Sunday, March 9, 2014

Order of Earth (Elements of Ink) by Jennifer Cornet @J_Cornet

Book Excerpt: (Chapter 2)

The brass doors opened behind her bringing with it an unexpected guest.

“I knew you’d come home.”

Onyx’ heart sank hearing him speak in that gentle voice. He always used that voice when he knew he was wrong; when he was trying to make her forgive him. It felt repulsively sweet now.

“She was just leaving,” Jade said in a firm tone as she turned to face him.

“Nicky, you brought a bodyguard with you? That hurts,” he sounded genuinely insulted.

“Goodbye, Philip.” Onyx said softly, suddenly lacking the confidence she just had.

Philip reached out for her arm, but Jade intercepted the action, grabbing him by the wrist and twisting it until he let out an almost inaudible yelp.

“You will not lay a hand on her. Not now, not ever again. If you so much as brush against her in a way I don’t like, I will break every bone in your body, starting with your pinky toe and ending with your skull.” She twisted just a little further.

But he didn’t lose his composure. He looked Onyx dead in the eye, “Quite a lot of bark for your little Chihuahua of a friend here, huh? Nicky, we don’t need all of this. This running away, the muscle, the hiding out, we are better than this. You know I love you more than anything in the world. Just come home, baby. I need you. It’ll be different, I promise. I’ll start going to therapy like you always wanted. You can even hang out with that crayon haired one. No questions asked. Just come home. What do you say? Come on, I need you.”

“Onyx, don’t you listen to him. Put the bags in the elevator, we’re leaving.”

Onyx hesitated, switching her gaze back and forth between the two. He looked so hurt, so broken up, she just wanted to leap into his arms and console him. For a moment, she could feel her heart ripping in her chest; she believed him. She believed he meant he would change and things would be different. She believed it and she hated herself for it.

Onyx rolled her bags into the elevator before she lost her nerve.

“Goodbye, Philip.” She said again.

“If you love her even half as much as you say, you’ll let us leave here. You’ll leave her alone and move on with your life. But keep the therapy bit, you need it.” Jade winked at him before joining Onyx.

As Jade released his wrist, he noticed a small green marking on her arm; a very familiar mark that he knew all too well.

The girls disappeared down to the ground floor, leaving Philip alone in his flower filled living room. He pulled out his phone and hit speed dial.

“She’s with the Order of Earth. Find out what family, find out who their Protector is, and find out now.”

OrderOfEarth

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Genre - Urban Fantasy

Rating – PG – 13

More details about the author

Connect with Jennifer Cornet on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.jennifercornet.com/

Saturday, March 8, 2014

#AmReading #Excerpt from Danny Wynn's Upcoming #Novel "Lucien"

It was around four in the morning in a packed pulsating club in Istanbul, when I caught Lucien’s eye.  The name of the club was 2019, as in the year, I’m pretty sure – “Twenty-nineteen” was what people called it.  He and I were dancing with the exquisite Azine, his Turkish ex-girlfriend – light brown hair, golden skin, stylish, the epitome of elegant femininity.  We all moved loosely, sweat-drenched, Lucien in that whirling psychedelic dervish way of his.  I was more or less in a transcendent state, one of those all too rare moments when the pure act of dancing makes you high, or higher, and fills you with euphoria.
I caught his eye and shouted above the blasting techno-soul, “I’m alive!”  He nodded and grinned his grin.  He knew.
- from Lucien and I (being released in autumn 2014)
manFromTheSky
How far would you go to add excitement to a life you felt was boring and meaningless?
For seventy-three-year-old Jaime, the answer takes him by surprise. Accustomed to a lonely life high up in the mountains on the western coast of Mallorca, his dull routine is suddenly shattered when a man parachutes from a plane and lands nearby. The plane crashes; the man lives.
It’s a drug smuggling operation gone bad. But Stefan, the man from the sky, has escaped with eight kilos of cocaine in a gym bag. Jaime brings Stefan home and is soon entangled in Stefan’s attempts to sell the cocaine and start a new life.
As they dodge Parisian drug dealers and corrupt Mallorcan police, Jaime’s search for excitement and Stefan’s resolve to find stability lead them both down dangerous paths.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Literary Fiction, Adventure
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Danny Wynn on Facebook

Friday, March 7, 2014

#Author Olga Soaje on What Inspired #Contemporary #Fiction Novel TWELVE HOUSES

- How important are friends in your life?
Extremely important. I’ve been blessed to have friends who can laugh and cry with me, sometimes in the same day.
- How many friends does a person need?
I think every person is different in their requirements, for me it’s not about the number but the quality of the friendship. I prefer to have a few really close friends that I know I can count through anything.
- Do you have time to read?
Yes, it’s one of my favorite things to do before sleeping.
- Last book you purchased? Tell us about it.
“The Signature of all Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think she did a wonderful and detailed job in Historical Fiction.
- What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?
If you see my books each chapter is started with a quote, on my Pinterest account one of my boards is called “Vitamin of the day” which are quotes that I like and in my Facebook page you can always see quotes being posted. So it’s safe to say I like quotes, to just focus on one I couldn’t possibly but I’ll share one I recently read and loved: “Two things define you. Your patience when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have everything”.
- What is your favorite color?
Pink and off-white
- What inspired you to write Twelve Houses?
Twelve Houses was started as an observation you could say, the father of a dear friend of mine came to visit her and upon meeting him I could feel his loneliness and his grief shadow his actions, when I learned he became a widow six years prior and how his life changed dramatically after. It  got me thinking on the subject: What do you do when the love of your life goes? How do you handle it? How can one survive when it looks or feels unbearable?
I started asking myself those questions and the answers came as I started to write the first chapter and gave Amelia her own voice to express her feelings upon becoming a widow while facing fear, doubt and anger and having no solace from her always tranquil and uplifting sculpture studio. I never felt lost in this I could always imagine the feelings of grief and loneliness while at the same time allowing yourself to move and go on.
- What’s the best piece of writing advice you were ever given?
It was actually when I had the manuscript in my hard drive for a long time; when a friend (Becky) pushed me to self-publish saying “You not only have to continue writing because of the joy it brings you. You have to publish so other people can read it and you can touch their lives, it’s the dream of every artist. Don’t let fear stop you.”
- What advice would you give to a fledgling writer to assist them on
their journey?
I think my own journey is just starting but I would say “Try to remember each day the joy writing brings you and from that place expect great things”
- What genre are you most comfortable writing?
Women’s fiction and Literary Fiction laced with touches of inspirational.

twelveHouses
Can anything good follow the best thing that ever happened to you?
Amelia Weiss loved her husband of thirty-five years very much, but now he’s left her a widow. Without him, she is unable to work in her sculpture studio without crying. She no longer has a bridge to her estranged daughter. And she can’t seem to keep her mind in the present.
But when her daughter reaches out asking for her help and her agent threatens a lawsuit if Amelia doesn’t deliver for an upcoming exhibit, she’s forced to make a choice. Will she reengage with her life and the people in it—allowing room for things to be different than they were before? Or, will she remain stuck in the past, choosing her memories over real-life relationships?
Thrust fully into the present, Amelia stumbles into a surprising journey of self-discovery.
Buy @ Amazon
Genre – Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Olga Soaje on Facebook

Steps Into Darkness (A Shakertown Adventure) by Ben Woodard @benswoodard

The unknown figure’s back was to them as he connected the wires to the detonator. Will shoved Tom. Only minutes remained.

They located the last connection point where the blasting caps were wired to two sticks of dynamite. The wires to the plunger snaked up the hill. The connecting strands were twisted, tightly, as with pliers. Tom snatched a rock, but Will grabbed his hand and pointed up the hill. Tom understood. The man would hear the pounding. They each took a twisted connection and tried to pry it apart with their fingers. They would need to break only one.

The wires resisted. Tom gritted his teeth, then remembered his pocket knife. He pulled it out, flipped the blade open, and wedged the tip between two strands. He twisted and the blade snapped. The sound startled the man. He whirled around and stared directly at the boys. Tom forced the broken blade into the gap in the wires. Will put his finger on top of one and pulled as Tom twisted. Blood ran down Will’s hand as the metal bit into his finger. They strained, and watched the man. His eyes darted in all directions. Then he made his decision. He pulled the plunger up, hesitated a moment, and slammed it down.

StepIntoDarkness

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Genre - YA/Mystery

Rating – PG – 13

More details about the author and the book

Connect with Ben Woodard on Facebook and Twitter

Website http://BooksByBen.com

Thursday, March 6, 2014

My First Kiss, Errr... #Book Sale by Alinka Rutkowska @AlinkaRutkowska #mayafilippo #amreading

Your first kiss is something you never forget. So is the first sale of your new book. Sometimes you don’t really know if what you experienced can be classified as a kiss or not. How passionate does it have to be? Does a kiss on the cheek count? So in reality you might have several firsts. With books as well. I would like to tell you about my two firsts. And we will be talking books now.
It was a cold December day. One of those that are meant for watching Cartoon Network whilst eating potato chips. At least that’s what the cool kids were doing. The nerdy ones, those whose parents think that TV sucks and books are fun, came to an indoor book launch party of their local author. They made cardboard ships, colored ships and ate chocolate ships. They also read Maya & Filippo Make Friends in Auckland, the first of their local author’s travel book series Maya & Filippo.
At a certain point I heard two parents trying to figure something out: “We need one for Paula, one for Victor, oh and we completely forgot about Vanessa!” Then the lady turned to me and said: “we can buy these, right? We need at least three copies!” Wow! That was pretty amazing. I don’t think they realized that they were my first customers. Hey, I don’t think I realized! I was so busy replying to the readers’ questions and posing for the local newspaper’s photographer (yes, there was a reporter at this event!) that I completely forgot about the commercial side of my book launch party.
So, yes, my very first sale of the series was a face to face delightful experience. Now, on to my second first.
Maya & Filippo Make Friends in Auckland takes place both on a cruise ship and in Auckland (the capital of New Zealand) so naturally I made an excel spreadsheet with all the bookstores, tourist centers, libraries and cruise lines I could market my book to. I compiled it with all the contact persons’ details and started my niche marketing campaign. Two months after the book came out I checked my sales dashboard and there it was - my second first - seven books were bought by one of these institutions. That’s great - but which one was it? I felt joy mixed up with a bad taste in my mouth - yes I just kissed - and it was a memorable experience - but with whom? It must have been one hell of a party! But even though I can’t quite identify the lucky guy, I believe I can narrow my search down to two candidates. It must either be Auckland Libraries or someone else but hey, I don’t kiss and tell!

maya_filippo
Alinka Rutkowska has created a tale that will appeal to children, which teaches about choices, and encourages communication and sharing. Rating: 5.0 stars from Readers’ Favorite Reviews.
Embark on a one-of-a-kind, unprecedented, breathtaking adventure with Maya and Filippo as they travel around the globe on board the “Fun Princess” — a cruise ship full of surprises. Discover their fascinating ports of call, find out what the local customs and traditions are, join the kids in activities at sea, and explore the remarkable world they create through the power of their positive outlook.
This time the kids spend a day on board the Fun Princess. They become junior chefs at sea and learn how to bake a cake. Maya and Filippo discover how trying out different recipes gets them closer to creating the perfect dessert. They also discover the power of sharing.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Children's Picture Book
Rating – G
More details about the author
Connect with Alinka Rutkowska on Facebook & Twitter

Forty 2 Days (The Billionaire Banker) by @GeorgiaLeCarre #Romance #MustRead #Excerpt

‘‘You taste and smell the same, let’s see if you feel the same,’ he says, and, lifting me slightly off the ground, grasps my thighs and spreads them wide apart.  My shoes fall off with a dull thud.  He returns my bare feet to the ground soundlessly.  His large hands grab my hips and tilt my lower body so it is perfectly aligned with his cockhead.  For a second I feel him tease me by running it along my clit and then he drives into me.
The impact makes me shudder and my breath catch in my throat.  My mouth opens in a soundless cry.  I draw a breath quickly.  Prepare myself for the next swift thrust of pleasure.  It comes before I am ready.  This time I cannot help it, I utter a strange cry, but my muscles are already clenching him and sucking him even deeper into my body.
He sets up a rapid pace.  Every wild plunge into my depths has me jerking in response.  Slowly I am lifted higher and higher until I am standing uncomfortably on the tips of my toes, my hips tilting higher and higher, wanting more and more of the gloriously thick invasion.  My thighs and calf muscles are so tense they start to ache and my heart is beating so fast I feel it thudding like a drum inside my ribcage.  My sex becomes a greedy, hungry mouth sucking at him.
I force myself to hold my body in the same position while he hammers into me until, with one last painful thrust that I register at the base of my womb, he calls my name and finds his climax.  His cum is slick and hot inside me.  For a second his nose nuzzles in the crook of my neck and then he rouses himself and pushes away from me.
I don’t turn to face him, but slowly set my heels down to the ground and push myself away from the wall.  I will gather myself a tiny bit more before I turn again to face his condemnation.  I feel weak, raw, bruised, abused, vulnerable, but…satisfied.  I should have felt shame, but I don’t.  I love this man.
I turn around slowly.
He is dressing quickly.  While buttoning his shirt with his back to me, he says, ‘I will get Laura to send you a morning after pill.’
A stray thought.  A bit late for that, mate.  If he knew.  If he only knew.  I say nothing, suddenly feeling my nakedness.  Soon he will be dressed and I will be the only naked one in the room.  I begin to walk to the bathroom.
‘Wait,’ he orders. I long to cover myself, but I do not.  He cannot humiliate me.  I will not allow it.
When he is fully dressed he turns and looks at my exposed body. It is masked well, but it is still there, the hunger.  Still now.  When he has just been satiated.  So much remains that my eyes widen.  It is the same for me: I want him again.  I am just as helpless to the call of his body.
But he turns away from me.
I watch him go to the side cupboard and pull out a book.  It is covered in leather.  Looks like a journal.  He tosses it on the bed next to me.  ‘This is for you.  I want you to keep a record of everything I do to you.’
‘Why?’ I whisper.
‘For my reading pleasure?’
‘That’s just sick. I’m not doing it,’ I say.
As if I am a life-size doll he picks me up and tosses me on the bed.  I land on my back with a bounce, but I stare up at him defiantly.
He stands over me.  His face is hard and forbidding.  Very gently he touches the necklace.
‘You’re nothing but skin and bone,’ he says, almost to himself.  His hands reach for my ankles and lifting them up he opens my legs into a V.  Turning his head to one side he kisses my right ankle and runs his hot, velvety tongue along my calf.  My breathing quickens.  At my knee he stops and sucks the tender skin at the back of it, and then that cunning tongue licks on to my inner thigh.
‘How much do you want me to taste you?’ he whispers.
As an answer I moan and try to push my sticky legs further apart.
‘No, ask me nicely.’
‘Yes, please,’ I beg.
‘Please what?’ he asks enjoying his dominance and control.  His finger lightly circles my wet opening.
‘Oh God…please, please… Taste me,’ I beg shamelessly.
‘Will you write your journal?’
‘Yes, yes, I will.’
He straightens his arms and holding my trembling legs open wide he looks at my sex, swollen and drenched with both our juices, a glistening treasure.
‘Cunt,’ he dismisses, and letting go of my legs leaves the bedroom.
42Days
Beyond the seductive power of immense wealth lies... Dark Secrets
Devastatingly handsome billionaire, Blake Law Barrington was Lana Blooms first and only love. From the moment they touched his power was overwhelming. Their arrangement quickly developed into a passionate romance that captivated her heart and took her on an incredible sexual journey she never wanted to end.
The future together looked bright until Lana made a terrible mistake. So, she did the only thing she could... she ran.
Away from her incredible life, away from the man of her dreams, but she should have known a man such as Blake Law Barrington was impossible to escape. Now, he's back in her life and determined that she should taste the bitterness of his pain.
Shocked at how rough the sex has become and humiliated that she is actually participating so willingly in her punishment, she despairs if she will ever feel the warmth of his touch--the solidity of his trust again? And even if she can win his trust, loyalties are yet to be decided, and secrets to be revealed--secrets that will test them both to their limits.
Will Lana be able to tear down the walls that surround Blake's heart, and break him free of the brutal power of immense wealth?
Can Blake hold on to Lana's heart when she discovers the enormity of the dark secrets that inhabit the Barrington family?
Lana has always believed that love conquers all. She is about to test that belief...
Buy @ Amazon
Genre – Erotic Romance
Rating – PG-18
More details about the author
Connect with Georgia Le Carre on Facebook & Twitter

