Somewhere Out There Charity Anthology & Giveaway!

Somewhere Out There: Indie Authors in Support of Immigrant Families
A Charity Anthology 

Publication date: August 21st 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Formats: ebook
Publisher: Bathory Gate Press

The more than 150 independent authors, editors, artists, and promoters involved in this charity volume series are donating 100% of all net proceeds to non-profit organizations supporting immigrant families detained at the United States borders, particularly charities working to reunite children separated from parents and organizations working to provide legal and humanitarian aid. Our goal is to help keep immigrant families together and unincarcerated.

The stories included range from contemporary romance to urban fantasy to paranormal romance to horror to comedy, and beyond–they’re as varied as the families and people whose dreams we want to support. The contributors come from all over the world, highlighting the international scope of this issue.

The stories we tell can help define who we are. Help us tell one of an international author and reader community coming together to support immigrant families.

Get your copy today!

Goodreads / Barnes & Noble / Amazon*

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

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Bea Reviews Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Series: Rolling in the Deep #1
Publisher: Orbit
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 14th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves.

But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Bea Reviews Monsterland by Michael Phillip Cash & Michael Okon

Publisher: Michael Phillip Cash
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 3rd, 2015 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Welcome to Monsterland – the scariest place on Earth. All guests can interact with real vampires in Vampire Village, be chased by an actual werewolf on the River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

Wyatt Baldwin, a high school student and life-long movie buff is staring bleakly at a future of flipping burgers. Due to a fortuitous circumstance, Wyatt and his friends are invited to the star-studded opening of Monsterland. In a theme park full of real vampires, werewolves and zombies, what could possibly go wrong?

Celebrate National Sisters Day & Enter to Win The Last Chance Matinee by Mariah Stewart and The Mirror Sisters by V.C. Andrews®

Today is National Sisters Day! I had no idea there was such a day until recently. *Note to self - call or text both sisters today* Apparently, the first Sunday in August is National Sisters Day. The idea is to connect or reconnect with your sister, to cherish that special family member.

And since we are all book lovers here, we know that there are books about sisters and those books can bring enlightenment or a few hours pleasure. Thanks to Simon and Schuster, I have 2 books to give away today that will hopefully bring you some pleasure.

Review & Giveaway: Grimm Woods by D. Melhoff

Publisher: Bellswood Publishing
Format Read: Paperback
Source: From the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 17, 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A REMOTE SUMMER CAMP becomes a lurid crime scene when the bodies of two teenagers are found in a bloody, real-life rendering of a classic Grimm's fairy tale. Trapped in the wilderness, the remaining counselors must follow a trail of dark children's fables in order to outwit a psychopath and save the dwindling survivors before falling prey to their own gruesome endings.

Drawing on the grisly, uncensored details of history’s most famous fairy tales, Grimm Woods is a heart-pounding thriller about a deranged killer who uses traditional children’s stories as tropes in elaborate murders. Set against the backdrop of modern-day Michigan, it’s a journey through the mind of a dangerous zealot and a shocking glimpse into the bedtime stories you thought you knew.

Bea Reviews Furr by Axel Howerton

Series: Wolf & Devil Series, Book #0
Publisher: Tyche Books Ltd
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 14th, 2016 
Buying Links: Amazon US* | Amazon CA | Book Depository* | Kobo | Chapters/Indigo | Tyche Books | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

From the South three sisters fair ran athwart the gloom.
Dressed of fur and fierce of tooth… the maidens of the moon.

Jimmy Finn is having a real bad day. He woke up drunk and on the wrong end of a nightstick. He lost his job, and had to see his shrink. Now the cops are after him, he’s falling apart, and his only friend is a volatile drug lord. How could it get any worse?

As smoke envelopes the city, he finds himself on the run, and out of time. He’s either losing his mind, or becoming a monster. Or maybe it’s both. Jimmy Finn has one last hope. A long-buried family secret, lost above a mysterious town in the mountains, full of bizarre shadows and a strange girl that haunts his memories.

“Populated by a collection of characters you definitely want to have a drink with, but then hide in your basement while you count your fingers and toes afterward, this tale does not disappoint.” – Robert Bose, nEvermore, AB Negative

“Axel Howerton pens a slick stylish werewolf tale that digs in its teeth and tears at your heart. Furr has a voice that speaks to the animal in us all.”
– Sarah L. Johnson, author of Suicide Stitch: Eleven Stories

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Bea and Jax Review Led Astray: The Best of Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Tachyon Publications 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 17, 2015
Challenges:  What An Animal | NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Welcome to the many worlds of #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong (Otherworld, Cainsville). As her SyFy channel series, Bitten, enters its second season, Armstrong continues to breathe new life into city-dwelling vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Now travel even further with her, to a post-apocalyptic fortress, a superstitious village, a supernatural brothel, and even feudal Japan.

In Led Astray, you’ll discover the stories of new characters from within and outside Armstrong’s popular novels. Here you will find two original tales from Cainsville, plus journeys to and beyond the worlds of Darkest Powers, Age of Legends, Otherworld, and more.

Bold and humorous, passionate and heart-stopping, here is Kelley Armstrong at her versatile best.

Bea Reviews Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

Publisher: Subterranean Press 
Source: the local library
Release Date: April 6, 2015
Challenges:
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Kobo  | iTunes* | Subterranean Press | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.

They didn't expect actual mermaids. They certainly didn't expect those mermaids to have teeth.

This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench…and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.

The Friday 56: The Damned by Andrew Pyper

This is a fun meme to do hosted by Freda's Voice. If you'd like to join in the fun go to The Friday 56.

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

I'm about to start a thriller/horror book, "The Damned", by Andrew Pyper. The quote is from page 56  in the hardcover.

"I was only curious," she'd say, and widen her eyes, as though you merely had to stop and look into them to be convinced of her harmlessness.

EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: The Lost Island by Sadie Anjum

EXCERPT

Today I'm delighted to have another author from the now defunct Kelley Armstrong message board. Sadie Anjum lives in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire in England, with her children. She loves the world of supernatural, horror, fantasy and paranormal.  If she isn't writing, she will be found with her nose in a book, and a cup of coffee in her hand.


Find Sadie Online:

twitter
facebook
goodreads

COVER REVEAL - Melancholy of Souls by Anne Michaud

 

SQUEEE! I did the copy edits on this book and now I get to help unveil its cover. The book is a blend of horror and urban fantasy and is the first in a forthcoming series. Right now, it's part of the Girls & Ghosts collection but next year, it will be the first book in a new series. The author, Anne Michaud, has been on the blog before as I've reviewed a couple of her books. So far, this one is my favorite by a mile.

Bea Reviews Symbiont by Mira Grant

Publisher: Orbit
Series:Parasitology #2
Format Read: hardcover
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*' | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

THE SECOND BOOK IN MIRA GRANT'S TERRIFYING PARASITOLOGY SERIES.


THE ENEMY IS INSIDE US.

The SymboGen designed tapeworms were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the tapeworms are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is, and how they can be stopped.

Free Kindle Books for Halloween!

I've read the first two anthologies, reviewed the first one, and have the third on my Kindle, waiting it's turn. The Kindle books are FREE for 4 days only so get yours now!

Blog Tour Review of The Burden of Souls by Andy Monk

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Series: Hawker’s Drift #1
Format Read: Ebook
Source: Tour company in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 6, 2014
Buying Links: | | | Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Small Town, Dark Heart…

A long way from anywhere, on a road going nowhere, lays a small, unremarkable town. It seems a peaceable, prosperous little place, on the surface at least.

Away from prying eyes however, in the shadows and the forgotten corners, there is a web being weaved through the lives of its inhabitants by the town’s urbane and mysterious Mayor. A man prepared to make a deal for your heart's desire and, maybe, for your very soul…

Welcome to Hawker’s Drift, a town where nothing is quite as it seems…

Bea Reviews Hunter's Trap by Anne Michaud

Publisher: Sad Ghost Press
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 10, 2014 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Smashwords*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

"Ghosts don't believe in you, either."

Seventeen-year-old Dayton Mulligan is stuck looking after his little brother Jeremy when their father goes off on his annual hunting trip. But when Dad’s last phone call ends in a shotgun blast, it's enough to send both boys out into a blizzard to search for him.

Caught in the killer weather, Dayton and Jeremy take refuge in an abandoned hunting cabin, which isn't as empty as it first seems. A ghost inhabits its walls and promises to reveal the truth behind their father's disappearance, but the brothers doubt their host's sincerity as the spirit demonstrates its hatred for anyone who trespasses on its land.

Far from the safety of civilization, Dayton must swallow his fears, fight for himself and for his family before it’s too late and Hunter’s Trap claims them all, forever.

Authors Who Inspired Horror Author Erin Hayes & An Amazon GC Giveaway

 

Good morning! Today I have a guest post for you from horror author Erin Hayes on the authors who inspired her. There's also a giveaway so grab a drink, some munchies, and settle in.

Sci-fi junkie, video game nerd, and wannabe manga artist, Erin Hayes writes a lot of things. Sometimes she writes books, like the fantasy mystery Death is but a Dream and the sci-fi middle grade book Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average.

You can reach her at tiptoegirl87@gmail.com and she’ll be happy to chat. Especially if you want to debate Star Wars.

EXCERPT & GC GIVEAWAY: Hawthorne by Sarah Ballance

After a terrifying encounter with the unexplained, it takes ten years and the news of her grandmother’s passing for Emma Grace Hawthorne to return to her childhood home. She seeks peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she finds is an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she can right. Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett has never forgotten about Emma Grace. In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents reveals a truth that can cost him everything. What he finds gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?  

Publisher: Sarah Ballance (originally published by Astraea Press)
Format: ebook
Release Date: February 10, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon*

ARC Review of Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: Age of Legends #1 
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.

Only this year, the souls will not be quieted.

Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.

A Novel's Two Lives - Guest Post by Joseph Wallace & A Giveaway

Today I have a post from Joseph Wallace, the author of the new thriller, "Invasive Species". It's a scientific thriller about a newly evolved predator from the African wilderness. Before turning to writing fiction, Wallace contributed articles with a focus on the tropical rainforest and invasive species to many national publications, including Sierra and Audubon. "Invasive Species" is the result of interviews with leading scientists in the field and rooted in scientific fact. 

About Joe, from his website: 

Hi! I’m Joe Wallace. I’m the author of two novels: the global apocalyptic thriller Invasive Species (2013, Berkley Books), and Diamond Ruby (2010, Touchstone), set in 1920s New York City. I’ve contributed short stories to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and anthologies including Bronx Noir, Baltimore Noir, Hard Boiled Brooklyn, and two Mystery Writers of America collections: The Prosecution Rests and Ice Cold. I’ve also published nonfiction books on dinosaurs, natural history, and baseball, and written on nature, travel, and health for magazines and newspapers. I live with my family north of New York City, where I run storytelling workshops in the local elementary schools and work as a writing mentor for high-school students.

Review of Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Format Read: eGalley
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 23, 2012
Buying Links: Amazon* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most.

Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia.

Bea's Thoughts:

The story starts off slowly, laying the foundation. We meet Lucretia, Loochie, her family, and her ailing friend Sunny. Loochie is twelve and anxious to be older; she worries that she's not developing as quickly as other girls in her class and she's worried about Sunny's health while at the same time in denial about it. I was expecting a dark fantasy/horror story but what I got was a contemporary dark fantasy with hints of "Alice in Wonderland" set in an inner-city. It's both gritty and horrific. The Kroons sound like an urban myth but they are all too real.

"Lucretia and the Kroons" is a horror story, a love story, a story of friendship, loyalty, hope, and death. A mix of the expected and the unexpected, it's a dark story; some children might find the material difficult to deal with but many young teens and tweens will be able to relate to Loochie and her life. A plus for me was that both Loochie and Sunny are people of color, not white, and yet that wasn't the point of the story, it was just part of who they were. I appreciate stories where there's diversity but it's just part of the story and isn't the point.

Trigger warnings- children dying and cancer.