Sunday Post #177

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share new about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

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I skipped last Sunday. Sorry. I just had to vegetate on the couch that morning. Things feel like they are moving so fast these days. I was working on wedding picture touch-ups I took for a dear friend and started content editing work that came in. Then trying to work during the day and cook dinner for kiddo so when he gets home from football he's got food to eat (he's starved!). Then tend to the dogs. Before I know it, the day is done and I'm sitting down at eight o'clock. O.o Where'd the day go?!

And I feel like I'm being lazy. Seriously. I've been so caught up with life's events and thing happening with family (nothing bad, just being with everyone) that I am falling behind again. Well, not that I really ever got caught up. lol.

I need to get back to exercising and get my blog back in order with links and such. Gah!

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The Fit Booker:

Goal:  Workout in any form of exercise (or on Wii Fit) 2x's a week. (to feel better and hope to drop a few pants sizes)

How did I do last week... Seriously!? What's exercising?!?! lol. It's been to chaotic around here to get exercising in. How do others do this? Raise a family, work, AND exercise? O.o

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What's Happening in Books:

Current Read:

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
AND Content Editing work

Current Audiobook:
Will start new on Monday

Current Podcast Book Listen:
Stonebriar Casefiles: Bad Alchemy by Laura Nicole Spencer (You can listen for free too!)

Finished Last Week: 

Should finish this week.

Audiobooks from Audible:

Greatshadow by James Maxey
To Beat the Devil by M.K. Gibson


Finished Podcast Book Listen:

Nothing yet.

DNFed:

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Last Two Weeks on the Blog:

Cover Reveals: (click titles to go to post & learn more)

Guest Posts:

A Dream Built on Trust


Convention-al Inspiration

Posts:

Spellbound in a Flash:
I've started back up again! I'll work on more pictures.

Spellbound in a Flash now has a Facebook Page!


Challenged Writers:
July Update. How'd Camp NaNoWriMo go?

Around the Internet...

Reviews:

High Fantasy by Harmon Cooper

"I feel we get a closure to one piece of the story with Quantum. With his Proxima world he's lived in for eight years and finding Strata Godsick. This book also leaves open the next mission started here..."


The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

"Sarah's writing feels as though it's poetic with emotions strong in her words. The cadence of the telling, along with Veronica's vocals, felt to fit the old sway of words with the Greek gods and goddesses. The details and emotions invested into this story feel to be strong. There is such love written here. And in the voice! Veronica relates the strength of all the emotions present."


Beacon by Chess Desalls

"Of course we get a pleasant ending for Serah, after all. But the journey to the end is different through the globes. It's different for each person. I didn't expect the story to take the turn it did here, and I like it. The globe, the locket that's a door, and the delight to see who's where in the end."


Greatshadow by James Maxey

"I found it interesting how the characters on the journey to kill Greatshadow have their lives intertwined with this adventure. We learn a great deal about them and face dangers as we journey, and I didn't realize that we were still working to get to the dragon. I didn't feel as though the book needed to skip ahead or anything. I truly enjoyed the story from the view point we got it. "

Podcast Review:

Mama Bitchstress Reviews:

GIVEAWAYS:

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This Week to Come on the Blog:

I will write up two reviews and schedule.

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Received In Last Two Weeks:

(Note: Links to Amazon are buy links where I could earn commission, in case you are interested.)


For Review Consideration:

Audio Books Requested for Review:

Reconnaissance in Force by Terry Mixon
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Goodreads Synopsis:
When going to war, it pays to know your enemy. Particularly when they can crush you like a bug. 

Princess Kelsey Bandar has one slim chance to steal the tech her people need to survive. Only a bold strike deep into enemy space keeps the New Terran Empire alive. 

Success gives them a chance. Failure dooms them to death and worse. 

Kelsey and her friends once again risk everything for their people. If you love military science fiction and grand adventure on a galactic scale, grab “Reconnaissance in Force” and the rest of The Empire of Bones Saga.

End of Days by J.F. Penn
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Goodreads Synopsis:
The thousand years are ended.

An ancient tablet is found in the ruins of Babylon that warns of the resurrection of a banished serpent in the final days. A sarcophagus is discovered in the deepest ocean locked by seven seals that are scattered through the ancient world.

As the Brotherhood of the Serpent race to find the seals before a rare lunar eclipse over the heart of Jerusalem, Agent Morgan Sierra and Jake Timber battle to find them first.

But this time, evil threatens to destroy all that Morgan loves and she must wrestle her own fear as well as an apocalyptic foe.

In a fast-paced adventure from the ruins of Iraq to the snake-handling churches of the Appalachian Mountains, from archaeological digs in Israel to snake-worshipping cults in Egypt, Morgan and Jake must find the seven seals and stop the resurrection of the Serpent before it’s too late.

End of Days is Book 9 in the ARKANE action adventure thriller series, but can be read as a stand-alone story.


Purchased/Winnings/Gifts:

Book:

Destroyers of Planets by L.A. Johnson
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Enter a galaxy full of snarky comebacks, inappropriate use of tentacles, and a mythical warrior-girl on the edge in this fast-paced, Douglas Adams style space romp.

A life of captivity is getting to Kirian, the self-styled Destroyer of Planets. She has never actually destroyed any planets, but getting to choose your own title is one of the few perks you get when you work against your will for an evil Octopus Overlord.
In an attempt to regain her freedom, Kirian defies her tentacled boss and secretly saves Ari, the human she is supposed to kill. Can the two of them and a band of misfits join forces to thwart the Neon Octopus Overlord? And can a revolutionary rock song from an illegal grunge band save a planet?

Monster Born by Kris Austen Radcliffe
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Elves, werewolves, witches, vampires, and the patchwork son of Victor Frankenstein… 

A little Penny Dreadful. 
A tad bit Fargo. 
All Northern Creatures. 

Welcome to Alfheim, Minnesota. 

I walked out of the Arctic and into Alfheim’s magic two centuries ago. The elves had no idea what to do with the giant, re-animated corpse in their midst other than to offer me what they had long offered all unloved and unwanted magicals — a home. Without elven magic, the Alfheim Werewolf Pack would descend into madness. Without the stability of the elves, the local vampires and witches would fall prey to their own evil natures. And without the elves, I would still be the rage-filled monster stitched together by my father’s genius and unholy hubris. 

Now, I have a good life. I have family. Friends. A community that supports and protects me. But some ghosts from rage-filled pasts are more horrific than others. Some want to rip apart more than just my soul. 

Some want my flesh. And now I must face a vampiric demon so powerful not even elven magic can stop it…. 

Join Frank Victorsson and the magical people of Alfheim, Minnesota, in Monster Born, the first novel in the new Northern Creatures series from Kris Austen Radcliffe. 

Skykeeper by S.M. Gaither
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Goodreads Synopsis:
The
Sky
Is
Falling
Down.

And all her life, Aven has been trained to prevent it from collapsing completely. As a keeper of her underwater empire, her blood is laced with the magic that allows her to seal the ‘sky’, to reinforce the barrier that holds the great Sea Above in place.

But that sea has never liked being restrained.

Strange things are happening in the western corners of the empire. There are rumors of increasingly broken skies. Rising flood waters. Of a tidal wave of destruction that is spreading, racing toward Aven's own peaceful, glittering kingdom. When a routine sky sealing goes tragically wrong, Aven finds herself thrust into a journey toward those hostile western lands, desperate for answers, for a way to stop that wave from surging deeper into the empire and lifting tensions between kingdoms already on the brink of war.

And what she discovers will challenge everything she thought she believed, forcing her to rise and meet an impossible destiny—or else watch the sky crash down and drown her along with the rest of her world.

Immortal Progeny by Phillipa Ballantine
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Goodreads Synopsis:
For generations the world of Rahvas has been awash in holy war between its many temples.

Priests and priestesses have built towering monsters to destroy one another and prove their deity the One True God.

But those temples also made two mistakes. When three little girls came out of the void where Gods are born, they mistake them for humans and let them live.

Separated, Rowan, Vervain and Amaranth have lived out very different lives. One lived as a temple acolyte, another as meat for the creation of progeny, while the third learns the magic of the atheists.

As the sisters' power unfolds and they learn the truth of who they are, the temples and all those that fight for them will find a new war on their doorstep. Rahvas will become the battleground between gods and monsters.



Audio:

Free Ebooks:
(On my Kindle and Nook App) Links to books under title. They may or may not be free at this time.

Born of Fire by A.L. Knorr
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Goodreads Synopsis:
What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Right? 

Saxony Cagney counts herself lucky when she wins a position as an au pair in Venice for the summer. It's her responsibility to take care of two young boys - speak to them in English, make sure they get to their swimming lessons on time. Piece of cake, right? She unexpectedly forms a strong bond with the youngest, Isaia, although its a mystery why. She also meets two Italian men... both are smart, successful, sexy. So far things are going her way. Who doesn't like options? 

When she discovers that Isaia is actually dying, and his mom is trying to keep it a secret from his dad, things get a violent shove into complicated...and then contagious. She'll never be the same again. Just when she's got more on her plate than she can handle, she accidentally gets tangled up with the most powerful crime family in Venezia.

Teeth of Gods by Sarah K. L. Wilson
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Goodreads Synopsis:
My world is unraveling and it's all my fault. 

I'm alone in the world, my magic won't surface, my mother is dead, and everything I do just seems to make things worse. My father is planning to chain me to an enemy he defeated - literally. What should I do? I refuse to just give up my freedom! Is it really too much to ask that someone be on my side and that I get to have just a little bit of fun before my life ends?

Knights of Stone by Lisa Carlisle
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Gargoyles, tree witches, and wolf shifters have divided the Isle of Stone after a great battle twenty-five years ago. When Kayla, a tree witch, hears about the unconventional rock concerts in the gargoyle’s territory, she sneaks from her coven and into their territory to see for herself. Night after night, she returns to see one in particular shift into human form and play guitar at these unconventional shows. 

For several nights, Mason has kept watch for the pixie-like female. He plans to seduce her, thinking she’s a visitor from another island. When he discovers she’s one of the tree witches, he retreats, attempting to keep his distance. The temptation is strong, but forbidden. 

Kayla and Mason attempt to meet in secret, but other elements on the isle command their attention. A magical cloak created by the three clans on the island is thinning, leading to repercussions for all the clans. Kayla and Mason are caught in the middle of it, and their actions may change the fate for all. 

This novella was originally releases as part of the Highland Shifters paranormal romance boxed set. 
18+ due to adult content.

Glitter and Gold by Sherry D. Ficklin
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Set during the flamboyant anything-goes era of 1920's America, these three tales are filled with intriguing characters and rich imagery from the time period—with flappers, jazz music, gangsters, and lavish wealth. Escape to a different decade today with the compelling stories of the Canary Club Anthology.

Novelette 1- Gilded Cage
Masie, the flaxen-haired daughter of notorious bootlegger Dutch Schultz, returns home from boarding school to find her family in crisis. Her mother is dangerously unstable, her father's empire is on the brink of ruin, and the boy she once loved has become a ruthless killer for hire. To keep her family's dangerous secrets, Masie is forced into a lie that will change the course of her future—and leave her trapped in a gilded cage of her own making.

Novelette 2- All That Glitters
A dame with brains, moxie, and killer curves, June West isn't your average flapper. She's managed to endear herself to the son of one of the most powerful gangsters in New York, earning herself a spot in the limelight that she's always longed for. With the infamous playboy at her side, June has become accustomed to living the high life. Lavish parties, expensive clothes, sparkling jewels—nothing is beyond her reach. But when her carefully woven web of lies finally catches up with her, she must make an impossible choice… come clean about her past and risk losing everything, or find a way to bury her demons—once and for all. 

Novelette 3 - Nothing Gold
Dickey has been down on his luck since the day he was born. Flat broke and sick of being looked down on, he meets young socialite Lillian at a wild party. The connection is like a strike of lightning. From a wealthy New York family, this debutante is everything he's been told he can never have—and the only thing he wants. Determined to win her, he knows the only way to get her parents approval is with cold hard cash. So when a shot at the biggest score of his life comes around, he just can't refuse…

Complication by K.A. Salidas
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Magistrate, Mira travels west, toward the coast. With three weakened human fugitives accompanying her, she searches for the mythical land of Sanctuary. After encountering a pack of wolf shifters, headed by the charismatic-and brazen-Stryker, Mira learns that Sanctuary is real after all. Caldera Grove: home of the Otherkin. Hidden in the mouth of a dormant volcano, it has protected its residents from humans since the early days following the great cataclysm. For Mira- a vampire- Caldera Grove is a land of peace; an escape from the relentless persecution of the humans who once enslaved her, and an end to the daily struggle and bloodshed of being a gladiator. For the humans accompanying her, Caldera Grove means death. Humans, greedy and untrustworthy creatures, are destroyed before they can penetrate its borders. To plead her case for entry into Caldera, Mira must abandon her companions, albeit temporarily, and follow Stryker into the heart of the city. What she finds within Caldera Grove presents her with an unenviable decision between her own desires for freedom and peace, or honor and the human companions who risked it all for her.

The World Beneath by Rebecca Cantrell
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Cantrell drops you into a vast, dark world: 100 miles of living, breathing, tunnels that is the New York City underground. This subterranean labyrinth inhales three million bustling commuters every day. And every day, it breathes them all out again... except for one. Software millionaire Joe Tesla is set to ring the bell on Wall Street the morning his company goes public. On what should be the brightest day in his life, he is instead struck with severe agoraphobia. The sudden dread of the outside is so debilitating, he can't leave his hotel at Grand Central Terminal, except to go underground. Bad luck for Joe, because in the tunnels lurk corpses and murderers, an underground Victorian mansion and a mysterious bricked-up 1940s presidential train car. Joe and his service dog, Edison, find themselves pursued by villains and police alike, their only salvation now is to unearth the mystery that started it all, a deadly, contagious madness on the brink of escaping The World Beneath.

Marked by Fate
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Beginnings. Secrets. Deleted Scenes. 

Transport yourself to other worlds with 15 Marked by Fate teen warriors… 
…encounter shadows, queens, witches, and wizards who battle against immortals, angels, vampires, demons, genetically engineered soldiers, robots and gods. Let yourself be swept away by adventures in magical fantasy worlds, mind-blowing dystopian lands, space stations, galaxies, and alternate timelines. 

The short stories and deleted scenes in Marked by Fate: Origins are exclusive to this collection and they go away--some of them forever--when the Marked by Fate full box set releases in October 2017. 

Gain a glimpse of where the action begins, including a deeper look into some of your favorite characters! Get the Marked by Fate: Origins collection today to join these teen warriors in their adventures.

Charred Heart by Lizzy Ford
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Goodreads Synopsis:
For a thousand years, Chace has searched for a way to break the curse placed on him by a jilted lover. He’s a dragon shifter, one who can’t control when the magic will force him into a different form. He’s already lost everyone he ever cared about a few times over and doesn’t know how much longer he’s meant to suffer.

At his wit’s end, he makes a deal with a mysterious figure that offers him what he wants most – an end to his misery – in exchange for everything that’s his: His life, his power. His heart.

The next day, he meets Skylar, a modern day dragon slayer whose mission is to cage him – or kill him. Sexy, witty and brave, she is the yin to his yang, the woman destined to break the curse, balance his magic and make his broken heart whole. 

Except it’s too late. Not only has he sealed his fate, but an innocent one-night-stand with Skylar has dragged her into the middle of a deal with the devil, one she won’t escape, if he can’t convince her that dragon shifters aren’t her enemies.

Project Nemesis by Jeremy Robinson
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Jon Hudson, lead investigator for the Department of Homeland Security's Fusion Center-P, thinks his job is a joke. While other Fusion Centers focus on thwarting terrorist activity, Hudson's division is tasked with handling paranormal threats to national security, of which there have been zero during his years at the DHS. When yet another Sasquatch sighting leads to a research facility disguised as an abandoned Nike missile site in the back woods of Maine, Hudson's job becomes deadly serious.


Hudson and the local Sherriff, Ashley Collins, suddenly find themselves on the run from a ruthless ex-Special Forces security team, but the human threat is short-lived as something very much not-human destroys the facility and heads for civilization, leaving only a single clue behind--a name scrawled in blood: Nemesis. Working with his team at Fusion Center-P, Sherriff Collins and a surly helicopter pilot named Woodstock, Hudson pursues the creature known as Nemesis, attempts to uncover the corporate secrets behind its creation and accidental release and tries to comprehend why several clues lead to a murdered little girl named Maigo.


But as the body-count explodes, along with the monster's size, it quickly becomes clear that nothing short of a full military response can slow Nemesis's progress. Coordinating with every branch of the U.S. military, Hudson simultaneously searches for clues about Nemesis's origins and motivations, and leads the counterattack that will hopefully stop the monster before it reaches Boston and its one million residents.

Witness the birth of a legend as Jeremy Robinson, bestselling author of SecondWorld and Ragnarok, combines the pacing of Matthew Reilly with the mystery of James Rollins and creates the first iconic American Kaiju* story since King Kong. Includes original creature designs by legendary Godzilla artist, Matt Frank.

*Kaiju is Japanese for "strange beast." The genre includes classic monsters such as Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah.

The Uncanny Collection by Jaye Wells
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Goodreads Synopsis:
New short stories from USA Today Bestselling author Jaye Wells 
"When it comes to crafting outstanding dark urban fantasy, Wells is fast becoming a master!”―RT Book Reviews 

The Werewife One week after she is bitten by the dog-faced boy at a traveling carnival, a mild-mannered housewife gets a sudden, unrelenting craving for raw meat. She doesn’t remember eating the cat or running naked through the park under the full moon, but her husband’s getting strange calls from concerned neighbors. When he takes her back to the carnival a year later, looking for a cure, it’ll either get better…or a whole lot worse. 

The Bluest Hour A journalist travels to New Orleans to track down the mysterious “Soul Singers”--psychopomps who guide spirits into the afterlife. In this city known for music and its connection to death, a man can learn things he’s not ready to know. 

The Deadline An ambitious journalist opens an investigation into the decade’s old murder of a priest and a nun at a local Catholic college. She swears she’ll do anything to earn her big break, but the price could be her very soul.

Dark Mafia Prince by Annika Martin
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Goodreads Synopsis:
THE DARK MAFIA PRINCE IS BACK TO RECLAIM ALL THAT HER FAMILY STOLE.

Aleksio

Don’t look at me like that. So trusting.

Like you think I’m not a monster.

Like I won’t wrap your hair in my fist and bend you to my will.

Like I won’t sacrifice you, piece by piece, to save my brother.
I’m the most dangerous enemy you’ll ever have because every time you look at me, you see somebody good. That friend who died.
And when you look at me like that, I die again.

Mira
I spent years making myself invisible.
A good girl, apart from the noise.
Then you came back, beautiful and deadly in your Armani suit.

Don’t look at me like you still know me, you say.

But I remember your smile and those sunny days.
Before they lowered your small casket into the ground.

Before they told us the prince was dead.



Free Audio Books/Stories:

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Reviews to Come:

Soulless by Skyla Dawn Cameron

The Sentinel by Chris Lester

The Muse by Chris Lester
Metamor City: Making the Cut by Chris Lester
Metamor City: Whispers in the Wood by Chris Lester

Lex Talionis by Starla Huchton

Spark by Starla Huchton
Heir to Kale by K.L. Bone

Tales from the Archives Vol 4 #5 - Old Sinner's Bones

The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan

To Beat the Devil by M.K. Gibson