An Excerpt of Shut Up and Drive by Chynna Laird

Title: Just Shut Up and Drive by Chynna Laird
Genre: Coming of Age, Contemporary

Synopsis

One teen, one cranky old man, and the open road. What could go wrong?

Eighteen-year-old Wil Carter can think of more than a fistful of things he’d rather do than go on a road trip with his ninety-five-year-old grandfather. But when Gramps Wilf barks an order, you listen or get an earful of grief.

Wil lost his parents in a horrible car accident when he was five. Gramps has been the only parent he has ever known. Now that he’s ready to go off to college, the old man says he has things Wil needs to learn to be the man he’s supposed to be. But the trip turns out to be more than he bargains for.

Along their week-long road trip across the Canadian Prairies, Wil not only learns tidbits about his own life but realizes the grandfather he thought he knew has mysteries of his own. With each stop they make, a new layer of emotional truth is revealed…for each of them.

Will Gramps teach Wil what he needs to know before the journey ends? And is Wil strong enough to hear it?

Amy Braun’s Damnation’s Door

Meet Amy Braun

Amy Braun is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for “author voice, world-building and general bad-assery,” and the One Book Two Standout Award in 2015 for her Cursed trilogy. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, and is an active member of the Writing GIAM and Weekend Writing Warrior communities. When she isn’t writing, she’s reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction.

Amy’s current work includes the full length novels Demon’s Daughter, Dark Divinity, Crimson Sky, Storm Born, and Path of the Horseman, and the novella Needfire. She has short stories in various horror and urban fantasy anthologies such as Call From The Grave, Hotel Hell, The Maker of Monsters in Spawn of the Ripper, Survivalism in The Dead Walk: Volume 2, Dismantle in The Steam Chronicles, Lost Sky in Avast, Ye Airships!, Secret Suicide in That Hoodoo, Voodoo, That You Do, Bring Back The Hound in Stomping Grounds, Charlatan Charade in Lost in the Witching Hour, and her award winning short Dark Intentions And Blood in AMOK! Amy can be found online through her frequently updated blog, Literary Braun (literarybraun.blogspot.ca), as well as on Twitter (@amybraunauthor) and Facebook (facebook.com/amybraunauthor).

The final chapter in the praised Cursed trilogy, Damnation’s Door is a 310 page novel that sets its heroes against all odds, testing their trust in one another and pushing them each to their breaking points, forcing them to finally confront the darkness surrounding their lives above it, and either rise or fall before it…

Author Maggie Bolitho shares her outback experience

Author Maggie Bolitho shares her experience about the great Australian outback we always hear so much about. I for one would love to visit—providing there are no spiders.

The main themes of Outback Promise are betrayal and forgiveness, both of which are tied directly to the landscape where the second half of the book takes place, the Australian outback. In 2005, I spent three months camping in the Australian desert and was intrigued by the way the landscape changed from inhospitable and barren to bountiful and profuse after good rain.

In 2015 I went back and spent another three months exploring more of Australia’s remote areas. The second time many of the places I travelled through had recently experienced drenching rain. The abundant wildflowers and ubiquitous fauna were stunning.

The outback is a land of extremes, shifting from dry to wet in sudden explosive storms. ‘The creeks run dry or ten feet high’ is how an old folk song describes it. Water is the difference between life and death. Often the rains don’t come for years.

When they do come, a sleeping giant awakes. The rivers flood their banks, the roads are lost underwater and people on rural properties can be cut off for weeks. Many of those rivers drain into Lake Eyre (Kati Thanda) in South Australia and transform its parched salt pans to a massive body of water, 3,668 square miles, with an average depth of 5 feet.

When this happens, hundreds of thousands of birds, from as far away as Papua New Guinea, arrive to feed and roost there. No one can explain how they know the lake is full again. It just happens.

In Outback Promise, forgiveness is the difference between life and death of Ros and Grady’s marriage. There has been one death, one eviscerating dry season already in their lives, after the brutal loss of their son Cadel.

For Ros and Grady, they have to decide if they ae going to create their own wet season, their own time of healing and renewal. No one can explain how forgiveness finally happens but it’s there if they reach for it.

Hard As Ice by Raven Scott

Hard as Ice Fortis # 1 by Raven Scott
Release date: July 28, 2015
Publisher: Dafina

Synopsis

A covert ops specialist, a cyber-surveillance expert, and an unmatched international security and recovery pro. These are the men of Fortis. When money is no object, discretion is essential, and the police are not an option, the wealthy and powerful call on this trio of former government agents with elite military training—not to mention charm and good looks…

Former CIA agent Evan DaCosta is ready to continue his life of adventure, intrigue, and service. That means joining Fortis—and taking on the recovery of precious jewels stolen from a prestigious auction house. The list of suspects is long, but Evan is focused on the possibility of an inside job. Now he’ll have to go undercover and stay close to the gorgeous business manager, Nia James.

A gifted salesperson, Nia worked hard to get where she is today. Now, with her career at stake, a target on her back, and Evan watching her every move, she’s feeling the pressure and the heat. As Nia and Evan become intensely entangled, can they survive the secrets and threats standing in their way or will they run out of time?

The Occasional Diamond Thief by J.A. McLachlan

The Occasional Diamond Thief by J.A. McLachlan
Release Date: 05/15/15

Synopsis

The Occasional Diamond Thief is the tale of Kia, who is courageous and practical with a quirky sense of humor, and a loner.

When 16-yr-old Kia is training to be a translator, she is co-opted into travelling to Malem. This is the last place in the universe that Kia wants to be — it’s the planet where her father caught the terrible illness that killed him — but it’s also where he got the magnificent diamond that only she knows about. Kia is convinced he stole it, as it is illegal for any off-worlder to possess a Malemese diamond.

Even worse, Kia must translate for Agatha, who is as different from Kia as it’s possible for two people to be – Agatha is idealistic, naïve, and compassionate.

Using her skill in languages – and another skill she picked up, the skill of picking locks – Kia unravels the secret of her father’s mysterious gem and learns what she must do to set things right: return the diamond to its original owner. But how will she find out who that is when no one can know that she, an off-worlder, has a Malemese diamond? Can she trust the new friends she’s made on Malem, especially handsome but mysterious 17-year-old Jumal, to help her?

And will she solve the puzzle in time to save Agatha, the last person she would have expected to become her closest friend?

Archer Kay Leah Author Spotlight

A Question of Counsel by Archer Kay Leah
Genre: Fantasy Romance

Synopsis

Life hasn’t been easy for Aeley since she arrested her brother, and her role as a political leader leaves her feeling isolated and lonely. Days before her brother’s trial, she meets Lira, a quiet and modest scribe who makes Aeley want more than just a professional relationship.

When she attends the trial and leaves with a marriage contract, Aeley doesn’t know what to do. She must choose one of two brothers, marrying into a family she doesn’t know. Then she discovers that Lira is part of the same family—a sister to Aeley’s suitors and the family’s disgrace. And not at all opposed to an intimate relationship.

Except random acts of violence against her people test Aeley’s ability as a leader, and a web of lies and deceit threaten not only her chance at happiness, but her life…

Add A Question of Counsel to your Goodreads shelf.

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About the Author

Archer Kay Leah was raised in Canada, growing up in a port town at a time when it was starting to become more diverse, both visibly and vocally. Combined with the variety of interests found in Archer’s family and the never-ending need to be creative, this diversity inspired a love for toying with characters and their relationships, exploring new experiences and difficult situations.

Archer most enjoys writing speculative fiction and is engaged in a very particular love affair with fantasy, especially when it is dark and emotionally charged. When not reading and writing for work or play, Archer is a geek with too many hobbies and keeps busy with other creative endeavors, a music addiction, and whatever else comes along. Archer lives in London, Ontario with a same-sex partner and their cat.

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