Book Review: How to Claim an Undead Soul (The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy Book 2) by Hailey Edwards

How to Claim an Undead Soul (The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy Book 2)

by Hailey Edwards
 December 15, 2017
Pages: 305
The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy, Book 2

Life was simpler for Grier when she was flat broke and a social pariah. Now she's carrying the baggage that goes along with the title of Dame Woolworth, and shouldering that weight is giving her a serious crick in the neck. Her work as a Haint is the one thing that makes her feel normal, but even that's more paranormal than usual.

Spirits are vanishing from well-known hot spots on the ghost tour circuit, and vampires are turning up as shriveled husks. When Grier stumbles across the menace preying on Savannah's supernatural community, what she uncovers is bigger than a few flickering lampposts gone dark. It's a deadly threat unleashed by one of their own, and the cost of saving her city might be her life.

Now that Grier has been reinstated as the Woolworth heir and her money has been restored she is at a complete loss. She knew what her responsibilities were and how to behave when she was penniless, and on a budget, now she has no idea. To cope, she begs Cricket for her job back as a Haint. At least if she has some normalcy in her life, she may be able to deal with the rest of the changes. The most unusual thing is happening in Savannah, ghosts and spiritual energy are disappearing after years of hauntings and vampires are turning up dead. Grier is convinced she knows who is behind these killings but will the truth be worse than the fantasy?

Boaz and Grier heat up a little as they explore what could be between them. There are so many obstacles in their path that Grier is not sure it’s worth sacrificing their friendship for more. Grier seems to have an energy that is magnetic and causes zings no matter who she is with which makes her an endearing character not to mention rooting for the underdog is always fun. Though it’s hard to choose I think that this series of Edwards is probably my favorite.

Review: How to Save an Undead Life (The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy Book 1) 

Getting 5 sheep

Denise B

About the Author:
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Hailey Edwards writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy. She lives in Alabama with her husband, their daughter, and a herd of dachshunds.

Spotlight: MindRogue (BlackWing Pirates #3) by Connie Suttle

MindRogue (BlackWing Pirates #3)
by Connie Suttle

December 15, 2017

Genre: Adult, SciFi, Fantasy

We are Or’myr; a secretive, dwindling race of wyrm dragons. For many years, we were without a queen and directionless, until my sister was born.

She was loved.

Protected.

Until the one known as the Prophet stole her away.

Our only hope to save our queen—and our race—lies in the hands of a blind man named Randl Gage.

A man who is also one of the most wanted criminals in both Alliances…

The BlackWing Pirates Series

About the Author:

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Connie Suttle is the author of the Blood Destiny series, the Legend of the Ir’Indicti series, the High Demon Series, the God Wars series and the Saa Thalarr series. Other titles are scheduled for release very soon.

Connie earned her MFA from the University of Oklahoma and has taught courses at the university level. Reading (and writing) have been a constant throughout her life.

The author lives in Oklahoma with her patient, long-suffering husband and three cats. Obviously, the cats are not so long-suffering and are certainly not patient.

This promotion is brought to you by Pure Textuality PR.

Claire Davon Guest Post: Five upsides—and downsides—about being an Elemental + giveaway

Hello and thanks to everyone for the opportunity to roam in on your blog! To celebrate the release of the second book in my Elementals’ Challenge series, titled Air Attack, I thought I’d share with you some good and bad things about being an Elemental. Hope you enjoy and happy reading!
-Claire Davon

Five upsides—and downsides—about being an Elemental

Upside
· You don’t get old—no need for anti-aging cream
· Awesome powers, who needs machines when you have wings, or gills, or a tail
· You hang with paranormal beings like gods and shifters
· Wise investments mean you never have to worry about money
· You have all the time you need to travel and see the world

Downside
· You can’t put “fight Challenge and save the world” on a resume
· You’re unable to correct people when they get history wrong. Saying “I was there” could get you sent to the nuthouse
· You can never retire
· Smacking people with your unseen wings (or tail) is frowned upon· Lying about your age. People tend not to believe you when you put “1410” as your year of birth.

Air Attack (Elementals’ Challenge Book 2)

by Claire Davon

Nov 7, 2017
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 978-1-946621-06-1
ASIN: B07692BSVV
Number of pages: 215
Word Count: 73,756
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
When love drops from the clouds, the sky is the limit…

The last time the Elementals were defeated in a Challenge, the result was World War II—a price humans paid in rivers of blood. Griffin is determined not to let that happen again. He doesn’t need a minor goddess getting in his way—no matter how much the redhead tempts him.

Clea intends to invoke a debt of honor to gain Griffin’s protection, but she has an ulterior motive: to get within striking distance of Griffin’s opponent, who she is certain killed her brother.

She never expected to feel a spark with Griffin, disturbingly seductive as he is. In a world where everyone looks like a god or goddess, why should this one winged Elemental call to her?

Yet their attraction grows fiercer as they journey to Iceland, Luxembourg, and finally Portugal to face Griffin’s foe. But even if they prevail, Griffin is holding onto one last, deadly secret that proves the truth can survive any Challenge, but love may be its final victim.

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Excerpt:
Currents of wind blew around and under them. Clea reached out to test the air. There was no need to supplement his gust with her own; he had more than enough. She cursed herself, wishing she had used her time to do more research before she had fled to the Elemental. She needed to know what Griffin’s strengths, and more importantly, what his weaknesses were. Only then would she know what to focus on and how she could help. She couldn’t lose any more family.

Inch by inch, her fear began to leave her as Griff’s strong wings beat in the currents. As they grew nearer, Griff again made the same hand motion he had before, and the sliding door pulled back.

“Neat trick.”

A rumble of laughter echoed in him.

He deposited her on the floor, landing her gently on her feet. Clea’s hands and face lost their chill in the warmth of his remote home. To her dismay, her heart was pounding and when cold left her, beads of fear sweat bloomed on her body. Griffin poured her another glass of wine from the same bottle as before, saying nothing. His wings once again folded against his back.

“That was interesting.” Small ripples danced across the red wine as Clea curved her free hand around the stem. In another moment, she would be shaking. Too much had happened too fast. “Why keep the basket?”

“He doesn’t need it to maneuver in air, but he likes to let the unwary believe what they will. Don’t underestimate Amai,” he said, steel in his tone. “The basket may look stupido, but he is ruthless and dangerous. He didn’t kill my predecessor by being a fool.”

Hoping her voice was level, Clea met Griff’s gaze. “I have learned not to misjudge anyone. Danger comes in many packages. Still, you’ve got to admit, it’s ridiculous.”

He flashed something that might have been a smile, but it was gone before she could be sure. “That’s the point. It’s a natural tendency not to take the ridiculous seriously, and he has caught many people by surprise that way. He was made into his current form by the primitive people of Mangaia, and he chooses to keep the trappings of his creation.”

Griff didn’t move, but he was in her mind, beating at her shields.

“Let’s talk, Clea. Who is Patrik?”

She opened her mouth to speak but before she had any words, there was a crack of thunder. It was followed by another one, and another, until their surroundings seemed alive with electricity. Clea’s hair floated out and Griffin’s feathers stood up. There was a fleeting impression of a hooked nose on his face, like a beak. For an instant, he looked like the half lion/half eagle that was his other form, before it faded to his normal countenance.

Wind kicked up and swirled outside the house, whipping small trees at the bottom until their branches bent close to the ground. It picked up snow, sending it coursing through the air, and bits of debris whirled in the currents. Griffin still hadn’t moved, cocking his head to one side.

“Amai’s parting shot. He can be a child,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Griff’s power grew, almost a tangible force in him as he took in a deep breath. When he exhaled, the wind stuttered and then stopped swirling. It began churning in the opposite direction, rising away from the house. Lightning streaked down, but before it could crash to earth, Griffin caught it mentally and sent the electricity back up the path it had followed, lifting his hands as if to direct the path. In the distance, Clea heard a yelp before the storm ended as fast as it had manifested.

The buzz in her body subsided. There was no need for it yet. It may be best to keep her powers hidden until she had need of them. Amai was not the only one people often underestimated.

About the Author:

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Claire Davon has written on and off for most of her life, starting with fan fiction when she was very young. She writes across a wide range of genres, and does not consider any of it off limits. If a story calls to her, she will write it. She currently lives in Los Angeles and spends her free time writing novels and short stories, as well as doing animal rescue and enjoying the sunshine.

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New Book Releases in Speculaitve Fiction for December 19, 2017

Small release week. But I think you'll find something to read while you're off for the holidays

WTF-ery. Wow, this is an interesting cover...if you like guts.

Excerpt Spotlight: Bite Me Spider by Nora Penn + Free Book!

What would YOU do to save your family? What lengths would you go through to rescue your loved ones from a truly horrible fate? A fate such as being eaten by a pack of giant spiders? This is the question that “Bite Me Spider” asks.

A bona fide page-turner, “Bite Me Spider” combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama. James Dresden wants the best for his family, including his daughter, Carol, his wife, Hannah, and their unborn child. When Hannah is diagnosed with cancer, the family opts for a radical new treatment, the bite of the genetically modified Black Hermit Spider. Although Hannah is cured there is a terrible cost: an invasion of giant spiders that threatens every living thing on the planet. To save his family, James must face the scuttling menace head on. He must perform deeds that would put weaker men in the madhouse.

Buckle up, horror fans. “Bite Me Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders.

The question remains. If all hell broke loose, what would you do to save your family? Read “Bite Me Spider” and find out.

Bite Me Spider

by Nora Penn
November 8, 2017
Genre: horror, sci-fi, action, and adventure
ISBN: 1973231603
ASIN: B076KK5VF4
Number of pages: 205
Word Count: 66785
Cover Artist: Nora Penn
An Eight-Legged Nightmare

What would YOU do to save your family? What lengths would you go through to rescue your loved ones from a truly horrible fate? A fate such as being eaten by a pack of giant spiders? This is the question that “Bite Me Spider” asks.

A bona fide page-turner, “Bite Me Spider” combines an outrageous disaster scenario with intense family drama. James Dresden wants the best for his family, including his daughter, Carol, his wife, Hannah, and their unborn child. When Hannah is diagnosed with cancer, the family opts for a radical new treatment, the bite of the genetically modified Black Hermit Spider. Although Hannah is cured there is a terrible cost: an invasion of giant spiders that threatens every living thing on the planet. To save his family, James must face the scuttling menace head on. He must perform deeds that would put weaker men in the madhouse.

Buckle up, horror fans. “Bite Me Spider” puts YOU, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to experience the terror, the tension, the madness, the mayhem, and the tiny moments of salvation, that are part and parcel of surviving in a world overrun by spiders.

The question remains. If all hell broke loose, what would you do to save your family? Read “Bite Me Spider” and find out.

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Excerpt:
Sonja could barely see the road ahead for all the tears in her eyes. She had been driving for half an hour and had been crying for the entire time. It wasn’t a sobbing, heaving cry, like one might expect of a woman who had moments ago been widowed of her husband of fifty years. Rather it was a steady, unceasing flow, as if she were a fountain filled with pure grief. At some point she stopped wiping the tears from her face and simply let them run down her cheeks.

As she drove along 95 South her mind replayed a hit parade of memories of her and Bill. These memories went back to when they had first met, all the way back through their time dating and then getting married, their raising their children, and then their children’s children, and then living in the lighthouse and fighting off the giant spiders for their survival. As the old woman reminisced she was painfully aware of a hollow place in her soul. It was the place in her life that her husband had occupied. It was more than a hole. It was another half of her that had gone missing. No, not gone missing. This half of her had been ripped away. And as sure as up is up and down is down, Sonja knew that she would never be the same now that the love of her life was gone.

The only thing keeping the old woman going at that point was her mission. Her sanity hinged on the fact that she was entrusted with saving Carol’s life. In a strange way she was grateful for the task. If she, Sonja, could play a role in saving the child, she thought to herself, she could shuffle off this mortal coil knowing that she had done one last good deed. It occurred to her then that once she had caught up with James and Carol and informed them about the true nature of the spider’s bite, she could simply drive her car off the road and let herself be reunited with her husband in heaven.

Because her emotions were so chaotic and her thoughts so scattered, and her eyes so misty with tears, Sonja’s driving was extremely erratic. On several occasions she had almost driven off the road and only managed to save herself by swerving back at the very last moment. Compounding the danger was the fact that she was speeding along at 90 miles per hour. Having a highway that was empty of cars (except for the occasional abandoned vehicle) had given her a false sense of safety. What’s more, she figured that James would be driving fast and she deduced that if she was to catch him she would have to drive even faster.

As she drove she remained just aware enough to keep on the lookout for spiders. The eight-legged bastards had a habit of suddenly scuttling out in front of vehicles. Back when the spiders were no larger than squirrels this was more of a nuisance than a real danger, but now that the spiders were as big as bulls they posed a far more serious threat. But as fate would have it, she hadn’t seen any thus far.

The unexplained growth of the spiders since the beginning of the spider apocalypse meant that survivors like Sonja had grown accustomed to looking for the larger specimens, as they posed the most obvious danger. But the fact that is that there were still plenty of smaller spiders creeping about, such as those that had hatched inside of her husband. As if further evidence of the danger of the smaller spiders was needed, a normal-sized Black Hermit Spider was crawling up the back of Sonja’s chair as she drove.

“I’m going to make you proud, Bill,” Sonja said out loud and sniffed. “I know you would want me to help these kids. Just like we would help our own kids.”

The Black Hermit Spider put its finger-like legs over the top of Sonja’s chair. When the creature saw the exposed neck of the female human, its eyes gleamed with a terrible malevolence.

Sonja’s thoughts turned to her children and her grandchildren, especially Dylan, who was her favorite. She hadn’t heard news of him since the spider apocalypse began, but she had a feeling that he was still alive. He was such a hearty soul – a lot like this James fellow – and he would certainly put up a fight. If anyone could survive the spider apocalypse and start building civilization afresh, Dylan was the one.

Sonja snapped out of her reverie just in time to turn the wheel and follow the curve of the highway. The tires squealed but she was oblivious to the danger. Instead of slowing down to a more reasonable pace, she pressed the gas pedal down further. The car was going so fast the frame of the vehicle began to shake.

The Black Hermit Spider, meanwhile, put its legs over the ridge of Sonja’s collar. The creature was about the size of a human hand, and just as heavy. If Sonja had been thinking clearly she would have felt the weight on the back of her shirt. But she was too lost in her thoughts to notice.

“Wherever you are, Dylan. I hope you’re well. I hope you know your grandmother loves you. If you’re up in Heaven, then I hope you’re with your grandfather. And if you’re still here on Earth, I hope I see you again someday.”

The spider’s fangs were hovering over the exposed flesh of the back of Sonja’s neck. As she wrapped up her tearful soliloquy, the spider drove its fangs into her skin. Sonja winced as she felt the needle-like projections burrow into her flesh. There was a sharp sting and then a powerful numbness as the poison was injected into her system.

At first the numbness was uncomfortable, but then it spread out like rays of sunshine freed from behind a passing cloud. Instead of feeling heavy she began to feel light.

“I love you Dylan. And I love you Bill. I hope I’ll see you both again someday in Heaven.”

Sonja closed her eyes. A spasm passed through her body and her spine stiffened, causing her legs to extend and her foot to press the gas pedal to the floor of the car. The vehicle shot forward like a rocket, crossing the highway at a sharp angle and smashing through a partition. On the other side of the partition was a deep ditch waiting to accept the plummeting vehicle. But this isn’t what Sonja saw.

What Sonja saw was a multitude of faces. The faces belonged to everyone she had known in life, going back to when she was a child. They were all smiling at her as if she had just walked into a surprise birthday party being thrown in her honor. Behind the familiar faces was a bright light and inside this bright light was her husband Bill, who looked just as happy to see her as the rest. He held out his arms to her. Sonja was suddenly no longer in the car. She was in her husband’s arms. And in her husband’s arms she would stay.

About the Author:
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Nora Penn writes fast-paced horror novels with strong, relatable characters.

Her favorite authors are Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

She released her first novel, Bite Me Spider, in November of 2017.

She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, who endures her various idiosyncrasies in return for being the first to read her new novels. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, on September 11, 2015.

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