THIRST: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD by R.P. Channing

~ Kira Sutherland ~

After a near fatal accident (and getting cheated on by her 'boyfriend'), and beating up the lead cheerleader (with whom the boyfriend cheated...), and being labeled as having 'issues' in her school because she, uhm, sees ghosts, Kira is left with two choices:

1. Continue her 'therapy' (where she's told the ghost is a hallucination and also gets her legs ogled too often...)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, a boarding school for "Crazies and Convicts" (as the social media sites call them.)

She chooses the latter...

~ Cory Rand ~

Cory Rand has not had an easy life. His mother died in a car accident when he was twelve, and so did his mother's best friend...sort of. You see, Janice made a promise to take care of Cory just before she died, and so she lingers. Undead. A ghost that watches out for him.

Brought up in an abusive home, Cory quickly falls into a life of disreputable behavior. After his third offense (which was prompted by a girl, as usual - he has a weakness) he's left with two choices:

1. Be tried as an adult and share a cell with a guy named Bubba (he thinks...)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, which Cory is pretty sure is run by vampires. But, hey, at least he'll get an education.

He chooses the latter...

It's at Starkfield that Kira meets Cory Rand, a boy with an insatiable Rage who sees ghosts, too. As well as other things, other things from his past, things that confuse him, things like fire and witches and demons.

Things he's always ignored.

Until now.

Excerpt:

My life was perfect.

I had the perfect shoes and the perfect friends and I lived in the perfect house. My nails were perfect and my hair was perfect (except on Sundays, it was always windy on Sundays) and I had the perfect clothes. My lips were a perfect red and my hair perfectly straight. My eyeshadow was perfect, my hips were...okay, and my waist...well...also okay. Nothing was wrong in my life.

But then there was Jack.

Jack was a problem.

He needed to go. I mean, when you’re dead, you’re dead! I had told him this endlessly. Somehow, Jack didn’t get it. I mean, I felt sorry for the guy. Sure. Being stuck between this life and the next. But just because I found him, does that mean I needed to keep him?

I think not!

Sadly, when Jack got that look in his eyes, that weary, almost teary (if his tear-ducts worked) look, I melted. I just couldn’t send him away. Not even Jack knew where he would go after he died.

Would he, like, die? As in — dead, nada, kaput, finito, gone, no more? Bye bye, sayonara, ciao, hasta la vista baby and all that?

I couldn’t have that on my conscience. No way.

I lay on my bed, wondering what to do about him. “Jaaaaaaack,” I hollered.

“Jaaaaaaack!”

Still no answer.

“Jack!”

Jack...materialized.

His eyes rolled down to the ground. He was making those puppy eyes again. “Jack, I told you not to do that. I told you not to play on my sympathies.”

His puppy eyes became worse.

His skin was gray and, well, dead.

“Oh, brother,” I said. “I have to do something about you. If mom finds out I have another ‘imaginary friend’ — at my age — well, I’d die of embarrassment. But, like, really die. Not like you.” I wondered about this. Would I die? Was Jack a freak accident, or did all people live on like him? Think of the cemeteries...

The idea excited me somewhat.

“What would you have me do, Miss Kira?”

“Knock off the Miss Kira crap. I told you it’s just Kira.”

“Yes, Miss Kira.”

The dead. There’s just no reasoning.

“Fine, Miss Kira it is then.” Rover barked like a lunatic in the garden. No one else might be able to see Jack, but I was sure my dog could.

“I have to do something about this,” I mumbled.

Genres:

Young Adult Romance

Paranormal Romance

High School

Vampires, Demons, Witches

Dark Fantasy

Horror

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Kindle Unlimited

$20 Amazon Gift Voucher Giveaway

At the back of the book there is a giveaway link. Once the book hits fifty reviews on Amazon, one of those reviewers will win a $20 (US Dollars) Amazon Gift Voucher!

Author Bio

R P Channing started writing three years ago, but never published anything even after churning out over a million words of fiction. Thirst: Blood of my Blood is the first book he dared to publish. When asked why, he said, “Because it’s the first thing I wrote that my wife actually enjoyed reading.” When not hammering away (most literally) at his keyboard, he can be found buried in a book, reading anything from romance to horror to young adult to non-fiction to comedy.

Author Links

Website
http://blog.rpchanning.com

Twitter

https://twitter.com/RPChanning

Amazon

http://amazon.com/author/rpchanning

Review of HER LAST WHISPER: book #3 Dr. Charlie Stone series by Karen Robards

Karen Robards has done it again, she got me to forget time as I was completely engrossed in her latest installment of her Dr. Charlie Stone series.  She has a very vivid imagination, creating some spectacularly evil serial killers and scenarios.

I loved following Charlie, Michael, Tony, Buzz, and Kaminsky to Las Vegas on their latest case. The dynamic between all of the characters is phenomenal. Tony is still determined to try to get Charlie romantically interested in him, but Michael isn't about to give up on the sizzling chemistry he shares with Charlie...and prove that "Dudly Do Right" doesn't have what she needs.  I also liked seeing Lena's vulnerable side, as the search for her sister intensified. Poor Buzz has his work cut out for him to get Lena to completely give herself to him. 

Michael fights a seemingly impossible battle as he tries to avoid Spookville, but some things are just inevitable...unless he can find a loop in the cosmos, though it may be too late.  Charlie could loose him forever.

HER LAST WHISPER contained many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, keeping me on the edge of my seat. The only thing I didn't like about this book was when I realized that I have to wait until the next installment to find out if Charlie and Michael will get their HEA and that it ended at a cliffhanger. :(  I canNOT wait until then!!!!!

Blurb from the publisher:

Madness and murder invaded Dr. Charlotte Stone’s life when she was just a girl—and made her a woman determined to save others from the horror she survived. An expert in the psychology of serial killers, she’s faced down more than her share of human monsters. But Charlie can also communicate with the spirits of those who die violently, an extrasensory skill that has helped the FBI bring lethal predators to justice. Now, after narrowly escaping death a second time, Charlie’s ready to step away from the edge . . . before her luck runs out.

Too bad Charlie is too dedicated for her own good—and too devoted to federal agent Tony Bartoli to say no when he asks her to ride shotgun on yet another risky mission. Of course, she already has her hands full with Michael Garland: the handsome, roguish ghost with whom she’s hopelessly in love—a spirit who depends on Charlie to keep him from slipping forever into the dark side of the afterlife. But in the mortal world, beautiful single women are vanishing from Las Vegas hotels at night. All signs indicate that a psychopath is on the prowl in Sin City, and Bartoli’s FBI colleague Lena Kaminsky has reason to fear that her missing sister may be just the killer’s type.

In a town full of fast players and few rules, flushing out a smooth-talking stalker like the Cinderella Killer might be a loser’s game. But for Charlie, the only way to cage her quarry is to plunge back into the homicidal hell she vowed to leave behind—and may not leave alive.

Review of THE DEPARTED by Shiloh Walker

FBI Psychics #2
Suspense/Paranormal (psychic...can talk to ghosts)
Berkley

When a ghost leads Desiree “Dez” Lincoln to French Lick, IN, the last person she expects to run into is her former boss (and lover), FBI Agent, Taylor Jones, who is just as surprised to see her. Having had a rather bad falling out, neither was prepared to run into the other, but there are much more important things to worry about than past disagreements.

As they unravel one plot, another mystery cries out to be solved. This one is much more personal. One that nearly broke Taylor as a teenager. One he has never healed from.

Can Dez discover who caused such pain and heal Taylor's heart in the process?

*****

While I really enjoyed THE DEPARTED, there was just one thing that hampered me from loving this book...but I'll get to that. 

I loved Dez and Taylor. Dez wore her emotions more openly, while Taylor hid behind a cold veneer. It wasn't until Dez was gravely injured that Taylor started to acknowledge his feelings, but even then he was quick to revert back into his icy demeanor. He wasn't an easy man to understand until his past started to unravel. Dez was easier to read. I loved their chemistry and watching Taylor's emotions melt.

It was no big secret who the culprits were of the crime that brought Dez to French Lick. The question was how were they going to catch them, and prove what they had plotted. The real mystery, was what had happened to Taylor's little sister back when they were kids. Where did she go? Who took her? Nothing was ever found, but now a small ghostly voice started asking Dez to “Find Me.”As this little girl started to haunt Dez, she knew that she wouldn't find any peace until she discovered the girl's identity and what transpired the day she went missing. This was really gut wrenching, seeing Taylor relive the day his sister disappeared, and how he's tried to make up for never finding her by joining the FBI and being the best special agent he could be.

I really liked this book, and am looking forward to the next installment of the series...heck I look forward to EVERYTHING Shiloh Walker writes.

~*~*~*~*SPOILER*~*~*~*~

One thing really bothered me...and I blame this on bad editing. It was mentioned that there were six teenage boys originally involved in the kidnapping of the girl in the beginning of the story, Tristan, who was murdered for his reluctance to be involved—his ghost led Dez to French Lick. Then there was Mark, Beau, and Brandon, who were dealt with (quite well) in the story. BUT, here's were it gets a bit hairy, Kyle was mentioned as being cold and calculating, yet he just seemed to fall off the face of the Earth, and there was no punishment nor consequences for his actions. On page 177 Keith Sutter and Lee Gragon were mentioned as being not “as intristic to the group”. Now I thought that maybe Keith and Kyle were one and the same and this was just an “oopsie” not caught, but I felt that it was very inconsistent that Beau, Mark & Brandon were dealt with, but not Kyle (Keith?), who we KNEW played a part in the attempt of murder.

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