Your Mid-Week Update for 04/29/20

When I tell you, I love what I do, it is a deep, passionate love for the people who are stupid enough to put themselves in a position to get murdered by a fifteen year old.

Granted, it is a highly trained, highly skilled fifteen year old girl with a passion even I didn’t possess at her age, but it is still so ridiculous.

How many people are still regularly going outside when we are in the middle of a pandemic. And it’s for stupid stuff, too.

Ma’am, you do not need to go to the salon right now. Your roots have been fucked for a lot longer than this, they can wait a few more months.

I mean, I hope it’s only a few months.

Look, I don’t want to focus on all the unknowns. I want to talk about the three people Casey and I have killed in the last week. I know three is a lot, I try to keep it at two, but it is just too easy. I mean there’s so much less traffic, there are so many more empty places to lure people and hide their bodies.

It’s like Christmas, I can’t help but want to treat myself.

Which is why I’ve been allowing myself to take more time. It’s not just to make sure Casey gets to pure the bleach down his throat – which takes some time if you’re somewhat new at it – it’s also so I can really enjoy the look of terror and then resignation when they realize that they will never escape.

I’ve missed it.

And I know, what you’re going to say: Casey’s not new, she’s been killing for months now.

Her first kills – the ones that destroyed my family – they were messy. She’s street smart but she isn’t book smart. She has the passion and the natural talent and the common sense to cover her tracks, but she also needs to be clinical and study. Raw talent will only get her so far. In a way, it does feel like starting from scratch with her because she’s having to unlearn some bad habits. Like control of her stabbing motions. Go too hard or too fast and you’ll tire out quickly.

Speed is important in a lot of murders but so is precision and intention. That’s what I’m trying to teach her. And I suppose now is the perfect time. We’ve both got all this extra time and we might as well spend it doing something we love. What else are we going to do?

If I’m not with Casey, I’m sitting and worrying about my father and that sucks so I’m going to focus on what I can control: murdering people.

As always, dear readers,

Stay Safe

Excerpt of Last Chance Academy by Alex Lidell

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the LAST CHANCE ACADEMY by Alex Lidell Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About the Book:

Title: LAST CHANCE ACADEMY : Shifter Fae Vampire Reform School Romance (Immortals of Talonswood Book 1)

Author: Alex Lidell

Pub. Date: May 1, 2020

Publisher: Danger Bearing Press 

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 400

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle

Foster girl. Trash. That’s all I am to the world. And that’s fine. After surviving New Jersey’s foster system, I can survive anything. Even taking a dangerous job from a tall, gorgeous stranger so I can keep my little sister safe—a job that goes very, very wrong.

Suddenly I’m facing a brutal choice: a decade in jail or four years as a ward of Talonswood Reform Academy—a place with an all too perfect correction record. A place that makes bootcamp look like a spa.

But Talonswood and its cruel cadets are far more than they seem, and so are the four men who rule it. Ellis. Asher. Reese. Cassis. Powerful, impossibly beautiful men who ignite a wildfire inside me—and who will stop at nothing to make my life a living hell.

But it turns out I’m more than I seem, too. And I’m not going down without a fight.

LAST CHANCE ACADEMY is a full length dark reverse harem paranormal romance. This is the first of four books in Immortals of Talonswood, a new series from Amazon’s top-100 author Alex Lidell. With hot shifter-fae, delicious vampires, one lone witch, Talonswood isn't your normal reform school. 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“Ms. Devinee, as I truly hope you are aware, you are now a ward of Talonswood Reform Academy. You may call this a reform school, a military prison, or hell on earth—so long as you do it out of my earshot, I don’t care. What I do care about is that you understand that our rules are strict and absolute.”

“I un—” I start to say, shutting up as Asher shakes his head.

“No, you do not. But you will.” He nods to Quinn. “Take Ellis to the post and then meet us at the hose. Samantha, follow Reese and me.”

I spare a glance for Ellis, who seems both unsurprised and unfazed by what’s about to happen to him, and then hurry to follow Asher as instructed. Dammit. Despite myself, I already fear making the man angry at me even more than I fear crossing Quinn again.

Quinn is like mean miniature Dachshund. Asher is a wolf.

Holding on to the strap of my backpack, I walk between Asher and Reese, the two instructors bracketing me like prison guards. I wonder if this is how all new students are welcomed, or if I’m just extra special.

Witch, Ellis’s voice spits in my memory as if in response, making me shiver.

Quinn has said as much too.

I swallow.

As we angle right across the dusky green, tall wrought iron lamps come on along the walkways, and we finally pass other students for the first time, paused to watch the procession. I try not to stare, but it’s hard—so hard. The girls, dressed in blue plaid skirts and white button-downs, all look cut out of the pages of Seventeen magazine, tall, willowy, smooth skinned, with silky hair down to their butts, in every natural color of the rainbow. Not dyed hair like mine—I can tell immediately that none of them would ever be so crass.

The boys, in blue blazers, are all athletically built and as beautiful as the girls, some with porcelain-pale skin like Reese’s, some with a feral angle to their eyes like Ellis’s.

I thought these were supposed to be a bunch of juvenile delinquents. What do they put in the water here? Fuck. Maybe I’ll wake up with muscles and hair down to my butt too.

When I meet the cadets’ gazes, the dislike in their eyes is palpable enough to leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. In foster care, another brat meant another threat to what little anyone had, but no one here looks underfed in the least. Nor does Talonswood appear to be lacking in anything but common sense. The four fortress-castle-mansion things could probably fetch enough money to buy a small country, their stone façades in perfect repair, even the ivy growing in seemingly intentional patterns. The metal fences at the corners of the yard are no less gorgeously elaborate, the wolf-head designs on them works of art—and their currently open leaves ready to swing shut. To turn the large green into a grand prison yard in a matter of seconds.

“You are the only witch at Talonswood, Samantha,” Asher says abruptly as we bend around the rightmost building to stop at a piece of soggy ground behind it under a single harsh spotlight, the forest rising darkly in the background. “The demis do not know what to make of you. Frankly, neither do I.”

Demis? Yet another word that sounds like gibberish. “That makes all of us,” I mutter. “What does being a witch mean exactly? Should I be able to fly or do magic or turn men into toads?” My pitch rises with each word until a hard look from Asher silences me at once. 

“No. Potentially. No.” Asher tells me curtly, raising his hand to stop further inquiries. “You will learn more in class. Let me be clear—you are welcome to protest, cry, question the truth all you want, just do it on your own time.” Asher is hiding his emotions better than Quinn had, but something unkind flashes in his eyes nonetheless. “I will not abide bad behavior under my watch. You are a witch, a nonhuman species. That carries risks to all two—apologies, three—creature races. I do not expect you to know what I am talking about yet—I do expect you to spend your every waking moment learning.”

For the first time, hearing it in Asher’s cool, logical voice, my brain has a hard time rejecting it. It’s impossible. But when you hear something enough times… I think of cauldrons, frogs, pointy hats, and somehow know that’s not what it means.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

About Alex:

Alex Lidell is the Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013) and Amazon top 100 author and KDP-all star winner for POWER OF FIVE and LERA OF LUNOS (Danger Bearing Press, 2018). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s life long love for fantasy books with strong heroines. Alex lives in Washington, DC.

Join Alex's newsletter for news, bonus content and sneak peeks: www.subscribepage.com/TIDES 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Group | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Book Bub | Instagram

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will win a $10 Amazon Gift Card, INTERNATIONAL.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

4/27/2020	Triquetra Reviews	Excerpt
4/27/2020	Writer of Wrongs	Excerpt
4/28/2020	Mythical Books	Review
4/28/2020	BookHounds	Excerpt
4/29/2020	Book Briefs	Review
4/29/2020	Book Sniffers Anonymous	Excerpt
4/30/2020	Reading Under the Covers	Review
4/30/2020	Midwest Romantic	Excerpt
5/1/2020	Love in a time of Feminism	Review
5/1/2020	momfluenster	Excerpt

Week Two:

5/4/2020	Reese's Reviews	Review
5/4/2020	Books a Plenty Book Reviews	Review
5/5/2020	Journey in Bookland	Review
5/5/2020	Daily Waffle	Excerpt
5/6/2020	Eating Between The Lines	Review
5/6/2020	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
5/7/2020	Jaime's World	Excerpt
5/7/2020	A Dream Within A Dream	Review
5/8/2020	A Gingerly Review	Excerpt
5/8/2020	Books A-Brewin'	Review

Your Mid-Week Update for 04/22/20

Some days, you have to actively focus on the positive things.

Cooking is actually going very well. I’m losing my mind and I just got a terrifying phone call but yes, teaching Casey how to cook so she can improve her butchering skills is proving to be an effective distraction method for both of us.

She is showing so much promise lately and I’m so impressed with how she’s picking up these skills and her roasted chicken is actually delicious. I’m so grateful to have her with me in this time of crisis. James is my constant but having someone to share things with and be productive with has been my saving grace. I’m so glad I have the two of them with me right now.

…

My mother called me on Monday. Haven’t heard from her in a while. I assumed I wouldn’t hear from her unless it was extremely important. And I was right.

There was a breakout of COVID at my father’s retirement home. The whole place is on lockdown. We haven’t heard from him which supposedly means that he’s fine. But I don’t know.

And I hate not knowing things.

So I cook with Casey and try not to think about my father dying. It was coming. Obviously. We’d moved him into a home become mother couldn’t take care of him on her own and apparently things were getting worse. But we wouldn’t be able to see him. We can’t see him. I’ve been trying to get through at their reception desk for the last few days but they’ve been overwhelmed with calls.

I’ve been trying not to worry but if I’m being honest, stabbing a dead bird just isn’t cutting it right now. I want to take Casey out on a “hunt” as she calls it.

We both need to blow off some steam and the weather is nice for a change. I’m going to take her out tonight. We’re going to find a victim. And we’re going to test out her skills.

I just need to do something.

I need to physically do something.

We’re going to break the Stay-At-Home rule and make everyone out there wish they hadn’t.

As always, dear readers,

Stay Safe

Your Mid-Week Update for 04/15/20

I really hate when I have the perfect idea and never get a chance to execute it. And then I come back to the idea a few days later and it isn’t nearly as brilliant as I thought it was.

Pour example:

A wheel of death. Not a torture wheel, more like a game show type of wheel, where victims get to choose their method of death. How twisted and awesome is that?

Literally let people choose how they die. It would be very liberating for about 10 seconds and then they would die.

I could never feel bored or run out of ideas because the wheel would change it up all the time.

I still kind of like the idea but it’s so impractical. You’d have to carry around a wheel everywhere. Plus all of the tools needed for every murder on the wheel. Or, I’d have to resort to only kidnapping my victims and taking them to the location that has the wheel and all the tools. It’s too complicated and leave me too vulnerable. Maybe next time I catch someone, I’ll have them pick a number between one and five.

But I don’t trust myself to be honest about which number I choose. What if I just really want to poison someone but they choose hanging? That would take the fun out of it.

I’ll have to keep thinking of ways to incorporate choose-your-own-adventure-style murder. There’s got to be a niche for it.

Anyways, I am still bored out of my mind and restless. At least I’m getting some government money since I’ve had zero luck getting a work-from-home job.

Casey is also climbing the walls but I’m getting her to vent her frustration and sharpen her knife skills (pun absolutely intended) by learning to cook. We’re watching YouTube videos, we’re making all of our meals from scratch instead of out of a box. It’s actually been really good for us. We’ve had a chance to talk about her and what her real life was like. To hear her describe it, things we difficult because she had these urges and thoughts and no idea what they meant or what to do with them.

I understand exactly how she feels. I didn’t exactly grow up in the most nurturing household. I had to learn how best to serve my own needs by myself. I tried not to pass that same feeling of isolation onto Sandra and Jason with varying degrees of success.

But with Casey, I may actually get to do something right. I can help her.

Good things can come from this isolation and world crisis.

The murder wheel is not one of them.

As always, dear readers,

Stay Safe

Cover Reveal for Beyond the Shore and Shadows by Chantal Gadoury

Today Chantal Gadoury, The Parliament House, and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for BEYOND THE SHORE AND SHADOWS, the second book in her YA Little Mermaid Retelling Series, which releases May 2021! Check out the awesome cover and enter to win a $10 Amazon GC!

On to the reveal!

About The Book:

Title: BEYOND THE SHORE AND SHADOWS (Lena #2)

Author: Chantal Gadoury

Pub. Date: May 2021

Publisher: The Parliament House

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: ?

Find it: Goodreads

A Merrow with a Choice

A Man Who Loved Her

And an Evil that could destroy them both

The Sea Is Calling. . .

Lena is a merrow in possession of the Magick Skal, the shell once owned by the Queen of the merrows. And now, Lord Jarl knows her secret and wants it for himself.

After running away from the Lundby-Wyatt Inn, leaving behind everything she was familiar with, Lena finds herself in the company of the warm and kind Soren Emil.

When the villagers turn against her and Soren, they’re forced to leave the burning Bror Boghandel behind and escape to a forgotten cottage on the edge of the shore, where no one will find them. Lena knows she must get the shell back to the sea and destroy it, before it falls into the hands of Lord Jarl, or worse, his apprentice, Jace Wyatt.

With the help of some unruly pirates, Lena and Soren journey to the sea, a place Lena never thought she’d return to. There, she will have to face not only the Sea King’s army, the Fosse-Søfolk, but the impossible choice to sacrifice her own life, or the life of the man she loves.

What will Lena choose?

About Book 1:

Title: BETWEEN THE SEA AND STARS (Lena #1)

Author: Chantal Gadoury

Pub. Date: June 19, 2018

Publisher: The Parliament House

Formats: Paperback, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 268

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

A Legend, 

A Magical Shell 

A Girl Who Dreamed Of Something More... 

Lena, a Merrow girl, lives in the Skagerrak sea with her father, Carrick and her brother, Javelin who tells her of the legend of the Merrow Queen murdered by her human lover when greed takes over. But what’s worth spilling the queen’s blood? Gifted from Poseidon, himself, a magic shell gives any human the ability to control both land and sea. 

When Javelin is called to join a clan of Merrow soldiers bent on protecting their waters from human invasion, Lena resists Merrow law and ventures to the shore with no choice but to swim to land. 

With newfound legs, Lena is whisked away on a new adventure with new friends and new trouble. Everyone seems to want something from her as intrigue lurks around every corner. 

Trying her best to hide who she is and remain safe from the dangers of the human world, will Lena finally find where she belongs, or will she be swept into a strong and stormy current by lust, greed, and jealousy?

Excerpt from BETWEEN THE SEA AND STARS (Lena #1):

Your Mid-Week Update for 04/08/20

I had a dream about murder that I want to tell you about. I fully understand that I’m having these dreams because I’m under stimulated but what are you going to do? I have no excuse for leaving the house except for the bi-weekly grocery trip which I am taking full advantage of but it is not enough. 

Especially as the days feel longer and I’m slowly running out of things to do.

I hate knitting.

I know I said it would be good for me to stab things other than people but I get so bored just sitting there. So I’ve been watching workout videos.

And doing them. I’m also participating in the videos I’m watching.

I’ve been cleaning the house like crazy.

I just need to do something.

So yeah, I had a dream that made me really miss the old days even though it’s only been a month.

As soon as I can’t do something, I really, really want to do it.

So. My dream.

There’s a woman across the street and she’s leaving the gym with a small yellow duffel bag. She’s drinking from a black water bottle and chatting to someone through her headphones. I stay across the street but follow close behind her. She heads in one direction for a few blocks and then stops at a florist shop on the corner. I take the opportunity to cross the street so I’m right outside the door when she exits with a dozen orange roses. I remember thinking something like: I want to paint the roses red. I follow right behind her for maybe a block before she suddenly turns around and stares at me. That’s how I knew it was a dream because she looked like Charlotte. I still think about the Westburns sometimes, and all the damage they did to my family. But she wasn’t Charlotte, she just looked like Charlotte. She said something but it just sounds like noise. Garbled and far away. But it didn’t matter because I just grabbed the flowers out of her hand and ran into the alley. And I then I got to the end of the alley and I was surrounded. I turned around and threw the flowers down as she caught up to me. She said something again but I couldn’t hear it – she was probably yelling at me for stealing her roses and running away. And then I had a rope in my hand. I squeezed it tight and my hands started to bleed. There were pieces of wire sticking out of the rope all over. Jagged and sharp. Even though my hands were still bleeding I threw the rope around her neck and pulled her close so I could get a better grip. The rope started to turn red as I squeezed her tighter and tighter. She wasn’t resisting though. She just stood there as I strangled her. It made me angry so I threw her up against the wall but when her head hit the brick, she smiled at me. My hands were all torn up at this point, I don’t know that I could even feel them. And she wasn’t fighting me so I kept banging her head against the wall. It was hurting her. It was killing her. I heard her skull crack, I saw blood and hair on the brick behind her every time I lifted her head to go again. But she wouldn’t stop smiling at me. After what felt like hours of hit her head and squeezing her throat, she finally collapsed at my feet. Her eyes were wide open and she was smiling but she wasn’t moving. I watched the blood swim from her head and turn the gravel a dark red colour. And then I looked over at the flowers and they were withering away but they weren’t red like I wanted them to be.

And then I woke up to my alarm.

Because a consistent schedule is supposed to be good for your mind, body, and soul.

Don’t know what the fuck that dream was, though.

I keep thinking about it. About my hands bleeding, and the woman smiling, and the orange roses. I don’t know what it all means but it sure was something.

Anyways. I miss murder, but I also clearly have something else going on. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe a dream is just a dream.

Who. Knows.

As always, dear readers,

Stay Safe (Seriously)

Cover Reveal for A Spectacle of Souls by Jessica Julien

Today Jessica Julien, Bleeding Ink Publishing, and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for A SPECTACLE OF SOULS, the first book in her New Adult Paranormal Series, which releases July 7, 2020! Check out the awesome cover and enter to win a $5 Amazon GC!

On to the reveal!

About The Book:

Title: A SPECTACLE OF SOULS (Circus of the Stolen Book 1)

Author: Jessica Julien

Pub. Date: July 7, 2020

Publisher: Bleeding Ink Publishing

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: ?

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon,  Kobo

Caitlyn always thought she was just your average small-town waitress, but she’s anything but average. Suffering from frequent headaches and vivid daydreams, her oddities mask a secret hidden deep within her mind—one that could defeat even the cleverest of psychics.

When a mysterious circus arrives in town, Caitlyn is immediately drawn to it. While visiting the hypnotic show, she meets a seer who warns her of a gruesome future and urges her to stay away. But soon, Caitlyn finds herself ensnared in the show and the Ringmaster himself.

Recognizing Caitlyn’s powers for what they are, and believing they are the ones he has been searching for, the Ringmaster is determined to claim them as his own. Trapped within the circus and the Ringmaster’s devious grip, Caitlyn realizes that to escape the seer’s foretold fate, her only choice is to fight. Banding together with Bevier, an imprisoned psychic, Meg, an eccentric seamstress, and Daniel, a handsome magician, Caitlyn falls into the Psychic Realm to thwart the Ringmaster and stop the show before they succumb to his control and are trapped forever in his spectacle of souls.

About Jessica:

Born in the picturesque state of Washington, Jessica Julien is the marketing director of a boutique publishing company, a stay at home mom, wife, and wanderluster. When not drafting marketing plans or doing laundry, she spends her time writing young adult and new adult novels focused on the paranormal and supernatural inspired by her love of all things dark and twisty. With her vivacious imagination, witty personality, and ability to bring sarcasm to a new level Jessica creates unique worlds and characters that readers can't help but hate to love and love to hate.

In her free time, Jessica can be found enjoying a cup of dark roasted coffee while snuggling under a blanket with a good book. When the weather is right she hops in the car with her husband, son, and dogs to road trip across the country where she delights in eating red vines, drinking iced lattes, and singing loudly in the passenger seat.

P.S She loves pumpkins, her dogs, the rain, eating food, being snarky, and staying away from all people if possible...but she won’t tell you that because her bio is already TOO LONG so find her on social media to learn more...

P.S.S Jessica Julien loves coffee so much she mentioned it twice, it does not mean she has a problem. She can stop anytime she wants (*whispers) she doesn’t want to!

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

One lucky winner will receive a $5 Amazon Gift Card, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway