Tia is there to remind him that even an alpha wolf’s broken spirit can heal.

Blurb:

I’m a powerful and respected Alpha, but the wolf Mette covets my leadership. I’m injured when my conniving enemy challenges me.

After losing my pack and nearly my life, I go to lick my wounds in the human world, but my beloved mate Tia knows that a wolf’s broken spirit can heal, and there is only one true leader of our pack.

Note: Caleb is a very short werewolf action romance story with a mild heat level, moderate violence, and a HEA. This Romantic Moments story is the perfect length for a lunch break, before bed, or any time you want a quick, romantic read.

Excerpt:

Reaching the village, Tia shouted to the nearest wolf to bring the healer.

Finally we made it to our cabin where I collapsed on our bed. Tia brought a cup of water and lifted my head to help me drink. Gazing at her, I realized how much I loved her and how much of a risk she’d taken by becoming my mate.

An aggressive howl echoed from the clearing near our cabin. This wasn’t just any howl, but one of challenge for leadership of our pack.

Tia’s horrified, furious gaze met mine and she whispered, “Mette.” Then she snarled through clenched teeth. “The coward!”

I’d only known real fear at one other time in my life—the day Tia and I had been attacked by hunters and she’d been lost. My fear now mingled with regret. I’d promised her a happy life, but we were about to lose it and there was nothing I could do about it.

Drawing a long breath, I painfully pushed myself to a sitting position.

“You don’t actually intend to fight him?” Tia demanded.

“I have to.”

Purchase Link

Preorder Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Caleb-Romantic-Moments-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0CD9G6XL5

Author Bio:

Kate Hill is a vegetarian New Englander who loves writing romantic fantasies. When she’s not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading, working out, watching horror movies, and researching vampires and Viking history. She runs the Compelling Beasts Blog that is dedicated to antagonists, antiheroes, and paranormal creatures. Kate also writes as Saloni Quinby.

Visit her online at https://www.kate-hill.com. Join her newsletter at https://kate-hill.com/index.php/newsletter.

Social Links:

Website: https://kate-hill.com/

Blog: https://kate-hill.com/blog/

Newsletter: https://kate-hill.com/index.php/newsletter/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Hill/e/B002BLS7OW

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-hill

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateHillRomance

Romance and romance novels have evolved tremendously in the past several decades. The choices are almost overwhelming. I can now read about shapeshifters, monsters, and aliens finding love and there are varying degrees of spice in available novels too. Women’s rights and romance novels have come a long way in the last hundred years and I can’t wait to see the progress we make in the next ten or twenty years.

The romance novels of my parents and grandparents’ generation were revolutionary at that time because they were written expressly for women and gave the female characters a major voice, something that was fairly lacking back then. Love and happy endings were the staples of the romance genre. Romance novels became a safe space for women to escape into since the reality of relationships was often one-sided— women were expected to listen and do as they were told and were required to play a lesser, supporting role to magnify and emotionally support their husbands. Romance books were looked at as frivolous nonsense by those who didn’t know any better, leaving women free to sneak away into moments of stolen peace to read tales of men who possessed masterful skills in the bedroom and treated the women they loved like queens.

Romance novels have evolved as women’s rights have evolved. In the United States and many other countries in western culture, there are no longer rules barring women from seeking education in any field we wish to study. Women can now manage our own finances, hold managerial positions at work, and even own and operate entire companies. Having a life partner is no longer a requirement to ensure our survival. In keeping with the changes to society, romance novel heroes and heroines have changed. Women are able to be an equal decision-making partner in a relationship and determine for ourselves what we want from a partner, both in the bedroom and in general.

I love creating heroines who discover their strength and resilience as they fight to withstand the devastating things life throws at them. My novels contain a ton of suspense, because I discovered how much fun it is to create twists and turns and terrifying situations where the characters must fight their way to safety. It’s a lot of fun making the characters work together when they are trying so hard to stay away from each other and fight their feelings.

Scary rabbits and other strange creatures:

When I was writing my first book a few years ago, my oldest daughter who was about ten at the time, was reading Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe. She loved the Bunnicula books so much that she asked me to write a scary rabbit into my series. So, for my daughter, I created the rabbit shifters which are viewed by the other shapeshifters with a mix of awe and fear.

The rabbit shifters can appear as harmless rabbits but they can also morph into bony fur-covered skeleton looking creatures with teeth like a bear trap and fur full of projectile needles. Though the rabbit shifters look scary, they’re usually pretty decent people. They don’t like to be touched by anyone while in rabbit form and won’t hesitate to get mean about it. They also like to play pranks. They are the deadliest of all kinds of shapeshifters and usually use their skills to protect shifters and regular humans. In their rabbit form, rabbit shifters are incredibly vulnerable but become a deadly force to be reckoned with when they shift into their secondary, more terrifying form. Sometimes we all have to be a little scary or loud in order to be heard and our fierceness can take people by surprise.

For my Stranger Creatures series and Haven Forest Resort series, the other shapeshifters I created were predatory animals like bears, wolves, and tigers. Instead of the typical structure of a pack with an alpha and all others being bound to follow one specific leader and submit to the his will, I wrote the shifters in my stories as having no hierarchical structure. The alpha or pack leader of each group is usually an older woman who provides guidance and advice as well as some tough love when necessary.

An important part of being a shapeshifter in the worlds I created is taking care of the environment since the shifters need land to be able to run free in their animal form. Shapeshifters have become a part of the force that works to keep greedy land developers from tearing down countless forests and fields or filling in every creek and stream just to build strip malls and more luxury homes. The town of Great Oaks, where most of the stories in my Stranger Creatures series take place, was once a factory town that became desolate and forgotten when the factories closed. When shifters began to see the potential of the town by renovating the existing buildings and creating a community where shifters could live without worry that all of their parks and land would be destroyed, the town began to thrive and grow to become a desirable spot for shifters and other strange creatures.

The one strange creature I haven’t written about yet is mermaids. I have always loved the water and try to go to the beach or the river whenever possible. I like to canoe, swim, or just sit on the shore or the wide flat rocks protruding from the river, and read. When I was a little kid, I used to wish on my birthday candles every year that I could become a mermaid but I’ll have to settle for one day writing about the beautiful strange creatures of the ocean.

If you’d like to follow me on social media for my latest book information and excerpts, poems, contest info, book recommendations, and other fun stuff, you can find me at:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Christina-Lynn-Lambert/e/B01MCYK0K7

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/christina-lynn-lambert

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WordPress: https://christinalynnlambertwordpress.com

Blurb

Looking for a fresh start, Sara Woods takes a job as a news reporter in
a small town. Her first assignment for the Ralston Courier is to
investigate a string of deaths, all young women, all her age. To deal
with chronic back pain, she goes to the Goldstone Clinic, a local
healing center with a strange reputation. As local doctor Rick Paulsen
teaches Sara how to access hidden energy skills and reveal secrets from
her past, police officer Brendon watches Sara’s every move. The deeper
she digs into the Goldstone, the harder it is to deny links to the
paranormal. Can she figure out what is going on and who to trust before
it’s too late?

Excerpt

The waiter brought the souvlaki and more bread. After he left, I leaned forward and put my elbows on the table. “So what’s going on here? Why did you call me?”

Rick’s blue eyes dissected me. “Because there’s something unusual about you.”

Oh, please. That was as bad as ‘What’s your sign, baby?’ “Do I seem naive enough to fall for that line?”

“Not really.” He speared a chunk of lamb and dipped it in the creamy cucumber sauce. “That doesn’t make it any less true. And I think you really care about Lily Kimball, and what happened to her.”

“Then you believe something ‘happened.’” Remembering his outburst at the hospital, I added, “You think she was killed by someone. You even know who.” I watched his face for reaction.

“I suspect. I don’t know.” He took a long drink of water, as if he were trying to swallow something unpalatable.

“But you haven’t gone to the police.” He shook his head. “Why not?”

He started to answer and then Athena swept over, wanting to make sure everything was to her dear doctor’s satisfaction. She effused with grand passion about how wonderful Rick Paulsen was, as a medical professional and as a man, her praise transparently designed to convince me, as his dinner partner and potential life mate, of his worth. He squirmed as she continued, but seemed loath to interrupt her. Once we had assured her that everything was delightful, she withdrew at last, to

observe from behind the cash register.

When he didn’t answer my last question, I asked again. “Why haven’t you gone to the police?”

“You don’t understand. The police won’t be any help in this matter.”

“They’re investigating her death—”

“They’re not investigating her death! They’re just going through the motions until everyone forgets about her and they can toss her file in a cabinet, never to be seen again!” He slapped his fork onto the table, a flush of anger suffusing his face, all the way to the tips of his ears. “Just like the others.”

Buy Links

Amazon: Amazon ebook

Barnes and Noble: B&N ebook

SMASHWORDS EBOOK:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1435752

Author Bio

Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, while working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains.

She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her 25 years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need.

She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

Author Links

Website          http://Alana-lorens.com

Facebook    https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens

Amazon Author Page  https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens

Twitter:  @AlexanderLyndi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/

Shine of the Aftermath

Smoke drains the rainbows

New shine of the aftermath

lights the last path out

Image description – image is of a rainbow obscured by hazy, thick clouds.

Could the same disastrous event that destroys everything we’ve ever know also be the start of a new, better way of life? When the smoke begins to clear in the aftermath of something unexpected, sometimes there’s a moment where possibilities are shown, where rebuilding seems like a bridge to a better future, and a muted ray of hope is shining in a new strange way.

I Don’t Forgive the Morning

Afternoon blazes

as if the morning hadn’t

just tried to end me

Image description – image is of a downed tree branch on the surface of the Swift Creek Reservoir. There is a duck and a turtle on the branch. There are green leaves in the foreground and the water in the reservoir is calm.

Fusion

The unintended

consequence of the storm

Forgotten metal

sought water, roots expanded

Above ground, rules of alchemy

broken

Image description – metallic looking tree frog sitting on a dirty reddish orange surface.

What if all the old, forgotten power substations, satellite dishes, and discarded appliances grew roots and strange flowers whose seeds blew into the wind, causing a transformation that began to change every living thing?

During a walk in the woods, I saw some strange looking plants near an old transmission tower and wondered what would happen if metal and electricity combined in sentience to entwine with organic beings.

Bridge

Bird nest balances

on the rusty beam of a

transmission tower

Beneath asphalt and concrete

there is a chance we can take

Image description – image is of a bridge in Richmond, Viginia. The river below the bridge is choppy and there are rocks and parts of an old brick building sticking up out of the water. The sky is bright and blue with some puffy clouds. Parts of Richmond City are visible in the background behind the bridge.

This picture was taken a few years ago at Belle Isle in Richmond, Virginia. When I wrote this poem, I was thinking about how, often, the most stoic, quiet people are full of life underneath. The city is full of nature trying to be and become. Underneath the skyscrapers and asphalt streets, there is water, rivers, streams, steadily moving, waiting. The bridge moves between the outside and the inside or above and below and brings possibilities to life.

Mouth of the Woods

The mouth of the woods

smiles, all sweetness and light

Branches become limbs

with claws that will pull you in

Leaves close out the light, Don’t fight

The night has lessons for you

Image description- a wooded area with a pine tree at the center surrounded by oak trees and other pines. The image is at daylight on an overcast day

Under My Feet

Daisies grow in cracks

in pavement under my feet

Let my steps be soft

Finally seeing the end of June’s gloom has got me inspired. I’ve been working on a bunch of different things, lately. I always seem to do my best work when I have a few different projects to work on, so when I get stuck on one thing, I can go write something else. I’ve been writing a ton of poetry over the past two years. Poems are probably the easiest thing for me to write since I work from home and am constantly being distracted by my two teenagers and my needy pets. When my focus gets fractured, I can jump back into a half-written poem a few minutes or three hours later, depending on the level of distraction I’ve been hit with, and finding my focus again is mostly painless. Writing fiction is a different process entirely for me. Still, if I let the difficulties stop me, nothing would get written at all.

What I’m working on now:

I’ve started writing some short stories, an entirely new thing for me. I wrote two dystopian short stories and am working on a couple of horror ones. Next up, I’ll try writing some spicy romance short stories.

I’m currently working hard on the next book in my Stranger Creatures series. Each story in the series features a different couple as they fight for their happily ever after. Book 5 will be Luke and Jordan’s story.

Blurb:

After surviving a battle with cancer, Jordan decides life should be about taking chances. She’s never met another person with psy abilities before, until Luke. Though she’s still nowhere near as bold as she wishes she could be, she comes up with an idea that would allow her to spend more time with the enigmatic man.
Luke gladly agrees to Jordan’s plan to spend the holidays together. Even though he wants something more permanent than their current holiday arrangement, he vows to keep that thought to himself. Would Jordan still want him if she knew his past?
With threats and violence toward shifters and psy on the rise, Luke and Jordan must find answers or their time together will be over much too soon.

More about my Stranger Creatures series:

Wolf’s Challenge (Stranger Creatures book 1)

When temptingly handsome, powerful shape shifter Derrick dares shy, single mom Sydney to take a chance with him, will she rise to the challenge or will she run for safety, leaving him in the dust?

Bear’s Edge (book 2)

A boss can’t date her employee—simple as that. No matter how much Shayla wants to unravel a few of Grant’s mysteries and take her friendship with the shy, sarcastic man to the next level, she’s determined to keep her fantasies of him to herself. 

After bear shifter Grant lost his girlfriend and three best friends in a fire, he did his best to shut himself off from everyone around him. Falling for Shayla wasn’t part of his plan, but after a kiss that leaves them both speechless and hungry for more, Grant can’t keep his desire for his boss under wraps any longer. 

When things between the two of them get hotter than he could have imagined, Grant wonders if some of his darker desires will be too much for Shayla or will she embrace the needs he’s kept hidden for so long?

An obnoxious reporter and Shayla’s bitter ex have teamed up to chase down conspiracy theories that could destroy Shayla’s business and worse, put her life in danger. To find their happily ever after, Shayla and Grant will have to trust in each other and find a way to crush all the obstacles standing in their way.

Tiger’s Last Chance (book 3)

An investigation into missing shifters leads Detective Nikki Jackson to the discovery of a radical political group’s horrifying plot for dominance. Traitors are embedded within the very organizations meant to keep shifters safe. As the list of people she can trust dwindles, she calls on private investigator Sean Whitman to help her unravel a web of deceit.

As Nikki and Sean fight for survival, his fear of losing her could become a reality. Will he get one last chance to show her he loves her?

Coyote’s Vow (Stranger Creatures book 4)

Kylie was the victim of a brutal experiment that gave her telekinetic abilities. Coyote shifter Trevor doesn’t trust the psy but when his feelings for Kylie grow out of control, will he risk everything to be with her? When a deranged doctor has disturbing plans for shifters and psy, can Trevor and Kylie stop him, or will they be silenced forever?

If you’d like to follow me on social media for my latest book information and excerpts, poems, contest info, book recommendations, and other fun stuff, you can find me at:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Christina-Lynn-Lambert/e/B01MCYK0K7

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/christina-lynn-lambert

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinalynnlambert

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15900423.Christina_Lynn_Lambert

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinalynnlambert

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/christinalynnlambert

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chris4lamb

WordPress: https://christinalynnlambertwordpress.com

Override

Sullen shades of gloom

lift when the wind shifts

a few hours of light

has to be enough