Dark Secrets Virtual Book Tour

Dark Secrets:

A Paranormal Noir Anthology

Rachel Caine, Cynthia Eden,

Megan Hart, Suzanne Johnson, Jeffe Kennedy, Mina Khan

Genre: Paranormal Noir,

Romance, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Date of Publication:  September 29, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-942840-05-3

ASIN: B0147D7JTU

Number of pages: Approx. 350

Word Count: Approx. 150,000

Cover Artist: Robin Ludwig Design

Book Description:

Six award-winning authors bring you this spellbinding collection of stories about dark desires, mysterious worlds, and danger that lurks in the shadows of the night. Where nothing is black and white; where things might not be as they seem; where magic and mayhem rule.

MARION, MISSING by Rachel Caine

Valentine is a detective with two major problems: he's been offered a kidnapping case that will probably get him killed, and his partner won't let him turn it down. He owes her that much … since his partner's a ghost, and he's the one who killed her. A dark, haunting noir mystery of love, hate and loss.

FEMME FATALE by Cynthia Eden

PI Mick Swayne has seen it all—his clients have included liars, thieves, and even killers. He thinks he can handle anything and anyone. Then she walks into his office. Savannah Moreau is beautiful, seductive, and…a vampire? The gorgeous vamp hires Mick to help her track down a killer who is hunting in Chicago, but as Mick slips deeper into Savannah’s paranormal world, he wonders if he can really trust his new client…

DANCE WITH THE DEVIL by Megan Hart

When the devil starts the music, you'd better get ready to dance.

Kathleen Murphy has sold her soul to the devil. Fame, fortune, success...everything she's ever dreamed of is hers, and all she has to do is the devil's bidding. When love comes knocking, the last thing in the world she wants to do is involve Jake in her twisted world, but the devil's started up the jukebox and Kathleen has no choice but to learn the steps.

THE CONSORT by Suzanne Johnson

Faulkner Hearne, the captain of the ruthless Fae Hunters, finds his duty at odds with his heart when he’s ordered to capture the consort of Faerie’s cruel Prince of Summer when she flees across the veil into modern New Orleans. Can Faulk turn Liandra over to a certain death at the hands of the prince, or will he risk a war with Faerie in order to save her? An all-new novella set in the Sentinels of New Orleans multiverse.

HEART’S BLOOD by Jeffe Kennedy, a Twelve Kingdoms novella

A dark fairytale retelling of a princess robbed of rank, husband and even her name.

Nix is nothing. The Princess Natilde—her former waiting woman—attacked her on the journey to wed Prince Cavan, stripping her of everything and taking her place. With no serving skills, Nix becomes a goose girl. Perhaps if Nix keeps her promise never to reveal who she really is, Natilde won’t carry out her vile threats. Prince Cavan entered his arranged marriage determined to have a congenial, if not loving relationship with his future queen—for the sake of both their kingdoms. But, his wife repels him more each day and he finds himself absurdly drawn to the lovely Nix....With broken vows, anguish and dark secrets between them, Cavan and Nix struggle to find the magic to restore what’s gone terribly wrong... if it ever can be.

THE DJINN IN THE MIRROR by Mina Khan, a Djinn World novella

A paranormal Cinderella story with a young witch as the heroine and a wicked, sexy djinn instead of a fairy godmother....Dahlia, the step-daughter of a power hungry wizard, promises to free a djinn trapped in a mirror if he rescues her from impending death. But Ashmael the djinn has his own agenda: to trick & seduce his way to freedom. The only problem is he ends up falling for Dahlia. Can he win his freedom and save the girl?

Review:

This collection of noir tales is absolutely riveting. If I could give it higher than a 5 star I would, that's how much I'm loving these dark and twisted tales of love, hate and the paranormal. Marion Missing was a page turning masterpiece and reminded me of a movie I saw when I was a kid-blood paintings and a crazed painter. Only this time it was in the modern trappings of noir fiction. Each and every story in this anthology is a dark pearl you are going to love to discover. Just make sure you don't have to be at work early the next day because you won't want to turn the lights out...

5/5

About the Authors:

Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 internationally bestselling author of more than 45 novels that span the categories of horror, suspense, urban fantasy, science fiction, media tie-in, historical, and young adult. She’s also the author of more than 100 short stories.

http://www.rachelcaine.com

Twitter: @rachelcaine

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rachelcainefanpage

Award-winning author Cynthia Eden writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader best-seller. Cynthia is also a three-time finalist for the prestigious RITA® award. Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over fifty novels and novellas.

http://www.cynthiaeden.com

Twitter: @cynthiaeden

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage

Megan Hart is a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author who writes in many genres including mainstream fiction, erotic fiction, science fiction, romance, fantasy and horror.

http://www.meganhart.com

Twitter: @megan_hart

Facebook: www.facebook.com/megan.hart

Suzanne Johnson is the author of the award-winning Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series. Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she is author of the award-winning Penton Legacy paranormal romance series as well as The Collectors romantic suspense series, including Lovely, Dark, and Deep, winner of the 2015 Holt Medallion and the 2015 Booksellers Best Award winner for romantic suspense. Her new Wildlife Wardens romantic suspense series begins in 2016 with Wild Man’s Bluff.

http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Twitter: @suzanne_johnson

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, an erotic  contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera, the fantasy series The Twelve Kingdoms, and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under. The first of the Twelve Kingdoms books, The Mark of the Tala, has been nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose, has been nominated for best fantasy romance of the year. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

http://www.jeffekennedy.com

Twitter: @jeffekennedy

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy

Award-winning author Mina Khan grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns, ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as stories. She is the author of the Djinn World Chronicles, including The Djinn’s Dilemma and A Tale of Two Djinns, as well as Wildfire, a paranormal mystery with cowboys and dragons.

http://minakhan.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @SpiceBites

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Mina.Khan.Author

Trial by Fire Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway

Trial by Fire

Covencraft Book One

Margarita Gakis

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Publisher: Fable Press

Date of Publication:  6/25/2013

ISBN: 978-1-939897-03-9

ASIN: B00CX779MK

Number of pages: 325

Word Count:  84,000

Cover Artist: Steven Novak

Amazon   Amazon.ca   Amazon.co.uk

Book Description:

Jade leads a structured life:

Routine job.

Caffeine addiction.

No serious relationships.

And now, she can spontaneously set things on fire with her mind.

Well... perhaps “normal” was never in the cards for her. As she questions her own sanity and spirals out of control, a man appears on her doorstep and tells her that, like him, she’s a witch.

Pulled in all directions, her unbridled magic draws dangerous attention and Jade wonders if she’s made the worst mistake of her life by joining a coven, or if she’ll even live long enough to regret it.

Excerpt from Trial By Fire (Covencraft #1) by Margarita Gakis, available at Amazon.

Jade shrugged and looked around the medical area.

“I sent Callie home. Your testing is next and it’s best to have no other witches about when it occurs.” Paris answered her unspoken question.

“What about you guys?” Jade asked, gesturing to the doctor and the coven leader.

“Oh, I’m not a witch,” Dr. Gellar said. “I just work for the Coven.”

Jade looked at Paris as he spoke. “Part of the test involves your power being tested against another witch. I’ll be testing your power with mine.” He smiled benignly at her.

“Is it going to be like the other night, when you were trying to kill my fire?” she asked, wary. Thinking about the sick, heavy feeling that had permeated her chest and stomach made Jade wrinkle her nose in distaste. Paris made a waffling motion with his head and looked uncertain.

“Possibly,” he admitted.

At least he’s honest, she thought.

Dr. Gellar motioned Jade over to one of the chairs in the public area. “If you would like to have a seat over there, we can begin your power testing. I’m going to attach some electrodes to your head, neck and a few of your fingertips and then we can begin.”

The room was silent as the doctor connected Jade to the monitoring equipment. Jade released her hair from her ponytail and shook it out, knowing it was probably in a huge halo around her head. She wasn’t one of those women who could take their hair down and have it look like she stepped from the pages of a magazine. Out of the ponytail, her hair curved along a huge wave from where the elastic sat. It puffed from her head like a lion’s mane. Gellar clipped more sensors to Jade’s fingertips, and put a few on the side of her neck. Jade tugged at a few of the electrodes and poked at the machine they were attached to until Dr. Gellar rolled it out of her reach.

“Try to remain still, Jade,” the doctor admonished.

Jade snatched her hand away and leaned back in her seat, tapping her foot on the marble floor.

“Completely still,” Dr. Gellar said without even looking over at her.

Feeling churlish, Jade stuck her tongue out at her and then felt like an idiot for doing it, but it was too late. She slunk lower in her seat.

“Okay,” Dr. Gellar said as she made one final adjustment to the machine, “now we can begin. Paris tells me that you’ve already been able to generate fire?”

“Yeah.”

“I want you to try again now.”

Jade held her hand out at elbow level and immediately a blue flame appeared in the center of it. Eyes wide, the doctor tilted her head sharply at Jade’s palm and then glanced at Paris.

“I know,” he said. “She has a knack for that one.”

Dr. Gellar raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything as she made a few notes on a clipboard. Jade craned her head over to the side to see if she could read it but it was too far away.

The doctor returned her attention to Jade. “Can you extinguish it?”

As soon as she was done asking the question, the flame winked out with an audible puff. Dr. Gellar made additional notes.

“And bring it back.”

The flame sprung up in front of Jade again, only this time, she didn’t even raise her hand. The flame just floated softly in front of her at chest height.

“Jade, would you be able to change its shape?” asked Paris.

She shrugged. “I guess.”

Thinking about the tiny flame caused it to dance a bit and she could feel the shape of it in her brain. She pulled at it, twisting it, getting a feel for it and then stretched it out and shaped it. She thought about a triangle and then discarded that idea immediately for a pyramid. The flame flickered into a flat triangle and then quickly folded in on itself and settled as a pyramid, keeping up with her thoughts. She rubbed her fingertips together and, feeling a rough edge along one of her cuticles, turned her focus away from the flame in front of her and looked down at her nail. When she glanced back up at the pyramid, it was rotating lazily in front of her, like a gyroscope, in three dimensions. She looked over at Dr. Gellar who was staring from Jade to the flame to the machines with interest.

“Anything else?” Jade asked.

Dr. Gellar came to stand in front of her. “You can extinguish your fire again, Jade.” As it dissipated, she held out both hands toward Jade, a small object in each. Her right hand held a tiger eye stone, the left held a small gold coin.

“One of these objects has been charmed.” Dr. Gellar stated plainly. “Can you tell which one?”

Jade looked at the items in the doctor’s hands and although she didn’t know why, she immediately pointed at the coin. Surprising herself, she raised her eyes to the doctor, who nodded and put the stone in her pocket.

She handed the coin to Jade. “What can you tell me about this?”

Jade took the coin and turned it over in her fingers. The top of her knuckles tingled slightly. She rested the coin on the top of her fingers, in the soft skin between her pinky and ring finger. The coin rolled easily from knuckle to knuckle, flipping itself over. She moved her fingers slightly, letting the coin flip itself over, running back and forth across the top of her hand.

“It was charmed so it won’t fall off,” she stared down at the flickering gold. Then, turning to Paris, she asked, “How do I know that?”

“Magic lingers, gives off an energy,” he said as though it was a response she would fully understand.

****

Trial by Fire (Covencraft #1) can be purchased at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Trial-by-Fire-Covencraft-ebook/dp/B00CX779MK), Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Trial-by-Fire-Covencraft-ebook/dp/B00CX779MK) and Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trial-by-fire-margarita-gakis/1115416716?ean=9781939897039)

About the Author:

Margarita loves the art, creativity and romanticism of storytelling. Sometimes, however, the act of putting pen to paper proves challenging, elusive. She develops genuine, relatable characters which grow in the hearts of her readers. From that foundation, the stories flourish into a warm friend.

She enjoys pursuits which blur the lines between the analytical and creative sides of her brain. This includes her day job in electronic data management, where she uses her creativity to solve logical problems, and also her lessons learning to play the cello, where she finds beauty in the structure of music and the instrument. She believes there is a place for both logic and imagination to work together. When they do, the results are magical.

Margarita has a special spot in her heart for dogs and lives with three of them. It can be a little overwhelming but the quality snuggle time makes up for it.

Margarita lives in Calgary, Alberta with her family.

http://margaritagakis.wordpress.com

Twitter:  @margaritagakis

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/CovencraftSeries

 Tourwide giveaway: 5 Kindle copies of Trial by Fire! Follow the blog and fill out the form below.

A Witch Without Magic Virtual Book Tour

A Witch Without Magic

by Larisa Walk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

When her neighbors accuse Belladonna of Satanism and making them age years to days, she must find who is behind it or face a modern day witch hunt. Her mysterious enemy knows where to strike to cause the most damage: Belladonna's only friend is losing his life-force; the garden that feeds her is dying; and her house ghost goes poltergeist. To save her neighbors and friends and prove her innocence, she must travel to the Otherworld where butterflies have razor wings and where her worst fears will come to life.

Excerpt Three:

I tried to walk with an official swing in my step, clipboard under my right arm, the other arm at my side, desperately trying not to clutch at the fabric of my jumpsuit with a death grip.  Mice and rats darted in and out of bushes.  A large flock of crows cawed in the trees.  In one spot ants covered the sidewalk like spilled black pepper.  Dark magic was afoot and the vermin were drawn to it.

There were some kids with aged faces playing on the other side of the street.  I tried not to stare at them.  One kid, a boy of about seven, judging by his height, actually looked like he was in his eighties.  He seemed to have trouble breathing and had to stop often to rest.  My jaws ached and a sharp spike seemed to be embedded in my chest.  Goddess help me, but I couldn't blame their parents for hating me.  If I were in their place and thought I knew who was doing this to my kids, I'd go on a witch hunt, too.  I was lucky the cops didn't believe my neighbors that I was doing this awful life-draining stuff to them or I wouldn't have any protection.  I prayed hard that I'd find a way to stop the dark witch before anyone died from being too old at the age of seven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Larisa Walk, a native Russian, lives in California with her husband and two formerly homeless cats. She writes paranormal fiction that is more often than not populated by characters from the Russian fairy world. Her short fiction appeared in several anthologies and magazines. She has published a historic fantasy novel, A Handful of Earth, and a modern paranormal novel, A Witch Without Magic. See her quirky blog posts here: http://www.larisawalk.com

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/A-Witch-Without-Magic-ebook/dp/B009JGYOQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363219858&sr=8-1&keywords=a+witch+without+magic+larisa+walk

Larisa will be awarding a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate to five randomly drawn commenters during the tour, so make sure you leave a comment and your email address for a chance to win!