Thursday, July 31, 2014

Michael Augustyn Vlad Dracula Blog Tour with a Spotlight


 
I am so excited to have Michael Augustyn here Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight.

Thanks Michael and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for allowing me to join your Vlad Dracula Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Michael!










Title: Vlad Dracula
Author: Michael Augustyn
Publisher: iUniverse
Pages: 286
Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Ebook

Purchase at AMAZON

Most of the vast audience attracted to the subject of Dracula know him only in his fictional, one-dimensional form: vampire! Yet the truth behind the historical character–voevode, warlord–of 15th C. Romania is at least as equally fascinating as any contrived account of his supernatural persona.

Vlad Dracula faithfully follows his life story as hostage, fugitive, prince, and prisoner. His principality of Wallachia was caught between two voracious predators: the kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman empire. They tried to break Dracula with overwhelming force and terror. But Dracula turned their own tactics against them, and against criminals and factions in his own land, earning the name Tepes-The Impaler-in the process.

He was a strange mix of husband, father, soldier, statesman, and berserker. He annihilated 50,000 people – one-tenth of his own population. Cursed by his native Orthodox Christian Church, he indeed evolved into a legend. But even today he is Romania’s Robin Hood.

Giveaway

Michael is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms and Conditions:

By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.

One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Certificate or Paypal Cash.

This giveaway begins July 21 and ends on August 1.

Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, August 4.

Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

RAFFLECOPTER CODE:





a Rafflecopter giveaway






July 21

I Smell Sheep

Beyond the Books

July 22

I Heart Reading

Plug Your Book

July 23

Gothic Moms

Allvoices

July 24

Review From Here

Blogher

July 25

Literal Exposure

Redroom

July 28

The Writer’s Life

She Writes

July 29

Literarily Speaking

I’m Shelf-ish

July 30

As the Pages Turn

The Dark Phantom

July 31

Pararnormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews

The Book Rack

August 1

Between the Covers

The Zen Reader 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Wednesday Wish List



Please list the books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga from your wishlist that you are hoping to add to your shelves in a comment, thanks.










Kaoruko Mochizuki runs an herb shop in a small seaside town. One day, a mysterious man dressed in black named Kaname Hibiki enters her shop and reveals that Kaoruko is actually a witch. And what’s more, Kaoruko needs Kaname to help control her awakening power!

Among the shocking news that Kaname imparts is that Kaoruko’s mother is still alive and has entrusted Kaoruko with the immense power of the Witch Queen. As long as Kaoruko has that power, she will be the target of humans and demonic spirits alike. Kaname claims to be a “knight” that protects witches, but then he steals a kiss from Kaoruko!




  



Hime Kino's dream is to one day do voice acting like her hero Sakura Aoyama from the Lovely Blazers anime, and getting accepted to the prestigious Holly Academy's voice actor department is the first step in the right direction! But Hime's gruff voice has earned her the scorn of teachers and students alike. Hime will not let that stand unchallenged. She'll show everyone that she is too a voice acting princess, whether they like it or not!!

Hime has been working as hard as she can in order to put in a good performance for her first voice-acting gig, Beast Renjai . But while she’s striving to earn the respect of her fellow cast members and the director, she’s falling dangerously behind in school! What will happen to her chances if she flunks her upcoming finals?


 





Hapless Haruna needs help finding a boyfriend! After failing to win the eye of any guy in high school, Haruna enlists the help of cute upperclassman Yoh to coach her on how to make herself more appealing to the male spec ies. Yoh agrees, with one catch: Haruna had better not fall for him!

Even as the two of them grow closer as a couple, insecurities surface when incoming freshmen at the school are interested in both Yoh and Haruna.  Haruna wants to be a strong girlfriend, but a series of misunderstandings puts Yoh in a difficult spot! What sort of shocking solution will he come up with?








Soma Yukihira’s old man runs a small family restaurant in the less savory end of town. Aiming to one day surpass his father’s culinary prowess, Soma hones his skills day in and day out until one day, out of the blue, his father decides to enroll Soma in a classy culinary school! Can Soma really cut it in a place that prides itself on a 10% graduation rate? And can he convince the beautiful, domineering heiress to the school that he belongs there at all?




 


Dimitri Lewandoski is a celebrated tenor in early 1900s Vienna. When he is killed in an accident, his corpse is colonized by the seeds of a vampire master. At first, Dimitri denies that anything has changed, but as the people around him start dying, he is forced to accept the ghastly truth.

Flash-forward to 2008. In Tokyo, Azusa Kikukawa’s troubled love life comes to an end with a fatal accident. Dimitri appears in her dying dreams with a diabolic proposal he will save her lover if she agrees to become the breeding ground for the next generation of vampire seeds.









In order to help her father, Chiwa Takanashi agrees to an arranged marriage with the company president, Hokuto Mamiya — a man she doesn’t know — at the request of Hokuto’s grandfather. 

Chiwa believes the arrangement isn’t binding, but her new partner seems to think otherwise. Can two strangers living together find their way to a happy marriage?!

