Dark Faerie Prize Pack Giveaway

Let's celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year with fabulous prizes.  Today we are giving away a HUGE dark faerie themed prize pack.

Dark Faerie Prize Pack

We are giving away a Dark Faerie Prize Pack, including a coloring book, faerie necklace, book, earbuds, and more!

• Gothic Dark Fantasy Coloring Book
• Faerie Necklace
• Amy Brown Faerie Greeting Card
• Ivy Granger LED Keychain Flashlight
• Ivy Granger Button
• Shadow Sight (Ivy Granger #1) Ebook
• Signed Ivy Granger Postcard
• Custom Purple Earbuds

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is open to the US, UK, and Canada.  Giveaway begins December 15, 2016 and ends December 31, 2016.

REMINDER: All entries will be verified. Please do not claim that you followed/subscribed/commented if you did not do so. False entries will be disqualified and we reserve the right to ban emails from future entries. Thank you.

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What is your favorite creature from folklore?

(Faeries, Banshees, Unicorns, Trolls, Pixies, Goblins, Kelpies...)

One Smoking Hot Fairy Tail Book Excerpt + Giveaway

This month is Faerie Celebration Month at From the Shadows and today we have a special ONE SMOKING HOT FAIRY TAIL by Kevin James Breaux book excerpt and giveaway for you.

Keep reading for a chance to win a One Smoking Hot Fairy Tale prize pack, including a signed book, postcard, bookmark, and $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Book Excerpt: One Smoking Hot Fairy Tail

     Sitting in her shadow-soaked bedroom, Moselle Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair repeatedly glanced at her smartphone, eager for it to ring. A candelabrum burned seven small red flames, illuminating her room just enough for her to not only spy two of her Abyssinian cats as they chased each other across the marble floor, but to also see what she was mixing.
     Moselle poured jojoba oil from a large container into a small, dark glass bottle with a glass rod applicator. Ten drops of jasmine oil from the flowers she had handpicked in her garden the night before splashed into the bottle as she pondered how much ylang-ylang oil she should add to the mix, desiring nothing but the most erotic scent to seduce the man she had been dating.
     At the chime of her smartphone, Moselle set the bottles aside and pressed the answer button with the tip of her index finger’s nail.
     “Greetings, Father.”
     “You sound disappointed, my daughter.” Moselle’s father’s voice was deep and steeped with his strong Egyptian accent.
     “No, no, no… not at all.” Moselle cleared her throat and presented him with the respect he was due. “How may I serve you, Father?”
     “I am pleased to inform you that everything has gone as designed with the new Club Afterlife,” he said. “This opening is already being touted as a once-in-a-lifetime, red carpet event.”
     “Blessings be, Father.”
     “Have you made travel arrangements yet, Moselle?”
     She took a second to compose her words before speaking.
     “I have not. Father, it is a great honor to attend, not only as the subject of all of the advertisements in your recent campaign, but as your loving daughter, still I have a request.” She sat up. 
      “You know full well your mother is currently unable to entertain,” he stated, clearly assuming she was going to ask if her mother could be at the opening.
     “Oh, yes that. I haven’t broken bread with Mother since last year’s birthday party. I do miss her.”
     “Birthdays?” She heard her father’s dissatisfied tone. “Moselle, you know I find them a foolish distraction.”
     “Yes, I know.”
     “Good,” he replied quickly. “I will send the private jet to Los Angeles in two days. It will transport you to New York City for the event.”
     “Father, my request,” she reminded him. “I have met someone very special, a young man whom I have been dating. He works at the advertising agency you hired for the new club.”
     “Tell me again, Moselle, why do you find them so interesting?” Her father’s tone was filled with frustration and annoyance. “What could you possibly have in common with this… this American?”
     “He is strong, handsome, and funny, Father.”
     “He is not one of us.”
     “I do not care about that. He warms my soul with his humor and kindness. When we work together preparing your advertisements, I find myself inexplicably drawn to him. I have not felt this way in ten or more years.”
     “Moselle!”
     Her father’s raised voice startled her so badly her body froze. She had not angered her him in many, many years, not since long before she had moved out of his home into her own.
     “Why do you tell me this?”
     “I would like him to accompany me to the grand opening as my date,” Moselle answered timidly.
     The phone went silent, and Moselle waited patiently.
     “So be it,” he conceded. “Invite him, but he will need to find his own means of travel to New York. Understood?”
     “Yes.” Moselle beamed.
     “Did you pass along my request to your other friend?”
     “I spoke to Sabrina earlier; she accepted the invitation already.”
     “She is well now, you say?”
     “As well as can be,” Moselle admitted.
     “Good, then, regardless, this will be an opening night for all to remember. Safe journey, my daughter.”
     “Safe journey to you too, Father.”
     Moselle watched the slender metal hands on her wall clock tick forward another notch as she hung up. The hand’s movement boomed in her ears like the footsteps of a titan. It was nearing nine o’clock at night; she had hoped her new boyfriend would have called by now. She unconsciously tapped the bottom corner of her smartphone on the table, harder and harder until… Snap. The protective case broke.    
     “Curse this devil’s game.” Moselle ran her finger over the jagged crack. “My phone, a sacrifice to you, Hathor. See it not wasted.”
     Moselle pressed the speed-dial graphic, a tiny photo associated with his name: Jackson Abernathy.
     “Hello.”
     “Jackson, darling, it is Moselle Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair.”
     “Hey, Moselle…” He paused a moment before finishing. “What’s happening?”
    Jackson’s voice did not ring with the excitement she had yearned for, and she had a clear guess why.
     “Are you still at work?”
     “Yeah, I’m putting the finishing touches on that freelance project I did with Candice Swanepoel.”
     Moselle finally heard a hint of excitement in his voice, but it was not for her.
     “You work too hard and play too little.” Moselle stood feeling suddenly jealous; she was more driven than ever to see Jackson now.
     “To be honest, I need the extra money. I lost a few bucks on the game last night.”
     Moselle admired herself in the full-length mirror attached to the inside of her closet door as she listened. She examined her eye makeup, which included a coat of sparkling purple mascara that complemented her dark eyes.
     “All I am suggesting is that you take a short break.”
     “I took a break earlier when you sent me that one text message. The one with the picture attached. What did it say again?”
     “It said that tomorrow marks a full month on the calendar since you asked me out. It said to prepare for a night filled with earthly delights.”
     Jackson laughed. “Moselle, you are unlike any other girl I’ve ever known.”
     “You are right, Jackson. All you have known are girls, scatterbrained models with apathy toward most things. I am a woman, one who knows what she wants.”
     “Well… I wanted to finish this project and then get a jump-start touching up that advertisement of you in the silver bikini with the—”
     “Jackson.” Moselle’s voice rose in frustration. “Such labor should be done during the hours our beloved sun is high above us.”
     “You’re right, but wouldn’t your father be even more impressed with me if I handed him extra work?”
     “While I find it pleasing that you strive to win my father’s approval, Jackson, I must ask you this: would you have me spend the next few hours alone while you stare at my likeness, or would you gaze upon me in person over a few drinks?”
     “Would you like to go out for coffee, Moselle?”
     “I would love to.”

One Smoking Hot Fairy Tail by Kevin James Breaux.

Sabrina, a lovely fairy has it all: fame, fortune, and beauty—until her boyfriend Cade, a rebel vampire, films their involvement in a crime as well as the passionate lovemaking that follows.

But Cade loses his camera and the video is posted online, ruining Sabrina’s life. After a year of nursing her wounds, she resurfaces only to find herself hunted for her wings.

The lives of all unearthly beings are at stake—fairies, windigos, mummies, and elemental spirits, caught up in a frightening flood of events that threaten their discovery. Sabrina and Moselle, a sex-starved mummy and the daughter of a wealthy businessman, find themselves in the middle of the conflict, forced to take drastic action to protect their identities and lives.

In trying to save themselves can they also prevent the United States from falling into the hands of an evil mind with horrible intentions?

Add to Goodreads.

OSHFT Prize Pack Giveaway

We are giving away a One Smoking Hot Fairy Tale prize pack, including a signed book, postcard, bookmark, and $25 Amazon Gift Card!

• Signed Book
• Postcard
• Bookmark
• $25 Amazon Gift Card

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses.  Giveaway ends December 16, 2016 midnight EST.  Good luck!

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What did you think of the book excerpt?  Do you recall the name of the club where the red carpet event is scheduled take place?

Paranormal Road Trip: Destination Fairy, Texas with Margo Bond Collins

Come on boys and ghouls!  It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.

This week's stop is Fairy, Texas and our special guide is Margo Bond Collins.  Margo is the author of the Fairy, Texas young adult paranormal series.

Margo's Top 5 Spooky Places in Fairy, Texas

In my novel Fairy, Texas, the town is a small, but thriving, community—there's a high school, a downtown, a few restaurants, even a Sonic drive-in.  In reality, Fairy, Texas was never as big as the town in the book, and is now a something of ghost town (appropriately enough for this feature!).  But the fictional version of Fairy is based on several of the nearby towns in North Central Texas, where I grew up, and there's no lack of  spooky to be found. So the following list includes the spooky places in and around Fairy, Texas—and the towns that inspired the novel.

1. Fairy, Texas

Originally called "Gap," but later re-named after the local schoolteacher, Fairy Fort Phelps (sometimes listed as Felps), who grew to be only 2'7".  There is little left in Fairy other than a few buildings and the cemetery.

2. McDow's Hole

McDow's Hole, a small, natural reservoir, was a logical place to settle. Near modern-day Dublin, Texas, this watering hole was also the site of a nineteenth-century mystery. In the 1860s, Charlie and Jenny Papworth moved to the area with their young son Temple, and soon had a second soon. Not long after their second son was born, Charlie received word that his parents had died and that he had inherited their furniture and would have to travel 200 miles to pick it up (the nearest train station at the time).  When he left, he asked his wife to spend the nights with one of two neighboring families.

But one night Jenny never arrived at either home. The next day, the neighbors found no sign of Jenny or her infant, but there was blood on the floor of her cabin—and her five-year-old son Temple was discovered cowering under the bed.  Jenny and the baby were never found.

Ever since, there have been tales of Jenny and the baby haunting the area, showing up in the cabin itself and floating above the water of McDow's Hole itself. And despite the fact that the land is now closed to trespassers, people still make the trek out to wait to see Jenny Papworth and her baby late at night.

3. Hico, Texas

In 1879, two men broke into the home of Hico resident Ike Malone and threatened to kill him. The townspeople sent out riders to catch the men, and they were temporarily imprisoned in a shed belonging to the Malone family. But late at night, a mob of roughly seventy-five men arrived, and the robbers were shot to death.  By 1882, the reports of ghostly sights and sounds from the shed were common enough that the local paper printed a story about them. The shed is long gone, but many of the buildings in this Texas town boast ghost sightings.

4. Granbury, Texas Opera House

The Granbury Opera House was constructed in 1886, and performances began in 1891, often consisting of traveling shows. Plays are still performed in the Opera House, and various people associated with shows have reported hearing footsteps pacing the balcony and seeing a man in a white shirt, dark pants, and tall boots.

Perhaps most interesting is the local rumor that John Wilkes Booth was not, in fact, killed after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but instead escaped to Granbury to live under the pseudonym John St. Helen with his cousin (a woman whose maiden name was, in fact, Booth), where he performed bit roles at the Opera House, served drinks at a bar next door, and drank alcohol only once a year—on the anniversary of Lincoln's death, when St. John would get blindingly drunk and quote Shakespeare.

5. Stephenville, Texas UFO Sightings

 The latest batch of UFO sightings—centered in Stephenville, Texas, but occurring across this particular stretch of Texas—occurred in 2008 and 2009. Strange lights moving through the sky were reported by dozens of eyewitnesses and have not been explained.  These sightings bear a resemblance to those discussed in an 1891 newspaper article from Dublin, Texas.  (All I know for sure is that I spent my entire childhood watching for UFOs from my home in Stephenville—and they didn't appear until I had moved away!

Thank you Margo for giving us such a haunting tour of Fairy!  

To learn more about Margo Bond Collins and her books, please visit her website.  You can add her Fairy, Texas series here on Goodreads.

What did you think of Margo's picks for spooky places?

Last week on Paranormal Road Trip we visited Kingsholme, Faerie with C.T. Adams.  Next week we'll be traveling to Sonoma County, California with Sharon Hamilton.

Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!