Monday Update: Something Beachy

Something Beachy:

• 4 story series
• Set along California's coast
• Laurel and Mason are FBI partners
• Each story is connected not only through Laurel and Mason but through the mystery

This was originally a 3 story series but I wanted to start the first, Sink or Swim, in a different place and came up with Undercurrent, which was supposed to originally be a very short prequel to the Something Beachy series. I'm doing extensive rewrites on the stories I have finished and hope to start publishing sometime this summer!

#NewRelease: Heart of Steel by Elizabeth Einspanier @GeekGirlWriter

Congratulations to Elizabeth Einspanier on the release today of HEART OF STEEL, a Science Fiction Romance. Elizabeth is giving away a $20 gift certificate to Steampunk Emporium. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When reclusive cyborg Alistair Mechanus meets his captive, ER doctor Julia Parker, it is love at first sight--for him. While he eagerly drops his plans for World Conquest to woo her, ten years of solitude have left his social skills badly rusted. When his misguided act of kindness spirals out of control, however, Julia is forced to trust the mad genius with her life, and she discovers the vulnerable side under his armored plating. She has the skills he needs to unlock his forgotten past, but learning who he used to be may come at the cost of his remaining sanity.

Enjoy an excerpt:

She advanced cautiously, trying to get a look at the subject of his study in the next room. Before she could, however, the tall man in the hall with her spoke.

“Greetings, Julia,” he said in the baritone she’d heard from the speaker. She turned, and saw to her shock that a significant portion of the left half of his face, now revealed to her, was crafted of overlapping segments of unpolished metal, apparently riveted through the flesh and into the skull and jaw. His left eye was a mechanical lens that turned and focused in perfect coordination with its biological counterpart as he regarded her, its iris dilating as he offered her a welcoming smile. “I am, as you have probably guessed, Dr. Mechanus. I welcome you to my humble lair.” He sketched a bow to her, and she either heard or imagined the sound of countless motors whirring within him.

At first her thoughts were consumed by a single horrified thought—what the hell what the hell what the hell—repeated over and over again until her mind filled with what the hell from top to bottom and side to side. She felt light-headed, and braced herself against the edge of the observation window to avoid falling, but some persistently reasonable corner of her mind gently informed her that now simply was not a good time for her to faint or throw up.

Stay frosty, Julia, the voice advised her, in a familiar-sounding voice that Julia couldn’t immediately identify. Think of this like your first car crash in the ER. Sure, it looks horrible, but you can get through this. Just breathe. Get through this, and find out what’s happened to Jim. You’re okay.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Einspanier is the self-published author of the Weird Western novella Sheep’s Clothing and the upcoming sci-fi romance novel Heart of Steel. Her short stories have been published in Down in the Dirt and Dark Fire Fiction. She is a member of the St. Louis Writer’s Guild and an associate member of the Horror Writers of America. She lives in St. Louis, but frequently spends extended periods in worlds of her own creation.

Website: http://elizabetheinspanier.com
Blog: http://calliopeskiss.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeekGirlWriter
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ElizabethEinspanier/
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/elizabetheinspanier

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#NewRelease: Ultimate Prey by Kristine Mason @KristineMason7

Kristine Mason is the bestselling author of the popular romantic suspense trilogies C.O.R.E. Shadow and Ultimate C.O.R.E. She is currently working on her next trilogy, C.O.R.E Above the Law, along with a series of Psychic C.O.R.E. novellas—all to be released in 2015.

Although Kristine has published a few contemporary romance novels, she focuses most of her energy on her romantic suspense stories, which she loves for their blend of dark mystery/suspense and sexy romance.  She is fascinated with what makes people afraid, and is famous for her depraved villains whose crimes present massive obstacles for her heroes and heroines to overcome.

Kristine has a degree in journalism from Ohio State University and lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, four kids, and two dogs. If she’s not writing, she’s chauffeuring kids, gardening, or collecting gnomes. Oh, and she makes a mean chocolate chip cookie!

Connect with Kristine on Facebook, Twitter or Goodreads. And be sure to sign up for her newsletter for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

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Blurb:

When the hunter becomes the hunted…who will become the ultimate prey?

 

CORE agent Lola Tam has two things on her mind, quitting her job as a criminal investigator and baking a frozen pie for Thanksgiving dinner without burning it. But a midnight call forces a change of plans. Her boss and future stepfather, Ian Scott, has been kidnapped from his Florida vacation rental—along with her mother. The kidnapper’s plan? Drop Ian and her mom in the Everglades and hunt them like animals. Terrified for her mom, Lola takes the bait and travels to Everglade City, Florida where she’s determined to end the hunt before it begins. 

Ryan Monahan, former Navy SEAL turned airboat captain is used to taking tourists through the Everglades, not guiding a sexy agent on a rescue mission. After spending years dealing with a past filled with guilt and regret, he needs a little action and adventure in his life—he needs to prove he could still be a hero. What he doesn’t need? Falling for a woman he has no business wanting, especially when the hunt takes a deadly turn…

Where to Buy:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon

 

Excerpt:

Damn, she had a pretty smile. Hell, she was pretty, period. Lola’s smooth-looking skin was a shade darker than his natural tone, and she had these eyebrows that arched in a way that could stop a man dead in his tracks. Once he’d finally seen her in some natural light, he realized those eyebrows of hers spoke volumes even if she remained silent. There was the quick lift of one brow that said, ‘Really? You’re an asshole.’ Vlad had been on the receiving end of that one.

Then again, she’d raised that same brow before when he’d started stripping down to swim across the marsh. He’d told himself that raised brow was more out of interest than, ‘You’re an asshole.’ He’d been wrong about what women thought before, though, and probably shouldn’t put much thought into a simple eyebrow raise. But he couldn’t discount Lola’s eyes. They were…exotic. Was that the right word? A home-grown Florida boy, born and raised in the Everglades, the closest he’d come to exotic were the snakes he and his brother had found when they’d explored the Glades as kids.

Whatever the word, exotic had popped into his mind. Lola’s eyes weren’t a true brown, but a hypnotic shade of golden-brown with flecks of blue.

And absolutely beautiful.

 

Kristine will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to two randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour!

 

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#NewRelease: Elite Metal anthology

For decades the US Marines funded a top-secret unit known as Elite Recon. A deadly group of men and women sent to infiltrate dozens of countries completely undetected. Mission objectives so extreme casualties were not only probable, but expected.

The current batch of operatives had returned from hundreds of assignments unscathed…until one mission went horribly wrong. Several men lost their lives and the group disbanded. The remaining leathernecks were scattered in the wind with new identities. They were told to blend in. Be normal. Or face being forever silenced just like their fallen brothers.

Now, two years later, each living member of the group is kidnapped and given a chance to make things right. But this time they’re no longer under the thumb of Uncle Sam. A mysterious private backer who knows about their past has brought them back together. No longer are they forced to turn a blind eye to the lost and forsaken.

A new life. A new future…Elite Metal.

Bound By Steele

By Anna Alexander and Jennifer Kacey

To save his Marine brothers and sister he must accept the past isn’t dead and buried. Reuniting survivors means he is forced to first forgive…the enemy.

Steele, the man he was, died. A civilian with a new name stands in his place in the wake of death. Everything he had, lost when his undercover contact, Venus, disappeared when it counted most. In the shadow of regret, Steele is reborn from the flames of a Phoenix. To right the wrongs that destroyed his military family, he must put his trust in the hands of a mysterious backer, and the woman who led his team to the slaughter.

Not knowing who sold her out at the final hour, Alayna Devlin, spent the last two years on the run. Then the mastermind behind Elite Metal tracked her down, and offered her the chance to atone for past mistakes. To cleanse her conscience requires a baptism by fire and submission to the man who will either put the final nail in her coffin or set her heart free.

The past. The future. Truth. Lies. Nothing is as it seems when two shattered hearts are finally given the chance to heal.

Chrome’s Salvation

By Jennifer Kacey

A former leader of Elite Recon, reduced to nothing more than an apathetic existence.

Until his girl’s life hangs in the balance…now nothing will stand in the way of him coming back to life.

Chrome had it all. Exactly what he wanted. A career in the Marines he loved, fighting alongside his brothers and sisters to protect the US from everything set out to destroy it. Then on their last mission as Elite Recon they were double-crossed…and everything went horribly wrong.

Cammie needs help rescuing her siblings from the clutches of a man determined to crush everything she holds dear.  But she has no one to turn to. No one to lean on when she’s trapped in a world she never knew existed. Lost in a world of pseudo-normalcy Chrome’s reduced to nothing more than existing. Day in. Day out. Nothing to live for.

Until his girl’s life hangs in the balance. Now nothing will stand in his way of coming back to life.

Love at first sight is a myth. Or so Chrome thought. Everything he thinks is true disappears in the presence…of his salvation.

Adamantium’s Roar

By Anna Alexander

Adamantium left Beth to what he thought was a better life, only to find she had been living in hell. Now he’ll do anything, break any vow, to claim her as his for all time.

Adamantium feels right at home being back to what he does best with his Elite Metal buddies, especially if it keeps his mind off her.  Beth Bradshaw. His best friend’s girl. But when their paths cross again, he discovers Beth is in the hands of a dangerous man. Vow or now vow to his Elite Metal family, Ant will do anything to claim the woman he loves.

Pure Copper

By Heather Long

Copper will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it means seducing and betraying the one man who really sees her.

Former Marine special forces, Sachi “Copper” James is a chameleon. She thrives on being someone else. Her mission? Identify the rat who sold her team bad intel. Gabriel Danvers, ex-CIA analyst, is a master of disseminating the details. He wants to enjoy a normal life, retired from the game. His mission? Teach classes.

 When Gabriel becomes the target of Copper’s investigation, he re-enters a world of danger and deception--all to claim the passion of the one woman who’s haunted him for years.

Sterling’s Seduction

By Sabrina York

When a snoopy reporter threatens the Elite Metal, Sterling will do whatever it takes to kill her story about the team. Even if it means he has to tie her to his bed.

When Sterling spots a reporter masquerading as a waitress in a dingy bar in Deep Ellum, he suspects she’s investigating the team. And that’s something he just cannot allow to happen. Too many lives are at stake. He will do everything in his power to learn the truth—even seduce her. And to stop her story from coming out? He might even tie her to the bed.

 Nothing is off the table when it comes to keeping his brothers safe. Nothing. It’s a damn shame she’s everything he’s ever wanted. It’s a damn shame her touch warms his cold, dead heart.

Platinum’s Choice

By Rebecca Royce

Platinum left the life he had with Rose in New York to rejoin his team and silence the nightmares from Operation Phoenix.   But when Rose is forced to go on the run with Platinum’s hidden son, he will have no choice but to return to his old life and reclaim what he has ached for every day since. Red Wolf’s sniper wants to nudge Plat’s underbelly and they’re going to find out quickly how deadly he can be.

Platinum was a man of few words before he changed his name and had his sniper rifle taken away. But as Elijah, he could start over, maybe even fall in love with his hidden son's Kindergarten teacher, Rose. But Platinum is reborn when Elijah is kidnapped, so he's left with no choice but to vanish, leaving Rose to wonder about his fate, broken-hearted.

Rose has spent the last year getting over the disappearance of the man she knew as Eli. Now, alone and terrified, she finds herself on the run from a sniper while trying to hide a scared little boy from certain death.

Red Wolf's crew isn't done with Plat, and his soft underbelly is just the place to nudge. Sniper vs. sniper, Platinum will reclaim what is his. That is, if she'll even have him back...

Mercury’s Poison

By Saranna DeWylde

A scarred, mad genius more monster than man must protect the beauty he's become obsessed with from a beast more terrible than himself.

Serum 17 took his face, took his kindness and took his empathy. It took, in essence, all of John Thrace leaving only the Elite Metal operative "Mercury" in his place. A man marked with a biohazard tattoo because he knows he's incompatible with other living things. Until he becomes obsessed with the seemingly innocent doctor Hazel Brewer and a chance encounter changes everything.

Hazel knows the giant scarred man won't hurt her even though she's in the business of saving lives and he'd rather take them. In fact, she's never felt safer or more alive than when she's with him. Even when a terrible biological weapon forces her into his arms for a night of hot passion she won't soon forget.

Their love could be the redemption he never thought he wanted, or something even more toxic: Mercury's poison.

Forged in Silver

By Roxie Rivera

Rebel. Nomad. Troublemaker.

After surviving the double-cross during Operation Phoenix, Former Elite Recon Marine Silver embraces the underworld and builds a new life as one of the world's most renowned thieves. Jewels, paintings, corporate espionage--there's no job he won't take for the right price.

Until Poppy Jones orders her ghosts to snatch him up in Budapest and haul him back to Texas to face her brand of justice...

Forced to decide between a prison cell and signing on to Elite Metal, Silver chooses the latter. Quietly operating in the background of a team that no longer trusts or wants him, he completes all the dirty little jobs that keep the team alive and flush with new intel.

But when he learns Poppy plans to infiltrate a terrorist gathering, he refuses to hide in the shadows a moment longer. In a world of secrets and lies, Poppy Jones is his bright light of truth and trust.

And he'll brave the fires of hell--and the disdain of Steele and Chrome--to protect her.

Excerpt:

Platinum’s Choice

Platinum stalked toward the car. What could have happened to Kent? Young children with grandmothers who wouldn’t let them eat anything with red dye number five in it—he knew because it was a fact Tony presented him with at the last meeting—didn’t simply disappear in such a way where professional private eyes couldn’t find them. His danger radar went off in a big way.

“Stop it.” Copper grabbed his arm. “Whatever happened in there, whatever you need to get done, you can’t run off and not tell Chrome or Steele where you’re going. Fuck it, Platinum, you’ve been trained better.”

“It’s personal.”

She shook her head. Copper was the strongest, toughest woman he’d ever known. Why she decided to make friends with him when most everyone else left him to his own devices never ceased to puzzle him. Cooper and Mercury were thicker than thieves, only whatever relationship those two shared—or didn’t—he wouldn’t pretend to understand. Copper had gone and fallen in love with someone other than Merc and everyone seemed okay with it.

“Yes. And?” She wasn’t going to let it go.

“I have a kid.” He could hardly mutter the words. A year of impossibly long days passed since he’d thought about The Boy let alone told anyone, even the people he trusted with his life, about Kent’s existence.

“I think you’d better go see Poppy. Whatever it is, you can’t hide it from the uppity-ups. Whatever happened, it’s only going to make things harder.”

Damn it. He hated when she was right.

Plat wasn’t going to find Kent if Tony hadn’t been able to, not without resources his team could provide. They usually worked in groups of four, each member reporting to Chrome or Steele, depending on who was heading that particular mission. He couldn’t ask anyone else to be involved. Any danger he took on would be his own

None of those facts meant he couldn’t ask permission to go so he didn’t end up with his teammates chasing him down assuming he’d gone off mission.

Steele would talk to Poppy and Poppy would manage Warbucks.

“I’ll call Steele.”

Cooper patted him on the back. “Good.”

“Could you do something for me?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

“Good answer.” Never make a promise until you knew what it entailed. Not unless it was in the field. Then he knew she’d do what he asked as he would. Team relationships were the only friendships Plat ever understood.

“What is it?”

“There’s an asshat in the bar named Tony. I think he’s about to drop dead. I don’t want him to do it here, too many questions.” He really didn’t want to have caused problems for Bone Daddy’s. Tony Di’Fallipi dying at the table minutes after Plat walked away seemed a headache he didn’t need. Plus, needless death irked him. Why let someone die when you could save them?

Some deaths had to happen, others didn’t.

“I’ll take him out and maybe I’ll drop him at an ER.”

“Thanks.” He unlocked the car. First Steele then Kent.

“Platinum.” Copper called his attention. “Sometime you’re going to have to tell me how you ended up with a kid.”

“Copper, if you don’t understand how it works then Gabriel is doing something really wrong.”

His teammate hooked up with her guy months ago and much as Plat didn’t understand how any of their group could manage to have a real social life, Copper seemed happy, which meant she needed to be ragged about it, every chance he got.

“Fuck you, Platinum.”

“I’m pretty fucked. Trust me.”

  

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