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February 26, 2015

Fire Baptized by Kenya Wright ~ Blog Tour: #Review

http://diversebooktours.com/

Welcome to the "Fire Baptized" Mini tour brought to you by the lovely Kenya Wright! 
If you're in the mood for Urban Fantasy, Diversity and Unapologetic characters, you've found your kryptonite!


Book Title: Fire Baptized
Author Name: Kenya Wright
ISBN Number: 0985023007
Publisher: Pursuit
Page Number: 286
Format (e.g. paperback, ebook, etc.): ebook
Genre(s): Interracial Paranormal Romance

Release Date: Jan 28, 2012







Synopsis

Since the 1970s humans have forced supernaturals to live in caged cities. Silver brands embedded in their foreheads identify them by species: a full moon for Vampires, a crescent moon for Shifters, a pair of wings for Fairies, and the list goes on, for each supernatural species has been tagged and categorized by humans. 

Lanore Vesta is marked with a silver X, the brand of Mixbreeds, second-class citizens shunned by society. She stays to herself, revealing her ability to create fire only during emergencies. All she wants to do is graduate college and stop having to steal to survive. But when she stumbles upon a murder in progress, she catches the attention of a supernatural killer. Now all she wants is to stop finding dead bodies in her apartment. 

Enlisting help from her Were-cheetah ex-boyfriend MeShack and a new mysterious friend named Zulu, she is steered through the habitat s raunchy nightlife. But their presence sometimes proves to be more burden than help, as they fight for her attention. 

While the corpses pile up, and the scent of blood fills the air, Lanore is left wondering: will she find the psycho or die trying?




Click on the pic to be directed to the purchase page!



Fire Baptized reminded me how much I love urban fantasy. This story far exceeded my hopes. I found myself immediately hooked on Lanore's world and raced through all the way to the end. I didn't want it to be over, and I'm happy this is the first of a series. Not only that, but it's a celebration of diversity in books, specifically urban fantasy!    

Lanore is a "mixbreed" supe who can create fire and is just all-around kickass. Loved her! She's on her way home when she stumbles upon a murder, and the murderer apparently knows who she is because she finds a threatening note on her apartment door. The murder scene was pretty gruesome, so the note on the door really ratcheted up the tension. I remember shivering a lot during that part.   

Fire Baptized has a really well done love triangle. Neither one of the potential love interests for Lanore annoyed me! Both of them were good with her. It isn't very often I stumble across a triangle where I wouldn't mind the character ending up with both, but this is one of those rare times. I have to say, I think I'd have a hard time resisting MeShack if I was Lanore since they already have a romantic history and live together, but then again listening to him have sex with other women would kill the attraction.

But the love triangle is not the focus of the book by any means. There's action and well fleshed-out characters - all kinds of supernatural beings such as shapeshifters, witches, vampires, and fairies. There's the murderer running about. There's the tension between humans and supes as well as tension between "purebloods" and "mixbreeds" within the supes. All the elements of the plot come together cohesively, and you're left devouring the book because it's just that good. You need to know what's going to happen next! 

I thought it was super clever that each district in Fire Baptized (five in total) of the habitat is named and themed after a Santeria god or goddess. I also thought it was completely realistic that humans discriminated against supes since they know their existence. It seems like that would happen in real life if humans found out supernatural beings live among us.   

I'm a fan of Ms. Wright and am looking forward to continuing this series and checking out her other novels. Fire Baptized is highly highly recommended!       


My Rating:



About the Author:
Writer. Lover. Foodie. Mother. Book Addict.
Masturbator. Comedian. Super Hero. Blogger.

Professional Adventurer.


Stalk her....I mean it, Stalk her!
Kenya is in the league of looking for new minions!
Places of interest she's waiting for you to come out of hiding:

Kenya Wright's Official Site
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter @Kenyawright77

Happy Stalking!


Ill Fated by Rachel Rawlings ~ #Blitz


Welcome to the book blitz for Ill Fated by Rachel Rawlings! I'm a huge fan of urban fantasy, and if you are, too, this sounds like a great series for both of us to try! 



Title: Ill Fated
Author: Rachel Rawlings
Series: Maurin Kincaide #6
Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy 
Publisher: R Squared Publishing 
Release Date: Feb 11 2015
Edition/Format Available In: eBook & Print 


Synopsis:

Some things are destined to end in death. After the first attempt on her life Maurin wasn’t scared. Hell, she was almost flattered. But someone put a price on her head and things are getting complicated. Trouble is brewing in the fae courts and it’s spilling over into Salem. The UnSeelie Dark Guard have answered the call for her head on a platter and people closest to her are disappearing.

Can Maurin master court politics and find her missing men before someone claims the bounty on her head?




About the Author

I was born and raised in the Baltimore Metropolitan area but my family is originally from Rhode Island. I spent summers in New England with my grandparents, which probably sparked my fascination with Salem, MA. I started writing fictional stories and poems in middle school. In fact I had notebooks and notebooks full of incomplete stories and poems. One of which I managed to hold on to and is safely stashed in a box under my bed. When I was in seventh grade I entered a poetry contest in the back of an Archie comic and won, after that I was hooked on writing after that. Amazingly it took almost two decades to find a voice for my snarky, ass kicking heroine Maurin Kincaide and complete my first length novel. Meeting the love of your life and raising three amazing children together must have caused a rift in time because I still can't believe it's gone by so quickly. I'm fortunate to have a loving and supportive family who don't mind sharing me with all the other people in my head.


Connect with the Author

Website


By Rachel Rawlings 

The Maurin Kincaid Series 
Wolfsbane #3 Novella
MistletoeMeltdown #5 Short Story


February 25, 2015

Under the Influence by L.B. Simmons ~ Cover Reveal


Cover reveal time! Look at the gorgeous cover for Under the Influence - love it! 


Under the Influence

by L.B. Simmons

Expected Publication May 2015








Synopsis


Dalton, 
I loved you once. A love I thought irrevocable. A love I mistakenly believed could transcend both time and circumstance. Under the influence of my dim-witted, naive, traitorous heart, I became intoxicated with what I now know was simply a figment of my self-indulgent imagination. So drunk on the feeling, I couldn't see what was right in front of my face. So foolishly enamored, I blindly followed my heart into the depths of an emotion that would ravage me. 
Years later, I know now what I wish I knew then. I am stronger. Smarter. Tougher. I will not allow myself to be broken again. 
I loved you.
I raged for you.
I wept for you.
And now, I'm letting you go.

Author's Note: Under the Influence is the journey of two childhood friends that spans the course of five pivotal years in their lives. It is a story about their discovery of true friendship as it blossoms into first love, their experience of crucial sacrifice and ultimate betrayal, and their endurance of agonizing heartbreak on the way to finding lasting redemption. 








Make sure to sign-up HERE for L.B. Simmons newsletter for exclusive sneak peeks into Under the Influence and a first look at Chapter 1. 

About the Author 


L.B. Simmons is a graduate of Texas A&M University and holds a degree in Biomedical Science. She has been a practicing Chemist for the last 11 years. She lives with her husband and three daughters in Texas and writes every chance she gets.

Connect with the Author 




$.99 Sale! 
The Resurrection of Aubrey Miller
by L.B. Simmons

Amazon | B&N

February 23, 2015

Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis ~ Blog Tour: #Review & #Giveaway


Welcome to my stop on the Gathering Frost Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours. Click here to follow along with the tour schedule. 


Title: Gathering Frost
Author: Kaitlyn Davis 
Release Date: 2/17/15 
Source: Copy for review

Purchase: Amazon






Synopsis


Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart? 

Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.

Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission - to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known - and, more importantly, whose side she's really on. 



Gathering Frost is a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty with a twist on the story we're used to - instead of sleeping, the kingdom is in thrall to the Queen, including Jade, the main character. The Queen has frozen all emotions except for fear and dread to keep everyone under her control. Genius idea!

Jade is in the Queen's guard and the only female because she's so kickass. I love a strong female character, and it isn't just her frozen heart that braces her in the face of danger. She possesses true bravery and courage, the likes of which some of the men around her are sorely lacking. She's intelligent - always thinking one step ahead. 

When she meets the Queen's son, Prince Asher, and is tasked with deceiving him, it's quickly apparent she's met her match in wit and strength. I was surprised by how different he is from his mother - he's warm and caring. I loved how he was more amused by Jade than threatened by her. I think it was because he could see something within her that no one else could, maybe something she couldn't even see for herself. 

My only issue with Gathering Frost is that a couple of parts felt a little slow to me. My mind kept wandering during those times though I had no distractions around me. Something pulled me out of the story for some reason. It's a fast read though as in I read it all in one sitting and did enjoy it. 

The relationship between Jade and Asher will probably seem like instalove, but this is a fairy tale reimagining and love happens fast in fairy tales. There are plenty of complex obstacles for them to navigate to make their story interesting. Jade is supposed to be deceiving Asher, but at what point does she stop, if ever? Or is she only deceiving herself? 

I'm excited to find out what happens next! Gathering Frost is a book I'd recommend to anyone who loves fairy tales and strong heroines in YA fiction. 

My Rating: 







About the Author



I've always been a writer. I grew up duct taping my novels together, started writing complete manuscripts in high school and studied creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. Upon graduating, I decided it was finally time to actually give my dream career a chance. So, of course, I started writing a young adult paranormal romance series - and no, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I've been a true paranormal supporter for my entire life! 

I blame my obsession almost completely on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my all-time favorite television show. And, before you ask: Yes, I own every season...even the post WB ones! I especially challenge anyone to watch the first three seasons and not fall in love with Angel, securing a lifelong love of vampires! Other culprits of my paranormal obsession are some of my favorite authors: JK Rowling, Raymond Feist, Meg Cabot, Richelle Mead, Lynne Ewing and Tamora Pierce. 

Connect with the Author

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Wattpad | YouTube | Amazon       





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February 19, 2015

"Forget everything you know about grim reapers." *SALE* Dead Girl Walking by Ruth Silver

*~* Sale *~* 


9781620155776_cov.indd

Dead Girl Walking 
(Royal Reaper #1) 
by Ruth Silver
Published: November 25, 2014
Publisher: Booktrope
  
Forget everything you know about grim reapers.

Princess Ophelia Dacre sneaks out of the castle to visit her boyfriend in secret. A perfect night cut short when she’s brutally murdered.
Ophelia is given the rare chance to become a grim reaper. She must become Leila Bele, cut ties with her old life, and follow the rules of the reapers. Her greatest adventure begins with death.   

  Now includes the prequel Ashes to Ashes as a bonus story in the Booktrope edition. Available in eBook & Paperback.






Dead Girl Walking
Licensed to Ruth Silver

ON SALE FOR JUST 99 cents!!!


*~* Read my review here! *~* 

Excerpt

“Listen, kid, I don’t care what you believe in. It’s not for me to say what’s true and untrue, real or unreal. My assignment was you. You get to be one of us, if you want it. Otherwise, you move on, life is over, kaput.” 

Ophelia backed away from the stranger. For the first time, she realized she didn’t feel cold and wasn’t shivering. Is this what being dead was like? “One of you?” 

“A grim reaper.” He held out his hand to properly introduce himself. “Edon Montgomery, head reaper and old soul.”


Dead Girl Walking (Royal Reaper)
Licensed to Ruth Silver


Do you have any plans to write a spin-off for Aberrant? 

Yes! I am currently working on an untitled project that is a prequel, spin-off. I haven't spoken much about it, but I will say there is plenty of action and a world to explore that we've barely touched in the Aberrant trilogy. 

What are you currently working on? 

I've got several writing projects underway. Forget Me Knot (Royal Reaper 2) is in edits right now with an expected Spring 2015 release. I'm also writing steamy adult fiction under the name Ravyn Rayne, which will be available this year as well. You can find those projects on Ravyn Rayne Reads

Do you have a full-time job?

Writing and marketing my own novels is my full-time job. It involves far more than 40 hours a week, but I love it, so I don't mind. 


About the Author

1 lo res

Ruth Silver is the best-selling author of the Aberrant trilogy. With a passion for writing and a love of story-telling, Ruth is actively writing two series: Royal Reaper and Orenda. Her interests also include traveling, reading, and photography. Her favorite vacation destination is Australia. Ruth currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois. 

She can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and her book blog Write Away Bliss.

February 16, 2015

Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette ~ Blog Tour: Author #Interview & #Giveaway


Welcome to my tour stop for Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette. This is an upper middle grade, lower young adult sci-fi adventure novel that's perfect for the whole family. This tour runs Feb. 9-20th with reviews and interviews. Check out the tour page for more information.  


Title: Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand
Author: R.S. Mellette
Publication date: December 8, 2014
Publisher: Elephant's Bookshelf Press 

Purchase: Amazon






Synopsis

"E=mc2 is no longer the most powerful force in the universe. Your wand is." 

Twelve-year-old Billy and his best friend Suzy Quinofski didn't mean to change the universe. Billy, a quantum physics prodigy, just wanted to find a way to help his hoarding, schizophrenic mother - and maybe impress a coven of older girls in high school. Suzy, his intellectual equal, wanted to help her friend and cling to her last remnant of childhood, a belief in magic. Together they made Billy a real, working, magic wand, and opened a door to the Quantum World where thoughts create reality, and all things - good and bad - are possible.  




I am SO excited for you guys to check out my interview with Mr. Mellette! His answers made me laugh and fangirl at the same time. Best. Interview. Ever. :D Read on! (Author's answers are in blue)


Hi DDG [Donnie Darko Girl] - I'm looking forward to a real Sci-Fi (or Science-Fiction if you're nasty), interview. For years now people have argued about whether I write Middle Grade or Young Adult books. I let them talk. If they ever bother to ask me, I say I write Sci-Fi. 

DDG: As a fellow science fiction fan, I'd love to pick your brain about the genre! Are you looking forward to the upcoming Star Wars film? Or are you inwardly cringing? I have to ask because the prequels weren't as great as the originals in my humble opinion. :) 

Of course I am. A bad Star Wars movie is...almost...better than no Star Wars movie.

Lucas had painted himself into a corner when he said there would be three more movies after the first three were released. I think he said in an interview that there was really only one movie's worth of story in the creation of Darth Vader. I wish he'd gotten more help on the story level before shooting began. Now that Vader's story has been told, I think it can break out of the mold and become an old-fashioned action-adventure again. 

DDG: Can you tell us about your role on Star Trek: Enterprise? Do you get nervous when acting? 

First, no. Acting is my first love, and while I don't do it much anymore, it never makes me nervous. It makes me kind of high.

The Star Trek: Enterprise thing was fun. I got the gig as an extra, which I would do when I was unemployed. It doesn't pay much, and it can be a little depressing for an actor with a degree - but at that stage in my life, I didn't worry about it. I was just glad to get paid and have next to no responsibility on a film set. On the first day of shooting, I had no idea that my character had a name and featured role. That was a fun surprise.

The Star Trek episode was set on a planet patterned after the Wild West. My first day on the job was not at their Paramount sound stage, but on the backlot of Universal, where they have a small western city set for just this sort of thing. This meant the regular cast and crew were like kids on a field trip. Instead of being inside the same old sound stage they used every day, they were outside, at another studio, having a blast. All the Brits in the cast were excited about being in a Western and wearing cowboy gear. Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) had been up to the Universal Tour, so she was running around with one of those air slingshots that shoots a puff of air over a long distance. She was shooting everyone with it. My day job had been at Universal for almost a decade, so I got a bigger kick out of seeing a seeing a shuttle craft parked on Western street.

DDG: What do you think about the rebooted Star Trek films? If you've seen both, which do you like better and why?

I loved them! I love the fact that they are in a parallel time line and that old Spock doesn't make a big deal out of it. Why should he? The alternate time line obviously didn't affect his. 

I like the first one a little better, but only because I'm a sucker for an origin story. That, and no one is as bad an ass as Ricardo Montalban. 

DDG: Have you been to Comic Con? If so, what was it like? If not, do you have plans to go one day?

I have not been to Comic Con. My first Con was the first Xena: Warrior Princess convention, and I have to say going as a VIP rocks! Skipping the lines... snacking in the green room... feeling like a rock star. It's fun. 

The last con I went to was also fun. I was watching the local news in LA and they did a story on Stan Lee's Comikaze convention. I figured I should scout that out, since Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand was about to be published. A friend of mind is one of Mr. Lee's assistants, so I texted her and got a free pass. That was a fun "Hollywood Moment" as I call them. 

And no, I haven't gotten to meet Stan. I don't tend to do the fan thing. I'd rather meet someone when we're working together. 

DDG: What's your favorite science fiction TV show? Movie? Favorite film by Steven Spielberg? 

Dr. Who. The Original Star Wars. Raiders. Not very original, but you have to go with the classics. 

DDG: Are you a Whovian? Why or why not? 

Am I a Whovian? Does Tom Baker have curly hair and a big nose?

When I was a kid, the local CBS station started showing Dr. Who, but they did them out of order. Back then, an episode was 20 minutes long and it took four of them to tell a story. I watched a few of them, they made no sense, so I stopped. A few months later, a friend said how much he loved Dr. Who. I told him I thought they were stupid and why. He said I should watch them on PBS. They showed them in order. Wow, what a difference! I started with Tom Baker. He was the Doctor from '74-81. I graduated from high school in '80, so he got me through some rough years. 

Years... decades... later, I'm unemployed. My career is going nowhere. I'm lying on the couch flipping channels and I land on a cute British blonde girl walking through a spooky house. I paused to see what it might be. When Sally Sparrow pulled off the wall paper, revealing a note from The Doctor, the theme kicked in and I leapt to my feet! The Doctor was back in my life. How bad can things be when the Doctor is watching over me? Things have gotten much better since then. 

Oh, and FYI - there are both obvious and subtle references to Dr. Who in Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand. Also, Star wars, Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, Camelot, and more. I think your friends and fans should try to track them all down. 

DDG: When writing Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand, did you listen to music? If so, do you have a playlist, or do you write better in silence?

I generally put on CNN. Writing can put a person in a closed world, and it's nice for me to know that if anything happens of importance on the planet, I will know about it. As I get more into the writing, the sound gets lower and lower until I'm just wasting electricity.

DDG: How did you feel the moment Billy Bobble was published?

Surprisingly calm. I had three short stories published with Elephant's Bookshelf Press prior to Billy Bobble. When Chief Elephant Officer, Matt Sinclair, offered to publish Billy Bobble, I was happy about it - and still am - but I also knew that this is small press publishing. Sure, getting it out there without self-publishing is great but the real proof is in sales. Everyone at EBP has been a tremendous help, but it's a long hard haul to get enough people reading the book to have word-of-mouth catch on. 

I like word-of-mouth small press marketing, though. Different than Hollywood word-of-mouth, which is all based on people seeing the trailer and pre-release marketing, independent word-of-mouth means that people who have actually read the book (or seen the movie), liked it so much that they've told their friends and family, "you HAVE to share this with me." That's a big compliment for an artist. 

DDG: And last but not least, have you seen Donnie Darko? ;)

Yes, but only once, so I have no idea what it's about. Every time I try to watch it, some bunny keeps bothering me and I have to turn it off. 


About the Author

R.S. Mellette has written, directed, designed and acted in theatre, film, television, and publishing for over 30 years. His credits in various jobs include XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS, BLUE CRUSH, and his own JACKS OR BETTER, which won Dances With Films Best Screenplay award in 2000. He has been working with the festival ever since. His novel, Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand, released in December 2014 from Elephant's Bookshelf Press. For novelists, Mellette blogs for From The Write Angle. For filmmakers, he writes for Dances With Films

Also find him on Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook.   


      


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