EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Deadly Testimony by Piper J. Drake

If you enjoy hot romantic suspense, you're in for a treat with today's excerpt! It's from "Deadly Testimony", the second book in Piper J. Drake's "Safeguard" series. There's also a giveaway so get comfy and enjoy!

Piper J. Drake (or “PJ”) began her writing career as “PJ Schnyder” writing sci-fi & paranormal romance and steampunk. She has recently received the FF&P PRISM award for her work as well as the NJRW Golden Leaf award and Parsec award.

Now, PJ is exploring the complexity of romantic suspense, incorporating her interests in mixed martial arts and the military into her writing.

Patty Briggs Signing

I was ecstatic when I found out that Patty was coming to Cambridge MA for a book signing. I've met Patty before, on several occasions but the last time I saw her was a year and a half ago. Today was the perfect day for me to go too as it's my short day at school, so I didn't have to take any time off to attend.

It was, to me anyway, a small turnout, maybe 20-25 people. Patty started by reading the prologue from "Fair Game", then spent about 30 minutes answering questions. Some highlights:

• There's not a definite date, but she's working on an anthology of short stories set in Mercy's world. It'll be a mix of previously published stories (Star of David; Seeing Eye; In Red, With Pearls, etc) and new stories. Possible new stories include one from Bran's perspective, one with Sam, and one with the teen werewolf Kara. Patty is hoping that it will be out before the next Mercy book in March 2013 but there's nothing set in stone yet.
• Someone asked if there will be a book with both Anna and Mercy. The answer was no, but maybe a short story. 
• Someone else asked if Patty will ever return to any of her traditional fantasy series. The answer - yes. No definite date; Patty said there will be a third Hurog book, another Hob book, and another Raven book, but for now she's content to keep writing urban fantasy. When she needs a break, she'll switch over the traditional fantasy, and then go back to the urban fantasy. 
• Fair Game is the last definite Alpha & Omega book that she's contracted for BUT she's under contract for one more book set in that world so it could be an A&O book, a Mercy book, or maybe one using a secondary character from one or both series. It won't, however, be Bran. Patty would prefer to keep him mysterious. :)

As I was getting my pic taken with Patty, I had a pleasant surprise - author PJ Schnyder was also in the audience. She took some pix too but I don't have those yet. The person waiting in line behind me took this one.

 You'll see that Patty has a large selection of pens. Some she brought with her, some the Harvard Co-op (they sponsored the signing) provided. Patty likes to give people the option of what color pen to get their books signed with. I chose purple. :)

It was great to see Patty again, I passed on messages to her from people on her board, and I had a brief chat with her before she had to leave. It was also nice seeing PJ. I had the chance to meet her last year when she was in Boston for her day job. I had a fun evening, and it was well worth the trip into Boston.

Tomorrow night I'm headed to Belmont, just outside of Boston, for a reading and signing with YA author Mike Mullin. We chat on Twitter, and I'm really looking forward to meeting him in person. I'll post about that too.

Dusty Reads #4

 

  Dusty Reads is a weekly meme hosted by Giselle at Xpresso Reads where we spotlight a book sitting in our TBR pile. My TBR breeds when I'm not looking, I swear. Between ebooks (darn those kindle freebies, lol)  and print books, I have a couple hundred that I haven't yet read. Eeep.

For my first one of 2012, I have a book that's been sitting on my kindle for about a year now. I've started it several times, but always get sidetracked and then it's ages before I get back to it, and then I get sidetracked. Sometimes my attention span is no better than the two and three year olds in my class. :D  I have no doubt I'll enjoy, once I finally sit down and read it, I've liked everything I've read by this author. 

Red's Wolf (Terra's Guardians #2) Publisher: Decadent Publishing Release Date: Aug. 30, 2010

 Book Blurb (from goodreads):

Carri has definitely caught the eye of the big bad wolf. 

 Visiting the Glacier Valley pack to get a little breathing room from life in the city, she uses her skills to help install a high tech airspace sensor array for her adoptive grandmother’s pack. Jason is a lone wolf, good at doing his job and good at being alone. Sparks fly between them, igniting desire hotter than Carri’s red hood. But the Glacier Valley pack has made it clear that Carri is under their protection and off limits. And yet, the heat between them is undeniable and when Carri makes her choice clear, Jason is ready to claim her as his. He’ll go against the pack and any rivals, even take down an alien hunter to have her and protect her.

I read the first book in this series, Heart's Sentinel, and enjoyed it. Schnyder mixed were-creatures with a bit of sci fi and a bit of apocalyptica with some hot and heavy sex scenes and romance. They're both novellas, not full length novels, so it won't take me long, once I get around to it. 

Birthday Giveaway! Red's Wolf by PJ Schnyder

September 25th would have been my mother's 86th birthday. She died when she was 58, after a 2 year battle with breast cancer. I was a senior in high school. My oldest sibling had died six months earlier in a car accident and her doctor warned us at the time that we would probably see a deterioration in her condition in response to his death. We did. Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children. Still, she didn't give up fighting entirely and she even continued to smoke cigarettes until she was put on oxygen. When she was first diagnosed with cancer, they checked her lungs since she was a heavy smoker for 30+ years. Her lungs were clear, surprisingly so, and so she kept smoking until she absolutely couldn't.

So what does all of that have to do with the giveaway? Well, the publisher of "Red's Wolf", Decadent Publishing, has a program called "Read for a Cure". Each month, they choose one book and donate all of the the publisher profits to the Relay for Life, a series of annual events (marathons, etc.) that benefit the American Cancer Society.  This month's book is "Red's Wolf".

The author of "Red's Wolf" also had her birthday this month and is an acquaintance of mine. My mother, before she had to retire due to her cancer, was an English teacher and loved books and reading. She introduced me to my first romance book (I'm pretty sure it was a Rosemary Rogers title; I have no clue what my mother was thinking, lol.)

Soooo, in honor of my mother, to celebrate her birthday, and as an easy way to donate to the American Cancer Society, I am giving away a Kindle version of this book. It's open internationally. The winner will have the book Kindle gifted to them from me via Amazon. You don't have to actually have a Kindle, you can have the app on your computer or smart phone. Go here to see the options and download the app, if you want it. Using the app, you  can purchase (or receive) Kindle books and read them without ever buying a Kindle.

ETA: I just looked at Barnes & Noble and it's available there too, so the winner can choose the Kindle book or the Nook book. They also have free apps for reading their digital books so you don't actually need a Nook.

There's more! PJ has offered to donate some signed cover flats. I'll mail those out to the lucky winner of the book. And, if the winner is interested, I'll also throw in a bar of hand made glycerin soap with the breast cancer ribbon on it. The winner can choose from unscented, rose, lavender or lavender vanilla.

What do you have to do to win all this? Well, I'd love it if you made a donation to whatever organization in your state/province/country works to fight cancer, but that's not a requirement. Leave a comment about something you might do, or have done, in honor of your parents. Simple as that. Oh, don't forget to read the giveaway policy.

The giveaway will run from now through 11:59 PM EST of September 25th. If in doubt about the time, see the clock widget in the right hand column.

Review of Hunting Kat by PJ Schnyder

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date: July 4th, 2011

More Info:  Amazon     All Romance  

Book Blurb:

As a mercenary, Kat Darah doesn't have to pass for a normal human. On the edge of the solar system, she's just another biped. Most of the time.

Nearing the end of his military tour, Lt. Christopher Rygard debates the idea of hanging up his uniform for good. Looking for answers at the bottom of a glass of scotch, he meets Kat. One shared night of mutual desire seems harmless. But when their tryst is interrupted by attackers hunting Rygard, Kat must reveal her other form, the predator beneath the human façade.

Together they embark on a dangerous mission—a race against time to meet the enemy's demands, while trying to deny the passion between them. Rygard is faced with a terrible choice in the face of duty: Report the existence of a human turned shape-shifter. Or forget he ever met her.

25,000 words

My Thoughts: 

As I re-read this story in preparation for the review, I shared passages and my thoughts on them on twitter and facebook (Kindle's share feature is AWESOME). As a result, several people are now intrigued and want to read it. :) Additionally, several of us agreed that Kat, the story's main character, is not alone in needing to improve her social skills. :D

This is one snippet that I shared and the resulting conversation:

• yep, her social skills definitely need work. lol

  
  

  Shared from a Personal Document

  kindle.amazon.com
  

  Lifting his drink, he nodded. “Mind if I buy you another?” Kaitlyn studied the man for a beat before the question popped out. “Why?”

  
  

  via Kindle

• • J  That sounds like an exchange I would have. But I never claimed to be socially savvy.
  • • B This character and I have similar social skills, sadly. However, I lack her kick ass fighting kills and her ability to change into a panther. :(

                         J    ‎*sigh* It's that whole transfiguration thing that stumps me every time.

                         B     Yeah, it's a puzzler alright.

                         L      lol. so whwich book is this Bea. You got me curious now.

                         B      LOL. It's "Hunting Kat" by PJ Schnyder. It's an e-book.

                         L      Thanks!


My point is, despite the fact that Kat is a were-panther and despite the science fiction setting, Kat is relatable and sympathetic. That doesn't always happen in urban fantasy or in sci fi. So, for me, that is a major strength of this story.

Kat underwent s series of harsh events three years ago and though she's physically recovered, her emotional recovery has been more difficult. She has learned, for the most part, to cope with what happened but still suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. In an effort to help her with this, Dev, the captain of the mercenary ship she lives and works on, who is also her friend, and Skuld, the ship's engineer, arrange for her to be temporarily stranded on a space station. They've seen how far she has come emotionally and socially, and believe that she is ready for the next step - pleasant, normal interactions with males. I'm sure you see where this is going. Skuld hopes that Kat will get laid and fills Kat's duffle bag with one change of clothes and, to Kat's disgust and chagrin, a veritable rainbow of lacy undergarments.

Before Kat gets social, she meets up with Boggle, a information broker, who was acquainted with Kat years ago, though she doesn't recall it. Their initial meeting is bumpy but Boggle has a backbone and holds his own, which earns Kat's respect. He breaks the news to her that her shipmates and friends have left her on the station and the ship has left. Upset, Kat heads for the space station's bar.

There's a brawl in progress when she arrives; Kat plows through it, determined to have her drink. This captures the attention of Lieutenant Christopher Rygard, of the Terran military. He's there drinking and brooding, not really in the mood for company. He recently broke up with his girl friend and he's having second thoughts about re-enlisting in the military as he has moral problems with recent missions. Kat's fighting prowess, and her determination to reach her scotch, catch his eye and he starts chatting her up.

They hook up and Schnyder does a deft job of portraying the attraction between them, Kat's conflict between desire and fear, and Rygard's attempt to balance his desire and his compassion for her fear. They work past her fear and things go well. I'm dubious about how easily Kat orgasms, it's highly unlikely given her circumstances, but it's a minor quibble.

During the afterglow is when all heck breaks loose. Boggle had sent Kat a gift, which arrived while Kat and Rygard were together in her room. It included a communications jammer, to allow them privacy, and a background check on Rygard. Rygard sees the background check and takes it badly. He assumes that Kat requested it (she didn't) and that she's some sort of gold digger. He gets nasty, saying cruel things to her. I felt that this was a weak point in the story. We know that his last relationship didn't end well, that his ex lied to him and used him, but there simply wasn't enough groundwork laid for his behavior towards Kat to be believable. Additionally, we never get to know Rygard as well as we do Kat, he's less developed. He's likable, when he's not being unneccesarily cruel to Kat, but he could have been fleshed out more.

While Kat is reeling from Rygard's accusations, they are attacked by two humanoids and a jaguar. Kat's nose tells her that all of them are shifters. She shifts to her panther form, surprising Rygard, who was clueless about her dual identity. The strangers accuse Rygard of murder and kidnapping. After a brief battle between the jaguar and Kat , Kat finds herself volunteering to help Rygard rescue the kidnapped cubs and in return, the strangers won't kill him.

The rest of the story revolves around Kat and Rygard's rescue mission, with help from Boggle and her shipmates, who have returned to the space station. I won't say how that turns out but Schnyder is creative; she also has a good eye for details.

By the end of the story Kat and Rygard have resolved their disagreement and are friends again. The story doesn't have a typical HEA, more of what another reviewer called a "Happy For Now". If you like or need an HEA, you won't find it here. However, if Schnyder had gone that route, she would not have been true to the characters or the story. This ending is much more believable than an HEA that would have rung falsely and fit poorly.

"Hunting Kat" is an enjoyable blend of romance, urban fantasy and science fiction. Schnyder knows how to grab and hold the reader's attention. The opening line particularly grabs you:

“Give me back my bra, you little tube rat, or I’ll rip out your spine and steal your soul.”

Now, how can you resist? 

I received this eARC from NetGalley.