Celebrate Banned Books Week

September 25 - October 1 is BANNED BOOKS WEEK. Be sure to exercise your rights and freedoms by reading a banned book...or any book.

 

 

Writer Wednesday--Cristina Rayne

Please welcome Cristina Rayne to Writer Wednesday! ~NJ

Love dragon shifters? Join the adventure and romance in Where Sleeping Dragons Lie, a standalone fantasy romance in the Skeleton Key multi-author book series!

 

Blurb:

Skeleton Key Book Series

One Skeleton Key. Endless Adventures.

 Some doors can only be unlocked by the right hand…

It was in her friend’s rare books shop that Briana Wright first saw Taron Hildebrand, a too-gorgeous-to-be-real twenty-something Englishman dressed for a night at the opera rather than an obscure shop in midtown. Unnerved by his unusual orange-tinted hazel eyes and flustered by his intensity and charm, her initial alarm raises several notches with his immediate interest and offer of an obscene amount of money for the old hand-bound book written in a strange alphabet she had found in her recently deceased grandmother’s collection. Not keen on giving up such an intriguing mystery, she refuses his offer and is surprised when he leaves the shop without even a token fuss.

 

Briana should have known he would be back, but when Taron claims the book is a family heirloom he’s been searching for and is able to perfectly describe the sole drawing of a skeleton key contained within the book, her initial misgivings quickly turn to excitement when she realizes that she’s on the brink of solving the mystery of the book’s origins.

 

Unfortunately, she didn’t count on others being just as interested in learning the book’s secrets and that the price she has to pay for that knowledge is having to run for her life. She sure as hell didn’t count on suddenly learning that dragons are real and being dragged into a centuries-long dragon civil war by Taron, one of those dragons shifted into human form that insists she is the key to finally ending their stalemate.

 

Most of all, she didn’t count on falling in love…

  

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1UhlUKX

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01H10T90S
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01H10T90S
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01H10T90S
B&N: http://goo.gl/mKTBvg
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1114393368
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/ebook/where-sleeping-dragons-lie
Google Play: https://goo.gl/WpVRYV
Thalia.de (Tolino): http://goo.gl/Vpafjk
24Symbols: https://www.24symbols.com/book/x/x/x?id=1497786

 

PAPERBACK:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1UyxH4S

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0692740791
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/2mHx7W
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Where-Sleeping-Dragons-Lie-Cristina-Rayne/9780692740798

 

About the Author:

Cristina Rayne is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in West Texas with her crazy cat and about a dozen bookcases full of fantasy worlds and steamy romances. She has a degree in Computer Science which totally qualifies her to write romances. As Fantasy is her first love, she feels if she can inject a little love into the fantastical, along with a few steamy scenes, then all the better. She is also the author of the Claimed by the Elven King, Claimed by the Elven Brothers, Riverford Shifters, The Elven Realms, Incarnations of Myth, and The Vampire Underground series.

 

 

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CristinaRayneAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CRayneAuthor

Website: http://www.cristinarayneauthor.com

Newsletter Signup: http://eepurl.com/SOXKb

Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/cristinarayne

Goodreads: https://goo.gl/FRUzjP

 

Cover Reveal--Assassin's Awakening

This is the amazing new cover for Assassin's Awakening, book 2 of the Project Alpha trilogy. Look for it in November!

 

 

Book 1, Embracing Silence, is due out on October 24th.

Book 3, Alpha's Revenge is due out in December.

 

*This series was previously published and has been newly revised*

**Assassin's Awakening was previously titled Have Mercy**

***Alpha's Revenge was previously titled Sweet Charity***

Welcome to Fall!

Happy Fall Equinox!

Welcome to the first full day of Autumn! I love this time of year--the crisp air, the colorful leaves, apples, Thanksgiving, Halloween and so much more. Hope you enjoy the fall!

Writer Wednesday--Tevann Rogers

Please welcome Trevann Rogers to Writer Wednesday! ~NJ

My first novel House of the Rising Son is the story of Cheyenne, the incubus rocker, and his quest to live the life he desires instead of the one his family has planned for him.

 

After finishing the book, many people rushed to tell me they fell in love with the sexy, reluctant hero. What made my heart sing, however, were the comments about his relationship with his smart and quirky children. Readers wanted to know more about them, particularly who were their mothers.

 

After Midnight: Prequel to House of the Rising Son, is a stand alone novella gives readers a peek at the vampires that bore Cheyenne’s children.

 

Take peek at Trevann’s upcoming release!

