The Space Between Released!

We are live! The Space Between has been released early for ebooks! Here are all of the links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

iBookstore

Kobo

I hope you enjoy! And please remember to post a review when you're done on the retailer's site where you bought the book and wherever else you so please. *bats eyelashes* Retailers' rankings, cross-advertising, etc., are based to an extent on number of reviews, which means a direct impact on sales. Even a line or two helps. Thank you in advance!

Early Release? Giveaways? Hurry!

The Space Between is all set for an early release of the ebooks! That's right - we're pretty much ready to go. And I'm dying to hit the PUBLISH button. But how early it gets clicked depends on how many new Likes I can get on my author Facebook page in the next day or two (or three or four...).

We surpassed 3,000 yesterday. We're up to over 3,040 now. For every 100 new Likes over 3,000 up until the official release date (4/5), I'm giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon or B&N. If we can get the momentum moving fast and early, you might be able to start reading The Space Between this weekend!

So if you're on Facebook and don't already Like the page, please do. If you know anyone else who enjoys discussing books, encourage them to Like it, too. Hopefully I'll be announcing the first $20 winner soon and many more after that. And hopefully you'll get to read The Space Between very, very soon.

Teaser Tuesday - The Space Between Quotes

We are on the countdown for the release of The Space Between. Yippee!!! There's even word of an early release for ebooks? Hmm...don't know where I heard that from, but you might want to pay attention. If it happens, it will probably be announced on my Facebook page first, so be sure to "Like" the page.

For now, here are a few favorite quotes to (hopefully) get you all excited:

I don’t do girlfriends, unless they’re someone else’s. ~ Jeric

I’d decided being good hadn’t worked out so well for me, so I thought I’d try being bad, which I excelled at, too. ~ Jacey

You show me yours and I’ll show you mine? Is that what you want to play? Because there are much more fun versions than this. ~ Micah

I don’t think I can do just a kiss. Not with you. ~ Jeric

My soul tugged and pulled as if trying to escape my body. Pulled toward him. And at the same time, I felt his coming for me, and they met in the minute space between us and danced and mixed and bonded together, creating the most amazing and unbelievable sensation I’d ever felt. I’d almost call it an out-of-body experience except I still physically felt every nerve ending in my body, and each one was on fire from head to my curling toes. ~ Leni

Well, isn’t that how life is anyway? Anytime you think you have control, life waves its big magic wand and poof! Everything around you has changed. Life’s an illusion. ~ Jacey

You’re all I have, too, you know. We’re all either of us have. And if loving you does by some fucked-up chance kill me, I’m okay with it. I couldn’t die a better way, Jace. ~ Micah

She didn’t seem to know what she did to me. So many girls had wanted from me what I couldn’t give them, but Leni had no idea she was the exception. The only one who could make me want to give her everything. The world. Myself. Whatever she wanted. ~ Jeric

One hand slid down my side and came to a rest on my hip, his fingers pressing into the sensitive area where my panties met my leg. I wondered if he was fully awake and knew whom he lay next to, or if I was just another girl in his sleep-fogged mind. ~ Leni

Teaser Tuesday - TSB Playlist

The Space Between releases two weeks from Friday! Wow. How did that sneak up so fast? The ARCs are out and preliminary reviews are coming in and they're all awesome so far. Yay!

If you're a blogger and can post a review the week of release (between April 1-7), please email me at kristie(at)kristiecook(dot)com with a link to your blog and the date you can post, and I'll send you an eARC.

To create a bit of a mood and for you to see what music inspired me while writing The Space Between, here's the playlist. I have to admit I listened to a lot more 80s songs than this and not so much recent stuff. Some of the 80s versions have been remade and would apply to the "Now" parts of the book, too, but there's just something about the originals, right? :) These are all relevant and pretty much in order for the book.

Enjoy!

Teaser Tuesday - The Space Between

We're getting closer to the release of The Space Between, Part One of The Book of Phoenix. Eek! I'm so excited for you to read it. Beta-readers have been loving it. Some of my favorite quotes from betas:

"Easily as good as the Soul Savers books." (Claire - creator of the UK Kristie Cook Fan Site, so you know this means a lot coming from her!)

"I'm melting off my chair..." A few pages later, "I'm on the floor again." And a bit later, "I need a cold shower!" (Julie - admin of the UK Kristie Cook Fan Site)

"I cried laughing here." (Julie again)

"Two words for you: Ah. MAZING!!!!!" (Marissa, admin at Comfortably Read book blog)

"Wondering if Jeric might give Tristan a run for his money on my book boyfriends list!" (Christina, author's assistant)

"AMAZING!!!" (Mindy, admin at Forbidden Reviews book blog)

"I couldn't stop reading it. I'm totally intrigued! I'm blown away." (Author Heather McCorkle)

"Love it, love it, love it!" (All the betas! *grin*)

And now an excerpt for you! You've met Leni and Jeric in other teases. Now it's time to meet Jacey from the year 1989:

I watched for Bex, wondering if I’d have any chance of talking her into leaving early, although I was pretty sure of the answer. At least, until I saw her new boyfriend—what was his name? I couldn’t remember—stumble outside, his arms around two chicks and their mouths all over his neck. Neither of them were Bex. In fact, where was Bex? Still in the bathroom, where she’d gone when I came outside? My gaze flicked between the door, still watching for Bex, and the boyfriend with his bitches. They huddled together near the wall opposite me, not even trying to hide their mini-orgy.

“Oh, hell no,” I muttered, pushing myself off the wall I’d been leaning against as a light drizzle began to fall.

Maybe I’d had enough beer for liquid courage after all, but probably not. All I could think about was seeing Bex’s face when she came out. Although she asked for most of her boy troubles, the poor girl didn’t deserve this. Edgy, disappointed, and now completely pissed off, I stomped over to the trio.

“What the fuck, you dickwad?” I yelled as I grabbed the collar of one girl’s jacket and, ignoring the pierce of the metal studs in my palm, yanked her away while my right hand swung, nailing what’s-his-name in the jaw. While he gaped at me, stunned and rubbing his face, the other girl stepped into my space, her flabby boobs nearly touching my chin as I glared up at her. The ring in her nose wobbled as her lips lifted in an ugly smirk.

“What are you, psycho?” she snarled. “Well, you picked the wrong bitch to mess with.”

Her hands twitched at her side, but not waiting to be hit first, I drove my knee into her stomach. She doubled over briefly, but before I could punch her in the head, her hand came up with a knife in it.

“Bring it on,” I taunted, my hands out, fingers wiggling at her. I rolled my shoulders, trying to ignore the icy fingers of water sliding under my coat and down my back.

The girl swiped her knife out, the streetlight bouncing off the silver blade as it swung toward me. I jabbed my fist out to knock it from her hand, or at least to keep it from slicing open my face. The knife never connected, though. Something yanked me backwards, out of its reach.

Not something. Someone. And as soon as the large hands clamped onto my upper-arms, the breath flew out of me. As though I’d been socked in the stomach, but nothing had hit me. I gasped, trying but unable to catch my breath as those hands dragged me farther down the alley, the touch searing through my leather jacket, into my skin, down to my bones. Every nerve zinged in my body like they did when I touched one of Pops’ lamps with wiring problems. The pounding in my ears barely drowned out the stupid tramp screaming at me, the sound of her voice fading as someone dragged her in the opposite direction. But the pounding didn’t drown out the word, “dyad,” a voiceless whisper floating around my mind as if I should have known what it meant.

My body finally stopped moving, and as the hands turned me in place to face their owner, my fists balled, and a whole slew of profanities prepared to launch out of my mouth.

But they never made it out.

My breath caught in my lungs once again. My brain went numb, any thoughts becoming an incoherent jumble. The whole world disintegrated around us as my gaze met the darkest, most haunting pair of eyes I’d ever seen returning my stare, filled with the same expression I must have held. One that said with no trace of doubt, as if it were a self-evident, unquestionable truth decreed by the gods (if they actually existed):

“I. Know. You.”

I know you. The words almost tumbled from my mouth, would have if my tongue hadn’t been so tied.

Except … I’d never seen him before in my life. Trust me, I wouldn’t have forgotten this face. A perfect, heart-stopping, I-want-to-know-what-it-tastes-like face framed by chin-length, wavy hair as dark as his eyes.

Writer Wednesday - L. VanHorn

We're getting a little spicy today for Writer Wednesday! Valkyrie Slumbering, L. VanHorn's erotic fantasy set in Iceland, has released! To celebrate, she's dropping by with an excerpt to share with us. If you enjoy Norse legends, fantasy, or just a steamy read, then this one is for you!

Excerpt:

“Oh, yes,” I finally say before grasping his leather tunic and pulling him down for a kiss.

Fire dances across me as our lips brush. Though I meant to keep it brief, I’m drawn in like a moth. My lips urge his apart, and I thrust my tongue into his mouth. He tastes of molasses. Sparks spread into me as his tongue dances with mine, making me want to press against him and feel how hard that body really is. But I don’t. Instead I pull back.

Before he can recover, I turn on my heel and start to walk briskly away. His boots pad softly against the cobblestones as he jogs after me. Damn, I’ve done it now. 

Want to read more? You can find Valkyrie Slumbering at:

Amazon / B&N / Smashwords

(more links coming soon)

Cover Reveal - The Space Between

It's here! It's here! The day is finally here that I can share THE SPACE BETWEEN's cover! Regina Wamba at Mae I Design did a fabulous job (as if I expected anything less from her).

If you'd like to participate in the cover reveal, please feel free to use the cover as your profile pic for your social media accounts and post the description and/or excerpt or link to this page. Be sure to tag me - I'll be watching on Facebook and Twitter and giving away random prizes.

Without further ado...

When Life Falls to Pieces, Answers Lie in the Space Between

After a month-long dance tour through Italy, 20-year-old Leni Drago returns to Georgia to care for her great-uncle, only to find him gone, the home they shared empty and any evidence he ever existed wiped out. All that’s left is a journal she can’t open.

Jeric Winters has been searching for a piece of his past for over a year, only to reach a dead-end in Georgia. When an urgent and magnetic pull draws him out of his hotel room, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful dancer who’s been haunting his dreams day and night.

Jeric’s one to stay away from—a bad-boy, hit-it-and-quit-it type—but Leni can’t escape the fervent feelings between them. As their own existences begin to crumble around them and shadowy forms that are more monsters than men attack, they realize there’s more to the connection between them than physical fascination.

To solve the riddle their lives have become, they must embark on a journey that requires them to face their pasts and release their true souls. And they must do it fast—dark ones from another world are closing in, intent on killing them. Permanently.

**Mature Content** Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations and language.

An Excerpt

LENI – The overhead lights fell dark for the last time as I opened the dressing room door. The back exit stood open at the end of the hall, allowing in enough light from the streetlamp outside to show my way. I inhaled slowly, cherishing the musty smell of an old theater mixed with the odor of dancers’ sweat and the fragrance of white roses. I silently said my goodbyes as my feet carried me outside.

“Thank you, Uncle Theo,” I whispered as I left the theater for the last time. Only because of him did I even have this opportunity. I couldn’t wait to tell him all about it.

A large, muscular body flew at me, swept me into his arms and twirled me around as though we were still on stage. Laughter bubbled out of my chest.

“You ready to celebrate, cara mia?” Alberto asked as he set me down.

“Celebrate that you’re finally getting rid of me?” I teased.

He clapped his hand over his heart, and his face fell into an exaggerated expression of pain. “Oh, Leni, you do not know how I will miss you and your mane.”

He swatted playfully at the bottom of my curls. He had no idea how I would miss the way he said my name, drawing out both syllables, “laaaay-kneee,” like only an Italian could do.

“But you won’t miss my heels on your toes or my arm in your face?” I said in mock disbelief.

He took my hand and danced me down the cobbled street toward the plaza at the center of town. “You are a stunning dancer, cara mia. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” He spun me under his arm, my duffle bag banging me in the butt the whole time. “Of course, you have become much better since becoming my partner. But everyone does.”

He winked at me before dropping me into a dip. My bag slid off my shoulder and a hand darted beneath me to catch it. Alberto swung me up and around so that I came face-to-face with the most unbelievably stunning vision I’d seen my whole time in Italy. Which was saying a lot. His eyes—blue, I thought, though the light from the corner post wasn’t enough to be sure—enraptured me. He held my bag out with a small smile that hinted at dimples.

“Grazie,” I said breathlessly as I wrapped my hand around the strap of my bag. He gave me a nod almost deep enough to be a bow, his shaggy blond hair falling in his face. Then, without a word, he turned and walked away. My mouth fell open. “How rude.”

“Must be American,” Alberto said. I punched him in the arm.

“Who goes out of their way to catch a falling object and then can’t even say ‘you’re welcome’?” I asked absent-mindedly as I stared after the retreating body that rivaled Alberto’s. No, scratch that. It totally beat out Alberto’s even on his best day.

“What an ass,” Alberto muttered.

“Rude, yes, but I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“No, I mean what an ass that man has.” He let out a low whistle.

I laughed and admired the view as well. “I can agree with that.”

“He’s going to Alonzo’s. Lucky us.”

~ ~ ~

JERIC – I flipped to the picture I’d drawn a couple of weeks ago during my search in Italy. I’d woken from a dream, one I’d been having for years, and as I had previously, I’d felt the need to sketch the girl who had me waking with a painful boner. Now that I’d met her in real life, I couldn’t deny the girl in my sketches was Leni—curly hair, exotic green eyes, full lips and breasts, her skin … as if the absolute best features of both African and European blood had been blended together and given to her. The Leni I’d just met would probably never wear the leather bra, miniskirt, and knee-high boots I’d drawn her in, but damn if she wouldn’t look hot in them. The vision came to me clearly. Too clearly. I had to place the book over my lap to hide the full-blown wood pressing against my jeans.

I needed a distraction. I needed to get her out of my head. I bought several little airline bottles of rum and dumped them in my Coke, but they weren’t enough to blur the image of Leni’s face in my mind. When the smoking hot flight attendant ran her finger over my arm then dropped a napkin with a message on my tray (“Meet me upstairs?”), I couldn’t resist. I snuck up the spiral staircase to the empty upper level and found her in the bathroom wearing nothing but heels and thigh-high stockings, tendrils of bottle-bleached hair barely hiding her fake tits. Flight attendants like this had made me a lifetime member of the mile-high club—they wanted nothing more than something to make the transatlantic flight more interesting. My perfect kind of girl.

Unfortunately, my eyes only saw Leni’s body under my hands.

Cover Reveal Coming Soon

Thanks to the amazingly talented Regina at Mae I Design, The Space Between is no longer naked. The cover is beautiful and I can't wait to share it with you. But not until the official reveal on Tuesday, March 5th.

However, you can see it sooner if you're a subscriber to my newsletter. It's easy to subscribe - just enter your email address in the box at the top-left of this page. The newsletter will be going out later today, so HURRY!

If you'd like to participate in the official Cover Reveal, details are in the newsletter or please email publisher (at) angdora (dot) com. Whether you have a blog or not, you can get in on the fun. There will be prizes!

Oh, dang, I have to tease you. I just can't help it. There may be more revealed in the coming days on my Facebook page, so be sure to "Like" it.