The Red Order (Order of the Seers #2) by Cerece Rennie Murphy

The Quest to Control the Power of the Seers Continues…

After successfully destroying the Guild’s Purification Center in Chicago, The Lost Seers, led by Joel Akida and Lilli Knight, embark upon a world-wide mission to save their kind from the tyranny of the Guild and unveil their greatest weapon – The Restoration Project. Developed in secret, The Restoration Project has the potential to awaken the supernatural ability within every man, woman, and child on earth and bring down the very foundation of the Guild’s power and authority.

But the Guild has other plans. Driven by the necessity for control, Crane Le Dieu creates The Red Order, a new league of clairvoyants whose sole purpose is to hunt down and annihilate the Lost Seers. Without the Guild’s mind-controlling drugs, The Red Order is able to develop its gifts far beyond the capacity to see the future, honing their skills to become the ultimate threat against the Lost Seers. But the question remains – will the power of The Red Order be enough to defeat them?

The Red Order continues the epic battle for freedom which began in Order of the Seers, revealing the secret motives behind an organization that exists to exploit and a renegade movement that seeks to usher in the next phase in human evolution.

Order of the Seers is the first book in this thrilling series and I devoured it.  I was really excited to get my hands on a copy of the next installment, Order of the Seers: The Red Order.  Murphy does it again!

In a cleverly crafted world, Joel and Lilli are still fighting the good fight - to bring down the controlling tyranny of the Guild.  They have a new power, one that can help them be successful in their mission.  A way to wake up the supernatual seer in everyone.  But Crane is always one step ahead of them, especially with his new Red Order out to eliminate the seers.

He's also completely lost his mind, turning to beast and hunting the lost seers so that he may steal their sight for his own.  Joel and Lilli aren't the kind to give up easily though and will fight with everything they possess to free their kind from the Guild.  

With page-turning suspense, secrets revealed and noteworthy characters, Order of the Seers is a must read for any supernatural fantasy fan.  Tense, keen and gripping, Order of the Seers: the Red Order is highly recommended! You don't need to read the first in the series to follow along, but I'd recommend it so you get the full experience.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Annamarie and Magdalena by Marianne Spitzer Tour: Guest Post, Spirits and Their Struggles with Technology & Giveaway

Spirits and Their Struggles with Technology 

By Marianne Spitzer 

Modern Technology causes problems for some spirits, but not all. It all depends whether the spirit has been haunting a home for centuries, or if they were existing peacefully in the past and conjured up to help someone in the present. There is a vast difference in the amount of knowledge they have. 

Let’s take a closer look at the first example. If the spirit has been haunting a house since the 1800s and that house has been inhabited much of the time, the spirit will have learned along with the residents. The spirit may not be able to physically touch a laptop so the odds of one searching the internet are rare. The spirit may have the ability to move things, and knowing how items work will play to their advantage. They may turn the TV on and off, change channels, blast the stereo, turn on the microwave, or washer and dryer. The car may start on its own. It could shift into reverse and roll right through the garage door.    

If the spirit has been floating around an abandoned house, and hasn’t interacted with a human since 1800, their reaction to technology would be quite different. Imagine yourself waking from a coma twenty or fifty years in the future. The spirit would experience the same confusion. They may resort to what they know. Perhaps they’ll moan and groan, move a chair across the room, knock a painting off the wall, blow out the fire in the fireplace, or start one. Depending on the age of the spirit, they may or may not be able to learn about the technology around them. They also may be frightened of it since no one took the time to explain it to them, and they were thrown into modern times with little or no warning. The spirits would be extremely confused. 

All of this would make perfect sense to those believing in spirits. Many don’t. Some believe the spirit world moves around us all the time and you need to believe to see them. Others believe they stay where they died, if they are earthbound. Whatever you believe, if you enjoy stories about spirits then you are one step closer to believing. Spirit or ghost stories are fun and can be an enjoyable pastime. If you truly believe, you might look over your shoulder at the odd noise or music you hear coming from another room. Do you have a spirit? Is it technologically challenged or up to date? It might make a difference in how they interact with you. Happy reading. 

“Annamarie and Magdalena” is a supernatural thriller that begins where “Gypsy Spirits” ended. Annamarie walks home from the ordeal in the pines. Certain no one will ever know of her involvement, she tries to settle into the home she inherited from Daniel’s grandfather just two weeks earlier.

Daniel, refusing to accept his own death, has other ideas, and he joins his spirit with the spirit of his best friend, Garret. What Daniel doesn’t count on is that Annamarie is protected by her great-grandmother Magdalena’s spirit, and her Gypsy spirit family. Annamarie’s unexpected pregnancy drive Daniel to plot to steal his child while Magdalena does all she can to protect mother and child. 

Daniel’s evil follows and torments Annamarie in every aspect of her life. Magdalena with the aid of Josef, Annamarie’s great-grandfather, begins a vicious battle of the spirits. Will good win over evil? Will Daniel’s evil be contained? Who will survive? Will Annamarie’s baby be safe or a victim of her father’s evil plan?

I was born in Milwaukee, and lived there until I was eighteen. Then I spent eight years in Washington state and California before returning to Wisconsin. I love eerie places and books. I began with a love of Nancy Drew books and as I grew I found H.P Lovecraft, Agatha Christie, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle among others. When I am not writing, I am reading or watching sunsets. I have been writing short stories since I was in grade school. Most were in the form of essays relating real life events. Many were purely imaginary trips to magical places and times. I enjoy making up stories about people I meet or see on the street. I can see a story in a picture, especially if the picture is eerie. My imagination runs wild and free. I have self-published a book of essays and a book of children's stories for my granddaughter, Brittney. Gypsy Spirits is my debut novel and the first in the series of three "spirit" books. I have self-published the second "spirit" book, Annamarie and Magdalena. I also self-published a supernatural mystery, THE LETTER. I plan to have the sequel to THE LETTER out this year and the third "spirit" book available winter 2013/14. From there I am sure my muse will guide me into another story plot.

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Immortals Cover Reveal by Ednah Walters & Giveaway!

One cover is for the print version, another Ednah is considering for the ebook version.

 Nothing can stop Raine Cooper when she wants something… Raine finally knows that her gorgeous neighbor, Torin St. James, is a legend straight out of Norse mythology but that doesn’t stop her from falling hard for him. Torin is crazy about Raine too, breaking the one rule he lives by: Never fall for a mortal. The problem is he no longer remembers her or that she saved him by making a deal with Norns—Norse destiny deities—the same Norns who have now erased his memories of their past together to punish her. So Raine comes up with a plan... She will make Torin forget his one rule a second time and fall in love with her all over again. But before Raine can put her plan into action, the Norns return. This time, they demand she protects Eirik Seville, her best friend since childhood, from an evil so dark even the Norns are scared. But you know what they say about well-laid plans… Caught between protecting Eirik and convincing the stubborn, cocky Torin St. James that the two of them are meant to be together, Raine's life slowly unravels. Friendships are tested. Enemies become allies. Desperate, Raine makes choices that could not only tear her and Torin further apart, but lead to the destruction of everything and everyone she loves. 

Release Date: August 5th 2013 by Firetrail Publishing 

About Author: EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She is a stay-at-home mother of five humans and two American short-hair cats (one of which has ADHD) and a husband. When she is not writing, she’s at the gym doing Zumba or doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans. Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind.

 AWAKENED, the prequel was released by Pill Hill Press in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, will be released April 2013. She’s working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN. Ednah also writes New Adult paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. She is presently working on book 2, IMMORTALS. Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published four more books in this series. She's presently working on book six. 

You can visit her online at www.ednahwalters.com or www.ebwalters.com. Connect with Ednah: Website: http://www.ednahwalters.com/index.html Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4188120.Ednah_Walters Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdnahWalters Twitter: https://twitter.com/ednahwalters 

Vote For Torin St. James at The YA SISTERHOOD Crush Tourney on June 17th

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My Sister's Reaper by Dorothy Dreyer

Sixteen-year-old Zadie’s first mistake was telling the boy she liked she could bring her dead sister back to life. Her second mistake was actually doing it.

When Zadie accidentally messes with the Reaper’s Rite that should have claimed her sister Mara, things go horribly wrong. Mara isn’t the same anymore—Zadie isn’t even sure she’s completely human, and to top it off, a Reaper is determined to collect Mara’s soul no matter what. Now Zadie must figure out how to defeat her sister’s Reaper, or let Mara die … this time for good.

Light romance? Check.  Witchcraft? Check.  That moment when chills run up your spine? Check!

At the prompting of the hottest boy around, Zadie takes her witchcraft dabbling a bit further to try and save her sister Mara, who is in a coma following an accident.  Surprisingly, it works but Mara isn't quite right.  With some help from her friends and a local witch, Zadie is in the fight of her life and Mara's because the Reaper wants Mara's soul - no matter the cost.

Likeable characters, unexpected twists and turns and enjoyably spooky, My Sister's Reaper is a treat! The ending wraps up well but leaves some hanging threads for another installment. The pages just flew by, entranced in Mara, Zadie and her friends.  A unique storyline that is a breath of fresh air to the young adult genre.  Highly recommend!

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tales from Frewyn Volume 1 by Michelle Franklin - Tour

The Haanta Series is the longest, ongoing, online romantic fantasy series. Thousands of readers visit the world of the Two Continents to enjoy the daily short stories featuring all their favorite characters from the Haanta Series novels. In between the business of the books, the commander, Rautu, Otenohi, Unghaahi, Leraa, Kai Linaa and Alasdair enjoy some time together in Diras Castle, but as the stories portray, mischief lies in every corner of the keep where spiders, chocolate pies, petulant giants and grouchy cooks abound.

Tales from Frewyn is a short story collection brimming with fantasy worlds and eccentric characters.  The book itself isn't that long, not quite a hundred and fifty pages.  But each story blossoms vividly to life with a short tale, usually encompassing the Commander of the King's Guards or Rautu, the Haanta giant.  There are secondary characters as well, and if you haven't read any of the series before, you could find yourself a little lost.  

But, the first story pretty much is necessary to follow along with the rest of the book.  It gives you the background, introducing the reader to the characters and what part they play.  Without it, I would have been hopelessly confused.  While I did enjoy the amorous relationship between some characters, I didn't like the point of view all that much.  Told from a third person perspective, it took some getting used to.  But there is wit, romance, light action and great enchantment to be found within these pages that many will find enjoyable.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

June New Release Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the June edition of the New Release Giveaway Hop hosted by Book Twirps and Refracted Light Reviews! This hop runs from June 15th - 30th and all blogs on the hop are having a giveaway with a book(s) that are being released this month!

I'm offering an arc of In the After by Demitria Lunetta!

*USA only

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GOOD LUCK!

One Day in Apple Grove (Small Town USA #2) by C.H. Admirand

One Day in Apple Grove by C.H. Admirand continues the story that began in A Wedding in Apple Grove.   Three years have passed since Meg and Dan married.  This book focuses on Caitlin Mulcahy.

Never mind that typically, construction businesses are owned and run by men.  In Apple Grove, the Mulcahy daughters take care of the business owned by their father. Caitlin, the middle daughter, is more and more responsible for the local projects, since her sister Meg is pregnant and taking care of her twins.  Caitlin is thrilled to be driving her father’s car (usually off limits) and on a trip into town, she has an accident.  

As she drives a borrowed car home, she notices the new doctor’s Jeep parked by the side of the road.  The doctor is not unfamiliar to her, but she did not know him well as she grew up.  He was her sister’s age, and he was not quite in Caitlin’s social circle.  Jack Gannon, an Iraq War veteran, has taken over his retired father’s practice.  When Caitlin gets out to see if Jack is all right, she sees Jack and a sweet, lost dog.  Jack takes the dog home, and Caitlin agrees to help him take care of it.  This starts the couple on the road to romance.

This is my second trip to Apple Grove after reading the first book in the series, A Wedding in Apple Grove.  The quirky supplementary characters were still there.  Honey B, who runs the hair salon, is pregnant with her first child with Mitch, the sheriff.  Sisters Peggy and Katie McCormack are still serving the best pies in town.  And the romance between Caitlin’s dad Joseph, and the local widow, Mary Murphy, continues to heat up.

There is no other word to describe this book so much as the word cozy.  Apple Grove is the town where everyone knows everyone else and cares about everyone too.  There are no major divisions in the town.  It seems as though there are no conflicts between characters either.  The major obstacle to Caitlin and Jack’s romance is his PTSD, related to his guilt about an experience in Iraq.  After a few conversations with some wiser people, even this obstacle is overcome.

The dog, Jaime, provides some comic relief and the glue that initially hold's Caitlin and Jack’s relationship together.  There is a twist at the end of the book, when Jamie’s owner comes to claim him, but I found this development rushed and unnecessary.

One of my biggest pet peeves with this book?  It is going to seem trivial, but C.H. Admirand loves the letter J.  It drives me nuts when authors name their characters similar names, and this author relies on the following names for characters:  Joe, Jack, Jaime, Jerry, and John.  Towards the end of the book, nearly all of these characters intersect and sentence after sentence was filled with names that started with J.  Keeping all of them straight was a challenge.

If you are looking for a small town setting where nearly everyone is good at heart and you can be assured of a happy ending, Apple Grove is your kind of town.  Enjoyable cozy romance.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Regina

Cowboy Take Me Away (Rainbow Valley #1) by Jane Graves

Rainbow Valley is a haven for animals.  As the story goes, the infamous “Rainbow Bridge”, the place where deceased owners and pets are reunited, is in the town.  Most of the townspeople have some connection to pets—they either own a pet oriented business or have a resident pet patrolling (or just observing, in the case of kitties) their property.

Shannon, a headstrong, tenacious woman, runs the local animal shelter, rescuing animals ranging from cats to horses.  Shannon is the child of upstanding Rainbow Valley citizens, and they expect her to marry well.  Her well-meaning (but snooty) mother has even picked out the perfect man for her, a dentist who has just the right amount of upward mobility and success.

Shannon, however, is enamored with her first love, the town bad boy, named Luke.  Luke grew up with an abusive drunk who was shunned by the good citizens of Rainbow Valley.  By extension, Luke inherited some of his father’s bad reputation.  Luke’s teenage infractions did nothing to change the minds of the townspeople.  When he was a teenager, Luke began to volunteer at the shelter with Shannon.  They fall in love, but Luke is convinced that Shannon cannot overcome his reputation and deserves better.  He decides to leave the close-minded world of Rainbow Valley and become a bull rider.  He’s so good that he is poised to win the World Championship.  When his father dies, he takes one last trip to his old homestead to put old ghosts to rest.  The dilapidated, rotting house delivers another blow to Luke—he falls through the porch and injures his leg, sidelining him in Rainbow Valley for six weeks.  Since he is strapped for cash, he needs a job as soon as possible.  Enter Shannon, who offers him a job at the animal shelter where he worked as a teenager and fell in love with Shannon so long ago.

Working so closely with Shannon reopens old wounds for Luke and he struggles to make sense of his past.  Shannon, for her part, has difficulty reconciling her feelings for Luke with the expectations of her family.  The way the couple resolves their feelings results in healing and new beginnings.

 While reading Cowboy Take Me Away, I struggled to believe that anyone would be so small minded as to assign a negative feeling toward a child just because he was the child of the town drunk.  Not having been back to the small town where I was born for several years, I had to consult my mother to see if this was true.  Do people still do this?  She assured me that they do—in some places, a child is still judged by the sins of his parents.  Makes me glad that I moved!  Luke seems to very much weighed down by his memories.  Not only is he harshly judged for his parentage, but he also has to overcome the resentment he has toward the townspeople for doing nothing to help him.  He is a compelling character who seeks to make his own way in the world and to take charge of his adult life.

Shannon was also a likable character, committed to the welfare of the animals she saves.  I didn't much like that she continued to date the dentist who she really did not care about, but I can understand her struggling under the weight of parental expectations.

This is primarily a character driven book and other than the changes in Shannon and Luke, there is not much action until the last 50 pages of the book, when a wildfire threatens the town of Rainbow Valley. 

Cowboy Take Me Away was a fast read that did not cover much new ground.  I lost some interest in the middle of the book because it seemed as though Luke’s angst over his inferiority complex was a bit overdone.  I kept waiting for something else to happen.  However, the characters were sweet and the small town setting is right up my alley.  For those who like their romances light on action scenes and heavy on small town character, this might be a good book to spend some time reading.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Regina

The Tegen Cave by Inge-Lise Goss Review & Giveaway

After running from her boyfriend’s powerful organized crime family, Sara Jones starts a new life in a new town. But when people around her start dying from poisonous spider bites after she receives a mysterious package with a spider concealed inside, she worries that the family has found her. Life takes an even more bizarre turn when she seems to be not only immune to the spider venom, but also surrounded by a sinister group of people she suspects is a spider cult. Even her new boyfriend starts acting suspiciously. Just who can she trust?

I don't like spiders.  There, I got that off of my chest.  However, Goss does an impeccable job of creating a dynamic of fear, horror and suspense.  Sara Jones just wants to get on with her life, without the extra baggage of her ex's crime family tagging along.

Things are going well until she receives a package with a spider inside.  Are they trying to kill her? How did they find her so quickly and why won't they leave her alone to live her life in peace? Those thoughts are in Sara's mind but she must be immune because she lives to see another day.  But, those around her aren't and as the bodies begin to drop, so does Sara's new found freedom.

With a love interest, page-turning suspense and a crop of clamorous characters, The Tegen Cave is an engrossing and captivating read, even if I did jump at every movement around me, a fearing a spider!

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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