BOOK BLITZ: EBENEZER SCROOGE GHOST HUNTER (Jaqueline Kyle & Charles Dickens)

Rafflecopter Link:

***I’ll be offering $100 Gift Card for Amazon, details and link will follow in August***

Video Book Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBYf_bmpQN4

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25726880-ebenezer-scrooge

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGFLWT2

iBooks:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ebenezer-scrooge-ghost-

hunter/id1007810463?mt=11

Kobo:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/Ebenezer-Scrooge-Ghost-Hunter

B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1122175945

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/551269

THE INTERVIEW

When were you first interested in writing?

Short story, I’ve always written. Long story, I won an award for writing in the first grade. It was a demented little story for a kid that could barely grasp a pencil. It told the tale of a litter of kittens escaping the bag a farmer tried to drown them in. (Twisted for a first grader, am I right?) It ended happily with each kitten adopting a home – but I don’t necessarily remember if their new owners were happy to be adopted. 

What has been your biggest influence in your writing career?

Probably Stephen King. Yes, he’s dark, dark, dark. But he has this amazing capacity to present all sides of a story. You might not be sympathetic to his characters, but you always understand what makes them tick. 

The other talent that he has that I would love to steal is the tension wrenching spoilers he adds to his books. Things like, “That would be the last time I’d hold her, but I didn’t know it then. I wish I had.” ::Frantically flips page to find out if she lives::

What has been the biggest change to your life since you began writing?

Every time I was unhappy at work and considering a new career, I’d find myself pounding the keyboard at a local coffee shop on my lunch break. Finally I just said, “The paycheck isn’t worth it anymore. Writing makes you happy. Be happy.” I quit a well paying financial advising job to write full time. 

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I read 1-2 books per week. I also drive uber a few hours a week so I don’t spend my life as a crazy hermit lady. I love playing with my nieces and nephews and I travel internationally whenever I can manage it. 

Do you have a favorite author? If so who?

I’m terrible because I find an author I like, and then BINGE on their works until I can predict their every move and I’m sick of them. I was almost to that point with Margaret Atwood and her Maddaddam trilogy but in the climax of the final book, her style just clicked and it (for me anyway) was transcendent. I cried through the last third of the book. So, because she made me cry, my current favorite is Margaret Atwood. 

What book is your biggest inspiration from childhood?

Where the Red Fern Grows. That was the first time I can remember there being real stakes. That book was grounded in the real world, with a character I could relate to. And then the dog dies and I was gutted. Kill your darlings, as the old adage goes. Might not be an inspiration, but it certainly left an impression. 

On average, how many books do you read a month?

I will unabashedly re-read books that are already on my shelf. Dropping into the last act of a series you loved is like slipping on a pair of comfy jeans. It just feels right to revisit those characters, those friends. So yes, I read 1-2 new books per week, but if I’m having a bad day, I might re-read the back half of Deathly Hallows to see my friend, Harry Potter, triumph one more time. 

10 Sample Questions

for Jaqueline Kyle

Author of Ebenezer Scrooge:  Ghost Hunter

1. How did you come up with the mash-up idea?

There are a number of really creative books in the mash-up genre. A few have been made into movies, like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and the upcoming film, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

2. Why A Christmas Carol? What was inspiration?

A few years ago I was wandering around the Dickens Fair that’s held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco every year. There’s a roaming play of A Christmas Carol through the streets of London with Marley’s ghost dragging chains and the Ghost of Christmas Future looking like Death. It’s creepy! It got my brain churning and now here we are!

3. What authors influence your writing?

Obviously, Charles Dickens is a huge influence in this book. I’d say that 50% of Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter is still comprised with his themes and prose. More recently, author Seth Grahame-Smith has really been the leader in the mash-up genre.

4. What do you do now?

I work with life coaches, speakers and personal development professionals to get their books ready for publication. It depends on the situation, but that might mean consulting, content editing or ghost writing.

5. If Scrooge read a personal development book, what would it be?

Without a doubt, Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. Scrooge is in a real emotional crisis at the beginning of Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter. He could use some motivational reading.

6. I read your author bios. They aren’t exactly standard, are they?

You know, writing about yourself is rather ridiculous. I feel ridiculous doing it. Thus, I write true facts as ridiculously as I can. You’ve got to have a sense of humor about yourself, right?

7. What is it like running a crowdfunding campaign?

Scary. Like running for class president - only people vote with money. As an introvert and wallflower, this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

8. Was your crowdfunding campaign successful?

Yes and no. Some people would say it failed because I didn’t hit my financial goal. But two really positive results came out of the experience. First, I raised enough money to finish illustrating and publishing. The second, was that I felt incredibly blessed and humbled by all the support I did receive.

9. Do you have plans for future books?

Of course I do! I think my next one will be an original work, but I have another Dickens mashup in mind too.

10. Has anyone expressed interest in turning the book into a movie?

I wish! That is my ultimate dream for this book. However, typically movie studios want to see a bunch of readers before they approach an author for rights. I’ve got to keep working on getting readers for now.

Schedule an Interview

Contact: Jaqueline Kyle

  scroogepr@gmail.com

  707-365-3623

Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter

Author Bios

Jaqueline Kyle

Jaqueline Kyle lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with two cats and a coffee pot. In truth, Jaqueline has a coffee addiction and funds her habit through writing books… at coffee shops… as an excuse to stay there for hours on end. (It’s really the only way to go if you don’t plan on being a barista.)  When she isn’t writing or eavesdropping in coffee shops, she’s visiting with friends. At coffee shops.  

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870 and originally wrote A Christmas Carol as a political pamphlet to bring attention to the plight of childhood ignorance and the cycle of poverty. Also, Dickens loved coffee so much that they still put his picture on coffee mugs. True Fact.

BOOK BLITZ: No Strings Attached (Kristen Stassel)

Leah Godfrey has almost everything she could ask for—

She’s got an interior design business with an A-list clientele, a weekly spot on a national morning TV show, and a great daughter—but she doesn’t have a date for her twentieth high school reunion. It wouldn’t be a big deal, but her ex-husband was her high school sweetheart, and now he’s married to the slut Leah caught him with in bed. She won’t let the biggest failure of her life overshadow her success.

When her best friend suggests she hire a date, Leah thinks the idea is scandalous. But for one weekend, she wants to forget her mistakes and pretend she has everything her ex took away from her.

Jagger Holiday makes women’s fantasies come true—

But working as a male escort leaves him feeling empty. He turns to photography to fill the void. When Jagger gets a call from a lonely single mom who needs the same thing he does, he wants more. He wants her.

Leah and Jagger have no problem convincing everyone at the reunion they’re together. She should’ve known better than to think there’d be no strings attached.

After all, he’s a professional.

AMAZON US I AMAZON UK

The doors closed behind us. Jagger backed me up against the wall, and there was nowhere I could look but his eyes. One knee was between my legs, and his hands burned the skin on my stomach underneath my sweater. “You look amazing,” he whispered.

I hadn’t planned anything special for tonight. New underwear, that was all. Maybe I should’ve paid more attention to Kari when she told me about the schedule. I’d worn a sweater, scarf, jeans, and knee-high boots. “So do you,” I murmured back. Jagger was one step ahead of me in black dress pants and a deep blue button down shirt. It perfectly complemented his olive skin and dark hair. The more I thought of Jagger in terms of art, the more beautiful he became.

Jagger cupped my bra as his lips once again found mine. We could barely complete a sentence since he’d come to my room without our mouths crashing against each other. Going to this party was a terrible idea. After a drink or two I’d be begging him to take me on the bar. His fingers drew slow circles, dipping inside my bra, brushing back and forth against my nipples. They pebbled at his touch. I tangled my hands in his long hair, pulling him closer to me as I moaned against his mouth.

I hadn’t even noticed we weren’t moving until the alarm went off. We jumped away from each other. “What did you do?” I asked. “Didn’t you just hit the lobby button?”

“I hit stop.” Jagger had his hands up like he was about to get arrested.

“You can’t do that here.” I slammed my hand repeatedly against the lobby button to make the alarm stop screaming. The elevator started moving. “The fire department is probably already on their way. This is a small town. They’ll be talking about this until the next reunion.”

My stomach tied itself in knots complicated enough to flummox a boy scout as we walked through the lobby. The older woman at the front desk glared at us. “See?” I bumped against Jagger, who smiled and winked at the clerk. She turned bright red as she looked back to the computer. “We were seconds away from thanking the firemen for their commitment to service.”

