Wednesday, March 27, 2019

New Release: Summer of Incantations by Cruz Asher & Avery Allen

Now On Sale for $.99


This epic first installment of the de Valais Chronicles will cast a spell you’ll never forget. 

Kemina and Gabrielle aren’t just cousins, they are members of the illustrious de Valais family of witches. 

On Midsummers Eve the cousins experience the sudden death of a classmate. An event unleashed by the wrath of an obscure enemy.

With their impending enrollment in the magical Mont Grey Academy, tensions between the two are rising.

A sudden trip to Italy will change everything they know and force the girls to confront centuries old secrets. 

With the entrance of new friends, they begin to find themselves, just as an ominous presence draws closer.

Learning to draw on their powers, their teenage impulses to stand out and be noticed are put to the test against loyalty to their kind. 

Will the revelation of a hidden deception change the course of their lives? Or will love truly conquer all, no matter how dysfunctional?

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Release Blitz and Giveaway: The Golden Hour by Malia Zaidi



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The Lady Evelyn Mystery Series, Book 4
Mystery, Historical Mystery
Date Published: March 26, 2019
Publisher: BookBaby

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Lady Evelyn Carlisle has barely arrived in London when familial duty calls her away again. Her cousin Gemma is desperate for help with her ailing mother before her imminent wedding, which Evelyn knew nothing about! Aunt Agnes in tow, she journeys to Scotland, expecting to find Malmo Manor in turmoil. To her surprise, her Scottish family has been keeping far more secrets than the troubled state of their matriarch. Adding to the tension in the house a neighbor has opened his home, Elderbrooke Park, as a retreat for artistic veterans of the Great War. This development does not sit well with everyone in the community. Is the suspicion towards the residents a catalyst for murder? A tragedy at Elderbrooke Park's May Day celebration awakens Evelyn's sleuthing instinct, which is strengthened when the story of another unsolved death emerges, connected to her own family. What she uncovers on her quest to expose the truth will change several lives forever, including her own.

With the shadow of history looming over her, Evelyn must trust in her instinct and ability to comb through the past to understand the present, before the murderer can stop her and tragedy strikes again.



Other Books in the The Lady Evelyn Mystery Series



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A Poisonous Journey
The Lady Evelyn Mystery Series, Book 1
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: August 2015


The year is 1925, a time that hovers between two catastrophic wars, a time of jazz and sparkle, and a time of peace and reflection. For Lady Evelyn, struggling to outrun the ghosts of her tragic past, it is a time of transformation.

Left orphaned after a fire when she was only four, Lady Evelyn Carlisle was raised in London by her stern aunt and uncle. Now, twenty years later she has grown restless and is keen to escape her chaperone's grasp. A letter from her cousin, Briony, living with her husband on Crete, comes at just the right time. Packing what she can, Lady Evelyn makes off for foreign shores.

Welcoming her are not only Briony and her husband, Jeffrey, but also his handsome and mysterious friends, Caspar Ballantine and Daniel Harper. Though the latter carries with him tragic memories of the Great War, Evelyn is glad to be in their company. With the sun warming her back and the dazzling sea in her sights, this fresh start seems destined for happy days ahead. Little does she know . . .

What starts off as a sunny holiday quickly turns into a sinister nightmare, when Evelyn stumbles across the corpse of one of her cousin's houseguests. Drawn into the mystery surrounding the murder, Evelyn embarks on a mission to discover the truth, forcing her to face her own past as well as a cold-hearted killer. With the help of her cousin, the handsome local police detective, and the mysterious Daniel Harper, will she uncover the truth, before another life is claimed?




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A Darker Shore
The Lady Evelyn Mystery Series, Book 2
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: December 2016


1926: A year has passed since the events of "A Poisonous Journey" and Lady Evelyn has made a home for herself in Greece, living with her cousin, Briony, her husband, Jeffrey and Daniel Harper. Disturbing this island idyll is a letter, which arrives from France with troubling information about the Daniel’s long-believed-dead brother, Henry. A new journey awaits! With the shadows of the Great War reaching out, Lady Evelyn and Daniel voyage to Amiens in Northern France with the aim of discovering the truth behind the ominous letter. Upon their arrival, they are met not with clarity but rather with crime. Murder, to be precise. Is it linked to their presence in France, or even worse, to Henry himself? Evelyn and Daniel must confront their history as they try to make sense of the present before the killer can strike again, and the secrets of the past are lost forever.




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The Study of Silence
The Lady Evelyn Mystery Series, Book 3
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: February 2018


Lady Evelyn Carlisle has returned home to England, where she is completing her degree at St. Hugh's, a women's college in Oxford. Her days are spent poring over ancient texts and rushing to tutorials. All is well until a fateful morning when her peaceful student life is turned on its head. Stumbling upon the gruesome killing of someone she thought she knew, Evelyn is plunged into a murder investigation once more, much to the chagrin of her friends and family, as well as the intriguing Detective Lucas Stanton. The dreaming spires of Oxford begin to appear decidedly less romantic as she gathers clues, and learns far more than she ever wished to know about the darkness lurking beyond the polished veneer. Can she solve the crime before the killer strikes once more, this time to Evelyn's own detriment?





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 Excerpt
Prologue



"The water is wide, I can't cross o'er.

And neither have I the wings to fly.

Build me a boat that can carry two,

And both shall row, my love and I.



There is a ship and she sails the seas.

She's loaded deep, as deep can be;

But not as deep as the love I'm in

And I know not if I sink or swim.



I leaned my back up against a young oak

Thinking it were a trusty tree

But first it bent and then it broke

Thus did my love prove false to me.



O love is sweet and love is kind

The sweetest flow'r when first it's new

But love grows old and waxes cold

And fades away like the morning dew."



A song dances through the valley, bouncing from crag to crag, across the placid surface of the loch. Emerald hills caress the edge of the water as it laps gently against time-worn stones. The day is drawing to a close, the sky a hazy purple where it meets the peaks. The sun's reflection, an orange orb dipping into a western descent sets the water aflame. A sudden burst of ripples, spreading a fire. The tell-tale plop of a sinking stone. A satisfied chuckle. The crunch of feet flattening the dewy grass.

         It is the way of the young to walk and laugh and stomp about, beauty taken for granted. But youth is not forever, and the performer of the lilting melody, the thrower of the stone, cheerily, blindly trampling across the green, is not immortal.

            A sudden change in the atmosphere, almost imperceptible, the mere beating of a butterfly's wings.

            Four feet now move along the path; two leisurely and two slowly, furtively, unrhythmic in their gait, stalking, preying. The rustle of a bush to hide behind, the quick dart towards a tree might tell of this new arrival. However, those who are happy rarely fear. Those who are good, rarely anticipate the evil lurking within another.

            The sun touches the lowest peak, resting, it seems, upon that precarious perch.

            A sudden start.

            Silence.

            Two voices.

            A Scream.

            Only two feet leave the glen. Two feet and their owner with blood dripping from trembling hands.



About the author:

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Malia Zaidi is the author of The Lady Evelyn Mysteries. She studied at the University of Pittsburgh and at the University of Oxford. Having grown up in Germany, she currently lives in Washington DC, though through her love of reading, she resides vicariously (if temporarily) in countries around the world.


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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Trad Tuesday: Love let me home to my mother performed by Julie Fowlis



Julie Fowlis is the well-known Scottish singer who often sings in Gaelic. Here we have a song about a young girls’ encounter with the ‘each-uisge’ or water-horse. Once you get on a water-horse, you can't get off and the horse will take you into the loch to drown.

Lyrics:

Love, let me home to my mother Love, let me home to my mother Darling, let me home to my mother Love, let me home to my mother I only came for the cattle. It was only last night That I heard that my love was herding And though you found me at the perimeter of the cattle fold Love, let me home as you found me. I was clambering up the dykes And descending the ridges When a friendly lad met me And he did not enforce his friendship on me. Though you were to give me cattle and sheep Though you were to give me tethered horses Though you were to give me that and men Love, let me home as you found me. My mother and father will chastise you My clan and my relatives will chastise you But my three brothers will kill you If I don’t return home as I came. My mother promised me a gown Decorated with the newest of ribbons And she promised me a new plaid If I return home the way you found me.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Book Blitz: Fallen Hopes, Taken Dreams by J.M. Barlog


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Historical Fiction
Publisher: BAK Books

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It was the roaring 20s, and Americans were living the dream, except for…

… those hundreds of Native Americans wrongly committed to our nation’s only Indian insane asylum. Once there, they endured unimaginable torture and abuse with no hope of ever being free. These people were real. Their suffering was real. Their story will touch your very soul.

This powerful, heart-wrenching saga came from the records in the South Dakota State Archives for the Canton Indian insane asylum.

Highly-acclaimed, Fallen Hopes, Taken Dreams is a must-read for historical fiction and Native American fans.

About the Author

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J. M. Barlog grew up in Chicago before serving in Vietnam with the US Air Force. He has authored numerous novels across many genres. Windows to the Soul, his debut novel, won the Readers' Choice Award for suspense at a ''Love Is Murder'' Mystery Conference. Barlog currently lives with his wife in Southern California, where he is busy writing sequels to his popular novels The Heart of the Lion, Minno, and A Connecticut Nightmare.


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Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Book Tour & Giveaway: The Secrets of Hawthorne House by Donald Firesmith


The Secrets of Hawthorne House
by Donald Firesmith
Genre: Teen Paranormal Mystery


Matt's life changes forever when a family of druids moves into the dilapidated Victorian mansion next door. The story of an unlikely friendship, the clash of two completely different cultures, secret magic, and a search for the lost Hawthorne treasure.
Fifteen-year-old Matt Mitchell was having the worst summer imaginable. Matt’s misery started when a drunk driver killed his mother. Then his father moved him and his twin sister to the small town of Hawthorne in rural Indiana, as far as his grieving father could take from the ocean that Matt's mother had loved. At the new high school, three bullies are determined to make Matt miserable. And to top it off, Matt learns that the recluse who lives in the 'haunted house" next door is none other than Old Lady Hawthorne, the town’s infamous witch and murderer. Matt’s terrible summer is turning into an awful autumn when something quite unexpected happens. Old Lady Hawthorne’s niece and her three children arrive, and Matt meets Gerallt.



A geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books, written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers, and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He's also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered somewhat by his fear that the term "distinguished" makes him sound like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer whose beard is still slightly more red than gray.


By night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, and his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and birds.





Follow the tour HERE for exclusive content and a giveaway!




Thursday, March 7, 2019

Book Tour & Giveaway: The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman by Robin Gregory


The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman
by Robin Gregory
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism


Early 1900s, Western America. A lonely, disabled boy with a nasty temper and uncontrolled mystical powers, Moojie is taken by his father to his grandfather's wilderness farm. There, Moojie meets an otherworldly clan of outcasts that he wants to join. Following a series of misadventures--magical and mystical--he is summoned by the call to a great destiny ... if only he can survive one last terrifying trial.



Having won a number of awards, Robin Gregory's The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman is being lauded as a classic. A haunting, visionary tale spun in the magical realist tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, the profoundly unique voice and heart-stirring narrative recall great works of fiction that explore the universal desire to belong.






ROBIN GREGORY is a devoted wife and mother, and student of mystical teachings. Born in Pensacola, Florida, she grew up in California, accompanied by seven siblings, and surrounded by horses, real cowboys, and the occasional rattlesnake. She has always been drawn to helping others, a trait that began, to her mother’s horror, with bringing home swallow chicks stricken from their nests. She has worked as a journalist, lay minister, and infant massage instructor for mothers and babies at risk. Her studies include Literature and Creative Writing at University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford University’s Writer’s Workshop. She lives with her husband and son in a Carmel cottage old enough to make you sneeze. “The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman” is her first published novel.




Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!






Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Book Tour & Giveaway: The Crystal Keeper by Laurisa White Reyes


***There is a special Kindle Fire 7 giveaway open to anybody who reviews the series!!**

Exile
The Crystal Keeper Book 1
by Laurisa White Reyes
Genre: Epic Fantasy



Exiled for loving a human, Jayson is sworn to protect the Seer's crystal from those who would use it to obtain power. Unbeknownst to him, his wife Ivanore searches for him, hoping to save him from the terrible fate she has seen in her visions. When she is captured, Jayson must make an impossible choice--should he save Ivanore or save the crystal?

**Get it FREE!!**



Betrayal
The Crystal Keeper Book 2


With the help of Teak, a local farm hand, Ivanore flees from the Vatéz into the forest. While recuperating from her injuries, she becomes an apprentice to an elderly enchantress who teaches her how to control her abilities. Unaware that Ivanore is in Hestoria, Jayson commits to working off the cost of Brommel’s passage to Dokur, where he hopes he and his young son will be safe. Though Jayson vows to avenge the death of Brommel’s wife and daughter, despair and guilt threaten to extinguish what little hope he has left of begin reunited with Ivanore.



Vengeance
The Crystal Keeper Book 3


In the third book in The Crystal Keeper series, Ivanore sets off to rescue Jayson from the Vatez but soon finds herself their captive instead. Once Jayson learns that Ivanore is in Hestoria, he must choose between saving her and saving the Seer's crystal.



Hidden
The Crystal Keeper Book 4

For four years, Jayson and the Guardians of the Seer have been hiding on a remote farm, but Arik, Minister of Hestoria, refuses to give up hunting for them. As his hatred for Jayson grows, Arik and the Vatez begin attacking local villages in hopes of flushing out him out. But when his efforts fail, Arik uses Ivanore, the Seer and Jayson's true love, to betray him.



Defiant
The Crystal Keeper Book 5

Defiant is the 5th installment in The Crystal Keeper series.


Lady Ivanore the Seer escapes Auseret and goes in search of Jayson and the Guilde, but Arik, leader of the Vatez, is determined to use her to lead him to the crystal.




Fallen
The Crystal Keeper Book 6

Fallen is the 6th installment in The Crystal Keeper series.


Arik, Minister of the Vatéz, wreaks vengeance on the Guilde, escalating the violence against Hestoria's villages. Meanwhile, though Jayson's wounds begin to heal, his memories of the Vatéz's attack -- and of Ivanore -- are missing.




Get the Omnibus collections here!!
***There is a special Kindle Fire 7 giveaway open to anybody who reviews the series!!**

The Crystal Keeper: Books 1-3

The Crystal Keeper: Books 4-6


***There is a special Kindle Fire 7 giveaway open to anybody who reviews the series!!**


Laurisa White Reyes is the author of the 2016 Spark Award winning novel The Storytellers, as well as The Celestine Chronicles and The Crystal Keeper series. She lives in Southern California where she teaches English at College of the Canyons.



Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!