Category: Crescent Moon Press

Winners, and a #NewAdult #CoverReveal by @KaryRader

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in A Taylor-Made Life, CMP's Summer Lovin' Blog Hop, Constance Phillips, Crescent Moon Press, Giveaway, Kary Rader, Pet the Cover, Queen of Jastain

Drum roll, please! I have the winners of the Summer Lovin’ Blog Hop. Would you like to know who they are?

 

The winner of the shiny Kindle Paperwhite is Maria Maltais!

The winner of the huge swag pack and the $25 gift card is Kristi Chambers!

The winner of the $5 gift card to the book store of their choice is Connie Phillips!

 

Congratulations to all the winners!

 

Okay, time to switch gears to a New Adult cover reveal by author Kary Rader. Commence the cover petting in 3, 2, 1!

 

taylor-web-copy

 

I love it! Here’s the blurb:

 

Cheerleader Taylor Smith doesn’t want to die a virgin. Unfortunately, if the terminally-ill leukemia patient doesn’t find a lover or a stem-cell match within months, her fear will become reality. But when her cancer mentor is revealed to be a hottie entrepreneur from California, it seems fate might finally be on her side.

 

Tech-geek Gavin Taylor has everything he ever wanted, except someone to grieve for him when he’s gone. With his melanoma cancer beyond the help of his riches, he agrees to participate in a cancer patient mentoring program where he’s matched with a dying teen from Texas. Despite his immediate attraction, the Silicon Valley whiz intends only to provide friendship and happy memories to the beautiful, young woman who is determined to win his love.

 

When it’s discovered that his frozen sperm and her harvested eggs could lead to a cure, Taylor’s mother offers to be a surrogate. And Gavin must decide if he can risk the heart he has never given and a child he’ll never know to a girl he just met.

 

About Kary:

 

Kary Profile Pic

 

Kary Rader is a stay-at-home mother of three, avid reader and slave to the characters and worlds inside her head. Her book Queen of Jastain, published by Crescent Moon Press released this past April. Kary is currently in the process of self-publishing a book that is close to heart, and is sure to touch the lives of all the readers that encounter it. A Taylor-Made Life releases this summer. (Look for the cover reveal coming soon!)

 

Always creative, she’s drawn to stories with fantastical worlds and creatures. With a little bit of magic and divine guidance, there isn’t anything that can’t be accomplished with words. It’s the power of words that creates and destroys.

 

Vanquishing evil and injustice while finding eternal love in the process is all in a day’s work. And with the help of her critique partners and master cartographer imaginary places come to life.

 

Website: http://www.karyrader.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaryRaderauthor?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaryRader

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18012643-a-taylor-made-life

 

Because Kary is so cool, she’s offering a giveaway! Here are the details:

 

Prize: A signed copy of Kary’s book Queen of Jastain, and E-ARC of A Taylor-Made Life and a charm bracelet. 

 

taylorCharm Bracelet

Giveaway Rules: 

  • Giveaway begins June 21st and will end June 24th 11:59 EST. The winner will be announced on June 24th on Kary Rader’s Facebook page.
  • Open to U.S. residents only
  • We are not responsible for items lost in the mail & have the right to disqualify anyone, at any time.
  • Personal information given by the applicant in the giveaway will never be shared. All information is deleted once the giveaway ends.

 

Just click on the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Summer Lovin’: In Which I Get All Mushy Because of the Heat

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in CMP's Summer Lovin' Blog Hop, Crescent Moon Press, Giveaway, Life

cmpbloghop

 

Crescent Moon Press authors are ready for summer! We’ll be blogging about our summer loves, our romances, and how much we love summer! Have you ever had a summer fling? Do you have a favorite book about summer? What’s on your summer reading list? What are some great beach reads? We’re blogging about all of it!

 

Visit our blogs below and enter to win some great prizes between June 14 -17.

 

Grand Prize: A Kindle Paperwhite & some of our eBooks to read on it!

 

1st Prize: A $20 Amazon gift card, and a Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, more eBooks, bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, and more!

This is just some of the awesome swag!
This is just some of the awesome swag!

 

Other Prizes – You’ll have to hop around the other blogs to find out what they are!

 

Drop by our blogs between June 14 & 17 and enter the rafflecopter!

 

Good luck & hope to see you there!

 

Okay, here’s my summer lovin’ post!

 

Schooooooooool’s out for summer! But that’s not the only reason I love this time of year. Sure, I have more time to catch up on life and I can write until my fingertips are bloody, but summer fills me with smiles for other reasons, too. The soaring temperatures, the freedom to do whatever I want, the excited stir in my stomach – it all reminds me of one summer long ago when love grabbed me around the waist and hasn’t let go since.

 

Yes, the ewey, gooey love stuff is about to begin, but you can handle it.

 

One summer in high school, my crush had a birthday party and invited me. After some high-pitched squeezing, I went, of course, and I sat next to a guy from out of town who I’d never met before. He was the drummer in my crush’s band, but that was all I knew. As we sat there, he kept showing me pictures of recent concerts he’d gone to and cracking me up with every bizarre thing that fell out of his mouth. He was strange in a just-like-me sort of way, and he had the prettiest green eyes I’d ever seen. And that smile…wow. I was a total goner. (He must’ve been a goner, too, because he’s sitting just a few feet away as I type this, many years after this happened.)

 

But anyway, he lived out of town, about six hours away to be exact. So, I would only get to see him during summers when he came to visit his dad (who happened to live in town) and to visit and practice with his band. Summers became the best time ever for that exact reason.

 

In between summers, we wrote letters back and forth. Real letters with paper and pencil since these were the pre-email and pre-texting days. If you guessed that I’m at least five hundred years old, you’re absolutely right!

 

I still have all the letters he sent me. He’d write about random things he was doing or planning to do, school projects, or odd things he’d seen. He would illustrate his letters with funny drawings in the margins. Getting one of his letters in the mail was almost as great as summer.

 

I graduated high school and went to college where he lived, and then we didn’t have to rely on summers or letters anymore after that. We had the rest of our lives.

 

Your turn! What’s your favorite summer memory? Leave your answer with your name and email for a chance to win a $5 gift card to the bookstore of your choice!

 

Here’s the link to the Rafflecopter: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to hop around the blogs below for more chances to win!

Shawna Romkey Author blog
Constance Phillips, A Writer’s Musings
Katie O’Sullivan;
Summer Lovin’ – On Olympus…
Kate’s Blog
Kary Rader
Lindsey R. Loucks
Summer Lovin’, postcards, and maybe bookmarks
Jody A Kessler Summer Lovin’ Mountain Style
Official Website of Maer Wilson
Author Jean Murray ~ Wicked Romance Blog
Summer Lovin’ Heat
Hildie McQueen’ s Author Site
Loni Lynne’s Blog Site
Author Avery Olive Blog
Wendy S. Russo
Cindy Young-Turner
Michelle Clay – The Darkside of Romance
the Marvelous Misadventures of Mrs. t
Shannon Eckrich

No Cops Were Called – Behind the Scenes of My Book Trailer

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Book Trailer, Crescent Moon Press, Jesse, Procrastination, The Grave Winner, Washington DC, What Gifts She Carried

Last summer when I should have been writing book two of the The Grave Winner series, I decided instead to make a book trailer. I borrowed my boyfriend’s shiny new camera/video camera and skipped out into the backyard with it and a pitcher of water. The water wasn’t for drinking, though I probably should have since it was August. Triple digit heat sucks. Did I mention I live in Hell?

 

Anyway, I scooped some mud up onto the porch and poured the pitcher of water on it to – you guessed it – make mud! But I had to work fast because the water was already being sucked into the hot air by that silly thing called evaporation. I mushed my hands into the mud and proceeded to slather myself with it. Because, you see, I needed to turn myself into a zombie who’s just come back from the dead. Then I had to take a picture of myself walking all zombified. Because that’s what I do on hot afternoons.

Here are my sexy zombie legs. I guess I’m also part vampire. Look at all that pale!
You can kind of see my owl tattoo on my right ankle.
You can kind of see my owl tattoo on my right ankle.

I don’t have a fence in my backyard, so it’s quite possible my neighbors wondered what the deuce I was up to. Perhaps they knew I was just some crazy, procrastinating writer. Or maybe they thought I was really a zombie. Either way, no one called the cops, so yay!

 

After I cleaned myself up, I came inside and started messing around with Intelli-Studio. It’s this movie making program that came with BF’s camera. He’d used it previously to produce videos of our Washington, D.C. vacation and of our cat being silly. So, since he’d already given me a one-minute tutorial, I set to work on arranging the pictures and video in the order I wanted.

 

It turned out I probably could’ve used more than a minute long tutorial because apparently Intelli-Studio is for intelligent people, and I can only count to monkey. But I can be crazy stubborn, so I guess that helped me kind of figure it out. The program does have some cool bells and whistles and stuff, which is why I refused to switch to an easier to use program. Did I mention I’m stubborn?

 

The photos and videos I’d taken weren’t going to be enough for what I envisioned, so I scoured the internet for royalty free websites. I found everything I needed at www.canstockphoto.com. Not everything is free there, but the forest chase video, the kiss, and the scary lady were so perfect, I thought it was worth it to shell out a few bucks.

 

Now, I knew I wanted some movement with the scary lady picture because she’s pretty important. You can download Photo Story for free, and it lets you create movement with your pictures like zooming in on scary people so it feels like they’re chasing you. It’s not terribly difficult to use either.

 

By the time I got to this point, school had started and my book trailer production got pushed to the back burner. Then my computer died. All the work I’d done vanished. I blame Intelli-Studio for not letting me save my project anywhere other than the actual program. Guess how many four letter words I said on that day…

 

Luckily, I did still have all my pictures and everything I bought from canstockphoto.com saved to my flash drive. So, I started rebuilding everything. I was almost finished, but I needed my book cover, which I didn’t have yet, and some creepy music to make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you watched the video.

 

That’s when I found Incompetech.com.   I could spend hours at Incompetech! The catalog is giant, the music is high quality, and you can filter your search by genre or feel. I found two songs that were so perfect, I donated money to the website even though it’s all free. I also found the perfect ending sound to the video at freesound.org.

 

But guess what happened next? Since Intelli-Studio had it in for me from day zero, it picked up a glitch at Glitchville and threw it in my face by deleting my entire project. Oh, the words I said. The things I threw. To be honest, I probably should have called the cops on myself. BF and the kitty slinked around on top of the eggshells that spotted our floor for hours.

 

Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I started again at the beginning. You’d think I’d learn to switch programs! Give up! Have someone else do it! But no.

 

When I got my amazing book cover, I added it to my book trailer and was pretty much done. I declared it finally finished when I threw it up onto Youtube.

 

If you’re asking if I will ever make another book trailer again, the answer is NO! But I think it did turn out pretty great. Here it is in all its glory:  

Summer, Mermaids, and 13 Questions With @OkatieO

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Contests, Crescent Moon Press, Katie O'Sullivan, Son of a Mermaid, Summer

It’s almost summer time!!! What better way to celebrate the final week of school (at least for me) than with a fun interview with author Katie O’Sullivan? There is no better way, so let’s go!

 

Me: The zombie apocalypse is here. You’re going to fight them off with the first thing you see on your left. What is it?

Katie: Umm, that would be the Girl Scout patches my daughter earned for selling cookies. (She helpfully stuck them on my desk so I could sew them for her.) I’m not sure how that would help with zombies though… guess I’m a goner.

 

Me: HA! Well, maybe the zombies will be so impressed with your daughter’s accomplishments that they’ll leave you alone! Did you learn anything today? If so, what?

Katie: That I need to be better prepared for the zombie apocalypse!

 

Me: LOL! How do you like your vampires: not at all, sparkly, wearing a cape, or drinking blood from bottles?

Katie: Blood from bottles, definitely. (Erik is pretty yummy in the books and on HBO both!)

 

Me: *sighs* Oh, Erik. Can I please be your Sookie Stackhouse? Where did the idea for Son of a Mermaid come from?

Katie: My middle child and I were walking the dogs on the beach one day and we found a strange beach stone with a hole cut through the center. We started making up a story about the mermaid who lost it and what she was doing so close to shore… and it sort of took off from there.

 

Me: That is so cool! What’s something about yourself that really annoys you?

Katie: My packrat tendencies. I’d like to blame it all on my husband, but I think I’m guilty too. I wish I could just let go of stuff!

 

Me: I can relate. Sometimes I think I’m nearing an episode of Hoarders with my packrat habits. Other than your release day, what is something you’re really looking forward to?

Katie: The City of Bones movie theater release. But I have to wait all summer!!

 

Me: I read the book, but I felt kind of “meh” about it. Anyway, what’s the name of the book you’re reading?

Katie: The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green.

 

Me: I need to read that one! So many books…so many books… What scares you?

Katie: Cows & Cows & Cows. And spiders.

 

Me: THAT WAS THE WEIRDEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN! Ditto on the spiders. Pop or soda or soda pop or Coke?

Katie: Soda. But I don’t drink it anyway.

 

Me: That’s a healthy way to be. Why do you write?

Katie: It’s fun to create different worlds and characters and see the stories in my head come to life!

 

Me: What’s the last song you listened to on purpose?

Katie: Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls. And my son’s Black Keys CD.

 

Me: What is your favorite salty treat?

Katie: Cape Cod brand potato chips.

 

Me: What makes you laugh?

Katie: My kids. And stupid jokes, like those involving grammar humor. Or elephant jokes.

 

Awesome. Here’s a bit more about Katie and her book Son of a Mermaid:

 

SonofaMermaid_FrontCover

SON OF A MERMAID, by Katie O’Sullivan

 

Published May 2013 by Crescent Moon Press

YA fantasy romance

 

 

Book Blurb:

 

Shea MacNamara’s life just got complicated.

 

After a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, the fifteen-year-old orphan moves to Cape Cod to live with a grandmother he’s never met. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he meets a girl along the shore who changes his life forever.

 

Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders. The daughter of royal servants, she knows the planned marriage of her Princess to the foreign King should put an end to the war between the clans. Two things stand in the way of lasting peace: an ambitious Regent and rumors of a half-human child who will save the oceans.

 

Sparks fly when she meets Shea, but could the cute drylander really be the Son of a Mermaid?

 

 

About the Author:

 

Katie O’Sullivan lives with her family and big dogs next to the ocean on Cape Cod, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust. She writes YA and romantic suspense novels, and works as an editor making other people’s words sparkle. For the last four years, she’s been the Editor of CapeWomenOnline.com magazine and writes a column entitled “The Write Way.”

 

She hopes her debut YA novel, SON OF A MERMAID, will make a big splash this summer, engaging young readers with a Cape Cod tale of a boy who discovers both his roots and his destiny far below the waters of Nantucket Sound.

 

Find Katie online:

Follow her Blog – http://katieosullivan.blogspot.com

Like her on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKatieOSullivan

Find her on Twitter – https://twitter.com/OkatieO

Check out her website at http://www.katie-osullivan.com

Add Son of a Mermaid on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17184560-son-of-a-mermaid

Doesn’t that book cover just make you want to jump right in? Aww, summer!

Katie is also giving away some prizes to celebrate her release, including this gorgeous necklace!

BelieveNecklace

Want! To enter the contest, just enter your info into the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Oh, wait! I almost forgot that I’m over at Katie’s blog today for an interview! You should totally go check it out. 🙂

 

Dear Book I Wrote…

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Book Birthday, Crescent Moon Press, Happy Dance, The Grave Winner

Single tree in field during winter 2

 

Well, today is your big day! How does it feel? Are you nervous? Excited? Are you going to spew? Please don’t.

 

I’m proud of you even though you’ve prevented me from sleeping for about two months. I really wish I was exaggerating, but no. How many hours have I spent thinking about you, plotting you, getting feedback from you, worrying that you suck? Plenty, and I did most of that while I should’ve been sleeping. Sleep is for wusses though, right?

 

With my eyes half-open, I still think you look so pretty in your gorgeous cover. People tell me you look creepy all the time, and some even give me weird looks that I’m even associated with you. They’ll never understand our love. But some people won’t love you. In fact, some will hate you with a capital HATE. It’s cool, though. We’ll always have each other. Just keep being your gorgeous self.

 

I sometimes talk about the people living inside you like they’re real, which also elicit weird looks from some. That won’t stop me from doing it, though. To me, they are real, and if that makes me sound like a nut case, then maybe that store called Whaty-Whats really does sell straight jackets. Remember the smell of that store? Yum.

 

Anyway, I’m done rambling. Enjoy your book birthday. 🙂

 

Lindsey

 

The Grave Winner releases TODAY from Crescent Moon Press. As of this writing, it’s only available on Kindle, but will be available in paperback and other formats soon.

 

I have a lot of events coming up, so maybe you’ll see me around! Here’s the schedule:

 

Also, have you seen the trailer yet? I plan on doing a ‘making of’ post in the near future.

 

13 Questions With @MaerWilson

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Crescent Moon Press, Maer Wilson, relics

Before we get to the lovely Maer Wilson, I’d like to announce the winner of the free e-copy of J. Andrew Jansen’s The Priestess, The Protector. Drumroll, please! The winner is Lisa Carroll! Lisa, we’ll be in touch!

 

Now, here’s the lovely Maer Wilson, author of Relics, who will answer thirteen of my nutty questions. Let’s go!

 

Me: What’s something about you that really annoys you?

Maer: My luck. When it’s bad, anyway. I’ll go along with great good luck for ages and then hit a stint where I can count on Murphy moving in and taking over. Then I just have to be very careful about everything and hope I’ll escape mostly intact.

 

Me: What’s the name of the book you’re reading?

Maer: I have a couple books going at the moment. One book, The Grave Winner, you might have heard of that one (wink, wink) and Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza.

 

Me: Grave Winner? Nope, never heard of it. 😉 Why do you write?

Maer: Because my characters will give me a headache if I ignore them too long. I can feel them tap-tap-tapping away, waiting for me to get on with it already.

 

Me: I hear you. Did you learn anything today? If so, what?

Maer: Today I learned that my dog is actually listening when I say, “No, you can’t go this trip.” Sometimes when she sees me get ready to leave she will go to the bag where her leash is and nudge it. Even after I say, “No” she will keep pointing to it with her nose as if perhaps I didn’t understand her. Today, she took me at my word and wandered off. I’m taking that as a win.

 

Me: Your poor doggy just wants to be with you! Spring or fall?

Maer: Spring for all the lovely green things here in the desert. Well, the lovely green things on my street anyway.

 

Me: What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

Maer: My dogs. They are my four-legged kids.

 

Me: Yep. My kid is my cat. If you were a comic book character, would you be a superhero or a villain? Why?

Maer: Superhero. I have a tendency to want to help people. So, I could totally get into that. Although I play the villain when I game in MMOs. It’s very therapeutic.

 

Me: Cool! Name a movie/book title that best describes your life.

Maer: Definitely, Maybe

 

Me: What scares you?

Maer: When the dogs bark really late at night, I get a little edgy.

 

Me: Here’s a free plane ticket! Where do you want to go?

Maer: Thanks, Lindsey! Australia, please! Want to come with?

 

Me: My suitcase is waiting by the door! What’s the last song you listened to on purpose?

Maer: Adiemus performing “Song of Tears”.

 

Me: What is your favorite holiday?

Maer: Halloween. I love the costumes.

 

Me: Halloween is my absolute favorite, too! What makes you laugh?

Maer: My dogs. The chihuahua is mellowing out since she’s thirteen, but my poodle, Chloe is something else. She is so smart and she comes up with some of the silliest things at times. She’s great at entertaining herself and me.

Thanks again, Lindsey! Fun questions!

 

You’re welcome any time, Maer!

 

Here’s a bit more about Maer and Relics:

 

maer

 

Author bio:

 

After a successful career being other people, and later teaching others the many tricks of that trade, Maer Wilson has decided to be herself for a while. Turns out she’s a writer. She’s always loved stories, especially fantasy, mystery and sci fi. She has a dragon-themed room in her home, but sadly no dragons in the back yard. When she’s not writing, Maer plays online video games, teaches college and reads. She lives in the high desert of Southern Nevada with her two dogs, a chihuahua and a poodle. Relics is her first novel.

 

Links:

http://maerwilson.com/

https://twitter.com/MaerWilson

Relics 1330x2000

When the creatures of myth and magic return to Earth, they’re nothing like your mother’s fairy tales.

Most of Thulu and La Fi’s clients are dead. Which is perfect since their detective agency caters to the supernatural. So, a job finding relics for an ancient daemon is simple.

The daemon needs the relics to keep a dangerous portal closed. His enemy, Gabriel, wants the relics to open the portal and give his people access to a new feeding ground – Earth.

Hoping to create chaos, Gabriel opens portals to other worlds and the creatures of magic return to Earth, stunning humanity with their existence.

When Gabriel threatens their family, Thulu and La Fi’s job becomes personal. They’ll need powerful allies in the race to find the relics before Gabriel does. But maybe that’s what grateful dead, magical allies and daemonic clients are for.

 

Also, go here for a chance to win a free copy of Relics or a Kindle!!

 

Happy Book Birthday to #Taste by @KateEvangelista

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Book Birthday, Contests, Crescent Moon Press, Giveaway, Kate Evangelista, Liliana Sanches, Taste

Taste Birthday

My Crescent Moon Press sister, Kate Evangelista, is celebrating a book birthday for her YA novel Taste. One year ago today, it was released into the world!

To celebrate her book birthday, she’s throwing a major party with a giveaway! The giveaway is for readers to take a picture of the most interesting place where they read Taste, whether paperback or ereader.  The most interesting pictures win. Winners will be announced on May 11.

First prize is an Amazon Gift Card for $30, $20 for second, and $10 for third. For more information, visit her blog!

Here’s more about Taste:

 

At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

 

When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

 

 

Author Bio:

 

kate

 

When Kate Evangelista was told she had a knack for writing stories, she did the next best thing: entered medical school. After realizing she wasn’t going to be the next Doogie Howser, M.D., Kate wandered into the Literature department of her university and never looked back. Today, she is in possession of a piece of paper that says to the world she owns a Literature degree. To make matters worse, she took Master’s courses in creative writing. In the end, she realized to be a writer, none of what she had mattered. What really mattered? Writing. Plain and simple, honest to God, sitting in front of her computer, writing. Today, she has four completed Young Adult novels.

 

Author Website: www.kateevangelista.com

Twitter: @KateEvangelista

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Evangelista/165693410143202

Find Taste on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13484226-taste

Crescent Moon Press page for Taste: http://crescentmoonpress.com/books/Taste.html

 

Purchase Links:

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taste-ebook/dp/B007Z1AC78

 

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taste-kate-evangelista/1110599907?ean=9781937254551

 

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Taste/book-Q8M5pIKoJkKLo_FgBJ_BOQ/page1.html?s=vUVZkfrXZUeDOQXRE7MhuA&r=4

 

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Taste-Kate-Evangelista/9781937254551

Official Taste Cover

Oh, and here’s a juicy bit of information: The same amazing cover artist designed Kate’s Taste and my The Grave Winner! Liliana Sanches rocks!

Queen of Jastain by @KaryRader

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Crescent Moon Press, Kary Rader, Queen of Jastain

Two days ago, Crescent Moon Press released Kary Rader’s Queen of Jastain out into the wild. Let’s all just stare at the gorgeous cover for a moment. *sigh*

QoJlarge

 

Kary says, “Queen of Jastain is an Epic Fantasy Romance I began writing over two years ago. This story is so close to my heart and I’m all gooey and giddy inside to share it. You can find out more about the individual characters HERE on my website which also includes a map of the world.”

 

I love books with maps. They make the fantasy world so much more authentic. Here’s the blurb:

 

The Light brought her to him, but does he have the faith to make her his queen?

For twenty years, Avant plotted revenge against the dark king, but when a mysterious woman suddenly appears, everything changes. Although his prophetic Gift reveals she’s the Seed of Light chosen to restore the Crown, his overwhelming attraction to the women threatens his long-held plan for revenge and two decades of fidelity.

 

 

Abby Randall is inexplicably transported from Dallas to the medieval land of Jastain. There she meets Avant, who claims she’s the foretold champion of his people. While the hot guy has her hormones pumping, his crazy talk of defeating an evil king leaves questions to his sanity. Through his supernatural Gift, Avant transplants his memories into her, but neither are prepared for how their hearts intertwine.

 

 

Together they embark on their quest, but when Abby and Avant come face to face with destiny, will they sacrifice what matters most to provide a happily-ever-after for the people of Jastain?

 

 

Excerpt:

 

When Avant climbed back to the cave, his hair was wet. He’d slicked it back from his face and tied it into a little ponytail with a leather string. The sexy shadow of a light beard softened his angular jaw, and the thick waves of his hair shined with chestnut highlights in the morning sun. It was a good look for him, but then again, what wasn’t? Abby ran her fingers through her own tangled tresses and pulled her hair back. What she wouldn’t give for a hairclip.

 

“Would you like a thong for your hair?”

 

She giggled at the word thong, certain that what she pictured was not what he referenced. “Do you have an extra one? I’d like to get it out of my face, and I don’t have anything.” Actually she had her own thong, but she sure as hell wasn’t putting it in her hair.

 

He immediately unlaced the tie at the neck of his shirt and handed it to her.

 

She gasped and put a hand to her face to hide the heat in her cheeks as his shirt fell open below his breast bone. “You don’t have to do that.”

 

Her blood coursed wildly at the sight of the smooth muscles of his chest. A soft sprinkling of dark hair beckoned her fingers. She swallowed hard.

 

 “It’s all right. Please use it. It will be a hard day’s journey with hair in your face.” His words rang in her mind so sincerely she forgot her embarrassment, but her eyes kept flitting to his heavenly chest.

 

“Thank you, Avant, and not only for the lace but for everything you’re doing to help me.”

 

Holding her gaze, he nodded once, and her heart fluttered. Was it getting warm in the cave? She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.

 

 “It is time to be off if we are to make it to the next shelter before nightfall.” He picked up his pack and walked to the mouth of the cave. She grabbed her bag and followed.

 

Climbing down proved to be more difficult than going up. The muscles required to lower herself from one level to the next worked her thighs and butt like no gym equipment she’d ever experienced. It was like doing hours of squats. She trudged down the mountain with the previous day’s tumult weighting her down like the “freshman ten.” Avant helped her along on the steeper steps, but, for the most part, she made them on her own, clippity-clopping in those damned Docinis all the way.

 

When he reached the bottom, he disappeared around an outcropping. Abby took the last little step to the base and hurried after him. As she turned the corner, Avant grabbed her arm and spun her around. Driving her back against the rock, he pressed the length of his rigid body against her. His face, barely three inches from hers, clenched in thin lines of stress. Her heart raced…with fear.

 

She was pretty sure it was fear.

 

 

Whew! That’s some great tension!

 

Kary’s bio:

Kary Profile Pic

 

Kary Rader is a part-time Twitter sage, stay-at-home mother of three, and slave to the characters and worlds inside her head. Always creative, she’s drawn to stories with fantastical worlds and creatures. With a little bit of magic and divine guidance, there isn’t anything that can’t be accomplished with words. It’s the power of words that creates and destroys. Vanquishing evil and injustice while finding eternal love in the process is all in a day’s work. With the help of her critique partners and master cartographer imaginary places come to life.

 

You can find her at:

www.karyrader.com

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#petthecover – Relics by @MaerWilson

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Crescent Moon Press, Maer Wilson, Pet the Cover, relics

Oh, the pretty!

 

Relics 1330x2000

Book Blurb

Most of Thulu and La Fi’s clients are dead. Which is perfect since their detective agency caters to the supernatural. So, a job finding relics for an ancient daemon should be simple.

The daemon needs the relics to keep a dangerous portal closed. His enemy, Gabriel, wants the relics to open the portal and give his people access to a new feeding ground – Earth.

Stunning humanity with their existence, portals to other worlds begin to open and the creatures of magic return to Earth.

When Gabriel threatens their family, Thulu and La Fi’s search becomes personal. The couple will need powerful allies in the race to find the relics before Gabriel does. But maybe that’s what grateful dead, magical allies and daemonic clients are for.

When the creatures of myth and magic return to Earth, they’re nothing like your mother’s fairy tales.

 

Maer’s Bio

After a successful career being other people, and later teaching others the many tricks of that trade, Maer Wilson has decided to be herself for a while. Turns out she’s a writer. She’s always loved stories, especially fantasy, mystery and sci fi. Maer was born in the Year of the Dragon and has a dragon-themed room in her home, but sadly no dragons in the back yard. When she’s not writing, Maer plays online video games, teaches college and reads. She also co-hosts the literary podcast, “MythBehaving” and writes for two gaming fansites. She lives in the high desert of Southern Nevada with her two dogs, a chihuahua and a poodle. Relics is her first novel and will be released by Crescent Moon Press on May 1, 2013. You can visit her website at maerwilson.com.

 

Links

Maer’s Website: http://maerwilson.com/

Maer’s Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maer-Wilson-Author/149085628472833

Maer’s Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MaerWilson

Relics at Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17767013-relics

13 Questions With @JodyAKessler

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Crescent Moon Press, Death Lies Between Us, Jody Kessler

Hello, everybody! Today I have the lovely Jody Kessler, author of Death Lies Between Us, with us, and she’s agreed to be interrogated! Yay, Jody!

 

Here we go!

 

1. What is your favorite smell? Grape candy. Grape has been my favorite since I was born. I don’t eat fake grape flavoring anymore, but I love the smell.

 

2. Very interesting. Would you rather live in a mountain hideaway or a beach house? Okay, both. I already live in a mountain hideaway, so can I have a beach house too? The ocean calls my name all the time. I’m a Pisces, I can’t help it.

 

3. You can have a beach house too only if I can come visit. What’s your favorite drink? Grape. Did I already use that answer? So, just for today, I’m really enjoying hot black tea with cream and sugar — simple and yummy.

 

4. Cats or dogs?  Dogs. Cat hair makes me want to scratch my face off.

 

5. Cats will sometimes scratch your face off for you! Did you learn anything today? If so, what?  Mentos in diet coke does not always explode. Apparently you have to have the correct ratio. My four year old was learning this with me earlier. And, by the way, vinegar and baking soda will shoot up like a geyser. (We’ve been making volcanoes for the last few days.)

 

6. That sounds like great fun! What makes you laugh? Being silly with my kid. His laugh always makes me laugh. It’s the greatest sound in the universe.

 

7. That is so sweet. Do you watch sports? Why or why not? I have a hard time watching most sports. It doesn’t hold my interest and I am the least competitive person in the world. That being said, I have an unwarranted passion for ice hockey and WRC rally car racing.

 

8. What’s the last movie you watched? Watch movies? Who has time for that? It’s been a while, but I think it was Pirates! Band of Misfits. I kinda dig claymation.

 

9. Here’s a free plane ticket! Where would you like to go? Ireland, Iceland, and Scotland. I have a weird obsession with that area of the world. And thanks, I’ve been dying to go there for some time now. (I’ve been to Scotland once, but I really want to go back.) My latest work in progress has a twisted misadventure in Northern Ireland. It’s been fun to write characters and scenes there.

 

10. Take me with you! What’s something about yourself that really annoys you? I can be a bit obsessive. I usually know when I’m doing it, and I still can’t stop. It’s typically something trivial, like not being able to find my favorite pen or trying to rid my couch of dog hair.

 

11. I can relate to that. What’s the name of the book you’re reading? Oooh, I’m currently reading an ARC of Relics by Maer Wilson. It’s due out in May. I feel special because I get to read it before anyone else does. I have another pre-release that I’m excited about. The Grave Winner. I think you may be familiar with that one.

😉

 

12. I may have heard of that title somewhere… Summer or winter? Summer!!!!  I’m not opposed to winter. I live at 8,600 ft. and winter lasts about 7-8 months. After that long, the cold gets annoying and a few warm months are really nice.

 

13.  Why do you write?  If I don’t write, I turn into a scary beast that nags, complains, and cleans house — obsessively, of course.

Thanks, Lindsey, for having me over at your place.

 

Any time, Jody. Any time. 😀

 

So that was the wonderful Jody. Here’s a bit more about Death Lies Between Us.

deathlies

Blurb

 

Saving the life of someone you love should not be the worst thing you have ever done, unless you are an Angel of Death.

 

Disgruntled with his position in the afterlife and conflicted by his feelings toward his new client, Nathaniel Evans forgoes the rules and saves nineteen year old Juliana Crowson from being hopelessly stuck in Forge Creek. This alters Juliana’s destiny and she finds herself in a series of near death accidents.

 

In the mountains of Colorado, Nathaniel comforts Juliana as she struggles to understand her paranormal abilities while coping with her brother’s drug addiction. When an ill-tempered Native American Shaman teaches her the difference between ghosts and place memories, she decides she wants nothing to do with the supernatural world. Too bad she doesn’t know that Nathaniel is part of it.

 

Will fate bring these two together, or has Nathaniel made the biggest mistake of his afterlife?

 

jody

Bio

Jody A. Kessler enjoys writing paranormal novels and is a member of Pikes Peak Writers.  She is a yoga instructor, Reiki Master, and a graduate from the Colorado Institute of Massage Therapy. When she took an extended leave from her massage practice to stay at home with her newborn she returned to her first true passion —writing. She spends most of her time being a mother, writing, and teaching yoga, but also likes going to concerts, hiking, practicing herbal medicine, and reading anything that catches her interest. Jody lives in the mountains of Colorado with her family.

 

She welcomes visitors to her website www.jodyakessler.com

 

Buy a copy on Amazon

 

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