has to choose between keeping her dreadlocs or living a normal life. After catching her boyfriend cheating, Latreece just wants to have the same curves as all the other girls. Ashley will do whatever she can to have “White Girl Flow”, but takes her pursuit too far when she steals from Crazy Jade.
Everyone who comes into contact with Crazy Jade soon learns the true price of her magic—and how horribly wrong it can go.
BLACK BEAUTY takes the reader on a journey through the point of view of five residents of Vista Apartment Complex, and how each of their horrors crash together in ways they could never have expected.
Scarred Beauty (A Wylder Tale, #2) by Jennifer Silverwood
YA Dark Fantasy
ebook, 209 Pages
December 1st 2016
Vynasha has become prisoner with the other wyld beasts of the castle, but she is not alone. In the howling darkness her majikal bond with the Dungeon Master, Grendall grows, awakening the dormant power in her blood.
Yet as she discovers the true nature of the other beasts, she learns she must embrace madness in order to free them all. Vynasha is willing to do anything to end the curse, even if that means transforming into a monster.
Burried secrets come to light in this seductive sequel to Craving Beauty, the Gothic retelling of the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, where nothing is exactly as it seems and the heroine must be her own hero.
Jennifer is offering extra entries on her tour giveaway and a special giveaway
during the Twitter Chat to one lucky artist! Post your fanart and share with
Jennifer on social media (@JennSilverwood on Twitter and Tumblr and
silverwoodj on Facebook). Look for inspiration and see her posts on Tumblr.
.
Enjoy the excerpt
Deep in the enchanted forest by the Silver River which flows through the Wylder Mountains, is a village of the Forgotten. Before Soraya the Enchantress cursed the land, the King declared war against all majikal peoples. Clans and villages scattered throughout the Wylderlands banded together to fight a losing battle against the King’s superior forces. Until only a single village was left, a remnant of the Forgotten and displaced. The King’s former wolfmen warriors chose to abandon their liege and named themselves the Forgotten Protectors of the land.
Soraya cast her curse, a final effort to rid them of her husband’s evil. Her majik succeeded in protecting the people so long oppressed, but then twisted as time passed. Young women were lured to the Lost City by Soraya’s majik, women of the old bloodlines, but none were the foreseen curse breaker.
An age later, the Forgotten Village survives. The leader of the pack of Protectors is Baalor Iceveins and while he tracks the last humans in the mountains, the curse breaker draws near. Little does he know his daughter, Erythea will be the one to meet her first.
~***~
Some were born with ice in their veins, so it had been told to her, so she knew it be true. Father would never lie to her. Anything he thought her too young to know, he simply refused to speak of. Instead he would smile, ruffle her curls and absently say, “Let it lie, little love.”
Grandmother whispered the secrets Father refused to tell, on nights he was away. Like how her mother was a truly wyld witch, of human kind rather than Wolv or one of the forgotten peoples.
“Aren’t humans evil, Grandmother? Is this why the pack hunts them?”
Grandmother’s black eyes sparkled in the candlelight. “The villagers will tell you that majik is evil, but what do you believe, lass?”
Erythea held up her fingers and watched the shadows cast on the wall beside her bed as she considered. “Everyone says they are cruel and evil. But in the old stories you told me, majik wasn’t always bad, was it?”
Grandmother hummed in the back of her throat and returned to her knitting. The click of her wooden needles filled the silence and Erythea knew she was waiting for the thought to turn.
“I think,” Erythea said, “maybe majik wasn’t always bad, like the humans weren’t always evil.”
“Why must the pack hunt the last humans, then, do you suppose?”
She scrunched her nose, amused by Grandmother’s question. “You already know…”
The clacking of needles paused, so only the tapering flame filled her ears, and then after a pause, “Of course, little one, but I am asking you.”
Erythea huffed and dropped her hands onto her fur covers. She ran her fingers over the soft surface and wondered if Father’s wolf coat was this soft, wondered for the umpteenth time what his other shape looked like.
Grandmother cleared her throat, resuming the click of her needles as though to say, well?
“I think the humans must have done something very bad once. Like how Mother did something bad to Father and that is why he never speaks of her.”
Grandmother cackled with delight. “Trust the candor of a child. Yes, my love, the humans were bad, just as the curse is bad. Fear can turn people into monsters. And something that was not meant to be evil can be twisted by fear.”
Though Erythea longed to understand her grandmother’s words, the full meaning of them slipped to the back of her mind, a package to be opened another day.
~***~
The following morning, she raced downstairs, hoping to find a head full of silver hair hung over broad shoulders beside the hearth fire. Instead Grandmother’s long white braid greeted her, followed by her black sparkling eyes as she turned her head to greet her.
“Good morning dearie. Come eat your porridge while it is hot.”
Erythea tried to swallow her disappointment. “Where is Father?”
Grandmother sniffed. “Chasing humans, no doubt. But you never mind that. I want you to do your chores as soon as you finish breaking fast. No mooning about today, little pup.”
“Yes, Grandmother.” Erythea swallowed another mouthful and then sighed. “Why is Father so worried?”
“He thinks he has need to worry so you don’t need to worry, and there’s an end to it.”
Erythea recognized the hard set of Grandmother’s shoulders and knew better than to push further. Better to snoop about the village later and see if she could hear anything. Maybe she could ask Liir later. He always told her things. The other kind were a lot more talkative than Wolvs, she had learned.
With this in mind, she rushed through cleaning house and was on her way to checking her traps in the nearby thicket. She tried not to worry after Father and failed, as usual. Why he hunted humans when her mother had been human was a mystery to her. Humans were a cruel and evil race, everyone claimed. So many times she begged her father to forget the humans and stay close to the village, but he only ever ruffled her hair and kissed her brow till it smoothed.
Erythea felt a frown furrowing her brow now as she checked her second empty trap and sighed as she walked further from the Iceveins cottage and deeper into the forest. She wished her nose was as sharp as Father’s. The familial Wolv traits had yet to manifest after her eleventh birthday, however. Which is why she didn’t hear the approach of the other children until they appeared suddenly across from her in the clearing.
Dread coiled in the pit of her stomach. Wolv children, and not just any but the three who liked her least.
“What do you want, Aelon?” She eyed the tallest and took a cautious step back, slipping her hand behind her cloak to grasp her knife by its hilt. She didn’t have claws like them yet, but she did have steel.
Aelon sneered down at her and took a prowling step forward. “You know what we want.” He lifted his hands to the Ironteeth siblings at his sides and flashed her a sharp toothed grin. “Show us your claws.”
Erythea squashed her rising fear, knowing they could smell it on her. “I don’t have to show you anything.”
He snarled at her. “That’s because you don’t have any claws, isn’t it? You’re a witch, not a Wolv and everyone knows it!”
Despite her best efforts, fear covered her like a second skin with his words. This wasn’t the first time the children teased her for being half human. But she had always clung to the hope she would take after her father’s Wolv side. Maybe then they would accept her. Deep down she knew better.
Aelon sniffed and stalked around her, the Ironteeth siblings at his heels. “I can smell your fear, witch. Why don’t you show us what you really are?”
Erythea pulled out her small dagger and slashed air. “Stay away!”
Aelon grinned. “Say please.” Before she could stop him, Aelon knocked her steel aside. She gasped as he pounced, forcing her into the snow and his fist collided with her cheek. “Show us!”
Erythea tried to throw her hands up but the Ironteeth siblings grabbed her hands. Her fear grew and with it the majik she tried so hard to keep hidden.
Please…oh please…
And then the snow began to tremble around them. A blue light filled the air and Aelon opened his mouth only for a ball of snow to fly into it. The children stumbled back as the snow around them rose from the earth and pounded their flesh. Erythea laughed as the light faded around them.
Some were born with ice in their veins, she thought with glee.
Aelon growled his fury at her as he rushed forward.
Erythea shrieked as his fist came down again.
“You are a freak, just like your mother! You think ’cause your father is pack master you can get away with it?”
This time she could see he meant it. He would kill her if she didn’t move. Pack matters like this meant no adults could interfere. It was how they learned who would run with the alpha once they grew up. No one suspected Erythea took after her human mother, at least not in public. But the children knew because their parents told them, whispering of their pack master’s treacherous human wife.
