Review of Give Me Love by Zoey Derrick

The Reason Series ~ Complete Collection

All four books of Zoey Derrick’s touching paranormal romance.

Give Me Reason
Give Me Hope
Give Me Desire  Give Me Love
Blurb Vivienne Callahan has known only hardship. As if growing up with an alcoholic, drug addicted mother wasn’t traumatic enough, she’s escaped from her physically and verbally abusive boyfriend only to struggle every day to make ends meet as a waitress in a Minneapolis diner. Along comes Mikah Blake…

Links
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Smashwords | Kobo

Review Quotes “Give Me Reason is a story full of heart, pain, doubt and learning to trust again. This story is about a woman who doesn't immediately run off with the man who offers her the world. She has seen the ugly in the world and trusting someone again isn't a price she is willing to pay."
★★★★★, Emily, TheSUBCLUBbooks

“Vivienne and Mikah's story is intense, captivating and unforgettable. Their story is honest and gritty.”
Brooke @ Brooke Blogs

“This book will elicit a lot of emotional reactions while reading, you may want to buckle up, cause it's quite a ride. A ride that leaves you scatter brained, your heart aching, pounding, trying to catch your breath, and trying to figure out WTH is going to happen next???? The writing is brilliant and it flows wonderfully. There is an unexpected current running throughout the story, it simmers just below the surface. It will draw you in, and make you quirk your eyebrow.”
Angie - FanGirl Book Blog ★★★★★ Review


“Zoey Derrick had me within the first two pages. Her characters are alive and completely relateable, likeable and down-right loveable. I empathize, I cheer, I fear, I love with them. It takes a good solid book with a solid story and direction to get a hold of me, not that it matters, so to me for this book to grab right out the gate like this, AMAZING!”
Barb - ★★★★★ Amazon Review

“I love stories with angels in them and when you get Mikah and Vivienne together it is heavenly.”
Mary - ★★★★★ Amazon Review

“This series took a story of two tortured souls and turned it into a heart wrenching, test of love and survival, with the supernatural twist page turner that I couldn't put down.”
Stephanie H.

"But I can tell you that this is a book that will keep you wanting more, you will fall in the with these characters, and you'll end up a die hard fan of Zoey Derrick."
★★★★★ Amazon Review

Review This series was awesome!  Gotta love a story that has romance, danger, action, and downright craziness in it.  It took a while to finish the story, as it was four books, but anticipation is a good thing, right?  Especially with the way book three ended!  The last book was totally worth the wait.  The love that was building throughout the first three books, was finally expressed in this last book with several really hot scenes.  I love the way it ended!  It answered all of my questions with the exception of one.  Since the story ends two years down the road, I imagine there won't be more.  Though it would be interesting to see more, like maybe 15-20 years down the road.  Zoey writes characters that are just so loveable.  The reader yearns to know what happened to them. 

Bio Amazon Best Selling Angels, Demons & Devils and Paranormal Author of Give Me Reason - The Reason Series Book One comes from Glendale, Arizona. Zoey, was a mortgage underwriter by day and is now a paranormal, romance and erotica novelist full-time. She writes stories as hot as the desert sun itself. It is this passion that drips off of her work, bringing excitement to anyone who enjoys a good and sensual love story.
 
 Not only does she aim to take her readers on an erotic dance that lasts the night, it allows her to empty her mind of stories we all wish were true.
 Her stories are hopeful yet true to life, skillfully avoiding melodrama and the unrealistic, bringing her gripping Erotica only closer to the heart of those that dare dipping into it. 
 
 The intimacy of her fantasies that she shares with her readers is thrilling and encouraging, climactic yet full of suspense. She is a loving mistress, up for anything, of which any reader is doomed to return to again and again.

Links
Website | Facebook | FB Page | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

Release Blitz for Will Shakespeare and the Ships of Solomon

Blurb
Sounds like a mix of Raiders of the lost ark and Da Vinci Code Post-War Treasure Hunt, Old World Secrets
In the fall of 1947, Will Shakespeare saw the world collapse around him. Shakespeare, a secret soldier for the Knights Templar, barely escapes the slaughter of his entire knighthood at the hands of a rogue militant arm of the Vatican in a small Montreal church.
With orders to escort Templar business associate Dorothy Wilkinson back to her home in Bermuda, Will must locate and rescue the most important secret treasure in human history before it is devoured by a hurricane in the watery caves beneath her father’s property.
The spiraling quest sends Will and Dorothy into uncovering dark secrets that make up the origins of the knighthood as they confront the traps and puzzles that masterfully protect the world’s most coveted treasure.

Links
Amazon | Goodreads  
Bio Christopher Grey is an author of fiction focusing on conspiracy theories, secret societies and the occult. His special brand of storytelling dives into conspiracies and the occult from the point of view of the secret societies, attempting to dispel popular mistruths and paranoia prevalent in the mainstream.
Grey's fascination with the secret world began when he was sixteen after a chance meeting with a conspiracy theorist in a coffee shop sometime in the 1990s. The conversation with this man led Grey on a lifelong scholarly endeavor to learn about secret societies and the occult from a skeptical and secular point of view.
Over the past 15 years, he has been involved in various fraternal societies and has sought to explore the undercurrents of human civilization–to uncover the hidden histories and the forces and patterns that have designed what society has become and to demystify the hidden forces in our society that, for so long, have been vilified and misunderstood.

