Blog Tour with Excerpt: Scar Tissue by M.C. Domovitch

Scar Tissue by M.C. Domovitch 
Genres: Romantic Suspense 

SYNOPSIS

When successful model Ciara Kelly wakes up in hospital, remembering nothing of the weeks she has been missing, her only clues are the ugly words carved into her skin. According to the police she was a victim of the Cutter, a serial killer who has already murdered three women. For her protection the police and her doctors give a press conference, announcing that because her amnesia is organically caused, her memory loss is permanent. But, whether her memory returns or not is anybody’s guess. Overnight, Ciara’s glamorous life is gone. Her scars have killed both her modelling career and her relationship with her rich boyfriend. With nothing to keep her in New York, she returns to her home town of Seattle, moves in with her sister and goes about building a new life. But when her sister lets it slip that Ciara’s memory is returning, the killer comes after her again. If Ciara is to stay alive, she must keep one step ahead of the Cutter.

   

EXCERPT

I don’t want to die.

That single thought pounded through her mind as she hurtled through the woods. The blackness had dropped all at once, and now the trees were merely darker shadows against a dark night. The rain came down hard. Lightning cracked, sounding so much like a gunshot that she muffled a scream. But she had not been hit. She was still alive. She ran on.

Branches and bushes whipped at her, scratching her arms and legs. She tripped over an exposed root and crashed to the ground, but was back on her feet in an instant.

A brilliant flash of lightening was followed by thunder. Ka-boom. Everything that had been black a moment ago became white. Had she been spotted? No, surely not.

A crunching sound came from her right. She whipped her head toward it and picked up her pace. Her breathing was ragged, short puffs of steam in the frigid April air. It couldn’t have been more than fifty degrees. Sweat and rain mixed with the dirt and blood from her countless wounds and ran down her face and neck in rivulets. Thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she was numb to the cold and the pain, but she would feel it later—if she got out of here alive.

Please God, let me live.

But she’d had no real food for days, no water except the occasional sip. Her body couldn’t keep going much longer. She was close to collapsing.

Must. Keep. Going.

If she wanted to stay alive, she needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and her captor. She had no idea how long she’d been running or in which direction she was going. Had her kidnapper even noticed she’d escaped? Was that monster already on her trail, getting closer with every passing second? A horrendous thought came to her. She could be running in a circle, her every step bringing her closer to her jailer. A sob escaped her throat.

Dear God. Please. Please.

She squinted, trying to see through the inky night. There had to be a road, a house, something, and then she saw them. Some distance away there were lights, and her last vestiges of hope crashed.

Flashlights.

Had a posse been formed? Were they closing in on her? In her panic, she tripped and came down hard, again. This time she thought she might have broken an arm. She was crying now. She’d come so close. But she would be caught. And she would die.

She looked up at the lights moving through the trees, and blinked. Could her imagination be playing tricks on her? She stared, and in moment of clarity she understood. Those weren’t flashlights. They were headlights. Headlights meant cars, and cars meant a road. Just ahead, maybe a few hundred yards farther, lay safety.

She had to keep going. She struggled to her feet, cradling her sore arm. She made her way, pushing through brambles and bushes until she came to a steep embankment. She crawled up and then over the guardrail. A car whizzed by, blaring its horn.

“Wait. Stop!” she yelled at the next one when it was still a distance away, but it drove by too. “Help me!” she shouted after it. She limped into the road, determined to make the next one stop. Tires screeched. There was a thud. And then she went flying through the air, coming to a bone-crushing thump on the hard pavement.

Through the mist in her mind she heard the sound of running footsteps, then a woman’s voice. “Oh, my God. Is she dead?”

A man’s voice, pleading. “I swear. It wasn’t my fault. She ran right in front of me.”

The woman again. “I think she’s still breathing. Call an ambulance. Now!” She leaned into her. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

The words came to her from a great distance, growing further and further away, until they were only a faint echo. She drifted into nothingness.

PURCHASE

AMAZON

 ABOUT MC DOMOVITCH

Monique was born in the small town of Hearst Ontario, the oldest of ten children. “You can’t imagine the pressure,” she says,laughing. “Anything I did wrong—and I did plenty—was sure to lead my siblings into a life of sin. I therefore accept the blame for any wrongdoings by all member of my family.”

When she was twenty years old she moved to Montreal, where she became a successful model, winning the prestigious Modeling Association of American Contest and continuing on to an international career. During this time, she worked with many top photographers and graced many designer runways. “Modeling was a wonderful career,” she says. “I met so many interesting and talented people. I travelled all over the world. After ten years of facing cameras and audiences, I became very comfortable with the public. I had no idea at the time, just how much this ability would serve me later in life.”
When Monique retired from modeling, she founded Beauties Modeling Agency in Montreal. Through her tutelage, many Canadian models gained international renown. “I wanted to accept my age rather than try desperately to look young for an unforgiving camera. That was the main reason I retired from modeling when I was still young.”

Later, she became a financial adviser and planner, and soon found herself hosting her own national television show about personal finance. After four years on the air, the series ended and Monique soon retired from her financial career, remarried and embarked on her new career in writing. Her success was almost instant. She was singed on by an agent within months of finishing her first novel and soon signed two contracts for a total of six books. She is now hard at work on her ninth, due out in winter of 2015.

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Book Review: Six Moon Summer (Seasons of the Moon, #1) by S.M. Reine

Six Moon Summer is the first book in the Seasons of the Moon series by S.M. Reine. Unlike the previous books I have read from Reine, this is more for the young and new adult audiences, but I think everyone that enjoys her work can enjoy it. I have the rest of this series already, and if you want to read all of her series in strict chronological order this is where you should start. 

Rylie's been bitten and she is changing. And now she has three months to find a cure before becoming a werewolf forever. Rylie Gresham hates everything about summer camp: the food, the fresh air, the dumb activities, and the other girls in her cabin. The fact that she is here because her parents sent her here as they work out their divorce. But the worst part is probably being bitten by a werewolf. Being a teenager is hard enough, but now she is craving raw flesh and struggles with uncontrollable anger. If she doesn't figure out a way to stop the transformation, then at the end of summer, her life is worse than over. She'll be a monster.

Six Moon Summer is a young adult werewolf book, with a touch of romance, which manages to escape feeling like every other book that can have that statement applied to it. Rylie is dealing with a realistic emotional crisis or two, and I have to say I liked her almost immediately because of her lack of desire for 'girl friends' and that her real friends were mainly guys. I did not like that she had to do the too common mistrust of the girlfriends of said guys, only because she is just so skinny, blond, and all that jazz. However, that minor blip was my only real irritation. The connection between Seth and Rylie is strong, and the romance is done in such a way that it does not overpower the emotional issues Rylie is dealing with our the paranormal aspects of the story. I think she does take the whole introduction to the fact that the world holds real monsters and hunters out there a little too well, but she handles most of her crisis in a similar manor, so it is consistent with her character. I am willing to chalk up the couple little things that did not work perfectly for me up to the fact that this is the first book, in the first series, by the author. Since I really enjoy some of the later series’ I can see where some of the ideas and style that I have come to enjoy so much started.

Six Moon Summer is a good start to the series, and what has become a part of a much bigger world. I really enjoy Reine's writing style and plan on masking it through all of her books, eventually. A great pick for readers that read faster than their favorite authors can keep up, since there is enough of a back list to get you started and more on the way!

Book Review: On the Sapphire’s Trail by Katherine and Florian Ferrier

On the Sapphire’s Trail is the second graphic novel in the Hotel Strange series by Katherine and Florian Ferrier. The characters of Hotel Strange are busy planning a music festival and Kiki is too lazy to help anyone. While Marietta tries to convince Kiki to help they stumble upon a monster who wants to sing in the festival. Marietta looks for a quiet place for the Arrgoyle to practice, but on her way home, she is kidnapped by thieves! The thieves are looking for the people who stole their sapphires. Soon Marietta and her friends are working to solve the mystery of the missing sapphires while the thieves hold Mr. Leclair hostage. Can they solve the mystery of a missing sapphire to save their friends, and the festival!

On the Sapphire’s Trail is an interesting graphic novel, with the same charms and problems as the first book, Wake Up Spring. THe illustrations are well done and colorful. They add most of the details and some additional humor to the story. The characters hold to their established characters in their strange little world, which is always a plus. I think that the story included a good variety of unusual creatures, most of which we met in the previous book, but the story was a little scattered. It almost had too much going on, but never completely crossed that line. I think the transitional and newly independent readers that are in the target age group will enjoy the read. 

Book Review: My Tempting Highlander (Highland Hearts, #3) by Maeve Greyson

My Tempting Highlander is the third book in the Highland Hearts, series by Maeve Greyson. The first two books were My Highland Lover and My Highland Bride. I did not read the first, but quickly caught up with the series and enjoyed the read. I think readers that have read both previous books will get more out of each following book, but each book can be perfectly entering on its own.

Cursed to live forever with neither wife nor child, Ronan Sutherland has watched all he cherishes turn to dust more than once. For hundreds of years, he's been trapped behind the mists of Loch Ness, hoping to identify the one woman who is prophesied to break the spell. Now, at last, the fates have aligned, and he's being sent into the future to fetch her. After a single glimpse, Ronan knows he's been waiting all his life for this passionate woman. Unlike her time-traveling sisters, Mairi Sinclair is perfectly content to remain in the present. As a hospital nurse in Edinburgh, she cherishes the opportunity to put her gift of healing powers to good use. But everything changes the morning a mysterious wolf darts in front of her car. Touching the wounded creature's tawny coat, a tingle surges through her. Yet when she returns with aid, Mairi is shocked to find instead a man with broad shoulders and fire in his eyes—a man who tempts her to unleash the animal within.

My Tempting Highlander is a quick read with much more build up to the final happy ever after than I have been seeing lately. While I was amused at how quickly the 'untrusting' Mairi falls into bed with Ronan I was equally entertained by her other gullible or at least naive moments. Even though she is regularly requesting the whole truth, and not getting it, she does not seem to think things through and put the puzzle pieces together even when I though it pretty obvious. I was also a bit bothered by the fact that her distrust of others that is talked about quite a bit is never explained, and although once she feels lied to she is obviously more than a little angry she does not seem all that slow to actually move things forward. Ronan is an all around honorable guy, that just continually hedges around the truth in fear that he will lose his destined mate. Which strikes me as odd, because seeing how Mairi is from a magical family how shocked do you think she would really be if she knew the whole story? A love story with some really great moments, but that falls into the trap of the major issue being the main characters not having a few very serious discussions earlier in the game. Still a fun read, with plenty of humor, but not as good as I had hoped.

My Tempting Highlander is a good but not fantastic read. I liked the characters, but not always how they interacted. I laughed, I was frustrated, and I had some definite feels. So it was still worth a read, and would be the perfect pick for a rainy weekend.

Book Review: Charmed by Jen Calonita

Charmed is the second book in the Fairy Tail Reform School series by Jen Calonita. I highly recommend reading the first book, Flunked, before reading this one (mainly because it was a fun read). While getting the full picture always makes for a better read, I think new readers could catch up to speed if they want to, but I do not suggest it.

It takes a (mostly) reformed thief to catch a spy. Gilly Cobbler, Enchantasia's most notorious pickpocket, and her friends may have defeated the Evil Queen and become reluctant heroes, but the battle for Enchantasia has just begun. Alva, aka The Wicked One who cursed Sleeping Beauty, has declared war on the Princesses, and she wants the students of Fairy Tale Reform School to join her. As her criminal classmates give in to temptation, Gilly goes undercover as a Royal Lady in Waiting (don't laugh) to unmask a spy before the mole can hand Alva the keys to the kingdom. Dealing with the pros and cons of fame, and the trouble they bring make everything more complicated.

Charmed is a good follow up to Flunked, but not a great one. I liked the amount of conflict about friendship, social expectations, and the issues that being well-known can bring. I like that not every character fit in the mold that they had been cast and proved themselves to be better than assumed. I did not like that I figured out who the mole was so quickly, and how frustrated I was that characters in the book did not catch on. I was annoyed with the main character, but that was because she was acting just like a teenage girl would in her position. Gilly had to balance the good feelings of being admired with the friendships she had forged and her own moral code. She did not always make the right choices, but who does. I did like the realisticness of that, even as it made me cringe more than once. Unfortunately not all the main players got much development, at least not as much as I would have liked. That being said, it was still a good, solid read. However, my expectations and hopes for this series were very high and I think I set myself up for the frustration and disappointment that I felt.



Charmed is a fun sequel, but I do not think it was as good as the first. There was enough action and twists to keep me turning pages, but it did not meet my now high expectations for the author.