Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Release Blitz for Gypsy Witch by Suz deMello



Gypsy Witch by Suz deMello

The Sacramento Sheriff's Department is no place for airy-fairy wimps, and Ben McCullough is the toughest of the tough. He tells himself he's bedding the luscious Elena Lautari only because she's a babe, not because she's a card-carrying member of the Northern California Church of Wicca. Ben thinks she's a feather away from an arrest for fraud, since she makes a living telling fortunes and making charms for the lovelorn. He can't see her as a lifelong mate even though she's more than a match for him in the sack, and losing her is unthinkable.

But Elena is the real deal, a modern witch of much power and even more restraint. When her daughter, Gina, steals her mother's spell book and uses it to shatter the fabric of existence and release an ancient evil, Elena must put reality back in place—even if she loses Ben in the process. Will Ben and Elena's fragile love be lost with the revelation of her magic?

Maybe, but there are others ready to heal her battered heart. When Ben's partner attempts to claim Elena, will Ben move aside or move in?

If you like what you read, click below to buy the story and check out the rest of Suzie’s sexy books:

*****
Author Bio:

 

Best-selling, award-winning author Suz deMello, a.k.a Sue Swift, has written over sixteen
romance novels in several subgenres, including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a number of short stories and non-fiction articles on writing. A freelance editor, she’s worked for Total-E-Bound, Ai Press, and Liquid Silver Books. She also takes private clients.

 

Her books have been favorably reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist, won a contest or two, attained the finals of the RITA and hit several bestseller lists.

 

A former trial attorney, her passion is world travel. She’s left the US over a dozen times, including lengthy stints working overseas. She’s now writing a vampire tale and planning her next trip.


     Find her books at http://www.suzdemello.com

     For editing services, email her at suzswift@yahoo.com
Befriend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sueswift
She tweets her reading picks @ReadThis4fun

Monday, April 29, 2013

VBT and Giveaway - Kill Shot



Kill Shot
by Anne Patrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Former combat medic Kory Wagner survived four war zones. Now she’s home and out of the Army for good and someone is trying to kill her in her own backyard. Just as disturbing is the handsome sheriff who’s on the case. Sheriff Sean Harding doesn’t quite know what to think of the decorated veteran that managed to outsmart an entire search party. What bothers him more is the body of a PI, whom she hired, was found dead in a building she owns. And Kory isn’t being very cooperative with helping him find the answers as to why someone would kill her sister and want her dead. Will he be able to keep her alive along enough to discover the truth?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

Kory heard a sound a few yards in front of her. She quickly scanned the area. Three rows of huge metal shelves lined the interior. She inched forward, peering around the corner of the second row. Mr. Urlik lay on his side, facing her, clutching his chest. His eyes were opened and his mouth moved, but no sound came out. A heart attack? She ran to him, knelt down on the cement floor, and took his hand. It was wet, slimy. She looked down and saw his hand covered in blood. Her eyes shifted to his chest. A large crimson stain spread across the width of his white shirt from a small hole near the center. He was breathing erratically. Experience told her a bullet had pierced at least one lung and he didn't have much time. She immediately pressed the heel of her right hand against the wound.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Where's your cell phone?" Hers was in her backpack but she didn't want to waste valuable time digging it out.

"No time. Get out."

"Who did this, Mr. Urlik?"

He grabbed her right hand and squeezed it tightly. "You were right -- no accident."

His hand went limp.

Kory felt something in the palm of her hand, looked down and saw it was a key. She shoved it into her jeans pocket. A whizzing sound buzzed past her, followed by the unmistakable clink of a bullet ricocheting off metal. She instinctively threw herself over his body as another bullet struck metal. Kory felt for a pulse. There was none. She lowered her hand to his chest and felt under both arms and along his waist. I thought all PIs carried guns. Just my luck this one didn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Anne Patrick is the author of more than a dozen novels of Romance, Mayhem & Faith,
including the award winning and bestselling WOUNDED HEROES SERIES, FIRE AND ASH, and TIES THAT BIND. Her books have garnered four-star reviews from Romantic Times, 'Top Pick' and 'Best Book' honors from Night Owl Reviews and Long and Short of It Reviews, and Five-Heart reviews from The Romance Studio. When she isn't working on her next novel she enjoys spending time with family and friends, and traveling to foreign countries to experience new cultures and adventures. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she now makes her home in Kansas.

Contact links:






Buy Links:






~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY:

Anne will be awarding a $50 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Follow the tour and comment often; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:





Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Interview and Giveaway - K.D. Grace - Elemental Fire



Q. What is the one thing you wish you knew before you tried to get published? 

KD: First of all, I’d like to thank you for having me over at Donna’s Blog Home. It’s a pleasure to be here and talk to you about my new, and final novel of the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, Elemental Fire. What I wish I’d known before I tried to get published was just not to get discouraged by the long, slow process and by all the rejections along the way. Fortunately I was stubborn and didn’t give up, but a lot of people I know do give up before they get there, which is really too bad. 

Even more importantly, there’s also something I’m glad I didn’t know, or I might not have had the courage to carry on when things were rough and I wondered if I’d ever get published. I’m very glad I didn’t know just how much work I’d have to do to promote and to make sure my books got the attention they deserved after they’re published. Even though I didn’t know it in the beginning, getting my books published was the easy part compared to trying to make sure those books out there every day getting some attention and some press. Then there are readings and public appearances and keeping all the social media balls in the air and making sure the blog always has plenty of new and interesting content. For an introvert who would love nothing more than to get caught up in a story and just write, what happens after getting published is really hard work, but also essential.       
    
Q. What to you is the best part of being a writer and what is the part you wouldn’t mind giving up?

KD: As I said, I wouldn’t mind handing over more of the PR that has to happen. I don’t really mind doing it, but it takes up time I could be using to write the story, and that’s always the best part. The best part really is getting stuck in the world I’ve created and the adventure my characters are embarking on. I love it when I can almost feel my characters living and breathing and moving around me. I love it when I’m eating, breathing and sleeping the story, feeling it unfold and surprise me with each new paragraph. There’s no other rush that compares to what I feel when a story takes an unexpected turn that I could have never imagined when I started to write. It’s almost better than sex.

Q. What city would you love to set a story in but the right one hasn’t come along yet?

KD: I’m dying to set a story in Las Vegas and the desert surrounding it. I have been ever since my first visit to Las Vegas two years ago. At last I’m going to get my opportunity! I’ve just been in Vegas and the Mojave Desert doing research for the sequel to The Initiation of Ms Holly, which will hopefully be out next Spring. I’m very excited for the opportunity.

Also, I would love to write more stories set in the Lake District. Any excuse to go there is always welcome. I’ve just been reading Sarah Hall’s stunning historical novel, Haweswater, set in the late thirties when the village of Mardale was flooded by the building of the dam on Haweswater. I’ve walked the fells around that area, seen the area where the old road and the stone walls disappear into the lake. It still gives me chills to think about. I would love to set a story there.
 
Q. What books are currently on your nightstand?

KD: At the moment I’m reading the whole Game of Thrones saga. I have all of that on my Kindle, so all of it’s on my nightstand.  I’m also reading Nora Roberts, The Witness, which is a paperback. There’s still nothing like the feel of a real book!  

Q: What is the best thing you have done in the name of research?

KD: I think one of the best experiences I had in the name of research was a descent off the Newlands Horseshoe ridge walk on a route that took me through the ruins of the Rigghead slate quarries. This was research for the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, since a lot of the story takes place in or around quarries, slate mines, and caves. While I was on this all-day walk, I had the chance to climb down into some of the ruined quarries and do a bit of exploring beneath the fells. I never went deep enough to be completely out of the sunlight, but it was quite a rush to pick my way across the uneven footing of broken slate and the slick surfaces of rock, beneath the constant drip, drip, drip of water from the earlier rains and the spring run-off while my walking companions looked on from above. Fortunately my husband had the presence of mind to take some pictures of me while I was down there, and those pictures have always inspired me when I was writing the trilogy. I’ve often looked back at them for a reminder of what it was like beneath the fells. Elemental Fire has more than a few underground scenes, and since it’s been nearly a year and a half since I wrote Body Temperature and Rising, book one of the trilogy, it’s great to be able to look back and remember that day. 

*****
Excerpt
Lucia moved to stand in front of him. He would have tried to cover himself, where he knelt, but the weight of his arms was terrible. He could tell she was looking down on him, and whatever it was that aroused him so suddenly intensified, flashed bright and settled low in his chest into a tight knot of fear. And yet he wanted, deeply, irrationally needed her to touch him.
Then, she did the unthinkable. She curled a finger under his chin and lifted his face until he knew if he opened his he would die from looking up at her face.
When she spoke, it was as though he were glass shattering, falling into tiny pieces in the ecstasy of her voice. ‘We’ve met before, Kennet Birch. You had not grown so tall back then. But then adolescence is unpredictable, I hear.’ Her hand closed around his chin to a nearly painful grip. ‘Look at me, Kennet Birch. If you have come this far, then you will look me in the eye and tell me why you are here.’
Painfully aware of his vulnerability and his hard-on, he opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her. For a split second it was as though he were looking into the sun at mid-day, but before he could shade his eyes, the light of her softened, dimmed, cooled and the face he looked upon was achingly beautiful, young slender, pale, with lips full and pink, with hair that hung in long golden ringlets around her shoulders and down over the robe she wore, which seemed to be dancing flames.
Involuntarily, he moaned softly and everything in him turned molten in the roil of fear and rage and helplessness all wrapped up in almost unbearable lust.
She relaxed her grip on his chin, and offered him a smile that made all of his nerve endings sing with its beauty. ‘I’ve not worn human form in a while, but if my form is to be the last you see before you pass beyond the land of the living, then I shall offer something that will not send you thence with terror in your heart. That would be terribly unkind of me, would it not, Kennet Birch?’
‘Thank you … my lady.’
She laughed softly. ‘Your lady, I am not, Kennet Birch. Nor is my ego so delicate that whatever you call me would matter one way or another. I will ask you again. Why have you come?’
*****
Obsessed with revenge, KENNET LUCIAN makes a deal with a demon, a deal he comes to regret when he meets TARA STONE, head of the Elemental Coven, and a powerful witch with a desire for revenge at least as great as his. Even though the attraction between the two is magnetic and the lust combustive, Kennet must betray her to accomplish his goal, which is ultimately her goal as well; to put a final end to the demon, Deacon’s, reign of terror. But can Tara trust the man who has wormed his way into her heart and the heart of the Elemental Coven? Can she trust LUCIA, the demon with whom Kennet is allied, a demon with her own agenda. The path to Deacon’s destruction is far from clear, and the price that must be paid to be free of him forever may be too high, even for Tara Stone.


*****
K D Grace believes Freud was right. In the end, it really IS all about sex, well sex and love. And nobody’s happier about that than she, cuz otherwise, what would she write about?
When she’s not writing, K D is veg gardening or walking. She walks her stories, and she’s serious about it. She and her husband recently walked the Coast to Coast rout across England. For her, inspiration is directly proportionate to how quickly she wears out a pair of walking boots.
K D has erotica published with Xcite Books, Harper Collins Mischief Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, Sweetmeats Press and others.
K D’s critically acclaimed erotic romance novels include, The Initiation of Ms Holly, The Pet Shop. Her paranormal erotic novel,Body Temperature and Rising, the first book of her Lakeland Heatwave trilogy, was listed as honorable mention on Violet Blue’s Top 12 Sex Books for 2011. Books two and three, Riding the Ether, and Elemental Fire, are now also available.
K D Grace also writes hot romance as Grace Marshall. An Executive Decision, Identity Crisis, books one and two of her Executive Decisions Trilogy are now available.

Links:
*****
Giveaway – two PDF copies of the first book in the Lakeland Heatwave trilogy – Body Temperature and Rising.




 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Interview & Giveaway - Traci Douglass - Seal of Surrender



Please describe your novel twitter style 140 characters or less.



Oh, good one! Okay here’s SEAL OF SURRENDER twitter-style:



An immortal warrior is offered the chance at permanent retirement on his ranch if he can protect a woman who holds the genetic key to War.



What is the one thing you wish you knew before you tried to get published?



Besides the hurry up and waiting? Probably just how fast everything moves once you sign that contract. My head spins sometimes thinking about it.



What to you is the best part of being a writer and what is the part you wouldnt mind giving up?



The best part of being a writer is getting to make things up for a living. How great is that?



The downside is… Hmmm. There really isn’t any downside for me.



What city would you love to set a story in but the right one hasnt come along yet?



Monte Carlo.



Vampires, Shifters, Zombies, Angels - who wins the final ultimate battle?



Angels, definitely. With maybe a few sexy shifters thrown in for good measure.



If you could witness any historical event past, present or future what would it be and why?



Wow, great question! Don’t know how historical it would be, but I would have loved to spend some time with Jane Austen while she was writing Pride & Prejudice.



If you were going to cowrite a new book, who would you want to write it with?



My crit partners. They’re awesome writers and soooo funny too!



What books are currently on your nightstand?



Right now I’m reading: Save The Cat by Blake Snyder, Phantom Evil by Heather Graham, and Catching Stardust by Heather Thurmeier



What is the best thing you have done in the name of research?

I watched the Matrix movies over and over to study their weapons and how the fight scenes were constructed. A full afternoon of looking at Keenu Reeves buff little bod was quite fun…



When writing what is your favorite part of the story?



I really enjoy writing the action scenes. It’s like creating a mini-movie inside your own head. And dialogue. There’s nothing better than sparkling conversation between your characters.



Anything else you would like to share today?



Just thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Donna! Great fun to be here! 


Seal Of Surrender
Seven Seals Series: Book 2
Traci Douglass

Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Crimson Romance

Number of pages: approx. 270
Word Count: 72,000

Book Description:

Love, like War, will always find a way…

War has shaped every aspect of Irena Soldan’s life—her childhood, her work, her DNA. Unaware she is the genetic host of the second Seal of the Apocalypse, Irena battles for those who cannot fight for themselves. As a top human-rights operative for The Omega Consortium, her company provides both the financial backing required to undertake her task and a charismatic, publicity-loving boss to promote her cause. Life proceeds on plan for Irena until a mysterious, sexy stranger arrives claiming to be her guardian and Irena’s path takes a sudden, inauspicious turn for both the erotic and the lethal.

Chago has always been the quiet one amongst his warrior Scion brethren—the brooding, Spanish combat expert with a hidden soft side.  A member of Divinity’s covert special forces, he’s protected humanity for more than a millennium. Still, his greatest joy comes not from the battlefield, but from tending the cattle herd on his remote Montana ranch.

Irena’s new assignment takes her straight to the heart of a bloody civil conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa and Chago’s mission demands he follow. Expecting a seething cauldron of female whoop-ass, he instead discovers a harbinger of peace amidst a world of ever-increasing violence. The explosively tense situation is further magnified by the cunning Omega Consortium leader, his ambiguous personal agenda, and an ancient foe whose audacious rise to power threatens the world’s very existence.

Despite the cataclysmic circumstances, an undeniable attraction ignites between Chago and Irena. Together, they must unravel the ancient puzzle of the Seals and discover her employer’s ulterior plans before they both become casualties of War. Soon, both are forced to choose between a past riddled with old torments or risk everything they treasure on a love capable of defeating evil incarnate.
 

About the Author:

Traci is the author of paranormal/urban fantasy and contemporary romances featuring a sly, urban edge, including her current Seven Seals series. Her stories feature sizzling alpha-male heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes; smart, independent heroines who always give as good as they get; and scrumptiously evil villains who are—more often than not—bent on world destruction. She enjoys weaving ancient curses and mythology, modern science and old religion, and great dialogue together to build red-hot, sizzling chemistry between her main characters.

  

Traci is an active member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Indiana Romance Writers of America (IRWA) and Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Writers (FF&P) and is pursing a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction through Seton Hill University. Her stories have made the final rounds in several RWA chapter contests, including the 2012 Duel on the Delta, the 2012 Molly Awards, and the 2012 Catherine Awards. An earlier draft of Seal of Destiny won the paranormal category of the 2012 Marlene Awards sponsored by the Washington Romance Writers.



Other current projects include upcoming books in the Seven Seals series and a new futuristic suspense series with hints of the paranormal and plenty of romance.



She loves hearing from readers! Connect with Traci here:



Giveaway:    five e-book copies of SEAL OF SURRENDER