Angelfire by Hana Peach: Excerpt and Giveaway

Angelfire (Dark Angel 1) by Hanna Peach

Title: Angelfire

Series: Dark Angel

Author: Hanna Peach

Available: November 22, 2012

Format: E-book

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Length: ~90,000 words

Review formats: .Mobi, .ePUB, .PDF

Blurb:

An army of angels walk among us. They have kept us safe and ignorant, so far.

Earthbound for centuries and ruled by the Elders, they have established hidden cities, a society and The Code: obey your Elders, kill all demons, eliminate Rogue-angels, protect the mortals, remain hidden. Their warriors are the ungifted earthborn angels armed with blades and the ‘borrowed magics’ of distilled angel-blood tattoos.

Alyxandria is a young warrior with a fondness for customized knives and illegal night-races. If only she could overcome the taint of her parents who abandoned her to become Rogues.

When Alyx saves Israel, a gifted mortal with a past, she is forbidden to see him again. But she can’t help herself, drawn to him through their Guardian-bond, an ancient and long-forgotten bond; if he dies, she dies.

An encounter with a handsome Rogue leaves Alyx questioning all she has been taught to believe. Alyx begins to dig into the Elders’ secrets. Two thousand years of secrets that begin with the death of the Archangel Raphael. She is not prepared when she uncovers an Elder’s dark plan.

Somewhere on earth is a key to unlock hell. Somewhere on earth are pieces of an amulet that controls Lucifer and his army. Somehow Israel is the link and now both sides are after him. Who can Alyx trust when Good and Evil is no longer clear?

The war for earth begins.

EXCERPT:

“This is going to sound crazy.” She presses her palm to her forehead.

He laughs softly. “Remember who you’re talking too.”

“Right,” she says. “I think it’s time I admitted some things to you. But you have to promise not to freak out or get angry before I finish, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Remember the last time we met, you asked me how I happened to come by the alley in time to save your life…”

“A lucky coincidence.”

“It wasn’t. I knew you would be there, I knew you were being attacked.”

Israel frowns. “How?”

Alyx takes a deep breath - no turning back now - and begins to tell him about her visions of him. Then to prove she isn’t lying she describes each one.

“Let me get this straight,” he says. “You see things through my eyes?”

“Essentially, yes. That’s how I knew where to find you then. And tonight.”

“Do you hear my thoughts as well?”

“Just whatever thoughts you have at the time.”

“That is...” his eyes blaze at her, “...so frickin’ cool.”

Her mouth parts as she sucks in air, realizing that she has been holding her breath. “You think so?”

“Think about it Alyx. You have been inside my body, felt my heart beating as if it were your own, felt how I feel, thought as I thought. You know what it’s like for me.” He leans forward as he speaks, grabbing her hands. “You don’t just know me, you know me.”

Alyx swallows, hard. His eyes have a way of making her feel like she is underdressed. Alyx wonders for a moment whether he can see inside her as she does him.

About the Author:

Hanna Peach

A writer of fantastical things, especially stories with fangs, magic or wings.

I want to tell you tales that will rip away the glamour from your life, keep you running and fighting and gasping long past the devil’s hour and maybe, just maybe, reality will look a little bit different when you return.

Sit with me around this witchlight. Let me tell you a story.

Find out more about her at:

Facebook

Website/blog

Amazon – Kindle

Goodreads

BookTrailer

Giveaway!

One lucky winner shall receive a digital copy of the book (in Kindle or ePUB format).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Lure of Investments

When the Siren Calls by Tom Barry

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.

Summary: Restless and neglected, Isobel is suffocating in a stagnant marriage. Suave and charismatic Jay is fighting for survival. An invitation to visit Jay's resort in the hills of Tuscany sparks Isobel to imagine a life of freedom and excitement.
Dismissing her husband’s objections, Isobel pursues Jay to Tuscany on the pretext of searching for a holiday home. After fighting anguished guilt, she abandons herself in a passionate affair, with her controlling lover encouraging Isobel to push beyond her sexual boundaries.
But all is not as it seems in the idyllic Tuscan retreat, and Isobel finds herself trapped in a web of intrigue, deception, and betrayal. She is one player in a dangerous love triangle, unsure whether Jay is her saviour, or her nemesis. As her world falls apart, she must choose between the woman she thought she was, and the woman she has become.

Review: A book that is part romance, part erotica, and many parts business transactions.

I can't call When the Siren Calls a romance book nor can I call it erotica. There are parts of both in the book, but the book too heavily focuses on business. It's a shame really since the business parts are well written, but were quite unexpected due to the book's summary. The romance and any subsequent sex take a back seat to Jay's interaction with Andy and other business associates. Later, Peter gets involved due to being suspicious of Jay and his investments.

There was a surprising lack of sex in this book. I don't remember there being more than five or six. There were some brief mentions to sexual activity, but not terribly many. This book was full of infidelity. Jay was the worst. He was cheating on his wife with Lucy and Isobel. How many other women were there? I highly disliked Jay and was glad when bad things happened to him. Isobel felt incredibly naive at times and didn't have much of a spine. Peter felt like a non-entity. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. I was glad of Isobel's decision at the end since it seemed the best decision for her. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this to those that enjoy thrillers (either with a business or psychological bent) with some spice.

Guest Post by Irving Podolsky and Giveaway

Today I will be featuring a guest post by Irving Podolsky. 

Guest Post:

NZ: What made you decide to write a fictitious memoir and what it was like writing it?

Irv: Oh gee, there were probably four or five reasons why I decided to write it like a first person memoir. Primarily, the style grew out of the story while outlining. But even before that, I knew real memoirs from non-famous people were being turned down by agents and publishers. And worse, writers like James Frey with “A Million Little Pieces” or Herman Rosenblat’s “The Angel at the Fence,” those writers wrote exaggerated and in parts, totally fake true stories! And got busted! And interrogated on “Oprah”…BY Oprah!

What a way to go down! Over a marketing decision!

So from the get-go, I planned to write something called fiction, no matter how many of the scenes were based on truth, or what I remembered of it.

Now… How “Irv’s Odyssey” got started…

A few years ago, while under the shower (my think tank), I indeed started thinking. Do I have one more in me? Would I have one more shot at writing the greatest movie ever made?

You see I work in the film business where everybody has a hot screenplay, or at least hopes it is. I wrote spec scripts for a number of years as well, and actually got a project packaged by the William Morris Agency with Sissy Spacek starring. The Tribune Company’s entertainment wing had signed on to produce and we had a popular director in place too.

But then, came the news: “SOVIET UNION COLLAPSES!” Terrible!

Why terrible?

Because it took me six months to license a published true story about a Soviet gulag! And it took me another year to work out the legal kinks and write a 368 page mini-series spec script about the Cold War. And now, no more cold war! Or even a lukewarm war! And no more interest in the Berlin Wall which was dismantling day by day.

All my dreams, wiped out in three days. I was crushed. So crushed, I gave up the idea of selling another screenplay. I had tried to do that for twelve years and the clock had finally run down. I had to make some serious money at my day job to pay our mortgage. I owed it to my wife.

So I stopped writing…until four years ago with that inspirational shower moment.

There’s this old adage: write what you know. So for a starting point, I revisited my past, remembering my first jobs out of film school in 1970 and how I stumbled into porn flicks. (They weren’t called that back then.)

No, it’s not what you’re thinking. I was BEHIND the camera, in clothes. No performing! Directing.

I was dead broke, and I couldn’t find a post graduation job, and I was incredibly naïve! I had never even seen an adult flick. But I needed food and rent money and when I got offered that gig, I took it. I figured, how bad could sex be? I grew up really fast that day I first called, “Action.” I was twenty-two, and just one girl away from being a virgin.

Anyway, as I was saying, about four years ago the idea came to me - all those models who were bouncing in front of the camera, most were my age at the time. What happened to them? What are they doing now? Do they have children, grand children, a “normal” neighborhood life somewhere? Their then-and-now story would be fascinating. So I tried tracking down all the people I knew back then in that bizarre upside-down world. I couldn’t find a single one. Some had already died. Some had changed their names. The rest simply disappeared into the fabric of our diverse society.

That left me with only one person I knew who had been there, done that and had drastically changed. That person was me. But although I traveled a strange and awesome journey for five years before I met my wife, I didn’t want to write my memoir. I wanted to write a commercial screenplay. Consequently, Irving Podolsky was born, a character and author somewhat like me but not me, discovering things based on my life but not exactly my life.

So the novels became Irv’s fictitious memoir, and here’s more reasons why: Since I was referencing memories of friends and family for story and scenes, I didn’t want to invade their past. And then, like authors do, I combined characters and switched time sequences around to build the story arc. And I added all the dialogue because I certainly couldn’t remember what was actually said in 1972.

Well actually, there is one sentence I remembered and I wrote it into a passionate love-making scene. The words were, “I must be mad…” whispered by a beautiful young lady I had met in Rome. But she was from South Africa where you can say, “I must be mad,” and it doesn’t sound like a line pulled from a romance novel. Or maybe it does but under the circumstances, it didn’t come off corny. It was intense, and I never forgot that moment.

I have a coffee mug that says: Careful or you’ll end up in my novel. I’m waiting for another moment like that.

*****

Okay, part two of your question: What was it like writing “Irv’s Odyssey”?

A blast! No pressure to succeed. Just the tug to entertain. And that happened all through the writing process.

Remember that I wanted to build a screenplay, not a novel. So I decided to scratch out a short outline to see if people liked it before I wrote myself into a corner. But those first twenty pages swelled into a sixty-five page treatment which sort of resembled a book manuscript, and people read it like a book, and then they said, “It should be a book.”

I was so jazzed. They wanted more and I kept writing more. And the more I wrote, the easier it got. I decided to grab feedback from people I didn’t know ‘cause I needed honest and unbiased reactions. Vanity had to be scratched from the equation. I didn’t want to type all those words if they were crap, and I didn’t want to pretend they weren’t if they were.

So my friends gave the story to their friends and here’s what came back: “Who’s this guy, Irving Podolsky? His writing is rough but he reminds me of… (insert famous authors I’ve never read). What happens next? Where’s this going?”

Wow!

Again, in my shower think tank, I thought... Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can actually write a real book with thousands of words that wouldn’t embarrass me.

So I mushed on, handing each successive draft to professional writers I knew in the film industry. They became my editors and through the various polishes I learned the rules and found my voice.

Once I got past the learning curve writing became exciting, even…inspirational, and that first book turned into the trilogy, “Irv’s Odyssey.” Then came my blog and a weekly column at Curiosityquills.com and the reviews and guest posts like this one.

It’s been a great ride so far! And another book is on the way.

Thank you Natasha, for giving me the opportunity to talk about writing.

The Books:

Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book of the Month - November

We are hosting a monthly event called "Book of the Month". This is done to highlight of one the books that you have read in the previous month.

 This will enable us to comment form one blog to another. Books you recommend for others to read. Hope you guys will join us. We would love to see your favorite book of the month. 

"Book of the Month" is a monthly event hosted by Book Whales.  

My Book of the Month (November): My Book of the Month was Black Earth: End of the Innocence by David N. Alderman.

Summary: When the stars fall, few will stand...

On the evening of his high school graduation, Nathan Pierce collapses on stage. Plagued with visions of a strange girl intent on killing herself, he wonders if his mental instability is a consequence of the deadly car accident he was in days earlier.

Heather Rhodes, wracked with guilt because of the fatal wreck, finds she is unable to forgive herself and begins to question her own beliefs. While the death of a newborn weighs on her heart, on her mind is the strange gift she was able to use to protect her and Nathan in the accident…a gift that Heather wonders may have just been a figment of her imagination.

Cynthia Ruin, aka The Pink Rabbit, decides that her high school graduation night should be used for partying, not traveling down the football field. At a nightclub in Scottsdale, Cynthia finds more than she bargains for when a stranger from her past decides to exact his revenge on her for a prior rejection.

Nathan, Heather, and Cynthia come to realize that their current problems are nothing compared to the stars falling from the sky. During the global crisis, the President of the United States makes it her personal mission to keep the country on the right track to becoming a world superpower, while a hostile entity known only as Absolute threatens her administration.

Meanwhile, word starts to spread that the falling stars may not be stars at all...

My review can be found here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey. This meme lets you show fellow readers what you have read, what you are reading, and what you will be reading.

Recently Read:

Currently Reading:

To Read:

Escape to Me Tour: Giveaway

Title: Escape to Me

Series: 1NightStand

Author: Diane Alberts

Genre: Contemporary, Historical fiction, Romance, Erotica,

Publisher: Decadent

Ebook

Pages: 45

Purchase:

Amazon | B&N | All Romance | Decadent |

Book Description:

Eleanor is tired of being a spinster no one ever notices. Life for a twenty-six year old unwed woman in 1811 is dreadfully dull. She can’t have an affair at the risk of ruining her family’s reputation…unless she finds a way to do so without the slightest risk of discovery. Dare she travel two hundred years into the future to have a 1Night stand with the help of Madame Eve?

Thomas struggles daily to move on after the death of his beloved countess, but being the most highly sought after bachelor of the ton doesn’t allow him much privacy to do so. All he yearns for is a night of lust and fun, with a woman who can make him remember what it feels like to be swept away by passion. Traveling two hundred years into the future seems to be the perfect solution for both discretion and ease.

What will happen when they discover they didn’t escape their lives at all, but merely found each other?

Excerpt:

Heart racing, she towed him to where the wine sat. She’d need to loosen up a bit to fool him into thinking she hailed from this time. Though she should run away without delay, the night carried the possibility of bringing her fantasies to fruition. In this very room, the man she’d pined for, the one she’d yearned to have, stared at her with hunger. Thomas wanted to make love—with her, of all people.

Who would’ve guessed it?

“So, Eleanor, tell me, where are you from?” He grabbed the wine, a brow raised as he grabbed the corkscrew to open the bottle. He studied the object, flipping it in his hands, and then put the sharp, twisty blade in the cork.

She could almost hear his thought process as he compared the modern version to the ones they were familiar with. He tossed a smile over his shoulder and poured two glasses. Giving one to her, he motioned for her to sit down on the couch. Once she did so, he sat so close beside her that their legs touched. The heat from his body pressing against hers caused to tremble and almost spill the wine over the rim, even though he’d filled it only three-quarters full.

“I’m from London. My family has an estate out near Devon, but we seldom use it.” Eleanor sipped her beverage, proud of her response. She sounded so…sophisticated. One would never guess she hovered a mere second away from exploding with anxiety. “You?”

“I live far away. I’m in town for a night, and then I return home.”

Now, that was an understatement, if she’d ever heard one. Two hundred years away, to be exact.

She held back a trill of laughter at his perfect reply. Clients were urged not to reveal the truth of their origins. Most people remained unaware of the joys of time-traveling—and the company preferred to keep it that way.

She licked her parched lips. “Oh, is that so? How fortunate for me to have the pleasure of meeting you before you leave.”

He studied her mouth, and her insides clenched at the dark hunger she saw within. How was it possible that he could be so ravenous—for her?

“Indeed, how fortunate. I almost backed out, thinking it silly of me to do something so frivolous. Then, I thought, perhaps it could be an interesting diversion for the night.” He finished his wine, and she hurried to follow suit. He refilled her glass first, then his, before turning to face her. His lips turned up at the corners, and she took another taste to steady her nerves. “I daresay it might end up being much more than a simple distraction.”

Her heart skittered to a stop, and she choked on her wine.

Dear God, does he know who I am?

He set his drink down, plucked her glass out of her grasp, and placed it on the table next to his.  His brow crinkled with worry, he pounded on her back. The force behind the blows made her stumble out of the seat, so he gripped her elbows to place her on her feet before repeating the action. She didn’t know which made it harder to get air into her lungs…the wine or his “help.”

She waved at him and croaked, “I’m fine.”

His fingers tightened on her shoulders. “Are you alright, La—Eleanor?”

“You know?” He’d almost called her by her title. How had he figured out the truth? She stared straight ahead, scared to look at him, and stepped out of his arms. “H-How do you know?”

He frowned. “I know? What did I say, Eleanor?”

She realized her lapse in judgment before he finished speaking. He hadn’t known she was a lady—he had just slipped up by addressing her as he was accustomed. She choked on a nervous bubble of laughter. His brow arched, so she coughed to try and disguise her laugh under the after-effect of choking on wine.

He hadn’t the foggiest notion about her true identity. He’d called her Lady out of habit. Not knowledge. Stepping closer, she smiled up at him and brushed a finger down the curve of his jaw. She’d always wanted to do that Always wondered what the stubble on a man’s face might feel like against her skin.

It felt sinfully delicious.

About the Author:

Diane Alberts current contracted works with Entangled Publishing are: ON ONE CONDITION (February 2012, Ever After line), DIVINELY RUINED (Divine Temptations Trilogy #1, April 2012, Ever After line), TRY ME (Take a Chance #1, May 2012, Ever After line). and LOVE ME (Take a Chance #2, TBA, Ever After line). Her current works with Decadent Publishing are: KILL ME TOMORROW (October 2011, 1NightStand series), RECLAIMED (December 2011), ABSOLUTION (March 2012, Honor Guard series), BROKEN (March 2012, 1NightStand series), and ESCAPE TO ME (August 2012, 1NightStand series).

Diane Alberts has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another.

She is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing and Decadent Publishing. She has, as of this date, four books with Entangled Publishing, and five books with Decadent Publishing. Her February release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble Bestseller List. Her goal is to write so many fantastic books that even a non-romance book fan will know her name.

Website | Twitter | Facebook |

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Vampire's Hope Tour: Review and Giveaway

Title: The Vampire's Hope

Series: The Vampire's Hope Book One

Author: Danica Winters

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense,

Publisher: BTGN

Ebooks

Words: 11k

Pages: 40

Purchase:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance | kobo |

Book Description:

Ellie Smith, an emotionally stunted dancer, finds more than she bargains for after her human life is taken by the vampire, Master Liam.  Once inside the Vampire’s underground lair, the Keres Den, she meets Ian, an immortal Viking warrior, who is infiltrating the soulless prison.  (New Paragraph) As Ellie begins her training, she learns that the dark tunnels around her are filled with even darker secrets.  As the truth of her existence come to light, she is faced with a choice—does she let her past dictate her future, or can she begin to feel again?

Excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

The couple in front of her stood under the bar’s lopsided mistletoe, their lips pressed against each other in a gesture of Christmas spirit.  On the man’s lapel was a white rose, smashed against the woman’s full breast.

The sight made Ellie Smith laugh.  Ellie was the same age as the two lip-locked party goers, yet they were so much younger.  They wore the white rose of hope—probably hope for love that would undoubtedly turn bad, or hope that the holidays would bring them the gifts of eternal bliss… those naïve fools.

The couple parted and their cheeks glowed with the pink twinges of arousal.  The sight was more than she could handle and she looked away.  They were luckier than they knew.  They probably did not have any idea what it was like to be without a bed for the night, without a home, without purpose, and without hope.

To her left a thick-set, redheaded man approached.  His shoulders were erect and he walked with a stride that conveyed power.  Catching Ellie’s eye, he smiled the grim smile of subtle manipulation. 

Whatever he wanted, he wouldn’t get it from her. 

A blonde man with an arched smile stepped out from behind the threatening redhead and sat down at the table.  “Hello, Elpis.  Welcome to The Ravena.” 

The way he said her name made her skin crawl. 

The blonde waved his hand at the rows of booze and the surly bartender.  “I hope you like the bar.”

The bar was like any number of others, just another stop in her constant travel through the dark world of the forgotten. 

“Thanks.   I have no idea how you know my given name, but I’d rather you called me Ellie.”

“Sorry, Ellie.”

“Are you the owner of this place?” 

The blonde motioned to the dangerous-looking redhead behind him. 

She knew she should fear them, but there was nothing inside of her heart.  “I need a job.  Are you hiring?  I can dance.”

The blonde laughed. He looked over his shoulder at the red-headed man.  “She doesn’t have a clue.”

He turned back to her as if he had said nothing to the man who was clearly his boss. “My name is Ian.  And this is Master Liam…”  He pointed at the rigid redheaded man.

“What are you after?”

The club’s music filled the silence between them. 

Ian smirked.  “Master Liam would like a dance.”

Ellie gazed over Ian’s blonde hair and his features—his eyes were the same blue as the sea, and his face was wide and rugged.  He looked like a portrait of a Viking. 

Master Liam extended his hand in a silent command to dance.  She looked back at the handsome Viking.  Liam was a threat, but so was Ian.  Was it better to go after a powerful man who she wasn’t attracted to in hopes of getting a job, or was it better to forget her chance of getting hired and stay with the handsome Viking? 

For once Ellie wondered what it was like to feel something—anything. If she was normal, would she blush? Would her lust move her nearer to him?  Instead, she only felt the dull emptiness inside of her breast.  Was there truly life without emotion? 

Ellie slipped her hand into Master Liam’s. He led her to the dance floor, but she could sense Ian’s eyes upon her.

Master Liam moved in a stiff, archaic way and his hands never strayed from her waist.  Not that she minded.  It was nice not to be groped.  What kind of dancer would Ian be?

She looked back at her table.  Ian stared at her with a hunger in his eyes. She dropped her gaze.  If he wanted her, he didn’t act the part.

Master Liam said nothing to her as she looked up into his face.  His eyes were filled with lust and they slowly danced their way to the farthest recess of the dance floor.  His cold hands forced her head back and she stared up at the ceiling.   

He pushed her against the wall. 

He slowly bent down, taking each movement in his own unhurried time.  He inhaled and blew his chilled breath against the skin of her neck. 

He wasn’t the man she wanted, but a job was a job—however she had to get it. 

Liam leaned in, and instead of kissing her lips, he pressed his face into her neck and caressed her skin with his icy lips. 

She drew in a breath and her pulse quickened. 

His teeth pierced her skin, and she started to shriek, but his hand clamped down over her opening lips.  She struggled but as he drained her, weakness won.  A fire burned where his teeth dug into her flesh.  Acid filled her veins.

With her last thought, she envisioned the white rose on the stranger’s lapel.  No emotion, no hope…

About the Author:

Danica Winters is an Amazon best-selling romance author based in Montana. She is known for writing award-winning books that grip readers with their ability to drive emotion through suspense and often a touch of magic. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Montana Romance Writers, and Greater Seattle Romance Writers. She is a contributor to magazines, websites, and news organizations. She enjoys spending time with friends and family, the outdoors, and the bliss brought by the printed word.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Barnes and Noble | Ravenous Romance | Silver Publishing | Books to Go Now |

Review: Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.

A short and sometimes confusing short story with vampires, interesting mythology, and insta-love.

This is a very short story and worth a read if you are a fan of vampires. This story managed to confuse me a number of times. Ellie is turned into a vampire and without even being told, knows that she is a vampire. How do you know that? There are supposedly thousands of vampires in Liam's lair and they seem to kill a lot of people. Wouldn't someone have noticed something? Also, what's the above ground world like? I did like the mythology although a number of different mythologies intertwined in this story. I didn't get the insta-love between Ellie and Ian. The basic frame work set up in this story, if expanded, would make for a book that I would find myself interested to read. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this short story to those that enjoy vampire fiction.

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway