January 2014 Bewitching Book Tours Magazine

Bewitching Book Tours Magazine Issue 19 January 2014

Bewitching Book Tours Magazine is a publication of Bewitching Book Tours and Bewitching Books.

Editor: Roxanne Rhoads Design Editor and Layout: Lisa McGeen Contributors include Bewitching Book Tours Authors and Tour Hosts learn more at www.bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com

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Š Copyright 2014 Stock images from www.123rf.com

Contents The Goddess Saga Green Living Tips Bounty Feature Vampires: Romance to Rippers Feature Ashes & Alchemy Feature Master of the Opera Feature Wounded Wings Feature Excerpt Just Live Juliet Making Marketing A Part of Your Daily Routine Interview with Sabrina Garie Chenoire Feature Researching Celtic and Fairy Lore 10 Ways to Save Money On Your Wedding Seven Seals Series The Appeal of Evil In Our Dream Feature Writing A Discipline or Art Love In The Shadows Feature Inner Reflections Feature Foresight Naughty Nook Section Rain Soaked Pin Up Files Book Titles Holidays Are Behind Us

4 8 10 12 16 20 28 32 34 38 42 46 53 54 58 62 64 68 69 70 73 74 75 76 78

Touch of the Goddess The Goddess's Saga Book One Maria Hammarblad Book Description: Drinking and flying is a bad combination. Stephan Forks learns this the hard way when he rams another ship in spite of the vastness of space. A moment later, a strange woman stands on his bridge, looking around with a frown. She's clearly a figment of his imagination. Nothing in his colorful past of smuggling and smaller crimes prepared him for people appearing out of nowhere.

Maria Callaway has carried more names and appearances than she can keep track of, and she's bored beyond belief. When she runs into Stephan, he seems to be an amusing pastime. He's interesting, disorganized, pursued by pirates, and handsome. A little too handsome, actually. Maybe she should leave?

Neither of them can foresee the chain of events set in action from their meeting. Adventure and danger go hand in hand during the upcoming days, and the collision resonates not only through their own lives, but changes the destiny of the world as they know it.

Amazon Wrath of the Goddess The Goddess's Saga Book Two Maria Hammarblad Book Description:

When genetically engineered Stephan Forks and demigoddess Maria Callaway attempt to settle down on a rural world, the result isn't entirely positive for the locals. Despite good intentions, the two wreck havoc with everything they do.

Their friend Leila offers them to tag along for a job, and leaving the planet seems like a good idea. An adventure could be fun, and how hard can it be to rescue a stranded artificial intelligence?

The journey turns out to be more than they bargained for, and Maria finds herself lone protector of the universe. Deprived of her friends and family she only has Stephan to lean on, and her human companion might not be up for the challenge.

In the midst of battle and chaos, their destiny awaits.

Amazon Return of the Goddess The Goddess's Saga Book Three Maria Hammarblad

Stephan Forks should be dead. When he opens his eyes to an endless desert, he suspects he might have ended up in hell. It doesn't seem fair after staving off a threat that could have eradicated the universe, but life isn't fair.

His girlfriend, demigoddess Maria Callaway, is blissfully unconscious and shows no signs of waking up. At least she's there, and her presence indicates he might be alive after all.

The situation is desperate, and does not get better from discovering they're trapped on a world outside the regular universe. A world lacking the basic means of survival, but rich in heat and sand, battered by a relentless sun. Saving himself and Maria will require him to face impossible odds as well as ghosts from the past.

Amazon The Goddess's Saga, compilation volume

Author Bio:

Born in Sweden in the early 1970's, Maria showed a large interest for books at an early age. Even before she was able to read or write, she made her mom staple papers together into booklets she filled with drawings of suns and planets. She proudly declared them, "The Sun Book." They were all about the sun. She also claimed, to her mother's horror, that her being on Earth was a big mistake and that her alien family would come and bring her home at any moment. This never happened, but both the interest in space and the passion for bookmaking stayed with her.

As an adult Maria's creativity got an outlet through playing bass in a number of rock bands, and through writing technical manuals and making web pages for various companies and organizations. She did write drafts for a few novels, but the storytelling muse was mostly satisfied through role playing online on Myspace. It was here, while writing stories together with people from around the globe, she stumbled onto Mike. They started talking out of character, and she moved over to Florida to him late 2008. Today the two are married and live in the Tampa Bay area with three rescue dogs.

Besides writing and playing bass, Maria enjoys driving off-road, archery, and Tameshigiri.

Fun Facts Favorite color: Favorite food: Doesn't eat: Favorite TV Show: Favorite animal: Quotes:

Blue Chicken with cashew nuts Mammals Star Trek TNG and Leverage Border Collie "Full Speed Ahead" and "Caffeine is good for you"

Find Maria on the web Website:

http://www.hammarblad.com

Facebook: mariahammarblad

https://www.facebook.com/

Blog:

http://www.scifiromance.info

Twitter:

@mariahammarblad

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/ show/4114780.Maria_Hammarblad Publisher's website: http:// www.desertbreezepublishing.com

What’s In Your Candle?

You may never think twice about what could be lurking in that hunk of wax simmering on your counter but you should.

Many conventional candles are filled with all kinds of toxic nasties that make the air in your home worse instead of better.

Phthalates, artificial colors and odors, petroleum byproducts, lead…any or all of these can be lurking in one simple candle and that candle can create a toxic atmosphere and soot that can build up in your home and lungs that can cause some serious problems especially for those with allergies and asthma.

Do not fear candle lovers, you do have healthier options.

You can opt for soy, natural beeswax or vegetable based paraffin wax candles. All of these are made from healthy, natural, renewable resources. Also make sure your candles are made with lead-free wicks, natural fragrances such as essential oils, and for a really green option- make sure the candle containers can be reused or/and recycled.

Soy candles are popping up everywhere but make sure the ingredients and the company are eco-friendly. Just because the candles are made from soy does not mean all the ingredients are natural. Many still contain artificial fragrances…those you do not want. Look for fragrances made from essential oils and absolutes.

Here are a few companies that offer superior soy, beeswax and vegetable paraffin candles.

Suey’s Scents offers beautiful and wonderfully scented soy candles along with a variety of bath and body products. The candles come in assorted size glass apothecary jars, metal tins and small tea lights. All the candle containers can be reused or recycled and the soy wax burns clean.

Illume has a great line of very happy, eco-friendly candles, home fragrances and body products properly la-

beled Happiology. The Happiology candles are crafted with 100% natural soy, palm and beeswax and blended with essential oils. The Happiology line has three scents: Bamboo and Agave, Sunshower, and Yuzu Mint.

Lorain’s Touch has unique and wonderful soy candles that are made on or near the full moon so they are infused with positive energy. Not only are they ecofriendly they are made with love.

Scandle has created eco-friendly candles that burn at ultra low temperatures so the warm wax can be poured on the body and used as a massage oil or moisturizing lotion.

Butterfly Effects makes pure soy wax candles made from soybeans grown right here in the USA. Pure, natural essential oils are used to scent these delightful candles and no dyes are used to color the wax. You end up with pure white candles in reusable and recyclable glass tumblers or curvy glass jars with lids.

K Hall Designs is another fabulously green company offering luxury bath and body products including soy candles. The scents available are enough to draw attention. Absolutely aroma-fabulous.

When shopping for eco-candles make sure everything has an eco-element not just the wax. Two of the main things to look for are natural fragrances and lead-free wicks in addition to the soy or beeswax.

Bounty Elise Sax Category: Contemporary Romance. Romantic Suspense Book Description: Abby Williams has got it made: First a new job as magazine editor in London, and now a trip to an exotic island to review a five-star resort with poolside service. Unfortunately, on day two of her vacation, Abby finds herself bound and stuffed into a burlap bag and dragged across two continents. And worse than that? Her hottie abductor has got her distracted. Maybe escape is overrated.

Iain Brodie is a muscle-bound mercenary. He just helped a despotic dictator take over an island. He's also Abby's kidnapper, and he has his own problems. Framed for a murder he didn't commit and a boss who’s out to get him, he has to face facts: Early retirement is out of the question and Abby Williams looks damned good in a burlap bag.

Elise Sax delivers another hilarious page-turner, filled with adventure, murder, mayhem, and love. BOUNTY is a sexy, wild ride.

Tags: funny, mystery, England, adventure, romantic comedy, hot romance, humor Amazon BN

Smashwords

About the Author

Elise Sax worked as a journalist for fifteen years, mostly in Paris, France. She took a detour from journalism and became a private investigator before trying her hand at writing fiction.

She lives in Southern California with her two sons. She is also the author of the Matchmaker Mystery Series.

http://elisesax.com/ https://twitter.com/TheEliseSax http://www.facebook.com/theelisesax http://youtu.be/sox1nLfSEmY http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elise-sax/ http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5766108.Elise_Sax

Five Facts about My Book That Might Surprise You Recently I have had the pleasure of working with almost two dozen authors on two volumes of vampire stories. Vampires Romance to Rippers an Anthology of Tasty Stories and an Anthology of Risque Stories. I headed up the whole project from finding authors, an editor, cover artist, publishing, and book promotion. I thought I would share how this experience came to fruition through five facts that may surprise you. At the very least I hope they inspire you to always follow your dreams. 

I decided to put this project together after almost giving up on writing. I had received a negative review on my WIP and felt discouraged. I did not want to waste two years of hard work and thought publishing an anthology would be a good idea.



I had no idea what I was doing and learned along the way. Every aspect of this project was new to me right down to how the book should be laid out. Fortunately I had amazing advice from authors like C.J. Ellisson the bestselling author of the VV Inn series and Terri Reid the bestselling author of the Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series.

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I almost drove my blog tour host Roxanne, at Bewitching Book Tours insane. She almost fired me before I hired her, but being the professional tour host that she is she found the inner strength to answer my one million questions and put a beautiful tour together for us.

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I found the most amazing talent in Beth at Hercules editing and Patti from Paradox Promotions. I cannot say enough how much this has helped the success of the anthologies. Patti did so many versions of the books for us, gift covers, Halloween covers, banners. She is a wonderful talent. Beth at Hercules seems to never sleep. I threw this project in her lap last minute, not one book but two books! Beth always calmed me down and reassured me she never missed a deadline no matter how impossible authors like me made it for her, and you know what she pulled it off. Both books launched before Halloween.



For me the most mind boggling fact is that I had some of the most amazing authors agree to do the anthologies with me even though I had never published a word before. Because of this great group of talent we have sold books every week since our launch over two months ago. Not bad for a new author and a new publishing company.



BONUS FACT I named my publishing company Indie Publishing House because I am proud to be an Indie author and proud to publish indie material. I have found the Indie world of authors to be some of the kindest, most helpful people around. Not just the authors, but the editors, cover artists. I have received so much advice and help that I do not believe the books would be as successful as they are without all of the help and love from the Indie world of writing.\

Vampires: Romance to Rippers an Anthology of Tasty Stories Scarlette D’Noire, Karen Dales, Kurt Kamm, Bertena Varney, Elita Daniels, Carole Gill, Audrey A’Cladh, BellaDonna Drakul, Sherri Jordan-Asble, Charles E. Butler, Carole Gill, Fiona Skye, Laura Enright, Janiera Eldridge, Cinsearae S, and Terri Reid Genre: paranormal romance/horror Publisher: Indie Publishing House Date of Publication: Oct. 16th 2013 ISBN: 978-1-940871-00-4 Number of pages: 236 Word Count: 67,588 Cover Artist: Patti Roberts at Paradox Amazon Book Description: Vampires! Sixteen authors give you a glimpse into the dark worlds of lost love, murderous rage, and undeniable sex appeal where deadly quests and blood lust spanning centuries of time reign supreme. Explore some of the most unique vampires to exist on this side of the grave.

Essays, excerpts, and short stories from award winning authors Karen Dales, Kurt Kamm, Bertena Varney and more. They will entertain you, thrill you, and bewilder you as they reveal the dark secrets of the most beloved creatures of the night, including eleven times bestselling author Terri Reid, creator of the Mary O’Reilly Series.

So, which will it be: the romantic vampire, the revenant vampire, the elemental, the fanged vampire, or the mythological female vampire? Begin reading and find out!

About the Author: Originally from Chicago Scarlette D’Noire is an American author currently residing in Florida with her husband and two furry children.

A lover of all things vampire, Scarlette has published two books, Vampires Romance to Rippers Series an An-

thology of Tasty Stories, and Vampires Romance to Rippers Series an Anthology of Risqué Stories with several outstanding authors. She is currently writing two books in the Vampire Historia a Series of Revelations, collections: Nicolai's Fate and Delano’s Undoing. Scarlette D’Noire is a nom de plume used to protect the true identity of the author so she may bring Vampire Historia a Series of Revelations to light without consequences.

Visit Scarlette and the author contributing authors on the web: Scarlette D'Noire Terri Reid Charles E. Butler Karen Dales

Elita Daniels

Carole Gill Fiona Skye Kurt Kamm Bertena Varney Cinsearae S. Sherri Jordan-Asble Janiera Eldridge BellaDonna Drakul J.B.Stilwell Laura Enright

Audrey A'Cladh

Facts about my book that might surprise you Carole Gill 1. My book, The Fourth Bride, is the book the short story and excerpt refer to that are in the Anthology.

Even though the novel is the fourth book in The Blackstone Vampires Series, it can really be read as a standalone. As for the count, I was committed to getting Dracula right. I mean exactly. I studied Bram Stoker’s Dracula (novel) like it meant my life.

2. In reading the novel, I learned first of all that Dracula studied the black arts at a school in Transylvania; the Scholomance Academy. I have written of a very famous patron of that school which was a lot of fun.

3. By the way, there is no mention of Dracula’s ‘brides’ in the novel by Stoker, the term ‘brides’ appears in film versions of Dracula. I call them brides in my novel, however. They are by the way, referred to as sisters by Stoker.

4. I do, indeed, depict them as sisters and describe exactly how they came to be turned and to be with Dracula.

There is the reference in the novel by Stoker that they look alike, that’s why I depict them as sisters.

5. Sometimes we forget just how unique Dracula is. Stoker has depicted his famous character as having tremendous occult powers. He is a master of mind control. He can control the weather (also in Stoker’s novel). He can also alter the perception of how he looks. This he does, and that is why Dia (his new bride) first thinks he is horrible looking but then finds him handsome!

Finally, in the novel he is destroyed. He dies with a peaceful look on his face is how one of the gypsies tells it. I have written quite a surprising turn of events following that in my novel with one huge twist at the end of it. I hope I have intrigued you!

Ashes & Alchemy The Gaslight Chronicles Book 6 Cindy Spencer Pape Genre: steampunk Publisher: Carina Press Date of Publication: Jan 6, 2014 ISBN: 978-14268-9771-9 Number of pages: 119 Word Count: 30K Amazon

BN ARe

Carina

Book Description: London, 1860 Police inspector Sebastian Brown served Queen and country in India before returning to England to investigate supernatural crimes alongside the Order of the Round Table. If his wifeless, childless life feels a little empty sometimes, that's not too great a price to pay in the name of duty.

Minerva Shaw is desperately seeking a doctor when she mistakenly lands on Sebastian's doorstep. Her daughter Ivy has fallen gravely ill with a mysterious illness—the same illness, it seems, that's responsible for taking the lives of many of Ivy's classmates.

Seb sniffs a case, and taking in Minnie and Ivy seems the only way to protect them while he solves it. But as mother and daughter work their way into his heart and Seb uses every magickal and technological resource he can muster to uncover the source of the deadly plague, it's he who will need protecting—from emotions he'd

thought buried long ago.

Short Excerpt: Police Inspector Sebastian Brown stirred the coals in his study’s small iron grate. The clock on the wall chimed quarter past two. Another night with no sleep, then. Bloody hell, this insomnia was getting to be a habit.

Perhaps he should ask his superior to move him to the graveyard shift. If he was going to be awake all night, maybe he’d be able to rest during the day. It was better than what he was doing now, getting no sleep at all. At forty, he was too old to keep that up indefinitely. He eyed the half-empty decanter of brandy on his desk but shook his head. He’d tried that for the last couple of nights, and all it had earned him was a headache to go along with his fatigue. That, he could do without. It was bad enough that the British winter made his hip hurt like hell—except he knew from experience that hell was hot and dry, not frigid and damp.

An odd thump at the front door, only a couple of yards from his study window, caught his attention.

There were disadvantages to having excellent hearing—most would likely have not noticed the small disturbance over the crackling of the fire, the ticking of the clock and all the other sounds of a house at night. Outside, the wind howled mightily. Most likely some debris had been flung up onto his stoop. Still, he had nothing better with which to occupy himself than to go clear it off. His housekeeper and majordomo were away for the weekend, leaving Seb to his own devices. He tightened the belt on his dressing gown and limped his way through the foyer to the front entrance.

A gust of wind nearly ripped the heavy wooden door from his hands as he opened it. Seb looked down to the stoop and confirmed his assumption. A large, dark bundle of something had been deposited against the door.

“Doctor?” The bundle stirred and murmured the word so softly, Seb nearly didn’t hear—and his hearing was above and beyond that of most humans. He reached down to help the woman to her feet. Before his brain even registered the action, he’d drawn her slight, shivering form into the house, out of the wind and fog. Wide blue eyes blinked up at him, their lashes crusted with frost. Her face was thin, and too drawn with cold to tell if she was fifteen or forty. Tendrils of wet brown hair had escaped her sodden hat.

“Are you insane?” She didn’t even wear a breathing mask. With the coal smoke polluting the London air, that was tantamount to a death sentence, if the vampyres or criminals didn’t get to her first. “What are you doing out on a night like this? It’s suicide.”

She stiffened under his hands and glared up at him. “Doctor,” she gritted through chattering teeth. “Are you Dr. Grant?”

Seb cursed himself mentally. Of course it was a medical emergency—the one rational reason for being out in the frigid pea-souper. He grabbed his own cloak off the hall tree where he’d left it. “Next door. Come on, I’ll walk you over.”

She narrowed her eyes, likely trying to see if he was trustworthy. Then she sighed and turned back toward the door. “Th-thank you.”

He nodded curtly at the back of her head. Once out in the elements, he did his best to keep her smaller body sheltered by his. About halfway to the next doorstep, he realized he was still in his house slippers. Fortunately there wasn’t much ice on the ground yet, so he managed to avoid falling on his face. He shepherded her up to the doctor’s door and rang the bell without incident. He hadn’t bothered with a mask, so he held his breath as best he could.

Moments later, Mrs. Parrish, the doctor’s housekeeper, answered the door. The usually immaculate woman was mussed. Blood and filth streaked her white apron. “Mr. Brown. Come in. Did the Yard send you for something?” Behind her, a variety of voices sounded, some stern, some moaning. Rapid footsteps and the normal clinks and clacks of a working clinic seemed more hurried than usual.

“No. What’s the matter?” He gently shoved the mystery woman in ahead of him and closed the door behind them.

“Steam car accident, two streets over. They brought all three young men here. Two just need sewing up, but the third will be lucky to make it through the night.” Mrs. Parrish caught her breath and eyed the shivering woman still leaning on Seb. “Who have we here, Mr. Brown?”

Seb sighed. “Another patient, I’m afraid. She landed on my doorstep in the fog. Will the doctor be able to spare a moment?”

Mrs. Parrish shrugged. “You know him. He’ll find a way.” She cast a concerned eye over the patient.

“Meanwhile, dearie, I can at least help you get warm and dry.”

The woman shook her head and swallowed a sob. “No. It’s not me who’s sick. It’s my daughter. She’s only four and she has an awful fever. I’ve tried half a dozen different doctors and none of them will come see her, not on a night like this.”

“Son of a—” Seb broke off the curse at a sharp glance from the housekeeper. “There’s no way he’ll be free for a house call, is there?” The idea of a helpless child lying ill—it was the kind of thing Seb would never be able to forget about Lucknow—the hellhole in India that still haunted his nightmares.

Mrs. Parrish took the younger woman’s hands and rubbed them between hers. “No. I’m sorry. If we could get the little one here…”

The woman sniffled and sagged into Seb. Now that they stood in the light, he could tell she was younger than he, but a woman, not a girl. Tiny lines bracketed her eyes, while her cheeks were smooth. Her face would be attractive when she smiled, although she looked in need of a hearty meal and a long night’s sleep. “Is there any other doctor who might come? I don’t have money for a cab and she’s too big for me to carry all this way.”

“Where’s the girl’s father?” Seb growled at the idea of any man who let his woman out in this weather.

“Dead,” she said with a sniffle, though she lifted her chin. “It’s just me and Ivy. There’s no one else.

Now, is there another doctor—one who will take a patient on credit?”

Seb felt like a cad for barking at a destitute young widow.

“Well, there’s Doc Witherspoon, around the corner, but he isn’t much for house calls.” Mrs. Parrish curled her lip. “And he’s not known for generosity either, like dear Dr. Grant.”

“Never mind.” Seb cleared his throat. “I’m hale enough to carry a little girl, and I have a steam car. If we go slowly, the roads should be safe enough.” He looked down the hall, hearing more groaning from the surgery rooms.

Mrs. Parrish snorted. “Especially since you’re not three sheets to the wind, like those idiots.” She gave the other woman a bracing smile. “Never you worry, dear. Mr. Brown will have you and your little one back here before you know it. Though he might want his boots and hat first.”

About the Author: Cindy Spencer Pape firmly believes in happily-ever-after and brings that to her writing. Award-winning author of 18 novels and more than 30 shorter works, Cindy lives in southeast Michigan with her husband, two sons and a houseful of pets.

When not hard at work writing she can be found dressing up for steampunk parties and Renaissance fairs, or with her nose buried in a book.

Website: http://www.cindyspencerpape.com Newsletter group: http://yhoo.it/ni7PHo Twitter: http://twitter.com/CindySPape Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gjbLLC

Master Of The Opera Act 1: Passionate Overture

by Jeffe Kennedy ISBN: 978-1-60183-156-9 December 31, 2013 Amazon In the first tantalizing installment of Jeffe Kennedy's ravishing serial novel Master of the Opera, an innocent young woman is initiated into a sensual world of music, mystery, passion--and one man's private obsession. . .

Fresh out of college, Christine Davis is thrilled to begin a summer internship at the prestigious SantĂŠ Fe Opera House. But on her first day, she discovers that her dream job has a dark side. Beneath the theater, a sprawling maze of passageways are rumored to be haunted. Ghostly music echoes through the halls at night. And Christy's predecessor has mysteriously disappeared. Luckily, Christy finds a friend and admirer in Roman Sanclaro, the theater's wealthy and handsome patron. He convinces her there's nothing to fear--until she hears the phantom's voice for herself. Echoing in the labyrinths.

Singing of a lost love. Whispering her name: Christine.

At first, Christy thinks she's hearing things. But when a tall masked man steps out of the shadows--and into her arms--she knows he's not a phantom of her imagination. He is the master of her desire. . .

Master Of The Opera Act 2: Ghost Aria

by Jeffe Kennedy ISBN: 978-1-60183-157-6 December 31, 2013 Amazon In the second seductive installment of Jeffe Kennedy’s thrilling Master of the Opera, a young woman falls deeper under the spell of the man who haunts her dreams, fuels her desire, and demands her surrender…

With each passing day of her internship at the Santé Fe Opera House, Christine Davis discovers something new, something exciting—and something frightening.

Hidden in the twisting labyrinths beneath the theater is a mysterious man in a mask who, Christy’s convinced, is as real as the rose he left on her desk—and as passionate as the kiss that burns on her lips. He tells her to call him “Master,” and Christy can’t deny him. But when her predecessor—a missing intern—is found dead, Christy wonders if she’s playing with fire…

If her phantom lover is actually a killer, how can she continue to submit to his dark, erotic games? And if he is innocent, how can she resist—or refuse—when he demands nothing less than her body and soul?

Master Of The Opera Act 3: Phantom Serenade

by Jeffe Kennedy

ISBN: 978-1-60183-158-3 February 06, 2014 Amazon

In the third enticing installment of Jeffe Kennedy’s enthralling Master of the Opera, a woman finds herself torn between two powerful lovers—and one reckless passion that leaves her aching for more…

After a harrowing night trapped in the tunnels beneath the Santé Fe Opera House, intern Christy Davis finds comfort in the arms of Roman Sanclaro, the opera’s wealthy and gorgeous benefactor. But even as Roman tries to impress her with his lavish lifestyle—and seduce her with his charms—Christy cannot stop obsessing over her other, clandestine lover. Hidden in the labyrinths below, a mysterious masked man has become the master of her desires: a sensual but commanding partner who pushes Christy to the very brink of erotic pleasure…and beyond. No other man can compare. But somewhere, watching from the shadows, a fiercely jealous rival threatens to destroy the erotic secret they share.

Haunted by doubts, deception, and danger, Christy must choose between the warnings in her mind, the feelings in her heart…and the wild, forbidden yearnings that set her body on fire.

Master Of The Opera Act 4: Dark Interlude

by Jeffe Kennedy

ISBN: 978-1-60183-159-0 February 20, 2014 Amazon

In the fourth fiery installment of Jeffe Kennedy’s scintillating Master of the Opera, a woman surrenders—body and soul—to the one man who is everything she desires, everything she craves, and, possibly, everything she fears…

Reeling from the discovery of a dead body in the Santé Fe Opera House, intern Christy Davis is forced to reassess the strange, erotically-charged relationship she’s forged with the mysterious masked man who lives in the labyrinths below. Could her masterful lover be capable of murder, and worse? Perhaps it was the thrill of danger that drew Christy to him in the first place—like a moth to the flame—instead of a more conventional romance with the opera house’s handsome benefactor, Roman. For the sake of her sanity, she must at least give Roman a chance. But for the love of her master, she must give in to every wild fantasy, every wicked game, and every whim he commands…

Is Christy prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice? To surrender her heart, her soul, her everything? First she must acknowledge the truth: a woman in love can serve only one master…

Master Of The Opera Act 5: A Haunting Duet

by Jeffe Kennedy

ISBN: 978-1-60183-160-6 Upcoming March 06, 2014 Amazon

In the fifth erotically charged installment of Jeffe Kennedy's scorching Master of the Opera, a daring young woman follows her reckless desire for the perfect lover—to the point of no return. . .

He is more than just the man of her dreams. He is the master of her destiny. A mysterious masked stranger who haunts the darkened tunnels beneath

the Santé Fe Opera House, the Master is like no other lover Christy has ever known. He has lured the beautiful intern to the very brink of ecstasy—and beyond. He has pushed the boundaries of her sensuality and tested the limits of her passion. But now the Master wants more. If Christy accepts his challenge, she must be willing to go further than she's ever gone. She must surrender to his every desire. She must submit to his every command. She must expose herself body and soul—or bear the scars of a broken heart forever. . .

Tonight is the night she must make a choice: to free herself from one man's obsession. . .or bind herself to him for life.

Master Of The Opera Act 6: Crescendo

by Jeffe Kennedy

ISBN: 978-1-60183-161-3 March 20, 2014 Amazon

In the sixth and final installment of Jeffe Kennedy's sizzling Master of the Opera, a man and a woman risk everything they've ever loved—for the most dangerous passion they've ever known. . .

Caught in a web of secrets and lies, Christy Davis has come under the suspicion of the local police. Since becoming an intern at the Santé Fe Opera House, she has witnessed strange occurrences in the underground tunnels. She has heard inexplicable whispers in the shadows after midnight. And she has found the lover of her dreams in the masked man who lives down below. But after the discovery of a dead body and other sinister events, Christy realizes that her life is in danger. Two men hold her fate in their hands: Roman, the opera house's wealthy benefactor who uses his money and power to control her. And the masked maestro known as the Master who demands her surrender and commands her pleasure with each stroke. Both want her; only one can have her. . .

In a rising crescendo of madness, obsession, and lust, Christy must take a chance and follow her heart—to a breathtaking climax as powerful as love itself.

All six books can be found at eKensington.com About the Author:

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author with a writing career that spans decades. Her fantasy BDSM romance, Petals and Thorns, originally published under the pen name Jennifer Paris, has won several reader awards. Sapphire, the first book in the Facets of Passion series, has placed first in multiple romance contests and the follow-up, Platinum, is climbing the charts. Her most recent works include three fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns, the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and the post-apocalyptic vampire erotica of the Blood Currency.

She is currently working on Master of the Opera and The Twelve Kingdoms, a fantasy trilogy.

Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon cats, a border collie, plentiful free-range lizards and a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com or every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog.

http://www.jeffekennedy.com/ http://www.jeffekennedy.com/category/blog/ https://www.facebook.com/jeffe.kennedy https://twitter.com/jeffekennedy

Acadian Waltz Alexandrea Weis Genre: Contemporary Romance Publisher: World Castle Publishing Date of Publication: 1/1/13 ISBN: 1938961781 ASIN: B00B0MJ0BM Number of pages: 270 Word Count: 82,000 Amazon

BN

Book Description:

At thirty, Nora Kehoe is feeling pressured to settle down. On a blind date, Nora unexpectedly ends up in the emergency room where she meets Dr. John Blessing. She hopes the pragmatic Dr. Blessing can make her life complete. Then, a passionate encounter with a childhood friend changes everything.

The charismatic Jean Marc Gaspard manages the family business, Gaspard Fisheries. But rumors abound that Jean Marc is running more than seafood through the waters around Manchac Louisiana. When a family crisis sends Nora to Manchac, she is thrown headlong into the dangerous world of smugglers and swindlers. And as Jean Marc tries to protect Nora from his past, he realizes he may lose her because of it.

The dark bayou waters run deep with secrets in Louisiana, and every Cajun knows how to dance the fine line between the right and wrong side of the law. But for strangers, learning the steps to staying alive in the swamps

can be tricky. Life, and love, will be dependent on how well one can master the … Acadian Waltz.

About the Author :

Alexandrea Weis is an advanced practce registered nurse who was born and raised in New Orleans. Her first novel, To My Senses, introduced readers to the world of Nicci Beauvoir and garnered numerous awards and rave reviews. Her popular second Nicci Beauvoir novel, Recovery, won the Gold Medal for best romantic suspense from The Reader’s Favorite Book Awards 2011, and was named best Romantic Suspense novel by the Spring 2011 NABE Pinnacle Book Awards. Her fourth novel, Broken Wings, won best Contemporary Romance by the NABE Pinnacle Book Awards in 2012, was a Silver Medal winner in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for Romance, as well as a finalist in the USA Book Awards for Romance in 2012, and a finalist in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards for Contemporary Romance for 2012. Diary of a One-Night Stand, was released in August 2012 and was named a Paranormal Romance Guild’s Best Reviewed of 2012.

Her last novel, Acadian Waltz was a Readers’ Favorite Book Awards honorable mention winner for Best Contemporary Romance, and finalist in Best Southern Fiction. A permitted wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Weis rescues orphaned and injured wildlife. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans.

Website: http://www.alexandreaweis.com/index.html Blog: http://alexandreaweiscom.blogspot.com/ Author Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Alexandrea-Weis/e/B0028OJO6C/ FB https://www.facebook.com/pages/To-My-Senses/113609858681394 Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexandreaweis BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/alexandrea-weis Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1211671.Alexandrea_Weis

Wounded Wings Excerpt The tune changed. It slowed and couples began

no. Not really.”

to filter onto the dance floor. The melody was pleasing,

“Oh.”

and Elijah began to enjoy it. But then the haunting lyr-

He couldn’t miss the hurt that clouded her eyes.

ics began to filter into his consciousness . . . something about a broken road.

“But thank you for asking. I’d love to if—” That must’ve been all she needed to hear. An-

Okay, time to go.

other smile lit up her face and she grabbed his hand and

He spun to the left and right into a beautiful,

tugged him toward the dance floor. He thought about

blond vision.

Naomi’s green eyes stared up into his and a slow, sweet smile spread her lips. “Would you like to dance?”

pulling back, but Claudia was closing in on them, a predatory gleam in her eye.

Naomi led him to the periphery of the floor and slid her body in front of his intimately, snaking both of

His heart began to pound. He said the first thing her arms around his neck. Not sure what to do, he that came to mind. “I don’t know how.”

Her eyebrows furrowed adorably. “You don’t know how to dance?”

His gaze darted to the door. To escape. “Uh . . .

glanced around and tried to mimic the other men by placing his hands on her waist.

She snuggled into him further, shooting a furtive glance in the direction they’d just come from. “We have

an audience,” she whispered.

He glanced over. Claudia was watching from the corner he’d just vacated, her dark eyes shooting daggers at Naomi. His stomach pitched.

And dangerous.

“That was a good start,” she said breathlessly.

She kept her focus intently on his eyes, never letting him free for a moment. He couldn’t have

Naomi just laughed, a sweet, lilting giggle. He looked away if he’d wanted to as she snuggled in peered down into her sparkling green eyes. “You

even closer than before, wrapping her arms even

know,” she said, “this isn’t an eighth grade dance.

tighter around his neck. Her breasts brushed his chest,

And if you don’t have any interest in Miss Choir Di-

their hearts now beating side by side.

rector over there, you might just wanna give her a little show so she’ll leave you alone.”

His brows dipped. “What do you mean?”

She tilted her head. “Wait. Are you interested in Claudia?”

“God, no!”

“Now,” she whispered, “tuck your hands in my back pockets.”

His mind couldn’t comprehend through the haze, but his body complied automatically. He slid his fingertips around her waist as it moved slowly to the continued melody, her hips rhythmically swaying un-

“Okay, well, obviously our little kiss at the ice der his hands, until his fingertips found the pockets of cream parlor didn’t do the trick, and she still has her sights set on you, big boy.” She raised a brow at him mischievously. “So, here’s what we do . . .”

her jeans and rested on the swell of her bottom.

Her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

He leaned in, unable to help himself.

Her eyes sparked in the dim lighting.

She took advantage and pressed her lips to his,

The band played on, her hips showing him

stealing a kiss. The exchange was quick, sweet, noth- how to move as he cupped her intimately. ing like the mind-blowing ones they’d shared, yet he

She was everything carnal, every temptation,

still found himself reeling when he opened his eyes to every perfect thing that Father created for man and find her lovely, innocent, perfect smile. She was in-

woman to enjoy together. Now he understood the

toxicating.

beauty of that creation.

Wounded Wings Cupid Chronicles Book III Shauna Allen Genre: Light Paranormal Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing Date of Publication: December 18, 2013 ISBN: 13: 978-1-61935-349-7 ASIN: Number of pages: 269 Word Count: 72K Cover Artist: Rae Monet Book Description: Wounded.

Judged harshest by his own heart after the greatest of sins, Elijah Smith imposes the most brutal of punishments upon himself. He is now a fallen angel, cast down by his own hand—lost, suffering, caught between two worlds, and searching for redemption.

Scars.

Scarred emotionally and physically, Naomi Evans has always put her happiness aside to repay her debt to the one who saved her. Never quite fitting into her friendly little town after being abandoned as a child, she’s not sure love will ever find her aching heart.

Redemption.

New Destiny, Arizona will never be the same. Two strangers have rolled into town, shaking Heaven and Earth.

One, a handsome loner is temporarily stranded and biding his time, quietly bestowing random acts of kindness on total strangers until he can be on his way. The second, an undercover Cupid named Michael, is determined to bring healing and true love.

His assignment? A fallen brother and his equally wounded soulmate.

Will Naomi be able to see past both their scars? Can Elijah ever forgive himself?

Is such redemption possible?

Book Trailer for Inked by an Angel, the first book in the series: http://youtu.be/EDdKGsa_kjA

About the Author: Shauna grew up an only child with two open and loving parents in Central Texas. She’s mar-

ried to her high school sweetheart and is the mother to three fantastic (no, that’s not a typo!) teenagers—one she’s about to send off to the Air Force.

When she’s not writing, editing, or acting as a personal assistant to two NYT Bestselling authors, Shauna enjoys reading, movies with Gerard Butler, vacays to the beach, and hangin’ with the kiddos–even if they don’t like hangin’ with her!

Website and blog: www.shaunaallen.com Angel Kisses Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/D_RcP

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/shauna.allen.12

Twitter : http://tiny.cc/s0dlmw

Goodreads : http://www.goodreads.com/author/ show/6916632.Shauna_Allen

Pinterest : http://pinterest.com/shaunaallen7/

Excerpt Just Live Juliet “The coffee smells nice.”

“I have the fastest coffee maker there is. It’ll only take a sec. Oreo?” she offered the plate to him.

He chuckled. “Maybe in a few.”

He gently took the plate from her hand and set it down on the counter behind her as he moved closer and stood with his thigh touching the side of her leg, his eyes smiling down at her. She didn’t move.

“May I kiss you?” he whispered.

She felt her insides melt as his unexpected request danced into her mind. She could only nod. He gently cupped the sides of her face and slowly leaned forward, breathing her in before gently placing his lips on hers.

She rested her hands on his firm chest, and as she locked her lips with his, she lost all connection to the rest of her body as she floated in his kiss. A moment later, when he pulled his lips away from hers, he lightly kissed the tip of her nose, before startling her serene moment with the sound of his voice.

“Can I help with coffee mugs?”

She opened her eyes to see his beautiful face glowing, his eyes twinkling and shining down towards hers. In that instant, she was flooded not only with raging lust, but an indescribable sense of being wrapped in a warm blanket of love as a fire burned deep inside. She continued to be lost for words, and again, could only nod. She pointed to the cupboard behind her. He leaned in close as he reached to pull down two mugs; her nose filling with his amazing cologne. She realized that her hands were still on his chest; his heart beating strongly beneath her touch, and she awkwardly let them fall to her sides. Breathing deeply, she stepped past him and opened her fridge to grab the milk.

“I don’t have any cream. I hope that’s okay?” Her voice was shaky and she smiled at the effect this beautiful man was having on her.

“Milk is fine. Does this machine have a drip stop thingy if I pull the pot out before it’s done brewing?” he asked.

“Yup,” she managed as she bent down in front of the open refrigerator door, allowing the cool air to settle upon her heated skin as she worked on regaining her composure.

Just Live, Juliette!

The Home Series Book 1 Stephanie Andrassy Genre:Paranormal Romance Date of Publication: May 28, 2013 ISBN: 9780991715718 Number of pages: 591 Word Count: 214,500 Amazon iTunes BN Diesel Kobo Smashwords Sony Book Description: You never know what the morning after has in store for you, especially after drinks at a bar, a perfect man, and a night of the best sex you have ever experienced. Rather than dancing through a field of daisies, Juliette may be pushing them up instead. She awakes to a world where everything is familiar and nothing is what it appears to be; where the key to endless love is learning to just live.

This is the first book in the Home series; a journey which began with the short story, "The White Peacock", included for your convenience and reading pleasure.

About the Author: Stephanie Andrassy is the coffeeholic author of Noble Lies, a fantasy romance, as well as the paranormal romance Home series. Beginning with the free short story, The White Peacock, the journey within this supernatural series continues in Just Live, Juliette! (Home Series #1) and Rocks Don’t Cry (Home Series #2), and will be joined by at least two further books.

She holds a B.A. from the University of Guelph and presently resides in southern Ontario, Canada with her family. An avid reader of romance, fantasy, drama, women's literature, suspense, and non-fiction; she’s been writing for her own personal pleasure since she was a child - a life-long love affair with the written word.

Readers are anticipating further new releases in 2014, including a sequel to Noble Lies and the next book in The Home Series.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/S_Andrassy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieAndrassy Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Stephanie_Andrassy

Make Marketing Part of Your Daily Routine Lisa Acerbo Authors go through a moment of exaltation after writing their first book and seeing it for sale on Amazon, but what happens the day after it is released? Most newbies need to help market their book, especially authors who have not yet built a large fan base. While not a comprehensive list, here are some marketing strategies to let others know about your novel.

Tweet away. Follow people on Twitter with similar interests, respond to other authors, and look at authors’ posts. Review how authors market their books on Twitter and do the same. Keep up with Twitter on a daily basis. The more you tweet, the more you build an audience.

The same goes for Facebook. Post regularly and have friends, family, and fans like your page. Be shameless. You are a proud author. Promote yourself. It is also important to create a personal page and a page for the book. Keep your private life -- private. Your fans most likely do not want to see the hundred pictures of your cats, holiday parties, or family members. If you can link Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts, it will make it easier for you to post.

Go on a virtual tour. Many companies will host your book on a virtual tour for a reasonable price and help get the word out. Bloggers are from all around the country and they have fans too. Use a virtual tour to increase your exposure to new audiences.

Set up a Goodreads and Amazon Author account . On Goodreads, find and join the reading communities who are interested in similar genres. Find people on Goodreads willing to read and review your book.

The more reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, the more likely someone will take a chance and buy your amazing story. Don’t forget to provide interesting information about yourself in your bio and share what makes your novel a must read.

Network. Get out there. Attend conferences and conventions. I went to a local arts festival and had my best sales to date at the one-day event. Take the time to talk to others and tell people about your story.

You’ll make a lot of new friends and fans as well. Don’t forget other avenues such as LinkedIn. While most people use LinkedIn to promote business expertise, feel free to gloat about your writing abilities.

The more people who know about your talents, the better.

Whatever happens, don’t give up. I went to a huge Agricultural Fair and sold one book the entire day. While there are disappointments, it is important to remember your have a unique talent to share. Keep writing and promoting and your time and energy will pay off.

Apocalipstick Lisa Acerbo Genre: Horror, paranormal romance, Urban fiction Publisher: Eternal Press ISBN: 978-1-62929-017-1 ISBN: 978-1-62929-018-8 ASIN: B00EDYQUSA Print Length: 206 pages Word Count: 67,444 Cover Artist: Dawne Dominique Book Description: Jenna should be having the time of her life at college. Instead, her only desire is survival. She lives in a world gone insane after a virus kills most of the population. Being alive after the apocalypse is bad, but when the undead return, hungry for humans, times turn darker. For Jenna and a small group of survivors, the goal is to reach the High Point Inn. At the inn, Jenna develops feelings for Caleb, who, while exotic and intoxicating, is not quite human. Will this new utopia last?

Short Excerpt: “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes…” ran through Jenna’s mind, another remnant of her former life. Now the graveyard was the safest place. Evil openly roamed the streets and it was coming for her.

Jenna blinked the sweat out of her eyes and took a deep breath. She swayed with exhaustion. Angels, symbols of all things God and good, adornments of the dead, swam in and out of Jenna’s clouded vision. She placed a scarred hand on the peaceful, cold stone markers, embellished with the names of forgotten loved ones. Nowadays, loved ones wanted to come back from the grave and claw your face off, devour your insides.

Jenna wanted to lie down and give up. She was tired and had lost everyone she knew. Hair lank and greasy, mud splattered clothing, old and mismatched. Instead of admitting defeat, she forced herself to stay alert, pushing matted, raven hair out of her eyes with a dirty hand. Jenna could not remember a time in her recent history where she felt clean or had a moment in which she was not fighting to stay alive. Looking around the darkened

landscape, she wanted to live. She shoved to her feet once again.

Gingerly, with a limp, she started walking deeper into the cemetery. She had twisted her ankle during the jump from the gate. The last sprint had been hell. Her stomach ached where the scar stretched from side to side, but her ankle worried her most. If she could not run, Jenna would be food for the dead. Hopefully, she’d find shelter soon.

A noise echoed through what should have been deserted gravestones. Jenna froze for a second, panicked, but then instinct kicked in. She pivoted on her good foot, grabbing for the knife in her pocket. It was all she had left, after losing the gun during her escape yesterday.

Jenna ran back into the oldest part of the graveyard, until she came up to a small mausoleum. It looked more like a shack, a collage of tumbling stone and wood. She pulled on the door, but it stuck, even as everything around it decayed. She felt her way around the side. Her hand slithered across the remains of what once was a delicate, stained glass window. Shards of color caught her coat. Using her elbow, shielded by her jacket, she knocked out the remaining pieces and then painfully pulled herself inside.

Crouched on the ground, she was tempted to give herself over to tears, but instead searched for anything useful. A sturdy casket dominated the tiny interior of the room. The dilapidated mausoleum housed little of use, but someone must have been there before her. Rusty tools, wrenches, hoes, and a beat up shovel lay scattered across the floor, abandoned. They might make good weapons, but were heavy to haul. The handle to the shovel would be usable if she could dislodge it from the base.

She’d try. In addition to the mostly useless tools, Jenna found a box of matches near the charred remains of a former fire which littered the corner. Maybe, if she ever felt safe, she could light a fire and feel warm. For once. Jenna hunkered down, shovel in hand, and began to ply the handle apart from the base. She had to hurry.

They would soon be upon her.

About the Author: Lisa Acerbo is a high school teacher and adjunct faculty at the University of Phoenix. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, daughters, three cats, and two horses. When not writing, she mountain bikes, hikes, and tries to pursue some type of further education--she's working towards an EdD. www.Apocalipstickthebook.com Twitter: @apocalipstick_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Apocalipstick/131636053705754 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/ show/18320279-apocalipstick

Sabrina Garie How did you come up with the title for your latest book?

The title of book, Thirteen Nights, is the name of an annual ritual that occurs between the Amazon warriors and their male counterparts, the Gargareans, in which they pair off and hit the sheets with the sole intention of having children. While no thirteen nights’ rites really existed, historical records suggest that the Amazons and the Gargareans (I didn’t make this name up) did meet up yearly for breeding purposes and they believed that doing the deed for thirteen nights in a row was the ideal amount of time to ensure conception. The title also signifies a ticking clock, because when the rite is over the couple has to separate. As they fall in love, time becomes a real factor driving their decisions.

Do you title the book first or wait until after it’s complete?

I like to name them as early as possible because titles help me keep the overall theme of the story at the forefront of my mind. Titles do change however. The original, working name for this book was Neutral Ground, the pub where Annie and Tai meet and the location where the barriers to their happy ending are overcome.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Yes, the message is to honor your authentic self, and do what it takes to let that part of you live. Annie spends her life denying her true talents, her compassion--her humanity—under the garb of a warrior. Tai not only appreciates those hidden parts of her, he opens up the space for her to feel comfortable letting them out. Through her relationship with him, she finds the courage to take on the system and question some of the cultural rules that have held her back. I think this snippet really captures this idea. Annie and Tai just had a work-out, which was turning amorous. We’re in her head now.

He loved her and projected loud and clear. Where aggression strengthened her, love softened her. This was why she preferred the extreme bounty hunting to the diplomacy. The emotions made her less Amazon, less warrior but did it make her less as she’d always thought? As he rubbed against her, wanting her, loving her, it didn’t seem so.

Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?

I put a piece of myself in every female heroine I write and then watch it play out in the story. I have too often succumbed to the will of others and done what was expected of me, or worse—what I thought was expected of me—denying my needs and desires in the process. Learning to live a more authentic life, true to myself and my talents, has my journey lived through Antiope in this story.

Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is your favorite and why?

Elaina Carteret/Lainie Carter and Erik Johansen. They are the couple in my current WIP, Race to Redemption, which is a science fiction romance. They are both arrogant, powerful, successful by any standard and truly damaged. I like to see damaged people work through their pasts and find a new way forward. In those two, I’ve had to dig deeper than ever before to create incredible hard external shells to protect gooey soft insides, ravaged from too much loss. And the sparks are the best.

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

I am furiously finishing book 2, Reigniting Life. It’s a little different, since our hero and heroine are both over 50. It's contracted with Ellora’s Cave, it’s still going to be hot. Since 50 is the new 30, I wanted to write Phoebe and Sander’s story. They are Tai’s parents and this is their second chance to get it right. I’m just a sucker to see everyone in all places, ages, types and walks of life get their happy end.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Don't give up, open your mind and heart, toughen your skin and recognize that you get better with every book. To really grow in your craft, you have to be open to feedback—some can be hard to swallow, others may force you to give up parts of your story that you loved. Equally importantly, you also need to know when to accept the feedback and when to go with your gut. This just takes practice. Remember, no matter how good your story is, someone won't like it. And it doesn't matter because someone else will love it—and not just your mother or spouse or grandparent or best friend.

Do you have a song or playlist that you think represents the book.

I have several songs that really scream out the core of the book. It’s an eclectic but playful set. Here goes, more or less in order of the story trajectory/Annie’s character arc.

Youtube links provided.

38 Special: “Hiding From Yourself” http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=oI5DmUeoEZM Bette Midler: “The Rose” http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=oR6okRuOLc8 Nirvana: “Come as You Are” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-ex7o Sammy Davis, Jr.: “I’ve got to be me.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbXQDh1EyA Beastie Boys: “You’ve got to fight for your right to party.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk John Denver: “Annie’s Song” http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=C21G2OkHEYo Thirteen Nights Divine Temptation Book 1

Sabrina Garie Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Date of Publication: December 6, 2013 ISBN: 9781419941764 ASIN: Word Count: 23,000 Cover Artist: Kelly Martin Ellora’s Cave

Amazon

BN

Book Description: Annie’s always been different. An empathic Amazon, she hides her emotional anomaly beneath her legendary fighting skills. To avoid passing on her genetic disorder, she’s always avoided the Thirteen Nights Ritual—the annual breeding rite among the warrior races of the Greek Pantheon. Only months away from 30, she is now duty-bound to participate. When she meets Tai, a half-human warrior who revs her up beyond legal limits and nurtures the gentleness she’s had to keep secret, thirteen nights of pleasure don’t seem nearly enough.

As a half human, Tai has survived by being faster, more lethal, and a whole lot smarter than his brethren. While the male warriors accept him for his achievements, the Amazons have never given him a second look. Until he meets Annie, whose smile is warm and real and whose body shudders with desire—for him. Determined to have her, he hacks into the Thirteen Nights database and rearranges the pairings to make Annie his breeding partner.

Together, their strength and tenderness combust into pure love.

But Tai’s actions are forbidden under Amazon law, subject to a death. To stay together and alive, they must take on the Greek Pantheon and win.

About the Author: Sabrina Garie is on a journey to create the most kick-ass heroine romance fiction has ever known and the hero who can take her. A believer that big, audacious goals spice up life, she relies on coffee, red wine and laughter to make those goals (and her characters) come alive.

When not at the computer, she wrangles vegetables and extra helpings of homework into her fashion-loving progeny, kowtows to a fat cat and reads, a lot.

Since it is more fun to travel in packs, come along for the ride.

Catch the train at www.sabrinagarie.com Facebook: facebook.com/sabrinagarieauthor Twitter: @sabrinagarie Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Sabrina_Garie

Other Blogs: www.darkertemptations.wordpress.com By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age. If you are under the age of 18, please exit this site.

An Excerpt From: THIRTEEN NIGHTS Copyright © SABRINA GARIE, 2013 All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

A strong drink in hand, she found her seat by matching the number on her name tag with the table number.

Following the instructions on the card, she swiped it over the datapad and put her thumbprint on the screen where directed. That would tap into her medical records to ensure genetic compatibility. A bell rang in the distance and the first male slid into the seat. A small human. She smiled politely but knew that weak frame could never handle an Amazon lover. Humans were not forbidden, but strongly discouraged. Not all were as frail as this one, but humans usually wanted more than the Amazon vows permitted. The bell couldn’t come soon enough. Annie clandestinely hit the no button on the pad.

A giant of a man swaggered into the now-open seat, all testosterone and appetite. Linebacker shoulders, sixpack abs straining against a muscle shirt chosen to show them off, thighs so big they could choke a horse— and probably had. Elaborate tattooing covered his left arm from shoulder to wrist, detailing every victory, every kill. Similar markings ran diagonally across Annie’s back.

He touched his card to the pad and instantly his resume popped up on her screen. Black belts in karate, kendo and Kung Fu, expert sniper, awarded the Golden Shield—the Gargarean symbol for valor—six times, hobbies included hunting, archery and jousting. Okay, the man could kill, but who was he really?

“I’ll give you a good ride. You’ll be well-sated. I’ve fathered two already, one on a first-timer.” Typical Gargarean—built for show and incapable of mincing words. His eyes burned over her, intent blazing so fierce she felt the heat crawl across her skin. It was said the male warriors went celibate for six months before a breeding to build their lust to a fever pitch. From that look, she’d say it was true for this one.

She nodded, splaying well-manicured, fire-engine-red nails on the table. The male covered one hand, pushing the his palm against the tips.

“Yes,” he rumbled. “They’ll feel good tearing through my back when you lose control.” He laid his left arm out in front of her, an invitation to test the strength of him, and show off his prowess. As expected, she walked her fingers along the planes and angles of his muscles, periodically digging her nails in to test his reaction to different pain levels—to see if he really could handle her and show respect for his military achievements.

Those muscles would ripple well under her fingers and nails.

A Gargarean in his prime, proven in battle and the bedroom. She should want this. Damn the little voice in her head that told her that it wasn’t enough for the father of her child, so she rated him acceptable, not preferred.

Some part of her she kept well-buried thought it would be nice to find someone with an interest beyond weapons and bloodletting. Someone who could handle, I don’t know, maybe a conversation. The next twelve nights joined at the groin could be a lifetime.

Each new Gargarean who plopped down in front of her merged into the next one until she couldn’t distinguish among them. They all rang the same—deadly, dominant and completely interchangeable. She knew she was a desired partner, and would be many of these men’s first choice. The male warriors liked to boast about knocking up the first-timers, it was worn as a sign of their sexual prowess. The DNA compatibility test would have to choose one of them for her. She didn’t really care.

Lost in frustration, she didn’t register the newest candidate in front of her. The blue light on the screen identified him as Gargarean, but he lacked the giant muscular proportions of the male warrior race, that scent of pure dominance and heightened testosterone. Oh, his eyes revealed menace and the lethality of the warrior-bred and his arm tattooing was as detailed and complex as the bigger men who came before him. But he had the lean, muscled strength of a human soldier, the power he emanated more subtle and highly controlled. From the way her lower body pulsed, she liked it. A lot. When she eyed the screen with more focus, the mystery resolved itself. Tai, human father, Amazon mother, given to the Gargareans at birth. That explained his size. “How did you survive their training as a youth?”

“Your mind can bring you to places your body cannot.”

“That’s not a very Gargarean philosophy.” Or Amazon for that matter, even though she agreed with him. “How would your background play out over the twelve nights?”

“Each night more attuned to your needs than the next. You would be seduced across all dimensions, pleasured in the realm of mind, body and spirit.” He flashed her a smile that promised all kinds of sin, but those deep brown eyes, so tender and soulful, pledged warmth and humor. With that, her panties were drenched, her nipples bullet hard, and tingles ran up her spine straight into her brain. Swallowing, she struggled to pull it all back under control and explore this possibility in more detail.

“Your expertise is…” She lifted an eyebrow. “Cyber security.” She placed her hand on the table as she did for all the others. Instead of using his palm to test the bite of her nails, he ran his finger across her knuckles and down her thumb, a lingering caress that promised gentleness, not just a good, hard ride. When he offered her his arm, she did the same up his wrist to his elbow, watching lust flicker in his eyes as her fingers glided across his skin. “You’re not like your brethren, in many ways it seems.”

“No, but I think that’s the pot calling the kettle black and it pleases you.” His voice lowered a decibel, the sound a rough caress around her body. “Why? Most of your sisterhood reject me out of hand for my size, my human heritage, even my talents.” His gaze locked onto hers and held it in an iron grip. He might be small for a warrior of the Greek pantheon, but he made it clear he was no less potent and he wasn’t going anywhere without an answer.

“Because you’re different…like me.” She was not at all sure she should have confirmed his observation but she felt no deception coming from him. “It tempts me.” She gave him her biggest, sexiest smile.

“Choose me.” His gaze still tethered to hers, he glided his forefinger along her lips in a quiet tease. “I’ll make it worth it to you.”

Excerpt: Zack Préjean wiped the blood from his skinning knife onto the faded blue bottom of the apron he wore, scanning the bayou that backed up to his papa’s back porch. Something had drawn his attention, but he couldn’t figure out what.

He’d been working on the small gator for half an hour, figuring to take off enough fresh meat for dinner and prep the rest to deal with later—it was too small for the skin to be worth much.

The calls and caws of the birds and cackles of swamp hens soothed him, and God knew he needed soothing. Spending the whole month of gator season at Chenoire wasn’t what he wanted to be doing. But Papa had asked him outright for help, and he had to honor that.

Finally, he figured out what had caught his attention; the bayou was too quiet. He wedged the knife through his apron ties, covered the gator with a towel, and closed his eyes to focus on what he could hear. Footsteps coming from the path leading down to the house— heavy ones, stirring up a whiff of anger.

Zack tripped on his way through the kitchen, catching his toe on the edge of a chair because he’d been staring out the front window instead of watching where he was going. All this family time must be getting to him, because for a moment he swore he’d seen not a man on the path that angled toward the small circle of houses where the Préjeans had lived for generations.

No, he thought he’d seen an angel.

Except angels didn’t stomp their feet, curse like sailors, and swat at bugs, which is what this one appeared to be doing. What the hell was a woman doing on foot way out here at dusk?

Crossing his arms over his chest, Zack leaned against the frame of the front door, silent and still, waiting to see what trouble she brought. She looked like a city woman, and city

women always brought trouble.

He couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Whatever else she was, his citified swamp angel was pissed off and dirty as sin. Bits of mud flaked off what might be a long, lean pair of legs underneath the grime that covered her from her shoes to the bottom of her khaki shorts—or maybe they were mud-covered black shorts. Hard to tell. Her hands flew around her head, batting at what Zack knew were probably the armies of tiny no-see-ums that swarmed near the small stand of trees this time of day. Occasionally, she swatted at her own head, giving her short blond hair a disheveled look he’d mistaken for a halo.

“Damned gnats. I’m gonna—” The angel finally spotted him and stopped in her tracks, dark-blue eyes growing wider as her gaze dropped from Zack’s face to the vicinity of the knife.

He cleared his throat and stifled the laugh that threatened to escape. “You lost, Angel?”

Chenoire Susannah Sandlin Genre: Paranormal Romance Heat level: mild Publisher: StoryFront Date of Publication: December 18, 2013 ASIN: B00GMTVZYI Number of pages: 50 Word Count: approx. 15,000 Book Description: When Faith Garrity’s twin sister died, she lost a part of herself. Unable to move past the pain, the once-driven ornithologist is at risk of losing her career as well. To save her job, she heads to the oil-ravaged wetlands of Louisiana. There, in the bayou community of Chenoire, she encounters the handsome but guarded Zackary Préjean, still suffering from a great loss of his own.

She’s drawn to Zack, but soon finds that the Préjean family isn’t what it seems… They have dangerous secrets—and deadly enemies. Caught up in a feud that threatens the area’s uneasy truce, Faith and Zack must learn to trust each other. Survival will require enormous sacrifice, but it just might also give them both a way to move on.

Amazon

About the Author: Susannah Sandlin writes paranormal romance and romantic thrillers from Auburn, Alabama, on top of a career in educational publishing that has thus far spanned five states and six universities—including both Alabama and Auburn, which makes her bilingual. She grew up in Winfield, Alabama, but was also a longtime resident of New Orleans, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of SEC football, cheap Mardi Gras trinkets, and fried gator on a stick. She’s the author of the award-winning Penton Legacy paranormal romance series, a spinoff novel, Storm Force, and a new romantic thriller beginning this month with Lovely, Dark, and Deep. Writing as Suzanne Johnson, she also is the author of the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series.

Website: http://www.susannahsandlin.com Blog: http://suzanne-johnson.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SusannahSandlin FB: http://www.facebook.com/SusannahSandlin

Researching Celtic and Fairy Lore

By Ann Gimpel Much of my writing is grounded in Celtic mythology.

I have several favorite books I use as references, but this would be a pretty dry blog post if all I did was list them. In the interest of getting that part over with, two of my favorites are Celtic Traditions, Druids, Fairies and Wiccan Rituals by Sirona Knight and Women in Celtic Myth by Moyra Caldecott. I also draw from Scottish and Irish ghost stories. I have some really old books. The Scottish one was published in 1911 and the Irish in 1913. The language takes some getting used to. English has changed quite a bit over the last hundred years.

The thing about Celtic tradition is it’s rooted firmly in the British Iles. Think about Merlin’s story or, a couple of centuries later, the Wild Hunt. All people have their mythologies. Greek and Roman are probably the best known. I’ll sometimes pull material from them. A few of the stories have always drawn me, like Cassandra, for example. How awful to be bound to speak the truth and have no one believe you—ever.

I also like the Innana myth. Other than the Gilgamesh legend, it’s probably one of the very oldest stories known to man. Both Innana and Gilgamesh are Sumerian (think Egypt/Mesopotamia) in origin. The Gilgamesh tale is, essentially, retold in Arthurian times as Parsifal’s search for the Holy Grail. Then there’s the gamut of Norse myths with Odin and his son Thor in Valhalla. And let’s not forget Poseidon and all the Nereids in the sea.

One of the things about depth psychology is that a large part of the training ensures practitioners have a good grounding in mythologies from many nationalities. Marie Louise Von Franz, an accomplished psy-

choanalyst in her own right who spent her life with Jung (though not romantically), researched archetypes in fairy tales. She wrote several books detailing the outcomes of her research.

Okay, so what’s an archetype? There are twelve basic ones: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, Fool, Orphan, Innocent, Caregiver, Seeker, Destroyer, Creator, Sage.

All myths and stories feature one or more archetypal characters engaging in either a quest, a love affair gone bad, death and rebirth, a coming of age tale, developing love, loss in spite of everything, or growth/ redemption (usually through pain and trials). There are often several threads in major tales. For example, Innana begins as a quest, moves through loss of everything and ends with redemption. From an archetypal point of view, Innana begins as a Queen, becomes a Seeker, then an Orphan and ends up a Sage. Carol Pearson wrote a great book if you’re interested in a primer on archetypes. It’s called Awakening the Heroes Within. There’s even a fun quiz in the back so you can see which archetypes are active in your own lives.

So, you have twelve “character types” and seven basic storylines. Someone once told me LOTR had all of them. I never bothered to count, but over the course of four books, I’m sure Tolkien could have managed that.

The first thing to do, if you’re a plan-ahead sort of writer (I’m not; a touch more on that later.) is to figure out what story you’re trying to tell. Then match it up to which archetypes you need to provide sympathetic protagonists and gritty antagonists. Most of this occurs on a subconscious level. I will say to you,

though, that the stories that grab you, that stab knives into your soul and make you carry the protag in your thoughts for days, had archetypal characters in sync with the storyline. Not all characters can tell every story.

More on the plan ahead scenario. One of these days, I’ve promised myself to try the Snowflake method. But I haven’t done it yet. When I’m deep in a story, I’m living it with my characters. They come to me in dreams and at other times during the day. Because they tell me the story they want to live, I haven’t felt the need yet to do more in the way of pre-planning. Maybe someday I will. I had an experience recently where I resurrected my first novel. I kept the characters, but lopped lots of years off their ages to create a YA contemporary fantasy. Maybe because I knew those char-

acters so well, having written two novels and about 300,000 words featuring them, the new book fairly flew out my fingertips. Writing usually comes fairly easily to me, but I’ve never had an experience quite like this one where I turned out an 80,000 word book in five weeks. It held together, too, when I went back through it doing my obligatory search for loose plot threads and other jarring inconsistencies. The only thing I missed was using the wizards’ staffs more. So that got added in on the second run through. I just sold that novel. It will be out this next July titled, Fortune's Scion.

I hope this was helpful. Questions about archetypes, fairy tales, Celtic (or other) mythologies are welcome.

Dragon Maid Dragon Lore, Book II Ann Gimpel Publisher: Taliesin Publishing Release Date: 1/2/14 Genre: Paranormal Romance Dragons have always fascinated me. Creatures fresh out of legend, they tempt the soul to stretch its wings. This book is dedicated to Kheladin and Tarika, two wonderful dragons who live in my imagination and who were generous enough to grace the pages of my books.

Book Description: Jonathan Shea is a software engineer. When pressed, he admits to being a closet witch, but he’s always been a shade ambivalent about his magic—until a dragon shows up in Inverness, and then all bets are off. Along with others in his coven, Jonathan is both charmed and captivated by the creature fresh out of legend.

Britta is a dragon shifter. Dragged from the Middle Ages by the Celtic gods, she and her dragon prepare for a battle to save Earth. The first human she lays eyes on in modern times is Jonathan. There’s something about him. She can’t quite pinpoint it, but he has way more magic than any witch she’s ever come across before. Aside from magic, Jonathan is drop dead gorgeous. For the first time ever, Britta questions the wisdom of remaining a maid.

Surrounded by dragon shifters, Celtic gods, Selkies, and a heaping portion of magic, Jonathan comes into his own fast. Good thing, too, because fell creatures have targeted him, Britta, and the dragons. In the midst of chaos, he finds passion so poignant and love so heartbreakingly tender, it will change his life forever.

Excerpt: …Jonathan tried not to stare, but it was a losing battle. The woman—no, the dragon shifter—was the most perfect, the most alluring, creature he’d ever laid eyes on. Tall, with high, rounded breasts, a slender waist, and curvy hips, she looked like a goddess.

Who knew? Maybe she was. The Celts had had many deities. He fumbled with his rucksack, pulled out a turkey sandwich on rye bread, and handed it to her.

She yanked the wrappings aside, dropped them onto the floor, and stuffed food into her mouth, chewing quickly. “Ye said there were two of these meat and bread things.” Britta surveyed him, golden eyes alight with interest.

“Yes, I did. If I give you both, I’ll be hungry.”

She shrugged. “Not my problem. Also, I requested mead.”

Jonathan’s lips twitched. He corralled the smile that wanted out. Britta was an imperious bitch, yet there was something so undeniably appealing about her straightforward nature, it was impossible to feel offended. “No mead. At least I don’t have any.

We could ask the other witches, or if we found you some clothes, we could go into the city and buy a proper meal, and as much to drink as you wanted.”

She cocked her head to one side and popped the last bite of sandwich into her mouth. “I can go as I am. Shall we walk or use magic, witch?”

“Um, no, you can’t. You’d be arrested.”

She tilted her chin up. “Why? I can see where I might freeze to death, but who would give a jolly fuck whether I’m dressed or not?”

Before he could craft an explanation, Kheladin stalked over, trailed by three female witches stroking the scales on his lower body. “Lachlan kept a clothes chest against the far wall.” He pointed with a talon. “I am certain some of his shirts and tights would work, though there’s little to be done by way of shoes.”

Her gaze landed on a particularly large heap of gold jewelry and coins. “I could borrow a bit of money from your hoard, just a coin or two, and—” Kheladin’s eyes whirled faster, glittering dangerously. “I doona think so.”

“Well then,” Britta turned a brilliant smile on Jonathan and tapped his chest with her index finger, “he can buy me what I need.” Magic shimmered around her. “Come close, witch. We are leaving.”

Kheladin stumped to Britta’s side. The coun-

ter spell he summoned to dampen her power sparkled; strands wrapped around her. Her lips curled in fury, and she raised her hands to call magic of her own.

“Not so fast,” Kheladin snapped. “First, ye’ve forgotten ye need clothes. Second, Tarika was in an allfired hurry to find me. Such a big hurry, ye went without food or rest. Why?” Britta shook her head so hard her hair danced about her body. She swept the heels of her hands down her cheeks, distorting her perfect features. “Och aye, whatever is wrong with me? Nay, I know the answer. The Morrigan is furious because Lachlan triumphed over the black and red wyverns, and their dragon shifter mages.”

“Good the old battle crow even noticed,” Kheladin growled and breathed a fiery gout of flames.

“She did more than notice. She cast a spell to disrupt our memories. If ye wouldna have reminded me… Hell, ’tis surprised I am we got here at all. The Celtic gods, Gwydion and Arawn, sent us to warn you and Lachlan. They told us their magic would trump hers, but not forever.” One corner of her mouth turned down. “’Twould appear I just ran up against forever. Or mayhap their magic got subverted by your wards.”

“What impact has the Morrigan’s mischief had on the rest of our kind?”

“Those in Fire Mountain are safe so long as they remain there. The casting only traps them when they set foot on Earth.”

“Did the Celts try to neutralize it?”

She cast a look Kheladin’s way that said he should ask something worth her time answering.

Johnathan watched the exchange, chest tight with excitement, feeling he’d fallen into one of the old tales where heroes and heroines walked amongst humans.

“All right. Let me try again.” Kheladin sounded exasperated. “Did the Morrigan wake the black wyvern’s mage, Rhukon?” “’Twas the first thing she did.”

“So all our effort was for naught.” The dragon clanked his jaws together. “I must alert Lachlan.

Where did the Celts find you?”

Britta rolled her eyes. “Not in Fire Mountain, though I admit Tarika and I retreated there after Rhukon, Connor, and their dragons teamed with the Morrigan, and things werena looking good. Nay, the Celts plucked us out of the sixteen hundreds, told us enough about what the future held to alarm us, and

sent us on our way. I am far from certain, but it seems they might be gathering reinforcements beyond Tarika and me, so ye and Lachlan willna have to fight alone.”

Kheladin inclined his head. “Thank you for coming.”

A warm smile lit her face. It softened her features and made her look barely more than a girl. Jonathan’s cock stiffened where it pressed against his jeans. Breath caught in his throat, and he fought against touching her, running his hands down her golden skin. He drew magic around himself to mask his lust, make it unobtrusive, but she noticed anyway.

Britta turned an appraising glance his way.

“Aye, ye’d do well to hide your rut from me.”

Embarrassed at being caught out but curious, too, he asked, “Why?” She tossed her head at Kheladin. “Tell him, dragon. Mayhap he’ll believe it if he hears it from another, ahem, male.” Her last word dripped sarcasm.

Kheladin blew so much steam he looked like an old-fashioned train. Jonathan bristled. Worse, his cock didn’t seem to be in the mood for retreat. He tried for dignity. “Look. If it’s all the same to you, I’d just as soon move on. I withdraw my question.”

“Nay.” Kheladin got his mirth under control.

“Many have tried to mate with Tarika—and Britta too. I believe they fancy themselves reincarnations of Artemis. ’Tis why they bonded one to the other.”

Jonathan’s brows crawled up his forehead.

“The virgin huntress?”

“Good ye know your mythology.” Kheladin clanged his jaws shut for the second time.

“I thought you were Celtic,” Jonathan sputtered. “Artemis was Greek.”

Kheladin bathed him in smoke until he bent over coughing. “I picked a deity ye might recognize, witch. Most of our goddesses have fallen out of human memory. How Britta is isna entirely her fault, though.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared.

Breasts peeked through a curtain of hair. “I’m not sure whether to thank you or let Tarika out to throttle you. How would I have had the time to either find a mate or attend to him once found?”

“Lachlan dinna have a wife, either.”

Kheladin’s tone was mild.

“Aye, but he fucked enough women to make up for it.” Britta narrowed her eyes. “As I recall, there was a string of housekeepers in addition to a bevy of local maids.”

“He was laird of Clan Moncrieffe. ’Twas natural enough maids would wish to be his lady.” Kheladin defended his shifter bond mate.

Jonathan felt as if he’d wandered in at the midpoint of a very old argument. He cleared his throat. “Was there a specific reason neither dragon shifter wed?”

Britta snorted. “Ye know nothing of what it takes to become a dragon shifter. I studied long—as did Lachlan—and forsook much. A man would have just gotten in my way, as would bairns. I could have made certain I dinna conceive, but what man doesna wish heirs?”

Kheladin leaned closer to Jonathan. “Her da was a powerful mage and laird of Cumbria. Many a swain wished to share her bed—and her dowry.”

“Men! Cretins, the lot of them!” Britta threw a hand in the air, spun, and strode toward where Kheladin had indicated Lachlan’s clothing chest was.

Jonathan cleared his throat and sent a thought to Kheladin since he didn’t want to be the butt of Britta’s scorn. “Temperamental, isn’t she?”

“Ye doona know the half of it, laddie. Yet she is courageous—and compassionate. ’Twasn’t accidental the gods picked her to locate us.”

“Guess I’ll wait until she’s dressed and then take her into Inverness. We can find more clothes, some shoes, and a meal.”

“Aye, and then ye must return here. While ye’re gone, I’ll raise Lachlan.”

“Whatever are the two of you whispering about in mind speech? Sounds like a buzzing beehive over here.” Britta sashayed to them wrapped in a cream-colored linen shirt that fell just south of her groin. A pair of black tights was draped over her arm.

Jonathan eyed her. “Are you going to put those on?”

She focused her golden eyes on him and slowly, deliberately, shook out the tights and rolled one leg. Still watching him intently, she raised her leg, giving him a clear view of tight red-gold curls before she shoved it into the woolen pants. Heat raced through him; it was so intense he could barely breathe. His cock strained against his pants. For one long, awkward moment, he was afraid he’d come in his shorts.

For Christ’s sake. I haven’t had this much trouble controlling myself since I was a teenager twenty years ago. Because he couldn’t force himself to look away, he squeezed his eyes shut and thought about breathing. Just breathing. Not about burying

himself to the hilt inside her gorgeous pussy. His cock jerked. It didn’t want breathing. It wanted fucking and reminded him it had been months since he’d paid any attention to his sexual needs.

Time passed. Kheladin’s energy pulsed to one side. Jonathan could pick out witches he knew from how their psychic emanations felt. Maybe I should get one of the women to feed her and get her some shoes…

“Och aye, and that wouldna be nearly this much fun,” she purred.

He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Stay out of my head. A man’s thoughts need to be, well, private.”

She ignored his plea. “Do ye think I’m dressed enough to be decent?” Her scent eddied closer, lavender, musk, and something he couldn’t identify. Maybe amber. “Ye’ll need to open those lovely eyes to answer me.”

He felt her magic zing into him; his eyes snapped open, and he took a couple of steps back.

“The only way this is going to work,” he gritted out, “is if you stop teasing me with your body. It really is incredible, but I’m sure you already know that.”

“Is it now? I have lived amongst dragons and our mages for so long, I’d nearly forgotten. But now ye are near and fawning, I find I’ve missed human attention.”

“We all have,” Kheladin cut in. “Yon lad has a point. His cock is ready to burst from his pants. If ye expect him to sit with you, share a meal and mayhap information about this era—about which ye know nothing, I might add—ye will need to behave better.”

“I doona understand.” Britta drew her perfect brows together. “He can simply tap a serving wench, satisfy his lust, and return to my side.”

Jonathan chuckled. “Ha! I always wondered what it was truly like a few hundred years back.

There aren’t too many handy serving wenches willing to lift their skirts—or drop their pants, more likely— these days. I’d have to wine them, dine them, at least pretend to care—” She waved him to silence. “I am starting to understand. I willna flaunt myself, though ’tis great fun to know I can still heat a man’s blood.”

Heat a man’s blood, is it? He bit back a laugh at the idea and the Gaelic inflection in his thoughts.

For a moment, he’d sounded just like his da. “You do way more than that.” He let himself look at her. The tights were in place, waist string tied, but she had yet

to button the shirt. Apparently sensing his thoughts, she hastily looped square, wooden buttons into their holes.

She held her arms to the side and twirled in place. “There. Will I do?”

He found he could breathe again. Although still aroused, the desperate edge had receded. Jonathan nodded. “Yes. Your magic or mine?”

“Yours. I am still depleted from my travels.”

He glanced at Kheladin, now surrounded by ten witches, all patting and fussing over him. The dragon almost glowed beneath their attention. “How soon do you need us back?”

Kheladin bathed him in steam. “I would verra much like to tell you to take your time, but I fear ’tis something we may well be running short of. Enjoy a meal. Find the lass some footwear and a warm jacket.

Mayhap other clothes that fit her better. Then return.”

“Ye can link to me if something happens,” Britta said.

Kheladin included her in the steam bath.

“Aye, ’tis been long since I’ve had another dragon shifter—at least one on our side—near to hand.

Thanks to you again for coming.”

“My pleasure. Once we return, Tarika and I want to know about the magic that allows ye and Lachlan the freedom of your bodies yet maintains the bond.” She turned to Jonathan. “I stand ready, witch.”

“Wait.” Kheladin held up a foreleg and chanted a few notes mingled with fire. “There, my wards are open.”

Jonathan threw his rucksack over a shoulder.

He summoned magic, wrapped them in it, and aimed for a thick grove in one of Inverness’ many parks. If they got very lucky, they wouldn’t disturb a couple in the midst of enjoying one another. The cave’s walls glimmered, thinned, and turned to black as he ferried them away from Kheladin and the phalanx of adoring witches.

Providence was on his side. It was dim where he brought them out in a thick hawthorn grove. And cold. He slid his iPhone from a pocket and glanced at the time. Just closing on seven. Not so bad, except it meant they’d need to shop first, else the stores would shut for the night.

Britta inhaled noisily. “It smells odd.” She drew closer to him. “Is the air poisoned?”

“It’s just car exhaust. The air’s better here than in a truly big city.”

“Car exhaust? Neither word means aught.”

Where to begin? “Let’s get you some clothes.

I’ll explain what I can over dinner. In the meantime, it might be best if you didn’t ask too many questions.”

She drew herself up and squared her shoulders. “And why not?”

“You don’t want people to think you’re odd.

Or that you don’t belong here.”

A shiver ran through her body. He glanced down and saw her shift from one bare foot to the next on chill, damp ground. “Come on.” He hooked a hand beneath her arm and tugged. “Shoes first. Then clothes.”

She fell into step beside him. “They will have to measure me. It takes several days to craft a pair of boots.”

“Not anymore. We’ll find what you need readymade.”

“Really? Will the quality be acceptable?”

Spoken like a true countess. “Probably not, but you’ll make do. It’s better than being cold and barefoot.” He tightened his hold on her arm, wanting to protect her, care for her. It would take her time to get used to the modern world—if she stayed here long enough to learn about it. Jonathan examined the feelings coursing through him. Was it possible she’d snared him in some sort of spell?

“I did no such thing.” Enough outrage ran beneath her words, he believed her.

“Look here.” He kept his voice low. “You have to stay out of my thoughts.”

“But how else will I know about them?”

He chuckled. “How about if you ask me questions and satisfy yourself with what I’m willing to share. Turn this way.” He pushed open a swinging door and followed her into a brightly lit shoe store.

He blinked a few times to ease the transition from daylight to neon.

She shielded her eyes with a hand. “What manner of magic creates light this strong?”

“Hush. We call it electricity. Come on.” He guided her to a display rack and selected a serviceable pair of lace up boots. “What do you think of these?”

She wrinkled her nose. “They’re ugly and shoddily made.” She flicked a loose thread with a fingertip.

“Then you pick something.”

She glanced about and trailed her hands over tennis shoes and sandals as she walked through the store. After oohing and aahing over several pairs of

high heels, she let him guide her back to the place they’d begun. “Britta. It’s summer, but the nights are always on the chilly side. Your feet will get cold unless you get sturdy boots and socks. How about if we try these.” He pointed. “And those.” He pointed again.

“I suppose ye’re right. Do ye think either could be dyed black?”

A clerk had been hovering. “We have that style in black, ma’am. What size should I get for you?” He glanced down and inhaled audibly. “B-but you’re barefoot. Your feet must be freezing.”

Color stained Britta’s cheeks. “’Tisn’t so bad as all that, laddie.”

Jonathan thought quickly. He closed his hand around Britta’s arm and gave it a warning squeeze, hoping she’d understand not to contradict him. “My sister just gave birth. Err, twins. Her feet got bigger.

Much bigger. Nothing fits but her house slippers, and she was too embarrassed to wear them. How about if you measure her?”

“Certainly. If you’d just sit over there?” The clerk gestured to a bank of chairs.

After shooting Jonathan an annoyed look, Britta followed the clerk.

An hour later, they had two pairs of shoes, one black, one brown, socks, underwear, three pairs of warm corduroy pants, sweaters, T-shirts, and two jackets. Jonathan was a thousand pounds poorer but considered the funds well spent. She’d stopped trying to seduce him from the moment they’d left Kheladin’s cave, which meant he’d simply enjoyed her company.

She led the way out of the clothing store he’d selected after they finished with the shoe store and turned to him. “Can we get something to eat now?”

Both of them were laden with bags.

“Sure. What do you feel like?”

She leaned close. “I doona know. Everything here is so strange, I feel I am playacting, yet without knowing my lines. Pick something. Simple food and stiff spirits.”

“Have you heard anything from Kheladin?”

She shook her head. “Nay, but Tarika isna pleased. She believes we waste valuable time. ’Tis possible she will settle once we find food. She is hungry.”

Jonathan considered their options. He didn’t want to bring her to a noisy pub where they’d have to strain to hear one another. Nor did he want a nightclub. He looked up and down one of Inverness’ main

streets. His gaze settled on a smallish place where a sign promised EXCELLENT FOOD IN AN INTIMATE ATMOSPHERE. Sounded perfect.

“Let’s try over there. Maybe we’ll have enough privacy to answer some of those questions I’ve seen dancing behind your eyes.”

She smiled at him. Really smiled without coquettish edges. “Ye’ve been truly kind to me. I apologize for…well, for how I was earlier. I shouldna have been such a tease.”

“Apology accepted. I do understand, though.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Do ye?”

He grinned. “Sure. Sex is power. Or it can be. But being friends is better.”

She grinned back. “To friendship, then. Find us a bottle, and we can drink to it.”

About the Author Ann Gimpel is a mountaineer at heart. Recently retired from a long career as a psychologist, she remembers many hours at her desk where her body may have been stuck inside four walls, but her soul was planning yet one more trip to the backcountry. Around the turn of the last century (that would be 2000, not 1900!), she managed to finagle moving to the Eastern Sierra, a mecca for those in love with the mountains. It was during long backcountry treks that Ann’s writing evolved. Unlike some who see the backcountry as an excuse to drag friends and relatives along, Ann prefers her solitude. Stories always ran around in her head on those journeys, sometimes as a hedge against abject terror when challenging conditions made her fear for her life, sometimes for company. Eventually, she returned from a trip and sat down at the computer. Three months later, a five hundred page novel emerged. Oh, it wasn’t very good, but it was a beginning. And, she learned a lot between writing that novel and its sequel.

Around that time, a friend of hers suggested she try her hand at short stories. It didn’t take long before that first story found its way into print and they’ve been accepted pretty regularly since then. One of Ann’s passions has always been ecology, so her tales often have a green twist.

In addition to writing, Ann enjoys wilderness photography.

She lugs pounds of camera equipment in her backpack to distant locales every year. A standing joke is that over ten percent of her pack weight is camera gear which means someone else has to carry the food! That someone is her husband. They’ve shared a life together for a very long time. Children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out their family. www.anngimpel.com http://anngimpel.blogspot.com http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author @AnnGimpel (for Twitter)

10 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

By Wenona Napolitano The economy is in a slump but weddings aren’t getting any cheaper. You can’t just cancel your wedding or decide to postpone it indefinitely until the economy picks back up again. So what do you do?

Here are ten easy ways to save money without sacrificing what you really want for your wedding.  First of all set a budget and stick to it. Figure out exactly how much money you have to spend on your wedding so you do not go over budget. Once you have a budget in mind, call around to price services out. This way you have both an idea of how much you have to spend and how much things cost.  Now is the hard part. Decide on what you really want and need and cut out the rest. Do you really need to rent a limo? Probably not. Do you really need to have doves released? No way. Do you want a gorgeous wedding gown?

Most definitely but you probably don’t have to have that pricey designer label attached to it. An easy way to do this is to make a list with your top three priorities and your bottom three. Ditch the bottom three things.  Cut the guest list. Seriously do you need your third cousin twice removed that you haven’t seen in 15 years at your wedding? No. And that guy that works in the corner office at work that you never talk to…he doesn’t need to be invited either. According to TheKnot.com cutting ten guests can shave as much as $1000 from your expenses. The smaller the guest list the cheaper your wedding. Keep it to the people you really want to share your big day with.  Keep it simple. Pass on all the upgrades and fancy extras that vendors will try to sell you. No, you do not need three shades of ink on your invitations since that costs three times as much and you don’t need silk ribbons or ultra fancy bows on anything since that costs more as well. Don’t get sucked into spending more. Stick to your budget and the basics.  Opt for a smaller cake. Two tiered cakes are currently en vogue. If you don’t think that’ll be enough cake to serve your guests have a sheet cake or two stashed in the kitchen, after you cut the fancy bridal cake your servers can add the sheet cake into the mix to pass out to guests. As long as they are the same flavor and have similar frosting no one will know the difference.  Choose seasonal flowers. Fancy, exotic flowers that are flown in from far away countries go for premium prices.

Pick flowers in season in your area for a huge cost savings. Also opt for less flowers. The popular bridal bouquet styles right now are one large flower or a small hand tied bouquet. Simple is the idea. Another way to save with your wedding florals is to skip having floral centerpieces and opt for something cheaper like candles.  Have the bartenders serve cheaper alcohol. You don’t have to use Dom to toast or serve the most expensive vodkas. You don’t even have to serve a full bar. These people are supposed to come to your wedding to share your special day. You are already feeding them, who says you have to get them all drunk on your dime? If it’s really an issue of having alcohol and being able to afford it, have a cash bar. If guests want to get toasted they can pay for it themselves.  Serve less food. You don’t need twelve different appetizers and four main course selections. Two main courses to choose from is fine, chicken or beef or even beef or a vegetarian dish. Make sure to have enough sides and a salad but skip the extras. And since you are already serving cake you really don’t need an extra dessert option.  Get creative with the photography. Have friends and family brings digital cameras so they can get good candid shots. Set up a Shutterfly account so everyone can share photos and you can create memory books and order prints. A fun thing to do is to set up a photo booth to get fun shots of all your guests. Get a few trustworthy friends and family members to take turns manning the booth to shoot photos of people when they are ready ( if you do not have a professional photographer to do this). A good way to get everyone to the booth in an organized manner is to have the MC, DJ or Wedding Planner herd people over to the booth a table at a time.

Keep decorations to a minimum. You don’t need tons of streams and ridiculously expensive decorations to have a fab wedding. Beg, borrow and steal (ok, don’t actually steal but you get the idea) anything that can be used for décor including glass bowls, vases, arbors, arches, trellises, benches, tables and anything else you might need. This will save on buying or rental fees. Another way to keep decoration expenses to a minimum is by renting a venue that is beautiful without need of décor (a garden, museum, art gallery, etc) or an already decorated chapel and/or reception hall. When my husband and I were married our wedding was in an already decorated chapel and a semi decorated hall (attached to the chapel) this saved us a fortune.

SEAL OF SURRENDER by Traci Douglass Excerpt Something rustled in the nearby bushes, commanding Chago’s attention. “Show yourself!”

A figure broke through the brush, looming just beyond of reach of the torch. Chago inched closer and leaned into the blackness.

Inhuman snarls shredded the silence. Decay and moist earth reeked from the unwelcome intruder. Torchlight glinted off rows of impossibly long teeth shoved sardine- tight into a gaping, circular mouth reminiscent of a pool drain. Archon.

Chago focused on the abomination before him and struggled to keep his tone calm. “Innocent, get everyone together and leave.”

Innocent hesitated.

Goddammit. He stepped closer and speared his host a furious glare, his patience at an end. He’d not allow Archon anywhere near Irena. “Now!” Innocent handed over the shotgun and rushed inside to herd the others out the backdoor.

Equipped with a weapon in each hand and an endless supply of vengeance, Chago stepped off the porch.

“C’mon, you sack of shit! Fight me!”

Archon swung at him and Chago took a reflexive step back. Fangs were the only sharp feature on his opponent’s face. The rest of the bastard’s mug resembled a crazy quilt of purplish-gray scars and bulging yellow eyes.

Whatever other terrors Lucifer fashioned, his son was a whole mess of ugly. Killing him would be an act of mercy.

He raised the shotgun and fired. The bullet ricocheted off Archon’s thick hide, ineffective. Aimed for the head and tried again. This time, Chago clipped what appeared to be an already mangled ear. Smelly, greenish slime oozed forth. Archon grunted but continued advancing.

Shit. He tossed the gun aside and sliced ahead with his dagger. Archon parried with razor-sharp claws. Together, they circled in a macabre recital of the death ballet. A mottled hand swung close and Chago ducked then thrust his blade up toward what he hoped was his opponent’s chest. Missed. Fuck. He’s miscalculated Archon. Again.

Archon’s massive arm struck Chago on the side of the head and knocked him to the ground. Pain exploded through his nervous system as a scalpel-sharp claw cleaved across his thigh. Archon roared, his breath a putrid cocktail of human waste.

Santo Cristo. He struggled against his opponent’s overwhelming grip. Numerous assaults slashed his chest, his neck and soon the blood loss made him easy quarry. Death called to Chago for the second time in twenty-four hours and once again it promised to hurt like hell.

Into the silent pause before his demise came a soft echo of reprieve—the snick of a cocked gun.

“Move away or I’ll blow your head off, asshole!” Irena’s ironclad tone carried across the humid air.

Archon turned and she shot. Green slime splattered, falling from his wounded mouth as he stumbled, tripping in his rush to escape. He gave a final shout of defiance before disappearing into the brush.

Through a pain-induced haze, Chago marveled at the precision of Irena’s strike. She’d hit the abomination square in its soft spot. Maybe he’d underestimated her.

Seal Of Awakening Seven Seals Series Book Three Traci Douglass Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy Publisher: SpinTale Publishing Date of Publication: October 28th, 2013 ISBN: 978-0-9897829-0-6 Number of pages: 261 Word Count: 70,000 Cover Artist: Kim Killion Book Description:

Socially awkward geneticist Quinn Strickland has willingly forgone the pleasures in life to reach her career objectives. Alone and approaching thirty, she uses her independence to mitigate any risk of a broken heart. Her strategy works until the day a handsome stranger bursts into her lab and her orderly plans shoot straight to Hades. He claims to be her personal divine protector, a powerful, ancient warrior sent to defend a prophetic time bomb existing within her own genetic code.

The Scion’s alpha-geek Wyck is offered the opportunity of his immortal lifetime as head of his own covert operation. He arrives at a Colorado lab expecting starched white coats and sterile surroundings—not a redheaded spitfire in charge of both his project and his libido. His skills have carried him from the battlefields of ancient England to the pits of Hell and he has no plans to be felled by one woman, regardless of her shag-worthy charms. Divine duty requires him to protect the apocalyptic Seal encrypted within Quinn’s DNA, but his heart has other ideas.

When his personal feelings interfere with his age-old vendetta, he’s forced to decide between desire and retribution.

Seal Of Surrender Seven Seals Series: Book 2 Traci Douglass Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy Publisher: Crimson Romance Number of pages: approx. 270 Word Count: 72,000 Book Description: Love, like War, will always find a way…

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

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

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

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

Seal Of Destiny Seven Seals Series Book One Traci Douglass Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy Publisher: Crimson Romance Number of pages: 263 Word Count: 70,000 Book Description: Love conquers all… but can it stop the Apocalypse?

Mira Herald is having the worst life ever. Not only is she plagued by horrific nightmares starring the Devil himself, she’s now the target of a power-hungry, rogue minion, freshly sprung from Hell and bent on her destruction. To complicate matters further, she’s acquired a stalker. One who insists he’s a divine warrior sent for her protection because she houses an ancient relic with the power to unleash Armageddon. Last time Mira checked, she wasn’t insane. Still, all this celestial mayhem is enough to drive a girl crazy.

Kagan is a member of the Scion, an elite team of immortal warriors selected by Divinity to aid mankind and save the world. After a century alone, Kagan is summoned for a new mission. He’s eager to begin. Eager until he’s informed his mission consists of protecting a woman with no clue to the power she wields.

Plus, his briefing fails to prepare him for his new target’s cosmic-sized attitude problem. As Divinity’s sworn servant, he’s required to fulfill his duty. His oath, however, does not require him to be enthusiastic about his new assignment or warm-and-fuzzy toward his new compatriot. He plans a wham-bam rescue and a quick return to solitude.

The rogue minion attacks—with the backing of a mysterious organization—and all Hades erupts, putting a fast end to any whirlwind escapes. Accustomed to staunch independence, Mira’s survival now requires full cooperation and an unwavering belief in Kagan. The battle-hardened warrior is also forced to chose: between duty and desire. Amidst the turmoil, Kagan and Mira’s undeniable passion draws them closer to each other and down a path neither expected but both yearn for, more than they ever knew.

Will love save the day? The world’s fate depends on the answer.

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

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

Other current projects include upcoming books in the Seven Seals series, a new contemporary novella series due out in early 2014, and a new futuristic suspense series with hints of the paranormal and plenty of romance.

Website and blog: http://www.tracidouglass.net FB Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/TraciDouglassAuthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/Traci_Douglass Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8112113-traci-douglass Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/tracidouglass

“You used to have a crush on me, ya know.”

Katie stopped dribbling the tennis ball on the court and focused on the speaker. Wes stood in front of her and to the left. He crouched, his forearms resting on his knees, his tennis racket twirling in his hand.

When he glanced over his shoulder at her, a sly smile covered his lips. She remembered when his hair was blonde, but recently he had dyed it black and cut it into a short spike. It made his skin look paler than normal; his thin lips looked redder. The corners of his brown eyes wrinkled as his smile widened.

She set her jaw. There were so many things she could say to him, the first and foremost that he was an idiot, but she pressed her lips into a line. Why would he bring that up at that particular moment? What did it matter? With a shake of her head, she faced forward and threw the ball in the air. Pretending it was Wes’s head, she smashed her racket into it with all her might.

It sailed over the net, and her opponent moved to the right to intercept it. A forehand shot sent it back toward Katie and Wes. It was beyond her court realm, so she let Wes get it. Inwardly, she kind of hoped it would hit him in the mouth, maybe swell up his lips so he couldn’t speak. It didn’t. He was ready and backhanded it over the net. The two teams volleyed a few more times, then the girl on the opposite side hit the ball a little too hard, knocking it out of bounds.

“Yeah!” Wes pumped his fist in the air, then approached Katie for a high five.

Reluctantly, she gave him one. The other team readied to serve, but the bell rang. Thank goodness, Katie thought. After leaving the tennis courts, she followed the rest of her class into their respective locker rooms.

long to shower and change. Being naked around other girls made her nervous. She was more developed than they were, and the way they stared and huffed at her, like she could control nature, made her uncomfortable.

The sooner she could cover up her body, the happier she was. She stopped at the bathroom mirror to quickly run a comb through her hair. With her dark brown hair wet, it looked black. It touched her shoulders, so it didn’t take long to get the comb through. She made sure the part in the middle was straight. Her hazel eyes caught the fluorescent lights and glittered for a moment. She leaned closer to the mirror and applied chapstick to her pouty lips. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she turned and headed out of the locker room.

As she stepped out the door and headed for the gym, someone grabbed her wrist from behind. The touch was familiar, and, if she was honest with herself, expected. Especially after what happened on the courts, an apology was in order. The action didn’t surprise her, and she didn’t cry out. Instead, she allowed herself to be pulled toward the storage area near the girl’s locker room that held the gymnastic mats. Her wrist was released and she turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. Wes hopped onto a stack of mats. It was typical of him to bring her someplace private, away from prying eyes, after making a spectacle in public. Wes was good at apologizing, but he was horrible about admitting he was wrong in front of others.

“Sorry about what I said on the court, but you needed some motivation. They were creaming us. I figured the best way to get you to play better was to make you mad.” He smiled.

Katie rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

She didn’t make it very far. Wes wrapped his legs Not being one to dilly-dally in the locker room around her thighs and pulled her backward. He drape and catch up on the latest gossip, it didn’t take Katie his arm across her left shoulder and rested his hands on

her ribs, right below her breast. She shuddered. His it, Josh?” Wes spit the name out before taking a step mouth was right next to her ear; his breath tickled her forward. lobe.

Josh also took a step, and worry coursed through Katie’s body. The tension in the air was pal“Why don’t you still have a crush on me?” he pable. She didn’t want them fighting on her account. whispered. He traced his fingertip gently across her Although, in the back of her mind, the action flattered shoulder and down her arm. her. Especially coming from Josh. He had just transGoosebumps rose on her flesh. Her stomach ferred to their school at the beginning of the semester. fluttered; a chill ran down her spine. The smell of As the captain of the baseball team, he was the desire soap and mint drifted into her nostrils. The heat from of every girl in the school and the envy of the boys. his body radiated through her, making her feel safe. It Katie hadn’t thought he knew she existed. Yet, there was a short-lived sensation though, and the flutter in he was coming to her rescue and calling her by name. her stomach quickly turned into a lump. She lifted her It was enough to make her swoon. And she would arm and dug her elbow into his side. He grunted and have if the situation had been different. As it was, she let go. Without a word, she stomped toward the gym. needed to stay alert. A teacher could come by at any Wes caught his breath and jumped off the moment. She didn’t want them getting in trouble for mats. “Katie, come on. Come back. I’m sorry.” She her. She had no idea what she would say, but she turned around, her face red with anger. “Just leave me could probably come up with something if she really alone!” needed to.

She tried to keep her emotions in check, but Not that she had anything to worry about from the words came out louder than she expected. She Wes. He’d never do anything to hurt her. He wasn’t spun around quickly, not wanting Wes to see how lying when he said she used to have a crush on him. upset she was. As she did, she ran into someone.

She’d liked him since they were in kindergarten. At Jerking back, she opened her mouth to apologize, but times, Wes even made it seem he liked her back. the words stuck in her throat. Bright blue eyes met Then, at other times, he made it perfectly clear he hers, then quickly flicked over her head. She took in didn’t reciprocate her feelings. Those moments the boy’s short light brown hair styled with gel, the crushed her, sent her home crying on more than one full lips that turned down in a frown. The muscles occasion. But those moments of tenderness, the ones bulged beneath his shirt, and she fought back the urge that made her believe he liked her, sustained her, kept to place her hands back on his chest. Josh Evers. her hoping that maybe someday something would “Everything all right, Katie? This guy bother- happen between them. He had toyed with her emoing you?” tions for their entire school career.

Oh, my God! she thought. He knows my name. Josh Evers knows my name!

By her senior year in high school, she’d had It took her a moment to find her voice. “No, enough. She couldn’t take the roller coaster of emoI’m fine. Thank you.” tion, didn’t want to feel like she was being strung The redness in her face that had been there along. She resolved to stay away from Wes, convincfrom anger quickly turned into embarrassment. The ing herself she could do it. Only one more year, then desire to run and hide from both boys overwhelmed she’d leave for college, and she’d never have to see her. him again. But he showed up her in homeroom, then “Hey, Josh, why don’t you mind your own in her gym class. She wanted to burst into tears when business? Katie and I were having a private conversa- he took the desk next to her. Why was he making this tion.” so difficult? Still, she wasn’t going to let her resolve fail. She would ignore him, pretend he didn’t exist.

Katie glanced over her shoulder. Wes had When Josh showed up, he made pretending placed his hands on his hips but hadn’t moved forWes wasn’t there so much easier. On top of that, he ward. She looked back at Josh. was standing up for her honor, defending her against “If you ask me, it doesn’t look like she wants a rival. As he stood in front of her, so close to her to talk to you at all.” He balled his hands into fists at body she felt the heat radiating from him, thoughts of his sides, a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by Wes. wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him “Oh, really? What are you going to do about ran through her mind. She imagined how firm his

muscles would feel under her hands, how soft his lips would be. She inhaled deeply and the spicy tang of aftershave caressed her nostrils. It took every ounce of self-control to keep from molesting him.

Josh took another step closer to Wes. Without thinking, she placed her hands on Josh’s stomach to stay him. As she suspected, the muscles were hard under her fingers. The seriousness of the situation flooded back into her mind. If she didn’t say something, a fight could ensue and someone might get hurt.

“Josh, no, please. He’s not worth it.” She glanced over her shoulder and stared at Wes with narrowed eyes.

Wes held his hands out to his sides. Hurt crossed his face.

Without saying another word, Josh wrapped his arm around Katie’s shoulders and escorted her into the gym away from Wes. The Appeal of Evil The Road to Salvation Series Book 1 Pembroke Sinclair Genre: YA Paranormal Publisher: Booktrope Date of Publication: January 17, 2014 ASIN: B00GURYUDA Number of pages: 275 Cover Artist: Ida Jansson Amazon Book Description: Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the “bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell.

Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?

About the Author: In 2009, eTreasures Publishing published my first novel, a sci fi adventure story. Since then, they have published my two YA zombie novels, my religious zombie novella, two children’s picture books, and two novellas with romantic elements. I have an urban fantasy novel about dragons and a vampire novelette that was published

by MuseItUp Publishing. Musa Publishing has published my novelette with romantic elements and a collection of short stories. I have a middle grade urban fantasy novel that was published by Little Devil Books. My nonfiction book about slasher films was published by Scarecrow Press.

Writing is my passion. I enjoy creating fantastic worlds and memorable characters. I’m an active promoter of

my works and love to talk to readers at book signings and readings. Doing giveaways on Goodreads has been an exciting experience, and having contests for readers has been fun. I actively promote various authors on my blog and participate in blog tours to promote my own work.

I write under several different pen names. For my children’s titles, I write under J.D. Pooker, and for my YA and adult novels, I write under Pembroke Sinclair. My nonfiction work is done under my real name.

I am a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and am on a committee to create membership criteria for iPAL, which is a sister group to the Published Authors Liaison group and focuses on independent and self -published authors. I am also a member of the ALA and really enjoy doing library visits.

Blog: http://pembrokesinclair.blogspot.com/ Web: http://pembrokesinclair.com/ Goodread: http://www.goodreads.com/Pembroke Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pembroke-Sinclair/e/B007RFYJ6W/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessicarobinsonauthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/PembrokeSinclai

Excerpt The nerve of that man! Why won’t he just accept things and go away? She paced back and forth, trying to control the frustration that was pumping through her. Every time she saw him, every hurt moment came flooding back to her and she just wanted him gone. She wanted to move on and live her own life and try her damndest to be happy!

“Jennah?”

She spun around, expecting someone to be behind her. There was no one there. Was that Dominic’s voice? Oh no, she was hallucinating now! Should she call her doctor? Maybe the stress had finally caught up to her. Was she going to end up spending her holidays alone in the psych ward?

“Jennah, why are you so upset?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. I am not hearing voices! I am not losing my mind!

She heard his deep chuckle. “No, you’re not losing your mind. This is really happening. I should have told you, but in our dream...it’s not really a dream. We’re connecting.”

Her eyes flew open. What? “What?” She stood perfectly still, waiting to see if she could hear him again.

“I can explain it better later. I just picked up on how upset you were...”

She squinted. “Picked up? How? How are you inside my head when I’m completely awake? How can we talk inside my head?”

She heard him chuckle again. “Inside mine, as well. I don’t have time right now. Are you all right?”

She laughed out loud, not knowing if he would hear it in her head too. “Clearly not! I’m talking to a man from my dream inside my head while I’m wide awake standing in the locker room at work!”

“Jennah...”

In Our Dream Dream Series Part 1 Jacqueline Paige Release date December, 10 2013 She’s a small town cop. He’s an inmate undercover. They meet in a dream.

Book Description: Jennah Best left the adrenaline packed life of being a cop on the edge for a more peaceful place. She escaped a marriage that almost destroyed her and now lives her life working for a small police station in the town of Ridge. At her age, she’s accepted that it’s too late and too much work to start all over again, until she meets a man in a dream...

While young, Dominic Palmer has always proven he can get the job done. Or at least, that was the case before he accepted a job and agreed to go undercover as an inmate. When months go by and there’s no word from his outside contact he wonders if he’s been left on the inside for good. He’s fighting to stay alive and keep his sanity, but finds himself completely distracted by a mysterious woman he met in a dream...

Previously released in Dreams anthology Part 2 From A Dream will be released in February 2014 Amazon Smashwords

About the Author: Jacqueline Paige lives in Ontario in a small town that’s part of the popular Georgian Triangle area. No one has ever heard of Stayner, so she usually tells people she lives “near Collingwood” and no, she doesn’t ski at Blue Mountain or at all, in fact she’s not even fond of snow.

She began her writing career in 2006 and since her first published works in 2009 she hasn’t stopped. Jacqueline describes her writing as “all things paranormal”, which she has proven is her niche with stories of witches, ghosts, physics and shifters now on the shelves.

When Jacqueline isn’t working at her ‘reality job’ or lost in her writing she spends time with her five children, most of whom are finally able to look after her instead of the other way around. Together they do random road trips, that usually end up with them lost, shopping trips where they push every button in the toy aisle, hiking when there’s enough time to escape and bizarre things like creating new daring recipes in the kitchen. She’s a grandmother to four (so far) and looks forward to corrupting many more in the years to come.

Jacqueline loves to hear from her readers, you can find her at www.jacqpaige.webs.com , www.jacqpaige.blogspot.ca or http://magicseasonsbooks.blogspot.ca

Writing: A Discipline or an Art

By Giovanna Lagana Do you see writing as an art or a discipline? I’d say it’s both. But for each author one aspect is more dominant than the other. Once you’ve determined which it is, then you can focus on that and move forward. For me when I was starting out, I saw writing only as an art, not a discipline. It was a means of release for my thoughts and emotions; an escape from all the stress. My stories or poems were my canvases. My mediums weren’t pastels or oil paints, but my imagination and my mind’s eye.

But as I grew as an author, my writing turned into a discipline. I no longer wrote for the sole purpose of creative release. I wanted to make a career out of it. Unfortunately when you as a writer come to a crossroad in your life and take the route of making writing a discipline that means you need to devote most of your day to it. Which also means that you need to write prolifically and can’t afford to get writer’s block.

Getting writer’s block is an author’s nightmare. I suffer from it often, especially with new stories I’m working on. I’ve tried almost anything to get rid of it, but end up just putting the story aside and starting a new one and if it takes off, I’m ecstatic. If it doesn’t, I get cranky. I put it aside and start another hoping this time it’ll get written.

I have so many stories I started and stopped stored in my junk Word folder, I’m too scared to count. It’ll only stress me, because I loved each and every one of those premises and the artist in me wants to see what started in my imagination and in my mind’s eye transported to my canvas and into a completed story. But I try not to harp on those canvases stuck in limbo or I’ll stress myself out. Are other authors like me? Are you?

I guess every author feels like I do. He/she wants to see every one of their premises turned into a completed story. Some writers have gone to great lengths to keep writer’s block at bay. For instance, Honoré de Balzac would wake up at 1:00 in the morning and work until 8:00 a.m., take a short nap and start writing again until 4:00 p.m. John Milton had the Bible read to him daily for inspiration. And Dan Brown works in hourly intervals doing push ups in-between to recharge.

I haven’t gone to these great lengths to avoid writer’s block. Maybe if I did, then perhaps more if not all of my past stories would have been written. My New Year’s resolution is to zap writer’s block once and for all. I know, it’s a harrowing feat, but maybe this time, I’ll get it right. My plan is to hide in a no Wi-Fi distraction zone, once

I’m fully awake and caffeinated. I’m going to actually write my detailed outlines and each chapter on paper, like I used to do years ago before I turned writing into a discipline. Then once each chapter is completed on paper, I’ll type it out in the afternoon or early evening. I hope this will be the ultimate remedy for me. Please wish me luck. I’ll need it. :) How about you? What writing habits have you or will you incorporate in your daily ritual as a disciplined writer in order to be inspired and more productive?

Begotten The Forsaken Prophecies Giovanna Lagana Genre: Paranormal romantic suspense Mystery/Thriller ASIN: B00H0M7PLI Number of pages: 324 Word Count: 78280 Cover Artist: Ghislain Mallet Amazon Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk Smashwords

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Book Description:

In the blink of an eye Megan Johnson’s perfect life turns into a nightmare. Her beloved husband mysteriously dies in a car crash and her fourteen-year-old son, Tristan, runs away with a diabolical cult leader named Vincent Hellion. Her world is spiraling to destruction. She leans on her husband’s best friend, Rhett Foster, for support and help. But when feelings she thought she never had for Rhett begin to surface and unknown psychic powers possess her, she becomes more confused than ever. She tries to push her feelings for Rhett aside and focus on her visions to save her son before it’s too late.

Rhett Foster has loved Megan for so long. But he never confessed his feelings to her because his best friend was her husband. Now that her husband is dead, he struggles with his conscience. Should he tell Megan how he really feels or should he honor his best friend's memory?

Megan's desperate quest to find and free her son sets them both on a path of love, danger, and renewal. If they return, their lives will be changed forever.

Excerpt: Megan closed the door and leaned on it. She began to cry. Fatigue and the doctor’s words took their toll on her.

Rhett hugged her and caressed her long hair. “You heard what the doctor said? Tristan is going to be all right.”

She sniffled. “But what if he gets worse? Mark and he were so close. He lost his whole world a few days ago.”

“He still has you,” Rhett said.

“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t let me in? What if he won’t let me help him and support him? He’s a teenager now, Rhett. At his age, who knows how he will react.”

Rhett stared into her eyes, which she knew were watery, red, and puffy. “Then I’m here. Granted, my relationship with Tristan isn’t anywhere as close as his relationship had been with his dad, but we are still close. If he won’t confide in you, then I’ll try. The kid is tough. You and Mark hit the jackpot with him. He’ll be okay.”

“I hope you’re right, Rhett.”

He pulled out a compact pouch of tissues from his suit pocket. “Here you go.”

She smiled, wiped her teary eyes, and jokingly said, “Thanks, do you have any mascara in there, too?”

He put his hand in his pocket to check. “No, just a small lint remover. Care to use it?”

They both laughed at his joke. Then Megan felt a twinge of guilt for experiencing a happy emotion when she buried her husband just a few hours before. She turned serious. “Why is it that you always know what to say or do? It’s like you can read my mind.”

He smiled as he raised his left eyebrow. “That’s because we’ve known each other almost all our lives.”

“That’s true. There’s nothing we don’t know about each other. We have no secrets. You’re like the big brother I always wanted.”

Looking up into the air, he nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. You always say that.”

“But it’s true. You’ve always been there for me, and for Mark.” A yawn escaped her lips. “What am I thinking right now?”

Rhett winked as he spoke. “Okay, okay, I get the hint. I’ll go now.” With genuine concern, he continued, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes, I think I’ll go to bed early.”

He opened the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow from work. Bye.” He kissed her cheek and left. ****

As Rhett closed the door behind him, he rubbed his nose. Megan’s soft locks had tickled his cheek. He could still smell her strawberry scented shampoo. He thought about what she had just said as he stood on her porch. “We have no secrets,” she’d uttered. She was wrong.

He had a secret that he kept from her all of these years. He wondered if he should ever tell her the truth.

Their friendship would be at great risk if he did.

Rhett got into his car, put on the radio, and tuned it to his favorite station. The Wind Beneath My Wings was playing. He had a flashback of when he and Megan had been seventeen. They were dancing to this song at their prom.

Since they didn’t have any dates, they decided to go with each other. A smile formed on his face as he remembered how they both had two left feet. A spectacle they had made of themselves on the dance floor. Ah, the fun times they had. Megan was certainly someone special. How boring his life would have been if she had never come into it.

He drove off, vowing to protect her and her son in these troubled times. He owed it to Mark and to himself.

About the Author:

Giovanna Lagana is a freelance author. Some of her short stories and poems have been featured in magazines like Tales of the Talisman, Short-Story.Me, Static Movement, and Fear and Trembling Magazine, etc.

To learn more about Giovanna and her writing, please check her website at: www.giovannalagana.com Website: www.giovannalagana.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/G_Lagana Blog: http://giovannalaganablog.wordpress.com Blog: http://jjgiovanna.bravejournal.com/

Love in the Shadows Dylan Madrid Genre: LGBT/Romance/Suspense/ Thriller/Spy/Espionage Publisher: Bold Strokes Books Date of Publication: January 14, 2014 ISBN: 978-1602829817 ASIN: Number of pages: 192 Word Count: 50,000 Amazon Barnes and Noble Book Description: Quintin Pearson, an American living in London, has spent the last two years working as a magazine staff writer and nursing a broken heart. Craving a change in his quiet life, Quintin accepts an invitation to an exclusive party hosted by Regina Bremington, the U.S. ambassador’s glamorous wife. At the party, terror takes over when the electricity suddenly goes out and the ambassador is assassinated.

In the safety of a dark bedroom, Quintin meets a mysterious stranger named Luca, an Italian spy. Even though the two men can’t see each other, a spark is ignited that soon becomes a mutual lust. Within days, Luca arranges for them to meet again at a remote seaside town in Belgium. There, Luca confesses his true identity and convinces Quintin they must team up to bring the ambassador’s killer to justice.

About the Author: Dylan Madrid is the author of the novels Mind Fields, Love in the Shadows, and Backstrokes. A California native, Dylan grew up in the Bay Area. He opted to backpack through seven countries before heading to college and spent a year living in Europe, primarily on the Greek island of Ios. When he's not dreaming about living on the Italian Riviera or running away to Belgium, Dylan teaches college courses in writing and the arts.

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Inner Reflections Book 3 in the Hidden Senses Trilogy Jacqueline Paige Release date January 15, 2014 Class Act Books Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense Book Description: Detective Alec McGowan is dedicated to serving justice and will crush all that stand in her way. Long used to burying her passions after tragedy and heartbreak taught her that loving someone is dangerous, she expresses them the only way she knows how. Passion for her job has landed her on a hit list, and rather than fearing death she is annoyed and more determined to find them before they find her.

Ian MacTavish is a loner and finds it easier to stay that way.

The constant barrage of other people’s thoughts is exhausting, and relationships are even more troublesome for someone with his “talent”. Using his skill has brought him considerable financial reward, and allowed him to stay uninvolved and unencumbered. When a night of harmless mind surfing leads him further into a twisted plot of chaos and murder, his appearance at the police station surprises him most of all.

About the Author: Jacqueline Paige lives in Ontario in a small town that’s part of the popular Georgian Triangle area. No one has ever heard of Stayner, so she usually tells people she lives “near Collingwood” and no, she doesn’t ski at Blue Mountain or at all, in fact she’s not even fond of snow.

Jacqueline loves to hear from her readers, you can find her at www.jacqpaige.webs.com , www.jacqpaige.blogspot.ca or http://magicseasonsbooks.blogspot.ca

Foresight Guarded Secrets Series Book One Erika Szabo Genre: epic romance, fantasy romance Book Description: Ilona has been in love with her unsuspecting best friend, when a dashing stranger explodes into her life. The sudden magnetic feeling frightens her. Will he break her heart, or will he bring true happiness?

A sinister dark man appears, Ilona connects his presence with the series of mysterious deaths around her. She is an emergency room doctor, born into an ancient tribe which still exists hidden amongst us with its fiercely enforced rules. She doesn’t know much about her heritage besides legends and rituals that she continues out of respect for her parents.

She begins to remember the forgotten instructions concealed as rhymes her mother was teaching her since she was a small child and discovers that she can rearrange the human body to its healthy state.

This ability is exciting as well as frightening. She is conflicted between having confidence in her intelligence and inherited abilities while having no confidence as a woman.

Her insecurity created barriers which keep others out, and I also keep her caged in. She has been evacuated from her easy and steady life, and is forced to face the unknown.

Amazon Smashwords Lulu BN Book Video: http://youtu.be/VT1vISCrW1k Magazine: http://www.joom.ag/ZPsX About the Author: Growing up with a father who was a closet reader, some macho image that allowed him to only read in secret.

After I caught him reading my book, The Lady of the Camellias, he shared his love of books with me and introduced me to many great books.

Before I started writing this series, I had played with the idea of writing a fantasy story peppered with historical facts. The history of the Huns always fascinated me—they were my ancestors—although I decided that it was a stupid idea after I started reading about how to write a fiction book. I had no idea how to create a good story line or form characters and make up a plot, and I wasn’t a literary genius. But, the idea didn’t leave me alone, and I kept adding events and dialogues in my head to Ilona’s story.

Not knowing how to do something properly had never prevented me from accepting a good challenge before, so I sat down at the computer and began writing. I've never been good at following rules or formulas; therefore, I discarded the instructions and made up my own rules.

I began writing Ilona's story as a diary, for my own enjoyment, jotting down the ideas that swirled in my head was far better than being haunted by them. For months I kept writing and soon realized that I never had so much fun doing anything in my life before.

http://www.authorerikamszabo.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Erika.M.Szabo.ND.Author https://www.facebook.com/IlonaTheHunNovels https://twitter.com/#!/erikamszabo http://lnkd.in/N64qzw https://plus.google.com/u/0/112402888400847638099/posts/ p/pub http://www.pinterest.com/erikamszabo/ http://www.amazon.com/Erika-M.-Szabo/e/B004S0OV12/ http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/erikamszabo http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4264484.Erika_M_Szabo

Picture Your Book Cover Or Blog Advertisement here.

Contact Roxanne For more details roxannerhoads@bewitchingbooktours.com

Rain Soaked

By Roxanne Rhoads Rainbow droplets formed prism puddles while sunlight peeked through rainmist clouds We slipped into our backyard garden Bare feet on slippery grass Giggling like children as we chased each other in the rain Hide and seek behind the trees Losing clothing and inhibitions among the lush leaves and dripping flowers Rain soaked skin sleek and slippery touching in the steamy air Hungry kisses tasting of salt and rain Thighs and petal lips parted open wide to let him in Passion plunging and penetrating Drenched bodies joined in desire The scent of sex mingled with damp earth and rain Seed spilled on wet soil In a rain soaked garden Pleasure bloomed

When you look though book titles, do you visualize an image just from the title of the book?

This happens to me quite often, as it did when I read the title of Roxanne Rhoads’ book: Paranormal Pleasures.

The title of the book put a vision in my head, and has been… do I dare say… haunting me (I know, but I just had to say it) for weeks! I just had to create the image I imagined.

I contacted Kyla Bella and explained the concept; she loved the idea and knew someone that would love to shoot it with us.

Meet Kyla (the mortal) and Ashlee (the Spirit)!

The Holidays are behind us, and a clean fresh New Year ahead!

After a night of celebrating the end of one year, and the birth of another, I love the idea of waking up to a fresh new start of a New Year beginning!

So, Sleep in a little, take your time waking up. Sit up, take a slow cleansing breath.....

go to the window and greet the New Year!

Take a moment to think how this year "is going to be better" than the last, and make yourself a promise to take a few moments every now and then for yourself.

{ Model: Kati } Happy New Year!

Steven Jon Horner Photography Livonia, Michigan www.stevephotome.com www.facebook.com/StevenJonHornerPhotography