Monday, April 21, 2014

Blog Tour: Berman's Wolves by Gretchen SB

This virtual book tour is presented by Bewitching Book Tours.
Click HERE for more tour information.
Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the tour.
It is my pleasure to feature Gretchen SB and Berman's Wolves.
Berman's Wolves
Gretchen SB

Genre: Urban Fantasy

When a scientist runs an experiment on three separate college campuses that goes horribly wrong, several hundred students find their lives altered forever. They must learn to adapt to their new lives as Werewolves. Immediately after the incident a government program was put in place to keep track of these unwitting subjects. After a year the program falls apart as those in charge argue on how to proceed.
Without the programmers constantly looking over their shoulders the werewolves have now started to organize themselves. Creating their own hierarchy and alliances.

Jack is the Alpha of Pacific Northwest University's pack F. He thought the government had finally taken a step back and let him and the other Alphas run their packs. Recently, however, he has been hearing rumblings about the programmers wanting to reinstate the program. He thought they were just rumors until he finds out one of his pack is being threatened by several of the lab assistants that took part in the original experiment. Now Jack must scramble to find allies and hunt down those threatening his pack. The more he goes looking the bigger the plot becomes.

Excerpt:
Berman's Wolves Excerpt One

Lyra knew the Weres who jumped her were members of pack L, former lab assistants of Berman’s from Pacific Northwest University. They hadn’t tried to negotiate this time, but had simply jumped her as turned the corner on her way home from the off-leash dog park in her neighborhood.
As soon as she smelled her attackers approaching, she turned to Hazel and pretended to have lost her cell phone. Hazel hadn’t questioned it, just taken Fizgig’s leash from Lyra’s outstretched hand and continued walking to Lyra’s apartment.
Lyra double-timed it toward the park. She knew her attackers would follow. All she needed was enough distance between them and Hazel. Lyra loved Hazel like family, but the other woman was not a fighter. Hazel would try, but she would only be hurt or used against Lyra. It didn’t really help matters that Hazel and Lyra knew all of each other’s secrets. In Lyra’s case some of those secrets could get them killed.
Lyra knew leading the attackers away from Hazel and the dogs was her best and only option. As the outskirts of the forested trail closed in around her, Lyra spun and braced herself for the attack. She could smell the malicious intent like rotting meat rolling off of them. She had one advantage: they didn’t know how well she could fight. Growing up in a predominantly male social group, Lyra had honed her skills. They thought girls were weak. They would underestimate her.  Lyra gave a small grin as the three Weres came into view around the bend.
Lyra posed as if she’d been off-guard and was helpless, widening her eyes and shrinking away in horror. The tallest guy headed toward her. Lyra counted, waiting until the last second when his arms stretched out to grab her. She roundhouse-kicked him in the head. The Were crumpled. Weres could take and dole out major damage and Lyra was stronger than most. The blow had landed perfectly, and he’d be out of commission for a few minutes.
The other two men didn’t make the same mistake; they rushed her. Lyra backed up. She needed more room than the thin nature trail provided. She was able to get one punch in to the guy on her left before the other man grabbed her.
Panic began to rise as a strong arm banded around her throat. Screaming to herself, she pushed the panic aside. She struggled to remember the course of action for this type of attack. Using the heel of her shoe, she stomped on her attacker’s foot. Inwardly she swore as she connected with a boot—she couldn’t do any damage that way. His arm tightened, and she knew he meant for her to lose consciousness. That would be bad. She felt the loss of breath acutely and Lyra knew she had maybe thirty seconds to get out of the hold before she was incapacitated.
She gave one swift kick behind her as she dug both her thumbs at her throat to relieve the pressure. Her kick hit true and her attacker cried out as her heel connected with groin.
She felt the man back up and she moved the opposite direction, scanning for the Were she’d punched in the stomach. She didn’t see him, not at first, but what she did see made her curse.




About the Author:

Gretchen happily lives in Seattle, Washington where she spends her time creating new characters and situations to put them in. She also enjoys cheering on her local sports teams, even though it sometimes seems they are allergic to winning.

Gretchen has spent most of her life in Washington state. She graduated from Central Washington University with a BA in History and a BA in Philosophy. Though there was a brief stint after college where she lived in Florida and worked for the mouse (Disney World). She loves that Washington provides a large range of activities, from Shakespeare in the park to rodeos.

She has had a love of reading and telling stories as far back as she, or anyone else, can remember.  Currently, she loves to read the same genres she writes. She also loves exploring her home state. At the end of her adventures she unwinds by curling up on the couch, knitting while catching up TV shows via Netflix.

http://www.gretchensb.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7398184.Gretchen_S_B_

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gretchen-S-B/540293959350712

https://twitter.com/GretchenSB

My thoughts:
This is a fast, short read. The book is well paced with and interesting storyline with original ideas.  I found myself liking the characters quickly and got lost in the story.  I enjoyed the read, have read another story by this author and will be looking for more.

Entangled Edge Book Blast!


Edge, a digital-first single-title romance line from Entangled Publishing, takes its lead from their popular Select imprint but gives its novels an edge in the marketplace by bringing great stories to readers at reasonable prices in a quick-and-easy way. Whether sexy or sweet, traditional romance or love and lust with a women’s fiction bent, at the center of every Edge book is heart. From Urban Fantasy to Contemporary Romance to Science Fiction Romance, Edge has a book for all romance readers—and right at their fingertips! As they say, all’s fair in love and war. To find out more about their titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books are coming next, visit the Entangled website, follow them on Twitter, and like their Facebook page.

Today I'm happy to be featuring Edge's April 21st releases!!


A Shot of Red by Tracy March

Special $0.99 Introductory Price!


Find Out More!

When biotech company heiress Mia Moncure learns her ex-boyfriend, the company’s PR Director, has died in a suspicious accident in Switzerland, Mia suspects murder. Determined to reveal a killer, she turns to sexy Gio Lorenzo, Communications Director for her mother, a high-ranking senator—and the recent one-night stand Mia has been desperate to escape. While negotiating their rocky relationship, they race to uncover a deadly scheme that could ruin her family’s reputation. But millions of people are being vaccinated, and there’s more than her family’s legacy at stake.


Undying Desire by Jessica Lee
Enclave #3

Special $0.99 Introductory Pricing!

Find Out More!

Eve Devonshire is a woman hiding in plain sight. Not completely human, but not quite a vampire, she’s accepted by neither race but is more powerful than both. To stay alive, Eve can't trust anyone, including the alpha vampire with midnight eyes and a thirst for pain and submission. With her enemies nipping at her heels, Eve has Guerin cornered, and both are determined to get the answers they're looking for or die trying... if they can fight their desires long enough.


The Perfect Hostage by Misty Evans

Special $0.99 Introductory Pricing!


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Sergeant John Quick has seen the worst in life, both personally and professionally, and long ago decided loving someone comes at too high a price. But when the woman of his dreams “kidnaps” him for a weekend affair with no strings attached, he can’t resist. The smoking-hot weekend turns deadly when John and Lucie are trapped during a blizzard and discover they’re not alone. Someone from their past has come hunting for revenge. Now John must become the perfect hostage in order to save Lucie’s life.




Untamed Hearts by Heather McCollum
Special $0.99 Introductory Pricing!

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Jonet Montgomery has longed for a chivalrous knight her whole young life. Instead she found herself wed to a scoundrel and left a widow. When a lusty, silver-tongued rogue steals a kiss and opens a crack in her routine life, she’s tempted by his offer to taste adventure of the most pleasurable kind. Will’s heart of gold shines through despite his infamous past. But is Jonet enough woman to keep this sexy pirate from straying? With past embarrassments haunting her, she risks more than just her reputation this time. She risks her heart.

Giveaway

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Blog Tour: Fractured Truth by Rachel McClellan


Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the tour.
It is my pleasure to feature Rachel McClellan and Fractured Truth.

Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she's not in her writing lair, she's partying with her husband and four crazy, yet lovable, children. Rachel's love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was...

Summary

Llona is determined to end the fight with the Vykens once and for all. All she needs is to find and destroy the Shadow—the ultimate source of dark power. But when she makes a startling discovery about someone she loves, Llona has to fight the toughest battle yet in this exciting conclusion to the Fractured Light series.





