INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone My name is Victoria Zumbrum, 40 years old, married 14 years with 1 son. This is my very first blog. So bear with me. I have always wanted to have my own blog. I have always loved to read. I enjoy getting lost in a good book.
I love becoming part of the story and characters. I am hoping to bring my love of books to my readers.

I love reading different genres such as paranormal, young adult, romance, romantic suspense, mystery, Christian fiction, some horror, etc. The list goes on. I started reviewing books a couple of years ago and have done reviews for different blogs and even some authors. I really have enjoyed reviewing books and I will continue to do so. If anyone is interested in me reviewing a book for them, please contact me. I still have a lot to learn regarding my own blog so bear with me. I welcome and appreciate all followers.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Dear Santa Book Tour and Giveaway

 


Dear Santa: A Christmas Wish
A Holiday Romance Anthology
Presented by Authors' Billboard


The Authors’ Billboard’s 2020 fabulous Christmas Box Collection, DEAR SANTA, is filled with 18 brand new stories about characters who have special wishes to ask the big guy during this season.

Most of us have had experiences when something we’ve desperately wanted is so close that Santa seems the perfect person to ask for the miracle.

When one believes, it’s amazing the conflicts that are overcome and the surprises that can follow.
You’ll be amazed by each of these fantastic holiday books full of Christmas cheer and thrilling romance we’ve written for your entertainment.

Mimi Barbour – Alone at Christmas: Being alone is Tara’s worst nightmare, especially during the holidays. Her wish comes true when she finds Mr. Right injured and stranded, but will they survive the dangerous storm?

Rebecca York – Christmas Miracle 1935: Can he trust her enough to help free her father from jail?

Patricia Rosemoor – Marrying Molly: Dear Santa, Please let me meet a McKenna man who will help me end Sheelin O’Keefe’s horrible curse on both our families. Molly Kavanaugh

Susanne Matthews – What Dottie Wants: All Ronnie wants is to give Dottie a great Christmas, but not being able to find the doll she wants may make that impossible.

Traci Hall – Christmas Kiss: Can a teenage crush become forever love?

Angela Stevens – Dear Sinterklaas: Dan had his heart stolen by a girl on summer vacation, now it’s Christmas time, and with a little bit of magic from Sinterklaas, he hopes to make his Christmas wish come true.

Melinda Colt – Saving Maddie: The only reason demons exist is because angels do, too.

Stacy Eaton – Finding Love with Dear Santa: All Faith wants is to get her life back on track.

Stephanie Queen – He Has Santa: A second chance hockey romance.

Josie Riviera – A Chocolate Box Christmas Wish: He’s been all over the world. She’s a home-town girl. Can a holiday wish bridge the gap?

Mona Risk – Dalia's Christmas Wish: Will the doctor make the right decision between an angry fiancĂ©e and a medical emergency?

Rachelle Ayala – Toy Soldier Christmas: Can a toy soldier make her wish come true?

Dani Haviland – A Plate of Christmas Cookies: Is it too much to ask for a second miracle?

Taylor Lee – Please Christmas: Be Done: When his 7 year old son ran away looking for Santa... and all his teenage daughter wants for Christmas is for it to be done....the district attorney concedes not only did he lose his wife to cancer, but he was in danger of losing his children.

Susan Jean Ricci – Cruising for Mr. Right: Can a widow discover second chance romance aboard a Christmas cruise and make the right choice between two adoring men?

Alyssa Bailey – Christmas Wishes and You: Beth’s Christmas Wish of a Second Chance at Love could happen if only she would be willing to risk her heart... again.

Nancy Radke – Zsuzsa’s Christmas Wish: She asks Santa for a strong man to help corral a mule that won’t stay home, and is given a rancher who plans to corral her.

Carmen DeSousa – Chicago Hope: Aspiring journalist Maura Hall dreams of changing the world, but she'll settle for Chicago.


**Only .99 cents!!**





Get a FREE compilation of the “FIRST CHAPTERS” from the Dear Santa anthology!

Book Bites 13 – Dear Santa


Also, swing by the Authors' Billboard for a monthly giveaway with 
a $40 Amazon gift card and more!



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

Christmassy Bath & Body Gift Set


Friday, October 30, 2020

Saving Grace Book Tour and Giveaway

 


Saving Grace
by D.M. Barr
Genre: Psychological Thriller


Grace Pierrepoint Rendell, the only child of an ailing billionaire, has been treated for paranoia since childhood. When she secretly quits her meds, she begins to suspect that once her father passes, her husband will murder her for her inheritance. Realizing that no one will believe the ravings of a supposed psychotic, she devises a creative way to save herself – she will write herself out of danger, authoring a novel with the heroine in exactly the same circumstances, thus subtly exposing her husband's scheme to the world. She hires acclaimed author Lynn Andrews to help edit her literary insurance policy, but when Lynn is murdered, Grace is discovered standing over the bloody remains. The clock is ticking: can she write and publish her manuscript before she is strapped into a straitjacket, accused of homicide, or lowered six feet under?
With a cast of secondary characters whose challenges mirror Grace's own, Saving Grace is, at it's core, an allegory for the struggle of the marginalized to be heard and live life on their own terms.




By day, a mild-mannered salesperson, wife, mother, rescuer of senior shelter dogs, competitive trivia player and author groupie, happily living just north of New York City. By night, an author of sex, suspense and satire.
My background includes stints in travel marketing, travel journalism, meeting planning, public relations and real estate. I was, for a long and happy time, an award-winning magazine writer and editor. Then kids happened. And I needed to actually make money. Now they're off doing whatever it is they do (of which I have no idea since they won't friend me on Facebook) and I can spend my spare time weaving tales of debauchery and whatever else tickles my fancy.
The main thing to remember about my work is that I am NOT one of my characters. For example, as a real estate broker, I've never played Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed anyone at my local diet clinic.
But that's not to say I haven't wanted to...





