What image does the word winner conjure up for you?

Champion? Hero? Conqueror?

For me, it represents reader satisfaction.

To win an award for writing means that readers have enjoyed and applauded the story that has been woven for them. As an author, there is no greater reward than knowing that your work has given joy and pleasure to another. With fiction, we are able to escape to worlds and eras that can transform us. Truths can be disguised as entertainment, lessons can be learned, and our souls refreshed. For a writer to be applauded for their work signifies that they have succeeded in conveying the reader to a better place, if only for the few hours it takes to read their novel.

Simply the Best is a collection of International Digital Award Winning Romances

Six First Place authors of the International Digital Awards, have combined their winning novels together in a boxed set priced at $0.99. This is an opportunity to read the stories that others have found exceptional. This multi-genre set spans different times and worlds. There is historical, contemporary, suspense, science fiction, and young adult combined in one set.

THE BOOKS

HAUNTED BY DEATH by Dale Mayer
Suspense Winner

Death haunts anthropologist Meg Pearce…  In her last summer before college, an innocent camping trip ended in a friend’s disappearance…and destroyed her life.

ANGEL’S ASSASSIN by Laurel O’Donnell
Historical Winner

Damien is an assassin, a man with a tortured past. Sold into slavery, he is trained to kill. Lady Aurora of Acquitaine is the epitome of purity and goodness. When Damien enters Aurora’s life, tempting her with promises of forbidden lust, he threatens to tear her peaceful world apart.

BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT by L.A. Sartor
Short Contemporary Winner

Children’s author Annie Hamilton’s dream of having a family resurfaces when Cole Evans moves next door with his two young boys during the Christmas season. But the lure of happily-ever-after with the brilliant scientist is overshadowed by the risk that revealing her secret will destroy this chance.

AHUNTER4RESCUE by Cynthia A. Clement
Paranormal Winner

A unit of elite alien warriors, known as Hunters, crash lands on earth and their leader is torn between getting his men to safety or protecting the human woman he has bonded with.

THE FINE ART OF KEEPING QUIET by Charity Tahmaseb
Young Adult (Contemporary) Winner

No one expects the girl who has mastered the art of keeping quiet to join the speech team. But Jolia does. When a crush-worthy rival offers to coach her in secret, she can’t say no. But secrets have a price, and this one might cost Jolia everything.

THE MAPMAKER’S WIFE by Kathy L. Wheeler
Short Historical Winner

A flippant proposal and an attack on her person finds one young woman married to the mapmaker who only needs someone to take control of his ungovernable child. Feelings quickly shift into something less platonic and when the enemy gains vital secrets, her suspicions land her in jail.

Book Links

Amazon–  https://amzn.com/B01F9RHLE6

Kobo – https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/simply-the-best-a-multi-genre-collection-of-international-digital-award-winning-romances

IBooks – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1109950492

Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/simply-the-best-a-multi-genre-collection-of-international-digital-award-winning-romances-laurel-odonnell/1123750422;jsessionid=56DA0B68699B9BA0AA0F936D89C596EA.prodny_store01-atgap04?ean=2940153203652

I’ve got a new series starting with The Dark War and it’s about witches!

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of mythical witches. Like the ones who have magic abilities, can sometimes fly, and are powerful supernaturals in their own right. In fact, if I had to choose what type of supernatural creature I’d like to be, it would be a witch. And I’d use my powers for mostly good…probably…I mean, come one…magic powers…

In honor of my newest release I thought I’d list some of my favorite witchy things, in no particular order.

• Practical Magic is one of the best witch movies EVER! I have probably watched it a million times. Give me a quote, any quote from the movie and I can tell you when it happened and who said it. What I love about this movie is not only the idea of a witch family that sticks together but also that it confronts issues of discrimination and originality. Great messages, great cast, powerful women. Love it. In fact, I think I should go watch it right now…
• Witch tattoos…I have a few, but my favorite one is my Wicked Witch of the West because I got it for my son. He loves the Wicked Witch of the West and he has watched The Wizard of Oz so many times that he can recite all of her lines as well as reenact her parts. He’s five now but he’s been doing this for years. I just had to get a tattoo for him.
• The Witching Hour by Anne Rice is one of the first witch books I read (not counting the childhood books I adored like The Good Little Witch). Rice creates a family of witches with a rich history in a house that I hope one day I’ll get to see, one that she used to own in the Garden District. It’s a hefty book but so worth the read.
• Salem, Massachusetts is an awesome place to travel to. I went there when I was pregnant with my daughter and fell in love with the atmosphere. Everything caters to the witch history and Halloween and there’s a ghostly charm that you just won’t find anywhere else. Even the police badges have a witch flying on a broomstick!
• American Horror Story -Coven is another great viewing experience. It’s dark, disturbing and the storytelling is awesome. Anything that depicts women in powerful roles intrigues me and this is a series that I’ve watched a few times already.

Of course there are many more examples I could list but then things would get a bit crazy here. If you’re like me and you find the supernatural witch intriguing and you’re interested in seeing a powerful woman kick some serious ass then you’ll like The Dark War.

I’m giving away a $20 Amazon GC – enter the rafflecopter for your chance to win! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Dark War

As the darkness rises, magic is their only defense—if it doesn’t end the world.

The Dark War, Book 1

Witch. Hunter. Traitor. Kali Richards’s solitary life’s work is to hunt the evildoers of her own kind and bring them to justice. She’s poised to catch her latest bounty when she realizes her quarry is a witch-vampire hybrid with a taste for blood—Kali’s blood.

She’s lost quite a lot of it when Wyatt, the ex who still owns the pieces of her shattered heart, comes to her rescue. Eight years apart hasn’t cooled her anger over their breakup. Neither has it cooled the desire still steaming between them.

As Wyatt heals her wounds, he brings disturbing news: Kali’s mother has awakened from a years-long coma with a prophecy on her lips. A Dark War is coming that will pit supernatural against human. Kali is the key to stopping it.

Except Kali isn’t what you’d call adept at spellcasting. Like it or not, she needs a lot of help. From Wyatt, and from the organization that she turned her back on once before—the Witch Hunter’s Union. Even with an army at her back, she’s in for one hell of a ride…

Warning: May contain a stubborn little kick-ass witch, a wickedly sexy ex-boyfriend and a whole lot of hybrid trouble

About the Author

Every day is Halloween for author Angela Addams. Enthralled by the paranormal at an early age, Angela spends most of her time thinking up new story ideas that involve supernatural creatures in everyday situations. She has also been known to dabble in dark thrillers. She believes that the written word is an amazing tool for crafting the most erotic of scenarios.

She is an avid tattoo collector, a total book hoarder and loves anything covered in chocolate…except for bugs.

She lives in Ontario, Canada in an old, creaky house, with her husband and children.

Website: www.angelaaddams.com
Newsletter: https://eepurl.com/blFHeL
Twitter: @angelaaddams
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/angelaaddams/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.Angela.Addams
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4801196.Angela_Addams
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angela-addams

Find the book:
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/the-dark-war-2

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-War-Angela-Addams-ebook/dp/B018K0HY78/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Amazon.uk :https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-War-Angela-Addams-ebook/dp/B018K0HY78

Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Dark-War-Angela-Addams-ebook/dp/B018K0HY78/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452819952&sr=1-2

Samhain: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5793/the-dark-war

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ni/book/the-dark-war/id1062498074?l=en&mt=11

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-war-angela-addams/1123048424

Ever make a really bad typo?  I mean really bad.

My worst ever professional mistake was in an Annual Report for a one-hundred-million dollar corporation, when I was the director of marketing and communications.  Unfortunately, an innocent little ‘t’ went missing from the word ‘assets.’  The board was not amused by “This year, we experienced an increase in corporate asses.”

Recently, I found out what one little vowel can do to Rowena and the Dark Lord, book 2 in the Land’s End sexy fantasy series.

Okay, REALLY uncool when you misspell the name of your own book on a guest blog.

Rowena and the Dark LARD is probably not the best way to get sales for a ‘Outlander meets Sex and the City’ fantasy series.

However, as I do write comedy, I’m thinking about a parody.

Is it okay to write a parody of your own book?

Draft one: ROWENA AND THE DARK LARD

Synopsis 1: Rowena moves back to Land’s End and opens up a bakery.

Synopsis 2: Cedric’s use of dark magic goes totally out of control, and so does his appetite.

Synopsis 3: Thane and Rowena return to Land’s End and become pig farmers.

Synopsis 4: Rowena messes up another spell that causes all who look at her to turn into donuts.

Synopsis 5: Rowena kills off Nigella Lawson in a battle with pastry rollers, and assumes the role of Prime Time Network Food Goddess <sic>.

Synopsis 6: Someone takes a totally justified whack at the author. End of series.

Postscript: Recently was quoted by someone as the author of ROWENA AND THE DORK LORD.  Trial for murder is pending.

Post postscript (where is a Latin scholar when you need one?):  Another contract is out for the professional book tour company last month, who, in all their advertising, inadvertently switched book 3 Rowena and the Viking Warlord to… wait for it… Viking Landlord.  Yup.  Obviously there will be hell to pay if you forget the rent.

Excerpt from Rowena and the Dark Lord:

Men’s voices again, echoing like souls lost in a fog. The mist lifted in one swift movement to disappear into nothingness. In its place, were at least a hundred men.

Bugger. I messed up.

“Houston, we have a problem,” I said out loud. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I must have pronounced one of the spell words wrong.

“Who is Houston?” Lars said.

“Romans!” Gareth hissed. He drew his sword.

“Romans?” I stared at the battle-scarred men before us. They looked exhausted. They also looked bloody, dirty and rather short. Not to mention confused.

How the heck could they be Romans?

Someone yelled “Form Square!” in—yup—that was Latin.

“What the hell?” I stared. The men came to life moving with purpose into a square. Within seconds we were facing a shield wall bristling with spears.

The man on horseback stared at me. No stirrups on his saddle. A helmet that was in history books. Definitely Roman. I stared back at him.

Romans? In this time? What the poop had I done?

“It’s a freaking temporal rift!” My laugh was strident. “Where is Spock when you need him?”

*~*~*~*

Amazon link: Rowena and the Dark Lord

Melodie Campbell – short and sweet bio

The Toronto Sun called her Canada’s “Queen of Comedy.”  Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.   Melodie Campbell got her start writing stand-up.

Melodie has won the Derringer, the Arthur Ellis, and eight more awards for fiction. Last year, her Land’s End series (which includes Rowena and the Dark Lord) made the Amazon Top 50 bestseller list, sandwiched between Tom Clancy and Nora Roberts.

My favorite thing about romance is the tension and chemistry between the hero and heroine. Give me a couple whose opposing traits create friction and sparks, who are quick with the witty banter and who challenge each other, and I’m all in. With my own stories, the heroine is usually the first character to appear in my head. Once I have her figured out, I sink into the deeply satisfying process of creating her perfect match—although that’s not how she’ll see him at first.

When I was plotting THE EXORCIST WHO LOVED ME, I knew the heroine Holly had been in a bad marriage…after all, she’s being haunted by the ghost of her dead husband’s mistress. She’s a down-to-earth single mom who’s trying to do the best for her kids while recovering from trauma and loss. She needs someone who’ll be good to her, someone without the hard edges of a typical alpha male. Since the hero of MUST LOVE GHOSTS—the first novella in the series—was an alpha, I was excited at the prospect of writing a beta hero.

Enter Lawe Callahan, Exorcist. He’s a loner, more comfortable with the world of the dead than the living, but he longs for a deep connection with a partner. A hearth-and-home kind of girl like Holly is exactly what he needs…once he gets over his fear of putting down roots. And Lawe is exactly what Holly needs: a good guy who’ll push her out of her comfort zone.

Writing a beta hero was as much fun as writing an alpha hero. I’m not sure which I like better. What about you—do you fall for alphas or betas?

The Exorcist Who Loved Me

Hiring an exorcist is not something widowed single mom Holly Archer ever thought she’d do. But the blackouts she’s been having mean someone—or something—is hijacking her body and she wants it stopped, like yesterday.

The hottie who shows up at her door is the first man who’s sparked her interest since her awful marriage. It’s no hardship to give herself over to his skills, and in short order the spirit is ejected—and Holly comes face to face with Celia, the ghost of her dead husband’s mistress.

Lawe Callahan figured this would be an easy case, and by morning he’d be headed for another town, leaving Holly and her witchy amber eyes behind. Until she agrees to help the ghost, who refuses to budge until her killer is brought to justice.

As the investigation heats up, so does Lawe and Holly’s attraction. But their differences not only threaten any chance of something real, their quest for the truth could drive a killer to tie up all loose ends—permanently.

EXCERPT:

A thud sounded on the hardwood floor. He’d hopped down from the counter.

“Come here,” he said softly.

When she didn’t move, he took her gently by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. He smiled down at her, sure and confident and strong, and her heart hitched.

“I’m not leaving until this thing is settled.”

She put a hand on his cheek, ran her thumb across his prickly stubble. “Why? We’ve gone way beyond exorcist duties. I was awful to you at the graveyard, yelling at you about your fear of commitment. On the first night we met, no less.”

He kissed the inside of her palm and she shivered. “You were right. I’m lousy at relationships.”

“But you’re still here. Helping me solve a crime that has nothing to do with you. And I’ve been, well, you know…” She dropped her hand to her side and closed her eyes. The words tumbled together in her throat and heat flooded her face. She must be turning red as a cranberry, but she had to say this. Forcing herself to meet his eyes, she felt her skin go even redder. “I’ve been trying to get you into bed. For a short-term fling. The irony of that isn’t lost on me, that I lectured you about not committing, then turned right around and decided to…to use you. For sex.”

Lawe went still, not a flicker of emotion crossing his face. “You’re using me for sex?”

It sounded even worse when he said it. “Sort of. Or at least that’s the plan, since we haven’t actually slept together yet.” Humiliation burned the back of her throat. “Not that I have a plan plan, like something I’ve plotted. I mean, I’m attracted to you and you seem to be attracted to me, so I figured we’d naturally, you know, act on that.”

“So I’m your boy toy?” His tone was thoughtful.

“No! I like you, I really do. I feel more comfortable with you than with anyone I’ve ever known. You’re definitely more interesting than anyone I’ve ever known. That ghosts thing…wow. And you’re helping me when there’s nothing in it for you. Well, besides the paycheck, but you could do another exorcism for that and it’d be a lot easier. You backed me up today when we ran into Jake. I don’t know how I’d have made it through that without you. I selfishly took advantage of your willingness to help, and then I propositioned you in the car.”

Lawe hooked a finger in one of the belt loops on her jeans, urged her a step closer. His thumb slipped under her shirt and skimmed her belly button. If she took a deep breath, her chest would brush his. Her nipples hardened and she felt even worse.

“Thanks for being so honest,” he said. “It’s never easy to hear you’re being used. There’s just one thing I’m wondering.”

“Yes?” she whispered miserably, staring at his mouth so she wouldn’t have to meet his eyes.

“When you launched your nefarious plot to get me into bed, did you have anything specific in mind? Locations, positions, props…sex toys?”

“Well, I…”
His lips quirked.

She glared and stepped back. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Hell yes.” His teeth flashed in a grin. Taking her hands, he laced his fingers deep with hers. One tug and the space between them disappeared. “You’re adorable when you’re nervous and babbling.”

“I’m serious. I feel really bad about things.” Although, pressed up against him, bad wasn’t the sensation that came to mind. Not when she could feel the rock-hard evidence he was A-okay with the situation. Still, there was something she had to know. “Why are you staying? Why are you helping me?”

His hands moved to her back, caressing. “Because it feels right.”

He lowered his head and kissed her, gently this time, his lips sweet and comforting against hers. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, opening her mouth to him. This was what had been missing in her relationship with Paul. This physical give-and-take of caring and support and friendship.

And maybe something more.

*~*~*

Must Love Ghosts – Haunted? Call 1-800-GHOST-HUNK.

The Exorcist Who Loved Me – Digging up the truth could lead them to their graves.

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In addition to reading and writing about vampires, preferably ones with redeeming social value, my passion is cars. I have a 64 Studebaker Station Wagon (modified for reliability and safety) a modified 66 Mustang Convertible and a highly modified 05 Roush Convertible.

My Studebaker is currently in the shop to repair the gas gauge and change out the rear end ratio for cruising and gas mileage in preparation for the Power Tour starting 11 June in Gonzales, Louisiana, then traveling through Texas (Baytown, Austin, DFW Area, and then to Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas and finishing up in Kansas City on the 17th). With the extreme rain we’ve had in Texas this April I just hope it dries out enough to allow the tour to be safely held…older cars don’t do as well in rain as newer vehicles. My Studebaker has four-wheel power disc brakes, Heidts front suspension with power rack and pinion steering and is powered by an 05 Dodge Truck Hemi and five-speed automatic to nine-inch Ford rear with 4.11 Detroit Locker (being changed to a cruising gear). This Wagonaire model’s rear top slides forward allowing it to become more like a truck to carry tall items like a refrigerator.

The 66 Mustang has Heidts front suspension, front disc brakes, rack and pinion power steering. The engine is based on a Ford design but is a 363ci Dart-Iron Eagle four bolt main, with Siamese cylinder bores allowing for up  to 383 ci. It has forged crank, H-Beam rods, and forged and coated pistons. It has a custom torque-grind roller cam, Edelbrock Performer Heads, intake and Thunder 650 carb, Hooker long tube headers &  Dr. Gas X-Pipe for exhaust. We hogged out the radiator support and installed a larger Be Cool dual core aluminum radiator & twin electric fans designed for a 68 Mustang. Power goes through a McLeod Dual Clutch to a built up Tremec 3550 five-speed and limited-slip 3.55 rear gear. The engine produces over 400 rwtq w/o the nitrous and Global West sub-frame connectors with traction bars keep things all together.

My 05 Roush-Mustang has a Livernois 5.0 3V engine with ProCharger-D Supercharger & 3-row Innercooler detuned to 528 rwhp w/o the 250 shot of nitrous. We adapted the underside to accept a TR-6060 six-speed with McLeod dual-clutch. It has Kooks long-tube headers and X-pipe, high-flow cats and SpinTech Mufflers. A 3.73 limited slip rear puts the power to the pavement through forged GT-5 American Racing 19″ Wheels with P-Zero Rosso Assemetrical Pirelli 245-40×19 tires in front and 275-35×19 tires in the rear. These stick like glue when it has been on the road course, helped by J&M suspension goodies and Global-West sub-frame connectors. Stopping the beast is done with Baer GT Calipers & Zinc Washed Erradispeed 14″ front drilled and slotted rotors w/D&S Z-washed rotors in rear. It has flames & body mods also.

Now that I’ve told you about the three vehicles I’ve got, let me tell you a little about the three books in my three-part Paranormal-Romance series, “Immortal Relations.”

In the first book my alter-ego, Gary Logan, finds a photograph that proves something his late mother had said when he was just a young child, decades earlier, but which at the time he was too young to understand. His late father had a tryst while assigned overseas immediately after WW-II. Gary decides to travel to the site in the Czech Republic. In Prague he meets a lady who seems to know far more about his family than possible; however, Gary quickly figures out she is more than what she seems, she is a vampire…but love will not be denied. To be with her, Gary will need to be accepted into the group of vampires; however, these are not the blood-thirsty type. Having been turned against their will they’ve refused to abase themselves and have sworn to defend innocent humans from evil, be it the “Bram Stoker” type of vampires, human criminals or evil politicians who seek to force themselves on populations they had sworn to serve.

Picked up in a beautiful 1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Saloon, Gary and his lover Magdalena and her daughter Eviana are chauffeured up to the castle of the Guardian Vampires in the deep forest well above Prague. While riding to Gary’s appointment to be interviewed, Eviana, whose love of cars includes driving fast at night without headlights (vampire eyesight is so good) tells Gary of the coven’s fabulous vehicles including brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Austin-Martin, Jaguar, a Bugatti Veyron SS and a very special, original Ford GT-40, one of those that won the race at Le Mann.

Initially Gary felt over awed by his meeting with the coven and doubted they would accept him, but the leader of the group known as “Grandmother” saw something worthwhile in his idea that the vampires were wrong in their belief that they were damned, especially since they had been turned against their will and rather than attacking humans protected them from evil. Allowed to join, the adult nature of the story comes out in the “explicit togetherness” they enjoy. This is after all an adult Paranormal-Romance series. But Gary must use his military training and experience to safeguard the Guardian coven from a large, evil gang of vampires who seek to destroy them so the gang can feed on the humans without interference. Action takes place in the Czech Republic, England and in the Russian Federation. The first book can be viewed at https://amazon.com/dp/B006ZCBT6G with the Kindle price reduced to $.99.

The second book carries the action to new heights as Communist China invades Siberia to capture the rich oil and mineral fields as well as living space for their burgeoning population. Our good vampires must stop a war that could easily turn into a nuclear Armageddon. There are also potential “extinction level events” at the failed reactors at Chernobyl and Fukushima, Japan that must be dealt with. The second book is at https://amazon.com/dp/B00A4IEHL6 also reduced to $.99 on Kindle’s App.

In the third book, the Guardian Vampires set up a coven in Southern Canada to monitor and help resist the efforts of Marxists in the U.S. who are trying to destroy the Constitutional Republic and replace it with a Socialist Dictatorship. The Marxists believe this new group to be the ones who thwarted their Chinese Communist friends from taking over Siberia so they try to destroy them, not realizing they are dealing with vampires who are more than just a little hard to kill. Their nefarious actions backfire and they sulk in the corner rather than being willing to help when the asteroid Ceres threatens the Earth. Once again our good vampires are called upon to solve the danger from outer space. The third book is https://amazon.com/dp/B00G5BQS18 and is also $.99 on Kindle.

Destined or fated love is a popular theme in modern day romance. Almost every girl in America grew up hearing there is one someone-special special for everyone. Fairy tales speak of it. Songs are written about it.

But is it a “real” thing?

Destiny is defined as “the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.”

Some people don’t like the idea that their life is pre-written. That someone is steering them to once specific path. That they don’t have a say in the outcome of their life.

But others, I think, like to believe that the person they fell in love with is so meaningful to their life that even the stars agree with and support their relationship. That no matter what else is going on in the world, their choice of partner is right. I suppose it’s a form of validation for their feelings.

Personally, I believe there are people in our lives that were destined to be there. Some were meant to guide us, some to help us grow, and still others to love and maybe even leave us. But I also believe that we have choices in our destiny. That our life is more like an Encyclopedia Brown book where the story varies based on the decisions we make along the way.

Have YOU experienced what you believe to be fated love? Tell me about it in the comments.

Even if you haven’t experienced fated love, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered in a drawing for a ribbon bookmark (picture at the end) and author swag.

Be sure to check out the Star Crossed box set. Eight USA Today and NY Times and Bestselling authors have put together a set of contemporary romance – just the way you love it! This collection is made up of spicy and extra spicy tales of fated love. Get swept away by stories of ordinary people getting extraordinary second chances, risking their hearts and finding true love. You’ll laugh, cry and lose your heart.  For a limited time it’s only $0.99!

You can find the Star Crossed box at:
Amazon  /  Kobo  /  iBooks  /  B&N
Amazon UK  /  Amazon CA  /  Amazon AU

Dena Garson ~ Snow Effect
When Randy walked away from Nicki eight years earlier, he shattered her heart. Now that fate -or maybe just a couple of scheming grandparents- has brought them together again he’ll have to convince her that he deserves a second chance.

Katalina Leon ~ Dark Sky
Dark hearts. Dark Sky. Since childhood, Severin and Avery’s love was meant to be. For eight years, tragedy has torn them apart but fate offers them a second chance.

Sabrina York ~ Smoking Holt
Bella’s secretly wanted Holt for years, and now…here’s her chance. Will his fiery dominance burn this willful heroine to a crisp?

Ann Mayburnn ~ Sodom and the Phoenix
Will shy Tanwen find the courage to embrace all the forbidden pleasures that Master Adam has to offer, or will she continue to be a ‘good girl’ and deny herself the satisfaction and love she truly desires.

Michelle Fox ~ Operation Burlesque
The last thing a burlesque dancer should do is fall in love with a sexy special ops agent, especially when that puts her on the radar of the terrorist network he’s taking down.

Rebecca Royce ~ Under The Lights
Despite the odds, their passion burns as the show must go on. Can these two see there is love to be had both under and away from the lights?

TL Reeve ~ Releasing Hannah
For Hannah, coming home is the easy part. Finding herself, while searching for the right Dom to release her inhibitions will push her heart to its limits.

Virginia Cavanaugh ~ Lovers By Night
Paige Sutton wants to play doctor with handsome Brandon Kline, a hot doctor that is sure to give any woman palpitations. This sizzling medical romance is just what the doctor ordered.

Just want a taste? Download the free teaser set: Amazon  /  ARe  /  B&N  /  Kobo

About Dena Garson

Dena Garson is an award winning author of contemporary, paranormal and fantasy romance. Her sixth book, Mystic’s Touch, won the 2015 Passionate Plume for Futuristic/Fantasy/Sci-Fi as well as the 2015 Reader’s Choice Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Time Travel. Ghostly Persuasion was a finalist in the 2014 Passionate Ink contest and the 2014 Reader’s Choice Award.

When she isn’t writing you can find her at her jewelry workbench playing with beads. She is also a devoted Whovian and Dallas Cowboys fan.

Social Media Links:
Website – https://www.denagarson.com/
Blog – https://denagarson.net/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dena.garson.7
FB Author page – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDenaGarson
Twitter – https://twitter.com/DenaGarson
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/dgarson
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/DenaGarson
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+DenaGarson/
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/denagarson7

Here’s a picture of the ribbon book I’m giving away featuring Snow Effect – my book featured in the Star Crossed box set.

When you write a novel, you are mentally living in the world of your story from beginning to end. Make it a dark fantasy, and you’re living in a hybrid universe with sometimes bizarro events that cast long shadows over your big-arcing plot and, trust me, when you get out of your chair after a writing session, you can feel disoriented. But the weirdness is mitigated by what you know is the end result. Amid the jagged, upward progression of plot points are big reveals and emotional summits and canyons—in other words, a gripping rollercoaster ride. Hell, yeah.

When I conceived Demonesse: Avarus, I knew I wanted readers to be right there in the action with Maia Kelly as she learns who she is—who she was always meant to be—but the point of view for the story wasn’t really a conscious choice. I looked up from my keyboard one day and realized the story was writing itself in first-person present tense. I decided not to fight something so organic. Now my readers get to live Maia’s life with her, connecting in-depth as her life unfolds in sometimes fantastical and catastrophic ways before her.

See, empath Maia Kelly is the virtuous Catholic daughter of an excommunicated nun, for starters. After months of erotic fantasies, Maia awakens into her shocking new life as a seductive killer powerless to resist the moon’s calling, and no one she loves will ever be safe again. With her pious island existence shattered, she must choose between the demon who made her or going it alone in a supernatural sphere of unseen dangers she can scarcely comprehend. Either way, her nightmare has only just begun, and you get to be there when the black hole pulls her in.

Excerpt:

In the rain, Liam and I dash through the soggy fields behind St. Helens neighborhoods to Nigel Wickersham’s neglected farm. Fifteen months after the barrister’s death, burgeoning weeds have strangled a once-robust garlic crop and commandeered the five-hundred-year-old family graveyard. Hand in hand, we trudge between disintegrating headstones, up to our knees in wet, brittle sticks and thorns, until we reach the copses of rowans my ancestors planted to guard the dead against malevolent spirits and black magic. Clusters of crimson berries make them deceptively inviting. It was the Rowan tree on which the devil hanged his mother.

If you believe that sort of thing.

Again, the bitter chill of foreboding settles inside my chest. Lightning illuminates the dense fog descending upon us as we hurry toward Wickersham’s abandoned barn. We’ve almost reached it when a wand-like rowan branch scrapes the back of Liam’s hand—the hand clasping mine. He flinches from the sting, as I do vicariously through him, and he lets go to examine the raised, oozing wound. His reflexive gasp and the alarm in his eyes as he glances sidelong in my direction reveal that his long-held superstition about witches remains intact.

But he wipes the fresh blood on his pants and reclaims my hand. The twitch of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils, and an intrepid gleam in his eyes tell me more than any flashing inside his heart. He is too motivated by the girl at his side to let worry of the supernatural get in his way.

He pushes open the barn door, and we hurry inside. The air heaves with the smell of damp hay, and the tin roof above shivers and moans noisily in protest of the downpour. Liam lunges for the lantern that hangs from a rusty nail in a splintering support beam.

As I squint through the darkness at our musty retreat, I hear the scratch of a match, the whir of the lamp, and the clunky repositioning of the glass chimney. Incandescent light and the oily stench of stale paraffin wash over me, and our shadows shudder eerily across gray wallboards, shrunken and warped from unforgiving gales off the Channel.

Liam removes his newsboy cap, shakes the rainwater from it, and tosses it into the shadows. He sweeps up hay with one hand and sifts it between his fingers until he finds just the right straw and places it between his lips. Then he hikes his leg over a sawhorse and gets comfortable, beaming at me.

“Welcome to my castle,” he announces, arms indicating the vast emptiness of the barn.

Rain drips on my head and pools on the dirty cement floor. “You call this shelter?”

“You’re standing under the holes, lass. Move to the left and you’ll dry quite nicely, I should think.”

For the first time since I’d found myself in the garden staring at him across the fence, the prescience gathering in my spine will not be dismissed. The air particles flutter around me, tap-dancing on my shoulders, causing me to shiver.

“Do you think this place is safe?” I say.

“Safe for what?”

I follow Liam’s gaze across my white blouse. It is soaked, as is my undershirt, and reveals the chilled nipples beneath. I cover them quickly, warming them with my palms.

Liam’s eyes never waver.

I like that.

His admiration stirs a dire yearning inside me that I can’t quite explain. Only in dreams have I acknowledged such desire. Only in my fantasies have I invited a mindless abandon and allowed it to overtake me. But it has never swallowed me whole. I have always woken up just before, terrified and trembling to think what might happen if my body went that little bit further. Would I be changed forever?

I want to find out. What is it like to be swallowed whole? To lose yourself to sensations? To feel instead of think? To welcome submission with every breath instead of fearing the loss of control?

Sex is the one thing my moral compass—and my reverent Mum—reminds me I ought not do; and as if to spurn every pure thought ever instilled in me, I imagine how lovely Liam’s fingers would feel on my bare skin.

I gingerly remove my hands, daring myself to stay still and let him look, until my burning self-consciousness settles in my cheeks, clenches my stomach, and shallows my breathing. A storm is brewing, inside as it is outside, and I weigh running outside into the tempest, or staying right here in the eye of this one.

It is a dare I’m not yet ready to accept, so I turn and wander about while Liam palpates my backside with a hungry gaze. I feel him there, lingering.

“Aye, but you are fine, Maia Kelly,” he says. “Like a graceful rose in a field of scrappy violets. I confess, you had me spellbound from the first.”

I glance over my shoulder at a crooked smile as captivating as it is unnerving. “Liam McGill, the beatnik poet.”

“I’ve written of you many times. When I first saw you, crouched in your garden, you were gathering ripe tomatoes in your skirt and humming. An old Beatles tune I think.”

The apex between my legs tingles and I try to ignore it. “So, you’re a poet and a Peeping Tom?”

I second-guess whether I’d meant to say that. My tongue feels thick and my brain off-kilter, like when I’d first woken up from my nap.

Liam scoffs and smooths the hair from his forehead. “I hid in the barn, but I’m no Peeping Tom. I’ve just been too much of a coward to talk to you. Till now. Not sure why. Maybe it’s because—I don’t know—you accept me?” He disembarks the sawhorse and moves toward me. “You’re chilled. Can I warm you?”

Thunder booms outside and sea winds whistle through cracks between the wall planks, whipping Liam’s scent across my nose. Raw, male, magnetic. My breasts swell and tighten, nipples straining against wet fabric, and my womb feels like it’s vibrating. My breath hitches. My skin is a rippling, prickling cascade of goosebumps. And a wildfire sparks deep inside me—in my sex—as surely as if Liam has torched me with boiling paraffin.

What’s happening?

Liam’s breaths escape his lungs in an evanescent fog, but no silvery streams escape me. My body is not acknowledging the cold, yet I quiver with the feeling that a thousand ants march across me. From the inside. As if I am vibrating with the intensity of an electrified fence. I am so preoccupied by my body’s internal machinations, the simple act of sending a thought to my mouth is a physical struggle.

I try to make the sign of the cross to assure God of my intent to be Mum’s good girl, but my hands refuse to cooperate. I can only pray silently.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Help me exorcise these maddening cravings. Help me look beyond this farm boy’s alluring eyes, his irresistible aroma, and the bulging curve in his trousers.

I’ll bet his lips are soft and wet, and decadent as warm caramel.

I would like a taste.

­­­­­Want to read more? Get your hands on Demonesse: Avarus, Episode One at Amazon.

Kimberly Jayne is the author of the sexy dark fantasy series Demonesse: Avarus and the hilarious romantic comedy Take My Husband, Please! See more about her and her books at readkimberly.com. You can also catch up with her on Facebook at facebook.com/readkimberlyjayne/.