SFR Monday

We don't belong here. Shadow Wars Homebound featured post. http://www.markofthestars.com/wp/shadow-wars-homebound-ursula-sinclair/

Echoes at Dawn by Maya Banks, a Nonstop Page Turner

Book Summary:

Grace Peterson is cursed with paranormal abilities. She and her sister share psychic abilities, but Grace is special. Grace has the ability to heal. The only setback is that when she heals, she takes on the ailment or injury of the affected party. Grace has escaped from her captors and is in hiding from a black ops group, looking to take her for her healing powers.

In walks Rio, a member of the KGI. After discussing her predicament with the Kelly brothers, the men who run the KGI, he decides that he needs to be the one to bring Grace home. He feels drawn to her somehow. Once he meets Grace, he is unprepared for the gravity of his feelings for her, and when things get out of hand, he can’t see past getting her back by whatever means necessary.

My Review:

It goes without saying that the Kelly brothers and their friends are the definition of the Alpha male. In Echoes at Dawn, Rio goes after Grace with a vengeance, crazy with rage, testosterone just dripping from his pores. Rio comes across Grace as she is in the process of escaping from her captors and saves her life. At that point in Grace’s life, she is weak, and her desire to live is diminishing. Rio puts everything on the line to bring Grace back safely, but things don’t go exactly as planned.

This book was earth shattering. Although it is certainly a romantic suspense by genre, it has the delightful elements of the paranormal. The love story between Grace and Rio is heartwarming and will leave you teary eyed at the end. No matter how busy your schedule may be, this book will take over your will and demand that you finish it. I highly recommend this book for both paranormal romance readers, and romance readers alike. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Miss Maya Banks you have done it again.

Here comes trouble

Ellie Hunter wasn’t looking for a protector, but she definitely wanted a place to lay low and hide. Divorced from her abusive husband for over six months, Ellie goes to Trouble’s gates as a last resort after her ex pays her a "final" visit.  
Allister McCall, Ryan Thomas, Derek Swinney, and Bradley Powers have known Ellie for the better part of their lives and the memory of sharing her is stamped in their minds. When Ellie arrives in small town Trouble, the men jump to all sorts of illicit assumptions.
Once Ellie reconnects with Allister, Ryan, Derek, and Bradley, Ellie’s life is seemingly complete, assuming her ex-husband will let her live in peace. With Navy SEALs training behind them, Ellie’s men are confident Ellie’s ex will finally let her go but if he refuses there will be hell to pay. One way or another, four men will ensure Ellie is protected, loved, cherished, honored, and adored.

Bookstrand 
Amazon 

 

 

 

And Coming to Siren-Bookstrand on March 16th, the installment readers are already talking about! 

Coming March 16th to Siren-Bookstrand

Unofficial Book Details

One wrong turn in life lands Heather Powers in the heart of danger. Recognizing an opportunity to break free of captivity, she sends out an urgent cry for help. Soon, Trouble’s founding fathers are gathering round in hopes of saving one of their own, but the clock is ticking as they sneak up on Heather’s captors in a creepy forest.

Attempting to pull Heather out of a bad situation, Curt Caldwell, Justin Dare, and Gabe Reynolds uncover an evil family with a deadly agenda. Desperate to save an innocent victim, Trouble’s men march straight into the heart of spine-chilling danger. Soon, they’re forced to face off with the occult and a haunting wickedness far more sinister than anyone could ever imagine. The stakes are high as these men risk everything for love, including the very safe haven they affectionately call their home.  

Natalie Acres
www.bookstrand.com/natalie-acres
www.Twitter.com/NatalieAcres
www.Facebook.com/NatalieAcresAuthor

 

Welcome to Trouble, Tennessee

Nicholas Speed, Harley McCall, Doc Andrews, Trevor Lamb, and Mac McCall venture off to a neighboring town in search of a good time. What they find is a beautiful young woman looking to fool around.

Sable Samms is a scorned woman ready to do whatever it takes to permanently sever former matrimonial ties. Separated from her previous husband, Sable can’t escape her former spouse’s claims. She can almost feel his abusive hands tightening their squeeze so she puts a plan in motion and arranges to meet some of Trouble, Tennessee’s founding fathers. 

After one night of passion, the men search for the woman who left them with unshakable memories. They’re almost ready to give up when they’re summoned to Trouble’s front gates to assist with a new arrival. Unbeknownst to them, Trouble’s latest resident is none other than Sable Samms, the woman they shared and lost. Now, they’ll have their second chance at happiness and maybe even love.  

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Bookstrand 

Frist Blood – Book 2 in the Linked Series

Available at Amazon, Barnes and  Noble or order from your favorite book store.

Wow! I just finished the second book in the series and did not want it to end. Judy Serrano has so much talent and really knows how to lure you into the story. Wonder if I was compelled? (laugh)

Judy is definitely up there with some of the best vampire authors out there. Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer, Laurell Hamilton, in my opinion even better. She just has a way of drawing you into the story. You feel like you are right there with them, even a part of the family, because you can’t help but fall in love with the characters. There is never a dull moment, there is never a confusing moment like you just got lost and have to go back and re-read to understand what just happen. I just think this author is a marvelous, splendid, and brilliant writer.

Normally I would write something about the story itself, but I am afraid of giving too much of the story away and ruin it for others to read. This is just a book you got to read. I guess I can tell you of course it has vampires, werewolves and sabers.  It has romance, sexy love scenes, killing, and healing but that’s all I’m going to say.  GO BUY AND READ THE BOOK. You will be glad you did. I can‘t wait to read the next in the story.

Patricia Foltz

Way2Kool Design Review

 

WWW.6KPUBLISHING.COM

 

 

 

Mystical Christmas -The Vampire Diaries by Susan Smith Alvis

What if everything you wanted was all within your reach but not yours for the taking?

 

Klaus and Stefan are tearing through the South collecting hybrids and leaving a trail of dead bodies behind them. Unable to reach Stefan any other way, Elena devises a holiday plan to lure Stefan back home.

Damon thinks Elena is wasting her time and fears the worst. He and Stefan no longer celebrate Christmas, but if Klaus approves Elena’s request, Damon will support her by giving her what she wants—a traditional Christmas.

What Elena wants and what she gets are two different vampires altogether. Elena approaches Klaus and asks for Stefan’s release, even if it’s only for one Christmas weekend. Klaus agrees, but his terms and conditions are nonnegotiable.

Soon, Elena is holed up in a snow-covered chalet with the Salvatore brothers and Klaus, an original vampire with an unusual agenda. And he’s gone to great lengths to find out who Elena really loves. 

 

 

Excerpt One

 Dear Diary,

 

I used to love mystery and danger. Like other teenage girls, I’d often imagined what it might be like to find myself in the middle of a catastrophe, stuck between two great forces—like good and evil—only far more dramatic.

At that time, Stefan and Damon Salvatore didn’t exist in my world. The world—at least the one I lived in—was less complicated. My days then were in black and white, with an occasional burst of color and flare, compliments of Caroline. 

Then the Salvatore brothers entered my life and everything changed. I soon learned there wasn’t a line of division down the middle with these two. And after I met Damon and Stefan, my former life faded to black and now the past seems surreal.

I look down at the Salvatore driveway, now lined with packed snow and jagged tracks and wonder how I could’ve been so naïve. Who was that young girl who compartmentalized thoughts, people, places and things?  Why didn’t she take the time to see the bigger picture with more multidimensional aspects, more depth?

As I think about the coming hours with a mix of dread and a dash of excitement, I now know a well-rounded life takes a triangle’s shape. Life isn’t clean and tidy with a circular rotation driven by nature to lead us all back to where we started. It’s not boxed up all nice and neat with defined planes and specific instructions to make our days easier. How boring would that be? Then again, after barely surviving these last few months, boring sounds like a little slice of heaven. 

It’s the most wonderful time of year or it is for those who believe in the two-sided world, the world beyond this window, the one where others grade their mere existence by good or evil.

But there is a third entity or force. And he’s standing right behind me. 

 

 

Excerpt Two

 

“You promised to release him while we’re in Tennessee.”

“And I will,” Klaus assured her. “Once we’re settled in and before the sun goes down.”

“Is there a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”

“All right, Elena, you win. I’ll let you in on a little secret.” His demeanor changed then. “You can’t play with fate or run from it, love. Katerina tried and as you saw for yourself, she failed on numerous occasions. She also loved two brothers as you love two brothers.”

“I never said—”

Klaus held up his hand. “Let me finish. Damon gives you what you need, what you must have at any cost. Stefan, on the other hand, gives you what you want—the ability to stay committed to your high moral standards. The Stefan you know gives you a normal relationship, an acceptable bond. Your friends like him. Your teachers accept him.” 

“What about the Stefan you know?”

“The Stefan I know would rip your pretty little neck apart if I so much as compelled him to do so.”

She swallowed, processing. Klaus wanted to hurt her. He wanted to watch how she interacted with the Salvatore brothers. He would then later use what he learned against her. “You made Stefan into something he’s not.”

“On the contrary,” Klaus said. “We’re vampires. That makes us hunters or predators by nature. We’re only killers by choice.”

 

Beta Readers' "Favorite Lines from The Vampire Diaries" Mystical Christmas

(Kindle Worlds Novella) [Kindle Edition]

1. Her mind’s eyes flickered with newspaper clippings about a rampant killing spree, a murderous binge controlled by Klaus and executed by Stefan.

 

2. “On the contrary,” Klaus said. “We’re vampires. That makes us hunters or predators by nature. We’re only killers by choice.”

 

3. "Stefan’s weapons are embedded in his gums. No one hands him anything. He takes what he wants.”

 

4. "You and Damon probably weren’t supposed to spend Christmas together. You aren’t exactly an ideal mistletoe-seeking pair.”

 

5. "At the end of the day, you’re nothing more than a bleeding vein to him, Elena.”

 

6. Their love washed over her like a high tide racing toward shore in the middle of a devastating storm, a volatile gale that would temporarily calm before striking with brutal force in the desolate hours of a quiet holiday night. 

 

7. “Proximity is a real bitch when you’re the only one with a beating heart in a houseful of vampires.” 

 

8. “You can make a deal with the devil but it doesn’t mean you have to follow him back to hell.” 

 

9. "Far be it for me to break the news here, but we’re both dead, brother.” Stefan lifted his glass. “I thought you knew.”

 

10. "I can’t pretend I don’t have feelings for you when every single time I look at you, I only see an extension of me.” 

 

11. “It’s hard to choose a side when your heart draws its sword for one cause while your head supports another.”  

Only $1.99 Today At Amazon 

About the Author: Susan Smith Alvis has been a career author for over a decade. With over 300 titles to her credit, her pseudonyms have been award-winning authors with international bestsellers in most genres. To find out more, visit her book page at Amazon. To sign up for updates and future release date announcements, email her at susansmithalvis@gmail.com



The Old Man and Me by RC Larlham

The Talking Stone by WR. Park

 



 
Jonathan Greylock, college professor, bestselling author, and well-known archeologist undertakes a quest that nearly costs him his life. His adventure begins when the new, beautiful university librarian, Phineas St. Clair, stops him in the parking lot and hands him a letter from an official of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo instructing Jack to pick up a package at the post office. Much to their surprise, inside is a carved clay object, referred to as a talking stone. It is the first of five talking stones, the remaining four yet to be discovered.

Their dangerous hunt for The Talking Stones takes them to Jordan’s mysterious Petra, to ancient tunnels in Malta, to recently uncovered ruins in Israel and to Peru’s most mysterious and perilous cave.

The combined message of the talking stones takes Jack and Finn to the underwater location where the great Ramses II statue once stood before it was moved to avoid being consumed by Lake Nasser.

Stunned beyond belief at their discovery, Jack and Finn are forced to make a monumental decision that seals the fate of Egypt’s greatest treasure.

Jack’s words about their future together please Finn—but his private thoughts create an enigma without end.

Read  the Book Teaser  -    Purchase on Amazon

“I have been a fan of WR.PARK’s work for years and ‘The Talking Stones’ is his best work to date. Full of archaeological mysteries, cutthroat adventures, and a plot as twisted as a Gordian Knot. Here is a story to be savored deep into the night. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

- New York Times bestselling author James Rollins  

 

Way2Kool Designs

Way2Kool Designs has a new look check it out. www.way2kooldesigns.com

Authors if you need a web design or book covers, bookmarks, post cards book ads go check it out. Affordable prices you can't beat.

Patty
Way2KoolDesigns.com

Lost Years. 5th in the Lilly Series is now Availble

This is the 5th book I have read in this series now. The author has so much heart, thought and talent that goes into her series you can’t help but be drawn into it.

This book takes you back to when Diego Junior was a teenager which explains some details from the story that came out before The Lost Years. “Memoirs of a Mobster”.

We all think of mobsters, gangsters and drug dealers as unscrupulous, evil people, and most of them are. But with Judy’s Lilly Series they are more than just mobsters and gangsters. They are people who love and hurt, who have children just like anyone else. Some are not given a choice to be who they are, some are born into it. Some try to run from it and get new starts, but where ever they go trouble finds them.

Lilly did her best to try and take Junior away from all that. To have a normal life, but with the name Monitiago being known as the biggest crime lords in the United States and Mexico that is not an easy task.

Junior has shot and killed people, including a couple of his uncles. Junior now feels there may be something wrong with him. He has no regret for what he does, until he falls in love for the very first time and of course with someone else girlfriend, which leads to a whole lot of trouble.

The Uncles have done a good job with grooming him, and teaching him how to protect himself. But not only that, they taught him to respect women as well. Like no sex. And that family and friendship are also very important. Junior gets into trouble; he gets grounded, just like any normal teenager. The only difference between him and other teenagers is he knows how to shoot and will kill you if he has to.

Judy Serrano has so much going on in the stories, she tells parts that terrify you, parts that bring a smile to your face and parts that brings tears to your eyes. She reminds me of the author Danielle Steel who brings out the same emotions in her stories. But don’t take my word for it. Go out and buy the book and if you haven’t read any of the Lilly series buy them all. You won’t be disappointed. I would love to see this series turn into a movie or a TV mini-series one day.

I can’t wait to see what she has coming out next. Judy Serrano is awe-inspiring, outstanding story teller.

Purchase at your local bookstores are at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com

Interview with Charles Larlham

Welcome Charles Larlham. Thank you for agreeing to do and interview with us.

 

 

 

1.      My first question is, what made you want to tell your story?

a.       I remember most everything that happens to me, and I loved to tell stories about some of those things to my friends. Eventually, I wrote a couple, and then a couple more, and then...

b.      About three years ago I began writing my stories on a writers’ social media site called Gather.com. It wasn’t long before site members started saying I should make a book of them. After a while I strung a bunch together in a single file and discovered I had about ninety thousand words. Sunuvvagun... I had written a book about my youth and all I’d been doing was telling stories.

 

2.      Would you say you can from a large town or a small town?

a.       No town at all, Patty. I grew up on a “gentleman’s farm” about three miles outside the Village of Mantua, Ohio, a village of about a thousand people.

 

3.      Do you have siblings? And if so how do they feel about your writing this book about you and the Old Man?

a.       I have a brother about a year and a half younger than I. He has his own concerns, and the book isn’t really of much interest to him. You’ll meet him in the book.

b.      I also have a sister, Lyndella, about six years younger than I am and she’s very proud of the whole idea. She thinks I glossed over some rough patches, but rough patches are for books of self-analysis. This is a book about the good times I often didn’t recognize until they were past.

 

4.      If you could pick out the one most important childhood memory what would it be?

a.       My twelfth birthday – in The Old Man and Me, it’s a whole chapter entitled “The Best Birthday Ever.” It may be the most important memory of my childhood for my readers, too.

 

5.       Your mother Hattie Larlham started the Hattie Larlham Foundation. Could you tell your readers what the Hattie Larlham is all about? And how that got started?

a.       Oh my, now that’s a big question. The Hattie Larlham Foundation cares for more than fifteen hundred developmentally disabled children and adults, both at the main campus at our old farmstead and in homes and home-like environments. It has expanded so much since we started with a half-dozen children in our home that it would take this whole interview to describe it fully.

b.      It got started with a my mother’s dream to find a way to help the families of developmentally disabled children in Ohio, and the children as well. But it just never seemed to get off the ground. Then a neighbor family was forced to take a child they couldn’t care for home from the hospital. Mother’s response was, “Somebody ought to do something!” According to her, backed by the Old Man, I responded (wholly out of exasperation), “Well, aren’t we somebody?” As it turned out... we were.

 

6.      Your bio said you were a soldier for three years. Were you ever deployed?

a.       I was a soldier from August 1962 until August of 1965. During that time I was sent to South Korea for thirteen months. I suppose it was technically a deployment, since that conflict was only under truce. There was no surrender, no winner, no loser and no end.

b.      The two Koreas were not officially in an active combat situation, although there were constant “incidents.”

 

7.      How old were you during World War II?

a.       I was born the end of July 1942, about seven months after Pearl Harbor. I was barely three when WWII ended.

 

8.      How did the great depression impact your family and town?

a.       It affected the Old Man and Mother a great deal. As did many people, they worried constantly about whether they were about to find themselves in similar circumstances again. What we could buy was often tempered by a need to do without and put that money aside for something “important.”

 

9.      Getting back to your books. How does it feel to be a first time author so late in your life? And if you could give one piece of advice to other people in your age group, on how to tell their stories or how to get started. What would that advice be?

a.       Ah, one of those questions. How does it feel? I don’t think about it a lot, but when I do there is a great sense of wonder. I guess it’s tinged with a bit of wistfulness, because I tried selling short stories when there were magazines that bought them, and I tried writing novels, but I always ran out of story at about 30,000 words. I kind of wish I’d tried this genre’ a lot earlier. But it is what it is.

b.      I can only tell other people what I did, and what my kid brother told me a long time ago. I just wrote as if I were telling stories in a bar, around a campfire, in the barracks... wherever. What Giles told me was to add the background... talk about the setting, describe the room, the woods, the sky above you, the dog trotting by and distracting you. Modern writing teachers say, “Show the story, don’t tell it.” That’s why my stories take off on tangents. It keeps people interested and they learn something.

 

10.  Have you started writing your second book in the series yet? Have any ideas when that will be available?

a.       I have the second book about ninety-five per cent written, and about fifty percent edited. I will write at least one more story about undergraduate college days, and there may be a couple more that I’ll drop in if I get time to write them.

b.      I have not discussed a publishing target with Black Rose Writing, but I would think it would be out by early spring 2014. Book Three is about 50 percent ready as well, and it might be a story for this time next year. Whether there would be more, I can’t say.

 

11.  Ok I have to ask. Your name is Charles and I know your friends call you Chuck but your Initials are RC. What does the R Stand for?

a.       My given name is Richard Charles Larlham. Richard was also the Old Man’s first name, and he went by “Dick.” People would ask Mother, “How’s Dick?” After I came along, the question & answer session would go something like this: A friend would ask, “Hello, Pat. How’s Dick?” Mother would answer, “Oh, he’s fine. Has to work this weekend.” The friend would then ask, “And little Dickie?”

b.      Mother hated diminutive names, so I quickly became Charles, and then Chuck (although never to Mother).

 

Well Chuck I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us and to let your readers know more about you.

 

You can find Chuck Larlham on the web at these locations,

 

www.RCLarlham.com

https://www.facebook.com/OldManAndMe

www.linkedin.com/pub/charles-larlham/27/6a8/739

https://twitter.com/Mohawk742

 

Chuck’s first book “The Old Man and Me” is now currently available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble or order them from any of your favorite book stores.

Interview with author RC Larlham

RC Larlham has agree to do an interview with us September 19, 2013

The day his book entitled " The Old Man and Me will be released from Blackrose Writing

We invite you all to come out and here what he has to say.

 

The Old Man and Me

Welcome to my Author’s website. My first book, “The Old Man and Me: Extraordinary Stories from an Ordinary Childhood Post WWII,” begins my story of growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. The book is published by Black Rose Writing, and the planned Release Date is September 19, 2013. Black Rose and I hope to count you among its readers and fans. This is planned to be a series of at least three books, and it is my hope that all of them bring joy (and a bit of education) to all who read them.

Once the book is released, there will be opportunities to order the book directly, including author’s signature. We’ll make a chapter available to read as soon as possible (and when the second book begins its journey to publication we’ll offer an early chapter as a teaser). There will be links to other author sites and chances to win free books.

Read more here

New Release: Symbiotic Mates 7: Cullen and the Kindred Spirit

A new release is always cause for celebration, but this one is extra special to me because it's been a long time coming. Books one to six have been revised, lengthened and re-released by Siren Publishing. Here's a look at book seven which features a new couple and brings back all your old favorites.

 This title is offered at a 10% New Release discount. Offer ends midnight CST, September 14th.

Symbiotic Mates 7: Cullen and the Kindred Spirit


What happens when natural enemies suddenly become blood mates?

 Vampire Cullen Blackhawk gets caught helping a wolf-shifter rescue his human mates from the Colony. Now he's forced to accompany the fugitives to Arcadia and spy on the pack. Cullen figures the humans will be his blood donors, but the shifter leaves Arcadia and takes Cullen's only food source with him. Then the unthinkable happens. Cullen finds himself attracted to an omega wolf.

 Mika Hill's role in the pack has always been that of submissive slut, but Cullen treats him like an equal and Mika shows his gratitude by offering Cullen blood. A starving Cullen can't help himself, and now he's forced to confront his escalating feelings for an omega who's mated to someone else. Mika falls hard for Cullen, but he knows there's no future for a wolf and a vampire. Or is there? Mika will do anything to keep Cullen—even if it means forcing a blood-mating.

Available at Bookstrand:

http://www.bookstrand.com/symbiotic-mates-7-cullen-and-the-kindred-spirit

Happy Reading!

 Gale

  [Siren Classic ManLove: Erotic Alternative Paranormal Romance, M/M, vampires, shape-shifters, HEA]

Website: http://galestanley.net/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/galestanley

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