This is the third in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge (DAC) authors and their upcoming books for 2014. This update covers some of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge authors. Look for Part 4, covering more 2012 DAC authors, on The Qwillery later this week.
Part 1 is here - 2011 DAC Authors.
Part 2 is here - 2011 DAC Authors.
Ania Ahlborn
The Bird Eater
47North, April 1, 2014
Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 278 pages
Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or some
thing—has other plans.
Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House…a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time.
Cassie Alexander
Bloodshifted
Edie Spence 5
St. Martin's Paperbacks, July 1, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 304 pages
Ambushed. Blindfolded. Kidnapped by vampires. Edie Spence must race against time to save herself and her baby—from the nightmare that flows through her veins…
As a nurse in the hospital’s secret Y4 ward, Edie has seen her share of daytimers. Once-ordinary humans who’ve tasted vampire blood, daytimers are doomed to serve their nighttime masters. Forever. And now Edie has to face something even more horrifying: she’s become one too…
BLOODSHIFTED
Abducted by the vampire Raven, Edie is taken to the catacombs beneath the Catacombs, an ironically-named L.A. night club that supplies fresh blood and other favors for its vampire Masters. Edie has no intention of swapping her nurse’s uniform for a cocktail dress—not when her newborn infant needs her. But if she and Asher—her shapeshifter fiancé—can’t figure out a way to bleed Raven’s power, they may never get out of this plasma-soaked pleasure palace…undead or alive.
G.T. Almasi
Hammer of Angels
Shadowstorm 2
Del Rey, February 25, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages
In G. T. Almasi’s thrilling alternate reality, the United States, the USSR, and the Republic of China share a fragile balance of power with Greater Germany, which emerged from World War II in control of Europe and half of the Middle East. To avoid nuclear Armageddon, the four superpowers pursue their ambitions with elite spies known as Levels, who are modified with mechanical and chemical enhancements.
Nineteen-year-old Alix Nico, code-named Scarlet, is a kick-ass superheroine with killer Mods and an attitude to match. She’s considered one of America’s top Levels, even though her last mission nearly precipitated World War III. So now Scarlet and her new partner, Darwin, have been sent to Greater Germany to help sow the seeds of anarchy and prevent Germany’s defection to Russia and China.
But where Scarlet goes, chaos follows—and when her mission takes an unexpected turn, she and Darwin must go ever deeper into enemy territory. As Scarlet grapples with a troubling attraction to her new partner, explosive information comes to light about the German cloning program and one of its prisoners—a legendary American Level who just happens to be Scarlet’s father.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Jill Archer
White Heart of Justice
Noon Onyx 3
Ace, May 24, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 304 pages
Since Lucifer claimed victory at Armageddon, demons, angels, and humans have coexisted in uneasy harmony. Those with waning magic are trained to maintain peace and order. But hostilities are never far from erupting…
After years of denying her abilities, Noon Onyx, the first woman in history to wield waning magic, has embraced her power. She’s won the right to compete in the prestigious Laurel Crown Race—an event that will not only earn her the respect of her peers but also, if she wins, the right to control her future.
However, Noon’s task is nearly impossible: retrieve the White Heart of Justice, a mythical sword that disappeared hundreds of years ago. The sword is rumored to be hidden in a dangerous region of Halja that she is unlikely to return from. But Noon’s life isn’t the only thing hanging in the balance. The sword holds an awesome power that, in the wrong hands, could reboot the apocalypse—and Noon is the only one who can prevent Armageddon from starting again…
Kira Brady
Hearts of Chaos
Deadglass Trilogy 3
Zebra, March 4. 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
To save her world, one woman’s fierce quest will put her up against an ancient evil-and a desire too dangerous to deny . . .
She is betrothed to Seattle’s most feared shifter clan leader. Still, the Lady Lucia can never be the dainty aristocratic wife Emory Corbette thinks he needs. And as a malevolent, all-consuming monster plots to take hold of their shattered world, Lucia will risk her untapped powers to defeat it-and challenge the Raven King’s seductive rule. No one in Emory’s many lifetimes has ever defied him. Lucia’s courage and strength are shaking his iron control to its core. . .and making him hungry for all she can give. But their only hope is a wrenching sacrifice that could unite humans and shifters in victory-or destroy everything Lucia and Emory desire most. . .
Myke Cole
Breach Zone
Shadow Ops 3
Ace, January 28, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 384 pages
The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent,” developing terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…
In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.
In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind.
When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In order to redeem himself with the military, Harlequin will be forced to face off with this havoc-wreaking woman from his past, warped by her power into something evil…
Delilah S. Dawson
The Damsel and the Daggerman
A BLUD Novella
Pocket Star, January 6, 2014
eNovella, 100 pages
In this “carniepunk” e-novella from the author of
Wicked As They Come, a knife-thrower meets a lady journalist determined to uncover his dark and dangerous past.
Bad boy knife-thrower Marco Taresque is the hottest and most dangerous performer in the caravan. He keeps to himself until a pesky female journalist arrives, anxious to interview him about his checkered past—his last assistant disappeared under mysterious and bloody circumstances, earning him the nickname “The Deadly Daggerman.”
Unsinkable journalist and adventurer Jacinda Harville doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’s determined to wear down Marco no matter how threatening—or incredibly desirable—he might appear. He agrees to an interview—but only if she’ll let him strap her to a spinning table and throw knives at her body. How can she say no? And how can she resist him when he leans close for a kiss that strikes her more sharply than any blade? It’s the first time she’s let a man get the better of her, and she’s determined it will be the last…
Just when she thinks she can’t take any more of his games, Jacinda receives a note from Marco saying he’s finally ready to tell her the truth about what happened to his missing assistant. She sets out for an address miles away, but what she finds there turns the tables on everything she thought she knew about the tender lover who wears a smile as sharp as his knives.
As secrets are unraveled and passions take hold, Ginger realizes her hard heart has melted. But will it be too late to save Marco—and herself—from the daggerman’s dangerous past?
Wicked After Midnight
BLUD 3
Pocket Books, January 28, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 448 pages
An electrifying paranormal romance . . . with a twist!
Only rebellious Demi Ward could be bored with her life as a contortionist in Criminy Stain’s magical traveling circus. But being a cabaret star in the City of Light is dangerous . . . especially for an audacious Bludman.
After Demi’s best friend, Cherie, is brutally kidnapped en route to Paris by a roving band of masked slavers, passionate highwayman Vale Hildebrand shows up to save the day. With his help, Demi rises to the top of the cabaret scene as part of her plot to find Cherie—but what she really discovers is a taste for Vale’s kisses. Meanwhile, wealthy suitors vie for a night of her charms, crowding the glittering club where Demi commands the stage with a host of colorful daimons. She is soon seduced by a smoldering portrait artist whose ties to a secret society could be the break she and Vale need on their hunt. But—unlike the Paris that Demi read about in college on Earth—the Paris of Sang is full of depraved pleasures
and deadly surprises. . . .
Servants of the Storm
Simon Pulse, August 5, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages
Grades 9 and up
Dovey learns that demons lurk in places other than the dark corners of her mind in this southern gothic fantasy from the author of the Blud series.
A year ago, Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction—and taking the life of Dovey’s best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her.
But recently she’s started to believe she’s seeing things that can’t be real…including Carly at their favorite café. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined.
As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah—where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk—she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.
Alexa Egan
Cursed: The Complete Imnada Brotherhood Novellas
Pocket Star, March 31, 2013
eBook
The complete collection of Alexa Egan’s “not-to-be-missed” (Romantic Times) Imnada Brotherhood novellas—a dark and sexy series about a clan of shape-shifters living secretly as humans.
Awaken the Curse
University student James Farraday and professor’s daughter Katherine Lacey embark on a curse-ridden quest to find Katherine’s father, who vanished while studying a mysterious ancient obelisk. As they unravel the mystery, legends point to the existence of the Imnada, a race of shape-shifters said to have died off a thousand years ago. Or is the professor’s disappearance the result of a very human villain? Soon James and Kate’s search for the truth means fighting for their lives. Yet every hour they spend together exploring the past leads them to a very present and irresistible temptation…
Unleash the Curse
Neither actress Sarah Haye nor London’s most eligible bachelor, Sebastian Commin, the Earl of Deane has ever forgotten their scandalous night of white hot passion—and the differences that make a future together impossible. Yet they find themselves back together as they try to solve the mystery of a brutal attack on an Imnada shape-shifter and a sinister entity known as the Naxos. When the Naxos strike again, Sarah realizes she’s willing to risk a little scandal to save the world…and the man she loves.
Vanquish the Curse
Lady Estelle Swann didn’t come to London in search of a husband. Instead she’s here hunting for one of the magical Keys of Gylferion in hopes of preventing a war between Fey-blood and shape-shifter. So when the notorious scoundrel Lt. Cade Ramsay turns his dangerous charms her way, she’s more than a little suspicious. But he’s after something else—something that leads the couple on a mission both complicated and deadly. Soon Estelle and Cade find themselves fighting not only unseen enemies but their own very dangerous attraction…
Warrior's Curse
Imnada Brotherhood 3
Pocket Books, April 29, 2014
Mass Market Paperbook and eBook, 400 pages
The third novel in the dark and sexy Imnada Brotherhood series about shape shifters in Regency-era England.
Despite being cast out of his clan, Gray de Coursy has been summoned to his estranged grandfather’s deathbed. A perfect opportunity to steal
Jai Idrish, the Imnada’s most sacred relic and his last hope for breaking the fiendish spell imprisoning him.
Chosen as the Imnada clans’ next high shaman, Alys Swynford’s very soul has become inextricably bound to Jai Idrish—a crystal sphere that dates to the very origins of the Imnada. So when she catches Gray stealing it, he is left with only one choice—keep shaman and sphere together as the pair travel to The Gateway, the door between this world and the one the Imnada left behind aeons ago. For only there can the curse be lifted and Gray freed.
But conspirators among the Imnada have already opened the door to the shape-shifters’ ancient and deadly enemy. Now it will take the strength of the warrior and the power of the shaman to stop this otherworldly executioner—before it’s too late.
Leigh Evans
The Problem with Promises
Mystwalker 3
St. Martin's Paperbacks, February 25, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
NEVER MAKE A PROMISE…
Robson Trowbridge, the Alpha of Creemore and my gorgeous mate, tries to protect me, Hedi Peacock, half-Fae, half-were, from all the trouble I get into. The thing is, my past is pretty messy and bad guys keep knocking down my door. Witches, thug bikers, the North American Council of Weres, dark magic Fae, and even an evil wizard are all after me. The Old Mage is the only one I really care about: He has my dear twin brother captive on the other side of the Gates of Merenwyn—not cool. So my alpha love is helping me to keep my promise to free my brother…
YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO KEEP.
Unfortunately, everyone who helps me ends up in a heap of trouble too—including my Trowbridge. Now, I admit I’ve had my moments as a shivering coward, hoping he will come to my brave rescue. The whole Prince Charming thing is hard to shake. But these bad guys after me mean business and those damsel in distress days are over. You know that “last straw” metaphor? That was two straws ago. It’s now or never. Again…
