Choices: Make Me Paranormal Book 1 by Cora Maxine

Title: Choices: Make Me Paranormal Book 1

Author: Cora Maxine

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Pages: 206

Price: $2.99

Description:

I always wondered which paranormal being I would choose to be, but never thought I'd be forced to make the decision.

As an urban fantasy author, Jupiter Hayes knows all about the things that go bump in the night, but she never dreamed that those beings could be real.

Summoned to a secret paranormal facility within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jupiter finds out that not only are these beings real, but she's destined to become one of them.

Soon she's cut off from the life she once knew as she spends time getting to know each society in need of new members. But, some of those societies may be a better fit than others, due to her own bloodline.

Throw in a sexy vampire and a gorgeous warlock and it's easy to see that Jupiter Hayes has some tough choices to make.

Excerpt:

Chapter 1

I always wondered which paranormal being I would choose to be, but never thought I'd be forced to make the decision.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to let them adjust to the room. Though my eyes adjusted quickly, my brain didn't. I wasn't sure where I was, but I was certain I had been kidnapped by someone from the 100 Acre Wood. The bear, rabbit, or pig had some explaining to do. The walls of the room honestly made it appear as if the room was created inside a hollowed out tree. As I raised my hand to touch the wall, there came a gentle knock on the door and an old woman peeped around the opening.

“Oh good, you're awake,” she said coming into the room and closing the door gently behind her. I guessed her age to be around late 60s or early 70s. She had her white hair up in a bun and was wearing a light brown dress that cinched at the waist, but did nothing for her figure. “I'm sure you have many questions, including why you're here.”

Actually, I had been wondering how I got here. I was a very light sleeper and someone shouldn't have been able to move me without waking me.

“All the answers will come in good time, my dear.” She smiled sweetly and clasped her hands together in front of her body, looking quite harmless. “First, why don't you freshen up a bit? Everything you need is in the bathroom, including a fresh set of clothing. Once you're done, I'll be down the path, in the room on your right.”

Something inside nagged at me that I should thank the woman, but another part of me was still in shock about the whole situation so I just stared at her.

“Well, I'll just be going.” And she was gone. Either my eyes hadn't properly adjusted or that woman was damn fast because people don't just disappear...do they? I guess if a stuffed bear could pull off a high-stakes kidnapping, old ladies could also disappear.

Wow, I was really beginning to lose it.

As I climbed from the bed, I found a pair of fuzzy slippers anxiously waiting for my feet. The interior of the slippers was warm and upon standing I found that they were lined with memory foam. It was like walking on air. As I walked past the mirror, I noticed that I must have gotten taller or the furniture was shorter. Then I noticed my feet in the mirror.

“Holy...,” I said as my hand flew to my mouth. I was floating at least six inches above the floor. I immediately kicked the slippers across the room, ran into the bathroom, and locked the door.  I stood there for a second feeling relieved, but then I just felt stupid for running from a pair of slippers. I carefully peeked out the bathroom door and saw the slippers gliding back into place, at the side of the bed. “Eek!” I closed the door back and stumbled backwards into the toilet, which made me scream even louder.

I sat there, on the toilet, slowly trying to gain control over my emotions. Last night had been my 29th birthday party, and while I'm not a drinker, someone must have slipped something into my sweet tea. I rubbed face with both hands and just sat there for a few minutes.

Obviously, I was having a vivid dream. Damn melatonin. Vivid dreams were a common side effect of the medication, but without it, I couldn't sleep at all.

I pulled my hands from my face and stared at the wooden wall before me. I have to admit, my imagination was still in top form. The room looked so real and every detail was perfect. I reached out to touch the wall and it even felt like real wood.

The bathroom was huge for a hollowed out tree. There was a separate Jacuzzi tub and a large shower with a rainfall shower head and numerous jets. Pretty fancy for the forest.

I couldn't help but succumb to the giggle fit that followed. It might have been just a dream, but I was feeling extremely nervous. It was time for this to end. I pinched myself hard enough to leave an angry red spot on my arm. Nothing. I was still lost in the forest. A yellow stuffed bear in a small red shirt had some 'splaining to do, but first I needed to take a shower.

Buy Link:

www.amazon.com/Choices-Make-Me-Paranormal-Book-ebook/dp/B00KTM51R6

Author Bio:

Cora Maxine lives in Western North Carolina and uses the towns around her as inspiration for her urban fantasy novels. When she's not writing, she can usually be found reading, baking, and spending time with her amazing boyfriend and houseful of pets.

Author Links:

www.coramaxine.com

www.facebook.com/CoraMaxine

https://twitter.com/Cora_Maxine

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6541045.Cora_Maxine

The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

The Accidental Alchemist

By Gigi Pandian

Why I Wanted to Write a Paranormal Mystery

By Gigi Pandian

I’m a huge fan of the paranormal mystery genre (Victoria Laurie and Juliet Blackwell are two of my favorites), but I was never drawn to writing one until I had the idea for the main character in The Accidental Alchemist, a centuries-old female alchemist who discovered the Elixir of Life by accident and isn’t sure if it’s a blessing or a curse.

I was drawn to the subject of alchemy and the Elixir of Life after a breast cancer diagnosis at age 36. I wrote a first draft of the novel while undergoing chemotherapy, when it was great to have a fun project to throw myself into. Alchemist Zoe Faust and her sidekick, a gargoyle who was accidentally brought to life by a French stage magician, both discovered immortality by accident rather than design.

Why the gargoyle? I’ve loved gargoyles since I was a 10-year-old kid tagging along with my professor mom on one of her research trips to Europe. To me, they represent everything mysterious. Dorian the gargoyle started off as a small character, but grew into the heart of the book.

BLURB for The Accidental Alchemist:

Unpacking her belongings in her new hometown of Portland, Oregon, herbalist and reformed alchemist Zoe Faust can’t help but notice she’s picked up a stowaway. Dorian Robert-Houdin is a living, breathing three-and-a-half-foot gargoyle—not to mention a master of French cuisine—and he needs Zoe’s expertise to decipher a centuries-old text. Zoe, who’s trying to put her old life behind her, isn’t so sure she wants to reopen her alchemical past... until the dead man on her porch leaves her no choice.

Includes recipes!

“Zoe and Dorian are my new favorite amateur-sleuth duo!”

—New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie

EXCERPT

A three-foot stone gargoyle stared up at me from the wreckage that used to be carefully-organized antique alchemy artifacts.

Instinctively, I stepped backward. How had this statue been added to my sealed crate? And why on earth would someone do so?

I ran out the front door, but movers had already departed. The porch sagged beneath my feet and the rickety front door banged shut behind me in the strong wind. When I turned the door handle to let myself back inside, the brass knob came off in my hand. Be careful what you wish for, Zoe Faust.

Thankfully, a strong shove was all the door needed to open. Back inside my new home, I returned to the crate for a closer look. The gargoyle reminded me of the stone carvings on Notre Dame in Paris. The gray creature looked to be modeled after the famous stone “thinker” gargoyle, with short horns and folded wings. The main difference was that this gargoyle held an old, leather-bound book in his arms. That was odd. I would have expected any added detail to be made of stone, not this real book with leather binding. I couldn’t place the type of stone used to carve the gargoyle. Granite? 

Sandstone? Or perhaps a softer soapstone? It wasn’t like any stone I’d seen. I leaned in for a closer look. There was something...

The gargoyle blinked.

My fist tensed around the crowbar. I stumbled backward, falling into the large couch.

Sprawled out on the couch, I laughed at myself. I’d seen a fair share of magic shows in my time. I knew what this gargoyle was. He was something that had been a popular attraction over a century ago: an automaton.

“You’re the best looking automaton I’ve ever seen,” I said.

The gargoyle’s shoulders moved, as if it was stretching. It was a wonderfully constructed piece. It must have been programmed to awaken when light shone on him. A good trick for the stage.

“I am no automaton,” a deep voice emanating from the automaton said. He—for his voice assured me he was male—climbed out of the crate onto the hardwood floor.

I gasped and fell off the edge of the couch. Ouch.

I’d seen ingenious automatons created by stage magicians. None were as advanced as this one. If I were to believe my eyes, I would have sworn he was alive. But then again, technology had progressed since automatons were popular in stage shows of the 1800s. A famous example of an early automaton was The Turk, a chess-playing machine that drew huge crowds to watch him play chess against famous chess players. Automatons were a combination of technical wizardry and stage showmanship, and the most famous automatons were aided by human helpers. There was no way a person was inside the crate with this creature, so he had to be completely mechanized.

 “Where are my manners?” the creature said, bowing before me. “I did not mean to startle you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dorian Robert-Houdin.”  He spoke in English with a thick French accent.

I pulled myself together and stood up. “Either I’m going crazy, or your creator had a mischievous sense of humor. Incorporating a recording of his voice—”

I broke off when the gargoyle who called himself Dorian Robert-Houdin blinked at me again. The effect was quite disconcerting. His eyelids looked like granite, but the eyes themselves were a liquidly black substance.

“I assure you,” he said, “I am not a robotic automaton, nor are you going crazy.”

Most people would have run screaming from the room if they saw a walking, talking gargoyle emerge from their storage crate. I admit I was surprised, but I’ve seen many things in my lifetime…

Did I mention that when I was born in Massachusetts, it was 1676? I’ve been around for a while. But even my many years hadn’t prepared me for what I’d find in Portland.

Bio: Gigi Pandian is the USA Today bestselling author of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series (Artifact, Pirate Vishnu, and the forthcoming Quicksand) and the new Accidental Alchemist mysteries. Gigi’s debut mystery novel was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant, and her short fiction has been short-listed for Agatha and Macavity awards. A cancer diagnosis in her 30s taught her two important life lessons: healing foods can taste amazing, and life’s too short to waste a single moment. Gigi spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with an overgrown vegetable garden in the backyard. 

Visit her at gigipandian.com and connect with her on Facebook (facebook.com/GigiPandian) and on Twitter (@GigiPandian).

http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/upcoming-tours/accidental-alchemist-gigi

An Interview with C.K. Bryant

An interview with C.K. Bryant

Author of the Crystor series

1 - What do you love best about writing? 

I love the freedom of being able to write what I want, when I want and to have complete control of the finished product.  I also love seeing the finished product and knowing I did the work myself, and being okay with that. I've discovered, though, that after the second book, I'd like to spend more time writing and hire out the formatting and cover design. It would mean putting out more books a year and meeting goals I've set for myself.

2 - What is your writing process? 

At the moment, it's just plant my fanny in the chair and write. After being sick for nearly a year, it's all I seem to be able to do at this point. I do like to outline and always want to know how the book ends before I begin, but all the between stuff just comes as I create.

3 - How did you come up with your main character? 

In The Crystor Series, the three main characters were in a very vivid dream I had. I was Lydia in the dream and my friend Kris was Kira. Octavion was my guardian in the dream, but as I wrote the book I realized it worked better if he was Lydia's brother, so I changed that. The characters from other projects I'm working on just evolve as the story forms in my head. I don't go looking for them, they find me.

4 - Tell us about your next (or present) project? 

I'm currently working on Aquatara, a young adult paranormal romance.  I hope to release it in March of 2015. Here's the blurb.  

Seventeen, and armed with the clues from a single photograph, TARA sets out on a journey to discover who she is - or rather, what she is. After crashing her motorcycle in the Nevada desert, nineteen-year-old construction worker, QUINTON, comes to her rescue. Together they uncover the startling secrets of Tara's past, and reveal the frightening truths that threaten her very life. But it's not just Tara's past that holds its secrets - Quinton's own heritage puts him at odds with his father, a Hunter, sworn to track down land dwelling water spirits like Tara and return them to the sea.  

Refusing his birthright as a Hunter, Quinton will defy his father and do anything to protect Tara - even if it means risking his life in the frigid waters of the Atlantic.

5 - Who is your favorite author and why? 

To be perfectly honest, I don't have a favorite. I love so many of them, that it's impossible to choose. I can say that I've read a lot of Jude Deveraux and Catherine Anderson throughout the years. I love their stories and I'm always a sucker for a good romance.  

Thanks for letting me hang out on your blog today. It was fun. 

Christine (C.K.) Bryant

             Author of 
The Crystor Series

BOUND
Amazon|B&N|iTunes| Smashwords
BROKEN
Amazon|B&N|iTunes| Smashwords

christine@ckbryant.com

www.ckbryant.com

Stonehill Downs by Sarah Remy

Stonehill Downs

By Sarah Remy

Malachi is the last of his kind—a magus who can communicate with the dead, and who relies on the help of spirits to keep his kingdom safe. When he's sent to investigate brutal murders in the isolated village of Stonehill Downs, he uncovers dangerous sorceries and unleashes a killer who strikes close to home.

Avani is an outsider living on the Downs, one of the few survivors from the Sunken Islands. She has innate magics of her own, and when she discovers the mutilated bodies of the first victims, she enters into a reluctant alliance with Malachi that takes her far from home.

But Mal is distracted by the suspicious death of his mentor and haunted by secrets from his past. And Avani discovers troubling truths about the magus through her visions. She could free Malachi, but first they must work together to save the kingdom from the lethal horror that has arisen.

BUY LINK:

BIO:

I write fiction to keep real life from getting out of hand, I jump pretty horses over pretty fences because it's a distraction from the real and the fantastic, I do Sun Salutations between 6 am and 7 am because I believe in discipline, and I live in an old house because I believe the best things last more than 100 years.

Visit me at sarahremy.wordpress.com

Bound by C.K. Bryant

Bound

The Crystor Series

Book #1

C. K. Bryant

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

Christine has always been a writer. Even before she could compose a single word with pen, she scribbled her version of cursive along the open page just to see what it looked like. As a teen, she swiped her dad's old Royal typewriter so her muse could breathe life into what her vivid imagination had created. She's spent the last twenty-five years married to the man of her dreams and raising their two sons. After helping run the family restaurant for most of their marriage, Christine has finally broken away to pursue her dream of being an author. When she's not with her family or tickling the computer keys, she loves camping, reading, scrap-booking, listening to all kinds of music, and making new friends. Christine is currently living in the middle of sage brush and lava rock with a spectacular view of the Snake River Canyon in South Central Idaho.

BUY LINK

Crypt Keeper by K.A. Young

Cryptkeeper

The Molly Maddison series

By K.A. Young

Molly Maddison grew up in a funeral home that unfortunately backed up to the largest insane asylum in the state. Very few understand what happens after death, Molly does. While other children were playing in the park with their living friends, Molly was in the cemetery playing with the dead. To say she is troubled is an understatement.

Now Molly has a new plan, to attempt to lead a normal life, and ban the contact with any of the dead. Realizing that she is madly in love with one of them was never part of that plan. However neither life or death ever go as planned and Molly is called upon to perform her role as the family Crypt Keeper…

Is she up for the task? Only time will tell.

BUY LINK 

Bio:

Subscribe to K.A.'s newsletter here: http://www.kayoungbooks.com/mailing-list/

K.A. Young is a award nominated paranormal, fantasy & contemporary romance author that lives with her family in the South. She began writing because her mind was swimming with incredible stories that were begging to be told. Her love for reading began as a small child when she realized that a good book was an instant escape to a mystical land that could be reached anytime and from anyplace. 

Come over and Fan KA on Goodreads and Facebook.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6527572.K_A_Young

https://www.facebook.com/pages/KAYoung/275242202579809  

Dae's Christmas Past by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Dae's Christmas Past
By Joyce and Jim Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Dae's Christmas Past

By Joyce and Jim Lavene

Featuring Pet Psychic Mary Catherine Roberts!

When wild horse rescue director Tom Watts is found dead on Duck Road, psychic mayor Dae O’Donnell is determined to find out who killed him. Her friend, Jake Burleson, is accused of killing Tom even though the two men have been good friends for years.

Dae doesn’t believe Jake killed Tom even though he has been acting strangely. He shoved one of the ancient stone horses found on his property into Dae’s hands when he knew she was afraid what she would see if she touched it. He’s obsessed with stopping the excavation—maybe to the point of killing Tom.

 The problem is the excavation of the horse cult that’s been happening on Jake’s property. Tom, and several archaeologists working on the project, argued that Jake should give up his land to widen the search for artifacts. Jake won’t do that.

But Dae thinks there may be more to the story. Jake’s determination to get the horse statue into her hands has shown her what the horse cult was used for a thousand years ago and the destruction the demon horses brought before they were stopped. She’s afraid something of the past may have already returned to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and there may be more deaths to come.

Christmas is coming, but how much of Duck will be left to enjoy it?

Book Six in the Missing Pieces Mysteries set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Mayor Dae O’Donnell of Duck. Dae has a psychic gift for finding lost things and people that has been passed down to her from her grandmother. She runs the Missing Pieces Thrift Store to have a place to keep some of the things she finds, and to give back things that are missing to their rightful owners.

BUY LINK

Other books in the Missing Pieces Mysteries:

Praise for the Missing Pieces Mysteries

A Timely Vision

“Filled with likable (if eccentric) characters and boasts a vividly realized small-town setting. The combination of small-town ambience, a psychic main character, and plenty of antiques should give the authors plenty to work with in subsequent adventures.” ~ Judy Coon for Booklist

A Touch of Gold

“With a quaint coastal setting, a great cast and refreshing dialogue, this was an enjoyable and pleasant read and I look forward to reading the next book in this delightfully charming series.” ~ Dru Ann Love

A Spirited Gift

“This is the third book in the A Missing Pieces series. It's always enjoyable to visit Duck, NC and Mayor Dae and the interesting residents and this was no exception.” ~ Fred Yoder

A Haunting Dream

“I felt like I couldn't read fast enough on this one..<g>but then I love all their missing pieces mysteries - can't wait till the next one. ~ Bookaholic

A Finder’s Fee

“The Lavenes once again take readers into a setting with a remarkable past, filled with legends and history…The characters are vivid and fascinating.” ~ Lesa’s Book Critiques

Dae’s Christmas Past

“Paranormal amateur sleuth fans will enjoy observing Dae use cognitive and ESP mental processes to uncover a murderer…Readers will enjoy.” ~ Midwest Book Review