Excerpt from Challenging the Legacy by Genie Gabriel & A Free Book

Today I have an excerpt for you from a new womens fiction, "Challenging the Legacy" by Genie Gabriel, that was released last month. Genie is touring blogs to get the word out about the book.

For years Genie has been fascinated by the puzzle of why some people collapse under life's traumas and others emerge triumphantly stronger. These triumphs of the human spirit over the ugliest of adversities became the basis for her stories. Yet her dramatic stories have always contained touches of humor, and sometimes she has great fun writing romantic comedy novellas. However, in all of her stories, her passion for writing romance is an outlet for the powerful messages that people can overcome great difficulties, and true love can turn life’s heartaches into happily ever after.

Find Sheila online:

website
blog

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Excerpt 

Drawing a deep breath, Ruby related the story of becoming pregnant, of going to Tallie when she couldn't get through to Pierce, and leaving Marly for Tallie to raise.

"So I have a daughter you never told me about?" Pierce glared at Ruby.

"I tried to tell you--"

"And you left her with Tallie?"

Ruby's chin went up another notch. "I knew Tallie would be a better mother than I'd ever be."

"So the two of you..." Tallie's glance pingponged between Ruby and Pierce.

The stricken look in Tallie's eyes stabbed guilt into Pierce's heart. Well, she had been the one to desert him, dammit. And he had waited years for her to return before Ruby caught his eye. The same color hair as Tallie's. He made the mistake of thinking perhaps he could recapture that special feeling--or purge it from his mind and senses.

A glance at the frozen set of Ruby's jaw nearly deflected him from seeing the hurt in her eyes. A stiff drink would be good right now.

"This is all a bit of a surprise to me," Pierce said. The two women glared at him. "To all of us, I'd say."

The sound of cars coming up the driveway registered at the back of Pierce's brain, and he waffled between irritation and gratitude. Irritation because he wanted to sort out Ruby's story, and gratitude because he figured this was going to be the kind of emotional bloodbath he tried to avoid at all costs.

"Were you expecting someone?" Pierce asked.

Glancing at the grandfather clock standing in the hallway, Tallie pushed up from the couch with a frown. "It's too early--"

But a disturbance at the door interrupted her as a young woman with streaming red-gold hair pushed inside and hustled straight toward Tallie. "We need the safe room. Halo is exploding."

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Challenging the Legacy
Author: Genie Gabriel
Series: The Legacy Series #5

Publisher: Rogue Pheonix Press
Format: ebook
Genre: womens fiction
Length: 470 KB
Release Date: November 1, 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon   All Romance eBooks   Barnes & Noble

Book Blurb (from the author):

Super-mom Tallie O'Shea took on eight adopted children and built a legacy of compassionate justice with her policeman husband. When he is gunned down, she doesn't think it's an accident. Then a former lover shows up and the lies from her past start unraveling. As dangers explode around her, can Tallie set things right before everything she loves is destroyed?

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Genie will be giving away a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour and a $10.00 Powell's Bookstore Gift Card to one commenter at every stop.

Also, Genie has arranged for another book in the series to be FREE at Amazon each Monday during her tour. Get "The Bodyguard" by Genie Gabriel free on Kindle every Monday through December 24th) here:  http://tinyurl.com/aot3veu
 

Nora Roberts 2013 Release Schedule

Last year, on a lark, I posted Nora's 2012 release schedule and then forgot about it. But not for long. It has been one of my most popular posts ever, every week, it gets views. So today I'm posting her 2013 release schedule for your reading pleasure. You're welcome . :D

*Remember that it is subject to change.*

New releases

FEBRUARY
Calculated in Death (hc)
APRIL
Whiskey Beach (hc)
SEPTEMBER
Thankless in Death (hc)
OCTOBER
Mirror, Mirror (mm)
    featuring “Taken in Death”
NOVEMBER
Dark Witch (tr)
    Book 1 of Nora’s New Trilogy

Reprints

JANUARY
Out of this World (tr)
    featuring “Interlude in Death”
MARCH
Delusion in Death (mm)
APRIL
The Witness (tr)
MAY
Sea Swept (tr)
JUNE
Rising Tides (tr)
JULY
Inner Harbor (tr)
AUGUST
Chesapeake Blue (tr)
Calculated in Death (mm)
SEPTEMBER
Born in Fire (tr)
OCTOBER
Born in Ice (tr)
DECEMBER
Born in Shame (tr)

Key:  hc  = hardcover   tr = trade    mm = mass market paperback

Nora also has a sneak preview of the next In Death book, "Calculated in Death", on her site. Enjoy!

Excerpt & Giveaway - The Betrayal by Sheila Hendrix

Today I have an excerpt from a paranormal YA book, "The Betrayal", by Sheila Hendrix. Sheila is a native of Alabama and resides there with her husband of seventeen years. Her only children are her six dogs. She works as a nurse for a nursing home and also does reviews for a magazine, although she hasn’t done that in a while because she’s been busy writing her own Young Adult series. Sheila has always wanted to write but never thought she’d be able to. It’s been a dream of hers since she was a little girl. She practically raised her little brother because her parents both had to work. She had to grow up fast and that was where she got the idea of writing about two brothers whose parents abandoned them when they were little. The Dark Circle book series is her paranormal series which she’s working on right now. She got the idea for "The Betrayal" after having a nightmare that stayed with her for days. "The Betrayal" is the first book in the series and is now available where ever books are sold. The second book in the series is "Head Games" and then "Darkness Falls". She doesn’t know how many books will be in the series but there will be several. Her hobbies are reading, writing, gardening, traveling, hiking, camping and swimming. She is currently in school to earn her Associate Degree in Paralegal studies but her dream is to write.

Find Sheila online:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter
 

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Short Excerpt 

He roamed through the cave, listening to the sounds around him.  Water dripped into an underground pool further down, the drops spaced several seconds apart and the splash echoing off the rocks.  Sand and pebbles crunched under his feet, and wind whistled across the cave opening, all of it familiar. He’d walked that cave a million times for a million reasons. His domain — where he drew his strength — also became his weakness at times, for the cave was alive. 

His name, Alanya, meant The Destroyer. He wandered the ages, seeking to slaughter people who held special gifts.  He fed on them for their strength and power, each special power offering a distinctive flavor.  Their cries resonated in the cave’s memory; their blood splattered on its walls and drenched its floors.  If he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could still smell the coppery tang.

Strolling to the mouth of the cave, he looked at but didn’t see the forest.  His mind seethed in his hatred for the brothers Zachariah and Matthew McCannon.

  

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The Betrayal
Author: Sheila Hendrix
Series: The Dark Circle, #1
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 9781466010116
Format: paperback, ebook
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Length: 294 pages, 548 KB
Release Date: December 24, 2011
Buying Links:  
Lulu

Smashwords

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Blurb (from the author):

When Zachariah and Matthew McCannon were young, their parents abandoned them, leaving Zack to take care of his little brother, Matt. Though they lived with their grandmother, she was always sick, so Zack was forced to raise him. This was not an easy task.

   Zack had his hands full because of Matt’s unusual powers. He has visions and dreams that come true, and when he gets angry or upset, he can move things with his mind. Because of this, evil seeks him, keeping Zack on his toes as his protector. 

    As the brothers grew older, they became hunters, pursuing evil supernatural forces. After Matthew has a dream, it sends them on a hunt for cave, not knowing why, but realizing it is necessary. When they arrive, Matt finds the vision was a trap.

    A Darkness like no other wants to control Matt and kill Zack. The Darkness is named, Alanya, which means, The Destroyer.

    Alanya hates the brothers. In the past, every time he tried to apprehend Matt, Zack would thwart him by protecting his brother. Alanya is incensed that a mere human boy can beat him, for demons are not to be defied.

    When Alanya asks Zack, “How far will you go to save your brother?” Zack answers, “As far as I have to.”

    Now, the brothers are faced with a deadly force they never had to deal with before. This demon is on a deadly mission to destroy everything the brothers hold dear. If the McCannon’s are not careful, neither of them will be able to escape.

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Sheila is giving away a $15US Amazon gift card. Enter using the rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Book Share #13

 

 

 

I'm participating in Feed My Reader Friday hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer,  The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews. The  memes allow book bloggers the chance to share print and digital books they've received and different posts and events at their blog.

Yep, another sharing meme. :D I figured with all of the Kindle freebies I download as well as the Kindle books I buy and get for review, it was time to give them some special attention. Plus, I signed up for an ebook reading challenge for 2013. My first 2013 reading challenge!

It was a quiet week last week as I put in extra hours at the day job and was neck-deep in editing assignments. This coming week I have, gasp!, reviews. :D I also have lots of spotlights. Apparently, many, many authors thought this would be a FANTASTIC week to promote their books, must be all of the upcoming holidays. :D I turned down about 3X as many as I signed up for. 

Cover Reveal:  The Midnight Spell by Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye

Spotlight:  All the Right Moves by Ever Leigh

Excerpt:  Threesome Sweetness by JoAnne Kenrick

Giveaways:  $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card

Julie Kenner "Release Me" Blog Hop

Guest Post:  Cods Have Tongues?!? And Other WTFery by Krista D. Ball

Memes:  Sunday Book Share #12   Dusty Reads

News/Info:  C.S. Lewis's Birthday   2013 Ebook Reading Challenge

BOOKS!

Library - Print

Library - Kindle

I've read some of the books in the anthology but there are a couple I haven't yet. I've heard mixed reviews on her Inn series so I decided to get them from the library rather than buy them.

Bought - Kindle

Won

JoAnne did a huge giveaway on release day and I was one of the lucky winners. 

Kindle Freebies

Friday, when I started this post, I had only one freebie; Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours later, I had four. Darn you Twitter and Facebook! :D

I'm still doing copy edits on the hellaciously long UF novel and soon I should have another spec fic novel for proofing. I finished the content edits on the short story romance; it was nerve wracking but I enjoyed it. I also have Christmas to get ready for. Busy, busy! How was your week? Leave a link in your comment and I'll pop in for a visit. 

Give the gift of reading to a child this holiday season!

The autumn/winter holiday season has begun and gift giving is on many people's minds. Scholastic Books is also thinking about gift giving and they want your help. This year, Scholastic, The UPS Store and Marine Toys for Tots Foundation are gearing up for the holidays with the READ EVERY DAY holiday campaign to promote the love of reading and encourage all families to help give books to kids who need them most, including those who lost books due to Hurricane Sandy.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Download Storia®, Scholastic’s teacher-recommended children’s ereading app, and help pass on the reading to kids in need. Upon downloading Storia, families will receive five free children’s ebooks (Scholastic chooses them so they may or not be relevant to your kids needs and wants) to start a home digital library. For every additional ebook purchased on Storia now through Dec. 31, 2012, Scholastic will donate a children’s book to a child in need through the Toys for Tots Literacy Program (with a minimum of 50,000 books committed).
2. Visit a participating The UPS Store location across the U.S. now through Dec. 31, 2012 to purchase a donation card to benefit the Toys for Tots Literacy Program, a year-round initiative of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Every dollar donated helps provide new books from Scholastic for less fortunate children in local communities throughout the U.S. Customers can also donate online at The UPS Store Facebook page.  As part of the longstanding collaboration with Scholastic Literacy Partners, The UPS Store location that raises the most money during the holidays will receive 500 books to share with families in their local community.

This holiday literacy drive is part of Scholastic’s global literacy campaign, Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life, an effort to help all children experience the love of reading and owning a book.
Help us spread the holiday cheer – give the gift of ereading and we’ll donate a book. It’s that easy!

I downloaded Storia and it seems like an okay app, though not the most user-friendly. You have to set up bookshelves when the program first starts up. When you click on a bookshelf, after setting it up, the upper right has a "More eBooks" icon in the upper right. Clicking it gives you a pop up with five more books; however, clicking on the book info does not do anything or take you to the book's page. So, if you want more info about that book, you have to leave the app. Now, that may be so that kids can't accidentally purchase a book when using it but as an adult using the app, it was annoying. I can't use the program in my classroom and I don't have kids of my own so I won't really use the app but I was curious about it. I perused Scholastic's blog and they do have posts on using Storia with children so that's a plus.

Regardless,  I'm pleased that Scholastic is working to help young children and their families. I will definitely be visiting my local The UPS Store location to donate books. Take a few minutes this season, or better, all year long, and give the gift of reading.

Cods Have Tongues?!? and Other WTFery From Krista D Ball

Please welcome author Krista D Ball to the Nook today. I've known Krista for several years; she was one of the first authors I worked with when I started blogging and reviewing. We chat on twitter occasionally and I've read most of her published works. While she usually writes speculative fiction, she recently put her history degree, and her intense dislike of historical inaccuracies, to work in her new, non-fiction, book "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lover's Guide to Food".

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In 2011, I was asked to write an unique kind of writer's guide: one that helps writers, appeals to readers, and is historically-based. It was a tall order, as how can a writer's guide appeal to people who never have any interest in writing? What came from those initial thoughts was my current non-fiction book, "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lover's Guide to Food."

"What Kings Ate" is written for writers, but chats away at readers who love historical romance, historical fiction, steampunk, and epic fantasy. In the pages, we learn how our favourite heroines would feed herself while on the run, and what food gifts a hero could give his poor lady friend. 

Of course, no historical book about food would be complete without recipes, and I included over thirty recipes for people to enjoy from different periods of history. Some are pretty standard: the original pound cake. Whereas, others are, well, more like the below.

Fried Cod Tongues

There is a typical reaction to this dish, so let’s get it out of the way: Ewwwwwwwwwwww. This is followed by: cods have tongues? (I second both of these reactions ~ Bea)

Now that is out of the way, let’s discuss this interesting dish. To answer the common question, yes, cod fish do in fact have tongues. They resemble skinned and deboned chicken thighs in size and colour, though they are thinner (about the size of three coins stacked). (Why is it that every unusual or exotic food resembles chicken? ~ Bea)

Fried cod tongues is a common Newfoundland dish, cooked both at home and in restaurants. You can sometimes even find them served up at the local “chip truck”, a battered old delivery van converted into a mobile restaurant where burgers, French fries, and other fatty goodness is served.

Cod tongues are (obviously) the tongue of a cod fish, pan fried. You can also do the same with cod cheeks (yes, cods have cheeks). I prefer tongues as I find cheeks are a little too rubbery for my tastes. Cod tongues are chewy, but have a delicate flavour.

For obvious reasons, this is a dish that only those living in coastal regions are going to have regular access to in a pre-refrigeration society. In fact, even in the modern world, this isn’t a common dish beyond the cod fish waters of the North Atlantic. I’ve rarely seen cod tongues elsewhere, including at specialty seafood shops, since leaving Newfoundland. However, if you can get a few shipped in, cook up a “feed” (lots of food) and enjoy a new food.

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ tsp pepper

½ pound salt pork

Cod tongues

Wash enough fresh cod tongues for your meal (the usual serving is eight tongues per person). Dry them on a cloth or paper towel.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper and mix together. Set aside.

Cut up salt pork and fry it up until golden brown. Remove the pork cubes for another use (or you can even use them as a topping if you need an extra-hardy meal).

Coat the tongues in the flour mixture one by one. Fry them in the hot pork fat until golden brown on both sides. Place them on a warm plate with a cloth or paper towel to soak up any excess fat.  Serve immediately, or place in a warm oven (or, a cooling bread oven) if needed.

A well-organized cook would ensure that the pan drippings from a previous meal needing salt pork (not the actual fat pieces) would be saved so that it would be available as a frying fat later in the week. 

