Virtual Book Tour w/Giveaway: Coveted Kiss by Karen Tjebben

Psychological Romantic/Suspense

Date Published: June 2017

Bella Chan is a good girl surrounded by alpha-males who aren’t afraid of danger. Unfortunately, that danger comes back to bite her. She can still feel the deadly grip of Hazeem’s hands wrapped around her neck. If Jack hadn’t shown up at Savage Security, she’d be dead. Then, in pure alpha-male fashion, Jack appoints himself her personal bodyguard, but Bella soon realizes that Jack isn’t there to protect her. He’s there to win her heart.

And now, in the aftermath of the attack, the men of Savage Security band together to hunt down the terrorists living on American soil. As they navigate through the intrigue and deception that camouflages their assailants, they also confront the treason that threatens the Nation’s defenses.  

About the Author

Karen Tjebben lives in central North Carolina with her wonderful husband, twin daughters, and two hamsters. When her girls left for kindergarten, Karen discovered that she needed to fill her days with something, and that was the beginning of her writing career. She loves to create worlds filled with unique characters that she hopes will delight and raise goose bumps on her readers. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her husband and seeing the world through her daughters' eyes.

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EskieMama & Dragon Lady Reads Saturday Spotlight w/Giveaway: The Twilight Tsunami by Shelby Londyn-Heath

Welcome to EskieMama & Dragon Lady Reads

Saturday Spotlight!

Today we are spotlighting Shelby Londyn-Heath's

The Twilight Tsunami!

Enter below for a chance to win 1 of 2 amazon copies of The Twilight Tsunami

from Shelby Londyn-Heath!

Shelby Londyn-Heath's

The Twilight Tsunami!

Grey is a hard-hitting foster care social worker who removes babies and children from dangerous drugged parents, violent homes, and families joined with criminal gangs. He is unstoppable until a new social worker enters his department. She is hungry for power and position, as she challenges Grey in malevolent and unexpected ways. As Grey yanks newborns from mothers, confronts irate parents, and lives through suicides of foster children aging out of the system, nothing stops him, until he meets his nemesis, a truly power-hungry woman. He must find her "Achilles Heel" and his inner truth, to rise up to conquer her. One of them must be transformed or destroyed.

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Q & A with Shelby Londyn-Heath about

The Twilight Tsunami!

Tell us about THE TWILIGHT TSUNAMI.

My book The Twilight Tsunami is my debut novel. It is about social workers on the brink of mental breakdowns as they remove children from abusive and neglectful homes. One social worker in particular, tries to face the trauma of his job by any means possible to hold himself up. However, when he is challenged by a co-worker who plots to take away his seniority, as she does the unthinkable to him, he catapults into another zone — one that shakes up the Department of Social Services.

What initially inspired you to write The Twilight Tsunami?

I thought about this book for years before I wrote it. I realized that I had experienced the foster care system from many angles, and few people were aware of what social workers and foster parents go through in the system. Of course, this book is fictional, but it holds truisms such as the traumas social workers face everyday on their jobs, and the risks foster parents take by getting involved in a shaky system.

Tell us a little about the characters in The Twilight Tsunami.
Grey faces-off with Marjorie, his co-worker who is ambitious, ruthless, and scheming. She is a control-freak who wants to get away from the ugly task of removing children and instead, attain a supervisory position with better pay and more power.

A vital co-protagonist is Christine, the supervisor of Grey’s unit. Christine is a tough, experienced social worker who sees through Marjorie and tries to save Grey. However, if she turns her back or misses a clue, she may be conquered by the scheming person she is trying to outwit.

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

The hardest part of writing this book was reliving memories of working with children in the foster care system. I saw their tear-streaked faces again, and heard their cries for their parents. No matter how abused these children were, they always wanted their parents back.

This book has some hard core episodes in it. It is not for lightweight readers, although I tried to put parts in that were funny, or so I thought. Readers have had mixed reactions to this book. It is a shake-up book, and I knew after I wrote it, that I would have mixed reviews. I call it my love/hate book, my kickball book.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

I think my favorite part was the ending, when everyone came together and revealed who they really were. There is always relief in honesty, as painful as it sometimes may be. I got to pull the plug at the ending and for me, it was visually surreal, and a lot of fun.

I also like to think I slipped in a spiritual message at the end of this book, but so far, no one has mentioned that my book is spiritual. I guess the naughtiness running through the book caused my spiritual message to evaporate into the ethers.

What are your future project(s)?

If I could only live to be a hundred. . . First, I am already in the process of gathering true stories for an anthology follow-up to this book. I have stories from social workers, but I am looking for stories from foster parents and foster children. It is time to have a dialogue.

When I return to writing fiction, I want to complete my novel Finding Hotel Durango, a book with a strong female protagonist. I see more and more female protagonists lately, but they seem to fall apart when they fall in love or need to be rescued in some way. It is time to chase the helpless female archetype away for good.

I also want to write more fantasy and science fiction. I want to write all around the world and die with a pen in my hand.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers about this book/series?

Yes, my book The Twilight Tsunami is experimental writing. It is based on the new way people read, by grabbing chunks of information quickly and looking for more. I call my chapters “gulps,” and I deliberately wrote with co-protagonists in order to keep the reading lively. Even readers who hate my book, say they could not put it down.

Today’s readers do not have long attention spans and they get bored quickly. I believe our brains have become re-wired in the last decade. This is why traditional classrooms are agony for kids nowadays, and why long meetings and discussions are to be avoided at all costs. We are in the tweet era, and we are hurrying to get to the point.

Now an exciting excerpt from The Twilight Tsunami!

CHAPTER ONE

The Hospital 

GREY STOOD QUIETLY next to the hospital bed. “Mrs. Jaspers, your baby has tested positive for cocaine.” Grey knew from experience that talking in a low voice helped hold back the negative emotions of a child’s removal, before anger and defiance from parents swept around him like a dangerous tempest. Mrs. Jaspers, a nineteen-year-old woman recently out of high school, glared at Grey. Her eyes grew larger in her upturned face, framed by tangled, matted purple hair. She wore an apologetic nose ring that swept to one side of her flared nostril and vibrated with each panicked inhalation she drew in. “I repeat, Mrs. Jaspers, your baby has tested positive. I am from the Department of Social Services. I am here to take your baby to a safe environment.” Mrs. Jaspers bolted upright in her bed. She grabbed onto Grey with a gritty desperation to stop him from removing her baby. “My baby ain’t on cocaine. How dare you say my baby is on drugs? I didn’t give no drugs to my baby. You cannot take my baby girl. We are waiting for her daddy to come see her. We are going to name her today. I need my baby to stay with me, because like I just told you, we’re waiting for her daddy to come see her.” The daddy, a twenty-one-year-old unemployed construction worker who married her when she tested positive for pregnancy, prowled the streets looking for cocaine after a three-day drinking binge. Grey unclasped the mother’s hands and moved towards the door. Mrs. Jaspers jumped up, pulling out her intravenous tube, causing blood to spurt out of her arm. She howled loudly. Grey called in a police officer who waited tentatively in the corridor. The police officer’s presence did not deter the fiery mother from running around her hospital room in frantic leaps. The sickening odor of fresh blood permeated the room. Her hospital gown flew open, displaying the naked form of a young woman new to adulthood. Her tattoos, splayed across her torso, looked like colorful orbs of splattered paints, graffiti statements embroidered in flesh. Grey felt his stomach grip in painful spasms. He thought of his daughter Olivia, also nineteen years-old, at an age of innocence, a time for dreaming, to be a youthful arrow pointed at the stars. As Grey watched Mrs. Jaspers lurch side-to- side in frenzied movements, he wondered how she came to this moment; losing her baby, being strung out on drugs, with a bleak future rising before her. Nurses ran in as the police officer restrained her, “Her stitches. Watch for her stitches,” one of them shouted. “I don’t care about my stitches. I wish I could die. This man wants to take my baby away. I just had hours of pain to make my baby. You didn’t have that pain, you didn’t go through what I went through;  you didn’t make my baby. You have no right to take my baby. How dare you?” The young woman screamed between loud ricocheting sobs. Her hands shook and her face turned ashen. One of the nurses yelled, “Mrs. Jaspers, get in bed right now. Nurse Anne, please help me lift her into bed and get her to stop moving around. She has stitches that will tear, if they haven’t already. There, there, Mrs. Jaspers, we’ll have something for you right away.” The nurse patted the sheets down with trembling hands. Mrs. Jaspers kicked furiously, as the officer restrained her. Two nurses and an aide helped pull her onto the hospital bed. Mrs. Jaspers screamed when the officer gripped her arms and hands. Another nurse came in and gave her a shot. Mrs. Jaspers looked out at a haze of blue uniforms surrounding her, as she shook uncontrollably, emitting a strange growling sound, before her sedative took effect. The head nurse turned to Grey. “Tell me, if you know you’re going to remove babies, why don’t you come to the hospital and catch them yourself? I do not understand this. Why do you get here when the mother and baby are bonding, when the mother needs peace and quiet, so she can recover from her birthing ordeal? Now this mother is upset, and she may be at medical risk.” The nurse’s stern voice cut through Grey as he struggled to remain calm. “It is procedure to test the baby first.” “Can’t you offer the mother rehabilitation before you yank her baby away from her? Don’t you think that losing her baby will cause her to do more drugs?” Grey cleared his throat before he spoke. “This mother refused treatment when we offered it to her. Now her baby must go through cocaine withdrawal. Her baby needs urgent medical attention. You know that. We alerted your unit before Mrs. Jaspers checked in.” Grey hated to defend department procedures. “Give her a chance to heal now that she has a baby. You’re telling me you’d rather take this baby to strangers then let the baby stay with its mother?” The nurse’s face looked strained from all-night baby deliveries and haphazard nursing schedules. “I’m sorry. It would be better for me to leave now and take the baby to safety as quickly as possible.” Grey turned away from her. The tight faced nurse followed Grey to the nursery. Grey met paramedics there, and they wheeled the incubator past angry nurses and doctors, accompanied by a somber, waxen-faced police officer. They continued downstairs to a waiting ambulance. After they loaded the incubator into the vehicle, the ambulance pulled away with blaring sirens, as paramedics rushed the newborn to a neonatal intensive care unit. When they hit a bump, the baby went into seizures. The baby needed urgent drug withdrawal treatment and further medical assessments, none of which the baby’s birth hospital was equipped for. After the baby left, Grey’s heart raced, and he fought to catch his breath. He turned and ran back into the hospital. He burst into the bathroom, holding onto himself, after he locked the bathroom stall. His large frame huddled into a squirming ball, like a dying centipede wrapping around itself. He rubbed his salt-and-pepper hair and his shaky arms to comfort himself. Sweat poured off him in cold waves, and he felt sick and dizzy. He emptied his insides out, and then it was over. His stomach spasms eased, as he limped to the sink. He splashed cold water onto his face and washed himself. In the mirror, he saw his face staring back at him, a horror-mask drained of color. Grey took the next three days off from work. He stayed home smoking pot and watching television. When Grey felt high, he fantasized going to the tropics and sailing. He imagined salt spray on his face and wind blowing through his hair. His fantasy calmed him down. Nothing else settled his frayed nerves. Grey thought back to foster home placements during his eleven years of service. He thought of children who left abusive homes and were adopted by caring, committed people. As fear pressed closer, Grey questioned the meaning of his job. He saw kids yanked from parents in drug houses, doctors’ offices, and schools. Children screamed and cried for their mothers and fathers, the same parents who beat them, sold them, burned them or neglected them; it did not matter. Their children did not want to leave them. Parents walked out of courtrooms sobbing after they lost their kids. It was the same human drama, played out like an ugly, revolving kaleidoscope, during Grey’s eleven years on the job, except lately, the numbers of removals were skyrocketing. G rey thought about parents who lost their children to Child Protective Services, and he wondered how they handled missing the daily unfolding of their children. He wondered if their mental illnesses and drug-induced stupors kept their grief away. He wondered what happened to parents’ love for their children. Where did it go when their children slipped out of their lives, never to return? Grey felt an overwhelming loss. He sat in the shadows and struggled to hold back tears. Grey could not imagine losing his daughter, Olivia. Every day he marveled at his daughter’s beauty, her intelligence, and her courage. Olivia's openness to life kept him moving forward, even though he himself felt like he was sleepwalking. His daughter Olivia looked like his wife Anne, whom he lost to a sudden death eight years before. Anne moved softly like a cat, her thin, apple-shaped figure tantalizing him from the moment he met her. Her thick, chestnut hair, like a rich mantel, fell over her shoulders, as she laughed with a childlike quality, that same quality that constantly stirred his hunger for her. Anne righted his world when she moved close to him, as she laughed and nibbled at him, or playfully tickled him. He longed for the silliness of her. Sometimes he heard her laughing when he walked down the hall, or bent down to pick up a newspaper. He still waited for her, lying in the thick, inert, darkness; wishing she were next to him, yearning to reach out and touch the velvety outline of her warm body. Grey knew his daughter struggled with the loss of her mother. When her nineteen-year-old eyes turned distant and sad, he shied away from her. When he heard her crying in her bedroom, he tiptoed past her door, not daring to go near her, not daring to break open the wound again. Losing his wife was a gut-wrenching memory, still overpowering him. Anguish oozed through him like a tumultuous river, seeping over banks, rising always rising, towards the crest of his dread.

Grey was the toughest worker in the department. He pulled off horrific removals in his unit, and he never missed sleep over them. Until recently, he had no misgivings about removing children from their parents. But lately, he questioned his work and his sanity. He sensed sinister edges of his brain curling towards an ominous peril. Grey dreaded having another panic attack. He never knew when one would strike—the crushing fear, the desperation to breathe, the pouring sweat, the utter humiliation of its grip on him. He doubted if he could go on like this. 

Author Bio:

Shelby Londyn-Heath has been a world-traveler, crossing the Sahara Desert on the back of a salt truck, working on banana plantations in Spain, an oil company in New York, and on coffee farms in Hawaii. She has jumped freight trains across the United States, and she was the proud owner of a beachfront bamboo hut on the Canary Islands. She has worked as a counselor, social worker, and teacher.

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Shelby Londyn-Heath Spotlight Giveaway

Blog Tour w/Giveaway: The Paper Year by Avery Aster

Book Title: The Paper Year: A Psychological Thriller With An Ending You'll Never See Coming (Piper Adler Book 1) 

Author: Avery Aster 

Genre: Psychological Thriller 

Release Date: March 16, 2017 

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

For fans of The Girl on the Train, Before I Go to Sleep, and The Silent Wife, the new psychological thriller from New York Times bestselling author Avery Aster warns readers: the first year of marriage is killer.

Barclay is Manhattan's premiere cooperative—the kind of place everyone who's anyone desires to reside in. That's what psychotherapist Piper Adler believes as she moves into the garden apartment with her new husband, but then she wakes up in a hospital accused of trying to take her own life. Her dreams of being a wife and mother destroyed along with her career as a mental health professional, she sets off on a mind-bending course to discover the truth.

Unraveling a web of deceit forces Piper to second-guess her family, her friends, and even herself. With each terrifying revelation, she must come to terms with the fact that those she thought she knew aren't who they seem, and someone trusted very close to her wants her gone. Will she beat them at their own game or die trying?

Fusing nail-biting suspense with potent storytelling, THE PAPER YEAR will keep you on the edge of your seat with an unforgettable cast of characters who are compelled to do the unthinkable to survive.

I shout for help, hoping someone, anyone, hears me.

Everyone is gone. They heeded the warning and left hours ago.

Glancing down at the watch my husband gave me when we first married, I notice the time: ten minutes to eight. I’m fucked.

Any minute now the demolition crew will blow this basement into a gazillion pieces. I imagine my body combusting like an overcooked dinner that had been left in the microwave for far too long on the highest power. My arms would be found somewhere on FDR Drive. My legs would smack the roof of a nearby cab. I thought about my dentist, Dr. Sabbagh, having to identify my skull using dental records. And my mother in Westchester; I can already hear her saying, “I told Piper she should’ve never gotten married to someone as good-looking as Boden Adler.”

My hands, cut and bloody from fighting while trying to defend myself, start to shake uncontrollably. Reaching for the edge of the cage that I’m locked into, I throw myself onto the mesh metal with every ounce of energy left inside me, praying the door comes loose.

Locked from the other side, it doesn’t budge.

Fear pounds in my heart, blood thumps through my ears. The florescent lights that have given me hope like a warm blanket for the last hour fade to darkness.

Exhausted, I surrender, collapsing onto the cold cement floor.

“You got your chance. You should’ve left when I told you,” the voice yells from the top of the stairs. “Goodbye.”

Never in a million years did I think I’d die like this.

New York Times bestselling author Avery Aster pens The Manhattanites, a contemporary erotic romance series of full-length, stand-alone novels, and the naughty new adult prequel companion series The Undergrad Years. Join Avery's newsletter eepurl.com/CQ665 and get a FREE ebook!

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EskieMama & Dragon Lady Reads Saturday Spotlight w/Giveaway: My Abigail by David Kummer

Welcome to EskieMama & Dragon Lady Reads

Saturday Spotlight

Today we spotlighting David Kummer's

My Abigail!

Enter below for a chance to win 1 of 5 ecopies of My Abigail

from David Kummer

David Kummer's 

My Abigail

Abigail had a secret

She was different... but I loved her.

But after it ended, there were no words to describe her. No way to make sense of it all.

Something so sweet, so loving, so gentle... in the end, it was all terrible.

In this gripping, psychological thriller, Caleb meets the girl of his dreams. Abigail is pretty, funny, and she cares about him like nobody ever has. But underneath her appearance is a monster that nobody can control... and nobody knows about.

When he is confronted with the truth, Caleb must make a terrible decision. Will he love the person who's hurt him? Or will the secret tear them apart?

What even Abigail doesn't understand is that she's dangerous. More dangerous than either of them realize. But is it too late to turn back?

Grab YOUR copy TODAY

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Q & A with David Kummer about My Abigail!

Tell us about My Abigail: A Psychological Thriller. 

My Abigail is a book that I originally came up with by thinking of what would be a fantastic twist for a novel. The twist comes about ¾ of the way through the book, and it really is what the whole thing hinges on. Some have called it sad, some have called it terrifying. I prefer to think it’s somewhat both. Nobody has seen it coming yet, and that’s what makes me most proud! 

What initially inspired you to write My Abigail: A Psychological Thriller?

I was inspired to write the book because I wanted to create something utterly unique. I had never heard of a book like My Abigail, not quite in the sense that I wrote it. There have been books where a boy meets the girl of his dreams and she turns into a nightmare. There have been stories about a misfit boy growing up through terrible things that happen to him. And there have been tales about people with mysterious sides and hidden actions. But none of those stories were quite as frightening and quite as deep as My Abigail. 

Tell us little about the characters in My Abigail: A Psychological Thriller.

Caleb is a teenage boy who lives with his aunt and uncle, for reasons that he can only guess at. Abigail is the new girl in town, and though neither of them are popular they form a strong bond of friendship and romance. When Abigail starts to change, however, Caleb is horrified to find out the truth. What she was and what she really is are two very different things. Abigail doesn’t want to hurt him… but somebody will have to pay the price. 

What was the hardest part of writing this book? 

The hardest part is by far a certain chapter right before the big reveal. It’s an emotional, heartbreaking chapter, especially for me to write. It explains everything about Abigail, and makes it clear that this book might not have a happy ending. It is the climax of the book, and the lowest of lows. 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? 

I really enjoyed writing about Caleb and Abigail interacting. I am probably going to go back and revisit the book later this year, filling in some blanks and writing some more chapters to make a sort of Extended Edition of it. It’ll be fun!

What are your future project(s)? 

I plan on writing a sequel to my book She: A Horror Novel, as well as a sequel to Enden: A Fantasy Novel. Both of those projects will come out in the next 12 months, so it’s an exciting time! 

Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers about this book/series?

My Abigail was a joy to write, a joy to promote, and I am sure it will be a joy for you to read! I am very thankful to this website for hosting my promotion, and I wish everybody luck with anything that might be going on in their lives. If you’re ever looking for a good book to settle down with and get your mind off reality, I’ve got you covered ;)

Now an exciting excerpt from My Abigail!

"I don't know you!" I stood up shakily. 

"I've never seen you before!" "Ah, but you do. You see me almost everyday. You just don't ​ ​see it. Quite ironic, don't you think?"

 "Leave me alone! I'm just going home." 

That smile spread, showing teeth. Surprisingly, his teeth were pearly and perfect. Most of his features were in good shape, actually. The pale moonlight and black, shoulder-length hair made him look a bit like Michael Jackson. With a Joker smile.

"Aren't sentences that begin with ​ ​Q just fascinating?" he asked. "Let's think of some together."

 "No."

Ignoring me, he continued, "Quick deaths. Quiet pain. Quit smiling. Question nothing." He stepped closer to me so that our noses were touching again. "Don't you like this? My touch? It is -as the ​ ​Q would sayquite enticing." 

"Get away!" I screamed. "You freak!"

That smile turned to a frown on his face. It only looked more terrifying. Anger seemed to erupt in his eyes for a flash, but then it was gone. 

"Fine. I tried to play nice. I know something you don't. Something you want to know. About a girl."

 "A girl?" I asked. I knew he was serious. His expression had gone from playful to sober. 

"Her name is Abigail, I believe."

 "Abigail!"

 He smiled again. "There's that recognition we deserve. Now, yes. About her. You are wondering why she acted like she did, are you not?" 

"How did you... Are you stalking me?" I took a step back.

He took a step forward and reached for my hand. "Of course not." 

"Get back," I said! "Or I'm leaving." 

"I'll follow." He winked. 

"Just tell me what you want to say. So I can leave." I looked at my wrist, pretending I had a watch. "I need to be getting home."

"I'm sure that watch you don't have can tell you lots about time. Just like I can tell you lots about Abigail." "Tell me, then." 

He shook his head. "I'd rather you find out yourself. When you see her next, ask her about her childhood. Really" -he made a clawing motion ​ with his hand- "​dig into her." He cackled again. "And do it to that nerd Xavier, too. Oh, boy, has he got secrets."

The monster began to walk off into the night, but I called after him, "Wait! What secrets? And what's your name?" 

He smiled at me from over his shoulder, giving me an image that would haunt my dreams for years. ​ ​

"Lots of secrets. Everyone has them. ​Dirty secrets. ​Rotten secrets. As for my name, you don't need to know it yet. You know my face." He winked at me one last time. "You know my touch."


Author Bio:

My name is David Duane Kummer. I'm a teenager, with a couple published novels and a collection of short stories.

I live in a small, river-town on the Ohio River in southern Indiana. Along with taking care of younger siblings (I have eight total), I make time for writing in between school and sports.

I've been writing since I was young, with As Trees Turned Away being my first published work and She being my first published novel. Along with writing, I am an avid reader and watcher of all things horror, and enjoy writing reviews on them for others who might want to know my opinion on them.

When I'm not writing, I enjoy talking with my hilarious friends and amazing girlfriend, spending time with my loving family, watching movies, and working out to burn all of the calories I get from binge-eating Hawaiian Rolls. Those things are really addicting, am I right? I'd rather get payed in those than money.

Anyways, thank you for checking out my author page and my books (if you've done that.) Have a great day!

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David Kummer Spotlight Giveaway

Virtual Book Tour w/Giveaway: Portraits of the Dead by John Nicholi

Portraits of the Dead

by John Nicholls

GENRE: Psychological Thriller

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Please visit GoddessFish.com to follow the tour, remember the more you comment better your chances on winning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered out, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors, and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn't know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night.

Detective Inspector Gravel finds himself floundering when a local nineteen-year-old university student is abducted and imprisoned by a sadistic serial killer, who has already tortured and killed five young women.

A gripping page-turner of a serial killer thriller packed with suspense. If you like Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza and Karin Slaughter, discover John Nicholl’s chilling new thriller today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

Chapter 1

2:20 A.M. Saturday, 2 May 1998

Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn’t know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night. But he did. She knew that he did.

Emma woke with a start, tense, alert, and opened her bleary eyes, telling herself insistently that the dark silhouette slowly approaching her was the nightmare construct of her subconscious mind. But initial anxiety became blind panic as the inky shadow took on an obvious human form that suddenly gained pace and loomed over her. And then a hand, a large hot clammy hand, pulled the bedclothes over her head, clamped her mouth tight shut and silenced her scream before it materialised.

A myriad unwelcome thoughts invaded her troubled mind as he pinned her head to the pillow and raised his free arm high above his head, before closing his fingers tightly, forming his hand into a formidable weapon and bringing it crashing down, again and again and again, with all the force he could muster, rendering her unconscious and bleeding.

She didn’t know how long she remained senseless, or what he did to her while she slept. She didn’t know what time he lifted her from her bed and carried her from her student bedroom, down the creaking wooden staircase and out into the Welsh city street. But he did. She knew that he did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

John Nicholl, an ex-police officer, child protection social worker, manager and lecturer, has written three dark psychological suspense thrillers, each of which are Amazon international bestsellers, reaching # 1 in multiple categories in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, Canada and the USA. John is always happy to hear from readers, bloggers or anyone interested in proposing a joint creative project. He can be contacted via his author website at:

http://www.johnnicholl.com

https://www.facebook.com/john.nicholl.988

https://twitter.com/nicholl06

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13795294.John_Nicholl

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Dead-John-Nicholl/dp/1786972670/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Blog Tour w/Giveaway: All Her Secrets by Kate Avery Ellison

In this near-future psychological thriller, a wealthy inventor's daughter and a guy from the wrong side of the tracks are entangled in a revenge kidnapping and imprisoned in a mountain cabin to await ransom. They must trust each other and work together if they want to escape, but they're both keeping secrets. And secrets can be deadly.

Kate Avery Ellison is offering one (1) lucky winner a $25 Amzon Gift Card and five (5) runner-ups an eCopy of one of her books (winner’s choice)! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below.

About All Her Secrets:

Title: All Her Secrets

Author: Kate Avery Ellison

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Genre: Young Adult Psychological Thriller

ISBN: 9780998103907

Nothing is as it seems in this psychological YA thriller set in a not-too-distant future.

A GIRL WITH SECRETS

Eighteen-year-old Victoria, the daughter of inventor and visionary-genius Bill Faraday, was almost murdered by a stranger four years ago. She's been trying to forget the incident ever since.

When Victoria discovers something that might explain why she was brutally attacked, she heads home from college to uncover the truth. Then, she’s kidnapped.

A GUY FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

Sam’s just a poor kid from Toivo, an experimental utopia gone wrong, but he knows who Victoria is as soon as his cousin Craig drags her from the trees. He doesn’t want anything to do with what appears to be a revenge kidnapping, but Craig has a gun and needs someone to take the fall if things go wrong.

A DESPERATE PLAN TO SURVIVE

Craig and his buddies imprison Sam and Victoria in an abandoned mountain cabin to await ransom. Putting aside mistrust for tentative friendship, Victoria and Sam conspire to escape together, and the close quarters ignite a startling attraction between them. Then they discover strange tunnels beneath the cabin. And what they find inside the tunnels proves more bizarre.

With a plan in place to escape, freedom seems within reach. But Sam and Victoria are both keeping secrets about their past.

And secrets can be deadly.

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Excerpt:

You’re never prepared for the sound of someone breaking down your front door.

The wood splinters, the sound like a bone snapping. The doorknob hits the wall. My adrenaline is a gunshot to my chest.

BAM.

For a moment, I am perfectly still, the frog in the flashlight beam. My book falls onto the covers with a muffled thump. My hands are shaking and my vision is blurry. I can’t breathe right. This doesn’t feel real, but I know it is.

We have a security system, state of the art, but it doesn’t go off. Why doesn’t it go off?

More splintering sounds, a loud thud, a slam. Footsteps.

I hear voices.

I run toward the window. It doesn’t have a latch. It isn’t supposed to open. Of course not. I hit it with the heels of my hands, but I know the glass won’t break, because it is bulletproof.

They had to have heard that. I have to get out of here now.

I kick the glass so hard I fall back on the bed. When I push myself up, somebody’s in the doorway. 

Everything slows down and becomes painfully distinct.

He’s not tall, but he’s muscled, with a blunt, square face. The dark shape of him in my doorway is foreign and wrong, like a spider in the shower. He’s blocking the hall, and behind him, I barely hear the shatter of things falling in the kitchen over the roaring of blood in my ears.

He’s looking at me, and I’m looking at him. My mind jumps ahead to what is going to happen next, but then I stop thinking about that because I’m not going to give up yet. The feeling surges inside me, a wave of fierce and terrible protest.

He yells something to someone in another room, but I can’t understand him. My brain has stopped processing language. Instead, I’m seeing the room around me. The exits. There’s no door out except the one he’s standing in. I can’t run through the walls.

I’m trapped.

The world slows down. Time feels like cement, and every eye blink takes a thousand years. I reach behind me and grab anything I can reach—a hairbrush. It’s the most worthless weapon in the world, but I clutch it to my chest like it’s a knife. I’m thinking, WHERE IS MY CELL PHONE?

I can’t breathe.

A girl steps into the doorway beside the guy. She has dark brown hair and a flawlessly beautiful face, but her smile is angry. A toboggan hat is pulled down almost to her eyebrows, and she’s wearing slouchy torn jeans. She’s chewing gum, and she blows a bright pink bubble as she points at me. Her fingernails are painted sky blue.

They come around the bed. I back up to the wall. My heart slams against my ribs.

Fight, flight, or freeze. Those are my options. I can’t flee, so fight or freeze?

I pick fight.

About Kate Avery Ellison:

Kate Avery Ellison decided she wanted to be an author when she was five years old, and with hard work, determination, and the support of loved ones along the way, her dreams of telling stories for a living came true in 2011 with her first novel, The Curse Girl, and continued with her Amazon bestselling series The Frost Chronicles and numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. She loves putting a dash of mystery in everything she writes, an ode to her childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes, and she can’t resist adding a good twist in the story wherever she can.

Kate wishes she could live in a place where it’s always October, but until that’s possible, she makes her home in humid Atlanta with her husband, son, and two spoiled cats. When she isn’t dreaming up her next novel or holed up writing it down, Kate can be found binging her favorite shows on Netflix, reading on her Kindle, building intricate train track configurations with her toddler, and playing board games with her husband and friends.

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