Blog tour - Frozen, by Christine Amsden

Today it's a paranormal fantasy that I enjoyed -

Frozen (Cassie Scot Book Seven)

Apparently, life doesn’t end when you get married.

When a couple freezes to death on a fifty degree day, Cassie is called in to investigate. The couple ran a daycare out of their home, making preschoolers the key witnesses and even the prime suspects.

Two of those preschoolers are Cassie’s youngest siblings, suggesting conditions at home are worse than she feared. As Cassie struggles to care for her family, she must face the truth about her mother’s slide into depression, which seems to be taking the entire town with it.

Then Cassie, too, is attacked by the supernatural cold. She has to think fast to survive, and her actions cause a rift between her and her husband.

No, life doesn’t end after marriage. All hell can break loose at any time.

 My review:

Stupidly, I hadn't realised this was part of a series (you'd think I'd check that kind of thing by now) and though I thought there was quite a bit of backstory cropping up, it's still perfectly readable as a standalone, even with its 'and now we'll go and do this next thing' ending. The plot is interesting and pleasantly complicated, and exciting, too, in lots of places. I can't say I liked Evan much, but the narrator is sympathetic and I galloped through this - really ought to go back  now and find the first one to read!

Buy Links

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

Print Release: July 15, 2018

Audiobook Release: TBA

The Cassie Scot Series

Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective (Cassie Scot Book One)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

·Audible.com

Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot Book Two)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

·Audible

Mind Games (Cassie Scot Book 3)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noblet

·Audible

Stolen Dreams (Cassie Scot Book 4)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

·Audible

Madison's Song (Cassie Scot Book 5)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

·Audible

Kaitlin’s Tale (Cassie Scot Book 6)

·Amazon

·Barnes and Noble

·Audible 

About the Author 

Christine Amsden has been writing fantasy and science fiction for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and relationships, and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, which scars the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams. 

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. In addition to being a writer, she's a mom and freelance editor.

Social Media Links:

· Website

· Newsletter

· Blog

· Facebook

· Twitter

· Goodreads

· Google+

And here's an extract - don't have nightmares!

That’s when I saw it – the thing that had scared Evan. It was … a dog, maybe? But massive. As black as night. And with red, glowing eyes. If it weren’t for the eyes, I might have mistaken it for a werewolf. Well, that, and the fact that the moon hadn’t risen. Wolves didn’t turn when the sun went down, only when the moon rose. It wasn’t even the full moon; I would never have left Ana with Scott if it were.

            The monstrous thing lunged for Jim, a thirty-something man in very good shape who couldn’t seem to outrun it. It tore at the backs of his legs, drawing blood and sending Jim sprawling to the ground on hands and knees.

            I couldn’t move, and not because Evan’s power still held me. That thing was about two seconds from eating Jim, a man I happened to like and who I knew had a wife and two kids at home.

            A strangled yell emerged from Jim’s throat. Guns blazed – I hadn’t even noticed Frank and Sheriff Adams drawing their weapons. The beast growled, momentarily losing interest in Jim as it fixed those demon eyes on the two men trying to fill it with lead.

            Then, suddenly, it was in the air, flying backwards through the trees and out of sight.

            The guns went quiet but the sheriff and his deputy continued to run toward their fallen comrade. Evan stood stock still, staring into the woods, arms raised and waiting. Listening.

            Suddenly, the sound of a canine howling filled the air.

            “Move!” Evan shouted. “It’s coming back!”

Book tour: Fate's Design, by Subhashish Dey

Hosting a book tour today!

When a kidnapper redeems his lost conscience and finds himself unable to murder the girl he has kidnapped, what does he do? Fate is cruel to him, and good intentions are never enough. 

At the same time, a woman dissatisfied with her existence flees from her home, not knowing what lies ahead of her. But all things come at a price, and she has a hard path ahead through storms and fire.   

Watch how fate has entwined these lives together, into a song through struggles of conscience and identity, through the deepest lows and greatest highs, and through the flame of madness and the stings of survival.     

Book Links:

Amazon

Feedback for the Book:

5 Stars “An extremely well written thriller by an amazing fourteen-year-old. Written at an age when most teenagers find their boats floundering in the sea of words, Subhashish had not only managed to keep a grip on the plot, taking the reader along the journey of his well-drawn out characters, he had also shown a rare maturity in his choice of words. His insights are at times startling, coming from someone of his age.” ~ Supratim Kar on Amazon

5 Stars – “An impressive first novel. The author is still in his teens, but the narrative voice is one of maturity and experience. The story unfolds like a Russian romance novel, in a modern setting. The plot is complex and suspenseful and keeps one turning the pages until the climax.” ~ T.N.Badri on Amazon

“A thoroughly interesting read, Fate’s Design, plays out as a struggle to live, survive and not merely exist. There are flaws, which in any case, are there in every piece of writing, but, the author’s abilities to weave a story, which does not make you, cringe or question its validity, make it an interesting work worth going over more than once.” ~ Soumyabrata Gupta

About the Author:

Subhashish is a 14-year-old student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya Anna Nagar. He has been regularly contributing short stories to his school magazine. An avid reader, Subhashish believes that books open the doors to some wonderful insights in life. A brilliant student, Subhashish loves to explore different places and spends time trying to understand the culture of the people there. 

Subhashish lives in Chennai along with his parents and grandmother. This is his first attempt at writing a novel. Subhashish is passionate about music and loves singing and playing his piano. Incidentally, music forms the backbone of the story of his novel. 

Indie writer for April: Gabrielle Barnby

The Oystercatcher Girl is a slow, gently-paced and beautifully written novel, with strong poetic bones. Yet there is suspense there, because it’s not clear what has happened to draw Christine back to Orkney or how and why Robbie, her teenage sweetheart, died, leaving her to look after his widow and child. Christine’s own family is close to dysfunctional, and she is suspicious of old acquaintances, so this is never a comfortable read, with a growing threat in the air which comes into its own in the last few chapters. But the ending is satisfying, and the images of the setting will linger in my mind for a long time.

The edition I read also has useful notes and questions for book groups at the back, a very practical addition as I’m sure many book groups would find this book meat for some deep discussions.

 
Gabrielle Barnby works in a variety of genres including short stories, poetry and children’s fiction. She lives with her husband and four children in Orkney, Scotland, and I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Stromness Writers' Group last week! Gabrielle’s short stories and book reviews have been published in Northwords Now and The Stinging Fly. Various pieces of her poetry and prose are available in local anthologies including Waiting for The Tide, Come Sit at Our Table and Kirkwall Visions, Kirkwall Voices. Gabrielle also edits monthly writing pages in Living Orkney magazine and runs local writing workshops. She has been commissioned to compose and perform poems at local anniversaries and events and last year performed in the Orkney Storytelling festival. In 2015 her first collection of short stories The House With The Lilac Shutters was published by ThunderPoint. In the same year she won The George Mackay Brown Short Story competition. More information about her work and occasional pieces of flash fiction can be found at www.gabriellebarnby.com. She is also on facebook and twitter @GabrielleBarnby.