Weekly NEW Releases in SciFi Romance and Fantasy

Romancing The Stars v-2 Since the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog is ceasing operations after this week, I’ve taken over this weekly reporting of new and upcoming releases in science fiction and fantasy romance. These releases are as reported to me by the authors, and I have not read them. I always recommend sampling before you buy!

I put them in the order in which they come to me from authors or I find them myself in the previous week, so it’s a mix of the genres…usually giving priority to the books brought to my attention by the authors.)

(NOTE: If the author provides me with buy links I insert those; otherwise I default to Amazon.)

Leading off with a New Release in which I have an all new STAR CRUISE short story:

ROMANCING THE STARS by various authors

With eight short stories of romance and adventure, you’re sure to find a happily ever after. From space pirates to cyborgs, alien planets to psi sex, we’ve got you covered at every heat level.
New to Science Fiction Romance? This collection is the perfect introduction! Lots of romance balanced by sci-fi elements. Strap yourself in, fire the boosters, and enjoy your transport to our futuristic worlds!

EYE OF THE MOTHER by Greta van der Rol

A distant star has exploded. The ripples of its passing will rock the Empire.

When fate throws Brent Walker and Tian Axmar together, it’s strictly a business arrangement. She’s an Imperial agent with a problem to solve, he’s a space jockey with an empty bank balance and a tramp freighter for hire.

Somebody’s murdering Yrmaks and Humans, and leaving a mysterious calling card. Somebody wants interspecies war. Tian hires Brent to help her investigate, delving into Yrmak customs and beliefs to understand what’s going on. It’s an increasingly dangerous game, with more than just lives at stake. Before it’s over Brent and Tian will be faced with choices which will change both of them forever.

Amazon iBooks Barnes & Noble

BRYCE (GALACTIC DEFENDERS BOOK 1) by Jessica E. Subject

Bryce fell in love once, but after Lalia was ripped away from him, he locked his heart from feeling anything for anyone else. Instead, he devotes his life to the Galactic Alliance, killing every bloodthirsty Erebus he comes across.

A shunned princess…

Lalia Comosova fell in love with the wrong man. When her parents learned of her transgressions, they sent her to Earth to hide her error in judgment from the rest of the kingdom.

A second chance?

When these lovers are reunited after many years apart, they have a chance to find happiness together. But fate steps in and threatens to rip them apart as it did years ago.

Amazon iBooks Google Play All Romance eBooks

ALIENS IN THE BARN: 4 SHORT STORIES OF MECH ALIEN LOVE AND MISADVENTURE by Kyndra Hatch

Four short stories of romance between Bazin and Miaxa, two alien beings from the planet Beryll. Finding themselves on a previously unknown planet, Earth, they grow fond of a human family. Cultural misunderstandings are a constant, the day-in-the-life misadventures of Bazin and Miaxa and their human friends.

Amazon iBooks Barnes & Noble Kobo

HATHOR LEGACY: REVELATIONS by Deborah A. Bailey

An enemy returns to spark new tensions between the Guardians and Novacorp. In the midst of the crisis, Nadira is given information about her parents that threatens to destroy her relationship to the Guardians and to Jonathan.

While Nadira searches for answers, Jonathan is enticed into the hedonistic world of the Novacorp executive class. His entertainment club attracts the elite of Hathor, but his notoriety comes with a price.

The worlds of the Guardians and Novacorp are put on a collision course where only one side may come out on top. Nadira is called on to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the legacy of the First Families, the original settlers of Hathor, while Guardians, Kasema and Deshtu PSI groups are faced with the choice to unite or be brought completely under Novacorp control.

PLAGUE CULT by Jenny Schwartz

In a small Texas town a desire for love becomes a curse that could unleash a deadly plague.

Ruth Warner is estranged from her family. She loves them, but her magic makes her an outsider in Bideer, Texas. Ruth has built a new life in New York. She’s a healer at the Collegium, respected and…lonely. Sometimes, you have to go home.

Ruth’s boss orders her to Bideer after a local coroner reports a suspicious death. Could the new cult in town, a lonely hearts club, be playing reckless games with a death curse?

But if Ruth is going home, she’s not going alone.

Shawn Jackson is a Collegium guardian, a mage trained to fight evil. He’s also a man accustomed to keeping secrets. He’s a hollerider, a huntsman; one of those who birthed the legend of the Wild Hunt. When he unleashes his magic, terror rides with him.

As evil stalks an innocent town, the dedicated healer and battle-hardened marine must heal their own broken hearts to prevent a devastating plague.

EXILE by Colleen Vanderlinden

Two races fight for what remains of a dying planet.
For generations, the Maarlai, an alien race who fled the destruction of their own home world, have lived silently, hidden, exiled on Earth. They watched, year by year, as humanity destroyed what was once a planet full of hope and promise.
Unable to idly watch as the planet dipped further into destruction, the Maarlai left their hidden villages and went to war with what was left of humanity. With the death of the last great human king, the Maarlai found themselves victorious and vowed to protect and restore the planet that had sheltered them for so long.
A treaty made, an alliance formed.
Shannen of House Lyon is a member of the last of the human royal families…..

THE CURSE OF 10TH GRAVE by Darynda Jones

If one door closes and another one opens,
your house is probably haunted.
—Bumper Sticker

As a Part-time PI and fulltime grim reaper, Charley Davidson has asked a lot of questions throughout her life: Why can I see dead people? Who is the hot supernatural entity following me? How do I get gum out of my sister’s hair before she wakes up? But, “How do I trap not one malevolent god, but three?” was never among them. Until now. And since those gods are on earth to kill her daughter, she has little choice but to track them down, trap them, and cast them from this dimension.

There’s just one problem. One of the three stole her heart a very long time ago. Can the Razer, a god of absolute death and destruction, change his omniscient spots, or will his allegiances lie with his brothers?

RUNES OF FATE by Lana North

It’s the annual midwinter gathering, and Sissa Raudulfsdatter is locked into a shed – bound, gagged and waiting to be led out to the altar where she will be sacrificed.

There has never been any human sacrifice in the village before, but this year Jarl Ingolf decided that the gods require one to give their good graces back.

Sissa is determined to face her fate with dignity and courage but as she waits for them to bring her out to the altar, the herbs her mother has put in her final meal makes her dizzy and finally, she faints.

The morning after the sacrifice she wakes up, still alive and still in the shed. After shouting for help, Sissa’s brother opens the door, but he’s shocked to see her because they all thought Sissa was killed the evening before. It’s soon discovered that another girl was sacrificed instead. The village is in uproar and Jarl Ingolf, who performed the sacrifice himself, is devastated.

SHADOW RIDER By Christine Feehan

Whether it’s fast cars or fast women, Stefano Ferraro gets what he wants. When he’s not fodder for the paparazzi, he commands Ferraro family businesses—both legitimate and illegitimate.

While their criminal activity is simply a rumor yet to be proven, no one knows the real truth. The Ferraros are a family of shadow riders capable of manipulating light and dark, an ability Stefano thought ran in his family alone—until now…

With little left to her name, Francesca Cappello has come to Chicago in hopes of a new life. She wasn’t expecting to attract the attention of a man with primal hunger in his eyes, driven to claim her as his to protect and to please. And if he discovers her secret, it could ruin her…

project_hell PROJECT HELL- PART FOUR – A SERIAL SCIFI ROMANCE by Felicity Kates

It’s been three days since the truths about Hell’s origins at The Factory were revealed. Three days of being trapped with Peyton’s family inside a cramped transport, the space feeling even smaller when full of awkward glances and unspoken words. When the team finally arrives at its destination, it’s almost a relief to get off the ship and do something productive.

But the danger that has stalked Hell since she ran away from The Factory isn’t far behind. And even as Peyton begins to face his true feelings for Hell, will love be the tie that binds them…or tears them apart?

This book is part 4 of a serial story and is not a standalone novel. It is meant to be read in sequence following Project Hell parts 1, 2, and 3. This series contains cliffhangers.

THE DARKEST MAGIC: A BOOK OF SPIRITS AND THIEVES by Morgan Rhodes

Modern-day Toronto: Sisters Crystal and Becca Hatcher are reunited after reclaiming the Bronze Codex and narrowly escaping death. They have no one to trust but each other, and the only thing keeping them safe is the book that sent Becca’s spirit to Ancient Mytica–the same book that their enemies would kill them for.

Ancient Mytica: Maddox grapples to keep his newly discovered powers under control, while the ruthless goddess Valoria hunts him down.

CONFISCATED BRIDE – A BBW SCIFI ROMANCE by Yamila Abraham

Ambassador Janel is proud to have finally brokered an alliance with the powerful Haraden. What cinched the deal? The Haraden warriors want brides. Since war ravaged her planet’s male population they actually have a surplus of women looking for husbands. It seems like a win-win.

General Kordan, the austere Haraden negotiator Janel spent days wearing down, approaches her out of the blue. She’s not married—and the warrior general has his eyes on her. For some reason, she feels compelled to go to him.

Unfortunately her timing for a visit to a Haraden home world could not have been worse. Was she being courted or confiscated?

JAGUIN’S LOVE (DRAGON LORDS OF VALDIER BOOK 8) by S. E. Smith

(Note: Missed this one when it came out on June 19th)

Jaguin is one of the finest trackers on Valdier. To date, there is only one thing he has never been successful at finding – his true mate. That failure is eating away at him and his dragon. Even his symbiot is feeling the drain as the centuries crawl by with no end to the emptiness gnawing away at them. Hope flares with the discovery of a species that is compatible with their own. The Lords of Valdier have found their true mates on a distant planet, bringing hope to the warriors of Valdier where females are few and true mates almost non-existent.

PRE-ORDERS:

ABILITY (TO BE SINCLAIR BOOK 9) by Eva Caye

Lieutenant Princess Brielle Sinclair, the first female navigator in the Sinclair Demesnes Service, can be sharp, sassy, classy, and determined, and oh-so-aware of her impact on the men! She’s ace as can be, but her weird cyborg navigation implants represent her unique ability to visualize stelluric waves, the building blocks of wormholes and stargates.

A technological disaster shortens Brielle’s liberty on the planet Venturi, and leads to the retrieval of her sophomore chemistry lab partner, Lord Zak Ellison, a deep undercover agent dealing with the disaster while enslaved by a mysterious being. When her ship gets embroiled in that puzzling energetic influence from Venturi, the Emperor needs her to handle the situation.

DECADENT MOON by Shona Husk (Note: Three Previously Published Novellas Now Bundled)

Decadent Moon is a resort where alien species come together for pleasure and business. There are only three rules:
No interspecies hate.
No violence.
No debts.
Enjoy your visit to Decadent Moon.

RECKLESS REMEDY by Rinelle Grey

Alien supersoldier Kugah is on the run. He needs the human’s wormhole technology to find a new home, far away from anyone his genetically engineered presence can hurt. Then he meets Amelie. Her gentle, caring nature opens the possibility of a future with someone by his side.

Amelie is too busy being doctor to a spaceship full of pregnant women, she doesn’t have any time to regret being alone. But when the passengers begin to show signs of unnaturally rapid ageing after a desperate trip through a wormhole, she has no one else she can rely on other than the strong, silent alien. The things she’s starting to feel for him must be just a product of the fact that they could soon be the only two left alive on the ship.

Their species aren’t even compatible. They couldn’t possibly be falling in love.

MAGIC AND MAYHEM: A COLLECTION OF 21 FANTASY NOVELS by Various Authors

Get ready to be swept off into lands filled with magic, mystery, action, adventure and even romance with these 21 full-length fantasy novels! With over one-million words packed with witches, dragons, pirates, shape shifters, mercenaries, gods and more, these stories will introduce you to some of the most memorable characters and exotic worlds that exist in fantasy today. No cliffhangers here — each book is either a standalone or first in series and all have satisfying endings.

WAKING EDEN by Rhenna Morgan

With a long foretold and annoyingly vague prophecy warning of immense change for Eden, Ramsay Shantos is forced to hunt words and legends instead of rebels. For a man of action, it’s the worst kind of agony. Until he encounters a sexy librarian who bears the fated prophecy’s mark. A mark no human should possess.

Tortured by her mixed heritage, Trinity Blair has enjoyed little human touch in her life, let alone intimacy. Even the most innocent contact fills her mind with a person’s deepest, darkest secrets—except for Ramsay. Her immunity to his thoughts sparks a fragile hope that she might finally experience the passion of her Dark Spiritu brethren…unless he’s the dangerous crossroads her father predicted.

VENTURI PART ONE ALIEN ROMANCE (CRASHLANDER) by Annie Nicholas

Part one of a serial about a human traveler, her alien mate (not that she knows that yet), and an adventure through which he’s determined to keep her alive, and safe, and entirely his.

I grew up in space.
Never been on a planet, let alone an alien one.
We crashed—I crashed—our ship on a huge green world.
Communications were down, the ship was broken in two, the crew mostly injured, and there were things out there. Animals with razor sharp teeth.
The emergency beacon lay on the other side of the jungle, our only way to call home, and I drew the short straw.
I was doomed before I ever stepped out of the airlock.
But we weren’t alone…

Full serial in one boxset will be available in October.

As of Tuesday evening, From Amazon:

Amzn_june29

amzn_june29part2

Guest Author: Jenny Schwartz PLAGUE CULT Excerpt

My guest today has combined the paranormal and a plague to write a very different romance!

The Story: In a small Texas town a desire for love becomes a curse that could unleash a deadly plague.

Ruth Warner is estranged from her family. She loves them, but her magic makes her an outsider in Bideer, Texas. Ruth has built a new life in New York. She’s a healer at the Collegium, respected and…lonely. Sometimes, you have to go home.

Ruth’s boss orders her to Bideer after a local coroner reports a suspicious death. Could the new cult in town, a lonely hearts club, be playing reckless games with a death curse?

But if Ruth is going home, she’s not going alone.

Shawn Jackson is a Collegium guardian, a mage trained to fight evil. He’s also a man accustomed to keeping secrets. He’s a hollerider, a huntsman; one of those who birthed the legend of the Wild Hunt. When he unleashes his magic, terror rides with him.

As evil stalks an innocent town, the dedicated healer and battle-hardened marine must heal their own broken hearts to prevent a devastating plague.

***

Warning: “Plague Cult” includes a haunted house, an unconventional ghost, and a home renovation love story.

The Excerpt:

“Any other symptoms,” Ruth asked.

“I’ll email you the report.” William closed the blank-paged notebook. “The curse is probably a false alarm, but the combination of a possible cult at a nexus site is unsettling in itself.”

“The nexus is only a small one,” she objected. “Most people don’t even notice the power boost of the converging ley lines.”

“For some people, any increase in power is worth pursuing.” Shawn raked a hand through his dark brown hair and shook his shoulders. “Ugh. I hate cults.”

“But the fact that you can mask your magic makes you ideally suited to a discreet investigation,” William said.

A slight grin curved Shawn’s mouth, denting a hint of dimple in one lean cheek. “I’m not complaining. I’ll be damn glad to get out in the field again.”

Ruth re-assessed the easy strength she’d sensed in him. “You were hurt?” She had to control the urge to scan his aura, looking for the shadow of old injuries.

“Ruth’s been working in Australia the last two months,” William said, apparently feeling she’d missed something obvious.

Shawn simply answered her question. “I wasn’t hurt. I was one of three guardians assigned to act as bodyguard and personal assistant to President Bennett before he discovered his new form of magic.”

“Ah.” Despite her dread at returning home to Bideer and the wisp of possibility that a plague could await her, she had to smile. “Were you an efficient secretary?” Her mind boggled at the idea. Shawn seemed very much an outdoors, open-spaces, action man. Trapping him behind a desk to juggle schedules and sort out office politics and paperwork seemed a recipe for frustration.

“Cute,” he said. “And no, I wasn’t a hit as a secretary. Lewis couldn’t wait to get rid of us.”

William cleared his throat.

Shawn grinned. “The feeling was mutual. Now, Lewis has a secretary who can silence a room full of pushy mages with the lift of an eyebrow.”

“Who?” Ruth was intrigued. She’d missed all the recent dramatic upheavals at the Collegium by virtue of her mission in Australia studying the transmission of the Hendra Virus in tropical Queensland. Fruit bats weren’t the only animals that spread the virus, and she’d been investigating the role of bunyips with the help of an Australian cryptozoologist. The passage of disease transmission across species, and from magical to mundane, was a special interest of hers.

“Gina, Lewis’s girlfriend, suggested her cousin Lance. He used to manage one of her family’s hotels, of the Sidhe Hotel chain, but was looking for a challenge. He only has the most minor of house witch magics, but his grasp of personal dynamics and Collegium politics is scary.”

“You like him,” Ruth said.

“By taking the job, Lance let Chad, Haskell and I off the hook. I owe him.”

“Indeed. And now you are free to accompany Ruth to Bideer.” William brought them back to the issue at hand: going home. “Ruth, in your file, you mention you’ve bought a house on the outskirts of town.”

She widened her eyes at him. “Rose House? We can’t stay there. It’s a fixer upper. I shouldn’t have even bought it.” It had been a mistake. She didn’t belong in Bideer. However, she’d scrupulously updated her Collegium file with her new purchase. She’d also told her brothers: Mitch in the army, and Kane at college. She hadn’t told them it was a secret, so they might have told her parents. If they had, her parents hadn’t phoned to bemoan her actions, although everyone knew it was better if she stayed away.

I guess I won’t be doing that. Anticipation and dread danced butterflies in her stomach. She’d be going home.

“Shawn will be your ex-marine friend taking on renovation of the house in exchange for free board and lodging,” William said

“Solid,” Shawn approved the cover story.

Ruth tried to shake herself up, to focus. “Have you ever been in the marines?”

“Spent a year embedded.” Sudden shadows darkened his hazel eyes.

Buy Link: https://amzn.com/B01G4XRCAC

Author Bio: Jenny Schwartz is a paranormal romance author with a BA in Sociology and History — people watching and digging into the past. She lives in Western Australia and is working towards her dream of living by the sea. You can find Jenny at http://authorjennyschwartz.com

Social Media links:

Website: http://authorjennyschwartz.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennySchwartz.author/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jenny_Schwartz

What Could Be So Bad? Weekend Writing Warriors

WeWrWa Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

Moving on to Star Cruise: Outbreak for a few weeks of excerpts….Dr. Shane has been at loose ends since leaving the military and her father’s arranged for her to take a temp job on an interstellar cruise liner:

Her father switched to wheedling, “It’s the Nebula Zephyr, honey, top of the line. What could be so bad about a couple of months on a luxury cruise? Prescribe headclear to people who drink too much, apply skinseal to kids’ banged-up knees, have fun the rest of the time. You’d be in space.” He said the latter as if the concept was an irresistible enticement.

Now he’d given her something on which to anchor her rejection. “I hardly think a military doctor is the right fit for a civilian ship full of pampered rich people. Even if the captain is desperate for a chief medical officer—”

“Beyond desperate – he can’t sail without one who has active space certifications, and you’ve kept your licenses current.”

Damn it, she had.

StarCruiseOutbreak-FJM_Mid_Res_1000x1500 The story:

She saved countless soldiers in the wars … but does she have the weapons to fight an outbreak?

Dr. Emily Shane, veteran of the Sector Wars, is known as “The Angel of Fantalar” for her bravery under fire as a medic. However, the doctor has her own war wounds–severe PTSD and guilt over those she failed to save.

Persuaded to fill a seemingly frivolous berth as ship’s doctor on the huge and luxurious interstellar cruise liner Nebula Zephyr, she finds the job brings unexpected perks–a luxe beach deck with water imported from Tahumaroa II, and Security Officer Jake Dilon, a fellow veteran who heats her up like a tropical sun.

However, Emily soon learns she and Jake didn’t leave all peril behind in the war. A mysterious ailment aboard the Zephyr begins to claim victim after victim … and they must race against time and space to find the cause and a cure! Trapped on a ship no spaceport will allow to dock, their efforts are complicated by a temperamental princess and a terrorist–one who won’t hesitate to take down any being in the way of his target. If anyone’s left when the disease is through with them…

Buy Links: Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble Apple iBooks

Weekly NEW Releases in SciFi and Fantasy Romance

Since the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog is ceasing operations at the end of June, I’m taking over this weekly reporting of new and upcoming releases in science fiction and fantasy romance. These releases are as reported to me by the authors, and I have not read them. I always recommend sampling before you buy!

(NOTE: If the author provides me with buy links I insert those; otherwise I default to Amazon.)

TRAPPED WITH THE CYBORG by Cara Bristol

(Veronica sez: One of my favorite SFR series!)

The only thing more dangerous than a suicide mission is falling in love…

Amanda Mansfield has faced challenges in her life: the disapproval of her critical father and the near-fatal accident that ended a promising military career and resulted in her transformation to cyborg. Now a Cyber Operations field agent, she volunteers to lead the most dangerous Cy-Ops mission ever: infiltrating enemy territory to find the secret hideaway of a terrorist mastermind. The last thing she needs is an added complication.

Amazon B&N Kobo iBooks ARe

A FAIRIE TALE: THE BELOVED by Genevra Thorne

(Veronica sez: I LOVED this one and then went and snapped up the first book in the series.)

Lord Ashton of Aethyria is enticement, seduction, temptation–born with the power to strip even the most modest woman of her gown, her will, and her virtue. With the glamour of being born a half Daoine Sidhe faerie comes the sad fate that once a woman has gazed into Ash’s eyes, she forever loses the ability to see anything other than his ravishing beauty, and can certainly never glimpse into his soul. Ashton’s allure is so raw and enchanting, in fact, that he has exiled himself from even the human side of his family, lest his own aunts be tempted by him, and lives a life of solitude and fleeting passions. But he is part human as well, and it is his human blood that makes him long for a magic no faerie spell can equal. It is his deep desire for true love that leads him to keep his magnificent face hidden from the woman who captures his heart.

WARRIOR WENCH (THE ASARLAI WARS BOOK ONE) by Marie Andreas

(Veronica sez: Just started this one, loving it so far.)

Vaslisha Tor Dain is a mercenary starship captain with a few simple rules: A good ship is better than a great man, in case of confusion always err on the side of blowing someone’s head off, and never fall for a telepath or a member of her crew.

All of those are about to bite her in the ass.

Vas’s life takes a turn for the worse when she comes back to her crew after what should have been a two week pleasure trip to find out she’s actually been gone a month and has no memory of missing time. Her beloved ship, The Victorious Dead, has been sold for scrap and its pieces scattered throughout the galaxy. In addition, there are unmarked ships blowing apart entire planets and the Commonwealth government can’t, or won’t, stop them.

And that’s just her first day back.

BUSINESS OR PLEASURE (THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY BOOK 3) by Cassandra Chandler

He’ll have to do more than guard her body.

Paige Sloan has dedicated her life to protecting Earth’s ecosystems. She always thought that meant addressing and preventing human mistakes. But her latest samples of the swampland she’s studying have returned weird results and put her on the hit list of an invasive species—of aliens. The Tau Ceti are trying to create a base on Earth, and Paige is the only person alive who knows where those samples were taken.

Khel has been sent to protect Paige and bring her to the Coalition spaceship orbiting Earth. He has no idea what he’s in for when he approaches the incredibly independent and intractable Earthling. Her passion for her planet is strong enough to burn down the walls he’s created in himself to be the perfect Sadirian soldier—and it lights a flame of desire in him unlike any he’s ever known.

AVENGE HER by Sophia Kimble

As a Highland Warrior cursed with immortality, Malcolm Campbell fought many battles, but staying away from a beautiful witch is proving to be the greatest of his life. But when a blizzard traps them together in his castle and dark energy shrouds his home, her closeness ignites buried desires and tests the vow of celibacy he made to his wife’s broken body centuries ago.

Amazon B&N Kobo iBooks

POISON OR PROTECT: A DELIGHTFULLY DEADLY NOVELLA by Gail Carriger

Can one gentle Highland soldier woo Victorian London’s most scandalous lady assassin, or will they both be destroyed in the attempt?

New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger presents a stand-alone romance novella set in her popular steampunk universe full of manners, spies, and dainty sandwiches.

Lady Preshea Villentia, the Mourning Star, has four dead husbands and a nasty reputation. Fortunately, she looks fabulous in black. What society doesn’t know is that all her husbands were marked for death by Preshea’s employer. And Preshea has one final assignment.

GHOST REBELLION (MINISTRY OF PECULIAR OCCURRENCES BOOK 5) by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris

The chase is on! After rescuing Queen Victoria from the clutches of the Maestro, Agents Eliza D Braun and Wellington Books are in hot pursuit of Dr Henry Jekyll. While he continues his experiments on the aristocracy of Europe, he leaves a trail of chaos and despair in his wake. However when Eliza and Wellington run him to ground in India, they are forced to come face to face with ghosts from the past, and the realities of empire.

FIRE DANGER by Clare Davon

A love that’s fated to go up in flames.

All her life, a faint memory of her parents and fire has glowed at the back of Rachel Fire_Danger_Clare_DAvon Quinn’s mind. With her parents long dead, there is no one to clarify what it means.

When a gorgeous winged man rescues her from a pack of werewolves, something flares to life inside Rachel. Suddenly she can see the paranormal world around her, a world unseen by mortals. And far more complicated.

When Phoenix’s massive orange-and-red wings erupt from his back, he knows his Challenge—an age-old battle against his Demonos counterpart—is upon him. Heeding Rachel’s cry for help adds a layer of complexity never seen in any previous Challenge.

STAR REBELS: STORIES OF SPACE EXPLORATION, ALIEN RACES AND ADVENTURE – an anthology of short stories featuring Lindsay Buroker and more…FREE

There are rebels among the stars…

Meet eleven protagonists battling to save themselves and the ones they love. Human, cyborg, clone, or alien, they’ll find themselves pitted against intergalactic crime bosses, interstellar mercenaries, a quantum-wave-riding collective mind, and the universe itself. Along the way, there’s plenty of action, adventure, humor, and even some romance.

PORTALS VOLUME 4 from Members of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade – a FREE Sampler

Enter, and you’ll be introduced by award-winning authors to worlds beyond imagining, with heroes & heroines who dare to take it to the edge and beyond. Count on these adventurers to take their best shot … at their enemies and at romance!

Contains 10 first chapters, with links to purchase any or all of the complete books, should you wish.

Two we may have missed mentioning when they came out fairly recently:

THE PAGES OF THE MIND (THE UNCHARTED REALMS) by Jeffe Kennedy

(Veronica sez: I love Jeffe’s Twelve kingdoms series and this is an offshoot of that series. Plus: kickass librarian! I enjoyed this book.)

Magic has broken free over the Twelve Kingdoms. The population is beset by shapeshifters and portents, landscapes that migrate, uncanny allies who are not quite human…and enemies eager to take advantage of the chaos.

Dafne Mailloux is no adventurer–she’s a librarian. But the High Queen trusts Dafne’s ability with languages, her way of winnowing the useful facts from a dusty scroll, and even more important, the subtlety and guile that three decades under the thumb of a tyrant taught her.

Dafne never thought to need those skills again. But she accepts her duty. Until her journey drops her into the arms of a barbarian king.

LOST HEART: A CELTA NOVELLA by Robin D. Owens

(Veronica sez: I have not read this yet but I’m a big fan of her Celta series!)

Celta, a place of magic, telepathic animal companions, and romance . . . Lost Heart, a story rife with hidden agendas and dangerous secrets.

Barton Clover, Chief of Security for his large and noble family, is deeply aware of his responsibilities. When two young relatives repudiate the family and later disappear, he’s determined to find them and convince them to return. He has no time or inclination for love . . . but his family disapproves of his nothing-but-work life. They decree that he must visit a matchmaker or lose his position.

Enata Licorice, a respected librarian, has been doing research in a mysterious records vault . . . and is finding odd blanks in her memory. Lonely, she yearns for a good husband and arranges a matchmaking session of her own.

PreOrders:

BEFORE SHE WAKES: FORBIDDEN FAIRY TALES by Sharon Fisher

You’ve never read bedtime stories like these. RITA Award finalist Sharon Lynn Fisher blends dark erotic romance, fantasy, and science fiction in these bold tales of seduction and sensual awakening. . . .

STARS BETWEEN US (LOVE ON THE SPACE FRONTIER BOOK 3) by Melisse Aires

Lonely single mother Odessa contacts her former lover Veras, the man she never got over. It seems he never got over her, either, but he is leaving the spaceport in a short time for medical school on a distant planet. Traveling so far is a one-way trip; they know they have no future together. They will enjoy the the few days they have.

As of Tuesday evening, from Amazon: Amznjune21

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Sadly Unprepared Weekend Writing Warriors

(No new release to report this week LOL!)

Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriorscentral page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

I’m going to finish this scene from LADY OF THE STAR WIND today! Then we’ll move on next week because I have two other new releases out there.

Mark and his companions, including the unconscious Sandy, have been rescued by a clan of desert-dwellers. They’ve taken refuge in the underground village to wait out the sandstorm, before attempting to continue their trek to the Lost City. After treating Sandy as best they can for the snakebite, the chief takes Mark to show him the scrolls from the ancient library, rescued from the Lost City, including one depicting a snake such as Mark has described, but which the chief insists is a myth. Mark is speaking now. Edited from the published version.

“I’m out of my depth here. I’m a soldier, you know? I can take a collection of hard facts and make them add up like a stack of bricks. You want to attack some kind of fortress, I’m your man. You want someone assassinated or kidnapped, I can do it. But what am I supposed to do with this kind of magical construct, how do I use it to help Sandy? Do I go back there and tell her to wake up, quit faking it, because, hey, you were bitten by a mythological snake, not a real one?” He bit his lip against the flood of words. Panic over the possibility of losing Sandy was uncomfortably close to the surface of his emotions.

Jagrahim inserted the scroll into a jar with others and fastened a thin leather cover over the opening, knotting a string around the jar’s neck, “I regret having confused you more than I helped – you and your Lady of the Star Wind are sadly unprepared for what you’ve found upon your return to our world.”

The story:

Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?

Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.

Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again.

They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen.

Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land. Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?

Buy Links: Amazon KOBO Barnes & Noble iBooks

Weekly NEW Releases in SciFi and Fantasy Romance

Since the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog is ceasing operations at the end of June, I’m taking over this weekly reporting of new and upcoming releases in science fiction and fantasy romance. These releases are as reported to me by the authors (a few I found on my own), and in most cases I have not read them. I always recommend sampling before you buy!

(NOTE: If the author provides me with buy links I insert those; otherwise I default to Amazon.)

One of my own to report!

HOSTAGE TO THE STARS by Veronica Scott

Space travel without Kidnap & Ransom insurance? Not a good idea. University instructor and researcher Sara Bridges can’t afford it, so when pirates board her cruise liner, she’s taken captive along with the mistress of a wealthy man, and brought to a deserted planet. When a military extraction team sent to rescue the mistress refuses to take Sara too, she’s left to the mercies of a retired Special Forces soldier, along as consultant.

Reluctantly reactivated and coerced into signing up for the rescue operation to the planet Farduccir where he once was deployed, Sgt. Johnny Danver just wants to get the job done. But when the team leader leaves one captured woman behind, he breaks away to rescue her himself.

Amazon Kobo Apple iBooks Barnes & Noble

GREYSON’S DOOM by Tracey Cooper-Posey

The AI declares Greyson is going to die and he must train his replacement.

Captain Greyson Durant has been in the job for three months, the youngest captain to ever lead the Endurance, when he is assigned to mentor the even younger Emmaline Victore, who resents the disruption to her life and Grey, too…but the longevity of the Endurance depends on them finding a way to work together.
Amazon iTunes B&N KOBO ARe

ALLEGIANCE OF HONOR by Nalini Singh

(I always figure she has a lot of scifi elements in this series and I LOVE her books.)

A staggering transformation has put the Psy, humans, and changelings at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: old enemies, new allies, wary loners.

But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten, and it threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: a child who is both Psy…and changeling.

KILLER MATE by Ella Drake

Tee Bronson doesn’t trust outsiders. Never has. Now the Scoriah are on the run from the Nex, a secretive black-ops unit, and trust isn’t even in his vocabulary. Except he needs help to board a military vessel to free one of his brothers. The only person in the universe that he’s sure isn’t Nex is Malweather Hunter, his former lover. Problem is, last time Tee saw Mal, he killed him.

Romancing The Stars v-2 ROMANCING THE STARS Anthology Pre-Order

(Full disclosure: I have a Sectors short story in this one!)

With eight short stories of romance and adventure, you’re sure to find a happily ever after. From space pirates to cyborgs, alien planets to psi sex, we’ve got you covered at every heat level.

New to Science Fiction Romance? This collection is the perfect introduction! Lots of romance balanced by sci-fi elements. Strap yourself in, fire the boosters, and enjoy your transport to our futuristic worlds!

portals_vol3 PORTALS VOLUME 3 by Various FREE SAMPLER

Portals: Volume Three by Amelia Treader, Aurora Springer, Jenna Bennett, Lisa Morrow, Maeve Alpin, Marie Andreas, Michelle Diener, Pauline Baird Jones, Pippa Ja

Welcome! You have arrived at a portal to the galaxy.
Enter, and you’ll be introduced by award-winning authors to worlds beyond imagining, with heroes & heroines who dare to take it to the edge and beyond. Count on these adventurers to take their best shot … at their enemies and at romance!
Contains 10 first chapters, with links to purchase any or all of the complete books, should you wish. Published by the Science Fiction Romance Brigade.

lionmeade_Linda_mooney LIONMEADE by Linda Mooney

A kingdom rife with rumors of the evil that lays in wait on the fringes of the woods. Fairy tales of curses, animalistic beasts, and an inhuman prince. Lady Bethel has heard the stories all her life, but what she once thought were just stories told to keep a child in line could prove to be so much more.

warrior_Queen_Shona_Husk WARRIOR QUEEN by Shona Husk

After a big night out to celebrate his last day at work, Bryce Allard stumbles home. By his door he finds a glass skeleton key that makes his front door open to another world.

Queen Keleti’s city is under siege. Betrayed by her cousin, she must find a way to save her city from the invading army. Keleti is a Heavenly, a hawk shapeshifter, so she could fly to safety, but she will not leave her people. When she finds Bryce hiding in her city she thinks he’s a spy.

iBooks Kobo Amazon Barnes and Noble

ALIEN BETRAYED by Marie Dry

In a bleak and apocalyptic future, where the Zyrgin Warriors are getting ready to conquer Earth, Marcie is sent to infiltrate the alien stronghold in the Rocky Mountains, only to be betrayed by her own people. Instead of stealing the alien’s technology and accomplishing her mission of causing mayhem and destruction among them, she is captured by Larz, an arrogant alien, who wreaks havoc with her heart when he insists that she will be his woman. Still, he may no longer want her when he discovers her secrets…ones she doesn’t even know she has.

AMAZON Goodreads Barnes & Noble ARe

BARBARIAN’S TOUCH by Ruby Dixon

When I wake up on the ice planet, I’m scared of everything: this place is cold, silent, and the locals look more like blue devils than aliens. To make matters worse, one of the strangers decides I’m going to be his girlfriend and kidnaps me away from my sister. I’m completely and utterly alone. What’s a girl to do?

Well, this girl escapes.

Of course, that means I go from frying pan into the fire, and my situation gets even more dangerous. Just when I have no hope left, a new hero appears. Sure, he’s blue, horned, and has a tail. He’s also fierce, protective, makes me purr…and thinks I’m perfect.

But is what we have real or just a mating instinct?

CITIES OF THE GODS by S. M. Schmitz

As Cameron and Selena learn more about their ancestry, they discover that by connecting to their pasts, they are already becoming more powerful, even without the aid of Lugh’s Spear or the Dagda’s Cauldron. But Cameron refuses to consider a future on the pantheon of the Tuatha Dé, and Selena cannot imagine a future without it.

Meanwhile, their secret has been revealed to all, and it’s no longer just the New Pantheon they have to evade. The Norse, the oldest rivals of the Tuatha Dé, know the prophecy that ties Selena to the future of their enemies, and the easiest way to defeat them is by killing her. But the Otherworld remains the prized treasure for all of the gods, and one outcast in particular has set his sights on overthrowing the Irish alliance on the eve of Samhain.

As of Tuesday evening, from Amazon:

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SciFi Romance DEALER’S CHOICE Anthology Ltd Ed Giveaway

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Cover by Starla Huchton inkandaether.com

June 18, 2016 The giveaway is closed and I’ll send a paperback copy of the book to each person who commented. I’ll need the snail mail addresses. Thanks!

I’m doing an interview today over at USA Today Happily Ever After with Nalini Singh, on the subject of her new Psy/Changeling book Allegiance of Honor. (This giveaway is NOT for that book by her and has no connection whatsoever to Ms. Singh!) She happened to mention that on her to To Be Read List is the Dealer’s Choice An Intergalactic Bar & Grille Anthology of science fiction romance stories. The anthology was a free Limited Edition paperback, edited by Linnea Sinclair and PJ Schnyder. The only way to obtain a copy was to attend the Romance Times 2016 Booklovers’ Convention and the Intergalactic Bar & Grille Event there. Or a giveaway like this! We only printed so many copies.

Each participating author was also given a few copies to use for giveaways.

I wrote a Sectors SciFi Romance short story for the book so I haz copies! When I saw that Nalini had the anthology on her To Be Read list, I thought it was a good time for me to do a giveaway here on my personal blog. Leave me a comment here about why you love science fiction romance, or why you’d like to try it, and I’ll pick 4 commenters at random at 6PM PST on June 15th. I’ll send each of the four people one copy of the 377 page paperback book, and I will sign it. (It’s heavy so I’ll be sending it media mail in the USA. International entrants are OK. I will mail it to you if you win, and live outside the USA.). I’ll need the e mail addresses from the winners so I can obtain mailing details.

Here’s the blurb for my story: “The Golden Token”: Charlie, a recently discharged Special Forces soldier headed home, has a forced three day layover at a frontier space station, where a worker revolt is brewing. He can’t take his eyes off Rose, the best dancer at the Station’s Casino. When she finds herself caught in the middle of a dangerous miners vs. management situation, only Charlie can help.

See photo below for the nine other participating authors you’ll find in the volume, including Linnea and PJ, and the book blurb.

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No Such Creature Known Weekend Writing Warriors

WeWrWa More new release news after the excerpt!

Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriorscentral page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

I’m going to finish this scene from LADY OF THE STAR WIND because everyone has hung in there with me on this book (which is still doing well, thanks to the Warriors for your support!). Maybe one or two more excerpts.Then we’ll move on because I haz more new releases out there.

Mark and his companions, including the unconscious Sandy, have been rescued by a clan of desert-dwellers. They’ve taken refuge in the underground village to wait out the sandstorm, before attempting to continue their trek to the Lost City. After treating Sandy as best they can for the snakebite, the chief takes Mark to show him the scrolls from the ancient library, rescued from the Lost City, including one depicting a snake such as Mark has described. Last week, Jagrahim told Mark the snake was “Myth, legend, divine being, who can say?” Mark is speaking now. Edited from the published version.

“I stood this close to it, then it bit Sandy. Hell, it bit me—look!” Mark shoved his sleeve aside to reveal the twin fang marks above his wrist on the inside of his left arm. The marks were red and purple, surrounded by a spectacular black bruise. “Lucky it ran out of venom, or I’d be in a coma too. The snake was real, all right – mythical creatures don’t leave damage like this.”

“Did the others see it?”

“I think Rothan caught a glimpse maybe – I’m telling you, a real serpent attacked us.”

“There’s no such creature known to my people, my lord, and we live in this desert. There are snakes, yes, and many are deadly, but this,” he tapped the crumbling, painted surface, “doesn’t exist, save in the oldest scrolls of a long-dead religion.”

The story:

Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?

Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.

Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again.

They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen.

Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land. Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?

Buy Links: Amazon KOBO Barnes & Noble iBooks

NEWS!

I just released Hostage To The Stars last week. Here’s the blurb:

He rescued her from space pirates … but can he keep them both safe from the far greater evil stalking a deserted planet?

Space travel without Kidnap & Ransom insurance? Not a good idea. University instructor and researcher Sara Bridges can’t afford it, so when pirates board her cruise liner, she’s taken captive along with the mistress of a wealthy man, and brought to a deserted planet. When a military extraction team sent to rescue the mistress refuses to take Sara too, she’s left to the mercies of a retired Special Forces soldier, along as consultant.

Reluctantly reactivated and coerced into signing up for the rescue operation to the planet Farduccir where he once was deployed, Sgt. Johnny Danver just wants to get the job done. But when the team leader leaves one captured woman behind, he breaks away to rescue her himself.

As Johnny and Sara traverse the barren landscape, heading for an abandoned base where they hope to call Sectors Command for help, they find villages destroyed by battle and stripped of all inhabitants. A lone survivor tells a horrific tale of the Sectors’ alien enemy, the Mawreg, returning after being pushed out …

Searching for evidence to give the military, Johnny is captured. He regains consciousness in a Mawreg cage–with Sara next to him. Death is preferable to what the aliens will do to them… And even if they do escape their captors, can they alert the military in time to prevent another invasion of the Sectors?

Standalone sequel to Mission To Mahjundar (mild spoilers for Mahjundar in this story.)

Amazon Kobo Apple iBooks Barnes & Noble

New Release Hostage to the Stars

Hostage ToTheStarsFinal-FJM_High_Res_1800x2700 The story:

He rescued her from space pirates … but can he keep them both safe from the far greater evil stalking a deserted planet?

Space travel without Kidnap & Ransom insurance? Not a good idea. University instructor and researcher Sara Bridges can’t afford it, so when pirates board her cruise liner, she’s taken captive along with the mistress of a wealthy man, and brought to a deserted planet. When a military extraction team sent to rescue the mistress refuses to take Sara too, she’s left to the mercies of a retired Special Forces soldier, along as consultant.

Reluctantly reactivated and coerced into signing up for the rescue operation to the planet Farduccir where he once was deployed, Sgt. Johnny Danver just wants to get the job done. But when the team leader leaves one captured woman behind, he breaks away to rescue her himself.

As Johnny and Sara traverse the barren landscape, heading for an abandoned base where they hope to call Sectors Command for help, they find villages destroyed by battle and stripped of all inhabitants. A lone survivor tells a horrific tale of the Sectors’ alien enemy, the Mawreg, returning after being pushed out …

Searching for evidence to give the military, Johnny is captured. He regains consciousness in a Mawreg cage–with Sara next to him. Death is preferable to what the aliens will do to them… And even if they do escape their captors, can they alert the military in time to prevent another invasion of the Sectors?

Standalone sequel to Mission To Mahjundar (mild spoilers for Mahjundar in this story.)

Amazon Kobo Apple iBooks Barnes & Noble

Weekly NEW Releases in SciFi Romance & Fantasy

Since the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog is ceasing operations at the end of June, I’m taking over this weekly reporting of new and upcoming releases in science fiction and fantasy romance. These releases are as reported to me by the authors, and I have not read them. I always recommend sampling before you buy!

THE PARVAC EMPEROR’S DAUGHTER by Wendie Nordgren

While Teagan’s life may have changed from the obscurity of a reclamation worker on Earth to that of royalty in the Parvac Empire, she soon discovers her notoriety places her in danger.

Teagan and her loved ones are placed in jeopardy when she is abducted by a small army of hybrid mercenaries with nefarious plans of their own.As the hybrid mercenaries chase Teagan through the galaxies, the Parvac Empire and Galaxic Militia will have to work together to save her from the criminal mastermind controlling the hybrids.

REGE’S RESCUE by Dena Garson

Rege Rovnitov battled his way out of the darkest hell hole in the charted universe to become the best tracker in four galaxies. Fighting injustice, he and his brotherhood have spent their lives with one foot on the shady side of the law. When the daughter of one of his allies is abducted by slavers, he offers his skills to bring her home. On such a dark and dangerous mission, he never expected to find a woman full of goodness and light.

Buy Links:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / ARe / iBooks

I didn’t see that the next one had made it to Smart Girls when it released (but I could have missed it) and now the third book in the series has also come out (see below). I’m loving these books and there’s a nice slow burn romance going on. I haven’t read STAR SEERS yet so I don’t know what develops in the course of the plot. (Lindsay Buroker also writes terrific SFR books as Ruby Lionsdrake.)

HONOR’S FLIGHT by Lindsay Buroker

After spending four years fighting for the Alliance, fighter pilot Alisa Marchenko only wants one thing: to reunite with her young daughter. But this involves a journey to her former home world, which has become the last imperial stronghold. Since the imperials have a lot of reasons to loathe members of the Alliance right now, just getting down to the planet will be a challenge, and it doesn’t help that her passengers are stirring up trouble of their own…

STAR SEERS by Lindsay Buroker

The mysterious and powerful Starseers have Captain Alisa Marchenko’s daughter, and she will do whatever she must to get her back, even if it means traveling to their stronghold and confronting them personally. Unfortunately, her strongest ally, the cyborg Leonidas, may become a liability since the cyborgs and the Starseers have a long history of hating each other.

Amazon’s Top 12 Romance => Science Fiction as of Tuesday night:

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