tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40917128651762425042024-03-19T03:38:42.678+00:00Next Big Book ThingMelodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.comBlogger1030125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-83279142079474881372015-03-27T10:00:00.000+00:002015-03-28T04:44:09.094+00:00Hannah Rides Pegasus on a Race Track - #Excerpt by Marilyn Holdsworth @M_Holdsworth #WomensFic<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>HANNAH RIDES PEGASUS ON A RACE TRACK</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">***excerpt from the novel PEGASUS by Marilyn Holdsworth</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hannah
slowed Pegasus to a walk as they entered the gate of the ranch's old
training track at the far end of the paddock. Once inside the ring,
Pegasus pawed the dirt eagerly, flicked his ears forward looking down
the long stretch toward the first turn.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Think
you’ve seen somethin’ like this before, fella? I just bet you have.”
She leaned forward to smooth his arched neck, tightened her grip on the
rope and wound her fingers more firmly into his mane. “Okay boy. Let’s
see what you remember.” Hannah crouched low on the horse, speaking
softly as he pawed and pranced impatiently. Then suddenly she dug her
heels sharply into his sides. “Go,” she yelled. “Go boy, go.” Her heels
pummeled him and she slapped the rope against his neck.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pegasus responded instantly, lunging beneath her into a full gallop, he bolted down the track. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thundering
toward the first turn, he hugged the rail, his powerful stride
lengthening as he rocketed on toward the backstretch. Hannah held on,
hair streaming in the wind , her chanting words, “Go, boy go,” drown out
by his pounding hooves. She clung to his neck , girl and horse melded
into one as they streaked around the course.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> She
caught a blurred glimpse of two figures standing by the rail as she
flashed past. And when at last Pegasus slowed and she was finally able
to pull him up, she saw Win vault over the fence. He reached her just in
time to catch her as she slid to the ground.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“My
God, Hannah, you could have been killed. What the hell did you think
you were doing? It’s a wonder you weren’t thrown and trampled. And
Pegasus, you could have lamed him,” Win seethed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can read more about Pegasus at: <a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/pegasus/" data-mce-style="color: #1155cc;" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/pegasus/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/pegasus/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" /></a></span></span> </div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As a novelist, I draw on many real life experiences to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">provide
background for my books. After completing studies in Literature and
History at Occidental College, I became a staff writer on a travel
magazine, and throughout my career I have traveled extensively all over
the world. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Because
I love horses, I owned and trained them. I support horse rescue and
wild mustang preservation. Based on my experience with horses and my
research on abuse issues, I wrote Pegasus.</span></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As
a descendant of James Monroe, I did extensive research at the James
Monroe Museum in Virginia about him and his wife Elizabeth Kortright
Monroe. I also visited their home, Ashlawn/Highland in Albemarle County.
This resulted in my novel, The Beautiful American. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Making Wishes, was based partly on my experiences as creator, owner and operator of a greeting card company.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg"><img alt="Making Wishes" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-23817" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View's stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Women's fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg"><img alt="beautifulAmerican" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40292" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
Abby discovers a hidden diary stuffed inside a secret compartment in
the desk, she can hardly wait to read the spidery, faded script. As she
carefully turns the tattered pages, she reads the captivating story of
two remarkable women from opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to
form an unforgettable bond against the backdrop of a fledgling America
struggling to find its place in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe,
the wife of James Monroe, and Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an
extraordinary relationship as they are united by pivotal historic
events, political intrigues, and personal tragedies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg"><img alt="pegasus" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40293" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Action
packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader to a
race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a gripping
tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the interest
and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together with
real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Contemporary fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Marilyn Holdsworth on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &amp; <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><b>Website </b> </b><a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog</b> <a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/</a></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-20354971803315764322015-03-14T07:00:00.000+00:002015-04-30T22:17:20.823+01:00Mike Hartner Discusses #SocialMedia Tools for an #Author @MHartnerAuthor #AmWriting #WriteTip <b>How To Network Online to Sell Your Book</b><br />
<br />
First,
I must print this disclaimer. I’m not a marketing individual. And I,
James, the second book of The Eternity Series which will be released in
September 2014, is only the second book that I’ve tried to market.
So, everything has been trial and error. But, I will borrow heavily
from badredheadmedia.com’s Rachel Thompson, and several others, and the
lessons they have taught me.<br />
<ol>
<li>You need an Online Presence. Gmail+, FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest….
They all have their uses. Personally, I’m on FaceBook, and Twitter.</li>
<li>Facebook has my personal page, where my family and friends reside,
and then a Corporate page which is where I try to publicize The Eternity
Series. And other projects that I have. BcBaldEagles.com also comes to
mind. It’s also a separate corporate page. And the three pages share
posts from each other.</li>
<li>Twitter is my second social media channel. @MHartnerAuthor is my
identity, since Rachel once said, it’s better to publicize yourself as
an author than to publicize individual books, and keep changing the
identity. Son’t confuse people. Publicize yourself as an author.</li>
<li> First Rule of Social Media: It’s Social. Don’t Spam. Don’t spill
every word saying ‘Buy my book’. Build relationships, show people your
interests outside of writing. If you’re interested in Nutella, and
Alaskam wilderness cabins, show that. If it’s quilting, crocheting and
flowers you’re interested in, show that. Let people meet the REAL you.</li>
<li>Pluggio and hootsuite are great tools. Pluggio allows you to ‘drip’
every few hours news topics of your interest. Hootsuite allows you to
post on more than one site from a consolidated dashboard. Both are
useful.</li>
<li>Don’t expect everyone who follows you to remain. But help them by
not including expletives in every second post, or every third word.
Show them that you can enjoy life as much as it can frustrate you.</li>
</ol>
Social Networks allow you to reach out to a lot of other people.
AS much as you want others to follow you, follow them. Find others
with your interest. Other authors, other Nutella aficionados, other
quilters, whatever… By following a wide range of others, a wide range of
them will follow you.<br />
<br />
BLOG, or get blog tours. Blog
tours are GREAT exposure for your book. They usually have a wide and
diverse cross section of reviewers, who are all interested, to some
extent, in your writing.<br />
<br />
HELP OTHERS. If you can help
others with your lessons, do. If you can Share other’s posts,
announcements, etc… chances are they’ll share yours. And your messages
will get out to people you never expected.<br />
<br />
90/10 Rule.
At least 90 percent of your posts and blogs should be focused on
things OTHER THAN selling your book. Great reviews are one thing you
can announce more often. Share Reviews of books you’ve read. Even
better if they’re current books (last five years). Even Better if
you’re following the author when you post the review.<br />
<br />
ENGAGE
your audience. Snippets, comments, and reviews of everyone’s work are
great things to post. Top Ten lists about your life, about your
hobbies… all of these build audience.<br />
<br />
And while you’re building audience, but not screaming BUY MY BOOK, chances are some people will buy it.<br />
<br />
And that’s what makes social media so great. Being Social.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg"><img alt="IJames" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41780" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">James Crofter was ripped from his family at age 11. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Within a year the prince was a pauper in a foreign land. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Is nature stronger than nurture? And even if it is, can James find the happiness he so richly desires? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical Fiction, Romance</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Mike Hartner on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &amp; <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-22537364881019209692014-12-02T12:00:00.000+00:002015-03-05T09:26:02.814+00:00#Excerpt from A LIFE LESS ORDINARY by Victoria Bernadine @VicBernadine #AmReading #ChickLit <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leah watched with amusement as Zeke paced around her boardroom.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’m
telling you, she won’t last a week! A more…prudish, repressed woman I
have yet to meet! I doubt she’s done anything just for fun in her life!”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Doesn’t mean she won’t go the full six months,” Leah replied mildly.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Oh, please! She wears her hair in a bun! A <i>bun</i>!
And if her face has seen makeup in the last ten years, I’ll eat my
socks! She’ll get scared at the first loud noise and skitter home to
safety.” He shook his head. “This is a non-story. Trust me.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well,
I think you should still take the trip. You can write this blog you’re
currently working on if you want to–but you’ll probably be wrong.” She
frowned thoughtfully. “You know…I wonder if she’d be interested in
writing a guest blog.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zeke stopped in his tracks. “<i>What?</i>”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Sure,”
Leah said, gaining enthusiasm. “That’s not a bad plan B. She could
write updates of her journey–I mean, my subscribers are absolutely rabid
about this–and absolutely passionate about you going with her if the
poll results and the comments are anything to go by. Half want you to
expose her as pathetic; the other half want you to be surprised and
humbled and knocked off your high horse.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Hey!”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Some
love you; some love to hate you–but they all want you to document this
woman’s adventure–no matter how long it lasts, or what you learn.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, it’s a non-story–I’m telling you. She probably won’t even make it out of town. I doubt she’s ever been anywhere!”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“That’s…actually kinda sad.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zeke shrugged. “Yeah, well–those were the choices she made.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leah frowned at him. “You don’t know what she’s faced in her life. You shouldn’t be so judgmental.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zeke grinned at her. “Hey, that’s why you pay me the big bucks, you know–because I’m so judgmental.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You
know, if I didn’t know that sometimes you can actually be a really
nice, understanding guy, I’d think you were the biggest jerk that ever
walked the planet.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He shrugged again. “People don’t want to read the blog of a nice guy.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But they would love to see you taken down a peg or two.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Oh, like any tightly wound old lady could do that!” he scoffed.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leah
gave him a reproving look as she stood and walked over to him, a hand
cupped around her ear. “Do you hear that? That’s the sound of fate
taking aim right–” she poked him hard in the middle of the forehead–“<i>there</i>.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ALifeLessOrdinary.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For
the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good
girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her
career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and
feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed
over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life
will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit
her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving
town on a six month road trip.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After
placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her
mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and
most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s
true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate
attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the
same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an
out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to
rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMJBOSQ" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/299257" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Bernadine/e/B00AN2VS5G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Victoria Bernadine on <a href="https://twitter.com/VicBernadine" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://victoriabernadine.wordpress.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2_NZu0iup6n2vJwBd--NRvslbSPnw" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">victoriabernadine.wordpress.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-32753329542653850962014-12-02T11:00:00.000+00:002014-12-27T10:02:25.199+00:00GLIMPSES OF HEAVEN ON EARTH #Excerpt by John E. Wade II #AmReading #Motivation #NonFiction <i><b>From the chapter on freedom by co-author Charlotte Piotrowski:</b></i><br />
<br />
“Until
such time as we achieve heaven on earth, we must enjoy our freedoms
responsibly. Our speech should not be harmful. Our religious practice
should welcome those of all faiths (and those without religious faith).
Our media should present unbiased truth and facts, rather than
one-sided opinion. We must not abuse our freedoms, but rather enjoy
them from a perspective of gratitude and wisdom. In doing so, we allow
others to enjoy their right to freedom. <br />
<br />
While
Americans and those of many other nations, especially other democracies,
already enjoy basic freedoms, many people around the globe are not
equally blessed. Through peaceful means, we must support our worldwide
brothers and sisters, as they work to achieve freedom from oppressive
governments. We can do this by encouraging the education of all
citizens. With knowledge comes power. And with power comes the
strength and ability to change. In a heaven on earth, every person will
enjoy freedom; and each person’s enjoyment of freedom will only serve
for the betterment of the whole, and never to the detraction of anyone
else.”<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg"><img alt="Glimpses of Heaven on Earth" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42087" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Editor
and author John E. Wade II has compiled a spiritual guide of invaluable
insight for finding peace and meaning in life while making the world a
better place for all. Along with co-authors Charlotte Livingston
Piotrowski, Daniel Agatino, Michael Nagler, and Martin Rutte, this
collection of enlightening essays and inspirational quotes from renowned
thinkers and leade</span></span>rs throughout history provides the intellectual tools needed to live a more harmonious life.<br />
<br />
Buy <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Inspirational</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with John E. Wade II on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-67793820762150921582014-11-26T12:00:00.000+00:002014-11-29T13:10:26.413+00:00@GayleTrent on Listening to How People Actually Speak to do Dialogue #SelfPub #AmWriting #WriteTip <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1) Read, read, read.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading
within your genre as well as within other genres will make you a better
writer. See what works for you as a reader and what doesn’t.
Incorporate the good traits and resolve to eliminate any bad habits you
observe.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2) Study writing blogs, books, and sites.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You might feel like you’re an expert once you’ve gotten your book published, but there’s always more that you can learn. <i>Writer’s Digest</i>,
other authors’ websites, genre-specific magazines, and writing
newsletters can help you understand what mistakes other authors are
making and how to avoid those mistakes. For instance, one writing ezine
often discusses disreputable publishers and agents, warning other
writers to say away.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3) Watch TV and movies.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yep,
you read that right. Watching television and movies helps you to
understand what’s popular and can help you to see issues in ways you
might never have considered. Let’s say you watch a detective program. It
could give you insight into why your villain behaves as she does.
Granted, your villain might not be a murderer, but her long history of
abuse could explain her actions.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4) Subscribe to agents’ and editors’ blogs.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They
know the industry like no one else. If you want to know what’s going on
in the publishing world, this is an excellent place to start.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>5) Follow Publisher’s Weekly on Facebook</b> (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pubweekly" style="text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/pubweekly</a>) and Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/PublishersWkly" style="text-decoration: none;">https://twitter.com/PublishersWkly</a>).</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">6) Learn to proofread.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
order to properly proofread your own work, you might have to read the
story backward or in some other order to truly see the words. When we’re
proofing our stories, we tend to see what we believe is there. If our
intention was to write, “We took the dog to the groomer,” then we’ll see
that even if we’ve actually typed, “We too the dog to the groomer.” The
eye skims right over that missing <i>k</i>, and the mistake isn’t highlighted as such by my word processing software.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">7) Learn to self-edit.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Self-editing
differs somewhat from proofreading because it is more involved than
correcting typos. Self-editing includes fixing flaws. Did your character
say something that doesn’t ring true? Have you used the word <i>jump</i> ten
times on the same page? Does your character behave in a way that isn’t
faithful to her personality for no apparent reason? Once you’ve had your
work edited by a professional, you’ll be more aware of what to look
for. In the meantime, do a search for some helpful articles.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">8) Listen to how people actually speak.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To
do dialogue well, you need to truly listen to people talking. This is
another good thing about watching movies. The first time I picked up an
Elmore Leonard novel, I thought, “Huh? This guy doesn’t follow the
rules.” But his dialogue rings so true! He uses dialogue to create
characters that are realistic.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">9) Experiment.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Write
outside your comfort zone. If you don’t write poetry, try a poem to see
what you can come up with. I took a creative writing class where
students had to read a short story in a particular genre and then write a
story in that genre. We had to write western, science fiction, romance,
horror, mystery, and even how-to instructions. Stretch your limits—you
might be surprised at what you can do.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10) Write.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All the study in the world won’t make you a better writer if you don’t simply put your butt in the chair and write.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/threadEnd.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer is about to have the rug pulled out from under her….</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marcy can’t wait to see the new
exhibit at the Tallulah Falls museum on antique tapestries and textiles,
including beautiful kilim rugs. But her enthusiasm quickly turns to
terror when, the day after the exhibition opens, she discovers a dead
body behind her store, the Seven-Year Stitch, wrapped up in a most
unusual fashion.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The victim appears to be a visiting
art professor in town for the exhibit. Did someone decide to teach the
professor a lesson, then attempt to sweep the evidence under the rug?
Along with her boyfriend, Detective Ted Nash, Marcy must unravel an
intricate tapestry of deception to find a desperate killer.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thread-End-Embroidery-Amanda-Lee-ebook/dp/B00GSBEDI0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390178732&sr=8-1&keywords=Thread+End" style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Cozy Mystery</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Amanda%20Lee&search-alias=digital-text" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Amanda Lee on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GayleTrentandAmandaLee" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><a href="https://twitter.com/leah_beth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gayletrent.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-YTHdt59oPNToypDfFq2iQ7Epl5g" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.gayletrent.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-73648298285100026352014-11-26T07:30:00.000+00:002014-11-29T13:48:50.131+00:00"As Free as the Dolphin" - LUCIFER & THE INDIGO KIDS by @Lord_Ra_Krishna #Poetry #Philosophy<i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Dolphins</b></span></i><br />
<br />
Soon I will be free...<br />
As free as the dolphin <br />
<br />
That swims in the Sea...<br />
As free as a feather <br />
<br />
That blows in the wind...<br />
Sitting on the beach <br />
<br />
Sipping coffee once again<br />
With long<br />
dread loc's...<br />
And new tattoo's...<br />
<br />
Smoking with Bob Marley<br />
As my words help heal the earth...<br />
My music playing around the world<br />
<br />
Performing in front of thousand's...<br />
Sharing my art with the planet<br />
<br />
And speaking in the language<br />
of the dolphins...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHAMCMxXGA1brEKhOx68vGT0X5ecThRD1BRZdrsxWDGbVF6iUOnqzKN40obpTdQnE9maqekRccDFWtlejE6iezlcI3Tw-vU7lsPP-mUrH9s-pisZrnIO_oV5KJhToGcBkopW38cEsXoZn/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHAMCMxXGA1brEKhOx68vGT0X5ecThRD1BRZdrsxWDGbVF6iUOnqzKN40obpTdQnE9maqekRccDFWtlejE6iezlcI3Tw-vU7lsPP-mUrH9s-pisZrnIO_oV5KJhToGcBkopW38cEsXoZn/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
"This
“new age” book of poetry reflects the diverse views and philosophies of
it’s author Ra Krishna EL. It’s an intimate, humorous and thought
provoking group of poems intended to evoke strong emotion. To quote the
German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, this style of poetry can be
called “Zukunfts poesie“ which translates into “Poetry of the future”,
where truly original ideas are presented thru poetry. Also known as post
Nietzschean poetry.<br />
<br />
It’s subjects include society, pop
culture, love, religious dogma, God and the new age of Aquarius. This
book was written and published during the false incarceration of its
author in Chicago’s notorious Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the
country."<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Poetry, Philosophy</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with Lord Ra Krishna EL on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-23954909550942184222014-11-05T12:00:00.000+00:002014-12-08T07:59:07.433+00:00Kirsten Mortensen on Reading Books Out of Curiosity @KirstenWriter #AmReading #Romance #Suspense <div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>In the Mood: What Book Do You Want to Read Right Now?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By Kirsten Mortensen</span></span></i></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, how I envy people who know exactly what kind of book they like to read!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because if you asked me what books I like, I’m not sure how I’d answer.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
problem is, my “taste” changes from day to day—even hour to
hour—depending on all kinds of factors. The mood I’m in. What books I’ve
been discussing lately with my friends. How my day went, even!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because
I’m a writer, I read some books out of curiosity. Although I enjoyed
science fiction when I was in high school, for example, I didn’t touch
it at all for many years. Now I’ve met some sci-fi fans and I’ve become
curious about the genre. I’m reading a sci-fi book now by the novelist
Sarah Hoyt, and I’ve picked up some classic sci-fi titles for my TBR
pile. I love how it’s expanded my reading world!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another
type of book I enjoy is classic literature, but I have to be in just
the right frame of mind to tackle it. So often, classics are denser and
longer than genre or “poplit” books. I think of it like the difference
between stopping at taco stand and booking a reservation at a 5-star
restaurant. Both meals can be fun and satisfying, but one demands a bit
more of a commitment. The next classic I plan to read: Count of Monte
Cristo by Alexander Dumas.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes
all I want is to escape. You know that feeling? I want to read
something that just takes me away from day-to-day life—something that
gives me a rest from the hassles of paying the bills, getting over a
head cold, or whatever other little problems are bothering me at the
time. For this, the prescription is a fast-paced, plot-driven book. When
Elmore Leonard passed away, for example, I bought a couple of his
novels, and wow, I enjoyed them. Fun, fast-paced, and often
laugh-out-loud humorous. Perfect escapist books!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
related feeling I have, sometimes, is the desire to become aware of the
reality of the non-physical or spiritual dimensions of life. I satisfy
this by reading non-fiction books on spiritual topics or first-person
accounts of spiritual experiences. I recently read a book by Mason
Winfield on supernatural phenomenon in Upstate New York, and I loved how
it made me slow down and think about the impressions the past leaves on
the present.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I find reading non-fiction to be very settling, so I gravitate toward books about history as a way to feel calm.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So how about you? Do you look for different kinds of books depending on your mood?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg"><img alt="darkChemistry" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41412" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A woman's worst nightmare</span></span></h1>
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Drugged by something...that makes her think she's fallen in love.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All Haley Dubose has ever known is beaches and malls, clubs and cocktail dresses.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>But now her father is dead.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if she wants to inherit her father's fortune, she has to leave sunny Southern California<br />for a backwater little town near Syracuse, New York. She has to run RMB, the multimillion dollar<br />chemical company her father founded. And she has to run it well.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keep
RMB on track, and she'll be rich. Grow it, and she'll be even richer.
But mess it up, and her inheritance will shrink away before she gets a
chance to spend a dime.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Donavon Todde is her true love. But is it too late?</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He's RMB's head of sales – and the more Donavon sees of Haley, the more he's smitten.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sure,
she comes across at first as naïve and superficial. But Donavon knew
Haley's father. He can see the man's better qualities stirring to life
in her eyes. And Donavon senses something else: Haley's father left her a
legacy more important than money. He left her the chance to discover
her true self.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Donavon has demons of his own.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b><br />He's
reeling from a heartbreak that's taking far too long to heal. But he's
captivated by this blond Californian, and not only because of her
beauty.<i> It's chemistry.</i> They're right for each other. But has
Donavon waited too long to woo this woman of his dreams? Because to his
horror, his beautiful Haley falls under another spell.<i> Gerad's spell.</i></span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A web of evil.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerad
Picket was second-in-command at RMB when Haley's father was alive. And
with Haley on the scene, he's in charge of her training. But there are
things about RMB that Gerad doesn't want Haley to know.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And he must control her. Any way he can.</span></span></h2>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Romantic suspense for your Kindle</span></span></h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will Haley realize that her feelings are not her TRUE feelings?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does Donavon have the strength left to fight for the woman he loves?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will the two of them uncover Gerad's plot to use RMB pheromones to enslave the world?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And even if they do – can they stop it?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Romantic suspense</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kirsten Mortensen through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>& <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" target="_blank">http://kirstenmortensen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-71017620958226053812014-10-28T08:00:00.000+00:002015-02-12T11:54:36.636+00:005* Steps Into Darkness (Shakertown Adventure #2) by Ben Woodard @BensWoodard #ReviewShare #YA<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18332864-steps-into-darkness" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Steps Into Darkness (Shakertown Adventure #2)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376580407m/18332864.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18332864-steps-into-darkness">Steps Into Darkness</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4337426.Ben_Woodard">Ben Woodard</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1091089076">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Really, really good read that kept me in suspense, the characters were charming and the mystery was intriguing. Adults and teenagers will enjoy this story. The plot is detailed enough to hold an adult’s attention and the language simple enough for a young teenager. I found the old Kentucky theme of the central mystery particularly appealing and I couldn’t wait to find out how everything would be resolved in the end. <br />
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Ben Woodard provided Tom and Will with earnest, realistic voices and personalities to match. No matter the danger, the boys were thirsty for adventure. <br />
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Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-40884726911458912212014-10-25T10:00:00.000+01:002014-12-31T09:37:01.579+00:00What Freedom Smells Like: A #Memoir by Amy Lewis @AmyLewisAuthor #Excerpt #AmReading #TBR <div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Transformation
doesn’t happen overnight. It takes decades to shed our childhood
conditioning – the beliefs and thoughts that pieced together like not so
colorful charms on a bracelet determine our destiny. But sometimes one
moment pierces a hole so large in our consciousness, we can’t continue
living as we once did. Seeing my husband’s dead body was that moment for
me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Religion
meant very little to me growing up. I was raised Episcopalian. Like
Catholic but without the confessional. I attended Sunday school for
about a year as a young child. My parents felt obliged to send my sister
and me off to church, not because they believed in any of it, but
because it seemed proper. After about a year, I think they grew weary of
pretending and announced church was no longer required. At fifteen when
I could drive, I went back a few times on my own. I liked the church
and its 1960s mid-century design. It felt peaceful to me. And, I liked
the priest. He was cute, and at 15 older men did something for me. I
would kneel in the pew enjoying the atmosphere and fantasize about the
priest – romantic fantasies, not sexual ones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dad
was an atheist although he would never use that word for it. My mother
was more of an agnostic. We never talked about God in our family
although we did say grace, always the same prayer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>“Come Lord Jesus be our guest, let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.”</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We
must have said it a thousand times. We didn’t have a backup grace, and
we never free styled it. That was the only time we ever mentioned Jesus,
and I think we only said it to please my father’s mother. I got most of
my views on religion, God and Jesus based on my fathers’ negative
tirades about his sister. She was a born again Christian. My father
thought the whole thing utterly ridiculous at best and highly dangerous
at worst.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We
never spoke of death. We never spoke of souls. We certainly never spoke
of eternity. I had a clear picture of death: darkness. Death was
pitch-black darkness. The coffin lid closes, the lights go out, and it’s
over - forever. I remember staying awake for hours in my preteen years
thinking about infinity. I would lay stiff like a corpse and imagine
what death would be like. Pitch black darkness forever and ever and ever
and ever and ever. The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>and evers</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>would
torture me. I couldn’t stop obsessing night after night. I decided I
would stop thinking of death. From that moment onward, I became
terrified of death. The thought, the image, the mere mention of the word
made me go numb.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
stood by the door of his room. I had no concept of time so I can’t tell
how long. Then my body decided to move, and I took one step and another
and another and with my fourth step I found myself right next to
Truth’s body, which was slightly slumped to the left.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
I witnessed when I looked into his eyes was the beginning of my own
personal revolution. If seeing was believing, then I couldn’t believe
what was before my eyes. My husband, whom I had never spent a day apart
from in four and a half years, was no longer there. He was dead. Yes, I
knew that. His body, which the nurse insisted I say goodbye to, was not
him. I knew it instantly when I looked into his eyes. He was nowhere to
be found. Who I knew him to be had disappeared. Gone. I couldn’t believe
what I saw and what I felt in every pore of my being.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>He was not there, but his body was.</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So to whom was I saying goodbye?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
realize all this may sound elementary to those who were raised to
believe in what I was just embarking on. I had no idea. My belief system
told me it was him but dead. But it wasn’t him. Was I going crazy? I
found my presence there pointless. He wasn’t there. I knew it just as
much as I knew he<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>had</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>been there a few hours ago. So I left.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg"><img alt="whatFreedomSmellsLike" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41176" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diagnosed
with Borderline Personality disorder, Amy struggled with depression and
an addiction to sharp objects. Even hospitalization didn't help to heal
her destructive tendencies. It took a tumultuous relationship with a
man named Truth to bring her back from the depths of her own self-made
hell.Amy's marriage to dark, intriguing Truth was both passionate and
stormy. She was a fair-skinned southern girl from New Orleans. He was a
charming black man with tribal tattoos, piercings, and a mysterious
past. They made an unlikely pair, but something clicked. During their
early marriage, they pulled themselves out of abject poverty into wealth
and financial security practically overnight. Then things began to fall
apart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Passionate
and protective, Truth also proved violent and abusive. Amy’s own
self-destructive tendencies created a powerful symmetry. His sudden
death left Amy with an intense and warring set of emotions: grief for
the loss of the man she loved, relief she was no longer a target for his
aggression.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conflicted
and grieving, Amy found herself at a spiritual and emotional
crossroads, only to receive help from an unlikely source: Truth himself.
Feeling his otherworldly presence in her dreams, Amy seeks help from a
famous medium.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
spiritual encounters change Amy forever. Through Truth, she learns her
soul is eternal and indestructible, a knowledge that gives Amy the
courage to pursue her own dreams and transform herself both physically
and emotionally. Her supernatural encounters help Amy resolve the
internal anger and self-destructive tendencies standing between her and
happiness, culminating in a sense of spiritual fulfillment she never
dreamed possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An amazing true story, What Freedom Smells Like is told with courage, honesty, and a devilishly dark sense of humor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Amy Lewis through <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" target="_blank">www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-63365627521128917952014-10-24T10:00:00.000+01:002014-12-04T10:39:30.747+00:00Kimberly Shursen Shares the Prologue from HUSH @KimberlyShursen #AmReading #Thriller #TBR<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>-Prologue-</b></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>June 21, 1997</b><b> </b></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirteen-year-old
Ben Grable stared out the window of his father’s car. He wished he
could close his eyes and be somewhere—anywhere else—just not on the way
to the nursing home.He hated today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Every
Sunday, his father dragged him to visit his grandmother. Two years ago,
the woman who had laughed at all of his jokes, baked him chocolate chip
cookies, and played Chutes and Ladders with him growing up was given a
death sentence. It wasn’t fair to his Nana or the people who watched her
die an inch at a time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Come on, son,” his father said when he parked his car in the lot. “Put on that smile your Nana loves to see.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
one-story, all-brick building sat on an acreage surrounded by pine
trees. The scene was serene, but the moment Ben stepped inside, the
smell of urine and decay was overwhelming.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Old
people with crinkled faces and withered hands who had shrunk to a
portion of their original height sat in chairs lined against the wall
saying nothing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Nothing.</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The
years had sucked the life and voices out of them. Nursing assistants
offered cookies and a smile along with a pat on the patients’
decomposing backs and told them it was a beautiful day. What did they
care if the sun was shining or a tornado was about to sweep them away?
Every moment of each day was the same. Pain. Loneliness. Humiliation.
And fading memories of who they once were.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Nana?”
Ben said, and walked to the elderly woman sitting in a wheel chair that
faced the window. Even before he reached her, he noticed the spastic
movements of her hands and head were worse. He bent down next to her in
the room the size of his closet, a crucifix hanging on one wall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
tired, puffy eyes stared at him, and Ben’s heart sank when he realized
she didn’t recognize him. He could have been Batman or a poodle, and she
wouldn’t have known the difference.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a few minutes of trying to understand what she was saying, Ben turned to his father. “I’ll be back in a minute.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">His father gave him an understanding nod.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He’d
wandered down the hallway, blinking back tears of anger and pain. Angry
that his grandmother was never going to get better and the pain of
knowing he’d already lost her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On
the other side of the nursing home, he spotted another set of double
doors. Staring inside, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Babies,
children, and young adults filled the long, narrow hallway; some lay
flat on their backs on bare mattresses, their heads rolling back and
forth in slow-motion succession. Others traipsed the floor mindlessly
with unblinking, glazed eyes, their backs hunched over. Heads too large
for their bodies—slanted eyes, some missing limbs, a couple with wide,
open gashes in their upper lips.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Where did these monsters come from, and why were they here?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nurses
changed diapers, or knelt beside mats and held baby bottles for
children who looked as old, or older, than Ben. Long, guttural moans and
helpless cries filtered through the doors, the smell of feces was
disgusting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He jumped when he felt something touch his shoulder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Sad, isn’t it?” a young nurse said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What’s wrong with them?” Ben asked, tasting his own sour bile.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She shrugged her shoulders. “Different things. Most were born this way, and their parents just couldn’t take care of them.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Why are they here? In a nursing home?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Part
of the building is for a nursing home and”—she nodded to the other side
the window—“this part is controlled by the state. There are so many
nursing homes for old people and not enough institutions for people like
this that a few months ago we started taking in the overflow.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Will they ever get better? Go home?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The nurse shook her head. “I’m afraid not. This is the only life they’ll ever know.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
he looked back through the windowed door, he gasped and jumped back. On
the other side of the window, only inches away from his face, a pair of
eyes pleaded with Ben for help.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s okay. They won’t hurt you,” the nurse told him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben
shook his head back and forth slowly, tears welling in his eyes. He
turned and raced through the halls toward the front door of the
building. The face on the other side of the door burned into his
memory—the bulging, watery eyes, the slobbering drool running down the
glass, the hopeless and far-away look of misfortune and doom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heart
racing, his temples throbbing, he was going to vomit. Breathless when
he reached his father’s car, he found it locked. Panicked, he pulled at
the handle over and over. “Open, please, open!” he sobbed
uncontrollably.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
turned, leaned back against the door, and slowly sank to the concrete.
If his friends saw him, they’d call him a sissy-boy. It didn’t matter.
Those things, those sad, awful looking creatures weren’t human. His
parents had always told him that all of God’s children were created
equally. But it wasn’t true.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
brought his knees up to his chest and covered his tear-streaked face
with his hands, trying hard to get the images out of his mind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It just wasn’t true.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg"><img alt="hush" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41080" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon
after Ann Ferguson and Ben Grable marry, and Ben unseals his adoption
papers, their perfect life together is torn apart, sending the couple to
opposite sides of the courtroom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Representing
Ann, lawyer Michael J. McConaughey (Mac) feels this is the case that
could have far-reaching, judicial effects -- the one he's been waiting
for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Opposing counsel knows this high profile case happens just once in a lifetime.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />And
when the silent protest known as HUSH sweeps the nation, making
international news, the CEO of one of the top ten pharmaceutical
companies in the world plots to derail the trial that could cost his
company billions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Critically
acclaimed literary thriller HUSH not only questions one of the most
controversial laws that has divided the nation for over four decades,
but captures a story of the far-reaching ties of family that surpasses
time and distance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>***
Hush does not have political or religious content. The story is built
around the emotions and thoughts of two people who differ in their
beliefs.</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b>EDITORIAL
REVIEW: "Suspenseful and well-researched, this action-packed legal
thriller will take readers on a journey through the trials and
tribulations of one of the most controversial subjects in society
today."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Katie French author of "The Breeders," "The Believer's," and "Eyes Ever To The Sky."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kimberly Shursen through <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" target="_blank">http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-38497374198031182332014-10-24T07:00:00.000+01:002015-01-18T08:07:42.915+00:00Marilyn Holdsworth Shares an #Excerpt from MAKING WISHES by @M_Holdsworth #WomensFic <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>AGGIE HAS AN ASSIGNATION...</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>from the novel MAKING WISHES by Marilyn Holdsworth</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
guests continued their speculations on Elloree and Tom’s marriage, and
Aggie glanced across the room to where Brian Coleman was just sitting
down with two other men. He looked over at her, a slow sensuous smile
spreading across his handsome suntanned features, and she felt an
immediate stab of excitement. Yes, this luncheon was going to be very
pleasant. After the salad and seafood crepes had been served and
enjoyed, Aggie and her friends lingered over coffee.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brian
Coleman exchanged more glances across the room with Aggie, and when at
last he’d finished with his tiresome clients, he ushered them outside to
their cars. He waved and smiled as they drove off. It had been a very
profitable afternoon. He was satisfied that both had bought his pitch
for a substantial raise of their insurance coverage. He glanced at his
watch impatiently. She should be coming out at any moment and if he knew
women, those looks only meant one thing. Damn, he wished she’d hurry.
He had an early evening appointment, but there might be just enough
time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Minutes
later, Aggie stepped through the door, and she looked even better to
him than she had from across the room. She had been teasing him for the
past month with chance encounters and seductive looks. Maybe this
afternoon he’d get lucky. At last she had bidden her friends
good-bye, and he walked over to her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aggie
watched him approach, her eyes eagerly devouring his trim, athletic
good looks. She greeted him, “Brian, what a surprise! Did you enjoy your
lunch?” she asked coquettishly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Very much. Especially the view.” He smiled, allowing his eyes to travel down her sleekly clad, curvaceous body.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aggie felt a warm tingle. The glow of the wine, the afternoon sun, and his deep,husky voice made her feel pleasantly aroused.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’ve
been admiring you all through lunch,” he said easily. “Do you have
plans for the rest of the afternoon?” He leaned closer to her, and she
caught his musky, masculine scent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Nothing that can’t wait,” she answered, smiling.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For more, please see Making Wishes by Marilyn Holdsworth at <a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/making-wishes/" data-mce-style="color: #1155cc;" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/making-wishes/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/making-wishes/</a></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View’s stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work. An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Women’s fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="outer_postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.When Abby discovers a hidden diary
stuffed inside a secret compartment in the desk, she can hardly wait to
read the spidery, faded script. As she carefully turns the tattered
pages, she reads the captivating story of two remarkable women from
opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to form an unforgettable bond
against the backdrop of a fledgling America struggling to find its place
in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, the wife of James Monroe, and
Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an extraordinary relationship as
they are united by pivotal historic events, political intrigues, and
personal tragedies.</span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world.”</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="outer_postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue.
Action packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader
to a race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a
gripping tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the
interest and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together
with real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Marilyn Holdsworth on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><b>Website </b> </b><a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog</b> <a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/</a></span></span></div>
<br />Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-64706051859459836162014-10-16T10:00:00.000+01:002014-10-16T15:18:42.695+01:00Lori Lesko Asks Why Writers Put Themselves Through Torture @LeskoLori #SelfPub #AmWriting #TBR<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Inside the Mind of the Author</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why
do writers put themselves through such torture? We get an idea for a
book and we’re off to the races with it! This is it! I know this one
will be my breakthrough novel. I’ll win every award there is to win.
Movie producers will call me endlessly to option my book and make it
into a screenplay. Move over J. K. Rowling, there’s a new writer in
town.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah,
right. The truth is, unless you’re a genius or have been writing since
you were a child, that’s not going to happen. It takes a lot of time and
effort to transform an idea into a novel. The idea is only the
beginning of the journey.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“For
a commercial airliner to even consider hiring you as a pilot, you’ll
need to have logged approximately 3,000 hours of total flight time,
including at least 1,500 hours in a multi-jet engine, and at least 1,000
hours as pilot in command of a turbine powered aircraft. These are just
the minimum requirements, and anyone that’s ever been up in a single
engine plane will tell you that an hour in the air takes much more
effort (and money) than an hour at the keyboard.” ~ The Write Practice</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
heard recently that writing anything, short-story, screenplay or novel
can be compared to the letter U This made sense to me. You start at the
top of the U with your incredible idea. Guns are blazing and your first
couples of chapters fly off the keyboard. Yeah, this one will be great!
Then, you hit the bottom of the U and you realize you should have done
more planning.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
bottom of the U is where most beginning writers quit. I did in my novel
COPYRIGHT. I didn’t quit because I ran out of steam, although that
happened to me as well, no I simply wrote myself into a corner and found
a flaw staring right at me. Mocking me, saying stupid woman, when are
you ever going to learn? You can’t be a writer. You have neither the
skills nor the time to follow this through. Give it all up! So I did. I
told everyone I quit and wished them well. My Facebook lit up like
crazy!!!! Everyone demanded me to continue. Take a walk, take a break.
They told me I was smart enough to find a way through.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
I’m on the other side of the U. I can see the light of the end of the
tunnel. I know how it will end, and I owe it all to my friends and
fellow writers. Here is my favorite quote from www.writerswrite.co.za “A
novel usually takes me about two years. A year to research and plan and
dream. Then a year to write.” ~ Rose Tremain. If that’s true, I have a
bit more time and so do you! Keep calling out for your Muse and she
will appear. If you’re really desperate and ready to quit, give me a
shout and I’ll tell my Muse to drop in on you till you’re feeling
better.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/copyright.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amber
Tyler is living every author’s dream: her books are all best sellers
and she writes full time. She has worked hard and is well-accomplished
in her career, and she has the support and love of her beautiful
children and girlfriend. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the dream soon turns into a
terrible nightmare when her latest manuscript is stolen. She decides to
fight for what is rightfully hers, only to find that the harder she
tries, the easier it all slips through her fingers, putting her career,
her family, and her life in jeopardy.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://mybook.to/Copyright_A_Novel" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lori-Lesko/e/B009HQ7T98" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Lori Lesko on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lori.lesko.7" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/LeskoLori" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-32001371242990878872014-10-11T14:30:00.000+01:002014-10-23T15:00:02.273+01:00Into the Mind of #Author @MarcADiGiacomo & His Small Town Series #Thriller #AmReading <div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Beware!
Enter at your own risk. Just kidding, really, come on, authors are just
like everyone else, right? Maybe. Since I published my second book,
people still look at me the same although, I am much more recognizable
to my hometown crowd. I constantly get asked, “Is that part true?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There
is a concern as to how people view me since my books are so graphic in
nature. There is a lot of violence, as police work can occasionally be.
Mostly, I feel for my wife, especially when she gets asked about the sex
scenes within the books. People assume that is part of your real life
when in reality, these situations are complete fiction. An author can
fantasize about anything and incorporate those thoughts into a working
manuscript. It happens to me all the time. I’ll meet someone or hear
something and boom, it’s in the book. Of course, I change it all up to
protect identities but most people would kill to be portrayed within the
pages of a novel. It’s a cool thing, like being an extra in a movie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
don’t know exactly how I come up with the stuff I do, I guess I’m lucky
in one way, I have good material. I just hope, the well doesn’t dry up
anytime soon. Because if it does, I’ll have to take this job on the
road.</span></span></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/backintown.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/backintown.jpg"><img alt="backintown" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42265" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/backintown.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/backintown.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
The
small town of Hutchville, New York is turned upside down. No longer is
it the quaint, sleepy, suburb of New York City. Detective Matt Longo is
back on the job and embroiled in his latest nightmare. Further
complicating matters is the revelation of his partner’s corruption and
organized crime ties; Donny Mello has left a bitter trail of lies and
deceit. With his kid brother and newly promoted Detective Franny Longo
by his side, will Matt be able to put his past behind him?<br />
<br />
Special
Agent Cynthia Shyler, (F.B.I.) has been reassigned due to her meeting
with Matt Longo. Will this move complicate their relationship? Or will a
new stranger in town spin a web that entangles the entire Hutchville
Police Department, especially our most seasoned detective, Matt Longo?</div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Town-Small-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00KWE2PK2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=18M6XPX181RWK0SA250N" href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Town-Small-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00KWE2PK2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=18M6XPX181RWK0SA250N">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Marc%20A.%20DiGiacomo&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Marc%20A.%20DiGiacomo&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with Marc A. DiGiacomo on <a data-mce-href="https://facebook.com/MarcADiGiacomo" href="https://facebook.com/MarcADiGiacomo">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/MarcADiGiacomo" href="https://twitter.com/MarcADiGiacomo" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-35099055341847509872014-10-10T10:00:00.000+01:002014-12-08T09:05:45.631+00:00THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE #Excerpt by Craig Staufenberg @YouMakeArtDumb #MG<br />
At the train’s next stop, a different child came to Sophie
and handed her another gift of food, and at the next stop a different
child still. At each stop, another mother stood behind her child and
insisted on the gift, and thanked Sophie for wearing her child out.<br />
<br />
When
the train moved forward, the children scrambled down the aisle and
handed her a little of whatever their families were eating amongst
themselves. Sophie felt embarrassed by the generosity the other
passengers showed to her and, increasingly, to her grandmother, who also
received small gifts of bread and cheese or whatever else the families
brought with them. The old woman never pushed the children away, but
simply thanked them with a touch of sweetness Sophie had never heard
from her before.<br />
<br />
Now, when their train stopped at a
station or broke down altogether, the old woman produced a deck of cards
from her bag and played games with the other women while Sophie
continued to occupy the children with her runs.<br />
<br />
As the
days grew longer and rain fell and the smell of spring flowers drifted
into the air, the two travelers slowly found themselves enfolded into
the life of their train. During boisterous moments Sophie and her
grandmother began to speak and laugh with the others. During quiet
moments the two remained still and peaceful, sometimes smiling,
sometimes sober, moods in tune with the warming air that thickened those
afternoons when children slept and adults enjoyed temporary peace.<br />
<br />
Gradually,
as the days passed and spring brought the world back to life, something
melted a touch between Sophie and her grandmother. They still rarely
spoke, and when they did they never said any word of consequence, but
the old woman began to comment whenever they received something
especially delicious, and after a stray question or two about the day’s
games escaped Sophie’s lips, the old woman began to teach her
granddaughter how to play cards—quietly, privately, lest the train’s
other women learned her secrets.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg"><img alt="The Girl Who Came Back to Life" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40597" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead.
There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds
you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />After
her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits.
Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her
mother and father’s spirits back home with her. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Taking
the long pilgrimage north with her gruff & distant grandmother—by
train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and
oceans—Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the
journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons—what to hold on to,
when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Middle Grade</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with Craig Staufenberg through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" target="_blank">http://craigstaufenberg.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-72333809871786688072014-10-08T12:00:00.000+01:002014-11-07T05:51:54.255+00:00Touching Madness (River Madden) #Excerpt by K S Ferguson #AmReading #Fantasy #BookClubI cowered at the hooves of the eight-foot tall demon, wallowing in
the soot and debris of the apocalyptic cityscape. He frowned at me, and
his mouth formed words, but I couldn't understand him. Hoards of
translucent black cloud nightmares rose and fell through cracks in the
scarred ground, widening the fissures with each pass. They roiled around
us, cutting off light coming from a source that I couldn't identify. I
opened my mouth to scream, and one of the nightmare clouds poured in,
clogging my throat, filling my lungs with ash, and shooting burning
cinders up through my brain. I thrashed, trying to get to my feet so I
could run, but I no longer had legs.<br />
<br />
I jerked awake,
thoroughly tangled in the space blanket, my legs numb, and looked into a
pair of amber eyes that stared back at me along the blade of a big,
scary military-type knife pointed at my throat. I swallowed hard. Boy,
had I screwed up.<br />
<br />
"Hi," I said.<br />
<br />
She
didn't blink. My God, she was beautiful in the pre-dawn light glowing
through the windows. No human looked that perfect. Was she real? I freed
my right hand and ever so slowly raised my index finger to the tip of
the blade while she watched. When I pressed lightly against the point,
it pricked my skin. I pulled my hand back. Blood welled from the tiny
cut. Yep, real. Shit. She'd taken me prisoner.<br />
<br />
"We're surrounded by cops," I said. "If you stick me, I'll scream like a girl."<br />
<br />
Ah,
crap, why'd I used that expression? She probably screamed like an
Amazon warrior. How'd she even lift a knife that big? She was such a
tiny thing. All the cops I'd met were big louts. But she had the drop on
me, and the knife was a lot more threatening than her wand thingy.<br />
<br />
"Who
are you? Where are we? How'd I get here?" she asked. The taut muscles
around her eyes telegraphed fear, and the knife trembled in her hand.<br />
<br />
I
rubbed my prickling wrist tattoos against my jeans and caught a whiff
of something burnt. I glanced around the kiosk. Up near the ceiling, a
trace of shapeless sooty cloud leaked out through the crack around the
door. My mouth opened, closed.<br />
<br />
"Do you smoke?" I asked,
hoping she'd tell me she did. The cloud could have been cigarette smoke
even if it didn't smell like tobacco… purposeful cigarette smoke, on
the dark side. A hallucination. Not real.<br />
<br />
A frown
joined her stare. Oops. I'd wandered off topic. What had she asked? Who
are you? But her team had that tracking device that reacted to me. How
could she be looking for me but not recognize me?<br />
<br />
"I
brought you here so they wouldn't shoot you. I had to hide you while I
led him away." I gave her a tentative smile and waited for her to gush
her thanks for saving her life. Maybe she'd be so grateful, she'd tell
me about the tracking device—and point that big knife some other
direction. Then I could get away before she figured out who I was.<br />
<br />
She
added narrowed eyes to the stare and the frown. I chewed my lower lip.
Maybe I wasn't communicating as well as I'd hoped. I felt woefully
inadequate talking to someone as lovely as her, especially someone
carrying a dangerous weapon. It could have been worse—at least I hadn't
degenerated into word salad or spoken in rhymes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg"><img alt="Touching Madness" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41637" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Light
bulbs talk to River Madden; God doesn't. When the homeless
schizophrenic unintentionally fractures a dimensional barrier and
accidentally steals a gym bag containing a million dollars, everyone
from the multiverse police to the local crime boss—and an eight-foot
tall demon—are after him. Can he dodge them long enough to correct his
mistakes and prevent the destruction of three separate dimensions? If he
succeeds, will the light bulbs stop singing off-key?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary, Urban fantasy</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" target="_blank">http://www.ksferguson.net</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-65304899191666799532014-10-07T18:30:00.000+01:002014-10-30T11:54:30.714+00:00Sophie Kinsella & What You Didn't Know by Madi Brown @Madithe1brown #Giveaway #ChickLit <b>10 Things You Didn't Know About Sophie Kinsella</b><br />
<br />
<i>SK
(Sophie Kinsella) is easily the SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker) of Chick
Lit. She's written over a dozen novels, with each of her works
centering around strong female characters that modern day women love to
read about. If she's extremely fashionable, enthusiastic about her
career, and if she still holds a place card for family and friends then
we're all in aren't we? Many of us have read her books in one sitting,
but what do we really know about Sophie Kinsella the woman? Well---as I
soon found out, this author is just as interesting as the
multidimensional characters that she creates. Here are 10 facts about
Sophie Kinsella that you probably didn't know:</i><br />
<br />
1) Sophie Kinsella <b>once considered writing a thriller.</b>
Yes, it's true. And if her agent hadn't told her that what she'd come
up with wasn't dark or gritty enough, then we may have been able to
judge for ourselves.<br />
<br />
2) Sophie Kinsella <b>admits that she can relate to all of the characters that she's concocted in her best-selling Chick Lit books.</b>
Once, while she was nursing her baby, she opened up the door for her
mailman---and her shirt was unbuttoned! It was a Becky Bloomwood moment
that she'll always remember.<br />
<br />
3) When asked what profession she saw herself in if she wasn't an author, Sophie Kinsella revealed that <b>she'd be belting out songs as a singer of course</b> ( after all, she did study music at New College Oxford).<br />
<br />
4) <b>It takes Sophie Kinsella nine months to pen a novel.</b>
She breaks it up into two stages. The first phase involves coffee, and
sitting down, planning and taking notes. The second phase involves total
isolation where it's just Sophie writing like a mad woman to speaker
blowout-blaring loud music.<br />
<br />
5) One of Sophie Kinsella's books <b>(Sleeping Arrangements) was adapted into a musical</b>. It premiered in London on April 17, 2013.<br />
<br />
6) Someone has been really busy in between books. <b>Sophie Kinsella has five kids; </b>four
boys and a girl. Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?
How-in-almost-Brady-Bunch name does she find the time to write?<br />
<br />
7) Guess who's <b>hooked on eating nuts and having packets of them</b> wherever she goes? Sophie Kinsella.<br />
<br />
8) <b>Life imitated art on an instance when Sophie went out Christmas shopping</b>. She loaded her baby stroller up with so many bags that there wasn't any room for the baby.<br />
<br />
9) Sophie Kinsella has a<b> customized pen for all of her author book signings.</b> She keeps it stored in gold bubble wrap.<br />
<br />
10) Who knew? <b>Sophie Kinsella anonymously sent a novel that she'd penned to her own publishing house under a different pen name.</b>She remained tight lipped about doing so until her book, Can You Keep a Secret was published.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg"><img alt="truthaboutemily" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41632" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"If you LOVE New York, if you’re a
name-dropping, fashion fiend careerist; fed up with serial dating,
plagued with a thirst for sex, then you’ll totally stalk me for what
I've penned.” - Author, Madi Brown</span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Description</i></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">29-year-old
Emily Greene looks the part, but she’s still working on becoming a
modern-day woman. Not that she’s one to back down from a challenge, but
living as an eternal work-in-progress wasn't exactly the goal that she
had in mind. It’s a harsh but true realization---the idea that that time
isn't on her side, and the notion that wanting to have it all, doesn't
mean getting it. The verdict is in; with zero prospects for a
relationship and a stalled blogging career, Emily has every reason to
believe that she’s been living a life too humdrum for her own good.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Making
the change won’t be easy. She’ll have to do whatever it takes; start
dating like a man, become more selective about which RSVP's she accepts,
and work even harder at getting her dream job.The payoff’s huge; a
modern twist on a storybook ending, but gains don’t often come without
risks. In the here and now Emily just may be forced to choose...It’s got
to be one or the other----the profession that she’s always wanted, or
the love that she’s never had.</span></span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">˃˃˃ Praise for Madi Brown & </span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">her debut novel, The Truth About Emily</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
added depth of character promises complexity but wraps everything in
the saucy cloak of Emily's evolving personality and newfound beliefs
about life, love, and the real nature of happiness. And this is where
The Truth About Emily outshines many competitors, making it a
recommended read for those seeking more than a standard romance novel." <i>- D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Reviews</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"This
book has just about anything a girl would love to read about. If
there's anything Emily Greene has is ISH and lots of it, oh the
ending... This book is a total keeper, just anything about fashion to
relationships to friends and family." <i>- Y. Sanchez, G</i></span></span><i>oodreads</i><br />
<br />
B<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">uy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Women's Fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG18</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Madi Brown on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-22052666901569265392014-10-03T07:00:00.000+01:002015-02-12T11:56:48.664+00:005* War Kids by H.J. Lawson @hjlawson1 #ReviewShare #YA #Syria <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23301112-war-kids" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="War Kids" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412330693m/23301112.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23301112-war-kids">War Kids</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8396176.H_J_Lawson">H.J. Lawson</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070871385">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - From the cover, I knew I would like this book. The subject matter is current which is what made this book a good read. I truly wonder what motivated the author to pick this scenario. War has devastating effects on anyone but children more so and Hayley Lawson spins a story of emotions, fear and loss. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - This book was heart stopping. I was completely invested. Children who are forced into adulthood. Hayley Lawson keeps you in the moment. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - Despite the change in POV, Hayley Lawson's writing is consistent and clear as she pens this story. The way the main character rises to the occasion despite the extreme circumstances she faces. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - I cannot recommend this book enough. It is well-written with a lot of research. Despite the difficult subject matter, the reader is able to feel the characters and emphatise with their situation. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-83553486815822246382014-10-02T09:30:00.000+01:002015-02-10T13:08:45.947+00:004* Heavyweight by M.B. Mulhall @MBMullhall #ReviewShare #LGBT #YA <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20321126-heavyweight" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Heavyweight" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388360662m/20321126.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20321126-heavyweight">Heavyweight</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5126807.M_B_Mulhall">M.B. Mulhall</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070129414">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - The characters and the events draw you in. At times, you become upset that not enough is being done about bullying. You would like to think this isn't the case in real life but many schools have yet to find ways to cope with bullying or mob rule. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - I was touched. Ian's issues with trying to hide his homosexuality and his eating disorder seemed too much to bear for both character and reader. This is when I truly understood the meaning of the title, "Heavweight" - it was the secrets that were weighing him down. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - No matter your sexual preference, this book is tender and real. Messages of acceptance are written into the story without being bossy or forcing the reader to change their thinking. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - Great writing, characters who grow and the inner journey of a young man who realises how hard it is to grow up. He considers himself to be a normal teenager but even in the first chapter, you already know this is an extraordinary story. Highly recommended. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-36743895855475284942014-10-02T08:30:00.000+01:002014-10-02T17:15:49.651+01:004* A Stairway To Danger by Ben Woodard @BensWoodard #ReviewShare #YA #Mystery <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19172366-a-stairway-to-danger" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Stairway To Danger (A Shakertown Adventure)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386147408m/19172366.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19172366-a-stairway-to-danger">A Stairway To Danger</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4337426.Ben_Woodard">Ben Woodard</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070119284">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - This is an enjoyable mystery book that reminds me a lot of the Hardy Boys and Enid Blyton's Famous Five or Secret Seven. The mystery starts quickly and the author's effort at keeping the setting consistent with the time period made the mystery even better. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - The author did a good job with character development. The dialogue was also well suited for each character. The plot kept me guessing and I wasn't sure if I wanted the mystery to be solved because then the book would be over. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - This is a good clean mystery, suspense any teenager would enjoy. I started reading adventure books when I was 10 so in my opinion, children who have stronger vocabulary will definitely be able to keep up with the story. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - Plot is well thought out. Characters are interesting most of the time. The ending although predictable was able to tie up the rest of the story. Highly recommended. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-2924596849660606562014-10-02T07:30:00.000+01:002015-02-18T17:02:57.369+00:004* The Emerald Tablet (Legends of Amun Ra, #1) by @Jg_Silverman #ReviewShare #Fantasy <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15854503-the-emerald-tablet" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Emerald Tablet (Legends of Amun Ra, #1)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346183072m/15854503.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15854503-the-emerald-tablet">The Emerald Tablet</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479929.Joshua_Silverman">Joshua Silverman</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070106277">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - I truly enjoyed the second book in Legends of Amun Ra. It was rich and well told. When I read the first book, it showed the writer's inexperience in terms of telling his story and world building. Some of the descriptions were clunking and too much time was spent on forcing the reader to see things the author's way. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - The mythology aspects of the book had me hooked and by now the characters are developed enough that I want to know more. The plot is twisted at this point and I did not know what to expect. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - Readers are given doses of science fiction and fantasy through characters who are reeling from power, loss, betrayal and love. Slow to start but definitely a book that ended with a bang. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - I was pleasantly surprised that the book got better as I went along. I almost half expected for it to end the way it started which was slow. I recommend that the Legends of Anmun Ra books be read in the correct order. Recommended. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-29973783625842761482014-09-23T09:30:00.000+01:002014-09-23T09:30:02.313+01:005* for The Soul of the World (Legends of Amun Ra, #2) by @Jg_Silverman #ReviewShare #Fantasy<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17453855-the-soul-of-the-world" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Soul of the World (Legends of Amun Ra, #2)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377614824m/17453855.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17453855-the-soul-of-the-world">The Soul of the World</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479929.Joshua_Silverman">Joshua Silverman</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1062108354">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - World building in a fantasy book is crucial and for me it is what makes the book good or bad. The world building for this book was flawless and I can imagine the author sitting in his work space with maps and charts because it felt real. The reader definitely has a sense of direction as you read. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - Even as I reached 40% of the book, I was hooked. The characters were rational despite being in a fantasy world. Their motives and actions had resolution which drives the reader to finish the book. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - One of those books, I did not want to end. Dialogue was lovely which is not easy to pull off for some authors. The battle of good versus evil ends in showdown which leaves my tongue wagging for the next book. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - The writing was engaging and it was easy to appreciate that the author took his time unfolding the story. An enjoyable read that transports you to a dream world which I highly recommend. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-82584305399364670652014-09-23T08:30:00.000+01:002015-02-18T17:02:14.504+00:004* for Zero Alternative by Luca Pesaro @biagiotrader #ReviewShare #Economy #Thriller <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21445001-zero-alternative" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Zero Alternative" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394651821m/21445001.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21445001-zero-alternative">Zero Alternative</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6443429.Luca_Pesaro">Luca Pesaro</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1062104027">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
My first impression was - Even from the beginning there was more than one surprise in this well-written story. Scott Walker is a different kind of hero who offers the reader a fascinating read. <br />
<br />
As I got to the middle, I felt - It's not the case of usual suspects and as the mystery thickens, Scott Walker does whatever it takes to survive. "History is full of people and institutions that grew to positions of supremacy only to come crashing down." This quote pretty much sums up Scott Walker and anyone who has been through an economy crisis realises the severity of the situation on an individual or a company. <br />
<br />
As I neared the end, I thought - Many chapters in the book reminded me of the TV series "Damages" where everyone has something to hide. The ending is not a cliffhanger but was open ended enough to insinuate another Scott Walker book. <br />
<br />
My final impression and recommendations - I liked it very much but the secondary characters did not always make sense. Definitely worth reading. <br />
<br />
Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/14893627-melody-armstrong">View all my reviews</a>
Melodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15225974825383039911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-14537438070650456852014-09-20T12:30:00.000+01:002014-09-22T01:59:21.721+01:00HIGH MAGA #Excerpt by Karin Rita Gastreich @EolynChronicles #AmReading #Fantasy #Fiction<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lord Mechnes set his hard gaze upon Adiana. “And who are you?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“My name is Adiana.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You are Maga Eolyn’s scullery maid?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She
swallowed, bit her lip. Adiana had learned how to lie during her youth
in Selkynsen, after her parents were killed and she fled to the piers.
Lies must be presented on a bed of truth, or they lose their seductive
power. “No, I am not a servant. I am a musician from Selkynsen. Maga
Eolyn brought me to Moehn to teach music to her students.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Music?” A smirk broke upon the commander’s face. He seemed genuinely surprised. “What interest do magas have in music?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She
searched for her breath. “Music is also magic, according to the
traditions of Moisehén. It’s a form of Primitive Magic, the oldest and
most sacred of all. Magas and mages use music in their ceremonies, their
spells, sometimes even in their healing.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“So you are a maga?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“No, I’m not a maga.” The thought came, terrible and unbidden, that now she would never be. “I simply play music.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Then
she was trying to protect you by saying you were a scullery maid? How
curious.” He draped one end of the bloodied cloth over the woman’s
disfigured face. “I can assure you a musician will find a much better
place among the Syrnte than a scullery maid.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I
don’t intend to find a place among the Syrnte.” Her breath stalled
under the look he gave her, a strange mixture of amusement and menace.
“What I mean is, my home is here, in Moisehén, not with the Syrnte.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s all one kingdom now. Or perhaps better stated, will be soon.” He nodded to the guards. “Unbind this woman.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
an instant, the cords that secured her wrists were removed. Adiana
cradled her hands against her breast, rubbing the places where the
leather straps had left her skin raw.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mechnes closed the distance between them in two strides.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You
will have to find a place among us, Adiana, or you will perish. That is
the way of conquest.” He took her hands in his and studied them
carefully, strong fingers tracing the fine delicate length of her own.
“What do you play?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Adiana’s
skin crawled at the intimacy of his touch. His aroma was sharp, like
coals on the hearth, and laced with the smell of blood. She wanted
desperately to look elsewhere, but could not. Mechnes’s massive frame
filled her vision; his presence, at once sinister and magnetic, demanded
all her attention.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The
cornamuse.” Her voice had dropped to a nervous whisper. “The dulcimer,
and the lute, the short wood, as well. Among others.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
pressed her hands between his. Adiana was visited by the sudden image
of him snapping her fingers one by one, as if they were nothing more
than dry twigs.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I
see you are telling the truth, in this much at least,” he said. “You
have beautiful hands, Adiana. We must be grateful they were not damaged
during the attack on Maga Eolyn’s <i>Aekelahr</i>. And we must also hope they will come to no harm here, under my care.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
heavy silence followed. Adiana understood the unspoken threat that
hovered between them. Who else would he ask? The children, the survivors
of the siege, the members of Lord Felton’s household, if any of them
still lived. What would Adiana’s deception gain for Eolyn in the
end—fifteen minutes? Half an hour? It did not matter. Every additional
moment could mean the difference between Eolyn’s escape and her death.
Adiana had already lost one friend tonight. She would not betray the
other.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She lowered her eyes and held her tongue.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/HighMaga.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lands Ravaged. Dreams destroyed. Demons set loose upon the earth.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">War
strikes at the heart of women’s magic in Moisehén. Eolyn’s fledgling
community of magas is destroyed; its members killed, captured or
scattered.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Devastated
yet undaunted, Eolyn seeks to escape the occupied province and deliver
to King Akmael a weapon that might secure their victory. But even a High
Maga cannot survive this enemy alone. Aided by the enigmatic Mage
Corey, Eolyn battles the darkest forces of the Underworld, only to
discover she is a mere path to the magic that most ignites their hunger.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
can stop this tide of terror and vengeance? The answer lies in Eolyn’s
forgotten love, and in its power to engender seeds of renewed hope.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">HIGH MAGA is the companion novel to EOLYN, also available from Hadley Rille Books.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/High-Maga-Karin-Rita-Gastreich-ebook/dp/B00JDZIO5Q/ref=la_B004HU1RGU_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397323742&sr=1-1&tag=booaremag-20" style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/high-maga" style="text-decoration: none;">Kobo</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Epic Fantasy</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Karin-Rita-Gastreich/e/B004HU1RGU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Karin Rita Gastreich on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eolyn/110814625640244" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/EolynChronicles" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://eolynchronicles.blogspot.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2_84aUJu2O6T41SkckWxz594UIHsg" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://eolynchronicles.blogspot.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-89483917887921022742014-09-19T08:00:00.000+01:002014-09-20T05:49:31.910+01:00TO LOVE A CAT #Excerpt by Billi Tiner @TinerBooks #Romance #Contemporary<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Let me show you to your room,” Cat said as she stepped back into the kitchen after saying good-bye to Stacy.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ethan stood and followed her up the stairs and down a short hallway.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“That’s
my room,” Cat commented, pointing to a closed door on the right side of
the hall. “This is your bathroom,” she added, stopping at the next
room. “I stocked it with some supplies; toothpaste, toothbrush,
deodorant, that kind of stuff. Let me know if there’s anything I
missed.” Turning to the room across the hall, she said. “And this is
your room.” She pushed open the door and stepped back.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ethan
moved past her and stopped a few feet inside the room. His back was to
her, so Cat couldn’t see his expression. She hovered at the entrance
unsure of what to do next.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
room contained a double bed, nightstand, chest of drawers, desk, and
computer. She’d also hung a small flat screen TV on the wall opposite
his bed.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After
a long moment of silence, she said, “I’ll give you some time to look
around. If there’s anything you need, let me know, and we can go pick it
up. I’ll be downstairs in the office doing some work. Feel free to come
down, whenever you get settled.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat
waited a moment for Ethan to respond. Last night, she’d spent several
hours picking out the stuff for his room. She’d wanted it to be
decorated before he arrived, so he wouldn’t feel like he was a guest.
She’d even taken the time to hang a few posters the clerk at the store
had assured her a teenage boy would find cool. Cat felt a pang of
disappointment when he didn’t make any comment about the room. Giving
up, she pulled the door closed and left.<i>Don’t expect too much too soon,</i> she reminded herself.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Several
hours later, her stomach growled. Glancing at her watch, she was
surprised to see that it was after noon. Ethan still had not made an
appearance downstairs. Cat leaned back in the leather office chair and
stared out into the empty living room. She’d left it up to him to come
down when he was ready. She wasn’t sure if she should go get him for
lunch or leave him alone. Sighing, she rose and went to the kitchen to
make him a sandwich. Taking a guess, she went with bologna, cheese, and
mayonnaise. She added a bag of Doritos and a Coke and carried the food
up to his room.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
sound of the TV filtered under the door. She paused to take a deep
breath, then knocked. “Ethan,” she called softly. “May I come in?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s your house,” came the muffled reply.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat
pushed the door open and stepped into the room. Ethan was sprawled out
on the bed, staring at the television. He didn’t bother to look her way.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I brought lunch,” Cat said. “Bologna and cheese sandwich. I wasn’t sure what you liked. I hope it’s okay.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ethan
glanced over. He rolled off the bed and walked to her. Taking the food
from her hands, he mumbled, “Thanks.” Then he went back to the bed, his
attention returning to the movie he was watching.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Okay, well, I’ll be downstairs if you need anything else,” Cat said as she backed out of the room and closed the door.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I guess I don’t have to worry about him talking my ear off,</i> she thought.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Later
that evening, Cat sat bent over her desk working through some figures.
She glanced up when she heard the muffled sound of footsteps
approaching. She watched Ethan walk across the living room and stop in
the doorway.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He leaned against the door jam and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m hungry.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat looked at her watch. It was after 6:00p.m. “Is there anything in particular you’d like?” she asked.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He shrugged.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“How about pizza?” she suggested.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Okay.” Another one-word reply.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What do you want on it?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I don’t know,” he answered.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, what do you like? Hamburger? Pepperoni? Cheese?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She patiently waited for him to answer. Finally, he shrugged and said, “Hamburger, I guess.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She grinned. “Great, hamburger it is.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat
stood and walked toward him. As she drew close, he flinched slightly.
She caught the look of wariness that flashed into his eyes. As someone
who’d received unsolicited beatings herself, she recognized the
automatic response. Her heart constricted with sympathy. Knowing the
last thing he would want from her was pity, she didn’t acknowledge that
she’d noticed his reaction.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’m just going to grab my cell phone,” she said softly.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
nodded and took a step back. Not wanting to make him feel any more
uncomfortable, she made sure not to pass by him too closely.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As
she placed the call to order the pizza, Ethan returned to his room.
When she disconnected the call, Cat sank down onto the sofa. <i>This is going to be tough</i>, she thought. <i>How am I going to build any kind of relationship with him, if he refuses to stay in the same room with me?</i></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Several
minutes later, she was jerked out of her thoughts when the doorbell
rang. “Pizza’s here!” she called, reaching for her wallet. After paying
the delivery man, she turned back into the house to see Ethan standing
at the foot of the stairs.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Let’s eat it in the kitchen,” Cat suggested. She was determined to have a conversation with the boy.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
reluctantly followed her to the kitchen and sank down into one of the
chairs at the dining table. Cat placed the pizza box in the middle of
the table and went to get them some plates. When she returned, she took
the chair directly opposite Ethan.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Within seconds, he’d already eaten his first piece and started on the second.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I guess you like it,” she commented dryly.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
glanced up. A blush crept into his cheeks. He dropped the piece he held
in his hand. “It’s good. I’ve never had it before,” he mumbled.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You’ve never had pizza?” she asked, dumbfounded.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He shook his head. “Dad didn’t like it, so we never had it.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat
was at a loss for words. She couldn’t believe Ethan was a teenager and
had never tried pizza. No wonder he didn’t know what kind he wanted. She
wondered what else he’d missed out on in his life. She suspected pizza
was just the tip of the iceberg.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, I’m glad you like it. We’ll have to try a different flavor next time, maybe something really crazy like Hawaiian.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What’s that?” he asked.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Canadian bacon and pineapple. It’s delicious.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They
ate the rest of the meal in silence. When they finished, he excused
himself and returned to his room. Cat was a little disappointed they
didn’t talk more, but at least she’d learned something about him. It was
a start.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ToLoveACat.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From the author of “Dogs Aren’t Men” comes “To Love a Cat”, a contemporary romance novel.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Catherine
“Cat” James’ life is simple and orderly, and she likes it that way. She
loves her job as an accountant. Working with numbers is safe and
routine, no surprises. Her childhood had been very abusive and unstable.
She vowed not to live that way as an adult. She also made a promise to
herself to become a foster parent. She wished someone had been there for
her as a teenager, to let her know she wasn’t alone.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cat
agrees to foster Ethan Summers, a troubled teenage boy whose childhood
closely resembles her own. Suddenly, her nice and orderly life is filled
with chaos and uncertainty. Things really start to spin out of control
when circumstances bring police detective Mitch Holt into the picture.
He’s handsome, charming, and definitely not what Cat needs right now, or
so she thinks.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/To-Love-Cat-Billi-Tiner-ebook/dp/B00IA7BNU6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1393266526&sr=8-8&keywords=billi+tiner&tag=booaremag-20" style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Romance</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Billi%20Tiner&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Billi Tiner on <a href="https://facebook.com/tinerbooks" style="text-decoration: none;">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/tinerbooks" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.tinerbooks.blogspot.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2_y4R7FH6kpGChK4RFuIknJDCL5yg" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.tinerbooks.blogspot.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091712865176242504.post-20479042627801770382014-09-12T10:00:00.001+01:002014-12-04T14:52:21.007+00:00The Other Side of the Ice by @TheobaldSprague #AmReading #Memoir #Climate <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Bagan </i>then
slammed as she had done in the monstrous seas we’d been dealing with
for the past month. It made no sense. We were in the most se- cure of
anchorages that was all but sealed off from large seas. Another slam.
And once more a sharp and deep rumble told me that we were dragging our
anchor—with a rock-faced shoreline not twenty feet behind us. Somehow
the demonic winds outside had found us. We were being buffeted by seas
large enough to lift and drop all sixty tons of our boat. For waves to
grow substantial enough to have this power, they need an uninterrupted
“fetch” of at least several thousand yards to build up in height.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We had been no more than fifty yards from any of the sheer granite walls that the winds were now pushing <i>Bagan</i>down
onto at a great rate of speed. As the deep rumblings told us, the
anchor was no longer holding, and despite the zero visibility in the
blackness of the gale-filled night, I knew contact with the jagged and
strong rocks to be imminent. All I had to saywas, “We’ve got to get out
of here and now.” Everyone fell into the respective roles they’ve been
performing for the past 8,000 miles. I made sure Sefton didn’t mind my
jumping in over his command (he didn’t) and started <i>Bagan. </i>Even
though the radars and GPS were all active and working, the half-second
lag that each one gave was a deadly half-second. Equally, I couldn’t
rely on the lag in the compass to show us our way out. We couldn’t see a
thing. <i>Bagan </i>could be facing west and the radar would show the
distant exit as north. I’d turn her to the north, and by the time the
radar showed north, the powerful wind would have pushed us well past our
mark and we’d now be facing east.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Checking
the instruments, the wind-driven over-correction would take no longer
than two seconds. But in that short amount of time, we would go from
facing the exit shown on the radar to seeing with our spotlight a steep
granite-faced wall no more than ten feet away being pummeled by
four-foot wind-driven waves. From the foredeck, Chauncey would call out:
“Rocks, back her down!” I’d gently push her in reverse then pour on the
coals. Dominique from the stern would then holler: “STOP!! Rocks …!”
I’d take a look at the radar, try to anticipate its next swing, put<i>Bagan </i>in
forward, crank the wheel all the way to port or starboard, and give her
a large shot of power to try to swing her stern away from the rocks.
Before he’d get a chance to say it, I’d see the rocks lit up by the
rain-slashed beam from the searchlight in Chauncey’s hand. “STOP …
rocks!” Back and forth we went, each maneu- ver taking perhaps three
seconds. We were driving blind and at any moment a broadside blast of
gale force wind would push all fifty-seven feet of <i>Bagan </i>violently sideways, something I could only tell by the new way in which she was leaning and taking the confused seas.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By this point, our collective goal was to keep <i>Bagan </i>moving.
Getting out was beside the point. With visibility impossible, this
futile maneuvering was all done by feel and it was only when we were
seconds away from certain destruction on the rocks that I’d know the
outcome of the attempt. We were in a very small and prison-like washtub
of confused and large seas driven by winds that were cascading down the
sheer-faced mountains—winds thatcame from all directions on the compass
at once. The scenario was the same one that we faced a month earlier as
we left the Aleutians into the Gulf of Alaska. But there we had room to
maneuver, time to try and figure out the beating we were taking. Here we
had none.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/TheOtherSideOfIce.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">( <b>TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL HD TEASER FOR “The Other Side of The Ice” [book and documentary] PLEASE GO TO:</b> <i><b>VIMEO.COM/45526226) </b></i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A sailor and his family’s harrowing and inspiring story of their attempt to sail the treacherous Northwest Passage.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sprague
Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with
over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the
Northwest Passage–the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the
Pacific–the ultimate uncharted territory. Since Roald Amundsen completed
the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906,
only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more
people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a
staggering number have died trying. From his home port of Newport, Rhode
Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be
an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears,
and severe weather.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
Theobald couldn’t have known was just how life-changing his journey
through the Passage would be. Reuniting his children and stepchildren
after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks
with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging
over their heads. Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting
landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin
Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear
the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of
survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Ice-Treacherous-Negotiating-ebook/dp/B008QD8OTC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1396289433" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir, adventure, family, climate</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Sprague%20Theobald&search-alias=digital-text" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Sprague Theobald on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheOtherSideoftheIce" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/TheobaldSprague" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.spraguetheobald.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-hqap-1OaYQfgpmkVVaj6tZwQK7A" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.spraguetheobald.com</a></b></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0