Susan Rae - Ice Blue - Virtual Book Tour

When lives are on the line, sometimes the wrong thing is the right thing to do.

Born into a Chicago cop family, Angela DeLuca gets her rush from saving lives while her brothers get theirs from catching the bad guys. A tough beauty with a heart perhaps too big, she champions the underdog because, as the youngest of six siblings, she often felt like one.

ICE Special Agent Troy Deavers became a cop to prove he wasn’t like his father—a southern politician who brought his family down with greed and corruption. He doesn’t suffer victims well. At first intrigued by Angela’s passion, he soon fears that the fire in Angela’s heart will be her undoing.

What happens when Troy falls in love with the lovely but infuriating Angela, the Chicago paramedic who insists on protecting a young witness and her unborn baby—a witness who could break his case wide open?

You met the DeLuca family in heartbeats, now come to know them even better in ICE blue.

About Susan Rae

I write, basically, because I just can’t help myself. I can't resist the challenge of taking the intriguing characters and storylines that pop into my head and fleshing them out into compelling manuscripts. Romantic suspense is a natural to me, because it allows me to combine a sexy, passionate love story with a gritty suspense tale—in my opinion, the best of both worlds. It also lets me express my appreciation for the outdoors in the settings which I recreate on the page.
Freefall, my second novel, takes place in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine Forest and beautiful Door County. ICE blue returns to the busy streets of Chicago and the shores of Lake Michigan to continue the story of the DeLuca family which began in my award winning first novel, heartbeats. I am currently working on the third book in the DeLuca series, TRUE blue, due out in 2014, where it seems my characters must take a trip to Montana’s majestic Glacier National Park.

When I’m not sketching characters or working out plot problems, you might find me on the golf course working on my handicap. I also enjoy traveling around the country seeking out new settings for my novels with my husband and my empty nest puppies, Ginger and Nikute.

Blog-Website / BN / Amazon

Through the Valley Love Endures by Eddie David Santiago

Through the Valley Love Endures

What if death came for you today? Would you be ready?

Forced to face his own mortality, Eddie Santiago fought to stay alive in a broken world. His incredible journey through heartbreak, abuse, and adversity left him with one truth: every life makes a difference.

This is the true and compelling story of his supernatural quest through the valley of death, doubt, and darkness. Eddie provides a passionate story that will capture the attention of even the toughest skeptics.

Angels, demons, heaven, hell, Jesus and the devil: are they fiction, or are they more real than anything else in the world?

Buy Links for Through the Valley Create Space for paperback and Kindle

About Eddie David Santiago

Eddie David Santiago has worked in the mental health/substance abuse field since he was 18 years old. He holds bachelor degrees in both psychology and religious studies and has provided counseling related services for multiple mental health, substance abuse and human service agencies. In addition, he earned his master’s degree in counseling along with certification in educational administration.

With over fifteen years of counseling related experience, Eddie founded the organization L.E.A.D. (Love Endures And Delivers) which offers interactive group trainings, seminar sessions, speaking opportunities for groups of all ages and crisis counseling sessions.

THROUGH THE VALLEY, LOVE ENDURES is based on Eddie’s early collection of writings, through which he found his voice. He seeks to inspire others to find their voice and share their own stories.
Eddie resides in the Midwest with his beautiful wife Sarah and their three amazing children, Faith, Isaiah and Makaylah.

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Dustin Stevens - Dead Peasants - Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Bargain Mart, long a fixture in the Missoula economic structure has fallen on hard times. Things are dire, and if a financial windfall doesn’t arrive soon, their doors will close.

Across town, a woman grieves her recently deceased husband. Sitting alone at her kitchen table trying to put her life back in order, a call arrives asking where his quarter million dollar life insurance policy should be sent. A quarter million dollar life insurance policy she never knew existed.

Answering the phone on the other end of her call for help is Drake Bell, third year law student at the University of Montana. Joined by his partner Ava, and his loyal friends the Zoo Crew, Drake must attempt to make sense of the case Alice presents him.

A case that only grows more complex as people continue to pass in Missoula, all with ties to Bargain Mart, all with large life insurance policies attached to them. Policies known in the corporate world as Dead Peasants…

Dustin Stevens

I originally hale from southern Ohio, growing up in the heart of farm country, and still consider it, along with West Tennessee, my co-home. Between the two, I have a firm belief that football is the greatest of all past-times, sweet tea is really the only acceptable beverage for any occasion, there is not an event on earth that either gym shorts or boots can't be worn to, and that Dairy Queen is the best restaurant on the planet. Further, southern accents are a highly likeable feature on most everybody, English bulldogs sit atop the critter hierarchy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Saturday night spent catfishing at the lake.

Since leaving I've been to college in New England, grad school in the Rockies, and lived in over a dozen different cities ranging from DC to Honolulu along the way. Each and every one of these experiences has shaped who I am at this point and I have developed enormous affinity for locales and people of every size and shape.

By day I work as a healthcare attorney in Honolulu, focusing largely on health policy and implementation. By night I am usually found barefooting along one of Oahu’s many beaches before heading inside to write. Dead Peasants is my eighth novel, and the second in The Zoo Crew series. I am currently working on the follow-up, along with a handful of independent projects.

Web Site / Amazon

E.M. Havens - Fate War: Alliance - Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Prince Cole meets Samantha when she walks down the aisle. Though she seems like the polished women he is familiar with, there is something different. She is complicated and full of mystery. Her dowry comes with a promise of air ships and mech capable of defense against their common enemy and for his country to survive, he must unravel her secrets. It is only when each accepts their destinies can they save their people from the plans of the Fate Sovereign.

Excerpt:

“King Arnold, a pleasure.”

Samantha curtsied low, holding the layers of her blue, lace trimmed dress up from the floor. The handmaid had done a tremendous job of tightening her corset. Multi-colored stars popped before her eyes with the movement.

“None of that now. We’re family.” The King’s kind voice and hand guiding her back up put her at ease. He stood in the doorway of her and Cole’s bedchambers. Images of him in red coattails flashed into her mind, and she pushed them back. Today, he wore a grey morning coat, complete with a red striped waistcoat and ascot. The ruby eyes and toothy grin of a gold dragon head peaked at her from the crook of his arm where his cane rested.

He took her hand, kissing the gloved fingers, then wrapped them around his elbow to lead her to the balcony. “And how are you this morning daughter-in-law?”

“I’m well. Thank you for asking, King Arnold. And you?”

“Doing well, my dear.” He patted her hand as they reached the balcony where Cole stood, fidgeting with his tawny waistcoat. Under her fingers, Samantha felt the King tense. He and Cole nodded to each other, but no words were exchanged in salutation. Cole pulled out her chair, and both men helped her settle for their family breakfast. As the men took their seats, they continually eyed each other, like one expecting a tame tiger to turn man eater at any moment.

Thankfully, the servants began uncovering today’s dishes, and the men were distracted by bacon.

E.M. Havens

Who is E.M. Havens? I’m a lot of things. The word that seems to define me most at the moment is mom. It can be all consuming. Not only am I a mom of three (one of them is a teenager…pity me), but I also home-school (pity me more). I share this awesome responsibility with the love of my life, best friend, and soul-mate husband.

Add to that, the twenty-five chickens, twelve turkeys, ten guineas, nine pigs, three barn cats, two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs, a Chihuahua, a house cat, and a goose, it makes for one crazy, full, and certainly entertaining life.

Somewhere in there I find the time to write. I started out young writing poems, then moved on to songs. I actually have a Bachelor in Music with a secondary in Science because I can’t stand English. Yes, the writer hates English. I like to read the story for the experience of reading the story, not to nitpick each letter and comma. But I digress.

I eventually found blogging and really enjoyed sharing my life that way. When an unfortunate turn of events separated me from my music equipment, I decided to use my overactive imagination, my love of reading, and my new found hobby, prose writing, to release some of my creative energy. I wrote my first novel and loved the experience. Fate War: Alliance is actually the second novel I wrote and the first to be published. Now I’m working on my third and several sequels to Fate War!

So that’s pretty much me, sitting in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma, reading, writing, collecting eggs from the coop, and being a schoolmarm. It’s a pretty great life.

Facebook / Twitter: havensem / Blog / Amazon

FOUND Blitz / Giveaway - Stacey Wallace Benefiel

In celebration of Stacey Wallace Benefiel’s third Indieversary,

FOUND (Penny Black #1) is only 99cents April 20-27!

Amazon  /  Barnes and Noble

Synopsis:

Penny Black hasn’t had it easy. Just about everything you’d expect to happen to a harassed foster-kid turned junkie has happened to Penny. Add in the mysterious power to rewind time, conducting events around her, and it’s a wonder she held up on the streets for so many years. Now, at seventeen, the New Society has found her. Finally, Penny is where she belongs. But that doesn’t stop the visions, or the need to protect the victims shown to her.

Wyatt Adams is excited and intrigued when his sister Melody assigns him to be Penny’s Lookout. Being the youngest, and hopelessly ordinary in the family that created the New Society, has left Wyatt feeling like he has a lot to prove -- and Penny is a big deal. She’s got abilities that surpass any he’s seen before…and pretty much every quality he looks for in a girlfriend, but no one needs to know about that, especially Penny.

*The Penny Black trilogy is a companion to the Zellie Wells trilogy and not a continuation of the series. (PBT is set 18 years in the future with a new cast of characters.)

*Due to language and sexuality, FOUND is recommended for older teens (Most of the characters are out of high school and preparing for college.)

Also available at: Kobo / Smashwords / Apple

Excerpt:

The caseworker hoists my red hemp-fiber backpack out from underneath her desk and drops it at my feet. I stretch forward to pick it up and nearly wince at the pain that shoots up my side, but I hold back. I can’t go to the doctor. A doctor might have more time or obligation to care about me. A doctor might ask the right question, the one that makes me break down and blab about my dreams.

I get a hold on the worn straps of my pack and stand, slinging it on. Before I turn to walk out the door and go meet my supposed uncle, I reach back and feel for my knife in one of the side compartments. It’s there. A man with dark hair who’s wearing a fitted black t-shirt and moss green trousers gets up from one of the chairs in the waiting area. He comes at me, his hand extended, his brown eyes trained on mine. I should think he’s creepy. But I don’t. His palm hits my palm and then we’re shaking hands.

“The resemblance to her mother is remarkable,” he says to the caseworker, who nods back at him with stars in her eyes. “Well…” He hooks his left index finger under my chin and turns my face from side to side. “Her mother didn’t have all of these piercings or model her hairstyle after Emo Brite, but it’s there. In the eyes.”

This statement isn’t true. At all. I look more like my olive skinned, brown-eyed dad than my fair skinned, blue-eyed mother. The caseworker would’ve known that if she’d bothered to check my file and seen the two crime scene photos that have followed me no matter how hard I’ve tried to get away from them. Still, I don’t care. “Ready to go, Uncle…?”

“Christopher.” He places his hand on the back of my left arm and guides me toward the parking lot. “Thanks for all of your help,” he says over his shoulder to the caseworker. “Anytime,” she practically purrs.

Uncy Christopher’s fingers tighten around my arm as we exit the juvie center. He’s not hurting me, but he’s definitely got a good grip. Panic flares in my chest. I twist away from him and swing my backpack off, going for my knife.

“Hold on,” he says in a soothing voice. “You can trust me, Penny, I promise. I’m like you.” Like me how? I leave the knife in the side pocket. “You’re a seventeen-year-old girl?” I give him an exaggerated once over. “That sure is one hell of a believable ‘middle-aged-man-aging- gracefully’ get-up you’ve got going on there.”

“My car’s over here.” He takes my arm again and walks me to a silver two-door Toyota with Arkansas plates. Arkansas being the state I was living in prior to Virginia. The dreams plagued me something awful there.

“You’ve been looking for me,” I say. He lets go of me as the passenger side door slides open.

“Not just me, Penny. The New Society has been searching for you since you disappeared off our radar seven years ago.”

I toss my pack into the back seat and get into the car. I…don’t know why. I’m just not threatened by him or suspicious of him and that doesn’t ever happen. I’m a damn bueno judge of character. Eerily bueno. “I don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about, man. I think you’re going to have to spell it out for me. The New Society? Does that mean there’s an Old Society?” I joke.

My door slides shut and Christopher goes around the front of the car, climbing into the driver’s seat. He pushes the ignition button. “Actually, there is an old Society, but most of its members have made their home in Europe for the past eighteen years. We’re not affiliated with the other branches any longer.”

“Naturally.”

Christopher programs in our destination (the Sheraton by Dulles International) and puts the car in autodrive mode, presumably so he can focus less on driving and more on telling me WHAT THE FUCK IS UP. I’m not getting any bizarro vibes from him, but this whole scene, this whole New, Old, whatever-the-hell, Society deal is out there.

The car backs up, exits the parking lot, and enters the flow of traffic gracefully. We’re on our way. “I know you have a lot of questions. Perhaps a visual aid?” Christopher takes his Ret- Tech off of his head and hands it to me. “I assume you don’t have one of these?”

I give him a “duh” look and then strap the Ret-tech on. This is only the third time I’ve ever used one, and it takes me a second to remember how it all works.

“Be careful with your blinking, the New Society won’t spring for the latest model until the end of next month, so the commands are a little touchy.”

I close my left eye in order to steady the gaze of my right. “What am I looking for exactly?” “Blink on the video icon.”

A clip appears on the microscreen, the text at the bottom reading Camera 58, Hwy. 66 with a scrolling digital timestamp next to it. 3:21, 3:22, 3:23.

Cars whizz by, semi-trucks, bio-buses, all headed into Washington DC. The traffic is light. Well, as light as traffic in a metro area can be. The highway is ten lanes wide and a clunky station wagon swerves from lane six into lane seven. This is familiar to me. I fist my right hand and push it against my stomach to keep from throwing up. “My dream,” I whisper to Christopher.

“Keep watching,” he says, taking my left hand. His touch is comforting. “You did more than dream this, Penny.”

*****Interview with Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Q: In the description for FOUND, you write that the Penny Black trilogy is a companion to the
Zellie Wells trilogy (Glimpse, Glimmer, Glow) and not a continuation of that series. Can you tell
us why you decided to write another trilogy instead of Zellie Wells #4?

A: I ran out of “G” titles that were appealing. Gastroenteritis? Gangrene? Gluten-free? Ha. You
know, I did consider writing a Zellie #4. I have all sorts of starts…that I won’t rule out as good
material for bonus short stories. They’re all episodic and not enough to base an entire novel on.

I felt like I’d got Zellie through the worst of it. She’d gotten the guy and he was safe. Her
relationship with her parents was moving in the right direction. Melody came into her own and
wasn’t just her annoying little sister. Ben and Christopher were on their path to open the Society
School. Zellie’s gifts had gone from being a burden to a blessing. She’d owned it.

And, I’m not going to lie, I wanted a fresh love story, a new location, and a more evil villain.

Q: Several characters from the ZWT make an appearance in FOUND, though?

A: Yes! The main characters in FOUND are Penny Black (basically the new Zellie) and Wyatt
Adams (Zellie and Avery’s baby brother in the ZWT). The kids from the Zellie books are now
the adults and the supporting characters in the Penny books. I had the best time writing about
them as adults! Ben is still hot and a gigantic pain in the ass.

Q: FOUND is set eighteen years in the future. Was that challenging?

A: It was challenging in that I’m kind of a techno-phobe. I just started texting last fall. Seriously,
it was too much for me. That’s why Zellie didn’t have a cell phone. J

So, here I go and create a world where cars have autodrive and everyone walks around with
micro computers strapped to their heads. It was especially interesting for me to write Phoebe.
She’s the youngest of the group at 16 and therefore, the most savvy with tech. But, at the end
of the day, I’m a writer. I looked at what was possible now and expanded on that. Hopefully, it
comes off as plausible.

Q: You’ve also included some new slang in FOUND. How did that come about?

A: I wanted this new group of kids to have their own slang. Cool and OMG were done to death
in the Zellie books (and the adults continue to say those things) so I looked to use words that
meant the same thing, but were new. I looked to Spanish. It made sense to me that eighteen years
in the future, people in the U.S. would speak spanglish even more than they do today.

Q: If you consider Penny to be the new Zellie, how are they alike and how are they different?

A: Penny’s life has been infinitely harder, obviously. She’s been abused and bounced around
from foster home to foster home until she ran away to live on the streets. Penny’s more closed
off, more skeptical, more afraid. But, she’s as funny as Zellie, as self-deprecating. Penny has no
more of a chance against the draw of an Adams man than Zellie or Zellie’s mom, Grace, did.

Penny’s powers are not the same as Zellie’s, but they go through the same type of discovery.
This is one aspect where Penny didn’t have to go it alone, while Zellie did. Penny has a whole
school and group of peers to guide her.

Writing the scenes between Zellie and Penny was the best. I was really proud of Zel and the
advice she gave. J

A: I’m in the plotting stage for FRAYED, the next Penny book, while I finish up working on
CROSSING, my first Contemporary NA Romance that should be out within the next month or
so. Definitely by summer!

AUTHOR BIO


Stacey Wallace Benefiel is the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy, FOUND, the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus, The Toilet Business - a collection of humorous essays, and multiple short stories. Look for her upcoming New Adult Contemporary Romance, CROSSING, Spring 2013. She sometimes goes by S.W. Benefiel or Reina Stowe, but knows she's not foolin' anybody. Stacey lives in an orange house in Beaverton, OR with her two kids and their old, smelly dog. When she's not writing, thinking about writing, or driving her kids somewhere, Stacey is at CrossFit lifting heavy things and cursing the inventor of burpees.

Author Links:
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