Review Lady of the Drake by J.V. Altharas

Title: Lady of the Drake
Author: J.V. Altharas
Source: Requested Review
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Format: eBook, 167 pgs
Release Date: October 25, 2011

Lana's village is being destroyed by devastating plague, and she's determined to find the cure. But on her way through the forest she finds a fantastic world of dragons, magic, and the seductive Alaron, keeper of the forest.

But as she revels in pleasure and magic, her world is dying--and there may be no one to save it!



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My Review:

Outstanding! Who said men can't write good erotic paranormal romance with a bit of fantasy? This is an excellent story by first time author J. V. Altharas featuring shape shifting dragons and hybrid dragons (half human/half dragon).

What an imagination! The world of dragons and halfling dragons Altharas created is spectacular and he has such a way with words:

"A piercing cry split the night, and Lana’s whole world went grey as her body convulsed in orgasm.
She became the walking ivy, and the trees, and the birds. She felt wind rushing through her feathers, and rough bark beneath her tendrils. Lana was one with the forest around her for a few precious heartbeats. Her mind’s eye floated into the air, looking down on the landscape as if the whole of it had become her body…but Alaron wasn’t done with her flesh."

Lana is a healer and midwife for her village. Rumor had it dragons had taken over the forests near Lana's home but she'd never seen one on her forays into the forest. She needs to gather dragon bane from a pond in the forest to help try to cure the ill in her village.

She meets a "charming and attractive ... stranger", Alaron, at the pond where she was to harvest the dragon bane. She proceeds to seduce him while they both gathered the plants. Upon meeting him again, she begins to sense he is more than an "ordinary man".

Alaron is an alchemist among other things, tends the forest and is rather well endowed physically. He is quite taken with Lana as she is with him. When he asks her to become his mate, her world is turned upside down and she is thrust into a fantasy land of dragons and their descendents.

Seriously hot and steamy. A little bondage, a little spanking, voyeurism, a M/F/M/F four-some, a bit of F/F, a F/F/M three-some and a M/F/M menage, oh my...

Fans of the paranormal romance, fantasy and dragons genres should waste no time in putting this story at the top of their "to read" list.

Review All She Wants for Christmas is Her Dom by Stacey Kennedy

Title: All She Wants for Christmas is Her Dom (This is in Stacey's 1Nightstands)
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Source: Author request
Genre BDSM Erotic romance
Length: Short story

Madame Eve’s 1NightStand service has brought together Blake and Taryn on a cold Christmas Eve at the Castillo Lodge. The two will set out on an adventure of pain and pleasure surrounded by Alaskan snow-capped mountains and nestled in a warm country lodge. But as the night develops, Taryn discovers it’s not Christmas presents that will surprise her but instead the very man who mastered her through a night of intense BDSM.


WARNING — This book has intense BDSM that some might find objectionable. If you don’t enjoy some serious spanking, rough play, and the use of floggers, among other toys, this story is not for you.

Stacey keeps romance in a BDSM short story. I’m one that stays clear of BDSM because they always seem to demean a woman in some way so I quit reading them. When Stacey sent me this story I usually give it to my sidekick Cynthia but she’s out of pocket so I got up the courage and read it and found I really liked it. Reason even though the heroine gets off on pain, Stacy kept the romance in center attention. I really felt a good connection between Blade and Taryn.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to go deeper into the BDSM. You get a heroine who loves to feel pain but you get a good hero that knows how to take care in the right way. The heroine not only likes the pain on her butt but she likes it everywhere so if you don’t like reading about a woman taking a cane across her back DON’T READ this book. But if your one who wants a good connection and love story and you’d like to go deeper into the world of BDSM you have to give this short story a try.

I am at Ramblings From This Chick today.

Ramblings From This Chick 

host a monthly feature called Behind the blogger and this month I was very fortunate that she picked me to be that blogger. 

So if you want to know a little more about what I read about and like hop over and take a visit. I really like her blog so look around you might want to stay there. 

Review Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble by H.P. Mallory

Title: Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble (Jolie Wilkins #1)
Author: H.P. Mallory
Source: Requested Review
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback and eBook, 382 pgs
Release Date: October 6, 2010

A self-deprecating witch with the unique ability to reanimate the dead. A dangerously handsome warlock torn between being her boss and her would-be lover. A six hundred year old English vampire with his own agenda; one that includes an appetite for witches. The Underworld in a state of chaos. Let the games begin.

Life isn’t bad for psychic Jolie Wilkins. True, she doesn’t have a love life to speak of, but she has a cute house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, a cat and a quirky best friend.

Enter Rand Balfour, a sinfully attractive warlock who insists she’s a witch and who just might turn her life upside down. Rand hires her to help him solve a mystery regarding the death of his client who also happens to be a ghost. Jolie not only uncovers the cause of the ghost’s demise but, in the process, she brings him back to life!

Word of Jolie’s incredible ability to bring back the dead spreads like wildfire, putting her at the top of the Underworld’s most wanted list. Consequently, she finds herself at the center of a custody battle between a villainous witch, a dangerous but oh-so-sexy vampire, and her warlock boss, Rand.


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Sexual -

My Review:

H. P. Mallory has come up with yet another delightful story and series. Humorous, good chemistry, fun characters, unexpected twists and turns,with ghosts, vampires, shapeshifting witches and warlocks, Lurkers, werewolves and demons. Drew me in from the first paragraph. It was a quick read, even at 382 pages.

Jolie, 28, is a tarot card reader with a small self esteem issue.

Rand, is a warlock who needs Jolie to go back to the 1920s with him to find out who killed his client, a ghost. Jolie says about him, "...Greek God, Sean-Connery-would-be-envious good looks that grabbed me first or his considerable height. It was his aura." With Brit accent, "His face was angular, and his Roman nose lent him a certain Paul Newman-esque quality."

Sinjin, is a vampire, Jolie describes him, "he was quick witted and ... well, sexy as a son of a bitch ... he was just scrumptious."

Trent, is the werewolf pack leader, another attractive male with charisma, who Jolie is able to bring him back to life after he is murdered and then he asks her out for dinner.

Odran, king of fairies, is another hottie who wants in Jolie's pants.

Jolie is very attracted to Rand but feels she is too plain Jane to ever attract him.

Rand tells her she is a witch to which she tells him he's crazy. Turns out she is and gets embroiled in a tug of war with several "people" who want to be her "protector" (read: slave) because she is very powerful with a unique power. Her world is turned upside down and she can no longer live in her non-paranormal world. She ends up in England being taught her craft by fairies.

Jolie has all these men suddenly giving her all this attraction and she is dubious of them all.

This is a laugh-out-loud funny paranormal story which I call a romance but some will call it a fantasy romance and some just a fantasy. Read it and make up your own mind while enjoying the story.

Warning Spoiler Alert!!!
Story continues into book 2 but will Jolie and Rand finish their romance? Or she and Sinjin wind up together? Is Trent completely out of the picture? And what of Odran?

Review Toil and Trouble by H.P. Mallory

Title: Toil and Trouble (Jolie Wilkins #2)
Author: H.P. Mallory
Source: Requested Review
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: eBook and Paperback, 270 pgs
Release Date: November 30th 2010

The Underworld in civil war.
The cause? A witch who can reanimate the dead.
A sexy as sin vampire determined to claim her.
An infuriatingly handsome warlock torn between duty and love.
Who says blonds have more fun?

After defending herself against fairy magic, Jolie Wilkins wakes to find her world turned upside down—the creatures of the Underworld on the precipice of war. The Underworld is polarized in a battle of witch against witch, creature against creature, led by the villainous Bella, who would be Queen.

While Jolie has one goal in mind, to stake the vampire, Ryder, who nearly killed her, she also must choose between the affections of her warlock employer, Rand, and the mysteriously sexy vampire, Sinjin. And as if that weren’t enough to ruin a girl’s day, everything Jolie knows will be turned inside out when she’s thrust into the shock of a lifetime.


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My Review:

This is the second in series and the continuing story of Jolie, a new witch who can bring the dead back to life. A mere six months ago, Jolie was happily reading tarot cards in her shop, blissfully unaware of the Underworld creatures ... ya know, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, shapeshifting witches, Scottish Fae people in kilts, demons and etc. Not only did she not know about them, she didn't know she was one of them -- a witch, a quite powerful and unique one.

"One thing I’d learned about the otherworldly is they’re a randy bunch…" and they all want Jolie, well they want her power and to have sex with her.

HP Mallory's stories are refreshing and hilarious. Some really funny lines in this one: "Unbelievable! Why was it impossible for me to get laid? Recently it seemed the most action I’d gotten had been at my last pap smear ... If there were such a thing as blue balls for women, I had them bad."
"Maybe I took Odran for granted but it was only because he regarded me as nothing more than a bun for his hot dog."

The story picks back up just after Jolie's battle with the fairy under the watchful eye of Odran, the fairie king who has promised his help in the war against Bella if Jolie is able to defend herself.

Rand, warlock, is still "male beauty personified".
Sinjin is still his gorgeous vampire self.
Trent and Odran are there as well gearing up for the war with Bella and her forces.
And they all still want Jolie.

Think of the battle as being something like Twilight Saga: Eclipse on a much larger scales with witches, wizards and Fae along with the vamps and werewolves. Only here Bella wants Jolie for her slave.

Jolie suddenly finds herself thrust back into Rand's past in the middle of the battle and find out something very important. I figured this twist with Rand in advance but it is a very good one.

This is another quick and fun read. This story ends with the action continuing again in the next book with more up in the air. I'm eager to see how Jolie deals with it.

If you like Molly Harper's vampire and werewolf series, you'll definitely like Mallory's series.

Can't wait to read the sequels to this and Mallory's other series: Great Hexpectations (Dulcie O'Neil, #3) which was just released Oct 2011 and Witchful Thinking (Jolie Wilkins, #3) coming in Feb 2012.

Review Tribute by J.R. Pearse Nelson

Title: Tribute (Children of the Sidhe)
Author: J.R. Pearse Nelson
Source: Author request
Length: Novella
Genre: Paranormal romance

The first novella in the Children of the Sidhe series.

Hazel Fintan is the reluctant daughter of the Irish love god, Aengus. As much as she loves the Sidhe lifestyle, with baubles and leisure galore, she’s never cared for her father’s world. So who could expect her to be happy when she’s drawn into a conflict with a legendary race over an impossible tribute?

The tribute may be what brought them together, but Ian MacIlroy knows destiny when it stares him in the face with stunning green eyes and a gorgeous smile. Now he has a new mission. Hazel will be his, at any cost.

I am glad I gave this novella a shot because I really enjoyed. I haven’t read a sidhe in a very long time, so I was happy that this one grabbed me right off the bat. This is a new author and from what I just read she has the stuff to make it in the paranormal romance world. Tribute gives you action, hot sex and some good characters the author can run on for a while. I know I be looking forward to the next book.

The down side for me in this was the heroine Hazel doesn’t want a sidhe as a mate so she can get a bit carried away with pulling back. I just wanted to give her a good shake because I really liked Ian.

I recommend this one for any novella reader that likes a hot paranormal romance.

Guest author Lisa Darling

A Conversation with Alena the Wife of War

We're here on Olympus today by special invitation from Alena MacLeod the Wife of Ares God of War. She's a rather petite woman with long flower silvery/gray hair and the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen, they're as gray as her hair and stormy as the sea. We sit here today in the inner sanctum of Ares' Fortress; his bedroom.  Alena is in bed and, to my eyes, she looks weary almost lost and definitely tired.

Lisa: Hello, Alena, thank you so much for having me here on Olympus today, I've interviewed your Husband, Ares, a few times but it was always down in the Mortal World on his secluded Greek Isle.  That's where I met you for the first time…

Alena: Hummm…as I recall, you were trying to get my Husband to sleep with you.

(I feel a rush of colorful heat run into my cheeks. Ares is quite difficult to resist and she's right, I was trying to lure him to bed.)

Lisa: Sorry about that…

.

Alena: Don't worry about it, all of the women try to bed him.

(There's no mistaking the agitation in her normally soft voice.)

Lisa: Well, it's a very rare opportunity you've bestowed on me today and I'm honored.

Alena: Thank you for coming, I'm afraid I can't open the Gates of Olympus to go down to the Mortal World or I would have met you there.

Lisa: Ares doesn't allow you to leave Olympus?

Alena: No, he doesn't. (She sighs and looks away from me for a moment.)

Lisa: Aren't you part Fey with powers of your own?

Alena: Yes, but only an Olympian can open the Gates of Olympus or someone trusted enough to be given that power by one of Them.

I find it odd that Ares hasn't given his Wife, a woman he's told me several times he loves more than his own life, the freedom to come and go from Olympus as she pleases but it's obvious this line of questioning may be upsetting my hostess and I don't want to be rude.

Lisa:  So what's it like being the Wife of Ares God of War?

Alena: If you'd asked me that question when we first met on the island I would have said it was grand. (A sad smile crosses her lips.) Then we moved here to Olympus and everything started falling apart. (She leans in close to me and touches my arm as her haunting eyes dart about the room and she whispers to me.) His Family is crazy, did you know that? All of them they're nuking futz!

Lisa: All of Them?

Alena: Every…last…one. (With each word, she taps my hand for emphasis) Except maybe Eros, he could be sane, then again that could just be a facade.  I wish all of Them would just leave us alone and we could go back to our island where life was peaceful.  Since I had Raven Ares won't leave here.

Lisa: I met your son, Raven, when I interviewed him and Ares the other day. He's grown very quickly, hasn't he?  He seems like quite the handful.

Alena: They're turning him against me. My own son!

Lisa: Who?

Alena: The Olympians; Zeus and Apollo and that bitch Aphrodite. They're getting in his head and making him believe terrible lies about me and my kind.

Lisa: That's horrible!  What does Ares say about all of that?

Alena: (She sighs again and folds her hands in her lap as she sits in the bed.) Mostly that it's normal, all just part of Life on Olympus. Damn loony bin is what it is. It's like living in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  Aphrodite is 'Nurse Ratchet'.

We're coming up to a sticky subject here and I want to be tactful but sometimes there's no better way to pose a question other than to come right out with it.

Lisa: I understand Ares had an affair with Aphrodite…recently, I mean. He Fathered a Daughter with her, Trinity I believe her name is…

Alena: Was.

Lisa: Excuse me?

Alena: Trinity suffered a horrible accident recently and she passed to the Underworld. (She leans forward and starts talking to me as though we're old girlfriends from high school and I imagine that's because she's so desperately lonely and longing for someone…anyone…to talk to, to hear her.) She was a sweet little girl and I liked her, I never blamed her for how she came into this world. I know my Husband had no other choice but to sleep with Aphrodite…that time.  Possibly the last as well, I don't know anymore.  I forgive Ares, truly I do, I love him so much but it hurts to know that he was with her.  I mean she's so beautiful and….shall we say 'talented'?  Me? Well, I'm just…me.  She'll do anything to get her claws into him and take Ares away from me.

Lisa: Well, Ares obviously thinks you're pretty special, he married you, had a Son with you and he always speaks about you in such glowing terms.

Alena: I'm beginning to wonder about that too.  Maybe my Husband is just as insane as the rest of his Family and is just better at hiding it.

Lisa: He seems sane to me. I believe him when he tells me how much in love with you he is. I think he would do whatever it took to protect you and keep you safe.

Alena: That's the problem and Zeus knows it. That's how Ares ended up in Aphrodite's bed in the first place. If I ever get pregnant again he'll have to do it again. There's little chance of that now, isn't there?  (Tears well in her eyes as she stops to look at her surroundings and the bed she can't get out of anymore.) So perhaps that part will work out and Zeus won't force him back to Aphrodite's bed but somehow I think my Father in-Law will find a way around his bargain with Ares. He's such a bastard and he'll do anything to get rid of me.

Lisa: Including turning Raven against you?

Alena: Yes and Zeus hates my son as much as he hates me. He's only using Raven hoping something catastrophic will come out of it.  I suppose it has, hasn't it?  (Again, she looks at the bed this time she shakes her head.)  But it won't be enough for Zeus. He won't be happy until either I'm dead or Ares casts me aside.  All because he wants to return Olympus to its former glory but those days are dead and gone, they're not coming back, no matter how many full-blooded Olympians he makes Ares produce for him. As much as what Ares did hurts my heart, I know that, ultimately, Zeus is to blame.

