Cover Reveal!! The Light and The Flame, Gemini Rising, Book II by Louann Carroll

Welcome Louann!!

Cover Reveal for Louann's new release!! Pre-Orders start: December 22, 2014

Blurb

Ripped from her deathbed, Noah transports Kate to the Olam Yetzirah, the dimension where universes form. They seek the advice of the archangel, Michael, in how best to get back to Earth and their children. Kate’s son and their newborn daughter, Lucia, the one spoken of in the prophecy Gemini Rising, await their return.  

Trouble arises and concern ripples through the Olam. Kate is unable to make the transition from human to bond mate and her dreams of returning to Earth with Noah are crushed. Uriel will become Kate’s mentor while Noah is dispatched to Naresh, his home planet and to his people to whom the Light no longer speaks. 

Will Kate become the bond mate she is meant to be? Will Noah find welcome with his people or will they despise him for taking the Light from their souls. Most important of all, will the prophecy of Lucia be fulfilled, or will Belial, demon of Hades, murder her in a fit of jealous rage. 

Excerpt

True love keeps no track of wrongdoing. 

Memory flooding back, Belial lay with Saddash on the banks of the river, wishing he could make his mind a blank for all eternity. After a time, listening to the water’s ebb and flow, his anxiety eased. 

While in the river, Saddash had taken him into her arms. Together they melded, but as usual, the joining was not complete. Since Saddash was not his bond mate the ritual left him empty, and instead of building flame the act brought him sorrow even as it provided physical relief. A part of him would always be with Sheren no matter where the Light had taken her. 

“You think of that woman.” Saddash’s eyes were spiteful as she brushed back a lock of blue-black hair. 

Her burnished body gleamed in the misty twilight, catching rays from the setting shoshrana sun above. Starlight glanced off the contours of her skin, adding to her lustrous beauty. 

He answered her, “I do.” 

“Why did you let her go?” 

“It was not of my choosing.” 

Saddash circled one nipple with a nail. “Am I not as good as her?” 

“You are better.” 

A pleased expression crossed her face and he wondered that she could not detect his lie. She should have. He had given her the power to do so, but it was always this way. Incomplete and alone he faced the world, his bond mate forever separated from his side, her clone unable or unwilling to share his life completely. 

The day of his bond mate’s betrayal had dawned with each of them entwined within the other’s arms. He had a surprise for her, something to celebrate their years together. A golden dragon sculpted by the finest artist in the universe. He couldn’t wait to see her face. He thought a moment, thinking of when he’d first laid eyes on her, the raven-haired beauty of Beriah. 

He had stolen Sheren from the world of creation. There, only souls of the highest luminosity could live and Sheren was the loveliest. Fair of face, dark of hair and eye, lithe of body, her arms had held him close, providing comfort to one of the Light’s rejected. 

“Belial?” 

“Quiet, Saddash.” He gazed across the river, his memory fading into the past. 

On the day of Sheren’s disloyalty, they had been abed for hours, each of them enjoying the other in a dance of lovemaking that would make the Light blush—until she said the unthinkable. 

“I want another child.” 

“You what?” Her request had shaken him to the core, thinking this subject had been put to rest. Taking a sip of memosky, he searched for the right words to answer her demand. The thought of a child was anathema. No one would come between him and his bond mate, least of all a newly created soul. 

“A child, Belial. I want—no I need a child.” 

“Whatever for? You can create one if you will. Just think of one by Hades!” 

Her eyes burned bright with tears. “Remember Haon? He came from my loins and did us both proud. Until you murdered him and our grandchild.” She sat up, her eyes bright with tears. “You and that prophecy. You fear it, don’t you. You really believe a child will take you from  your rightful place in the universe.” 

 “Why now?”  He rose from bed, dragging the sheet across the floor. “We have everything! Why must you have a child?” He would never forget her answer. 

“The Light told me to ask.” 

Fury exploding within, he morphed into demon-hood and staggered toward her, one hand ready to rip the soul from her body. “How dare you consult that insipient Being, that, that…!” 

Sheren did not cringe. She had never been afraid of him and that had won his respect. She said again, “I want a child.” 

Towering over her, his hand bent into a reptilian claw, he cried, “I’ll see you dead first.” 

Instead of meeting his anger with fear she smiled, the light from her inner being shining on her face. He stood down, instantly morphing into personhood, the pain encompassing his soul not easily forgiven. He hissed, “I cannot believe you would ask such a thing.”  

Ebony eyes looked back, the agony of her request filling him, letting him know that once again he would accede to her wishes. 

She finished, “Still, I want a child.” 

Biography

Louann Carroll is a Native Californian living in the Sierra Nevada foothills with her husband, Dennis.

Mother to three children, she is an avid rock, fossil, and gem hunter who enjoys sharing her finds with family and friends. She is a student of alternative religion, archaeology, anthropology, and paleontology.

After leaving her position as C.E.O. in the Bay Area, she has pursued her writing career with much success. Winner of the 2010 Crescent Moon Press award for best novel, she has added numerous titles to her resume. She is the author of the Gemini series, A Shadow of Time, a paranormal romance, Journeys, The Adventure of Leaf, and other children's stories.

You can reach her at:

Twitter @LouannCarroll
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLouann...
E-mail carroll.louann@yahoo.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1426100.Louann_Carroll 
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Carroll/e/B001K838AK/ref=ntt_dp_epwb

And if you really want to know Louann...

I have Crohn's disease but it does not define me.
2. Chocolate defines me, but because of Crohn's I can rarely eat it. Although I do blog about it often enough. Wishful thinking, I guess.
3. I have three kids, but they are grown, thank heavens.  I could NOT do it over again.
4. I have seven grandchildren but I'm still very young. Just ask them.
5. I married my childhood sweetheart and after forty-four years he is still my sweetheart, but don't tell him, he has a big enough head already.
6. My three dogs, Chelsea, Bella, and Aggie sleep in our bed. I just can't see kicking them out at their age.
7. Moving to the Sierra Nevada foothills was the best decision I ever made. Aside from marrying my husband.

5 Star Review for Gemini Rising I

Reviewer:  Merrylee from Two Lips Reviews (Reviewers Choice Award AND Recommended Read)

The last thing Kathryn, children’s book author turned magazine and short story writer, wanted was to move away from her beloved San Francisco. Nevertheless, she and her 13-year-old son Ryan have little choice in the matter when her husband, famous archeologist Jason Kelly, receives a grant to excavate a newly discovered Anasazi village in the Arizona desert. Missing the salt air and misty mornings of the Bay area, Kate hates the dusty heat of Arizona. Morose over the move, she’s resentful when Jason chooses to spend more time at the dig than at home in Sedona.

After the comet Eros appears overhead, clouding the skies with red dust, Kate begins having strange, frightening nightmares. Then a gigantic UFO appears in the night sky and the repeating message — PREPARE FOR THE CROSSING — mysteriously appears on her computer screen. When she waves to a Native American woman at the dig, a testy Jason tells her that she must be seeing things because there are no women associated with the dig. What most upsets her, however, is the pure sexual arousal she experiences when Jason introduces her to Noah, a young dig worker just out of university.

Similarly attracted to Kate, Noah is more than the sexy green-eyed hunk he appears to be. A thousand years old, he’s been assigned to help Kate and Ryan through the Crossing of Nibiru, the planet humanity has mistaken for a comet. He commands the Nektosha, one of the Galactic Counsel spaceships preparing to rescue the Chosen — the animals and humans picked to reseed Earth following the destruction wrought by Nibiru’s passing. Unbeknownst to Kate, she has been chosen to record the crumbling of Earth’s latest and most advanced civilization. Ryan as well has a calling. Gifted by the aliens with the ability to heal, he will be charged with saving the handful of people who survive the violent earthquakes, floods and shifting of poles on the Earth’s surface.

Once Noah announces his true purpose on Earth, Jason refuses to believe in either aliens or the catastrophic end of time. When Noah removes Kate and Ryan to the safety of his ship, Jason’s inability to believe leaves him stranded on earth, launching him on a separate journey that will change not only his narrow outlook of the universe, but the man he grew up to become. Meanwhile, Kate and Noah discover a love so deep that humanity is reborn through their bond, newer and better than it was before. But what will it mean to an Earth recovering from destruction in an intergalactic age?

Louann Carroll’s fundamental idea for Gemini Rising came to her in a dream, but the plot is loosely based on actual archeological discoveries relating to Sumerian history and the famous Mayan Calendar. Nibiru actually exists!  According to a small group of current conspiracy theorists, the rogue tenth planet will pass through our solar system on its 3,600-year orbit around the sun, dooming Earth to cataclysmic destruction, sometime in December 2012.  They contend that NASA is currently tracking Nibiru, but that the information is being kept from the public as part of a worldwide conspiracy.  We'll see...

Packed with prophesy, pain and passion; with love, devastation and renewal, Gemini Rising is the memorable introduction to what promises to be an epic intergalactic/interdimensional series that will rock sci-fi readers to the core.  This first book is set in the near future in the United Socialist States. America is plagued with many of the consequences that today’s conservatives believe we will face if our government continues down its current liberal path.  Yet, as frightening as this future world becomes, it didn’t once occur to me to put this book down. Simply put, it's one of the most amazing, yet unsettling books I’ve ever read.  For Ms. Carroll, it’s a crowning achievement, so masterfully written it can do nothing but win every award for which it’s certain to be nominated.

The mystical love story of Noah and Kate is both sweet and awe-inspiring. It drew so many tears from me in spots that I had to stop reading to mop up the flood. Otherwise, I was completely lost in this book. The ceiling could have fallen in on me and I wouldn’t have noticed. Kate, despite all her initial wailing, resentfulness and depression over each and every danger, adversity and harsh condition she had to face, always rises to the occasion. She is probably a more authentic heroine than we sometimes see in romance novels. Accustomed to Jason’s overbearing and demeaning attitude toward her, she’s a typical woman forced to face adversities so monumental that she’s ill equipped to handle them. Noah, on the other hand, is a complete rock, solid and enduring in his devotion to Kate and to his mission to save humanity.

Gemini Rising is a truly superb book, arguably the best futuristic novel to come down the pike in quite sometime.  Don't miss it.  Its anticlimactic ending will leave you with what Ms. Carroll  calls a “haunting echo” of what is to come sometime in 2013 with the release of The Light and the Flame, the first of several highly anticipated sequels.

Gemini Rising by Louann Carroll

Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Pages: 348

 

From the Cover:

Over 5,000 years ago, Sumerian cuneiform tablets warned future civilizations of the planet Nibiru. Every six thousand years the tenth planet crosses Earth's solar system spreading death and destruction. During its latest crossing Kate and Ryan Kelly learn to survive a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Sent to help sustain Earth, Noah, a member of the intergalactic counsel, joins with Kate, the chosen recorder of the end of days. One woman, and one offworlder collide with the ambiguous Light becoming humanities salvation. Out of tragedy is born a love that forever changes mankind.

What would you do when faced with a global apocalypse? Kate, Ryan and Jason begin a journey together, and as the world as they know it comes to a close, will any of them survive?

Kate is forced to move from her beloved San Francisco by the demands of her husband's career. The desert becomes her home with its unbreathably arid environment, where even cactus struggle for existence. How are people meant to survive? Her son Ryan doesn't share her disillusionment, but he struggles in his own way for acceptance. Jason appears unfeeling to his family's unbalanced needs, he continues with his life, angered, but unable to figure out why.

When a catastrophic event occurs, their family is pulled apart by need, refusal to believe and predestined design. It becomes a question of survival, acceptance and desire. Only time will tell who has the will to endure. Noah, an unaging alien, provides what Earthlings and humanity needs to make living possible, but barely. He becomes entrapped by Kate, but is it her destiny to bring new life to a planet that has ceased to be a welcoming home?

Gemini Rising by Louann Carroll tell the story of entwining lives, all is not as it seems and the benevolent creatures may not be as forgiving and caring as they claim to be. It is a a fantastical journey full of mysticism, science fiction and fact. This is the first book in a lasting trek through time, space and reality. Five out of five fairy kisses for this fantasy lover.

I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Guest Post with Author Louann Carroll

Today at Tink's Place, I have another special guest, author Louann Carroll.  She's recently published her novel, Gemini Rising, and when she's not on a dig, she's working on her next novel.

 

Louann Carroll is a Native Californian living in the Sierra Nevada foothills with her husband, Dennis. Mother to three children and grandmother to six, she is an avid rock, fossil, and gem hunter who enjoys sharing her finds with her grandchildren and friends. She is a student of alternative religion, archaeology, anthropology, and paleontology. She was five when she found her first set of fossilized shark teeth. Since then, she has added numerous finds to her on-going collection.

Louann has written numerous radio talk shows, articles on adoption, and is the author of Journeys, The Adventure of Leaf. She was the senior editor of American Carriage House Publishing and assisted in the writing, editing, and formatting of the award winning book, AdoptingOnline.com.

You can drop an email to Louann at carroll.Louann@yahoo.com or visit her on Face Book and become a friend! You can also visit Louann's website at: www.louanncarrollbooks.weebly.com

From the Cover:

Over 5,000 years ago, Sumerian cuneiform tablets warned future civilizations of the planet Nibiru. Every six thousand years the tenth planet crosses Earth's solar system spreading death and destruction. During its latest crossing Kate and Ryan Kelly learn to survive a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Sent to help sustain Earth, Noah, a member of the intergalactic counsel, joins with Kate, the chosen recorder of the end of days. One woman, and one offworlder collide with the ambiguous Light becoming humanities salvation. Out of tragedy is born a love that forever changes mankind.

Please welcome Ms. Louann Carroll to Tink's Place! Hi Louann!!

Hello Readers!

While on vacation a few weeks ago, a client of mine kept calling the house. How he got my home number is one story, the other is, he wanted to take me to lunch to tell me about the novel he’d decided I had to write.

Now this story, mind you, has been formulating in his mind for years, forty-five years to be exact. Finishing Gemini Rising, (which he loved) he decided that I was the one to write his book. While the concept was good, he, of course, wanted his name as the author, and he’d be glad to share royalties with me, on the order of 1 or 2%.

My client is a wonderful person with whom I have spent many entertaining hours. Consequently, I didn’t want to put him off, nor did I want to write his novel. I kindly suggested that he start putting words to paper and I’d be happy to help him edit as he went along.

I also included the following instructions to get him started:

1. Block off time each day to write. I know you’ve heard this before, but it’s true. You have to have discipline or you’ll never reach your goal. The choice is yours to make.

2. If you’re working on a book, write a chapter or two. If you’re journaling, journal until you feel you’ve written enough.

3. Do your best to limit distractions: Turn off your cell phone. Put the kids to bed.

4. Read, read, and read some more. Not just your genre, but others too.

5. If you encounter a block, write about whatever comes into your mind. If you’re blocking there’s usually a reason why. Write it out to get rid of it.

6. Let your mind drift, a stream of consciousness if you will. Relax your body, put fingers to keyboard, and write about whatever pops into your mind.

7. Keep an outline of what you’ve written.

There are plenty of people on the Internet that say you can write a novel in two weeks or a month or a year. You will have to find your own pace. When I write, I give my brain time to work through the problems that come with writing a book. My imagination, cooking away, comes up with alternative paths the story might take. Once done, I choose the best scenarios and off I go.

Writing is an addiction no question about it. Writers will share with you the anxiety, the creativity, and then the realization, of novel well done. Once you experience the tsunami of creative-being, you will have to learn to discipline yourself to not write. You will have to create time to be a wife, a mother, and a grandmother.

Writing is also terrific therapy. The person in control of the keyboard can use words as a refuge or to envision a landscape filled with passion, revenge, and eventually, harmony. You can create your own world, your own law of physics, (as long as it is consistent) and lastly, a place where your dreams come true.

The world is your oyster if you want it to be.

My genre is Paranormal Romance. Many years ago, I became captivated by archaeology and paleontology. I found a fossilized shark tooth when I was five. From that moment on, I collected every rock I could find.

I currently have in my collection:

1. Pigmy mammoth bone.

2. One fossilized dinosaur egg.

3. Fossilized wood.

4. A 2-pound artifact of 45 million year old brain coral.

5. Numerous rock samples and geodes.

If I’m not home, I’m out collecting. Just the other day I discovered a grinding stone in my son’s backyard. It has six holes and with a little digging, I found the pestle. Not too far away is the fire pit, filled with fossilized bone.

My love of science and archaeology is what pushed me into writing Paranormal Romance. Below is a snippet:


Gemini Rising, Book One, The Crossing, Available Now

Kate Kelly, wife of famous archaeologist Jason Kelly, follows her husband to Sedona, Arizona with her son Ryan to assist in the uncovering of an ancient Anasazi village. During her passage across the states a large comet appears, clouding the skies with red dust. Some say the comet is icy residue left over from the big bang. Others say it heralds the end of times.

Within days, nightmares begin, within weeks, the first sign of a coming maelstrom appear. A UFO appears overhead and Kate meets an ancient Anasazi woman named Woman Who Walks With Light.

Noah, an alien light being sent to assist Earth is drawn to Kate. What he also knows is that she is the chosen human to record the final collapse of Earth’s greatest civilization. Soon they become the conduit through which humanity is reborn and together they witness a new Earth coming to power in the galactic age.

Excerpt:

      “Kate,” he whispered. 
      “Oh, Noah.”
      “Do you know what we are doing?”
      She smiled. “I hope so.” She thought of Ryan. “What if…”
      “He will sleep for hours.” He nestled close to her on the bed, running his hands up and down her body. “Are you sure this is what you want?” His fingers did a dance across her clothed breasts, stopping at her nipples, and continuing downward.
      She drew him close, her body aglow. “I've never wanted anything more.” His need pressed against her suit. She hesitated, unsure of her reaction should he be built differently than Jason. Ready to embark upon an incredible adventure, she put her reservations aside.
      He stiffened, “I'm sorry,” he said, drawing away. “I sense your reluctance.”
      “It’s not you. It's me. I've never been with anyone except Jason.”
      He smiled and circled her breast with his finger. “So you think you'll disappoint me?”
      She shook her head. “No. I just…”
      He tickled her face, cupped her chin, and kissed her. Running a finger around her eyes, he brushed them across an eyebrow and down over one cheek. He paused for a moment, making small circles on her cheekbones before exploring her nose. He stopped when he came to her lips. There, he circled her mouth with his finger.
      She moaned. His touch inflamed her. Her nerves were on fire, rippling up and down her spine. Her lips, sensitized beyond bearing, searched his face. Her body, filled with longing, sought the rest of him. Winding her arms around his neck, she heard his soft groan.
      Head bending to meet hers, he kissed her. Shivers of delight spasmed within her as his touch exploded in her mind. A sudden drop in her solar plexus had her head spinning out of control. She couldn't think or move, and her body took on a will of its own. Her heart raced and her mind became a frenzy of lust and longing.
      He stroked her flesh with one hand while the other reached for the zipper of her jump suit. With infinite care, he opened her clothing and exposed her body. Trembling with desire, he touched her, then rose and removed his clothes.
      Curious, Kate studied him. Unclothed, his body was nearly human with one exception. He had no navel. Reaching for her hand, he swept it down and over his smooth stomach, as if asking her permission to continue. She felt firm muscles beneath pliant skin. There was no disgust. No question she wouldn't finish what she started. His muscles rippled as she passed her hand over him, searching for that spot, that place where all pleasure lay.
      He gasped at her touch, and pushed her away. “Wait. You don't know…”
      She gave in, no longer caring that Earth stood blanketed by gasses, or that the husband she once loved more than likely lay dead in the dust. She only wanted Noah and his touch. To have him draw away was inconceivable and she grasped him close, refusing to let go.
      He stroked her in places Jason had never explored. All thought slipped away at his caress. His long hard body moved against her bare skin. An ecstatic shock of pleasure jolted her, and she arched, willing him into her. He mounted her and she bucked, driving his movements into a frenzy of passion.
      A faint vibration began at her feet, rapidly encompassing her body. She thought she would faint from the pleasure. Her mind blanked. In the midst of an emotional hurricane, she spun through a tunnel before coming to rest in a field covered with wild flowers. The man, the alien, now Noah, stood before her, as a child then a boy. His life passed before her in an uninterrupted wave. Shocks of pleasure built, and she knew she had been with him not once, but many times, in as many places. Worlds contracted then expanded. Entire galaxies exploded then were cast away.
      How old was he?
      How old was she?
      The two of them were one and the same, one soul meeting another, blending completely. The act itself went unnoticed in a sea of ecstasy as a bright golden light surrounded them in an explosion of pure spiritual power.

___________________________________________________

I have to tell you, writing romance scenes are difficult for me. I am, by nature, a very private person. My editor at Crescent Moon Press pushed my envelope, yet conceded to me my need to express the romantic side of love in my own spiritual way.
In a Shadow of Time, due out in Spring 2011 through Crescent Moon Press, I get a little riskier. Who knows, maybe in time my shyness will slip entirely away!

Thank you for spending time with me. I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog. Questions and comments are always welcome at carroll.louann@yahoo.com. Please check out my website at www.louanncarrollbooks.weebly.com or my publisher for more paranormal books at www.crescentmoonpress.com.


Louann

Thanks Louann!  Please come back when your next book, Shadow of Time is released, it's been a pleasure having you!