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