Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Promo + Giveaway: Servants of Fate Boxed Set by Wendy Sparrow


Servants of Fate Boxed Set
Books 1-3
Amazon

As servants of Fate, Father Time’s sons must sacrifice a mortal’s lifetime on behalf of humanity before each year ends. It’s simpler if they don’t get involved, as their immortality is a barrier to relationships and to understanding the emotions of those whose lives end in a blink, especially if these time holders have a hand in it. Servants of Fate pass in and out of the lives of those around them, never interacting, until a different type of fate steps in. They can stop time, but love will leave them powerless.


THIS COLLECTION CONTAINS ALL THREE TITLES FROM THE SERVANTS OF FATE SERIES


Stealing Time
Father Time’s son, Zeit Geist, must sacrifice a mortal’s lifetime to the Fates each New Year’s Eve. Last year—inexplicably, really—he made an 11:59 substitution. The Fates are pissed and they’re after his mortal Hannah. With the year ending, he ought to figure out why he’d saved her—and why he keeps doing it.

Following an unlucky year, Hannah Lyons needs a week’s holiday in a lodge to unwind. What she gets is near-death experiences and a sexy immortal who can’t avoid kissing her, but might have to kill her. After all, even Zeit can’t hold back time indefinitely.

Taking Time
Tempus fugit. Time flies…unless you’re Tempus Halt, Father Time’s son. Day in and day out are the same, except for New Year’s Eve when he steals the life of a mortal on behalf of the Fates. This year marks his first failure to stay the monotonous course. A mortal’s kiss and her insistence on taking the place of his year’s sacrifice stalled out everything. Now, Tempus has to keep her alive for a year so his sacrifice isn’t wasted, but that’s the only reason—definitely.

One of these crazy grim reapers stole Lacey Carpenter’s estranged father’s life two years ago. She’ll give her own life rather than letting it happen again. It backfires when Tempus doesn’t actually kill her, and they have to spend the year together. She’s falling for an immortal who stops time, not just to save her life, but also to ruin her dates and steal her books. This can never work and fate is just not on her side—in fact, they’d really like her dead before Tempus falls for her in return.

Keeping Time
When Ruin’s mortal sacrifice to the Fates on New Year’s Eve is already dying, it should be the easiest life he has to take, but not this year. The dying man knows Ruin is there to kill him, but he asks Father Time’s son to look after his twin sister. Ruin can’t stay away from the sweet and sensual Phoebe. His previous interactions with women changed the definition of his name, Ruin, so he can’t fall for her, especially when the lovely mortal doesn’t know he killed her brother.

Phoebe’s brother promised to send her a guardian angel, but Ruin seems too devilish to be holy. He only wants to be friends and keep watch over her, but she can’t resist him. Loving Ruin is a sin tempting her heart. How wrong is it to cause an angel’s fall? Ruin and Phoebe’s time is running out as another New Year’s Eve sacrifice approaches, and Ruin might lose everything for keeping his true hand in fate secret.

 Excerpt:

It took them another three attempts to get what they both deemed were acceptable snowman portions.
“Hey. Coal.” With raised eyebrows, Hannah held up the two lumps of coal that had come in his snowman kit. “Get a good long look because this is what you’re getting next year.”
He couldn’t stop smiling at her. A dozen times each hour today, he’d wished he could slow down time because he wanted to spend more time with Hannah—he needed that. She was singing Frosty the Snowman with a carefree abandon he’d never felt before. If only he didn’t have the end of the year looming over him.
“Okay, pass me his corn cob pipe,” she said.
He pulled the “pipe” out of the box and stared at it. “Our snowman is a smoker? And this is a kids’ song?”
“It was written back before people worried about things like their lungs,” she said, reaching for it.
He pulled it away. No. It wasn’t right. “His days are already numbered, and he’s playing with fire—actual fire?”
“Ohhhh, right.” She tilted her head. “Wow, that does make him a bit of a rebel, doesn’t it? I bet the snowladies were all suitably impressed.”
Zeit looked around. There were mortal children all around. Young impressionable mortal children. He put the pipe back in the box.
“Or he’s not really a rebel. He likes to play things safe. Then again,” she tapped his coal eyes, “he did earn his coal. Maybe he’s got nothing to prove. There should be buttons in the box.”
He pulled off his glove to search through the bottom of the box, pulling out three buttons. “What is he buttoning up?” he asked as he handed them to Hannah.
She’d started pressing the buttons into his middle snow section, but she stopped and bit her lip as she stared at the round button still in her hand. Finally, she shrugged and pushed the last one in. “I think you’re overanalyzing this.”
“Or it’s a mortal tradition that could use some scrutiny.” He held out the faux carrot that came in his kit.
“But, look, he’s healthy. A carrot.”
“Is he going to eat his own nose?”
“I can’t do this with you now.”

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After a childhood spent wandering as a military brat, Wendy Sparrow found her home in Washington State. Her days involve convincing her two kids she knows how to properly parent and her nights showing her husband all the cool things romance authors know… or goofing around online…  or reading, but mostly the first thing.

She’s active in OCD and autism communities and writes on her blog to support awareness in both. With her whole heart, Wendy believes everyone deserves a happily-ever-after. If she's not writing or wrangling kids, she's on Twitter, @WendySparrow, where she'll chat with anyone about anything.

Find Wendy and her books
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Tour Wide

A handmade original choker from Neath the Veil’s "Every Rose has its Thorn" collection. Soft woven ribbon holds a gorgeous cream and black rose cameo set in a silver finish frame. It drapes down 5 inches from the top of choker to the bottom. The length is sized from 11-1/2 inches to 16 inches by clasp and adjustable chain. This giveaway is international.

Additionally, three paperback copies of the anthology Legendary will be given away individually. The anthology is edited by Laura Harvey and contains an urban legend inspired story by Wendy Sparrow. These copies may be won by those in the U.S. or Canada.

The final giveaway item is a $10 USD Amazon gift card which is open to countries with Amazon sites.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, January 23, 2017

Guest Blog: Edge of Night by Ann Gimpel

UFI welcomes Author Ann Gimpel. Thanks for Joining us!!

Writing and Ski Mountaineering

Thanks so much for inviting me back to your blog. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Many of my stories have a winter theme. Wonder if that's because I live in a place where it's winter better than half the year?

Don't get me wrong. I love winter. There's something pristine and delightful about endless vistas of white. And the crunch of skis on new snow has a sound all its own. There's nothing quite like coming into a warm house after hours outside in the cold, although my husband reminds me of all the winter nights we spent in a tent with a blizzard flapping the nylon and tells me I've gotten soft. Part of what he said is right. We did spend many a night with me sandwiched between him and one of our dogs. With a minus twenty down bag, I even managed to stay warm. But I prefer my camping in the summer. One of the biggest problems with winter trips is the days are short and it gets really cold the second the sun sinks below the horizon. So cold, you have to get into the tent and into your down bag. Or else, you need to keep moving. It's too cold to stand around outside cooking or chatting.

For a while we used a Bibler stove. You hung it inside the tent and the tent actually got warm enough to take your gloves off. Of course, you had to keep a door open so you didn't asphixiate. They don't make Bibler stoves anymore. Too many lawsuits, I guess. The other issue with winter ski mountaineering is you get lots of condensation inside the tent. When you touch the side of the tent, it showers you with ice crystals. Down is a wonderful insulator so long as it stays dry. The minute it gets wet, watch out. The sleeping bag manufacturers use a variety of "water resistant" nylons to try to keep the down dry, but it's a losing battle. Between the heat from your body traveling through the down from the inside of the bag to the outside and the dampness inside the tent trying to go the other way, no matter how well made a sleeping bag is, the down eventually gets damp--and heavy.

When my husband came back from trying to climb Mt. St. Elias, his down bag must’ve weighed twenty pounds. Hanging outside on a line in the hundred degree heat in the Sacramento Valley, it took over a week to get dry. 

In the winter on skis, or in the summer on foot, some of my best story ideas come from long hours in the backcountry. I don't think it's accidental that my books and stories with a backcountry focus have sold well. The backcountry is a part of me. I understand how the Sierras fit together. How you can travel from pass to pass to get where you're going. Years ago, I had the same bone deep knowledge about the Cascades, but it's faded over a forty year span. 

I still remember meeting Andrea Meade Lawrence on a ski lift here before I knew who she was. All I saw was a little, old lady who turned a goggled face to me, grinned, and told me the snow in Wipe Out was great. Wipe Out is a double black diamond run. I asked if I could ski it with her and she said, "Sure!" I still remember watching her disappear down a skinny little couloir between two boulders. Wow! That woman, who won double golds in the Olympics in the nineteen fifties, could still ski with the best of them. 

No apologies here. I do love winter. What's your favorite season and why??
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Ann Gimpel is a USA Today bestselling author. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. Once upon a time, she nurtured clients. Now she nurtures dark, gritty fantasy stories that push hard against reality. When she’s not writing, she’s in the backcountry getting down and dirty with her camera. She’s published over 45 books to date, with several more planned for 2017 and beyond. A husband, grown children, grandchildren, and wolf hybrids round out her family.

Find Ann and her books
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Edge of Night
 A Collection of Short Stories
Click here for information + buy links
Here’s a roadmap to Edge of Night. Welcome to an eclectic collection of nine short stories.

You’ve done time at the edge of night. Nail-biting, stomach-churning time filled with hissing snarls, menacing growls, the whoosh of unnatural wings, and the flash of hellfire. Time that lasts forever, but is over within seconds because time becomes unpredictable in places like that. You don’t want to stay, but it’s too fascinating—in a grisly, macabre, toe-curling kind of way—to turn your back on. You recognize it, though. The place just at the threshold of darkness where it’s not quite safe anymore. Evil broke its bounds at the edge of night, or maybe it always ran free and we’ve been deluding ourselves all along.

Join me for nine supernatural tales. Monsters, demons, gods—fallen and otherwise—ghosts, aliens. A touch of science fiction. More than a splash of romance. From magical lands to a chilling glance into the past, Edge of Night has something to tempt everyone. Everyone who craves danger, that is. It takes guts to read the stuff woven into nightmares.

It’s a tough job, but you’re up to it.

Welcome to my world. A world where magic holds court and the dude next door just might be a demon. Or a shifter. Or an alien.

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Sunday, January 22, 2017

Week in Review: 1/15-1/21



Books Received for Review

Keystone by Dannika Dark
The Black Lily by Juliette Cross

Books I've Read

Midnight Curse by Melissa F. Olson
Keystone by Dannika Dark
The Black Lily by Juliette Cross

Reviews Posted

Phantom Kiss by Chloe Neill
Cheating Death by April White

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

* Monday- Cover Reveal for True North by L.E. Sterling

* Tuesday- Cover Reveal + Giveaway for Quanta Rewind by Lola Dodge

* Wednesday- Promo for Taken by Felicia Starr

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

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

 * I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Early Review: Cheating Death by April White

Cheating Death
Author: April White
Release Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Corazon Entertainment
ASIN:  B01M7U64FA
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Author
In the thrilling conclusion to The Immortal Descendants series, a life has ended, the future is lost, and a war has just begun.

An explosion has split Time and Archer has paid the ultimate price, leaving Saira heartbroken and desperate to repair the rupture. But the blast has trapped Saira in an alternate future where Mongers are cornered predators and Death is the ultimate judge. If Saira and her larcenous friend, Ringo, ever want to see Archer alive, they must pull off the impossible – alter history at a moment in time to which they cannot return. But saving Archer will restore a timeline where Mongers have complete control, mixed bloods are hunted prey, and the Descendant world is spiraling into chaos.

As Saira uses her Clocking skills to prevent her worst nightmares from coming true, she travels from the dirty streets of Victorian London to the secret archives of the Vatican. She seeks a purpose that is greater than smashed hope, greater than lost love, greater than the prophecy that has shaped her very existence. She must use the lessons of history to free the present and shape the future. And in the end, Saira and her friends will face War and Death in the most important battle of all – the one for Peace.
I don't think I can properly explain how much I have loved the Immortal Descendants series. From the moment I started reading Saira's story I was hooked. The characters, the places, the villains, the history, the adventure, the dialogue, the romance, the drama... I've truly loved it all.

*Contains minor spoilers from CHEATING DEATH and WAGING WAR*
The end of WAGING WAR left me yearning to find out what happened, if Archer was still alive and how Saira would get back to him. I have to tell you, when I started reading CHEATING DEATH I had to force myself not to skip ahead and make sure they truly get back to each other and everything turns out OK. It was torture to hold myself back, but I did it and I am glad I did or I would have missed a great journey.

CHEATING DEATH doesn't waste time diving back into the storyline. The pace is steady, the adventures are both dangerous and informative and the characters are as engaging and entertaining as ever.

I'm really sad that this series is over. CHEATING DEATH did a great job of wrapping up the current storyline, but I still feel like there is so much more story to share. I want to see what kind of a man Ringo turns out to be, I want to see Saira and Archer start a family. I want to see how all of my other favorite characters in The Immortal Descendants series end up. There is just so much more I feel like I need to know. April White, please keep writing about these characters, even if it's just a novella length epilogue. I would gladly read more.

I gave it 5/5 stars

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

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Review: Phantom Kiss by Chloe Neill

Phantom Kiss
Author: Chloe Neill
Release Date: January 17, 2017
Publisher: InterMix
ASIN:   B01LZM8426
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: NetGalley
In this all-new novella from the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight Marked, Merit, Ethan, and the rest of Cadogan House crew discover that not all undead creatures are kindred spirits…

Vampires generally aren’t afraid of things that go bump in the night, but Merit and Ethan are extra jumpy after a recent attack by a dark sorcerer. So when they learn that someone is messing with graves in Chicago’s cemeteries, stealing skulls and snatching souls, they fear that their powerful foe might be back for even more magical vengeance.

But after a specter begins haunting Cadogan House—and targeting vampires—they realize that they're being taunted by an altogether different sort of monster. A ghoulish villain straight out of the Windy City’s urban legends is on the prowl—and he won’t stop until he’s killed again...

Includes a sneak peek of Blade Bound, the epic final novel in the New York Times bestselling Chicagoland Vampires series.

**Contains spoilers from previous books in the Chicagoland Vampires Series**

Chloe Neill plunges us back into Chicago history with PHANTOM KISS. I don't read a lot of novellas, but I couldn't pass this one up. I'm so sad this series is ending, but so glad to get another little side adventure with Ethan and Merit before the final book.

What a neat little adventure. Merit and Ethan attend their bridal shower and then get called out to the cemetery where they find out a ghost has been set loose. Not much gets solved while they are out, but they quickly find out the ghost followed them home and it's NOT friendly.

We already know most of the characters in PHANTOM KISS and although we do learn a few new things about some of them, I would like to mention some other characters. I really enjoy Annabelle's character and although we did meet her in a past book, I wish we would have gotten to know her earlier in the series. She fits well into the world and  I would have loved to have more adventures with her. Another newcomer is introduced in PHANTOM KISS, but it's actually a group of ghost hunters that call themselves the Chicago Paranormal Action Network. They were interesting and a bit crazy.

I'm glad I read PHANTOM KISS before jumping into the final book BLADE BOUND. It's time for the wedding and I can't wait see how it plays out! So sad to see the Chicagoland Vampires series go, but excited to see how it ends.

I gave it 5/5 stars

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

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Promo: Taken by Felicia Starr

jan-18-taken-freebie-blitz-promo-banner

TAKEN, the first installment in the hit Breaking the Darkness series by Felicia Starr...

breaking-the-darkness-001-taken-small
You must betray your heart and walk amongst the darkness in order to find the truest light.

Opening her eyes to an imposing prison of complete darkness, Kasha is accused of possessing powers and abilities she had no previous knowledge of until the moment she comes face to face with herself while meditating.
Haunted by memories strung together by lies and deceit, she soon discovers that maybe her beloved grandmother kept a few secrets she hadn’t been aware of. Secrets that could be her salvation… or her undoing.
As she struggles to control her new found powers, only time will tell if they will be enough to help her decipher who has imprisoned her or what they want from her. She must search for the answers and the freedom she so desperately desires. Could a handsome guy who vows to help her get away prove to be the man of her dreams… or perhaps her worst nightmare?
Not knowing who to trust, she must find a way to escape before she pays the ultimate price and finds herself taken by the darkness.

About the Book


Taken
by Felicia Starr


Series
Breaking the Darkness #1


Genre
Adult
Paranormal Fantasy
Romance


Publisher
Independent


Publication Date
December 2, 2013

df2b8-goodreads-button Long Button - Amazon - Free  

The Breaking the Darkness Series

breaking-the-darkness-001-taken-small  Breaking the Darkness 001.5 - Marked For Sharing  Breaking the Darkness 002 - Betrayed For Sharing  Breaking The Darkness 003 - Delirium - Small

Read Chapter One of Taken

Chapter One of TAKEN ~ 2013 © Felicia Starr ~ All Rights Reserved


About Felicia Starr

felicia-starr-bw
Felicia Starr was born and raised in New Jersey. She has been an avid traveler starting at a young age taking magical adventures exploring scenic and historic sites across America with her grandparents. Lover of almost all things paranormal and science fiction, yes that includes fantasy and no it does not include movies about giant ice spiders.

Her days are spent counting down the minutes until her next cup of coffee, preferably with a caramel swirl, her nights are filled with reading and quiet meditations drawing inspirations for her stories.
Felicia has been writing in one form or another for as long as she can remember and still has her first bound book that she wrote and illustrated in grade school. When not wrapped up in writing or reading she is finding the next best way to create lasting memories with her husband and sons.
Reading for fun, writing for passion… always thinking and dreaming in scenes.

Author Links

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