Every head in the bar turned as we walked in. I made a beeline for the bartender, pulling Jagger along with me. He ordered our drinks. “You didn’t ask me what I wanted.”

“Don’t you want sangria?” He surprised me even more by pulling out his wallet. “You practically purred when you drank it in Washington. I’m not sure what you liked more, me or the sangria. But I know I liked the way it tasted on your lips.”

“How did you even know they had it? Some places throw bar garnish and Sprite into cheap wine and try to pass it off as the nectar of the Gods.” I leaned back against the bar, hooking my boot into the barstool, trying to play this cool. If Jagger had any idea he could knock me over with a feather right now he might stop trying so hard. I wanted to see what else he had in him. “They can’t fool me with that crap.”

“I checked before you got here.” Jagger tapped his glass against mine before taking a long sip of whatever he got.

I knew all along they had it. I’d been here more times than I could count. “And if they didn’t?”

“We’d find someplace that did.” Those hazel eyes smoldered. So many emotions I couldn’t read yet marched through them.

I put the glass down on the bar and turned back to him. It took everything I had to keep my hands to myself. “And if that wasn’t what I was craving?”

Jagger leaned closer to me and I could feel every eye on the room on us. “I will make sure you’re satisfied.”

We took stools at the bar. It was still pretty early. A cover band I’d been going to see since my twenties was setting up in the corner, and only a handful of my classmates had shown up so far. I wondered if we’d see many locals. Getting a babysitter two nights in a row was such a bitch.

“So that’s Eric. He went out to LA to act and he’s had a bunch of bit parts in movies, and it looks like he’s here with…” I squinted to see better, then squealed when he took the hand of someone I didn’t expect. “Michael. Nice. I think he’s still in the Marines. I knew he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, but I didn’t realize they were a couple. It makes total sense, now that I think about it, they’re always together in their Facebook stuff.”

After finding the bottom of my drink, I had no problem openly pointing out the weekend’s players to Jagger. A fresh drink appeared like magic, and I dove right into it. “And that’s Marcy. She was my manager at Design Spot. We used to put wine in our coffee cups to deal with the monotony of that place. Oh, God. You must think I’m a total lush, right?”

“No.” Jagger laughed. “Which one is Karina?”

I had to think about before answering him. “Who’s Karina?”

“Your best friend?” Jagger slid the glass away from me. “The guys at the agency have nothing but good things to say about her.”

“Oh! Kari.” I took it back. “I never think of her like that. Unless I’m giving her a hard time. Her reputation would precede her.” Good for her. “I don’t know. She should be here. She’s technically our host.”

She’d been coy in the last couple weeks, much more concerned with my plans for the reunion than sharing hers. Probably because being here was just as much of a nightmare for her as it was for me, even if our reasons were completely different. She’d definitely bring a date to the battle ground.

The band started, tearing through their nineties set with slightly less fire than they had in the actual nineties, and Jagger started drumming the beat against the bar. “Let’s dance,” he suggested.

“Sounds fantastic.” After the second sangria it easier to join the few other couples on the floor, and I waved to the people I’d pointed out from the bar. So far, we weren’t behind enemy lines. None of those people had shown up yet. I twirled around Jagger, singing the lyrics of the song to him as he put his arms around my waist and pressed my back against his body. We swayed together to the beat, his hair falling into my face as he joined me on the harmonies. I turned into him when the song changed, our hips grinding to the raunchy beat of the song. If this was any indication of what I had to look forward to when we went back upstairs, I had no idea why we were still here.

Jagger’s hands stayed on my hips, directing them, and I hooked my arms around his neck. His forehead rested on mine and I could only look at him. The rest of the room spun on a different axis. I hadn’t had too much to drink, I was drunk off of Jagger.

“Can I have this dance?” Kari managed to wedge herself between the two of us and I grabbed her arms to steady myself from the shock. She swung around, offering a hand to Jagger. “I’m Karina Gomez. Leah’s best friend. And I’m a United States prosecutor, so when I say I know where to hide the bodies…”

“Kari!” I jerked her away from Jagger before she said anything I regretted.

“I’ve heard all about you. Nothing but wonderful things of course.” Jagger ran his fingers under my chin. Kari didn’t release her death grip on my arms. “I’ll meet you over at the bar.”

My new dance partner spun me around. “First of all, he’s insanely gorgeous. I don’t get intimidated by many men, but it’s hard to breathe looking at him.”