 

After Midnight

Prequel to House of the Rising Son

Living After Midnight Series

Release date: September 2016

 

Improbable love. Impossible life. Immeasurable danger.

Jewell’s stepfather thinks she’s worthless. She agrees. When she looks in the mirror she sees an overweight, overemotional, overeating mess who can’t keep her fangs to herself.

Ria hails from a family of old world vamps who'd be happy to share their wealth with her, if only she’d fall in line. Fat chance, especially since being in that line includes not being gay.

Being in love is easy for Ria and Jewell—the young vampires belong together like vodka and tomato juice. Adding Cheyenne, a talented and sexy incubus, to their union is the hot sauce in their Bloody Mary. The only problem? Vampires and incubi are mortal enemies.

Despite the odds Ria, Jewell and Cheyenne find their way to happiness. But Jewell is hiding a huge secret, one that defies the laws of procreation: She’s going to have a baby.

While she tries to figure out how to break the unbelievable news to her lovers, a horror from Jewell’s past slithers into her present, forcing choices no one should have to make.

Will it be love or death? Happiness or safety? She has until dawn to decide...and it's already After Midnight.

~~

Excerpt:

The choice between staying in on a Saturday night to clean and going to see Cheyenne at his first real gig hadn’t been a complicated decision. He was a world-class rocker who could play the guitar like a fiend and had a voice that made you feel…everything. Or made you horny. And fuck if she didn’t love him. Damn incubus.

She reached across him and caressed Jewell’s side. Jewell’s eyes opened and she stared expressionless at the ceiling, hyper-alert to danger. It always took a few moments after resurrecting for her to remember where she was and who was with her, but since moving into their new home it seemed to take even longer.

Ria sighed. She’d do anything if it would help Jewell feel safe enough to die each dawn and awaken peacefully. “All is well, Babydoll. It’s just me. Time to rise and twinkle with the stars.”

“Already?” Jewell scrunched her eyes and blinked as if trying to focus them.

Cheyenne lay his head on the soft swell of Jewell’s belly. “Didn’t we just go to bed?”

Ria kissed his back and licked a slow trail down his spine. “Hours ago. Did we tucker out the poor little sex demon?”

“Not hardly, dead girl.”

She grabbed a fistful of his hair and turned him to face her. “That’s undead girl, thank you.” She bit his lower lip and let it drag between her teeth. “Show us what you’ve got left.”

~~

Trevann Rogers writes urban fantasy and LGBT paranormal romances. Her stories incorporate an unquenchable addiction to music and her love for vampires, Weres, incubi and rock stars. Like these elusive creatures, Trevann learned long ago that sometimes being yourself means Living After Midnight.

 

You can find Trevann online at:

 

www.trevannrogers.com

www.facebook.com/trevannr

www.pinterest.com/trevannr

Twitter: @TrevannRogers

~~

You can find the first book in the series, House of the Rising Son on Barnes and Noble and Amazon. For information about buying AFTER MIDNIGHT, go to www.trevannrogers.com.

Weekend Book Club--Chasing Mayhem by Cynthia Sax and Conard County Marine by Rachel Lee

This week I read two very different books--one a dark Sci-Fi erotic romance, the other a military/suspense romance. It was a very good week. :-) Both Cynthia Sax and Rachel Lee are favorites of mine.

What have you read this week?

CHASING MAYHEM by Cynthia Sax

BLURB:

Mayhem has spent his lengthy lifespan obeying the Humanoid Alliance's rules. Finally free from their cruel control, the cyborg warrior plans to cause chaos. He infiltrates a remote settlement, provokes the savage locals until they want him dead, and allows himself to be captured by the sexiest little Retriever he has ever laid his mechanically-enhanced eyes on.

Imee's sole mission in life is to keep her family alive. To do this, she must hunt rebels, returning them to the Humanoid Alliance's evil clutches where they will be executed. She doesn't allow herself to feel anything for her targets...until she meets a tall, muscular cyborg with wild hair and even wilder eyes.

With his sure hands, laughing lips and erotic holds, Mayhem makes Imee's body sizzle and her resistance melt. Their love is doomed. She must deliver the warrior to his death or she'll place her family's safety at risk. But she can't resist him.

Imee soon discovers that Mayhem, life, and love are never predictable.

Chasing Mayhem is Book 6 in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is a STANDALONE story.
It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance.

CONARD COUNTY MARINE by Rachel Lee

BLURB:

The arrival of a single black rose signals danger to come for Kylie Brewer. Recovering from a brutal attack that claimed three years of her memory and her chance at a promising career, Kylie just wants to pick up the remaining fragments of her life. She returns to her hometown of Conard City to live with her sister but soon learns that putting the past in its place won't be easy.  
 
Marine sergeant Evan Cooper—a trusted family friend who agrees to help Kylie—can't ignore his protective instincts. Or the steadily growing desire he feels for a woman who has overcome so much. He vows to help keep Kylie's demons at bay…but someone else has plans to finish what they started.

Throwback Thursday--Book Edition (Conard County series by Rachel Lee)

I'm a big fan of Rachel Lee's Conard County series, especially the early books. I am reading the next generation books, and while they're good, there is something very special about the earlier ones. Or maybe that's just me.

These books don't seem to be available anymore, unless you can find a used paperback copy, which is too bad.

Have you read this series?

EXILE'S END

Blurb:

SOMEONE WAS STALKING HIM After being held captive for four years, CIA agent Ransom Laird just wanted to enjoy the wide-open spaces and warm sunshine of Wyoming. He hadn't expected to meet a woman whose very soul touched him, warmed him-- a woman he could grow old with. And now that he'd found her, he was about to lose her to an unknown assassin. Someone who wanted Ransom dead. Someone who was willing to kill Mandy to get to him...

Writer Mandy Grant saw Ransom as a wounded warrior seeking shelter within her fortress walls and herself as the lonely princess, too frightened to love. Because for Mandy, loving mean losing. And unless the stopped the killer first, they were both going to lose...

CHEROKEE THUNDER

BLURB:

TWO LIVES DEPENDED ON HIM

Micah Parish: Deputy Sheriff. Six feet, four inches of solid muscle. Half-Cherokee. Tough, proud, a loner. Faith Williams: Mother-to-be. Fragile-looking blonde running for her life. Quiet, scared of her own shadow. Protecting the people of Conard County was deputy sheriff Micah Parish's job, but protecting Faith Williams was about to become his life's work. Pregnant, alone and stalked by her abusive ex-husband, Faith needed more than a place to hide and a strong shoulder to lean on. She needed someone to end her nightmare. And Micah needed someone to start his dream.

CONARD COUNTY: Where the Wyoming sky spreads bold and blue above men and women who draw their strength from the land -- and from the bonds of love they share.

MISS EMMALINE AND THE ARCHANGEL

Gage Dalton had been to hell and back. He knew what it was like to lose everything and had sworn never to care again. But then he met cautious, careful and proper Emmaline Conard. She was full of compassion and warmth-and she was in trouble. He couldn't imagine why she trusted him , after all she'd been through. But he vowed no one would hurt her ever again! Someone was watching her. Emma knew something bad was going to happen again.

And then Gage Dalton walked into her life and her heart. He was dangerous and unpredictable... yet he was the only man who made her feel safe and whole.

Writer Wednesday--Candice Gilmer

Please welcome Candice Gilmer to Writer Wednesday! ~NJ

Here is a blurb and a little backstory about my latest release, Out of the Tower.

 

Out of the Tower by Candice Gilmer

 

Hi there! NJ was kind enough to let me slip in here and talk about my new book release, Out of the Tower.

 

This adult version of a fairy tale was so much fun to write, and it’s a special book for me, because it’s the first one I’ve ever self-published in both ebook and print at the same time. And OMG, the time suck that is! WOW.

Anyway…

 

There’s something amazingly gratifying about holding a book in my hand that I did everything—the cover and the interior formatting, as well as write and edit the book—and know that, yes, I made this.

It’s a very special book to me. This book has been through a lot with me—a publisher, an agent, and all the difficulties a book can go through, or so it seems. (I’m sure there’s stuff I don’t know about yet, lol).

 

But I’m pleased to say I am releasing it on the world!

 

Check it out:

 

Nobleman Nick von Hohburg stumbles on a girl singing high in a tower. At first, he’s mesmerized, assuming she is an angel, for there is no way in or out of the stone structure. 

 

He soon learns that his angel is a prisoner instead, trapped not only by her cruel mother, but by the long golden hair she has to braid and care for.

 

When he finds a way up, her beauty astounds him and her fresh mind intrigues him. But he also sees her prison, and he wants her to be free.

 

While innocent, Rapunzel is no angel. She would love to feel the grass between her toes and touch the bark of a tree, but she knows she will never be able to—her magical braids keep her trapped in the tower, regardless of how convincing her handsome new friend is.

 

Nick only has a small window of time to persuade Rapunzel to come down before her mother return, and he finds himself in an unusual position—needing to convince a woman to trust him. 

 

Certainly, Nick, a Charming Noble, could woo a peasant girl without any trouble. He was one of the White Mountains most eligible bachelors, after all.

 

But will he lose his heart to this lovely angel in the tower along the way?

 

Get your copy here: https://books2read.com/u/3GMaGn

 

Candice Gilmer
http://candicegilmer.com
Romance, Laughter and Tears 

Author of The Guys and Godmothers Series, and The Mythical Knights Series

 

 

Weekend Book Club--Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb

This week I read APPRENTICE IN DEATH, the latest installment in J.D. Robb's In Death series. I love this series and always grab the latest book as soon as it comes out. I just can't seem to get enough Eve Dallas and Roarke. This is the 43rd book in the series and it just keeps on getting better.

What are you reading this week?

BLURB:

Nature versus nurture... 
The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor, and a teacher. As random as random can be.

Eve Dallas has seen a lot of killers during her time with the NYPSD but never one like this. A review of the security videos reveals that the victims were killed with a tactical laser rifle fired by a sniper, who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. And though the list of locations where the shooter could have set up seems endless, the number of people with that particular skill set is finite: police, military, professional killer.

Eve’s husband, Roarke, has unlimited resources—and genius—at his disposal. And when his computer program leads Eve to the location of the sniper, she learns a shocking fact: There were two—one older, one younger. Someone is being trained by an expert in the science of killing, and they have an agenda. Central Park was just a warm-up. And as another sniper attack shakes the city to its core, Eve realizes that though we’re all shaped by the people around us, there are those who are just born evil...

Guest blogging at Delilah Devlin's Blog

I'm over at DELILAH DEVLIN'S BLOG today talking about fall, new beginnings, and my latest book--Wolf in his Heart. Be sure to stop by and check it out.

GO TO GUEST BLOG

Writer Wednesday--Teresa Noelle Roberts

BUCK, NAKED

Chronicles of the Malcolm 3

Blurb:

To save him, she must strip him bare.

Security expert Buck’s senses are inhumanly keen, to the point he can see through time and space, and that’s just the start of his odd abilities—thank you, alien captors. He also experiences paranoia, flashbacks, and the occasional hallucination—thank you, PTSD. No wonder he fears he could hurt one of the Malcolm crewmates he lives to protect, the closest thing to family he has left after the destruction of his home planet.

Brilliant scientist Aleema can teach him how to use his modifications without triggering PTSD. She’s survived the same meddling aliens and suffered even more dramatic alterations. At least her unwanted immortality means she’s had time to figure out how the modifications work and use the knowledge to aid other survivors. Helping Buck means spending some serious time together.

Time enough to fall in love.

Just as happiness seems within their grasp, Aleema realizes one of Buck’s modifications dooms him to an unthinkable future. To save him, she must place herself in the hands of their common enemy and leave Buck to face his worst fears without her.

Buy links: Amazon / B&N Nook / iTunes / Kobo / All Romance Ebooks

 

If you've read the previous Chronicles of the Malcolm books, Thrill-Kinky and Bad Kitty, you already know Buck's a little damaged. In this book, we learn he was the victim of alien medical experiments as a POW, and they've had lasting effects--ones that will either make him more than human or destroy him. ScientistAleema may be the only person who can help him, but she's been warped by the same aliens. This excerpt shows Buck and Aleema's first meeting and it's not exactly a "cute meet" to say the least! A combination of attraction and paranoia mark a lot of their initial interactions.

At first glance, Aleema was good-looking, a tall, curvy human woman with black hair brushing her shoulders and skin far darker than Buck’s own fair complexion, though lighter than Mik, who was as close to actual-factual black as a human got without cosmetic mods. Maybe this gig wouldn’t be so bad. Awkward, sure, telling his woes to a complete stranger and a pretty one at that, but at least he’d have something nice to look at while he was getting his head shrunk.

Then he took a second look.

She had human features, human coloring. But her eyes were solid black and when she extended her arms to hug Gan, Buck saw her left hand had webbed fingers like a Seera. She had only five fingers, like a proper human hand, not seven, but it was close enough to a Seera to register as a threat. He reached for his laserpistol before he could stop himself.

The voices in his head screamed no.

Not his conscience, although that was making some noise about the notion of shooting a friend of Gan’s in cold blood, but the voices in his head, the horrors that more often than not prompted him to do stupidly violent things.

This time, the horrors were reminding him of things he’d rather forget about his time as a prisoner of the Seera. The experiments they’d performed on him and other captured soldiers. Stars, the things they did to themselves sometimes, just for fun or curiosity, best as he’d been able to figure out. A Seera scientist never met a natural body that couldn’t be “improved” in some way.

