Friday 31 October 2014

COVER REVEAL - LOST BLOOD BY EMMA RAVELING

Title: Lost Blood 
Series: Chancer, #1
Author: Emma Raveling  
Publication date: TBA
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

BLURB supplied by Xpresso Book Tours
They are the Strange, those born of magic, myths, and legends. Beings who defy scientific explanation, whose physical and mental abilities far surpass the limitations of the human body.
When they first appeared, the world resisted, frightened by their powers. But after decades of bloodshed, humanity finally accepted that the Strange were here to stay.
A tenuous peace exists. For now.
WELCOME TO BRANNIGAN CITY
Seventeen-year-old Delaney Corbeau is one of the Skilled. As a Chancer, she uses her magic to help humans find everything from misplaced keys and hidden heirlooms to lost pets.
She can find anyone and anything…except the two people she needs the most.
Liam Connelly is an Earth Shifter and son of Brannigan City’s Alpha. When his older brother goes missing, he must turn to his former childhood friend for help. Delaney’s the only person who can locate him.
The problem is they haven’t spoken in four years.
When a reclusive art collector hires Delaney to locate a stolen antique Japanese book, her path crosses with Liam once again. Soon, the simple retrieval job becomes something much more terrifying.
An old evil is stirring and it’s determined to punish every living being in Brannigan City, both Strange and human.
Delaney and Liam will have to work together if they want to survive.
Lost Blood is the first book in Emma Raveling’s new Chancer series, featuring two unlikely allies and a mysterious, thrilling adventure set in a dark world full of monsters and magic.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emma Raveling writes a wide variety of fiction for teens and adults. She is the author of the young adult urban / contemporary fantasy series, the Ondine Quartet, and Lost Blood, the first installment of the forthcoming young adult urban fantasy series, Chancer. She’s also working on the first book in her new Steel Magic series for adults.

An avid traveler hopelessly addicted to diet coke and coffee, she currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii with her husband and German shepherd.

AUTHOR LINKS

GIVE ETHAN'S STORY A TITLE - HOLLOWAY PACK BY J.A. BELFIELD

SERIES PROMOTION

HOLLOWAY PACK
BY
J.A. BELFIELD

In J.A. Belfield's "About The Author" section on goodreads the sentence "One day, she wrote down her thoughts. She’s yet to stop."  is featured. I can honestly say I hope she never stops! I have read everyone of the books below, including the one yet to be given a title, and I have adored every single one of them. I think it's great how J.A. Belfield communicates with her fans, and that she is giving us the readers the chance/honour of naming her latest installment of her brilliant Holloway Pack series.
Just in case you have yet to discover this author and her books I have done a small "About The Author" feature below as well as a Series Promotion on all books available in the series so far, with Goodreads Links and Purchase Links where possible. 


THE AUTHOR


J. A. Belfield lives in Solihull, England, with her husband, two children, three cats and a dog. She writes paranormal romance, with a second love for urban fantasy.

One day, a character and scene popped into J. A. Belfield’s head, and she started controlling the little people inside her imagination, as though she were the puppet master and they her toys. Questions arose: What would happen if …? How would they react if …? Who would they meet if …? Before she knew it, a singular scene had become an entire movie. The characters she controlled began to hold conversations. Their actions reflected the personalities she bestowed upon them. Within no time, they had a life, a lover, a foe, family … they had Become.



THE BOOKS


Werewolf Sean Holloway treats the village marketplace like a sexual buffet, though his charm does little to win over his latest entre of choice. Whether because of Jem Stonehouse's unique scent, her headstrong nonchalance, or the fact he is forbidden to see her by his pack's rules, Sean wants her.When Jem is nothing but flippant toward his advances, he pursues her with vigour, stealing moments alone with her without a libido-driven agenda.The new and heady experience for him drives their relationship beyond romantic interest, and straight toward love.That is, until Jem learns the truth about Sean's heritage. Knowledge of the existence of werewolves leads to only one outcome: death.In this prequel to Darkness & Light, we are taken back in time, to the very beginning of Jem and Sean's love-across-the-centuries relationship.Did it end there? Or did Sean defy his own pack to save the woman he loves? 





An unmarried woman living in a house of men breeds hearsay and lore. If only the villagers knew the truth. It's not Jem Stonehouse's marital status that brings unwanted strangers to town. Rather, it's that she is the only female werewolf in existence - a prize to any pack. Sean Holloway, the love of Jem's life, has gone to great lengths to protect her. As a new attack becomes imminent, Sean realizes he must take greater measures with Jem's safety or risk losing her forever. His first task must be to marry her, but a force greater than the largest werewolf stands in his way. Her mother.






Jem Stonehouse, a housewife with a neurotic husband bent on keeping her in line, dreams about werewolves in, what she believes, is a bid to escape boredom.
Sean Holloway is a werewolf, living a charade within the human race, whose mind drifts to a bond he shares with a woman he hasn't met--at least, not in this lifetime.
Apart, the two are safe but live unfulfilled lives.
Together, they'll become prey to rival packs just as they have been for hundreds of years.
When their worlds collide, and not for the first time, instinct takes over. Dreams become reality. Futures are uncertain. To keep history from repeating itself, Sean must teach Jem about his heritage, convince her of her role, and win her love.
Can Jem accept her destiny before it's too late, or is her inner wolf buried too deep to save her future with Sean? 



One glimpse. That scent. There. Right there. Could it be … her? 
The female within Sean Holloway’s dreams is real, and he intends to see her face even if it means hiding behind a women’s lingerie rack to do it.
With curiosity burning too hot for him to ignore, Sean turns an ordinary family errand into the chance of a lifetime only to be interrupted time and again.   
In this companion piece to Darkness & Light, see Jem the way Sean saw her for the very first time.
Just how close is Sean willing to get before he’ll take fate into his own hands?
Enough to make the impossible come true … maybe. 







In Marked, Darkness & Light’s Sean Holloway is on a mission—to find the perfect gift for the woman of his dreams. When all conventional choices turn out to be the wrong ones, each failed attempt convinces Sean his self-imposed task is impossible. But in the world of the Holloway Pack, anything is possible if it can be kept a secret.








Someone is watching the Holloway Pack, and this time, the female isn’t the target.
Life with a group of seven male werewolves worries Jem Stonehouse not one bit. She is engaged to the Alpha’s son Sean Holloway after all. So what has Jem’s territorial instincts on high alert?
The pack’s latest addition. Both of them.
None of the men think there’s a problem with the new girlfriends. Jem’s intuition tells her otherwise—that and a nagging suspicion the new females aren’t there to partake.
Jem believes they’ve joined in to take.
The question is … What?
As the eve of the blue moon draws ever closer, Jem’s running out of time to find the answer and outwit a thief of the worst possible kind.
A woman who believes she can’t lose. 



Guilt is a heavy burden for the one carrying it. 
Jem Stonehouse is no exception to this rule. 
What if she’d acted sooner? What if she’d fully recognised the threat? What if she hadn’t allowed the male pack members to head into the witches’ ambush? 
For one, youngest pack member Josh Larsen wouldn’t be trapped in the sleep of the dead. 
Now, Jem is convinced it’s her job to bring him back to life no matter what it takes—learning more about her heritage, risking pack exposure, or travelling to places she couldn’t have imagined possible. 
Even if the journey endangers her soul.  





The trouble with one-night stands: you never know who—or what—you’re sleeping with.
Being a parent isn’t an easy ride. Even more so for single mum Shelley Lewis.
When her thirteen year old son’s hormones kick in, she’s faced with his immense growth, insane sweat, and ridiculous hairiness, not to mention all the normal teenage issues.
Discovering her only son isn’t human on top of those is the shock of a lifetime, and Shelley knows she’s the only one to blame. 
It may be too late to save her son from her mistakes, but she can still try to save Gabe from himself.  



If the meek can become deadly, the strongest can be weak. 
For Ethan Holloway, his mission to find a missing werewolf should be simple. Crack a few heads, bust a few chops and the solution always reveals itself. Always.
Not this time.
Ethan’s reputation precedes him, and because it does, someone is ready. Waiting. Unbeknownst to Ethan, he’s about to go down. Hard. Against a foe he never suspected and in a world he never imagined could be real.
What awaits Ethan is a fight not only for his reputation, but also his pack, his female, and his life. If he survives, damage control will become priority number one. 
If he survives.
Because even Ethan’s not sure he’s strong enough to take on an entire race all by himself.
Especially one hell bent on exposing who and what he is in the name of sport.



Unnatural. One word to sum up werewolf Kyle Larsen—his mood swings, abnormal body, and choice of female.
The first two, he blames on the vampire venom.

The third, though? No, feline shifter Brook Nicholls was all his doing—a female of whom the pack will never approve.
As part of the Coalition, an organisation with even stricter rules than the pack and a rigidly warped sense of responsibility, Brook comes with a whole lot of opposition of her own.
No wonder the two of them keep their relationship secret for as long as they can.
Now, distanced from his family by his own indiscretions, Kyle’s left to fight battles he’s unsure how to win—some of them even against his own pack.
Is one woman really so important that he’s willing to defy his Alpha for her?
If his heart has any say in the matter, the answer will be yes.
 





TITLE:  ? ? ?

The Author of The Holloway Pack Books has decided to have a poll and let 
YOU the readers choose the title of the next short Holloway Pack installment.
To help you decide which title to vote for check out the tease below. 



So what with the result be?

Lured? or Enticed?


Thursday 30 October 2014

REVIEW - HALLOWEEN MAGIC & MAYHEM - MAGIC & MAYHEM SERIES BY STELLA WILKINSON

Title: Halloween Magic & Mayhem
Series: Magic & Mayhem
Author: Stella Wilkinson
Release Date: 31st January 2014

BLURB from Goodreads
How on earth did I end up here? I was supposed to be at a party kissing the boy of my dreams, instead I’m dancing naked on the town common, on Halloween, with a Coven of strange women who might be witches, a bunch of zombies that I have to return to their graves, a talking crow, and my pet ghost thrown in for good measure. Just yesterday I was an ordinary teenager…


On her sixteenth birthday Emily Rand discovers that she is a witch. Unable to control her spells she unwittingly raises zombies, and corporealizes the ghost haunting her house. She finds herself in a race against time to put everything right if she has any hope of getting to a certain Halloween party and seeing a certain boy again.


Halloween Magic and Mayhem is a novelette of 14,000 words, intended as a bite sized taster. Book Two in the series, Werewolf Magic and Mayhem, sees Emily Rand back for a full length novel.

INITIAL THOUGHTS
Being totally truthful I don't usually "celebrate" Halloween, but when I saw this novella I couldn't resist, I'd found a relatively easy way to join in the "Halloween Fun", I'd read and review the novella! There are two covers listed on Goodreads for this one, I have chosen the brightest more Halloween themed one....... So what am I expecting? A fun simple read that introduces me to a potentially great series to continue reading.

MY REVIEW
I downloaded this one free from Amazon UK with the intention of having a fun read for Halloween. I totally admit I do love most things pagan. I actually have a car sticker with the "Witches Rede" on it. Paganism is really fascinating.
As I said in "Initial Thoughts" there are two covers for this book, One is more serious, mystical looking featuring a female in a cloak under a full moon. The one I have chosen to feature with my review (pictured above) is brighter coloured and is more amusing and enjoyable to look at, especially at this special time of year.
Would the cover make me pick the book up from a book store shelf, yes, it's certainly a bright coloured appealing cover. The silhouette of a female that I's guess is Emily, a newly powered witch, with her broom stick.  It is quite a dramatic effect on the cover, the orange tinted sky, the tree profile and the bright white of the full moon. I really like the cover and the fonts of the book title, series name and authors name too. I also love the little "logo" between the book name and authors name. It just adds to the "old fashioned" "carried down through the ages" feel that features within the book.
So the main female character in this book is Emily, a young girl who's sweet sixteen birthday is on Halloween. Emily lives with her dad, and stepmum, and her step brother Duncan. Emily kind of keeps herself to herself and doesn't really associate much with Duncan. Emily has her best friends Bryony and Kate and they are all super excited to be invited to Tamsin's Halloween Party. Emily is eager for the party as the boy she has a crush on,Sean Carrey, is going to the party and has already asked party organiser Tamsin if Emily will be there. Normally for her birthday, Emily would have dinner with her family but she manages to Coerce her dad into postponing the usual birthday celebration meal until the day after. The only relative on Emily's maternal side of the family is Aunt Iris. Aunt Iris is considered slightly eccentric as she is the owner of a Pagan ritual & supplies store. When Emily visits her aunt, she is told that she is a witch and will receive her powers on her sixteenth birthday. At first Emily believes that her aunt Iris is making a joke, but her mood soon becomes serious when her aunt hands her the wand and grimoire that her mother had left with Iris to pass onto Emily when she was ready to receive her own powers. 
There are many different types of witches, kitchen, hedge, etc etc only time will tell what type of witche Emily is and what her powers will be. Aunt Iris advises Emily to be very careful and suggests she attends the coven meeting on Halloween. However that meeting clashes with the party Emily just has to attend.
The morning of Emily's sweet sixteenth, she wakes up and gets a shock when she discovers one of her "witchy gifts" is to be able to see ghosts. So witchy problem number one is, Can Emily help the ghost pass over? Then Emily meets her witches familiar also in a shocking yet comical way. 
Further into the tale, Emily begins trying out spells etc, with disastrous results. Emily quickly realises she is somewhat out of her depth  when she has managed to revive the ghost who is now as "real" as she is. Even more potentially ruinous is the fact she has re-animated the buried corpses of the local cemtery! Everything is turning more and more unpleasant and Emily's situation is dire. Help arrives in the form of Aunt Iris, but she alone isn't powerful enough to tidy up the mess that Emily has conjoured. It seems that Emily is destined to miss Tamsin's party and her budding romance with Sean Carrey. 
I really enjoyed this book, it may be short but it is packed with action. 
Did I enjoy the book? Yes it is well written, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book.
Would I recommend the book? I would especially as a fun Hallowwen read.
Would I want to read more in this series? Yes!
Would I want to read other books by Stella Wilkinson? Yes, I will definitely be checking out other books by this author.

NEW COVER! - ELEVENTH ELEMENTUM BY J.L. BOND & VAL RICHARDS

Title: Eleventh Elementum 
Series: The Primortus Chronicles, #1
Author:  J.L. Bond and Val Richards 

BLURB from Goodreads
It has begun! Fourteen years after a catastrophic disaster, the world has regained its balance with the help of the Primortus. They have secretly walked amongst us since the beginning of time, protecting the earth with the power of the elements. When a fourteen-year-old girl is given two mysterious gifts from a father she never knew, she is drawn into their dangerous world of magic.

She must learn to wield the power of the Eleventh Elementum to survive. With the help of Will (her best friend), his cousin and her new stepsister, she seeks out the evil that threatens New Zealand. But a black-eyed stranger is watching their every move. Now, two powerful beings will battle one another and the outcome will determine our way of life.


PURCHASE LINKS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S

J.L. Bond and Val Richards met in college in Clarksville Tennessee, where Val excelled in Math and J.L excelled in creative ways to talk Val out of going to class. A few years later…okay, more than a few, they found themselves living about an hour away from one another in Florida and joined forces to write the Primortus Chronicles, YA fantasy- adventure series.  Nowadays, J.L. likes to remind Val that Math isn’t necessary for writing.

Author Links:
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Book Blitz Organized by:

BOOK BLITZ - BAD BLOOD BY NICKY PEACOCK

Title: Bad Blood
Author: Nicky Peacock

Release Date: 5th September 2014

BLURB supplied by YA Bound Book Tours
“I am Britannia. I am your protector. I will fend off the hungry hordes of undead hands that reach toward you. I am your steadfast defender. I will stand between you and the zombie masses as they try to taste your flesh. I am strong, unyielding, and dedicated to your survival. All I ask from you… is your blood.” 

A five-hundred-year-old bloody game of vengeance will need to be put on hold if vampires are to survive the zombie uprising. Britannia and Nicholas, bitter enemies and the only two surviving vampires left in London, have to work together to save un-infected humans and deliver them safely to a vampire stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. Unable to drink the zombie ‘bad blood’, the remaining vampires need the humans to stay alive. But will the vampires tell the survivors who they are and what they want from them? Will Britannia be able to hold back her vengeance for the greater good? Is survivor Josh the reincarnation of Britannia’s murdered true love? And can she bring herself to deliver him to the ‘safe’ hold? Survival instincts run deep, but bad blood can run deeper.


PURCHASE LINKS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I guess I’ve always been a storyteller, not in a ‘liar liar pants on fire’ kind of way, although I do work in advertising! When I was little, kids would crowd around me in the playground and I’d tell them tales of blood soaked horror filled with vampires, werewolves, ghosts and more. Yes, most would consider me a disturbed child, but my playmates couldn’t help themselves, they’d huddle around me every break time like an ancient tribe feeding off the fear; and that’s how I learned that horror stories hold a certain power, no matter what some might say, everyone is addicted to a good scare, especially if it is somewhat rooted safely in unrealistic beings… or are they unrealistic? 
Writing was really a natural progression. Right now I’m obsessed with writing: a YA Urban Fantasy novel, a Paranormal Romance novella series, and several short horror stories! So I’m currently living in a functional fiction coma – and loving it!
I’ve so far been published in 5 countries: USA, UK, Australia, Ireland and Canada and had short stories included in 40 anthologies with over 17 publishers.

AUTHOR LINKS



EXCERPT
We ran to the hospital. On the way, we encountered hardly anyone, alive or dead. Where were they all? When we arrived at the hospital car park, I understood. Zombies were pack animals. A massive crowd of them were crammed in and around the main building like they were waiting for a concert to start, all barely paying attention to their surroundings and seemingly swaying against the force of gravity. The other thing was the smell. When watching horror films filled with shuffling zombies, the horror came from their ghastly looks—the reminder that death has a tight grip on us all, well, most of us. But what the filmmakers should focus on—if they could—was the acidic rank odor zombies gave off. They had been dead barely twenty-four hours. It took a normal human body at least thirty-six hours to really start to smell, and that was with a vampire’s heightened senses. These guys smelled like they’d been out in the sun for three weeks covered in rubbish and besieged by wily maggots. They were mostly intact, though. Maybe this hospital had been Zombie Ground Zero. Most had turned so quickly their comrades hadn’t had time to feed.
“Maybe we should try a less populated target.” Nicholas twitched his nose and turned away from me to dry retch.
“Maybe you should grow a pair.”
“Maybe you should act like a lady.” He now had his hands on his hips, squaring up for yet another argument.
“Acting like a lady isn’t going to help now, is it? What do you want me to do? Drop my handkerchief in front of the zombies and watch them fight one another to scoop it up for me? Moron!”
“Always to the ‘nth degree with you, isn’t it?”
“Shut up. Look, the doors are holding, and they’re outside, not inside, which means there must be some people left in there alive to have barricaded this place so tight.”
“Or maybe there are just more zombies in there.”
“Well, there’s definitely a blood bank in there, and that’ll help matters no end!”
Nicholas looked thoughtful then nodded. He of course didn’t want to actually say aloud that I’d had a good idea. “So, how do we get past them?”
I assumed it was a rhetorical question, so I started down to the car park entrance, where most of the zombies were mobbing. I opened the outer door as quietly as possible.
“Ladies first,” Nicholas whispered in my ear.

“I thought we’d agreed I wasn’t a lady.” And with that, I shoved him as hard as I could into the throbbing throng of zombies.

***GIVEAWAY***
One lucky winner will receive eBook copies of all 28 books! That's a lot of supernatural Halloween reading featuring: vampires, mermaids, reapers, werewolves, demons, gods, dragons, ghosts, witches, a phoenix and much more! Books included are:

Soul Taken/ Soul Possessed/ Soul Betrayed by Kaitlyn Duncan
Crown of Ice by Vicki L Weavil
Tangled Tides/ Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper
Shadows of Fate by Angela Dennis
Divinity by Michelle L Johnson
Call Me Grim by Elizabeth Holloway
Darkness  / Darkness Reigns by L M Justus 
The Guardian of Bastet by Jacqueline M Battisti
My Sisters Reaper/ My Tethered Soul by Dorothy Dreyer
Soul Bound/ Soul Deep by Anne Hope
Daughter of Chaos by Jenn McConnel
Wicked Hunger by Delsheree Gladden
Shadow soul/ Shadow Heir by Kaitlyn Davis
Into the Fire by Asheynn Drake
Predator by Janice Gable Bashman
Whispers in the Darkness by Vanessa Barger
A Murder of Magpies by Sarah Bromley
Prayer for the Dead/ Aeonian Kiss by Nicki Scalise
Keeper of the Lost Souls/ Keeper of the Innocent by Kristy Centeno

Thank you to all the authors who contributed copies of their books. And a special thank you to http://month9booksblog.com/productscat/young-adult/ for their contributions. 




Special Character Giveaway

Would you like to be a character in the Battle of the Undead books? Well here's your opportunity! Nicky Peacock is giving away the chance for you to create a character of your very own to star alongside: Britannia, Nicholas, Josh, Jack and all the others in the next novels. You could be immortalized forever in a YA book! All you have to do is send an email entitled 'Bad Blood Character Giveaway' with your character on to:  battleoftheundead (at) hotmail (dot) com  Please include their name, gender, description, and whether they are a vampire, zombie, Vambie or human - and don't forget to say whether they are good or bad. Nicky will choose the best character and get in touch with the winner directly. Deadline for entries is the 30th November 2014.