Jazzy Book Reviews

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

paranormal romance

A Shadow in the Light by Keary Taylor - Book Blitz + Giveaway

Jasmine J 10:00 AM 0

A Shadow in the Light

Keary Taylor

(Parallel Verse Guardians, #1)

Publication date: April 20th 2021

Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

“You went and fell in love with an ultralight? That’s like a spider falling in love with a butterfly. They’re both arthropods, but the entire universe knows they don’t belong together.”

I needed an out. I needed to be someone who wasn’t trapped in Las Vegas, marooned in the LightVerse where I didn’t belong. I went to that club looking for nothing and everything, and there he was. Jaxon’s hands on my hips were just what I needed, and for one night, it was easy to be someone I wasn’t.

Then our signals went haywire. We’ve been looking for the gatekeeper for a long, long time so we can go home to the DarkVerse. We test every new ultralight in hopes they will be the key. It’s my job to bring them in.

It feels like a cruel joke when it’s him. Turns out Jaxon Gray comes from one of the most dangerous crime families in Sin City. I’m not the only one after him. The other ultralights want him just as bad, and they’ll kill me to get to him.

Now we’re on the run together. He should be scared. He’s seen me shift, and it’s not sparkly or pretty. But he doesn’t cower when he sees my darkling from—my shadows, my claws, my fangs. With a hungry gleam in his eyes, he asks to know more.

This is dangerous. He’s about to manifest. And as soon as he does, his biggest impulse will be to kill me. But it’s too late for my heart, I can’t walk away. So, the million-dollar question is: will what’s building between us be enough for him to overcome his instincts?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

—

EXCERPT:

The room smells slightly of smoke and everything is dated by about fifteen years, but it looks clean enough to not give me an STD.

All the pain and exhaustion I’ve been ignoring in the past forty-five minutes hits me the second I walk in the door.

I walk straight to the mirror, flipping on the flickering florescent light.

It’s worse than I thought.

Bruises are blooming along the left side of my face. There’s a nice cut running down my right cheek.

I peel my t-shirt off, and immediately my eyes go to the dark black marks, the perfect shape of fingers dug into my skin.

“Holy…”

In the mirror, my gaze shifts over my shoulder to Jaxon. He stares at my bruised and injured body, particularly those finger marks.

“Pretty sure you look worse,” I say, noting the cut above his eye that’s bleeding again.

He takes several steps forward, coming into the light. He grabs a towel from the rack, pressing it to the cut. But he never takes his eyes off me.

“I swear,” I say. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m not going to eat you either. I just need something from you, and then you’ll be free to go.”

“Are you stalking me?” Jaxon asks. Even though we’re standing side by side, he looks at me in the mirror. “Because that night…”

“I didn’t know that night,” I said, looking sharply up at him in the mirror. “Us meeting that night was purely coincidence. There was nothing ulterior going on that night, I swear.”

He’s quiet for a second, and as I look into his eyes in the mirror, I realize how desperately I want him to believe me.

I shouldn’t want that.

“You’re hurt,” he says simply.

I look back at my own reflection. I look like crap. “I’ve been through worse. I’ll survive. You need stitches though.”

He leans forward, looking at the cut closer in the mirror. The gash going down his face, from his temple, down the side of his eye, down to his cheek bone, is starting to bleed badly again.

I grab the sewing kit.

“You done this before?” he asks, eyeing me warily.

I set the kit on the countertop and grab his arms, positioning him under the light. I take a towel, get it wet, and set to cleaning the wound.

“More than a couple of times,” I say, not meeting his eyes as I work.

“You military?” he asks. I can feel his eyes fixed on me.

“No,” I answer simply.

“Military experiment?” he asks, and his tone is dead serious. I guess I can’t blame him for that.

“No,” I say, my tone getting a little sharper as I set the towel down and thread a needle.

“Alien,” he says simply, like it’s the last possible explanation.

“I’m not an alien,” I say, my tone bordering on offended. “You’re never, ever going to guess what I am. So how about you just stop?”

“Then how about you just explain it?” Jaxon says with a growl. He hisses as I dig the needle through his flesh for the first stitch. “Because I thought you were just a really amazing woman I had a really amazing night with. But it turns out you’re something a whole lot more interesting.”

His choice of words snaps my eyes to his.

Author Bio:

Keary Taylor is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over twenty novels. She grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now splits her time between a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest and Utah, with her husband and their two children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

teaser

The Bifurcation of Dungsten Crease by Richard Hacker - Book Tour + Giveaway

Jasmine J 9:00 AM 2

Science Fiction

Date Published: March 15, 2021

Publisher: Del Sol Press

In the course of a morning, Dungsten Crease resurrects his neighbor’s dog, is arrested by TSA for carrying a weapon which never existed, and drowns a woman at an airline ticket counter—or could he be hallucinating? In his panic he locks himself in the men's room of a coffee shop only to find a strange man in cycling togs sharing the space. The lanky intruder claims to be Dungsten’s neurally implanted concierge unit who has two disturbing messages. Dungsten is a Shaper—an obsolete, genetically programmed tool created by a bankrupt galactic corporation to terraform planetary experiences for vacationing clients; and the woman he inadvertently killed at the airport with his Shaper abilities will be the love of his life. Attracting government agents who want to weaponize him and Galactic Business Council assassins who want to terminate him, fear drives the Shaper within to inadvertently bifurcate, a second Dungsten also now running from his pursuers. But bifurcation comes at a price: loss of appetite, swelling of the hands and feet, an erection lasting longer than four hours, loss of bladder control, rectal bleeding, psychosis, convulsions, and sudden death. To pull himself back together and if he’s lucky, survive, he must master his Shaper abilities before he becomes a victim, or worse, accidentally destroys Earth and everyone he loves along with it.

