Sneak Peek Sunday #SPeekSunday: Just in Time for a Highland Christmas #2

Continuing from last week, here is the second Sneak Peek into my new holiday novella from the Highland Gardens series--Just in Time for a Highland Christmas...

Available for pre-order
 at Amazon
$0.99 introductory price

Duncan's aghast expression brought a smile along with a forgotten memory to Archibald. As green lads, he and his twin brother Patrick had dressed in servants’ castoff garments and snuck away from Castle Lachlan for a jaunt in the Fir-wood. They later received a memorable scalping when Da caught them roaming about without escort.

“Must be a Campbell lad unaware of the border to our land. I am sure he will feel his father's disfavor across his backside before this day is through. That is, if he avoids breaking his neck first.”

“Aye. For a fact, Chief.” Duncan laughed. A hearty sound that never failed to cheer Archibald.

Poor lad. Duncan braved his temper on this frustrating journey. He'd owe the man a boon upon their return to Castle Lachlan after they fetched Archibald’s bride. “Let us be on our way, I want my lady ensconced within our keep before winter sets in.”

He reined his horse to the left toward the more traveled trail through the Fir-wood, eager to reach Toward Keep, the stronghold of the Lamonts. Duncan rode at his side as captain while the rest of the Lèine-chneas, his hand chosen guard, followed a short distance behind.

The image of laughing violet eyes urged Archibald to a faster pace. He couldn't wait to hold the raven-haired Isobell in his arms again, inhale her intoxicating scent, caress her ivory skin, and kiss her pouty lips.



Thanks for stopping by!


For more Sneak Peek fun, check out the other participating authors by clicking the link below.

Click HERE

to join in the fun

and hop along

with Sneak Peek Sunday.

~Dawn Marie

Sneak Peek Sunday #SPeekSunday: Just in Time for a Highland Christmas #1

I'm very excited to share the first Sneak Peek into my new holiday novella from the Highland Gardens series. The opening lines from Just in Time for a Highland Christmas...

Available for pre-order
 at Amazon
$0.99 introductory price

They weren’t alone on the land. Branches rustled and cracked, the sound amplified by moist Highland air. Archibald signaled the men to silence.

A lone rider broke from an adjacent clump of trees, glanced around, then galloped through the amber grass, leaning low against the stallion's black neck. The slight figure looked over a shoulder once before darting into the wood at the far edge of the meadow and disappearing through autumnal foliage.

Archibald released a loud hiss. The path the fool had taken at risk to both horse and rider was nothing more than a narrow game trail, a dangerous track to approach at such speed.

“Ach, that ragged lad rides well,” the redheaded Duncan exclaimed.

Archibald eased back in the saddle and threw his cousin a sideways glance. "He rides a fine piece of horseflesh, I grant you that. He is likely one of the Campbell's rash, young grandsons."

“Without guards, and on MacLachlan land? Nae Campbell would dress in such tatters.”



Thanks for stopping by!


For more Sneak Peek fun, check out the other participating authors by clicking the link below.

Click HERE

to join in the fun

and hop along

with Sneak Peek Sunday.

~Dawn Marie

Just in Time for a Highland Christmas ----- Available for Pre-order

Available for Pre-order at Amazon
$0.99 Introductory Price

Just in Time for a Highland Christmas

A Highland Gardens Novella - Book # 2.5

Release - November 20, 2014

 Pre-order Now

Can a determined brownie craft a perfect match in time for Christmas?

When the Chief of Clan MacLachlan travels to the stronghold of his feuding neighbors to fetch his betrothed, she is gone. A year later, she is still missing. Making life more vexing, a band of reivers are stealing clan cattle, leaving behind destruction. Archibald MacLachlan determines to capture them and administer harsh punishment.

Though once in love with the man, Isobell Lamont refuses to wed her clan's enemy. After running away, she joins the band of reivers set on revenge.

Can Archibald forgive the raven-haired beauty? Will a journey through time bring them together for a Highland Christmas?

~Dawn Marie

Paranormal Romance Howloween Blog Hop - #Giveaway - #HopswithHeart

Update 11/3

And the Winners:

Blog Prize--e-book copy of Sea Panther: Mary Frances Roya

Grand Prize--$50 Amazon Gift Card: Janet Haselden
 

 

www.hopswithheart.blogspot.com

Welcome to the Paranormal Romance Howloween blog hop. I so enjoy this time of year. We keep a lit ceramic jack-o-lantern that I made years ago in the window for the month of October. On Halloween evening, we play spooky music through speakers to the front yard. Last year, I dressed as a witch to handout treats to the kids. I'll do the same this year. And my husband plans to join me, sporting the mask from V for Vendetta. Should be fun.

One of the kids who visited last year asked if I was dressed as a vampire. I guess my goth-look witch costume can also pass for a vampire. Do you like vampire stories? Shapeshifters? How about a Highlander transformed into a vampire / Florida panther shifter?


Can love mend a fractured soul?

E-book available from Amazon,
Amazon UK, Apple,
  Smashwords, kobo, and Barnes&Noble.
Trade paperback available
at Amazon, BAM, and Barnes&Noble.

After evading arrest for Jacobite activities, Scottish nobleman Robert MacLachlan turns privateer. A Caribbean Voodoo priestess curses him to an eternal existence as a vampire shifter torn between the dual natures of a Florida panther and an immortal blood-thirsting man. For centuries, he seeks to reverse the black magic whilst maintaining his honor. Cruising the twenty-first century Atlantic, he becomes shorthanded to sail his 90-foot yacht, Sea Panther. The last thing he wants is a female crewmember and the call of her blood.

Although she swore never to sail again after her father died in a sailing accident, Kimberly Scot answers the captain's crew wanted ad to escape a hit man. She's lost everything, her fiancé, her job, and most of her money, along with money belonging to her ex-clients. A taste of Kimberly's blood convinces Robert she is the one woman who can claim the panther's heart. To break the curse, they travel back in time to where it all began—Jamaica 1715.

The simple act of returning the woman’s scarf had taken a dangerous turn when their fingers touched. Robert managed to control the vampire by sheer will alone. Nonetheless, the power surge coursing through his veins from the brief contact with the lass awakened the panther. He barely made it to the tall grass on the outskirts of town before being claimed by the transformation.

He chose not to fight the change. He welcomed it with every fiber of his being.

Heart raced. Blood throbbed at his temples and a tortured curse escaped his lips. He discarded his garments and clenched his teeth. Muscles ripped and tendons snapped and bones distorted to conform to the panther’s shape. Coarse golden fur tipped with a reddish tinge rippled over bare skin, making him quiver with urgency.

Nostrils flared, he sniffed the salty breeze. There would be precious few moments for his pleasure before the beast seized complete control.

He darted through the salt marsh, paws sinking into moist earth. His growl sounded out a soul-wrenching lament on the injustice of his life. Robert couldn’t shake the feminine image of the tall graceful woman with brown curls and haunted chocolate eyes. The desire to mate shook him to the core.

Far from the trappings of civilization, he slowed to a rhythmic lope. He hoped no one found the tracks. The headlines would be sensational.

Big Cats Return to South Jersey

Cougar Tracks Sighted in Cape May County

On closer inspection, a zoologist would recognize the smaller pawprints and attribute them to the Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi. Researchers would bombard the foundation with inquiries. His secret would be in jeopardy.

The panther reared its full power and forced away Robert’s human thoughts.

A raccoon moving through the reeds caught his keen gaze. He pounced on the prey. Yet on the fringes of consciousness remained the unquenched desire for his mate.

Sea Panther Giveaway

Here is your chance to receive a gift e-book copy of Sea Panther (Kindle or Nook). Just leave a comment below telling me about your favorite Halloween activity. I'll draw one name after the hop has ended. Good luck!

Grand Prize Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for participating in the Paranormal Romance Halloween blog hop. Be sure to check out: Hops with Heart for future blog hops. Now, hop along to some of the other participating blogs...

Cover Reveal - 'Just in Time for a Highland Christmas'

**Release - November 20, 2014**

Just in Time for a Highland Christmas

A Highland Gardens Novella - Book # 2.5

Can a determined brownie craft a perfect match in time for Christmas?

When the Chief of Clan MacLachlan travels to the stronghold of his feuding neighbors to fetch his betrothed, she is gone. A year later, she is still missing. Making life more vexing, a band of reivers are stealing clan cattle, leaving behind destruction. Archibald MacLachlan determines to capture them and administer harsh punishment.

Though once in love with the man, Isobell Lamont refuses to wed her clan's enemy. After running away, she joins the band of reivers set on revenge.

Can Archibald forgive the raven-haired beauty? Will a journey through time bring them together for a Highland Christmas?

~Dawn Marie

Sneak Peek Sunday #SPeekSunday: Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon

I was asked this week if Caitrina and Douglas will have a book. Oh, yes. But there will be a couple of more books in the series before they can have their happily-ever-after. So here is a Caitrina and Doughlas excerpt from Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon...



E-book:
Amazon,  Amazon UK,
Kobo, Smashwords, Apple,
and Barnes&Noble.

Trade Paperback:
Amazon, BAM, and
Barnes&Noble.

Planning to go to the field to see the hunky contestants toss the caber, Caitrina slid off the huge rock on which she’d been sitting. At the edge of her vision, Douglas MacKinnon walked through the Celtic Grove where her favorite band just finished performing.

She stopped and stood motionless.

At six foot seven, the man was hard to miss. What was he up to? Why wasn’t he at his store where he belonged, doing whatever work human shopkeepers were supposed to do?

Caitrina cloaked herself with the glamour of invisibility.

Such an annoyance. She’d only meant to come forward in time for a moment. Get what she needed and return to the past and Castle Lachlan. But the tribal beats of the entertainers’ drums lured her to the grove and kept her longer in the twenty-first century than she’d intended.

Douglas was another distraction she could ill afford.



Thanks for stopping by!


For more Sneak Peek fun, check out the other participating authors by clicking the link below.

Click HERE

to join in the fun

and hop along

with Sneak Peek Sunday.

~Dawn Marie

Sneak Peek Sunday #SPeekSunday: Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon

Caitrina is the banished, halfling faerie princess from the Highland Gardens series so, just for fun, today's Sneak Peek is another Caitrina excerpt from Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon...



E-book:
Amazon,  Amazon UK,
Kobo, Smashwords, Apple,
and Barnes&Noble.

Trade Paperback:
Amazon, BAM, and
Barnes&Noble.

Caitrina appeared in the largest of the caverns in the maze of caves and tunnels northwest of Castle Carrick. Her nose twitched. The stench of sulfur lingered in the air, though Seumus wasn’t present. The wizard had deserted his lair.

She’d missed the opportunity to battle with the squirrelly old man.

Scanning the chamber, she found the table in the center contained the remnants of his attempts to unlock the power of Finn’s claymore. Her claymore.

Drip. Drip. Drip. The echo from the constant drip of water scraped over Caitrina’s nerves. She picked up the jar closest to her and hurled it. Glass shattered against rough stone, splintering, flying in every direction. Thick orange goo oozed along the walls.

That felt good. She stretched her back and picked up a small crock, and threw it across the chamber. Every container on the table met the same fate. When she finished, Caitrina glared at the debris, causing sparks to erupt. As she dissolved into a fine mist, consuming flames spread across the chamber, devouring everything in their path.

Traveling through the void of space, Caitrina sent out her senses to probe for the whereabouts of the wizard and the claymore.



Thanks for stopping by!


For more Sneak Peek fun, check out the other participating authors by clicking the link below.

Click HERE

to join in the fun

and hop along

with Sneak Peek Sunday.

~Dawn Marie