#Blog Tour - Belle Chasse by Suzanne Johnson (Urban Fantasy) @Suzanne_Johnson @torbooks #Giveaway

Series: Sentinels of New Orleans #5

Format: Kindle, 336 pages

Release Date: November 8, 2016
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Bewitching Book Tours
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Suzanne Johnson's "strong and intriguing" (Publishers Weekly) urban fantasy series continues with Belle Chasse. The Sentinels of New Orleans series has earned starred reviews from Library Journal ("a resourceful heroine who relies on her magical ingenuity") and PW ("vivid...a lively tale jam-packed with action, magic, and intriguing plot twists").

With the wizard-elven treaty on the verge of collapse, the preternatural world stands on the brink of war. Unless former wizard sentinel DJ Jaco manages to keep the elven leader, Quince Randolph, focused on peace and not personal matters.

With no one on the throne, Faerie is in chaos, with rival princes battling for power. The still-undead pirate, Jean Lafitte, is building his own army of misfits, and DJ stripped of her job and hiding in the Beyond to avoid the death sentence handed down by the wizard Council of Elders can’t get anywhere near her beloved New Orleans or her significant something-or-other, Alex.

It's time to choose sides. Friends will become enemies, enemies will become allies, and not everyone will survive. DJ and her friends will learn a hard lesson: sometimes, even the ultimate sacrifice isn’t enough.

Belle Chasse, by author Suzanne Johnson, is the Fifth installment in the Sentinels of New Orleans Series. For those who haven't read this series yet, Belle Chasse continues the story where Pirate's Alley left off. In fact, I dare say that it would make total sense to go back to the beginning of the series with Royal Street, and progress forward until you are caught up. This series is set in a world Post-Katrina where the supernatural community surged into the modern world thanks to the borders between worlds crumbling. 

Series protagonist Drusilla (DJ) Jaco is a Green Congress wizard with the ability to use powerful Elven magic. She even carries a staff called Charlie that makes her dangerous and a threat to others. She recently lost her card, her job as Sentinel of New Orleans, and now has a death sentence waiting for her if she is ever caught. What's a girl to do with all of this falling on her shoulders? She, and her allies escape to Pirate Jean Lafitte's home of Old Barataria, where wizard's magic don't work. Old Barataria is the 1815 version of South Louisiana. It is a place where perpetual darkness leaves no room for sunshine.

Team Lafitian consists of merman Rene Delachaise, Shifter Alex Warin, Loup-Garou Jake Warin, Loup-Garou Collette, Vampire/Wizard Adrian Hoffman, and Christof, Faerie Prince of the Winter Court. In addition, DJ finally meets her cousin Audrey St. Simon, and her uncle Lennox St. Simon who both play interesting parts in this story. On the other side of the equation are First Elder Willem Zarkov who has made DJ's life horrible, Quince Randolph, DJ's "bond mate" who I loathe with every fiber of my being, plus vampires, and the Elven Synod.

Belle Chasse really doesn't move the series forward all that much, except perhaps closer to the preternatural war that has been on the minds of a whole lot of characters for several books now. We still have a whole lot of politics and shenanigans that we need to sort through before we get to the end. DJ's main focus in this book are to keep her best friend safe, keep Rand away from a very pregnant Eugenie while she figures things out, and make sure her friends are safe and sound and survive until the war can either be diverted or won.

One could say that DJ is a very stubborn character who often trusts the wrong people that leads to dangerous situations. One could also say that Jean Lafitte, not DJ is the real leader of the group. He has been using up all of his resources while also standing in the shadows waiting to see which side he chooses to support. I am happy that DJ has made friends with not only Rene, but Jake and Collette as well. I'm still curious as to the romantic entanglement that still exists, but I do hope that Johnson sorts it out quickly in the next book. 

Belle Chase is definitely not a standalone novel. You need to have read Pirate's Alley before jumping into this story. Plus, the ending of the story not only leaves heart break, but also leaves a clear path to what the author claims with be the Sixth, and final installment in the series. See you then!   

I expected Christof to start a snowstorm above Rand’s head. What I didn’t expect was for the prince to lower his head and charge Rand like a raging bull, head-butting him in the midsection. They hit the ground, and I saw my chance at the same time Eugenie spotted me.

            I motioned her toward the woods where the transport lay. To hell with the Blue Congress wizards. We were going to make a run for it while Christof kept Rand too busy to notice.

            She set off for the woods, and I met her halfway. “My family thinks I’m crazy!” she wailed, loud enough to draw the attention of the tall, skinny Blue Congress wizard with the rooster haircut.

            “Hey, stop!”

            Holy crap. I whipped out the elven staff, paused long enough to aim just to the right of the wizards. They already had their hands up and were doing some of their nifty Blue Congress magic when I released my fire and blew up the tombstone next to them, sending a rain of marble and playing cards onto their heads. Around us, evidence of their magic appeared as tombstones began moving to block our escape route.

            I grabbed Eugenie’s arm and pulled her around a marble stag the size of a small SUV. It had lowered its head and pawed the ground as if to charge. Blue Congress magic was so damned cool— create and re-create.

            “Stop, DJ!” Eugenie grabbed my arm as I tried to race past her. “A sinkhole!”

            I looked stupidly at the ground in front of us, which had opened a gulf big enough to drive a Greyhound bus into. “Go around and run fast,” I shouted, sending another shot of the staff toward the Blue Congress wizards and blowing up a ginormous marble eagle perched atop a nearby tomb.

            We didn’t stop to see if the stag was chasing us, but ran for all we were worth. Finally, at the edge of the tree line, I hazarded a look back at Christof and Rand. The faery stood watching us; the elf had crumpled on the ground. Not dead, though, because in my head, far behind my protective barriers, I heard him yelling my name.

            Christof grinned and motioned for us to move along. He didn’t have to motion twice, because the wizards were chasing us, still chanting and doing their finger dance. The stag was getting way too close.

            I raised the staff and blew a hole in the earth in front of the advancing stag, forcing him to change direction. Luck was on our side for a change— the stag began charging toward the wizards instead, who had to stop pursuing us in order to protect themselves from being trampled beneath marble hooves.

            “Let’s run to the transport before those idiot wizards can get out from under the stag.” I grabbed Eugenie’s hand and we ran to the clearing. “Help me roll this werewolf out of the transport.”

            To her credit, she didn’t ask a single question. We tipped the werewolf onto his side and rolled him outside the interlocking circle and triangle, leaving him at an awkward angle with his

feet in the air. Oh well.

            I touched the staff to the edge of the transport and said, “Winter Palace, Faery” just before the Blue Congress wizards reached the edge of the clearing. I waved at them as the transport sucked the air out of my lungs. They were too late.

            As soon as we materialized on the round floor of ice in the Winter Palace, Eugenie screamed. I figured she was getting her first look at the grisly remains of Faerie Princess Tamara until a blinding light knocked me off my feet and a big crack appeared in the ice between us.

            “Where is my brother?”

            I whirled to see Florian sitting on a block of ice behind us bundled in a heavy coat, a blanket spread beneath him, no doubt to protect his royal assets from getting cold and wet.

            “He’s in Shreveport, Louisiana, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church, having a fi stfi ght with an elf,” I said, pretty confident that of all the things he might expect me to say, that wasn’t it. 

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About the Author:

Suzanne Johnson is the author of the award-winning Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series but perhaps is best known for her romantic suspense and paranormal romance books written as Susannah Sandlin, including the Penton Vampire Legacy paranormal romance series, the Wilds of the Bayou suspense series, and The Collectors romantic thriller series. Her awards include two Holt Medallions in 2013 and 2015, a 2015 Booksellers Best Award in romantic suspense, and nominations in 2014 and 2015 for the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Award. A displaced New Orleanian, she currently lives in Auburn, Alabama. Suzanne loves SEC football, fried gator on a stick, all things Cajun, and redneck reality TV. 

Web: http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Blog: http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/blog

Newsletter: http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/newsletter

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson

Twitter: @Suzanne_Johnson

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Tour giveaway

1 $50 Amazon gift card

5 $10 Amazon gift cards

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*Blog Tour* Review & Giveaway ~ Pirate's Alley by Suzanne Johnson

Sentinels of New Orleans # 4 
Format: E-Book, 352 pages
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Bewitching Tours
Genre: Urban Fantasy

From award-winning author Suzanne Johnson comes the fourth book in the smart and sexy Sentinels of New Orleans series.  Wizard sentinel DJ Jaco thought she had gotten used to the chaos of her life in post-Katrina New Orleans, but a new threat is looming, one that will test every relationship she holds dear.
   Caught in the middle of a rising struggle between the major powers in the supernatural world—the Wizards, Elves, Vampires and the Fae—DJ finds her loyalties torn and her mettle tested in matters both professional and personal. Her relationship with enforcer Alex Warin is shaky, her non-husband Quince Randolph is growing more powerful, and her best friend Eugenie has a bombshell that could blow everything to Elfheim and back.
    And that's before the French pirate Jean Lafitte, newly revived from his latest "death," returns to New Orleans with vengeance on his mind. DJ's assignment? Keep the sexy leader of the historical undead out of trouble. Good luck with that.
    Duty clashes with love, loyalty with deception, and friendship with responsibility as DJ navigates passion and politics in the murky waters of a New Orleans caught in the grips of a brutal winter that might have nothing to do with Mother Nature.
 War could be brewing, and DJ will be forced to take a stand. But choosing sides won't be that easy.

Pirate's Alley is the fourth installment in the Sentinels of New Orleans series by Suzanne Johnson. This time out, Johnson digs into the Interspecies Council, and the other powerful preternaturals like the Fairies who make up the council. Pirate's Alley is a story filled with treachery, twisted politics, and a major change in DJ's role that leaves her future hanging in the balance. I strongly URGE readers not to jump into Pirate's Alley without first starting with Royal Street. 

I'm telling you this for your own good. In each of the three previous novels, Johnson focused on different preternaturals and built upon it. Royal  Street was about the wizards, shifters, and the introduction to 19th-century pirate and historical undead Jean Lafitte who gains immortality through the magic of human memory, and is either one of DJ's best allies, or a character who is sneaker than a cat in the middle of the night.

River Road jumped a few years into the future and DJ got her first look at the water species, like merman, who live around South Louisiana while taking the title of Co-Sentinel of New Orleans with Alex Warin. This is also where DJ met one of her real genuine allies in Rene Delachaise who has become a real asset. Elysian Fields saw the vampires and elves make an appearance, along with some really nasty characters like the Axeman. There were some stunning revelations that we've had to wait more than a year to find out what happens next.  

DJ feels the political games being played out in Pirate's Alley and she's right in the thick of things. She has to deal with trickery and backstabbing not only by the Elven Synod, but the Vampire Regent’s Council, and her own Congress of Elders who once sat in the cat birds seat before the veil between worlds fell. DJ has been the target of many different preternatural's ever since it was learned that she is not only a full Wizard, but she also has a bit of elven blood in her as well. She also carries an elven magical staff that enhances her abilities and makes her that much more formidable as an opponent. 

Pirate's Alley changes everything for DJ and her supposed allies. She has to look at her best friend Eugenie Dupre, Alex and Jake Warin, Rene, Quince (Rand) Randolph, her boss Wizard Zrakovi and Jean Lafitte in the eyes and determine if they are real allies, or are just sticking around to watch DJ crash and burn. There are some interesting new developments with Adrian Hoffman, the appearance of Prince Christoff of the Winter Fairies, her uncle Lennox St. Simon, and his daughter Audrey. Where Johnson goes with here should be really interesting to read about.

With the book ending on a heart racing cliffhanger, I do hope that Johnson is in the process of writing the sequel, and we don't have to wait 20 more months for the next book to come out! DJ's chaotic world is far from settled, and one can hope that she finds true allies, while ferreting out the traitors and enemies who have made her life difficult. If you were looking for a break for Typhoid DJ, or plenty of romance between DJ, Alex, or even Jean, good luck with that! 

DJ, are you awake?

            Freaking elf. “Go home, Rand.”

            I am home. Where are you?

            I frowned and burrowed my face into the soft down pillow. Which wasn’t my pillow.

            Holy crap. What had happened?

            I sat up and took in several observations at once, none of which made sense and all of which sent my heart rate jack-rabbiting hard enough to send my blood pressure into the ozone.

            First, I was lying beneath a heavy bedspread woven in a rich blue-and-cream print. The bed was an elaborate confection made to look like an antique half-tester, and a brass chandelier hung overhead.

            I recognized the Hotel Monteleone. I recognized Jean Lafitte’s bedroom in the posh Eudora Welty Suite in the Monteleone. I didn’t have a clue as to how I got here.

            Second, I wore only underwear. My clothes were thrown across a chair in the corner. I had no recollection of removing them.

            Third, the pillow next to mine still held the clear indentation of a head, and there was water running behind the closed bathroom door.

            What in God’s name had I done?

            Rand! Where are you? So help me, if that elf was behind this, I’d splay him open like a catfish and watch his guts fall on the floor. Then I’d batter and deep-fry him.

            God, Dru. Stop shrieking like an elven shrew. I think you got too cold and went into a survival state.

            Survival state? Then I remembered, and shame joined panic. I had gone into hibernation like a bear, right out on Royal Street in front of God and everyone. Quince Randolph, you sonofabitch! Why didn’t you warn me that would happen?

            Stop yelling. How did I know you’d be stupid enough to go traipsing through the snow to the point of unconsciousness? I can tell you’re in the Quarter, but where are you?

            Catch you later.

            I slammed shut every mental door I could imagine and then troweled imaginary caulk in any imaginary cracks around said doors. I was vaguely aware that, off in the distance of my mental stronghold, Rand was yelling at me.

            Had Jean hauled me back to the hotel like a sack of pommes de terres? How had he explained a hibernating blonde to the hotel management? At least my dark blue underwear matched. Had he taken advantage of me? No, it wasn’t his style. Which meant I’d consented.

            Alex was going to kill me if I didn’t kill myself first. I wasn’t sure hibernation-brain was an adequate defense.

            The bathroom doorknob rattled and I dove under the covers, even though I realized it was like closing the barn door after the half-naked cows had escaped.

            From my hiding spot, I heard the door open and footsteps cross from tile to carpet before stopping with a rustle of fabric. “Hey, babe. You finally back from the dead? Whatcha doin’ under there?”

            “Rene?” I poked my head out and frowned at my buddy the merman, fully dressed in jeans and a Saints sweatshirt. His feet were bare, and he walked around the bed and climbed in as if either one of us belonged here, much less at the same time.

            “What are you doing here? What am I doing here? Who undressed me? Where’s Jean?” And, as an afterthought, “Why are we in bed?”

            Now that I realize I hadn’t acted like my licentious great-aunt Dru and slept with the pirate, I transferred my anger to the proper place and it wasn’t to myself. I’d kill that sneaky Frenchman if he weren’t immortal.

            Rene was not immortal, however, and he was within reach. “You better start talking, fish boy.”

            “Aiyeeee.” Rene cackled like the Cajun he was, and fluffed the pillow behind his head. “I told Jean you’d be spittin’ mad. Nothing happened, babe. Your clothes were wet and I was just trying to keep you warm. I’m a shifter, you know. We run hot.”

            “Oh, do you now.”

            That made him laugh harder.

            I threw off the covers and stomped over to my clothes. He’d seen whatever I had and I knew he didn’t want it, so there was no point in hiding. I picked up three soggy layers of T-shirts and sweaters, and cords so wet they weighed about ten pounds.

            My breath hitched. The staff; I’d lost the staff. I whirled to Rene, who sat propped against the lush draped fabric that covered the headboard, watching me with a grin. “Where’s my bag?”

            “In the living room. Everything’s there, babe, even your magic stick. Jean, he took care of you.”

            Yeah, I just bet he did. It was hard to argue effectively in underwear I’d intended only Alex Warin to see, so I went into the living room, dug my room key out of my messenger bag, and stuck my head out the door, looking up and down the hallway.

            “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere,” I yelled at Rene, and made a run for it, jamming the keycard into my door lock and slipping inside before I was spotted. If hotel cameras caught my mad dash on security footage, well, I’m sure they’d seen stranger things. This was New Orleans, after all.

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About the Author:

Suzanne Johnson writes urban fantasy and paranormal fiction from Auburn, Alabama, on top of a career in educational publishing that has thus far spanned five states and six universities—including both Alabama and Auburn, which makes her bilingual. She grew up in Winfield, Alabama, but was also a longtime resident of New Orleans, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of SEC football, cheap Mardi Gras trinkets, and fried gator on a stick.

Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she also is the author of the best-selling Penton Legacy paranormal romance series and The Collectors romantic thriller series. Elysian Fields, book three in the Sentinels of New Orleans series, won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence while her Sandlin-penned novel, Allegiance, is nominated for a 2015 Reviewer’s Choice Award from RT Book Reviews magazine.

Website: http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SusannahSandlin

FB: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson

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*Blog Review & Giveaway* Laura Bickle's Dark Alchemy

Welcome to the Dark Alchemy Tour!
Today, I am offering you a review and giveaway!

Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse

Released: March 24, 2015

Source: Edelweiss

Format: E-book, 316 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN: 9780062389862

Stephen King’s The Gunslinger meets Breaking Bad in Laura Bickle’s novel Dark Alchemy.

Some secrets are better left buried…
Geologist Petra Dee arrives in Wyoming looking for clues to her father’s disappearance years before. What she finds instead is Temperance, a dying Western town with a gold rush past and a meth-infested present.

But under the town’s dust and quiet, an old power is shifting. When bodies start turning up - desiccated and twisted skeletons that Petra can’t scientifically explain - her investigations land her in the middle of a covert war between the town’s most powerful interests. Petra’s father wasn’t the only one searching for the alchemical secrets of Temperance, and those still looking are now ready to kill.

Armed with nothing but shaky alliances, a pair of antique guns, and a relic she doesn’t understand, the only thing Petra knows for sure is that she and her coyote sidekick are going to have to move fast, or die next.

My Review

Geologist Petra Dee has come to Temperance for a change of scenery after a devastating loss on an oil rig she was working on for several years. She has also come to Temperance searching for clues as to what happened to her father 20 years ago. What Petra finds is a town that blends a bit of the former gold rush, a meth-infested population, a rancher who holds sway over the entire town, mysterious ravens, the presence of not only a Alchemist looking for immortality, but a group of supernatural men called The Hanged Men who self heal.

The most interesting characters you need to know about are Petra's side kick known as Sig, the Coyote/familiar/friend/savior; Mike, the park ranger who is pretty much over his head; Gabriel, one of the lead Hanged Men who works for rancher Sal Rutherford; and Maria Yellowrose whose uncle Frankie is a clairvoyant and sees things while heavily into alcohol. I loved Sig most of all. He's one of those characters that you wish you could take home with you after the story ends.

Bickle uses a heavy dosage of alchemy to tell her story. Probably the most you will see in an Urban Fantasy novel in a very long time. The town of Temperance was founded by an alchemist named Lascaris. There is another alchemist, Stroud, cooking elixirs to keep his hoards happy while searching for the missing element needed for immortality. And, Petra's father apparently was into alchemy as well and uses creepy means in contacting her.

Except for the setting of Temperance, Wyoming for the story, it has absolutely nothing to do with westerns. Most likely, other readers have been drawn in by the luring cover with Petra in her cowgirl outfit and ravens flying around in the background. I will say that Bickle, who wrote The Hallowed Ones, loves creepy stories. Dark Alchemy is no exception.

Dark Alchemy is not your typical Urban Fantasy novel. I would dare compare the story to a cross between Breaking Bad and Supernatural. Dark Alchemy is apparently a standalone novel, but I would not be shocked or surprised if author Laura Bickle revisited these characters again in the future.

Available at  

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Google Books    HarperCollins

About the Author:

Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to

her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.

Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016. THE HALLOWED ONES and THE OUTSIDE are her latest young adult novels.

www.laurabickle.com

https://twitter.com/Laura_Bickle

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