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STUFF YOUR KINDLE DAY!

 

It's here! 

Stuff Your Kindle Day!! 

2000+ free ebooks are available today only, including my New Orleans based romantasy, The Binding. There are books in almost every romance genre. So hurry, go fill up your kindle at www.romancebookworms.com.

A Forest of Grimm Desires by E. P. Stavs- A Review

Hello all of you beautiful cacophonies!

I recently finished A Forest of Grimm Desires by E. P. Stavs, and I can't express how much I loved this unique, original mashing of fairytales and creatures we all know and love.  It's fun, witty, and fast-paced, and quite honestly, it's an addicting read. The side characters Evander and Lyall captured my heart, as did the villain, Tenebris (He's my favorite, but you all knew that, didn't you?), and the main characters, Gretchen and Red Cap--their banter and steamy chemistry round off the balance to a wonderful book. 

Recently, I've discovered that another book is coming in this series, and I can't wait. Seriously. I'm stalking E. P. Stavs like a crazy person so that I don't miss any updates. I need this edgy fairy tale world that she has created.

“He's the one who steals your dreams, twisting desires and eliciting screams. You ask his name, but no one knows. Speak it once, and away he goes.”

In a forest where Rapunzel paints gruesome visions in her tower and Red Riding Hood reigns over a harem of werewolves, a young woman once slated for the witch's oven finds herself working with the notorious goblin king to discover the trickster's name and keep the rising darkness from consuming them all. That, and trying very hard not to ogle him while he's sleeping.

Seriously, though, how small were those short pants?

Grown-up Hansel and Gretel meets Rumpelstiltskin with D&D vibes and SPICE.

*Features a primary M/F romance, as well as a secondary M/M romance.


CW: se-x, language, vio-lence

Order A Forest of Grimm Desires Here!

Lurid Lantern Release

Three long years of hard work a dark fantasy trilogy is born. It's been a long time in the making, but I'm excited to tell you that Lurid Lantern, book one in the Subaru's End trilogy, is available now. Subaru's End has been a passion piece of mine, the telling of a story I always wanted to read but couldn't find. It's different than anything I've previously written, and it comes with all manner of trigger warnings. So, it won't be for everyone, but for those of you that do give it a chance. I sure hope you love it. 

After discovering that all she fights for is a lie, a young commander joins her arch nemesis to defeat her king and save the three realms.

Cahya is a commander in the army of Refulgent. Her mission is to defend Hikari, the Light Realm and defeat the Soul Smite army of Kurai, the Dark Realm. Yet, Cahya has a secret, and her world unravels on a chance meeting with the King of Kurai where she discovers she may have helped fracture the realms.

Trigger Warnings: This trilogy is intended for an 18+ audience. It contains foul language, extreme gore, and explicit, often violent sex. If any of these bother you, this series is not for you.

 Get Lurid Lantern Here

The Other Tide - Carly Spade

Before we head into autumn, I think we all need one more summer worthy romance to enjoy with a cocktail beneath the last rays of warm sunshine, and I have the perfect book--Carly Spade's novel The Other Tide.

You guys know the drill. This is the part where I gush about how much I love a book, where I tell you whether it's fast-paced, funny, sexy, or just fun, and yes, The Other Tide is ALL of those things. 

But that's not why I wanted to blog about this book. 

Like many of you, the ocean is my happy place. I am never happier than when I'm near the water. Those of you that know me personally are probably tired of my endless gifts of reusable straws, refillable water bottles, and woven shopping bags that go along with my insistence that we as people must do better by our oceans and by our earth. On top of all the pollution and waste, we are depleting our oceans of their diverse lifeforms--including sharks.

Which brings me back to Carly Spade's wonderful book. Don't worry. This is NOT a book about environmental issues. It's a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance that occurs on an adventurous expedition to tag and film various species of shark. The hero is based on Paul de Gelder, and the heroine is smart, funny, and non-simpering. 

If you guys don't know Paul de Gelder, you aren't nerdy enough. Go watch Shark Week! Now. :)

And best of all, the biggest reason I wanted to share this awesome book with you is that ALL proceeds go to Blue Ring Inc.,which supports the funding of globally significant exploration and conservation projects.

Okay guys, now this is part where I finally say it. I love this book. It's the best book I've read all summer, and I know you guys are going to enjoy it too.

Buy The Other Tide Here

Dr. Samantha ‘Sam’ Smith and Luke Jansen have gotten under each other’s skins since they met 10 years ago on the Royal Australian Naval base. They never thought they’d see each other again until their love of sharks brought them back together, giving their competitive and stubborn natures another chance to clash.

Sam, marine biologist and shark specialist, recently landed her dream job with the aquatic research department at Miami University. When her mentor invites her on the expedition of a lifetime, she eagerly takes the bait. The goal: obtain coveted, groundbreaking footage of Great White sharks breeding.

Unbeknownst to Sam, her mentor has invited one of the best shark experts in the business as well — a certain Aussie diver too arrogant and sexy for his own good. Luke, different after a life-changing diving accident, is the last person she expected to see.

Sam and Luke’s competitive streak picks up right where it left off as Sam realizes Luke knows almost as much about sharks as she does, despite her eight years of education. When a deep sea dive goes awry, Sam has to rely on Luke’s experience, both with sharks and as a Navy Clearance Diver, to get her back on board alive and in one piece. To make matters worse, a reckless rival crew surfaces, determined to beat them to the punch. Amidst the adventure and exhilaration of the hunt, Sam and Luke ignite a passionate spark that they slowly realize may have been simmering all along. If they can make it through with the footage and their lives, they may just have a shot at Happily Ever After.

*The character of Luke Jansen inspired by Paul de Gelder (Discovery’s Shark Week) and his amazing story of survival and overcoming life’s obstacles.

Carly's Website

The Love of Each Other's Lives

Short Story Friday!

These are really becoming my favorite part of the week. Today's short comes from Arbor Barrow. Enjoy!

The Love of Each Other’s lives

By Arbor Barrow

Rudy is literally a fish. Rudy wants people to know that because when he implies that he is a metaphorical fish, most people are confused. Rudy is a fish and lives in a saltwater tank at a fancy restaurant on the west side of a big city. He only knows this because he can see a sign outside the tank that says “Welcome to the West Side” and beyond that he can see the tall and pointy skyscrapers of a huge city. In his tank is a miniature version of the city with little cubby holes he can pop out of. Before his time in the tank the little miniature had the name of the city printed on the side, but the salt water of the tank had long since worn it away all that was left were the letters R U D and Y. His name.

Rudy is literally in love with the owner of the restaurant. Rudy wants people to know that because metaphorical love is meant for poetry and Rudy is not a poet. The restaurant owner is a man named Finny. Finny is a part time chef, part time sea captain, and full time love of Rudy’s life. Finny comes to Rudy’s tank and feeds him every morning before the restaurant opens and every evening before the nighttime rush. But most importantly of all Finny tells Rudy stories about the outside world. The last story Finny told Rudy was about the time he was thrown into the “drink” (this is a term that Rudy has come to understand as a place called the ocean which from what he can gather is a very large fish tank somewhere out there in the world) and had to swim back to shore with nothing but his wits and the clothes on his back.

Rudy was born in a tank in a pet store on some other end of the city, the only thing he remembers about the pet store is the ceiling fan above the tank clacking noisily, he doesn’t remember his siblings, they all looked the same honestly, and he doesn’t really remember his parents. What he does remember is the moment Finny’s face appeared before his tank and he said to the shop owner, “I want that one.”

Rudy was in love the moment he was lifted out of the tank and his second sight of Finny literally took his breath away. Though, if Rudy was being totally honest with himself, fish can’t breathe out of water so it might have just been a coincidence.     

On a particular Tuesday morning, and Rudy only knows it’s Tuesday because his tank is right next to the flip calendar the wait staff use to mark special requests from customers, Finny came with a gift at the same time he came with breakfast. Finny reached down halfway into the tank, where Rudy took great fun in swimming back and forth through Finny’s very long arm hair, and dropped something in an open space in the tank.  

The little ceramic piano settled to the bottom and Rudy thought his whole world was about to change again. He loved music. The piano player at the fancy restaurant could always play the most delightful tunes and now he had one of his very own. Rudy swam a couple circles around the tiny piano.  

“Oh Finny!” Rudy sang enthusiastically. “You make my world so spinny!”

Fish can’t sing, but don’t tell Rudy that.

Finny grinned down into the tank. The tattoos on his very wrinkled neck stretched happily as he smiled. “Lookie here Rudy, happy birthday! It’s been a year since I got you!”

A year? A year was like forever! Had it really been that long? Rudy desperately wanted to give Finny a hug but was again irritated that he didn’t have legs.  

“Alright, Rudy. Behave yourself!” Finny said as the last bit of fish kibble floated down from the surface of the water.

Rudy didn’t know how he could possibly misbehave, he was a fish!

Other than apparently being his birthday, Rudy didn’t expect a Tuesday to be anything more than a normal day, but Rudy and Finny, and most of the city that Rudy had pulled his name from was about to get a very interesting surprise.

+++

Rudy is a small fish, a yellow tang about three inches long, so it should come as no surprise that it was small thing that changed Rudy’s life. It wasn’t the new piano, it wasn’t the little kid who found his tank halfway through the day and decided that a fun game was letting Rudy follow his finger across the surface of the glass (as fun as that was), but instead it was the arrival of a magician. Not one of those run of the mill illusionists, but an actual wand and magic word magician. The guy showed up outside the restaurant and stared at Rudy through the glass. He looked more like a hobo than a magician but when he waved his hand across the glass Rudy was captivated. The man came inside, requested a glass of water and then stood above the tank looking down at Rudy with a thoughtful look on his face. There was glitter coming off his fingers and his wand was a bent metal straw. When the maitre d’ gave the man a cup of water the magician dropped his wand into it and sucked loudly at the straw. His eyes never left Rudy and Rudy didn’t look away either.

“You’ll do,” the magician said and when his cup of water was drained he tapped the metal straw on the glass tank. It was a small event in the scheme of things, a tiny tap on the glass, a little glitter magic falling to the floor beneath his tank. But that’s all it was. The magician left, the restaurant went about its business, and when the restaurant closed for the night Rudy felt the change begin. He started to grow, and at first he didn’t notice but when he was as big as the miniature city in his tank he knew something was wrong. When he was so big that the tank broke under him he knew he was in trouble.

Or so he thought. Instead, he found himself on the floor, and he had HANDS. Rudy stared at the hands like they were tumors. They were tumors, fish don’t have hands!

More than that, he was breathing IN THE AIR. Rudy stood up and stared around the closed restaurant. He was as big as a human person now.

There was something wiggling at the back of his mind. An urge to walk out into the street and just destroy everything around him. But that didn’t make sense to him. He was very fond of all the sights and things around him. He didn’t want to destroy anything, especially not this restaurant. It belonged to Finny, the love of his life… FINNY! Rudy looked around the restaurant and tried to get a sense of where Finny might be. He usually only saw Finny in the restaurant but he knew Finny had a home somewhere with his wife and three children.

Rudy didn’t want to break anything more so he found a seat in the restaurant and waited. He would wait for Finny to arrive.

+++

Finny, short for Finnegan, had worked really hard to building his restaurant, his brand, and his life. And he didn’t realize just how lucky he was that a tiny fish named Rudy, his favorite yellow tang, loved him as much as anyone could. When he arrived at his restaurant to open up that Wednesday morning he was startled and shocked to find Rudy’s tank demolished and a tall yellow man sitting in a booth drawing on the back of a menu with some crayons. When the man saw him, he stood and grinned crookedly.

“Finny!” The young man yelled.

“Uh… Who’re you?”

“Rudy,” the man said.

“Rudy,” Finny said, and stared at the man. He was as yellow as his Tang, but he was a MAN. He looked between the destroyed tank and the yellow man. It was impossible. But there was no way he could have gotten in here without breaking anything and the only thing broken was Rudy’s tank.

Finny blinked a few times, then wandered to the back where the security cameras could tell him the real story. And the real story was just as the yellow man said. In the camera he could see Rudy growing and bursting open the tank and slowly transforming into a human-like creature. He turned to see that Rudy the former fish was standing behind him, naked as a jaybird.

Finny sighed and wondered what he had done to deserve this oddity. He pulled out the lost and found and retrieved a sweatshirt and an apron from the kitchen.

“Oh! Clothes! I’ve always wanted clothes! Thank you, Finny.”

“You’re welcome Rudy.” Finny helped Rudy get sort of presentable and started to clean up the mess from the broken fish tank. A shadow crossed the window outside and Finny looked up to see the old hobo from the night before staring into the restaurant. His face was a mask of anger and confusion.

Finny poked his head out of the door. “Can I help you? Do you need another glass of water?”

The man pointed past Finny at Rudy and shook. “You! Where have you been? What have you been doing all night?”

Rudy blinked and then pointed to the table where he had sat all night. “I was drawing a picture for Finny. Who are you? Where were you all night?”

The old man balked. “What… why… I am a chaos magician! You’re supposed to be wrecking chaos!”

Rudy just stared perplexed at the magician. “But that would destroy things. I don’t want to do that. Also, Finny told me to behave, I think that falls into the territory of misbehaving.”

The magician stared at Rudy incredulously. “What is wrong with you!”

Rudy frowned at the old man. “I’m a fish that is now a human person, what isn’t wrong with me?”

The old man made an angry squeak and turned on his heel. He limped down the street and shouted nonsense into the air.

Finny glanced back at Rudy and laughed. “You know, I knew I picked well when I saw you at the pet store. You are a special fish, Rudy.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m sorry about the tank.”

“It’s alright.”

“I don’t have to go back to the pet store do I?”

“No, I don’t think they have a tank big enough for you. Besides I think you deserve to be family.”

“Can we go fishing? Can I meet your family? Your kids?”

“Of course. I think they’d love you just as much as I do.”       

Rudy is a literal fish. But he has the heart of a human, and the soul of someone who loves the people who love him. Things could have been different, and for another unfortunate fish in another part of the city they were. Because not a few days later, a huge, hulking puffer fish the size of a barge wrecked up the east side of the city and shouted angrily at everyone “how about I puff you up!”

The end.

Find Arbor's Work Here

Crossed Lines is Out!!!

Finally, Lana Sky has released her book Crossed Lines. I have had a HARD time keeping this book quiet. It's an edgy, slightly psycho, fast-paced, mind-blowing read, and a milestone for the author.

I could not put this book down. In fact, I read it twice and plan on doing so again now that it's officially out.

This is the summer beach read that you don't expect, the one that should be taboo but is somehow not.

Psychopath. Borderline. Crazy. Seventeen-year-old Maryanne Mayweather wears each term like a badge of pride. Expelled from her twelfth boarding school, she lands on the doorstep of her flighty aunt Elaine and Elaine’s husband James, one more screw-up away from being made a ward of the state.Once a successful author, the last thing James Thorne wants is to care for his wife's bratty teenage niece, especially with his marriage falling apart. When Maryanne crafts an elaborate plan to defame and destroy him, they both discover that words are more powerful than either of them could imagine. And as their relationship goes down a path neither envisioned, the consequences are swift and far-reaching.Some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.

Get Crossed Lines here:

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Awaken is finally Here!

Hi everyone,

I apologize for the delay in updating my blog recently.  As many of you know, I have been hard at work on my trilogy, The Priestess and the Warrior.  And now, I am thrilled to announce that Awaken, the first book of the trilogy, is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and Paperback versions!

If you are looking for something new and intriguing to read, please give Awaken a chance, and let me know how you like it.

Sending love and light to everyone!!

Buy Awaken Here!