Spotlight & Guest Post – Sea Mage: The Nightshade Guild + Giveaway

sea magic

Sea Mage: The Nightshade Guild

Book 10 Multi-Author Series
Louisa Bacio
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Celtic Hearts Press
Date of Publication: October 14, 2021
ASIN: B08L9RGGVS
Number of pages:120
Word Count: 25K
Cover Artist: B Creative Designs

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Take a SPLASH into a new paranormal romance. 
 
Never stand down
 
Serena Moon treats life like a beach goer taking in the ocean’s tide. It’s all serene until you turn your back for a second, and an errant waves knocks you on your ass. 
 
Know when you’re in over your head
 
When she’s entrusted with the safekeeping of the child elven queen, she enlists the help of mysterious — complete understatement— Peder, leader of the shifter sea dragons. Serena’s not sure what’s happening off the coast of SoCal but he’s got his own tricks. 
 
It’s gotta be safe
 
It’ll take more than magic and mastery of the sea to take on the evil darkness determined to capture the world’s salvation. Serena and Peder must conquer unknown enemies and the complexity of love everlasting to save their hearts.
 

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5 Things NOT to Do While Ghost Hunting
 
By Louisa Bacio
Yes, I’ve done it – actually hunted for ghosts. I have no idea why it’s a thing when ghosts usually come to me. I’ve done tours in California, Savannah, San Antonio, Texas, and New Orleans.
One hotspot that never fails to bring some spectral what-was-that moments is the Queen Mary in Long Beach. From slamming doors to words appearing on the mirror (yeah, I know it could have been the previous guest, but it’s still freaky) to that absolutely creepy empty pool below decks, the floating historical landmark is filled with potential for haunting.
So how about a what not to do while ghost hunting?
Here’s my list:
5) Wear Holy Water like eau de perfume, dabbed behind the ears. You are looking for ghosts, right? You don’t want to scare them away.
4) Sit in a darkened room, and inform the ghosts they’re allowed to “touch you” to let you know they’re there. (No joke! I went to an event with Amy from Ghost Hunters, and she actually called out this invitation!)
3) Invite the spectral inhabitants to travel home with you. My advice: Let them haunt wherever they currently live. Instead, I thank them for their presence, and actual say they are not welcomed to come with me.
2) Wear high heels. (Come on, we’ve all seen the horror movie. Sensible shoes, only, please!)
1) Duck under the sheets in a historical house. Probably frowned upon, and I expect the living will ask you to leave.
Got any more tips?
 

About the Author:

Since selling her first short story in 2010, Louisa Bacio has published more than 40 novels, novellas and short stories, including the paranormal The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf series and Winter Solstice Ménage. Watch for her upcoming Sea Mage in The Nightshade Guild series.

 

A Southern California native, Bacio can’t imagine living far away from the ocean. She shares her household with a supportive husband, two teenagers growing too fast, and a multitude pet craziness. In her other life, Bacio teaches college classes in English, journalism and popular culture.

 

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Spotlight & Excerpt – Eliza: The Awakening + Giveaway

Haunted Halloween Spooktacular 2021

Eliza: The Awakening
Book One
Eileen Sheehan
Genre: Paranormal Shifter Series
Publisher: Earth Wise Books
Date of Publication: 8/31/2021
ASIN: B09956JTJ1
Number of pages: 178
Word Count: 26,380

 
“The Awakening” begins the saga of a female shifter named, Eliza.
 
Eliza is a simple and uncomplicated young woman.  She enjoys the outdoors, is good with animals, and, like most young women her age, loves to party and have fun.  When she meets a sexy man with an alluring Southern drawl, she has no idea that he is involved in a world that she is yet to know, but is her legacy.  Like it or not.
 

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It felt like someone was swinging a hammer against the inside of Eliza’s skull.  The early morning dew caused a damp muskiness on the earth that blended with the mold and dust that burrowed beneath the thick layer of leaves where she lay her aching burden; assaulting her nose and adding to her misery.  Her chocolate colored eyes felt pinned shut, but her hearing was abnormally acute.  By the sounds around her, she sensed her surroundings were familiar ones.  If she was correct, she was near the small cave that was nestled in a knoll that began the acres of woods at the far end of her family’s farm.  It was a place that she’d discovered at a young age and had frequented whenever she required alone time.  Her surroundings weren’t the greater mystery.  How she got there was.

As her faculties returned to normal, she sat up and realized that how she got there wasn’t the biggest mystery after all.  It was superseded by the fact that she hadn’t a stitch of clothing on.

None of this made sense. How did she get there and what happened to her clothes?

Straining her mind, she reached into the fog for a replay of the night before.  She’d gone with her best friend, Reba, to a newly opened dance club. The place was packed, and dance partners were plentiful.  The exertion from dancing combined with the excessive body heat made the air feel so stifling as to be practically unbearable.  She remembered stepping outside for a bit of fresh air.  Did Reba join her?  She struggled to remember, but the visions in her head showed very little.

Squeezing her eyes shut almost to the point that it hurt, she forced her mind to function.  She needed to remember the chain of events that led to her waking up naked in a field at the edge of the woods. Had she gone home from the club and sleepwalked?  Or had something sinister occurred?  She just didn’t know.


Severed Finger Sugar Cookies
 

 

Ingredients:
 
2 ¾ c. flour;
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 x. softened butter
1 ½ c. sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
In medium bowl, cream butter with sugar and add egg and vanilla.
Then, add flour and baking powder and baking soda.
Using fork or spatula, until well mixed and texture of breadcrumbs.
Squeeze handful of dough crumbs together tightly to form small log or “finger.”
Score top of log with butter knife to shape the knuckle, then press 1 slivered almond at one end to make the fingernail. Repeat to use up dough. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Bake 15 minutes. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

About the Author:

Eileen Sheehan primarily writes hot, steamy romances (mostly New Adult) with a sexy male and strong female. A few are steamier than others (see their description).

The majority of her novels are paranormal, but some are just plain novels about people in love (contemporary or historical with the author name of Ailene Frances). ALL of her stories have a bit of naughtiness, some excitement, a few thrills, and maybe a touch of mystery mixed in with sometimes naughty, sometimes sweet lovin’. She strives to write a novel length that will allow the busy woman to be able to sit down in an evening or two and be taken on a romantic journey without having a week go by before she gets to the end of the story.

An incurable romantic, she has a love affair with at least one of her characters… one book at a time. She hopes the same thing happens to you.

Website
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Spotlight, Feature & Excerpt: Eva’s Homecoming + Giveaway

Eva's Homecoming Banner

Eva’s Homecoming

Heartland Fae, #1
by Celia Breslin
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Celia Breslin 
Date of Publication: February 2022 
ISBN: 9798201153793
Number of pages: 79 
Word Count: 21K 
Cover Artist: VWZDesigns 
 
A curse stole her away. Can true love lead her home?
 
After several years away for school and work, Eva O’Reilly is finally home. The West coast was fine, but her heart belongs to the Heartland and the town she grew up in. Sadly, with her mother’s sudden passing and no other living relatives, Eva is alone. And hurting.
 
Angus of the Tuatha Dé Danaan is elated his one true love has finally returned, and he’s determined to win her heart all over again. There are just two problems: she can’t see him or remember the Fae folk even exist.
 
As Eva mourns, Angus fights to dispel the veil keeping them apart. With the aid of a gang of flower fairies and the kindly elderly Wiccan next door, these cursed lovers may well receive a second chance at their happily forever after…
 
Currently appears in the anthology Flip The Trope: Romance Gone Wild
 
Novella Release February 2022

 

Anthology
available at Books to Read

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Excerpt

Angus stood in the center of the garden, throat tight and burning, a huge gulp of air trapped in his lungs.

 

Around him, a dozen diminutive flower fairies cavorted among the flora, chortling with glee. “She’s here, she’s here, our Eva is here!”

His gaze targeted the back door, body taut as he awaited his first glimpse of the female he loved. The only one he would ever love. Mo chroí, my heart. My heart walks the world, outside my body. “Come back to me.”

His voice was barely audible above the incessant chatter of the flower fairies. “We sang to her. She heard us! She liked it.”

“Hush,” he commanded, and they fell silent, vibrating with gleeful anticipation.

Seven years without her. The longest, loneliest bloody years of his basically eternal existence…

[…]

Eva stared out at the yard with haunted, brown eyes. Dark circles like the ones she’d sported months ago at the wake and funeral marred the perfection of her milky skin. He wanted to lay gentle kisses on her eyelids, nip the tip of her nose with its light dusting of freckles, lave her lips with his tongue then push it between those perfect lips…

“See me, Eva,” he whispered.

“See us,” Rosina echoed.

Eva cocked her head and touched her ear as if in response to their words. The incessant giggling of the flower fairies ceased, an expectant hush falling over the garden.

Though consumed with sorrow, Eva surveyed the yard with appreciation. Angus and the flower fairies had been tending to the yard and garden since she’d left. There was little to be done in the winter months but in the Fall, they’d trimmed and raked, then planted, pruned, and watered in Spring and Summer. Jasmine, lavender, and other blooming plants scented the air, and he watched his female take a deep breath.

Her shoulders seemed to lose some tension as she took in the neatly trimmed yard and carefully curated garden. “It’s perfect,” she said.

Angus’s heart swelled with pride at a job well done only to stutter in agony when her lovely brown eyes lingered on the central spot where he stood yet looked right through him.

“No. No, no, no,” he whispered. See me this time, Eva. Let the curse be gone.

Mrs. Murphy joined Eva near the door. “He tended it for you. From the moment you went off to school.”

“What?” Eva scanned the yard, then returned her attention to the spot where he stood surrounded by the flower fairies, all of them quivering with excitement.

“The garden, girl. He looked after it for you.”

Lines formed in Eva’s forehead, and her attention shifted to Mrs. Murphy. “I don’t understand, who did?”

He bowed his head and rubbed his brow. Each time she returns she still cannot See. My fault. All of this. Mine.


Celia’s 2021 Halloween Viewing Picks
My family watches (and binge-watches!) paranormal shows year-round, but especially during Halloween month. Here are our top ten recommendations for Halloween this year.

 

* Ash vs. Evil Dead: a comedy horror series with the fabulous Bruce Campbell as Ash, our hero with a chainsaw arm.

 

* Castle Rock: Stephen King fans, check out this super creepy psychological horror series.

 

* Daybreak:  A fun, comedy adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world with teens battling zombies.

 

* The Expanse: a science fiction series that’s both crime drama and political thriller, with war tension, a missing person, and a shocking conspiracy.

 

* The Haunting of Bly Manor: wonderfully creepy gothic horror, ghost story set in a gorgeous, scary mansion.

 

* The Irregulars: A supernatural crime drama set in Victorian London, with a band of misfits, Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes, and assorted troublesome, supernatural beings.

 

* Locke and Key: spooky fantasy series in which three siblings deal with magical reality-warping keys, demons, and superpowers.

 

* Stranger Things: outstanding science-fiction horror with spunky kids, secret government antics, and creepy creatures.

 

* The Umbrella Academy: fantastic fantasy adventure series in which seven adopted siblings with superpowers deal with family drama, time travel, and saving the world.

 

* The Witcher: don’t miss the adventures of Geralt, our sexy, handsome, and fierce monster hunter as he navigates a dark fantasy world fraught with peril.

 

Happy viewing!

About the Author:

 
Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for werewolves, vampires, and the Fae. When not writing, you’ll find Celia exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to fantasy TV shows and movies.

 

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