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon




No Halo Required Book Tour and Giveaway

 


No Halo Required
by Travis Casey
Genre: Women's Fiction, Suspense

Isaiah Hightower has everything a forty-nine-year-old man could want: respect as a high school principal; admiration as a leader in the black community; and a wife who would do anything for him.

Despite his shining public image, Isaiah has a dangerous dark side. When his indiscretions threaten to unravel his life’s accomplishments, he has no choice but to silence the source by any means necessary.

When his wife witnesses her husband's greatest sin, her life is about to change forever. But it doesn't have to. One lie will keep her life the same and save her husband's reputation.


**Pre-Order for only .99 cents!! **


Travis was brought up in Midwest America before embarking on a nine year Navy career that allowed him to travel the world and learn about life. He has ping-ponged across oceans moving from mainland United States to Hawaii, to Scotland, to Seattle, to England, to Minnesota, back to England, and back to Minnesota where he currently resides ... for now
He writes easy-reading, light-hearted fiction and "You couldn't make it up" true stories about his own experiences. Relax by the beach or curl up on the couch on a rainy day while Travis takes you on fun-filled adventures that let you forget about life for a while and have a laugh.





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon 







 




Amden Bog Book Tour and Giveaway

 



Amden Bog
A Novel in Stories
by David Rose
Genre: Dark Fantasy



The second book to expose the grim world of Mulgara:

Loner, bumpkin, self-destructive teenager, Matina thought her life's adventures would reach no further than paddling under night cypress or falling through the parchment of a good book. But she owns a great secret, one coming with her approaching womanhood like the mouths of gnashing teeth.

Boraor Rehton, the inept shaman, would love nothing more than to leave this wretched town, continuously appointing him their spiritual leader. He knows little about the earthly arts, but the same cannot be said for black magic; tools he uses, which, if caught, would earn him a place on Amden's impaling stakes.

Add Pauthor Quithot, recluse, Grubilius Motty, lowlife drunkard, and other malcontents all involved with a mysterious force let loose upon the bog.As the force's mystery wanes, old feuds are inflamed, murder is ready to run rampant, and the threshold separating the living from the dead is hopped over with wicked glee.

Alluring, unpredictable, dripping with idiosyncratic folk, AMDEN BOG is dark fantasy where beauty and brutality often hang from the same sagging vine.




David Rose (1983-) is both a hybrid author and a former dilettante. His works include No Joy, From Sand and Time, Mulgara, and Amden Bog. One of which won an award.




Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon 







 




Thursday, October 29, 2020

Xavier Book Tour and Giveaway

 



Xavier
Vampires in America Book 14
by D.B. Reynolds
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

Barcelona—exquisite architecture, masterful artists, and just down the coast, an ancient fortress where an old and powerful vampire lives…and rules all of Spain.

Tall, dark, and deadly, vampire Xavier Prospero Flores waded through blood to destroy his enemies and reach the pinnacle of vampire society--Vampire Lord. He has only one regret in his long life, and that’s the day he rejected the advances of Layla Casales. She’d been too innocent, too naĂŻve, and far too young. But she’d also been his.

Layla Casales was only nineteen when she left Spain, brokenhearted and humiliated by Xavier’s rejection. But now, ten years later, the ties of family are pulling her back, not only to Spain, but to Xavier’s fortress. Her father, the vampire lord’s military commander, is critically ill. Layla has spent years fighting on battlefields around the world, so when her father asks her to come home, she can’t say no.

Though Xavier’s rule began on the ashes of his enemies, it’s not vampires trying to kill him now--it’s humans. He needs to eliminate his enemy before more of his people die. Layla arrives just in time to help, but while she came for her father, the minute she and Xavier see each other, desire burns as hotly as if they’d never been apart. Xavier isn’t going to let her go this time. But before they can rediscover the love they walked away from, they must first keep each other alive.


Praise for the author:
“… guaranteed to give you all the tingles!!! A SEXUAL TENSION PACKED GEM!!” --AddictedtoRomance.org on LACHLAN
“…this is the series to try--if you haven’t already. There’s always plenty of action, life and death moments, romance and really hot sexy times as well.” --Delightedreader.com on LACHLAN
D.B. Reynolds has delivered a master class in what paranormal romance is meant to be." --KT Book Reviews on LUCIFER




D.B.Reynolds is the RT and EPIC award-winning author of the popular Vampires in America series, as well as other paranormal fiction. She lives in a flammable canyon near Los Angeles, and when she's not writing her own books, she can usually be found reading someone else's.



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon








Daimon Guardians of Hades Book 6 by Felicity Heaton

New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton has just released, DAIMON, the latest paranormal romance novel in her epic Guardians of Hades series.

If you love dark, alpha Greek gods and strong heroines who bring them to their knees, together with epic action, sizzling passion and high stakes drama, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!

 

Daimon (Guardians of Hades Paranormal Romance Series Book 6)
by Felicity Heaton
Daimon is ice. His heart is frozen by it. His body caged by it. And he likes it that way. But the sexy sorceress that storms into his life and declares herself a part of his team in his battle against the daemon uprising is determined to melt the ice that has shielded him for centuries, and he’s powerless to stop the burning need she ignites in him.

Even when he’s sure it’s only a game to her.

Cassandra has a sword hanging over her, a duty she has no choice but to perform and one she’s been putting off for years. Her latest excuse? Helping a band of immortal brothers with a war that might mean the end of this world if they fail. Her delaying the inevitable has nothing to do with the gorgeous Greek god who keeps rebuffing her and everything to do with saving the world. He’s a nice distraction and nothing more. She keeps telling herself that.

Even when she’s sure he’s a danger to her heart.

As things heat up in the battle to save the mortal world and the Underworld, will Daimon’s icy heart be able to withstand the fiery witch who can scorch him with just a look?

Grab your copy today at http://www.felicityheaton.com/guardians-of-hades-daimon-paranormal-romance-book.php

 

EXCERPT

This wasn’t going well.

Daimon slipped a throwing knife from the holster that sat against his ribs over his navy roll-neck long-sleeve, and funnelled his power into it before sending it flying at the daemon running right at him across the dewy moonlit grass of Hyde Park. The small blade hit its target, nailing the human-looking male in the chest. Ice immediately spread outwards from the point of impact and the male grunted and went down clutching his chest as glittering frost flowers rapidly covered it. His skin darkened, turning mottled in the low light, appearing almost black.

Beside Daimon, his older brother Ares unleashed a wave of fire at another two daemons, driving them back, and tossed a fireball at a third.

They had expected this.

What they hadn’t expected was that it would take so long to close one of the main gates.

Behind him, Valen grunted and muttered a black curse in the mortal tongue. The scent of his brother’s blood hung heavily in the damp autumnal night air. Worry ran through Daimon, and not only him. Ares flicked a concerned glance over his broad shoulder, the fires of the Underworld raging in his eyes, making them glow in the darkness.

Eva bit out something in Italian. She had stopped speaking English around five minutes ago, when Valen had announced the gate was resisting his attempt to seal it and had decided to spill more of his blood in the hope it would speed the process along since twenty daemons had descended on them.

“I’m going to need more,” Valen gritted, his voice tight and speaking of the frustration Daimon could feel in him.

As well as the pain.

“Too risky,” Ares answered as a whip made of fire appeared in his right hand and he narrowed his gaze on the trees that enclosed one side of the area around the gate. Daemons spilled from them, cutting across the paths and the grass, heading right for him. He grunted as he lashed out at the daemons with the flaming whip, driving them back and stopping them from reaching Valen. “You sure you’re using the right wards? Or doing them right? I mean, we all know how shitty your wards are.”

Valen chuckled, the sound out of place given the graveness of the situation. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. My wards are beautiful.”

They weren’t. Valen had never bothered to apply himself when it came to studying wards. Their father, Hades, the god-king of the Underworld, had gone as far as calling them bad. It took a lot for their father to admit to a fault in any of his sons, let alone point it out to the entire family.

“You’re definitely using the right ones?” Daimon didn’t take his eyes off the daemons as they made another attempt to get past him and Ares, breaking into four teams of four and coming at them in one wave.

The longer this war to protect the gates between the mortal realm and the Underworld went on, the more organised the daemons were becoming. He swore the enemy were training them, teaching them how to fight as a unit—turning them into soldiers.

He had to admit he’d preferred it when the daemons had been lone wolves, only a few of them reckless enough to succumb to the lure of breaching a gate and entering the Underworld—a realm they were forbidden to enter.

Just like Daimon and his brothers.

Only unlike the daemons, he could go home once this war was done.

He drew down a breath and threw his right hand forwards as he summoned his power. The dew on the grass became a thousand tiny ice needles that flew through the air and hammered into one of the daemons, taking him down. The female daemon who had been running beside that wretched male shrieked as she was caught by a few of the small spears of ice, her ear-splitting cry piercing enough that Daimon flinched and his next wave missed their target.

“Exactly as Cal told me.” Valen huffed and water sloshed as he moved, a reminder to Daimon to keep his distance from his brother since standing in the Round Pond was the only way for Valen to get close enough to the gate to spill his blood on it. The last thing Daimon wanted was to accidentally freeze the small lake. Valen grumbled, “And Keras hammered home around thirty times.”

His violet-haired brother wasn’t embellishing that.

Keras, their oldest brother and self-appointed leader, had sat Valen down on one of the cream couches in the Tokyo mansion and gone over the wards at least three dozen times. In the end, Valen had stepped, a term they used for teleporting since it only took a single step for them to travel great distances, to escape another round of which wards went where.

It wasn’t that Keras didn’t trust Valen to get it right, it was that this was important.

Since the enemy had revealed they were in possession of two of the Erinyes, goddesses who had the ability to siphon powers and who strengthened that power by passing it between them in a cycle, and those Erinyes had gotten their hands on the ability to command the gates Daimon and his brothers protected, they had been on red alert.

The gates were the focus of their mission, the reason Hades had banished Daimon and his brothers to the mortal world two centuries ago, after the Moirai had foreseen a great calamity, one where an unknown enemy would breach the gates between the mortal realm and the Underworld, fusing the two into a new hellish realm.

It had come to light that he and his brothers were more than just protectors of the gates though.

They were bound to them in blood, a bond forged at the time of their birth, one gate created for each of them.

Cal had managed to close their twin sister’s gate in Seville, and had gone over everything he had done, using wards, a sort of spell, to seal it and conceal it, stopping it from opening and rendering it safe from the enemy.

With the enemy able to open the gates thanks to the power the Erinyes had stolen from Marinda, Cal’s girlfriend and the third Erinyes, and the fact the enemy seemed bent on breaching at least one gate before that power faded, Keras had decided they needed to act.

Closing the gates was dangerous, because it meant there were fewer gates to share the power that flowed between them all, and that would make them more unpredictable and harder to command, but it was a necessary risk.

And the only path open to them.

It would not only give the enemy fewer gates they could hit, but it would mean that the enemy couldn’t split him and his brothers up as easily.

Valen had volunteered to seal the London gate, which was bound to him, and Cal had volunteered to close the main Seville gate. Cal was there now with Keras, Marek, and Caterina, Marek’s girl-fiend as Valen called her because she was a hybrid, a human who had been given daemon blood by the enemy in an attempt to take down Marek.

Everyone had thought sealing a main gate would be as simple as closing the twin gate had been for Cal.

Apparently, everyone had thought wrong.

Ares took out another two daemons, bringing their numbers down but still not enough to satisfy Daimon. He imbued another two knives with his ice and let them fly. One of them buried to the ring-shaped hilt in the forehead of a female daemon, and the other slammed into the throat of the male behind her.

Valen bit out a ripe curse.

Daimon didn’t take his focus away from the daemons charging towards him.

Ares looked back at their brother and swore too.

That didn’t sound good.

Daimon risked a glance over his shoulder as he sent a thicker spear of ice flying at the closest daemon, cleaving the male in two at the waist.

“Shit,” he muttered as he spotted what his brothers had.

More daemons, sprinting towards them from the other side of the Round Pond, a shadowy mass of them silhouetted before the elegant red-brick and sandstone Kensington Palace.

The new horde of daemons split into two groups as they reached the far end of the pond, coming at them from both sides.

Above the water, the flat disc of the gate shimmered in a rainbow of colours, chasing back the darkness. The thick rings rotated slowly in opposing directions, all of them chasing around the central violet circle. Glyphs encircled each band, smaller ones that filled the gaps between them, and larger ones inside the ring. The power of the gate hummed in the air, inside him, drew him to it with a promise that on the other side was home.

Home.

A place he wanted to go more than anything.

There, his power was under his control, would no longer shimmer over his skin in a way that felt like a curse. Here, he couldn’t touch anyone, not even his brothers, without risking killing them with his ice, or severely maiming them at the very least. Here, he was alone, even within the circle of his brothers.

The blood Valen had spilled on the gate absorbed into it, the colours that danced across its surface and curled into the air like faint smoke brightening again.

It was beautiful.

Beautiful and vulnerable.

Daimon’s stomach swirled as the daemons closed in, the foul coppery odour of them filling the air, drawing out his darker side. He wouldn’t let them near the gate.

He closed his eyes, drew down a slow breath that filled his lungs, and focused his power, calling on it. His blood chilled and he shuddered, huddling down into the tall neck of his long-sleeved sweater and his ankle-length black coat, trying to keep that cold at bay.

It never worked.

It was always there, always part of him in this world, a constant presence that drained him emotionally.

He flicked his eyes open and swiftly raised both of his gloved hands.

Around him, his brothers and the gate, hundreds of clear shards of ice shot from the earth and the water to form a circular wall forty feet tall.

Daimon sagged forwards and Ares came to check on him as Valen muttered an oath.

His older brother ghosted a hand over Daimon’s spine, the warmth that emanated from him giving Daimon a brief reprieve from the cold. Ares shared his problem. His brother’s power over fire had manifested in this world, meaning he couldn’t touch anyone without the risk of burning them.

Or at least he hadn’t been able to until Megan, a Carrier with the ability to heal, had come into his life. Megan was immune to Ares’s fire, and could withstand Daimon’s ice, and he and his brothers had surmised she was closer to her demigod ancestors than most Carriers.

“Can you get it done?” Daimon pressed his hands to his thighs and ignored the way the frost on his leather gloves spread onto his black jeans.

“Give me a minute.” Valen went back to work, holding his arm out over the gate and closing his eyes as his blood spilled onto it. Beside him, Eva, his brother’s mortal assassin girlfriend, shifted foot to foot, concern shining in her rich blue eyes.

“I’ll handle these guys.” Ares straightened and broke away from Daimon, heading for the few daemons that had ended up within the ice wall.

Daimon wanted to help him, but he needed to focus on the wall. Where it touched the water, it was in danger of melting, was weaker and vulnerable. The daemons had already figured that out and were beating it with fist and claw, attempting to break through. He focused there, summoning more shards of ice to reinforce it.

Wishing Esher was here.

His brother would have used that water to his advantage, would have drowned all the daemons in a heartbeat.

Daimon looked at the gate and fought the urge that suddenly sparked to life inside him.

Esher was on the other side of that gate, in the Underworld, hunting for one of the enemy who had slipped through the gate in Paris. He was alone. Lost to his other side. Daimon rose to his full height and drifted towards the gate, pulled to it as his heart filled with a need to find Esher.

Pain bloomed inside him, searing his bones in multiple places where an injury didn’t exist on his own body.

It existed on Esher’s.

Daimon could feel them, the depth of the bond they had forged over the centuries relaying not only the pain his brother felt, but the anger and frustration.

The rage.

The other side of Esher, the savage and cold one that had been born in the darkest of times, was firmly in control. Daimon could feel that too. He needed his brother back with him, not only because he needed to know he was safe and because he was worried about him—missed him.

He needed him back so he could bring him back.

Esher had confessed to him once that he feared that other side of himself, that he loathed it. Daimon could only imagine how his brother was suffering now, a slave to his darker side, driven to hunt and not rest until he had secured his prey.

The wraith.

Eli.

If they could get their hands on him, they might be able to find out who was behind this attempt to breach the gates. Once, they had believed it was purely the work of daemons, but then they had discovered a Hellspawn, what he and his brothers called the species of daemons who had been allowed to remain in the Underworld after the last rebellion against Hades, was involved, and now there were goddesses on the enemy side.

Where did it end?

Someone was behind all of this, and all they had to go on was that it was a female.

Their father had sent them a long list of possible enemies currently residing in the Underworld, far too many for Daimon’s liking. Discovering which of them, if any, were behind everything would take too long. It was quicker to get their hands on the wraith and make him talk.

An ominous creaking noise drew Daimon’s gaze to his left. His eyes tracked the jagged fault line spreading up the ice from a point where several daemons were clawing at it. Was he imagining it, or were there even more daemons now?

“You guys got this?” Valen said.

“Sure.” Daimon readied himself, shoring up the wall of ice but aware it wouldn’t hold, not against that many sets of claws.

The daemons’ black blood streaked the clear ice, the foul stench of it filling the air. Disgust rolled through him and he curled his lip.

Ares grunted in response from the right side of the pond as he slammed a daemon into the pavement that encircled the water.

“Good, because I’m not sure I can do this.” Valen sounded tired now, and when Daimon fixed his senses on his violet-haired brother, he felt it too. “Not without a little more juice.”

Daimon looked back at him.

Valen’s golden eyes glittered, glowing in the light shining from the gate as he raised one of his blades.

“No,” Ares snarled, pivoted towards him, and kicked off.

He wouldn’t make it. Neither would Daimon, not even if he stepped.

All he could do was watch as Valen ran the blade across his wrist and blood gushed from the wound.

“Stronzo!” Eva barked and lunged for him, her short black hair flying out of her face as she reached for the blade.

Valen sagged as blood poured from his wrist, splattering across the surface of the gate and spreading outwards, and Eva grabbed him instead of the knife. She caught him as his knees gave out.

He breathed hard from between gritted teeth, his eyes rapidly darkening as they narrowed.

Eva muttered soft words in Italian, sweet chastising ones coupled with a few strong swear words that Daimon decided his brother deserved.

Valen leaned heavily on her slender shoulders, his arm shaking as he tried to keep holding it out over the gate. Eva took hold of his arm for him, helping him, and he looked at her, a hell of a lot of love in his eyes that was still strange to see. Valen’s default setting for his entire life had been caustic, and it had only gotten worse in the centuries after their sister had died and Zeus had punished Valen for his insubordination by removing his favour from him, leaving a ragged scar down the left side of Valen’s face and neck, a permanent reminder of what he had done.

So it was weird seeing his brother looking at someone with genuine warmth in his eyes.

With love.

The blood Valen was spilling onto the gate seeped across the surface, muting the colours.

“I think it’s working,” Valen slurred.

Eva struggled to keep him on his feet.

Daimon wasn’t sure how their youngest brother, Calistos, was going to be able to handle closing the main gate in Seville if closing London was draining Valen this much. Cal had been out of sorts since they had lost the chance to discover the location of his twin sister, Calindria’s, soul and Esher had disappeared. Cal was blaming himself for both of those things. Daimon doubted he was strong enough to handle closing Seville on top of all that.

“Think I’m—” Valen cut off as he suddenly dropped, his knees hitting the bottom of the shallow pond, and Eva yelped as she was dragged down with him.

Daimon looked at the gate as he called on his power, summoning one last wave of ice. It rose up around the inside of the wall, the shards only seven feet tall but enough to keep the daemons at bay while Ares checked on Valen and the gate.

A gate which Daimon could no longer feel, not as he could before. The power that flowed from it now was muted, barely there. Had Valen done it?

The rings slowly began to shrink, the innermost one winking out of existence as it touched the central violet disc.

It was closing.

“Is he good?” Daimon hollered, keeping his focus on the wall of ice, aware the daemons were still there and still trying to get to them.

Ares looked up from his position crouched next to Valen and nodded. “Think so. He’s out cold though.”

Daimon didn’t like the sound of that.

Closing the twin gate had been taxing on Cal, but he hadn’t passed out.

Ares pulled a phone from his pocket, the screen casting white highlights in his overlong tawny hair and across his face as his thumb danced over the device. “Calling in a retrieval.”

Because neither he nor Daimon could teleport with Valen without harming him.

Eva tore the hem of her T-shirt and bound Valen’s wrist, muttering obscenities in Italian under her breath the whole time.

Beyond Ares, Valen and Eva, the last ring of the gate shrank into the central disc. It shrank too and then disappeared with a violent flash.

Gone.

For now.

Once the enemy was dead and the threat over, Hades would want the gates opened again. Their father had sent a Messenger to Keras to say he had stopped all traffic through the gates, but had made it clear he couldn’t keep the Underworld closed for long.

Gods, goddesses and Hellspawn didn’t appreciate being caged in that realm, having their freedom taken from them. Hades’s staff were already dealing with hundreds of complaints.

Considering the alternative was them all losing their home and being ruled by whoever was behind this uprising, Daimon figured they could put up with their freedom being impacted a little.

Daimon kept an eye on Valen as Eva tended to him, worry a constant weight in his heart as his senses remained locked on the daemons. They retreated into the night, but he kept his boots firmly planted where they were, resisting the urge to follow them and eradicate them all.

Valen needed him here.

The ice walls surrounding them were beginning to crack as Marek appeared, black ribbons of smoke curling from the shoulders of his torn charcoal linen shirt and onyx daemon blood streaked across his face and darkening his wavy brown hair.

His earthy eyes shimmered with green and gold flakes as he looked down at Valen where he lay in Eva’s arms. “Cal suffered the same fate.”

Daimon cast a glance at Ares. Concern etched hard lines on his older brother’s face, unease that ran through Daimon too as he thought about not one but two of their brothers out cold with no sign of coming around.

If he had known closing a gate would cause this to happen, he would have spoken out against it rather than going along with it. The look on Ares’s face said he wasn’t sure what he would have said, and Daimon didn’t envy him.

Marek looked just as conflicted as he stooped and lifted Valen into a fireman’s carry over his shoulder.

Daimon was glad he wasn’t one of the oldest of their group. He felt the weight of responsibility enough as it was. He couldn’t imagine how heavily it weighed upon Keras, Ares and Marek’s shoulders.

Keras was under enough pressure as it was, without having to order them to close the gates knowing full well they would end up like Valen and Cal.

Closing the gates was something they needed to do, but Daimon feared the cost of shutting them down was dangerously high.

He only hoped he was wrong about that.

Marek held his hand out to Eva. Her blue eyes reluctantly shifted away from Valen and landed on it. She placed hers into it and they both disappeared.

Ares was quick to follow them.

Daimon lingered, waiting for the ice walls to break because he wanted to be sure all evidence of their existence would be gone by morning, when mortals would enter Hyde Park. He didn’t want them seeing anything out of place.

That was the only reason he hadn’t teleported.

It had nothing to do with the sorceress who was probably waiting in Tokyo to give him hell.

He scrubbed a hand over the spikes of his white hair, watching the ice begin to crumble.

The ancient Edo period mansion felt far too small with her staying in it, but when he had suggested she bunk elsewhere, Cass had been quick to launch into an argument with him. Her ward, Marinda, was staying in the mansion with Cal since the London townhouse that was his home had been breached by Eli and the enemy, which meant Cass had decided she was also staying in Tokyo, right under Daimon’s feet.

Daimon rubbed the back of his neck and huffed.

The sorceress had a bad habit of just deciding things, and no one got a say in them.

Daimon had been staying in Tokyo to take care of the mansion, which was primarily Esher’s home now although their father had built it for all of them, and so he could be there for Aiko. Aiko was devastated by Esher’s disappearance, and Daimon needed to look after her for his brother.

He was doing his best, but some days were harder than others.

Some days, Daimon’s dark thoughts and fears about his brother weighed too heavily on him and he couldn’t face her, or anyone.

His phone vibrated and he didn’t bother to check the message that had come in. It would be from Keras, asking him where he was.

He focused on the wall, raised his hand and curled it into a fist. When he squeezed it, the ice shattered, and Daimon stepped. Darkness whirled around him, cool and comforting, a connection to the Underworld that he savoured, and then his boots hit gravel.

He opened his eyes and looked at the mansion, aching inside.

It felt empty without Esher in it, even when all his brothers and their women were there, crowding the long main room of the single-storey horseshoe-shaped building. Morning sunlight reflected off the glazed grey ribbed tiles of the roof and brightened the white panels that filled the spaces between thick dark wooden beams. It warmed his back, casting his shadow out before him, across the gravel and the steppingstones, to the base of one of the large stone lanterns that were dotted around the front garden.

From inside, voices rang out, a cacophony that had him wanting to teleport to his own home in Hong Kong to get some peace and quiet.

And avoid the owner of the angry female voice that for some damned reason he picked out from the blur.

“You should have taken me with you. Now look what happened. I could have helped,” Cass snapped, her words harsh and clipped, bringing out her Russian accent as they rang with the fury he could sense coming from her.

Keras didn’t respond to that. He carried Cal towards the right side of the mansion, disappearing from view with Marinda hurrying behind him. Cass turned, her pale blue eyes tracking her ward, a worried edge to them that almost made him feel there was a warm heart somewhere beneath that irritating, haughty exterior of hers.

Daimon forced himself to walk to the front porch, stepped up onto the raised wooden deck as he toed his boots off, and steeled himself only a little before entering the house.

As expected, Cass’s eyes immediately leaped to him.

He cursed when he realised they were alone.

She strode towards him, the thigh slit in her long black dress flashing a lot of creamy flesh at him. He swore she never took the damned thing off. Would it kill her to wear something less revealing, less figure-hugging? The soft black material embraced ample breasts and a small waist, and flared over curvy hips. It flashed every inch of her and made it impossible not to notice things about her.

Things he didn’t want to notice.

Before she could open her mouth to launch her first salvo, he held his hand up and strode past her.

“Not interested.”

Daimon made a beeline for the garden nestled between the three sides of the house, needing air and some space because he felt as if he was drowning.

Had been feeling that way since Cass had come crashing into their lives.

He couldn’t get a moment alone, and gods he needed a moment to breathe.

Cass stepped into his path, the flare of anger in her ice-blue eyes rapidly fading into something far worse—concern.

She gave him a once-over. “Those wounds need looking at.”

She pointed to his chest and then his legs, and he had never been more aware of his own body as he was whenever she was gazing at it.

“I’m not in the mood for you, Cass. Just leave me alone.” He stepped past her, heading for the garden and the air he badly needed.

Space to rein his riotous feelings back under his control.

Needs he had no right to feel.

“Daimon, wait…” She started after him again.

Wanting to be sure she got the message and left him alone, he turned on her with a growl as his feet hit the wooden planks of the covered walkway that ran around all three wings of the house.

“I don’t have time for this right now. Esher is still missing, I’m tired and injured, and we don’t know when or where the enemy will attack next and I need to take care of Valen.”

Cass inched back a step with each harsh word he threw at her. It wasn’t like the sorceress to shrink away from someone, especially him.

“I just want to help,” she bit out, a little too sulkily for him to not feel anything other than like a royal dick. “Let me help with Valen.”

“Fine,” he muttered, and took some of the bite out of his tone as he added, “I’d appreciate that.”

He turned to his right, towards the southern wing of the house where Valen’s quarters were.

Cass murmured, “It wouldn’t kill you to let me help you too.”

He knew that, but he couldn’t. He needed to keep his distance from her.

He’d made a promise.

He drew his long black coat back and slipped his right hand into his pocket, and clutched the pendant hanging from his phone.

A promise he intended to keep.

Grab your copy today at http://www.felicityheaton.com/guardians-of-hades-daimon-paranormal-romance-book.php

BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Book 1: Ares
Book 2: Valen
Book 3: Esher
Book 4: Marek
Book 5: Calistos
Book 6: Daimon
Book 7: Keras – Coming Fall 2020

 

ABOUT FELICITY

Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM

 

 

Borris A Gothic Tale Book Tour and Giveaway

 



Borris: A Gothic Tale
by Chad McClendon
Genre: YA Horror, Satire

It was supposed to be a normal night at work for Jenna Byam, but when a Vampire Raccoon puts the grocery store where she works on lock-down, everything changes. She must find solace in the arms of a young stock boy hero, Brody, who is the only hope of ridding the world of this terror. But the raccoon's manservant, Vaan Strudel, has no intentions of making things easy for them. There's a cleanup in every aisle once Borris gets their juices flowing.


** Only 99 cents!!**



Chad McClendon is a 32 year old author who studied English & Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University. Chad has been published most recently through Crossed Heart, as well as in several online publications. He has won various awards for Fiction Writing. His short story, "Uploaded Vengeance" is now available in "One Night In Salem" by FunDead Publications.
Chad attended high school in Alexandria, Kentucky at Bishop Brossart High School. He was a founding member of Monday's Child, a volunteer group that worked around the Tri-State to better the lives of others. He was active in French Language competitions, and a general troublemaker otherwise.
He and his wife, Briana, have two daughters and one boy . In his free time Chad enjoys camping at Red River Gorge, playing video games and also swimming. Authors who have inspired him include Stephen King, John Steinbeck, William Golding, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and others.





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

Hocus Pocus Steelbook Blu-Ray Set – 1 winner
$25 Amazon – 2 winners!

 




Wayward Mates Book Tour and Giveaway

 




Brought to Heel

Wayward Mates Book 1
by Delta James
Genre: Dark Paranormal Romance

Before he claims his mate, she must be brought to heel.

Skylar Owen is not used to taking orders from anyone and the last thing she wants in her life is an alpha who will demand her submission, but her world is turned upside down after a band of rogue wolves attacks her small, all-female pack. Ordered to disband her pack so that she can be matched with a mate, Skylar defies the Ruling Council, only to be hunted down and captured.


Though he can tell Skylar will be trouble the moment he sets eyes on her, Dylan Grainger knows how to tame a wayward woman, and it isn't long before the beautiful, feisty redhead is tearfully promising obedience as her bare bottom is soundly spanked. But Dylan quickly realizes that Skylar is much more than just a headstrong female in need of an alpha's firm-handed correction.


With each passing day, he grows more certain that she is his mate, and he knows that soon he must claim her, mark her, and take her hard and thoroughly. But will she resist her instincts, or will her body's response to his bold dominance leave her in no doubt that she belongs to him?


Publisher's Note: Brought to Heel is a stand-alone novel which is the first entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Brought to Heel shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.


**Only .99 cents!!**
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Marked and Mated
Wayward Mates Book 2


She ran from her mate. Now she must be punished.

Darby Callan doesn't want a mate, but it isn't up to her. Her old pack has been disbanded, and when the powerful, handsome alpha of a well-established pack makes it clear that she belongs to him, her instincts reveal the truth of his words despite her furious protests and attempts to escape.


Jean-Michel Gautier knows that his new mate's past makes her wary of him, but an alpha cannot tolerate disobedience, and when Darby defies him he strips her bare and spanks her until she is sore and sobbing. Her beautiful body's response to his dominance is obvious, and his stern correction leaves her helplessly aroused, but before he claims her he plans to make her beg.


Naked and quivering with desperate, shameful need, Darby cannot help pleading with Jean-Michel for the climax she has been denied, and soon she is crying out with pleasure more intense than she would have ever thought possible as he makes her his. But when the vicious brute who once hurt her comes looking for Darby again, can she trust her new alpha to protect his mate?


Publisher's Note: Marked and Mated is a stand-alone novel which is the second entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Marked and Mated shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.


Goodreads * Amazon




Mastering His Mate
Wayward Mates Book 3


He has been patient with his mate for long enough. Now she needs to be mastered.

After she was injured in an attack by a rogue band of wolves, Rosalyn Kincanon awoke to discover that her life had changed forever. Angry and distraught, she fled from those that nursed her back to health and found her own place in the world. But now the all-female pack she helped lead has been disbanded and the women are to be claimed as mates whether they like it or not.


The moment Oliver Halsey saw Rosalyn, he knew she was his mate. But she was born a human, and the vicious brutes who turned her did so against her will, so he set aside his rights as alpha and gave her the freedom she needed to come to terms with her new reality. Now her time is up.


Oliver knows what Rosalyn needs, even if she doesn't. When she runs, he will catch her and bring her back. When she disobeys, he will bare her and punish her. He will take her harder and longer than she would have ever thought possible, and she will scream and beg as one climax after another is forced from her naked, quivering body. It is time for his mate to be mastered.


Publisher's Note: Mastering His Mate is a stand-alone novel which is the third entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Mastering His Mate shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.


Goodreads * Amazon



Taking His Mate

Wayward Mates Book 4


She is his to protect, whether she likes it or not.

Years ago, Madeline Stone was attacked by a rogue band of wolves. Now they are hunting her again, but to get to her, they'll have to go through Griffen Owen. The ex-Special Forces operative is the rightful alpha of his pack, and the moment he sets eyes on Madeline he knows the beautiful, feisty human is his mate. But to keep her safe, he will need to teach her to obey.


Doing as she is told doesn't come easily to Madeline, and it isn't long before she finds herself naked, helpless, and tearfully promising to be good as her bare bottom is soundly spanked. Her mate's mastery of her body is put on full display as Madeline is brought to a quivering, shameful climax while still over his knee, and soon she is begging to be taken hard and thoroughly.


