Monday, March 2, 2015

Welcome back chickies to Diaries of 2 Thick Chicks! Give a warm welcome to the authors of A Touch of Darkness to Yelena Casale and Tina Moss. Let's learn a little about them and our featured book.

About the Authors:


Yelena Casale is an award-winning author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, she moved to New York at thirteen. Being very curious, she has been a devoted reader and writer since childhood. As a 2nd degree black belt and instructor in Shotokan karate, an avid traveler, and history and art enthusiast, she weaves universal themes with martial arts philosophies into her stories. She lives with her amazing, supportive husband and the best Siamese cats. In her spare time, she reads, paints, watches cool shows on TV and tries to get more sleep.

Make sure to stalk Yelena at the following locations:

Tina Moss is an award-winning author of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, and New Adult novels. She lives in NYC with a supportive husband and alpha corgi, though both males hog the bed and refuse to share the covers. When not writing, she enjoys reading, watching cheesy horror flicks, traveling, and karate. As a 5'1" Shotokan black belt, she firmly believes that fierce things come in small packages. 

Make sure to stalk Tina at the following locations:


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Title: A Touch of Darkness
Authors: Yelena Casale & Tina Moss
Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Romance
Rating: 2K1CH

**Disclaimer:  A copy of this book was provided to me by the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie Durrett dreams of the darkness. And lives the nightmare. She's working for a tightwad boss at a pretentious NYC diner, dealing with paralyzing pain that doctors can’t diagnose, and trying to hide her hands that glow purple whenever she ...well, whenever.

So, when mystery man, Gabe, walks out of her dreams and into her life to spout some nonsense about her being a mythical creature, she chalks it up to one more crazy thing to add to her it’s-a-crappy-life list. Yet, when his predictions start to come true, she'll need his help to beat back the darkness-spawned creatures invading her reality.

Pretty soon Gabe has her running half way across the country in search of answers. As a bond grows between them, Cassie worries not about losing her mind to the paranormal madness, nor her life to hellish monsters. Rather her deepest fear is surrendering her heart to a powerful man fallen from grace.

A Touch of Darkness was a nice read. I didn't go through too many emotional breakdowns but was happy for the ending.

Cassie is a young chick that works as a waitress but has excruciating headaches. She is lucky to have her best-friend, Zoey, by her side so she is not going through this alone. The story starts out with Cassie and Zoey going to a psychic. During the reading, Cassie has one of her headaches. These things are so bad that she blacks out. The weird thing is when she wakes, there is like this shadow that Cassie can see. Well the psychic was not to happy about this and put them out. Nobody can explain to Cassie what is causing these headaches until she meets the man from her dreams....literally.

Gabe is a recently fallen angel that is on a mission to keep Cassie safe and earn his redemption back to the Light. This dude has zero understanding about Earth. He thinks through everything so logically that he sees no gray. When Gabe first sets eyes on Cassie there is an immediate connection. Of course, he pushes it aside because his focus is to figure out who this chick is. At first, Gabe is in straight stalker mode...just creepy. It took some help from another fallen, Albert, to get his feet in the right direction when dealing with humans. His first few encounters with Cassie are not very welcoming but when the shyte hits the fan they only have each other to relay on.

A Touch of Darkness receives  cooling sultry heart. The fight that Gabe as to work out within himself is interesting. He wants to be back in the Light so bad but at the same time has feelings for Cassie. He as to war with himself to do what's best for him. Cassie just has crap luck. She finds out that she's this all power key and it's up to her to choose Dark or Light. Not easy especially when she finds out her mother was a fallen angel and her father is a demon. Sadly her mom died in a car accident so she had no one their to help through this but Gabe. While Gabe went through his internal war, Cassie had one of her own. I don't think there was any chance she was going to go Dark but after an encounter with some angels things got a little iffy.

FIRST PLACE in 2014 Readers' Crown Award for urban fantasy.

FIRST PLACE in Central Florida RWA's Touch of Magic contest for paranormal romance.

Don't miss your chance to get this award winning book:

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Check out this awesome excerpt:

  Cassie moaned as the remnants of the attack wore off. She opened her eyes to stare into her dream man’s gaze. Oh, just great. I need to dream about him again? Her body already tingled with pleasure at the familiar vision. A trench coat molded to his tall frame. Across his chest, droplets of water clung to a black shirt, then dripped down to run over his dark jeans and heavy boots. Gabe. The name came to her. How do I know his name’s Gabe? Reality flooded back with a vengeance, the whole encounter snapping into focus as if the picture emerged from a snowy TV. What she didn’t recall was what happened after and why this man was now here, in her apartment.
Her gaze darted around the room, looking for something to use as a weapon. Bookcases lined the far wall with plenty of thick books inside, but she’d never make it past him to reach the shelves. A tiny statue of a marble angel stood on top of the old TV just a foot out of her reach. Next to the TV sat an opaque yellow vase with a couple of long-stemmed white calla lilies. Neither the statue nor the vase, she decided, would be adequate for the job. When she couldn’t find a satisfactory weapon, she opened her mouth to yell.
Before she could utter a sound, Gabe moved so fast she saw him in nothing more than a blur. His hand covered her mouth and he breathed into her ear. “You fainted. I had to get you home, off the street. Please don’t scream. I mean you no harm. I promise.” As if to punctuate his last words, he took his hand away.
Cassie suppressed the rising terror as she considered the situation and chose anger instead. She narrowed her eyes and curled her hands into fists.
“How did you find out where I live if I was unconscious?” she said, her body tensing in the fight or flight response.
“Your wallet. I went through it.”
“Oh...” Her hands remained fisted.
“You’re a strong woman, but you shouldn’t direct your anger at me.” He went to touch her shoulder, but she flinched away. “Look,” he said. “There’s something we need to talk about. But first tell me, how long have you had these headaches, this pain?”
“How do you know about them?” Her voice raised an octave higher.
“I just know. I also know what they mean. Do you?” He seemed eager to hear the answer.
“I’ve had these episodes forever,” Cassie said, unsure why she answered him. “They’ve been getting worse lately.” Her head titled to the side. “Are you a doctor or something?”
“And have you ever felt any other feelings or sensations during or after the headaches?” Gabe went on, ignoring her last question.
“Yes...Maybe...But how on earth would you know?”
“Tell me more,” Gabe insisted, his voice flowing smooth like water.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Enough. I’m not telling you anymore until you tell me what the hell is going on, who you are and what you want from me.”
Cassie heard him whisper under his breath, “Easy...” It seemed more instructions to himself than to her. She ignored it and waited for his answer.
“Cassie, I know everything I’m going to say will sound crazy to you, but you’ve got to listen to me. Haven’t you ever wondered at all the weird things happening to you over the years, at the feeling you get with the headaches, the energy?” She was about to interrupt but he raised his hand to silence her and continued, “This is not going to be easy for you to understand but...there’s more to you than you think.”
And I thought I was crazy. Cassie started to tremble. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well...you’re not exactly...technically...you’re not...” He struggled with whatever he was trying to get out.
“Just say it.”
Gabe locked his gaze with hers. She didn’t look away. She couldn’t.
“You’re not completely human.”

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