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Devolution by Peter Clenott @PeterClenott

Excerpt

Chiku couldn’t help stare at the large bulge that was Rebecca’s baby-to-be. It made her reflect upon the gynecological exam Dr. Kessel had just given her. At sixteen, she couldn’t imagine being anyone’s mother, except maybe a chimpanzee’s. Rebecca was only fourteen, an eighth grader back home, a middle schooler. How could she be a mother? Yet even in wealthy well-educated America girls in their mid-teens were getting knocked up all the time, having their babies, and changing their lives in ways unpredictable and permanent. Not Chiku. Boys could go to hell.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Chiku asked.

“Two week. Three week. He ask me how my baby doing. I tell him, fine. He give me twenty francs. He always give me money.”

“And that was it?” Chiku gazed at Tim who was still holding all of the things she had given him from her buried stash. “What about Dr. Fisher? Do you know why he’d be in my dad’s house?”

Rebecca dipped her head in thought then gave out with a startled grunt as the baby inside her gave a hefty kick. “Soon,” she said, “Any day my Abasi.” Then she staggered against Chiku.

“You okay? Maybe she’s coming out now.” Chiku was aghast.

“No. No. He. Not yet. No water.”

“Well, you can’t stand here. You have to sit, Rebecca. In the shade.”

Chiku pulled the pregnant girl into the cooler cover of the banana tree. “You want water? Something to drink?”

Rebecca leaned against the tree rather than risk getting herself into a position from which she couldn’t rise. She panted, holding a hand against her belly, Chiku watching that hand move not of its own volition but due to the child inside raring to get going with life.

Not for me, Chiku thought.

Rebecca said, “I okay.”

“You’re sure?”

“When the water break, then we know.”

“Know what?” Chiku asked.

“That the baby is coming,” Tim said. He placed his hands on his friend’s shoulders. They were trembling as if she were the one about to go into labor. “Honestly, Chiku, what do they teach you in Brookline, Massachusetts?”

“How to avoid reality.”

Chiku took Rebecca’s hand. It was cool and sweaty and on her ring finger she was wearing something that looked awfully familiar to Chiku. “Nice,” she said. “Amethyst. My color. My ring, actually. How’d you get it?”

“Your father give me.”

“Cool. It matches your dress.”

Chiku didn’t care that it was an old ring, one that she had either lost or forgotten some distant time in the past and that probably couldn’t even fit her fingers anymore. She just wondered why her father would have given this particular girl this particular ring.

“I think they kill him,” she said.

“What?” Chiku’s eyes darted from the purple colored ring to the black face of the Hutu teenager.

“They were mad mad.”

“Who?”

“Fisher. Your father. Dr. Kessel. They all mad. And the others.”

“What others?” Chiku asked. “Does Colonel Fundanga know?”

“Colonel Fundanga one of them,” Rebecca said. “I keep quiet. Bad enough in the camp. I don’t want to die.”

Rebecca let out a long breath, took in a deep mouthful of air, and let out her discomfort once again. Then she smiled at Chiku before saying, “They come for you next. You his daughter.”

Devolution

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre - Young Adult

Rating – PG

More details about the author and the book

Connect with Peter Clenott on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.peterclenott.net