Review: The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray: Carnival of Mysteries by Kayleigh Sky

Rating: 3🌈

Here’s a book I wanted to like and rate much higher than I eventually did. And it came after much thought, dissecting the book until I realized what exactly kept bothering me about the narrative and the characters.

The plot, some of the issues:

🔹Some major elements treated like minor aspects: Jay, the locket, spirit appearances, different townspeople.

🔹Some sections made no sense except that it was part of the series. Why was the Carnival of Mysteries involved? The boy made an appearance but it wasn’t explained. The main characters went there but it didn’t make much of an impact on the story except for a fight scene that could have happened outside anyway.

🔹That Carnival is supposed to have a protective effect. Didn’t have much of one . Carnival isn’t a well layered in element.

Characters:

🔹The main characters have no chemistry imo. Immediately jump into sex with no relationship.

🔹One mc is actively plotting to steal money from the other if he can find it. 🔹This continues until almost 47%. Even knowing that the other person is in financial trouble.

🔹This same MC has anger management issues, and a “self first”approach that Sky thinks the reader should find connectable. Not for this reader.

Even with supplying a sad back history of rejection for Wade, his shady behavior and intentions just make him cringe worthy rather than a good character to invest our emotional energy in.

Eli on the other hand is a well conceived character. Haunted, his memory jumbled, in financial stress, with a beloved cat in tow, he’s so beautifully written that he almost makes the story. Eli and his ghost.

The ghost too is poignancy itself. A ghost named Jay. And this entire thread is both a great one and an excellent example of how Sky’s story went wrong.

We get bits of Jay. But he’s so much of the heart of the story, why not more. Jay’s the past and it’s present. Sky starts and stops with Jay’s voice, and his history, making it a muddle instead of a clearly defined bridge between Eli and his own troubles. Even the locket of the title is a element that’s not used to fullest. The author trots out a tiny bit at the end of the book, and then it becomes a item that made me ask more questions about the ending than it answers.

Really, where’s Rob been all this time? How’d that spirit get vanquished? Spoiler alert 🚨 A group of men, not just one, trespass and commit arson, and one gets off with a tap on the wrist? That’s satisfying?

Another thing that really made me think about the choices made here. Over and over.

When I thought it through, one character I liked, one character , Jay, whose potential I thought was wasted, and a feline character I liked, wasn’t enough to raise the rating higher than a 3. Too many issues,too muddy a plot, too unbalanced a relationship.

Too bad there is some things that are horrifically interesting. But the way in which the story is written dims the lights on the best this book has to offer.

Carnival of Mysteries series:

✓ Crow’s Fate by Kim Fielding❤️

✓ Step Right Up by L.A. Witt

✓ Magic Burning by Kaje Harper ❤️

✓ Night-blooming Hearts by Megan Derr

✓ Go For The Company by Ander C. Lark❤️

✓ Roustabout by Morgan Brice❤️

✓ Assassin by Accident by E.J. Russell❤️

◦ Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis – Sept 13

✓ The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray by Kayleigh Sky

◦ Smoke and Mirrors by Elizabeth Silver – September 20

◦ You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill – September 27

◦ Sting in the Tail by TA Moore – October 4

◦ Gods and Monsters by Rachel Langella – October 25

Buy Link :

The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray: Carnival of Mysteries

Blurb:

Don’t look. It isn’t there.

On the day Eli almost drowned in Coup d’Oeil Lake, a boy pulled him to shore and took him to a carnival. Nobody saw the boy or the carnival—not the lights, not the crowds, not the rides. So Eli kept quiet and ignored what he’d seen. He’s good at ignoring things now…

Except for the shadows.

Those he can’t ignore.

One step from homelessness and flirting with assault and battery every time somebody pisses him off makes the caretaker gig on out-of-the-way Greenwood Glen a safe place for Wade to cool his jets for a while. All he has to do is take care of a ramshackle house nobody lives in. Easy peasy.

At first.

The house was quiet until the prickly Elijah Gray returned home with his fluffy cat and woke something up.

Something dark and mysterious… and deadly.

The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains a lonely artist who sees ghosts, a fuzzy black cat, a disgruntled caretaker, and a guaranteed HEA.

NOTE: Expect some dark “horror” scenes, but Gus the cat will be living a very long and very happy life.

Review: Gale (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 2) by Jennifer Cody

Rating: 4.75🌈

Hammer and Fist is a two-part series by Jennifer Cody that’s mind boggling in structure, absolutely labyrinthine in its creative threads and fantastically complex world building and characterizations.

As of now the author is alternating between the two connected series , Lexatalion and Geminatus, and their characters/arcs. But from the events in each series second books, I expect that’s about to change with the stories that will follow as the major threats and threads feel like they’re about to converge.

But first the extraordinary events that have occurred here in Gale: Geminatus Book Two. The titles, like the characters themselves, are so multifaceted and complex. Not a complete Geminatus, a single being with two physical avatars that function almost in sync with each other, the title character here is not only partially Geminatus, but also human, and demon, as well as Fae origin, although exactly how he came into being is as yet unclear. But his demonic origins are known with each of his individually functioning avatars, Hunter and Ranger, containing certain elemental magical powers. One the Inferno of the first book, the second the Gale of this story.

Honestly, the storylines are far too complex, the character development and ideas behind them equally complicated and wildly compelling that’s it’s impossible for a review to cover the important aspects of this element. Especially as , per the cliffhanger at the end, Cody is further enlarging on exactly what might be the roles of the avatars within this Geminatus.

Mind blowing.

We do get to see one of the “off page events “ from Brick and Brass (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 2) occur here and mentions of the magical occurrences that will shape both series going forward.

But there’s plenty of mystery, horror, death, and bodies here for everyone to deal with. It’s part of what Hunter had been dealing with since his teenage years in town as well as part of a larger investigation.

How Cody pulls both together is brutal, exciting,and full of suspense.

There’s lots of action, surprises, and some twists and tons of anxiety for the future. I can’t wait for the next books to arrive.

Apparently, via author’s note, it’s looking like at least two more books will be coming each to finish this off. Maybe more. I can believe it. So beautifully complex and getting even more so.

I’m highly recommending this but read them in alternating order ( the first book ones, then both book two’s) from the beginning otherwise you’ll be lost.

Hammer and Fist Series

✓ Sledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 1)

✓ Brick and Brass (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 2)

✓ Inferno (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 1)

✓ Gale (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 2)

Buy Links:

Gale (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 2)

Blurb:

Ranger/Hunter:

After nearly losing an avatar, I’m ready to sign on with IDIA, the Interdimensional Immigration Agency. I need their resources to figure out what the hell is happening to my town. Townsend keeps attracting rogue non-humans and other extraterrestrials, and I’m half convinced it’s ritual sacrifice, but who would bring people here to die? And am I being used to kill these people, or is it happenstance that I’m the one defending Townsend from the violent non-humans?

As I get closer to answers, mysteries and portals pop up and someone starts targeting the people I care about. I’m not usually known for losing my patience, but if these people want to fuck around, they’re going to find out what happens when they do. With the help of my new friends in the agency and the trainer they’ve assigned me, I’ll find out who’s threatening the people under my protection, and when I do, they’re going to regret going up against a prince of hell. I might look like a Geminatus, but I’m so much more than that.

Gale is a 68k word Urban Fantasy with darker themes including dark magic, murder, gore, mutilation, ritual sacrifice, and suicide. Mild cliffhangers happen in UF and this books isn’t an exception

Review: Mighty Quill: An MM Paranormal Shifter Romance (Sanguis Et Fauna Book 1) by Emmaline Strange

Rating: 4 🌈

Emmaline Strange is a new author for me. I just stumbled across her book by glancing at that terrific cover, and realized it represented a new opportunity to see a new author’s take on shifters and a paranormal romance.

I found that Mighty Quill has so many wonderful elements to recommend it. Strange doesn’t go too much into the universe her characters inhabit, except that humans aren’t aware that magical creatures exist along side them. That’s pretty typical.

But what’s unique is how each shifter gets their shifter form or Fauna as it’s identified here is. Instead of being born into a pack of like species, a family of shifters can have any number of species within itself. It depends on what each person’s individual fauna is called to be when they mature, be it bear, wolf, or something totally different.

Strange ‘s interpretation has some new and old elements to it. I’ll get to that in a moment.

The story has, as I said, many aspects that will totally pull a reader in. The characters are wonderful. Cassian Rhodes, the human who’s half the romance, also undergoes a bisexual awakening that’s realistic, and so well written. His confusion is balanced by his ease and openness about the possibility. He’s got a great family, who we meet, so the type of person that comes through makes sense. He’s such a lovely human being.

Thor Ambrose, a shifter who’s been unable to learn his true fauna, and has suffered immensely from that, is another endearing character. He comes from a imminent wealthy shifter family, made up of bears, wolves, panthers , who also have made excellent choices in the human world. So Thor, a small, shy, individual, has been made to feel insignificant and a failure due to a lack of a fauna.

Thor and Cassian Rhodes start off as roommates. Cassian due to the fact that some stupid , out of character behavior cost him his scholarship and Thor because he’s trying to keep his independence from his family.

Here’s where I wish Strange had enlarged on her foundation. She hints that shifters have more recourse when it comes to controlling their childrens future. Something shady or at least, known but never acknowledged among the shifter world. But we don’t exactly get a clear idea what that is. Thor hints at it, his domineering father does, but we don’t get it. Very frustrating.

The slow burn romance between Thor and Cas is absolutely the best part of this book. They are adorable. Each dances around the other, until Cas’ cooking starts a conversation. I love how they each made mistakes and then found a way to apologize. Cute, realistic within a PNR storyline.

There’s a mystery that turns into a murder plot. It’s will lead into a off the page assault. Then the ramifications of that on the person and couple.

That’s one of several choices I question that the author made here .

This is a wonderful PNR that goes off the rails at the end as a horror story. One that seems a bit odd.

On the list of elements I had issues with were:

🔹 Strange continues with the shifter predator idolatry. They are always top rung. But when talking about Alpha pairing, there is a Swan/human bonded pair which she made the human the Alpha. Now either she felt the human was truly the strongest character (not sure) or Strange has not researched or met any swans. So, that struck me as odd.

🔹There’s a grisly scene at the end that involves Thor’s father. As it’s written, it comes across less as a necessary part of the storyline, because imo there’s quite a few holes in the scene, logic wise. But more a reason to have the final confrontation between father and son at the end.

It comes across, once you’ve finished the book, as a narratively petty choice to have made for a character that’s come so far.

Strange had written Thor into a better, stronger person. But couldn’t leave it at that. Had to have a shouting match with a wounded man.

Such a shame.

Strange leaves open ended what happens to several important secondary characters, Leda especially. The police Sargent is going to get his own PNR next. That I’m looking forward to. There’s an. Except at the end of the book.

Mighty Quill: An MM Paranormal Shifter Romance (Sanguis Et Fauna Book 1) by Emmaline Strange was a very good romance that, imo, had just a few too many elements to it. It packed in horror, gore, assault, mystery, a unnecessary and often never used ice hockey element, things that overwhelmed the many wonderful aspects of the book like Cas’ large family and the central romance itself.

I won’t spoil what fauna Thor turned out to be. I guessed from the cover and was wrong. That’s the ranger in me. You all will probably get it right.

Still adorable.

I’m recommending it and will check out more from this author.

Really love the cover.

https://www.goodreads.com › showMighty Quill by Emmaline Strange – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Cassian Rhodes is just a normal guy going through normal college stuff:

Weird roommate? Check.

Panic over grades? Check.

Sexuality Crisis? Uh…

Falling for your roommate? Hold on…

Finding out your new BF’s family is magic? Wait, WTF!?

MIGHTY QUILL is a roommates to idiots to lovers, bi awakening, paranormal shifter romance. Lots of steam, fluff & magic goodness.

Author’s note: Quill is a mystery and it does contain some mentions of gore, body horror, & assault

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Love That Hint of the Magical in your Stories? Check Out the New Release Blitz for He Dreams Magic by Emme C. Taylor (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: He Dreams Magic

Author: Emme C. Taylor

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: October 28, 2019

Heat Level: 1 – No Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 88100

Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, fantasy, alternate universe, literature, horror, captivity, magic, magic users, action/adventure, monsters, slow burn

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Synopsis

Ren has always wanted to leave, to escape his quiet village life. He wakes up from gold-tinged dreams with his heart pounding and a yearning for something he can’t name, can’t hold. He longs to experience something magical just once in his life.

Nico’s monsters don’t lurk under the bed. They walk in daylight. They haunt him every day of his life. He’s possibly the strongest magician of his time, yet he’s trapped. All he wants is an out.

At a magical carnival in the middle of a forest, Ren and Nico collide. They’ve been on this collision course their entire lives, always hurtling toward each other. For both men, escape is now. They have no choice but to flee together. Monsters and betrayal hunt them across strange lands. They find themselves on a journey to save each other—and possibly the world. All they have is one another, Nico’s magic, and a lifetime of half-remembered dreams. But finding each other, finally having someone to rely on, might be the strongest magic of all.

Excerpt

He Dreams Magic
Emme C. Taylor © 2019
All Rights Reserved

Ren

The lake was on fire. Ren dipped his oars into the water and swept himself closer to the blaze, each stroke an exultation. He’d been waiting months for this, counting down the hot summer weeks to autumn and rain and flames.

He was ready to throw himself into the burn.

The fire came on time, as it did every year. The first rainstorm of autumn brought them down from the sky. Or so the story was told. Ren couldn’t quite bring himself to believe they rode through the skies on storm clouds and dropped to the ground between thunderclaps, stealing their impossible power from the lightning.

Then again, they were magicians. Anything was possible.

Ren’s village, Klein, lay huddled in the dark at his back. On the opposite shore, half the forest flickered red. The low clouds caught and held the glowing light from below. The spectacle could be seen from every village in the surrounding valley, a beacon: come, step into the heat, play with us, burn with us.

For the first time in his life, he was going to see it up close. From the quiet safety of Klein, the spectacle always gave the impression of a town set aflame. So near to it, it wasn’t like that at all. More like the whole world had ignited. His fingers around the wood paddles twitched with anticipation. This was it. Finally. Finally.

By the time Ren reached the middle of the lake, half of it alight, a bright crimson flared across the surface and leaped like waves in wind. Reflections set the rest of the lake ablaze so that it seemed to Ren he was sitting in the very middle of the conflagration. So far, he had avoided the areas of the lake that had caught flame.

Magic. God, yes. He could practically taste it in the air, and he wanted more of it. He’d dreamed of magic for years, a gold thread of it always in his mind’s eye. Since childhood, magic remained a ball of yearning lodged in his chest. Ren had to see it for himself. Touch it. Experience it. He wanted to drink it, have it sear his throat.

For years, he’d heard whispers of this from people in nearby villages, those who had gotten close to it over the years.

Those who’d walked through it—and come out on the other side.

Ren paused in the middle of the lake to take it all in. He would be seeing fire in his dreams that night.

His turn had come to walk into this wild world.

He dug his oars into the lake, his reflection rippling away from the boat with each stroke. Ren pushed himself closer to the ruby burn, a moth drawn to the dangerous lure of light.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

Emme C. Taylor can be found wandering stormy beaches with a pen and notebook in hand, waiting for inspiration or lightning to strike. She believes the atmospheric environment helps her to write the grittiest parts of her stories. Crochet and dark chocolate ease her mind when her characters aren’t cooperating. Emme will happily talk about almost anything to avoid having to talk about herself. How about this weather, huh?

