I fell in love with the characters in the P.J. Stone Gates Series.
Come on in and check them out.
Read my reviews.
And don’t forget to enter the easy giveaway!
Open GatesbyD.T. Dyllin
(P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy #3)
Publication date: September 28th 2015
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
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My Review
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You finally get all of the answers you’ve been seeking, just as P.J. does.
The war is raging, many people are lost, and P.J. struggles to fulfill her destiny.
I’m going to warn you, the beginning is a shocker, it happens so fast.
P.J. is devastated. Her world is being destroyed and her heart has been shredded.
Her best friend Jenna is unavailable, so she turns to the one person who is always there, always
offering his shoulder to lean on, Khol.
How do you go on when all you love is being destroyed and taken from you?
P.J. has no idea how to continue. How she’ll find the strength to face the fight that is coming.
They’ve fought a tough battle, but things don’t look good for them. There is a clue to getting rid of the Riders and P.J. has to draw on all that she is to find the one thing that can save them all.
I got everything I was looking for in this final book.
You’ll need to set aside enough time to read this straight through. I read this in about 3 hours, but
I’m a fast reader. I also reread a few parts that really touched me.
You’ll get a huge surprise with the ending. I haven’t read one that left me feeling like this
one did for a long time, maybe never.
I read it twice, then read it again, always thinking, “How did the author come up with this ending?
Did she know when she was writing the books that the end would be this?”
I liked it. I really liked it. And I’m still thinking about it. Still wondering…..
5 Stars
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Synopsis:
P.J. Stone gets the answers to all her questions, but will she be able to handle the truth?
Bryn is gone, Jenna isn’t herself, and the world has been taken over by the alien Riders. The only constant in P.J.’s life is Khol, but even he might not be able to help pick up the shattered pieces of her existence. Will P.J. be strong enough to face her destiny when the time comes? Or will she lose everything, herself included?
D.T. Dyllin is a bestselling author who writes both paranormal and contemporary romance. Anything with a love story is her kryptonite. Her obsession with affairs-of-the-heart is what first drove her to begin twisting her own tales of scorching romance.
D.T. was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Black & Gold for life, baby!) She now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband and two spoiled German Shepherds.
(Author photo credit: Stephanie Saujon of La Photographie Nashville)
Welcome to the Demon’s AssistantSeries blitz tour! The Demon’s Assistant Series is by Tori Centanni and is a young adult urban fantasy. Check out the books and enter the giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card!
About The Demon’s Deadline (Demon’s Assistant Book 1):
Some teenagers deliver pizza, some deliver newspapers. My part-time job? I deliver mysterious envelopes for a demon. I don’t even get tips.
It seemed like a good deal at the time. I almost died in a car accident, and Azmos saved me… gave me a second chance. At first, it wasn’t so bad. I got to live, go to high school, hang out with my boyfriend Cam. He’s too cute for his own good, but he’s getting tired of all this demon stuff. I hate lying to my best friend Melissa and my dad, who’s still not over my mom’s death. Neither am I.
But now, this gig is getting dangerous, and it’s not like I can quit. Even if I could, then what? I’ve seen things I can’t unsee. I just hope I can figure out how to navigate the darkness before I do something I can’t undo.
About Gabriel’s Demons (Demon’s Assistant Book 1.5):
My name is Gabriel Price, and I’m no stranger to bad dreams.
After losing my family in a house fire, I suppose it’s normal to have nightmares. Except now, I’m dreaming awake, seeing things I don’t want to see, things I shouldn’t be able to see.
The first time I saw someone’s death, the vision hit me hard, just like the speeding car that crashed, killing its driver. There was nothing I could do to stop it from happening. Not the first time. Or the second. Or the third. But now…I think I might have a chance to prevent my visions from coming true.
It’s a gift to be able to stop someone from dying, right? The demon who’s interested in my ability thinks so, but I’m not about to accept the deal he’s offering. My inner demons give me enough hell. I don’t need even more.
About In the Demon’s Company (Demon’s Assistant Book 2):
There’s a new demon in town… …and my boss, Azmos, isn’t happy about it. I guess he doesn’t like competition in the soul-binding business.
Meanwhile, my Chemistry teacher seems to be caught up in this magical mess, so I’m anxious to get to the bottom of what’s going on. Now that Az has promoted me from errand girl to demon’s apprentice I might actually be able to do something to help. Of course, my boyfriend Cam wants me to stay out of it, and for once Azmos actually agrees with him.
Sorry, but I can’t just sit around doing homework while a demon is leaving a trail of bodies all over town. Besides, I’ve got my own posse now. Okay, I’ve got an ice-cold death demon, a tortured psychic and a pink-haired demonologist to help me. Together we’ll figure it out, and I’ll prove I’m ready to be a full-fledged apprentice…or I’ll die trying.
