City of Cruelty and Copper
Temperance Era # 1
By- Rhiannon Paille
Nuclear warfare destroyed Earth, setting it off its axis. A group of survivors escaped to Antarctica, discovering a city under the permafrost. Fable Ketterling was thirteen when the bombs went off. She was fifteen when she and her parents escaped. She was fifteen when she found the fountain of youth. She was fifteen when the fountain made her immortal. She was the only one.
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I’ve read Kirsten’s Series, so when I heard about her newest adventure, a steam punk paranormal suspense, I had to read it.
The title is perfect and the cover art is spectacular. That’s two things I look for in a book.
How important is that when you are choosing a book to read?
Check out my review and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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Steam and Sensibility
Sensibility Grey, #1
Genre: Steampunk Paranormal Suspense
Author: Kirsten Weiss
Print Length: 235 pages
Publisher: Misterio Press
Publication Date: March 17, 2014
ASIN: B00J2MY35A / ISBN: 0985510390
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MY REVIEW
When Sensibility Grey’s father dies, he leaves her to fend off the creditors. She manages to retain just a few of his things. One of them being his journal.
That journal lands Sensibility in a world of trouble. Someone wants what’s in those pages, and they follow her as she travels to San Francisco to live with her Uncle Corbin.
Once her ship docks in San Francisco, Sensibility can’t help but notice no one is around. It’s 1848 and the gold rush is happening. Every man has rushed to strike it rich, leaving very few in the town.
It appears that Sensibility is left at the docks. Her Uncle never arrives. She knows it’s not wise for a young lady to be alone. All kinds of bad things can happen. So when a stranger attacks her from behind and drags her into an empty shack, she fears the worse. Turns out, though she doesn’t trust the stranger, she needs her. There are some pretty bad men outside, looking for her. They have her uncle and now they want her. Or rather, they want his journal, and they are prepared to do whatever it takes to get it.
The first thing that jumped out at me in this book was the descriptive writing. I visualized the empty sea port and the dusty, abandoned looking town. I could almost smell the brine of the salt water and feel the dry heat burning down on me. And I could almost hear the silence.
Sensibility is true to her name. She may be a bit naive, but she’s smart and confident, and doesn’t tend to panic. Well, except for a few times, and I didn’t blame her for those. I would have too.
The author gave me some bad guys to loathe, and a couple of characters that I wasn’t too sure about. One claimed to be working for the government, but something about her didn’t sit well with me. She was too secretive and too pushy.
The other was a lawyer. Enough said. Just kidding. At first, I wasn’t too sure about him, then I decided he was a good guy. Then I thought, nope, he’s a bad guy. Then I just kept reading to find out.
There were humorous scenes and witty dialogue to ease the suspense now and then. I thank the author for the break as this was such a tangled web of intrigue, suspense, and adventure. Quite lively.
As this is a pre-steam novel there were’nt too many nifty creations. Sensibility tinkered with a couple and I believe any new creations of hers would be even more amazing than her father’s. She has a knack for it. There was one near the end that was quite scary. The author got really creative with what’s used to power the machines. It added a bit of a supernatural element to the read and I could see where it might have repercussions if it wound up in the wrong hands.
If you enjoyed the old television series Wild, Wild West or watched the movie starring Will Smith you’ll visualize this adventure as it plays out.
You don’t have to be a steam punk fan to enjoy Steam and Sensibility and I highly recommend you give it a try.
4 STARS
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California Territory, 1848. Gold has been discovered, emptying the village of San Francisco of its male population. Steam-powered technology is still in its infancy.
At 19, Englishwoman Sensibility Grey has spent her life tinkering in her father’s laboratory and missing the finer points of proper British life. But when her father dies in penury, she’s shipped to San Francisco and to the protection of an uncle she’s never met.
The California Territory may hold more dangers than even the indomitable Miss Grey can manage. Pursued by government agents, a secret society, and the enigmatic Mr. Krieg Night, Sensibility must decipher the clockwork secrets in her father’s final journal, unaware she’ll change the world forever.
Magic, mayhem, and mechanicals. STEAM AND SENSIBILITY is a pre-Steampunk novel of paranormal suspense set in the wild west of the California gold rush.
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo
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Author Kirsten Weiss
Kirsten Weiss is the author of the Steampunk novel, Steam and Sensibility, and the Riga Hayworth series of paranormal mysteries: the urban fantasy, The Metaphysical Detective, The Alchemical Detective, The Shamanic Detective, andThe Infernal Detective.
Kirsten worked overseas for nearly fourteen years, in the fringes of the former USSR and deep in the Afghan war zone. Her experiences abroad not only gave her glimpses into the darker side of human nature, but also sparked an interest in the effects of mysticism and mythology, and how both are woven into our daily lives.
Now based in San Mateo, CA, she writes paranormal mysteries, blending her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.
Kirsten has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer reruns and drinking good wine. You can connect with Kirsten through the social media sites below, and if the mood strikes you, send her an e-mail at kirsten_weiss2001@yahoo.com
AUTHOR CONTACT LINK:
Goodreads ~ Newsletter ~ Google+Page
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GRAND PRIZE: Signed copy of Steam and Sensibility
RUNNERS UP: 3 runners-up will each receive an eBook of Steam and Sensibility
Click on the rafflecopter below to enter.
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
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I have so much to show you today!
I’m showcasing Mind Games: The Cassie Scot Series, Book 3.
I’ve also got the first and second books in this exciting series and there’s all kinds of links for fun content.
There’s a huge giveaway too.
And Christine Amsden is here to tell us all about writing her amazing series.
So check it out, click on some links, read my reviews of the first two books, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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The Bumpy Road to Cassie Scot
Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective was the easiest, most natural book I ever wrote. It almost seemed to write itself! The entire series felt natural because of the way I identified with and practically channelled the main character, but the challenges grew with each book. The final volume, Stolen Dreams, presented the greatest difficulties. But also, and in my very biased opinion, I rose to the challenges, making each book better than the one before.
Cassie first came to me in a burst of inspiration, and I pushed out the first draft of a book in record time. I did rewrite and heavily revise the book several times based on some astute feedback from beta readers, but even the rewrites were easier than usual. There was a certain energy to each revision, a vitality and a definite sense of purpose. I never tried to rewrite the book without specific feedback and a plan, and I always felt a sense of rightness about the changes I made. The final revision came after I had finished rough drafts of the rest of the series, which gave me the power to make sure I did not contradict myself and that I had set everything up, even if the readers would not yet know the significance of every decision I made.
I usually find beginnings easier than endings, which may be another reason why the first book was the easiest of the four for me to write. It did come to a conclusion (the mystery was solved), but I set up many problems in book one that I didn’t have to deal with at the time – I left that for a future version of me to handle.
It wasn’t until I first drafted Secrets and Lies that I came up with a plan for the rest of the series. Before then I had some vague notions and themes, but the cliffhanger ending to Secrets and Lies was as much a surprise to me as it was to my readers! Yet that cliffhanger ending sets the tone for the final two books. Secrets and Lies was a book of discovery for me. I refined my characters, learned new things about the bigger magical world, and decided what the rest of the series would look like. The biggest challenge in Secrets and Lies was balancing the mystery with all the personal and magical discoveries being made. Some of the lessons I learned while writing this book led to a major revision of book one. But the growing pains took place while writing book two.
Mind Games was the most difficult of the four books to draft for two reasons. First, I was writing from the first person point of view of a character who was being subtly manipulated by mind magic. I wanted this to be absolutely obvious to the reader from page one, but at the same time I needed to convince the reader of Cassie’s struggle with this truth. Second, I strayed from the series’ primary love interest, Evan, and I found it very difficult to write romantic scenes between Cassie and another man. Even knowing it would be temporary, even knowing Cassie was partly being manipulated, and even knowing that Cassie needed this test of character, I still felt like I was cheating on Evan when I wrote certain scenes. Strangely enough, though, the final version of Mind Games is closer to its first draft form than any other book in the series. I made few revisions, none of them major, which leads me to the most challenging volume …
Stolen Dreams is not the book I first wrote. It wasn’t even originally called Stolen Dreams, it was called Dreamer. But regardless of what I ended up calling it, there exists (somewhere on my hard drive) a rough draft of a book that I originally intended to conclude the series which has almost nothing whatsoever in common with the book I’ll be releasing this summer. I think I reused one scene, then revised it heavily.
Ground-up rewrites are rare, and there is only one reason to do it: A fundamental flaw in the spirit of the story. That first draft was not about what it should have been about: it challenged Cassie in all the wrong ways, it broke an important theme I had been building all along, and it reverted to genre cliches that the series had, up until then, avoided.
