Book Thoughts on Thursday: The Ghost, Christine Rains

Book Thoughts on Thursday is somewhere that I like to share with you all some of the books I've been reading lately, and why I liked them. Not officially reviews per se, but nevertheless they may inspire you to pick up something new.

 

 

This week:

The Ghost, Christine Rains

A friendly warning: Although not intentional, I may give away some aspects of the story that you may not want revealed. I know I hate it when spoilers ruin my experience of a story, so feel free to halt your reading here until you've read it for yourself.
Then you can come back to see if you share my thoughts!

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Chiharo Black lives with six supernatural tenants in a haunted building's mysterious thirteenth floor. Of course, no one knows she's there except the cats. Being a ghost can be a bit frustrating and lonely, but it isn't as bad as her mother made it out to be.

 
Until another ghost intrudes on her territory. Jeremy Emerson wants revenge on the vampire that killed him and won't stop until he has it. To top it off, a nightmarish shade sneaks in and leeches the energy from the building's residents before setting its sights on Chiharo and the thirteenth floor. She can't decide which one is more frightening: the one wanting to eat her soul or the one who might win her heart.

 
Chiharo must convince Jeremy to stand with her against the hellish parasite. If they cannot work together, the greedy fiend will not only drain their energy but everything that supports the thirteenth floor's existence.

 

 

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The Ghost was a wonderful conclusion to The 13th Floor Series. Not an actual resident of the floor, Chiharo roamed the entire building in which she has been trapped since her murder.

 

When we first meet her, she is contemplating her existence in a world where she cannot communicate with or even be seen by others.  This triggered something within me that made me wonder quite how would someone cope with this kind of solitary confinement, which it is as good as in every sense.

To be alone with only your own thoughts which you cannot share with another, drifting from one floor to the next and observing all of the lives around her without ever being able to be included in any of them. This is surely enough to send anyone crazy. But somehow she has coped.

 

The introduction of Jeremy into her existence was a shock for her, and the natural response was to get rid of him. Having been on her own for so long she seemed unable to deal with such an unexpected social dilemma.

 

Seeing her fondness and attraction grow for him though was very sweet. Having only ever been on one date, she was going through the same emotions as any other teenage girl, regardless of being a ghost. 

 

The fiend that was in pursuit of her was truly terrifying. It made me sit up in shock more than once as this unseen terror plagued the floors of her building. It was an excellent backdrop for her developing relationship and blended into the tale well.

 

My favourite part of the story, when her and Jeremy were finally visible to the rest, was a wholly satisfying end to the entire series of novellas. Having all of the residents come together in the hall for one final mention was a lovely touch, and it was nice to finally learn what Meira's final mission was.

I hope Chiharo and Jeremy find what they are looking for and stay happy together.

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If you've enjoyed reading through my thoughts on this series of novellas, then make sure you head on over to Christine's pages for more information on all of the characters that live on The 13th Floor. Trust me when I say, you won't be disappointed with any of them. I'm still trying to decide on my favourite!

 

In October Christine will be on tour to celebrate the release of The 13th Floor Collection in its entirety, and will be making a little stop by here to answer a few questions about her work.

 

Don't miss it!

 

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Join me on the Kinetic blog tour!!!

Today I am thrilled to be one of the stops on S K Anthony's blog tour for her debut novel, Kinetic. It's an excellent story, one that I enjoyed immensely and I'm going to share with you a few of my thoughts on it in just a moment.

But first, have you been checking the other stops on this tour? It's running 16th-28th September and if you want to see where S.K.'s been and where she's going check out this link for the details.

And, not only is S.K. on tour, but she's having a giveaway too, with lucky winners getting their hands on these lovely prizes:

• Two $25 Amazon gift cards {INT}

• Three signed print copies Kinetic + notebook, pen & bookmark {US only}

• One signed print copy of Kinetic + notebook, pen & bookmark {INT only}

• Ten swag packs of notebook, pen & bookmark {INT}

• Three bookmarks + pen  {INT}

 How great do these look?

If you fancy winning any of these fab prizes, head on over to this Rafflecopter page to enter. What have you got to lose? Go on, have a go!

And now, to the book! 

This story had me sucked in from the start. From that moment at the end of the first chapter when we are first introduced to Nick through his encounter with Annie, there was no way I could put it down for any length of time before finding out what would happen next.

The whole concept of the Luminaries and how they come to be, their covert operations for various government agencies and the different powers that each of them come to possess was a great setup for the main characters. 

Although there were a number of them, each character had their own individual traits that came across well as the book went along, and I found a fondness for each of them as their own stories developed, even Lisa!

Obviously, it was Annie's character that I got caught up in the most, and the inner battle she was fighting over Nick and Derek came across brilliantly. Personally, I was always rooting for Nick. There was just something about Derek that didn't sit comfortably with me, and whenever he had his more intimate moments with Annie I felt a shudder for her. This is definitely a credit to the writing to bring out such feelings in the reader.

It wasn't just the turmoil between Nick and Derek either, Annie was constantly wondering over Nick's sincerity too. She'd been led to believe some horrendous things about him and it was only natural that she would still have some kind of feelings towards him, given their history. She had all those factors to deal with alongside the bigger threat to both her and their organisation.

I have been so engrossed in this story and the whole world surrounding it that I've found myself thinking about it even between readings. In fact, I have had dreams about different people with different abilities, although sadly I couldn't remember what mine was or if I even had one! 

It's been such a pleasure to read this book, I am certain I will go back to it again and again. Even though I have it on my Kindle too, I love the cover so much I'll probably be buying it in paperback to sit proudly on my bookshelf.

I look forward to whatever comes next from the world of the Luminaries, and rest assured when I find anything out I'll let you know ;-)

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 Title: Kinetic

Author: S.K. Anthony

Series: The Luminaries #1

Publication: September 20th, 2013

Category: New Adult (NA)

Genre: Urban Fantasy (UF)

Synopsis:

 

Being strong is one thing. Being an unlimited source of power is quite another.
Genetically altered by the Organization, Annie Fox takes down criminals CIA-style with her luminary strength. With nothing to mend but her broken heart, she is relentlessly pursued by her boss Derek Lake. Just when Annie is about to give him a chance, her ex-husband unexpectedly comes out of hiding.
A wanted man, Nick Logan is a cold-hearted murderer who is considered enemy number one, and orders are clear: kill on contact. He is more powerful than ever and threatens the lives of those she holds most dear. His plan? Get his hands on Annie and use her Kinetic energy to destroy them all. When Annie finds herself with an opportunity to end him, she pauses, horrified by the scars covering the face she once loved. A split second that will cost her everything …

  Find Kinetic on Goodreads here!

Where you can buy Kinetic:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Smashwords

iTunes

Author bio:

 

 


S.K. Anthony is a writer, a reader and a make-stuff-up-er who lives in New York with her husband and toddler twins. She is a wine connoisseur, which just really means she knows she loves it, and a caffeine addict. When she isn’t busy with her family she finds herself being transported into the world of imagination. Well, either that or running away from spiders…she is convinced they are out to get her!

   LINKS:

Website: http://www.skanthony.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/S-Katherine-Anthony/403554526400225
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SKathAnthony
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108410963044949736135/posts
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/skanthony1/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7133166.S_K_Anthony

Celebrate the Small Things!

               
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This post is part of the 'Celebrate the Small Things' blog hop hosted by VikLit, and is for celebrating even the smallest of victories during the week. Head on over to her blog to check out more people taking part in this hop, and to sign up yourself too.

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This week I'm celebrating:

• Submitting my entry to this months Write .. Edit ... Publish. Check it out here.

• Seeing my best friends this weekend that I haven't seen for ages. The only down side to it is that they'll make me watch The X Factor :-( Ah well, there'll be wine at least :-)

• Getting started with my new OU course. My free writing is coming along nicely.

www.funscrape.com

Book Thoughts on Friday: 1305 & 1306 The Oracle and the Vampire, Christine Rains

Book Thoughts on Thursday is somewhere for me to share with you some of the books I've been reading and really enjoyed. I'm a day late with this edition due to feeling under the weather this week, so for one week only (I hope!) it's Book Thoughts on Friday!

 

This week:

1305 & 1306: The Oracle and the Vampire, Christine Rains

A friendly warning: Although not intentional, I may give away some aspects of the story that you may not want revealed. I know I hate it when spoilers ruin my experience of a story, so feel free to halt your reading here until you've read it for yourself.
Then you can come back to see if you share my thoughts!

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Having fallen for her gorgeous neighbor might not be so bad if Harriet McKay wasn't in her hideous banshee form every time Kiral saw her. Such is her curse. True, he's a vampire struggling with a drug addiction, but he's a good soul. Yet no one could love a cursed witch, especially one not even her cats respect.

After having a vision of Kiral's death, Harriet makes it her mission to save him. Never before has she attempted to change fate, but so strong is her love. 

Kiral Ozdemir struggles to make it through every day. The craving for blood laced with drugs directs his every thought until he tastes Harriet's potent blood. The magic immediately addicts him, but she disappears. He's desperate to find her, racing blindly out into a city in chaos.

How can Harriet convince Kiral to see past her vile appearance and return her love? If only she can force him to listen to reason coming from a raving crone, perhaps she can save him from the demons hunting him and from himself.

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I was looking forward to reading this installment of The 13th Floor, particularly as Kiral featured in The Marquis and managed to escape from the roof and the sun. I was itching to find out how that happened!

One of my favourite elements in this book is that Harriet and Kiral each have a huge attraction to the other and as a reader I was rooting for them to be happy together, but it seemed like something destined to elude them forever. He is a vampire so can't go out during the day, and at night she turns in to a wailing crone. It certainly doesn't make for an obvious match.

When Harriet first has her vision about Kiral's death, of course we as readers know what happens to him and that he escapes, which makes it interesting to watch her work through the puzzle for herself. Whenever she had doubts about whether or not she could actually save him, when she didn't believe she could make it in time, I was willing her to know that it would all turn out alright and to just keep going.

Of course she did, and had the added roller-coaster of listening to Kiral reveal his feelings for her 'granddaughter' Harriet. On the one hand she was obviously elated to know his feelings, but she had to hold herself back to protect him from whatever was after him.
I was wondering when and how she would reveal herself to him, and thought it worked wonderfully when she changed in front of his eyes as the sun was coming up. This is how I hoped it would happen and wasn't disappointed. It was a truly uplifting scene for me when he finally realised her truth.

Immediately after though when they were both working to release him, even though I knew the outcome I still had my own doubts about whether he would actually make it. It made me wonder if I'd misread something in The Marquis and that he'd actually perished, but I was filled with relief when he made it inside in time.

There's is truly going to be a difficult relationship, with many things out to test them, but I hope they last together. They'll make a good team using her visions to save those they can.

Another great read in the series.

The Oracle and the Vampire is the fifth in The 13th Floor series of novellas, and the author Christine Rains will be on tour in October to celebrate the release of the series as a collection. Make sure you check it out!

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What's Up Wednesday - 18th September

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What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Erin L Funk and Jaime Morrow . It's a brilliant way to tell the bloggy world what you're up to, in both reading and writing and anything else that's going on for you.

It's broken down into four headings:

                    1. What I'm reading
                    2. What I'm writing
                    3. What else I've been up to
                    4. What inspires me right now
 

What are you waiting for? Head on over to join in!
                                              

                  

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What I'm reading:

 

I'm currently re-reading my way through the wonderful 13th Floor Series by Christine Rains.

She's having a month long blog tour in October to celebrate the release of her stories in one collection, and to join in the celebrations I've been giving my thoughts on each story in the series as part of my new 'Book Thoughts on Thursday' feature.

 

http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.co.uk/

 

What I'm writing: 

 

writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.co.uk

 

I've been working on a piece of flash fiction that will feature in the next installment of Write ... Edit ... Publish. 

This is a monthly hop with a different theme each month. This months theme is 'Moving On', and those of us already signed up will be posting this Friday, 20th September. 

It's not too late to join in, so head on over to sign up yourself! 

 

 

 

What else I've been up to:

 

notboxed.com

 

 

My new course materials arrived last week for my first creative writing course with the Open University. I've enjoyed having the rest from study over the summer and I'm now ready to get back into it. 

As soon as the parcel arrived I sat straight down with my books, schedule and diary to mark out all the important dates for the assignments and End of Course Assessment. No exam this time! 

 

 

 

 

 

What inspires me right now:

 

I know the start date isn't officially until 5th October, but I've made a tentative start on the course book. It's kick-started my freewriting habit and introduced me to clustering as well. Clustering is a lot like mind maps, with a key word in the middle of the page, from which you branch off different ideas as they present themselves.

I've never tried this technique before, but I find I'm quite liking it, and I'm having more ideas than I thought I would. It's definitely inspired me in the writing stakes.

 

 

What have you been up to this week? Read any good books? Have you tried clustering?

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!

 

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Released today! Alex J Cavanaugh's CassaStorm!!! Woot woot!!!

Today I'm super excited to be involved in the release of the final book in the Cassa trilogy, CassaStorm, given to the world by the Ninja Captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Can I get a woot woot!

To celebrate this little milestone Alex is having a giveaway, and all you need to do is head on over and comment on his blog this week for a chance to win a Cassa mug, mousepad, magnet, and swag! 

But before you get to the good stuff, I'd like to share with you a question I posed to Alex in the run up to this release:

If you could live in any sci-fi or fantasy universe, which would you pick and why?

 

And his answer: 

 

The Stargate universe! 

Exploring new worlds with Jack O’Neill, Teal’c, Samantha Carter – that would be epic.

  

CassaStorm

By Alex J Cavanaugh

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“Cavanaugh creates such an unforgettable world, and these characters will stay with you long after their story is over.”
- Cassie Mae, author of Friday Night Alibi and How to Date a Nerd

"Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together."
- Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera

Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019

$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm:

 

Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1116848619?ean=9781939844002

Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/CassaStorm-Alex-J-Cavanaugh/dp/1939844002/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378484337&sr=1-1&keywords=cassastorm

Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/CassaStorm-ebook/dp/B00F2O9QMC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378811366&sr=1-1&keywords=cassastorm

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17670532-cassastorm

Book trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Umm2l0XdHc&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Alex J. Cavanaugh -

Website – http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh  

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4287922.Alex_J_Cavanaugh

Express Yourself - Which character are you?

                     

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The Express Yourself meme is a weekly jaunt brought to you by Dani at Entertaining Interests and Jackie at Bouquet of Books. At the beginning of the month the girls will post a gadget with a list of topics, something different for each week. Make sure to head on over to either of these blogs to check out the details more fully and see who else is taking part.

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This weeks topic of conversation: Name a movie characters personality who is you to a tee.

 

I don't really know about movie characters, but one TV character that I can definitely relate to is Monica Geller/Bing. 

www.businessbee.com -

I have an unnatural obsession with keeping things clean and tidy, which has been very hard to keep control of since having my daughter.

She is now five, and between her and my husband they make sure that there is always something to be tidied.

A lot of the time I can just about deal with it, but it does stress me out sometimes and has been known to make me cry.

My daughter has even said to me that those two are the 'flingers' and I am the 'tidy-uperer'. Charming!

Who are you most like from either TV or the movies?

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Friday Celebrations - Cover Reveal Edition!!!

Today's Friday Celebration is all about one thing, a brilliant cover reveal from one of my favourite writers in the blogoshpere.

For the six weeks leading up to October I am featuring a very special novella series from the one and only Christine Rains.

She has put so much work in this year to get her six novellas out into the world, and I have enjoyed everyone of them. They have just the right amount of action, thrills, suspense, and best of all romance.

To celebrate she has put together all six of these stories together in one collection, available next month, and I'm privileged to be able to reveal to you all her fabulous new cover!



Ta daaaa!!!!!

  

Title: The 13^th Floor Complete Collection

Author: Christine Rains

Genre: Paranormal romance

Release date: October 13^th, 2013 !!!

Blurb:

Six supernatural tenants

Living in a haunted apartment building

On a floor that doesn't exist.

Six novellas telling their tales.

A retired demon acquires a price on his head.

A werewolf is hunted by her pack.

A modern day dragonslayer misses his target.

A harpy challenges Zeus for the soul of the man she loves.

A vampire is obsessed with a young woman he can't find.

A banshee falls in love with someone who's death she has seen in a vision.

And a sweet ghost must battle a primal monster to save them all.

All the stories take place at the same time intertwining their lives together on the 13th Floor.

Author Bio:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has eight novellas and twenty-one short stories published.

Website: http://christinerains.net/

Blog: http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@CRainsWriter

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4017568.Christine_Rains

 

  

Isn't it fantastic?

Well done Christine on another great cover, it really captures the essence of The 13th Floor.

I'm definitely looking forward to October when Christine will be on tour. See you there!

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This post is part of the 'Celebrate the Small Things' blog hop hosted by VikLit, and is for celebrating even the smallest of victories during the week. Head on over to her blog to check out more people taking part in this hop, and to sign up yourself too.

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