Interview: Even Villains Have Interns by Liana Brooks

UFI welcomes Liana Brooks. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview? 

I have such a public life with Twitter and all, what do you not know? Let's see... I was a diehard fantasy fan as a kid. Tolkien was the only author I would read until I was about seven or so. Every time we rented movies I'd get the old animated Lord Of The Rings with the creepy almost live action ring wraiths. My dad bought me a copy of DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffery when I was in second grade and I wouldn't read it for months because it didn't have Gimli or Legolas in it. High fantasy was all I read until a friend introduced me to sci-fi and The Stainless Steel Rat series in high school.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time? 

Down time? What is down time? If I have a free moment of the day I sleep. The majority of my waking hours are spent parenting with writing and household chores squeezed into any spare second. Even if you took my computer and family away for a day I have a list of things I want to get done. I don't have free time, I have breaths between projects.

What is your favorite part of writing? 

Exploring. I love the moment when a new world or a new book clicks into place. It's like climbing through a muddy hole in the darkness, you can feel the rocks and smell the dust, but you're lost and trapped... then suddenly the darkness falls away and there's this whole universe expanding at your feet filled with light and wonder.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write? 

I need my computer and that's about it. I keep pen and paper with me for notes, but I hate transcribing written text to the computer so I avoid it whenever possible.

What are some of your favorite books or authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres? 

I love everything by Ilona Andrews. Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series is addictive and I recommend it to everyone. I like the Dresden novels by Jim Butcher but prefer the Codex Alera. Still, if you want to read about ghosts, you can't go wrong with DEAD BEAT.  

How would you pitch Heroes and Villains to someone who has not heard of it before? 

Despicable Me meets the Incredibles? It's a series for anyone who has ever felt sympathy for the villain. These are books for the people who think that sometimes, maybe, the ends justify the means. It's wish fulfillment for anyone who ever thought Gambit and Rogue should have had a Happily Ever After.

We all grew up with superheroes and we're used to seeing them fall apart. We're told the hero has to stand alone. That's why I write villains, they break the rules. A villain can save the world and fall be in love at the same time.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that Heroes and Villains is set in? 

The Heroes and Villains series takes place in our world, a few years in the future, at a time when humans have started to evolve superpowers. Not everyone has them, and not everyone believes they exist, but the people who do have them are forced to choose between using their talents for selfish gain, or to help others. A couple of my characters try to do both, but it never works. You have to pick a side.

Do you have a favorite scene in EVEN VILLAINS HAVE INTERNS? 

I'm torn on this. I love the basketball scene because it's sexy in an aggressive, athletic way. I used to play pickup games (usually street hockey not basketball) as a teen and there's some of that competitive-drive-turned-to-lust feeling there. There's a very fine line between love and hate and competition can blur the line.

My other favorite scene is down in the Chicago pedway. I loved researching the old tunnels and I'd love to explore them some day on my own. I don't know if the readers will it as much, but I enjoyed researching the scene.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about? 

Delilah was the easiest to write in this book. She's a very no-nonsense person who isn't afraid of her strength and that's always fun to write. The Shadow was harder to write because he is so secretive and there were times I just wanted to shake him! Give me details! He'd just give me this enigmatic smile and leave me frustrated.

... to be fair, he does the same to Delilah.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you? 

Both Even Villains Go To the Movies and Even Villains Have Interns are coming to print this year, which is big news for everyone who isn't an ebook fan. Heroes and Villains Book 4 is almost done and hopefully will release in Fall 2015. Book 4 is Maria's book. She's a full-time villain, crazy as a bag of cats, and so much fun to write. The trick is making someone so traditionally evil also a likeable character. And then, if everything goes well, Even Villains Fall In Love will be coming to print in the next year with two brand new short stories; The Sea Monkey Incident (young Evan), and Every Hero Needs A Villain (Tabitha's story).

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Liana Brooks would like to SCUBA dive Europa (that moon around Jupiter), but with the NASA shuttle program shut down she’s resorted to writing science fiction instead. She likes southern beaches, warm weather, sharks, and striped socks.

Her superhero romance series started with Even Villains Fall in Love and continues with Even Villains Go to the Movies and Even Villains Have Interns. For those who prefer their romance without a side order of spandex she’s written Prime Sensations (part of the Tales From the SFR Brigades anthology) and Fey Lights.


Find Liana and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Even Villains Have Interns 
Heroes and Villains #3 
Buy Link

Bootleggers, drug dealers, crooked cops, and dirty politicians... Chicago has always had a reputation for indulging in the finer vices of life. That’s why Doctor Charm’s favorite daughter found America’s Second City so appealing; criminals are never boring. As second in command for the powerful Subrosa Security group, Delilah Samson finds opportunities to use her superpowers at every turn. Whether it’s stealing a priceless French painting from a mobster or stopping a drug deal, she’s game.

In fact, the only thing she doesn’t care for is Chicago’s favorite native son, Deputy Mayor Alan Adale, the man who made Lucifer jealous. Sinfully handsome, or possibly just sinful, Adale has been pursuing Delilah since she first arrived, and she’s been dodging.

When she finds ties between the new kingpin in town and a drug The Company wants to buy so they can create more superheroes, Delilah takes the gloves off. Teaming up with the spooky Spirit of Chicago, she aims to take down the dealers, the mobsters, the kingpin, and The Company. All without falling in love with the one man capable of capturing her heart.

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Excerpt:

Snow crunched under Delilah's boot as she stepped out of the cab on East Jackson Drive. "Park down by the university," she told Freddie as a voice on the police radio confirmed an ambulance was en route to collect the final remains of Mayor Arámbula.

Buckingham fountain was beautiful, even late on a winter night. Past the skeletal trees, golden lights illuminated the sparkling water—the strobe of blue and red from the waiting squad cars rather ruined the romantic affect.

The cab pulled away. Delilah walked through the fresh-fallen snow, drifting across the icy sidewalk with the calm demeanor of someone exactly where they belonged.

At the edge of the square, one of the officers noticed her. "Ma'am, can I help you?" he said stiffly, shining a flashlight at her face.

"No."

He squinted, trying to make out her face under the black top hat she wore. "Did you hear anything? See anything?"

"I didn't." She watched as the ambulance pulled up and paramedics hurried to the body. They lifted the dead mayor onto a stretcher and a scrap of paper fell out of his pocket. The wind caught it, lifting the paper up out of the snow and blowing it toward her.

"Hey!" one of the officers shouted. "Somebody grab that! Gelphi! Catch that!"

Delilah snatched the paper out of the air with a gloved hand. "Here," she held it out to the policeman she assumed was Officer Gelphi. Three barely legible words scrawled across the paper: Kalydon - 77 Wacker.

"Thank you." Gelphi took the paper back with obvious hesitation. "Ma'am, I'm going to ask you to move along. This is a crime scene."

"Of course." News vans were already parking on Lakeshore Drive and she didn't need to be on camera. "Have a good evening." Pivoting on her heel, Delilah strolled back along the snowy streets until her nose was numb. Seventy-seven Wacker was an office building that had been on the market for several months. It wasn't somewhere the mayor would have gone for a party, but a black market business deal? That sounded plausible.

A warm breeze alerted her to company. "Fancy meeting you here," The Spirit of Chicago said.
Delilah stopped, watching him from the corner of her eye. "How did you hear about this?"

"I have friends at the police department. You?"

She shrugged. "I know all the good gossips." She turned to face him, or as much as there was of him. The festively lit streets twinkled through his gossamer body. "Where were you tonight, superhero?"
"Where were you, do-gooder super villain?"

With a grimace, she shrugged again. "Busy. I have an airtight alibi. Over a hundred people saw me flirting with a handsome man tonight. We didn't get as far as drinks. Disappointing, overall. Your turn."

"I was trying to attract the attention of devastatingly beautiful woman."

Delilah almost laughed. "Oh? How'd that work out for you?"

"She looked right through me."

They turned side by side to watch the paramedics cover the late mayor's body. A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the muted pallor of death wound its way up her spine, leaving her feeling isolated and angry.

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Review: Chase the Dark by Annette Marie

Chase the Dark

Author: Annette Marie

Release Date: October 17, 2014

Publisher: Self-Published

Steel and Stone Book #1

ISBN:  0993910211

ISBN13: 9780993910210

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Young Adult

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Piper Griffiths wants one thing in life: To become a Consul, a keeper of the peace between humans and daemons. There are precisely three obstacles in her way.

The first is Lyre. Incubus. Hotter than hell and with a wicked streak to match. His greatest mission in life is to get Piper into bed and otherwise annoy the crap out of her. The second is Ash. Draconian. Powerful. Dangerous. He knows too much and reveals nothing. Also, disturbingly attractive — and scary. Did she mention scary?

The third is the Sahar Stone. Top secret magical weapon of mass destruction. Previously hidden in her Consulate until thieves broke in, went on a murder spree, and disappeared with the weapon.

And they left Piper to take the fall for their crimes.

Now she’s on the run, her dreams of becoming a Consul shattered and every daemon in the city gunning to kill her. She’s dead on her own, but there’s no one she can trust — no one except two entirely untrustworthy daemons... See problems one and two.

Piper was a bit annoying at times with her stubbornness and pride, but she quickly became a character I enjoyed following. She is training to be a Consul and all she wants to do is prove herself worthy. only she doesn't feel her father gives her the chance. When her father and the Sahar Stone go missing and sends her on the run she has to team up with Lyre and Ash to figure out what's going on and clear her fathers name.

Both Lyre and Ash give you reasons not to like them, but you can't help like them anyways. Ash is a giant mystery and you tend to look for anything that might give you another glimpse of who he is. You can tell he cares about Piper, but he holds himself back due to what he is and who has him under their thumb. Lyre makes his attraction to Piper known and every turn, but Piper isn't in to him. They are pretty funny together and I think their friendship brings a lot to the story. I'm really rooting for Ash and Piper to pull together some how. I know it will be a crazy ride, but they compliment each other and they work well together.

There are a lot of obstacles and bombs thrown at Piper throughout the story. She doesn't always react the best way, but i really admired her perseverance. The story is pretty fast paced with a lot of action and drama. You never quite know what will happen next and that brings a lot of suspense to the story. Don't like the cliffhanger ending, but it has be defiantly interested in continuing the series.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

New Releases: 1/11-1/17

Tue. Jan 13th

 The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

 Hunger's Mate Part 1 by A.C. Arthur

 Owl and the Japanese Circus (The Adventures of Owl #1) by Kristi Charish

 When by Victoria Laurie

Happy Reading!

Promo & Giveaway: Unspoken by J.A. Garland

UFI welcomes J.A. Garland. Thanks for Joining us!!

Excerpt: 

If someone says the root of all evil is money, they’ve never met a witch. Hot on Tara Sobrantes heels, I hungered for a quick capture. But my past experiences with brimstone-users had taught me not to eat the candy house until Gretel had heated the oven. The permanent fireball scar on my right butt cheek reinforced the lesson.

Capitalizing on a rare break in the rain, I peered through the branches and foliage I’d arranged to obscure my position in one of the Pacific Northwest’s oldest forests. Drawn to the sweet scent of exhaled carbon dioxide, a deer fly landed on my cheek. I flicked away the bloodsucker while keeping my gaze on a distant group of figures.

Three hundred feet away, the Mystic Monks began another round of tiresome morning rituals. For four lousy days I’d watched them worship their gods. Watched, waited and shivered through one bone-chilling downpour after another. I knew Tara was hiding at the monastery. While I might not have her yet, or the large bounty she’d fetch from shirking a loan shark, I was still in the game.

A man wearing a burgundy cloak ventured away from the others, heading deeper into the woods. He glanced around, perhaps to confirm he was alone, and then crouched until he almost sat. The monk lifted the hem of his woolen robe, carefully draping the material over his knees. I scrunched my nose and started to look away when something caught and held my eye. A steady stream of yellow wet the thick carpet of pine needles between his feet. The men I’d known didn’t squat when they pissed—I got you, Tara.

I stood, careful not to make a sound. In the tight cat suit I wore, the movement caused the plastic edge of my Para Hunter identification card to poke my hip. A practiced shake released two Fae kissed, silver blades from their leather holsters and into my hands. Blades were good for close combat, not for the gap I currently faced. With well placed, gliding steps, I narrowed the opening between us.

