Posts Tagged ‘Tag Team review’

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This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry.

 It’s always a pleasure to share more books by Ashley Fontainne. I’ve read many of her books and plan to read everything she writes.

For today, I’m sharing my review of Ruined Wings. I’m very excited for Ashley as this has been optioned for a movie.

After reading my review, head on over to Sherry’s blog at fundinmental and check out her review.

Enter her giveaway for another chance to win!

And Ruined Wings is free. Click on the links below the synopsis to grab the eBook.

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Ruined Wings

by Ashley Fontainne

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Genre: Fiction

My Review

This story isn’t an easy read. The author writes a bare bones, honest and hard to take look into the painful lure and eventual fall to the call of drugs.

Callie is a rising track star. Her future is bright and she has exciting plans. But fate intervenes. And when she loses her brother and father to a car accident her world comes crashing down.

Not strong enough to handle her grief, Callie chooses drugs to numb her pain. And thus begins a long painful journey as the girl with with everything going for her slides to the rocky bottom.

Drug addiction is ugly. Loved ones become someone else. And as the drugs tighten their grip, they’re led to do despicable things to get more drugs. The love of their family and friends turns to anger and disgust.

Ruined Wings should be required reading in schools, for students and their parents. I used to look at those addicted to drugs as lost causes. Not having known them before the drugs stole their lives, I didn’t realize how quickly anyone could become hooked.

Ashley Fontainne takes you through it step by painful step. She doesn’t try to paint a pretty happy ending. I wanted to hug Callie. Tell her everything would be okay. But only Callie could save herself.

Thanks for shaking me up and opening my eyes, Ashley.

  5  Stars

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Synopsis

“Ruined Wings is raw, real and a terrifying journey into addiction. A must read for every parent.” – Elaine Raco Chase, bestselling author.

Seventeen-year-old Callie Novak is on the cusp of changing her life as she warms up for the final heat in the Women’s 1600 meter track and field competition. While she sets a new state record, her family’s worse nightmare is just beginning.

When tragedy strikes the Novak family every reader will feel the pain of grief, the perils of drug abuse, the despair that leads to a shocking downward spiral and the strength that’s needed to overcome addiction.

Purchase Links

Amazon / B&N / iTunes / Kobo / Audible

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Author Ashley Fontainne

 

Award-winning and International bestselling author Ashley Fontainne is an avid reader of mostly the classics. Ashley became a fan of the written word in her youth, starting with the Nancy Drew mystery series. Stories that immerse the reader deep into the human psyche and the monsters that lurk within us are her favorite reads.

Her muse for penning the Eviscerating the Snake series was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Ashley’s love for this book is what sparked her desire to write her debut novel, Accountable to None, the first book in the trilogy. With a modern setting to the tale, Ashley delves into just what lengths a person is willing to go when they seek personal justice for heinous acts perpetrated upon them. The second novel in the series, Zero Balance. focuses on the cost and reciprocal cycle that obtaining revenge has on the seeker. For once the cycle starts, where does it end? How far will the tendrils of revenge expand? Adjusting Journal Entries answered that question: far and wide.

Her short thriller entitled Number Seventy-Five, touches upon the sometimes dangerous world of online dating. Number Seventy-Five took home the BRONZE medal in fiction/suspense at the 2013 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards contest and is currently in production for a feature film.

Her paranormal thriller entitled The Lie, won the GOLD medal in the 2013 Illumination Book Awards for fiction/suspense and is also in production for a feature film entitled Foreseen.

Ashley’s decided to delve into the paranormal with a Southern Gothic horror/suspense novel, Growl, which released in January of 2015. The suspenseful mystery Empty Shell, released in September of 2014. Ashley will be teaming up with Lillian Hansen (Ashley calls her mom!) to pen a three-part murder mystery/suspense series entitled The Magnolia Series. The first book, Blood Ties, released the Summer of 2015.

Whispered Pain released in October of 2015 and Night Court released December 13, 2015.

Ashley also hosts The WriteStuff, a popular BlogTalk Radio show, each Friday night at 10 p.m. CST.

Blog

Author Website

Foreseen Movie Website – See the trailer

Number Seventy-Five Movie Website

       

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Ashley is giving away one Audible Copy of Ruined Wings

Entry is easy. Just leave your email address so I can contact you if you win, let me know which format you are entering for, and answer this question:

Have you ever done something you knew you  shouldn’t, but couldn’t stop yourself?

Now hop on over the Sherry’s post on fundinmental for her review and another chance to win!

Giveaway ends June 27th.

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Books by Ashley Fontainne

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And coming September 4th, 2017.

Blood Loss (The Magnolia Series Book 2) by [Fontainne, Ashley, Hansen, Lillian]

Click on the covers to see on Amazon.

And click on the links below to see my reviews.

Growl

The Lie

Night Court

Suicide Lake

Tainted Cure

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

tag you're it photo: Tag! You\'re It! AnyOccasion-TagYoureIt-May2007.jpg

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry.

 It’s always a pleasure to share more books by Kathryn Meyer Griffith. I’ve read many of her books and plan to read everything she writes.

For today, I’m sharing my review of The Ive Bridge.

After reading my review, head on over to Sherry’s blog at fundinmental for more and check out her review. Two chances to win!

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The Ice bridge

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

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Genre: Mystery / Suspense

My Review

If there’s one thing I know about Kathryn’s stories, whether horror or suspense or thrillers, it’s that they’re not predictable. You think you know what’s going to happen, but then she throws you some sidewinder scenarios and it’s anything goes from there.

She has now proven to me that she can write a great romance mystery also. Many of her books have these elements included in them, but this is the first one of hers I’ve read that isn’t a horror story too.

You’ll meet some really great characters. So genuine, you’ll feel like you’ve known them a long time. The main protagonist, Charlotte, just arrived on Mackinac Island, running from a fiance who jilted her for her best friend almost at the altar, and a job she couldn’t stand. Staying with her Aunt Bess, who could sure use her company, perhaps they’ll both find a new sense of worth and love for life.

Her chance encounter with a handsome police officer, Mac, stirs feelings she knows she shouldn’t have. It’s too soon. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends. And, upon expressing her interest in writing a book, Mac suggests that Charlotte write about the ghosts that are rumored to be roaming the island.

This was such a great idea to add to the story. I always enjoy reading stories with writers in them, and it was fun to read about some of the ghostly encounters as they’re related to Charlotte. I’d like to read that book!

Charlotte is surprised how quickly she settles into her new life, and she renews a loving friendship with her elderly neighbor, Hannah. Hannah has been her friend since she was a young lass and they enjoy that same trust and love again.

But then Hannah goes missing and Charlotte fears the worst. Could she have fallen victim to the Ice Bridge? The ice bridge is a way for islanders to cross the lake when winter settles in and cuts them off. Once it’s checked and deemed safe, they use it ride their snowmobiles to land and replenish supplies. If something happened to Hannah, they might never find her body.

Charlotte won’t rest until she finds out what happened to Hannah. Accident or murder, she’ll dig out the clues and find out the truth, no matter the danger she may be in.

I’ve visited Mackinac Island several times. The author paints such a vivid description that I see it all anew, even though it’s been years since I was there. I’d love to visit in the winter, see the fabulous Grand Hotel encased in icicles, snow covering the beautifully shaped shrubs and historical homes. I wouldn’t be brave enough to venture on the ice bridge, though.

It was such a wonderful surprise how much I loved this story. I love her horror and thriller stories with demons and witches and rampaging dinosaurs, all out to kill you or eat you or both. This has none of that. There’s a murder, but nothing even younger readers can’t handle, a sweet brush at new romance, and some truly wonderful characters. I ate this up and sure didn’t want it to end. Kathryn’s talented writing shines as the story flows smoothly and quickly to a fabulous ending.

  5  Stars

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Synopsis

She’ll fall in love again…with a man and the island. Charlotte returns to her Aunt Bess and Mackinac Island, a quaint retreat that welcomes summer tourists and allows no cars to renew herself and write about the island’s ghosts.She’s come to help Bess with her heartache, an ended love with Shaun, and to renew a friendship with neighbor Hannah. In winter Mackinac closes down and everyone looks forward to the ice bridge that freezes across the Straits of Mackinac. Until Hannah disappears into the icy waters crossing it.Everyone says it’s an accident. But Charlotte and her admirer cop friend, Mac, don’t think so. Something isn’t right. Hannah was too smart to go off the path. So it’s murder…but why…how…by whom?In the end, it’s Mac-and perhaps Hannah’s ghost-who saves Charlotte and Bess’s lives when the killer decides they’re too close to the truth and tries to kill them, too.

Purchase on Amazon

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The Writing of THE ICE BRIDGE

By Kathryn Meyer Griffith

 

In 2003 my husband, Russell, and I were celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and decided to return to quaint Mackinac Island in Michigan. We’d been there a few years before, but just for a quick afternoon stopover on our way home from visiting family in Wisconsin. We’d loved the Island for the few hours we’d been on it and promised ourselves we’d go there again someday. So when we began to plan for our anniversary vacation we traveled back for a longer stay of six days. I’d made reservations months ahead at the Iroquois Hotel on the water’s edge of Lake Huron and when the time came, after packing up everything we’d need, we jumped in the car and took off.

The Island doesn’t allow cars, only bicycles, horses and snowmobiles (in the winter) so we left our vehicle in a Mackinaw City parking lot on the mainland and boarded the ferry that would take us across the water to the Island, our luggage and two bicycles in tow. It was much cheaper to bring our own bikes instead of rent them there.

It was late August and the Island was beautiful. Crowded with colorful, fragrant flowers, clomping horses, whizzing bicycles and, of course, lots of tourists. Fudgies as they were called because they came, purchased and devoured so much of the little town’s fudge.

The Iroquois Hotel was lovely with its bright pastel colors and friendly service; a fancy in-house restaurant and our room with its wall of windows facing the lake. A lake that to me was as large as an ocean…because it went on forever.

Our six days there were heaven. We rode our bikes, peddling around the horses, carriages, and equine taxis, around the eight-mile in circumference island and enjoyed the sights. The friendly people. The breathtaking views of water, boats and woods. The fudge. We sped along West Bluff Road to the ritzy Grand Hotel (made famous in the 1980 romantic time travel movie Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve), ate the scrumptious and lavish tourists’ brunch there and afterwards, so full we could barely ride our bicycles, we gawked at the magnificent Victorian mansions with their elaborate gardens lining Lake Shore Drive.

We visited Fort Mackinac and listened amusedly to people talk about the ghost soldier some had reported seeing when twilight began to fall. My husband, a photography buff, even slipped out of our hotel room in the middle of one foggy night to get artsy pictures with our new digital camera of the fort, hoping to catch the ghost. He captured no ghost, but plenty of stunning photographs.

One night we even sat, spellbound, as a Lake Huron thunderstorm pounded wildly at our wall of windows. It was as if we were gazing at a tumultuous ocean.

Then one day someone, in a cubbyhole of a local hamburger joint, over our lunch, said something about the ice bridge, as the islanders called it. During the dead of winter, when the straits froze over, it was a narrow path that stretched about four miles across the ice that separated Mackinac Island from the St. Ignace mainland. The locals would drive in old Christmas trees along the path to show the way, to show it was now safe. To them the ice bridge meant freedom to come and go for up to two months a year without paying ferryboat or airplane fees. To me it sparked an idea for my next book…what if someone crossed the ice bridge one wintry night and fell through the ice? And disappeared…maybe even died?

I started asking questions of the locals: Had someone ever fallen through the ice and perished? Turns out over the years, that yes, some people actually had. Fallen in. When the ice wasn’t firm enough. Or when they’d gone off the solid marked path. Or in a snowstorm. Some on snowmobiles. Some were saved, dragged out, and some had not been. Hmmm.

That’s all it took for the book to begin forming in my head. The rest of the trip I looked at the Island with different eyes. A writer’s eyes. Writer’s ears. I filed away the memories and the home-grown stories recounted to me. Though most of my earlier books were romantic horror, I’d written a couple of straight contemporary murder mysteries, Scraps of Paper and All Things Slip Away, a few years before and Avalon Books had published them. I’d quite enjoyed writing them.

So I thought I’d write another one with Mackinac Island and its real and fictional ghost tales as the background. I’d show the beauty of the island, changing of the seasons, what it was like in summer, fall and winter (tons of snow and ice), and describe the historical landmarks. I’d spotlight the quirky close-knit inhabitants and have the protagonist gather their imaginary spirit stories to put into the ghost book she was writing. I’d make the Island nearly a main character itself with its enigmas, water, snow, ice and fog.

The novel would be about a woman, Charlotte, jilted in love, coming back to heal and visit her poignant childhood playground, and her lonely Aunt Bess. She’d meet an Island cop, Matt, and together they’d not only fall in love but would embark on a great dangerous adventure together. There’d be a spunky old lady, Hannah, living next door and the four would be great friends. Until the old lady disappears on a winter’s night while crossing the ice bridge and the mystery would begin. Had Hannah been murdered by someone….how exactly…by whom…and why? The remainder of the book would be the unraveling of that mystery as the central characters try to keep from being killed themselves by the devious murderer behind Hannah’s death. I’d embed the Island’s so-called ghost tales throughout the book to spice up the story even more. So it’d be a romantic ghostly murder mystery. Ah, ha. I couldn’t wait to begin.

When my husband and I returned home, refreshed and happy, I started it right away, with the memories of lovely Mackinac still fresh in my mind. Gosh, how I’d loved that Island. A tiny piece of old-fashioned paradise. The book came easily to me. And so The Ice Bridge was born. Now with a stunning new cover by Dawne Dominique and self-published for the first time along with my other 21 novels (going back to my 1985 The Heart of the Rose), in eBook, paperback and Audible audio book, it’s out in the world again for everyone to read and, I hope, enjoy.

Written this first day of December 2015 by the author Kathryn Meyer Griffith

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About the Author
Kathryn Meyer Griffith

About Kathryn Meyer Griffithlook for all my NEW covers! on my older books.

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-four years ago now, and have had twenty-three (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance, two thrillers, and four murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last ten novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away and Ghosts Beneath Us) are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-seven years; have a son and two grandchildren and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have a quirky cat, Sasha, and the three of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk/classic rock singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *Finalist* for her horror novel The Last Vampire ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS * Finalist * for her thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

*All Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s books can be found HERE.

*All her Audible.com audio books HERE.

Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:

Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forge, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire (2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Horror category), Witches, The Nameless One short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper (The First Spookie Town Murder Mystery), All Things Slip Away (The Second Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Ghosts Beneath Us (The Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Egyptian Heart, Winter’s Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don’t Look Back, Agnes, Before the End: A Time of Demons, The Woman in Crimson, Human No Longer, Four Spooky Short Stories Collection, Forever and Always Romantic Short, Night carnival Short Story, Dinosaur Lake (2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Thriller/Adventure category), Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation

Author Links

Twitter / Blog  / Author’s Den / Facebook / Goodreads / Amazon

 

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GIVEAWAY
Three winners!
 
Up for grabs:
Three winners will receive an eBook copy or an audible copy.
(Winner’s choice)

To enter, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:

“Mackinac Island doesn’t allow cars. You get around by walking, bicycles, or horses. Which would you choose as your mode of transportation?”

Giveaway ends October 12th.

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry at fundinmental.

Now hop on over to fundinmental, check out Sherry’s review, and enter for another chance to win  HERE.

tag you're it photo: You're awesome tag-game-awesome-friends_zpscce89964.jpg

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Other books I’ve read by the author.

Click on the covers for my reviews.

Full length novels.

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Short stories.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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tag you're it photo: Tag! You\'re It! AnyOccasion-TagYoureIt-May2007.jpg

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry.

Read on to learn how you can win some books!

After reading my review, head on over to Sherry’s blog at fundinmental for more and check out her review. Two chances to win!

~~~~~

Suicide Lake

by Ashley Fontainne

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Genre: Mystery / Thriller

My Review

I always know I’m going to get a wild read with Ashley’s books. Her plots are so twisted. You follow false lead after false lead. And, just like with peeling an onion, when you think you’ve got it all figured out, you find another mystery, and peel back another layer.

Renee  has had a crappy life. Seeing no bright future ahead, she goes to Bradford Lake to end it all. It used to be a place to take the family. Now it’s polluted, and many have ended their lives in it’s waters. The locals call it Suicide lake.

But Renee’s attempt is abruptly stopped when she discovers a body. Horrified, all thoughts turn to getting out of there.  As she turns to go, she bumps into none other than an old beau, Deputy Cliff Simpson. This chance meeting changes everything as the two are now thrust into the middle of a murder investigation.

All of this takes place in the first chapter. And each page pulls you deeper into the mystery. I swear, I barely got over one thing before something else happened. The words flew by and I couldn’t believe some of the secrets that were revealed.

Saying this book is full of twists and turns and keeps you on the edge of your seat is just some of how it makes you feel. The plot is like a runaway train.

And when I did finally get my answers, I wondered how I missed the clues. So not what I expected.

This is a perfect fix for all of you mystery/thriller fans.

  5 Stars

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Synopsis

Those who have secrets…

Renee Thornton is on the brink of despair, ready to take a final plunge and join the other tragic souls at the bottom of Bradford Lake—known to locals as Suicide Lake.

Beneath the murky waters…

Her plans change when she’s startled back to reality after a body brushes up against her from the depths below. Terrified, Renee runs away and slams into her old flame Cliff Simpson, a deputy with Whitten County Sheriff’s Department.

Will stop at nothing…

Strange events unfurl after the discovery of the corpse. Renee and Cliff find themselves caught up in a web of lies, deceit, and mystery.

To keep them hidden…

Now instead of being able to slip away silently and become another anonymous statistic, Renee finds herself entangled in a murder investigation. Is Cliff her ally or enemy? Who can she trust? What other secrets will rise to the surface?

Amazon

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Author Ashley Fontainne

Award-winning and International bestselling author Ashley Fontainne is an avid reader of mostly the classics. Ashley became a fan of the written word in her youth, starting with the Nancy Drew mystery series. Stories that immerse the reader deep into the human psyche and the monsters that lurk within us are her favorite reads.

Her muse for penning the Eviscerating the Snake series was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Ashley’s love for this book is what sparked her desire to write her debut novel, Accountable to None, the first book in the trilogy. With a modern setting to the tale, Ashley delves into just what lengths a person is willing to go when they seek personal justice for heinous acts perpetrated upon them. The second novel in the series, Zero Balance. focuses on the cost and reciprocal cycle that obtaining revenge has on the seeker. For once the cycle starts, where does it end? How far will the tendrils of revenge expand? Adjusting Journal Entries answered that question: far and wide.

Her short thriller entitled Number Seventy-Five, touches upon the sometimes dangerous world of online dating. Number Seventy-Five took home the BRONZE medal in fiction/suspense at the 2013 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards contest and is currently in production for a feature film.

Her paranormal thriller entitled The Lie, won the GOLD medal in the 2013 Illumination Book Awards for fiction/suspense and is also in production for a feature film entitled Foreseen.

Ashley’s decided to delve into the paranormal with a Southern Gothic horror/suspense novel, Growl, which released in January of 2015. The suspenseful mystery Empty Shell, released in September of 2014. Ashley will be teaming up with Lillian Hansen (Ashley calls her mom!) to pen a three-part murder mystery/suspense series entitled The Magnolia Series. The first book, Blood Ties, released the Summer of 2015.

Whispered Pain released in October of 2015 and Night Court released December 13, 2015.

Blog

Author Website

Foreseen Movie Website – See the trailer

Number Seventy-Five Movie Website

       

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giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

Ashley Fontainne has a fantastic giveaway for you!
.

Two signed paperbacks, two eBook copies, and two audible copies!

 

All you need to do to enter is answer the question below and leave your email so I can contact you if you win.
“It’s late at night and you have to go to sleep, but you are are right in the middle of a great book. Do you ever dream about what might be happening in the story?”

Giveaway will run from 7/22/16 – 8/3/16

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry at fundinmental.

Now hop on over and check out Sherry’s review, and enter for another chance to win  HERE.

~~~~~

Books by Ashley Fontainne

  26135598     

       

       

Click on the covers to see on Amazon.

And click on the links below to see my reviews.

Growl

The Lie

Night Court

~~~~~

tag you're it photo: You're awesome tag-game-awesome-friends_zpscce89964.jpg

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg