Friday....

I asked the Cover Gods in the cover department of Ellora's Cave for my cover for Micah Blue. It's one of the jewel books - a sapphire - for September. The head cover god is a good bloke and he sent it to me. As always I am very pleased with their efforts. What's Micah Blue about?

Micah Blue …coming September 3rd through Ellora’s Cave

A demon has been waiting one hundred and twenty years for the next chosen one who commands the power of the sapphire. He will stop at nothing to make that woman his own. He needs her power to survive.

Ever since a fortune teller gave Micah Blue a lump of blue rock the drought in her sex life came to a screaming halt. Dark, erotic dreams of a stranger haunt her nights and a tattooed builder drives her wild with lust during the day. Both men are wicked. One wants to enslave her and one just wants to love her.

Ned Langford, builder and part-time garbage collector isn’t about to the let the love of his life be taken from him. He will do whatever it costs to thwart a demon and keep Micah at his side.
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I am off west to the country this weekend so I leave you with two excerpts from a writer I admire greatly. These two excerpts are completely different and they shows the depth of talent author Sandra Cox possesses. Black Opal is part of a series. But it can also be read as a stand alone book. I have read the first two books and they are excellent. I have yet to settle down and read Black Opal but I know it is of the same high calibre.You can click on the cover and buy. I recommend when buying Black Opal buy the whole set to so save making two purchases. Now, the Cat book, Akasha…I am not into cats. Sandra laughed when I asked for the excerpt. But hey - I know many of you love cats. So, if you do and you want an excellent read from an author who understands all things four legged and furry - click on the cover and buy

Back Sunday - have a good weekend.

Black Opal, Third in the Amulets Series by Sandra Cox

They raced down the mountain at a perilous pace. The trees whizzed by as they traveled a narrow two lane road. A noise like a distant train grew, gaining in volume, grating against Sabina’s nerves like chalk on a board. What was it?
She looked to her left and saw it. “Oh my gods. Hit the brakes, Adam!”
But he’d already seen the rocks and boulders tumbling down on the road ahead. His brakes screamed and the hot smell of burning rubber filled the car.
After that everything happened in slow motion. She raised her arm to stop the large boulder heading at a runaway pace directly toward the car. She could hardly see for the small pebbles and dirt. With a wild wave of her arm, she halted stones in mid fall. Sabina stumbled out of the car so she could see to aim the amulet. Boulders and rocks were everywhere.
“Sabina,” Adam called jumping out of the car and racing toward her.
She saw a rock the size of an aerobic-abs ball hurling toward him and shot her arm out. It splintered in a thousand pieces.
“Merda!” Another hurtled straight toward her. She made no move to save herself. Her arm trembling, she held it straight out in Adam’s direction to cover him from the falling rocks as he raced toward her, his feet slipping in the gravel. In that moment, she knew she loved him.
Pain engulfed her as the large rocks pummeled her. Above the roar of the rockslide she heard the agony in his voice as he called her name. He does love me was her last conscious thought.

Akasha - The Cats of Catarau - by Sandra Cox

Akasha cleared her throat and straightened. Though Ramses was kind, the great Council Cat wore authority like a cloak clothing a king. He intimidated her just a bit. “Where is Cairo?” she asked.
His whiskers twitched and compassion shone out of his ageless amber eyes. “She is still mortal.”
Akasha took a step toward him. “How do you know?” Her green eyes stared into his gold ones. Fear for her child overcame her intimidation of the great cat. When he did not respond, she asked again, “How do you know?”
He looked at her, assessing.
She returned his look without blinking, waiting.
With a sigh, he swept out his paw. As one, the council turned their heads to look into the mist. Akasha stared through the clouds below to see her poor baby-sitting on a tackle box under the seat, the water inside the boat rising. “Mamma, Mamma, Mamma,” Cairo called.
For one brief moment Akasha thought she would die all over again. She could feel her heart pound against her breast and that surprised her. There was so much pain in it. Surely, it had shattered into tiny pieces too small to beat. Resolute, she shoved back the grievous ache. She had no time for it. Her baby needed her. Somehow she must get to her kit.
Forcing herself to breathe, she pushed the words out of her throat. “How do I get back?”
“You don’t,” Ramses said, his tone gentle. He sat down and wrapped his tail around his body.
Several of the other cats did the same.
Akasha tucked in her chin and swished her tail, her expression stubborn, fighting the ache in her chest. “Shardai went back. More than once, if legend is correct.”
“Shardai received special dispensation.”
She notched up her chin and spoke like a queen. “Then so shall I.”
Her pulse pounded in her paws as he stared down at her but she refused to be intimidated.
Finally he asked, “How can you hope to save her? She’s in a boat, in the middle of a raging storm.”
Past all reason, she ran to him and beat her paws against his chest. “Listen to her,” she cried. “And don’t tell me I can’t go back.”
“Mamma. Mamma. Mamma. Where are you?” The poor pitiful sound carried through the winds of earth and rushed to Catarau.
She could see indecision flicker in the great cat’s eyes.
He pointed with his chin at Cubbie and Cosmo. “What about these little ones?”
They stared at her, wide-eyed. “You aren’t going to leave us are you, Mamma?”
Her chest tightened. Great Bast. It was so hard. She didn’t want to be separated from her babies.

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Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?