Author: mariacatalinaegan

Small-town Jenns Cove, nestled in a pristine coastal environment, faces trouble they don’t know exists. Titan Minerals Corporation has it in the cross-hairs. The Department of Justice asks Jake Weston to investigate what may be a fraudulent environmental impact statement, which dovetails perfectly with his mission to find his institute a project site.

The small-town lawyer he meets, Maggie Gallagher, is a single mom. The attraction is deep, but both fight the undertow for their own reasons. Maggie isn’t ready for a love ‘em and leave ‘em fling. And though Jake can tell her about his project, the rest must remain confidential.

When the major landowner’s nephew returns to Jenns Cove, he’s in the corporation’s pocket and has an old score to settle with Maggie. The eye of the storm is about to descend on Jenns Cove.

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Marc Sanderson’s love of stories grew up alongside his love of science and history. Unable to decide which was most fascinating, he studied science, literature, history, education and law, all of which pop up in his writing. Currently a full-time writer of romance and fantasy, he loves finding ways to infuse his passion for learning and the natural world into his stories. When he’s not reading or writing, he can be found studying the ecology of the local streams, restoring the eelgrass beds of the local estuary, hiking up mountains, watching documentaries or indulging in romantic comedies. Lately he’s taken up cooking as a hobby and is trying diligently not to poison his wife.

What is an “eco-romance”? These are contemporary romances with ecological themes running through them. I hope the stories will help raise awareness of the vital part our environment plays in all our lives and convey the urgent need to reform environmental policy on the federal, state and local levels.

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Studying abroad despite her advancing heart disease, Leilani Gibson squeezes all the joy she can out of life. Literally bumping into the most handsome guy she’s ever seen while Christmas shopping should be the best thing that’s happened to her in quite some time, but she knows he’ll disappear when he discovers her secret.

Born into a family of Casters, Stellan Kierkegaard lives his life away from the reminder that he alone is the only one un-mated in his coven. When he collides with Leilani at a Montreal mall, his gallant attempt to get her to the hospital when she succumbs to congestive heart failure takes an unexpected turn. Now he’s forced to withhold some secrets of his own.

Stellan poses as Leilani’s fiancé until she gets the medical care she needs, but the more time they spend together, the more intense their feelings become as their birthmarks flare. If Caster prophecy is to be believed, and this reaction is only triggered in true soul mates, they must hide this fact from a trio of zealous Caster royals who have been tricked once.

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Caster Prophecy Book 2

Powerful warlock, Stellan Kierkegaard was united with his Caster’s Canticle in Leilani Gibson, whom he believed to be human, but is actually an equally powerful Caster who’s been raised by human parents. During surgery to repair Leilani’s severely damaged heart, the power which someone had been siphoning from her since childhood was returned, revealing her true nature.

Now, the Kierkegaard coven is on the run from their governing body, The Hemlock Society, and the unknown person or persons who plotted to relieve Leilani of her power. Shortly after learning that the second half of the Caster Prophecy, the Caster’s Opus, has been stolen from the Hemlock Society in Stockholm, Leilani is kidnapped, sending Stellan into a Caster rage.

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Caster Prophecy Book 3

Stellan and Leilani Kierkegaard balance marriage, governing an underground race of magical beings, an investigation to discover who her biological parents are, all while completing their matriculation at an Ivy League school. It seems all too easy until their lead Caster investigator turns up dead, and every conceivable clue leads back to someone trying to keep her parents’ identity a secret.

When Leilani’s grad school bestie learns the secret they’re sworn to keep at all costs, things get even more interesting in their world, particularly, the fact that her in-laws may not share her views, or fondness for humans, when it comes to the existence of Casters in a world dominated by them. Combine all this with the discovery that there’s yet another prophecy which must be fulfilled in order for them to reign over the Caster World in relative peace and prosperity.

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LaVerne Lewis grew up watching shows like Dark Shadows, Bewitched and later Charmed and Supernatural. Her favorite authors in the genre include Anne Rice, Stephen King, Karen Marie Moning and J.R. Ward which cemented her fondness for Urban Fantasy and the Paranormal. While she works by day in an office writing dry contract language, her love for Urban Fantasy compelled her to pursue writing the types of books she loves. Now she writes her own Paranormal Romance novels in the hope that someday her name will be synonymous with her idols’.

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Lack of evidence means the acquittal of Niccolo Gueraldi’s favored
killer for hire, Ashton Smythe. Having failed in his mission to
avenge his partner, Serena Roarke, Agent Gabriel Spiller returns to
Alabama to search in secret for the missing diamonds needed to reopen
the investigation and to lay low from the death threats he’s
received since Smythe went free.

Almost two years after her sister’s death, Leannan O’Neal feels Serena’s
loss now more than ever. A secret meeting before Serena died left Lea
with an ugly figurine and nothing but questions. And then the hang-up
calls, death threats, and finally coming home to a trashed house
remind her of Serena’s warning.

With a killer out for revenge and hot on her heels, Lea goes on the run in
search of Serena’s ‘angel’, but how long can Gabe keep her
alive? And at what cost?

Kate O’Connell grew up loved by the Corrigan family but secretly
suffered the inescapable reality of her own abusive father. At a
young age she gave her heart and innocence to Ryan. For once
happiness seemed within her reach, until in one horror-filled night,
the monster she called ‘Daddy’ changed everything. Years later,
Kate returns home to open her clinic and raise her daughter, Allaina,
closer to Ryan’s family.

After his father’s death, Ryan lost touch with his magic and his music,
choosing to focus on filling his father’s shoes. He found love and
hope for future with Kate. Then that future was stolen away, forcing
Kate and Ryan apart. Although he is glad to be back on Irish soil,
the reason he left still haunts him.

To forgive a terrible wrong takes courage and strength. But it is just
as hard to be forgiven. Can love truly heal even the deepest scars?

This book was previously released but has been extensively revised.

Trigger warning: This book contains content, although vague, which may (and
should) disturb some readers. It has been revised to allow the reader
to skip this content and enjoy the remainder of the story.

Rhiannon O’Malley shares a strong childhood bond with Skye and hopes for a
future with him. Her father’s terminal illness has left her in charge
of the family pub. Skye has always been there for her, but when their
relationship changes, will she find the courage to claim the future?
Or will a thousand-year-old curse keep its grip on two hostage hearts?

Ultimate power, or endless love? Born the son of a Scottish laird a thousand
years ago, but now trapped by his cousin’s spell, Devin McLoch has
seen countless battles and death. The erstwhile thief has turned away
from darker pursuits to lead a life of peace, protecting those he
loves and considers part of his clan. However, there is one woman he
can never forget, who must be given a chance to change, to accept her
heart and his.

Arianne Farrell is just as dangerous and intoxicating as her power.
Imprisoned in an ancient stone dance more than a thousand years ago,
her only chance at freedom from the spell is through love–a love she
denied. When Devin asks for her aid to save another from imminent
death, she realizes there is more at stake than just her freedom or
her heart.

However, when Cal sees the unconscious body of a woman near a magical

portal, he knows the long period of peace has come to an end. He’s shocked
to discover the woman is Dr. Iliana Rogers, Civica’s
second-in-command. The beautiful, argumentative thorn in his side has
managed to open the gate and set off a chain reaction that could end
the world. Is she an agent of evil or an unknowing pawn? He has to
find out.

Nightmares have taken over Iliana’s dreams and with Cal, she no longer feels
alone. But when he breaks into her house and tells her, incredibly,
that he’s immortal, she knows she’s been living an illusion. It’s
a shock to find out he was telling the truth and that her own mother
was an agent of the malevolent Nilohum—and that she herself is
fated to end the world.

As Iliana searches for the truth, Cal struggles with a terrible choice:
does he help the woman he loves, or does he stop the end of the world
and risk Iliana’s love…and life?

 

This is not a normal poetry book. It is an exorcism of the soul. A poet will write about the highs and lows of their life in excruciating beautiful ways. Wrapping their pain with a ribbon to either be kept as a secret or presented. L. Bachman has gathered some of her most emotionally raw verses selected from a nineteen-year period of her life and is the first volume of complete non-fiction to date.

With bruised white knuckles, created by a humbled self-diagnosed battered and broken being on the road to healing and coping from a painful childhood. This is a display of work created to express personal struggles and surviving through periods of insomnia, moments of love, depression, anxiety, and healing.

Cover to cover you will read the inner workings of a reclusive introvert that has spent her lifetime trying to answer her own questions about who she is, what part she plays in life, and trying to heal from things she couldn’t. You will see into the mind of the woman known as L. Bachman through over thirty poems left up to the reader to interpret with an introduction by author KJ. Taylor.

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At a young age, Lynn Lesher began writing and creating digital art, unaware these things would play such a powerful role in her life. Taking upon the pen name L. Bachman, she began putting her talents to good use in her publishing career. Firstly, she put her skills as a digital graphic artist and in 2015 she published her first book, Maxwell Demon, introducing the world to The Blasphemer Series. A series she began developing in her youth. This led to her second release, a short story titled Human Ouija, that garnered her being listed as a bestseller and went on to gain awarding from “Author’s Excellence Awards” for “Best Horror Story 2017”.

She continued as a freelance graphic artist throughout her career creating a network that led to her being involved in several anthologies for charitable causes. These shorter stories can still be found in various publications, including her work Little Lunacies. Bachman became known for her emotional darker style, through these shorts and her novels, that some called ‘gothic in nature’ and ‘reminisce of an older style of writing’.

In 2019 she released her first non-fiction poetry collection called All of My Every Things, that continued holding true to the style she’s become known for. This poetry collection has been called ‘an exorcism of a soul’ as it bears some of her most emotionally raw poems collected over nineteen years of her life.

If you would like to read a longer biography, check out interviews and media, get updated by subscribing to her newsletter, or check out more information on L. Bachman, you can go to her website www.lbachman.com.

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Confessions of a Chubby Girl

 

A monster lives inside every girl.

Sometimes it’s a big one that drowns out all the others.

Sometimes it’s not.

Sometimes it’s a crowd. Sometimes it’s just one. My biggest monster was a creative beast that craved chocolate and felt good if I drowned her in starch and, on occasion, an overabundance of exercise that cancelled out ALL those calories.

Then she spawned a piece of art I never anticipated.

 

The Chubby Girl Monster

 

By twelve years old, I was blatantly imperfect, flawed, and terribly insecure about it—like a lot of humans. So I did what any hormonal, emotional wreck-of-a-tween would do.

I turned to the loving, constant arms of food.

Brownies were a favorite, though I wouldn’t turn down Ben and Jerry’s or mozzarella sticks or any other battered goodness that I could just pop in the oven or microwave. Fistfuls of animal crackers? Perfect snack with a quart of sugary-sweet guava juice from concentrate. Mom cut up carrots and apple slices, but I dipped them in gobs of peanut butter.

Nutrition therapy at it’s finest.

 

Growing Up Chubby

 

Being a kid is hard enough, but being an overweight kid is even harder. Combine frizzy hair, an odd obsession with books, and an absent father, and I was a walking monster mine. By third grade, I knew I was a “big girl” because the other kids told me.

That’s when my whispering monster started.

I didn’t really notice the monster at first. I mean, I did. When you’re in fifth grade canvassing a room to see if you’re the biggest kid in there, you know something is different about you. But I didn’t really understand how much power the monster had until the cutting verbosity of seventh grade teenagers shredded holes in the curtain of my denial.

You need to be smaller, the monster would say. Look at how big you are.

I won’t get into details, but suffice it to say that kids and monsters are mean.

 

Learning to Wog.

 

Fortunately, I had many friends that loved me in spite of my mongster, one of them being the lean, red-haired, spit-fire Breanna. She invited me to jog with her one day when I was in 8th  grade. Because I wanted her to like me and I wanted to be cool and svelte like her, I agreed.

The monster, for once, was quiet.

“Jogging” is an generous term for what I did. (see shuffle and walk.) But it didn’t matter. It was one of the first times that exercise felt good. Breanna didn’t make me feel like the fat kid, and helped me learn how to breathe through side cramps. Silencing the monster felt amazing.

“The world is much more clear after you run,” she pointed out one day. I remember blinking rapidly because she was right. Even my vision had came into sharper focus through the lens of exercise.

After profusely apologizing for being slow, I decided I could do more of this “running” and asked if we could go again the next day.

And the next.

It became our thing together. We’d run in the country by her grandpa’s house. We’d run along the canal. Through the neighborhood. At the cabin. Anywhere. My wog slowly turned into a trot, and then a jog, and eventually I could almost keep up with her on the sprints at the very end.

But never, ever did I beat her.

My monster reminded me all the time.

 

Fairytales? Pah.

 

I’d love to tell you I slimmed down to a lean size 6, started a spinning class, and ate only sprouts and carrot sticks sans peanut butter, but it didn’t happen. Sometimes, my love of exercise cancelled out my greater love of food, but not enough to make me like myself. Or be actually healthy. In fact, I kind of went crazy on both in middle school.

In ninth grade I satisfied the monster and joined a gym. I’d work out for an 60-90 minutes after school. My favorite? Walking 4.0 mph on the treadmill until it maxed out at 100 minutes while reading cheesy romance novels.

Hey, I was exercising, so the monster was quiet. Then I could dream of being a damsel-in-distress. Remember, I was kind of bookish weird?

I went from a size 18 in seventh grade to a size 12-14 sometime in ninth. For the most part, I hung out around there. It was a far cry from the emotionally fragile seventh grader that had been made fun of so much, but my insecure monster still thrived, never satisfied. She chanted to me late at night.

Must get smaller. Must get smaller.

Not even exercise could silence the monster now.

 

Hobby, Shmobby

 

After getting my RN at twenty and working as a pediatric nurse, my obsession with nutrition and exercise became my favorite hobby.

I dove into half marathons, marathons, centuries (100+ mile bike rides), snow shoeing, lots of hiking, and trail running with gusto. Did my weight drop? Nope. I leaned out, could hike like a boss, but the scale never seemed to go anywhere. I counted calories, drank water, avoided pop, and worked my butt off.

Not literally, of course.

Ever run 20 miles and watched the scale maintain? #frustratingas@#$*(!%*(

Must get smaller, sang the monster. You’re still a size 14. Must do more. Must get smaller.

 

Figuring It Out

 

Thanks to other issues in my life, I started seeing a professional therapist and learned that food had *gasp* become the way I didn’t cope with my emotions. Truly, I’d never, ever, ever comprehended that food was an emotional escape. It seems to obvious to me now.

*face palm*

Happy ending?

Not quite. Because no matter what, the monster reminded me that I still wasn’t smaller. Despite an active lifestyle, the pants size didn’t waver. My health was good, and I felt okay with how I looked. A veritable 3-4 on my self-diagnosed “Hotness Scale”.

Then I met the love of my life at 24 and suddenly my perception of health, self, and food took on a whole new meaning. The mega attractive, sarcastic, intelligent guy I was dating didn’t care that I was still imperfect, insecure, needed therapy, size 14, and loved California Pizza Kitchen to a fault.

He also didn’t know about that niggling monster who insisted you aren’t small enough for him.

 

Loving the Chubby Inside Me

 

Meeting my husband and realizing that he didn’t care about me being smaller threw everything I perceived about myself into question. I started realizing that I’m good enough just because I’m me, not because I measure up to some defined quality of beauty established by a magazine.

I’d love to tell you that I banished the ugly monster who controlled me like a puppet, who reminds me that my weight hovers dangerously close to Husband, that a wife should be smaller. I’m still not model size perfect and never plan to be. I still love CPK, and I still battle food cravings and the need to turn to food for comfort on a daily basis.

And I still have a monster inside me.

 

Write It Out

 

That monster is why I started writing Bon Bons to Yoga Pants. I knew I couldn’t be the only person to have a chubby girl monster, because there are skinny girl monsters, and straight hair monsters, and knobby knee monsters.

There are monsters for everything.

Lexie Greene is born from that insecure, flawed little girl I told you about at the beginning of the post. Like me, Lexie struggles with weight, she doesn’t want to diet, and when things get tough, she turns to Little Debbie. Lexie and I are not the same person; I love exercise and she tolerates it. She has a sister and I don’t. But we are the same insecure little girl with similar monsters.

We’re all fighting monsters. But that doesn’t mean we fight them alone.

We are perfect just the way we are.

*Winner of the 2015 Watty Awards Best of HQ Love*

Lexie Greene has always had such a pretty face.

Unfortunately, that’s where it seemed to stop. She’s grown up hearing her Mother constantly remind her that she needs to lose weight. And twenty-two-year-old Lexie knows she’s overweight.

With her younger sister’s wedding on the horizon and a crush to stalk on Facebook, Lexie’s had enough. She gives up her constant daydreams about food and joins a dieting group. As the pounds melt away at the gym, she finds that life on the other side of junk food isn’t what she thought.

Bon Bons to Yoga Pants is an inspirational hit about a girl coming to terms with herself, and her past, all while navigating a world of food and fitness.

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The Health and Happiness Society Book 2

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Our children are our soldiers.

After his impeachment, the president of the United States refuses to leave office, and the country erupts into a fractured and violent war. Orphaned by the fighting and looking for a home, 10-year-old Hannah Miller joins a citizen militia in a besieged Indianapolis.

In the Free Women militia, Hannah finds a makeshift family. They’ll teach her how to survive. They’ll give her hope. And they’ll show her how to use a gun.

Hannah’s older brother, Alex, is a soldier, too. But he’s loyal to other side, and has found his place in a militant group of fighters who see themselves as the last bastion of their America. By following their orders, Alex will soon make the ultimate decision behind the trigger.

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Craig DiLouie is an acclaimed American-Canadian author. Formerly a magazine editor and advertising executive, he also works as a journalist and educator covering the North American lighting industry. Craig is a member of the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association, International Thriller Writers and Horror Writers Association. He currently lives in Calgary, Canada with his two wonderful children.

Craig DiLouie is an author of popular thriller, apocalyptic/horror, and sci-fi/fantasy fiction.

In hundreds of reviews, Craig’s novels have been praised for their strong characters, action, and gritty realism. Each book promises an exciting experience with people you’ll care about in a world that feels real.

At https://craigdilouie.com/, you can find all of Craig’s major works, interviews, and hundreds of interesting blog posts. Be sure to sign up for Craig’s mailing list so you can stay tuned on new releases.

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