Sunday, July 23, 2017

The Toilet Papers Release Blitz

Short story collection (horror, humor, & historical)

Date Published: 7/23/2017

Publisher: JME Books

photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

Have you ever noticed that reading a book on the toilet takes forever? Wouldn’t it be nice to have stories suited to your specific potty needs? This collection of short stories ranges from 50 words to more than 50 pages, separated in categories labeled to fit your bathroom needs: NUMBER ONE, NUMBER TWO, and FARFROMPOOPIN. The idea is to give you, the reader, a great deal of material to read, tailored and categorized to the needs of your intestines and bladder. So go ahead, get comfortable, pull out your Squatty Potty® and enjoy some fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure, and humor from the comfort of your own throne…the john…the latrine…your office…the bathroom, whatever you want to call it. Just be sure to wash your hands once you’re done.

Excerpt

“Get him to his feet,” Sarah ordered.

“Watch my shoulder,” Jedediah said. “Hurts like a son of a bitch.”

Sarah slipped beneath his wounded arm while Bobby Ray slipped under the other one. They led Jedediah to a seat that hadn’t been overturned during the fight.

The cowboy knelt before him, pulling back Jedediah’s shirt to scrutinize the wound. His face remained hidden by the wide brim of his hat. He wore hide boots whose origin Jedediah could only speculate and his skin smelled like fire.

“It’s not too deep,” the cowboy said. “Won’t take me a minute.” He pressed his large flat palm against the wound.

Jedediah bit the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. His mouth pooled with the iron-taste of his own blood.

The cowboy lifted his hand.

Jedediah stared as the gaping holes in his flesh were completely healed; the tear in his blood soaked shirt was all that remained. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Be careful, bartender. You don’t meant it.” He leaned over the body of what had once been Frances Deveaux and whatever had tried to eat Jedediah. “This one’s dead.”

“Course he is,” Bobby Ray said. “You killed him.”

“No. This man’s been dead.” The cowboy rolled the body on to its stomach with the steel-tipped toe of his boot. “Was before he walked through those doors.”

“The living dead?” Bobby Ray whispered.

“Of all the unholy things,” said Sarah.

Beneath Frances Deveaux’s shoulder blade lay an empty cavity where his liver should have been.

“Detestable.” Sarah covered her mouth and swept to an empty seat near the bar.

“Did he say why he was here?” the cowboy asked, staring at the body.

“Not precisely. Just said some woman tried to kill him, so he gave her what she wanted.”

“And what was that?”

Jedediah gulped hard. “Me.”

The man looked up, his face in shadows. “You?”

“That’s right.”

“Did she say what for?”

“Never got to that part.”

The man didn’t say a word as he stared at Jedediah. Finally, he spoke. “Something’s after you, Jed. I’m gonna stay in town a while to figure out what.” He looked up. “You okay with that?”

His eyes shone in a radiant shade of violet. Dirty-blond hair fell ragged from beneath his hat.

“Yes, Simeon. I’m okay with it,” Jedediah said. “I think I’m gonna need some help on this one.”

“First thing to figure out is where this man’s liver went. Hopefully, it will lead to this woman you mentioned.” Simeon stood, walked back to the entrance, and turned in the doorway. “You all better get your feet shod,” he said with a smirk, tipping his hat, “because it’s about to get ugly.”

About the Author

Jaimie Engle was once sucked into a storybook, where she decided she would become an author. She has modeled, managed a hip-hop band, and run a body shop. She loves coffee, trivia, cosplay, and podcasting on ORIGINS, where myth and science meet (podcastORIGINS.com). Basically, if it's slanted toward the supernatural or nerdy, she's into it! She lives in Florida with her awesome husband, hilarious children, and the world's best dog. She also happens to have the world’s best literary agent, Saritza Hernandez. Become a fan at theWRITEengle.com. Follow on social media @theWRITEengle and pick up books at jmebooks.com.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

Rafflecopter: July 6 – Aug 6 ($30 Starbucks GC; Toilet Papers ebook)

ENTER HERE

Goodreads Giveaway: July 1 – July 22 (3 paperbacks)

ENTER HERE

WAKE by D.S. Wrights

WAKE by D.S. Wrights is now available for PREORDER!

Get a digital copy for the special preorder price of $2.99 instead of 4.99!

WAKE is a standalone DARK Erotic Thriller,

exclusively available on Amazon including Kindle Unlimited.

It contains scenes such as murder, torture, and rape/ forced sex, as well as hinting disturbing topics that not are described in the book, such as different forms of child abuse.

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2sHJ9Fq

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2sIcuzn

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2u0SbRX

Blurb

Only a broken thing can be reshaped.

Anna

Tomorrow, I will finally be free. Tomorrow, I turn twenty-one, which makes me an adult, and I will stop being a ward of the state. I have already packed most of my things and crammed them into my little red car. Tomorrow I will vanish into thin air for one last time, but I will take Sam with me.

I was nine when my mother resurfaced and dragged me away from my grandparents and the life I knew to become a new member of my mother's egomaniac husband's Church of the Second Reckoning.
I was fifteen when I was supposed to transcend into womanhood by said husband, Joshua. But his youngest son and eight years my senior, Sam, helped me escape the night before it could happen. He wasn't supposed to be left behind, while the men my grandparents hired dragged me away. He was supposed to be my first and my last, but instead his father shot him in front of me. I lost my grandparents only a year after, to a robbery gone wrong, that never was a robbery.
I only leave death and destruction in my wake.

Samael

Six years I have been waiting for this day. Six years I have spent planning every moment, every second she would live under my control. And now, now the day has finally come.

She was nine, when she stepped out of that car and gave me a timid, trusting smile. I was a brother to her, a protector, a friend. I was seventeen. Anna was so much more to me back then. More than she should be.
She was fifteen when she left me behind like a broken toy, shot, dying. And she never looked back. I have never stopped searching for her, looking for her, being punished for her, bleeding for her. When I was supposed to get her back it ended in disaster. I will not allow this to happen again. This time I will have my revenge, and she will have her punishment. She will return to my father's Church and finally wake.

Disclaimer

This book is a standalone DARK Erotic Thriller, exclusively available on Amazon including Kindle Unlimited.
It contains scenes such as murder, torture, and rape/ forced sex, as well as hinting disturbing topics that not are described in the book, such as different forms of child abuse.

Share and win one of three amazing prizes!

About the Author:

D.S. Wrights was born and raised mostly in Germany. She speaks three languages: English, German and Dutch.

Her name is a pen name and she describes writing as her passion and calling.

D.S. has worked at a publishing house where she earned insight into the work, process and production of publishing books.

In the last few years she has published several fan fictions to which the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Stalk Dee:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dswrights

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSWrights

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/DSWrights

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/DSWrights

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/d-s-wrights

Tumblr: http://dswrights.tumblr.com/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1K7LIRO

The Cauldron Stirred by Judith Sterling blitz

The Cauldron Stirred
Judith Sterling
(Guardians of Erin, #1)
Publication date: July 21st 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult

Ashling Donoghue never dreamed moving to Ireland would rock her perception of reality and plunge her into a mystery that brings legend to life.
At seventeen, she’s never had a boyfriend, but she feels an immediate connection to Aengus Breasal, the son of the wealthy Irishman who’s invited her family to stay at his Killarney estate. For the first time in her life, a guy she likes seems attracted to her.
But Aengus is secretive, with good reason. He and his family are the Tuatha Dé Danann, ageless, mythical guardians adept at shifting between this reality and the magical dimension known as the Otherworld. Evil forces from that world threaten the Breasals, the Donoghues, and all of Ireland. Ashling must open her heart, face her fears, and embrace a destiny greater than she could ever have imagined.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

—

EXCERPT:

The night air was deliciously cool. Moonlight and darkness held equal sway over the backyard thanks to the shifting clouds. I dashed across the lawn and halted in the exact spot where Aengus had stood. Panting, I looked around, willing some kind of clue to materialize.

The ruins in front of me darkened as large, heavy clouds swallowed the moon whole. The wind tugged at my long, loose hair and pajamas. Tiny raindrops spattered on my nose and cheeks. I turned my palms to the sky, and cold rain pelted them.

“Great.” Intending to return to the house, I swiveled around.

I gasped. My right hand flew to my chest. “Aengus?!”

The man himself stood an arm’s length in front of me. “Why are you here?”

“You scared the crap out of me!”

“Whisht!”

“What?”

“Shush!”

Pop!

The strident sound came from the ruins. I whirled around and stared at the dark keep.

Aengus grabbed me from behind. He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. I reveled in the feel of his taut body, of his warm flesh against mine.

Suddenly, everything changed. The rain stopped. The wind died. The entire landscape was bathed in the soft hue of twilight. Breasal Castle looked brand spanking new, just as it had during the bizarre dream in which I brought Aengus to the cottage. But this time, I knew I was awake.

Dumbfounded, I gawked at the medieval magnificence before me. I had no idea what had happened and no desire to pull away from his embrace.

His lips brushed my right ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “This way.”

His right arm released me, and his left slid down to my waist. Maintaining body contact the entire time, he steered me toward the stand of oaks on our right.

Once sheltered by the trees, he turned us around so we faced the castle.

“Are we hiding?” I whispered.

“We are.”

“Why? And what just happened?”

“I can’t say.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Both.”

Until that moment, I’d forgotten I wore pajamas. Now I was acutely aware of it. Satin was pleasing to the touch, but something told me my attire had nothing to do with his grip on me.

I looked up at him. “Not that I mind, but why are you holding me so close?”

His hand tightened on my waist. “It’s necessary.”

“I don’t suppose you can explain that, either.”

With his gaze locked on the castle, he shook his head. He pressed his right forefinger against his mouth in a silencing gesture. Then he pointed up at the keep.

High on the battlements, the black-haired woman from my dream—and from Branna’s painting—paced back and forth. Her hair whipped about her pale face and slender frame.

She paused beside a gap in the crenelated wall and glared down at the fairy mound. Her colorless lips curled into a sneer. Then her human form morphed into a dark shadow, which fragmented into what seemed a million black particles. They swarmed into the air and shot across the twilit sky, disappearing into the distance.

I took a deep breath. “So she’s real.”

He nodded. “She’s real, to be sure. Come.” With his arm still hooked around me, he led me out of the woods and toward the fairy mound.

Author Bio:
Judith Sterling's love of history and passion for the paranormal infuse everything she writes. Flight of the Raven and Soul of the Wolf are part of her medieval romance series, The Novels of Ravenwood. The Cauldron Stirred is the first book in her YA paranormal fantasy series, Guardians of Erin. Written under Judith Marshall, her nonfiction books--My Conversations with Angels and Past Lives, Present Stories--have been translated into multiple languages. She has an MA in linguistics and a BA in history, with a minor in British Studies. Born in that sauna called Florida, she craved cooler climes, and once the travel bug bit, she lived in England, Scotland, Sweden, Wisconsin, Virginia, and on the island of Nantucket. She currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and their identical twin sons.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander Virtual Book Tour

Historical Fiction

Date Published: March 15, 2017

***An IWIC Hall of Fame Novel***

***Winner 2017 National Indie Excellence Award***

"This book needs to join the ranks of the classic survivor stories of WWII such as "Diary of Anne Frank" and "Man's Search for Meaning". It is truly that amazing!" InD'taleMagazine

"This family saga is wonderfully written and, aside from the emotional ramifications, very easy to read. I stayed up too late a couple of nights reading it...I highly recommend this book!" Long and Short Reviews

Spanning thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, author Annette Oppenlander's SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children's war.

SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND tells the true and heart-wrenching stories of Lilly and Günter struggling with the terror-filled reality of life in the Third Reich, each embarking on their own dangerous path toward survival, freedom, and ultimately each other. Based on the author's own family and anchored in historical facts, this story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of war children.

When her father goes off to war, seven-year-old Lilly is left with an unkind mother who favors her brother and chooses to ignore the lecherous pedophile next door. A few blocks away, twelve-year-old Günter also looses his father to the draft and quickly takes charge of supplementing his family's ever-dwindling rations by any means necessary.

As the war escalates and bombs begin to rain, Lilly and Günter's lives spiral out of control. Every day is a fight for survival. On a quest for firewood, Lilly encounters a dying soldier and steals her father's last suit to help the man escape. Barely sixteen, Günter ignores his draft call and embarks as a fugitive on a harrowing 47-day ordeal--always just one step away from execution.

When at last the war ends, Günter grapples with his brother's severe PTSD and the fact that none of his classmates survived. Welcoming denazification, Lilly takes a desperate step to rid herself once and for all of her disgusting neighbor's grip. When Lilly and Günter meet in 1949, their love affair is like any other. Or so it seems. But old wounds and secrets have a way of rising to the surface once more.

Surviving the Fatherland/Annette Oppenlander

Excerpt 1

Chapter One

Lilly: May 1940

For me the war began, not with Hitler’s invasion of Poland, but with my father’s lie. I was seven at the time, a skinny thing with pigtails and bony knees, dressed in my mother’s lumpy hand-knitted sweaters, a girl who loved her father more than anything.

It was May of 1940, my favorite time of year when the air is filled with the smell of cut grass and lilacs, promising excursions to town and the cafes in the hilly land I called home.

Like any other weekend, my father came home that Friday carrying a heavy briefcase of folders. Only this time, he flung his case in the corner of the hallway like it was a bag of garbage. You have to understand. My father is a neat freak, a man who keeps himself and everything he touches in absolute order. And so even at seven—even before he said those fateful words—I knew something was different.

My father had been named after the German emperor, Wilhelm, and Mutti called him Willi, but to me he was always Vati.

Ignoring me, he hurried into the kitchen, his eyes bright with excitement. “I’ve been drafted.”

At the sink, Mutti abruptly dropped her sponge and stared at him. Her mouth opened, then closed without a sound.

I didn’t understand what he was talking about. I didn’t understand the meaning of a lie, yet I felt it even then. Like others detect an oncoming thunderstorm, pressure builds behind my forehead, a heaviness in my bones. There is something in the way the liar moves, his limbs hang stiffly on the body as if his soul cringes. His look at me is fleeting and there is something artificial in his voice.

At that moment I knew Vati was hiding something from us.

“They want me there Monday. I’ll be a captain.” His voice trembled as he sank into a chair, still wearing his coat and hat.

“But that’s in three days.” Mutti picked up Burkhart, my little brother who was a just a toddler and had begun to whine. “It’s fine,” she soothed as she paced the length of the kitchen, the click-click of her heels like an accusation.

I frowned and moved closer to my father. Since my brother’s birth, Mutti had been spending every minute with the baby. No matter how well I behaved, how I did what she asked, I rarely succeeded drawing her eyes away from my brother. It annoyed me to no end that I couldn’t stop myself from trying.

“Vati, where are you going?” I asked, secure in the knowledge that my little brother wouldn’t draw away his attention.

My father’s cheeks glowed with excitement. As if he hadn’t heard me, he rushed back into the hallway and knelt in front of the wardrobe. I followed.

One door gaped open, revealing a gray military uniform. He was rummaging below.

“What are you looking for?”

“Just a minute.” He emerged with a pair of shiny black boots.

He knelt at my level and to this day I remember smelling the cologne he used every morning, a mix of spice and citrus.

“I am packing.”

“Where are you going?” Vati had never been away, not even for one night. In fact, he and Mutti had strict routines, and these were dictated by the clock. We ate every night at six thirty sharp. Even on Sundays. Breakfast was at seven in the morning. Clothes never ever lay on the floor, each item brushed and aired and returned to its spot in the closet. Life was laid out in rules, washing hands before dinner, carrying a clean handkerchief at all times and always, always looking spotless when leaving the house.

He smoothed the pants of his uniform. “I’ll be helping out in the war.”

“Will you be back for my birthday?” My birthday was on June fourth and I worried about our customary visits to town. In the window of Wiesner, our local toy store, I’d discovered a Schildkröt doll. Her name was Inge and I wanted her badly. Vati said she looked just like me, with blond hair and this pretty red-checkered dress with a white apron and white patent shoes you could take off.

As Vati lifted me in the air and turned in a circle, I shrieked in surprise and delight. I was flying.

“They want me after all! With all my experience, they should be glad.”

About the Author

Annette Oppenlander is an award-winning writer, literary coach and educator. As a bestselling historical novelist, Oppenlander is known for her authentic characters and stories based on true events, coming alive in well-researched settings. Having lived in Germany the first half of her life and the second half in various parts in the U.S., Oppenlander inspires readers by illuminating story questions as relevant today as they were in the past. Oppenlander’s bestselling true WWII story, Surviving the Fatherland, was elected to IWIC’s Hall of Fame and won the 2017 National Indie Excellence Award. Her historical time-travel trilogy, Escape from the Past, takes readers to the German Middle Ages and the Wild West. Uniquely, Oppenlander weaves actual historical figures and events into her plots, giving readers a flavor of true history while enjoying a good story. Oppenlander shares her knowledge through writing workshops at colleges, libraries and schools. She also offers vivid presentations and author visits. The mother of fraternal twins and a son, she lives with her husband and old mutt, Mocha, in Bloomington, Ind.

Purchase Links

Contact Links

Goodreads

Interview with Annette Oppenlander

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

I find inspiration in the smallest details and often while I travel. I exclusively write historical fiction, so I am always on the lookout for the next idea. In 2012, I visited the ruins of medieval Castle Hanstein in Thuringia, Germany. Walking through the ancient ruins, I felt the walls talking to me. I tried imagining how life would’ve been in the 15th century. On a wall inside a restored bedchamber, I read about a famous knight who’d ruled here and been in a feud with an evil duke. This was the beginning of the ‘Escape from the Past’ trilogy, a time-travel adventure set at Castle Hanstein.

During another trip I found that Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, had lived in this little town along the Rhine River. Well, that seed may one day become another novel. I’m also interested in certain eras like WWII, the American Civil War and the prohibition era. The inspiration for ‘Surviving the Fatherland’ came from the stories of my parents who’d lived through WWII as German war children.

How did you do research for your book?

I recorded many hours of discussion with my parents who were 7 and 11 when their fathers left for the war. I dug through our family photo albums and unearthed many interesting shots. In addition to this primary research, I read several books on Russian gulags though none of that material made it into the book (will be in another novel). I visited the archives of my hometown, Solingen, where most of the story takes place, walked the streets, and read a number of books about the time period to get a good feel for the technology and daily lives of Germans in the 1940s and early 1950s. I found records of the RAF bombings of Solingen. The list goes on. In all, it took me 15 years to put this novel together.

Do you have another profession besides writing?

I’m fortunate that I can write and research fulltime. In earlier years, I wrote whenever I had a free minute, many weekends and evenings, during trips and lunch breaks.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

If I could visit as a time-traveler without any risk to my person, I’d visit as far back as the dinosaur age, the Stone Age, the Middle Ages and more recent history. I’d visit Native Americans when they were still free. I’d go to France during the revolution, to Italy during the time of Da Vinci. I’d probably limit visits to warzones because they’re all horrific and I’d soon be so overwhelmed that I’d get sick. There are infinite places to see in our past. Each region/country has its own distinct history and they’re all fascinating to me.

What is your next project?

I recently finished ‘Broken Journey,’ a story set during the American Civil War. It is about a boy’s choice to protect his best friend, a slave, from a brutal attack which forces both on separate journeys: one escapes into war, the other is sold into slavery. Told from alternating viewpoints, one black and one white, the story examines the power of hope and friendship, and the endurance of the human spirit to find a way home.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Addicted to Love by Jennifer Wilck blitz

Addicted to Love
Jennifer Wilck
(Serendipity, #1)
Publication date: July 21st 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Dan Rothberg struggled after an accident killed his wife and he nearly lost custody of his daughter. He can no longer allow himself to get attached to anything or anyone. Until he meets Hannah.
Hannah Cohen is a young executive with a meddlesome grandmother and a troubled brother. She’d like nothing better than to find her own Mr. Right, after too many Mr. Wrongs. A sexy older man with a teenage daughter was never in her plans.
As they navigate their relationship through adolescent attitudes and grandmotherly interference, they realize age is just a number and love can be right in front of them. But when the terrible truth of Dan’s former struggles is exposed, Hannah must decide if she can get past his deception and allow love to conquer all.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

—

EXCERPT:

“So what’s Hannah like?” Tess sank into the chair next to him. Dan refrained from telling her to go to bed. For once she wanted to talk—he’d spend all night with her if necessary.

“She’s nice. Funny and smart, too.”

Tess winced. “Sounds great.” Her tone implied anything but.

Dan nudged her. “Trust me, she is. I didn’t think you’d want to hear other kinds of stuff.”

“Eww, no. Where’d you guys go?”

“I took her to the planetarium, and afterward, to Isabella’s.”

Tess sat up straight. “You took her there? I thought you were joking!”

“What? She liked it.”
“Really? Or was she just pretending?”
He paused and considered Hannah’s reaction. It hadn’t seemed fake. He’d been careful not to overload her with too much geek data, which might fascinate him but bore others. No, he was sure she’d liked it.

“Her eyes didn’t glaze over, and she pulled me along to show me things she thought were interesting. So I’d have to say really.”

“Weird. Are you going to see her again?”

This was worse than he expected, as he tried to keep from squirming in his seat under Tess’ direct gaze. “I hope so.”

“When do I get to meet her?”
“You’ve met her, Tess. At the JCC concert.”

“I know, Dad, but when do I get to really meet her? If you like her enough to go out with her so often, I should at least get to know her better. Invite her over for dinner.”

He glanced at his watch. “Shouldn’t you be…in bed or something?” He regretted his eagerness to talk to her. Well, that was his feeling lots of times as the father of a teenager, but this time she was talking about Hannah. And for some reason, she made him feel like his mother was interrogating him, rather than his daughter. He needed to regain the upper hand. Somehow. “Dinner’s a good idea, Tess. Just not right now.”

“Why not? You’re a good cook. Everyone has to eat. You can invite her here, impress her with your culinary skills, and she and I can get to know each other better. What’s the problem?”

The idea had so many problems her compliment didn’t hit him until after.

“Thanks,” he said.

“For what?”

“For telling me I’m a good cook.”

“You’re welcome. But changing the subject won’t work.”

Damn. He ran a hand through his hair and remembered he needed a haircut. Turning in his seat, he grabbed his phone and added it to tomorrow’s to-do list. “Tess, I think it’s too soon in our relationship for this to happen.”

“Too soon? What’s too soon about it? You’ve been dating a couple of weeks, right?”

“Ten days.” Was it only ten days? “You have a daughter.”

He nodded.

“So, it’ll look weird if you keep me hidden away, like Mr. Rochester’s wife.”

“Oh, a literary reference,” he said. “Nice touch.”

She grinned. “I thought you’d appreciate it. As my reward, I think you should listen to me. I could always come with you somewhere if you don’t want her at the apartment.”

Letting out a sigh, he faced her. “Like a chaperone? Oh, sounds fun. Come here.”

She stood and he pulled her into a hug. “I’ll think about it. I’m glad you’re okay with the idea of me dating.”

Tess shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, Hannah seems nice, but do you have time to date? You always tell me how busy you are.”

He pulled her into another hug. “No matter what I do, I’ll always have time for you. I promise.”

Author Bio:
When I was a little girl and couldn’t fall asleep, my mother would tell me to make up a story. Pretty soon, my head was filled with these stories and the characters that populated them. Each character had a specific personality, a list of likes and dislikes, and sometimes, even a specific accent or dialect. Even as an adult, I think about the characters and stories at night before I fall asleep, or in the car on my way to or from one of my daughters’ numerous activities (hey, anything that will drown out their music is a good thing).
One day, I started writing them down (it was either that or checking into the local mental hospital—the computer was way less scary) and now I'm a published author. My first book, A Heart of Little Faith, was just declared a Finalist in the Fiction: Romance category of the 2016 Best Book Awards.
In the real world, I’m the mother of two amazing daughters and wife of one of the smartest men I know. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, reading, traveling and watching TV. In between chauffeuring my daughters to after-school activities that require an Excel spreadsheet to be kept straight, I run youth group activities, train the dog we recently adopted from a local shelter, and cook dinners that fit the needs of four very different appetites. I also write freelance articles for magazines, newspapers, and edit newsletters.
When all of that gets overwhelming, I retreat to my computer, where I write stories that let me escape from reality. In my made-up world, the heroines are always smart, sassy and independent. The heroes are handsome and strong with just a touch of vulnerability. If I don’t like a character, I can delete him or her; if something doesn’t work, I can rewrite it. It’s very satisfying to be in control of at least one part of my life. My inspiration comes from watching the people around me and fantasizing about how I’d do things differently.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nowhere is Home Since You Left

Death, Grief, Bereavement

Date Published: 1-6-2017

Publisher: Cygnet Publications, Cygnet Media Group Inc.

When her beloved soul friend husband, Gerald, passed away a few years ago, and her friends and sons moved to distant cities, she found herself alone for the first time in her life.

Gerald, a professional artist, had his studio in their home. Their home was always filled with family life, art, music, joy and playfulness in the garden.

After his passing, the silence was loud. The joy was gone — her paradise — a lost paradise.

She had two choices, either to fall apart or to get on with life. She chose the latter and traveled to find a home, a community — however - nowhere was home - since he left.

In writing Nowhere Is Home … Since You Left, Madeleine Zeldin shares her insights, emotions, and true life experiences as she journeys solo throughout the years following the sorrowful death of her soul mate, internationally renowned artist, Gerald Zeldin. She presents years of storytelling based on travel journals she wrote while traveling to countries such as Mexico, Philippines, Ecuador, France, Spain, and California, U.S.A. Zeldin also reveals the intensity of the pain and sorrow experienced in her grief, along with the fulfillment, satisfaction and logistics of international travel. In her travels she volunteered in the medical ﬁeld and gave help where help was needed. She brings inspiration to those of her generation, the 60’s, who find themselves alone.

Through her evocative tales of adventure, Zeldin reveals this life-changing knowledge to the world!

But ultimately where is Home?

About the Author

Professionally, Ms. Zeldin has been engaged in nursing and teaching. She has successfully advocated for changes in the medical field, along with homebirth and Midwifery. In her travels to out of the way places, she has been a keen observer of people and distant cultures, often writing a 'sketch' of her experience.

Madeleine is an advocate of advocacy.

Madeleine believes we can all make a difference.

Throughout her adult life she has successfully advocated for change. When she felt change was needed, she rallied. She lobbied. She started a group or joined a group.

In the late '70's, when her town council was considering tearing down old heritage properties in the name of 'Progress', she helped start a group of interested citizens in order to save these heritage properties. 'Progress' was stopped and many heritage buildings were saved due to the group's diligence.

Again in the early '80's, Madeleine herself changed local hospital policy to allow midwives to accompany couples in the birthing room, after the hospital refused to allow her midwife to enter.

She belonged to a group of informed parents who advocated for changes in the policies for vaccinations.

Madeleine volunteered at the local Health Center and advocated for improved health care for refugees. Improvements were made.

She successfully advocated for her soul-friend, late husband Gerald's medical care throughout their six year battle with cancer. Many important changes were implemented in our medical system due to her persistence.

Madeleine has been ahead of her time in her generation. She had many professions throughout her life including social worker, teacher, registered nurse. She also joined a group of midwives and again successfully advocated for choices in childbirth.

However, she considers her most important achievement as being a mother and grandmother. She has instilled in her family a sense of love and empathy and has taught them to love the earth and its people.

Contact Links

Website

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Friday, July 21, 2017

Illumination by Susannah Sandlin

Illumination

Penton Legacy

Book 5

Susannah Sandlin

Genre: PNR/UF

Date of Publication: July 11, 2017

Number of pages: Approx. 330

Word Count: 90,000

Cover Artist: Kim Killion

Tagline: Nik wants to escape his family curse. Shay wants to change the world. Together, they are the only hope to save the vampires of Penton.

Book Description:

He came to Penton seeking peace. Nik Dimitrou joined the Army to escape his family legacy, only to have his psychic abilities exploited as a weapon. Now, as a civilian, he turns to the bottle to veil the images that haunt his mind whenever he touches anyone—except vampires. With them, he has finally found a home. But as Penton, Alabama, moves into open warfare with the Vampire Tribunal, Nik finds himself a linchpin in the deepening conflict, not to mention facing a transformation in his own body more frightening than anything he’s encountered before.

She wanted to change the world. Shay Underwood watched her Peace Corps parents move from one third world country to another—until both died following an outbreak of fever. Driven to her own career in tropical medicine, Shay works in New Orleans to cure the disease that killed her parents—until a careless weekend outing draws her into a world far more dangerous than the diseases she studies: a vampire society engaged in human trafficking and on the verge of all-out war.

Two cities, two strangers, one world. With Penton rebellion leader Aidan Murphy making risky choices and chief vampire lieutenant Mirren Kincaid forced to take a leadership role in Penton, it will fall to two outsiders, Nik and Shay, to find a way for the town—and themselves—to survive in this much-anticipated conclusion to the multiple award-winning Penton Legacy series.

Goodreads

Excerpt:

“Right then. We have an
obscenely large vehicle on the other side of that brick wall,” Cage said.
“Archer or Nik should be able to help you over. Once I’m sure you’re in the car
and locked up tight, I’ll collect Robin and Glory from the cemetery entrance
and we’ll all be on our way back to Penton.”

Shay bit her lip. She had
absolutely no reason to go to Penton, wherever the hell it was. Her home and
life and work were here in New Orleans. She knew she’d have to be careful, but
now that the breeding house was broken up and Jonathan was dead, the vampires
and their minions had no reason to come after her. Whatever feelings Shay had
nursed for Nik Dimitrou in high school, they were long dead. Gorgeous only took
a person so far. Besides, he was a vampire.

She’d wait until they got
her out of this cemetery, though, to decline her visit to Vampire Central.
Maybe the handsome cat boy would drop her off somewhere. But where? She had no
money or identification with her. She didn’t even have the keys to her own
apartment or lab.

Maybe a police station.
They could come up with a plausible story for her disappearance. Maybe even
name Simon as her kidnapper, and the warehouse location. Let the authorities
make of it what they would.

Shay was distracted by
the sight of Archer leaping to the top of the brick wall behind the Le Boeuf
crypt, followed closely by Nik. Her old classmate might be injured and hungry,
but that wall had given him no challenge. Shay wasn’t sure she could climb over
it without a sturdy ladder on a good day. Today had not been a good day except
that she hadn’t died.

Nik reached down and
motioned to Shay. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Shay looked at the wall,
at Nik, and back at the wall. “I don’t think you can lift me. You’re hurt.”

“Trust me.” Nik grinned,
giving Shay a glimpse of an older, even more handsome version of the boy she’d
known so many years ago. She’d thought she loved that boy; this man, though….was
a vampire. Don’t forget that, idiot.

She nodded, dried her
hands on her jeans as much as she could, and reached up toward Nik. He leaned
over, wrapped strong fingers around both of her wrists, and lifted her to the
top of the wall with what seemed like little effort, setting her down beside
him.

“Swing your legs over,
and I’ll lower you down the other side. Or I can leap down with you in my
arms.” His grin widened, and her heart beat double-time when their gazes
locked. Vampire. He’s a freaking vampire.
He’s a freaking vampire involved in a war with other freaking vampires. You
cannot trust him. Lust, yes. Trust, no.

“Whatever you do, would
you please move your arses?” Cage stood beneath them. “I’m getting soaked and—”

A loud pop sounded from
the Washington Avenue end of the cemetery, followed by a splintering noise and
another pop pop. Shay had lived in New Orleans long enough to recognize the
sound of gunfire.

About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake. Writing as Suzanne Johnson, she writes the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series for Tor Books. Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author who does copy editing on the side through Reedsy.com.

Web: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Blog: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/blog

Twitter: @SusannahSandlin, @Suzanne_Johnson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson/

a Rafflecopter giveaway