The Antidote Blog Tour: Spotlight

The Antidote
by Shelley Sackier
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 5th 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:

Magic is not allowed, under any circumstances — even if it could save someone’s life. Instead, there are herbal remedies and traditional techniques that have been painstakingly recorded in lieu of using the mystical arts. Fee knows this, so she keeps her magic a secret.

Except her best friend, Xavi, is deathly ill. He’s also the crown prince. Saving him is important, not only for her, but for the entire kingdom.

Fee’s desperation to save her friend means she can barely contain the magic inside her. And after the tiniest of slips, Fee is thrust into a dark and secretive world that is as alluring as it is dangerous.

If she gives in, it could mean she can save Xavi. But it also means that those who wish to snuff out magic might just snuff her out in the process.

BOOK LINKS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37868550-the-antidote
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DVHYvq
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-antidote-shelley-sackier/1127755056?ean=9780062453471#/
Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Antidote-Shelley-Sackier/9780062453471

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shelley Sackier grew up in a small farming community in Northern Wisconsin continually searching for ways to grow warm. Realizing she would never be able to enjoy ice cream like real people should, she left the state and lived the blissful life of a traveling musician. Discovering her stories needed more space than two verses a bridge and a chorus could provide, she began storytelling in earnest. And then in Virginia. Which is where she lives now and continues to write.
Her first novel, DEAR OPL (Sourcebooks 2015), is a tale about a snarky, overweight thirteen-year-old, who suffers from loss everywhere in her life except on her body.
Her next novel, The Freemason’s Daughter (HarperCollins, 2017) is a story about a 16 yr old Scottish girl living in 1715 who’s raised entirely by six burly Scotsman–and they’re all smugglers. The Antidote (HarperCollins February 2019) is a YA novel about magic and medicine, and the witches who wield them both.
To learn more about Shelley, visit shelleysackier.com where she blogs weekly about living on a small farm atop a mountain in the Blue Ridge and how it’s easiest to handle most of it with homegrown food, a breathless adoration for tractors, and a large dose of single malt scotch.

Website|Goodreads|Twitter|Facebook|Pinterest

TOUR SCHEDULE

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2018/12/tour-schedule-antidote-by-shelley.html

Pinterest inspiration board: https://www.pinterest.com/shelleysackier/the-antidote/
Read an excerpt: https://aerbook.com/books/The_Antidote-196342.html?social=1&retail=1&emailcap=0&imprint=harpercollinsca

GIVEAWAY
Prize: Win (1) physical copy of THE ANTIDOTE by Shelley Sackier (US Only)

Giveaway Starts: January 28th, 2019
Giveaway Ends: February 11th, 2019

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86338/?

Embed Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Advertisement

Reading Challenges

Half the month has already passed and I haven’t updated any information about my 2018 reading challenges or about the challenges I am going to take part in in 2019. I am blaming it all on my college, I have just been swamped. But now I am finally free. So without any delay I am going to jump right into my post.

2018 reading challenges

Apart from the Goodread’s challenge I failed in both the other two challenges I took in.

2018 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

A: Asleep From Day by Margarita Montimore

B:

C: Clowders by Vanessa Morgan

D: A Daffodil for Angie by Connie Lacy

E: Escort by Skye Warren

F: Forgive and Forget by Sarah Biglow (Geek and Things#2)

G: The Good Doctor by Andi Jaxon

H:

I: Igoler Chokh by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay

J:

K:

L: Limelight by Alyson Santos

M: Moral Panic by K.M. Ecke

N: Naughty or Nice by Jessie Logan

O: Orbit by Leigh Hellman

P: Pains and Penalties by Sarah Biglow (Geek and Things#1)

Q:

R: Ride With Me by Ashley Hastings

S: The Sherlock Effect by Raymond Kay Lyon

T: Tennessee Waltz by EA Hunt

Ú:

V:

W: Willow Woods Academy For Witches by R.L.Weeks & Skylar Mckinzie

X:

Y: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Z:Empress Wu Zetian by Laurel A. Rockefeller

I wasn’t able to complete this challenge😣😣😣😣😣😣. I was able to read 18/26 books.

Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge

• A book of poetry/play/essay collection: No one Listens
• A classic you have been meaning to read: The Yellow Wallpaper
• A book by an author of a different race, ethnicity or religion than your own: Pains and Penalties
• A book you can read in a day: The Good Doctor
• A memoir, biography or book of creative nonfiction: Empress Wu Zetian.

