Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 46
February 5, 2025
Blog Tour: BLOOD LASTS FOREVER by Jeff Gunhus
Book Details:
Book Title: Blood Lasts Forever by Jeff Gunhus
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 256 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Seven Guns Press
Release date: November 2024
Content Rating: R. Blood Lasts Forever is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements and similar to a Stephen King novel. While not gratuitous, the story centers on an act of violence that could be disturbing to some. Could be PG-13 + M or R.Book Description:
Not every death is a tragedy.
When fifteen-year-old Wyatt Bucks is found dead in the Sagasett River, the small town of Chambers breathes a collective sigh of relief. Wyatt was a troubled youth, feared and despised by many. But his death, deemed an accident by the local sheriff, leaves a chilling legacy that will haunt the town for decades.
Twenty years later, Mitch Ansel, now a middle school teacher, receives a call that resurrects the nightmares of his past. Alongside his old friends, the Fab Five, Mitch is forced to confront the dark secret they’ve buried for years—a secret that ties them to Wyatt’s death.
As the friends reunite at a remote cabin, they must navigate a web of deceit, fear, and violence. Each carries scars from the past, but none are prepared for the revelations that await them. Mitch’s terrifying visions of Wyatt and the relentless pull of their shared guilt threaten to unravel their lives and sanity.Buy the Book:
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add to Goodreads
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Review: Ever since high school, the FabFive swore to never tell a secret. Now they all must meet again.
The Fab Five, now adults, weremeeting at a remote cabin. Right away, this storyline grabs you from thestart—literally from page 1. It gets you intrigued, especially when trying tofigure out what this secret was.
In the beginning, we get thestories of individual characters—some part of the Fab Five in the present, somepart of the Fab Five in the past it seemed, and some were even students, Ithink. To be honest, it really wasn’t too clear at times. Stories kind of wentin different directions and my mind was spinning with questions. What was thisbig secret? Did the Fab Five murder Wyatt? But then how is Wyatt alive in somechapters? When was the Fab Five going to reach the cabin already? This wasn’tquite what I was expecting. It was mostly reminiscing and harping over the“murder” for a good chunk of the book. It started off well, but then it startedgoing downhill. I really didn’t care for that dissected cat scene. I guess Iwas just expecting something different, something more exciting.
Still, this was a fairly niceread.
Rating:3 stars
Meet the Author:Jeff Gunhus is the USA TODAY bestselling author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year-old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 30 on Amazon, have been recognized as Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists, Kirkus Top 100 Indie Books, and reached the USA TODAY bestseller list. As a father of five, he leads an active life in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of Old Fox Books in Annapolis, working on his next novel, or on JeffGunhus.com.
connect with the author: website ~ X/twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads ~ bookbub ~ InstagramEnter the Giveaway:BLOOD LASTS FOREVER by Jeff Gunhus Book Tour Giveaway
Blog Tour: FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS by Dana Hammer
FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS
Dana Hammer
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GENRE: Middle Grade Fiction
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BLURB:
It’sthe end of the school year. For most kids, it’s time to relax and get ready forsummer. For Fanny, there’s work. She has a brand-new baby brother, and she’sbeen hired by Zeus to look after his “injured” son. And she still has her andher friends’ cheesemaking business! Fanny is overwhelmed.
Butthen she meets three sirens who want Fanny to join them on Feather Island for asummer of singing, instrument playing, and fun at the beach. The program istotally free and could start an amazing musical career-the thing that Fanny hasalways wanted the most.
Athenaand Gemma are dead set against it. Athena says that the sirens are bad news;that their whole purpose in life is to lure men to their deaths with theirbeautiful singing. Gemma says that Feather Island is part of a network ofunmappable islands, the type of place where criminals and sketchy organizationshoard their wealth and do their crimes.
Surely,the sirens don’t do that anymore, right? All that stuff was a long time ago. Ifthe sirens want to keep their island paradise a secret, well, that’s not soweird, is it? Fanny has talked to them, and she just knows that they aren’t asevil as everyone says. They are perfectly nice ladies.
Right?
FollowFanny Fitzpatrick as she navigates big sisterhood, friends who disapprove ofher life choices, burning ambitions, and a bunch of sirens luring her away totheir private island.
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ExcerptTwo:
But I don’t have a chance to practice or not practice,because I remember that I have a Zoom date with Gemma and Athena. I head downto the computer and log in to the meeting.
Gemma and Athena are already in there, talking aboutsomething. They look serious and sour, but Gemma is wearing the most adorablenewsboy hat with embroidered flowers on it, and I squeal when I see it.
“Gemma, that hat though!”
They stop talking and look at me, not smiling. I realizesomething weird is going on, and so I stop smiling.
“Fanny, we need to talk,” says Athena.
That’s not good.
“Um. Gemma? How’s England?” Gemma shakes her head at me.
I look back to Athena, who has crossed her arms, which makesher look like a strict disciplinarian who’s about to give me a terriblelecture. And I realize that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
“Herman told me everything,” Athena says.
“Um.”
“You let those things in your house! After I specificallytold you how dangerous they are!”
“I didn’t let them in,” I say, which I realize is a wimpything to say, but I can’t think of anything better. “My dad did.”
“What did they want? Why were they there, at your house?”
“Well—”
“Do you have any idea how many people sirens have killedover the course of these millennia?”
“But that was a long time ago!” I say, sounding desperateand silly, even to my own ears.
“Fanny,” Gemma says, quietly, looking around to make sure noone is listening to her. “I’m not supposed to say this. But there are theseislands. A few of them. And they have special deals with the UN, NATO, theAfrican Union, and a few others that I’m not allowed to even say the names of.They have diplomatic immunity. They operate under their own laws, and theyanswer to no one. They’re unmappable, untraceable. I’ve been talking to Athena,and I think these islands are owned by the sirens.”
“You sound like conspiracy theorists,” I say, rolling myeyes. “How do you even know about these top-secret islands if they’re so topsecret?”
“My parents,” Gemma says, like it’s obvious. I guess itshould be obvious. I still have no idea what her parents do for a living, butthey seem to jet around the planet a lot, with machete-bearing security guards,so I guess it must be important. Still.
“Well, Feather Island is a school. A school for musicians,”I say, trying to reassure them. “There’s a brochure and everything.”
I wish I had the brochure so I could show it to them, howlovely and harmless the place is, but my parents have put it somewhere and Idon’t know where it is.
“How do you know about Feather Island?” Athena demands,looking even more furious.
Whoops. I guess I’ve gotta tell them now.
“That’s what the sirens wanted. To tell me about their musiccamp.”
“NO!” Athena shouts, banging her fist on the table in frontof her. Splinters of wood fly everywhere and I’m kind of scared now. This isintense, even for Athena. “You can NOT go to this island. I don’t care whatthey told you. It’s bad news.”
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What Makes a Good Middle Grade Story?
This is an excellent question, and one that can only be answeredsubjectively. So I’ll do my best, but I’m sure plenty of people will disagreewith me.
First of all, middle graders are people, and they like the samethings in a story as older people do. Interesting people tackling big problems,satisfying character arcs, and readable prose are all indisposable to a goodbook. It should be engaging, not preachy, and make the reader think outside oftheir own experiences. All of these components make for a great novel of of anygenre, for any age range.
The difference is how subject matter is tackled. Most middlegraders are probably not interested in epic tomes that span generations andshine a light on the plight of the working class, and have long, meditativepassages about chopping onions as a metaphor for union busting. But a middlegrader might love a book about a fellow classmate who is experiencinghomelessness, and is forced to chop onions in the school cafeteria to pay fortheir schooling, and gets teased because she always smells like onions. Bothbooks deal with poverty and struggle, but for a middle grader, you have toscale the problem down.
One thing that is super important in writing a middle grade bookis to remember what middle grade was ACTUALLY LIKE. Think about yourself whenyou were eleven, twelve, etc. Were you always thinking about your parents, andschoolwork? I know I wasn’t. I was thinking about my crushes, fashion, bands,and what I was gonna do with my friends that weekend. We swore. We gorgedourselves on candy and chips. We played truth or dare. We froze each other’sunderwear at slumber parties. (I don’t know why we did this, it was thenineties, ok?) We gossiped, a lot. We were interesting, complex people. I thinkit’s important to remember all that when writing for middle grade.
I’m not saying a middle grade novel needs to be gritty andprofane to be relatable. No one wants Trainspotting for Tots. But it shouldn’tjust be “I hate homework. My mom makes me do chores and eat broccoli. My littlesister is annoying.” Because that’s not life. Or rather, that’s only a small,uninteresting part of life, and not what makes for a riveting story, orcompelling characters.
Anyway, I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject. If I was,I’d be a lot richer. But in my opinion, this is what makes for a good middlegrade novel.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She haswon over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generatedincome, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she isthe author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middlegrade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to writesomething her 9 year old daughter could read.
Website: https://www.danahammer.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danahammerwriterofthings
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Fanny-Fitzpatrick-Sirens-Dana-Hammer/dp/1962308243/ref=sr_1_1
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GIVEAWAY
DanaHammer will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift certificate to a randomly drawnwinner.
a Rafflecopter giveawayFebruary 4, 2025
Blog Tour: TARNISHED by Erica Rose Eberhart
TARNISHED
Erica Rose Eberhart
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GENRE: Fantasy
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BLURB:
Inthe struggling city of Braewick, a determined 20-year-old gate guard namedAilith MacCree longs for a chance at financial stability and adventure. Littledoes she know, her wish is about to come true. She accepts a mission fromPrincess Greer that promises both: escort Princess Caitriona to the EndlessMountains to meet the enigmatic hermit for a great financial reward. Ailithjumps at the opportunity and bids goodbye to all she's ever known. But as theyjourney together, Ailith discovers that Caitriona holds a dangerous secret-shepossesses powerful magic in a kingdom where magic is outlawed.
Ailithand Caitriona face mysterious attacks and supernatural challenges. But as theydelve deeper into the treacherous landscape, Ailith learns of Caitriona'stragic past and the dark curse that threatens her very existence.
Withrebellion brewing in Braewick, and the oppressive king hot on their trail,Ailith must not only navigate her growing feelings for Caitriona, but alsofight against relentless foes. As they race against time to stop the curse,Ailith and Caitriona uncover shocking truths about their kingdom, theirfamilies, and themselves.
Willtheir burgeoning romance survive the trials ahead? Can they break the curse andsave their homeland from tyranny? Join Ailith and Caitriona on a thrillingquest filled with magic, danger, and heart-pounding adventure. Fans ofhigh-stakes fantasy will not want to miss this epic tale.
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ExcerptThree:
“She took three of our men. We’ll come back for what remainsof them later.” The hunter walking beside the cart smiled at Ailith. The shortsword hanging at his side still dripped blue blood. “But we got her anyway.”
He patted the uncovered head placed proudly on top of thecart. A woman’s head, by all appearance, until you noticed her pale skin had aslightly green hue, the ripple of gills just behind her ears, and rows ofpointed teeth in her open mouth, all the tell-tale imagery of a carolingcountess. A tickling of unease rose along Ailith’s neck as she looked at thecorpse. She shifted on her feet, attempting to appear unbothered. The guarddidn’t notice her discomfort, or perhaps he didn’t care. “King Cearny will beglad; don’t you agree?”
“Aye, leave her be,” the driver of the cart chided. Anotherhunter, older than the one on foot, and more kind, offered
Ailith a soft smile. “You’re the same guard when we leftyesterday afternoon. Haven’t you finished your shift?”
Ailith pressed her lips together and shook her head. Thescent of the countess’ blood filled her nostrils and made her queasy. This wasthe closest she ever came to a countess, although she heard the creature’s songfor a fortnight and witnessed men leave through the northern gate never toreturn. Now she lay before Ailith on the cart, her eyes vacant and cloudy. Oneof her hands, so human-like besides her nails ending in clawed points,stretched forward as if begging Ailith for aid.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Erica Rose Eberhart grew up in the Catskills region and spent manyformative years in both Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia. She nowresides with her family and cat in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Atechnical editor by trade, she has a Master’s degree in English and CreativeWriting. Erica has written stories since she was able to write sentences andhas found comfort in fantasy her entire life, whether by consuming fantasticalstories or creating her own. Beside the comfort of books, Erica adores naturewalks, crocheting, embroidery, cats, baking and autumn. You can follow her manyadventures on social media @ericaroseeberhart. Tarnished is her first publishednovel.
Website: https://ericaroseeberhart.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaroseeberhart/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@ericaroseeberhart
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7268034.Erica_Rose_Eberhart
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ericaroseeberhart
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ericaroseeberhart.bsky.social
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GIVEAWAY
EricaRose Eberhart will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawnwinner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
February 3, 2025
Spotlight: LOVELADIES ENNUI by Keslie Patch-Bohrod
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Summary: What if the Loveladies lagoons on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, originally dug by actual Soviet spies, were used today as a conduit for espionage?Miranda Craig’s summer at the shore is disrupted by the death of a neighbor, subsequent noise of his children’s huge construction project and her unrelenting questions that she feels are short of paranoia.What did the dead man do for the CIA, could her next door neighbor be a Nazi in hiding and are there still Russian spies in Loveladies? She wonders if there is a connection between the spyware found on her computer and those of other residents in her elite shore town, to the Ukrainian hack of 2015 and the recent tampering with the Presidential election.With the help of another neighbor Liz, the two unravel a complicated plot and a frightening realization that the new Cold War is potentially more deadly and closer to home.
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Author Bio: Keslie Patch Bohrod started writing while in grade school at the Tappan Elementary School in Ravenna, Ohio. In Fifth grade, she wrote an essay entitled "Molly Pitcher" for the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest and won at the state level. The next year's topic was the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her essay titled "The Human Jefferson", won state, district and national levels and was published in the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. Principal Ted Poole declared a "Keslie Patch" day at the school where she read her essay to all classes.
Keslie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and completed one year of post baccalaureate studies in Social Work from the University of Akron. She obtained her Master of Arts degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Cincinnati.
She began her career as a Rehabilitation Consultant to Worker's Compensation Insurance Companies in Orlando, Florida, in 1984. In 1986, she moved to Macon, Georgia where she began to work for Underwriter's Adjusting Company, a subsidiary of Continental Insurance Companies. Over the next nine years, her various jobs moved her to Atlanta, Georgia; Cranbury and Piscataway New Jersey and New York City where she gained experience in sales & marketing, commercial lines underwriting and ending as a Quality, Service and Productivity Officer for the company. Other positions elsewhere included project manager and medical/cost researcher for an expert witness for Life Care Planning.
Meeting husband Bill in 1991 they were married in 1994. They have two adult children, Jaysen and Stephanie and a Weimador named Bo.
Keslie has served on a number of non-profit boards such as Summit Child Care, Watchung Hills Regional High School PTO and Loveladies Harbor Organization.
Loveladies Ennui is her first fictional novel in a planned series featuring Miranda Craig.
Purchase links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094Q77TK9
Social Media links:
Website: https://kesliebohrod.wixsite.com/loveladiesennui
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kesliebohrod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kesliebohrod/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21491379.Keslie_Patch_Bohrod
February 1, 2025
Review: HAIRSPRAY AND HOMICIDE by Cindy Bell
Bekki the Beautician returns toher hometown to help run her mother’s beauty salon. Shortly, she gets arrestedfor the murder of the main competition. Can she prove her own innocence?
A quick and easy mystery!
Rating:4 stars
Review: THE DARE by R.L. Stine
The beginning in here was kind ofslow and unamusing with all the kids and that Slurpee fight in the store. Icouldn’t really connect with the main character and her problem.
Eh, this book just wasn’t thatgreat for me. Not what I normally would expect from R.L Stine.
Rating:2 stars
Review: MY GAL SUNDAY by Mary Higgins Clark
“Lord Henry Brinthrop (U.S.President) marries our gal Sunday.”
The marriage between them was lessthan a year old, but they still had incredible compatibility.
In “A Crime of Passion,” thepresident’s righthand man is being convicted of the murder of his lover. Hecouldn’t have pulled the trigger. But if he didn’t, who did? This was a goodone because I liked the mystery aspect.
In another story, Sunday getskidnapped. This one was meant to be suspenseful, but it was much too long.
The third story was ratherunreadable to me.
These were generally okay reads,but the best one really was the first one. Eh, this book was okay.
Rating:3 stars
Review: THE DEAD LIFEGUARD by R.L. Stine
Okay, what’s with chapter 1 andthe crazy self-talk in it? Chapter 2 wasn’t much clearer. And I didn’t like thedifferent character POV’s. We had Lindsay, Danny, May-Ann, and Mouse? Too manyand too crazy!
Didn’t like this one at all. Lookslike Stine was losing it with this one.
Rating:1 star
January 31, 2025
Blog Tour: HIJINKS, HITCHHIKERS, AND MAYHEM by Gail Koger
HIJINKS, HITCHHIKERS AND MAYHEM
Gail Koger
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GENRE: Action/adventure, RomCom, Fantasy
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BLURB:
AllCasey wanted was to have hot, mind-blowing sex with Hothar, her soul mate. Thatlittle fantasy went up in smoke when she’s stuck babysitting a cowardly witchwho is the galaxy’s only hope of survival.
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ExcerptThree:
“Next up is Aphrodite, Goddess of Love,” a voice shoutedover the titty bar loudspeakers.
No freakin’ way. The witch wouldn’t be stupid enough toaudition as a stripper when we were hunting her, would she? Nah. It was just acoincidence. There were probably lots of dancers who called themselvesAphrodite, the Goddess of Love.
Aphrodite’s bell-shaped breasts bobbed wildly as she ran outon the stage, wearing only a pink G-string.
Hitch made a noise like a cat hacking up a hairball.
Yep, that summed it up. What had happened to Aphrodite’sdream of being a chorus girl in Vegas?
The men in the audience whistled and stomped their feet asAphrodite humped the pole like an inebriated caterpillar.
“Move your ass,” someone shouted.
The witch twitched her butt spasmodically.
Holy hell. Aphrodite had no sense of rhythm, nor could shedance. Ugh. Enough was enough. I wound my way through the tables and jumped uponto the stage. “Are you insane? We’re leaving now.”
Aphrodite glared at me. “Go away.”
Dozens of cockroaches scurried over my sandals. “Wazzock’spiss!” I hopped around like a crazy person trying to dislodge the littlebeasts.
Hitch trilled in excitement and the roaches began to vanish.
The men shouted, “Shake it baby. Shake it!”
Aphrodite shoved me. “Get off the stage. You’re ruining myroutine.”
“Routine?” I did a tap dance on the bugs. “This is acockroach-infested titty bar, not Vegas.”
“You’re spoiling everything,” Aphrodite snarled.
“You’ll thank me later. Where are your clothes?”
“I’m not leaving,” Aphrodite shrieked.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Iwas a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Glendale Police Department and to keep fromgoing totally bonkers – I mean people have no idea what a real emergency is.Take this for example: I answered, “9-1-1 emergency, what’s your emergency?”And this hysterical woman yelled, “My bird is in a tree.” Sometimes I reallycouldn’t help myself, so I said, “Birds have a tendency to do that, ma’am.” Thewoman screeched, “No! You don’t understand. My pet parakeet is in the tree.I’ve just got to get him down.” Like I said, not a clue. “I’m sorry ma’am butwe don’t get birds out of trees.” The woman then cried, “But… What about myhusband? He’s up there, too.” See what I had to deal with? To keep from hittingmyself repeatedly in the head with my phone I took up writing.
https://www.facebook.com/Colettiwarlordbooks/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1598719.Gail_Koger
https://www.instagram.com/gkoger58/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gail-koger
http://www.amazon.com/Gail-Koger/e/B001K838BY
http://gailswarlords30.bsky.social
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GIVEAWAY
Gail Koger will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to arandomly drawn winner.
a Rafflecopter giveawaySpotlight: HALE by J.K. Noble
Genre: YA Fantasy
Summary: After a desperate escape attempt from his kidnapper, sixteen-year-old Hale is thrust into the brutal world of magic that his sister had tried to protect him from.
Here, in the violent Land of Griffins, Hale learns he is anything but normal. He is in fact a griffin who has pretty amazing talents. As Hale grows close to the Griffin Leader, Bayo, he can't deny their connection. However, Hale is unaware of the dark plans Bayo has in store for him....as well as who they truly are to one another.
In Hale: The Rise of the Griffins, readers discover a diverse fantasy world with four unique nations and cultures. The novel is broken into short stories that follow a different set in the cast bringing the reader into fun adventures in every chapter. This unique magic system is unlike anything in fantasy literature today. Hale: The Rise of the Griffins is an anti-chosen-one story that addresses loss, manipulation, good and bad family relationships, finding one’s path, and dealing with one’s mistakes.
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Author Bio: J.K. Noble is an author, artist, and founder of the J.K. Noble Foundation Inc., which provides free recreational books to public schools. She is best known for her captivating Hale series, where her talent for crafting fantastical worlds and complex characters shines. Noble is also an illustrator, creating the artwork for her books and the associated Hale trading cards. In addition to her literary work, she is dedicated to humanitarian causes through the J.K. Noble Humanity Foundation.
Purchase Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hale-Rise-Griffins-JK-Noble-ebook/dp/B0977H6WVP/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hale-jk-noble/1143116491
Author's Social Media:
Website: https://www.hale-fantasynovel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haletheriseofthegriffins/
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@haleseries
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hale.fantasyseries/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@haleseries/videos
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21510789.J_K_Noble
