Can't Wait Read

American Vampire
By Jennifer Armintrout

Mira
February 22, 2011
ISBN#: 978-0778328780

Amazon.com

Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years...and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there's a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa's only hope for salvation. Even if she has to die first...

Jennifer is one of my favorite authors and I am so excited to read American Vampire. I ordered it this afternoon from Barnes & Noble! Please check it out along with her fantastic Blood Ties series!

Book-Cased (13)

The Iron Witch
By Karen Mahoney

Llewellyn/Flux
January 25, 2011 
ISBN#: 978-0738725826

Amazon.com

FREAK. That’s what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna’s own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

Book-Cased the week of February 21st

Winner Announcement!

  

Thank you to everyone who entered the Sara Reinke contest for Dark Thirst!

 

Special thanks for following my blog, tweeting and posting the contest.

The winner has been contacted.

Winner: Mikki-Manó

Romance Reviews Grand Opening

You’re invited!
From March 1 – 31, 2011 at Romance Reviews!

It’s The Romance Reviews’ Grand Opening!

Play the games. Explore new books. Chat with authors. Vote for Best Books of 2010. Rack up your points!

CAN YOU UNLOCK THE PUZZLE?
Visit everyday to increase your chances to win awesome prizes! Over 200 prizes waiting for you!

Main Sponsor: Dorchester Publishing




PRIZES:
Weekly Prizes
$10 Gift Cards – 32 winners (8 winners each week)!
Over 150 Book Giveaways in total (paperback, hardback, ebook)

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For Authors (based on results of book votes)
Grand Prize: $200 TRR Advertising Package
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Authors After Dark 2012!

The location for Authors After Dark 2012 has been revealed on the AAD BLOG!

Please stop by for all of the exciting news for both the 2011 and 2012 convention.

A new website is coming soon as well!

Guest Post: Mary Abshire Reading Writing Styles

Please welcome Mary Abshire to Intense Whisper! Make sure to check out all of Mary's tour stops!

Hello Everyone! Thank you for stopping by.

Do you like a fast paced book or one with a lot of details?

I love to read a variety of books. Two of my favorite authors have completely different styles. One writes lengthy descriptions. The other is fast paced, more action, and less descriptive. Complete opposites, yet I enjoy both. I don't stick with a certain style when I read books, but I do when I write.

I like to think I'm open-minded when it comes to reading books. I will read third person POV, first person POV, omniscient, whatever. I've read paranormal romance, urban fantasy, fantasy, horror, mystery. If I had the time to read other genres, I would. I'm very open- minded.

But when it comes to writing, I'm not. I write in first person POV, and I like action and emotion. In Claiming the Evil Dead, I tried to maintain a balance of detail and action. The more I write; I think I'm leaning towards faster paced type novels. The style feels right for me. Odd how I can be so open-minded with styles when I read, but completely opposite when I write.

Do you have a favorite style that you stick with, or are you open-minded and willing to try various writing styles and genres?

Claiming the Evil Dead by Mary Abshire
Noble Romance | All Romance Ebooks | Amazon

Half-demon Jessie Garrett is searching for an evil vampire that's been preying upon children. She wants to claim the rogue vamp's soul and send it to hell. To find the dead man walking she must partner with another bloodsucker, Drake, even though she doesn't trust him. While Jessie works with Drake, she learns not all vampires are killers and discovers the cold-blooded vamp is a temptation too difficult to resist.

After the fiend abducts another child and Jessie has a near fatal experience with vampires, she turns to Jeremy, a demon she bumped into at a club, and makes a deal with him for his help. Drake disapproves, and Jessie soon finds herself wedged between two volatile creatures. When the chance comes to save the child's life and claim the evil vamp's soul, she must decide whom she can trust—a vampire who cools her feverish desires, or a demon hell-bent on seducing her. Read an excerpt here!

What a chance to win some awesome
SWAG from Bewitching Book Tours? 

Just comment on this post and "like" Bewitching Book Tours on Facebook! One winner will be chosen from ALL the comments at all the blogs participating in Mary's tour. USA Entries Only. 

Make sure to visit Bewitching Book Tours for more tour dates. You can also visit Mary at her website, Facebook, and on Goodreads!

Book-Cased (12)

A Discovery of Witches
By Deborah Harkness

Viking Adult
February 8, 2011

ISBN#: 978-0670022410

Amazon.com

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well.
Read an excerpt!

Book-Cased the week of February 14th

Guest Post/Giveaway: Sara Reinke Defines Vampires

 Please welcome Sara Reinke to Intense Whisper! Make sure to check out all of Sara's tour stops!

When I was a kid, I used to love the paranormal. I always had my nose stuck in a book—and usually it was one about ghosts, monsters, aliens or other supernatural phenomena. If the show had been around back then, my teachers probably would have told you I’d grow up to be like Fox Mulder from TV’s The X-Files.

I’m older now, a little more skeptical, in many ways more like Dana Scully, Mulder’s practical-minded partner on the show. I love researching the history, science, technology and logic behind things; considering ideas or theories that might explain the seemingly unexplainable.

Since I like to write paranormal romance, these dual components of my nature are often in conflict with each other. Take my Brethren Series, for example. The Brethren are an ancient sect of vampires who live isolated from most of human society on hidden estates in the heart of Kentucky. I came up with the original concept for the series years ago, back in my more Mulder-inspired youth, but between that time and the actual act of crafting a story, the Sully side of me has put its own unique, somewhat scientifically grounded spin on it.

Let me explain. I love the idea of vampires—dark, sensuous, blood-thirsty, predatory, with superhuman mental and physical capabilities. But the standard mythology behind them—they can’t be exposed to sunlight, see their reflection in a mirror, touch or be touched by holy water or other sanctified objects—doesn’t make much logical sense to me. In order to make the Brethren work logically enough to write about them, I had to come up with my own mythos; in essence, I had to reinvent the vampire.

For me, that was part of the fun, the perfect complement of both Mulder’s “I want to believe” philosophy and Scully’s “I want to explain.” It’s taking the supernatural and hypothesizing about how it might be possible; trying to put some normalcy into the paranormal.

I’m pretty pleased with the results. The Brethren, for all of their wealth and powers, are basically as flawed as the rest of us; as motivated by guilt, greed, lust, love—you name it. Though they strive to live apart from humans whenever possible, they’re more like us than they’re willing to admit or accept. And therein lies the story.

Readers can check out the promotional video for Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen, the latest novella length installment in the series at my website: www.sarareinke.com. At the Flash version, you’ll also find an exclusive “About the Brethren” page that fills you in on the series to date, and the different characters introduced so far.

And for a limited time, readers can subscribe to my e-Newsletter and receive a FREE ebook copy of Dark Thirst, Book One in The Brethren Series. You can also visit the Contest page at the Source Immortal blog (www.sourceimmortal.com) and sign up for your chance to win a signed paperback copy of Dark Thirst as part of three fantastic prize packages we’re giving away for Valentine’s Day. There’s no better way to be introduced to the world of the Brethren vampires than with the book that started it all!



DARK PASSAGES by Sara Reinke:
Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other -- something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn't beautiful. And if there wasn't something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame, damn near impossible to resist.

Karen has always felt an inexplicable attraction to Tristan. More than just the fact he's strikingly handsome, it's as if being with him is something natural, comfortable and right. But soon a brash choice on his part leaves her heartbroken and confused, and a sadistic new enemy will put their tentative love-and their lives-to the ultimate test.

Thank you Sara, I love reading how different authors define "vampire". The Brethren sound fascinating.
How about all of you? What characteristics do you like to see vampires?

Answer the question above for a chance to win a rare, out-of-print signed copy of Dark Thirst from Sara Reinke!

Contest ends Friday, Feb 25th, 2011. One entry per household. Please leave your email address (name AT domain DOT com) if it is not in your profile.

INTERNATIONAL ENTIRES ARE WELCOME!

Winner Announcement!

 

Thank you to everyone who entered Donna Burgess Giveaway!

Special thanks for following my blog, tweeting and posting the contest.

The winners have been contacted.

Winners: 

L.C. Evans (USA - print copy)

Sibel Hodge (International - ebook copy)

Review: Entwined by Fate

Entwined by Fate
by S.A. Price

Thirty females of the Ophidian race have gone missing, most from the transient nest of Las Vegas, a rogue and unofficial nest run by the Saint, John Merrick. Believed to be dead by every Archon in the states, Merrick leads a quiet and unassuming life, saving those of his race that are lost and need it most. It's a solitary existence, one that he hates every day. He yearns for his mate, the woman he left over a decade before, and the woman who thinks him dead to this day. When Elise Rizdon gets the official invitation to the Archon meeting in Ohio by the leader of a new Midwestern nest, she never expected to see the love of her life at the woman's side, a man she was told was dead and buried. She lost him once upon a time, and she never fully recovered. Focusing on the issues, and not the man that has always made her body burn is not going to be easy. A disturbing event is on the horizon, one that threatens all Ophidian's and their way of life. In order to survive they will have to work together, give up old grudges and take chances on the things that matter most. Love, life and the continuation of their race.
From Amazon

Firstly, I have no fear of snakes or many creatures for that matter. Ok, perhaps bugs scare the life out of me. But I had a snake as a pet when a child. So I was excited to get started and find out how Stella and Audra would weave a tale combining humans and serpents. I am thrilled to say that they did a fantastic job. If you detest reptiles this may not be the tale for you, but if you see beauty in nature you will appreciate the seamless melding of these two species in Entwined by Fate.

Entwined by Fate is rich in magic, lore, family and history. Introducing a large cast of characters and two romances in addition to the main characters stories. I loved the variety of characters and personalities. Not everyone is good and the lines between friend and enemy are often hazy within the character dynamics making this an explosive read.

Filled with suspense, intrigue, danger, love, lust and fear the book kept me on my toes. I was enchanted by the secondary characters and their strengths. Not many things come easy in this book. There is turmoil, pain and distrust. Entwined by Fate is an emotional story of lost love mixed with a couple new romances. Add in an evil goddess, captives and a few dashing, unlikely heros and you have a great paranormal tale.

More stories from the Ophidian series can be found here!

Book-Cased (11)

Bound by Darkess
By Annette McCleave

Release: May 4, 2010
Publisher: NAL/Signet Eclipse
ISBN-10: 0451229762
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22976-2

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository 

 

Soul Gatherers - Book 2 

Soul Gatherer Brian Webster has long lived with the guilt of his failure to save his teenage sister. When another girl dies in his arms as she protects an ancient coin from a demon, he takes up her cause. The coin is one of thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas. United, the coins are a dark relic of immense power, and in the wrong hands, they could destroy civilization.

Lena Sharpe is on her own mission to find the Judas coins. A Soul Gatherer by day and a thief by night, she’s negotiated the most important deal of her life. When Brian intervenes and kidnaps her to obtain the coins, she attempts to escape. But the brazen warrior is unrelenting, as he is fearful that the beautiful felon has made a pact with the devil himself. And he’s not entirely wrong.

Bound together by burning desire and a similar darkness in their hearts, they race against time to recover the missing coins. But as the truth behind Lena’s bargain surfaces, Brian is faced with a desperate choice—save one or save many. 
Read an excerpt!

Book-Cased the week of February 7th

Winner Announcement!

 

Thank you to everyone who entered Roxanne Rhoads Giveaway!

 

Special thanks for following my blog, tweeting and posting the contest.

The winner has been contacted.

Winner: Melissa (Books and Things)

Guest Post/Giveaway: Donna Burgess Era of Kick-Ass Chicks

Please welcome Donna Burgess to Intense Whisper! Make sure to check out all of Donna's tour stops!

The era of the kick-ass chick!

I’m not sure why, but there is suddenly a lot of talk about “kick-ass” heroines. Maybe it’s because chicks my age (not that old, BTW) have gotten their fill of the weak little waif who always needs her man to save her from the bad guy so she can collapse against his brawny chest in a wave of grateful and relieved tears. Give me a break!

That image of the perfect action/romance must have been fabricated by some thin-wristed little movie executive who could not get a piece of ass to save his life, in the first place. And whose idea was it to always, always have the heroine (or distressed damsel, usually) fall down when she is running away from a guy with an axe to grind? Even Jamie Lee Curtis, who was, otherwise, as kick-ass as they come, fell down when Michael Myers wanted to take a poke at her. It’s just completely lame. I run on a regular basis and I can tell you I have yet to face plant on the pavement (knocking on wood).

Kick-ass chicks have always been around. They (or how about we – you know you’re kick-ass, too) have just never gotten the kind attention the weak-girl gets. Maybe we intimidate the guys a little too much. Lord knows men feel threatened by anything with an I.Q. over 50. Plus, a chick who can lift more than three pounds can be scary to some dudes.

Once upon a time, a girl could burn at the stake for being kick-ass. Just look at Joan of Arc. Or what about Margaret Wilson, who drowned for failing to bend to the King of England’s wishes way back in 1685? Of course, that’s too far back to worry about right now, and this isn’t a lesson on feminist history.

Nowadays, kick-ass chicks abound on television, movies, books and in real life (where there are so many kick-ass chicks, I can’t begin to name them here). Think Buffy Summers, Sarah Conner or Elizabeth Swann.  Visit your local bookseller and there they – we! – are, crouching catlike in tight leather jumpsuits (which is a feat in itself), sword in hand, hair blowing and declaring complete awesomeness. The kick-ass chick is the one who saves the asses of their men and then drags them off to do whatever the hell they want to them afterward. They are more than the teary-eyed, stumbling, mumbling waifs our mothers and grandmothers used to know.

Guys still carry the Stepford Wife fantasy, I think. You know the one—the mindless domestic goddess with great tits, who does exactly what their man tells them. Well, that’s a thing of the past. Kick-ass is here to stay! You either like it or you don’t. Either way, you’d better get used to it.

LOL, Thank you for the awesome post Donna! I am still smiling from this post (and envisioning myself wearing leather in the wind). Who are some of your favorite kick-ass chicks?

Darklands a Vampire's Tale by Donna Burgess
Smashwords | Amazon

Halloween night, twenty years ago, college student Susan Archer watched as her beloved twin brother was brutally murdered at the hands of a stranger she invited into their home. Still haunted by the guilt of that night, Susan is now a tough but bitter cop in a nowhere town, trying as best she can to lead a normal life. When she is nearly killed during a wild shoot-out, she realizes she is not as strong as she first thought.

Fearing a breakdown, she flees the confines of her safe boyfriend and familiar surroundings to find salvation in the arms of “Deathwalker” Devin McCree—the very man who killed her brother.

But things aren’t always what they seem and she quickly realizes Devin was not the monster she originally thought, but a kind of guardian angel instead. On the run from a crazed Nazi vampire-hunter named Kasper, she and Devin must find a way to endure the dreary urban landscape of a dying metropolis and escape Kasper’s wrath. View the book trailer here! 

Answer the question above the blurb for a chance to win an ebook or print copy of Darklands a Vampire's Tale!  

USA entires for print and international entries are for the ebook. Contest ends Feb 16th, 2011. Please leave your email address (name AT domain DOT com) and if you are entering internationally or from the USA. One entry per household. 


Make sure to visit Bewitching Book Tours for more tours dates.You can visit Donna at her website: http://www.donnaburgess.com/, at Facebook, and on Twitter!

Book-Cased (10)

Pride and Pleasure
By Sylvia Day

Kensington Brava
January 25, 2011

ISBN#: 978-0758231727

Amazon.com
 

Wealth has its dangers… There are disadvantages to being an heiress, as Eliza Martin knows well. Fortune hunters flock to her, acquaintances lie and pander, and lately, someone is engineering “accidents” to propel her to the altar. But Eliza will not be bullied, and she will get to the bottom of this plot. All she needs is a man to infiltrate her assemblage of suitors and find the culprit. Someone not easily noticed; a proficient dancer, quiet, and even-tempered.

 

…so do certain men... Thief-taker Jasper Bond is entirely too large, too handsome, and too dangerous. Who would believe that an intellectual like Eliza would be seduced by a man of action? But the combination of her stubbornness and the mystery makes the case one Jasper can’t resist. Client satisfaction is a point of pride and it’s his pleasure to prove he’s just the man she needs after all…  Read an excerpt!

Book-Cased the week of January 31st

Guest Post/Giveaway: Roxanne Rhoads My Vampire Love Affair

Welcome to my first post for Bewitching Book Tours! I am so excited to be part of these tours. For my first tour please give a warm hello to Roxanne Rhoads. Click here for a complete list of tour dates!

My Vampire Love Affair
Guest Blog by Roxanne Rhoads

Vampire myths, legends and folklore have existed throughout the ages all over the world. They have appeared in some shape or form in almost every culture and society.

 Yet it is mainly the 19th Century European vampire that comes to mind when we think about vampires. The modern vampire myth was born in literature such as Carmilla and Dracula. These vampires were romanticized; they were the sensual, dark and erotic creatures that that indulged their needs and desires without the constraints and boundaries of humanity such as moral, religious and societal rules and restraints. The repressed Victorian era turned the vampire into the embodiment of dark desires and sensuality that represented all the pent up sexuality of the times. The vampire became something not only terrifying but also highly attractive and alluring.

In today’s society the vampire is still the most popular of all paranormal creatures and definitely the most sensationalized and eroticized. Though our society is not as sexually repressed as it was in the days of Dracula we are still bound by human laws and morality, while the vampire is bound by nothing except perhaps their own conscience… if they retain one.

The vampire has become even more popular because of our youth and sex obsessed culture. How perfect… a creature that is immortal, retaining youth and beauty forever, forever able to indulge in the forbidden dark desires and sexual urges that we are taught to avoid.

Already a fan of paranormal tales and ghost stories, I was seduced by the vampire myth when I was around 11 years old and found a copy of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire at a yard sale. After I read it I was hooked and read every other book in her vampire series plus anything and everything else I could find on vampires.

By my teens I was deeply in love with vampire myth and legend. In my late teens and early 20’s I was into the Goth/vamp culture. My sleek and shiny, black and silver car even sported the personalized plate, VAMP.

Since then I’ve grown up and pretty much become “normal”, replaced the white make up with regular foundation and the blood red or sometimes black lipstick for regular pinks and reds. But I’m still a vamp at heart and my love affair with vampires is still going strong.

My darker side emerges from time to time especially when I write. The vampire is a reoccurring theme in much of my fiction. I love to twist and spin vampire myths and legends into scary, sexy, and often erotic tales.

My newest release, An Unexpected Evening, is one such tale.

Vampire recluse Samuel prefers to hide in the shadows until a sexy young witch wants nothing more than to make him live again. Finally he gives her exactly what she wants… but it may be more than she bargained for.

An Unexpected Evening by Roxanne Rhoads
Published by Noble Romance - Cover price $1.50
Noble Romance | All Romance Ebooks | Amazon Kindle

Samuel is a centuries-old vampire who prefers to be a recluse. He is always afraid of losing control and becoming the monster he once was. Falling in love with a young witch has pushed his boundaries and pulled him out of his comfort zone. Katerina always encourages Samuel to be more open, to let loose, and to really "live" instead of only existing in the shadows. One night, he finally grants her wish . . . in ways she never imagined.

CONTEST: Roxanne is offering one lucky reader a free pdf download of An Unexpected Evening along with a little swag pack of author goodies (hers and stuff from other authors too) which includes magnets, bookmarks, stickers, postcards, a button and more.

Open to US Shipping only please. Just leave a comment for Roxanne to enter. One entry per household. Contest ends Feb 10.


Make sure to visit Bewitching Book Tours for more tours dates. You can visit Roxanne at www.roxannesrealm.blogspot.com and www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com!