Blogula: 2014

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Obsidian Collection book blitz - Xpresso Tours

THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION

Nine authors. Nine dark-love novellas.

The wicked have never looked so good…

SYNOPSES

Obsidian Escape by Rebel Adams
Just one look at the battered form of Whitney Geddings awakens a fierce protective instinct in Detective Jackson Ogden…but at what price?

Obsidian Liquor by Scarlett Dawn
Reporter, Elizabeth Forter, never expected one drunken challenge to leave her sexually satisfied and waking beside Daniil – the head of the Russian mafia.

Obsidian Faith by Bev Elle
Shanice Bailey’s epic faith in Trevor Kyle, the man she’s loved since they were both wards at the Baptist Children’s Home, is shaken when his sketchy foster father shows up on their honeymoon.

Obsidian Heart by Nicole Flockton
Will Erika’s holiday fling with Brandt bring him out of the shadows, or is his heart destined for darkness?

Obsidian Sky by Lara Henley
When military man, Brandon Michaels, comes home to a town he no longer recognizes, his salvation may rest in Arabella Knight, a woman who has secrets that no one knows.

Obsidian Ice by Missy Johnson
Medical intern Cam Fletcher knew becoming a surgeon would be hard work, but what he wasn’t counting on was falling for his mentor – cocky surgeon Eric Langdon.

Obsidian Jewel by Angel Lawson
Professional thieves, competitors, and occasional lovers, Maya Clarke and Malcolm Kent, must work together for the job of a lifetime and try not to kill one another while doing it.

Obsidian Desire by t.h. snyder
Can one chivalrous act change Tyler Jones, a coldhearted man, or will desire burn through his soul and change him forever?

Obsidian Beauty by Emily Walker
Out of jail and finally ready to confront the man who left her there to rot, Abigail Rivers is upset to learn Benton Sellers has moved on with no regard for the sacrifices she has made for him.

AUTHORS

Rebel Adams is writer and lover of good prose, better cigars, well-aged whiskey and fine women– and not always in that order.
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Scarlett Dawn is the author of the Forever Evermore new adult fantasy series, which include King Hall and King Cave. She lives in the Midwest, where she loves to ‘people watch’ and daydream. She adores her music loud and her fries covered in melted cheese.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Bev Elle is the author of sweet and spicy, contemporary romance. She’s a lover of books–those already written, and those she harbors in her very active imagination. Writing is a passion she’s had for many years, but was unable to act upon. Until now. Bev Elle is the mother of three human children and two canines. She is also the lover of one husband. When Bev isn’t writing in her spare time after work, she is thinking of doing so.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Nicole Flockton is an Australian living in Texas. Nicole writes sexy contemporary romances which seduce you one kiss at a time. She enjoys taking two characters and creating unique situations for them. When she’s not busy writing, she’s attempting to keep up with two active children and a busy husband.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Lara Henley is originally from Oklahoma, but has lived in several places. She began writing in 2009 when she had a dream about a little girl traveling with her grandmother. That is how Jessie Discovers Christmas was born. She then ventured into YA and adult romance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Marketing and a Masters in Administrative Leadership. She loves all things creative and aspires to have a fulltime writing career.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Missy Johnson in a small town in Central Victoria, Australia, with her husband and her confused pets (a dog who think she’s a cat, a cat who thinks he’s a dog…you get the picture). When she’s not writing, she can usually be found looking for something to read.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Angel Lawson lives with her family in Atlanta and has a lifelong obsession with creating fiction from reality, either with paint or words. On a typical day you can find her writing, reading, plotting her escape from the zombie apocalypse and trying to get the glitter out from under her nails. She is the author of five books, including the Wraith Series, Serial Summer, FanGirl, and Vigilant. She is the co-author of the New Adult Paranormal book, Odin’s Murder with Kira Gold.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

t.h. snyder is a 34 y/o single mom of two amazing kids. She lives in Central PA where she works full time for a local business/technical school. Writing wasn’t something she ever thought she’d be doing, but here she is. t. h. snyder started reading like a nut after Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey. Since then she’s read over 300 romance and paranormal books. In June of 2013, she decided to try her go at writing. She had a vision and went with it….hence Touch Me. To date she’s published 6 books and now 2 anthologies…The Touch Series (NA Romance), Pierced Love (YA Romance), Cursed Love, Cursed #1 (Erotic Romance), My Dirty Little Valentine, and the Obsidian Collection.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Emily Walker loves creating worlds and stumbling around in them. She is constantly losing her chap-stick, and has an obsession with the color pink. Currently a resident of the mountains and loving the view, she writes mostly paranormal fiction and horror. Her small family consists of her red bearded other half, a rat terrier named Rebel, and a cat named Mr. Creepy.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

BOOK TRAILER

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20437199-the-obsidian-collection?ac=1

Purchase:

Amazon: http://ow.ly/yndK7
Amazon UK: http://ow.ly/yndHN
Barnes & Noble: http://ow.ly/ynb9j
iTunes: http://ow.ly/yv14r
Kobo: http://ow.ly/ynedZ
CreateSpace: http://ow.ly/yne9b
Scribd: http://ow.ly/yv1eI
Smashwords: http://ow.ly/ynbbs
Amazon Paperback: http://ow.ly/ynb34

GIVEAWAY

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

"Torn Between Two Worlds" by Lexi Ostrow, Release Day Blitz!

Title: Torn Between Two Worlds(Guardians book 1)

Author: Lexi Ostrow

Publishing House: Hot Ink Press

Release Date: July 15, 2014

Cover by: Riley Steel

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Blurb: Her heart was torn differently than others, between two worlds. Her choice would affect her position in each.

Ciara Miller was born the same as others, but she got a little something extra. On her 14th birthday she learned she was a Word Speaker, someone who could create life from stories. Her gift is incomplete until her 27th birthday, before then all she can create is things she, and others like her can see. Evil wants her gift as well and the characters she chooses to create become her Guardians against the unseen attackers that want to use her skill.

Stryder is a demon, created to be a backup plan for the Horseman of the Apocalypse, War. Since the day he learned he was nothing more than pawn he and his brothers had been seeking a way to betray hell and fight on the side of the angels. His world is torn apart again when he finds out he's nothing more than a story and given the option to protect a human female, Ciara, or die.

Ciara hates Stryder for replacing her former Guardian. But she cannot deny the lust and connection that rocked through her every time they touch. She could deny it all she wanted, but she belonged to Stryder and when they find themselves thrown into a war bigger than them both she must choose between her reality bound heart and her fantasy bound soul to save them.

Trailer

Excerpt: She couldn't believe him. “You arrogant, condescending, infuriating son of a bitch!” As she'd been yelling at him she'd walked closer and didn't even think as she pulled back and smacked him across the face so hard it vibrated through her own hand and turned the heads of the demons in the bar. The danger in his eyes scared her. But she wasn't backing down.

“Sweetheart that might have been the stupidest fucking thing you've ever done. Don't think I won't teach you better.” His voice was a snarl and oddly enough some of her fear retreated because she suspected he was lying.

Wrong.

She had her back pressed against a dirty wall before she could blink. His hard body pushed against hers sent lust through her. She bit down again on her lip, drawing more blood. Aversion therapy. She hated the taste of blood and hoped that she could make herself hate the feel of him against her. His hand slid against her neck, enough to prove a point but not to where she felt like he was choking her.

“Do. Not. Push. Me.” He bent his head like he was going to kiss her and her heart stopped. She needed to stop this and she couldn't. She needed to get away from here and focus only on her and her work and her bills, anything but let her heart fall further and further for this man.

He brushed his lips lightly against hers and she fell apart. Her arms wound around his neck and as she went to kiss him back he and dropped his hand from her neck and walked away. Tears sprang in her eyes. She was crying because he wouldn't kiss her? How could this be? How did this man make her forget everything but the idea of them together?

“I am not a fucking toy. You want to curse me to hell. Go right ahead Sweetheart it's my home away from home don't forget. But you want to use me to sate your sexual needs and then scream at me for it? I don't fucking-”

An explosion rocked through the bar. She barely had time to see the chunks of wall exploding towards her. Or the bodies of demons that flew at her. The smell of ash burnt her nose at the same time as the shrieks in the room bombarded her ears. She was amazingly unaffected by whatever had blown the exterior wall. Her eyes were having trouble adjusting to the smoke and she screamed Stryder's name as someone grabbed her by the ankle and tugged her to the ground.

Buy Link
Goodreads link
About the Author:

Lexi Ostrow has been in love with the written word since second grade when her librarian started a writing club. Born in sunny southern California she's spent time in various places across the country and can't wait to settle down somewhere in the French Quarter when she's able too.

Lexi has been a writer ever since the second grade in some form or another. Getting her degree in creative writing and her master's in journalism she couldn't wait to get a chance to put her fantasies down on paper. Her debut novel, Torn Between Two Worlds is something that was simmering in her mind since middle school and she's so grateful to put it out into the literary world. From paranormal romance to thriller there isn't a genre she doesn't love to spend her time reading or writing.

Reading and writing are her first loves but her passion for shopping, love for yummy food and her love for all her many pets. She hopes to one day help other readers fall in love with writing as she did.

Say hi to Lexi!

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads
Google+
Pinterest

GIVEAWAY

5 ebook copies of Torn Between Two Worlds

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Friday, June 27, 2014

Unschooling: why it's important to me

Some of you know already, but for anyone who doesn't, I'm a stay at home mom. I'm also an author, but the most important part of my life (and the most time consuming) is parenting. Being an only child who always had an abundance of what so many fondly refer to as "me time", becoming a mom has made me realize that the concept of time to myself is foreign and borderline unattainable with a toddler and baby number two to make his/her debut this November. Two kids under age two... Apparently I'm a crazy masochist.

Don't get me wrong. I love my son, and the bun in the oven that will soon make my belly move around like a sci-fi movie prop. But adjusting to the total lack of solo time has been rough for me. There are still days where it rankles. But then my toddler will bring me one of his many board books to read, he'll parrot the few words in them he can say, and help turn pages, and it makes me proud. Proud that he's a fast learner, that he loves books as much as his Mega Blocks. And proud that he's learning things that I taught him. Not some website, or app, or the TV. Me.

When I notice him taking an interest in something, I make a point of trying to incorporate more of that into our day. When he took my pen and scribbled on four pages of my planner, and was super pleased with himself, I got him some crayons and heavy paper to make his art with. I want him to love learning, to be able to nurture his passions, and for him to live a happy and fulfilled life.

The current standard of education will not be adequate for providing these important parts of life for him, maybe not for any of my children. I went through public school, but was given the bulk of my education at home. I still love learning new things and soak up knowledge like a sponge, and I'm fast approaching age thirty. Institutionalized learning was... well, just that. I remember taking Scan-tron tests in kindergarten. I thought nothing of it, but as I got older, I realized that we weren't being taught problem solving skills, or much of anything as far as core skills go. They were teaching us how to score well enough on the standardized tests for the school to obtain their rewards: grants and funding.

And now... don't even get me started on how they're removing literature, arts, and creativity from schools--even more so than before I graduated! Canceling a kindergarten's end of the year musical/play because they "need to focus on studying, for college placement and their future careers", or having them read Volkswagon tech manuals instead of literature so they'll "be prepared for working in a factory some day"... You can find links to those specific stories online, if you want to really get your blood pressure up.

I want to adequately prepare my children for life, not program them to be drones in some corporate machine. If they choose to become functional cogs in that same machine, of their own volition, that's a different matter entirely. That's their decision.

So, while this post is titled "Unschooling", I guess it's more about why I want to homeschool right out of the gate. I think unschooling happens when you have to deprogram your children and unteach them the boring, busywork filled ways they learned in a public/private school setting. I wish my parents had decided to homeschool me, so I wouldn't have gotten so bored and complacent with school work.

I'd love to find a good homeschool group or co-op, once my kids are old enough to start school, that is. However, my husband and I aren't religious, and from spending much time online hunting, finding a group that teaches the science we agree with (and not religious ideas that we don't agree with) seems difficult. But we still have a few years to work out details, so I'm not overly stressing it just yet.

Long story short, I want to encourage my children to immerse themselves in things they're interested in, not have their career and entire life path predetermined the second they walk through the door into their kindergarten class.

Monday, June 23, 2014

"Dark Innocence" by Madeline Pryce REVIEW

Title: Dark Innocence
Author: Madeline Pryce

Book 1.5 in the Dark series...

Hannah Grey will do anything to escape the tortured memories haunting her. Every breath brings back the pain, the fear and the unbearable knowledge that she'll never be the once-perfect girl everyone thought her to be. When the self-destructive fog of drugs, alcohol and meaningless sex starts to clear, Dante, a lion shifter sexier than sin itself, emerges through the darkness ready to rescue her for the second time in so many weeks.

In the safety of Dante's embrace, Hannah allows herself to become the woman she's always wanted to be--smart, sexy, capable and empowered. His every touch electrifies. His hot, hungry kisses set her senses ablaze. As Dante masters her body, Hannah finally finds the strength to master her fears.

Perfection shatters as threats from a mysterious vampire escalate from anonymous phone calls to violent encounters. When Hannah's enemies unite, placing both her and Dante in mortal peril, she's going to need her newfound strength to face the coming darkness and save the man she loves.

A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora's Cave

Reading order
Dark Cravings (#1 Ella/Micah)
Dark Innocence (#1.5 Hannah/Dante)
Dark Secrets (#2 Ella/Micah) - coming soon!

My Review: 4 Stars
This is my first read from Madeline Pryce, and I would certainly go out of my way to find her work elsewhere after this! The main character, Hannah, is perfectly flawed, having hangups and issues that are traumatic, but also realistic. She was a bit whiny in some places where I thought she should have been more willing to man up, but she made up for it later on in the story.

The lion shifter, Dante, has some problems of his own, but with the help of Hannah, he seems to heal in ways he wouldn't have been able to on his own. With a lot of teasing scenes that are smoking hot, all building up to a finale that explodes with passion, this short little treasure is definitely something I would recommend if you're into phenomenal fight scenes, suspense, characters who overcome adversity, and sultry love scenes that will make you lick your lips with longing.

$5.00 on Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00HYZ06ZI

Thursday, June 19, 2014

On a scale of 1 to Crazy, how addicted are you to Pinterest?

Wow... That one right there made me step back and realize I might have an addiction issue. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, Pinterest is a virtual corkboard where you "pin" or bookmark things that catch your attention. Recipes, crafts, visual inspiration, blogging and writing advice, tips on how to live frugally... The list of things that can be found on Pinterest goes on and on.

I'd say my addiction level to Pinterest is above and beyond crazy. I think we've crossed over into "How did I LIVE and function before Pinterest existed?!" I have workouts, recipes, instructions on making non-toxic household cleaners, child rearing tips, knitting and crocheting tips and patterns, writing tips and blogging advice, writing prompts, and visual inspiration for my writing (just to name a few).

It's free, and it definitely feeds my constant urge to learn. You'd think that something so simple wouldn't be so attention grabbing, but if I don't limit myself, I'll lose an hour going through pins on just one subject. It's just like doing research in a standard search engine, but it feeds the beast more so for those of us who are more habitually visual creatures. You'll start out looking for "Greek mythology" and before you know it, you're diving into Sumerian creation myths before you stumbled across something about Gilgamesh or Ereshkigal.

Well... maybe not everyone goes through the same crazy progressionof thought I do, buuut... If you've ever read any of my stories, you've probably noticed I have a thing for mythology and polytheistic religions.

If there were a help group for Pinterest addiction, I'd definitely be there weekly. So feel free to hop on and check out the insanity I'm interested in!

http://www.pinterest.com/mkdarqchylde/

Saturday, June 14, 2014

"Lunacy" new adult paranormal novel, re-release!

For those of you who know anything about my writing already, you know that the Ragnarok Legacy is--well, just that. A legacy. This series has been in the works, and undergone four total from-the-ground-up rewrites over the course of more than a decade. Having just re-released it (for the last time, guys. I swear!) with a new cover, awesome revisions, and paved over plotholes, I'm happy to say I broke into the Top 100 in the Mythology category already. Super awesome to know that someone's out there, enjoying the blood, sweat, and werewolves that went into making this book.

For those of you who don't know what it's all about, here's the back cover matter to give you a taste and pique your interest.

**

Kacea Meade is your average high school senior: a bit of an outcast, a good student, and looking forward to graduation so she can move on from little Elm Valley, New York. Or so she thinks. Unbeknownst to her, Kacea has a dark destiny heavily entrenched in magick, creatures meant to dwell only in nightmares, and Ragnarok: the Norse apocalypse.

Jynxx Davison, Kacea's classmate and long-time crush, has his own unnatural calling that is brought to light through her awakening. With their relationship just starting to blossom, a cloud of tragedy hangs overhead, threatening all she holds dear and forcing her hand. To keep her family and friends safe from these eldritch beings with godlike powers, can Kacea leave everything she's ever known behind and trust in the word of a vampire?
**
It's in the new adult genre, with the two main characters having just freshly turned 18. Contains smattering of violence, some gore, and a few naughty bits.

I'm releasing book #1.5 "No Bite" on July 18th, also in print and paperback. The novel length book 2 is in the works, and I plan to have it available summer 2015. I've got some other things I'm plugging away at that will (hopefully!) be as much fun for you to read as they are for me to write them down. I've now got four series running through my brain, on top of a menagerie of shorts/novellas.

And on top of all that, welcome to the home of my new blog! The old one was too bogged down with things, and this interface is much cleaner, more fitting. I look forward to hearing from you all, and I hope you stick around a while.

Buy links!
Paperback
Kindle [only $2.99!]