Blog Tour: Crossroads by Jonathan Lister

Crossroads

by Jonathan Lister

Series: Demos City #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing

Book Blurb:

Werewolf. Bar bouncer. Dad. Standard traits for any self-respecting, reformed criminal, living under the radar in Demos City. For Leon Gray, normal is what he wants — for himself and his not-yet-changed teenage daughter.

Playing bodyguard to crusading reporter David Hastings would totally ruin Leon’s peace, especially since Hastings has hired killers on his trail, pros who know how he takes his espresso in the morning, and where Leon lives.

The payoff, though, would fill up Shauna’s empty college fund, and in a battle between opportunity and ordinary, money wins. He just has to keep Hastings alive long enough to cash the check.

If only he didn’t have to save his daughter, too.

As a budding wolf, she’s piqued the interest of a local pack Alpha — one Leon knows will steal Shauna right out from under him the first chance he gets.

Leon isn’t about to give up on his daughter or Hastings, and will fight for both longer than it took Demos City to see werewolves as equals to humans.

He can only hope it doesn’t take a thousand years.

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Paperback | Nook  

Author Bio:

Jonathan Lister is a full-time writer with work appearing in outlets of USA Today, The HoustonCrossroads: a Demos City Novel is Jonathan’s first book-length work of fiction. He currently lives in the Philadelphia area and continues to drink too much coffee.

Chronicle and many others. A graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, he’s waited an unspeakable amount of tables en route to having the career he wants, and the ability to the tell stories he loves.

Author Social Links: Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Blog 

My Review:

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Aahh, I do love a good werewolf book *insert contented sigh here*

Crossroads has some of the typical pack 'politics' that you'd find in other werewolf books but I liked that in this one werewolves have been known in the world for a thousand years. It's a nice switch up from a lot of books where their furrdentities (furry identities) are hidden. Werewolves being acknowledges creates a new set of rules and laws which adds to the uniqueness of Crossroads.

Along with the new rules in regard to werewolves, Crossroads also has a big mystery for two of the main characters to solve. There was a lot going on and it was very easy to get caught up in the action and intrigue. 

Not every loose end was tied up at the end and I'm really looking forward to seeing what trouble Leon, Hastings, and Shauna get themselves into in the second book.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

I just wanted to send a quick thank you to Jonathan for stopping by with this great list of books!

The Ten Books That Will Change Your Life

Books change lives. Their characters and wordplay compel people to make impromptu treks across the country, open up a bed-n-breakfast, find out what it’s like to experiment with…um…neckties. Here’s a list of the books that altered the course of my own life in one way or another – the good, the bad, and ones I read repeatedly just to gain some perspective. Check them out; maybe they’ll change yours as well.

#10 Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman

You don’t need to rhyme to write a poem?! Blew my tween brain open when I first read ‘Song of Myself,’ which thankfully, some wise English teacher made me do. This book opened up the possibilities for me, and encouraged me, in no small way, to take chances. 

#9 The Return of the King

J.R.R. Tolkien

Everything is at stake in this book, and that’s why it can change your life. Tolkien showed us what it’s like for characters – even the smallest among us – to carry the burden of the world’s fate on their shoulders and triumph in spite of impossible odds. He also shows the lasting effects of war, and how it permanently alters those who must fight in it.

#8 The Dialogic Imagination

Mikhail Bakhtin

Snooty book learning from a dead Russian literary theorist. I understood approximately every third word in college, but I managed to take away one essential truth: the novel is polyphonic. Every interaction triggers a multiplicity of voices in a story, and the writer needs to control them all, or at least acknowledge them, to have a tale worth telling.

#7 Transbluesency

Amiri Baraka

This collection of poet Amiri Baraka’s work exploded the doors on what I thought was possible to do with performance and artistry. The man (who was also my professor for a brief spell) is a master orator and manipulator of language.

#6 The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood

A dystopian future that has a poignant message, Atwood will change the way you see gender relations and our bonds to reproduction. She has this profound economy to her words that is both delicate and a knife’s edge of description.

#5 Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison

My best friend Drew recommended this one, and I read it again in my early 20s. Ellison’s work might be the most important story coming out of the Civil Rights Movement. Battle Royale is a chapter that can function as a short story all on its own. 

#4 True and False

David Mamet

The screenwriter, playwright and director is credited with making the word ‘fuck’ literary. This book he breaks down the job of actors, which is to just communicate the business of the damn play and get the hell off stage. It’s beautiful.

#3 The Black Company

Glen Cook

War stories in a sword and sorcery landscape told from the point of view of the foot soldiers that fought in them. Cook puts you right at the ground level of the action and communicates the real dread of confronting evil wizards and the undead.

#2 The Legends Series

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

My brother turned me on to the Dragonlance books as a kid and I instantly gravitated to Raistlin Majere, the frail wizard with the constant cough and hourglass eyes. This series, which stars Raistlin and his brother Caramon, has it all: hubris, love, loss, destruction, redemption, and fierce loyalty to family. 

#1 I, Lucifer

Glen Duncan

 Ever been hooked by a story after reading the first line? That’s what Duncan did to me in his story about Satan living in the body of a failed writer. I didn’t just read this book, I inhaled it. I’ve lost two copies from lending them to people and I’ll probably end up buying more before I break down and get a digital copy. No one builds character like Duncan does at this moment. No one.  

  

Tour Giveaway

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Banned Books Week Guest Post #2: Cheryl Rainfield

A big thank you to Cheryl Rainfield for stopping by today to talk about banned books!

Books Are Powerful—Which Is Probably Why Some People Try To Ban Them

By Cheryl Rainfield, award-winning author of STAINED, SCARS, and HUNTED.

I don’t understand why anyone thinks it’s okay to ban a book—and keep that book out of the hands of someone who might need it. Books save lives. They can provide escape and relief from pain. They can help deepen understanding and compassion. And they can bring needed, positive change to the world. Perhaps that’s why some people try to ban and challenge books. Maybe they are afraid. 

I understand fear. I was afraid for most of my life—terrified that I would be murdered the way I saw other kids be murdered at the hands of my parents and other cult members. Some people who ban books talk about needing to protect children. I understand the need to protect others, too—from rape, abuse, and torture. From homophobia and racism and sexism. From oppression. But I don’t understand trying to prevent others from reading books about those issues (or for any other reason). Books that will help others lessen their own pain by feeling less alone, by knowing someone else understands, by finding hope and healing. Books that can increase compassion and empathy for the reader themselves or for people that they know. 

I don’t understand someone trying to ban a book…unless prejudice has taken root so deeply that they can’t see beyond their hate. Or unless there’s something that person can’t face themselves, some dark pain or trauma that they’re turning away from, that they don’t want opened up to the world. But even then I don’t understand trying to keep a book from others, a book that can be a doorway or a window that another person needs. If a book hurts or offends or scares someone, they can put it down. They don’t have to try to keep it from others. 

Books are ways to increase empathy, compassion, and greater understanding in the world through an enjoyable means—storytelling. Books can be an escape when someone desperately needs it, and they can be a life-saving affirmation that you’re not alone in your pain, you can survive because other people have, and it will get better. Healing can happen. 

Maybe some book banners don’t want to know another’s pain or experience that feels greatly different from their own; they want to keep themselves buffered behind the walls they’ve built for themselves. They have the right to do that as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. But keeping a book from reaching others who need it is a way of hurting them. A book that is painful or frightening for one person can save the life of another, and it may be the only empathy or validation that that person might have. I didn’t have any safe people to turn to when I was growing up; books were my safety. If I hadn’t had books, I’m not sure I could have survived.

 My own book SCARS has been challenged in a few ways. And now just before STAINED comes out I worry that it will happen again. Because STAINED has Sarah, a strong-girl character who survives bullying, abduction, rape, and having her life threatened. She not only survives these things, she also finds a way to save herself and the people she loves. And there are queer characters who help her at a critical point in the book—queer characters who are just a normal, everyday part of the story. All things that people who ban books don’t seem to want others to read about.

The experiences and emotions in STAINED are very real and very raw because I drew on my own trauma experience and emotional truth to write them. I also drew on my own strength, healing, and hope, infusing that into the story. I try to make a positive, healing difference in the world through my books, even as my books entertain. And I know from the many letters I’ve received and still get from readers that my books have helped them to stop cutting, get help, know they’re not alone, or even keep from killing themselves.

Books are powerful. They’re a way to know that we are not alone even when we feel we are. They’re a way to step into someone else’s soul for a few hours, lessen hatred and prejudice, open up discussion and insight, mend wounds. They’re a way to shine light on horrific things that are happening in our world that we need to right. And they can spark the desire in others to make positive change happen. Maybe that’s why they scare some people. The power of books is vast.

But if we want this world to be a kinder, gentler place for us all, a world where people stop oppression and find greater joy, we have to stop the banning of books, of ideas and empathy, the roots of positive change. We have to make noise when someone tries to ban or challenge a book, and we have to keep reading, filling our minds and souls with words that touch us.

Stained on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
Scars on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Cheryl Rainfield's Website, Twitter, and Facebook


Click here to enter my giveaway for a copy of Stained OR Scars.

Click here to follow the STAINED Blog Tour that's currently happening.

Click here to read a poem Cheryl wrote about Banned Books


Click here for a STAINED Early Reader Contest from Cheryl. The below is copied from her blog.

If you pre-order STAINED or buy it any day in October, you will get these bonuses:

• a free ebook copy of SCARS or PARALLEL VISIONS (your choice); and
• a specially designed, signed bookplate (like a sticker you put inside a book)
• a STAINED bookmark.

AND you’ll be entered to win:

The grand prize...

Banned Books Week Guest Post: Brigid Kemmerer

I’m a big fan of Brigid Kemmerer’s Elemental Series so I’m thrilled that she agreed to stop by At Random
for Banned Books Week. So without further ado I’ll hand it over to her…

Banned Books Week: Adding a gay character to a cast of alpha males

Hi, guys! I’m going to be honest right out of the gate: I have no idea what to say here. Bear with me and I’ll see if I can make it interesting.

If you have no idea who I am (and if you’re still reading), my name is Brigid Kemmerer, and I write The Elemental Series for Kensington Books. My series follows a family of four brothers who control the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Their parents are dead, and the head of the household is twenty-three-year-old Michael Merrick (Earth), who took over his parents landscaping business. He’s rough and gruff and has a heart of gold under all his anger and impatience. After Michael come seventeen-year-old twins Gabriel (Fire) and Nicholas (Air). Gabriel is full of piss and vinegar and is the type of guy to punch first and ask questions later. Nicholas is bookish and kind, and balances his brother’s aggression. Finishing up the family is sixteen-year-old Chris (Water), who’s thoughtful and brooding and trying to figure out how he fits in with his brothers.

The Merrick brothers are marked for death because of their abilities. They’re bullied at school, they fight with each other as much as they get along, and because they’ve been raised by a brother not much older than they are, they’re rough cut and moody. I try very hard to balance the supernatural elements in my story with a realistic portrayal of what it’s like to be a middle class teenager, so they’re struggling with school and girlfriends right along with figuring out how to control their powers. Each book follows a different brother, so the reader gets to see all sides of a character: from his own internal thoughts to those of each person around him. It’s been a lot of fun to write, and the characters have been very clear in my head since day one.

So basically, I knew Nick Merrick was gay when I first started writing the books.

His brothers have no idea.

When I wrote the first book (which featured Chris), I was pretty sure Nick was gay, but I felt limited in two ways: One, I hadn’t sold a novel yet, and I was afraid to take too much of a risk. I already had swearing and date rape in Storm, so adding a gay character felt like another hurdle I’d have to overcome just to sell my book to a publisher. This was almost five years ago, and if you think about it, the world has changed a lot in the last five years. Two, I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I was already struggling with writing from a male point of view, and to add homosexuality to the mix? I wasn’t sure I could do it right. I didn’t want to be clichéd. Besides, I had a house full of these testosterone-filled alpha males. How would readers react to a gay character? I wasn’t sure.

Then Storm sold as the first book in a three-book series, and as each book came out, I felt more and more strongly that Nick was gay, and I needed to take a chance to give him his story. I wasn’t brave enough (yet) to give him a full book, but as I was writing promo novellas to help bridge the gap between books, it felt a little safer. When the time came to write a novella about Nick, I decided to take a chance.

I wrote Breathless, in which Nick first starts to confront his attraction to guys. I didn’t want any shred of double standard, so when I wrote the scene of his first kiss, I didn’t hold anything back: I made it every bit as descriptive as the first kisses between my heterosexual couples. Here, see for yourself:

“You’re going to have one hell of a bruise,” Adam said.

“Yeah, well.”

Adam touched his face, and Nick froze. His fingers were warm, gentle, and Nick wanted to freeze time.

Then Adam said, “I’m an idiot. I should have gotten you some ice.”

And his fingers were gone, and Nick was sitting there practically breathless with wanting him back.

One touch, and he was going to pieces. He wanted to slam his forehead on this table.

Adam came back with ice wrapped in a towel, and Nick was so scattered that he almost said that water was Chris’s thing, and it would probably help more to just leave it uncovered.

But then the towel was against his bruised cheek, and Adam’s other hand was on his neck to stabilize it, and even though Nick knew he should be taking over the holding of the ice bag, he didn’t want to move for fear of disrupting this moment.

It was nothing short of a miracle that the heat off his face wasn’t instantly melting all the ice.

Adam’s thumb tapped against his neck. “Your heart is racing.”

No kidding.

Nick turned his head away and took the ice bag. He set it on the table and had to look into his coffee mug again.

“Sorry,” said Adam. “I know there’s no point in pushing your buttons. You’re just adorable when you blush like that.” Then he was grinning. “Or like that.”

“Yeah, this is fantastic.” Even his voice was gravelly and uncertain.

Adam picked up the towel and held it out. “I’ll stop. You hold the—”

Nick shifted forward and kissed him.

He hadn’t given it a moment’s consideration—and if he had, he probably wouldn’t have done it at all. But now he couldn’t imagine stopping.

Kissing a girl was nothing like this. The basic mechanics, sure. But kissing Adam, there was a strength behind it, a raw masculinity despite his lyrical movement and gentle fingers. Nick was distantly aware of the bag of ice hitting the floor.

Then Adam was kissing him back, drawing at Nick’s tongue with his own. He had a hand behind Nick’s neck, stroking the hair there, and Nick wished he could freeze this exact moment.

Oh, and the next moment, when Adam bit at Nick’s lip.

And the moment after that, when Nick stroked a hand up Adam’s neck, finding the first start of stubble across his jaw.

It was like every thought he’d ever blocked, every fantasy he’d ever refused to acknowledge, was blasting through his brain all at once with the force of a hurricane. Everything he knew was with a girl. Like reciting a learned lesson, something he could do because he had to.

This—this was new. And exciting. And primal and raw and right.

And insanely hot. He wished there weren’t so many damn clothes in the way.

They were going to be on the floor in a minute.

“Easy. Easy,” said Adam.

Nick felt like he was coming up for air.

Hell, he was practically panting.

He looked into Adam’s brown eyes, which were just now searching his.

“Well,” said Adam, a slight smile on his lips. “That was unexpected.”

My agent and editor had no idea. I hadn’t discussed it with them, and when I clicked Send on the email, I knew I was taking a risk.

Luckily, they loved it. My editor loved it so much that I sold more books in the series, and Nick’s full length novel, Secret, comes out in January.

Readers, however, had mixed reactions to Nick’s homosexuality.

Don’t get me wrong: many of the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Unfortunately, some were not. Some readers said that homosexuality didn’t belong in YA because teens aren’t ready to face those kinds of “choices.” (As if it’s a choice!) Some readers said I was pushing an agenda. (I’m not. My characters are always true to themselves. When I try to force them in another direction, it doesn’t work.) I received an email from a young man who said he didn’t like Nick being gay because he wasn’t relatable anymore. (As if sexuality is what makes us relatable.) I read reviews where readers said they were done with the series entirely.

Did these reviews and emails hurt? Sure.

Would I go back and write Nick Merrick as a straight teen? Absolutely not.

After that negativity, I got an email from a reader that made all the difference in the world:

Along with many, many others, I got Breathless yesterday, devoured it, and loved it. I just wanted to message you and say congratulations on the success of the series, and also to say thank you. I read that you had received some negative feedback regarding Nick's storyline with Adam, and I just wanted to say that having recently accepted my sexuality, Nick's storyline in Breathless means a lot to me.

And that—THAT—makes it all worth it.

Brigid Kemmerer is the author of Storm, Spark, and Spirit, the first three books of The Elemental Series, available now wherever books are sold. Nick Merrick’s novella, Breathless, is available now, and his full length novel, Secret, will be released in January 2014. Visit Brigid at her website at www.brigidkemmerer.com, or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brigidkemmerer.

- - -

Brigid, thank you again for stopping by and talking to us about the wonderful Merrick brothers, especially Nick.

Elemental Series on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Blog Tour: Rise of the Magi by Jocelyn Adams

Rise of the Magi

Series:  Lila Gray, book #3

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Publisher:  J. Taylor Publishing

Release Date:  June 4^th, 2013

Keywords:  fae, faeries, elves, selkies, fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, romantic, dryads, paranormal.

Description:

In a battle of wills, who is strongest? The one who hates or the one who loves?

In a test of faith, who will fight the hardest? The one who has everything to lose or the one who believes only in herself?

For Lila Gray, the answer is both. For the Magi, the questions are pointless since they can’t lose, and they’ve been waiting since before Lila’s birth for this one moment. Lila only needs to find them to understand her entire purpose in life. This time, though, instead of protecting her people, Lila may be leading them all, including her unborn child and the man she loves, to their deaths — and not by accident.

In the ultimate trial of heart and soul, and the conclusion to the Lila Gray series, Lila will learn that the greatest weapon of war is herself, with one ultimate unknown. For which side will she fight?

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
Goodreads



About the Author

Jocelyn Adams grew up on a cattle farm in Lakefield and has remained a resident of Southern Ontario her entire life, most recently in Muskoka. She has worked as a computer geek, a stable hand, a secretary, and spent most of her childhood buried up to the waist in an old car or tractor engine with her mechanically inclined dad. But mostly, she's a dreamer with a vivid imagination and a love for fantasy (and a closet romantic — shhh!). When she isn't shooting her compound bow in competition or writing, she hangs out with her husband and young daughter at their little house in the woods.

Website  | Blog |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  

Guest Post - Jocelyn Adams describes her perfect day

The perfect day

There are many kinds of “perfect days” for me, as I’m sure is true for most of us.  As we grow older, our moods shift and we try new things, our dreams change.  When Jen asked me to describe my perfect day, I tucked the idea into the back of my mind to stew for a while, and after a great deal of thought, I think I’ve got it pegged.  I’m a simple country girl at heart, so it only makes sense that my favorite day is equally simple.

One of the best things about my house is that it’s in the middle of the woods, and it’s always dark at night.  On my perfect day, I wake to the pattering of rain on the roof, the fresh breeze blowing the curtains in across my bed in the grey twilight of early dawn.  My wee turtle will have snuck into my room at some point during the night, and I’m hugging her, breathing in her strawberry shampoo and little girl scent.  My hubby has his arm thrown over both of us, his warm, even breaths on my nape.

This is my quiet time, when most of my creativity happens.  Entire novels have been “mentally” written between that glorious time between waking up and getting out of bed.  Once we’re up, we’ll have breakfast in the screened in porch listening to the birds singing their rain song, me with a Forever Nuts tea in my hand.  The next couple of hours I’ll spend emptying my ideas into the laptop or editing, depending on what stage I’m working on.

When the rain clears up, we’ll take my daughter for a picnic at the park high above our town overlooking the lake, then walk the trail along the river before taking a swim at the beach there.  Back at home, my hubby will fire up the charcoal grill and fill our yard with the scent of smoked ribs or chipotle hamburgers while my girl and I have a swing in the hammock beneath the maples.  After a leisurely supper, we’ll finish off with a hunt for the perfect marshmallow-roasting sticks, and once the campfire is perfectly ablaze, we’ll snuggle together while toasting our treats to the perfect brown above the coals.

Once my wee girl is tucked into bed, I like to read while the damp evening breeze rolls through the house from the open windows, maybe sipping a Bud Light Lime.  Life really doesn’t get much better than that for me.

