#NewRelease DEVIL TAKE ME by Karilyn Bentley #urbanfantasy #supernatural #magic

I'm excited to announce that Devil Take Me, the fourth book in the urban fantasy Demon Huntress series is now out at an online retailer near you! Gin Crawford returns for another adrenaline-racing adventure. This time a demon is loose in Dallas wreaking havoc and her demon-killing employer seems to be harboring its own demon. She needs the help of her guardian mage, Aidan Smythe, to track down the demons, but he's not speaking to her. What's an demon hunting empath to do? Check out the blurb and excerpt, then get your copy to find out!

Happy Reading!

Blurb:

#99cents #SALE on Demon Lore by Karilyn Bentley

Just in time for Halloween, Demon Lore, the first book in the urban fantasy Demon Huntress series, is on sale for $0.99 until October 26th!! This is the first book in Gin Crawford's adventure of becoming the world's newest demon huntress. There are three books in the series out now (Demon Lore, Demon Kissed, and Demon Cursed) with two more coming out next year. Keep reading for all the fun details!

Blurb:

Gin Crawford has enough problems dealing with her empath abilities. Finding out she's the world's newest demon-slayer is the last thing she needs. Unfortunately, when she slips on a mysterious bracelet she is given no other choice. On the plus side, her new gig comes with Tall, Dark and Handsome, a mage who may or may not have her best interests at heart. Thrust into a power-play between good and evil, Gin must choose a side before she becomes the next victim in the ongoing battle.

Excerpt:

      The evil man-thing stands on my porch, his lips turning in a menacing smile of death. I don’t need to touch him to know he wants me dead. Muscles freeze, trapping my breath in my lungs. Like a rabbit in view of a wolf, I’m immobilized, waiting for death’s blow. Time slows, his gaze locks on mine, trapping me in place.

     Move, move, move! My mind screams as the man’s fingers twitch.

     But the spike of adrenaline explodes into my limbs too late to stop the backhand blow slamming across my jaw.

     I superman it halfway across the living room. Land on the hardwood floor in a thud of pain-ridden limbs. My jaw morphs into a screaming ball of nerves. My head no sooner hits the floor than I hear the bracelet scream, a high-pitched wail quivering through my skin like vibrations from a tuning fork. The bracelet tightens around my wrist, cutting off the circulation, and then it loosens with a pop at the same time I hear the door click closed.

     Ohgodohgodohgod, I’m going to die. I don’t want to die. No, no, no, no, no. Pain and terror hold me crumpled on the floor as my mind crawls backward in time.

     But I’m no longer a child, fearful of fists and words, cowering on the ground.

     I’m a fighter.

     My head spins, but I refuse to lie on the floor waiting to be killed, so I attempt to stand. Evil Guy laughs as I ass-plant it. Laughs as a moan escapes my lips. He takes a step toward me, right arm drawn back for a hit. His fist hurls toward my face, but I manage to block it with my left arm. My right arm, the one with the bracelet, shoves forward, slamming into his chest.

     His black eyes widen, mouth open in surprise, his hands fluttering to his chest before dropping. I stare at my hand, stare hard, for I’m as surprised as Evil Guy. The bracelet had become a sword, a long, thin spike of metal extending from the silver links, straight into Evil Guy’s heart.

     A sword?

     Definitely a sword. The flat of the blade rests against the back of my hand, cool metal heating from the warmth of my skin. Small silver links circle around my palm, lending stability to the two-foot long sword.

     I’m not sure which scares me more, Evil Guy paying me a visit or the fact the bracelet performed a morphing trick.

Buy Links:

Amazon | iBooks | B&N | TWRP

And if you like Demon Lore, check out Demon Kissed and Demon Cursed, the 2nd and 3rd books in the series. Enjoy!

Happy Reading!!

Where to find Karilyn:

Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Website  

A Texas girl dishes on life in the Rockies - High Altitude Gardening by Karilyn Bentley

What I want my garden to look like

You know those perfect gardens and manicured lawns you see around big cities? They're pretty, aren't they? Unfortunately, those aren't available where I live. I guess if you wanted to hire a bunch of people to dig up rocks and plant flowers you might be able to make a go of a garden. Until the next herd of deer or elk come walking through it the next day, eating everything you planted.

When we first moved here, I wanted to continue having a garden like the one I had in Texas. Nothing much, just some veggies and a few flowering plants. I love growing my own vegetables, although the insects would always manage to eat them, sometimes before The Hubster and I could. I was super-excited to try out  my hand at gardening in the mountains where there aren't the same doggone leaf eating insects. So we went to the local gardening store and bought a flowering plant claiming to be able to live to -20 degrees Fahrenheit and a plant of chrysanthemums. I was determined to have them live and bloom. My front flowerbeds were going to look awesome! Then a lady walked up, chuckling, asked if we were new to town. When I said we were, she responded with a thought so, those plants should be advertised as deer food, only the new arrivals try to plant plants. I laughed, but was determined to get them to grow, to spread, to smell and look pretty. To prove that lady wrong.

A #NewRelease for you! Demon Cursed is out now! #urbanfantasy #darkfantasy

 I'm excited to announce that Demon Cursed, the third book in my urban fantasy Demon Huntress series, is out now! Yay! Gin Crawford and Aidan Smythe are back for another adventure.

Here's the blurb:

Gin Crawford, the world's newest demon huntress, just wants to enjoy a football game, but finds herself hunting a serial killer minion instead. When his victims turn out to be the local football star’s female fans, she must determine if the player has joined forces with the minion, but her efforts lead her deeper into danger. When her mentor, Aidan Smythe, is attacked, Gin resolves to go to any lengths to save him, even if it exposes her most tightly held secret. Minions and demons, however, aren't the only terrors she faces. Will she realize the greatest danger lies within—before it's too late?

And no blurb is complete without the excerpt:

A Texas Girl dishes on Life in the Rockies by Karilyn Bentley #TWRP

I'm trying something different today. Instead of talking about my dogs in the Tales from the Crate blogs, I'm going to talk about Life in the Rockies. Why? Because, almost a year ago, The Hubster and I moved our family of one dog and various fish, corals and other critters in a salt water fish tank (almost all of which died during the move, the fish and critters, that is, not The Kraken or the corals) from North Texas to the Colorado Rockies. Needless to say, things are a bit different up here, and I'm not talking about the Rocky Mountain High. So, in case you are interested, here is a list of things I've learned since our move. 

1. Altitude takes awhile to get used to. Become accustomed to gasping for breath while walking anywhere. Having an upper respiratory infection makes this worse (as a side note, don't go skiing with a URI lest you find yourself suddenly unable to breath while hurtling down the side of a mountain. Just saying).

Tales from the Crate - Shiny Floors are Scary! by Karilyn Bentley #crazydog #dogproblems

The Kraken

The Kraken wants you to know that shiny floors are scary.

Scary shiny floors

Tales from the Crate - The Kraken gets a puppy! by Karilyn Bentley #crazydog #puppies #amwriting

I'm happy to announce the arrival of the newest addition to our family: The New Puppy!

Our new puppy!

Isn't he adorable? We thought The Kraken needed a playmate since we moved and she no longer goes to doggie daycare or agility. And what did she think of our gift to her?

She was rather ambivalent the first day. She did not appreciate us touching the puppy or the puppy trying to touch her. Nope, not at all. 

But the second day she decided to play nice. More like play fight. Then all was right with the world as long as Puppy avoided touching her when she wanted to sleep. 

Now they play A LOT!

A New Release for You!! Demon Kissed by Karilyn Bentley #NewRelease #urbanfantasy #TWRP

I'm happy to announce that Demon Kissed, the 2nd book in the Demon Huntress series, is out now!! I'm really excited about this book as I love getting into Gin's head. New adventures await Gin and Smythe as they track a new demon. Pick up your copy at your neighborhood e-store and enjoy!

Blurb:

Gin Crawford, the world's latest demon huntress, has no time to mourn her dead lover as she's called in to determine why a demon attack occurred at the local medical school. And not just any demon, but the one demon that gives her demon-killing bracelet the shivers. A dead professor, a lab full of missing anthrax, and a demon who turns good people into minions complicate her life. Can Gin and her mentor Aidan Smythe solve the mystery of the missing anthrax and the identity of the demon before someone else dies?

Excerpt:

Tales from the Crate: #CrazyDog kills dog agility by Karilyn Bentley

The cutest puppy in the world

Have you been wondering what happened to our adorable puppy, aka The Kraken? It dawned on me the other day I hadn't written about her in a year. (Want to read about my puppy adventures? Try Here, Here and Here)  She's grown now, all 45 pounds of her. Still likes to eat the garden (currently asparagus, okra and tomatoes are her faves, but the poor kale plant is moving up on her list), snuggle with The Hubster, and catch bugs, toads, geckos, and the occasional baby bird. <shivers to think of that one> But her new skill is dog agility.

#NewRelease The Detective's Dragon by Karilyn Bentley #weekendreads

I'm excited to announce The Detective's Dragon is out now! <happy dancing!!!> This is the fourth book in the Draconia Tales series and was my favorite to write. After all, it's the reason the trilogy is now a series. Yep, I had only planned three books, but in the last chapter of the last book, the characters in The Detective's Dragon hopped into my mind and wouldn't let go. As all authors know, when a character sinks their teeth (or claws) into your mind, you have no choice but to write about them. Jamie and Parker insisted their story be told and I had to oblige them. Insistent characters make for sleepless nights. <g>

Here's a little peek into their story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Tales from the Crate - Games Puppies Play #crazy dog by Karilyn Bentley

Crazy Puppy with new ball-ball and rope bone

As you probably know, we are the proud owners of a crazy puppy we lovingly refer to as The Kraken. Despite owning several dogs over the course of our marriage, we have never adopted one that liked to play with anything except pizzle sticks and beef bones. So image our surprise when Crazy Puppy played fetch without being taught. We were ecstatic. For all of a day. She is obsessed with ball-ball. Or frisbee. Or any object she can fetch, return to you and ram into your leg. While still chewing. With that in mind, here is a list of some toys/games one can play with a puppy.

Tales from the Crate: How to Write with a Puppy by Karilyn Bentley #crazydog

As some of you may remember, we got a puppy in June that we were told was seven months old. In July we found out she was really three months old when we got her. Yikes. I never thought to have that young of a puppy. Karma is getting me back for looking at others and thinking I could do a better job of raising a puppy than they were. Somewhere Karma is laughing its butt off.

So how do I write with a puppy? Well, this is what used to happen on my day off. I'd sleep in until The Hubster would wake me with a kiss as he was walking out the door. Then I'd determine whether the old gimpy dog, aka Hell Hound, was able to go for a walk. If so, walk him. If not, do Tai Chi and meditate. Feed dog. Have coffee and breakfast while reading paper. Take shower. Get in a couple of hours writing/promo before meeting Hubster for lunch. Come home, write some more. Greet Hubster with kiss and spend evening with him.

What happens now.

Move Over Marley, You've Got Nothin' On Me #crazydog #plottingprincesses by Karilyn Bentley

I'm sure you've all heard of Marley, the lab that ate his way through his owner's home. I often wondered what the owner did to cause their dog to go so crazy. So, for my audacity, the universe blessed me with a couple of crazy pooches. At the end of this tale, you can tell me what we did wrong.<g>

Hop in your time machine and journey back with me several years ago when we had first moved into our brand new house and Clara, aka Jaws, still walked among us. Warning: never buy a new house if you own a crazy dog (or a puppy for that matter). Just saying.

Okay, back to the story. Let me set the scene. Clara (the usual eater of the home) had to have surgery (no, it had nothing to do with eating the house, she'd calmed down by this point and only snacked on mail or any other paper item lying around, which BTW worked better than any other shredder). Hell Hound had torn a gash on his leg and was forced to wear the cone of shame so he wouldn't lick the boo-boo. Outdoor maintenance men were coming over, and since HH had a nasty habit of jumping on the doors and windows while barking, snarling and drooling, hence scaring the crap out of the guys, we had to lock him in the bedroom (why not the crate, you ask? B/c he ate through a solid steel crate to get to the windows and the UPS guy. Crate had a broken door and was therefore a no-go.).

When we got home we were met at the door by Hell Hound. A very excited, Hell Hound.

Tales from the Crate - How to Train Your Puppy in Three (not so) Easy Steps #puppyproblems - by Karilyn Bentley

I'm happy to announce we got a new puppy! Isn't she cute??

Our little cutie

Favorite sleeping place

She's seven months old, we were told a Lab/Border Collie mix (but she's not supposed to get bigger than 30 pounds), and came with the name Angel. Yeah, right, a misnomer for any puppy. We changed it to Arya, one of our favorite characters from GoT. The character carries a sword named Needle. Our puppy comes with teeth and baby claws that function the same purpose. The Hubster named her. The Hubster also picked her out.

We weren't looking for a puppy. Our jobs keep us away from home during the day and puppies are a lot of work. Not to mention the whole housebreaking thing (still working on that one. Maybe I can get new carpets???). A couple of Saturdays ago we were looking at a group of rescue dogs, I turn around and the next thing I know Hubster has Arya on his shoulder. She climbed over the other puppies in the pen and jumped up, reaching for him. We were like: but she's a puppy. Don't want a puppy. But she clicked with us so a couple of hours later (after a bit of discussion) we went back and got ourselves a puppy.

Yikes.

What's growing in Karilyn's #garden? by Karilyn Bentley

As those of you who follow my Facebook or Twitter feeds know, I love to tinker in my garden. Not that I'm any kind of gardening expert, my philosophy on plants is I'll give them water and dirt. If they need more than that they should go live at someone else's home. <g> But I do love to watch them grow.

With that said, here are some pictures of various plants I'm trying to grow this year. One of the newest additions to the garden this year is corn. No clue on how to get it to produce, but several stalks are popping up.

corn stalks

#FREE on Kindle: Dragon Lover by Karilyn Bentley

 Yep! You read that correctly! Dragon Lover, the third book in the Draconia Tales trilogy, is FREE today through Saturday, 3/15, on Kindle. This book ends the trilogy and wraps up the overarching villain. Not literally, but close. <g> I'm excited it's out and really excited about the cover. Isn't it gorgeous? Here's a blurb and excerpt to tempt you to stop by Amazon and pick up your FREE copy. And while you're there, check out Magical Lover and Warrior Lover, the first two books of the series.

Happy Reading!

Karilyn Bentley: Cupid Comes Calling - Blind Date

 
By the time I hit grad school in my mid-twenties, I was single and tired of dating jerks. One morning I woke and decided enough was enough and there was nothing wrong with living the rest of my life by myself. I had friends, why did I need a man?

And that's when Cupid struck.

After an hour of bemoaning the latest dating mistake to one of my grad school buddies, she asked if I'd like to meet one of her friends. "He has long hair. You don't mind long hair, do you?" Of course not, all the better to run my hands through. <g>