Monday, May 2, 2016

Monday Books from Kristie Cook, Michelle Dare, Stevie J. Cole, Stacy Gail, & Pamela Sparkman








ABOUT THE BOOK

This novella serves as a stepping stone into the Soul Savers series as it enters a whole new era. You don’t need to have read the previous books to understand and enjoy this one. 

As matriarch of Earth’s Angels, Alexis Knight is charged with leading the world to recover and rebuild after being ravaged by human and supernatural wars. So far, the challenge hasn’t been too difficult as most of Earth’s inhabitants remain in underground bunkers. Alexis’s own community, The Loft, is in trouble. Their water source is drying up, so she and her elite team go to the surface to find a new one. But in a surprise attack by a new kind of legendary creature, Alexis loses her memory of who and what she is. 

While her team scrambles to find the antidote to the black magic affecting her mind, Alexis makes new plans of her own. Until her memory returns, though, her abilities as a leader are questioned, especially when an outside group arrives to initiate a coup against her and her team.

BUY THE BOOK




A SNEAK PEAK

CHAPTER 1

Whispered voices filter through the watery realm of semiconsciousness and grow louder the closer I rise to the surface. Anxiety fills their muffled tones, both male and female. My body shakes, and sharp points dig into my back. The side of my face suddenly lights up with a sting.
“Tell me you did not just slap her,” a male voice accuses.
“She needs to wake the hell up.” The female reply sounds like music, even in its harshness.
“Vanessa, you can’t go around slapping our matriarch,” another woman’s voice reprimands.
The first one huffs. “She’ll get over it and then probably slap me back.”
As my fingers brush over my cheek, I try to open my eyes. My lids feel heavy and scratchy, but I manage a slit. Sunlight glares, and they shut again on their own. With a few flutters against the light, I finally focus on the scene before me. Or rather, above me. I’m lying on the ground with three faces hovering over me—two females and a male—and behind them gleams the sun through an entanglement of bare tree branches.
Where am I? What happened?
“See? It worked,” says the musical voice. My gaze finds her stunning face with skin nearly as white as her hair that’s pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her light blue eyes, however, are like ice daggers as they glower at me. But they fail to pierce through the fog in my mind. “Come on, your highness. Enough of the dramatics. Get up. We need to get out of here.”
A pale hand wraps around my upper arm before I can move, and I flinch.
“Vanessa,” the other female admonishes again, her brown hair hanging around her face as she looks down at me. Her breath plumes in a thin fog as she speaks. She places a long, thin hand over the first and pulls it away. “Give her a minute. She passed out.”
“We don’t have a minute,” Vanessa growls. “And she’s fine now.”
“Sheree’s right,” the guy says. Worry etches three lines between his sapphire eyes as he studies me. He rubs his chin covered with thick scruff, which is a slightly darker hue than the straw-colored hair sticking out from under his knit cap. “She looks out of it. Alexis, are you okay? It’s me, Owen. Can you see me?”
I blink, frown, and try to sit up. My vision wavers, and I close my eyes for a moment, pressing my fingers to my lids. What the hell has happened to me? I slowly open them again. Everyone’s stepped back to give me space, but their gazes remain heavily on me. I swallow, or try to. My throat feels like sandpaper. I lick my lips, tasting the slightly bitter odor hanging in the air, but the effort is pointless, my tongue as dry as my throat.
“Thirsty,” I manage to croak out.
“Aren’t we all,” someone else mutters.
My perspective shifts outward to find two other men beyond the circle around me, both dressed in thick parkas, knit hats, and gloves. They’re armed with a crossbow and a gun that they keep in ready position as they each make a slow circle, watching the woods surrounding the clearing where we’re gathered. The trees are half brown and half gray, with a few withered leaves fluttering from some of the branches as though hanging on even in death. Most branches, however, are bare. Something about them seems odd, as though the limbs aren’t naked only because of the time of year, but for another reason. I can’t pinpoint what I feel like I should know through my hazy mind. Off to my left, the surface of a large lake glitters in the sun, the far shore barely visible in the distance. I gnaw on my lip. I have no idea where I am.
“What happened?” I ask as I rise to my feet.
Vanessa’s hand darts out to help me, her touch cold as ice. I withdraw my arm from her hold as soon as I’m standing and take a step back. Her eyes narrow as they visually assess my condition, the look in them causing a shiver down my spine.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sheree’s upper body leans toward me, and her head tilts. Her brown-eyed gaze never leaves my face, looking down at me from her much taller height. She has to be nearly six feet tall, her body rail thin and all legs in her cutoff denim shorts. A thick belt cinches the waist, a long knife hanging from it. She probably has another in one of her combat boots. Weapons hang from all kinds of places on everyone in the group, including me.
I press my fingers to my aching temples and rub circles into them. “No, not really.”
“Awesome,” Owen mutters as his long leg kicks a small rock across the clearing. “It’s gotta be dark magic messing with your head, too deep for me to reach.”
“This is your fault,” Vanessa snaps at him. “I can’t believe you let her drink the water.”
He rolls his eyes as his hands drop to his hips. “It’s not like I didn’t try to stop her. Besides, you know how she is. She does what she wants. If she wants to test the water herself before anyone else does, she’s gonna do it.”
“God forbid anyone else take a risk.” Vanessa’s voice changes to a higher pitch, mocking. “They might die, so I better do it instead.”
Owen snorts, and the other guys in the group chuckle.
Sheree frowns. “Hey, be nice. That’s who she is. She wouldn’t ask anyone to do what she won’t do herself. That’s why she’s here. Right, Alexis?”
My brow furrows as they all stare at me again, and I rub the back of my neck. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t,” Vanessa quips. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here before more of those little needle things start flying again. Whatever the hell they are.”
“We need to get these water samples back ASAP,” Owen agrees.
Sheree glances at me sideways. “Looking at Alexis, I’m not so sure about that water.”
Owen lifts a brow and holds his hands up, wiggling his fingers. “Do you doubt my magical abilities, woman? It’ll be as pristine as newly fallen snow by the time I’m done with it.”
The guy with the crossbow chuffs. “I don’t think newly fallen snow is so clean anymore. It was blue last time.”
“And purple the time before that,” the other guy adds.
Vanessa gives an impatient flick of her hand as she settles her gaze on Owen. “Are you going to make a portal or what?”
“What about our search for the others?” Sheree asks. “Are we giving up on them?”
Everyone turns and looks at me expectantly. I stare back at them, not understanding what they want. My thoughts bounce all over the place from trying to follow their conversation.
Vanessa sighs and shakes her head. “Let’s get the hell going.”
She strides out of the clearing and into the woods as though everyone would automatically follow, and pretty much everyone does. All but Owen and me. Sheree looks over her shoulder at me and stops.
“Aren’t you coming?”
I shake my head. Is she crazy?
“Do you want to portal back then?” she asks.
When I don’t answer, Sheree and Owen exchange a look. The others stop their movement into the woods.
“Damn water.” Owen gestures toward the lake. “What the heck did it do to you?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I thought I hit the bottle out of your hand, but you dropped to the ground like a stone, lights out for a good two minutes. And now look at you. You’re all whacked out.”
“Whacked out?” I echo.
“Disoriented.” Sheree joins us back in the clearing. “Right? That’s how you feel?”
I squeeze the back of my neck again as I glance around. “That’s one word for it.”
“Hopefully, that’s all it’s done to you, and there’s no other damage,” Sheree says. “Does everything else feel okay?”
I look down at my black boots, leather-clad legs, and torso barely covered in a tight-fitting tank top. A dagger hangs from a belt on my right hip, and a knife is strapped to my left leg. Everything seems to be in order. No pains or aches anywhere but in my brain. “Yeah, I think so. It’s just my head.”
Owen shifts his weight. “I tried to pull the black magic out of you when you went down, but there’s apparently something I can’t reach alone. Let’s get you home, and Blossom can help figure this out.”
“Home . . .” I can’t picture home. My mind comes up completely blank.
“You know, The Loft?” Sheree says. “Where Tristan and the babies are, and the rest of our people?”
“The place we’ve called home for over a year now.” Vanessa returns to the clearing, too. Annoyance crosses her face when I show no recognition. “You know, since that day Lucas and the Demons pretty much destroyed the world with their nuclear and magic bombs?”
My gaze swings to the trees. That’s what I’d noticed to be wrong with them—many of them lack any color at all, even what remains of the leaves. Barely a trace of orange or even brown. I squint my eyes as I look out at the lake and the surrounding land. Lots of gray out there, too. Not all of it, however, as though color has slowly seeped into the landscape. Winter colors, though, except for some scattered specks of pink and yellow on the ground and tree trunks. Is that some kind of pollen? In the middle of winter?
Owen moves his hand closer to my back, a familiar yet hands-off gesture to move along. “Come on. We’ll get you all fixed up, and the whole hellish story will come back to you.”
My muscles stiffen, though, as a small stick, like a miniature arrow or a long needle, whizzes by my nose. A poof of colored dust trails behind it, although none of it lands on us, as if we’re each encased in an invisible bubble. Several more needles sail through the air around us.
“There they are again! What the fuck are they?” Vanessa takes off, running in the direction the sticks had come from.
Owen, however, somehow swoops me into his thickly muscled arms before I know what’s happening and sprints the opposite way.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yell and kick and squirm, the rough wool of his sweater scraping against my bare skin.
“I need to get you home.”
“The hell you are. Put me down!”
“I’m not fighting you on this. Tristan will—”
“I said to put me down!” With a burst of energy, I spring free from his arms.
At the same time, a ripping sound comes from behind me, large, dark shapes explode from my back, and I sail into the air, high out of Owen’s reach. I look over my shoulder and gasp. Purple and black wings spread out to span nearly five feet from each side of me. Although somewhere in the back of my mind I must have known they were there—that they’re a part of me—their unexpected appearance takes me by surprise.
“Come on, Alexis,” Owen growls as I hang in the air above him. “That’s not fair.”
He lifts his palm up toward me as though it’s some kind of threat. With a mere thought, the wings bat against the air, and I rise higher until I hit the tree branches and careen back to the ground. I barely adjust my legs in time to land in a crouch.
Owen steps toward me.
“Stay back,” I warn.
“Then pull yourself together and let’s go,” he counters.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Owen takes another step closer. I draw the dagger from the sheath on my hip. I bend my knees, coiling my muscles, and hold the blade between us.
“Leave me alone!”
He moves to take another step, and I twitch the blade. His deep-blue eyes narrow.
“Alexis . . .”
I rock forward on the balls of my feet.
“Seriously?” He lifts a blond brow. “I’m not going to fight you.”
I glare at him, dagger still out, and then my gaze bounces to the others who’ve come up behind him. They all look at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. But they also carefully watch me as though I’m a wild animal. And that’s okay. If I scare them enough, they’ll leave me alone and go back to their so-called home. As if anyone has a home anymore.
“I lost them, whatever they are.” Vanessa runs back over, so fast her body’s nearly a blur. “They must have flashed because they disappeared. Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
When she stops, she glances at everyone, her eyes landing on me while I brandish a weapon at her companions. She blows out an annoyed huff.
“Enough of this. We’re taking you home.”
I don’t see her move, but she instantly has an arm braced around me like a steel bar locking me against her body. She carries me through the woods at an unnatural speed, the trees blurring by us. I thrash against her and dig the tip of the dagger across her forearm. She doesn’t even flinch, and the wound closes up right away. I kick her shins and throw an elbow into her ribs. Her hold loosens. I seize the opportunity and twist free, landing on my feet, dagger pointed at her. She stops in her tracks, and everyone else does, too, as they approach from behind her.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I snarl once again. “Who the hell do you think you are to expect me to? I don’t know where I am or who I am, and I certainly don’t know any of you!”
                                        
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Kristie Cook is a lifelong, award-winning writer in various genres, from marketing communications to fantasy fiction. She continues to write the Soul Savers Series, a New Adult paranormal romance/contemporary fantasy, with the first five books, Promise, Purpose, Devotion, Power, and Wrath available now. She’s also written a companion novella, Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella, currently available. Over 300,000 Soul Savers books have been sold, with Promise peaking at #54 on the Amazon Top 100 Paid list and at #1 in the Amazon Fantasy category.

She has also written The Book of Phoenix trilogy, a New Adult paranormal romance series that includes The Space Between, The Space Beyond, and The Space Within. The full trilogy is available now.

Besides writing, Kristie enjoys reading, cooking, traveling, and riding on the back of a motorcycle. She has lived in ten states, but currently calls Southwest Florida home with her husband, three sons, a beagle and a puggle. She is represented by Italia Gandolfo at Gandolfo Helin Literary Management.



AH RB Banner

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00033]

Synopsis
Radek Cole had been the stereotypical bachelor, just the way he liked it. Then he fell hard and fast for Kasi Markson, a fiercely independent woman, who always speaks her mind and never backs down. They’ve overcome major obstacles in their short time together, but that only made their relationship stronger. Too bad there are still hurdles to conquer.
An admirer becomes unhinged and a former lover reappears. What else awaits them? Can they weather any storm that comes their way, even the one that’s about to turn their lives upside down?
OUAA99c
Teaser
Young sensual couple during romantic evening
Strong desire between couple of young people
BooksInTheSeries
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00033]
ONLY $0.99!
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00033]
ON SALE FOR $0.99!
AboutTheAuthor
Michelle Dare is a romance author. Her stories range from sweet to sinful and from new adult to fantasy. There aren’t enough hours in the day for her to write all of the story ideas in her head. When not writing or reading, she’s a wife and mom living in eastern Pennsylvania. One day she hopes to be writing from a beach where she will never have to see snow or be cold again.
AuthorLinks
OUAA_SocialMedia_FacebookTwitterWebsiteNewsletter
tour-host-ouaa



Title: EXRATED
Author: Stevie J. Cole
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 2, 2016



Blurb

Tyler Westbrook, better known as Johnny Depth, is taking the adult film industry by storm. With his playboy looks, it’s no surprise a few coworkers have attempted to take things off set and into the bedroom, but Tyler refuses to blur the lines between work and play…until the new assistant to the director walks in.

Jemma Morgan was recently fired from a lead role on a kid’s TV show that was supposed to be her big break. Unable to get another acting gig, she's accepted a job in an industry she never expected to be a part of. Although she anticipates being shocked her first few days on set, nothing could prepare her for the moment she's asked to hold the reflector as her ex-boyfriend plows through a woman like a Kansas cornfield.


In a world of butt-plugs, lube, and fake moans, is there a place for a second chance? Exes and some serious ohs…the term ex-rated just took on a whole new meaning.





Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK






Author Bio

Stevie J. Cole is a secret rock star. Sex, drugs and, oh wait, no, just sex. She’s a whore for a British accent and has an unhealthy obsession with Russell Brand. She and LP plan to elope in Vegas and breed the world’s most epic child.



Author Links

TWITTER
GOODREADS






Title: House Of Payne: Steele
Series: House Of Payne #5
Author: Stacy Gail
Genre: Contemporary Romance
 Release Date: May 1, 2016



Blurb

TRIGGER WARNING: This book deals with the sensitive subjects of surviving rape, trauma suffered during combat, child abuse, and possible sterility. If you have issues with these elements, this book might not be for you.

Raped. Tortured. Beaten. Essie Santiago’s life fell apart when she was sixteen, and it’s taken eight years to put it back together. There are some pieces that can never be mended; it would take a miracle for her to get pregnant, and physical closeness is something that makes her shudder. Only her love of creating beauty in the form of fashion gets her through the worst of the darkness.

When a mortar attack destroyed half his face and all of his life as he knew it, something vital died inside of former Marine, Ezekiel Steele. For years he’s felt nothing… until he sees Essie trying her best to be invisible. But the feisty spark inside the lovely fashion designer is too bright to be concealed, and like a moth to a flame, he’s helpless to resist her.

Chicago’s premiere tattoo studio, House Of Payne, is taking the world of fashion by storm, holding a contest to find the best designer the city has to offer. Competition is fierce, but all Essie can concentrate on are Steele’s dirty-talking lessons in sex. But when the student surpasses the master when it comes to love, Steele’s inner demons get the better of him. If he can't face them down, he’ll lose Essie forever.

***This standalone, mildly erotic contemporary romance contains a dirty-talking Alpha with a penchant for having sex in public places. No cheating, no love triangles and no cliffhangers. Fairy tale HEA guaranteed. Due to adult language and sexual content, this book is not intended for people under the age of 18***





Purchase Links

99c

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU





Also Available


99c

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU



99c

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU



99c

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU



99c

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU




Excerpt

“You sure you don’t need… uh, this?”

A low, sexy laugh escaped Steele as he brought his hand back to the juncture of her thighs. “This? You mean my cock?”

It was amazing, how she could still blush. “Mm-hm.”

“Say it.” When she didn’t immediately respond, the slow encroachment of his hand stilled. “Essie, I want you to feel free to say anything when you’re with me. Any thought. Any word. Nothing’s forbidden between us. You can say it.”

“Okay.” She huffed out an irritated breath and tried not to imagine what her mother would think of her for having such a dirty mouth. “Your, um… your c-cock.”

His hand instantly slid into her cleft, homed in like a champ on her clit and gave it one hard circle. She gasped, her head flinging back, but just as suddenly as he started, he stilled again.

“You stumbled a bit on that, sweetness. Say it again. It sounds so pretty, coming from your sweet lips.”

“Your cock.” It was quiet, hushed, but she managed to say it this time without stuttering. She was immediately rewarded with a few more spectacular swirls of his finger, but just as she was dissolving into a pool of pleasure, he stopped again.

“Say it again.”

Goddamn it. “Your cock.”

“Louder.”

“Your cock, your cock, your huge, fucking cock.”

She thanked heaven and whatever deity that might be involved in dirty talk when his fingers began to move, but they worked her so slowly she couldn’t stand it.

“Do you like my huge, fucking cock, Essie?”

“Yeah. Oh, yeah.”

“How much do you like my huge, fucking cock?”

Feverishly she pumped her hips, trying to get him going, and her hands loosened the front of his jeans despite his claim that it wasn’t necessary. “I love your huge, fucking cock.”

“What do you love about my huge, fucking cock?”

“At the moment, I love that it can’t talk.”






Author Bio


A competitive figure skater from the age of eight, Stacy Gail began writing stories in between events to pass the time. By the age of fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a figure skating coach who was also a published romance writer, or a romance writer who was also a skating pro. Now with a day job of playing on the ice with her students, and writing everything from steampunk to cyberpunk, contemporary to paranormal at night, both dreams have come true.



Author Links

Giveaway




Title: Back to Yesterday
Author: Pamela Sparkman
Genre: Historical Twentieth Century Romance (WWII)
 Release Date: May 2, 2016



Blurb

Everyone loves a good love story. The stories that make you feel warm all over. The kind that leaves you the slightest bit envious because the story belongs to someone else and not you. The stories that make your heart race and on the edge of pain and pleasure. Pain because your heart hurts and pleasure because your heart hurts. An unlikely combination, yet, that’s the stuff good love stories are made of.

Ours could have been like that. We could have made a beautiful love story.
But when he was ready for that epic love story, I was afraid to fall in love, too hurt by my past to trust anyone. Then, when I was ready for the epic love story, he was gone.
And I was alone.
And the only thing I got was the pain.
It was time I told him the things that were in my heart but too afraid to say out loud.

I wrote the letter I needed to write and prayed it wasn't too late.

Dear Charlie,

You were right. I was wrong. I've never been more wrong in my life.
There - I said it.
I’ll say it a million times if you just come back to me.
Come back to me. Please!

I was so wrong. I do love you.

Sophie





Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK






Excerpt

Prologue  
Charlie


Her best friend found me sitting alone in the café. I guess she knew where to find me. It wasn’t hard. I was always sitting alone in the café, because it was where Sophie worked and I liked being near her. Though, she wasn’t here now and I likely wouldn’t see her again anytime soon.

“She’s heartbroken you know.”

Never once stealing a glance her way, I murmured, “I know.”

“You should go to her. I’ve never seen her like this.”

I closed my eyes, recalling the last words Sophie had said to me. It was what I’d been doing for the last two hours. In fact, her last words felt like they were woven around my neck like a noose, choking the life out of me.

“Charles, look at me.”

I didn’t. Instead, I chose to tell her what I knew to be true. “She doesn’t want to see me.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Believe it.” I turned to face her so she could see my pain, my broken heart, and then redirected my eyes back out the window. “Besides, it’s probably better this way.”

Her friend slid in the booth across from me. “Better for whom? Her or you?”

“For both of us I suppose.”

With a sigh, she made the request again. “Please look at me, Charles.”

Hesitantly, I granted her request and turned to her. Her eyes wore empathy, and her smile held regret. “I know you told her you were leaving tomorrow and I know she hasn’t admitted it to you yet, but she loves you. You have to know that.”

Swallowing the ache I felt, I nodded. “I know.”

“Well if you know then why are you sitting here? Why aren’t you with her trying to–”

“I know what I’m doing,” I said, standing abruptly. I reached into my pocket, pulled out some money and slapped it down on the table. “I’m giving her what she wants.”

Coming to a stand beside me and getting in my face, she said, “Yeah? And what is that exactly?”

Ignoring her question, I headed for the door. She followed, nipping at my heels all the way. “I can’t believe you! You’re just gonna leave…without another word…just like that?”

I was coming unraveled at the seams. Once outside, I spun around and gripped her shoulders, startling her when I did something I never do…I raised my voice. “Yes! That’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”

Her eyes darted back and forth between mine while she tried to make sense of it all. “But…why?”

I loosened my grip and stated in a softer tone, hoping I could make her understand. “Because… it’s the only way she’ll ever admit that she made a mistake. I have to let her think she lost me, Elizabeth, and you have to let her think that too.”

“I don’t understand. You should fight for her.”

I took a step back and looked her right in the eyes. “I am fighting for her. I’ve been fighting for her.” I bowed my head, feeling the gaping hole inside my chest where my heart used to be, and in a whisper said, “It’s her turn to fight for me.”





Author Bio


I grew up in Alabama and have always been an avid reader. I had a stack of those Little Golden Books and I can remember reading Three Little Kittens over and over and over again. It was my favorite.

Fast forward and the older I got the more in love books I became. So, I'm admitting that I am a huge nerd. The only reading I don't like are those math word problems. And I'm okay with that because no one has ever asked me in real life... "If I give you two bananas and take away six apples, how long will it take the southbound train to collide with the northbound train if Johnny left his house at midnight?" It just doesn't happen.

So, yeah, books are my thing.


Oh, and writing. I love to write. So, I did. Write, I mean. And when I was finished I had a story in front of me about a girl named Lily, and a guy named Cooper. And when I reached the end, I felt - lost. Like, I was saying good-bye to old friends. It snuck up on me and I realized I wasn't ready to let go. It was then I decided that I needed to keep writing - keep telling stories - and hopefully some other people may enjoy them as well.



Author Links




Giveaway

No comments:

Post a Comment