Category: Loose id

Review: Faire Protector (The Faire #2) by Madeleine Ribbon

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

MR_FaireProector__coverinIt’s been almost a year since assassin Max chased his foster brother Devin onto the mystical Renaissance Faire grounds with orders to kill him. But the Faire has a mind of its own as does its small band of inhabitants and Max ended up a prisoner of the Faire and his soul captured in a magical amulet.  Now its time for the Faire to return from its home in another dimension and take up residence in the Faire grounds in the present.   During the past year, Max has changed profoundly and found friends amongst the villagers and Faire workers.  Even his foster brother Devin has forgiven him and found love.

So now its time to return to the normal world and with Joryk’s help, they will smash the amulet and return Max’s soul and free will to him.  Max is afraid that with the return of his soul, the worst of Max will return as well.  Plus Kelderman, Max’s old crime boss, is still after Max and Max is afraid he will put the Faire and his friends in danger  once they return.

Joryk, the Faire’s mage, has assigned Max to work with the Faire’s brew master, Shepherd, to keep Max busy until the amulet can be broken and out of sight of any of the crime bosses underlings looking for Max on the Renn grounds.  But Shepherd wants nothing to do with Max, even as a worker helping him at the brewery. Shepherd thinks Max is the reason his cousin, Perry, got back into drugs, and Max has a past history as a drug dealer, no matter what Max tries to tell him.  Even at odds, both men find the other attractive.  With everything coming to a head, criminals on the hunt, an amulet to destroy and a soul to return, can love still find a way into the hardest of hearts?

I found Madeleine Ribbon’s stories when I read the first book in this series, Faire Fugitive, last year and fell immediately in love with both the characters and the premise behind the series.  A lover of all things Renaissance Festival, the idea of a magical Renn Faire that disappeared into an enchanted dimension once the season was over, only to return the following year to sell it’s inhabitants wares and restock up on supplies needed, charmed me.  A sort of Renn Faire Brigadoon! Only some of the Renn Faire workers are year around inhabitants and know the secrets of the Faire and Faire grounds, including the fact that the Faire has a mind and will of its own.  That concept alone had me in thrall.  But then Madeleine Ribbon added some vulnerable and fascinating characters and I was hooked!

Max was a villain, sort of, in the first story.  Forced into becoming an assassin for the crime boss Kelderman, Max thought becoming a killer was the only way he could protect Devin who his boss wanted dead.  Instead of killing Devin, Max would hunt him, scaring Devin into running over and over again.  But Max also had to kill others on Kelderman’s orders and that ate at his soul until the voices in his head almost destroyed him. Only being captured by Joryk in the Faire grounds and having his soul taken away and imprisoned in a crystal amulet, saved Max.  The year spent in the other dimension restored much of Max’s humanity and gave him peace even if he was left without free will and still a prisoner  within the village boundaries.  Ribbon’s descriptions of the magic of the other dimension and the places that Max seeks out as solace make it easy to understand how Max feels and the sanctuary it has provided.

But everything has its complications, including the soul spell that Joryk and the others didn’t fully understand.  The repercussions of the spell are just being fully realized and that’s a huge part of this story and its most poignant element.  Max is full of guilt for his past actions and the fear of the future once his soul returns haunts him.  As it should. I loved that the author realizes that there should be weighty consequences for Max’ past actions.  He destroyed peoples lives.  And you can’t get off with a new life without paying the price of the pain and death you caused in the past. The ramifications will be as horrific as his deeds and Madeleine Ribbon’s scary descriptions are up to the task of making us feel what Max feels.  Those scenes hit home with some hefty emotional power.

Yes, there is a romance here as well.  A reluctant one at the start, given the personalities and histories involved.  That a great choice because a case of instant love would definitely be out of place here.  The relationship is a slow one, evolving over a period of 3 months, the duration of the Faire in present time.  And the romance between Max and Shepherd is always a tenuous one.  Given the circumstances, neither is sure how to go forward or even if that is possible.  That’s a lovely realistic touch.

The story flows rapidly to its conclusion and I was left wanting to remain with the characters back in the land of shimmering birds and lights that chase each other through the ancient woods.  Just as I was at the end of Faire Fugitive.  Madeleine Ribbon has created a magical world that you won’t want to leave and filled it full of characters to love.  I can only hope that there is another Faire story on the horizon.  I know there is one Faire librarian in need of romance and a HEA.  I hope he gets it and we get another story.

Cover Art by Fiona Jayde.  Nice even if the dot over the “i” is placed directly over the cover model’s nipple!

Buy Links:       Loose id           ARe                Amazon   Faire Protector

 

 

 

Book Details;

ebook, 263 pages
Published July 1st 2014 by Loose Id (first published June 30th 2014)
ISBN139781623004064
edition languageEnglish
seriesThe Faire #2

Books in The Faire series to date:

Faire Fugitive (The Faire, #1)
Faire Protector (The Faire, #2)

In the Author Spotlight: Madeleine Ribbon on Faire Protector release (contest)

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spotlight on booksIn the Author Spotlight Today –MR_FaireProector__coverin

Madeleine Ribbon, author of the Ren Faire series

 

 

 

 

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I encountered Madeleine Ribbon through her first story, Faire Fugitive almost a year ago.  Recently I sort of ran into her again and asked about how the series was doing, where the idea came from…those sorts of questions.  My answer from Madeleine was that the sequel, Faire Protector, was getting ready for release shortly.  That news prompted all kinds of anticipation and ideas, including having Madeleine Ribbon here to talk about the series inspiration behind Faire Fugitive and Faire Protector.

To help celebrate the release of Faire Protector,  Madeleine has brought a book giveaway with her, a choice of either book to one lucky reader.  To enter to win, leave your email address and a comment at the end of the post.  As usual, must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Contest ends July 8 at midnight, Winner to be announced on July 9th!

The Maryland Renaissance Festival starts August 23, Chances are you can find both myself and Madeleine in attendance at some point in time.  Wave a turkey drumstick or pint at us if we happen to walk on by….

 

 

A Trip to the Faire by Madeleine Ribbon 

When I first started writing the Faire series, my entire goal was finding an excuse to get my ass into costume and flounce around any and every Renaissance festival I could manage to get my grubby little hands on. Luckily, all that Ren faire visiting (and subsequent note taking, because I had to justify ticket prices somehow) led to some perfectly reasonable ideas, and Devin and Max’s stories were born while I was in the midst of half-hour Shakespeare skits, jousting tournaments, bagpipe concerts, corsets, steak on a stake, and copious amounts of ale and mead.

A Renaissance faire is like the bastard child of a seventh-grade world history book and the most amazing circus ever. The festivals all try to recreate a romanticized version of history, and in doing so, they create a place that’s almost magical in its other-worldliness. At the faire, you can get lost in a new world for a day. You have a chance to marinade yourself in everyone else’s weirdness—and just about every sort of weird is acceptable there. My Faire takes these bits and kind of pushes them to the next level by making the magic real.

I gave the main characters for both Faire Fugitive and Faire Protector rather unfortunate histories, and since I didn’t want to go full-on angsty in this series, I needed something to balance the darker sides of the story out. Using the Ren faire has been a great way to create a peppy, wacky, unique, can’t-take-yourself-seriously environment to balance out the harsh realities of my characters’ lives.

BLURB:

MR_FaireProector__coverinMax’s soul has become a virtual slave to the magical Renaissance Faire, and he can’t leave the grounds. He’s very, very attracted to the Faire’s brewmaster, but Shepherd wants nothing to do with him. Shepherd thinks Max is the reason his cousin got back into drugs, and Max has a bad history—dealing, a prison term, and last but not least, a little four-year stint as the personal assassin of a drug kingpin. For once, Max didn’t do it, but Shepherd isn’t about to believe him.

When Max’s old boss becomes a threat, the Faire that had been his prison becomes his protection. Max hides out at the brewery. As he deals with Shepherd’s bad attitude, the physical and mental side effects of having his soul imprisoned, and guilt over the people he’s killed, he finds himself falling for the sexiest man to ever hate him. But the only way he can keep Shepherd is if he can find some sort of magical redemption for his past.

Buy Link:   Loose id

Book Details:
Author: Madeleine Ribbon
Book 2 of the Faire series
Length: Novel, 90,000 words
ISBN: 978-1-62300-406-4
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde

Contact Madeleine Ribbon:

Website: http://www.madeleineribbon.com
Twitter: @muddyribbon
Email: madeleine.ribbon@gmail.com
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/MadeleineRibbon

 

Heat Up with Draven St. James – Fused by Fire Book Blast

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BannerFusedbyFire

 

Contest:  Enter to win the Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of any book from Draven’s backlist: Grey’s Hidden Fire, Fire and Mistletoe, Scent of a Wolf, or Covert Delivery. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Visit the link provided below.

Book Name: Fused by Fire
Author Name: Draven St. James

Author Bio: I’m a born and raised Oregonian. I’ve traveled extensively in search of mischief and mayhem to fill my books.  My ventures have been quite successful in inspiring a wealth of stories both sexy and humorous.  It gives me a great excuse to do some crazy stuff in the name of research. Of course at the end of the day, coffee within reach, laptop at the ready is where I find my peace.

To follow Draven St. James:
Author Links:

Book Details:

DSJ_fused by Fireebook, 116 pages
Published May 20th 2014 by Loose Id
edition languageEnglish
seriesFirehouse Six #3
Cover Artist: Dar Albert
Publisher: Loose ID

Buy Links:   Amazon           ARe           Loose id LLC
Blurb(s): Michael prides himself on being the man that everyone can depend on until one of his firefighters is severely wounded on the job. Will he be allowed to process the situation alone? Not when a loud and persistent Simon Winters shows up on his doorstep. The man hasn’t met a boundary he didn’t skip across.

Simon has had the biggest crush on Lieutenant Firefighter Michael Donovan since the first day he saw him. Which just happened to be at an interview for a job to work as a firefighter. Before his desire to lick the gruff older man from head to toe affects his work, Simon transfers over to being a paramedic. Just when he’s begun to build a life that doesn’t include hot shower fantasies of Michael, the object of his angst is thrust into his path.

All too quickly, Simon begins to barrel through Michael’s defenses and dig up the desires Michael has fought so hard to hide. As passions flare out of control, tragedies collide from every side. Michael’s struggle to keep Simon at a distance starts to crumble beneath the weight of the secrets that Simon is hiding. Will Michael be able to protect Simon when he needs it the most or will he lose Simon forever?

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Excerpt:

Michael stepped forward and grabbed Simon by his shoulders. “Why are you really here?” he snarled.

“Because you’ve locked yourself away?” Simon whispered and gazed at him with eyes filled with concern.

That look stabbed into Michael. “And you care why?”

“Because…” Simon shrugged, dislodging Michael’s hold, and then cupped Michael’s face with a trembling hand. “What happened wasn’t your fault, and you needed someone to come and shove that truth into your face.”

“You picked the short straw?” Michael hated that Simon’s hand on his cheek brought him more comfort than anything else had. Just like at the hospital.

Simon shook his head, and his gaze fell to Michael’s lips. His hand came down to brush against the edge of Michael’s bottom lip. A pink flush rose along Simon’s cheeks.

Michael felt that innocent touch like a jolt through his body. He tilted Simon’s face up, and the sensual invitation in his eyes shocked and inflamed him.
He didn’t have the energy to fight against what he wanted, and right now that was Simon. With a groan of defeat, he smashed his lips to Simon’s and took the sweet oblivion that Simon offered.

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FusedByFireBadgeDSJTour Dates: 6/27/14
Tour Stops: Rainbow Gold Reviews, Love Bytes, Amanda C. Stone, MM Good Book Reviews, Havan Fellows, Velvet Panic, Parker Williams, Fallen Angel Reviews, Reviews and Ramblings, Emotion in Motion, Tara Lain, My Fiction Nook, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons, Sinfully Sexy, Top2Bottom, Iyana Jenna, Because Two Men Are Better Than One

Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of any book from Draven’s backlist: Grey’s Hidden Fire, Fire and Mistletoe, Scent of a Wolf, or Covert Delivery.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: In Distress (Superpowered Love #6) by Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

KH_indistress_coverlg_1Hopeless romantic and total geek Eddie Kim continues to dream that his knight in shining armor will show up one day to carry him away for a beautiful future together.  But until that happens, Eddie hangs out with his best friends Kavita and Stacy playing D & D, moons over GoT’s Jon Snow and dreams of new scribblings for Morning Gloria’s sandwich board, the beanery where he is a barista.  Life is pretty good for an adorable 23 year old, just not perfect.  Then Eddie’s apartment catches fire and everything changes.

When Eddie’s kitchen catches fire, the smoke and fumes threaten to overwhelm Eddie.  But Eddie is saved when strong cold arms lift him up and out of danger and a freezing cold puts the fire out.  His rescuer?  A gorgeous unknown red head who asks that Eddie not reveal his rescuer’s presence.  One kiss later, then Eddie’s knight in shining frost disappears, leaving a stunned and coughing Eddie behind.

What’s a smitten boy to do when his longed for knight saves him only to disappear?  Why look for him of course.  Eddie’s friends look to craiglist to relocate his hero but the publicity is just the thing his hero was trying to avoid.

Callum, a mysterious red-head with freezing superpowers, couldn’t help saving Eddie but now he has put not only Eddie but himself in danger.  Callum Race has come to Columbus to try and clear his family name, and now the dangerous superpowered organization he needs to thwart know he’s come home again. But the attraction he feels towards Eddie is anything but cold.  And the more they see of each other, the stronger the connection gets.

Soon its a race against time for Callum and Eddie.  Callum determined to clear his brother’s name and Eddie equally determined to help Callum fight.  As the danger increases who is the knight and who is the “damsel in distress” is anyone’s guess.

I am going to admit right up front that I am a big time fan of Katey Hawthorne’s Superpowered Love series.  So hearing about the release of In Distress brought a sense of anticipation and joy that soon I would be plunged back into a world of elemental beings and their search for  some Superpowered Love.  Hawthorne’s In Distress, part of Loose Id’s Missed Connections collection does not disappoint on any level, starting with her wonderful and totally adorable characters.

Now Eddie Kim would totally own that “adorable” appellation, particularly if it didn’t come with a gender attached to it.  Eddie sees gender somewhat differently than others do, less rigidly defined and certainly more open to interpretation.  At the moment, he identifies as male but that might change at any moment. Eddie wants others to respect that about him, knowing that his gender fluid appearance is one that can confuse those that aren’t familiar with him.  I liked this aspect of Eddie’s character, it gave Eddie a deeper dimension, that combined with the other elements of his persona, made Eddie a wonderful unique individual.  He’s highly intelligent and super romantic.  At 23, Eddie still dreams of “The One”, a Knight that will save him, albeit not from dragons but from a loveless existence.  And then Eddie gets what he has been dreaming for and ,of course, it’s far more than he ever expected.

Eddie, his friends Kavita and Stacy, as well as Callum, are all such terrific characters.  Just when you might be feeling a little, oh I don’t know, perhaps, dubious at Eddie’s exuberance and “tilting at windmills” sort of behavior, then you have Kavita and Stacy there as your standin’s, saying exactly what you would say to Eddie, to bring him back down to reality.  Only to realize a few paragraphs later that Eddie’s new reality is kind of out of this world, or too much of this world.  Katey Hawthorne moves us back and forth in an emotional whirlwind with Eddie as the story is told from his very exuberant and delightful point of view.

And then there’s Callum Race, currently on the outs from all the Superpowered groups, unable to come home because of his brother’s actions and death.  I have always found the Superpowered subculture that Katey Hawthorne has created for this series fascinating, especially it’s divisive cultural quandary of whether or not to stay hidden from the human populace.  Which side of the question you come down on essentially makes you either a upstanding member of the Superpowered community or an outcast and potential rebel.  This theme flows through all the stories and is an important one of In Distress as well.

There are plenty of action packed scenes as well as ones of intimacy and introspection to balance out each other.  I did wish that Callum and Eddie had more time together before things got totally out of control.  And for those of you who are new to the Superpowered Love series, some of the backhistory might feel a bit lacking.  But how can you resist passages or characters like this?

“You’re okay. Just come with me,” said the voice attached to the hands.

My feet slipped on inexplicable ice. The strong, gloved hands steadied me, and the voice said, “Shit, sorry.” Then my feet were wet, but it wasn’t so slippery, and I could walk.

And some guy in a black hoodie and leather gloves led me out of my smoke-filled apartment in the middle of the night. As we turned in to the hallway, flame flared up at the end. He held out a gloved hand. By the firelight, I saw frost spread in a flash over the wall and floor, snuffing out the flames.

I shivered again and decided I was still dreaming. And if I took this guy’s hood off, it was clearly going to be Jon Snow. Maybe I should jump on his back?

He tugged me out onto the rattly wrought-iron porch and started down the equally rattly stairs. He was tall, taller than me— which isn’t saying much, but still— with broad shoulders and slim hips. It was a perfect swimmer’s build, but he moved like he didn’t realize it, with an almost adolescent awkwardness. “Don’t you have a fire alarm?”

“It needs a battery,” I said, dazed. There was a small streetlight in the parking lot below, and the moon was out, and all I could smell was melting plastic. Now my brain was finally waking up. Oh God, this is real. My apartment was on fire— is on fire— was on fire, and this guy put it out with… What the hell did he just do? Who the hell is he? Oh my God, this is not Jon Snow!

“Well, consider getting one.” The voice was mild and somehow equally awkward but far from adolescent. “I’ll call you an ambulance. I have to get out of—”

But I wasn’t having that crap, by then. Adrenaline had belatedly kicked in, and I grabbed for his arm and spun him.

He was pale, possibly with a sprinkling of freckles, but I couldn’t see his hair under the hood. I could see his lips, palest pink and plump, especially the bottom one, which looked like someone had bitten it hard and the swelling had never gone down. Nice bone structure too— nothing supermodel or delicate, but hard, straight lines and angles. For some reason it made me think: Football hooligan? He was pretty, but the kind of pretty that’d still be scary in a fight.

And he’d probably just saved my life. I had a million questions (chiefly: Why the hell were you in my apartment— when it was on fire?), but my heart was racing with the sudden acknowledgement of my own ridiculous mortality. I had somehow forgotten the words thank you. So I grabbed the front of his hoodie, went up on my toes, and kissed him.

Because that’s what the damsel in distress does when he gets rescued from the tower, right?

 

And right there I was in love.  In love with the lonely and brave Callum and his quest for justice and in love with that delectably over the top voice and personality that could only belong to Eddie Kim.  Knight found his mate.  But who really rescued who is something you will have to find out for yourself.

Of course, Katey Hawthorne throws in mentions of Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, Game of Thrones, Spider Man and so many other present day references that help clue us into who Eddie and his friends are, a cultural shortcut that let’s us secure these characters as real people almost instantly in our minds.  If you need more information about these characters, visit Katey Hawthorne’s In Distress page at her website.  It has character stats and back history on the Superpowered Love series.

A special bonus resides at the end of the story.  An In Distress playlist for your enjoyment that will also add to a better understanding of these characters and background.  Just one more reason to get this story.  Not that you need one.  In Distress and all the Superpowered Love stories are must reads for me.  The Superpowered Love stories are fun, sexy romps. A fascinating as watching lighting in a storm or as mesmerizing as lightning bugs in a bottle. And all are full of memorable characters so sexy and full of life that you won’t want to see them leave, including Eddie and Callum from In Distress.

Don’t pass this up.

And watch out for the sandwich board sayings….they are quite wonderful too.  See?  Win, win and win.

Cover art by P.L. Nunn who has created the wonderful covers for all the stories in this series.  It works,  and its adorable.

Book Details:

Part of Loose Id’s Missed Connections Collection.
ebook
Published March 25th 2014 by Loose Id LLC
ISBN139781623006112
edition languageEnglish
url for all Things Katey Hawthorne http://www.kateyhawthorne.com
series Superpowered Love
settingColumbus, Ohio (United State

Books in the Superpowered Love series in the order they were written and should be read:

Equilibrium (Superpowered Love, #1)
Jealousy: A Love Story (Superpowered Love, #1.1)
Best Gift Ever (Superpowered Love, #1.2)
Riot Boy (Superpowered Love, #2)
Willoughby Spit (Superpowered Love, #2.1)
Nobody’s Hero (Superpowered Love, #3)
Losing Better (Superpowered Love, #4)
Re-Entry Burn (Superpowered Love, #5)
In Distress (Superpowered Love, #6)

Author and Book Spotlight: Katey Hawthorne on Superpowers and In Distress, a story from the Missed Connections collection (Giveaway Alert!)

spotlight on books

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Author Spotlight: Katey Hawthorne

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Katey Hawthorne is here today at ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords and she has brought a copy of her book In Distress to giveaway to celebrate the release of her latest Superpowered Love story.

Contest: To enter to win a  ebook copy of In Distress, leave a comment along with an email address where you can be reached. Contest ends 4/1.

Welcome, Katey!

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Katey Hawthorne:

So one day, I was scrolling through my tumblr dash and saw a post full of funny sandwich board signs. You know the kind, like outside bars and coffee shops with witty little drawings and sayings on them. And I thought, “Oh man, I love those; I should totally use them in a book sometime.” As you do.

Around the same time, I heard about the Missed Connections collection–based on the Craigslist section of the same name–that Loose Id was planning. The official copy reads like this:

You know that great-looking guy you saw on the outbound train as yours was inbound? The one you can’t stop fantasizing about but haven’t seen since?

Place an ad. Sometimes fate gives you another chance.

As usual, my brain went to superpowers. What kind of ad would someone place in that section for someone with superpowers? Maybe they’re looking for the hot (or in this case, cold) guy who came to their rescue and then disappeared.

Which translated into the first scene of In Distress, as it turns out, my little offering to the Missed Connections collection.

What does it have to do with funny sandwich boards? Eddie, the hero, works in a coffee shop just below his apartment–and it’s a point of pride with him to make sure there’s something clever on the sign each and every morning. Okay, sometimes it’s less clever, more silly. Or more ‘looking for a hot red-headed superhero but trying to be subtle about it’. But he tries, the poor dear.

Funny when different forces align to bring a story to light. Even funnier that in an entire series about people with superpowers, Eddie’s my first would-be damsel in distress. But then, nothing’s what it seems there, either…

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KH_indistress_coverlg_1BLURB: Hopeless romantic Eddie Kim acts out his favorite ‘rescued by the white knight’ fantasies through weekly D&D campaigns, but had almost given up hope of ever getting a real one. Then Callum, a mysterious red-head with freezing superpowers and a memorable kiss, saves him from a house but disappears without a trace. Taking pity on him, Eddie’s friends look to craiglist to relocate his hero.

Unfortunately, the publicity brings down the kind of attention Callum Race been trying to avoid; he’s in town to try and clear his family name, and now the dangerous superpowered organization he needs to thwart know he’s come home again. Still, he can’t help following up with Eddie.

The heat between Callum and Eddie flares instantly, and Eddie insists on helping to undo the damage his romantic notions have done. The problem: that will mean becoming embroiled in a nefarious plot, not to mention a superpowered world Eddie didn’t even know existed a week ago. The ‘bad guys’ will try to trick and use him, and in the meantime he has to convince Cal to trust him enough to be the white knight for once–and for real–instead of the perpetual damsel in distress.

Buy Link:  Loose id LLC

 

Book Details:
Author:Katey Hawthorne
Length:Novel, Loose id, LLC
ISBN:978-1-62300-611-2
Series:Superpowered Love
Cover Artist:P. L. Nunn
Prev Book:Superpowered Love 5: Re-Entry Burn

You can follow Katey at:–

Katey Hawthorne~Superpowered Love
Website
Twitter
Goodreads Author Page
Email kate@kateyhawthorne.com