Happy Re-Release

In a very special Welcome Wednesday - I'd like to share with you the Re-Release of Wounded.

Here is an excerpt from Wounded. I hope that you enjoy it and that Cole and Emma can capture your heart the way they did mine!

Wounded - ©2016 Krystal George

Watching her, Cole shut down the part of his brain that would over analyze the situation and just went with his instincts. Tentatively he reached out and just barely touched her shoulder. When she turned and smiled sadly at him, he took it as encouragement and reached farther to twirl a piece of her hair around his finger. It was soft and silky and when the slight breeze caught hold of the flyaway strands, they tickled against his skin.

"I'm sure he loves you very much Emma." Cole whispered, so lost in the moment that he was leaning toward her hoping that she would inch closer his way giving him the okay to kiss her.

"You have to know someone to love them, don't you?" She asked. Her voice was shaking and a little frightened and all of the sudden he wondered if they were talking about her and her father or something else entirely.

"Sometimes, I think you just know. Regardless of anything else."

Then the moment that he had been waiting for was in front of him. Emma's eyes closed as she slowly leaned closer to him. She was so incredibly beautiful that it made his heart ache just to look at her as he closed the distance between them.

When their lips finally met, Emma felt her heart sigh. Even though she hadn't been sure she wanted him in there, her heart had always known and there couldn't have been a more perfect moment. It was a simple kiss… a sweet one. One that didn’t demand or intrude. When it was over he dropped her hair and smiled at her shyly.

And here is a little more information about me. I am looking forward to re-releasing each of my books under the Marfa House Publishing family and hope that you enjoy them as well! There are many exciting this to come over the next twelve months!

First off  - Thank you so much for taking the time to look into my imagination! It’s such an amazing feeling to dream of something in your head and then put your whole heart into putting it on paper. I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to do this and share my dreams with you!

I’ve been writing as far back as I can remember. As a young reader, I was obsessed with anything that made me scared! My shelves were littered with books from YA Horror greats like RL Stine and Christopher Pike. Then when I moved on to middle school I feel in love with Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and also began reading romance. Primarily for this reason, I have devoted my writing to mostly paranormal romance and stick to the YA and NA categories.

Wounded is my first book with the story planted firmly in reality! It’s a love story centered on military life and how that life has an effect on the people who live it and the relationships that are formed despite the time spent away from home. It’s a very personal story and I hope that you enjoy it!

Currently I am lucky to live in beautiful Colorado where I can see the mountains from my doorstep! I’ve been a Colorado native my entire life and have an incredible husband who supports my dreams as well as four children that help to create them. My passions include reading, writing, graphic design, and music. A rare known fact about me is that I have an intense fear of Orca’s – they didn’t get the name Killer Whale because they are nice! This is a means of constant torment from my family, but it’s all in good fun and a few nightmares are good for the soul… right?

Sunday Spotlight

Meet Wondra Vanian

I am an American native, now living in the United Kingdom with my husband of twelve years and our army of furbabies.

After earning my BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature - the second time around - I left my job working for The Man, both to pursue a career in writing and to concentrate of finding happiness while living with a chronic mental illness.

When I’m not writing, I’m behind the lens, indulging in my love of photography; scouring the ‘net for new music; battling zombies and dragons on the Playstation; or hanging out at Comic Con.

Author's Website: http://www.wondravanian.com/

Author's Blog: http://wondrasworld.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wondravanianauthor/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/wondravanian

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/WondraVanian

Available Titles:

Pale is the New Tan - http://a.co/3yZvzFT

The Catacombs: Through the Keyhole - https://amzn.com/1942314256

A Lovely Darkness: Poetry With Heart - http://a.co/aqX3meT

The Wtiches Cavern: A Halloween Anthology - http://a.co/86UAB8Z

Hindered Souls: Dark Tales for Dark Nights - http://a.co/ganECYw

Black Candy: A Halloween Anthology of Horror - http://a.co/5Jghae1

Indiana Horror Review 2016 - http://a.co/3HuWvRK

Also Available:

Jack O'Lanterns - http://www.lulu.com/shop/thirteen-oclock-press/jack-olanterns/paperback/product-22868215.html

Grey Matter Monsters: Takers of Souls - https://www.createspace.com/6663177

Welcome Wednesday

Meet Jamie Sterling

Jamie Sterling is always writing something, whether it’s at work or just an idea that will never see the light of day. As a technical writer by trade, it’s sometimes tough making the transition from dry, repetitive instructions and procedural steps to the richer, descriptive prose describing the passion, the conflict, and the drama of a romance novel. At times the dichotomy is overwhelming.

“I live in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley and commute to Manhattan just about every day. It’s exhausting, but at least I get to write on the train, and that is a huge plus! Sometimes, when I’m stuck on a scene, just watching the scenery of the river and the hills surrounding it gets my creative juices flowing and gives me the best ideas.

“Captured Hunter is an exploration of how most people are afraid to pursue what they really want in life. We are all afraid of showing certain sides of ourselves, but it’s only by being brave enough do we have a chance to recognize our dreams.”

Jamie is a voracious reader and enjoys getting lost in the world that a book can create in the mind.  “It’s better than TV or movies, because they force you to see what they show. In a book, the reader creates the set and how the characters look. I love that.”

Jamie’s first full-length romance novel, Captured Hunter, released earlier this month from Siren Publishing and is available as an e-book.

From Captured Hunter:

“We’re going to a haunted house?!” Stephanie nodded eagerly. “Yeah! It’s going to be so cool!”

Hunter looked skeptical. “I have to ask—is this a haunted house with actors playing decapitated corpses and jumping out at you, or is this a haunted house with mediums calling spirits from the dead?”

“Real spirits,” Stephanie said as she parked. “They do a real séance to call them.”

“This is the big surprise?”

“Yup. Scared?” Her voice was almost taunting him, daring him to show weakness. 

“Uh, no. I have to admit I’m a little surprised that you believe in ghosts and spirits and all that stuff.”

“You don’t?” 

“Not a bit. I think they are a combination of overactive imaginations and wishful thinking. There’s nothing that passes as proof, or even evidence, of ghosts. As a woman of science, shouldn’t you believe what the evidence points to?” 

Stephanie seemed entertained by Hunter’s challenging position. “Of course I do. And that’s the beauty of it. I don’t know if ghosts really exist anymore than the next person, because I’ve never seen any evidence. But me not seeing evidence is not the same as there being no evidence, or evidence to the contrary, so I’m a doubter until I see something definitive, like you say. Maybe there is no evidence because ghosts don’t exist, maybe we can’t perceive the kind of evidence they leave behind, or—hey, don’t roll your eyes at me! —or maybe spirits like to tease the living, showing us just enough to make us uncertain of their existence.” 

She parked and they headed for the entrance. “‘Tease the living?’” Hunter was caught up in this debate, mostly because he knew it was in good fun and also because Stephanie appeared entertained by the back and forth. “So ghosts come back from the dead to…mess with our heads? I’d rather be one of those totally evil ghosts that scares the shit out of people and makes them drop dead on the spot.”

“I think you could pull that off!” she said as she slugged him in the arm while they walked. “Don’t you like scary movies?”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I think the plot is non-fiction. I like Christmas movies and cartoons, but I don’t think Santa Claus is real or that rabbits and ducks and pigs can talk.”

“Cartoons? Really?” She shook her head dismissively. “Anyway, it’s fun to be scared, and it makes it scarier when you give a little credence to the idea that these things might be real and lurking around the corner, so I suspend my disbelief.” They reached the entrance of the rather large colonial-style home. “I want this to be fun—do you think you can figure out a way to have fun with it?”

He thought for a moment. Hunter had to agree that it used to be fun to turn off the lights and scare the crap out of himself. He had read The Amityville Horror as a twelve-year-old, and it had cost him many nights of sleep, wondering what might happen to him in his house at 3:15 a.m. However, back then he hadn’t been nearly as sure about the lack of ghosts and spirits as now. That would make it harder to fully commit to the evening, but he wanted to have fun as well. “OK, I’ll find a way to enjoy myself and stay in the spirit.” 

“Thanks.”

You can learn more about Jamie here:

Jamie’s Website: http://www.authorjamiesterling.com/

Siren Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/book/captured-hunter

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JamieSterlingRomance/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamieSterling70

Welcome Wednesday

Meet Susan Coryell

What fun to guest-post in Krystal’s blog!  My new release NOBODY KNOWS debuted October 14^th, so I am excited to talk about it and the two books that preceded it in the Overhome Trilogy., each of which may be read as a stand-alone. And how appropriate for my ghost stories that HALLOWEEN is coming soon!

I write cozy mystery/Southern Gothics; I call them history, mystery, romance and ghosts. My setting is fictional Moore Mountain Lake, based on my home, Smith Mountain Lake, in Southern Virginia. The Overhome Trilogy begins with A RED, RED ROSE and Twenty-year-old Ashby Overton’s visit to Overhome, her family’s ancient historic estate in Southern Virginia. Ashby hopes to find her roots there and answers to questions about the mysterious death of her grandmother; instead she finds a family spirit who leads her deeper and deeper into intrigue and danger. Ashby also discovers herself as she matures, meets a romantic match, and unearths mysteries long hidden.

The second book, BENEATH THE STONES, takes place five years later as Ashby, now owner of Overhome Estate, struggles to pull the old plantation out of financial peril. An angry ghost is hell-bent to prevent her plan to sell off a parcel of land containing an ancient outbuilding. With the help of her fiancé, Ashby uses her sixth sense to ferret out the source and substance of Civil War spirits still engaged in battle mode.

NOBODY KNOWS, third and final novel five years hence, moves Ashby and her cohorts into an epic battle with slave spirits stirred to life by a mysterious stranger, claiming to be a slave ancestor begotten by a long-ago Overton plantation master.  Ashby uses every weapon in her extra-sensory arsenal to quell the mounting spirit discord on Overhome Estate.

BLURB: Why do ancient spirits hover at the crossroads between two worlds: the living and the dead? 

 

With a successful writing career and blissful marriage, Ashby Overton is fulfilled and content at historic Overhome Estate in Southern Virginia'until a stranger walks into her life. The arrival of Professor Ellis O. Grady coincides with a violent and bizarre turbulence emanating from the dark world of Overhome's ancient spirits.

 

As paranormal events build into chaos, Ashby must use her sixth sense to sort out the real from the imagined in both the visible and the invisible worlds as, stirred into fury, the souls of Civil War slaves engage in a dangerous battle destined to reveal long-held secrets of the past.

 

What is the connection between the enigmatic professor, a slave-built chapel and a restored overseer's cottage on Overhome Estate? Ashby struggles to find the answers before the spirits destroy her family's heritage, and the lives of those she loves.

 

Why do I write Southern Gothics? Because I love the focus on Southern history (I am a native Virginian), especially the Civil War and all it stood for. Southerners are ever aware of the significance of family, the importance of tradition and the rights and wrongs of our sense of social class and place.  My over-arching theme for all three novels involves the social and cultural concerns of the South where long-held, hard-felt ideas often battle with modern ideas.

The cozy mystery genre is such fun with its quirky characters, rural settings and emphasis on intrigue rather than gore and sex, which are mostly off-stage.

Here’s an excerpt from NOBODY KNOWS: Excerpt from Nobody Knows

     Walking over the weedy ground, I felt the desolate abandonment of those long-dead. A few tilting gravestones, so blurred with time that their epitaphs were illegible, listed toward the ground as if sheltering from a punishing wind. Scattered among the patchwork grasses were small, thin stone markers set in the dirt, little more than raw rocks, though several bore the faint outline of initials which had been chiseled into them so long ago. Ellis and I surveyed the bleak cemetery, each harboring our own thoughts.  I don’t know how long we stood there breathing in the silence. Then, I heard the voice.—so clear, so distinct, that I startled and almost fell back. Did my companion hear it, too? I darted a look at him. He stood with eyes closed, evidently completely lost in his own reverie. I held my breath and listened with all my senses on alert. The voice wavered this time, as though trailing away, but its repeated message was identical to the one I had first heard at the Overseer’s Cottage when the candlestick went missing. I had thought, then, that I heard “red apple,” which made no sense. Now I understood. “Jared Chapel,” the voice warned. Yes, its tone was severe. Demanding. “Jared Chapel.”

     I touched Ellis’s arm. “It’s here, Ellis. I know it is.” And when he blinked uncomprehendingly, I added, “You wondered if Jared Chapel offers anything in your search for your ancestry. It’s here—there’s something here. I feel it and I...I know it.”

     He blinked several times, a serious expression on his face. “You know because...”

     “Sometimes the past speaks to me. I can’t explain it, but I have to trust the voice that tells me things.”

     He rubbed his chin. “You know...this is odd. Really odd.”

     I raised my eyebrows in a silent question and he continued. “Because I thought I heard something. I definitely felt...a presence I can’t explain. Someone trying to get my attention. Someone very, very seriously trying to make me understand.” He shook his head. “Understand what? I confess, I’m baffled.”

     “It’s a sign,” I said. “Something I’ve learned over my years at Overhome. We ignore the signs at our own peril.”

My thanks to Krystal for hosting. I hope our readers will give the Overhome Trilogy a try!

More About Susan:

A career educator, Susan has taught students from 7^th grade through college-level. She earned a BA degree in English from Carson-Newman College and a Masters from George Mason University. She is listed in several different volumes of Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who in Teaching.  Susan belongs to Author’s Guild, Virginia Writers, and Lake Writers. She loves to talk with budding writers at schools, writers’ conferences and workshops. Her young adult anti-bully novel EAGLEBAIT is in its third edition for print and e-book, updated with cyber-bullying. EAGLEBAIT won the NY Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age," and the International Reading Association's "Young Adult Choice."

A RED, RED ROSE, first in a cozy mystery/Southern Gothic series, was nominated for a literary award with the Library of Virginia. BENEATH THE STONES, the sequel, was released in April of 2015. NOBODY KNOWS, third novel in the Overhome Trilogy released October, 2016. All three novels were published by The Wild Rose Press in NY.

When not writing, Susan enjoys boating, kayaking, golf and yoga. She and her husband, Ned, love to travel, especially when any of their seven grandchildren are involved.

Please visit Susan Coryell’s website: www.susancoryellauthor.com and my blog: www.susancoryellauthor.blogspot.com or contact her on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Amazon link: https://amzn.com/B0145P8K16

Sunday Spotlight

Meet Lisa Pottgen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Lisa fell in love with the idea of storytelling when she first discovered the world of books at a very early age. For as long as she can remember she has wanted to write. Now, after following several different paths, the written word has once again called to her.  
Her first published piece, Jacob's Awakening, was first released as part of the anthology, "Miraculous: Tales of the Unknown." It is currently updated and re-released as part of Marfa House's 2016 Halloween Anthology, "The Witches' Cavern" and as a stand alone short. Readers will be able to learn and discover more about Jacob in Lisa's upcoming series, Living Outside the Box. 
Lisa lives in Florida with her husband, three children, and Schnoodle pup. She has first-hand experience with autistic children from which she drew when developing Jacob's character. She spends her free time reading and trying to instill the love of books in her children. 

She currently has several other writing projects in the works as well, including a stand alone young adult fantasy novel and a creative non-fiction work about raising a child with autism. 

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Please comment on this post for the Rafflecopter Giveaway.


Also - anyone who purchases and reviews Wounded is eligible to receive a signed cover image print of Wounded! Please just let me know that you have reviewed it and comment with a link to your review!

I am also offering free advanced reader's copies that will be available a few days prior to release. If you sign up for once and have a review posted on release day, you will also be eligible for a signed cover image print of Wounded!

Welcome Wednesday

Meet Author Ashlee Sinn

BIO

Ashlee Sinn fancies all creatures of the paranormal persuasion, especially those who like to bite. Her steamy romances tend to feature swoon-worthy heroes and kick-ass heroines. Whether its vampires, weres, or demons, the women who keep them in line have a special place in her heart. And in her chaotic head.

LURED BY THE BEAR

The first book of The Alaska Shifters – a spinoff from The Callaghan Clan books.

BLURB:

Derrick Ward has always wanted a mate. When all of his friends settle down and start a family, he wonders if it will ever happen for him. Brandt, his clan leader, has some females in mind, but Derrick refuses to accept a forced mating. And now the time has come for the shifters to reveal themselves. Derrick fears that once the world knows he’s a grizzly, he’ll never be able to find that right person to fill his den.

Julia Housten has been in love with Derrick for years. Still recovering from the negative reputation her father left behind by his failed challenge for clan leader, she worries that Derrick will never accept her as a potential mate. So when she has an opportunity to do something good for the clan, she can hardly contain herself when she learns she’ll be working with Derrick.

The International Shifter Coalition is moving forward with the big reveal while Julia and Derrick discover just how perfect they are together. But with the reveal comes a danger they hadn’t expected. A new threat that could tear them apart looms nearby, and it will take the whole clan to protect everything, and everyone, they love.

EXCERPT

As I set down my fork after cleaning my plate of salmon, crab legs, and roasted potatoes, the smile grew on my face. “I seriously think that was the best dinner I’ve ever eaten as a human.”

Derrick smiled and took a drink of his wine. “As a human?”

I shrugged. “My bear likes raw salmon.”

“Isn’t that a stereotype?” he teased.

“Maybe, but it’s true. If you don’t know where I am, check down by the shore.”

“Good to know,” he said with a wicked grin. Raising his glass, he stretched out his arm in an offered toast. “To the last day of anonymity.”

The worry in his face ruined the handsome jawline. “It will be okay,” I said after I clinked my glass to his.

“Do you really think so?”

“I do,” I said, taking a sip. “People aren’t what they used to be. They’re more tolerable of differences and more curious about the unknown. I mean I think it will be a little rough for a while, but something else will come along that’s louder and shinier, and their interest will move on.” When Derrick just stared at me, I shook my head. “What?”

“Do you even understand how much I want to take you back to my place right now?”

“Huh?” Words simply wouldn’t form as the aroma of his bear filled the space around us. His hand found my knee under the table and the feeling of skin on skin ignited a fire of need in me that I hadn’t felt before.

“I will never forgive myself for wasting so much time with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew you had a crush on me. The brothers teased me about it all of the time. But I wouldn’t listen. I refused to listen. Even if, now that I can look back, even if my bear was trying to tell me otherwise.”

I swallowed the emotions welling up in my throat. “What are you saying, Derrick?”

“I’m saying that I want you to be mine. And I wish we hadn’t wasted so much time getting to this place, but now that we’re here…I don’t ever want us to be away from each other. These last few days have been torturous for me. My bear wants you. I want you.” Derrick lifted his hands and reached across the table for my own. When I placed them inside of his, he smiled. “You’re my mate, and I love you.”

OTHER BOOKS BY ASHLEE SINN:

The Vampire Huntress Series

Part One: Chased

Part Two: Seduced 

Part Three: Taken

Part Four: Chosen

Series Bundle

The Callaghan Clan

Obeying the Bear

Releasing the Bear

Catching the Bear

The Alaska Shifters

Lured by the Bear

MAILING LIST

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Find out more about Ashlee:

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