Evil Embers by Cristelle Comby - Book Tour - Book Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Cristelle Comby and her new book, “Evil Embers”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Cristelle and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Evil Embers

by Cristelle Comby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Urban Fantasy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

There’s “hard to kill”—and then there’s Bellamy Vale.

After narrowly preventing the destruction of Cold City, PI Bellamy Vale needs a rest. Or rather, he needs a plain and simple vanilla case—no monsters or otherworldly creatures involved! When foreign businessman Eli Smith shows up at his doorstep with a thick wallet and a request to find his missing sister, Vale doesn’t think twice before agreeing. If he’d known body-hopping demons and smoke monsters came attached to this job, however, he might have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT TWO:

I started feeling eyes on me about two blocks up. I was hoping it was just one guy…and that it was the kind of guy I could win a fight against without losing all my teeth.

I turned off Maltese Street and into a familiar alley. The rusted-out dumpster was where it usually was, tall enough for me to hide behind in a crouch. I wished I had my knife with me. My gun might have been nice too, but too much noise would have put me back in Morgan’s crosshairs. I was going to have to wing it.

Another set of footsteps came into the alley. They slowed down as they got closer. I heard labored breathing on top of the steps, like the guy was running a mile to get me. In a voice so low it barely echoed off the walls, he muttered, “Where is he?”

That’s all I needed to hear. The moment the intruder got past the dumpster, I gave him a hip tackle that should have sent him into the opposite wall. But somehow, he managed to flip me around in mid-air and I was the one that hit the wall with a thud. I was still shaking my head clear when I saw a fist aimed right at my nose. I jerked my head to the side, making the attacker’s hand slam into the brick with a meaty slap. My right fist jabbed into his belly and side, working his body like a jackhammer.

I bucked my hips and used my left hand to help flip him over. But once again, he kept the flip going and I wound up on the bottom before I could blink. This time the fist struck, and my head went blank a couple of times as the blows hit home. I wrapped my hands around his arm as the third punch landed and applied pressure to the elbow. The strangled cry from my attacker’s mouth sounded familiar.

“Smith?” I asked in confusion, relaxing the pressure.

“Mr. Vale,” the shadowy figure said back, confirming my guess.

I released his arm, and we both got back on our feet, a bit unsteadily. Something about his gait told me he was a lot less steady than I was right then.

“I…I must apologize,” he said. “I was quite certain you were a robber of some sort.”

“A robber that doesn’t use a gun or a knife?” I asked. “In this city?”

He sighed. “Yes…upon reflection, that theory does seem rather foolish.”

I took the time to check myself over for any severe damage. Aside from new aches and pains, nothing was pressing. “What were you doing following me in the first place?”

“I was most interested to see if you had managed any progress on the leads we found.”

“So, instead of waiting at my place for me to come back, you stalk me across town to make sure I’m on the job?” I admit I was more than a little offended. Sure, I can be a bit devious when it comes to getting the money I need, but I’m enough of a professional to stick with a job until I either figure out that it’s not worth pursuing or I get paid.

It made me want to punch my client all over again.

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MY BOOK REVIEW:

This book is an interesting, intriguing, suspenseful, mystery, urban fantasy read!

When I first saw the book cover, I wasn’t quite sure what to think.  To be honest, I found the cover to be a bit scary and creepy, but still intriguing enough that I was excited to check out this book!

This book focuses on P.I. Bellamy Vale and the adventures he gets tangled up in while trying to solve his client’s cases.  Vale has just come off a major win by defeating Mayor Galatas and her minions in book one and he is looking for some R&R when a new client, Eli Smith, bursts in on him at his home.  Eli, a strange businessman hires Vale to find his sister, Sarit, who has been missing for a few days.  However, Eli has no picture of Sarit, no phone number, and pretty much no information about her – this is definitely not going to be a simple missing persons case.

This book has an interesting storyline, very detailed writing style, well-developed characters, is fast paced, and keeps you entertained.

I liked that this book started out fast paced with an action scene and kept the adventure stride mostly on par throughout the book.

Unfortunately, I think that the worldbuilding wasn’t as strong and powerful as it needed to be.  I felt that there were gaps and inconsistencies within the current worldbuilding setup. This created several confusing passages and misunderstandings amongst the storyline.

This book genre is marketed as an urban fantasy book and yet the author found a way to throw in adventure, mystery, intrigue, and suspense elements into the book.  It definitely added a fascinating extra component to the story!

This book has many unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!  I really wasn’t sure which way this book was going to go as it seemed quite unpredictable!

This book is Book Two of The Vale Investigation Book Series.  I had not read the first book before reading this book.  There are many references to the previous book and the characters significantly overlap.  It could technically be read on its own as a standalone.  I wasn’t completely confused or lost.  I just occasionally felt out of the loop and that I was missing important information about the characters and how they got to the point at where they are when book two starts.  So, I personally would recommend reading the first book, before you start book two.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it!  I think all urban fantasy, science fiction, and mystery readers will like this book, too!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**

Did you find this review helpful?

If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1COXTPT0R2SYM

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AUTHOR BIO:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where she still resides.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.

Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH CRISTELLE:

Website:

www.cristelle-comby.com

Blog:

http://cristelle-comby.com/blog

Email:

http://cristelle-comby.com/contact-2

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/Cristelle

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cristelle-comby

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/evil-embers-vale-investigation-book-2-by-cristelle-comby

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6988416.Cristelle_Comby

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43429769-evil-embers

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2vd79U6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/2TEfRsM

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2F8Cyen

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Evil-Embers-Cristelle-Comby/9781792186714

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Evil-Embers/Cristelle-Comby/9781792186714

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Cristelle will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

Evil Embers by Cristelle Comby - Book Tour - Character Interview - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Cristelle Comby and her new book, “Evil Embers”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Cristelle and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Evil Embers

(Vale Investigation, Book 2)

by Cristelle Comby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Urban Fantasy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

After narrowly preventing the destruction of Cold City, PI Bellamy Vale needs a rest. Or rather, he needs a plain and simple vanilla case—no monsters or otherworldly creatures involved!

When foreign businessman Eli Smith shows up at his doorstep with a thick wallet and a request to find his missing sister, Vale doesn’t think twice before agreeing.

If he’d known body-hopping demons and smoke monsters came attached to this job, however, he might have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT TWO:

So what if it was mid-February? The way I was feeling that morning, I planned to sleep until New Year came around again. Hells, as far as I was concerned, I earned it ten times over. I put an end to a string of gruesome killings, prevented the apocalypse our former mayor intended for us, and I’d stuck around long enough to clean up the mess she and her minions left behind. All that thinking took out the last bit of energy I had. I closed my eyes, found a way to lie down that didn’t hurt too much, and let sleep throw its soothing blanket over me.

And then someone knocked at the door.

I groaned at the wrong timing but kept my eyes shut. There was no way in Tartarus that I was getting back up again so soon. Whoever it was could get lost.

The knocking came again.

It was more insistent this time. I could hear a sense of urgency to the motion. I forced one eye open and frowned. The sunlight streaming in from the window was too bright for it to be morning and the angle it bounced off the floorboards was all wrong. I opened my second eye and glanced at the clock on the bedside table…Three in the afternoon.

“The hells?” I muttered, wondering where the day went while I shook my head to clear out the cobwebs.

The knock came a third time and I got up, grumbling all the way to the door. I didn’t bother to put clothes on or to tidy myself up before opening it. I was clad only in an old pair of sweatpants with a variety of cuts, bruises, and bandages on full display throughout my upper body. I hadn’t shaved in a week, and I was sure my hair was a sweaty mess of brown locks and dried blood.

Who knows, I thought, maybe the sight of me will convince my uninvited guest to let me get back to my coma.

If the man in the hallway took notice of my state, he didn’t let it show. He was tall and sickly thin under his rumbled three-piece suit. His pale skin provided some severe contrast with the purple bags under his brown eyes. He was somewhere between forty and forty-five. His angular face wasn’t familiar, and my frown deepened.

He looked like a potential client, the I-want-to-know-who-my-wife-is-banging type, but they rarely showed up to my private address unannounced. I made a lot of enemies in my professional career, not all of them on this side of the border, so my business card only listed my cell number.

The suit he wore appeared brand new, but I frowned more as I realized something didn’t add up. I was no fashion expert, but the matching of colors between the vest and shirt was off, brownish orange shirt covered by a purple jacket. Oh, and he wore a tie that matched his jacket…ugh. The light brown shoes were also at odds with the indigo blue pants. And there was the smell on the guy. It wasn’t a garbage smell—I’d been around enough of that over the last month to know it at first whiff—but there was a smoky quality about it that stood out.

I filed the information away for later and looked the man squarely in the eye. “What?” I croaked, my tongue feeling too thick and my mouth too dry.

“Bellamy Vale?” he asked, with an accent that wasn’t from around here…Middle Eastern, maybe?

I jerked my thumb at the bell next to the door. It had my name on it.

The man peered down at it perplexed, then pressed the round button. A shrill ringing shot out of the tiny plastic box above the door, and the sound sent sharp needles dancing through my brain. I winced in pain.

“Yeah—yeah, that’s me.” I rushed the words out, eager to make the noise stop. Damn, but my head was killing me. My odd gentleman caller took his finger off the button to look at me again.

“I need your help,” he said, “to find my sister.”

I needed help too, preferably in the form of another round of painkillers. But that was going to have to wait. I waved my potential new client inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

Character Interview: Bellamy Vale

I’ll admit, I have no idea what a ‘character interview’ is supposed to be like. I apologize, if this isn’t quite what you intended.

One of the main characters in the Vale Investigation series is a nosy journalist, so this short vignette is the first thing that sprung to mind.

Sincerely, Cristelle.

***

Candice Kennedy sat crossed-legged and perfectly still. Her posture revealed ankle-high leather cowboy boots beneath her blue jeans. Though she kept her mouth shut, you could tell from a mile away that she was gloating on the inside. It just showed in her smirk and in her sparkling blue eyes.

She’d tricked me into this fair and square, so I allowed her her little victory and sat down with a cup of tea in my hand.

“Fine,” I muttered, over the rim. “Let’s get this over with.”

Her smile grew; she was positively beaming at me now. Hells, I’d always known becoming friends with a journo was gonna bite me in the ass someday—guess today was the day.

“Mister Vale,” she started, and I frowned at the formal greeting. I caught myself and remembered this was a professional interview after all, not two friends having a chat. “You are a licensed private investigator here in Cold City.”

I nodded into my tea.

Kennedy kicked me in the chin, underneath the coffee table. She repeated the motion until I stammered, “Yeah—yeah, I am. Been doing that for a couple of years now.”

“You’ve been hired by several companies to investigate insurance fraud and by divorce attorneys to add water to the mill, so to speak.”

I nodded again, and added for the sake of my ankles, “Yeah, that’s common legwork for a PI.”

“You’ve also worked for the CCPD on some cases…” she let her sentence go unfinished, forcing me to do the rest of the work for her. I glanced up, unsure if I should look at her, or at the camera she’d set up on a tripod next to the couch. I went for the blonde.

“We’ve crossed path on some investigations,” I told her, not wanting to get into more details.

“That’s not all you did?” Kennedy said, her smile turning somewhat predatory.

Hells, just last week I’d faced an angry golem, so a simple question like that shouldn’t make me squeamish, but it did. My relationship with the men in blue was complicated, or rather it was complicated with one woman in blue in particular.

I gave Kennedy a look which clearly spelled “drop it,” and prayed the Texan got the message.

“I mean, just a little over a year ago, you did help them with a kidnapping. Finding, and bringing home our Mayor’s daughter, isn’t this right?” Kennedy said.

“Well, yeah...” I was surprised to realize that was what she’d been aiming for. Guess this was more sensational than a PI having a love affair with an homicide sergeant.

“Townsend wasn’t Mayor back then though,” I felt the need to clarify.

“Right, but he was Cold City’s most successful entrepreneur. And Mr. Townsend isn’t even the most illustrious client you’ve had,” she continued. “Sources tell me, someone put you on cases like the Galas Incident and the Ali Pasha Debacle…”

She let her words hang in the air again, and I struggled for an answer. This time I knew full well what she was fishing for.

In this matter, Kennedy was her own source and she knew what everyone had dubbed the ‘Galatas Incident’ was actually our former Mayor Jacinta Galatas leveling half of downtown as she tried to open a gate to the Underworld. And the mayhem at Ali Pasha wasn’t due to some experimental drugs, but rather to an evil jinn possessing the club’s patrons. I intervened in both cases, saving as many lives as I could.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say here, Ms. Kennedy.”

“The cases you worked were linked to these incidents,” she said. “That is the truth, isn’t it?”

The truth—that was what I’d promised Kennedy. I grounded my teeth and forced myself to say, “Yes. It’s true.”

“And in both cases, you were hired by the same person.”

“Hired is a big word,” I sniggered—wasn’t like I was getting paid for these jobs.

“Required,” Kennedy amended.

“Yeah. You could say that.” It wasn’t like my boss was someone you could say ‘no’ to, not if you wanted to keep on breathing. But that’s what happens when you sign a compact with Death herself.

“Two major incidents which cost many citizens’ lives. Apparently unrelated, and yet,” she waved a hand at me, “a common denominator—a link. What can you tell our viewers about that?”

I looked up, caught her gaze and held on. Kennedy was determined, like a dog with a bone. She was a good journalist and I knew she wouldn’t let go. None of what we’d faced had scarred her into giving up yet, and sometimes I feared nothing would. But I knew better than her what was going on in the shadows and beyond. There was another world out there, and trust me when I say no-one in their right mind should want to know. When dealing with certain entities, knowledge is dangerous. And Kennedy had made a name for herself outside of the journalism realm… hells, she’d made a name outside of this realm, period. And every time she dug deeper, she put herself in more danger.

“Client confidentiality,” I said, without averting my gaze.

“Really?” she said. “That’s what you’re going with?” The Texan accent she toned down during interviews crept back into her voice. A sign she wasn’t pleased by my answer.

“Yes, Ms. Kennedy,” I said. “I’m afraid I cannot name my client any more than you can name your source.”

That was a low blow, but it was all I had. It was dangerous enough for her to know Alterum Mundum even existed, I couldn’t let her spread the word about it. If the news ever got out, none of us would survive the backlash.

But Kennedy wouldn’t be a good journalist if she couldn’t spin this to her advantage. And spin this, she did. Turning to face the camera, she said, “And this concludes our interview with private investigator Bellamy Vale, who kindly confirmed there is an entity in the dark who knew about the Galatas Incident and what went down at Ali Pasha. Stay tuned for more…”

She sat up and started packing the camera. I waited until it was tucked away in her bag to say, “I’m sorry Kennedy, but you had to know it’d go down that way.”

“Don’t worry, hoss.” She gave me a smirk over her shoulder. “I got more than I expected.”

I laughed, before sitting up and biding her farewell.

***

Once Kennedy had left, I fished my phone out of my pocket and sent a text to my best friend. “Hey, Z. you *can* hack into Candice’s agency servers, right?”

There’d be hell to pay for this, I knew. But if the price for keeping the journalist alive was her being angry with me—well, I called it a bargain.

“Remind me whose family *owns* the Internet?” was all the reply I got.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where she still resides.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.

Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH CRISTELLE:

Website:

www.cristelle-comby.com

Blog:

http://cristelle-comby.com/blog

Email:

http://cristelle-comby.com/contact-2

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/Cristelle

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cristelle-comby

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/evil-embers-vale-investigation-book-2-by-cristelle-comby

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6988416.Cristelle_Comby

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43429769-evil-embers

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2vd79U6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/2TEfRsM

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2F8Cyen

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Evil-Embers-Cristelle-Comby/9781792186714

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Evil-Embers/Cristelle-Comby/9781792186714

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Cristelle will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

Hostile Takeover by Cristelle Comby - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Cristelle Comby and her new book, “Hostile Takeover”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Cristelle and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Hostile Takeover

by Cristelle Comby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Urban Fantasy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

P.I. Bellamy Vale isn’t your everyday investigator. Moonlighting as Death’s earth-bound envoy, he specializes in the weird, wacky, and slightly unhinged.

When a mysterious beast savagely mauls random residents of Cold City, the police assume that these are the killings of a rogue wolf. But experienced private investigator, Bellamy Vale, is unconvinced.

Ordered by Death herself to investigate, Vale has no choice but to obey, for his boss is not someone to disappoint—if he wants to keep breathing, that is.

With friend and computer hacker Zian, nosy journalist Candice Kennedy, and homicide sergeant Melanie Ramirez by his side, Vale has no choice but to end the killings or face the wrath of the demon who holds his life in her hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT ONE:

I was having a bad day.

The ugly thug facing me readied himself for the next swing. “What did you say, bastard?” His red-splattered knuckles were ready for the next round; my body wasn’t.

“I’m haffin a fah fay,” I managed to repeat through a mouthful of saliva and blood.

That made Julian Ragazzo, former welterweight boxing champ and top bodyguard to the city’s prime Italian Mafia family, smile. His wet beard glistened with sweat beads around stained teeth. Glad one of us was happy.

I took stock of the damage Ragazzo had already done. Broken nose, check. Split lip, check. Swollen eye, check. Broken rib, double check, and the list went on and on. It could have been worse. The injuries, though painful, weren’t enough to put me in the hospital. Sure, I’d hurt for a week or four, but I’d live to tell the tale outside of a body cast. I knew that, and Ragazzo did, too. This was a game we’d both played before … not that I’d gotten any better at it.

