Escaping Christmas by Lisa DeVore #25daysofbooks

 

This year I'm counting down the days 'til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I'm sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!

Escaping Christmas by Lisa DeVore


Author, Alexandra Storm, escaped to the mountains of Colorado to avoid everything about Christmas, including her ex-boyfriend. He dumped her on Christmas Eve two years ago, and the holiday has haunted her since. Her plan is to write her way through the dreaded Christmas cheer.

But, she didn't expect her new landlord, Zach Camden, to be a hunky savior on a snowmobile. After learning of her aversion to the holiday, he vows to give Christmas back to her. The attraction is undeniable, but she doesn’t need another failed romance. And she most definitely doesn’t need a reunion with her ex, or the escalating threats from an unknown enemy.

As the danger increases, will she survive the season and allow love to restore her holiday spirit?

Excerpt:

Goosebumps covered her body as she toweled off. The silence was creepy. She pulled the nightshirt over her head and stopped, putting an ear to the bathroom door. She swore a creaking sound came from the front of the suite. Must have been a door above her closing. She finished dressing and hung the towel on the rod. Alex opened the door and noticed the room was dim. She didn’t remember shutting the light off. Her instincts were warning her something was wrong, but all Owen’s talk about danger probably had her paranoid. She had checked the lock on the door before going for her bath…hadn’t she?

Something wasn’t right. Alex walked slowly down the hallway to the living room, struggling to see in the dim light. She strained to hear, moving toward the kitchen. She needed a weapon. She had no time to react to the gloved hand that covered her mouth. Alex slammed violently into someone’s stone hard chest.

“Listen carefully,” a menacing voice growled in her ear. “Finish your book and stay away from Owen Banks. He’s off limits to you, so don’t even think about a reunion. If he comes sniffing around again, you better convince him you’re through. And if you say one word about his marriage, a lot of people are going to get hurt. We’ll start with your boyfriend. You do get around, don’t you, Miss Storm? Are we clear on what’s expected of you?”

Alex nodded, biting down on her lip like the nervous child she used to be. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. Fear was at the forefront, but she was desperately trying to remember the voice. She swore she recognized the voice.


Happy Holidays!
~Tricia

No Accounting for Love by LM Gonzalez #25daysofbooks

This year I'm counting down the days 'til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I'm sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!












No Accounting For Love


by L.M. Gonzalez






Laura Cortez, a single mom, works full-time and takes classes toward an accounting degree for a better income for her family. She meets her dream man on a blind date set up by their siblings but thinks she should have stayed home. When he asks her to his company’s Christmas party, she agrees against her better judgment; she’s attracted to him despite all the reasons she shouldn’t be.




Tony Alvarado has spent his life, ever since his marriage, building his accounting firm because his ex-wife nagged him constantly about money. When she divorced him, claiming he was always working, she took half his money, and his son. Now he believes women only date him because he’s rich. His reactions to Laura puzzle him, but he continues to see her because he can’t figure her out.




Will the holiday season help them forget the liabilities and balance out the miracle of love in adding together two lonely hearts?




Excerpt:

“Where are you going?” Laura asked and admired a house whose whole front yard was a Christmas wonderland of lights, complete with Santa Claus and reindeer in the front yard. “Oh, isn’t that pretty?”




“To Dallas.” What was it with her and Christmas lights?




“Ummm…I hope you don’t get caught in a snowstorm.”




“Yes, that’s another worry.”




“I would love a white Christmas,” she said, “if I could stay home.” She giggled. “I don’t want to be driving in it. What are you going to do in Dallas?”




“I’m going to see a potential client. It would be an asset to my company to acquire him. I won’t return until Saturday morning.”




Laura knew that was the day of his Christmas party. She watched as Anthony maneuvered the car up her driveway.




“Have a good trip, then. And thanks again for dinner.” Laura opened the car door as he shut off the car’s engine.




“Thanks for going.”




“I wouldn’t have missed it.” Laura climbed out of the car. She watched as Anthony also got out. She didn’t want him to walk her to the door. She’d had enough awkwardness for one night. But she didn’t say anything.




He walked with her. Her heels beat a fast clickety-click on the sidewalk, and she unlocked the door quickly.




“Goodnight,” Laura said and looked up at Anthony. He was so close she felt the warmth from his body. She caught the scent of his cologne again—that mix of woodsy with mint.




“Goodnight,” he said—and touched her shoulder and bent his head.




Heat rushed from his touch through her entire body, as it had in the restaurant. “Don’t,” she said, even though she longed to lean into him and find out how his lips would feel against hers.




“Why not?” He still leaned toward her.




“Because we’re not going to see each other again, and…” What if I can’t forget you? She looked down and opened the door, said, “Goodnight,” and stepped inside her house.




Anthony stared at her and asked, “You really don’t want me to kiss you?”



Oh, yes! But you don’t. You’re just doing it because that’s what you do at the end of a date.




“It’s better this way,” she said.




Anthony seemed to want to pursue the issue, but then he only said, “Goodnight.”




Laura heard the car door shut and the engine start as she shut her door and leaned back against it. She heard Anthony drive away.



What a night! She looked toward the mirror against the far right wall. Stepping in front of it, she scrutinized herself. To her eyes, she looked fine. But she wasn’t Anthony’s type, that’s all. She smoothed some loose hairs away from her forehead. She took the barrette off.



I wish I were his type. As Laura walked to her lonely bedroom, tears filled her eyes. I’m such an idiot!













Happy Holidays!


Tricia

Dead of Winter by Sean Harris #25daysofbooks

This year I’m counting down the days ‘til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I’m sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!

Dead of Winter by Sean Harris



"Fairbanks, Alaska is a city filled with colorful characters and I was one of them. Since I was a teenager, I’ve seen spirits and ghosts walking among us. There’s a lot more of them than you might think."

A young woman reaches out from beyond the grave, and a reluctant clairvoyant, Allysen Coles, answers her pleas to solve a decades-old murder. With the help of her friends—a spiritually magnetic computer programmer and a hockey-playing priest—Allysen uncovers something far more sinister than murder. In the long, dark winter of Fairbanks, things aren't always what they seem.

Excerpt:

In the room, the thumping was nearly deafening. With each tremendous blow, Harry and I nearly fell over. He did as I told him and kept a firm hold on me. Suddenly, books began flying off the shelves. We ducked constantly to avoid being hit. Leave it to a doctor to own lots of large, heavy books. One of them caught me on my injured leg. Thankfully, it didn’t hit the wound but it was enough to make me cry out. I felt my knees start to give out on me, but Harry caught me and kept me from falling.

The booming blows continued to rain down on the house, and drywall dust fell from the ceiling as the structure began to show signs of the beating it was taking. To our right, the closet door swung open and slammed shut in perfect rhythm of the moans and wails.

Then, suddenly, it all stopped.

The closet door stood wide open. I looked into it from where I stood but could see nothing but darkness. Either the entity I was looking for was in there and inviting me into its lair, or the Meyers had one heck of a walk-in closet.

I could hear the sound of someone or something breathing in the darkness. That was unusual, considering that ghosts don’t need oxygen and have very little use for breathing. Some of them continue to do it out of habit, but after a while, most of them found it too tedious to keep up the façade.

Cautiously, I took a step toward the closet.

“Careful, Allie,” Harry said. He still had a death grip on my hand.

“Harry, is the closet door open?” I needed to make sure I wasn’t the only one seeing this.

“Yes, and I can hear something breathing. And it smells bad.”

I didn’t notice the odor myself, but now wasn’t the time to argue about it. I took another step, and I thought I could make out movement there in the darkness.

“Allysen, we’ve been waiting for you.” voices called in unison from the darkness.

I suddenly wanted—no, needed, to get out of that room. The door to the hallway suddenly slammed shut, causing both Harry and I to jump.

“Come, Allysen. Come see what we have in mind for you,” they called again.
 

I stepped backward, but I was a split second too late. Before I could go anywhere, some force I couldn’t see reached out and grabbed my wrist. I knew in that instant what it was planning to do.

Stupidly, I’d played right into its plan.

“Harry, let go of my—”

Laughter echoed in my head as the unseen force dragged me and Harry into the darkness.

Happy Holidays!


Tricia

Christmas in Transylvania by Sandra Hill #25daysofbooks

This year I’m counting down the days ‘til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I’m sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!










Christmas in Transylvania by Sandra Hill













For the first time ever, the leader of the Viking Vampire Angels, Vikar Sigurdsson, has been talked into celebrating a traditional Christmas! The tree has been decorated, the gifts have been wrapped, and the stockings have been hung. And that's mistletoe, not cobwebs, hanging from the ceiling of the creepy castle full of vangels … really!

The icing on the vampire cookie comes when vangel Karl Mortensen rescues Faith Larson, a battered young waitress, from her abusive boyfriend and hides her in the castle amidst the Christmas chaos. But what Karl thought was a frail young teenager is actually a very tempting woman. And she thinks his fangs are sexy!

But a strange "Christmas visitor" at the castle and demon vampires up to their old tricks could threaten the budding romance between Karl and Faith. It's an impossible match—a human and a vangel—but Christmas is a time for magic.

Karl and Faith don't stand a chance …










Happy Holidays!






~Tricia

Twelve Brides of Christmas #25daysofbooks

This year I’m counting down the days ‘til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I’m sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!


















Brides of Christmas Volume One






Big on Christmas by Jan Romes




Cassie Newman left L.A. with a secret and finds herself in Woodstock, Vermont – a town rich with Christmas tradition. She tries to forget the world she knew, but the small-town charm makes her even more aware of the life she never had.

Luke Stennett doesn’t have time for relationships. Things are starting to go right but he has a secret of his own that could potentially turn everything upside down.

Once their secrets are revealed, will it kill the chemistry and send Cassie back to LA? Or will she fight for her happiness and stay firmly planted in a place big on Christmas?







Late for the Wedding by Barbara Edwards




Despite an impending nor’easter, Heather Green sets out for her twin sister’s wedding with the dress, cake, and favors. As the snow piles up, she wrecks her car in an accident.

Driving a tow truck, Nicholas Burnes has the task of helping Heather. When the storm closes the roads, he ends up offering her shelter. Warm and rested, Nick and Heather explore their attraction to each other, only to part when he delivers her to her sister’s wedding. But weddings breed weddings…







Till the World Is Safe for Dreams by Fleeta Cunningham




Dreams were put on hold when the bombs hit Pearl Harbor, including Kay and Jeremy’s wedding plans. Now he’s half a world away, and Kay is spending her days in a war plant, forging bonds with other women who worry and wait. Then she receives the news that Jeremy has life threatening injuries. Will he come back? If he does, will he be the same? Will the world ever be safe for dreams?







Brides of Christmas Volume Two






The Christmas Room by Tanya Hanson




Running from her past and healing from unspeakable grief, Martita Akala has built a new life on the island of Oahu…until a handsome cowboy disrupts her well-ordered peace.

Will spending time in Martita's "Christmas Room" make American cowboy Rooney Lind realize he's found what he's been looking for his whole life?







The Mystery of the Claddagh Rings by Kallie Lane




The Claddagh rings have resurfaced along with the hit men searching for them. An FBI agent offers to protect Fiona in exchange for the rings. Does she trust a mysterious stranger or go it alone and lose everything…maybe even her life?




Agent O’Shea is willing to do whatever it takes to clear his father’s name. He never imagines Fiona will touch his heart. As they join forces to beat the odds, will he be able to keep her safe…or will he surrender to the legacy of the Claddagh rings and let her go?







Six Geese For Monica by Brenda Gayle




When her inability to conceive a child ended her marriage, Monica Stevens left her home town. Seven years later she reluctantly returns to run the Mother Goose Daycare while her mother undergoes surgery. Luke Donovan is struggling to balance career and fatherhood to six adopted children.

Initially brought together by the children, Monica and Luke quickly surrender to their growing passion. But Monica wonders if Luke’s interest in her is only as a mother to his children. Is history about to repeat itself or will a Christmas miracle finally give Monica the family she’s always dreamed of having?







Brides of Christmas Volume Three






Seven Swans Bride by Donna Dalton




Abigail Whitlock will do anything to make it home to Seven Swans in time for Christmas even if it means braving unforgiving mountainous terrain, fickle winter weather, and a captivating escort who threatens to steal her heart.

Country and duty come before all else for Major Evander Holt. He’s scheduled to arrive at his new assignment by year’s end, but there's something about Abigail he can't resist...even if it means risking his career.







A Case for Calamity by Mackenzie Crowne




Jane Whitmore switched identities with her best friend. But when the romantic night she spent with Gabe Sutton means he’s about to be a father, the truth of her identity is just another calamity Jane would rather avoid.

When Gabe finally finds Jane and learns the truth, his belief in happily-ever-after staggers under the weight of her deception. Should he fight her for custody of his future child or cling to the promise of true love?







Faerie Faith by Silver James




Abhean, the fae harper, is exiled to the mortal realm until he finds the other half of his heart. As Venn McLyre, the NYC street musician, he has no memory of his true nature—or his magic. When he steps in to save reluctant bride, Gwyneth Riley, he could lose more than his heart—he could lose his immortality.












Brides of Christmas Volume Four







The Tenth Suitor by Laura Strickland




Edwina’s father has invited ten titled lords to spend Christmas at his medieval estate so Edwina may choose one for a husband. However, it soon becomes apparent the lords are more interested in gaining her father’s estate than Edwina’s hand.

Thorstan’s in attendance, but he hasn’t been invited, and he’s no lord. When Edwina is abducted, only Thorstan—a skilled swordsman—has hope of rescuing her in time for the promised Christmas wedding.







Piper's Piping by Dylan Newton




Werewolf Aribella Lupari-Gray is on her long-awaited honeymoon. Or at least, that was the plan. When she and Mason land in Ireland just before Christmas, their dream holiday turns into a nightmare: the pack’s werewolf children have all vanished. With Aribella’s life in danger searching the pups, there may not be a marriage to bless.







Bang The Drummer by Desiree Holt




Jill Kennedy has plans for a Christmas wedding. Now all she needs is a groom. A drummer who'll keep her life as steady as he keeps the beat to his music. But with Christmas approaching and no groom in sight, she's starting to wonder if she'll ever bang the drummer of her dreams.










Happy Holidays!






~Tricia

Heartbeat Thief by AJ Krafton #25daysofbooks

This year I’m counting down the days ‘til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I’m sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!












Heartbeat Thief by AJ Krafton







Haunted by a crushing fear of death, a young Victorian woman discovers the secret of eternal youth—she must surrender her life to attain it, and steal heartbeats to keep it.

In 1860 Surrey, a young woman has only one occupation: to marry. Senza Fyne is beautiful, intelligent, and lacks neither wealth nor connections. Finding a husband shouldn’t be difficult, not when she has her entire life before her.
But it’s not life that preoccupies her thoughts. It’s death—and that shadowy spectre haunts her every step.

So does Mr. Knell. Heart-thumpingly attractive, obviously eligible—he’d be her perfect match if only he wasn’t so macabre. All his talk about death, all that teasing about knowing how to avoid it…

When her mother arranges a courtship with another man, Senza is desperate for escape from a dull prescripted destiny. Impulsively, she takes Knell up on his offer. He casts a spell that frees her from the cruelty of time and the threat of death—but at a steep price. In order to maintain eternal youth, she must feed on the heartbeats of others.

It’s a little bit Jane Austen, a little bit Edgar Allen Poe, and a whole lot of stealing heartbeats in order to stay young and beautiful forever. From the posh London season to the back alleys of Whitechapel, across the Channel, across the Pond, across the seas of Time…

How far will Senza Fyne go to avoid Death?




My Review for this book.







Happy Holidays!






~Tricia

Supernatural #25daysofbooks

This year I’m counting down the days ‘til Christmas with books and other fun things readers enjoy! I love the Holiday Season so I’m sharing ideas for you to fill your holiday stocking!

 


One of my newest favorite shows is Supernatural. I started watching it about a year ago. I confess, I binged on Netflix. Honestly, the show is addicting! I love the characters and the storylines. The creepy episodes of the first season had me gasping in surprise at times. And by the stunning and edge-of-your-seat gripping season finale, I knew that this show was on my must-see list.

The show is about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, and their life of hunting monsters. Their mother was killed by a demon when Sam was 6 months old and Dean was 4. After their mother's death, their father took them on the road on the search for the thing that killed her. Along the way, they learned about other monsters, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other types of ghouls and hunted them to help the humans that needed saving. It became as Dean says a family business.

There are so many plot twists and tragedies that leave me in tears, but there are also the humorous episodes and the quirky characters that keep me laughing in stitches. I'm telling you, if you like the paranormal or supernatural elements, this show is for you! Or if you like stories about family and close friends, this is also something you might like.

Since last summer, I was all caught up on the episodes and waiting impatiently for the new season to start, I need to do something to get my Supernatural fix. I found books at Barnes & Noble that satisfied that need. Here are a few you might want to try:

Supernatural: Nevermore 

by Keith R.A. DeCandido

 

Twenty years ago they lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father, John, taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...and he taught them how to kill it.

Sam and Dean have hit New York City to check out a local rocker's haunted house. But before they can figure out why a lovesick banshee in an '80s heavy-metal T-shirt is wailing in the bedroom, a far more macabre crime catches their attention. Not far from the house, two university students were beaten to death by a strange assailant. A murder that's bizarre even by New York City standards, it's the latest in a line of killings that the brothers soon suspect are based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe.

Their investigation leads them to the center of one of Poe's horror classics, face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet. And if Sam and Dean don't rewrite the ending of this chilling tale, a grisly serial killer will end their lives forevermore.

 

Supernatural: Night Terror 

by John Passarella

Alerted to strange happenings in Clayton Falls, Colorado, Bobby sends the boys to check it out. A speeding car with no driver, a homeless man pursued by a massive Gila monster, a little boy chased by uprooted trees — it all sounds like the stuff of nightmares. The boys fight to survive a series of terrifying nighttimes, realizing that sometimes the nightmares don’t go away — even when you’re awake...

A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit TV series!

Supernatural: Fresh Meat 

by Alice Henderson

A rash of strange deaths in the Tahoe National Forest bring Sam, Dean and Bobby to the Sierra Nevada mountains to hunt a monster with a taste for human flesh. Soon walking corpses, bodies with missing organs, and attacks by a mysterious flying creature lead the trio to a cunning and deadly foe which can assume a human form and will do anything to survive. When a blizzard strikes the area, and not knowing who they can trust, they must battle not only the monster, but also the elements to survive.
A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit TV series!

Supernatural: John Winchester’s Journal by AlexIrvine

 
Sam and Dean Winchester take up the reins of their father's quest to hunt down the demon who killed their mother. Lucky for them,John recorded the secrets of his dark crusade in his one-of-a-kind journal filled with hard-won knowledge of monster hunting and preternatural dealings—a tome revealing the heart of a man haunted by guilt after the death of Sam and Dean's mother . . . and a story that ends abruptly at John's own disappearance.Without the diary, Sam and Dean would have been lost during their adventures on the CW's Supernatural—and now, with the journal itself in your hands, you too can delve into the eldritch world of monsters, ghost, spirits and ghouls alongside television's hottest demon hunters. A opus of hidden knowledge, John Winchester's Journal is a must-have addition to any Supernatural fan's occult library.

Supernatural: Bobby Singer’s Guide to Huntingby David Reed

My name is Bobby Singer. In twenty-four hours I’m gonna lose my memory. So here’s everything you need to know. Monsters, demons, angels, vampires, the boogeyman under your bed: I’ve seen it, I’ve hunted it, I’ve killed it. I’m not the only hunter out here, but there aren’t as many as there used to be. Not near as many as there need to be. I’ve learned everything I can about every damned critter that walks, crawls, or flies, and I’m not gonna let that all be for nothing. I’m not going down without a fight. I’m not letting everything I’ve learned disappear. So that’s what you’re holding in your hands—everything I know. Anything that’d be useful for Sam, Dean, and the hunters that come after me.

It’s a guide to hunting...it’s a guide to me. My last will and testament. Ya idjits.

And there's a calendar, too! 

Happy Holidays!

~Tricia