Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly

A Criminal Magic

Author: Lee Kelly

Publication date: February 2nd, 2016

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult

Book Description:

THE NIGHT CIRCUS meets THE PEAKY BLINDERS in Lee Kelly’s new crossover fantasy novel.

Magic is powerful, dangerous and addictive – and after passage of the 18th Amendment, it is finally illegal.

It’s 1926 in Washington, DC, and while Anti-Sorcery activists have achieved the Prohibition of sorcery, the city’s magic underworld is booming. Sorcerers cast illusions to aid mobsters’ crime sprees. Smugglers funnel magic contraband in from overseas. Gangs have established secret performance venues where patrons can lose themselves in magic, and take a mind-bending, intoxicating elixir known as the sorcerer’s shine.

Joan Kendrick, a young sorcerer from Norfolk County, Virginia accepts an offer to work for DC’s most notorious crime syndicate, the Shaw Gang, when her family’s home is repossessed. Alex Danfrey, a first-year Federal Prohibition Unit trainee with a complicated past and talents of his own, becomes tapped to go undercover and infiltrate the Shaws.

Through different paths, Joan and Alex tread deep into the violent, dangerous world of criminal magic – and when their paths cross at the Shaws’ performance venue, despite their orders, and despite themselves, Joan and Alex become enchanted with one another. But when gang alliances begin to shift, the two sorcerers are forced to question their ultimate allegiances and motivations. And soon, Joan and Alex find themselves pitted against each other in a treacherous, heady game of cat-and-mouse.

A CRIMINAL MAGIC casts a spell of magic, high stakes and intrigue against the backdrop of a very different Roaring Twenties.

Buy Links:

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Blog Tour Promo & Giveaway - My Junior Year of Loathing by Jennifer Digiovanni

My Junior Year of Loathing

(School Dayz, Book 2)
Author: Jennifer Digiovanni

Book Description:

Junior year is supposed to be tough. Exams, term papers, homework, college tours, and participation in extra-curricular activities can all add up to non-stop stress. But Melinda Banner has goals to achieve and dreams to make real. This year, she’ll be unstoppable. But even over achievers need a break.

While walking in the woods to take a break from the stress of it all, Melinda meets a boy named Connor. After a few more run-ins, the two settle into an uneasy friendship, if you can even call it that.

But Connor's closed and mysterious. Whenever Melinda asks too many questions, he suddenly has to go or is no longer interested in talking. When they’re together, she’s torn between wanting him to open up and running away as fast as she can. Still she can't seem to shake her budding interest in him.

Connor has his own way of looking at the world, and his views often conflict with Melinda’s practical nature. Can you like someone and loathe them at the same time? Is he even worth the emotional tug on her heartstrings or distraction from all things Junior year?

And, as if she needs another project right now, Melinda starts to obsess over the abandoned estate she passes on the way to school each day. Between Connor and the old estate, Melinda's beginning to think she's taking on too much.

But Melinda's smart. She finds a way to indulge her interest in the estate and fulfill her obligations. She will uncover the truth behind the aging edifice for an epic article in the school newspaper.

But when her investigation reveals a connection between Connor and a tragedy long-since forgotten, Melinda has a choice: put off her junior year achievements to save a local landmark and a boy who constantly pushes her away or put them both out of her mind for good and focus on making the grade.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK

Blog Tour Spotlight - Where Is She? by Roger Rapel

Where is She?
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Author: Roger Rapel
Categories: Crime/Thriller
Pages: 242
ISBN: 978-1537152301
Imprint: Black Hawk

ONE LINER: A thrilling fast paced read, with twists and turns.

Book Description:

DS Jim Broadbent was given a file on a missing person Janet Crosby, who had been reported missing by her boyfriend some 15 months ago. Broadbent finds a note in the file from the original investigating officer, who stated, he was not happy with the boyfriend Charles Sumner. No reason why, just not happy.

Broadbent commenced an investigation going over old ground and before long he had the same feeling about Sumner. Was his sixth sense right?

Also Broadbent gets involved with MI5 and the CIA again. Nothing is what it seems; was he being used unwittingly again to route out a mole on both sides of the pond?

A thrilling fast paced read, with twists and turns.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ CA ¦ B&N ¦ Google Books ¦ Kobo ¦ iBooks ¦ Createspace ¦ Book Page

Cover Reveal - City of Wind by Jordan Rivet

City of Wind

(Steel and Fire, #4)

Author: Jordan Rivet

Publication Date: December 20th, 2016

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Blog Tour Spotlight - One-Way Ticket Home by K.C. Hardy

One-Way Ticket Home

Author: K.C. Hardy

Publisher: Casbury Lane Press
Pages: 262
Genre: Christian Inspirational Fiction

Book Description:

Days before boarding the plane to Italy for her daughter’s wedding, Julie Whitaker receives an unexpected phone call from her past. The memory of Mark Jennings, a handsome and charming Top Gun pilot, had haunted her for decades. Their fairy tale wedding was everything she’d ever dreamed of, but it quickly turned into her worst nightmare.

Starting a new a life without Mark proved to be much harder than Julie had imagined. But in her darkest hour, God revealed Himself in a miraculous way, giving her the strength she needed not only to battle depression, but to face a diagnosis of breast cancer that threatened to cut her life short.

Now, amidst the splendor of the Italian Alps, on the eve of her daughter’s wedding, Julie’s thoughts are catapulted back to Mark and the reason for his call.  After thirty years, will Julie have a chance to see him once again? And would she even want to?

Based on true events, One-Way Ticket Home will take you on an unforgettable journey of love, loss, hope and forgiveness. With grace, candor and an indomitable wit, K.C. Hardy reminds us that it is often in our darkest hours, that the strength of the human spirit shines the brightest.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK

Blog Tour Promo - Altered Starscape by Ian Douglas

Altered Starscape
Author: Ian Douglas
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Format: Ebook

Book Description:

Galaxies collide in a thrilling new series from bestselling author Ian Douglas, as the last humans in the universe face off against a new threat 2162.

Thirty-eight years after first contact, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair leads theTellus Ad Astra on an unprecedented expedition to the Galactic Core, carrying more than a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and AIs. Despite his reservations about their alien hosts, St. Clair is deeply committed to his people—especially after they’re sucked into a black hole and spat out four billion years in the future.Civilizations have risen and fallen. The Andromeda Galaxy is drifting into the Milky Way. And Earth is most certainly a distant memory. All that matters now is survival. But as the ship’s Marines search for allies amid ancient ruins and strange new planetary structures, St. Clair must wrap his mind around an enemy capable of harnessing a weapon of incomprehensible power: space itself.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK

Book Blast & Giveaway - Coffee, Tea or Me by Rich Amooi

Coffee, Tea or Me

Author: Rich Amooi

Book Description:

Susie opens a tea shop next to Jack’s coffee shop and the war begins. 

Jack Robbins has a booming coffee business, an eighty-year old customer who can’t keep his clothes on, and a rescue Chihuahua named Chimichanga that likes to kiss on the mouth. Life is good until the new business next door takes a bite out of his sales.

Susie McKenna has the new tea shop everyone is talking about, an over-protective brother, and a stubborn, good-looking neighbor who is trying to steal her customers.

Things really start to percolate when Jack and Susie both volunteer to help plan the downtown festival. They have to work together and soon Jack won't be able to get by without his daily fix of Susie. But can a coffee lover and a tea devotee put their competition aside to get their happily ever after?

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK

Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - Big Shoes by Jack Getze

Big Shoes

Author: Jack Getze

Book Description:

Jersey Shore broker Austin Carr wants out of the stock and bond business but un-hooking from his mobbed-up partner won’t be painless. Angelina “Mama Bones” Bonacelli is best known for professional consultations that deteriorate into criminal violence, breakfast appointments raided by the FBI and one particular Power Point presentation to a Jersey state racing commission that ended in automatic weapons fire.

Good thing she likes Austin.

She just won’t let Austin out of the business. Plus Johnny “The Turk” Korsay is on a rampage and had his crooked cops arrest Luis, the bartender Austin’s best friend. Why? Because Austin saw The Turk kill Heriberto. And now he’s gunning for the stock broker.

It’s another brush with violent death and a sexy redhead for Austin Carr when Mama Bones and her rival Jersey associate of a fading New York crime family battle for the future of imported sex slaves, boardwalk tourist business and surprising horse racing secrets, past and present.

“Big Shoes is a five-star romp.”
--Rick Bylina, best-selling author of One Promise Too Many

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ B&N ¦ Book Depository

Book Blitz & Giveaway - The Reaping by Shirley Anne Edwards

 

The Reaping
Shirley Anne Edwards
Publication Date: October 23rd, 2016
Genres: Horror, Young Adult 

Book Description:

The quaint village where Adela Jane lives is surrounded by fear. At night, a centuries old green mist covers the land and controls the animals within the forest. Lately, Adela feels someone or something is following her every move. Unbeknownst to her, the mist waits for the perfect moment to make her his. Adela feels trapped by her small town life and burdened by her love she keeps hidden for her best friend’s older brother, Nathan Alexander. But all that changes on her eighteenth birthday when Nathan admits his love and desire to marry her. Adela’s joy is cut short when the mist kidnaps her and takes her to his secret underground lair. Her nightmare has only just begun when the mist makes Adela his bride. 

What of the Jabberwocky fell in love with Alice from Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass? That’s the question tackled in The Reaping. A Young Adult with an atmospheric Gothic feel, and elements from such classic novels, as Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera and John Fowles’ The Collector.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK

Book Blitz & Giveaway - Soul Keeper Series by L.A. Starkey

 

Soul Keeper Series Box Set

Author: L.A. Starkey

Publication Date: March 10th, 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult 

Book Description:

Amazon readers had a hard time putting this series down… you will to. Now you don’t have to wait – the full story is yours for a discounted price.

This boxed set includes all three full-length novels from Starkey’s beloved Soul Keeper Series. That’s over 800 pages of intense twists and emotional turns, heart-breaking romance and soul-shattering deception – all in one series. 

In a battle of wills,
of the gods of old.
For each his revenge,
will he forfeit his soul. 

On the chessboard of blood,

will their narrative play.

Aged, innocent lives,

revenge claims her way.

Out of hate will come love,

and love will come hate.

For immortal and man,

have entwined their damned fate.

The battle between the Titans and the gods of old did not end with them. The demand for revenge has dripped down into the next generation.

Twins, Marcus and Nicolas, heirs to the throne of the gods and sons of the last remaining Titan, learn that the purpose of their existence is to fulfill a prophecy born of hate and despair. They must battle for Pandora’s daughter’s heart, a girl lost to the human world and unaware of her hidden heritage. For four hundred years Marcus and Nicolas have only been allowed to touch the edge of their soul mate’s dreams, but the time of the prophecy has come.

For Samantha, life has been nothing more than a series of misfortunes and heartbreaks. For years, she has kept her heart locked away, but change is rolling in like a tidal wave. She is now forced to discern the thin line between love and lie, myth and reality, and it would seem that time is running out …

Grab for 99¢ this week only!

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ Barnes & Noble ¦ iBooks ¦ Kobo ¦ GooglePlay

Cover Reveal - Eternal Darkness: Oblivion (Eternal Darkness #2) by J.F. Johns

Eternal Darkness: Oblivion
(Eternal Darkness #2)

Author: J.F. Johns

Genre: YA Dystopian

Book Blitz & Giveaway - Bravo: Blood Road by Summer Lane

 

Bravo: Blood Road

(Bravo Saga, #2)

Author: Summer Lane

Publication Date: October 21st, 2016

Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult

Book Description:

Bravo and his beloved handler, Lieutenant Nathan Ingalls, are together again amidst the ashes of an apocalyptic California. Together, they are using their skills to help a rebel militia group seek out survivors in the desolation of Death Valley.

But when the Death Brigade – a vicious anarchist group arisen from the dust of a fallen society – rolls into town, tragedy strikes. Someone is taken. Neither Nathan nor Bravo will allow that. The hunt is on – Bravo will not fail in his task to protect his friends.

The Black Market.

Rescuing the people you love sometimes comes with a price. When Bravo and his friend, India, are taken to Blood Road, they are forced to fight for their lives in a terrifying and vicious society of gambling, deceit and violent entertainment.

Alone and afraid, Bravo is forced to fight for his life every day in an arena while cruel spectators make bets on the odds of his victory. His only allies in this dark place could perish as suddenly as he could.

The bonds of friendship are tested, and the agonizing teeth of loss sink their fangs deep.

Life or death. Fight or flight. Bravo must choose.

One mission, completed.

One duty, fulfilled.

And now, the Blood Road will wreak its vengeance.

This is the conclusion to Bravo the bomb dog’s thrilling and poignant tale of love, loss and ultimate sacrifice, a #1 bestselling phenomenon.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ Barnes & Noble

Release Day Blitz - Opaque by Cālix Leigh-Reign

Opaque
The Scion Saga
Book One
Calix Leigh-Reign
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Nnylluc Book Group LLC       
Date of Publication: 10/22/2016
ISBN: 9780997923988
ASIN: 0997923989
Number of pages: 256
Word Count: 96,910
Cover Artist: Calix Leigh-Reign
and Joshua Jadon

Book Description:
"Her crimson limbal ring glows and I focus my sight as the incandescence dims. I clearly see it for sure this time. There's no denying it. Carly isn't human. She's something more - and if she isn't human, neither am I."

For those craving an untapped Sci-Fi niche - Opaque delivers in this gripping page-turner involving mutated Limbal rings, biokenretic anomalies, mental dysfunction, perplexing Russian ancestry & romance.

Cālix takes us on an adventure that begins when 16 year old misanthropic Adam unknowingly reaches biokenretic puberty, and his supernatural abilities awaken to save him from his murderous intentions. His every thought revolves around the extinction of the human race until mysterious Afro-Russian Carly Wit stumbles into his English class one morning. Adam notices something otherworldly about her immediately but denies the bio-synch taking place inside of him. As he resists their blossoming love, he battles with unnatural thoughts of his mother.

Discovering his origin isn't what he'd thought, he becomes determined to peel back the layers of his lineage and unmasks a multitude of mind-bending secrets along the way.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ B&N ¦ Kobo

Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - Girl on the Brink by Christina Hoag

Girl on the Brink
Author: Christina Hoag
Genre: YA Romance/Thriller
Release Date: August 30th, 2016
Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books

Book Description:
Sometimes the one you love isn’t the one you’re meant to be with.

The summer before senior year, Chloe starts an internship as a reporter at a local newspaper. While on assignment, she meets Kieran, a quirky aspiring actor. Chloe becomes smitten with Kieran’s charisma and his ability to soothe her soul, torn over her parents’ impending divorce. But as their bond deepens, Kieran becomes smothering and flies into terrifying rages. He confides in Chloe that he suffered a traumatic childhood, and Chloe is moved to help him. If only he could be healed, she thinks, their relationship would be perfect. But her efforts backfire, and Kieran turns violent. Chloe breaks up with him, but Kieran pursues her relentlessly to make up. Chloe must make the heartrending choice between saving herself or saving Kieran, until Kieran’s mission of remorse turns into a quest for revenge.

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ Smashwords ¦ Kobo

Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - The Paranormal Bar & Grille

October starts out warm and sunny, but this is the month when everything changes. Mornings grow frosty, leaves change colors, and the breeze takes on a bite.

Summer dies.

It's a time for harvest celebrations. A boy loans a girl his coat. She snuggles a little closer and takes his hand. A riot of autumn splendor accompanies the farmer's market where they stroll.

But the vibrancy of daylight doesn't compare to the darkness of night. Is that chill on your neck the breeze or something else?

You walk a tad faster and look over your shoulder. The trees creak when the wind whips through their branches—at least, you hope that noise came from the undulating bows.

You check under the bed and inside the closet before climbing under the covers. Sleep doesn't come easy. The old house groans its complaints, and the night magnifies every innocuous noise until terror paralyzes you—because you know nefarious things go bump in the night.

Welcome to the Paranormal Bar & Grille Blog Tour

...where you can rub elbows with everyone from a gargoyle or vampire, to a creature from urban legend, to the ghosts from realms of myth. Step up to the bar, grab a booth. You never know what’s on the menu, or if you might end up there yourself.

Sound like your kind of hangout? Then you’ve come to the right place. We're a group of five authors who love nothing more than to trigger the chill that crawls up your back, the nervous glance tossed over your shoulder. We invite you to discover outstanding books and check out our awesome tour prizes.

Enter our $30 Rafflecopter giveaway here, then visit our blog StoryEmpire.com to participate in a scavenger hunt. Fifteen prizes are up for grabs on Story Empire, three from each author. You have the opportunity for 10 Amazon gift cards ranging in value from $15 to $10, plus ebooks from the participating authors.

Just be careful of what the bartender serves you. That heady brew may not be a beer, and witches can't be trusted to provide effective antidotes.

A Thousand Yesteryears

Point Pleasant Series

Author: Mae Clair

Genre: Supernatural Suspense/Mystery
Date Published: April 26, 2016
Kensington Publishing/Lyrical Underground

Book Description:
“Masterful, bone-chilling fiction…one intense thriller. A Thousand Yesteryears will keep you guessing, gasping and turning the pages for more.” —New York Times bestselling author Kevin O’Brien

Behind a legend lies the truth…

As a child, Eve Parrish lost her father and her best friend, Maggie Flynn, in a tragic bridge collapse. Fifteen years later, she returns to Point Pleasant to settle her deceased aunt’s estate. Though much has changed about the once thriving river community, the ghost of tragedy still weighs heavily on the town, as do rumors and sightings of the Mothman, a local legend. When Eve uncovers startling information about her aunt’s death, that legend is in danger of becoming all too real…

Caden Flynn is one of the few lucky survivors of the bridge collapse, but blames himself for coercing his younger sister out that night. He’s carried that guilt for fifteen years, unaware of darker currents haunting the town. It isn’t long before Eve’s arrival unravels an old secret—one that places her and Caden in the crosshairs of a deadly killer…

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK ¦ B&N ¦ Kobo ¦ Google Play ¦ iTunes

Book Blitz & Giveaway - The Sophisticates Trilogy by Christine Manzari

The Sophisticates Trilogy

Author: Christine Manzari

Genre: YA Dystopian

Release Date: October 17th, 2016

Book Description:

After a terrorist attack that caused more than 29 million deaths in the US, the government created the Sophisticates—genetically modified children designed to become the perfect soldiers. The Sophisticates were given abilities that made them faster, smarter, and stronger. The only thing they weren’t given was freedom.

But is anything ever truly perfect?

Seventeen-year-old Cleo has been a Sophisticate her entire life. When she begins to exhibit the ability to cause things to explode with merely a thought, she’s sent to the Academy to develop her deviation. She soon learns that there are other Sophisticates like her, Deviants with lethal skills.

Immersed in a deadly game of supernatural powers and dubious motives, Cleo doesn’t know who to trust. Ozzy, the golden boy of the Sophisticates program, insists that Cleo should abandon training her deviation. His fierce interest in Cleo only makes her more determined to avoid him.

As Cleo is pulled deeper into her role as a human weapon, all she truly wants is to be free, but there's more danger than she ever realized. There are some things that even the government doesn’t know and when the mistakes of the past are revealed and the Deviants start fighting back, no one is safe.

Fans of X-men and The Darkest Minds will enjoy this dystopian trilogy.

On sale at Amazon for only $0.99 until the end of October!

Buy Links:

Amazon US ¦ UK