Once Upon a Twisted Time Blog Tour

Once Upon A Twisted Time
by Tara Stogner Wood, Trish Marie Dawson, Lindsay Avalon and Miranda Stork

Published: October 31st 2012
Genre: Fairytales / Paranormal
Publisher: Moon Rose Publishing
Cover Artist: Miranda Stork
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 76,000

Think you know your fairytales? Think again. These aren’t your normal happily-ever-after. Within these pages, a murderous Little Mermaid gets her revenge, the Cinderella doesn’t really want to wear the slipper, Snow White is up to her eyes in industrial experiments, and the Beauty is in fact the Beast.

This collection of four novellas will surprise you, make you gasp in horror, sigh with relief, and sit on the edge of your seat. And most of all…they will make you rethink everything you think you know about dark fairytales…

Song of the Abyss - Lindsay Avalon
Princess Nerissa had envisioned a perfect wedding to a handsome prince. Instead, she fell into a nightmare. When her new husband tries to murder her just hours after pledging his life to her, she must flee towards the sea. Caught in transition from woman to selkie, she is trapped by the dark waters she hoped would be her salvation. Now her destiny becomes that of luring young men to their death…until one comes along that reignites the spark of love inside her. However to ensure her future, she must first face her past. Revenge must be taken…for both her life, and the life of the young man she now loves.

Miss Cavendish and the Spark of Salvation - Tara Stogner Wood
In a city toiling under the iron fist of the Spiegel Syndicate and its monopoly on coal, Miss Georgina "George" Cavendish is on the brink of a breakthrough that could change the world forever. There's just one thing standing in her way, her aunt - Xenobia Cavendish. Threatened by her efforts, the Syndicate procures the services of a notorious assassin with a past tied to her own, known as The Huntsman, to dispatch the brilliant scientist. But once he gets a glimpse of the headstrong beauty, will he be able to do the job, or will Georgina sway him to The Cause? And will George find the breakthrough she needs in time, or is New London Town doomed to forever lie under the dark shadow of her aunt's factories?

Hawke and the Beast - Trish Marie Dawson
Some curses last forever, and some can be broken with the whisper of three little words. Isabella Rose Woodward fell in love with a witch's son over a century ago. Her punishment for breaking the young man's heart was a beastly one. Every month she turns into a different creature, aging on the full moon when her curse allows for a brief return to her human form. Her only salvation is to find a man that will love her as she is…be it adorned in feathers, fur or scales. Has she found this love with the handsome Jasper Hawke? Or will a mysteriously determined Hunter find her first, and snuff out the life she so desperately seeks? A life of normalcy, where she loves and is loved in return… just as she is.

Reborn City - Miranda Stork
Nyx has one mission in life; bring down the brainwashing of New Omsk’s citizens, and release them from their mundane lives of toil. The year is 2355, and the world is a new place. A Governor is in charge of every city in the world, and humanity is attempting to rebuild itself after recovering from a war that nearly killed it. But this Governor has set his eyes on the intrepid little hacker, Nyx, and he will stop at nothing to get her. But perhaps he needs her more than he ever dreamed he would…as do his citizens.

Tara Stogner Wood

Tara Wood divides her time between creating domestic bliss and creating hot paranormal romance with the occasional side of kink. When not playing June Cleaver for her hubby and daughter, she can be found at the local Starbucks slamming back Frappuccinos and plotting out her next idea. Or she’s watching the BBC. Tara resides with her wonderful and tolerant family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. She is currently at work on several projects, one of them being the next book in her In Blood series.


Trish Marie Dawson

I was born and mostly raised in San Diego, California where I live now with my family and pets. I’ve been writing short stories and poetry since high school after an obsession with Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’. After over fifteen years of crazy dreams and an overactive imagination, I began my first book ‘I Hope You Find Me’ in December of 2011. When I’m not writing, I am homeschooling my amazing daughter and mildly autistic son, reading whatever I can get my hands on, or enjoying the Southern California sun. As a strict Vegetarian, I hold a special place in my heart for animal rights and dash into the backyard weekly to rescue lizards and mice from our mini-lab/aussie shepherd/cocker spaniel mixed dog, Zoey…who is always getting into some sort of trouble.


Miranda Stork

I was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire in 1987 and have lived in various places around Britain, including Newcastle and Glasgow. My writing is inspired by various writers, including the vivid characters of Charles Dickens, the imagination of Stephen King, and the gothic imagery of Anne Rice.

