Dream Cast & Spotlight: Mounting the Whale by Colleen McCarty + Giveaway!

Mounting the Whale by Colleen McCarty

Paperback: 258pages
Publisher: Cloud Cover Press

Release Date: December 5th 2013

Blurb:

The self-made and affluent Pierce family is hurled into a seamy kidnapping plot when they receive a text message from Janine—the most troubled of all the Pierce children.

Cartel got me, tell mom

The siblings, drowning in their own problems, are forced to focus on the task at hand: a half-cocked rescue mission that involves a borrowed yacht, a favor from a notorious drug kingpin, and a shocking reunion none of them expected.

When the family decides to sneak into Mexico, mother Cybil is forced to deal with a rival CEO whom she’s developed feelings for in secret. Her only son, Tom, is willing to risk bodily harm to save Janine while his other sisters, Carlyle and Valerie, suspect that the kidnapping is less than legitimate.

The long sea voyage tests the limits of the family’s already frail bonds. Dark secrets of infertility, drugs, gambling and extreme taxidermy begin to float to the surface. But nothing compares to what they begin to learn about their missing sister.

If they’re going to make it out alive, they have to recognize they're fighting the same battles and facing life’s greatest challenges: love, loneliness, and the struggle to find a place in the world.

You can purchase Mounting the Whale on Amazon

Cybil Pierce - Glenn Close or Meryl Streep

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Carlyle Pierce - Jennifer Lawrence or Natalie Portman

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Ethan - Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Zachary Braff

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Valerie - Kate Blanchett

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CJ - Channing Tatum

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Tom Pierce - Zach Efron

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Janine Pierce - Rachel McAdams

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Virgil Pierce - Bill Murray or Jeff Bridges

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Author Bio

I think I always knew I wanted to write, but kept trying to talk myself out of it. In college, I enrolled as an English major, but quickly switched when I realized I had no idea how I would make a living as an English major. I switched to something business-y.

I became an entrepreneur, opening two restaurants and a publishing company before my 28th birthday. But I always felt a tug. It wasn’t that I didn’t love helping people publish their books, and it wasn’t that I didn’t love marketing for my husband and I’s restaurant (Mod’s Coffee and Crepes, bee tee dubs)—there was just something missing.

When I would tell a story to a group of friends, or get really into a great book for example, I felt more alive. Something inside clicked on. So, even though I had a brand new baby (EVA!) and two businesses to run, I started trying to tell a story that I had been thinking about. Most of my writing was done after everyone had gone to bed, between 9pm and 12am, usually. I had a lot of help along the way, but 8 months later it was done.

Now, almost 12 months later, I’m ready to put this baby out into the world. And, I hope you’re ready too. It’s happening December 5th, 2013. There will be lots of ways to get involved, stay tuned here, or sign up for the newsletter (in the top right corner) to get up-to-date info on the book launch.

Love to one, friendship to many, goodwill to all.

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Giveaway
3 Winners will receive a Signed Copy of Mounting the Whale by Colleen McCarty.

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Crystal Fire by Jordan Dane Excerpt + Giveaway!

 As the Indigos prepare to battle the Believers, they train in every way possible. Rayne Darby is the sister of Crystal child Lucas, but has no powers of her own, except for her unflinching courage and loyalty, which will be tested in Crystal Fire. Here’s a training scene between her and Gabriel Stewart.

Excerpt

Stewart Estate 
Bristol Mountains—east of L.A. 
Next morning

   Rayne Darby had on her lucky stuff, a black Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” T-shirt with her favorite jeans that were shredded on the thighs and her dark brown café racer motorcycle boots. Both wrists were laced with leather, and beads coiled around them. She wanted to kick ass today in her best gear. If her parents had been alive and knew she planned on declaring war on a church, they would have totally grounded her.

   A spotlight shone down on her as she stood in the cool darkness of a large room and stared at a man’s lighted silhouette twenty-five yards away. The tiny details of his face didn’t matter to her. Only one guy haunted her mind whenever she held a gun in her hands, like now.

   The Stewart Estate had a firing range located in its basement, along with other rooms Gabriel and his uncle Reginald had dedicated for training. The Stewarts came from a long line of Indigos. The family had taken every opportunity to hone their abilities because they knew they’d need every protection possible. The others had powers that made weapons unnecessary. Rayne was the only one who clocked time at the firing range. At first Gabe had resisted the idea of her with a gun, but when she told him that he might not always be around to be her white knight in blue flames, he reluctantly agreed to lend her a handgun and show her how to use it.

   She’d come alone to practice with a Glock 21, but Gabe’s ghost dog Hellboy had followed her. She welcomed the company, but the dog must have sensed her jittery mood and paced the floor behind her, whining.

   “Settle down, boy. I can’t kill you, remember? I’m the only one in danger here. I could shoot my eye out.”

   Guns made her nervous. She had to get over that. Not long ago, she’d pointed a gun at Boelens, a cruel man who hunted kids for the Believers. He’d made fun of her for not knowing about the gun’s safety. She was determined that wouldn’t happen a second time. If she ever had that man in her sights again, she’d know which end to point and how to wipe the smirk off his face.

   Staring at the paper target of a man’s silhouette, she imagined facing someone who could shoot back. She got the cold sweats every time she pictured standing in front of Boelens again. With her eyes on the target, she slipped on her protective goggles, but before she donned her ear muffs, a low voice with a faint British accent sent shivers down her arms.
“You look quite fetching in those goggles.”

   When she turned to see Gabriel standing on the edge of the spotlight, she smiled and put down her weapon.   
   “That’s something a girl doesn’t hear every day.”


   He walked up and pressed his warm body against her back. He fit in all the right places as if he’d been made for her. 

   Rayne couldn’t help it. She stifled a gasp when he ran fingers through her hair and she felt his breath on her skin.

   “Protection is important,” he whispered in his sexy British accent as he nuzzled and kissed her neck.

   “Are you here to give me a…lesson?” She leaned back against his chest and let him wrap his arms around her.

   “You need one?” He put his lips next to her ear. “Anything you want, I’m your guy.”

   Rayne heard the smile in his voice. She fought a grin too.

   “Give me the run down one more time and do it slow. I want to remember everything.”

   It would have been easy to stick with the flirty teasers and kiss Gabriel all afternoon, but he took weapons seriously and she did too. Too much was at stake and she hadn’t forgotten the reason she wanted to practice. After Gabe pulled away, he stayed at her back and spoke in her ear as she stared at the target, the second object of her growing obsession.

   “You must do one very important thing before you ever pick up a gun,” he told her.

   “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

   “Read the manual. Not everything comes with instructions, but firearms do. Take advantage of that.”

   After she moaned and flashed back to high school, she said, “Okay, I got a homework assignment. What comes next?”

   “Find a suitable target, preferably very bad men. Not me,” he said. “And don’t fire at Hellboy. You’ll only piss him off.”

   “I’d never shoot your dog.” Rayne winced. “Not on purpose.”

   “Ah…your confident assurance makes me feel much better, but my four-legged friend is another matter.”

   When she looked down at Hellboy, the phantom dog cocked his head and perked a blue shimmering ear.

   “I swear he understands every word you say.” She smiled.

   “Funny. He never listened when he was alive. Being dead has improved his disposition.”

   “Okay, don’t shoot dead dogs. Got it. What’s next?”


   Gabriel went down the list, cautioning her to keep her finger outside the trigger guard unless she was ready to shoot. He had her practice holding the gun until she felt more comfortable and watched her rack the slide to load the chamber.

   “Spread your feet, shoulder width.” He moved his fingers along her arms as she aimed and repeated what he’d told her, about where to place her feet, knees and elbows.

   “Firm grip and lean forward a bit,” he said. “Now align the front sight with the rear one and aim for center mass. No fancy head shots, Annie Oakley. When you’re ready, take a deep breath and let it out before you squeeze the trigger.”

   Gabe slipped her earmuffs over her head and put on his own gear before he stepped out of the way. When he gave her the thumbs-up, she took her deep breath and aimed her Glock.
Rayne squeezed the trigger and blasted the target. This time she didn’t close her eyes.

Crystal Fire (The Hunted #2) by Jordan Dane

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: November 26th 2013

Blurb:

Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

A storm is brewing on the streets of LA, one that has intensified since a tragic and deadly confrontation claimed an innocent life.

While Gabriel Stewart trains his army of teen psychics to stop Alexander Reese--the obsessed leader of the Believers--the fanatical church becomes more bent on the annihilation of all Indigo and Crystal children. They're silencing the voices of the telepathic hive, one soul at a time, with frightening experiments cruelly executed on vulnerable minds.

When the Believers torture a mysterious homeless boy, Oliver Blue, they brainwash him into betraying his own. The boy becomes a deadly pawn to take Gabriel down. As the fires of chaos burn around him, Gabe is running out of time. He'll need to confront his past--and the man who made him--before the hope of peace for the future is silenced forever.

You can purchase Crystal Fire at the following Retailers:

 

KOBO

Book one:

Indigo Awakening (The Hunted #1) by Jordan Dane

Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.

A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.

  

Author Bio

Avon/HarperCollins launched Jordan Dane's debut suspense novels in a back to back publishing event in Spring 2008 after buying the 3-book series in auction. Pursuing publication since 2003, Jordan had received awards in 33 national writing competitions and was an energy sales manager in the oil and gas industry prior to selling. Now she is following her passion and writes full time.

Ripped from the headlines, Jordan's gritty plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. She loves challenging a reader's moral barometer with the borderline ethics of her characters and their flawed personalities—dark, angst-ridden antiheroes pitted against unforgettable villains. Publishers Weekly compared her intense pacing to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag—"romantic suspense that crosses over into plain thriller country with tight plotting and exceptional male characters, both bad guys and good."

Jordan and her husband share their residence with two cats of highborn lineage and the spirit of an intelligent canine who is impossible to forget.

Follow her on these sites
   


Giveaway

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Cover Reveal: Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Title: Donners of the Dead 
Author: Karina Halle
Genre: Horror, Romance

Expected Publication: February 4th 2014
Cover Design by: Nal Qamber Designs

Blurb: ***A Standalone Horror Romance coming February 2014***

Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

***This is NOT New Adult***

  

Author Bio

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

Follow her on these sites

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Jennifer Armentrout's BITTER SWEET LOVE Release Day Launch

Jennifer L. Armentrout's amazing novella in her new The Dark Elements Series, BITTER SWEET LOVE, is out and we are excited to join in the release day launch for it. BITTER SWEET LOVE is the Prequel Novella for The Dark Elements Series and is full of Wardens, fantasy, and romance. The first novel in the series, WHITE HOT KISS, will be released February 25, 2014. Check out what we have for you today! There's also a fantastic excerpt for you to check out below!

Excerpt

Moving lightning fast, Dez shifted and I was suddenly underneath him. His arms were on either side of my head, caging me in. Our bodies didn’t touch, but I felt him to the tips of my toes anyway.

The teasing grin disappeared when I dragged in a deep breath and my chest brushed his. Everything changed in an instant. The playful mood faded, replaced by primal heaviness. Our gazes collided and locked. Neither of us moved. His closeness sent a series of shivers skittering across my skin and made it hard to take slow, even breaths. My body tensed when his gaze dropped to my mouth.

He tilted his head to the side. “I… I honestly have no idea what we were talking about.”

“Good. Neither do I.”

He shifted his weight onto one arm, bring him closer. “Have you enjoyed your trip so far?”

“Yes.” I felt as if I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

“Good.” He lowered his head. His breath was minty as it moved across my cheek and then my lips. “I’m glad.”

I wasn’t really following the conversation and I wasn’t sure that he was fully aware of what was coming out of his mouth. I searched my hazy brain for something to say and wet my lips. I-

The sound that came out of Dez’s chest rumbled through me. A stuttered heartbeat passed and then his lips were on mine. There was nothing slow about this kiss. It scorched my skin and caused my body to stretch tight like a bowstring. The kiss deepened, spinning my senses. I shuddered when his hand curved over my shoulder and drifted down to my waist, his long fingers spreading out under the hem of my shirt, grazing the bare skin of my stomach.

I gasped, floored by the raw sensations pounding through my blood. My skin felt as if I was about to phase. Maybe I was.

“Jasmine,” he whispered, the word falling against my lips, and then his body was pressing mine into the mattress, heavy, sweet and hard.

Title: BITTER SWEET LOVE (The Dark Elements #.5)
Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Genre: Paranormal

Age Group: Young Adult

Blurb: In a sizzling prequel novella to her new series The Dark Elements, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout draws readers into the extraordinary, irresistible world of Wardens and demons.

Dez wasn't just Jasmine's crush. A gargoyle Warden like Jas, he helped her come to terms with her destiny—fending off demons and maintaining the balance between good and evil. He was her everything…right until the moment he disappeared without a trace. It didn't help that Jas's father had just announced that she and Dez would one day be mated. Hard not to take that personally.

And now he's back, three years older, ten times hotter, ready to pick up exactly where they left off. But Jas isn't taking that risk again. Dez has seven days to meet all her conditions and earn back her trust. Seven days filled with terrifying danger and sweet temptation. Seven days to win her heart—or shatter it all over again…

Don't miss White Hot Kiss, book one in Jennifer L. Armentrout's The Dark Elements series from Harlequin TEEN!

You can purchase Bitter Sweet Love at the following Retailers:

Itunes 

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Itunes

One kiss could be the last. 

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. 

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever. 

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul. 

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

  

Author Bio

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Follow her on these sites: Website|| Facebook || Twitter|| Goodreads|| Amazon