Finished urinating, Tara rose, letting the hem of her heavy robe fall. I quickened my pace, I couldn’t afford to lose her bounty. My brother was all the inspiration I needed to complete this job.

A scream pierced my thoughts and the damp, morning air. The pressurized wail thickened then transformed into a muted gurgle. Tara’s hood fell backward, revealing a bobbing metal shaft protruding from under her jaw. Someone, not me, had launched an arrow into her throat.

Move! I lunged forward, feet slipping as my boots sought purchase on the slick ground. Razor sharp, a barb sliced through my suit and lodged into the skin and muscle of my shoulder. The force of the arrow shoved me backward and to the ground. An instantaneous, moor-like sweat coated my skin.

My nostrils flared like a wounded animal, and I scrambled to my feet. Normally, I’ll stubbornly stand my ground, but I’m not stupid. My attacker knew my position, and I didn’t know his. If I stayed put, he’d fill me full of metal like a scrap yard.

Racing away in a crazy zigzag, I heard near noiseless whispers as the air parted, making way for a barrage of arrows. Bolts lodged into the trees all around me, at head level. Yes, someone wasn’t trying to scare me off. Someone wanted me dead. Not here, not now. Not when my brother and his family were counting on me.

Bites of pain skewered my arms, then a leg. The cold cramp of fear tightened its hold on my lungs. Holy shit, I was going to die. Adrenaline driven, I pushed forward long after my wounds should have dropped me.

A misty fog had descended on the dense pine canopy when I finally allowed myself to stop running. I sank to the ground at the base of a tamarack pine. In unison, my muscles and lungs screamed a tortured ditty, whose tune I was hella familiar. I need a new profession or I’m not going to make it to my thirtieth birthday.

Blinking, I tried to focus eyes blurry with tears. I had officially accepted Tara’s mark. For two weeks she was supposed to be off limits to all other Para Bounty Hunters. That was the unwritten code. Someone violated that code, and that someone was here. They’d killed her and tried the same with me. Who? Why?

And how had they found Tara? Some might call it cockiness, I called it first class investigation skills. I was positive that I alone figured out the connection between brother and sister. Tara had blended in seamlessly with the monks. It took me days in that damn hidey-hole to catch her slip.

Lids closing, I slowed my breathing. Trading pain for awareness, I listened to the steady dripping that came from the pine needles above. Morning dew ran down the rough grooves in the bark. A crackle here, a chirp there, then quiet. Head bowing to my chest, minutes spooled by. A long, low howl broke the quiet, followed by another, then another--young, excited yips joining in.

I’d forgotten others beside the monks called the Pacific Northwest home. Wolves hunted in secluded places like this, and the blood trail I left behind was ideal for tracking.

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J.A. is a full time firefighter in California, an addicted trail runner, a connoisseur of all things cheese puff, and an urban fantasy author. When she isn't slogging through the obstacles at a mud run, you can find her hunched over her computer unleashing demons, vampires, and werewolves upon the world.



Find J.A. Garland and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Unspoken

 

 Paranormal Bounty Hunter Myka Quinn has left her failed attempt at wolf pack life behind. She’s focused on providing for her brother and staying out of werewolf territory. 

When she’s framed for a witch’s murder, she must accept help from a very unlikely source, or watch the lives of those she loves rip apart.

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Tour Wide

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Week in Review: 1/4-1/10

Books I've Bought/received

- Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein - eARC- NetGalley

- Bind the Soul by Annette Marie - eARC- NetGalley

- Purenet by H.J. Lawson - eARC- NetGalley

Books I've Read

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott
Edged Blade by J.C. Daniels
Black Wolf's Revenge by Tera Shanley
Windburn by Juliette Cross
Deadly Spells by Jaye Wells

Reviews Posted

The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson

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* New Releases for the week. Was there anything you were looking forward to reading?

* Monday - Interview for The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson

* Tuesday- Interview for Dark Prophecy by Ann Gimpel,  UFI joined Tsu! Make sure you follow us!

* Wednesday- Interview for Makahiki by AJ Llewellyn 

* Friday- Promo & Giveaway for Hunted by a Jaguar by Felicia Heaton

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* Did you know you can follow UFI on these other sites?

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You can also add me (as in Stacy) to your friends on these sites if you're on them.

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Promo & Giveaway: Hunted by a Jaguar by Felicia Heaton

Hunted by a Jaguar, the fourth book in New York Times best-seller Felicity Heaton’s hot paranormal romance series, Eternal Mates, is now available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY at her website and sharing sneak peeks of the book.

Find out how to enter the Hunted by a Jaguar international giveaway (ends January 18th) and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website, where you can also download a 7 chapter sample of the novel: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/hunted-by-a-jaguar-paranormal-romance-novel.php

If you haven’t had a chance to step into this passionate and action-packed world of dark elves, fae, demons, vampires, shifters and hunters, then you can take the leap with the first book in the series, Kissed by a Dark Prince, which is only 99c / 99p until January 15th as part of her fantastic Winter Warmers special deals. Find all the deals and links to your favourite retailers at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-romance-ebook-offers.php

Here’s more about Hunted by a Jaguar, including an excerpt from this paranormal romance novel.

A jaguar shifter with a dark secret, Kyter has spent his entire life running from his demons. When a tragedy takes him back to his pride’s village, he is set on a path of vengeance that will see him collide with the terrible ghosts of his past and a beautiful vision of his future.
Iolanthe deals in finding artefacts for discerning clients, but this time her client is one of the deadliest men in Hell and her mission has the highest stakes imaginable. Failure is not an option when your life is on the line, but things take a dangerous turn when she crosses paths with a handsome and mysterious male on the hunt for the same artefact—a male who declares she is his eternal mate.
Can Iolanthe resist Kyter’s wicked allure and find the artefact before he does? Can Kyter face his demons and win the heart of his fated female? Or will this deadly game of cat and mouse claim both of their lives?

Excerpt

Kyter stood behind the bar of Underworld, rubbing a shot glass with his white towel, his gaze locked on the glass as it reflected all the different colours of the bottles that lined the back of the bar and the spotlights that rotated above him.
“You keep rubbing that glass, there’ll be nothing left,” Sherry said as she squeezed past him, snapping him out of his daze.
He looked at the glass, set it down on the black rubber mat laid out on the counter above the wine fridges in front of him and tucked his towel back into his belt. He scrubbed a hand over his tousled sandy hair and then around the back of his neck.
Sherry offered him a smile that reached her blue eyes as she took the glass he had been polishing to death and moved on, a bounce in her step that made her blonde ponytail sway as she approached the optics.
The gazes of several men on the other side of the bar followed her. She was always a draw, and was one of the few humans who worked for him.
She had been working twice as hard over the past week since he had been back, picking up his slack. Everyone had been and he knew they were all worried about him. Hell, even the regulars were beginning to notice he was off his game, his usual banter and smiles nowhere to be seen. He felt as if he was sucking the life out of the joint.
Cavanaugh, a big silver-haired male shifter, looked over the heads of the other bar staff to him, a concerned crinkle to his brow. Kyter waved him away, letting the male know that he was fine.
Sherry had probably snitched on him again.
She was the only human employee who knew what sort of creatures she worked with and every time she had caught him spacing out this week, she had gone straight to the only other cat shifter in his employment and told him about it.
She seemed to think that all cat shifters should stick together.
If she knew how many fights cats got into when they wandered into each other’s territory, she would think differently about trying to make him and Cavanaugh grow any closer to each other than they already were. She was lucky that the bigger male wasn’t a jaguar. They all were. Being in his prime, Kyter couldn’t stand other males of the same species being near his territory, let alone in it. For that very reason, there was a sign on the wall outside the club that warned other jaguars away.
Well. There was a plank of wood with his claw marks raked down it and his scent all over it.
The cat shifter equivalent of a sign.
He leaned his back against the bar and stared at his reflection in the mirror behind the bottles, spacing out again, the loud music and buzz of the nightclub fading into the background once more.
Did he look like his father?
His mother had told him that he was a secret. His father hadn’t known she had been pregnant when she had escaped him, fleeing back to her pride expecting sanctuary and finding a different world awaiting her, one filled with cold shoulders and dark looks, and blame for something that hadn’t been her fault.
He suspected that his father knew now and that what had happened at the village had been brutal retribution for keeping Kyter’s existence from him.
Kyter folded his arms across his chest and clutched the white sleeves of his shirt, tugging it into his fingers as he dug them into his arms, his coiled muscles like steel beneath the soft material.
If his father wanted to meet him, he was cool with that. He wanted to meet him too. He had been working on tracking him down since making it out of the rainforest, knowing it was down to him to make that meeting happen. His mother wouldn’t have told his father where Kyter lived, and the pride hadn’t known until she had used her dying breath to whisper to the head elder where to find his number.
Part of Kyter’s heart knew that she wouldn’t have wanted him to do this. She would have wanted him to remain safe and hidden, but he couldn’t do that. His father had taken something precious from him, and now he wanted to take something precious from the demon.
He wanted to look him in the eye and then take the bastard’s head.
The music changed track, the heavy beat a fitting backdrop to the satisfying images playing out in his head. The demon would pay for killing his mother. He would pay for everything she had suffered because of him. He would pay for everything Kyter had endured.
He felt Cavanaugh’s steady gaze on him again and shoved away from the bar, flicking the shifter a glance as he went back to work drying the glasses. It was all he was fit for right now, and he wasn’t even doing a very good job of it. They kept running out.
He dried and polished another dozen, setting them back with their matching glasses on the rubber mats dotted along the back of the bar. He hung a few wine glasses by their stems on the racks and paused again when he caught his reflection in the mirror behind them. He looked beyond himself to the other person who had snagged his attention.
Owen Nightingale.
Kyter slowly turned and fixed his gaze on the hunter.
The dark-haired male had his back to Kyter, one arm propped casually on the black bar top and his black shirt blending into the wood. There was nothing casual about him though. He had his pale green eyes locked on Cait where she danced at the fringes of the Saturday night crowd, gyrating in time with the beat, her arms thrown above her head. The position lifted her corset-top up to flash her midriff and her leather trousers caught the lights, changing colour in time with them.
Kyter jammed his towel back into the belt of his black slacks and kept an eye on the hunter. He knew what Cait was and he suspected that Owen did too, being a hunter who specialised in shifters. Hellcats were rare, but extremely powerful. If the hunter thought he could tangle with the little kitty and not get burned, he was heading for trouble, not a trophy.
Cait continued her mesmerising dance, drawing hungry eyes her way. He had seen her a few times in his club. Cat shifters were drawn to Underworld because he regularly visited the fae towns to get a one hundred percent effective witch-brewed version of the sort of calming plug-in diffusers that humans bought for their feline pets. He pumped the pheromones out through the air-conditioning and it stopped them from wanting to fight and shift. It normally kept him pretty mellow too.
Not tonight though.
He studied Cait as she ran her hands up her body and her fingers through her long dark hair, lifting it away from her neck. She was doing her best to act casual, but she was giving off a bad vibe, and he hadn’t failed to notice that there was another hellcat in the club.
That one was a big male who only had eyes for Cait. It seemed the little kitty had gotten herself into some sort of trouble already, and was looking to make it worse.
Or maybe drag Owen into things.
He had no love for hunters, but Owen was a regular and he knew better than to hunt on Kyter’s turf. Kyter had made sure of that a long time ago, when Owen had first come here with his father. A tenth generation Nightingale on his first foray into the shifter underground. Owen had been nothing but a whelp. Now he was a man, and he was watching Cait a little too intently.
Kyter leaned over the bar and clamped his hands down on Owen’s shoulders. The human male stiffened, muscles flexing beneath Kyter’s grip.
“I’d reconsider if you were thinking of doing something stupid in my club,” Kyter said over the pounding music, making sure Owen heard him loud and clear. “I’m not in the mood to see a fellow cat get her tail pulled. I won’t be held responsible for how it will end for you.”
He released the man and Owen slowly turned to face him, his pale eyes enormous. “I swear, I’m off duty.”
Kyter didn’t believe him. Hunters were never off duty.
Cait bounced up to the bar and flashed a smile in his direction. Kyter caught the scowl Owen aimed at him and raised his right eyebrow at the male. What was the hunter’s deal? Was he jealous?
He wasn’t about to trust Owen near Cait, but she slid the hunter a look filled with dark heat, a corona of blue fire around her dilated pupils, and Kyter backed off and left them alone. Cait was a big girl and she could handle herself. He wouldn’t step in unless she needed him.
Besides, Owen didn’t look as if he wanted to kill Cait. He looked ready to drool. Kyter shrugged it off. It was his funeral.
He turned away and caught Cavanaugh staring along the length of the bar at Owen and Cait, an odd look of longing in his dark eyes.
It wasn’t the first time he had seen the big male watching a couple with that same look in his eyes. He had tried to get closer to Cavanaugh over the years they had known each other, but the snow leopard preferred to keep to himself and they had ended up stuck on sometimes-awkward surface-level conversation for the most part.
Kyter headed for the silver-haired male, gliding past Sherry as she dealt with a rowdy group of young human men, and drawing the gazes of several women along the way. They all clamoured for his attention but he paid them no heed. He wasn’t in the mood tonight. He hadn’t been in the mood for entertaining them since he had returned from the rainforest.
If he was feeling honest, he hadn’t been in the mood for female attention since the elf prince Loren had been in his club with his mate around a month ago. Seeing the two in the midst of forming their bond had left a sour taste in Kyter’s mouth that no amount of Hellfire, a black potent liquor designed to overcome the most powerful of fae constitutions, could douse.
Cavanaugh took an order from a pretty little redhead who smiled and flirted to no avail, even reaching over the bar to run a hand down his white shirtsleeve and lightly squeeze his muscles through it. When the bigger male turned away to get her drink, Kyter fell in beside him.
“She’s pretty,” Kyter said, and she was throwing off pheromones like there was no tomorrow, leaving him in no doubt she wanted to tangle with the handsome barman.
Cavanaugh shrugged and mixed her cocktail in a martini glass, his back to her the entire time and his eyes on his work.
“I’ve never seen you take up a single offer from a woman since you started working with me.” Kyter had a feeling he should have taken his own advice about not pulling on the tail of a cat when Cavanaugh turned on him, baring fangs on a low growl, the centre of his irises turning silver.
“Keep your nose out of my business.” Cavanaugh shoved past him, set the glass down in front of the woman, and stalked towards the other end of the bar where it was darker and quieter.
He probably needed a moment in the playroom out the back. Kyter kept it stocked with plastic barrels, tyres and logs. The sort of things shifters loved to take out their aggression on when they couldn’t ignore the urge to transform.
The bigger male stopped at the end of the bar though, his shoulders heaved beneath his white shirt on a sigh, and he turned, propped his hip against the bar and folded his arms across his broad chest.
Stormy grey eyes slid Kyter’s way.
No trace of aggression in them. Only an apology.
Kyter rubbed his neck and approached him, leaving Sherry and the others to tend to the customers. When he reached Cavanaugh, he leaned opposite him and adopted the same pose, crossing his arms.
“Sorry,” Kyter said and Cavanaugh shrugged it off.
“You made any progress?” The snow leopard shifter relaxed and unfolded his arms, pressing his palms against the edges of the bar behind him. The position caused his shirt to stretch tight across the impressive width of his shoulders and chest.
It was Kyter’s turn to shrug. “I have a lead. Nothing big.”
It was hard to play it cool when Cavanaugh was looking at him so intently, as if he could taste the lie in the air.
Maybe Kyter’s lead was more than nothing. Maybe it was big.
Kyter had spent the whole night wondering whether the answer to the non-stop hunt for information he had begun the moment he had returned from Brazil was finally within his grasp. He felt as if he had done nothing over the past week except search for a clue as to his father’s whereabouts and mull over the information he had managed to find.
He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. He certainly hadn’t slept and he had barely eaten. His entire life had become dominated by the one male he had vowed he would never give a damn about.
The bastard was the only thing he cared about now.
Cavanaugh slapped a hand down on his shoulder, jerking him back to the bar. “You should follow it up.”
Kyter knew that. It was going to eat away at him forever if he didn’t, and hadn’t he vowed to his mother that he would make his father pay for what had happened to her? He had a duty to do as Cavanaugh suggested and see if this lead actually led him somewhere.
He looked over his shoulder at Underworld, scanning the heavy crowd as the colourful lights flashed across them in time with the pumping music.
“We have this,” Cavanaugh said, as if reading his thoughts. “Nothing will happen to the club if you take a little time off. Family should come first.”
Kyter turned a black look on him. “My only family is dead.”
He meant that too.
A deep recess of his heart that refused to die whispered that he didn’t. He didn’t only want to avenge his mother by taking his father’s head. He wanted to show the pride that he was one of them. He was a warrior as fine as any of the ones they valued as part of the pride.
He growled under his breath, hating the fact that he still needed their validation. It made him feel like a cub all over again, desperate to be accepted, when he thought he had hardened his heart to them and shoved them out of it forever.
Cavanaugh smiled knowingly. “We can try our best to separate ourselves from our family, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are family.”
Kyter had the feeling that the snow leopard was speaking from the heart for once, letting him see past the barriers, and that they had more in common than Kyter had ever thought possible.
Broken ties with their bloodlines.
“Go.” Cavanaugh shoved his shoulder. “You’re no use here if you can’t concentrate for shit anyway.”
Kyter smiled. “True.”
He had served people the wrong drink more times than he could count and had given up serving people two days ago when he had managed to get nine orders in a row wrong. He hadn’t wanted to shoot for double figures.
“You got this?” The thought of leaving Underworld in someone else’s hands didn’t sit well with him, but Cavanaugh had come good on his promise to take care of the joint when Kyter had received the call that had taken him to the rainforest for two whole weeks.
The first time off he’d had in decades and it hadn’t exactly been a vacation. He knew that whatever lay ahead of him, it wouldn’t be a vacation either. If he did find his father, he would be lucky to come away from a fight against him in one piece, but he had to do it.
He had made a vow and he meant to keep it.

Hunted by a Jaguar is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. 

Find all the links, a fantastic 7 chapter downloadable sample of the book, and also how to enter the giveaway and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/hunted-by-a-jaguar-paranormal-romance-novel.php

Books in the Eternal Mates paranormal romance series:

• Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince
• Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
• Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
• Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
• Book 5: Craved by an Alpha – Coming January 27th 2015
• Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat – Coming February 17th 2015
• Book 7: Taken by a Dragon – Coming March 10th 2015

Author Bio

Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too. If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series. If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places: FelicityHeaton.co.uk | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | GoodReads | Amazon

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Review: The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson

Witches of Echo Park

Author: Amber Benson

Release Date: January 6, 2015

Publisher: Ace Trade

The Witches of Echo Park Book #1

ISBN:   0425268675

ISBN13: 9780425268674

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source:Publisher

Unbeknownst to most of humankind, a powerful network of witches thrives within the shadows of society, using their magic to keep the world in balance. But they are being eliminated—and we will all pay if their power falls…

When Elyse MacAllister’s great-aunt Eleanora, the woman who raised her, becomes deathly ill, Lyse puts her comfortable life in Georgia on hold to rush back to Los Angeles. And once she returns to Echo Park, Lyse discovers her great-aunt has been keeping secrets—extraordinary secrets—from her.

Not only is Lyse heir to Eleanora’s Victorian estate; she is also expected to take her great-aunt’s place in the Echo Park coven of witches. But to accept her destiny means to place herself in deadly peril—for the world of magic is under siege, and the battle the witches now fight may be their last…

Elyse heads home when she finds out her great-aunt is dying. She has no idea, but she is about to inherit the coven of witches her aunt has been the head of for years. As she's thrust into a new world, she also is forced to figure out what's stalking her new friends.

I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding THE WITCHES OF ECHO PARK. I was really surprised when some big secrets were revealed. I had a few things totally wrong in my head. I would have liked to see more revealed between Elyse and Weir. It was made clear that they are meant for each other and then things were kind of pushed to the background for them. Hopefully we will get more in book 2. There are some interesting characters in the coven and I look forward to learning more about them.

WITCHES OF ECHO PARK is the first book I have read from author Amber Benson and I enjoyed it. I found the beginning to be a little slow while they were setting up the characters, but once it passed that point I enjoyed the pace, storyline and mystery that was presented. It was an interesting start to her new series and I will be reading more.

I gave it 3.5/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.