I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE NIGHTMAN'S ODYSSEY by Tony-Paul de Vissage Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About The Book:

Author: Tony-Paul de Vissage

Pub. Date: December 19, 2023

Publisher: Epic Publishing

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 397

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/u/m26e6G 

“He wanted to continue his existence . . . to be with his Antoinette . . . to live and love with her . . .”

Sacrifice. Love. Loyalty. Damien is willing to sacrifice anything to save his love, Antoinette. He makes a deal with the undead, and while he gains immortality, he is rejected by Antoinette. He swears off humans and dives into the adventure of the New World. Damien is at a crossroads, he wants to write off humanity, but that was all before he met…her. She makes him want to love again, to belong. Damien must decide, will he risk it all again?

“Perhaps it’s true we have to suffer to deserve what we receive.”

“In that moment, I understood why my search was never successful. I had been looking for love in the wrong places.”

Excerpt:

About Tony-Paul de Vissage:

A Southerner of French Huguenot extraction, one of Tony-Paul de Vissage's first movie memory is of being six years old, viewing the old Universal horror flick, Dracula's Daughter on television, and being scared sleepless. That may explain his lifelong interest in vampires and why he's now paying back his too-permissive parents by writing about those who walk the night.

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Limousin, France in the year 1249, the Plague arrived. Damien La Croix learns that his beloved, Antoinette, is stricken and takes fate into his own hands. A chance meeting with a sans mort gives Damien the opportunity to escape the effects of the Plague and save Antoinette and her brother from certain death. Just as Damien is settling in with his new eternal existence, he is betrayed by his love and evicted by his town. Traveling the world, Damien looks for a purpose and love. Damien finds himself working for Dracula in Romania, in Paris and England before coming to the new world. Through thousands of years, Damien loves and loses, wondering if he'll ever find the person that he's meant to spend eternity with.

The Nightman's Odyssey is an epic vampire saga spanning thousands of years from past to the future. Told through Damien's point of view, he tells of his quest for love and meaning that keeps slipping through his fingers. Each section tells of a different love in Damien's life and how he has adapted to the changing times. I enjoyed learning about how vampires survived in each era and found their places. Each time Damien found a partner, fate seemed to intervene, showing the human side of Damien. Damien's friendships were another highlight of the story for me as he formed eternity long relationships. The writing carefully kept up the pacing as the time moved through the centuries, creating a new story and plot within section, yet carrying through Damien's need for companionship. The ending saw the vampires in the future, doing their best at survival. I enjoyed seeing Damien find his place and the love he deserved.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of THE NIGHTMAN'S ODYSSEY, US Only.

Ends October 29th, midnight EST.

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the HUNTERLORE by Dana Claire Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About The Book:

Author: Dana Claire

Pub. Date: September 24, 2024

Publisher: CamCat Books

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 299

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/HUNTERLORE-Claire

Silver bullets aren’t enough to protect your heart.

For Liam Hunter, monster hunting is a way of life—a family tradition passed down for generations. But when campers are murdered in the woods, their hearts ripped from their chests, Liam finds himself facing his most terrifying adversary yet—his own mother turned monster. Her pack of werewolves will test Liam’s limits, and his connection with the girl who still has too large a claim on his heart.

Olivia Davis is determined to uncover her own place in Hunterland and hone her newfound abilities. But when Olivia has a terrifying vision, she’s faced with a much larger uncertainty: her feelings for the boy she let slip through her fingers.

Together, Olivia and Liam must survive the deadly game of cat and mouse, or else risk becoming victims in a world where the monsters are the hunters. The clock is ticking. The game is on. And the price of failure may be their humanity.

For readers who enjoy The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith, The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, The Luminaries by Susan Denard, and the Teen Wolf and Supernatural TV series.

Read Book 1, HUNTERLAND now!

Excerpt:

1

OLIVIA

There are terrors in the night that have nothing to do with monsters, and I was determined to become one. But first, apparently, I needed to learn to defend myself.

I shifted my weight on the hard wooden bench we’d pushed against the wall, along with the rest of the furniture, to give Liam and Nikki space to spar in the center of the room. The basement had been meticulously transformed from a storage area into a small gym and studio apartment that played home to our Hunterland learning center, for all things monster related.

“Whoa!” My little sister Pepper covered her mouth, bouncing on the edge of the seat beside me as Liam ducked Nikki’s wild punch. Nikki staggered when her fist met air instead of bone but smirked anyway.

Our simple, small-town Wisconsin lives had changed a few months ago when Liam Hunter, his sister, Jacqueline, and their father, Jack Hunter, showed up to investigate a string of suspicious suicides in my high school. Well, there was also that bit about a vampire nest and my mother turning into a vengeful spirit. That had thrown us for an even bigger loop.

While the Hunter family helped sort it all out, Liam discovered my sister and I had some magical abilities of our own, and Pepper and I had been fast-tracked to join them as hunters of things that go bump in the night.

Which brought us here. Doc, Hunterland’s appointed leader and our current instructor, thought watching Liam and Nikki fight would make a good introduction to training. But each punch made me wonder if I’d withstand even a few seconds of a battle with either of them, despite my newfound healer abilities. All three of us were seniors in high school, but they felt years older than me, and watching them bob and weave only added to that experience gap.

Liam ducked again, and Nikki snarled as she regained her footing. Even when she missed, she did it with sex appeal, whereas I’d likely resemble a newborn baby deer discovering its legs. Nikki’s body language shifted from slinky feline to prowling lioness, and I saw the monster hunter within, brimming with the ferocity I knew I needed to find for myself if I planned to survive this new life I’d stumbled into.

“Wow, look at them go.” Pepper elbowed me in the side. “They look good out there.”

Or they looked like two ex-lovers trying to show each other up, which for all intents and purposes they were. And of course, right after the twins showed up, Liam started to pull away. Instead of the budding romance I had thought we had started last month, now we felt like strangers passing each other in the halls of our shared living quarters. I asked for time to get to know each other, start with a friendship, with the assumption we’d end up being more. But his response was silence and distance. My ego was too fragile to actually ask what in the hell changed. So here we were, acting as if nothing had happened and the last several months between us meant diddly-squat.

My stomach clenched as Nikki flipped her perfect, lithe body on the exercise mats. Liam wasn’t mine, and probably never would be at this point, but seeing the kind of girl he’d chosen in the past made me want to crawl into an oversized set of sweats and eat ice cream until I puked.

Nikki kicked Liam in the ribs and muttered something that sounded like “Sorry, love” in her annoyingly sexy British accent.

Pepper snorted. Her blue hair flopped over one eye as she leaned in. “That’s gotta hurt.”

I squirmed, unsure if she meant Nikki’s powerful blow to Liam’s kidney or the powerhouse-couple image the pair projected. As Pepper liked to point out every time I made doe eyes in the presence of our lead hunter, I’d been the one to push Liam into the friend zone first, so I had no cause to turn around and throw a jealous fit now that his old girlfriend had shown up.

Still, only a month ago . . . he’d been right there, sleeping next to me every other night, the two of us healing wounds we didn’t want to talk about with anyone else after we’d both lost our mothers in the worst possible ways. But maybe that was why I’d feared letting him in as more than an ally, someone who understood my odd abilities and who related to family trauma caused by the supernatural. If I’d let that relationship continue without a friendship first, I’d have risked Liam’s nomadic, closed-off lifestyle tearing us in two.

The air, already cloyed with sweat, thickened with the heavy scent of melted butter as Jazzy, Nikki’s equally beautiful but less obnoxious twin, plopped next to Pepper on the black painted bench. Her slender fingers were wrapped around a large, red bowl filled with freshly popped popcorn. She motioned for us to help ourselves to the snack.

Pepper dove right into the buttery bowl. Jazzy smiled with bubble-gum pink lips, exposing her bright teeth. She bobbed her chin in the direction of Liam and Nikki. “This is when the two of them are actually fun to be around. Hold on to your knickers, it’s about to get very entertaining. Nikki always says a good spar is just as satisfying as sex.”

I groaned loudly, and Liam looked up at the sound. Nikki took advantage, landing a quick jab to his chiseled jaw. His blue eyes sliced into me as if it were my fault she’d clipped him. Grimacing, he rounded back on her.

Her lips curled into an impish grin, and she threw her perfect curls over her shoulder. “I’m going easy on you, mate. It’s been so long since you’ve teamed up with real hunters, you seem a tad rusty.” She purred—yes, purred—the last few words.

Ugh, what is she even doing here?

Of course, I knew the answer. Her and Jazzy’s uncle, Doc—our current houseguest—had asked for their help in training my sister and me. But why couldn’t Doc do it himself? I’d thought hunters worked in smaller packs—the lonesome road of a supernatural assassin traveling on society’s knife edge. Why had so many congregated in my house? The vampire nest and vengeful spirits that had started this mess were gone.

I didn’t have those answers yet. But I couldn’t help but feel that with nothing to fight, the Hunterland gang were restless predators—and as a newbie, I was still prey.

Liam sidestepped to the right, evading a roundhouse kick so high, I wondered if Nikki could take flight. Her uncle, who was basically a supercomputer database of monster-hunting knowledge and lore, had mentioned she possessed a supernatural ability. Whatever it was, it probably trumped my power of premonition and status as resident healer. Just one more thing she had that I didn’t.

Including Liam Hunter’s attention.

Okay, yeah, pity party for one here. I didn’t say I was above sulking, did I?

“Are you sure you’re taking it easy on me?” Sarcasm soaked Liam’s words. “From the way you’re panting, I’d guess you’re either in heat or out of shape.”

Liam’s dig didn’t faze Nikki’s performance. Her leg kicked out and swiped Liam’s, sending him to the ground. She drove her fist toward his gut, but Liam rolled and scissored a leg around her neck, pinning her. Within seconds she tapped out, and not a moment too soon. My throat had dried, and my angst was elevated to gag-reflex level.

Liam extended his hand, and Nikki accepted, rising with his assistance. His full lips were drawn upward. He rarely allowed peeks behind his hardened badass exterior, but when he did, that smile was so beautiful, it landed a gut punch to the heart.

I stood to excuse myself and end the torment, but the thunder of barreling boots on the stairs made me pause.

“Liam.” Doc appeared, his wide-eyed gaze landing on each of us as he descended, fixing upon Liam last. He adjusted the maroon turban that matched his sweater. “There you are. You’re needed. We have a situation.”

My eyes trailed above him to my father, who followed. He stood dressed in full police uniform—odd considering this was his day off.

“What’s going on?” My gaze darted back and forth between Doc and my father.

Dad’s tired eyes found mine beneath lowered lashes. “We have a murder case. A Hunterland murder case.”

About Dana Claire:

Dana Claire is an award-winning author whose stories explore identity, fate, and destiny in the crossroads of romance and adventure. But her writing career didn’t begin when she published her first book, The Connection, in 2020. It started as a young girl when her mother, an elementary school teacher, inspired her to create imaginary worlds between the pages.

Dana’s love of romantic tension, the supernatural, and non-stop action has elicited positive feedback from many readers, as their online reviews reveal her flair for spine-tingling action and unforgettable characters. But it’s not just readers who love her; literary critics have also taken note, and Dana was given the Children’s Moonbeam award for The Connection in 2021, and the PenCraft Award in 2023 for War of the Sea.

Dana is now sharing her stories through speaking events and book signings, introducing more readers to the worlds she created. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her adoring husband living her dream: writing books, telling stories, and changing the world, one reader at a time.

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Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of HUNTERLORE, US Only.

Ends October 22nd, midnight EST.

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the WIFWULF  by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, & Dailen Ogden Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About The Book:

Authors: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, & Dailen Ogden (Illustrator)

Pub. Date: May 7, 2024

Publisher: Vault Comics

Formats:  Paperback, eBook

Pages: 112

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/WILWULF

Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves and Emily Carroll's Through the Woods meet Squad (Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle), in WIFWULF - a tale of transformation, blood, and beauty that calls to the wild freedom of our true selves within each of us.

A haunting story of deep loneliness, raw wounds, wild magic, and the freedom of transformation.

Wif. Noun, Old English: A Woman; this word is also the origina from which the word “wife” is derived. Contrast with “wer,” a man.
Wulf. Noun, Old English: A Wolf, a wild carnivorous mammal of the Canidae family, which lives and hunts in packs.

WIFWULF is an original folklore myth telling the story of Charity Bjornsdotter, a young woman in 1860's Montana who spends her days in the woods with her closest friend, a local wolf she calls Silver Slash. Charity is on the precipice of marriage to the most handsome man in her small village, the mercurial-yet-beloved Paul Skeld. But as her husband isolates her from Silver Slash, she begins to feel a call to the wilds...for it is there that her true destiny awaits. WIFWULF is the harrowing tale of a woman forcibly separated from that which makes her feel alive, a reinterpretation of the classic werewolf myth... and the origin story of a new goddess.

A successfully funded, beloved project on Kickstarter, WIFWULF explores a few facets of trauma but especially speaks to relationship abuse, something that has touched more than one member of the creative team. It’s a story that reminds us that even when you feel at your most monstrous, you can find your way back. But not unchanged.

It is also a story about werewolves. About bloody revenge and deep loneliness. About the secret, sad meaning behind the howls we hear from the dark forests on the darkest of nights.

Experience this haunting story in the dark of night, in whatever moonlit warren you call home – or shed your skin, embrace the night, and run wild with magic – and become forever changed.

This book contains mature content and may not be for everyone. WIFWULF contains gore, intimate partner violence, body horror, and animal death.

For fans of Emily Carroll's Through the Woods, Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (specifically: The Company of Wolves), works by Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties, Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle, Clarissa Pinkola Estés' Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, Kelly Armstrong's Bitten, Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Emma Rios, By Chance or Providence by Becky Cloonan, Monstress by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda, and the films The Witch and Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki).

“This just may be the most beautiful ‘werewolf’ story I’ve ever consumed in any medium.”
-- Chris Shehan (The Autumnal, House of Slaughter)

"A luscious, vicious fever dream of a fairy tale about the cages we find ourselves in and the true cost of freedom. WIFWULF is the kind of story that lingers." -- Jody Houser (Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy, Stranger Things)

Review:

About Jackson Lanzing:

JACKSON LANZING is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as “the Hivemind,” alongside Collin Kelly. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek — for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press. They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA — along with their wives and far too many pets — where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on. 

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COLLIN KELLY is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as “the Hivemind,” alongside Jackson Lanzing. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek — for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press. They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA — along with their wives and far too many pets — where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on. 

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About Dailen Ogden:

DAILEN OGDEN is a freelance comic artist, writer, and illustrator based in Colorado. Dailen is known for their esoteric art and comics, and spends their free time collecting houseplants and raising a Shepherd puppy, as well as a tarantula and a python.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook 

Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive finished copies of WIFWULF , US Only.

Ends May 31st, midnight EST.