Goldilox and the Three Scares Event and Giveaway: Jaye Wells!

 

 

Welcome!

Here at Goldilox and the Three Weres we LOVE Halloween! So we wrangled up some willing authors and put together some fun posts and giveaways for you all! 

Our theme for the event this year is What Scares You? 

Check back every weekday between October 20th and October 31st to see which authors are visiting and the awesomeness they are each giving away!

Today's author is:

Jaye Wells

 

 



Jaye's got a short scary story for you. Happy Halloween!

Phoenix Rising

By Jaye Wells 

I am pinned to the ground. My hands and feet throb, but the stake through my heart burns like hellfire. I lift my head, watching the sky gradually lighten. My nemesis, the sun, spreads its pink wings across the horizon. Already, my eyes water and my skin feels coated in acid. 

 

How the villagers trapped me remains a mystery. One minute, I feasted on the sweet blood of a virgin. The next, an angry horde carried me through the town and into the forest. Torchlight glinted off pitchforks and cruel faces as they gave me the vampire stigmata. 

 

Now, I am alone, save the celestial demon rising in the east. Each second, the sky morphs from calming black into deadly blue. The skin on my face is dissolving. I grit my fangs and plan my revenge. 

 

Intense heat consumes me in a burst of pleasure-pain. My soul breaks free and rises into the ether. Now, I am a bloodthirsty phoenix. I soar toward the ball of fire and taunt its impotent rays. 

 

To the villagers, the scorched carcass below will be a prize. They will feast this day and on into the night. Virgins will feel safe again, and their mothers will sing to the gods. 

 

Foolish mortals. They’ll soon learn the scorched pile of bone is naught but a memento mori. 

 

Tonight, I shall make my home in the nubile body of one of those virgins. Then, the villagers will finally know the true meaning of terror.

Check out the latest release from Jaye Wells, the Sabina Kane prequel novella Fool's Gold. You can read my review here. Deadly Spells, next book in her Prospero's War Urban Fantasy series, releases in February.


Jaye Wells is a USA Today-bestselling author of urban fantasy and speculative crime fiction. Raised by booksellers, she loved reading books from a very young age. That gateway drug eventually led to a full-blown writing addiction. When she’s not chasing the word dragon, she loves to travel, drink good bourbon and do things that scare her so she can put them in.

And you can meet Jaye Wells, along with 49 other spectacular paranormal/fantasy authors at Coastal Magic Convention in Daytona Beach, FL next February!

Click the Coastal Magic button to check out the event!

 

 

 

Enter to win an audiobook of Jaye Wells' vampire dystopian novella Meridian Six. (Winner must be at least 13 years old and a U.S. resident and will receive a code to download the book from Audible.)

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Goldilox and the Three Scares Event and Giveaway: Delilah S. Dawson!

Welcome!

Here at Goldilox and the Three Weres we LOVE Halloween! So we wrangled up some willing authors and put together some fun posts and giveaways for you all! 

Our theme for the event this year is What Scares You? 

Check back every weekday between October 20th and October 31st to see which authors are visiting and the awesomeness they are each giving away!

Today's author is:

Delilah S. Dawson

Delilah S. Dawson's YA Southern Gothic Horror novel Servants of the Storm is a great Halloween read! It's cool and super-creepy. A big part of that is Kitty, Savannah's most fashionable night club owner and fox-eared demon. Delilah recently tracked her down and convinced her to answer some questions. Here's their interview.

Delilah: Hi, Kitty. Thanks for sitting down to answer some questions for readers of Servants of the Storm.
Kitty: Bored now.
Delilah: Watch a lot of Buffy, do you?
Kitty: I'm rolling my eyes. You can't tell, since they're all black, but I'm rolling them. I've been around a long time. I've seen everything. Except Angel. I never liked that guy.
Delilah: I can imagine. So what can you tell us about your club?
Kitty: Have you ever eaten at Golden Corral?
Delilah: Um, yes. Unfortunately.
Kitty: It's a lot like that, but for demons. And with better music. And fog machines. A taste of this, a sample of that. Every now and then, I get to bite off a finger just to shake things up.
Delilah: Does Josephine ever show up?
Kitty: *laughs* She wouldn't dare. Can you imagine that hideous albino alligator suit shuffling through the door and up to the bar for a drink? She may have the power, but she doesn't have the style. Never did. Which is probably why she likes Dawn so much. Dawn is like Paula Deen with owl feet and just as annoying. They probably sit around and do macrame with intestines. I'd rather party.
Delilah: So tell us about the first soul you took. Who was it?
Kitty: *shrugs* Like I care. I seem to recall there's a chapter of the bible that's mostly names and "begat." Pick a name. It didn't matter. We were born, and if we wanted to survive, we devoured. People were a lot filthier back then. Thank heavens for Bath and Body Works.
Delilah: Do you have a favorite 'flavor' of emotion?
Kitty: There's nothing as delicious as fear. It's sudden, it grabs you, and it hits bottom with a satisfying thunk. Although taking a man's virginity and soul, in that order, is my second favorite. Do you have any attractive young friends?
Delilah: Uh, no.
Kitty: A shame, that.
Delilah: What was your favorite soul?
Kitty: A certain very famous actor was in Savannah, filming a movie. I heard him say that life was like a box of chocolates, and I had to have his distal. I keep it in a candy box.
Delilah: So what's your endgame here?
Kitty: *waves finger* Tsk. A lady never tells. But I have plans.
Delilah: Why fox ears?
Kitty: Because cat ears would be too ironic and elephant ears would be inconvenient. I mean, why do you have a nose? Idiot.
Delilah: Look, I'm asking questions from your fans here...
Kitty: I'd love to meet them.
Delilah: NO WAY. I need them to buy my books so I can buy boots and cake.
Kitty: Well, that's entirely unselfish of you.
Delilah: Last question. Do you have any empathy or morality for humans?
Kitty: *stares and licks her lips* No more than a cattle rancher has for his herd. I want you healthy, stupid, pliant, and easily terrified. If I look remotely human to you, it's because camouflage is important to a predator. So my question is... why aren't you scared?
Delilah: *holds up hand*
Kitty: Damn.

Special thanks to the members of Josephine's Army, the Servants of the Storm Street Team, for supplying the questions. Find them on Facebook here.

To read my review of Servants of the Storm, click here.

Delilah S. Dawson is a writer, a geek, an artist, an adventure junky, and a coffee and cupcake connoisseur. She writes books for young adults and mostly-adults that range from whimsical to dark to sexy to horrific to adventuresome. She can occasionally be NSFW, but when she is, it's usually because she's ranting about writing or sexism or talking honestly about her experiences with rape, depression, and suicide.

Delilah loves having adventures, playing on the trapeze, horseback riding, seeing superhero movies, going to cons, traveling, reading, tacos, the ocean, pretty boots, eating weird animals, tattoos, vests, cosplay, The Cure, painting, narwhals, octopodes, crows, cheese, drinks made with elderflower, dark chocolate, cold sheets, Boyd Crowder, and shows like Justified, Firefly, Venture Bros., Community, Adventure Time, Arrested Development, TWD, and Frisky Dingo. Please geek out with her on Twitter for full SQUEE.

 

One winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of Servants of the Storm from Delilah S. Dawson. Winner must be at least 13 years old and a U.S. resident.

 

 

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Review: Otherworld Nights by Kelley Armstrong

 

Otherworld Nights
(Otherworld Stories #3)
Kelley Armstrong
Release: October 28, 2014
Links Amazon Goodreads

Summary: Rare and never-before published short stories featuring fan favorites from the New York Times bestselling series.

It’s been more than ten years since Kelley Armstrong began the Otherworld series and drew legions of fans to a realm roamed by witches, werewolves, necromancers, vampires, and half-demons. Many of the novels have become bestselling favorites, but not all of the Otherworld adventures have been easy to find. At last, Otherworld Nights shares short stories that have previously been available only online or in obscure collections. Fans have long been clamoring for this anthology and they won’t be disappointed—they’ll find plenty of surprises are in store.

Review:
I hadn't read any of Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld books until Bitten started to air on SyFy. After the second episode I decided it just wasn't moving fast enough, so I would have to read the book. Because I have a pathological need to read a whole series at once, I went the author's website and printed out the reading order. It turns out there's A LOT more to this series than just the thirteen novels. The list with all the short stories and novellas is two pages long!

I ordered all the anthologies that the library system had, as well as the novellas that Armstrong publishes in limited batches every year. (Those novellas are illustrated and definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.) I did my best to read everything in timeline order, but I still missed several stories. Otherworld Nights is the first of a series of  three anthologies in which Armstrong is collecting all of that short fiction. It contains eight stories, two of which haven't been published before. Four of them feature Clay and Elena, three with their kids. It would get tedious to review each story, so I'm going to give you the highlights.

"Demonology" is one of the stories that hasn't appeared in a previous anthology. It tells the story of how Adam's mother Talia met his stepfather Robert Vasic, and how she found out about demons. The best part of this story is eight year old Adam. He's a half demon with the gift of fire just starting to develop his powers. It's fun to see him at that stage knowing what he'll grow up to be.

"Chivalrous" is Reese's backstory. He grew up on a farm in rural Australia where his parents were hiding out from the Australian pack who want them dead. While away a college he starts dating the alpha's daughter. When he finds out who she is he wants to get her out of the pack, but nothing goes according to his plan. This is a good story with a great twist at the end, but it's also kind of a downer.

"Lucifer's Daughter" is one of my favorites in the book. It features Hope and Karl attending a gala at the museum where they met. It celebrates the opening of an exhibit linking Hope's articles for True News with supernatural legends. The whole concept of an exhibit about tabloid journalism is hilarious, especially since we know Hope makes up most of the stories to hide the supernaturals from the human media.

Karl accidentally opens an artifact, releasing a demon who wants to prove his worth to Hope in order to gain her father's favor. Hope being worshipped as a demon princess is also hilarious, though the demon's plan to slaughter everyone at the gala is not. Hope and Karl have to get the demon back in his box before he can start killing and without getting caught by museum security. There's also a great little surprise at the end.

"Hidden" is one of the novellas that I've already read, but it's a really good one. Clay and Elena are spending Christmas at a cabin with their four year old twins. They meet a mutt in town who's acting suspicious. When Elena starts to investigate she discovers there may be a man-eater in town. So she has to try to balance investigating the mutts with spending time with her adorable but very demanding kids. The story is super-twisty with lots of surprises. But the best part is probably the kids and Elena's struggle to decide whether or not to tell them about werewolves. This one also ha a really sweet ending.

"Vanishing Act" is a new novella written for this anthology. In it Adam and Savannah try to help a teenaged teleporter being pursued by the Cabals. Some of the Cabal secrets that come out are pretty interesting and I wonder if they'll come up again in another novella. But the relationship drama they're dealing with just wasn't that compelling to me.

While there are certainly some stories in Otherworld Nights that are better than others, none of them are bad. Fans of the series will love this opportunity to revisit their favorite characters, especially Clay and Elena. I probably wouldn't recommend it for someone who hadn't started the books, though. Since these stories range from series prequel to prologue I think there would be too many spoilers.


Recommended for fans of: Clay and Elena, werewolves, witches and demons

Based on an ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

    

4  stars

Goldilox and the Three Scares Event and Giveaway: Chelsea Cameron!

Welcome!

Here at Goldilox and the Three Weres we LOVE Halloween! So we wrangled up some willing authors and put together some fun posts and giveaways for you all! 

Our theme for the event this year is What Scares You? 

Check back every weekday between October 20th and October 31st to see which authors are visiting and the awesomeness they are each giving away!

Today's author is:

Chelsea M. Cameron

 
  

Okay, Chelsea, what scares you?

I’ve made a decision. It should henceforth be illegal to post a picture of a spider on Facebook or twitter. Yes, this includes “cute” spiders, large spiders, spiders that have cool coloring, spiders from movies and anything dressed in a spider costume. And anything that remotely resembles a spider should be banned. BANNED, I TELL YOU.

I have no idea where my hatred/fear of spiders came from. When I was younger, Charlotte’s Web was my favorite movie. I used to catch spiders and keep them in jars as “pets.” I also did the same thing with grasshoppers, salamanders and snakes. My mother was so pleased. And then one day I was terrified of the crawly buggers. I nearly had a panic attack at a nature center because there was a tarantula in a tank across the room. I freak the hell out whenever I watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I would NEVER follow those damn spiders. No matter what.

Spiders aren’t bad creatures. They kill bugs, they make beautiful webs and they pretty much mind their own business. But I loathe them. LOATHE. I don’t like the way they crawl, I don’t like their hairy legs. God, I’m having heart palpitations just typing this.

I would love to get over my fear of spiders, but that would probably require immersion therapy. You know, where you expose yourself to the thing you fear until you’re not afraid of it. Hell to the no. I am perfectly fine being scared out of my mind for the rest of my life. Fear lets you know you’re alive.

So please, I beg you, if you know or love someone who’s arachnophobic, think before you post that picture of the gigantic spider you found in the drain this morning. Please.

I must confess that in searching online for a spider picture for the end of this post, I think I've caught Chelsea's fear of spiders...gross...

Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Enter below to win ebook copies of any THREE of Chelsea Cameron's books - winner's choice!

This giveaway is international as long as you can receive the ebook.

(Winner must be 13 or older)

All of the Goldilox and the Three Scares giveaways end at 11:59pm on November 7th!

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Goldilox and the Three Scares Event and Giveaway: Darynda Jones!

Welcome! 

 

Here at Goldilox and the Three Weres we love Halloween! So we wrangled up some willing authors and put together some fun posts and giveaways for you all!

 

Our theme for the event is What Scares You?

 

Check back every weekday between October 20th and October 31st to see which authors are visiting and the awesomeness they are each giving away!

 

Today's author is:

Darynda Jones

 

We're doing something a little different today since we're part of the blog tour for Seventh Grave and No Body, but there's a lot of scary stuff going on in Charley Davidson's life. So check out Seventh Grave and No Body and don't forget to vote for Goldilox and the Three Weres for Blog of the Day at the bottom of the page after the giveaway.

 

 

 

 Blurb

Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. So there’s that. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life.

 

A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.

We’re doomed.

Links

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Excerpt

In an act of desperation, I summoned Angel—a thirteen- year- old gang kid who’d died in the ’90s—my best investigator. But he’d been AWOL for a couple of weeks. Ever since I found out he wasn’t exactly who he said was. From the first time we’d met, he told me all about his family, how his mother was a hairdresser and had a shop with his aunt. He told me about his nieces and nephews, his uncles and cousins. And it had all been a lie. He’d been posing as his best friend, the one who’d died the same fateful night he did, and pretending his friend’s mother, along with her entire family, was his.

Who could blame him? He’d come from nothing. Grew up with nothing. Unfortunately, he thought that just being Angel— the precious boy I’d grown to love the way someone who’s grown numb to the pain of tattoos learns to love them— wasn’t enough. As though he could ever fall short in my eyes. He could be a royal pain in my donk, but he was family.

So, I understood why he did what he did. Deep down, he knew that— but he was embarrassed nonetheless and hadn’t come around for a while. I was trying not to force the issue, but I needed advice. And grim reaper info.

He popped into the backseat, one foot on the hump thing in the middle of the floorboard, an elbow propped onto his knee as he, too, stared out the window to pout. I had a lot of pouters today. I really wanted to say, A pouter’s a doubter, but couldn’t think of how it applied to this situation.

“Hey, mister,” I said, hoping to brighten the somber mood.

“Who’s the babe?” he asked without looking at me or Jessica.

She turned around, fuming with a spark of indignity until she spotted him. He had his usual bandanna headband worn low over his brow with a smattering of peach fuzz along his young jaw. He’d been on the verge of becoming a man. No, he’d become a man the night he stopped his best friend from fi ring into the house of a rival gang member by crashing the car they were in and killing them both.

Jessica chilled instantly. “That’s rude,” she said, facing front again.

“Sorry.”

“You haven’t been around much,” I said, looking at him in the rearview. “No complaints about how you were in the middle of one of your nieces’ birthday parties or at a quinceañera when I summoned you?”

“You know they aren’t my family.”

I pulled Misery over, even though we were only a couple of blocks from our destination. Turning in my seat, I nailed him with my best nurturing glower. “Angel, you heard what Mrs. Garza said. You were like a son to her, and she welcomed you into her life with open arms.”

And she had. Mrs. Garza, who’d been hoping the presence she was feeling was her son, was not terribly disappointed when it turned out to be her son’s best friend. She’d loved Angel. I could tell. But getting him to face that fact now could be difficult. Stubborn little shit.

 

Audio Excerpt

   

 

To read my review of Seventh Grave and No Body, scroll down or click here.

Meet Darynda Jones

NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious Golden Heart®, a Rebecca, two Hold Medallions, a RITA ®, and a Daphne du Maurier, and she has received stellar reviews from dozens of publications including starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and the Library Journal. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike, and she is ever so grateful for the opportunity to carry on that tradition. She currently has two series with St. Martin’s Press: The Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of almost 30 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. She can be found at www.daryndajones.com.

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Review: Seventh Grave and No Body by Darynda Jones

Seventh Grave and No Body
(Charley Davidson #7)
Darynda Jones
Release: October 21, 2014
Links Goodreads Amazon

Summary: Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. So there’s that. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life.

A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.

We’re doomed.

Review: Seventh Grave and No Body has all of the snark and humor that fans of the series expect from Charley Davidson. But she's also finally making an effort to act like a grown-up. She goes about it in typical slightly clueless Charley fashion, but I appreciate the effort. Her powers are growing as well and Charley learns a few new tricks in this one. She also adds to her entourage, as the demon known as The Dealer becomes a major player. I really enjoyed the frenemy tension between him and Reyes and I love getting see more of the supporting cast.

There's A LOT going on in this book. Charley starts out working a cold case with her FBI friend Agent Carson. Once she sets the FBI on the right trail though, she never finds out what happened and I felt left hanging a little bit. Two other plot threads get resolved really quickly and I wasn't completely satisfied. One of them ends with a character speculating about the answer, but we never find out if he was right. I really hate it when that happens! I'm wondering, though, if the characters involved will show up again in a later book.

Meanwhile, Charlie helps her Uncle Bob on a case where several people have left suicide notes, but their bodies weren't found. This might be the first time in this series where I've thought "Hey, that's where the title came from!" And Reyes has a stalker. Charley gets jealous over all the female attention he receives, which feeds into some other relationship drama. But she also finally realizes how all the attention makes him feel. And he actually talks about feeling something other than lust. (But don't worry, there's still plenty of lust and dirty talk from Mr. Farrow.) I think he's starting to feel a little more human, which is nice. I was surprised with the way those two plot elements were resolved and I kind of wanted to throttle Reyes.

There are a couple of developments in this book that are really bothering me. First, the Catholic Church gets involved in the story. Maybe that was inevitable given the devil and the demons were already there, but I don't like it. It's not that I have religious sensibilities to offend or anything. Anyone who does probably isn't going to read a book where the Grim Reaper is engaged to the son of Satan. I just have this fear of going down some kind of DaVinci Code rabbit hole and that makes me nervous.

Charley also learns some more about her true nature - what she was before she was born as a human. I appreciate that Jones is trying to explain more of the mythology, but I'm not sure how the new information fits with what Charley already knew. I feel like something doesn't add up and I wish Charley would have recapped. I'm also not sure how this part fits in with the angels and demons part of the story. But I'm pretty sure that it will all make sense eventually, despite my misgivings. I'm trusting you, Darynda. Don't let me down.

Fans of the series won't want to miss Seventh Grave. Something we've all been waiting for finally happens, right before the final gut-punch at the end. I'm so glad we only have to wait until May for the next one.


Recommended for fans of: Duct tape, Reyes Farrow, funny, sexy paranormals, angels and demons

    

4  stars

Goldilox's reviews of other books in this series:
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
Third Grave Dead Ahead
Second Grave on the Left