Book Review of Escaping Love

Book Review of Escaping Love

        Sponsored by Paranormal Craving

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Genre: Erotic PNR

Pages: 165

Isbn: 1482609959

ISBN 13: 978-1482609950

Blurb

Eva, a rare white panther, is desperate to avoid her family and their expectations. Hundreds of years of tradition force her to run to the newly appointed Queen only to find her gone. Hopelessness causes her to invoke the right of Hospitality and everything that goes with it, including the mouthwatering lupine cowboy with talented hands. When he whispers her name she’s tempted to submit as long as he meets her every desire.

Clint, the beta wolf of the Koning Clan, is tired of troublesome females walking through the doors of Gryph’s Bar. The last one changed history. Now, a small, seductive feline grates on his nerves and beckons his primitive instincts. Even though she’s trouble, her taste drives him to addiction. Law dictates he must protect her, but the way she calls to his beast may lead to their undoing. As a male with no knowledge of his past how can they have a future?

 About the Author

Author of PNR and Erotic Romance. Published with Pink Petal Books, Ellora's Cave, and my Self-pub the Koning Clan Series. I love chocolate, reading, and traveling. Some of my favorite authors are, Cole, Kenyon, Ward, and Laurenston.

I grew up in the Colorado Mountains a place full of possibilities. I never found what truly made me happy until I discovered writing. I didn't really like to read until I tried something a little different. Then like a wildfire my passion grew into a career. I'm thankful every day to have found where I belong. I’m a mother of three kids and a dog.

Buy Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Love-Koning-Clan-ebook/dp/B00D39GHB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370187176&sr=1-1&keywords=escaping+love%2C+debra+smith

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/escaping-love-debra-smith/1115450284?ean=2940016677071

Other: Kobo http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Escaping-Love/book--c5jSwur_0WP5p5zGo3Yyg/page1.html?s=mP3N1UEqFka6QgdFo3Tuaw&r=1

Contact Links

Website: www.debramichellesmith.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/debra.michelle.smith.author

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/d_smith_author

Giveaway

5 e-copies of Escaping love in chosen format.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt

Running. Running used to be freedom. Now it was her only chance of survival. The feeling of leaves and grass against the pads of her feet, the moist smell of earth, the way the trees would open their branches like a mother opening her arms to a long awaited child. Gone. Now shadows that used to hold wonder only held fear. The night used to be something that called to her, now only served one purpose. A chance of escape from her life. One, she never wanted.

She lifted her muzzle to scent the air. Upwind, she held the advantage. Taking a moment to suck in much needed air, she stopped and rested. The pounding of her heart was the only familiar sound in the foreign woods. To think she made it all the way to Colorado from South America. Her, the most delicate of her family. She snorted, delicate, her ass. She had to be smarter, faster, and more lethal than all the males of her Clan. What was the saying? Practice made perfect. Wrong. Practice at perfection made her the perfect predator. Say that five times fast. She lived for the hunt. But because of some stupid prophecy, she was to be a treasure to her people. Never allowed to see the outside world.

The rays of the full moon danced across her white fur giving off a luminescent glow. So what if she was rare. So what if she was the only white panther to be born in the last four-hundred years. She was still a person with her own thoughts, desires, and dreams. That’s why she was heading to the middle of nowhere. If she could plead her case to Jenifer Koning, then maybe her father would have to listen to reason.

Tales of the queen reached far and wide. Jenifer defied the archaic rules of their world when she entered the Slag, the tournament of kings. Kings not queens being the important word. Jenifer was the only woman in their history to attempt to change her fate. Until now. Alexandria would be the next. She had to be.

That’s why she ran from her Clan, more important her father. Part of her never thought she would make it all the way to North America from her home deep in the Brazilian jungle. Weeks of travel had taken their toll on her body, exhaustion threatened her every step. Soon, she told herself. Internal strength, she liked to think came from her mother, was the only thing keeping her from collapsing.

There. Light shined through the trees. Relief gave her the extra strength she needed. Gryph’s flashed over the imposing red doors with a bouncer perched to the side. Crap. His height and massive arms crossed over his chest seemed less than inviting. How to play this? Her human appearance was less than intimidating. Maybe she could seem unimposing and just walk right in. Yeah right, a girl could dream.

Alex pictured her human form in the center of her inner light. The change wasn’t painful, at least not after the very first shift. Magic allowed them to keep their clothes. The only drawback was that unlike the animals in nature, their color matched in both their human and animal form.

Branches scratched her exposed skin while she parted the bushes. Sashaying toward the bouncer, she tried not to hold her breathe. His scent hit her nose. A bear. Great. This close to winter he could be especially grumpy.

His nostrils flared and brief look of confusion crossed his face before he schooled his features.

“Hi,” she said in a sweet, sing-song voice.

He grunted.

Great this could be harder than she thought. “I’m looking for Jenifer Koning. I request an audience.”

Another grunt.

Claws pricked at the tips of her fingers, bringing a burning pleasure. Calming her temper, she did her best not to expose her best kept secret.

“Is she here?”

His response, “Clint we have a live one, again.”

Again? What was that supposed to mean? Her ears tingled as she struggled to hear the voice on the end of the line. From the bear’s wince it wasn’t looking good. For him or for her.

“Go on in. Stay out of trouble.”

Gritting her teeth before she gave him a reason to hibernate, she pulled open one of the big red doors.

Alex took her time entering the bar. She needed to seem like she had every right to be there. She couldn’t risk them kicking her out before she could plead her case to their queen. An old Vince Gil song flowed from the jukebox.  Red, faded booths and bar stools filled the space. The scent of fried food assaulted her nose. Doing her best not show her repulsion, her gaze drifted to the bar and the male stomping toward her.

Good lord, he was fine. Faded blue jeans clung to his muscular legs as the heels of his cowboy boots echoed through the air. A green and blue, plaid shirt, with the top buttons unfastened revealing the tan skin of his chest, rolled sleeves resting just below his elbows showed off his muscled forearms. The one on his right was tattooed but she didn’t risked getting lost in its puzzle. Dusty blonde locks hung in his eyes, and a five o’clock shadow covered his jaw. Firm lips pressed into a flat line were only distracted from by his intense blue eyes. She’d never seen such eyes. He was sexy wrapped in a whole lot of delicious.

His mouth moved and she blinked. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

An irritated rumble sounded in his chest. “I said, who are you?”

“Alex.” After listening to his sweet drawl, she felt a small sensation of being welcome. And then it was gone.

His eyes thinned in what had to be irritation, “What’s your full name and Clan?”

The cowboy was smarter than he looked. Hot and intelligent, be still her quaking knees. Wait, her knees were trembling. Placing her hand on the bar, she braced her body. The room started to spin. She shook her head trying to gain focus. Alarm spread through her at the thought of showing weakness in front of him. This male was definitely a predator and the last thing she wanted to do was fall at his feet.

Then, exhaustion overtook her. Her knees buckled sending her forward into his awaiting arms. His concerned face was the last thing she saw.

Review

Yummy shifter romance.  Very sexy, so keep your loved one close…you will want to play after you finish reading this book.  I can’t tell you the things I loved most without giving away the best parts of the story, so I’m keeping this brief.

I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions

Book Review of Sunbolt

Book Review of Sunbolt

Sponsored by Enchanted Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

 

Title: Sunbolt

Author: Intisar Khanani

Genre: YA Fantasy

The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.

When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.

Author Bio

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar is hard at work on two new projects. The first is a companion trilogy to her debut novel Thorn, following the heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife. The second project, The Sunbolt Chronicles, is a novella series following the efforts of a young mage as she strives to bring down her nemesis, a corrupt and dangerous Arch Mage who means to bring the Eleven Kingdoms under his control.

Contacts:

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17317370-sunbolt

Intisar’s Website: http://thornthenovel.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/booksbyintisar

Add Sunbolt on GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17317370-sunbolt

Connect with Intisar on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/booksbyintisar

Connect with author and artist T.L. Shreffler: http://www.facebook.com/tlshreffler 

           

Book Excerpts

Excerpt One

“Mgeni! Stay a moment; I have your future for you.”

I grin, turning towards the voice. Mama Ali sits beneath the cloth shade of her market stall, her husband’s catch heaped on the wooden counter before her: mounds of sardines, glinting silver bright in the sun. Today there’s also a single little octopus that must have gotten tangled in his nets, it’s fleshy body turned over to show the white of its tentacles.

With her wide smile and heavy girth, Mama Ali is a well-known fixture of the fish market, her laughter booming across the crowded aisles and her penchant for sharing people’s futures indulged in even by the locals. Her son, ten years old and shrewder than a hundred year-old owl, perches beside her, watching me.

“You can keep my future, Mama Ali,” I reply. “It will probably do you more good than me.”

 

My words draw laughter from the women at the surrounding stalls. The market stalls are packed tightly together, and every counter offers up the bounty of the sea, scenting the air with salt and sea. Above the stalls flap brightly-colored cloth shades, protecting both the women and the fish from the sun’s heat.

I hear someone ask what she missed, and a woman replies, calling me mgeni again. My smile slips a notch. I may have adopted the traditional, brightly colored long skirt and tunic of the local women, as well as the tightly wound head wrap, but my sand-gold skin and the slant of my eyes will always mark me as someone else. Mama Ali may use the term as an endearment, but the echoes I hear now brand me as an outsider.

Mama Ali holds out her hand imperiously, a queen demanding tribute from the riffraff that forms her court. “Come, my friend, keeper of secrets, let us see what we can.”

“What will you give me?” I ask, hoping ‘keeper of secrets’ is just a phrase she uses on potential customers. Regardless, I don’t have the coin to pay her, so I may as well be clear I won’t be giving anything.

“Give you? Your future, muddle-brain! And, because you are always admiring my wares, I will give it to you for free.”

“Oh, very well.” I acquiesce none too gracefully, offering Mama Ali my hand. Trying not to fidget, I wait, her palms clasped around my hand. I may be running a little late, but there’s no reason to think the meeting will have started on time. Besides, since I wasn’t invited in the first place, no one will miss me. “Don’t tell me I’m going to meet someone new, dark of skin and—”

“Short,” Mama Ali agrees.

I nearly choke. “Short?”

She drops her voice. “Well, if I want to be sure it happens, short is so much more likely than tall, isn’t it? At least,” she nods her head to suggest the market, not to mention the rest the island, “here.”

I laugh. I think this must be why Mama Ali and I get along so well. “Right. Short and dark.”

“No.” She pulls a frown. “For you, something different.”

I glance towards the sky, gauging the angle of the late morning sun. Magic is one thing, but divining the future? Not so much. “I really have to—”

“You are going somewhere,” Mama Ali intones, closing her eyes. I glance at her son in disbelief. Ali grins wide, his teeth showing pearly white against his earth-brown skin.

“I was before you stopped me,” I agree.

Mama Ali heaves a theatrical sigh, squeezing my hand rather painfully. “Somewhere important,” she clarifies. She tilts her head as if listening for something.   And Mama Ali hears a lot—she has her pulse on the happenings of Karolene. Maybe there is something she knows. Has she heard something about the League? Or the Ghost?

She drops my hand, sitting back with a gasp. “Run!”

Review:

            I enjoyed the irreverence of the heroine of Sunbolt.  Hitomi is brash, bold, alone, the odd person in a homogeneous society, and unusual in looks, talent, and other skills.  Hitomi often finds herself in trouble and uses her brains and skills to save herself and other.

I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds and eagerly await book 2.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Interview with author Angela Shelton of Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats

Interview with author Angela Shelton

of Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats

Sponsored by Virtual Author Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

To Mindy @ Books, Books & More Books  :

Vocabulary Builders to Reach Different Age Groups!

Discovering new words is fun for all ages. That is, if you like to feed your brain. 

Younger kids are very curious about new words and will repeat and use the ones they like.  So instead of poo poo words or repeating parents’ bloopers, why not introduce kids of all ages to great vocabulary?

When I first began writing about the character Tilda Pinkerton I noticed how she spoke to many different age groups with her whimsy wisdom from the elderly to the toddlers. 

The first book series is The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton that explains where she came from and what caused her to begin creating magical hats. The ‘big books’ are filled with rare words that are hard to spell, difficult to say and titillating to the tongue and the mind. 

After that first book I realized that Tilda could reach much younger readers too with easier words – even in large print.

I wrote Book One of chapter book for K-3 readrs, Tilda Pinkerton’s Magical Hats.

When I heard my two-and-a-half-year-old nephew repeat the word “iridescent” and was able to relate it to an iridescent peacock puppet, I was hooked. Hearing his little voice sound out ir-i-des-cent stuck with me and kept reminding me that little ones are much more clever than we imagine, something that Tilda Pinkerton knows very well.

In order to capture all aspects of the complex Tilda Pinkerton character, I placed her adventures and her teachings in different book series.  

So the more you learn to read, the more you are able to find out Tilda Pinkerton.

The chapter books have very extensive glossaries, the first one with 344 words!

To add even more fun, there are puppet videos (sponsored by Folkmanis puppets!) to

teach the bigger words on http://magichatshop.com/

When little ones read the K-3 Magical Hat books, they become intrigued about where Tilda came from.

To find out how in the world Tilda got to Earth, you have to journey through the gigantic words in the big books where you learn that she is originally from the very fitting Sombrero Galaxy.

Here’s a bit of the first meeting of Tilda in the chapter books:

…there stood Tilda Pinkerton, spectacular in her long green coat with shimmering green beetle buttons. She smiled down at the children, who were too amazed to speak.

“There are many, many more where these come from; hats can be so much fun. Some are meant for mere mice, some are as big as the Heidelberg tun—that’s a whale,” she winked at Madison. As Tilda spoke, Albert could not tear his eyes from her hat. She sported the strangest, most elaborate chapeau: before him was an iridescent green top hat with a fish tank in its center. A bubble-eyed orange-gold fish with sunglasses stared back at him, unblinking, from the water. “That’s Frank the Fifth; he’s a hotshot at sniffing out fact from myth, so try not to lie, he’s easily miffed,” she explained.

What words were easy and what words were harder? It makes it even more of an adventure when those of us reading to little ones get to learn new gems along the reading path too!

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

I have to say that my children always knew the big words and how to correctly use them, as does my niece, so it’s nice to see someone acknowledge that children are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.  This just makes me love Tilda that much more. J