I have some adorable children’s board books to share with you today.
I’ve read some of the authors Grimmtastic Girl’s books and loved them and I’m thrilled to share these stories from the Mini Myths Series.
Parents and grandparents will have fun sharing these Greek mythological tales with their young ones.
While recommended for ages 1 to 3, older kids will enjoy them too.
Title: Brush Your Hair, Medusa! (Mini Myths) | Author: Joan Holub | Illustrator: Leslie Patricelli| Publication Date: March 24, 2015 | Publisher:Abrams Appleseed | Pages: 24 | Recommended Ages: 1 to 3
MY REVIEW
Her tangled mass of golden curls are out of control and need to be tamed but Medusa is having none of it. From showing how she somersaults to brushing her mermaid dolls hair, Medusa avoids it herself, until Grandma arrives and finds the perfect solution. Leave it to Grandma to figure it out.
My mother let me grow my hair long when I was little and I remember the frustration in her voice when she tried to get me to hold still long enough to get it untangled. And some of the stuff that stuck in it, I shudder when I remember. LOL
Included at the end of the book is the story of the real Medusa told so young ones could understand.
The illustrations are colorful and adorable and the adaption of mythology to modern day is delightful. Adults and their youngest to preschoolers and young readers will enjoy these over and over.
5 Stars
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Summary:
Medusa refuses to care for her hair, her long locks getting messier with each passing page. Her hair rebellion elicits frozen expressions of shock from her family, but nothing will convince Medusa to brush. Only her hairdresser approaches Medusa with bravery and scissors, successfully solving the problem . . . with a short haircut! All are pleased with this drastic yet adorable solution. Leslie Patricelli’s depictions of this physical comedy bring a lively visual narrative to Joan Holub’s expertly focused text. Includes a summary of the original Medusa’s Wild Hair myth at the end.
Title: Make a Wish, Midas! (Mini Myths) | Author: Joan Holub | Illustrator: Leslie Patricelli | Publication Date: March 24, 2015 | Publisher:Abrams Appleseed | Pages: 24 | Recommended Ages: 1 to 3
MY REVIEW
This is a fun twist on King Midas that all youngsters will enjoy.
Midas loves the color yellow. Everything must be yellow. Even his food and his beloved stuffed animal, Dinoboo
But once he looks at what he’s done he realizes sometimes things are better left as they are.
As a little girl, I turned my stuffed poodle purple and was so sad afterwards. But I kept it until it fell apart.
Such a cute story and the illustrations will capture even the youngest child’s attention while you share the tale of Midas.
The author includes the tale of Midas at the end of the book in such a way your child will enjoy learning some mythology. I even learned from it.
It’s never too early to teach your children and this book would be a fun way to show and tell.
5 Stars
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Summary:
Midas wants everything to be his favorite color – yellow! He chooses yellow clothes, eats yellow foods, and uses only the yellow paint at his art easel. But when he impulsively paints his beloved green Dinoboo, Midas discovers that too much of a good thing is a big mess! Joan Holub’s carefully crafted text is brought to life by Leslie Patricelli’s famously humorous illustrations. Includes a summary of the original Midas’ Golden Touch myth at the end.
Patricelli’s preschool-age Pandora couldn’t be cuter, and an endnote explains the original myth in greater detail. Genuinely funny and sweet. ~ Publishers Weekly, starred review
Remarkably entertaining . . . delightful painted cartoons in rich colors . . . the life lessons the source material inspires are spot-on. ~ Kirkus
About Author Joan Holub
Joan Holub’s fascination with mythology inspired Mini Myths, a new board book series that translates famous myths into situations familiar to preschoolers. The first four titles are Be Patient, Pandora!, Play Nice, Hercules!, Brush Your Hair, Medusa! and Make A Wish, Midas! published by Abrams Appleseed. Joan co-authors two other mythology series for Simon and Schuster, Goddess Girls (ages 8-12) and Heroes in Training (ages 7-10). Her picture book, Mighty Dads, was a New York Times bestseller in 2014.
Head on over and leave a link to your Sunday Post and hop around to visits others.
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Some chit chat.
I’m sorry I didn’t comment on your posts last Sunday. My family decided to stay another weekend and we were too busy having fun. I promise I’ll do better today!
Since I’ve not been around much the last few weeks, I’ve combined several weeks of book news to share with you.
There’s a bunch of reviews and giveaways and wait until you see what I won! I have so many great new books to read. And I plan on reviewing every one.
I was over looking at my reading challenge page and I’m way ahead on most, especially Goodreads. I only add books that I have reviewed and I think I’ll break my record by the end of this year.
Other news. I had such a great time with family. We all stayed at my sister and brother-in-laws house and did a lot of touring, shopping, and eating.
And I got in the pool on Easter Sunday. Only a few of us got in but we did manage to coax my brothers dog in for a swim and she loved it.
I can’t wait for May. My brother will be back down to do some more fishing and my mother is coming to stay for the summer. Good times ahead!
I’ll be hopping over to check out your Sunday posts so be sure to leave me your link!
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Here are my new books for review.
From NetGalley
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New ones just because!
On my Kindle
You can see my new eBooks further in my post. They are all books I won.
New Print Books
This is from a couple of trips to my favorite used book store.
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And here are some freebies for ya!
Click on the covers to get yours and remember to make sure they’re still free before you click that buy button!
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Books I reviewed this week. Click on the covers for my reviews.
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Books I’ll be reviewing next week.
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What I won.
I’m sharing what I won from the last three weeks.
I won a bunch of books in the YA Spring Fling Giveaway!
Thanks to the many blog owners, tour host, and authors for these awesome books!
and
I won my choice of a signed print copy of any of Melanie Karsak’s books!
I told her how much I loved her zombie series and asked her to surprise me with which one she sends.
It could be either of these.
Thanks so much Melanie. Can’t wait to see which one!
And I won a couple of gift cards for $15 and $25 and know just what I going to buy with them!
I haven’t read the first two Hellfire & Damnation collections but I will fix that soon.
Most of you know how much I enjoy short stories and collections and horror and I got all of that with these.
Check out my review.
Enjoy the excerpt.
And enter the giveaway to win a copy!
Hellfire and Damnation III
by Connie Corcoran Wilson
Publisher: Quad City Press (March 1, 2015)
ISBN:978-0-982444-487-0
Category: Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 114 Pages
My Review
I’m huge on short stories and collections so I knew I had to read this batch. The author states at the end of the book that she drew inspiration form true events on all but two of the stories. That explains why one of them felt familiar to me.
