Title: Fire (Elemental, #4)
Age Group: Young Adult/New Adult
Genre: Urban fantasy
Expected Release: December 18, 2012
Cover Design: MooneyDesigns
Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours
Summary:Demons, faeries, and mermaids. Claws, teeth, and nightmares.They have been beaten and bruised, set on fire, and nearly drowned, but manage to always find their way home. Over their last Winter Holiday break before college, Shayna, Jodi, and Steven try again to put aside the magic in their lives for a little mundane fun. But Shayna's mother is having dreams of fire and death. A mysterious stranger by the name of Liam has just arrived in town. And Shayna's attempts to manage her new angelic powers are set back by Steven's insistence that the trio intervene in a riot outside of a concert, with disastrous consequences.In her attempt to stop the riot, a man sees Shayna use her magical abilities – a man driven mad by watching his brother die at the hands of a black witch. He stalks Shayna, plotting to destroy her and her friends. With her mother’s warnings echoing in her mind, Shayna is now in the fight of her life against an unlikely foe: a human man.
Excerpt:
“Can I get you anything, dollface?”“Yeah, how about something stronger than a Coke?”He grinned at me and shook his head. We both knew he couldn’t do it even if he wanted to; the regulations and fines in California weren’t something to be tested. I pushed my empty glass forward with two fingers towards him for a refill. Giovanni reached for the soda gun again, but stopped before pressing the button for Coke.“Actually, I’m going on break.” He lifted his eyes to meet mine, making my cheeks flush with the heat hidden in their honey depths. “Want to join me?”The question hung in the air between us, the other, unasked, question practically visible. My stomach flipped with nerves, still a little on edge from my brief encounter with Liam. As part of their cache of weapons, vamps were able to induce arousal and desire in an almost hypnotic way and I worried that Liam had been trying to do that to me. Was my judgment clouded now because of the vamp? Did I really care?“Sure,” I finally managed to say, glad to hear my voice was light and casual despite the sudden thundering of my pulse. Luckily, Giovanni couldn’t hear it like Liam could, so I was spared some dignity.“Awesome.” His lips broke into another eager grin as he set the soda gun and my empty glass back down. Turning away from me, he caught the female bartender by the waist and spoke close to her ear to be heard over the still pounding music. She nodded briefly and I watched as she fingered a button on a black cord that snaked up to her ear and she spoke into a tiny microphone on the cord. In another minute, Giovanni was ducking under the bar and a different guy in a simple black t-shirt and jeans took his place.I turned away from the bar and slid off of the stool, realizing a little too late that I should’ve told Jodi or Steven where I was going so they didn’t get worried if they didn’t see me at the bar. There were far too many people with too many wild emotions filling the room for me to reach out to them telepathically. I could see Jodi’s blonde hair bobbing in and out of the crowd and saw Steven and Anthony, who had finally arrived, dancing with her. I debated going to them and telling them I’d be right back, but just as I started to take a step towards the mass of dancers, Giovanni’s warm fingers touched my arm, immediately drawing my attention away from my friends. The skin under his fingers flamed with heat.“Don’t worry about your friends,” Giovanni spoke into my hair as he leaned his body close to mine. His breath washed against me smelling like cinnamon and cloves. It was faint and pleasant, but part of me hoped he didn’t plan on smoking a clove while I was around; it was too strong a smell for me. I realized I must be nervous as my mind bounced from one random thought to another.“I should tell them where I’ll be.” I started to turn away from him again, but his fingers gripped my arm a little tighter, stopping me. I turned my head to look into his face, almost expecting to see something I didn’t want to see, but he just gave me a sly look, making the butterflies swarm in my stomach.“We’re not gonna leave the building, don’t worry,” he assured me, loosening his fingers almost immediately.“Don’t worry, huh?” I quirked an eyebrow at him, shifting my weight to the hip he was nearly touching and pushing it into his thigh in a burst of confidence. “Famous last words.”He chuckled low in his throat again, making chills break out on my arms. “I promise, it’ll be okay.” He slipped his fingers down my arm until he caught my hand and urged me to follow him. My legs moved slowly at first, pulling against my better judgment as I started to lose sight of my friends, but a second – more powerful – feeling of excitement and abandonment helped move me to follow him.“If I’m gone too long, they’ll notice,” I insisted, glad to hear a little worry in my voice, hoping he’d get my meaning.“My break’s only ten minutes, doll,” he said lightly as we made our way to a door in the wall. When it was opened, I saw that it led to a long dim hallway that ran the length of the theater and I realized it must lead to backstage. That eased a knot of worry in my chest; if it led to backstage, then a few dozen people were nearby. But we didn’t walk that way; Giovanni turned right and I saw a set of winding metal stairs that led up to the balcony section of the theater.“I thought the balcony was closed?”“To the public,” Giovanni nodded as we started up the stairs, holding hands all the while. With every step up, my excitement grew and my worry was pushed to the back of my mind. Finally, at the top, he pulled out a key ring from his deep pocket and unlocked the door at the top of the stairs, pushing it open and holding it for me to walk in first. We were, in fact, in the balcony with about ten rows of empty seats. I had only been up here once for a concert and knew it had been at least a decade since the management had bothered with any repairs or upgrades as most of the chairs squeaked, wobbled, or were just plain broken.“See, now you can see your friends.” He had followed me in and came up behind me, slipping his hands to my hips and pulling me against him in a very familiar way. I glanced over the edge of the balcony and, sure enough, I could see Jodi, Steven, and Anthony easier than I could from the bar. It was that simple and all my worry vanished. I wasn’t physically afraid of anything happening because I had proven that I could defend against a larger foe and Giovanni didn’t have any magical abilities with which to attack me. I was just worried about the possibility that I would have to use magic, but as I let that finger of awareness I had attached to him blossom, I knew what his intentions were and, if I was being honest with myself, I had no problem with them.“Um.” I wasn’t sure what to say or really what to do; sneaking away with a stranger into some dark corner with illicit thoughts racing through my mind wasn’t like me. I turned around, his hands never leaving my hips as I faced him. I felt them slide around me as I moved, sending pleasant chills up my back. But he saved me from the embarrassment of speaking intelligently by walking me backwards until my back hit the closed door. He raised one arm up over my head and braced his forearm against the wall, making him lean into me. His other hand remained at my hip, his thumb under the hem of my shirt, stroking my hipbone slowly.I couldn’t hear the music anymore; the world had shrunk down to the two of us in this dark corner and the beat vibrating through the walls, pulsing at my back. I swallowed my nerves as he leaned his face closer to mine, moving slowly as if afraid he’d scare me and I’d run off. I didn’t want him to think of me as some fragile little girl because that would ruin this for me. I’d never done this before, sure, but if I was going to do it, I was going to enjoy myself.
I don't do well talking about myself. So as basics go, I have recently self-published the first two books in my Elemental Series, Earth and Air, Young Adult Urban Fantasy novels. Look for the third installment, Water, coming in 2012!
I have been working on the Elemental Series for the last four years and plan for it to be a 5 book series. It was a hard decision to self-publish but it's been an exciting and terrifying ride.
| Earth (Elemental, #1) | Air (Elemental, #2) |
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo |
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo |
Water (Elemental, #3)
Giveaway:
There are two giveaways - One is open international and other is US/Canada only.
Grand prize: Shayna’s Solstice gift to Deb (a hand knitted scarf) and a signed paperback of the winner’s choosing (Earth, Air, Water or Fire), bookmark, and a $10 Gift Card for either Amazon or B&N. – Open to US/Canada
a Rafflecopter giveaway
(5) ebooks of EARTH, AIR, WATER, or FIRE – Open International
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Seems like a great read. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI thought it sounded good too!
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