Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Spotlight & Giveaway - Savage by Jade C. Jamison



Are you ready for the ultimate tale of survival?

SAVAGE IS

NOW AVAILABLE! 
 
 

Blurb:

Kill or Die

Nina Hardwick has had a rough life since leaving high school, but inside she is still the girl looking for a silver lining. The past several years have left their toll on her psyche,and just as she feels like she’s climbing out of a deep abyss, her life and the lives of millions of others fall into shambles as a virus overtakes the country and leaves a plague of undead armies scouring the land.
 
In a desperate attempt to get away from the infected, Nina and some neighbors speed out of town, nearly killing a man on a motorcycle. When they stop to rescue him, Nina realizes that he is the one man from her past she never got over, the guy who should have been her high school sweetheart until she messed it up. But this unrequited love, Kevin Savage, says he doesn’t even remember her. Or does he?
 
Nina, Kevin, and her neighbors head to the wilderness and fight to survive not only the plague but also hunger, cold, their inner demons…and even each other. Will they survive and, more importantly, will her heart?
 

Excerpt: 

I froze.  My heart was thumping in my chest and time seemed to have slowed to a crawl, so I watched as they got closer and my friends steeled themselves for engagement.  As though I was removed from the action, I saw chopping, swinging, lunging…as if I weren’t there on the battlefield.  Then I saw the violent gray body lunge at me, teeth gnashing and fingers clawing, but I couldn’t make myself move.  All around me, I saw my companions felling these creatures but I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do it. 

It would be my demise. 

I could hear Kevin beside me, yelling at me while fending off his own attacker, but then he lunged in front of me, shoving the tire iron in the neck of the creature that was ready to eat me alive, making it drop to the ground. 

And then, suddenly, it was over. 

They were all dead.  My friends’ weapons—and their response—had saved us. 

Everything became more vivid then.  The blood seemed even redder on the pristine snow; the skies were a brilliant blue, the evergreens, the richest shade of olive I’d ever seen. 

And then time sped up again, and Kevin gripped my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.  I could sense Larry beside me ready to say something too, but he was leaving it up to the man who had my attention.  “You can’t just stand there and do nothing.  They’ll kill you, Nina.  It’s you or them.  Kill or die, Nina Davis.”  His jaw rippled before he repeated each word with force.  “Kill or die.” 

In spite of the fear that had drained my body and despite the new appreciation I suddenly had for living, it didn’t escape my attention that he’d called me by my maiden name.

His face was so close to mine, his expression intense, his eyes like cold steel.  He was a thing to be feared, and yet…I expected him to kiss me…

  

About the Author: 
 

Jade C. Jamison was born and raised in Colorado and has decided she likes it enough to stay forever. Jade's day job is teaching Creative Writing, but teaching doesn't stop her from doing a little writing herself.
Unfortunately, there's no one genre that quite fits her writing. Her work has been labeled romance, erotica, suspense, and women's fiction, and the latter is probably the safest and closest description. But you'll see that her writing doesn't quite fit any of those genres.
You'll have to discover Jade's writing for yourself to decide if you like it.
 
Stalk Her: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Goodreads | Pinterest


Giveaway:
2 Winners - Open Internationally!
SIGNED copy of Feverish
 $10 Amazon gift card

Review - The Goddess's Curse by Cara Bristol


The Goddess’s Curse
by Cara Bristol


Blurb:

Sharona women and barbarian Lahon men maintain separate lives until libidinal fever strikes, and the women are forced to mate. Stricken by a mysterious terminal illness, Sharona Princess Reena jumps at the chance to accompany a cousin on her mating journey so she can at least see a Lahon before she dies.
Garat, leader of the Lahon, hates the Sharona because of the woman who birthed and killed his son years ago. Now that a massive earthquake has left his people with precious little water, he has the perfect excuse to exact revenge by driving the Sharona from their homeland and taking what the Lahon need. When he encounters Reena on the mating journey he takes her hostage to force the Sharona to capitulate to his demands, but finds himself drawn to her instead. As his desire rises, lust for revenge wanes.
But after what he’s done, can he convince her of the evil that lives in the palace in time to save her life?



Excerpt:

Reena sighed and snuggled in her bed. As her illness progressed, a persistent chill had pervaded her bones. The heaviest robe, the thickest blanket could not banish it. This morning? So comfortable and cozy. Her blanket, though unusually heavy, was oh so warm, and so was the pillow beneath her head. But hard. What kind of feathers could make a pillow so firm yet still tickle her nose? She rubbed her cheek against it, absorbing the unusual, pleasant scent. Musky, and earthy. Like woodsmoke or fresh evergreen. Or a combination of both.

If only every morning could be like this. She hugged her pillow. Soon an attendant would arrive to rouse her for breakfast, but maybe she’d feign sleep. Naughty. She smiled.

Then sobered. Yes, she’d been naughty. She had displeased her cousin by refusing further treatment. What had occurred after that? She crinkled her forehead, trying to remember. She’d poured out the tincture, and then…then…

A Lahon had burst from the foliage.

Then muscle cramps and searing pain. Paralysis.

Her eyes flew open. Rough-hewn walls, large, rustic furniture filled her field of vision. Gone were familiar accoutrements and luxuries. Instead of finely woven fabric,  a furry animal hide covered her, and, supporting her head, was hard flesh covered by a thick mat of…of, hair. A man’s chest.

She bolted upright with a shriek.

The Lahon sprang up without a sound.

“Help!” She tried to scramble from the bed, but he hooked an arm around her waist. “Let me go! Help!”

She slapped at his shoulders, his chest, his face. Neither blows nor screaming fazed him a bit, and she found herself flat on her back, her cries silenced by his calloused hand, her arms restrained, her lower body pinned by his heavy, muscular thigh, and something sizable and rigid poking her leg.

She stared into dark eyes. Be careful what you wish for—you may get it. She’d longed to see a Lahon up close and personal. It couldn’t get any closer than this. She could detect the pores on his face, discern that his “green” eyes were composed flecks of fern, moss, and teal, and that a muscle twitched in his square jaw. Long, unbound dark hair fell against broad shoulders.

Her heart fluttered like the wings of a frantic bird. What had happened? How had she gotten here? Where was Honna? And…and her robe? Oh Goddess. He was naked, too. That, that, thing digging into her leg was his…his manroot.


My Review:
I really enjoyed reading this fascinating book.  Some form of spanking is usually found in the Cara Bristol books I have read but that was not an element in this story at all.  This book had a mix of science fiction, romance, suspense and action with wonderful characters and an interesting world. 
Reena is dying and decides to make the most of her remaining life despite what her best friend/cousin thinks or anyone else for that matter.  She lives in a world separate from men (Lahon) and is very curious about this unknown species.  When her cousin goes on a mating journey in search of a male, she goes along to get a look at this very mysterious creature.  Garat and his village is running out of water.  He is intent on running off the Sharona (women) and saving his people.  He hates the Sharona because one murdered his newborn son and now he wants nothing more than to drive them away.  Garat and Reena are complete opposites but their attraction is instant and explosive. 
This is a well written and engrossing story that I read in one sitting.  It has an interesting storyline with fascinating characters that I am hoping get their own stories (hint hint).  I highly recommend this wonderful story to readers who love well-written romances! ~Booklover Sue
 

Author bio:

Cara Bristol continues to evolve, adding new subgenres of erotic romance to her repertoire. She has written spanking romance, contemporary romance, paranormal, and science fiction romance. No matter what the genre, one thing remains constant: her emphasis on character-driven seriously hot erotic stories with sizzling chemistry between the hero and heroine. Cara has lived many places in the United States, but currently resides in Missouri with her husband. She has two grown stepkids. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and traveling.


 

 

Spotlight - Underground Serial by Cassandra Carr


Underground Serial
 
by Cassandra Carr
 
Genre: Black Ops/Military, Action, Suspense


Off the Grid, Underground 1- The seemingly impossible has happened. The unthinkable. Those I trusted most have betrayed me. I’m a hockey player, and gave control of my finances to my parents so I could concentrate on my game. Big mistake. They stole from me, bankrupted me, in fact. And then someone come looking for money I don’t have and I made a terrible mistake; one that will haunt me forever.
 
But now someone has found me and offered a new start. I would no longer be a hockey player, I wouldn’t even be an actual person, totally off the grid. I’d be a shadow, fighting crime for an organization that’s underground, literally. Do I want that life?
 
If I go back, what kind of life would I have? Probably one in prison orange. The choice to join Underground is painful, but necessary. As my hockey coach always said, though, pain is weakness leaving the body. I will not be powerless ever again.
 
 

******************



Creating Slapshot:
 
I’ve left my old life behind and officially joined Underground. It appears no one knows where I am or even if I’m still alive. I don’t know how I feel about that. My friends thinking I’m dead leaves a hole in my heart, but I’ll drive myself crazy if I obsess about it. So rather than allowing myself to wallow in self-pity or anger about what’s happened, I’m throwing all my energy into training. You would think that whole “elite athlete” thing would make everything easier, but all these new techniques I need to master—hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, surveillance procedures—are kicking my ass.
 
For my whole life, I’ve only had one identity. Ethan, hockey player. Now that sense of self is gone forever, slowly being replaced by my new identity, Slapshot. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe this transformation. But the more I find out about the world around me, the problems I ignored for the most part as I played a game for an obscene amount of money, the more I want to make a difference. This is not a game. It’s real life, and I have the chance to be a hero. It’s going to take everything I have—or have left, to do it.
 
 
******************

Blurb for Underground Serial- Follow this 10-part serial throughout 2015 featuring Ethan, aka Slapshot, a hockey player whose life is ruined, forcing him to disappear forever. Ethan joins Underground, a black ops organization and is trained as a deadly operative. There, he meets Ciana, a woman with a dark past of her own. As Ethan and his Underground colleagues embark on dangerous missions worldwide, he finds a new purpose in life. But will his former problems come back to haunt him?

******************


 
Cassandra Carr is a multi-award winning romance writer. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out online. Cassandra's books have won numerous "Best Book Of" awards and her novella Unexpected Top was nominated in the E-book Erotic Romance category of RT's Reviewers' Choice Awards.

Cover Reveal & Giveaway - Rundown (Curveball Book 2) by Teresa Michaels

 
Rundown
Curveball Series #2
by Teresa Michaels
Cover Designer: Mayhem Cover Creations

Synopsis:

Breanne Sullivan never expected to find love again. Allowing herself to move on wasn’t easy, and now it may be too late. Determined to give herself a second chance, she will go to any lengths to prove her love to Drew. If only she could find him. Desperate to numb his heartache in the wake of Breanne’s rejection, with something other than women and booze, Drew Scott packs his bags for the West Coast. Distance and a fresh start are just what he needs to heal the wounds caused by the only woman to ever captivate his heart. But when the past and present collide in an unexpected way, Breanne and Drew quickly learn that things aren’t always what they seem. Caught between solving the mysteries that haunt them and getting the happily ever after they deserve, the two once again find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that could destroy them both. Answers come at a dangerous price. Sacrifices must be made in order to protect the ones they love. Can Breanne prove her love to Drew before its too late? Or will opposing forces interfere and destroy any chance of them having a future together?
 

Meet the Author:

Teresa Michaels lives in the New England area with her husband and children.  Curveball is her debut novel.
 

Giveaway:



Monday, March 30, 2015

Review - Icy Passage (An Antarctica Story) by Ann Gimpel


Icy Passage
An Antarctica Story
by Ann Gimpel
Hartwood Publishing Group
96K words
Release Date: 2/5/15
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance with a Splash of Paranormal 

Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and political intrigue create an unlikely backdrop for love in Antarctica, the last true frontier.
Book Description:
Fresh out of residency, Dr. Kayna Quan opts for a tour in Antarctica. Money is short, so she hires on as medical officer aboard a Russian research vessel headed for McMurdo Station. Primed for almost anything, she plays her paranormal ability close to the vest. Being odd man out in a world where most don’t believe in magic makes her wary and feisty.
Brynn McMichaels has been stationed on remote South Georgia Island for two years, and he’s eager for a change. When cultures of the single-celled organism, archaea, overgrow their bins in his lab and begin shifting into another form, he worries he’s losing his mind and talks with scientists at McMurdo, but they have problems of their own—bad ones. After he hears about them, Brynn agrees to help. The weather’s too uncertain to send a plane, so he hitches a ride aboard Kayna’s ship and brings his mutant culture colonies along.
Attraction sparks, hot and powerful, between Brynn and Kayna, but her disclosure about her magic is a tough nut to crack. It doesn’t help that her dead father is stalking her. Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and McMurdo’s refusal to let them land force Brynn and Kayna into an uneasy alliance. Will their fragile bond be enough to thwart the powers trying to destroy Earth, and them along with it? 
 
 
Excerpt:
…“Dr. Quan,” someone screamed at her over the howl of the wind. She spun, almost lost her footing, and snapped up another cable.
“Coming.” She ducked through a door onto deck four, bent double, and shook her head briskly. Water flew everywhere. She straightened, shoved her hood aside, and more water ran down her back.
The ship’s staff captain, second in command on the vessel and staunchly British, clucked in annoyance as he tugged the heavy, reinforced steel door closed, latching it securely. Muscles bulged in his arms and shoulders as he wrestled with the uncooperative door. “Thank bloody fucking God I found you,” Harold Markham blurted and grabbed her arm. Panic streamed from him in waves that battered her paranormal side.
Kayna’s eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t know Harold well, but he’d seemed imperturbable until now. “What happened?”
“Tell you on the way.” A corner of his mouth twisted downward. “Be grateful. This saves you from a harsh lecture about going outside in rough seas, without telling anyone.” He yanked on her trying to jockey her down the corridor.
“Stop that!” She raised her voice for emphasis. “If there’s a medical emergency, I have to know what it is because I’ve got to stop by the surgery to get my bag and anything else I might need.”
“Oh.” An uncomfortable look washed over Harold’s face. Worry etched lines into the skin around his blue eyes, and he raked a hand through unevenly cut blond hair. He lowered his voice and spoke near Kayna’s ear. “It’s one of the Russian seamen. He caught his arm in machinery. It’s bad.”
“Amputation bad?”
It was a stupid question since he wouldn’t know. Kayna made a dismissive gesture with one hand and said, “Don’t bother trying to answer.” She sprinted past him, stopping in the corridor outside the suite that contained both her surgery and living quarters. “Maybe you should have someone carry him here,” she told Harold. “At least I have an exam table we can strap him to.”
He shook his head. “You need to have a look before we even think about moving him. He’s on the raised walkway in the engine room, and there’s more blood than I’ve ever seen.”
Kayna keyed an electronic code and let herself in. She shucked her soaked jacket, threw additional items into her medical bag, and raced to where Harold waited in the corridor, bristling with tension. “How do I get to the engine room?” she asked and jerked the door shut. “I walked through it at the beginning of the trip, but I don’t remember—”
“There’s an access door at the end of Deck Three. I’ll be right behind you,” he cut in, his normally cavalier voice edged with anxiety.
She fought the rocking ship, moving as fast as she could, and hustled down one flight of stairs. Once there, she ran toward the door that led into the bowels of the ship where the engine took up two decks. Harold followed hard on her heels. Her heavy bag, coupled with the ship’s unpredictable motion, almost landed her on her ass—twice. When she glanced back at Harold, his face was set in grim lines. He’d given up any pretense of unnecessary conversation, but he held out a hand for her bag and opened the door just wide enough for her to squeeze through.
Adrenaline hummed along her nerves as she navigated steep, oily steps into the heart of the ship, grateful she could hang on with both hands. Her clumsy bag would’ve made the stairway treacherous. Engine noise hit her in the pit of her stomach, and she wished she had ear plugs.
Footsteps pounded toward her, and one of the Russian engineers came into view. He motioned frantically and added a volley of Russian. Close-cropped black hair hugged his skull, and his dark eyes held a haggard edge. Blood spattered his dirty white T-shirt, leaving a hell of a mess.
“Lead the way.” Kayna didn’t know if he understood, but it didn’t matter because he spun and raced back in the direction he’d come from. Two more twists of the corridor and she heard screams even over the noise of the ship’s enormous twin engines. Another moment and she saw a tall, bald man writhing in a pool of his own blood. A close-to-severed arm lay next to him. Kayna dropped to the metal decking and made a dive for the brachial artery running beneath the man’s arm, afraid if she hesitated long enough to glove up, she’d lose him. Straddling his body, she put pressure on the artery while the seaman lashed his body from side to side like a bucking bronco.
“Get me a clean towel or shirt,” she yelled, wondering if anyone spoke enough English to understand, but it didn’t matter because Harold shouted in guttural Russian, dropped her bag by her side, and sped into a side room.
She eyed the mangled arm, and cursed softly. It looked as if a giant had twisted the seaman’s lower arm until the severed section hung from a slender flap of skin. Both the ulna and radius were broken, their white, jagged ends protruding through a sea of tattered flesh. Without a sophisticated operating theater, there’d be no way to save the sheared off limb. Blood poured from the injured extremity, jetting from injured arteries and flowing from torn veins, but at least the rate had slowed. She ran her free hand down the man’s neck, other arm, chest, and abdomen, searching for further damage with a magical assist from her psi ability.
“Dr. Quan.”
When she glanced up, Harold hunkered next to her and handed her two bath towels reeking of bleach fumes.
“Thanks.” She nodded sharply. She’d been so focused on assessing if the seaman had other significant injuries, she’d missed the staff captain returning with towels. She folded one, tucked it into the wounded seaman’s armpit, and pressed as hard as she could while the sailor shrieked and thrashed, clearly in agony. “Put your hand where mine is,” she told Harold. He complied immediately, and she twisted to reach into her medical bag for a syringe and a vial of morphine. She thought about gloves again, but she was already coated in the man’s blood.
She guesstimated the seaman’s weight, did some quick calculations, and hoped to hell she’d gotten them right as she drew enough morphine into the syringe to dull pain, but not totally knock him out. He thrashed wildly beneath her, his blue eyes so crazed with agony they were nearly all pupil. “Hold him down so I can give him this,” she said.
Harold started to move his hands. “Not you,” she cried. “Keep pressure on that artery so he doesn’t bleed out.” Harold barked a command, and four burly seamen stabilized their wounded companion. Kayna plunged the syringe into the meaty part of his other arm. Her jaw clenched as she waited for the morphine to spin its magic. She dropped the empty syringe back into her bag and pushed Harold’s hands aside, replacing them with her own.
“His arm?” the staff captain asked in a rough voice.
Kayna looked up long enough to meet his gaze. “His arm is probably toast. Right now I’m fighting to keep enough blood in him so he doesn’t die. The morphine will kick in soon. At least it will give him some relief. Once he settles down, I’ll give him a whopping injection of antibiotics and a tetanus shot.”
“What can I do?” Harold asked.
“Where exactly are we?” she countered.
“Not far from the Falklands.”
“Better news than I’d hoped for. Have someone radio for a medevac helicopter. This man needs a hospital. Actually, he needs a level one trauma center for that arm, but that’s probably not going to happen.”
Harold bolted from the engine room, and Kayna eyed the group of Russian seamen ringed around her. She gestured to one to keep pressure on the towel and dug in her bag for a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and a tourniquet. She filled another syringe with a mix of antibiotics and readied it. The man’s body relaxed as the morphine kicked in. Soon she could inject her antibiotic soup without anyone holding him down. As grim and desperate as the situation was, Death was a worthy adversary.
“Bring it on,” she muttered as she checked vital signs and noted them. “I’m going to win this round.”
Almost as if Death had a corporeal presence and had risen to her challenge, a chilly breeze passed through the overheated engine room. She’d sensed Death before when she was pulling out all the stops to save a life, had even mentioned it to some of the other docs when she was an intern, but they gave her such odd looks, she’d never made the mistake of disclosing her paranormal abilities again. When it got right down to it, almost everyone was just as psi-phobic as her erstwhile almost-fiancé.
“Easy,” she murmured and injected antibiotics. The man’s eyelids flickered, and for the barest moment he focused on her. “That’s right.” She patted his uninjured hand and hoped her tone would bridge their language barrier. “Help will be here soon. You’re going to make it.”…


 
My Review:

This was a very engrossing and riveting story.  Kayna is a doctor on her way to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.  She is aboard a Russian Research vessel acting as their medical officer in exchange for a ride to her new position.  Brynn is asked to help McMurdo Station when some of their research causes fatalities and is picked up by a Russian Research vessel heading there.  Aboard he meets Kayna and there is an instant attraction.  Kayna is a strong, smart and special woman who has special abilities that have made her life more difficult.  Brynn is questioning his sanity when his own research cultures start to grow and change into something impossible. This story has a fantastic blend of science fiction, suspense and romance that kept me eagerly turning the pages. I loved how the relationship between the two main characters developed.  This is a well written book I highly recommend to readers who love suspenseful science fiction romances with paranormal elements. ~Booklover Sue


About the Author:
Ann Gimpel is a national bestselling author. She’s also a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent.  Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing.  A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. She’s published over 20 books to date, with several more contracted for 2015 and beyond.
A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.

 

Release Blitz - Holding Strong (An Ultimate Novel) by Lori Foster


Holding Strong
An Ultimate Novel
by Lori Foster
 

An up-and-coming MMA fighter wants more than just one night from a woman fleeing her past in Lori’s irresistible new novel.

Heavyweight fighter Denver Lewis plays real nice, but he doesn’t share. That’s why he’s been avoiding top-notch flirt Cherry Peyton. But a man can only resist those lush curves for so long. Their encounter surpasses all his fantasies, bringing out protective urges that Cherry’s about to need more than she knows…

Denver’s combination of pure muscle and unexpected tenderness has been driving Cherry wild. Yet no sooner does she get what she’s been craving than old troubles show up on her doorstep. And this time, Cherry can’t hide behind a carefree façade. Because the man by her side is one who’ll fight like hell to keep her safe…if only she’ll trust him enough to let him…




 EBOOK:       Amazon US      BARNES & NOBLE    iBOOKS     KOBO


PRINT:   AMAZON     BARNES & NOBLE  BAM




Holding Strong will have you holding your breath while burning fingers quickly turn the pages.”
“…a fun and sexy read. It has a touch of suspense to it as well to keep the pace of the story going along.”
“The men of Foster’s Ultimate series may be powerful fighters, but they are all heart, and none more so than the hero of this installment. His unwavering support for his feisty, frightened heroine redeems them both in time, but it is their searing chemistry that will hold readers’ attention.”
“Foster…manages to keep characters evolving throughout the course of a novel, becoming true ‘heroes’ by the time ‘The End’ rolls around.”




Gaze softening, her attention went all over his body. “Seriously, Denver. Did you really want to argue right now?”
 
He searched her face. “No.” Hell no. Especially not with her looking at him like that. He moved in again, one hand on the wall by her shoulder. “Thing is, I’m not sure you want what I want.”
 
For the longest time, their gazes held while her breathing quickened and her cheeks warmed. Finally, in a whisper, she asked, “Do you want me?”
 
With one short nod, he pressed her to the wall, feeling her all along his length. “Have for a long time.”
 
“You hid it well.”
 
“Then I’m one hell of an actor.” He brushed his mouth over her forehead. “We have a lot of talking to do, but I’d as soon do it after.”
 
“After?”
 
“After I’ve had you. Maybe several times.”
 
She dipped her head down so that he stared at the crooked part in her fair hair. He brushed his nose against her, down to her temple, her ear.
 
Her hands clutched at him. “I got the feeling you didn’t like me.”
 
“I like you.” It was how her flirting made him feel that he didn’t like so much.
 
Pushing him back so she could see his face, she asked anxiously, “You won’t change your mind?”
 
The laugh tried to escape, but he wanted her too much to take a chance on pissing her off. “Where’s your room?”
 
“Close.” On a sharply inhaled breath, she stepped him back a few paces and darted around him in a rush. “Come on.”
 
At first he just watched her, her obvious urgency, the way her hair teased over her shoulders. She stopped halfway down the hall and fumbled in her purse before pulling out a key card. She opened the door, jammed the key card back into her purse, and glanced at him.
 
Ah, hell. Definitely close. In a few long strides Denver reached her.
 
Seconds later they were in her room.

A second after that he was kissing her.


About the Author:
Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently published with HQN.

Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home.

Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to charity. You can see the benefit romance books here :http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/     





Friday, March 27, 2015

Excerpt & Giveaway - The Second Lie (The Immortal Vikings #2) by Anna Richland



The Second Lie
(The Immortal Vikings #2)

by Anna Richland 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

BLURB:

A woman desperate to achieve her dreams. 

To reassure wealthy clients, Christina Alvarez Mancini invented a jet-setting British owner for her Napa Valley wine collection service. Success has brought her close to buying her own winery, when irregularities at a London wine auction threaten her business. 

A man in love with a good plan. 

Stig, an immortal Viking thief, knows he’s found the perfect role. The California woman who created his character won’t discover what he’s up to in England until after he’s pocketed the money he needs. Then Christina walks into the auction preview, ready to ruin his plans, and he knows his boredom has ended. 

Secrets that turn deadly. 

By the end of the night, these two rivals must cooperate to escape kidnappers, British authorities, media and a pair of mysterious watchers. That’s when a game Stig’s played for a thousand years puts Christina’s life at risk. 

Can two people whose identities are based on lies trust each other enough to survive? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

EXCERPT: 

Because Stig thought he and Christina were in the clear, free of the men who tracked them from London to France, he let his guard down. Big mistake. 

Pounding his fist on the steering wheel wasn’t going to get them out of here, but it might keep him from letting out a string of gutter profanity in front of Christina. “Who are those guys?” 

“How should I know?” She twisted to try to look out the rear windshield. “You’re the fugitive. They have to be following you.” 

If the men from the train had followed them out of Calais, there must be a tracking device. He wasn’t carrying a phone, and Skafe had taken Christina’s at Bodeby’s, so it wasn’t mobile phone signals. The car was a random choice, too down-market for fancy factory locating devices, thus it should be clean. “Get the black duffel.” 

She struggled to reach between the seats and yank the bag forward while he monitored the other car. It stayed back, but he was certain the circular headlights were his and the silhouette fit. The even distance between the two cars didn’t alter as he lowered the passenger side’s electric window. Freezing wind emphasized how screwed they were. He had to yell to be heard. “Anything that’s not from my flat or your personal items, throw it out.” 

“What?” she yelled back. 

Ivar, Wend and Skafe were known quantities, but he didn’t like having players he couldn’t identify moving around the board. “They’re tracking us, so get rid of their shit. All of it. Including the bag.” 

It went. Random toiletries, a pair of black socks, a paperback book. And then the bag. She was left with the purple dress, the blond wig, her purse and his old fire medic pouch in a heap on her lap. 

“Now you can add littering to the tally of my transgressions I know you’re keeping.” 

“Do you joke about everything?” Her hands clutched her purse and his old satchel, even though it no longer held the bottle of Perlus. 

“If you’d lived as long as I have, you’d realize humor is the only way to get through your five hundred thousandth day.” Even dark humor beat despair over the isolation forced on him by eternal life.

She sighed. “Trying to distract me with your immortal story? I was hoping for a better one, or, heaven forbid, a plan.” 

“We could assume they’re tracking the car and steal a fourth one.” 

“Isn’t crazy defined as doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result?” 

“That’s me. Crazy.” Clearly he could recount the complete story of Beowulf’s crew, shoot himself a couple more times for emphasis and receive no more than a few tuts and raised eyebrows. Rarely had honesty had such a complete lack of success. It goaded him. “We could go to a hotel, strip search each other for tracking chips and do a full body scan to find the implants aliens put on us while we were unconscious. What do you say to that idea?” 

“The hotel part sounds good, because I really need to shower and sleep, but the search for tracking chips part reminds me of gorilla grooming.” 

He gripped the wheel hard with both hands before making his real suggestion, risky only to her, a plan he couldn’t implement unless she agreed. “What if we ram them off the road into a ditch?” 

She didn’t contradict the idea.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Anna lives with her quietly funny Canadian husband and two less quiet children in a century-old house in Seattle. The perpetual drizzle is a good excuse to drink more coffee. She’s a former US Army officer who now writes The Immortal Vikings series from Carina Press and also the author of His Road Home, a novella which Publishers Weekly called “Tantalizing … a raw, emotional story” and the website SmartB*tchesTrashyBooks gave an A rating.

She donates a portion of her book proceeds to two charities: the Fisher House Foundation, which provides housing for families of wounded soldiers in the US and Great Britain, and Doctors Without Borders, which delivers emergency medical care in more than sixty crisis zones world-wide.  

To sign up for Anna's newsletter, find out more about her books, and read longer excerpts, please visit her website at www.annarichland.com.
 

Connect with Anna Richland: 

Anna’s Website:  http://www.annarichland.com/ 



 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

INDIVIDUAL RETAIL LINKS: 
 
AMAZON
 
B&N 

 iBOOKS  

KOBO  

GOOGLE  



 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
Giveaway:
 
 
Anna will be awarding a set of En Route notecards, gorgeously illustrated by Kate Pocrass (because falling in love with an Immortal Viking is a wild journey!) to a randomly drawn winner (INTERNATIONAL) via rafflecopter during the tour. 
Follow the tour HERE