Category: Fantasy

Jump Into the Fantasy World of Love and Magic by RE Andeen (Excerpt and Giveaway)

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Title:  Love and Magic

Author: RE Andeen

Publisher:  Torquere Press

Cover Artist: Kris Norris

Release Date:  7-27-2016

Heat Level: 2

Pairing: F/F

Length:: 10,000 words

Genre: Lesbian Romance, Multi-Cultural, Fantasy

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Synopsis

Kiv never expected to see a battle, let alone fight in one. She came to the island kingdom of Escot to use her magic to help people, not to kill them, but a petty, pointless civil war has made her job as Court Wizard difficult and then impossible. When the hostilities come to a head, Kiv finds herself on the battlefield, supporting one army against another.

On the other side, there is Tallas, a wizard more dangerous than three thousand swords and a woman more intriguing that than any Kiv has ever met. The battle will end in blood and death, as battles do, but for Tallas and Kiv, the end is only the beginning.

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Excerpt

Kiv woke with a start, wondering if she was dead. She cast about with her senses, both physical and magical, and decided she was alive after all. She was lying in a bed of golden wood on soft white cotton sheets under a green wool blanket. Overhead, she saw the silky blue canopy of a large tent, with the curtains on all four sides tied back to let in the morning sun, set in an open field without another structure in sight. The rain had finally stopped, though the sky was still gray.

She climbed out of bed, noticing that she was in nothing but her underthings, and looked for something to wear. Her clothes – long wool skirt, wide leather belt, white cotton blouse, and heavy wool cloak – were folded neatly on a table beside the bed, all the grime and gore of battle washed away, with her purple silk Court Wizard hood and her gnarled manzanita wand sitting next to the pile. She dressed and went looking for the kind soul who had taken care of her. Tallas – of course it was Tallas – was just outside the tent, her back to Kiv, cooking a skillet of something over a low fire that smelled amazing.

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Tallas said, without turning around. “I trust you’re feeling alright. I checked you over myself last night, and I could find no injury or ailment beside exhaustion.”

Kiv walked over and sat on a rock next to the fire. “I’m fine,” she said. “I suppose I should thank you…”

“It was nothing,” Tallas said. “You’re a Wizard of the Guild, and we take care of our own.”

“I know,” Kiv replied, “but I’ve never had anything like yesterday happen to me before.”

“Haven’t you?” Tallas asked, looking up from the fire, and Kiv suddenly felt that those jet black eyes were boring a hole right through her. “I suppose you haven’t…”

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Torquere Press

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Meet the Author

RE Andeen is a writer, software developer, Klingonist, and general nerd. After a lifetime of immersion in science and technology, he discovered writing, quite by accident, in 2014. He lives in downtown Seattle.

Facebook: Eric Andeen (https://www.facebook.com/eric.andeen)
Facebook Author Page: RE Andeen (https://www.facebook.com/reandeen/)
Twitter: @REAndeen
Other: Personal webpage/blog (http://reandeen.com/)
Amazon: Author page (http://amazon.com/author/reandeen)

Giveaway

Rafflecopter Prize: One winner will be selected to win an eBook copy of Love and Magic.

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In The Spotlight – The Olive Conspiracy by Shira Glassman (Book Excerpt and Giveaway)

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Title: The Olive Conspiracy

Author: Shira Glassman

Series Title and Number: Mangoverse 4

Publisher:  Prizm Books

Cover Artist: BS Clay

Release Date: 7/20/16

Heat Level: 2

Pairing : Female/Female, with significant Female/Male supporting characters

Length: 61K

Genre: Fantasy, Lesbian Romance, Multi-Cultural, Espionage, Political, Chick Lit

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The Olive Conspiracy Cover

Synopsis

When Ezra tries to blackmail Chef Yael about being trans, she throws him out of her restaurant and immediately reports him to the queen. But when police find Ezra stabbed to death, Queen Shulamit realizes he may have also tried to extort someone more dangerous than a feisty old lady.

Shulamit’s royal investigation leads her to an international terrorist plot to destroy her country’s economy—and worse, her first love, Crown Princess Carolina of Imbrio, may be involved. This is a love story between wives, between queen and country, and between farmers and the crops they grow.

Excerpt

“What’s that one? It looks like a map.”

Shulamit shifted papers around. “Mmm,” she agreed, turning the paper slightly and studying it more closely. “It’s a map of Perach. But I don’t know what all this mess is.” She squinted and shook her head. “I don’t know; it looks familiar, somehow.”

“Well, you do run the country.”

“This line… these patterns…”

With one arm folded across her midsection and the other arm upright so that her fist rested against her nose, Shulamit raked her memories. Those swirly bits. That pair of streaks. Why did they look so familiar? Why did she feel like she’d seen it before, what seemed like ages ago before the emotional upheaval of visiting Imbrio again and seeing Carolina?

“Oh, my God!” Heat flared in Shulamit’s cheeks. “Rivka, this makes no sense, but—Guard! Who’s out there?”

One of the guards appeared at the doorway. “Majesty?”

Shulamit held out one pointing finger. “Can you please bring me my latest notes on our agricultural pests?”

“Absolutely, Majesty.” He disappeared into the sunlight.

Rivka squinted at her. “I don’t get it.”

“You think I do?” Shulamit skin tingled as she waited for the papers to show up and either prove her wrong or show that she was absolutely right, thus opening up nothing but a cartload of further questions. Both hands fidgeted with the ends of her filmy yellow scarf.

Shulamit felt like every second was bloated and lazy until the guard reappeared. Where was he? Finally, the requested papers arrived, and she tore into them with such ferocity that several fell onto the floor and had to be retrieved.

“There!” she finally exclaimed triumphantly.

“What?” Rivka leaned over her shoulder eagerly, and Shulamit heard a soft thud as Isaac leapt off Riv’s shoulder onto the back of her throne to get a better view.

“The olive blight,” said Shulamit, her lips barely moving as she tried to make sense of the completely unexpected connection. “Ezra drew a map of the olive blight, and put it in the middle of his blackmail notes.”

“Is there anything else on the paper?” said Isaac in his normal voice.

Shulamit turned it over. “Oh, I’m so nervous, I’m not thinking straight. This is the map I already had.”

She flipped over the correct parchment. In Ezra’s lazy scrawl, it said,

Imbrian man (Name: Rui?) *possibly leader

Imbrian man with missing tooth. Drinks like a fish.

Perachi woman (from Lovely Valley?) Money-minded.

Unknown man (Light skinned. Imbrian?)

Unknown woman (Perachi?)

Who is “André?”

“There is no way this means anything good.” Thoughts whirled through Shulamit’s mind, thoughts that she was afraid to put to words. What did Imbrio have to do with agricultural pests? What about—what about Carolina?

“Malkeleh,” said Isaac, interrupting her mental maelstrom. “Let me see Ezra’s map again.”

Shulamit flipped the paper back over.

“Look,” said Isaac. “His map—the infestation goes down the river straight into the Lovely Valley.”

Shulamit shook her head slowly and groped around for Rivka’s hand. She clung to her friend’s arm with both hands like it was a bellpull, then hugged it tightly to her chest. “Whatever this is, we have to stop it. We have to stop them.”

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Torquere Press

Olive Conspiracy SquareMeet the Author

Shira Glassman is a bisexual Jewish violinist living in North Central Florida. She is best known for her Mangoverse books, four fluffy queer fantasy novels (and accompanying short stories) set in a tropical Jewish fairytale kingdom ruled over by a young lesbian and her “family of choice”, including a dragon. These books have reached the finals list of multiple years of the Bi Book Awards and Golden Crown Literary Society Awards. She writes other short contemporary and fantasy fiction as well, including two contemporary romance novelettes about professional musicians. Shira’s greatest inspirations are French and German opera and Agatha Christie novels, as well as her own family life and closest friends.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7234426.Shira_Glassman
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShiraGlassman
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shiraglassman
Blog: http://shiraglassman.wordpress.com

Giveaway

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An Ali Review: Cops and Robby by Carol Lynne

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

Cops and RobbyCops, Cole and Morgan Caldwell, have always had to hide their love for each other from the outside world. They are content with each other until the night they rescued Robby. Beaten and left in an alley by a john, Robby has never known true kindness and soon falls for both men, but Robby’s got a problem. His pimp, Vince, isn’t ready to let him go.

 

Can two cops love a prostitute or will Robby’s baggage be too much for them to carry?

 

Cole found Robby in an alley in pain on his way home one night.  Morgan is wary of the stranger and doesn’t want anyone to come between him and Cole.  As they give Robby time to heal they learn some new things about each other.

 

Cole and Morgan already have a taboo relationship, but it is based on their deep love for each other.  They don’t hide their relationship from Robby and welcome him to their lives.

