P.D. Workman's Blog, page 70
February 26, 2020
International Prenatal Infection Prevention Month
February is nearly over, but before it is gone, I wanted to remind you it is International Prenatal Infection Prevention Month. Prenatal infections can affect both mother and child. They can cause miscarriages, baby deaths, and lifelong physical and neurological conditions.
Okay, an important topic, but why bring it up in a book blog?
Well, you know I have an ulterior motive. I like showcasing important issues that I address in my fiction. Including prenatal infections? Of course! The Medical Kidnap Files bring awareness to a number of different diseases and disorders. Book #4, Toxo, mentions several prenatal infections, one in particular. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’m not going to say more than that.
Toxo
Caleb, an autistic teen is mistakenly arrested.
Bad turns to worse when he is then apprehended from his family by DFS.
His mother could never have predicted the chain of events in a million years.
In trying to protect him, DFS has actually put Caleb in harm’s way.
Once again, Gabriel and Renata have teamed up to right injustice and to get Caleb to safety. But Andrew Searle is on the case, and it’s his job to see that they don’t succeed and that Caleb remains in foster care.
Ripped from the headlines, you won’t want to miss this intriguing plot!
Just like every other P.D. Workman book I’ve ever read, the gritty, raw realism of Toxo does an absolutely incredible job of taking my breath away.
Britt, Goodreads author
Check out my page on Toxo for some intriguing author notes about the book and a few articles for education and discussion.
Infection prevention
Sadly, I am not able to give you a list of other great books that hang their plots on prenatal infections. I couldn’t even find many nonfiction books that go into much depth about them. If you know of any, reach out to me in the comments section, and maybe next year we’ll have a good list going.
But there are still lots of resources out there to educate us about preventing prenatal infections. Here are a few of them:
Downloadable resources – posters, videos, articles, etc. Maternal immunization recommendations What infections can affect pregnanciesToxoplasmosis in pregnancyPreventing Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV
February 25, 2020
Excerpt from The Reckoning
Friday was my launch of The Telepathy of Gardens, book #5 of Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator. If you didn’t get your copy yet, it isn’t too late! And there is a stack of other new releases for you to look at as well.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I have been reading The Reckoning, by John Grisham. I generally like Grisham—at least his legal thrillers—but this one has some issues. The first part discusses the murder and outcome. The second part delves back into the past and spends half of the book detailing all of Pete Banning’s experiences in the second world war, where he served in the Philippines. All of the relevant backstory was given in part one and the second part really doesn’t contribute anything to the plot or the reader’s understanding of the crime.
Now I’m into part three, the legal maneuvering of Banning’s family. The motive for the killing still hasn’t been revealed; I’m sure it will be the final twist in the story, and I already have a few days about what that is going to be. My analysis so far is that you can skip half the book, the second part of the story, and lose nothing. Unless there is something in the final reveal that is dependent on his experiences in the war.
He had no choice. The truth had slowly been revealed, and once he had the full grasp of it, the killing became as inevitable as the sunrise.
John Grisham, The Reckoning
[image error]
Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son—a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning he rose early, drove into town, and committed a shocking crime. Pete’s only statement about it—to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury, and to his family—was: “I have nothing to say.” He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.
In a major novel unlike anything he has written before, John Grisham takes us on an incredible journey, from the Jim Crow South to the jungles of the Philippines during World War II; from an insane asylum filled with secrets to the Clanton courtroom where Pete’s defense attorney tries desperately to save him.
Reminiscent of the finest tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling, The Reckoning would not be complete without Grisham’s signature layers of legal suspense, and he delivers on every page.
February 20, 2020
The Telepathy of Gardens and other New Releases!
The Telepathy of Gardens
Yes, the time has finally come! It is launch day for The Telepathy of Gardens, book #5 in the Reg Rawlins Psychic Investigator series.
[image error]
Reg Rawlins has been through an awful lot since she arrived in Black Sands. Revelations about herself, dealing with magical races that she never thought existed in real life, facing off against unseen powers far more powerful than she ever imagined.
In the aftermath of fighting the Witch Doctor and his minions, Reg hopes to be able to take some time to just relax and recover. The danger to Black Sands is past and she herself is unharmed, aside from the memories that the Witch Doctor stirred up.
But the warlocks in her life are making things increasingly complicated, they have nine kittens to find homes for, and gardening turns out not to be such a relaxing diversion after all.
Will Reg’s discovery of a mysterious key lead her to incalculable wealth or untold danger?
The Telepathy of Gardens and others books in the Reg Rawlins series can be read as a stand alone novels.
BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
Other new releases
I have talked with some author friends and checked out Amazon to see what other new releases you can get your hands on this weekend.
.ugb-cec23da .ugb-img{width:338px;height:auto !important}.ugb-cec23da .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-cec23da .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-cec23da .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-cec23da .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Snowbirds & Suspects
Sun-drenched Florida beaches. A Fair Trade jewelry shop owner. A mystery that will keep you guessing.
The snowbirds have once again descended upon Sapphire Beach, keeping Connie Petretta busy in her thriving handcrafted jewelry store. Meanwhile, Ruby, the owner of the souvenir shop next door, is thrilled to discover a niece, Amy, that she never knew about. But when Amy is suspected of murder, Ruby turns to Connie to help find the real killer.
.ugb-fc7bb2e .ugb-img{width:217px;height:auto !important}.ugb-fc7bb2e .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-fc7bb2e .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-fc7bb2e .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-fc7bb2e .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Case of the Happiness Spell
Penny Banks and her witch coven friends are getting to the end of their 13 cycle spell book. Only one spell remains — the Happiness Spell. Penny is eager to master this one, but her role in the local drama club’s production of Romeo and Juliet is keeping her super busy.
Things get even more hectic when one of the Hillcrest Players is found dead.
.ugb-73463fc .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-73463fc .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-73463fc .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-73463fc .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-73463fc .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}A Bone to Pixie
A ghost train turns into a nightmare when a passenger is sucked into a mysterious vortex mid-ride. I soon stumble across his body, stabbed through the heart by a wooden stake.
Every supernatural in town is a suspect when it turns out the mysterious stranger is actually Blake Stone, Monster Hunter. His prey—any member of the paranormal community, fair or foul.
With mounting fear his hunter buddies might soon arrive in town to avenge the death, we’re all hard at work to solve the case.
However, my potential boyfriend Lucas is out for the count. He’s developed a severe case of supernatural memory loss—an affliction that means our fledgling relationship might be over before it’s started. Add in a mysterious vampire with a tea addiction and a group of pranking teenagers and it’ll take a lot of pixie dust to untangle the clues and find the killer before they strike again.
.ugb-5a2d44b .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-5a2d44b .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-5a2d44b .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-5a2d44b .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-5a2d44b .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Wake Up and Spell the Coffee
Eliza Emory’s reality is about to be checked. Never one to believe in superstitions, let alone magic, the receptionist makes the best discovery of her life during her worst day on the job.
Eliza is a witch. A witch born into a family banished from the paranormal world generations ago due to bad behavior. Well, they can’t be that bad, can they?
Introduced to her long-lost family and powers she never knew she had, Eliza moves to the island of Enchanted Enclave, where she falls in love with the quirky little Pacific Northwest town and the coffee shop owned by her family. But her dream come true quickly turns into a nightmare when one of Eliza’s customers is poisoned.
Unfortunately, the smoking hot guy she has her eye on also has an eye on her, but for the wrong reason — turns out he’s the lead detective on the case. Eliza sets out to clear her name and hopefully her calendar for a date with Mr. Dimples-when-he-smiles. Will Eliza find the killer before it’s too late or will her new start come to an untimely end?
.ugb-cd647e9 .ugb-img{width:314px;height:auto !important}.ugb-cd647e9 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-cd647e9 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-cd647e9 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-cd647e9 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Suddenly Psychic
Every woman goes through changes in their forties. Just not… these changes.
Robin Brannon was a normal wife, mom, and antique-shop owner until a brush with death turned her day-to-day life upside down. Now she and her two best friends are seeing things that belong in a fantasy novel. Ghosts. Visions. Omens of doom. Nothing that belongs in the peaceful mountain town they call home.
Added to that, Robin’s marriage is on the rocks, her grandmother’s health is failing, her mother is driving away the customers at her shop, her teenage daughter refuses to get her driver’s license, and her left knee aches every darn morning.
Robin doesn’t have the time, energy, or knees to unearth the secrets buried at the bottom of Glimmer Lake, but fate doesn’t seem to care. Some secrets are just dying to be exposed.
.ugb-d47970c .ugb-img{width:331px;height:auto !important}.ugb-d47970c .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-d47970c .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-d47970c .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-d47970c .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Sun Down Motel
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.
Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.
.ugb-3e54819 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-3e54819 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-3e54819 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-3e54819 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-3e54819 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Popcorn and Poltergeists
When an Oxford caretaker is killed by a fall down the library stairs, and a professor attacked, rumors fly that it’s the work of a poltergeist who’s been causing havoc at the college.
The prof is a knitter, and a customer at Lucy Swift’s shop, Cardinal Woolsey’s. But Lucy thinks a very human killer is shifting the blame onto a ghost who can’t defend themselves and she’s determined to trap the real killer and get justice for the dead man.
However, danger lurks at the college where old secrets and new crimes collide. Vampire and old book expert Rafe Crosyer has been called in to value the college’s literary collection, and he witnesses first hand how angry the ghost really is.
.ugb-45c7db5 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-45c7db5 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-45c7db5 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-45c7db5 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-45c7db5 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Murder and Mahjong
To err is human, to end up in the supernatural afterlife in a hot dog suit is divine.
When Eloise Worthington drops dead and awakens in the afterlife, she knows she doesn’t belong—mainly because she’s surrounded by a supernatural cocktail of species she never knew existed. Gods, witches, vampires, werewolves—and now Eloise, a middle-aged human more concerned with getting her way than getting out of someone else’s. She quickly learns that this supernatural retirement village isn’t the last stop on the Afterlife Express and villagers can be blinked out of existence, which is exactly what happens to Zeus.
Yes, that Zeus.
Unfortunately, it appears that Eloise is to blame—or is she? Never one to shy away from a challenge—although her idea of a challenge usually involves tequila and a cartwheel—Eloise sets out to clear her name and, in the process, figure out where she truly belongs.
.ugb-8eb9679 .ugb-img{width:314px;height:auto !important}.ugb-8eb9679 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-8eb9679 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-8eb9679 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-8eb9679 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Grand Masquerade
A high-tech executive and a US presidential candidate, who in public appear to be at odds, are covertly working together to flood a small Vermont town. The plan is to evacuate the townspeople to a federal camp where they will be implanted with a newly developed surveillance/mind control device called Minerva.
What they didn’t know, is that the town sits on an ancient ley line guarded by spiritual beings called the Others. There’s something going on in the Green Mountains of Vermont and it’s more than anyone could imagine.
Their visit to the small town, in the guise of a hunting expedition, quickly turns sour. They come face to face with their worst nightmares — coming back not just to haunt them, but coming alive to take revenge.
The executive’s playboy son and the town sheriff catches on to their fiendish plan and tries to stop them — and discover forces beyond comprehension.
.ugb-7b6f6c2 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}.ugb-7b6f6c2 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-7b6f6c2 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-7b6f6c2 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-7b6f6c2 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Night Rune
Last night I barely escaped 1776 New York City – now I have to go back.
My teammates are trapped in a time catch. Worse, the demon master Malphas is building a gateway there, one that could trigger a full-blown apocalypse.
But returning will require new allies: a crabby goblin, a fae princess and former lover, and the demon-vampire Arnaud. Yeah, that guy. And we’re no longer facing one time catch, but several. All ruptured and on the verge of collapse.
Now a simple rescue has turned into a death-defying journey, one that’s pushing my spell casting and stamina to their limits.
But as hellfire lashes up and day dims to eternal night, I’m facing an even greater test…
Choosing between my faith in magic and my love for Vega.
.ugb-8cb8a68 .ugb-img{width:334px;height:auto !important}.ugb-8cb8a68 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-8cb8a68 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-8cb8a68 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-8cb8a68 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Southern Magic Wedding
It’s Pepper’s and Axel’s wedding day. Finally, the big day has arrived and the entire town is ready to celebrate. And Pepper is ready, too. She can’t wait to start her new life.
The only problem is that suddenly Axel has ex-girlfriends oozing out of the woodwork. Worse, when a spell is cast on Axel the day before the wedding, his future with Pepper becomes murky.
Pepper is shattered. From the looks of it, she and Axel will never get their happily ever after. But never say never to a Craple. Pepper’s family rises to the challenge to save Pepper’s wedding.
.ugb-a87a51a .ugb-img{width:338px;height:auto !important}.ugb-a87a51a .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a87a51a .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a87a51a .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-a87a51a .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Cauldrons & Cake
It’s a beautiful day for a witch wedding…or not. One of the most prestigious witches in New Orleans is looking for a magical bakery to make her wedding cake, and Fern Moonfall is in the running. First, she must prove herself by catering a bridal shower and lacing her sweets with just enough magic to ensure every guest has an enchanting experience.
But Fern has some competition – a witch from a rival coven. A tropical storm looms over the quaint southern hotel called Praline Manor. During the festivities, a guest falls to her death. Fern sets out to find the killer, and she has no idea if the culprit is also a fellow witch.
Fern has to keep her mind in the game if she wants to find the culprit before the storm clears, but that’s hard to do when her cat familiar, Gumbo, is home alone.
.ugb-7d6869a .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-7d6869a .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-7d6869a .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-7d6869a .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-7d6869a .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Spirits of Brady Hall
It’s another paranormal investigation for the Gulf Coast Paranormal team but this one is at the scene of an infamous murder at Brady Hall. While Midas and Cassidy enjoy a small getaway, Sierra and Joshua take the lead on this ghost hunt.
A skeletal apparition terrorizes anyone who invades its territory. A black mist tries to smother a terrified client. Phantom mirrors break at Brady Hall and an otherworldly, palpable and paralyzing fear plagues the team. Will they be able to suppress their fear and help the volunteers of this historic Mobile, Alabama landmark? Or will this mean the doors close at Brady Hall forever?
.ugb-486287a .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-486287a .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-486287a .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-486287a .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-486287a .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Bad Omens
The dead leave signs…if you know where to look.
After recovering from a near-death experience, Charlie Payne’s connection to the dead seems to dry up overnight. But that doesn’t stop old ghosts from trying to commune with her. Or a clever serial killer from targeting her and the whole witch community.
When a mysterious letter arrives, the anonymous sender proclaims only one thing: I killed your parents. I killed your aunt. Watch your back, witch.
To find the killer, Charlie must fix her broken link to the dead.
For Charlie, learning to read the signs from the dead is like learning to walk again, and harder than she ever imagined. But failure is not an option. Especially when she finds herself embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
The truth will out but it might just kill her to find it.
.ugb-2f10d23 .ugb-img{width:323px;height:auto !important}.ugb-2f10d23 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-2f10d23 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-2f10d23 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-2f10d23 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Willow Marsh Murder
Cambridgeshire, September 1813: Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods are lured to an isolated estate in the deadly marshland surrounding Ely, to investigate a murder.
But nothing is as it seems at the mysterious Willow Marsh Manor. They soon realise they’ve come across this feuding family before – in the direst of circumstances. With no dead body and no sign of the woman who summoned them, Woods fears someone has planned a murderous revenge.
Meanwhile, Lavender dreads the disclosure of his greatest secret. A secret that, if revealed, will destroy both his career – and his relationship with Woods. Haunted by ghosts from the past, Lavender and Woods must tread a careful path through this watery and dangerous terrain in order to solve one of the most perplexing mysteries of their career.
.ugb-d6c9cd3 .ugb-img{width:338px;height:auto !important}.ugb-d6c9cd3 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-d6c9cd3 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-d6c9cd3 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-d6c9cd3 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Monsters under the Magnolia
Former Vegas star and witch in hiding, Birdie Devaine is ready for a vacation away from all of the stresses of an ongoing (and haunted) house renovation. Lucky for her she’s got a first-class ticket aboard one of the swankiest cruise ships in the world. Along with her best friends, Birdie’s ready to set sail through the warm Caribbean waters, soak up some much needed sun and sip on some much needed fruity drinks…
But a trip to paradise comes with a price. And on a ship full of magical beings, the price is steep.
Murders. Kidnappings. Something fishy is going on aboard the Magnolia On Water, and Birdie isn’t willing to let her wishes for a relaxing vacation get in the way of finding the killer. Or killers.
And with an old friend in danger, Birdie is determined to get to the bottom of this string of murders… before she ends up at the bottom of the ocean.
.ugb-1604615 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}.ugb-1604615 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-1604615 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-1604615 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-1604615 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Broom Service
Max’s parents and stepmother visit, and while they are all at dinner, a town councillor is murdered. The victim wanted coffee to remain illegal in East Bucklebury, so there are any number of suspects.
With orange being the favourite colour of Max’s stepmother, can Goldie prevent her from a horrible accident at the hands—or claws—of Persnickle?
February 18, 2020
Excerpt from The Cuckoo’s Calling
I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day. Did you see my Valentine’s Day post this year? (As usually, it’s not exactly a warm, fuzzy, mushy romantic post.)
[image error]
This weekend I am releasing the next book in the Reg Rawlins series, The Telepathy of Gardens. Be sure to check back and have a look. Or preorder now to have it delivered Friday!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I am just finishing up with The Cuckoo’s Calling, first book in the Cormoran Strike series. I didn’t realize until I just looked over the series page now that the author is Robert Galbraith—I recognized the name but didn’t remember that’s J.K. Rowling’s pen name. I have also read book four in this series, but don’t remember very much about it.
“It’s be better for John if he’d just accept the facts. She killed herself. The rest of the family have come to terms with it, I don’t know why he can’t.”
Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo’s Calling
[image error]
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
February 13, 2020
Teen Dating Violence Awareness
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I don’t do “romantic” Valentine’s Day themes. I’ve done friendship, friends before romance, and ace/aromantic books. Today, I thought I would work on a list of books that are appropriate for Teen Dating Awareness Month.
Why a month of awareness for Teen Dating Violence?
According to loveisrespect.org, “One in three teens in the U.S. will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by someone they are in a relationship with before they become adults. And nearly half (43%) of college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors.”
Teens may take these early dating experiences with them throughout their lives. We want to break that cycle. Educate teens on what loving, respectful relationships look like and help them to recognize red flags that may precede violence.
Other resources:
National Dating Abuse HelplineDrugs, Alcohol, and DatingHow to respond if someone is pressuring youDigital Technology – cyberbullying and other harassmentHomeless teens are particularly at risk for relationship violence. Find a toolkit here.
My Books
.ugb-5536715 .ugb-img{width:741px;height:auto !important}.ugb-5536715 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-5536715 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-5536715 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-5536715 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Between the Cracks Series
There is more than one dysfunctional relationship in the Between the Cracks series, starting with Ruby Between the Cracks.
I think there is at least one significant episode of relationship violence in each book, sometimes more.
Winner of Top Ten Books for Teens award by In the Margins Committee, 2015.
If you asked Ruby, she’d tell you she’s happy with her life. She’s tough and independent and doesn’t depend on anyone else. The road that has led her here has not been easy, and she’s blocked a lot of it from her memory.
But things aren’t as rosy as she would have everyone believe, and the road ahead of her is filled not only with gangs, drugs, and depression, but other challenges that Ruby hasn’t even imagined.
.ugb-1d2dc34 .ugb-img{width:741px;height:auto !important}.ugb-1d2dc34 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-1d2dc34 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-1d2dc34 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-1d2dc34 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Tamara’s Teardrops Series
While Tamara doesn’t set out to participate in any romantic relationships, she ends up in a number of situations involving intimate violence, and feels like she doesn’t have any way out.
Just a warning — Tamara doesn’t make the best decisions.
Winner of Top Fiction Award, In the Margins Committee, 2016.
I don’t plan on getting in any trouble.
Tamara had thought that when she got out of juvie, things would be easier. But before long, it seems like her life is spiraling into chaos.
If she can’t prove to her probation officer that she is innocent of the allegations against her, she’s going back to prison, and Tamara just can’t let that happen.
.ugb-a386867 .ugb-img{width:742px;height:auto !important}.ugb-a386867 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a386867 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a386867 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-a386867 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Intersexion
LGBTQIA individuals are at an even higher risk for intimate violence, and Taylor is no exception.
Taylor is a teen teetering on the edge of a steep precipice. Disowned by his family, living on the street, battling abuse and prejudice, he struggles to discover who he really is and how to carry on with life.
The last person you would expect to touch him is Roz, whose foremost identity is a Christian wife and mother. But her world is about to be shaken. Through all that happens, Roz understands she has to be there for Taylor, knowing he is only one step from despair and self-destruction.
.ugb-251f1d1 .ugb-img{width:724px;height:auto !important}.ugb-251f1d1 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-251f1d1 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-251f1d1 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-251f1d1 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Pursued by the Past
This one is not a YA title, but there is a lot of information in this one about domestic violence.
Vanna had a good life. She had her challenges—like her mother’s high expectations of her—but all in all, she had a job she enjoyed, a fun hobby and friends. She didn’t need any complications.
But that all changed shortly after trying to break things off with Tino. The phone calls with no one on the other end. Anonymous gifts.
Someone moving things around in her bedroom.
A restraining order changed nothing. If anything, it caused things to escalate. If Vanna wants her life back, she will have to take things into her own hands.
More Books
I have tried to get a variety of books here about teen dating violence. But a lot of the plotlines in the genre are very similar. Take a look at the red flags list linked above, and see how many of them you can spot…
.ugb-b4ea979 .ugb-img{width:230px;height:auto !important}.ugb-b4ea979 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-b4ea979 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-b4ea979 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-b4ea979 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Around Midnight
Jazz is everything to Megan Hollis. When her hands clasp the saxophone, melodies flow with each breath.
Music carries her from Copperwood to London, with university on the horizon. Set on attending London’s prestigious School of Jazz, all elements of her life harmonize.
Then she meets Vincent Turner, the mysterious guy with a dangerous reputation. Intoxicated by his possessive charms, Megan’s love shifts from melodic bliss to a dissonant nightmare.
While the future promises stardust dreams, her new relationship takes a turn for the worse. Megan becomes caught between what she wants and what everyone believes is best for her.
.ugb-baac501 .ugb-img{width:325px;height:auto !important}.ugb-baac501 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-baac501 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-baac501 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-baac501 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Leslie’s Journal
For Leslie, grade nine was trouble-filled and grade ten is worse. The V.P. is constantly on Leslie’s case for skipping or wearing ‘inappropriate’ clothes.
Enter Jason McCready, new at school and ultra-cool. He gives her a wink the first time they bump into each other. When Leslie approaches Jason to prove to the girls they have met, he gives her a kiss — in front of everyone! Leslie is in love!
She is the envy of all the girls when Jason asks her out, but on their first date he takes her to his place instead of to the movies. He explains that his parents are away and begins pouring scotches, then beers. The lights get dimmer, the music louder, and things get fuzzy. Time seems to stop for Leslie, when suddenly Jason is throwing her clothes at her, stuffing money for a cab in her hand and telling her to get going because his parents are on their way home. It isn’t until later that she realizes what has happened.
.ugb-fb4ca07 .ugb-img{width:329px;height:auto !important}.ugb-fb4ca07 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-fb4ca07 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-fb4ca07 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-fb4ca07 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Bitter End
When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole — a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her — she can’t believe she’s finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and understands her.
At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole’s small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats.
As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose “love” she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose — between her “true love” and herself.
.ugb-5f572b3 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-5f572b3 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-5f572b3 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-5f572b3 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-5f572b3 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Breaking Beautiful
Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident–including her memory of the event. She doesn’t remember driving on the cliff road. She doesn’t recall jumping from the truck just before Trip lost control.
As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long, the horrible reality of their abusive relationship. When the police reopen the investigation, it quickly turns on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town.
As the threats begin and the survivor’s guilt takes over, Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free?
.ugb-6b08442 .ugb-img{width:359px;height:auto !important}.ugb-6b08442 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-6b08442 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-6b08442 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-6b08442 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Inexcusable
“I am a good guy. Good guys don’t do bad things. Good guys understand that no means no, and so I could not have done this because I understand.”
Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy.
And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable.
Keir doesn’t understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake.
But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable.
.ugb-37b8185 .ugb-img{width:334px;height:auto !important}.ugb-37b8185 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-37b8185 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-37b8185 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-37b8185 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Truly, Madly, Deadly
They Said It Was An Accident…
Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note:
You’re welcome.
Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren’t the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer’s every move…
.ugb-bea7421 .ugb-img{width:334px;height:auto !important}.ugb-bea7421 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-bea7421 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-bea7421 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-bea7421 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Some Girls Are
Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard–falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High… until vicious rumors about her and her best friend’s boyfriend start going around.
Now Regina’s been “frozen out” and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn’t come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend… if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don’t break them both first.
February 12, 2020
Gem wins an award!
I am very pleased to announce that Gem, Himself, Alone has placed on the In The Margins Committee recommended reading list for 2020. Previously, Tattooed Teardrops, Endless Change, and several books from the Between the Cracks series have won this award.
I have written about In The Margins before. What is it?
In the Margins seeks to highlight the best fiction and non-fiction titles (Pre-K through Adult) of high-interest appeal for readers ages 9-21, which includes marginalized titles often ignored by press exposure (small, independent press or self-published). Our primary charge is focused on youth populations living in marginalized existences, with specific focus on narratives and informational text that address the disproportionality of injustices experienced by BIPOC youth (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) from the historical impact of cultural irrelevance and structural exclusion which often finds them living in poverty, in the streets, in custody, or a cycle of all three.
Read more about In The Margins here.
About Gem, Himself, Alone
P.D. Workman has a gift for creating psycho-thrillers. The plots are dark and twisting and the characters are believable and frightening.
—J. Young, Goodreads reader
[image error]
AUTHOR DIRECT BUY NOW SAMPLE BOOKBUB GOODREADS
eBook Price: $4.99
The Author Direct option, if shown above, allows you to purchase directly from the author using PayPal
Download format options are Kindle or ePub (iBooks, Nook, etc.) format
[image error]
Winner of In the Margins Committee Recommended Reads 2020.
Gem has a secret.
Teenage Gem, alone on the street, has survived abuse, institutionalization, and captivity. He has lost everything and everyone he ever loved, but is finally free to build a life.
There is only one person he can count on, and that is himself.
Gem buries his past the best he can, joins up with the Rippers gang for protection, and does what he has to in order to survive.
But Riker, a vice cop, makes it his business to take away the precious freedom Gem has earned and put him behind bars.
If he can just break Gem’s alibis.
But Riker doesn’t know Gem’s secret.
While Riker can sympathize with what Gem has been through, he can’t let a dangerous criminal run free on the streets.
Riker delves into Gem’s past in a bid to discover his secrets. Can he sort through the tangled threads to lay bare Gem’s past? And if he does, will he be able to put Gem behind bars once more?
Gem is desperate to keep his secrets and make a new life for himself.
Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. Workman brings you a gritty tale of suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat and rooting for Gem right to the last page.
Ms. Workman has a rare talent for portraying characters with abused pasts and/or mental issues with grace and sympathy, and without condescension. I eagerly look forward to her next book.
—Liz, Goodreads Reader
February 11, 2020
Excerpt from Kingdom of the Blind
I hope you got a chance to pick up Night of Nine Tails this weekend. If you didn’t get a chance to get it while it was free, you can still buy it in the Kindle store (or get the print edition, if you prefer old-fashioned books.)
I have a special announcement to make on Wednesday, so be sure to come by again to see what’s going on.
I am currently reading Kingdom of the Blind, by Louise Penny, the new Chief Inspector Gamache book. The Gamache series is set in Quebec, Canada, and is a great mystery series with lots of description, ongoing relationships, and twists and turns as the mystery is developed.
A Quebec winter, so cheerful and peaceful, could turn on you. Could kill. And each winter did. Men, women, children alive in the autumn did not see the blizzard coming and never saw the spring.
Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind
[image error]
When a peculiar letter arrives inviting Armand Gamache to an abandoned farmhouse, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec discovers that a complete stranger has named him one of the executors of her will. Still on suspension, and frankly curious, Gamache accepts and soon learns that the other two executors are Myrna Landers, the bookseller from Three Pines, and a young builder.
None of them had ever met the elderly woman.
The will is so odd and includes bequests that are so wildly unlikely that Gamache and the others suspect the woman must have been delusional. But what if, Gamache begins to ask himself, she was perfectly sane?
When a body is found, the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem less peculiar and far more menacing.
But it isn’t the only menace Gamache is facing.
The investigation into what happened six months ago—the events that led to his suspension—has dragged on, into the dead of winter. And while most of the opioids he allowed to slip through his hands, in order to bring down the cartels, have been retrieved, there is one devastating exception.
Enough narcotic to kill thousands has disappeared into inner city Montreal. With the deadly drug about to hit the streets, Gamache races for answers.
As he uses increasingly audacious, even desperate, measures to retrieve the drug, Armand Gamache begins to see his own blind spots. And the terrible things hiding there.
February 6, 2020
Freebie weekend – Night of Nine Tails and more
It’s a freebie weekend! Looking for some more books to fill your Kindle? For a limited time, pick up Night of Nine Tails, book #4 in the Reg Rawlins Private Investigator series on Kindle for free.
(And of course, if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the Kindle app onto your phone, tablet or computer or use the Cloud Reader in your browser.)
About Night of Nine Tails
[image error]
Reg recognizes that feeling of dread.
Something is disrupting the spiritual atmosphere in Black Sands, but no one else seems to be aware of its menacing presence. So Reg does her best to push it to the back of her conscious mind and to focus on new friendships and opportunities. She has been in Florida for long enough that it’s time to have some fun.
But ignoring the presence doesn’t make it go away, and before long, Reg has been dragged into a manhunt—or a creature hunt—that is scarier than anything she has faced in the paranormal community yet.
With the help of some long-buried memories and unexpected helpers, Reg is able to find a few answers… and a lot more questions.
DOWNLOADSAMPLEBOOKBUB GOODREADS
More freebies
I have looked around for a few other books to add to your reading list. See if any of these tickle your fancy!
One-click to add all freebies to your Amazon cart at once, or you can choose to download them individually.
As always, check prices before you check out, as prices may change without warning or not be free all days or in all markets.
.ugb-75aca02 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-75aca02 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-75aca02 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-75aca02 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-75aca02 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Probable Paws
Middle-aged bookstore owner Willa Chance is often haunted by ghosts who want her to do their bidding. Usually it involves the nasty business of bringing their killer to justice, so when the ghost of Adelaide Hamilton asks her to find an old recipe book and give it to Elspeth Whipple, it seems like an easy job.
Except Willa’s search for the book has her crossing the path of Sheriff Eddie Striker one too many times for comfort. He’s acting almost as if he’s investigating a murder, but Adelaide died of natural causes. Didn’t she?
When it turns out Adelaide’s entire family had means, motive, opportunity, Willa’s search becomes dangerous, and she finds herself matching wits with a cold-blooded killer that wants the same thing she does.
Luckily, Willa’s cat Pandora is looking out for her and enlists the aid of the other cats of Mystic Notch who will stop at nothing to ensure Willa’s safety as well as the recovery of the book … even if it takes a little bit of magic.
.ugb-8dfe624 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-8dfe624 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-8dfe624 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-8dfe624 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-8dfe624 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}A Devilish Punishment
Lillian Booth is pushed to her limits when she’s assigned the worst yet most important case of her career. Trying to disbar a lawyer who abused his clients for years behind closed doors. But after a series of sinister events, she’s forced to co-counsel with Henry Alton, a man who detested her beloved and now-deceased mentor.
Lillian and Henry have one goal. To win.
But Lillian fears failure if she and Henry can’t get along. And to get along requires her to uncover the origin of Henry’s hatred.
Then survival becomes more important as a mysterious attacker targets them as the case races toward a possibly deadly conclusion.
.ugb-c6d87b1 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-c6d87b1 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-c6d87b1 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-c6d87b1 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-c6d87b1 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}One Hex of a Wedding
Emerald O’Brien is about to tie the knot with her fiance Joe, but one uninvited guest to their engagement party reminds her that some ties still need to be severed. Her ex-hubby Roy can’t hold his liquor–or his temper–and after brawling with Joe, he threatens to ruin their wedding. When Joe is wounded from a gunshot the next day, Roy becomes the prime suspect.
Emerald knows her ex has a mean streak a mile wide but doesn’t believe he’d be capable of attempted murder. And when a sinister presence starts stalking her maid of honor, Em begins to worry that her marriage has been cursed before she’s even walked down the aisle…
.ugb-a57ca90 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}.ugb-a57ca90 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a57ca90 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a57ca90 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-a57ca90 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}A Tale of Mer-der
Aussie journalist Misty Friday has several problems, not the least of which is her name.
Misty’s mean boss sends her to an island resort in the Great Barrier Reef to investigate a paranormal event, but mermaids and murder throw her off the track.
When Misty makes waves, she attracts the attention of the murderer and one mysterious stranger. Will Misty get to the bottom of this, or are there too many red herrings?
.ugb-9054426 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-9054426 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-9054426 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-9054426 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-9054426 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Ghost of Marlow House
When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she’s never visited the property, Danielle’s not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn’t expect to find one of the house’s previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years—shouldn’t he have moved on by now?
Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living—those who have their sights on Marlow House’s other secrets.
.ugb-465a9ce .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-465a9ce .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-465a9ce .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-465a9ce .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-465a9ce .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Die Noon
Matilda Dare can’t sleep. Her insomnia is one more reason to move to the quirky small town of Goodnight, New Mexico after she inherits a house, a small newspaper, and two old dogs there. But despite the Goodnight name, Matilda still spends hers wide awake, and she has good reason after a reporter is murdered. With a mystery to solve, she begins to investigate the town and uncovers more suspects than she knows what to do with.
Meanwhile, the hottie cowboy sheriff is doing his own investigation into Matilda, and the mysterious, handsome stranger, who just happens to live with her, is showing up in all the wrong places. As her investigation continues, danger increases, and it might end up spelling lights out for Matilda.
.ugb-ef8b78d .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-ef8b78d .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-ef8b78d .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-ef8b78d .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-ef8b78d .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Deadly Gamble
In this debut almost-cozy mystery series novel, Charlie Parker, accountant and partner in an Albuquerque private investigation firm, is visited by her old school friend, Stacy North. Stacy’s Rolex watch is missing and she begs Charlie to help locate it before her husband finds out. Things are complicated by the fact that Stacy had been seeing another man, Gary Detweiller, and he’s the one she suspects of having stolen the watch. With a little detective work, Charlie and her sidekick dog, Rusty, retrieve the missing watch and all should be well. But three days later, Detweiller is murdered. All eyes turn to Stacy as the prime suspect.
Once again, Stacy begs Charlie’s help in proving her innocence. As she begins to ask questions, Charlie learns that Detweiller’s life was not as simple as first perceived and that any number of people had grievances against him. And before she can pinpoint the killer, her own life is in danger as well.
.ugb-a5b41b6 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-a5b41b6 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a5b41b6 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a5b41b6 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-a5b41b6 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Wicked and the Beast
Days away from giving birth, Mandy finds herself involved in the mysterious heist of a beastly piece of art.
The USCAB duo suspect some monkey business is to blame for the disappearance of a priceless mask from the locked vault of Manhattan socialite Nicole Sparks. A ghostly art critic deems the masterpiece to be more hideous than haunting, but that won’t stop a serial art thief from attempting to add it to his growing collection of famous works. With an abundance of suspects and a dearth of clues, this may be their toughest case yet.
February 4, 2020
Excerpt from The Family Upstairs
If you didn’t see my blog last week on fiction about anxiety, hop over and take a look at it now. There are some good books in there.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
This week I am reading The Family Upstairs, a domestic thriller by Lisa Jewell. There are plenty of twists and turns and misdirection. Several people return to the house they lived in as children, before their escape following the deaths of the adults in the home. All but one know what happened. One desperately needs to find out. So far it has kept me guessing at which clues are legitimate and which are red herrings.
“What was that message? On you phone?”
Lisa Jewell, The Family Upstairs
“What message?”
“I saw it. Just now. It said The baby is twenty-five. What does that mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything.”
[image error]
Be careful who you let in.
Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.
Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.
January 30, 2020
Fiction about Anxiety
.ugb-7a140e2 .ugb-img{width:724px;height:auto !important}.ugb-7a140e2 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-7a140e2 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-7a140e2 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-7a140e2 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Night of Nine Tails
One of the themes in my recently-released Night of Nine Tails is anxiety. Reg has a sense of dread and she doesn’t know where it is coming from. She doesn’t know if she is in danger, if something is going to happen, or if she’s just anxious for no reason. The story explores themes of what feels dangerous and what feels safe, and whether those feelings are justified.
While the Reg Rawlins Psychic Investigator series is paranormal mystery, I have written a number of other characters with anxiety in real-world settings as well.
Night of Nine Tails is book #4 in this series that will have nine books published by the end of the year.
.ugb-be45ada .ugb-img{width:724px;height:auto !important}.ugb-be45ada .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-be45ada .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-be45ada .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-be45ada .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}She Wore Mourning
PI Zachary Goldman had a traumatic and disrupted childhood and suffers from anxiety and hypervigilance over a lot of things. A myriad of things from candles to Christmas trees can throw him into a flashback and he is constantly worried about worried about his relationships and royally screwing things up, which he has done more than once.
Zachary Goldman Mysteries currently consists of seven books.
.ugb-39f2281 .ugb-img{width:741px;height:auto !important}.ugb-39f2281 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-39f2281 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-39f2281 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-39f2281 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Mito
Renata in the Medical Kidnap Files has a mitochondrial disorder, and one of the side effects or comorbid disorders she suffers from is paranoia. While not trusting anyone helps her and Gabriel to stay under the radar, her brain is overflowing with conspiracy theories and Gabriel is never sure which theories have merit and which may be overblown flights of fancy.
There are currently four books in the Medical Kidnap Files and I am mapping out my plans for the fifth book.
I don’t want to take up too much space on my own books, so I will just list a few others to consider in short form:
Between the Cracks series (YA)
Cynthia has a Secret (YA)
Stand Alone (YA)
Looking Over Your Shoulder (mystery)
Lion Within (suspense)
Other fiction about anxiety:
I took a little time to look around for recommended fiction on anxiety. Have a look at what I found:
.ugb-adc26d3 .ugb-img{width:331px;height:auto !important}.ugb-adc26d3 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-adc26d3 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-adc26d3 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-adc26d3 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}The Rest of Us Just Live Here
What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?
What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.
Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.
Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.
.ugb-a967dc4 .ugb-img{width:336px;height:auto !important}.ugb-a967dc4 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a967dc4 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a967dc4 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-a967dc4 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Six of Crows
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.
.ugb-6894804 .ugb-img{width:331px;height:auto !important}.ugb-6894804 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-6894804 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-6894804 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-6894804 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Turtles All the Way Down
Aza Holmes never intended to pursuethe disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
.ugb-f7e36c1 .ugb-img{width:332px;height:auto !important}.ugb-f7e36c1 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-f7e36c1 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-f7e36c1 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-f7e36c1 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Starfish
Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.
But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.
.ugb-8b89c67 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}.ugb-8b89c67 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-8b89c67 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-8b89c67 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-8b89c67 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Me Talk Pretty One Day
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors.
Buy now[image error].ugb-517ed17 .ugb-img{width:335px;height:auto !important}.ugb-517ed17 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-517ed17 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-517ed17 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-517ed17 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Because We Are Bad
By the age of thirteen, Lily Bailey was convinced she was bad. She had killed someone with a thought, spread untold disease, and ogled the bodies of other children. Only by performing an exhausting series of secret routines could she make up for what she’d done. But no matter how intricate or repetitive, no act of penance was ever enough.
Beautifully written and astonishingly intimate, Because We Are Bad recounts a childhood consumed by obsessive compulsive disorder. As a child, Bailey created a second personality inside herself—”I” became “we”—to help manifest compulsions that drove every minute of every day of her young life. Now she writes about the forces beneath her skin, and how they ordered, organized, and urged her forward. Lily charts her journey, from checking on her younger sister dozens of times a night, to “normalizing” herself at school among new friends as she grew older, and finally to her young adult years, learning—indeed, breaking through—to make a way for herself in a big, wide world that refuses to stay in check.
.ugb-f36da13 .ugb-img{width:355px;height:auto !important}.ugb-f36da13 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-f36da13 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-f36da13 .ugb-button svg{color:#ffffff}.ugb-f36da13 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}Reasons to Stay Alive
(Memoir)
In the western world the suicide rate is highest amongst men under the age of 35. Matt Haig could have added to that statistic when, aged 24, he found himself staring at a cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn’t, and how he recovered and learned to live with anxiety and depression. It’s also an optimistic, joyous and often funny exploration of how to live better, love better, read better and feel more. A wonderful mix of memoir and hard-won wisdom, Reasons to Stay Alive is, at heart, about making the most of your time on earth.
