Happy Release Day to

Artifacts by Pete Catalano!

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Happy Book Birthday, Pete!

 

 

It's funny how one little letter can change a person's life. Jax and his friends have been planning the summer of a lifetime at Camp Runamuck. However, when one of them is facing summer at a school desk for failing English, they watch those plans crash and burn!

At the last moment they're given a way out.

An extra credit assignment to find several fake artifacts for a fairy tale display their teacher is presenting at the local library.

Thinking they've hit the easiest-extra-credit-ever jackpot, they begin rummaging through any piles of junk they can find. As they start putting the clues together, they realize that what they're really searching for is one authentic artifact that can rewrite fairy tales!

Enlisting the aid of the Lost Boys, Jax and his friends battle fairy tale villains to see who can get their hand, or their hook, on it first.

Artifacts by Pete Catalano Release Date: May 17, 2016 Publisher: Tantrum Boooks

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Pete Catalano’s books are written for kids of all ages — and adults who secretly never grew up. He lives in Charlotte, NC with his adorably funny wife and two neurotic dogs. Pete was a theatre major in college and tries to keep the ‘suspension of disbelief’ in his life as much as he can.

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Today we are having a chapter reveal for DIRTY SEXY SECRET by Nazarea Andrews. This book will release May 30th. Dirty Sexy Secret is an adult contemporary romance, standalone novel, that is the first in the brand new series - Green County.

   

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DIRTY SEXY SECRET Blurb:

  Even when you know better…. There are a million reasons why Hazel Campton is off limits: she’s a journalist. I’m a cop. Oh, and she’s my foster sister. My secret is I didn’t care. I haven’t stopped wanting her since I slept with her the night before she left. She’s trouble. Always has been. It’s hard to resist the thing you’ve always wanted… Growing up with Brandon Archer means I know him. Good. Bad. Everything in between. It’s just never mattered. My secret? That night. The one I stole, that’s kept me from Archer and Green County, for four years. Now I’m home, and nothing has changed. Except me. And not in the way that means a damn thing. Because I still want him. Everything can change with a knock at the door… Secrets. Everyone has them. Archer. Me. This town. Perfection only runs surface deep in Green County. When there’s a knock at me door, it’s a familiar face all covered in danger, and all those secrets we hide? They’re about to come tumbling out. The first in a sexy new series about Green County, and the people who serve there.    

Excerpt:

Three killers, two cop, and a journalist walk into a bar. Sounds like a bad joke, right? It's not. It's the end--dear god I hope it's the end--of the worst two days of my life. I just hope we all walk out alive. Chapter 1. Some people say you can't go home again. And that is a complete pile of bullshit. You can. It just won't be home. I should know. I did it. Green County doesn't change. It's been four years since I bolted and six months since I sucked up all my pride and ego and came back. And it still struck me as strange. Green County was exactly the same. Same ridiculous festivals. Same leafy boulevards and parks filled with yoga moms and shrieking children. The same gossips line the coffee shop and eye me when I step in. They'll chatter my every move to Eli later, cooing over him while warning that I was too skinny, too wild too rude too too too. They did the same thing in high school. It was just as fucking annoying then as it is now. Nothing changed in Green Co. If you want change you go somewhere else and you let it wrap you up tight and fight like hell to keep from being dragged back. Eli gets pissy when I say shit like that. But Eli never left Green Co. Never felt the need to get out, to see and shape the world. He's always been more than happy to see and shape the County. And you know, he was right. He was good at it. I loved that he cared so much about Green Co. That he wanted to save the little Kansas county from itself. Someone had too. I flash the ladies a smile as I order two extra-large iced coffees. Cindy grins at me, punching in the order and adding a slice of banana bread and her boxed lunch. “Long day, Hazel?” I grin, a half quirk of my lips that passes as a grin these days. “It’s a day ending in Y, Cins. Those are always long.” She gives me a smirk that tips toward worry. “You need a day off, sugar.” I make a face, and drop a twenty on the counter as I take my order. “I don’t even know what I’d do with that much free time.” She arches an eyebrow at me and I grin at her. “Hazel, my love,” Gabe says, sailing through the door of the coffee shop as I turn away from the counter. I swallow the grin before it twists into a smirk. “Gabriel,” I say, almost frosty and he laughs. Smug bastard. “We should carpool, love, if we’re going to keep meeting like this. Save the planet and all.” “Because you care so much about the damn planet,” I scoff, and he makes a face, all wounded dignity. The problem with that face is that I know Gabe. I've known him my whole life. Gabe is everything I ran away from when I left Green County. Everything I wanted to forget. The smirk that means trouble and the too sharp eyes that sees right through my quick easy lies and watches with concern when I isolate. Fucking bastard is my neighbor. He's too damn close for comfort and too damn nosy for his own good. And coming from an investigative journalist, that's pretty fucking nosy. "I've got work, Gabe. So as much as I'd love to spar," I shift my boxes and nod at the door. "Hazy," he says, and it draws me up. Because once, we were friends. We were impossibly close. He was my rock, and I threw him away. Because I was so fucking determined. To be more. To get out. I fucked up and I ran, and I left Gabe behind with all my other mistakes. I always regretted that. Hurting Gabe. "Wine night?" he asks, slightly pleading, and I flinch, falling back a step. It's still too soon for that shit. And he sees it in my eyes. His smile dips, just a little. Just enough that I notice. Because I know him better than he knows himself, and I can read his sadness in the line of his shoulders. "Maybe next week," I offer, shuffle stepping closer to the door. Aware of all the church ladies watching, and Cindy, standing at the counter, her lips pulled down in a frown, and worry. And Gabe shrugs it off. Beams at me like a fucking lunatic, and nods. Gives me the out. I flash him a quick smile and move toward the door, and he steps to the side, giving me a sardonic smile. Because he's Gabe. And this is Green County. And nothing here changes. Not really. The door opens and Brandon Archer steps through, all long legs and wide shoulders and a face that’s so fucking pretty it’s almost painful. His green eyes, so expressive and alive find me, and go blank. And I almost drop my bags. Because if there was ever a mistake I made, it was him. Eli steps in a half step behind, and a half foot taller, all big smiles and big shoulders and big hands. My brother is big everything. His eyes brighten when he sees me and he pushes past Archer to wrap me in a hug. It’s been about twelve hours since I saw my foster brother, so of course he’s tackle hugging me in CinSations. While Archer watches, those moss green eyes probing me. I squeak and Elijah relinquishes me reluctantly. I drive an elbow in his gut. “Dumbass. You spill my coffee, you replace it.” He doesn’t even blink. He just shoots a quick look at Archer, an eyebrow quirked in question. Because of course they don’t talk. How silly. Why would they? See—this right here? This is why I left. Because I can’t handle seeing the epic fucking bromance that is Elijah Beasley and Brandon fucking Archer. I shift, and Archer smiles, a slow curling thing that I want to smack off his face. “Hazel, sugar, you need a hand?” My smile feels more feral than sweet, and his eyes are sparkling, that fucking amused she’s so cute light I’ve seen for so many years. “Thanks, but Gabe is helping me. Right?” I side eye my friend who gives me this extravagant bow that doesn’t say, you just blew me off. Thank Christ for Gabe. I twist and give Archer a smug smile. “Have a good day, Officer.” Gabe snorts at that as he takes my bag and one of my coffees. I think I’m in the clear. That I’m safe, and out of the danger zone that is Archer. And then his hand closes around my arm, and it pulls me to a stop. He’s always been ridiculously able to pull me to a complete stop with almost nothing. “You can’t hide in that farmhouse forever, Hazel,” he murmurs, and I flush. Damn fair skin. A blush is too fucking easy to see and he’s always been too fascinated with pulling them from me. I can almost feel the low chuckle he gives as he lets me go, and I fall back a step. It’s a retreat, and that’s just another reason I scowl at him. “Tell Eli I’m making dinner on Sunday. Mama Nora is coming over.” I push past him and Gabe slips an arm around my shoulder, ignoring Archer’s sharp spike in tension. “You aren’t invited,” I add, all sugar sweet. And then I’m gone. “Tension between you and Green Co’s finest, love?” He asks, and I should. I know I shouldn’t, but I relax into him, for a moment. Let all the years and time and secrets fall away and let him be my friend. Just for a moment. “I’m not ready for this, Gabe,” I murmur, and he pushes a blond curl out of my eyes, watching me with those strange honey warm eyes of his. And then he nods. “Ok. Not now. But we will talk. Soon. I just painted a target on my back and Archer’s never liked me to begin with. You owe me.” I huff out a breath, and let my gaze dart up to him. Gabe gives me a patient, waiting look and I nod. Because apparently things do change. Gabe can grow up, even just a little. “Ok. Tomorrow.” I say, and he nods. Brushes a kiss over my hair and hands me my bags as I slide into my truck. And then he stands there, watching, braced between me and CinSations as I drive away. He was my best friend, a lifetime ago before I fucked up everything. I wonder if maybe he could be again.     ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  

Nazarea Andrews (N to almost everyone) is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. Which means she writes everything from zombies and dystopia to contemporary love stories. When not writing, she can most often be found driving her kids to practice and burning dinner while she reads, or binging watching TV shows on Netflix. N loves chocolate, wine, and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, spoiled cat and overgrown dog. She is the author of World Without End series, Neverland Found, Edge of the Falls, and The University of Branton Series. Stop by her twitter (@NazareaAndrews) and tell her what fantastic book she should read next.

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Forestium
Christopher D. Morgan
(Portallas #1)
Publication date: February 28th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Joshua’s life is on the line, as he attempts to navigate through the magical world of Forestium to find the truth about his father. He and his companions will need to use all their cunning to stay alive and avoid the dark forces of the Goat. Will he find the magical orbs and open the Portallas, a magical gateway to other worlds, before he’s killed?

Joshua sets out to learn the truth about his father. Along the way, he finds friends, enemies, adventure, romance and himself.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iTunes

--

Q&A with Christopher D. Morgan:

When did you first discover your love for writing?
Actually, not until quite late in life. In fact, I was never very good at English when I was in school and writing was always a chore to be avoided at all costs. Being blessed with unintelligible handwriting wasn’t helpful either. Later in life, however, articulating myself through the written word became something I really started to enjoy.

Do you have a favourite place to write?
Not really, but it does have to be in a quiet environment. I’m very easily distracted. When I’m in the zone, I tend to quietly slip off to a cosy spot and get my nose down into the keyboard. I wrote Forestium: The Mirror Never Lies entirely from the family home. Often on the sofa, but sometimes on the bed or at the computer desk. I haven’t tried going to a writer’s retreat yet. Perhaps I’ll reserve that for a special occasion.

Do you have a writing routine or process that you adhere to?
Oh yes. Typically, I’ll kick off a chapter with brief one-liners that describe the events to come sequentially. There could be anywhere up to 50 or more of these for a given chapter. I do this to map out the scene or chapter and then convert each one in turn into a paragraph or two. This process is repeated until all the one-liners are gone. That’s actually the hardest part, I think. I’ll then scour what’s written repeatedly, fixing and adjusting. Of course, that last part is never truly finished – ever.

Where did you come up with the name Portallas?
Initially, it started quite literally from the word PORTAL. This quickly led to the word Portallas and the idea of having some sort of portal that would link worlds together. An interesting aside is that Portallas actually started out life as Portallus. Unfortunately, portallus.com was already taken, but portallas.com was still available, so a hasty name change took place. Despite the master plan I have in my mind, I wrote Forestium: The Mirror Never Lies deliberately to stand on its own merits as a standalone book.

Do you have a favourite amongst all your characters?
I have a real soft spot for Sarah, as do many others. She embodies many of the characteristics I’d wish for in my own daughter. She’s a strong, independent, resourceful and brilliant young woman – not to mention absolutely beautiful. Of course, she has her flaws. She tend to ramble on a bit (much to the annoyance of Andrew).

Do you have any advice for other aspiring authors?
I’m still learning as I go but there are some things that I can advise others that may wish to follow in the path: - Go for it. Really, just do it. You may be pleasantly surprised. Even if you fail, it’s better to have tried and failed than to wonder for the rest of your life whether you could have done it or not. - If you are going to publish a book on a budget, don’t scrimp on the editing or the book cover – at least, make those your primary focus. Everything else is expendable when push comes to shove. - Don’t get conned. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, as there will always be people looking to take advantage of someone with a need.

Author Bio:

Christopher Morgan is an author, blogger, IT Manager, graphics artist, businessman, volunteer and family man living in Melbourne, Australia. Much of his time is spent volunteering for his local community. He creates visual learning resources for primary school children, which are marketed through his company Bounce Learning Kids. He is also involved in local civics and sits on various community & council committees.

Christopher was born in the UK and grew up in England’s South East. At age 20, he moved to The Netherlands, where he married Sandy, his wife of 28 years. Christopher quickly learned Dutch and the couple spent 8 years living in the far South of that country before they moved to Florida in 1996. After spending 7 years in Florida, Christopher and Sandy sold their home and spent the next 2 years backpacking around the world. Christopher has visited around 40 countries to date.

Whilst circumnavigating the globe, Christopher wrote extensively, churning out travel journals. He and Sandy settled back in the UK at the end of their world tour, where their two children were both born. In 2009, the family moved to Melbourne, Australia, where they now live.

FORESTIUM is Christopher’s debut novel and is the first in the PORTALLAS series.

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Gagged
Aubrey Parker
Publication date: May 17th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense

“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” Caspian tells me. “I’ll just force you to do as you wish.”

I’ve always been a good girl. Partly by choice, partly because of my mother’s shame and my father’s belt.

Caspian White is strong. Handsome. Powerful. Frightening. The world knows his name, envies his wealth, suspects his kinks, and fears his wrath.

I’ve kept myself pure, and that’s drawn Caspian to me like a predator to prey.

I don’t want to do what he wants me to. I just want to conclude my business with Caspian and go.

But Caspian seems to have been watching me for a while. I’m a target, and he knows me too well.

I’m afraid he’ll force me to do things I’ll regret … and that if he does, my shameful half will enjoy it.

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--

EXCERPT:

She almost seems speechless. She has so much reason not to trust me. I’ve admitted to snooping into her private business, just like I snooped into the personal lives of so many other people. I can see the wheels turning inside her falsely sweet mind. I can see the distrust and consternation on her pretty face. She’ll pretend she doesn’t want to hear this; she just wants to storm out like she threatened. But I don’t think she will. I’ve lifted the lid of Pandora’s box, and now that she’s had a hint of what’s hidden, curiosity alone will compel her.

Aurora has reason not to trust me right now, and I’ve only told her a corner of what I’ve researched, what I know, what I’ve already dug up. She doesn’t know my connections, or how much money can expose. Truth is, I’ve been watching Aurora for months — since well before my trip to Colorado, where Bridget Miller unknowingly gave Aurora a run for her money.

But Bridget didn’t fascinate me the way Aurora does. Nobody does.

I watch her now, fighting a strange urge to tell her exactly what I have in mind. There’s an odd nervousness in my core, as if I haven’t sufficiently purged. I was just upstairs; I just spent my time decompressing. And yet Aurora has me riled again. She’s looking at me with those cool blue eyes, that halo of blonde hair that I find stunning even though she’s tried to ugly up, to bury its luster. Her slim, sloping nose, her slight features, her flawless skin.

I want more than anything to touch her.

To hold her in my hands.

To make her mine.

To show her how she’s wrong, and how I’m right.

There’s a small voice in my mind that threatens dissent, but it’s hard to understand. Whereas most of me wants to conquer Aurora’s naiveté for her own good — and mine, in the doing — a small part of me feels wounded by her quiet beauty. It’s like she holds a weapon against me, and wields it simply by existing before my eyes.

The dissenting voice inside me doesn’t want to show her she’s wrong.

That voice doesn’t want to correct her. Or dismantle her. Or break her so I can rebuild her.

No. That voice prickles at the back of my neck, urging me not to do this.

It’s the same feeling I had walking away from Lucy earlier, thinking about Aurora and how long I’ve pursued her before finally tricking her into chasing me into the coffee shop last week. It’s the same disturbing, uncomfortable, vaguely painful feeling I get every time I look at her private photos. The same quiet pain I feel now, as she watches me with eyes that don’t trust me — but that must, in a sense, if she chooses to stay.

Which she will.

And for some reason, right here and now, I don’t want to betray her. I don’t want to do this.

I imagine my father, dead in his grave.

I think of my mother, cowed to his every whim.

I think of Becky Jeffries. Myself all those years ago. The wax. The blades. The pleasure and the pain.

And for the first time in decades, I doubt myself.

“What are you talking about?” she asks.

No hesitation. No intimidation. To me, she looks as lovely and frail as one of my flowers, but there’s strength behind her. I see an inch of the woman she was on the dance floor. An inch of the woman she was when she pushed me against the restroom wall and took what she wanted. I doubt she knows her strength, or how beautiful it makes her to me.

I have to take a moment. I have to look away, then at her again. Five seconds later the odd flurry of emotions are gone and I am myself again: her instructor, ready to give her a truer education than she ever hoped to find. An education that will set her free.

“A wager,” I repeat. I pace, to distance myself from Aurora’s assessing stare. It’d hard to meet her eyes, as much as they excite me. I’m aware of my erection, but there’s nothing to do about that now. My arousal and anticipation have unmasked at least that much, but I’m hardly the only person in this room who’s dying to fuck. “A bet. A gamble. A game of stakes.”

“What’s the bet?” she asks.

“Your worldview against mine.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course you do. You believe in fairy tales and happy endings. I believe in reality. You believe in light and optimism, whereas I’ve seen proof, in abundance, that the opposite is true. You think we can teach children out of who we are as a species. That we can change their futures with facts and figures.”

“Of course we can! Every study ever conducted has shown — ”

I wave my hand, less than dismissive. “Studies. Investigations. Reports. All conducted by people imbued with their own biases. It’s like setting out to see blue but doing so in red-tinted glasses. Every study ever conducted — on education or anything else — fails at the start because they all make one fatal assumption: that people are capable of being civilized. But it’s a lie. We’re all puppets for the animals we are deep down.”
Aurora is shaking her head at Jasmine, who hasn’t spoken since I yelled at James to stop doing what I instructed him to do. For now. And the results are plain, making my point for me. Jasmine’s not paying attention to me, only to her beating heart and sensitive nipples. She’s not considering my argument even though she’s supposed to be the reporter; she’s thinking about her sopping-wet pussy. Jasmine knows perfectly well what’s acceptable and what’s not — what’s wise and what isn’t, what will help versus hinder her, what she’ll regret tomorrow and what she won’t — but Jasmine’s civilized nature isn’t in charge. It’s the wild beast beneath.

I can practically smell her lust. Like a bomb waiting to explode.

Even as Aurora challenges my gaze — sure she’s right and that I’m fucked up, jaded, and wrong — Jasmine is preparing to offer me all the proof I need.

I look at the recorder.

I look at Jasmine and see her stiff nipples. Her dilated pupils. James has turned her body into a furnace, warming my office to the tune of over 300 BTUs per hour.

In a minute, I’ll play my ace, and make the first move in this chess game.

But not yet.

“What happened to make you this way?” Aurora asks me. It’s more an accusation than a question.

“When you were dancing. When you were touching yourself in front of everyone, how did it feel?”

She rolls her eyes. Shakes her head.

“When you touched the vibrator to your clit,” I say, “how did it feel?”

“I threw it away. You’re lucky I didn’t call the cops and report you as a sex offender.”

I smirk. “When you slipped it inside yourself, how did it feel? With your eyes closed, did you think of me?”

She reaches for Jasmine, whose hand has strayed into James’s lap, now sitting on the couch beside her. “Let’s go, Jasmine. Grab your recorder.” When Jasmine doesn’t grab it, Aurora does, her stare challenging me to try and take it away. “Let’s give the press the best story they’ve ever had on Caspian White.”

“What made you put my cock in your mouth, Aurora? And when we came together, how did that feel?”

She stares at me with eyes like ice. The hatred turns me on. The hatred crushes me. The hatred makes her fascinating. I let my mind flit back to last night. I put myself in front of her, but it was only a guess as to how she’d behave, once turned on. I thought we might make out a little. I thought she might let me touch her. But what happened proved just how much more tightly bound life has made her, and how delicious she’ll be as an adversary.

“Aurora?” Jasmine says.

“We’re leaving.”

“Aurora, did you … ?”

“You know I’m right,” I answer first. “You know it felt good. All those things — those were your choices. I made you do nothing. I simply gave you a reason. An excuse. Nobody would have known, or seen. It was you being you, with your good girl mask removed.”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” she says. But I can see I’m upsetting her.

“You don’t have to believe me. You don’t have to admit anything. We’ll make a bet. I’ll donate another hundred thousand dollars to the school of your choice at every stage of the bet . And if you win, I’ll donate another million.”

“Fuck off.”

“Five million.”

“Jasmine, come on.”

“Ten million. In your name, if you’d like. Consider the good that much money could do. Just think of all the futures my money could change.” I say the last bit ironically, smirking as if there’s not a word I believe.

Aurora hesitates. She almost answers.

“I’ll put it in escrow so I can’t back out. You can choose the agent. I’ll transfer the funds into a holding account today.”

Her jaw moves. Her eyes fix on me.

“What’s the bet?”

“We’ll take turns. You take a day to show me you’re right. I’ll do whatever you want, so you can convince me. But then it’s my turn. And on my days, you will do what I say.”

“I’m not an idiot — I won’t agree to a blank check.” But she still hasn’t turned away, or gathered her bag. Proving my point, she’s intrigued — but won’t let herself admit it.

“I’ll add a condition. You don’t have to do anything. Just face it. I’ll let you show me the light, if that’s what you believe. Then I’ll show you the darkness.”

She’s considering my offer. Wheels turning. I don’t have to convince her; she’s already convinced. I just have to make it impossible to say no, because deep down she’s dying to agree.

“Ten million dollars,” she says. “Held by a third party. With one hundred thousand dollars for each of our ‘challenges.’”

It’s a ridiculous bargain. An impossible bet. One a good girl like Aurora would never, ever make — but that the real Aurora beneath is dying to discover.

I take my tablet from the end table. She watches as I authorize the transfer, then seems convinced I’ve done as I promised.

“Fine,” she says. “Convince me. Convince me that the world is a terrible place and that everyone is dark deep down.”

But I don’t answer. I turn to Jasmine instead.

“Jasmine,” I say. “I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars to delete what you’ve recorded.” I pick up the tablet. Jasmine’s bank information is already entered as the recipient, but this particular peculiarity goes unmentioned.

“Not everything and everyone is for sale. You can’t buy her.” But Aurora’s voice seems uncertain.

“Fifty thousand,” I say.

Jasmine reaches for the device, barely herself as she pushes buttons and makes the incriminating audio file disappear.

I smile at Aurora, initiate the transfer, and watch hate fill Aurora’s eyes, my first demonstration of cash over ethics established in seconds.

Then I look at James.

“Now fuck her,” I say, “while Aurora watches.”

Author Bio:

I love to write stories with characters that feel real enough to friend on Facebook, or slap across the face. I write to make you feel, think, and burn with the thrill that can only come from getting lost in the pages. I love to write unforgettable characters who wrestle with life's largest problems. My books may always end with a Happily Ever After, but there will always be drama on the way there.

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The Cilantro In Apple Pie
Kimberley Nadine Knights
Published by: Ravenswood Publishing
Publication date: May 5th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Fragnut. Confused? Well so is everyone else at Lumiere Hall Prep when sixteen-year-old Rubie Keane rolls in from Trinidad and Tobago talking her weird lingo. Not that she minds the culture confusion; she’s determined to leave the past behind her and be overlooked—but a certain stoic blue blood is equally as determined to foil her plans.

Gil Stromeyer’s offbeat personality initially makes Rubie second-guess his sanity, but she suspects his erratic outbursts of violence mask a deeper issue in his troubled, charmed life. Despite his disturbing behavior, a gradual bond forms between the two. However, on the night of the annual Stromeyer gala, events unfold that leave Rubie stripped of her dignity and kick Gil’s already fragile world off its axis.

Both their well-kept secrets are uncovered, but Gil’s revelation proves that sometimes the best remedy for a bad case of lost identity, is a dash of comradery from an ally packed with flavor.

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Book trailer:

Q&A with Kimberley Nadine Knights

What inspires you?
Definitely music – specifically original scores from films. My favorites are from The Village, Finding Neverland, Pride & Prejudice, Meet Joe Black and Life as a House.

What’s your advice to an aspiring author?
Write what your love not what you like. You have to be passionate about a topic to reach those magical words of ‘the’ and ‘end.’ Never write a book because that particular genre is popular – by the time you’re done it’ll be saturated. Also ignore the naysayers…you’ll be part of a very exclusive club when you finally finish your book

Do you ever experience writer’s block?
I like to call it writer’s diversion lol. Suddenly my idea isn’t as exciting as I initially thought, so then I drift into another storyboard. But absence makes the heart grow fonder and I usually return to book 1 with full force after a few weeks. For normal writers block I force myself to write 1000 words a day even if it’s 1000 words of crap.

Who is your favorite character in The Cilantro in Apple Pie?
Believe it or not it’s the male protagonist Gil. His character was so much fun to develop because he’s such a drastic departure from anything I know firsthand. He’s flawed in so many ways but for the right reasons…so you can’t help but root for him.

Could you describe your definition of a perfect writing day?
I can’t write in the day…only at night. Guess that makes me some kind of literary vampire – but my ideal writing ‘time-period’ would be locked in a cold room with a desk and my laptop, burning the midnight oil till 6am with my score mp3’s and a cup of java.

Author Bio:

Kimberley Nadine Knights knew when she kept willingly opting out of parties so she could stay home and write instead, that she was destined to be an author.

Born and raised in the tropical twin islands of Trinidad & Tobago, when this Caribbean girl isn't creating new plotlines for her ever growing lineup of fictional characters, she spends her time strumming her guitar to indie rock songs and snapping once in a lifetime photos halfway across the globe in countries such as Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and France.

She's an avid fan of The Walking Dead series and firmly believes that The Food Network should consider her being a judge on the next Chopped challenge.
Visit her website http://kimberleynknights.wix.com/author and learn more about this up and coming author.

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Anomalies
by Sadie Turner & Colette Freedman
Release Date: February 9th 2016
Genre: YA Sci fi
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Summary from Goodreads:

In the future there is no disease. There is no war. There is no discontent. All citizens are complacent members of the Global Governance. But one summer is about to change everything.

Keeva Tee just turned fifteen. All of her dreams are about to come true. She s about to make the trip to Monarch Camp to be imprinted with her intended life partner. One day they ll have perfect kids and a perfect life. But in her happy, carefree life in the Ocean Community, something weighs on her mind. She hears whispers about anomalies citizens who can t be imprinted. No one knows what happens to them, but they never seem to come back.

When Keeva arrives at Monarch Camp, her worst nightmare becomes a reality she is an anomaly. After imprinting, the people she loves change, and she starts to doubt everything she s ever believed. What if freedom and individuality have been sacrificed for security? And what if the man who solves all the problems is the very man who s created them and what if he isn't a man at all?

When Keeva finds a warning carved under a bunk bed she begins to understand: nonconformity will be punished, dissent is not an option, insurgents will be destroyed.

The Midnight Sea
Kat Ross
(Fourth Element #1)
Publication date: May 10th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

They are the light against the darkness.

The steel against the necromancy of the Druj.

And they use demons to hunt demons….

Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King’s elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister.

Scarred by grief, she’s willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he’s possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other’s emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close.

As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius’s past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake…

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EXCERPT:

My eyes flew open at the crack of dawn. I groaned and rubbed my forehead. My scalp tingled, an icy, unpleasant sensation. I knew right away where Darius was and what he was doing. It was another side effect of the bond, I’d discovered. I could feel his heart beating. I knew that one of his boots was too tight. I could shut my eyes and tell you exactly where he was, even if he was hundreds of leagues away.

Why had no one told me what it would be like? I supposed Tijah did, but this was much worse than I’d expected. Much, much worse.

I threw on my new scarlet tunic and marched down to the river. Tendrils of mist swirled through the dead reeds at the edge. It was late autumn and the air had a dank chill that promised snow.

My daēva stood there, stripped to the waist, pouring water over his head with his right hand. He wore a gold faravahar on a chain around his neck, its eagle wings spread wide. His left arm lay at his side, grey and dead. I stared at his shoulder, at the juncture where smooth skin met rough. His Druj curse.

It slowed me for a moment, seeing that pathetic arm, but I wasn’t yet ready to forgive him for waking me. That was my excuse, anyway. Of course, what really angered me was the terrible realization that I was burdened with a sorrow not my own, but that bled me nonetheless. What really angered me was him—everything about him.

He was calmer this morning, but I wasn’t. I stopped about twenty feet away. He didn’t turn around although he knew I was there.

“It’s nice that you’re so pious,” I said. “But don’t you think it’s a little early to be down here performing the morning rites?”

He paused, then dumped the last of the water from the bowl. I felt the cold trickle down my spine and my lips tightened.

“I was taught by the magi to come at first light,” Darius said. “Did you expect to sleep in? I’m afraid that’s not the way it works for Water Dogs.” He smiled, and we both knew it was fake. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you in some way.”

I stared at him, at the dark hair plastered across his forehead, his stubborn mouth. He looked so human. And yet there was something in the way Darius held himself, perfectly at ease in his own skin. Still but coiled, like the wolves I’d seen in the mountains.

“You haven’t offended me in the least,” I said. “I suppose you need the blessing more than I do.”

I spun on my heel and walked away, knowing I had wounded him. A small stab to my own heart. And I felt slightly ashamed. But that wasn’t the end of it. Then I felt his satisfaction at my shame. And my own anger that he knew and was glad.

And then his amusement at my anger!

I stalked off, determined to think nothing, to feel nothing, ever again.

If only it were that easy.

Author Bio:

Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

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Conflicted by Ruby Black Publication Date: April 27, 2016 Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

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She’s the only one I’ve ever needed and the only one I’ll never have. The only problem is…she’s my best friend. I’ve always felt the connection, but I just can’t go there. Not with her. She deserves better than what I can offer her. So I drown myself in women and booze, certain I’m doing the right thing, keeping her at a distance. Or so I thought. When Lacey tells me about the internship she’s scored with a hotshot criminal attorney, I’m happy for her. This could make her career. If anyone deserves success, it’s her. Then I learn who her new ‘mentor’ is. My father. Now, the secrets I’ve been keeping may cost me the very friendship I’ve been trying to protect.

About Ruby Black

Ruby Black is the pseudonym for a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She likes angsty romance, alpha males, and full bookshelves. Her novel Conflicted will be available April 27, 2016.

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A Criminal Magic
Lee Kelly
Publication date: February 2nd 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult

THE NIGHT CIRCUS meets THE PEAKY BLINDERS in Lee Kelly’s new crossover fantasy novel.

Magic is powerful, dangerous and addictive – and after passage of the 18th Amendment, it is finally illegal.

It’s 1926 in Washington, DC, and while Anti-Sorcery activists have achieved the Prohibition of sorcery, the city’s magic underworld is booming. Sorcerers cast illusions to aid mobsters’ crime sprees. Smugglers funnel magic contraband in from overseas. Gangs have established secret performance venues where patrons can lose themselves in magic, and take a mind-bending, intoxicating elixir known as the sorcerer’s shine.

Joan Kendrick, a young sorcerer from Norfolk County, Virginia accepts an offer to work for DC’s most notorious crime syndicate, the Shaw Gang, when her family’s home is repossessed. Alex Danfrey, a first-year Federal Prohibition Unit trainee with a complicated past and talents of his own, becomes tapped to go undercover and infiltrate the Shaws.

Through different paths, Joan and Alex tread deep into the violent, dangerous world of criminal magic – and when their paths cross at the Shaws’ performance venue, despite their orders, and despite themselves, Joan and Alex become enchanted with one another. But when gang alliances begin to shift, the two sorcerers are forced to question their ultimate allegiances and motivations. And soon, Joan and Alex find themselves pitted against each other in a treacherous, heady game of cat-and-mouse.

A CRIMINAL MAGIC casts a spell of magic, high stakes and intrigue against the backdrop of a very different Roaring Twenties.

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GUEST POST by LEE KELLY:

GANGSTERS!
Real-Life Gangsters that Inspired the Tough Guys in A CRIMINAL MAGIC

The pitch for my latest book, A CRIMINAL MAGIC, is THE NIGHT CIRCUS meets THE PEAKY BLINDERS, and for anyone who’s seen that twisty, violent BBC drama, you’ll know this means there’s some pretty hardened criminals in this one. My story takes place during an alternative Prohibition-era America, but instead of alcohol, magic has been prohibited. And just like during real Prohibition, gangsters have created an extensive, lucrative underworld to make sure people still get what they want, despite the letter of the law.

Because the magic in this novel is tricky and dangerous by nature, I knew I needed gangsters that weren’t just ruthless – these wise guys had to be clever, driven, and one step ahead of the sorcerers they employ in all aspects of their illegal trade. For inspiration and ideas, I naturally turned to history. Here are some of the notorious, hardnosed gangsters that most inspired me while writing A CRIMINAL MAGIC:

Owen “Owney” Madden was a New York gangster nicknamed “the Killer,” and aptly so as he was known for his very public executions. Madden more than once gunned down his rival gang members in the streets, and he allegedly shot a man on a trolley for flirting with his date. Despite being a hothead, he was also a shrewd businessman, and ran The Cotton Club (as well as some other swanky speakeasies) in New York City. In my novel, Erwin McEvoy, the boss of the Irish Shaw Gang, is loosely based on Madden (with a little Boo Boo Hoff thrown in there too. Boo Boo’s up next).

I have to admit, I was first attracted to Max “Boo Boo” Hoff because of his name, but the more I read about this Philly-based crime boss, the more fascinated I became. Hoff was a boxer turned gangster, and his bootlegging operation was so successful during Prohibition, it’s claimed he had an office of operations with 175 phones and a weekly payroll of $30,000 (in the 1920s)! Also known for his partying and extravagant lifestyle, Hoff frequently rubbed shoulders with celebrity types at his lavish affairs.

Also intriguing was Guiseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, the head of the New York Italian-American mafia – the city’s powerful crime alliance known as the Five Families – during the later years of Prohibition. But Masseria was a bit of an underworld dictator: he even required monetary tributes from other Families as testaments of their loyalty. His reign naturally didn’t last: several families declared war on Masseria, which broke up the crime dynasty and led to his execution. I loosely based my novel’s Italian-American gang, the D Street Outfit, on Masseria’s New York operation.

And of course, no list of Prohibition-era gangsters would be complete without Al Capone. Though my novel’s young gangster-on-the-rise, Harrison Gunn, is actually nothing like media-hungry Capone was, I couldn’t believe that Capone was at the height of his power and became a Chicago crime boss in his mid-twenties. So I made Gunn younger (originally he was going to be middle-aged), to help rev up the tension between him and my female protagonist, Joan.

Author Bio:

Lee Kelly has wanted to write since she was old enough to hold a pencil, but it wasn’t until she began studying for the California Bar Exam that she conveniently started putting pen to paper. An entertainment lawyer by trade, Lee has practiced law in Los Angeles and New York. She lives with her husband and children in Millburn, New Jersey, though after a decade in Manhattan, she can’t help but still call herself a New Yorker. She is the author of A Criminal Magic and City of Savages. Visit her at www.NewWriteCity.com.

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