Hokuto is working harder than ever after his promotion, and the couple rarely spends time together anymore.

Chiwa continues working at Ai-Max with Asahina, a guy she dated in college. Asahina knows she's married to Hokuto, but he still has feelings for Chiwa.

Wednesday Wish List



Please list the books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga from your wishlist that you are hoping to add to your shelves in a comment, thanks.








 
With the acclaimed Midnight Breed series, New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian has written thrilling novels of electrifying romance and heart-pounding suspense -- page-turners in which humans and vampires live tenuously side by side. In Crave the Night, Adrian brings the Breed and its world to the brink of war, where even the deepest passion can shatter into violence.

Born and raised to be an emotionless killing machine, Nathan is one of the most lethal Breed vampires in existence. A key member of the Order -- an elite group of warriors charged with protecting both mortals and vampires -- Nathan executes each mission with flawless precision and a total lack of mercy. Now he must pursue a powerful, hidden enemy. But Nathan's hard discipline and training are no match for the fierce pull he feels toward a young woman he has no right to desire -- a woman of wealth and high social standing who has long been promised to another Breed male, and who may also prove to be the key to rooting out Nathan's elusive quarry.

Jordana lives a life of glittering privilege as a member of a prominent Breed family in Boston. Surrounded by fine things and fawning admirers, Jordana wants for nothing -- until she crosses paths with a dark, intense warrior from the Order and finds herself swept into an impulsive, sizzling kiss that neither of them will forget. As much as she tries to deny her deep feelings for Nathan, Jordana cannot resist the craving to be near him, to break through his forbidding walls and see the man he truly is. But getting close to Nathan will thrust Jordana into a treacherous new world, forcing her to risk all she has and all she knows about herself and her past. And loving this seductive man could be the most dangerous temptation of all.









In this highly anticipated fifteenth novel in the Immortals After Dark series, #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole spins a sultry tale of a mighty warrior scarred inside and out and the beguiling sorceress with the power to heal him — or vanquish him forever.

Eternal Obsession
As a boy, Thronos, prince of Skye Hall, loved Lanthe, a mischievous Sorceri girl who made him question everything about his Vrekener clan. But when the two got caught in the middle of their families’ war, tragedy struck, leaving Thronos and Lanthe bitter enemies. Though centuries have passed, nothing can cool his seething need for the beautiful enchantress who scarred his body—and left an even deeper impression on his soul.

Endless Yearning

Lanthe, a once-formidable sorceress struggling to reclaim her gifts, searches for love and acceptance with all the wrong immortal suitors. But she’s never forgotten Thronos, the magnificent silver-eyed boy who protected her until she was ripped from the shelter of his arms. One harrowing night changed everything between them. Now he’s a notorious warlord with a blood vendetta against Lanthe, hunting her relentlessly.

Can the heat of desire burn brighter than vengeance?

With their families locked in conflict and battles raging all around them, will Thronos and Lanthe succumb to the brutal chaos that threatens everything they cherish? Or will the fragile bond they formed so long ago spark a passion strong enough to withstand even the darkest doubts?



 




The much-anticipated, brand-new Regency romance from New York Times bestselling author Katie MacAlister.

Can Dagmar flee Denmark

Dagmar Marie Sophie is a poverty-stricken Danish princess whose annoying royal cousin is about to have her stuffed away in a convent. When she finds a wounded man unconscious in her garden, she sees a way out of her desperate situation.

By Lying to Leo?

Leopold Ernst George Mortimer, seventh earl of March, and spy in the service of the king, finds himself on the wrong end of a saber and left for dead. He wakes up not remembering what happened in the care of a beautiful woman who says she is his wife.

Back in London, Leo - with the help of his old friends the eccentric Britton family-sets out to unravel what he's forgotten.  Is Dagmar truly the wonderful, irrepressible woman who makes his heart sing, or is she a dangerous enigma bent on his destruction?

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Rochelle Aler's Magnolia Drive Blog Tour with Review and Spotlight




I am so excited to have Rochelle Alers here Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Review and Spotlight.

Thanks Rochelle and Hachette Book Group for allowing me to join your Magnolia Drive Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Rochelle! 
About Rochelle Alers

Bestselling author, Rochelle Alers has nearly two million copies of her novels in print. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gold Pen Award, the Emma Award, Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing, the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.

Website



 


 About MAGNOLIA DRIVE

After a painful divorce and failed acting career, Francine Tanner packs her things and moves back to her hometown of Sanctuary Cove. There, she will join her mother in the family business as a hairstylist at the Beauty Box. Putting her LA dreams behind her, all Francine wants is to focus on rebuilding her life.

Keaton Grace is an independent film writer and director looking for a great place to open his own studio. After happening upon the small-town, he buys an abandoned building and surrounding lands to start his company. But he doesn't expect to bump into the beautiful Francine Tanner when he walks into the Beauty Box for a haircut and shave. Remembering her from a performance years ago in an off-Broadway show, he knows exactly what role she will play in his life.

Sparks fly between the two until Keaton reveals his plan - he wants Francine to star in his upcoming film. Tortured by her Hollywood past, she refuses to have anything to do with the film, even if it means letting go of their budding romance.

Amazon

B&N

iTunes

Product Details
Series: A Cavanaugh Island Novel
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Forever (July 29, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 145557497X
ISBN-13: 978-1455574971


My Review:

4/5

New Releases 2014 (July 29)



 




New Releases











A place of history, secrets and witchcraft.

Devin Lyle has recently returned to the Salem area, but her timing couldn't be worse. Soon after she moved into the eighteenth-century cabin she inherited from her great-aunt Mina — her "crazy" great-aunt, who spoke to the dead — a woman was murdered nearby.

Craig Rockwell — known as Rocky — is a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI's team of paranormal investigators. He never got over finding a friend dead in the woods. Now another body's been found in those same woods, not far from the home of Devin Lyle. And Devin's been led to a third body — by a ghost?

Her discovery draws them both deeper into the case and Salem's rich and disturbing history. Even as the danger mounts, Devin and Rocky begin to fall for each other, something the ghosts of Mina and past witches seem to approve of. But the two of them need every skill they possess to learn the truth — or Devin's might be the next body in the woods.








Judged

As he watches, her body drifts below the water's surface, forever altered. Before he disposes of each victim, he takes a trophy. It's a sign of his power, and a warning — to the one destined to suffer most of all.

Condemned

In Grizzly Falls, Montana, Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli are struggling with a new commander and a department in the midst of upheaval. It's the worst possible time for a homicide. A body has been found, missing a finger. Alvarez hopes this means a murderer with a personal grudge, not a madman. But then a second body turns up.

Executed

As the clues begin pointing toward a suspect, Pescoli's unease grows. Even with Alvarez barely holding it together and her own personal life in chaos, she senses there's more to this case than others believe. A killer has made his way to Grizzly Falls, ready to fulfill a vengeance years in the making. And Pescoli must find the target of his wrath — or die trying.







In New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub's new thriller, one woman finds herself in the crosshairs of a twisted predator who might just be masked behind a familiar screen name.

During the darkest period of her life, Landry Wells found solace in a group of bloggers who had been in her shoes and lived to tell the tale. She's shared things with her online friends that even her husband and children didn't know. Things that now, looking back, make her uneasy.

One of the bloggers is dead, victim of a random crime — or was it? Did she trust too easily; reveal too much? At the funeral a thousand miles from home, Landry is about to come face to face at last with the others. These women are her closest confidantes in the world: they understand her; they know everything about her — and one of them might be a cold-blooded killer.







Half man, half animal, a Shadow Shifter is sworn to protect females — human or otherwise — from the savage fury of his own nature  Rich, handsome, and successful — hotel magnate Sebastian "Bas" Perry could have any woman he desires. But despite his animal attraction to women, he avoids relationships at all costs. As a Shadow Shifter, he must defend innocent humans from the deadliest of his kind. And the most dangerous game of all is falling in love.  It takes a special kind of woman to hunt a predator, to tame the beast — and to capture a man’s heart Priya Drake is an ambitious reporter hungry for a story.

At a presidential fundraiser, she sets her sights on the mysterious and magnetic Bas Perry, a man with a secret she’s determined to uncover. Stalking her prey back to his hotel, the hunter soon becomes the hunted — when Bas takes her in his arms and unleashes the animal within.

For Priya, it is more than a night of wild, reckless passion. It’s the story of a lifetime. But can she betray the man she loves? in Shifter’s Claim by A.C. Arthur.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Weekly Book Reads 2014 (July 28)



 Weekly Book Reads


Weekly Book Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books read last week and books you plan on finishing this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Eyes on You - Kate Whit
2.  Barricade in Hell - Jaime Lee Moyer
3.  Providence Bag - Bruce DeSilva
4.  Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Vol. 5 - Miki Minami

Weekly Book Reading:

1.  Magnolia Drive - Rochelle Alers
2.  Antique Chop - Barbara Allan
3.  Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong
4.  Last Chance - Robyn Carr
5.  Are You Alice Vol. 5 - Ai Ninomiya
6.  Phantom Thief Jeanne Vol. 2 - Arina Tanemura 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Library Haul 2914 (July 27 - Aug 2)




Library Haul

Here's the list of books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga I picked up this week at the library:

Softcover:

1.  The Professional - Kresley Cole

Hardcover:

1.  Field of Prey - John Sandford
2.  Antique Chop - Barbara Allan    

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Eyes on You: A Novel of Suspense




I've finished "Eyes on You" by Kate White.

From New York Times bestselling author Kate White comes a riveting psychological suspense in which a media star must battle a malevolent enemy who may be disturbingly close to her.

After losing her on-air job two years ago, television host Robin Trainer has fought her way back and now she’s hotter than ever. With her new show climbing in the ratings and her first book a bestseller, she’s being dubbed a media double threat.

But suddenly, things begin to go wrong. Small incidents at first: a nasty note left in her purse; her photo shredded. But the obnoxious quickly becomes threatening when the foundation the makeup artist uses burns Robin’s face. It wasn’t an accident — someone had deliberately doctored with the product.

An adversary with a dark agenda wants to hurt Robin, and the clues point to someone she works with every day. While she frantically tries to put the pieces together and unmask this hidden foe, it becomes terrifyingly clear that the person responsible isn’t going to stop until Robin loses everything that matters to her including her life.

Product Details
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper (June 24, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061576638
ISBN-13: 978-0061576638


My Review:

3/5

Christopher Geoffrey McPherson's Murder at Eastern Columbia Blog Tour with a Spotlight



I am so excited to have Christopher Geoffrey McPherson here Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight and Giveaway.

Thanks Christopher and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for allowing me to join your Murder at Eastern Columbia Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Christopher!









About the Author

In more than three decades as a professional writer/journalist, Christopher Geoffrey McPherson has covered myriad subjects and interviewed thousands of people from the famous to the unknown. He brings his years of experience to each one of his novels.

Every work is different. Through reading his novels, you can visit the American home front in the 1940s, a future San Francisco wiped out by a killer earthquake, a romantic love affair in post-war Paris in the 1920s, a future planet where the major industry is making babies -- or an exciting detective series set in 1930s Los Angeles.

In his career, his work has appeared in daily newspapers, monthly magazines, extensively on radio and the occasional dalliance with television. He has written advertising copy and radio commercials -- and continues to write.

Christopher is currently working on a series of novels that take place in 1930s Los Angeles called “The James Murray Mysteries.” Books in the series are "Murder at Eastern Columbia," “Sabotage at RKO Studio” and the newest “Abduction at Griffith Observatory.”

Other works featuring his byline include "The Babi Makers" -- a science fiction tale about a world where the most important resource is babies; "Sarah & Gerald" -- a novel about Paris in the 1920s; "Forever - and other stories" -- a collection of short stories; "The Life Line" -- the novel of the big one that levels San Francisco; "News on the Home Front" -- a novel of two friends during World War Two; and "Mama Cat" -- a book for children. Also, several short plays, a few radio plays and a boatload of radio documentaries.

For More Information

Visit Christopher Geoffrey McPherson’s website.
Connect with Christopher on Facebook and Twitter.
Visit Christopher blog.
More books by Christopher Geoffrey McPherson.
Contact the author. 






About the Book:

Los Angeles. 1931. Your name is James Murray. You are a clerk in the Junior Boy's department at the swankest new department store in downtown. You want to be a writer, but there's a Depression on. Suddenly, you find yourself trying to solve the murder of your best friend. Will you be able to find the murderer before it's too late?

"Murder at Eastern Columbia" is two novels in one: two parallel stories, featuring two heroes, working two murders in two different versions of 1930s Los Angeles. Join James and his alter ego as they each try to solve the murder of the girl with sorrel-colored hair. Follow the twists and turns until the climactic scene atop the tallest building in all of LA: the brand new Los Angeles City Hall.

For More Information:

Murder at Eastern Columbia is available at Amazon.
Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
Download at iTunes.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads. Read more about the James Murray Mysteries.

Book Excerpt:

Murder at Eastern Columbia, a James Murray mystery, takes place in downtown Los Angeles in 1931. In this excerpt, one of the main characters talks to a friend of hers over breakfast about a trip she took with her now-dead sister -- and how they met the man she believes killed her.

"Both of us -- my sister and I -- wanted so bad to see Paris. Father sold one of our cars and managed to scrape up enough money to get us there and back, with a little left over for accommodations and food. It wasn't a lavish trip by any means, but we didn't care. We wanted to be in Paris more than anything else in the world, so Father sent us.

"We had a wonderful time. Met some wonderful people. One of them was a gorgeous French model. She took us under her wing. Showed us everything that made Paris so beautiful. We all became fast friends. She was supposed to be coming back to America on the same ship. Something happened at the very last minute -- I think she got a booking for a Vogue magazine cover shoot -- and she ended up having to take a later sailing. In the confusion, all of her bags were left on board our ship. There was no time to take them off, so she gave us the claim checks and asked us to make sure the bags arrived in America safely. She even gave us a couple hundred French francs for our trouble.

"Well, it was hardly any trouble, if you know what I mean. Think of it: two poor American girls, third class on a beautiful ocean liner, making the sailing across to America. My sister always had more ambition than I did. She took the extra francs the model had given us, marched right up to the purser and upgraded us both from third class to the finest first class suite we could afford. I was shocked, but it was all pretty exciting.

"She gave our room attendant the claim checks and had all the model's trunks brought to our suite. You should have seen her face when she opened them up: there were fabulously expensive Chanel dresses, Vionnets, Poirets, dresses by Molyneux and Lelong, entire suits by Schiaparelli and Mainbocher, and a separate leather bag filled with exquisite Hermes silk scarves. Hermes silk scarves! Can you imagine? It was all the best of the best of French couture right there in our suite. My sister spent hours trying on everything -- and then the idea hit her: she would have her hair and nails done at the ship salon and then go to dinner dressed in one of these sumptuous outfits! I was against it, of course, but she would hear none of it. So, she did just that and we went to dinner that evening.

"I have to admit, she looked stunning. She had chosen a fantastic dark-green satin Mainbocher, with an inset chevron in light green right at the waist. It came with an ermine-trimmed cape. Oh, with her red hair, it was amazing. She was perhaps the most beautiful woman at dinner that night. I didn't dare to wear one of the model's outfits, so I stuck to my own clothing, but I still looked good."

I looked up at her and smiled.

"I'm sure you did," I offered.

She smiled back, then continued.

"When she came down the stairs into the main dining room, you could hear all the conversation stop as people turned to look at her. In fact, a few of the men stood and began applauding at her entrance. Soon, the entire room was applauding. I think they thought she was a famous actress or something, the attention she got.

"After dinner, there was dancing. She was the most popular woman on the ship that night. All the wealthy young roués fluttered around her like so many moths to a bright flame. She asked for a cigarette and was given ten. She asked for a light and was met with a blazing fire of lighters and matches. I was happy for her because she was happy. But then, he came up to her."

"Marco?" I asked, wiping my mouth and taking a sip of coffee.

"Yes. He approached her and the other fellows retreated fast. He had a reputation even aboard that ship. Once he made his claim on her, no other man dared to approach her. It was the start of a ship-board romance that lasted the rest of the trip. She had no shortage of fine outfits to wear and she wore them all. After that first night, I rarely spent time with her. How could I? She was always with him. I saw her across the crowded dining room, or on the deck, or at the symphony, but she was almost never without him at her side. I was worried, but she seemed so happy. It was the last time she was going to be that happy."

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Wednesday Wish List




Please list the books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga from your wishlist that you are hoping to add to your shelves in a comment, thanks.







A place of history, secrets and witchcraft.

Devin Lyle has recently returned to the Salem area, but her timing couldn't be worse. Soon after she moved into the eighteenth-century cabin she inherited from her great-aunt Mina — her "crazy" great-aunt, who spoke to the dead — a woman was murdered nearby.

Craig Rockwell — known as Rocky — is a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI's team of paranormal investigators. He never got over finding a friend dead in the woods. Now another body's been found in those same woods, not far from the home of Devin Lyle. And Devin's been led to a third body — by a ghost?

Her discovery draws them both deeper into the case and Salem's rich and disturbing history. Even as the danger mounts, Devin and Rocky begin to fall for each other, something the ghosts of Mina and past witches seem to approve of. But the two of them need every skill they possess to learn the truth — or Devin's might be the next body in the woods.








Judged

As he watches, her body drifts below the water's surface, forever altered. Before he disposes of each victim, he takes a trophy. It's a sign of his power, and a warning — to the one destined to suffer most of all.

Condemned

In Grizzly Falls, Montana, Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli are struggling with a new commander and a department in the midst of upheaval. It's the worst possible time for a homicide. A body has been found, missing a finger. Alvarez hopes this means a murderer with a personal grudge, not a madman. But then a second body turns up.

Executed

As the clues begin pointing toward a suspect, Pescoli's unease grows. Even with Alvarez barely holding it together and her own personal life in chaos, she senses there's more to this case than others believe. A killer has made his way to Grizzly Falls, ready to fulfill a vengeance years in the making. And Pescoli must find the target of his wrath — or die trying.







In New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub's new thriller, one woman finds herself in the crosshairs of a twisted predator who might just be masked behind a familiar screen name.

During the darkest period of her life, Landry Wells found solace in a group of bloggers who had been in her shoes and lived to tell the tale. She's shared things with her online friends that even her husband and children didn't know. Things that now, looking back, make her uneasy.

One of the bloggers is dead, victim of a random crime — or was it? Did she trust too easily; reveal too much? At the funeral a thousand miles from home, Landry is about to come face to face at last with the others. These women are her closest confidantes in the world: they understand her; they know everything about her — and one of them might be a cold-blooded killer.







Half man, half animal, a Shadow Shifter is sworn to protect females — human or otherwise — from the savage fury of his own nature  Rich, handsome, and successful — hotel magnate Sebastian "Bas" Perry could have any woman he desires. But despite his animal attraction to women, he avoids relationships at all costs. As a Shadow Shifter, he must defend innocent humans from the deadliest of his kind. And the most dangerous game of all is falling in love.  It takes a special kind of woman to hunt a predator, to tame the beast — and to capture a man’s heart Priya Drake is an ambitious reporter hungry for a story.

At a presidential fundraiser, she sets her sights on the mysterious and magnetic Bas Perry, a man with a secret she’s determined to uncover. Stalking her prey back to his hotel, the hunter soon becomes the hunted — when Bas takes her in his arms and unleashes the animal within.

For Priya, it is more than a night of wild, reckless passion. It’s the story of a lifetime. But can she betray the man she loves? in Shifter’s Claim by A.C. Arthur.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

New Release 2014 (July 22)



 




New Release






 


When Ririchiyo returns home for the New Year's festivities, she is hesitant to admit to her family that her bodyguard is also her boyfriend. Over the past several months, the other supernatural boarders at Ayakashi Hall have become more like a real family to her than any she has ever known. Never have these bonds been more evident than when danger threatens one of her new friends.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun Overview




Plot

High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate UmetarĹŤ Nozaki, but when she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shĹŤjo manga artist named Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let's Fall in Love (Koi Shiyo, Let's Have a Romance), they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories.

Weekly Book Reads (July 21)



 Weekly Book Reads


Weekly Book Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books read last week and books you plan on finishing this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Do or Die - Suzanne Brockmann
2.  Shadow Spell - Nora Roberts
3.  The Dead Will Tell - Linda Castillo
4.  Crimson Spell Vol. 4 - Ayano Yamane


Weekly Book Reading:

1.  Lady Luck - Kristen Ashley
2.  Breath - Kristen Ashley
3.  Eyes on You - Kate White
4.  Barricade in Hell - Jaime Lee Moyer
5.  Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Vol. 5 - Miki Minami

Sunday, July 20, 2014

MT Review: The Dead Will Tell: A Kate Burkholder Novel




I've finished "The Dead Will Tell" the 6th book in her Kate Burkholder series by Linda Castillo.

Everyone in Painters Mill knows the abandoned Hochstetler farm is haunted. But only a handful of the residents remember the terrible secrets lost in the muted/hushed whispers of time—and now death is stalking them, seemingly from the grave.

On a late-night shift, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called to the scene of an apparent suicide — an old man found hanging from the rafters in his dilapidated barn. But evidence quickly points to murder and Kate finds herself chasing a singularly difficult and elusive trail of evidence that somehow points back to the tragedy of that long ago incident. Meanwhile, Kate has moved in with state agent John Tomasetti and for the first time in so long, they're both happy; a bliss quickly shattered when one of the men responsible for the murders of Tomasetti’s family four years ago is found not guilty, and walks away a free man. Will Tomasetti be pulled back to his own haunted past?

When a second man is found dead—also seemingly by his own hand — Kate discovers a link in the case that sends the investigation in a direction no one could imagine and revealing the horrifying truth of what really happened that terrible night thirty-five years ago, when an Amish father and his four children perished — and his young wife disappeared without a trace.

And, as Kate knows — the past never truly dies in The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo.

Product Details
Series: Kate Burkholder (Book 6)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (July 8, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250029570
ISBN-13: 978-1250029577

My Review:


4/5

RS Review: Do or Die: Reluctant Heroes (Hardcover)



I've finished "Do Or Die" the first book in her new Reluctant Heroes series by Suzanne Brockmann.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Navy SEAL Ian Dunn went rogue in a big way when he turned his talents to a lawless life of jewel heists and con jobs. Or so the world has been led to believe. In reality, the former Special Ops warrior is still fighting for good, leading a small band of freelance covert operatives who take care of high-stakes business in highly unofficial ways. That makes Ian the hands-down choice when the U.S. government must breach a heavily guarded embassy and rescue a pair of children kidnapped by their own father, a sinister foreign national willing to turn his kids into casualties. Shockingly, Ian passes on the mission for reasons he will not — or cannot — reveal.

But saying no is not an option. Especially not for Phoebe Kruger, Ian’s beautiful and unexpectedly brash new attorney. Determined to see the abducted children set free, Phoebe not only gets Ian on board but insists on riding shotgun on his Mission: Impossible–style operation, whether he likes it or not.

Though Phoebe has a valuable knack for getting out of tight spots, there’s no denying the intensely intimate feelings growing between Ian and Phoebe as the team gears up for combat. But these are feelings they both must fight to control as they face an array of cold-blooded adversaries, including a vindictive mob boss who’s got Ian at the top of his hit list and a wealthy psychopath who loves murder as much as he loves money. As they dodge death squads and play lethal games of deception, Ian and Phoebe will do whatever it takes to save the innocent and vanquish the guilty — or die trying.

Product Details
Series: Reluctant Heroes
Hardcover: 576 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (February 4, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345543793
ISBN-13: 978-0345543790


My Review:

3 and 3.5/5

Library Haul 2014 (July 20)




Library Haul

Here's the list of books/manga/manhwa/yaoi manga I picked up this week at the library:

Hardcover:

1.  Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong
2.  The Forbidden - F.R. Tallis    

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Nobunaga Concerto Overview



Synopsis

The story centers around Saburou, a high school boy who time-travels to Japan's Sengoku Era. He must become Nobunaga Oda, the famed warlord who helps unite Japan.

Characters


Main Characters

SaburĹŤ (Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano)

Oda Nobunaga (Voiced by: Yuki Kaji)

KichĹŤ (Voiced by: Nana Mizuki)

Kinoshita TĹŤkichirĹŤ (Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura)

Oichi (Voiced by: Aoi YĹ«ki)

Other Characters

Ikeda Tsuneoki (Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu)

Shibata Katsuie (Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama)

Maeda Toshiie (Voiced by: ShintarĹŤ Asanuma)

Sassa Narimasa (Voiced by: Kenta Miyake)

Niwa Nagahide (Voiced by: Shinya Takahashi)

Takugen (Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata)

Tokugawa Ieyasu (Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama)

Takenaka Hanbei (Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai)

Azai Nagamasa (Voiced by: RyĹŤhei Kimura)

Mori Yoshinari (Voiced by: RyĹŤ Sugisaki)

Mori Nagayoshi (Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino)

Mori Ranmaru (Voiced by: Ayumu Murase)

Ashikaga Yoshiaki (Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita)

Matsunaga Hisahide (Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda)

Oda Nobuyuki (Voiced by: KĹŤki Uchiyama)

Hirate Masahide (Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa)

SaitĹŤ DĹŤsan (Voiced by: YĹŤsuke Akimoto)

Eliot Baker The Last Ancient Blog Tour with an Spotlight





I am so excited to have Eliot Baker here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with an Spotlight.

Thanks Eliot and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for allowing me to join your The Last Ancient Blog Tour!

Please take it away, Eliot!





 About the Author

Eliot Baker lives in Finland. He teaches communications at a local college and runs an editing and translating business, but would be content singing for his heavy metal band and writing novels full-time. He grew up near Seattle, got his B.A. in World Literature at Pitzer College, and got his M.S. in Science Journalism from Boston University. He was an award-winning journalist at the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror, and before that he wrote for the Harvard Health Letters. He spent four years pursuing a career in the sciences while at the Harvard Extension School, during which time he spun old people in NASA-designed rocket chairs and kept younger people awake for 86 hours at a time in a sleep deprivation study. He likes good books, all music, and bad movies, and believes music and literature snobs just need a hug.

His latest book is the supernatural thriller/historical mystery, The Last Ancient.

Visit his blog at www.eliotbakerauthor.blogspot.com.
Connect & Socialize!
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The Story Behind The Last Ancient

My inspiration for The Last Ancient started off as something darker than the final product. Some people very close to me were having their lives ripped apart by addiction, and I began writing a parable about that downward spiral. Then I basically went down a creative rabbit hole myself, found some incredible stuff, recorded it, and realized the story I needed to tell was a much different tale than the one I’d intended. It would have to be more personal.

I’d just quit my job as a reporter on Nantucket and moved to Finland to raise a family with my Finnish wife. Having given up career and country for the move, I felt stuck between two worlds, living in one but missing the other. Staring out my office window at the pale winter sunlight, I suddenly thought back to our former home on the island. I got homesick. I recalled one of my first field assignments as a reporter where I’d shadowed a deer hunter at sunrise, and how amidst a chorus of shotgun blasts the red island sun rose over the cold, windswept island. I remembered seeing truckloads of dead deer at the weigh-in station, and some illegally butchered carcasses discarded on pristine trails and beaches. Looking back down at my laptop, out of nowhere, I typed, “Shotguns crow across Nantucket.” Fireworks went off. The Finnish sunlight outside just seemed to turn golden. A gateway to this darkly fantastic Nantucket opened. It was a pivotal moment.

That didn’t mean it was easy to write. Remember how Keanu Reeves had to first decide which pill to take to enter the Matrix? And then he had to learn how to fight and fly and teleport and stuff once he went into the Matrix? Writing The Last Ancient was kind of like that: taking the pill was easy -- I just had to take it -- but dealing with the consequences of a genre-bending supernatural mystery thriller was really hard, requiring tons of effort and research.

I’d never designed a mystery before. At times I felt like I was juggling flaming machetes. So much research, so many interlocking subplots and historical anecdotes. And yet the characters always spoke to me and the story always flowed. I rarely got burned or cut and never dropped the blades. How? Most of all, I wrote the book I wanted to write, damn the conventions. You have to be passionate about your subject matter and use the literary force, young Jedi, lest you follow a fad or write what you think they’ll like. That will end in failure.

I finished the first draft and pitched The Last Ancient at The Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association conference in July, 2012. I got strong interest from some New York agents and indie publishers. Champagne Book Group was the one house who wanted my book as-is, without substantial changes, and they praised my writing and story right off. New York was worried the book was too long and combined too many genres, and recommended pretty invasive surgery. I went with the house that believed in me. And did they ever. They just awarded me 2013 Novel of the Year in their Champagne Book Group Annual Author Awards.


About the Book:

Around Nantucket Island, brutal crime scenes are peppered with ancient coins, found by the one man who can unlock their meaning. But what do the coins have to do with the crimes? Or the sudden disease epidemic? Even the creature? And who -- or what -- left them?

The answer leads reporter Simon Stephenson on a journey through ancient mythology, numismatics, and the occult. Not to mention his own past, which turns out to be even darker than he'd realized; his murdered father was a feared arms dealer, after all. Along the way, Simon battles panic attacks and a host of nasty characters -- some natural, others less so -- while his heiress fiancee goes bridezilla, and a gorgeous rival TV reporter conceals her own intentions.

Purchase your copy:

AMAZON

Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads 


Book Excerpt:

The deer’s blood catches the golden hour light. It radiates throughout the animal’s carcass in fall hues that reflect the island’s rustling red leaves and honey-colored needles littering the sand. Such eerie, blasphemous beauty. I fire shots from my Nikon.

“That’s six. Six deer mutilations this month,” I say to my experts. Click. Click. Click.

Branches partially cover the deer. Its eyes are wet brown marbles rimmed and veined in burning red, as though it had been hung upside down for a day. Its lips are peeled back above the gums in a grimace of broken teeth. Brain matter spills through a crack in the skull. Two yellowjackets buzz over the red pulp. Land. Feed. Hover above their feast. Click. The neck is attached to the body by a flap of hide. One of the deer’s forelegs is missing. Inside the hole in its torso I can see that its entrails have been removed. I get on my elbows and snap pictures from the cold, damp sand. The heart is gone, too.

Dr. Pauline Driscoll, Nantucket’s town biologist, is squatting beside the carcass. She’s furious at Sgt. Brad Fernandez, who is cursing and stomp-cleaning a gore-splattered boot into the sand. She affects his tar-thick Roxbury accent. “Nice shaht cut, ace!” Her silvering French braid swings out the back of her UMass baseball hat as she unpacks measuring tape, sample tubes, and baggies from her turquoise external frame pack. Sgt. Fernadez kicks bloody goo into the bushes.

“Maybe I wanna carry da machete fuh once, Doctor Driscoll,” he says.

Dr. Driscoll mutters and scribbles into her notepad. She is oblivious to her windswept beauty. Her dark eyes shine and sparkle, and she’s maintained her triathlete’s figure despite being on the other side of forty. She’s over a decade older than me, but I understand why Sgt. Fernandez wants to impress her.

Dr. Driscoll carves out an eyeball, coaxing it from the deer’s eye socket with a gloved hand. Tendons follow the jelly marble from the orbital cavity like melted provolone. She saws through the tendons with a retractable scalpel. Fernandez gags. It makes him look like a blushing Boy Scout in his green Environmental Police uniform and billed hat and bulky black utility belt. Driscoll smiles school-girl sweet, dropping the eyeball into a baggie. She offers Fernandez the instrument and baggie, asking him if he’d like to carry the scalpel for once.

Fernandez holds up one hand at her and balls the other over his mouth, gulps twice. “You’re one sick hippy,” he says.

Driscoll hums a macabre rendition of Melanie Safka’s Lay Down as she scoops bits of brain from the crack in the animal’s skull.

I sniff the shrieking wind. It’s bowing the barrens of pitch pines toward our clearing in the scrub oak like gnarled magnetic filaments. I can smell the ocean, almost hear it, but not see it. From our elevated bald spot in the suffocating brush, I can see the sandy path we just traversed. It cuts like a surgical scar through the open conservation land’s tufts of bladed grass and bristling patches of black huckleberry and pasture rose. It winds up Altar Rock into the reddening horizon, where a hunter stands silhouetted on the rim of the valley, binoculars pressed to his face. The strapped shotgun jutting from his shoulder makes him look like a fierce insect with an antenna.

“You poor baby,” says Driscoll, passing a black fine-toothed comb over the deer’s patchy fur. She taps the comb and a dozen ticks fall like grains of volcanic sand into a plastic dish. “Those teeth, that pelt -- man, you were one sick fella.”

Fernandez breathes, gets down on one knee, and starts shaving samples from the spine with his own folding knife. He then slices off chunks of muscle and organs that he places into baggies under Driscoll’s direction. Click.

“I’m bustin’ heads, and you can quote me on that,” says Fernandez through clenched teeth behind his trimmed mustache. “Someone was huntin’ before dawn.”

“Or something,” I say, snapping close-ups of the spray radius. Drops of blood shine like rubies on wooden pendants in the foreground against a hazy cloud of thorns. The experts exchange looks and groans.

“Anyways, this is roundabouts where da Pike brothers said dey heard something freaky ’bout an hour ago,” says Fernandez. “Said it was like a deer cry, but kinda mutant, with loads a struggle.”

Dr. Driscoll stands and examines the sand and rocks for tracks. She picks up the machete she used to carve a trail here through the scrub oak. “Man, what is wrong with people?” she says and hacks at the thorny curtain with skills she picked up surveying birds in the Amazon and in Africa. She asks Fernandez if he can find any boot prints. He shakes his head.

I ask them to speculate on a predator. No dice.

“How about speculating on how it got in here then?” I say. “We lost the tracks and the blood trail way long ago.”

“Good point,” admits Dr. Driscoll.

The deer’s remaining foreleg suddenly stiffens as though saluting, hitting Driscoll’s thigh.

“Oh, fuck me hard on Sunday!” says Dr. Driscoll, jumping into Sgt. Fernandez’s arms.

He whispers, “Relax, it’s a fresh kill. And sure, Sunday’s good for me.”

Driscoll shoves Fernandez, and says to me, “Don’t you dare put that in the article.”

“I’ll think about it,” I say, and try to smile. Can’t. I’m shaken.
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