Posts Tagged ‘excerpt’

blackwell seize ban

Seize
by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor
(A Magnus Blackwell Novel, #3)
Published by: Vesuvian Books
Publication date: March 26th 2019
Genres: Adult, Supernatural

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Synopsis

Lexie Arden has a loving husband, a thriving business, and consults with the New Orleans Police Dept on murder cases. Kalfu has given her everything she desires, but challengers to her authority are closing in.

Her dark secret remains hidden from everyone except Magnus. He sees the evil growing stronger, changing her, and hurting her marriage. If Lexie doesn’t rid herself of Kalfu’s influence soon, the consequences will be irreversible.

When she unexpectedly inherits a cottage in the swamp, she uncovers a library of rare books on voodoo. Their spells can reverse the dark lord’s hold and set right the balance between darkness and light. But such magic requires a great sacrifice; one Lexie isn’t willing to make.

With the shadow spirits and raging voodoo gods vying for her attention, Lexie is on the verge of losing everything—her husband, her power, Magnus, and possibly, her life.

The battle for control of the mambo’s soul is about to begin.

Goodreads

Book website

Purchase Links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks

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Check out the excerpt!

The dead were everywhere.
Bathed in late afternoon rays of sunlight, Magnus stood on a patch of land surrounded by algae-covered swamp and cursed. Why had he and Lexie been dragged to the godforsaken hellhole again? The songs of cicadas welcoming the coming twilight played in the background while the black eyes of the dead stared at him from the water.
Scarred, bruised, with fresh gaping wounds, the ghosts of men, women, and children lingered above the water. Some missing limbs and even heads, the apparitions glared at him. He preferred things the way they had been before when he’d depended on Lexie to tell him what the dead wanted. He feared her gift firmly entrenched in his center.
Lexie spoke in hushed tones to Detective Emile Glapion. Emile understood Lexie’s gift having been raised by a voodoo priestess. Several officers from the St. John The Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department waited around them, peering into the water at the naked victim.
“Otis Landry was a good man.” Emile’s voice carried in the humid, sticky air. “I know how hard this must be for you, but can you think of any reason why anyone would cut up your landlord like that?”
Otis’s bloated corpse had strange symbols carved across his torso and arms. Magnus recognized the geometric shapes and wavy lines of the devouring spell used on Renee. Her murder, as well as others’ in the city covered with the same carvings, remained unsolved. By the rate the bodies were piling up, Magnus doubted the police would ever get a handle on the killings.
He floated closer to Lexie, unseen by the others, eager to eavesdrop on more of her conversation. These days, Magnus found his charge hard to read. It was as if the black inside her blocked him. He used to be able to glean her every thought, sense her feelings, and guess her next move, but now, she was a mystery—much like other women he’d known.
An image of the lovely Frances floated across his mind. But as soon as he pictured her delicate face and honey-blonde hair, he remembered the way she screamed as he pushed her over the cliff behind his family home.
He didn’t like reliving that moment. It was one of many he wished to forget.

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About the authors

blackwell authors

Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author of over twenty-seven novels, a screenwriter, ICU Nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective and began writing at the age of eight. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable. A member of the Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers Association, Weis writes mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, crime fiction, and romance. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.
Author links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
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Lucas Astor is from New York, has resided in Central America and the Middle East, and traveled through Europe. He lives a very private, virtually reclusive lifestyle, preferring to spend time with a close-knit group of friends than be in the spotlight.

He is an author and poet with a penchant for telling stories that delve into the dark side of the human psyche. He likes to explore the evil that exists, not just in the world, but right next door behind a smiling face.

Photography, making wine, and helping endangered species are just some of his interests. Lucas is an expert archer and enjoys jazz, blues, and classical music.

One of his favorite quotes is:  “It’s better to be silent than be a fool.”  ~Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

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Revelations
by Robert Sells
Genre: Science Fiction
 
Aster Worthington spearheads the First Contact Team to unravel a message
from an alien race. “The Lambdons” promise free energy if
humanity builds a few special robots and downloads their message into
a super computer to direct construction of the fusion reactor. An
excited world agrees and builds a massive structure called the Dome
to house the alien enterprise.
Seven years later, there’s no “free energy” and strange things happen
in and around the Dome. Aster and her colleagues mount an expedition
under the protection of Army Rangers to investigate the interior.
Instead of friendly aliens, they discover hordes of deadly
intelligent humanoids with insect-like characteristics.
When the military team is brutally murdered by the Lambdons, the
scientists scatter. It’s soon apparent that the Lambdons intend to
take over the planet using biological warfare. The only hope for
humanity lies with a two-thousand year old scroll hidden by the
church. The question is, can Aster and her team unravel the scroll’s
mystery in time to save the planet?
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revelations excerpt
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While Aster’s body was near collapse, her mind continued its ruminations like a mouse on a treadmill. Fear takes away energy. Interesting. She grunted. Interesting that you still think analytically, you idiot. Her eyes snapped back to the floor. No centipedes. Okay, rest a bit. Don’t exhaust yourself, girl. Aster slid down on the floor again and covered her face with her hands. We never should have entered this damned place. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The Dome had sent them one subtle warning after another and, like so many other clues, they ignored them. Humans, she reflected, were particularly adept at twenty-twenty hindsight. Her eyes snapped open and wide-eyed, searched the area close to her. She scooted back up. Any of those damn centipedes around? None. She was safe. At least from those creepy, crawly things.
Then a clacking sound. Those horrible feet, ending with hooves, not feet, the tapping sound on cement. She let out a gurgle of hysterical laughter. Here come the bad guys again! She pinched herself hard to try to get control and took a shaky breath. Don’t lose it now. You’ve made it this far. She got up and moved lightly along the wall and, at the junction, steered away from the clacks. Don’t know where in hell I am. She hummed lightly under her breath, repeating it several times, then giggled. No, but I do know that I’m in Hell, don’t I? How about that, Daddy? You were right all along. Your scientist daughter is rotting in Hell, just like you said I would.
She walked for about an hour, winding her way through the corridors, hugging a wall and trying not to be seen, carefully stepping over the gray cauliflower-fungi peppering the ground. Always steering away from those clacking sounds. Looking for centipedes and either killing them or walking away from the larger ones. They didn’t seem to have eyes, but somehow the centipedes could detect her. Smell? Sound?
Finally, bowing to her fatigue, Aster Worthington, famed astronomer, sagged down and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. She just couldn’t go any farther. Exhausted, all she could do was keep watching left and right.
If they came down the corridor, she probably couldn’t outrun them but maybe she might get lucky with a shot. She knew she had to hit the head. Of course, it would help if she knew how to work the damn gun. She fiddled with a latch around the trigger. Was this the safety? Off. On. Off? On? Off? She didn’t know how long she had been playing with the gun when she was jerked out of her reverie by a sound.
Instantly, standing up, her head snapped around toward the corner of the alley, and she tightly gripped her gun. Alert. A new sound. Padding sounds. What the hell was that?
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I attended college at Ohio Wesleyan where I struggled with physics.
Having made so many mistakes in college with physics, there weren’t
too many left to make and I did quite well at graduate school at Purdue.
I worked for nearly twenty years at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive boarding school in
the heart of Connecticut. More often than not, students arrived in
limousines. There was a wooded area by the upper athletic fields
where I would take my children for a walk. There, under a large oak
tree, stories about the elves would be weaved into the surrounding forest.
Returning to my home town to help with a father struggling with Alzheimer’s, the only
job open was at a prison. There I taught an entirely different
clientele whose only interaction with limousines was stealing them. A
year later Alfred State College hired me to teach physics. I happily
taught there for over ten years. A rural, low income high school
needed a physics teacher and the superintendent, a friend, begged me
to help out. So, I am finishing my teaching career in a most
fulfilling way… helping kids who would otherwise not have access to
a qualified physics (and math) teacher.
My wife pestered me about putting to “pen” some of the stories which I had created
for the children and other relatives. I started thinking about a
young boy and a white deer, connected, yet apart. Ideas were shuffled
together, characters created and the result was the Return of the
White Deer. This book was published by the Martin Sisters.
Years ago I gave a lecture on evolution. What, I wondered, would be the next step? Right
away I realized that silicon ‘life’ had considerable advantages
over mortal man. Later this idea emerged as the exciting and
disturbing story called Reap the Whirlwind, my most recent novel.
I have many other stories inside my mind, fermenting, patiently waiting for the pen to
give them breath. Perhaps someday I will even write about those elves
which still inhabit the woods in the heart of Connecticut.
 
 
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Trifles and Folly
A Deadly Curiosities Collection
by Gail Z. Martin
Genre: Urban Fantasy
 
A collection of nine adventures: Buttons, The Restless Dead,
Retribution, Coffin Box, Wicked Dreams, Collector, Bad Memories,
Shadow Garden, and Spook House. 
Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day Charleston, an
antiques and curios shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can read
the history of objects by touching them and along with her business
partners Teag, who has Weaver magic and Sorren, a 600 year-old
vampire, they get rid of cursed objects and keep Charleston and the
world safe from supernatural threats. An extension of the Deadly
Curiosities book series.
Revised Edition 2, 2018. Includes an updated cover, minor edits
and the BONUS section with three stories chronicling Sorren’s early days:
Vanities, The Wild Hunt, and Dark Legacy.
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folly excerpt
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Coffin Box

“I don’t know why, but I’ve really got a bad feeling about that house.” I sat in the car parked at the curb near the big house on the Battery.
“Bad feeling like they won’t pay their bill, or bad feeling like there’s a hungry demon inside?” Teag Logan asked.
I shook my head. “Not sure, but if I had to put money on it, I’d go with the demon.”
Most people would be kidding. Teag knew I wasn’t. I’m Cassidy Kincaide, owner of Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio shop in historic, haunted Charleston, SC. Neither Teag nor I are entirely what we seem, and that holds true for the shop as well.
I’m a psychometric, which means I can often read the history of objects by touching them. Teag has Weaver magic, an ability to weave spells into cloth and to weave data streams—like the Internet—making him an awesome hacker. He’s my best friend, sometime bodyguard and assistant store manager. I’m the latest in a very long line of relatives to manage Trifles and Folly in the 350 years the store has existed, but we’ve all had the same silent partner, a nearly six-hundred-year-old vampire named Sorren, and the same mission: to get dangerous magical items off the market and out of the wrong hands. Most of the time, we succeed. When we fail, people die and really bad things happen.
“How do you want to handle this?” Teag asked.
I drew a deep breath. “We go in, and see what’s what. Then we figure it out from there.” My magic is touch-psychic, not clairvoyance, so I can’t see the future, much as I would sometimes like to.
The house was large, old, and expensive. Most of the homes on the Battery hailed from before the Civil War. Many of the houses are painted in the muted pastels most people associate with places like Bermuda and Nassau. Some of the families who owned these homes had been here since the mansions were built. The houses are beautiful, and tourists flock to see them. But as much as I admire their beauty, I try not to spend a lot of time down at the Battery for the simple reason that it creeps me out.

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Trifles and Folly 2
A Deadly Curiosities Collection 
 
Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day Charleston, an
antiques and curios shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can read
the history of objects by touching them and together with Teag (a
hacker and weaver witch) and Sorren, a 600 year-old vampire, they get
rid of cursed objects and keep Charleston and the world safe from
supernatural threats.
An extension of the Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy novel series, this
collection contains three full novellas and four short stories: The
Final Death, Predator, Fair Game, Fatal Invitation, Redcap,
Bloodlines, plus three bonus stories: Among the Shoals Forever, The
Low Road, and Steer a Pale Course.
 
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folly excerpt
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Fatal Invitation

I reached into the shipping crate. My hand closed around a newspaper-wrapped piece from a china dish set, probably a gravy boat from its contours. The warning tingle from my psychic gift was too little, too late. By the time I realized the danger, I was already immersed in a vision of tragedy and terror.
Images strobed in my mind, searingly clear for an instant and then suddenly dark. A dining room table set with holiday finery for a Thanksgiving feast. Eight people—no, nine—but the one person’s face was hidden. Dinner began with high spirits. The person whose memories I was experiencing was a man, the father of the family gathered for the feast, happy that he was surrounded by loved ones—and a guest.
Despite the high spirits, a warning tingled at the edge of my host’s senses. It had been a mistake to invite the stranger, he was thinking. They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
The stranger didn’t say much as the meal began. Everyone else laughed and talked as silverware rattled and food was passed around the table. His son, the youngest at the table, was the first one affected. He complained about his stomach, folded his arms across his midsection, and fell forward onto his plate. I saw the man’s hand set the gravy boat down on the table as he stood.
Everyone rose in alarm—everyone except the stranger. I couldn’t get a clear look at the guest’s face. The others were in sharp focus, but the one I knew was the stranger had blurred features, and the baggy clothing made it impossible to tell gender. The stranger stepped back as everyone rushed to the boy, who fell back, eyes staring blankly, unresponsive, into his mother’s arms as she screamed.
The others began to stagger, hands going to their heads or abdomens, faces frightened and worried. The boy’s mother collapsed across his body. Others crumpled to the floor or sagged from their chairs.
The person whose memories I shared tried to go to them, but his legs failed him. His heart raced but it was hard to breathe, and his mouth had gone dry. Vision blurred, and despite his panic, he was so utterly tired. Still, he dragged himself toward his family, but halfway across the room, his body no longer responded to his mind’s commands. He reached out to the stranger, one hand raised in a plea for help. The stranger only smiled.

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Gail Z. Martin discovered her passion for science fiction, fantasy and
ghost stories in elementary school. The first story she wroteat age
fivewas about a vampire. Her favorite TV show as a preschooler was
Dark Shadows. At age 14, she decided to become a writer. She enjoys
attending science fiction/fantasy conventions, Renaissance fairs and
living history sites. She is married and has three children, a
Himalayan cat, a Maltese and a golden retriever.
 
 
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next to last banner

Thanks for visiting my stop on the virtual book tour The Next To Last Mistake organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Amalie Jahn will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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The Next To Last Mistake

by Amalie Jahn

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Synopsis

Tess Goodwin’s life in rural Iowa is sheltered and uncomplicated. Although she chooses to spend most of her free time playing chess with her best friend Zander, the farm-boy from next door, her skills as a bovine midwife and tractor mechanic ensure that she fits in with the other kids at East Chester High. But when her veteran father reenlists in the Army, moving her family halfway across the country to North Carolina, Tess is forced out of her comfort zone into a world she knows nothing about.

Tess approaches the move as she would a new game of chess, plotting her course through the unfamiliar reality of her new life. While heeding Zander’s long-distance advice for making new friends and strategizing a means to endure her dad’s imminent deployment to the Middle East, she quickly discovers how ill-equipped she is to navigate the societal challenges she encounters and becomes convinced she’ll never fit in with the students at her new school.

When Leonetta Jackson is assigned as her mentor, she becomes Tess’s unexpected guide through the winding labyrinth of cultural disparities between them, sparking a tentative friendship and challenging Tess to confront her reluctant nature. As the pieces move across the board of her upended life, will Tess find the acceptance she so desperately desires?

Check out this peek inside:

I’m almost asleep, barely conscious of drifting off, when I’m startled by a noise outside my window. Before I have a chance to turn on the light and investigate, the sash slides open and someone steps into my room.

I hope beyond all hope I’m not dreaming.

“Zander?” I ask, not wondering if it’s him but why he’s here.

He’s all the way in the room now, standing at the foot of my bed. “Did I wake you?” he whispers.

“No,” I tell him. He blows into his hands, and I lift my blankets, inviting him under the covers to warm up.

“It’s colder than a polar bear’s butt out there.” He snuggles against me in my tiny twin bed like we’re still six-year-olds, camping outside in each other’s backyards. I wrap my arms around him, and he settles against my shoulder. “You left your own party.”

“It wasn’t really my party,” I say. “More New Year’s than anything else.”

“The cake was good. Red velvet. You would’ve liked it.”

There’s so much I want to say. Apologies I want to give. Promises I want to make. But the words are jumbled around in my head, and I’m afraid if I speak everything will come out all wrong.

“I didn’t have anyone to kiss at the ball drop,” he says eventually, and I wonder if whatever was in his Solo cup has gone to his head.

“Tina and Claire were there.”

He chuckles grimly and his voice turns serious. “We’ve been together every New Year’s since we were babies, you know that?” His words settle over me, and I strain under the weight of them. Heavier still is the burden of what he doesn’t say: And this might have been our last.

“I’m sorry,” I say, feeling the need to explain, “but it was so cold and I knew my dad was gonna need help with the herd and…”

He rolls over to face me, placing a finger over my lips. “It’s okay, Tess. I get it. It’s been hard being around each other for the past few weeks. I didn’t realize the anticipation of you leaving was gonna suck so bad. I didn’t know how horrible I was at long goodbyes.” Now he’s the one who’s apologizing. “I guess I didn’t know what else to do. I figured this day might be easier for both of us…”

“If you left me before I had the chance to leave you?”

“Something like that.” He sighs. “It wasn’t intentional. I guess I’ve been sorta messed up in my own head, thinking about not having you around. You’re the best part of my days.”

I blink back tears I don’t realize are already spilling down my cheeks. His admission is true for me as well—something we’ve always taken for granted.

“It’s only eighteen months, then we’ll both graduate and head to college together like we always planned. You and me. It’s not that long, right?”

“It’s not that long,” he agrees. “But it’ll never be the same, not having you right next door.”

His body is relaxed against mine, and I’m reminded of all the nights we spent together growing up, head to foot and back to back, me teasing him for his stinky feet and him making fun of my retainer. “Maybe someone better will move in here,” I laugh between sniffles. “Some Victoria’s Secret supermodel, schlepping around manure in waders and a thong.”

He chuckles, too, and I imagine him smiling in the darkness. “As tempting as she sounds, I still wouldn’t willingly trade you for her.”

There’s something unspoken in his words, a tiny invitation across a boundary we’ve never crossed. But I can’t cross it now. I won’t. There’s no reason to take something painful and make it complicated as well.

“I should go to sleep,” I tell him. “We’re leaving after the morning milking, and I gotta be alert enough to drive.”

He stirs under the covers and his warmth leaves my side. As he stands over me, silhouetted in the moonlight cascading through my window, I hear him sigh. Then, he leans down to place a kiss on my forehead like a father tucking in his child.

“Bye,” I say.

“Bye.”

“Love ya.”

“Love ya back.”

And then he’s gone, back through the window out into the night. I assume, in the wake of our farewell, it’s going to take me hours to fall asleep, but the next thing I know my alarm is going off, and it’s time to slide the chessboard of my past life on to the shelf and begin another match.

About Author Amalie Jahn

Amalie Jahn is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 8 young adult novels, including The Next To Last Mistake, her latest release (Light Messages Publishing 2019).

Amalie is the recipient of the Literary Classics Seal of Approval and the Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal for her debut novel, The Clay Lion. She is a contributing blogger with the Huffington Post and Southern Writers Magazine, as well as a TED speaker, human rights advocate, and active promoter of kindness. She lives in the United States with her husband, two children, and three overfed cats.

When she’s not at the computer coaxing characters into submission, you can find Amalie swimming laps, cycling, or running on the treadmill, probably training for her next triathlon. She hates pairing socks and loves avocados. She is also very happy time travel does not yet exist. Connect with her right here in the present day at these social media sites:

Websiteshttp://www.amaliejahn.com and lightmessages.com/amalie-jahn
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Visit http://www.amaliejahn.com to join Amalie’s FREE Readers Group and in addition to receiving promotional discounts, sneak peeks, and monthly newsletters, your membership will now grant you exclusive access to bonus material (shorts and novelettes) delivered right to your inbox!

Amazon / B&N / Apple / Kobo

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House of Madness
by Sara Harris
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
 
Can You Ever Truly Put the Past Behind You?
Tim and Adelaide Smithfield are haunted by memories of loss too raw to
forget, and too painful to remember. Their 11-year-old daughter,
Michaela, has her own set of sensory processing challenges, not to
mention an overwhelming sense of guilt that she might be at the root
of her parents’ problems.
The sprawling ranch house on the outskirts of the quaint West Texas town
of Big Spring promises a fresh start for a young family on the verge
of collapse.
But the house is haunted by memories of its own… and a guilt that West
Texas’ famed thunderstorms can’t wash away.
 
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house of m excerpt
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“Mother!”
Addie shook her head. “Sorry, Mack. I didn’t sleep well last night. What?”
“Are all Ritchie’s bad people?”
“I suppose it would depend on the person.”
Addie’s stomach rumbled. A couple of donuts were left in the box. Neither had equally dispersed sprinkles, so it’s not like Michaela would be eating one. Addie took a deep breath and chose the most smashed of the two before she continued.
Time to put the past to rest. Time to be normal.
Addie chewed the pastry and swallowed the bite. It tasted like sawdust. “Do you think Ritchie is the name of a bad guy?”
Michaela nodded. “Ritchie is mean. I don’t like anyone named Ritchie.”
Adelaide said a mental prayer for any of Michaela’s future classmates who had the bad luck to be named Ritchie.
Michaela folded her paper towel in half, then in half again. “Ritchies slam doors. And they don’t like dogs.”
Addie glanced at Tim. He must think he’s the only one among us who has a mind that operates halfway decent.
“Well baby, don’t judge all Ritchie’s just from one.”
Michaela shrugged and stacked the pepper shaker on top of the salt. “I don’t know. You’ve always said anyone that doesn’t like dogs can’t be trusted any further than you could throw them. And I don’t think I could throw Ritchie very far.”
Addie tried to conceal a laugh, but it escaped anyway as a snort. Sometimes, Michaela’s thought process was so entirely off the wall that it came full circle and made a bit of sense.
Tim, however, wasn’t laughing at all. “Who is Ritchie, Mack? Someone in one of your classes at school last year or something?”
Mack stared at her dad. A deadpan stare that had proven to give parents of non-autistic children the creeps. “Ritchie gets mad. He likes to slam things.”
An icy breeze brought goosebumps to Addie’s arms.
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house of m guest post
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I began writing the House of Madness when I lived in the actual house I wrote about.  Everything was so strange in that house — from the steel reinforced windows to the multiple safe rooms in the house.  This story was so spooky that, as I wrote it, I slept with the lights on for three weeks.

Several of these spooky elements were real – including the little girl, Michaela, talking to the French speaking ghost in the closet mirror. Only this happened when we lived in Italy, which was really bizarre. I would think any ghosts living in the mirror in Italy would speak Italian?

People often ask me if I believe in ghosts. I have to say no – with all the spooky occurrences that have happened to me during the course of my life, if I actually believed in ghosts, I would never sleep with the lights off again! Hehe!

My most memorable ghostly occurrence was in Galveston, Texas. We were staying at one of the most haunted places on the island, the Tremont Hotel – room 333. My family and I checked in after hours, put the do not disturb sign out like we always do, unpacked, had a pillow fight, opened the TV cabinet and pulled out the television and positioned it to where it faced the beds, then went out on the town. We arrived back to the room about midnight to a spotless room. We asked the front desk if they always tidied rooms after guests checked in. They said housekeeping left at 5, and nobody would have come in the room without out consent with the do not disturb sign on the door. I wish could have brought that awesome ghost home with me!

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Sara is a mother of four, animal lover and advocate, and conservationist.
Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Lonesome
Dove are among her favorite shows/movies and books. Sara holds her
B.A. in History and is the author of the historical romance series,
An Everlasting Heart, from 5 Prince Publishing and recently debuted
into the children’s book realm with Chunky Sugars (5 Prince Kids),
written for her own chunky baby.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
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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

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Two WitchesAndAWhiskeyBlitzBanner-1

Two Witches and a Whiskey
by Annette Marie
(The Guild Codex: Spellbound, #3)
Publication date: February 8th 2019
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy
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Two Witches cover
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Synopsis:
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Three months ago, I landed a job as a bartender. But not at a bar—at a guild. Yeah, the magic kind.

I’m not a badass mage like my three smokin’ hot best friends. I’m not a sorcerer or an alchemist, or even a wussy witch. I’m just a human, slinging drinks like a pro and keeping my non-magical nose out of mythic business. Seriously, I know my limits.

So why am I currently standing in a black-magic ritual circle across from a fae lord?

Somewhere behind me, my three mage friends are battling for their lives. Somewhere near my feet is the rogue witch I just knocked out with a stolen spell. And I have about five seconds to convince this very angry sea god not to shmoosh me like a bug.

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t part of the job description.


THE GUILD CODEX: SPELLBOUND
Three Mages and a Margarita (#1)
Dark Arts and a Daiquiri (#2)
Two Witches and a Whiskey (#3)

Purchase: Amazon

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Enjoy this peek inside:

Shouts burst from Aaron’s table in a mix of triumph and dejection. Half the table lifted their shot glasses and tossed them back, Aaron included. He slammed his glass down and growled.
“That one wasn’t fair,” he complained. “Lyndon, your turn.”
Surveying the gathering, I counted most of our top combat mythics—from mages like Aaron, Kai, and Laetitia, to sorcerers like Andrew, Lyndon, Gwen, and Zora. Even Girard, the first officer, had joined in. This was the elite faction of the guild—the ones who claimed the toughest jobs and took on the deadliest opponents.
Ezra was part of the circle too, but he’d slid his chair back and didn’t have a glass. He never drank much, stopping long before he got tipsy.
Whiskey bottle in hand, I leaned against his chair. “What’s going on?”
“Drinking game,” Ezra replied with a grin. “Going around the circle, each person shares something they’ve done or experienced on a job. Anyone who hasn’t had a similar experience has to drink.”
“Since Darius covered it so thoroughly,” Lyndon declared, “I want to know. Who’s been bitten by a vamp? If you haven’t, cheers!”
Groaning, Aaron downed his refilled glass. Wasn’t he happy to be vamp-bite-free? Or maybe he was so many shots in that he’d prefer pointy fangs over more liquor. Laetitia, Gwen, Andrew, and two others drank as well, but Kai didn’t.
Zora pushed her sleeve up and displayed an ugly half-circle scar on her forearm. “The bastard nearly ripped a chunk out of me. It happened back at my old guild and their healer wasn’t top- notch.”
As various mythics whistled appreciatively, Lyndon pulled his shirt collar aside. A similar scar marked the spot where his neck and shoulder joined. “She drained a solid pint before my team caught up. I don’t normally relish a kill, but that one didn’t bother me.”
They passed the whiskey around, refilling their shot glasses.
Andrew, a skilled defensive sorcerer and frequent team leader, leaned back in his chair. “I want to see who hasn’t tripped and fallen on their face in the middle of a fight. And when you drink, we’ll all know you for the liar you are.”
As everyone laughed, Kai alone lifted his shot and downed it. Smacking it on the table, he raised his chin in challenge. “Who’s calling me a liar?”
I snickered when no one said a word. If there was ever a mythic who hadn’t wiped out in a battle, it was super-ninja Kai.
Girard stroked his beard. “My turn, isn’t it?”
Aaron and Kai exchanged despairing glances.
Smirking, Ezra half-whispered to me, “Girard will try to make everyone drink.”
The officer shot him a grin, then lifted his glass in a mocking toast. “Not to get too macabre, but Lyndon brought up kills, so. If you haven’t seen at least six bodies in one place, drink.”
“What?” Gwen pointed accusingly. “What kind of horrific shit have you been sticking your greasy beard in, Girard? Who stumbles across six piss-reeking corpses?”
Ah, Gwen. Every time she opened her foul mouth, I had to fight the urge to laugh. With her sleek blond ponytail and penchant for designer business attire, she looked like a high-end executive— an impression she ruined whenever she spoke.
Girard wagged a finger. “Drink, Gwen.”
Scowling, she tossed back her shot. Everyone else lifted theirs—except Aaron and Kai. Their smiles had vanished, their expressions grim as they stared at their shots like they wished they could drink too.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the table, then Zora grabbed my arm and pulled me in front of Ezra’s chair. “Tori, you do one!”
“Uh, me?”
His drunken grin back in full force, Aaron took my replacement whiskey bottle and stuffed a full shot into my hand in its place. “Give us a good one, Tori!”
I blinked around the table, packed with the guild’s best warriors. What could little ol’ human me say? What had I done that none of them had? Well, there were a few contenders. Flown with a dragon? Made a darkfae scream like a sissy girl? Punched a rogue druid in the nose? Problem was, I couldn’t talk about any of that.
My gaze dropped to Aaron. “Who here has thrown a drink on three mages at once?”
Laughing groans circled the table. Even Girard had to take a shot.
“Wait!” Laetitia lowered her whiskey. “I spilled a coffee across Darius, Tabitha, and myself once. Does that count?”
The table debated, then decided it counted. Zora gave me a commiserating slap on the hip, making me stumble backward into Ezra, still seated in his chair. He steadied me with a hand on my waist.
“Good try!” Zora exclaimed. “You almost had it, but no one’s managed to make everyone drink yet.”
“Tori could have,” Kai interjected. “All she had to do was say ‘kissed Aaron.’ Then we all would have lost.”
The guys howled with laughter and Aaron snorted.
Zora turned to Alistair, an older man I knew only as the most powerful mage in the guild. He was rarely here, too busy hunting the scariest bad guys both in the city and outside it.
“Last round, Alistair,” she said. “I can’t handle any more whiskey, so this is your final chance to claim ultimate victory. Go big or go home.”
Alistair tugged thoughtfully on his snow-white beard. Deeply tanned and weathered, with full- sleeve tattoos on his sinewy arms, he oozed badass-ness. I leaned forward, eager to hear his challenge.
“Hmm. All right, this is mine: Who among us has fought the ultimate opponent?” His dark stare roved around the table. “Who’s fought a demon mage?”
No one moved. A wordless ripple passed among the mythics as they assessed their comrades’ reactions. Cold, tangible fear crawled through the eerie silence. Then, in near perfect unison, they lifted their shots and drank.

~~~~~

Author Annette Marie

Annette withces

Annette Marie is the author of Amazon best-selling YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter. Her first love is fantasy, but fast-paced adventures and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

Author links:  WebsiteGoodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nancy Boyarsky will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Liar Liar

A Nicole Graves Mystery #3

by Nancy Boyarsky

37871329

Synopsis

Nicole Graves finds herself in the crosshairs when she reluctantly agrees to babysit a witness in a high-profile rape trial. Mary Ellen Barnes is suing her university’s star quarterback for rape when the authorities won’t act. In the court of public opinion, Mary Ellen appears to be the quintessential, pious, good girl. But her lies and mysterious comings and goings lead Nicole to suspect that she’s not what she seems.

Read an Excerpt

Later, Nicole would ponder the truth and its illusive nature. She’d realize how many lies people would tell to protect themselves from it. And, worst of all, how many she herself would tell to get at it. She’d always considered herself a truthful person. Yet she’d find herself lying to others, to her fiancé, and even to herself.

She’d wonder if there was such a thing as the actual truth. Or was truth relative, the product of incomplete or faulty memories, or the limitations of the observer? How often was the truth tainted by what an individual wanted, or needed, to believe?

On this bright day in mid-March, Nicole stepped into the United Terminal at LAX and encountered a situation she could hardly believe. It was as if she’d slipped back in time to the previous year when the media was stalking her. This morning, they were massed in a corner of baggage claim. After the initial shock of seeing them, she noticed they weren’t looking in her direction, hadn’t noticed her at all. They were waiting for someone else, someone they expected to come down the escalator from the arrival gates.

About the Author Nancy Boyarsky:

Nancy Boyarsky is the bestselling author of the award-winning Nicole Graves Mysteries.
Before turning to mysteries, Nancy coauthored Backroom Politics, a New York Times notable book, with her husband, Bill Boyarsky. She has written several textbooks on the justice system as well as articles for publications including the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, and McCall’s. She also contributed to political anthologies, including In the Running, about women’s political campaigns. In addition to her writing career, she was communications director for political affairs for ARCO.

Liar Liar is the third Nicole Graves novel, following The Swap and The Bequest, each of which can be read as a stand alone. Readers are invited to connect with Nancy through her website.

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A Study In Shifters
Majanka Verstraete
(The Adventures of Marisol Holmes, #1)
Publication date: June 26th 2018
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Marisol Holmes may be the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes, but it’s hard to live up to the family name when only one mistake can spell your downfall. After trusting the wrong guy in a case gone totally wrong, Marisol convinces the Conclave, an underground organization of detectives solving supernatural cases, to give her a last chance to prove her worth, and maybe even heal her broken heart

After all, as a half-blood jaguar shifter, Marisol is uniquely qualified to solve this murder—and every scrap of evidence points toward the culprit being a fellow jaguar shifter. But is one of her own people involved, or is this all a ploy to kick Marisol’s mother off the shifter throne?

Then Marisol discovers her best friend, Roan, is missing, and maybe the killer’s next target. The stakes just got higher than political intrigue. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Marisol’s ex-boyfriend-turned-nemesis, Mannix, starts leaving sinister clues for her. Marisol fears this case might be far more personal than she could’ve imagined.

It’s time for Marisol to prove her worth, or her people could fall into chaos while her best friend loses his life.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

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Enjoy this glimpse inside:

I had a love-hate relationship with the Conclave. Ever since I was ten years old, I’d been solving cases for them, but they questioned everything about me: my methods, my name, my talents. If I hadn’t been such an outstanding detective, they would’ve kicked me out a long time ago—as they eventually did following the Big Betrayal.

The Conclave‘s primary task was making sure humans didn’t find out about the existence of supernatural beings, in particular us shifters.

Unfortunately, the Conclave existed of a bunch of stuffy old men and women who thought they were the finest specimens who had ever walked this earth. All of them had impressive family names and more impressive records, but they had cultivated their snobbism more than their good manners. All besides Saldor, that was.

“Tell us your findings,” Balthazar snarled at me.

 “Gladly.” I smiled at Saldor before I continued. One-upping Balthy was a great way to keep my mind off more serious topics, like the past. “The book is spelled. The room’s inhabitant was a grizzled old witch of considerable power. She was killed by summoning a demon. The demon killed her and vanished.” I clapped my hands. “Case solved.”

I started walking toward the exit, but Balthy grabbed my arm to stop me. “Not so fast.”

“What do you want from me now?” I asked him. “Do you want me to solve another one of your silly locked room mysteries? You know I will.”

“Yes.” His voice slithered like a snake. In fact, everything about the man reminded me of the viper he could transform into. “You might be an exceptional detective, Miss Holmes, but you’re careless, and you don’t care about the consequences of your actions. You didn’t even cry. Your own cousin, Holmes, and you couldn’t even shed a tear.”

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Author Majanka Verstraete

Author Majanka Verstraete has written more than twenty unique works of fiction. A native of Belgium, Majanka’s novels explore the true nature of monsters: the good, the bad, and just about every species in between. Her young adult books include the acclaimed Mirrorland (YA Dark Fantasy) and Angel of Death (YA Paranormal) series of novels. At MHB, Majanka is currently developing a new YA shifter series with a fresh take on fierce female detectives called THE ADVENTURES OF MARISOL HOLMES.

When she’s not writing, Majanka is probably playing World of Warcraft or catching up with the dozens of TV series she’s addicted to.

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In The Grip Of It

by Sheena Kamal

on Tour June 1 – June 30, 2018

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39320181

Genre: Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: May 15th 2018
Number of Pages: 96
ISBN: 0062879324 (ISBN13: 9780062879325)
Series: Nora Watts #1.5
Grab Your Copy of In the Grip Of It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis

On a surveillance assignment for a child custody case, PI-in-training Nora Watts finds herself ensconced in a small farming community on a beautiful hippie island in the Pacific Northwest, a place with a reputation for being welcoming to outsiders. But when she arrives there, she discovers her welcome quickly wears thin. Perhaps too quickly.

Salt Spring Island, with a history as a refuge for African Americans fleeing the bonds of slavery, is not a place of refuge for her—and, she suspects, may not be for the people who live there, either.

As she investigates, nothing about this remote community seems to add up. It gets personal as Nora confronts her own complicated feelings toward her estranged daughter and becomes increasingly concerned about the child she’s been tasked to surveil. She discovers that small, idyllic communities can hide very big secrets.

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Check out the excerpt:

Last week a man came into our PI office, looked around the shabby interior, frowned, and said, “I must have gotten the address wrong.”

“Depends,” I replied. “What are you looking for?”

“An investigator.”

“Nope, you’re in the right place,” I said, looking at his nice suit, shiny shoes, and expensive watch.

“Are you sure? Maybe I should come back later.”

He was clearly trying to make a graceful exit. Before the man could leave, I got up from behind my desk and opened the door to Leo Krushnik’s office. “Leo, there’s someone here to see you.”

“Well,” said the man, who was hesitating behind me, “I’m not really sure that this is the right fit for me.” He was trying to be diplomatic about the condition of our office and what it might say about his own level of desperation that he was here, but we weren’t about to let a potential client go without a fight. His level of desperation was no match for ours.

Leo Krushnik, the head of our little operation, walked around his desk and beamed at the man. “We’re the right fit for anybody,” he said, grasping the man’s hand and giving it a firm shake. “We prefer to keep our overhead low so that we can offer competitive rates to people who need our services, regardless of their personal incomes. Please, have a seat.”

The man sat, a little overwhelmed by Leo’s charm, which is considerable. That day Leo was dressed in linen pants and a simple cotton shirt, as a nod to the heat wave the city was experiencing. He could pull off this look as easily as he pulled off the lie about our rates. We keep our overhead low because this dump on Hastings Street, in the derelict Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, is all we can afford, but clients didn’t need to know that. And even I could admit that the “competitive rates” line sounded good—even true—coming from Leo.