Tell me about your perfect day.  I’d love to hear from you.

Tour Giveaway

Leopard Moon: Book Blast & Guest Post

To help spread the word about the fact that Jeanette Battista's LEOPARD MOON, the first book in the Moon series, is available for free at Amazon for the Kindle until the end of the month we've invited the author to the blog to share a guest post about her experience writing the book.

The Moon series consists of four books - LEOPARD MOON, JACKAL MOON, HYENA MOON and HUNTER MOON - and is a series author Melissa Marr says, "... is filled with action and romance, shape shifters and strong heroines."

To check out all the books in the series on Goodreads, CLICK HERE.

The guest post follows below, but first here's some information about the awesome book and author and places you can find them both online!

About the Book:

Title: LEOPARD MOON (Moon Series #1)
Author: Jeanette Battista
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release date: March 7, 2012
Pages: 204
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

***Kindle format free at Amazon - HERE***

Description:

How do you disappear when you come from a family of predators?

A wereleopard, Kess is forced to flee her home and family in Miami once her brother's obsession with her turns violent. She runs from city to city, trying to stay one step ahead of the investigators her family has dispatched to bring her home. Kess ends up in the mountains of North Carolina and attracts the attention of Cormac, a young man with a secret of his own. As she attempts to live as normal a life as her were-nature allows, her brother Sek continues to hunt for her. He believes she is the key to revitalizing their weakened clan and is driven to extreme measures to ensure their continued existence. As Kess' relationship with Cormac deepens, Sek closes in, threatening Cormac's life and Kess' freedom.

When the moon rises, the hunt is on….

Dimitri Williams Photography
Source: Author's website

About the Author

Jeanette Battista graduated with an English degree with a concentration in medieval literature which explains her possibly unhealthy fixation on edged weapons and cathedral architecture. She spent a summer in England and Scotland studying the historical King Arthur, which did nothing to curb her obsession. To satisfy her adrenaline cravings—since sword fighting is not widely accepted in these modern times—she rode a motorcycle at ridiculously high speeds, got some tattoos, and took kickboxing and boxing classes. She gave up the bike when her daughter came along, although she still gets pummeled at the gym on a regular basis.

When she’s not writing or working, Jeanette spends time with family, hikes, reads, makes decadent brownies, buys killer boots, and plays Pocket Frogs. She wishes there were more hours in the day so she could actually do more of these things. She lives with her daughter and their ancient, ill-tempered cat in North Carolina.

Find her: Goodreads | Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

I'll be honest--I wasn't planning to write a book like Leopard Moon. I had an entirely different story in my head at the time, but it just wasn't coming into clear focus. That's the funny way writing works though: there I am, sitting at a red light on my way to meet my friends for a birthday martini and pedicure, listening to Florence + the Machine and WHAM! The song Howl comes on and this whole lovely scene just starts unfolding in my head. There was Kess, running through the woods, ripping off of her clothes as she triggered a change into a black leopard. And there was Cormac, standing in a different part of the woods being beaten mercilessly by the villain. I didn't know Sek was going to turn out to be Kess' brother, but I did know who he was as a character and what he wanted.

It was truly a gift: the entire final fight scene just unspooled itself along with the song lyrics. Each beat of the song matched a key point in the fight. The more I listened, the more I realized that the lyrics could apply to all of the characters in the main triangle at some point in the story I suddenly wanted to tell. And I wanted that story to be more than just boy meeting girl--I wanted that story to be about girl saving boy, but more importantly about girl saving herself. The song Howl gave me Kess first and Sekhmet second, so a lot of what I tried to do with them was to show them as two halves of a whole, two sides of a coin. Howl, at least to me, wasn't a love song at all--it was a song about possession and obsession and all of those things that show up in our animal drives. that we'd like to forget exists.

So when I began to craft Kess and Sek, Howl played on a continuous loop. And though the song speaks of wolves, I knew these two had to be cats. Wolves have a more social nature and are more easily understood by us--I think it comes from them being a a precursor to our beloved dogs. Cats are an unknown quantity, strange and separate, even if they choose to share space with us. I wanted real darkness there, not just a brief bit of danger that would be easily resolved. Obsession and mental illness gave Sek that scariness, but also--I hope--a bit of sympathy. He really does love his sister and wants what is best for her and his clan. I never intended to excuse his behavior, but I did want to try and understand it.

Just like the song made me understand that narrator of that story. I can only hope I did half so well.

***

To meet Kess, Cormac and Sek in this first book in the Moon series, head over to Amazon to download the Kindle eBook for free until January 31st.

It can be found HERE!

Blue Moon Blog Tour: Guest Post

Click here for more tour stops.

Blue Moon (Holloway Pack #2) 

by J.A. Belfield

Goodreads Summary: 

Soneone is watching the Holloway Pack, and this time, the female isn't the target.

Life with a group of seven male werewolves worries Jem Stonehouse not one bit. She is engaged to the Alpha's son Sean Holloway after all. So what has Jem's territorial instincts on high alert?

The pack's latest addition. Both of them.

None of the men think there's a problem with the new girlfriends. Jem's intuition tells her otherwise - that and a nagging suspicion the new females aren't there to partake.

Jem believes they've joined in to take.

The question is...what?

As the eve of the blue moon draws ever closer, Jem's running out of time to find the answer and outwit a thief of the worst possible kind.

A woman who believes she can't lose.

As part of the Blue Moon Blog Tour, J.A. Belfield has stopped by with the below guest post. I personally loved reading this blurb from Josh's point of view!

- - -

Without doubt, changing stings worse than a kick to the jewels.

The pain’s worth it, though. Especially when you get to hunt, to track the critters overrunning our forest like it’s their own. To get the greatest workout a male’s muscles could ask for, second only to sex itself—obviously, depending on who it’s with.

So, yeah, definitely worth it.

Not to mention the joys of the newest addition to our expeditions.

Sean’s mate. Jem.

Damn, that female stinks the place up like an aphrodisiac that hits straight to the groin.

I’d never got whiff of a female werewolf before her. Never understood the effect they could have.

Maybe that’s just me, though.

Because even as my paws pound the earth, as jolts spear between each contraction and expansion of muscles with every landing and leap off I take, and although the concoction of rabbit and fox and badger and squirrel fires my olfactory in a dizzying temptation … all it takes is one whiff of Jem, and my head’s all confused, my body responding without order, and before I know it I’ve altered my course.

I used to try avoiding it.

Sometimes, anyway.

Not anymore.

What’s the point?

So, once the call from the Holloway’s has been made, I bullet straight through the trees in the siren’s direction, losing the rest of my family within a handful of steps.

The pack tell me I’m the fastest runner.

I sometimes wonder if they thought the same before Jem came along.

It doesn’t take long before the rustle and beat of the Holloway’s passage reaches me. Mere seconds after that, the breeze carries across the aroma de femme.

Of course, I surge myself faster. I don’t even slow when she comes into sight. Why would I—when bulleting forward and diving for her flank sends us both rolling across dirt in the kind of proximity Sean wouldn’t stand for under any other circumstances?

Still, I have to keep it clean.

One false move, and that glisten in his eye’d devolve from amusement to warning.

She flicks back up onto her paws. I swear the kick of her claws that sends dust at my eyes is done on purpose.

Not that I care.

She slinks round to the right, her shoulders high, her head hanging low. As she turns enough to face me, her lips are rippling, yet the same message isn’t conveyed by her eyes. Those hold only mischief.

A couple steps toward me, her ears flattening back, a growl gives the false impression of her pissed-off-ness before she spins away again.

To fool her into thinking I’m well and truly rebuked—yeah, right—I don’t move to begin. Besides, the sway of her hide is entertainment enough for a moment.

Realising the gap’s expanding, I make the leap for her again.

She’s ready this time, though—whirling around before I reach her. Jaws snapping hard enough that I skim to the side to avoid their nip.

I laugh to myself as her growl sends tickling vibrations through my ear.

Until I compose myself and look back to find she’s already dismissed me, she’s already brushing against Sean, and whatever crazy communication they always seem to have going on is passing between them.

Within seconds, they’ll head off alone for their own private hunt no one else is ever invited to.

Shaking off the pang at how fast our moment zipped by, I pad out of the clearing and prepare to crack open some rats.

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