C.A. Milson's Blog, page 162

Spotlight – Bagels & Salsa

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About the Author

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Lara Reznik is a native New Yorker who studied at the University of New Mexico and the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. Bagels & Salsa is her third novel.

Writing books since she was six years old, Reznik retired from an executive position in information technology after the success of her first novel, The Girl From Long Guyland, published in 2012. In 2015, Reznik published her second book, The M&M Boys.

Reznik currently lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two miniature Aussies.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
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About the Book:

Title: BAGELS & SALSA

Author: Lara REznik

Publisher: Enchanted Indie Press

Pages: 296

Genre: Suspense/Romance/Humor

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BOOK BLURB:

Author Lara Reznik blends suspense, romance, and humor in her latest novel, BAGELS & SALSA (http://www.larareznik.com/bagels-and-salsa). Loosely based on Reznik’s life, the story of Laila and Eduardo highlights the turmoil that surfaces when a Jewish sociologist from New York and a Hispanic doctor from rural New Mexico fall hard and fast for each other. Their blossoming relationship develops against the backdrop of terror the Son of Sam created in New York City during the summer of 1977.

Early reviews of BAGELS & SALSA praise the story’s dynamic plot and colorful characters:

“The author tells a simple love story, but she structures the novel to provide a panoramic view of her characters” (Kirkus Reviews).

“Another lovely read from Lara Reznik! . . . As with all her novels there are also plenty of fun subplot twists and turns. I wanted more.” (Barbara Gaines, Former Executive Producer of The Late Show with David Letterman).

BAGELS & SALSA opens at a high school assembly hall in a rough part of the Bronx where Laila Levin is giving her first postdoctorate presentation on the US teen pregnancy epidemic. Her fear of public speaking and a chance encounter with the Son of Sam unravel her as several loud bangs crack through the air. Laila falls on the stage and injures her right shoulder. Fortunately, Dr. Eduardo Quintana jumps into action.

What begins as a playful flirtation while Laila recovers in the hospital propels into a more serious relationship with the handsome doctor. Their mutual passion is so intense that it stuns them both. The unlikely pair share strong family values and an interest in teen pregnancy prevention. After a brief courtship, Eduardo persuades Laila to accompany him to his family’s ranch near Española, New Mexico, where he plans to open a family practice. The rural town has one of the highest pregnancy rates in North America: the perfect place for Laila’s research.

Once in New Mexico, Laila is blatantly rejected by Sylvia, Eduardo’s controlling mother. Sylvia wants Eduardo to marry Violet, his high school sweetheart, who has recently returned to New Mexico after a failed flight attendant career and a walk on the dark side of Hollywood. Violet’s mother and Sylvia cook up a plan to send Laila packing and reunite their children. The Quintanas hold a large pig roast and invite a menagerie of tattooed cousins, rodeo stars, and mariachis. And the drop-dead gorgeous Violet makes a grand entrance.

In the midst of the pandemonium that results, a shocking family secret is revealed, and Laila and Eduardo’s love for each other is severely tested. Can their relationship survive the fierce clash of cultures, the murderous intentions of a Son of Sam copycat who has stalked Laila from New York City, and their own uncertainties about the upheavals that their union will cause in their lives?

Reznik’s first goal in writing BAGELS & SALSA is to entertain readers. However, she says, “On a more thematic level, I’d like readers to think about the importance of embracing religious, ethnic, and cultural differences, which have been at the core of so much conflict in the world.”

ORDER YOUR COPY:
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Book Excerpt:

On the morning of July 29, 1977, as New York’s blistering heat wave persisted, every woman in Manhattan was in a state of panic. The Daily News published a handwritten letter from a man claiming to be the serial murderer of forty-four victims. That specific day had been singled out in the letter as the date he planned to strike again. Some of my friends refused to leave their apartments. Others escaped to Fire Island or the Catskills, or retreated to their parents’ homes in the suburbs.

I tried not to let the panic pervading New York City that stifling summer morning dictate my life despite the fact that July 29th was also the two-year anniversary of my disastrous nuptials to Julian Goldblatt or Jules Gold, the nom de plume he used on his hip late night radio show. Any reminder of my wedding day still made me cringe with rage and humiliation.

Admittedly, my anxiety was at an all time high as I parked my canary-yellow Chevrolet Bel Air, and fed coins into the meter at the curb. Fearful of the new threats from the Son of Sam, I opened my purse and eyeballed the .38 caliber pistol my father had slipped under the table last night at Ratners on Delancey Street, a kosher dairy restaurant, and the perfect choice for a vegetarian like me.

Guest Post:

First person novels often beg the question–did the author actually live through that?

By Lara Reznik

Numerous readers are convinced that my new multicultural suspense novel, Bagels & Salsa, as well as my earlier psychological suspense book, The Girl From Long Guyland, are autobiographical. I take it as a compliment that I was able to successfully create a fictive world with a plot and cast of characters that are composites of people I’ve known throughout my lifetime.

Bagels & Salsa, is about Laila Levin, a Jewish sociologist from Manhattan, who takes a romantic gamble and follows Eduardo Quintana, a dashing Latino doctor to rural New Mexico. Their love is tested by his controlling mother who rejects Laila from the get-go, a drop-dead-gorgeous ex-girlfriend, a deranged ex-student of Laila’s who stalks her cross the country, and major cultural differences.

The story is set in the summer of 1977 as the Son of Sam is terrorizing NYC.

Okay, I admit, I’m a Jewish girl from Long Island who married a Hispanic man from rural New Mexico. The setting takes place in New York and New Mexico, two places I’ve lived. Like most authors, I write about what I know.

But I still haven’t answered the question. How much of the story is autobiographical?  Read on.

First of all, there are memoirs and then there are novels. Celebrities write memoirs because people are fascinated by the details of their lives. If you had a very unusual or dysfunctional childhood it makes for great reading like in the Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Frankly, my real life is not all that interesting so I’ve chosen to write fiction.

Like many literary authors, I often start with an event or circumstance from my life that I believe is unique and then say, “what if.” In the case of Bagels & Salsa, I asked the question, “What if a Son of Sam copycat had stalked me across the country?” And, “What if my future mother-in-law had cooked up a plan to send me packing and reunite her son with his high school sweetheart?” While neither of these things happened, they certainly made for a more fun read than the details of my real life.

Bottom line, the characters are based on real people but they’ve been fictionalized to make them more dramatic and interesting. The setting is real and hopefully the plot takes on a life of its own.

Spotlight – Imagine That

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About the Author

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Tamara Lee Dorris, MA, is the author of 19 books, a long-time coach, consultant, and adjunct college professor. She’s spent the past few decades studying and sharing ways that people can live more fulfilling, fun, and effective lives. She’s also an avid yogi, podcaster, and wine-lover, committed to inspiring as many people as she can. Tamara holds degrees in psychology and communications, is a certified hypnotherapist and EFT practitioner, too.  
Website & Social Links
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

 

About the Book

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Title: IMAGINE THAT: PLAYING WITH THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

Author: Tamara Dorris

Publisher: Createspace

Pages: 190

Genre: Self-Help/Spiritual

BOOK BLURB:

From rock-solid science to centuries-old scripture, we’ve been told our thoughts and emotions matter, and may even be indicators of our future. In this book, Tamara Dorris shows you that the real key to navigating your way to a new reality rests in your almost-dormant imagination. She points out that we’re all using our imaginations anyway, but most of us are using them to conjure up the worst instead of designing the best.

With wit, humor, and sass Tamara shares how anyone can learn to use their imagination in a more productive, profitable, and effective way.

The second half of the book is a 33-Day Challenge, including daily lessons and journaling exercises to help solidify and apply the age-old, as well as scientifically new ideas presented in the first section of the book. Be prepared to have your mind a little bit blown, your “mean monkey” a little bit riled up, and start intentionally creating your life with excitement and intention!

ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon

 

Book Excerpt:

INTRODUCTION

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”

                                                             Carl Sagan

Let’s imagine a house. There it is, sitting on the street just being a house. Got it? Okay, now imagine you took the roof off. Is it still a house? What about if you took the walls down? I’m not asking you if it has “house potential,” I’m asking you if it’s still a house. Now what about if you took all the sticks and stucco down, and bulldozed the whole mess away. No house, right?

Then let’s go back to square one since that’s the whole idea here. A person had an idea of a house. Next, he hired an architect to draw out the house (with me so far?), and then after all the permits and politics, the ground is finally broken. Then with time and red tape, the foundation is poured, then the sticks and stucco and eventually, the “For Sale” sign goes in the yard (my favorite part). The question really is this: when did it become a house? Wasn’t the idea/image in the builder’s mind already a house? Didn’t he simply convey that image to the guy who drew it? And weren’t the tractor operators and construction workers just carrying out that original image?

You see, in “reality” our reality is but a reflection of what has already been “real” in another realm; or our imagination. Now if that’s too farfetched for you, don’t worry; I do not and will not rattle on about bending reality in weird ways, but it may interest you to know that quantum physics is the basis for that statement. And not coincidentally, even spiritual teachings like the Bible have my back. But let’s be clear. I can’t just imagine a house in my head and then have it pop up out of nowhere and appear on my street tomorrow (but what a fun way to freak out the neighbors, right?). We have to do things to make things happen. My point is merely to make you aware that anything and everything you are seeing in the material world right now first started as a thought. The thought alone starts the wheels of creation even though we may see no sign of it in the “real” world.

It’s no secret or surprise that most (winning) athletes and Olympians mentally rehearse their victory before it really happens. They imagine the jump, the bell, the whatever-their-sport is until it’s so real they can actually hear the roar of the crowd and the sound of the popping champagne bottle (I’m not positive about that last part, but if I ever get a gold medal you can bet there’ll be some bubbly).

Likewise surgeons, musicians, and other performers mentally rehearse their successes. Many military programs now use virtual reality to help soldiers imagine with their five senses what a specific experience would be like. Same with astronauts and pilots that use simulation experiences. The people in the make-shift shuttle are actually being spun around ridiculously fast. The Navy divers are really being dropped into below freezing-your-ass-off water and deprived of oxygen. While none of the latter sounds like a day in the park to me, the point to glean from these painful parties is that some situations require such attentive imagination, that we’ve got to throw in some physical components to make it even more real so when it is real, fewer people will freak out and not know what to do when shit hits the fan.

Fortunately, most of us aren’t heading off to Mars or deep sea diving for missiles anytime soon. We are going to use our beautiful brains in ways that bring us what we want—but honestly, if you have to use your imagination to solve a not-so-fun circumstance, the practice I teach you in this book will come in handy too. So let’s first ask ourselves what imagination is.

The occipital lobe is located in the back of your brain (visual cortex) and your parietal lobe lies above that. Obviously the visual cortex is what allows you to “see” inside your mind (as well as outside in your world) and the parietal lobe is responsible for the sensory parts of your experiences. In a recent study it was suggested that when you are looking at something, the image of it goes to your occipital lobe, up to your parietal lobe. But the study indicated that when people visualize, the image starts in the partial lobe and flows down to the occipital. While the researchers aren’t certain what that means, I suspect it’s the brain’s simple way of telling itself whether something has hit our physical reality yet, or if it’s still in the planning stages of our mental rehearsal, but interestingly, it’s all happening in the same region of the brain.

In other words, your memory recall and future imaginings use the exact same parts of the brain. Think about that for a minute. When you’re remembering the birthday cake your Aunt Betsy made you when you were five, you’re activating the same mechanism in your head as when you are imagining yourself getting new hardwood floors. This has powerful implications that we’ll continue to touch on, but for now just recognize that your brain treats an imagined event very much as if it were a real memory.

An important point to remember is the difference between visualization and imagination. Note that we all possess a tiny gland in our brain called the pineal. Ancient teachings have always called it the third eye. When you simply visualize an image in your brain, you’re likely just seeing a quick picture without emotion. However, when you close your eyes and really feel a moving picture, in your imagination, you may be activating this little guy in ways that science still doesn’t fully understand…but when used properly, it’s in a good way.

The pineal gland is shaped like a baby pinecone and lets us know when it’s time to wake up or go night-night. It does this by releasing serotonin (the daytime neurotransmitter) when it detects daylight, and by releasing melatonin (the nighttime chemical) when it’s dark. Some scientists—and virtually all spiritual teachers and sages—say that this little pinecone in our heads is our “God gland.” In other words, it’s how we connect to infinite intelligence. The trouble is that most of us have our third-eye closed (wake-up, little guy!). The more relaxed we can become when we’re envisioning our future self, the more our imaginations kicks quantum ass.

So just how powerful is your imagination? Ever hear of the Placebo effect? While we can attribute a safe moon landing or an Olympic gold medal to persistence, practice, and training, when it comes to indisputable placebo studies, we got no excuses. What I mean by that is you can’t have cancer one day that every single “fact” proves is incurable and then heal it with a sugar pill, right?  If this was a now and then kind of thing, I may be skeptical too, but the number of documented cases, in spite of modern medicine not being a big fan of it, far outweigh any hocus pocus or wishful thinking. So let’s look at how this works. A patient with a problem—and it could be anything—is given a pill that contains no healing properties whatsoever. The good doctor in the study who usually doesn’t know which pill is the real deal and which is nothing—so he can’t taint the results (more on that later)—tells the patient this new miracle cure (or whatever) has been having phenomenal success. The patient takes the pill and quite often heals (to at least some extent).

Those who heal didn’t do anything differently than the one who didn’t heal, with one small exception: the self-healers believed the doctor was telling the truth so their subconscious minds “imagined” they would be well, and they were. So what happened to the others? Let’s face it, sometimes people feel like they have nothing to live for or maybe they didn’t like or trust the doctor, or importantly, they genuinely didn’t believe healing was possible. I will add that when people are in immense pain, it can be exceedingly difficult to even begin to imagine themselves well, and in some sad cases, I’m sure the poor patients have already been using their imagination in the reverse way—mentally planning their failure to heal, often with the powerful emotion of fear. Emotions are the octane that fuels our imaginations.

In other placebo studies, patients who “needed” knee replacement surgery were taken to the operating room, sedated, and sliced and stitched at the knee cap. Clearly in these cases the doctors knew who was who. I don’t know about you, but I’d be pissed if someone performed pretend surgery on me. Anyway, in most of those cases, the non-knee replacement folks were up playing shuffle board with all the real knee replacement people in no time. Okay, I really don’t know if there was any shuffle board involved in these studies, but you get the point: the placebo effect works because our brains are (usually always) perfectly capable of curing our bodies when given the proper direction and permission, backed by belief.

So if most people can cure or heal themselves, why don’t they? Well, remember that the placebo effect includes a doctor (authority) telling you that you will heal. So like a good trooper, you follow orders—or I should say, your subconscious mind does—and you get busy getting better. This is not to say a person cannot do this without a doctor, as I know firsthand.

When I was very ill with a debilitating disease, it was hard to imagine being healthy. In and out of ICU a few times over the years, and once in a hospital bed for six weeks, the doctors had no faith in my recovery. They told me I couldn’t heal unless I left some pretty important body parts behind; parts that people can’t really do without. Clearly it was not within my capacity to focus on anything but pain, weakness, and fear. But I knew that’s exactly what I had to do. Against medical warning (and some family member’s wishes) I left the hospital to heal at home. Now I’m not going to lie. It was very tough to fully embrace my imagination when my emaciated body was practically down to skin and bones and I could barely get out of bed without help. Yet every day I would lay there and see myself being healthy and happy…running around with the kids, laughing, and having fun. When you are that sick, even something as simple as driving a car seems impossible, but I would see myself driving the kids through Taco Bell (I know, but I was literally starving so work with me here).

It was a long healing process, but my body didn’t get in that condition overnight, so it took a little while to fix it. Of course I supplemented my imagining health with other holistic measures, but only through my mental fortitude did I even discover those. The point is, there was no sugar pill outside of my own determined, persistent imagination. I convinced my brain that I was happy and healthy until it believed me and started whatever miraculous process it did to have me sitting here today, telling you how freaking amazing your own imagination is.    

The issue for many of us is that we often feel like we’re at the mercy of the medical industry and we’ve long but given up self-healing efforts. Plus, people get scared when they are very ill, not to mention how hard it is to imagine yourself happy and healthy with tubes sticking out of your arms and pain wracking your body. And while the premise of this book is not focused on healing anything beyond hangovers(drink water), I  will enthusiastically point you to the book by Dr. Joe Dispenza called, You Are the Placebo. This will help your skeptical brain understand way more of the science behind all this so you can start to heal yourself…and then apply all of the information in this book to get busy getting better too. But let’s get back to the positive aspects of your brain and how you can use it to imagine whatever your heart desires.

Neuroscience tells us (and this has to do with our occipital lobe and visual cortex) that what we see in our external world is but an interpretation (reflection) based on our very own belief patterns that are firmly fixed in our cute little cortex. In other words, your outer world is mirroring your internal one. This is why the once kind of hokey statement “You create your own reality,” is not a hippie dippy new age adage, but rather, a pretty valid fact. Just sit with this a minute: your imagination is the cause and your condition, the effect. The reticular activator system of the brain “shows us” evidence of our most frequent thoughts—even the unconscious ones that we don’t know we’re thinking because its main job in life is to filter our external environment so that it matches our expectation of it. Pretty scary, right?

What’s ironically sad is that we all spend so much time and sweat equity trying to change things in our external world, feeling like we’re banging our head against a brick wall…and guess what? We are! Now I’m certainly not saying you don’t have to take actions and precautions in life, so don’t go down that rabbit hole. What I am saying though, is that it’s like looking at your reflection in the mirror, not liking how long your bangs are and trying to trim the mirror (careful, you’ll cut yourself!).

Let me give you another analogy. Consider you’re at the theater to see a good love story, but when the lights go down and those dreaded phone carrier commercials are over, the film is actually a scary clown one (because all the clown ones are scary). Do you shoot the screen? No? Why not? Could it be because the scary clown is not coming from the screen but merely being projected from the little tiny window in the back of the theater you always wonder about? You’d either change out the reel or go to another theater, but you wouldn’t blame it on the screen. It isn’t the screen’s fault. That screen is your life and your own imagination is the film.

Our eyes are projectors showing us what our brains have been programmed to focus on, and yet, we fail to recognize that we’ve got to change the movie (your brain’s projections), not shoot holes in the screen (your external experiences). The proverbial plot thickens when we realize that the majority of our thoughts aren’t even in our conscious control, until we intentionally utilize our imaginations to take the reins.

The goal of this book is to help you put on a different reel—one that you fall in love with over and over again. And the really great part is that YOU get to write it, produce it, and play in it. Move over Quentin, there’s a new kid in town.



Are you ready?

Book Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EML7lEDAA-E

VBT – Written Together

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Wendi will be awarding a bracelet made by the author and a signed swag pack to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What if the woman he needs is the one he thought was out of his league?

Adam Pallas knows what he wants out of life—to teach history, to be happy and to have a hot woman by his side. He’s got one out of the three. He should be happy, but he’s not. There’s one woman who grabs his attention every time. The catch? She’s very much out of his league. Can being himself actually snag him the woman of his dreams?

Melissa Murphy isn’t looking for love, but every time she sees Adam her plans go sideways. The English teacher knows there’s a confident, hot man hiding behind the slightly nerdy history buff façade. But her past and the things she wants between the sheets tend to scare men off. She believes the odds may be stacked against them. Could it be their lives are perfectly written together after all?

Read an Excerpt:

©Copyright Wendi Zwaduk 2018

She gripped the papers tight. Dear God. What if Adam found out from someone else before she could tell him the whole truth? Would he bolt? They were just friends, but some people were turned off by the idea of role-play and the other things she liked in the bedroom. Adam would probably be one of them. The man seemed so vanilla and wound so tight. And she was drawn to him. Go figure.

She sighed. No wonder she couldn’t make love work in her life.

Adam rounded the corner and waved. His grin widened and the spring entered his step. She snickered. The guy was so silly, but cute. She loved his determination. He’d cherish the woman who secured his heart. The memory of the hug the day before came to mind. She could feel his arms around her again. Warm, inviting and safe. She stopped in her doorway and waited for him to reach her part of the hall.

The jealousy showed up again. She had no ties to Adam other than the hug, but thinking of him with someone else stabbed deep in her gut. She wasn’t the type to chase guys who weren’t interested. What about Adam? Was he interested? Or just looking for friendship?

No, she’d focus on the platonic part of the pairing. God knew she needed more guy friends in her life and fewer dead-end boyfriends for her brothers to torture.

About the Author:

Wendi Zwaduk is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to BDSM and LGBTQ themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been the runner up in the Kink Category at Love Romances Café as well as nominated at the LRC for best contemporary, best ménage and best anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com and the former AllRomance Ebooks. She also writes under the name of Megan Slayer.

When she’s not writing, she spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice. Find out more about Wendi at:

http://www.wendizwaduk.com or on her blog: https://wendizwaduk.wordpress.com

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bookbub, Goodreads and Amazon.

http://www.facebook.com/wendizwaduk.meganslayer

https://twitter.com/WendiZwaduk

https://www.instagram.com/wendizwaduk/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/wendi-zwaduk

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3495446.Wendi_Zwaduk

http://www.amazon.com/Wendi-Zwaduk/e/B003KA589U

Buy the book at Amazon.

Wendi will be awarding a bracelet made by the author and a signed swag pack to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

Enter to win a bracelet made by the author and a signed swag pack – a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Book Spotlight – The ABCs of Living Green

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About the Author

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Theresa McKeown spent over two decades in the entertainment arena before embracing her true passion of writing children’s books. After producing hundreds of hours of television for a host of cable and network outlets, Theresa is now on the path of what she considers her highest calling.

Theresa and her sisters have created “The ABC’s of Everything, LLC”, a family endeavor solely focused on publishing several series of children’s books, digital content, and educational curriculums.  All will be written and produced with an awareness of the true possibilities that children of the 21st century can realize.  

As an author, Theresa is dedicated to estimating rather than underestimating the wisdom of children. Her philosophy is that kids are fully adept at understanding nuance and meaning and it’s not necessary to talk down to them.  She is dedicated to creating a new paradigm in the children’s book world by introducing work that fully embraces the insightfulness, perception and unlimited intellectual potential of today’s youth.

Her books are meant to plant the seeds of education and awareness early in a child’s development, knowing full well that children will ultimately blossom into the best versions of who they are meant to be.

In her role as producer, Theresa traveled worldwide, filming from locations as diverse as the White House, NORAD, the Pentagon, FBI headquarters, maximum-security prisons and from the top of the World Trade Center.  Along the way she “tail-hooked” onto an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, yachted through South America with jet setters and chased bad guys with the LAPD in a helicopter. She survived both OJ Simpson trials, shot live from heart of the LA Riots and drove through a wall of flames during the Laguna fires.  Yet, with a background like this, building a community to celebrate children promises to be the most exciting adventure of all.

As George Elliot once said, “It’s never too late to become who you might have been”.

…Words this author has taken to heart.

 

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

 

About the Book

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Title: THE ABCS OF LIVING GREEN

Author: Theresa A McKeown

Publisher: The ABCs of Everything, LLC

Pages: 56

Genre: Picture/poetry book for children and tweens

BOOK BLURB:

“The ABCs of Living Green” completes the ABC trilogy of picture books focused on raising happy, healthy, conscious children in body, mind and spirit. Written from the voice of Mother Earth, every letter of the alphabet and corresponding word gives readers a multitude of fun ways to be mindful not only of the planet we all share, but of the people with whom we share it. A book that focuses on the beauty and fulfillment of stepping up and doing our part in taking care of the environment and each other, “The ABCs of Living Green” is truly a book for the enlightened child of the 21st century.

ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon

VBT – The Ancient Tripod of Peace

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kalen Cap will be awarding a $40 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Teens Lexi and Gil face relic-thieving secret societies.

Plagued by loneliness in her Lake Erie Islands community, vegan Lexi hopes to make like-minded friends in high school. But her dad’s job is jeopardized when relics are stolen from his museum, changing her priorities. And she finds her new teachers’ eerie dislike of her troubling.

His dad in jail, cipher enthusiast and bacon-loving Gil hopes freshman year will provide a clean slate. Soon, he discovers secret codes within a Shakespearean play while paired with Lexi, pulling him into an ancient mystery.

With the official museum burglary investigation stalled, the mismatched teen sleuths join forces to try and crack the case. Lexi’s inquiries and Gil’s codes capture their teachers’ attention. But these teachers have the stolen Tripod of Peace, a powerful relic sought by rival secret societies. Caught in these societies’ crossfire as thieves wield an instrument of astounding power, Gil and Lexi are in danger.

The Ancient Tripod of Peace is the first book in novelist Kalen Cap’s Teen Thief-Catchers Series. If you like stories with artifact treasures, fighting secret societies, and spirited protagonists, you’ll enjoy this novel.

Enjoy an Excerpt:

“Mom knows one of my high school teachers, called him an odd duck. Said she worked on a fundraiser for his bird sanctuary.”

Brandon spewed the protein shake across the counter.

“Dude! That was classic! What gives?” Gil couldn’t help snickering, although his brother looked like he might be truly sick.

“Ah. Nothing. Went up my nose is all.” Brandon grabbed a dish towel and wiped up the mess. “So, you said this bird sanctuary guy is your teacher? What’s his name?”

“Some old guy named Saffron.”

“Nick Saffron is not old.”

“If you say so. He’s at least in his fifties, older than Dad. You know him?”

“I know him to see him. He’s gotta be the only Saffron at the gym,” Brandon said. “Listen, I need some shut eye. Are you going to walk Cyclops this morning or should I?”

Blind in one eye, their dog Cyclops was originally Brandon’s responsibility. But, when Brandon left for college, Gil cared for the doberman mix. A handful at 105 pounds, Cyclops was one of the biggest dogs in the neighborhood.

“I’ll walk Cy.” In many ways, the dog had been Gil’s best friend the past year.

“Thanks. I’ll catch some Z’s. Later.” Brandon left the kitchen while wiping his face with his hands. He quickly reappeared, stepping back into the kitchen. “I wouldn’t tell Saffron about my being your brother and him knowing me from the gym.” Without further explanation, Brandon left again.

“Okay,” Gil answered. He shook his head. Why does he care about that?

About the Author:

Kalen Cap is a writer living in Ohio and regularly commutes back and forth between Columbus and Port Clinton residences. Set among the Lake Erie Islands, “TheAncient Tripod of Peace” is his second novel, first of the Teen Thief-Catcher series. His first novel, “Tangled Ties to a Manatee,” was published in 2012.

Author website – http://www.kalencap.com

Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/Kalen-Cap/e/B007XZEKTC/

Author’s facebook page for the new series – http://www.facebook.com/TeenThiefCatchers/

Buy the book at https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Tripod-Peace-Thief-Catchers-Novel-ebook/dp/B07B29FTBX

Kalen Cap will be awarding a $40 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter to win a $40 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

VBT – A Hole in One

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Judy Penz Sheluk will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Hoping to promote the Glass Dolphin antiques shop, co-owners Arabella Carpenter and Emily Garland agree to sponsor a hole in one contest at a charity golf tournament. The publicity turns out to be anything but positive, however, when Arabella’s errant tee shot lands in the woods next to a corpse.

They soon learn that the victim is closely related to Arabella’s ex-husband, who had been acting as the Course Marshal. With means, opportunity, and more than enough motive, he soon becomes the police department’s prime suspect, leaving Arabella and Emily determined to clear his name—even if they’re not entirely convinced of his innocence.

Dogged by incriminating online posts from an anonymous blogger, they track down leads from Emily’s ex-fiancé (and the woman he left Emily for), an Elvis impersonator, and a retired antiques mall vendor with a secret of her own.

All trails lead to a mysterious cult that may have something to do with the murder. Can Arabella and Emily identify the killer before the murderer comes after them?

Enjoy an excerpt:

Levon smiled, the full-on one he tended to keep in reserve, and Arabella felt something tug inside of her. She had heard quite enough about Gilly Germaine and how amazing she was. It wasn’t as if she was jealous, exactly, more like she felt Levon slipping away from her little by little. They might not be married any longer, but she never stopping thinking of him as a friend, someone who knew her and loved her, blemishes and all. Since Gilly had arrived on the scene, Levon had become more and more distant. This past month he’d been all but absent. Today was the first time they’d spoken in two weeks.

It didn’t help that she’d recently split up with Aaron Beecham. For a small town cop, he seemed to be on duty more than off.

“I should get going,” Levon said, interrupting her thoughts. “Gilly is relying on me.”

I’m sure she is. “I better get going as well. We’re starting on number two.”

“Just remember not to hit the ball until the shotgun sounds.”

“Gilly’s using an actual shotgun? I thought everyone used sirens or horns these days.”

Levon laughed. “Gilly’s as much of a stickler for research as you are. She thought it would be more authentic if she used a shotgun, too. You of all people should appreciate that, Arabella. After all, isn’t that your motto? Authenticity matters?”

It was, but Arabella didn’t like it that Gilly had adopted the same motto.

She didn’t like it one bit.

About the Author:

An Amazon international bestselling author, Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries (THE HANGED MAN’S NOOSE and A HOLE IN ONE) and The Marketville Mysteries (SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC). Her short crime fiction appears is included in several collections, including LIVE FREE OR TRI.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors as the Regional Representative for Toronto/Southern Ontario.

Find Judy on her website/blog at www.judypenzsheluk.com, where she interviews and showcases the works of other authors and blogs about the writing life.

Social Media Links

Website/Blog: http://www.judypenzsheluk.com

Facebook Author: https://business.facebook.com/JudyPenzSheluk/?business_id=736294013145101

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyPenzSheluk

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/judypenzsheluk/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Penz-Sheluk/e/B00O74NX04

Buy Links for A HOLE IN ONE:

Amazon: http://authl.it/9f0

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-hole-in-one-judy-penz-sheluk/1127967500

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/a-hole-in-one-3

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Judy_Penz_Sheluk_A_Hole_in_One?id=IERMDwAAQBAJ

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/a-hole-in-one/id1350574649?mt=11

Barking Rain Press: https://barkingrainpress.org/a-hole-in-one/ – 1473022241950-de2dbbf6-9e98

Judy Penz Sheluk will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter to win a $10 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

VBT – Lie to Her

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mehrisa Mex will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Despite years of treatment, twenty-one year old Lydia still struggles with trauma from being attacked as a teenager. House-bound with anxieties and haunted by ghostly visions, she soon comes to suspect her psychiatrist husband, Myles, of sabotaging her recovery.

Her pursuit of the truth uncovers secrets more terrible than she ever imagined and it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted – not even herself.

Read an Excerpt:

The room was spinning and she realized in surprise that she was on her feet in the kitchen. She looked around in a panic. What was she doing there?

The time on the microwave read 2.23am. She looked down at her hands and found them smeared with blood. Her breath knotted up in her throat. She staggered to the kitchen sink and washed the blood off her hands. Her face felt wet and she reached up to touch it. More blood.

She rushed to the bathroom and, in the mirror, she found a streak of blood going down her face. She washed it off, and found the source – a cut in her hair line. It was only then, when she tried to calm herself a bit, that the pain at the site of the injury grew into her awareness.

With her heart thumping in her ears, she thought of the video Myles had shown her where she had tried to stab him with a knife. She hurried out the bathroom to Joanie who raised her head as Lydia crouched down beside her. She didn’t seem to be hurt or afraid of her, but Lydia ran her hands over her body anyway to make sure she wasn’t injured and bleeding. She wasn’t. She was fine.

Lydia looked up at Zach’s bedroom door. She had no recollection of trying to harm Myles, but there was clear proof that she had. Had she also tried to do something to Zach?

She didn’t know how she had cut herself, but the blood on her hands may not have been all hers.

About the Author: Mehrisa Mex writes mystery-thrillers, neo-noir and international crime. She often appears in her own imagination lit in the chiaroscuro style of film noir and narrating thoughts to herself in moody, hard-boiled tones.

Amazon link for book purchase: http://www.amazon.com/author/mehrisamex

Info links: https://twitter.com/mehrisa_mex

http://www.facebook.com/mehrisamex

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2018/03/blurb-blitz-lie-to-her-by-mehrisa-mex.html

Book Spotlight – Eating From The Cherry Tree

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Title: Eating From The Cherry Tree

Author: Vivien Ella Walden

Pages: 290

About The Book

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EATING FROM THE CHERRY TREE is a dynamic, unique and totally revealing memoir of one of the most notorious and successful ‘madams’ the UK has seen in recent years. The book is inspired by Vivien Ella Walden’s unique life experiences that lead up to and behind her brothel doors. Within a short time she becomes famous for her skills and able to afford whatever she desires within a world of scandal and naughtiness, corruption and suffering, sadness and exhilarating happiness. Images of a complex girl emerge from this incredibly frank account. An account of a girl raised in a loving working class Jewish family who ran from her heritage, bared her perfectly formed derriere and partied with the elite and famous. She takes on many guises and titles, while mixing with gangsters, politicians, film stars, musicians and artists. Names of the rich and famous sprinkle this book. They all knew of her industry, it was not unlike theirs. This is an amazing book, telling a story of prostitution that has never been told in such explicit detail before. It will reach inside the heart of all those who admire absolute honesty on a subject many consider taboo.

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Blurb:

“Good sex is the ultimate life experience. An orgasm felt deep inside that can be held on to until your quivering body and brain explode is an art in itself.  Does this ultimate pleasure have a price?  Of course, but doesn’t everyone in some way pay it?

There are lessons I have learnt that I have a need to share.  Of how it is possible to descend into the abyss of sexual exploitation and emerge smelling of roses.

Reliving the truth has proved harder than I had thought, the flood of imagery amazing. I am swamped by visions, swept away and catapulted backwards into memories of childlike innocence. Did I delve into things I shouldn’t have as a child?  Indeed I did.

Images of a complex girl have emerged, who ran from her heritage, bared her perfectly formed derriere and partied with the elite and famous.  Gangsters, politicians, film stars, musicians and artists, they all knew of her industry.  Being a stripper, call girl, hooker, or madam, you have to know how to dance to the music, be a good actress, stand up to the toughest, deal with the law and paint your own picture for all to see.

Entering into a life of ‘commercial sex’, be it on the stage, a brothel or bedroom, the most important skills are learning the art of negotiation, self esteem, and know how to seduce a man completely, keeping him intrigued, before and after the clothes come off.

Every woman has different roles to play in pleasuring a man. But the ‘working girl’ who is skilled in her art is the one to be held on a pedestal.  For she is the one who makes it possible to keep those home fires burning.”

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The theory of the Cherry Tree:

Dreaming that you see a cherry, indicates that you are to find love.


To dream that you eat cherries, predicts that you have damages ahead or that you will be involved in intrigue and competition.


To dream of unripe cherries, is a sign of problems ahead.


To dream that you picked cherries, predicts that you have profits ahead, joy and happiness in the family will also come.


A cherry blossom is a sign of hopes realized.


The cherry blossom symbolism is a very significant symbol of power, typically it represents a feminine beauty and sexuality and often holds an idea of power or feminine dominance.

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About The Author:

Vivien Ella Walden was born in Salford Manchester UK. Raised in a loving working class Jewish family she ran from her heritage, bared her perfectly formed derriere and partied with the elite and famous while taking on many guises and titles.

With the death of her first husband she took on his mantle and grew to become one of the UK’s most successful ‘madams’ within a world of scandal and naughtiness, corruption and suffering, sadness and exhilarating happiness.

‘After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life’.

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Links:

Amazon.  MyBook.to/CherryTree

Visit Amazon’s Vivien Ella Walden Page.

Twitter. Vivien Ella Walden @vivienwalden

Goodreads Book Page

Goodreads Author Page

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You Tube:

 

 

VBT – Point of Contact

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Melanie will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

There’d forever been a thread running through Trevor Estes’s life—his son Riley, strong and constant like heartbeat. But when Riley is killed in combat, everything in Trevor’s life unravels into a mess he doesn’t know how to mourn.

Until Jesse Byrne, Riley’s friend and platoon mate, arrives on his doorstep with a box of Riley’s things. Jesse’s all-too-familiar grief provides an unlikely source of comfort for Trevor; knowing he’s not alone is exactly what he needs. Trevor never imagined he’d find someone who fills his heart with hope again. As the pair celebrate Riley’s memory, their unique bond deepens into something irreplaceable—and something neither man can live without.

But diving into a relationship can’t be so simple. Being together means Trevor risking the last link he has to his son…leaving Jesse to wonder if he’ll ever be enough, or if Trevor will always be haunted by the past.

Read an Excerpt:

Trevor reached up to brush Jesse’s tears away, letting his thumb linger along his cheek. “So thank you. Thanks for letting me see my son through you.”

Jesse’s lips trembled. “I miss him. I miss him so much.”

Trevor slid his hand to the back of Jesse’s neck. “I know.”

With a small sob, Jesse reached out to wrap his arms around Trevor, pulling him close. His body was shaking, tremors of grief Trevor knew only too well wracking him from head to toe. All around them the world ebbed and flowed, oblivious to the fact a twenty-year-old boy had been torn from it, leaving behind two people who’d loved him and who now clung together, their shared pain a strange sort of comfort.

Trevor stroked Jesse’s hair as he shuddered against him, biting his own lip against the tears that stung his eyes. This was Jesse’s fight, and Trevor marshaled every ounce of composure he could, determined to be strong in return for this man who’d given him so much.

“It’s okay,” he murmured over and over. “It’s okay to miss him. I miss him, too.”About the Author:

Melanie Hansen likes to consider herself a cynic, but at heart she’s a hopeless romantic. Every morning she gets up before dawn to spend time with her characters, creating stories that are deeply emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, but in the end where love always wins. Melanie’s proud of the fact that two of her books have been named as RT Book Reviews Top Picks.

She grew up with an Air Force dad, ended up marrying a Navy man, and has lived and worked all over the country. Melanie hopes to bring these rich and varied life experiences to her stories about people finding love amidst real-life struggles.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009084006829

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelJoyAZ

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13505006.Melanie_Hansen

Website: https://melaniehansenbooks.com

Book Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Point-Contact-Melanie-Hansen-ebook/dp/B076ZQR4F9/ref=sr_1_1

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Interview With –

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Researching The White Witch

My son, Kel, who lives in South Florida, returned from a business trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica, talking about the legend of the WHITE WITCH. His story interested me enough that a few months later we both went to Jamaica to learn more about Annie Palmer, the White Witch,  and, also, about the Maroons. Kel had not stumbled across the Maroon story while he was there, but I did a little research about the area and learned about them. That trip let me to combine the Maroons with the White Witch to create what is certainly my best thriller to date (bear in mind that I’ll probably say the same thing about my next thriller; such is the nature of a novelist.).

We stayed at the Ritz, which was built on what was once part of the Rose Hall Plantation. We golfed at the hotel course, aptly named “The White Witch.” We toured the Rose Hall Great House where Annie Palmer lived two hundred years before and where she tortured and murdered three husbands and many more slave lovers. We learned that even today the staff in the mansion insists on leaving before dark every evening; for they fear that the White Witch may be out roaming the grounds of her old plantation. However, let me hasten to add that Annie Palmer is only a supporting character in this drama. After all, she died two hundred years ago. Still her legend is strong enough that in my story when a series of murders occur in the Montego Bay area, some with snake knives said to have belonged to the White Witch, it’s only a small leap for the locals to believe, true or not, that the White Witch must be responsible.

The real story and the conflict that created it is up in the mountains above Montego Bay, a small village called Accompong, the ancestral home of the Maroons (short for Cimarron, or “wild and untamed.). The original Maroons started escaping from their Spanish captors in the early fifteen hundreds, following game trails up into the mountains where they formed villages and lived off the land. When the Spaniards tried to re-capture them, they fought back and soon were going down from the mountains in the dead of night to attack the Spaniards as they slept. They fought for about a hundred years before the British drove the Spaniards to Cuba. The British could not understand how a band of ex-slaves could so consistently beat back the Spaniards until they tried to capture the Maroons. After another hundred or so years, they asked for a cease fire and signed a treaty with Cudjoe, the leader of the Maroons, giving them dominion over the rainforest up in the mountains, provided they would allow the British to raise sugar cane and bananas along the coast. That treaty exists to this day. Only, an American corporation was threatening  to mine bauxite in the Maroons’ rainforest when Kel and I were there. To get to the bottom of the conflict, we drove up a pothole filled road to Accompong and asked for an audience with the Colonel of the Maroons. Surprisingly, he talked to us. Only later did we learn that they did not like strangers in their village, particularly white men. Still, what we didn’t know didn’t hurt us. But it did give me the idea for the story which is really about the Maroons willingness to fight once again for their rain forest. Of course, the White Witch does make cameo appearances throughout the tale, but usually only in the imagination of some other character.

It was fascinating research that led to a very good thriller. And if you want to see the Maroon/British treaty that Cudjoe signed (with his X because he could neither read nor write), just go on line. The treaty is still there and is validity is still being debated by scholars.