Archive for the ‘giveaways’ Category

Picture Not Perfect by D.E. Haggerty ~ Blast and Giveaway

Posted: January 7, 2019 in giveaways, Romance, suspense
Tags: ,
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Picture Not Perfect banner

Welcome to my stop on the Book Blast for Picture Not Perfect organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

I have a fun excerpt to share and Author D.E. Haggerty will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Be sure to click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Picture Not Perfect

Not So Reluctant Detectives #2

by D.E. Haggerty

Picture Not Perfect cover

Synopsis

A picture tells a story. But is it the truth?

When the police find pictures of Melanie hanging up at her murdered colleague’s house, they’re convinced he was stalking her. Maybe she even killed him. Melanie was not being stalked! And she certainly didn’t kill her supposed stalker – as if. But Mel – always up for a bit of drama – jumps at the chance to go search for the real killer. When Mel’s ex-boyfriend, Owen, discovers her plans, he pulls out all the stops to ensure she’s safe and to win her back. No matter what happens with the murder investigation, he’s not letting her go. With the police setting their sights on Mel, he may need to jeopardize his own career on the police force to protect her.

Will Mel find the real killer before the detectives arrest her for murder?

Enjoy this peek inside:

“Ms. Hanson, please have a seat.” Detective Meyer motioned to a chair before setting a bottle of water on the table in front of it. Then, he sat down and placed a file on the table in front of him. His partner remained standing in the corner of the room near the door. Mel started to stomp her way to the chair before remembering someone was probably watching and recording whatever she did and said in the room. She firmed her jaw before slowly walking to the chair and sitting down.

She took a few gulps of water before asking, “Is this where you finally tell me what’s going on?”

Instead of answering her question, the detective pulled a picture out of the file and put it on the table in front of her. “Do you know this man?”

Mel picked up the picture. “Sure. It’s Alfred Schultz. He’s a social sciences teacher at the high school where I’m a guidance counselor.” She handed the picture back to the detective. “Why?”

Again, he ignored her. He pulled out a series of pictures and laid them on the table in front of her. Mel looked down and gasped at what she saw. Every single picture was of her. “What in the world are you doing with these? What is going on?”

“These are pictures we found in Mr. Schultz’s apartment.”

“What?” Why would Alfred have pictures of her in his apartment? They weren’t friends. Was he following her? She shivered. The man’s creepiness level just skyrocketed. “What’s going on?”

“That’s what we’d like to know,” Detective Davis replied from her position leaning against the wall.

Mel’s hands shook as she gathered the pictures together and handed them back to the detective. She needed to calm down. Freaking out wouldn’t get her any answers. She forced herself to remember her yoga training. Calming breaths. She could do this. Deep breath in through the nose. Exhale through the mouth. Again. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“What was your relationship with Mr. Schultz?”

“We don’t really have a relationship. We’re colleagues. He’d like more, but …” she trailed off. Wait a second! Her mind rewound on his words. “Was? Did you say was?” She gulped. “What happened?”

“Mr. Schultz was found dead in his home yes—” His words were cut off by Detective Davis clearing her throat.

Mel gasped. “Found dead? Is that cop-speak for murdered?” At the detective’s nod, her mouth dropped open. “How? Why? Who?”

“We were hoping you could answer those questions for us,” Detective Davis answered. She was no longer casually leaning against the wall but now stood with her arms crossed over her chest staring down at Melanie.

“Me? Why would I be able to answer those questions for you?” In response, Davis merely tilted her head towards the pictures.

The pieces of the puzzle clicked together, and she finally realized what was going on. She jumped from her chair. “Holy moly! You think I had something to do with his death!”

About the Author:

I grew up reading everything I could get my grubby hands on, from my mom’s Harlequin romances, to Nancy Drew, to Little Women. When I wasn’t flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S. Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although on the odd occasion I did manage to sneak a book into my rucksack between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. After surviving the army experience, I went back to school and got my law degree. I jumped ship and joined the hubby in the Netherlands before the graduation ceremony could even begin. A few years into my legal career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic before returning to the law. But practicing law really wasn’t my thing, so I quit (again!) and went off to Germany to start a B&B. Turns out running a B&B wasn’t my thing either. I polished off that manuscript languishing in the attic before following the husband to Istanbul where I decided to give the whole writer-thing a go. But ten years was too many to stay away from my adopted home. I packed up again and moved to The Hague where, in between tennis matches and failing to save the world, I’m currently working on my next book. I hope I’ll always be working on my next book.

Picture Not Perfect is my fourteenth novel.

Author links:

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Goodreads / Amazon

Newsletter / Google + / Pinterest / Bookbub / LinkedIn 

Email: dena@dehaggerty.com

Buy Links: Amazon / Smashwords / Kobo / B&N / Goodreads

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giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

With a flick of the tail its …. A Spell Of Murder ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: January 7, 2019 in Cozy Mystery, giveaways
Tags: ,
19
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A Spell of Murder
Witch Cats of Cambridge Book 1
by Clea Simon
Genre: Cozy Mystery 
 
“It’s Harriet’s fault. It’s always her fault, not that she’ll ever
admit it.” So begins A Spell of Murder: A Witch Cats of Cambridge
mystery, the first in a new cozy series that mixes feline fiction
with a touch of the paranormal, and a little romance as well.
Becca, newly single and newly unemployed, wants to believe she has
psychic powers. With nothing but time – and a desire for empowerment –
she’s studying to become a witch. What she doesn’t know is that
her three cats – Harriet, Laurel, and Clara – are the ones with
the real power. And when Harriet – “a cream-colored longhair with
more fur than commonsense” – conjures a pillow for her own
comfort, Becca believes her spells are finally working. Could that be
why Trent, the coven’s devilishly handsome leader, has been showing
her special attention? Or why Suzanne, a longtime coven member, draws
her aside to share a secret – a confidence that may lead to murder?
 .
a spell of murder pic
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It was Harriet’s fault. It’s always her fault, not that she’ll ever admit it.
That was Clara’s first thought as she tried to settle on the sofa, flicking her long, grey tail with annoyance. As a cat, Clara wouldn’t usually have any trouble getting comfortable. That’s one special skill that all felines share. But even as she tried to calm her restive tail, curling it neatly around her snowy front paws, Clara, a petite, if plump, calico, couldn’t stop fretting.
Harriet was her oldest sister, a creamsicle-colored longhair with more fur than common sense. Still, despite the fluffy feline’s typical self-absorption, she and Clara and their middle sister, Laurel, had cohabited with a nice enough human for almost two years without any problems, until now. Until Harriet.
Yes, Becca, their human, had begun to believe she had psychic powers. Becca, who at twenty-six usually had more sense, was training to be a witch, as if that were something one could learn from books. But to the calico cat who now fumed quietly on the sofa, the petite brunette had always seemed a harmless soul—good with a can opener. Warm. Generous with her lap. And then, last week, Harriet—who cared only for her own comfort—conjured up a pillow.
“I was tired,” Harriet said, in that petulant mew that Clara knew so well, when asked why in the name of Bast she’d be so stupid. “Becca wasn’t even looking.”
“You could have moved!” her younger sibling hissed back, the grey whorls on her sides heaving with annoyance. “And she was!”
Harriet was taking up the sunny spot on the windowsill, as she always did that time of the morning, and Clara narrowed her mysterious green eyes to glare at her sister. Harriet was more than fluffy, she was immense, a pale orange marshmallow of a feline, whose furry bulk and predictable habits prevented her youngest sister from enjoying any of the solar bounty. Still, she probably shouldn’t have hissed. Harriet was Clara’s elder, if merely by a few minutes. As it was, the orange and white cat just shuffled a bit and turned her rounded back on her sister rather than responding.
Clara didn’t know why she even bothered asking. She already knew the answer: Harriet didn’t move unless she had to, and on a warm spring day it was easier to conjure a cushion than make the leap from the sun-warmed sill to the sofa, where Clara now fumed. The sofa where, it turned out, Becca had been trying out a summoning spell. And so now, of course, their hapless human believed she had pulled that pillow out of the ether.
Which was a problem because Becca belonged to a coven. Had for about three months, ever since she saw a flier in the laundromat advertising an opening for “Witches: New and In Training.” That was the kind of thing that happened here, in Cambridge, where the hippies never really went away. Since then, they’d met every week to drink a foul-smelling herbal concoction and try out various spells. None of which ever produced any magic, of course. None of the humans had the basic powers of a day-old kitten, and certainly nothing like Clara and her sisters shared as the descendants of an old and royal feline line. But now, Clara feared, Becca had become obsessed, spending every waking moment trying to reproduce that one spell, while Harriet, Laurel, and Clara looked on.
“Don’t you dare…” Clara muttered in a soft mew as Laurel sashayed into the room, taking in her two sisters with one sweeping gaze. Laurel was the middle one, a troublemaker and as vain as can be. Not simply of her own glossy coat—the cream touched with brown, or, as she called it, café au lait—but of her powers. That she was plotting something, Clara was certain. As Laurel glanced from Harriet back to Clara again, her tail started lashing and her ears stuck out sideways like an owl’s.
“Why not?” Laurel had a streak of Siamese in her. It made her chatty, as well as giving her neat dark chocolate booties. “It’ll be fun.”
“It’ll bring more people!” Clara felt her fur start to rise. The idea of her middle sister meddling—and possibly adding more magic to the mix—made her frantic. “Don’t you get it? They’ll never let up.”
The black, grey, and orange cat—the smallest of the three sisters—didn’t have to explain who “they” were. That night, Becca’s coven would be meeting again at their place, which, to the three felines, was bad enough. Strangers, six of them, would soon be sitting in all the good seats, with their odd smells and loud voices. What was worse was that Becca would think she had to feed them, as well as brew that horrible tea. And as the cats well knew, Becca had no money, not since she lost her job as a researcher for the local historical society.
“Redundant,” her boss had told her. “What with the budget cutbacks and the advances in technology.”
“That means they can get an intern to do a Google search.” Becca had sniffled into Clara’s parti-colored fur the day she’d gotten the news. Harriet might be the fluffiest and Laurel the sleekest, but Clara was the one Becca talked to. The one she had confided in months earlier when she found the book that had started her on this whole witchcraft obsession, a spark of excitement lighting up her face. She’d been researching land deeds, the scutwork of history, when she had stumbled on it, her eye caught by a familiar name—some old relative of hers who had been caught up in a witch trial back in the bad old days in Salem. Then, when she’d seen the flier by the coin machine at the Wash ‘N Dry, she’d been so exhilarated, she’d raced back to tell Clara, leaving her sheets in the drier. And now, without the distraction of her job, Becca had thrown herself into the study of magic and sorcery, spending her days in the library or on her computer, trying to track down the full story of that great-great whatever, and sharing her fears and, increasingly, her hopes with Clara.
Maybe it was because Clara was a calico that Becca whispered into the black-tipped ears of her littlest cat. Calicos had a reputation for being more intelligent and curious than other felines. Plus, that uneven look—a gray patch over one eye and an orange one over the other—made her appear approachable. Inquisitive. Becca couldn’t know that her youngest cat was often teased for her markings. “Goofy,” her sister Laurel said in her distinctive yowl. “Clara the calico? Clara the clown!” Recently, Harriet had taken up calling her that too.
Clara didn’t mind, as long as Becca kept confiding in her. The young woman didn’t really think her cats understood about her being laid off, but, in truth, they were all quite aware of the straitened circumstances. Not that Laurel and Harriet always sympathized. There was that one time three weeks ago that Becca tried cutting back on the cats’ food, getting the generic cans from the market instead of the tiny ones with the pretty labels. After wolfing down hers, Harriet had barfed all over the sofa. She didn’t have to. She was just making a point about what she considered an affront to her dignity.
Tonight, when Becca took credit for conjuring that cushion, Clara didn’t know what her haughty sister would do. Interrupt, most likely. Jump onto the table and begin bathing, if she had to, to be the center of attention. If she tried anything further—like pulling more pillows out of the ether—or if Laurel got up to her own tricks, Clara would have to get involved, she vowed with a final flick of the tail. And that, she knew, just wouldn’t end well.
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a spell of murder teaser
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Clea Simon is the author of “A Spell of Murder,” the first in
her new “Witch Cats of Cambridge” series. She is also the
author of “World Enough,” a rock ‘n’ roll noir, as well as
the Blackie and Care series (most recently “Cross My Path”)
chronicling the adventures of the pink-haired Care and the black
feral cat who loves her. In addition to these darker books, she is
also the author of the Dulcie Schwartz feline mysteries, the Pru
Marlowe pet noir mysteries, and the Theda Krakow mysteries, as well
as three nonfiction books, including The Feline Mystique: On the
Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats.
The recipient of multiple honors, including the Cat Writers Associations
Presidents Award, she lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her
husband, Jon Garelick, and their cat, Musetta.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

What’s New On My Bookshelf #294 and The Sunday Post

Posted: January 6, 2019 in Freebies!, giveaways, reviews, What's New on My Bookshelf
Tags: , ,
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bookshelves photo: Bookshelf bookshelves.jpg

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

I’m also linking up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

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Some chit chat.

I hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year! I spent mine at home enjoying some movies, shows and great books. The weather has been warm and the sun finally came out after over a month of rainy and gloomy skies. What a bright beginning to a brand new year!

I usually make it a point to get in the pool New Years day. I was just getting over a cold so all I did was dip my toe in. It counts, right? LOL

Not much else to report so I’m keeping this short.

Have a lovely Sunday.

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My new books this week.

41882328  41632565

43284892

The Sensitives: A Paranormal Horror Novel by [Wood, Rick]  Skinner by [Bernstein, David]

And I just got this ARC from J.L. Bryan today! Isn’t it a beauty!

I’ve read every book in the series and been waiting to get my hands on Fire Devil. I might be MIA for the next day or so. LOL

42994915

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And here are some FREEBIES for ya.

Click on the covers to get your copies. Remember to make sure they’re still free before you hit that buy button.

Can You Kick a Ghost in the Nuts? (A Cozy Mystery): The Harper Files: Book 1 A Blue Moon Novella by [Higgs, Steve, Higgs, Gemma]  Rescuing Finley (A Forever Home Novel Book 1) by [Walsh, Dan]

Catnip (Dunbarton Mysteries Book 1) by [Tate, Valerie]  Lady Molly of Scotland Yard by [Baroness Orczy]

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Click on the covers for this weeks reviews.

40117350  39655749  39391327

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Other posts on my blog this week.

Last review For 2018 ~ Wolves: Hell Divers IV

First Review For 2019 ~ The Sorrows

The Kid’s Korner #33 ~ Good Egg And Bad Apple

2018 was a fun year in Reading Challenges and 2019 brings more!

The Prospero Chronicles ~ Excerpts and Giveaway

Just because she can doesn’t mean ….. The Corpse Whisperer ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

The Power Of Five by Alex Lidell ~ Release Day Blitz and Giveaway

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Leave your link and I’ll come visit you.

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

The Power Of Five by Alex Lidell ~ Release Day Blitz and Giveaway

Posted: January 5, 2019 in Fantasy, giveaways
Tags: , ,
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I am so excited that the POWER OF FIVE Series by Alex Lidell is complete with LERA OF LUNOS available
now and that I get to share the news!
If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful series
by Author Alex Lidell, be sure to check out all the details below.
This blitz also includes a giveaway for a $10 Amazon
GC, International, A set of the eBooks, International, & a POWER OF FIVE Journal,
US only, courtesy of Alex and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to
win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.
 
About the series:

Title: LERA OF LUNOS (Power of Five
#4)

Author: Alex Lidell
Pub. Date: January 4, 2019
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 192
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon
Read For FREE With Kindle Unlimited!
Two immortal realms on brink of war. One
mortal standing in their way.With the quint squaring off against the king of Slait, Lera is running out of
time to tame her feral magic. Worse still, just when the quint must weave together to survive, demons from Tye’s past surface to tear them apart. Demons
he fears facing, let alone sharing with Lera.But when Griorgi makes a move that no one expects, throwing River, Shade, and
Coal’s lives into question, the clock runs out. Lera and Tye have no choice but
to fight their battles within—or risk losing Lunos and their quint forever.LERA OF LUNOS is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel, the stunning
finale to the Amazon-bestselling, KU-All Star POWER OF FIVE series.
 
Title: TRIAL OF
THREE (Power of Five #3)
Author: Alex Lidell
Pub. Date: September 26, 2018
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 192
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon
 
Read For FREE With Kindle Unlimited!
 
Four cords of power. Three trials. Two soul-crushing
secrets. 
For Lera, training has never been so
hard. With the males’ power roaring in her veins and River’s cold demand that
she master the magic before the third trial, something has to give. Worse
still, River is keeping something from her. Something about his past and
Lunos’s future.
For River and Coal, the past must stay
buried. Though one male’s nightmare sits on a throne and the other’s hides in
his soul, they are equally unprepared for Lera’s startling determination to
undress the truth.
But when Mors’s Emperor Jawrar makes a
play for Lunos, neither Lera’s fledgling magic nor the males’ old wounds can
remain untouched—not if their world is to survive.
TRIAL OF THREE is a full-length
reverse-harem fantasy novel, third in the Amazon bestselling, KU-All Star POWER
OF FIVE series. 

 

Title: MISTAKE OF MAGIC
(Power Of Five #2)

Author: Alex Lidell
Pub. Date: June 29, 2018
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 193
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon
Read For FREE With Kindle Unlimited!
Three trials stand between Lera and exile. Unless the training
kills her first.

Quint magic has never chosen a human before, and the Elders Council is
convinced Lera is a mistake. 

When the quint refuses to be cleaved apart, the enraged elders give them a
choice: exile from Lunos or demotion to the lowest of trainees. Subject again
to the humiliations and deadly trials they endured centuries ago, the males now
face a new challenge—training Lera to survive. 

River, Shade, Coal, and Tye will do whatever it takes to keep Lera safe. But
Lera will do whatever she must to keep them together—even if it means putting
herself in mortal danger.
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Title: POWER OF FIVE

Author: Alex Lidell
Pub. Date: May 4, 2018
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 312
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon
Read For FREE With Kindle Unlimited!

 

 

Four elite fae warriors. One mortal female. A magical bond they
can’t allow—or resist. 

Orphaned and sold to a harsh master, Lera’s life is about mucking stalls,
avoiding her master’s advances, and steering clear of the mystical forest
separating the mortal and fae worlds. Only fools venture into the immortal
realms, and only dark rumors come out… Until four powerful fae warriors
appear at Lera’s barn. 

River, Coal, Tye, and Shade have waited a decade for their new fifth to be
chosen, the wounds from their quint brother’s loss still raw. But the magic has
played a cruel trick, bonding the four immortal warriors to… a female. A
mortal female. 

Distractingly beautiful and dangerously frail, Lera can only be one thing—a
mistake. Yet as the males bring Lera back to the fae lands to sever the bond,
they discover that she holds more power over their souls than is safe for
anyone… especially for Lera herself. 

Power of Five is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel. 
 
READ POWER OF FIVE FOR FREE JANUARY 4TH-8TH!!!!
.
Excerpt
from LERA OF LUNOS:
“There was rather little
incentive to follow the rules at that point,” Tye said simply. “And smuggling
pays well.” He swallowed painfully, unable to look at her for this part, to see
in her eyes the moment she realized he’d been right to push her away. “Now do
you see why I thought you should go with Shade? If it were up to me, Lilac
Girl, I would never let you out of my sight for the rest of my life. But it
isn’t up to me, especially now that you know the full truth. You deserve
better, Lera. You deserve the world.”
Silence trailed at the heels
of Tye’s words, the cave around them a capsule of secrets. Each memory shoving
itself insistently from its hiding place in the depths of Tye’s mind drove
another needle into his soul. Fingers tightening on the rough stone, Tye
inhaled the damp, mossy air and awaited judgment.
Several heartbeats passed
before Lera rose to her knees, her cool hands gripping Tye’s face. Tipping it
to look so deeply into his eyes that Tye felt his soul bared beneath her
intense chocolate gaze. Stars, if the girl could make him feel so vulnerable
with one look, what could she do with a word? A step? Fear crackled along his
veins, but when he tried to pull back, to escape for a bit of air, Lera would
not let him.
“I see you, Tye.” Her words
rang gently through the cave, stopping Tye’s heart. “And I want you. Not for
play. I want you for you, forever.”
Tye’s blood stirred, waking
him to Lera’s words. She wanted him.
She wanted him.
The way he’d always longed
for her but had been so certain she would never feel in return. He stared into
her eyes, hardly daring to believe it.
“And I want forever to start
now, Tye,” she said quietly.

 

About Alex:

 

Alex Lidell is the Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE
CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey
player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in
elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora
Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book
Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s life long love for YA fantasy books.
Alex is represented by Leigh Feldman of Leigh Feldman Literary. She lives in
Washington, DC.Join Alex’s newsletter for news, bonus content and sneak peeks: www.subscribepage.com/TIDES
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon
Author Page | Book Bub | Instagram
Giveaway
Details:
 
1 winner will win a $10 Amazon GC International.
1 winner will receive a POWER OF FIVE Journal, US Only.
1 winner will receive the complete POWER OF FIVE series in eBooks, International.
.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Just because she can doesn’t mean ….. The Corpse Whisperer ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: January 4, 2019 in giveaways, Mystery, urban fantasy
Tags: , ,
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The Corpse Whisperer
An Allie Nighthawk Mystery Book 1
by H.R. Boldwood
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
 
Welcome to the world of Allie Nighthawk, corpse whisperer and badass zombie
hunter.
“If you raise deadheads, you’d better be able to put ‘em down. Nobody
said it was pretty. But in this day, when vampires aren’t just for
breakfast anymore, and the dead are disposable pawns for
necromancers, someone has to ante up. Looks like I won the lotto.
Imagine my delight. You should thank me, really, because the world is
batshit crazy.”
When the zombie population spikes and no one knows why, it’s up to Allie
to solve the mystery. But there’s a hitch. She’s stuck
babysitting Leo Abruzzi, a zombie-bitten gangster who’s turning
state’s evidence. But the mob and a powerful necromancer will stop
at nothing to take Leo and Allie down.
Allie Nighthawk is Anita Blake on steroids, with a fondness for leather and
Jack on the rocks. She has a healthy dose of Stephanie Plum and
Rachel Morgan in her, too, though she’d never admit it.
The battle between good and evil just got wicked fun.
 
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excerpt
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There aren’t many good reasons for raising the dead, but there are plenty of bad ones — greed, revenge, and absolute lunacy top the list. I’m Allie Nighthawk and raising the dead happens to be my only talent. People are willing to pay for it. Go figure. I’m also one of the few corpse whisperers who puts the “toys” away when clients are finished playing with them. Away, as in hermetically sealed back in their coffins, with their disease-ravaged brains neutralized. That’s shop talk for scattered, smothered, covered and chunked. The last thing we need is zombies clawing up through the dirt like demented whack-a-moles, and gnawing on the residents of Cincinnati.

I was born a corpse whisperer, twenty-six years and too many zombies ago to count. It’s a genetic thing, like blonde hair or blue eyes, except that it’s … raising the dead. Yeah. Okay. It’s not exactly the same. It involves different genetic markers.

Buy a vowel, people. The concept’s the same.

The supernatural abilities that come with this gift have increased with each generation. That makes me very good at what I do. And a little dangerous. If you raise deadheads, you’d better be able to put ‘em down. Whisperers like me take care of business.

I can remember a time when you never saw biters shambling in the streets. But things have changed. Vampires aren’t just for breakfast anymore, and the dead have become disposable pawns for necromancers. Someone had to ante up. Looks like I won the lotto. Imagine my delight.

You should thank me, really, because the world is batshit crazy.

corpse whisperer tease 1

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H.R. Boldwood is a writer of horror and speculative fiction. In another
incarnation, Boldwood is a Pushcart Prize nominee and was awarded the
2009 Bilbo Award for creative writing by Thomas More College.
Publication credits include, “Killing it Softly,” “Short
Story America,” “Bete Noir,” “Everyday Fiction,”
“Toys in the Attic,” “Floppy Shoes Apocalypse II,”
“Pilcrow and Dagger,” and “Sirens Call.”
Boldwood’s characters are often disreputable and not to be trusted. They are
kicked to the curb at every conceivable opportunity. No
responsibility is taken by this author for the dastardly and
sometimes criminal acts committed by this ragtag group of miscreants.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 
Enter the giveaway to win this beautiful
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

The Prospero Chronicles ~ Excerpts and Giveaway

Posted: January 4, 2019 in giveaways, horror, Science Fiction, YA
Tags: , , ,
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Splinters
The Prospero Chronicles Book 1
by Fiona J.R. Titchenell & Matt Carter
Genre: YA Horror, SciFi
 
Under normal circumstances, Ben and Mina would never have had reason to
speak to each other. He’s an easy-going people person with a
healthy skepticism about the paranormal; she’s a dangerously
obsessive monster-hunter with a crippling fear of betrayal. But the
small Northern California town of Prospero, with its rich history of
cryptid sightings, miracles, and mysterious disappearances, has no
normal circumstances to offer.
When Ben’s missing childhood friend, Haley Perkins, stumbles out of
Prospero’s surrounding woods and right into her own funeral, Ben
and Mina are forced to work together to uncover what happened to her.
Different as they are, their unlikely friendship may be the only
thing that can save the town, and possibly the world, from its
insidious invaders.
“A snapping, crackling, popping homage to classic horror.”
—Kirkus Reviews.
“Whip-smart
dialogue… genuinely terrifying Splinters, the descriptions of which
will have fans of monster films utterly enthralled… A promising
series opener, this will satisfy those readers who like their scary
stories to be as clever as they are chilling.” —KQG, the
Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books.
“The stakes are high. The action is intense.” —Washington
Independent Review of Books.
**only 99 cents!!**
,
Prospero splinters teaser 2-1
 .
 
Shards
The Prospero Chronicles Book 2
 
When autumn descends on Prospero, California, Ben hopes the normality of
the new school year may offer a reprieve from the town’s paranormal
horrors. Mina knows all too well that there are no reprieves and no
normality to be had in Prospero, but even she can’t prepare for
what the coming year holds.
On top of the vivid hallucinations that have plagued Mina since the
attack on the Warehouse, and the brewing Splinter civil war that
threatens all of humanity, inside the walls of Prospero High, Ben,
Mina, and their expanding Network face a vicious campaign to destroy
their friendship, and a mysterious assassin picking off human rebels
– an assassin with powers like no Splinter they’ve fought before.
Ben and Mina’s one hope rests with a mysterious old man hiding in the
woods outside of town; a living legend who may be able to teach them
how to fight this dangerous new breed of Splinter. That is, assuming
he doesn’t kill the pair of them himself.
“Titchenell and Carter hold nothing back in this solid sequel that thrills and
expands on its predecessor. Aided by swift writing, relatable
characters and unexpected scares, Shards is a chill-inducing
delight.” —David Powers King, co-author of Woven.
“Maintaining the same level of popcorn-munching fun, Titchenell and Carter are
taking The Prospero Chronicles in a promising direction.” —Joe
Dell’Erb, Washington Independent Review of Books.
 ,
Prospero shards teaser
 .
 
Slivers
The Prospero Chronicles Book 3
 
Ben
Growing up is hard, and growing up in Prospero is even harder, but I think we
manage. I mean, yeah, my friends and I spend more of our time
fighting a race of shapeshifting aliens than we do hanging out, but
we have our fun. We go to parties, help each other with our classes,
maybe even fall in love…
I’ve no illusions that we live ordinary lives, but they’re our lives,
and I’m going to make sure we make the most of them whether the
Splinters want us to or not.

 

Mina
The truce is temporary. We will not humor the Splinters forever. It’s
only until the Slivers can be stopped, until the army of Shards being
planted among our classmates can be disassembled, until we get our
hands on the thing I’d almost given up believing in.
The humanity test.
For the chance to know, once and for all, who can be trusted, some
dealings with monsters must be excusable. Inevitable. Just like this
feeling between Ben and me.
And that has to be temporary too.
,
Prospero slivers teaser 1
 .
 
Stitches
The Prospero Chronicles Book 4
by Fiona J.R. Titchenell
 
This is Prospero’s darkest hour. The few remaining humans trapped within
the quarantine zone are all but defenseless against the multiplying
forces of the Sliver Queen, Locusta. With Ben missing, Aldo among the
enemy ranks, and more steel plates than bones left in her body,
Mina’s passing the hours drowning in morphine and throwing heavy
objects at her guards. 
Stripped of her weapons, her gadgets, and the Network itself, she has just one
card left, hidden somewhere under her oft-sutured skin. It might be
powerful enough to complete her life’s work once and for all… or
to reach the one person who could make her life into more than a
means to an end. But playing it will cost everything she has, or
everything she believes in.
The final chronicle of Prospero waits in these pages.
.
 .
Prospero stitches teaser 1
 .
 
F.J.R. TITCHENELL is an author of young adult, sci-fi, and horror fiction, including
Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of). She
graduated from Cal State University Los Angeles with a B. A. in
English in 2009 at the age of twenty. She currently lives in San
Gabriel, California, with her husband, coauthor, and amazing partner
in all things, Matt Carter, and their pet king snake, Mica.
 
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

What’s New On My Bookshelf #293 and The Sunday Post

Posted: December 30, 2018 in Freebies!, giveaways, reviews, What's New on My Bookshelf
Tags: , ,
52

bookshelves photo: Bookshelf bookshelves.jpg

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

I’m also linking up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

~~~~~

Some chit chat.

Christmas came and went so fast. I had to change my plans as I ended up catching one hell of a cold. Stayed home as I didn’t want to give it to my family. I swear it happens every Christmas. At least this is the third in a row where I got sick. I’m thinking next year I’ll isolate myself the week before so I don’t catch anything. I still enjoyed the day. Spent it watching shows and movies with my son. I hope to try to get together with family in January. I have a brother coming down and we all want to get together.

One of the shows I watched was You. Have you seen it? I watched it all in one day. Very psychologically twisted. I also watched Tidelands. Not sure how I feel about it. Didn’t get interesting til the last couple of episodes. And I binged Schitt’s Creek. LOL What can I say. It’s too much fun. And then I watched Avengers: Infinity War. So fun, so shocking and so sad. I almost couldn’t watch the ending.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!

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My new books this week.

AFTER Life: INFERNO (The NEXT Apocalypse Book 1) by [Chute, Robert Chazz]  The Surge by [Rose, Willow]

Bane County: Returning Moon (Book 2) by [RICE, J R]  Bane County: First Moon (Book 3) by [RICE, J R]

Machines Dream of Metal Gods (The Robot Planet Series Book 1) by [Chute, Robert Chazz]  All Systems Red (Kindle Single): The Murderbot Diaries by [Wells, Martha]

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And here are some FREEBIES for ya.

Click on the covers to get your copies. Remember to make sure they’re still free before you hit that buy button.

First Fantasy Box Set: Paranormal Romance Fae Shifter Vampire Anthology Collection by [May, W.J.]  The Girl In Between: The Girl In Between Series Book 1 by [Kemp, Laekan Zea]

Night Roamers (Book 1) Blur - Vampire Romance Thriller by [Middleton, Kristen, Middleton, K.L., Alexandra, Cassie]  Night Roamers (Book 2) Shiver - Vampire Fantasy Adventure by [Middleton, Kristen, Alexandra, Cassie, Middleton, K.L.]

~~~~~

Other posts on my blog this week.

Stuck by Samantha Durante ~ Grand Finale Blitz and Giveaway

Merry Christmas!

The Hidden Cities Series ~ Tour and Giveaway

Help me choose my first review for 2019!

The Friday 56 #195 ~ That Which Grows Wild

Tour and Giveaway ~ The Whispers Series by Nance Newman

Saturday Screams #60 ~ Empty Eyes

~~~~~

Leave your link and I’ll come visit you.

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Tour and Giveaway ~ The Whispers Series by Nance Newman

Posted: December 29, 2018 in giveaways, Mystery, Paranormal or fantasy
Tags: ,
16
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You’re Not Alone
Whispers Series Book 1
by Nance Newman
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
 
When you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it. Nothing more. At least
that’s what Quinn O’Reilly thinks until she starts hearing
whispers after losing the love of her life to cancer. Quinn either
has to start believing in an afterlife or admit that her own sanity
is in jeopardy. As a battle begins for her beloved’s estate,
threatening her with financial ruin, the voices intensify. 
To make them stop, Quinn and her best friend Chaz follow an unlikely mix
of characters into the world of spirits, ghosts and specters. What
they must do to unravel the mystery of the whispers tests Quinn’s
belief system in every way. Can the dead really reach out from the
other side? Can Quinn open her mind enough to help her and her dead
lover? Is it okay to commit a crime for a greater purpose? And what
is appropriate attire for a séance or digging up a grave?
 
 
Bad Man, Bad Ghost
Whispers Series Book 2
 
Finding clues in the shoes of a dead man in a coffin wasn’t what Quinn
thought she would do when she became a mortician. She also didn’t
expect the bodies that entered her funeral home to have lived their
lives as bad men or to whisper their requests to her—not only
demands that she has to fulfill to get them to stop, but ones that
might lead her to commit acts on the wrong side of the law.
The spirit of a mob boss has entered Quinn O’Reilly’s funeral parlor
and his whispers drag her into a world of criminals, secrets and
lies. Once again, she enlists the help of her friends—Andjela, a
communicator with the dead, Mr. Princeton, a professor of Egyptian
studies at the local university, Chester, the owner of the town
cemetery and Chaz, her best friend and assistant—to find the clues
that will lead her to what the dead man wants. She realizes that she
can’t answer the whispers alone which force her to put her friends
in danger. 
Soon she finds it’s not only the dead Mafia boss that wants something
from her, but so does his wife, his mistress and strange, dark men in
dark suits.
To make matters worse, Quin is realizing that the whispers of spirits
aren’t going to go away. Neither is the specter that still haunts
her apartment.
 
 
Dirty Wrong
Whispers Series Book 3
 
Eleanor’sspirit is doing a lot of griping in Quinn’s funeral home. She was
the wife of a member of the Mafia who was murdered several years
prior and now she wants something from Quinn. Her best friend
nicknamed her “Mafia magnet” since this is the second spirit to
contact her who is connected to the mob. She knows she is destined to
a life of answering their ghostly requests but she wonders if all the
spirits that contact her will always be on the wrong side of the law.
Once again, Quinn must put her friends in danger to help her decipher the
clues Eleanor’s spirit has communicated to them. It leads them to
the now defunct, dark, and foreboding subway tunnels beneath the city
where they discover they’re not the only one’s searching for
whatever Eleanor has hidden. There’s a war going on in the tunnels
and they can’t tell who’s winning—the ghosts or the Mafia. What
will happen if the war in the tunnel keeps them from finding the
answers to Eleanor’s clues? Will the price they have to pay for
being in the middle of it be too much for Quinn to handle? 
 
 
Sound Travels
Whispers Series Book 4
 
Once again, Quinn hears the whispers of the dead, but when it follows her
on a trip to New York City with Andjela and Chaz to help her parents
find a missing girl, Quin realizes the whisper is that of the missing
girl, Sofia. 
The niece of Eleanor, the last spirit to elicit Quinn’s help, Sofia had
somehow gotten mixed up in her family’s Mafia mess. Now she is
dead. 
Quinn summons Mr. Princeton and Chester to New York City to help them
communicate with Sofia. Together, they must follow the clues to find
Sofia’s body and the cause of her death.
Who is really responsible for the murder of a young girl? What was Sofia
hiding that got her killed? Will Quinn and her friends find her and
what it was she was hiding?
And why are there two different black SUV’s that show up where ever
they are?
Follow Quinn, Andjela, Mr. Princeton, Chester and Chaz into two very
menacing worlds-that of the Mafia and of the dead, and discover the
newest hiding spot—a very large hole in Brooklyn.
 
 
 
I live in upstate New York with my two dogs; a 17 year old Min Pin
(Zeus) and a female dog I recently rescued from the Puerto Rico
hurricanes (I have been learning Spanish and she is learning
English!). Her name is Ela and she is a joy.
I have been writing in some form or other since high school when I
bought my first guitar (a 12 string for $50 from one of those
magazines my mother used to receive in the mail) and began writing
songs. In college, I started my first novel that I hope to go back to
and finish someday.
I currently work for a school district in transportation as a router
and dispatcher where I use software to solve the puzzle of getting
5600 students to many different schools, but my goal is to become a
full time writer of novels and music. I try to fit writing in with my
full time job and hobbies that include biking, gardening, hiking,
kayaking and watching movies (lots of them and all kinds)
I continue to write songs and perform with Dooley(my music partner) We
have a CD of original songs and it is available for your enjoyment.
Visit me at nancenewman.com to check it out.
I am really excited to share my work with you, and some days you might
see me driving a big yellow school bus.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

The Hidden Cities Series ~ Tour and Giveaway

Posted: December 26, 2018 in Dark Fantasy, giveaways, thriller, urban fantasy
Tags: , ,
7
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Mind the Gap
The Hidden Cities Book 1
by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon
Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy Thriller
 
“The super-fast pacing and creepy touches give this teen adventure plenty
of character.”—Publishers Weekly
Returning to her home in London, teen Jasmine Towne realizes just how long
she’s been training for the moment she would be on her own. Her
paranoid mother’s last words, scrawled in her own blood, demand her
action: JAZZ HIDE FOREVER. In this moment, the strange men who have
always hung around her family’s life—whom her mother called the
Uncles—become starkly sinister. And they’re on her trail.
Seeking cover in the Underground, Jazz slips through a mysterious gate, down
tunnels, and seemingly through time. Inside an abandoned city of bomb
shelters and forgotten Tube stations, she finds temporary refuge with
a gang of petty thieves. Flashes of the past, spectral and haunting,
share the tunnels…with no regard for the living. For how long can
Jazz hide from the terrors of both her worlds?
 
 
The Map of Moments
The Hidden Cities Book 2
 
To what lengths would you go to undo the pain of the past? 
“Golden and Lebbon have far outstripped their past efforts with this
wonderfully creepy thriller of a ghost story.”
—Publishers Weekly starred review
“Golden and Lebbon vividly evoke the rich, enduring character of New Orleans,
as well as spinning a compelling fantasy yarn that builds momentum as
Max works his way through the city’s history.” —Booklist
Max Corbett has returned to New Orleans for the funeral of his former
girlfriend, Gabrielle Doucette, but between the destruction wrought
by Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of his ruined relationship,
the city feels alien.
At Gabrielle’s graveside, Max meets Ray. Over a bottle of bourbon in a
dive bar, the two discuss Gabrielle’s unique connection to the city.
Ray suggests that this connection might mean her tragic death is not
truly her end. And he happens to know a real magic practitioner—not
some Bourbon Street phony—who could open a window to the past and
send a warning to Gabrielle. Maybe Max can even deliver the warning
in person? Ray offers him a cheap map and says the process is simple.
Follow the charted moments to build up a little bit of magical clout
and then find the man with the gift.
Surging with liquid courage, Max takes the ludicrous tourist map and sets
off. But it turns out this quest is not so easy. When Max enters the
First Moment, he is drawn into the fabric of history to witness dark
and violent periods, and with each passing step, a grim conspiracy is
revealed. Suddenly in too deep, there is nowhere for Max to go but
through. But when you trudge through a swamp, you’re going to get muddy.
 
 
The Chamber of Ten
The Hidden Cities Book 3
 
 
Archaeologist Dr. Geena Hodge is on the precipice of success: her team has found an
entrance to an underground chamber while searching for the Petrarch’s
lost library. A documentarian is joining her team for the descent
into the long-hidden structure and may be the key to extensive
funding. Best of all, she is able to share the excitement of this
momentous occasion with her assistant-slash-lover, Nico, whose
psychic presence resonates in her own mind.
Within a strikingly preserved room—unlike any Venetian excavation—the
team finds only one artifact: a small vessel that immediately
mesmerizes Nico. While the team investigates a slab of granite inlaid
in the floor, Nico becomes transfixed by the object, and before he
can be stopped, he has the urn in his hands. Then, it is broken open
on the ground. And with that, the impossibly withheld groundwater
begins to fill the chamber…
In the clamor to escape the rapidly flooding room and save the found
texts, the team is sent in all directions. And Nico’s mind, always
attuned to Geena’s, seems to go quiet. His actions in the days
after the incident feel unlike him, and his consciousness seems to
dissolve beneath the weight of his experience with the artifact. What
insidious force was within? And what can satisfy its restless will?
 
 
The Shadow Men
The Hidden Cities Book 4
 
From Beacon Hill to Southie, historic Boston is a town of vibrant
neighborhoods knit into a seamless whole. But as Jim Banks and Trix
Newcomb learn in a terrifying instant, it is also a city
divided—split into three separate versions of itself by a mad
magician once tasked with its protection.
Jim is happily married to Jenny, with whom he has a young daughter,
Holly. Trix is Jenny’s best friend, practically a member of the
family—although she has secretly been in love with Jenny for years.
Then Jenny and Holly inexplicably disappear—and leave behind a
Boston in which they never existed. Only Jim and Trix remember them.
Only Jim and Trix can bring them back.
With the help of Boston’s Oracle, an elderly woman with magical powers,
Jim and Trix travel between the fractured cities, for that is where
Jenny and Holly have gone. But more is at stake than one family’s
happiness. If Jim and Trix should fail, the spell holding the
separate Bostons apart will fail too, and the cities will reintegrate
in a cataclysmic implosion. Someone, it seems, wants just that.
Someone with deadly shadow men at their disposal.
 
 
 
 
CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN
is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Ararat,
Snowblind, Tin Men, The Myth Hunters, Wildwood Road, The Boys Are
Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, and Of Saints and Shadows.
He has also written books for teens and young adults, including
Poison Ink, Soulless, and the thriller series Body of Evidence,
honored by the New York Public Library and chosen as one of YALSA’s
Best Books for Young Readers.
Goldenco-created (with Mike Mignola) two cult favorite comic book series,
Baltimore and Joe Golem: Occult Detective. As an editor, he has
worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, The New Dead,
and Dark Cities, among others, and has also written and co-written
comic books, video games, screenplays, a BBC radio play, the online
animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson), and a network
television pilot. A frequent speaker at conferences, schools, and
libraries, Golden is also co-host of the podcasts Three Guys with
Beards and Defenders Dialogue, and the founder of the Merrimack
Valley Halloween Book Festival.

 

Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his
family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen
languages in countries around the world.
 
 
TIM LEBBON
has been published for over twenty years and have written over forty
horror, dark fantasy and tie-in novels, including The Silence,
Relics, Coldbrook, The Cabin in the Woods, the Noreela series of
fantasy books (Dusk, Dawn, Fallen and The Island), the NY Times
Bestselling novelisation of the movie 30 Days of Night, Alien: Out of
the Shadows, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi – Into the Void, and several
books with Christopher Golden, including Blood of the Four, The Map
of Moments and The Secret Journeys of Jack London. He’s also written
hundreds of novellas and novels and have won several prestigious awards.
The movie of The Silence, starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka, is
out summer 2018. Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage, was released
in 2016. More of his work is currently in development for the big screen.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Stuck by Samantha Durante ~ Grand Finale Blitz and Giveaway

Posted: December 24, 2018 in Dystopian, giveaways, Science Fiction, YA
Tags: , , ,
6


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for
Stuck
By Samantha Durante

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops

you can see snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch – Note from the Author

I am *so* thrilled to be kicking off the Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3) tour! We’ve got lots of awesome stops planned with exclusive Stitch Trilogy content you won’t find anywhere else, plus a big giveaway to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited conclusion of the series!…

Andi’s Young Adult Books – Guest Post

A Tale of Three Book Covers

Even a writer has to admit that (as the saying goes!) a picture is worth a thousand words. It comes as no surprise, then, that *almost* as much thought must go into cover design as into the book itself.

When designing the covers for the Stitch Trilogy books, I had several goals in mind:

Captivate: Of course, a cover needs to get readers interested, and one of the best ways to do that is to make it pretty!

Signal: The cover’s job is also, naturally, to give readers some clues as to what is in the story by referencing the genres and major plot points.

Unify: And, finally, knowing that this was going to be a multi-book series, I needed to come up with a consistent theme that would tie each cover together.

So how did I accomplish all this? By driving my cover designer crazy, of course! 🙂 …

Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters – Interview

2.) Tell us about the rest of the series.

Over the course of the trilogy, you join our protagonists as they uncover the sordid truth and dark history of their society, Paragon, a place set in a world much like our own but with some important (and chilling) differences. In fact, some members of this society are so blinded to the truth that they don’t even realize they are, in fact, living in Paragon… which is something you get to experience firsthand in Book 1. (Trying not to give away too many spoilers here!) In Book 2, we learn more about how this world came about, and in Book 3, the main characters struggle against nearly insurmountable odds to try to bring those responsible to justice. And of course, there’s some romance along the way!

Paulette’s Papers – Guest Post

Playlist: Music to Go with Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3)

It’s no secret that I love words (I am, after all, a writer). But sometimes, nothing captures a feeling *quite* like a song. So without further ado, here is a selection of hand-picked songs to go with several of the most pivotal chapters of Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3):…

Wishful Endings – Excerpt

Not a Bear

“But how can we continue to keep this from everyone?” Janie interjected. “It’s not right. They deserve to know!” she hissed.

Alessa shrugged in defeat.

Yes, she thought, just like Isaac deserves to know that his brother might still be alive – but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything about that, either, knowing the guilt would eat him alive. She at least had to be sure first. She had to know it was really Joe.

Lisa Loves Literature – Review

” I really liked the first two books in this series, and I waited 5 years between book 2 and this one. There was one point I know that I even reached out to the author to find out if this one was coming soon, because I needed to know what would happen next. . . . There was just so much going on in this book! . . . if you haven’t started the series yet, you are the lucky one to get to start with all three of them out now. You can sit down and read them all, back to back, and get all the feelings that will come with a good series.”

Why Not? Because I Said So! – Review

“I’ve waited a long time to read this last book in the Stitch Trilogy. I loved this series from the first book. It was so unique and had so many twists and turns that kept you reading. Guess what? Things haven’t changed in this third book: It’s still has so many unique things in the story line and the the twists just keep on coming. . . . If you like the Dystopian and Sci-Fi genres, you need to put the Stitch Trilogy on your To-Read list immediately.”

FUONLYKNEW – Review

“There’s plenty of action, intrigue and betrayal. But there’s also bravery, romance and hope. . . . A perfect finale to a series that fueled my imagination and captured my heart.”

Bri’s Book Nook – Review of STITCH

“This premise for a science fiction novel is so unique, and that truly drew me in. . . . I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new upper YA or NA science fiction trilogy with a strong female main character.”

Colorimetry – Excerpt

Happy Pills

“Seriously, Alex?”

Deion chuckled and shook his head at the sight of his best friend – shirtless, sweat gleaming off his abs – precisely positioned so that anyone passing by the construction site would get an eyeful of his chiseled physique.

“First of all, it’s only 50 degrees out –”

“58,” Alex argued, heaving another stone on top of the wall he was building for this set of Paragon’s latest drama. “That’s almost in the sixties.” He paused to swipe a dusty, rippling forearm across his brow, brushing the fringe of straight black hair from his striking, angular eyes, which were narrowed against the sun.

Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile – Review

“It’s been a privilege to follow along with Samantha Durante since this trilogy first started! I felt a little woeful as I started to read Stuck, only because I knew that this was the end of my time with these characters. After completely falling in love with the last book, I knew that this finale was going to be a rough read for me either way. It’s the end of an era, really. It’s been fun! . . . If you haven’t started this trilogy yet, you’re in for such a treat. I envy you. I really do.

Lovely Reads – Spotlight

Chapter Break – Interview

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

There are SO MANY things I’d like people to take away from the Stitch Trilogy! First, that things aren’t black and white. Just like real life, no one in my books is infallible, and anyone can make a mistake that can really hurt other people – and this can happen on a small or very large scale, even with the noblest of intentions. Second, that anyone can make a difference. It would be easy for anyone living in that world (or any world!) to feel insignificant and powerless, but the characters work really hard and work together to make things better, and they manage to do so even against odds that seem insurmountable. Third, that inclusivity and diversity of thought are good things, especially when it comes to leadership – otherwise you’re almost certain to further exploit already marginalized groups, and foster a lot of ill-will. And finally, that love conquers all. At the end of the day, even (perhaps, especially) when the world has gone to hell, all we have is each other. Be selfless. Be brave. Be kind.

Words Are the Breath Of Life – Review

“Stuck is a phenomenal completion to a wonderfully complex, challenging, and heartfelt adventure. My heart jumped for joy when I found myself finally reading the last chapters of this brilliantly original and deeply captivating journey full of heart, hope, and love. . . . I have been looking forward to this elusive ending, and I found myself completely and totally satisfied in every way a story can offer. . . . Samantha Durante has once again left me in awe of the depth of her brilliant creativity and boundless heart.”

Books & Such – Guest Post

Quiz: Where Do You Rank in Paragon Society?

Over the course of the Stitch Trilogy, we’ve gotten to know several different groups within the society of Paragon, from plucky rebels and manipulated citizens to mastermind Engineers and bloodthirsty Stuck. Where do you fall amongst these ranks? Take this quick quiz to find out!…

fundinmental – Interview & Review

1. What made you decide to be a writer?

I don’t know if it was a *decision* so much as a compulsion! I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a kid. I got away from it for a few years in college and afterwards, but even as a software engineer, I managed to“sneak” writing into my job. So when it came time for a major life change (moving back across the country to be near my family), I knew it was a good time to see if I could shift gears and get back to doing what I’d always loved.

“If you love having your emotions ramped up to a fever pitch, if you love white knuckled reading, if you love apocalyptic/dystopian novels and are looking for an original storyline, you may want to grab the Stitch trilogy.”

Christy’s Cozy Corners – Guest Post

Style in Dystopia: 3 Ways to Style a Jumpsuit

Dystopian societies aren’t often known for their embrace of individuality and free-thinking… which unfortunately means their fashion trends tend to lean towards the sterile and conformist, at best.

But don’t let that post-apocalyptic thinking get you down! As the characters of the Stitch Trilogy show, there are lots of ways you can buck the trend and give that old standard-issue jumpsuit a fresh spin…

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway below, if you haven’t already…

Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018

3, 2, 1… BOOM.

Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.

And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.

But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.

The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…

The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.

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Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Instagram

Tour Giveaway

– 1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
– 3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th

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