The Glass Mermaid by Poppy Lawless

From Goodreads:
Kate 
I'm the last mermaid. I'm back on shores of Lake Erie, but the cold waters are silent. There is nothing here for me but ghosts and the beach glass that litters the rocky shore. Long ago, I lived below the waves. Now, I am the sole survivor, and at long last, my mermaid glamour is leaving me. Every day, I walk the beach. Every day, I wonder what happened to my people. The little pieces of colored glass that wash ashore give me simple pleasure. They are gifts from the lake, reminders of home. I fashion them into trinkets: necklaces, earrings, bracelets. They are beautiful things. The humans seem love them. Every day, I walk the beach. Nothing ever changes, until the day he says hello. 

Cooper 
I'm dying. It's not a question, it's a fact. The cancer is eating me alive. They told me I have six months to live, maybe less. I came home, back to Chancellor on Lake Erie, to die. The sunsets are vivid there, and I will relish every one. I've never seen anything more beautiful than a Lake Erie sunset until I see her. All life is as fragile as glass. What would you sacrifice to save the one you love?



My Thoughts:
This is a sweet, feel-good story. I played it on audio book while cleaning, and the shorter length of the novella really helped pass the time. In the town of Chancellor, old myths and legends still exist, hidden away. This story follows Kate, the last mermaid of Lake Erie, as she comes to terms with how long she has outlived her kind and her dealing with her grief to do with her part in their demise.
Cooper returns home to live the last of his life in his childhood home, but when he meets Kate, he finds a reason to fight.
I love how each character strengthened and uplifted the other, even when they didn't know the pain the other was going through. I very much enjoyed this book.

Cover Reveal: Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi

Son of a Pitch Finalist: White Soul

Title: White Soul
Category and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Word Count: 90,000

Query:
Amelia Walker is murdered in a mugging gone wrong.

But before her teenage corpse starts to rot—a Soul Reaper offers a deal. She can have her life back, if she agrees to become a Soul Reaper—living as a mortal, enforcing Death’s rules to maintain the balance between the living and the dead. Breathing again would be reason enough to take the deal, even as it means an eternity of servitude.

Seizing the opportunity to have her life back, Amy learns that her death was no accident, and that a banished Reaper is to blame. Amy wans’t his first victim—many Reapers died and will die. He has to be stopped. Yet, he belongs to a rebel group offering a chance of changing Lady Death’s brutal rules.

Maybe this group and their visionary leader can free Reapers from their eternity of work and servitude—and return Amy the normalcy that reaping souls and watching people die has taken from her life. She must embrace her Reaper identity, or be banished and join those fighting it, no matter how ruthless and bloodthirsty they are.


First 250 Words:
Why was that boy following her?
Why wouldn’t he just leave her alone?
Amy sprinted toward the 77th Street station. The plastic bag with her brother’s Christmas gift pressed against her chest, lungs stinging and breath heavy. She dodged people as they watched her.
She skidded around a street corner, taking a shortcut and running past what she thought was the New York Society Library. After another minute of running, she stopped, bending forward, hands on her knees. Slowly her hammering heart calmed down, and so did the adrenaline in her veins, the snow falling on her face helping to ease the heat in her body.
The subway station was not far, but her tired legs didn’t care. They wouldn’t move.
“C’mon,” she said, straightening. “Almost there.”
She didn’t find the boy in black—her stalker. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. Minutes earlier, it didn’t matter where she looked or how much she ran, he would always be there, distant, watching. But not now. Lost him. Good. She had turned left and right countless times while running, randomly following sidewalks on streets full of falling snow.
The street was empty. The wind whistled, and the cold clung to her skin as she breathed, fog escaping her lips with every exhale. She sighed.
This street wasn’t familiar—a residential zone, filled with two-story buildings. Lights gleamed from the windows of the homes. Lampposts gave off a smooth, pale illumination in the dark.

Son of a Pitch Finalist: Hunting Legends

Title: Hunting Legends
Category and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Word Count: 78,000


Query:
Humans won the war between monsters and men. Now the supernatural world faces extinction.

Sixteen-year-old Azrielle Grave is a cockatrice with a lethal gaze and the ability to shift into human form. Undercover in war-torn New York, she must infiltrate and sabotage an elite squad of teenage monster hunters. If she is discovered, she’s dead.

Seventeen-year-old Raid Ameen knows firsthand that winning the war didn’t make mankind safe. A weapons expert and captain of his school’s monster hunting squad, he is a master at stalking the things that go bump in the night. But then the new girl arrives. Distracted from his trigger happy-life, he has no idea he’s falling hard for the girl of his nightmares.

Azrielle’s directive is to stop the rising body count—not flirt with the enemy. But when her pretend relationship with Captain Raid turns into something real, it not only puts her cover in jeopardy but also her objective. If she fails to finish her task, she’ll be marked a traitor to her kind, a crime punishable by execution. Unless Raid figures out her secret first, then he’ll be the one hunting her down. Azrielle must complete her mission before everything falls apart and leave no evidence or witnesses behind, even if putting a bullet in the captain’s heart shatters her own.


First 250 Words:
Fastest way to a guy’s heart is a bullet between the third and fourth rib. Knife works too, though it’s slower, messier, and requires close range. But I don’t need either.
No one beats me in a staring contest. Ever.
An upperclassman with a student council signa on his sleeve waves me over through the crowded hall, probably my assigned welcome committee. He leans against a massive stone archway scarred by faded scorch marks. Iron bars reinforce the scratched shatterproof glass doors framed by the archway that lead to the grounds. Every window is barricaded the same way, protection from Legends. Monsters like me.
I look human, but I’m not. Cockatrice blood runs in my veins.
Mr. Student Council’s gaze lingers on my dark, mirrored sunglasses like a question. This ignorant human ought to be grateful. My fashion faux pas keeps him alive in my presence.
Not that he knows. That’s the point of being undercover.
“You’re new, sophomore, right?” He shakes my hand. “Welcome to Darton Academy. I’m happy to give you a tour, help you find your classes.” He pauses with a glance around us and drops his voice quieter. “Free advice: steer clear of the Venator cadets—they’re never friendly, worse if you get in their way. Easy to spot armed or not. All they care about is hunting Legends.”
“Same here, it’s my first class,” I say.
His eyebrows jump and he straightens with sudden unease like he wants to flee. “Oh, you’re one of them.”

Son of a Pitch Entry: White Soul

Title: White Soul
Category and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Word Count: 90,000

Query:
Amelia Walker is murdered in a mugging gone wrong.

But before her teenage corpse starts to rot—a Soul Reaper offers a deal. She can have her life back, if she agrees to become a Soul Reaper—living as a mortal, enforcing Death’s rules to maintain the balance between the living and the dead. Breathing again would be reason enough to take the deal, but it also means an eternity of servitude.

Seizing the opportunity to live again, Amy learns that her death was no accident, and that a banished Reaper group is to blame. They have plans to murder more innocent souls, including Amy’s mom, who has apparently always been a talented Reaper. At the same time, the group offers a chance of freedom from Death’s chains.

All Reapers serve Lady Death, blessed with Her mark and ghost powers. Disobeying Her means betrayal, severe banishment, and a painful removal of all Reaper abilities. These rebels seek to change Death’s brutal laws, and no matter what they did to Amy, they have her complete attention.


First 250 Words:
Why was that boy following her?
Why wouldn’t he just leave?
Amy ran with all she had toward the 77th Street station. The plastic bag with her brother’s Christmas gift bounced against her chest, lungs stinging and breath heavy. She dodged people as they watched her.
She turned a street corner, taking a shortcut and running past what she thought was the New York Society Library. After another minute of running, she stopped, bending forward, hands on her knees. Slowly her hammering heart calmed down, and so did the adrenaline in her veins, the snow falling on her face helping to ease the heat in her body.
The subway station was not far, but her tired legs didn’t care. They wouldn’t move. “C’mon.” She huffed, straightening. “Almost there.”
She didn’t find the boy in black. He wasn’t anywhere insight. Minutes earlier, it didn’t matter where she looked at or how much she ran, he would always be there, distant, watching. But not now. Lost him. Good. She had turned left and right countless times while running, randomly following sidewalks on streets full of falling snow.
The street was empty. The wind whistled around her, and the cold clung to her skin as she breathed, fog escaping her lips with every exhale. She sighed.
The street she’d stopped on wasn’t one she recognized—a residential zone, filled with two-story buildings. Lights gleamed from the windows of the homes. Lampposts gave off a smooth, pale illumination in the dark.

Son of a Pitch Success Story: Mark Engels

Success story and how Son of a Pitch helped me get there!
At an early age, trains became my focus to the exclusion of everything else. I wanted to know everything about them, be around them, planned to work with them when I grew up. In my teens I came to feel likewise about anime, manga and anthropomorphics. My fellow otaku and I played table-top roleplaying games throughout university where I studied computer technology and electronics. After earning my bachelor's, I got married, chose railroading as my career, started a family.

Decades later working night shift testing signal systems on a rail transit job site, my book's main character showed up, slashing away at my subconscious. I tossed and turned all day long at the hotel trying to ignore her. But Pawly, a werecat, makes a very convincing argument with fangs and claws. She wanted out of my head! Weeks later, I caved and began writing. By the end of that month, I had a series outline. A year later, I had a draft manuscript. And a year after that, I had a polished draft thanks to my prereaders and suggestions from several writing and editing books I’d read.

That’s when I began researching markets heavily. I learned what pitch parties were, how to write (and revise!) a query letter and what markets were (and were decidedly not) worth presenting my book to. I got to know Katie and learned about SoaP over the course of several pitch parties and decided to give it a try. My query was selected and the SoaP reviewers, Elizabeth Roderick chief among them, pointed out things I ought consider to make my query more accessible and gripping. I once again revised my query and sent out a round, this time landing me some requests. After one offer came in (much to my surprise!) I let all the others considering my book know per industry practice. That motivated another publisher to offer, Thurston Howl Publications, and I signed with them. After many months on the query/pitch/submit trail, I would wait just under a year (in which we did, you guessed it, more editing!) for them to release my debut novel.

My series outline, detailing travails of three generations of Pawly's family from the height of the Cold War to the present day, suggests I'll need two more books to tell their stories. Maybe three? The same obsession drives me--share Pawly's tale with the world. She deserves to have it told. When I finish in the next couple of years, I'll gladly go on with life and obsess over something else. I'll have accomplished what I set out to do. And I'll encourage my son to do the same.

Blurb:

The modern day remnant of an ancient clan of werecats is torn apart by militaries on three continents vying to exploit their deadly talents. Born in an ethnic Chicago neighborhood following her family's escape from Cold War-era Poland, were-lynx Pawly flees underground to protect her loved ones after genetically-enhanced soldiers led by rogue scientist and rival werecat Mawro overrun her Navy unit in the Gulf of Oman. Pawly's family seeks her out in a desperate gambit to return their ancestral homeland and reconcile with their estranged kinsmen. But when her human lover arrives to thwart Mawro's plan to weaponize their feral bloodlust, Pawly must face a daunting choice: preserve her family secrets and risk her lover's life or chance her true nature driving him away forever.






Bio:
Boyhood interests in trains and electronics fostered Mark's career as an electrical engineer, designing and commissioning signal and communications systems for railroads and rail transit agencies across the United States. Along the way Mark indulged his writing desire by authoring articles for rail and transit industry trade magazines. Coupled with Mark's long-time membership in anime, manga and anthropomorphic fandoms, he took up writing genre fiction. Growing up in Michigan, never far from his beloved Great Lakes, Mark and his wife today make their home in Wisconsin with their son and a dog who naps beside him as he writes.

Mark is a member of Allied Authors of Wisconsin, one of the state's oldest writing collectives. He also belongs to the Furry Writer’s Guild, dedicated to supporting, informing, elevating, and promoting quality anthropomorphic fiction and its creators.

Author web site (includes social media links, message box, and email list opt-in)
https://www.mark-engels.com/

Amazon “buy” link
https://www.amazon.com/Always-Gray-Winter/dp/1945247193/

Goodreads review page
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36008025-always-gray-in-winter

Son of a Pitch Entry: Killer's Day Off

****Only editors/agents and the writer of the entry can comment on this post.

Title:  KILLER'S DAY OFF

Category and Genre:  Adult Urban Fantasy
Word Count:  84,000

Query:

Eleven doesn’t feel like killing the President of the United States today. Every other profession gets sick days, so why not genetically-enhanced android super-assassins? Unfortunately, that’s not how his owner/creator/father-figure, Simon Cordova, sees it. A few threats, a little brainwashing, and Eleven is off to the White House.

Only when he gets there, he finds that Simon has lied to him about Eleven being the only android around. Sure, meeting this other guy doesn’t stop Eleven from killing Mr. President, but it certainly raises some questions, such as ‘Why has Simon lied to me?’ and ‘What am I?’ and ‘Why the hell am I being brainwashed?’

