SPOTLIGHT w/INTERVIEW - Red Sleeper (The Berlin Fraternity Universe, #2) by Brian Downes

Red Sleeper

The Berlin Fraternity Universe, #2

by Brian Downes

Genre: Historical horror

Date of Publication: December 1st, 2017

Cover Artist: Miriam Medina

Tagline: A cold war after dark.

 

BLURB

In the horsepower town of 1950s Detroit, FBI agent Christopher Haigwood is raising his Catholic family and hunting Soviet spies. Then a communist fanatic who was arrested with a lot of guns, dynamite, and heroin breaks out of jail right before his eyes, and Haigwood is plunged into a terrifying labyrinth of plots, informants, liars, and the horrifying revelation that vampires are real, and that some of his KGB quarry are undead.

Red Sleeper is set in the world of The Berlin Fraternity.

Buy Link: Amazon

Excerpt:

          Haigwood had read Walter Swale’s file several times. He’d written sections of it. White. Brown eyes, brown hair, approximately 5’6”, 175 pounds estimated weight. Father born in Poland, 1893, changed the family name to Swale from Szwarc on arrival in the USA. Haigwood had studied photographs of Swale to memorize the high chin, the bulging lips, the distance between the eyes, the widow’s peak that pointed out of the receding hairline. He had once sat at Swale’s kitchen table with the curtains drawn and copied names out of his address book while Swale was out at the movies. Now Swale was sitting in jail, having been brought in the night before for resisting arrest, along with possession of: four ounces Mexican heroin, ten sticks dynamite, one M1 rifle with two hundred rounds of ammunition, one police revolver with ammunition, and twenty-three copies of a Communist Party pamphlet urging workers to revolt against their bosses and their elected leaders in Washington, D.C.

          Haigwood had been at home with his wife, Annie, over the Thanksgiving weekend. He’d gotten the call last night at dinner. Now he was walking into the jail at eight on Monday morning to get his first eyeball-to-eyeball with this Red they had been watching for more than six months.

          There was a jail guard stationed at the front desk. Haigwood smiled at the man as he unwrapped his scarf from around his neck. “Good morning! How’s everything with you fellas?”

          “Good morning,” the guard answered, looking him up and down warily. “Is it snowing already?”

          Haigwood took his fedora off, tapped the snow dust off its brim, and ran his hand through his hair. “Yes, it’s brisk out there!” He pulled out his credentials. “I’m Christopher Haigwood, Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m here to see Swale, Walter, a prisoner brought in about 2100 hours last night.”

          The guard, whom Haigwood saw was about ten years younger than he was, focused on Haigwood’s ID. He reached his hand out tentatively to touch the wallet. “I heard about that. So you really work for J. Edgar Hoover, huh?”

          “And the American people,” Haigwood answered with a smile. “Now do you think you could get someone to show me to Swale?”

          The guard picked up a telephone receiver from a handset at his station and dialed a number. Haigwood toyed with his hat, smothered his impatient sigh, and looked around at the signs in the jail’s foyer. The signs told him to be on the alert for any men dressed in black and gray stripes, because they might be escaping inmates. And that he was going to have to surrender his revolver if he wanted to go any further. He looked out the window and saw the snowflakes floating gently downward, their numbers growing. From further inside the jail he could smell the morning coffee, but he’d just finished off a Coca-Cola in the car.

          He was really angry at Swale for getting himself arrested like this. But he was very much looking forward to speaking to him personally.

          A second guard appeared and took Haigwood inside the jail. This one older than him, and not shy at all about staring at the G-man with frank curiosity. He had a nametag that read, “G. Cantor”. Nobody asked Haigwood for his service weapon, so he kept his overcoat on and didn’t mention it.

          “So I read this guy’s sheet,” Haigwood’s guide said indifferently as they walked.

          “Yeah, you did?”

          “Yeah,” Cantor nodded, looking like he didn’t care, but watching Haigwood’s face carefully. “You know we don’t get a lot of dynamiters in here.”

          “Oh, you don’t?” Haigwood put a chime of surprise in his voice.

          “No,” the guard said, warming up to explaining his job to someone he had expected to be smarter than him. “We don’t get too many commies, either.”

          “I guess you’ve got one today, though?”

          “Yeah, yeah, we’ve sure got one today. It’s an unusual day. Here he is, on the end.”

          They had been walking down a chilly, second-level row of cells as Haigwood parried Cantor’s efforts to pump him for information. It was cold enough that Haigwood was quite comfortable with his overcoat on. Morning light, turned a cottony gray by the snow coming down outside, slanted in through the high, narrow, barred windows.

          Swale was up early, and had heard them coming. Haigwood could see him pressing his face up against the bars of his cell, craning his neck to see them approach. But Haigwood stopped first at the cell adjacent to Swale’s, and looked down at a little man wrapped in a blanket on one of the cell’s two bunks. “Who’s this?” He asked Cantor.

          “Who, him? That’s Hobson. He stays with us sometimes, three or four times a year.”

          “What brings him in?”

          “Tuning up his wife.”

          Haigwood gestured at Hobson’s sleeping cellmate. “And what about that one?”

          “That’s, uh, Gomez. Got drunk and stabbed a fellow over a game of cards.”

          “OK,” Haigwood said, reassured that the two men who might overhear his conversation didn’t much matter. He told the guard, “Thank you very much, Mr. Cantor, I’ll be fine here,” as he took the final few steps that brought him face to face with Walter Swale through the bars of his cell.

Buy Link: Amazon

Author Info

Brian Downes learned to read at a young age. He is now a novelist who lives in Orlando, Florida. His other novels are The Berlin Fraternity and The Carrefour Crisis. He also writes for the website Florida Geek Scene.

The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Brian Downes

How would you describe you style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
That is a question I have never considered before. Let me say, vivid, gripping, transformational, you’ll never want to read another book again, after reading me.

I didn’t put that very well.

What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
The mindset is bloody-minded stubbornness. Steel-trap tenacity. Hammer at it every day until you have bent it to your will.

Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
Characters get planned, of course. Then characters get executed on the page. Invariably, some changes happen in step two. With luck, the changes are improvements. I study psychology, sociology, and human nature to help with development.

Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character? If so which one(s)?
I have not.

Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?

I am rarely impatient about the work. I will come to that when I come to that, and in the meantime I should concentrate on what’s before me.

Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
We can’t control most of what is inside of us. The post hoc rationalization is our species favorite pastime; we do things, then tell ourselves afterward that we reasoned it out.

For example, there’s no rational reason for me to write.

Author Links:

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SPOTLIGHT - A Path Through by Janna Olsen Spratt

A Path Through

by Janna Olsen Spratt

Date of Publication: August 21^st 2017

Publisher: Book Venture Publishing LLC

Genre: Memoirs/Biography

 

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In this tribute to the faithfulness of God, the author shows the thread woven through everything from the car accident they walked away from which totaled the car to the last chapter of finding purpose in the pain of being alone. This is a story of overcoming poverty, early marriage, divorce and finding love a second time around. It’s a story of a parent’s tenacity in prayer for a wayward child and of holding on to faith when a seventeen year old grandson dies suddenly at school.

God promised He would take us through the trials.

Buy Link: BookVenture

Excerpt:

Little did I know as I packed my books in February that I would unpack them two months later. And as I prayed for the Lord to lead us to where we should go, I did not know that my husband, Larry, and I would not be going to the same place.

We were planning to move back to the Abbotsford, Langley, area in BC where we had lived some twelve years earlier. It all started with a conversation over lunch with Dwayne and Maureen, our son and our daughter-in-law. We were talking about seniors’ housing being in short supply and that it might be a good idea for us to think about where we would like to live and putting our name into some places.

Our plan was to move back to the coast into an apartment, and from there we could decide which seniors’ housing would be the right place for us to make an application for. We needed to look for an apartment there, so we decided we would drive to Surrey to visit our son, Dustin, and his family, and from there we would search.

Larry would be eighty years old on March 4, and we could celebrate his birthday as well as look for a place at the same time. Our children planned a big party with our family and friends. This was a milestone for Larry because his life had nearly been cut short a few times before this, and making it this far was somewhat of a miracle.

Someone has said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” We were praying about what we should do, and it seemed to us that this was a way to test the waters. We left Castlegar the morning of March

1. Our plan was to travel halfway, stay overnight at Princeton, and finish the trip the next day.

We would be traveling through mountain passes which could have snow on the highway, so we wanted to give ourselves lots of time. Larry was a truck driver with more than three million miles behind him, so he was not too concerned about driving.

Although there was quite a bit of snow in the first pass, we made good time, arriving in Princeton early in the afternoon. The next morning after breakfast, we set out for the final part of our trip. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we felt good about the trip thus far.

There was quite a lot of snow on the Hope-Princeton Highway, but

Larry was not concerned. Our 2008 Toyota seemed to handle the road conditions well. When we passed the Hope turnoff and began the divided freeway with two lanes going each way, we felt we had it made. The worst was over!

We passed a semi and were still in the left lane when suddenly the left front wheel got caught in a deep pothole. Larry struggled desperately to keep the car on the road, but it seemed as if a force stronger than him wrenched the wheel out of his hands, and we were immediately airborne.

I called out, “Lord, help us,” as the car flew off the road into the median which was full of snow.

Everything happened so fast; it seemed as if we were watching a movie, spellbound. We sat there with our seat belts on while the car careened crazily down the embankment, spinning around and doing donuts and other turns. As we spun around, there was a lot of snow going across the windshield. The back end of the car slammed into the snowbank as we fishtailed, and the trunk opened, spilling suitcases and some of the other contents.

As the car was spinning and slamming into banks, the big back window smashed in, as well as the backside windows. The backseat was filled with snow. My glasses flew off and were later found in the snow in the backseat, and my left hearing aid flew out and was later found on the dash.

At one point we started to climb the bank toward the traffic on the eastbound side, but it was a steep incline, and we were kept from going there. For one second I saw it, I thought we might go into it; but instead the car rolled back, turned, and came to rest on its right side on two wheels leaning against a snow-covered bank. Larry had to brace himself with his feet in order not to fall down on me.

In the midst of all this turmoil, we sat there with our seat belts on.

Strangely, we felt protected. The front window did not even have a crack in it, the front side windows were untouched, and the air bags did not deploy.

We were not seriously injured.

I reached for my cell phone, began dialing 911, and then a man was standing there, peering in the front window, asking if we were all right.

We shouted we were okay. Just then two RCMP officers appeared. They were traveling by and saw what happened. One of them had been headed west, and the other one was headed east. Coincidence?

A truck driver had stopped and come to help, as well as some other men. There were at least six men there. When we said we were all right, with us still in the car, they put the car back on four wheels. They opened the doors and helped us out of the car, asking again and again, “Are you sure you are all right?” We assured them we were a little shaken but otherwise all right.

We each had two men, one on each side, holding on to us as we trudged through the deep snow across the median and up the bank to the highway. We waited in the police car until the ambulance came. After the paramedics checked us out and the police took our statements, we were taken to the Fraser Canyon Hospital at Hope, British Columbia, for further examination.

Besides being shaken up, Larry had some cuts on his hands and arms which were quickly bandaged. The cuts were probably from the shattered glass when the back windows smashed. I had a black eye. I must have banged my head on the window frame, although I did not remember just when it happened.

Author Info

Janna Spratt is the author of a collection of poetry, QUIET REFLECTIONS, and two children’s books; BILLY GOAT AND THE RED NECKERCHIEF and FUN AT NANA’S HOUSE. After she was widowed in 2011, she found a passion for life in writing. This fourth book is her story of faith in God that does not quit in spite of the challenges that come. Her goal is to realize her God given purpose in life and to live it to the best of her ability.

Author Links:

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SPOTLIGHT w/INTERVIEW - Bite Me Spider by Nora Penn

Bite Me Spider

by Nora Penn

Date of Publication: November 8^th 2017

Cover Artist: Nora Penn

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Action and Adventure

Tagline: An Eight-Legged Nightmare

 

BLURB

What would YOU do to save your family? What lengths would you go through to rescue your loved ones from a truly horrible fate? A fate such as being eaten by a pack of giant spiders? This is the question that “Bite Me Spider” asks.

A bona fide page-turner, “Bite Me Spider” combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama. James Dresden wants the best for his family, including his daughter, Carol, his wife, Hannah, and their unborn child. When Hannah is diagnosed with cancer, the family opts for a radical new treatment, the bite of the genetically modified Black Hermit Spider. Although Hannah is cured there is a terrible cost: an invasion of giant spiders that threatens every living thing on the planet. To save his family, James must face the scuttling menace head on. He must perform deeds that would put weaker men in the madhouse.

Buckle up, horror fans. “Bite Me Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders.

The question remains. If all hell broke loose, what would you do to save your family? Read “Bite Me Spider” and find out.

Buy Links:

Amazon CA      Amazon US      Amazon UK

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/Ngw2j60j8hE

Excerpt:

Sonja could barely see the road ahead for all the tears in her eyes. She had been driving for half an hour and had been crying for the entire time. It wasn’t a sobbing, heaving cry, like one might expect of a woman who had moments ago been widowed of her husband of fifty years. Rather it was a steady, unceasing flow, as if she were a fountain filled with pure grief. At some point she stopped wiping the tears from her face and simply let them run down her cheeks.

As she drove along 95 South her mind replayed a hit parade of memories of her and Bill. These memories went back to when they had first met, all the way back through their time dating and then getting married, their raising their children, and then their children’s children, and then living in the lighthouse and fighting off the giant spiders for their survival. As the old woman reminisced she was painfully aware of a hollow place in her soul. It was the place in her life that her husband had occupied. It was more than a hole. It was another half of her that had gone missing. No, not gone missing. This half of her had been ripped away. And as sure as up is up and down is down, Sonja knew that she would never be the same now that the love of her life was gone.

The only thing keeping the old woman going at that point was her mission. Her sanity hinged on the fact that she was entrusted with saving Carol’s life. In a strange way she was grateful for the task. If she, Sonja, could play a role in saving the child, she thought to herself, she could shuffle off this mortal coil knowing that she had done one last good deed. It occurred to her then that once she had caught up with James and Carol and informed them about the true nature of the spider’s bite, she could simply drive her car off the road and let herself be reunited with her husband in heaven.

Because her emotions were so chaotic and her thoughts so scattered, and her eyes so misty with tears, Sonja’s driving was extremely erratic. On several occasions she had almost driven off the road and only managed to save herself by swerving back at the very last moment. Compounding the danger was the fact that she was speeding along at 90 miles per hour. Having a highway that was empty of cars (except for the occasional abandoned vehicle) had given her a false sense of safety. What’s more, she figured that James would be driving fast and she deduced that if she was to catch him she would have to drive even faster.

As she drove she remained just aware enough to keep on the lookout for spiders. The eight-legged bastards had a habit of suddenly scuttling out in front of vehicles. Back when the spiders were no larger than squirrels this was more of a nuisance than a real danger, but now that the spiders were as big as bulls they posed a far more serious threat. But as fate would have it, she hadn’t seen any thus far.

The unexplained growth of the spiders since the beginning of the spider apocalypse meant that survivors like Sonja had grown accustomed to looking for the larger specimens, as they posed the most obvious danger. But the fact that is that there were still plenty of smaller spiders creeping about, such as those that had hatched inside of her husband. As if further evidence of the danger of the smaller spiders was needed, a normal-sized Black Hermit Spider was crawling up the back of Sonja’s chair as she drove.

“I’m going to make you proud, Bill,” Sonja said out loud and sniffed. “I know you would want me to help these kids. Just like we would help our own kids.”

The Black Hermit Spider put its finger-like legs over the top of Sonja’s chair. When the creature saw the exposed neck of the female human, its eyes gleamed with a terrible malevolence.

Sonja’s thoughts turned to her children and her grandchildren, especially Dylan, who was her favorite. She hadn’t heard news of him since the spider apocalypse began, but she had a feeling that he was still alive. He was such a hearty soul – a lot like this James fellow – and he would certainly put up a fight. If anyone could survive the spider apocalypse and start building civilization afresh, Dylan was the one.

Sonja snapped out of her reverie just in time to turn the wheel and follow the curve of the highway. The tires squealed but she was oblivious to the danger. Instead of slowing down to a more reasonable pace, she pressed the gas pedal down further. The car was going so fast the frame of the vehicle began to shake.

The Black Hermit Spider, meanwhile, put its legs over the ridge of Sonja’s collar. The creature was about the size of a human hand, and just as heavy. If Sonja had been thinking clearly she would have felt the weight on the back of her shirt. But she was too lost in her thoughts to notice.

“Wherever you are, Dylan. I hope you’re well. I hope you know your grandmother loves you. If you’re up in Heaven, then I hope you’re with your grandfather. And if you’re still here on Earth, I hope I see you again someday.”

The spider’s fangs were hovering over the exposed flesh of the back of Sonja’s neck. As she wrapped up her tearful soliloquy, the spider drove its fangs into her skin. Sonja winced as she felt the needle-like projections burrow into her flesh. There was a sharp sting and then a powerful numbness as the poison was injected into her system.

At first the numbness was uncomfortable, but then it spread out like rays of sunshine freed from behind a passing cloud. Instead of feeling heavy she began to feel light.

“I love you Dylan. And I love you Bill. I hope I’ll see you both again someday in Heaven.”

Sonja closed her eyes. A spasm passed through her body and her spine stiffened, causing her legs to extend and her foot to press the gas pedal to the floor of the car. The vehicle shot forward like a rocket, crossing the highway at a sharp angle and smashing through a partition. On the other side of the partition was a deep ditch waiting to accept the plummeting vehicle. But this isn’t what Sonja saw.

What Sonja saw was a multitude of faces. The faces belonged to everyone she had known in life, going back to when she was a child. They were all smiling at her as if she had just walked into a surprise birthday party being thrown in her honor. Behind the familiar faces was a bright light and inside this bright light was her husband Bill, who looked just as happy to see her as the rest. He held out his arms to her. Sonja was suddenly no longer in the car. She was in her husband’s arms. And in her husband’s arms she would stay.

Buy Links:

Amazon CA      Amazon US      Amazon UK

Author Info

Nora Penn writes fast-paced horror novels with strong, relatable characters.

Her favorite authors are Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

She released her first novel, Bite Me Spider, in November of 2017.

She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, who endures her various idiosyncrasies in return for being the first to read her new novels. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, on September 11, 2015.

 

The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Nora Penn

How would you describe you style of writing to someone that has never read your work?

My work, “Bite Me Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders. It’s an action packed fun ride which combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama.

What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?

There is one routine. Write one hour a day, every day. No excuse, never.

Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?

Putting characters into scenarios which they can barely handle show truly who they are. Continuously raising the bar naturally helps character development. I hope you’ll feel the same after finishing Bite Me Spider.

Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character? If so which one(s)?

My father died protecting us from two robbers when I was a little child. The main character, James Dresden is like him, at least how I remember. He is strong, smart and would do anything to protect his daughter and wife. Putting him in a disaster scenario works really well and represents what does being  a human mean to me.

Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?

Yes, James Dresden who I created based on my memories about my father.

Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?

The continuous phobia of spiders. I just can’t stand them. They are scary as f#ck. 😊

Author Links:

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TOUR w/SPICY EXCERPT - Taken by a Highland Laird (The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning, #2) by Sky Purington

Taken by a Highland Laird

The MacLomain Series

A New Beginning, #2

by Sky Purington

Date of Publication:  December 18^th 2017

Cover Artist:  Tara West

Genre:  Time Travel Fantasy Romance

 

The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . TAKEN BY A HIGHLAND LAIRD (The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning, #2) . . . Another adventure in The MacLomain series with a new installment to the New Beginning series. I have the expectation of getting an adventure to dream about, a laird that takes my breath away, an American female that has no clue what she has gotten herself into. Lindsay may not know exactly what she has gotten herself involved in, but she finds that her training/profession helps her out of a few spots quite efficiently. That was until she gets caught up with a band of Scotsmen, one in particular. He pretends to want nothing to do with her, but that was quite obvious not the truth of things.

Conall and Lindsay find that their attraction to one another was strong. And a bit history changing. I loved following the adventure that Lindsay got herself in. The adventure with the English solider, the Scotsmen, the Bruce and even with the William Wallace. I love finding myself in a new setting that contains the rich history of the Scots, the grand adventures of 21^st century women in the past, and the heroic, protective nature of the highland lairds/lords/warriors.

The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning series:

Sworn to the Highland Laird – The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning, #1

Taken by a Highland Laird – The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning, #2

Promised to a Highland Laird – The MacLomain Series: A New Beginning, #3

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The last thing Lindsay expects when she visits Milly’s home in New Hampshire is to be thrust back in time to thirteenth century Scotland days before the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Worse yet, captured by the English. Using her wits and ability to wrap men around her little finger, she survives long enough to be rescued by a band of Scotsmen. One of them, a rigid Highland chieftain determined to protect his country, rarely lets her out of his sight. A man, as it turns out, who is immune to her allure…or so it seems.

From the moment Clan MacLomain decides to save Scotland’s history, Laird Conall Hamilton knows he needs to be part of it. What he does not foresee is a beautiful twenty-first century actress crossing his path. More so, that they end up caught in an obligatory kiss that sparks an infamous battle. A kiss, as Fate would have it, that takes them on an adventure through time to both the Action at Earnside Skirmish and the Action at Happrew.

Joining first Sir William Wallace then King Robert the Bruce, Conall and Lindsay end up on a journey that will leave neither unscathed. Though determined to keep each other at arm’s length, desire simmers, reeling them ever closer. Inner demons are faced as they navigate a powerful connection neither saw coming. A bond so intense and passionate that it might very well help them defeat the enemy and save a nation.

Buy Link: Amazon

Excerpt (Spicy)

 “I’ll be,” Lindsay murmured as she continued to eye him with a look he knew all too well by now. She thought she had found a way to get closer to him. Therefore, a means to eventually get him to do anything she wanted.

Almost as if she followed his thoughts, she cocked her head. “You don’t like that do you, Conall?” Her lashes dropped a scant fraction as she seemed to see right through him. “You don’t want to get too personal because it might allow me too close.” The corner of her lip curled up slowly, and her knowing eyes sparkled with newfound power. “Why do I get the feeling it’s already too late?”

He frowned. “Too late for what?”

“Too late for you to stop wanting me,” she whispered, her large sultry eyes shimmering in the torchlight. “Because you do, don’t you, Conall?”

Aye. He did. With everything in him.

Like always, it was nearly impossible to pull his eyes from hers, but he did. As it was every time, he had to fight to keep from looking at her again. Gazing at the lass muddled his mind, and right now it needed to stay level. More than that, he had to remember she was not the lass for him.

He would never survive her.

She inhaled deeply and murmured to herself. Words he could hear with his superior hearing. Words that caught him off-guard. Against his better judgement, he looked her way again. “What do you mean you dinnae understand why I’m different than the rest?” He frowned. “Explain, lass.”

“Oh, I think you know.” She stood, her movements fluid and seductive as she sauntered his way. “I think you very well know.”

Though the dress given to her at the camp was too big for her, it didn’t hide her full breasts or her perfect hourglass figure. She was built for a man’s hands and hell if she didn’t know it as she sat beside him, close enough that their shoulders touched. Her slender hand slid onto his thigh dangerously close to his eager cock. If he didn’t know better, he would say she knew exactly what state she had him in.

“You are wearing the ring again,” he managed, irritated by his thickening voice, by the stark lust she provoked.

“I am,” she concurred as her hand slid a fraction closer to his manhood. “Do you know why?”

“Aye.” Conall put his hand over hers and shook his head. “But we will find another way out of here.”

Any way but how they got here, to begin with.

“You enjoyed that kiss, Laird Hamilton,” she murmured, her voice soft and seductive. “Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

He more than enjoyed it. But it was a kiss that could not be repeated. Yet as she intended, his eyes drifted to her lips. When they did, the tip of her dainty pink tongue slipped out and ran along her plush lower lip. He didn’t realize he had clenched his hand around hers until she jerked ever-so-slightly. When she did, he pulled away only for her to try to stop him which, as it turned out, conveniently put her hand right alongside his erection.

He clenched his jaw and remained very still as her eyes dropped and her breath caught.

If he had any willpower left, he would push her hand away. He would remind her that unlike most men, he did not want her. Yet she was already blatantly admiring proof that said otherwise. A maneuver he knew she did on purpose to reel him ever closer. Regrettably, it was working because he had not moved an inch.

He tried to focus on the hiss of the torches, even the chill of the stone at his back, but all he could see was her hand. How small and delicate it appeared beside the heavy ridge of his cock straining against his breeches.

“Well, well,” she said softly, her voice raspy, sensual and knowing. “It seems you’re stiff in more ways than one, Laird Hamilton.”

Buy Link: Amazon      

 

Author Info

Sky Purington is the bestselling author of over thirty novels and several novellas. A New Englander born and bred who recently moved to Virginia, Sky was raised hearing stories of folklore, myth, and legend. When combined with a love for nature, romance, and time-travel, elements from the stories of her youth found release in her books.

Purington loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at Sky@SkyPurington. Interested in keeping up with Sky’s latest news and releases? Either visit Sky’s website, www.SkyPurington.com, subscribe to her quarterly newsletter or sign up for personalized text message alerts. Simply text 'skypurington' (no quotes, one word, all lowercase) to 74121 or visit Sky’s Sign-up Page. Texts will ONLY be sent when there is a new book release. Readers can easily opt out at any time.

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SPOTLIGHT w/EXCERPT - Fallen (Shadows of Regia, #1) by Tenaya Jayne

Fallen

Shadows of Regia, #1

by Tenaya Jayne

Date of Publication: September 29^th 2017

Publisher: Cold Fire Publishing LLC

Cover Artist: Tenaya Jayne

Genre: PNR

Tagline: Destiny is a heartless bitch.

 

BLURB

Half vampire and wealthy playboy, Maddox lives his life in the public eye and thoroughly enjoys his bad reputation. But what most people believe of him is not who he really is. Life has always been easy for Maddox, but now a dark figure moves through the shadows slaughtering innocent young women, and the evidence points at him as his exes start turning up dead with his name carved into their skin.

Erin hates everything Maddox stands for and when her best friend becomes the most recent in the line of mysterious killings, she has no doubt the rich lothario is responsible. Torn by grief, Erin decides to take matters into her own hands and she will stop at nothing to make Maddox pay.

But when the two rivals finally come head to head, neither is prepared for the sparks that fly or the eternal bond that destiny weaves between their souls. Maddox is desperate to keep Erin by his side and prove to her his innocence.  Erin would rather die than submit to being his destined life mate… And her death is just what the killer has in mind.

Buy Link: Amazon

Excerpt

“You want to hurt me, don’t you? You want revenge?”

“Yes.” She breathed. 

“I see.”

“I’m going to reject you, Maddox. I can’t see any other way.”

“My gosh…” He put his head in his hands. “You’re serious.”

“Completely.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head. “Why haven’t you done it then?” His tone turned harder.

“I’m not finished hurting you. I haven’t even started.”

“So we’re enemies then?”

“Unequivocally.”

He smiled, catching her off guard, and causing her disquiet.

“Why are you smiling?”

His smile grew. “Was I?”

She got her feet. “See? This is why I hate you. You’re terrible.”

“Are you leaving then? Is your pain manageable?”

She hesitated. He stood and reached for her before she could think, taking her forearms in his hands. The pain was shoved back. She caught her lip between her teeth and fought to not moan. The only defense she had was to close her eyes and not look at him.

“You can hurt me, but I won’t hurt you. I’ve done enough of that already. I’m sorry about Selena. I did treat her badly. I wish I could take it back… But you don’t know me. You don’t know my family…I believe in us, Erin. I have hope.”

Her eyes snapped open. “I didn’t think you a fool, but you are. Why would you say that?”

“I trust destiny doesn’t make mistakes. So you go ahead and strike at me. I deserve it. I won’t dodge my guilt, and I won’t retaliate.”

“What about Melina?”

“It’s not quite as it appears…like a few other things you’re so sure of. There.” He released her and stepped back. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Fine.” She glared.

“I have something for you.”

“I’m not interested in gifts from the likes of you.”

“Sure. You’ve made yourself clear how you feel. And it’s not so much a gift as…a necessity I think. Hold on.”

She sighed and held still as he walked into the other room. He was back in a second, holding a small box and a watch.

“This is for you,” he wrapped the watch around her wrist. She was so taken with it she didn’t even think to object. The band felt like a second skin and snaked around her wrist like a flowering vine. The surface of the face trembled and the words Hello, Erin swirled in the middle. She touched it, scrolled through it.

“I’ve never seen tech like this.”

“It hasn’t hit the market yet. I had Tesla make it for you today. It’s connected to mine, in case you actually need me sometime. And you can’t delete or block me, so forget those thoughts. I can see you were already plotting.”

“Okay. I’ll keep it. Now I can at least respond with venom when you drunk dial me, like earlier.”

“I wasn’t drunk. Not from lack of trying. Getting burned repeatedly has a sobering effect.”

He handed her the box. “Don’t open it until you’re home. It’s a portal. It will connect your room to mine. Wait!” he grabbed her hand as she was about to throw the box. “You can close it on your end. I won’t be able to come through it unless you open it on your side. Even then, I won’t unless you ask me. My side will always be open to you.”

“This is pointless.”

“Oh? I thought it would make things more convenient for you. I can go where I want when I want. This way you don’t have to come on foot for our next appointment, since you’ve made it clear you don’t want me at your house…Just take it with you. You can think about it.”

“I’ll take it, but it will be a cold day in hell when I open it.”

He shrugged. “It’s yours. You decide what to do with it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I meant everything I said. I’m going to hurt you. It’s not a game.”

“Oh no? Sounds like a game. And just because I said I won’t hurt you, doesn’t mean I won’t be making moves to achieve what I want. And here’s my first move.”

“What, the watch?”

“No,” he wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her closer. “If I was the person you’ve accused me of being, I would take you right now.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t…I’d fight.”

“You think so?” He moved in, his voice dropping. “I have the connection on my side. You’re already lit up for me. You can’t hide it, Erin. I feel it. Your body will tell me the truth, even when your mouth lies. If I was that person, I’d kiss you. I’d put my hands on you. You might fight, but I’d take you under in seconds, and you’d surrender. You’d fight me to give you more, like you did the first time.”

She trembled, trying to hold herself strong. He was right. “You’ve made it all about you. Your choice. Your power. You can’t ever have me like that.”

“No. I won’t ever have you like that. It’s not that I can’t.”  He let go and stepped back from her.

She headed to the door and stopped. “Bad move, Maddox.”

“Go home.” His voice was cold and he turned his back on her.

She closed the door behind her, but she didn’t leave immediately. Fury slid molten under her skin. Was she in over her head with him? She faced the house again.

“I hate you!” she shouted at the door.

“Yeah, yeah,” he called back from the other side. “You’re mine.”  

Oh! She wanted to kick things. She marched home, burning in more than one way. She would make him pay for that tomorrow.

Buy Link: Amazon

 

Author info

Reading my bio, huh?

Real life sucks. I bet you feel like that sometimes, maybe even right now. That’s why I write fantasy. I need to escape depression, bitterness, bills, illness…I could go on, but you get it. In the pages of fiction, I can slay the dragons, triumph over the bad guys, be immortal, and never struggle with love handles. For a short time, I can let it all go, and be everything I can’t be in real life. Maybe you’re hurting right now. Maybe you’re in the waiting room of the hospital, or just stuck in traffic. I’ve brought a portal. Come with me…Let’s ditch this crappy popsicle stand and go somewhere great, where we can forget all this, at least for a while.

That’s why I write. I’m not an author, I’m an escape artist.

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