~Cover Reveal~ Unhidden by Dina M Given

Title: Unhidden (The Gatekeeper Chronicles, Book #1)

Release date: December 29, 2014

Book Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance / Horror

Cover Designer: by Hang Le

Blurb
It’s not always easy to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, especially when a trained killer may be falling in love with her evil hunter…

Emma Hayes, a former military Special Forces Operative turned mercenary-for-hire, finds her tightly controlled world turned upside down when she becomes the target of attacks by powerful supernatural creatures.

Emma must use every skill in her arsenal to stay alive as she tries to solve the mystery of why she has been targeted. Her list of enemies keeps growing - from Zane Shayde, an evil Mage, to a secret branch of the US government - and she doesn't know if there is anyone left she can trust.

To complicate matters further, Emma is inexplicably drawn to Zane in a way she does not quite understand, even knowing her life is forfeit if captured. Who is he and why does he have this affect on her? How can she fight someone who calls to her, body and soul?

Emma is left haunted by questions, doubts and fears as to why she has been targeted, when they will come for her next, and how she will possibly survive against an enemy she doesn't understand.

Claws, teeth, and a slavering black tongue rose over me as I lay prone on the floor. It could have easily ripped my throat out or killed me in a dozen hideous ways. It seemed to realize this, too. Its jaw cracked and popped, unhinging so wide it could make a meal of my head in one bite. Hot, putrid saliva dripped onto my face, leaking into my open wound and searing it like acid. I hissed at the sensation and turned away; however, I couldn’t escape its fetid breath.

It leaned in, eager and hungry, while I was frozen. I would meet death in the jaws of an inhuman beast. It would drink my blood, feast on my organs, and gnaw on my bones for dessert.

Darko’s hoarse voice called from down the hall. “Don’t kill her! We need her.”

The thing paused and let out a high-pitched wail of anger at being deprived of its dinner. The sound shattered my fear.

I threw up a knee, violently slamming it in the creature’s crotch. Thankfully, it was humanoid enough, that it had the same effect as any other male. He howled and rolled off me into the fetal position. I immediately scrambled backward, sliding along the marble floor. My left arm, screaming in pain, remained limp at my side.

With my right arm, I reached over my head to grab the gun. As my fingers wrapped around the grip, the familiar feeling was like coming home again.

I pointed the Glock down the length of my body, and without a moment’s hesitation, I pulled the trigger in three quick, precise squeezes. The head of the creature I had nut-cracked exploded in a spray of blood and gore.

Shifting the gun’s sight, I found the second creature barreling down the hall toward me. The first three shots hit him square in the chest, yet he hardly slowed. I lifted the gun slightly, took a deep breath and held it, then squeezed the trigger, putting a round straight through its eye and into its brain. That time, it stumbled yet still kept coming. I put four more rounds into its head, not missing a shot, before it finally crashed to the floor only inches shy of my feet.

Darko merely stood there, a sly, half-smile tugging at the corner of his mouth while I unsteadily got to my feet, pushing myself up with my gun hand. Despite the fact that Darko carried no weapon I could see, for a moment, I considered shooting him. He had set me up, kidnapped an innocent girl, and commanded those creatures. Even though he had stopped them from killing me, I was sure he wouldn’t hesitate if he got what he wanted from me.

With him only a few yards away, I had a clear shot. I pointed my weapon at him, and for the first time today, he reacted. The blood drained from his face, his eyes darting around, seeking escape. He quickly came to the same conclusion I had—there was no escape for him.

My finger tightened on the trigger, but before I could get off the shot, a monstrous animal bounded from the shadows behind him. It leapt past Darko, springing at me on all fours. It was the size of a bear with dry, scaly skin, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Two tusks extended from the roof of its mouth, past its jaw. It bellowed like a foghorn as it charged me.

Dina Given lives in rural New Jersey – home of farms, horses and the largest hot air balloon festival in North America – with her husband, two crazy kids, and one rescue dog. She is an exercise enthusiast and avid lover of food and wine (hence the need to exercise). Dina also works full time for one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. She attributes her ability to juggle family, work and writing to her obsessive, hyper-focused, Type A personality.

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~Blog Tour & Giveaway~ Burnt Edges by Dana Leipold

Title: Burnt Edges  

Author:  Dana Leipold

Published:  October 21st, 2014

Word Count:  56,000

Genre:  Women’s Fiction

Content Warning:  contains sexual abuse and domestic violence

Recommended Age:  18+

Synopsis:

Abuse or an uncertain future. This is Laurel Lee Page’s choice when she is faced with an unplanned pregnancy at 18. Born into a broken family, all she has ever known is guilt and shame. No matter what she does or who she meets, Laurel appears to be living a condemned life but she is determined to find independence and freedom in spite of her family’s legacy of hatred and self-contempt. Can Laurel see that she is in a powerful position, poised to break the cycle of abuse? Set in Southern California during the tumultuous 1960s era, Burnt Edges is based on true events and proves that strength can be found even in the most horrific situations.

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Excerpt:

Laurel decided that Rusty was Mother’s favorite child. The afternoon in the garage had been proof. But because he often took the brunt of Father’s anger, she felt a bizarre kinship with him. She also loved the stories he would tell when they had nothing to do. He would make up tall tales like the one about spacemen who came to Earth to taste hamburgers because they had none on Mars. He described them as little green men with antennae.
“Whenever they come to visit, people find their hats missing, because the Martians steal them to conceal their antennae,” Rusty said.
“That’s just silly,” Laurel said.
Gerry sat in the dirt, playing with rocks and half-listening. Laurel thought he’d rather be playing football or punching some kid, so he sometimes got bored of the stories.
“No, it’s true, really.”
“What did they do to hide their green skin?” Laurel asked.
“They also steal women’s pancake makeup and put it all over their faces. Helps them blend in.”
“Ew, they wear girl’s makeup?” Gerry said, sticking out his tongue.
Laurel giggled, imagining Martians wearing makeup and hats just to get a taste of a hamburger.
“Why don’t they just steal the recipe and learn how to make hamburgers on Mars?” Laurel thought she’d caught Rusty off guard with this question.
“They tried that once, and it was a disaster,” he said, picking up rocks and throwing them against the fence in their backyard. “Yeah, it almost wiped out the whole Martian race.”

“What’d they do, get all sick and throw up?” Gerry laughed at his answer.
Rusty threw a rock at Gerry but missed him. “No, moron.”
He kept throwing rocks without saying anything. Laurel thought he was trying to come up with a good story. She waited another moment.
“Well, what happened?” she asked.
“I’ll tell ya! Don’t rush me!”
He stopped throwing rocks and sat Indian style, his elbows resting on his legs, hands clasped together so he was leaning forward a bit.
“The explorer Martians who had just come back from Earth brought the hamburger recipe to the King of Mars. They told him about the most delicious food they’d ever tasted and that they had brought the secret to it. The king was excited and told his royal cook to make up a batch, but they don’t have meat on Mars.”
Rusty paused, and Gerry rolled his eyes, waved his hand, and climbed the rope up to the tree house. Rusty watched him, but Laurel was listening, waiting for Rusty to tell the rest of the story.
“Go on,” she said.
“Nah, no one cares about the dumb old story,” he said.
“I do! Tell me!”
“All right, but it’s horrible!”
“I don’t care. Tell me!”
“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Rusty paused and then he began again. “So the cooks tried to figure out what to do. They didn’t want to tell the king that there was no meat. Once a cook had told the king he was all out of Martian mush-rooms and the king executed him. They thought and thought about what to do, and then they called in the royal jester.”
“The jester? What does he know about cooking?” Laurel asked.
“Exactly.”
Laurel looked confused.
“So the jester came in, and the cooks smashed him on the head and put him in a boiling pot. Once the Jester was done cooking, they ground him up into bits and fed him to the king.”
“Yuck!”
Gerry must have heard about the cannibalism. He peeked his head through the hole in the tree house. “That’s disgusting,” he said, loud enough for Rusty and Laurel to hear.
“The king loved it and ordered the cooks to make more. So they did. This time they called in the royal guard, bopped him on the head, boiled him up, and fed him to the king. The king couldn’t get enough of those hamburgers, so he made a royal decree stating that the official food of Mars was hamburgers.”
Gerry had the tree house door open and was sitting on the floor with his legs hanging out. Laurel shook her head.
“The cooks went through the whole Martian Royal Army, the royal court, and most of the Martian population before the king caught on. He ended up executing the cooks, but now the King of Mars comes to visit Earth himself, because he loves hamburgers.”
“That’s the dumbest story I ever heard,” Gerry said.
“If it’s so dumb why did you listen to it?” Rusty answered back.
“Hamburgers aren’t that good,” Laurel said. “Not as good as pizza.”

About the Author:

Dana Leipold is a freelance writer, author, and member of the Association of Independent Authors and Creativity Coaching Association. She has self-published two books: a collection of limericks in Dr. Seuss-style for adults entitled, Stupid Poetry: The Ultimate Collection of Sublime and Ridiculous Poems, and a non-fiction book entitled, The Power of Writing Well: Write Well. Change the World, to help writers get their message heard, create stories that connect, and leverage the power of writing well. In addition, she coaches other writers on story structure, messaging, and writing skills so they can achieve their dreams to become published authors. Leipold lives with her husband and two children in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Giveaway Details:

There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:

• 5 Lucky Winners will each receive a $10 Amazon gift card.

Giveaway is International.

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~Cover Reveal~ Cruel Part 2 by SD Mott

Title: Cruel Part 2

Author: SD Mott       

Genre: Adult Motorcycle Club, Erotic Contemporary Romance

Hosted by: Lady Amber's Tours

Book Description

Tall, inked up and cruel, Ender is more a thorn in Piper’s side than a ruggedly handsome face. He’s determined to make her face a past she doesn’t want to rekindle. Forced on a road trip, the club’s Enforcer may be harder to get away from than she expects. But she’ll use whatever is at her disposal including her body if necessary to escape him.

Ender has a job to do and a mouthy and sexy, Piper, who belongs to one of his brothers, is set on being a pain in his ass. She has him seeing red and needing an outlet for his aggression. And her predator act is starting to get under his skin. Will he forgo the brotherhood code for a taste?

Or when his past catches up to him, will it be both their undoing?  

By day, S.D. Mott is committed to the pursuit of the every writers' dream by sharing a crazy imagination using the written word. By night, the pursuit changes to one surrounded by family. 

Writing is a passion, but reading has laid the foundation. With the relea

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Cruel Part 1 is available on Amazon. Now only 99cents.

http://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Part-1-ebook/dp/B00PYEPB9M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417632829&sr=8-1&keywords=cruel+s+d+mott

~Triple Cover Reveal~ The Crystal Keeper by Laurisa White Reyes

Title: The Crystal Keeper

Author: Laurisa White Reyes

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Expected Release Date: February 9^th, 2015

Cover Design: Emma Michaels

Hosted by: Lady Amber's Tours

SYNOPSIS:

Jayson lives among the shadows of Hestoria, his sole purpose for staying alive – to protect his half of the Seer’s crystal. Exiled from his homeland for loving the king’s daughter, Ivanore, Jayson is now pursued by two opposing factions: the Vatéz (League of Sorcerers) who intend to use the crystal for their own selfish gain, and the Guilde, the ancient guardians of the crystal.

Meanwhile, Ivanore flees from her father to Hestoria in search of Jayson. As the Seer, she is plagued with visions of him being tortured and is determined to rescue him. When the Vatéz capture her, however, she unwittingly jeopardizes everything Jayson has vowed to protect. He must now make a terrible choice: Should he save Ivanore or save the crystal?

Though written for adults, The Crystal Keeper series is the prequel to Ms. Reyes' fantasy series for children, The Celestine Chronicles.

Senior Editor of Skyrocket Press and Editor-in-Chief of Middle Shelf Magazine, Laurisa White Reyes is the author of several middle grade and young adult novels, including The Rock of Ivanore,The Last Enchanter and Contact. The Crystal Keeper is her first series for adults.

Author Links:

Editor in Chief Middle Shelf Magazine
Publisher Skyrocket Press
Moderator Middle Grade Mania
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Ivanore hunched over the parchment, the tip of her quill flicking above her hand like a trapped bird desperate for escape. The tallow candle cast a cramped circle of light across the table, hardly enough to see by. If only the night would last a little longer. Perhaps then she would have enough time to write everything she needed to. But alas, time was one thing she had too little of—that and light.

An older man with long, gray-streaked hair and piercing gray eyes, waited beside her. The stone bungalow, their most recent of many hiding places, boasted the barest of furnishings: the table, stool, cot—and a plain wooden chest, its key held tight in his fist.

A sudden thump sounded at the door, startling them both. A strand of Ivanore’s hair, gold as the candle light, fell across the page. She quickly tucked it back into place and wrote faster.

Zyll laid a hand on Ivanore’s shoulder. “They are here,” he whispered.

Ivanore finished the document and handed it to Zyll unbound. Turning to the chest, he carefully laid the pages inside.

“Wait,” said Ivanore. “Will you keep this as well?” A flat circle of pale green crystal lay in her open palm.

“But you will need it. I mustn’t—”

“Please,” she insisted, pressing it into his hand. “I can’t risk losing this one.”

Zyll reluctantly folded his fingers around the cool stone. “Of course, milady,” he said. Then, adding the crystal to the parchment, he laid a plate of thin wood atop them both, sealing the chest’s false bottom. He closed the lid and locked it.

The pounding at the door grew more insistent. Whoever stood outside was using his full weight against it in an effort to break through.

“We must hurry,” said Zyll.

Ivanore allowed herself a quick glance at the chest, offering the briefest of prayers that the gods would keep it safe until her return. Then, taking her by the arm, Zyll ked her through the low archway dividing the bungalow’s front room from the back.

A loud crash of splintering wood resounded through the bungalow. Their visitors had finally broken in.

“Find her now!” a deep voice bellowed.

Grateful for the trousers she now wore instead of her usual cumbersome skirts, Ivanore clambered onto a stool and through a narrow window, lowering herself as quietly as possible to the ground outside. Once Zyll had done the same, they stole away across the rocky field. Though the sky was black as ink, their path was illuminated by the amber glow of volcanic fissures scoring the area for miles around.

“There she is!” a man’s voice shouted behind them. The words sent spasms of fear through Ivanore. She glanced behind her and saw three soldiers emerge from the bungalow, wearing the gold and red cross of her father’s crest. They had tracked her even here, to the remotest corner of Imaness. Would Fredric ever let her be?

Ivanore stopped running. She looked at Zyll, her trusted guardian and ally these past months since she had fled Dokur, and knew her time with him had come to an end.

“You’ll watch over them until I return?” she asked, out of breath. “Keep them safe. Don’t let my father find them.”

“You have my vow,” Zyll whispered, his voice tight with emotion.

Ivanore’s eyes welled with tears as she pressed her lips against the calloused skin of Zyll’s hand.

 “Go,” said Zyll. “Go now before it’s too late.”

Ivanore released Zyll’s hand and sprinted forward alone. As she ran, she cupped her hands around her mouth and let out a loud, sharp call, much like that of a hawk or an eagle. She risked another glance over her shoulder and watched as Zyll turned to face their pursuers. As the soldiers neared, their swords glinting in the fireglow, Zyll held up his hands. A horizontal bolt of cerulean lightning shot out from his palms, striking the oncoming soldiers. The men recoiled, their bodies instantly singed and bloody.

Ivanore ran on. In desperation, she repeated her call, and this time another voice called back. A dark form appeared on the horizon, silhouetted against the light of the volcanic fractures and growing larger as it approached with tremendous speed. As it neared, the creature’s massive feathered wings moved the air around Ivanore in warm, powerful gusts. Ivanore saw clearly its eagle’s head with a beak large enough to break a man in two, paired with the muscular, furred body of a lion. As she ran toward it, the gryphon lowered its head, waiting.

Behind her, the soldiers reeled in pain, but they did not forget their duty. One man struggled to his knees, grunting from the effort. Reaching over his shoulder, he slid a short bow and arrow from his pack and swiftly took aim.

Ivanore reached the gryphon, and in one smooth motion hoisted herself onto its back, twisting her arms deep into the feathers on the creature’s neck. In that same moment, a single arrow found its mark in Ivanore’s shoulder. Ivanore cried out before her body slumped forward and her mind went dark. The gryphon took flight then, and in less time than it took to draw another arrow—or a breath—they had vanished into the night.

~Cover Reveal~ The Chronicles of Rain and Dreams by LL Hunter

Title: The Chronicles of Rain and Dreams

Series: The Legend of the Archangel book 4

Author: L.L. Hunter

Genre: YA paranormal romance/ urban fantasy

Cover Designer: Regina Wamba of Mae I Design and photography

Release Date: January 31st 2015

Formats: eBook and Paperback

Blurb

Thirty- nine days ago Dyston disappeared, and the world suffered for it.

Scarlett doesn’t understand why he had to leave, but Dyston is being haunted by the demons of his past, and also the truth of what he is – he is tainted.

But leaving is also a ploy.

Dyston can’t let Scarlett find out the real reason for his leaving, for if she does find out, he fears she could never forgive him.

In the search for the missing journals of the nine archangels, Dyston also discovers some things he didn’t know about himself.

But little does he know, the one journal he can’t find lies with his heart.

Will Dyston be able to forgive himself and return to his loved ones, or will he hide away forever?

In the fourth installment of the Legend of the Archangel series, will love prevail over darkness?

Pre-order your copy now!

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00PHZX39S

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Stalk links:

Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LL-Hunter/110104129132865

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Blog: http://llhunter.blogspot.com.au

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