Shoot Like a Girl (A PreQuel Novella to Girl With A Gun)

 

by Kari Bovee

 

Category: Adult Fiction (18 + yrs), 84 pages

 

Genre: Historical Fiction, Cozy Mystery

 

Publisher: Bosque Publishing

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

She would do anything for her loved ones, even if it meant she’d be lost to them forever.

Young Annie Oakley never expected to be saddled with responsibility so soon. Following her father’s sudden death, the spirited girl finds herself shipped to a nearby county working for a couple promising a good wage. But when she discovers they are not what they seem, Annie suddenly fears her life may be in peril.

Determined to help her mother and siblings, she endures the hardships and mistreatment from the couple. But when that cruelty is targeted at the beautiful Buckskin horse who is her only friend, Annie decides to take matters into her own hands.

Will the spunky teen return to her loved ones, or will her decision land her in jail?

​Shoot like a Girl is the prequel novella to the Annie Oakley mystery series. If you like a fiercely loyal heroine who won’t be anyone’s victim, then you’ll love Kari Bovée’s thrilling story of America’s best-loved sharpshooting sensation.

 

 

Amazon * Audible

 

 

Review

 

If you decide to delve into this series featuring Annie Oakley, make sure to read this prequel first. I didn’t read it before I had read Girl with a Gun and wish I had because it gives us a better understanding of why Annie decided to enter a shooting contest and then join up with Wild Bill’s Wild West Show at the young age of 15. We learn the back story of how she obtains Buck (the horse) and how she had a rough few years helping another family.

I felt for Annie in this story and what she had to endure. This couple was selfish and what she had to do for them was akin to slavery but only slightly better. Annie has a big heart but could only stand so much abuse from these people.

I was so glad to see her escape her tormentors and return home. Many truths were discovered at that point about the home that trained her and the couple that employed her.

While the rest of this series fits into the cozy mystery genre, this one isn’t much of a mystery but provides the backstory of Annie.

I am a fan of Annie’s and can’t wait to finish the rest of the series. We give this 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white-sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Bovee writes the award-winning Annie Oakley Mystery Series and the Grace Michelle Mystery Series and has more ideas than time for many, many more.

​
Website ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook

 

Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

 

 

Giveaway

 

 

Enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card courtesy of the author of the Annie Oakley Mysteries! (one winner) (ends Feb 11)

 

GIRL WITH A GUN (Annie Oakley Mystery) Audiobook Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Dreadful and the Tomb of Forgotten Secrets (The Dreadful Series Book 2)

 

by Alan Creed

 

Category: YA Fiction (Ages 13-17), 332 pages

 

Genre: Fantasy

 

Publisher: Creed Publishing

 

Release date: October 19, 2021

 

 

Synopsis

 

James Dreadful’s Epic Adventure Continues in Book Two of the Dreadful Series

After narrowly escaping a contract with his father’s evil servant Rekenhowler, James reluctantly decides to return home to the Cades Isles to live out the rest of his youth training to become a sorcerer. The only problem: James and his companions are adrift on the boat Persephone in the Realm of Shadows without a crew.

When a stowaway aboard Persephone informs James that his father—the Dark Lord—might have been mind-slaved by the mysterious, evil Cowl, James is shocked. The only proof that he will accept is the soul of his father, which he learns is lodged deep in the Tomb of Forgotten Secrets. In confronting his father’s soul, James can learn the truth about the Dark Lord—and if he is destined to become one himself.

​But before he can reach the Tomb, James must travel to Sarvelok, an island protected by raiders, to retrieve the key his uncle Oskar stole from him. Attacking the island would be suicide—but possible with the help of Rekenhowler. The price James will have to pay, however, is too high, but without it, will he ever learn the truth of his father—and his own fate?

 

Amazon

 

About the Author

 

Alan Creed fell in love with storytelling after seeing Star Wars for the first time as a child. When he was ten years old, his tutor asked him to write sentences containing three words: Ocean, Desert, and Jungle. Instead of sentences, Alan wrote a 103-page story entitled Journey through the Desert. That’s when he knew he wanted to be a writer. His 103-page story served as the source material for the Dreadful Series. Alan is currently working on the next installment in the James Dreadful series.

 

Website * Goodreads

 

 

Giveaway

 

Enter to win an ebook copy of James Dreadful and the Tomb of Forgotten Secrets (The Dreadful Series Book 2) (three winners)(ends Feb 4)

 

JAMES DREADFUL AND THE TOMB OF FORGOTTEN SECRETS Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill meets Younger in a heartfelt debut following a young woman who discovers she’ll have to ditch the “dream job” and write her own story to find her happy ending.

Meet Nora Hughes—the overworked, underpaid, last bookish assistant standing. At least for now.

When Nora landed an editorial assistant position at Parsons Press, it was her first step towards The Dream Job. Because, honestly, is there anything dreamier than making books for a living? But after five years of lunch orders, finicky authors, and per my last emails, Nora has come to one grand conclusion: Dream Jobs do not exist.

With her life spiraling and the Parsons staff sinking, Nora gets hit with even worse news. Parsons is cutting her already unlivable salary. Unable to afford her rent and without even the novels she once loved as a comfort, Nora decides to moonlight for a rival publisher to make ends meet…and maybe poach some Parsons’ authors along the way.

But when Andrew Santos, a bestselling Parsons author no one can afford to lose is thrown into the mix, Nora has to decide where her loyalties lie. Her new Dream Job, ever-optimistic Andrew, or…herself and her future.

 

 

Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Bookshop

 

 

Review

 

Just by the title alone, I knew I needed to read this book. I love books and wanted to discover what was in store for Nora.

I felt for Nora. She was in a company that was downsizing and all of her favorite people had been let go. Her workload had increased but her pay decreased. This was all having a negative impact on her mental state but she didn’t realize it until much later. I could relate to her situation, I have worked for companies that things changed or the work environment became toxic and the best thing to do was leave. But it wasn’t until years later that I realized all of this. Nora doesn’t go about trying to fix her situation the right way, but she did what she thought she needed to do at that moment in time.

Andrew is an author that has other ideas about his newest book. However, he isn’t sure if Parson’s is the right publishing house for him. The friendship that he builds with Nora can be a positive one for both of them if they can just tell each other the truth. They aren’t lying per se, but perhaps not telling each other the full story. But I enjoy their banter and watching their friendship develop.

I think we have all been in a situation similar to Nora, not knowing what we want to do with our lives. I like how she uses a book that we have all heard of to help guide her when times get tough. It is never easy to articulate what we want from life and sometimes it takes friends to help push us in the right direction.

This was an enjoyable debut novel and I look forward to more books from this author. We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Shauna Robinson’s love of books led her to try a career in publishing before deciding she’d rather write books instead. Originally from San Diego, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and their sleepy greyhound. Shauna is an introvert at heart—she spends most of her time reading, baking, and figuring out the politest way to avoid social interaction. Must Love Books is her debut novel.

 

Website * Twitter

 

 

Synopsis

 

The world of the Lands is filled with dangerous beasts, warmed by lava lakes, full of exotic plants, and infused with the magic of nature. This land is inhabited by very different people, but the most numerous and influential of them are called Igni. Not only do their species have a very distinctive look; their culture and way of life are also quite exceptional. This book will familiarize you a bit with them, their world, and their way of life.

The first story will tell you about Sabiri and Iskrila. One day, their quiet and pleasant life was assaulted, their well-being endangered, forcing them to retaliate. They had to protect not only themselves but their entire village. Just like in old times, they go to war. Yet now the threat came from the most unlikely place. Will Sabiri and Iskrila be able to prevail? To what lengths will they be willing to go? Will they be able to show kindness to their enemies, or will they destroy them in bitter rage?

The second story will tell you about Bacara and Maria. To protect their village from an imminent attack, they go on a journey to find magical artifacts of immense power. Or no power at all. You would need to be a mage to understand such objects and control them. But without a mage to help them, Maria and Bacara have to act blindly, all to gain an advantage against their foes. Will they find their prize? Will the artifacts obey their new masters or destroy them?

 

 

Amazon * Kobo * Smashwords

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

 

From chapter

 

«The question»

 

“Why did it happen?” Maria finally said after a few minutes. “Not like it’s the first time I’ve faced danger…”

Maria looked Bacara in the eyes and leaned forward, trying to find answers in them. “Why did I panic? After everything I’ve done before meeting you? After everything we’ve done together? Why did I freeze now? I even had weapons; I even had my shield… I had you at my side!”

Now Bacara leaned forward and took Maria’s hands in hers. Face to face, they were as close to each other as their horns allowed.

“Are you saying you were always fearless?” Bacara smiled. “Do you remember your first time? When you were in true danger? When you knew that a single mistake could cost you your life? Are you sure you weren’t afraid then? I really don’t know — we hadn’t met yet.”

Maria did not answer.

“How old were you back then? I guess you’d been training for a battle, preparing for it, asking advice, hearing stories about it. But you were not ready for it, not really. You didn’t really know anything about a battle, about danger, about fear, about death. Nothing can prepare a person to face that. Nothing but experience.”

Bacara sat more comfortably and started to clean the dried blood from Maria’s sword.

“Same here. I doubt you’ve infiltrated a village before. Your enemy was always right in front of you. You always knew what was coming. But not today. Every door could’ve opened, every shadow could’ve hidden death, every step could’ve been your last. I think what’s more important is that you haven’t had a clear goal. You always push yourself towards it: you count dead enemies, cleaned houses, killed animals, even covered distance. You don’t count how many push-ups you did — you count how many there are still left to do. I also do that sometimes. Today you were wandering in darkness. But the next time will be easier. You know that!”

Maria looked away and lay down. Her sword was now clean. But Bacara wasn’t about to look away as well. Wasn’t going to sleep while she could see the light, reflecting in Maria’s open eyes. Very slowly, the sky was becoming brighter and brighter. How much time did they have until the village would awaken? How fast would they find out what had just happened? Why? Why did that igni wake up? They didn’t have to kill anyone! If they could’ve just grabbed the thing and gotten out…

“I am afraid of many things, you know that,” Maria broke the silence. “Frightened even. That thing I’m teaching people — ‘Don’t think, just do’ — did it ever work? I mean, in a real situation?” she asked.

“You know the answer,” Bacara said. “You definitely kept saying that to yourself today — and here we are! As safe as we’re gonna be. They won’t see us from the ground.”

“As safe as we’re gonna be? But why?” Maria sat up and looked Bacara in the eye. “Why can’t we be home? I know why I’m here. But why did you agree to this?”

 

About the Author

 

Anton Anderson is a programmer by trade, but a fantasy writer by soul.

He enjoys creating. And creating fictional worlds offers more freedom than programming.

Anton worked in the field of autonomous vehicles, and now he moved to cybersecurity.

From early childhood, Anton loves fantasy, science-fiction, detective, thrillers, and mystery.

His first published book “The Seekers: Soul Ties” was long in the making, but rich with experimentation and discovery.

Anton holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Informatics in Economy.

He lives on planet Earth.

 

Website * Facebook * Twitter

 

 

Synopsis

 

Plants experience stress due to environmental changes, either in biotic or abiotic form, during their life cycle. Non-heritable modifications in morphological, physiological or biochemical characteristics tend to reduce or decrease growth and productivity, and sometimes lead to death.

This book presents an exhaustive overview of the specific effects and modifications that could occur in this regards, and will serve to consolidate the ideas to promote standardization of plant adaptation to these changes in the environment. This book returns to the facts of both biotic and abiotic stress, detailing an essential aspect of plant life in the context of stress response.

The text is a comprehensive, current reference that effectively addresses issues and concerns related to plant stress in natural environments. Although many reference books about abiotic stress and other environmental stresses have been published, they all exist in relative isolation from one another, covering only one specific topic. This book is, rather, a comprehensive review of all aspects of the responses of plants to changes in the environment.

 

 

Amazon * Blackwells * Book Depository * Waterstones * Cambridge Scholars

 

 

About the Author

 

Rishikesh Upadhyay PhD, also known as R K Upadhyay, is a multi-award winning Indian author, Assistant Professor and research writer. He was born and grew up in a small Nepalis’ hamlet, Bhanjang Basti via Mahadev Tilla, just a few kilometres of Haflong, the district headquarters of North Cachar Hills (now Dima Hasao), India. His research and teaching works has focused largely on the environmental physiology, stress biology and biochemistry of plants. He has to his credit three years of post-graduate teaching experience at Assam University, India, and is the author of three books. He is a recipient of the Research Fellowship Award, the Pencraft Literary Excellence Award, the Albert Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, the Literary Titan Award, and the Elsevier Science Reviewer Recognition Award. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Stress Biology in the Department of Botany at Haflong Government College, India.

 

Twitter * Goodreads * BookBub

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

What holds more secrets in the library: the ancient books shelved in the stacks or the people who preserve them?

Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she’s left to run things, she discovers that the library’s most prized manuscript is missing.

Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues’ pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who preserve and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.

 

 

This book releases on January 25, 2022

 

Amazon * B&N * Bookshop * Kobo

 

 

Review

 

As a book lover, I have always known about rare books and special collections that are held by most university libraries and other libraries, not including what is held by private collectors. It is amazing to think about how these books impacted the world around them when books were rare. It took a lot to print a book, much more than we see today.

Liesl is called in to temporarily run the library at her university when the current department head ends up in the hospital. What she, or anyone else for that matter, expects is to find that several books have gone missing including a recent acquisition. What ensues is a twisted road of clues and the end result was a bit surprising but not too surprising once the pieces fell into place.

I will admit that I didn’t care much for Liesl. She does not come across as a strong and capable woman that was second in charge of this library. She had her strengths, but she didn’t seem to think many things through that she wanted to do, like call the police when the book was discovered missing. The university president had told her to not involve them only because he was concerned about perception and what the donors would think. However, she kept insisting at every turn and while I understood why she wanted to involve the police, she had been expressly told to not contact them so why did she keep bringing it up? She has quite an interesting past too as we find out near the end of the book. It was something of a surprise.

I thought that this book gave the reader a good insight into libraries and the lengths they go to when acquiring new pieces and dealing with donors. I was surprised at how little the characters seemed to talk to each other in this book. Not even Liesl and her husband, John, seemed to talk to each other and Liesl fueled her unhappiness with alcohol. There were conversations but they seemed shallow and flat. This book does contain a mystery but it doesn’t really pick up until about the 75-80% mark. Then the last part of the book flows quickly and smoothly.

Overall this was a fascinating book but it seemed to move at a slower pace until the end. We give it 3 1/2 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wedding Setup

By – Sonali Dev

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

 

 

Synopsis

 

Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business.

Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how). But a setup arranged by her mother, with a doctor no less, is the last thing she needs. The fact that he checks all her mother’s boxes just makes everything better…and worse.

Then Emmitt Hughes shows up. Her brother’s best friend. The love she once chose over family duties and her responsibilities. The one she asked to leave, and who did. The one who knows the real Ayesha. Torn between a love from the past that could cost her the only person she has left and her sense of obligation to her mother, will Ayesha find the strength to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and finally put herself first? Or is the old Ayesha truly gone for good?

 

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

 

Review

 

This is a cute short story about love just might be right under your nose. You also can’t put your life on hold for anyone no matter the circumstances.

We get a peek into Ayesha’s life and how she has taken on the weight of being there for her mother after all of the tragedy in her family. Her mother didn’t expect this of her, and I think Ayesha has some resentment on what she has given up or put on hold to be there for her mother. But lurking in the past is a relationship with her brother’s best friend, Emmitt. I think the guilt of losing her brother made her end the relationship with him, but they both still have feelings for each other. She hasn’t seen him in about 7 years and the wedding of her best friend throws them back together. They have to have some frank discussions with each other, but is this a new future for them?

I was amazed at how well this story was written and that it included so many details, emotions, and depth of character. I felt like the author packed a lot of detail into these 60+ pages and we are given closure with the ending and nothing is left unresolved.

Definitely give this a whirl if you have a spare hour, you won’t regret it.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

Interview with Author Solini Dev

 

The Wedding Setup may be a short story, but it is tremendously powerful. How would you describe it to readers?

 

Thank you. It’s the story of a girl who used to be a rebel who followed her heart and fought for what she wanted, and then her brother’s death leaves her responsible for her widowed mother. It’s about being knocked off your feet and getting stuck, and learning how to stand back up and reclaim yourself.

 

The story invites us to take an intimate look into a mother-daughter relationship. This is a universal theme, however, you also steep the plot in your own Indian heritage. Can you tell readers what this story means to you as a daughter? What it means to you as an Indian woman?

 

There is so much of my own relationship with my mother in this book. We’ve always been incredibly close. She’s outspoken and confident and she modeled some powerful behaviors for me growing up about owning her own body and her voice. But there were the other parts where she was a product of her time and culture, believing in absolute terms that it is a woman’s duty to nurture her family, to marry ‘at the right time,’ to be a certain kind of mother. These are things she pushed hard. Things I internalized but also fought to do on my own terms and not hers. Ayesha’s relationship with her mother used to be this way, and then a tragedy changes their dynamic. So, it’s an exploration of how battles for identity get derailed by tragedy and grief and what it takes to heal.

 

Ayesha’s mom describes her as obedient, responsible, and “always putting everyone else before her own needs.” After hearing this Ayesha (internally) feels hypothermic. Can you explain how these seemingly sweet compliments completely destroy your heroine?

 

The mother-child bond comes with a kind of intuitive understanding of each other that’s unique to that relationship. So, while Ayesha has lost her fiery spirit and both she and her mother have lost years to their grief and struggle to survive, her mother knows who her daughter is deep down and how much she’s buried. So there’s a very nuanced intent to these ‘compliments’ and they hit the nerve they’re meant to hit. Ayesha’s reaction to these words is her dead parts coming back to life.

 

It only takes a moment—one second—for Ayesha to break free from her ice…a single word from Emmitt has her coming back to life. Why does she have such a powerful reaction to someone she hasn’t seen in seven years?

Ayesha had a crush on Emmitt for many years before they got together. She’s always had a strong reaction to him. The years they spent together as young adults were years when she came into herself, and felt seen and cherished. Then she loses all of that when her brother dies and they break up. So, it’s a combination of things that come together when Ayesha meets Emmitt again. They have a natural connection, but also, with his return come all the memories of who she used to be and how much she used to let herself feel.

 

Ayesha has never forgotten how Emmitt turns “her messy, impulsive, unfettered emotion into something beautiful.” But she has forgotten the effect that she has on him. What buried memories are uncovered as she watches Emmitt react to their reunion?

 

Emmitt has always dealt with the world and the pain it causes him by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But Ayesha destroys his defenses with her ability to love (and do everything else) so fiercely. So, when he loses her he’s already lost his ability to protect himself. Their joint grief is what separated them, so, while they understand each other’s pain they both also understand the loneliness of not having each other to lean on. They’ve had to make the journey to healing individually, but meeting each other again brings up the piece that needs the other to heal.

 

How did you get to know your couple? How were you able to understand what was needed to heal their broken hearts?

 

The one theme that threads through all my books is finding yourself on the tightrope between personal freedom and responsibility to family and community. Healing is always about finding or rediscovering your love for yourself. So, I understand my characters through that lens: how have they lost themselves? What about themselves do they need to reclaim and fall in love with? A truly connected couple is one who aids this journey in each other, recognizes it, and supports it.

 

In a limited number of pages you not only give readers a living, breathing couple, but also an avalanche of equally interesting characters like Ayesha’s best friend, suitor, aunties…and you even create depth with characters that are no longer living. Why was it so important to spend time with these secondary characters? What do they reveal about your hero and heroine?

 

I believe that as humans we are a sum total of our relationships and the world we live in and build for ourselves. How someone treats other people and how they respond to how they are treated is what constitutes character.

At its heart, every story is about a person who is somehow at odds with the world they live in or with themselves because of the expectations of their world, and the journey they make to resolve that conflict. Ayesha wouldn’t be Ayesha without her mother and Bela, her best friend and the community she was raised in. Bela has been her wild other half growing up, then their paths diverged, but they continued to be each other’s support. Her mother has become a crutch she uses to hold on to her grief. Emmitt’s grief over his friend has run his life for seven years too. So the secondary characters are just as integral to the story as the protagonists.

 

While the plot focuses on grief, there is also great joy to be found. After all, the backdrop of the story is a giant wedding. What do you personally find the most fun at a traditional Indian wedding celebration?

 

I’m always only there for the food and dancing! Fine, and getting to dress up. And the wine. Also, maybe the chance to hang out with family and friends I only see at weddings. And the drunk aunties and uncles.

 

After readers devour The Wedding Setup, which of your other books would you recommend they read next?

 

First, thank you so much for devouring The Wedding Setup! I’m incredibly proud of my Raje series, a set of retellings of my four favorite Jane Austen novels set in a politically ambitious Indian American family from Northern California. Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors is a gender-flipped Pride and Prejudice. Recipe for Persuasion is a two-generational homage to Persuasion set on a Food Network show. Incense and Sensibility, the love story between a gubernatorial candidate and a yoga therapist who can save him but also destroy his campaign, pays tribute to Sense and Sensibility. And the upcoming The Emma Project (May 17th, 2022), which is a gender-flipped Emma that explores what it means when a person with tremendous privilege offers charity to someone who has much less.

 

 

The Wedding Setup Excerpt

 

 

Goose bumps rose across Ayesha’s skin, one sharp dot at a time.

“Ayesha.”

That was it. Just that one word. Her name. In a voice that was its own ghost.

She squeezed her eyes shut. One tight squeeze. Tight enough to hurt, tight enough to almost dislodge the false eyelashes Andre had pressed into her lash line one by one with the precision of a surgeon. Then boom! she was in control again and back to Ayesha on Ice.

Eyes blank, face set, she turned toward the voice.

Emmitt.

The impact of him was a body blow.

The entire universe stilled. Words weren’t a thing. Or sound. Breath? What was that?

Ayesha! Get a grip.

No grip. That’s how it had always been. She’d had no grip when it came to Emmitt Hughes. Not even a little bit. Not when she’d spied on him and Ajay playing Mario Kart and Minecraft and GTA for hours, for years. Not when she’d yearned and dreamed and spun stories with him at the center.

I’ve made my love for you, my god.

It was the cheesiest of lines from one of those Bollywood songs her parents had played on repeat at the restaurant. Amma had loved translating the over-the-top lyrics and explaining their nuances.

Back when Amma was full of stories and songs and laughter. Before Ajay.

Ajay.

Her brother’s unspoken name fell between them like a glass bauble and shattered.

“You remember Emmitt,” Edward had the gall to say.

Bela shot him a glare.

You didn’t tell me he would be here. Ayesha threw the silent accusation at her traitorous best friend, who gave her nothing more than another worried look.

No, Eddie. Remind me again who he is? The snarky words stuck in Ayesha’s throat. Old Ayesha would have said them. Old Ayesha said everything.

“Emmitt,” New Ayesha said, every feeling buried under her customer-is-king voice from the restaurant. “Nice to see you again.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in the long column of his throat. How was he still so darned beautiful?

One swallow, and then he smiled back. Banking feelings where no one saw them had been his thing. Emmitt the Wall. That’s what Ajay had called him. Her brother had been best friends with him since Emmitt had moved to Naperville in fifth grade after his parents’ divorce. Years of friendship, and he’d still held Ajay at that slight distance he’d been so good at. Something she would always wish she hadn’t cured him of.

You broke me, Ayesha.You broke every defense I’ve ever had against the world.

She, Ayesha Shetty—too tall, too dark, too outspoken, too intense, too ambitious, too everything for everyone else had been just enough to break through Emmitt the Wall.

“It’s nice to see you too,” he said gently, sounding . . . she dug through her brain to come up with the right word. Grown-up? Contained?

Good. Because Ayesha was all those things now too. Not a grenade with its fuse pulled, ready to blow up the world.

 

 

About the Author

 

USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore universal issues. Her novels have been named best books of the year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and Kirkus Reviews. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for best contemporary romance, and multiple RT Seals of Excellence; has been a RITA finalist; and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog.

 

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Giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

 

Daunting Darkness (Paige Papillon Paranormal Mysteries) 
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Partners in Crime Book Services (January 7, 2022)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Following your dreams can become a nightmare.

Paige Papillon has always loved mysteries. So much so, she enlists in the Police Academy to one day become a detective.

But when she washes out of training, her Sergeant inspires her to go another route: become a private investigator.

After a few boring cases, she receives an envelope full of cash and mysterious clues that lead to the discovery of a cover up of paranormal proportions.

Worse, the Sergeant’s wife is at the center of it. Can Paige solve the mystery and stay alive, or will she become a midnight snack for a monster?

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

 

 

 

 

Freaky Familiars (Paige Papillon Paranormal Mysteries)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Partners in Crime Book Services (January 7, 2022)
Print Length ~140 Pages

 

Synopsis

 

No time for a catnap for this paranormal detective!

Now aware that things that go bump in the night exist, private investigator Paige Papillon has expanded her business to include clients of all species.

Assisted by a former detective and his mystery writer wife with a checkered past, she begins to settle into her new job as Chicago’s premier paranormal PI.

But when her best friend’s cat goes missing, Paige realizes how much she still doesn’t know about the supernatural world. It’s a race against the clock to save a shapeshifter and prevent a witch’s familiar from being sold to the highest bidder.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Perfect endings? With the exception of fairy tales, they don’t exist. Perfect endings are not real, and with today’s market, they should not be. Once upon a time–pun intended–they were perfect, but the stories everyone really remembers, the stories that make you feel, do not have perfect, happy endings. Take Shakespeare. Take, if we are going modern, Stephen King. Their works could have about five different outcomes each, and no two fans can 100% agree on what the ‘perfect ending’ can be. Even today’s romance novels with the promise of ‘HEA’ do not have perfect endings, because the readers cannot all be satisfied. It just isn’t possible.

I think a perfect example of an unsatisfying ending is Harry Potter, with their ‘all was well’. How was all well? George lost his other half, Teddy Lupin was left orphaned, children were massacred, and a war hero was wrongfully murdered before anyone could recognize his greatness and his lifelong sacrifice. I’d say about half of the fanbase is satisfied with that ending, but the other half is torn in multiple directions over what would have been a better ending. I am part of that latter half, personally.

This is why HP has so much fanfiction written about it.

When it comes to my own stories, I am never satisfied with what I write. While there is no such thing as a perfect ending, there is such a thing as a perfect cliffhanger.

Which I could not do when writing the Paige Papillon Paranormal Mysteries. They needed an ending, and they needed to be PERFECT. Cozy mystery readers will accept nothing less, and I don’t blame them. No one wants a mystery to not be solved at the end. I’d probably throw the book at a wall if that happened.

But because Paige is a cozy mystery series, the journey to GET to the ending is as important as the ending itself. We require red herrings, missed clues, foreshadowing, and a great plot twist. Most of all, we need to entrance the reader for about 35k words until we begin to show them the conclusion. It’s not easy, and then we have that ending hanging over our heads like a guillotine.

With Daunting Darkness and Freaky Familiars, both their red herrings came easily. Their endings, however, did not. I had to wonder, if I was the reader, what would I want to happen at the end? How can I remove cliches? How can I make the reader shut the book and say, “That was perfect!”

I can’t.

Nothing can be truly perfect. But it can be satisfying, and that’s just as good if not better than perfection.

After all these years, readers want endings wrapped up in a neat little bow, and so do we. We want to know our characters are either happy, or resting peacefully. However, that is not always the case, in fact, it is rarely the case.

I was just rewatching a TV show the other day and a character said a very simple phrase: endings are hard. He’s right. Endings are hard. Because even if you manage to please yourself, you can’t ever please every single reader. It’s impossible: we might be creators, but we are not God. We have to write what feels best to us, and hope that others enjoy it. Even if they don’t prefer it as an ending, if they are entertained, that’s what really matters.

I hope everyone who takes a chance on Paige’s stories enjoy them half as much as I enjoyed writing them.

 

 

About the Author

 

Lily Luchesi is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of the Paranormal Detectives Series.

Her young adult Coven Series has successfully topped Amazon’s Hot New Releases list consecutively.

She is also the co-owner of Partners in Crime Book Services, where she offers a myriad of services alongside her business partner Annie Smith, including editing.

She was born in Chicago, Illinois, where many of her stories are set. Ever since she was a toddler, her mother noticed her tendency for being interested in all things “dark”. At two she became infatuated with vampires and ghosts, and that infatuation turned into a lifestyle. She is also an out member of the LGBT+ community. When she’s not writing, she’s going to rock concerts, getting tattooed, watching the CW, or reading comics. And drinking copious amounts of coffee.

She also writes contemporary books for adults as Samantha Calcott.

You can also keep up with Lily via her newsletter … and receive a free e-book as well!

 

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Giveaway

 

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Synopsis

 

In search of a new life, Reuben and Ardith Rosenfeld and their two children move from Chicago to the small town of Welton, Colorado, looking for all the hope that the burgeoning West has to offer—its abundance of jobs, space, sunshine, prosperity, and the promise of reinvention. Reuben, a former copyeditor at the Chicago Tribune, purchases the local town paper, the Welton Sentinel. Ardith stays home and copes with the task of fixing up an older house, which suffers such disrepair that on Halloween it’s mistaken for part of a haunted house tour. Teenaged Harry continues his life as a troubled loner, skipping school and losing his tooth in a mysterious encounter. Meanwhile, Reuben, unaware that Ardith is having an affair, worries about his wife’s growing unhappiness and distance from the family. One night, after a cookout at some friends’ dairy farm, a fatal hit-and-run occurs that shocks the community, exposes a secret, and begins to rip apart the Rosenfeld family.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

On Monday, four days after Tom died, Ardith drove to his house. She parked at the club and walked up the hill to his front door. He’d given her a spare key just in case she wanted to get away from the stress of her own home and come over when he wasn’t there. Too afraid to get caught, she’d never taken advantage of the offer. Now she didn’t care—or even knew that she should care. She turned the key in the lock and went inside.

The shades were drawn, probably as he’d left them before going to the party. A few of the plants had wilted slightly, though the house stayed cool. She tried to walk and not touch anything, as much not to disturb things as to pretend she wasn’t here so as not to feel his presence or hers with him. She went toward his study and stood in the doorway for a moment, looking in, half expecting to see him in his leather chair where he often sat in his boxer shorts and worked at his computer—while Ardith lay on the couch across from him reading, a T-shirt barely covering her hips. She could see herself stretched out, enjoying his admiring gaze, her legs extended for him. He would come over and touch her neck, tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, kiss her throat and the damp hollow between her breasts, caress the curve of her thighs, then leave to do something: make more coffee; put music on; check his messages on a landline that he let the answering machine take while they were together. Then he’d come back, and they’d talk or make love again, and time would both stop and fly by until she had to leave.

She knew his cell phone was with Wade and that by now the police chief no doubt scanned all their exchanged calls and listened to her panicky message wondering where Tom was. She figured it was only a matter of time before Wade contacted her. The prevailing numbness of her existence—her dreams were full of immobility—dulled her to that likelihood.

Upstairs, she wandered into the master bedroom and sat on the edge of the made-up bed with the duvet cover of midnight blue half-moons she’d picked out for him. Photos of him and his two daughters as teenagers when the family used to come out to Colorado for ski trips. Marian, with long blonde hair and a pretty smile, was the younger daughter. She had recently applied to law school at the university in Boulder to be closer to him. According to Reuben, who heard it from Wade, it was Marian who had come alone from California to make the funeral arrangements. Hearing about her arrival had riveted Ardith, one of the few times she’d actually engaged with Reuben in the last days, a situation that sickened her for its obvious selective attention and yet she could not stop. She soon returned to her stupor after Reuben gave her this news, until she’d gotten up the courage to come here today.

In the photograph, his older daughter, the one Tom had said never forgave him for the divorce, had ski goggles on and a knit hat pulled low over her forehead and looked incognito. He loved them dearly despite their anger at him, he’d said, and hoped Ardith would meet them one day. And she had wondered what had that meant? Did he imagine them—her and Tom—married and meeting his girls? Had he pictured their relationship as an open fact? Would he have taken her to Vail, teaching Ardith to ski as he’d promised? Was he going to ask her to leave Reuben? Such questions, ones she wouldn’t allow herself to consider before, were a ceaseless drone now. They exercised a selfish grip on her that hadn’t been there when he was alive.

She opened the top drawer of the bureau and gathered up the change of underwear she kept here. He’d given her the whole drawer to use, and more if she wanted, but she took up very little space. This one small drawer neat and orderly with a change of underwear and a pair of wool socks to pad around in represented all she had pretended was real about playing house here. If anybody had already been here to look through his drawers, they would rightly have assumed Tom had a lover. She stuck the items in her purse; they’d be one less clue as to their relationship, though could discovery be far away? She wondered if she should go to Wade and confess. And what would Wade say? He’d want to know how she fit into Tom’s life and what that meant for his death. She wanted to know the same thing herself.

In the bathroom she found her shampoo and the bar of Aveeno soap she used to keep her skin from drying out in Colorado, stuffing those in her bag too. Checking around one more time to see that no trace of her was left, she started downstairs. The front doorknob turned.

She froze, standing with her knee bent on the stairs. Again, the doorknob was rattled, and she backed up the stairs and into the bedroom, waiting beside the mahogany armoire, her heart hammering, her mouth pasty. She could hear someone walking along the gravel bed on the side of the house. A minute passed, then two. She heard a car start up outside and edged the blind to the side to see.

A patrol car—one of Wade’s officers driving. Wade must have sent him up here to check on the house. She let out a breath but instead of air, a loose cry broke from her. She went back to the bedroom, slipped one of his dress shirts off its hanger and slumped down against the wall holding the shirt in her hands. She buried her face in the clean smell—in the threads left of him.

 

 

About the Author

 

Steven Schwartz is the author of four story collections To Leningrad in Winter (University of Missouri), Lives of the Fathers (University of Illinois), Little Raw Souls (Autumn House), Madagascar: New and Selected Stories, and two novels, Therapy(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and A Good Doctor’s Son (William Morrow). His fiction has received the Nelson Algren Award, the Sherwood Anderson Prize, the Cohen Award, the Colorado Book Award for the Novel, two O. Henry Prize Story Awards, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, and Bread Loaf. He has taught in the low-residency MFA Program at Warren Wilson College and the MFA program at Colorado State University, where he serves as fiction editor for the Colorado Review. His novel The Tenderest of Strings will be published by Regal House in January 2022.

 

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Synopsis

 

In 1933, before World War II, and the Holocaust, the world was unaware of Hitler’s plans to exterminate millions.

Author Cathy A. Lewis discovered a tattered leather suitcase containing her deceased father’s journal documenting his six-week trek through Europe in 1933 while on his way to the 4th Boy Scout World Jamboree.

Inspired by her father’s historical recount, The Road We Took is the four-day epic tale of a desperate group of Jewish citizens attempting to escape Nazi-occupied Germany.

Fascinating characters come together in a narrative of extreme courage, budding adolescent love, and their fight for survival.

Life in Germany will never be the same as Hitler and the Nazis advance their propaganda campaign, to systematically murder the Jewish population.

And this was only the beginning.

 

 

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The expected publication date is February 15, 2022. Pre-order now!

 

 

Review

 

This is such an amazing story that is based on actual events of the author’s father’s time in Europe in 1933. Imagine being a young man on his way to a Boy Scout Jamboree and the adventures they must have had at that time. Granted, not everything was wonderful as the characters are thrown into Nazi-occupied Germany and the beginnings of their attempts to rid their country of the Jewish population.

This story is told from multiple points of view and the time in 1933 covers about four days. There are flashbacks to 1925 that give us a deeper understanding of some of the characters and how they became who they were eight years later. I don’t know if I have a favorite character or perspective because each gives us a look at their life and the trials and tribulations they endured from a fanatical rule. It also reminds us what a terrible time in history this was and all those that were harmed because of their religious upbringing.

There is a little bit of a mystery tied into this story, who killed one of the characters and why? The answer is not surprising but I won’t reveal too much, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

It is interesting how all of the lives intersected and came together in the end. I started putting a few of the pieces together but not everything, so it was a treat to uncover details that brought this story full circle. If anything, this reminds us to be thankful for what we have in this world.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Cathy has spent over 40 years as a professional chef after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She was the first female Executive Chef for the Servico Corporation, where she served The Philadelphia Eagles, The Philadelphia Flyers, and The Philadelphia 76’ers. Over the course of her career, Cathy capitalized her creative talents as a restaurant owner and partner, conceptualizing and creating brands for three successful startup businesses, Food Works, in Pittsford, New York, The Bagel Bin in Penfield, New York, and The Nick of Thyme in Brentwood, Tennessee. It was at the Nick of Thyme that Cathy developed long-standing relationships within the music industry. Her clients included Donna Summer Sudano, Naomi Judd, Wynonna Judd, numerous Christian and country music artists, world-renowned wine collectors Billy Ray Hearn and Tom Black. After the sale of her business, Cathy cooked for and traveled extensively to movie locations with actress and activist Ashley Judd and her husband, three-time Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti.  She continues to cook privately for exclusive clients and friends.

When she is not working as a professional chef, she enjoys writing, reading, cooking for her family and special friends, taking photos of nature and food, gardening, watching open-wheel racing, watching movie classics from the golden age of cinema on TCM, and chasing her two cats, Princess Poopie Peanut Head and Tout Suite. The Road We Took is Cathy’s first novel and partially conceived from her father’s journal of daily writings and documentations along with the narratives and tales he told Cathy as a young girl.

 

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