Category Archives: psychological thriller

Blog Tour: Cheerleading Can Be Murder by Carissa Ann Lynch

Cheerleading can be Murder tour banner

Cheerleading Can Be Murder
by Carissa Ann Lynch
Release Date: April 5th 2016
Limitless Publishing

cheerleading can be murder cover

Summary from Goodreads:

Getting on the cheerleading squad is hard enough without a psycho on the loose…

For Harrow High freshman Dakota Densford, life should be easy. All she has to worry about is talking to cute boys and remembering her locker combination. But when cheerleading tryouts draw near, she learns the cards are stacked against her—spots on the varsity team are limited. Dakota faces her competition head-on, but when her life is threatened, that takes the competition to a whole new level.


High school is never easy, and freshman year is off to a rough start…


Between Dakota’s uniform being ripped up and masked vandals trashing another girl’s house, everyone is suspect. To complicate matters further, Dakota has a thing for Andy McGraw, but she finds him locking lips with another girl.


The harassment continues, and when Dakota finds suspicious flyers inside her best friend’s locker, she doesn’t know what to think. The principal’s unfeeling, overachiever daughter, Brittani Barlow, will do anything to secure her place on the team. But Dakota’s neighbor, on the other hand, definitely fits the profile of a sociopath.


Cheerleading has become a game of life or death.

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About the Author carissa ann lynch

Besides my family, my greatest love in life is books. Reading them, writing them, holding them, smelling them…well, you get the idea. I’ve always loved to read and never considered myself a “writer” until a few years ago when I couldn’t find a book to read and decided to try writing my own story. With a background in psychology, I’ve always been a little obsessed with the darker areas of the mind and social problems so I try to channel all of that into my writing.  I’m the author of the Flocksdale Files trilogy, the Horror High series, Grayson’s Ridge, and This Is Not About Love. I reside in Floyds Knobs, Indiana with my husband, children, and massive collection of books.

 

Author Links:

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Blog Tour Organized by:

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YA Bound Book Tours

 

Blog Tour: Amber Alert Series by Sara Schoen

 
AMBER ALERT (Amber Alert Series #1)
 
**Mature Content Warning** Recommended for ages 17+ due to
violence and sensitive subject matter.
Anna was taken…
Taken from her home to live out a sick game that a guy has been
playing for the last ten years.
With no certainty that anyone is looking for her, and seemingly
hours away from home, she’s forced to play housewife with a man that has had twelve other ‘wives’.
Each of them now dead…
With 12 rules and the obvious exits blocked, from the previous
girls attempts to flee. Is Anna’s only way out to play along and become a
‘loving wife’? Or will she die during the chase?
Would anyone even know what happened to her?
Or would she be labeled as a runaway?
And where is she in the
first place?
ABDUCTED (Amber Alert Series #2)
 
**Mature Content Warning** Recommended for ages 17+ due to
violence and sensitive subject matter.
Audrey Thomas had been raised by overprotective parents and is sick
of it…
After the kidnapping and recovery of her mother, Anna Cowles,
eighteen years ago, parents had a harsh awakening as they realized any child
could be taken for any reason.
New laws were set in place to protect children, but those same
children ignored the rules and went out of their way to get into trouble.
Audrey has always done what she wanted, no matter what the
consequences were…
But what happens when her choices lead her to being taken by the
one man people feared everyday for the last eighteen years, right up to his
execution.
Will she make it out like her mother did?
Or will she suffer the
fate of the previous twelve girls?

 

APPREHENDED (Amber Alert Series #3)
 
**Mature Content Warning** Recommended for ages 17+ due to
violence and sensitive subject matter.
There’s a copycat on the loose…
He’s playing the part of the notorious Steve Bennett, a serial
kidnapper and killer.
Twelve known girls have already been taken from all over the
country, but none have returned. With the orignial house of the mass kidnapper
and murderer destroyed, where is he hiding the girls?
Jessi Sparks is about to find out for herself…
This is the case she’s been waiting for, and she won’t let it
slip through her fingers. She will risk everything to finally put an end to
mass kidnappings.
But will she be risking
her own life?

 

“No! Andy…please!”
I was roughly shoved into the back of  a black car. The door slammed shut, the front door opened soon after and he got in. There was a click, as the car was locked. He threw the car into forward, and took off at an insane speed leaving everyone I knew and cared for behind.
I watched in terror as trees whizzed by, leaving the familiar surroundings behind as the road went from pavement to dirt and the buildings were replaced with large trees and fallen branches. I didn’t know where we were going, but I wanted to go home. The locks wouldn’t budge; the child safety lock prevented my escape the moment he had locked me in this god-forsaken car. I had lost my phone in the struggle, and I was stuck in here.
 There were scratch marks and dark spots on the seat. It looked as though someone had tried to claw their way out and I couldn’t blame them. Every hair on my neck were standing on end with fear blazing through me. My throat was sore from the screaming, but all the drivers had ignored my pleas for help. They simply kept driving without another sideways glance in my direction.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked again, my voice hoarse from the screams and crying. It was answered the same way, with silence that slowly crept in and made me shudder.
“Shut up!’
“Where are we going?”
“Be a good girl and take orders. Now shut up!”
I wished more than anything to be back at home and under my bed, away from him. The road turned to gravel as we came upon a rundown house, its shudders were falling of the hinges, but what caught me was the windows were boarded up. To prevent escape, I felt a shiver travel up my spine as the car came to a slow stop.
He got out of the car and didn’t unlock the doors until he was at the door. That small click would have brought me relief at any point in the car ride other than now. I pushed against the other side of the car as he reached one long hand in and grabbed me by my ankle and roughly yank me out of the car on to the gravel. A scream ripped through my throat as the gravel cut into my skin and my head hit the side of the car.
“Get up!” he ordered. My head was spinning from everything that had happened, but when I didn’t move, he moved me.
His hand grabbed take a large chunk of my hair before he lifted me out of the car, ignoring my cries of pain. He roughly dragged me to the house, I couldn’t get my feet to walk and fell often.
The door was solid, he had to slam his body against the wooden blockade and force it open. There was a creak as it slowly opened from his blows, and he threw me inside onto the hardwood floor. There was no carpet, anywhere It would be possible to hear every step from anywhere in the home. The house was bare to the bones, the walls held no photos or phones, rooms remained empty of furniture unless it was bolted to the ground. A new wave of fear ripped through me in realization that he had done this before, he had taken precautions for it.
Sara Schoen began writing in middle school, but did not officially dedicate herself to writing until high school when encouraged by her writing partner. Before then, Sara had not thought about trying to publish her works because it seemed unlikely that anyone would take a chance on someone so young. Despite her previous thoughts, she published her first book, Amber Alert, at the age of nineteen, and began rewriting and editing a spy series that she spent years writing when she was younger. With a lot of hard work and determination, now that same series, which is close to her heart, is a bestseller.
Sara is a Biology Major with a minor in Environmental Science and a minor in Spanish at James Madison University, and spends her time writing, studying, and ghost hunting.
While writing is a great hobby that turned into a passion to share with others,
school is her priority.
Throughout her publishing journey, Sara has had an amazing support system from her family,
friends, and significant other, who were with her every step of the way. She hopes to continue to write, and wants to inspire others to reach for their dreams no matter how far they may seem. She truly believes that dreams can come true at any age, if you put in effort and chase after what you want.
Social media links:
Twitter: @SaraNSchoen
Instagram:
@Stolen_Glances
 
Sara Schoen
 
Guarded Secrets Series
Suicide Mission (FREE): http://amzn.com/B011B1JMBY
Covert Operations: http://amzn.com/B0172DGCE0
 
Waking Up Blank: http://amzn.com/B00YTB0EZM
 
 
Sara Schoen and Taylor Henderson
 
 
 

Feature Friday: Shutter Speed by Mark Taylor

✺ ‪#‎NewRelease‬ ✺ ‪#‎ShutterSpeed‬ by @filingwords!

‬‬

“Evil Doesn’t Burn…”
SHUTTER SPEED by Mark Taylor

Kindle Unlimited: http://amzn.to/1LZLm0x



✺ SYNOPSIS ✺
Burned, scarred, and left for dead, Jimmy Tasker is running from everyone.

 

The blaze changed him—changed the way his brain fires—and left someone else in his head with him. Someone who wants to kill for fun.
He changes his name, buries his past, starts a new life…and disappears.
Years later, four friends from the city are hard up. Steve needs work, Gil’s jumpy, Peter is struggling, and Cal’s an addict. So they plan a robbery. Steve backs out, but the other three go through with it and botch the job, resulting in the death of Lauren Westerbrook.
Ronan Westerbrook has a hidden past, a love of photography…and a fondness for flame.
Ronan’s revenge for his wife’s death culminates in a bloodbath—and unleashes Jimmy, who was there all along, tormented by nightmares of atrocities he has no idea if he truly committed.
Steve is trying to build a respectable life, but now Jimmy has one last piece of unfinished business…the only witness who can identify him.
✺ ✺ CHECK OUT THE BOOK TRAILER ✺ ✺

 

✺ ✺ MARK TAYLOR ✺ ✺
Mark Taylor crash landed on planet earth in 1975. Then he started writing. He writes macabre, dark, stories, with a brooding style. He has enjoyed releases of both novel and short story collection alike.

 

Some of Mark’s work is about kittens and daisies. Just not very much.
Some say he is a product of his environment, others, a product of his own imagination.
Whichever it is he works happily, portraying dark existences on this planet and others. He relays his fears and doubts on his characters, so always has a smile. If Mark is real, as some say he is, you might find him in England.
Perhaps.

Release Day Blitz: Keeping the Tarnished by Bradon Nave

KEEPING THE TARNISHED 
by Bradon Nave
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Release Date: Nov. 3, 2015
– SYNOPSIS –
Johnny Tregalis leaves home the minute he turns eighteen, but he’s the only one who knows why…
Arriving in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Johnny has nothing—not even a plan. Local veterinarian Jackson Everett notices the boy, who reminds him of his own teenage son, and offers him a bed for the night.
Meeting Jackson’s wife Graye, his son Jared, and four-year-old daughter Bryce, Johnny sees a family he could never imagine. He’d been raised by his abusive father after his mother disappeared with his younger brother, and he’s sure he’ll be packed off to a shelter in the morning. He can’t believe it when he’s invited to stay indefinitely.
Johnny refuses to discuss his traumatic past as he attempts to fit in…
The Everetts try to help the profoundly troubled teen, but he seems to be at the mercy of his own mind. He’s held captive by flashbacks, excruciating night terrors, and a mounting inability to distinguish delusion from reality. How can he possibly recover, go to school, have friends…have a life?
Physical scars only hint at deeper psychological devastation…
As the shocking truth comes to light, Johnny struggles to overcome years of abuse, poverty, and despicable horrors to become part of a real family, but is he strong enough to defeat his demons? The Everetts realize Johnny’s journey is now their own, but they face a daunting task.
How much sacrifice is too much when all you can hope for is keeping the tarnished?
– PURCHASE –

JOIN THE RELEASE EVENT ON FACEBOOK!
– EXCERPT –
Midnight. Finally. The moments leading up to it had crawled slower than one of the maggots behind the kitchen trashcan, etching its way blindly through the coffee grounds and eggshells. He grabbed his weathered book bag full of a few clothing items and $188.00 in cash, and then stuck his leg out the window, arching his back as he felt his foot touch the ground outside. He pushed against the house, dragging his other leg across the bottom of the window frame as he lost his balance and fell backward to the ground. He didn’t care. He had been outside of this rundown shack a million times, but never had he been outside and free. Even if this freedom were short lived, and he went in the ground tomorrow, he owned it for this moment.
Quickly, he sprang to his feet, grabbed his bag, and began running in the direction of the cornfield near the end of the farmhouse drive.
The air was eerily still on this night. All was silent with the exception of a few chanting crickets and the occasional cry of the whippoorwill sounding out over the horizon. The moonlight illuminated the decrepit barn to the north of the house, as every single cornstalk in the field up ahead seemed to be reflecting the moon’s rays.
The yellow light bulb atop the wooden pole near the end of the drive was bright and buzzing in a calming manner. Several fat toads sat at the base, waiting for unfortunate insects to fall to the ground from their dizzy escapades near the globe at the top of the pole.
He ran past the half-built clubhouse his father and Uncle Doug had begun several years prior. He never understood if Doug was actually his uncle, but the men had wanted to build a ‘guy’s getaway’ for the three of them. He paid little attention to the details. He’d seen it all before hundreds of times, and he hoped to never see this place again.
Leaping over old car parts and garbage, he finally reached the corn. Although it wasn’t tall enough to hide him completely, it was all the cover he needed to make an effective escape. His heart raced wildly as he ran feverishly over the soft earth through the chest-high stalks. He began to smile through his heavy breathing, running—sprinting—excited as if he were scratching off the winning number on a substantial lottery ticket.
The prospects raced through his mind, and no adversity outside of his former confinements seemed to scare him. Starvation, disease, injury: nothing conjured concern except the idea of returning. He couldn’t go back, not now, now that a glimmer of hope had been resurrected.
As he bounded through the field like a fawn that had been mercifully released from the jaws of a predator, he felt as if he were being lifted off the ground; as if he were flying, and nothing in this world or the next could anchor him.
The taste of freedom was that of a bloodied lip, cornstalks, and the occasional mosquito; it was delicious. He knew he would leverage everything to maintain all he had in that moment, which was merely a tattered wardrobe, his father’s liquor-cash reserve, the worn clothing in the backpack, and a desperate desire to exist.
Hyper-vigilant and full of life, one would never have known only seven minutes prior he was a prisoner of technicality and his bedroom. Like a thief in the night, lowly and cunning, he darted through the cover, running on what seemed to be an endless rush of endorphins and adrenaline.
He was running for his life; this reality gave him wings.
The air was heavy and stagnant and seemed to fill his lungs with a thick, boggy perfume. He knew for certain that, if there were a higher power within the heavens, it would not have him come this far to go back. Even if he were found right now he knew he would die before he went back, and he would die a free man. Yes, a man. No longer a boy and no longer bound to his bedroom—to that shack—by the law. With a head full of dreams and the legs of a gazelle, he shot through the field, promising himself to never look back.
– ABOUT THE AUTHOR –
BRADON NAVE
Bradon Nave was born and raised in rural Oklahoma. He attended a small country school during junior high and high school, and graduated with only three people in his class. After graduate school, he decided to devote his spare time to his passion of writing.Bradon currently lives in Piedmont, Oklahoma, with his wife and two young children.
When he’s not writing, he loves running, being with friends and family, and being outdoors.

Pre-Order Blitz! Keeping the Tarnished by Bradon Nave

KEEPING THE TARNISHED by Bradon Nave
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Release Date: Nov. 3, 2015
– SYNOPSIS –
Johnny Tregalis leaves home the minute he turns eighteen, but he’s the only one who knows why…
Arriving in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Johnny has nothing—not even a plan. Local veterinarian Jackson Everett notices the boy, who reminds him of his own teenage son, and offers him a bed for the night.
Meeting Jackson’s wife Graye, his son Jared, and four-year-old daughter Bryce, Johnny sees a family he could never imagine. He’d been raised by his abusive father after his mother disappeared with his younger brother, and he’s sure he’ll be packed off to a shelter in the morning. He can’t believe it when he’s invited to stay indefinitely.
Johnny refuses to discuss his traumatic past as he attempts to fit in…
The Everetts try to help the profoundly troubled teen, but he seems to be at the mercy of his own mind. He’s held captive by flashbacks, excruciating night terrors, and a mounting inability to distinguish delusion from reality. How can he possibly recover, go to school, have friends…have a life?
Physical scars only hint at deeper psychological devastation…
As the shocking truth comes to light, Johnny struggles to overcome years of abuse, poverty, and despicable horrors to become part of a real family, but is he strong enough to defeat his demons? The Everetts realize Johnny’s journey is now their own, but they face a daunting task.
How much sacrifice is too much when all you can hope for is keeping the tarnished?
– PRE-ORDER –
– EXCERPT –
Midnight. Finally. The moments leading up to it had crawled slower than one of the maggots behind the kitchen trashcan, etching its way blindly through the coffee grounds and eggshells. He grabbed his weathered book bag full of a few clothing items and $188.00 in cash, and then stuck his leg out the window, arching his back as he felt his foot touch the ground outside. He pushed against the house, dragging his other leg across the bottom of the window frame as he lost his balance and fell backward to the ground. He didn’t care. He had been outside of this rundown shack a million times, but never had he been outside and free. Even if this freedom were short lived, and he went in the ground tomorrow, he owned it for this moment.
Quickly, he sprang to his feet, grabbed his bag, and began running in the direction of the cornfield near the end of the farmhouse drive.
The air was eerily still on this night. All was silent with the exception of a few chanting crickets and the occasional cry of the whippoorwill sounding out over the horizon. The moonlight illuminated the decrepit barn to the north of the house, as every single cornstalk in the field up ahead seemed to be reflecting the moon’s rays.
The yellow light bulb atop the wooden pole near the end of the drive was bright and buzzing in a calming manner. Several fat toads sat at the base, waiting for unfortunate insects to fall to the ground from their dizzy escapades near the globe at the top of the pole.
He ran past the half-built clubhouse his father and Uncle Doug had begun several years prior. He never understood if Doug was actually his uncle, but the men had wanted to build a ‘guy’s getaway’ for the three of them. He paid little attention to the details. He’d seen it all before hundreds of times, and he hoped to never see this place again.
Leaping over old car parts and garbage, he finally reached the corn. Although it wasn’t tall enough to hide him completely, it was all the cover he needed to make an effective escape. His heart raced wildly as he ran feverishly over the soft earth through the chest-high stalks. He began to smile through his heavy breathing, running—sprinting—excited as if he were scratching off the winning number on a substantial lottery ticket.
The prospects raced through his mind, and no adversity outside of his former confinements seemed to scare him. Starvation, disease, injury: nothing conjured concern except the idea of returning. He couldn’t go back, not now, now that a glimmer of hope had been resurrected.
As he bounded through the field like a fawn that had been mercifully released from the jaws of a predator, he felt as if he were being lifted off the ground; as if he were flying, and nothing in this world or the next could anchor him.
The taste of freedom was that of a bloodied lip, cornstalks, and the occasional mosquito; it was delicious. He knew he would leverage everything to maintain all he had in that moment, which was merely a tattered wardrobe, his father’s liquor-cash reserve, the worn clothing in the backpack, and a desperate desire to exist.
Hyper-vigilant and full of life, one would never have known only seven minutes prior he was a prisoner of technicality and his bedroom. Like a thief in the night, lowly and cunning, he darted through the cover, running on what seemed to be an endless rush of endorphins and adrenaline.
He was running for his life; this reality gave him wings.
The air was heavy and stagnant and seemed to fill his lungs with a thick, boggy perfume. He knew for certain that, if there were a higher power within the heavens, it would not have him come this far to go back. Even if he were found right now he knew he would die before he went back, and he would die a free man. Yes, a man. No longer a boy and no longer bound to his bedroom—to that shack—by the law. With a head full of dreams and the legs of a gazelle, he shot through the field, promising himself to never look back.
JOIN THE RELEASE EVENT ON FACEBOOK!
– ABOUT THE AUTHOR –
BRADON NAVE
Bradon Nave was born and raised in rural Oklahoma. He attended a small country school during junior high and high school, and graduated with only three people in his class. After graduate school, he decided to devote his spare time to his passion of writing.Bradon currently lives in Piedmont, Oklahoma, with his wife and two young children.
When he’s not writing, he loves running, being with friends and family, and being outdoors.