Happy Release Day: Pursuit by Caitlyn Nicholas

Happy Release Day!!

Today is release day for Pursuit by Australian author Caitlyn Nicholas
It sounds great, I'm adding it to my TBR pile :)

 

Title: Pursuit
Author: Caitlyn Nicholas

Publisher: Momentum Books

Release Date: August 1st 2013

Legendary hacker, Dimity Pond, is on the run from the law.   

Her landlord’s sold her home, her money has disappeared along with her two-timing husband, a cyber-terrorist named Nemesis is forcing her to wreak havoc with a nasty virus and she's developing a vile migraine.

Six years ago, Nemesis framed Dimity for the collapse of one of Europe's biggest banks. The money was never found, and the bank's failure caused untold damage to its customers. She's been living under the radar ever since. The only way she can clear her name and live a normal life is to uncover Nemesis's identity, but he's always one step ahead.

Since Lord Richard Summerhayes left the Special Forces he's built the best disaster-recovery network in the world, known as The Bunker. Banks, militaries, airports and other major systems around the world rely on him as the last unshakeable digital fortress in the face of disaster. Richard has been keeping an eye on his neighbor who has a dubious hacking past. He doesn't like hackers, and when someone nukes his network with an intriguing new virus he knows exactly who to blame. But when he confronts her, he gets a whole lot more than he bargained for.

When Nemesis commits an unthinkable act of terrorism, the last hope is an encrypted file that only Dimity can crack. Will Nemesis manipulate Dimity into helping him wipe out the world's biggest financial center? Or can Richard and Dimity take Nemesis down once and for all?

Excerpt

When Dimity and Richard first meet its not exactly love at first sight...

The purr of a powerful engine made her glance around. A luxurious car cautiously made its way into the yard, its fat tires creeping through the mud.

A pitchfork leaned against the side of the stables. Dimity grabbed it and stepped out in front of the car. It jerked to a halt, and its driver stared over the steering wheel, as if deciding whether he could run her over and get away with it. Then, with a slow shake of his head, he turned off the engine.

“You’re Dimity Pond,” he said with grim resignation as he got out of the car. He was taller than she’d imagined, lean and dressed entirely in black. His hair was dark brown, same as his eyes, and he had the pale skin of a cave-dweller. There were deep lines of strain around his eyes.

He took a step toward her, keeping a close watch on the pitchfork.

 She tightened her grip.

 “And you’re Richard Summerhayes.”

This couldn’t be about the virus – it was untraceable – so she glared at him, though he didn’t seem to notice. Instead he glanced down, frowning as his black boots sank into the mud. There was a controlled rigidity about him, as if every movement was planned. He wasn’t quite what she’d expected.

Excerpt

“My name is Susan Kiffler.” The woman had a cultured English accent that perfectly matched her outfit.

Kiffler? Dimity’s heart stopped.

“So?”

The woman scrabbled around in her gigantic mauve handbag.

“This is a photo of me and my husband, Jake Kiffler, on our wedding day.” She held out a picture with a hand that shook. Not just trembling, but shaking, like an online gamer at the end of a forty-eight hour session, down to his last quart of caffeinated beverage.

Dimity took the photo from the trembling hand and stared at it, trying to make out what it meant. A stunned, sledgehammered feeling made it hard to concentrate. Thoughts skittered out of her grasp and fragmented, like the smashed mug.

One thing was certain.

Jake was the groom who smiled at her from the photo.

“He said it was a disaster, that his first marriage only lasted a few months.” Dimity lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes.

Jake knew her secrets. He’d helped her create a vague sort of life.

Hiding. Isolated.

“Jake Kiffler and I have been married for eleven years.” The woman pulled out a piece of paper and waved it at Dimity. It was a wedding certificate. “We’re not divorced. He’s still my husband.” She pointed to his name on the paper, then put it carefully away.

“Get away from my house.” Dimity reached forward and flicked the photograph back into the gaping bag. “Go away.”

Susan grabbed her wrist. “He’s disappeared. We’ve got two children.”

Meet the author

Caitlyn Nicholas began writing in 2005. Exhausted, pregnant and coping with a demanding toddler, she decided the time was right to embark on a writing career.

To her family's eternal startlement she is now the author of five novels and a short story.

Her debut novel - and the first manuscript she had ever written - Running Scared, was published in 2007. This was followed by Secret Intentions in 2009, The Danger Game in 2012 and, Drive Me To Distraction, also in 2012.  Her next novel, Pursuit, will be out in August 2013.

Author Links
Website: http://www.caitlynnicholas.com
My blog: http://www.caitlynnicholas.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CaitlynNicholas
Fb: https://www.facebook.com/CaitlynNicholasAuthor
Google plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/105412279044420141735/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/783424.Caitlyn_Nicholas
 
Buy links
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D8MYCTM
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D8MYCTM
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pursuit/id659158185?mt=11
Momentum: http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/pursuit-2/

Book Spotlight: The Wind Whisperer by Krista Holle

Cover Art by Janice Duke

Title: The Wind Whisperer
Author: Krista Holle
Genre: YA
Release Date: Expected publication October 15th 2013

At fifteen, Anaii is the most important member of her tribe—and the most mysterious.  Ever since Anaii can remember, the spirits of the wind have whispered of fertile hunting grounds and imminent enemy attacks.  But when her people are ambushed by a brother clan without any apparent cause, the spirits remain eerily silent.

As the village prepares to retaliate, Anaii is pressured by her best friend, Elan, to marry him.  It’s an old plea—Elan has spent a lifetime loving her, but Anaii only sees a childhood playmate out of an imposing warrior.  Stifled by Elan’s insistence, Anaii escapes into the forest where she meets Jayttin, the beautiful son of the enemy chief. 

Enamored by Jayttin’s carefree spirit and hope for peace, she repeatedly sneaks away to be with him, but when her deception is discovered, Elan is devastated.  Pledging his lifelong affection, Elan gives her a passionate kiss, and Anaii begins to see her friend in a new light. 

While Anaii is tormented over which man she must choose, the wind whispers of a new threat that could destroy both tribes.  Only a union will afford a chance at survival, but the reality of that union is based on one thing—which man Anaii chooses to die.

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Krista has been writing since she was nine-years-old when she scribbled out her first adolescent work entitled Merish, the completely illogical but heartfelt story of a girl who was part mermaid, part fish. As a young mother, Krista added to her repertoire some middle grade readers and picture books she’s wary of mentioning.

In 2004, Krista began an intensive four year period working part-time as a critical care nurse while homeschooling her four children. During this hectic time, courses of writing were taught and learned, and rules of syntax were scolded to memory. Ironically this period of study equipped Krista with the tools she needed to enter the next phase of her writing experience. Now equipped with the mysteries of the comma, Krista was ready to tackle a much bigger project—a full fledged novel.

After the kids were enrolled in public school in 2009, it occurred to Krista that there is an insatiable audience of women and girls who want to read books filled with stories about true love. Convinced that there was an unfulfilled audience waiting for what Krista loves to write—romance, she sat down in the family’s dungeon, a.k.a. the basement, and began to furiously type. In no time, her first novel was drying on crisp white paper.

Krista currently resides in Midlothian, Virginia with her husband, four daughters, and an eccentric cat with an attachment to the family’s socks. She continues to write obsessively every chance she can get.

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Interview and giveaway with author Phyllis Edgerly Ring

It is my great pleasure to welcome
author Phyllis Edgerly Ring to My Book Chatter today for an interview.
Phyllis has also very generously offered to send one lucky reader a goodie pack, which includes a print copy of her book Snow Fence Road!!!
(see rafflecopter at bottom of this post)

Welcome Phyllis :)

Why did you want to be a writer?
Possibly the result of too much time alone in my room as a kid, together with the fact that I come from a family of writers. Stories came and found me and have never stopped. My making the commitment to go the distance and stay with them, learn and grow and be shaped by them, as they take shape, until I discover what they want to show me is what feels like the real practice of writing, for me.

Where did the idea for Snow Fence Road first come from?
I dreamt it, more than 25 years ago. I saw the incident that shatters one character’s life (and remains a mystery full of secrets in the story) just as if witnessing it like a bystander.

How did you choose the genre you write in?
I’ve always yearned to write about the many-layered complexity of relationships, the recognitions we reach within them about ourselves and others and life, which can set us free, or keep us imprisoned -- and the growth and redemption that are the goal in everything of value in life, and in fiction, for me. I’m interested in how souls meet what it is they encounter and work with it and through it in order to recognize and claim whole new depths in themselves and their lives, and accompany others as they do the same. For this book’s story, which explores how compassion heals others and ourselves, sweet, inspirational romantic fiction was the route. Also, the book has a very regional flavor, as well as a small-town one, both vital elements, for me. By contrast, my current novel-in-progress has historical elements, set in Nazi Germany, as well as contemporary, women’s fiction, and generational-story ones.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your books or getting them published that you would change?
I’d have worried less about trying to please any sort of “gatekeeper”, or meet or match any trends and instead really respected the writing process itself, first and foremost. That, in my experience, is how work takes shape in the way that benefits it best, and also, I believe, works best for this writer. Rather than try to impose or engineer writing, I seem to need to meet and serve stories as they come through and forth from what feels like the inside-out.

In your experience, what are the best and worst things about being a writer?
Because I did a lot of nonfiction writing and publishing of article-length work, I learned lots of useful tools for the process of writing longer work, and fiction. There just wasn’t ever opportunity to feel concern about being blocked – my inner attitude is that I’m always living in writing, and in the process of how a completed work is coming into being. That’s my own “atmosphere”, so to speak. I think that writing for magazines and newspapers, demanding and constrained as it often was, helped me feel more ownership of writing and how I wish to go about it. The focus for me now is to bring myself to a work of writing as fully as I can, so that it can inform, instruct, and lead. It’s an inextricable part of spiritual life, for me. Saying “yes” in this way winds up leading to saying “no” in many others, as time goes on.

Who are your ‘must read’ authors and who would we find on your bookshelves/e-reader?
Some favorites for fiction are Tracy Chevalier, Ursula Hegi, and Barbara Kingsolver. I’m also falling in love with the friendly, insightful work of a writer here in New Hampshire named Betsy Woodman. For support in the writing life, I appreciate authors Maureen Murdock and Eric Maisel. And for her fiction-like nonfiction, I really appreciate Diane Ackerman.

Fast Five
Favorite food…
Peaceful Pumpkin gluten-free indescribably yummy muffins from my hometown’s Good Karma Café.

Favourite movie…
I credit “The Snow Goose” (from the long-ago novella by Paul Gallico) with launching and setting the emotional tone and yearnings of my inner writer, at an early age.

Cat lover or Dog person…
Dog, by inheritance, with an ever-growing regard and respect for cats.

Celebrity crush…
Colin Firth.

If you weren’t a writer, you’d be…
Helping writers, somehow. Or perhaps an herbalist, an interest that will probably be with me for life.

Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed Phyllis <3
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A village on the coast of Maine holds painful secrets—
the kind only the miracle of new love can heal.

Tormented by her fiancé’s death, Tess Johansen escapes to the only place that can still comfort her—the Spinnaker Inn in coastal Maine. Here in this place by the sea she feels close enough to the man she lost to numb the pain, if not the guilt.

For local craftsman, Evan Marston, the ramshackle inn serves only as a grim reminder of the accident that shattered his life and killed the woman he once loved. But while the Spinnaker’s walls may hold guilt and grief and suspicion, they might also house a bright new spark.

Drawn together by a love they never expected, Tess and Evan begin to unravel the mysteries of their pasts and question the miracle at work in their wounded hearts—until one fateful evening along a snow fence road…

Excerpt:

“Are you ... all right?” he asked finally as he slid slowly into a sitting position.

“I can’t sleep.” Her voice, barely audible, was flat.

As though the words had tapped the last of her reserves, she slumped suddenly and Evan knew she was going to fall. As he moved to intercept her, the only way to avoid the edge of the coffee table was to close his arms around her and guide her down until she landed beside him. Her head lolled as she came to rest against him, sliding down onto his chest until he reached to cradle it gently and move it back onto his left shoulder.

Evan struggled to sit upright but it was impossible. He sat wondering what to do as the moonlight shed soft pools of light on her pale skin and dark hair. He had no idea which room was hers and she certainly wouldn’t be able to tell him.

She shivered with little gusts of tears that trailed off as she slipped into sleep then startled out of it like a restless child. He decided the best thing was to remain still until she fell asleep then find a way to disengage and let her rest here.

Instinctively, he stroked her hair, which seemed to have a quieting effect. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “You’ll get through this. Even if you can’t believe it now.

“Just rest,” he urged softly. “There’s nothing you could have done differently. Let sleep take you away for a while.”

As he said these things, he felt a sense of peace he dimly remembered but would never have anticipated. In the days after his accident, there had been no one to console him and, perhaps worse, no one to console. This, he realized, is part of how people get through loss, though each goes through the needle’s eye of grief alone. It was that great loneliness that had made him want to die or, more exactly, struggle to find the will to live—made life itself seem like the worst of punishments. It was odd to suddenly feel so close to that again when he’d worked hard to distance himself from it. She lay heavy against him now. In a little while, he’d probably be able to disentangle himself without disturbing her. But for now, there really wasn’t any hurry. The unexpected peace of this contact seemed to hold him in place.


Here he was with the last thing in the world he’d have ever expected—a pleasantly warm, fragrantly scented, and distinctly female body wrapped in his arms. You just never knew what you were waking up to some days.
Buy link print

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Phyllis Edgerly Ring's current novel project follows the lives of three women there during the second world war in Germany. She loves writing, travel, and the noblest possibilities in the human heart. She is also author of Life at First Sight: Finding the Divine in the Details, nonfiction from Baha'i Publishing about balancing the spiritual and material requirements of life. She has worked as editor, nurse, tour guide, and conference program director, taught English to kindergartners in China, and served as instructor for the Long Ridge Writer’s Group. Her articles and essays have appeared in such publications as Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Writer’s Digest, and Yankee.
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And now for the giveaway!
Its easy-peasy to enter and open internationally - good luck!

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Swaggy Saturday Giveaway!!

Its Saturday night, I've had a bit of a clean out and I've ended up with a HUGE stack of swag that needs a new home!!

So, I figure it's time for an impromptu giveaway!

There are more than 90 items of swag...
signed bookmarks, unsigned bookmarks, magnets, collectors cards, postcards, note-lets, mouse-pads, keyrings and more!!

For your chance to win 1 of 10 swag packs,
just enter the rafflecopter below
Giveaway is open internationally :)

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Cover Reveal: Melted Tears by Annabelle Blume

Here it is - the long awaited
cover for Melted Tears

Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Release Date: August 2013

Two lovers face off against a government determined to keep them apart. It’s only brave if it’s hard.

After a decade of being alone in the wilderness, Cressenda is still adjusting to life with the man of her dreams. When Beckett hatches a plan to break her parents out of The Affinity prison work camps, Cressenda must make the biggest sacrifice of her life; trading her freedom for her parents’. Cressenda’s fortitude is tested at every turn, from surviving the conditions of West Fallen work camp to believing in Beckett’s dedication to their plan and their love, even when it looks like all hope is lost. With the help of a unlikely ally, Cressenda learns to stop fighting against her fears and embrace the power of fighting for her dreams.

Will trusting Beckett to take down The Affinity be the ultimate show of faith or a fatal mistake?

Annabelle is a Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy Romance author, that is, when she's not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant for that which is outside the norm.

Her Sociology degree has given her the ability to construct worlds that exist only in her head and translate them passionately to the page. The time spent studying individuals, interpersonal relationships, and particularly, women, within the constraints of our society led to Annabelle's unabashed ability to talk about sex as it fits into our modern lives.

She's also the author/personality of The Bombshell Mommy at Vitacost.com, where she expounds her knowledge of being a vixen clad in sweatpants.

A serial book monogamist, Annabelle is deeply devoted to the literary love of her life until the next amazing book falls into her clutches and she obsesses anew.

Website
@AnnabelleBlume
Facebook
 
Don’t forget to check out the first book...

  
A decade surviving on her own. 
Three days with the enemy. 
Can love conquer all?

Cressenda knows how to survive. With her sled dogs as her only companions, she’s spent the past ten years hiding in the snow covered wilderness from the oppressive regime of the Affinity. When a routine trip to civilization takes a turn for the worst, Cressenda is forced to take refuge with the enemy or lose her life to the frozen countryside.

But Beckett, a Guard of the Affinity, is more than a man in uniform. His desperate need to help Cressenda escape both- the blizzard and the Affinity- makes her feelings for him all the more troubling. Will Beckett be true to his word and set Cressenda free? Will her heart let her leave after all they’ve shared?

Release Date: August 7th, 2012
Format: eBook and Paperback
Length: NovellaISBN: eBook: 978-0-9851483-6-2
Paperback: 978-0-9851483-5-5

Book Review Tour: Branded by Abi Ketner & Melissa Kalicicki

I realized while writing my review for Branded that I couldn't justify giving it a rating at or above 3 stars, and so, at the request of the tour organizers, I will not be posting the review here.

Twenty years ago the Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society. He created the Hole where sinners are branded according to their sins and might survive a few years. At best.
Now LUST wraps around my neck like blue fingers strangling me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit and now the Hole is my new home.

Darkness. Death. Violence. Pain.

Now every day is a fight for survival. But I won’t die. I won’t let them win.
The Hole can’t keep me. The Hole can’t break me.
I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter.
My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story.

Abi Ketner is a registered nurse with a passion for novels, the beaches of St. John, and her Philadelphia Phillies. A talented singer, Abi loves to go running and spend lots of time with her family. She currently resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her husband, triplet daughters and two very spoiled dogs.

Melissa Kalicicki received her bachelor’s degree from Millersville University in 2003. She married, had two boys and currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Aside from reading and writing, her interests include running and mixed martial arts. She also remains an avid Cleveland sports fan.

Abi and Missy met in the summer of 1999 at college orientation and have been best friends ever since. After college, they added jobs, husbands and kids to their lives, but they still found time for their friendship. Instead of hanging out on weekends, they went to dinner once a month and reviewed books. What started out as an enjoyable hobby has now become an incredible adventure.

Links:
Twitter @abiandmissy

Website and Blog www.abiandmissy.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AbiandMissy

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17402117-branded
Book Trailer: http://video214.com/play/PlssJogkXB4H85hKKomnOA/s/dark

Spotlight On: Remembering Love by Nadine Christian with GIVEAWAY!

Today I'd like to shine a Spotlight On author Nadine Christian and her book Remembering Love, and thanks to her generosity I have an e-copy to giveaway :)
(see rafflecopter at the bottom of this post)

 
Title: Remembering Love
Author: Nadine Christian

Release Date: February 1st 2013 
Publisher: Eternal Press
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When all is lost, how do you remember love?

When her beloved foster parents pass away, Holly discovers a past both shocking and heartbreaking: the murder/suicide of her biological parents on the South Pacific island of Pitcairn, famous for the HMAV Bounty mutineers. Travelling to a home she does not remember, Holly reconnects with long-lost childhood friend Jack. An old friendship quickly becomes more…until a dark secret is uncovered.

Will joyous love remembered become heartbreak? Can she find out the truth before someone else is hurt?

Purchase Links

Amazon kindle

Amazon print

Nadine Christian lives on Pitcairn Island, a small isle in the middle of the South Pacific, with her husband, five children, four goats, two cats and thirty chickens. With its rich maritime history, Pitcairn's romantic past comes alive in her novels, capturing the taste of life on an isolated tropical island, miles from the rush and bustle of normal city life.

You can find Nadine here

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