I caught a reflection of myself in the glossy surface of a cabinet door. My messy mop of brown locks was matted with blood on one side and the five o’clock shadow had a hard time concealing a fast-bruising chin. One eye was swollen shut and the other had a pale blue, haunted orb dancing amidst a sea of red veins. I was a mess, and not a hot one.

I closed my good eye and waited for the next blow. The bodyguard didn’t disappoint. A second later, he delivered a power punch and I saw stars. It didn’t help that I was tied to a chair and my already sore shoulders screamed in protest at the added strain. In a noise that only I could hear, my body cried out, ‘How in all the hells was this part of the plan?’ Fair question—it wasn’t.

In truth, there may have been a few glitches here and there. Like those two extra guards at the office building’s back entrance, plus that wrong turn I took on the fourteenth floor. Yeah, okay … the plan was just as screwed as I was.

Ragazzo followed up his haymaker with another kick in the guts. It would have ripped a scream out of me if I’d had any breath left for it. Instead, my lungs just took in short, choppy gasps I couldn’t control.

“Well, well, well … look what the cat dragged in,” taunted an Italian-lilted voice.

I recognized the lazy drawl and opened my good eye to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, Alonzo Vitorini, Cold City’s resident wannabe kingpin, stood near the entrance in a dark-green pinstriped suit. Shit, looking at his ugly get-up hurt worse than any of Ragazzo’s blows.

Vitorini sauntered into the room, smiling as he noticed my stare. “Like the suit?” he asked, doing a little pirouette to show off this walking insult to fashion.

I wasn’t going to reply, but the second my eye caught sight of the finishing touch, a pair of black-and-white spectator shoes, my mouth kicked into gear on its own.

“Al Capone called,” I wheezed out. “He wants his brogues back.”

Vitorini laughed, the corners of his muddy-green eyes wrinkling. Not sure if he was laughing at the crack or the fact that he was going to kill me for it in another minute or two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

My Biggest Writing Mistake and the Most Valuable Lesson It Taught Me

As far back as I can think of, I’ve always loved writing. While I was in school, I was pretty good at it; always got nice grades for essays, poems and stuff. Fast forward to my teenage years… that’s when I discovered fanfictions. Yes, I’m not ashamed to say I wrote my fair share of ‘em. I’m proud of those years; they were very formative.

My earliest pieces weren’t that good (I was fourteen) and they’ve long since been scrubbed off the internet. But my latest work are still available on Fanfiction.net and they have some great reviews. Actually, that’s what got me to thinking: “Heh, I should write a real book sometime”. So, I went about to do just that.

My only experience in the field was my on-and-off ten-years-long relationship with fanfictions. But I thought I would be fine. So fine actually, that instead of writing one book and I decided to write an epic fantasy trilogy—what can I say, I love a challenge.

So, I wrote one book and edited it. Then I wrote volume two and edited it. And I started on the third and ran out of ideas somewhere along chapter four. Not a word has been added to that manuscript since 2011! All in all the only thing epic about that trilogy, was the amount of time I wasted on it.

But silver linings and all that… that wasted year-and-a-half taught me a most valuable lesson: “Always outline you must, young padawan”.

Outlining, to writers, is the process of setting out the main events of your book and working out the plot from beginning to end. The outline is like the skeleton of your manuscript, because:

You know what to write next. There is no starring at a blank screen wondering what to write. You won’t get so lost and end up down a blind alley with your plot.

Change plot or incorporate new ideas. If you plan it out, you can see ways to enhance the plot and add in new ideas. As you research, you will know where to put them in or what to change.

Find out the problems and holes in the plot or characters. Work out how things are meant to happen before time instead of as you write. This may enable you to see gaping holes in the plot or some problem with a character.

And lasts, and more importantly, if you’ve carefully outlined your story, it means that you know how the story ends.

In the past five years, I’ve published five novels. Every time I carefully outlined everything, and I never once hit a brick wall. I know some people can’t stand the idea of outlining, but it is paramount to me. Without structure, my writing is all over the place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.

Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH CRISTELLE:

Website:

www.cristelle-comby.com

Blog:

http://cristelle-comby.com/blog

Email:

http://cristelle-comby.com/contact-2

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/Cristelle

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6988416.Cristelle_Comby

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40181700-hostile-takeover

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2vd79U6

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2AHTtFE

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2AJb4NQ

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Cristelle will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.