Featuring Death’s Curses, an urban fantasy romance by Becca Fox and Martha Agundez
After one screw up too many, Esmeralda Barnes is shipped off to Seattle to start her first semester of college while living under the strict guardianship of her great aunt. She’s prepared to serve her time in simmering silence when she meets Charlie Campbell, the only person worth talking to at the tiny community college she’s being forced to attend. His efforts to scare her away don’t work, not even when he lefts it slip that he has a psychic twin sister who helps their uncle—a police detective—solve murders. As the former member of a gang, Esmer’s confident she’s tough enough to take anything he throws at her in stride.
Then she has a near death experience. And Charlie is the first person on the scene. It turns out, his sister isn’t psychic but she does have a special connection to Death. She and Charlie both.So maybe this friendship will take a little more work than Esmer originally thought. But hey, it’s better than the gang. Even after being pulled into a string of grisly murder investigations, running with people possessing supernatural abilities, and dealing with the very real presence of a minor goddess, Esmer’s pretty sure hanging with Charlie is better than being back with the gang. Yep, pretty damn sure.
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Excerpt
Esmeralda
I threw the door open to the men’s restroom, skidded to a halt just inside, and fell back against the closed door. Straining my ears to hear over the pounding of my heart, I bit back a smile.
“Dammit!” Randi hissed.
“Let’s just go in and get her,” Karen snapped.
“We are not getting caught in the guys’ bathroom! Let the bitch get a bad rep with Security. We’ll hang back and teach her a lesson when no one’s looking. Just keep an eye on the door for now.”
Mumbles and grunts betrayed the rest of the gang’s disappointment.
“Sorry, bitches. Not today.” I glanced at the guy standing at the urinal, giving me an incredulous look over his shoulder. “Hey. How’s it going?”
“Well, I was trying to take a piss before some girl decided to come barreling in.”
“I ain’t some girl,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m Esmer.”
The guy scoffed. “What kind of name is that?”
“The name a couple of gypsies thought would be wicked pissah,” I said with barely suppressed annoyance.
“Wicked…what?”
“Pissah,” I repeated with a raised eyebrow. “Cool? Grand? Don’t you west coasters have a word for that?”
“Yeah. It’s cool or grand. Where are you from?” he asked, like he was pretty sure I’d been raised by wolves.
About Becca Fox and Martha Agundez
Becca Fox is a socially awkward introvert who loves to read and write, binge watch crime-solving shows and anime, and play videogames next to her gamer husband. She also loves to bake, and plan trips she hopes to one day take. She has a toddler and a crawler, which means that her house truly is as messy as you’re imagining.
Find Becca online:
Martha Agundez has a BA in English from Sacramento State University. She worked as a tutor at the Sacramento State University Writing Center for two semesters and was a journalist for The State Hornet Newspaper for one semester. She was also the Calaveras Station Literary Journal Fiction Section Editor for a semester. She has worked as a 916Ink manuscript copy editor for three years and counting, while also offering her editing services as a freelancer.
Giveaway
Becca Fox and Martha Agundez will be awarding a custom made bookmark, a candle inspired by one of the characters in the book, and an ebook copy of the book (MOBI or EPUB), US only, to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Thanks so much for being part of the tour and helping us spread the word about our book!
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Fun fact about the book: The main characters were originally in high school. By the recommendation of one of my publishers, my coauthor and I made them a little older because some of the things they experience are more suited for an older audience. Plus, all of the side characters are adults and my publisher thought an older audience would resonate more with their struggles too. Unfortunately, my publisher decided against publishing Death’s Curses due to there being a similar book already scheduled to be published this year. So my coauthor and I decided to move forward by self-publishing the book with the changes we’d already made. Not being published traditionally was disappointing st first but it was blessing in disguise because the story does sound so much better with older characters and I never would’ve considered changing that if it weren’t for my publisher. And I learned a ton while self-publishing Death’s Curses that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.
I’m actually really glad we changed the ages. It feels far more cohesive now even though at the time it was such a difficult decision.
Sounds like a great read.