The Pirate Ruse by Marcia Lynn McClure

Love isn't a strong enough word,
for this is one of my all-time favorites adventures.

Get ready to swoon to your heart's content!

"One decision can change the entire course of a life."

The Story.
       Although the war with Great Britain is over, the United States continues to battle for their hard-earned land. There are those who have their own agendas and those who are still loyal to King George. Cristabel Albay is not one of them. She wakes to find that she's been abducted from her home in New Orleans and is being held prisoner on a British ship, only to then get kidnapped by pirates. Just when she thinks her rescuers have come, they turn out to be pirates themselves! She finds herself in the hands of the infamous Captain Navarrone the Blue Blade.

"Swear it!" she begged. "I swear it," he assured her. Still she wept. "But you're a pirate. I cannot trust your swearing." "Oh, when it comes to my swearing, love, believe me... you can trust in it," he chuckled.

       Though he is said to be a more merciful pirate than Bully Booth, who never takes prisoners or let his women live long, he continues to keep her his captive. Why was she on a British ship? Is she in league with them? Who is still acting on their loyalties to King George?
       As the story continues, secrets are uncovered and loyalties revealed. Can Navarrone trust her? Will he ransom her? Will Cristabel be kept as his prisoner, or will he let her return home to her mother? Can Navarrone forget about the woman in the painted portrait above his desk? Will he ever forgive himself? Will Cristabel?

"What hope is there in loving a pirate?"

My Thoughts.
       Adventure. Rum. Biscuits. Mystery. Excitement. Battles. Espionage. Romance. Humor. Treasure. Pirates. Kissing. Torture. Trickery. Loyalties. Forgiveness. Reuniting. Cutlasses. Coins. Pumpkins. Fiances. Secrecy.
       Today marks the third time I've read and fallen in love with The Pirate Ruse. I just adore this story. So much so that after I bought it on my i-phone/kindle, I bought it in paperback through Amazon.com, even though it was more than I normally pay for a book. Usually I get my novels through a bargain website, like BookOutlet.com, or I'll buy used books through Powells.com. To say I paid over $15, and for a paperback, says a lot!
       Be still, my heart: I simply cannot get enough of the swoon-worthy pirate, Captain Navarrone the Blue Blade. I love a good adventure and who has more adventures than pirates? It's hard to find a good, clean pirate novel - one that portrays pirates as thieving, wenching, thrill seeking individuals but keeps the erotic-type romance out of it. Don't get me wrong, my heart jumps and sings when there is a definite attraction between characters and they smooch and peck and swoon over each other... your heart flutters but you don't have to read about them taking off each others clothes and all that.
       I loved the differentiating points of views between Navarrone and Cristabel. Getting to read about his emotions and thoughts was such a treat that not all books offer. Their relationship was so engaging and witty, with lots of teasing banter and tension as their feelings for each other develop.

"Bothersome little vixen that you are, Cristabel Albay," he grumbled.  "I was looking forward to those biscuits."

       Cristabel is innocent and naive, but she is full of sass and bravely stands up to the pirate captain and continues to defy him throughout her captivity, though maybe a little less defiant when he threatens her. Captain Navarrone is just a strong-willed as her and he enjoys toying with her. His mind is set on figuring out how she came to be on that British ship. He carries burdens of his own, past failures that weigh down his heavy heart, and he tries to prove himself throughout this journey.

The Author.
       As I start to write my own story and pay more attention to how a story develops, descriptive language, and words themselves, I realize how beautifully Marcia Lynn McClure has put her story together. Her words flow wonderfully together, sounding like poetry when you slow down and appreciate each sentence. For example, rather than saying that he is handsome and that Cristabel is drawn to him, she says, "It was as if he were some sort of handsome quicksand of perfect masculinity, drawing her deeper and deeper into the smoldering warmth of his eyes." It's just so lovely! Here's my favorite quote in the book:

"Prepare yourself, love... for I have not yet begun to quench my thirst for you."

Pinterest.
Check out the Pinterest Board I created to go along with this book!

Playlist.
1. Pirates of the Caribbean- Sound of the Black Pearl (opening battle scene)
2. Game of Thrones "Official" Show Open (the Screaming Witch catches up to them again)
3. Conquering Time by Dexter Britain (being James and meeting with Governor)
4. Distance by Christina Perri featuring Jason Mraz (kissing in the cabin)
5. Dust To Dust by The Civil Wars (the island)
6. Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi (treasure scene)
7. Just The Way You Are by The Piano Guys (beach scene, sitting on the sand... because she doesn't want him to be tamed but to stay the way he is) ...AND...
   The Words by Christina Perri (beach scene, in the trees)... And holy crap: her music video even has Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time! HOW PERFECT IS THAT?! Definitely icing on the cake.
8. Rolling In The Deep by The Piano Guys (second beach scene, where Cristabel learns and reveals to Navaronne what she discovered in the inn) 
9. When The Darkness Comes by Colbie Caillat (scene from Navarrone's mother's POV: reuniting with family... you'll see what I mean) 
10. Kiss me by Ed Sheeran (Navarrone going to Cristabel on the balcony) 
11. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End suite- Marry Me (scene with interrogation, fight, rescue, and staying with James Kelley) 
12. Wherever You Will Go by Charlene Soraia (last chapter of the book) 
13. The Time To Run by Dexter Britain (the end)


**If you have any ideas for songs on this playlist, share them in the comments! I strongly believe that every book needs it's own music, and everybody's taste is different... I would love your input!

Moonbreeze by Adrienne Woods - Cover Reveal & Giveaway

IT'S HERE , YOU GUYS, IT'S HERE!
Moonbreeze is Adrienne's fourth and final book in her Dragonian Series... I'm so stoked!
Here is a little something something for you guys:  a cover reveal and a giveaway for you nice folks. ;o)
(COMING SEPTEMBER 2015!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Details

Title: Moonbreez
Author: Adrienne Woods
Series: The Dragonian Series
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing
Release Date: September 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9946641-5-0

Synopsis/Back Blurb

The life or a star-studded royal has not been kind to eighteen-year-old Elena Watkins. With a Council breathing down her neck and a dragon that refuses to accept her as his rider, she must convince everyone that she is ready to rule Paegeia like her parents before her. Bust she has made a promise to her father, King Albert, that she will not go looking for him and free the people of Etan. Elena has promised to never truly fulfill her destiny.

However, situations out of her control will soon force her to confront herself and the evil that seeks to destroy her. Elena must look inside of herself to discover if she can defeat the approaching darkness, be accepted by the people of Paegeia, bring her dragon back to light and fulfill the destiny written in their stars.

Author Bio

Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa, where she still lives
with her husband and two beautiful little girls. She always knew she was going
to be a writer, but it only started to really happen about four years ago. In
her free time―if she gets any because moms don't really have free time―she
loves to spend it with friends, whether it's a girls night out, or just watching
a movie. She's a very chilled person. Her writing career started with Firebolt,
book one in the Dragonian series. There will be four books in total, including
a further two to three books, which will be stories that take place within the
Dragonian series. Her other series, Dream Casters, will be released mid 2015. She
also writes in different genres, and her woman's fiction, The Pregnancy
Diaries, will be published under a pseudonym. And then, she has a paranormal
series by the name of the Aswang series, which will consist of about ten
novels. And if that wasn't enough, there is another series, Guardians of
Monsters, which will be released in 2016.

Author's
Links

Blog

Facebook Book Series Page

G+

Twitter

Website

Fire Quill Publishing

Giveaway

Other novels in this series

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Ignite by Carlyle Labuschagne - Cover Reveal & Giveaway

COVER REVEAL AND A GIVEAWAY! :o)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out Ignite inspiration/information page where you can get a peak into the inspiration behind the novel , playlist and more...

About the author

FACEBOOK. TWITTER. instagram. AMAZON

Calyle is an South African award wining author, with a flair for mixing genres and adding loads of drama to every story she creates. For now she is happy to take over the world and convert non Sci-fi believers.
Her goal as an author is to touch people's lives, and help others love their differences and one another by delivering strong messages of faith, love and hope within every outrageous world she writes about.

"I love to swim, fight for the trees, and am a food lover who is driven by my passion for life. I dream that one day my stories will change the lives of countless teenagers and have them obsess over the world literacy can offer them instead of worrying about fitting in. Never sacrifice who you are, its in the dark times that the light comes to life."

Carlyle used writing as a healing tool and that is why she started her very own writers support event - SAIR bookfestival. 
 "To be a helping hand for those who strive to become full times writers, editors, bloggers, readers and cover artists - its a crazy world out there you dont have to go it alone!"
follow @CarlyleL for all the crazy updates on all things me.

Founder of SAIR Book Festival 
Co Founder of Fire Quill Publishing. 
Founder of Help build a library in South Africa. 

Other books in the series 

Carlyle Labuschagne's books on Goodreads

The Broken Destiny (Broken, #1)

reviews: 59


ratings: 171 (avg rating 3.84)

Dead of Night (Aftershock, #1)

reviews: 26


ratings: 34 (avg rating 4.38)

Evanescent (Broken, #2)

reviews: 16


ratings: 48 (avg rating 4.33)

Absolution (The Broken Diaries, #1)

reviews: 3


ratings: 7 (avg rating 4.43)

Dead of Night (Aftershock Book 1)

reviews: 3


ratings: 3 (avg rating 5.00)

New Book: Evanescent by Carlyle Labuschagne (Book 2 in the Broken Series)

Title: Evanescent

Author: Carlyle Labuschagne

Series: The Broken Series #2

Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing

Release Date: 19th May 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9922446-4-4

Back Blurb:

Her fall has just begun. Only his touch can save her from the shift that could destroy it all. 

Within my blood runs a thing our kind calls the Shadowing Disease. It shadows over, and bends everything to its will. 

When the first blood-shift came, it tore through flesh and blood, threatening to bend me, break bone, shatter my mind and entrap my heart with its honeyed, seductive poison. It came with vicious intent, moving my thoughts and altering me forever. 

The shift has caused a rift within me. No one was safe when it entrapped me in its claws of foul lust. But I have the only antidote against the evil that becomes me - his touch alone has the power to release the spurs of sweet darkness that clung on for deal life. 

I knew what I had to do; the desperation pulled my mind with the deep determination of a hungry predator. 

By the time the revelation raised me from the dark dungeon of my bounds - it might have been too late.

PURCHASE THE NOVEL

AMAZON

BARNES$NOBLE

KOBO

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CREATE SPACE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carlyle is
an South African award winning author, with a flair for mixing genres and
adding loads of drama to every story she creates. For now she is happy to take
over the world and convert non Sci-fi believers.

Her goal
as an author is to touch people's lives, and help others love their differences
and one another by delivering strong messages of faith, love and hope within
every outrageous world she writes about.

"I
love to swim, fight for the trees, and am a food lover who is driven by my
passion for life. I dream that one day my stories will change the lives of
countless teenagers and have them obsess over the world literacy can offer them
instead of worrying about fitting in. Never sacrifice who you are, it’s in the
dark times that the light comes to life."

Carlyle
used writing as a healing tool and that is why she started her very own writers
support event - SAIR bookfestival.

 "To
be a helping hand for those who strive to become full times writers, editors,
bloggers, readers and cover artists - it’s a crazy world out there you don’t
have to go it alone!"

AUTHOR LINKS

Blog

Facebook
Page

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Google +

Fire Quill Publishing

New Book: Dream Casters by Adrienne Woods

Author Bio

 
Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa, where she still lives
with her husband and two beautiful little girls. She always knew she was going
to be a writer, but it only started to really happen about four years ago. In
her free time―if she gets any because moms don’t really have free time―she
loves to spend it with friends, whether it’s a girls night out, or just watching
a movie. She’s a very chilled person. Her writing career started with Firebolt,
book one in the Dragonian series. There will be four books in total, including
a further two to three books, which will be stories that take place within the
Dragonian series. Her other series, Dream Casters, will be released mid 2015. She
also writes in different genres, and her woman’s fiction, The Pregnancy
Diaries, will be published under a pseudonym. And then, she has a paranormal
series by the name of the Aswang series, which will consist of about ten
novels. And if that wasn’t enough, there is another series, Guardians of
Monsters, which will be released in 2016.

Author Photo

 

Author’s
Links

Blog

Facebook
Book Series Page

G+

Twitter

Website

Fire Quill Publishing

 

Book
Cover

Book Details

Title: Dream Casters: Light

Author: Adrienne Woods

Series: The Dream Caster Series

Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing

Release Date: May 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9946641-2-9

 

 

Synopsis
(Back blurb)

Mr.
Sandman, send me a dream, ta da da da.....Seventeen year old Chasity Blake
knows the Sandman is just a silly children's story parents tell their children
to get them to sleep. At least she thought it was, until the day a mysterious,
light golden sand appeared in her hands during a high school prank that went
horribly wrong. A sand that has the power to send anyone it touches into a
deep, sound sleep.

Fearing she
had lost her mind, Chasity soon discovers the shocking truth of her heritage-
she is a Dream Caster. Chasity was never supposed to be raised on the Domain,
or what humans call Earth and she is forced to return to her true birth place,
Revera – the world of Dreams.

However, in
Revera there is no balance between good, the Light Casters, and darkness, the
Shadow Casters, and Chasity is caught square in the middle. She soon learns
that there is no place for anyone containing both the light and the darkness
within them, and the shocking truth that if anyone in Revera ever discovered
her shadow self, Chasity would be thrown into the Oblivion – the world of
Nightmares.

Dreams are
always more than they seem, and this time Chasity is going to discover just how
different they can be.

Two teasers

Excerpt One

WO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS made barely a sound on the rough and weathered wood
as they walked across the bridge that led from Main Pacific to the Glands. The
streetlights were dimmed  as dusk began
to settle and last vestiges of light from the setting sun were fading to night.
The lumbering clouds were moving in, blocking out any light from the two moons
that shone overhead, even the stars seemed less bright dotted across their
velvet backdrop. With his golden dust Graig Chen could conjure and wield
anything by simply believing in its reality. If he wanted it to be real, it
would be.

The Reverse was the most painful thing either of them had ever
experienced, but Liam, a healer and Graig’s only confidant, had promised him
that they would be able to live in the Domain like normal Nomads, humans.

Graig and his pregnant fiancé, were fleeing from
their home world in secret, having no other choice if they desired a normal
life for their unborn child.

They knew neither of their families would ever
understand, even though it had been his grandmother who had always said, the heart wants, what the heart wants.
How could he have known that his heart would want a Shadow Caster, and not just
any ordinary Shadow Caster. She was special, or at least her family was. She
was expected to uphold the family line with her offspring,  Graig knew that did not include carrying the
child of a Light Caster.

The two lovers could never live in peace, not since
the balance between good and evil inside Revera was thrown into upheaval. There
were only two choices for casters like them, either light or dark. The balance
could not accommodate a person containing both, so for his child’s sake they
had no choice but to leave Revera. Live like normal humans in the Domain, or
what humans would call reality. He’d found a perfect place, one he’d made sure
no one would ever find, not even his two best friends.

They knew about the relationship, they’d been there
when he’d first laid eyes on her, tried to talk him out of it, to forget the
blonde bombshell that would only cause him darkness and misery, but without her
his life would be spent in darkness and misery.

Her silver blonde hair and bright blue eyes had
done him in, if only he’d seen the bow that she’d aimed straight at his heart.
If it hadn’t been for his love when arrow hit, and for Liam, a healer, he
wouldn’t be in his currant predicament; trying to get him and her off this
dimential world that most people would call make-believe, but Revera was far
from that. It was the world of dreams, and Graig was a Level Four Caster whose
mission was to seek out Selene, their only live Somnium. It was on one of these
very missions that he had met the love of his live, the one woman he couldn’t
live without, and he didn’t care if she had black dust, he didn’t care that she
was a Shadow Caster, or what some would call a nightmare wielder. Yes, those
horrible dreams that leave you paralyzed with fear are actually wielded by
Caster’s, not some grave impression of ones subconscious. They are responsible
for doubts and forgotten dreams. She was his nightmare, and a nightmare he was
prepared to die for.

He knew deep down that she would would never
survive living in Revera and he was unable to cope with the Oblivion, wherever
it was. Oblivion was the realm of the Shadow Casters, created when Selene
casted out Magdelena, one of the first Shadow Casters, who was the third
Somnium, as a consequence for the death of her brother, Darius, the second
Somnium. Magdelena had no realm to call her own, so she created Oblivion by
focusing her hatred toward Selene, a world that could exist inside Revera, far
from Selene’s sight. For years, Selene tried to find it, but as long as the
Sodivic bloodline flowed through Shadow Caster’s vanes, Oblivion would never be
found by a Light Caster.

Sodivic blood was the key to Oblivion’s secrecy,
and Magdalena’s family line. There were many Sodivic’s since the dawning of
Oblivion but Magdelena reigned over them all. Graig had met many Sodivic’s on
his quests, each meeting always ended up in a bloody mess, and in all the years
he had encountered them, not one had ever 
shown any kind of mercy or remorse. They were sadistic and couldn’t be
reasoned with. He had been taught from a young age, if you see a Sodivic, you
kill it. That was the number one rule taught to the Level One Dream Casters.

His fiancé was the only one that proved his theory
wrong. Over the past century, their bloodline had been busy dying out, leaving
her one of the few powerful Shadow Casters left.

Graig would pay dearly for loving her if her father
ever found them, and he couldn’t even think about what would happen to the
unborn child she carried.

Craig squeezed the hand that was resting tightly
inside his own grip as they neared the end of the bridge.

“Were almost there, my love. Not much longer.”

“You’re sure nobody followed us?” Her eyes were
wild, searching everywhere in the darkness.

“I’m sure. Besides, they won’t be able to see us,
remember.” He opened his hand, just to make sure she hadn’t forgotten what he
was, and threw more golden sand into the air, shielding them from anything that
tried to followed them.

Then he heard it, a crunch. He stopped abruptly and
she slammed into him. One second of doubt was all it took to break the spell,
and before he could realized that doubt, they were surrounded by Nimgolians,
the biggest and wicket shadow hounds ever imagined. They were veil, and
reminded him of a Rottweiler that had chased him ones in the Domain. 

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Learning to Write: wanna-be-author in progress

     I have always had the desire to write, to create a world all my own and share it with everyone.  But I lacked the right motivation to propelling me into action.  This past year I have been very inspired (thank you Pinterest!) and eager to write a story and not just poems or letters or very short short-stories.
     Last week I called my mom and told her that I had the itch.  "The what?!" she asked.
     "The itch.  Sometimes when you get the itch, you just have to scratch it.  Well, mom, I'm ready to scratch!"  This followed with the conversation that usually 'the itch' relates to a different topic entirely.  Afterwards, I called my dad.  "Dad, I'm finally going to do it.   I'm going to write a book.  While I'm in college, taking tests, trying to graduate and pass board exams."   Yeay me.
     So here I am, getting excited about writing my book.  I researched names I liked and their meanings, finding perfect matches for the type of story I'm going for.  I wrote a few paragraphs in different scenes that may happen.  But, as I write scenes, I realize I'm missing so much.  I don't want to take months and months planning out a book before I actually start writing (because that's the kind of person I am: having to have all the details and preperations done before I even start with a project, any project).
     I stop and pause, mid-sentence.  I am trying to build my house without any foundation, without even a plot of land to place it upon.  I have no setting, not really- no country or kingdom names, maps, rules, traditions.  The few characters I've created have no character themselves.  There's hardly a plot, twists, climaxes, etc.  I realize that all this will come over time and even while writing the story, and some things will change a little or change completely... that's where editing comes in- they say writing a book takes a third of the time that editing does.  But I also realize that I can't bake a dessert if I don't have at least an idea of what the ingredients are going to be.
     This is going to be a lot harder, take a lot more time (months and months!), and require a great amount of effort on my part if I want to get this ball rolling.  But I am ready, I am so ready!  I am spreading my wings, preparing to fly.

Poison- a Dragonian Series novella by Adrienne Woods

Book Details:

Title: Poison: A Dragonian Series Novella

Author: Adrienne Woods

Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing

Release date: 21st May 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9946536-6-6 

Back blurb:

Everyone dreams of being a princess, well everyone except eighteen-year-old Elena Watkins.

After learning about her lost heritage, Elena is forced to choose between learning to be the perfect ruler for Paegeia and her old life.

Not to mention that pesky dragon of hers who always seems to appear and disappear at just the right time. With her friends beside her, Elena must discover her own future as Paegeian royalty.

Who said being a princess was easy?



About the Author: Adrienne Woods

Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa,
where she still resides on the East side of Johannesburg with her husband and
two little girls. She's been writing for the past four years and in her free
time she likes to review books of new and upcoming authors.

Where to find Adrienne Woods

Website

The Dragonian Series Facebook Page

Google +

Twitter

The Dragonian Series site

Adrienne's Book Blog

Other novels in this series