Book Blitz&Giveaway: The Midnight Sea (Fourth Element #1) by Kat Ross

So, how much do we all love a fantastically well written and three dimensional villain that's written into a story in such a way, that you fall mad and passionately in love with their character and you know you're supposed to hate them, but you kind of don't want to?! 

Seriously, my hand would be the very first to shoot straight up, because I do! I do! I so do! 

I don't know if it's my love for all things Joss Whedon (and let's just all recognize that he has written some wonderfully loved and hated to love characters/villains), Stephen King and the crazy evil that he writes about, or the whole idea that some human's are pretty much demons masquerading with human faces and some demons are way more human than any other human could possibly be. All I know, is that I love, love, love these characters to pieces and they are some of my absolute favorite. 

Give me an amazingly well established villain with a great backstory and plot twist waiting to happen, combined with fantasy and I'm there every single time because that is THE STORY that I want to read. This is why I'm so excited to have Kat Ross on the blog today talking about how to write a great villain, among a few other things. Plus, I'm just really excited for The Midnight Sea, and can't wait to read it. It just looks like it's going be a fantastic novel, from the synopsis and reading what the author has to say about it herself. 

Want to know more about this awesome book?! Check out the synopsis below and order yourself a copy!

The Midnight Sea
Kat Ross
(Fourth Element #1)
Published: May 10th 2016
Age Demographic: YA
Genre: Fantasy
To Buy: Amazon

They are the light against the darkness. The steel against the necromancy of the Druj. And they use demons to hunt demons….

Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King’s elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister.

Scarred by grief, she’s willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he’s possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other’s emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close.

As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius’s past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake…

Despicable You: 

Writing Great Villains

I have a confession to make—one that some of you might share. My favorite characters are usually the awful ones. The ones who do terrible things without a shred of remorse. The ones that I'm dying to see get their comeuppance, but not before they push our beloved protagonist to the very edge and nearly destroy everything in the story we care about. Yes, I'm talking about the villains.

Think the viscerally creepy Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. The icily elegant Mrs. Coulter from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Elizabeth Wein's SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden in Code Name Verity, who we only meet second-hand but is terrifying nonetheless.

Villains can make or break a book. When they're boring or one-dimensional or clichéd, there's no tension and the plot deflates with that sad wheezing noise balloons make when you stick with them with a hatpin. But when they're done right, meaning that they are an actual character and not simply a clunky device to test the hero, they help keep the stakes of the story high and the reader turning pages late into the night. 

In The Midnight Sea, King Artaxeros II is the obvious villain, but he's also a bit abstract—you don't meet him until more than halfway through, and then only briefly. So I needed another antagonist. One who you really get to know. One who has some admirable traits but, as the pressures of the plot slowly pile up, becomes something much darker. Without giving away too many spoilers, I'll just say that I spent as much or more time thinking about him as about my main characters, Nazafareen and Darius. If you're going to have a colossal betrayal, the reader had better care about everyone involved or it just won't have much emotional impact. 

"So here are a few tips on writing unforgettable villains."

First off, all this is very subjective. What gives me cold sweats might make you laugh yourself silly. So you might start by thinking about which villains in film, TV, books, wherever, have resonated the most and why. Is it the prosthetic hook? The creepy Malkovich-esque voice? The mask of sanity they wear with their family when they're not committing grisly deeds? Once you know what disturbs you in the deepest, most primal part of your monkey brain, channel that quality in your own bad guy.

Okay, this one I cannot emphasize enough: give the villain motivation that readers can relate to, even if it's totally twisted. So they're power-hungry. Why? Is it because they have a secret crush on someone they want to impress? Or maybe they're compensating for a horrible childhood, or their dog needs an expensive operation, or their ideas of right and wrong are simply skewed beyond repair? I like to think that even the worst villain has something they care about. Balthazar, a necromancer who gets a starring turn in the second book of my series, is madly in love with his wicked queen. Yes, he does terrible things. But everything he does, he does for her.

Rachel Aaron has an awesome blog post on character development where she breaks it down into the deceptively simple formula below. The key is to understand that what a character wants and why they want it are two separate things and as a writer, you need to be very clear on both.

What do you want? (Goal)

Why do you want it? (Motivation)

What's stopping you? (Conflict)

If you have trouble, you can also try flipping the story and imagining it from the villain's point of view. You might be surprised at what you discover. Setting aside hockey-masked killers and comic book arch-bad guys, a good villain could potentially be the protagonist if he or she weren't quite so extreme.

In my first book, the sci-fi thriller Some Fine Day, one of the most despicable characters is a military doctor who's deliberately infected innocent people with a super-nasty Level Four virus. But as she calmly explains to the main character, the project is simply a response to their enemies engineering a similar plague. From her point of view, it's a matter of self-defense. 

Effective villains often embody an exaggerated version of the same things your hero is conflicted about. That's very much the case in The Midnight Sea, where both Nazafareen and her antagonist face a similar choice but react in opposite ways. This is where we dig down deep and see what our characters are made of. Often, it is the villain's inability to change and grow and face the truth (external or internal) that proves to be their undoing. 

So now that you’ve got a fantastic, fully fleshed out villain that rivals Moriarty or Lecter, what's the best way to get them across to the reader? Well, if the story is third person, you can give your villain their own POV. Jack Torrance in The Shining is one of my all-time favorites because we get to watch him slide slowly into madness over the course of several hundred pages. But the scariest part comes just before he's lost it completely. We know he's probably going to do some very bad things, but there's still an unpredictable quality to him. In our hearts, we still vainly hope that his love for his wife and kid will somehow triumph over the evil ghosts running the Overlook Hotel, which makes it SO much worse when Jack finally, irretrievably snaps. 

As King says, “This inhuman place makes human monsters.” And those are always the scariest kind.

Anyway, thanks for reading! For tons more on villains, I highly recommend Bullies, Bastards And Bitches: How To Write The Bad Guys Of Fiction by Jessica Morrell.

Author Bio:

Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

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Book Blitz&Giveaway: Painting Sky by Rita Branches

It feels like New Adult novels and their respective author's have literally taken over my life within the last year or two. There's something that I crave more and more about the raw, gritty, grown-up and mature tone they seem to take on. It feels like I'm reading books that are targeted towards me, as an avid book reader and I keep voraciously devouring them every single chance that I get. I've watched people that I admire grow into becoming some of the best New Adult romance authors out there. People like, Molli Moran, Lia Riley, Jessica Sorensen, Eliza Freed, and Rita Branches are what make me want to read more. 

That's why, I'm really excited to be part of this blitz, because it's talented author's like Rita Branches, that fuel my desire to read and Painting Sky, looks like it's going to be amazing. So, if you guys are interested in checking out some amazing New Adult author's and discovering new books, as well as reading what I think will turn out to be an amazing gem, then keep reading and check out the excerpt below. It's got me, hook line, and sinker!

Painting Sky 

Rita Branches

Release Date: 04/25/16

Age Demographic: NA

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 306

Nobody ever said life was easy…

People pleaser, Jane Skylar wants nothing more than to earn her art degree, start her life, and bask in the bliss of living with her boyfriend.

But things don’t always go as planned…

Struggling with her creative side, Jane finds herself in turmoil, often confiding in her roommate – another, more talented art student, Keith Hale. Keith just so happens to be her boyfriend’s older, brooding brother. After a devastating breakup, Jane turns to Keith for comfort. But when the lines blur between roommate and lover, Jane’s life becomes more complicated than ever before.

When Keith’s past comes back to haunt him, their lives all get turned upside down, forcing the truth to surface. Now Jane must fight for what she wants–even if it hurts everyone she loves.

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EXCERPT:

When I pulled the door open, the last person I wanted to see was sitting on a stool, sipping his morning coffee. He didn’t acknowledge me.

I poured some coffee in a random mug, since Keith was using my favorite one, and tried to reach the last package of cookies on the top shelf. I really didn’t want to use the stool in front of Keith.

What was the least humiliating decision? Trying to reach it by jumping on the counter or getting the stupid stool? I almost decided on just eating something at school when a throat being cleared sounded just behind me. I knew that, if I turned around, he would be invading my personal space. I had no intention of letting him ruin my birthday, so I stayed put with my arms crossed over my chest.

“Were you deciding between the cookies, the canned peas, or the rice? Because I can help with either one of them, just not sure which one you get in the morning.” Keith snickered. I could smell him, and the fact that such a pleasant smell could come from such an unpleasant person puzzled me.

I had the strong urge to turn and flip him the finger. I had never done that in my life, but could now understand why people did it. Instead, I turned slowly, thinking about how to have the upper hand this time.

I was right about the personal space: I leaned back and rested my hands behind me on the counter. He was standing so close to me that I had to look up to see his eyes. For a second, I saw the indecision there, as if he knew he should step back.

I had to think of a witty response fast, but then I noticed he had shaved— that was where the amazing smell was coming from. He had a small cut on his throat.

Keith wasn’t smirking now; he was genuinely waiting for me to do something. I wished I could read his thoughts so I could do the exact opposite of what he was hoping for.

I quickly took the wish back. It was my birthday, after all, and we never did know when a wish would be granted. This was one I really didn’t want to come true. Hearing his words hurt enough without having to hear his thoughts, as well.

“Next time you shave, try standing an inch or two closer to the blade,” I whispered, leaning closer to his shoulder.

I was so pleased with my joke that I pondered going upstairs and writing it down. I smiled triumphantly at my quick response and did a little happy dance inside.

“Did you have to think on that one this whole time, or were you just checking me out?”

My smile faltered and then completely disappeared. That had been a good one. Okay, I must have thought about it a little longer than I realized. Maybe I had been kind of checking him out—not in a “you’re so hot” way, but more of a “if you could just be a statue and never speak or move, I would thank the powers that be” way.

I stuck my chin out to try to appear taller. “That was a good one and you know it.” I crossed my arms again and brushed against his chest in the process.

Author Bio:

Rita Branches is an independent YA (young adult) author who enjoys spending every free moment (when she´s not reading) writing emotional stories. Visit: http://ritabranches.wordpress.com

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Spotted Book Blitz for Under My Skin by Laura Diamond with Giveaway

I am excited to be part of this book blitz, the minute that I read the synopsis for this book I knew that I wanted to devour this book instantly. It's an emotionally charged, contemporary romance that will give you ALL THE FEELS and SWOONS. From the few reviews that I've read for this book, the author does a beautiful job of illustrating life and death and the fact that everything can change within the span of a heartbeat. It's a gorgeously compelling contemporary romance that will lift you up and weigh you down with all of the painful baggage that comes along with the affliction Adam faces on a daily basis. 

If you're looking for a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the page, then I suggest picking up a copy of Under My Skin by the beautifully talented Laura Diamond. If you'd like to know more about it and get a feel for how it reads, then continue reading this post, because Laura Diamond has generously provided an excerpt for you to read and there is also a giveaway going on.

Happy Reading!

Under My Skin
Laura Diamond

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Published: 04/12/16

Genres: YA Contemp

Bookish Brit Adam Gibson is one wonky heartbeat away from a fatal arrhythmia. But staying alive requires Adam to become keenly focused on both his pulse and the many different daily medications he must take in exactly the right dosages. Adam’s torn between wanting to live and knowing that someone else must die in order for him to do so. He needs a new heart.

The pressure is getting to him. Adam stops talking to his friends back home, refuses to meet kids at his new school, and shuts his parents out entirely. His days are spent wondering if can cope with having a dead man’s heart beating inside his chest, or if he should surrender to the thoughts of suicide swirling around in his head.

And then a donor is found…

Outspoken artist Darby Fox rarely lets anything stand in her way of achieving her goals . Whether it’s painting, ignoring her homework (dyslexia makes a mess out of words anyway), kissing a hot boy she doesn’t even know, or taking the head cheerleader down a peg , no one has ever accused Darby of being a shy. She also happens to be the twin sister to a perfect brother with good looks, good grades, manners, and the approval of their parents – something Darby has never had.

Darby’s always had bad timing . She picks the worst time to argue with her brother Daniel. In a car with bald tires, on an icy road in the freezing cold, the unthinkable happens. In a split-second, everything changes forever.

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EXCERPT:

ADAM:

Best to get it over with now. I type: I had the thought today.

I click send.

For a few seconds, I watch the screen, waiting for her to reply. I can’t expect Dr. Shaw to be right there to answer me. She’s probably in session with someone.

A group of students pass by, chattering and laughing, light at bubbles. They halt at the curb to wait for the light to change. They’re all wearing NYU sweatshirts and carrying messenger bags or laptops with silkscreen logos about “being green” and “tolerant of diversity.” Adventurers embarking on the quest known as Life. What it must be like to have a whole lifetime to look forward to, no dead end staring back at you.

My mobile buzzes.

It’s Dr. Shaw. Tell me the exact thought and context.

I had a flutter. After, I saw Mum and Dad. Their backs were turned to me and I thought: They’d be happier without me. They’ll be fine after I’m dead. I click send and try to ignore the gnawing pit in my stomach. My message seems dramatic now that I’ve sent it off for her to scrutinize. It was better left unsaid.

A bubble with three dots surfaces at the bottom of my screen. She’s typing right now. I suck in a dry, exhaust laden breath.

She replies: What evidence do you have that they’ll be happy?

That was simple. They were laughing.

Your death will be devastating to them.

My heart twinges a bit. Will be? Does she somehow know I won’t make it until I find a donor? Maybe the surgeon told her I’m not a candidate. I blink and re-read her statement. No, I’m over-reacting. She’s just countering my argument with logic. It’s her style to challenge me with the opposite idea so I’ll find the reality somewhere between. Still, I’m not ready to admit she’s right. Mum and Dad don’t need me dragging them down. I text, Yes, but they’ll be alright.

Of course they will. Life goes on.

Dr. Shaw is unrelenting in her approach. So different from Mum who tries to comfort me with delusional happy thoughts.

Right. And I’m such a burden on them now.

Whatever you think they’re sacrificing is nothing compared to how much you mean to them.

I’m tired of waiting for my heart to stop.

Do you want it to stop? You won’t suffer anymore.

About the Author

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist currently specializing in emergency psychiatry. She is also an author of all things young adult—both contemporary and paranormal. An avid fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and anything magical, she thrives on quirk, her lucid dreams, and coffee. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found sniffing books and drinking a latte at the bookstore or at home pondering renovations on her 225 year old fixer upper, all while obeying her feline overlords, of course.

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Book Blitz+Giveaway: The Secrets We Keep by Lily Velez

I'm excited to be sharing The Secrets We Kept by the lovely Lily Velez on the blog today. It's an incredibly sweet and endearing Young Adult contemporary romance that will pull at your heartstrings and leave you with ALL THE FEELINGS. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book in the coming year and sink into it. I have a feeling that I'm absolutely going to fall in love with the beautifully broken yet strong Cadence and Sully. I am such a sucker for those childhood sweetheart romance stories and I think this book has ALL OF THAT and SO MUCH MORE!

Just the excerpt alone, has me vying for this book and this couple! Also, don't forget to stick around and enter the giveaway. It's filled with some pretty amazing prizes. 

The Secrets We Kept

Lily Velez

Published: November 8th 2015

Genres: YA Contemporary

One year. That’s how long it’s been since childhood sweethearts Sully Graham and Cadence Gilbertson broke up, since one adoption and one out-of-state move turned their worlds upside down.

Suddenly, Cadence is back in New York City, but something’s different about her. The light in her eyes, the music in her laughter, the warmth in her smile—all of those things have entirely vanished. In their place stand the makings of a girl Sully can’t even begin to recognize, much less understand.

Still, despite the collective history of heartbreak between them, he’s convinced he can win her trust again, and he’s committed to proving the invincibility of their love no matter what it takes.

But Cadence is quietly harboring secrets of her own. Dark secrets. Ugly secrets. Secrets that could break a person. And though broken herself and unbearably lonely, she’s determined to protect Sully from her terrible, biting truths. Even if it means locking him out of her life forever.

The only problem is it seems her heart hasn’t quite received the memo. One glimpse of him is all it takes for her to trip into familiar (and, she’ll admit, addictive) feelings that threaten to all but consume her. Now her biggest fear is that her secrets will begin to slowly unravel one by one…long before Sully’s resolve ever does.

The Secrets We Kept is a moving story about first love, friendship, and forgiveness, and the enduring bonds that forever connect us and give us our strength.

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Excerpt from The Secrets We Keep
by Lily Velez

Sully still remembered the first time that he saw Cadence. It was a sweltering summer that year. Push-cart ice cream vendors roamed the neighborhood blocks like soldiers on patrol, circling playgrounds and community swimming pools. It was common to see people pop open fire hydrants like champagne bottles, children dancing in the shoots of water as miniature rainbows reflected off the asphalt.

Sully and his brother, twelve and ten years old at the time, were living with the Petersons back then along with a tribe of foster siblings. Ol’ Man Peterson was a Vietnam vet with PTSD and a short-fuse temper that exploded so quickly, it was like his personality had a gas leak. Usually, maintaining a thirty-foot distance from the man at all times was insurance against his drunken rampages. His military pedigree had bred in him a no-nonsense adherence to hard work and, where appropriate, hard discipline—both of which were far less easy to escape.

The hard work in particular manifested in the Peterson prison as an endless checklist of chores (otherwise known as “slave labor” in the Spencer Graham lexicon), the completion or lack thereof of which determined whether or not you ate dinner that night. Additionally, each child had to fulfill their assigned task in accordance with certain standards, and as Ol’ Man Peterson was an uncompromising perfectionist, one chore could go through three to five rounds before the man extended a grunt of approval.

The afternoon Cadence arrived, Sully and Spencer were attached to yard work. While the Peterson walk-up sat only a few yards from the curb, which meant there barely existed a lawn between the chain-link fence and the front door, Ol’ Man Peterson preferred his grass cut to an exact height. It was taking painstaking precision to perfect his science.

Spencer lay on his stomach with a see-through ruler to measure the blades of grass. “I think you cut this side of the walkway too short.”

Sully rested a broom atop his shoulders, arms draping over it like a scarecrow. “It’s way too hot to even care, dude.”

“I care because I want to see the new Adam Sandler, movie and I’m not about to get grounded for another weekend.”

“How many times have I been grounded because of you?”

Spencer stood. “Whatever. I’m taking over sweeping duty.” He stretched out a hand to receive the broom, but Sully’s gaze had already shifted to a royal blue SUV parking alongside the curb. A woman emerged from the driver’s side. She came around to open the backseat door closest to the Peterson home. Two ballet flats appeared from under the door, reaching for the street. When the woman closed the door, a girl who looked to be Sully’s age or slightly younger stood with her, hands bracketed to the straps of her backpack and her bottom lip caught softly under her front teeth.

Spencer snapped in Sully’s face. “Hellooo? Earth to Sully.” Sully nodded toward the two, and when Spencer turned and saw them, he said, “Uh oh. Another casualty.”

The woman, clearly the girl’s caseworker, greeted the boys with a cheery “working hard?” before continuing up the walkway with her charge. Sully waited for the girl to look his way, and when she finally did, he offered her a soft, barely-there smile by way of hello. Part greeting, part commiseration. She instantly looked away.

They discovered her name only because she was sharing a bunk-bed with their friend Novah. “Cadence Livingston,” she told them. “She’s been in the system for a few years. She doesn’t talk much. Or at all. Those are the only things I was able to get from her. She’s probably halfway to being a mute.”

“I wish Spencer was a mute,” Sully muttered.

“Ha ha,” Spencer said. “You’re so funny. Absolutely hilarious. How did I get so lucky to have a brother like you?” Then he excused himself to see about fixing the eyesore Sully had made of the front lawn and left Sully fixated on the enigma of the quiet and elusive Cadence Livingston.

About the Author

Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the ‘real world’ (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). 

A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she’s not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn’t participating in the extreme sport known as napping. 

You can learn more about Lily and her books at www.lilyvelezbooks.com. Lily’s debut novel, The Secrets We Kept, comes out November 8, 2015.

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Book Blitz+Giveaway: Paper Dolls by Ketley Allison

Okay, guys I'm really excited to be featuring another new-to-me New Adult author, Ketley Allison on the blog. Her newest book, Paper Dolls (Falling Paper, #1) is releasing November 12th and it's definitely on my NA-TBR list. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll get around to reading it before this year is up or not, but I know I'll definitely be sitting down to read it sometime in the coming year for sure. I'm already intrigued by the cover of the book, because it's so pretty with the rainbow wisps of hair to the grieving smoky backdrop. 

#ljdalfjkdalfjdlk!!!!!!!!

That synopsis below just makes me want to put away every other book on my list and just drown myself in this one. A dark alluring shadow of grief turned inside out and on it's head again, filled with such despair and misery and love and compelling dark elements is the kind of book that I know I want to read during the bitter winter months that chill you to the bone. I'm already falling for Scarlet and Theo and I haven't even read the book yet. 

If you'd like a taste of what this book has to offer you, then check out the first chapter excerpt below, and don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win an 8 gig Kindle Fire!

Paper Dolls
Ketley Allison

(Falling Paper, #1)

Release Date: November 12th 2015

Genres: New Adult Contemporary

It’s too bad for Scarlet that no matter how sweet a person is, fate can still screw you over.

Now she’s jaded, half of her torn away and the remainder flesh and bones. In her grief, all Scarlet wants to do is to rebel against the life that betrayed her and her roommate provides the perfect lure…

Scarlet awakens when she enters the New York City underground, where vice and fortunes thrive. Hustling, trickery and savagery allow her to discover her true self—-her forgotten soul reemerging. She just can’t promise it’ll come back pure.

It won’t matter that there is a shadow in her periphery. Theo Saxon thinks he can save Scarlet from a world she craves and protect her from the very elements he’s spawned from. But it’s through his unwitting instruction that Scarlet will become a part of his league and find the danger he wants so badly to keep to himself.

Scarlet thinks the stakes are within her control. But she won’t just be betting her heart on Theo and his seductive sins. She will wager her life.

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Chapter One
by Ketley Allison

Something was going to come out of the shadows and shank me.

I clung to the wrought iron fence, staying put despite Verily’s tugs on my arm. Our vulnerable bodies could be seen in every direction on the deserted street. Cars lined the road, but they stood silent, their windows shining onyx pits. Columns of brownstone buildings, bricked into two long, looming lines on either side, blocked the moon. Their rows of windows were as black as the cars below.

Blares of horns ricocheted through our residential street, but their echoes were faint. All signs of life were too far away to save me.

But I agreed to this. I wanted this.

“Relax, Scarlet. I promise it’s safe,” Verily said to me.

Maybe no knife was needed. All the monsters in the dark had to do was bend me over this waist-high fence and spear my abdomen with one of the fleur-de-lis arrowheads, the skirt of my naughty maid’s uniform flouncing in the wind and ruffling around my ass, drawing the eye of anyone who lingered.

And come on, everyone would linger.

A form pushed past us and I tensed, choking on the scream that wanted to rip out of my throat.

The cause of my stroke, a man, paused in his descension into Hell—I mean, at the second step leading down to the entrance of a brownstone. “Hey, Vare. New girl?”

Verily dug her fingers into my arm, since I clearly wasn’t prying my death grip off the fence. “Yep. She’s cute, right?”

He didn’t respond.

I was pretty sure I was gaping at him. Not because of his looks—I couldn’t see him in the surrounding darkness, just an edging of hair and a framing of shoulders. It was more because I couldn’t stop thinking about the newspapers headlining my DEATH BY FENCE AND FETISH! IMPISH MAID CLEANS OUT HER OWN INSIDES!

And it was probably written all over my face.

“She up to it?” he asked.

Verily smacked my shoulder. The fence rattled underneath my grip. “Wait’ll you see her in action.”

One of his shoulders lifted up in a shrug. I found myself wanting to hear his voice again, soft like velvet lined his throat.

He didn’t disappoint. “No reason to be scared.”

“That’s what I keep telling her,” Verily said. She wrapped a hand around my bicep and heaved. She was trying to wrench me free. Damn if I would let her. “I’m extremely convincing,” she said through her teeth.

“Mm.”

He stood with fluidity, a primal ease. He shifted, lifting his chin in a way that accentuated his angular jawline but not much else.

“Anyone gives you trouble, you let me know. They may like dressing you up, but we don’t tolerate any more than that,” he said.

“Okay,” I replied. Finally.

He sounded so adamant and sure. I wondered if all it took in my life was for a man to sound like Batman.

He nodded once before descending the rest of the way. His walk was exactly as I knew it would be. Like a lion pacing the edges of his cage.

“Is he the bouncer?” I whispered into the curled crimson tendrils around Verily’s ear.

“Nope,” she said. After one particularly unfair yank, she pried one of my hands off the iron. “But if he’s here, it means we’re late, so come. On.”

“Ow! Verily!” Another twist and pull and she had my other arm, using my sudden imbalance to drag me down the stairs. “Seriously! Ow!”

She stopped at the door and pressed a hand to my chest, my boobs so hiked up they caressed the bottom of her palm. “Rules. Tell me.”

“W—” I gripped her extended arm for balance. “What’s our safe word? I mean my safe word, to let you know when I’ve gone Code Red.”

Sighing, she dropped her arm. “Have I dragged you here against your will?”

I pouted. “No.”

“Do you need the money?”

“Yes.”

“Would I bring you somewhere unsafe?”

I glanced down at my misbehaving maid outfit, then back up at the entrance where a lithe, vulturine and kind of scary man just decided to stop in and hang out for a while.

I countered with, “Do you possess a danger meter I’m not aware of? A point at which you know we must escape?”

She shook her head. “Honestly, Scar.”

“Because I think you’re on the fritz.”

“You said you needed something,” she said, softer now. “Something to make you feel like you could live again.”

I swallowed. “You told me you were just a waitress.”

“You’re falling, Scarlet. I can’t watch it anymore. And so, I’m giving you this.”

A shuffling sound came from drums of trash behind her. Noises sounding suspiciously like a critter. “You think I need saving and you brought me to a rat-hole?”

“I don’t think you need to be rescued,” she said. “I think you need an awakening.”

That could’ve been a warning or a promise. She went on. “I know you. And I think this is what you need. But you have to promise, promise, not to tell anyone.”

I needed excitement, yes. A pounding pulse, a taste of uncertainty, a reason. I needed life.

But this. Here we were, standing on a dirty side street in the Lower East Side, dressed like a rich man’s blow up doll.

“I don’t…” I said.

“Do you trust me?”

Verily’s green eyes, illuminated by the weak golden light, seemed to shine. She stopped my fidgeting hands by pulling them closer to her.

“Yes,” I answered. Of course. She was the one thing that kept me in the present.

“Good. So trust that this will be fine. And God forbid, that maybe you’ll have fun.”

Grumbling, I said, “Yesterday you were all over me about professional responsibility, and now here we are…”

Instead of responding, she propelled me forward with another mutant-strength twist of her toothpick arms. Verily opened the front door and I toddled after her, mumbling threats involving her hair bleach.

She halted at a second door, arching a brow at me. “Just be thankful I’m not inducting you on lingerie night,” she said, and hip-bumped it open.

After one last pull, I stumbled into my new society of smoke, money and men.

About the Author

Ketley Allison began her creative career by writing books as birthday presents for her friends (with her friend as the main character and opposite a super sexy lead, of course) before ending it in order to walk down a path she thought she was supposed to follow.

The writing bug never left her—and, in fact, would often bleed into the official papers she was supposed to write—so now Ketley’s putting down her suit and finally following her dream. While her friends are no longer the stars of her books, she still throws in bits and pieces of them into each and every one of her characters.

As a result, her books tend to focus a lot on friendships as well as love, because let’s be honest, friends are what really get you through—especially when your epic love turns into epic heartbreak.

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Book Blitz+Giveaway: #Heart (Hashtag, #6) by Cambria Herbert

I'm really excited to share with you the exciting and much anticipated finale for the Hashtag series written by the amazingly talented Cambria Herbert. If you enjoy New Adult contemporary romance with edge, drama, and all of the messy complicated love stories you can stand then this series is definitely the one for you. It's captured my heart with all of it's geek-ery and I totally LOVE it! 

So, definitely check it out and don't forget to enter the giveaway below! 

#Heart
Cambria Hebert
(Hashtag, #6 - Finale)
Published: November 9th 2015
Genres: New Adult Contemporary

Lovers Gonna Love…

Family isn’t always defined by blood.

Sometimes family is born of love…

Loyalty…

And choice.

Sometimes the bond that comes from someone having your back through the shittiest of times is stronger than anything you get from genetics.

And sometimes you find that piece of your soul you didn’t even know was missing

I’m a lucky guy like that.

I found a love that will never fade. I found a group of people who aren’t just my friends.

They’ve become my family.

There’s only one place to go from here.

I’m gonna bind myself to Rimmel in every possible way.

I’m gonna bring our family even closer together.

The past has taught me it won’t be easy.

Especially when faced with repercussions from a night that ended in death.

But that’s okay.

Family doesn’t quit each other.

Love like ours never dies.

Happily ever after isn’t just for storybooks.

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About the Author

Cambria Hebert is an award winning, bestselling novelist of more than twenty books. She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair.

Besides writing, Cambria loves a caramel latte, staying up late, sleeping in, and watching movies. She considers math human torture and has an irrational fear of chickens (yes, chickens). You can often find her running on the treadmill (she’d rather be eating a donut), painting her toenails (because she bites her fingernails), or walking her chorkie (the real boss of the house).

Cambria has written within the young adult and new adult genres, penning many paranormal and contemporary titles. Her favorite genre to read and write is romantic suspense. A few of her most recognized titles are: The Hashtag Series, Text, Torch, and Tattoo.

Cambria Hebert owns and operates Cambria Hebert Books, LLC.

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