Okay– seriously– I could not have planned this month’s lineup any better if I’d tried. Because here, at the height of Samhain, I’ve got urban fantasy, urban fantasy and nothing but the urban fantasy!
And puppies. (Did I reel you in with the puppy? Good– cause we’re taking her home in December, and then you’re going to see as many pictures of Treble the puppy as you’ve seen of Jonnie, Steve, and Gordie!)
But mostly about the Urban Fantasy, which, as some of you might remember, is my wheelhouse, given The Little Goddess series and all.
In fact, the first author on the list is someone I met at a Coastal Magic–a Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy convention.
Lucienne Diver was awesome there. She had a booth where she sold jewelry in the tiny vendor’s room, and she sat and told me funny stories as I manned the DSP booth, and generally was charming and fun. I was so excited to hear she had a new series coming out– and even more excited when she wanted to pimp her books on my blog! So, seriously, give a manic kermit flail and a massive puppy SQUEEEEEEEE!!!! for the amazing Miss Lucienne Diver!
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!
Bad Blood is a delightful urban fantasy, a clever mix of Janet Evanovich and Rick Riordan, and a true Lucienne Diver original.” —Long and Short Reviews
“BAD BLOOD is a wonderful read. The mystery keeps the reader engaged, the action makes the reader want to roll with the punches, and the romance makes the senses tingle. This is a great book to coil up with on a lazy Sunday afternoon.” —Fresh Fiction
BAD BLOOD, Latter-Day Olympians, Book 1
The gods play…and mortals pay.
Tori Karacis’s family line may trace back to a drunken liaison between the god Pan and one of the immortal gorgons. Or…maybe it’s just coincidence that her glance can, literally, stop men in their tracks. While her fear of heights kept her out of the family aerobatic troupe, her extreme nosiness fits right in with her uncle’s P.I. business.
Except he’s disappeared on an Odyssean journey to find himself. Muddling through on her own, she’s reduced to hunting (not stalking, because that would just be weird) brass-bra’d Hollywood agent Circe Holland to deliver a message…only to witness her murder by what looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Suddenly, all of her family’s tall tales seem believable, especially when Apollo—the Apollo, who’s now hiding out among humans as an adult film star—appears in her office, looking to hire her. She knows the drill: canoodling with gods never works out well for humans, but she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Maybe it’s her genes. Maybe not.
Given her conflicted feelings for one hot and hardened cop, it’s a toss-up which will kill her quickest. The danger at her door…or her love life.
Warning: Contains pot-boiling passion between a heroine who may—or may not—be a descendant of Medusa, and a hot god and a hunky cop with the…equipment…to handle her, even on her worst bad-hair day. Beware of killer kisses, trickster gods and bearded grandmothers Who Know Everything.
Our next guest is…
Well, Ariel. How can you read M/M and not know Ariel Tachna? Not only not know her, but not know her Partnership in Blood series? I read the first four and they broke my heart– I loved them. I haven’t caught up with the rest of the series, but that’s my bad– anybody who loves The Little Goddess series will adore Ariel’s Partnership series– and we have the latest two in the series here, and that’s awesome. Everybody give a standing ovation and a HEARTY *kermit flail* for Miss Ariel Tachna! YAAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!
All his life, wizard Raphael Tarayaud has dreamed of a vampire—first as a friend, then as a lover. His search for his missing soul mate brings him to the attention of Sebastien Noyer, one of his childhood heroes. While Sebastien isn’t his soul mate, he could be the perfect partner for Raphael’s best friend Kylian Raffier.
As strange coincidences mount up, Raphael offers his research expertise to try and help Kylian and Sebastien understand what is happening to them, though the more he learns, the less he likes it. But it won’t keep him from fighting with everything he has to secure Kylian’s future.
When he finally meets Jean Bellaiche, former chef de la Cour and grieving widower, the meeting is disastrous, but Raphael can’t let it go. He doesn’t stand a chance with Jean—who could compete with the ghost of Raymond Payet?—but nothing can stop him from dreaming.
For two years, Thierry has wanted the one thing Sebastien’s past denies him: an Aveu de Sang. With the help of friends new and old, he has finally assembled a ritual that will give him a close approximation of the ultimate bond between vampire and mortal… if it succeeds.
Now Rowan McAllister is a big fan of this blog– and I’ve featured her a couple of times because her favorite thing is fantasy– so much so that she ventured into contemporary urban fantasy this time as a change of pace. (BTW– I’m regretting I don’t have any pictures from GRL, because Rowan’s other love is textiles, and if you can imagine a fabulously beautiful, really tall woman dressed SPECTACULARLY in both costume and formal affairs… Crap. I really need pictures, dammit!)
So imagine all of that imagination, focused on urban fantasy. Yup. It’s gonna be good.
Ladies and gentlemen, give a hearty, happy, excited *kermit flail* for the lovely Ms. Rowan McAllister! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!
When absent-minded video game developer Jay Thurson impulsively follows his intuition westward, he never expects his rideshare to turn out to be a gun-toting madman. In an act of desperation, Jay turns to the gift he’s long neglected and feared for help and leaps from the moving car on a dark and deserted back country road.
Running for his life leads him to the doorstep of Adam Grauwacke, a roadside nursery owner and sometime vegetable farmer, whose affinity for the earth goes far beyond having a green thumb. Adam’s world is ordered and predictable, dependable and safe, but despite having his dream farm and business, he’s always felt something’s missing. When he welcomes Jay into his home, life seems to click for both men, and together they explore their gifts and their attraction.
But harmony has no value if it is easily won, and a crazed gunman and volatile ex might be their end if Jay and Adam can’t learn to trust the strength of their bond.
And now, I’m happy to introduce something awesome– something not a book.
See, very often, our reviews come from book blogs that start small and grow. They usually grow by literate responses to the written word, humor, and a sense of objectivity and positivity as they support authors in a genre they love. I’ve seen the beginning of a lot of book blogs in the last five years, and every one has made this genre stronger–
So I”m really happy to be on the ground floor of this one–
Back in July Whit and I started a blog. Our goal was to review both LGBTQ and
het romantic fiction, or whatever we found to be interesting. We never expected blogging to be easy,
but we didn’t expect self-promotion to be so hard. As it turns out telling people over and over again they
should read a good book is a lot different than telling people they need to
follow your blog. But, we really
do want you to follow our blog.
Not so much for us, although we’d love that, but for the authors we host
and the books we all review. We
don’t review books because we love the feeling of foolishly taking on too many
books then realizing we’ll have to write those 6 reviews up at some point in
the near future, but because we simply love books and can’t stop talking about
them. So now, we’re asking you to
please follow our blog. If you’re
not interested in doing so for the reviews and the occasional guest blog posts
from authors, then do it for the cool coffee cup icons.
So there you go– A new book blog to check out!
And that about wraps up the Samhain version of *kermit flail* Monday– that and Squish and Zoomboy, starring as a SpiderCat and a Creeper– both of which made faithful rounds of our neighborhood on Hallow’s Eve.
The highlight of the evening was watching Zoomboy use his sister as a human shield as they tentatively approached a spooky house. When the door opened and he leapt three feet in the air squealing like a wiener, his father and I could not laugh enough.
That being said, everybody have a wonderful week, and thanks for sharing in the *flail*!
Okay– seriously– I could not have planned this month’s lineup any better if I’d tried. Because here, at the height of Samhain, I’ve got urban fantasy, urban fantasy and nothing but the urban fantasy! 
And now, I’m happy to introduce something awesome– something not a book. 
So there you go– A new book blog to check out!
OMG, such an adorable puppy! (I can't say =the= cutest, because my two would get all jealous, but…definitely gives mine a run for their money!)
Awww! You're gonna be a puppy mama!!! And the kids looked spec- change that spooktacular!! Hugs!! (and Blessed Samhain….may the Godden bless you and yours!)
Wow, Faye's story sounds exactly like mine. I started a review blog in August with the goal of supporting erotic romance of all types. My first review was Bound to be a Groom by Megan Mulry, a F/F/M/M poly/menage. Begin as you mean to go along, right? I thought, "I can't be the only reader who loves erotica regardless of the gender pairings." So I posted and Tweeted, but it wasn't until Queer Romance Month rolled around in October that I earned any followers outside of my immediate family.
Early in the month, I posted an essay, which QRM picked up and is STILL listing in their sidebar (Celebrating Queer Romance Month by Kezia Shugrue) under "More QRM." I only gained a grand total of 10 followers, but that little sidebar is one of my proudest achievements, second only to the fact that the spectacular Aleksandr Voinov, Gentleman Adventurer, has very kindly offered to be my first author interview. I'm waiting until I have enough followers to actually be of use to him, because such a generous offer shouldn't be squandered. Meanwhile, I'm hoarding sample questions and waiting for the day when I'm worthy of asking for that interview.