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A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Ghost House by Jacqueline Grey

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The main characters are a college student named Andrew, who is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, and a mysterious man named Caius, whom he keeps dreaming about after spending the night in a haunted house. I think the blurb tells you everything you need to know about this book, so if it sounds intriguing, go ahead and jump right in. I really hesitate to give any spoilers. Part of the fun of the book is it walks a fine line of many genres: horror, ghost story, historical romance, fairy tale, contemporary romance, paranormal, and urban fantasy. Is Caius the charming man of Andrew’s dreams, or an entirely different kind of nightmare?
Is he hallucinating? Is he going mad? I was often unsure where this was going to go; the fun is in trying to find out. At turns this is creepy, but never too much or for very long. It’s also fun with cute banter and some fantastical moments. Of more interest to me are the times when Caius is confronted about the fairness or morality of some of his past actions. This is actually a slow burn romance where the author successfully provides sexual tension at various points. While most of the book is chaste, when they finally do come together, it is really about them.

The book is divided in half with the first half told from Andrew’s point of view. His friends Charlie, Amanda, and Marie help round out the cast a bit, but don’t seem as real as Jason, Andrew’s best friend since childhood and college roommate. The reader also gets to meet Andrew’s parents, his father being a major source of anxiety for him. Yet, most of the first half I wasn’t sure if parts of what were happening were real or not. Once the second half starts, the reader gets to see some things from Caius’s point of view. I was still left waiting for the shoe to drop–waiting to see the real Caius as his thoughts were slowly revealed. Strangely, I was waiting to see the real Andrew as well since he wasn’t being honest with anyone, while letting his father plan a life for him that he didn’t want. So wrapped up in this bizarre tale, is still a new adult coming out story that has to be resolved. I think some people will really like this, and other people will not agree with all the choices the author made to go in different directions. For myself, I like quirky and different, so I enjoyed it.

The cover is by Kanaxa. I found it compelling and apropos for the way the book unfolds.
https://www.kanaxa.com/

Sales Links: Amazon | Smashwords

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 244 pages

Published September 24th 2019

ASIN B07W7DFVXZ

Edition Language English

New Book Release for Blood Lust by L.E. Royal (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Blood Lust

Author: L.E. Royal

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: February 18, 2019

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 73200

Genre: Paranormal, LGBT, Paranormal, contemporary, lesbian, vampire, family-drama, human slaves, horror, dark, paternal murder, blood play, psychic ability

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Synopsis

The sequel to Blood Echo.

For Rayne Kennedy, the only Hybrid in Vires, a walled Vampire city in Vermont, life is almost over. Despite the new family and temporary happiness she’s found, her vampire girlfriend, Scarlett Pearce, has been given ninety days by the mysterious city government to turn her into a vampire. She’s sure her days as a human are numbered.

Scarlett fights to find a way to avoid Rayne’s death when her father and society have decreed it must happen. Between new relationships formed, old ones reshaped, and a bloody romp through the city’s darkness, Rayne must decide if she trusts Scarlett not to give in to her blood lust. Thrown into the center of an unexpected revolution, Rayne tries to save herself and Scarlett, unsure if her days as a human, and their time being blood bound, are truly coming to an end.

Excerpt

Blood Lust
L.E. Royal © 2019
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One
“Pick it up.”

Scarlett watched with lazy eyes as my hand shot forward to grab the apple. I hated her a little for how easy she found this.

“You’re scowling, Princess.”

I dropped the apple the minute she let me and did my best to straighten my face.

The revelation that Scarlett and I were blood bound was old news, but its implications were still new to both of us. We’d been spending time when we were alone learning to overcome the phenomenon—or trying.

The vampire stretched, reclining before me on the black satin bedsheets, and I wondered if she felt me compelling her at all. I tried to recreate the feeling inside myself from the rare times I had succeeded in bending her to my will. Silently, I concentrated and willed her to pick up the apple.

She yawned.

Raindrops ran down the sleek glass doors of Scarlett’s balcony, the sky a dreary gray. Even from the great height of the thirteenth floor, I could see little beige specks below that I knew were actually humans. They came from the outskirts of the city—the Fringe, brought in to work around the decadent skyscrapers that housed Vampire families, like Scarlett’s. High up in Pearce Tower we could live under the illusion of safety, for the moment.

Below, the streets of Vires teemed with vampires, Deltas who were genetically advanced enough to walk in the daylight. The non-Deltas would join them at sunset.

A flash of curiosity disturbed me, pulling me back off the dark path I was traveling, thoughts of society in Vires starting to consume me. Without looking, I could feel her watching me, taste her curiosity. Her wish to know what was going on inside my head was clear through the emotional connection we shared. I tried to lock her out, to shield my feelings from her. She tipped her head and when I met her dark eyes, their intensity burned. I figured I was successful.

Pick up the apple.

Her voice was liquid smoke, lingering in my mind, penetrating every corner. My pale hand darted forward and grabbed it again. She smirked. My stupid, smug, beautiful vampire.

My fingers released their grip the moment she bade them to, and the abused fruit fell back onto the sheets.

“Your turn.”

I wanted to grumble, to ask what the point was. We both knew I couldn’t resist the commands she gave. We also knew she could resist mine effortlessly most of the time. I smoothed my hands over my jean-clad thighs and tried again.

“I’m not resisting you, sweetheart. I haven’t felt any compulsion to resist yet.” She was amused. It danced in her eyes, in the little tug at the corner of her mouth, but I knew she was trying to be diplomatic, at least.

“Why is this even important?”

She had been playful and light-hearted, secretly enjoying the little game we shared. The minute I asked the question I felt her growing cold, uncomfortable. The pleasant hum of her emotions as they lapped at me waned before they shut down altogether.

The subject we were avoiding hung between us, heavy and suffocating. After almost a week of sleepless nights and uneasy dreams I knew sometimes she could share, I was ready to drag it out into the light.

“I don’t ever want it to be used against us.” She was somber, her expression dark and unreadable.

“Scar, if I’m going to be a vampire anyway…”

She hissed. I prepared to backpedal, wishing I had been a little more tactful, but she was already speaking.

“Why are you so obsessed with becoming a monster?”

“Jade’s not a monster and she’s a vampire.” Dark eyes softened at the mention of her younger sister, one of the people she loved most in the world. Through our connection I had quickly grown to love her too.

“Jade has struggled more than you know.” It was cryptic and caustic and an answer that was oh so Scarlett.

“You’re not a monster, really.”

She scoffed.

We were silent for a few seconds, my reply dancing on the tip of my tongue. It was a large part of what had been keeping me up at night, but I was too afraid of her answer to voice the topic.

“Say what’s on your mind?” It was only half a question, and I could tell it took some effort for her not to command it out of me. Beneath the cold indifference she had painted on her face, tiny tells and miniscule shimmers of her feelings told me she was nervous.

“I don’t want to get old when you’ll always be young.”

She laughed, and the sound was ever so slightly bitter.

“I’m three hundred and sixty-nine years old, Princess.”

I wondered if I would ever stop being staggered by that fact.

“Besides, I don’t think aging is something we have to worry about. I’m almost certain you’ve already stopped, being as you are.”

“Hybrids don’t age?” My voice was an octave too high with surprise, and maybe a little bit of joy.

We hadn’t much discussed what I was, what I had become, what she had made me. Her cool and careful handling of the subject frustrated me, and it gave me the uncomfortable feeling she was making plans without any of us.

“Just a hunch.” She tried to curtail me before I got too fixated on the fact. “But if I’m right and age isn’t a factor, are you still so eager to be turned?”

I shrugged, unsure.

“Being a hybrid is still dangerous. What if the Government eventually discovers that us sharing blood is what caused this? What if they find out we’re blood bound? Wouldn’t it be safer if I was less…breakable?”

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

L.E. Royal is a British born fiction writer, living in Texas. She enjoys dark but redeemable characters, and twisted themes. Though she is a fan of happy endings, she would describe most of her work as fractured romance. When she is not writing, she is pursuing her dreams with her multi-champion Arabian show horses, or hanging out with her wife at their small ranch/accidental cat sanctuary.

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New Release Blitz for The Fairy Pond by Jason Black

Title: The Fairy Pond

Author: Jason Black

Publisher: Self-pub

Release Date: 12/19/2018

Heat Level: 1 – No Sex

Pairing: No Romance

Length: 29 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, historical

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Synopsis

Nevan lives a simple life. He works hard in the fields with his brothers and his grandpa, and adores his mother wholeheartedly. He’s a good boy who usually stays out of trouble, but even when Grandpa warns him to stay away from the pond, he can’t help feeling curious about it…and the creatures that watch him whenever he’s near.

Excerpt

It had been a long day. Nevan had come out to the fields with lunch after helping with the home chores and stayed to work the rest of the day. He enjoyed this time alone with his grandfather. Each night they were the only ones who stayed awake for the ride home, Grandfather telling stories of times past while Nevan soaked it in like a sponge.

That evening, Grandfather was quiet, glancing around as if uneasy with the sounds of the coming night. Nevan turned to look out at the familiar shapes around them. In the distance, he saw the barn come into view and knew their destination wasn’t far beyond. As they finished rounding a grove of fruit trees, he could also see the small pond that sat next to the barn; home for geese, ducks, and fish. It also served as a cool respite on a warm summer day.

The lack of talk and the swaying of the wagon served to lull Nevan toward sleep. He let a shivering yawn pass his lips, his eyes again turning toward the pond. A splash, a movement. Nevan blinked, now fully awake, and squinted his eyes in disbelief.

“Grandpa?”

“Yeah, boy?” his grandfather answered in a hushed tone.

“There are people swimming in our pond!”

“T’ain’t no one out this late, boy. People be sleepin’.” Grandfather’s words had a finality to them that told Nevan not to argue.

Another splash and Nevan couldn’t hold his tongue.

“But… look!” His finger shot out toward the pond, now directly to the right of the wagon.

Nevan could clearly see the shapes of the figures in the water, even the gleam of eyes in the moonlight as they looked directly at them.

“Boy,” Grandfather said sternly, “Don’t look and don’t be talking about that no more.”

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Meet the Author

Jason Black lives in Texas with his partner and two roommates. He cooks. He writes. He’s an okay guy.

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Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jason.bradley.338863

Twitter – @J_HuffmanBlack

Love a Bit of Horror? Check Out the New Release Blitz for Stalker/s by L.J. Hasbrouck (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Stalker/s

Author: L.J. Hasbrouck

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: January 14, 2019

Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 113600

Genre: Horror, horror, new adult, gay, trans, post-apocalyptic, zombies, survival, island

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Synopsis

Brian Jameson doesn’t even get a chance to pick a college before a worldwide pandemic breaks out—and his home is Ground Zero. After losing his parents and sister in a whirlwind of devastation, Brian’s war-veteran grandfather takes him under his wing. But when desperate looters attack Brian’s new home, he and his grandfather must flee into a wintery Midwestern wasteland now populated by intelligent infected known as “Stalkers.”

These ghoulish creatures don’t shamble in hordes—they hide in the darkness waiting to strike, teeth bared in ghastly grins. And they laugh while they’re ripping you to shreds.

But with his grandfather’s training, Brian makes it to the home of his estranged childhood friends, twins Louis and Eva. And Brian gets a chance to experience something else he nearly missed: falling in love. Drawn to the determined—and ruthless—Louis, Brian escapes with him in search of an island paradise away from the relentless snow and infected.

But even if they make it there, it may not be the haven they’re hoping for.

Excerpt

12/19, Topeka, Kansas

Jameson Residence

1:06 a.m.

The light from Brian Jameson’s tablet danced across his face in varying degrees of intensity: somber blues, soothing greens, and sometimes the alarming tinge of blood-red. The show’s layered soundscape coursed through his earbuds. Drizzling rain enveloped the muted dialogue of two detectives, their shoes crunching against gravel as they hunted an elusive killer. Somewhere offscreen, a gun exploded. Brian’s pulse pounded so hard it blended with the strengthening downpour.

Jesus, I didn’t expect that.

Brian waited for the scene to change, for stunned gasps, for those dainty footsteps to accelerate into a frantic sprint, but the pair of detectives continued their discussion as if they were taking a stroll through a scenic garden.

Brian paused the video and plucked out his earbuds. Silence. Darkness. A small square of light with an image frozen in time tilted against his knees.

Am I going crazy? I swear I heard a gunshot.

Abrupt knocks shook his bedroom door. Brian’s tablet fell to the bed as he swiveled his legs over the edge, muscles tensed—

“Bri! I heard a buncha loud sounds an’ I’m scared!”

Brian clicked his lamp on and rushed to open the door for his younger sister, stumbling over a still-packed suitcase. After he ushered her in, he shut the door. His racing heart slowed as he gripped her fragile shoulders. We might have heard the same thing. Thunder, or maybe fireworks from the redneck neighbors.

“It’ll be okay, Becks. Tell me what happened.”

Becky’s thin eyebrows knit above glistening pale-blue eyes. “A boom woke me up an’ I ran to Mommy and Daddy’s room, but I heard another boom in there an’—”

“Wait—in their room?”

Becky nodded.

Brian jerked his cell phone from the charger. He pressed the “9” from the emergency screen, Becky’s fearful gaze locked on his. A whimper escaped her as footsteps creaked in the hall outside. Shadow sliced the sliver of light beneath the door.

Brian abandoned the phone to reach for the door lock—but someone twisted the knob before he could get to it. A sturdy figure burst in and knocked Brian back. Becky cried, “Daddy!” and flung her arms around their father’s stocky legs. Their mother pushed into the room after him, collapsing to her knees as their father slammed the door and locked it. Brian caught the glint of a gun wrapped in her shaking hand.

While his father paced the room, phone pressed to his ear and daughter wrapped around his legs, Brian guided his mother onto the edge of his bed. Her distant gaze frightened him—she seemed to be looking at something only she could see. A memory, perhaps, something keeping her from the present. Her auburn waves clung to her shoulders in sweat-matted strands. Blood spatter stained the pink and yellow flowers of a nightgown. It framed four crimson gashes gleaming from her porcelain chest.

In the background, Brian’s father spoke to a muffled dispatcher. “My kids are terrified, we’re locked in my son’s bedroom, and there’s a fucking dead guy on my bedroom floor! Why? My wife shot him, that’s why! All I know is I woke up to gunshots, my wife screaming, and some nut springing out of our closet. He scratched her—even tried to bite her! He was out of his mind, stank like…I dunno. I dunno. Can you hurry, please? I’m worried about my wife.”

Brian’s father slumped onto the bed and ran a hand through his close-cropped hair. Becky squeezed between their parents, tiny hands clutching their father’s flannel pajama sleeve while he listened to the dispatcher. His free hand curled into a fist above his bouncing knee, knuckles tightening to white.

Brian’s skin grew clammy. Tingly. He tuned out the sights and sounds around him until they became a blur and buzz, a spinning funhouse tunnel of disorientation. She shot him. This crazy guy that broke in. God, he could’ve come after me and Becks if she hadn’t…

Distracted by the motion of his mother setting the gun on his bedside table, Brian looked at her. He recognized a forced smile he’d seen many times before. “We’ll make it through this one step at a time. We always do.” She glanced down at the bloody slashes, then back up to Brian. “I know this looks nasty, but it’s only a couple of scratches. I’m okay. I promise.”

She pulled Becky to her, giving her the attention their father couldn’t. Despite his muscular build and booming voice, Brian’s father often wilted in stressful situations—like the time he lost his job at the Topeka mall and Brian and his mother found him foaming at the mouth with an empty pill bottle beside his outstretched hand.

Brian’s father lowered his phone and looked at his wife and children, scoffing. “We have to stay in here and wait for them, barricade the door. The dispatcher said we’ll be safe and that we shouldn’t disturb the scene. Can you believe that? They made it sound like you were more of a criminal than the asshole you shot, Ellen!”

“Joel, language.” Brian’s mother covered Becky’s ears. She rested her chin atop Becky’s head and lowered her hands to stroke Becky’s lank hair. Brian’s father sat beside them, staring at the thin blue carpet between his bouncing knees.

“Brian, move your desk in front of the door.”

Any other time, Brian might’ve found his father’s condescension infuriating, but he was happy to have a distraction from the questions stirring within him. He dragged the desk over to the door, hyper-aware and jittery like he’d had too much caffeine.

When he finished, Brian sank onto the foot of his bed. He swept his tablet away, certain he’d never want to finish the episode frozen within it, and curled a quaking hand around his mother’s shoulder. “Mom, tell me what happened. Please.”

She nodded, taking in measured breaths as she threaded her fingers through Becky’s auburn curls. Becky took after their mother both in appearance and spirit. Although Brian possessed the same golden-blond hair and tan complexion as his father, he’d also inherited his tendency toward escapism.

His mother kept him going. She kept them all going. Even though she’d been hurt, she still held her daughter to her, still gripped her husband’s hand in hers, still smiled at Brian.

“Someone must’ve broken in while we were at Nana and Poppa’s,” she whispered. “He hid in our closet, waited until we were asleep… I-I don’t know why he attacked me. But I…I had to protect my family, so I…”

She didn’t say anything else. Becky’s unbearable whimpering forced Brian to voice the panic bashing against his skull. “Who the hell was that guy? Was he some homeless guy that broke in to get out of the cold? Why would he hurt Mom?”

“Bri, if I told you what I saw, you and your sister would have nightmares.” Brian’s father finally looked up and met Brian’s gaze. “Your mother and I will already have them, I’m sure of it. All I know is it was self-defense: they’ll clear your mother, get her checked out at a hospital, and we can go back to normal.” His lips tightened into a strained smile. He’d been fighting to earn Brian’s trust back ever since they found him on that locker room floor, but the sacred trust built between parent and child had been shattered irrevocably.

Brian’s eyes fell from his father’s. They drifted into silence and awaited the police. His gut soured and every nerve in his body tingled until the tips of his toes and fingers felt numb. One second, he’d been watching a by-the-numbers police procedural, the next he might as well have been starring in an episode of his own.

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Meet the Author

Knowledge-seeking animal-lover, supporter of diversity, and OG Floridian. Lifelong gamer who grew up drawing Disney characters, whales, and dinosaurs. Proud INTJ (which I share with the likes of Hannibal Lecter, Batman, and Ellen Ripley).

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A MelanieM Review: Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories by Andrea Speed

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite.

Whether looking into the past or the future, you’re sure to find that stuff gets really weird.

Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories by Andrea Speed is a collection of flash fiction in various genres from fantasy to horror to science fiction. Some are even grouped together further into subcategories like end of the world and dystopian societies.

Some of them have been previously published for the Goodreads M/M Don’t Read in the Closet Events and I honestly felt those came across as the most complete, well rounded stories of the bunch, Soul Mates especially.

The rest of them felt less like actually flash fiction (complete stories of 300 words or so) than outlines or just written down sketches of possible stories the author has in mind for the future.

Quite a few show promise that I would love to see made into stories, whether its vampire hunters or the shotgun bastards of the title. But there’s so little to the characters or world building that the fiction doesn’t really count as a full story, just a tidbit of what could be. Which is most cases the author fully acknowledges.

There is a whole section dedicated to End of the Whole tales which gets to be a bit much. After one or three, even as short as they are, reading about the end of the Earth, the species, it gets old. Well, it did for me. I would have broken this section up. Spread the tales out a bit. But maybe the author wanted a depressing impact to hit all together. I have no idea. For me, it just made me want to skip over several and then return after a break.

Reading through these stories is like a walk through the author’s likes and dislikes, Speed’s commentary in front of the stories makes that clear. Merry Killmas? Oh dear! Yep, Christmas is definitely not the holiday for this author. Short, horrific, and to the point.

If you are a fan of Andrea Speed, then I think you would enjoy this trip through her imagination and possible plots for future books. For fans of flash fiction, you might give it a try as well.

For everyone else? Well, I’ll leave that up to you. As a fan of this author, I’m not sure it worked for me.

Cover art: Philip Lloyd Simpson. This cover totally works for the collection and the author. Perfect.

Sales Links: Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published July 18th 2018 by Less Than Three Press (first published July 17th 2018)
ISBN139781684313129
Edition LanguageEnglish

Release Blitz for CLOSER by F.E. Feeley Jr. (excerpt and giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Closer

Author: F.E. Feeley Jr

Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing

Cover Artist: Emma Bonath

Genre/s: Gay Fiction, Horror, Urban Fantasy

Length: 118,000 words/346 pages

Release Date: March 1st, 2018

Blurb

Maplewood, Vermont is a picturesque town filled with unique shops, unique homes, and a quaint familiarity all centered around a lake with an unusual history.

Legends, old as well as Urban, float around like the mist that hovers above the lake at break of dawn.

But they’re just stories, right?

Hayden Moore’s life was destroyed when his husband, Malcolm, was murdered. Giving up his job as an assistant district attorney in Boston, Hayden moved to the little burg of Maplewood to recover.

A new life.

A fresh start.

However, something underneath the water is stirring. Something rotten. A deadly secret wakes underneath the black waters of Lake Veronica so disturbing it haunts the nightmares of the local residents.

It’s coming closer…

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Excerpt

She had fallen asleep at the side of his bed, her head resting on the back of her chair, and her feet propped up on an ottoman. She awoke to the sound of water running. Audrey let her eyes open slowly, her fatigue surprising her a little. Her son was still asleep in the bed and she checked her watch, it said six thirty. The little bedside lamp was still on and she watched as her son’s chest rise and fall in medicine induced slumber. The water running in the bathroom stirred her and forced her to get up; she noticed steam coming in from under the bathroom door.

Sleep vanished from her mind as she crept slowly to the bathroom door, the hair on the back of her neck and on her arms stood straight up. The door was slightly ajar, and she heard movement inside the bathroom, she stopped. Looking around the bedroom she found her son’s baseball bat in the corner along with a mitt and baseball. Tanner, a friend of Jake’s and a few other guys were on an after-work baseball team, The Hornets. She picked up the bat and held it tight in her hands, she was going to walk straight into the bathroom and beat to death whoever was in the house. She used the bat to push the door open; the mirror over the sink was fogged up with steam. Her heart thudded in her ears as she rounded the corner towards the shower; someone was standing behind the shower curtain, the silhouette of a man. With an unsteady hand she reached for the curtain and jerked it back, raising the bat high above her head. The man, having heard the curtain slide jerked around, soap in his face and screamed, sliding backwards.

“Jesus Christ Audrey!” her ex-husband bellowed, trying to catch his balance.

“Daniel!” she cried out, slumping backwards and settling her behind down on the toilet, breathing hard. She looked up from where she sat, at her naked husband who had lost the extra twenty-five or so pounds that he had gained during their marriage. He was rubbing the soap out of his eyes and rinsing his face cursing and carrying out. She started to laugh and laughed so hard she almost fell off the toilet. She clutched at her midsection as tears rolled down her face.

Daniel stopped cursing and given the awkwardness of the situation chuckled himself.

“If you wanted to see me naked Audrey, all you had to do is ask,” he said, sliding the curtain back closed.

“Oh… Oh, Daniel. You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had. I thought you were a ghost,” she said. He pulled the curtain back and looked at her strangely. His handsome face lit up in a quizzical way, a few more lines around his eyes than she remembered. His grey hair plastered to his head, but his eyes were as blue as she remembered. She felt a tug deep inside her heart for the slightest second, remembering what could have been, what should have been.

“A ghost huh?” Daniel asked, grabbing for the towel.

“Yeah. Never mind. When did you get here?” she asked as he stepped out of the shower. He had been working out, his shoulders broader and his chest tighter. She kept her back to him as he towel dried off.

“About thirty minutes. The front door was unlocked and Jake and you both were sound asleep. I tried calling on the phone, but you didn’t answer. I was worried something had happened,” he said.

“Yeah. I gave him a Xanax, so he could sleep. You should have seen him Daniel, he was so sick and besides himself. I was afraid he was going to die from grief,” she explained, handing him his underwear and t-shirt from the sink, her back still turned to him.

“Did the police say anything else?” he asked as he slipped into his underwear. He talked to his ex-wife’s back, frowning. She looked great; she always had, if it hadn’t been for that last miscarriage they wouldn’t be apart like this. He wasn’t surprised that she came in at him with a bat; she loved and protected her Jake with fierceness. He wouldn’t ever accuse her of being a bad mother.

“You can turn around now,” he said as he buckled his blue jeans.

She did just that, looking up at him.

“Daniel, you should have seen him,” she said, putting her head in her hands.

“That bad huh?” he asked buttoning a short sleeve golf shirt that his friends bought for him.

“Yeah. I didn’t know he was having an affair with…that woman. I knew he was staying out late, and I knew that he was seen out, but, with her?” She exhaled sharply. Jessica had a bad reputation in town for being a heart-breaker, and then she married the single wealthiest man, a lead accountant for a computer firm, she was labeled a gold digger. Now she was dead, and the law was looking at her son.

“We will take care of this. How about you? How you feeling?” he asked, concern in his voice. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her face looked strained.

“I’m hanging in there. Daniel, how bad can this get?” she asked.

“That depends really. I mean, if he didn’t do it, he didn’t do it. We just must make sure that we can account for where he was and when he left. You said they were at a motel? Good. That means he had to check out at some point,” he said, the gears in his head turning.

“Daniel, there has been some other stuff happening in this area. This makes the third drowning in the past week,” she said, standing up. “He’ll be glad to see you.”

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she leaned into him letting him hold her. He let her go and stepped out of the bathroom, taking the baseball bat with him as he went. His son’s light was on above his bed and Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. Standing two feet away from the sleeping boy was a scantily clad woman. She was wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and a pair of panties, but something was wrong, her color was all wrong. Her bare legs were almost blue they were so pale.

“HEY! Get away from him!” he screamed, raising the bat up. The woman spun around, one of her eyeballs had exploded and hung limp on her face, her matted wet hair stuck to her head. Behind him he heard his ex-wife scream.

Daniels muscles bunched up and he leapt forward, bringing the bat up, his instincts taking control. The woman screamed, a gargled disjointed sound, and when the bat hit her square in the head, she exploded. Water sprayed him, soaking the front of his shirt, and their sleeping son, who woke with a start.

“What the fu…Dad?” The bleary eyed and confused son watched in astonishment as he wiped the water off his face. Audrey rounded the side of Daniel and reached for Jake to get up. Daniel turned his head to the open door and saw wet footprints. His body shook, his breathing was labored, and his curiosity piqued. While he left his son and Audrey waiting in the bedroom he followed the trail to its source.

About the Author

Author Bio: F.E.Feeley Jr is a poet and the author of six published works – four full length novels, two short stories featured in anthologies, and a good deal of poetry.

Married to the love of his life, John, he came to the writing world about four years ago where he fell in love, again, with the written word.

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Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win one of FIVE books from F.E. Feeley Jr.’s backlist.

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