Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts

Friday, April 17, 2015

Friday Finds: Urban Fantasy Descent

I love paranormal romance, but sometimes I wish the stories had more ass kicking in them, ya know? More wicked moves, with a bad ass heroine I can cheer for... enter the Descent Series from S.M. Reine.

Catch it while it's free, people.




She was destined to be a weapon. Elise Kavanagh is good at one thing: killing demons, angels, and gods. For years, she was the death that supernatural creatures feared. More myth than woman, she walked the Earth as the embodiment of vengeance.
  
But Elise doesn't want anything to do with destiny. She wants time off to spend with her only friend and former investigative partner, James Faulkner - a powerful witch, the only person she trusts - and try to be a normal person, whatever that means.
 
Destiny hasn't forgotten her.
It's not easy to retire when you were born to be a killing machine. Old enemies still hold bitter grudges against Elise. The demon overlord of her new home isn't happy to have the Godslayer hiding out in her territory. And there are still gods that need to be killed...
 
This is a collection of the first three titles in The Descent Series, which are gritty urban fantasy books about an exorcist, a witch, and their battles against the forces of Heaven and Hell. (Approx. 200,000 words total.)

Books included:
1. Death's Hand
2. The Darkest Gate
3. Dark Union

DEATH'S HAND
Elise Kavanagh doesn't want to hunt demons anymore. It's been five years since she killed her last enemy, and life has been quiet since then. She went to college. Got a job, and then lost it. Made a friend or two. Lived a normal life. Now her former partner, a powerful witch named James Faulkner, wants Elise to fight one more time. The daughter of a coven member has been possessed, and Elise is the only exorcist nearby.

Becoming a hero again would mean risking discovery by old enemies. But digging into the case reveals that it might already be too late--bodies are disappearing, demons slither through the night, and the cogs of apocalypse are beginning to turn. Some enemies aren't willing to let the secrets of the past stay dead...

THE DARKEST GATE
When Elise Kavanagh retired from demon hunting, she swore it would be permanent. But an attack from a powerful necromancer forced her back into the business, and now she's trying to balance her normal boyfriend and normal job with everything supernatural.

Mr. Black is a demon hunter gone rogue. He's enslaving angels and stealing ethereal artifacts in pursuit of forbidden immortality, and an old grudge drives him to make his final stand in Elise's territory. Destroying her life and killing her friends isn't the goal, but it's a definite perk.

A demonic overlord offers to join against Mr. Black and protect Elise's loved ones. All she needs to do is ally with the demons she's sworn to kill, at the cost of her morals--and maybe her immortal soul. But once she crosses that line, there's no turning back.

Nothing is sacred when Heaven and Hell collide on Earth...

DARK UNION
Every fifty years, the most powerful ethereal and infernal beings convene on Earth to resolve conflicts with mediation by kopides--humans born to police relations between Heaven and Hell. They're meeting in Elise Kavanagh's territory this year, and she used to be the greatest kopis in the world. But she's not invited.

An old friend, Lucas McIntyre, asks her to attend the summit in his place. But when she arrives, she discovers that a human faction called The Union has taken charge of the summit, and they're not playing nice. Worse yet, someone has killed a prominent Union member... and now they're demanding blood.



Visit the author's website at http://authorsmreine.com/

Friday, June 27, 2014

Friday Finds: Books To Add To Your Summer Reading List

Check out the great Friday Finds I've found for ya'll this week and add them to your summer TBR list. :)


Timeswept Bride
By Eugenia Riley
Genre:  Historical Romance | Time Travel Romance
.99¢ (Sale ends June 30, 2014)

For a limited time, read Eugenia Riley’s sensational, full-length time time travel romance, Timeswept Bride, for a bargain price!!

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

In 1880’s Galveston, dairy farmer Jake Blarney is left devastated when his wife betrays and leaves him, drowning in the seas, leaving Jake with twin baby daughters to raise. Angry and forlorn, Jake pens a message in a bottle beseeching the Fates to bring him a new bride, and hurls the bottle into the sea. But never does he dream that Destiny will summon him a new bride from across the vast gulf of time!

BRIDE ACROSS TIME

In modern-day Galveston, college professor Priscilla Pemberton is a forsaken bride, hurt and furious after her prominent fiancé betrayed then dumped her. She is wandering the beach aimlessly, thinking of hurling herself into the tide, when an ancient-looking bottle washes up at her feet. No sooner does Priscilla retrieve the bottle and read the strange message it contains, then a huge wave crashes over her, sweeping her back in time to meet the groom who has summoned her!

As soon as Jake Blarney lays eyes upon the miracle the seas have swept to his doorstep, he is ready to hitch up the buggy and fetch his new bride to the priest! Priscilla is left reeling and disoriented. Where is she? And who is this strange though sexy Irishman who keeps insisting that she is his bride from the seas?

Even as Priscilla struggles to become acclimated to her fantastical voyage through time, Jake and his adorable baby daughters go to work stealing her heart, and she is left feeling terribly torn. Beaten down by a horrible childhood, Priscilla has struggled all her life to regain her self-esteem and prestige. Is she really meant to become the bride of a brash Irish dairy farmer in 1880’s Galveston, even if her sexier than sin host fires her blood in more ways than one? Or are the Fates having a really good laugh at her expense?

TIMESWEPT BRIDE is another all time winner from Eugenia Riley, a full-length, fun, sexy and touching story of two unforgettable lovers bridging the vast chasm of time. Author Eugenia Riley is the renowned, bestselling author of dozens of historical, contemporary and time-travel romances, including the classics A TRYST IN TIME and BUSHWHACKED BRIDE.

Also available from Eugenia Riley: A CHRISTMAS IN TIME; BUSHWHACKED BRIDE; BUSHWHACKED GROOM; PHANTOM IN TIME; EMBERS OF TIME; LOVERS AND OTHER LUNATICS; A CHRISTMAS IN TIME; TIMESWEPT BABY; THE PHANTOM OF THE BATHTUB; TEMPEST IN TIME; and TWO HEARTS IN TIME. 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/TIMESWEPT-BRIDE-Eugenia-Riley-ebook/dp/B005GFI2W2
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/timeswept-bride-eugenia-riley/1000154023
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/278474


Her Dakota Man
Lisa Mondello

Genre: Contemporary Romance
FREE (Sale ends July 31, 2014)

She needed to risk the truth to get a second chance...

Poppy Erickson had spent the year wondering how all their lives might have been different after hearing the deathbed confession of her childhood friend. She'd left South Dakota years ago because she couldn't bear to watch the man she loved loving another woman. But now she knows the truth. She'll keep the promise she made to a friend, but will Logan understand when he learns the truth? More important, can they again recapture the passion that had been between them all those years ago?

He needed to face the past to get the love of a woman he thought he'd lost..

Everyone knows that the Dakotas didn't get the name Badlands for nothing. Harsh weather and rough living are a way of life. But single dad, Logan McKinnon, had seen more than his share of bad times after the death of his wife a year ago. The last thing he needs is Poppy Erickson, an old flame and his late wife's best friend, showing up unannounced to help after devastating floods nearly washed away their hometown. With no place to stay in town, he has no choice but to offer her a bed at his house. But can he live under the same roof with a woman he'd once loved passionately without feeling he's betraying his late wife?



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Dakota-Man-Book-Hearts-ebook/dp/B00FRSX700

Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/her-dakota-man/id734693537


DISSENSION

By Katie Salidas




Genre: Fantasy | Urban Fantasy | Paranormal
.99¢ (Sale ends June 30, 2014)
 
The great cataclysm wiped almost all life from the face of planet Earth, but tiny pockets of survivors crawled from the ashes, with only one thought: survival, at any cost.

But not all survivors were human.


In the dark, militant society that has risen in the aftermath, vampires, once thought to be mythical, have been assimilated and enslaved. Used for blood sport their lives are allowed to continue only for the entertainment of the masses. Reviled as savages, they are destined to serve out their immortal lives in the arena, as gladiators.


And there is no greater gladiator than Mira: undefeated, uncompromising...and seemingly unbreakable. When an escape attempt leads Mira into the path of Lucian Stavros, the city’s Regent, her destiny is changed forever.
 

Lucian, raised in a culture which both reviles and celebrates the savagery and inhumanity of vampires, finds Mira as intriguing as she is brash. An impulsive decision - to become Mira’s patron – changes more than just Lucian’s perception about vampire kind. The course of his life is altered in ways he could never have predicted – a life that is suddenly as expendable as hers.

Can Mira prove to Lucian that all is not as it seems? Can Lucian escape centuries of lies, bloodshed, and propaganda to see the truth? Or will the supreme power of the human overlords destroy them both? 



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dissension-Chronicles-Uprising-K-Salidas-ebook/dp/B00I8PMB10

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/405032

Friday, June 13, 2014

Friday Finds: Friday the 13th (Full Moon too)

Touched By Darkness 
(Sentinel Series, Book One)
Catherine Spangler

Genre: Romance | Urban Fantasy | Novel

FREE For a Limited Time Only!

After seven years on the run, Dr. Kara Cantrell believes she and her son, Alex, are safe. She’s wrong.

Kara settles in the sleepy town of Zorro, Texas, convinced that she and her child have escaped the sinister reach of a supernatural underworld. But the appearance of Damien Morgan, a dangerous, alluring man with superhuman abilities, upends her quiet existence.

Damien realizes that Alex is a fledgling Sentinel, and Kara is a matched, psychic conductor for him. She wants nothing to do with him, refusing to revisit the hell she experienced seven years ago. But she has no choice, as her son is projecting his abilities, leaving him vulnerable to unseen forces. Not only that, but someone—or something—is murdering people in Zorro.

Kara is forced to work with Damien, tapping into a mystical link that triggers desires both of them must ignore. But as they work together to protect her son, and to track the killer, evil stalks them, reaching out—with the touch . . . of darkness.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Darkness-Fantasy-Romance-Sentinel-ebook/dp/B00GOIF1KG
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/touched-by-darkness-an-urban-fantasy-romance-catherine-spangler/1117474479


Hunger Revealed
Dee Carney

Genre: Paranormal Romance | Vampires | Short Story

FREE For a Limited Time Only!

~A between the books short~

It’s no wonder Corin Gerulaitis is cautious about his wife’s safety… One year ago, she became a vampire. One year ago, she’d been tortured by someone who thought she was a new breed of vampire. Fortunately for them both, one year ago, Jasmine met and fell in love with Corin, a vampire executioner.

Jasmine is overwhelmingly stifled by her husband’s overprotective nature. But she’s sure the danger has passed and they can now enjoy a simple life together. When a routine shopping trip ends with Jasmine’s abduction however, they face not only trying to get her out, but also putting an end to the demons haunting Corin.

They’ll get back to that simple life…if they survive.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Revealed-Dee-Carney-ebook/dp/B00AAFHIC8
B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hunger-revealed-dee-carney/1113826101


A Dark Kiss of Rapture (Renegade Angels)
Sylvia Day

Genre: Paranormal Romance | Angels | Novella

FREE For a Limited Time Only!

Of all the Fallen, Raze’s hungers are some of the darkest and most insatiable. His brazen seductions cost him his wings, leaving him soulless and immortal, the most dangerous of seducers. He has roamed the earth for eons, hunting the rogues of his kind and protecting the humans who provide him with blood and sex. He is content with his life and the transient pleasures that flow through it... until one night and one woman change everything.

Kimberly McAdams is smart, beautiful, and wealthy. She can have any man she wants, but the moment she sets eyes on the lethally stunning Raze she knows he’s the man she needs. As one searingly erotic night burns into something deeper and far more vital than either of them expected, an adversary from Raze’s past sees a chance for revenge. Twisted by hatred, she will take from Raze what was taken from her—the precious gift of love.



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Kiss-Rapture-Renegade-Angels-ebook/dp/B005TLKZR8
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-dark-kiss-of-rapture-sylvia-day/1105622193

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tuesday Special: Last Blood

The Day Is Finally Here!!!!! 
Last Blood (House Of Comarré #5) Is Available To Buy!!!!

Last Blood is the 5th (and final) installment in the captivating story of Mal and Chrysabelle.

(For those that may have somehow missed this exciting saga scroll down for a special offer on book 1)

In the final showdown between the forces of dark and light, Mal and Chrysabelle face not only Tatiana, but the ancient evil that now controls her: the Castus Sanguis. Chrysabelle gathers her friends and family around her, forming a plan to bring an end to the chaos surrounding them. But the Castus is the most powerful being they've ever come up against. Defeating such evil will require a great sacrifice from someone on the side of light.

One of them will change sides. One of them will die. No one will survive unscathed. Can Chrysabelle save those she cares about or will that love get her killed? What price is she willing to pay to draw last blood?


Get the book now in either eFormat or Paperback at
Barnes and Noble HERE
or Amazon HERE

Special Offer!!!!! 
For Book 1 In The Series - Blood Rights!!!!!!

For those that haven't joined the journey yet right now
you can get book 1 in the series for just $2.99 for either Kindle Or Nook!!!!

Get it from Barnes and Noble HERE
Get it from Amazon HERE


About The Author

When the characters in Kristen Painter's head started to take over, she decided to put them on paper and share them with the world. She writes paranormal romance and the gothic fantasy vampire series, House of Comarré, for Orbit Books. She has also been published in non-fiction, poetry and short stories. The former college English teacher can often be found online at Romance Divas, the award-winning writers' forum she co-founded. She's represented by Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.

Sign up for her newsletter - HERE
Find her on Facebook - HERE
Follow her on Twitter - HERE

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Tuesday Special: Deadly Reservations with Denise Fleischer

Deadly Reservations
by Denise Fleischer

When a fallen angel is determined to claim Earth as his own realm, Archangel Michael has to stop him before he achieves his goal. Unable to venture to the planet caught in global warming and endless crimes, he sends his daughter, Zoe, to become a psychic detective and a hunter of fallen angels.

By day, Zoe is a lifestyle editor in a small town known as Mt. Lisle, Illinois. At night, you’ll find her deep into her agency’s investigations. If her life isn’t difficult enough with a computer filled with missing people cases, in walks Special Agent Brian Novelli informing her that she’s been recruited by the F.B.I. to hunt down a man responsible for buying small town America and murdering anyone that gets in the path of his goals. All the F.B.I. has is a name: Mathias and an artificial intelligence to assist in tracking him down.

This paranormal thriller reads like a behind-the-scenes psychic investigation in tracking Mathias and what it’s like for Zoe to work on other cases along the way. It explores telepathy, astral and physical portation, visions, angels, the use of AI’s and remote viewing.

DEADLY RESERVATIONS By Denise Fleischer | ArcheBooks Publishing | June 2013 | 264 pages | Hardcover and ebook

BUY THE BOOK AT AMAZON.COM

About the Author 

Denise Fleischer is the Lifestyle Editor of the Journal & Topics Newspapers in Des Plaines, IL. She writes human interest articles for various communities and processes copy for the majority of the paper’s special sections. She was the publisher of Gotta Write Network LitMag for 36 issues. Her novels include “The Guardian” and “Altar of Freedom” (Port Town Publishing), which are time travel/paranormal/SF. “Deadly Reservations” is the first in a new series focusing on a psychic and homicide detective and their secret identities. For four years, Fleischer hosted a virtual chat on Second Life interviewing writers, artists and musicians.  She writes for Metaverse Tribune and Unforgettable magazine. She is currently writing the sequel to “Deadly Reservations” entitled “The Sharp Edge of Truth.”

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Love With A Sex Demon Trivia Game

Day 2 of the P3 (Paranormal Party Palooza) kicks off with a trivia game. The answers are easy...if you know your demons. Everyone who enters and gets it right will be in the drawing for a prize pack that includes a spooky spider bookmark and the book Taste Me by Tamara Hogan.

Hot, sexy urban fantasy romance by a new author with talent to burn...

He Wants Her So Badly He Can Taste It...

Ever since their tempestuous fling years ago, incubus Lukas Sebastiani has known that siren Scarlett Fontaine was meant to be his. But when you're a sex demon with an insatiable desire, relationships are way more than complicated...

Her Siren Songs Bring Men to Their Knees...

Rock star Scarlett Fontaine desperately needs a break after a grueling tour. But with murder and mayhem surrounding her band, and the one man she never thought to see again put to the task of protecting her, life is going to be anything but peaceful...

Every encounter between them creates more turmoil-and heat-until Scarlett pushes Lukas to the boiling point, and unleashes forces that go way beyond anything she can hope to control...

To enter, leave a comment on this post with your answers to the following true or false trivia quiz. Good Luck!

True or False
1. An incubus is a female demon.

2. Sex demons are constantly horny.

3. The plural for succubus is succubi.

4. Silver bullets are deadly to demons.

5. Demon rum is so named because demons make it in a factory just this side of hell.


Contest ends midnight, Wednesday, October 3 and winner announced Thursday, October 4. Must be 18+ to enter. The odds of winning depend upon the number of participants. Contest void where prohibited by law. I strive to make my prize winners happy! However, as with all my contests, it is the participant’s responsibility to check the blog to see if their name is announced as a winner, and/or to respond to winning notification emails in order to claim your prize. Not responsible for lost/stolen mail.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I'm Just A Girl...

Take a look at what's selling on bookshelves these days and you'll see a plethora of heroines that are gutsy, determined, fierce, and a lot of other adjectives. Basically, heroines today are strong—stronger than their male counterparts. To quote one author friend, "It's time heroines stood their ground, kicked some ass, and aren't TSTL." (aka Too Stupid To Live).

While I applaud the disappearance of the insipid and TSTL heroines, I think many of the tough kick-ass heroines of today lack an emotional depth and maturity, as if they skipped some developmental process along the way. They are larger than life, perhaps too large, because they all read as the same. Just the names changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Don't get me wrong, I love the hybrid creation of fantasy and paranormal that spawned the urban fantasy genre, but I miss the clever ingenue—the ingenuity of a common woman with her foibles and klutzy physicality.

Must every heroine now be a kung fu and a weapons expert? Deadly with swords or teeth and claws? Does her lover have to be a world-weary, centuries old, lonely vampire?

Is there anything new under the sun—or the moon and stars, which adds depth and personality to the heroine, the story, and the genre?

Let me know with a shout out, and I'll try to get the author to guest blog here.

Until Next time...

~ Cass

Thursday, July 29, 2010

What If Your Urban Fantasy Isn't Urban?

I love the hybrid of modern fantasy and paranormal, but what if the story you're reading doesn't fit within the 'urban' aspect of the genre? Why do so many books from this new breed of fantasy have to take place in a big city setting?

I'm sure paranormal events with paranormal beings happen everywhere. Look at Bigfoot. He's not a New York City or L.A. fixture (at least I don't think so although you may have dated his cousin recently, lol). He's out in his natural environment, doing whatever makes a sasquatch happy out in the woods. :P

So why don't we see more country or suburban fantasy novels?  Do readers relate more to the gritty grime and dark alleyways of the urban myth and legend? Oh, btw, if you see Sash, tell him I'm still waiting for that one on one interview a la Barbara Walters.

Until next time ~
Cass