Except those answers need to wait, because this job didn’t end in DC. No, it followed Eleven home and found where his friends live.

Now Eleven has to protect those around him while working through a budding existential crisis. But none of that will stop him from finding answers to every one of his questions, even if it takes a few explosions, abundant violence, and at least one hostage situation to do so.

First 250:

“What?” Agent Olsen’s voice hissed through the telephone. “You’re calling out sick from assassinating the president?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I nestled the phone between my head and shoulder while I pulled the bag of Cheetos open. Olsen probably heard it, but who cares? “I’m just feeling a little under the weather.”

“Under the weather?” Static screeched over the line, the cords and tubes of the phone company cracking under the pressure of Olsen’s rage. “You’re a genetically modified android, Eleven. You can’t feel under the weather!”

“Oh, did I say I felt sick? Meant to say tired.” I kicked my shoes off into the rest of the junk comprising my man-cave apartment, then fell backwards onto the couch. “Didn’t sleep very well last night. Etcetera.”

Static hissed through the phone again before Olsen’s voice simmered down enough to be heard. “—any idea how much time and money and planning went into—“

I pulled the phone away from my ear and glared at it. I had nearly four years of perfect attendance under my belt, and they couldn’t give me even one damned vacation day? Sometimes people just weren’t up to the task of going outside and being productive—or, in my case, murdering politicians in cold blood. Today was definitely one of those off days for me.

Hopefully Agent Olsen and his boss could understand that. If not, then my status as a badass super-assassin earned me some other undeniable privileges.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Playing God

****Only editors/agents and the writer of the entry can comment on this post.

Title: PLAYING GOD
Category and Genre: Adult, Contemporary Fantasy
Word Count: 106,000

Query:
Sworn off family in-fighting and rivalries, Apollo has spent the last decade in Portland, Maine, incarnated as research scientist Dr. Paul Archer.  Family’s not the only thing Apollo’s sworn off — he’s also done with women (of the mortal ilk), and most of all, Pantheon, a chess-like game the gods play with human lives.  So when Venus drops by unannounced, demanding that Apollo repay a debt dating back to the Trojan War by helping her pull off a move in the game, Apollo’s intention is to execute the move, wipe the slate clean, and get right back to work in the lab.   
What Apollo doesn’t expect is how this game and its pawn, college senior Theresa DiPaulo, revive his long-buried feelings of guilt and failure stemming from his mother's deicide at the hands of his stepmother.  Nor does he expect how compelled he feels to intervene to save Theresa from the same fate.  As the game unfolds, and the parallels to that long-ago round of Pantheon mount up, Apollo gets sucked deeper and deeper in, until he can no longer run from the intrafamilial conflict he left behind when he abdicated Olympus and took refuge DownEast.  
Apollo’s got a plan — if only Theresa would open up and let him in, if only she’d stop trying to protect him, if only she loved him back, pulling it off would be so much easier.  

First 250 Words:

       “Hold still.”  I closed my eyes and, my hands flat on the bare skin of the boy’s chest, forced a surge of energy into him, feeling it spread through his frail body with the beats of his heart.  My strength gushed out of me, like I’d cut a major blood vessel.  A minute later, when I opened my eyes, my head swam and my legs shook.  

The kid was staring at me.  I withdrew my hands, and disconnected the IV.  Then I sat on the foot of the gurney, fighting the tunnel vision and nausea.  

The door opened.  The jingle of bracelets told me it was my assistant Demetria.  She pressed a Gatorade into my hand and passed another to the boy.  I heard the boy’s gulps.  I couldn’t open mine, my fingers too weak to grip the cap and twist.  Demetria extended her hand for the bottle, and opened it with the same cruel matter-of-factness with which she’d snap the neck of a lab rat.  

“Good thing for Connor his parents had him transported here, instead of Maine Med.”  Her dry tone belied her words.  The boy would have died at the hospital.  In surviving to five, he’d already beaten the odds.  Demetria wasn’t happy that the boy was still alive.  No, that was harsh.  She wasn’t happy that I’d brought him back from the edge.  It was an important distinction.

I took a couple sips of Gatorade and pressed the damp bottle to my cheek.

Son of a Pitch YA Entry: Soul Bound

Title: SOUL BOUND 

Category and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy 

Word Count: 83,000

Query:

18-year-old Falon is soul bound. She shares her mind and body with her other soul, Wolf, and they don’t always get along. Falon has to constantly resist Wolf’s animal urges and attempts to take control of her body, but at least she’ll always have a loyal, ill-mannered, pain in the ass best friend.

Their quiet life protecting the forest is shattered when two supernatural strangers show up. And they’re after Falon’s blood.

Soul binders are caught in the middle of a centuries-long struggle for power over the supernatural underworld, and they’re being murdered as threats or exploited as weapons. Falon’s blood is the tide-changer both sides are after. One that could end it all for good and stop a war before it starts.

But this is no battle of good versus evil. There are only evils. Joining a side might mean Falon can save her kind. Joining the wrong side could mean she dooms them all to extinction. 

First 250 Words:

Even from here we can feel their heartbeats, thumping inside their chests. We can hear their labored breaths and see their faces moist and glistening with humidity. They have no idea they’re being watched, my body blending in with the thick, deep darkness of the inner forest of the Refuge.

Poachers, Wolf says, watching them through my eyes.

They were easy to track, the stench of alcohol and sweat, their heavy boot prints and tire tracks, all glaring evidence of trespassers.

Stupid poachers, she amends.

I shuffle closer, carefully choosing each place to set my feet. A canine hooks over my lip as I grin. Stupid is right. This is almost too easy.

My toes sink noiselessly into the damp dirt, the calloused soles of my feet numb to the muddy grit. Energy from the Earth passes from the ground into my feet, teeming with life that I can’t see, but can feel around me. I am one with everything, one with the souls of the animals and trees that I share this forest with.

And these poachers do not belong.

I part the waxy leaves of a giant fern and can see them, swatting at mosquitoes and toeing the prints from a boar in the dirt.

Attack, Wolf growls, pushing me forward.

Beads of sweat bubble up on my forehead as I keep my feet firmly planted, resisting her control. It’s always a fight over control.

Not yet, I tell her. Haven’t you heard that patience is a virtue?

No.

Well apparently it is.

Son of a Pitch YA Entry: Aquestrials

Title: Aquestrials

Category: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 67,000

Query: 

For runaways like Reis conning people is a way of life. For years she has survived because she doesn’t trust people.

The con at the Santa Monica fair was meant to be a simple job for Reis, but a silly mistake gets her stuck underneath the pier. No one was around to witness her drown, except Cole, who is anything but human. He watches her die then transforms her into an Aquestrial, an enchanted being, not to be confused with a notion so vapid as mermaids. Reis wakes at Halcyon, the home of the ancient sea-dwelling race, tucked beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean. After spending a decent amount of time freaking out, Reis learns about her new identity and the ancient magic that holds this hidden world together.

When Cole discovers a threat to the Aquestrial power source, Reis thinks she can help. A new con means she, Cole and a few others will – through the use of enchantments – parade as high school students in order to renew the amulet and keep their magical world thriving. Should they fail, the amulet will lose its power, their life source will shrivel up, and the entire ancient race will die.

With her life on the line, Reis is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve her new existence. However, during history class Reis discovers some dark secrets about Aquestrials that put into question everything she’s fighting for.

Cole holds the answers to Reis’ concerns; and now for Reis to survive, she must relearn what it means to trust. Because if she can’t, next time she dies, there’s no coming back.

First 250:

“Waiting is for the birds.” My words echo in the quiet. I trace circles in the dirt with the tip of my boot. Twenty-three circles of all different sizes.

A hawk flies overhead, rounding the tree nearest where I sit, landing on the branch above me. Well, isn’t that appropriate timing? If only there was some kind of sorcery that could make Brom go quicker. But there isn’t. To the great misfortune of everyone, ever.

Patience isn’t really my flavor. However, timing is essential in my line of work. So I wait.

The red-feathered bird perches there, bathing in the afternoon sun. “I was here first,” I warn before throwing a pebble at her. It doesn’t even hit her but she still gives a startling squawk. “Oh, relax.” The bleating noise is nearly enough to distract me from the snapping of twigs coming from my left.

Brom’s obtrusive form shifts between two thorny bushes. He pushes a branch out of his way but it snaps back, slapping him in the head. He mumbles a slew of curses under his breath. Stepping out of the foliage, the loose material of his baggy pants catches and he stumbles. He tries to right himself but he is broad on top and the extra weight is enough to carry him forward, making him plunge face first. I begin to think he might have knocked himself unconscious, which would be really inconvenient. But then he presses his hands against the ground and pushes himself up.

The man’s never been good at being covert, and he looks as rough as sandpaper. Typical Brom. When he is near enough, I complain in a hushed voice, “You’re late.

Review: A Taste of Death and Honey by Sharon Bayliss

From Goodreads:
When Samantha’s parents died, she lost everything. Her home. Her friends. Her hope. Then a life-loving spring witch at the children’s shelter fills her life with light and joy once again.

But like the springtime, Samantha’s happiness doesn’t last forever. Her friend dies violently in front of her, the victim of a mysterious killing spell. Furious and grief-stricken, Samantha resents her own weak spring magic. She doesn’t need life and renewal. She wants revenge…and death.

Homeless and alone, Samantha seeks shelter with her old friends, the Vandergraff family, and finds an unexpected ally in the powerful winter solstice witch, Evangeline. The girls’ anger and eagerness lead them to cast a killing spell before knowing the truth behind Samantha’s friend’s death or the identity of her killer. 

Once the spell is cast, they can’t take it back, and they must fight to stop their own curse before it takes away everyone they love.

My Thoughts:
**I was the lucky acquiring editor for this novel**
A Taste of Death and Honey continues following the story of the Vandergraffs. Samantha returns as well, and starts the story as she witnesses the horrific death of her girlfriend. All of this comes back to haunt Patrick and Evangeline, as it's their fault, although an accident, that the girl died.
We meet spring witches and wizards, as this is a spring based story, and old foes return when the son of Evangeline and Xavier's molester and abuser appears on the scene. Although assumed to be a foe, he turns out to be essential.
This next installment to the series will blow your mind. The emotions and the twists are powerful and unexpected. The family has their loyalties to one another tested, and love shows itself in unexpected and beautiful ways. If you've read the first two books, you definitely need to get your hands on this one... and then wait anxiously for the next!

Cover Reveal: A Taste of Death and Honey (The December People Series #3) by Sharon Bayliss

The time has come!! I'm happy to present the cover of book three in The December People Series, A Taste of Death and Honey. I'm so thankful to Curiosity Quills Press for their amazing work. I think it's stunning! And just the right amount of creepy. What do you think?

This book will grab you by the throat, challenge your mind, and turn your heart inside out. Sharon Bayliss delivers a powerful, emotional punch with her third book in the December People series. - Amy Bearce, author of  The World of Aluvia Series

When Samantha’s parents died, she lost everything. Her home. Her friends. Her hope. Then a life-loving spring witch at the children’s shelter fills her life with light and joy once again.

But like the springtime, Samantha’s happiness doesn’t last forever. Her friend dies violently in front of her, the victim of a mysterious killing spell. Furious and grief-stricken, Samantha resents her own weak spring magic. She doesn’t need life and renewal. She wants revenge…and death.

Homeless and alone, Samantha seeks shelter with her old friends, the Vandergraff family, and finds an unexpected ally in the powerful winter solstice witch, Evangeline. The girls’ anger and eagerness lead them to cast a killing spell before knowing the truth behind Samantha’s friend’s death or the identity of her killer. 

Once the spell is cast, they can’t take it back, and they must fight to stop their own curse before it takes away everyone they love.

A Taste of Death and Honey comes out on 6/9/16!! If you're interested in reading it early and writing a review, please sign up here. And if you're new to the series, you can get caught up by reading Destruction (Book One) and Watch Me Burn (Book Two), both available on Amazon and Audible. 

Thank you for your support!

  

Son of a Pitch Entry: Shadow of a Soul

Title: Shadow of a Soul

Age and genre: YA Urban fantasy

Word Count: 65,000

Query:

Vetis was a young demon who ate good intentions. He was obedient and content, until his curiosity about the chaotic humans on whose energy he fed got him booted from the demon realm. After breaking the rules by befriending a human girl-child, he ends up bound to the Earth in a body that was only supposed to be fancy packaging to conceal the demon within.

Fast forward ten years, and the boy who calls himself ‘Wes’ has adapted pretty well to human life. He has survived in the foster care system that bounced him around. He’s even learned how to speak as a human after years of speech therapy. He is scraping by and keeping his demonic nature at bay, even with his mental clarity being muddled by the sixteen year-old boy brain housed in his noggin.

Then fate slaps Wes with a trifecta of rotten luck. He accidentally turns his only friend into a life-eating minion. Then he reconnects with the human girl who kick-started his sentence as a child. Only now, she is a powerful (and attractive) demon hunter who seeks to destroy him. Finally, he is contacted by his former demon master, who brings up the matter of ‘the prophecy.’ It’s a damn clichéd notion, but all of Legion seems confident that Wes is destined to consume the world’s soul energy, leaving it clean for a new age of demons to walk the Earth. Wes doesn’t believe or want any of it, but as his hunger awakens he begins to doubt his ability to not annihilate the place he’s come to think of as home.

First 250:

Vetis drifted along the wall of a supermarket, nothing more than a phantom. His oily black presence was indistinguishable from the shadows to passersby, but he didn’t need for people to see him. Still, he would try to materialize. He was only six years old, and not very powerful, so filling out his human form and giving it substance was difficult. Bael, who ruled the Vetis arm of Legion, had instructed him to practice.

His human body, which served as a tether to walk the Earth, looked like a beautiful little boy, with dark blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and a head of thick, straight hair the color of wheat. It was born of a jackal, but his demon essence was pulled from Legion. The formula for his physical appearance had been stolen from the angels. Some demons had frightening bodies, with many nightmarish heads and dragon wings. They were meant to inspire terror, but a necessity to earn the occasional trust and favor of humans meant that Vetis demons should be pleasing in appearance.

            Concentrating all of his will, he pushed his essence out as far as it would go, like a balloon slowly expanding. His boy form, transparent at first, began to solidify until those who looked would see the boy body standing in the store, leaning against a cereal display. A woman walking by pushing a shopping cart glanced at him, did a double take, shivered and picked up her pace. Most living things could sense the darkness beneath his human skin and instinctively knew to fear him.

Son of a Pitch Entry: Hunter

Title: HUNTER

Age and Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 56,000

Query:

When sixteen year old Hunter’s growing telepathic ability lands her on the FBI’s radar, her colleague puts a gun to her head. He wants to silence the secrets of their bounty hunter agency locked in her mind. Fortunately for her, it’s not her time to die.

Surviving means making an unlikely friend with an FBI agent named Seeker. He’s the same agent that caused her partner to turn on her in the first place, and he has a mission of his own. Bring Hunter back alive to face judgment for her role in a multitude of murders she’s being accused of.

After nearly escaping the FBI’s grasp with a rogue telepath named Duke and having her thoughts pilfered for information against her will, Hunter learns that she must put her life on the line to clear her name and bring down Talon, her former agency.

With each passing hour throwing her deeper into the game of life and death, Hunter must decide who to trust before this mission becomes her last. 

First 250 Words:

As a type one telepath, you would think I had the skills not to end up freezing to death in the middle of Seattle, Washington. It was a dreary place where the sun didn’t shine and the rain came and went like waves on the shore. It wasn’t an ideal place but it was where the bounty had brought me. I was searching for a mark that was proving to be a pain in my ass. It had been three weeks since we had taken the job and today was the closest we had been to finding Dawn Miles.

My heart skipped a beat when the com in my ear buzzed. “Hunter, we’re running out of time. You know what happens if someone else gets to Miles before we do. All this work would be for nothing.”

In the bounty hunter line of work, you never knew who else was out there searching for the same prize, especially when one paid as well as this did. I exhaled and tried to calm my nerves. This one wasn’t going to get away.

“I’m trying. There are a lot of minds to sift through.” I spoke quietly to my partner Bear, trying not to look like a crazy person. My mind was lost in the sea of people, drifting through their inner monologues, almost losing myself in their stories. Sweat dripped from my temples as I pulled myself from almost passing out.

Son of a Pitch Entry: No Halo

Title: No Halo

Age and Genre: NA UF/Paranormal

Word Count: 113,000

Query:

At nineteen years old and over six feet tall, Abigail Aristoklis is a legitimate contender for heptathlon at the next Olympics. She can thank her guardian angel, Malakim, for her tremendous athleticism and natural charm. However, Abby’s training has nothing to do with competition -- she’s being developed into Kim's instrument of vengeance.

When Abby finally slays the demon Kim has sought for twenty years, she draws the attention of the supernatural community. They see someone with Abby’s skill set as a vital asset, and strong-arm her into working as their newest field agent.

Abby's first mission fails disastrously when Kim seizes control and nearly gets them both killed, allowing their target to escape and leaving Abby wanted for murder. Now concerned that Kim might not be the benevolent guardian angel she claims to be, Abby banishes Kim from her mind. But when an archdemon threatens to rampage across Los Angeles, Abby needs Kim’s assistance to stop it — if Abby still trusts Kim with her soul.​

First 250 words:

Dammit. 7:02 already? Van Priestley would be here any second and I was still getting dressed.

You didn’t have to invite him over for dinner, you know. We could have gone to a restaurant like normal people, rather than pretending like I can cook.

Naturally, my guardian angel didn't let that one go.

“You seem awfully worried about impressing someone we plan on killing.”

I paused in the middle of putting in my earrings.

But are you sure he’s the one, Kim? I mean, he could just be some dude. And a really hot date.

“Abby, I already told you he’s the one. His soul’s not human. We should be preparing our attack, not preparing to sleep with him.”

I eyed my only pair of stilettos. At my height, heels required a particularly special occasion. Then again, this night was twenty years in the making.

Kim interrupted my thoughts.

“He must have addled your brain somehow. You’re putting our mission at risk, and we’ve waited far too long to blunder our way through this.”

​Under Kim’s control, my body trotted out to the living room of my cramped one-bedroom to prepare for killing the demon masquerading as my date.

Review: Isla's Inheritance by Cassandra Page

From Goodreads:
Isla was content to let her father keep his secrets, but now she can’t stand the touch of iron and her dreams are developing a life of their own.

Seventeen-year-old Isla Blackman only agrees to participate in a Halloween séance because Dominic, an old crush, wants to. She is sure nothing will happen when they try to contact her mother’s spirit. But the séance receives a chilling reply.

SHE IS NOT DEAD.

Isla doesn’t want to upset her father by prying into the family history he never discusses. When the mysterious and unearthly Jack offers to help her discover the truth, Isla must master her new abilities to protect her loved ones from enemies she never knew existed.

My Thoughts:
So, this book was good. I definitely didn't hate it, but it just didn't grab me like I wanted. It's an easy, light read, set in the beautiful capital of Australia; Canberra. There were just things that felt off to me. Like their fashion was all very... late nineties. I'm thinking it should be maybe mentioned as a Modern History book. Also, HSC exams are usually almost done by Nov, and the 12th graders have already graduated so aren't expected to attend classes. I know this because my birthday is Nov 1 and I'd completed all but one of my exams by then.
Those factors aside, the book stayed a good course. A little slow paced, but the end built up nicely. Isla was likable, but I didn't feel any real connection between her and the love interest.
All up, this is a clean read, light, fun, and an easy introduction for teens into urban fantasy.

Review: Acne, Asthma, and Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon by Rena Rocford

From Goodreads:
Allyson fights acne, not trolls. As an inhaler-carrying member of the asthma society, she just wants to meet the father who turned her mother into a paranoid, move-across-the-nation freak. Now she’s trying to fit in at yet another school, but for the first time in her life, she has a best friend, Beth. When Allyson accidentally spits fire at kidnappers in the mall, she realizes why her father isn’t in the picture: she’s half dragon. Her acne? Emerging scales. Her asthma? The side effects of her dragon’s fire breath. Instead of freaking out, unflappable Beth reveals her own troll heritage and explains how things work with the supernatural creatures hiding within the modern world of smartphones and skyscrapers.

When trolls kidnap a unicorn, Beth gets blamed. Allyson is determined to prove Beth’s innocence and keep her friend off the unicorn chopping block. When they start looking for the kidnappers, they get a call from the last person they expect: Allyson’s father. He tries to warn them off, but he’s been put under a spell by the kidnappers to keep the victims from escaping. Nothing short of death can stop him. Now Allyson must choose between killing the father she’s always dreamed of, or letting her best friend die for a crime she didn’t commit. 

My Thoughts:
I first saw this in the Pitcharama contest run by Aussie Owned and Read. It intrigued me back then, and so I waited for this release eagerly.
This story didn't disappoint! Action packed, full of adventure, friendship, and a sassy heroine, this novel with an extremely long title that really grabs your attention, has the makings of a fun read for anyone seeking something for pure pleasure. 
Allyson was an absolute delight to follow as she rushed through a steep learning curve. She reacted naturally, and often humorously to the situations thrust upon her, and with a heart full of fierce loyalty.
A clean read I'd definitely recommend!