“How can I help you?” Leo asked.

“My name is Ken Barnes, and I’m concerned about my son, Trevor. My ex-wife Cheyenne moved to Salt Spring last year with Trevor and I think she’s gotten into some kind of trouble there. She won’t bring him back to Vancouver and visitation has been difficult.”

Leo frowned. “Because they’re on an island?” Salt Spring wouldn’t be easy to ferry to and from on a regular basis.

“Yes, but that’s not the only reason. She keeps putting off my visits and it’s been difficult to arrange for Trevor to come into Vancouver. I think . . . I think she’s in some kind of cult, to be honest. They call it a commune, but you know those stories about Bountiful?”

“Yes,” said Leo. Everyone knew the stories about Bountiful, British Columbia, where fundamentalist polygamous communities live and proliferate seemingly freely.

“Well, I think it’s something like that. Cheyenne wants to be in some kind of crazy sex cult, sure. She’s not my wife anymore and I really don’t care what she does. But I’m fighting for custody of Trevor. I want him out of there.”

“And you need some ammo.” Leo looks up from his pad, where he’s been taking notes. “You’ve come to the right place, Ken. We’ve done surveillance work for many child-custody cases.” Another lie, but Ken didn’t notice. We’d only done a handful of those, but “many” is relative. “You understand that this won’t be cheap? We’ll have to get out to the island and spend some time gathering information.”

“That’s fine. There’s nothing I won’t pay to get my son out of there. Cheyenne, she . . . well, she struggled with depression and anxiety for years and she let a lot of toxic people into her life who fed on her struggles. It was like a sick downward spiral. When she started doing yoga and got certified as a teacher, I thought she’d changed. But I’m not sure anymore. I know this sounds terrible—I know it does—but I don’t trust her judgment about the people she lets into her life. Especially men.”

“She married you,” Leo said.

“I know, but this is the thing: it’s not about me and her anymore. We’re done. This is about Trevor—and me doing my part as a father, making sure he’s safe. That he has a good life. I just want results.”

“We can’t guarantee results.” This is the first time I’d spoken since the initial exchange. Ken Barnes’s startled gaze meets mine. He’d clearly forgotten I was there, which was not unusual. “Maybe it is a sex cult, maybe it isn’t. All we can do is take a look and document what we find.”

“I know that nothing is certain, but I know my son deserves a healthy, normal life. Whatever they’re doing on that island is not normal. It just isn’t. It’s one step away from homeschooling, and who’s to say they’re not making him do hard labor?”

What is normal, anyway? I didn’t ask Barnes for clarification. I just kept silent as Leo agreed to take his money in exchange for the work. Before he let Barnes go, he pulled him aside. “Nora’s right, Ken, about any sort of guarantee. But what I can say is that if there’s something to find, chances are we will get a sense of it.”

In the next few days, I started the file on Cheyenne Barnes and looked through the information Ken had provided us. “Cheyenne scrubbed her social-media profiles last year,” he explained to me, over the phone. “I thought she was punishing me by erasing the memories and keeping me away from what’s happening with my son, but now that I think about it, there’s something fishy about this whole thing.” So he kept saying.

Cheyenne is smiling in all the photos, and in every single one there is something wistful about her, a faraway look in her eyes. Something that suggests a romantic nature. She’s an instructor for hot yoga, which I thought was stretching for attractive people but later discovered is actually sweaty stretching. Who knew. She’d gone to Salt Spring Island two years ago to work at a yoga retreat and, according to Ken, never came back. She met a man there, a fellow yoga enthusiast, and rebuffed all of Ken’s attempts at reconciliation.

There is very little to be found on Cheyenne Barnes’s new man. He has no social-media profiles of his own, but I did find a picture of him on the Spring Love website. Some people are so attractive it’s almost surreal, and Vikram Sharma is one of them.


Excerpt from In the Grip Of It by Sheena Kamal. Copyright © 2018 by Sheena Kamal. Reproduced with permission from Witness Impulse. All rights reserved.

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About Author Sheena Kamal

SHEENA KAMAL holds an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness. Her debut novel, The Lost Ones, was inspired by this and by Kamal’s most recent work as a researcher into crime and investigative journalism for the film and television industry.

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POWER OF FIVE banner

I am so excited that POWER OR FIVE by Alex Lidell is available now and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Alex Lidell, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card, International, 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.

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 POWER OF FIVE

by Alex Lidell

Pub. Date: May 4, 2018

Publisher: Danger Bearing Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 312

Find it: GoodreadsAmazon

FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!!!

 

Power Of Five cover

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. 

 

Check out the Excerpt:

Shade’s neck bobs and he catches my wrist, the few inches of air between us suddenly thick. Crackling. His mouth opens slightly, the elongated canines near and sharp and glistening with danger. My chest tightens, my breath suddenly gone from my lungs.

“You . . . have long lashes,” I say, leaning closer. “Girls would kill for those.”

“I have many long things,” Shade breathes, his hand cupping the back of my head, tangling in my hair. “Patience, it seems, is not one of them.”

I open my lips to respond, only to find Shade’s mouth covering mine, his lips soft and warm enough to heat a whole palace. My own mouth yields in answer, and Shade’s kiss deepens, the hand in my hair tightening until my whole scalp tingles. Sings. Stars.

Shade pulls away slowly, his canines gently scraping my lower lip as I moan softly into him.

My heart pounds, the warmth between my legs a downright flame, and I try to catch my breath. “Did you plan that?” I demand.

Shade grins, makes a noncommittal sound, and turns back into his wolf, demonstratively making a circle on my bed before curling up with his tail over his nose. His body manages to press against my back, his rhythmic breathing soothing and steady.

“Why do you do that?” I ask when I can speak again. “Stay in your wolf form so much?”

No answer.

“Being a wolf to avoid talking to me while lounging around on my bedding is a dirty, cowardly trick.”

Shade snorts, buries his head deeper beneath his paws, and settles into a calm sleep punctuated by soft snores that turn into whimpers when I shift out of reach. Frowning, I move closer, resting my hand on the sleeping wolf’s flank. The whimpering stops, the rhythmic rise of his chest and his twitching eyelids speaking of a dream-filled slumber.

power of five teaser

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About Alex:

power of five author

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

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