Tag Archives: Paranormal

Darkness Shatters is now available!

For those of you who haven’t caught it yet, Darkness Shatters is now out.  This is the fifth installment of the series and events are really heating up as we near the end (one book left to go, not counting spin-offs).  If you didn’t read the three chapter sample I provided in my previous post, you may not know Lucas has his point of view in this installment.  He only gets about twenty percent of the novel with Melena still narrating the other eighty percent, but it is important at times you see things from his side (for the sake of the plots and their relationship).  I really enjoyed writing this one and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Below is a summary for the novel and links to the retailers.  Thanks to everyone who has stayed with me this far into the series.  It’s meant a lot to me.

Darkness ShattersSUMMARY:

Winter has come to Alaska and it’s about to be joined by death.

Since moving to Fairbanks, Melena Sanders has watched too many of her friends die because she couldn’t react fast enough. When a mysterious illness comes along targeting only supernatural races she’s determined to stop it. But as the death toll climbs she realizes finding a cure is more complicated than she thought. Melena might have to give in to plans to reveal the existence of supernaturals to the human world—as it may be the only way to save them.

Word count: 96,000 (approximate)

 

 

 

 

 

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RETAILER LINKS:

AMAZON US    AMAZON UK     AMAZON DE     AMAZON AU     AMAZON CA

NOOK     KOBO     ITUNES

Darkness Clashes is now available!

Darkness Clashes coverThanks to everyone for their patience.  I’m happy to let you all know Darkness Clashes is now available on all retailer sites (Amazon/B&N/iTunes/Kobo).  You can find links to them at the bottom of this post.  My apologies to everyone who has been waiting and thanks for all the lovely emails.  I’ll be responding to them today.

I’ve also chosen four random winners from those who participated in the giveaway (see this post).  They can expect an email from me letting them know they’ve won.  Everyone else who participated will be receiving bookmarks soon if they’ve provided me with a mailing address.

What to expect:

Though this isn’t my longest book, it does have some complicated plot threads that required a greater balancing act than previous novels to make them as seamless as possible.  Character motivations are much more murky with no easy sides to take.  Melena will have a lot of tough choices.  It is also set at a faster pace and over a shorter period than what I usually do for my books.  I hope you enjoy the ride!

Purchase Links

Nook

iTunes

Kobo

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon Germany

Amazon Australia

Amazon Canada

Amazon France

Amazon India

Amazon Brazil

Darkness Divides is now Available!

Darkness Divides coverThanks to everyone for their patience.  I’m excited to let you all know Darkness Divides is now available on Amazon and as soon as it is available with other retailers I’ll post the links for them here as well.  For those wondering, this novel came to almost 108k words, which is the longest one I’ve released yet (see the book tab above for word count on the others).  This is honestly my favorite novel so far, but I’m biased so I’ll leave it up to you all to decide what you think!

As a release day bonus, the first twenty people who comment on this post will be eligible to get a set of series bookmarks (regardless of where you’re from).  Be sure to put a valid email address in the comment field so I can contact you.  Two random people from among the twenty will also get a free signed paperback copy of Darkness Haunts (the first book in the series).

*Update- The full number of comments has been reached.  I’ll be contacting everyone soon to get your addresses to send the bookmarks and I’ll announce on a separate post who won the paperback books.

 

Purchase Links

Nook

iTunes

Kobo

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon Germany

Amazon Australia

Amazon Canada

Amazon France

Indie urban fantasy series I recommend…

I know many of you are waiting patiently for Darkness Divides to come out on April 20th.  As an update, it’s coming along well and I’ll be posting the first two chapters this weekend.  So be on the lookout!

In the meantime, I thought I’d give you all a list of other urban fantasy authors who I follow.  Most of you are probably already aware of the big traditionally published names in the genre such as Jeaniene Frost, Ilona Andrews, Karen Marie Moning, Chloe Neill, Patricia Briggs, plus many more.  This is to highlight the indies who I’ve found to be just as enjoyable.

Keep in mind that your mileage may vary as no two people have exactly the same tastes, but these are ones I’ve found to be good and think you might too if you haven’t discovered them already.  All covers are linked to the book’s Amazon purchase page.  I’ve also included some brief thoughts on my impression of each author’s books.

