Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 128
April 3, 2023
Blog Tour: THE GIVING BACK TREE by Tarky Lee
The Giving Back Tree
by Tarky Lee
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GENRE: Children's (and all ages)
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BLURB:
The Giving Back Tree is an original take on theclassic tale of a tree who gave everything. Love is a healing force in thistender and magical story that reminds us the end is also a new beginning. We CANgrow back.
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EXCERPT
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Review:
Story was a lovely ode between aboy and his tree. As a boy, he was happy. Then he became a man and so becameless happy. The tree gave and gave and gave until there was literally nothingleft. Then the boy became an old man and the tree had nothing else to give. Itwas a sad circle of life.Was this the end of the tree?
The linear drawings were good.Between the word and the drawings, this whole thing felt like poetic art. Softand sensitive, this was a nice story of regeneration and rebirth.
“You loved me in a place I thoughtwas gone. I was a whole beautiful tree before so much was taken from me.”
A sweet story about the power oflove and happiness.
“The end is a new beginning.”
Rating:4 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
LINKS:
To purchase on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Giving-Back-Tree-Tarky-Lee-ebook/dp/B0BQRD8GCK/
To purchase on Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-giving-back-tree-tarky-lee/1142866984
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tarky Lee is an Oakland, California based queerartist, writer, activist, and professional child care provider. She believesthe stories we tell ourselves and others have the power to reshape our livesand heal our hearts. This is her first illustrated publication. She looksforward to sharing many more of her books, ideas, and art with the world.
Tarky is a name given to the author by a powerfulspirit she nannied named Alaska. Lee is the author's middle name. The pen nameTarky Lee is a dedication to the child that lives in us all.
To follow this and other works @TarkyLee or emailTarkyLeeBooks@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TarkyLee/
Amazon Author Page:https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tarky-Lee/author/B0BR2VMWT9
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GIVEAWAY
Tarky Lee will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winnervia rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blog Tour: PRINCE OF BLUE FLOWERS by Ryu Zhong
Prince of Blue Flowers
by Ryu Zhong
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GENRE: Fantasy, Adventure
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BLURB:
Young boy Hatsukoi leaves his village to become a monk, only tofind monastic life incredibly boring. With a new-found name and a new-foundfriend, Hatsukoi travels the countryside and plays tricks at the expense ofcorrupt, irate, greedy, and ignorant people. Nobles of all ranks—from pettygovernors to crown princes—fall victim to the boy’s wit and cunning.
Ashis tricks evolve from childhood frolics to elaborate cons, Hatsukoi grows aswell. He learns not only the craft of his trade, but also its higher purpose.
JoinHatsukoi’s journey, laugh at his exploits, and learn with him.
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Excerpt One:
Fragments
In ancient times, on the shores of the Eternal Ocean lay thecountry of Auyasku. The waves of the three seas cherished her sleep. The
Silent Western Sea lulled her with whispers, and the GlacialSea squeezed her tightly in its arms. Even the Sea of Great Storms was quietoff the coast of this cold land.
A white fur coat of snow hid Auyasku from the heat of thesun. On the hottest summer day, the bright beams of Celestial Luminary couldnot penetrate beneath the blankets and awaken Auyasku from her age-old slumber.
In the middle of the country rose a snowy mountain, and onits top was a wonderful rock. This rock was open to the beaming sun andmoonlight, because tall trees did not grow on it; moss alone covered thestones, still barely warm from the sun.
And then, one day, the rock produced a stone egg. Later, amarten hatched from this egg, also made of stone, but endowed with limbs andall five senses.
The stone marten quickly learned to run about and hunt smallgame that hid in the snow. She also made friends with other animals thatinhabited the endless fields of Auyasku: foxes, bears, wolves – even moles.And, of course, with other martens, her relatives. The mountain from which shecame was called Marten Mountain because it served as a home to many martens.
One morning, when the sun appeared in the east and slowlyrolled across the sky, the martens began to frolic around the rock, chasing oneanother. Having gambolled enough, they calmed down and, staring at the sun,began to talk – for, as the proverb goes, even animals can talk to each other.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
‘Ryū’ means‘dragon’ in Japanese, and ‘Zhong’ can be translated from Chinese as ‘flute’.This amalgam of languages represents the fusion of cultures that characterisesthe writings of Ryū Zhong.
In their books,Ryū Zhong explore challenges that humanity might face as our technology getsmore and more complicated to the level where it becomes magic. Such a shiftwould force people to look towards religion and reinterpret realities thattoday, we call fairy tales.
Ryū Zhong werelucky to be born and grow in Asia. Now they live in Amsterdam, study Dutch, andadapt their writings to English.
Links
https://anno-ruini.com — website for the book series
https://ryu.anno-ruini.com — Ryu’s personal blog
https://www.instagram.com/anno.ruini/ — Instagram
https://twitter.com/anno_ruini — Twitter
Book in theStores
https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Blue-Flowers-Adventures-Takuan/dp/B0BRC7BGB4/
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=L4unEAAAQBAJ&pli=1
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/prince-of-blue-flowers-ryu-zhong/1143052777
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GIVEAWAY
One randomly chosen winner viarafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blog Tour: THE LOVE THAT BIND US by Phoenix Blackwood
The Love that Binds Us
by Phoenix Blackwood
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GENRE: LGBTQIA+ Coming of Age
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BLURB:
From the outside, Alex has a perfect life. Shehas a partner who loves her, gets good grades in school, excels at most sports,and has a big heart. From the inside, Alex’s life is anything but perfect. Shehasn’t spoken to her father in years. She’s hiding the fact that heronce-best-friend now-romantic-partner Theo is trans and nonbinary from herhomophobic mother. Bullies are harassing her and Theo at school, taunting andshoving. It’s all becoming too much for Alex to bear.
Things take a surprising turn when Alex’s motherdiscovers her relationship with Theo. After Alex is thrown out of her house andtaken in by Theo’s foster family, Alex can live honestly. For a while, thingsstart to feel manageable. Alex finds a new group of friends. She navigates what“family” means beyond her mother and sister. She even considers forgiving hermother’s past mistakes. But forgiveness requires honesty. Secrets Alex’s motherhas been keeping are surfacing, trying to bind Alex to misery. As Alex learnsthe full truth of her mother’s past mistakes, she will need the love of herchosen family and friends to gently bind her life into a shape that keeps her whole.
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Excerpt One:
I sat on my bed and pulled Theo down to my level, kissingthem on the forehead. They sat down with me and kissed me on the lips untilthey were leaning over me and my hands were wrapped around the back of theirneck, pulling them closer. They were so soft, always so tender. I focused allmy attention on the kiss, so much so that I didn’t hear the small squeak of mydoor opening. Theo pulled away suddenly, jarring me and forcing me to look inthe direction of their gaze.
Leah had opened the door. She stood there with her mouthopen, her face frozen in wonder and confusion. She’d known Theo since we’dbecome friends, I bet she had never imagined finding us kissing when she openedmy door.
Theo and I looked at each other in horror. The secret wasout, how were we going to get her to keep quiet? We should’ve been morecareful. We’d gotten too comfortable.
I signed for Leah to come sit between us on the bed. My facegot hot as she sat and tears brimmed in my eyes. My mom could never, ever findout - Leah knowing was so dangerous. She looked up at me with wide eyesand signed, “Boyfriend?”
Theo must’ve seen the panic rising up in me, because theytook over. They gently rested one hand on her shoulder to get her attention andthen explained, “We love each other. I’m not a boy, but I’m still her partner.I’m like a boyfriend, just minus the boy part.”
Walking through the threshold of Theo’s house was like aweight lifting off my shoulders, all the tension of home and school fallingaway. This was what home was supposed to feel like. I flopped down on the couchand Theo joined me a couple minutes later with two mugs of tea, handing me one.I leaned into them as they wrapped an arm around my shoulders after turning thetelevision on to the latest show we’d been binging. This felt so safe, so calm.A feeling I rarely got in my own home. Always on edge, an internal dissonancetelling me that I wasn’t good enough. Here, I was everything I was supposed tobe.
We watched television until Seth–Theo’s brother–made his waydown the stairs and started rummaging through the kitchen to start dinner. Thehouse was quickly filled with smells that made my mouth water - meat searing ina pan, vegetables being chopped, pasta water boiling. I sat in the scents untilI couldn’t take it any longer and my stomach growled, causing me to get up andmake my way into the kitchen.
Seth shot me a sly smile. “Probably another ten minutes.”
