A Tale of Two Djinn FEATURE
A TALE OF TWO DJINN
by Mina Khan
Akshay, warrior prince of the earth djinns, earns the title of Crown Prince at a high cost when he loses his best friend in a battle against ancient enemies, the water djinns. Heartsick, he escapes to Earth to mourn and lose himself in drink
Nothing gets the biological clock ticking (and elders lecturing) like almost dying in battle, so Maya, princess of the water djinns, travels to Earth for some no-strings-attached sex to fulfill her duty and produce an heir. But the beautiful and tough warrior gets more than she bargained for when she meets Shay.
Their not-so-simple one-night stand is interrupted by assassins and the world, as they know it, is changed forever. As Maya and Shay pull together to survive, both are determined to have their happily-ever-after and bring peace to their worlds — warring families, shadow assassins, and nosy busybodies be damned.
Fifty percent of the proceeds are being donated to UNICEF.
Available at: Amazon / B&N / Kobo
Anniversary Blog Tour ALSO VISITING…
3/19 – Salacious Reads
3/20 – Riverina Romantics
3/21 – Froggarita’s Bookcase
3/22 – Ramblings From This Chick
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Mina Khan is a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns (pronounced “gins”), ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as tales of romance and adventure.
Her first published work, The Djinn’s Dilemma, won the novella category of the 2012 Romance Through The Ages (published) contest.
Connect with Mina:
5***** for Beast Behaving Badly
Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you’re looking for shades of relevant social commentary, you won’t find it here. This book was totally silly.
It was also cute, funny, and entertaining with some dialogue I could really appreciate. The ultimate beach read. If I still had a beach body, I would go to the beach and take this book.
Read because of a reference by a blogger I admire. Glad I got it.
Big Cocks and Shamrocks GIVEAWAY HOP March 17-24
LAST DAY AT THE HOP!
TO ENTER, click this link and pick one or more qualifying options. (subscribe to my mail list, follow my blog) a Rafflecopter giveaway
One winner from this Raffle will be entered into the GRAND PRIZE drawing and one winner will receive a set of three signed ORDER OF THE BLACK SWAN paperbacks.
The Cabal of Hotness BASKET FULL OF NAUGHTY PRIZE.
THESE PRIZES MAKE ME BLUSH!!!
The items:
– tickler/flogger (one on each end)
– penis-shaped sour candies
– flask that reads “girls with class don’t need a glass”
– g-spot vibe
– oral sex “essentials” kit
– glow in the dark erotic dice
We’ll also include a $30 gift card and a Cabal of Hotness t-shirt.
Click the Linky to continue on your hop. Thanks for stopping by. Hot luck!!
Author's Review of A Summoner's Tale and PROFILE of a Black Swan Reader
PUBLISHED ON GOODREADS ON 1/20/2013.
I suppose it now qualifies as a tradition that I write a review of my own book. In some ways this is the most fun – the cherry on top of the very mixed bag of being an author. Was that a messy metaphor? Oh, yeah. One of the great things about accumulating a little recognition is gaining permission to break some rules.
Baka’s story has been like a pressure cooker in my chest for the past several months. Getting it out there is a marvelous relief because now I’m no longer the only one who knows where we were headed. While preparations have been laid in these first three books for some of the other stories that follow, I don’t expect any future installments to take the emotional toll that this book did.
A Summoner’s Tale is dark, not in the sense of blood and gore, but in the sense of physical, psychic, and emotional pain along with the scariest thing any human ever confronts, that – from beginning through middle to end, no matter how we may try to fool ourselves into thinking otherwise – we are alone. Is the subject matter and treatment deeper than one normally encounters in paranormal romance? Yes. BUT, I insist on my Happily Ever After endings. I’m hopelessly romantic, thoroughly American, and possibly suffering from arrest of development at around age three when my dad would laugh at me for requesting to hear “Snow White” every night.
In a sense this book is also a test of readership. If you have read all three books and are in for a fourth, then we, as reader and author, are a match because each of these first three books is very different.
I’m in the process of building a PROFILE OF A BLACK SWAN READER. Here’s what I’ve got so far.
1. A Black Swan reader is literate. Someone asked me once for the grade level equivalent of my books. I didn’t know, but was directed to some online testers that can be used to determine that. I discovered that my books read at the 9th-11th grade level. I was horrified. Then I spent half a day testing about fifteen celebrity PNR authors. The typical rank was 3rd – 7th grade although two or three made it all the way to 6th – 8th. That’s why I believe I can make the claim that Black Swan readers are comparatively literate. To illustrate, let me cite a quote from Reviewing in Chaos: “Let me just say SQUEEEEE!”
2. A Black Swan reader appreciates descriptive detail. – Black Swan readers don’t see description as unnecessary and superfluous. They understand that it’s the details that layer richness and depth into the story. They also have the maturity to know that patience brings greater rewards.
For example, here is a quote from Booked and Loaded, my favorite so far:
As multiple stories are seemingly unrelated, each brings with it a new dimension that begins to form a pattern that slowly leads all players to one key game, one final showdown to succeed and emerge intact. It is the chase to the end, the multiple and variant tensions, the characters that have become your friends, your heroes and your entertainment keep you reading long past bedtime and into the night – for you need to know how it all ends.
3. A Black Swan reader values characterization and believes that who characters are is as important – if not moreso – than what they do.
All the characters are amazing, strong, handsome, loyal, and married to women who are their equals. – Linda Tonis, The Paranormal Romance Guild.
4. A Black Swan reader is receptive to new experience. In other words, Black Swan readers don’t either want or demand the same plug-in-character’s-name-here, I-could-pie-chart-the-formula story over and over again.
To all of you who fit this profile, thank you. What would I do without you?
– Victoria
Victoria INTERVIEWED by Coffee Addicted Writer
Great questions, Billy. Click here to read the interview…
The Last Keeper's Daughter FEATURE & GIVEAWAY
The Last Keeper’s Daughter
Book 1 in The Last Keeper’s Daughter Series
Rebecca Trogner
Genre: Paranormal Romance Mystery
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Word Count: 86,360
Book Description:
Born into old money, Lily Ayres lives at Waverly, her family’s estate situated at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Paris, Virginia. She is a strange, small, almost mute, young woman who has no idea that her father has given her to the Vampire King Krieger. Walter Ayres is the King’s Keeper and part of a secret society of historians who unearth, preserve, and attempt to understand relics of long forgotten civilizations.
Lily has never felt comfortable in the human world, but after she suspiciously falls down a flight of stone steps, and is healed and claimed by Krieger, she realizes there is another world. In this Other Realm she feels a sense of belonging, and begins to untwine the mysterious event which left her mentally and psychologically damaged. When Walter disappears in England, Lily works with human and supernatural beings to uncover his whereabouts. With each new discovery, she is pulled deeper into the vortex of magic, intrigue, and dark desires that permeates the supernatural world. The revelations revealed unfold a story of deception and betrayal that threaten to tear the thin veil between the supernatural and human world asunder.
TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY – $100 AMAZON GIFT CARD
About the Author: Rebecca Trogner lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and frequently crosses the Blue Ridge Mountains that were the inspiration for Krieger’s home. She always dreamed of being a writer, but got sidetracked by the day-to-day adventures of life. With the encouragement of her family, she has finished her first novel and is currently writing the next book in The Last Keeper’s Daughter series. Rebecca lives with her husband and son, and a rescue dog named Giblet. To find out more about the author visit www.rebeccatrogner.com.
Website: www.rebeccatrogner.com
Blog: http://blog.rebeccatrogner.com
Twitter: @RTrogner
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/RTrogner
EXCERPT…
Krieger sat in the oversized chair, letting his arms hang down almost to the floor, and inhaled deeply of her scent, now richer, more complex than it had been before. He’d never encountered anyone who smelled so enticing. Her blood beguiled him, like a flower lures the bee to its sweet nectar. He wished to sink his fangs into her soft skin, to feel the first spurt of blood hit his tongue. He groaned with anticipation. To a vampire, blood and sex were intertwined. When he’d healed her with his blood it had taken a great deal of restraint not to seek his own physical fulfillment. He was ill prepared to deal with an innocent. His fingers wrapped around the legs of the chair, and the sound of wood snapping under pressure made him release his grip.
Her eyelids fluttered. It took a few attempts before she turned her head and stared at him. He remained motionless.
“You had a bad fall at the party, remember?” He raised his hands, palms facing towards her. “You’re safe, at my home.”
Her face, already flushed, became a deep shade of red. He could hear her heart beating hard and strong. He fought the urge to taste her.
“You came for me.” Lily spoke softly. “I was afraid you wouldn’t.”
He remembered what the doctor had said, and knew the volume was not important, but that she was speaking meant a great deal.
“How do you feel?”
She took stock of her body. She raised the once injured shoulder, and then looked down, amazed.
“I healed you.”
She slid up, clutching the sheet to her neck, and rested her back against the headboard. The rose tones of the coverlet highlighted the perfection of her skin. He pondered going to sit on the bed next to her, but decided she needed to feel comfortable and safe in his presence, not hunted into a corner.
She spoke out the word, “How,” on a long breath.
He liked how she didn’t ask ridiculous questions. She cut straight to the point.
“With my blood.”
Lily glanced into his eyes, maybe gauging the truth of his words. She nodded and looked down at her hands. He had anticipated some sort of feminine theatrics, but she showed no emotion that he could decipher.
“I don’t remember that.”
“When did you remember me?”
“On the mountain,” she said, staccato quick.
He kept his face impassive.
“I’m not–” She ran her hand over her shoulder again. “Am I?”
“Vampire,” he finished her question. “No.”
The sigh of relief made her thoughts clear. He wondered if she would be more receptive to the idea after the years had ravaged her beautiful face.
“Did Walter leave this for you?” He laid the small watercolor painting on the bed.
She nodded.
Standing up, careful to move at human speed, he motioned towards the hallway leading to the bathroom and dressing area. “Everything you need will be provided. For now, you should rest.”
Lily shook her head. “I feel fine.” She started to get up, looked down, and tightened her hold on the coverlet.
“Clothes are in the dressing area. Do you need assistance?”
Her expression said she did not.
“Can you walk?” Krieger asked.
She nodded.
He went to the French doors and turned his back to her. “Go on. Call out if you feel weak.” Modesty was something foreign to Others. They did not feel shamed or embarrassed by nudity. He hadn’t thought about this and wished the doctor had clothed her. He heard the lock mechanism on the connecting door click into place. If it made her feel safe then what harm could it do?
Krieger heard her walk back into the room. He stayed where he was, waiting to see what she would do. When she came to stand next to him, he was pleased.
“Stoke Castle sits atop the Blue Ridge mountains. Waverly is within view below us.”
Lily stepped closer to the French doors, her hand reaching for the door knob.
“Dawn is upon us. It would be best if you refrained from going outside until I exit the room, or until the sun has set.”
Lily went completely still again, much like a rabbit will hide in tall grass.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.
“You’ve been unconscious for a day.” He let her take a moment to process the information. “Look at me.”
She turned, which pleased him, but did not raise her eyes to his.
Placing his forefinger under her chin, he lifted her face upwards. “Look at me,” he said with a kind firmness. “I have lost the ability to trance you now that you carry my blood.”
“Trance?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
He ran his fingers lightly over her cheek bones and rested his hand against her face. “Your father told me that you hate to be touched, and yet you do not flinch away from me. It is good.” He bent down to place his lips next to her ear. “You have no need to fear me.”