 

 

Blood Wager coverConnie Suttle– If you haven’t read the book that begins her Blood Destiny series and sets up the ones that follow it, check out Blood Wager first.  The key thing to know with her work is that it has a lot of emotional twists, action, and expands to include sci-fi elements as the series progresses.  The romance in her work isn’t of the traditional variety, but I love the uniqueness of her writing.  Her “voice” is very different from other writers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Demon Bound book coverDebra Dunbar– For those who enjoy a wicked sense of humor, this is a great series to try.  The main character is a demon imp who gets into a lot of trouble, but as you get to know her you’ll find she’s surprisingly relatable.  There are light romantic elements and a rather hunky love interest or two, but nothing too hot and steamy for those who prefer those elements toned down.  Do expect some naughtiness, though.  This series has five books out so far and Debra recently released two spin-off novels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sleight of Hand book coverMark Henwick– His series is strong on action and suspense, while being lighter on the romantic elements (though you should expect some explicit content).  The thing I think readers love the most about his writing is how fast-paced it is  and that he includes investigative elements as well as a female character who has a military background.  This series has three books out so far, plus a prequel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Dates coverTracey Sinclair– I stumbled upon this author after seeing a review of one of her books from a blogger who also follows my series.  The cover is a bit different from most UF, but I promise this series is great!  The setting is in London, so with this one you get out of the United States so you can enjoy something a little different.  There is some nice humor and the romance will keep you intrigued.  If you like heroines who are always trying to do the right thing despite not being all that powerful, you should enjoy this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elemental Magic coverAngela Wallace– She has a nice UF series that features elementals (users of earth, air, water, fire).  Her novels are lighter than the ones I mentioned above, making them a great change of pace from the standard darker fare.  There’s more mystery to her books too and they have sweet romantic elements (nothing hot and heavy).  The main character stays the same for the first two books before switching to a different one with the third.  She should be releasing the fourth novel soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

shadowpath_coverP.L. Blair– She has a UF series featuring two main characters.  A human female and an elf male.  They are detectives who have been partnered together to investigate supernatural cases.  The criminals in this series are rather unique and the lore this author uses keeps me fascinated.  The romance doesn’t pick up until much later in the series and the author keeps things fairly clean, but I must admit I was ready for it when it came!  Expect the books to focus on the plot and have some nice action sequences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments section.  I know there are a lot of other good ones out there and that I didn’t name them all.  If you can tell us a little about why you like any particular author/series, that would be helpful too!

Snippet from “Tempting the Moon”

Most of you know I’ll be including a short story in the Stroke of Midnight anthology that will be available on December 26th.  It ended up being a little over 10k words and features Melena and Emily dealing with a werewolf problem.  Sable, the shape-shifter kitty, makes an appearance as well.  For now, I’m giving you all a snippet from the beginning to tide you over.  Hope you enjoy!

***Update- you can now grab a free copy in any format from Smashwords***

*****

“Hey, Mel?”

I didn’t look up at Emily as I continued doing sit-ups. Just a hundred more to go. “Yeah?”

“I sort of have a problem.”

She was almost sixteen. She seemed to always have some kind of crisis going on—and those were just the ones I found out about. “What’s the problem?”

“I, uh, seduced a werewolf and got him caught in a bear trap,” she rushed out.

Fifty sit-ups would have to do. I sat up and ran my gaze over her. She had scratches on her face and hands as if she’d been running through the woods.

“Maybe you should repeat that.” I rubbed at my ears. “Because I could have sworn you just said you seduced a werewolf.”

She shifted from foot to foot. “It was payback. Hunter broke into my locker at school and did something really embarrassing.”

“What did he do?” I hoped it wasn’t something that would require me to kill him. He wasn’t eighteen yet. I really needed to wait until after he’d reached the legal age to do something that extreme.

“He rigged my locker so that when I opened it a song played loud enough for everyone to hear.”

Well, it could have been worse. He could have filled it with snakes or spiders or something even more horrifying. With a werewolf, the possibilities were endless.

“Which song?” I asked.

She pushed back some of her long, brown hair behind one ear. “Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner.”

Ouch. He must still be upset with her for breaking his nose and kneeing him in the balls back on Valentine’s Day when he’d tried to crash her party. The song was sort of romantic in a weird kind of way, though.

“How did he manage to do that?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. He had his iPod in there with some speakers and I think he had a remote in his hand. That must’ve been how he turned it on.”

“What did you do?”

“Everyone was looking at me and laughing.” Emily’s face turned red. “It was right at the end of school so I shoved everything into my backpack and took off. He’s been calling me ever since wanting his stuff back.”

I wanted to be angry with the guy, but nothing he’d done so far had really hurt her. Just minor pranks like this and sending her badly written poems. Oh, and that time he showed up outside our house on a full moon with a bloody rabbit between his teeth. He’d left that for her as a gift, though Emily hadn’t found it very amusing.

“Is that why you’ve been shutting your cell phone off every time it rings lately?” I lifted my brows.

Emily appeared to be a cheerful and open person, but if you tried to dig too deep she’d put up defensive walls. Life had already damaged her pretty badly by the time I found her and it was taking a while for her to open up. I tried not to push her too hard, hoping she’d learn to trust me and talk things out when she was ready.

“Yeah.” She glanced back at the door. “I don’t know how he got my number.”

“So you decided to seduce him and get him caught in a bear trap? Is he okay?”

Emily looked down and stared at her feet. “That’s sort of the problem. He’s still caught in it and now he’s turned into a wolf so I can’t get him free.”

*****

You can add this book to your Goodreads TBR list here.

*****

The Stroke of Midnight Promo Graphic