Readers' Favorite

November 1, 2014

The Stern and Wild Ones by @ReeceEvhans


Throughout the month of November, Girl Who Reads will feature books from authors who are participating in National Novel Writing Month. These authors are attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Today's feature is result of the 2013 NaNoWriMo competition.

About the Book

The Stern and Wild Ones
16 year-old Ally has always known about things—things she shouldn’t really be able to know. Suddenly, she starts having terrifying visions about a former friend who is in desperate trouble. As her powers begin to develop, the adults in her life think she and her psychic abilities might hold the key to unraveling an ancient mystery.

Although she’s psychic, she still a normal girl with normal problems, including her attraction to a mysterious boy with a troubled past. Jack may have been in trouble with the law, but Ally sees something in him worth fighting for.

Can this unlikely couple work together to find the answers to Ally’s visions before someone gets killed? Can they possibly find love along the way?


Buy The Stern and Wild Ones at Amazon



About the Author

Reece Evhans
Reece  Evhans has been writing since she was in elementary school. She has come a long way since those thinly veiled imitations of Tolkien masterpieces. Thanks to NaNoWriMo, Reece finished her debut YA paranormal romance, The Stern and Wild Ones (available on amazon). She is currently working on the sequel, due out in the fall of 2014. When she isn't writing, she's a high school English teacher. Cliche, yes, but what can you do?
website  *  Twitter  *  Goodreads  *  Facebook

Read a Sample





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October 31, 2014

Five Free Horror Reads

For those turning off the porch light early tonight, we have a special Halloween edition of FREE ebooks. These are all top FREE horror.


The Warning
Sarah Roberts has spent the last four years helping people stay alive through the messages she receives from the dead. She receives a daunting communication from the Other Side regarding her sister's murderer, and where she can find him, but the message is not clear enough to confirm the man's identity. Then she receives The Warning, a message that tells her to stand down - let it go. She refuses and enters a complex where the odds are stacked heavily against her. The tables turn, and Sarah becomes the hunted rather than the hunter. How many people have to die to catch one murderer? How far will Sarah go? Sarah must face the absolute horror and reality that has become her life as an Automatic Writer. The Warning begins as a flame, ignites to a fire and explodes in an inferno of violence over a girl who receives messages from the dead to help the living.

Get it at Amazon



Left Alive
Adults only due to graphic violence and sexual situations.

Book 1 of 3

The world is dead. Plants gone. Animals gone. The air is thick with dust and ash. Water has turned to murky cesspools of death and decay. Life and Earth as we know it are gone—at least all the good parts.
It’s been almost a year since the first signs that we killed our planet began to arise. Order and humanity are gone now, replaced by vigilante justice and survival at all costs. Nine months have passed since the quarantines were put in place. Six months since we realized it was too late, and just after that the governments of the world fell.
That was nearly seven billion people ago, and now Charles has decided it is time to pack up and leave in search of the one thing still worth living for—his daughters.
With rumors of roving bands of cannibals, and even zombies, he knows making the journey is a long shot, but he has to try. He promised their dying mother that he would keep them safe and has every intention of doing just that, come hell or hungry zombies.
In a soulless world filled with nothing but pain and death, will his determination be enough to see him through to the end?

Get it at Amazon

Desecration
Death isn't always the end. LONDON. When the body of a young heiress is found within the Royal College of Surgeons, Detective Sergeant Jamie Brooke is assigned to the case. An antique ivory figurine found beside the body is the only lead and she enlists Blake Daniel, a reluctant clairvoyant, to help her discover the message it holds. When personal tragedy strikes, Jamie finds her own life entwining with the morbid fascinations of the anatomists, and she must race against time to stop them claiming another victim. As Jamie and Blake delve into a macabre world of grave robbery, body modification, and the genetic engineering of monsters, they must fight to keep their sanity, and their lives.

Get it at Amazon




Fractured Legacy
Kaylyn Anderson's fascination with abandoned places and dark creatures kindled her work as a paranormal investigator. But when dreams begin to distort reality, she questions what is real and pulls away from everyone she trusts. The opportunity to investigate the Teague Hotel--a long-abandoned landmark that has always piqued her curiosity--provides a chance to redeem herself. Unraveling the hotel's secrets won't be easy, but Kaylyn soon finds herself the target of a dark entity that has been trapped in the building for decades.

If Kaylyn stands any chance of defeating the spirit, she'll have to accept that her fears are real and convince fellow investigators that she hasn't lost her mind.

Get it at Amazon and B&N


Donners of the dead
Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

Get it at Amazon


Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above links. Prices are subject to change without notice, please verify price before purchasing.



October 30, 2014

Marketing Resources for Horror Writers

by Donna Huber

Some genres are easy to find promotional outlets to market books, while other genres are more difficult. Romance writers can find hundreds of thousands of blogs that cater to the genre. The horror genre is the opposite, at least in my experience. While there may not be as many blogs that focus on horror there are other resources available to horror writers. I will share 3 resources I ran across when I was organizing the blog tour for Night Chill by Jeff Gunhus.

1. Blogs

Many general book bloggers include horror among the genres they review, yet horror is only represented in a small portion of their reviews. They may do a feature in October highlighting books from the genre. I did run across a few blogs that were horror bloggers.

Ginger Nuts of Horror
Wag the Fox: Gef Fox's Den for Dark Fiction
The Geekdon of Gore

2. eZines

While searching for horror bloggers, I ran across several ezines devoted to the horror genre and many of them seemed quite active. Perhaps for dedicated horror readers, ezines is a more popular medium. If you are trying to reach your target audience, it wouldn't hurt to look into them. This site lists a number of ezines.

3. Groups

Again, maybe horror readers are not really into blogging like romance or fantasy readers. I found a couple of active groups; it is were I found the blogs that I pitched Night Chill to as well as some of the ezines. Goodreads has an active group - Horror Aficionados . BookBlog.ning also has an active group - Horror/Occult Reads. Please remember that groups are rarely about pure self-promotion. They are for building a relationship between readers and authors. Use the group more in the way that a reader would use it - talk about your favorite horror authors, make recommendations of great horror novels, etc. By doing this you will build your network and after being part of the community for a while (about 2 - 3 months) then you may be able to reach out to individuals who you have built a relationship with to ask about promotion assistance.


I hope you find these resources helpful. In the past few months, Girl Who Reads has featured more books in the genre since it is one of Claire's favorite genres. Visit her Facebook page for recommendations and possible review of your book.

October 29, 2014

15 Horror Novels for Your Halloween Entertainment

by Claire Rees

Public domain image from Wikimedia
I have a few top lists. They are not in any order. These are just the books I love to re-read at Halloween. you

Top 5 Zombie Novels


Zombie Fallout

Buy Zombie Fallout at Amazon
I recommend the entire Zombie Fallout series by Mark Tufo

Dead Hunger
Buy The Dead Hunger box set at Amazon
Read my review here.


Gameland

Buy The Gameland omnibus (1-8) at Amazon


Benton

Buy Benton at Amazon
Read my review here.


I Dream of Zombies

Buy I Dream of Zombies at Amazon
Read my review here.


Top 5 Horror/Ghost Novels


Waiting for Harvey

Buy Waiting for Harvey at Amazon
Read my review here.


The Dead Game

Buy The Dead Game at Amazon


The Ghost Files

Buy The Ghost Files at Amazon


The Ghosts of the Sleath

Buy The Ghosts of the Sleath at Amazon


Night Chill

Buy Night Chill at Amazon
Read my review here.


TOP 5 YA Horror/Paranormal Novels



Haunted

Buy Haunted at Amazon


The Shadow

Buy The Shadow at Amazon
Read my review here.


Twisted Dreams

Buy Twisted Dreams at Amazon
Read my review here.


Peter and the Vampires

Buy Peter and the Vampires at Amazon


Bigfoot's box of zombies, werewolves and vampires

Buy Bigfoot's Box of Zombies, Werewolves and Vampires at Amazon


Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above links.

October 28, 2014

Review: Waiting for Harvey by Lydia North

by Claire Rees

Waiting for Harvey
Waiting for Harvey by Lydia North is about a big time writer who comes down with writer's block and decides to go visit his brother's cabin in the woods of Maine to get back to nature for some peace and quiet. His brother John stays with him the first night and they reminisce on the old times back at the cabin when they were kids. As kids they used a Ouija board  and convinced themselves that they had spoke to and seen a ghost. Now as adults John believes it was all just their imagination and kids being kids.

However when John leaves to go back to work he promises to be back to pick up Erik in three weeks but things start happening to Erik that he cannot explain.

Things get more terrifying and the Ouija board starts making appearances on the kitchen table and starts to talk to him, then he starts hearing voices telling him not to leave.

He tries to escape but because of the bad weather he gets lost on the back roads and ends up going back to cabin. Things get even scarier when the ghost starts to make appearances and it leads to the ghost attacking Erik and leaves him badly hurt.

This is a chilling story guaranteed to make you feel scared. I got really into this book. It kept me wondering what would happen next and asking would he stay at the cabin forever. The ending was really good and a little twist I didn't see coming.

I recommend this to all who love ghost stories.

Buy Waiting for Harvey at Amazon



Book info
Available formats: ebook and print (270 pages)
Published: May 2014
ISBN13: 9781311555540
Genres: Horror
Audience: Adult




Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link.

October 27, 2014

5 thrillers to give you chills

by Donna Huber
A public domain image from Wikimedia. 

Halloween is fast approaching and if you are looking for a frightful read, check out this list.

The First Victim
The First Victim by JB Lynn. While Lynn is making a name for herself in the cozy mystery genre with an impressive 7 books in the Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series and two books in The Matchmaker series, I first discovered her when I read her thriller The First Victim. To me it bordered on horror, but it was so good. You can read my review here.

Buy The First Victim at Amazon






The Never List
Another great dark and twisted story that I just happened upon is The Never List by Koethi Zan. Zan plunges the reader into a horrifying tale of girls abducted and systematically torture. Read my review here.

Buy The Never List at Amazon





Still Missing
You can never go wrong with a Chevy Stevens novel, but Still Missing gave me chills. I saw recently in the news that a realtor had been killed while do a house showing. I immediately thought of this book. Read my review here.

Buy Still Missing at Amazon










Before I Go To Sleep
If you like Chevy Stevens or Nancy Price, then I recommend checking out Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson. How scary would it be if you awoke each morning not knowing where you are or anything about the last 10 years? Main character Christine was in an accident that left her unable to remember a large portion of her past and incapable of retaining new memories. Read my full review here.


Buy Before I Go To Sleep at Amazon




Three
One more great psychological thriller is Thr3e by Ted Dekker. It was a bit different than some of the other books that I have read by him, but still a great story that was hard to put down. It was also made into a movie.

Buy Thr3e at Amazon





Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above links. 






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