Category Archives: Book Tour
VBT – WEDGE OF FEAR
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eugene M. Gagliano will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Overshadowed by the death of his brother, Tony is about to encounter the western way of life when his parents move from the East Coast to Wyoming. Starting in a new school as a sixth grader isn’t easy when your controlling mother is fearful of everything. Tony likes his new teacher, Mr. Brunswick, but Regina, the class bully, does her best to makes his life difficult. Jed, the son of a rancher, befriends Tony and helps him adjust to his new environment. Life becomes more complicated when his grandmother dies and a series of unpredictable events causes his father to question his ability to take care of himself and be responsible. In the end, Tony is tested when a tornado rips through his neighborhood.
Read an Excerpt
“Stop treating me like a little kid!”
“Tony, don’t talk to your mother that way.” Dad pointed a finger at him.
“But, Dad, nobody in sixth grade has their mom go with them to school on their first day.” Tony pushed strands of hair out of his eyes and sighed. He placed his empty cereal bowl on the kitchen counter.
“I just want you to get off to a good start. This is a new school,” Mom said, rinsing out a dish. “We’ve only been in Wyoming a week, and you don’t know anybody yet.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom,” Tony said, even though his stomach tightened with the thought of going to a new school. What if the kids didn’t like him? What if they made fun of him because he was from New York? Could he take care of himself?
Tony’s broad-shouldered dad, Gene, reached down and wrapped his arms around his wife’s tiny waist. “Frances, Tony will be fine.” He winked at Tony.
“But, Gene, what if…” Mom looked down and rubbed her hands on her skirt.
“He’ll be all right,” Dad whispered into her ear.
Tony smiled. “I’ll be okay. I’ll make new friends.”
“Well, I suppose. But make sure you’re careful with your new jeans. Money is tight now, with moving and all. I can’t afford to buy you new clothes the way that you’re growing.” She reached over to adjust his shirt collar.
Tony pulled away. “Mom, don’t.”
“Tony, you’d better get going so you’re not late.” Dad placed his arm around Tony’s shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Dad. Bye, Mom.”
About the Author:
Wyoming’s State Poet Laureate, known by many children as the “teacher who dances on his desk,“ Gene Gagliano is a retired elementary school teacher with a great sense of humor, who lives with his wife Carol at the base of the Bighorn Mountains in Buffalo, Wyoming. Gene is the author of: C is for Cowboy, a Wyoming Alphabet; Four Wheels West, a Wyoming Number Book; V is for Venus Flytrap, a Plant Alphabet; My Teacher Dances on the Desk; Little Wyoming; The Magic Box; Angel’s Landing; Booger, Dee and the Mammoth, and Is It True? A collection of humorous poetry. His newest book is a middle grade fiction book titled Wedge of Fear. He enjoys making his educational, entertaining and inspirational school visits, as well as presenting for adults at conferences and library functions. Gene’s hobbies include hiking, canoeing, singing, reading, painting, and gardening.
To learn more about the author go to Gene’s website and to his Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/dancingteacher
Wedge of Fear is available on Amazon.com: http://a.co/d/gY2VS8O
Eugene M. Gagliano will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
VBT – Inside the Chinese Wine Industry
Book Trailer
About the Book
Title: Inside the Chinese Wine Industry
Author: Loren Mayshark
Genre: Nonfiction
The wine business is one of the world’s most fascinating industries and China is considered the rising star. A hidden secret, the Chinese wine industry continues to grow at an amazing pace and is projected to soon enter the top five producing nations, supplanting long established countries such as Australia. Inside the Chinese Wine Industry: The Past, Present, and Future of Wine in China takes you through the growing Chinese wine scene.
Wine has had a meteoric rise in China over the past two decades. The nation is projected to become the second most valuable market for wine in the world by 2020. One recent study concluded that 96% of young Chinese adults consider wine their alcoholic drink of choice. Not only does Inside the Chinese Wine Industry explore current expansion and business models, it journeys back to the past to see where it all began.
There are more than seven hundred wineries in China today. Although it’s bit of an oversimplification, the vast majority of the wineries fit into one of two categories: the larger established producers who churn out mostly plonk to meet the growing demand for inexpensive wine and the newer wineries that try to cater to the tastes of the wealthy Chinese with money to spend on luxury goods like fine wine. In the words of wine guru Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible, “The cheap wines from the very large producers have mostly verged on dismal.” However, this should not be considered a blanket statement regarding every wine from large producers. Also, she has positive reflections regarding the level of wine produced by “cutting-edge wineries” which she finds “far better.” How good are they? MacNeil asserts: “Some of these wines are so good they could easily pass for a California or Bordeaux wine in a blind tasting.”
Author Bio
Loren Mayshark studied Chinese art, religion, philosophy, and history while earning a B.A. in history from Manhattanville College in New York. After graduation, he attended The Gotham Writers Workshop and the prestigious New York Writers Workshop. He has written about the Chinese wine industry for The Jovial Journey and Sublime China.
After college, he supported his itinerant lifestyle by working dozens of jobs, including golf caddy, travel writer, construction worker, fireworks salesman, substitute teacher, and vineyard laborer. Predominantly his jobs have been in the restaurant industry. He cut his teeth as a server, maître d’, and bartender at San Francisco’s historic Fisherman’s Grotto #9, the original restaurant on the Fisherman’s Wharf. While working with a colorful crew of primarily Mexican and Chinese co-workers.
He spent much of his young adult life exploring the wine industry from Sonoma Valley to the North Fork of Long Island, immersing himself in vineyards and learning valuable lessons. He has traveled extensively in South America, Europe, and Asia. He presently splits his time between Western New York and Sweden.
His first book, Death: An Exploration, won the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award in the category of Death and Dying and was a finalist for book of the year in the 2016 Foreword INDIES Awards in the category of Grief/Grieving (Adult Nonfiction). Inside the Chinese Wine Industry is his third book.
For more information visit his website: lorenmayshark.com.
Keep up with him on Twitter: @LorenMayshark
Links
VBT – Exit Stage Left
Exit Stage Left
by Catherine Russell
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GENRE: Dark Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
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BLURB:
Megan O’Day seems to be navigating the unpredictable relationship with Geoffrey Drake, her centuries-old vampire guardian angel, rather well. But then his past suddenly rips him from her, forcing her to face the unknown future alone in the gripping sequel to The Stage.
Still bound to Geoffrey through the power of the Link despite his unexplained absence, Megan’s mind is flooded with his haunted memories. While she relives the darkest moments of his previous life, she discovers his attachment to a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her.
As she questions Geoffrey’s love for her, she strikes up a dangerous alliance with Geoffrey’s brother, Alexander, who is also a vampire. She hopes that he will help her find a way to rescue Geoffrey: instead, he seems to be awakening new emotions and desires within her.
As the past and present collide, Megan struggles to fend off Alexander’s dark seduction. Is Geoffrey truly beyond the reach of her love forever? If not, what must be sacrificed to bring them back together again?
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EXCERPT
An image of Dawn’s mangled, bloody body filled my thoughts, and I stopped sorting through my art supplies. It had happened just before Christmas. There was poor Dawn, distraught over her break-up with Ian, wearing my jack, and waiting in Geoffrey’s car in the alley behind The Stage.
They thought Dawn was me.
They- The Inner Circle, Geoffrey’s first coven-wanted him back.
Marco, his sire, was the head honcho there, and I its prime the coven had been quite large with a very strong presence in the community. As the years passed, it prominence had faded, but Marco still clung to his power. Geoffrey said that the older Marco got the more manipulative, abusive, and obsessive he became. It didn’t make sense. Marco had exiled him, and now he wanted his prized son back, even though Geoffrey’s twin, Alexander, was part of the Inner Circle. To top it off, they wanted me dead. Why? Because I came between Marco and Geoffrey? Was it because of the Link?
Shh, my love, said Geoffrey’s sweet, cool voice though the Link.
But I couldn’t keep my thoughts from whirling. Nerdy Chase Montgomery, my neighbor, was Geoffrey’s Guardian- a scholar of immortals, more or less. He was assigned to watch over Geoffrey, but he had trouble staying close to him. So he had followed me instead, filling my apartment with micro-cameras and audio pickups. When Geoffrey finally confronted Chase, I got a look inside his apartment-and at his computer screens. Nearly every inch of my apartment was under surveillance.
How fast everything had happened! Only four months ago, I started working at Ashleigh’s bar, The Stage, which was now the hottest club in Seattle. Geoffrey and his family which made up his band, The Darkness, were the house band there, and he and his family lived what they jokingly called an “alternative lifestyle”- even for vampires. Believing our human lives were too short as it is, they found other sources for their drug of choice, blood.
By the way, did I say reality bites? Yeah it does. I guess that comes with the territory when the one you love is a vampire.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
CATHERINE RUSSELL is the author of The Stage Chronicles, a paranormal vampire fantasy tetralogy for Barking Rain Press. Catherine grew up in Puyallup, Washington. After years of reading, her characters could no longer be ignored. Her family indulged her creativity with love and patience while she found her way through her first attempt to bring The Stage, Book 1 in the series. She is hard at work at the second book in the planned quartet, Exit Stage Left. Catherine lives in Tacoma, Washington with her wife, their son, and a view of the Olympic Mountains. You can find out more about The Stage Chronicles at her website or Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter.
The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour only.
The Stage Chronicles site http://www.thestagechronicles.com/
Barking Rain Press site https://barkingrainpress.org/exit-stage-left/
Amazon link for The Stage Chronicles Book 2 Exit Stage Left https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Stage-Left-Chronicles/dp/1935460889/ref=sr_1_2
Amazon link for The Stage Chronicles Book 1 The Stage https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Stage-Left-Chronicles/dp/1935460889/ref=sr_1_2
Twitter for The Stage Chronicles https://twitter.com/CathyMRussell
Facebook for The Stage Chronicles https://www.facebook.com/thestagechronicles/
Instagram for The Stage Chronicles https://www.instagram.com/thestagechronicles_/
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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VBT – OUR SECRET POWERS
Our Secret Powers
by Terje G. Simonsen
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GENRE: Nonfiction, spirituality, consciousness, paranormal, psychology
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BLURB:
Is the paranormal normal?
Many readers will be surprised when learning that reputable scientists, among them several Nobel laureates, have claimed that telepathy is a reality. Their curiosity will increase when reading that Cleopatra’s lost palace and Richard III’s burial place were recovered by means of clairvoyance. And some will think it to be science fiction when finding out about Stargate—the espionage program where the American military and CIA engaged in the development of psychic spies!
Simonsen, a Norwegian historian of ideas, introduces an array of entertaining paranormal tales from history, archaeology, anthropology and psychology, and presents scientific research that has provided fascinating results. He argues that the stories we hear about telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition ought not to be dismissed as superstition
In step with spiritual and occult traditions, the author suggests that consciousness is not limited to our own head. Rather he thinks that all humans (and perhaps all living beings) are linked together in a “Mental Internet.’ Via this network we may exchange ‘telepathic emails’ with friends and family and make clairvoyant ‘downloads’ of information. Thus perhaps what we usually call ‘supernatural’ is completely natural but little understood communications via this Mental Internet?
Our Secret Powers gives us a engaged and entertaining analysis of a controversial subject and would make an excellent travel companion.
“Superb survey of the paranormal… Although serious in content, it is written in a light, often humorous, style which is a delight to read. As someone who has myself made a lifelong study of the paranormal, I cannot recommend it highly enough.” ~ fantasy author, Herbie Brennan
“Simonsen describes his book as “A travelogue from the twilight zone,”but he is far too modest. Our Secret Powers is a sprawling work, meticulously researched, in which the author deftly, and with engaging wit, pulls together the various strands of “psi”–telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition,telekinesis, and healing–and presents them for our consideration.” ~ Pulitzer-prize winner, Teresa Carpenter
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Excerpt:
Based on this idea, we launch a quite simple model, called the “Mental Internet.” The basic metaphor here is that somewhat in the way our computers are linked together via the Internet, the ‘consciousnesses’ of all humans, and perhaps all living beings, are linked together via some sort of Mental Internet. Consciousness, like the Internet, is—on some level—something that we are all doing together; it is networking. And telepathy is the communication that drives this network.
I therefore invite the reader to engage in a little thought experiment throughout the book: namely that an Internet Model of consciousness may have some relevance. Galileo once invited the Inquisition to look through his telescope in order to see what he himself had seen. But, as we know, the inquisitors were not very keen on having their horizons expanded and instead muttered murkily of ‘the work of the Devil.’ However, I take it for granted that the reader has a radically more open attitude than those darkened souls, and I am therefore confident that my invitation will be well received.
I find it intriguing to think that our everyday perception of Space and Time may, in some respects, be merely a mental frame, a habit. And therefore it might be possible to think outside the box in a more radical way. The proposed thought experiment about a Mental Internet allows for this, and telepathy can then be considered as the ‘emails’ sent and the ‘downloads’ made via this mental network. Many phenomena that otherwise would appear inexplicable will in light of this model fall quite nicely into place. More (much more) about this later!
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Terje G. Simonsen is an author with a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas. He has increasingly focused his attention on the esoteric and occult traditions and on paranormal phenomena, as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, healing etc. Recently he published the highly acclaimed Our Secret Powers, based on his extraordinary knowledge within this field. Elegantly and with great personal wit and insight, he discusses parapsychological phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.
Simonsen has had his work praised by several of the world’s most renowned experts on the paranormal: The bestselling parapsychologist, Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, says: ‘As an encyclopedic introduction to the psychic side of the fascinating but puzzling domain known as the paranormal, there is no better choice than Our Secret Powers.” And Stanley Krippner, expert on hypnosis, shamanism and altered states of consciousness, former leader of two departments in the American Psychological Association, says: “This is an outstanding book and it deserves all the attention it can get. Not only is Our Secret Powers a book for all seasons, it is a book for all reasons!’”.
http://www.paripublishing.com/authors/terje-gerotti-simonsen/
Author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/terjesimonsen
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8895604334/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Amazon.UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Secret-Powers-Clairvoyance-Precognition/dp/8895604334
Buy link Pari Publishing: http://www.paripublishing.com/books/our-secret-powers
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Terje G. Simonsen will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
VBT – TURNAROUND FARM
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Elaine Cantrell will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Dedicated career girl Holly Grant has no time for romance. She doesn’t need a man to complete her, thank you very much. Building Grant Realty takes all of her time and attention. If she can close a deal for Turnaround Farm, her business will take off like a rocket. Her first problem is that Jeb Wakefield doesn’t want to sell his farm, and her second problem is Jeb’s grandson Dan, the finest looking man Holly’s ever seen.
Read an Excerpt:
As everyone started to eat, the tension at the table lessened. They ate in silence for a moment before Teddy nudged Dan’s elbow. “Hey, Dan, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Are you sleeping with Holly?”
The furor that broke out reminded Holly of the noise at a high school football game. Nikki’s voice rose above the commotion as she tied to justify Teddy’s little bombshell first to Dan and then to Holly. The noise made Michael cry, and when Teddy saw his brother crying, he started to roar himself. Without another word, Dan grabbed Teddy by the hand and carried him kicking and screaming to the restroom.
“Is he going to spank Teddy?” quavered Holly. The child was incorrigible, but she didn’t want Dan to hurt him.
Nikki shrugged. “I don’t know, but I doubt it.”
“You don’t seem too upset by it.”
“No, he’s mad at Teddy, but he won’t hurt him. Dan’s good with the kids. He’d be a great father, Holly, and his kids would probably be real cute.”
“I’m su…su…sure he would…they would,” Holly stammered.
“Yes, and one day he’ll own Turnaround. That’ll be a nice thing to hand down to his children, won’t it?”
Thankfully, Dan and Teddy returned to cut this awful conversation short.
About the Author:
Born and raised in South Carolina, I hold a master’s degree in personnel services from Clemson University and am a member of Romance Writers of America and Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary society for women educators. I’ve been married for forty-five years to my college sweetheart. We have two sons who’ve given us three wonderful grandchildren. We also have a sweet calico kitty, and a devoted little black and white dog.
I’ve been writing since 2001 when my son asked me to proofread a book he’d written. I figured if he could write a book, so could I. My first published novel, A New Leaf, was the winner of the 2003 Timeless Love contest. If I wasn’t sold on writing before, that did it. I’ve been writing ever since and don’t have any plans to stop. Frankly, I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. Writing is a strange compulsion that drives me to spend long hours in front of a keyboard when I could be doing important things like napping or eating chocolate. My house isn’t dusted as often, I rarely cook, and who cares if the laundry gets done or not. Yeah, no doubt about it, I’m addicted.
http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/elainecantrell
http://www.facebook.com/elainepcantrell
http://www.pinterest.com/elainecantrell
Turnaround Farm buy link: https://wingsepress.com/turnaround-farm/
Elaine Cantrell will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
VBT – Room for Grace
About the Authors
Daniel Kenner rocked out to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” while other infants sang “Mary Had A Little Lamb.” A proud member of Actor’s Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and National Players Tour 60, Daniel was a Presidential Arts Scholar at George Washington University and Scholarship recipient at The British American Drama Academy. Directed the Washington D.C. premier of Sarah Kane’s Crave. Author of the manuscript, Roux. Winner of the Rhode Island Playwriting Festival for his World War II letters home drama, Fields of Sacrifice. Adapted Les Misérables for high school stages.
Maureen Kenner’s heart was in the classroom. For thirty-five years she was a Special Education teacher in the Providence Public Schools. Born and raised in Dobbs Ferry, New York, Maureen graduated from Rhode Island College with a degree in education and later earned a Master’s Degree from Providence College. Maureen was a vital influence at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School at Fox Point, working tirelessly as a mentor for the betterment of all children and their families. Honored with many accolades throughout her career, Maureen was awarded Providence Teacher of the Year in 2003. Living with cancer, as a model patient, Maureen exemplified integrity, courage, grace, and hope. For thirty-one years, through sickness and health, Maureen was the beloved soul mate to the late Jacob “Buddy” Kenner, her intense love recognized in 2016 as a Rhode Island Caregiver of the Year.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
About the Book:
Title: ROOM FOR GRACE
Author: Daniel Kenner & Maureen Kenner
Publisher: Silver Boot Imprints
Pages: 200
Genre: Memoir & Biography
BOOK BLURB:
Stage 4 cancer for her and a debilitating disease for her husband: life crashed down in an instant. Maureen Kenner found resilience, however, in the lessons she learned from her Special Ed students in Providence, RI. Her students lived with their hearts opened despite struggles of the highest magnitude. Through these students, Maureen gains courage, humor, and the strength of spirit to face her devastating realities, head on. Maureen’s oral history was captured by her son Daniel who tenderly wrought this book out of their recorded conversations. Through anecdotes and hard-earned lessons, Maureen tackles challenge after challenge and reframes daily struggles with a positive outlook allowing her to transcend and conquer mortal fears with dignity and room for grace.
PRAISE:
“Maureen Kenner was one of those people who brightened every room she entered. Thanks to Room for Grace, that light is not extinguished. Although her story shares great sadness, Room for Grace is a book of hope and a celebration of life that sheds Maureen’s light on us all.” — Ann Hood, Author of The Obituary Writer and The Red Thread
“In these pages, you will find a story like no other. Maureen’s story is one of courage and love, a story that will move you to your core.” — David Flink, Chief Empowerment Officer, Eye to Eye
“The piercing light of Maureen’s compassion, love and intelligence, will leave every reader wanting to reach out in the spirit of service and live life to the fullest.” — Annie Lanzillotto, Author of Hard Candy: Caregiving, Mourning, and Stagelight
“Buddy Kenner was a big-hearted teacher, universally beloved by all, a warrior for the arts and their importance in the curriculum. Amazing and unique guy. Read this book.” — Tom Chandler, Rhode Island Poet Laureate Emeritus
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Book Excerpt:
STAGE 4
Mary Poppins was my nurse on Day 6. “Pretend you’re at summer camp,” she joked, encouraging every step I made toward healing and recovery. “We’ve got a whole bunch of activities for you to choose from.”
“But instead of Newcomb and color wars and collecting orange salamanders or dancing to Tommy James and the Shondells,” I said, “today’s activities at the hospital include pain med management, ice chip crunching, and Dammit! Doll whacking…”
“Don’t forget IV pole walking,” she teased. “I always know when you’re coming because your IV pole is the squeakiest.” She tenderly guided me back into bed.
“But instead of early morning skinny dipping,” I said, “someone signed me up for the johnny gown flash mob.”
That really made her laugh. “I wish all my patients worked like you.”
“Well, you help make it easy,” I admitted. “I loved sleepaway camp. I’d pack my trunk with stamped stationary and Razzles, pick-up sticks and jacks. And my Magic 8-Ball. My bunkmates and I thought we could predict the future. Go figure. I could never have predicted this.” She wrapped a warm blanket around my feet. “One year,” I continued, “I was the last camper to be picked up and, on the way home, my sisters teased me that my parents wanted to leave me there.”
“That’s one of the reasons I love my job here,” she smiled. “The staff is a family. We’re planning a barbecue together this weekend.”
It was August 2013.
Dr. David Sanfred, our family practitioner, walked into my room at 6:45 a.m. and stood at the end of my hospital bed. “Maureen, we’re getting ready to send you home soon,” he said. And then, “It’s time to talk.”
It was time to face what I’d avoided all week.
“I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s very serious.” Though by our family’s side for many difficult situations, I’d never heard Dr. Sanfred’s tone this methodical. “We thought it was Stage 1 but the cancer metastasized from the colon to your umbilicus and has advanced to Stage 4.”
The hospital symphony went silent. I turned my head and watched the early morning sunlight peek through the window. “Is it curable?”
He gave my hand a soft pat. “No, it is not curable.”
I heard myself gasp.
I was in a panorama shot. I saw Mary Poppins outside the thin curtain share morning notes with the nurse coming on. They whispered, glanced sympathetically in my direction. I struggled for breath and gripped the Dammit! Doll.
“Will I be able to go back to my classroom?”
“No,” he cautioned, “you will not be able to teach right now. But soon. We hope.”
The tears kept coming. Mary Poppins came back into the room. She reached out and hugged me gently, with so much affection I could feel her heart break.
VBT – BREAKDOWN SERIES
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The authors will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
BREAKDOWN is a unique and groundbreaking four-book suspense series that will keep you turning pages until the killer is finally exposed.
In this explosive new miniseries, the idyllic community of Shutter Lake, nestled in the peaceful Sierra Nevada Mountains, is rocked by a shocking murder. Four women, friends who moved to the area to find healing and solace, must now dig deep and overcome the scars of past troubles to find a ruthless killer.
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So Many Secrets, BREAKDOWN Book 2 by Vicki Hinze
THE BREAKDOWN DEEPENS… Seven years ago, Dr. Dana Perkins came to idyllic Shutter Lake seeking safety from a traumatic experience in Phoenix. She became the principal at Shutter Lake School–and found her refuge… until Sylvia Cole was killed and one of Dana’s best and brightest students, Vinn Bradshaw, confessed to the murder. A murder Dana is certain he didn’t commit. But who is he protecting? Why? Seeking the truth shatters Dana’s safety. Yet who could have predicted proving Vinn innocent would jeopardize her friends and neighbors… and expose so many secrets?
Read an Excerpt:
Five days.
Impossible to believe but that’s all it had taken for the idyllic vision of Shutter Lake, California, lauded by Country Living as the most perfect town in all of America, to prove perfection is a façade and all the safety and security sought and found in it had been an illusion.
One murder. Illusion shattered.
One murder, and so many secrets…
A shiver crept up Dr. Dana Perkins’s backbone. She stiffened against it, determined to reclaim her sense of security here. At the deli counter inside Stacked, a block off downtown’s main square, she ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with a side salad and a bottle of Evian berry-flavored water, then glanced over to the cluster of two-dozen tables. About half-full. A lot of people were having a late lunch today.
Dana took a table surrounded by empties then settled in and reached for a sheaf of papers from her tote. She had been through the school records at least a dozen times, but maybe in the sandwich shop, she would be more objective, gain some new insight, and see something she had missed.
Oh, but she needed to be certain she hadn’t missed anything. After Phoenix, to retain her sanity she had to be absolutely certain she hadn’t missed any warning sign.
There had to be a reason this year’s best and brightest student had confessed to murder. Some logical, rational reason that Vinn Bradshaw, gifted future nanotechnologist, studious, popular basketball player, who exhibited nothing short of fantastic leadership skills, confessed. Vinn could not have killed anyone much less a prominent Shutter Lake founder’s daughter like Sylvia Cole.
Nolan Ikard, about thirty, tall and lean with sandy blond hair and a handsome man’s confident swagger, paused at her table. Nolan owned The Grind, a coffee shop sharing a common wall with Stacked that Dana frequented every morning on her walk from home to the school.
“How’s our favorite principal?” Nolan asked. “Things settling down any at S.L.S.?”
Many students, current and former, referred to Shutter Lake School as S.L.S. “Getting better,” she said because it was expected and not because it was true. “The students are still rattled, but then aren’t we all?”
He nodded and avoided her eyes, his own gold-flecked ones clouded and troubled. “Guess the kids won’t settle down until their parents do. Maybe we will all get back to normal soon.”
“Maybe we will.” Dana smiled.
He walked on to his favorite table beside hers and next to the front window. How many times in the last year had she seen him staring out that window as if he had lost his last friend? She’d been tempted often to ask if he was okay, or to offer to listen if he needed to talk, but something had held her back. She couldn’t say what, but she always followed her instinctive urges on things like that. In his case, she hoped she didn’t live to regret it.
About the Author:
Raised in New Orleans, Vicki Hinze began writing before Kindergarten but her journey to writing books included a lot of corporate pit-stops. Eventually, she settled in and her first novel landed an array of awards and on the bestseller list. With nearly 40 books published, she’s been back many times with awards in multiple genres and appearances on multiple bestseller lists, including USA TODAY. Vicki is recognized by Who’s Who in the World as an author and an educator and is best known for chilling suspense, trailblazing, and creating series that genre-blend. Her works include suspense, mystery and romance. Since 1994, this former VP of International Thriller Writers has written heavily about military and military families and in nearly all genres except horror. Hinze is a Floridian married to a former Hurricane Hunter/Special Operations Officer. She constantly pushes the boundaries on existing genres, opening the door for new novel blends.
http://facebook.com/Vicki.Hinze.Author
https://twitter.com/vickihinze
https://www.pinterest.com/vickihinze/
Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FLD4513
The authors will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
VBT – THE EXENE CHRONICLES
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Camille will be awarding a lovely pen and notebook to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Camille A. Collins’s lyrical debut novel speaks to the passionate engagement of adolescent girls—with music, with injustice, with love, with life. This is a courageous coming-of-age story, one that poet Nikki Giovanni recommends “sharing with our teenage sons and daughters.”
Collins’s 1980s southern California set novel is a literary debut that tackles social inequality with poetic riffs and heart-pounding angst.
Read an Excerpt:
With the endless choices of the Salvation Army thrift store came the opportunity to take on whatever costume, and with it, whichever fantasy role they chose. Much like their descendant courtship with melancholy, their love of the clothes and hairstyles of the late 1950s and early ’60s was not grounded in reality, but in the promise of some Shangri-la where girls beguiled with hooded eyelids and teased hair, the glimmer of pale, iridescent gloss on full lips.
“Lia! You’ve got to see what I found for you!”
Ryan gave up waiting and raced to the back of the store, where Lia was admiring jewel-encrusted pocketbooks, and grabbed her by the hand. In a row of old frocks, some of them musty and stained, others absurd in their grandiose embellishment of floor- length drapery, puffed sleeve, and sequin, Ryan had discovered a jewel.
“Stand still now.” Taking her by the shoulders, Ryan made Lia stand tall and straight while she held the sleeveless, pink satin, ’60s-style dress up to Lia’s small frame.
Stepping in front of a mirror with the dress draped against her body, Lia cried, “Oh my god. I love it! I can’t believe how rad you are!” She threw her arms around Ryan’s neck.
“It’ll be your Supremes dress,” Ryan decided.
Ryan wasn’t as lucky in finding anything special at the thrift shop that day. To strike out at the Salvation Armywasonething, butatthedrugstoretherewasnever any shortage of items for consolation. With exactly $8.37 worth of merchandise between them, the girls were delighted by the prospect of getting back home where, imprisoned inside their still girlishly furnished bedrooms turned out in fluffy white comforters and stuffed unicorns, which they clung to during witching hours, when they dreamt of being spirited away by those creatures come to life, they would work up their sadness like warm palms dredging up the dark forces of a Ouija Board.
As they clambered onto the bus that would take them back to their serene pocket of suburbia, the two girls clasped hands.
“I love you!” Lia squealed. “You’re my best friend in the entire world!”
“You’re mine too!” Ryan cried.
If spilling peroxide on the pale green bathroom rug, which caused a spreading white stain and made Ryan’s mom yell at the girls, wasn’t foreshadowing—a telling clue that all that conjuring had been unnecessary— then Ryan’s cocky attitude once the peroxide took hold, and she showed up to school the next day tossing her long blond hair all over the place, should have been. “Coming over after school?” Lia leaned over to whisper as they prepped for a science lab.
Ryan shook her head. “Elizabeth Cole’s sneaking boys over while her mom’s out. I’d invite you, but you don’t drink, don’t make out…” Ryan flung her hair off her shoulder and abruptly turned away.
Ryan’s introduction to Neil Jimenez two weeks later wasn’t exactly the dream prescribed by the clutching of those unicorns, or their infant attachment to Baudelaire’s feverish lamentations; neither was the fact that Lia would end up donning her pretty pink “Supremes” dress on the loneliest day of her life.
About the Author
Camille A. Collins has an MFA in Creative Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been the recipient of the Short Fiction Prize from the South Carolina Arts Commission, and her writing has appeared in The African-American National Biography, published by Harvard University and Oxford University Press; in The Twisted Vine, a literary journal of Western New Mexico University, and other places.
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B07HGLR7FN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vu00_tkin_p1_i0
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4398269.Camille_Collins
Publisher Author Page: http://www.brainmillpress.com/the-exene-chronicles
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB2MHT1/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
Camille will be awarding a lovely pen and notebook to a randomly drawn winner.
