Blog Tour: The Doorknob Society by @fletch125 #review

Young Adult / Paranormal / Steampunk

Date Published: February 2012

Chloe Masters’ world changes in a heartbeat and all she did was touch a doorknob. 

When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself traveling with her fathers magic act, where illusions were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into a world of ancient societies and secrets. 

When her father disappears it is a race against time to find answers before she loses whats left of her family. Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking about. 

Book one of the Doorknob Society Saga.

REVIEW 

What a great Steampunk/Fantasy novel. MJ Fletcher has created an amazing female lead in Chloe. She is feisty and really shows character growth over the course of this first novel. This is a series, and you will definitely want to go out and pick up book #2 as soon as possible! 

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MJ Fletcher

MJ Fletcher is the creator of the comic book series Adam Zero: The Last Man of Earth published by Ronin Studios. He’s also been published in Hope: The Hero Initiative and Digital Webbing Presents. The Doorknob Society was his first book series and still among his favorites. His other works include The Grimm Chronicles series and numerous novellas and short stories. He lives near the beach with his wife, daughter, and an insane dog. 

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Blog Tour: Adventures with Ragweed #review

Humor

Date Published: February 10, 2014

   

Whimsy - Humorous Tales of Adventure, Friendship and Outdoor Ventures For Young Adult Readers and those young at Heart

Adventures with Ragweed is a collection of humorous short stories filled with adventure and family themes.

Ragweed is a tribute to the whimsical part of each of us. Follow this young teen and her best friend, Marney as they travel to Mexico for a fishing trip, where the family is to shoot a pilot for a television show, instead, find themselves in an unexpected sea storm.

Laugh out loud as Ragweed takes on the tennis elite at the country club or attempts to rearrange their perfectly cut lawns.

Always one to learn new things, this young freckled face gal with the unruly blonde hair, builds a float, rides a horse and grows a garden - always getting into unintentional trouble and conning her friends to partake. Each task done with her own unique vies of the world.

Light Hearted and Funny

These stories are meant to entertain. It's difficult to narrow it down to one specific genre as the book is a collection of short stories suitable for young adults as well as for an older crowd with a sense of humor. Family Relationships, Friendships, Essays and Humor are categories all presented within the pages of this book.

If you like the outdoors you might enjoy reading about Ragweed's horse riding exploits or her compost-creating stunts. She spends a great deal of time playing sports and in the garden. Most of the stories are based on the author's own experiences when she was a young adult but some of us know that inner youth tends to follow us into adulthood - so if you have similar backgrounds, these tales will make you grin.

Beautifully Illustrated

Each story in this humorous collection is beautifully illustrated. The pictures capture the character and facial expressions of the gals in these short stories and in our opinion add to the text. There is also an animated video on the author's page that is worth watching. The artist tried to capture the fun-spirited character of Ragweed and when the pictures were put into film, the story came alive visually. It's like a short cartoon.

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Linda Lou Crosby is a video producer, storyteller and former professional athlete. Like Ragweed, she has a unique approach to life. Ragweed is a part of herself she wanted to share with others. Linda Lou has a great sense of humor and likes to laugh and make others laugh too.

She currently lives with her husband in Montana and California where on clear days you can find her fishing, hunting or hiking.

She and Ragweed hope you will enjoy each tale in this book as much as Ragweed enjoyed living the adventures.

PROMO: Tied With a Bow and No Place to Go by @TalkinTwang #giveaway

Mystery / Humor

Date Published: August 2014

Texas Ranger Ridge Cooper has investigated some odd cases during his career, but when local chicken farmer, Jay Roy Hobbs, is found dead, wearing nothing but boots and a bow, it becomes the strangest one yet. On the positive side, the lawman won’t lack for suspects. Turns out the victim got up close and personal with most of the girls in his graduating class and they’re in town for a reunion. All Ridge has to do is tolerate a talking parrot and consult a color wheel as he tries to determine if the culprit is one of Jay Roy’s three ex-wives or a high school conquest.

While her husband looks into his latest murder case, Tizzy Cooper has problems of her own. She’s joined forces with first cousin and local PI, Jinx Monroe, to follow a possible cheating husband, confront their Nana about baking Boom Brownies, and drench-a-wench at the local Renaissance Faire.

Excerpt

Jay Roy Hobbs held the county record for talking women out of their panties. At least that’s what Tizzy Cooper had heard. Rumor said ladies ignored his lack of good looks and fell for his quick wit. Now, staring at him through binoculars, she wasn’t so sure humor was his main appeal.

She swallowed the lump that’d been lodged in her throat since arriving on the scene. It wasn’t the sight of a dead body that bothered her. She’d seen plenty of those over the years. Her talent for talking to the dearly departed made it a frequent occurrence. But while the rest of Brownsboro’s citizens were having their first cup of coffee, she was five miles out of town, at the edge of a field, swatting mosquitos. Not the way she intended to start her day.

Sunlight filtered through naked limbs of an old tree and cast shadows across colonies of Bishop’s Weed standing tall like lacy parasols. The only thing ruining the spring array, Jay Roy’s lifeless body.

At first, Tizzy considered he might be asleep or unconscious, but after calling out to him with no response, and given the color of his skin, along with the buzzards overhead, she decided on a third choice.

Stepping onto an old stump to get a better view, she focused the field glasses. About fifty yards away, the man lay naked, except for boots and a bow, on a patch-work quilt, face toward heaven, arms outstretched. Something twisted in Tizzy’s chest. Jay Roy and her mom had graduated high school together which made him much too young to die.

A few feet to the right, Tizzy’s friends, Synola Harper and Rayann Tatum, shaded their faces and squinted toward the dead man. Tizzy stepped off the stump, adjusted the straps of her sundress and decided they must be as surprised as she by the sight, because neither of them said a word until she passed the field glasses to Synola.

“Lord, can you believe the size of that thing?” Synola let the binoculars dangle around her neck. She tugged her red tank top against warm mocha skin, tucked it into the slender waist of her jeans and smirked at Rayann. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen anything that big.”

Rayann tossed her head, blonde curls bouncing with the movement, then narrowed her green eyes and frowned. “Of course I have. I watch HBO.”

About the Author

Ann Everett embraces her small town upbringing and thinks Texans are some of the funniest people on earth.  When speaking to writing groups, businesses, book clubs, and non-profit organizations, she incorporates her special brand of wit, making her programs on marketing, self-publishing, and the benefits of laughter, informative and fun.

An award winning author, she’s also a member of Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization and a top ten reviewer on thenextbigwriter.com

When Ann’s not writing, she spends her days listening in on people’s conversations at the local Wal-Mart, beauty shop, Goodwill, and numerous other gathering spots. She draws from that research to pen her romantic suspense novels full of southern sass and Texas twang. For her new adult romance stories, she blends her dramatic writing style with a kick of humor.

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PROMO: Silk by Chris Karlsen with #excerpt

Mystery / Suspense / Thriller

Date Published: December 14, 2015

Silk on the skin—luxurious, luscious..lethal.

London-Fall, 1888

The city is in a panic as Jack the Ripper continues his murderous spree. While the Whitechapel police struggle to find him, Detective Inspector Rudyard Bloodstone and his partner are working feverishly to find their own serial killer. The British Museum's beautiful gardens have become a killing ground for young women strangled as they stroll through.

Their investigation has them brushing up against Viscount Everhard, a powerful member of the House of Lords, and a friend to Queen Victoria. When the circumstantial evidence  points to him as a suspect, Rudyard must deal with the political blowback, and knows if they are going to go after the viscount, they'd better be right and have proof.

As the body count grows and the public clamor for the detectives to do more, inter-department rivalries complicate the already difficult case.

EXCERPT

He wrapped an end in each hand and pulled. His fingers crept up the silk and he tugged a bit harder still. The material pressed deeper into the flesh of her neck. Bright pink dotted her cheeks and radiated down to her jaw. The veins in her temples popped out and pulsed in time to her heartbeat. She moaned, pushed her hips upward and writhed against him. Her soft pubic hair tickled his testicles. Isabeau’s unsubtle way of letting him know she wanted him inside her. He obliged.

Her hands encircled his wrists. She tugged hard outward, harder than usual. A choked sigh escaped her. He paid no attention. This was standard. Isabeau always insisted he maintain pressure until she signaled for him to release his hold. In the past, when she reached the edge of consciousness, she’d beat along his upper arms. This time she thrashed her head back and forth, something he hadn’t seen before. Her eyes bulged in an unattractive way and she clawed at him. Her nails gouged the skin on his hands, drawing blood.

She hurt him and he wanted to slap her. He almost let go of one end of the scarf to do that. Instead, he pulled tighter. Isabeau tried to insert her fingers into the spot where the material crossed over. Her mouth opened and shut, soundless and fishlike. She swatted at the mattress wildly. Red-faced to the point of being near purple, she bucked beneath him.

She fired his blood with her lack of inhibition. Never had she responded with such intensity. Raw power surged through him, primitive, animalistic. He pumped hard. Ready to climax, William clenched his fists, twisting the scarf one last turn. Odd, feathery touches tapped his biceps, feminine and subtle grazes, and then she went limp. Spent, he released his hold and collapsed on top of her, his heart pounding while he caught his breath.

Isabeau didn’t move and her head stayed turned to the side. She hadn’t cried out the way she normally did when sated. Perhaps she was disappointed with his effort. He gave the thought a mental shrug. At the end of the day, it really didn’t matter. He’d arrange for her departure first thing in the morning.

William rolled over and slung a sweaty arm over his eyes. He tried to decide which was worse, telling her tonight the affair was over or waiting until morning. The idea of doing it after such a rambunctious sexual endeavor seemed bad form, but he wanted to get it over with. He turned onto his side, prepared for histrionics, caterwauling, great tears and verbal abuse.

“Isabeau, look at me. I’ve come to a decision and it will likely distress you.” Nothing. She didn’t stir. “Isabeau?”

He shook her by the arm. Still no response. William let go and her arm dropped listless to the mattress. He raised her arm again and let go. Again, it fell listless. He straddled her and patted her cheeks. Nothing. Her head twisted without resistance first right then left depending on the direction of his pat. He slapped her harder. Nothing. Vacant eyes stared fixed on the ceiling. He bent an ear to her chest. Nothing. William leapt from the bed, snatched a silver mirror from the dressing table, and held it under her nose. Nothing.

“Bitch.” William hurled the mirror against the wall. “Bitch, whore,” he raged and paced along the side of the bed. “I will not allow you to make my life a nightmare. This was your doing. I told you to leave me alone.”

About the Author

I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader.

I grew up with a love of history and books.

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Blog Tour: Tranquility by @lauriegardiner1 #review

Women's Fiction  

Date Published: December 2014

   

Tranquility belies its name. Behind the nursing home's serene exterior hides a sinister secret.

Soon after transferring to Tranquility's dementia unit, support worker Sarah Scott suspects a co-worker of abuse. Doing the right thing could mean losing her job, and unemployment is not an option for the young, single mom.

Meanwhile, Sarah questions whether her newest resident, Edie, belongs in the locked unit. The feisty, Scottish woman certainly doesn't act as though she has dementia. Sarah is determined to have Edie released, but her plans are thwarted when Edie risks her own freedom to help find the proof needed to stop the abuse.

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Well written and extremely thought provoking. I loved the characterization and how well developed the characters were. They really helped to give compassion to me as a reader for their circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Laurie grew up on a farm in a small Northern Ontario community in Canada. She left home at seventeen to experience life in the city and now lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her husband of twenty-seven years.

Raising three kids, teaching fitness and operating a home daycare left little time for writing, but she did have some poetry published in various anthologies over the years. In 1997, her short story “Til Death Do Us Part” placed first in the Cambridge Writers Collective anthology.

At the age of forty, Laurie went back to school and began a new career as a personal support worker. Though she ended up working in homecare, it was a placement in the dementia unit of a long-term care facility that inspired her to write her first novel, Tranquility.

Laurie is currently enrolled in the Creative Writing Program through the local community college and is working on her second novel.

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Release: Scorch by KC Stewart #excerpt and #giveaway

Urban Fantasy

Date Published: January 5, 2015

Hailey Holloway has a serious knack with running from her problems. At the first sign of trouble she can be found lacing up her Nikes and hitting the road. Dacea has been patient with her, but a man can only handle so much. He told her before that he would not chase after her again and is he nothing, if not a man of his word. Katherine is more than happy to pick at the wound that festers between them. If she picks enough, she just might make one or both of them bleed.

War is on the horizon. Together, they need to convince the leaders of Blue and Silver to join their crusade against the Council, but can they put their differences aside and stop fighting long enough to help those in the line of fire?

EXCERPT

“Hope. That is your answer?”

He tilted his head slightly at her tone. “It is.”

 “Why should I hope for something that is doomed?” she asked plainly. “What would going back solve? We’d be happy for what? Five minutes before some new drama puts us at odds. I’m tired of fighting all the time. Loving Dak is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s like loving a frickin’ mountain. He’s stubborn and unyielding to the point that I just want to beat my fists against him but that would do nothing but make me bleed. I can’t take being built up again just to have him tell me how I’m supposed to live, feel or love.”

She gave a short humorless laugh and shook her head. “Hope is one of the worst promises I could give myself. Because if I allow myself to hope for him to come around, and it doesn’t happen…I will be broken. Dak is hard headed, inflexible and has arrogance coming out his ass. He is my Mate, and God help me, but I love him for all his faults, even if he can’t love me for mine.” While Silas listened he reached over and brushed his thumbs over each of her cheeks clearing away the tears. She batted his hands away and with a clear voice she continued, “If I walk away now, I can keep what little is left of me together. I can hold on to the cracked pieces that haven’t completely shattered and go on living. It might not be the best life, but it will be under my own terms.”

He should have been happy at her declaration. Silas could have his sister without Dacea’s interference. They could leave tonight and travel, go wherever she wanted for as long as she wanted. They could connect. But he could either have the Hailey that was full of pop culture trivia and was always good for a smile with her infectious laugh. Or he could have the reserved.

Hailey who watches the clouds pass by from the window of her room, never granting more than a brief comment to the mundane. He could have one or the other, but she couldn’t be both.

Silas may not have spent much time with her yet, but he knew who his sister was.

“Hailey,” he put his hands on her shoulders and tilted his head to the side trying to catch her gaze. “There is always reason to hope.”

 

About the Author

K.C. Stewart lives in central Pennsylvania with her three cats. She is currently attending college online for Library Science while working full time as a photographer. In her spare time, which isn't easy to find, she reads an obnoxious amount and writes in between everything else. K.C. has a very real addiction to gummy bears and talking to her cats when no one is around.

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PROMO: Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare by @Night_Buddies

Juvenile Fiction

Date Published: June 1, 2012

  Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare  is an after lights-out adventure story that will delight young readers and middle graders who relish roller coaster fantasy and fun, filled with unforgettable characters and an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits.

Night Buddies is all about the nighttime adventures of a young boy named John, who is not ready to go to sleep, and his friend, a bright red crocodile named Crosley who turns up under John’s bed.

They sneak out of John’s house using Crosley’s “I-ain’t-here-doodad” which makes them invisible to John’s parents. They then embark on an adventure chasing down enemies and cleaning up one mess after another as they solve the earthshaking mystery: who stole all the pineapple cheesecakes from the only factory in the world that makes them!

The investigation starts out fine, but things get a little crazy when Crosley, who is allergic to water, gets wet.  Hilarious things happen when Crosley’s allergy to water kicks in, and when they get to the pineapple cheesecake factory and meet Big Foot Mae, the investigation gets more complicated and zany than either of them bargained for.

Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare is the first title in the Night Buddies series, a 7-times award-winning chapter book series for kids. The second book, Night Buddies, Impostors, and One Far-Out Flying Machine was published in February 2013 and the third book, Night Buddies Go Sky High is due out in March 2015. The Night Buddies series is available in both print and ebook format.

About the Author

Sands Hetherington credits his son John for being his principal motivator. Sands raised his son as a single parent from the time John was six. He read to him every night during those formative years. He and young John developed the Crosley crocodile character in the series during months of bedtime story give-and-take. Sands majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. He lives in Greensboro.

About the Illustrator:

Jessica Love grew up in California, with two artist parents. She studied printmaking and drawing at UC Santa Cruz, then went on to study acting at The Juilliard School in NYC. Her favorite way to work is collaborative, which is why illustration is such a treat.

Some of her inspirations are Maurice Sendak, Edmund Dulac, Lisbeth Zwerger and of course, the incomparable Hilary Knight. Jessica currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, toggling back and forth between her work as an actor and her work as an artist.

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