Monday, November 23, 2015

#SciFi Book Tour for The Argon Factor by Heather Harlow @HeatherMHarlow #Kindle

















Welcome to the Book Tour for Heather Harlow's The Argon Factor. This is an exciting, edge of your seat and action packed story about what could happen in our future if technology gets ahead of us. Already climbing the Sci-Fi and Fantasy charts it has reached both the #1 slots for Universe and Solar System. Oh and did we mention that there is an attraction in this story lurking just beneath the surface? Mark our words readers this is going to be a good one. So strap yourselves in, because this is your third stop on The Argon Factor book tour. 




In a futuristic world, where Earth’s cities are still recovering from being ravaged by gang wars, cyber crime is at it’s peak and threatens the world’s digitized monetary supply. 

Susan Caldwell is a newly hired security development manager at GTS, the company that controls the world’s monetary supply and data. The sophisticated systems have been hacked and now people on Susan’s team are being killed while they try to fix the breach. 

Susan, who trusts no man, must rely upon the GTS CEO, Christoph Baldric, to keep her safe. Little does she know that he’s the Argon alien commander on Earth. She’s not interested in him, doesn’t want a hookup with him, but is extremely attracted to him. Susan has her own plans and will be having a baby through the fertility clinic. She’s excited about her pending future, that is, if she is still alive. 

Christoph Baldric’s mission is to protect the Earth’s humans and nurture them so that eventually his people can merge with the humans. Christoph’s planet, Argon, was blown up when their major sun exploded into a black hole. The people of Argon have been studying and nurturing Earth for many millennia as a new, potential home. Now is the time to make Earth their home and begin merging with Earth’s humans, making both races stronger. 

But first, the Argonians must save Earth from the Grogan’s, the Argon nemesis from their home universe, Baldracon, who want to eliminate all life on Earth and take the planet for their own.


PG Excerpt

“You are in shock, and you need to get some rest,” he was saying, as she turned to look at him.

When she turned to face him to tell him she needed to stay at work, she looked into his eyes and forgot what she was going to say. He was so close to her, and he was still slowly rubbing her back with his hand. It felt so good, she didn’t want it to stop. And he was so close. Her heart sped up a bit as she wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. His lips looked so soft and inviting. Her sleep deprivation had lowered her basic defenses.

She was leaning into him – or was he leaning into her? She didn’t really care who was doing what when his lips met hers. She was lost in the feel of his kiss – and in the magnetic force that seemed to be fogging her mind and overwhelming Christoph.

… he couldn’t resist her and he couldn’t resist just tweaking their energy movements just a little bit. Unlike human men, who did this manipulation unconsciously and based purely on instinct, he was purposefully manipulating her. It wasn’t hard when her lips felt so good. He easily decided to probe deeper. He opened his mouth slightly, and her lips followed suit. He gently pushed his tongue into her mouth – again, she responded in kind.

When Christoph touched her tongue with his, she thought that her head was going to explode. The chemistry between them was amazing, and she wanted more. She wanted to feel him pressed against her. She unknowingly moved closer so that her body was touching his. At the same time, she encouraged him to pick up the pace of the kiss. He responded, and kissed her back with an urgency that she couldn’t help but reciprocate. She was intoxicated by him, and she pushed a little closer as she put her hands on his shoulders.



Heather Harlow has wanted to be an author since adolescence.  The Argon Factor is her first book in a series about aliens from the planet Argon.
She’s always been a fan of superheroes:  Batman and Robin, Spiderman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, and the Bionic Woman. She likes sci-fi movies and series, like Star Trek and Battle Star Galactica. More recently, she’s been enjoying the Avenger movies. In addition to her sci-fi interests, she’s a romantic.   Therefore, it was natural for her to write about science fiction and combine it with a human interest story that has sex and romance in it.

Heather graduated from University of Memphis (BBA) and Tennessee Technological University (MBA).  Her day job is in IT at a major telecommunications company.  She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her dogs, Mickey (13), a Golden Retriever, Jack (5mos), a black Lab/shepherd mix, and two cats, Smokey and Cali. She loves wine, good music, great food, the beach, swimming, exercising, football (college and NFL), World Cup Soccer, and NHL Playoffs.



Twitter: @heatherMharlow


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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Holiday fun, first up - Mulled Wine! #RB4U #MFRWauthor #RomFantasy

With the Holidays coming for so many of us, I thought I’d do something a little different for me, and share some cool recipes and legends that I’ve come across relating to Christmas and the season. The first item is this fabulous recipe for a treat that will warm you throughout the cold Winter season here in the Northern Hemisphere, an ages old traditional drink – Mulled Wine!

Mulled Wine is best served warm, bordering on hot, and here’s an old recipe for it:


750 ml (25 oz) bottle of full bodied Red Wine
1 cup clear Apple Cider or Cranberry Juice
4 Tbsp honey
2 fresh rosemary
3 cinnamon sticks
3 wholes star anise
3 whole cloves
3 whole peppercorns
1 medium orange, sliced

Slowly bring all ingredients to a near boil. Keep below a simmer for 20 minutes. If you won’t be serving immediately, keep the heat on warm until you’re ready to serve and enjoy. Garnish each glass with a sprig of Rosemary or a Cinnamon stick. There's lots of room for improvising to suit your personal taste with this one, of course, so indulge and enjoy!

Later in the week, I’m going to share the legend of the Christmas stocking!


4 comments:

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Silver Belles and Stetsons Western #Romance Christmas Anthology #99cents #Cowboys


Welcome to Sensuous Promos Book Tour for Silver Belles and Stetsons. This holiday boxed set features ten novellas by Amazon best selling and Award-Winning Authors and will be available for only a limited time.


Bestselling and Award-winning authors bring you ten western romance novellas featuring alpha-cowboys from the past. This boxed set will take you back in time when men were rugged and handsome and the women who loved them courageous and daring. 


The Greatest Gift: A Montana Cowboy Christmas by Kathleen Ball. Amazon Bestselling and Award- Wining Author. Looking for the man who ran out on her, Ginger finds a cowboy worthy of love but he doesn't want or need love. 

Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can Celia restore the town's Christmas spirit? "A beautifully written story about love and hope and all the emotions Christmas brings out in people." Karren Lucas 

Catherine’s Cowboy by Cait Braxton, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. During a supernatural dust storm, Fate steps in when rugged army tracker Elam helps Catherine deliver her child. 

Angel and the Texan from County Cork by Carra Copelin. Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Does Angel trust marriage to the man she suspects of killing her husband or the stranger who promises to pay off her debt and set her free if she decides their marriage of convenience won’t work? 

The Drifter’s Proposal by Kristin Holt, Amazon Bestselling Author. The baker's man is home for Christmas... "Compelling. Heartwarming. Tender." ~Diane Darcy, USA Today Bestselling Author 

The Perfect Gift by Lyn Horner, Award-winning author. Friendship has blossomed into young love, but it seems destined to die on the vine...until an unexpected Christmas gift promises happiness. 

Marshal Mistletoe by Susan Horsnell. She married the wrong man. Will fate intervene? 

Christmas Redemption by Paty Jager, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives? "A story of forgiveness that has a wonderful hero who has worked hard to redeem himself." 

A Hard Candy Christmas by Hebby Roman, Amazon Bestselling Author. Two damaged souls. Can their budding love and the healing power of Christmas bring them together? 

Christmas Cowboy by Margaret Tanner. Will a miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls, or will it forever keep them apart?

If purchased separately you’d pay at least 75% more than the steal of a deal you’re getting at the 99cent price point that this set is offered at. So get your copy from Amazon before it’s too late!




Be sure to visit the other stops in this tour, by using the schedule below: 

Sensuous Promos 11/16 

Nicole Morgan 11/16 

Andrew Jericho 11/17

Get Cozy 11/17 

Darkest Cravings 11/18 

Fantasy Pages 11/18

The Book Pub 11/19
http://thebookpub.blogspot.com/

All my Book Finds 11/19 

Nic’s Book Nook 11/20

Michelle Roth 11/20 

Nicki Day 11/21

Bound by Passion 11/22

Taylor Brooks 11/23

Kelsie Belle 11/23
https://kelsiebelle.wordpress.com/kelsiebelle

Author Nikki Noffsinger 11/23
http://nikkitrueblue.blogspot.com/ 

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Monday, November 16, 2015

The World Has Changed - Living with Dementia #RB4U #MFRWauthor @ARewordingLife

About a year ago, a wonderful lady named Sheryl Gordon approached me about contributing to a special project called A Rewording Life. As part of approximately 1000 talented Canadian contributors, I'm happy to tell you she is now releasing this amazing book dedicated to raising money for Alzheimer's and Dementia research. The book is available now at Amazon, so please spread the word for this very worthy cause, as some of you know, my mom suffered her last few years with dementia, so this is a special book for me to be part of for many reasons. Sheryl's original plan included essays from some of the contributors, and I volunteered to write one. In the end, the book's format changed, so I thought I'd share that essay here before telling you were you can purchase this book.

The World Has Changed

Onset Dementia…Alzheimer’s Disease… probably two of the scariest diagnoses anyone can hear. A few years ago, I heard this prognosis for my mother, a vibrant, smart, very vocal and active woman. She had suffered a second delirium in a six month period, primarily as a result of medical errors, and it made her highly susceptible to the onset of dementia in the coming years. Four years later, she is, in fact, suffering from dementia. Watching this rather amazing woman struggle with what is happening to her is both heartbreaking and terrifying to me. At first, she was able to speak, understand, and look after herself. She had come home from a two month hospital stay, and we were grateful. I knew even then she would never again be the woman I had known my entire life.

Fifty years of marriage, three children, and a life devoted to her family. That was my mother. My dad died mere weeks before their fiftieth anniversary, and for her, I think life ended in many ways then. She was never able to get over his passing, and five years later suffered a delirium that doctors initially believed was a stroke. I knew better, I’d lived with her all my life, and I watched this happen over the course of months, unable to change what was happening or counter it. As a caregiver for a dementia patient, one of the most difficult realities you have to accept is that you cannot take on the guilt for what’s happened. I didn’t do this through any neglect, even if it sometimes felt like I should have been able to do more to prevent it. That’s not true, and it took me a while to understand it.

As the illness began to make itself known, Mom struggled for simple words when attempting to converse with people. Some put that down to age, she was seventy eight when this began. Her frustration was palpable, and it manifested in anger, which is not really surprising. The first noticeable losses for Mom came in the form of words eluding her, then came the inability to write, she literally forgot how to even sign her name. Following this, the loss of basic motor skills started. My mom loved her cup of tea, and she still does, but now it has to be half a cup, because in the middle of enjoying it, she can forget how to hold the cup, and it spills. She cries, and is bewildered by what is happening. She is also terrified in her moments of clarity because she remembers what’s happened, and knows she can’t control it or stop it.

I knew we had lost more ground when she started telling me she wanted to go home, that she was afraid. She and my father bought this small bungalow home forty-six years ago, and it is the only home we ever had. She can’t tell me what scares her, why she’s afraid, or where she thinks home is, she just looks around, frightened and alone. Her entire world has changed, even though everything is as it’s always been. She remembers the past, but can’t remember what she said five minutes ago.

I’ve watched as she walks the floor all night long, and can’t explain why she won’t stay in bed, or what she wants. In her exhaustion, her speech deteriorates further, until she is speaking gibberish that no one can understand. She knows it, though, and again, it triggers rage or despair, and they are equally damaging.

This is year five, my mom can no longer talk for more than a few sentences at a time, and she struggles to get that much out in understandable language. She has lost interest in everything, and doesn’t even want a television on around her. Music comforts, occasionally, but it’s never predictable if it will annoy her or relax her mood. Any sudden noise brings out anger. She can’t speak to my sister on the telephone, even to say hello. She requires constant supervision, and assistance to even go to the bathroom. This is how dementia steals a life, not just from the patient, but those who love the patient. My mother died in many ways, five years ago. I see glimpses of her, and those days are the blessings. She laughs, and even if she can’t communicate clearly, she tries hard to talk and be the way she used to be. Those are the days when she enjoys life again. They are becoming fewer as time passes.

Soon, I know, there will be almost nothing left of the woman I call my mother. Just a small, fragile lady who is lost in a darkness nothing can banish. The one place she felt safe is no longer home because she doesn’t recognize it a lot of the time. Little by little, the world has become a foreign place for her, and I’ve had to watch it and be helpless to change things. When she can express herself, albeit awkwardly and with many efforts to be understood, she tells me she wishes she was dead, and I know she means it. There is just enough cognizance for her to know she’s lost her life, and it won’t ever be hers again. How can anyone combat an illness that steals minute by minute, day by day, eroding all that is familiar and safe?

If there is only one thing that people need to learn and know, it’s this–you are not responsible for the illness or the effects it has, and guilt serves no one. No one person can fix a life that is being taken away from a dementia sufferer, stop trying, you’ll only kill yourself with the effort, and it will change nothing. The behaviour you’ll witness at times is so out of character, so opposite to what you know and expect, you’ll be taken aback by it. The verbal abuse is swift and remorseless because it’s forgotten moments later, and there is no awareness that anything mean or nasty was said. No one should have to live this way, but dementia creates more than one victim, and that is another basic reality.

Now, I treasure the good days, the days she laughs with us, and remembers who she is, but part of me knows this is the illusion. I know the good days are numbered, and will soon be the rarity, not the normal course of life. No amount of love in the world can make a happy ending once dementia arrives, and all you can do is cherish the world that was, and try to give comfort to the shifting moods and fears of the new world a dementia sufferer lives in.

On October 3rd, 2015 my mother succumbed to the disease that was slowly taking her away from us, and I cherish the years we had together. I know she is in a better place now, and no longer struggles or is afraid.

Also in Large Print

With A Rewording Life, Sheryl Gordon brings clarity to obscure words, collaborates with over a thousand cool Canadians (Yann Martel, Jane Urquhart, Terry Fallis, Miriam Toews, Wayson Choy, Sass Jordan, Colin Mochrie, et al.), and raises money for dementia research. When Ms. Gordon saw her mother, Yolande, lose her words to dementia, she understood like never before that words have meaning. To honour her mom, she asked Canadians who make her life more rewarding to pen an indelible sentence for an abstruse, bemusing, or convoluted word; she chose words she tends to forget. She hopes to harness these scintillating sentences to help eradicate dementia. Interwoven amongst the plethora of contributions are eight heartfelt essays written by Ms. Gordon. The initial letters of her essay titles (a, d, e, i, m, n, t, e) spell dementia. She hopes readers can embrace this scattered concept. Confusion is, after all, the nature of this disease.

Also in Large Print

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Monday, November 09, 2015

New #Teen #PNR Release from @SDWasleyAuthor and @EvernightTeen + character interview #Urban #Fantasy

  
Release Date: November 6, 2015
Published by Evernight Teen
YA Urban Fantasy



“I longed for normality. Even our own, off-the-wall brand of normality.” 

She’s finally got things together. Mimi’s dating a hot guy and has a place in the school’s Gifted Program with her awesome friends. Yes, she still attracts the dead. But there’s only one ghost these days, and he doesn’t seem to have an awful lot to say. 

Just when Mimi’s life is looking pretty good for the first time in years, the unthinkable happens ... one of the seven gifted teens is torn from their close-knit group. The unity of their circle shattered, things begin to go terribly wrong. It’s ruining their focus—and with the threat of the Astarion cult growing stronger each day, the gifted seven need all the focus they can muster. 

In The Seventh, Mimi found her place in a circle of seven extraordinary teenagers. In The Rift, she must face what happens when the circle of seven is broken.




Let’s get to know Drew Ellery, the leading man in The Rift ~


Name: Drew Ellery
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Profession: High school student
One word that describes me: Private
My biggest weakness: Sometimes I don’t speak up when I should.
My best trait: Good with words. And the other kids say I have leadership skills or whatever.
That one person I cannot get out of my mind: Mimi













S.D. Wasley was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She has been composing literary works since before she could write – at five years of age she announced her first poem in the kitchen, improv-style. About 20 years later she earned a PhD in communications. She writes in a range of genres including young adult, paranormal, mystery, new adult romance, and literary short stories.

Her debut novel was published in early 2015 through Evernight Teen, and her first adult paranormal romance will be released on January 7, 2016. Today, she lives and writes in a wine region with her partner and two daughters, surrounded by dogs, cats and chickens.


Website/blog: https://sdwasley.com/




11/6  Teen and Young Adult Romance

11/6  Nic’s Book Nook

11/7  All My Book Finds
11/7  The Book Pub

11/8  Seeing Stars

11/8  Get Cozy

11/9 Margaret Taylor

11/9 Fantasy Pages

11/10 Nikki True Blue Fantasy

11/10  Teen and Young Adult Romance 

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