I’ve got another great indie author for you this morning – Mary Bernsen, and her novel “Healing the Bayou”

Mary Bernsen is a southwest Florida native currently living in Punta Gorda with her two beautiful children and a third, much larger child that she affectionately calls husband. She is a stay-at-home mother and spends her days creating characters on the good side of twenty-five because she is in serious denial about the fact that she is now on the bad side of it. She has a passion for fantasy of any kind along with historical fiction. If she isn’t having conversations with her made-up friends, you can usually find her clipping coupons or out on the boat enjoying the muddy waters of Peace River (as long as it isn’t below 80 degrees).

You can follow her at all her links:

Facebook

Twitter

Her blog

Goodreads

And the book is “Healing the Bayou”

After learning that she is adopted, Eliza sets off to locate her biological family and finds them in the Louisiana bayou. But they’re more than just locals—they’re descended from the area’s most famous Voodoo queen, Marie Laveau—Eliza’s great-great-grandmother. Surrounded by a mysterious world of séances, spells, and sacrifices, Eliza finds herself worshiped as the last great priestess. What’s more, she’s inherited the ability to heal the souls of others with a simple touch of her hands.

Eliza is expected to cultivate this gift so she can claim her title as Queen and return the Voodoo community to glory. A task Eliza wouldn’t mind as long as she could perform it beside the devastating Samuel Mueller. But according to tradition, Samuel is her keeper, and a keeper never becomes romantically involved with his ward. His sacred duty is to protect her. And the bayou is rife with enemies who would sacrifice anything to eliminate outsiders like Eliza..

You can buy it at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

And you can read more about it at Goodreads.

And, last but not least, Mary’s provided us with an excerpt from the book!

The simplicity in his words stung. It didn’t matter how he did or didn’t feel about me. Even if Vivian had been right and he was in love with me, he would follow these people to the ends of the earth because that is what he has been trained to do. It took the workings of a cult at its finest to keep a man from his own happiness. Only a day ago I was ready to jump into this fire myself if it meant being with him.

But now, I had no reason at all to stay here. I couldn’t trust the only relative I had, and there was no pillow of love to fall back on either. And still I couldn’t make my feet move. The thought of never seeing Samuel again was enough to paralyze me. Torn between walking away from the only man I had ever let myself get close to loving, and staying despite not ever having a future with him, I could not make myself decide.

“They won’t let you leave.”

I let out a breathy whimper at the threat. Dumbfounded by the audacity, I’d had enough to push me over the edge. He was trying to intimidate me into staying and I wouldn’t be bullied by him or any of the rest of them.

“Get out of my way.”

He didn’t. Instead, he took a step closer and moved his face only a breath’s distance from mine. Holding my breath to keep from inhaling his aroma, I could recognize that he knew he was my weakness.  I refused to let him exploit it.

“Listen to me.” He spoke slowly and deliberately. “They will not let you leave. You’re the first bit of hope these people have had in ages and they’re not about to let you walk away from your responsibilities.”

The way he spoke in such a sinister voice frightened me, and despite banishing the admission from my thoughts to hide it, he still read it in my eyes.

by

I’m very excited – the first reviews for “Dream Home” are up!

It got FIVE STARS from the Paranormal Romance Guild!

I’ve had the same reviewer for all seven books, and she’s given FIVE STARS to five of them (the two she didn’t were “Dream Student” and “Dream Family”)

And it’s live (as a paperback – Kindle won’t be ready until the end of the week) on Amazon, and there’s already a review there, too!

by

With the launch of DREAM HOME coming up in just three days, I figured I’d take stock of where the books are right now…

Sales-wise, I’ve sold 1,982 copies of all the books.  This breaks down to:

DREAM STUDENT – 943

DREAM DOCTOR – 309

DREAM CHILD – 326

DREAM FAMILY – 242

WAKING DREAM – 56

DREAM REUNION – 34

A BOX OF DREAMS – 53

BETTY & HOWARD’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE – 18

And by format:

Kindle 1,801

Other eBook (Barnes & Noble, Apple iBookstore, etc) – 14

Audiobook – 130

Paperback – 37

And as for the future books…

I’ve got 8,500 words and almost two full chapters on book #8, DREAM VACATION.  I’ve also got 12,000 words on book #9, SHATTERED DREAM, and one of the twelve stories for the Christmas anthology completed.  So that’s where we are at the moment!

by

In just seven days, the seventh book of the Dream Series, “Dream Home”, will be released…

But if you don’t want to wait that long, you have a chance to see the book early.  How, you ask?