Madeline's need for Griffen only grows stronger as she is marked and claimed, and his savage lovemaking leaves her in no doubt that she belongs to him. But with war brewing between the packs, can Griffen protect his mate from both their enemies and her own headstrong defiance?


Publisher's Note: Taking His Mate is a stand-alone novel which is the fourth entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Taking His Mate shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.

Goodreads * Amazon



Claimed and Mated
Wayward Mates Book 5


He tried to romance her, but now it is time for his mate to be claimed.

When Catherine Livingston travels to Italy to investigate her sister's disappearance, it isn't long before she crosses paths with the man who has been ravishing her almost every night in her dreams. More shocking still, the mysterious, darkly handsome stranger leaves her in no doubt that he is well aware of the connection between them and he has no intention of ignoring it.


Marco DeMedici seems to all but own the city of Florence, and it soon becomes clear that he will not rest until Catherine belongs to him, even if it means carrying her off, stripping her bare, and spanking her until she is sobbing, obedient, and begging him to take her hard and thoroughly.


Despite Catherine's efforts to run from him, her body's response to Marco's stern dominance cannot be denied, and when he reveals that he is an alpha shifter it only makes it more obvious that her world will never be the same. She will be his mate, and the only thing left up to her will be how loudly she screams his name as he claims her as roughly and shamefully as he pleases.


Publisher's Note: Claimed and Mated is a stand-alone novel which is the fifth entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Claimed and Mated shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.

Goodreads * Amazon



Claimed and Mastered
Wayward Mates Book 6


She vowed she would never be mated. He claimed her anyway.

Ava Rhys has always chafed at submitting to the authority of her pack's alpha, but when he tries to sell her body in return for money and influence, she decides she would be better off on her own. Ava's plans to live as a lone wolf in the backwoods of Maine are thrown into turmoil, however, when the local game warden makes it his business to take her in hand, and the battle-hardened former Army Ranger soon proves to be just as fiercely dominant as any alpha shifter.


Declan Collins knows a woman in need of a man's firm hand when he sees one, and it isn't long before Ava is kneeling naked at his feet with her well-spanked bare bottom on display. Once he has taught her a better use for her sassy mouth, she quickly finds herself screaming her helpless, shameful submission into the bedsheets as he claims her so roughly and so thoroughly that she is left in no doubt that she belongs to him and there is nothing whatsoever she can do about it.


With each passing day he masters her body ever more completely, never hesitating to punish any hint of defiance before using and enjoying her in ways more humiliating than she could have ever imagined. But when instinct causes her to bite him in the throes of yet another intense, desperate climax, will she lose him forever or will she end up mated to an alpha shifter after all?


Publisher's Note: Claimed and Mastered is a stand-alone novel which is the sixth entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Claimed and Mastered shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.

Goodreads * Amazon



Hunted and Claimed
Wayward Mates Book 7


She thought she could run from her mate. Then he lassoed her.

Riley decided years ago that she would be better off on her own, but when the alpha of the local pack finds out there's a lone wolf causing trouble on his turf he takes matters into his own hands.


As far as Cameron Nichols is concerned, Riley will be joining his pack whether she likes it or not. Her only choice will be whether to submit to his authority with or without needing to be stripped bare and spanked over his knee until she is kicking and crying and promising obedience. When she chooses the latter, the Navy SEAL turned cowboy is more than happy to oblige.


But Cameron knows instantly that Riley isn't just a feisty female in need of an alpha's firm hand. She is his mate, and she knows it too, despite her best efforts to deny it. No matter how many times she tries to run, he will always chase her down, punish her thoroughly, and then mount and claim her so roughly that all she can do is scream her helpless, shamefully intense pleasure into the pillow as her body betrays her and surrenders ever more completely to his demands.


Publisher's Note: Hunted and Claimed is a stand-alone novel which is the seventh entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Hunted and Claimed shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.

Goodreads * Amazon



Captured and Claimed
Wayward Mates Book 8


She never wanted to be a wolf. That won't keep her mate from claiming her.

Taken captive, held prisoner, and turned against her will by the leader of a rogue pack, Shannon Livingston was just about to be sold at auction. Then an alpha wolf decided she belonged to him.


The moment James Norris sets eyes on Shannon, bare and on display yet still fierce and proud, the former special-ops agent knows the beautiful spitfire is his mate. Disobedience quickly earns Shannon a sound spanking, and despite her fury at his bold dominance, her helpless arousal is undeniable as she is claimed hard and thoroughly with her well-punished bottom still burning.


But when another band of wolves attacks the auction before James has time to put his rescue plan into action, mistrust born of harsh experience leads Shannon to seize her chance to escape. When her mate tracks her down, will she remain defiant or surrender to her instincts at last?


Publisher's Note: Captured and Claimed is a stand-alone novel which is the eighth entry in the Wayward Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Captured and Claimed shares its setting with Adaline Raine's previously published books Marked by the Alpha and Rules of the Pack, and it was written only after receiving Adaline's permission and support.


Goodreads * Amazon




Sinfully sultry romance . . .that’s the world that International and US best selling author Delta James inhabits and shares with her readers. A world where alpha heroes find true love with feisty heroines. Delta’s stories are filled with erotic encounters of romance and discipline. One reader suggested it was best to have a “fan and a glass of water” when reading Delta’s stories.
Delta specializes in paranormal, dark, and contemporary westerns. She is always happy to hear from those who enjoy her work – and even those who don’t.


Website * Facebook * FB Group * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads




Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon giftcard, 
signed paperback of one book in the series (winners choice) 
and swag! 

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