by Christine Young, Genie Gabriel, C. L. Kraemer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Fantasy/Romance/Antology
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BLURB:
Blurb
Twelve Days to Love
When Archer Steele showed up at Calanthe Durand's failing plantation with an
alligator over his shoulder, Cali thought she'd never seen a more handsome man.
During the war she'd had to defend herself and her servants from both union and
confederate soldiers. Independent and self-sufficient, she'd vowed to never
marry.
But Archer Steele has different ideas. The first time Archer had seen Cali in
town, he felt an instant attraction. He decided he'd do everything and anything
to convince the beautiful Miss Durand he was worthy of her love. During the
weeks leading up to Christmas, he gave her twelve gifts to in hopes she'd fall
in love with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Christmas
Pawsibilities
Genie
Gabriel
“So where
is this alien craft?”
Fletcher
had never completely trusted Commander Viktor Atrocitor. Since he had taken
command of GIG two years ago, the atmosphere at the agency had become cold and
suspicious, like the man himself. He seemed carved from six and a half feet of
granite, blocky and scowling.
“It has
disappeared.” Fletcher knew this statement would draw Atrocitor’s ire and
disdain, but what was the use of denying the obvious?
“Fool! Can
you do nothing right?” Atrocitor turned to the GIG agents waiting at a wary
distance. “Search the neighborhood. Someone must have seen something or is
hiding them.”
While
Atrocitor berated Fletcher, other GIG agents spread throughout the
neighborhood, offending pretty much everyone by demanding they stay in their
houses while their property was overrun and searched.
After two
hours of fruitless searching, Commander Atrocitor called a halt. “If you want
to save your career and this town, you will bring me these aliens within
twenty-four hours.”
As Fletcher
watched the caravan of GIG vehicles disappear down the road out of Watermark,
he felt like a six-year-old kid again. Bullied and humiliated for his belief
that beings from distant galaxies simply wanted to explore and build alliances.
They weren’t like aliens in movies who wanted to destroy humanity.
That’s why
Fletcher started working at Geeks in Green. He thought he found other humans
like himself who believed alliances with aliens could benefit everyone. Now he
was starting to believe the rumors about Commander Atrocitor being heartless
and determined to eliminate aliens were true. How could he know for sure?
His
thoughts were interrupted when Agnes staggered out the back door toward the
barn. “Who’s disturbing my goats?”
With her
hair disheveled and her clothes askew, she did indeed look as if she had spent
a raucous night of partying—the after-effects of being zapped by a ray gun.
Laycee and
Fletcher followed Agnes into the barn, where the spacecraft was once again
visible. Now the hatch was open, with guards standing on either side pointing
ray guns at Agnes, Laycee and Fletcher.
“Holy
extraterrestrial!”
With a
sizzle of purple, one of the alien guards fired his gun and Fletcher crumpled
to the ground.
“Why did
you do that?” Ryan hustled out of the spacecraft.
“He is of
GIG,” one of the guards stated. “He is a danger to our Queen.”
“Is he
dead?” Ryan knelt over Fletcher’s inert body.
“Simply stunned.
We will revive him when the danger to our Queen is gone.” The two guards loaded
Fletcher onto a transport board, which levitated and moved inside the
spacecraft.
“Your mouth
isn’t moving but I can hear your words.” Laycee’s shocked whisper matched the
stunned expression in her eyes.
“Our Canine
Queen is birthing and is not to be disturbed.” This time the alien’s mouth
moved as he spoke, and he looked like any other human except for a twinkle of
star light in his eyes. “Weren’t you getting milk for the royal puppies?”
“Yes.” Ryan
refocused his attention on this task, determined to ignore Laycee’s presence.
What was she doing here anyway? “Agnes, do you have milk from your goats?”
“My goats
don’t much like to be milked.”
“Surely it
can’t be that difficult,” Ryan said.
Agnes
lifted an eyebrow. “You’re welcome to try. I’ll get a clean bucket.”
Determined
to get milk for the Queen’s puppies, Ryan began stalking one of the goats.
“I think it
should be a female,” Laycee said.
Ryan felt
like a first grader again. “I knew that.”
Laycee
coughed behind her hand to cover her laughter. “There’s a girl goat on top of
the space ship.”
Ryan looked
up the curved, smooth surface. “Maybe there’s another girl somewhere easier to
reach.”
He stepped
around the space ship and over the boards broken when the craft crashed through
the roof. “There’s a girl! Help me get her into a stall.”
“Um-kay.”
While Ryan
circled around the nanny goat one way, Laycee closed in on her from the other
side. The little goat narrowed her eyes at the humans and, when they were
within a couple feet of her, she let out a bleat and ran between Ryan’s legs.
Startled, he stumbled and dropped to one knee.
“Watch out!” Laycee’s shout made Ryan turn in
time to see an irritated male goat charging toward him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Christine Young
Born in Medford, Oregon, novelist Christine Young has lived
in Oregon all of her life. After graduating from Oregon State University with a
BS in science, she spent another year at Southern Oregon State University
working on her teaching certificate, and a few years later received her
Master's degree in secondary education and counseling. Now the long, hot days
of summer provide the perfect setting for creating romance. She sold her first
book, Dakota's Bride, the summer of 1998 and her second book, My Angel to
Kensington. Her teaching and writing careers have intertwined with raising
three children. Christine's newest venture is the creation
of Rogue Phoenix Press. Christine is the founder, editor and
co-owner with her husband. They live in Salem, Oregon.
Links
Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christie L. Kraemer
A traveler for most of her life, C. L. Kraemer has settled
in the Northwest with her husband and two cats. When not creating a new world
or entity, she likes riding next to her husband on their Harleys.
Blog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genie Gabriel
I'm an optimist whose rose-colored glasses have bent frames
and cracked lenses. When life kicks me in the teeth, I find miracles and
lessons I refused to learn an easier way. In fact, I live with a small herd of
miracles in the furry forms of dogs, who are constantly trying to teach me to
forgive, to play more, and to love without limits.
I write about people who find courage and integrity in the
darkest times of their lives, who rescue stray dogs and kittens, who find a
person they would willingly give their lives for, and who make their little
corners of the world a better place.
People have remarked my stories "aren't what they
expected." With rose-colored glasses firmly in place, I take that as a
compliment.
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GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The tour dates can be found
here
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My review:
This is a fun combination of stories, but I am afraid I
don’t really understand how they are connected, especially since a Christmas
moon only seems to be vaguely tangential except for the last story. “Twelve
Days to Love” evokes the hardship and challenges of surviving the upheaval in
the South after the Civil War and gives a glimpse into the struggles faced by
women who must survive in that society. There are inklings of the way women
find a way to wield power although I wasn’t quite convinced of their true
self-sufficiency. The novelty of a unholy amalgam of paranormal creatures gives
an interesting twist to “Boots and Blades” but it would have been nice to see
more of Tiamoon’s prowess although I definitely enjoyed Pony. I love the
inventions and the secondary characters in “Christmas Pawsibilities” that give
the story a quirky flavor, and of course I was intrigued by the idea of an
elfenchaun!
All of these tales are imaginative, but I think they were underdeveloped
and the stories were a little unfocused, probably due to the limitations
imposed by the length of the story. Hopefully, these characters will be
featured in a longer tale at some point in the future. Those who like American historicals,
paranormal, or science fiction will undoubtedly enjoy one or more of these
tales.
