Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles, A ParaYourNormal Review

Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles follows the adventures of Violet Parker, a single mom turned real-estate agent in Deadwood, South Dakota. Life should be great working as Realtor, but it’s not. In fact, if Violet doesn’t sell a house in three weeks, she will lose her job to the nephew of chauvinistic coworker, Ray.

Mr. Fake Tan is dead set on making Vi’s life a living hell, constantly trading barbs with her about how much she sucks at being a real estate agent.

Just as things begin looking grim for Vi, enter Wolfgang Hessler, heir of the local Hessler Jewelry store. He requires her services in helping him sell his dearly departed mother’s large Victorian house.

The news is just what Vi has been hoping for, until she shows up and finds the house needs more than a little cleaning. Desperate to make a sell and keep her job, she takes on the challenge of selling this dilapidating house. If only she knew the eerie little secrets contained within the walls of this once grand home, would she have been so willing to take it on? They say every person has skeletons hiding in their closet. Does the same go for houses?

As if this isn't enough of a challenge, she meets Dane 'Doc" Nyce, the handsome neighbor to the realator office she works in. On their first encounter, Doc sends Vi falling to his feet. #literally. Doc hires Violet to find him a house, the second best news of the week.

It seems like life is finally through knocking Violet down. Not only does she have a house to sell, she has a potential buyer. Of course, nothing in life is ever that simple.

Among her troubles at work, there is a serial kidnapper going around snatching little girls that fit her daughters description to a tee. Now she not only has to worry about keeping her job, she has to worry about protecting her children.

Overall, I found Nearly Departed in Deadwood a pleasure to read. Ann’s characters have vivid personalities that are well drawn and at times, quite humorous. I found myself laughing loudly at Violet’s thoughts. Her sarcastic sense of humor is refreshing an unlike any of the books I’ve read within the last year. It’s no wonder Ann won an award for this story. Her storytelling capabilities are tremendous.

If you like your book with a supernatural twist, I think you will find a great read in Nearly Departed in Deadwood. PYN gives it five stars. If you would like to win a copy of Ann’s book, visit her blog today and leave a comment, as she is a participant in Blog Tour de Force and is giving away free eBooks. You will also get a chance to win a Kindle for participating in this blog tour. So what are you waiting for? Go to Ann’s blog here and get your copy of this Dauphne du Maurier Award winning novel.

Hungry For You by A. M. Harte, A ParaYourNormal Review

When I was asked to review Hungry For You by A.M. Harte, I must admit that I was leery. Zombies have never been my thing, aside from Resident Evil, and even that movie was somewhat graphic for me. #sorry #weakstomach #nogoreforme.

Having said that, I will admit that I am also the type of person who will try anything once, especially if it comes highly recommended. That is part of the reason I took reading Hungry For You to heart. I must say, I am glad that I did. This book is not like any zombie flick or literature that my eyes have crossed.

Hungry For You is a collection of short stories about zombies. Each story has a different spin on what zombies are like and how they became the walking dead in the first place. I must say, some of these ideas were original on A. M. Harte’s part. Who would have thought that a zombie would have emotions, especially feelings of affection or love? #notme

I think my favorite of this collection would be the story of Retta, the female police sergeant, who has a particular soft spot for zombies. The title of this short has the same title as the book, Hungry For You.  Retta patrols an area called Dead District. It put me in mind of what “the hood” would be like in bigger cities. As you may guess, Dead District is full of zombies.

In this short, Harte creates a world where these walking dead have civil liberties as other humans, though not quite as many. #comeon #theyrezombies. I must mention that the zombies in this story spoke to me because they do not satisfy their hunger by consuming flesh…at least, not in the way you would expect.

Retta and her partner come upon a male zombie, who has fallen victim to abuse. I know, sounds crazy, right? Zombies suffering abuse? #civilliberties #remember. Since Retta has a particular soft spot for these decaying beings, she and her partner bring the zombie to the police station to question him about his abuse. The story takes an interesting, yet brief turn here. I won’t say anymore about this story or the book for that matter. Some things are better left to the imagination, and this is a book you will want to pick up and enjoy yourself.

Overall, I was pleased with Hungry For You. I like where A. M. Harte went with the stories and her unusual spin on them. If you’re a zombie fan, this book is one you will want to add to your collection. It is definitely worth reading and I recommend you do so. You can go to Harte’s blog site, leave a comment, and score a free eBook copy of this book for Blog Tour de Force. You can reach Harte’s blog here.

Okay, that's it for today. Please come back tomorrow when I review  paranormal romance, Nearly Departed in Deadwood, by Ann Charles, another Blog Tour de Force participant.  

Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott, A ParaYourNormal Review

Hello everyone, Kelli McCracken here. I’m contributing my review of Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott for ParaYourNormal, and for Blog Tour de Force.

Three words come to mind when I think of Fierce Dawn…sensational, spellbinding, and seductive. Amber Scott sure knows how to captivate a reader from the first page, to the very last. Seriously. Have you ever heard the expression, “paint a picture with words”? Well, Amber can go beyond the normal picture painting. This woman’s written words paint a whole darn movie.

Sadie Graves, at first, seems just your average young woman, in her twenties, hoping to keep her job at the local library, her younger sister’s constant concern for her at bay, and deal with life in a “normalcy” she’s hoped for since her teenage years. But nothing about Sadie’s life is normal. It never has been.

The daughter of a “mentally ill” mother, she and her sister, Heather, have searched for a normal life outside the constant worry of what their mother would do, and eventually does. It sends Sadie’s life into turmoil.

 As if all of that isn’t enough to handle, she is having the most sensually, erotic dreams of a beautiful stranger, a man who consumes her soul with a simple touch of his lips. This handsome man isn’t a complete stranger. In fact, he's been hanging out at the library Sadie is working at. Who is this captivating stranger? Elijah Stokes.

Sadie has no idea why Elijah is appearing in her dreams, tempting her mind and soul beyond reasonable comprehension. More than that, she's so enthralled with him that she is vividly painting their encounters on canvas and writing the feelings he invokes in her into her journal.

Elijah keeps a careful eye on Sadie from a distance. He isn’t sure what she is exactly, or why his friend, Holly, is so sure she is important to their plight. Either way, they must get to Sadie; train her for their purpose, to find their friend, and fellow immortal, Crusoe.

Once Sadie is drawn into their immortal world, her attraction for Elijah is heightened. Something about him ignites a need so deep, nothing but his presence can cure the wanton desire he fills her with. Elijah senses something in Sadie too, but doesn’t want to give in to the desire she's awakened in him. Thus begin the internal conflict for both.

I don’t want to give away too many details here. Trust me, you want to take the story as it unfolds to you. I will go as far as to say, the characters of Fierce Dawn are well drawn out, well developed. The paranormal essence comes to life from the first chapter, and only deepens throughout the book. If you are a parnormal romance fan, even urban fantasy, you won’t want to miss the chance to read this book. Once Amber has you under her spell with her characters, with her vivid storytelling, you won’t feel as though you’re reading a book. You will think you are with the characters, living out this story with them as each scence unfolds.

If we gave out stars on this blog, with the highest star being 5, Amber’s Fierce Dawn would earn every bit of it, plus some. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

We at ParaYourNormal hopes this review helps. Be sure to leave a comment here, and let Amber know you did so. You can get back to her blog here.  We hope you enjoy Blog Tour de Force and check back with us for our next review. 

Winner Announcement for Sweet Evangeline

Hey everyone. We have a quick announcement for our recent interview contest with Sable Hunter and her book Sweet Evangeline. Our lucky winners are Katie W and sixthirythree. Congratulations to both. Sixthirtythree, we need your email address for Sable to get in contact with you about your prize. If you will comment on this post, we will get the info to her. Thank you.

On another note, Blog Tour de Force starts tomorrow! #yay Be sure to stop by and read our review for Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott. Plus, we will be interviewing Penelope Fletcher, author of Demon Girl. She will be giving away some eBooks! There's a lot happening this week, so check back regularly.