Simple, I answer!  Just leave a comment to this post, and after 24 hours, I’ll pick a winner from all the comments I receive, and that lucky winner will get an advance copy of “Dream Home” to read a week early!  Be the envy of all your friends and neighbors!  Beat the crowds!  And all it takes is one simple comment…

by

I’ve got another fantastic indie author for you to meet this morning…say hello to Teshelle Combs…

Teshelle Combs is the award winning author of the YA action/romance novel, ‘The System,” and contemporary fantasy novel, “Core.” She’s one of those crazies who majored in English in college and works as a full-time writer.  Teshelle grew up in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and currently lives with her musico hubby, Nate Combs, and their baby boy, Jaxter in Cape Coral, FL.

You can follow her at:

• Amazon:

• Facebook

• Website: http://teshellecombs.com/

• Twitter:

• Goodreads:

• Email: teshellecombs@gmail.com

And here’s her book!

1 + 1 = Dead.

That’s the only math that adds up when you’re in the System.

Everywhere Nick turns, he’s surrounded by the inevitability of his own demise at the hands of the people who stole his life from him. That is, until those hands deliver the bleeding, feisty, eye-rolling Nessa Parker. Tasked with keeping his new partner alive, Nick must face all the ways he’s died and all the things he’s forgotten.

Nessa might as well give up. The moment she gets into that car, the moment she lays her hazel eyes on her new partner, her end begins. It doesn’t matter that Nick Masters can slip through time by computing mathematical algorithms in his mind. It doesn’t matter how dark and handsome and irresistibly cold he is. Nessa has to defeat her own shadows.

Together and alone, Nick and Nessa make sense of their senseless fates and fight for the courage to change it all. Even if it means the System wins and they end up…well…dead.

You can buy it on Amazon – just CLICK HERE!   Her first book, “Core”, is also available on Amazon.

And here’s an excerpt for you!

From Chapter 6: Nick Masters

My dream was perfect terror.

I was reliving it, every minute of it, all of it. My knees buckled when I saw Travis, his hair clutched between Collins’ fingers. His eyes were wide, his mouth open as he gasped for air. His freckles stood out boldly against his face, the color draining from it. I screamed when Collins brought his fist down into his face. The blood was dark red as it leaked from his nose. Then Collins lifted the pistol to his forehead.

I clawed at the glass that was keeping him from me. Glass. A pathetic sheet of glass. That was all that held me back. Enough for me to see him, too much for me to get through.

I begged. God, I begged. “Please, God. Not him. Me instead. Please, me instead.” And I shattered the glass, just in time. My hand reached through the shards, ripping a hole that I could fit through. Just in time.

Then the gentle click of the trigger.

I knew I was screaming for real. I knew I wasn’t back at the annex and that I had been dreaming. I knew I was lying on the floor between the beds in our motel. But reality couldn’t stop the sound from tearing through my throat.

I sat up so fast that I knocked the lamp off the table behind me. Air was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t get enough of it into my lungs at once. I heard Nessa shouting, trying to hold on to me, trying to get me to calm down. Then the vomit took over. I leaned forward as it came, wishing I could quit heaving, quit puking.

I got to the bathroom as fast as I could and buried my face in the tap water. I brushed my teeth until my gums bled. I didn’t dare look at myself in the mirror that hung over the sink, because I knew it wouldn’t be me looking back. Instead, I searched for my store of the solution I’d made, fumbled my vial a couple times and retrieved it from the sink. Finally, added just a drop to each eye. The familiar burn didn’t make Travis’ face look any farther away. I could still see it every time I blinked. Just a sheet of glass between us. I touched the scar that ran from the tip of my middle finger all the way to my elbow. Somehow it had never healed. It never would.

The longer I lived, the closer to hell I sunk. My whole life was quicksand, every decision a move that left me one ounce of air left to breathe. I tried to search myself for what I thought remorse was supposed to feel like. I should have been crying. I should have been ripping my hair out of my scalp for what I did to Holden. But all I felt was silence in the pit of my stomach. There was nothing left. None of me left to give to Holden’s memory. The System had taken it all when they took Travis.

The sun was threatening to rise when I ventured out of the bathroom. The vomit I’d left behind was pretty much gone. It couldn’t have been Chloe or Mia who’d cleaned it up, since they were both passed out drunk on one of the beds, their arms tangled together, mascara streaked down both of their faces. I wondered if they knew.

My partner didn’t say a word. The curtains parted, she was looking out the window as the sky turned from black to gray. I wondered if she thought it was beautiful. Then, I wondered if she thought she was beautiful.

When she heard me behind her, she didn’t tell me I was messed up or that I needed help. She didn’t jump or gasp or flinch or run. Instead, she leaned back into me, just a little, just enough for me to rest my chin against her hair.

She let the curtain fall closed as she turned and pressed against me. She slid her arms over mine and buried her face against my neck. So I traced her spine with my hands, feeling the smooth skin beneath her t-shirt, hoping I wasn’t hurting her. She touched her lips to my bullet wound and the smallest shock of cold pain followed her, then. I moved her in closer to me, tasted her as the seconds raced by.

She pulled away just as I did, as though we both knew we didn’t mean it. I was surprised that my heart was thudding so hard against my chest. I had to clear my throat, focus on something else, something that didn’t look and feel like her.

I took Holden’s lighter and shook a cigarette loose from the pack. Then I stepped out onto the balcony and watched the smoke curl into the yellow-gray sky. I hoped it would calm me down. Instead, I felt the world tilt a little, like the ground was suddenly uneven. I had made a mistake just then. I could feel it in every bit of me. But it was the good kind of mistake. The worse kind. The kind that made a person want to do it just one more time.

After a few minutes, Nessa stepped outside with me. I handed her my cigarette and she exhaled a steady stream of smoke. Two more drags and she handed it back.

“I hate smoking,” she said. She sat on the edge of the railing, too high up for most people’s comfort. A breeze could knock her right over, and she’d fall to her death. She didn’t look worried though, so I didn’t worry either. A sigh slipped away from her as she kicked her heel against the railing.

“That was a really stupid thing we did in there,” she said

My reply wasn’t coming, and she knew that, so she left me standing on the balcony alone, watching my own smoke diffuse through the air. The ruffle of sheets meant she was in bed and I tried not to imagine what she looked like laying there, her hair spilling across the pillow.

That’s when I knew.  I knew it was too late.

by

I’ve set up a group on Goodreads for the Dream Series.  All you have to do is click RIGHT HERE and you’ll be taken to the group.  You can join and chat with me there.  I’ve set up topics for each of the books (well, I’m still working on that, but the first two books are there now), and I’ll post news in the group as well, and maybe the occasional contest or giveaway.

So check it out!

by

I’ve got another great indie author for you this morning – M.H. Soars and her novel, “The Prophecy of Arcadia”

First, a little about the author:

I like to call myself a United Nations child. I was born in the United States but grew up in several different countries which gave me a broader perspective of life. I’ve always been passionate about books and stories and at a certain point had a comic book series going. With a background in fashion design I always thought I was going to follow that path. But the characters in my head kept begging to be set free. So I decided to write their stories. A couple of years and a baby later, the first installment of my Arcadian Wars series is finally done. I currently reside in New Mexico with my husband and baby daughter. I love to read novels in the YA, PNR, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and Chick Lit genres. When not devouring said novels, you may find me shopping online (I’m an expert), blogging about fashion, or trying to teach my daughter to walk (even though she’s too young for that). If you would like to learn more about me and my projects, visit my Facebook page. Or you can also ‘friend’ me on Goodreads.

You can follow here all over the Internets:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mhsoars

Twitter: @mhsoars

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/mhsoars

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mhsoars

Amazon: http://amzn.to/OLHYzM

And here’s her book…

Being a teenager is tough, especially when you have to pretend to be something you’re not, and you’re in love with someone you shouldn’t. 115 years ago, a small planet called Arcadia was invaded by a vicious alien race and nearly destroyed. Cut off from their resources, the Arcadians turned to Earth for help. A group of Arcadian explorers discovered a Prophecy that claimed their salvation lay in the hands of two children from Earth. To ensure their safety, the Arcadian Council sent their most gifted youngsters to Earth to act as protectors. Samantha is one of them.

To succeed in her mission she must learn to control her Arcadian powers and keep her true identity from her best friend, and the girl she swore to protect, Alexia. But Samantha will soon realize that nothing is as it seems. Someone is trying to prevent the Prophecy from taking place and the prophecy boy hasn’t been found yet. There is also a new drug circulating at school that is turning students into freakishly strong menaces.

To make matters worse, distractions keep getting in her way. Such as her love/hate relationship with her “cousin” Matthew. Or her confused feelings toward popular and mysterious Julian. She wants nothing more than to be free to live her life. But the survival of Arcadia depends on her and her friends. Free will is not an option.

And here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite…

The conversation with Alexia had made me edgy. I walked toward the middle of the room, getting closer to Sam so I could have a clear look at her face. Even though I could tell she was trying to be stoic, I wanted to see if there was any sign that she still cared.

She closed the book she was pretending to read and sat up on her bed, looking at me like I was a nuisance. “You know I don’t want to talk to you. Why do you insist?”

She stood up suddenly, throwing her book on the bed with such force that it bounced and landed on the floor. My gaze followed the book’s trajectory and stayed on it for a few seconds as I tried to control my rampant emotions. Sam’s question hurt, and it subdued my anger a little. I took a deep breath and found her face again.

“Do you even have to ask? How many times do I have to say I’m sorry for what I did to you seven years ago?” My voice came out strained. I was sure she had noticed, but her angry posture didn’t change.

“Just tell me what really happened then. Just tell me, Matt.” She used my nickname — something she only did when she forgot she was supposed to be mad at me. Her voice had a pleading tone to it now, and it gave me hope. I looked into her eyes and saw all the hurt there. I wanted to tell her, I truly did, but I just didn’t know what to tell her.

“Sam,” I said as I carefully approached her. She gasped as I placed my hands on her arms. I looked deep into her eyes. That close, I could see little gray specks in a sea of dark blue. “I, I, can’t tell you,” I finally said.

She pushed me away from her with a powerful shove and I had to take several steps back to regain my balance. “You can’t, or you won’t, Matthew?”

Her own anger fueled mine. I didn’t want to lose it with Sam, but I also wasn’t able to walk away from this conversation now. She had balled her hands into fists, and that did something to me.

I hesitated to tell her the real reason because she probably wouldn’t believe me. But the swell of emotions within me just made me want to yell the truth at her. But how could I tell her that looking at her after the accident made me feel like the most despicable person in the world?

“I can’t tell you because I don’t know why!” I watched her expression change from anger to disbelief and back to anger again in a matter of seconds.

“Bullshit!” she said.

Sam was ready for a fight. Her muscles were tight with anger. The air around us felt charged, like the calm before the storm.

Ignoring the signs that we were escalating this argument beyond our control, I moved closer to her again. But now my movements had a menacing quality to them. I was letting her know she wouldn’t be able to push me away this time as I pleaded my case.

“Why can’t you believe me? Why is it so hard for you to trust me and forgive me?” My temper was rising, and I was starting to feel feverish. I opened and closed my hands, trying to control the rage boiling inside of me. My entire body shook and I knew I had awakened the Phoenix. It didn’t take much these days. Sam had the power to evoke feelings in me that I would rather keep buried.

She took a few steps back until she reached the edge of her bed and couldn’t retreat further. “Because you won’t trust me!”

by

Book #7, “Dream Home”, will be released in just twelve days.  But I’ve got a sneak peek this morning from the next book, #8, which will be out in October.  This is from the very first chapter…

About a month ago, we decided to host a Halloween party, and – stupid me – I mentioned that I thought it would be cure if Brian and I coordinated our costumes.  Mom being Mom, she had an idea right away: we could go as characters from “Navy Cops,” or whatever that show is actually called.

Mom was very excited.  She said that Brian could dress up as Mark Harmon and I could be the peppy, goth-looking forensic scientist.  I had to take her word for all that – I’ve never actually sat down and watched an entire episode.  But apparently it’s very popular.  Dad certainly loves it, and clearly it’s grown on Mom.  Or, maybe, it’s just Mark Harmon that’s grown on Mom, but I’m not saying that out loud.

Anyway, it seemed as good an idea as any, and Brian didn’t really care one way or the other.  I would have done it, but then I had second thoughts when we sat down to try and figure out where to go to actually get the costumes.  I started to feel weird about being a cop, even for just a few hours.  Unpleasant memories started to push their way to the front of my brain, and – well, that was that.

A couple of days later, I was at the hospital, chatting with a patient, and she had the TV on in her room.  She was watching an old rerun of “I Dream of Jeannie” and I had my brainstorm.  Brian could dress up as Major Nelson, and I could be Jeannie.

It sounded like fun, at the time.  And Brian was fine with it.  But, now, looking at myself in the bedroom mirror, I realize just how terrible an idea it was.

I look ridiculous with this awful blonde wig   And Barbara Eden might have been around my age when she played Jeannie, but I don’t have anything like her body.  Our measurements don’t exactly match – I have too much belly and not enough chest to properly wear this outfit!  And, to top it off, I don’t have the faintest idea how they managed to keep her navel covered.  Unless I tape these horrible harem pants to myself, I’m going to be showing my belly button to half the town – not to mention most of my coworkers and all my children’s friends.

This is part of Sneak Peek Sunday – just CLICK HERE to see sneak peeks of work from a whole bunch of other fantastic indie authors!

And you can find the first six books of the Dream Series on Amazon, right HERE!

by

“Dream Doctor” is featured at the very selective Bargain Booksy site today – check it out!

by

I’ve got another great indie author to introduce to you today…J. Woods…

J. Woods is a Toronto based writer, mother, and non-conformist. She lives between the space of her green tea and humming laptop when she isn’t chasing after her free spirited daughter. She has studied too many things to count including radio broadcasting and entrepreneurship. Grasping at sanity, she realized writing stories about her insane thoughts was easier than explaining them to a doctor. Not to mention cheaper.

Since starting Savage Security with his brothers, Logan Savage has been chasing mission after mission, running away from the memories of his past. With no fear and no one waiting for him at his isolated cabin in the woods, Logan is determined to keep everyone at arm’s length including his concerned family. And the irresistible woman who dares to blur the lines between his defenses and desire. 

Known for her independence, successful CEO Zoe Alcott makes no apologies when she finally takes a stand against her placid love life. Until the day she finds a love note from a deranged stalker and her safety is placed in the palm of Savage Security and the mysterious Logan Savage. Not her usual type, Zoe wonders if the instant passion between them is enough to convince Logan to break his only rule – never get involved with a client. 

When Zoe’s stalker becomes increasingly more insistent, Logan continues to fight against his growing possession and wild desire for the too courageous troublemaker determined to drive him crazy. But when the mission takes a turn for the worse, Logan wonders if the battle is worth losing the only woman that he can’t stop thinking about.

by