Drowning in Danger Series: Liquid Onyx, Book Three by BL Jones New Release Blitz! @ninestarpress

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Title: Drowning in Danger

Series: Liquid Onyx, Book Three

Author: BL Jones

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/26/2023

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 112100

Genre: Urban Fantasy, family-drama, urban fantasy, superheroes, magic/magic users, organised crime, tearjerker

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Sixteen years ago, Alex Nova defied the impossible and shook the world to its core. He made children into superhumans and, in doing so, made a villain out of himself. At age twenty, Rex Nova took the consequences of his father’s actions and used them to make himself into a superhero, so he could protect the world his father almost broke. Unknown to him, however, are the secrets buried in his genetics. Hidden truths soaked in tainted blood. Like his father before him, the choices Rex makes when his back is up against the wall will force him to confront things about who he really is, and what he’s willing to become to protect the people he loves. This time, the consequences will be of his own wreaking, and the fallout will threaten everything he cares about.

 

Drowning in Danger BK Jones © 2023 All Rights Reserved 

Prologue

Obsidian Blood

Mia

If I was ever going to waver in my conviction, the sight before me now is a harsh reminder of why I must commit the necessary evils of my mission.

“How old is this one?” Ian Stone, head director of Obsidian Inc., asks me.

We stand, side by side, in front of a one-way mirror that spreads from one end of the wall to the other. In the room beyond this window is a girl, well, a woman I suppose. The young woman is currently strapped to a bed: metal straps, chains, and cuffs, all titanium to hold her in place. Anything less and she might just be able to escape.

They’re always stronger near the end.

Her name is Katya Markov. She was born in Russia but moved to Canada when she was three years old to live with her aunt and uncle, after her parents were killed in a car accident. Before she was injected with Liquid Onyx, she was a quiet girl who loved rabbits, the colour green, and vanilla cake icing.

After she was injected, Katya gained the ability to move objects with her mind. Obsidian Inc. taught her how to use that power to inflict pain, to commit murder on their behalf.

Katya Markov became Agent Katya, a weapon with human skin stapled around it.

Katya was a little girl who hated the figure skating lessons her aunt made her attend, who preferred the ice hockey club her uncle took her to. Katya, the girl, liked swimming in the ocean and wanted to be a “penguin vet” when she grew up.

Agent Katya is a killer, a woman without a moral compass, who was torn away from everything that could have made her something close to human.

But none of those things are what Stone asked me.

“She’s twenty-three,” I say, careful to keep my voice measured and dispassionate.

Even after all these years, I’m wary of showing any form of emotional instability in front of this man. Ian Stone will never care how long someone has been with Obsidian Inc. His idea of loyalty is eternal servitude without error or complaint. There is no end, no final goal, just a continuous struggle to prove oneself of use, or… Well. Not.

“It seems the younger they turn, the quicker they spiral,” Stone muses, his entire demeanour as aloof as it always is. I don’t think I’ve seen more than two expressions on his face. Impassive. And outright fury. There seems to be no middle ground. Either you’re dismissed as unimportant and replaceable, or you’re noticed for all the wrong reasons.

“Perhaps,” I say, non-committal, half sure his statement wasn’t meant to draw much of a response from me.

If I was allowed to speak freely, I might tell him it’s more than likely that the Liquid Onyx OI agents are becoming mentally unstable at a faster and faster rate because of the conditions they’re being kept in.

The Liquid Onyx survivors OI have raised and trained are little better than dogs used in backroom fights. Highly skilled, for sure, but still barely more than rabid underneath the surface. Scratch at that brittle exterior of apparent detachment, and you’re likely to get severely bitten.

A lot of the OI agents and guards believe the Liquid Onyx survivors under OI’s control are broken creatures. Monsters on a leash. Pets with chokers around their throats they can yank on at any time.

I’ve seen different. No one who met Katya before, and truly saw her for who and what she is, could think her an unfeeling creature.

I see what I see. Girl. Child. Dangerous. Woman. Adult. Even more dangerous.

They all see what they want to see. Agent. Killer. Animal.

Less of a who and more of a what.

It’s no wonder that Katya has been reduced to this. Writhing around on a bed, alone in a cold, metal room, strapped down with cold, metal restraints, imprisoned in a cold, metal OI facility. Everything about her life is cold and metal and wrong.

She never should have had a life so barren of warmth and light and hope. No one should be treated with this level of inhumanity. It makes me feel sick to see it, to see the result of what my actions have caused.

I did this to her. We did. We created Liquid Onyx, and in doing so, we destroyed the life of a little girl with straw-blonde hair and two crooked front teeth and dreams of healing penguins.

We did this, Alex and me. We are the source of all this pain.

I will never forgive either of us for it.

She starts screaming again. It sounds muffled through the window. Muffled, but no less chilling for that fact.

Katya’s hands start to spasm in their restraints and there’s the sound of metal straining. A moment later her screams become far more wretched, rising to a pitch I wouldn’t have thought attainable, then petering off into fractured cries. Similar to those of an injured animal. Pitiful and grinding.

I hate to hear that sound coming out of a human being’s mouth. I don’t need to guess at the change in tone to Katya’s shouts of distress.

All the restraints seem gratuitous to me. She already has a chip embedded at the top of her spine that can be activated, as it was just now, to send an electrical shock through her body, meant to paralyse.

I’ve seen it used for other purposes. Reprimands. Torture. Even execution, in extreme circumstances.

All the Liquid Onyx OI agents are fitted with chips. It tracks them, as well as making sure they never go too far. They know what will happen to them once they’re found, and they know they will always be found.

We, everyone who works for OI, knows that. There is nowhere to hide from Obsidian Inc., not for long, anyway.

It’s why I’ve never entertained the idea of running away from them. I couldn’t risk them getting hold of me and Andy, and selfishly, I couldn’t imagine a life without my daughter.

Katya’s face is creased in anguish and fear and rage. It should be impossible for someone to feel so many powerful things at once, but I can see all that in Katya’s pale eyes. I think I see the thin veins of black creeping across her whites like the roots of a tree spreading through the underground.

“Do you believe she could be salvageable for one last mission?” Stone asks me, this time clearly expecting an answer.

I wish I could hate him. Kick and spit on him in indignant rage over what he has done, over who and what he is.

But I can’t. I can’t do those things, think those things, feel those things, because the truth is, I’m a far worse monster than he is a man.

“No.” I glance at him, keeping my expression neutral. “I’ve examined her. She’s too far gone. You know once it gets to this stage, it’s just a matter of waiting for her body to shut down, one organ at a time.”

Stone makes a low humming sound, neither agreement nor refusal to accept the reality we are faced with.

“I was hoping to get another year out of her,” he ruminates after a significant pause. “The ones before didn’t start losing their tactical ability in the field until they were at least twenty-four.” His observation suggests disappointment, but his tone does not.

Ian Stone is a practical man who has practical thoughts and believes in practical solutions.

I know he will order Katya Markov’s termination today. If he cannot use her, then he will not drain resources and risk further problems by keeping her alive.

In truth, it doesn’t matter as much as it should.

None of the Liquid Onyx survivors have made it to twenty-five mentally intact.

None of the Liquid Onyx survivors have made it to twenty-six alive.

And, whether I succeed in my mission or not, none of them ever will. Of that, I am certain.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

BL Jones is a twentysomething British author who spends all her free time reading and writing and taming her three much younger brothers. She works as a BSL interpreter in Bristol and lives with a temperamental bunny named Pepsi. She’s been writing stories since she was five, rarely sharing them with anyone except her numerous stuffed animals. BL has had a difficult journey into discovering and accepting her own queerness, and therefore believes that positive, honest, and authentic stories about queer people are very important. She hopes to contribute her own stories for people to have fun with and enjoy.

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Triumph A Novel of the Human Spirit by Jodi Lea Stewart Book Tour! @JodiLeaStewart #Giveaway @SilverDaggerBookTours #SilverDaggerBookTours #SDBookTours

#HistoricalFiction #Historical #Fiction #DiverseBooks #Louisiana #NOLA #StLouis #Texas #TexasRanger #Voodoo #Voudou

Seething with old prejudices, wealth, poverty, voodoo, and young hot blood, TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit will take you through the Louisiana swamps, New Orleans, the Texas prairies, and into the bustling but racially troubled city of St. Louis in the mid-twentieth century . . . and lead you to a place where people are accepted because of character and heart—nothing more, nothing less. 

Triumph

A Novel of the Human Spirit

by Jodi Lea Stewart

Genre: Historical Fiction

At a time when the world needs more warmth and acceptance, two little girls – Mercy and Annie, take us on a journey where color doesn’t matter, and character and heart are the only things that do!

Deep in the Louisiana swamps, 1903, five-year-old Willy is kidnapped by a Vodou Priestess. One day, he will fight bloody battles in France and come face-to-face with the horrors of Vodou.

In bustling New Orleans, 1903, bachelor Jack—a former Texas Ranger—has an encounter with a young beauty hiding in his hotel room. What she wants and needs will change his life forever.

1958 St. Louis, two girls of different races, Mercy and Annie, meet in the fifth grade. Together, they secretly explore St. Louis via bus and streetcar, encountering cultural prejudices at every turn— including from within one girl’s own family. The turbulent times and the Civil Rights Movement will test the girls’ loyalty and affect their choices on

In a saga spanning from 1903 to 1968, compelling characters navigate the stormy paths of life in New Orleans, St. Louis, and Texas until they all collide in a startling and dramatic way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

*5-star rating by K.C. Finn, Reviewer with "Reader's Favorite"* 

"Author Jodi Lea Stewart has crafted a mighty tale that packs a huge emotional punch, and you can feel its impact on every page of this excellent novel. The central protagonists, Mercy and Annie, could not be more different on the page, and the dialogue and descriptive work put into this distinction are effective and highly imaginative. It is the twisting events of the intriguing and unusual plot line that brings out their similarities and the true human spirit, which is a wonderful thing to become more and more invested in as the story continues. The historical atmosphere of the piece was also vividly portrayed. I really adored St. Louis in a time of such progress, yet so much tension. Overall, I would definitely recommend TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit to readers who enjoy historical sagas that deliver on friendship, hope, and heart.

Written for an adult readership, the work does contain graphic scenes and some disturbing imagery that is relevant to the present danger of the plot." 

 * Five Stars for Jodi Lea Stewart's latest literary treasure*

"In her new book, TRIUMPH, prolific author, Jodi Lea Stewart, brilliantly tackles a lineup of some of the toughest literary challenges a writer can face. Writing in the present tense. Telling a dual time frame story. Dealing with dialect. Writing from a young protagonist's perspective. And, the most challenging of all--shedding a light of hope and encouragement on the most incendiary social concern of our nation--racism. Ordinarily, in the hands of a less skilled writer, any one of these could be the kiss of death of a novel. That's not the case with Stewart. The characters are compelling and believable. The settings are powerful and rendered with a touch of uncanny realism. The literary magic spell Stewart casts over this story is so effective, you do not realize the commanding lesson it teaches until you close the cover and replay all the clever and endearing elements that make it so thought-provoking.

I have read Stewart's other books, and I am always pleasantly surprised at her ability to deliver her deep universally themed messages wrapped in disarmingly simple premises."

~ DB Jackson,  Author, Screenwriter, Winner of the WesternHeritage Award

*5-star Review by Cyrus Webb - Media Personality, Author, and Top-Amazon Reviewer*

"In TRIUMPH, author Jodi Lea Stewart shows that time and place have nothing to do with the power of the human spirit. The reader will see themselves in characters that might not look like them but carry their desire to rise and thrive--and therein lies its power and a lesson..."                                   

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite
Review Rating:  5 Stars - Congratulations on your 5-star review! 

A beautiful story that is deftly told, Triumph is set over long years and has the reader drifting through different timelines and across different cities. The author writes about three storylines in the novel and combines different narrative voices, including an irresistible first-person narrative voice that stays with the reader throughout. The lyrical writing, coupled with the apt use of the local accent, enriches the story and augments the realism that permeates it. The reader can picture the characters and know about their background from how they speak. The author handles themes that are as relevant and sensitive to contemporary readers as these were to characters since 1903. This is one of those novels that compel readers to think about one of the pressing problems of America: the color line. And it also asks serious questions about identity. Triumph: A Novel of the Human Spirit is a powerful testimony that we can outgrow the pettiness that defines people by their color and see a human spirit behind the shade of skin.

Chapter Three – Ernest and Arlene

Denton, Texas

1903

All he knew was this baby girl was the gift he and Arlene had prayed for, yearned for day after day. When his friend Jack got word to him asking him if they still wanted a baby, he had answered promptly. Throwing a few vitals in the small trunk and loading it on the wagon, feeding the chickens, milk cow, and the horses early in the day, and getting his neighbor to come feed them until he returned was what he did. Then he hitched up his horse team and started the two-day wagon ride from Denton to Fort Worth to pick up the baby Jack had stumbled across with no explanation of how he had done so. 

Arlene cried most of the way, and it wasn’t sad crying, he didn’t think, but tears of joy and relief. Once, she said, “I’ll call her Ruby, after my mother,” and that’s the most of what she said on the journey. 

By now, he was used to Arlene’s weeping. She’d done it continually ever since little Rosemary was laid in the ground that awful blustery day. Her little brother Thaddeus had preceded her in death by a week. Both youngsters gone, victims of the fever. Unable to have more children, Arlene had taken to her rocking chair holding the little clothes she had sewn for her babies and crying for the better part of a year. 

He had watched helplessly with his own heart breaking but not willing to put any more burden on his grieving wife by showing his own sorrow. Quietly, he kept up their ranch without a word, tiptoeing around Arlene, sometimes carrying her to bed or to the table to pick at the food he clumsily prepared. 

When Jack—who had ridden in the Texas Rangers with him in their wild youth—came through the Territory for a visit before his annual trip to New Orleans, he was shocked at the state of his friend and his wife. 

“In all haste, you must do something!” he proclaimed in astonishment. “Both you and your missus are skeletons. For the love of God, take in an unfortunate child who has no home, Ernest.” 

“I would gladly take any child under our roof, Jack, if only the Good Lord would bring us one.” Ernest buried his head in his hands and wept for the first time since the horrible tragedies.

Jack had witnessed this man chase outlaws through New Mexico and Texas into the burning sands of Old Mexico for days at a time with only his iron grit to sustain him. Ernest had tamed killer horses no one else dared approach, engaged with gusto in shoot-outs with banditos so cruel they were barely human, men who fought to the death rather than surrender. Now, here was his friend lost in an agony Jack sympathized with but did not understand. 

Jack had been fending for himself since orphaned at the age of twelve, had never seen fit to marry, and had no children he knew of. The raw pain of his friend had touched him, nevertheless, and when he traveled to New Orleans for his yearly gambling venture with his previous, now pooch-bellied and cigar-smoking Texas Ranger compatriots, he stumbled upon a circumstance that would forever change his own life and the lives of his Texas friends. 

From the Author

TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit is extra special to me for many reasons, not the least of which is because it exemplifies my personal feelings about ethics and the differences in human beings as something to be celebrated, not feared or hated. The keys are always respect and acceptance regardless of race or creed or whatever the world wants to call "imperfect" or "different."

Other sub-reasons for writing this novel were to highlight life in St. Louis and beyond in the 1950s and early 1960s. I wanted to expose some of the dangers (okay, the horrors) lurking in old New Orleans, honor the Texas Rangers, and express my respect for people who learn how to overlook the color barriers that separate and dishonor us as people.

TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit is for readers who enjoy high-concept books written with a literary pen, and those who wish to see justice fulfilled and old prejudices shattered.

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Jodi Lea Stewart is a fiction author who believes in and writes about the triumph of the human spirit through overcoming adversity via grit, humor, and stubborn tenacity. Her writing reflects her life beginning in Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, later moving as a youngster to an Arizona cattle ranch next door to the Navajo Nation, and, as a young adult, resuming in her native Texas. 

Growing up, she climbed petroglyph-etched boulders, bounced two feet in the air in the backend of pickups wrestling through washed-out terracotta roads, and rode horseback on the winds of her imagination through the arroyos and mountains of the Arizona high country. Her lifetime friendship with all nationalities, cowpunchers, and the southern gentry allows Jodi to write comfortably about anything in the Southwest, the South, and far BEYOND.

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Joy to the Wool (Clear Creek Mysteries) by Rebecca McKinnon Book Tour!

 

 About Joy to the Wool

 

Joy to the Wool (Clear Creek Mysteries) 

Cozy Mystery 4th in Series

Independently Published (October 5, 2023) 

Number of Pages: 254 Digital

 ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C7LT85KH

All dressed up for the holidays, Clear Creek looks like it’s right out of a storybook. But the decorations aren’t just for fun. The tiny Rocky Mountain town is hosting a Christmas Festival sure to be used as a pattern for years.

While Jemma is busy with the Cozy Tree — a place visitors can buy hand-knitted hats and scarves to donate to people in need — Granny is busy taking bets on which day of the event Jemma will find a body. But to everyone’s surprise, this time Granny’s the one who makes the discovery!

Choosing to put her relationship with Brandon first, Jemma agrees to steer clear of the investigation. But Granny’s determination to solve the crime lands Jemma the impossible job of keeping the spunky old lady out of trouble, and breaking and entering is just the beginning of their adventure.

When the Cozy Tree is vandalized, it becomes obvious the pair is making someone nervous. Can Jemma and Granny knit up the investigation before Santa climbs in his sleigh?

Rebecca McKinnon enjoys playing with her imaginary friends and introducing them to others through her writing. She dreams of living in the middle of nowhere but has been unable to find an acceptable location that wouldn’t require crossing an ocean.

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September 26 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

September 26 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

September 27 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 27 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 28 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

September 28 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW

September 29 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

September 29 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

September 30 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

October 1 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

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October 2 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

October 3 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

October 4 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – AUTHOR GUEST POST

October 5 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

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Unfinished Business Love in the Hills of the Headwaters Book 3 by Tricia Daniels Book Tour! #BehindTheTangerineDoor #TriciaDanielsAuthor @triciadaniels6019

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The ‘Love in the Hills of the Headwaters Series’ will bring you stories you can relate to; people you can connect with; and love you can believe in.

Unfinished Business

Love in the Hills of the Headwaters Book 3

by Tricia Daniels

Genre: Small Town Romance, Light Supernatural 

I’ve had intuitive moments since I was a little girl. My siblings don’t seem to share the gift, if you can call it that. If they do, they’ve kept it a secret. When I was a teenager, my overthinking complicated things. I avoided Alex for more than seventeen years because of it. I made some bad decisions back then because I never really understood my gift until I was older.

 As the stars finally align, the universe pushes us back together and a new destiny begins to unfold. Twists and turns in the road being laid out before us will force us to face our fears and insecurities. And this time I sense Alex and I aren’t the only ones with unfinished business.

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Refusing to Expire

Love in the Hills of the Headwaters Book 2

Many years after a failed marriage Tori comes to the shocking realization that all her online dating relationships seem to have a 'best before' date. Until she meets Roger Ford, a kind and caring man, with just enough protective alpha to make a woman feel appreciated and loved.

 The moment they meet and he gazes into her enchanting, green eyes, he falls hard. Everything just seems to fit. Well, almost everything. Roger may not be the perfect man, but he is no quitter, and he’s determined to prove it. ‘Refusing To Expire’ flows from serious and heartbreaking to a wistful and hilarious journey of two hearts ready to love again and the blending of families.

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Behind the Tangerine Door

Love in the Hills of the Headwaters Book 1

'Behind the Tangerine Door' there was mystery, there was tragedy, and there was love. Journey home to Mono Mills with Cora Scott and uncover the secrets her grandparents kept for many years. While you're visiting, try not to fall in love with Ben, he's not your typical boy next door. His bossy nature and sarcastic sense of humour will challenge you at every turn. 

Home with family is where he belongs and he’ll never leave the hills of the headwaters. When sentimental childhood memories and international career opportunities collide, Cora is left with the difficult decision of pursuing her dreams or following her heart.

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Tricia Daniels was born and raised in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. 30 years ago, she moved to a small town in the Hills of the Headwater where she raised three sons as a single mother. 

The happily-ever-after she thought she would never have took her by surprise when she met her one great love, later in life. Love changes everything and Tricia Daniels strives to bring you love stories you can relate to.

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