Blog Tour: CHOOSE ME by Ursula Sinclair

 

I’ve always run away from labels. 

Now there’s one I cannot run away from.

Father.

Choose Me

The Ballerina Series Book 4

by Ursula Sinclair

Genre: Contemporary New Adult Romantic Suspense

I refused to be placed in anyone's box.

Vin
I’ve always been the best friend, the one nightstand, the groomsmen never the groom. Then I go and become that ‘F’ word. Yeah, I become a Father before I am even part of a couple. I’ve never been one to live a normal life. Whatever that is. It’s never been for me. But then a woman and my child change everything. They become everything. I will become whatever they need. Because that will be who I am.

Samantha
My husband and I always wanted a child, but it was not meant to be. Until one day, one came into our lives, and she became my everything. But the man that should have protected us didn’t, he betrayed us. Exposed us to men who threatened the safety of my child and me. Then someone came into our lives amidst the chaos, but who was he there to save, me or his child?

 

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Future

Vin

 

“Vin!”

“What!” Something about the way she said my name had me blinking and trying to focus my sleep fogged mind. A shudder traveled through my body. What the hell time is it? The connections in my brain were still a bit fuzzy, but I recognized the pitch of that voice. I’d heard it enough times. Something was wrong.

“Christie?” I spoke into my phone.

“I’m at the hospital, Vin. The baby…” Terror laced her tone.

“What? Isn’t it too early?” I questioned. Christie wasn’t quite eight months pregnant, since that was the last time we’d hooked up. “Is something wrong?”

“You’ve got to come now!”  Fear rippled in her voice.

I’d never heard her sound like this before. My heart pressed against my chest. “Okay, okay on my way.”

I glanced at the time on my phone. Since my head hit the pillow, I’d gotten less than three hours of sleep. Rolling out of bed, I downed some aspirin I kept on the nightstand. Staggering to the bathroom, I washed my face with cold water. It helped a little. My eyesight was no longer quite so blurry. When I glanced at the mirror, I could at least make out my blood shot eyes from too little sleep. But my mind was clear.

Quickly, I tossed on some clean clothes then caught a taxi to the hospital, Christie had scheduled her delivery in. I hoped like hell she would be there. This woman prepared for everything.

Except for an unplanned pregnancy.

I pulled out my phone to shoot a group text to my best friends, Maze and Dante. To let them know Christie was in the hospital and to meet me there but stopped myself before pressing send. First, it was three fucking o’clock in the morning and secondly, I had no idea what the hell was going on, other than I could hear the panic in Christie’s voice. I’d wait until I knew more.

At this hour, it only took about fifteen minutes for me to get to the hospital in midtown. Still, by the time I got there—it was the right hospital—they’d already taken Christie into surgery. I wasn’t family, just the father of the child we’d both agreed to put up for a private adoption. Which meant no one would tell me anything, other than to have a seat and wait for the doctor. Or the lawyer, for the couple adopting the baby. But I wasn’t sure if the hospital or Christie had notified the lawyer, or the couple, and I wasn’t going to remind anyone. At this point, I also didn’t give a rat’s ass. Christie might have been a one or two night hook up, but I still cared about her and the baby we created.

“Mr. Tinsdale?” A pretty young woman in plain purple colored scrubs stood in front of me.

I stood up. “Yes, that’s me. How’s Christie and the baby?”

“Christie signed a form before they took her in, allowing us to talk to you as the biological father of the baby. The baby is in distress, the doctor is performing an emergency C-section, as soon as he knows more, he’ll come out to speak to you.”

“Thank you.” Even if her words did little to relieve my anxiety. I plopped my ass back down onto the seat. It wasn’t until the nurse disappeared through the double doors, I questioned what she’d said. Or rather the way she said it, know more about what? Shouldn’t it only be to tell me if it was a boy or a girl? Oh, God! Did distress mean the baby might die? Was Christie going to be, okay?

I ran my fingers through my shorthair as these thoughts played table tennis in my mind. I’d made a bit of an ass of myself earlier at the nurses’ station, demanding someone come out to tell me something. All I could do now was sit and wait for the doctor.

I sat there alone, my hands rested on my knees, head down, eyes staring at the floor, seeing nothing but my f’ing life rolling away from me. Tied to someone I didn’t even like—for life. One who would be the mother of my child. All because some shitty piece of latex malfunctioned. Fuck of a malfunction. Still, I prayed to a supreme being or beings somewhere out there that Christie and the baby would be okay. Even if I’d agreed to the adoption, the thought of my child dying sent fear zinging through me.

I took a deep breath. Single mother, single father, nothing single about it. Not when an innocent life was involved. A life who apparently wanted to make an early appearance. Way early. A preemie. My child would be a preemie. Labels—fucking labels. All my life I’d dealt with them. But I refused to be placed in anyone’s box.

Don’t miss the rest of The Ballerina series!

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Ursula Sinclair is a USA Today Bestselling Author and the alter ego for LaVerne Thompson, a USA Today Bestselling, award winning, multi-published author. An avid reader and a writer of fantasy, paranormal, contemporary, and sci/fi sensual romances. She loves creating worlds within and without our world. She enjoys good action scenes. Most of her books under either name, also have a touch of violence and a few more than that. She writes romantic suspense and new adult romance under her alter ego.

She is a certified chocoholic and is currently working on several projects. Some might even involve chocolate. But writing helps maintain her sanity.

 

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Blog Tour: ADVERSE REACTIONS by Deborah J. Lightfoot

 

When your mind makes you the enemy, either your mind must die, or you will. 

Unless yours is the mind they can’t break.

Adverse Reactions

by Deborah J. Lightfoot

Genre: Dystopian Paranormal Suspense

Purity demands a bullet. Devin brings a reckoning.

Since she was six years old, Devin Perridin has been locked behind the walls of the family home to keep her hidden from those who would kill her. But at sixteen, she is exposed as a "Syke," one of an outlawed minority who possess extraordinary powers of mind over matter. Snatched from hiding, she escapes the firing squad, but only to be imprisoned in a house of horrors: the Peaceful Hills Sanatorium and Rehabilitation Center for the Treatment of Persistent Mental Disorders. After an unknown time of torture and "behavior modification," brutally designed to destroy her psychokinetic reflexes, she emerges from the asylum severely damaged in mind and spirit. Her salvation may lie in the series of crimes triggered by her release: first kidnapping, then attempted murder, and then a mustering of forbidden forces to assault the remote pseudo-psychiatric facility where she had been tortured into near-mindlessness.

Drawing upon a strength she had always known was hers but had never before been able to consciously control, Devin defies the authoritarian society with its unjust laws that demand her death. She pushes through pain, isolation, and moral quandaries to seek justice for not only herself, but all members of a maligned and cruelly persecuted minority. A post-apocalyptic, paranormal allegory for the times in which we live.

When your mind makes you the enemy, either your mind must die, or you will. Unless yours is the mind they can't break.

 

“This novel is immediately immersive, with an opening scene that sucks readers in with vivid sensory detail and a great sense of suspense.” —The Black List

“What a story! I was picked up from the first page and you never let me go thereafter. The premise is original … compelling … convincing.” —ARC Reader

“A very enjoyable read. Excellent pacing. Immersive language. Polished, effortless writing. I’d love to see a prequel (or three)!” —ARC Reader

“Relevant to the current situation in the world. Ostracizing others who are different out of fear and ignorance. Cruelty and inhumanity.” —ARC Reader

“Believable and relatable.” —The Black List

“Thematically rich, as Devin faces constant self-doubt but eventually comes to find empowerment in the unique abilities that have made her an outcast.” —The Black List

 

**Get it #OnSale for only $1.99 4/21 – 4/24!**

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Chapter 1

 

VAPORS BILLOWED INTO the chamber in thick masses of orange. Devin choked on the sickly sweet odor.

“Don’t fight it, child,” came the voice—equally cloying—from the darkness beyond the floodlit, glass-walled chamber. “Give yourself up to it.”

The gas surged into Devin’s face, blinding, gagging her. She made it go away. By force of will, a moment’s mental reflex, she flung it back.

Fresh air flooded her nostrils and drove out the syrupy stink. She sucked in a cool, clean breath.

“No!” snapped the voice, crackling with amplified static. “You must not.”

The therapist dropped her with two thousand volts. Devin collapsed to the chamber’s floor, her body jerking, her nerves on fire. The pain was beyond enduring. A pain this intense must be lethal. But she did not die. As she convulsed, her muscles knotted in spasms, she could not scream. No part of her, not even her voice, was under her voluntary control.

“Try it again, child.” Smooth and saccharine once more, her unseen therapist spoke from the concealing shadows as the shock ended and Devin’s pain faded. “Stand up,” the torturer ordered. “And this time, do not fight it. Or your punishment will be the same: swift, sure, and severe.”

Devin struggled upright. She had to brace against the curved glass wall of the gas chamber to keep on her feet. Her muscles had melted from knots into jelly.

An orange cloud flooded the chamber and filled her nose with the stink of rotting fruit.

“Breathe it,” her therapist instructed. “You must.”