My love of horror began at an early age, when I was only three or four. I could read proficiently at the age of three, and devoured fairy-stories, but I always had a bent towards the darker stories, such as the Brother's Grimm's tales...Red Riding Hood was always a firm favourite, although I always felt sorry for the wolf, despite him having tried to eat everyone!


Lindsay Avalon

I am a wife, a mother to an adorable mini schnauzer, a programmer, and now an author. I love reading romance because no matter what may be happening in my life, I can always count on my books to end happily ever after. My sister drilled into me an appreciation for fantasy and mythology, something I try to bring to my books. After hearing me complain a few too many times that I had “nothing” to read despite the hundreds of paperbacks scattered around the house, my husband began suggesting I write my own stories. When I finally took his advice I discovered that although I enjoy my day job as a software engineer, my true calling is to be an author.

Cover Reveal: Extracted: The Lost Imperials by Tyler Jolley & Sherry Ficklin

Extracted:
The Lost Imperials
by Tyler Jolley & Sherry Ficklin


Expected publication
11/12/13

Publisher:
Spencer Hill Press


Welcome to the war.

The Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers called Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try to alter it.

The Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption of the time stream.

Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war.

When Lex’s girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the enemy camp. It’s there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen from them both comes flooding back.

Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both…again.

Kindle Freebies #3

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Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide
by Jill Hathaway

Published: March 27th 2012
Publisher:Balzer + Bray
for HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 250
Series: Slide #1
Source: Borrowed
Amazon / UK |
Book Depository

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth - her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes.
She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance.
But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police.
Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
I've only seen this around like million times so it was about time for me to read it too. And I really liked the synopsis, 'cause the basic idea is pretty intriguing.
Vee is "narcoleptic", though in this case narcoleptic means "slides into someone else's head". It's pretty unpleasant, since she has no idea how to control it, and sees it more like a curse than a gift. And things turn from bad to worse when she accidentally ends up witnessing a murder through the killer's eyes. She has no idea who the killer is, but she's pretty sure her little sister is the next victim. She decides to find the killer and save her sister.
Along the way she manages to take control over her powers, but also wreck some relationships.

Okay, first I was going to give this 4 cupcakes, but as I started writing this, I changed it to 3.5 cupcakes. Because the more I started analyzing this, the more I started to notice some things I wasn't such a huge fan.
First, I really liked the slide- thing, but after a while, I started wondering if there's a reason why Vee doesn't use her "power" in her advantage, or hasn't she realize the possibilities? Well, she was just a little slow, and didn't realize the possibilities.
Other than her little slowness, I did like Vee. She's pretty much a loner, after everything that happened with her cheerleader friends (the same old story, used to be a cheerleader, her friends turned out to be bunch of b*tches etc., the usual way how people end up as loners, at least in books). She has one good friend, Rollins, but he's in love with Vee and that kind of complicates things. Don't worry, that's not really a spoiler, because it's so obvious. He starts acting like a jealouse crazy person the moment Vee starts talking with another boy, Zane.
It was really hard to decide which boy I liked more, because.. well, I liked both. And both had some huge dark secrets that end up causing some huge problems with their relationship with Vee. Though the other one is hiding some pretty bad secrets, but in the end, they're both great guys. Unfortunately Vee never didn't have to choose, because the author took the easy way out, meaning something horrible happens to one of these guys.

Plot was great, but like I mentioned earlier, Vee was pretty slow, meaning there was some very obvious things that took quite long for Vee to notice.
But it still managed to be pretty intense in occasions, even scary. Want to know the part where I jumped off my seat cause I got so scared? This is embarrassing, but here we go..

In my room, I snap on the light, and brightness blinds me. A face captures my attention in the corner of the room, but when I look, I realize it's only the face of the angel on the Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt.

I know, it's now official, I'M A WUSS. But the plot got so intense and then came along that part and I started screaming "OH NO NO NO THERE'S SOMEONE IN HER ROOM!!!!" and nearly started crying. First time ever when I'm scared of a t-shirt. In a book. Yeah, t-shirts are just scary. Time to change the subject.

If I had to compare this book to anything I've read before, I'd have to choose The Body Finder series, which has the somewhat same spirit and the whole "falling-in-love-with-my-best-friend"- thing also going on, though I must admit it was executed better in The Body Finder (..and in TBF, the main character is called Vi. Just saying). In this things were left open and the ending with Rollins was quite.. odd, in the sense of "Look at me, I'm ringing your doorbell after this long time and we're best friends again, let's play Pictionary!". Well, not exactly, but almost.
Plus, Vee chose to dye her hair back and loose the pink colour! No no no. You should have stayed pink, that's all I'm saying.

So, I'm not the biggest fan, but I still managed to enjoy this. And I did read this in one night, so it really wasn't bad! There just was occasionally some moments that made me wonder why Vee is so slow, because hey, they were just so obvious.

Resisting Velocity Release Day Blitz

Resisting Velocity
Xoe Xanders & Trinity Evans

Published: July 15th 2012
Format: Kindle edition
Series: High Velocity #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Elysium Fields, LLC
Cover Artist: Xoe Xanders
Number of pages: 185 pages through Kindle
Word Count: 60,000 words

As frontman of up-and-coming rock band, High Velocity, werewolf Zane Alexander has everything a man could want: Fame, fortune, friendship, and a pack to call home.

Well, almost everything.

Despite being able to take his pick of pretty much any woman, he wants the one girl he can’t have — the one girl who’s eluded his every advance.

Charlie Banks has always had a thing for Zane, but being the band’s head of security, she knows firsthand just the sort of guy he is. She’s determined not to become just another notch on his bedpost, but if doesn’t stop the want for a mate curling in her gut.
It’ll happen, someday — it just won’t be Zane. She’s decided that it’s time to leave High Velocity, to find a nice little home and settle down to live the rest of her life, away from sexy smiles and ripped bodies of rock stars.
But when someone threatens Zane’s life, she’s the only one he wants to protect him. Except, Zane has a hidden agenda. One that involves claiming Charlie as his mate, once and for all.

Excerpt

Breathing in short, sharp breaths, Zane followed her through the winding corridors of the Richter Stadium, past the women’s bathrooms and down a flight of stairs. He held his breath for a moment as he slid through the remaining security crew. His golden eyes zeroed in on the whipcord lean beauty, a few dark curls coiling down from the sensible bun she always wore it in.

She stopped, hesitating right outside the doors. Two more steps and he’d lose her to the nightlife, his identity keeping him from following her any farther. If fans saw him, his life would become a hurricane of screams and groping hands. He wasn’t in the mood to put on his usual charming-playboy air to deal with them and he knew that going furry on their asses would damage his career.

Now or never.

As she stepped out, he lurched forward, his pulse pounding furiously at his throat, and he crossed the floor in three strides. His fingers curled around her shoulders, firm and commanding, though he knew she hated it when he pulled the alpha role.

She spun and her lips formed a thin line, as if she’d been expecting this. She’d known. You couldn’t really lie to pack and get away with it.

“Charlie.” The one word was all he could say before her eyes pinned him. They were pale as a sheet of blue ice, staring up at him with a gentle ferocity that she’d only ever reserved for him. He had no doubts that she wanted him — he’d smelled it on her in the past, saw the way she looked at him sometimes, as if she was seeing through to his soul — but she was wary. Guarded. The walls around her heart were made of marble and he was left pounding both fists against the cool stone.

“You can’t leave.” His words were a statement. A fact.

“I can and I am,” she replied coolly.

“What about the guys? What about High Velocity? You’re just going to throw it all away?” He was surprised at the intensity behind his words, but he was far from done. “Are we not paying you enough? There’s always ways around that. How much will it take?”

She blew out a harsh expel of air and glanced down at his hand clamped around her arm, but she didn’t bother to pull away. Her winter gaze met his molten gold once more. “I’ve made my decision, Zane. You need to respect it. There comes a time in everyone’s career where they have to make a choice and take a stand. This is it. I’ve put in my notice, I’ve followed protocol. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

A growl slid up his throat, escaping with a rumble. “I don’t give a damn about protocol. You could flash your tits to the crowd if you wanted and we still wouldn’t fire you. I don’t care. You’re part of our group. And, like it or not, you’re part of the pack. My pack.”

“You and I both know that I’ve never really been part of the pack.” Her voice carried a touch of wistfulness. She was right — she’d always been a bit of a loner, keeping herself estranged from the members of Elysium, try as his parents might to welcome her in. But she’d never been distant with Zane and the guys and he wasn’t about to let that happen. Not now.

“You’re staying.”

She lifted a brow. “Since when are you my master?”

“Since you started talking crazy shit about leaving us!” He tamped his anger back down. He never had a temper. What was up with him? He took a deep breath, letting it whistle out his nose as he tried to soften his posture, tried to be less demanding. “We need you. Okay? I respect your decision to quit, but you don’t have to skip town and leave us. Just stay.” Please…

Her smile was tight. She shook her head slowly, like he just didn’t get it, and pulled free of his grasp. “Goodbye, Zane.”

His mind spun, thoughts bouncing off the walls of his head as he tried to scrape ideas together in a last-minute rush. He needed more time. He needed a damn good reason for her to stay, but damn it, he couldn’t think! She turned around, agonizingly slow, and he could see the muscles in her back through the crispness of her suit.

“Charlie. One last night.” His voice was soft, a plea in the undercurrent that he cursed himself for exposing. She stopped and he moved forward until his chest was pressed against her back, one arm wrapping around her waist. He pulled her against him, her body cupping his perfectly, like it was made for him.

She stiffened, but he didn’t let her go. His arm snug around her, he rubbed his chin lightly across the back of her neck, letting the stubble scrape gently against her skin. He murmured in her ear, using the sexiest voice he could muster. His beautiful-girl voice. “Go for a run with me. Tonight. One run.”

He’d figure something out between then and now. He’d get her back.

Trinity Evans is an upbeat, slightly off-color author with a wild imagination and a taste for the eclectic.
Born and raised in a small-town Americana, she loves the lighter and fluffier side of life with some paranormal spice thrown in.
She definitely enjoys the more comical side of relationships.

She adores hearing from fans and you can find her at trinityevans.wordpress.com.

Xoe Xanders is a quirky small-town punk princess whose ideas range from dark and dangerous to light and fluffy.
She enjoys writing in the vein of paranormal, fantasy, and soft sci-fi, all of it with a romantic edge.
She believes that love is love — no matter what gender, race, or color — and writes both straight and LBGT romance.

Wanna stalk her?
You can find her site at xoexanders.wordpress.com.


Twitter | Trinity's blog | Xoe's blog

Where to buy
Amazon | Amazon UK | Smashwords |

Barnes & Noble

Last Regress by Rachael J. Thorne: Excerpt

Last Regress
by Rachael J. Thorne

Published: July 15th 2012
Format: Kindle edition

Amazon |
Amazon.co.uk

Alyssa Matthews
thought she had an explanation for
everything.

After all, as a slightly sceptical paranormal investigator that was what she was used to doing;
researching, observing and explaining.

So when she began writing a paper about a long forgotten case of death by Spontaneous Human Combustion, she assumed it would be a run-of-the-mill piece.

Little did she realise that she was about to be plunged into a situation that would not only force her to question her own sanity, but also her scepticism about the nature of the paranormal.

Not to mention the dreams that just wouldn’t go away...

Prologue

We watch them living their lives. We watch their hearts beat, they breathe, they grow, they give birth, and ultimately of course they die.
We watch all of it happening. We are always there but they do not know it, they do not see us.
Sometimes, only very occasionally, they think that they can sense something, but more often than not the feeling passes quickly and they barely notice the difference.

If we are careless and do not obey the rules set out for us, maybe they actually do catch a glimpse, just for a second or two, but the memory inevitably fades for most of them, all apart from the more sensitive ones, and we are once again safely forgotten.

It is strictly forbidden for us to interact with them in any way, we cannot help them, we are not allowed to communicate with them at all, and we are only permitted to watch.
Anything else would carry with it the threat of dire consequences, it would upset the delicate balance that we constantly strive so very hard to maintain, and most important of all it would likely bring about our own downfall.

This is what we have learned from our own mistakes; only the few, only the most sensitive, only the ones who have been chosen to share our fate can be allowed to know us, and so we remain in the shadows, and we watch.

It has not always been this way though. We have made our mistakes, we have felt the searing pain of bearing witness to the damage that we have caused, and for this we have suffered.

Oh, how we have suffered...

Rachael J. Thorne is trying to make it in the world as an indie author between tending her garden and being a geek!

She lives in Essex, UK with her husband and crazy dog.

Last Regress is her first novel and she is currently working on her second, Running For A Life.



Twitter | Rachael's website | Facebook | Goodreads

34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues

34 Pieces of You
by Carmen Rodrigues

Published: September 4th 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Format: Ebook
Pages: 325
Source: Through Pulse It
Amazon |
Book Depository

A dark and moving novel — reminiscent of Thirteen Reasons Why — about the mystery surrounding a teenage girl’s fatal overdose.

There was something about Ellie... Something dangerous. Charismatic. Broken. Jake looked out for her. Sarah followed her lead. And Jess kept her distance, and kept watch.

Now Ellie’s dead, and Jake, Sarah, and Jess are left to pick up the pieces. All they have are 34 clues she left behind. 34 strips of paper hidden in a box beneath her bed. 34 secrets of a brief and painful life.

Jake, Sarah, and Jess all feel responsible for what happened to Ellie, and all three have secrets of their own. As they begin to confront the darkest truths about themselves, they will also find out what Ellie herself had been hiding all along....

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
Remember my reaction to Thirteen Reasons Why? (No? Read here!) Overall, I wasn't very pleased with it, so when another book is compared to that, I feel pretty hesitant. Okay, nearly didn't pick up this book. But man, am I glad I did! The bad memory of TRW is nearly erased from my memory, cause this was nothing like it. This ended up being so emotional read, and I do admit I cried, a lot.

Ellie is a charismatic girl, who everyone feel drawned to. But like with so many other charismatic people, she has something dark inside her. Like there's a black cloud hanging above her head. She never trusts people enough to really give them anything about herself. The closest person for her is her big brother, Jake, who knows some of her secrets. But then he has to move away for school, and she's.. not taking it so well. And then..
Ellie's dead. Her friends and family are left behind, wondering what happened, everyone blaming themselves. And everyone has secrets, secrets that involve Ellie and mostly make them blame themselves even more. Through out the book we'll get to see what life is like after Ellie is gone, but also get to see glimpses of life with Ellie.

What I really loved in this book was the emotions. They were real, and like I've said many times before, I usually fell in love with that kind of books. They're real, in all the ugliness and beauty of life.
Characters were also that, both beautiful and ugly, sometimes kind, sometimes awful to each other, but that's just life. So the raw emotions were definitely the strong point in this book.
And of course, where there's emotions, there's relationships. Every person had their own kind of relationship with Ellie, but my favorite was with Jess. It was so beautiful, innocent, real, what ever the word you want to use. It was also the most heartbreaking part of the book, and I cried nearly in every scene they had together. And I ended up heart broken myself because of them, because what happened to them was just awful.

There wasn't that many things I didn't like, but I did have sometimes little trouble with following all the characters, since there was several POV's AND we jumped back and forth in time. After few chapters I did get the hang of it, but usually I strougle with so many changes.
I was also a little disappointed when there wasn't any "let's-gather-and-reveal-all-of-our-secrets!"- moments in the end. I'm kind of a fan of those kind of scenes, so I felt a little empty in the end, since there was still so many secrets left uncovered.

But, this was believable story about broken people and how they deal with the lost of their loved one. It was heartbreaking and painful, but I'm so glad I didn't miss it, since it was all worth it.


Thanks to Simon Pulse for providing a review copy!

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Cover Reveal: Fire (Elemental #4) by Shauna Granger

Fire (Elemental #4) by
Shauna Granger


Expected publication
December 18th 2012

Cover Design
Mooney Designs

Cover reveal organized by
AToMR Tours



Demons, faeries, and mermaids.
Claws, teeth, and nightmares.

They have been beaten and bruised, set on fire, and nearly drowned, but manage to always find their way home.
Over their last Winter Holiday break before college, Shayna, Jodi, and Steven try again to put aside the magic in their lives for a little mundane fun.
But Shayna's mother is having dreams of fire and death. A mysterious stranger by the name of Liam has just arrived in town.
And Shayna's attempts to manage her new angelic powers are set back by Steven's insistence that the trio intervene in a riot outside of a concert, with disastrous consequences.

In her attempt to stop the riot, a man sees Shayna use her magical abilities – a man driven mad by watching his brother die at the hands of a black witch.
He stalks Shayna, plotting to destroy her and her friends. With her mother’s warnings echoing in her mind, Shayna is now in the fight of her life against an unlikely foe: a human man.

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer.

Five years ago Shauna started work on her Elemental Series and released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011.

When not reading and writing, Shauna enjoys cooking and playing hostess whenever she can.



Shauna Granger | Facebook | Twitter

Earth in Amazon | Earth in Barnes and Noble | Earth in

Kobo | Air in Amazon | Air in Barnes and Noble | Air in

Kobo | Water in Amazon | Water in Barnes and Noble |

Water in Kobo

Best day ever!

When it starts looking like this outside..

..it's great time to do this inside!

Meaning: It's snowing again! Oh the happy day! Best time to burn some candles, drink some hot chocolate from the awesomest mugg ever and knit socks. I try to avoid books, because I got Dark Shadows waiting for me!