Poison and Honey: Buy Today!

PURCHASE TODAY!*

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Keep your head down. Try not to get cursed. And whatever you do, stay away from the sly, handsome prince.

Ever since an unearthly monster abducted her sister, Leigh Morgan has known about magic. It’s why she’s in Otherworld now, posing as a servant in its dark, decadent palace. She’s gathering intelligence and working with a small band of allies to bring down the Others and free their human captives. Her mission depends on blending in, so the last thing she wants is to attract the attention of a cunning prince.

Dredarion Rath wants one thing: to disgrace his older brother and prove himself the worthier heir to the throne. And out of all the servants in the palace, he chooses Leigh to help him. Just her luck.

Now Leigh has to keep her work a secret from a bewitching man who sees right through her–and who’s not nearly as cold and inhuman as he seems. She can’t screw this up, or the humans forced into servitude will never go home. But juggling two conspiracies at once, it’s only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down, and the man she’s falling for has her executed for her betrayal…

Poison and Honey is an urban fantasy novella with a strong romantic subplot, perfect for fans of determined heroines, palace intrigue, and the fae. Download it today and venture into Otherworld—if you dare.

 

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Good for people who enjoy: strong female leads; tall, dark and handsome male lead; intense modern magic battle scenes; passionate but slow burn romance

Review: The Otherworld pulls in the reader as quickly and efficiently as it captures humans in the story.  If the strange but magnificent descriptions of the strange Others somehow does not pull you in, the witty but glacial lead, Leigh Moran, will.  An ex-convict with no other purpose in life than to avenge her kidnapped sister, Leigh finds her perfectly laid out plans ruined when she captures the interest of the second-born prince to the Otherworld kingdom of Dwencanti, Dredarion Rath.  Their pull to one another is somewhere between magnetic and explosive, or rather inevitable and deadly.  Knowing her growing affections could never end well due to her mission to free all human slaves and destroy the portals between the worlds, Leigh’s struggles only get worse when Dredarion requests her as his new handmaiden.  The forbidden romance makes you want to buy “Team Leighdarion” shirts, with you screaming at the cheering for the characters to get together, but also terrified of the pain both characters will feel when the truth of Leigh’s loyalties come to light.

To me, minor characters help create needed depth to stories, and the author does not disappoint.  There is Garrett Cohen, a tattoo-covered gay sniper and Leigh’s closest friend.  Zoe, a Black teenager with the innocence about her that manages to pull out Leigh’s protectiveness with her innocence.  And of course Rabsumorai Rath, better known as Prince Rab, the heir to Dwencanti throne and a happy, playful prince as his brother’s polar opposite.

Poison and Honey is a fantastic urban fantasy novella with diverse and dynamic characters that brings you into a beautifully lethally crafted world filled that leave you desperate to read more.

PURCHASE TODAY!*

*Please note that the link provided is an Amazon Associate link that will give J.E. Brand sales commission without taking away any profit from the author.

Re-Publishing Your Novel by Kristen Brand

Personally, as an Indie author, I’ve always been curious about the process of re-publishing a novel.  I enjoy the creative freedom of self-publishing way too much to ever go for traditional publishing the first round, but what if a publishing company finds my finished work and wants to add it to their shelves?  Well, that very thing happened to Kristen Brand, author of The White Knight & Black Valentine Series.  She was able to re-sell her Steampunk novels, The Ghost Machine and Clockmaker, to Silver Empire publishing, and since she’s my sister, I took advantage and decided her to ask some questions that I’m sure we’re all wondering.

  1. Was your process overall positive or negative?

It’s still in the early days, but everything’s very positive so far! To give a little background, my first experience with this publisher was when I submitted my short story, The Strange Stairs at the Aldebourne Estate, to their Secret Stairs anthology.

The anthology is a collection of stories about the urban legend of mysterious staircases leading to nowhere found in the middle of the woods. I thought the idea was fascinating, and it inspired me to write a short story starring Ella Rosenfeld, the spirit medium protagonist of my steampunk novel, The Ghost Machine. The story was accepted, and Secret Stairs went on to be a smash success and bestseller in the horror genre.

Later, the publisher reached out to me about republishing some or all of my self-published novels. I wasn’t ready to part with all my novels, since I didn’t want all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, and I do like the independence of being a self-published author. But it seemed like a perfect fit for my two steampunk novels, since the publisher had already published a short story from that world and has a catalog of other steampunk books.

2. Did you make any revisions to the text before re-publishing?

Nope! There were no changes to the actual content of the book, only the packaging.

3. Talk about your new cover.

I think it does a great job getting across that this is a steampunk novel with an eerie atmosphere. The dark, decrepit hallway is perfectly creepy and straight out of Auttenberg Asylum from the story. Plus, I love the gear design behind the title.

While part of me wants the girl on the cover to exactly match every single minute detail of how I described the character and her wardrobe on the pages, the purpose of a book cover is to sell books, and this cover is doing just that—and doing it stylishly!

4. How involved were you in any changes made?

Since the changes were all on the book formatting and publishing side rather than editorial, I wasn’t involved much. Which frees me up to write more, so no complaints here.

5. How did the marketing and promotion differ from the first go-around?

It was much better planned, ha! Like a lot of authors, I kind of stumble around in the dark when it comes to marketing. I spent a lot of time contacting book bloggers after I first published The Ghost Machine, only to have a small fraction respond.

My publisher ran a successful Kickstarter to fund the book’s relaunch, getting publicity before it was even out. They grew my followers on Bookbub and put out advanced review copies on Booksrpout. I’ve definitely learned a lot from watching their process.

When I first published the book on my own, I didn’t really try to market it until after it was released. Now, I realize how important it is to plan ahead and put things in motion months in advance. I’m definitely going to put these lessons into practice for my future releases.

 

The Ghost Machine: Buy Today!

So I’m having a mega-proud sister moment because my sister’s phenomenal steampunk novel, The Ghost Machine, is relaunching with Silver Empire Publishing!  If you already have it as an e-book, guess what!  It’ll also soon be available in both paperback and hardback – the gift that just keeps giving.

BUY THE E-BOOK ON AMAZON TODAY HERE!

Follow me on twitter at @JE_Brand for more updates! Still not enough?  Follow the author herself at @brandedkristen and see more of her upcoming projects on her website.

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Ella Rosenfeld doesn’t feel insane.

In fact, she feels quite normal. Exactly how she did before the accident.

Until the sun goes down. Then the hallucinations start…and the ghosts come. Sometimes they speak to her. Sometimes they merely stare. But they couldn’t possibly be real, could they?

Checking herself into an asylum in the mountains of Eastern Europe, Ella hopes the doctor there can cure her. She doesn’t want to be a burden to her family. She doesn’t want to keep seeing ghosts, or whatever they are, every night. Desperate for relief, she’ll try anything to banish the dead.

But there is no solace to be found. Only silence, knitting, and cruelty. Soon Ella realizes that while she could check herself into the asylum, she cannot check herself out. At the mercy of the doctor, her treatments grow more barbarous and agonizing by the day.

Ella must escape before the horrific experiments leave her dead. Or completely mad. But her only hope is the surly and stubborn Baron. Only he can stand between her and the twisted treatments her Doctor insists are necessary.

Will the Baron help Ella or betray her? And what terrible fate is waiting for Ella beneath the asylum?

Kristen Brand’s The Ghost Machine is a haunting page-turner, powered every step of the way by Ella’s determination and intelligence. Fans of plucky, resourceful heroines, ghastly ghosts, and abominable clockwork machines will adore this book.

Check into Auttenburg Asylum and read The Ghost Machine today!

 

Superhuman Disaster by Kristen Brand

BUY ON AMAZON HERE TODAY!

A hero awakens.

Retired superhero David Del Toro has just woken from a coma—or at least, that’s what the black-market doctor watching over him in an off-the-grid safehouse says. The doctor can’t tell him what happened, but that’s alright. Dave figures he can just ask his family. Except they’re nowhere to be found, their phone numbers are all disconnected, and when he goes home, he finds a hole the size of an elephant smashed into the front of the house and nothing inside.

A villain returns.

Frantic to find his family, Dave calls on all the contacts he made over his superhero career. He learns that his wife has apparently gone back to being a supervillain, and his former sidekick has become a rogue vigilante. Something rotten is going on in the DSA, the law enforcement agency that handles superhuman crime. What does it have to do with Dave’s family? And with such a late start, still suffering the aftereffects of the coma, does Dave have any hope of stopping it?

 

What the perfect end to an amazing series!  Let me start off by saying that for those of you who haven’t started this 5-book adventure, the first, Hero Status, is only 99 cents on Amazon!   It’s a phenomenal superhero series that you can read the ENTIRE series for only $12.95!!  That’s five quality books  for the price of one from the book store.  For those of you that have had the amazing chance to read The White Knight and Black Valentine series, let’s get started with my review…

I’m going to be very careful to not spoil anything so I’m going to start with this question: Do you know all of those amazing minor characters laced throughout the books that you’ve been waiting for their “HELL YEAH” moment?  For me in particular, I think a note on every book I gave to Kristen was “can I please see more bad assery from Elisa and Julio?”  I knew they were bad asses; they knew they were bad asses; Kristen knew they were bad asses; but, it wasn’t yet their moment.  Well, folks, their moments finally happened, and I could not be happier with the results!  Without creating a Mary Sue, Elisa is an insanely strong vigilante in the making – and you can bet I’ll be nudging Kristen in the direction of her getting at the very least a solo book in the future because she’s just too great of a character to pass up.  Also, leave a comment below if you think Elisa what ‘super’ route she’ll take in the future: superhero, supervillain, or vigilante?  Now also feels like a great time to bring up how amazing of a villainous comedic relief Eddy was, popping in to sprinkle some evil humor along the way.  I would write a novel myself if I went into all the fun character moments, but they include great moments from some of my favorite characters like Freezefire, Blue Sparrw, Agent Lagarde, and Moreen.

In addition to amazing character development and their powerful moments, the plot was filled with incredible action.  The fighting scenes are so well-written and have the added bonus that we get to see more fights from different powers, adding in different fun tidbits we haven’t had a chance to see yet.  Fun new villains fights include an evil sentient mist and beefed up No-Men, but I should leave a few surprises.  Really, this book wrapped up Dave and Val’s stories beautifully, but definitely left the world still in need of some superheroes.

Did I also forget to mention we finally have the answer to how Dr. Sweet has stayed alive?

BUY ON AMAZON HERE TODAY!

For those of you craving more of Dave and Val, you can buy The Best Man: A Superhero Short Story to read about their wedding for just 99 cents on Amazon or read a longer version of the prequel for FREE on her website here!

Clockmaker by Kristen Brand

The crew of the airship Sultana are nearly destitute. No one knows this better than their captain, Melek, who’s almost desperate enough to sell her treasured family heirlooms to pay her crew’s wages. Then a reclusive gentleman wearing a strange golden mask offers a fortune to transport him and a mysterious cargo to Istanbul. Needing the money, Melek can’t bring herself to refuse, even when her instincts warn of trouble.

Now strange noises haunt her airship at night, and deadly warships stalk the Sultana through dark, stormy skies. Melek’s masked passenger refuses to explain his private affairs, and she enjoys arguing with him perhaps a little too much. But he’s even more dangerous than she suspected, and she’ll have to unravel the dark intrigue he’s brought aboard her ship before it kills everyone on board.

 

So I have to say, this is by far my favorite of my sister’s books so far.  Captain Melek was already my favorite minor character from The Ghost Machine and I thought “there’s no way Kristen could possibly make her any more bad ass.. I mean come on.  She’s already my steampunk hero” but NO.  Somehow I love her even more!  And you’re in luck; it’s finally available for purchase!

CLICK HERE TO BUY!!