P.D. Workman's Blog, page 112

Read a book for Father’s Day!

[image error]Don’t have a card or a gift for your dad or significant other for Father’s Day this year? It’s not too late to get an ebook! Kindle books can be read on your phone, tablet, ereader, or in your web browser. They can be gifted instantly to your dad’s email account. And there are a ton of great books out there!

Here are my books that I think hold the most appeal for men:

[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

Looking Over Your Shoulder is currently free. The Girl in the Morgue is available only on preorder. I have a new detective series coming soon, so keep your eyes out for it.

Here are some awesome books that Amazon recommends for dads!

And if you’re a dad looking for a way to spend the day with your kids, why not set aside a few minutes for reading? Whether it is a few minutes before bed for a bedtime story, a daily or weekly Skype session, or audiobooks in the car, there are lots of opportunities to share the wonder of books with your children.

What are the best books to read with your kids? Well, the ones they’ll listen to, for starters. Here is Amazon’s list of children’s bestsellers.

It can be hard to find books for older boys other than the ubiquitous Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. What do you do once you have moved past those books or have a boy who wants something a bit older or more realistic? Some of my books with teen boy protagonists are:

[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

(Deviation and Mito are currently free.)

So fill your shelf with some books for Dad, or some books to read with Dad!

Help out man’s best friend and I’ll send you a free book

[image error]Friends of mine are currently trying to raise funds for their dog’s surgery. They rescued Musket before losing everything in a house fire a few years ago. Despite many challenges, this family is always the first to step forward with a helping hand to serve friends and others in the community. They are steadfast, kind-hearted friends who will do anything for others.

Here is a link to their GoFundMe page. Give them a donation and send me the confirmation from GoFundMe (pdworkman.author@gmail.com), and I will send you a free ebook copy of Loose the Dogs! (Or, if you prefer a book where the dog is a hero rather than the antagonist, I’ll send you Chloe.)

As a bonus, if they manage to reach their goal, I will do a draw from all of those who have sent me their confirmations for a copy of A Dog’s Purpose. I’ve previously written about A Dog’s Purpose here, and I offer a free gift of illustrated quotes from the book.

 

$200 Gift Card Plus 17 YA Books

$200 will buy you a lot of books at Barnes & Noble, plus you get 17 books from best-selling, award-winning, and stellar break-out young adult authors. Enter to win this Reader Appreciation contest today! The prize pack includes a copy of my Questing for a Dream.

[image error]

[image error]

Excerpt from The Bird and the Sword

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I read a mystery/thriller book last week that was so pedantic and emotionless that I kept waiting for the surprise twist that everyone was so flat because the protagonist was really insane and had just imagined the previous thirteen years. But no… it was just… written that way…

I am now reading The Bird and the Sword, by Amy Harmon, which is a welcome change! I don’t read a lot of fantasy, but this is definitely one that I would recommend. Warring kingdoms and intrigue, a little bit of magic, and of course the romance between star-crossed lovers… It’s a fun, well-written piece, in great contrast to that other book!

My mother made words. She was a Teller, and her words were magic. She spoke and the words became life. Reality. Truth. My father knew it, and he was afraid. Words can be terrible when the truth is unwelcome.

Amy Harmon, The Bird and the Sword

The day my mother was killed, she told my father I wouldn’t speak again, and she told him if I died, he would die too. Then she predicted the king would sell his soul and lose his son to the sky.

My father has a claim to the throne, and he is waiting in the shadows for all of my mother’s words to come to pass. He wants desperately to be king, and I just want to be free.

But freedom will require escape, and I’m a prisoner of my mother’s curse and my father’s greed. I can’t speak or make a sound, and I can’t wield a sword or beguile a king. In a land purged of enchantment, love might be the only magic left, and who could ever love . . . a bird?

Excerpt from When We Were Sisters

Don’t forget to join the YA Scavenger Hunt, or at least to grab my prizes while you’re here!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

A change from the thrillers I have been reading lately, When Emilie Richards’ When We Were Sisters is a contemporary story of two grown foster sisters revisiting their past.  When We Were Sisters is a deep, sensitive look at family and what they can mean to each other. Obviously, this one is right in my wheelhouse. The foster care system often plays a part in my YA books.

I’ve never liked hospitals. Three months ago I spent two weeks incarcerated in one, and now I like them even less. Sure, I still realize the occasional necessity, but I also realize how important it is to be freed as soon as possible.

Emilie Richards, When We Were Sisters

[image error]

As children in foster care, Cecilia and Robin vowed they would be the sisters each had never had. Now superstar singer-songwriter Cecilia lives life on the edge, but when Robin is nearly killed in an accident, Cecilia drops everything to be with her.

Robin set aside her career as a successful photojournalist to create the loving family she always yearned for. But gazing through a wide-angle lens at both past and future, she sees that her marriage is disintegrating. Her attorney husband is rarely home. She and the children need Kris’s love and attention, but does Kris need them?

When Cecilia asks Robin to be the still photographer for a documentary on foster care, Robin agrees, even though Kris will be forced to take charge for the months she’s away. She gambles that he’ll prove to them both that their children—and their marriage—are a priority in his life.

Cecilia herself needs more than time with her sister. A lifetime of lies has finally caught up with her. She wants a chance to tell the real story of their childhood and free herself from the nightmares that still haunt her.

As the documentary unfolds, memories will be tested and the meaning of family redefined, but the love two young girls forged into bonds of sisterhood will help them move forward as the women they were always meant to be.

Review of Proxy, Medical Kidnap Files #3

Reblogged from hubby’s blog Flamestr’s Thoughts.

[image error]Meet Seth Wilcox, a typical fourteen-year-old boy who wants to get better. Nothing more or less; Seth has spent most of his days in the hospital.

Seth wants to be happy, but how can he be happy, when he is constantly feeling ill? Seth lands in hospital once again, and Social Services becomes suspicious of the situation. When a child is consistently in the hospital, it raises a red flag.

 

Gabriel knows what it is like to be an underdog.  All Gabriel wants is for kids to be safe.  A happy Seth would make a happy Gabriel. But what does that entail?  Why is Seth so sick?

As Gabriel and his soulmate Renata sift through the red tape, they find there is more to it than meets the eye. When Gabriel and Renata get involved in the mess,  chances are, they have bitten off more they can chew. Every step they take seems to further endanger Seth’s life.

As you get involved in this thriller, you won’t be able to put it down.  Watch as Gabriel and Renata go through this maze of intrigue. Can they get it right and get Seth to safety? His life depends on the answer.

Thanks, Flamestr! Read a sample or jump to buy links.

The hunt begins June 1!

[image error]

As I previously posted, I am participating in The Young Adult Summer Scavenger Hunt running June 1-7.

Because you have made it this far, I have some treasure for you!

You can get book #1 of any of my series for free:

[image error] [image error] [image error]

And you can enter my contest to win these three ebooks:

[image error]

[image error]

My secret clue for the scavenger hunt is “MATCH”

When you have all of the words, enter to win the grand prize here.

Click on the map to hop back to the list of participating websites.

[image error]

Excerpt from The Gods of Guilt

Some fun promos going on now, be sure to check out offers in the sidebar. 

Oh, and if you have tried to access my offer for a free copy of Diversion or another of my website-only offers in the last few weeks and were unable to because you got an error, it’s fixed now! Give it another try!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I am currently reading The Gods of Guilt, book six in Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller series. Mickey Haller is also known as “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Michael Connelly always satisfies with lots of tension, action, and legal twists and turns, and this one is no exception.

I was left sitting on the floor, surveying the damage. I had blood on my mouth and teeth and down the crisp white shirt I was wearing. My tie was on the floor under the defense table. It was the clip-on I wear on days I visit clients in holdings cells and don’t want to get pulled through the bars.

Michael Connelly, The Gods of Guilt

[image error]

Mickey Haller gets the text, “Call me ASAP – 187,” and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Murder cases have the highest stakes and the biggest paydays, and they always mean Haller has to be at the top of his game.

When Mickey learns that the victim was his own former client, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on the straight and narrow path, he knows he is on the hook for this one. He soon finds out that she was back in LA and back in the life. Far from saving her, Mickey may have been the one who put her in danger.

Young Adult Book Bonanza

Looking for some new Young Adult books to add to your device?

Head on over to the Young Adult Book Bonanza! All books only are only 99c May 30-31.

[image error]

It’s a freebie weekend!

I have two Kindle freebies running this weekend, and have linked to some other freebie offers below. I know you already have enough in your To Be Read pile… but really, is there ever really enough on your TBR pile? There’s always room for just one more…

Endless Change
Free Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

[image error]

She was a broken bird

He was a mender of wings

Parker’s mother always said he jumped into things without thinking first, and that’s exactly what he did when he saw Dakota, cold and hungry, fending for herself on the city streets. How could he ignore the pain and fear in her dark eyes? Dakota was eager to go to school and she made friends quickly, eager to make up for a dismal childhood full of deprivation and abuse by enjoying every moment she could.

But there was something wrong with Dakota. It wasn’t just the hollowness in her eyes or her traumatic past. Others sensed it too and warned Parker not to get too close to Dakota. But despite his questions, he just can’t help falling for her.

Dakota holds her secrets close, and Parker is worried that if he pushes too hard for answers, she’ll just run away.

Read a sample or find out more.

[image error]

Making Her Mark
Free Saturday and Sunday

[image error]

Secrets and lies.

When everything changed, Kelli thought she would be happy. But nothing really changed.

Kelli’s life has never been easy. She’s always faced her problems head on. She’s strong and savvy and in charge of herself. All of that is about to change.

Her life is turned upside down when she discovers the secret that her mother has been hiding from her for years.

Kelli thinks this is her one chance at happiness. But is it?

Read a sample or find out more.

[image error]

And more!

A Bustle in the Hedgerow, by Ben Miller

The strangled body of a 9-year-old girl is discovered behind a hedgerow bordering her school playground in York, Pennsylvania. The local authorities’ only clue lies in a scrap of paper left in her front pocket, with a short phrase printed on it in an unfamiliar language.

Jackson Byrne, an FBI agent who specializes in investigating crimes against children, has just completed a book tour promoting his best-seller about solving his most recent high-profile case–the abduction and murder of a celebrity’s young daughter. Unexpectedly, Jack receives an invitation from an old family friend and powerful political insider urging him to run for the U.S. Senate. At the same time, his FBI division learns of the murder of another child with a similar mysterious message, launching them into a search for a serial killer given the moniker The Playground Predator. As Jack becomes torn between his excitement about a new career and others’ expectations of a celebrated investigator, he must also continue to deal with demons from his past. While Jack’s devoted wife, a sycophantic young FBI colleague, and an ambitious and attractive female reporter all try to influence his path, none of them pulls the strings as effectively as the enigmatic Randall, the psychologically disturbed but brilliant Playground Predator himself, who orchestrates his own master plan,eventually dragging Jack into an inevitable showdown. 

Getting Lucky, by Craig Anderson

It was supposed to be easy money. Sign a waiver form, a quick jab with a needle and then boom, enough cash for a weeks worth of booze. No-one told me I’d be carrying around my very own judge and jury.

I’m sure you’re thinking that sounds wonderful. Good for you, you’re probably a nice person, with a house and a job and food. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those. I had to steal and cheat to get by, now I can’t even do that. My new karma passengers are doing what no-one else ever could, they are keeping me honest. Honesty gets you killed around here.

Dance: Cinderella Retold, by Demelza Carlton

When the Emperor’s army comes recruiting, Mai signs up, seeing it as the perfect escape from her stepmother and a lifetime of drudgery. Armed with her mother’s armour and a pair of magic shoes, Mai marches off to war…only to find herself sharing a tent with the General’s arrogant nephew, Prince Yi.

The best swordsman in the Empire, Prince Yi wants to make war, not love, but the Emperor insists this will be Yi’s last campaign before he must marry. Prince Yi has never met his match…until now.

Can one woman win the war and the prince’s heart?

The Opposite of Living, by Genevieve McKay

Abandoned orphan Carolina Brown wants nothing more than to be left alone with her cookbooks and her vivid imagination. And she won’t hesitate to fight (and bite) until she gets her way.

Unable to speak, Cara has no memory of her past and little hope for her future. So when a mysterious couple appears, promising to help unlock the secrets surrounding her, Cara reluctantly takes a chance at a new life.

Flung abruptly into a new world, Cara embarks on an extraordinary adventure that forces her to question everything she knows about reality. About her past, her future and the world around her, including what it means to be human.

Smile for Me, by Jan Thompson

A deadline-driven workaholic assistant school principal who meticulously plans his schedule months in advance meets an easygoing art teacher and studio potter with no sense of time, living her life as the seasons come and go. When they cross paths again at the Summer by the Sea Day Camp sponsored by his church in Nassau, Bahamas, how can they get along if they cannot see eye to eye?

The Tourney, by Juliet Sem

Crown Princess Keestu Ranell of Sandar, a member of the Union, has been invited to witness The Tourney in the Autocracy, where hand-to-hand combat will determine that society’s leaders for the next generation. In addition to viewing their battles for succession, Keestu must negotiate a trade agreement between the Autocracy and the Union.

Half-Blood Dragon, by K.N. Lee

A lady-in-waiting’s job is to follow orders. For Rowen, it is to execute her stepfather’s plan to elevate the family’s station by an advantageous marriage to the crown prince. Intrigue and seduction fill Rowen’s days, but the prophecies that haunt her dreams at night warn her that death awaits.

The taunts of her sleepless nights are realized when she is framed and sentenced to death for the prince’s murder. For a human, there’s nowhere to run and no one to turn to in a kingdom where power is tightly held by full-blooded dragon shifters.

It will take a stranger from the shadows to save Rowen from execution and reveal a truth full of terrifying potential. It is time for Rowen to find the courage to accept her fate, awaken her gift, and set the world on fire.

Fairy Eyeglasses, by Emily Martha Sorensen (children’s short story)

When Cassie finds a magic pair of glasses that allow her to see fairies, she has to figure out where they came from . . . and what the fairies want her to do with them.

Before he Kills, by Blake Pierce

In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun.

Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen.

Holding Aces, by Nikkie Groom (mature content)

Tired of running, Arianna Fraser decides it’s time to head home–to those she loves most. Finally putting the pieces of her life back together, she finds herself in the luxurious Kingdom in Vegas, meeting the wealthy and irresistible, Denham King.

And Denham King is everything she wants–and shouldn’t have. Adding vibrancy and color to her grey and dismal world, Arianna cannot resist the passion and pull she has for him. When her past comes back with a vengeance, threatening the new life she created, Denham and Arianna must trust each other to fight for what they want before it’s too late. Will the kingdom come crumbling down before they have a chance to get their “happily ever after?”

If I Break, by Portia Moore

He was just what I lacked a beautiful distraction.

At six-foot-two, with ebony hair, storm gray eyes, and a smile that

could only hide an agenda, I knew he was trouble. And for the first

time in my life, a little trouble was just what I needed.

No. What I wanted.

It wasn’t like I’d ever marry the guy.

Until I did.

A Matter of Death, by Victoria DeLuis (short story)

In a world where rogue necromancers control the dead and turn them against the living, The Independent Necromancers’ Bureau works to keep law and order.

When Dylan turns up at agent Cassie Dune’s house just before sunrise, she knows something is up, and anything that bothers a two-hundred year old ghost, is sure to be bad news for Cassie. A necromancer has imprisoned the spirit of Dylan’s friend Elizabeth. Can Cassie find her and save her soul?

The Ugly Duckling, by Annabelle Costa

What would you do to get your happily ever after?

Libby Saunders, who spent the first seventeen years of her life as an ugly duckling, bleaches her hair and drops forty pounds in order to get her fairytale ending. Once she evolves into a beautiful swan, the handsome princes are tripping each other’s royal steeds in order to get a date with her. But while the princes in fairy tales may be perfect gentlemen, Libby finds that her real life princes tend to be somewhat less than perfect. Actually, they tend to be a bunch of two-timing jerks.

Identity of the Heart, by Mary Crawford

After Marcus Brolen’s best friend, Rogue Bentancourt, swears that guys aren’t interested in trying to keep up with her busy schedule as an apprentice in his tattoo shop and art student with some modeling and waitressing thrown in on the side to make ends meet, he signs her up for an online dating service called BrainsRSexy.com.

After all, it won’t be all that weird…right? He’ll be there to play her wingman as always. Even though he and Rogue have never had chemistry, she deserves the absolute best and he’s going to help her find her perfect guy.

Living this thing called Life, by Dreal C

Mia Saint never thought her life would take turns that her mother has never prepared her for. Her school life was going great. Her friends was there for her whenever she needed too. Her sister was busy with her own life as a popular kid. One mistake was made that cost Mia her entire life.

Witnessing an incident that no child nor teen shall see. Being pushed from student to eye witness to victim. School life, love life, and her relationship with her sister and friends started to collide into one. Life changing decisions was made. Enemies was formed. Her life has just begun.

The Samurai Code, by Steven Moore (Bookfunnel)

Expedition leader Hiram Kane is in Japan when the storm of the century hits. He joins the rescue mission as flash floods cause chaos, death and destruction.

Yakuza boss Katashi Goto is retiring from the mob. Before he does, there is one more thing to achieve: revenge over a centuries old enemy.

When their two very different worlds collide, Kane is forced to make a choice. He has always known honour is worth fighting for. When challenged by Katashi, he has to decide if it is also worth dying for.

Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows, by Michelle Madow (Bookfunnel)

Nicole Cassidy is a witch descended from the Greek gods… but she doesn’t know it until she moves to a new town and discovers a dangerous world of magic and monsters that she never knew existed.

When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole and four others — including mysterious bad-boy Blake — are gifted with elemental powers. But the comet has another effect — it opens the portal to another dimension that has imprisoned the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes, it’s up to Nicole and the others to follow a cryptic prophecy in time to save the town… and possibly the world.

[image error]Don’t Shoot! I have another story to tell you, by Elen Ghulam (newsletter sign-up)

The humorous chronicles the trials and tribulations of a Czech-born Iraqi woman who walks the tightrope between the poetic East and the seductive West. Her life was already complicated when she immigrated to Canada, when life took a byzantine turn.  She marries a dashing Palestinian professor and together they live in Scotland and Israel. In the holy city of Jerusalem, she learns Hebrew, works for an Israeli company and experiences the military occupation of Palestine first hand – albeit from a perspective within Israeli society. She takes an Israeli friend to visit a Palestinian neighborhood, and later takes a Palestinian friend to visit an Israeli area.The tourist introducing the locals to their own country. Can life get any more absurd? Living between two worlds, yet again. Ghulam writes with elegance and humor about the hardship of embodying contrary identities. Along the way, she records her intensely personal struggle to forge a sense of integrity in a world teetering on the edge of the abyss.

Silent Running, by Lisette Kristensen (Instafreebie)

Nothing came easy for Baleigh Burgess. If it wasn’t her family or the men in her life, it was the streets that gnawed on her soul. It was her determination that got her a new chance from her wreck of a life…

One night is all it took to unravel everything.

Don’t miss Silent Running, the prequel to Running Blind. The first in the Sin’s Fatal Desire series. A dark romance series with crime and suspense wrapped around the darkness

Sylphide, by K. Gorman (Instafreebie)

It’s been six weeks since Allish Statia, former prima ballerina at the Mersetzdeitz Ballet, broke her leg during the last performance of La Sylphide. In that time, she has healed (mostly), relaxed (a lot), and taken advantage of her husband’s willingness to order take-out on most weeknights.

Then someone breaks into her apartment and points a gun at her.

Using the wind elemental powers few knew she had, she is able to subdue the man. But he is only part of something much bigger—and much more dangerous.

The Sea Tips, by Helen Allan (Instafreebie)

He came from the sea, unasked for, unexpected – but not for the first time.

When a naked man washes ashore in a small village on an isolated coast he and a small boy will set off a chain of events that will change the lives of the superstitious and ignorant fisher folk who live there forever – but for some it will be too late.

Kiss of Vengeance, by E.A. Copen (Instafreebie)

Robbed of the happy life he once knew, Dal takes up his silver pike and hits the streets of South Boston looking for vengeance.

There’s just one problem. The boss doesn’t want him looking into it. To make matters worse, the local feds charged with monitoring supernaturals in the city won’t leave him the hell alone.

His only lead is a tenacious elf who would rather kill him than help him. But she’s looking for answers of her own, answers that could spark a bloody turf war.

The Skeptics’ Guide to the Mysteries of the Universe, by Jessica Arden (Instafreebie)

Grad student and New Orleans ghost tour operator Julie Deveaux is used to believing in things she cannot see. Although with her family history, spirits lurking beyond French Quarter galleries seem more plausible than true love or soul mates.

With romantic entanglements the last thing on her mind, Julie would do anything to complete her thesis research and exonerate infamous murderess Sophia Durocher in the process. Anything, that is, except further harass Sophia’s already spotlight-weary family.

The NighBlade, by M.S. Olney (Instafreebie)

When darkness rises, the Nightblade is never far behind.

It came from the forest. A creature not seen in the peaceful lands of Mid-lake for millennia. A Fell Beast. A farmer disappears and strange sounds are heard in the nearby forest prompting Alther, an old man with a mysterious past to investigate.

Meanwhile, on the BlackMoor, the Nightblade Ferran stumbles upon a mystery of his own, one that reveals a sinister plot that could threaten the entire Kingdom of Delfinnia.

The Lost Colony Series, by Andrew C. Broderick (Instafreebie)

Despite his reputation as a brilliant and dedicated space engineer, John Rees is certain he is not the man everyone thinks he is. Haunted by the death of his father and one fatal decision that questions his morality, he doubts he will have a chance to redeem himself for a past he cannot escape.

But when 100 colonists go missing on an alien planet, John sees his chance to prove once and for all that one decision doesn’t create a monster. John and the crew of the Atlas struggle to survive the near-total malfunction of their power and navigation systems, evidence that a strange alien race intercepted the colonists, and even a near-impossible jump through hundreds of meters of solid rock.

Life for a Life, by Andy Peloquin (Instafreebie)