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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Please welcome author Tessa Stockton

Hello, Tessa, welcome! Let's hear about your book, Wind's Aria.


BLURB:

Elected as the Songstress, Aria takes her place on the sacred platform to sing before every dawn. As long as she does so, peace and abundant life belong to her people. One morning, amidst a strange wind that brings with it a curse in its eerie howl, Aria loses her ability to make music. But the encroaching death that transpires isn’t her biggest tragedy. It’s that she adores the cause of her blunder, for he’s a magnificent winged creature who’s stolen more than her voice. 

This sounds good! 
Now for an excerpt:

“Who are you?”

He pushed further back into the shadows as she strode closer. “Someone you need not know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

When he didn’t answer, she sighed.

“What a strange, terrible day,” she mumbled. “Well, at least tell me your name . . .”

He stood, speechless, knowing he shouldn’t be there at all—conversing with a Meleyan—especially not their musical deliverer that he was set to doom the day after tomorrow.

A peculiar grumbling interrupted her insistence, to his relief.

“Sorry.” She patted her stomach. He could see, even in the blackened night, how her face turned a deeper shade of red than her hair. “I’ve forgotten to eat. I guess I’m hungrier than I realized.”

He plucked an apple from the tree he’d nearly become a part of and held it out to her. The girl approached tentatively. She reached for the fruit but recoiled when her fingers brushed his.

“Is touching me so horrible?” he asked.

Her jaw dropped open and her delicate brow furrowed. She inclined her head. “It . . . hurt.”

“How?” he asked, for her fingers felt good to him, soothing. Warm. He wanted to try again.

“I don’t know how to explain . . .”

“Hum.” Unsatisfied with the answer, he tossed the apple to her and watched as she crunched her teeth into it.


Nice, Tessa, thanks. Good luck with your book!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A veteran of the performing arts and worldwide missions, Tessa Stockton also contributed as a writer/editor for ministry publications, ghostwriter for political content, and she headed a column on the topic of forgiveness. Today she writes romance and intrigue novels in a variety of genres. In addition to her fantasy romance, WIND’S ARIA, she’s the author of suspense/thriller, THE UNSPEAKABLE, political intrigue/romance, THE UNFORGIVABLE, and a literary short story, LOVE AND LULL, with more in the works.





Tessa will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during this tour and her reviews tour.

Please follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/virtual-super-book-blast-winds-aria-by.html



 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

welcome author Anita Seymour Davison

Hello, Anita, it's nice to have you here! Congratulations on your release of Royalist Rebel.
Let's hear a little about it.



During the early days of the English Civil Wars, Elizabeth Murray lived at Ham House on the River Thames near Richmond with her mother and three younger sisters while her father, William Murray, was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber at the exiled court of Charles I in Oxford.

In the winter of 1643 as the war edged closer, Catherine Murray took her daughters to Oxford, where they lived amongst impoverished and dispossessed Royalists gathered round King Charles, who plotted to regain London and his throne.

Reputed to be Oliver Cromwell’s mistress as well as a spy for the Royalist secret organisation The Sealed Knot, Elizabeth married twice and died in 1698 at 72 years old, alone, embittered and impoverished in her beloved Ham House. Vilified by society and abandoned by her children, the triumphs of her remarkable life largely forgotten.

If you visit Ham House, which has been restored to the way it looked during Elizabeth’s lifetime, this is the woman the guides talk about; an irascible, embittered widow stripped of her glory and reduced to genteel poverty in her beloved childhood home. They run ghost evenings at Ham, where tales of sightings of the old lady’s spirit that roams the mansion tapping the floors with her stick, her small dog at her side while the scent of attar of roses permeates her favourite rooms announcing her presence.

In the gallery is this portrait of Elizabeth, painted by Sir Peter Lely when she was eighteen. This was the young woman I wanted to discover and subsequently began writing about - the beautiful, intelligent and passionate young girl on the verge of womanhood who was dedicated to Ham House, the Royalist cause and the men in her life; her father William Murray, son of a minister who rose to become King Charles’ friend and confidant, Lionel Tollemache, her husband of twenty years who adored her, Oliver Cromwell who was fascinated by her, and John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, Charles II’s favourite on whom he heaped honours and riches, only to ostracise him after a bitter quarrel.

Royalist Rebel is the story of that girl.


This sounds great! Your book cover is really nice, classy.
Thanks for being my guest. 


Anita’s Blog – The Disorganised Author
http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com
Anita Seymour Davison, January 2013
Royalist Rebel Blog- http://royalistrebel.blogspot.com
Ham House Website
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ham-house/

Friday, November 23, 2012

Welcome author James Hutchings

Hello, James, and welcome back! We'll keep this short but sweet. Tell us about your new story.



Here's the blurb:

With an innocent girl dead, America's finest superheroic detective agency must find and destroy a sinister cult!

You can read it at http://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/13
James Hutchings' blog is at http://www.apolitical.info/teleleli



Sounds great! I like the vintage cover.
Thanks again for stopping by.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Welcome author, Deanna Jewel

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Whispers - Character Interview with Dana Kaster

Virtual location: an abandoned lighthouse tour!! Bring flashlights!

Thank you for joining us! We hope all of you have planned a spooky week for Halloween! I hope you’ve brought your flashlights with you. We’re about to tour the old lighthouse but before we do that, let’s head inside the keeper’s house and gather around to chat with my main character, Dana Kaster. For those brave enough, you can roam upstairs for a ghost hunt of your own!

Deanna:  Lara, thank you for having me this week on your blog. I love talking with readers so I hope they leave a question or comment for us. I’m also doing a giveaway at the end! I’ve brought with me my main character, Dana Kaster, from Whispers at Ghost Point. Since I have a love for lighthouses, I had to write about one and added a ghost to make it a bit spooky! Dana loves remodeling and decorating - who else love doing that? Tell us at the end if you love lighthouses and decorating!

Dana:  I’m excited to be here with both of you! I can’t wait for readers to jump into the book with all of us. I’ve always had a soft spot for decorating which is why I got my contractor’s license - it also allowed me to do more in the area of remodeling. Meeting other contractors and builders isn’t bad either! *wink* I moved to Wilmington NC a year ago after my divorce and found the abandoned lighthouse on the coast while I worked at the Cape Fear Historical Society. I was fortunate enough to get a job remodeling their lighthouse projects we took on, but I recently opened my own shop and I’m so excited.
Deanna: Taking on the entire remodel of a lighthouse that’s stood empty for hundreds of years won’t be easy. Have you run into any roadblocks?
Dana: The lighthouse in question is owned by an individual who I found through my research but he refuses to return my phone calls. That in itself is annoying. I want inside the place to see what might need to be fixed and put some plans together. I don’t understand why this man won’t call me back, but my guess is that he’s too old to care about the place being fixed up or is a recluse not wanting to be bothered. The lighthouse is begging me to fix it up though. Why can’t he sense that? LOL
Deanna: Does the lighthouse talk to you when you visit or is it the ghosts who talk to you? That would be spooky!
Dana:  I have an ability to sense the spirits in old places but I still need to work on that. It is scary when they come around and they usually visit when you least expect them to. If I were better at my psychic abilities, I could learn who they are faster but it still scares me so I need to get over that if I want to use my ability to the fullest. When I sit on my deck at night, I can see the lighthouse across the inlet. The tower light flashes and there’s no way the electricity still works there! It couldn’t for as old as it is, so what makes the lights come on? I also sense a spirit or two there and the pull they have on me is getting stronger but I just can’t learn who they are.
Deanna:  You’ve become good friends with a co-worker at the Historical Society who has the ability to sense spirits. Tell us about that. Everyone is always interested in people who talk to ghosts!
Dana: Sarah and I have really gotten close since I moved to Wilmington.  She doesn’t let very many people know that she can speak to spirits…they think you’re crazy when they learn that! Even with all the shows on television these days, but I love it. Personally, I just need to learn how to distance myself and set up my circle of light for protection. I visited the lighthouse a few times without telling Sarah…yet she knows! She has a way of knowing what goes on without me even telling her!
Deanna: How does she feel about the lighthouse?
Dana: Oh my gawd! She isn’t keen on it at all! She said the spirits there aren’t at all friendly and that I need to quit going over there alone before something happens to me. She’s sat with me on my deck at night and we’ve both seen the lights come on. I think she knows more than she’s telling me about the spirits over there.
Deanna: Well that would make anyone jumpy to sense a spirit is evil. Maybe you need to listen to her and quit going over there.
Dana: I’m too nosey to stop going so the owner just needs to give me permission to go inside. I did meet a man on one of my visits there once. He said he was just a friend of the owner but wouldn’t tell me who the owner was. Too bad he wasn’t the owner - his eyes alone distracted me! But anyway, if I were able to get that lighthouse restored, it would help boost my business in Wilmington and the residents would be able to see what I can do. The work I’ve done on our historical lighthouse remodels has really helped too, but…I want inside the forbidden tower!
Deanna: You’ve lived in Wilmington for almost a year now. Any men you’re interested in?
Dana: With all the work I do remodeling and researching for the Historical Society and now starting my own business, I haven’t had time for dating and I really haven’t missed it. Taking time after my divorce to get my life back on track is what’s important to me now. I have to make a name for my business here so I can get to know the residents. Many of them have stopped by my new shop and have taken my card, saying they’ll call me when they start their remodels. I hope they do, I love to be busy!
Deanna: Lara, thank you so much for allowing me to spend time with your readers! Dana, thanks for stopping in to chat with our readers. I can’t wait to finish your story so they can all read it.

      The book will release in mid-Nov, 2012. The characters in Whispers at Ghost Point are pulled into the present from my historical novel set in England 1778, No Turning Back. To know a bit more about the characters, you may want to read that book - it’s still on sale for .99. I’m giving away a $10 gift card so get your entry into Rafflecopter to be in the drawing to be held on Monday, Nov 5th.

Be sure to enter my Grand Prize drawing by clicking HERE and sending me your entry. There are three prizes that will be picked for this contest! Good luck!
     Please check my blog, website and my newsletters for more info. By subscribing to my newsletter, readers are automatically included in one of my monthly drawings and by following my blog, you’ll be included in that drawing. Both drawings win gift cards and the newsletter winner also gets a goodie bag and tee shirt!
     Thank you all for stopping in to meet Dana from Whispers at Ghost Point. I hope I’ve piqued your interest just a bit and if so, you can read Chapter One and watch the book trailer by clicking HERE.

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Author Biography &Links


Deanna Jewel lives in the Pacific Northwest and has been writing since 1991. She is married to a retired captain of the fire department. He’s also owned his own businesses for 23 years. They have two Siamese cats: Zoie and Sinbad, who keep them entertained. Deanna has enjoyed reading historical romance novels for over thirty years, camping with her family, and traveling.

Her writing goal is to draw the reader into the story to experience what the characters feel, to show both the hero's and heroine's points of view, and to take the reader away from their every day stress to a place not yet visited.

She has completed one time travel and one historical novel and has several others in the works. A trip to Dubois, Wyoming, south of Yellowstone, inspired her time-travel novel. The landscape and town locations described in NEVER SURRENDER are real.  Jon Daley, a professor at Boise State University, translated the Shoshone language that you will find in the book.

 NEVER SURRENDER, her time travel romance, was released in 2008 in print, e-book and iBook for download to e-Readers and i-Pads. This novel won an Honorable Mention in the 2008 Quill Awards at Writing.com.

NO TURNING BACK, her second novel, an historical taking place in England, 1778, was released in April 2010, and is also in print, eBook and iBook for download to your electronic readers.

Hard at work on her next novel, Whispers at Ghost Point, which she hopes to have available in late fall, 2012. Whispers takes place at an abandoned lighthouse in Wilmington, NC and her main characters from No Turning Back are reincarnated into the present. Join Dana as she learns about her past while working toward her future. The dangers that lurk at an abandoned lighthouse pull her into a past she was unaware of but also involves a man she's never met...in this lifetime! Follow the book’s progress on her website.


Her site links:

     TinyURL    http://tinyurl.com/632gqmp
Twitter    http://twitter.com/#!/DeannaJewel (@deannajewel)
An Avid Readers Haven    http://avidreadershaven.com

*See her site for more places to find Deanna Jewel!

Buy Links:

All Romance E-books:  http://tinyurl.com/3sfvg9v
BookLocker-NTB:  http://www.booklocker.com/books/4618.html

Monday, October 8, 2012

Books around the world: America (Native American)

In my search for new authors, I came across a book by a Native American author, Sherman Alexie. The book I read was "Flight." It's an interesting one. A troubled Native American teenager with a tragic past gets drawn into some dark circumstances. He ends up shooting innocent people in a bank then gets shot himself. He gets pulled through time and experiences life in the bodies of other people who lived in the past. He ends up as a cop in the 1970s, a soldier in the 19th century, and other places, dealing with Native Americans through different viewpoints. The kid learns a lot through his travels. The characterization in this book is great and is presented in an entertaining way. This is a book of substance but also a page turner.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Book review: The Catalyst


Set partially on a riverboat casino, The Catalyst, by Sandra K. Marshall is an exciting romantic suspense novel involving a murder mystery. Carolyn Madison and her family receive a shock: her ex-husband, the father of her children, is murdered. Could someone Carolyn loves be involved? Walt, head of security, a family friend, and a love interest to Carolyn, is one of many possible suspects. Carolyn’s children, Alan, Jolene, and Melanie all have something to say about what happened, and they strongly disagree.

Carolyn and Walt are great characters. They are developed well during the course of the suspenseful action. Melanie is a real brat, very hard to like. She can make a reader cringe. These characters are so real. Some you love. Some are infuriating.

Carolyn was going to fire her ex-husband as the figurehead of the company. Then he’s found dead. There’s a lot to keep a reader wondering here. If you like suspense with a bit of romance, why not check out this well-written story?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Books Around the World: Ireland

I finished an interesting novel by Irish author, Carolyn Jess-Cooke. It's a book called The Guardian Angel's Journal, published in 2011. A middle-aged woman is killed then wakes up in the afterlife. She is told that she's going back to earth as a guardian angel, but here's the catch: it's as her own guardian angel. She goes back in time to the moment of her birth and watches her own difficult birth. Her mother dies, and she goes through a series of foster situations, ending up in a nightmarish orphanage. It's cool to see how the guardian angel tries to help this troubled girl--herself. Can she change her hideous life and the terrible end she came to?

This is a supernatural tale where anything can happen. The characters are well-drawn, and the drama is high. The fast pace keeps things moving along nicely. I couldn't wait to see how this book ended. It offers much food for thought as well.