Some are scary and some are twisted. A few had me grinning sardonically. All are good.
There are the nines sins or as the author titles them, The Nine Circles of Hell. Each delves into crimes and punishments.
Circle One: Limbo – The Cave Robber
You’ll have an encounter with a giant cave spider.
Circle Two: Lust – The MOnster Within
Meet Brian, “The unhappiest man in El Reno,” who’s plotting revenge against his neighbor.
Circle Three: Gluttony – The Battle of Gate Pa
Crawl with the Maori warriors through the first tunnels used in warfare.
Circle Four: Avarice & Prodigality – Boxed In
Be there when a kidnap victim turns the table on his kidnapper.
Circle Five: Wrath & Sullenness – Do Not Go Gently
A cancer patient who thought he’d live forever does not go gently. Vows to be the worst patient ever.
Circle Six: Heresy – The Final Victim
A Reverend needs one more sacrifice for Satan.
Circle Seven: The Violent – KILLAL
An innocent computer game might not be so innocent.
Circle Eight: The Fraudulent – The Mirror
A heated car mirror solves a cold case.
Circle Nine: The Treacherous – A Losing Hand
It wasn’t hypothermia. It was murder.
I enjoyed all of these stories and enjoyed the authors comments afterwards. She explained a bit about each of the stories that came from true events and then where she got her inspiration for the two that weren’t. It was fascinating.
And the pictures peppered throughout the book made it creepier.
While most of these weren’t truly scary, they did have sin in each one. I think I sinned a bit myself when I celebrated some of the characters deeds.
These would be great reads for when you have only a short time, but I’d set aside enough time to finish all of them. They do suck you in and keep you going from one to the next, to the next…
4 Stars
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Description
Hellfire & Damnation III by Connie Corcoran Wilson is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno. It picks up where the first two collections of short stories left off, using the same framing device of stories that explore the sins or crimes punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno.
The first book was the winner of the Silver Feather Award (Illinois Women’s Press Association), and the Gold Medal E-Lit Award (Horror category) from the Jenkins group. Five-time Bram Stoker winner Gary Braunbeck said of Book II in the Hellfire & Damnation collection: ” Seriously, Connie: can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?” Braunbeck added, ” Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better.”
Hellfire & Damnation III is another tour of the crimes or sins punished at each of the Circles of Hell in Dante’s “Inferno.” Like the second book in the series by Connie Corcoran Wilson, there are images whether it is a cave where teenagers are trapped, the lair of a psychopathic minister manipulating a young man of limited intelligence into murder, or a rage-fueled airplane traveler unleashing his pent-up fury on a Flight Attendant.
The author adds a From the Author, an informative peek into the creative mind of the author and the genesis of these 9 Tales of Terror. As one reviewer said (of Hellfire & Damnation II), “Connie Corcoran Wilson has written a book of short stories that will not only keep you up late nights reading, but might also keep you up long after you have stopped reading.”
He drove off in Dave’s truck, heading for Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ trailer, the useless wooden peg leg making a hollow tumbling noise in the empty bed of the truck, like a bird hitting a glass window. It sounded like a heavy object tumbling inside a package. It was a sound like a tennis shoe tumbling in the dryer, only with sharper percussions.
When he reached the trailer park, Lee parked under a large tree near the Laundromat just at the entrance of Happy Hollow Trailer Park. He grabbed the peg leg from the bed of the truck, tucked it under his jacket so no one would see what he was carrying, and began walking towards the Reverend’s plot. This was part of the plan. Jeremiah had explained to Lee that it wouldn’t do for them to be seen together. He wanted Lee to make sure he wasn’t followed and to come to his trailer on foot, using the back way. Lee did all this, as requested.
Upon reaching the entrance to the shabby trailer, Lee knocked on the door. He knocked a second time, more loudly. Lee was standing near the entrance to the attached Sacrificial Shed, as Jeremiah referred to the wooden shanty nearby. Lee thought he heard a noise coming from within. It was a faint sound, no doubt muffled by the sound-proofing. It sounded like a bleating animal. Lee turned away from the trailer door and moved towards the doorway of the nearby Sacrificial Shed. It was slightly ajar.
Within, he saw the specter of Jeremiah Jones, knife raised. A terrified creature, approximately three feet high, eyes glazed with fear, helpless, was tied in front of the Reverend. It was a small goat, immobilized by ropes. Jeremiah brought the axe-like weapon down on the animal’s head just as Lee opened the door to enter.
Jeremiah was breathing heavily from his exertions. The struggling wounded goat was bleeding and making a horrible noise in its death throes, still pinioned at the Reverend’s feet. Jeremiah Jones looked up at Lee Elliot and smiled the evil smile of an ogre. The grin of a conscienceless monster. The smirk of a manipulative Machiavelli.
“Did you bring his leg?” Jeremiah asked.
Lee shook his head yes. He reached beneath his jacket to pull forth Dave Downing’s prosthesis.
Jeremiah glanced at the leg. He looked up at Lee, stepping over the still struggling dying creature to come closer to Lee, bloody axe still in his hand.
“Where’s the money?” the Reverend asked.
“There wasn’t any,” said Lee.
“What? No money? There HAS to be. You took the cash, didn’t you?” Jeremiah screamed.
“No, Sir,” replied Lee. “There wasn’t any money. I killed Dave just the way you said to. I threw his body in a ditch out past Colona. Out near Interstate 80. I took his leg off. But there wasn’t anything inside it.”
“LIAR!” screamed the enraged minister as he lunged at the timid young man, bloody axe raised. “Stupid fucking liar! You took it, didn’t you? You took the money! Where is it? Give it to me!”
The Reverend Jeremiah Jones approached Lee with menace in his manner and murder in his heart.
In that moment, Lee Elliot wished he had brought the large butcher knife with him. But Lee had done as the Reverend Jones had instructed. He had thrown the knife into the raging Rock River, which was at near-flood levels this wet spring. Lee had no weapon. Nor had he thought he would need one.
The man he had trusted and aided in committing the most heinous act of his life was about to betray him. Almost the last thing Lee Elliot saw was also the last thing the goat had seen: a heavy axe-like weapon descending on his skull. Coming down so quickly and so forcefully that Lee had no time to fend it off.
As the weapon found its mark, Lee heard birds twittering. He was not sure if he was once again seeing the birds of Lucifer’s sign to him—the European starlings on his front lawn that day—or if neurons were firing stored memories in his head in death. With that last mortal impression of flocks of black birds tearing at the ground, ripping apart the blades of grass, laying waste to everything they touched, Lee Elliot became just one more in a long string of the Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ sacrifices.
The Reverend stood above him, bloody axe poised to strike again, muttering, “You moron. Lucifer always meant for you to be the final victim.”
View the Trailer:
Praise for Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson:
“This collection of 11 short stories in the horror genre is organized around Dante’s 9 circles of hell in the Inferno–limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, political corruption, and treachery. The stories are by turns chilling and blood boiling. The two times I read one of these just before sleeping I deeply regretted it. NOT bedtime stories folks. Haunting and satisfying.”– Joystory
“I love scary books. Among the first adult books I ever read were Stephen King and Dean Koontz. However, these days I find it hard to find good scary books – ones that don’t make me feel like I’ve read this before…and then I was asked to read Hellfire & Damnation II. Corcoran takes us by the hand and leads us through the 9 Circles of Hell, whispering to us the tales of those we find there and the events that have lead them to this nightmarish place. From the first story set in Limbo, Cold Corpse Carnival (giving me yet another reason to not want to be buried!), to the final circle of The Treacherous and The Bureau the reader will be checking behind doors, under the bed and sleeping with the light on!”–Kylie Purdie, Little Black Marks
“‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ is the sequel to Connie Corcoran Wilson’s first book of short stories published in 2011. This book is another tour of Dante’s ‘Nine Circles of Hell’ from his Inferno. It features eleven original short stories: from the 132-year-old corpse of Norwegian immigrant Ole Monson seeking revenge against the living for the desecration of his final resting place in ‘Cold Corpse Carnival’ to the most intimate betrayal suffered between two brothers in ‘The Bureau’. Each story highlights its particular Circle in a novel way, but is partially based on fact as explained by the author at the end. I really enjoyed this book – it was suitably horrific for me. Each story is well-crafted and believable, and I found myself very satisfied with each story’s pacing. I give ‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ an A+! and I look forward to reading more books by Connie Corcoran Wilson in the very near future!”– Mareena McGirr, Emeraldfire’s Bookmark
“Connie pens “Hellfire & Damnation II” in a plot that will really leave the horror with you. The illustrations are just unbelievably good and will get you really thinking about what you just read. I was totally satisfied with the amount of detail within each “circle of hell” she writes about. Now I really need to find the first book in the series to catch up with. Highly recommended for all who love the thrill of horror.”-Susan, My Cozie Corner
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I’ve read Connie’s The Color Of Evil Series and very much enjoyed them.
Award winning author, Connie Corcoran Wilson (MS + 30) graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and has written for five newspapers and seven blogs, including Yahoo, which named her its 2008 Content Producer of the Year.
She is a member of ITW (International Thriller Writers), where she is a writer for their online newsletter, and a member of IWPA (Illinois Women’s Press Association, Chicago chapter), which awarded her its Silver Feather Award in 2012 and 2014, MWA (Midwest Writers Association), AWP (American Writing Program) and MWC (Midwest Writing Center), which named her its Writer of the Year in 2010. She has won numerous E-Lit awards, a NABE Pinnacle award, an ALMA (American Literary Merit Award), Lucky Cinda competition and two IWPA Silver Feather Awards (2012, 2014).
Connie’s third book in “The Color of Evil” series, ‘Khaki=Killer’ was just named a Page-turner of the Year 2014 by “Shelf Unbound” and Writer’s Digest magazine in its December/January 2014-2015 issue!
Her stories and interviews with writers like David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, William F. Nolan, Anne Perry, r. Barri Flowers, Valerie Plame, Allen Zadoff and Jon Land have appeared online and in numerous journals.
Connie Corcoran Wilson’s work has won prizes from “Whim’s Place Flash Fiction,” “Writer’s Digest” (Screenplay) and she has 25 published works. Connie reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years, wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Dispatch and maintains her own blog,www.WeeklyWilson.com, while also twittering (@Connie_C_Wilson), Connie Wilson Author.
Connie Corcoran Wilson was a presenter at the Spellbinders Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii over Labor Day (2012) and at Love Is Murder in Chicago (February, 2014) and will be a presenter at Writers for New Orleans December 19-21st. She has three ongoing series: THECOLOR OF EVIL, HELLFIRE & DAMNATION (short stories organized around the crimes or sins punished at each of the levels of Hell in Dante’s Inferno) andTHE CHRISTMAS CATS, which she writes for her granddaughters. (www.TheColorOfEvil.com; www.RedIsforRage.com; www.KhakiEqualsKiller.com; www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com; www.TheXmasCats.com)
Connie lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and cat Lucy, and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their five-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, and is currently a Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant.
I have another fun cozy mystery to share with you!
Wicked Stitch is the 8th book in the Embroidery Mystery Series but you don’t have to have read the other books to enjoy this one.
I started this series with the fifth book and then read the 7th book before reading Wicked Stitch. I plan to go back and start from the beginning. I’d like to be there when Marcy first moved to Tallulah Falls.
It’s good to be back with my friends in Tallulah Falls. There’s big doings going on. The town is hosting the Renaissance Fair and all of the business owners are setting up booths to ply their wares and dressing up in period costumes.
Marcy plans on displaying some of the blackwork embroidery she’s been working on along with some other stuff from her shop, The Seven year Stitch.
Everything is going swimmingly until Marcy visits the booth next to hers. The booth belongs to her nemesis, Nellie, who just recently opened up a needlework shop right next door to Marcie’s and even copied her interior decorating.
Trying to once again mend fences, Marcie visits Nellie’s booth only to find her collapsed on the floor, a scarf wound tightly around her neck.
Marcy calls her boyfriend,detective Ted Nash, to report what she found and she’s quickly cleared as a suspect. Well almost. Nellie’s sister, Clara, swears Marcy killed her. The two sisters never liked Marcy from the moment she moved to Tallulah falls and made her life miserable.
Marcy and Ted put their heads together to try to solve the murder, along with an arson case that might be connected. Marcy’s booth gets trashed, people get assaulted, and a killer roams the crowds, invisible is his costume.
It’s never dull in Tallulah Falls. For such a small town, there’s always trouble and poor Marcy seems to always land in the middle of it.
All of the usual characters are back, the good and the bad. I swear those sisters, Nellie and Clara, are meaner than snakes. I was as enraged as Marcy to learn that Nellie had set up shop right next door to her, plying a lot of the same merchandise, trying to steal her customers, and copying her interior decor. I guess it could be considered a compliment and I have a feeling Marcy wouldn’t lose many customers to mean old Nellie.
