Hear Me by Lynn Crandall (VNbtM, Review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

Hear Me

by

Lynn Crandall

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GENRE:  Urban Fantasy

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BLURB:

 

Atlantis Aeon Ainsley Durham loves running her antique shop, Fancy This, in Old Town Auralia, but takes seriously her mission to work with her fellow Aeons to fight Darkness in her home town. But she’s changing. Her precognition is showing her darker and darker visions of what’s to come. When growing darkness forces her to reevaluate her place in the Aeons and her work, she’s not sure she belongs in either space any longer. Her terrible past urges her to withdraw, not only from her mission but from letting true love in.

 

Bounty hunter turned bonds company owner Keegan Barnes is also an Aeon. He hears things others don’t, and sometimes he wishes he could shut down his clairaudience ability. After all, he doesn’t see how he can help the cause with such a low-key ability. But when he picks up discussions among members of Dark Sides, will he discover just how much he’s been underestimating himself? He’s hiding secrets that keep him from healing his scars and getting close to anyone, most of all Ainsley.

 

Keegan and Ainsley know the efforts the Aeons have been putting in to raise the level of light energy in the city have been helping. But will it be enough to influence others to make choices for good or will Dark Sides take the city? Can they team up to save the city and find true love? Find out in this thrilling book two in the Dark Sides trilogy.

 

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EXCERPT

 

“Get inside,” Keegan hollered to Jane and Ainsley.

           

“Wait, wait,” Jane yelled, pointing to one of the cars.

 

Men in both vehicles hung out of the passenger windows, guns raised, one aimed on the women, the other on him.

 

He hurtled in front of Ainsley and Jane just in time to allow them to escape inside. Instantly, he dropped to the ground, burning pain sizzling in his shoulder and blood dripping onto the ground.

 

Swiftly, he jumped up and retreated in to the house, slamming the door closed and locking the deadbolt.

 

But he knew those measures wouldn’t stop the people outside who were determined to take them down.

 

Ainsley stopped moving. “You’re hurt.”

 

“It’s nothing. We need to get moving.”

 

“Did you see who they are? I saw Mathias. He was pointing a gun at us.” Jane’s voice quivered. “He’s one of them. I don’t understand.”

 

“We don’t have time to talk about it right now.” Ainsley looked from Jane to Keegan.

 

Keegan tried to calm Jane, whose emotions churned just under hysteria. “I don’t know how those people found us, but we’ll find out. Right now we have to hide.”

 

Jane made an effort to follow his orders. “Now can we get in to the basement?”

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. That would be the first place they’d look. You all go upstairs,” Ainsley ordered. “Dad, Mom, Jane, Benjamin, go!”

 

“What about you.” Her mother’s lower lip trembled and tears wetted her eyes.

 

“Don’t worry about me. Keegan and I will handle this.”

 

Keegan nodded. “We can’t waste any more time talking. Up with you all.” With that, he ran to the kitchen and lowered the kitchen shades. He grabbed knives, a rolling pin, and the one gun he’d seen in a kitchen drawer earlier.

 

He sensed Ainsley in another room, gathering potential weapons, he supposed. He nearly ran into her as she flew into the dining room at the same time, reaching for a heavy glass vase, the same one he was after. He put down his supplies and grasped her shoulders.

 

“We can do this.” He knew it in his heart. No other outcome was inside him, other than protecting the family, to protect Ainsley.

 

Her eyes pierced his, and his heart went out to her. She had so much at stake. But so did he. “I’m not about to lose you just when—”

 

She put two fingers to his lips. “I know. Same for me.”

 

Steady pounding at the back door resounded through the house. He grabbed the gun. “You send a message to the Aeons to let them know Dark Aspects are here, so be wary.”

 

“I will.”

 

She closed her eyes briefly, and he felt her focusing on her message, sending it out as fast as she could.

 

Keegan dashed to the kitchen window and snuck a peek through the blinds.

 

His heart pumping hard, he saw Diane out back and Barry Russell standing beside her.

 

“Harder,” Diane chanted to the men at the back door. “Get inside there. Hit harder.”

 

“This door must be reinforced,” Russell shouted. “Or they’d have already knocked it in.”

 

Keegan dropped the blinds, readying to shoot if the door gave way. He glanced around the room, wishing he had more time, to prepare, to protect the others. Nothing stood out to him as an effective weapon to stop the intrusion.

 

He nodded to himself, knowing what he had to do. He didn’t hesitate.

 

He laid the gun on the counter and strode across the kitchen. He stood for one nano-second in front of the door. The beating against it rattled the windows and drowned out all other sounds.

 

He saw Ainsley out of the corner of his eye, at the same moment Jane ran up to her.

 

“I’m going to help,” she said, and grabbed the rolling pin. “I’m not afraid any more.”

 

Ainsley heard her but just barely. Her feet moved numbly toward Keegan, but he was already pulling the door open. So swiftly, he was out and being wrestled to the ground.

 

Over the din, she heard him holler, “Close it and lock it!”

 

Then he was down and she felt his energy diminish. Her heart crashed to the bottom of her gut. “No!” she yelled.

 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Draft2Digital

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

 

After cutting her writing teeth as a feature writer for commercial and trade magazines, a reporter for newspapers and radio, and an executive editor for a communications company, award-winning author Lynn Crandall tuned her voracious appetite for stories to writing contemporary and paranormal romance, women’s fiction, and romantic suspense. In her books, she enjoys taking readers on emotional journeys with relatable characters who refuse to back down, and face challenges and tribulations with heart and soul. She believes every love has a story, and hers is with one handsome husband and a large, beautiful circle of family, including her cat Winter.

 

 

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest 

TikTok @lynnkelynnwriter

Substack

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GIVEAWAY

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My review:

Junkyard Bargain by Faith Hunter (Spotlight, excerpt, and review) LTP

 

 

Junkyard Bargain

by

Faith Hunter

 

 

Blurb: 

Sometimes before you can face your enemies—you need to confront yourself.



Time is running out for Shining Smith and her crew to gather the weapons they need to rescue one of their own. But will they even make it to the ultimate battle? First, they’ll need to hit the road to Charleston—a hell ride full of bandits, sex slavers, corrupt lawmen, and criminal bike gangs looking to move in on Shining’s territory.



Shining’s human allies will do anything to protect her—because they must. But will victory be worth it if she must compel more and more people to do her bidding? And will her feline warriors, the junkyard cats, remain loyal and risk their lives? Or are they just in it for the kibble?

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Excerpt:

JUNKYARD BARGAIN Part ONE

Buck Harlan—my friend, the closest thing I had left to a father—was dead because of me.

Dead protecting me.

My first thought in the morning, every morning.

Before coffee. Before breakfast. Every. Single. Morning.

His face, half eaten away by a swarm of genetically modified ants. His Outlaw Militia Warrior tattoos left untouched. The note warning me, clutched in his fingers.

I deliberately recalled everything, including tossing a half-empty gallon of Maltodine into the old Tesla fuselage, the vehicle that delivered Harlan. The accelerant burned his body to ash, obliterated the mutated ants that were eating him, and destroyed any evidence that might suggest I had killed my only friend in the world.

I studied his face, the position of his fingers, in my memory. Every detail was seared into my soul like a prayer for vengeance. The memories of death and debts owed.

I stared at the ceiling of my office, the smooth metal alloy reflecting the faint lights. So many secrets to hide. And three things to do: carry on my father’s legacy, keep myself hidden from the people who would try to use me, and take revenge on Harlan’s killers.

The weight of all that was heavy, even this early, still in my bed, and my memory darted back to Pops shouting to get me up in the mornings after Little Mama died and the war still raged. “Get your ass outta bed, Little Girl! We got PRC to kill!” Every morning.

The smell of coffee was fresh and potent in the filtered air, the trickle of water into the pot what awakened me. Coffee meant work, weapons to obtain, weapons that could take down my enemy—the queen who killed Harlan and sent his body to me, then followed it here to Smith’s Junk and Scrap and attacked me and mine.

I had won that first battle, but if I waited until that queen, Clarisse Warhammer, attacked me again, I would end up as dead as Harlan. I needed to go to war against her and her thralls. Soon. As soon as I had possession of the weapons to make victory possible. As soon as I found her nest, I’d go to war. For Harlan.

Amazon link

 

Release date: October 19, 2021

Publisher: Bella Rosa Books

 

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About Faith Hunter:

 

Faith Hunter is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several series: Jane Yellowrock, Soulwood, Rogue Mage, and Junkyard Cats. In addition, she has edited multiple anthologies and co-authored the Rogue Mage RPG. She is the coauthor and author of 16 thrillers under pen names Gary Hunter and Gwen Hunter. Altogether she has 40+ books and dozens of short stories in print and is juggling multiple projects.



She sold her first book in 1989 and hasn’t stopped writing since.

Faith collects orchids and animal skulls, loves thunderstorms, and writes. She drinks a lot of tea. She likes to kayak Class II & III whitewater rivers. Some days she’s a lady. Some days she ain't.

Find Faith online at -

Website 

Gwen Hunter 

Facebook (official)

Facebook fan group 

Twitter: @hunterfaith

Yellowrock Securities website  

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My review:

 

3.75 out of 5 stars

 

 

Junkyard Bargain by Faith Hunter is the sequel to “Junkyard Cats,” and continues to showcase Shining Smith. Her quest to save a woman being held hostage and tortured leads her to discover more about her allies and enemies, and forces her to confront some of her deepest fears.

 

 

This gritty urban fantasy/science-fiction story is dark and somewhat depressing but has very vivid imagery. It was a little difficult to understand this world since this is evidently the second in the series, so some of the background setup (hopefully) occurred in the first book. A little confusing to understand who the enemies are and what the end goals are, but the battle scenes are exciting and the interactions with the cats who are part of the heroine’s team are fascinating. I think it would be better to read the first story in the series to orient oneself and learn about the relationships, how the thralldom works, and the threat from alien bugs. I enjoyed elements of the story, but I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the unfamiliar concepts and conflicts.

 

 

A copy of this title was provided for review

In Daylight and Darkness by Dana Ardis (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

In Daylight and Darkness

by 

Dana Ardis

 

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GENRE:   Romantic Fantasy

 

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BLURB:

 

Lots of kids have imaginary friends, but Kate had an entire imaginary world to visit when she was a girl. When she keeps insisting that her friends are real, she ends up in an institution, where she is forced to put that part of her life behind her. Shortly after Kate turns eighteen and leaves Bayshore Psychiatric to start a normal life, her old friend Cor returns, transformed from the boy she loved into a handsome but guarded stranger. His world is darker than the fun and games she remembers from childhood and he warns her that the monsters there can hunt her now that she lives on her own. If she’ll come back to his world long enough to learn the magic she needs to defend herself, he’ll agree to stay out of her life. He’s only imaginary, but it gets harder and harder for Kate to think of saying goodbye.

 

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EXCERPT

  

The sun set without any trouble. For the second night in a row, I didn’t see anything I wasn’t supposed to. I pushed the cold cup of coffee away, relieved.

           

Then Cor walked through the door of the diner.

 

After everything I’d gone through, part of me still wanted to rationalize why no one stared as he walked to my table despite his tangerine hair and his long, black coat. Maybe he stood out less in my sketchy neighborhood. Maybe people assumed his impossibly bright hair came out of a bottle.

 

No. No one else could see Cor because he didn’t exist. I couldn’t make excuses for him anymore. By now, I knew better than to think imaginary friends were harmless.

 

I didn’t want to see him, but I couldn’t quite ignore him, either. He stopped just outside the range of comfortable conversation, his golden eyes not quite meeting mine.

 

If I’d meant to ignore him, I should have stayed in my apartment, taken my sleeping pill like usual, and been out like a light before the sun had slipped beneath the horizon.

 

“Cor,” I said, his name familiar on my tongue, though I’d sworn I’d never say it again. His narrow shoulders relaxed just a bit at the fact I didn’t say his full name, as a stranger might have.

 

“Kate.” He spoke so softly, the name almost sank beneath the level of diner chatter. Or the sound of the blood pounding in my ears. He slid in to the opposite side of the booth.

 

He’d never been shy like this as a child.

 

The last time I’d seen him, five years ago, he’d been hardly more than a kid, spindly with sudden growth, stricken by my disbelief. It unsettled me to see him recast as this nervous stranger. His face was long and lean, his features angular and stark, handsome but subtly inhuman. His alien eyes, yellow-hazel with a vertical pupil like a cat’s, had changed the most. I didn’t recognize the hardness in them at all.

 

I was not prepared to have him sitting here, real as real, toying with the salt shaker.

 

 

Amazon link

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

 

 

Dana Ardis grew up surrounded by books and decided she likes it that way, pursuing a career in public libraries. Now she writes her own books, creating the rich worlds and vibrant characters that tugged at her imagination as a child.

 

In addition to writing, she loves art, board games, travel, and anything to do with dogs.

 

 

To connect on social media, find me at:

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

 

 

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GIVEAWAY

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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My review:

 

 

 

4.5 out of 5 stars

 

In Daylight and Darkness by Dana Ardis is the first book in the ‘Worldwalkers’ series and centers around Kate (Katen), who is finally trying to live independently after dealing with the aftermath of being hospitalized to “cure” her of the fantasy world that she spent much of her childhood playing in. Unfortunately, Cor (Coraven), one of the figments of her childhood imagination, insists on warning her that she’s in danger, so she has to find a way to distinguish truth from fiction before the monsters become all too real.

 

This exciting and enthralling fantasy romance with urban fantasy elements was such a fun story that I hated to get to the end. The world-building was intricate and believable, and I definitely want more stories that feature all of the intriguing characters and types of beings that populate this tale. I connected with the heroine quickly, and I ached at her confusion as she dealt with the challenges that were worsened by the treatments for her supposed condition.

 

The tension continues to ramp up as gradually more and more of the world called Kuyen is revealed, but just enough to whet one’s appetite for more in-depth glimpses. I look forward to getting to know some of the secondary characters better and seeing more of the dangling threads tied up, especially because of the “happy for now” ending. I appreciate the author’s revelations at the end, and thought she did a deft job of weaving some of her experiences into the tale and providing realism. I’m delighted to find a new fantasy author to follow and anxiously await more tales featuring this fascinating couple.

 

A copy of this story was provided for review

 

 

Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter (Spotlight, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY)

Spells for the Dead

by

Faith Hunter

About Spells for the Dead:


Nell Ingram faces a dark craft known as death magic in the newest pulse-pounding paranormal procedural in the New York Times bestselling Soulwood series.

Nell Ingram is a rookie PsyLed agent, using the powers she can channel from deep within the earth to solve paranormal crimes. Together with her team, she's taken on the darkest magic and the direst foes. But she'll need to tap into every ounce of power she has for her newest case.

Nell is called to the Tennessee mansion of a country music star and finds a disturbing scene—dead bodies rapidly decaying before everyone's eyes. The witch on her team, T. Laine, knows this can only be one thing: death magic, a rare type of craft used to steal life forces. PsyLed needs to find this lethal killer fast. But when a paranormal-hating FBI agent tries to derail the investigation, they find themselves under attack from all sides.


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EXCERPT THREE

There were a whole lotta possibilities in the little I knew. JoJo’s “Be careful” implied the scene was still potentially dangerous. More significant was that the dead on-site would be transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, which had one of only a handful of forensic pathologists in the United States who also had a secondary certification in paranormal medicine. Para med was a rare specialty, and Nashville, which was much closer to the crime scene, had no such pathologist and no paranormal unit for patients. So, dead bodies, danger, paranormal, all sounded bad, but the bucolic setting was peaceful and the calm, measured body language of the first responders said everything was under control.

Maybe all the bodies were gone by now. That would suit me just fine. Having grown up at a church that practiced a form of communal farm living, I’d seen plenty of dead things, and even knew how to butcher animals for meat if necessary.

Didn’t mean I liked seeing dead people.

My phone vibrated and I looked at the screen. It was my sister Mud, and I let the call go to voicemail, knowing it was trouble I didn’t have time to deal with right now. She’d text me if it was something really urgent, but it had to involve spurting blood, active flames, or dead bodies to fall under that category. Arguments between sisters didn’t count no matter how bad they got. We had tried it the other way around, calling only when urgent, but I used texts for work, and the constant dinging of family texts was distracting, so they were used for true emergencies, calls for minor things. If my sisters killed each other, well, I’d deal with the mess and the cleanup when I got home. I ignored the voice mail too, though I wanted to bang my head on the steering wheel in frustration.

The coroner’s van trundled behind my vehicle, so I got out, made sure my weapon was securely seated in its Kydex shoulder holster, put on a casual jacket, and smoothed the driving wrinkles from my work pants. Opening the trunk, I retrieved my handheld psy-meter 1.0 and did a quick scan of the grounds and the house. Psy-meters picked up paranormal energies known as psions, but there was nothing much beyond normal ambient energies present outside. I put the psy-meter away and lifted out the milk crate that held my faded pink blanket and the potted tree before closing the trunk. “Sorry about the dark on the ride over,” I told the tree. “I’ll try to get something rigged so you can sit in the sunlight while I drive.”

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About Faith Hunter:

Faith Hunter is the award-winning New York Times and USAToday bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock, Soulwood, Rogue Mage, and Junkyard Cats series. In addition, she has edited several anthologies and co-authored the Rogue Mage RPG. She is the coauthor and author of 16 thrillers under pen names Gary Hunter and Gwen Hunter. Altogether she has 40+ books and dozens of short stories in print and is juggling multiple projects.

She sold her first book in 1989 and hasn’t stopped writing since.

Faith collects orchids and animal skulls, loves thunderstorms, and writes. She likes to cook soup, bake bread, garden, and kayak Class II & III whitewater rivers. She edits the occasional anthology and drinks a lot of tea. Some days she’s a lady. Some days she ain't.


Find Faith online at -


Website

Facebook (official)

Facebook

Twitter: @hunterfaith

Yellowrock Securities website

Gwen Hunter website
 

 

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Inheritance by Gail Z. Martin (Guest post and review)

It is my pleasure to share a guest post by author Gail Z. Martin (aka Morgan Brice) who tells us about...

A Writer’s Journey

by

Gail Z. Martin

I decided that I wanted to be a writer when I was 14. I started writing my first book when I was 19. A much different version of that book got published when I was 45.

Now admittedly, I didn’t work full-time on making that dream come true for all those years. I went to college and grad school, and then got married, got jobs and changed jobs, moved, had children, changed jobs several more times...life got in the way. But every time there was a lull, I would pull out the manuscript and work on it, giving it another pass or two. And then it would go back into the drawer for a while, until the next lull.

I read every book I could find on how to write books and how to get published. I went to book signings and talked to authors about how they got started.

Every time I went into a bookstore, I would go to the shelf in the fantasy section and move the books apart where my name would be, and put my hand on the open space, and visualize my book being there.

I did that for *years*.

Finally, I got laid off from my corporate job when I was 40, and I decided that it was now or never. So I got serious about doing a final clean-up on the manuscript, researched agents, sent out query letters. Got lots of rejections. Talked to some of the published writers I knew for more advice. Revised my query letters. Got an agent! Found a publisher!

The Summoner, my first book in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, came out in 2007.

I started out writing Epic Fantasy, then added Urban Fantasy (like Inheritance, which is part of my Deadly Curiosities series), then co-authored with my husband, Larry N. Martin, on steampunk, near future post-apocalyptic adventure and horror comedy series. And as Morgan Brice, I write urban fantasy MM paranormal romance. Writing across several genres keeps things fresh and exciting for me, and helps me reach new readers.

I’ve written and published 30+ books, and been an invited author in 45 US/UK anthologies. I write full time now, happy to leave corporate life behind. My husband has come into the business full-time too, handling a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff as well as writing his own books and co-authoring several series with me. I’ve been published by Top 5 New York and London publishers, mid-size publishers, and small presses. Now, we publish most of our own new releases, but we still work with a vibrant small press, a boutique press, and an audiobook publisher as well. We brought out 10 new releases this year, and had stories in four new anthologies. Next year, we’re aiming to do more.

Along the way I’ve met wonderful readers, and made so many close friendships with other authors who are my found family. I’m still always learning about (constant) publishing industry and marketing changes. Most of all, I make my living doing something I love, sharing stories to help people escape from the real world for a while.

I do a lot of panels at genre conventions and writers’ workshops about the craft and business of writing, host a monthly meetup group on marketing and business issues for writers, and have written four books on social media marketing. I’m committed to paying back and paying forward, because so many writers helped  me at every stage of my journey and continue to help as we all try to make sense of this crazy business. Writing isn’t competitive—no individual writer can keep up with how much readers can read. So there’s room for all the books, which helps to assure readers will find something for everyone!

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Inheritance

by

Gail Z. Martin

Cover Artist: Lou Harper

Release Date: October 22, 2019

Genre/s: Urban fantasy with romantic elements. 

(Note—Characters from my Morgan Brice (MM paranormal romance) books make several key appearances in this book. Also, a long-time committed MM couple figure prominently in the plot).

Themes: Friendship and established relationships

Heat Rating: 0 - 1 flame (No sex, kissing/hugging for MF and MM characters)

Length: 66 000 words/ 222 pages

It is the fourth book in the series but can be read as a standalone.

Add on Goodreads

 

 

 

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Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?

Blurb

Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day Charleston, an antiques and curio shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can read the history of objects by touching them, and she teams up with friends and allies who use magic and paranormal abilities to get rid of cursed objects and keep Charleston and the world safe from supernatural threats.

Caribbean ghosts terrorize Charleston and start racking up a body count. Then Beckford Pendlewood, the heir to a powerful family of dark warlocks, shows up raving about a bound demon locked in a lost box and begs sanctuary. Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?

 

Excerpt

“I have a problem antique I’d like you to take a look at.” The man on the other end of the call sounded rattled. I recognized his name—Alfred Stone, from Stone Auctions—but I didn’t think we had ever spoken, let alone met.

“What kind of ‘problem’ does it present?” I asked. A number of possibilities came to mind. “Questionable provenance? Not sure how to authenticate?”

“I think it’s trying to kill me.”

Well, damn. That kind of problem. “All right, Mr. Stone. Try to stay calm.”

“I just told you, it’s trying to kill me. I heard you…know…about these things. Please, help me.”

Across the store, Teag Logan glanced up to make sure everything was all right. I nodded, and he went back to helping a customer.

“I can come now. Are you at the showroom?”

“Yes. Thank you. And…please…hurry.”

I ended the call and sighed. This might be the first time Alfred Stone had an antique try to kill him, but that made it just another day here at Trifles and Folly.

I’m Cassidy Kincaide, and I own Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio shop in historic, haunted Charleston, South Carolina. The shop has been in my family for more than three hundred years. While we’re known as a great place to buy high-quality antiques, the shop is also a cover for the Alliance, a coalition of mortals and immortals who save Charleston—and the world—from supernatural threats. I’m a psychometric, which means I can read the history and magic of objects by touching them. Teag is my assistant store manager, best friend, and sometimes bodyguard—and he’s also a talented Weaver witch. Sorren, my business partner, is a nearly six-hundred-year-old vampire. Together with some other friends with very specialized abilities, we do our best to keep the world safe from dark magic and things that go bump in the night.

“Problem?” Teag asked when the customer left.

“I’m not sure,” I replied. “Alfred Stone just called—from the auction house. He says he’s got an item that’s trying to kill him.”

“You want me to go with you?” Teag pushed a lock of dark hair out of his eyes. His skater-boy haircut and skinny jeans made him look younger than his late twenties. “Maggie can handle the store.”

On cue, Maggie—our lifesaver of a part-time associate—waved to agree from the other side of the store. She was sporting a new bright pink streak in her short gray hair, and it matched her sweater, a reminder—as if I needed one—that she believed in taking risks and living large.

I reached up to slick my humidity-frizzy strawberry blond hair back into a ponytail and shook my head. “Let me go see what the problem is, and I’ll figure out what to do from there. It’s not far away, in case I need to give a shout.”

Buy Links - ebook and paperback 

Amazon US | Amazon UK

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About the Author 

 

  

Gail Z. Martin writes epic fantasy, urban fantasy and steampunk for Solaris Books, Orbit Books, SOL Publishing, Darkwind Press, Worldbuilders Press and Falstaff Books. Recent books include Convicts and Exiles, Sellsword’s Oath, Inheritance, and Night Moves. With Larry N. Martin, she is the co-author of the Spells Salt & Steel, Wasteland Marshals, Joe Mack and Jake Desmet series. As Morgan Brice, she writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance including the Witchbane, Badlands and Treasure Trail series. Recent books include The Rising, Flame and Ash.

Get a free complete short story, Catspaw here

Social Media Links

Blog | Website | Facebook | Facebook Group | Twitter @GailZMartin | Pinterest

Newsletter Sign-Up | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads | Amazon Author Profile

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My review:

 3.75 out of 5 stars

Inheritance by Gail Z. Martin is part of the ‘Deadly Curiosities’ series that features Cassidy Kincaide of the Trifles and Follies antique and curio shop that features all kinds of intriguing items, and acts as a cover for the Alliance that specializes in disposing of the supernatural threats that are inherent in some of the objects that are brought to them. Cassidy and her friends and allies become embroiled in an inheritance struggle that not only stirs up the resident spirits and inimical beings but threatens to destroy Charleston and most of its surroundings.

This paranormal/urban fantasy story blends a combination of legends and myths, with an emphasis on a few Caribbean entities. I am fascinated by the idea of psychometry (being able to read the history of objects by touching them) and adding the twist of feeling their magic makes things even more intriguing. I enjoyed the cameos by key figures from other stories and series and the variety of techniques that are used to combat the different foes that appear, but I almost had the feeling that this book was a blend of multiple short stories designed to introduce more and more of the members of the Alliance, tied together by the overall threat by the Pendlewood family. It also felt awkward that Sorren, Cassidy’s partner who is a powerful vampire, was absent so long in the face of such a major threat.

Despite all of this, I enjoy getting the flavor of this part of the world and learning about other cultures and belief systems. The confrontations are deliciously creepy and the maltese dog Baxter who has the “heart of a lion, body of a guinea pig” provides a bit of levity to balance some of the intensity. This is a fun series that should appeal to those who enjoy urban fantasy and things that go bump in the night.

A copy of this title was provided for review