Monday, November 30, 2015

Spotlight On: That Night by Lisa McManus



THAT NIGHT
Lisa McManus


Evernight Teen Publishing,  31,000 words
Teen/Contemporary/Romance/Suicide/Bullying


It can take a whole day to figure out what happened…that night.

 On what was to be just another Monday morning at school, Luke’s girlfriend Jessica is nowhere to be found.  Names like ‘psycho lover’ follow Luke to his locker, even from his best friend. Luke soon learns Jessica tried to kill herself at a party from the previous Saturday night, and she’s blaming him. With posts on FaceBook feeding the rumors of what happened that night, the school has to investigate. 

 Torn between worry, guilt, loyalty, priorities, and an urgency to clear his name and protect hers, he has to find her—he loves her no matter what. The teacher in the middle of the investigation is also the same one to provide academic and character references for Luke’s college applications due by the end of the week. Luke knows he’s not to blame, but with no contact from Jessica and everyone blaming him for what happened, he’s at risk of losing everything—Jessica and his dreams of being a mechanic—all because of what happened that night.


Buy Links:    ARe     Amazon     Evernight Teen

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Excerpt:
 “Hey, man.” I nodded to Jeremy Waters as I started the long trek up the front lawn of the school. He nodded back but gave me a questioning stare as I walked past. Again, weird. What is with everyone today? I wondered.
I scanned the busy school grounds. Where was Jessica? I knew our break-up was inevitable, but I dreaded it. I still cared about her very much, but things were changing: me, her, and ‘us’––and I didn’t know what to do about it. Neither did she.
At first I didn’t notice anything off, but as I passed group after group of unusually silent guys and girls from all grades, I got that weird feeling, like I was being watched, like the whole school was focused on me or something.
Some of the guys pulled their buds out of their ears as I approached, their banter from moments before silencing as I passed. One guy shook his head as if in disgust. Another guy awkwardly picked at something on the ground with the toe of his shoe, as if he were avoiding something.
I kept going, trying to walk as normally as I could. Hard to do when you know you’re being watched.
Where was Jess? I checked my phone to see if there was anything from her: nothing.
I shifted my backpack and made my way up the path to the front steps of the school. With every footstep, uncertainty and foreboding gnawed at my gut.
A group of girls from Jessica’s drama club huddled on the front steps like a bunch of hens. They all gave me the once-over. One of them was crying and another gave me the finger.
That stopped me in my tracks. “What the hell?” I stared them down. “What was that for?”
“Screw you, Luke!” The one with the ornery finger spat. “Stay away from Jessica!”
What the...? Whatever. Bunch of gossips––they seriously need to get a life.
Jessica and I had been drifting apart for a while. Where she was involved in her drama club, her social life, I preferred being under the hood of a car, alone. But it wasn’t that I chose cars over her or anything. I cared about her very, very much. At one time I even contemplated the L-word thing with her. But lately, something had changed, and I couldn’t figure out what. I mean, I knew I wanted to be with her but it was like we were drifting towards each other, then away, then back towards each other again. Only to then again drift further away.
But I would never do anything to her, to earn me the middle finger from her friends. So why were they acting like that? What the...? I shook my head and kept going. I hadn’t done anything to provoke their reaction, so they could just go back to their pointless chatter about hair or whatever.
With fifteen minutes to go until the first bell, I wanted to catch up with Jess before classes started. She lived way on the other side of town, and as much I would have loved to pick her up every morning, her mom insisted on driving her. Her mom liked me, so it wasn’t anything against me personally, but Jessica said it was a ‘mom and daughter thing.’ And besides, we always met first thing at school and I would, at least, get to drive her home.
But that day, even though I wasn’t exactly about to have ‘the talk’ with her right before class, I wanted to at least see her that morning to start the day––it was our ‘thing.’ A pang of regret fluttered in my gut. If we broke up, would we still meet in the mornings? She had become part of my day and I still wanted that.
I made my way through the doors of the school. The halls were already swarming with East Clark High’s student body. I searched for Jessica as I pushed and wove my way through the crowd. But I soon realized I wasn’t pushing past anyone, anymore. The constant buzz in the halls had all but died down, and people were stepping aside giving me a wide berth as I went.
What the hell was wrong with everyone? I frowned at everyone practically plastered up against the lockers, avoiding me like I was contagious or something. Did I smell like dog sh––
“Psycho!” A familiar voice hissed in my ear, cutting off my thoughts. Great––Mark. I stuttered to a stop but tried to keep going. I, along with everyone else, was used to his stupid ways, but I had to find Jessica. I didn’t want to waste time getting into it with him right then.
But he came at me again with, “Psycho-lover!” and that definitely had me coming to a full stop. I swear I felt spit on my cheek.
I refused to swipe it away, giving him the satisfaction of … I didn’t know what. Something. I glanced up to find his buddies chuckling while Mark, the idiot himself, contorted his face into what he assumed was the look of a crazy person.
He didn’t have to try very hard. It came naturally.
And I hoped his eyes stayed crossed like that.
I stared him down, and just when I turned away he was up against me, his face so close to mine his eyes looked crossed. “Jessica almost knocked herself off the other night. Whadidja do? Screw her over?” he hissed.
I stared at him in confusion. My face numbed. My neck heated. What was he talking about? What did he mean, ‘knock herself off’?



About the Author:
Lisa McManus has been an avid reader since her teen years, and is inspired daily by her teenage boys and the forests and beaches of Vancouver Island, British Columbia where she lives. Along with writing for kids and teens, she is also multi-published with Chicken Soup for the Soul and numerous other magazines and anthologies.  When she’s not writing, reading or refereeing her family, she is either hiking or out on the archery range.


Twitter: @LisaMcManusLang


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$10 Evernight Teen GC and 1 ebook copy of THAT NIGHT


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Book Blitz: The Witching Hour


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Paranormal Love Wednesdays: Waking Up Dead Sale

paranormal%20love%20wednesdays%202-1

 Welcome to the weekly blog hop featuring paranormal stories. From witches to werewolves, vampires to berserkers, you name it, we have it.

This blog hop is open to authors and writers whose work is published or unpublished. We also welcome works-in-progresses/WIP's.

Join us each week and check out all the cool stories!

This week, I'm featuring Waking Up Dead, on sale for $.99 on Amazon Kindle Nov. 18-22.

So check out the snippet below, then be sure to HOP back to check out the rest of this week's entries.


  1Waking Up DeadSale Banner2  

She expected heaven or hell. She got Alabama.

When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to heaven, or maybe hell. Instead, when she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex, she went to Alabama. Now she's witnessed another murder, and she's not about to let this one go. She's determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up dead in Alabama? _____________________________________________

Excerpt

When I died, I expected to go to heaven.

Okay. Maybe hell. It’s not like I was perfect or anything. But I was sort of hoping for heaven.

Instead, I went to Alabama.

Yeah. I know. It’s weird.

I died in Dallas, my hometown. I was killed, actually. Murdered. I’ll spare you the gruesome details. I don’t like to remember them myself. Some jerk with a knife--and probably a Bad-Mommy complex. Believe me, if I knew where he was, I’d go haunt his ass.

At any rate, by the time death came, I was ready for it--ready to stop hurting, ready to let go. I didn’t even fight it.

And then I woke up dead in Alabama. Talk about pissed off.

You know, even reincarnation would have been fine with me--I could have started over, clean slate and all that. Human, cow, bug. Whatever. But no. I ended up haunting someplace I’d never even been.


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waking up dead cover  


Buy Waking Up Dead for 99 cents in ebook through Nov. 22:

Kindle from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Dead-Margo-Bond-Collins-ebook/dp/B00HKQQRJA/


Paperback from these booksellers:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Dead-Margo-Bond-Collins/dp/1493750461/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/waking-up-dead-margo-bond-collins/1117526839?ean=9781493750467
Books A Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Waking-Up-Dead/Margo-Bond-Collins/9781493750467?id=5868658257083
Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Waking-Up-Dead-Margo-Bond-Collins/9781493750467

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About the Author
f15b1-margobondcollins

Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels, including Sanguinary, Waking Up Dead, Taming the Country Star, Bound by Blood, Legally Undead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her daughter and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters.

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Connect with Margo

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Margo-Collins/e/B00EOU9DEG
Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
Blog: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin @MargoBondCollin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116484555448104519902
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MargoBondCollins
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mbondcollins/
Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/MargoBondCollins  


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Paranormal Love Wednesdays: Character Profile of Greg from Legally Undead, by Margo Bond Collins

paranormal%20love%20wednesdays%202-1 

 Welcome to the weekly blog hop featuring paranormal stories.

From witches to werewolves, vampires to berserkers, you name it, we have it. This blog hop is open to authors and writers whose work is published or unpublished. We also welcome works-in-progresses/WIP's! Join us each week and check out all the cool stories!

 This week, I'm featuring a character profile from my novel Legally Undead. So check out the profile and excerpt below, then be sure to HOP back to check out the rest of this week's entries!

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Character Profile:  Greg Parham


Age: 25

Physical description from the book: Greg’s eyes were open, but not seeing anything. There was blood everywhere--on the front of the man’s suit, smeared across his face, trickling down Greg’s side, dripping onto the carpet below the spot where Greg’s feet barely brushed back and forth as he swung from the man’s grip.

Quote that fits his personality: “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize you? You might look different, but you smell exactly the same.”

Best quality: He’s committed to his career as an attorney.

Worst quality: He thinks that the best way to get ahead in his career is to become a bloodsucking fiend of a vampire.



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  Legally Undead, by Margo Bond Collins, World Weaver Press 


  A reluctant vampire hunter, stalking New York City as only a scorned bride can. 

 Elle Dupree has her life all figured out: first a wedding, then her Ph.D., then swank faculty parties where she’ll serve wine and cheese and introduce people to her husband the lawyer. 

 But those plans disintegrate when she walks in on a vampire draining the blood from her fiancĂ© Greg. Horrified, she screams and runs--not away from the vampire, but toward it, brandishing a wooden letter opener. 

As she slams the improvised stake into the vampire’s heart, a team of black-clad men bursts into the apartment. Turning around to face them, Elle discovers that Greg’s body is gone—and her perfect life falls apart.


  Vampires SMALL NO SALE


Buy Links




Beautiful female vampire and her prey . Dark and halloween conceptual

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  About the Author

   f15b1-margobondcollins

 Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels, including Sanguinary, Waking Up Dead, Taming the Country Star, Bound by Blood, Legally Undead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her daughter and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters.

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Connect with Margo
 Newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/03A21E5E161401F0
 Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/margobondcollins
 Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
 Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
 Blog: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin  @MargoBondCollin
 Google+: https://plus.google.com/116484555448104519902
 Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
 Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MargoBondCollins
 Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mbondcollins/
 Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/MargoBondCollins

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Siren's Kiss by Margo Bond Collins ~ Paranormal Love Wednesdays Blog Hop



Welcome to the Paranormal Love Wednesdays Blog Hop! This hop is for writers to share their works--either published or in progress--and their love of all things paranormal! So check out Siren's Kissavailable for only $.99 on Amazon Kindle, below, then HOP to the rest of the entries for some great new reads!




  6e63b-sirens-kiss

Her kiss might save the world . . .

Unless his kiss kills her first.

It's been almost two thousand years since the mer-shifter Skyla walked the streets of Athens—not since her heart was broken by a human man and she exchanged the land and sky for the ocean depths. Ever since, she has lived in the underwater ruins of Atlantis, studying with the priestesses of the goddess Amphitrite, refining her mermaid powers and ignoring her human half.

But her studies are interrupted when she is called upon by Poseidon himself to investigate rumors that the world above is being polluted by the magic of creatures from another realm—and worse, that the ocean kingdom of the mer-people might be next.

When her inquiries in modern-day Greece lead her to an American detective asking similar questions, Skyla realizes that the magical problem she's been sent to research is bigger than she anticipated—and that one human's kisses might be more dangerous to her, and her world, than she ever could have imagined.


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Siren's Kiss Promo 1: This is not a love story.


Skyla


This is not a love story.

It's been over two thousand years since I walked these shores, and even then, the man who broke my heart was centuries gone, sailed away into death—the last journey into yet another land where I will not follow.

Truth be told, though, he left me long before he died, gone away to rejoin a wife he hadn't seen in twenty years, to reclaim a rocky, wind-swept island for a son he barely knew.

Gone home, to spin stories about his absence like his wife spun his death-shroud—picking out the stitches at night and reweaving them anew to postpone the inevitable moment when the stories wear thin and you find the monsters have been in your home all along, posing as suitors who would win your heart.

The poets lie, you know. They say our songs seduce the sailors, draw them into the ocean to drown.

But if the ocean sings to them, it is not our doing—no more than the earth's call to us is theirs.

And Odysseus never tried to resist.



donna vestita nell'acqua

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About the Author

 MargoBondCollins 

Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She lives in Texas with her daughter and several spoiled pets. Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.

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Connect with Margo  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin  @MargoBondCollin 
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy