CHRISTINE RAINS

Photo credit: Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay It's second winter here and time to snuggle under a blanket with a good book. I've been good and keeping up with my reading challenge so far this year. Cozy stories have become my favorite way to escape. What have you been reading? I have a few more books to add to your e-reader! May luck and good books forever be in your life. When offered a choice between tedious research or fighting a dragon, the players always choose the dragon. Eve

Blurb: At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she's not exactly homeless, but it's close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran's undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey's, Gran's knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she's going to do. Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there's a death certificate. And a will, leav

Blurb: Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world. When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any lo

Blurb: Bethany Hawthorne has never felt like she truly belongs anywhere. So when a regular café customer recognizes what she is—a witch—and tells her there’s a place where she won’t have to hide her magic, Bethany does something she’s never done before. She leaves. Briardell is everything she hoped for: a secluded village filled with warmth, magic, and people who understand what it means to be different. There’s just one small problem. No one has a spare room to rent. No one,

Blurb: Born under a scarlet moon, Avianna Morningstar should have been revered and feared, as the prophecy proclaimed. But Avia is taken to a remote realm where she would be safe from the anarchy festering in the Kingdoms, meanwhile her potential as a sorceress is all but extinguished. A sinfully attractive tracker is tasked with bringing Avia back to a homeland she has never known in hopes of awakening the power that has lain dormant within her. The Kingdoms of Verdae and I

While the setting, the myths, and the plot are vital to a good story, it's the characters that are most important to me. If there isn't good characterization, then the tale will hang limply even on other stronger elements. Well-written, relatable characters help draw the reader into the story and create emotional bonds. The point of view (POV) characters must fully engage the reader or they won't fully lose themselves the world you've created. The TOTEM series features the Do

Image Credit: Alina Matveycheva on Pexels.com One of my favorite thing about writing and reading is going to places I've never been. TOTEM takes place all across Alaska. It's a gigantic state and most of it is wilderness. It has the highest number of missing persons, but most aren't investigated due to the extreme environment and lack of resources. (California has the highest number of open missing persons cases.) There's a lot of mystery about the US's last wild frontier. An

Three sisters. Seven totems. One chance to save the world. ​ Saskia, Kinley, and Ametta Dorn are polar bear shifters descended from an ancient bloodline where spirits, humans, and gods once shared the same breath. Together, the sisters run a home renovation business which specializes in the unique needs of supernatural folks. Their work keeps their community safe, hidden, and rooted in a land that remembers them. When Ametta becomes the target for a ruthless shifter hunter, h

Image credit: tran duy anh from Pexels.com I've changed the covers for the TOTEM books far more than any other books I've written. It's one of those things that I have so many ideas in my head, because so much is happening in the series. While it has driven me bonkers at times, I have learned a lot about Photoshop and what goes into making a cover that will hook a reader's attention. I've always liked urban fantasy and paranormal romance covers with people on them. The dynami

Image credit: Dan Parlante on Pexels.com Ten years ago, I published the first novella in my urban fantasy series, TOTEM. It's still the longest series I've written. I love the unique Inuit myths and lore that I wrapped my characters in, and I often long to return to that world. Yet too many new ideas occupy my muse. To celebrate my ten year book anniversary, I have compiled all nine novellas together into one massive collection. I'm releasing it not only in ebook format, but

Blurb: It’s not too late to tap into self-compassion and leave your troubles behind. Imagine a life where you don't dwell on problems, conflict, and hardship. Can you reimagine a new reality of self-compassion, replacing your harsh inner critic? The result? Inner calm becomes your default state. What if the secret to joy and contentment isn't hidden at all but waiting to be unlocked through a simple, transformative framework? The Three-Elements-of-Ease will show you how to C

Blurb: The galaxy just got ridiculous. Space Squad 51 is on the job. Nikili Echols works the docks, living a quiet, predictable life until the freighter Red Dorry is late. When the ship opens, the crew is gone. Orbital Rescue Services Squad 51 arrives, assuring Nikili everything will be all right. But when they go in, screams and roars erupt from inside, and a smear of blood is left at the hatch. Nikili knows the team and crew need help before more ORS teams can arrive. Ste

Demons vs. Vampires OF BLOOD AND SORROW is FREE January 15th - 19th! In the game of Alphas vs. Omegas, someone is changing the rules so no one wins. KNOT DEAD YET is FREE January 15th - 19th!

Blurb: Newly minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain and anxiously contemplates her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago. Then s

Blurb: What is Hagitude? It means being at ease with the unique power women embody in the second half of their life. It means having a strong sense of who we are and what we have to offer the world. And a firm belief in our place in the ever-shifting web of life. For the woman who wishes to flourish without chasing eternal youth comes Hagitude. International bestselling author Sharon Blackie ( If Women Rose Rooted ) interweaves myth, psychology, landscape and ecofeminism, re

I'm in a festive mood this month as we've gotten more snow before Christmas this year than we ever had since we moved to this area decades ago. It gives me a warm, cozy feeling, which leads me to read and write a lot of warm, cozy stories. I've been concentrating on my contemporary romance pen name this year, and I haven't put out anything else for myself. I intended to write a cozy fantasy LitRPG, but the idea slipped through my fingers. If I don't jump on a story when it's

Blurb: When a disastrous mistake at work puts her career in jeopardy, Natalie Dunbar retreats to the small Vermont town of Rainbow Falls to settle the estate of an aunt she hardly knew. As the sole heir of half a building on Main Street, complete with an independent bookstore and second-floor apartment, Natalie hunkers down to figure out how to save her future. The problem? Her new neighbor, who owns the other half of the building, hates her at first sight. Celeste Wagner ha

"I've read a few litRPG books, and this was definitely one of the best! It's like the old DnD cartoon where friends end up in a dangerous land and bicker about money, love and philosophy, like how friends do. Throw in some genuine surprises and graphic gore, and you have a tale any DnD player can get behind." GRAB YOUR COPY OF SHUDDER OF SPECTERS HERE! " Far from average, Christine Rains manages to tie together hot sexy, geeks, costumes, humor, and best of all, romance in one

Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Cee Klinger is destined for heartbreak and she knows it. She's helplessly in love with Marcus, her childhood best friend. But soon they will change, transforming for the first time into whichever animal Clan they belong to, and once they join those Clans, they may never see one another again. Cee is desperate to make the most of their remaining time, but after Marcus's brother leaves to join the Aerie, Marcus begins pulling away. And then Cee discover

" If you're looking for an exceptionally well written story, mystery, mythology, a sprinkle of romance, and lots of laughs, you will adore Curse of the Hunted. I want more..." Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and I love to get cozy on the couch under a warm blanket with a good book. CURSE OF THE HUNTED is the perfect cozy paranormal romance in a little supernatural town by the sea. - - - - - KNOT LETTING GO is FREE November 24th - 28th! "If you love a sweet-but-spic