I pouted, staring at the food and willing it to cook faster.
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Whatmessage do you hope readers will get from your book?
The main message that I hoped to portray in The Love that Binds Us is that of chosenfamily and self-acceptance. Alex, our main character, struggles with heridentity due to both external and internal factors, and finds it difficult tocome to terms with things that happened in the past that affect her identity inthe present. From an external point of view, the lens through which people viewher at school, she has it made – good grades, a “stable” home life, and apartner that loves her. However, this starts to fall apart early on in the bookand she grapples with homophobia – both at school and home – and newinformation that changes the way that she sees herself.
The Lovethat Binds Us is a journey through whichAlex experiences incredible hardship, and must learn to define herself on newterms. I want readers to see Alex’s experience and how she comes out on theother side, not unscathed, but a better and more confident person. People willhopefully see her and believe that they can take control of their own lives, nomatter how difficult, and change them for the better. That inner strength iseverything, and with the right people around them, they can make their ownhappy ending (or beginning).
Found family plays a huge role in the story, and Alexdefinitely wouldn’t be the same in the end without them. Her partner takes careof her when she needs it, and she discovers a small group of like-minded peoplewho share some of her identities. Being rejected by her blood family, theimportance of these relationships in her journey make a world of difference inthe outcome. Without them she’d be in a very different place. With this chosenfamily, she has the support she needs to confront her mother about secretsshe’d been keeping for Alex’s whole life. These secrets peel back another layerto Alex’s identity and send her reeling, but with the healthy relationshipsshe’s formed, she finds a way through.
Above all else, TheLove that Binds Us seeks to show people that chosen family is everything,and your experiences may alter your perception of yourself, but only you cantruly define who you are. Strength is found in those who care about youregardless of blood relation, and those that stay through hardship are yourtrue family.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Bornand raised in New England, Phoenix has always been a creative – whether it’spainting or writing. From a very young age, Phoenix has envisioned and createdcharacters, writing them into existence and exploring them through visual arts.Having graduated to first-time short story author, Phoenix is embarking on ajourney towards novel writing as they finally bring characters they’ve knownfor years into the world. Phoenix is neurodiverse and intersex and hopes tobring more representation to both topics with their writing. They believe increating relatable characters that people can find themselves in and empathizewith.
Amazonbuy link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-that-Binds-Us-ebook/dp/B0BNC6VFPD/
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GIVEAWAY :
Phoenix Blackwood will be awarding a $10 Amazon orBarnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during thetour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayApril 1, 2023
Review: HOW NOT TO GET INTO HEAVEN by Ben Zaehringer
These are funny, little Bizarrocomics. The drawings were simple like Ziggy. And, like Ziggy, they had thatwry, lovable humor. Most of them were a hoot. Of course, some were a littleweird and some I just didn’t get. But the pictures were wonderful. I do lovethese kinds of comics.
A man makes a prayer and hopethey’ll hear his call, but then Heaven is experiencing a high call volume. Whata riot! Loved the literal irony!
Just loved it!
Rating:4 stars
Review: APPLE CRUSH by Lucy Knisley
Still the same story about life ona farm. Good illustrations, but there’s no captivating story.
Rating:3 stars
Review: STEPPING STONES by Lucy Knisley
From the city to the farm.
Jen wasn’t really like the farmlife so much…until she finds some barn kittens.
The illustrations were cute andcolorful. Some of the text was a little too small to read, but, fortunately,the pictures say it all. It’s basically life on a farm. She even has trouble atthe farmer’s market.
Eh, an okay read.
Rating: 3 stars
Review: JUST ROLL WITH IT by Veronica Agarwal
See how a kid uses the roll of thedice to get through 6th grade
The images were cute and colorful.But there wasn’t much of a story I could get into. All you see her do is rollthe dice.
Eh, an okay read.
Rating:3 stars
March 31, 2023
Book Blast: I DREAM OF DEMIGODS by Alexa Sullivan
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Alexa Sullivan 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.
Ro Baird can't cast a spell without setting her own pants on fire—until she kisses her hot new boss, Alex. Suddenly, she's able to access her magic…sort of…and she now has a familiar, who may be more trouble than she is helpful.
Alex Kouris happens to be a soul-stealing demigod of the Underworld. He claims he's trying to leave the life, but can she really trust a man whose magical talents are manipulation and charm? When Alex enlists a shady ex to help him, Ro must risk her heart and her life to save him and humanity from Hades’s evil scheme.
Can she harness her true power to set Alex and herself free?
Read an Excerpt
I turned from side to side in front of the mirror, examining my half French braid. My dark-brown hair wound across the top of my head, like a crown. I tucked the end under the rest of my hair and twisted it into a side ponytail, tying it off with a clear elastic.
“Pretty.” Tabitha stood in my bathroom doorway. With her flat tone of voice, she might as well have been describing broccoli or glue.
I plucked a beaded fringe earring off the counter and slipped it through the hole in my right earlobe.
Lenti, who sat on the counter, trilled and swiped the earring with her paw.
“Nope.” I jerked my head away. “I got these at a craft fair, and you’re not destroying them.”
“What’s that?”
“Never mind.” Should’ve known this was going to happen. Gritting my teeth, I removed the earring and tucked it into a drawer. I tugged the neckline of my clingy black dress a little lower, then turned to Tabitha. “Is it too much? Should I wear my strappy sandals or my ankle boots?”
She crossed her arms. “Explain to me how this happened. You were supposed to talk to him, not go out with him.”
About the Author:
Alexa Sullivan writes humorous, contemporary paranormal romance. She imagines a world where the mundane meets magic -- and where vampires, werewolves and witches have normal jobs. Oh, and there are cats, too. She sets all her books in the beautiful state of Oregon. When not writing, she can be found walking her cat on a leash, hanging out with her husband, and watching far too much Bravo reality TV.
Website
Newsletter
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
a Rafflecopter giveaway
March 30, 2023
Book Blast: THE BEAUTIFUL MISFITS by Susan Reinhardt
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Eighty-four seconds can change your life. Or destroy it. Josie Nickels is an Emmy-winning news anchor, poised to rise through the ranks of television journalism. On a bitter March evening on live TV, the pressures and secrets burbling behind the closed doors of her ridiculous Victorian mansion explode and the overwhelmed journalist spills family secrets like a Baptist at altar call. The aftermath costs her much more than a career. It robs her of a beloved son—a preppy, educated millennial trapped in the deadly world of addiction. Desperate for a new start and a way to save her son, Josie packs up her pride, her young daughter, and accepts a new job slinging cosmetics at a department store make-up counter with other disgraced celebs. In the gorgeous mountains of Asheville N.C., known for hippies, healings, and Subarus, Josie is faced with a choice for her son: Take a chance on a bold, out-of-the-ordinary treatment plan for her son or lose him forever. This heart-wrenching and, at times, hilarious novel, will delight fans of book-club women’s fiction and inspire and give hope to those with addicted sons and daughters.
Read an Excerpt
Josie finally managed to reach the woman stroking the La Belleza products as if she were examining the finest porcelain from the Qing dynasty. The jars and hour-glass-shaped bottles, in that rich lapis blue, were where the money grew.
“Hola. May I help you, ma’am?” Josie always gave her customers space, not making them feel the intense pressure they might endure at another counter or from a sales associate who hadn’t hit her goal in a month.
“I was wondering if I might have a sample of this new oil?” she asked. Her lips hardly moved. She had one of those manmade faces, tight and swollen baboon-fanny traits, courtesy of plastic surgery that left her of an undeterminable age and species. Every feature hardened like papier-mâché as if mummified. Oh, and her hair! Josie couldn’t peel her eyes from the woman’s updo, rising hive-like and so stiff with lacquer a gum wrapper was embedded near the top. Two white petals from the Bradford pear trees had blown in and settled near a neck so tight you could all but see her thyroid.
“Why, we certainly can arrange for a sample,” Josie said. “At La Belleza, if you have a seat for a few minutes and give me the honor of demonstrating our award-winning skin care, we are happy to treat you to a gift with your visit.” Into the chair and out with the Brigman’s charge card. Twenty minutes later the woman left with Josie’s personalized skincare guide, three small samples in a lapis-and-white polka-dotted La Belleza cosmetics bag, and nearly five hundred dollars on her card.
About the Author:
Susan Reinhardt grew up in LaGrange, GA. and Spartanburg, S.C.where most girls twirled batons, entered beauty pageants, and became debutantes. Bucking the norm, Susan spent her free time water skiing almost every day, fishing, and pining for a ragamuffin boy who was always up to no good.
Earlier in her college years, she pursued nursing, but most of her patients were terminal and her mastery and frequency of giving enemas had her questioning this line of work, though she adores nurses and often wishes she’d have stuck with the field.
She recently took a part-time job caring for adults with disabilities and loves the work, figuring it would at least make up for past misdeeds and get her a better shot at the Pearly Gates.
Writing has always been her first love. And she became good enough at it to earn many dozens of awards, including three Best of Gannetts for her feature stories and columns. Along with a bunch of other junk that really doesn't matter in the end.
What matters to Reinhardt is making people laugh. And think. And love others.
She is married to her second and final husband, country and genius lawyer Donny Laws who is bald but has a ponytail and loves to ride a bike. She has two adult kids, three steps, and a granddaughter.
She’s been on national TV, has modeled for one glossy magazine, and was the subject of a British documentary on aging and body image. She hopes that the documentary is lost and never resurfaces.
She once had a radio show called Susan Uncensored; a sold-out one-woman show called “From Hilarity to Insanity and Back.”
She no longer water skis but performs fairly decent front and backflips from a diving board and half-ass rides a unicycle and twirls a baton simultaneously.
Her hobbies include a vintage camper obsession and she’s owned three. Recently she’s settled on her 1968 Scotsman, which she hopes to paint pink and teal with polka-dots and haul on book tours.
She has two rescue cats who vehemently hate each other.
In her next life, she’d like to be a figure skater.
Amazon
Website
a Rafflecopter giveaway
March 29, 2023
Blog Tour: LUKE BLACKMON'S ROSE by Mary Patterson Thornburg
Luke Blackmon's Rose
by Mary Patterson Thornburg
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GENRE: Adult Romance (w/science-fantasy)
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BLURB:
To guard herself from the perils of her own sensuality, Rose married a man she didn’t love. Now, two years after his death, she’s not sure she can really love anyone. She’s not even sure she cares…
To achieve what he’d always known was his birthright, Luke had to struggle against tremendous odds. But when science discovered a way to access the past, a powerful bureaucracy found a way to use Luke. Now, torn from his own time, everything and everyone he knew, he can see no reason to go on living…
An instant of attraction, uninvited but inescapable, brings Luke and Rose together. Together, they discover the strength to love, the will to trust and hope. But will these things be enough to carry them over walls of suspicion, guilt, bigotry, and hate?
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Excerpt One:
And then the air in the room changed. There was a tingling, a sort of buzzing not quite within the range of human hearing. She thought, briefly, of what she'd read somewhere about the feeling people get in a thunderstorm when they're about to be struck by lightning. She wasn't sure anyone felt it but herself. Mira, who'd gotten up to look in the refrigerator for something, was apparently undisturbed. But then she saw Kingsley's expression change as he glanced past her toward the living room portion of the greatroom, and she heard—or perhaps felt—soft footsteps behind her. She spun around.
Where the living room carpet ended, maybe three yards from where she sat, stood a very tall, very dark, broad-shouldered man. He was barefoot, dressed in black sweats. She saw him clearly for a fraction of a second before the lightning bolt she'd felt coming struck. In that fraction of a second, she realized why Mira had looked familiar to her. And realized, too, what had been going on with Kingsley since the turn their discussion had taken that evening—if not before. In that fraction of a second, she knew who she was looking at.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Mary Patterson Thornburg has lived in California, Washington State, Montana, Indiana, and again, finally, in Montana. She was educated at Holy Names College, Montana State University, and Ball State University, where she then taught for many years. She's been reading science fiction and fantasy since she was five, and when she began to write fiction it seemed only natural to write in those genres. Her literary heroes are Mary Shelley, who gave us all a metaphor for technology alienated from its creators, and Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia E. Butler, inventors of worlds that shine their powerful searchlights on this one. She writes what some people call “science fantasy” (aka “fake science fiction) within as wide a range as possible, but almost always with a bit (or a lot) of romance.
https://www.marypattersonthornburg.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Patterson-Thornburg/e/B001IOFDN6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Patterson-Thornburg-Author/751054628247208
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mary-patterson-thornburg/47/967/480
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GIVEAWAY :
Mary Patterson Thornburg will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour
a Rafflecopter giveaway