Please…
She feared the pressure building inside, growing as the Ironteeth twins tried to pull Aelon away in vain. And then a growl ripped through the small clearing, unlike anything they knew, more wyldcat than wolf. The children barely had time to look up for the source of such a monstrous sound, when Aelon was thrown up into the air by a fur garbed figure with long curling hair.
After the strange creature crouched over Erythea and snarled at the other children until they scrambled off in fear. Once they were alone, the creature twisted around to look over her with the fierce golden eyes of a wyldcat set in a strange, but beautiful foreign face.
It was the woman from the other night…Wanderer’s sister…the stranger the village elders were so frightened of. The woman had tackled Erythea’s father to the ground the night before. Yet here she was, this stranger willing to protect her when no one else would.
Maybe she could be the one… she thought with growing hope. Aloud, she said, “Aelon’s mother won’t forget what you did.”
The woman grimaced, her golden eyes glinting in the winter light. “He should be punished for what he did to you.”
“I won’t forget what you did, either,” Erythea was quick to say.
“I’m the one who threatened your village this morning.”
“I know. You are Wanderer’s sister. They say you’re a witch.”
A strange look crossed the woman’s face as she replied, “I guess I am.”
“My mother was a witch, too. That is why they hate me so much. My name is Erythea of the Iceveins clan.”
“Vynasha.”
Other Books in the Series
Craving Beauty (A Wylder Tale, #1) by Jennifer Silverwood
YA Dark Fantasy
Paperback & ebook, 239 pages
October 31st 2015
Vynasha has spent the last four years tending her mother’s roses and looking after her nephew. The fire that killed their family has left her scarred and put Wyll on the brink of death. Soon the first frost will come down from the mountains and she knows this winter will be his last.
Until a strange beggar appears on the road, telling her of the majikal Source that can heal her Wyll. With nothing left to lose, Vynasha braves the forbidden Wylder Mountains to seek out a cure and her fate.
A lost kingdom is uncovered by an equally lost girl, but the castle is not abandoned as she believes. Shadows cloaking unseen eyes watch. Tapestries whisper from the hidden corners, wondering if the one to break their curse has come. And a hungry beast waits, ready to devour her soul.
Wolfsbane’s Daughter (A Wylder Tale Novella) by Jennifer Silverwood
YA Dark Fantasy
ebook, 52 Pages
February 25th 2016
Wolfsbane and his daughter Resha are on a never ending quest in the Wylder Mountains, to wipe out the wolves who destroyed their village. Before their enemies stole everything she loved, Resha cared for little beyond learning how to be a hunter. After, she learned a hunter must be prepared to fight as well as flee. Now she cares for nothing but revenge.
Until she discovers two majikal humans half frozen in the forest. Resha has a choice, to follow her instincts and leave the strangers to the wolves, or save them. Yet the enemy is on the prowl and there is little time for Wolfsbane’s daughter to find safe haven before they are discovered.
Jennifer Silverwoodwas raised deep in the heart of Texas and has been spinning yarns a mile high since childhood. In her spare time she reads and writes and tries to sustain her wanderlust, whether it’s the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, the highlands of Ecuador or a road trip to the next town. Always on the lookout for her next adventure, in print or reality, she dreams of one day proving to the masses that everything really is better in Texas. She is the author of the Heaven’s Edge series, Stay and Silver Hollow.
3 winners to receive ebooks of all three books in A Wylder Tales:Craving Beauty,Wolfsbane’s Daughter, andScarred Beauty (extra swag to US winners)
Open internationally
Ends December 12th
I swear, every time I finish another book in this series, I think it can’t get any better. These newest episodes prove me wrong, again.
There’s no way I can relate what happens in this book without spoiling it for you. You just have to take me at my word when I say it’ll have you biting your nails, begging for the next revealing chapter. It’s so damned good.
As we get closer to the conclusion, more secrets are revealed, the past and present draw closer together, and more questions are answered. And you get more and more creepiness and suspense. The theme music from Jaws echoed in my head while I was reading this. You know something is about to happen, just not what or when. With only a few more books to go. I’m itching to find out what happens.
This is such a great series. I sure hope you give it a go. If you do, make sure you start at the beginning. It’s the only way to read it. And it’ll be worth every penny.
5 Stars
Synopsis
Welcome Back to the World of Onyx Webb! This is Book Seven. (Episodes 19, 20 & 21) Haven’t Gotten Entangled Yet? Please Start with Book One.
More questions get answered in Book Seven and the timelines are narrowing much closer.
Onyx Webb is a complex multi-genre mash-up that combines elements of supernatural suspense, crime, horror, romance, and more. The Onyx Webb series follows the unusual life of Onyx Webb along with a central group of characters in various locations and times.
The billionaire Mulvaney family, piano prodigy Juniper Cole and her brother Quinn, paranormal show hosts Cryer and Fudge, and a few others make up the core of the series. Written like a book version of your favorite tv series (think: supernatural soap opera like American Horror Story) each character’s story moves forward with most every episode. It may appear that the characters are entirely unrelated and yet episode by episode, the connections will become clearer. Like being an inch away from a spider web, with each book, the web will move further and further away revealing the full story of every character and most importantly, the stunning conclusion for Onyx Webb herself.
In Book Seven: Juniper’s brother Quinn visits Koda and will finally see his sister. Stan Lee gets revenge against Mika Flagler. Onyx Webb deals with the crazy film festival and life alone… for now.
It’s so hard to review books this far into the series. You can’t say much or you’ll be spoiling it.
I love a good haunting and what’s better than a haunted hotel. The Lathrop Grand Hotel has been around for a long time. Many ghosts haunt it’s halls. People come in large numbers and book a room, hoping they’ll have a ghostly encounter. They get much more than a brush with a spectre as the haunts become violent.
It’s up to Ellie and Stacey to find out why the ghosts are so threatening. If they don’t do a bit of ghost trapping, guests could be harmed, or worse, killed.
I swear I was a ghost myself as I followed these gals through the halls, down the stairs, and into secret passages. The atmosphere in this book gave me the shivers.
And I’ve become even more of a fan of the character’s. All of them are adapting to the many changes in their lives. Stacey is stepping up her game as she works with Ellie. And Ellie is becoming more confident and comfortable in her own skin.
This is another winner in the series and I’m now on to the next book, curious to see what these character’s get into next.
5 Stars
Synopsis
The luxurious Lathrop Grand Hotel is a Savannah institution that has entertained guests for more than a century and a half, offering some of the finest accommodations in the city. Famously haunted, the hotel draws tourists from around the world eager to encounter its numerous ghosts. The hotel is also known for being honeycombed with hidden doors and secret passages, enabling staff to appear and disappear quickly as they attend to the hotel’s guests.
Now some of the spirits in the Lathrop Grand have turned violent, even murderous. Ellie and Stacey must determine which ghost has become dangerous and remove it from the hotel before it can claim any more lives. They soon learn the hotel has secrets even darker than the notorious string of nineteenth-century murders that made it famous, and the powerful entities inhabiting it don’t intend to leave without a fight.
What a great story. I love horses and just had to see what this was all about.
The water horses are a race of beings that live in the water, emerging to feed on flesh or drag you to a watery death. The thought makes me shiver.
Every year, riders mount these monstrous beasts for the Scorpio Races. It’s hard enough to win a regular horse race. In this race, you have to worry about surviving as much as winning.
The character’s are numerous and very genuine. Puck is a young lass willing to risk her life in the races. She lost her parents to the water horses, and now her older brother is leaving her and her younger brother Finn to fend for themselves. The money from the race would help save their home.
Sean and his stallion, Corr, are four time winners of the races. He’ll ride again this year, but the stakes are much higher.
Puck and Sean have a growing attraction for each other. But both must win the race.
I so loved this world and the character’s that galloped through the pages, human and other. I wanted this one to win. And that one to win. This one to stay. That one to stay. I feared the worst and hoped for the best.
This story is so much more than a race. I struggle to even tell you about it. There’s desperation and hope, bravery and honor, magic and danger. And I couldn’t have asked for a better final scene.
5 Stars
~~~~~
Synopsis
Some race to win. Others race to survive.
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
Some riders live.
Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.
![Ghosts: The Complete Series by [Cross, Amy]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41BKlxbD3TL._SY346_.jpg)
![The Scorpio Races by [Stiefvater, Maggie]](http://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518FhXK7gpL.jpg?resize=281%2C428&ssl=1)