Tori Centanni is a nerd girl and a recovering goth. She likes dark, quirky stories with elements of humor. When not reading or writing, she can be found baking, watching too much television, and wrangling cats. She lives in Seattle, WA.
Welcome to my stop on the book blitz for The Grave Winner by Lindsey R. Loucks. This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 15 till 21 September, you can view the complete blitz schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.
The Grave Winner (The Grave Winner #1) by Lindsey R. Loucks Genre: Horror Age category: Young Adult Release Date: September 15, 2015
Blurb:
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead — just like the prom queen did.
While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom’s things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.
She should have listened.
Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.
With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what’s so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn’t, she’ll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead – herself.
Review Quotes:
“This is such an imaginative story, and Leigh has so much voice, it’s like you’re there, living her nightmare with her… Miss Loucks knows her craft.” – Pam Godwin, author of Dead of Eve.
“Witty and fast paced, The Grave Winner by Lindsey R. Loucks is a snarky blend of zombie horror and urban fantasy… I loved it.” – Kayti Nika Raet for Readers’ Favorite
“The Grave Winner… is more of a fantasy-zombie hybrid, with both enchanting magic and romance you might expect from a fantasy novel, kick-butt action and creeps you might expect from a zombie novel, and strong characters and storyline a reader would want from any story!” – Moosubi Reviews.
About the Author:
Lindsey R. Loucks works as a school librarian in rural Kansas. When she’s not discussing books with anyone who will listen, she’s dreaming up her own stories. Eventually her brain gives out, and she’ll play hide and seek with her cat, put herself in a chocolate induced coma, or watch scary movies alone in the dark to reenergize.
I had such fun with the first book, Paradise Rot. And I’m thrilled to share the second book, Once Again, With Blood.
Lots of laughs and adventure await. But beware. You might get more than you bargained for!
Once Again, With Blood
The Island Trilogy
Book 2
Larry Weiner
Genre: Horror/Dark Comedy
Publisher: Forsaken
Imprint of Booktrope
ISBN: 2940150858305
Number of pages: 220
Cover Artist: Larry Weiner
Book Description:
“We’re getting the band back together!”
For Kyle Brightman, bipolar advertising-industry burnout, this is good news and bad news. Good, because he’ll get to see his zombie-killing friends again, and be reunited with Cate, the zombie he loves (yeah, yeah, I know, read PARADISE ROT and you’ll get it). Bad, because having to blast his way through battalions of bloodless corpses took a brutal toll on Kyle’s already fragile psyche. But duty, and booty, calls. And soon Kyle finds himself on another tropical island, duped again into creating an ad campaign to lure unsuspecting Middle Americans into the greedy mouth of ancient madness. This time, it’s vampires. But with the help of a) his comrades-in-ass-kicking; b) the love of a good (cold) woman; c) the enduring power of Herb Alpert; and d) the awesomeness that is Charo, Kyle just might find a way to save thousands of lives. And what little’s left of his sanity.
Splattered with folklore, dripping with history, ONCE AGAIN, WITH BLOOD, Larry Weiner’s sequel to the uproarious comic romp PARADISE ROT, is what you get if Jimmy Buffett, Carl Hiaasen, Sarah Silverman and Hunter S. Thompson took turns pummeling Anne Rice with a cricket bat.
Here’s a ‘bite’ from Chapter One. I didn’t include the whole chapter as my post would be way too long. But this will give you a tasty morsel!
“YOU’RE A NEWBIE. I MEAN, LOOK AT YOU. That look of terror. I’ve seen it before.
Of course, it was during a zombie invasion, but still. Whoops! That last sentence freaked you out. S’okay. Let’s focus.
“First, you’re doing it wrong. All wrong. You gotta calm down or you’re not gonna survive it. I’m about to make your life easier. I’m babbling right now because I’ve had a slight psychotic break. Not really a break, more a sabbatical from reality. It’s okay, they’ll give me a new drug cocktail plus some Law & Order, and I’ll be back in action.
“Back to you. Here’s the way it works. Used to be that when you got a patient in who was out of his mind, whether from psychosis or crank or whatever, you’d strap him down with his arms at his sides and cart him off. Problem was, these tortured souls would pull on the restraints so hard, it’d dislocate their shoulders, and then the real howling would start—not to mention the potential litigation. Now, since they’re in pain, they’re gonna smack their heads on the gurney repeatedly. Let ‘em. It’s a padded gurney. They’ll end up with a terrific headache. I suppose you can give yourself a mild concussion. Anyway, it’s the shoulders that were the problem. So someone, and I don’t know who, but someone, maybe a yoga instructor or a cop, came up with the idea of strapping the crazies one hand up by the side of the head, one down by the hip. Did they demonstrate that to you? They should, along with the Fleet enemas. Try some of that shit, chief. See what I did there? Focus. One hand over the head, the other by the side. Now you’re talking incapacitation. Right? Such a simple solution. Almost elegant.
“So listen, you’re the new guy and seem reasonably intelligent so I wanna give you some tools to utilize while working the psych ward. Here they are. First, let them masturbate excessively.
They’re burning off angst and energy and if you stop them they’ll do shit like stab each other in the eye with a plastic knife. There are not a lot of ways to blow off some steam in a psych ward. In fact, you might want to suggest they pass out hand lotion with toothpaste. You see a lot of awkward gaits around here—part of the reason is because they’re walking around with chafed cocks. Next, obsessively watching a TV show does not a crazy person make. It’s the repetition and predictability of the characters that provide comfort. A patient feeling safe is one who won’t try to hang himself off a doorknob. Lastly, tell everyone, regardless of how fucked up they are, that things are going to be okay and they’re gonna get through this. Even the thrice-admitted homeless paranoid schizophrenic meth addict. You tell ‘em they’re gonna be A-OK. Even if you know that it’s bullshit. It’ll make things go a lot smoother and you’ll breathe a little humanity into an otherwise inhumane situation.
“Remember, your job is to get ‘em back on their feet and get them the hell out of Dodge. That’s it. I’m sure you have questions, but it’s been a long day for me and I could really use some Law & Order SVU. It’ll help with the coming down. They’ve gotta process my paperwork. It’s gonna take a while before they even get to me. Law & Order. It’ll be on TNT, Bravo, and USA. Possibly on NBC. There are a few constants in the universe. One of them being that at any given time an episode of Law & Order is running somewhere on Earth. The lounge is off to your left. Why don’t we go hang out in there for a while? Don’t put me next to someone with their hands jammed down their pants. I’m in no mood for that shit. Watching that is like pissing out my soul. You’ll see.”
The orderly, a young man with thick horn-rimmed glasses, stood over Kyle Brightman, a little unsure of how to proceed. Kyle was right. The young orderly was in fact into his third day on the psych ward and had not yet mastered the skills for telling which patients had lost their way versus which patients were the truly batshit among them. Kyle seemed near normal, though he was brought in for beating a tourist couple at Pike Place Market with a twenty-fivepound salmon. The tourists, Scandinavians, had cut into a line that Kyle had been in for ten minutes. When Kyle let them know there was a line, the Scandinavians waved Kyle off.
But how could the Scandinavians know that Kyle Brightman had seen some things this past year, things they wouldn’t believe, and had just come out of a broken relationship that smashed his heart into a million pieces? True, he instigated it by running away, but still. He looked like just another Seattleite, not someone who had survived a zombie war in the Caribbean and a subsequent relationship with a zombie woman. There were a great many things they didn’t know about Kyle, chief among them that there were moments when he knew he was about to do the wrong thing but felt compelled to do it anyway. So, they cut in line and Kyle grabbed the first thing he saw, a gigantic Copper River salmon, and commenced beating the Scandinavian tourists with it. The rest was all screams and a bin of mussels thrown at the bewildered Scandinavians when the salmon fell apart. It was meltdownville after that, and, once again, Kyle found himself at St. Eligius, fifth-floor psych ward.
It had been little over a year since his last visit.
After the paperwork, Kyle was shown to his room, where he found his clean pajamas on the bed. The bed next to him was empty and still made. Kyle had hoped he would have the room to himself. The last time, he ended up with Oscar Pilson, ex-military, ex-Halliburton mercenary and eventually a good friend who now shared a life in the Caribbean sunshine with the woman-with-no-name and her talking Chihuahua. The very sunshine he had abandoned to come back to the Northwest and lose his shit once again. Just like Cate said he would.
At the time he said Cate was full of it, but in the back of his mind a tiny voice had said, “We’ll see you soon.”
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Paradise Rot
The Island Trilogy
Book One
by Larry Weiner
My Review
Welcome to tropical paradise. Welcome to The Isle of St. Agrippina. White sandy beaches. Delicious blended drinks. And island cuisine.
But beware. All is not as it seems. And you just might wind up on the menu.
You see, this long abandoned and now reopened and freshly renovated resort is run by zombies. Not the good ones, if there is such a thing, but the hungry ones. And their brains are working just fine. You’ll see.
Kyle, an advertising exec, should have known it was too good to be true. In fact, he did. Who would hire someone straight from the loony bin? But that didn’t stop him from using the plane ticket and jetting to a tropical paradise.
Right from the get go, things are weird. And they keep getting weirder.
What’s with the slow moving people with their perfect over-white teeth, spray on tans, and practiced pronunciation.
Who is the lady in the woods who likes to conk you over the head and drag you to a bar in the jungle tended buy some weird guy.
And did he really see a chihuahua with it’s butt on wheels, and did it actually speak?
I would have given this book 5 Stars just for the ingenuity. But I also laughed out loud, loved the eccentric mish mash of characters, and couldn’t get enough.
Looking for some fun with zombies. Give this one a try. And the next book, Once More, With Blood, is available now so you won’t have to wait for more fun.
5 Stars
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Book Description:
Kyle Brightman—late of the advertising industry and soon-to-be-late of the 5th floor psych ward—has a job offer he can’t refuse. A new resort in the Caribbean is looking for an art director.
Kyle soon finds himself on the Isle of St. Agrippina working alongside a beautiful copywriter with an icy handshake. Questions arise: Why does the resort management team sport spray-on tans in the Bahamas? How can the resort offer such cheap vacation packages? What does one do with vats of Astroglide?
To get the answers, Kyle must first navigate a series of wildly unpredictable events with a cast of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including a seductress jungle assassin, her partially paralyzed talking Chihuahua, an Ivy League Rastafarian seaplane captain, Kyle’s ex-psych ward roommate, a former Haliburton mercenary, and a French tavern owner with a fondness for goats, all set to the greatest hits of the 70’s. Pablo Cruise never felt so right.
Larry Weiner is the author of PARADISE ROT (BOOK ONE), ONCE AGAIN, WITH BLOOD (BOOK TWO) and the forthcoming HINDU SEX ALIENS (BOOK THREE) that make up the Island Trilogy. Larry earned a degree in film from CSULA and was an award-winning art director. He lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, two kids and a gaggle of animals. He plays bass and thus has poor hearing.
bySheila A. Nielson
Publication date: July 15th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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When sixteen-year-old Sadelyn Hanson washes up on the shores of Windwaithe Island, her beauty and the strange marks on her wrist make superstitious locals suspect she is a mermaid. Feigning amnesia, Sade hides a far worse secret: she was sailing to her own murder trial when she was thrown overboard by the real killer, the cunning and cruel Captain Westwood.
Sade’s quiet effort to rebuild her life on the island is threatened when she meets an actual young merman. Unable to speak his language, Sade still longs for the warm companionship he offers, despite the locals’ dire legends about merfolk and their dark magic. But her confused feelings for the impossible boy become the least of her problems when Captain Westwood’s ship docks at Windwaithe. With nowhere to escape, Sade must trust in the one person who doesn’t fear the merfolk. A woman who had dealings with them herself—years ago.
I had only gone a few steps when the singing began.
I stopped and whirled, my gaze darting about trying to determine the source of the unearthly song that now wafted through the evening air. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It started low and rose up in power, like a seabird taking to the air. It resonated off the land and sea, the rocks and cliffs lifting into the endless sky above. The singer seemed to reach down into his core and unleashed a song from the very depths of his soul. His music had no words or language of substance to bind it down. Within his passionate performance I found a moment’s release from the shackles that bound me to this earth. Wings to carry me up into the heights of unfettered joy.
The song was both beautiful and tragic. Wild and yet soothing. It captured my heart even as it set my spirits free. It was as if the angel of deliverance himself called out to the weary world, bracing them up on the wings of his eternal hope. And then it was done. The last echoes of the voice faded and silence fell over the land once more. The air did not stir. The birds ceased to sing. In reverence, the whole island seemed to be holding its breath—waiting.
I never was much for waiting.
Bolting in the most unladylike fashion, I raced to the edge of the cliffs and looked down into dark depths far below, trying to catch a glimpse of the singer responsible for my own private audience. The surface of the ocean was a rippling sea of liquid onyx. Within that blackness was a light. It quivered and pulsed beneath the water like a fallen star. At first I believed it to be a reflection of the moon, or a trick of the light, but the longer I stared at it, the more horribly certain I became that this was no illusion. My momentary joy in the lovely song turned upon itself like a maddened beast. Fear crept into its place.
I’d heard sailors speak of something like this before. Ghost lights they called them. They were said to be the lost souls of those who died in the sea. Seeing one was a harbinger of death.
My death.
The light flashed into a fierce brilliance for a moment. I gasped as the welts on my wrist burned with a sudden intensity that made me dizzy. Then it was gone and the fire in my skin retreated as quickly as it came. I looked down into the water with wonder, but the light had vanished, leaving me shivering and alone in dusky darkness.
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Author Sheila Nielson
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Sheila never did figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, has worked as a children’s librarian for over eighteen years, and would eventually like to be a full-time author. Why pick one career when you can have many? Sheila lives with her two pets, a goffin cockatoo and a tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but has come to also love her adopted home in Utah where she currently resides.
Welcome to the book blitz for the Write To Rescue anthology.
All of you animal lovers are in for a treat.
Check out these stories from multiple authors.
Some you might recognize and you’ll discover some new ones!
I can’t wait to read these rescue stories.
I’ve rescued many dogs. In fact, all of mine were either adopted or taken in from the cold.
My last two dogs were dumped inside my fenced in back yard.
Lassie, a golden retriever/greyhound mix had a broken leg. The local rescue haven paid for two surgeries to fix her leg and I adopted her for a minimal fee.
While she was undergoing surgery and recovering, another dog was deposited in my back yard. A sweet little pitbull/hound mix. Knowing Lassie (my son named her) would be coming home soon, I checked with the local shelter to see if they could take the puppy. Nope. So I fostered him. Quigley (yes, I named him) was soon taken off the foster list as he was now sleeping in my bed.
When Lassie and Quigley met, they fell in love. Not that kind. They were both fixed. They became fast friends. I called them the ghost and the darkness. Lassie was almost white and glowed in the dark. Quigley is black as midnight and I can’t see him at night.
I lost Lassie to an unknown fungal condition and it took Quigley some time to get over it. She’s still the ghost as I swear I hear her toenails clicking on the tile floors.
I’m sure there will be some moving stories in this collection and I can’t wait to dive in!
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Write To Rescue Anthology
Published By- SideStreet Cookie Publishing
Publication Date- November 1st, 2014
Blurb
Rescue animals need love too. That’s why these nine authors got together to write stories that will warm your heart and entertain. All proceeds will go to animal shelters to help take care of and save the lives of the animals that may become your next family member. There’s a little something for everyone.
The Authors
Taisheena Rayne – Win, Place, or Show
Shauna Wilhelm – Fostering Hope
Allana Kephart and Melissa Simmons – The Disturbance
Karli Rush – Nine Lives
Carolyn Wolfe – Miracle Paws
Emily Walker – Cats
Miranda Stork and Trish Marie Dawson – A Tale of Two Kitties
When a slave uprising threatens the life of Syreena, the daughter of an eighteenth century plantation owner, a servant uses voodoo to transform her into a mermaid. The spell will be only broken when she returns to the beach where it was cast. After three hundred years of swimming, she’s ready to trade fins for legs. The only problem is she can’t find her way home.
Dylan, a twenty-first century Coast Guard Officer, has sworn off love for the sea. When a wave throws him overboard, Syreena uses her amulet to ward off the sharks and save his life.
With Syreena and Dylan stranded on a remote cay, Dylan has the know-how to build a raft and navigate but his near-drowning has made him terrified of the water. Syrenna will use every charm she has to convince Dylan to take her home.
Even if it means falling in love. . .
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It was a small amulet, about the size of a small Manonsillo fruit, painted with the image of Mami Wata, a mermaid-like deity venerated by the slaves. She was carefully painted, from the curls in her ebony hair to the scales of the snake wrapped around her neck.
Guilliame said, “Mami will show you the way.” He held up a leather pouch and threaded onto the thin leather strap that held the amulet. “Do not lose be without these until you are sure you don’t need them.”
“How will I know?”
“There will be no question. You will be safe.” The lyrical sounds of West Africa were heavy in his voice. “Do not be afraid, mademoiselle. Your papa and I are doing this because it is all we can do. When it is time,” Guilliame said, “you must return here, to this very spot. Do you understand?” His eyes were serious. “You must complete the circle.”
“I understand,” she replied in a whisper.
Guilliame stood behind her. He placed the necklace over her head. The leather pouch hung right above her breasts. She touched it with her finger. It felt warm, alive.
“Keep your fingers on it,” Guilliame said. He touched her shoulders, a familiarity unimagined only minutes ago. “Good luck.”
His bass voice was hypnotic, drifting between the patois of the island and the stranger, foreign sounds of West Africa. Her eyelids became heavy; she was falling into a deep sleep.
The sounds of the beach became louder and Guilliame’s voice became more distant.
The last thing she heard was, “She will swim alone until the man who is her true equal comes to her.”
She whirled into a vortex of color, sound and wind. Her body felt lighter and lighter, weightless.
Then there was nothing but blue.
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Blaire Edens lives in mountains of North Carolina. She grew up on a farm that’s been in her family since 1790. Of Scottish descent, her most famous ancestor, John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch and Guardian of Scotland, was murdered by Robert the Bruce on the altar of the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries.
She has a degree in Horticulture from Clemson University. She’s held a myriad of jobs including television reporter, GPS map creator, and personal assistant to a fellow who was rich enough to pay someone to pick up the dry cleaning. When she’s not plotting, she’s busy knitting, running, or listening to the Blues.
Blaire loves iced tea with mint, hand-stitched quilts, and yarn stores. She refuses to eat anything that mixes chocolate and peanut butter or apple and cinnamon. She’s generally nice to her mother, tries to remember not to smack her bubble gum, and only speeds when no one’s looking.
She’s the past president of South Carolina Writers Workshop and an active member of Romance Writers of America.
The Turnaround Treasure Shop by bestselling Australian romance author Jennie Jones!
Introduction and Exclusive Excerpt
By Author Jennie Jones
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Synopsis
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Looking for a delightful, warm story about family and second-chance love? The Turnaround Treasure Shop follows the adventures of the heart for Lily Johnson. Everyone has the right to at least one dream coming true, and Lily is determined to achieve her goal on her own. But things are tough on the financial front and if she doesn’t take the chance offered to her by ex-Navy Captain Nick Barton, she might find that “one day” never comes.
The Turnaround Treasure Shop is book #4 in the bestselling Swallow’s Fall series. But each book in the series can be read alone and frequently are – Jennie’s had plenty of readers buy book #3 and then go back for books #1 and #2.
Jennie’s fictional town of Swallow’s Fall is set in a remote country area in the Australian Snowy Mountains and boasts 100 residents. Lots of them falling in love, some of them longing for dreams to come true, some of them scheming or creating mayhem with their matchmaking plans – but all of them leaving a mark on this small country town.
Jennie has a great rapport with her readers all over the world and recently asked them if they’d read a new series: Daughters of Swallow’s Fall – and the resounding answer was – Yes! But before that, the next book in this series (#5) The House at the End of the Street is releasing on July 27th.
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Read on for the excerpt…
“Good morning.” Lily Johnson didn’t look at Nicholas Barton, instead skimming her smile in the direction of the top of his head and off it again as fast as politely possible. Not that he noticed.
“Morning, Lily,” he said, dark head bowed to the breakfast plate she’d put on the table in front of him.
He wore a dark green crewneck with a white T-shirt beneath, the sleeves of his sweater pushed up his arms, the way they always were. How he got through the Snowy Mountains climate without a coat, Lily didn’t know. Even summers weren’t exactly drenched in heat in this part of Australia, and autumn always had a nip in the air. He was hardly ever out of dark green or bark-brown colours. A throw-back to his armed-forces days, probably. The strong silent type — but not mean or standoffish — just reserved. Which suggested a caring nature, Lily had always thought.
She moved to an empty table next to him and picked up a cruet set and a tomato sauce bottle, reminding herself to tell the young girl who’d worked Saturday night’s restaurant shift that she needed to make sure every table was set for the next day before leaving work.
“There.” She fussed with the salt and pepper, and straightened the napkin holder. “Enjoy,” she said, wiping her hands onto her white apron and hoping the salutation sounded the way it did when she said it to every customer she served breakfast.
“Thanks,” he said, in the same low-toned, unruffled manner he’d used to thank her for his weekend breakfasts for the last year.
He picked up his knife and fork. His forearms were thick and toughened with muscle. Those muscles wouldn’t stop at his elbows, they’d go right up his arms to support his heavy-duty shoulders. It was all that muscle which probably kept his body temperature warmed.
He looked up, his hooded leaf-green eyes holding an enquiry. “Everything all right?”
Lily stumbled over her laugh. “Sorry. Daydreaming.” Ouch. Daydreaming about Nick was taboo, and she didn’t want him knowing any of her taboo thoughts.
She turned for the kitchen of Kookaburra’s Hotel, and fanned her blazing face. Nicholas Barton made her tremble. He’d been making her tremble for 12 months and no matter how hard she tried to put the moment behind her, the recollection of the awkward position she’d put him in at last years’ Easter Bunny Ball fried her brain every time she saw him. Like a splash of hot oil on the scalp.
This year’s Ball was happening in two weeks’ time. Would he remember last year’s and stay clear? Or had he wiped the incident from his memory the way she wiped her hands on her apron? He was too much of a gentleman to have referred to it since, but sometimes Lily had the sense that behind his unflappable exterior, there was a zing of anticipation in the air between them. That was the bit that made Lily tremble.
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The Turnaround Treasure Shop (Swallows Fall, #4) by Jennie Jones
Adult Contemporary Romance
Ebook, 142 pages
May 22nd 2015 by Harlequin MIRA
Fatalistic, long divorced and doing her best to give her children a good life, Lily Johnson works two jobs in her hometown of Swallow’s Fall, saving every spare cent for the day she can lease the empty corner shop on Main Street. She longs to open it as Turnaround Treasures, a second-hand shop bursting with rescued country curios — but there aren’t enough spare cents and Lily’s dream is slipping away.
Ex-Navy diver Nick Barton arrived in Swallow’s Fall a year ago to quietly reunite himself with civvy life. Recognising an instant attraction to Lily, Nick backed away fast. Given his track record of an unhappy ex-wife and the baggage that comes with a Special Forces career, Nick doesn’t think he stands a chance with shy, reserved Lily. He can’t be with her – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t see her.
Lily has spent her whole life cheerfully giving to others. When Nick offers her the ultimate chance for a turnaround, will Lily’s fear of being ‘second hand’ ruin the opportunity of forever love for both of them?
Bestselling author Jennie Jones loves writing rich, warm-hearted and refreshing stories of adventures of the heart. She’s a self-confessed would-be small town country girl and longs for the day when she and her family can set up home in a cute country cottage in the middle of a huge field. Until then, Jennie is enjoying life a five minute walk from the beach. She can hear the ocean as she types her stories.
$10 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal Cash and a Kindle copy of The Turnaround Treasure Shop
Open internationally (as long as you can receive winnings) Ends July 26th a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Welcome to this week’s Two for Thursday Book Blitz #T4T
presented by Month9books/Tantrum Books!
Today, we will be showcasing two titles that may tickle your fancy,
and we’ll share what readers have to say about these titles!
You just might find your next read!
This week, #T4T presents to you:
The Looking Glass by Jessica Arnold and Of Breakable Things by A. Lynden Rolland
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
Find the diary, break the curse, step through The Looking Glass!
Fifteen-year-old Alice Montgomery wakes up in the lobby of the B&B where she has been vacationing with her family to a startling discovery: no one can see or hear her. The cheap desk lights have been replaced with gas lamps and the linoleum floor with hardwood and rich Oriental carpeting. Someone has replaced the artwork with eerie paintings of Elizabeth Blackwell, the insane actress and rumored witch who killed herself at the hotel in the 1880s. Alice watches from behind the looking glass where she is haunted by Elizabeth Blackwell. Trapped in the 19th-century version of the hotel, Alice must figure out a way to break Elizabeth’s curse—with the help of Elizabeth’s old diary and Tony, the son of a ghost hunter who is investigating the haunted B&B—before she becomes the inn’s next victim.
“Curses, ghosts, betrayal and love. All elements to a perfect ghostly story..” – Jasmyn,Bitten by Romance
“I think one of the creepiest things about The Looking Glass was the way it made me feel so claustrophobic. It was similar to the way I felt when I read Stephen King’s Under the Dome–trapped and a bit panicked.” – Kelly, Reviewer
“It was so different and so beautifully written and detailed that I really could not put this story down and I felt as though I was there with Alice throughout the story.” – Melissa,Simplistic Reviews
Jessica Arnold writes YA, codes ebooks, and is currently a graduate student in publishing at Emerson College in Boston. She spends most of her time in class or work or slogging through the homework swamp. If she has a spare moment, she’s always up for a round of Boggle. Given the opportunity, Jessica will pontificate at length on the virtues of the serial comma, when and where to use an en dash, and why the semicolon is the best punctuation mark pretty much ever.
A captivating debut about the fragility of life, love, and perspective.
When Chase dies tragically, Alex embraces her own mortality. What she didn’t expect was that she’d have to make a choice: forget the years of pain and suffering once and for all, or linger as a spirit and get another chance at life and love.
Alex doesn’t hesitate to choose; she’d follow Chase anywhere. But the spirit world is nothing like she expected, and Alex finds she’s forced to fight for her life once more. For even in a world where secrets are buried much deeper than six feet under, a legacy can continue to haunt you—and in a place this dangerous, no one is resting in peace.
“I am so in love with this story.” – Linda, Lala Toadstone
“This is one book that I can see being turned into a film adaptation successfully!” – Victoria, Escape into Pages
The concepts and worldbuilding are imaginative and fun–and so well written!–but it was the emotions and characters that really carry this from good to great for me.” – A.M. Supinger, Author
A. Lynden Rolland was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland, a picturesque town obsessed with boats and blue crabs. She has always been intrigued by the dramatic and the broken, compiling her eccentric tales of tragic characters in a weathered notebook she began to carry in grade school. She is a sports fanatic, a coffee addict, and a lover of Sauvignon Blanc, thunderstorms and autumn leaves. When she isn’t hunched behind a laptop at her local bookstore, she can be found chasing her two vivacious children. She now resides just outside Annapolis with her husband and young sons.
This Harlequin Bestseller Author Collection is the re-release of Suspicious by Heather Graham and The Sheriff of Shelter Valley by Tara Taylor Quinn, two best-selling romantic suspense books. Find out more about this collection and the audiobook release from its tour here.
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Exclusive Excerpt from The Sheriff of Shelter Valley
By Tara Taylor Quinn
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“MAMA! MAAMAA!” Ryan’s scream tore through her fog of sleep.
Beth Allen was out of bed and across the room before she’d even fully opened her eyes. Heart pounding, she lifted her two-year-old son out of the secondhand crib, pressing his face into her neck as she held him.
“It’s okay, Ry,” she said softly, pushing the sweaty auburn curls away from his forehead. Curls she dyed regularly, along with her own. “Shh, Mama’s right here. It was just a bad dream.”
“Mama,” the toddler said again, his little body shuddering. His tiny fists were clamped tightly against her—her nightshirt and strands of her straight auburn hair held securely within them.
“Mama” was what he’d said when she’d woken up alone with him in that motel room in Snowflake, Arizona, with a nasty bruise on her forehead, another one at the base of her skull. And no memory whatsoever.
She didn’t know how old she was. How old her son was. She could only guess Ry’s age by comparing him to other kids.
She didn’t even know her own name. She’d apparently checked in under the name Beth Allen and, trusting herself to have done so for a reason, had continued using it. It could be who she really was, but she doubted it. She’d obviously been on the run, and it didn’t seem smart to have made herself easy to find.
Paperback, ebook, & audiobook 544 pages
May 26th 2015 by Harlequin
Audiobook Release July 7th 2015 by Harlequin
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Suspicious
by Heather Graham
Cold-blooded predators lurk in the Everglades—and not all of them are gators
When Jesse Crane returned to his roots to serve on the Miccosukee police force, he’d hoped to leave behind the violence of the city and the memories of his murdered wife. But bodies start to pile up in Jesse’s corner of the sultry Florida swampland…
As he probes these crimes, Jesse is drawn to the beautiful Lorena Fortier, a new hire at the local gator farm and research facility. Lorena is a little too interested in Jesse’s investigation, but before he can uncover her true motives, they’re both pulled into a dangerous web of greed, ambition and animal cunning. To survive, they’ll have to decide whether they can trust each other…before the hunters become the hunted.
The Sheriff of Shelter Valley
by Tara Taylor Quinn
Six months ago, Beth woke up with no memory of her past, a bruised face and a little boy who called her “Mama.” Until her memory returns, the most dangerous thing she can do is to fall for the sheriff—the one man who can uncover the truth and destroy the person she’s become.
New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult and Christmas family fare.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages. She has written over 200 novels and has 60 million books in print. She has been honored with awards from booksellers and writers’ organizations for excellence in her work, and she is also proud to be a recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. (And award for charitable endeavors.) Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.
Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf Region. She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players,” presenting something that’s “almost like entertainment” for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
The author of more than 70 original novels, in twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestseller with over six million copies sold. She is known for delivering deeply emotional and psychologically astute novels of suspense and romance. Tara is a recipient of the Reader’s Choice Award, a five time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award and appears frequently on bestseller lists, including #1 placement on Amazon lists. Tara is the past-president of Romance Writers of America and served eight years on that board of directors. She has appeared on national and local TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning and is a frequent guest speaker. In her spare time Tara likes to travel, climb Arizona mountains, and inline skate.Tara is a supporter of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233.
Click on the banner to take you to Tara’s landing page for all her tour events.
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As part of Spend the Summer with Tara Taylor Quinn, Tara is holding a contest for those who share on social media about how they love life during the summer! Each day you can share an image, picture, or quote, linking to her events’ landing page (http://www.tarataylorquinn.com/Summer%20With%20ttq.html) to enter to win ONE BIG SUMMER BASKET!!! We’ll be pulling the best submissions and voting for the top one during her Facebook Party on July 16th. Pull out your creative juices and share your joy of summer, be it with friends, family, or the love of your life! Beach-themed basket will include: shell wind chime, shell choker and matching bracelet, beach/flip flop note cards, picture frame, 4×6 picture album, plus some surprise print copies of Tara’s books (including Once Upon a Friendship).Share must be public to be eligible. Can enter one each day. US only. Giveaway ends July 16th.
GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY
(All to one winner – US only.) $10 VISA Gift Card Copies of all five books on Tara’s Summer Tour Spend the Summer with TTQ T-Shirt
Ends July 16th
BLITZ GIVEAWAY Audiobook of Suspicious & The Sheriff of Shelter Valley
US Only
Ends July 12th
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Click on the rafflecopter links below to enter the giveaways.