If Aleema was a survivor of a Seera experiment herself, one worse than what he’d undergone or at least leaving more obvious traces, it made sense why Gan wanted them to meet.

Buck was still creepified, but he’d give her a chance.

He could always shoot her later.

Aleema peered cautiously out the door, checking all directions and, not for the first time, thanking the stars for the irony that the modifications that made her caution necessary also made it easier by improving her field of vision and heightening all her senses. It had been years since anyone other than bored teenagers had messed with her, and the teens had confined themselves to painting rude slurs on her housepod. Her neighbors were used to her odd appearance and as long as she wore gloves and dark glasses or contact lenses, she could move about freely in other areas. She probably wouldn’t get harassed if she omitted the gloves and glasses—she wasn’t the only Seera survivor in Naxos City with some visible effects—but her mods were extensive enough they made people notice her, and that was never a good idea. If people paid too much attention, they might pick up that she didn’t age, even as much as people addicted to vanity regens inevitably did.

Besides, it never hurt to take precautions. Over the long years, a lot of people had tried to kill her. They hadn’t succeeded, of course, but the attempts still hurt. She might heal faster than unmodified humans, but she felt pain just as keenly.

Gan was waiting outside, just like he’d commed that he would be, his human husband by his side. A bearded human male, scruffy and scarred, paced back and forth behind them as if guarding the rear. He had the posture of a soldier and was assessing the street for threats even more obviously than she had been. It had to be Buck, the man Gan hoped she could counsel.

Assuming he was Buck, he screamed armed and dangerous. He didn’t have a weapon visible, out of respect for local laws, but she could tell he was carrying. He hid it well, but her vision was keener than most, saw things it wasn’t supposed to notice.

And marling stars, he was attractive, though he seemed to be going out of his way to hide it, with the messy brown hair and untrimmed beard. His faded red clingshirt stretched over a broad chest that a loose olive jacket did little to conceal. She knew from Gan’s coms that Buck’s baggy olive trousers—some planet’s military surplus, she guessed—hid a prosthetic leg, but she wouldn’t have suspected from the way the man moved.

She took all that data in and analyzed it in the short time it took her to walk toward Gan, another blessing and curse of being who and what she was. She wasn’t a cyborg—though people who had the good fortune to be unfamiliar with the Seera sometimes thought she might be one of those rare flesh-machine hybrids—but both her senses and her thought processes ran far faster than the norm.

Which meant that even while she gave Gan a big hug, taking in his pleasant, familiar smell of milk and sunshine, she remained vigilant. Remained aware.

Took in that Buck had noticed her eyes and her hand. Registered that he twitched toward the laserpistol concealed by the baggy jacket, but stopped himself.

Noticed the quick terror that passed over his face and the confused calm that followed it, like an order no one else could hear had squashed his momentary urge toward violence.

Stars, he was like her, as Gan had hoped and feared. The Seera hadn’t gotten as far with him in ways visible to the naked eye, but he’d had a lot less time to adapt to the ways his brain and body were no longer quite his.

With any luck, she could buy him the time he needed.

Author Bio: Teresa Noelle Roberts started writing stories in kindergarten and she hasn’t stopped yet. A prolific author of short erotica, she’s also a published poet and fantasy writer—but sexy science fiction romances, BDSM-spiced contemporaries, and hot paranormals, and have become her favorites.

Teresa is a crunchy granola girl who enjoys belly dance, yoga, cooking, hiking, playing in the ocean, and growing more vegetables than she and her husband can possibly eat. She’d enjoy sleeping too. She thinks. But it takes so much time!

She shares her home in southern Massachusetts with her husband, a Leo in law enforcement, and three cats. She and her husband often plan vacations around food, history, and/or proximity to water.

Subscribe to Teresa’s newsletter at http://www.teresanoelleroberts.com/?page_id=1485. Learn more about Teresa at http://www.teresanoelleroberts.com. If you’d rather be conversational, follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TeresNoeRoberts or become a Facebook fan at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorTeresaNoelleRoberts.

Happy Labor Day!

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND

It's the last "unofficial" weekend of summer. Hope you are all enjoying the Labor Day long weekend. 

September Newsletter

The September 2016 issue of AWAKENING DESIRES—the Newsletter of Romance  Author N.J. Walters—is now available.

Lots of exciting news to share! Be sure to check out all the latest news and an new excerpt from Wolf at the Door, the book that started the Salvation Pack series.

As always, some lucky newsletter subscriber wins a prize. All you have to do to be eligible to win is go to Awakening Desires Newsletter and join. While you’re there, you can check out back issues of the newsletter.