Links

Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

My thoughts:
I enjoyed this story.  A great addition to the Fractured Light series.  Filled with fantastic characters - some we have meet before and many new faces - the story is action packed and well paced.  Llona is terrific - human while being so much more than just human.  Twisting and turning through a wild ride of a plot - you will love this one.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Blog Tour: Over My Live Body by Susan Israel

Click HERE for more tour information and details.

Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the tour.
It is my pleasure to feature Susan Israel and Over My Live Body.

Susan has stopped by for an interview:


About me as an author:

1) I started writing when I was in grade school and my first (really bad!) effort at a novel was in 7th grade. Writing was a good way for me to retreat from the rather merciless bullying that was endemic in my school and the town I lived in. I turned bullies into villains! My English exercises read like stories and I don't think my teachers 'got' it. One of them did, in high school. Thank you ever so much, Mrs. Gray.

2) I've had eclectic jobs, one of which (art model) directly led to my writing Over My Live Body. I also worked right after college (in the late '80s) filing cards alphabetically for the card catalog that is now obsolete, raising funds for private colleges (I was an evil telemarketer!) and fact-checking for a series of travel books; the best perk of that temp job was calling foreign countries and practicing language skills.

4) I listen to a lot of 24/7 news and this provides great fodder for plots and characters, particularly in crime writing since there never seems to be a shortage of crime. What is challenging is deciding how characters respond to the circumstances I foist on them. Sometimes someone's appearance will spur me to create a character based on him or her. I created the character Violet Velez in my second novel, Student Bodies, after seeing a middle-school-age girl in the library with purple hair. And yes, I still turn bullies into villains.

About me as a person:

1) The books that most influenced my life growing up were To Kill A Mockingbird and The Diary Of A Young Girl. I think the lessons in those books still stay with me.

2) When I'm busy working on a book, I find it too distracting to read others. I don't want to be influenced or subliminally compare what I'm reading to what I'm writing.

3) When I'm not writing, I watch baseball/basketball/football (the sport of whatever season it is), play with my dog, read fashion and gossip magazines (seriously!) and make like a sloth.

4) I'm not sure if Thai food qualifies as comfort food, but Drunken Noodles would be it!

5) A good story is one that keeps you turning the pages long after you should have turned off the light. Books I stayed up VERY late reading include Breakfast of Champions (Kurt Vonnegut) and The Snow Leopard (Peter Matthiessen)

Fun questions:

Dogs or cats? Dogs!

Coffee or tea? Iced coffee

Dark or milk chocolate? Either

Rocks or flowers? Can I suggest a different answer? Shells?

Night or day? Night!

Favorite color: Orange

Crayons or markers? Crayons

Pens or pencils? Pen- even for the NYT crossword puzzle.

More about Susan Israel:
Susan Israel lives in Connecticut with her beloved dog, but New York City lives in her heart and mind. A graduate of Yale College, her fiction has been published in Other Voices, Hawaii Review and Vignette and she has written for magazines, websites and newspapers, including Glamour, Girls Life, Ladies Home Journal and The Washington Post. She’s currently at work on the second book in the Delilah Price series, Student Bodies. 


Book Description:

Delilah is accustomed to people seeing her naked. As a nude model – a gig that keeps food on the table while her career as a sculptor takes off – it comes with the territory.

But Delilah has never before felt this vulnerable.

Because Delilah has an admirer. Someone who is paying a great deal of attention to her. And he just might love her to death.


The debut of a shockingly fresh voice in suspense fiction, OVER MY LIVE BODY will work its way inside of you.






Excerpt:

I’ve gone from posing in one studio to posing in another in less than an hour. Ordinarily I don’t complain about the cold. I don’t move before I’m told to. I try to be the model I’ve never had the good luck to hire. But today I feel like I’m lugging around a portfolio of hypersensitivity along with my usual artist supplies and it’s not even justified. Here, I’m among friends.

The instructor of this class has drawn a chalk outline of where I’m supposed to lie and indicates the pose she wants me to strike, that of a classic come-to-my-casbah odalisque. I feel my calf muscles tighten as I scrunch up into the framework of the drawing on the floor. There are no new faces in this class, no surprises, I’ll be forgiven if I twitch or scratch an itch. Morgan, one of the best artists and my best friend, has brought poppy seed pound cake and stops what he’s doing to tiptoe over and feed me morsels of it. “Should be grapes,” the instructor says. Someone down the hall is playing Carmen on a boom box. “Should be Scheherezade,” Morgan says, winking at me.

The wink isn’t misunderstood, wouldn’t be even if Morgan wasn’t gay. 
We artists are like a cast ensemble in repertory. Many of us have seen each other nude in classes. I’m dressed in the part I’m playing. It’s when I change locations, freelance in other schools, that I’ve felt uncomfortable and I’ve tried not to do that too often. I try not to, but sometimes I need the money to buy extra supplies or pay off mounting bills and I have to do it, like I did last night. I sometimes say never again, never again! What do I need this aggravation for? I feel smarmy; it makes me fight with Ivan more. Except, like a new enrollee in some 12-step program, I’m learning to recognize what I have and haven’t the power to change and ironically now that I’ve decided to kick Ivan and his half of the rent money out, I’m going to have to pay more bills than ever, starting with the new lock I’m having installed.

“Delilah, you moved!” 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Cover Reveal: Paranormal Pleasures II by Roxanne Rhoads

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Blog Tour: The Whitechapel Virgin by Carla Acheson


“Acheson has a gift for being able to bring the grit of poverty to life " - (Rachel Malone) HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY 



"TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND JOURNEY INTO THE SLUMS OF WHITECHAPEL, LONDON, DURING JACK THE RIPPER'S BRUTAL REIGN OF TERROR." 






About The Book: 

Catherine, a fifteen year old runaway, stumbles into a seedy brothel-house tavern in the back streets of Whitechapel, London. She hesitates at the scene before her, one filled with low class prostitutes and drunkards, but it is late, and the dimly-lit labyrinthine alleyways are filled with deviant fellows and petty criminals. 

Weary and hungry, she meets Eddie, the rugged young tavern boy who shows her to a room for the night. She settles down only to be awoken in the early hours by piercing cries from the room next door. Arising to find the cause of the commotion, she becomes witness to a gruesome abortion. 

Filled with revulsion, Catherine decides to flee as soon as daylight arrives, but Eddie quickly soothes her fears and convinces her to stay, arranging for her to meet Madame Davenport, the nefarious brothel-mistress who employs Catherine as a serving girl, under the proviso she begins work ‛servicing’ men once she is settled in. 

Difficulties arise, however, when Eddie’s growing romantic affections for Catherine clash with her sudden infatuation for the dashing middle-class gent, Mr Cross. Unknown to Catherine, the lothario is keeping a diary of his affairs with Whitechapel’s whores, with the dishonourable intention of turning his writing into a successful ‛gentleman’s, publication.' Mr Cross quickly seduces the fresh young virgin, allowing his sexual fantasies to escalate into an unfathomable obsession. 

As Catherine tries her hardest to fit into the ways of life at the lodging house, she encounters only jealousy from Eddie, and resentment from the other prostitutes who reside there. Annie, in particular, dislikes the new girl who has blossoming beauty and youth on her side. 

Unexpectedly one night, a crime occurs within the narrow landing of George Yard Buildings. Local prostitute Martha Tabram is found brutally hacked to death by a cruel assailant. The police can unearth no explainable motive. The Victorian crime stuns the entire Whitechapel district, causing widespread panic amongst the prostitutes who each fear for their own lives. 

Catherine's anxiety increases when Edward Cross begins to show signs of 'odd' sexual behaviour and mental decline, as he brutally tries to expunge the girl of her virtues. 

When two more gruesome murders occur in the area, the prostitutes realise that there is no escape from the vicious killer who calls himself Jack The Ripper. 

But who is he? And who will be the next Jack victim? 



Purchase The Book



About The Author
Carla lives in Gibraltar with her family and is a member of the Freelance Writers Association. She works as a book
reviewer and has interviewed and published book reviews and articles for best-selling and award-winning authors. Her articles and reviews have been featured in various press publications, as well as Waterstones Quarterly UK Magazine.
Her debut fiction novel ‘The Last Gift’ released October 2012, is available on both Kindle and paperback.
Carla is also the founder of the Rock Writers Group formed in Gibraltar in 2009.
Music production, singing, reading and writing have always been the main essential ingredients in Carla’s life.
Visit her website:  http://www.carla-acheson.com/
Visit her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewhitechapelvirgin