Tuesday 30 September 2014

Carina Press Mystery Week Book Blitz and Giveaway!




Welcome to the Mystery Week Blitz hosted by Xpresso Book Tours! This blitz is featuring 4 awesome books which you will find below along with some excerpts. Enter the giveaway and then leave you thoughts about the books. 


Mistress of Lies by Holly West

Available: September 29, 2014
Format: Ebook
Price: $2.99

Book description:

Book description: London, 1679. Isabel, Lady Wilde, mistress of King Charles II, has made a good living disguised as fortune teller Mistress Ruby, counseling London's elite. But after the murder of one of her customers, business has taken a downturn, and Isabel is on the verge of accepting the king's offer to move into the palace.

Isabel's plans are interrupted when a beggar girl named Susanna shows up at her home, claiming to be her niece. Isabel always believed that her older brother, Adam, died alone during the plague. When Susanna reveals that Adam was actually murdered, Isabel is compelled to take up an impossible task: discover the truth about her brother's death, twelve years after it happened.

Isabel's investigation leads her through the gamut of London society, from bear-baiting matches and brothels to the realm of wealthy bankers. But as she uncovers her brother's dark secrets, Isabel begins to wonder whether the past is better left buried—especially when uncovering the truth could lead to her own funeral.


*Be sure to check out Mistress of Fortune, book #1 in this series by Holly West


Excerpt:


I hardly remember when I first noticed her, the girl who would change everything. She was simply there one evening, huddled in the narrow overhang of a tavern near my home, soliciting spare change from passersby.
For all of her beauty—and despite her dirt-smudged face and dull brown hair, she was a pretty young poppet—she appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary beggar, or possibly a prostitute, the sort of girl London devoured in one quick bite. Her thin wool cloak seemed woefully inadequate, for it was now January and winter held the city firmly in its grasp. As I dropped a farthing into her outstretched palm I knew it would do little to ease her suffering, but beyond that, I didn’t pay her much mind. I had troubles enough of my own to contend with.
During the past six years I’d made a good living disguised as Mistress Ruby, a fortuneteller and healer catering to London’s elite. But the murder of one of my customers three months prior had left my life in pieces. My body still retained some evidence of the terrible assault I’d suffered as a result of my investigation into the killing, and visits from patrons to the room in Coal Yard Alley where I conducted my business had fallen off drastically.
Worst of all, my friend and bodyguard, Sam Turner, had gotten it into his head that he was no longer any use to me. He disappeared with nary a word several weeks ago, leaving my household and my life woefully incomplete.
Given these circumstances, I had neither the time nor the inclination to sort out wayward girls. But the following day she crept closer and the day after that closer still, until finally, she sat cross-legged on the cobbled stone pathway in front of my house in Covent Garden, a modest timber structure with four rooms on each floor and three stories high. My housekeeper, Alice, first alerted me to the girl’s presence when she returned from emptying a chamber pot.
“There’s a beggar outside, m’lady,” she said as she entered the kitchen, where I sat sharing a supper of baked oysters and mallow salad with my waiting woman, Charlotte. “’Tis a shame, really, she’s such a pretty little thing, naught but a child. I told her to move on but she insists on talking to you.”


Holly West
Holly West is a crime fiction writer based in Los Angeles. She’s the author of the Mistress of Fortune series, set in late 17th London and featuring amateur sleuth Isabel Wilde, a mistress to King Charles II who secretly makes her living as a fortuneteller. The first in the series, Mistress of Fortune, was published by Harlequin’s Carina Press in February 2014 and its sequel, Mistress of Lies, is forthcoming in Fall 2014. Find her online at hollywest.com.


Murder in Real Time by Julie Anne Lindsey

Available: September 29, 2014
Format: Ebook
Price: $2.99

Book description:

With the chaos of summer tourists and fall birders out of town, counselor Patience Price is looking forward to the quiet life she remembers. She longs for some peace. And an apple fritter. But the calm is cut short when a reality show sets up camp to film a special about ghosts on her little island. Now fans, reporters and crew have flocked to sleepy Chincoteague. Who knew ghost hunters had an entourage?

When two cast members are killed in a room at the local B&B—a room usually occupied by Patience's FBI agent boyfriend, Sebastian—she finds herself on the case. Sebastian doesn't want Patience ruffling any feathers but, as always, she can't help herself.

Patience promises to let Sebastian handle the investigation—he is FBI, after all—but after a drive-by shooting, her wicked curiosity gets the best of her. And with the TV show forging ahead with filming, the list of suspects (and the line of food trucks) only grows. But has the shooter already flown the coop? And how do you find a killer when you don't know who the target is?

*Be sure to also check out the first two books in the Patience Price Mysteries series, Murder by the Seaside & Murder Comes Ashore


Excerpt : 

Todd snorted. I scooted around him on the sidewalk. “Stop following me.”
He matched my pace. “What if the gunman had shot you while you were laying in a heap over your ex-lover?”
I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t know. Don’t call him that. His name’s Adrian Davis.”
“Fair enough. What were you thinking?”
How I needed him. That I couldn’t lose him. To lose Adrian again would be like ripping my soul down the center. I faltered and then regained my speed. Clearly I was traumatized.
“What does your boyfriend think of your attachment to your ex?”
I hustled around the corner toward my apartment. “There was a shooting,” I growled. “My love life is hardly interesting in comparison. I’m not the story here.”
He laughed. Loud. “Come on. You’re smarter than this. You want to know why I’m interested in your story? Let me see.” He tapped his chin. “Someone’s trying to kill one of your boyfriends. Three times this week, in my humble opinion. That puts you at the center of my investigation. Aside from that, your island interests me, and half the shenanigans I read up on lead back to you somehow. You’re like the linchpin of all strange happenings. Where were you when Rick and Anna were shot?”
I skidded to a stop. “You think I’m a suspect? I was in the Range Rover with Adrian the other night, and I ran to help Adrian today. You stink at your job, buddy. I mean, Lou.”
“Getting mad won’t change the fact you know exactly what I mean and why I’m following you. Those men orbit around you like you’re their home planet. If I stick to you, this story will unwrap itself and land in my lap. The icing for me is that following you is fun. Your parents are a hoot. People randomly corner you to unload personal and, let’s face it, kind-of-funny stories. Some lady in skin-tight sequins wants you to be her spokesmodel so bad she put you on her store window. I saw you hiding at a food truck from her. Some angry guy made fun of your hair for no reason. Your life’s got spunk.”
He was right about that last part. My life was bananas, but they were my bananas, and I didn’t want them posted online. 


Julie Anne Lindsey
Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus, most days you'll find her online, amped up on caffeine and wielding a book. Julie started writing to make people smile. Someday she plans to change the world.
Julie is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW), Sisters in Crime (SinC) and the Canton Writer’s Guild.

Elvis Sightings by Ricardo Sanchez

Available: September 29, 2014
Format: Ebook
Price: $2.99

Book description:

I'm Floyd—no last name needed, thanks—and I'm a P.I. The only other thing you need to know about me is that I'm not an Elvis impersonator. I live my life fast and hard and yes, in sequined jumpsuits, but more importantly I live my life the way Elvis would have wanted me to. Honestly. With integrity.
It was a tip that the King was still alive and living under an assumed name that brought me to Kresge,

Wyoming. But there's something bigger than Elvis happening out here. I've been beaten bloody by an acrobatic bartender, roped into the search for a missing councilman, fallen for a bearded lady, and threatened by men in black who really don't want me poking my nose into the town's business. Half of my leads look like dead celebrities. The other half are either refugees from a broken-down circus or spear-holding Viking wannabes.

I'm in Crazytown, USA, but I can't leave. Not yet. If I don't find the missing councilman soon, Kresge will be turned into a Danish-themed amusement park. I've never been so close to finding Elvis. And I need to know if my new self-appointed sidekick James Morrison is really who he claims to be.


Excerpt : 

“Now let’s hear that Elvis hunting story! You don’t think he’s dead?”
 “Well. There’s a lot of inconsistencies about his death. First, he said less than a month before he died that he was getting tired of being Elvis Presley.”
“Mr. Mojo Risin’,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Nothing, go on.”
“At the end of his last show, Indiana in ’77, he said, ‘adios.’ That’s Spanish for goodbye.”
“I know that’s Spanish for goodbye. I’m not an idiot.”
“Sorry. But it’s significant. He always closed his shows with some variation of ‘see you again real soon.’ Elvis had a lot more shows booked, but he cancelled orders for all of his show suits right before the one in Indiana. He also let four long-time employees go a few days before he supposedly died.”
“That’s pretty thin, man.”
“There’s more. He faked his death once before. Had a guy shoot him with blanks while he was wearing a blood pack. And two hours after Elvis was reported dead, a man looking just liked him booked a plane ticket for Buenos Aires under the name Jon Burrows. That was his pseudonym. He used it to check into hotels whenever he toured.”
“Better,” Morrison conceded.
Despite my doubts, I did have to admit there was a fair bit of evidence to support Buddy’s belief.
“You assholes want these drinks or what?” Goliath had snuck up on us again.
Morrison looked over the side of the table. “You are a sneaky short man. Where’s your shoe box?”
“Just take your drinks, Morrison.”
Morrison reached down and came back up with a whiskey in each hand, setting one down in front of me.
“You overhear his story, short man? You think Elvis is alive?”
I leaned over the side of my chair to get a better look at Goliath, who turned his grapefruit-sized head toward me.
“That fat, drugged-up, bacon-gobbling, talentless rip-off artist is rotting in his grave.”
He had it coming, but I shouldn’t have hit the midget.


Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo is a writer, creator, and T-shirt collector. He’s written for DC Comics, including work on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Teen Titans Go! and Resident Evil, among others. His short story Death and Life of the Hero appeared in the Gods of Justice superhero anthology and in 2013 was turned into a successfully funded Kickstarter graphic novel, A Hero’s Death, which will be coming out in fall 2014. He was also the Emmy winning creator of the animated series Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider, which was part of Tomb Raider’s 10th anniversary celebration.
 When he's not writing, Ricardo maintains a vintage toy blog, drives 70's muscle cars, and shops year round for Halloween decorations for his home in California.


Code Runner by Rosie Claverton

Available: September 29, 2014
Format: Ebook
Price: $2.99

Book description:

Ex-con Jason Carr has faced down the toughest thugs in Cardiff, but being assistant to a brilliant, eccentric hacker who hasn't been outdoors in ten years has its own challenges. Still, he and Amy Lane can solve cases even the cops can't crack. And when a corpse washes up on a beach, Jason can't resist chasing the clues—or defying Amy by infiltrating the very gangs he once escaped.

Amy is distraught when Jason's pursuit gets him framed for murder. He's thrown back in prison where he's vulnerable to people who want him dead. He needs Amy to prove his innocence. Fast.

But Amy hasn't been honest with him—her panic attacks aren't getting better. And now, with everything that makes her feel safe ripped away, she must stand alone, using her technological skills to expose a baffling conspiracy and a new kind of online crime. Can she clear Jason's name before danger closes in?

*Be sure to also check out Binary Witness, book #1 in the Amy Lane Mysteries. 


Excerpt :
Making his way down St. Mary’s Street in Cardiff’s piss-poor excuse for a city centre, Rich checked his watch, rubbing at the rain that splattered it. Twenty minutes—he could stroll it. He passed McDonald’s and the chavs propping up the windows, disaffected youth in fake designer gear and gold-looking chains. He clocked three of them who he’d seen on the unsolved boards in the office. Petty theft, possession of a negligible amount of cocaine, school arson. What a gallon of twats.

Speaking of twats… Rich became aware of a skinhead coming up behind him on the street, and automatically pulled his jacket closer. He subtly checked him out in the reflection of the shop window: a tall, broad twenty-something with a light coating of stubble on his cheeks. He wore a nice leather jacket—looked vintage, but you could buy that crap from the indoor market for a pittance. Cheap Chinese crap that kids thought made them look cool.

This boy didn’t look like the usual breed of neo-Nazi scum, but DI Hesketh had been wittering on about an increased presence of English Defence League—or was that Welsh Defence League?—hooligans on their streets. They were supposed to be on the lookout for racially motivated crimes, but Rich had never been keen to police what was going on in someone’s head. And if the Welsh bastards wanted to keep Wales for themselves, they were welcome to it.

Yet this kid made him antsy precisely because he didn’t fit the bill. He had his shoulders hunched down and was walking at a pace that his long legs could easily have exceeded. Why was he walking so damn slowly?

Rich suddenly felt a deep sense of unease, the hairs on the back of his neck rising up. Had he done something to piss off the boys down in grubby Splott? Had they sent a friend to take care of him? He regretted leaving his badge at home.

It wasn’t yet nine o’clock but the streets were dark and quiet, falling into the lull between the day’s shoppers heading home and the nightlife coming out to play. There were barely twenty people the entire length of the street and no one close to them. The skinhead could easily come up behind him, slide a knife between his ribs, and that would be him done. Nobody would even know until Rich spilled his lifeblood on the ground, spreading pink in the rainwater gutters of the street.


Rosie Claverton
Rosie Claverton grew up in Devon, daughter to a Sri Lankan father and a Norfolk mother, surrounded by folk mythology and surly sheep. She moved to Cardiff to study Medicine and adopted Wales as her home.

Her first short film Dragon Chasers aired on BBC Wales in Autumn 2012. She co-wrote the ground-breaking series of short films The Underwater Realm. Her debut novel Binary Witness was published by Carina Press in May 2014.

Between writing and medicine, she blogs about psychiatry and psychology for writers in her Freudian Script series, advocating accurate and sensitive portrayals of people with mental health problems in fiction.

Currently exiled to London to train in psychiatry, she lives with her journalist husband and their pet hedgehog.

GIVEAWAY

Blitz-wide giveaway (US/Canada)
 
  • Digital copy of each book featured in this blitz
  • Murder Mystery Party game 
  • Magnifying glass necklace

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Queen Of Someday by Sherry D Ficklin Promo Post!

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT 

QUEEN OF SOMEDAY by Sherry D. Ficklin!


Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin won't be your average young adult book. No, this book will have something extra special within it. Queen of Someday will be enhanced with embedded videos throughout the story. These videos will give you behind the scenes looks into the life of Catherine the Great, as well as author commentary. Enhance your reading experience with this new enhanced young adult book! Enhanced e-books are fairly new, and Clean Teen Publishing is excited to be able to offer one to you! Queen of Someday is scheduled to release on October 7, 2014. Watch the video below to hear more about this exciting announcement from Author Sherry D. Ficklin. Make sure to hop over to her website before you leave to enter her giveaway and definitely don't forget to pre-order your copy today and save $2. The price of Queen of Someday will increase on the day after release! 

*Please note that on many reading devices may not be able to show enhanced content. In this case, you will be able to follow a digital link that is embedded within the e-book to view each video online. Currently the best reading platform for enhanced e-books is iBooks. However, most Kindle and Nook devices will allow you to follow the link to our external secure website to view the bonus content. 



PRE-ORDER QUEEN OF SOMEDAY TODAY


Save $2 when you pre-order your copy today! 

Release Day: October 7, 2014
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Series: A Stolen Empire Series

Before she can become the greatest empress in history, fifteen-year-old Sophia will have to survive her social-climbing mother’s quest to put her on the throne of Russia—at any cost.

Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family—and herself—Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans.

Alone in a new and dangerous world, learning who to trust and who to charm may mean the difference between becoming queen and being sent home in shame to marry her lecherous uncle. With traitors and murderers lurking around every corner, her very life hangs in the balance. Betrothed to one man but falling in love with another, Sophie will need to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to become the empress she is destined to be.

In a battle for the soul of a nation, will love or destiny reign supreme?


A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

The true story of Catherine the Great is one fraught with betrayal, intrigue, and romance. While a good deal of my story is drawn from actual people and events, I have been very liberal in the rearrangement of dates, events, and places. Whenever possible I took my cues from her own words, intermixing my own thoughts and ideas. My thought upon the creation of the book was simple. I looked at the woman she was when she claimed the crown and then wondered, how did an innocent girl from Germany become such a force of nature? Most people aren’t born cold or ambitious, but have circumstances that forge them into those people. And that was the story I wanted to tell in this book. I wanted to see the events in her early life that would have changed her into the person she became, and not knowing the truth of that story, I simply made something up. That is what we, as writers, do best.

If you are curious about the real history behind Catherine, I suggest heading to your local library and doing a bit of research. This is not meant to be a historically accurate representation, but a flight of fancy, one that I hope you, dear reader, will enjoy as much as I have.


WATCH THE OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER:

ABOUT SHERRY D. FICKLIN



Sherry D. Ficklin is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she’s on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.



She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy now available from Dragonfly Publishing. Her previously self-published novel After Burn: Military Brats has been acquired by Harlequin and will be released in 2015 with a second book in that series to follow. Her newest YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is now available everywhere books are sold and her newest YA novel, Losing Logan, is due for release in 2014 from Clean Teen Publishing.








Want to READ MORE from Clean Teen Publishing? Check out our huge selection of amazing reads! There's sure to be something for every reader!

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Monday 29 September 2014

Debut Author Bash : Rise Of The Known by Jane Lively



Welcome to the Debut Author Bash hosted by YA Reads! Check out the schedule because there are some amazing Debut Authors on there and it is my honour to introduce Rise Of the Known by Jane Lively!


The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
Blurb/Synopsis:

This is a story about the rise of courage over fear.
This is a story about the rise of belief over doubt.
This is a story about the rise of a hero.

Quiet, unassuming Alexie Lambis (Lex) is a seemingly ordinary small-town girl with typical teenage problems: an overbearing mother, a crush on a guy way out of her league, and a best friend who gets into trouble like it’s her job.  Having to also single-handedly organize the Senior Class Blood Moon Dance has Lex convinced that her life couldn’t get more problematic.

That is, until the night of the dance, when the Blood Moon rises.

The rare celestial alignment leads to a breach in the barrier between the human realm and the Nether—the darkest of the Shadow realms.  As Nether demons begin crossing over, the threat triggers a thousand-year-old Prophecy—the final safeguard protecting the Prana people, a race of immortals who sought refuge in the human realm.  For a millennium, the souls of the Prana people have been hiding inside human hosts from the one who seeks to destroy them—the Nether Lord, Rhezden.

Suddenly, Lex is thrust into the Prana world of magic, runes, and deadly demons when she discovers she is The Known—host of one-half of the soul of the Prana Queen.

As the only one who can defeat Rhezden, the fate of the Prana rests with their Queen.  But in order to reincarnate, her two halves must first reunite.  The Queen’s second half resides in The Unknown, whose whereabouts are a mystery and whose identity is concealed even from the Queen’s Guardians.  Much to Lex’s dismay, he is also fated to be The Known’s “beloved.”

Until The Unknown reveals himself, Lex must protect the ones she loves from Rhezden by pushing them all away—most painfully her best friend, Cam.  Lex must somehow push aside the guilt of knowing Cam feels abandoned by the only person in the world she trusts.

To bear her burden as The Known, Lex is forced deep into the surreal world of the Prana to learn more about the immortals, their Queen, and why Rhezden wants them all dead.  She meets the Elders—the Queen’s Council—who are charged with seeing the Prophecy to fruition and ruling the Prana people in the Queen’s stead.  But their open hostility toward Lex and their complicated political ties with the Queen make them questionable allies.

Things take an ugly turn when Lex is pulled back into her old world by a crisis—Cam has gone missing.  Having reason to believe Cam is in grave danger, Lex defies the Elders’ confinement orders and relinquishes their protection.  She strikes out on her own to save her friend, now fully exposed to the Nether demons that are hunting for the Queen’s halves.

It is not long before Lex is tracked down by the fearsome Moloch—Rhezden’s demon bloodhounds.  She is saved from a deadly Moloch attack by Degan, a dark, mysterious stranger who knows more about Lex than any stranger should.  With a shielded agenda, Degan takes her to a safe place where he heals her wounds.  Although he refuses to divulge his reasons for saving her, it becomes clear to Lex that he intends to protect her…by keeping her prisoner forever.

Determined to get to not let Cam down again, Lex somehow manages to escape from Degan.  But just as she zeroes down on Cam, a Moloch zeroes down on Lex.  Except this time, Lex is cornered, and she must face the demon alone.

Will Lex be able to defeat the mighty Moloch on her own?

Will she find Cam before it’s too late? 



Will the identity of the Unknown be revealed, and if so, who will it be?

Purchase Links:  Not yet available  Rise of the Known will launch for sale in October 2014 on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, and iBooks


Excerpt:
Theirs was an unlikely friendship: Lex, the straight-laced do-gooder, and Cam, the rebel. But they were inseparable. Like opposite sides of the same coin—heads and tails linked inextricably at the core by some binding force nobody seemed to understand.


Excerpt:
Lex’s entire body shook. She swore she could feel each of her cells unravel and liquefy in turn. “The Queen made a mistake.” Her voice wobbled. “She chose the wrong person.”
For as long as she could remember, Lex had always felt as if everyone else were chosen ones: the beautiful, the talented, the athletic, the popular. Being chosen, even for kickball, was supposed to be something good. Something special. But she’d never thought about the other side of it—that being chosen comes with burdens. Heavy ones.
She sank to the floor.
Claramond closed the space between them and knelt next to her. She wrapped her arms around Lex’s small frame. “I believe in you, Lex. I believe you were chosen for a reason. It is your fate to save our people.” She squeezed her harder. “You’re destined to be a hero.”
Lex pulled away. She wrapped her arms around herself to quiet her shaking. “I don’t want to be a hero.”
Claramond gently touched Lex’s chin and turned the girl’s head toward her. Although she wore an encouraging smile, the old woman’s periwinkle eyes were stained with sad understanding. “Heroes never do.”
Excerpt:
The lunar eclipse was progressing. The Earth’s shadow crept slowly across the surface of the full moon, eating away at its yellow light. The redness bled across the moon’s face until it was a perfect sphere of glowing crimson, like an angry bullet hole shot through the dark flesh of the sky.
The night darkened by several shades. The stars and satellites dimmed until they were barely visible. The sky closed in on them, threatening to snuff them all out. The moon swelled and heaved, like a living, breathing thing. The red menace glowered, deepening the shadows of the landscape below it, creating a layer of darkness over darkness. A corona of clouds surrounding the moon became a veil of smoldering ash and cinder.
Suddenly, Lex winced. She clutched her head. A searing pain ripped through her brain like a hot, jagged knife.
Her head was splitting itself in two.
She heard a gasp—like the sharp, desperate intake of air by someone who was underwater for thirty seconds too long.
Against the backs of her eyelids, she saw an image flash. Two eyes flew open. Each time Lex blinked, she saw them—wide with fear and confusion at first, blinking rapidly and shifting from side to side.
Then, the blinking slowed, the eyes focused. Eyes that were intelligent and curious. Eyes that were a familiar shade of gray. Eyes that seemed to be staring straight at her.
And then they were gone.
Excerpt:
Like a slap to the face, a force from somewhere deep within brought her back to her senses. I can’t stand by and watch them die. I’ve got to fight for them. She unsheathed her dagger, ran to where the thick, purple-gray tongue slid across the ground, and drove in the blade.
The Moloch jerked its massive head and made a strange sound. The tongue released its grip on Kish and slithered back into the stinking cave of the Moloch’s mouth.
The demon fixed its empty eyes on Lex. It let rip an enormous roar and charged at her. Its massive body took to the air. A flash of light glinted off the razor talons that shot out of its claws. Instinctively, Lex threw her arms up in front of her face and closed her eyes.
Excerpt:
The sound of the glass hitting the cement clanged in Lex’s ears with the ominous certainty of a death knell. The wretched bottle rolled under the dumpster and out of her reach. For an eternity, its hollow clatter broadcasted to whomever, or whatever, was listening the fact of her presence.
Finally, the bottle hit some gravel several feet on the other side of the dumpster and came to a rest. Lex didn’t have to guess. She felt her last bit of hope float away, like a helium balloon escaping the grasp of a careless child.
She knew the creature heard the bottle fall. She knew it saw the bottle roll out from under the dumpster, like a welcome mat rolling out to greet it. She could feel the demon turn its ugly head toward the dumpster.
Her time was up.
She did not want to die like this—cowering pathetically behind a dumpster like a frightened mouse. If she were going to die, she would die facing her enemy.


Lex stood and stepped from behind the dumpster. “Here I am.”



About the Author

I'm a small-town girl, living in the big city of Chicago with my trusty Boston Terrier sidekick, Duncan. I'm a cog in the corporate wheel by day, and a writer by night.

When I'm not working or
writing, I love cooking, laughing, yoga-ing...and, of course, indulging in my ridiculous obsession with writing stories!

I also write Romance under the name Avery Hale.

Social Media Links:


Amazon Author Profile Page:  https://www.amazon.com/author/averyhale  (I also write Romance under the pen name Avery Hale, and my author page on Amazon is for all my titles under both genres.)
Giveaway :

One eCopy of the book when its released or an ARC when available.

a Rafflecopter giveaway