Blog Tour | Chasing Azrael by Hazel Butler

 

 

Book details:

Chasing Azrael by Hazel Butler 

(Deathly Insanity #1) 

Publication date: April 23rd 2014

Genres: Gothic, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis:

When Andee Tilbrook’s husband died, her preoccupation with death turned to obsession. Thanks to her unique ability to commune with the dead, her husband remains all too close, yet never close enough.

Mired in grief, she clings to James’s spirit, slowly losing touch with the world, her friends, and any desire to continue living. But when her friend Josh becomes the target of Natalya, a jealous, capricious and violent Russian beauty, Andee somehow finds the strength to free herself from her misery long enough to help him.

They soon discover that Natalya is wanted by the police for her involvement in a series of grisly murders, and Andee is dragged into the inquiry by the same man who investigated her own husband’s death. Torn between new feelings for Josh, and fear that he might be involved in the murders that seem to threaten anyone who comes close, Andee must face the realities of her life, her past, and her very nature-and do it all in time to save her own life.

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Author Bio:

Hazel is an author, artist and archaeologist from Cheshire, England. She is currently in the final year of her PhD, which focuses on Gender Dynamics in Late Iron Age and Early Medieval Britain. She has two archaeological papers published in international journals, as well as several research papers published through Bangor University and the University of Vienna.

Hazel has also published Out of the Dark (an edited volume of Gothic art work, showcasing over thirty artists from around the world), All the Night-Tide (a collection of Gothic/Steampunk fusion short stories based on the poems of Edgar Allan Poe), and ‘Grave’, a short story included in Willow, Weep No More, a fairy tale anthology giving female characters more agency in their roles. Her new novella, Bleizgeist, is a Dark Fantasy tale about a young woman’s isolation and social ostracism due to her unique magical abilities, and her struggle to accept her true nature.

Author links:

http://hazel-butler.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HazelJaneButler

https://twitter.com/hazel_butler

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6042743.Hazel_Butler 

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Sneak Peek at Launching a Book from Victoria Scott!!

Just a super quick blog post to let you know that Victoria Scott has a new video up!! A video about launching a book. A pretty awesome one where she goes to school talks, panels, authors dinners and more. Check it out!! ;)

Book Review ~ Have Mercy by Aimee Shaye

 

Title: Have Mercy

Author: Aimee Shaye

Release Date: February 26th 2016

Published By: Amazon/CreateSpace

Page Amount: 50 pages, Kindle Edition 

GoodReads Blurb:

Lorraine is stuck in the worst imaginable position, an emotionally abusive relationship and a man who loves her more than he loves himself.

Kael has never felt for anyone the way that he feels for Lorraine. Knowing everything that he knows about her soul-sucking past, he strives to help her and love her in a way that she has never been loved before.

This is a novelette about Lorraine's journey, about how she realizes that she deserves much more than what she is getting.

Review:

I'm lucky enough to be friends with this wonderful person and author. This is the first work of hers that I've read. About a month before this novelette released she sent me a message asking I'd be willing to read the first 3k words or so of a project that she was working on. Of course, I said yes. It took me longer than I like to actually read it but once I read it I loved it. I could really relate to Lorraine and was very excited to see where the story would go. Fast forward a bit and her new novelette is out. I finished it last night so this is my review.

I really love this story. I feel like it can be very relatable for a lot of people. Whether or not they have been in an emotionally abusive relationship, a lot of people could relate to finding that one person who just really helps them get through. The one who sees the real them - flaws and all - and loves them with all that they have anyway. I, however, have been in an emotionally abusive relationship. And probably more people than we think have been. Those people - like me - will be able to relate to Lorraine on that level. It's an awful feeling. A feeling of being trapped. It was wonderful to see her realize what she really was worth, what she really deserved. That she deserved better and then to decide that she was going to get it.

Kael was a great character, too and you could plainly see the chemistry between them. Especially in the last scene of the book. Where the book gets steamy. But even with all the heat you can still see the love Lorraine and Kael have for each other. The last line was a wonderful last line. The emotion in this story was clear. I'm very glad to have read it and I'm sure it won't be my last Aimee Shaye book. I really related to Lorraine which is what pushed this rating from 4 to 5 quills for me. I'm a very character driven person. So I give this one 5 quills and definitely recommend it.

 

Release Day Blitz ~ Eyes Open (Finding Home #2) by Rachel Caid

Title: Eyes Open (Finding Home #2)
Author: Rachel Caid
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Find on Goodreads

Synopsis

Keep them shut.

Block out the pain.

No one sees the truth.

Until him. 

He wants too much.

He wants it all. 

He wants me to live with my

Eyes Open.

Buy Links

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks 

More in this Series

Healing (Finding Home #1) – Released Aug 14, 2015

​After a devastating loss, Anna Johnston has finally gotten the pieces of her life to fit back together and has created a comfortable pattern for her and her son, Roman. Trying to protect both of their hearts, Anna has given up on dating accepting that she will never completely heal from losing Roman's father.

Noah Evans just got out of a relationship based on lies and isn’t looking for anything permanent. New to town, he and his friend and business partner are focused on finishing their new remodel and making money. One boys’ night out introduces him to Anna and all of that changes. Noah wants something real; a place to call home.
He might be pushy, but Noah is determined to get what he wants. Just as Anna and Noah start to come together, someone from the past comes back to cause trouble.

Can Noah convince Anna to take a chance on him and break free from the pain of her memories? Will Anna look past what she cannot change to see a future that includes Noah?

Due to explicit sex scene, 18+ please

Amazon

Author Info: 

Hi! I’m Rachel, and I am a lover of all books romance!

While my books are contemporary romances, my favorite genres are paranormal romance and suspense romance. Maybe one day I will have the courage to try those :)

I am a mother to two amazing boys, wife to my best friend, and herder of two dogs and three kitties. We live in rural Missouri and absolutely love being outdoors, tending to the acreage we built our home on.

I am also a complete coffee-addict, with no plans for rehab or any sort. So give me a good book, a pot of coffee and call me a happy girl!

Facebook | Twitter | Website | Goodreads 

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Re-Run: Happy Birthday Johnny Cade!!

I posted this last year and will likely post this every year on Johnny Cade's birthday!

The Outsiders is one of my two favorite books. And Johnny Cade is one of my two favorite characters from this book. Today is Johnny Cade's birthday, A while ago I found a list on The Outsiders' website with most of the character's birthdays. So today I am doing sort of a tribute to him. 

Reasons To Love Johnny Cade:

#1: He is SOOO sweet!

#2: He cares so much about his friends!

#3: He saved those children from that burning building!

#4: He's open to poetry (Robert Frost - "Nothing Gold Can Stay") and literature (Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind)!

  

#5: He will always stay gold!!   

 

Release Day Blitz ~ With Ties that Bind (a Broken Bonds Novel, Book One) by Trisha Wolfe!!

Title: With Ties That Bind

Series: Broken Bonds #1

Author: Trisha Wolfe

Genre: Dark Erotic Thriller

 Release Date: February 29, 2016

Blurb

This series is a spinoff of the Broken Bonds serial which must be read prior to beginning this first book. Contains spoilers to the Broken Bonds serial.

Detective Ethan Quinn has questions. The Arlington Slasher case is closed, the UNSUB no longer a threat—but Quinn can’t quiet the suspicion he harbors toward his partner and the young, attractive M.E. Not only does he loathe his uncertainty, he’s torn between doing his job and protecting his team.

But burying himself in cases no longer works. He’s restless. On edge. And tired of fighting his compulsions. Quinn has always viewed the law in black and white. Only now his world is swirling with a murky gray that threatens to devour him.

When lead medical examiner Avery Johnson careens toward a dangerous path, she pulls the unwitting detective into a dark web of deception and lust, triggered by a spree of recent killings.

Is this new player linked to the Bathory murders, or is it another copycat?

Time almost took Avery from him once before. As the clock ticks, Quinn will stop at nothing to protect her, refusing to let Avery become a victim again. Against his uncompromising logic, Quinn can’t deny his feelings. Avery forces him to acknowledge his darker desires, tempting his control—which weakens with every second he spends with the feisty M.E. as they hunt down the perpetrator threatening to tear them apart. 

Catch Up with the first Broken Bonds serial: With Visions of Red - the first book is FREE

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Purchase Links

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 Excerpt

Avery

The windowless room is freezing. Florescent lights hum, echoing off the cinderblock walls and tingeing the too bright, barren room in a sickly green hue. As soon as I was ushered inside, the bag was removed from my head and my lab coat was taken.

The thin blouse I’m left with does nothing to shield me from the frigid air.

I rub my arms to generate heat, giving myself something to concentrate on besides counting the seconds. I’ve only been locked inside for minutes, but panic threatens to pull me under when I imagine it turning into days.

So very different than before, but somehow just as frightening. I’m not shackled. I’m not drugged. I don’t, logically, think these people have the same intentions as my abductor did when he took me…but I can’t say that for certain.

As soon as I think I’m going to lose it and start banging on the steel door, I hear a click, and the door grinds open against the floor.

The man entering is tall and thickly built. He wears a mask. A Jason mask like on the horror movie. And he’s carrying a semiautomatic gun. My stomach plunges, free-fall. I want the bag back over my head.

He jerks his head. “Move. It’s ready.”

What’s ready? But I can’t work up the courage to ask. This man is not manhandling me, and somehow my feet move me in that direction. I’ve just simply lost my mind. So many days spent fearing the world after I was released from the hospital, and what I dreaded could happen—that which I told myself over and over would never happen again—has, in fact, happened.

What else is there left to fear?

Death?

I’m almost relieved. Like I’m ready to welcome it. Like I can stop dreading it now.

The masked man stands in the doorway as I cross through. My eyes go wide when I see what’s on the other side of the room.

A lab.

But unlike any lab I’ve ever worked in. It’s dirty, and smells of death. Not like the death in the morgue, where I’m accustomed to being surrounded by bodies. But a grotesque, sour stench that soaks my pores.

Tables are full of beakers and test tubes. A giant syringe station is setup with thin blue hoses curling down into a large tub. My gaze follows the tubes’ path along the back wall to a large containment unit.

“Welcome, Dr. Johnson.”

I whirl around, trying to locate the source of the deep, gravely voice. Feedback pierces the air, and I look up to find a speaker in the corner.

The voice booms through the room again. “Go ahead. Get comfortable. There’s a coat on the hanger to your left, and goggles on the table.”

I shake my head. “What do you want from me?” I say to the room, hoping this unsettling PA system is two-way.

“It’s what we both want,” the voice responds. “I believe neither of us want any more dead girls littering up our beautiful streets. So you should get to work.”

I turn around and see the man with the gun standing watch at the only exit.

I face forward, lick my lips. “And if I can’t?” 

The silence stretches out, endlessly taunting. I’m sure the decision to end my life has already been made. Then: “I really don’t think that’s an option for you, Miss Johnson.” A beat. “Best focus on the task at hand. You have one hour.”

  

 Also Available

FREE

AMAZON US / UK

Passion and lust ignite. Dark and light battle. This explosive first installment of the Broken Bonds series sets the exhilarating pace for a cat and mouse game where no one knows who’s really pulling the strings.

Criminal profiler Sadie Bonds knows blood. Her affair with the gruesome, dark world of killers began long before she started applying her analytical skills to investigate gory crime scenes. She gets inside the killers’ heads, breaks them down, relates to them on an arcane level. She prefers it this way—because it’s safer to ally herself with the villain than the victim. At least, that’s how she’s coped ever since she was abducted and tortured as a teen.

She will never be a victim again.

Now, she’s honed her skills in order to bring justice to these ritualistic offenders. Working alongside her colleagues, armed with sharp wit and a SIG, Sadie always catches her sadist. Until one ruthless serial killer gets inside Sadie’s head, turning the tables. He knows her secrets. Her obsessions. The darkest, most deviant part of her soul.

When she meets Colton Reed, dangerous stakes are raised as he threatens to unravel her control and reveal her darkest fantasies. The sexy-as-sin bondage rigger at an exclusive BDSM club pushes her boundaries, forcing her to acknowledge that side of herself she fears. Plunged into a realm of torture and suffering, pain and pleasure, Sadie balances on the razor-sharp edge of two intersecting worlds threatening to swallow her.

 AMAZON US / UK

The UNSUB has made contact.

After a rapid string of grisly murders shakes the usually peaceful city of Arlington, Virginia, the sadistic killings of young women lull into a deceptive calm. Agent Sadie Bonds knows the terror isn’t over; serial killers don’t stop until caught.

And this sadist has targeted the profiler, revealing pieces of her dark past and weaving her secrets into each gruesome crime scene. Is the killer someone from Sadie’s past, her present? Or is he part of a fated future she brought on herself? The answer lies within the riddle of the copycat killings, ones mimicked after the infamous Blood Countess.

As tension brews in the department awaiting the UNSUB’s next move, Sadie’s more than on edge—her deviant cravings for the possible perpetrator have ratcheted out of control. She needs the feel of Colton’s ropes binding her, sheltering her from stark reality.

Only Colton Reed has his own twisted secrets that threaten to unravel not only Sadie as they come to light, but the UNSUB’s carefully constructed web now entangling both the profiler and her sexy bondage rigger.

AMAZON US / UK

Who is the UNSUB?

For Agent Sadie Bonds, finding the answer to that question means the difference between life and death for someone close to her. The UNSUB’s latest abduction reaches right into the heart of the ACPD, forcing every member of the department to search within their ranks for the sadistic perpetrator.

Suspicion not only clouds the task force; it slithers into Sadie and Colton’s bond, challenging their love. Discovering the truth means facing their past together. Sadie’s connection to Colton has quieted her inner demons—but is she strong enough to confront the real monster?

All players take their places as the stage is set for the final scene. With the UNSUB manipulating the game, even Sadie and Colton fall victim, spiraling deep into the darkness that threatens not only their lives, but their trust. As Sadie navigates a tortuous maze, Colton will do whatever is takes to protect her. 

The truth will set you free. Only for Sadie, her truth will test the very fabric of her reality. She must silence the threat, or risk losing everything and everyone she loves.

AMAZON US / UK

Author Bio

From an early age, Trisha Wolfe dreamed up fantasy worlds and characters and was accused of talking to herself. Today, she lives in South Carolina with her family and writes full time, using her fantasy worlds as an excuse to continue talking to herself.

For more information on Trisha Wolfe and her works, please visit: www.TrishaWolfe.com

To be the first to hear about new releases and sale events, sign up for Trisha Wolfe's Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1rXTKI7

Author Links

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UPDATED: Rare Disease Day + New Project Announcement!!

I've posted about Rare Disease Day before on this blog. I believe that it is an important day to be recognized so that we can spread awareness about rare diseases in the world. People are effected by them. Spreading awareness could always help so if you read this post any shares would be greatly appreciated.

This year I got in touch with Cameron Von St. James to partner up on my Rare Disease Day post. Cameron's wife is a survivor of a rare cancer called Mesothelioma. This type of cancer is caused by exposure to asbesto s fibers. Asbestos has been known to cause cancer for many years, but there is still no ban on it in many countries. Unfortunately, most diagnosed with Mesothelioma are only given a few months or years to live. As you know, I have a condition called Nephropathic Cystinosis (click on the link for more information.) There is also information in the below graphic. We decided to merge our missions and share some graphics that have more information on rare diseases as we both feel it is an important thing to spread awareness about. I also have a video from NORD (National Organization for Rare Diseases) in this post. At this end of this, after this information, I'm going to be making an announcement about a new project that I'm working on because I believe that it pertains to this.

Don't forget, to show your support for Rare Disease Day (the last day of February) wear denim!!

NORD's Video

                                                                                                           Credit: Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance

  

Please also check out this page on Mesotheliomia.net's website!! Few months or years to live  << CLICK HERE <3 <3 

Announcement:

I'm taking part in a new project that I hope I will be able to share with you all in the not too far off future. I partnered up with a mom of a young girl with Cystinosis to put together a collection of mini memoirs from people in the Cystinosis community. People with Cystinosis and caregivers alike. We want them to be able to share their stories and hopefully give people some hope. Even people who are not directly effected by Cystinosis. In addition, all of the proceeds from the book will be going to Cystinosis research. So be on the lookout for that project!! Hopefully there will be a cover to reveal to you not too long from now!! 

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Check out NORD's site and learn some more about rare diseases. You may even know someone effected by a rare disease and just not know it. Since these diseases are rare, there isn't lot of awareness about them. So if you could share this post and help us spread that awareness that would be wonderful!! Don't forget to wear that denim!! 

Please consider donating to Cystinosis Research and to Mesothelioma research. 

Thank you!!