Thursday, February 9, 2017

Rogue's Angels Present Dragon's of the Ice by C. L. Kraemer

Please welcome C. L. Kraemer author of Dragons of the Ice.

C. L. Kraemer will be giving a copy of one of her ebooks.




Title: Dragons of the Ice
Author: C. L. Kraemer
ISBN: 978-1-62420-333-6

Genre: Fantasy
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level:  1

Buy at: Rogue Phoenix Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

TAGLINE

Dragonlings are a challenge at the best of times. When a plot is discovered to extinguish the dragon shifters of the world, parents to be Petra and Dagmar, Olga and Lee fear for the future.

BLURB

Unexpected dragon shiftings have increased since the conference in China. More deaths being covered up inexplicably sends Lee Svensson to Japan to investigate from the Swedish Embassy. Why is it World Watch, Inc., a marketing company, is always on site when a shifter dies? Lee is charged to find out. When the husband of his wife’s best friend discovers an account he is managing, World Watch, Inc., is manipulating oil companies by buying up all available stocks, the two realize their paths are the same. Now that their wives have announced the impending births of dragonlings, it is imperative the men solve this riddle. An American dragoness shifter and former full blood warrior dragon will prove courage comes in all sizes.

REVIEW:

DRAGONS OF THE ICE
Dragons among us, Book III
C. L. Kraemer

Reviewed by Jeffrey Ross

5 Stars of 5

An intriguing shape shifter novel! 5 Stars!

Dragons on Ice is epic in scope-- and its global vision and cinematic presentation will remind readers of a James Bond film. The author works on numerous  current modern themes, including the influence of big oil, political manipulation, and the intricacies of marital relationships. Readers will learn a great deal about the classes of shapeshifter dragons which robustly populate the earth, including their history, mating rituals, and birthing practices. Yes, there are many wing-flapping flying scenes and numerous spouts of flame images. The bad guy is a most-villainous creature who pits himself against the decent shape shifters just trying to get along with the "two-leggeds." A fun read combining fantasy and political intrigue!


EXCERPT

Japan

The flight to Tokyo was tedious and Lee Svensson was not a good traveler. Airplanes exacerbated his claustrophobia, and the air turbulence upset his stomach. He disembarked with the passengers heading into the terminal. It never ceased to amaze him how polite Japanese travelers were. The walkways, while crowded, found the citizens accommodating to one another and foreigners. Lee located his luggage at the baggage retrieval. A close by kiosk offered instructions for the second leg of his journey. He purchased a rail ticket to Sapporo and flagged a vacant taxi willing to take him to the station. After settling in his window seat, Lee opted to close his eyes and allow the gentle movement of the bullet train lull him to sleep. There were two changes to make before he reached his destination far to the north of Tokyo in the Hokkaido prefecture.
This was his first trip away from Olga since they'd wed before the spring conference. If there hadn't been so much evidence against the target, he would've passed off this assignment to another. The nature of the investigation, however, required his presence at the offices in Sapporo.
"Sir? Excuse me, sir. We're at your stop."
The uniformed train attendant woke him, opting to gently rouse the stranger.
"Domo arigato."
She smiled, a shy affair showing a small dimple in her right cheek.
"You're welcome, sir."
Lee rose from the seat and stretched his muscles. He was facing one more transfer then eight hours of sleep. His meeting wasn't for two more days, but he felt the need to be rested. He'd be glad when he could stop moving and call Olga. She'd been acting very odd before he left yesterday. Was it just yesterday? He shook his head realizing his sense of timing had flown out the window after several time zone changes.
The second transfer was quickly accomplished as Lee settled his briefcase next to him. Safely ensconced in his seat on the final leg of his journey, his eyelids began to drift toward his cheeks.
The ring of his cell phone startled him awake.
"Hello? Olga! Good heavens, what time is it there?"
He listened to the voice of his lifemate, feeling tightness in his shoulders disappear. His lips slid into a smile and he stretched his legs before him.
"I know, my love, but just put up with her while I'm gone. She is, after all, the one who promoted you to the council and encouraged them to use your work."
The countryside was giving way to homes. Lee straightened and started checking around his seat for anything he may have left.
"What? Olga? What did you just say?"
The sound must've been distorted by such a long distance.
"Olga? Let me call you back. We're at the final station, and I need to get to my hotel room. I'll be able to hear you better from a landline. Okay?"
He sensed she wasn't thrilled but clicked off his phone knowing she would wait for his call. Lee made his way to the hotel and his room.
Showering away two days of travel, he reveled in the hot water sluicing down his body chasing away the aches and pains of sitting for so long. Over-sized, terrycloth towels specifically set out for him as per his reservation request, warmed and relaxed the remaining weariness from his bones. The urgency to sleep was exerting power over his need to speak to his wife. He shook off the need to sleep. He'd better call Olga or she'd worry unnecessarily.
Once he'd gone through the hotel's phone exchange, he waited on the bed as the phone rang at the other end.
"Hello?"
Finally. "Hi, sweetheart. I couldn't quite hear everything you were saying while I was on the train. Now, what did you want me to know?"
He sat listening to his wife relay the news to him. This changes everything.
"I think we best talk seriously about this when I get home. I'll be here for at least a week following up on a… situation. The outcome here will determine my next assignment. I miss you, Olga."
"I miss you, too, Lee. Be safe. If this has anything to do with the events at the spring meeting, I want you to promise me you'll be especially vigilante."
"I promise, love. I'll call you every day."
Stunned, he crawled beneath the covers depositing the damp towel on the chair next to the bed. Before he thought to turn out the light, his eyes betrayed him and closed.
Lee Svensson was sound asleep, the worries of the coming day temporarily forgotten.

REVIEW:

DRAGONS OF THE ICE
Dragons among us, Book III
C. L. Kraemer
4 Stars of 5
Reviewed by G. Lloyd Helm

I found myself in a world not unlike my own, except that the actors were dragons with the magical power to appear to be people and to function in human society with plain humans none the wiser.  The dragons all seem to have the same problems humans have; the everyday jobs and interactions that we all must endure, the everyday paperwork problems, the decisions about having and caring for children, but these dragons live on a more violent plain where a self absorbed dragon thinks he should be the most powerful dragon in the world. He thinks he should do away with all the "lesser" changeling dragons and the minor dragons and let only the pure blood dragons like himself live. The racism and dictatorial desire runs rampant within  dragon kind.
The story has echoes of Harry Potter and the battle to rule the world of magic, but it also has feelings of a James Bond, or George Smiley novel. I rather liked it and it did hold my interest enough that I read most every word rather than skimming through it.
I only gave it a four because there were Cherokee Indians living in Tee Pees on the Rose Bud range and that isn't right. Cherokee's (My People) lived in long houses before  Andrew Jackson drove them onto the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma, where many of them including Will Rogers, lived and continue to live. They never lived in Tee Pees. It's a small thing, but that kind of error steals credibility from an otherwise pretty diverting tale.



Christie L. Kraemer Bio

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.
 





Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Cops, mobsters and murder all mixed up and no one knows where it will end. SIDE SLIP BY MIKE FULLER



Title: Sink Rate
         Sam Deland Crime Novel Book Three
ISBN: 978-1-62420-334-3
Author: Mike Fuller

Genre: suspense
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 3


TAGLINE

Cops, mobsters and murder all mixed up and no one knows where it will end. But smart, tough and lucky swirl together to push the action through the chilling story of both good guys and bad.

BLURB

Stuck in paradise and he isn’t very happy about it. Even the beautiful lady detective that gunned down the man trying to kill them both can’t get him to stay. Corporal Sam Deland wants out. Back to work leading his squad of state troopers and home where he can take up the life he had to put on hold. But Sam isn’t the only one wanting him to return. The woman he left behind is waiting for him and so is the Russian Mob. Sam’s past is catching up with him, and he doesn’t see it coming, yet. Detective Christie O’Shea, the pretty Florida cop that nursed Sam back to health won’t have the time to miss him when he’s gone. Murder is what she’s paid to solve, and she has to go after a killer that has sent shock waves deep into the police community around her. A triple play of heart stopping and heart warming suspense, action and life as Sam, his troopers and Christie all find they are in the middle of murders and mobsters. A story that twists and turns through the investigations and the lives of characters you will grow to know, to cheer and to fear. Sharp dialogue, real characters and enough drama, humor and mystery to keep the reader up late not ready to put it down yet. Another thrilling Sam Deland crime novel from the author of Sink Rate and Robe Break.

EXCERPT

The search for a hidden key did not go well. All the usual spots came up empty. Dickie went down the steps to the garage but still no luck and then back up to where Ray stood next to the front door and sighed, "Well, ain't no key. Let's get it over with."
The pry bar didn't get it done. Ray had to whack the deadbolt a couple of hard hits with the sledge before the door flew inward. Dickie started in and stopped short. He smelled cinnamon. Ray almost ran into his back. Probably one a them plug in thingys.
Dickie held up his hand and then swiveled his head back and forth, trying to adjust to the slightly brighter light inside. Dickie heard nothing except the clicking of a wall clock somewhere. He shrugged and crossed to the kitchen door at the other side of the living room. Ray split to the right and did a quick walk through of the downstairs.
They met at the foot of the stairs and Ray pointed to a metal cabinet next to the cold fireplace, "I'll start on that, give me the bar, eh?" It wasn't a real gun safe, just a thin metal locker meant to keep kids away from the guns.
Dickie handed the pry bar to Ray and started up the stairs, shining the flashlight as he moved out of the light cast by the lamp. The cash and handguns were usually in the bedrooms. There seemed to be three upstairs and a bathroom. Dickie had to piss by now and stopped to go. He started and almost pissed on his hand when he realized there was a candle in a glass jar burning on the tub rim. That appeared to be the source of the cinnamon odor and was certainly the source of big trouble.
Ray was pounding loudly on the metal cabinet downstairs, and Dickie almost shit his pants as the figure of a small woman in a bathrobe passed by in the hall just outside of the bathroom. Dickie didn't even zip up his jeans and stuck his head out of the bathroom and looked down the hall. The small woman was there leaning out to try to get a look at what was making all the noise downstairs. Dickie's blood turned to ice when she turned toward him, and he saw the black automatic in her left hand.
She hadn't seen him yet. She just stood there but then turned to go back toward the bedroom. He knew there was probably a phone there, and he couldn't let her get to it. He tried to melt into the small space between the sink and the door, and as she moved past, he stepped in behind her and grabbed at the gun.
He missed. All that police training didn't help. She yelped and turned the pistol toward him. It was not quite full dark in the hall and Dickie could see it happening and knew what was coming. Without hesitating, he swung the heavy flashlight and struck her across her left cheek. The blow emitted a sickening crunch as bone gave way to the heavy metal light. She staggered but did not go down. The gun was waving in the short space of air between them and Dickie expected it to spit flame and his death at any moment. He stepped into her and brought the flashlight down with all his strength on top of her head.

She followed the motion of the blow and crumpled onto the hallway floor. Dickie was breathing in gasps by now, but he could still hear Ray pounding metal on metal. He tried to hit the button on the flashlight to see if the woman was still conscious but his finger slipped across. The wetness puzzled him for a moment but he got the light to come on and as he played the beam down on the figure at his feet, he was surprised to see blood dripping off the end and falling through the shaft of light onto the pink bathrobe of the very dead woman beneath him.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Rogue's Angels Present: Texas Heat by Gerry Barlett and Four Nights at Sea by Demi Alex

Please welcome Gerry Bartlett and Demi Alex authors of Texas Heat and Four Nights at Sea.

The authors will be awarding digital copies of both books on tour to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.




Texas Heat
by Gerry Bartlett
&
Four Nights at Sea
by Demi Alex

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:  Texas Heat = Contemporary Romance
                 Four Nights at Sea  = Erotic Romance

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:


TEXAS HEAT

Cassidy Calhoun can't believe she's the secret daughter of an oil billionaire. This small-town Texas girl with student loans by the barrel has never gotten a thing she didn't earn for herself.

The terms of her late father's will say Cassidy—and her newfound spoiled half-siblings—must work a year at the family's floundering business before they inherit a dime. Too bad the only thing Cass knows about oil is that it makes the junker she drives go.

Mason MacKenzie, the evaluator for their test, will help her get up to speed. Or will he? Mason is a boot-wearing, truck-driving Houston hottie who runs Calhoun Petroleum's biggest rival. The sparks between him and Cassidy could combust any minute. But the closer they get, the more strange near-accidents Cassidy seems to be having. And Mason has plenty of reasons to play up their attraction for his own benefit.

If she can trust him, the two of them working together might save a crumbling dynasty. But if she can't, Cass might just lose both her fortune and her heart . . .





FOUR NIGHTS AT SEA

Charlene “Charlie” Stanton doubts her maiden voyage on a lusty singles cruise will direct her sails toward love. But an unexpected lothario just might change the tide in her favor . . .

Charlie boarded the Cozumel-bound Lovers Sail cruise hoping for nothing more than writing an article that would make it into the pages of City Wings, a trendy travel magazine. Still recovering from a highly publicized divorce, love is the last thing on her mind—especially when she realizes she’s mistakenly booked herself a spot on a kink cruise. That is until she meets Ford, an outsider just like her, and he whips her attitude into submission. Despite rules limiting their interaction, he shows her a world where pleasure is encouraged, and nothing is forbidden. And with Ford as her anchor, she begins to wonder if she can turn four nights of fantasy into more nights of reality when the trip is over . . .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~



EXCERPT:
Texas Heat

Cass found him studying the book collection on the shelves in the living room. He looked good, like a normal guy, in cargo shorts, a T-shirt, and leather flip-flops. Great muscled legs. No surprise there. His shirt hugged that amazing chest, which surely came from regular workouts. Was there any part of him that wasn’t perfect?

Of course there was. He was arrogant and thought he could make a play for her and she’d fall at his feet. Then there was the way he steered her around like she couldn’t make a move without his guidance. Hah! She was Cassidy Calhoun, the woman who’d worked her way through school without anyone’s help. Certainly without a boatload of money. She was tough. More her father’s daughter than anyone knew. And she’d prove it to all of them.

She stiffened her spine. She could resist Mason’s charm and male beauty. If he thought he could steer her right into an affair and to be his inside woman at Calhoun Petroleum, he could think again.

“You want some water or a beer?” She might be tough, but she did have manners.

“No, I’m fine.” He pulled a book from the shelf.

“Those books aren’t mine. I haven’t had much time for reading anything but business texts since high school.” Which was sad but true.

He held up a self-help book on finding love. “You’re not looking for love?”

“Nope.” Cass grabbed her purse. Did he really think she was going to fall for that stale routine? “Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute. I don’t believe you. I know women. They’re always looking.” He picked up his bag. “Seriously? Not interested?”

Cass gave him a scan. Yes, she just bet he knew women. They probably threw themselves at him on a regular basis. “Not looking because I’ve already found it, Mason.” Cass opened the door and stepped outside. “You met me and came after me hard without a thought about what I wanted. Maybe when you’re after another notch on your bedpost it doesn’t matter if the woman is in a relationship.” She turned to face him. “Listen up. You’re wasting your time hitting on me. I have a boyfriend who I love very much.”

“No shit. That is a news flash.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Gerry Bartlett is a native Texan and former teacher with more than twenty published novels. She lives near Houston, Texas.

http://www.gerrybartlett.com/
https://twitter.com/gerrybartlett

Buy links:
Buying options at: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/34058



Demi Alex writes steamy romances, blending emotional fulfillments of the heart and carnal desires in her work. Born in Athens, Greece, and raised in her own version of a big fat Greek life in New York, Demi was infected with book and travel bugs early, and currently admits the only therapy for this condition is to combine the two in fictional stories that allow her characters to let loose and experience all they crave. She attended SUNY at Stony Brook, and after changing her major numerous times, graduated with a degree in Public Policy and International Studies. Her characters are loosely based on people she encounters while she travels or during the time she spends matching homes to owners as a Realtor. She simply has a passion for matchmaking that can’t be put to rest.

http://demialex.com/

Buy links:
Buying options at: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/34072

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE


The authors will be awarding digital copies of both books on tour to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2140/