The 3P's of New Year's Eve + giveaway

I asked authors to give me their 3 P's of New Year's Eve:

Professional goals

Personal goals 

Prediction for the New Year

We put together a cool prize pack to start your New Year off on the right hoof (see what I did there?) Sheep style!

Laura Kaye (Hard As It Gets)
Professional: Come up with a kick-ass new series!
Personal: Get more sleep and work less
Prediction: JR Ward will release The King early. Yes, she will. Uh huh. I don't care what you say.

Aline Hunter (Omega Mine)
Professional: Build connection to my readers.
Personal: Learn more about the dog rescue industry.
Prediction: Unknown...but isn't it always?

Lisa Kessler (Beg Me To Slay)
Professional:  Expand my readership
Personal: Lose some weight
Prediction: Thor will gift humanity with his conditioner so we too can have Godly Locks... Woot!

Gini Koch (Alien Research)
Professional: Get back to writing 6 novels a year
Personal: Meet Nathan Fillion in person
Prediction: 2014 will show that I'm not writing fiction about Alpha Centauri but actually acting as a journalist. (Or I'll be arrested for kidnapping Nathan Fillion. Right now, either could be true.)

Dani Harper (Storm Bound - Grim #2 March 2014)
Professional: Finish writing the third installments for both the Grim and the Dark Wolf Series.
Personal: I will refrain from over planting the vegetable garden.
Prediction: Zucchini and spaghetti squash will be falling out of my closets by September.

Josh Lanyon (Stranger Things Have Happened: An Adrien English Write Your Own Damn Story)
Professional: A big mainstream release in 2014
Personal: Restore my iTunes music library on my computer
Prediction: There will be a Duck Dynasty crossover spinoff with the Kardashians called The Duckdashians

Sean Cummings (Poltergeeks & Student Bodies)

Professional: Write a sequel to an adult UF that is currently being shopped
Personal: Focus on my overall wellness
Prediction: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford wins re-election

James R. Tuck (Deacon Chalk series & That Way Lies Madness)

Professional: Sell a foreign edition of my work
Personal: Become a better photographer.
Prediction: Bigfoot in public office.

Ashlyn Chase (How to Date a Dragon)
Professional: publish my first Indy title.
Personal: continue to lose weight on the ideal protein diet until I 'm gawgeous!
Prediction: Mother Nature will appear in person and apologize.

Scott Nicholson (Solom: The Scarecrow)
Professional: Release four new books this year.
Personal: Take the family on two SCUBA dives.
Prediction: Carolina Panthers will win the Super Bowl.

Angie Fox (My Big Fat Demon Slayer Wedding)
Professional: Release two more demon slayer books, and one brand new series book
Personal: Learn to write with a dog chin pressed against my keyboard, because - let's face it - she's not going anywhere
Prediction: Many more will die on The Walking Dead (and I will watch with glee)

Rachel Firasek (Drowning)
Professional: Produce and release three novels.
Personal: I would like to be able to walk a 5K by the end of the year.
Prediction: Rachel Firasek will win the lottery, buy a hut on an island, and spend her days writing at her heart's content. (Pft...I think you have to play to win.)

Donya Lynne (All the King’s Men Series)

Professional: Publish four books
Personal: Lose 24 pounds
Prediction: Simon Cowell will not only join the cast of Dancing With the Stars, but he will win the whole kit and caboodle.

Kate Douglas (Wolf Tales series and Spirit Wild series)
Professional:– to complete at least three books in 2014
Personal: to step away from my computer more often and enjoy the real world a bit
Prediction: I predict that I will once again fail to stick with any of my New Year’s resolutions regarding diet.

Patricia A. Rasey (Viper: Sons of Sangue)
Professional: Release book 2 of Sons of Sangue: Hawk in the spring, release the novella Heat Wave in the summer, and have book 3 of Sons of Sangue: Gypsy well under way for an early 2015 release.
Personal: To actually bite the bullet for my husband and take a cruise that he’s been wanting to take (I get motion sickness).
Prediction: I’ll hopefully learn about grandbaby number 2 on the way from my youngest son and his wife. My oldest son will get a place of his own.

Stephanie Rowe (Inferno of Darkness)
Professional: Make the NYT list
Personal: Heal my broken foot and injured elbow so I can exercise again
Prediction: I predict that I will be invited to be a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, and, I will be the first person over age 22 (or thereabouts) to win the whole thing.

Nancy Holzner (Hellhound)
Professional: Write a gothic horror novel
Personal: Move back to New England
Prediction: Purely to make my daughter happy, the Red Sox will win their second World Series in a row.

Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock series)
Professional: Start a new series, set in the Jane Yellowrock world, but with new characters to solve paranormal murders. I'm thinking a unit for PSYLed, special agents with Homeland Security, each with a paranormal gift. And one main character for the unit that my readers will love. Hopefully, that is!
Personal: Stay in shape and get better on my new kayak. Which I totally did not see on Santa's credit card back in November. Nope. Didn't see it. (hides eyes)
Prediction: Here is where I'm supposed to say, "Peach on earth." Right? No? Wait. That was supposed to be peace. But peach is more likely. Anyway, get a good book for the days when you need to turn off the news and bury your head in a fictional world. Try mine! Jane Yellowrock, Have Stakes, Will Travel. www.yellowrocksecurities.com

Caris Roane (Embrace the Mystery)
Professional: to write all the books I have planned for the year
Personal: to create better balance between work and play
Prediction: Facebook will let all our friends and fans back into our newsfeeds.

Kerrelyn Sparks (How to Seduce a Vampire -Without Really Trying)
Professional: Start a new series
Personal: Learn how to use commas
Prediction: Thor, and, Loki will return! (please)

Tara Fox Hall (Her Secret, Promise Me Series Book #6)

Professional: Grow my readership and better my craft (why NOT try to overachieve?)
Personal: Spend more time with the people in my life that are important to me
Prediction: A prolific cannibalistic sheep will be born with batwings and fangs, giving rise to a new top-selling yarn within the year called "worst of the worst wool."

Alex Hughes (Sharp - Mindspace Investigations book #2)
Professional: Expand into new series.
Personal: Set up a daily yoga time at home.
Prediction: The cats, having finally trained humans to their liking, will bring in their mothership and take over the world. Very little will change other than scratching posts at every intersection and kitty treats at fine restaurants.

Alethea Kontis (Hero and Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming)
Professional: I plan on more productivity...which unfortunately means fewer appearances. I suspect this might hurt me even more than it hurts my fans.
Personal: I am finally going to finish unpacking our apartment (we moved in late August) and hang my prisms in the window instead of leaving them on tables to scatter rainbows everywhere
Prediction: I predict that this is the year! 2014 is when I will hit big and become an "overnight success." It's going to happen. And we will all laugh and toast each other with massive amounts of champagne.

Jess Haines (Forsaken by the Others)

Professional: I want to write at least 3 full length novels in 2014. I've just gone from working full time plus writing to part time, so I'm very motivated to increase my production in the coming year!
Personal: Spend more time with my family. I just moved across the country from Los Angeles to Florida to be closer to everyone. No more excuses for being an unsociable troll.
Prediction: The next smash hit on the NY Times bestseller list will be "Harry Potter's 50 Shades of Hunger Games at Twilight". You heard it here first, folks.

Jocelynn Drake (Dead Man's Deal)
Professional: Sell a new series to a publisher
Personal: Lose 20 pounds
Prediction: I will finally get over my Assassin's Creed addiction ... or I will finally be inducted into the Assassin's Guild because of my killer parkour skills.

Erin Quinn (The Five Death's of Roxanne Love)
Professional: In 2014, I hope to make at least 20,000 new reader friends
Personal : Take a few days off. Not a lot. Just enough to stay sane
Prediction: I will prove that my theories on time travel are not only true, but relevant. (Hopefully will prove this by example)

Linda Poitevin (Sins of the Lost- Grigori Legacy, #3 )
Professional: complete the fourth and final Grigori Legacy book
Personal: top 2013's canning totals (yes, I'm insane)
Prediction: I will open my door and find Iron Man on my front porch one day (please, please, please, please!!!)

Erin Kellison (Soul Kissed (Shadow Kissed #2))
Professional: Release a new series (in the works!)
Personal: Make time to read for enjoyment
Prediction: Apocalypse (zombie or other) will occur and neither will happen :)

Pamela K. Kinney (The Witch and the Familiar)
Professional: Get more novels written and edited--one as Pamela K. Kinney and another as my pseudonym for paranormal romance, Sapphire Phelan. Hopefully something self published on Amazon and a novel accepted through a publisher.
Personal: Exercise more and maybe lose some weight.
Prediction: An agent or big publisher accept me?

Joleene Naylor (Shades of Gray- Amaranthine #1)
Professional: To publish Children of Shadows, the sixth book in the Amaranthine series, work on the Executioner short stories and write the seventh book in the series
Personal: To buy a house. In Iowa. Maybe. It's a maybe-goal. Those are the best kind because if they fail you can always say "it was just a maybe, anyway." Ha ha!
Prediction : I predict that I will the Irish lottery, have a long lost Uncle Naylor in Yugoslavia leave me millions of dollars, and probably get at least three people who think my "profile is attractive". That is assuming my characters don't kill me first. I really worry that they will organize one day.

Nancy Northcott (Renegade)
Professional: Learn to write faster
Personal: Whittle down the To Be Read mountain
Prediction: The Black Widow will become the leader of the Avengers.

D.B. Reynolds (Aden)

Professional - Use my writing time more efficiently
Personal - Get more sleep
Prediction - Cabe (Hawk) Delgado and I will spend one long, hot, and very memorable night together!

Carolyn Crane (Off the Edge)
Professional: write faster! And read faster. Why am I such a slowpoke?
Personal: Learn to needlepoint dishtowels. Which probably won’t help me read or write faster, but I think it will be meditative. Maybe.
Prediction: Another important new social media form will emerge, and I will pretend not to notice.

December Covet Release Day Blast

Covets have all the sexiness, emotion, and happily ever after that readers have come to expect and love from Entangled. They are firmly grounded in the contemporary world, but each novel brings in supernatural twists, breaking the contemporary and paranormal rules, alike. To find out more about their titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books you’ll be coveting next, visit the Entangled website, follow them on Twitter, LIKE their Facebook page, and join the Book Club.

Today I'm happy to be featuring Covet's December releases:

Beg Me to Slay by Lisa Kessler

He’ll slay her demons, but it may cost her heart… 

Four years ago Tegan Ashton was attacked. Determined never to be a victim again, she devotes her life to martial arts and self-defense. When her assailant returns to finish what he started, only one person can help her.

Gabe is a private investigator by day and demon slayer by night. After losing loved ones, he vows to defend people from a threat they don’t realize exists.

The relationship is supposed to be strictly business, but fighting demons together stirs up emotions they never expected. Turns out demon slaying is a breeze compared to facing their scarred pasts and even worse - hearts.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

Ashes by Sarah Gilman

Journalist Ambrosia Pellerin accepts an assignment involving the legendary phoenix, expecting, if nothing else, a little entertainment. Instead, she winds up pregnant—by a surprisingly human-looking firebird, Reece Bennu. 

As the Phoenix prince, Reece is next in line to the throne and expected to marry a purebred royal. A common human such as Ambrosia is not in the cards. He swears, though, he’ll never be an absentee father.

As Ambrosia’s due date grows closer, so do the soon-to-be parents. But will their tentative love survive the prejudice of Reece’s grandmother, who will stop at nothing to tear the two apart?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

Lisa is going to be hosting a release day FB party on 12/30 from 4-8PST.

https://www.facebook.com/events/655747377781974/

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Edge Release Day Blast + giveaway

Edge, a digital-first single-title romance line from Entangled Publishing, takes its lead from their popular Select imprint but gives its novels an edge in the marketplace by bringing great stories to readers at reasonable prices in a quick-and-easy way. Whether sexy or sweet, traditional romance or love and lust with a women’s fiction bent, at the center of every Edge book is heart. From Urban Fantasy to Contemporary Romance to Science Fiction Romance, Edge has a book for all romance readers—and right at their fingertips! As they say, all’s fair in love and war. To find out more about their titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books are coming next, visit the Entangled website, follow them on Twitter, and like their Facebook page.

Today I'm happy to be featuring Edge's December releases!!

Break Out by Nina Croft
Blood Hunter #1
Special $0.99 Promo Limited Time Only! 

The year is 3048, Earth is no longer habitable, and man has fled to the stars where they've discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they're called, rule the universe.

Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can't resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective's maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous—or so fun.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

Heart of the Incubus by Rosalie Lario

Biochemist Cresso Taylor lives the sort of lifestyle most men would envy—he has wealth, natural incubus charm, and more women than he can handle. But it’s not enough anymore. Not after meeting Genevieve Russell, the sexy scientist who works with him at Elcorp Laboratory. And she wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

After her fiancé broke her heart, Genevieve has had enough of womanizers. She’s determined to steer clear of sexy-as-sin Dr. Taylor, despite the fact that his incubus allure makes her want to rip his clothes off. But when a secret admirer’s affection turns to the macabre with threatening notes and grisly gifts, Cresso appoints himself her protector. As she and Cresso hunt her stalker, she discovers there’s a lot more to the sensual incubus than she ever imagined.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Goodreads

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Book Review: Hellhound (Deadtown #5) by Nancy Holzner

Hellhound (Deadtown #5) 
by Nancy Holzner
They call it Deadtown: the city’s quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders—but Victory Vaughn, Boston’s only professional demon slayer, isn’t exactly human…

Boston’s zombies have suddenly become inexplicably violent—horror movie-style—resulting in a catastrophic all-out battle against humans. More troubling to Vicky is that she’s had dreams and visions of herself fighting alongside the demons. At least, she hopes they’re just visions—otherwise, that puts her on the front lines of the wrong side of the war.

Vicky’s not surprised to discover that Pryce, her demi-demon cousin and loathed adversary, is behind the outbreak of the zombie plague, having formed an unholy pact with the Old Ones. Now, as the violence escalates and alliances shift, Vicky knows she’s the only one who can stop the plague. Unless the pack of hellhounds on her trail finds her first.

This is book #5 in a fabulous urban fantasy series. Jumping in now probably isn’t the best thing to do. Holzner does a great job of recapping the last book for those of us who have waited a year for this one, but there is also some basic series arc and world building information given that will help those rebels who don’t care when they jump into a series. I won’t give any spoilers for this book, but I might talk about things that happened in the past 4 so if you don’t want the series spoiled grab the one you want to start with and go read while the rest of us talk.

Kane *sigh* can you be any more perfect? I think not! The man is flawless. He proves to Vicky how much he loves her over and over. Even when she does stupid things like keep secrets to protect him. She is still full of self-doubt and makes some real big mistakes in Hellhound, but by the end she is finally getting it. Kane and those close to her have her back and she can trust them.

The night hag is holding one hell of a grudge against Vicky and she plans on using Kane for payback. As if that wasn’t enough on her plate her aunt shows up and drops a bomb about Vicky’s destiny. The cheeky Eidolon demon, Butterfly, that lives in her gut and looks like a giant maggot, wants to be friends. Can demons be “good”? Butterfly is opening up a whole new dilemma for Vicky. Her dad is a falcon and the Hellion Difethwr is back helping her cousin Pryce and the old ones try to bring demons into the human realm and burn our playhouse down! They have also been experimenting on the zombies of Deadtown. And then there is a goddess who has her sights set on Vicky.

The next book is going to be interesting. The story has taken a new turn and Vicky must decide between the demon she knows and the goddess she doesn’t. Vicky’s life has changed forever and the next book will show us the consequences of her choices.

Nice solid edition to the series to transition into a new series arc. If you are looking for a rock solid urban fantasy with skillful world building and a nice mix of drama and humor then give this one a try.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Still, it would be dark soon, the time when demons are free to enter in the human plane, and you never know when one might materialize in your face, waving its claws and spewing its sulfur-and-brimstone halitosis.”

“If you’ve ever gotten a dirty look from a zombie, chances are it took…oh, about a week before the possibility of a good night’s sleep returned.”

“It was impossible to read The Book of Utter Darkness like a normal book. For one thing, it was written in the language of Hell--a language forbidden to anyone outside the infernal regions. Google translate doesn’t do Hellish to English.”

“That mark raged with fire that raced up my arm. It ignited my heart, my brain. There would be death—and I would bring it.”

Deadtown (book #1) review
Darklands (book #4) review

4.5 “rubbery neon pink” Sheep

SharonS

About the Author:
FB-twitter-websiteNancy Holzner grew up in western Massachusetts with her nose stuck in a book. This meant that she tended to walk into things, wore glasses before she was out of elementary school, and forced her parents to institute a “no reading at the dinner table” rule. It was probably inevitable that she majored in English in college and then, because there were still a lot of books she wanted to read, continued her studies long enough to earn a masters degree and a PhD.

She began her career as a medievalist, then jumped off the tenure track to try some other things. Besides teaching English and philosophy, she’s worked as a technical writer, freelance editor and instructional designer, college admissions counselor, and corporate trainer. Most of her nonfiction books are published under the name Nancy Conner.

Sunday Swag: Laura Kaye

Sunday Swag Team!
Riverina Romantics 
 I Smell Sheep 
Froggarita's Bookcase Books, Books & More Books 

Now you have 4 chances to get your swagger on

Featured author: Laura Kaye

About the Author:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter 

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New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller Laura Kaye is the author of over a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Laura grew up amidst family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses, cementing her life-long fascination with storytelling and the supernatural. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

Laura is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Maryland Romance Writers.

Laura is represented by Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

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