Howloween Blog Hop! Lots of Giveaways!

Welcome to the Howloween Blog Hop! You can find all the information you need to follow the blog hop from blogger to blogger by going to http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page/. Then simply hop around, have tons of fun, and hopefully win lots of prizes! The Howloween Blog Hop runs from Oct 26 to Oct 29. I’ll start notifying my winners first thing on Oct 30. And my prizes: 10 pdf copies of Twisted by Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1. So that’s 10 possible winners!! Great odds! Please leave your email in your comment so I know how to contact you.

Have you ever wondered about past lives, reincarnation, life after death? Did you love the film “Dead Again”? I’ve always been fascinated with reincarnation from the time I read The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. And, I’ve had my own reincarnation experience while under regression hypnosis. The regression was fascinating. It’s hard to describe hypnosis. I believe you have the choice to come out of it, or to go deeper. I was aware of the room around and the people in it, yet at the same time, the images in my mind were completely real. I attended the hypnosis with two friends of mine. Funnily enough, when I was regressed, I knew one of my friends, even knew her name, though for the life of me, that “other” name doesn’t come to me now after all these years. The other friend, she was totally unfamiliar to me under regression. I went back to several lives. One of them I was 16 years old, on a wagon train, and we were all starving to death. I can even see the pink gingham dress I was wearing. Then of course, there was the past life I wrote about in this book, Twisted by Love. In that life, as well as this one, I had a terrible fear of snakes. You can read about the past life regression I did because I gave it to my heroine! So, without further ado, here’s a blurb and excerpt of Twisted by Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1.

A love that spans lifetimes, an evil that has followed them through the ages…

Bern Daniels doesn’t believe in ghosts, UFOs, or reincarnation, but when he sees Livie Scott, it’s as if he’s known her forever. Now he can’t get her out of his mind. He wants her in his bed and in his life. For keeps. He’s even starting to believe they’ve lived past lives together.

Will jealousy out of the past come back to destroy their future?

Livie Scott is unaccountably drawn to the tall, dark stranger. He literally sweeps her off her feet. And she’s oh so willing to let him. But her sister Toni is planted firmly in her path to happiness. Livie has been forced to choose between a man and Toni before; is she destined to play the same twisted game with her sister over and over?

Livie and Bern soon discover there are shadows lurking from their past, past lives that is, which threaten everything they believe in, everything they want. And even their lives.

Twisted by Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1

Copyright 2012 Jasmine Haynes

Chapter Three

Livie buried her arms elbow deep in hot, soapy water. She enjoyed doing the dishes by hand. The water warmed her down to her toes. She loved a clean kitchen. She loved order and neatness and everything in its proper place. She loved an established routine and—

Something hit her on the cheek with a splat, slid down her face, and landed with a plop in the water, sinking before she actually saw what it was. She brushed her cheek with a wet hand, soap suds settling close to her eye. She wiped them off on against shoulder, then skimmed her hands through the water searching for what had struck her.

Something slimy slithered across her fingers and skittered away. She jerked, suds splashing over the edges of the sink. In the kitchen doorway, her sister giggled, a girlish giggle laced with malice. Another watery splat, this time on the back of her head, and the thing, whatever it was, slid down her neck into her blouse.

Just then, the one in the sink poked its head above the water. A snake, a slimy, horrible, fat snake with huge fangs that sank into the soft flesh between her thumb and forefinger.

Livie started screaming when she felt the snake down her blouse wriggle and slither all over her…

* * * * *

Toni parked her car on the street and let herself into Livie’s condo on the fifth floor of the building. Toni preferred apartment living, where she could pick up and move whenever it suited her. But Livie liked roots and ownership, even if it was a tiny condo in a big complex in Belmont.

What a day. She felt like crap, and she looked like last month’s leftovers.

Where was Livie? It was after nine. Toni threw her overnight bag on the bed, hung up tomorrow’s skirt and sweater so they wouldn’t wrinkle, tossed the stuff she’d borrowed this morning in the hamper, then set her cosmetics out on the counter in Livie’s bathroom. Her sister used the cheap stuff, which couldn’t be good for her skin.

Livie was pretty, but, without a conceited bone in her body, Toni knew she was prettier. It wasn’t conceit to admit to better bone structure and curvier curves. She also knew how to best enhance what God gave her. Her hair, for instance, was a honey-gold which went much better with her coloring than plain old reddish-brown. Livie should live a little and dye a little. Not to mention that contact lenses changed muddy irises to a brilliant jungle green, or anything else a girl wanted. What the heck, Livie was Livie. She didn’t care much about her appearance as long she was considered neat and professional. She would never have purchased that short dress and hot pink blazer she’d worn this morning if Toni hadn’t goaded her into buying it months ago. It still had the tags, for God’s sake.

Now, what would Livie have in the refrigerator besides low-fat yogurt and fruit? Toni was starving. She hadn’t been able to eat all day over that terrible episode with Reese. She’d picked up the phone a thousand times to call him, but really, a man had to learn how to crawl a little when he’d made a mistake, especially since he hadn’t answered any of her messages from yesterday. She wasn’t done with him yet. She knew the man had huge potential in bed, and she would make sure she got him there. Oh yeah, she’d make him beg first, but she’d definitely take him back when she felt he’d shown the proper contrition.

A key jiggled in the front door.

Livie already had her jacket off and folded over her arm. She’d dropped her keys on the entry table and set her briefcase and purse on the floor before she saw Toni standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Hey.” After a moment’s pause and not a single expression on her face, Livie headed into the living room, a shopping bag dangling from her fingers. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Toni shrugged and leaned against the wall. “I didn’t want to be alone. You don’t mind, do you?”

Livie draped her jacket over the back of the sofa without turning around. “Of course not.”

She probably did, but Livie wouldn’t say. Which was usually a good thing for Toni. She got away with murder if she acted first and asked later. “What’s in the bag?”

“A book. I ran out of things to read.” Livie pulled it out, set it on the coffee table, and wadded up the bag.

“What is it?”

“The Fountainhead.” She examined the receipt in her hand. “Someone at work mentioned it, and I’ve never read it. It’s some sort of classic written in the forties.”

Sounded boring. Weird that Livie was late because she’d stopped to buy a book. Ah, but Livie loved to read in the tub. It relaxed her. Tonight, though, she had Toni to entertain instead. What fun for them both.

“Did you eat?” Livie slipped past her into the kitchen and bent to peer into the refrigerator.

“I was hoping you’d feed me.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Livie answered without turning.

“Then what have you got?”

Shuffling a few things around, Livie surveyed the contents. “How about scrambled eggs on toast?”

Great comfort food. Their mom used to scramble eggs on cold winter nights when Dad was out of town. They got to eat in front of the TV and stay up an hour later than usual. Of course, there’d be a ton of carbs in the toast. Comfort, carbs, comfort, carbs? Comfort won. “Yeah. That sounds great.”

Livie put the eggs on the counter, then pulled out bread, margarine and milk. From the drawer beneath the oven, she retrieved a frying pan and set it on the stove. “I’ll change, then start dinner.”

“You want me to break the eggs or anything?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, Livie, you’re great.”

Livie smiled and patted Toni’s cheek as she passed, grabbed her discarded jacket, and headed into the bedroom.

Yeah, Livie was great. And guilt was a beautiful emotion. Hmm, was it actually an emotion? Whatever. Livie had it in spades, and Toni didn’t mind playing on that guilt when she really, really needed to. She deserved a little payback after the terrible things her sister had done to her.

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt of Twisted By Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1 available on Kobo Kindle Kindle UK Nook All Romance Smashwords Sony.

So tell me, what’s your greatest fear? Is it snakes, like Livie’s (and mine), or drowning, or dark places late at night? Let’s scare each other with our greatest fears! Please leave a comment with your email address so that I can contact you if you’re a winner. As I stated in the beginning, for the blog hop, I’ll be giving away 10 pdf copies of Twisted by Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1