“Where have you been?” I asked. I wanted to change the subject before it turned into a lecture.

“Here, for like a half an hour.” Kari rolled her eyes. “You were too busy eye-fucking your escort to notice anyone.”

My head whipped around the room. “Oh God, who else is here?”

“Pretty much everyone, and you are the topic of conversation.”

“Why?” Another quick scan of the room, but I didn’t spot Rich or Shelley.

“Because the two of you look like you’re going to crawl inside of each other. We’re all choking off the pheromones. Would you please go upstairs and fuck his brains out before some of the single ladies in the crowd abduct him?”

Nobody had to tell me twice. “Yes, ma’am.” I headed off the dance floor, but Kari still had my hand.

“Don’t ever call me ma’am.” Kari yanked me back into her. “Leah, please be careful tonight.”

“I will, ma’am.” I laughed when Kari looked like she might puke. “I brought protection.”

She squeezed my hand. “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

Kristen Strassel writes books about rock stars and vampires. After all, they tell you to write what you know. She is a passionate music fan who also loves football games and diner food. Kristen works as a makeup artist on film and TV shows when she's not writing, and loves being behind the scenes. A former resident of Las Vegas, Kristen now lives in the Boston area.

FACEBOOK I TWITTER I WEBSITE I NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

BOOK BLITZ: Matteo (rachael orman)

Being born into slavery, I never thought my owner, my very mother, would sell me. And she didn’t.

Until Matteo.

I was tormented, struggling to come to terms with my new life then he narrowed it down to two things.

Pleasure. Pain.

The man confused me at every turn with his unexpected and unattainable desires.

If only he’d speak to me.

If only he’d tell me how to avoid upsetting him.

If only I could please him.

**Disclaimer: This is a DARK erotic Italian Mafia story. There are twisted behaviors in this book not everyone will be able to handle. Explicit, violent, and sexual scenes are involved. Not for the wary of heart.**

AMAZON US I AMAZON UK I AMAZON CA I iBOOKS I NOOK I KOBO

A shiver ran through me. I was chained up in his basement. I’d never been restrained in such a way before. Madam never resorted to such means since she knew I never would’ve run. I had no desire to live free of enslavement. It was all I knew and all I wanted. However, feeling the cool breeze in the room and the even colder restraints on my skin made me wonder if maybe I had thought wrong all along.

“I can see from the look on your face that you’ve never been locked up before, and I see that’s where Madam went wrong with you. No, you didn’t want to escape, but you don’t know how to behave. No, you don’t truly know the extent to which a punishment can go. Don’t worry, that is going to change starting now. This will throw a wrench in my initial plans for you, but I refuse to let you go now. You are mine and will be forever, so get used to the idea.” Matteo leaned against the wall in front of me, sliding his hands into his pockets as if we were carrying on a completely normal conversation. He appeared entirely at ease while I struggled with all the new emotions flooding me. After a moment of staring at me, he pushed off the wall and stood close enough I could feel his body heat.

He reached down to pull his erection from his dress slacks. Sliding his hand over it slowly, he dragged the tip over my mouth.

“Suck it. Get me off and I’ll leave you alone for the remainder of the night. Fail to do so and I will start your punishment now,” he said as he shoved the hot, hard, musky flesh into my mouth.

I wanted to cry out that I thought the lashings from the belt had been my punishment. Instead, I sucked him down my throat and bobbed my head along his length the way he’d shown me he liked it done. The longer I sucked, the more my lips became numb and the more I realized that I really had no idea what being a slave was like.

Finally, he groaned and his release filled my mouth and throat before he pulled back. As he tucked himself into his pants again he yanked my hair so I was forced to look him in the eye.

“Welcome to the Italian Mafia way of life, bella.”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mother by day. Writer by night. I spend a majority of my day with my children and reading while my nights are filled with the sound of the keyboard as I work on my next work.

I have written in nearly every LBGT category as well as the traditional erotic romance category.

I love to try new things and learn from every piece of work I write. I'll write just about anything once to learn from it. I've even ventured out of my normal erotica genre into Monster Erotica. Doubt you'll find me writing anything not erotic as you can barely get me to even read something out of that category, but then again, you never know what I might try next.

Never stop learning. Try everything at least once.

FACEBOOK I TWITTER I WEBSITE I GOODREADS I AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE