{Review} Forsaken by the Others @Jess_Haines

The Others–vampires, werewolves, things that go chomp in the night–don’t just live in nightmares anymore. They’ve joined with he mortal world. And for private investigator Shiarra Waynest, that means mayhem…

Have a one night stand with a vampire, and you can end up paying for it for eternity. P.I. Shiarra Waynest, an expert on the Others, knows that better than most. Yet here she is, waking up beside charismatic vamp Alec Royce with an aching head…and neck. Luckily, Shia has the perfect excuse for getting out of town–namely, a couple of irate East Coast werewolf packs who’d like to turn her into a chew toy.

On Royce’s suggestion, Shia temporarily relocates to Los Angeles. But something is rotten–literally–in the state of California, where local vampires are being attacked by zombies. Who could be powerful enough to control them–and reckless enough to target the immortal? Following the trail will lead Shia to a terrifying truth, and to an ancient enemy with a personal grudge…

BUY THE BOOK BAM | BN | AMAZON

› Visit Amazon's Jess Haines Page

Biography

I'm a displaced New Yorker with a penchant for the silly, the obscure, and the fantastical. Los Angeles is home for the time being, since it consistently meets my daily quota of strange. I'm currently working on the H&W Investigations urban fantasy series. Find out more about Shiarra Waynest, drop me a line, or join my mailing list at www.jesshaines.com!

Ok first off this is book 5 in this series!!!  Dont make my mistake and read this one first!!!  It will make it hard to keep all the characters going!  If you read this Jess I would love to be sent the other books in the series!  So anyway I loved it even with not having read the other 4 books!  This book ends on such a cliff hanger that you will hate them with a passion if you dont already!  This one has a wonderful sexy rating of 3!  

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"

{Blast} The Unexpected Storm #LorhainneEckhart

The Unexpected Storm by Lorhainne Eckhart
Genre: Adult contemporary romance

He can have any woman, except the one he wants.
Candy McRae is barely making ends meet. She’s heartbroken and alone with her horses and baby donkey living hand to mouth on the most sought after oceanfront property. Everyone wants it, including the wealthy hunk who owns the estate next door. And when he offers to buy it she refuses. His first mistake was asking her out. His second was not meaning it. Even though he could solve all her problems, she’d rather sell to the devil himself.
Smart and sexy Neil Friessen is quite the catch. He’s not only drop dead gorgeous with a body women dream of. He’s wealthy, stubborn, arrogant and thoughtful. He attracts women, and million dollar deals, and plans to build a resort on the property next to his. He has the plans, the money, and the resources. The only thing standing between him and his sweet deal is the dark haired beauty who owns the property he wants.
But when a storm forces everyone to evacuate Candy refuses to leave her animals, and her property. But it’s Neil who shows up, Neil who rescues her. Except by the time he finds her vulnerable and hurt they can’t get out. Neil is alone with the one woman he’s always wanted. And he’ll have to choose between this dark haired beauty who fills his dreams every night, and building his million dollar resort.

Buy:

Amazon

       “They were gone.” Neil was soaking wet and out of breath by the time he yanked open the door and had to use both hands to pull it closed as the wind whipped around. “Candy, we’re leaving now, if we can still get out of here.”
       “What do you mean, ‘They were gone’? They can’t be gone!” she yelled, and Neil watched as her face took on that pasty gray white that happened to people when they heard the most awful news. She was holding that ridiculous floppy-eared donkey in her lap, with its gangly legs, as she sat awkwardly on a stool by the door.
       Of course she wasn’t going to make this easy. She was going to be difficult as all hell. He’d love to get to know this woman, and at any other time he would have enjoyed sparring a few rounds, except now was about the worst time possible. Neil took two steps toward her until he was right in her face and the donkey’s legs knocked his knees. He grabbed her shoulders and put his face inches from hers.        “You listen to me: Those horses were probably damn scared, and it looks like they kicked out those flimsy stall doors. There wasn’t much there to hold them in. We have to go.”
       “No. I’ll go find them....”
       “No, you won’t. They’ll be miles from here by now. Candy, honey, I know you love them, but animals have a sixth sense about this kind of thing. They’ll get the hell out of here, they’ll run. You know they’re prey animals, built with a fight or flight instinct that appears to have completely missed you. We have to go. Come on. Don’t fight me on this, because I’ll make you go, and you know I can. I’m not leaving you here. Candy, I promise you we’ll find them after. I’ll help you find them!” he yelled at her.
       The wind was ripping at the roof. The metal was screeching and banging, and water was dribbling through the roof as new holes seemed to pop up everywhere. Her entire ceiling now resembled a sieve. The floor was wet, and Neil could feel the way the house wanted to buckle around them. It wouldn’t be standing much longer.
       A tear slipped out, and she couldn’t wipe it away. He could tell she was embarrassed, but her hands were full with that stupid, ridiculous donkey, who was looking up at Neil absolutely petrified. He could see the thing quivering.
       “I have goats’ milk in the fridge for Ambrose. We’ll have to take it.”
       Neil didn’t wait, yanking open the fridge door. There were five bottles of milk in the fridge, and he grabbed all of them. Spotting paper bags stuffed in a cubby, he stuffed all the bottles in. “Let’s go now. Give me the donkey.” He lifted the donkey from Candy, and it started braying and kicking. He held on tightly to it and to the paper bag he scrunched in his hand. “Can you walk?”
       “Yeah, I can....”
       “Hang on to me.”
       She slid her hand into the crook of his arm, and Neil walked to the door. The donkey had calmed down, thankfully. He adjusted the bag in his hand so he could open the door, but he could feel the wind pounding and pushing against it.
       “Don’t let go.” He glanced back for a second as she tightened her grip, pressing right up against him.

2012 was an amazing year in the publishing world for me, and it started with The Forgotten Child, which landed on the Amazon bestseller list for western romance and romance series. With the publication of each novel and short story, each one made its way to the top ten for its respective genre. 2013 has seen me posted in the top 100 authors on Amazon for romantic suspense and mystery/thrillers, police procedural.

Where did it all begin? In 2008, I published my first novel, The Captain’s Lady, a contemporary military romance, through The Wild Rose Press. This year I have a crazy writing schedule with four books scheduled for release and six short stories.

I write three genres, edgy romantic suspense (Walk the Right Road Series), western romance (Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series), and young adult mystery, and I warn my readers to expect the unexpected. I’m the mother of three children, one a special needs child. We live on a small Island in the Pacific Northwest, where I advocate for the environment and the rights of special needs children. Somewhere in my busy schedule, I do find time to write. I encourage you to contact me by email; I do answer every email I receive.

Stay tuned. There is more to come from the Walk the Right Road Series and Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series. 

And to my readers and all of you who have shared my stories with your family and friends, a big heartfelt thank you.

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{Review} The Program @suzanne_young @SimonPulseCA

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

› Visit Amazon's Suzanne Young Page

Biography

Suzanne Young currently lives in Tempe, Arizona, where she drafts novels on restaurant napkins while eating chimichangas. After earning her degree in creative writing, Suzanne spent several years teaching middle school language arts. She is also the author of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL. You can visit her online at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com.

 Although I really did love The Program!  It made me feel like I was reading a Prequel to Lauren Oliver's Delirium series.  Which really makes me wonder!  Are the authors of today sitting in a room throwing ideas around? And then they all pick one and go from there?  Then after a time two people end up writing the same story with a little twist or something?  The only real difference is that with the Delirium series its all about love is a disease and in The Program its teen suicide.  The difference really dont stop there!  From the first few pages it really felt like this was the world that existed for Lena before they found out that it wasnt suicide that they had to worry about but love itself!

In this book they take away your memories that are to emotional for you to handle so they take them away so you cant remember.  Like the memory of Sloane's brother whom committed suicide. My big question there is if he committed suicide couldnt she just look it up in the paper?  Uncured cant talk or tell the cured about their life before the program. If you do you could be flagged and arrested or put into the program yourself.  After you turn 18 the program cant touch you.  But by the end of the book it started sounding like the epidemic was growing.  So by the end of the book it REALLY started to feel like a prequel!  I cant wait to see what is in store next for these teens.  One thing I really LOVED about this book is that even though its about having your memories ripped away and about teen suicide.  Its also about how true love can conquer all!  That if you are met to be together you will be!  NO MATTER WHAT!  LOVE WILL ALWAYS FIND LOVE!!

So my recommendation for this is this!

1. I both loved and hated the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver.  It was slow and well just SLOW!
2. If you loved the Delirium series DEFF pick this one up!  Then let me know if it felt the same for you as it did me!
3. I loved this one it was a lot faster and not to slow!  It was easy to follow and only had a few typos (where they missed an it and the etc)  so not to bad!

One other thing wanted to make sure that everyone knew that this is another series that is only two books!  Book two The Treatment is due out April of 2014

And for anyone wanting to know here is my review of Delirium (Review: Delirium)

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

{Blast} Creation @ataviststrilogy

Book Cover and Blurb

Title: Creation
Author: Kat Mellon
Genre: Literary Fiction
Who owns what you create?
Creation is a provocative exploration of what it means to be free. Set in a dystopian future where creativity is exclusively harnessed for the greater good, two artistically talented individuals remind us all never to take for granted the product of our own work and imagination. 
Creation is inspired by Ayn Rand’s Anthem and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

Author Bio

Kat is a young author living in Fort Collins, CO. She graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a BA in English at age nineteen and is a master of procrastination and pizza eating.  She will soon query agents with her biggest and baddest novel, Flowers When You're Dead. 

Links

Main Website: katmellon.com
Blog: blog.katmellon.com
YA Trilogy Website: ataviststrilogy.com
Flowers When You're Dead: fwydbook.blogspot.com
Writing & Design Services: katmauvais.com
Facebook: facebook.com/katmellon
Twitter: @ataviststrilogy

Creation: http://www.amazon.com/Creation-Kat-Mellon/dp/0984947329

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/creation-kat-mellon/1109326650?ean=9780984947324

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13453289-creation

Book Excerpt

“Beautiful. Just beautiful, Jess,” says Janet. She’s one of the Dancers. We’re required to watch other Talent’s performances or observe their works for inspiration, so she and I became fast friends. Due to the organization of our leisure room, I am acquainted with many Creators whose names begin with J. “Just what I needed. You’ve taken such a turn from your last work. What a fantastical land you describe. I could dream up a ballet on the city alone.”
Janet is right. A City of Twine is my best work, but only because I did much pleading to be able to use the concept. I was supposed to be Creating on the subject of Churches, but the idea of a City—a thing almost taboo in nature—was just too alluring. I asked the Head of Focus, and he approved on the condition that Wessely was to paint the city I envisioned. Of course Wes said yes, so I got my writing Slab and began the inspiration process. I was allowed to look through all of the old manuscripts with the Old Artist’s projections of what a city might look like. It was thrilling.
“You should,” I say. “If the HOF approves, you could work with Kelly the Designer and Tim the Setter. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
“Oh, of course!” she says. “That would be utterly Creative. Jess, you’re a shining star as always.” 
I smile.
“Stars sound so precious,” I say. “It’s a shame they don’t exist. Can you picture what life would be like with the things we’ve Created?”
“Like the permanent skin artwork,” she giggles. “Wessely would do a fine job. Did Turner say if it would hurt, or no?”
“It would hurt,” I say, “because it uses sharp objects called needles to put the ink under the skin.”
“How perfectly horrible,” she says. She clutches at her sides and makes a face. “Why would he dream up such an awful thing?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit. Janet twists her light blonde hair into a bun and knots it on the top of her head. “A world without pain is a dull one. You know that.”
“Quite,” she says as she pulls off her ballet shoes and points at her bruised and calloused feet. “But it’s worth it for Creativity. James did a portrait of my feet, did you know that? Just like this. It was wild. It has never been done before. The HOF was pleased and gave him an extension on the mountain moving piece.”
Oh, that mountain moving piece again. She’s gone on for days about it; how striking and innovative the idea is of having one made-up Creation move another made-up Creation.
I often wish mountains were real. A character of an earlier manuscript climbed up a mountain, one that was terribly steep. I hadn’t a solution to make the mountain any easier to climb, so the character never reached his destination. The idea of taking those things Steven painted—he calls them machines—and using them to modify such a huge mound of Creation seems quite absurd, now that I’ve been corrected. The HOF subdues the complexity of our Creations if our ideas get too out of the ordinary, such as when I wanted to split the mountain in half with a contraption called a saw. Some sort of sharp tool or whatnot. Apparently, Tyler’s idea of a saw was much too small to cut something so large down the middle, and by that time I had already devised an alternate solution.
“Will you and James have supper with Wessely and me tonight?” I ask. “I notice the two of you have sat yourselves off alone lately. Collaborating on something?”
“Oh, no,” she says with a laugh. “We just enjoy our alone time with one another. It’s hard to have a personal conversation when the rest of the Creators are around, you know? Funnily enough, I plan to coordinate a ballet with segments of silence. I’d like that. Silence. Time to just listen and dance and twirl without the voices of hundreds in your head.” 
She stands up and raises her arms in the air, then spins and smiles at the roof, her slightly crooked teeth exposed. It makes me think of something I’d seen during one of my viewings. Someone came up with the idea that if small metal squares were glued to one’s teeth and were connected by a metal wire, the teeth could be straightened. It was ingenious, and although we know nothing of the Technical realm, the concept seems like it should be real. Braces, that’s what they are.

Jessica's Birthday Bash! @CrossroadReview

So today I turn 31!  Yup not shy on telling people my age!  LOL!  I have two beautiful girls a wonderful husband and well more books than I will prob ever get to read!  So today is supposed to be my day but since I cant expect my readers/followers to send me gifts lol I will be doing a giveaway instead.  

So for this birthday bash I will be giving away the ARC's that I have gotten over this month. So right now it is about 20 books!  From Kids to Adult.  So if you want to win please enter below! 

This one is for the USA only thanks. Unless you wish to pay shipping than go ahead and enter! 

The only catch is that it is a one day giveaway!  

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{Review} The Hypothesis of Giants @kuchmelissa

For the past fifteen years no one questioned the Sacred Hour in the town of Candlewick. Until one night a mysterious conch shell sounds throughout the Sacred Hour, only to be heard by two young teenagers. Aurora Alvarez is a misfit amongst her peers, desperately trying to fit in but failing to live up to the expectations of her parents and society. She unexpectedly discovers she is fated to ally herself with none other than rebellious Boreas Stockington, who allegedly escaped from the impenetrable Candlewick Prison. These two young teenagers must embark on a perilous adventure where they need to help Otus, a thirty-foot giant, prevent a cataclysmic event from occurring—the Geometric Storm. The journey will take them far from the safety of Wishbone Avenue and into the depths of the unknown and the secrets of the past. However, nothing could prepare these unlikely heroes for facing their own inner demons and the realization that Aurora and Boreas are on this quest together, whether they want to be or not.

› Visit Amazon's Melissa Kuch Page

Biography

Melissa Kuch was born and raised on Long Island, New York. As the middle child of three girls, she always loved telling stories and writing poetry in birthday cards for both her family and friends, being called "the writer" at an early age. She first realized her passion for writing after her first short story was read before her third grade class. Since then, her work includes writing the one-act plays "Looks Like Me" (2005) and "Mulligans" (2006) which were performed in the St. John's University Bromidean Project (NYC). Two of her plays "Tea Under the Lilac Tree" (2008) and "Mismatched Socks" (2011) moved onto the Semi-Finals in the Strawberry One-Act Festival (NYC). She worked as co-lyricist for award winning singer/songwriter Erin Michele on the album "Beneath the Curtain" which was released in 2006. In 2010, Melissa helped establish the fundraising event Metal for a Cause that raised money for Pediatric Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. Her short stories "To Secure a Husband", "Name Change" and "Cloud Pictures in the Sky" are available on Amazon.com. She is currently working on her four-part YA series "The Hypothesis of Giants" with book one, "The Assumption", scheduled to be published by the beginning of 2013. She is happily married to her husband Michael and they both currently reside in Queens, NY.

Website | @kuchmelissa | Facebook | Author Bio

This one pulled me in and didnt let me go until the last page! I loved traveling along with the characters!  This was a wonderful book!  I cant wait for book two!

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own." 

{Review} A Clockwork Heart @LieselSchwarz

This title will be released on August 13, 2013.

FOR BETTER OR CURSE. That might as well have been the wedding vow of Elle Chance and her new husband, the ex-Warlock Hugh Marsh in the second book of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into storytelling magic.

As Elle devotes herself to her duties as the Oracle—who alone has the power to keep the dark designs of Shadow at bay—Marsh finds himself missing the excitement of his former life as a Warlock. So when Commissioner Willoughby of the London Metropolitan police seeks his help in solving a magical mystery, Marsh is only too happy to oblige. But in doing so, Marsh loses his heart . . . literally.

In place of the flesh-and-blood organ is a clockwork device—a device that makes Marsh a kind of zombie. Nor is he the only one. A plague of clockwork zombies is afflicting London, sowing panic and whispers of revolution. Now Elle must join forces with her husband’s old friend, the Nightwalker Loisa Beladodia, to track down Marsh’s heart and restore it to his chest before time runs out.

    About the Author

Liesel Schwarz, a lifelong fan of nineteenth-century Gothic literature, is a hopeless romantic who loves Victorians, steampunk, fairies, fantasy monsters, the fin de siècle, and knowing the correct way to drink absinthe. She also likes medieval things, pirates, zombies, space operas, and all subjects in between.

This is book 2 in The Chronicles of Light and Shadow series.  And I have to say that this one fails to make a good story.  I loved book one and couldnt wait to read book two.  But this one fell so flat that I just had to stop reading!  So as you could read this as a stand alone and fair just fine.  This story and plot doesnt really stand at all!  The characters fail to have real dialogue which makes them fail in their story! 

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Not all fairy tales end with Happy Ever After. Some begin that way.

The girl who casts no shadow has become a wife. The world once again has an Oracle and the realms of Light and Shadow are in harmony.

The pact between Alchemist and Nightwalker is no more. It has crumbled to dust and rests in the ruins of Constantinople. And a bargain has been struck. Those of the Council who would harm the girl have agreed to let her be for now.

But these are all matters that some say do not fall to the attentions of La Fée Verte. For the universe is vast and I am small. For what can one do but have regard for that tiny part of it which concerns one?

I have gained my freedom, but I sometimes find myself missing Paris and the absinthe-­green dreams I used to weave in return for sugar.

They have given me my own quarters in the glasshouse that leads off the breakfast room, and I have filled it with green. Angelica and anise blossom in large clay pots amongst the ferns and fancy moth orchids that were brought from far away. But beneath the wooden cladding and frames that allow me to pass unhindered, the glasshouse is still made of iron. And were it not for the stray bumblebees I invite in to stay with me, I would be completely alone in this vast gray city of smog and drizzle. It is a place I have grown to despise, despite my good fortune.

I digress. The sunrise is about to call upon the day and there is work to do. For such is the nature of the two realms that make up this world: as happiness and contentment grows in the Light, so from deep within the Shadow, the dark counterparts grow too.

Sometimes in the quiet hours of the day I sense it, and I grow very afraid.

My mistress is too immersed within her perfect happiness to sense what will come to pass and I do not have the heart to tell her. Yet.

Better to let her enjoy her newfound happiness a little longer. She will need thoughts of this happiness to sustain her. Because when the darkness comes, it will take everything.

Chapter 1

Amsterdam, 5 February 1904

The Water Lily creaked happily as she surged against the headwinds that heralded landfall. As she prepared for landing, Elle eased the airship to a lower altitude.

Below her, the canals and gingerbread buildings of the city came into view. Amsterdam was as pretty as a picture, but there was no time for sightseeing. Today was a day for business. The Greychester Flying Company was about to collect its first proper freight consignment. Strictly aboveboard and legitimate.

Elle smiled with pride. Her very own charter flight business. It was almost as if an invisible hand had granted every wish she had ever had in one magical sweep. She had so many ideas about what she wanted to do with her new venture that she could hardly sleep at night. She ran her gaze around the wood and glass interior of the cockpit. The repairs and improvements that had been made to the Water Lily were superb. Marsh had insisted on installing brand-­new navigational instruments and a state-­of-­the-­art balloon-­gas relay system. She had protested, but he had been adamant. She was secretly thrilled though. In fact, one would never have thought the Water Lily had been riddled with bullet holes and dangerously close to being scrapped just months before.

Bought with his money, not yours . . .  the voices whispered to her.

“Oh, do be quiet you old crones!” Elle spoke out loud. The voices who spoke were the Spirit of the Oracle. An amalgamation of fragments from the souls from each woman who had, over the centuries, held the position. Elle knew that when she died, a little part of her would rise up to join them too. And as much as she hated the fact that they were always watching her, it gave her comfort to know that somewhere within that patchwork of souls that made up the nebula she came to know as the voice of the Oracle, was a bit of the mother she never knew. It was just a pity that they were such a bunch of busybodies who always chose to interfere at the most inopportune times.

Never forget who you are, child, the voices said in answer to her thoughts.

“Yes, yes, I am the Oracle, the source of wisdom; the one with the gift of sight; the force that holds the many folds of the universe together; the one who channels power to those who are deserving,” she recited the mantra they had taught her in a bored singsong voice. “Trust me, if there is one thing I cannot do, it’s forget who I am. Now please leave me alone to enjoy this moment, would you? Today I am flying and I want none of this Oracle business spoiling it.”

As you wish . . .  the voices faded away.

Just then, the communications consul started rattling and spitting out a ribbon of tape, clearing her for landing.

Elle brought the airship round portside and lined her up, ready to dock at one of the platforms that lined the docks on the western district. With a shudder and hiss that sounded almost like a sigh of contentment, the Water Lily berthed.

“There you go, my dear,” Elle said to her ship as she turned the crank handle that released the tether ropes. “All safe and sound.”

Almost as if in answer to that, one of the boiler tank pressure release valves opened to release some engine pressure.

Elle opened the hatch and let the ladder rope drop to the ground. With practiced ease, she climbed down and stepped onto the wooden docking platform.

“Miss Chance, I presume!” A tall man with a shock of white-­blond hair that was thinning at the top waved at her.

“Ah, Mr. De Beer.” She smiled at him.

“Welcome to the fair city of Amsterdam.” He spoke in an accent that was a touch heavy and rounded on the vowels.

“Thank you. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said as she shook her new Dutch docking agent’s huge hand vigorously.

“And the same to you,” he said graciously. “It is an honor to be working with the famous Eleanor Chance.”

Elle didn’t have the heart to correct him on her new surname. Simply being Elle Chance for the day, not Lady Eleanor or Viscountess Greychester, was a bit of a relief, if she was honest with herself.

She loved her husband, Hugh, with all her heart, but the pomp and ceremony involved in becoming part of his world over the last few months had been more than a little overwhelming.

“I have the papers ready here to sign, if you will. Once it is completed, I will tell the men to start loading the freight. I have told them to be extra careful with our precious tulips.” Mr. De Beer pointed to the crates of bulbs that were stacked on wooden pallets and tied down with coarse rope. They were indeed ready to be loaded into the hull and destined to brighten the gardens and huge glasshouses of Kew this summer.

“My men shouldn’t take too long. Sign here, if you please,” he said as he handed her a wad of papers.

Elle felt a pang of sadness when she signed the docking papers and charter before handing them back to Mr. De Beer so he could tear off the counterparts. Patrice, her old agent, had been such fun.

In the old days, before Constantinople, Patrice would have taken her to some exotic disreputable bar or café for a drink while they waited for the freight to be loaded. He would have had her in fits of giggles with his lumbering charm and silly jokes. Despite his betrayal and all the terrible things he did, Elle found herself missing his massive moustache. She had been told afterward that very few bodies were ever recovered from the Constantinople earthquake that had killed almost every living alchemist and a large percentage of the Nightwalker population. They had all been gathered in an underground amphitheater when the vortex their leader, Sir Eustace Abercrombie, had created collapsed, bringing a large part of the city down with it. The last memory Elle had of Patrice was of him hanging on for dear life at the edge of a spinning vortex of complete darkness . . . 

She closed her eyes at the awful memory. Patrice had simply been sucked into oblivion, never to be seen again. She did not think that a funeral had been held for him and the thought of it made her sad. Such a wasteful and futile quest for absolute power . . . 

“Miss Chance, is everything all right?” Mr. De Beer asked. He looked concerned.

Elle blinked herself back to the present. “Yes, all is well. I was just remembering something. Silly really.”

She shrugged off her dark thoughts. Patrice had betrayed her, and he had betrayed her husband too, by working as a double agent. Even if he were alive today, she did not think she could forgive the fact that he had sold her to the alchemists as if she were nothing more than a means to gain a profit.

But this was the beginning of a new era and she wouldn’t allow dark thoughts to taint things. “Say, do you know where the pilots’ mess is?” she asked De Beer.

“Ah, yes, it’s just over there. Upstairs in that building with the green roof.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at De Beer. “Take off in three hours?”

He doffed his flat cap. “Will see you then, Miss Chance.”

The pilots’ mess room was exactly where Mr. De Beer had said it was, on the first floor of one of the administrative buildings adjacent to the landing docks. The smell of meat stew mingled with the odor of tired bodies hit her right in the nostrils halfway up the stairwell. It was a familiar smell that made her feel warm inside. It was the smell of freedom.

"Thanks to the publisher or author for sending me this copy!"