#FreeviewFriday CAGED #FVF

Howdy all, and welcome back to my Freeview Friday.

Here this week’s CAGED snippet:

~~~~~

I halted, too, but jerked forward as my shadow knocked my shoulder. My lips drew back with the low snarl I sent his way.

The mouth of the brown-haired wolf curved up at the corners.

“You like me,” I murmured. “I get it.” As the two leaders continued their walk, I resumed mine, saying, “It’s an effect I have on all the ladies.” My lips twitched at the quiet growl that followed.

~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this weeks view. See you next week for another round of #FVF

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FVF. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

Caged Book Trailer

IT’S TIME TO SHARE THE CAGED BOOK TRAILER!!!!

YAAAARRRGGHH!!!

**MUPPET ARMS**

Anyhoo, *cough*, that’s enough from me.

Rather than waffle on in my usual style, I’m just gonna get on with it and give you what you came to see.

Here you go; it’s all yours. 

So … whatcha think?

And the winner of the signed Caged ARC is …

In case you’re missed the post and the tweets, and are wondering what this mysterious prize is I speak of, you can take a peek here.

If you already know and just need to see who’s won it, dammit, then you can find out below.

MASSIVE congrats to Renée!

Don’t worry if you didn’t win but still want to check out Caged earlier than everyone else, because there will be a chance to win an eARC later on in the month.

Thanks heapsly to all who participated.

#FreeviewFriday CAGED #FVF

Howdy all, and welcome back to my Freeview Friday. I almost forgot to post today’s, I’ve been so busy in my writing hole, finishing up Unnatural.

Anyhoo, here goes. Your CAGED snippet:

~~~~~

Low brick columns supported the entrance. Beyond those, the man I presumed to be Jack Brosen sat on a far wall as though enjoying the morning’s rays.

Only someone looking for it would spot the tightness of his jaw, the tension in his body language. Just as only one who expected to see it would notice the weariness in his expression—caused, I presumed, by his missing son.

He nodded to us as we passed the entrance but made no effort to approach. A few metres to his right, a second male leaned against the exterior of the coffee shop. Behind the wall Jack occupied, a third and fourth skulked about in the trees.

Had an outside pack asked for a meet on my territory, I’d have brought adequate backup, too.

~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this weeks view. See you next week for another round of #FVF

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FVF. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

#FreeviewFriday CAGED #FVF

Howdy all, and welcome back to my Freeview Friday.

Here goes. Your CAGED snippet:

~~~~~

Trees hugged the uneven car park on three sides, blossoms dying on the cracked tarmac below them. Four cars dotted the unmarked spaces, but none of them as large as the X5 in the far left corner.

Genetically big creatures by nature, werewolves tended to opt for the bulkier vehicles, if only for space comfort; Sean’s girlie Porsche made him an exception to the rule.

Guessing the sleek grey wheels belonged to the other pack, I parked as far from it as possible.

All three of us inhaled upon stepping from the truck. A host of scents greeted me. Dissecting the wildlife from the flora and cooling engines, I discovered four two-legged mammals carrying the underlying scent of wolf.

Four against three. 

~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this weeks view. See you next week for another round of #FVF

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FVF. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

Giveaway: my lovalicious Caged ARC

Howdy, my lovelies. You might recall me mentioning about my lovely Caged ARC (more than a few times) that I received a couple of weeks ago.

You also might recall me mentioning that I’d consider giving it away once I’d finished my proofreading and marked up all my edits.

If you follow my page on FB, you’ll be aware that said ARC (now I’ve finished with it) looks a little like this on the inside:

And that it looks a lot like this inside the front cover:

… though I will, of course, sign it to the winner.

And that it looks pretty much like this from the outside:

And, as it turns out, I AM wiling to give it away.

To one of you.

I’ll even throw in a super-duper Caged bookmark, too!

This is a GREAT opportunity to read Caged ahead of the crowd, especially as I won’t be running an eARC Giveaway until near the end of June.

AANNNNDDD because I’m in a good mood, I’m even going to make the tasks to earn your entry pretty easy.

Here’s what you have to do:

1) Change your profile picture to the Caged coverart for the duration (and draw) of the giveaway. Doesn’t matter where: FB (page or profile), Twitter, Goodreads, so long as you can provide me with a link to go view the profile where you’ve popped it so I can check.

2) Add Caged to your Goodreads pile. You can do that by clicking HERE! Again, you need to be able to provide a link to the page portraying your to-read bookshelf on your Goodreads profile, because I will be checking.

These aren’t either-or options. Both need to be completed for you to enter. And then you need to fill in the Rafflecopter Form! where there are two extra entry options for addition entries.

So, with that out of the way, off you go and good luck.

~~~~~

T&C

Giveaway is INTERNATIONAL

Contest ends at midnight of May 31st, and winner will be drawn using Rafflecopter shortly thereafter

Winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address in order to receive the prize

Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email, otherwise a new winner will be chosen without notification

Once the winner has provided their address, please allow up to three weeks for delivery (especially if International)

A quick notification (email/FB/Twitter) to let me know the prize has arrived would be very much appreciated

Prize is as stated: no alternatives will be offered

BOOK NEWS: Holloway Pack 4 is a go!

HOLLOWAY PACK 4 HAS BEEN CONTRACTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, in case you didn’t quite get the message, Holloway Pack 4 HAS. BEEN. CONTRACTED! With a projected release date of April 2014!

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Anyone who follows me will already know this book took me a looooooooooooooooooooooong time to write, but it is FINALLY coming to close.

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So, whose book is this one going to be, you ask?

Yeah, that’s the kicker.

Because, after much discussion with my editor, it’s been decided to hold off on that titbit of information until the blurb goes live alongside the cover reveal. The reason for this is that CAGED isn’t out until August, and I ALWAYS worry about spoilers because, well, I HATE them in books I read myself. So, to conquer that, these details will be held back on.

HOWEVER …

You DO get to know the book’s title!

Ready for it?

Holloway Pack 4 will be called:

UNNATURAL

And on that note, I’ll leave you guessing over what it might be about whilst I go back to dancing my truffle shuffle ‘round the house. Thanks for stopping by to read.

~~~~~

You can add Unnatural to your TBR HERE!

And you can read the official press-release HERE!

#FreeviewFriday CAGED #FVF

Howdy all, and welcome back to my Freeview Friday.

If it seems like ages since I posted one of these, that’s probably because it HAS been ages. In fact, the last ones I posted were for Eternal last year.

Epic fail.

Anyhoo, as CAGED is due to release in a little over 12 weeks time (YAHOO!), I figured I’d give you a little Ethan each week to whet your appetites whilst you wait for him.

However, unlike the ones I’ve done in the past, I shan’t be introducing the sentences this time. Nope, I’m just going to randomly choose my snippet, and just stick it below, and you can make of it what you will.

Here goes. Your first CAGED Freeview Friday:

~~~~~

After sending Shelley a quick smile of assurance, I pulled away from the kerb.

“You been getting jiggy with Shelley when you visit?” Sean asked, as Dad fiddled with his phone.

“Nope.” I shifted from second to third gear.

A ringtone echoed from the passenger seat. I glanced across as Dad lifted his hand to his ear.

“I don’t believe you,” Sean said.

I shrugged. “I don’t care.”

~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this weeks snippet. See you next week for another round of FVF

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FVF. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

Blog Tour: Day After by Emi Gayle – What are the top 10 races Winn Thomas thinks Mac would never choose? + #Giveaway

I’m a HUGE fan of the 19th Year Trilogy, so I’m excited to be a part of this tour.

For my stop I have the geekalicious Winn Thomas himself, with his top 10 list of races he thinks Mac would never choose. But first, let’s take a look at this great book.

Demon crypts. Vampire lairs. Glowing angels. Sexy sirens. The stuff of fiction.

Or so Winn Thomas always thought.

Since being accepted into the fold of the supernatural, he knows better. None of what he imagined is true, but everything he feared is, and binding himself to his Changeling girlfriend until her nineteenth birthday will give him an education far beyond what he’d get at his human high school.

Luckily, Winn’s not giving up, he won’t back down, and he definitely isn’t going to run away with his tail between his legs. After all, only werewolves have tails. Right?

In this, the second of the 19th Year trilogy, Winn’s facing the challenge of one lifetime. If he doesn’t learn the truth about mythological creatures, his girlfriend Mac Thorne won’t either. That means, in six months, when she chooses her final form, she won’t know what to pick.

Winn, though, has his own ideas about Mac’s final selection—plans she knows nothing of.

He intends to have her pick human.

Whether she can or not.

~~~~~

Sounds awesome, right?

That’s because it is.

So, how about I introduce to a little Winn then?

Here’s his post:

~~~~~

Top 10 races Winn thinks Mac would NEVER choose.

1. Cyclops. She couldn’t stand only having one eye
2. Mermaid. No way could she ever deal with having a fish tale.
3. Chupacabra. Gross! Even I know that.
4. Leprechaun. Short!
5. Sasquatch. Yeah, no on that one, too. Can you imagine her hairy?
6. Sparkly vampire. Actual vampire, maybe, but even that might be on the list.
7. Acheri demon. Mac can barely stand people her own age, let alone little ones
8. Angel. Her arch nemesis is one, so obviously, that’s out.
9. Cupids. Um … naked babies? Yeah, no.
10. Ghouls. She does have some standards, geez!

~~~~~

Hehehehe, I think I might actually agree with him. Dude seems to know Mac pretty well.

Oh! But that’s not all. Nope. I have another treat for you.

How about an excerpt of this great book?

Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.

It’s all yours:

~~~~~

Sitting in front of the twelve most powerful non-humans on the earth would have shaken a lesser guy. In my case, I’d almost thrown up. Twice.

‘Don’t worry,’ Mackenzie Thorne, my girlfriend, had said. ’‘It’s just a formality.

She hadn’t known I’d have to go alone.

Only the intake and exhalation of air in the room made any sound. Eerie light flickered from the tips of candles mounted along dark, oak-paneled walls.

I refused to look anywhere but ahead of me. To the long, wooden, medieval-length table.

Waiting.

Watching.

Holding my own breath.

For a moment, it seemed the walls began to close in on me.

At almost midnight on the first day of the year, I prepared to accept a fate no other human had ever taken on, been given or even offered. In response, sweat pooled under my armpits as alternating cold and hot ran through me.

The scratch of wood against wood had heads turning. Mine included.

Nahir, the oldest of the twelve, rose from his chair. “Winford Richmond Thomas, please rise.” His voice had a gravelly, hoarse sound.

I did as requested, my knees pressing against each other.

Nahir moved closer to me, his grandfatherly, human form disappearing under protruding scales of deep green. His arms lengthened into dinosaur-like paws and hit the rock floor, making the room around us shake. Thick wings extended from his body, and a tail lashed out against the wall behind him, rattling the candles.

A dragon, in the color of tropical ocean water, stood before me, huffing air from horse-sized nostrils.

Oh. God. I’m going to die.

Not going to die. It’s part of the test. Remember, you have to see them all. Mac’s words flowed through my mind. 

Keep breathing.

“Master Thomas.” Josie, a siren and one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met, rose, her long flowing gown matching the color of her reddish-gold hair. I couldn’t help but stare at her. “You’ve been asked by our current changeling, Miss Maya Mackenzie Thorne, to be her teacher. Have you willingly agreed to take on this duty?” As Josie talked, she stalked forward, shimmering, shifting, the already-pretty woman becoming deadly man-hunting female—according to the legends I’d read.

Vibes ebbed from her like the rocking tide. If she sang, throwing up would be the least of my worries. I’d be dead by sexual self-implosion.

With a rough cough, I gathered my wits. “Yes. I have accepted. Willingly.” Every nerve ending in my body urged me to go to Josie, to let her take me and do with me whatever she wanted. A groan built in my throat, tension straining my limbs, most particularly, my crotch. Not now! The need to shift what grew sent heat to my cheeks even as Mac’s words played through again. Force yourself not to react to any of them. They’ll think you’re stronger than you are since you’re only human.

Only human. Problem number one.

~~~~~

And if we’ve now defo got your interest, you can grab yourself a copy of Day After at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

OR ….

you can just try and win yourself a copy in Emi’s giveaway.

Yep, there are signed copies up for grabs, e-copies up for grabs–bookmarks, too.

All’s you gotta do is follow the RAFFLECOPTER!

Good luck!

p.s. you can read MY review of Day After over at Bookaroo-Ju.

~~~~~

Emi Gayle just wants to be young again. She lives vicariously through her youthful characters, while simultaneously acting as chief-Mom to her teenaged son and searching for a way to keep her two daughters from ever reaching the dreaded teen years.

Ironically, those years were some of Emi’s favorite times. She met the man of her dreams at 14, was engaged to him at 19, married him at 20 and she’s still in love with him to this day. She’ll never forget what it was like to fall in love at such a young age — emotions she wants everyone to feel.

Blue Moon Deleted Scene

For anyone who takes notice of my FB page, you might remember I mentioned about sharing some deleted scenes from Blue Moon.

Well, I decided to listen and let you have them. I’m giving you one (which is actually two).

Before I do, let me reassure you that you don’t have worry. These aren’t scenes that would show a different outcome to that which you’ve read in the published version of the book. They are simply scenes that are now hinted at having happened because we removed them to move the story along faster (for good reason–heh).

Oh, and sorry to any hopefuls, but these aren’t ‘intimate’ scenes.

p.s. these have not been professionally edited.

Okay, here goes. Remember near the beginning when Jem and Sean manage to wangle a day to themselves? Well, those scenes were originally shown … and here they are:

~~~~~

TOY STORE SCENE

‘Big’ didn’t even begin to describe the store; gigantic would have been far more fitting. In my younger years, kids were lucky if they had one of those pathetic electronic ping-pongy-tennis games for the TV. The toy store had so many consoles, it made my head hurt.

Sean unfolded his arms from around me and picked up a board game. “We should get this for us.”

“Why?” I smiled. “You hate sitting still.”

“It’s supposed to be freezing soon. It’ll be something to do indoors.”

“Baby, I can think of way more fun things to do than a board game.”

He laughed, repositioning himself at my back. “I’ll bet you can.”

Sean’s six foot three height allowed his chin to rest atop my five-seven frame. With his arms folded around my chest, his breaths warming my neck, his body heat sifting through my clothing, we hobbled our way through the mass of toys.

“What does Ben like?” asked Sean.

I shrugged. “I know he liked sports—I’ve played with them in the garden.”

“It’s too cold for outdoors. We’ll find the boys’ toys.”

As soon as we rounded the corner to the boys aisle, Sean’s arms released me. I peered at him over my shoulder, smothered a laugh at the shine in his eyes as he picked up one box, and then another. He went the whole length of the shelves, studied the action figures, the miniaturised racing tracks and scale-sized cars to accompany them, the train sets, too.

“Look at this.”

When he stuck a pointed hat on his head and waved a wand about, my laugh snorted out.

He put it back, picked up a remote control fire engine, played about with that. I watched him move from the fire engine to a trunk-sized box of bricks. “These are cool.” He stuck a few together, waved them at me. “It’s enough to make you want kids yourself, isn’t it?”

I stared at him. Had he intended it to sound as it did? He spotted my expression, put the bricks back with a frown, and disappeared round the corner.

I turned to scour the figures. Gaze falling on an unusual set, I picked them up for a closer look, hummed and harred over which to get. At Sean’s chuckle I looked back to see him whizzing back round the corner on a skateboard. He almost knocked me over with his outstretched arms, as he brought his newfound wheels to a halt.

“You’ll get us kicked out,” I said with a giggle.

“I’ve got to get one of these. Dad bought me one when I was about ten, but it was rubbish compared the ones they’ve got in here.”

“Get it then.” I smiled. “I found these for Ben. Poppy will laugh her socks off when she sees them.”

He stepped from the skateboard, took the box from me. His gaze went from the one in his hand, to the others on the shelf, before he burst out laughing. I’d found a range of werewolf action figures.

He grabbed some more. “Perfect.”

BISTRO SCENE

The bistro Sean chose for lunch held few patrons. Cosy summed up the dimmed lighting, the dark-wood panelled walls, the yellowed black and white framed photographs that adorned the generous lounge. The offered seats in an enclosed corner of the room added a romantic element to it all.

“You want some wine, Jem?”

“Just juice.” Skimming over the menu, I lowered my voice. “I don’t want to fall asleep before the hunt.”

He smiled before turning as the waitress sidled up with pad and pen in hand. Sean ordered an orange juice and lemonade, a rare sirloin. The woman wrote it all down and looked to me.

“Salmon. But can I get it with potatoes and stuff, instead of salad, please?”

She smiled. “Certainly.”

“Potatoes and stuff?” Sean chuckled when we were alone.

“Well, she seems to know what stuff is.”

His long legs stretched out beneath the table, wrapped around mine. “It’s been good, getting out for a bit.” We didn’t get anywhere near enough time to ourselves. “We should do it more often, now Dad isn’t panicking so much over backup for the two of us.”

I smiled. “Yeah, we should.”

I never complained about Nathan’s concerns about me going out alone—or Sean’s. They weren’t unfounded. Sean and I never questioned Nathan’s worries over the two of us being out together either. As the first female werewolf, bitten by Sean two centuries before, bound to be reunited by a spell my mother placed on us at the time, I—we—tended to be well known, thanks to werewolf history. If another pack saw us, figured out who we were, past experience told us their curiosity alone could bring trouble—though, I didn’t quite understand their fascination with me. Thankfully, since eliminating the pack who hoped to keep me for themselves back in August, we hadn’t come into contact with any other outside wolves.

We remained quiet for a while. Constant conversation had never been a requirement for our relationship. The waitress didn’t even speak when she brought our drinks—probably thought we were making gooey eyes at each other … which, I guessed, we were. At the arrival of our food, we broke focus only long enough to be polite before our eyes reconnected.

We watched each other a lot. I liked to watch him eat. The pronouncement of tendons in his arms with each stab of the fork, every slice of the knife. The way he studied each individual item on his plate as though what he ate next was the most important decision in the world. The satisfaction on his face as the flavours pleasured him. I imagined he got the same enjoyment from watching me, because he always did it, too.

I smiled. “Want some of my stuff?”

He reached over, speared a chunk of broccoli with his fork. It disappeared into his mouth before he attacked his chips. After ramming in enough to render him incapable of speech, he stabbed some more, stretched over to feed them to me.

He finished first, as always, smearing the last of his chips in his bloodied meat juices. As he chewed the last mouthful, he settled onto his elbows. A smile played on his lips, his eyebrow twitched. “Rabbit or badger, tonight, Jem?”

I lowered my gaze as my body gave a small shudder of excitement at the thought. “Fox.”

“You have to wait for them to begin breeding again.”

Considering my alternatives, I returned to studying him. “What would you recommend?”

“Depends how hungry you are.”

“It has nothing to do with hunger.” I shrugged. “If you like rabbit, you simply eat more.”

His smile widened. “Badger, then.”

“Why?”

“Their meat is richer. Rabbit is sweeter.”

“How can meat be sweet?”

He shrugged then smiled when I offered him my last potato.

~~~~~

Th-th-that’s all, folks!

(to clarify, Ben is Poppy’s son)

See you Friday for the first Caged #FreeviewFriday