I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the HUNTERLORE by Dana
Claire Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Author: Dana Claire
Pub. Date: September
24, 2024
Publisher: CamCat
Books
Formats: Hardcover,
Paperback, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 299
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/HUNTERLORE-Claire
Silver bullets aren’t enough to
protect your heart.
For Liam Hunter, monster hunting is a
way of life—a family tradition passed down for generations. But when campers
are murdered in the woods, their hearts ripped from their chests, Liam finds
himself facing his most terrifying adversary yet—his own mother turned monster.
Her pack of werewolves will test Liam’s limits, and his connection with the
girl who still has too large a claim on his heart.
Olivia Davis is determined to uncover
her own place in Hunterland and hone her newfound abilities. But when Olivia
has a terrifying vision, she’s faced with a much larger uncertainty: her
feelings for the boy she let slip through her fingers.
Together, Olivia and Liam must
survive the deadly game of cat and mouse, or else risk becoming victims in a
world where the monsters are the hunters. The clock is ticking. The game is on.
And the price of failure may be their humanity.
For readers who enjoy The
Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith, The Awakening by
Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, The Luminaries by Susan
Denard, and the Teen Wolf and Supernatural TV
series.
Excerpt:
OLIVIA
I shifted my weight on the hard wooden bench we’d pushed against the wall,
along with the rest of the furniture, to give Liam and Nikki space to spar in
the center of the room. The basement had been meticulously transformed from a
storage area into a small gym and studio apartment that played home to our
Hunterland learning center, for all things monster related.
“Whoa!” My little sister Pepper covered her mouth, bouncing on the edge of
the seat beside me as Liam ducked Nikki’s wild punch. Nikki staggered when her
fist met air instead of bone but smirked anyway.
Our simple, small-town Wisconsin lives had changed a few months ago when
Liam Hunter, his sister, Jacqueline, and their father, Jack Hunter, showed up
to investigate a string of suspicious suicides in my high school. Well, there
was also that bit about a vampire nest and my mother turning into a vengeful
spirit. That had thrown us for an even bigger loop.
While the Hunter family helped sort it all out, Liam discovered my sister
and I had some magical abilities of our own, and Pepper and I had been
fast-tracked to join them as hunters of things that go bump in the night.
Which brought us here. Doc, Hunterland’s appointed leader and our current
instructor, thought watching Liam and Nikki fight would make a good
introduction to training. But each punch made me wonder if I’d withstand even a
few seconds of a battle with either of them, despite my newfound healer
abilities. All three of us were seniors in high school, but they felt years
older than me, and watching them bob and weave only added to that experience
gap.
Liam ducked again, and Nikki snarled as she regained her footing. Even when
she missed, she did it with sex appeal, whereas I’d likely resemble a newborn
baby deer discovering its legs. Nikki’s body language shifted from slinky
feline to prowling lioness, and I saw the monster hunter within, brimming with
the ferocity I knew I needed to find for myself if I planned to survive this
new life I’d stumbled into.
“Wow, look at them go.” Pepper elbowed me in the side. “They look good out
there.”
Or they looked like two ex-lovers trying to show each other up, which for
all intents and purposes they were. And of course, right after the twins showed
up, Liam started to pull away. Instead of the budding romance I had thought we
had started last month, now we felt like strangers passing each other in the
halls of our shared living quarters. I asked for time to get to know each
other, start with a friendship, with the assumption we’d end up being more. But
his response was silence and distance. My ego was too fragile to actually ask
what in the hell changed. So here we were, acting as if nothing had happened
and the last several months between us meant diddly-squat.
My stomach clenched as Nikki flipped her perfect, lithe body on the
exercise mats. Liam wasn’t mine, and probably never would be at this point, but
seeing the kind of girl he’d chosen in the past made me want to crawl into an
oversized set of sweats and eat ice cream until I puked.
Nikki kicked Liam in the ribs and muttered something that sounded like
“Sorry, love” in her annoyingly sexy British accent.
Pepper snorted. Her blue hair flopped over one eye as she leaned in.
“That’s gotta hurt.”
I squirmed, unsure if she meant Nikki’s powerful blow to Liam’s kidney or
the powerhouse-couple image the pair projected. As Pepper liked to point out
every time I made doe eyes in the presence of our lead hunter, I’d been the one
to push Liam into the friend zone first, so I had no cause to turn around and
throw a jealous fit now that his old girlfriend had shown up.
Still, only a month ago . . . he’d been right there, sleeping next to me
every other night, the two of us healing wounds we didn’t want to talk about
with anyone else after we’d both lost our mothers in the worst possible ways.
But maybe that was why I’d feared letting him in as more than an ally, someone
who understood my odd abilities and who related to family trauma caused by the
supernatural. If I’d let that relationship continue without a friendship first,
I’d have risked Liam’s nomadic, closed-off lifestyle tearing us in two.
The air, already cloyed with sweat, thickened with the heavy scent of
melted butter as Jazzy, Nikki’s equally beautiful but less obnoxious twin,
plopped next to Pepper on the black painted bench. Her slender fingers were
wrapped around a large, red bowl filled with freshly popped popcorn. She
motioned for us to help ourselves to the snack.
Pepper dove right into the buttery bowl. Jazzy smiled with bubble-gum pink
lips, exposing her bright teeth. She bobbed her chin in the direction of Liam
and Nikki. “This is when the two of them are actually fun to be around. Hold on
to your knickers, it’s about to get very entertaining. Nikki always says a good
spar is just as satisfying as sex.”
I groaned loudly, and Liam looked up at the sound. Nikki took advantage,
landing a quick jab to his chiseled jaw. His blue eyes sliced into me as if it
were my fault she’d clipped him. Grimacing, he rounded back on her.
Her lips curled into an impish grin, and she threw her perfect curls over
her shoulder. “I’m going easy on you, mate. It’s been so long since you’ve
teamed up with real hunters, you seem a tad rusty.” She purred—yes, purred—the
last few words.
Ugh, what is she even doing here?
Of course, I knew the answer. Her and Jazzy’s uncle, Doc—our current
houseguest—had asked for their help in training my sister and me. But why
couldn’t Doc do it himself? I’d thought hunters worked in smaller packs—the
lonesome road of a supernatural assassin traveling on society’s knife edge. Why
had so many congregated in my house? The vampire nest and vengeful spirits that
had started this mess were gone.
I didn’t have those answers yet. But I couldn’t help but feel that with
nothing to fight, the Hunterland gang were restless predators—and as a newbie,
I was still prey.
Liam sidestepped to the right, evading a roundhouse kick so high, I
wondered if Nikki could take flight. Her uncle, who was basically a
supercomputer database of monster-hunting knowledge and lore, had mentioned she
possessed a supernatural ability. Whatever it was, it probably trumped my power
of premonition and status as resident healer. Just one more thing she had that
I didn’t.
Including Liam Hunter’s attention.
Okay, yeah, pity party for one here. I didn’t say I was above sulking, did
I?
“Are you sure you’re taking it easy on me?” Sarcasm soaked Liam’s words.
“From the way you’re panting, I’d guess you’re either in heat or out of shape.”
Liam’s dig didn’t faze Nikki’s performance. Her leg kicked out and swiped
Liam’s, sending him to the ground. She drove her fist toward his gut, but Liam
rolled and scissored a leg around her neck, pinning her. Within seconds she
tapped out, and not a moment too soon. My throat had dried, and my angst was
elevated to gag-reflex level.
Liam extended his hand, and Nikki accepted, rising with his assistance. His
full lips were drawn upward. He rarely allowed peeks behind his hardened badass
exterior, but when he did, that smile was so beautiful, it landed a gut punch
to the heart.
I stood to excuse myself and end the torment, but the thunder of barreling
boots on the stairs made me pause.
“Liam.” Doc appeared, his wide-eyed gaze landing on each of us as he
descended, fixing upon Liam last. He adjusted the maroon turban that matched
his sweater. “There you are. You’re needed. We have a situation.”
My eyes trailed above him to my father, who followed. He stood dressed in
full police uniform—odd considering this was his day off.
“What’s going on?” My gaze darted back and forth between Doc and my father.
Dad’s tired eyes found mine beneath lowered lashes. “We have a murder case.
A Hunterland murder case.”
About Dana Claire:
Dana Claire
is an award-winning author whose stories explore identity, fate, and destiny in
the crossroads of romance and adventure. But her writing career didn’t begin
when she published her first book, The Connection, in 2020. It
started as a young girl when her mother, an elementary school teacher, inspired
her to create imaginary worlds between the pages.
Dana’s love
of romantic tension, the supernatural, and non-stop action has elicited
positive feedback from many readers, as their online reviews reveal her flair
for spine-tingling action and unforgettable characters. But it’s not just
readers who love her; literary critics have also taken note, and Dana was given
the Children’s Moonbeam award for The Connection in 2021, and
the PenCraft Award in 2023 for War of the Sea.
Dana is now
sharing her stories through speaking events and book signings, introducing more
readers to the worlds she created. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her
adoring husband living her dream: writing books, telling stories, and changing
the world, one reader at a time.
Website | Twitter(X) | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Goodreads |
Pinterest | Amazon | BookBub
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of HUNTERLORE, US Only.
Ends October 22nd, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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9/23/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/24/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/25/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/26/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/27/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
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9/30/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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10/1/2024 |
Review |
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10/2/2024 |
Review |
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10/3/2024 |
IG Review |
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10/4/2024 |
IG Review |
Week Three:
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10/7/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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10/8/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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10/9/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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10/10/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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10/11/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Four:
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10/13/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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10/14/2024 |
IG Review |
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10/15/2024 |
IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post |
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10/16/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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10/17/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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10/18/2024 |
IG Review |
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