 

My heart broke for Robby with how bad his life has been so far and how he believes that Cole and Morgan are just too good to be true.  Cole loves having someone to take care of, while Morgan has someone else to protect.  This was a shorter story that held a lot of emotions, it was wonderful to see the three of them get their HEA.

 

The cover art is nice, but needs to be zoomed in a bit to see the details.

 

Sales Link: Wilde City Press | Amazon

 

Book Details:

ebook, 21,992 words
Published: 2nd Edition, April 13, 2016 by Wilde City Press
ISBN: 9781925313925
Edition Language: English

A BJ Review: Kestrel’s Talon (The Stonewatchers #1) by Bey Deckard

Rating:  3.5 stars out of 5

Kestral's TalonFollowing the Prentish/Nemarri war, Kes is rejected by his homeland under the guise of religious purity laws. Though he’s spared execution, the proud Nemarri’s fate is only marginally more merciful than death when he is sold into sexual slavery at a prosperous pleasure house.

Despite his stoic endurance, Kes knows he’s reaching his breaking point, but there is nothing he can do—there is no path to freedom in the Holy Prentish Empire, only a lifetime of humiliating servitude.

That is, until a beautiful young slave and his formidable master approach Kes in the marketplace and make an astonishing offer to take him home with them. The only problem: “home” is the accursed Horthmont Castle from the scare-stories of Kes’s childhood.

Thrown into a world of living myth, powerful magic, and ancient gods, Kes learns the secrets kept hidden by Horthmont’s thick blackstone walls. There he discovers something he thought he’d never know again: hope for the future.

What stood out to me in this fantasy story was the excellent world-building, from the history, to the land (even with maps in the back), to the people, traditions, and clothing, it was detailed, fleshed out, and very real for me. Full of slaves and magic, soldiers and war, and so much more. The story grabbed me in the beginning scene in the market where even people (slaves) are traded, and the three main characters, all introduced in the same scene, were intriguing to me.

Unfortunately, after a very promising beginning, the pace of the book really slowed down for me. More than once I encountered parts of the story that really seemed to drag and which made me feel every one of the four hundred plus pages. 

As for the characters, while I didn’t feel as strong a connection to them as I would have liked, I did find all three of them nuanced and interesting. I enjoyed Talon’s innocence, something he’d kept despite the world he’d lived in; loved his dedication to Grimma and his attitude on life/sex which seemed reasonable from his given past, but his jealousy and manipulations did often annoy me. But his bravery and selflessness later in the story made up for it. Kestrel, who I liked for the most part even though I didn’t feel the closeness I hoped for, threw me off a couple of times with his harsh actions towards Talon. I did feel and understand his anger over what had happened to him, and enjoyed watching him slowly overcome that, but still there were a few times his reactions didn’t sit well with me at all. And then there was Grimma, who I really did enjoy the most and found myself wishing for more time in his head than we were given. The story is from all three main character’s pov, but his is the least used of the three.

I felt that the author did an excellent job of bringing together three very diverse backstories. The secondary characters were well-formed and integral to the story. And I adored Pants (and the name, too) the dog. Loved how he was woven into the story and often made a difference, not just there as a prop. Kestrel’s connection with him fascinated me, and makes me want to red more of the series just to see how that goes and if the theory proposed about that tie (but then negated by another) is actually true or not.

There are many things to love about this story. The triad in this story was quite interesting, especially given that we have a hypersexual who still manages to seem innocent, a man reeling from previous sexual abuse, and an asexual character. But I felt that they worked well together, and although I’m not big on threesomes, I was pretty well sold on them. I could have done without Talon’s jealousy and manipulations though… that was the one sour note for me in their relationship.

I don’t want to say more about the story as I think some things are best discovered as you go along. Overall, I really liked this story. I just wish the pacing had worked better for me.  There were places that felt slow enough that they made me want to skim, and long and detailed flashback sections that rather drew me from the main story. And then when we get to the last 10% or so, the story suddenly felt rushed to me. I wanted way more detail of… well, a lot of stuff.

Finally, there is the matter of this guy near the end that I just wanted to kick in the nuts myself because after doing something that made me livid, he just gets away with it and well… grrr. That part annoyed me. A lot.

The red-haired freckled boy on the cover is perfect, and to be honest, I didn’t pay attention to the amulet he held or the subtle outline of the castle in the background until after I’d finished reading, but that is cool as well. Wish the castle had been more noticeable as it would lend more of the fantasy theme.

Sales Links:   Amazon


Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 426 pages
Published May 23rd 2016
ASINB01FLG3C0M
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Stonewatchers #1