{Book Blast + Giveaway} Not Quite Dead - By Lyla Payne

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Not Quite Dead ~ By Lyla Payne
(A Lowcountry Ghost Story)
Publication Date ~ April 1st 2014
Genres ~ Mystery, New Adult, Paranormal

Synopsis:

A broken engagement sends Graciela Harper crawling back to Heron Creek with her tail between her legs, but finds the sleepy little town too changed to set her life right. Not even her budding drinking problem can obscure her Gramps’s failing health, or erase the mental picture of her first love happily married to her childhood best friend. To top it all off, she’s having a heck of time convincing the town’s dashing young mayor of her unfit-for-dating status.

When the ghost of 18th century lady pirate Anne Bonny starts insisting on a near daily audience, Graciela has to confront something else she never expected—being certifiably nuts at twenty-five years old.

Her brand new “I don’t give a crap” attitude makes it easy to dismiss the mysterious threats that seem to be tied to her search for more information on the long dead pirate, but when her family becomes a target, Gracie knows she needs to find out why the ghost insists on being a constant, reeking companion.

If Graciela can put aside her prejudice against people without a pulse, she may discover that Anne Bonny’s problems are intricately linked with her own. The past harbors answers could help the cantankerous spirit find closure, but she is, after all, already dead. If Graciela doesn’t move fast, she might find herself doing the haunting, instead of the other way around.

Goodreads

Purchase:

-Amazon

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Excerpt

I ignore the hand, getting to my feet and brushing dirt off my dress before confronting its owner.

A man with an overly strong jaw and wavy, sun-kissed brown hair watches me with humor sparkling in his hazel eyes. Too bad he picked the wrong girl in the wrong year, because nothing about getting knocked on my ass strikes me as humorous.

Undaunted by the cocked eyebrow I shoot his direction, he keeps a hand out, now poised for a shake. "Beauregard Drayton."

"That’s a mouthful," I mumble, searching the ground for my purse. It’s lying in a puddle, which stirs up more irritation, as does the fact that he hasn’t moved. He’s tall, at least six foot three, and even under the blue pinstriped suit and red tie, there’s no secret why he felt like bricks. His face is hard, too—all rough angles and sharp cheekbones.

His eyes are soft, though, and the enticing mixture of green, blue, and gold still reflects amusement. "Well, what do you think?"

"About you?" I shrug, even though I didn’t mean to study him quite so openly. "Typical."

"Interesting."

"Actually, typical is the opposite of interesting." I shoulder past him and continue toward my destination, annoyance tightening my chest when the sound of expensive shoes clicks on the sidewalk behind me.

Beauregard Drayton catches up, then slows his pace to match mine. It would have behooved me to drive to the Wreck, apparently. Or skip it all together, no matter how the thought of their fish tacos makes me drool.

"You can call me Beau, everyone does," he comments, as though we’ve been carrying on a conversation.

"Thanks."

"What should I call you?"

It’s clear my rudeness isn’t going to make him go away, and the part of me that was raised below the Mason-Dixon Line blushes in shame at my behavior. Grams would tan my hide if she could see me now. The thought of her stern, loving expression makes me relent, along with the fact that my eventful morning has worn me out. I don’t have the energy to outmaneuver him.

"Graciela Harper."

"Lovely to meet you. Where are you going?"

The fact that he doesn’t comment on my different name moves him up in my estimation. Still, his nosiness makes me sigh. Loudly. "To get some lunch."

"Are you meeting someone?"

"Yes. His name is Vlad and he lives to drink the blood of persistent, well-dressed men, so I suggest you run along."

"Really? Dracula’s making a midday appearance in Heron Creek? Did you call the paper? Danny’s is going to be mad if he misses out on the interview opportunity."

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AUTHOR BIO

Lyla Payne has been publishing New Adult romance novels for a little over a year, starting with Broken at Love and continuing with the rest of the Whitman University series. She loves telling stories, discovering the little reasons people fall in love, and uncovering hidden truths in the world around us - past and present. In her spare time she cuddles her two dogs, pretends to enjoy exercising so that she can eat as much Chipotle as she wants, and harbors a deep and abiding hope that Zac Efron likes older women. She loves reading, of course, along with movies, traveling, and Irish whiskey. Lyla's hard at work, ALWAYS, and hopes to bring you more Whitman University antics and at least one more Lowcountry ghost tale before the end of the year.

Lyla Payne is represented by Kathleen Rushall at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

If you want to know more, please visit her at http://lylapayne.com

If you're a fan of Young Adult fiction--science fiction or otherwise--please check out her work that's published under the name Trisha Leigh. http://trishaleigh.com

Author links:

Facebook

Twitter
Goodreads

Website

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Giveaway:

(1)Winner will receive a eBook copy of Not Quite Dead

Leave a Comment answering the following question in the comments below (make sure to leave your contact info)

What do you have in store for the Holiday weekend?!

{Book Blast + GIVEAWAY} The Children and The Blood Trilogy - By Megan Joel Peterson

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Title: The Children and the Blood
Author: Megan Joel Peterson
Series: The Children and the Blood #1
Genre: Young Adult, urban fantasy

A forgotten life.

A secret war.
Eight years ago, an exploding gas main killed Ashley’s family and left her with a childhood she can’t remember. Eight years later, the forgotten past is behind her and life on her isolated farm is all she knows.

Until that past comes looking for her.

Until men with superhuman powers hunt her down in the night, determined to take everything she loves away from her again.

“Refreshing and suspenseful, The Children and the Blood is a YA Urban Fantasy that took me by surprise and impressed me so many times I lost count.” – Raina ‘The LUV’NV’

“The world building was incredible. I swear it was like reading a movie script at times, how those vivid scenes would put on the big screen.” – Moka ‘Words Create Scenes’

Purchase:

Only 99¢

Amazon  |  Amazon UK  |  Barnes and Noble  

 iTunes  |  Kobo  |  Smashwords

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EXCERPT

White light surrounded her and rushing air roared in her ears. Distantly, she heard Lily screaming. And then something soft crushed into her.

Gasping, Ashley sat up. She was in the vegetable garden, Lily clutching her hand. Frantically, she scrambled to her feet, searching for her father.

Masked men surrounded him.

With a cry, she tried to run to him. Lily hauled on her arm, holding her back with terror in her eyes.

Through the circle, another man approached. Amid the ski masks and rifles, his business suit and uncovered face stood in sharp contrast. Firelight played off his dark hair, turning his eyes into shadowed pits and chiseling his face in strange relief. Several inches taller than anyone around him, he towered like a giant over her father on the ground.

In spite of everything, Patrick tried to stand. Fury surged past the pain on his face, and his hand rose as if to strike the man.

The giant scoffed, and his fingers twitched as though flicking away a fly. Patrick gasped. His back arched sharply. And then he crashed to the ground and didn’t move again.

Ashley couldn’t breathe.

This wasn’t happening.

A smile curled the giant’s mouth as he looked toward the girls in the vegetable garden.

“Get them,” he ordered.

Like unleashed hunting dogs, the men charged.

The sight shattered her paralysis. Ripping her gaze from her father, Ashley spun. Yanking Lily behind her, she tore across the tilled soil, choking back a sob as the soft earth sucked at her feet, slowing her down.

She reached the edge of the garden and took off across the field with no idea of where to go. Lily clung to her, and she could hear the girl crying. Thelma’s house was an eternity away, and she couldn’t see the woman’s porch light. The farmhands’ house was dark. No one had emerged this whole time.

Tears burned her eyes.

She kept running.

Headlights surged over the rise at the edge of the property. With a shriek, Ashley tried to turn, her feet sliding from beneath her on the grass. Lily slammed into her and frantically, Ashley grabbed the girl and shoved her to the side.

Lily rolled away.

Ashley didn’t have time to move.

The car roared straight at her.

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Title: Taliesin Ascendant

Series: The Children and the Blood #2

The war isn’t over. And new enemies await. Life on the run hasn’t been easy, but so far, Ashe has survived. But now Carter has ordered her away from the Hunters to find her family’s people – an order she can’t refuse, no matter how much she wants to stay.

 Following his command will bring her into an unknown world, however – a world filled with new enemies and old prejudices that will demand more of her than she can imagine, at a cost higher than she’ll ever be willing to pay.

“Taliesin Ascendant is equally as pulse-pounding as The Children and the Blood. I felt there was fantastic character development combined with the spine-tingling suspense and action. Oh, all the intrigue!” – Brandee ‘Bookworm Brandee’

“Things unfold but you still know there's more to the story that you don't know. It's very unique writing and an absolute high speed, action packed adventure that you're traveling on with the main characters.” – Carey ‘Toot’s Book Reviews’

PURCHASE:

Amazon  |  Amazon UK  |  Barnes and Noble  

iBooks  |  Kobo  |  Smashwords

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Title: Merlin's Children

Series: The Children and the Blood #3

The stakes of the war have never been higher. But what will be the cost to win? 

Ashe knows loss, knows sacrifice and pain. Her allies are scattered and too many lie dead. The Blood are stronger than ever and more connected than she could have imagined.


But the worst is yet to come. The war has taken so many people she loves.
Now it just might take everyone who’s left.

“This final book in the trilogy was every bit as thrilling as the first two. I was so tense - flying through the pages to learn who would survive, who would betray whom, which characters would finally put their trust in the right people. It was nail-biting suspense.” – Brandee ‘Bookworm Brandee’

PURCHASE:

Amazon  |  Amazon UK  |  Barnes and Noble 

iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords

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About Megan

Megan Joel Peterson lives somewhere between the cornfields of Illinois and fantasy worlds filled with magic. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois, and has worked a little bit of everywhere over the years. Now she spends her days and nights creating new stories, and thinks writing is the best job for which she ever could have asked.

Website  |  Goodreads  |  Twitter  |   Facebook  |  Google Plus  |  Tumblr  |  Pinterest 

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{Blog Tour: Review} Bound - By M.J. Stevens

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Author: M.J. Stevens

Release Date: 1/21/2014

Purchase Info: Amazon ~ B&N

‘No good deed ever goes unpunished, Mellea…’

Mellea Wendorn hasn’t exactly had a normal life. Misfortune seems to follow her, and her family, wherever she goes.
However, when Mellea stops to assist a mysterious young man suddenly her prior hardships seem trivial.

His name is Leo. He is a Successor, a child of the Guardians of Selestia.

He is royalty.
He is handsome.
And he wants Mellea completely to himself.

Unable to escape the Guardian's laws, Mellea must learn the ways of the royals. She is convinced her life can’t get much worse. But when a timeworn Guardian enemy arises from the shadows, Mellea must make a choice that will change her destiny forever.

Absolutely Beautiful!

What a fantastic read, it was so different from my last reads that it sucked me in. I love when an author can create such a great world, new characters, but it doesn't seem to SyFy, or strange.!

Mellea is just trying to get by, hard work, dirty work, it doesn't matter. She wants to better herself & her family. Then all of a sudden it seems as though she will have the opportunity....but it of course comes along with a Royal pain in the ass, Leo. (Honestly I just wanted to drop kick him more than a few times!) Doesn't it always seem that way, this beautiful brilliant girl ends up with with a guy who has the redeeming qualities of a toad??! I can't lie, there were times when he seemed like it was going to do, or say, something that would make me swoon....well those moments were few and FAR between.

Aside from that I LOVED aboslutely every detail of this book. From beginning to end I was emarsed into this world that I felt was so real, I just wanted to step into to it. Maybe I'd even get one of thos hunky guardians to watch over me! Even with the impending doom that seemed to be lurking around the corner I just watned to get to the end to see how Mellea was going to step up and deal with everything going on. Watching a character grow like that is one of my favorite books moments.

I will have to warn you all if you don't like cliffhangers, do NOT grab this book, but honestly what GREAT book these days doesn't either have a cliffhanger or have you begging the author for more, NOW?!

5/5

{Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway} Hedge Witch - By Simon Kewin

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Author: Simon Kewin

Website

Release Date: 4/2014

Purchase Info: Amazon ~ B&N

Fifteen year-old Cait Weerd has no idea she's being sought by the undain: sorcerous creatures that feed off the spirit of the living. She doesn't know they need her blood to survive. She doesn't even know she's a witch, descended from a long line of witches. Cait Weerd doesn't know a lot, really, but all that's about to change.

At Manchester Central Library she's caught up in sudden violence. In the chaos she's given an old book that's been hidden there. Given it and told to run. Hide the book or destroy it. The book contains all the secrets of the undains' existence. They and their human servants want to find it as much as they want to find her.

Cait learns the fates of two worlds are at stake. Just what she needs. Along with definitely-not-a-boyfriend Danny, she has to decide what the hell to do. Run, fight or hope it all goes away.

It's only then she learns who she really is, along with the terrible truth of what the undain have been doing in our world all this time...

Dragons, and grimoires, and witches, OH MY!

From the start I was taken completely with this book, I mean how do you not love a book that essentially starts in a library?! Though it doesn't stay in the library long I loved that entire scene!

Quickly after Cait discovers a different world, one that she has a chance to make difference in she must decided if it's worth the risk. I truly enjoy how the decision didn't come easy for her, and there was such a great lesson about how magic does have consequences. You get back what you put out, so you must be prepared for that. 

Aside from a great main character I have to say that world building in Hedge Witch was fabulous! Action upon action....but not once was it confusing, muddled or blurry. There is so much going on, tons of different paranormal/fantasy creatures that I loved. 

The undain are probably one of my favorites, I know, they're bad guys, but they're just a really cool creature. When an author can create a new type of villains, whether it be a combination of things or just something no one has ever heard of it totally makes the entire book go up a notch!

Overall this book rocked, I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy and see what happens to Cait!

4/5

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GIVEAWAY:

(1) ebook copy of Hedge Witch. Open internationally. 

To enter just answer the following question below:

If you could create a new race of paranormal villain, what would it be?