Not that I’d wish Nellie dead. The obvious suspect would be Marcy. I know Marcy can handle herself and she’s gotten really close with Ted. Their romance is steaming along and they had me giggling and sighing. They are so sweet together. And Marcy’s Irish wolfhound, Angus, is as adorable as ever. I love when the author gives an animal a part in their story. There’s a sweet little rabbit too and Angus adores it. Unfortunately, it belongs to Nellie. I think play dates will be unlikely.
Once the killer was revealed, and it was a surprise to me, I felt the ending was a bit rushed. I would have liked a little more action. It was over so quickly. Perhaps I just didn’t want it to be the end yet.
Spring is here and summer will soon follow. I’d recommend this as a fun mystery to read while sitting outside taking in the fresh air or lounging by the pool. I’m looking forward to visiting Tallulah Falls again.
4 Stars
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Synopsis:
When murder strikes the small town of Tallulah Falls, embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer isn’t afraid of getting into the knitty-gritty to clear her own name…
For most small-business owners in Tallulah Falls, the upcoming Renaissance Faire is a wonderful way to promote their specialty shops. For Marcy’s nemesis, Nellie, and her sister Clara, it’s an opportunity to finally put Marcy and her shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, out of business. Apparently the sisters like to keep their grudges all in the family and have set up a competing booth right next to Marcy’s at the Faire.
When Clara is discovered dead in her own booth—strangled by the scarf she had almost finished knitting—Marcy becomes the prime suspect. Now she has to do whatever it takes to keep her reputation from unraveling and get to the bottom of a most deadly yarn…
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About This Author
Gayle Trent (writing as Amanda Lee) writes the embroidery mystery series. The series features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon coast to open an embroidery specialty shop. Marcy Singer left her home in San Francisco, along with the humiliation of being left at the altar, in order to move to Tallulah Falls and realize her dream of owning her own shop. She takes along her faithful companion, a one-year-old Irish wolfhound named Angus O’Ruff. She makes many new friends in Tallulah Falls, but she also makes a few enemies. Thankfully, her best friend Sadie MacKenzie and her husband Blake run the coffeehouse right down the street from Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch; and Detective Ted Nash always has her back. Gayle/Amanda lives in Virginia when she’s not inhabiting the fictional world of Tallulah Falls.
You don’t have to have read Sundered, Among The Mythos #1, to enjoy these stories. They take place long before, when the world was different.
I have reviews for A Christmas Dragon and Strings and an exciting excerpt to share with you, along with a guest post from the author about her writing and characters.
And a giveaway. So don’t forget to enter!
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Guest Post
Enjoy this wonderful guest post by author Ruthanne Reid. I was curious whether the characters came first or the plot when starting her stories and how she chose the characters names.
That’s a delightful question, and it has a funny answer. I wanted to be a plotter. I admire plotters with a fierce and fiery passion. Plotting and following an outline seems like weird and wonderful magic to me, I have absolutely no idea how they pull it off.
Every successful story I’ve written has come from characters themselves. The best ones blossom fully in my mind, usually without my permission, and most often name themselves after. Notte, for example (who has a cameo in Strings) told me his name meant night, and has changed throughout the centuries. He uses “Notte” right now because he likes Italian.
One of my recent short stories (“A Hotel Room, a Knife, and a Bottle of Chardonnay”) is a perfect example of character-plot-name: this young man showed up in my head, freaking out over blood and the fact that he couldn’t die. I wrote it down in a furious rush, and only when I’d finished the first draft did he give me his name: Joshua Run. I feel like this name will mean something in later books, too – as if he’s going to be told to run. I can’t wait to get there.
In The Christmas Dragon, Katie Lin named herself, though I didn’t know why she chose Lin at first because that’s not exactly a Welsh name (the reason tickled me pink when I figured it out). Grey also named himself, though it took a while to pry his “real” name out of him. In fact, he never gave me his name, technically; I read it on an envelope that magically appeared in his car!
The stories tend to follow the characters, as does world-building. When I see who they are, I want to know why. The answers to what drives and shapes these characters shows me their environment and the people of influence in their lives, and once you have that many characters running around, plot is inevitable. Desires, dreams, anger, love, and conflict blaze like fire.
Fun fact: the only name I wish I could change is Harry Iskinder’s, from my 2012 book, The Sundered. Why? Because there are already a lot of Harrys out there! Unfortunately, he gave me no choice, and the name stuck. Far be it from me to be the one in control here!
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The Christmas Dragon/ Strings
by Ruthanne Reid
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*The Christmas Dragon*
MyReview
In a world filled with all types of beings, Katie just wants to live a normal life. One without magic.
She’s doing just that until someone leaves a box on her doorstep. The box looks so innocent until it jumps. And jumps some more. To keep her neighbors from seeing it, she scoops it up and takes it inside.
Opening the box, she is instantly enchanted by the tiny irridescent dragon. It’s all cute and cuddly until it vomits fire and about burns her kitchen down.
Her attempt at a normal life might not have appeared to be a great success but she was happy. Now Katie’s being dragged back into the dragon war. She has something the Hunters want and an ancient relative may be the only one to save her.
Poor Katie. She’s a descendant of the great wizard, Merlin, so how could she expect to ever live a normal life. Can’t blame her for trying though.
Grey is an elf, but don’t let him hear you say that. He despises that tag and insists on being referred to as a Fae. He’s a preener, young, arrogant, and a bit reckless. I wondered if he and Katie might get together. Didn’t really see it in this short story but who knows.
My fav is Versavious. A perfect name for the little darling. A pearl white baby dragon who threw up on Katie and nearly set her shoes and house on fire. He’s so precious and Katie had her hands full sneaking him to Merlin’s island.
Never dull, no fluff. Just fun and danger on every page. I’m moving on to read Strings, the next short story, now.
4 Stars
*****
Blurb
All Katie Lin wants is to get away from her family: from the magic, from the mayhem, and from the never-ending war.
Unfortunately, someone has other ideas, and sends her a box. A box that jumps.
The tiny fire hazard inside may just force her back to Wales – and right into the path of a dragon war, the Crow King, and at least one reluctant elf prince. Sometimes, running away just doesn’t work as planned.
*Strings*
My Review
It appears John Grey hasn’t changed much since his adventure with Katie Lin in A Christmas Dragon. This story takes place some time later and Grey is marked by some deadly creatures. He can’t fight them in the Ever Dying land of Manhattan and needs the help of humans to defeat them.
This doesn’t sit well with Grey at first, The Ever Dying (us humans) have no place in his life. He doesn’t like them, prefers to avoid them.
So when Grey had to align himself with a group of humans I was curious if his feelings for them would change. They had to. He was fighting for his life and they were risking theirs to help him.
One in particular had Grey looking at humans differently. The bartender he escaped with from a horrific attack. But his distaste for humans makes him wary of him. Grey senses something’s not quite right about the bartender. He seems to know more than he should.
Notte is back. He really creeped me out in the earlier book. He’s kind of a vampire, but different, even scarier. In this story he shows a different side of himself, a nurturing one, as he tries to help his friend, Grey.
By the end of the story, I began to see some redeeming qualities in the arrogant, brash, John Grey. And his power that flows from his music and song is fascinating.
This is darker than the first adventure and added to my enthusiasm for this world. I’m hoping Grey and Katie bump into each other again in the next one.
4 Stars
*****
Blurb
Need help? You probably shouldn’t ask Grey.
A runaway Unseelie prince, Grey feeds on love – a commodity he conjures via music and magic in late-night Manhattan. It’s a sweet gig, if lonely, and Grey is almost sure the dire warnings he was given about New York in December won’t come true.
Then a monster from his childhood attacks in the middle of the night, and everything changes.
He survived, but he’s marked, and more monsters are coming for him and everyone who survived. Grey has no plans to be a hero but fate doesn’t care what he wants. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you aren’t the one pulling the strings.
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Excerpt
The Christmas Dragon
The box jumped!
Boxes are not supposed to jump. It’s a law somewhere, I think. Maybe Guyana. Apparently not in New Hampshire, because the box kept jumping.
I sat in my idling car, puffs of exhaust rising in my rear-view mirror, and stared at the uncoordinated box-dance. It was wrapped in the loveliest paper, too, which was a shame, because bouncing on my boot-scraper had roughened all the corners and torn one edge. The bow was big and purple and covered in small green somethings. I wasn’t close enough to make them out.
I didn’t want to be close enough to make them out.
If I didn’t do something soon, the neighbors would notice. The box probably hadn’t been jumping all morning, or there’d be a crowd. Or maybe it was already on YouTube. I didn’t know.
So much for a safe, boring life among the Ever-Dying. New Hampshire, you have failed me.
I turned off the car. Time to go see what invaded my (mostly) magic-free space.
~~~
About Author Ruthanne Reid
Indie author Ruthanne Reid writes about elves, aliens, vampires, and space-travel with equal abandon. She is the author of the series Among the Mythos, and believes good stories should be shared. Subscribe to her free email newsletter for free books and more at http://amongthemythos.com. You can connect with her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ruthannereid), Facebook (http://facebook.com/mythos), or Tumblr (http://ruthannereid.tumblr.com), where she looks at too many kittens and Avengers blogs.
Ruthanne’s love of magic, urban environments, and deep space birthed a strange world with undercurrents of faith, magic, villainy, and heroism (along with swords and lasers, on occasion). Among the Mythos showcases aliens with all-too-human feelings, entire societies on the decline due to greed and fear, protagonists who might actually be the bad guys (or vice-versa), and endings every bit as messy as the world that creates them.
Ruthanne knows from experience that endings are messy. No matter how exotic the setting, how many limbs the characters have or what (if any) genders, the problems and questions addressed by a good story are very real, and that’s why they have power. If she has a theme, it is this: keep fighting, and keep pushing toward hope, because the struggle is worth the finish-line.
Publisher: White Whisker Books (April 20, 2015)
ISBN: 978-0-9863265-0-9
Category: Suspense/Thriller
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 176 Pages
My Review
Nicole, a high school sophomore, could be described as a child protege. She prefers the term science nerd. Her father works on the Nasa Panel, traveling a lot, and her mother runs her own lab at the university, so Nicole’s proclivity for science and biology are no surprise.
It soon comes to Nicole’s attention that the crows are leaving her small town of Isla Vista. When people’s pets mysteriously vanish, body parts are discovered, the homeless start disappearing from their sleeping spots in the park, and a strange gooey substance starts cropping up, Nicole uses her smarts to try to solve this deadly dilemma.
This is a truly creepy story. It starts like an average day in small town America and morphs into the truly bizarre very quickly.
The characters, even the minor ones, will become as familiar as your next door neighbors. Living in a small town myself, I could relate to the claustrophobic feeling of everybody knowing everybody’s business. Adding in the homeless people made it more intense. The odd behavior of some and the dangerous outbursts of others built the suspense.
As to what’s causing all of this; you know that saying “can’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag?” It doesn’t matter if you are the best of the best. When you run into one of these things, you’d better be an Olympic sprinter or your dead.
I’ve always enjoyed horror like this. Something deadly comes to town. You don’t know where it came from, or why it chose your town. The tension and terror builds, slamming forward to that grand face off when you find out who wins or loses, who lives or dies. Once it’s all over your pounding heart finally slows to a normal rhythm and you mull over the story. I did anyway. Wondering what if this happened instead of that? What if so and so lived instead of died? And so on.
I’m also curious how the author came up with the horrific things that attacked the good people of Isla Vista. Well done on giving me something new to be afraid of. I’ll never look at an innocent object the same way again.
4 Stars
~~~
Blurb
In the college town of Isla Vista, California, small, odd things start happening. Science-geek Nicole notes the crows are leaving. Meg Burdigal can’t find her tabby cat, Schrand. Brian the postman feels uneasy at the rustlings, the shadows he’s seen at the edge of his vision on his delivery route in town. Now Nicole sees fewer and fewer homeless in the park. Using her knowledge of biology and forensics, Nicole searches for answers—but will anyone take the horror she finds seriously?
In this unusual thriller, ‘Watch the Shadows’, author Robin Winter explores where the ordinary slams against the extraordinary.
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Praise for ‘Night Must Wait’:
“’Night Must Wait’ is a knockout. Robin Winter really delivers the goods with her twisting tale.”-Norb Vonnegut, author of The Trust
“The world Robin Winter takes us to in ‘Night Must Wait’ is not the fantasy of Dorothy and Toto, no longer in Kansas; it is the scary, all too-real Africa.”-Shelly Lowenkopf, author of The Fiction Writers’ Handbook
“Readers never know when they pick up a novel if the story will become so compelling that they are taken away to that magical place where one finds oneself inside the world of the book’s characters, conscious of little else. ‘Night Must Wait’ did this for me. I read, forgot that I existed.”– Gina Rose St John, Amazon Reviewer
“Robin’s way around a sentence is nothing short of gorgeous. The beauty of her prose only highlights the tragedies of war and betrayal. In an era when women were still relegated to wife or teacher, Robin’s characters want, and get, more in ways both shocking and violent. I might not want to go to war torn Africa, but I do want to go on more adventures with Robin.”– Kathleen O’Donnell, Amazon Reviewer
Praise for ‘Future Past’:
“Robin Winter’s ‘Future Past’ is an original, meticulously crafted science fiction tale that blends the fantasy of Pinocchio and the hero’s journey with elements of time travel, redemption, and a post apocalyptic world that brings readers to a satisfying, yet unexpected conclusion.”– Matthew J. Pallamary
“Truly imaginative, unique, and gripping — I really really liked it! Robin Winter has a gift for inventing a world we’d be interested in saving, characters we’d be enriched to meet, and ideas about the human condition we’d be wise to ponder.”– John Foran
“Winter shows the strength and versatility of her writer’s voice in ‘Future Past’. Published shortly after her debut novel Night Must Wait, in which the setting offers a strong sense of place as a separate character, the science fiction themes of ‘Future Past’ haunts the reader long after the book is finished. Her first person approach with Ash gives chilling insight into a man-made world with apocalyptic consequences. Winter’s prose is crisp and her pacing sharp, giving fans a science fiction a thrill that is worth the spooky ride.”– Gretel Russell
~~~~~
About Robin Winter:
Robin Winter first wrote and illustrated a manuscript on “Chickens and their Diseases” in second grade, continuing to both write and draw, ever since. Born in Nebraska, she’s lived in a variety of places: Nigeria, New Hampshire, upper New York state and now, California. She pursues a career in oil painting under the name of Robin Gowen, specializing in landscape. Her work can be viewed at Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara or on-line at www.sullivangoss.com/Exhibits/RobinGowen2012.asp
Robin is married to a paleobotanist, who corrects the science in both her paintings and her stories. She’s published science fiction short stories, a dystopian science fiction novel, Future Past, and Night Must Wait, a historical novel about the Nigerian Civil War.
Head on over and leave a link to your Sunday Post and hop around to visits others.
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Some chit chat.
I missed last weeks Sunday Post. I think it’s been over a year since I hadn’t done one. I felt strange not doing one and, don’t laugh, a bit guilty.
I have family in town and we’ve been having lots of fun and I knew I wouldn’t have time to visit and comment on your posts, so I decided to wait and do one big one this week. I might be a bit late in visiting, but I’ll be by your posts. I try to visit all of them.
I’ve got lots to share with you and, of course, some more freebies too. Just make sure they are still free before you click the buy button. I normally wait to publish my post later in the morning on Sunday so I can make sure they are still free, delete ones that aren’t, and add on new ones. I won’t be near my computer so you’ll need to check them!
Have A Lovely Easter!
I’ll be hopping over to check out your Sunday posts so be sure to leave me your link!
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Here are my new books for review.
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New ones just because!
On my Kindle
New Print Books
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And here are some freebies for ya!
Click on the covers to get yours and remember to make sure they’re still free before you click that buy button!
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Books I reviewed the last two weeks. Click on the covers to read my reviews.
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Books I’ll be reviewing next week.
And Watch The Shadows by Robin Winter. I’ll reveal the book with my review.
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What I won.
I’ll let you know next week as I still have some I’m waiting on.
I remember the day I spotted Steve Alten’s book Meg at my favorite book store. A prehistoric megalodon shark leaps off the cover. I was in love before I even read a word. From there I read his Dominion series and then The Loch.
I couldn’t wait to read the sequel, Vostok. To reconnect with some old characters and meet new ones.
I can’t wait to share with you!
Enjoy my review.
Have fun with Steve’s short interview.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
New York Times best-selling author and screenwriter Steve Alten’s latest novel VOSTOK, the sequel to his popular novel THE LOCH, finds two major Steve Alten characters meeting up—Dr. Jonas Taylor from MEG and Dr. Zachary Wallace from THE LOCH.
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Book Details:
Book Title: Vostok by Steve Alten
Category: Adult Fiction, 416 pages
Genre: Science fiction thriller
Publisher: Rebel Press
Published: February 17, 2015
Available in: Print or PDF
Will send print books to: USA and Canada
Will send ebooks: International
Tour dates: March 16 to April 10, 2015
Content Rating: PG
Enjoy this quick interview with Steve Alten!
How did you do research for your book?
You begin with a concept and hit the Internet.
Your book is set in East Antarctica. Have you ever been there?
Hell, no.
What genre do you write and why?
Fictional thrillers… and a comedy.
Do you write every day?
Yes.
If you were stuck on a deserted island, which 3 books would you want with you?
Playboy, a book on survival, and the Encyclopedia Brittanica to use as toilet paper.
LOL Thanks for sharing, Steve!
~~~
My Review
I loved Steve’s Meg series. Who wouldn’t love a prehistoric shark loose in today’s oceans. I’ve read the complete series and then moved on to The Loch. Another winner with a prehistoric creature lurking in Loch Ness.
Steve has brought two amazing characters together from these books. Marine biologist Zachary Wallace and Dr. Jonas Taylor. Both of these men have drowned and come back from meetings with giant terrors of the deep seas. Neither ever thought they would enter primal waters again, but here they go.
From the village of Drumnadrochit, Scotland, to America, and back to Scotland to battle and defeat the beast of Loch Ness, Zachary is now about to jump down the rabbit hole into the coldest place on earth. Antarctica. But not on the surface. H he’s going two and a half miles below the ice cap to an undersea lake called Vostok.
No man has ever gone there before and Vostok has been undisturbed for over 15 million years. Here be monsters. Behemoths of unimaginable size and voracious appetite.
Imagine it if you can. Lasers burn the way, forming a narrow tube for the sub to pass through the ice cap. You break through and fall, plunging into a vast undersea lake over a thousand feet deep. A beast rises, mouth gaping wide, teeth taller than you, so huge you can’t grasp it.
When things go wrong, which they do, who do you call for help? How long will it take for them to get there, if they even can?
And what if there is another reason for sending you down there? Something ancient, powerful, non terrestrial that you have to retrieve. Big brother has their sticky fingers in this expedition. They want what’s down there. No one knows what they are up to. You get it or die trying. Sounds like a conspiracy doesn’t it?
The cast of characters is diverse and many. Some were old favorites and some were new to me. I crossed my fingers the good guys would survive, but you never know with Steve. He’s not above killing some off. And the bad guys. Some were just annoying, and some I’d drop through the tunnel myself.
By the time I reached the third part of the book, I was feeling the terror, the frustration, the courage of these characters. And then the author took the story in yet another direction. I stumbled a bit. Partly because it was hard for me to grasp how it worked at first. And partly because I didn’t want it to go in that direction. I was dragged kicking and screaming away from my beasts. I went with it though, and soon was engrossed and into it.
Vostok is the crossover book that brings The Loch and The Meg series together for the upcoming release of Meg 5: Nightstalkers. The title alone has me imaging all types of monsters.
I follow Steve’s newsletter and have been waiting years for his Meg book to be made into a movie. It will be coming soon and I’m sure it will be a huge hit. From there, maybe we’ll be meeting these beasties on the big screen.
Thanks so much to Steve Alten and Rebel Press for gifting me a Limited Edition Hardcover copy for my honest review.
What a strange, terrifying, spectacular ride it’s been from the first Meg book to Vostok and beyond!
5 Stars
~~~
Book Description:
East Antarctica: The coldest, most desolate location on Earth. Two-and-a-half miles below the ice cap is Vostok, a six thousand square mile liquid lake, over a thousand feet deep, left untouched for more than 15 million years. Now, marine biologist Zachary Wallace and two other scientists aboard a submersible tethered to a laser will journey 13,000 feet beneath the ice into this unexplored realm to discover Mesozoic life forms long believed extinct – and an object of immense power responsible for the evolution of modern man.
In this sequel to The Loch and prequel to the upcoming MEG 5: Nightstalkers, New York Times best-selling author Steve Alten offers readers a crossover novel that combines characters from two of his most popular series.
Watch this intense trailer!
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Author Steve Alten
Steve Alten is the New York Times and International bestselling author of fourteen novels, including the MEG series about Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 100,000 pound prehistoric cousin of the Great White shark and Domain trilogy, a series about the Mayan Calendar’s 2012 doomsday prophecy. His work has been published in over 30 countries and is being used in thousands of middle and high school curriculum as part of Adopt-An-Author, a free teen reading program, which he founded with teachers back in 1999.
I loved Laura’s Anya Kalinczyk Series and her The Hallowed Ones Series and was so excited to read Dark Alchemy. It’s a whole new ball game with this fantasy/urban fantasy. A strange new world in Temperance, Wyoming.
Have a seat. Wash the dust out of your throat with a shot of rye. And enjoy my review.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
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Dark Alchemy
by Laura Bickle
On-sale: 3/24
ISBN: 9780062389862
Stephen King’s The Gunslinger meets Breaking Bad in Laura Bickle’s novel Dark Alchemy.
My Review
This was one wild, weird experience. With a little imagination, it was more like I was watching this then reading it. I drew my visuals from the many science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies I’ve watched. All of those genres rolled up into one fantastic book was such a treat.
Petra came to Temperance to find her missing father. It’s also far away from the sea and a tragedy she can’t bear. Her training as a geologist is put to the test with the strange bodies, the otherworldly Gabriel, and the power that seems to live beneath the surface of the town.
There’s one heck of a mystery. Why are the bodies calcified? Who is behind it? What is Gabe and his Hanged Men? And what’s with the ravens?
Next is the originality. This story reeks of the old west but takes place in the present. I kept thinking of the movie Wild, Wild West with Will Smith. It’s not so much steam punk as magic, with weird devices and rituals. It feels hot, dusty, and otherworldly.
There’s also a bit of Native American lore laced into the story. I think that added to the western atmosphere and made it strange and creepy.
Now we come to the characters.
Petra is a mix of Annie Oakley and a female Clint Eastwood. She has this really cool leather duster and slings a pair of antique pearl handled .44s. She’s weighted down with some guilty baggage, yet she’s tough as a cactus and just as prickly. She’ll ‘make your day’.
With so many characters I can’t break each one down for you. There are the meth heads, in a delusional thrall to Stroud. There’s Sal and his insatiable desire for eternal life. All of these characters are dangerous. All of them want something Petra has discovered. All of them are gunning for her.
Then there’s the non human characters. Gabriel and his group of Hanged Men. They might once have been human, but not anymore. I don’t want to say they are evil so much as they ‘do’ evil. And there’s a weird connection between them and the ravens.
My favorite of all the non human characters was Sig, Petra’s coyote. He attached himself to Petra and became her companion, protector, and early warning system. Kind of like a familiar. He was my hero.
As for romance, there’s none. Well, there’s a spark but I don’t see where it could work.
Last but not least is the horror. It’s subtle, quiet, then it strikes. So unusual, steeped in magic and something ancient. How do you fight it? How can you stand against it?
I loved Laura’s The Hallowed Ones Series and her Anya Kalinczyk Series so there was no question about reading Dark Alchemy. It’s listed as a stand alone but the ending could lead to more adventures with Petra and her side kick, Sig. It would be great to meet these guys again.
5 Stars
~~~~~
Book Description:
Some secrets are better left buried…
Geologist Petra Dee arrives in Wyoming looking for clues to her father’s disappearance years before. What she finds instead is Temperance, a dying Western town with a gold rush past and a meth-infested present.
But under the town’s dust and quiet, an old power is shifting. When bodies start turning up – desiccated and twisted skeletons that Petra can’t scientifically explain – her investigations land her in the middle of a covert war between the town’s most powerful interests. Petra’s father wasn’t the only one searching for the alchemical secrets of Temperance, and those still looking are now ready to kill.
Armed with nothing but shaky alliances, a pair of antique guns, and a relic she doesn’t understand, the only thing Petra knows for sure is that she and her coyote sidekick are going to have to move fast, or die next.
Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.
Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016. THE HALLOWED ONES and THE OUTSIDE are her latest young adult novels.
My title for the post suggests a paranormal twister. I’m not referring to a tornado. I mean how this story is so twisted.
Can’t wait to tell you about so enjoy the peek inside and my review!
Darkness Within
The Darkness Series
Book One
Candis Vargo
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Date of Publication: March 10
My Review
After the death of her young son. Mia continues to act like he’s still alive. Her husband, Mike, is at the end of his rope. Nothing will convince her otherwise and he feels like he’s going crazy.
To save his marriage and his sanity, Mike goes to a psychiatrist and she has something she wants him to try with his wife. Not long afterwards strange things start happening. Something is haunting them, something dark and dangerous.
You may think you know what’s happening since we’ve all read books or seen movies with this plot. I thought I knew what was happening. Then I didn’t. Then I did. And so on.
The author kept me guessing and the story got creepier as the darkness got more violent.
I knew Mia was crazy. Then I thought Mike was crazy. It about drove ‘me’ crazy trying to figure things out.
While I was reading the end I knew what was coming. Then I didn’t. Then I did.
The entire book had be jumping back and forth between knowing and not knowing what was going on. It was as if the author put me in Mike’s shoes, and I was as confused and scared as he was.
This is a creepy story and I recommend it to anyone looking for a paranormal thriller with a great mystery thrown in. Just be prepared to think you do… Then you don’t… Then you do…
4 Stars
~~~
Book Description:
Tragedy strikes the Roseburg family and leaves Mike struggling to help his wife, Mia. After losing their only child in an accident, Mia is far from emotionally distraught…instead, she continues on like their son is still alive.
Four months passed since the accident…
Mike begins to work with a psychiatrist to help his wife with her delusions when a darkness begins to haunt them. As this dark presence becomes violent, making itself known, Mike wonders if the illusion of their child that his wife is seeing is something far more demonic.
With the dark force looming over them, Mike is left questioning his own sanity as he tries to unravel what is real and what is not.
Soon he realizes…
Something is dreadfully wrong.
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A Glimpse inside Darkness Within
Chapter One
The force of the impact with the truck thrust the Jeep forward, throwing Mia deep into her seat as they went nose first into a ditch. What was left of the back of the jeep rolled up over the front. It continued to flip over several times before seeming to levitate in the air after rolling off the embankment. It felt like an eternity, the world moving in slow motion, before it smashed against the icy cold river sending shards of glass and ice throughout the vehicle. As it slowly began to sink Mia automatically reached down to unbuckle herself. After struggling to free herself from the seat belt she reached back for her son.
Her long, dark hair floated through the thickness of the icy water and streams of blood swam around her face. As she turned around everything became hazy and the darkness fought to take away her control. A panic began to set in as her heart raced. She needed to get back to Eli, to unbuckle him…she needed to save her son.
Being a mother she couldn’t care less if she was hurt, she just needed to save her son. Like a tiger protecting her young, it was a mother’s first priority.
As she tried to move into the back seat she reached out to Eli again.
He gently placed his outstretched hand into hers. His eyes, so soft and gentle, stared into his mother’s, whose were full of pain and fear for him. He smiled his sweet innocent smile as if telling her that things were going to be okay.
It was the end of February, a time the weather was supposed to be warming up as it was readying for spring. Supposed to…but of course it wasn’t.
Mia had been trying to avoid what happened. Just moments ago she was talking to her husband on the phone through the Bluetooth she managed to con him into installing, stating that she was going to wait for the storm to pass.
“Hello,” Mikes groggy voice had echoed through the car.
“Hi, Daddy.” Eli’s enthusiasm rang throughout the vehicle. “Dad…Dad, I’m out of school, Dad. And it’s snowing!”
“Oh yeah, buddy,” Mike replied. “Well, I guess I will see you soon then.”
Mia had angled her rear view mirror down to look back at Eli. She placed her index finger in front of her mouth to shush him but smiled underneath it.
Eli puckered his lips out and grabbed them with one hand to keep himself from talking as he gave her a thumbs up.
“Yeah, it’s snowing like crazy.” Mia took her time as she drove. She was never a fan of the winter weather and only liked snow on Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day, any time before or after that she’d prefer it be seventy degrees and sunny. “We’re going to be late for dinner. I think I’m going to pull over when I can manage to even see anything so I don’t slide into a damn ditch.”
When Mia left to pick Eli up from preschool there were just a few flurries floating in the icy wind. Now it had come to near white out conditions, causing her to curse winter even more.
“All right, just take your time and watch out for the crazy people out there. And I came up with an awesome idea for big man’s birthday party. Turning the big five soon, eh, buddy.”
Mia looked in the mirror and saw Eli’s deep brown eyes light up. He hopped up and down in his booster seat with excitement. “Do I get a guitar,
Dad? Daddy, I want a guitar!”
“You’ll have to wait and see, buddy, but I better let you guys go so you can get home. Maybe this snow will be good enough to take you snowmobiling later.”
Mia rolled her eyes and shook her head in frustration. “See you when we get home.”
She was still upset with him over what had happened the night before. She could swear that sometimes it seemed like he’d rather be anywhere but where the man of the house should be at night…home. Gender roles were never really her thing, but to her it always seemed like the man did a better job of protecting the family from intruders.
“Stay safe,” Mike said before he hung up.
After Mike hung up Mia had slowed down even more, trying to find a place to pull over before she got anywhere near the upcoming bridge that crossed the river. She wanted to be out of the way of any oncoming traffic but with the snow falling as hard as it was, it was nearly impossible to see anything.
After a few more minutes of driving the snow let up ever so slightly, enough for her to spot a place where she could pull over. Slowing down to a near stop, she started to turn the wheel.
The distinctive sound of a big rig’s horn snapped her attention to the rear view mirror, still angled for her to see Eli. She snapped her head to the right side mirror and saw a tractor trailer turned sideways, sliding towards her. Her heart raced as she pushed the gas pedal, trying to get out of the way as fast as she could. The wheels seemed to turn in pace and the air horn blared again, but was drowned out by the screeching of metal as it collided.
Everything went black.
~~~~
About the Author:
Growing up on an old dirty road in the middle of nowhere, as a child Candis used her love for books as a way to escape reality (and her brother constantly trying to kill her—literally). She blames her love of all things Horror on being born on Friday the 13th and will always find joy in scaring her friends.
You will find a little piece of her in every book she writes. She loves a good happy ending, but most of the time she prefers one she never saw coming.
When she’s not writing or reading, she can usually be found chasing her children around. She currently lives in Rome, Pennsylvania with her husband and three children. And her fat cat.
Joan Holub’s fascination with mythology inspired Mini Myths, a new board book series that translates famous myths into situations familiar to preschoolers. The first four titles are Be Patient, Pandora!, Play Nice, Hercules!, Brush Your Hair, Medusa! and Make A Wish, Midas! published by Abrams Appleseed. Joan co-authors two other mythology series for Simon and Schuster, Goddess Girls (ages 8-12) and Heroes in Training (ages 7-10). Her picture book, Mighty Dads, was a New York Times bestseller in 2014.
