Top Ten Favorite Movies by Sophia Whittemore, Author of Death's Fool

Hey, everyone! Lost my power last night so this post is a tad late. It came back on while I was sleeping.

Please help me welcome Sophia Whittemore, a fellow Clean Reads author. I am very excited about her new novel, Death's Fool--it looks fantastic!

Sophia Whittemore's

TOP TEN FAVORITE MOVIES:

1. The Labyrinth with David Bowie

2. Harry Potter

3. Lord of the Rings

4. A Knight's Tale (Heath Ledger)

5. Pirates of the Caribbean

6. Gladiator

7. The Dark Knight

8. Star Wars

9. Spirited Away

10. The Great Gatsby

I think that Sophia and I have the same taste-- this is a fabulous list of movies!! Be sure to check out Sophia's new book, Death's Fool-- what a great cover!
~Kimber

Death's Fool

The Impetus Rising, Book 2

Sophia Whittemore

Fantasy/Romance

Clean Reads

July 21, 2016

Amazon | Goodreads

“Isak was love. Isak was bravery. Isak was death.”

Her lover has been cursed. Her mother has been kidnapped. Her best friend’s soul has been stolen and his body deformed. And Diana is afraid that she too is turning into a bloodthirsty monster, just like her father. Awoken from an enchantment placed on her by her treacherous lover, the half-Impetus god, half mortal Diana is flung into a war between mutant shadows and the Impetus beings. Diana must navigate a world where queens torture their faithful knights, human children play with giants, and magic has darkness within it. Diana knows she has some power within her, some sleeping evil that demands to be set free. But is she truly her father, or is she her own person? Secrets are revealed to her about the cursed Prince Isaakios that she never knew before, secrets like the women he once had in his life, or the havoc he once wreaked upon the Earth. How far will this twisted love go for Diana before she is broken? Or will she break before she even gets the chance to save the world one last time?

Don't Miss Book One!

It isn't a laughing matter when Diana starts to see things in the mist which other people don't: monsters, gods, and deadly shadows. Yet now she sees another thing, the world of the Impetus, a reality where humans are enslaved and the once-beautiful gods are actually tyrants. Diana must find a way to escape before the exiled king Fear, a vengeful murderer, hunts Diana down to get back something she's stolen from him. But will her growing feelings for the Prince Isak, the oddly sullen god of comedy, draw her into an all-out war?

 Amazon | Goodreads


About the Author

Sophia Whittemore is a Dartmouth student and multiracial author with an Indonesian mother and a Minnesotan father. She has had book signings at Barnes & Noble for her Impetus Rising Series, available on Amazon and other outlets, the first book published when she was only seventeen. She has been featured as a Standout in the Daily Herald and a Rad Reads author in Girls' Life Magazine. Her love for the English language manifested itself in eighth grade when she went to the Scripps National Spelling Bee and has continued with other languages such as Spanish and Indonesian. Her prior publications include "A Clock's Work" in a Handersen Publishing magazine, “Blind Man’s Bluff” in Parallel Ink, and winning multiple awards in the Best Midwestern Writing competition for high school writers. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with her family and food-loving mini schnauzer called Tiger. Drawing on inspiration from her two cultural backgrounds, Sophia lives a life playing tennis, traveling, and writing about her dual life experiences through other characters in her works or on her blog.

AUTHOR’S SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiawhitte

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Authorsophiawhittemore/

Instagram: @authorsophiawhittemore

Tumblr: http://authorsophiawhitte.tumblr.com/

Wordpress: https://sophiawhittemore.com

Research by Wendy May Andrews, Author of The Countess Intrigue

I'm very pleased to welcome Wendy May Andrews, a fellow Clean Reads author. Research is an important part of any novel, but there is much more to it when writing about another time period. 

Research

by Wendy May Andrews

I write historically accurate fiction so a great deal of research is required for my books. So far everything I have written has been set in Regency era England which I love, so the research is a pleasure. But in order to give the writing a sense of authenticity, accurate descriptions are required, as well as a proper understanding of how life was back in 1800. So in the name of research I recently travelled to England. It was AMAZING!! I loved every second of our trip! We had been to London before and I did a little bit of research while we were there, but it was several years ago, when I was still a newbie writer, and I wasn’t as aware of what I was looking for.

This time we went to Brighton, Marlborough, Bath, Chipping Campden, Oxford, and London. Wow! The gorgeous things we’ve seen! And England is really quite set up for research. We spent a lovely morning at a History Centre for two particular counties (I was specifically looking for information about Marlborough, but they had way more!). They had microfiche newspapers from the 1700’s. They even had receipts for rents paid to a Marquis who owned half the town of Marlborough! And maps! Such lovely, detailed maps from different years so you could compare how the town had developed. We could have spent days there but while my husband was very helpful and understanding, I think a few hours was all he could handle J

Bath was the main destination for our trip because it was such a popular place in the Georgian period. I’m so glad I got to see it with my own eyes. You can find out so much on the internet, even look at pictures, but to discern how big or small things were, distances, dimensions, etc, you really need to see it with your own eyes. I even drank the water at the Roman baths to get an idea how my characters would have felt about it. I believe it must have been good for you, because it certainly didn’t taste very good :-D

Our trip has provided me with many new ideas for stories as well as details to flesh out some existing pre-published manuscripts. I will have plenty of work for the coming months ahead.

In the meantime, my latest book is The Countess Intrigue...

The Countess Intrigue

Wendy May Andrews

Sweet Regency Romance/Suspense

Clean Reads

July 21, 2016

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Smashwords

Engaged to a rumored murderer – what’s a lady to do?

During her second Season, Lady Elizabeth Castleton is found in a compromising situation with Lord Justice Sinclair, the Earl of Heath. Despite her attraction to him, she is dismayed to find herself betrothed to the man who is rumored to have killed his first wife. Her parents refuse to lend credence to the rumors, so she is soon married and on the way to her husband’s estate.

She cannot decide what to make of the handsome earl but after an attempt is made on her life, Elizabeth is terrified that history is about to repeat itself. She determines to find out once and for all if she is married to a murder.

Can she stay alive long enough to find her happily ever after?

About the Author

Wendy May Andrews has been reading whatever she could get her hands on since the age of five. She has been writing for almost as long but hasn’t been sharing those stories with anyone but her mother until recently. Wendy lives in Toronto with her own real-life hero. When not writing or reading, they love to travel wherever the mood takes them.

Website:

http://www.wendymayandrews.com

Author’s Social:

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/WendyMayAndrews

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/WendyMayAndrews

Instagram:  http://www.instagram.com/wendymayandrews

Copper Veins by Jennifer Allis Provost - Excerpt & Giveaway

Making Magic From Scratch

by Jennifer Allis Provost

Where do story ideas come from? Well, everywhere. The short answer is that I get ideas from random places and events, which has led to me writing about everything from fairy warriors to zombie romances, Scottish assassins, and the mythical Medusa. However, a pretty specific chain of events led to my first urban fantasy novel.

Back in 2011, Neil Gaiman was touring for the tenth anniversary edition of his novel American Gods. Being a huge fan of all things Neil, I had to go to at least one of his appearances. The closest stop to me was in Portsmouth, NH, which was a two hour drive for me. I didn’t think that was too far, especially not for Neil, but I didn’t want to travel that distance alone. What I needed was a co-conspirator.

 Enter Trisha Wooldridge, my always-willing partner in crime. We worked together in publishing, and had embarked on many literary-themed adventures together. On a sunny afternoon in July we met up and began our day with lunch; since Trisha is a food writer, she’s always trying out new restaurants. During the drive, I fished a bracelet out of the center console and gave it to Trisha, as a thank you for my meal. It was green marble with a copper clasp, and I mentioned that copper was my favorite metal.

 Once we reached Portsmouth we met up with another writer friend, Justine Graykin. After dinner, we trekked over to the Music Hall, listened to Neil speak, read from American Gods, and be interviewed by the local NPR affiliate. We also scored some signed hardbacks.

After the presentation at the Music Hall was over, Trisha, Justine and I went to a local restaurant for drinks and dessert. We hit the bathroom before we left, and let me tell you, that was one of the nicest ladies’ rooms I have ever seen. It had granite counters, a terra cotta tile floor, and the most gorgeous copper sinks and faucets. While washing my hands, I remarked again that copper was my favorite metal.

“You keep saying that,” said Trisha. “Maybe you should write a story about copper.”

“You should,” Justine said. “Even Neil Gaiman hasn’t done that.”

 Well that was a great idea, but how did they expect me to write about metal? I couldn’t just whip up a story from scratch, like magic.

 The next day found me at work, sitting in my cubicle, wondering how I’d made so many wrong turns in my career. Spending the day with two friends who actually made a living from their writing had simultaneously reinvigorated my own desire to be a working writer, and shone a light on just how disenchanted I was with my day job. Since I couldn’t up and quit, and I also couldn’t expect to make money writing until I wrote something, I took my friends’ advice and did some surreptitious Googling of copper and copper-related things.  

I learned that humans have been utilizing copper ore since approximately 8000 BC, that it’s in the same elemental group as silver and gold, and that its alchemical symbol is also the symbol for the planet Venus. Fascinating information, all of it, but none of it was a suitable foundation for a story.

When lunch time rolled around I went out to the parking lot to warm up in my car; that office building’s air conditioning system was permanently set to Arctic, and I frequently went outside to thaw my frozen extremities. I was parked in the rear lot, next to a wooded area. Right next to the asphalt were two pine trees whose trunks had wound around each other, as if a giant had attempted to braid them like a ponytail. While I stared at the unusual tree, I wondered if the tree was a portal to the Otherworld.

When I realized what I was wondering, I assumed the air conditioning had won and my brain had succumbed to frostbite. Then I remembered my earlier Googling, and that copper had been a significant element for the past ten thousand years.

And I wondered if that portal to the Otherworld was filled with Elementals, magical beings who could wield air, earth, water, fire…and metal.

I wondered what it would take for a human on this side to cross over to the Otherworld, be it via a tree, an old wardrobe, or even a stone circle.

I decided that the human in question’s name was Sara Corbeau, that she was a copper girl, and wrote the outline for her story later that day.

That novel, Copper Girl, was made possible by copper sinks, a strange looking tree, and an overworked office air conditioning system. I really had made magic from scratch.

Copper Veins
(Copper Legacy #3)

Jennifer Allis Provost

Publication date: July 26th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy

Sara’s pretty sure her life is perfect.
Not only are she and Micah finally married, her father, who’d been missing since the Magic Wars, has been found. Actually, he just strode up to the manor’s front door, but whatever. Sara knows better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

But Baudoin Corbeau isn’t content to return to family life. He’s decided that he will be the force of change in the Mundane world, and lead the Elemental resistance to victory with his children at his side. What’s worse, Baudoin doesn’t approve of Sara’s marriage, and makes every attempt to separate her from Micah.

After a visit to the Mundane realm leaves Sara, Max and Sadie imprisoned by the Peacekeepers, Sara’s doubts creep to the surface. Is her father right? Does she belong in the Mundane realm, not the Otherworld? Is Micah really the right man–make that elf–for her?
Was marrying him a mistake?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Previous books in the series:

—

EXCERPT:

We walked all the way back to the manor instead of traveling by the much faster metal pathways. While he didn’t say as much, I understood that Micah wanted the extra time to clear his head, and I was content to while away the rest of the morning with him. “I’m still a bit… grumpy about being cheated out of our wedding night,” I muttered as we walked.

“Grumpy?” Micah repeated. We’d stopped beside a stream to relax and splash some cool water on our faces. “That is not quite the word I would have chosen.”

“Really?” I’d found a stubby branch, and was doodling in the mud while I sat on a rock, my back to the water. “And what word would you choose, General Silverstrand?”

“Hush. I have not filled that role for a long, long time.” He leaned over and nuzzled the soft spot behind my ear. “Lonely. Bereft. Frustrated. Unmarried.”

“Micah, it’s only been one night.”

“Yes, but until our marriage is consummated, we are not as one. The officiant said as much during our ritual.”

I recalled the actual words of the ceremony—at the time, I’d been too elated to dissect their meaning, but Corporal Rawson had said, “And once you know her as your wife, you are forever joined as one.” I hadn’t realized that that was what they meant, but I suppose it made sense. At least it was an easier requirement than babies.

“Are all marriages like that?” I asked. I felt Micah’s mouth curl into a smile.

“I don’t know. I have only been married once.” He nipped at my ear and added, “As for this marriage, I know that I must lie with you to seal our vows.”

“Well,” I murmured, stretching my neck for more kisses, “I guess we’d better get on that.”

“I agree.” Micah leaned forward to kiss me on the mouth, but he halted when he saw the result of my mud doodles. I had stabbed and slashed at the ground until it looked like a rabid buffalo had churned up the soil. “Sara, what is troubling you?”

Normally, I would have denied any troubles in favor of more kissing, but that’s pretty hard to do when the evidence is right in front of you. “Do… do you think it’s weird that Dad just showed up? I mean, we’ve been looking for him forever, and he just walks right up to the front door?”

Micah pursed his lips, taking a deep breath before he replied. “Weird? Perhaps. However, your father’s return is an unprecedented turn of good fortune. And on our wedding day, no less.”

“I love it when you say that.”

“What?”

“‘Our wedding day.’”

Micah took the stick from me and pulled me to my feet. “Soon, I will be telling you about our wedding night.” He tossed the stick into the stream and tugged me back toward the road and the manor. “Come, my love, my wife, and let me bring you home.”


Author Bio:

Jennifer Allis Provost writes books about faeries, orcs and elves. Zombies too. She grew up in the wilds of Western Massachusetts and had read every book in the local library by age twelve. (It was a small library). An early love of mythology and folklore led to her epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Parthalan, and her day job as a cubicle monkey helped shape her urban fantasy, Copper Girl. When she’s not writing about things that go bump in the night (and sometimes during the day) she’s working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction. 

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Touched by Abbey MacMunn - Excerpt

Touched

Abbey MacMunn

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Romance 

Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing 

Date of Publication: 13th July 2016 

Cover Artist: Cora Graphics

Book Description:

When inquisitive antique dealer Cami Wilson learns she’s the revered offspring of an immortal mother and a mortal father, it’s not just her hybrid status that has her all flustered. The title comes with her very own super-sexy guardian.

Jaded immortal Joseph Carlisle has only one thing on his mind; his sworn duty to protect the hybrid from those who wish her harm. Anything else would be complicated. That is until they meet.

Chemistry sizzles between them but there’s a problem—the hybrid’s curse. Cami’s touch, skin to skin, proves near fatal to her and all immortals, Joseph included.

But the fated lover discover her curse is the least of their concerns when a friend’s deadly betrayal threatens to tear them apart forever.

Amazon       Amazon UK      Smashwords      Apple      Kobo    BN

Excerpt:

Joseph wore a faded, black T-shirt which clung to his well-toned pecs, and hip-hugging, worn jeans. A silver chain around his neck and two leather bracelets hinted at a ‘bad boy rock star’ image that somehow didn’t befit his formal, authoritative manner.

Cami swallowed. Just her type. Not that she’d dated many bad-boy rock star types, but still...

Among her disastrous relationships to date were Bad-Breath Barry from the village Post Office, who’d been sweet but oh so boring, and still lived with his overbearing mother—always a bad sign. And Shaun, the prematurely-balding, assistant manager at Morrisons—a total wet lettuce who thought himself God’s gift to women and whose only interest was getting his leg over. Sex with Shaun had been… ahem, experimental; what she’d ever seen in him escaped her now. But living in a tiny village with the average age of its frail population working out at seventy-two, the pickings were slim to say the least.

Funny thing was, she didn’t know she had a type until now. And she was looking right at him.

Joseph scrubbed the back of his neck and massaged his shoulder. She imagined those massive shoulders of his were stiff as a board by the way he held them rigid all the time.

She zeroed in on the tattoo on Joseph’s wrist and followed the thick veins snaking up his forearm. The way his muscles flexed hypnotised her, quickened her pulse. The guy oozed sex appeal with his Mr. Dark and Moody persona. If only he cracked a smile now and then.

About the Author

Abbey MacMunn writes paranormal, fantasy and sci fi romance. She lives in Hampshire, UK with her husband and their four children. She is a proud member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

When she’s not writing, she likes to watch films and TV shows – anything from rom-coms to superheroes to science fiction movies.

Tirgearr Publishing. http://bit.ly/1W26opd

Website   www.abbeymacmunn.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/abbeymacmunn   @abbeymacmunn

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AbbeyMacMunnAuthor1/

Pinterest  https://www.pinterest.com/abbeymacmunn

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30229696