Lisa: You think Ares will sleep with Aphrodite again?

Alena: Maybe even of his own accord. Look at me, how am I supposed to be a wife to my Husband when I can't even move my legs?  How am I supposed to fight back against Olympians when I can't even get out of this bed?

Suddenly a large shadow falls over us as we're huddled together head to head and whispering.

Ares: But in that bed is where I like you best.  If those beautiful legs of yours never work again that will be a shame but I will happily spend the rest of my life carrying you around in my arms to wherever you want to go.

Alena and I break our huddle as I sit back and Ares moves between us to settle his 7-foot frame on the bed next to her.

Lisa: Greetings, Lord Ares.

Ares: Always a pleasure to see you again, my dear. (He turns to Alena and takes her up in his strong arms) All I care is that you finally woke up and you are no longer asleep, gone from me, lost in a place I could not follow. My life is empty without you.

As he gives her a long squeeze, it's clear to see in those misty eyes that she wants so desperately to believe him.  But her world is in shambles and she has a large fight ahead of her.  One she isn't sure she's strong or cunning enough to win.

Lisa: I should go now. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today, Alena. Lord Ares.

Ares: Raven will see you to the Gates of Olympus and safely off the mountain.

From the doorway a sharp whistle pierces the air and I turn my head to see Raven standing there impatiently waiting for me.  I don't want to go with him, alone. The boy frightens me.  I'm still reeling from the last time I was with him. I've never said someone was inherently evil and I won't say so now but Raven is the closest I've ever come to it. Rising from the bed I take in the sight of his mother wrapped up in his Father's arms and a small trickle of hope runs through me.  Alena is a very strong and determined woman, I know better than to count her out, so perhaps there's still time for her and for her son, Raven Child of War.

PROMO:

"Child of War-A God is Born" book #2 in the "OF WAR" series is currently available in signed hard cover through the publisher http://www.moonsmusings.com 

It is also available in paperback from:

Amazon.com 

http://www.amazon.com/Child-War-God-Born-1/dp/0615523463/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318095046&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lisa-beth-darling?store=book

Books-a-Million

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Child-War/Lisa-Beth-Darling/9780615523460?id=5200778515850

It releases in e-book formats November 25, 2011.

ARC Review White Dusk by Susan Edwards

Title: White Dusk
Author: Susan Edwards
Source: Requested Review
Genre: Historical Romance
Format: e-book; 70,000 words
Release date: Mass Market original release- November 2002; e-book re-release- November 21, 2011



A dark night was coming, but Swift Foot was prepared. A winter of discontent had sent him on a vision quest, and he’d returned ready to be chief. Where his father had brought shame upon their family by choosing love over duty, Swift Foot would act more wisely. He would lead his people through the troubles ahead—and, to do so, he would marry for all the right reasons.

Small Bird was the perfect choice, especially as Swift Foot had saved her life years before. Their future had been decided by their past. But for their people to survive the coming darkness, the two would have to win each others hearts. On the sleeping mat or wrapped in furs, on riverbank or dusty plain, passion must somehow blaze to life between the half-breed chieftain and his new wife...and they had to start the fire soon, for dusk had already fallen.

Review Breanna by Karen Nichols

Title: Breanna

Author: Karen Nichols

Source: Author request

Genre: Paranormal romance 

Length: Novel 

Breanna Cooper had a quiet kind of life. Her parents had loved her and pampered her; she worked hard to make her coffee and tea shop a success in the small tourist town of Newport on the coast of Washington. When she went to open the shop that one morning, everything turned upside down. One minute she was standing before the ornate door in early May and the next she was lying in front of a fireplace with a pair of men staring down at her. 

A blonde and a brunette. She closed her eyes, wondering if she were dreaming but when the tawny lashes opened, they were still there, sexy as ever. 

Then the sharp pain in her head made itself known. And she panicked.

Rating see below please

I have to rate this book different. Please read the whole review before deciding on buying this book at this time.

Story I rate a 5
Editing of the book a 1

Great story and great characters. This is a new author to keep a watch out for. I loved unwrapping the mystery behind Breanna’s past and fining out what two halves she’s mixed with. Breanna turns out to be very special plus she get’s two hunks to boot, you can’t ask for anything better. You get action, mystery, magic and some really hot sex with anal. This is a story that’s suited for the people who reads M/F/M Trio’s.

Breanna Cooper has always lived a quiet, safe life until her parent’s death. Her luck runs out when someone wants to kill her. Breanna has no idea until one morning she gets knocked out opening her coffee shop. She wakes to see two hot, mysterious men looking down on her.

Jase and Nick have been friends since childhood and have always loved sharing things with each other. When Jase sees a couple leave someone on the beach with a storm coming in, he has to go investigate. What Jase and Nick find is an unknown woman laying on the ground with blood everywhere who they realize is their mate.

While they untangle the mystery of who is hunting Breanna, sparks start flying. Can Breanna handle the two hot men calling to her and the mystery she is about to unravel about herself?

These three are awesome together. Jase and Nick are very easy to fall for because they will do anything to insure their mate gets what she needs and wants period.

Now here’s the downside for this book. If you buy this story now you won’t get any chapter breaks and you’ll find changing of POV without notice in one scene. Proofing issues and more, there are quite a few issues I’m not going to list them all. As of right now until the editing is done you’ll have to look over these issues and just read the story.  If you’re one that wants to read a book in it’s complete edited state please wait, I will let you guys know when this book is completely edited. If your one who just wants a good story and can careless about these issues please go ahead and try it.

Teaser

“It’s called a triad,” Brea said quietly. “I have friends in Arizona who live in one. I never thought about it for me only because I never thought I’d care for one man, let alone two. And how should I have handled it? I pretend it’s just you and I while Nick hides in the closet? How is that healthy? How is it fair or right? It’s a lie and I won’t consciously live a lie. If that’s what you wanted, then you don’t know me very well and maybe you should have considered that before you staked a claim,” she left them standing in the living room and went into the kitchen, laying out the dinner she’d prepared.

She was furious. With them. With society. With all the people who want you to pretend in the world so their little corner is nice and comfortable and fits into a neat little box.

The Black Sun’s Daughter Series Giveaway by M.L.N. Hanover

Thanks to Simon and Schuster I have one set of the series The Black Sun's Daughter to giveaway to one lucky person. US residents only. Giveaway ends Nov 23, 2011 at midnight. 

In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules. 

Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College. 

Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means -- magical or mundane -- so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions -- Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities -- Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast -- or break them completely....

In the battle between good and evil, there's no such thing as a fair fight.

When Jayné Heller's uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations -- and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayné has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She'll need both to tackle a bodyswitching serial killer who's taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic.

Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayné races to track down the demon's next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayné will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won't rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most....

When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back . . .

For the first time in forever, Jayné Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them. At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayné is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose. Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul. . .

JaynÉ Heller has discovered the source of her uncanny powers: something else is living inside her body. She's possessed. Of all her companions, she can only bring herself to confide in Ex, the former priest. They seek help from his old teacher and the circle of friends he left behind, hoping to cleanse JaynÉ before the parasite in her becomes too powerful.

Ex’s history and a new enemy combine to leave JaynÉ alone and on the run. Her friends, thinking that the rider with her has taken the reins, try to hunt her down, unaware of the danger they’re putting her in. JaynÉ must defeat the weight of the past and the murderous intent of another rider, and her only allies are a rogue vampire she once helped free and the nameless thing hiding inside her skin.

Please click "Read more"  and it will take you to the  Rafflecopter to enter .

Guest author Maureen O. Betita

I’ve got a questions for everyone to start this blog off…what do you consider paranormal?

I’ve been wrestling with this concept for a few years now. My very first writing class, at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh, 2008…I talked with Judi McCoy, the instructor, about this topic. I had a finished book…and she wanted to know what genre it was. Our convo went something like this…

“…well, the main character is a witch…”

“Paranormal!” (triumphant Judi)

“…who can travel through time and space…”

“Science Fiction!” (brow wrinkled Judi)

“…who restores her magical power through sex…”

“Erotica?” (blinking Judi)

“…who lands in Port Royal during the golden age of piracy…”

“…historical?” Judi shook her head.

I ended up pretty confused myself and simply kept writing, and not trying to understand. I sorta knew science fiction/fantasy as a long time reader and attendee of science fiction/fantasy conventions. I knew that including sex and romance into scifi was the kiss of death. (I think that has changed and was changing back then, but I only knew what I knew.) (Which wasn’t much, come to think of it.)

I still have that book, it’s a nice fat series and one day, it will be published and I will go on to conquer the world! BWAH HA HA!

Meanwhile, I kept writing and founded my personal quirky genre, I call piratepunk. I mean, steampunk had risen to some level of recognition, but I didn’t quite write steampunk. Not enough steam. But punk? Well, if you consider punk a bit like the character in Shakespeare, Puck…then yeah, it works. I don’t do much with mohawks, bodypiercing or headpounding, but I might change a character’s head into that of an ass, given a chance. Maybe it should be piratepuck?

*grin

Still, for my publisher I had to fit into an existing genre…and the one that fit better than most, was paranormal. There are vampires and werewolves and zombies…granted, they are pretty much just normal people with odd appetites and no one blinks twice at them in the Tortuga I created for my Kraken’s Caribbean books…but they are there. Along with a matchmaking albino Kraken who guards his Caribbean (when not playing cupid.)

Genre…it’s a very fluid thing! What are your thoughts on it?

And for fun… An excerpt from the first in the the Kraken’s Caribbean series… The Kraken’s Mirror, where my hero, Captain Silvestri prepares a spell, asking for the Kraken’s help. And finds it…

…..

A sliver of moon rose from the sea as he walked into the surf. The water chilled him slightly, but nothing like the nightmare the night Emily held him. He’d seen her, Glacious. A frost appeared on the glass and her eyes studied him. Studied them.

He shook the memory off, praying it had been nothing more than a lingering effect from the nightmare. He walked until the water hit him below his waist and stopped. He held the mirror flat, barely above the water, as Mama Lu told him. A ripple of water reached for it, which was certainly strange. Well, spells should be unusual. He lowered it minutely, and the next ripple kissed the mirror, stirred the powder Mama Lu told him to sprinkle atop the rest.

A ripple flowed away from him, counter to the sea’s course. It disappeared toward the horizon, barely visible in the bare light of a crescent moon. And he waited. Mama Lu said to be patient.

“Ya gonna get a sign. Some message or vision ’bout what way ta go. Wait for it!”

He heard her melodic cadence even now, floating above the sea. The quiet of the night, the lack of any breeze, nothing stirred the trees at his back. No birds called. He looked up at the stars; they blazed down at him.

He sighed and turned his head back to the horizon.

He fought the instinct to scramble away from the great, bulky head of the albino Kraken, not three feet from him, bobbing above the waterline. He swallowed and mastered his fear, while his heart galloped loud enough for the world to hear.

Review of "Rocked" by Barbara Elsborg

Title: Rocked
Author: Barbara Elsborg
Source: Requested Review
Genre: Paranormal Erotica
Format: ebook - # pages
Release Date: 5/24/2011
Author's Website

The Rock
Desired by men and women, Eli’s good looks make sexual conquest easy until he attends a party at the Supernatural Museum, where they land him in deep trouble. He says no to the wrong women, and his punishment is to learn the ultimate meaning of loneliness.

The Stone Maiden
Much to her family’s disappointment, not only is Pepper single but she works a hard and dirty job as an apprentice stonemason. Pepper loves bringing stone to life with her chisel but struggles with the isolation that comes with being different. Then there’s her attraction to her boss, Alessandro, who appears to prefer men. When Eli materializes out of nowhere, Pepper can hardly believe her eyes. Now she’s caught between a rock and a hard place.

The Hard Place
His hands hardened by years training to become a master stonemason, Alessandro is an expert at his craft, but not in matters of the heart. A daily frustration when he’s in hopelessly in love with Pepper and the man of his dreams has disappeared. As Alessandro’s team begins to restore the Supernatural Museum, he, Pepper, and Eli are drawn into the building’s secrets and risk losing everything they hold dear.

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, menage (m/m/f).

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