Whew!
I went to a book signing/Q&A with Jim Butcher in the summer of 2011. He had just put out Cold Days (which turned out to be my least favorite of the Dresden Files books – I have bad luck with books I get signed by authors). But during that Q&A, I had an epiphany. Someone asked him when and how The Dresden Files would end. Jim gave his usual not-entirely-joking answer about the length of the series depending upon whether his kids decided to go to grad school, but then he said something else about endings. He said (and I’m obviously paraphrasing) that by the time a series is over, the main character should be uniquely qualified to overcome the final hurtle.
I had a lightbulb moment. It wasn’t a warm, glowy sort of lightbulb moment because I knew instantly that I had to toss an entire draft in the trash (metaphorically speaking – I never throw anything away).
Cassie has no magical powers. In my first draft, I had her facing a challenge that any of the people around her with magical powers would have been far better able to handle. She wasn’t just not uniquely qualified to handle it, she was probably the least qualified person to handle it! But I had fallen into the same trap Cassie fell into – thinking she needed to be able to compete with powerful sorcerers in a magical world in order to be worthwhile. And actually, I think the series as a whole is stronger because I started to fall into that trap with her. In the final book, she and I both had an important lesson to learn. Specifically, that being a hero isn’t about overpowering or outwitting the biggest, baddest bad guy (the fantasy cliché), it’s about using your strengths to solve the problems you are uniquely qualified to handle.
I don’t want to spoil Stolen Dreams for you, but I am so excited by the conclusion to this series. Stolen Dreams is more than a mystery – it’s personal. The feud between the Scots and the Blackwoods takes center stage and when it erupts, people Cassie and Evan love get hurt and even die. Cassie is uniquely qualified to put an end to this feud and to solve an interwoven mystery, and she still does not need magic to do it!
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Thanks so much for this amazing guest post Christine. While I’m excited to get my hands on Stolen Dreams, I’m also sad because this exciting series will be ending. Can’t wait to see what your cooking up next.
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Mind Games (Cassie Scot Book 3)
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Beware your heart and soul…
Evan broke Cassie’s heart two months ago, and she still doesn’t know why. She throws herself into family, friends and her new job at the sheriff’s department, but nothing helps. The only thing that finally allows her heal and move on is the love of a new man, mind mage Matthew Blair. Cassie finds him…irresistible.
Matthew may also be the only one who can help keep the non-magical residents of Eagle Rock from going crazy over the murder of a beloved pastor’s wife. It looks like a sorcerer is to blame, but while Cassie tries to figure out who, others take matters into their own hands. With tensions running so hot, a single spark might set Eagle Rock ablaze.
Keep your eye out for my review coming in June!
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First Chapter (Warning! Contains series spoilers. New readers to the series would be better off reading the preview of book one here.)
Buy Links : Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble
Coming to print June 15, 2014. Audiobook release TBA.
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Other Books in the Cassie Scot Series
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Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective
Go HERE for my review
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Cassie Scot is the ungifted daughter of powerful sorcerers, born between worlds but belonging to neither. At 21, all she wants is to find a place for herself, but earning a living as a private investigator in the shadow of her family’s reputation isn’t easy. When she is pulled into a paranormal investigation, and tempted by a powerful and handsome sorcerer, she will have to decide where she truly belongs.
Buy Links for Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detecitve
Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Audible (audiobook)
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Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot Book 2)
Go HERE for my review
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Cassie Scot, still stinging from her parents’ betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn’t letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them.
To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness.
Buy Links for Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot Book 2)
Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Audible (Audiobook)
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Author Christine Amsden
Christine Amsden has been writing fantasy and science fiction for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and relationships, and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.
At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.
In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.
Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children.
Social Media Links:
Web site ~ Newsletter ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~Goodreads
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Praise for the Cassie Scot Series
“Amsden continues the story of the only mundane member of a supernaturally-gifted family in this middling sequel to Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective. Cassie, stubborn and proud, is bravely trying to live on her own after her family disowns her. Struggling to make ends meet, she accepts a case involving a pair of magical girls who disappeared from summer camp. With the aid of the handsome Evan Blackwood, to whom Cassie is attracted despite her family’s disapproval and her own better judgment, she follows the trail of the missing girls. What she finds is a dark side of the magical world, and the hidden depths of her family’s past force her to reconsider long-held assumptions. The growing complexity of Cassie’s world makes this an entertaining installment, focusing as much on the will-they, won’t-they romantic chemistry between Cassie and Evan as on the primary mystery. An inconclusive ending is clearly intended to feed into the next volume.” — Publisher’s Weekly
“When sorcerers call the shots, what’s a girl without powers to do? Get ready for a ripper of a murder mystery full of romance and intrigue, where magic potions bubble, passions spark and vampires are definitely not your friend. Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective grabs you by the heart and won’t let go until the very last page. Well written, immersive and unputdownable. This is urban fantasy at its best. More please!” – Kim Falconer, bestselling author of The Spell of Rosette, Quantum Enchantment Series
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$100 Amazon Gift Card
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About the Book
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28THAPRIL, 2000: Flight No. 9×4876 bound to Srinagar has crash landed into the Everest Base camp. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the flight mysteriously went off the radar for a few minutes and missed its landing. All passengers are feared dead… except for three bodies that are yet to be recovered.
8THDECEMBER, 2050:This, without doubt is the most gruesome murder in recent times. Early this morning, an unidentified woman was found mutilated at the western gates of the abandoned Victoria Terminus Station in Mumbai. Authorities report her head was … well … semi-decapitated and she was drained of all her blood. The shocking part – the crime scene was devoid of any signs of blood spatter…
ROHAN: He was shorter than the shortest girl in school; he had to be ahead in the game!
RUDRA:A man without a past, coaxed into a murder investigation; will he ever grasp the true nature of the crime?
A thrilling tale about two men bound by an untraceable yet undeniable fate – One running away from his past, another unaware of his own.
The Book Trailer
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Lesser Known Facts About the Book:
There is a very strong / intense story of love that is present throughout the book.
‘Metamorphing’ as such is not a real word, rather not a word that is used in the sense that it is supposed to mean (Metamorphosing). I had to spell it out to all publishers while making my submission for the book that I am aware of this fact and I was only playing with words. Was worried that I could get rejected at the mention / sight of the name of the book itself!
A sneak peek into the college life of a student of Criminology – Learning the ropes of detection, deduction and crime scene investigation.
There is a Vampire in the book!
As of now its a trilogy with two parts.
At one point in time, one part of the book was supposed to be based in the 1900s.
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Author’s Profile
Kunal Pancholi graduated from SRCC Delhi in 2001. He completed his MBA from NMIMS Mumbai in 2006. Previously, in his professional career he has worked with banks, co-founded READO – an audio book publishing company and done a marketing stint with a film production company in Mumbai. Currently he heads Sales & Marketing at a technology start-up. He lives in Chennai with his wife, parents, sister and grand-mom.
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Interact with him
Twitter I Facebook Page I Website
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I was supposed to do reviews of The Devil You Know and The Devil Dances for a tour with CBB Book Promotions but I had to bow out due to a family crisis. I’m now back blogging, reading, and reviewing and I missed my addiction!
I’d like to thank Candace of CBB and the author K H Koehler for being understanding and apologize for my delay.
So without further wait, here they are!
The Devil You Know
by K H Koehler
My Review
This was one wild read. The author gave me angels and angel-eaters, demons and daemons. witches and the big guy himself, the Devil.
The star of this story is Nick, son of Satan. He and his partner Morgana own the Curiosities Shop, an occult shop in a small town in Pennsylvania. But he used to be a cop and he still does some psychic detective work. Big daddy Satan isn’t too pleased with that. He wants Nick to quit with the human stuff and ascend to the throne.
So do the angels. They’re not thrilled about an empty throne, even the devils. The author got real creative with that idea.
The story begins when a young woman darts into the shop. Someone is after her. It’s Malach. He’s a Seraph, a type of angel. His primary purpose is to kill demons and Nick tries to stay off his radar and have a sanctified shelter close at all times.
Once he shoos Malach out of the shop he gets to know Vivian and senses she has powers of her own, but she doesn’t know what she is, what she’s capable of, and Nick ain’t telling.
He begins to have feelings for her. Not just the horny devil kind. Can the son of the devil truly love?
I have my doubts. Afterall, Nick is the son of the devil and sin is a recreation, so anything goes in the sex department. Him and his partner have sex now and then. Friends with benefits.
You get to meet his father on occasion. This was such fun. I wish there’d been more scenes with father and son. Satan reminded me of the evil one in Constantine. Nasty and charming at the same time. You can tell the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Nick’s a crafty devil. Look at his dad. He’s been fooling people into believing he doesn’t exist for ages. And there’s an interesting story behind Nick’s mother and father. It would be a great side story.
I had just as much fun with Nick and his dad as I did with the investigation he gets drawn into. Weird things were happening around the disappearance of a local girl. Strange doings and beings in the woods.
Something new to me were the angel-eaters. They actually eat angels to gain power, trying to ascend to the throne. Pretty nasty beings.
There’s raw sex and violence, but this book wouldn’t be as good as it is without it. And the author did a great job of writing this in the first person, with Nick telling the story.
I’d recommend this as a noirish detective mystery with a whole lot of sexy deviltry. You’ll see the dark side in a new light.
5 STARS
Synopsis
Not only does the devil have an only begotten son, but he’s currently residing in the rural town of Blackwater in northeast Pennsylvania.
Semi-retired from law enforcement, the handsome, if cynical, Nick Englebrecht becomes quickly caught up in a local missing child case that seems mundane on the outside, but when the sheriff requests his help as a psychic detective to help find the missing girl, his off-the-books investigation quickly leads him to some terrible truths about life, love and the universe as we know it.
And if that isn’t bad enough, the angels have begun an ethnic cleansing of all beings with demonic blood. Of course, Nick is at the top of their to-do list.
Warning” Explicit sex scenes
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“My name is Nicholas Englebrecht and I’m the heir to Hell. I’m the Angel-breaker. I’m the goddamned son of the devil and you should know that if you piss me off, things are going to go very bad for you.”
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The Devil Dances
My Review
Warning. An adult read. Explicit same sex and multiple partners.
The story of Nick picks up about a year later.
His partner, Morgana, don’t like him training Vivian ( Viv) but if he doesn’t she could do serious damage to herself and others.
And Nick still hasn’t revealed his secret, for his own good.
When a young man dies right in front of him, Nick is drawn into the investigation. Viv won’t let him go without her so the Amish town the victim is from is going to be in for a shock.
Something evil is haunting the outskirts of the their town. affecting the Amish townsfolk. They actually turn to Nick for assistance. Knowing what he is, this shows how bad things are and how desperate they’ve become.
I bet Nick never would have believed it if he’d been told he was going to be asked to help the Amish fight an ancient God.
Nick is deliciously wicked and charming. You get to know more about him in this second book. Since the author already laid out the introductions in the first book, you get more about the characters. Viv, I don’t like so much. She comes across as needy and spoiled, but she does have her moments. And the romance between her and Nick is really heating up. As if it could get much hotter.
Nick is changing, in a big way. He’s still not ready to ascend to the throne yet. And Dad is still tired of waiting. As in the first book, my favorite part is scenes between father and son, and you get a lot more of Satan in this second book. Soon enough, the ascension will be out of Nick’s hands. Thy will be done.
This second book feels less noirish and more like a sexually charged horror story. The sex is harsh and there’s more of it, but that makes sense to me. Nick isn’t a good guy. He has good intentions at times, but he’s soon to be the Devil and his needs and desires run sinfully raunchy. He’s not a one woman or one gender type of guy.
Having the Amish recognize what he is and enlist his aid was genius. I could tell the author did her research and understood the good and bad practices of the Amish people, which was how she wove this together and made it believable and horrific.
I liked this even more than the first book as the world building was already done and the author could focus heavily on the characters and the mystery. I hope there’s more to come.
5 STARS
Synopsis
You want to know something about me? Something important? When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of comics. I watched all the TV shows. Hell, I wanted to be a superhero. Then one day I grew up, and I learned I wasn’t the Lone Ranger. I’m not Spider-Man or Captain-Fucking-Marvel. I’m not a good man, and I never will be. My name is Nicholas Englebrecht and I’m the heir to hell. I’m the Angel-breaker. I’m the goddamn son of the fucking devil and you should know that if you piss me off, things are going to go very bad for you…
Nick Englebrecht is lured to a strange, isolated Amish colony by the mysterious death of a nameless young man. It’s supposed to be a simple enough investigation. Find the kid’s family. Find out what happened to him. But when you’re the devil’s kid, with angels and demons gunning for you at every turn, things have a habit of turning bad fast. Before Nick knows it, he’s up to his ass in bodies, femme fatales, and ancient, bloodthirsty gods with a taste for human flesh.
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About the author
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!
I just love a book with a quirky title and cover art.
This just leaped out at me saying, “You know you can’t resist me.”
So true.
Music, romance, and a blast from the past!
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A fantastical romance involving a girl, the music that fuels her, and her Ouija board.
Rosalyn possesses a sunny personality that is laced with quirks. Although she seeks acceptance in a world where she lives out of time, what she gets is ridiculed for her eclectic wardrobe and unconventional music collection.
One fateful night, Rosalyn bewitches Niles, a stylish man whose offbeat character perfectly complements her own. Unfortunately, he possesses a critical flaw that means relationship suicide for him and pretty much anyone.
While under the influence of insomnia-impaired judgment, Rosalyn summons Rock ‘n Roll deity Peter Lane back from the dead. Not only does he spin her hormones into a frenzy, Peter is also the precarious puzzle piece that brings sense into her world. When Niles learns that he can overcome his life-long challenge by helping Peter avenge his death, how far will he go to secure Rosalyn’s heart?
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Check out this excerpt from PETER
May 13, 1966 was a day that most wouldn’t give a turnip over. Take a look at this picture. You see that guy? The smarmy, dark-haired young businessman sitting behind that big wood desk? That’s Ben Stoddard, or as he likes to call himself, Big Ben. I refer to him as Mr. B.S. He’s the one who took me. I mean he took everything—my career, my happiness, the girl I loved, and my life.
Now look to those four young lads sitting across from him—the ones that seem as if they’ve never had a penny to their names. The ones eager to sign on that dotted line. That handsome devil with the sandy blonde hair and the stupid grin—that’s me, Peter Lane; singer, guitarist, huge chump, and idiot extraordinaire. I was on top of the world at that moment. We all were. You know that witticism about how you have to be careful that you don’t sign your life away? It’s no joke because that’s exactly what I was doing.
We had just been given a new car, a swanky apartment, and unlimited credit at all the fancy boutiques on Carnaby Street. You’ve heard of Carnaby, right? The place where every self-respecting mod paid too much for clothes he couldn’t afford even if they had been offered at fair prices. We were told to dress like we owned the world because we soon would. A tour was being planned so we could conquer America just like The Beatles had. All we had to do was sign on that little piece of paper you see on Mr. B.S.’s desk. We signed it in blue ink from a fountain pen—but had we known whom we were dealing with we would have pricked ourselves and used blood.
Two years later I was hovering above my casket, watching people lower my body into a dark, dirt hole, and cringing at how the once beautiful man had become broken, burnt to a crisp, and about to be devoured by worms.
Everyone thought it was an accident.
Then and there I vowed revenge. Plotting it was easy, but finding my way back was another story.
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Enjoy this interview with Diane Rinella, author of Scary Modsters
In the last few years there have been many books about rock stars from the 1980’s up to the present. You went all the way back to the 1960’s. Why did you choose that era?
In the early 1960’s we had just gotten out of the bobby sox and saddle shoes phase and were looking to Jackie O for style tips. Fashions weren’t exactly risky. When our hero, Peter Lane, became popular all of that was changing. Mary Quant, a fashion designer out of London, made revolutionary changes in styles, color combinations, and hemlines that have never left us. The mod look propelled fashion forward and signaled that the world was changing. It was sort of the shot heard around the world.
But why make him a mod? Why not a rocker or a hippie?
A lot of the reason has to do with my fascination with mod culture. There’s a misconception that the scooter-loving mods were rich kids while their rivals, the motorcycle-riding rockers, didn’t have money for fancy clothes. In talking to a lot of 60’s mods I found that wasn’t true at all. The mods were just as working class as the rockers, but their priorities were different. They didn’t believe in wearing something that they considered undesirable when they could to do better.
I have a few hang-ups with modern fashion. It seems like everywhere I go people are wearing clothes that are so short and tight that their skin pops out in an undesirable way. The alternative is that their clothes are so baggy that they are falling off. I have a hard time watching award shows. Some people are given great honors and they show up looking like getting out of bed was an inconvenience. It drives me crazy.
Have you noticed that you seem to hit on the cusp of an emerging trend?
A few weeks ago I was in my corner drugstore and noticed a nail polish display that said, “Go Mod.” All of the colors were shades that you would expect find in dresses circa 1966. About a week later I saw a commercial for Target. As they were flashing through the different spring trends one of them boldly said “60’s mod” and showed a girl in mod make up. Rimmel has a wickedly fantastic mod campaign going on. I could not have timed it better.
So I take it the character of Rosalyn is rather personal?
A lot of her really is. She’s more fangirly than I am, but I totally understand her. While our situations are completely different our hearts are the same.
Why do you think we are looking to the 1960s for fashion?
It seems that every twenty years we revisit an era. The poodle skirts and saddle shoes of the 1950’s came back in style in the late 1970’s when rockabilly hit. 1960’s fashions became popular again in the 1980’s, during the new wave revolution. In the 1990’s stores were flooded with bellbottoms and those big shirts that were all the rage in the 70’s. In the first decade of the current century we saw an 80’s, new wave resurgence. Now we are due for a 90’s resurgence, which puts us at grunge. The problem is that grunge had a very casual look that never went away. Also the 90’s weren’t very interesting fashion wise. So where do we go from there? It seems only natural that we would look back to the revolution—the 1960’s. Everything old is new again.
So do you think suddenly everybody’s going to wear oversized sunglasses, miniskirts, and well-tailored suits?
A part of me really hopes so! A part of me also fears it because it means I’ll be stylish. I can’t see us going extreme, but I can certainly see an influence creeping in.
Scary Modsters is a very interesting title. Where how did you come up with it?
I don’t know how many people are catching the reference, but it’s a parody of the David Bowie album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). I wanted a title that gave away the rock ‘n roll connection. With Peter Lane being a mod and the fact that there is mob involvement, having a play on words was too easy.
Peter Lane goes through some pretty wild times. Is all that based on anything or anyone?
Peter Lane is both based on everyone and no one. So many musicians went through hell. Stories like Peter’s are all over rock history books. It’s no secret that all the events Peter went though have some type of counterpart in reality; however, the character and events are completely fabricated.
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Blitz-wide Giveaway
Open to US Only. Sorry to my International friends.
One signed paperback of Scary Modsters and a multi-author SWAG pack.
Winner also chooses from one of three charities for the author to make a $20 donation in their name!
Click on the Rafflecopter below to enter.
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I’ve got another exciting book to show you today.
Hunted is the second book in The LeKrista Scott, Vampire Hunted Series.
The cover art is spectacular and if you like slayers and vampires with some romance too, this is something you’ll want to read.
Read the character bios and get to know a bit about them. Then enjoy the peek inside Hunted.
Hunted
LeKrista Scott, Vampire Hunted Series # 2
By Tyffani Clark Kemp
Publication Date- April 16th, 2014
Genre- Paranormal/Vampires
Blurb
LeKrista Scott survived three separate vampire attacks, almost drowned, and turned down her boyfriend’s proposal. What else could possibly go wrong?
Apparently, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Lizette, a brand new vampire with a grudge, blames LeKrista for being turned into a monster. In retaliation, she decides to go straight for the throat, so to speak, and attack LK’s ailing mother at her rest home. LeKrista enlists the help of her “Vampire liason” Roman, but it could never be that easy. Not for her.
A daywalker, a born vampire who can walk in the sun, has been hired by the head of the Vampire Counsel to collect LeKrista and the debt she owes him. As payment, her great great aunt is taken. Once again, the Mages refuse to help, so what is a girl to do, but rescue her family herself?
With her back against the wall, LeKrista will rise up stronger and teach the preternatural world to fear the Vampire Hunted.
Links-
Goodreads ~ Kindle ~ Amazon UK ~ Createspace
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Character Bios
LeKrista Scott
25 and in a committed relationship, even if things are a little rocky with everything she’s dealing with. Like Vampires. And the fact that she’s a powerful mage. She has trouble controlling her magic because of a darkness that lurks deep inside her, made stronger by vampires.
Pierce Wisely
LeKrista’s boyfriend. They’ve been together for six years. He has supernatural qualities, but can’t tell LK what he is until after they consummate their marriage…if they ever get to.
Roman
2000 year old vampire. He was born during the Roman Empire and served as a Centurion. He was one of the men who crucified Jesus. Cursed for all eternity to be a vampire, he is one of the oldest still living. And one of the strongest.
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And a peek inside!
Pierce laughed like he was trying to hold it in. “I promise I don’t turn into any kind of bug, creepy crawly, or biting thing.” He paused and his eyes flashed in that otherwordly way. “No, that’s not true. I do bite.”
“Pierce, I’m being serious.”
“So am I. I do bite, but no bugs and no spiders. Look at me.” He took my chin and forced my eyes to his. They were soft, amber orbs that smiled at me, full of love and tollerance. “You’re special because I love you like I’ve never loved anyone ever before, and when you learn what it means for me to say that, you’ll understand just how important it is that I can. You are my whole world, LeKrista Scott. You are everything to me. None of the other women in my life matter. Do you hear me? Well, except for my mother.” He winked. “Gotta love mama.”
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About Author Tyffani Clark Kemp
Tyffani Clark Kemp has been writing since she discovered in the sixth grade that it wasn’t enough just to read about fantastic places, but she could create her own. She weaves small bits of herself into everything she writes whether it be a science fiction piece about aliens or a dramatic romance fraught with conflict and love. In September 2012 Tyffani and a friend started SideStreet Publishing LLC. She lives in South Carolina with her family and her fluffy shii tzu-mix dog who thinks he’s a Saint Bernard.
Links-
Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter
Facebook Events-
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!
I have a great book to show you today and a fun giveaway.
But first let’s here from the author himself!
Author Spotlight: James Moser, on Chasing Prophecy
I have always wanted to build a story around someone or something like Boo Radley, my all-time favorite literary character. I love how he dominates that book while remaining largely off-stage. I looked around the Seattle area and the closest thing I could think of was our local legend of Bigfoot. Once I had my own version of Nathan Arthur Radley in place, I started thinking a lot about monsters, especially monsters we make bigger in our imagination. I also thought about Boo living in society without being a part of it, which made me think of different separatist groups turned into cults. My young characters are based on bits and pieces of hundreds of former students.
The setting of Boulder Creek, Washington, like everything else in the book, is based on bits and pieces of lots of things. There is no town called that. Boulder Creek is where my wife and I hiked for our first date, in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains. The mountains in my book look like the ones around Darrington, in Snohomish County. The main street is like Arlington (where I had my first teaching job). The log bridge is something I remember from a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, 1,000 miles away. People who have read Twilight will think Boulder Creek feels like Forks, which it does, because that’s what every small town in Washington feels like. The Bethlehem compound is the Boy Scout camp I attended in northern Idaho, complete with the same wood carvings on the fireplace.
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Chasing Prophecy
by James Moser
Publication date: January 2nd 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
Synopsis:
“Chasing Prophecy” is the story of Mo, a teen boy just trying to survive high school in the mountain town of Boulder Creek, Washington. Boulder Creek is an isolated and mysterious place, proud of its reputation as the “Bigfoot Sighting Capital of the World”. Mo falls in love with a girl named Prophecy who lives with a group that some call a commune and others call a cult. When she disappears, Mo must find the courage to face the monster that her family has become. “Chasing Prophecy” is a heartwarming contemporary coming of age story. This book chronicles the adolescence of one boy who must transform himself to save the girl of his dreams.
Moser holds a B.A. in bookish matters and a Master’s in the same. He lives in Seattle with his wife and eight year old son.
Author links:
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Click on the Rafflecopter below to enter.
Ends May 20th
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!
The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.
The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find any sentence, or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.
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“It’s me,” came an achingly familiar voice.
…I shook my head, feeling strangely dizzy. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when I had just made my first step forward with my life. I couldn’t see him now. I wouldn’t.
“Cassie, Please, we need to talk. It’s important.”
The last thing he had said to me was a nonverbal door in my face, and I had every intention of reciprocating. If that’s as much as he cared about me, then that’s as much as I cared about him. Which was not at all…An expanding pressure in my chest tried to disagree, but I held firm.
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Mind Games
Cassie Scot #3
By Christine Amsden
Beware your heart and soul…
Evan broke Cassie’s heart two months ago, and she still doesn’t know why. She throws herself into family, friends and her new job at the sheriff’s department, but nothing helps. The only thing that finally allows her heal and move on is the love of a new man, mind mage Matthew Blair. Cassie finds him… irresistible
Matthew may also be the only one who can help keep the nonmagical residents of Eagle Rock from going crazy over the murder of a beloved pastor’s wife. It looks like a sorcerer is to blame, but while Cassie tries to figure out who, others take matters into their own hands. With tensions running so hot, a single spark might set Eagle Rock ablaze.
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