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Winners of Battle Cry #KindleScout Nov. 2014 #Giveaway!

And the winners are...

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BATTLE CRY submitted to #Kindle #Scout #Giveaway

Hello! My name is Melissa Snark, and I'm a fantasy and romance author. If I could have a moment of your time, I'd like to ask for your help as a reader. Please consider nominating my Norse folklore fantasy novel Battle Cry on Kindle Scout.

Amazon's new publishing program is called Kindle Scout, an innovative platform that

provides readers with a sneak peek at unreleased books as well as the opportunity to have a say in what gets chosen. The timing of Scout was amazing. The announcement came just as I neared completion of my novel. The terms being offered are attractive. As a publisher, Amazon has as much clout as one of the traditional publishers. This simply seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass on, so I submitted Battle Cry for consideration.

Per the FAQ: How does Kindle Scout benefit readers?
Kindle Scout readers get to preview new, never-before-published books and influence which ones are made available to millions of readers on Amazon. In addition, any time a reader's nomination gets published, they will receive a free copy.

I appreciate your support!  To nominate Battle Cry, you only need to be logged into your Amazon account. You can head over to the Kindle Scout website and view Battle Cry's profile page. If you like what you see, please consider voting for Battle Cry.  Thank you so much!

  

Nominate BATTLE CRY to Kindle Scout

WINNING GLORY for #Kindlescout @anngimpel #romance

Winning Glory

GenTech Rebellion, Book 1

By Ann Gimpel

Genre: Romantic suspense with a science fiction overlay

The line between hunter and hunted thins, blurs, and finally disappears.

Nominate Winning Glory Kindle Scout Link – Active from 10/29-11/28

Blurb:

Black ops CIA Agent, Roy Kincaid, hunts genetically modified humans who escaped from the labs that spawned them, savaging their keepers. When a striking woman crosses his path on a bitterly cold night, he never imagines she’s one of the rebels. Part waif, part runway model, she arrows straight into his heart.

Injured and freezing, Glory’s flat out of options. Sensing Roy is dangerous, she pushes into his mind and discovers he hunts those like her. Maybe she can fool him, just for tonight. If she’s lucky, he’ll never find out she’s on the run from the same people he’s targeted for death.

Excerpt:

…“Dessert, hon?” The waitress sidled back over to him, and Roy realized he was her only customer.

“Sure. What do you have?”

She rattled off a series of pies and cakes. He chose apple pie with a scoop of ice cream, and she left with his dinner plate. Roy slumped against the chair. He had to keep going. No choice. Not really. A good night’s sleep, coupled with the first adequate meal he’d had in a couple days might make a big difference in his attitude. At least he hoped they would.

Scene Spotlight: BEARLY HANGING ON by Lynn Red #PNR #Romance

From NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY best-selling author Lynn Red comes a steamy, sensual, seductively hilarious shifter romance!

Publisher: Yellow Moon Press, LLC       

Date Publishers: 11/4/14

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Word Count: ~70000

Jamie Ampton is a sharp-tongued, pointy-toothed, vampy shifter with a penchant for neatly done-up hair buns and a habit of attracting EXACTLY the wrong sort of guy. Guys with a dash of arrogance, a pinch of cocky swagger turn her head... but when her last one turned out to be more “self-important jackass” and less “gruff and strong and takes what he wants,” it left her cold.

So to speak.

Ryan Drake has a dark past and a mysterious present. When he shows up demanding the town alpha do his part to care for Jamesburg’s aging shifters, the first thing Jamie notices is that her heart starts beating a little quicker. The second is a knot in the pit of her stomach. And then, before she can catch her breath, he stares straight into her eyes.

She’s never been one for the big, loud, muscled-up types, but in the space of two breaths, the elegantly detached Jamie finds herself falling for a bear.

Little does Jamie know that before he stomped into that courtroom, Ryan decided that nothing was gonna stop him from getting what he wanted. But, once he saw Jamie? 

Suddenly there were two things that this massive blue-eyed alpha bear were going to have, no matter what it took: help for his friends... and Jamie. 

And Ryan? Ryan is one bear who ALWAYS takes what he wants.

***The Jamesburg Shifters is a series of standalone novels each with a unique hero and heroine, and HEA! No cliffhangers here – the stories can be enjoyed in any order you like, though once you start, you might not want to stop!***

Buy links:

Amazon

B&N 

Are

smash

Apple

The Scene

Ryan’s gaze was so hot on her skin that she felt every breath, every thump of her heart. She was flustered, she was irritated at herself, but damn if she couldn't taste his lips without him even kissing her. She was burning hot, and wanting to feel him against her skin, to see if he wanted her as much as she did him.

And when he finally grabbed her shoulder, she knew. Those fingers, warm, strong, gripping her like velvet iron. She knew he felt the same thing, no matter how hard he was going to fight it.

He left his hand there for just a second before pulling it away, but even when it was gone, she felt the ghostly vibration of his heat on her skin. Ryan shook his head, slowly. "They need food more than I need..."

"Me?" she asked. "I can see it in your eyes. I felt it just now."

He turned away. "I can't," he whispered. "Not until I know they're safe. Not until--"

"You're a coward," Jamie said, coldly. "A beautiful, big-hearted, incredibly sweet, giant coward. You know what you're feeling. I know what I'm feeling, and I'm a big old wimp too, because I just let you turn away."

"You know what I am," Ryan said shortly. "You know who I am."

"I do?" she asked, stepping forward and grabbing Ryan. "The only thing I know about you is that you're willing to give up your whole life to help people, no matter what it takes. That's literally all I know about you, but for some reason, you got under my skin."

He chuffed a laugh, dismissively. "So you don't know me, but you're willing to make wild generalizations about my personality?"

There it was, Jamie saw, the grin from earlier. That cocky, slightly smug, absolutely disarming grin. She couldn't stand it, but every time he did that, it made her realize her own weakness. She recognized it, but had no idea where it came from, or why it was for him that she had these feelings.

The two of them stared at each other for a second, Jamie coming to grips with herself, and Ryan apparently wrestling with the same thing, judging from the way he kept moving his hand like he wanted to touch hers, but then backing away. Finally, he did, he laid his hand on top of hers, and let a grin crack his face. The corners of his eyes turned down as he squinted, slightly.

There it is, Jamie thought. His wall is cracking.

And for just a second, it did. The look on his face was pure. She could feel the passion radiating from his hand on top of hers, and then just like before, he clenched his eyes, smile lines wrinkling them at the corners. He shook his head and looked away before he opened them again.

"I need you to meet someone," he said.

"I shouldn't," Jamie started, but trailed off for a moment. "I shouldn't interfere with your life."

He turned back, one eyebrow cocked. "Who’s the coward now?" he challenged. "You're willing to talk about wanting to help these people, but you won't even meet them?"

The words stung. They bit deep, but underneath it all, Jamie knew he was right. She'd watched both her parents grow old and die, and it broke her heart. For a long, long time, she couldn't face reality. Her two years away from Jamesburg, to take care of them, were the hardest of her life, and when she returned, she was different. Everyone noticed, everyone asked, but she'd never let anyone in. She couldn't stand the fact that she'd gotten... scared.

Scared? Is that all it was? Was it just fear? Or was it seeing a little bit of that weakness they showed at the end... in myself?

"Come on," Ryan said, grabbing her hand.

It felt so good to hold his hand, although he was just leading her. This wasn't the sort of hand holding that happened at Sandra Bullock movies, or in the back of a car on a deserted road overlooking a river. But she wanted it to be so badly, and still, she didn't understand her own desire.

Explain what's happening in the scene (the conflict) if it's not immediately evident.

LYNN SAYS:

This is the first scene where the two main characters get into it with each other. They’ve had a couple short romantic interludes, and fooled around a little, but this is the scene where Jamie – who works for the town of Jamesburg – has to confront the fact that she’s falling in love with a thief, no matter how noble his cause.

Ryan, for his part, is stuck in the past, not wanting to get her involved and possibly hurt – and at the same time, he’s protecting himself from the possible pain of loss.

Explain what you really love (or hate) about the scene.

LYNN SAYS:

We’ve all been there.

The first time you really get to know someone, their good and their bad, and everything in between. It doesn’t much matter that Jamie’s a vampire and Ryan’s a werebear – they both have to come to terms with the same thing we’ve all had to deal with.

A partner we love, but something about them is something we can’t reconcile... but as we all know, you don’t get to pick who your heart falls in with.

And then there’s the background of both of them still hanging on to a few secrets – not necessarily because they don’t trust the other, but because they just can’t deal with letting everything go at once. I can’t count how many times I’ve been there!

What inspired the scene?

LYNN SAYS:

Like with most of what I do, it’s hard to draw direct “influences” from something else. All my characters and all my stories, are adaptations of my own experiences, or the lives of my friends and family.

Which... uh, probably says a lot about the people I know!

But this particular book, and this scene in particular, was exaggerated (wildly. WILDLY exaggerated!) from the story of two of my best friends meeting under vaguely similar circumstances. Although she’s not a vampire, and he’s not a werebear – he sort of is a regular bear – I remember her calling me pretty late one night, and venting about the experience that became this scene.

In reality, it was a lot less dramatic, and a lot less illegal, but the two of them had a tremendous difference of heart and mind, and butted heads over it for a LONG time. It all worked out though! They’re still hitched.

AUTHOR BIO:  .

LYNN RED is a former history professor who got so caught up in her own world that she couldn’t handle the politics of academia. So, she took a wild, ridiculous leap into a world she’d always loved – paranormal romance.

Now she’s a full time author who lives with her husband, two kids, a corgi and a pit bull in the north Florida jungle. When she’s not writing, and it’s not too hot, you can almost always find her reading outside with one or more of the above mentioned family members trying to get her attention!

lynn.red.romance@gmail.com

facebook.com/lynn.red.946

lynnred.com

newsletter: http://eepurl.com/G1q2X

State of the Snarkology: November 18, 2014

I'm supposed to be taking the next few weeks off blogging with the expectation that the holidays, editing schedules, and children home on vacation will severely impact my time and stress levels. Also, The Snarkology will be moving off Blogger and onto Wordpress sometime in the next few weeks. (Fingers crossed Mr. Snark can help me.)

My new URL will be: http://www.thesnarkology.com/

Breaking from blogging is easier said than done. Not having guests is difficult. My blog feels empty if I don't have new posts up there every day. I'm not sure whether it's a habit or an addiction, but slowing down and stepping back is harder than it sounds.

There's a lot going on in my author life right now. I want to do a status post to bring my friends and readers up to speed.

1. If you haven't heard yet, I delayed the release of Battle Cry to enter it into Kindle Scout. I've got a lengthy post on it here, including an explanation about what Scout is and how it benefits both my career and my readers. I hope you'll take a moment and consider nominating Battle Cry if you haven't already. Thank you!

2. Farah Evers Designs is currently producing an audio book of A Cat's Tale voiced by Lilah Harding. I'm optimistic it will be released before Christmas. I'll do my best to obtain an audio sample to share.

3. I've completed a 30,000 word draft of Valkyrie's Vengeance, the expanded version of The Child Thief, which is currently with a couple trusted beta readers. Once editing it complete, I'd love to release it to ebook at approximately the same time Battle Cry becomes available. I have plans for an audio version to follow.

4. Mated Hearts, the working title for a sequel to The Mating Game, is my planned project for December. It will be my first attempt at a Male/Male erotica story. I'm excited to be returning to Robert Blane, Alpha of the Iron Stone Pack, so his character arc can continue to expand.

5. My plan for 2015 will include a focus on novellas. I have a number of titles that I've started and want to finish, including the Viking Love Slave trilogy, The King's Late Watch, Hell on High Heels, and at least one more novella set in my Loki's Wolves verse. If audio book production proceeds smoothly, I'd love to release audio versions of all my stories eventually.

#Snarkyreads: A Twitter Review of TO CATCH A WOLF by Lynn Red Chapters 8-9

I bought Lynn Red's Jamesburg shifters trilogy with my own money. I wasn't asked to review it and I didn't ask permission. Twitter posts are sent as I'm reading or soon after I've read and represent my honest, unfiltered reaction to the story.


Chapters 1-3.

Chapters 4-7.

#snarkyreads #amreading TO CATCH A WOLF by Lynn Red. Ch. 8 Great plot progression. Love the hedgehog. #Romance #PNR
— Melissa Snark (@MelissaSnark) November 18, 2014

#Animation -- the future of book #cover #promotion? @FEversDesigns

This is really cool so I asked Farah Evers permission to reblog her original post located here.

A good book cover speaks for itself. That's granted. But what if you can have a unique pre-release cover reveal, or a brilliant promotional tool that represents your book in a most captivating way? FED is proud to present this new service. We can make the impossible possible by animating your cover and bringing it to life with various visual effects.

I played around with my cover to demonstrate how that might look. I must say, I really do love it. I'm afraid regular ebook covers will soon be regarded as dull when this trend takes off. Be the first to use this powerful tool to promote your book and catch your reader's interest.

Without further delay, here's an example using my very own ebook cover:

What do you think? Would you like to see your cover come to life too? Leave a comment below, let us know.

#Snarkyreads: A Twitter Review of TO CATCH A WOLF by Lynn Red Chapters 4-7

I bought Lynn Red's Jamesburg shifters trilogy with my own money. I wasn't asked to review it and I didn't ask permission. Twitter posts are sent as I'm reading or soon after I've read and represent my honest, unfiltered reaction to the story.


Chapters 1-3.

#snarkyreads #amreading TO CATCH A WOLF by Lynn Red. Ch. 4 Okay, looks like hero is a standup guy after all. @Romance #PNR
— Melissa Snark (@MelissaSnark) November 15, 2014

Book Review: HER PURRFECT MATCH by Milly Taiden #Giveaway #Romance

Paranormal Dating Agency Book 3 (STANDALONE)

Alyssa Moran is tired of being the old cat lady with no man. She has very specific needs and goes to visit Mrs. Wilder at the Paranormal Dating Agency. Shockingly enough, she is promised a man who likes cats, wants kids, likes curves and will be wild in bed.

Grayson Green needs a mate. Fast. But he refuses to be pushed into anything. That is, until a curvy funny woman shows up in his territory saying she’s there for him. Who is he to argue when someone as delectable as Alyssa decides she wants to give herself to him?

Of course, not all is at it seems and some people want Alyssa gone and Gray dead. If Gray mates, the future of his pride will be sealed and no one can argue his place as leader. Unless it can be stopped before they ever get a chance to make some cubs. He will have to work hard at convincing a human she’s the only one for him or lose his pride and his mate.

Reader Note: This book contains scorching sex (the kind that will make you sweat and need ice cream), adult language (he's a very dirty talker and we like it), and violence. If this is not the kind of stuff you like to read, skip this book. However, if you like dirty, raunchy sex with a growly tiger on one funny curvy girl, then this is right up your alley. Enjoy!

Book Review: HER CHRISTMAS COWBOY by Adele Downs #Romance #Giveaway

“You can’t go wrong with Adele Downs.” ~Will Work for Books

HER CHRISTMAS COWBOY by Adele Downs

A .99 Lunchbox Romance short story from Boroughs Publishing Group.

Tragedy brought them together, but joy met them on the other side.

Available from:

Amazon

SMASHWORDS

ARe

Excerpt:

Clearly, the man had no concept of his effect on her.

When Daisy pulled up to Trey’s house and saw him standing at the base of the steps to greet her in nothing but low slung denims and work boots, she’d found it hard to breathe. Suddenly, Jack Frost and his Pennsylvania winter lost their appeal. Who needed snow when a smokin’ hot cowboy waited for her? Welcomed her? Wanted her?

If she hadn’t come to Houston, she wouldn’t have met the handsome ranch hand who filled her dreams night after night. Trey had become her single compelling reason to work through her personal pain. That and the fact that she’d never give up police work. She’d find a way to succeed, one way or another. It was hard for a cop to be flexible, since theirs was a structured world, but she was trying her best to adapt to her new environment.