rea

Author: Ali Winters

Title: The Reapers

Genre:Fantasy/Paranormal

Release date: May 31 2015 (re-release: Nov 02 2015)

The balance of life and death must be kept at all costs.Having been a reaper as long as she can remember, Nivian knows that what she does is essential inmaintaining balance. After being assigned to a rushed mark she finds that there is more to this human thanany other she has encountered.Kain had been living an ordinary life without a second thought until he meets Nivian who turns his worldupside down. He is thrust into a world of hunters and reapers. The keepers of life and death have beenfeuding for centuries over a reason no one can even remember.With Kain having been marked for reaping, and Nivian being hunted, they forge a friendship and togethermust find the truth in order to keep balance in check. Wrong choices could destroy everything. As they journey they discover hidden histories, powers, and lies and truths that have been spun since the beginningof time. The consequence of failure, unimaginable.

Excerpt:

Nivian leaped over the edge of the bridge and landed with a soft tap on the surface of the water. Shereached down, pulled the soul of the driver up by the collar of his shirt, and stood him up next to her on topof the water. She took the driver’s hand, palm up, in hers and waved her other hand over his. Pinching theair, she pulled and lifted up to expose his life thread. His wide eyes stared unblinking, hypnotized by theglowing string of light. Nivian reached behind her and grabbed the scythe strapped to her back, and swung.With a slow, deliberate movement, Nivian sliced the human’s life thread. The light formed into a ball andhovered between them. She pulled out a small pocket watch and guided the life energy down to the watch.It sunk into it and disappeared. She snapped the watch closed and returned it to her pocket.“You should know better than to drink and drive. You could’ve seriously hurt someone.”He gaped at her, his mouth opened and closed like a fish.“Yes, you really are dead,” she confirmed and gave him an apathetic look as she turned away.“Are you … the devil?” he managed to sputter.“No, of course not. I am just the natural order of things,” she said, looking back over her shoulder. “Waithere. Your spirit counselor will be here soon to guide you to your afterlife. I have other jobs tonight.” Shespun on her heel and walked away, as she pulled her hood back up over her head and vanished.

AMAZON

Author:Ali Winters

Title: Flirting With Death

Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal

Release date: Nov 02 2015

blurb

Being a reaper has its perks, but also its downsides.While on an assignment, Evander is caught of guard by an unmarked human. Captivated, he is unable totear himself away.This is why reapers don’t associate with mortals.Piper was ordinary, just a girl looking for love. And all she knows is that her current boyfriend isn’t it. Anunfortunate incident and a series of remarkable events turn her world upside down. But what she finds isthe last thing she ever expected—She finds herself falling for the least likely candidate.

Excerpt:

“Stop. He is gone.” Evander said calmly. Why would she waste so much energy on someone who had nochance.“Don’t tell her to stop,” Tony snapped.Oh, right. That guy was still here. Where was a spirit counselor when you needed one? And at that moment,she showed up.“Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t tell me. I’m late, am I right?” She waved a hand in the air dismissively.“I should have known it would be you, Cassandra. Please take him.”“Don’t boss me around, you fancy assassin. I know how to do my job.” She bit out, then turned to herassignment. “Come on, life loser, this way.”“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Tony backed up and stepped on his body, trying to slide back in.Evander’s gaze flicked upward, the difficult ones always tried to return to their bodies.

Interview with Ali:

I seriously fell in love with the way Ali writes ever since I read about The Reapers after it was first released. And here are a few things to get to know her a little more.

All about being a writer …

What were you before you became a writer?
The same thing I am now. A photographer, receptionist, wife, & furmom.
How did you feel after you published your first book?
Excited, relieved, scared, but mostly I wasn’t sure what to do with myself anymore at that point.
What do you love most about being an author?
The excitement at getting a new idea for a story, and seeing the covers to go with it. I LOVE a good cover!
Why did you choose to write fantasy among other genre?
I grew up reading fantasy, it’s where my mind lives. The one idea I had for a contemporary story fell flat, for me. It just wasn’t my thing and I lost interest. Once I added in fantasy elements to my story ideas they took off. I now have about 29+ (and counting) ideas jotted down.
What inspired you to write about the reapers?
I wanted a story about something different than what was already out there. No one really writes about the reaper, and the idea of it being an organization amused me and it just kind of took off from there quickly growing into it’s own unique world.
Who is the person you look up to the most as an author?
Author Konstanz Silverbow. She’s awesome and a great friend. She has an amazing imagination, and can focus on writing like crazy! (I need to learn the ways of the writing force, she’s kind of my Yoda.) She’s also the one to inspire me to continue with my Reapers story after I wrote the first scene.
Any particular habit that you do before and after you write?
I can’t think of any. Every day is different. Unless coffee counts, then coffee.
If you can be one of your characters, who would you pick and why? Nivian, because who wouldn’t want that cloak, and the ability to change your hair color?
What are you currently working on that your fans should look forward to?
Star Dust. It was originally planned as a stand alone, and is still someone of a stand alone, but there will be a few others in the series/same universe. All stand alones-ish.

Off the grid… (not writing related)
1. Who is the person who knows you best? My Mom. She’s states away from me and still knows every time I need to talk.
2. Dream destination? Ireland. Because I love the green, and rolling hills, not to mention the accents.
3. What do you do to relax? Read, photograph, play with photoshop, play with my dogs, watch movies, knit, or do something crafty.
  Fast Talk (Just to get to know you more)
  1. Singing or Dancing? Dancing, I even take a dance class. I don’t sing, and I won’t.
  2. Riding a horse or driving a car? That’s tough, I like horses better, but I’m so much better at driving a car.
  3. Favorite season? Summer.
  4. Sexiest man for you? My husband.
  5. Your present life in one word – Words.

Ali grew up in the Pacific North West. She attended Oregon State University for photography. After manyadventures, she moved to Colorado, earned a second degree, and met and married her husband.She currently lives in windy Wyoming with her husband and two dogs. When not writing, Ali is either,photographing, knitting, reading, dancing, or staying inside where it’s warm with a hot cup of coffee. Shedreams of traveling the world someday soon.

Author links:

Event: Jan 9th 6pm-9pm MST.

JOIN US:

Facebook party!

Come find out more and enter to win prizes!

Title: The Reapers

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Release date: May 31

The balance of life and death must be kept at all costs.

Having been a reaper as long as she can remember, Nivian knows that what she does is essential in maintaining balance. After being assigned to a rushed mark she finds that there is more to this human than any other she has encountered.

Kain had been living an ordinary life without a second thought until he meets Nivian who turns his world upside down. He is thrust into a world of hunters and reapers. The keepers of life and death have been feuding for centuries over a reason no one can even remember.

With Kain having been marked for reaping, and Nivian being hunted, they forge a friendship and together must find the truth in order to keep balance in check. Wrong choices could destroy everything. As they journey they discover hidden histories, powers, and lies and truths that have been spun since the beginning of time. The consequence of failure, unimaginable.

I want to say, “This book is great, read it!” and stop at that cause really, it’s hard to articulate intelligent after reading a book as good as this. But of course, if I do that, I’ll feel that I didn’t give justice to the trust the author gave me to review this book in exchange for my review. So here are my thoughts…

From the cover until the last word of the novel had me hooked. Covers usually don’t matter that much to me. But this book is one of the few books that had me itching to read it because of it’s cover. In fact, there are a couple of books that I needed to read before this if it’s not for that cover that totally distracted me every time I light up my kindle. So yes, to whoever the cover artist is, you did great. And I must say that I don’t regret being distracted by the cover.

Basing on some of the fantasy books that I have read, some of the authors have given me the thought, ‘this author is messing with me’. It’s because some of them kind of take the word fantasy as an excuse to write lame concept of a fantasy world that is so hard to imagine I can’t help my eyebrow getting up. But Ali Winter’s The Reapers was nothing like that. It’s as if she wrote the book with the mind set that she have intelligent readers and the phrase, “dude, it’s fantasy of course it’s impossible and that’s okay” simply wouldn’t do. The events, the characters, the conflicts, the twist – all of them was intricately woven I could feel how much passion she have poured in making this novel come out the way it is. It’s really hard to explain what I wanted to say regarding this aspect without some comparison or analogy and I’m afraid that might take me away from my review so you better read it and see for yourself.

I love how she had shown me a new take on reapers, or the Grim Reaper for that matter. She had shown me a new possibility of how death happens and why it happens. She had shown me a new kind of immortally without needing a couple of fangs painted into the picture. And she did all that in a unique and intelligent manner.

The characters had me torn apart. I don’t know if I would rather have Kain killed or not during the beginning and I was anxious about Silas which ended well for me. I can’t believe my instinct was wrong on Silas but somehow I was happy to be wrong. I am still torn apart. This first book poses some question regarding the main characters which I have no doubt will be answered on the next book. I like Kain but I like Caspian more and as early as now I can feel my heart breaking for one of them. And I’m not even sure if that will be part of the story.

There was no boring part from the cover til the last word. No fillers too, you can see that every word matters as to how the story will move forward and I guess that’s one of the factors that really captivated me. Though I caught a few proofing errors (double words and out of place words) which I can let pass considering the adventure of a story the author just had me experienced.

I’m really looking forward to where their friendship will lead them (Caspian, Kainn and Nivian) and if whether what’s waiting for them next will strengthen or sever their friendship.

If you love YA Fantasay, I highly recommend this book. It was full of humor, action and adventure and also a hint of mystery.

AMAZON

Ali grew up in the Pacific North West. She attended Oregon State University for photography. After many adventures she moved to Colorado and earning second degree, she found and met and married her husband. Ali currently lives in windy Wyoming with her husband and two dogs. When not writing Ali is either photographing, knitting, reading, dancing, or staying inside where it’s warm with a hot cup of coffee and dreaming of traveling the world someday soon.