Straight Browsing from the Library: Dragon Mist by David Burnett

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David will be awarding a dragon pendant similar to the one worn by Christine Drachen in Dragon Mist (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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As the third daughter of a third daughter, dragon-shifter Christine Drachen must mate with a human.

Not all human males are genetically compatible with dragon shifters, and suitable matches are rare in old Charleston. Christine, though, has identified James to be an appropriate match. Even humans who acknowledge the possibility of dragons cannot believe that one can be both a dragon and a human, shifting between the two. As a result, Christine must attract James without fully revealing her true, shifting nature until he has committed to mate.

James gradually discovers what Christine is. She shows him the gold dragon she always wears around her neck. He notices the prints, statues, and tapestries of dragons that decorate her family’s home. Strange noises emanate from behind the Drachens’ house during a party, and James believes he actually sees a dragon, one wearing a necklace like Christine’s. Christine’s last name, Drachen, means “dragon,” and, while she jokes her entire family is composed of the creatures, James begins to suspect there is more to what she says than a simple attempt at humor.

Finally, though, he sees her shift.

To protect their species from persecution, dragon-shifters silence any human who sees one of them shift, and the most practical method is generally death. The rule is absolute. But Christine has fallen in love with James. How can she protect her family without killing the boy she loves?

Dragon Mist is a story of boy-meets-girl, with a few non-human characters, high stakes, a bit of magic, a little humor, and an abundance of romance.

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Had Bing known my species, he would not be treating me as one of the skinny blond coeds who devote themselves to jocks, helping them celebrate their victories, consoling them in defeat, and distracting them at all times in between.

“I am a drache,” I murmur.

Bing chuckles. “You’re drunk? Is that what you said?”

He bends his head and kisses me on my mouth. I jerk my head back, and he laughs.

“Girls like my kisses, Dragon Lady. They truly do.”

He places his free hand on the back of my head to hold me in place for a second, extended kiss.

Drache is a variant of the German word for dragon, as is my last name, Drachen—pronounced drah-ken, with an ‘A’ as in father, rather than drake-en or drack-en. The names were not random choices, nor is my amulet, the gold dragon, as beautiful as it is, a random piece of jewelry.

Our family story tells how the Great Dragon decreed his followers should mate with humans in the hope of creating an omnipotent species, and the draches were their offspring. In our view, we comprise a separate species of human being, homo sapiens draco.

When we discuss our heritage, we speak of our “inner dragons,” whatever it is within us that is the basis for our superior intelligence, our great strength, our emotional intuitiveness, and our ability to shift, to transform, to summon our “outer dragons” in times of danger.

Bing is truly playing with fire.

Only he doesn’t know it.

Yet.

MEET THE AUTHOR

I live near Charleston, South Carolina, where I walk the beaches, eat fresh seafood, and photograph the ocean, the birds, and the beautiful sunsets. Seven of my nine novels have been set in Charleston, but Dragon Mist is the first to explore the lives of the non-human residents of the “holy city.”

Find more of my work on my website! http://www.burnettsbooks.com/books-by-david.php
Sign up for my newsletter. https://www.subscribepage.com/j4c1o6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavdBurnett
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidBurnett.Author/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/David-Burnett//e/B0092SDNXM
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6579272.David_Burnett

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Straight Browsing from the Library: Money or Men by David Burnett

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David Burnett will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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Love or loot?

Erin must choose between the money of which she has long dreamed and the man who she has loved. Eight years ago, she chose “loot” when Chris, her former husband, competed for her hand against the god of money. Now, with a promotion within reach, she is poised to take her place among the elite of Wall Street. She will soon be working twenty-four-seven to reorganize a failing company, and she has been ordered to find someone to care for her children.

She has few options, and she reluctantly concludes she must beg Chris for help. She has not talked with Chris, written, texted, friended, private messaged, or tweeted Chris since leaving him, but if he will not keep their children for the summer, she will lose her promotion, and her dream of wealth will vanish.

Opposites had attracted when they had fallen in love. Erin remembers a Chris who was laid-back, satisfied, and, worst of all, unambitious. He seems not to have changed. He lives on a small island with no home mail delivery. He had been an author, but Erin can find nothing he has published since their split.

But Chris’s photo is the one personal item on Erin’s desk, and she still dreams of him when she sleeps. She fears if she asks Chris to care for their children for the summer, she will be drawn back into his world. She will choose Chris over money, “love over loot,” lose her drive to succeed and everything for which she has worked. Her promotion will be denied – and lightning will not strike a second time. How can she send their children to live with him without becoming entangled herself?

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Why was her former husband invading her dreams? They had parted ways eight years ago, had laid eyes on each other exactly once since then. They had nothing at all in common. He was a stranger to her now. If her unconscious was insisting she still cared one whit for Chris Stephens then her unconscious needed serious help, because it was distorting her thoughts, urges, and wishes totally beyond recognition.

Why were her father’s sermons echoing in her mind? She had renounced his religion long ago. Beyond that, why was what she was doing so very wrong? She didn’t sleep around. She’d used sex to obtain information, yes. She had gone to bed with men for a good time, as she had tonight, yes. But no one, neither she nor the men involved, had any illusions about love or caring. She didn’t destroy marriages. She didn’t break hearts. No one was hurt. She was more chaste than almost any unmarried woman she knew and more so than a third of those who had husbands.

Her eyes narrowed. Neither of those men would control her, and she knew one sure way to drive them out of her thoughts.

She retraced her steps and stood beside the bed. Their clothes lay discarded on the floor where Tim had tossed them several hours earlier. He lay on his back, asleep, a white sheet covering the lower half of his body, his breathing low and regular, the hint of a smile on his face.

Earlier, Tim had played the hunter, while she had been cast as his prey. Nothing wrong with that game, but if she wanted to control the men in her mind, she must also control the one in her bed.

She would change the rules.

Careful not to wake him, Erin sat on the bed beside Tim and placed her hand on his chest. It felt hard and sculpted, the chest of a body-builder. He had bragged he could lift her weight with a single hand and bench-press three hundred pounds.

With one finger, she traced the outline of his muscles, “pecs,” they were called, pectoral muscles, round, hard muscles that covered the upper part of his body.

Her hand crept lower, slipping across his flat stomach. As the muscles tightened under her touch, Tim’s eyes opened. He placed one hand on Erin’s right arm and raised his shoulders as if he wanted to sit.

Erin gently pushed him back onto the bed. A woman in charge. He would have at least one thing in common with the data analyst.

“I thought you were leaving,” he whispered.

“Just a bad dream. And I’m thinking that if my dreams are going to be bad, then I should find something better to do with my time.”

He smirked. “My thoughts, exactly.”

MEET THE AUTHOR

We recently moved to our new home near Charleston, South Carolina. Four of my books are set in Charleston, and I’ve always enjoyed the Carolina beaches. I now have the opportunity to walk on the beach almost every day and to photography the ocean, the sea birds, and the marshes that I love.

I love photography, and I have photographed subjects as varied as prehistoric ruins on the islands of Scotland, star trails, sea gulls, and a Native American powwow. My wife and I have traveled widely in the United States and the United Kingdom. During trips to Scotland, we visited Crathes Castle, the ancestral home of the Burnett family near Aberdeen, and Kismul Castle on Barra, the home of my McNeil ancestors.

I went to school for much longer than I want to admit, and I have degrees in psychology and education. In an “earlier life” I was director of research for our state’s education department.

Website: http://davidburnett.yolasite.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavdBurnett
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DavidBurnett.Author
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/davidburnett
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6579272.David_Burnett

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Men-David-Burnett-ebook/dp/B07N58KL52/

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Straight Reading from the Library: Between Heaven and Hell by David Burnett

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. 

 

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When Adryel follows Lucifer in his rebellion, she loses Ramael, the one she loves, and everything else she holds dear. How can he still love her when, as the Mistress of Hell, she has done more to thwart Adonai’s plan for humanity than all the other fallen angels combined?

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Adryel stood on the portico above the Great Gates, looking into Palace Square. The gates rose almost ten meters above the last step in the Grand Stairway and from her vantage point on the floor above, she could view the crowd that carpeted the open square and spilled onto the steps of the buildings on either side. Banners flew from the towers, trumpeters lined the palace steps, and soldiers stood at parade rest beside the gates, their polished, gold armor sparkling in the midday light.

The clock in the tower struck, and, as she watched, the procession of the archangels emerged from the tall, gray Chancery building. Led by the chancellor, himself, dressed in the silver robes of his office, it proceeded in a straight line toward the Grand Stairway. Swinging his verge—a long, black, silver-tipped staff—back and forth before him, the chancellor cleared a path for the eight archangels and their aides, all of whom followed in single file.

Uriel, president of the Council of the Archangels, wearing a golden robe trimmed in purple, led the group. Behind him strode Michael, commander of the army. He was accompanied by Ramael, his aide and second in command. Both wore robes of midnight blue. The red sash across Ramael’s chest identified him as the superintendent of the city’s guard, and, seeing Ramael, Adryel smiled. He looked quite handsome.

She started to raise her hand to wave, but thought better of it. He likely would not see her even if she did.

Lucifer, attired in his black academic gown, a reminder that he was dean of the Institute—the angelic college located in the southwest quadrant of Celestial City—strutted across the square as if he owned it, giving the impression that the others, archangels and spectators alike, were present simply because he tolerated them.

Adryel’s heart was pounding. Even though it had been a decade since she had witnessed the parade from the square itself, she could sense the excitement of those who were there today.

Gabriel was clothed in pure, glistening white. Adonai’s messenger, his movements were fluid and graceful, and he seemed to glide over the pavement rather than walk across it like the others. Raphael wore a green robe, Chamuel’s was pink, Jophiel’s, a pale yellow, and Zadkiel was attired in violet. The colors reminded Adryel of the wild flowers in the meadow she passed each morning as she left home.

The procession crept across the square, the archangels’ colorful robes contrasting vividly with the plain white ones of the ordinary angels who moved aside to allow them to pass. From her perch high above, Adryel imagined the line of archangels to be a multicolored caterpillar inching its way through the tufts of a fluffy white towel. She chuckled at the thought. She would have to remember to tell Ramael.

On this day the procession was for a specially convened meeting of the Council of the Archangels—the group that governed the city and the surrounding territories. No one in the square, including the archangels, knew the reason for the meeting, and gossip ran rampant throughout the city.

MEET THE AUTHOR

We recently moved to our new home near Charleston, South Carolina. Three of my four books are set in Charleston, and I’ve always enjoyed the Carolina beaches. I now have the opportunity to walk on the beach almost every day and to photography the ocean, the sea birds, and the marshes that I love.

I love photography, and I have photographed subjects as varied as prehistoric ruins on the islands of Scotland, star trails, sea gulls, and a Native American powwow. My wife and I have traveled widely in the United States and the United Kingdom. During trips to Scotland, we visited Crathes Castle, the ancestral home of the Burnett family near Aberdeen, and Kismul Castle on Barra, the home of my McNeil ancestors.

I went to school for much longer than I want to admit, and I have degrees in psychology and education. In an “earlier life” I was director of research for our state’s education department.

WEBSITE: http://davidburnett.yolasite.com
BLOG: http://davidburnettsbooks.blogspot.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DavdBurnett
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Burnett-Author/447290468681693?ref=hl
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://amazon.com/author/davidburnett

The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour at Amazon
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