Coming soon: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

US-release: Del Rey (June 2010)
ISBN-10: 0345515579
ISBN-13: 978-0345515575

THE AFTERLIFE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah. —Stacia Kane’s website

Kane has posted an excerpt of the book on her site, too!

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Giveaway: The Gift

The contest has ended and the winner picked by a random number generator is: Darcie K. Darcie, I’ll email you for your addey so I can drop your book in the mail. Congrats!

Blood. Rivers of it.
The visions are overwhelming. They come every time Beth visits the scene of a murder. She lives the victim’s last moments, feels the pain, sees the perp. And it’s driving her mad.

A flat tire. A deserted country road. A man too hot to be true.
Trading life as a Chicago homicide detective for a job as a nomadic insurance inspector was supposed to keep her safe. Ty Malone is anything but. What isn’t he revealing about the missing person’s claim on his ‘runaway’ wife? What really happened to beautiful Lorilee Brubaker-Malone? And just how far will Ty take his seduction of the one woman whose gift can uncover the terrifying truth?

Want to win a copy of The Gift? Pick one review posted at Scooper Speaks (blog or website) and let me know what you think. Do you agree/disagree with my review? Then come back to this post and comment.

See simple.

One entry per person. All entries must be left here  before Dec. 14th when I randomly select a winner.

The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Favorite Lines: “But what stunned me into stillness was the god-like being lying on the hospital bed secured in a series of straps. He was male, a red-haired throwback to the time of Viking warriors. A being so perfect he could be no other than Adonai, an Elysian divinity.” (p. 124)

Detective Charlie Madigan of Atlanta’s Integration Task Force died six months ago. When she returned from the dead she was different. She was stronger, but the strength came with a horrible side effect, gruesome nightmares, possibly of the time lost when she died.When a deadly drug called ash puts Charlie’s babysitter in a coma, she becomes determined to stop the drug. What Charlie discovers on her journey will transform her family and personal life forever.

The Better Part of Darkness is book one in the Charlie Madigan series. It is an introduction to a unique world inhabited by humans, charbydons (demon-like) and elysian (heaven-like) beings. In this world creatures from alternate dimensions visit earth, bringing a variety of cultures and the danger of crime with them.

Recognizing that the visitors are stronger than humans, a task force made up of humans and elysians was created in the hope of putting the police on semi-equal footing with the criminals. Charlie’s partner, Hank, is a siren whose enticing voice makes people want to tell him everything forcing him to wear a voice modifier. He knows more than he lets on and could prove to be an interesting character as the series progresses.

It’s really refreshing to read about a kick-ass mama like Charlie who realizes her child comes before everything. Her kid is always on her mind and while her personal life is a hot mess, she manages to put her all into her work.

I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would. I thought it would be “ho-hum,” but it made me think a little bit, offered me carrots to follow (right into book two), and gave me exciting realizations that the story was no where near complete. Book two, The Darkest Edge of Dawn, will be released in August 2010 according to Amazon.