But again, Devin reacted by instinct alone. No conscious thought interposed between stimulus and response. The cloud approached; she pushed it away. Pure reflex, action of mind: act of self-preservation. The gas held back, suspended in midair, blocked by the power of her impulse.

On the instant, thousands of volts knocked her to the floor. Pain engulfed Devin, such a pain as must be lethal but wouldn’t do her the service of killing her. She writhed, silent and barely conscious.

Her therapist withdrew the punishment. Devin remained on the floor of the isolation chamber, curled in the fetal position, her long brown hair covering her face. Her body was hers to command once more, but her muscles had no strength to obey.

“You give new meaning to the word persistent, don’t you, girl?” muttered the disembodied voice. Then, more forcefully: “The first step toward healing is to admit you are diseased, Miss Perridin. You have an illness. A mental disorder. I am offering you the cure—in a pleasant aerosol spray that you need only breathe. Once inhaled, the drug acts quickly, and its effects are lasting. But you must take the first step and acknowledge that you want to be cured.”

The voice grew soft, sugary. “Child, for as long as you hold to the notion—the mistaken notion—that your disorder is in some way a strength or a benefit to you, you will continue to fail. And you will suffer the consequences of that failure. We can’t have that, can we?”

Devin gathered the remnants of her strength and rolled onto her back. To stand was impossible; she could barely shape a word.

“No,” she whispered.

She wasn’t speaking to her tormentor.

But: “That’s the spirit!” the therapist responded, sounding genuinely enthused. “Now we try again. Take your medicine like a good girl.”

The orange stink flowed in at the top of the chamber. Devin, lying face up, watched through the curtain of her hair as the cloud descended. She had time to ward it off, to make it go away. But in the soul of her being, nothing sparked. Her reflexes, her instincts, failed to respond. What had been a spontaneous force of mind over matter could offer no resistance.

Devin’s mouth filled with the sickening taste of defeat. The orange cloud enveloped her, a sticky weight, and she choked down lungfuls.

“Wonderful!” her therapist exclaimed. “My dear, I couldn’t be more pleased. This is the tipping point. Your recovery will be much easier from now on, I promise.”

Devin breathed the sickly sweet drug and felt the core of her mind go dead.

Then came the retching. Her body contorted in gut-shredding paroxysms as the drug made her vomit—or attempt to vomit. Her keepers had starved her for so long, her stomach had nothing to bring up. The dry heaves racked her with such violence that she could not breathe. After long moments, unconsciousness brought relief.

Castles in the cornfield provided the setting for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in Texas, she grew up reading tales of adventure and reenacting them behind ramparts of sun-drenched grain. She left the farm to earn a degree in journalism and write award-winning books of history and biography. High on her bucket list was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The result is Waterspell, a multi-layered fantasy series about a girl and the wizard who suspects her of being so dangerous to his world, he believes he’ll have to kill her … which troubles him, since he’s fallen in love with her.

 

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Blog Tour: I'LL BE SEEING YOU by Jana Richards

I’LL BE SEEING YOU

by Jana Richards

 

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GENRE: Time Travel Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

Apprentice angel Gabriel Daniel’s first assignment in his quest to become a full-fledged angel is to give WW2 veteran, Frank Brennan, a second chance at love. With help from his mentor, senior angel Thomas, Gabriel takes Frank back to 1944 to Plymouth, England. There, Frank made his biggest mistake with love. His first time in 1944, Frank fell in love with Claire Cartwright, but when he found her kissing another man, he ended their relationship, despite Claire’s insistence that things weren’t as they appeared. This time around, Gabriel’s task is to convince Frank to trust in Claire’s love and fidelity, despite the evidence against her. 

 

At the same time, Thomas takes Gabriel on a journey through his relationship with Sloane, the love of his mortal life. For the first time, Gabriel sees how his jealousy and distrust tainted their love.

 

Unless Gabriel persuades Frank to trust Claire, his goal of becoming a citizen of Heaven is doomed, along with his desire to watch over his mother and brother back on Earth. Frank has a complicated history that Gabriel must help him confront before either of them gets what they need.

 

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Excerpt Three:

 

“There you are, walking across the dance floor toward Claire.”

           

“We’re so young,” Frank whispered. “And she’s so beautiful.”

 

“Yes, she is,” Gabriel agreed. “You look very handsome in your uniform, too. See how all the young women stare at you as you walk across the dance floor? But you don’t seem to notice any of them. You only have eyes for Claire.”

           

Frank

 

Do you remember what you said to her that night?”

 

“No.”

           

“Listen.”

           

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Frank’s younger self asked as they danced.

 

Claire smiled up at him, her eyes shining with amusement. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

           

“You do now,” young Frank said with a cocky grin.

 

Claire laughed. “You’ve decided that, have you? All on your own? Do I get any say in the matter?”

 

Frank gazed into Claire’s eyes. “No, none at all.”

           

“You dated a lot of girls before the war, didn’t you, Frank?” Visions of Frank with a succession of young women raced through Gabriel’s mind. “You were a good-looking kid and girls gravitated to you. But you’d never experienced anything like this before, did you? Like you’d die if you couldn’t hold her in your arms and kiss her. Like you’d cease to exist if she turned you away.”

           

On the screen, Claire shook her head. “What an arrogant Yank you are.” But she continued to dance with Frank, smiling up into his eyes.

           

“You fell in love with Claire that night on the dance floor, and your world changed forever.”

 

 

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Review: “To become an angel, you must earn your place. Every prospective angel is given tasks to perform in order to enter Heaven. In your case, you will assist three mortals in achieving a second chance at love.”

When Gabriel was alive, he walked away from the only love of his life. Could he really help others get a second chance at love? He had to because only when he became an angel would he be able to watch over his loved ones.

I generally liked the concept, even though this has been done before in prior stories. And because this has been done before, you kind of already anticipate some things. Just like “A Christmas Carol,” Gabriel takes the mortals back to different parts of their lives to make them reflect on their actions. The read was nice and easy, but it was rather long and slow. I wish it would’ve moved a lot faster. Storyline could get kind of complicated, too. I felt like there was too much on going back and forth on the timelines, too. But, like all the other stories before, the sentiment was nice.

If you like angels, time travel, and second chances, this is a fairly nice read.

 Rating: 3 stars

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Jana Richards has tried her hand at many writing projects over the years, from magazine articles and short stories to full-length contemporary romance, paranormal suspense and romantic comedy. She loves to create characters with a sense of humor, but also a serious side. She believes there’s nothing more interesting than peeling back the layers of a character to see what makes them tick.

 

When not writing up a storm or dealing with dust bunnies, Jana can be found pursuing hobbies such as golf (which she plays very badly) or reading (which she does much better).

 

Jana lives in Western Canada with her husband Warren and a senior cat named Layla. You can reach her through her website at http://www.janarichards.com

 

 

Social Media Links:

 

Website:  https://www.janarichards.com

Blog:  https://www.janarichards.com/blog  

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

Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/JanaRichards_

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/author/janarichards

Amazon UK Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B002DEVWWG  

Newsletter Signup: https://www.janarichards.com/subscribe  

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2892274.Jana_Richards

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jana-richards

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janarichards155

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/janarichards.bsky.social

 

Buy Links, I’ll Be Seeing You:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHSRWZWN  

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0GHSRWZWN  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GHSRWZWN  

 

 

 

 

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Jana Richards will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

Blog Tour: LOOKING FOR LUCY by Debbie De Louise

 

A missing cousin, 

A Mysterious Mansion, 

Family Secrets, 

and a "ghost" cat. 

Looking For Lucy

by Debbie De Louise

Genre: Gothic Mystery, Psychological Thriller

 She was never meant to be the brave one.

Despite their different personalities, cousins Mary and Lucy are closer than sisters. Mary, a teacher in a small town, fears change and suffers from claustrophobia. Lucy, a thrill-seeker, travels around the world in search of adventure.

When Lucy goes missing, Mary, her mother, and aunt visit a Long Island mansion called Hollingham Hall where Lucy had been employed as a tour guide before she disappeared. There, Mary meets three men, one of whom may have been romantically involved with Lucy – a charming historian, a volatile artist, and a friendly landscaper.

As Mary searches for her cousin, she is drawn deeper into Hollingham’s labyrinthine gardens and shadowed corridors where she discovers a chilling connection between Lucy and a woman who vanished seventy years ago on the eve of her wedding. She also learns of the “ghost cat” rumored to prowl the property.

When strange events take place at Hollingham, the police are called to investigate. But is Lucy alive and is her disappearance connected to the missing bride or one of the men on the estate?

A mystery of illicit affairs, hidden passageways, and family secrets, Looking for Lucy is the perfect read for fans of gothic novels, psychological thrillers, and atmospheric suspense.

 

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I held my cousin’s letters from earlier this summer that I’d read over a dozen times.

We lost touch after graduation when she took off to explore the world to volunteer in a variety of countries while I stayed home and found a job as a teacher at the elementary school that we’d both attended in our small town.

The last time I saw Lucy she was wearing her Bardsley T-shirt and jean shorts. My aunt’s battered suitcase stood at her side.

“I’ll send you lots of postcards,” she promised, but I’d never received any. That’s why I was surprised when I got her first letter as school was closing for the summer.

“Dear Mary, I hope you’re well. I’ve seen many things but have missed you. While I was making a quick stop in the Hamptons, I visited a beautiful place by the sea called Hollingham Hall. It was my luck that they were looking for tour leaders. I feel like, after years of wandering, I’ve finally found my place. The reason I haven’t called is that I lost my cell phone in the Amazon River (OMG!) and am not replacing it. I’ll call you with the phone number here soon.”

Lucy never called, but there were two more letters. The next arrived  ten days later.

“Dear Cousin, This is a dream job. I wish they had another opening for you. So, here’s the thing, Mary, we once talked about my being an independent woman the rest of my life without need of a man. Well, that’s changed. In the short time I’ve been at Hollingham, I believe I’ve fallen for someone. I don’t want to say too much in case I jinx it because the attraction is new, and I’m not sure how he feels about me yet. I promise I’ll reveal everything soon, and I can’t wait for you to meet my charming suitor.”

Lucy’s final and still eager letter arrived a week later.

“Me again, Dear Cousin. I had to write right away when I discovered the most interesting thing by accident.”

“I’d ventured into a part of the mansion that’s off limits to the public. I wasn’t snooping, but I couldn’t help myself. There was a portrait in one of the closed rooms of a young woman who looked so much like me that I thought someone had secretly painted me. I was so curious I had to ask about it and risk losing this incredible job. I wasn’t admonished  for going into the room. Instead, I was told me a history of the house that I hadn’t yet heard. The woman in the painting disappeared at about our ages. They never discovered what happened to her. I felt like I was caught in one of your favorite mystery novels.”

“It won’t be long now, dear cousin. I’m going to ask if you can stay here with me at the carriage house when you visit.

After rereading her letters and trying to figure out what was really going on behind her dramatic prose, I was shocked to get a live call from Lucy around midnight, less than a week after receiving her last letter. The phone woke me up. I answered in a groggy whisper, “Hello.”

At first, there was no reply, and I was about to hang up when I heard Lucy’s whispered voice. “Mary, help me. Come quick. Please hurry.”

I was fully awake now. “Lucy, is that you? What’s wrong?”

There was a click and then a dial tone. “Lucy,” I said louder into the phone, but she was gone. I didn’t realize at that point how gone she really was.

Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a retired reference librarian. She is a member of Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and the South Carolina Writers Association. She’s written over twenty books including three cozy mystery series: the Cobble Cove Mysteries, Buttercup Bend Mysteries, and her new series, Soup the Supernatural Kitten Mysteries. She’s also written a paranormal romance, standalone mysteries, a time-travel novel, and a collection of cat poems. Her stories and poetry appear in more than a dozen anthologies. Originally from Long Island, she moved to South Carolina where she now lives with her husband, daughter, and three cats. Learn more about Debbie and her books by visiting her website at https://debbiedelouise.com.

  

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Blog Tour: BATTLE BEYOND THE VEIL by Cassie Sanchez

 

Two worlds.

One forbidden relic.

A battle for survival or ruin.

Battle Beyond the Veil

by Cassie Sanchez

Genre: Urban Fantasy

The Celestial War shattered the Heavens; after millennia, the battle still rages.

On the most important day of Zahra’s career at the Gallery of Time Museum, everything unravels. A mysterious package arrives from her estranged father, and the Atar’zul, a relic that could secure her promotion goes missing. While betrayal festers within the museum, a long lost love returns, throwing Zahra’s world into chaos.

Kyden, a warrior angel and demon slayer, has guarded the spiritual realm for centuries. When a famous archaeologist and forbidden artifact vanish, Kyden is forced to protect a human, a job he vowed long ago to never do again.

Together, Zahra and Kyden must face rising demon threats and the cursed magic of the Atar’zul. As darkness closes in, they join forces to defend both realms and find that ending the battle beans trusting each other. Sacrifices must be made—the cost of which might be their very souls.

Welcome to the battle for humanity's future—a story of loyalty, temptation, and the fragile line between light and shadow.

 

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Cassie Sanchez is the award-winning author behind the Darkness trilogy—a whirlwind of fast-paced fantasy romance where danger dances with desire and magic always has a price. Based in the enchanting Southwest, she lives with her husband and two crazy labs named Bullet and Scout. When she’s not writing happily-ever-afters, she can be found wielding a Pickleball paddle or cuddling with her nogs for an afternoon nap.

 At the heart of Cassie’s stories are characters who stumble, fall, and rise again—wrestling with forgiveness and searching for redemption. Step into her world, where every story casts a spell and love conquers all, even the shadows.

 

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