Someone—maybe everyone—is hiding something from Claire Dellamare, and it will cost her everything to drag the truth out into the light. Colleen Coble's new book, The Inn at Ocean's Edge, is a must-read for mystery and suspense readers. As Claire and Luke put together the pieces of a decades-old mystery, they discover that some family secrets refuse to stay buried. And some passions are worth killing for.
Celebrate the release of The Inn at Ocean's Edge by entering to win a Kindle Fire and RSVPing to her May 5th author chat party!
One grand prize winner will receive:
A Kindle Fire
A copy of A Heart's Disguise
A copy of A Heart's Obsession
A copy of The Inn at Ocean's Edge
Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 7th. Winner will be announced May 8th on Colleen's website. Plus be sure to clear your calendar on the evening of May 5th because Colleen is hosting an author chat party on Facebook to celebrate her A Journey of the Heart series and the release of The Inn at Ocean's Edge! RSVP here!
Don't forget! RSVP today and spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on May 5th!
The exquisite dress, the dazzling menu, the family drama . . . It’s the day every girl dreams of, and Madison Wales is no exception. Her wedding plans seem to be going perfectly thanks to her very talented wedding planner, Sienna Harris. That is, until her grandmother and her two overachieving, bullying cousins suddenly want to become very involved in her big day. But . . . why? Madison’s perfect wedding dreams are dashed as things slowly start to unravel. With family drama in her midst, she wonders if her cousins are behind each disaster or if she has truly become a paranoid bridezilla. Will Madison be able to withstand all of the pressure and finally stand up for herself? The idea of eloping with her fiancé, Cole, is looking better everyday, even if it means leaving her dream wedding behind. Will she make the right choice?
Excerpt
“There you are. Why did you run off so abruptly?” She sounds very concerned. I contemplate explaining everything to her, but I’m not sure I want to share the skeletons in my closet just yet.
“I’m sorry. I’m just a little nervous about seeing my cousins. I haven’t seen them in a while,” I explain.
“Don’t you worry! When it comes to family, it doesn’t matter how much time goes by,” she says as she pats my arm.
This woman has no clue what is about to take place. My grandmother alone is a piece of work; thankfully, they have met and really got along well. I’m secretly hoping that the Ellie I spoke with on the phone is the Ellie that shows up tonight. Susan and Cole leave as I take a few more minutes to myself. As I stand, there in Susan’s perfect guest bathroom it occurs to me that maybe I’m completely over-reacting. Ellie and I did have a good conversation, and ultimately they have gotten their way by being asked to be in the wedding. That should be enough for them to be on their best behavior and not make themselves look bad in front of my new family.
Just then, I hear the doorbell ring and hear several female voices. Cole knocks on the door.
“All hell is about to break loose, are you ready?” he says, raising his eyebrows. He grabs my hand.
“I’m ready, but the question is, are you?” I lean up on my tippy toes to give him another kiss, and we head to the living room as if we are walking into a lion’s den.
Author Melissa Baldwin
Melissa graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications; she has always had a love for writing. An avid journal keeper, she fulfilled her dream with her debut novel, An Event To Remember . . . Or Forget.
Melissa resides in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and young daughter. She is a master at organization and multi-tasking. Her daily jobs include mother, chauffeur, wife, PTA President, Fitness Trainer, and now Author.
When she has free time, she enjoys traveling, fitness, decorating, fashion, and taking a Disney Cruise every now and then.
$50 Blast Giveaway
Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 5/11/15
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by readinglight.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
I'm excited to share the cover for You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet by Juliette Harper! This is the first book in A Study Club Mystery series. It's set to release in June 2015. I love the title! Check out the excerpt and then the fabulous giveaway at the end!
About the Book:
Wanda Jean Milton discovers her husband, local exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley; Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider, Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.
Excerpt:
Sugar Watson took a long drag on her Camel and critically appraised the height of Clara Wyler’s black bouffant. “You want me to go a little higher, honey?” she asked, punctuating the question with a well-developed smoker’s cough. “If I rat it up real good, I can get you another 2 or 3 inches on top.”
Clara squinted at herself in the mirror. “I think I’m good, Sugar,” she said. “What with Wanda Jean finding Hilton dead in the living room, I don’t want to look insincere at Study Club.”
Sugar leaned in conspiratorially. “I know we don’t ever throw anybody out of the Study Club, but my Lord, what in the world are we gonna do if she really did kill him?”
Clara glanced around to confirm that all the other women in Sugar’s Style and Spray were safely tucked under the dryers. “Well, she called me herself to assure me that she didn’t do it,” Clara said. “She owned up to wanting to, but she didn’t do it.”
“Well, hell,” Sugar said, “we’ve all thought about killing our husbands. That’s just part of being married. But nobody’s ever walked in my house and found Slim laying there with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. What did Wanda Jean say about finding him?”
“She told me the first thing she thought about was how hard it was gonna be to get the blood out of that new shag carpet they put in last month,” Clara said. “You know they went with the deep pile.”
“I know,” Sugar said. “I looked at it too when T.J. put the ad in the paper, but my vacuum cleaner just won’t suck up dirt good enough for that. Is it a light carpet?”
“I didn’t think to ask her,” Clara said, unclipping the plastic cape around her neck and handing it to Sugar. “Anyway, she said she just stood there thinking about how you can’t get blood out of shag carpet. Then it dawned on her maybe she ought to check him for a pulse.”
“I hope it wasn’t a light carpet,” Sugar said, rearranging cans of Aqua Net on the counter. “Those boys from the ambulance service never think to wipe their feet before they go in to get a body. You should have seen the mess they made when Blake Trinkle died. They just ruined Maybelline’s carpet. She spent as much getting it cleaned as she did on the funeral.”
“That’s so inconsiderate,” Clara agreed. “People just don’t think. Now you’re not gonna be late this afternoon, are you?”
“Of course not,” Sugar said. “Flowers knows not to book me on the third Thursday at three. Study Club day is sacred.”
“Good, I have to go by the bakery and . . . ”
The look on Sugar’s face stopped Clara mid-sentence. “Good Lord, Sugar,” she said. “You look like you swallowed one of your Camels.”
“I think we’re gonna be one short for Club,” Sugar croaked. “Look.”
Clara glanced out the front window in time to see Sheriff Lester Harper helping a handcuffed Wanda Jean Milton out of the backseat of his car. “What is that man thinking!” she exclaimed. “Parading her in front of God and everybody on the courthouse square!”
--------------------------------------------
About the author:
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson.
Like the characters of their debut series, The Lockwood Legacy, Juliette is a merging of their creative energies.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan from a long line of hardheaded Scots, knows the world of the Lockwoods like the back of her hand.“We decided to write under a pen name because neither one of us by ourselves could have created Kate, Jenny, Mandy, and their world,” says Pauletti. “Juliette is a little bit of us both. We want to be her when we grow up.”
“Patti teases me that I just don’t want to own up to writing a book with romance in it,” Williamson adds, “but that’s not true. I like the Lockwood women and the way they tackle everything life throws at them. And before we’re done, they’ll be ducking a lot. I imagine coming into the office every day and saying, ‘Okay Juliette, what’s going to happen now?’ She tells us, and we get it down on paper.”
Welcome to my stop on the book tour for Grace Revealed: A Memoir by Greg Archer, an historical memoir available now from NorLights Press.
GUEST POST
How did I get here? How did we get here? What happened before us?
These are heady questions, sure, but certainly most of us ask these questions—of ourselves and of our loved ones—at some point in the course of our lives. I did.
More than a decade ago, I had encouraged my Polish uncle to “jot down” some notes about what had happened to him and my Polish family when they were children … when they were living as Polish refugees in Siberia and beyond. When, on that fateful September day so many years ago, I opened up a letter that my uncle had sent me, I could not believe my eyes. He had actually done what I had asked. Suddenly I was filled with dread.
Why?
Growing up, I always heard about my Polish family’s unique survival story—how they, like many millions of Polish people living in Eastern Poland in 1940, had been taken by force by Stalin and sent to the Siberian Gulags; how, in 1941, they were released from confinement by Stalin as part of an arrangement/ stipulation was made after he joined the Allies to defeat Hitler; how the Poles wound up in Uzbekistan, The Middle East, India and later, entered the fold in a Polish orphanage in Tanzania that was overseen by the British. The story fascinated me as it played out in my mind. But something about actually receiving the information my uncle had sent disturbed me greatly. Suddenly, it was no longer just that story playing out like a fantasy-movie in my head. No. It was far more dramatic. These were real events that happened to real people. And those real people happened to be my family.
As a soul-searching Californian who had fled his hometown of Chicago years before ever receiving this information, I took my uncle’s letter as a “sign” to explore the family tale more deeply. However, it would take nearly a decade until I did just that. Through a series of recorded video and audio interviews with family members, I became a Living Ancestry Titan. I wanted to make sure I knew what really happened—every detail. My family’s unique survival story—and the plight and resilience of nearly 2 million Poles—is illuminated in my book, Grace Revealed, a kind of Eat Pray Love by way of a Polish Alex Haley.
Because 2015 marks the 75th anniversary year of Stalin’s deportations, I wanted the book to be published (through NorLights Press) this year, mainly because I felt that the world was very aware of one kind of Holocaust—what Hitler had done to Jewish people—but that few people really knew about the “Other Holocaust”—Stalin’s. The news had not penetrated the collective and the masses knew very little about the extent of Stalin’s wrath and what he inflicted on the Poles, and how many of them, like my family, managed to survive. Beyond that, it seemed that the timing was also ripe to explore how much we all are influenced by our own lineage—that the threads of the past live on through us, whether or not we are aware of it.
At recent book events, people have asked me: “What can I do to learn more about my family’s past?” The answer is quite simple and perhaps easy to execute. I always encourage people to seek out their eldest family member first and just sit down and have a discussion with them—about what they remember about their childhood; their parents, and the stories that their parents may have told. There’s some rich material to be found in this kind of inquiry. Ultimately, I feel it allows us to know something deeper about ourselves and the lives we are now living.
For me, I never imagined my initial inquiry would have taken me on a global adventure to uncover the truth. But it did, proving to me, perhaps, that with even a modest dose of willpower and willingness, there lies a fascinating bit of growth, grace and serendipity.
GREG ARCHER is an author, cultural moderator, award-winning journalist, television host and motivational speaker. His latest book, GRACE REVEALED: A MEMOIR, goes from glitz to the Gulags as the popular entertainment reporter takes a step back from Hollywood to explore his Polish family’s mesmerizing tale surviving Joseph Stalin’s mass deportation of Poles during the 1940s. What he uncovers along the way fuels his mission to not only expose the nearly forgotten odyssey that befell nearly 2 million Poles 75 years ago, but to also expose the ripple effects that remain today.
“Powerful, touching and heartfelt.”—The Huffington Post
EXCERPT
It all began with a broken picture frame and actor Ewan McGregor. But not at the same time. And a photograph of Ewan McGregor was not even in the picture frame. Nor did the Hollywood hotshot have anything to do with breaking it.
Allow me to explain …
It was the Fall of 2010 … which is the perfect way to begin a story, but for me, it really could be taken quite literally.
One morning, I walked into my third-floor office of the weekly magazine at which I was the editor in Santa Cruz, California. To my surprise, the double picture frame housing two different black-and-white photos of my Polish family lay face up on my desk and the glass from the frames broken, the remnants arranged in a clumsy collection of jagged shards right there atop of it.
My Polish grandmother’s disenchanted eyes stared up at me with haunting concern from one of those photos and her tightly drawn lips refused her powdered, solemn face to soften. Next to her lay a group portrait of my grandmother, my aunt, my three uncles, and my mother, all at various ages in their youth, sitting on a bench outdoors in Tanzania, Africa, during the 1940s.
I sat down behind my desk and quickly assessed the situation, glancing at the top shelf on the wall nearly three feet away. The picture frame typically resided there and during the course of any given week, I would peer up at those photos more times than I could accurately assess and ruminate—on my family’s strength, their will, how World War II affected them. At times, these deep thoughts temporarily assisted me in avoiding a life-long habit I had yet to fully overcome: Mood Swinging.
I would not necessarily call myself bipolar.
Emotional? Of course. But bipolar. No. (Not yet.)
BOOK TRAILER
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Author, Journalist, Cultural Moderator, More …
GREG ARCHER is an author, cultural moderator, award-winning journalist, television host and motivational speaker. His latest book, GRACE REVEALED: A MEMOIR, goes from glitz to the Gulags as the popular entertainment reporter takes a step back from Hollywood to explore his Polish family’s mesmerizing tale surviving Joseph Stalin’s mass deportation of Poles during the 1940s. What he uncovers along the way fuels his mission to not only expose the nearly forgotten odyssey that befell nearly 2 million Poles 75 years ago, but to also expose the ripple effects that remain today.
“Powerful, touching and heartfelt.”—The Huffington Post
**** GREG ARCHER’s work covering agents of change, history, travel and the entertainment industry have appeared in The Huffington Post, Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Examiner, The Advocate, Bust, Palm Springs Life, VIA Magazine, Jetset Extra and on variety of cable television outlets. A four-time recipient of the Best Writer Award in a popular San Francisco Bay Area Readers' Poll, he shines the light on change agents near and far, and other under-reported issues in society. His splits his time between his hometown of Chicago, and Palm Springs.
Greg will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.
Welcome to my stop on the book blast tour for The Boxford Stories by Kristen Carson!
'Welcome to the world of the Runyons and the Feldsteds, two Mormon families in 1970s Maryland. Far from their Western American roots, they cling to each other like exiles
clutching a precious box of topsoil from the old country.
"In The Boxford Stories you will meet Ada Runyon who always turns to Ruthalin Feldsted when she needs an ear—sharing her deepest confidences, her everyday musings, and her bits of horrified gossip. Yet Ada dies inside whenever Ruthalin’s country-cousin manners poke out in public.
"Latham Runyon, a history professor, and Erval Feldsted, a hospital engineer, bond every Sunday night over gooey desserts and vigorous religious discussion, a game their children call Stump the Rabbi. Underneath their balding heads and graying temples, each man desperately seeks a sign that God would choose him as a buddy.
"The Feldsted and Runyon children, running breathlessly through each other’s houses and backyards, have long considered each other substitute cousins. However, Ginni Runyon plots to change herself from the girl next door to the girl Marc Feldsted can’t live without.
"And when Boxford’s Mormons mix with the rest of the town, everybody could use a field guide to the other species.
"Laugh, cry, and shake your head with the Runyons and Feldsteds as they make their way through the decade that brought us leisure suits and urban decay."
Now Latham stood before the steam-clouded mirror. He squirted shaving cream into his hand and swabbed it over his face.
It was not the best face, to be sure. He imagined how it would look to those sitting beside him in conference tomorrow. There he'd be, his arms folded as he sat on a hard metal chair way at the back of the gym, looking for all the world like Joe Mormon, with the standard white shirt, the standard wing tips, the standard bald spot, and the standard case of scriptures with a sagging, broken spine.
The young fathers nearby would look at him and think, I hope I don't become that in twenty years. Their young wives would study his pocked cheeks and try to imagine just how bad the teenage acne had been. And teenage girls would decide that he was, no doubt, ten times cornier than their own dads. . . .
Then, when his name echoed forth from the pulpit, and he stood up, his seat-neighbors would look up from their chairs, surprised. They would kick themselves mentally for not taking note of him sooner, for not recognizing his eminence.
His children would look up. Our dad? God wants our dad?
His wife would bow her head humbly and compose a few eloquent remarks, in case they summoned wives to speak.
And as he walked up to take his new place, people would look up from their seats, squinting at him. And when he reached the stand, Elder Sperry would smile, remembering: Oh, yes, him. The one that likes Great Biographies, just like me. Elder Sperry would shake his hand, motion him towards his very own theatre-style seat, a far cry from the metal chairs at the back. Elder Sperry would make him say a few words at the pulpit, where Latham could look down on all those surprised people, who were still taking it in that Latham Runyon was their new stake president.
Praise for the book:
"Standouts include “Gypsy Holiday,” in which Ada’s anxiety over family friends not coming to Thanksgiving devolves into a stark admission of her loneliness and inability to connect with outsiders; “A Little Five-Minute Thrown-Together Something,” which lays bare the squirming insecurities of teenage crushes; and “Flirting Lessons,” which sees Ada’s teenage daughter, Ginni, taking a cross-country road trip with two friends that leads to panic when one goes missing. These stories are unexpected in their subtlety as they explore the reality of what it means to be Mormon—and human."
--Kirkus Reviews
“’In an almost Faulknerian way, Carson finds the pulse of ambition and uses that tick to reveal the inner voices that can haunt us all, if allowed. We should be looking to the eternities, of course, but in the meantime, we have so many other things to worry us onward into the night, or at least until the next priesthood interview."
--Association for Mormon Letters on "'Atta Boy" in The Boxford Stories
Author Kristen Carson
"Kristen Carson was born in Idaho, the caboose baby in a family of six girls. She studied at Brigham Young University.
"Hearing tales of how green the grass was elsewhere, she pledged to move east of the 100th Meridian. Even though she’s never lived in the #1 place on her list (Lexington, Kentucky--have you seen those beautiful bluegrass hills?!), she enjoyed her years in Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. She currently lives in Indiana.
"Kristen’s stories and articles have appeared in The Indianapolis Star, Chicago Parent, Indianapolis Monthly, Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought and Irreantum.
"She and her husband are the parents of four adult children.
"She loves her two cats for their affection, their paranoia and their sense of entitlement. She takes long walks wherever she goes, because she thinks the best way to see the world is at 3 miles an hour. She loves cooking. All the chopping, stirring and inhaling lend the perfect capstone to her day.
"Kristen is also an avid reader. No doubt she won’t live long enough to finish all the books on her list. Her favorite authors are Herman Wouk, Diana Gabaldon and Tom Wolfe.
"Check out her blog, where she writes about whatever she’s reading and cooking.
Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 5/4/15
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by readinglight.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
Welcome to the release event for Tripp by Kristen Kehoe, a companion novel to Life Interrupted. We have some teasers as well as a giveaway of a necklace from Stella & Dot. Tripp is a Mature Young Adult Contemporary Novel and is now available for sale!
Have you read Life Interrupted yet? Get both books today (see details below)!
About the Book:
Because there are two sides to every story…
I’ve never been the guy who shied away from taking the ball. I’m an athlete; I thrive on the court, and I thrive in life because I don’t shy away from taking chances.
Except that one time.
Except with Rachel.
I fell in love with my best friend when we were ten, and she almost put her fist in my face when I tried to defend her against a fifth grade bully. I didn’t tell her that day that I loved her, or any of the ones following, because she had proved she didn’t need me, and even at a young age, I knew the opposite was true for me.
I needed Rachel with every breath I took, and it scared the ever-loving crap out of me.
Being the mature young man I am (cough), I tried to ignore it. I dated someone else; I stayed Rachel’s friend and watched her from afar because when you love someone who has the potential to break you into a million unrecoverable pieces, that’s what you do. You watch from afar and you never reveal your true feelings because it’s safer to hide them than to admit them.
Until it’s not. Until the day you take a step forward and alter both of your worlds completely, only to discover that you’ll never, ever be over her.
This is my story – my story of Rachel and everything I did and didn’t do, everything I said and forgot to say, and everything I felt before and after we made our biggest mistake and walked away from each other.
She told her side – now it’s my turn. I’m including our past, holding nothing back from her ever again, so she better be ready for me.
Mature Young Adult
***This is the companion novel to LIFE INTERRUPTED (The Life series Book 1) released January 2014. It can be read as a standalone, as it is different from Rachel’s story.
“Tripp,” Stacy says. I snap to the present. “Are you ready?”
I wipe my palms on my jeans and nod. “What do you need?”
Following Stacy’s instructions, I walk down the hall into Rachel’s room. The light is on; I can see the small form under the blankets before I peel them away and scoop my arms under her even though she protests. I want her to fight, even prepare myself for it, but right away I see what Stacy’s talking about. There’s nothing inside of Rachel—even as she attempts to thrash in my arms, I barely have to tighten my hold on her while I carry her to the bathroom. The girl who has so often put me on my ass from one punch has no muscle, and worse, she has no spirit.
Nothing about the girl in my arms right now is the Rachel I’ve always known. The lack of fight worries me more than the lack of weight.
Stacy’s already pushed the shower curtain back. I put Rachel inside, ignoring her half-hearted protests as I turn the water on cold and high. When she screams—the real-deal scream full of terror and anger—the vise on my chest loosens a little and I’m so grateful I could break down and weep. My hands are full because she’s putting much more effort into fighting me than she was a second ago. I forget about how cold the water is on my skin, or the fact that she looks like a ghost with dark circles under her eyes and a pasty pallor to her normally warm skin, and I talk to her while I hold her there.
“That’s right, Rachel, fight me. You fight me and you come back. Do you hear me? We need you, Rachel. We need you to fight.” She screams more, shoving at me with her hands, but I don’t budge. I encourage her as I see the color start to slowly seep into her cheeks. “Come on, baby, come back to us. Come back to me.”
I whisper the last part. I don’t know if it was the words or the fact that she’s finally opened up enough to feel the weight of it all, but she breaks—the dam cracking and flooding. Instead of being angry, she’s devastated.
My heart cracks and my lungs seize; she falls into a sobbing heap. I turn the water off and start to lift her into my lap. Whatever I promised her sister, I can’t do it; I can’t watch her break like this.
Don't miss out on Life Interrupted (The Life series #1). Order your copy today!
I am a writer of YA/NA contemporary novels. I write about those crazy ages of 18-23 because there is nothing scarier than being told to grow up and decide what to do with your life and who to be so suddenly. I write about love because it’s my belief that love, in one form or another, saves us all at some point in our lives. I am married to a man who understands and believes in me, and mother to a beautiful baby girl and a neurotic Great Dane Puppy.
I will be away from home most of the day so I am only planning to read one book - Yes Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson. I will read portions of it whenever I get a chance.
I am trying to step up my non-fiction reading for the summer. Not so sure it's a good idea to read a foodie memoir with snacks not being readily available...
Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon is an international reading challenge. For 24 hours, participants read books, post on their
blogs (and/or social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads,
etc.) about their reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. Participants
also take part in mini-challenges throughout the day and win prizes.
There are five ways you can participate: Reader, Cheerleader,
Mini-Challenge Host, Organizer and Prize Donor.
Bound together across time, two women will discover a powerful connection in Kristy Cambron's new book, A Sparrow in Terezin. Connecting across a century through one little girl, a Holocaust survivor with a foot in each world, two women will discover a kinship that springs even in the darkest of times. In this tale of hope and survival, Sera and Kája must cling to the faith that sustains and fight to protect all they hold dear—even if it means placing their own futures on the line.
Kristy is celebrating by giving away a basket filled with goodies inspired by her new book!
One grand prize winner will receive:
A set of poppy notecards
A poppy pin
A copy of I Never Saw Another Butterfly
A copy of the Mrs. Miniver DVD
Literary tea bags
Tumbler
A copy of A Sparrow in Terezin
This is a great giveaway bundle! Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 28th. Winner will be announced April 29th on Kristy's blog.
Summary: Russ Devereaux used to have it all—loving father, beautiful best friend, a carefree life in a town he loved, and strong magic. He was the king of his happy universe. Five months ago, that life was taken from him. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.
He’s spent months fighting back and building himself a new life, in a new city, with new friends he now considers family. But suddenly, his new life might be in jeopardy of getting shot straight to hell just like the last one. Literally, this time.
He’s discovered power inside of him—an ancient, dark power that he shouldn’t have, can’t explain, can’t control, and definitely needs to keep secret. He needs answers, but before he can get them, he finds himself arrested and on his way to face the supernatural council. The same council that stole everything from him the first time.
As Russ struggles to keep his new power under wraps, his old life and he new one are about to collide and it’s bound to be explosive. He may not have all the answers he needs, but one thing is certain: he’ll be damned if anyone is taking his new life from him. That is, if he’s not just plain damned.
***TEASER***
BONUS CONTENT:
Each book in the supernaturals series focuses on a different character and is told in there point of view. Scion (Book 3) is Russ's story, and he is excited to finally have his voice heard. If you'd like to get a sneak peek inside of his head, please enjoy this bonus scene from Chameleon written in his perspective. It's the very first chapter of the entire series, so even if you haven't started the Supernaturals series yet, you can still read it. It's totally spoiler free! (And hey, then you'll know what you have to look forward to in book three!)
Here's a short excerpt:
I was trying to make her nervous on purpose. My whole intent tonight was to make her see me in a new way. What better way to do that than to crawl into bed with her in the middle of the night?
We hadn’t been in bed together since we were kids. Back when the fact that we were the opposite sex didn’t matter. It definitely mattered now. She looked so incredibly sexy at the moment that I could hardly think of anything other than the fact that I wanted to obliterate the word “friendship” from all known languages.
“What happened to the Disney Princess nightgown you wore the last time we were in bed together? That was hot.”
But not nearly as hot as the tank top and panties she was wearing right now. Damn. I hadn’t expected her to sleep so risqué. I’d genuinely been prepared for Captain America pajamas or something, considering her infatuation with Chris Evans. But this…she looked… Double damn. Even if this plan totally backfired on me tonight, right now it felt like the best idea I’d ever had.
As I took a mental picture of her, Dani finally realized she wasn’t wearing a bra and freaked out, pulling her covers up over her chest while glaring at me. If she hadn’t been awake before, she definitely was now. “You’d better have a damn good reason for being here or you’re going to be very sorry.”
She was pissed but it was worth it. I gave her a pout. “Since when do I need a reason?”
She opened her mouth to unleash a verbal tirade but I lifted a hand to stop her. I didn’t need to hear her rant. No lecture in the world was going to make me feel bad for sneaking in here and catching a semi-naughty glimpse of her. Am I shameless? Why, yes. Yes I am. It’s one of my many talents.
Or you can get started reading the series now. Chameleon, the first book in the series, is available for FREE DOWNLOADon Amazon now throughApril 18th.
It's a limited time offer, so don't miss out on the promotion! Snatch it up, while it's free!
Chameleon (Supernaturals#1)
For small-town rebel Dani Webber magic and monsters are no more real than the Easter Bunny… until the day she accidentally stops time. Dani quickly discovers that not only do supernaturals exist, but she herself is one of them. This is great news for her life-long best friend Russ, who can finally come clean about his own supernatural status and his undying love for her. Before the two can start to enjoy the long overdue relationship, Dani is taken by a powerful council of supernaturals who believe she is the Chosen One destined to save them from extinction.
As if being kidnapped and expected to save the world isn’t bad enough, an ancient prophecy warns of the Chosen One’s dark nature: “Only the truest love will keep her an agent for good.” The council believes they know who this “true love” is and, unfortunately, that person isn’t Russ. The mysterious, powerful and devastatingly handsome Seer is the last person Dani wants in her life, but when she starts having visions of a horrific future, she has no one else to turn to for help. Soon Dani finds herself torn between two very different boys with two very different opinions of whom she can trust. With the visions getting worse and time running out, Dani is forced to put aside her feelings and work with both the Seer and Russ before an ancient evil is unleashed upon the earth.
Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and a cat named Mr. Darcy.
Can a woman held captive by her family make it back to the one man she knows she can trust? Find out in book two, A Heart's Obsession, of Colleen Coble's Journey of the Heart series. When Sarah Montgomery’s father succumbs to his long illness, Sarah is faced with a life-altering choice: submit to her brother’s will and marry the deceptive Ben Croftner . . . or escape through the dangerous American West to reclaim the heart of her beloved Rand Campbell at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
Celebrate book two in Colleen's A Journey of the Heart series by entering to win a Kindle Fire and RSVPing to her May 5th author chat party!
One grand prize winner will receive:
A Kindle Fire
A copy of A Heart's Disguise
A copy of A Heart's Obsession
A copy of The Inn at Ocean's Edge (blog tour coming in mid-April)
This is a great giveaway bundle! Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 7th. Winner will be announced May 8th on Colleen's website. Plus be sure to clear your calendar on the evening of May 5th because Colleen is hosting an author chat party on Facebook to celebrate her A Journey of the Heart series and the release of The Inn at Ocean's Edge! RSVP here!
RSVP today and spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on May 5th!
Learn how to recognize your own outer and inner beauty as defined by God, not the media or others, in Barbara Roose's new book, Enough Already. What would it take for you to believe you are enough already? Most women know God loves them, but might he love them more if they finally lost that last ten pounds, or got their hair to lay right, or finally found a pair of jeans that looked good and let them breathe? Well, maybe God doesn’t care about jeans, but women do, and all the talk about inner beauty hasn’t kept all of us from staring into a mirror and taking an inventory that never quite measures up.
Barbara is celebrating the release with a giveaway! One reader will receive a cash card and writing supplies for her own inner-beauty weekend getaway!
One grand prize winner will receive:
A $100 cash card for your own inner-beauty weekend getaway
A notepad/pencil set for your inner-beauty quiet time
A copy of Enough Already
This is a great giveaway bundle! Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 12th. Winner will be announced April 13th on Barbara's blog.
Wedding Haters by Melissa Baldwin
Author Melissa Baldwin
Melissa graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications; she has always had a love for writing. An avid journal keeper, she fulfilled her dream with her debut novel, An Event To Remember . . . Or Forget.
Melissa resides in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and young daughter. She is a master at organization and multi-tasking. Her daily jobs include mother, chauffeur, wife, PTA President, Fitness Trainer, and now Author.
When she has free time, she enjoys traveling, fitness, decorating, fashion, and taking a Disney Cruise every now and then.
Wanda Jean Milton discovers her husband, local exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley; Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider, Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.
Welcome to my stop on the book blast tour for The Boxford Stories by Kristen Carson!
Author Kristen Carson 
Because there are two sides to every story…
