Mirror World Publishing presents the cover reveal for The Ghost in the Gardens (A Flower Girl Mystery) by HL Carpenter.
About The Ghost in the Gardens:
Until the first spooky visit, ten year old Chrysantha Howe doesn't think about ghosts. She thinks about plants.
All.
The.
Time.
She has her future planned out, and that future includes plants. Chrys is going to be a plant scientist like her uncle and her favorite teacher, and she's determined to find the very rare Coralroot orchid.
The ghost is not in the plan.
But when her teacher disappears and the police suspect her uncle was involved, Chrys has to figure out what the ghost is trying to tell her—before it's too late.
Florida-based mother/daughter author duo HL Carpenter writes family-friendly fiction. The Carpenters write from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, the Carpenters enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity. Visit HLCarpenter.com to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happening in Carpenter Country.
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Programming Presents: Hailey Dean Mysteries: 2+2 = Murder, which premiers June 3, 2018 at 9pm/8c, and stars Kellie Martin and Chad Lowe.
(Photo used with permission from Hallmark)
About A Marriage Made for Murder:
Hailey attends her niece's school recital only to learn that the beloved music teacher has vanished. Hailey soon discovers several startling secrets amongst the staff, as well as a link between the missing young teacher and the school’s reconstruction funds.
More Information About 2+2 = Murder and Other Hallmark Programming Can Be Found Here:
When Darkness Follows Beyond the Grave Series Book Four Athena Daniels
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Sunset Coast Publishing
Date of Publication: 29th May, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9944029-7-4 ASIN: B07BFKY4Q5
Number of pages: 303 Word Count: 115K
Cover Artist: Damonza
Tagline: The only man who can
save her, is the one she swore she’d never see again…
About the Book:
Rachel Sommers and her two best
friends don’t believe anything will happen when they sneak onto a haunted
shipwreck in the middle of the night. Why would they? Ghosts don’t actually
exist… right?
But Rachel and her friends
disturb something that night. Something demonic.
Something that lured Rachel to
the ship. And now one of her friends is dead, the other is missing, and
Rachel’s memory of the night is gone. There’s only one thing she knows for
sure: whatever killed her friend has followed her home.
Over a century ago, an act of
bitter jealousy and revenge tainted a crystal ball with an unstoppable evil.
And when the deadly object eerily turns up in her bedroom, Rachel’s nightmare
really begins.
Ex-Special Forces detective
Daniel Smith takes the case the moment Rachel’s name appears on his screen.
Rachel is the only woman he’s ever loved, but despite their explosive
chemistry, she’s determined to keep him at a distance.
With Rachel’s life on the line,
the disturbing truth about her ancestry and the cursed object she has inherited
must be uncovered. But is it already too late? Daniel will risk everything to
save the woman he loves, but how can he win this lethal game of cat and mouse
against a killer that is not flesh and blood?
Rachel wrapped
her arms around Daniel’s neck and kissed him back with a ferocity that
surprised her. All the emotion, the turmoil, of the last two weeks, the last
year, moved through her. She couldn’t remember why keeping away from him was so
important. Something about self-respect and needing to be more than just an
occasional fuck to someone.
Daniel crushed
her to his body, his tongue delving inside her mouth, tracing across her teeth.
He took control of the kiss, like the man controlled everything else in his
life. The heat of his mouth set her blood on fire, and her body submitted to
his natural dominance.
He groaned,
holding her to him so tightly she couldn’t breathe. But she didn’t need her own
oxygen when she could breathe his.
Daniel walked
her away from the water to where the sand was dry and still warm from the sun.
He fell to the sand, pulling her down on top of him. She laughed in surprise.
His sunglasses
fell off his head as he looked up at her. He cupped the back of her neck,
guided her head down and kissed her hard. She couldn’t think, couldn’t feel
anything but him.
Her soft, white
denim skirt slid up her thighs as she spread her legs and sat on his hips. His
erection, firmly encased in his jeans, pressed against her lacy white panties.
She rubbed against him, needed to, and his eyes flickered closed. He groaned,
the sound sending fire racing through her veins.
“I want you so
bad.” Daniel’s grip tightened on her hips, the roughness in his tone thrilling
her.
This was what
was familiar between them. This rawness and this uncontrollable desire.
“Tell me you
still want this.”
Rachel nodded.
“I said tell
me.”
The bite of
authority in the command made her blood race. Her mouth dried, and she
swallowed twice before she could speak.
“I want this.”
Daniel squeezed
his eyes shut, and when he opened them, emotion swirled heavily in his gaze.
“Tell me you
still want me.” His body went rigid as he waited for her answer, and her heart
stuttered to a stop.
“I want you,”
she said, the truth and a lie all at once. God she wanted him! Right now, in
this moment, she wanted him more than her next breath.
Daniel sat up,
cradling her in his lap, her legs wrapped around his hips as he kissed her
again, long and deep. She thrust her hands in his thick hair, holding him hard
as his hands ran up her thighs, his thumbs tracing along the seams of her
panties and making her core clench with anticipation.
He lifted the
hem of her top, his palm scorching the soft skin on her stomach as he moved to
cup her breast. His expression looked pained, his chest rising and falling as
his breathing grew labored.
As much pleasure
as he gave her, she loved watching how much simply touching her aroused him.
“A year,” Daniel
growled. “A whole fucking year.”
She cried out as
his fingers found a hardened nipple and squeezed. Pleasure, white-hot and
overwhelming, filled her, stole her breath.
His other hand
slid the thin fabric of her panties aside, his thumb gently tracing along her
slick entrance. Her heart skittered in her chest, her pulse roaring past her
ears.
“You need this
too,” he said, his voice a low rasp. “Don’t tell me you don’t.”
Tears burned her
eyes, and she squeezed her lids closed to hide her reaction to his words. She
needed him? Dear God! She fucking craved him.
And then he’d
leave…
And she’d be
left empty, wanting him. Frustration caused her to cry out at the same time his
thumb slipped inside her, and the sound was disguised as pleasure.
Frustration and
pleasure: those two extremes described what she had with Daniel perfectly.
Max barked, and
they both looked up to see him bounding through the thick sand toward them. He
barked again, and Rachel followed his gaze and noticed two people at the top of
the sand dunes, making their way to the water.
“Fuck,” Daniel
growled.
How like Daniel
to always make her feel as though they were the only two people in the world.
She pressed her forehead against his, his ragged breath warm across her skin.
Before the couple could see them clearly, she rolled off Daniel and tugged her
skirt back into place, her body still tingling with the feel of his touch.
Meet
the Author:
Athena Daniels is the #1
international bestselling author of the award-winning Beyond the Grave
paranormal romance series and the romantic thriller Desperate.
In 2016, Athena was nominated for
Author of the Year and Best New Author in AusRom Today’s Reader’s Choice
Awards.
Her novel Girl Unseen won the
Silver Medal in the 2017 Readers’ Favorite® International Book Awards and was
awarded a Silver Medal in the 2017 Literary Titan Book Awards. Girl Unseen was
an “Official Selection” in the New Apple Literary Awards, and was also
nominated for 2017 Book of the Year in AusRom Today’s Reader’s Choice Awards.
The Seer’s Daughter was the solo
Medalist Winner in the Suspense/Thriller category of the 2016 New Apple Annual
Book Awards for Excellence in Independent Publishing.
The Seer’s Daughter was also a
finalist in the 11th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards in Suspense and in
the 2016 Readers’ Favorite® International Book Awards. Additionally, The Seer’s
Daughter was nominated for 2016 Book of the Year and 2016 Cover of the Year in
AusRom Today’s Reader’s Choice Awards.
Girl Unseen and The Seer’s
Daughter are both 5-star Top Picks at The Romance Reviews.
Athena has a natural curiosity
about the “more” there is in life and holds several qualifications in
metaphysics and natural therapies. She is a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
practitioner, life coach, and feng shui specialist.
Athena lives on the northern
beaches of sunny Western Australia. Find out more about her at
www.athenadaniels.com, or follow her on Twitter @AthenaDaniels11 and on
Facebook at /AthenaDaniels11.
Mirror World Publishing presents the cover reveal for The Ghost in the Gardens (A Flower Girl Mystery) by HL Carpenter.
About The Ghost in the Gardens:
Until the first spooky visit, ten year old Chrysantha Howe doesn't think about ghosts. She thinks about plants.
All.
The.
Time.
She has her future planned out, and that future includes plants. Chrys is going to be a plant scientist like her uncle and her favorite teacher, and she's determined to find the very rare Coralroot orchid.
The ghost is not in the plan.
But when her teacher disappears and the police suspect her uncle was involved, Chrys has to figure out what the ghost is trying to tell her—before it's too late.
As autumn air settles into the quaint small town of Silver Hollow, there’s nothing more popular than Sasha’s teddy bears—and murder in cold blood . . .
Silver Bear Shop and Factory manager Sasha Silverman is cozying up to the fall season by hosting Silver Hollow’s Cranbeary Tea Party, the opening event of the village’s Oktobear Fest—a too-cute celebration themed around teddy bears. She barely has a moment to agonize over the return of her former high school rival, Holly Parker, whose new toy and bookstore in town could spell big trouble for the Silver Bear Shop and her cousin’s small bookstore . . .
But when Sasha discovers Holly’s shop assistant dead with a knife plunged in her body, the unpleasant woman suddenly looks like a real backstabber. So does Sasha’s ex-husband, rumored to have rekindled the fiery extramarital affair he once had with the victim. Now, before a gruesome homicide case takes the fun out of both the Fest and her personal life, Sasha must identify the true culprit from a daunting suspect list—or risk becoming as lifeless as one of her stuffed bears . . .
Award-winning mystery author Meg Macy lives in Southeast Michigan, close to Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Dexter — the area she chose for the setting of her new “Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear” cozy mystery series for Kensington. She is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland for the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series; two books have been named Agatha Award finalists. Meg’s first published book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Best First Novel Spur Award from Western Writers of America. She’s a graduate of Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. Meg loves reading mysteries, historical, and other genre fiction, and also enjoys gardening, crafts, and watercolor painting.
As autumn air settles into the quaint small town of Silver Hollow, there’s nothing more popular than Sasha’s teddy bears—and murder in cold blood . . .
Silver Bear Shop and Factory manager Sasha Silverman is cozying up to the fall season by hosting Silver Hollow’s Cranbeary Tea Party, the opening event of the village’s Oktobear Fest—a too-cute celebration themed around teddy bears. She barely has a moment to agonize over the return of her former high school rival, Holly Parker, whose new toy and bookstore in town could spell big trouble for the Silver Bear Shop and her cousin’s small bookstore . . .
But when Sasha discovers Holly’s shop assistant dead with a knife plunged in her body, the unpleasant woman suddenly looks like a real backstabber. So does Sasha’s ex-husband, rumored to have rekindled the fiery extramarital affair he once had with the victim. Now, before a gruesome homicide case takes the fun out of both the Fest and her personal life, Sasha must identify the true culprit from a daunting suspect list—or risk becoming as lifeless as one of her stuffed bears . . .
Bear Witness to Murder is the second book in Meg Mims' Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear Mystery series. Set in the Fall, Bear Witness to Murder takes place just prior to the Octobear Fest. The whole town is preparing for the festival including a fiberglass bear decorating contest. The bears will be unveiled a few at a time each night during the festivities. Sasha's sister Maddie, Maddie's new boyfriend Kip, and, a mutual friend Jay all have bears being created and unveiled during the festival.
The only problem is the return of Sasha's high school nemesis, Holly. She is making things extremely difficult for Sasha and her family's bear factory, including extended family, who own a bookstore. Holly is intent on shutting the bear factory and bookstore down - by any means possible it seems. Then Sasha stumbles across the dead body of Holly's assistant, who also just happens to be the on-again off-again girlfriend of Sasha's ex-husband, Flynn.
A clever who-done-it, Bear Witness to Murder kept me entertained and engaged in the story. Meg Macy delivered a well-written story with a unique setting in a fictional small town in southeast Michigan. As a lifelong Michigander I enjoy a good story, in any genre, that is based in my state.
I enjoyed the personalities of each character introduced to us in the book. Sasha's mother certainly is a character and we get a healthy dose of her in this book. The book was descriptive and well developed, allowing me to visualize the elements of the story, characters, and locations. The characters and situations were believable and the pacing of the story was steady. Bear Witness to Murder also includes a wonderful twist that changes the entire murder mystery.
I enjoyed Bear Witness to Murder and found the mystery interesting, the characters likable, and the story's pacing to be on target. The author provided an assortment of potential suspects and I incorrectly guessed who committed the murder. The author did a great job masking who did it from the reader. I look forward to book 3 in the series.
Dracula's Brides ~ Presented by Enchanted Anthologies
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Enchanted Anthologies brings you a co-written paranormal romance anthology based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Centuries ago, Dracula found himself cursed at the hands of a witch after murdering her family. Now, he is forced to live his days as a slave to the sun, plagued with a constant thirst for blood, and an immortality without love.
Crina was a farm girl in Romania who met Vlad shortly after he turned. He fell in love with her innocence and kindness.
Emilia was a virgin who was stolen away from her family and fiance on the eve of her wedding, captured by the count for her beauty.
Isabella was the last to turn at his hands. Her wit and intelligence captured his heart.
Can love last an eternity?
Four Novellas intertwining the story of Dracula and his three brides.
LJC Fynn - Dracula
Alyssa Drake - Crina
Rita Delude - Emelia
K. L. Bone - Isabella
This anthology is intended for readers aged eighteen and over.
LJC Fynn was raised in a beautiful small town in South Carolina. She got lost in the fictional world as a child, and that world stayed with her as she became an adult. She loves nothing more than to create a setting to share with the world. She has a supportive husband of fifteen years and two children. She also co-writes with her sister under the name A.L. Marchant.
Best-selling, award-winning author Alyssa Drake has been creating stories since she could hold a pen, preferring to construct her own bedtime tales instead of reading the titles in her bookshelves. A multi-genre author, Alyssa currently writes Historical romance, Paranormal/Urban Fantasy romance, Contemporary romance, Horror/Thriller, and Dark romance. She thoroughly enjoys strong heroines and often laughs aloud when imagining conversations between her characters.
Alyssa graduated from the University of the Pacific, with a B.S. in business and a concentration in French literature. Currently she resides in Northern California with her blended family, where she works full-time at a chocolate factory.
She believes everyone is motivated by love of someone or something. One of her favorite diversions is fabricating stories about strangers surrounding her on public transportation. Alyssa can often be found madly scribbling notes on a train or daydreaming out the window as the scenery whips past.
Rita Delude creates worlds with words, whether it’s an undiscovered planet, a circus tent, a vampire’s cove, or a romantic getaway, that take readers to eclectic places and experiences. She has published "Bully" in Through Their Eyes Anthology, "Aftershock" in War Cry, "Plum Secrets" in Madame Scarlet’s Carnival, "Vive la Resistance in Deadly World: Vampires in Paris, and "Crazy About Her" in Crazy About Love. Her first novella, Kaleidoscope, releases February 15, 2018. Her novella Baby Blues releases August 15, 2018. She has been a newspaper journalist, magazine writer, and college professor. Delude has a MFA in Writing. She lives in New Hampshire, USA with her husband of forty-four years. They have four married children and nine grandchildren.
K.L. Bone is the author of the Bestselling Black Rose Guard dark fantasy series. The Rise of the Temple Gods fantasy series. And a stand-alone sci-fi novel, The Indoctrination.
Bone has a master's degree in modern literary cultures and is currently working towards her PhD. She wrote her first short story at the age of fifteen and grew up with an equally great love of both classical literature and speculative fiction.
Bone has spent the last few years as a bit of a world traveler, living in California, London, and most recently, Dublin. When not immersed in words of her own creation or studies, you'll find her traveling to mythical sites and Game of Thrones filming locations.
About the Book: Two brothers. Two best friends. One robbery gone wrong.
With a court date looming, a near-fatal car accident, and a house invasion, the four surviving witnesses to an armed robbery know they are targets. In a desperate attempt to stay safe, they take matters into their own hands and go off the grid a week before the trial.
Danny St. John was stuck in a dark place of guilt and regret after a personal tragedy. On the run from violent criminals, he is forced to spend time with the one woman who makes him feel too much. Victoria Lopez needs to protect her heart, but she also misses the guy Danny used to be and thinks she might be able to bring him back. Now, evading gunmen together in Sequoia National Forest, Vic will risk everything to keep Danny safe.
Eric St. John isn’t a big fan of his sister-in-law-to-be, Zoe Turner. Sure, she’s beautiful, but also bossy and brash. When Eric and Zoe are forced to rely on each other for survival, he sees a side to Zoe he never anticipated, a side he definitely likes. But as the two grow closer, so do the men hunting them down.
Time nearly runs out as each couple must not only brave the perils of the wilderness and their growing feelings for each other, but also outwit their pursuers in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Read an Excerpt:
He’d intentionally traveled away from the stream, so it took time to cut back for water, but if the strategy kept them safe then it was worth the extra time it cost. “I hear it,” Danny said of the rushing water. “Should be right through those trees there.”
He plowed ahead, concentrated on the idea of quenching his thirst and refilling and purifying the water bottles.
“Danny.” Vic’s voice didn’t sound her usual confident self. In fact, she sounded freaked out and—
The distinct rattle stopped him in his tracks and his breath rushed out of his lungs in a single whoosh as he turned and saw the snake. If the brown and gray scales hadn’t given it away, certainly the sound did. Somehow a giant rattlesnake planted itself between them on the narrow path. It slowly reared its head back while its tail rattled a warning. Vic’s eyes widened in paralyzing fear.
“Danny,” she whispered with both plea and panic.
“Stay still. It’s okay.” Frantically, he looked for a stick. Something to whisk the slithery beast far away, but nothing but pebbles and leaves surrounded him. The fucking thing slid closer to Vic, its tongue slithering out, tail rattling and head up ready to strike.
Danny did the only thing he could do. He kicked dirt behind the thing to get its attention. It spun and struck before he even blinked. Shit! He jumped back, felt the contact at his ankle. The fabric tugged as its fangs stuck on his jeans. “Shit! Shit!” Danny tried to shake the beast off and the reptile waved in the air like thick rope.
About the Author:
After graduating high school in Texas, Dee J. Adams moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. For twenty years, she acted in television and worked behind the scenes as an acting/dialogue coach for sitcoms. Writing happened accidentally after a vivid dream and the urging of her husband to “Just write it down.” Three weeks, fourteen hours a day, and four hundred and fifty (long hand) pages later, she had her first novel. Dee J. loves writing books filled with action, mystery and love. (Not necessarily in that order.) Her experience in show business led to her narrating many of the books in the Adrenaline Highs series for Audible.com. She is the wife of a wonderful man and mother to a fabulous daughter. She’s a dog lover all the way, with a fondness towards Boxers and Pit Bulls. She is a member of several organizations, including Romance Writers of America and SAG-AFTRA.
