CIRCLE OF THE MOON (Nell Ingram #4) by Faith Hunter Blog Tour

Thank you for visiting my little corner of the digital world!  Today we are having some fun with the newest installation of Nell Ingram's story, Circle of the Moon.  First up, I have a guest post for you from Nell herself!

CHINESE PORTRAIT UPDATED with NELL INGRAM – 2018

What if you were…
1. If you had a job other than the one with PsyLED, the Psychometric Law
Enforcement Division of Homeland Security?
Nell: I’m a farmer at heart, not that I have a lot of cleared land to farm. I have over a
hundred fallow acres of old growth trees that I commune with and take care of, and they take
care of me in return. I know that sounds odd and it’s a long story, but trust me, the land can
do its job. That said, I’ve thought about putting in some grape vines in the three acres on the
south side of the hill. I’ve even thought about clearing some land for crops. But it might be
easier to just bring in some meat goats. I’m not sure yet. I hope to have my little sister live
with me soon and she might have an opinion on all that. We’ll see!

2. If you were a car or truck?
Nell: I’d say that’s kinda silly, that no one can be a car, but then I’m part tree, so maybe it
ain’t so strange. And my answer has changed in the last year as I’ve been brought into
modern society and culture. Once upon a time I said I would be John Deere tractor, but now?
I’d be a truck, for sure. A collectable 1945-1949 Willys CJ-2A. The CJ-2A was the blueprint
for every recreational four-wheel drive vehicle for seventy years, including every Jeep. It’s
got that seven-slot grille, flat fenders, and the Willys' little 60-hp, 134-cid "Go-Devil" engine.
The CJ-2A runs on an 80-inch wheelbase and weighs just 2100 pounds, so it’s maneuverable
as well as peppy. I’d make a great Willys!

3. If you were a poem?
Nell: That’s changed too. Not because I fell out of love with Will. That’s William
Shakespeare. But because I’m in the middle of falling in love with a Cat-man, a were-leopard
named Occam. It’s ’cause a him that I’m reading some love poems by John Donne, not that
I’m gonna tell Occam that, and not that I’d EVER tell my mama. She’d have kittens to think
of me reading anything other than the Bible and Shakespeare. Donne writes sorta like Will,
with spellings of his day and lots of flourishes. Here’s the first verse of my current favorite…
THE GOOD-MORROW
I WONDER by my troth, what thou, and I
Did, till we lov’d? were we not wean’d till then?
But suck’d on countrey pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?
T’was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desir’d, and got, t’was but a dreame of thee.

4. When we last met, I asked what weapon you would be. Has your answer changed?
Nell: Last time I said something like: I am a weapon. I can feed the land, feed the EARTH
with the blood of my enemies. I can heal the trees of the forest with the soul of an attacker. I
look innocent, but I am something primeval and dangerous and I can kill with my bare hands.

Beware. So, um. Yeah. Maybe that’s gotten worse? Maybe I’m more of a weapon than ever?
I had to battle something really big and mean and awful in CIRCLE OF THE MOON. Now
it’s getting hard to hide what I am, and I fear that sometime soon, someone might challenge
me on the fact of not being human. Anyway, thanks for having me!

BOOK SYNAPSIS
Nell can draw magic from the land around her, and lately she’s been using it to help the Psi-Law Enforcement division, which solves paranormal crimes. Joining the team at PsyLED has allowed her to learn more about her powers and the world she always shunned—and to find true friends.

Head agent Rick LaFleur shifts into a panther when the moon calls him, but this time, something has gone wrong. Rick calls Nell from a riverbank—he’s naked, with no memory of how he came to be there, and there’s a dead black cat, sacrificed in a witch circle and killed by black magic, lying next to him.

Then more animals turn up dead, and the team rushes to investigate. A blood-witch is out to kill. But when it seems as if their leader is involved in the crime, the bonds that hold the team together could shatter at any moment.

ISBN: 0399587942
ISBN-13: 978-0399587948

PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
iBooks
Google Play

MY REVIEW
Circle of the Moon by Faith Hunter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite books are part of a series - specifically long series. Beyond that I LOVE when an author has managed to create a world so intricate, wide-spread, ad well-written that it can then spawn spin-off series with some of the characters. Faith has managed to do this brilliantly.

Circle of the Moon becomes an integral tie-in book between the Jane Yellowrock and Nell Ingram worlds. Focusing on Ricky-Bo, the story gives many more details regarding his tattoo, how and why it was created... and why it has become the magical "backdoor" anyone familiar with pc hacking would be proud to know about.

I don't want to go into too many details as that may spoil the story, but both Nell & Ricky-Bo grow quite a bit in this story, and once I opened the book it was hard to put it down. The whole team is still recovering from their last magical firefight, and being the nuturer that she is, Nell feels strongly responsible for fixing them. Ricky-Bo is torn between his responsibility to lead and feeling that he is letting the team down.

Overall once of the best reads I have had in quite a while!

View all my reviews

ABOUT FAITH

Faith Hunter is the New York Times and USAToday bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock series, the Soulwood series, and the Rogue Mage series, as well as the author of 16 thrillers under pen the names Gary Hunter and Gwen Hunter. She has 40+ books in print.

Faith collects orchids and animal skulls, loves thunder storms, and writes. She likes to cook soup, bake homemade bread, garden, and run Class III whitewater rivers. She edits the occasional anthology and drinks a lot of tea. Some days she’s a lady. Some days she ain't.

For more, see www.faithhunter.net
To keep up with her, like her fan page at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.faith.hunter



GIVEAWAY
Five winners will receive the first two Soulwood novels! Contest runs Feb. 11th until Mar. 7th. The Rafflecopter code is below:
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SUMMONED TO THRITEENTH GRAVE (Charley Davidson #13) by Darynda Jones Blog Tour

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Grim Reaper Charley Davidson is back in the final installment of Darynda Jones’ New York
Times bestselling paranormal series!

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plane for
eternity—which is exactly the amount of time it takes to make a person stark, raving mad. But
someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.

She’s missed her daughter. She’s missed Reyes. She’s missed Cookie and Garrett and Uncle Bob. Now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel.

A FUN FACT FOR EACH OF THE CHARLEY BOOKS:

First Grave on the Right

• The concept for First Grave came about while Darynda was working as a sign language interpreter in her hometown. She stole many of the names from students at the schools where she worked, including Reyes, Garrett, and Amber. As far as Darynda knows, they have all forgiven her for her thievery.

Second Grave on the Left

• Uncle Bob is a combination of two people: Darynda’s oldest brother, Luther, and the principal at the high school where she worked for several years.

Third Grave Dead Ahead

• This was originally titled Third Grave Straight Ahead, but Darynda’s web designer, Liz Bemis, asked her to change the name to Dead Ahead. Firstly, it fit the content better, and secondly, Liz got tired of spelling the word Straight wrong while updating the website. Dead is much easier to type.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

• Quentin Rutherford makes his first appearance in this book. While his first name was stolen from Darynda’s little brother and his last name stolen from yet another Jr. High student, Quentin is physically sculpted from her oldest son, Jerrdan, a bona fide blond-haired, blue-eyed devil with a sparkling smile that melts even the staunchest of hearts. And, like Quentin Rutherford, he was born Deaf. Not that he let it stop him for a second.

Fifth Grave Past the Light

• This book was fun to write! Darynda was trying to come up with something truly creepy to throw into the book, and she figured what would be creepier than having an apartment full of departed women crawling up the walls, skittering across the ceiling, and huddling in the corners? Also, it is one of the hotter books, so that was fun, too. Because, you know, Reyes.

Sixth Grave on the Edge

• Darynda really wanted to open this one on a humorous note. She wanted to have Charley on a stakeout with a departed elderly man, who also happens to be naked, riding shotgun. Which begs the question: Are we really stuck in (or out of) whatever we are wearing when we die for all eternity? ‘Cause that would suck.

Seventh Grave and No Body

• Osh’ekiel was originally supposed to be in one book only. And he was supposed to be a very bad guy. But Darynda fell in love with him while writing the book and decided to redeem him and give him a bigger role. Just how big his role would become didn’t come to Darynda until plotting Eighth Grave. He has been one of her favorite characters since she wrote that first scene with him.

Eighth Grave After Dark

• Darynda wanted to really turn the tables on Charley and force her to have to stay in one place, thus the sacred ground of the convent came into play. It was fun and challenging to write a “locked room” mystery, so to speak, but that’s why she loves writing so much.

The Dirt on Ninth Grave

• One of Darynda’s favorite books in the series, she looked forward to writing this book ever since she came up with the concept while plotting Sixth Grave. Part of what makes a romance so fun is the falling-in-love part, and she wanted Charley to fall in love with Reyes all over again. This book was doubly fun because the audience knows all the characters’ backstories, and they get to watch in anticipation as Charley slowly unravels the mysteries of her past, while seeing her fall head-over-heels for the same guy all over again.

The Curse of Tenth Grave

• This book had one of those too-close-for-comfort calls. Right before Tenth Grave went to print, after going through editors and copyeditors and readers of all shapes and sizes, a savvy proofreader let Darynda in on a little secret: A Sherpa is part of a culture, not an occupation. Thanks to this razor-sharp reader, Darynda narrowly escaped insulting an entire culture in one fell swoop. Aka, her worst nightmare. Her gratitude is unending.

Eleventh Grave in Moonlight

• Darynda dreamed of going to Scotland for so long, she finally decided to just put it in one of her books. She had Charley accidently materialize in the magical country, only to find out weeks after finishing the book that she would finally get to go there herself. In person. For realsies. It was even more magical than she’d imagined it would be, and she can’t wait to go back.

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave

• This book has one of Darynda’s favorite epiphanies EVER!!! She thought, what if someone out there in the universe, a child perhaps, knows everything about Reyes and Charley? Everything starting from their supernatural heritage to their human identities? And what if that person wrote a book about them? Or a series of books? Say, perhaps, a set of children’s books and Garrett just happens to stumble upon them while doing research? How fun would that be? And the international bestselling children’s book (fictionally speaking) The First Star was born.

Summoned to Thirteenth Grave

• By far the hardest story in the series to write, penning the last Charley book was a bittersweet experience. But Darynda knew she had to go big or go home, so what better way to go out with a bang than to end the world as we know it by starting the zombie apocalypse? Because that’s what writers do. We start apocalypses.   

MY REVIEWS:

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-reading this book was like visiting an old, dear friend - reminiscing and re-living some of the best times you've had. No matter how long it has been between visits things always fall right back into place.

The Charley Davidson series is light-hearted reading in the urban fantasy genre. This series caught me right from the get-go because it was an attention-grabber from the first page with it's punch-in-the-gut action and heavy doses of sarcasm. Charley is a down-to-earth protagonist with out-of-this-world abilities who draws you in and makes you empathize with her.

As an introduction to the series I thinks this book works very well. The main plot and sub-plots work together to weave a backdrop for not only this story, but all the following ones as well. The characters are introduced with intertwined back stories and the world they live in is described in enough detail to allow your imagination to create a vivid image of it.

All of the background you need to understand Charley, her family, and her friends is included in this book. If you are looking for a quick read read with hijinx, a touch of mystery, action, and tons of sarcasm then you are in the right place!

Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a powerful ending to an entertaining series! It had been a while since I had read the 12th installment so I had forgotten how it ended. Reading the first and last books in the series for this review was a little bittersweet. It showed just how much Charley and grown... and just how much she had remained the same.

I'm not sure Charley ever seems to get a break in so far as there always seems to be one crisis or another requiring her attention, and this story is much the same. Reyes managed to unleash a hell on earth when he broke out of the god glass, and it is now up to them to get that portal closed down.

I laughed... I cried... I *think* I saw an opening for a spin-off series... Well, at least that is MY wishful thinking regarding the ending of the last book in one of my favorite series of all time. ;)

View all my reviews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author DARYNDA JONES won a Golden Heart and a RITA for her manuscript First Grave on the Right. A born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.

DARYNDA’S SOCIAL LINKS:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Darynda
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darynda.jones.official
Website: http://www.daryndajones.com/

SMP Romance Twitter: https://twitter.com/heroesnhearts & https://twitter.com/SMPRomance
SMP Romance Website: https://heroesandheartbreakers.com/

BUY LINKS:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250149411