Category Archives: Book Blasts
VBT – THE PORTAL TO THENITIWAN
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Over 9,000 years ago, an ancient spiritual energy leaks through a link in time entering Thenitiwan, destroying the barrier between the past and future. The spirit enters a host or Hawopas to block the portals spiritual gravity through carnal energy of a living body to survive.
Over the centuries, a powerful civilization called Sagerowa emerges knowing that history favors the rise and death of great nations throughout time. Sagerowa eventually gained control of the gateway and entered future eras and destroyed them to weaken them and sought to freeze their era in time forever.
Many years later in the midst of the tension of the nation’s most recent war, Joie tries to return home with the assistance of Xuca who escorted her to safety. Xuca however is unable to look after her and be loyal to his goals and let her go as a priority. She soon finds comfort and resolve in a stranger named Keogx from the pain of missing the soldier she felt had her back and unknowingly more parts of her heart.
Read an Excerpt from Book Two:
“Is there something wrong soldier?” asked head to the soldier who just arrived finally.
“No, no. I am fine,” Lahi said.
“Where have you been, soldier?” asked head.
“I was worried about Suyoke. He is still irresponsive,” She said with difficulty.
“Have you seen General Daeli by any chance?” asked the head to Lahi.
“Sir. He left on the mission with Ero. I was going to go with him. But he suggested I stay here to watch Suyoke and be here for the army if they never made it back,” she said.
The head looked at the general who last seen Daeli then at Lahi standing before the court suspiciously.
He then directed his eyes back to Lahi who tried to hide her pain for her fellow soldier Suyoke.
“Lahi, you must have heard at some point that the mission was cancelled right?
“No sir. I wasn’t informed. I was last told it was the mission was official and was excited to go but…” Lahi stated.
“General Daeli didn’t tell you?!” said a council member.
There is a great clamoring throughout the court room. There was random talking and voices of disproval and surprise.
“We have a problem. They could be out there anywhere, by now. In danger or an unauthorized battle with the enemy army, or worst. We will have to send a search team. They couldn’t have gotten far. Unit 1 shall be asked to go. Please take off tonight. Or we might lose them…all,” said the head council member.
The doors swung open a second time and everyone looked in that direction wondering who would enter.
“No need for that head council,” said Captain Rhena.
Everyone stood up and stared at the entrance.
Walking into the court room after her was General Daeli who stated, “Nobody has to go anywhere.” He said with a look of assuredness on his face. We’re back now from the mission. Following them was Ero and then Guesa.
The court was astounded and relieved.
Staring at them surprised for a while, the head council member then said, “Welcome back.”
Rhena smiled and said, “Thanks.”
Rhena said, “I have a message from the other side of this war. The enemy are making their plans to weaken us. They have new strategies. I must inform the army on what we can do. I am prepared to update the S.S. They are ready to bring us down and will if we step into their traps. They’re out there.”
Unit 1 General said, “I am glad they showed up when they did. Because I wasn’t going to budge,” folding his arms looking at Daeli who stared back in opposition and then turned away.
Xuca stood among the rest of the crowd of soldiers celebrating. He looked at Daeli whose eyes met his and then looked away trying to ignore his fixed look of “Told you so.”
“You may report,” said the head to Rhena. “But you four soldiers must recover from the expedition first. For now, this court is dismissed. Returned first thing tomorrow,” he hits the hammer. The members and soldiers stood and gradually exited the door.
Rhena looked at General Daeli and said, “Thanks, for being loyal to your comrades Daeli. You showed me something today. It’s never too late for people to change. People do change,” said Rhena to him.
“Or begin to show their true colors?” Daeli replied sternly then slightly smiled.
Rhena turned to Ero and Guesa, “You must all soon get rest, understand? And I will do the same.
“Yes captain,” the unit said together.
Guesa looked at Xuca who looked back at her for a while. As they looked at each other. He felt guilty for not joining the cause to bring her back. He now knew it was risky but worth it. He looked over at Lahi thinking.
“Guesa,” shouted Lahi who ran towards her and hugged the soldier. “We thought we’d never see you again. I can’t believe you’re ok! It’s been just so long.”
“I’m here now though,” said Guesa.
“Come. I will update you on everything,” said Lahi.
Through the crowd Xuca walked by. “Xuca, I am glad to see you again and that you’re safe. …” said Guesa.
“Same here, thanks,” he continued to walked.
“I heard you were being targeted while gone away. I went after you to help but then I was capture, I am sorry I couldn’t help,” she said.
“No its ok. I was alright,” Xuca said.
The new leader then brushed shoulders with Xuca and said, “Since you are no longer leader. You are just “a” soldier. But don’t worry. I will soon take your given seat as leader. Just watch. I heard it never truly belonged to you anyway.” The leader then walked out the court room along with the rest.
“Ignore it Xuca…he is just talking and nothing more…..right?” said Guesa wondering.
“I have got to go, goodnight,” Said Xuca cutting the conversation short and walked out of the court room.
About the Author: I am Ada Stone and have been writing since high school and interested in societal problems and of course, fiction. The ability to make up a world and share it means a great deal as the real world is what it is.
Book 1 paperback: https://amazon.com/dp/1698876203/ref=sr_1_3
Book 2 Paperback: https://amazon.com/dp/1698877552/ref=sr_1_1
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ada-M-Stone/e/B07TCK375J/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18939378.Ada_M_Stone
Ada Stone will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Book Blast – EXTRANORMAL
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
They told me it would be easy—just blend in, observe, and keep to myself. They didn’t tell me that failure would cost me everything.
Mira Johns is pretty much like any other teenage girl. Which is why it’s a shock when she’s selected ahead of six hundred other candidates to be the first student ever to travel from the planet Nreim to Earth. Even though she’s only there to observe, she’s given what feels like a million rules that are mostly intended to keep her away from the planet’s primitive males. But after she finds one mysterious boy too irresistible for stupid rules, she realizes they have a connection that transcends their two planets—and puts both their lives in danger. When a series of serious accidents makes it clear that someone wants to force her return, Mira decides her only hope is to uncover the truth to why she, the most mediocre of candidates, was actually chosen for this assignment—before the agency discovers her secret and sends her back home.
Read an Excerpt
But I could say none of that to these neo-humans. Besides, I’d ignored the cheeseburger for too long. I picked it up again and did possibly the most rebellious thing of my entire seventeen years of life. I took a bite—and moaned with pleasure. I rolled the juicy meat around in my mouth, reveling in the unfamiliar texture on my tongue. I swallowed. My tongue sought the remnants of lingering food against my teeth. I hurriedly put another bite in my mouth, tears forming in my eyes. I savored the juice that splashed against the inside of my cheek, the smooth texture of the melted cheese. Then I looked up. Three sets of eyes watched me. I grinned, realized how disgusting I must look, and clamped my mouth shut.
About the Author:
A decade ago, author Suzanne V. Reese had a string of land-mark events—published her first novel, outlined her second novel (while daydreaming in a university science class), graduated from that university, became a grandmother, and then topped it all with a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
That second novel, ExtraNormal, YA speculative fiction, became her therapy during a long and difficult treatment program. It was published a few years later with the encouragement of her incredibly supportive friends and family. Despite little marketing, the book quickly became an Amazon best-seller.
Suzanne then made the difficult decision to ensure her long-term existence by focusing on her health rather than continue with the series. Happily, to celebrate her ten-year survival and end-of-treatment mark, she is releasing an updated version of the best-selling novel ExtraNormal, this time to be soon followed by the remaining books in the ExtraNormal Chronicles.
Suzanne has a degree in communications from Utah State University, as well as certifications in nutrition and holistic health. She is the founder of Story Igniters, which offers courses that help readers find their real-life superpowers. She lives with her husband in Draper, Utah, where she enjoys doting on her seven grandchildren.
Website: http://www.SuzanneVReese.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2726852.Suzanne_V_Reese
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/suzannevreese
Instagram: https://instagram.com/suzannevreese
Facebook: https://facebook.com/suzannevreese
Amazon sales page for ExtraNormal: https://amzn.to/2Qw9kNQ
Note: Because this is my ten-year cancerversary, I will be donating author proceeds during launch week to cancer research. (The Huntsman Cancer Research program, where 100% of donations go towards research. They are also the center that treated me.)
Suzanne V. Reese will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Book Blast – RED SNOWFLAKES
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Forensic photographer, Dena Williams, has spent her life trained to see what others cannot. Vampire, Dimitri Kovac, has waited every Christmas for a miracle that does not come. In the Oregon wilderness, during a snowstorm, these two destined souls collide. Dena’s only hope of survival rests in a vampire with the heart of a poet. Dimitri only has five days to win a skeptical woman’s heart. As the Christmas tree lights burn brightly and the snow continues to fall, will Dena succumb to a vampire’s charms? With so little time, can Dimitri win her love?
Read an Excerpt
Dena took a deep breath turning the knob then pushed the door open. Pitch-black darkness greeted her. Dimitri’s monstrous, canopy bed sat in the middle of the room. Black curtains enclosed the bed in a cocoon. Dena cautiously stepped inside and shut the door behind her then waited few moments giving her eyes time to adjust while kicking her boots off. Her feet shuffled across the floor. She hesitated before the drawn curtains unsure of what to do when the curtains jerked open and Dimitri grabbed her. Dena squeaked when he tossed her on his mattress. She couldn’t see a thing but felt his breath on her face. “Did you think I hung from my toes like a bat?”
There was that sense of humor she loved so much bringing a feminine chuckle in the darkness. With one hand, she reached for him. He was close. Her fingers traced the outline of his face, his eyebrows and his lips. “I thought you slept in a red, velvet-lined coffin with organ music blaring surrounded by candelabras with black candles.”
A big grin spread across Dimitri’s handsome face under her fingertips. “I’m a claustrophobic vampire who prefers rock and roll.”
About the Author:
Kristal Dawn Harris is an American author, born in Middletown, Ohio. She currently resides in Ohio with her husband. Kristal has been married for 27 years and has two children. She graduated from Carlisle High School, then furthered her education at Miami University. She has a business degree in Accounting Technology. Kristal spent twenty years working as an Office Coordinator in the hospital until she released her debut novel, “The Rings of Faolan-Emeralds,” through The Wild Rose Press.
In 1999, Kristal suffered a debilitating disease called “Guillain-Barre Syndrome.” This rare disease damaged the nerves in her body requiring the use of drop-foot braces in order to walk. Kristal considers herself a survivor and encourages anyone with a disability to follow their dreams.
Kristal is considered a hybrid romance author since she published “Hand-Carved Wolf” and “Thief of Hearts” on her own. Kristal is an avid reader who enjoys romance from all genres, but paranormal is her favorite.
CURRENT BOOKS BY KRISTAL DAWN HARRIS
The Rings of Faolan-Emeralds
The Rings of Faolan-Rubies
Hand-Carved Wolf
The Burn
The Red Heart
Thief of Hearts
UPCOMING RELEASES
Red Snowflakes (November 6)
Website: http://www.kristalharris.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kristal081670
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristalharrisauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristaldawnharris
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18576974.Kristal_Dawn_Harris
AllAuthor: https://allauthor.com/author/kristaldawnharris/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kristal-Dawn-Harris/e/B07HP1YKMM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Snowflakes-Kristal-Dawn-Harris-ebook/dp/B07YCXKCM6/ref=sr_1_3
Kristal Dawn Harris will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Book Blast – THE SEDUCTION OF LADY PHOEBE
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Polite society has its rules for marriage. But for Ella Quinn’s eligible bachelors, their brides will show them that rules are for the faint of heart . . .
Phoebe Stanhope is not a typical Lady. As feisty as she is quick witted, no one can catch her, especially when she is driving her dashing phaeton with its perfectly matched horses. And unlike her peers, experience has guarded her against a growing list of would-be suitors. But when she encounters Marcus Finley, what she fears most burns deep within his blue-eyed gaze . . .
For Lord Marcus, the spark of recognition is but a moment in the love he has held these many years. Now that he’s returned to England, all the happiness he desires rests on Lady Phoebe never finding out that he was the one who turned her heart so cold and distant. He must work fast to gain the advantage—to convince her what she wants is exactly what she denies—but in order to seduce her into his arms, he must be willing to give up more than he can control . . .
Read an Excerpt
Phoebe walked briskly into the large, sunny breakfast room, the train of her pale green nankeen riding habit draped over one arm.
She greeted her brother, Geoffrey, the sixth Earl of Cranbourne. “Good morning.”
When he looked up from his newssheet and met her gaze, Phoebe saw the fatigue etched in his face.
“Oh, you poor dear,” she said. “Is it the baby?” Miles was Geoffrey and his wife, Amabel’s six-month-old son.
“Yes,” Geoffrey replied. “He’s getting his first tooth. I dare say, had I’d known he would be in this much pain, I would have recommended to him that he not bother.”
Grinning, Phoebe said, “I am sure he would have appreciated the advice.”
Geoffrey handed her a section of the newssheet, and they sat in companionable silence until her sister-in-law joined them.
After pouring a cup of tea, Amabel asked Phoebe, “When do you leave for Town?”
She swallowed a piece of toast. “Next week.”
“I do wish I could go with you,” Amabel said.
“What a whisker!” Phoebe smiled. “You have no desire at all to go to London and dance attendance on me, and, indeed, I have no wish for you to have to do so. I am quite content to stay with my Aunt St. Eth. I much prefer the political parties the St. Eths attend.”
Her sister-in-law pulled a face. “But they are so dry.”
Phoebe laughed when Amabel wrinkled her nose. “I know, for you the subject is a dead bore, but I enjoy it extremely.”
Her sister-in-law frowned. “My dear, how will you ever find a husband if you are attending only political parties?”
“It is not as if there are no unmarried gentlemen at the parties,” Phoebe retorted. “Besides, I daresay I have met every unmarried gentleman the length and breadth of England. Not one has given me the smallest desire to marry. Perhaps I shall set up a salon and become a famous bluestocking.”
Her sister-in-law’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You cannot mean that!”
Phoebe tried to hide her exasperation. “I know you’ve tried very hard to bring about a match for me. I wish you would not persist. I shall marry when I find a gentleman I can love and not before.”
“But you must marry,” Amabel said. “You are almost twenty-four, and you are much too beautiful to become a spinster.”
“I am well aware of my age,” Phoebe said as mildly as she could. “I’m not on the shelf yet.”
After taking a sip of tea, Amabel said airily, “I have invited my brother to visit us.”
Phoebe creased her brows. “Evesham? I thought he was too ill to travel.”
“No, Arthur is indeed too ill,” her sister-in-law said. “I have invited my other brother, Marcus. He shall arrive in three days’ time.”
“Lord Marcus?”
Amabel hesitated before continuing, “He needs to marry now, and I immediately thought of you.”
At the mention of Lord Marcus Finley, Phoebe’s stomach clenched, and the humiliation she had not felt in years burbled within her, feeding her anger.
She took a breath and calmly but firmly said, “I have met Lord Marcus, we did not suit. Amabel, pray excuse me. I have just remembered something I must do.”
Phoebe rose and left the room. Upon entering her chamber, she closed the door with a snap. The control with which she had been holding herself threatened to unravel. Lord Marcus Finley was back.
Myriad feelings of fear, hurt, and despair assailed her. It confused her to feel almost as raw as she had eight years ago when he’d shattered her childish romantic ideas. She had pushed him out of her mind then and, other than the bad dreams, had not purposely thought of him since.
She’d hoped never to hear his name again and certainly did not want to meet him. She’d learned to protect herself, but still mourned her loss of innocence he’d stolen. She would not weep over Lord Marcus. No good could come of thinking of him. Forgetting that day had been easier when he had been safely across the ocean.
Phoebe breathed deeply and strode to her writing desk, a beautiful cherry secretaire. She furiously mended her nib then took a piece of hot-pressed paper, dipped the pen in the standish, and wrote her first letter to her aunt, the Marchioness of St. Eth.
About the Author: USA Today bestselling author Ella Quinn’s studies and other jobs have always been on the serious side. Reading historical romances, especially Regencies, were her escape. Eventually her love of historical novels led her to start writing them.
She is married to her wonderful husband of over thirty years. They have a son and two beautiful granddaughters, and a Great Dane. After living in the South Pacific, Central America, North Africa, England and Europe, she and her husband decided to make their dreams come true and are now living on a sailboat. After cruising the Caribbean and North America, she completed a transatlantic crossing from St. Martin to Southern Europe. She’s currently living in Germany, happily writing while her husband is back at work, recovering from retirement.
Ella loves when readers connect with her.
Author Contact and Social Media:
Website: https://www.ellaquinnauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllaQuinnAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellaquinnauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044274.Ella_Quinn
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ella-quinn
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ella-Quinn/e/B00CAE0FSQ
Buy Links for the Mass Market Paperback:
Kensington: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/38034
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Seduction-Lady-Phoebe-Marriage-Game/dp/1420147285/
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-seduction-of-lady-phoebe-ella-quinn/1115119327
BAM: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Seduction-Lady-Phoebe/Ella-Quinn/9781420147285?id=7711374629459
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781420147285
Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Seduction-of-Lady-Phoebe-9781420147285/853764265
Ella Quinn will award a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
Book Blast – HOUSE OF ASH AND BRIMSTONE
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Hell has come to collect…
…but Gisele Walker has no plans to pay the debt.
As a half-demon paranormal bounty hunter, Gisele is used to flirting with death, but stealing a curio and opening a portal to Hell’s demon court is more than your average day job.
Now, she’s partnered with an infuriatingly handsome demon, Shade, who has more levels of grey than she can count.
Who can she trust to help save the city as Baltimore burns to the ground and ghouls roam the streets?
With a white-hot attraction burning between them and secrets blocking their path, Gisele must face her past and venture into the twisted heart of the demon royal court.
But with no memory of her past…
…will she be able to save their future?
Read an Excerpt
He deepened the kiss with his need, eager for her. She felt his face flush hot beneath her hands.
She wanted to crawl on top of him, straddle him, and take things further. It was all she could do to hold back.
“Gigi.” He broke the kiss to murmur against her skin. “I’m not spying on you. I wouldn’t hurt you. I swear on my life. I know it doesn’t mean much, but—”
She stole his lips, using their third kiss to shut him up for a second time.
“I know,” she whispered, nose nuzzled against his cheek. “You protected me from the elghoul. Three times.”
She pulled back to study him, taking in the deep rise and fall of his chest. He looked back at her, for once unguarded and so filled with longing that she wondered how it could have taken her so long to see him for who he really was—for what he really wanted. She’d been so focused on her feelings of distrust, caught up in the fact that he was hiding something from her, that she’d neglected and ignored all the other things she’d felt.
“I believe you. But you also said you were going to kill me.”
His face fell. “If he orders it, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
She didn’t have to wonder who ‘he’ was. He could only be referring to the master he’d escaped from.
About the Author:
Megan Starks is the award-winning author of the Gatewalkers urban fantasy series and a game writer at Obsidian Entertainment. A Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® finalist, Writers Guild of America award nominee, and Pitch Wars alumna with an MFA in fiction, Megan enjoys reading and writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy novels. Whether it’s dark demons, brooding vampires, howling werewolves, or feisty witches, Megan loves it all.
When she’s not penning novels about magic and strong, kick-butt heroines, she enjoys playing video games and spending time with her husband and their cat, Sushi, in California.
Look for Night of Sunder & Sorrow, the sequel to House of Ash & Brimstone, coming in Spring 2020.
Get a free prequel to House of Ash & Brimstone by joining Megan’s mailing list at: http://www.fictivate.com/books
Crave more #Gatewalkers? For updates and to chat about writing, video games, coffee, and cute kitty-cats, come hang out on any of the author’s social media sites.
Social media links:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/fictivate
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fictivate
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/fictivate
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16069896.Megan_Starks
Bookbub: http://www.bookbub.com/profile/2811299533
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Megan-Starks/e/B07YBKHQBV/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dwlkwf
Buy links: The book is $0.99 during the tour.
Amazon: https://smarturl.it/Gate1Amz
Amazon Print (won’t be live until released day): https://smarturl.it/Gate1AmzPrt
BN: https://smarturl.it/Gate1BN
Kobo: https://smarturl.it/Gate1Kobo
iBooks: https://smarturl.it/Gate1iBooks
GoodReads: https://smarturl.it/Gate1GR
Publisher (City Owl Press): https://smarturl.it/Gate1CO
Megan Starks will be awarding a prize pack of best-selling urban fantasy romance + a copy of House of Ash and Brimstone to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Book Blast – WAIT
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rebecca Brewster Stevenson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
What are you waiting for?
Everyone has endured the endless traffic light, the queue that goes nowhere, the elevator music piped through the phone line. But what of those periods in your life when everything seems on hold? When you can’t do the next thing in your professional or personal life because you can’t get to it?
Waiting—be it for health, a life partner, a child, a job—can be an agony. The persistently unrealized goal feels like an endless road. And hope’s constant deferment can be exhausting. A firm answer against the thing you’re hoping for—”no”—might be easier than this constant lack of closure. It might be easier to give it up.
But what if waiting means to be something else? Waiting doesn’t have to mean idleness. Our prolonged state of need might teach us to look beyond the desired goal to something infinitely better. We find lessons on this throughout the Bible and, if we are paying attention, in our own lives.
Rather than fostering frustration, periods of waiting might have great truths to tell us. It might show us that hope is worthwhile. Waiting might even be a gift in and of itself.
Read an Excerpt
If you have asked God for something, and he has not said “yes,” or “no,” if you are among the loved ones enduring his seeming silence because he has asked you to wait, if you are standing on a proverbial sideline or platform somewhere, then I am asking you to shift your gaze. Don’t look at the game. Don’t squint at the stick. And don’t think for a minute that, just because I ask you to shift your gaze, that the thing you are gazing at–the thing you want and are waiting for–is bad. It’s not. But there is something to be gleaned from the sideline itself–and this is what we must attend to. You are on the outside, looking in. But look around you. Everyone is on the outside, and this has been true from almost the very beginning.
About the Author:
Rebecca Brewster Stevenson is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a master’s degree from Duke University and has lived in Durham, North Carolina for over 20 years with her husband and three children.
Before dedicating herself to writing full time, Rebecca worked with Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill to develop the curriculum for their humanities department; she also worked as an English teacher at public and private middle and high schools in Durham and Pittsburgh.
Rebecca’s debut novel Healing Maddie Brees was published in 2016 to literary acclaim. Her beautifully crafted personal essays on her blog “Small Hours” have earned her a strong audience of readers who enjoy her explorations of themes relating to family, marriage, faith, writing, language, literature, and film.
“Rebecca Brewster Stevenson’s writing is consistently powerful, complex, honest, and hopeful” (Andy Crouch, author, Culture Making and The Tech-Wise Family). Rebecca’s writing has also been called “exquisite” (Stephen Chbosky), “thought-provoking” (Barbara Claypole White), and “gorgeous” (Kirkus Reviews).
Website: https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com
Blog: https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/blog/
Light Messages: https://www.lightmessages.com/rebecca-brewster-stevenson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaBrewsterStevenson
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/rebeccabrewsterstevenson
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rbstevenson1
Rebecca Brewster Stevenson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Book Blast – THE GUMBEAUX SISTAHS
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Five Southern women wage a hilarious war against the ageism problems of one of their deep-in-trouble sisters using their improbable friendships, evil-genius schemes, oh-so-numerous cocktails, and a shared passion for good gumbo.
When southern artist, Judith Lafferty, loses her long-time, prestigious museum job to a much younger man, she finds herself devastated, alone in her sixties, and on the brink of financial disaster. Enter the incomparable Gumbeaux Sistahs, who deliver day-old coffee to her front door as a ploy, then go on to kidnap her, feed her excellent gumbo, and come up with outrageous solutions to her problems. Their motives are just good excuses to drink wine, have a great time, argue over whose mother makes the best gumbo, and, most of all, help a sister out. Ageism, dangerous boyfriends, deep loneliness, and any other challenges that can face the over fifty crowd don’t stand a chance against these five resourceful ladies. The Gumbeaux Sistahs is a heart-warming, smart story of friendship and unexpected shenanigans that you do not want to miss.
Read an Excerpt
Judith Lafferty had never been a violent person, but it felt like it might be a good day to start. It was a little after ten o’clock on Monday morning, and she felt a steadily rising derangement as she waited, third in line, at St. John’s Coffeehouse. The cafe was crowded with late morning caffeine seekers. The music from the overhead speakers was bouncy, the weather was glorious, the baristas were smiling, and Judith was seething. Normally she would be bouncing right along to the music in the popular café and eyeing the lemon bars in the glass case. Not today. Today, Judith would have enjoyed flinging one of the lemon bars across the room like a frisbee. Or maybe she could just punch something. Yes, she would very much like to punch something — anything at all. The life-sized, cardboard sign near the front counter of a smiling man overly enjoying his bag of coffee beans seemed a tempting target. She balled her fist and considered it. His young, smiling face reminded her of the man responsible for her current mood. If she truly believed punching the fake-smile on the cardboard figure would somehow make her feel better, she would flatten him. But she did not think anything could help right now.
About the Author:
Born in New Orleans, Jax Frey came into this world, whooping and hollering, with a sense of love and celebration of Louisiana culture, food, family and fun. Translating that celebration into her writing and onto canvas is her true calling. Her colorful art depicts everything-Louisiana from her dancing Gumbeaux Sistahs paintings to her popular line of original Mini paintings. Because over 25,000 of the mini paintings have been created and sold into art collections worldwide, Jax holds a world’s record for The Most Original Acrylic Paintings on Canvas by One Artist.
Jax is also the co-founder of the Women of Infinite Possibilities, an empowering women’s organization started in Covington, LA, where Jax lives today with her loveable, tornado-of-a-pug named Lucy. The Gumbeaux Sistahs is her debut novel.
Email: jaxfreyart@gmail.com
For more information please visit – http://www.gumbeauxsistahs.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gumbeaux-Sistahs-a-novel-435766546973087/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jax.frey.3
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gumbeauxsistahs/
Jax’s art can be seen at: http://www.artbyjax.com
Jax Frey will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon/BN GC and will award a second randomly drawn winner a print copy of the book (US only)
Book Blast – FRAGMENTS OF FRENCH
Fragments of French, an Unexpected Journey of the Heart
by Wanda St. Hilaire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Memoir (travel)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
After a harsh brush with her mortality, shadowed by a premature divorce, Wanda St. Hilaire pledges to be true to her primary passion—living ardently through travel. On the fateful day her life intersects with Jean-François, a charming Frenchman, on a bustling street in Lisbon, every fiber of her being feels as though she has finally entered the doorway to a magical world that she knew existed since she was a young girl.
St. Hilaire turns a complicated romantic ballet full of missteps into a collage of people, places, and cultures. Fragments of French is an exquisitely detailed travelogue of Portugal, Canada, France, and Mexico, filled with minor characters who delight with their humanity. However, what really makes this tale a standout is a gift for pacing and description to rival Tom Wolfe.
The hero’s journey is not only for the characters of our favorite stories or mythical legends. At some point, each of us receives the call to adventure. Fate summons the hero; we can refuse the call, or step into something that will turn our lives upside down, and potentially change everything we know to be true.
From feeling “completely disarmed, no fortress standing”, to embracing her untethered strength, the author turns this account of living life out loud into lessons for us all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Our day-to-day lives typically flow with the minutiae of the known. There is the mundane and the comfortable; like the ratty robe that we wrap around ourselves to watch movies in, with a hot cup of tea from our favorite mug. There are our unvarying routines, our jobs, the people we know, and the places we frequent, which give us stability and a sense of certainty in an uncertain world.
And occasionally, there are the extraordinary moments when a life-altering fork in the road appears, when constancy vanishes underneath us and we are presented with an opportunity that excites us, stretches us far beyond the boundaries of our self-imposed restrictions, and scares the bejesus out of us. We have the freedom to choose, but we cannot know the long-term ramifications, or predict the final outcome of either decision, be it yay or nay.
Had I picked the road most traveled, this house would look the same as it did three months ago. My heartbeat would be steady and, at this moment, I would be asleep in my big brass bed, safely tucked under a thick, goose-down duvet. Monday morning, I would awaken to a flurry of faxes and phone calls in the small office upstairs, and then race off on a snowy road-trip for a week of intensive work. But that pathway may have led me to a deep gorge of regret, and a lifetime of what-ifs. I could not take that chance, ending up an old, disenchanted woman, retelling what might have been.
No one I know has done this before; I have no frame of reference. I am taking the fork to the far left, one that holds an exciting adventure fraught with potential peril. I have overcome my fears by nullifying them one by one. I am leaping without a net.
I crawl into my sleeping bag and toss restlessly, a barrage of questions battering my bewildered brain. I will leave tomorrow on a jet plane for the most unknown journey of my life. I do not know what awaits me, and I do not know when I will be back again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Her prime passion is the thrill of travel—of experiencing other cultures, traditions, lifestyles, and languages—thus expanding her perspective.
Wanda St. Hilaire has a predilection and passion for all things Latin, and she believes life is too short not to do what you love, where you love. She spends time writing in Mexico for inspiration, and to escape the frozen landscapes of Alberta.
Through writing, St. Hilaire shares what she’s learned from the high peaks of adventure and love, to the dark valleys of illness and heartbreak. Her mission is to help people overcome the self, and tap into their wise inner guidance system. Her wish is to inspire others to live true to their unique and beautiful nature.
Fragments of French on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fragments-French-Unexpected-Journey-Heart/dp/189433115X/ref=sr_1_1
Companion Poetry Book, Of Love, Life, and Journeys
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Life-Journeys-Companion-Fragments/dp/1894331176/ref=sr_1_3
(Inspired during the story of my travel memoir, this collection of poems and verse was first published in 2004 and became a Canadian bestseller for poetry. This second edition was created as a companion book to Fragments of French,)
Blog: www.lifebyheart.wandasthilaire.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wandasthilairethewriter/
Twitter: @spicytraveler (https://twitter.com/spicytraveler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Wanda St. Hilaire will be awarding a ribboned beret & Paris coin bag with an E-book of Fragments of French to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. (International offer)
Enter to win a special prize pack – a Rafflecopter giveaway
Book Trailer:
