Sunday, May 31, 2020

6 Year's & 2 Month's and a Day

Disclaimer: This image doesn't belong to Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews. It was found on Google.


Six Year's, Two Month's & 1 day:

So honestly I have been at this for so long that I thought I had just started my 7th year on this book blog. But on Friday when I looked back to when my very first post was I saw it was on March 30th, 2014. So even though it feel's like 7 years its only been 6.

I never ever imagined 10 year's ago when I first started blogging, NOT in book blogging but just regular everyday life and products blogging that I would ever still be in blogging today. About 6 year's ago when I was unable to get products to review (I guess my pitch wasn't good enough or I didn't have enough followers or something), but when all of that started to dry up I had started reviewing books on that blog. Than I decided I didn't want to intermingle the two on the same blog so I decided to start this blog, my baby, Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews.

Now I'm not sure for those of you who follow me on here, followed me on Social Media but back at the beginning of the school year my computer that I had, had for 3 year's (thats the longest I had ever had a computer) went Caput on me. Now we had one other computer in the house but that is my kids computer, so I would use it to update my blog and do social media posts on it while my kids were gone at school. But when they were home I never got to use it. 

Than back right after Thanksgiving my original Facebook evidently got reported by someone. And they wouldn't let me log in at all. Long story short I lost that Facebook account and along with losing that account (that I've had for 10 year's and all the memories). I lost my Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews facebook page to premote on. Though I still had my Twitter account that I could use to premote. But honestly I kind of found it as a blessing and it made me realize that I really just needed to take a break from everything. I realized that I could still premote on here and twitter (if I really wanted to).

Than I realized even though I had some people who follow me on here that could see the posts. But they weren't being seen a bunch and I kinda missed cross promoting on Social Media. And with everything that has been going on around the world with Covid-19 and my kids being home since their Spring Break.

So after 6 year's, 2 month's & a day, and over 7028 posts, I never imagined how much I would love being a Book Blogger. I never imagined I would connect with so many new and talented authors and be given the chance to be able to read their books before they came out. But with a Heavy Heart unfortunately I have decided to Shut Down Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews. 

This shall be my last post on this blog....

But fear not I convinced my sister that we should open a book blog together and that I would be her reviewer. And since she has a computer she could do all the Posts and Social Media stuff. 

So if you want you all can give us a follow over at #WhyChooseBookBoyfriendBookBlog



Thanks Again for so many great year's here on Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews!!!
From: Wednesday

Book Blitz: Stealing the Heiress {The Kidnap Club #2} & Giveaway


Stealing the Heiress
Samantha Holt
(The Kidnap Club, #2)
Publication date: May 28th 2020
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
She was looking for adventure… 
Lady Rosamunde Stanley just never expected in the form of a kidnapping. 
Well, an almost-kidnapping. The dastardly man only went and took the wrong woman! 
But she soon discovers the dark, handsome man is not quite the terrible rogue she thinks him to be and she decides to put his experience to use. Her uncle has gone missing and no one believes her when she says he’s in trouble. Can she persuade Russell to help? 
Russell might have kidnapped her, but he has no intention of keeping her. Even if the heat between them is driving him out of his wits and her crazy family makes him long for things a battle-hardened orphan like him should never want. 
Their societal divide isn’t the only reason to keep his distance. Rosamunde is a bloody knife-carrying, picklock-wielding madwoman. 
A far too appealing madwoman… 
He’s not the only one struggling. Rosamunde is finding it just as difficult to fight the attraction, despite knowing it is most likely her over-active imagination leading her down this path. Somehow, she must keep her head around the most exciting man she’s ever met. 


EXCERPT:

“Stay where you are or I shall shoot,” he ordered firmly.
The driver nodded, his hands trembling around his loose grip on the reins. Russell moved around the carriage and glanced through the window to find two women clutched together. He eyed the younger one. Dark haired and attractive, just as Guy had described.
Very attractive. Russell clenched his jaw. Miss Heston looked a little older than the one-and-twenty-year-old he had expected but Guy had certainly downplayed her looks. She peered at him with wide eyes then murmured something to her older companion.
Before he pulled open the door, the woman shoved it and pushed her head out, meeting his gaze head on. Without the hazy glass between them, he had a full view of generous lips, a slightly stubborn chin, and wire framed spectacles that emphasized a warm, nutty gaze. However, there was nothing warm about the way she looked at him.
He let a brow rise. The woman was an excellent actress.
“Come with me.” He kept his voice low, just in case her companion did not know of their arrangement.
“Like hell!”
He blinked at the blasphemy. As far as he knew, the woman they were kidnapping was gently bred and trying to escape the persistent overtures of a gentleman. Still, perhaps she was trying to play the role of helpless victim for her companion’s benefit.
Very well. She wasn’t the only one who could act. He had not read every one of Shakespeare’s plays for no reason. “Come with me or I shall shoot,” he warned her, keeping his tones low and aggressive.
Miss Heston scanned the length of him and lifted her chin. “If it is money you want, I am quite wealthy.” She put her hand to a broach at the neckline of her crimson gown.
Russell’s gaze tracked the movement, unintentionally. He only realized her cleavage had caught his attention when she began to undo the gold and ruby broach. He swiftly looked away and blinked, feeling as though the image of soft skin, dark shadows, and generous curves might well be burned into his mind. Every time he blinked from now on, he suspected he would see the image there again.
Fool. He’d seen many a cleavage in his lifetime. A little glimpse of what appeared to be a most excellent cleavage wouldn’t be the undoing of him. If he could survive on the streets and forge a life for himself from nothing, he could most certainly rid himself of the image of the faintest glimpse of not even a third of a breast.
Or two.
Damn it. He blinked a few more times then scowled when she handed over the broach.
“Here, this is worth far more than you could get for me from ransom.”
He ignored it, letting his frown deepen. Why the devil was she dragging this out? Much longer and the driver might get the courage to fight him or someone would happen along, and Russell could end up getting shot.
“If that isn’t enough…” She hitched up her skirt, revealing a shapely, stocking-clad leg.
Well, the cleavage image no longer bothered him so that was something. He swallowed hard and frowned as she revealed the lacy edge of her stocking and the garter holding them up. Her hand moved slowly to the band and she tugged out a bank note.
Why the hell did this woman keep banknotes in her undergarments?
She reached for the note then curled her fingers around something else—a jeweled handle.
A damned penknife.
She grabbed it swiftly and thrust it outward. Russell dodged back, the blade skimming past his stomach and catching briefly on the fabric.
“Bloody hell, woman.” He grabbed her wrist. This play-acting was becoming far too dangerous. This needed to end now.



Author Bio:
USA Today Bestselling author Samantha Holt lives in a small village in England with her twin girls and a dachshund called Duke. If you’re not sure where to start why not try…
Amelia and the Viscount (Bluestocking Brides #1) for a fun, slightly hot shorter length read. Meet the Chadwick sisters and follow their adventures in each of their standalone stories.
You’re the Rogue That I Want (Rogues of Redmere #1) is a longer read with heat, witty dialogue, a feisty heroine and adventure. All books in the series are standalone.
Sinful Confessions is the first in the Cynfell Brothers Series. These are all novella length and standalone–ideal for a quick dip into the world of the sexy Cynfell brothers.
Wake Me With a Kiss is a sweet, fairytale romance. Twists on Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella are also available if you love a clean, fun read.
To Steal a Highlander’s Heart is a full length dive into the world of sexy highlanders. For those who love braw Scots, some steamy scenes, and medieval romance, this series is a perfect escape. 

GIVEAWAY!



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Book Blitz: Counts of Eight {The Four Families #1} & Giveaway


Counts of Eight
Brynn Ford
(The Four Families, #1)
Publication date: May 31st 2020
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance
All of my choices had been stripped from me except for one. Dance or die. 
Three years ago, I was taken, stolen away, far from the world I knew, far from civilization. I became a slave, forced to serve one of the four families with my talent. 
I’d been abused, battered, tortured in isolation. My Master brought me men, partners for performance, but they failed to live up to the high standard of dance my Master required. 
Until one day, he brought me a new man. A blonde-haired, green-eyed, dreamy new man who had no idea what was coming. 
The men before him had disappeared. I presumed they were dead. I couldn’t afford myself the luxury of hoping they’d made it out alive because that would give me hope that I might someday do the same. 
Hope was a dangerous thing and this new man’s spirit still thrummed with that electric spark of lightness. I would be the woman to strip that hope from him piece by tiny piece until he had none left. Only then could I control him, use him. Only then could I even consider the possibility of a predictable, complacent survival in this nightmare life. 
And until that time came, I would make the only choice I was given the liberty of making. 
Dance or die. 
CONTENT WARNING: This book contains explicit sexual content, violence, and mature themes including scenes where consent is not sought or given. The author in no way condones such heinous acts, but rather seeks to immerse the reader in the true horror of the characters’ experience. This is your trigger warning – reader discretion is advised.


EXCERPT:

This woman wishes to own me, to do me harm, for what reason, I still don’t know. But the sight of her talent in motion gives me goosebumps, makes my heart thump and my thigh muscles twitch to be in motion with her on the dance floor.
A dancer always dances.
The song comes to an end and so does her movement. Her eyes immediately lock onto mine and again comes the glacier from the icy blue, scraping slowly but steadily across the space between us.
She strides across the floor toward me with all the poise of a dancer exiting the stage after a performance.
She sighs. “I wasn’t expecting you today. You’ve interrupted my rehearsal.”
“I hate to break it to you, princess, but this has interrupted my whole life. So why don’t we just cut ties now and get out of each other’s hair?”
“No one leaves once they’re brought here.” Her eyes shift away, then back to pierce mine again.
I let my tired head fall over onto my arm. “Please spare me the cryptic bull crap. What am I doing here?”
“You’re here to dance.”
“To dance?”
“I require a partner for our annual performance. My last didn’t live up to my master’s expectations…” She steps closer, invading my personal space. “That partner is gone now, and you are here to replace him.”
“Gone?”
“Yes, that’s what I said. Why do you keep repeating me? My English is excellent, can you not understand me through my accent? I lived in New York since I was eleven. Perhaps I’ve developed another accent that you have trouble understanding.” She tilts her head as her words drip with sarcasm.
The side of my mouth curls up. I might have found her interesting if it weren’t for the circumstances.



Author Bio:
Brynn Ford is an independent author of romance in all of its beautiful and sensually taboo forms. She is a lover of the dark, twisted, and playful and strives to bring the unmentionable aspects of passionate romance into her stories.
Brynn resides in the Midwest with her husband and sons, whom she expects will someday be embarrassed by their mom's books. When she isn't obsessively writing, you may find her binge watching favorite shows while eating far too much junk food or fanatically reading, always seeking to lose herself in the emotional roller coaster of a damn good story.
She is quite the idealist, despite her fascination with the wicked and warped aspects of humanity. Some of her stories may run out of words before a happily ever after, but she's a firm believer that her characters continue to live on outside the pages in the minds of her readers. Stories don't end just because there aren't anymore pages to turn. 

GIVEAWAY!



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Release Blitz: Cocky Hero Club



COCKY HERO CLUB
Release Date: May 31, 2020


Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward are excited to bring you the Cocky Hero Club: original works from various authors inspired by Keeland and Ward's New York Times bestselling Cocky Bastard series.




PIN-UP PILOT
BY CLAIRE RAYE

Alexa Purdy has sworn off men, and he’s her worst nightmare.

Arrogant and flirtatious, and now International Airlines’ newest pilot, Jake Campbell has a panty-dropping smile and a body to match. But he’s no match for Alexa’s cold heart.

Plagued by a bad reputation and a bitter divorce, Alexa is determined to make a name for herself outside of the bedroom. As International Airlines’ only female pilot she’s had to work twice as hard and she won’t let someone like Jake bring her down. 

But she’s surprised to find he’s nothing like she expected him to be. Even more surprising is her growing attraction to him and his obvious attraction to her—an attraction that causes her to question whether swearing off men is such a good idea after all.

But when Jake’s past resurfaces, she realizes getting close to him may be her biggest mistake of all.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH CLAIRE RAYE




FILTHY FIREFIGHTER
BY EMMA LOUISE

He looks like he belongs on stage, stripping out of his firefighter uniform, not running into a burning building to save me. But thank God he did.

When the smoke clears and my eyes focus on my savior, one look at his gorgeous face and tattoo-covered muscles, I know he’ll be too much for me to handle. It’s a good thing I never have to see him again, right?

Except, losing my home to a fire means finding somewhere new to live, and guess who just happens to be my new roommate? Hayden Flynn. The filthy-talking firefighter who’s been front and center of all of my dreams lately.

Our attraction is undeniable, but it’s the adventures he takes me on that has me falling for him, each new experience chipping away at the wall I’ve been hiding behind. 

He wasn’t supposed to see past my scars.

He wasn’t supposed to break me apart piece by piece, then put me back together again.

He was just supposed to be a firefighter. I didn’t expect him to end up saving my life, in more ways than one.


Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH EMMA LOUISE




DIRTY LIAR
BY JANICE M. WHITEAKER

Dexter Truitt ruined my life.

His impossibly improbable act set off a chain of events I couldn’t make up if I tried, each one stealing a little more from me.

My relationship. My business.

My reputation.

But even bad times have to come to an end. I thought that was the case when Valerie slid onto the barstool next to mine and asked me to buy her a drink. 

She was gorgeous. Driven. Smart.

And didn’t know who in the hell I was.

Didn’t know why every other woman in town avoids me like the plague.

Valerie was a ray of light when I needed it most, and I couldn’t get enough of her. Being with her made me think I could have it all again.

Showed me I could have more.

All I had to do was reach out and take it.

But all good things must come to an end too.

And our ending was one I didn’t see coming.


Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
JANICE M. WHITEAKER




LAYOVER LOVER
BY JEANNINE COLETTE
& LAUREN RUNOW

Flying the friendly skies has been more than just a job to me. It’s my home.

Ten years ago I ran away from everything I’ve known and vowed never to return. That is, until my flight is cancelled due to weather, and I’m stuck in San Francisco. 

Fate is not on my side when I end up in an Uber ride share with the one man I thought I’d never see again. 

Zack Hunt was my high school sweetheart, and the boy I walked away from without a note saying goodbye. Except, he’s no longer a boy. No, this man is gorgeous, intense, and heated at the sight of me. 

The anger searing off him is nothing compared to the way my heart pounds from seeing him again. Words are said. Feelings are crushed. But when he invites me in to his bar to hash out our past, I find myself following him in, desperate for more. 

The line between past and present is blurred when Zack challenges me to a dare—come back home with him to see what I walked away from. 

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I do. 

Then I challenge him right back to live a day in my shoes. 

We drive home to rediscover the past 
We fly abroad to live in the present.
When we stop moving, we realize we may never have a future. 

Layover Lover is a second chance romance, aligned by fate. Can two lost souls really find love again on a layover? Or do they need to keep flying?

Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
JEANNINE COLETTE

CONNECT WITH 
LAUREN RUNOW




BRITISH BANGER
BY JENNIFER WOODHULL

British accents should come with a warning label. When they’re attached to deep, baritone voices that belong to sexy, cocky men, you should have to sign a waiver.

Most people wouldn’t touch short-term rental properties, but since my business partner took off with my client list, I need every deal I can get. Enter, one insanely sexy and completely exasperating Camden Reid.

The smug executive found fault with every property I showed him. Too cramped. Too feminine. Too far from a decent pub.

His demands were ridiculous, and I couldn’t wait to be rid of him and his British bangers.

Somewhere between the first property and the zillionth, though, my attraction to Camden grew impossible to ignore.

His insane demands finally met, the arrogant Adonis proposed we christen his new temporary home.

Little did I know how addicted I’d become, or just how unforgettable my time with Camden would be.

After all, I knew we had an expiration date.

All good things must come to an end, right?
Except our ending was one I didn't see coming.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
JENNIFER WOODHULL




DOCTOR HEARTBREAKER
BY KATHRYN M. HEARST

The nurses call me Dr. Heartbreaker. They say I put the hot in hot-shot cardiologist.

Not that it matters. I never stick my tongue depressor in my co-workers.

What can I say? I play by a set of personal rules.

Even if those rules eliminate 99.9% of the woman I come in contact with from my dating-pool.

Even if those rules landed me on a blind date with Emily, my childhood sweetheart, a woman I hadn’t seen since I broke her heart freshmen year of college.

Let’s just say the evening was a disaster. She took one look at me, and it was…

Date over. Do not pass go. Do not collect your two-hundred dollars.

The thing is, I can’t stop thinking about her. She was my first kiss, and every other first that two people could share.

She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.

How can I make her understand what really happened between us when she wants nothing to do with me?

How can I let her walk away again, when it could mean another ten years wondering…what if?

The answer’s simple. I can’t.

Unfortunately, the solution to my dilemma is a five-year-old Colombian girl with a deadly heart condition. The same little girl Emily’s non-profit organization brought to the United States to receive life-saving surgery.

When the chief of staff informs me, I need to improve my public image because my bedside manner sucks--not THAT bedside manner. I’m just fine between the sheets, thank you very much—I agree to perform the girl’s operation…

Because spending more time with Emily is worth the risk.
Even if it means I have to break every rule in my playbook.

Even if it means destroying myself in the process.

I’ll do anything for a second chance with the woman who’s owned my heart since the first-grade.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
KATHRYN M. HEARST




FATEFUL FIGHTER
BY KATHY COOPMANS

“I want a divorce.”
No woman wants to say those words. No woman who is still in love with her husband anyway.

Our marriage has been tested, repeatedly.
It’s been dragged through tabloids and rumors and fans that just won’t let us be.
Through it all, we’ve remained unbreakable.

We didn’t have the perfect marriage because perfection doesn’t exist.
But we had love. We had trust. We had chemistry that to this day sets everything inside me on fire.

Then one life-threatening statement creates a chain of lies that leaves me no choice but to say those horrible words.

I never thought I’d say them.

I never thought my husband would ignore me when I did.

I never thought the man I love would sever the vows we took.

I never thought I’d pack my bags and move from our home in L.A. to our getaway cottage in Hermosa Beach.

Then again, I never thought he'd choose the fate of his life over his fate with me.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
KATHY COOPMANS




BRAINY BARTENDER
BY NATALIE ANN

Add one hidden past. A dash of a pretend role. A shot of steamy chemistry. Put it in a shaker, then pour for one exotic cocktail on the rocks!

Wesley Templeton was determined to not follow in his namesake’s path as a Cardiac Surgeon. Was he smart enough for it? Of course, he was a genius after all. Did he have the time and patience to master the craft? Absolutely. Was he going to let his controlling grandfather hold his trust fund over his head until he achieved what was expected of him? Hell no!

Harper Fairchild was the redheaded stepchild. Literally. Smart, nerdy, picked on, and often thought of as an outcast. Her social life was a dismal as her family relationships, so she left when she could and made a new life somewhere else. Unfortunately she found it was hard to break the mold of what cast her as undesirable. Until she loses a bet with a coworker and has to be made-over for a blind date. When that turns into another disaster she escapes to a bar to nurse her emotional wounds, striking up a conversation with the sexy bartender and wondering if she could keep up the ruse of the confident sexy chick she was pretending to be.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH NATALIE ANN




MASTER MANIPULATOR
BY NICOLE S. GOODIN

From International Bestselling Author, Nicole S. Goodin, comes a sexy new standalone novel.
He was infuriating, arrogant and conceited. He was also my new seatmate.
Fifteen hours stuck next to the definition of tall, dark and handsome, and the only thing on his mind on our trip from California to Sydney… was me.
Ky Bateman made no secret of the fact he wanted me, and I made it clear he drove me crazy.
When my resolve finally wavered, we made a bet. I lost, he won, and I found myself on the back of his motorcycle, on the adventure of a lifetime.
I never intended to fall for the master manipulator, especially when I knew I was keeping secrets that could destroy everything between us.

All good things must come to an end, right?
Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.

Author note – Master Manipulator is a full-length standalone novel. Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH 
NICOLE S. GOODIN




CRUEL BELOVED
BY T.L. SMITH

Sign on the dotted line…

I, Carla Star, agree to marry you, Corton Whiskey, on the date supplied in the attached contract. In signing this document, I agree that I shall not, by any means, try to break this contract. I understand that if I do, the envelope held in escrow will be released to the parties identified within the contract, and I shall forfeit my right to the privacy currently afforded to me by the aforementioned Mr. Corton Whiskey.

Aubrey Bateman
Lawyer acting on behalf of Mr. Whiskey

I received this contract, hand-delivered, and I’m now staring at it in disbelief. Me, the daughter of a senator, is being bribed by a one-night stand.

If he thinks he can blackmail me with his perversions, he can damn well think again.
Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited


CONNECT WITH T.L. SMITH






Cocky Hero Club

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Book Blitz: Forsaken {Legion #4} & Giveaway


Forsaken
A.D. Starrling
(Legion #4)
Publication date: May 28th 2020
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
They thought they knew who the enemy was… 
When the Vatican extends an official invitation to Artemus and his allies to visit Rome, Artemus is wary of their intentions. 
Especially since the demon inside Drake has turned out to be one of Hell’s strongest princes, while Otis’s newly awakened powers means he is their most powerful tool against Hell’s army. Heading for Rome despite his misgivings, their arrival precipitates a series of attacks that soon has them questioning everyone around them. 
Daniel Lenton is a shadow. Afflicted by a disease that weakened him as a child, the priest has dedicated his life to the church and wants nothing to do with Artemus and his friends. 
Not when such an association would risk exposing the lie he wants to keep buried. But when an ambush rouses Daniel’s beast to defend him against a monster, he is left with little choice but to embrace who he was born to be. 
After the precious cargo they are hired to protect is attacked by demons, Serena and Nate are convinced that Ba’al is after something hidden among the artifacts bound for an exhibition in Rome. The last thing the super soldiers expect when they arrive in the city is to come face to face with their past. 
As a new and formidable foe grows closer, Artemus and his allies must decipher the mysteries that await them in Rome, help a guardian find his key, and uncover the location of the next gate to Hell, all before Ba’al destroys the Holy See.



EXCERPT:

The woman crouched over the child, her body taking the brunt of the blows raining down on them. The punches and kicks came erratically, the man delivering them so inebriated he could barely stand. Still, the attack was as savage as it would have been had he been sober.
“Get off him!” the man roared where he towered above them. His spit pelted the woman’s nape, so hot she could barely distinguish it from the blood flowing out of the fresh cut on her scalp. “Let me see the ugly freak!”
That’s going to need stitches for sure.
She whimpered as the steel cap of his boot connected with her side, denting her flesh with enough force to leave an imprint. Pain exploded inside her chest. She gasped and bit her lip.
She’d suffered enough broken bones to know that he’d just shattered one of her ribs.
The boy let out a low sob. It was the first sound he’d made since her husband had flown into a rage and started beating them, his anger fueled by the cheap booze he’d been drinking all afternoon in their tiny, one-bedroom apartment. Despite the illness that had rendered his body weak, the boy clung ferociously to her with his tiny hands, his tears soaking into her grimy shirt; she had just returned from a grueling shift on the assembly line at the factory and had not had time to change out of her work clothes.
Even though her husband was making enough noise to raise the dead, the woman knew no help would come. Not a single person in their drab and lifeless, red-brick housing block would raise a finger to stop the monster who was currently striking her and her nephew.
“Mama,” the boy hiccupped softly.
The man froze for a moment. The woman waited breathlessly, wondering if the sound had somehow finally brought him to his senses.
The blow came from nowhere and sent stars flashing before her eyes. She slumped to the floor, body limp and skull ringing. The object her husband had used to strike her landed with a thump by her head.
It was her Bible. The one she read every night to the boy.
She should have known that the endearment would just infuriate her husband more. He hated that the boy called her mother. Not just because he considered the child a cripple and an embarrassment, but also because she had never been able to bear him his own child.
A hand grabbed the back of her shirt, coarse fingertips digging into the fresh bruises on her body. She was yanked off the boy and cast violently to the side. A choked grunt left her as she struck the edge of a sideboard. The meagermeagre porcelain dinner set she had received as part of her dowry rattled on the shelves inside the cabinet.
The boy curled up into a ball on the kitchen floor, his small frame dwarfed by the monster who loomed over him. The man clutched a handful of his dark hair and started dragging him across the floor.
The boy reached out to her, his crying face and desperate eyes blurring in and out of her sight.
A scream left his lips for the first time. “Mama! Mama! Help me!”
Fear gripped the woman when she saw where her husband was heading.
She rolled awkwardly onto her front and tried to push up onto her hands and knees. Her arms and legs trembled. They gave way. Once. Twice.
The woman slammed her palms weakly on the linoleum floor, her tears falling in a hot, steady flow. She sobbed and cursed the frailty of her female body and the cruel fate that had ever seen her cross paths with the monster she had married.
The roar of water reached her ears. Her heart lurched painfully in her chest.
He was going to drown the boy. Just like he had drowned the puppy the child had rescued a few weeks ago.
The face of her late sister swam before the woman’s eyes. She’d promised Magda that she would look after her son.
A loud splash came from the bathroom. The boy’s screams were abruptly cut off.
The woman pushed up once more. This time, her body obeyed her will.
The room spun dizzyingly around her as she staggered to her feet. She clutched the sideboard and closed her eyes briefly. Then she was moving, her fingers finding a carving knife in the wooden block by the sink.
Her husband had his back to her when she entered the bathroom. He was on his knees by the tiny copper tub in the corner, his arms elbow deep in the water.
The boy’s legs kicked weakly through the surface as he fought to free himself from the monstrous hold around his neck, his shape a blur.
The woman rushed across the room with an animal noise and sank the knife into the man’s back all the way to the hilt, right between his shoulder blades. The sound it made as it carved through flesh and bone made her gag.
A low grunt left the man. He grew deathly still before twisting and glaring at her, his face a vicious mask. His pupils flashed yellow for an instant.
The woman froze, terror locking her mind and limbs rigid.
Something else was looking at her out of her husband’s body. He turned back to his task as if she weren’t even there.
The woman blinked. Awareness returned. She snarled and started pummeling his body with her fists. The monster did not so much as budge.
The turbulence in the water started to abate. The boy finally became motionless at the bottom of the tub.
The woman sank to her knees and started to sob, despair a living entity that choked her very breath. “God, please help us! Help this child! He has suffered so much already!”
A low cackle reached her. It was coming from her husband. The inhuman laughter echoed around the bathroom, an evil sound that frayed her nerves and made her stomach roil.
“Your God will not help him,” he growled in a voice she did not recognize.
He let go of the dead boy and climbed to his feet before turning to face her, water dripping down his arms and a sickening smile splitting his mouth.
The woman gasped, hands moving automatically to make the sign of the cross.
The monster advanced toward her, his grin growing impossibly wide. The whites of his eyes shifted to obsidian. His hand, when he grabbed her neck, was no longer human, his fingers and nails having lengthened to razor-sharp talons that scraped across her skin.
Blood pounded thickly in the woman’s ears as she stared blindly into the face of the demon. She knew she would be dead in the next few seconds. She cast a final prayer to Heaven and closed her eyes.
Forgive me, Magda.
A voice came then. One neither she nor the creature who was slowly strangling her to death had expected.
“Let her go!”
The woman’s eyes snapped open. She gasped, the sound a wheeze.
The demon paused, his deadly grip stopping shy of crushing her windpipe. He looked over his shoulder.
The woman’s eyes widened.
The boy stood in the middle of the copper tub. Steam was curling up from his skin and hair. His wet clothes were already half dry. But it was his face and hands that captured her shocked gaze and the attention of the demon.
Fire danced on the boy’s fingertips and blazed from his eyes. The air around him trembled and shimmered, as if struck by an intense heat. A faint aura of flames flickered into life around his body as he climbed out of the tub.
Dark scorch marks stained the marble tiles under his feet as he came toward them. Some cracked, the limestone warping and bubbling as the blaze licked them.
The demon released her and turned to face the boy.
“Run!” the woman yelled, her voice hoarse.
The boy glanced at her.
The demon moved.
What happened next was something the woman never recounted to another living soul and took to her grave when she passed away years later in prison.
The demon swung lethal talons at the boy. The boy blocked the strike with one hand. Fire raced from his fingers and engulfed the demon. First the arm. Then the chest. Then the entire body of the creature was swallowed up by the flames.
As the thing that had once been her husband shrieked and dropped to the floor, skin and flesh blackening while he writhed helplessly, the woman realized that the monsters she had read about in her Bible walked this mortal realm.
A hush fell across the apartment when the demon exhaled his last breath, his corpse a dark husk that was barely recognizable where he lay curled up on the floor.
The boy blinked. The fire went out of his eyes and faded from his fingertips. He looked utterly lost and forlorn swaying where he stood, the weakness in his limbs evident once more.
The woman caught him before he collapsed to the floor.
“Mama!” The boy gazed at her beseechingly, fat tears rolling down his pale cheeks. “I didn’t mean to kill him! I didn’t!”
The woman tightened her hold on the boy. “It’s okay, Judah. It’s okay, my little kokhana.” She took a shaky breath, her mind clearer than it had been in years. “Now, here’s what we’re going to do.”
The boy protested when he heard what she said next. In the end, she made him promise on his mother’s grave that he would do as he was told.
And so, when the police finally came, the boy stayed quiet. And as she was led away in handcuffs and the neighbors gathered in the corridors of the building and mumbled about what a terrible man her husband had been and how he had deserved what had happened to him, the boy kept his word and remained silent.
“I love you, Judah,” the woman called out as she was pushed roughly into the back of a police car. “Remember that.”
“I love you, Mama,” the little boy whispered where he stood in the entrance of the housing block, a policeman holding his hand.
That was the last the woman saw of him.



Author Bio:
AD Starrling's bestselling supernatural thriller series Seventeen combines action, suspense, and a heavy dose of the paranormal to make each book an explosive, adrenaline-fueled ride. Her spin-off urban fantasy series Legion has been compared to Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. If you prefer your action hot and your heroes sexy and strong-willed, then check out her romantic military thriller series Division Eight.
When she's not busy writing, AD can be found eating Thai food, being tortured by her back therapists, drooling over gadgets, working part-time as a doctor on a Neonatal Intensive Care unit somewhere in the UK, reading manga, and watching action flicks and anime. She has occasionally been accused of committing art with a charcoal stick and some drawing paper.
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