I’ve got one last giveaway to round out the launch of Fen’s new series. Click here to check out my Goodreads giveaway of one signed paperback copy of Half Wolf. Good luck!
Author: Aimee Easterling (Page 24 of 30)
I caught an exhibit of Lillian Trettin‘s work recently and couldn’t resist sharing this intricate collage depicting a shapeshifting witch. Since a lot of Trettin’s work is based on Native American and Appalachian folklore, I suspect this is meant to depict skinwalkers —- the Native American version of shapeshifters. What do you think?
I’m taking part in a second multi-author promotion this week. This one is just as full of great reads as the other…plus today’s promo includes a giveaway where you can win an kindle if you’re so inclined. Here are my top picks from the reading list, just in case you need some guidance in choosing between so many options:
Dreamwalkers by S.M. Schmitz — This is such a fascinating, well-written book…and I’m afraid to tell you anything about it for fear of spoiling the enticing twists. Suffice it to say that it reminded me of The Time Traveler’s Wife, one of my all-time favorite books. It’s free in KU or on sale for 99 cents through the end of today.
I Bring the Fire Part I : Wolves by C. Gockel — This is a FREE and very solid first installment in a series about Norse gods returning to modern American society.
I’ve also downloaded another half-dozen or so books to explore later but didn’t want post after the deals run out. Enjoy!
The astute reader probably recalls that book two in the Alpha Underground series was originally going to be titled Packless. But I asked my Shifter Secrets subscribers what they thought of the title…and got a big thumbs down.
Luckily, those kind readers countered their criticism with dozens of awesome alternatives. I mulled over the suggestions, narrowed it down to four (that was hard!) and have a poll up now asking for your feedback.
I hope you’ll take a minute and click a button to let me know which title would be more likely to make you pick up a book by an author you didn’t know. Thanks in advance for helping break me out of decision paralysis so I can go back to writing!
This month’s group promo is very heavy on the high-quality books, and every title is FREE. Of the authors I’ve read, I can 100% recommend to you:
- Lindsay Buroker’s Balanced on the Blade’s Edge — I might have recommended this book here before. If not, let me just say this is a standalone romance that also begins a series of interconnected semi-standalones. The world-building is unique and intriguing, the characters are top notch, and I still remember the plot approximately 20 books later. (That last point is a ringing endorsement given my memory and speed reading habits….)
- Ruby Lionsdrake’s Mercenary Instinct — Pure swashbuckling space opera fun. Also a standalone romance despite being the first book in a series. (The whole series is delicious too.)
- C.J. Archer’s The Medium — This book is such a delightful combination of the Victorian era, ghosts, and a light romance. Warning: cliffhanger ending, but didn’t make me want to throw the book across the room.
- Seven Against the Dark — This seven-book box set is extremely high quality (although the second book has a maddening cliffhanger — maybe skip that one).
And those are just the offerings where I’ve read the specific book in question — several other of the included authors have wowed me with different titles in the past. With nearly 100 free books to choose from, it would be hard to go wrong…unless you dilly dally and miss the two-day event. So check them out now!
I celebrated hitting the USA Today bestseller list by adding the tag to all of my covers. And, while I was at it, I upgraded the Wolf Rampant paperback covers from the old version to these new beautiful designs by Rebecca Frank.
This photo doesn’t quite do them justice — I’m not good enough at photography to get a good shot of glossy covers with inside lighting. But trust me, they’re so pretty I lined them up and stared at them for a full minute murmuring “My precious.”
But finally I had to force myself to put them away. After all, Fen is currently in figurative hot water and needs to find a way to swim to shore. Back to work on Packless!
Want to stay up to date on new releases and periods when my books are free or on sale? Or perhaps you’d just like to download your FREE starter library, consisting of ebook copies of Shiftless and The Complete Bloodling Serial? Then click “signup” at the top of the page, input your name and email address, and we’ll get those freebies out to you right away. Thanks for staying in touch!
Don’t have KU and don’t have three bucks to buy Half Wolf? You can also enter to win a copy in this Amazon Giveaway. Good luck!
And if you don’t win, please consider sharing with your friends — maybe they’ll win a copy and will then lend it to you when they’re done. (Or you could do what my brother does and just “borrow” the book from them as soon as they fall asleep at night. Boy was I glad when our genre tastes started to diverge!)
When I see things like these wooden wolf teeth in a Native American exhibit at a local museum, my immediate question is “Why?” What kind of legend makes wolf teeth so valuable that people would take the time to carve replicas out of wood and the coat them with precious copper?
Luckily, the internet is a mere click away. Pow Wows or the Long Lost Friend by Hohman suggests that Native Americans carried wolf teeth for various reasons. The teeth were believed to protect the bearer from unkind words and to create a wolf-like loyalty within a family. And if someone dared to steal from you, all you had to do was tuck your wolf tooth under your pillow at night and you’d dream out the thief’s identity.
It’s easy to see how actual wolf’s teeth would give way to wooden wolf’s teeth as the native canines were hunted to extinction in the eastern U.S. I guess the real question from an author’s point of view is — if I embed a picture of a wolf’s tooth into each of my books, will the titles in question no longer receive one-star reviews?
I have a love-hate relationship with the romance novel. On the plus side, the genre is, by definition, full of character-driven stories — my favorite kind. On the downside, most romance novels leave me feeling like I gorged on cheap Halloween chocolate — sweet in the instant but more prone to leave me with a tummy ache than that happy book glow I’m going for.
Enter Laura Florand. Florand is on the very short list of authors whose books I’m willing to pay full price for. Her characters are perfect, but her settings and writing are even more engaging. For example, her Amour and Chocolat series is set in Paris and each hero is a top chocolate chef. From the first page, I was completely sucked into the high-action world of Michelin starred restaurants along with the intricate art form that chocolate becomes in that environment. The books are all standalone, so you can read them in any order — I recommend either starting at the beginning (The Chocolate Thief) or with my favorite (The Chocolate Temptation).
Or, if you don’t want to ruin your appetite with sweets, Florand’s La Vie en Roses series is nearly as good. Actually, I felt like the first book in the series — Once Upon a Rose — was even better than the chocolate books. I’m not a perfume fan, but the idea of a valley of rose bushes grown for careful harvest by the scent industry was immensely vivid and fascinating.
I’ll admit up front that Florand’s books aren’t cheap. But they’re worth every penny! I save them to be savored when I really need a boost and always come away feeling that I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!