Meet Your Doppelganger with Crystal Collier

Welcome Crystal Collier here today to share her new book and introduce you to YOUR Maiden of Time doppelganger!

My doppelganger is John!
You are who you are at face value. You enjoy life, live buoyantly, and laugh freely. You tell it as it is, and are easy to be around. People enjoy your company and often invite you along.
I think this describes me pretty well. Tell us in the comments-- who is your doppelganger?
~Kimber

In 1771, Alexia had everything: the man of her dreams, reconciliation with her father, even a child on the way. But she was never meant to stay. It broke her heart, but Alexia heeded destiny and traveled five hundred years back to stop the Soulless from becoming.

In the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Church has ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate the Passionate, her bloodline. As Alexia fights this new threat—along with an unfathomable evil and her own heart—the Soulless genesis nears. But none of her hard-won battles may matter if she dies in childbirth before completing her mission.

Can Alexia escape her own clock?

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GUEST POST

Have you ever met someone who looks and acts like someone else you know?

These doppelgangers exist in life, so it makes sense they would exist in literature. Today, you can meet your alternate ego in the Maiden of Time trilogy. Answer 5 simple questions to find out which character is most like you. (Some villains included.)

Look at that! You're a story book character. What do you think? Didn't like your match? Maybe should have picked something else? Try again. Share your results. Buy the books and learn more. (Did she really just say that? Yes, yes she did.) You can also enter to INSTANTLY win some really cool prizes below.

Who is your ideal book character match? (Inside or outside the Maiden of Time trilogy.)

Crystal Collier is an eclectic author who pens clean fantasy/sci-fi, historical, and romance stories with the occasional touch of humor, horror, or inspiration. She practices her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, four littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese.

Find her online HERE.

(Email address is required for awarding prizes.)

Fated Memories by Joan Carney - Excerpt & Giveaway

Fated Memories
Joan Carney

Publication date: April 15th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Time-Travel

A woman, a war, a vision of the future past…
Burdened with the scars of a tortured childhood and a shattered romance, Kitty is being forced to resign from the dull, anonymous job she’s been hiding behind. With her life in shambles and her friends moving on without her, she jumps at her cousin, Maggie’s, invitation to visit. However, Maggie’s new boyfriend, Simon, has a secret that accidentally hurls the trio a hundred and fifty years into the past. Trapped in the midst of the bloodiest war in American history, the events that unfold will require more mettle than Kitty’s ever had.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

EXCERPT:

Kitty’s hands shook and her vision blurred with tears. It didn’t matter. After having read the short note three times, the words ‘… transfer to the second floor’ had been engraved on her brain. She’d found the letter in her mail slot at the hospital where she worked, just this morning. That’s Richard’s floor! The wound from their breakup still scarred her heart. What do I do now? Quit my job?

The elevator doors opened and Richard Delaney stepped off surrounded by his physical therapy staff, who were tittering at one of his clever quips. Kitty wheeled around, making a beeline for the restroom. She couldn’t let him or those bitchy nurses see her cry. In her haste to become invisible, she miscalculated the corner of the wall and, smacking her shoulder against it, bounced back flat on her ass. Silence washed over the unit as everyone’s eyes turned to her.

Flushed with embarrassment, she scrambled to her feet, faced her audience and curtsied. “I’m here all week, folks, don’t miss the show!” Then she burst through the lady’s room door.

Kitty locked herself in the stall, working to salvage her dignity while dialing her cell phone for her pillar of strength; the one who always knew what to do.

“Ma?” Despite her efforts to control it, her voice still shook.

“Kitten, honey, are you crying? What’s the matter, are those silly boys in school teasing you again? Should I go speak with the principal?”

“Funny, Mom, no I only need to talk to someone. Remember when I told you the hospital makes the ward clerks reapply for their jobs every few years so they can weed out the ones they no longer want? Well, it’s that time again. I got my take-it-or-leave-it offer today and it says they’re bumping me from the step-down unit, to the pits of the med/surg dungeon. If I don’t accept it, I’ll be out of a job. I don’t know what to do.”

Silence.

“Mom, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m here.” She blew out a long breath. “Kitty, you’re a smart lady, but if you don’t respect yourself enough to stand up and take charge of your life, you’ll always be at the mercy of others. Remember, the choices we make follow us and decide our fate.”

“I know, Mom, but…”

“The best advice I have for you, sweetheart, is to move home with us so you can go back to college and learn more marketable skills.”

Kitty had battled with them before over this. In her mind, living with her parents at her age was the same as having a big red letter “L” tattooed on her forehead. “I see, okay. Um, I have to get back to work now. I’ll talk to you later, Ma. Thanks for listening.”

As she washed off the mascara tracks from her tears, she studied her reflection in the restroom mirror, mulling over the misery that was her life. You’re almost thirty years old, Kitty Trausch, what have you got to show for it? A man? Not since Richard dumped me last year. A career? More like a crappy job that’s become unbearable.

Kitty remembered her mom’s mantra “When the world gets rough,” she’d say, “remind yourself of the good things you have.” She thought hard for a positive slant, but only came up with her prized closet full of shoes and salvation from her acne plague. Great, at least that and two-seventy-five will get me on the subway. Oh, and one more good thing. Rooming with Sonia allowed her to walk the short distance to the hospital and not have to ride the train from Tuckahoe to Manhattan. Wow, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.

Author Bio:
A transplant from the Bronx to San Diego, Joan’s lucky number is four. She has four children, four grandchildren, drinks about four cups of coffee a day, and is now enjoying her fourth career as a novelist. When not planted in front of the computer writing or doing genealogy research, Joan enjoys spending time with family and friends and volunteers at the local church. 

Website / Facebook / Pinterest

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Escape from the Past: The Duke's Wrath by Annette Oppenlander - Excerpt & Giveaway

Escape from the Past:

The Duke's Wrath

Annette Oppenlander

YA Historical Fiction/Time Travel

July 31, 2015

Add to Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes and Noble│Indiebound

Summary from Goodreads:

When fifteen-year-old nerd and gamer Max Anderson thinks he's sneaking a preview of an unpublished video game, he doesn't realize that 1) He's been chosen as a beta, an experimental test player. 2) He’s playing the ultimate history game, transporting him into the actual past: anywhere and anytime. And 3) Survival is optional: to return home he must decipher the game's rules and complete its missions—if he lives long enough. To fail means to stay in the past—forever.

Now Max is trapped in medieval Germany, unprepared and clueless. It is 1471 and he quickly learns that being an outcast may cost him his head. Especially after rescuing a beautiful peasant girl from a deadly infection and thus provoking sinister wannabe Duke Ott. Overnight he is dragged into a hornets' nest of feuding lords who will stop at nothing to bring down the conjuring stranger in their midst.

Excerpt

The guard yanked me to face the group. Not ten feet away

towered one of the largest horses I’d ever seen. Its humungous

head swung back and forth as if it were proud of the armored

breast and nose shields. On top soared Knight Werner whose

piercing blue eyes searched my face. For a moment, the world

retracted into stillness. I felt my knees wobble.

Any moment now they’d cut off my head. Hadn’t Bero said

the Lord would kill me? Yet, the Lord of Hanstein neither showed

anger, surprise nor fear. Nobody spoke as I stood pinned between

the guards, their hands iron cuffs on my arms. I smelled them,

their unwashed bodies and filthy hands. I wanted to leave the

game. Return to the safety of my former life. Now! I sucked air.

My room might as well have been on the moon. Werner’s men

waited, probably ready to charge on command.

“Your name is Nerds,” Werner finally said. The blue eyes were

unsettling.

I stared up in surprise. “I’m Max.”

“Then what is the odd script on your robe? Are you a ruler’s

son?” He pulled his sword and pointed toward my chest. I kept

my eyes on the tip of the blade when I remembered. The right

side of my T-shirt had a kind of logo showing the word Nerds

underneath a crown. Despite the filth, the printed word and

image were clearly visible. Bero hadn’t noticed because he

probably couldn’t read.

“I…it is a fashion where I come from,” I stumbled. I wanted to

kick himself, having opened the door to more disaster. Werner’s

knights broke into chuckles.

Werner retracted his sword. “Most interesting. Tell us, you

come from where?”

“A distant place, My Lord,” I said, attempting to buy time.

“I’ve traveled afar, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ten years ago.”

Confidence radiated from the knight’s voice. “You speak like a

foreigner. Are you on a quest?” Werner’s expression was still

more curious than suspicious. A glimmer smoldered in his eyes

as if the blue had been turned into gas flames.

About the Author

Annette Oppenlander writes historical fiction for young adults and anyone who loves stories set in the past. When she isn’t in front of her computer, she loves indulging her dog, Mocha, and traveling around the U.S. and Europe to discover amazing histories.

"Nearly every place holds some kind of secret, something that makes history come alive. When we scrutinize people and places closely, history is no longer a number, it turns into a story."

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Pinterest

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Keeping It Real by Nicole Loughan, Author of Divine Hotel + Giveaway

Happy Release Day!!

Writing good historical fiction can be a real challenge! Nicole Loughan tells us how she went about writing Divine Hotel.

Keeping It Real

by Nicole Loughan

Diana Gabaldon is doing it, Dan Brown is doing it, now I’m doing it too.

I finally dipped my toes into writing historical fiction and the water is fine. Deriving inspiration from our collective history is exciting. I think it helps people automatically connect to the material, regardless of content, but it doesn’t hurt for the content to be good as well. When authors write about the familiar, even with books like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, it creates a picture in our mind whether we want it to or not. We know Abraham Lincoln and with a catchy title like that it gives us just enough information to want to know more.

But writing about real history is tricky. For me, I was writing about a history which was not my own, and which was very familiar and dear to the people who lived it. Also, since I did not reach very far back in time many of the people who lived it are still around. I relied on research and old photos to form a picture of what it might have been like to live in Philadelphia in the 1960s and I tried to tread carefully on dearly held memories. One example, in my book I write about an old department store. When I told people I had written about this store, there were definite opinions on what the characters did there and what the store looked like, I had gotten some of the details wrong and made changes to correct it.

In my previous books, The Saints Mystery Series, I wrote complete fiction based in the Bayous of Louisiana. All of the events were completely fabricated, and it was completely clear that the situations were made up. I did still have to be careful about the culture. The books focused on two Cajun families and I wanted to be careful about showing Cajun culture without trampling on people’s heritage.

Overall, I found writing about history and historical fiction exciting and challenging. I spent several weeks researching Philadelphia in the 1960s, no easy feat as much of the historical nuance is not recorded. You need to hear it from the people who were there. For example, that store I talked about in Philadelphia is known by people from Philadelphia as Wannamaker, but if you search the internet it will tell you that store was called Strawbridges. People still call the building Wannamaker’s today even though it’s a Macy’s. That’s the sort of detail you just can’t find in an internet search.

I have so much more respect for writers who make the choice to explore history with fiction, it’s very hard to navigate the waters of the real world with a fictional captain.

You can find Nicole’s latest book Divine Hotel for sale on Amazon for an introductory $2.99 special. Her Saint’s Mystery Series are also available on Amazon starting with To Murder a Saint.

Divine Hotel
Divine Series, Book 1

Nicole Loughan

Genre: Time Travel/ Mystery 

Publisher: Can’t Put it Down Books 

Date of Publication: 03/28/2016

Cover Artist: Genevieve LaVO

Book Description:

Time is running out for Philadelphia’s Divine Hotel…One woman is tasked with saving two children who lived at the once majestic hotel but she soon learns that there is more to their history and the hotel than she ever thought possible. To save them she’s going to have to re-set the clock for everybody at the hotel and the only way to do that is to go all the way back to 1964. Righting the wrongs of the past will be no easy feat, because there are those willing to fight to keep their sins buried in history.

Amazon | Pre-order Paperback

About the Author

You may know Nicole as the syndicated humor columnist, “The Starter Mom,” or from her Best-Selling Saints Mystery Novels. Because of the series’ popularity, Amazon chose it for their Stipend Program to be turned into an audiobook at their expense.

An award-winning journalist and author, she was recognized by Writer's Digest as a top fiction writer in 2015 and won honorable mention in genre fiction from the Writer's Digest annual self-publishing competition for her Saints Mystery Series.

Nicole writes for two daily newspapers in the greater Philadelphia area and as a columnist for Happenings Media. Prior to working as a writer, Nicole was an Agency Social Worker for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, where she first learned about the subject of her latest novel, Divine Hotel.

Nicole grew up on a rural farm in Southern Michigan, but she was always a city girl at heart. She still has a penchant for straight-from-the-dairy cheese, but otherwise prefers to spend her days in New York and Philadelphia and her adopted hometown in Bucks County. The mother of two, she is a soprano in The Bucks County Woman’s Chorus and an amateur pianist.

www.nicoleloughan.com 

https://www.facebook.com/nicoleloughanauthor/ 

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7084650.Nicole_Loughan

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New Release Alert: Wishing Cross Station by February Grace

Wishing Cross Station

February Grace

Genre: Fantasy

A dark fantasy romance from the author of GODSPEED and OF STARDUST…

Don’t stay a moment longer than you have to. Don’t say too much. Don’t pollute the timeline.

When nineteen-year-old college library page Keigan Wainwright is sent to pick up a private donation of books for the school’s collection, he has no idea where one of those books will take him, or what it will take from him.

Retracing a powerful man’s footsteps through the past, Keigan finds himself caught in the same dangerous trap: falling in love with a woman he was never meant to know, and uncertain he will ever find his way home.

Author Bio

February Grace is an author, poet, and artist from Southeast Michigan. In previous novels, she has introduced readers to characters with clockwork hearts, told of romantic modern-day fairy godparents, and reimagined a legend, centuries old. Now, in her fifth novel with Booktrope, readers will board the special at WISHING CROSS STATION and embark on a trip through time. She is more than mildly obsessed with clocks, music, colors, meteor showers, and steam engines.

Links

Author Website: http://februarywriter.blogspot.be/

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

Twitter: @februarygrace

Goodreads: Goodreads

Amazon (Paperback): Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon (Kindle): Amazon (Kindle)

B&N: B&N

Release Day Launch: The Collectors' Society by Heather Lyons - Excerpt, Review & Giveaway

 

Holy cannoli! It's here!!! We are extremely excited to bring you the Release Day Launch for Heather Lyons' THE COLLECTORS' SOCIETY!! THE COLLECTORS’ SOCIETY is an Adult Romantic Fairy Tale, full of adventure and fantasy. This is Alice as you have never seen her before...

 

Amazon ** Barnes & Noble ** Kobo ** iTunes

THE COLLECTORS’ SOCIETY Synopsis:

From the author of the Fate series and The Deep End of the Sea comes a fantastical romantic adventure that has Alice tumbling down the strangest rabbit hole yet.

After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence, though. Soon, she’s whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors’ Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth. It’s there she discovers villains are afoot—ones who want to shelve the lives of countless beings. Assigned to work with the mysterious and alluring Finn, Alice and the rest of the Collectors’ Society race against a doomsday clock in order to prevent further destruction . . . but will they make it before all their endings are erased?

Excerpt:

“Do you find my ability to converse lacking, Doctor?”

He chuckles softly, no doubt remembering how I wasn’t chatty with anyone, himself included, for the first month of my stay. To be fair, it is difficult to carry on an invigorating discussion when one is shaking so hard from withdrawals they fear they might shatter into thousands of painful pieces before a single word can be uttered. Plus, there was the whole bit of how once I did open up, I raved liked a lunatic about things no normal person could imagine being true.

“Certainly not,” he says to me. “But as I must stay at the Pleasance and you must go forth into the world, it will do you good to practice on somebody new.”

“Then send in one of the orderlies. Or one of the nurses. I’ll happily chat with a staff member.” One of his bushy, out-of-control eyebrows lifts high into his forehead. “There are people out there who are quite content being solitary,” I point out. “Who do not need to converse with anybody but themselves and their dogs.”

He sets his pen down. “What about cats?” Rigor mortis sets in ever so briefly at this question. “You father said you were quite fond of cats growing up. There was one in particular that you favored. Dinah, was it not?”

“I’m—” I have to clear my throat. “Lately, I wonder if perhaps I’m more of a dog person after all.”

My Review: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

The Collectors' Society is a unique romantic fairy tale with an amazing cast of characters, including two of my favorite literary heroes of all time: Alice and Huck Finn. This novel had me from the first page where we meet Alice recovering from her Wonderland visit in an asylum.

What amazes me is just how well Ms. Lyons nailed the voice of Alice. The story is told from her point of view, and I absolutely love her version of Alice. She's smart, spunky, tough, and amusing. Finn is such a swoon-worthy character... it's no wonder Alice can barely resist him. These two together are fantastic.

The plot is fascinating, combining alternate universes with books and time travel. At times it can be a bit confusing. The reader is thrown into this bizarre world with Alice, and we stumble along with her as she learns about the Collectors' Society. There were times when my head was spinning from the influx of information-- I'm somewhat surprised that Alice didn't throw her arms up and march right back to the asylum.

What makes this novel truly intriguing is the cast of characters from different novels. I couldn't wait to find out who we'd meet next. The plot is very fast-paced at the beginning and the end. But there were some places in the middle where it dragged just a tad, and I found myself skimming sections. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, and I loved the characters.

If you are a fan of classic literary characters and fairy tale romance, then this is one book you do not want to miss.

About Heather Lyons: Heather Lyons has always had a thing for words—She’s been writing stories since she was a kid. In addition to writing, she’s also been an archaeologist and a teacher. Heather is a rabid music fan, as evidenced by her (mostly) music-centric blog, and she’s married to an even larger music snob. They’re happily raising three kids who are mini music fiends who love to read and be read to.      

Website ** Author Goodreads ** Twitter ** Facebook ** THE COLLECTORS’ SOCIETY Goodreads

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Book Spotlight: Rewound by D.T. Dyllin

Rewound

By- D.T. Dyllin

Genre- New Adult Romance  

Dezdamona Kabinosh is on a mission—a mission of love. And she traveled back in her own timeline to complete it. After being betrayed by her husband she’s seeking a second chance at love, and Dez has come up with the perfect plan. 

One problem though… Jaxson Kabinosh, her future husband, has also traveled back in time and he’s determined to keep Dez for himself. Who will win the ultimate battle for Dez’s heart? Jaxson, or her possible rebound guy?

 

Rewound is ON SALE RIGHT NOW!!! 

March 24th- 26th ONLY 99 CENTS

March 27th- 29th ONLY $1.99

Back to normal price of $2.99 on March 30th

GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!! 

Release Day Blitz: Seeing Light by Michelle Warren + Giveaway!!

Seeing Light

The Seraphina Parrish Trilogy # 3

Genre- YA Fantasy/ Time Travel

Publication Date- October 10th, 2013 
Available at Amazon

As the corruption of the Society intensifies and the questions surrounding her mother mount, Seraphina Parrish embarks on a journey to find Terease in the terrifying Wandering city of Nocturna. But the information she learns there only sends her team on a dangerous mission to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Delving deep into the disturbing secrets of their world, the revelations quickly unravel, revealing shocking truths about the Society and Sera’s life. In the end, power and courage clash in a mission for freedom that may shatter the Wandering world completely.

  

Book Blitz: Endless by Amanda Gray + Giveaway!!

 

Endless

by Amanda Gray

Release Date: 10/08/13

Month9Books

Summary from Goodreads:

Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumble on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought. Like a past life. Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren’t alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock -- and the Order -- Jenny and Nikolai discover a link that joins them in life -- and beyond death.

Available NOW:

  

 

About the Author

Amanda Gray believes in magic and fantasy and possibilities. She is a team of two bestselling authors who live only miles apart but have never met in person. They talk on the phone and are the best of friends and between them have written more than a dozen novels and novellas and have had their work appear on television.

GIVEAWAY:

$10 Starbuck Gift Card and 1 e-book of Endless (INT)
 

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