Read an #Excerpt from Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter

The Queen of Paranormal Romance, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter, stuns with SHADOW AND ICE, the first title in her scorching new paranormal romance Gods of War Series. Check out the excerpt below and get your copy of SHADOW AND ICE today!

Shadow and Ice
(Gods of War #1)
by Gena Showalter 
Mass Market Paperback, 496 pages
Published October 23rd 2018 by HQN
ISBN 1335041109

Knox of Iviland, the most ruthless warrior in All War history, has spent his life fighting others to the death, winning new realms for his king. Now the stakes are higher than ever. If he prevails in the battle for Earth, his slave bands will be removed. Victory is his sole focus…until he meets her.

On an arctic getaway with her foster sister, street tough but vulnerable Vale London is shocked to stumble upon a cave filled with ancient gods waging epic combat. When she is inadvertently drawn into their war, she is forced to team up with an unlikely ally—the sexy god who makes her burn with desire.

Though Vale is his enemy, Knox is consumed with lust and a fierce need to protect her. But only one combatant can triumph, and he will have to choose: live for freedom, or die for love.

AMAZON | B&N 

Excerpt: 

Vale wasn’t closed off to relationships, per se, but she wasn’t open, either. People were intrinsically flawed. At some point, they were going to disappoint you—leave you. So, she lived by a code. Always be the leaver, never be the leavee. And yes, she knew her code had roots in childhood abandonment. So what? Issues were issues for a reason. Intrinsically flawed, remember? Most people sucked a nut.
Nola and Carrie were exceptions. Her mom and baby bro were as well…until they’d died in a tragic accident that forever altered the course of her life. Her dad would have been wonderful, too, if he hadn’t taken off, leaving her to bounce from home to home and wonder what was wrong with her, why no one wanted to keep her.
Avoid, avoid! That thought train had only one station: Depressionville.
So, moving on. Vale had a low tolerance for BS, and she believed happily-ever-afters were an illusion be-cause—let’s be honest—the longer couples were together, the more time they had to get to know each other, dig deeper, dig past all the pretty smiles and lies they told to make their choices seem okay, to finally see the garbage heap inside. More time to deceive each other, lash out and inflict pain.
Get in, get out.
Fact was, something was going to get broken or stolen if you let down your guard and finally trusted some¬one. Most often you were left bleeding internally.
Vale had dated around for a while, but she’d never spend an enormous amount of energy pretending to be something she wasn’t: sweet and gentle. It had stressed her out, which had made her even more prickly, blunt and abrasive, and ultimately she’d given up.
At least, that was the reason she embraced. Otherwise she’d have to admit there wasn’t a man alive willing to put in the work and fight to be with her.
“Lately, my love life has been exactly like a private jet,” Nola said, pulling Vale from her wayward thoughts.
“Oh, yeah? How so?”
“I don’t have a private jet.”
She laughed. Funny girl. “Come on. Let’s travel a little farther before we settle in for the night.” Their bodies needed heat, and movement would add logs to the fire.
Nola lumbered to her feet. They helped each other strap on the packs before marching forward. Vale hauled the bulk of supplies while her sis had blankets and medications, but even still, guilt robbed her of breath every time Nola grunted or groaned from exertion.
Another distraction, coming up. “I miss Carrie,” she said.
At thirteen years old, both Vale and Nola were as¬signed to the woman who handled “difficult” cases—young girls with a disability of some sort. Carrie had done more than open her home and heart; she’d taught her charges how to love themselves, and how to thrive.
Vale, honey, do you think a twenty-dollar bill is worth any less if it’s dirty and wrinkled? No way in heck! You might be a little rough around the edges, but you are still priceless. 
Carrie and her words of wisdom. She’d loved the adage about the potato, egg and coffee beans most of all 
In boiling water, the potato softens, the egg hardens, but the mighty coffee beans change the water. Don’t let difficult times weaken or harden you, girls. Get up and change the situation!
Eyes gleaming with fondness, Nola nodded. “If she were here, she’d cook up a feast. Snowcakes. Slush omelets. Ice bacon. Hail biscuits and blizzard gravy.”
Vale grinned, even as hunger gnawed her empty stomach. But the grin was quickly shaken off by a trembling chin. Last year, Carrie had suffered a massive heart attack and, over the ensuing weeks, she’d only weakened. Finally, she’d slipped away.
Her death left a hole in Vale’s heart. “I vividly remember the day I moved in. Back then, I lived by prison rules. You know, show them who’s boss on day one. So of course I destroyed Carrie’s living room, toppling furniture and breaking anything glass. When I finished, she calmly asked if I’d like my sweet tea iced or steaming.”
Mimicking the prim and proper Carrie, Nola said, “Always be a lady, until you need to be a land mine.”
Carrie had only ever exploded when it came to the protection of her girls.
A sense of homesickness tightened Vale’s chest, which flattened her lungs. Great! Now she needed a distraction from the distraction..

About Gena Showalter:

Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding Lords of the Underworld and Angels of the Dark series, two young adult series--Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles--and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series.  In addition to being a National Reader's Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan (Red Hot Read) and Seventeen magazine, she's appeared on Nightline and been mentioned in Orange is the New Black--if you ask her about it, she'll talk for hours…hours!  Her books have been translated in multiple languages.

She’s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com or Facebook.com/genashowalterfans