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Publisher: Tyche Books
Release date: November 1, 2012
Format: ebook (out now), print (soon)

Buying Links: Amazon   Smashwords   Tyche Books   Kobo

Book Blurb (from author):

Equal parts writer’s guide, comedy, and historical cookbook, fantasy author Krista D. Ball takes readers on a journey into the depths of epic fantasy’s obsession with rabbit stew and teaches them how to catch the blasted creatures, how to move armies across enemy territories without anyone starving to death, and what a medieval pantry should look like when your heroine is seducing the hero.

Learn how long to cook a salted cow tongue, how best to serve salt fish, what a “brewis” is (hint: it isn’t beer), how an airship captain would make breakfast, how to preserve just about anything, and why those dairy maids all have ample hips.

What Kings Ate will give writers of historical and fantastical genres the tools to create new conflicts in their stories, as well as add authenticity to their worlds, all the while giving food history lovers a taste of the past with original recipes and historical notes.

Canadian author Krista D. Ball combines her love of the fantastical, an obsession with pottage, and a history degree from Mount Allison University to bring fantasy writers and food lovers a new and unique reference guide.

Happy Birthday C.S. Lewis!

Actually, his birthday was yesterday, November 29th, but I was neck-deep in edits; today I'm only hip-deep. :D

Today, Lewis is best known for his children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, but he wrote many more books. Most of them, I believe, have Christian themes, as do the Narnia books. However, I've only read his Narnia books so I may be mistaken.

As a child I loved the Narnia books, they were among my favorites. I only owned "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" but I regularly checked out the others from my school library, the town library and the base library and read them repeatedly. I just realized, I still only own the first book; I never did get around to buying the entire series. :D Bad Bea!

It wasn't until I was in college that I really realized all of the Christian subtext in the Narnia books. My roommate my sophomore year loved the books also and we stayed up late many nights discussing the books: the characters, the action, the detailing, the themes and subtexts. We had many, many discussions that lasted until the early morning hours.

If you're not familiar with the Narnia books, they take place in another world, accessed from Earth, but they are fantasy, not sci fi. Four siblings travel to Narnia and have many adventures. I loved the talking animals, the mythological creatures, and I really loved that little Lucy, the youngest of the siblings, was the smart, courageous, steadfast one. She was the youngest and the littlest, and on Earth, got the least amount of respect, but in Narnia, she was hot stuff. Being the youngest of four, two boys and two girls, just like the books, I could relate.

I was very happy when the first Narnia live action film came out a few years ago; I hoped it would equal or rival the Harry Potter films but alas, that failed to happen. :( So far, there have been 3 books made into movies; the first is my favorite but it was also my favorite of the books. I still have hope that the remaining 4 books will be turned into films. I would see them for sure! Hey, I've had my ticket to The Hobbit for several weeks now! Only 2 more weeks until it comes out. :)

I don't know how I'll make the time but sometime soon, I need to re-read the series. Library, here I come!

2013 Ebook Challenge

I decided to do this challenge since much of my reading is done on my kindle these days. I did it a few years ago but was rotten at keeping track. I will do better this year. 

The 2013 Ebook Challenge. Encouraging readers to expand past just physical books to embrace ebooks in all forms, whether on Kindle, Kobo, computer, or any other reader. It's being hosted by Workaday Reads.

Challenge Guidelines:

1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013.
2. Anyone can join, you don’t need to be a blogger. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to sign-up in the comments. You can post reviews to any book site (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc).
3. Any genre or length of book counts, as long as it is in ebook format.
4. You can plan your books in advance or as you read them.
5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the E-Book Reading Challenge.
6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec. 15, 2013, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

Levels:

1. Floppy disk – 5 ebooks
2. CD – 10 ebooks
3. DVD – 25 ebooks This is my goal
4. Memory stick – 50 ebooks
5. Hard drive – 75 ebooks
6. Server – 100 ebooks
7. Human brain – 150 ebooks

At the beginning of each month there will be a roundup post for you to add your reviews for that month. The linky will remain open for the remainder of the year, so if you forget, feel free go back and add them when you remember.

There will be a giveaway at the end of the year for everyone who achieves their goal level (or higher).

Sign up for the 2013 Ebook Challenge here.