Links
Website | Publisher | Blog | Twitter

Excerpt

First Chapter: Will Shakespeare and the Ships of Solomon
Sir William Shakespeare lit a cigarette to pass the time. Even through the fog he could make out the silhouettes of the surrounding landmarks in Old Montreal. On this particular overcast day, the city was more akin to London than Paris, from which many locals declared their decadency. Will spent a great deal of time in both cities and could personally attest to the ambiance of each. No matter what the charcoal skyline of this city presented or feigned, it was no doubt as cold as London. His wool overcoat did little to help, and the gray fedora on top of his well-combed black hair only stopped the moisture from disrupting the hair treatment.
Blue eyes scanned the skyline. It was the most interesting place to look. Cowering fog oppressed the Canadian cityscape with little regard for daylight. Traffic down St. Catherine’s was all but extinct. Every twenty minutes or so, a distant hum of a car would be complemented by fading headlights as they turned from Union or University, submitting to the thick moisture by employing useless headlights. It was infrequent enough that he could spend a great deal of time examining them as they passed, refracting in dismal displays of frigidity. Pontiacs . . . Chevys . . . gray . . . beige . . . black. . . . Nothing to cause concern.
The humidity was high enough to turn the city into a veritable swimming pool; such was not uncommon for this time of year. Only the day prior a storm passed through, throwing down sheets of incessant rain, taking away fallen leaves and other autumn debris into the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. A frigid day coming out of an even more brisk night cost many Montrealers a pleasant morning. In just a short time, snow would mark the landscape and herald a long winter ahead.
Brown bristles of deleafed deciduous trees from the largest green space in the city combed over the gentle slope of Mount Royal, which stretched devoid of people into the throngs of McGill University. A forest of meager but still prominent buildings decorated the campus and lowland shores on the east end of the island, humbly marking Montreal’s downtown area. Not quite in the vicinity of Old Montreal, but close enough to see the gothic fingers of aged colonial skyscrapers and churches, lay one of the more prized structures in the well-populated Ville-Marie borough. The Christ Church Cathedral, promenading an entire city block, catapulted its own religious testament toward the already aged and humbling skyline. Buried next to McGill’s nineteenth-century manicured campus and amid one of the larger commercial districts of the borough, it was a more permanent marker on the skyline.
Beneath the skyline and at the enclave of the cathedral, Will watched for any unusual activity. Pedestrians were just as scarce as cars, if not more so. No one in their right mind would be walking down St. Catherine’s on this morning. Not unless they were a McGill student or hopelessly lost. It wasn’t St. Catherine’s, Will corrected himself. The locals called it “Rue Ste-Catherine O.” The French pride here took some getting used to, and even after two years he was nowhere near tolerant enough. Living in Montreal did affect his French, however, and on a good day he could very easily get around using the language. He already had a base from his years in Vietnam, but the dialect was very different. His French-Canadian accent was strange enough that most people didn’t even guess he was American, much less a Connecticut native.
The delicate lights inside Christ Church Cathedral danced from behind stained glass. It was likely quite a lot warmer in there, and as much as he’d like to go in, he couldn’t. His job was to make sure no one went inside who wasn’t authorized by the Order. With the complete lack of passersby, the job was far easier than he’d thought it would be.
The regular churchgoers and staff weren’t a problem, as Will had arranged to have the facility completely vacated three days before. The Order had high contacts within the Anglican Church, and it really only took verification of who they were to keep the facility clear. The staff closed the doors to the public, citing plumbing problems, and ensured that the congregation was well aware of the issue. That wouldn’t disrupt normal services, as everyone would be out by evening, allowing the clergy to prepare for the next day’s sermon.
It was three-thirty the last time he checked his watch, and that was recent enough that he didn’t bother to check again. Looking at his watch too many times made the time pass slower. They’d been in there for four hours—a very long time to watch nothing, although Will was accustomed to this sort of work. During the secret war of the mid-1930s, he’d spent countless hours in the dark streets of Havana watching walls rot. The jungles of Vietnam were no different. Even his work on the Allied fronts of the war kept him at watch more than once. The secret was simple: watch the horizon and focus on points only when there was movement.
Very important men were inside the church at the moment discussing things Will had no earthly idea about. The last time members of the leadership were all in the same room was the dawn of the war. If the threat of Nazi Germany was the one thing that brought these old men together, it horrified Will to know what had gathered them here on this day.
The 1939 meeting was a much different time, even though it was only ten years prior. He was still a sergeant, but the work in 1938 put him on the path to promotion, earning him the prestigious title of Knight Brother. His work in Havana with Lucky Luciano and other Mafioso leaders secured private interest in Cuba from rising communist influence. Suddenly wrenched from the secret affairs of the Latin world, Will was dropped directly into the middle of Europe while a madman marched across the landscape. Will wasn’t the only one dispatched. In fact, the crew present in Montreal that day was the very same one that had kept each other alive in the European war. If it wasn’t world war these men were meeting about, Will didn’t really want to know what it was.
The grounds were clean. He and Sam Adams had just completed a fourth sweep. There were six other Knight Brothers patrolling the area. No one was getting through. He stayed with Sam, his prodigy, at the front. There were two men on either side of the cathedral, and two patrolling the perimeter. Will had asked for more knights, but the commanders weren’t able to bring them back to Montreal soon enough. Many were still supporting the security of Berlin’s occupation, and after recent outbursts in Vietnam against the French, a dozen were placed back there.
His curiosity was piqued, but any guesses on his part would only be speculation. Knowing the meeting took place under the direst of necessities, he also knew that the Order was in great danger. Having all members of the entire leadership in one place was rarely practiced, and for good reason. A secret society needed safeguards in place to ensure the knowledge of its members was not lost. Whatever brought them all to Montreal was no concern to Will-he was a soldier. He didn’t need to know the politics behind his organization. He followed orders as he always did.
Keeping trained eyes on the distant Montreal background, he pondered the location. Out of all the world’s cities in which the Order operated, their base of operations was this somewhat small city in Canada. Knowing the full history of the Order meant it was no mystery. In fact, the city of Montreal was created on the Order’s influence as a sort of Utopian society. Fighting the impulse to use the word Utopian, he reminded himself that the city more appropriately represented the concepts described in Francis Bacon’s novel New Atlantis. Montreal was the center of a New Scotland with high liberal ideals. These concepts were still inbred in the society, it seemed. Just three years prior, there had been great national conflict when the mayor protested conscription for the war. Ottawa put the mayor in prison, and the conscription was enforced.
Will was somewhat dismissive about Canada. He didn’t particularly care for the climate and was accustomed to slightly more exciting locations. Used to being in the center of it all, adjusting to the slow-paced northern life wasn’t without its challenges. No longer concerned for his life whenever he stepped outside his house, and working a somewhat regular job with the Order training sergeants, the days of working the field were sorely missed. He’d also been stuck as a trainer for long enough that he hadn’t managed to make it to his home town, Hartford, since the war. A ping of guilt crossed his consciousness as he recalled Hartford. It had been too long.
Will had been promoted to Knight Brother during the war, a fantastic honor and one awarded to only three dozen people in the entire world. He was officially a Brother of the Knights Templar and had access to some of the most powerful secrets in human history. Part of becoming a knight, however, was erasing his old identity. He was now immersed in an ancient tradition and as such operated above any nation or society on the planet. He could no longer be a normal citizen. His old life was over, and a new, secret one had begun. The knighthood faked his death in the war and sent reports home to his mother and sister that he’d died honorably in combat in Germany. He’d then taken an oath never to contact his family again.
Those were distant and painful thoughts to have on this morning, and so he sidetracked himself by checking the position of his crew. Glancing back, he made sure Adams was still in position. Nothing had changed. As a Knight Brother, however, security was on his shoulders. He couldn’t allow any of the sergeants to lose focus. The Knight Commanders had tightened security for a reason. His reevaluation of the crew brought his attention to another oncoming car.
This one was different from the others. Immediately Will knew it wasn’t a civilian. The pace was too slow as it crawled forward deliberately. The driver was making no mistakes, watching for every conceivable detail. Even in fog, civilians tend to move forward with a flare of recklessness. Content to crouch behind their steering wheels and squint into the white nothingness, they think that by squinting they’ll see something before it becomes a problem. A military person, however, will simply travel more slowly, having built the fog into the mission as a component.
The car stopped precisely in front of the cathedral, close enough that Will could spot the signature maple-leaf Canadian flags attached to the hood-far too showy for his tastes. He had been expecting this car. Ottawa was personally escorting a civilian for the leadership to interview. That’s all he knew. Given the security concerns, he was appalled they’d arrived in diplomatic style. Anyone with half a brain would know something important was happening at the cathedral today. Their low profile was effectively blown.
His face darkened as he watched a man step out of the backseat in a pressed navy-blue suit and yellow tie, black overcoat, and fedora. A public servant, not a spook. Why were they being so careless?
The politician opened the back door and helped out another passenger. Although Will Shakespeare was a professional, he couldn’t help but take an interest in the woman who stepped out. Short brown hair. Youthful face but with years behind her brown eyes. She was sun-kissed yet dressed like a New Yorker. He allowed himself enough leeway to lose focus for only a second. Long enough to nod and offer an obligatory smile as they approached.
“Miss Wilkinson, for you, my friend,” the politician said.
Glancing back at Sam Adams, Will gave the unspoken order to hold his position while he escorted the guest. Adams, standing at ease, snapped into focus and put out his cigarette, now being the eyes of the operation. Shakespeare was free to greet the newcomers.
“Good afternoon, Miss Wilkinson, we appreciate your prompt arrival. You are free to go inside.”
Will kept his smile, but it was only an act. He was being polite because she was a civilian, and possibly because she was pleasant to look at, but much more important issues were on his mind. I am not a doorman.
The woman smiled and hesitantly went into the cathedral, looking back at the politician as she did so. As soon as she was out of sight, Will’s smile dissolved into severity. He broke through the politician’s milk-toast expression with an unblinking and official stare.
“You took a public vehicle. Why?”
“I thought your guest should arrive in style,” he said with a high tone in his voice, emoting a certain level of offense.
“Before you leave, remove those flags and your license plates. Tell the driver to dump the car at the university and take a goddamned taxi home.”
Now the man was openly offended.
“Wait a minute, sir! Do you have any idea who I am? You are talking to . . .”
“An elected official with no brain matter. I don’t give a damn, you are compromising our security.”
“Just who do you think you are?” His voice was raised now.
“If you have to ask, you are not cleared to know. Leave the car at McGill’s. Take a taxi.”
“This is ridiculous. I’m calling the office!”
Will looked back at Adams with another unspoken order. The sergeant immediately stepped forward and opened his coat. The sidearm was quite visible underneath.
This openly threatening gesture stunned the official into silence. Sputtering and glancing between both men with a reddened face, the Canadian did what he was told, removing the flags and crawling inside the vehicle. Will watched him go with no expression. He only hoped it would be enough. They could already be compromised.
He turned to Adams. “Walk the perimeter again. Make absolutely sure it’s clean.”
Adams nodded and went on his way.
Will reflected on this woman and how she’d arrived. There was no good reason a woman like that would be meeting with the Grand Master. Slamming his mind back into focus, he finished his cigarette and took a good look around the premises. Moving down the steps of the church, he checked around the corner to see if any headlights were approaching.
It was a good thing he did because in the next moment he was forced to pull his gun.

Check out the other stops of the tour!
Pure Jonel |Savings in Seconds | Mythical Books | Deal Sharing Aunt | The Insane Ramblings of a Crazed Writer | The Wormhole | What Mama Wants

Review of Give Me Desire by Zoey Derrick

Blurb VIVIENNE CALLAHAN, discharged from the hospital after surviving a near-fatal attack from Riley, her abusive ex-boyfriend, has come to the safety of Mikah’s protection. As she continues to heal physically and mentally from her ordeal, she begins to have strange dreams...dreams that follow her into waking life and hint at a fate she never could’ve foreseen and dangers far greater than Riley.

Meanwhile, MIKAH BLAKE has some ideas about her future, too, and the more she considers his proposals, the weaker her resistance to him becomes. His recent actions have taught her to respect and trust him, but soon her feelings for him threaten to deepen into something more, something she may not be ready for.

In the third book of the Reason series, Vivienne will discover who and what she and the people around her really are.

Review I love Zoey Derrick's writing! This book was great! Only way it could've been better would be if she hadn't cut off in the middle of what they were doing, lol. Nice cliffhanger Zoey! This book was better than the other two, we learn more about Viv and Micah and their relationship grows. I about cried at one point. If you read my reviews often enough, you may have noticed that emotional connection to the characters goes a long way to earning a 5 Star Review from me, and Zoey has that. By book 3, the reader is definitely attached to the characters and cares about what's going on with them. Even the background characters to an extent. I can't wait to read the next one. This book barely even touched on what was going on with Nyssa, and that was in the end of the last book for the most part, so I can only imagine how crazy the next book will be. I can't wait! I'm glad I'm already signed up to review the next one, cuz I'm going to read it as soon as I get it!

Links
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Check out the previous books in the series!

Bio Amazon Best Selling Angels, Demons & Devils and Paranormal Author of Give Me Reason - The Reason Series Book One comes from Glendale, Arizona. Zoey, was a mortgage underwriter by day and is now a paranormal, romance and erotica novelist full-time. She writes stories as hot as the desert sun itself. It is this passion that drips off of her work, bringing excitement to anyone who enjoys a good and sensual love story.
 

Not only does she aim to take her readers on an erotic dance that lasts the night, it allows her to empty her mind of stories we all wish were true.
 Her stories are hopeful yet true to life, skillfully avoiding melodrama and the unrealistic, bringing her gripping Erotica only closer to the heart of those that dare dipping into it. 
 

The intimacy of her fantasies that she shares with her readers is thrilling and encouraging, climactic yet full of suspense. She is a loving mistress, up for anything, of which any reader is doomed to return to again and again.

Links
Website | Facebook | FB Page | Twitter| Goodreads | Amazon

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt "Alright." I sigh. "When are you coming home?"
"Do you miss me?"
"Yes."
I hear his sharp intake of breath at my words.
"Why does that surprise you?" I ask.
"Because. I miss you, too."
I smile.
"I will be home tomorrow, hopefully in the morning. Viv, I wanted to ask you something else."
"What's that?"
"Tomorrow night there is a charity gala that I'm supposed to attend. I'd like it if you would be my date."
"Uh..." I'm taken aback by his question, surprised that he would want to take me to something like that. "Mikah, I've never been to anything like that before." I pull my feet up, cross my legs and lean back into the couch. I place my hand on my belly and begin rubbing it.
"I know, but it's really no big thing. We go, have dinner, there is an auction, and dinner is followed by a dance. It's a stuffed shirt, black tie kind of thing. I am not a fan of going to them, but this one is for an important charity that I've been a part of since its inception, so it is really important that I be there. I just don't want to go without you."
I'm pondering his words as I continue to stroke my belly. "I have nothing to wear," I say, and he chuckles.
"Does that mean you'll go?"
I roll my eyes at his enthusiasm. "Yes, Mikah, I'll go."
"Yes! Okay, I will have Celeste make some arrangements for you to have a nice, relaxing day tomorrow, get your hair done, be pampered a little. And when you guys go out today, you can find yourself a dress." The excitement in his voice is infectious, and I can't help but smile.

Giveaway and Review of The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler

Blurb Seventeen year-old Daphne Janus is floored when her parents agree to let her accompany her best friend to a getaway resort on an island off the coast of California. She doesn't know her parents have sent her to the Purgatorium as a last-ditch effort to save their child.

Her best friend and life-long neighbor takes her to a mostly uninhabited island with a wildlife preserve on one side and Chumash Indian ruins on the “haunted” side. The resort might be beautiful, the beach pristine, and the views from the headland amazing, but strange things begin to happen that soon have Daphne running for her life. At first she finds the therapeutic games thrilling: the ghosts that visit her room, the dropping elevator, and the kayak incident are actually kind of fun once she recovers from them. But when her horse bucks her off during a trail ride and she becomes lost on the haunted side of the island, it’s not fun anymore, and she wonders if her parents have sent her there to help her or to punish her.

Links
Amazon | Smashwords

Review OH WOW! This book is by far the best book I've read in years! This book was like a really good therapy session for me.  The end was just, OMG, I was bawling hysterically.  I wish this kind of place was REAL!  The weird stuff that happens, it can be confusing, but by the end you will understand why it was necessary.  The end, it's just amazing.  I can't praise this book enough.  I knew Eva was an awesome person before reading this book, and as you may know, I've read several of her books in addition to this one.  After reading this book though, I know I have to read everything she writes.  Even her lesser known titles.  If you haven't picked up a book by this awesome lady yet, you're seriously missing out.  Go buy this one ASAP.  If you have any kind of family dysfunction at all, you will be able to relate to Daphne, and may find this book as healing as I did.


Bio Eva Pohler writes fiction and teaches writing and literature at The University of Texas at San Antonio, where she lives with her husband, three teens, and two dogs. She is the author of The Gatekeeper's Saga, The Purgatorium Series, and The Mystery Box.

Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

Check out the other stops on the tour!

Promo
Chris Redding Author | Night Owl Reads

Interview
Pure Jonel

Review
Hot Off the Shelves|The Book Maven | Words I Write Crazy | Readin' & Reviewin Book Blog
Forget About TV, Grab a Book | The Insane Ramblings of a Crazed Writer | Ohana Day Academy
Michelle's Paranormal Vault of Books | Reading... Dreaming | Sharing Links and Wisdom | T B R
Tracy Riva Books & Reviews

Amazon Review
Gatosqueak | Grandbub | K. April Holgate

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
  Excerpt Before they reached the main level, the elevator jerked and stopped.
“What’s going on?” Daphne asked, as her brain fogged up with fear.
The lights blinked off. They were enveloped in darkness.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” Stan said.
“What’s happening?” She couldn’t think. Her hands flapped beside her like the wings of a jarred moth.
“It’s okay, Daphne,” he said in a soothing voice. “We’re going to be fine. I’m trying to find the emergency switch. Someone will get us outta here soon.”
Tears ran down her face and her stomach dropped out from under her. She felt like she might be sick. Then it occurred to her that this might be the exercise Cam had agreed to set up for Hortense Gray.
“This better not be an exercise. This isn’t one of their exercises, is it?” She felt along the wall of the elevator for the rail, and when she found it, she held on tight.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know, therapeutic games? Cam knows I’m scared of elevators. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on here. They’re making me face my fear. Well forget this! Do you hear me out there? I don’t like this one bit!” She hit her fist against the elevator wall.
“Calm down, Daphne.”
“I thought therapeutic games would be like relay races and rock climbing. Scaring the crap out of me is not why I came!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Stan. This isn’t your fault. Oh, God, oh my crap, I can’t breathe!” She felt helpless, out of control, at the mercy of this stupid elevator and the way it was closing in on her, stifling her oxygen, trapping her, not letting her out. “Let me out!”
“Come here.” He pulled her into his arms with a tight grip, forcing her to hold still. “Relax. It’s okay,” he said softly.
The lights flickered and then came on. The elevator dropped a few more feet to the bottom floor.
“Ahhh!” Daphne cried, catching against the wall.
The doors opened, and Daphne leapt out, trembling and angry and amazingly relieved. She avoided the eyes of the others in the foyer as she tried to regain control of her breathing and rushed from the building.
Stan caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder just outside the main building. “You okay?”
She caught her breath and then said, “No.”
“Let’s head back to the rooms.” He slid a hand behind her back and nudged her down the sidewalk.
“So are they scaring the hell out of you, too?” she asked, after her breathing had returned to normal. “Any games as crazy as that?”
“What do you mean? What games?”
“Isn’t Dr. Gray putting you through therapeutic games?”
“I’m here studying the Chumash Indian ruins and archaeological sites for a paper I’m writing.”
Daphne stopped on the sidewalk near the pool, where the underwater lights had turned on, making the water glow in the dusk falling around them. “I don’t understand.”
Stan put an arm around her waist and pulled her onward. “If you ask me, Cam’s just teasing you.”
“No. Dr. Gray said so, too.”
“Therapeutic games? What does that even mean?”
Daphne shrugged. “I don’t intend to stay and find out.”
They reached her unit.
“You just got here and made my trip one hundred percent better. I hate to see you leave.”



I use Grammarly's plagiarism checker because even grammar experts make mistakes!

Review of Out From Under by Selene Chardou and Giveaway!

Blurb "I have always been strong, independent and wanted a life that belonged to me. It's the very reason why I chose to attend Stanford because it is away from the small-town life that seems more Twin Peaks than charming. Secrets are a dangerous commodity and Pine Bluff has them in spades. So do my parents, and the dirtiest secret of all is my brother, Trey. Sergeant at Arms for the Demon's Bastards, a criminal, a felon, and perhaps the catalyst for the tragedy that destroyed my life just days before I was supposed to leave for college.

"Now I am on the run because my life is in danger and I could be next. I don't want to live my whole life looking over my shoulder and I don't want to live my life shrouded in despair. Anxiety has me in a death grip, unable to let go. I pop Xanax to get through the day and were it not for my famous cousin, I would probably be dead already.

"My name is Trista Lennon, and I am tired of being afraid."

Linx Carter never thought he could help anyone when he could barely help himself. He is hanging on by a thread after a tough, six-month Gods of Rock Tour with his band, Winter's Regret, and Scarlet Fever. He has a greedy ex-wife, two sons and all he wants is to put the pieces of his life back together.

Linx knows there is something special about Trista from the moment they meet. She's wounded, in desperate need of a friend yet feminine, feisty and no one's charity case. She is the strongest woman he has ever known.

Through their friendship, they will find the strength to heal themselves and love one another but a feud between two gangs is brewing. Trista is caught in the crossfire, and by proxy, so is Linx. What they discover might not only cost them the love they have for one another but their lives too.

Due to mature subject matter, explicit language and adult situations, this novel is recommended for those over the age of 17.


Book Links
Amazon | B&N

 

Review I loved this book.  At first I was a little confused, cuz it starts out with two different people in different countries, with completely different people...but once I saw a common link, it made sense how they were going to get together.  I was a little disappointed by the "insta-love".  They started out as friends, but then it just seemed like they were together way too fast.  The love scenes were hot, don't get me wrong about that, just seemed to me that they went too far, too fast.  When you read it, you'll get what I mean.  Overall, it was a great read, just a few things that kept it from being a 5.  To tell you more details, I think it would spoil the story when you read it.  This author has another book to this series coming out, I believe it may actually be out already, and she has another series that takes on another band mentioned in this book.  I would really like to read those as well.

Bio Selene Chardou is a world traveler and the alter-ego of Elle Chardou.
Ms. Chardou's writing is all about hot romance and exciting times with the wild, damaged, out of control and/or rich and famous set in the New Adult realm.
She is currently working on Rock My Heart, the first novel in the Scarlet Fever Series, which concludes the story of Kasper "Kaz" Gillian and Sydney Lundvik; she is also working on In Too Deep, the conclusion to The Lovers Duet. She also has a pop stars series planned and an MC series planned that chronicles the issues between Lucifer's Saints and Demon's Bastards motorcycle clubs.
Ms. Chardou has lived abroad in Stockholm (Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

Giveaway
“Out From Under” Coffee mug, “Out From Under” keychain

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other stops on the tour!

Reviews
T B R | My Kindle Fever | A Little Bit of R&R | Paranormal Romance and Authors that Rock | Pure Jonel Red Hot Books | IndieWritersReview

Excerpt
Kristy Centeno

Review of Thomas's Muse by Kris Austen Radcliffe

Blurb
Four years ago, for a brief moment, Sammie Singleton became the muse of an artist she didn't know. The moment vanished, and now Sammie spends her nights with a different man.
Her life is black and white. But she needs food for her soul to feel alive.
She needs color. She needs art.
Everything changes the moment she meets Thomas Quidell. Brilliant and talented, Sammie quickly realizes Tom is her artist--and the man she's been fantasizing about all these years.
Tom offers her more than a lifeline. He opens her eyes to a new life. Vibrant, loving, fulfilling. But is she strong enough to take a chance?

Review 

This was a really sweet book, with some HOT moments.  SO funny too!  I love the author's sense of humor!  This book only took a few hours for me to read, but I totally recommend it.  I hope I get the chance to review for this author again!  Especially the next book, which is coming out soon, keep an eye out for it!

Book Links
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Bio As a child, Kris took down a pack of hungry wolves with only a hardcover copy of "The Dragonriders of Pern" and a sharpened toothbrush. That fateful day set her on a path traversing many storytelling worlds--dabbles in film and comic books, time as a talent agent and a textbook photo coordinator, and a foray into nonfiction. After co-authoring "Mind Shapes: Understanding the Differences in Thinking and Communication", Kris returned to academia. But she craved narrative and a richly-textured world of Fates, Shifters, and Dragons--and unexpected, true love.
Kris lives in Minnesota with her husband, two daughters, Handsome Cat, and an entire menagerie of suburban wildlife bent on destroying her house. That battered-but-true copy of "Dragonriders"? She found it yesterday. It's time to pay a visit to the woodpeckers.

Author Links
Website | Facebook | Snarkier Facebook Profile | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

Books
QUIDELL BROTHERS: (Contemporary Erotic Romance)
Thomas's Muse
Daniel's Fire (coming soon)
The FATE ~ FIRE ~ SHIFTER ~ DRAGON series: (Urban Fantasy Romance)
#0: Prolusio: Three Stories of Fates, Fire, Shifters, & Dragons
#1: GAMES OF FATE
#1.5: Conpulsio: A Novella
#2: FLUX OF SKIN
#3: FIFTH OF BLOOD (available Feb. 2014)
"Allegories of the Tarot", an anthology of the Major Arcana, includes the Fate ~ Fire ~ Shifter ~ Dragon short story, "Dmitri and the Mad Monk".
SHORT FICTION:
"Honey to Soothe the Itch" (Science Fiction)

Review of Charred Heart by Lizzy Ford

Blurb
A modern day retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”
***Recommended for ages 18+*** (Due to multiple, detailed, steamy, sexy-time adult situations.) For a thousand years, Chace has searched for a way to break the curse placed on him by a jilted lover. He’s a dragon shifter, one who can’t control when the magic will force him into a different form. He’s already lost everyone he ever cared about a few times over and doesn’t know how much longer he’s meant to suffer.
At his wit’s end, he makes a deal with a mysterious figure that offers him what he wants most – an end to his misery – in exchange for everything that’s his: His life, his power. His heart.
The next day, he meets Skylar, a modern day dragon slayer whose mission is to cage him – or kill him. Sexy, witty and brave, she is the yin to his yang, the woman destined to break the curse, balance his magic and make his broken heart whole.
Except it’s too late. Not only has he sealed his fate, but an innocent one-night-stand with Skylar has dragged her into the middle of a deal with the devil, one she won’t escape, if he can’t convince her that dragon shifters aren’t her enemies.

Book Links
Amazon | Amazon UK | B&N | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads

Review I loved this book, Sky's personality and the chemistry she had with Chace was awesome, and sometimes hilarious.  Sex scenes were HOT!  I have Lizzy as a friend on FB, I knew she was an awesome person, but now I know she's an awesome writer too.  I love how she said shifting was painful!  (As seen in the Excerpt below)  I was like FINALLY!  I've always thought it should be, but every other author wrote or implied that it was just magically painless.  Like growing to twice your size with a completely different bone structure would be easy and pain free?!  I’m only giving it a 4 because while I loved it, it felt like something may have been missing, plus some of the visuals could've been better described.  I can’t wait til the next book!


Bio Lizzy Ford is the author of over twenty books written for young adult and adult paranormal romance readers, to include the internationally bestselling “Rhyn Trilogy,” “Witchling Series” and the “War of Gods” series. Considered a freak of nature by her peers for the ability to write and release a commercial quality novel in under a month, Lizzy has focused on keeping her readers happy by producing brilliant, gritty romances that remind people why true love is a trial worth enduring.
Lizzy’s books can be found on every major ereader library, to include: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Sony and Smashwords. She lives in southern Arizona with her husband, three dogs and a cat.

Author Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK | Wattpad | B&N | Kobo | iTunes Sony | Smashwords
Check out the other stops on this tour!
Interview & Guest Post
Mythical Books
Review
Lisa's Book Lair | T B R | My Kindle Fever  What the Cat Read | A Little Bit of R & R Indie Authors, Books, and More  Michelle's Paranormal Vault | Sapphyria's Steamy Reviews Book-Marks the Spot | Book Bliss
Excerpt
Author Chris Redding
Amazon Review
Jonel | Brians Mom | Melanie Ramey   Giveaway: Charred Heart swag pack (USA ONLY)
Rafflecopter
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Excerpt
Chapter One
Chace glanced up from the glass of amber beer as his closest friend, Gunner, approached their usual table in the corner of the bar. Unlike Chace, who was a dragon shifter, Gunner was able to transform into a panther the size of a car. He had dark hair and almond-shaped, brown eyes, a muscular frame, a gait worthy of a cat and two pints in his hands. He sat and placed one glass down beside Chace’s untouched drink.
“You ate your pizza, which means you can’t be too sick to drink your beer,” Gunner observed.
“There’s no excuse for wasting good pizza,” Chace replied. “Just not thirsty.”
“You really did it, didn’t you?” Gunner guessed.
“Yeah,” Chace replied. “I talked to him.”
“And?”
Chace’s eyes swept around the shifters’ bar, the only safe haven for a dying race of supernatural creatures that were being hunted and killed off. The tables, chairs and flooring were all mahogany, worn but polished and clean, the ceiling and lattice work on the pillars resembling those of an English pub rather than a typical biker bar. The walls were decorated with autographed classic rock posters, and shadowboxes with guitars, drumsticks and other rock curios perched above the row of plush booths along one wall.
The bar fed off his magic and was full this evening, though its patrons were tense. Their talk consisted of worried murmurs and the occasional cursing.
“He’ll give me what I want,” Chace replied. “Doesn’t seem to be any strings attached. Just wants me and everything I own, which is basically just my bike at this point.”
Gunner sat down, frowning. “Why Chace?”
Because I’m tired of watching people I care about die around me. Chace debated what to tell his friend, who had been with him the longest of anyone still living.
“You remember Steven?” he asked.
“Yeah. He built your chopper, right?”
“Yep. I used to take it to him for maintenance every year for forty years, and he checked up with me monthly to make sure it was working well. He built it by hand,” Chace mused. “He loved that thing like it was his own.”
“Used to. I can guess where this is going,” Gunner said. “He passed?”
“Last week. I got an email from his son. He left me spare parts in his will.” Chace chuckled. “Think he liked the bike more than me, but he was …”
“… the last human friend who hadn’t died. I get it.”
They both fell quiet. Sometimes, Chace wondered where the years went, because they seemed to jumble up and fly by in a blink. And sometimes, he wasn’t certain he’d make it through the end of a week, especially when someone like Steven died and made him question everything in his life all over again. He’d outlived every friend he’d ever had, up until he chose only to associate with other shifters. Every time he let himself fall for a girl or made a friend, he convinced himself that this time, it would work out. The curse would lift, and he wouldn’t be left alone again.
It never works out that way.
“A thousand years, Gun,” he murmured. “I’ve been alive a thousand years. Steven was eighty, and he left me spare parts, because he knew I wasn’t going to die anytime soon.”
“Oh, hell. Here we go again,” Gunner joked. “It’s the nature of who we are, man.”
“It’s the nature of who you are,” Chace corrected him. “I was made a shifter. You all were born shifters.”
“Doesn’t matter, does it? We’re all the same now.”
“Except you can die in a fight with another shifter. Me? No such luck,” Chace replied. “You expect to be immortal. I can’t figure out why I’m not dead.”
Gunner snorted in response.
“You know what I was doing when I turned eighty?”
“Sleeping your way across Finland?”
“Yes, but there’s more.” Chace grinned. “I was going to the funeral of my mother, who lived to almost a hundred. You ever see a Viking funeral?”
“On TV.”
“They’re spectacular.” Chace allowed himself to think of the memory he didn’t like recalling. He could almost smell the scent of burning wood as his mother’s body was set afloat on a fiery Viking ship into the sea. The evening had been cold and clear, the sunset smearing brilliant pinks, oranges and purples across one end of the sky while the other end was deep blue and scattered with blinking stars.
He’d gone incognito, disguised as a distant cousin, for no one but his mother knew his secret at that point that he was immortal. Even she didn’t know why the curse was placed on him. It was a secret he hadn’t told anyone. Ever. He’d been a stupid, hotheaded fool when he was a kid.
“I want to be human again. I want my heart back. Anyway.” He shook his head. “I went to see Mr. Nothing this morning, and he made me a smokin’ deal. He’ll lift the curse in exchange for everything that is mine.”
“So … what is that exactly? Did you ask?”
Chace shrugged. “Don’t care. The moment before he makes me mortal, I’m going to move my cabin one last time and just live out the rest of my years in peace. Beside, I only have my magic and my bike.”
“When I met you, you were this hot-headed, cocky bastard.” Gunner leaned forward, his face taut with concern. “You mellowed out over the years a bunch. But this decision sounds like it was made by the young dragon shifter who didn’t stop to think before lighting things on fire.”
Chace said nothing. A small part of him agreed, but he’d been more disturbed by Steven’s death than he cared to let on. Long ago he tried to close off his emotions to the world. Maybe it was monthly chats and ritual trips to visit Steven that let the tiny man with a huge smile work his way under his skin. After a thousand years, Chace should be completely numb, able to rationalize death as a stage in the natural way of the world the way Gunner did.
But he couldn’t, and he’d tried for years to philosophize his way into accepting death. “I made the deal anyway,” Chace said. “He’s going to send a messenger tonight or tomorrow with one of his cards to let me know where to meet him for the final spell.”
“You know we don’t know anything about Mr. Nothing.”
“We know he’s older than even me, and that he’s got the magic to do this. The deal is straightforward. Worst case scenario, he kills me.” Chace shrugged.
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either. What other choice do I have of ever having this curse lifted? The woman who placed it on me – she’s been dead for over nine hundred years, Gunner!”
“I know.”
“At some point, I’ll outlive you and the rest of the guys we run with. No, Gunner, I’m done. What she did to me can’t be undone any other way, and I’ve looked for a way to end the curse my entire life,” Chace said firmly. “I turned a thousand last week, and that’s when Steven died. It’s a sign.”
“I hear ya.” Gunner’s voice was soft. “I don’t blame you, Chace. I just don’t trust Mr. Nothing.”
Mr. Nothing had gotten his nickname because no one could find out anything about him. No one knew where he lived and yet, he was easy to find whenever Chace had wanted to talk to the elusive creature that had been around since he was made a shifter.
Easy to find. Not easy to get answers out of. Chace had nearly gone mad the first few years of the curse trying to get the shadowy figure that only appeared at night to tell him something about his newfound immortality or his magic.
To this day, Chace had no idea what Mr. Nothing was, aside from a shifter of some kind with great power. He suspected Mr. Nothing was a dragon, though he’d long since given up trying to get answers out of someone who didn’t seem interested in anyone else.
Gunner waved to someone who had just entered, and Chace looked up to see the third member of their four-man gang. A phoenix shifter with a like-minded affinity for fire, Luke was blond like Chace, though his hair was short and his eyes dark, whereas Chace had blue eyes and kept his dark blond hair long in the way of his Viking people.
“Don’t tell the others,” Chace said to Gunner. “I’ll let them know when everything is final.”
“All right.” Gunner didn’t appear to be happy about keeping secrets from the other two members of their tight-knit crew.
“Thanks. I’m gonna go get changed.”
“I’ll put on some tunes. I think the shifters need something to cheer them up.”
Chace rose. He agreed silently and took in the faces of those around him once more, trying to distance himself from his concern. As much as he tried to deny it, he knew they were his people, even if he’d started off as a human. They had nowhere else to go, and no one else to turn to. The shifter creed was simple: to live their lives quietly without harming anyone or bringing attention to their society. It was how they remained hidden, a secret subculture that the humans had no need to know about.
Yet someone had found out, and the shifter ranks had thinned considerably the past twenty years. Once numbering in the thousands, the several dozen men and women seeking refuge in his bar were all that remained.
Chace left out of the back door of the bar and stepped into the warm air of early evening. The distant drone of traffic on I-10 reaching him across the flat desert terrain.
He didn’t want to feel worry or fear for the shifter family that adopted him when he had no one else, but he did. On one hand, the timing for him to decide to strike a deal with Mr. Nothing felt wrong, because he wouldn’t be around to help the others, if they needed it. He’d airlifted a few other shifters out of their homes when they’d been too afraid to leave. Their fear struck him hard, even when he tried to remain numb to the world.
You care too much to abandon them, Gunner had told him once.
And he did. The brash, selfish, cocky young man who was cursed for being a fool had turned thoughtful over the years, compassionate and observant of his world. Even if he tried to keep everyone at a distance.
Chace focused on the small cabin that materialized out of thin air. Another creation of his magic, he had managed to take his home with him wherever he went over the years, the only real solace he had. It was the cabin where he’d been born and where his mother had lived up until her death. Only after returning to it after her funeral had he realized that his magic would let him take it with him.
There were days when he thought it was more alive than not with a mind of its own. Its magic and his were intertwined but not the same. It reacted to his emotions and commands, and yet, it had its own life as well, which had baffled him for many years until he finally just accepted it.
He walked in. The cabin had looked the same for many years. It had a simple floor plan consisting of a great room where everything was and a small bathroom he’d added a hundred years before. The great room held a king-sized bed with a wood stove, living room area, small office space and a storage corner where he kept what precious items he had.
Chace changed out of the dusty clothes he’d worn on his daily ride and into a fresh t-shirt and jeans, though he replaced his motorcycle jacket in case he had the urge for a midnight ride, like he did sometimes. Crossing to the storage corner, he paused.
“Would you stop rearranging my boxes?” he growled at the cabin.
It didn’t reply. It never did, but the boxes returned to the order where he preferred them of their own accord. The tiny disturbance reminded him of how independent the magic of his cabin was, when it chose to be. It was like his magic, which obeyed him most of the time and then sometimes, responded too readily to his emotions and forced him to shift when he otherwise wouldn’t.
“It’s like living with a passive-aggressive woman,” he said, amused. “You listening?”
The boxes suddenly flew off their shelves and tumbled to the floor at his feet.
“A thousand years old and less mature than me,” he teased it. “Clean that up, please.”
He turned away, knowing the magic would obey, but probably not until after he left. He didn’t understand why his cabin was possessed or the link between it and his own independent magic.
After a thousand years, he no longer cared. In a few days, none of it would matter anyway.
He left the cabin, gaze going to the sky once more. A familiar yearning filled him, the call of the heavens clear in his thoughts. He found peace in the sky and in flying around.
Deciding he had time for a quick flight, he peeled off his clothing and tossed them on the porch. The transformation from human to dragon was brutal on his body – and irreparable on the clothing.
Pain roared through him, hot enough to rob him of breath. His flesh tore and his muscles were ripped from the bones. His bones then snapped and changed, forming the skeleton of his new shape, before sewing themselves back together. Tissue, muscle and skin adjusted and rearranged atop the new skeleton. The first time he shifted, he thought he was dying. A thousand years later, he could control the pain with ease, even if he hated the bursts of agony and the twisting of his bones, skin, and insides that occurred when he changed shapes.
The process lasted mere seconds, and he unfolded his long wings on either side of his body. The translucent wings glittered dark teal in the moonlight, the same color as his thick scales and the fur edging them.
His senses were far more sensitive in his dragon form, and he breathed deeply and sneezed fire. The stream of yellow barely missed the bar. The scents from within were overpowering, and he shook his head then leapt effortlessly towards the sky. His wings caught him easily and propelled him upward.
He imagined the distance between him and the stars growing shorter as he soared upward, and he beat his wings hard, wondering if tonight was the night he got close enough to capture one.
Amused by his thoughts, he dipped his wings, caught an air current, and began playing, alternately floating in place and weaving in and out of the current, always intrigued by the challenge of how it tugged or pushed at his wings. He dove, wheeled and slammed on the brakes in midair, plummeting towards the earth only to unfurl the long wings and catch himself a couple feet from the ground.
Chace loved the sensation of the air ruffling his fur and tickling him, the cool air of evening filling his lungs. He loved the freedom of being a dragon most, the ability to take to the heavens whenever he felt the urge. He found peace in the skies, looking down at the miniaturized buildings, vehicles and cars. It gave him perspective, reminded him that his biggest concerns always looked tiny from far above. Content with his short flight, he circled the bar lazily, slowly descending from the sky. The choice he’d made and the deal he’d bartered for with Mr. Nothing was done. The mysterious Mr. Nothing gave him time to think it over once last time, but Chace already knew his decision.
He was tired of seeing everyone he cared about die. He wanted to be human again, and nothing anyone said was going to convince him otherwise.

Book Two is Available Now!