Excerpt
Dungsten Crease lay in the dark, curled up on a cold tile floor of a Java Jolt Cafe men’s room reeking of piss, roasted Columbian, and disinfectant, a customer-focused espresso jockey banging with urgency on the locked door, and no discernible options. He figured a SWAT team would pull him out of there later in the day, a thirty-something white male kicking and screaming like a crazy crack head. His neighbors would tell local news crews the Dungsten Crease who lived next door had concealed the monster they now knew him to be. Yes, the kind of monster who just that morning, one god-awful morning, had killed a woman.

His day had eked over to the strange right out of the chute. Dungsten awoke to soft, spring morning light shining into his bedroom window, his cell phone chiming with measured civility. 6 AM. Dragging himself out of bed, he rummaged through dirty clothes pulling on some slightly rank running shorts, shoes, and a shirt, then stumbled out his front door for a jog through the neighborhood. 1970’s ranch style homes in various states of remodeling lined rolling hills of his neighborhood streets. A few cars passed now and then, but most of his neighbors were still waking, feeling around for cups of coffee, looking for toothpaste, or easing into their morning with a warm shower.

Running toward home he came across Rancid, a nasty little terrier two doors down. The name said it all. He once asked Larry, the alpha leader of Rancid, about his dog's name. Larry had said that even as a puppy, she loved garbage; the riper the better. Rancid refers not only to her affinity for rotting refuse, but for the very nature of her dark doggy soul. Every time he ran past the little Hades hound she went crazy, frantically nipping at his Nikes. This morning, she yapped as usual and, as usual, Dungsten attempted to befriend the seed of Satan.

"Here, Rancid."

"Yap, yap, yap!"

"Good girl, Rancid."

"Yap, yap, yap, yap!"

The bitch from hell looked at him with her brown, crazed eyes. For the briefest moment he pondered the possibility of this beast getting whacked by a passing car. He wasn't proud of the thought, but the dog had worn him down.

Dungsten didn't see the car. It happened so fast. One second he was foolishly attempting to make peace with evil and next thing, Rancid, eyes crazy with car hate dashed headfirst into death. He stood there gasping for air, wincing at the sight of the carnage which had unfolded, wondering how on earth he'd ever get all the pieces in a bag to hand to her owner, Larry. His heart pounded. He felt—responsible. He had, after all, wanted her dead. But like this—a bloody mess of guts and fur? He closed his eyes on the horrid scene, desperately wishing he could take his murderous thoughts back, when a warm, wet sensation filled his running shoe. He glanced down to Rancid, not the broken, dead dog, but a living Rancid, standing on all fours right in front of him, yapping away. What the hell? Dungsten walked home, each squishy step leaving him to ponder if maybe taking herbal melatonin had some lingering hallucinogenic effect. One certainty filled his mind. His brand-new running shoes were a dog piss soaked total write-off.

After a shower, he packed his bags making sure his cat, Psycho, had fresh food and water, double-checked that he turned the coffee pot off and since the break-in last year, made sure he locked his back door and turned on his alarm. He got in his little MGB convertible, a car he bought hoping to attract a soulmate who liked the wind in her hair and Dungsten at her side. Pushing the image to one side, he focused on the business at hand. He had work to do in Houston

As a management consultant, a performance coach to be more specific, Dungsten's firm had assigned him to a COO named Tim Simmons at a foam and plastics company. The last time he met with the client, Tim had failed to recognize Dungsten's "value-add" as his employer liked to say. While holding Dungsten's lapels, he screamed how Dungsten didn't have a clue about the highly competitive plastics game, how tired he was of graduate school monkeys coming into his shop thinking they could pee on his turf and how, in his oil field days, a guy like Dungsten would have found himself up shit creek. He went on to clarify that he meant an actual creek filled with actual shit. Turning into the airport, Dungsten knew he didn't want more face time with this walking nightmare.

The long, winding line of travelers at the airport security check meant he'd be standing with a boarding pass, driver's license, and bag for some time. He did his usual check to identify the seasoned travelers who knew how to swiftly move through security, versus the purgatory of standing behind a family with four kids who last flew an airliner when they went to Disney World three years ago. Finally making his way to the front of the line, he went through his familiar routine of emptying pockets, taking off shoes, dumping all of his stuff in one big plastic bin and his laptop in another to convey them through the X-ray machine. For a moment he considered why anyone would try to get a gun past security these days. Boarding pass in hand, he walked through the metal detector. Clean as usual. Then he noticed a security guard on the X-ray machine monitor looking a little concerned, flashing a glance Dungsten's way. She motioned to a guy who appeared to be in charge, and in hushed words, spoke with him anxiously about whatever she saw on her screen.

Did I leave a bottle of water in my bag?

The "in-charge" guy, a slightly overweight, balding man with glasses, stepped up to Dungsten, pointing to his briefcase.

"Is this your bag, sir?"

"Yeah."

"Please step to the side, sir."

"OK. I guess I left a bottle of water in my bag. Sorry. Do we really need to do this? You can just have the bottle…"

"Sir, please step to the side."

Other security personnel moved in around him. Be cool Dungsten. You don't want to miss your plane.

"Sir, I'm going to search your bag. Please stand behind the white line."

Dungsten watched the guard dig through his bag, all the while trying to do his best interpretation of an innocent guy, which should have been easy, since he was an innocent guy.

"I just forgot to take the bottle out of the bag. My bad."

"This is not about a bottle of water, sir. Did you really think you could get a gun past security?"

"Gun? What gun? I don't have a gun."

"Yes, you do. Clear as day on the monitor. Looks like a semi-automatic."

This guy's smoking something. I don't have a gun. Never had a gun. I don't like guns. "There's got to be a mistake."

Two cops step up, weapons drawn. He had to make these people understand this was all a mistake. There can't be a gun.

"I don't have a gun!" He slapped an open hand on the table for emphasis. "I'm telling you, it's impossible!" His head felt full, to the point of exploding.

Two officers stepped in close to restrain him, pulling his arms back behind his back, cuffs clicking around his wrists.

"Come on, guys. I really don't have a gun." A wave of nausea swept over Dungsten. How would he explain getting arrested to his boss?

The "in-charge" guy, looking a little pale, doubled back to check parts of his bag he'd already searched. Mumbling to himself, he shook his head. "This doesn’t make sense."

He went back to the guard on the monitor and they had a pretty tense whispering exchange. He shrugged his shoulders, they both laughed nervously, and he walked back to Dungsten.

"I'm telling you I don't have…"

The man glanced over to Dungsten, then looked past him to the two police officers. "Sorry officers. He's clean. Here's your bag sir. Thanks for your cooperation."

And with that, the officers released him, and the in-charge guy handed him his bag, as if nothing had happened. Not wanting to press his luck, he smiled, took his bag and got the hell away from there, all the while wondering if maybe there was some kind of karmic curse on him this particular morning.

After picking up a cup of coffee, he sat down in one of a long line of chairs at a Southwest Airline gate. Tired and needing a few minutes alone with a newspaper and no one to bother him, Dungsten placed a briefcase on the seat to his left and carefully balanced his hot cup of coffee on the seat to his right, blocking all potential intruders to his space. Having established a refuge, he looked up to a crime exposé about a young woman found drowned to death on a beach near Galveston. They showed footage from a couple of weeks ago when her visibly distraught husband had reported her lost overboard on their forty-foot sailboat. He told a reporter how they were so in love and how much life his Allison had in her. The story today was that lover boy had now been arrested by local police on suspicion of murder–as in; he tossed her overboard and sailed away. How could you ever get yourself to a place where you would do that to someone?

Looking away from the screen Dungsten noticed a young woman in jeans and cowboy boots, long dark hair with wisps of orange, purple and green and stunning hazel eyes. When she glanced his direction he looked away, cursing his shyness, but then turned back, locking eyes with her. The crime exposé continued playing in the background, the words filtering into Dungsten’s mind.

Allison’s on our sailboat, hair blowing in the wind. I remember when she was a real looker. But not anymore. Time takes its toll, I suppose. And I tire of the arguments. Every time I come home, she’s going on about lipstick on my collar or perfume on my clothes. She wants us to go to marriage counseling, like it’s my fault I don’t love her anymore. I want a divorce, but I don’t have a pre-nup. She’ll clean me out. I just know it.

The outing on the boat had already been planned, but I can’t help but smile at the convenient resolution to my situation that now presents itself to me. I like the integrity of keeping my vow to her. Afterall, I did promise to be faithful ‘till death do us part’.

We were twenty miles out, not another boat in site, when I shoved her off the side. Man, the look in those eyes. Priceless! I tossed Allison a rope. Killer’s remorse?

She screamed at me. "Please, please help! Please…"

I let go of the rope. “Till death, baby.”

"Sir?"

"Uh-what?" Startled back to the present, firm, yet friendly brown eyes met his own.

"Sir, I need you to move out of the way, so the EMS team has room to work."

"What?" Out of a haze Dungsten began to make out the gate attendant he had seen earlier. “But what…”

"Sir, please move. She really needs their help."

Looking past him, the dark-haired woman with hazel eyes lay on the floor, her skin pasty white, water dribbling from the corner of her mouth and pooling around her head.

"Oh my god! Allison!"

"Do you know her sir?"

"Well yes, uh well no, not really."

What was going on? How did he know her? How did he know her name? He did know her. They went sailing, she stood on the forecastle sprayed by the mist rising from the bow. He loved her, but in a rage he threw her overboard. Wait a minute! The sailboat, the woman, the murder, that was a crime story on the TV. He must have dozed off. But what's going on? What the hell? He looked up to the flat screen now filled with an ad for heartburn relief.

"I need you to move now, or I'll have to get a police officer over here and I don't think that's really necessary, do you?" The gate attendant's posture stiffened, his eyes meeting Dungsten's with quiet resolve.

An EMS team knelt down around Allison, working quickly but with an uncertainty of what they were encountering. He heard one of the technicians say in disbelief, "If we weren't in the middle of an airport, I'd swear this woman drowned in the sea."

"OK sir, I'm calling for a police officer." The gate attendant reached for his radio.

"No, I'm moving. That, that won't be necessary. I'm moving."

He stood up, looking one last time at the dying woman he had never met named Allison who he had loved and…murdered? And now this most intimate stranger lay dead on the airport linoleum.

About the Author

Richard Hacker, lives and writes in Seattle, Washington after living many years in Austin, Texas. In addition to the science fiction/fantasy novels, which include The Alchimeía Series, his crime novels ride the thin line between fact and fiction in Texas. Along the way, his writing has been recognized by the Writer’s League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. As a judge in literary contests shuch as PNWA and ChicLit, and as a freelance development editor, he enjoys the opportunity to work with other writers. In addition, he is the Sci-Fi/Fantasy editor for the Del Sol Review. When not writing he’s singing jazz and creating visual art.

Del Sol Press books by Richard Hacker are available at Amazon

The Alchimeía Series

DIEBACK: Book One

VENGEANCE OF GRIMBALD: Book Two

Other books by Richard Hacker:

Nick Sibelius Crime Series

KILL’T DEAD OR WORSE

BUZZARD BAIT

ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE

Contact Links

Purchase Link

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

contemporary romance

Numbers Game by Desiree Holt & Liz Crowe - Book Blitz

Jasmine J 8:00 AM 0

Title: Numbers Game

Authors: Desiree Holt & Liz Crowe

Genre:Contemporary Sports Romance

Release Date: April 20, 2021

Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

Former pro football player and coach Duncan "Hatch" Hatcher fumbled his career and marriage. Now divorced and ready to tackle his future, he has an opportunity to redeem himself as coach of his college alma mater's football team. But how can he can turn the team's losing streak around and keep the secret of his downfall buried when the school agrees to a documentary that will allow a lovely journalist to dig her way into his past...and into his heart?

Olivia Grant's ex-husband almost wrecked her journalism career while he definitely did a number on her self-esteem. The documentary on Duncan Hatcher is the perfect way to rebuild both. As a freshman in college, she'd had a crush on the senior football hero, but he hadn't known she existed. She never expects the sparks that fly between them as they work on the project nor the struggles they must face if they both want to win.

AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | NOOK | KOBO | GOOGLE PLAY

Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in Central Illinois. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a social media consultant and humane society development director, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, at times frustrate, and always linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

PodCast Interview:

https://interestinghumanspodcast.buzzsprout.com/639664/6917804-liz-crowe-romancing-the-romance-novel

USA Today best-selling and award-winning author Desiree Holt writes everything from romantic suspense and contemporary on a variety of heat levels up to erotic, a genre in which she is the oldest living author. She has been referred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, and is a winner of the EPIC E-Book Award, the Holt Medallion and a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice nominee. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times and numerous other national and international publications.

urban fantasy

The Karma Series by Laura Simmons - Book Tour + Giveaway

Jasmine J 7:00 AM 9

Little Bits of Karma

Karma Series

Prequel

Laura Simmons

Genre: Reincarnation/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of Publication: June 30, 2015

ISBN: 1478757167

ASIN: B010P27HZS

Number of pages: 334

Book Description:

A captivating reincarnation romance of redemption and forgiveness.

Even though Holly O’Rourke is having problems with her longtime significant other, James, she has never entertained thoughts of infidelity…that is, until the day she has a chance encounter with Charlie, a handsome coworker. James promises he will change and work on their relationship, but Holly’s feelings for Charlie just won’t go away.

Distressed by her mixed emotions, Holly schedules an appointment for a reading with a psychic medium, where she discovers her adulterous past lives and their tragic consequences. Holly learns to do her own past life regression through self-hypnosis and uncovers not only lives that she shared with James and Charlie, but how the other people in her present life have been with her in the past—the threads of their lives interwoven for centuries.

Holly is stunned by recurring themes and the issues of karmic justice that need to be addressed. Where will her karmic path ultimately lead? Find out in Little Bits of Karma, an entertaining story about spiritual cause and effect.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/KnnQLec0ZH4

Amazon BN

Little Bits of Karma – Prequel

She hoped this woman would be able to tell her about her past lives.She arrived ten minutes early to the appointment. Martina was located within walking distance from the Metro. She lived in a small row house with a sign in the front yard indicating her services by appointment only. Holly rang the doorbell, and Martina opened the door.

“Hello. Are you Holly O’Rourke?” Martina Preston asked her.

“Yes. Are you Martina?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes, I am. It’s great to meet you. Come on in,” Martina said with a smile and extended her hand. Martina’s demeanor was friendly and inviting and Holly instantly felt at ease.

Martina was a little lady, standing no more than 5 foot1. She was in her mid-30’s with a round, pretty face with crystal blue eyes, medium brown, curly hair that fell past her shoulders, and a voluptuous figure. She was wearing a red checkered sundress and matching solid red espadrille shoes. She led Holly into a small room with gleaming hardwood floors and two white leather chairs and a round wooden table. There were two windows in this room. Martina pulled down the shades to block the sun. There was a large wooden cabinet next to one of the windows. The room was practically empty.

“Have a seat Holly, and we will talk for a few minutes,” Martina said. The two women sat in the white chairs across from each other.

“So, you are here today for a past-life reading, correct?” Martina asked.

“Yes,” Holly replied.

“First, I want to tell you what will likely happen during this session. I go into a trancelike state, and my voice might change. I sometimes take on the behavior of whatever spirit guide is there to speak through me. Usually it is my spirit guide working together with your spirit guide to access your past lives. Each of us has spirit guides to help us in our earthly incarnations. Your primary spirit guide is assigned to you before reincarnating into your current body. As you go through life, the circle of your guides expands, depending on the work you need to accomplish. When you reincarnate, you go through a veil of amnesia, and as you learn and grow in this life, you wonder, what the heck am I here for?

“We come from heaven, a place of total love and happiness. Your enemies in this life are dear friends on the other side. By incarnating into physical bodies, you learn a deeper appreciation for good things and even the bad. The potential growth from experiencing the bad is tremendous. There is no ‘bad’ in heaven, and if you never reincarnate you won’t know the difference between good and bad. There are many wonderful worlds to advance to in heaven after your schooling on Earth and your incarnations are completed.

“We plan our lives before we are born, and our spirit guides are here to help us achieve what we came here to learn and do. They do this by giving us intuitive nudges in the right direction, although we don’t listen to them most of the time. They do their best to keep us on track and guide us for our own good.

“Today, we will be accessing an area of the spiritual realm called the Akashic Records. This realm contains detailed records of your past lives and the past lives for every soul who has reincarnated. Your thoughts, dreams, and actions are recorded for eternity. Do you have any questions before we start?” Martina asked.

“No, I understand. We can begin whenever you are ready,” Holly replied thinking . . . Even our thoughts are recorded for eternity?That’s embarrassing . . . Thank goodness not just anyone can access them.

“Okay. I will ask the guides to show the past lives that might resonate with you at this point in time,” Martina replied and became quiet.

It took several seconds for Martina to enter a trancelike state. She began to speak and the voice was not her own. A deep male voice was speaking with a distinct Middle-Eastern accent:

“Hello, Holly. My name is Kavi . . . I am your guide.”

“You lived a life in Atlantis and fell deeply in love with your college teacher. He was married and would not leave his wife.You became pregnant with his child . . .” The voice paused for a few seconds.

“You lived a life in India in 1500 BC. You were a man in that life, and we were brothers. Your name was Sanjay. We were devout Hindus and ran a spiritual center together where we helped people better their lives . . .” Again, he paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“I see a life as a Roman Gladiator during the year of 47 BC.You were a prisoner of war and forced into fighting for the Roman’s entertainment . . .” More silence.

“You were a baby left on the doorstep of a monastery in Ireland in the year of 816 and raised by monks. You died young, as the monastery was raided and burned to the ground by Vikings. The Vikings gang raped you before cutting off your head . . .” Still more silence.

“I see a life in Germany in the 1340s. You were a young boy and your mother was mean and cruel to you.You left home on the day you turned 16 . . .” The voice again paused.

“I see you and the man who was your abusive German mother. You are both on a Spanish sailing ship in the late 1480s.You are engaged in a fist fight and you kill him . . .” More silence ensued.

Tough Karma: A Race Against Time

Karma Series

Book 1

Laura Simmons

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Supernatural Thriller

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of Publication: January 16, 2017

ISBN: 1478783885

ASIN: B01NCWLQBK

Number of pages: 224

Word Count: 71,664

Cover Artist: Outskirts Press

Book Description:

“Tough Karma - A Race Against Time took my preconceived idea and previous experience of Paranormal Romance, rolled it into a tight little ball and slam dunked it in the bin of old experiences.” The International Review of Books

A chilling tale of loss, tragedy, psychic warfare, and eternal love.

Amber Macklin’s world is cruelly shattered when she loses her baby girl three months after her husband’s sudden death. Her cousin, Bryce, comes to her rescue, moving her into his home for fear she will kill herself from the grief. He provides solace and a shoulder to cry on, and he has loved her as more than a cousin for a long time. Amber and Bryce soon discover they are not blood relatives, which opens the door for romance as he pulls her through her darkest hours. When Mike, a college friend of Bryce’s, stops by to visit, Amber senses a deadly secret behind his nice guy persona. She has a frightening dream that Mike is trying to kill her and recurring sleepwalking episodes where she draws detailed pictures of him torturing her. Deeply troubled, Bryce uses his ability to astral travel to investigate Mike and uncover his terrifying past. Mike has had his eye on Amber for some time, and when he learns that Bryce and Amber have become lovers, he is furious. Mike abducts Amber and takes her to his rural Georgia hideaway, and Bryce must rely on his astral abilities to track her down. But will he be too late?

Tough Karma is a stand-alone novel. The astral adventures continue in Dark Karma: Sword of Vengeance.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/8pHZu5a07pw

Amazon BN

Tough Karma: A Race Against Time - Book One

Seven hours had passed since Mike shot her up with benzo, and they were a little over half-way to his hideout. As the effects started wearing off, she had a vivid dream . . .

. . . She is running through the woods, terrified because Mike is chasing her. She calls out frantically for Bryce over and over, trying to outrun her pursuer, “BRYCE, WHERE ARE YOU? HELP ME! HE’S GOT ME. PLEASE HELP ME!” She hears his voice echoing through the woods, “Amber, baby, I’m on my way to get you. Hang in there; I WILL find you”. . .

A sudden back-handed smack in the face jolted her awake. “SHUT UP!” Mike yelled. “Do you know that you talk in your sleep? Bryce isn’t coming to rescue you. He will never find you. Get that through your head right now.”

He’s surrounded by black, is that his aura?! That’s why I felt a dark heaviness around him and from the pictures I drew . . . the drugs are making me see things. Don’t backtalk, don’t let him know that Bryce knows where to find me . . . I have to survive this; I don’t want him to kill me . . . she thought and looked down at her hands. He had put the handcuffs back on . . . If I weren’t afraid of dying in a car crash or worse, I would attempt to hit him right now. I can do more with my arms and hands in front of me . . . “I have to pee again,” she stated choking back the tears and still feeling the sting from his slap.

“There’s a rest stop ten miles ahead. We’ll stop there. It’s time for another shot of benzo. If you try to put up a fight, I’ll make sure you hurt the rest of the way, badly,” he said coldly.

“Why are you doing this? Why me? Do you really think that you can abduct a woman and make her fall in love with you?” she asked trying to stay calm and thinking of Bryce’s voice from her dream . . . I wonder if that was really him communicating with me. I want to believe it was. Mike didn’t respond to her question and kept his eyes on the road. He wasn’t used to women behaving so calmly. Then again, he was handling her differently than the others and hoping for better results.

Ten miles seemed like forever to her, and they finally arrived at the rest area. She debated different scenarios of getting away from him and screaming for help. Her legs weren’t shackled, and her mouth wasn’t duct taped, yet. He seemed to read her mind and threatened her as he pulled into a parking space close to the restrooms. He drew a handgun from a side compartment in the door, shoving it into her stomach and said, “If you try ANYTHING, including screaming for help, I will gun down everyone I see, and innocent people will pay for your selfish behavior. I’ll make sure you’re killed along with the rest of them,” he threatened with the coldest look in his eyes she had ever seen.

She was getting angry and even though he had a gun shoved into her stomach she responded with disdain, “I don’t want anyone killed because of me, except for you!”

He just laughed and pushed the gun deeper into her stomach, making her wince in pain. “Keep talking like that and I’ll kill you before we get there,” he said. She decided to cooperate and try to escape at a later time. She didn’t think he would kill her this soon, but she was going to play it safe. He shot her up with more benzo and helped her walk to the restroom while he stood outside and waited. In her drugged state she looked longingly at the small windows in the restroom and briefly contemplated how she might escape through them, knowing that she would never make it. When she was finished, she stumbled out the door and he caught her before she hit the ground.

“Come on, honey, let’s get you home,” he said kindly putting his arms around her to help her stay upright. I hate you and your ugly aura . . . she thought and passed out a few seconds after getting into the Jeep.

******

Bryce was driving down the highway when he heard her panicked voice, “BRYCE, WHERE ARE YOU? HELP ME! HE’s GOT ME. PLEASE HELP ME!” He was shocked and heard it again two more times before it stopped. The tiny flicker of doubt he had about whether or not he was doing the right thing was gone. He replied, hoping she could hear him, “Amber baby, I’m on my way to get you. Hang in there; I WILL find you.” The desperation in her voice was heart wrenching, and tears ran down his face while he flew down the highway, not caring if he got pulled over for a speeding ticket. He no longer wanted Mike to end up in jail. He wanted to be the one to put him in the ground and wished he had taken out a hit on him. He blamed himself for not doing that, knowing she would be home safe and happy with him instead of being at the mercy of a madman who would probably beat, rape, and kill her. He continued down the road, fantasizing about the many different ways he would like to torture and kill Mike. He vowed to make him pay.

Sword of Vengeance

Karma Series

Book 2

Laura Simmons

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of Publication: September 7, 2018

ISBN:1977201555

ASIN: B07H6KWZZL

Number of pages: 174

Word Count: 59,221

Cover Artist: Outskirts Press

Book Description:

“Dark Karma is a fascinating story that would surely be loved by any fan of fantasy and romance. Simmons proved herself a competent author in writing a tale of angst, magic, and determination." Reader Views

What would you do if you woke up one morning and your world was inexplicably changed in the worst way imaginable?

Banished by his enemy into a hellish alternate dimension, Luke Decker fights to understand why his world has suddenly changed, and why is he on trial for the murder of his beloved Nina? What he doesn’t know is she’s not dead. Nina watches him vanish into thin air and is completely bereft, struggling to find out how and why he disappeared. Using all of her psychic talents and traversing the astral realm, she frantically searches for him to no avail. She owns a secret item which holds the key to his salvation, but will she figure it out before he’s condemned to live the rest of his life in a realm of darkness?

This remarkable tale of vengeance, time travel, and dark magic is even more enjoyable if you read Tough Karma: A Race Against Time first.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/ka50LNuOswY

Amazon BN

Dark Karma- Sword of Vengeance – Book Two

Luke awakened before Rogue greeted the day, and noticed thatNina’s side of the bed was empty ... She’s probably in the bathroom.He thought how lonely it was to wake without her lovely, warm bodypressed close to his. He glanced toward the bathroom and the doorwas open and the light turned off ... Maybe she’s in the kitchen. He listenedfor sounds, expecting to hear soft footsteps in the hall or faintnoises from the kitchen ... nothing. Something felt wrong. Getting outof bed, he walked toward the kitchen. It was empty and dark exceptfor a nightlight near the stove. His apprehension grew stronger, theentire house was eerily silent ... I better find her asleep on the lounger.Entering the sunroom he turned on the light and saw her lying on the

chaise lounge, dead. Her throat was slit and blood pooled on the arearug and hardwood floor.

“No! This can’t be happening, I’m dreaming!” he declared, rushingover to the lounger. Seeing her pale, lifeless body and vacant eyesstaring up into nowhere was terrifying, and he convinced himself ithad to be a lucid dream. “I know I’m dreaming, wake up!” he saidto himself. Not being able to wake from what he thought was justa dream, he knelt down and touched her blood with the tip of hisfinger. He’d seen and touched enough blood in his life to know thatthis wasn’t fake.

“This isn’t real, this can’t be real! Who did this to you?” he sobbed,and for the first time in his life felt completely, utterly helpless andtraumatized. Tears rolled down his face, he could barely breathe, andhis stomach indicated he was going to vomit. He forced himself not tospill his guts, and even though her cold, dead body was lying in front ofhim, it still didn’t feel real. His emotional anguish and pain were acute,yet his mind kept telling him that this whole situation was wrong.Pinching and slapping himself hard, he tried desperately to awakenfrom this horrific nightmare. Something whispered to him in the backof his mind, something he should know, yet couldn’t remember whatit was. The one word which came to him was “snow.” Even thoughit was still dark outside, he could see that there was no snow on theground and no white flakes were falling from the sky. I’ve got to call thepolice ... Doing his best to remain rational, he began walking to thebedroom to get his phone when he heard pounding on the front doorand a man’s voice shouting, “POLICE, OPEN UP!”

Clad in just his boxer shorts, he opened the door to find threecops and four patrol cars with their lights flashing so bright he wasmomentarily blinded.

“I’m glad you’re here, I was just going to ...” Luke wasn’t ableto finish his sentence before the officer interrupted and another oneslapped handcuffs on him.

“Luke Decker, you’re under arrest for the murder of NinaPerotti.You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will beused against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. Ifyou cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you

understand the rights I have just read to you?”

“Yes,” he replied between gritted teeth, growing angrier by thesecond.

“With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

“I DIDN’T KILL HER! I LOVE HER!” Luke yelled at the top of hislungs. “I’M ALMOST NAKED, BAREFOOT, AND IT’S FUCKINGCOLD OUT HERE!”

“You shouldn’t have killed her then,” the officer calmly replied ashe and another officer led Luke to a patrol car.

He was losing control, something which was normally second natureto him and that he had cultivated throughout his life. He foughtto hold his tongue as they guided him into the backseat of the policecar ... How do they know my name? He observed that the officers were

dressed in black from head to toe, wearing tall cowboy hats, cowboyboots, and each one was carrying and wearing their own personal arsenalof guns and ammunition. Once he was situated in the back seat,the officer pressed on the gas pedal and they went flying into an abyss.He lost consciousness due to the high rate of speed they were traveling.

*****

Bugs were crawling on him when he woke up cold, shivering,and itching. The bug bites were turning into red welts along his torso,arms, and legs. Sweeping them away from his body, he stomped themto death with his bare feet. Most of the bugs were large and crunchyand oozed slime when he crushed them. The entire floor was crawlingwith insects, and he worked up a sweat in his mission to kill each andevery one.

“It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of bugs,” he muttered, crushingthe last batch. His feet itched and burned with the remains of bugguts stuck between his toes while he surveyed his surroundings withdisgust. He was in a jail cell with a packed dirt floor beneath his feetand a toilet in the corner. Now that the irritating bugs were dead, histhoughts returned to Nina.

He missed her terribly and whispered with reverence, “Nina, Ihope you can hear me wherever you are. I’m so sorry about this. Idon’t know who killed you. I don’t know how they got past me in thenight. But I will find them and avenge your death.”

Karma: The Resolution

Karma Series

Book 3

Laura Simmons

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of Publication: February 17, 2021

ISBN: 1977237037

ASIN: B08WYCX2ZQ

Number of pages: 170 pages

Word Count: 59,035

Cover Artist: Outskirts Press

Book Description:

This story picks up where Dark Karma left off. Enjoy the next thrilling adventure into alternate dimensions!

“From the first time I saw you back in the 14th century to the day I was imprisoned in the dark realm, you have lived in my dreams and my heart,” David said to Maddie. He knows that she is the reincarnation of his beloved Cara. Can he convince her that they shared a past life? Will she still want him once she learns the truth? And what about the evil immortal who wants her dead?

“If I can pull a cat from a dream, I can rescue Mori from where she’s being held prisoner,” thought Noah Colton. Each night Mori comes to him on the astral plane, begging for him to save her and vanishing before he can follow. Terrified that she will soon be killed, he travels to another dimension to rescue her and bring her to his home. But what will happen when her captors track her down?

Two, out-of-this-world romantic fantasy stories unfold as David and Noah battle dark forces to save the women they love. Find out what happens when the unexpected intervenes and changes everything in these interconnected stories.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/S4pUfWc3E_w

Amazon BN

Karma: The Resolution – Book Three

Luke and Nina’s Wedding

February 14, 2015

Maddie couldn’t pull her eyes away from David’s adoring gaze.Before she had a moment to speak, he kissed her. She returned his kiss,opening her mouth to deepen the experience. When their lips parted,he still held her close and whispered in her ear, “Cara, my love. I neverthought I would see you again.”

“Maddie… my name is Maddie,” she replied, breathless andshocked because the sexy man from her dreams had called her Caratoo, although she never saw his face. She realized she should feel insultedbecause he had been brazen enough to kiss her and then call herby another woman’s name, but she wasn’t.

“Maddie, please forgive me, but I know that you are her. Don’t youfeel the connection between us?”

Loosening herself from his embrace, though still gazing into hiseyes she took a deep breath. “My middle name is Cara. And yes, I feellike I’ve known you before. Whether or not I’m the reincarnation ofyour Cara, I don’t know. Although, I’ve had dreams about you for the

past several weeks.”

He replied with an affectionate smile, “Maddie-Cara, I think thaton some level you knew we would find each other. From the first timeI saw you back in the 14th century, to the day I was imprisoned in thedark realm, you have lived in my dreams and in my heart. I know this is

all so very sudden, and you have no recollection of a past life with me.I don’t mean to be so forward with you; it’s just that I wasn’t expectingthis. When Nina showed me your picture it was all I could do tostay composed. I was stunned because you are the exact image of Cara.

I didn’t think you would look so much like her in person. I thoughtperhaps I was seeing what I wanted to see. But your voice, the way youwalk, your facial expressions, your height and figure… you and Caraare one and the same.”

She loved the way he said her nickname and middle names together.“Did you tell Nina about this?”

“No,” he answered shaking his head. “I only said that you lookedlike someone I used to know, and Noah asked if that was good or bad.I just shrugged my shoulders and changed the subject because I didn’twant to talk about it. The pain from losing you… I… I mean Cara, is

still so fresh. I was mourning your death when I was sent to the darkdimension.”

“How did Cara die?” she asked.

He hesitated a moment, eyes glazing over as he thought about LilyNolan, the evil witch who’d poisoned Cara because he had fallen inlove with her and spurned Lily’s affection. He was about to reply whenNoah walked into the room and said with a grin, “I thought I wouldfind you two here. Maddie, your mom is looking for you.”

David was thankful for Noah’s interruption; it bought him timeto consider his response to her question more carefully. Although hewanted to tell her the tragic story, this was a happy occasion and hedidn’t want to spoil it for her. After what Maddie had gone through theprevious night, he now wanted her to have a good time at her sister’swedding and forget her troubles for a while. When she asked him againlater how Cara had died, he told her she was poisoned by a jealous andbitter woman, then swiftly changed the subject to get Maddie to talkmore about herself. He had a good reason for delaying the inevitable.Would she still want him once he’d told her the truth?

About the Author:

Laura Simmons grew up in northern Virginia and spent most of her career working for various Department of Defense contractors in the Washington, DC area. She has a fascination with all things metaphysical. She enjoys adult coloring books, writing, jigsaw puzzles, vacationing at the beach with her husband, and studying tarot cards and other types of divination systems.

Author web links: On my website, I have a page with a Play List for three of the books in this series. These songs made me think of my characters and their situations. They are the “movie” soundtracks for these stories.

Website: http://www.littlebitsofkarma.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraSimmons37

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8514176.Laura_Simmons

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway