Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop featuring Melissa Parkin

Welcome to my stop in the Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop! A quick thank you to Stuck in Books & I Am A Reader for hosting this giveaway hop! And a big thank you to Melissa Parkin for sponsoring this stop of the hop with her newest book! 

Blurb:
The last thing sixteen-year-old Cassie Foster needs is trouble, but that doesn’t stop him from finding her. 

Nine months after the tragic accident that killed her mother and sister, this high school junior just wants a fresh start. Settling down in the quiet town of New Haven, Maine, she’s found peace at last…until the new resident bad boy, Jackson Matthews, comes into the picture. Arrogant, sarcastic, and devastatingly sexy, he’s the very last thing Cassie wants to entertain. Romance was never part of the plan. But when terrifying circumstances drive these two together, she finds herself further in over her head than thought possible. As local girls begin disappearing, Cassie can’t help but wonder if it’s just a coincidence that everything started when this blue-eyed Casanova strolled into town. Will falling into Jackson’s arms mean she’ll be falling victim to a real lady-killer…or worse? 

The answer will open the door to a world she never thought possible.

About the Author:

Melissa Parkin is a Chicagoland native who feels weird referring to herself in the third person. When she's not binge reading, taking photographs, breaking the first rule of Fight Club, or playing music too loud, she's writing young adult paranormal romances.

Blog: http://melissaparkinsblog.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/divinevices

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25927907-divine-vices

Amazon Pre-order Page: http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Vices-1-ebook/dp/B015JCIUFA/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Giveaway:
The author will be giving away one (1) e-copy of Divine Vices! It will be sent to the winner after it is released on Sept. 28th.  Enter using the rafflecopter. Good luck everyone! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to visit the other blogs hosting giveaways for more chances to win! 
http://www.stuckinbooks.com/2015/09/stuck-in-good-book-giveaway-hop.html

Solace by Gini Rifkin Creating Characters & Giveaway

BLURB:

Solace Goodeve, one of Mother Nature’s favorite Fae Warriors, is assigned to Earth to help save the planet. Reptile invaders, disguising themselves as humans, are waging a takeover—and Mother is mad enough to eat asteroids. Solace is ready to prove herself as a warrior, but having a human for a partner is not in her battle plan—even if the man is rugged, ripped, and ready for action.

Army Ranger, Tanner Jackson, has seen his share of black op missions. The last one took a toll on both body and soul. Tanner isn’t looking for love, even though his new partner is six-foot-tall and drop dead gorgeous. However, after Solace shows him a new meaning to working undercover, he may have to reconsider that possibility.

As the Reps plan to sabotage NOAA, Tanner and Solace must learn to trust one another. But as they're trying to save the world, Solace and Tanner might just lose their hearts—and that takes the most courage of all.

Creating Characters:

   Sometimes I think the stories we write are already out there somewhere in the multiverse, and we are just fortunate enough to tap into them. That’s why some characters seem to have such a mind of their own. I try to follow my original plan for them as far as height, weight, hair and eye color, and personal history, but as the story progresses these qualities are open to change. It’s not my idea, it’s theirs.

   How they respond to situations, other characters, the adventure, and even dialogue, shapes them, surprises me, and hopefully draws in and entertains the reader. This applies to villains as well as the hero and heroine. And these changes rarely make them more perfect, but just the opposite. The changes are often imperfections making them more relatable, more endearing, or perhaps more hated.

    In my story Solace: Fae Warriors book 1, I had double the fun when creating the antagonist. He had two forms, human-like and reptilian. And I had the added challenge of making him believable and relatable in his Rep form. Hey lizards have feelings too. Since this book is contemporary, and my prior six books are historicals, I had to apply a different mindset for myself as well as the characters. You’d think living in the time period one was writing would make things easier. It didn’t seem to.

Then there is the fact that while the hero in Solace is a tasty bit of human man-candy, the heroine is Fae and from another world. Her interpretation of life on this planet comes from her Earth Indoctrination class 101. I guess my most important job is to help the characters who people my books to become real enough for you to want to be them, have lunch with them, or run in terror from them.

EXCERPT:

Angry voices filtered over to her. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it sounded like they were arguing amongst themselves. Snatching the bag from her head, she blinked and took stock of her surroundings. Two Reps looked ready to go for one another’s throats. The third sat in a nearby chair, holding his thigh, groaning in pain. Studying her surroundings in more detail, she discovered they’d brought her to an abandoned warehouse. An image of “Mr. White” flashed through her mind. What was it with these guys and warehouses? At least this one appeared cleaner, and other than a few small odds and ends, nearly empty—except for the

huge steel cage they’d locked her in.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gini Rifkin writes adventurous romance, past, present, and into the future. Her current book Solace, number seven for The Wild Rose Press, is a sexy sci/fi/fantasy romance. When not reading or writing, she has the privilege of caring for a menagerie of abandoned animals including ducks, geese, rabbits, goats, donkeys, and cats. She was born and raised in Illinois, became a registered nurse by age 19, and when struck by wanderlust, moved to Colorado where she met her husband Gary. They shared the journey for 30 years, spending vacations doing Mountain Man reenacting. Although Gary has passed on, a little bit of him lives on in every hero she writes. Her writing keeps her hungry to keep learning new things, and she considers family and friends her most treasured of gifts.

http://ginirifkin.blogspot.com

www.ginirifkin.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001680213365

GIVEAWAY:

Gini Rifkin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host.

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/07/vbt-solace-by-gini-rifkin.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Necromancer's Gambit by Nicolas Wilson Excerpt & Giveaway

BLURB:

Knight, the sheriff of a local magical government known as "the Gambit," is called to recover a mutilated body, tainted with magic and dumped at a popular haunt. When the corpse is identified as a close associate of the Gambit, it threatens the safety of the community he protects, and those he cares about most. As the fragile peace amongst the city's magic-wielding factions disintegrates, Knight must track down a cadre of murderers before his friends are picked off, one by one- with each death used to strengthen the spells cast against the Gambit.

  

EXCERPT:

“Tell me honestly, what do you think we’re going to find?”

“Statistically, the safe money would go on Castle getting involved with the wrong woman- one of the two reasons people usually kill each other. The other’s ambition, but there’s no percentage in killing Castle; if this is the opening for something larger, I can't even imagine what the game is.”

“So the all-points response is…”

“Precaution. If we really thought the gambit was under assault, we’d have marshaled our forces and stormed the cabin with every mage who takes our calls. But that also means riding out here in a caravan of VW buses that reek of skunk weed- and burning a lot of good will if it's a false alarm. So you coming out of the car?”

She hesitates for a moment, then gets out. A “V” of Canadian geese flies overhead. “Too bad you suck at divination,” she says. “Maybe they’d be able to tell us if we’re about to die.”

I start toward the house, hating every crunch of gravel under my feet because they make me louder, and make it harder to listen for something amiss. “I dated an augur once; she was flighty.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Nicolas Wilson is a published journalist, graphic novelist, and novelist. He lives in the rainy wastes of Portland, Oregon with his wife, four cats and a dog.

Nic's work spans a variety of genres, from political thriller to science fiction and urban fantasy. He has several novels currently available, and many more due for release in the next year. Nic's stories are characterized by his eye for the absurd, the off-color, and the bombastic.

For information on Nic's books, and behind-the-scenes looks at his writing, visit nicolaswilson.com.

Website: www.nicolaswilson.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NovelistNicolasWilson 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6553776.Nicolas_Wilson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicolasWilson

Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/u20RL 

Buy links for The Necromancer’s Gambit

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FCKLU3E

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-necromancers-gambit-nicolas-wilson/1116969628?ean=2940148423645&itm=1&usri=2940148423645

http://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/119587/The-Necromancers-Gambit?filters=0_0_0_44398_0 

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-necromancer-s-gambit-the-gambit-1  

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/354090

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id714103112 

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Necromancer_s_Gambit_The_Gambit_1.html?id=xNTwAgAAQBAJ  

GIVEAWAY:

Nicolas Wilson will be awarding a swag package with a pendant and bookmarks (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a swag package with a pendant and bookmarks (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn host. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/05/blurb-blitz-necromancers-gambit-by.html 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fear for Hire by Natalie Ellis Excerpt & Giveaway

BLURB:

Jack Wylie is tall, dark, handsome and brave - he's everything you'd want in a kidnapper.

Ex-cop Jack Wylie is a born protector, tormented by the day he misjudged a criminal and his life took a tragic turn. Now he's on a mission to kidnap a woman to help her overcome a fear of being tied up.

He's been told by his psychologist brother to keep up the game until the woman gives him the sign. But there has been a big mistake. Jack has accidentally abducted the feisty and beautiful Molly Rhoades - a newly arrived local TV reporter who has secrets of her own. And she doesn't know the sign.

After a dangerous and unlikely meeting, Jack and Molly find themselves consumed by sexual tension, but things get even more complicated when Molly finds out that Jack is engaged to the local Councilwoman Amanda Everett, a ruthless career climber determined to succeed no matter what the cost.

But why did Jack kidnap Molly in the first place? Who is pulling the strings in this perverted puppet show? Jack vows to protect Molly until he finds out the truth, but the layers of deception and vengeance run deeper than he could have ever imagined.

EXCERPT:

She was ready for him when he came back.

After several frantic tries, she arranged the comforter on the bed, hoping it looked like she was lying beneath it. Now, she waited behind the door. The only weapons she had were her legs, but with five years of kickboxing under her belt, she knew the vulnerable areas to target on a man to overpower him. Groin. Throat. Nose. Finding those areas blindfolded would be the real kicker.

She inhaled a slow breath. The key jingled in the lock. She tensed, preparing her body to deliver swift, precise hits. Bending one knee, she kept the other resting against the side of the door to feel it open. Without her hands for balance, it’d be difficult to stay on her feet after landing. If she didn’t connect with solid flesh, she’d fall. She tried not to sweat the fact she’d never kicked a person before. He wasn’t a person — he was a monster.

By slow degrees the door brushed against her foot and she held a second, waiting for his first step into the room. Bounding to the left, she kicked up and out, hoping to catch him offguard and bean him under the nose, or at least the side of his face. Instead, her toes clattered against something hard, and warm chunks spattered her throat. Her lunch? Determined to do some damage, she leaped again and threw her entire body behind a kick in the same vicinity as the last. This time she connected with flesh.

A calloused hand wrapped around her foot and she tottered, one-legged, on the slippery floor. He released her before she toppled over, only to grab her by the tank. A rip sounded and the fabric over her breasts gave way.

He hauled her against his solid chest. “You’re becoming a real pain in the ass, Laura.” He spoke the words inches from her face, his breath hot on her lips. A hard hand clamped around her jaw, then gentled, stroking up the side of her cheek.

He was going to kiss her.

“My name isn’t Laura!”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Natalie S. Ellis worked behind the scenes in TV news for sixteen years and will always miss the rush of a breaking story. But the seduction of writing a fiery romance with twisty suspense is even harder to resist, especially when she has a new curveball for the plot. Natalie enjoys living in her hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and attributes her cheerful attitude to empty nesting, a supportive family, and way too many lattés.

https://twitter.com/fearforhire

https://www.facebook.com/NatalieSEllisNovels

http://fearforhire.com/

GIVEAWAY:

Natalie will be awarding an eCopy of Fear for Hire to 3 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour, and choice of 5 digital books from the Impulse line to a randomly drawn host. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/07/blurb-blitz-fear-for-hire-by-natalie.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Diary of a Single Wedding Planner by Violet Howe Excerpt & Giveaway

BLURB:

Wedding planner Tyler Warren left heartbreak behind when she ran away from her small Southern hometown and started a new life in a big city. Years later, she wants to believe in the fairy-tale endings her job promotes, but the clients she meets day after day seem to be more “Crazily Ever After” than “Happily Ever After.”

Meanwhile, her own attempts at romance play out as bizarre comedies rather than love stories, and she’s starting to think Prince Charming either fell off his horse or got eaten by a dragon. When unresolved issues from Tyler’s past complicate things even further, she discovers she may yet have some things to figure out before she can find her own happy ending.

This delightful first book in the Tales Behind the Veils series chronicles Tyler’s wacky misadventures, both personal and professional. Whether she’s getting insane requests from brides or outlandish requests on dates, you’re sure to be charmed and entertained by the Diary of a Single Wedding Planner.

EXCERPT:

I laughed at Mel and cringed at the memory she referred to. I was probably sixteen at the time, and my mother’s best friend had insisted I go out with her nephew. Doris described Sammy as a “long, tall, good-lookin’ drink of water.” She would drawl out long and tall into pretty much two-syllable words and then rush through good-lookin’ drink of water like she was running out of oxygen.

He was tall alright, but evidently Doris and I have vastly differing opinions on what constitutes good-lookin’. Of course, it didn’t help that he showed up barefoot to take me out to dinner. I opened the door in my brand-new dress to greet a scrawny giant of a boy wearing a rebel-flag tank top, a pair of cut-off denim shorts, and no shoes.

He smiled down at me, revealing a large gap of two to three teeth missing on the bottom and a couple of top teeth ready to jump ship at any moment.

I decided right then and there I’d need to see someone up close and in person before I ever let anyone set me up on a date.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Violet Howe enjoys writing romance with humor. She lives in Florida with her husband, who is her knight in shining armor, and their two handsome sons. They share their home with three adorable but spoiled dogs. When she’s not writing, Violet is usually watching movies, reading, or planning her next travel adventure. You can follow Violet’s ramblings on her blog, The Goddess Howe.

Author Website:  www.violethowe.com

 www.facebook.com/VioletHoweAuthor

@Violet_Howe

Blog:  www.thegoddesshowe.com

www.facebook.com/TheGoddessHowe

@TheGoddessHowe

GIVEAWAY:

Violet will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/07/blurb-blitz-diary-of-single-wedding.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hidden by Amy McKinley Giveaway

BLURB:

Cursed since birth, hunted by gods, and desperate for love—Jade never stood a chance.

Half-demon, half-goddess, Jade’s fate makes her a pawn in an epic battle among the gods. Hidden on Earth with her sisters, she successfully avoids the Oneiroi—the dream gods—bent on her destruction until the prophecy, long dormant, awakens a dark shadow within her.

Roen, a reclusive Worr demon known for his battles against the Oneiroi, is called to protect Jade. Together they must unlock their mysterious connection and find a way to beat back destiny. Can she outsmart the prophecy, change her fate, and find love—even when she learns who is connected to her destruction?

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Amy McKinley is a freelance writer and author. She lives in Illinois with her husband, their four talented teenagers, and three mischievous cats. Her debut novel, Hidden is the first in the Five Fates Series.

Connect with Amy

www.amymckinley.com

Twitter: Amy McKinley@amymckinley7

Facebook: www.facebook.com/amymckinleyauthor

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/amymckinley7

Wordpress https://amymckinleyauthor.wordpress.com

GIVEAWAY:

Amy McKinley will award a randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter a $20 Amazon/BN GC. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/08/cover-reveal-book-blast-hidden-by-amy.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway