Words that Bind Blog Tour! (+$25 Amazon GC Giveaway!)

Title: Words that Bind

Author: Ash Krafton

Series: N/A

Pages: 314

Date Published: October 10th, 2014

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Format: Paperback

Genre: Romance

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:

Social worker Tam Kerish can’t keep her cool professionalism when steamy client Mr. Burns kindles a desire for more than a client-therapist relationship—so she drops him. However, they discover she’s the talisman to which Burns, an immortal djinn, has been bound since the days of King Solomon…and that makes it difficult.

Ethical guidelines are unequivocal when it comes to personal relationships with clients. However, the djinn has a thawing effect on the usually non-emotive Tam, who begins to feel true emotion whenever he is near. Tam has to make a difficult choice: to stay on the outside, forever looking in…or to turn her back on her entire world, just for the chance to finally experience what it means to fall in love.

~Guest Post!~
Seeking My Genie

I’ve always been a fan of fantasy and paranormal stories, and have written several works of poetry and fiction on the topic…in fact, everything I write has that bit of “speculative fiction” to it—the element of “what if…?”

I love the fantastic—the creatures and the settings that exist outside the mundane world in which we live. I don’t remember what exactly made me ask myself, “What if a genie walked into a therapist’s office?” because the story itself was originally just a quick exercise to sidestep a case of writer’s block. However, once I decided to pursue the story idea, I took to the Internets to look for images and documents to feed my story machine. (Some of those things ended up on my Pinterest page.

King Solomon’s name often came up during my searches, and so I decided to spin my genie’s origin tale around him. In Words That Bind, Burns is a genie, the last of those that had been bound to the ring of Solomon. Legend has it that Solomon was given the command of a group of these powerful creatures, and used them to build his famed temple. As the genies performed their required tasks, one by one they were released as they fulfilled their three “wishes”. Burns had never been released, and is tied to the ring until this day. He seeks possession of the ring so that he will not find himself at the mercy of another master.

The story of the “Forbidden Wish” is a cautionary tale—genies are uncooperative servants, and will destroy their masters if they are given the opportunity. If a foolish ring-wielder makes the “forbidden wish”, the master is destroyed and the genie is set free. Of course, a genie will do his best to trick the master into uttering the fatal words.

In Words That Bind, Burns finds himself in the hands of a very different kind of master. I chose to write this book as a romance because there were so many conflicts to explore, so many obstacles to overcome, so many perils to face—and those things make a romance all the sweeter. What would happen if a genie fell for his master? Maybe Burns will need counselling, after all.

Incidentally, while I was composing this post, I was digging through the internet and found this site  Now, I’ve been a fan of John Zaffis and followed the link because it’s the name of his series. It’s unclear to me if this is his store, but at any rate, apparently you can buy one of Solomon’s djinni, if you are brave (or foolish) enough.

I surely am not. *grin*

I hope you get the chance to read Words That Bind, available now through the Wild Rose Press. You can find it here: The Wild Rose Press Amazon Kobo All Romance Bookstrand Barnes and Noble I’d love for you to meet social worker Tam Kerish…and the genie who loves her.

~Try an Excerpt!~

“So. You’ve destroyed a stereotype for me. A genie who lives in a library. Different.”

“When in Rome, no?” He stirred his cup before setting down the spoon with a light clink against the saucer. “Or, I suppose it is more accurate to say when in human form. When I am Burns, I prefer here.”

“Human form.” It didn’t sound right. Who said things like that, and meant it? “Can you change into anything you want? Any shape at all?”

He stretched out his legs and cocked his head, sliding his gaze up and away. “I suppose I could. I’m getting old and set in my ways. There’s this…” He swept his hands down the line of his body.

Her eyes were unable to keep from following, not even when he lingered over his midsection. Even lounging, his shirt was tightly tucked into his beltline. No belly fat there.

He tilted his head and gave her an upper-teeth smile, nibbling gently at his lower lip. “And apparently this form is pleasing to the eye, so I wear it often. But there are others. Tiger, a favorite. Savage and regal and the colors of flames in the night. Fearsome to behold, but very useful when dealing with physical conditions in which a human form may be outmatched. Plus, I can lash my tail.”

His voice took a teasing, conspirator’s tone. “I love my tail. You’d love it too, if you saw it.”

She trained her eyes firmly upon his. No way would she give him the pleasure of checking out his tail.

~Meet Ash!~ 

Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction author from northeastern Pennsylvania. Krafton’s first novel, Bleeding Hearts was published in 2012 as part of an urban fantasy trilogy The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press). An urban fantasy novella, Strangers at the Hell Gate, was published by Wild Rose Press in 2013. Her newest release, Words That Bind, won first place in the HeRA RWA “Show Me the Spark” 2013 competition as well as a Zebulon award in 2014.

Krafton also writes New Adult speculative fiction novels under the pen name AJ Krafton. Upcoming titles include The Heartbeat Thief, Face of the Enemy, and the award-winning Takin’ It Back. She is part of a YA/NA collective known as the Infinite Ink Authors.

In addition to novel-length fiction, Krafton enjoys writing poetry and short prose, some of which earned distinctions in various writing competitions. One of her poems was also nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She’s a proud member of Pennwriters, Romance Writers of America, and Pikes Peak Writers. Krafton also writes for the Query Tracker Blog and the Prose and Cons blog.

She resides with her family in northeast Pennsylvania.

Ash will be awarding a $25 gift card to Amazon or BN as well as a unique handmade book-inspired keychain to a randomly drawn commenter and to a randomly drawn host.

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