Author Archive

Blog Tour & Giveaway – Misty Rayburn from The Top Shelf!

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Hi! I’m Misty Rayburn and I’m really really happy to be here on the Rhodes Review today!  Rick is one of my favorite reviewers.  I found out about his site from being on the Nook page on Facebook.  In a way, if it wasn’t for Rick, I wouldn’t have become a reviewer.  I visited this site and read some reviews and thought to myself “Wow reviewing books looks like fun!”  Here I am one year later with a site of my own that’s doing very well.  Thanks Rick!

I’m sure I’ll get a sarcastic comment HA!

Anyway, I’m here winding down my two week birthday blog tour that officially ends on December 3rd.  I still have some giveaways on my site that have deadlines of December 2nd!  If you’re interested, visit http://www.the-top-shelf.com I have a book to give away here as well and we’ll be doing giveaways all the way to the end.

With the blog tour almost being over, I can’t help but look forward to December and January.  In January, Jon Merz and I are getting together for what we’re calling The Month of Lawson!  I’m also looking forward to quite a few other books.  I’ve listed them here! It’s quite a long list.  I have A LOT of books :)

I don’t want to overload Rick’s server by posting 25 book covers.  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get the blog done on time.  So I’ll post a few of my favorite covers :)

Remember, if you’re interested in any of these titles, most of them are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.  Although some of them aren’t out yet, they should be available for pre-order now if not soon.

 


Severed – Megg Jensen
Reychel knows her gift of prophecy will lead to madness and now she is at her most vulnerable. The enemy army will attempt to sever her from everything she’s ever known: her homeland, her friends, Mark, and her gift. Even at her weakest, she refuses to give up on her desire to end the war between the Malborn and the Serenians. Reychel would do anything, even come back from the dead, to conquer the enemy and reunite with Mark.

 

Gastien: The Cost of the Dream – Caddy Rowland
In this both dark and hopeful first book, young Gastien Beauchamp begins his journey to Paris with two goals in life. The first is to become an artist with his own studio, following his own rules. That is an almost impossible dream for a peasant. Gastien has no money, no formal training, and is a naïve eighteen year old fresh off the farm. Paris spits out talented men into the gutters every day. “Good” gets you nowhere. “Great” maybe gets you a bowl of soup.

The second is to become the greatest lover in France. That should be easy. With his stunning looks, and his willingness to learn, the women of Paris are about to be awakened in a way they have only dreamt about in the 19th century!

Gastien swears that he has no interest in love. Love would only take away his dreams. But he is innocent and does not realize that sex without love can be quite empty. Before he can learn that, he must face obstacles and heartaches that will threaten to destroy his very soul.

Insatiable, burning passion. Focus and drive. Raw, natural talent. Armed with those, Gastien is determined to succeed at any cost. Poor Gastien. If he could only know in advance what struggles lay before him, he might think twice about leaving home. However, he is young and full of hope. The dreams burn relentlessly inside of him, not allowing him a moments rest. And so the journey begins.

 

Farsighted – Emlyn Chand
Alex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he’s blind. Just when he thinks he’ll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival–an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

 

Tangled Tides – Karen Hooper
Yara Jones doesn’t believe in sea monsters—until she becomes one.

When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious.

Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people—until he falls for Yara. The tides turn as Yara fights to save herself, hundreds of sea creatures, and the merman who has her heart. She could lose her soul in the process—or she might open the gateway to a love that’s deeper than the oceans.

 

The Stranger you Seek – Amanda Kyle Williams
The papers have called me a monster. You’ve either concluded that I am a braggart as well as a sadist or that I have a deep and driving need to be caught and punished.

In the sweltering heat of an Atlanta summer, a killer is pushing the city to its breaking point, preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. Desperate to stop the Wishbone Killer before another victim meets a shattering end, A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ex–FBI profiler Keye Street.

And you must certainly be wondering if I am, in fact, the stranger you seek.

Keye was a rising young star at the Bureau until addiction derailed her career and her life. Now sober and fighting to stay so, Keye picks up jobs where she can get them: catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, chasing down bailjumpers, and dodging the occasional bullet. With multiple victims, little to go on, and an entire police force looking for direction, the last thing Keye wants is to be pulled into the firestorm of Atlanta’s worst nightmare.

Shall I convince you?

And then it suddenly becomes clear that the hunter has become the hunted—and the stranger she seeks is far closer than she ever dared imagine.

An electrifying thriller debut, The Stranger You Seek introduces a brash, flawed, and unforgettable heroine in a complex, twisting novel that takes readers deep into a sultry Southern summer, a city in the grips of chaos, and a harrowing cat-and-mouse game no reader will ever forget.

 

The Noctuary by Greg Chapman
Struggling writer Simon Ryan’s life has gone to Hell.

Shadows are pouring into his reality and his words are not his own anymore. He has been chosen to become a scribe for some of the worst creatures of the Underworld – the ones whose sole purpose is to torment human souls – The Dark Muses.

As Simon writes, he falls deeper into the abyss and before long he has no sense of what is real. With the help of another scribe, old and mutilated, Simon comes to discover that his writing can mould people and places –- that he can write things out of existence.

To become a scribe Simon has to pass a test and the Muses offer him a chance to rewrite his horrible past.

All he has to decide is how the story ends….

 

Scream Catcher – Vincent Zandri
This is how your life ends: Not with a whimper, but a scream!

Jude Parish is afraid. The former violent crimes cop turned bestselling true crime author has a fear-filled demon lodged inside of him. A demon so real he can only imagine a slimy reptilian beast with scaly skin, black eyes, and razor-sharp fangs having taken up residence inside the place where his once confident and fearless soul resided.

Now, in the wake of his literary success, the ever anxious Jude is hoping to lead a quiet, peaceful life in the idyllic Adirondack vacation town of Lake George, New York with his new pregnant wife, Rosie, and Jack, his young son from a previous marriage. But when Jude becomes the accidental witness to a bizarre “kill game” in which the killer, video game designer and master of disguise, Hector “the Black Dragon” Lennox, insists on recording the screams of his victims prior to shooting them dead, the ex-cop’s life is turned upside down.

When Lennox is arrested by the L.G.P.D. and Jude is asked to act as the state’s “star witness,” he has no choice but to fight his demon-fear and take on the role. But what he doesn’t realize at the time, is that the killer’s arrest is actually the first level in what is a carefully designed and scripted first-person video kill game that will involve his entire family as “players” and “victims.”

How will the kill game end?

Like all violent video games, it will end in death. But it won’t be “Game Over” until Hector Lennox catches the screams of his tortured victims.

 

Gifts From the Past – Liz Borino
Gifts from the Past is the third in the Taylor Twins series. It’s preceded by Expectations and What Money Can’t Buy. Gifts from the Past finds both couples emerged in parenthood and everything’s changed. There are the typical struggles, with some heightened issues, such as Brandon’s mental and emotional problems. Unfortunately for Matt, Carley hasn’t improved, so he’s largely on his own with the care of his daughter. Life starts to look up for everyone when Ally, Chris’s ex-girlfriend comes back into their lives. Friendships are rediscovered and love grows in Gifts from the Past.

 

Rogue Agent – Sean Sweeney
When the 2012 Summer Olympics opened in London, security was at a fever pitch. They said it was going to be the safest Olympic Games yet.

They were wrong.

Heightened security did not stop a terrorist attack on the final group stage match of the Olympic soccer tournament between the United States and the host Great Britain, played at the fabled Wembley Stadium, the home of British football. And when an agent of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, it sent both the United States and the United Kingdom into a heightened state of alert.

There is only one problem for the terrorist: Outbound Eurostar service to Paris and flights out of Heathrow have been shut down – but flights into London continue to come in.

At the request of the President of the United States, the CIA calls upon the one agent – Jaclyn Johnson, a.k.a. Snapshot – he can trust to seek out the killers of many American citizens and bring them to justice.

But what occurs in London during Snapshot’s mission leads to political maneuvering – and Jaclyn going against everything she knows.

ROGUE AGENT is the second book in the AGENT series.

The first book Model Agent is free on Smashwords!

 

Seven Dogs in Heaven – Leland Dirks
What if you awoke to angels who had four feet instead of wings?

Would you listen as they taught you

  • the reality of imagination,
  • the price of loyalty,
  • the power of love,
  • the promise of fidelity,
  • the certainty of justice,
  • and finally, the miracle of mercy?

Would you listen?

Would you believe?
Part memoir, part fable, and part fantasy, this is the story of a man who makes his way through paradise thanks to the help of the canine friends who shared his life.

This edition also includes a bonus short story, Christmas with a Collie.

 

Survivor’s Affair by Rick Nichols
John Logan has left his life in the intelligence community behind, eking out a meager living as a private investigator and trying to stay off the espionage radar.

But keeping a low profile proves harder than he thought when Coral Bay’s millionaire Golden Boy ends up on the wrong side of a Samurai sword and his former mentor’s wayward daughter the number one suspect. Finding himself honor bound, Logan is forced to join the hunt for the real killer.

But when the body count quickly rises and the danger begins to spiral closer to home, he calls on two former colleagues for help. What they uncover will have Logan questioning everything he’s ever believed.

 

Game 7: Dead Ball – Allen Schatz
Secrets, lies, and revenge provide the sparks that ignite a fiery collision between past and present…

A puzzle takes shape as baseball’s World Series unfolds, but the pieces don’t fit: a string of missing women, strange threats, gambling problems, kidnappings, and relationships long dormant are all somehow connected, but Marshall Connors–major league umpire–may run out of time before he can solve the mystery.

Marshall’s season has ended and he is looking forward to post-season plans that include time in Florida, first helping his mentor teach an umpire training class, followed by a lot of sun. Those plans are cut short when Marshall is given a surprise assignment to work the World Series as crew chief, but the real reason is not discovered until he is neck-deep in trouble.

The sudden change in plans rekindles a relationship with the O’Hara family–Terry, major league pitcher and Game 1 starter in the Series, Michael, Terry’s father and former major leaguer, and Samantha, Terry’s mother and Michael’s ex-wife–but Marshall quickly realizes some things truly are better left alone.

As the Series plays out, so does the truth behind long-buried O’Hara family secrets and Marshall is caught in a storm that threatens to destroy him and those he loves. With the help of his best friend, Thomas Hillsborough–ex-CIA spy–Marshall fights to solve the puzzle before the Series reaches its climax in GAME 7: DEAD BALL, the ultimate contest of survival.

 

The Fixer – Jon Merz
Meet Lawson: vampire by birth, Fixer by trade. His mission: preserve the secret existence of vampires by any means necessary. There’s just one problem – his oldest enemy Cosgrove is back, killing humans and threatening to unleash an ancient unholy evil. Can Lawson stop Cosgrove and still adhere to the very laws he protects by not falling in love with a beautiful human assassin named Talya?

LAWSON.

A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance – the secret existence of a race of LIVING vampires that have evolved alongside humanity for thousands of years.

A FIXER.

Part-spy, and part-commando — James Bond with fangs. Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home.

COSGROVE.

The name’s enough to make Lawson go ballistic. The last time they tangled, Cosgrove butchered fifty people. Now he’s back in Boston and the Council wants him dead. But Cosgrove has other plans.

TALYA.

An ex-KGB assassin with secrets of her own, and skills to match Lawson, she wants revenge and doesn’t care who knows it.

THE SARGOTH.

An ancient legend. A whispered myth. And if Cosgrove has his way…an inevitable reality.

This is the first book in the Lawson Vampire series, originally published back in 2002. This book also contains an excerpt from THE INVOKER

 

Primal Thirst – Kent Holloway
If you think monsters are scary, you don’t know Jack!

Wisecracking cryptozoologist Dr. Obadiah “Jack” Jackson has hunted plenty of dangerous creatures over the years. But he finds a lot more than he bargained for when he travels to Malaysia to save a beautiful missionary and her village from being ravaged by ghoulish, blood-feeding monsters straight from local legend…creatures known as the jenglot…creatures that are very dangerous, elusive, and intelligent. But that’s the least of Jack’s troubles. It seems that the blood-crazed cryptids aren’t the only ones bent on using Jack as their favorite chew toy. Other denizens of the Malaysian jungles have their sights set on him as well including a local witchdoctor threatened by the missionary’s message of hope and a mysterious guerrilla leader who appears to have a dark and secret agenda. Jack and his team must keep their wits about them to escape the jenglot and discover the answers to the deep mysteries surrounding their existence.

 

Misty Johnson Supernatural Dick in Capital Hell – Rich Steeves
centuries ago, Misty Johnson, Supernatural…er,…Dick, was cursed with near immortality when a black magic spell she and a friend were casting backfired…and the supernatural realm has regretted it ever since. A near millennium full of battling paranormal nasties, saving helpless victims, and trying to stay up with the latest cultural niceties, Misty has put her experiences to good use. With the help of her trusty partner, Dru Chance, the two take on the magical underbelly of Washington D.C. as they investigate crimes that no one else can handle.

From shady Senators to sneaky shape shifters, from a ninja made of clay to a vampire afraid of his own shadow…Misty Johnson navigates the nation’s capital, all the while seeking to uncover the truth for her clients—and for herself.

An unnatural life span. A timeless mission. A woman like no other. Just don’t call her a detective!

 

Pandora’s Box – Gracen Miller
here does the road to Hell begin?

What happens when your son turns homicidal overnight and your husband disappears on his way to work? Do you cower in fear or fight for your life? Madison Wescott fights against the odds. Distrustful of a God she doesn’t believe in, she finds herself face-to-face with a world she didn’t know existed and discovers her own soul is darkened with demonic connections.

With good intentions? Or by demonic design?

Phoenix Birmingham bursts into Madison’s life in a whirlwind of sarcasm and sexual appeal. A hero for the masses—and for her jaded heart—but few will ever know the sacrifices he has made or the sacrifices to come. Discovering her entire life has been influenced by multifaceted paranormal beings, Madison is determined to defeat the apocalyptic blueprint fate has decreed, but only one man dares to challenge the supernatural forces manipulating them. Even with Phoenix’s aid, can destiny be denied? Or will demonic design prevail while they pay the crucial price with their souls?

In a small, sleepy Alabama town the battle for mankind’s liberty has begun…

 

Asylum ( Casual Enchantment #2) – KA Tucker
ucked away in Sofie’s wintery asylum with no hope of release for years, Evangeline must come to terms with her situation: the curse still plagues her, she’s now hunted by a two thousand-year-old vampire, and the guy she’s in love with tried to kill her.

 

Vacation – Matthew J. Costello
In the near future after a global crisis causes crops to fail and species to disappear . . .  something even more deadly happens. Groups of humans around the world suddenly become predators, feeding off their own kind. These “Can Heads” grow to such a threat that fences, gated compounds, and SWAT-style police protection become absolutely necessary in order to live.

After one Can Head attack leaves NYPD cop Jack Murphy wounded, Jack takes his wife and kids on a much-needed vacation. Far up north, to a camp where families can still swim and take boats out on a lake, and pretend that the world isn’t going to hell.

But the Can Heads are never far away, and nothing is quite what it seems in Paterville. . . .

 

Trinity – Deena Remiel
One way or another, terror will reign tonight…

School teacher and single mom, Emma Livingston, has been through hell—and back so she thinks. While dealing with the night terrors and active imagination of her five-year old daughter, Hannah, she attempts to lead a normal life. That is, until the demon from those nightmares pays her a visit, too, and threatens both of their lives. Desperate, she reaches out for help—and finds Michael waiting.

Michael D’Angelo is known to everyone in Prophet’s Point, Arizona, as their loving elementary school principal. But to The Brethren, he is the most powerful Protector. Immortal and angelic does not mean he’s without doubts or fears, as protecting Emma and Hannah from Evil tests his ability to fight his tortured past.

As the Trinity is formed, ancient secrets are revealed and faith is tested. When a prophecy is exposed, Hannah becomes the main target and Emma wonders if a normal life will ever be possible again. Hope is like an anchor, but can a mother, her daughter, and an angel overcome the evil determined to annihilate the world?

 

Warrior Angel, Heart’s Desire – Ryssa Edwards
Michael is the archangel of war, Banished to Earth. In the last year of his Banishment, he falls in love with Laine. But hour by hour, they’re ripped apart by forces they can’t control, because when Michael’s Banishment is over, he’ll lose Laine forever. They’re given one chance. Laine must risk his life. Michael must risk his wings. What is love on the other side of forever worth?

 


Initiation – Imogen Rose

Welcome to Bonfire Academy!

Set in the foothills of the alpine mountains in St.Moritz, this exclusive private school caters to a special kind of student. Enter at your own risk… but if you are human, you may not want to enter at all.

WARNING: This YA story is set in a school for paranormals who are very different from normal human teens. Thus, the language and some scenes might not be appropriate for younger YA readers. Recommended for those sixteen and above.

 

Druids Dawning – Lark LaTroy
Mitch Walker is the newest member of The Order. He receives 2 gifts that he struggles to master. One of these gifts shows him the private desires of his coworker Jill Reese, the woman every man in the office would like to have. Jill has a secret desire for Mitch, and this knowledge distracts the young Druid from mastering his gifts.

As Mitch struggles with his gifts, and feelings for Jill, a serial killer stalks the streets of Boston. He kills at each full moon, in different areas of the city. The Druids learn that the killer is conducting a dark ritual that will plunge the whole world into chaos if completed. Mitch has an added stake in stopping the madman. He knows that Jill will be the final victim, and she’ll be the lucky one if the Druids can’t stop the killer.

 

Vengeance – Ashlynn Monroe
ith her husband murdered and her city growing more dangerous each day, Audra Jacob struggles to build a new life for herself and her young son. Her first step is finding a perfect job at the offices of wealthy businessman Cain Maddox. Cain is hot, but Audra’s sure a man like him couldn’t be interested in a nobody like her.

Cain Maddox is more than a handsome CEO. He’s a mysterious vigilante, the one thing that keeps the criminals from overrunning Roman Falls. Dark forces helped create the protector he’s become. His powers given by a demon inside he struggles to control. When he’s moments too late to defend Audra, the woman he’s grown to care for, he brings her to the one man he knows can save her.

As a dormant creature inside of Audra awakens, so does her need for vengeance and answers.

 

Sons of Erubus – JS Chancellor
Since time immemorial, Man has lived in fear of losing his soul to the darkness of Saint Ereubus. For generations, the Ereubinians have wielded that power and ruled like gods.

Three thousand years ago, Man irresolutely placed his faith in a mythical world. That world, Adoria, now holds Man’s final hope.

As the last stronghold of Man is threatened, the fates of three strangers become forever intertwined and everything they once believed will be irrevocably changed as they discover… Their time has run out.

 

Chronic Fear – Scott Nicholson
Chronic Fear is the second installment of Scott Nicholson’s chilling Fear series, which began with the harrowing Liquid Fear. The story picks up one year after the notorious Monkey House trials, from which the tiny handful of survivors have scattered in the wind. For while the unwitting human guinea pigs are still alive, the experimental drugs to which they were subjected continue to wreak havoc on their emotional stability. World-renowned neurobiologist Dr. Alexis Morgan knows first-hand the horrors of the sadistic experiment: her husband, Mark, was one its victims. As a result, he is plagued by unpredictable bouts of rage and paranoia. Dr. Morgan’s research into the drug leads her to suspect presidential candidate and U. S. Senator Daniel Burchfield of plotting to gain control of the drug for his own purposes, a power play that is sure to result in countless casualties unless she and three Monkey House survivors can outwit the shadowy figures behind the conspiracy—if they don’t lose their own sanity first.

 

Guardian – Elita Daniels
But there were still too many accidents, it’s been decided by Alicorp to assign human protectors – mandated by law.

These protectors are know as….Guardians.

Anna falls in love with her guardian, a man who wants to find a cure, but the more she learns about him and his association with Alicorp the harder she finds it to trust him.

 

 

So that’s it! This is the list of books that I am really looking forward to for December and January! Of course there’s probably a few I missed and I probably won’t read all of these in two months.  Sometimes I read 4 books a week!  So we’ll see.  Also, I have the rest of the Lawson series to look forward to.  If you’d like to visit TTS on facebook, you can find us at http://www.facebook.com/topshelfebooks.  I’m also on twitter as topshelfebooks.  Come by and wish us a happy birthday! :)  Rick, I’m sorry this post was so long!  I couldn’t wittle any of these down so it had to be a top 26! :)

GIVEAWAY!!!

Since we’re talking about books I’m looking forward to, why not give away one?  I have one e-book copy of Drowning by Susan Wingate.  To enter, all you have to do is comment and leave a valid email address!  I’ll need that to notify you! A winner will be chosen by Random.org on Saturday December 3rd at 8pm eastern! Here’s a little more on the book.

Synopsis: Even with her mother’s death days away, even as her marriage is falling apart, Euly Winger returns to the place she grew up in order to uncover a dark secret about her family’s past. A tale of loss & sorrow, forgiveness & redemption. DROWNING fits within the contemporary women’s fiction genre.

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