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Monday, September 19, 2016

Re-Launch & Giveaway: The Divinities by Lia Davis!



Witches blessed with god-like powers band together to fight in an ancient war between witches and demons.
Revised and re-released – Forgotten Visions available now! And Death’s Storm coming Oct 5th!
Follow the blitz and enter to #win one of 5 signed paperbacks of Forgotten Visions and a surprise swag pack!


Title: Forgotten Visions
Series: The Divinities #1
Author: Lia Davis
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: August 24, 2016
Length: 67k words
Format: Digital/Paperback
ISBN: 978-1944060152



Kalissa Bradenton isn’t your average coffee shop owner. Born to an elite witch bloodline with a rare genetic mutation, she’s a Divinity on a mission. Her investigation into the deaths of her parents sends her straight into the middle of an ancient war between witches and demons. After a near-fatal accident, a childhood friend, Ayden Daniels, comes to her aid and triggers visions of a past she doesn’t remember, sparking an old flame and new desires. With their history slowly becoming clearer, Kalissa eagerly sets her sights on mending Ayden’s heart and gaining his trust—until a ghost from her past returns to claim her as his demonic mate.
While investigating a series of Divinity murders, Ayden, the new sheriff of Maxville and grandson of the oldest living Divinity, comes face-to-face with the one woman he hopes to have little to no contact with. Old pain rises instantly and is quickly followed by anger and resentment. Through his rare power of adaptability, however, he learns that things from his past may not be what they seem. Hope fills his broken heart, and determination pushes him to do whatever it takes to win Kalissa once more before he loses her forever.
Together, they must find the strength to mend their tattered souls and learn to love again, while fighting an evil out to destroy the world.
Available at: Amazon

Title: Death’s Storm
Series: The Divinities #2
Author: Lia Davis
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: October 5, 2016
Length: 47k words
Format: Digital/Paperback
ISBN: 978-1944060176


Technical genius and demi-goddess—a.k.a Divinity—Khloe Bradenton relies on no one for help, and she definitely doesn’t need comfort from anyone but her twin. After her parents were killed by the demons over two years ago, she graciously accepts her role in the war between the demons and witches. But when a creature far more dangerous than the ones responsible for killing her parents claims he is her guardian and steps in with help she never asked for, she is torn between her desire for the dark predator and memories of the painful loss she endured at the hands of her enemies and from those who claimed to love her in the past.

One of the last Death Demons still in existence, Jagger has pledged his life to the Goddess of Witchcraft, Hecate. Charged with guardianship of the Divinities—one particular spitfire, in particular—he was told never to approach them, but simply to aid from a distance. But when Khloe sacrifices herself to save her twin and best friend and thus becomes the demons’ prey, Jagger has no choice but to reveal himself to her. However, he is taken by surprise when the desire to claim her as his own emerges, and his need for her burns hotter than her Fire. But in the midst of the war, their feelings for each other could prove more dangerous than the demons out to destroy them.
Available at: Amazon


More books from The Divinities coming this fall!
Dark Divine: coming November 9, 2016

Divine Awakening: coming December 14, 2016:



In 2008, Lia Davis ventured into the world of writing and publishing and never looked back. She has published more than twenty books, including the bestselling A Tiger’s Claim, book one in her fan favorite Ashwood Falls series. Her novels feature compassionate yet strong alpha heroes who know how to please their women and her leading ladies are each strong in their own way. No matter what obstacle she throws at them, they come out better in the end.
While writing was initially a way escape from real world drama, Lia now makes her living creating worlds filled with magic, mystery, romance, and adventure so that others can leave real life behind for a few hours at a time.
Lia’s favorite things are spending time with family, traveling, reading, writing, chocolate, coffee, nature and hanging out with her kitties. She and her family live in Northeast Florida battling hurricanes and very humid summers, but it’s her home and she loves it! Sign up for her newsletter, become a member of her fan club, and follow her on Twitter@NovelsByLia.

You can visit her online at the following places: Website Facebook | Twitter Goodreads | Amazon


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Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Spotlight & Giveaway: The Rented Bride by Tarah Scott & Kyann Waters!



The Rented Bride
 Billionaire Trent Weston dominates in the boardroom, but when it comes to the bedroom he’s discovered it’s dangerous to trust a woman. Now, with his grandfather’s health failing, Trent is determined to make the older man’s last days special…even if that means marriage.
Event planner Cassie Adams is determined to make her mark. However, the Weston party isn’t going as she’d hoped. One disaster after another is going to get her fired. So imagine her surprise when Trent Weston proposes marriage. Only he doesn’t want forever. He just wants to rent her. 



TARAH SCOTT & KYANN WATERS





Best-selling author Tarah Scott cut her teeth on authors such as Georgette Heyer, Zane Grey, and Amanda Quick. Her favorite book is a Tale of Two Cities, with Gone With the Wind as a close second. Tarah grew up in Texas and currently resides in Westchester County, New York with her daughter.







KyAnn Waters is a multi-published, award winning author of erotic romance. She lives in Utah with her husband and two children. Never believing she was a pet lover, she still has made a home for a menagerie of animals. She spends her days writing and her evenings with her family. She enjoys sporting events on the television, thrillers on the big screen, and hot scenes between the pages of her books.





“Why did you tell everyone we are engaged, Mr. Weston?”
He continued to stare out the window into the dark night. Cassie waited, hands clasped on her lap where she sat on the settee beside the window. He lifted the glass of scotch he held, pressed the edge against his lower lip and swallowed. The slide of his Adam’s apple drew her gaze. Her mouth suddenly went dry. She swallowed.
He lowered the glass. “I won’t bore you with the details.”
“Bore me.”
“I’m in need of a wife.”
“Get a girlfriend, propose to her.”
“I had planned to do just that here at this very party, in fact. But that’s no longer an option.” He took a deep breath. “Ms. Adams, could I interest you in a temporary position?”
“You want me to work for you?”
He nodded. “Yes. My grandfather’s health isn’t good.”
He didn’t need to elaborate. She’d witnessed the old man’s frailty.
“I would do anything to bring joy to his final days,” he said.
“You want me to plan another party?”
He gave a low laugh, but it didn’t ring with light-heartedness. “No, he’s had enough excitement. He needs to relax, to know that his legacy is safe.”
“I’m not a nurse.”
“He has a nurse. He needs an heir, a great-grandson.”
Whoa! Cassie stood. “Whatever you’re thinking, forget it.” Who exactly was he expecting to produce this heir? And she didn’t want to think about who would sire the child. She shook her head. “You’ve got the wrong girl.”
He turned. “You misunderstand. I’m sure one day I’ll have a wife and children.” He set his glass on the side table, then took two steps and stopped six inches in front of her. An unnerving heat blossomed in her chest and a flutter of butterflies flitted in her belly.
“He doesn’t have long. I’m asking if you will pretend to be my wife for the few days he has left with us.”


The Rented Bride is the first in the Highland Billionaires series.



**One lucky commenter will win an ecopy of The Rented Bride! Post a comment below to enter. Please include a valid email address. **


Friday, September 2, 2016

Interview with Lisa Beth Darling!

To celebrate her new release, Prodigal Son, Lisa Beth Darling answered some of my questions. Check out her new story here:

http://kristinasbooksandmore.blogspot.com/2016/08/spotlight-prodigal-son-by-lisa-beth.html



Tell my fans a little bit about yourself and your books- especially the Sister Christian series

There isn’t much to say about me; I’m going to be 50 pretty soon, I’ve been married for 30 years, and have two adult daughters. During the day I’m the secretary/web mistress for a local trades union.


The Sister Christian series is very different from most of my other books in that it’s a fairly ‘clean’ read. The best way to sum it up in the proverbial nutshell is probably to tell you about the title. It comes from the Night Ranger song of the same name that tune is about an older brother watching his sister enter adulthood and knowing that, even though he worries about her, he has to let her go off on her own.

How would you introduce your books to someone that has yet to read them?

For the most part, I’d warn them that my books tend to contain some pretty heavy and dark material but that shouldn’t deter them from reading.


What inspired you to start writing? What age did you start?

I started writing in 4th grade and instantly knew that was what I would do with and for the rest of my life.


What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?

I like to garden, I do it in containers on my deck and in my front yard as an in-ground garden became too much for me to take care of and we have a lot of critters that come into the yard. They were getting more veggies than I was! I also to take photographs and I’m a huge movie buff.



What's the hardest thing about writing? The easiest?

Definitely the hardest thing is the writer’s block we all hate so much. It’s so easy to get mired down in it and start believing that you suck and have no idea what you’re doing and who the heck wants to read what you write anyway!  It’s tough to get up, get over, and get on when that happens.  The easiest is when that dam finally breaks and I just find a way to put all of my faith in the Muse again. Then we’re flying around in the Zone with no sense of direction or time, we’re just doing it for the fun of doing it. That’s when the story evolves the most and the best lines/scenes are written.


What are you currently working on?

Nothing at the moment, my life has been very tumultuous these last two years and I’m bone tired. I’m hoping to start writing again one day but I’m not pushing myself to do it.


What books did you read as a child?

My grandfather was really into poetry he would read it to me for hours and hours as I sat on his lap in his big red easy chair. I still have two of those books and treasure them. He also loved American legends Johnny Appleseed was his favorite.  


How has your life changed since you began writing? 

Well, I’m a lot older! I’d have to say that Life actually happened after I started writing all those years ago.


How has your writing evolved over the years?

Well, with any luck at all, it’s gotten better but I’ll leave that up to the readers to decide.



What do you want readers to take away from your books?

That we all face adversity, sometimes on a grand scale, but if you just hang in there and keep swinging even when it’s the last thing you want to do, you can overcome it.



What’s your favorite scene/line from your works? 

One of my favorite lines is in “The Heart of War” wherein Ares is trying to help Alena by stitching a big cut on the bottom of her foot. At one point, she looks up and says: “You think you’re cute, don’t you?”  He replies: “Cute is for puppies and teenage boys. I am devilishly handsome.”  I laughed out loud writing that line. It’s just so him.



What authors or books have influenced you?

Stephen King has always been my biggest influence followed very closely by VC Andrews, Jacqueline Susan, Harold Robins, Judith Rossner, Mary Higgins Clark and a few others.



Do you listen to music while you write? 

Yes, my iTunes is always cranking away when I write. Usually I listen to ‘Classic’ Rock. I love pretty much all music from the 60s through the late 80s to early 90s.


Out of all of your characters, who is your favorite?

Ares God of War, I adore him. I don’t think I’ll ever be blessed with another character like him he is truly one of a kind.



How has designing your own covers fit into your author journey? Is it a long process?

PhotoShop is probably the least intuitive program on the planet and one of the largest programs to boot. Learning how to use it was a nightmare! No one helped me I had to learn it all on my own. But now that I’ve done that and I’ve become fairly proficient with the program I think being able to design my own covers has greatly enhanced the writing experience for me. It’s given me another creative outlet not just for the covers but I do all of my own web graphics as well.



You’re stranded on a desert island. What books do you take with you?

The Dollanganger Series by VC Andrews (Flowers in the Attic series)
The Stand by Stephen King
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King…ALL of it! I’ve only been able to read the first 4 books so far so I’d have lots of time to read the rest.
Once is Not Enough and Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susan


What book(s) do you wish you would have written?

The Stand, it’s my favorite book of all time.


Favorite book character?

Randall Flagg a/k/a The Man in Black a/k/a The Walkin’ Dude. Stephen King’s quintessential bad guy.


What is your dream vacation destination? 

Greece, I’d love to dance naked on a beach with a glass of Ouzo in one hand until sunrise. When I sobered up I’d go visit the ruins and the smaller islands.



Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years I’ll be 55 and hope to be bouncing a grandchild or two on my knee.


If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?

Her Way. Because that’s the only way I know to do anything and that’s the way I do everything; my way.


Your Sister Christian series and OF WAR series are very different. Was it hard switching to a new genre and a new set of characters?

The Sister Christian series is actually older than the OF WAR series. It had been sitting on my computer collecting digital dust for a very long time. Before the Sister Christian series, I wrote an absolutely massive fanfiction series—Daughter of the Gods—it had something like 6 or 7 novels, 3 or more novellas, and 30 short stories to it. It was big and bold and brash and broke all the rules of its fandom. I’d become burnt out on writing R and even X rated material, I wanted to tone it down, bring it back down to Earth so to speak. I wanted to know if I could write a compelling story that didn’t have all of the sex and violence people had been accustomed to with my stories. I wrote a little book entitled ‘Genesis’ then realized there was more to the story. By the time I finished it, I had the Sister Christian series. I published it, people liked it but not as much as they had liked DOTG. A bit disheartened, I took it down, I wrote the OF WAR series but never forgot about my little brother and sister story. When the OF WAR series came to an end, I dug it out of digital storage. It was a bit difficult going back to it, sprucing it up, adding, subtracting, rearranging and keeping to the original intent of that series which was to keep it fairly clean and as PG-13 as I could.  It was also a very refreshing change to get back to some old friends who had been neglected simply because their tale wasn’t as explosive as other stories. BTW, if anyone’s interested, they can go over to my website and download the first half of the Daughter of the Gods series free. (I’ve lost the rest of it over the years to hard drive crashes but it will leave the reader off in a satisfying place) They can see for themselves where our pal Ares got his start with this writer. Anyone out there who’s a fan of Nick Jackson from the Sister Christian series will have their suspicions confirmed. But, be forewarned, it’s rough, it’s unedited, and I don’t care.



How did you get the idea for the Sister Christian series?

Other than needing a change from writing heavier stories, I’d been put in touch with my birth family right around that time. It was not a good experience and it lasted a lot longer than I should have allowed. But the one good thing that came out of it was my brother. Someone once said that writing is really nothing more than one big therapy session that the whole world gets invited to. They were right especially in this case. I felt a lot like Hannah when we first meet her; broken, neglected, dazed, confused, but still hopeful. At that time, there was this particular character on a TV show that caught my eye. He was also broken, dazed, and confused but utterly brilliant. Most people kept trying to give him a love interest and I thought to myself that character doesn’t need a lover, at this point in his life he’s unable to relate to a lover. What he really needs is a sister. So, in my own way, I gave him one. The rest, as they say, is history.


Do you have a favorite line or scene from the Sister Christian series?

My favorite scene in the series is in the second book ‘Sins of the Father’ when Richard Mason adopts the persona of his biological father, James Rice, in order to pull some ugly truths out of Hannah. The scene immediately following that one wherein Mason completely trashes Father Murphy’s kitchen in a fit of rage is my second favorite scene.


Which of your characters are you most alike?

Probably Hannah Rice, our leading lady in the Sister Christian series. I’m always bumbling and fumbling my way through life. Making mistakes. Not understanding things. Feeling out of place or, as in Hannah’s case, a wee bit out of time.




Can you describe your writing process? Do you have any particular writing habits or rituals?

I like to write in the afternoon and I do it in my home office, at my own desk, with my own computer. I know people who can write anywhere but I’m not one of them. I have my windows open, my iTunes blaring, scented candles burning, a cup of coffee, a glass of something potent, and my cigs.  If all of those things are in place and I’m not being dragged down by writer’s block then I’m good to go.



How would you describe your writing style?

For the most part, I guess I’d call it ‘gritty’. I’m not an elegant writer, I don’t fill pages with purple prose by going into great detail regarding the color of the drapes in a room or something like that. I tend to trust my readers to be able to fill in such things for themselves if they care to. I am an honest writer. I will always tell the reader the truth of every story and not sugar coat it.



Are you planning on writing any more stories about Ares and Alena?

I am hoping for that with all my heart. I know for a fact that there is an Ares story rolling around in me but I think it will be separate and apart from the OF WAR series. He seems to want to be the star of a new single novel show. After that then maybe there’s just one more Ares and Alena story left to tell.


What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Write for yourself don’t do it for anyone else. Don’t follow ‘trends’ or try to ‘fit in’. Write stories that you would want to read and that entertain you. When writer’s block settles in (and it will!) know it’s just your own self-doubt that’s holding you back. Have confidence in yourself and your ability to tell a good story. Don’t take criticism to heart or personally, not everyone out there will love what you do. Instead, read it, re-read it, and see if there’s something in there that you can use. That you can learn from and apply to your next story. That’s how we get better at what we do.

Where can fans find you? 

I’m not hard to find and I’m rather friendly so if anyone’s of a mind to stalk or better yet actually contact me they can visit:
My Facebook ‘fan’ page: http://facebook.com/lbdarling
My Twitter: @lb_darling


Of course they can find my books on Amazon, Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks and several other sites.


Thursday, September 1, 2016

Review: Dragon Blue- A Lie That's True by Macy Babineaux!



Miranda Betts works as a waitress in a roadside diner in Oklahoma. Her life will change when a mysterious female customer leaves an ornate necklace in lieu of paying her check. Later, alone in her trailer, she tries on the necklace and is transported to a strange land full of people who can shift into other creatures, including fearsome dragons. And everyone thinks she's someone she's not. 
Corban Everfrost leads the clan of blue dragons and rules the Icelands after the mysterious disappearance of his father. While investigating the appearance of strange interlopers from another world, his sister informs him that he is to be wed to the daughter of the Wildfire clan who has been in exile on Earth since she was an infant. Corban wants nothing to do with a new bride or the Wildfires. But when he sees the dark, fiery woman brought to his world via a magic necklace, she stirs something within him. 
At first, Miranda thinks Corban is a jerk. He thinks she's an outcast from a clan he despises. But soon they will learn each other's secrets, and as they learn to love each other their relationship may be the key to saving all of Xandakar from dark forces from another world. 
Dragon Blue is the first book in a planned 5-book series, The Dragonlords of Xandakar. It contains lots of fast-paced action, VERY steamy love scenes, and a happy ending.



I'm a sucker for a good paranormal romance, everyone knows this by now. Dragons have become one of my new favorite shifters to read about, so I was super excited when I got the opportunity to review this one! First off, look at that cover! *swoon* It's gorgeous! And I am happy to report that the story behind the cover is just as good.

One of the most important things for me in a paranormal romance tale is the way an author writes. It takes a special author to be able to weave a great story about mythical creatures and far-away lands and capture the reader completely. I was completely drawn into this story! This was the first novel I've ready by Macy, but it definitely will not be the last and a large part of that was her writing style. It's very unique and different than anything I've read before. There's a special something about it I can't quite put my finger on. It's risqué and humorous, yet  the characters feel real at the same time. Dragon Blue is told in two alternating POVs that are distinctive. Normally I'm not a huge fan of alternating POVs, but it works with the plot. I enjoyed being able to get into both of the main character's heads and exploring them more as characters that way. Miranda was my favorite of the two. She's sassy, quirky, yet brave and a little bit dirty. She's more than your average cookie cutter heroine and that's why I like her.

The storyline is intriguing and this story was a great introduction to the series. Though the book doesn't end in a cliffhanger, which I enjoyed, it still left me anxious to continue reading about these characters and this exciting new world filled with rivaling dragon clans. The little bit we got to know and see of the different clans was fascinating and I'm hoping to learn more about them in future books. 

The only thing stopping this book from being a 5 star instead of a 4 star rating was that the characters fell in love a little too quickly for my liking. It seemed like one page they went from not caring for one another to them being in love. I would have liked to see a little more build up in their relationship before that point. With that said, I was still a sucker for the romance. It's sweet, yet spicy. There is quite a bit of steam throughout the whole story, but is not too prevalent. I enjoyed that the sensual aspect of the story did not over shine the world building and character development. I think that balance is very important, especially in the first book of a series. 

In short, I loved this world and cannot wait to visit again! If you're looking for an exciting new paranormal romance series to try out, definitely give this one a try. The writing and storyline are awesome!

4/5