I failed miserably in this one. I was able to complete only 5/11 tasks.

Goodreads reading Challenge 2018

This one I was able to pass with flying colours. I was able to complete 54/48 books, that’s 6 books more than I had pledged for.

2019 Reading Challenges

This year too I am taking part in 3 challenges, 2019 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Popsugar Reading Challenge and obviously Goodreads reading Challenge.

2019 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

As evident by the challenge name itself we have to read a book for each of the 26 alphabets.

If you would like to sign up too, click here: https://www.escapewithdollycas.com/reading-challenges/2019-alphabet-soup-reading-challenge/

2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge

For this challenge we have complete complete 40 tasks. This one is definitely going to be difficult. To know more about the challenge click here.

2019 Goodreads reading Challenge

Finally the Goodreads reading Challenge. This year I have pledged to read 60 books.

That’s it…. I hope this year I will able to complete all my challenges.

What reading challenges are you people taking part in? Are you taking part in any of the challenges mentioned above? Do share your thoughts with me in the comments section below.

Ginger Snapped Blog Tour: Promo

Today I’m happy to share an exciting thriller with you all called, Ginger Snapped by Chloe Sunstone! There’s an exclusive excerpt and a giveaway to enter, so be sure to check it out!

Ginger Snapped: A Cybercrime Thriller with a Twist

Genre: Thriller/ Cybercrime

Publication Date: October 22nd, 2018

How does an amazing professional opportunity descend into a living nightmare?

Carefree Ginger’s motto of “Work Hard, Play Harder” shapes her life. So when her husband, Jake, gets a job offer on the other side of the country, she is up for the adventure.

But after Jake accepts the promotion, nothing is as expected. While Ginger remains in Cleveland to sell their house, she is plagued by strange prank calls, premonition-like nightmares, and the feeling that she is being watched. Is Jake’s new job putting her in danger?

Unfortunately, she ignores her intuition and soon finds herself face to face with a ruthless killer. Trapped in a deadly world of corporate corruption and murderous greed, she must overcome her own fears and rely on her wits if she plans to survive.

*Although the first in the Ginger Gibson series, this is a standalone book.
Goodreads
Amazon

Excerpt

Oh No! I’m back. I am surrounded by inky black nothingness. The air is musty…damp, my nostrils fill with the smell of dank basement. Like in a haunted house, filled with saws and chains and bloody hooks, this is the perfect place for any psycho to hide his tools of the crazy trade. I’m trembling, from the all-encompassing fear, eating at every cell in my body. Where am I? My fingers search out for clues. Beneath me is a thin mattress on a hard surface. My head rests on a concrete-like pillow. My breathing escalates as the panic rises in my chest. I open my mouth to scream, but only a muted croak escapes. Over the thunder of my pounding heart, I hear a booming crack, a gunshot. I recognize the sound from a trip to the range with Jake years earlier.

I swing my legs over the side of my perch, thinking in my blind panic to run even though I cannot see. I can’t ignore this intense urge to flee. But my impulse is thwarted by an unknown restraint trapping my left arm, a rope? Panic has me in its grip. I gasp for air to fill my lungs but produce only whimpers and muted pleas.

A loud screech reverberates through the darkness. Rats? Oh, please, no rats! Could this get any worse? Hysterical, I yank relentlessly on the rope tethering me. With each tug, the line cuts deeper into my skin. My arm warms as blood seeps from the gouges, coating my hand and fingers. Behind me, the pounding sound of footsteps startles me. Before I can turn to confront my visitor, I feel the rush of air preceding the impact to the back of my head. A blaze of bright stars then, a different blackness envelopes me.

About the Author

After over twenty years in Human Resources, Chloe decided to make a change. She returned to her first love of writing. She combined her corporate experience with her love for the written word to create engaging cyber-crime thrillers.
On a personal note, Chloe lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her loving husband, Mike. They spend their free time boating, scuba diving, and of course, reading. Her latest cybercrime mystery, Ginger Snapped, is available on Amazon.

Chloe Sunstone| Twitter |Facebook|Goodreads

For your chance to win a signed copy of Chloe’s book, click the link below!

*Note: Open to North America Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Schedule

Jan. 14^th

Reads & Reels (Promo) http://www.readsandreels.com

Reading Nook (Promo) https://readingnook84.wordpress.com/

Yearwood La Novella (Promo) https://yearwooddailybookreview.com/

From Belgium with Book Love (Review) https://frombelgium.wixsite.com/withbooklove

Jessica Rachow (Review) http://jessicarachow.wordpress.com

The Writer’s Alley (Review) https://www.jacobrundle.com

Jan. 15^th

Life at 17 (Promo) https://lifeat17.wordpress.com/

Tranquil Dreams (Promo) https://klling.wordpress.com/

The Cozy Pages (Promo) http://thecozypages.wordpress.com/

J. Bronder Book Reviews (Promo) https://jbronderbookreviews.com/

Jan. 16^th

Misty’s Book Space (Promo) http://mistysbookspace.wordpress.com

Tsarina Press (Review) https://tsarinapress.com/

Hannah’s Beautiful Fantasy (Promo) https://hannahsbeautifulfantasy.blog/

Jan. 17^th

Bobo’s Book Bank (Promo) https://bobosbookbank.com/

Dash Fan Book Reviews (Guest Post) https://dashfan81.blogspot.com/

Banshee Irish Horror Blog (Promo) http://bansheeirishhorrorblog.com/

Literary Dust (Promo) https://literarydust.wordpress.com/

Jan. 18^th

Didi Oviatt (Promo) https://didioviatt.wordpress.com/

The Return Cart (Promo) http://thereturncart.com/

Rockabilly Spoonie (Promo) https://lauramorningstar.com/

Blog Tour Oganized By:

R&R Book Tours

To Dream the Blackbane Blog Tour: promo

Congratulations to author Richard J. O’Brien, on the release of his latest novel, To Dream the Blackbane!

To Dream the Blackbane

Publication Date: December 29th, 2018

Genre: Fantasy/ Urban Fantasy

A cosmic event in 2015 fused Earth with the faerie realm. Scientists referred to the event as The Anomaly. A byproduct of The Anomaly was the advent of hybrid beings—people who became mixed with whatever animal or object was closest to them the moment the event occurred. Humans, or pedigrees, soon relegated fairy refugees and hybrids into ghetto zones in large cities.

Seventy years later, Wolfgang Rex, a second-generation hybrid—part human, part Rhodesian Ridgeback—is a retired police detective who runs a private investigation business in Chicago’s Southside. It’s a one-hybrid show; though Rex couldn’t survive without his assistant, the faerie Sally Sandweb.

One night, two vampires visit Rex and offer him a substantial reward for the recovery of a stolen scroll. Later that same evening, Charlotte Sweeney-Jarhadill, a pedigree woman from Louisiana, visits Rex and hires him to exorcize the headless ghost of a Confederate soldier from her home.

To complicate matters, the private detective ends up falling for Charlotte. Meanwhile, the vampires demand results in the search for the missing scroll. When Rex’s assistant Sally goes missing, he must stay alive long enough to find her. Charlotte and the vampires, however, have other plans for Rex.

Add to Goodreads

Excerpt

My name is Wolfgang Rex. I am a private detective. Once upon a time I’d been a police lieutenant. After twenty-five years of service to the city of Chicago, I retired in 2063 and opened up Chi-town Detectives, a private investigation firm.

I’m what they call in the medical books a second-generation Anomalous cross-breed. My father was a cop like me. One night he was out walking his dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Rex. My mother hated that dog. After she died I learned that she had always wished that Rex would meet some unfortunate demise. She got her wish on the night of The Anomaly. My father came home from his walk without the dog—in a manner of speaking. For lack of a better term, he and the dog had fused. And the result was a humanoid—with a hairy body, a tail, and the head of his old dog Rex. My mother was horrified, but my parents were both Catholic. So they stuck it out. I was born in the tenth year of The Anomaly. When I was a kid, my mother used to read me fairy tales. She died before I finished high school. So it goes, like Kurt Vonnegut once wrote. I turned out to be the spitting image of my father post-Anomaly. I lucked out with being born without a tail. My father had somehow managed to keep his human vocal cords. My face was less hairy than his, but our snouts were nearly identical.

Learning to speak with a dog’s mouth was tricky when I was coming up, but I eventually got the hang of it. And thank Christ I’d been born with opposable thumbs; otherwise, I would’ve starved to death a long time ago. Still, given that many people melded with inanimate objects—much like that poor bastard who became a stone gargoyle—I constantly considered myself lucky. My father cursed his lot for the rest of his life. Some people, like my old man, never learned to adjust.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

Richard J. O’Brien is a graduate of the Fairleigh Dickinson University MFA in Creative Writing Program. Richard’s novels include Under the Bronze Moon, Infestation, and The Garden of Fragile Things. His short stories have appeared in The Del Sol Review, Duende, Pulp Literature, The Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review, Weirdbook, and other magazines. Richard lives in New Jersey, where he teaches at Rowan College at Gloucester County and Stockton University.

Richard J. O’Brien | Goodreads | Amazon

For your chance to win a copy of To Dream the Blackbane, click on the link below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

Jan 7^th

Reads & Reels (Excerpt) http://www.readsandreels.com

Life at 17 (Review) https://lifeat17.wordpress.com/

Tranquil Dreams (Excerpt) https://klling.wordpress.com/

The Invisible Moth (Review) https://daleydowning.wordpress.com/

Jan. 8^th

On the Shelf Book Reviews (Excerpt) https://ontheshelfreviews.wordpress.com

Jessica Rachow (Review) http://jessicarachow.wordpress.com

Your Books, My Reviews (Review) https://yourbooksmyreview.wordpress.com

Jan. 9^th

I Smell Sheep (Excerpt) http://www.ismellsheep.com/

The Voluptuous Book Diva (Excerpt) http://www.thevoluptuousbookdiva.com/

Rockabilly Spoonie (Interview) https://lauramorningstar.com

Splashes into Books (Excerpt) https://splashesintobooks.wordpress.com/

Jan. 10^th

Anthony Avina (Excerpt) http://www.authoranthonyavinablog.com

The Bookworm Drinketh (Review) http://thebookwormdrinketh.wordpress.com/

The Return Cart (Review) http://thereturncart.com/

Didi Oviatt (Excerpt) https://didioviatt.wordpress.com

Jan 11^th

Reading Nook (Excerpt) http://readingnook84.wordpress.com

Cats Love Coffee Book Reviews (Review) https://catsluvcoffeez.blogspot.com

Bronder Book Reviews (Review) https://jbronderbookreviews.com/

Sammie Reads (Review) https://sammiereadsbook.wordpress.com

Blog Tour Organized By:

R&R Book Tours

Fountain Dead Book Tour: Excerpt

Fountain Dead

by Theresa Braun

Genre: YA Horror

Mark is uprooted from his home and high school in the Twin Cities and
forced to move with his family into a Victorian in Nowhere-ville.
Busy with the relocation and fitting in, Mark’s parents don’t see
what’s unfolding around them—the way rooms and left behind
objects seem alive with a haunted past.

Of course, Mark keeps his ghostly encounters to himself, all the while
sinking deeper into the house’s dark, alluring, and ultimately
terrifying history. As romantic entanglements intensify, the
paranormal activity escalates. Past and present come together.
Everything is connected—from the bricks in the walls to the hearts
beating in their chests, all the secrets of Fountain Dead are finally
unearthed.

Goodreads * Amazon

Excerpt

The vapor wafting from the stagnant pool smelled like the rancid rot from inside a carcass. Mark felt he breathed in fire. The gooey surface boiled and foamed as if a prehistoric substance. His heart stopped as something emerged. A goopy and gnarled dome became a sickly face. The eyelids still closed, the rest of the form rose, covered in green.
A tattered dress clung to the feminine curves. The cloth slipped from the shoulders, drawing his attention to her skin. The texture made him gag.
A sour taste of bile filled his mouth. His skin contracted as he contemplated her spongy flesh. Her black eyes sprang open like a demonic doll’s. Her inhuman gaze stabbed his very core, and he knew he was facing a soul-less being. The eyes burned like hot stove burners.
A decomposing hand extended toward his throat.
Mark woke, wet with perspiration. His pillowcase and sheets were damp, as if he’d taken a swim in the fountain. That idea made him unable to breathe. His heartbeat sped along at a rate close to heart attack status as he tried not to blow a gasket about the evil that lie in wait. He whipped his pillow from behind his head and squashed it to his chest. No one would grasp what he’d been feeling—or what he’d been seeing.
His lip trembled.
Something—a fiend, a spirit, the fountain—wanted to hurt him.
Mark’s chest compressed.
The devil on his shoulder advised him that his mother had to be right. All of the metal music, the cartoons, the swearing, had been an invitation for demons and darkness. Forget the fact that none of his friends had ever mentioned opening some gateway to hell. These dark forces had chosen him.
He lied back, exhaustion sinking him deeper into the mattress. After pulling the blood warm sheets up to his chin, he shunned the moonlight streaming into the room. The crooked claws of the branches squealed against the half-open windowpane. Summer’s hot breath puffed into the house. Mark didn’t have to strain to hear its griping—the sighs of the woodwork and the building’s various joints.
The door to the servants’ quarters was open again. However, that bothered him less and less. A perfume of fragrant flowers sent him to sleep.

Theresa Braun was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and has carried some of that
hardiness with her to South Florida where she currently resides. An
English teacher and adjunct college professor for over thirteen
years, she continues to share her enthusiasm for literary arts with
her students. She earned a Masters in English literature with a
thesis on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. In her spare time, she
enjoys delving into her own creative writing, painting, photography
and even ghost hunting. Spending time with her family and traveling
as often possible are two of her passions. In fact, her world
meanderings are often backdrops for her work. Striving to make the
world a better place is something dear to her heart.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Successor Blog Tour: Promo

o SUCCESSOR – 10/24/18 release date
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

Purchase Links:

o Amazon – https://amzn.to/2payjHG

o Barnes & Noble – https://bit.ly/2p9OQM7

o The Book Depository – https://www.bookdepository.com/Successor-Rae-Miles/9781509222162

o Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40793401-successor

o The Wild Rose Press – https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/6178-successor.html

o For seventeen-year-old Evan, graduation means the freedom to leave behind her small-town life and find where she belongs. She never expected it to be in a different world.

Across time and space, deep in a mysterious jungle, Evan discovers the hidden heritage of her mother’s people and her own legacy. She becomes their elemental, a protector gifted with the power to control nature. The role has its challenges, but the biggest is the inexplicable connection with her scarred bodyguard, Ren. Frustrated and fascinated by him, Evan resists the magnetic pull after realizing there’s more to it than simple attraction.

Claiming her birthright reignites the wrath of a ruthless enemy with a score to settle. To protect her new family, Evan will need to call on her formidable power. But embracing it could cause her to lose herself and the man who holds her heart.

About the Author:

Rae Miles started creating characters at the ripe age of nine, dreaming that one day they’d have a place to call home. Many years and a creative writing degree later, that dream became a reality with her debut novel, Successor. When not writing, Rae’s absorbed in reading, movies, music, and napping. She loves animals of all kinds, and currently lives in Wisconsin with her three quirky cats.

Website: http://www.raemiles.com

Twitter:_rae_miles_

The Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

The Tour:

November 26th

Mythical Books – Author Interview

November 27th

Deliciously Savvy – Spotlight Post

November 28th

Stacking My Book Shelves! – Spotlight Post

November 29th

YA/NA Book Divas – Guest Post

November 30th

bookblogarama – Author Interview

December 1st

YaReads – Author Interview

December 2nd

Just One More Chapter – Spotlight Post

December 3rd

GKSihat – Review

December 4th

Crossroad Reviews – Spotlight Post

December 5th

RoloPoloBookBlog – Spotlight Post

December 6th

December 7th

Life at 17 – Spotlight post

December 8th

All the Ups and Downs – Guest Post

December 9th

12 days of Clink Street: The Haunting of Mount Cod

The Haunting of Mount Cod
by Nicky Stratton

Lady Laura Boxford lives with her pug, Parker in the retirement complex of Wellworth Lawns, formerly her family home. One day she and her friend Venetia see the ancient actor, Sir Repton Willowby arriving. He’s Venetia’s cousin by marriage and Venetia says he murdered his wife. He lives at the Edwardian pile, Mount Cod and he says he’s being haunted by the ghost of an eighteenth century serving wench called Rosalind.

Laura is convinced he’s a charlatan using the ghost as a ruse for finding a new wife. She determines to get to the bottom of the mystery on account of Venetia’s daughter who stands to inherit Mount Cod. But did Sir Repton murder his wife and is the house haunted?

Information about the Book
Title: The Haunting of Mount Cod
Author: Nicky Stratton
Release Date: 28th June 2018
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40364671-the-haunting-of-mount-cod
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haunting-Mount-Cod-Nicky-Stratton-ebook/dp/B07D3HNWT1

Black Moss Blog Tour: Promo@Nolanwriter @fahrenheitpress #LoveBooksGroupTours

*I was supposed to review this book today for my tour stop but unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish reading the book on time. So I am hosting a promo only today. I am going to review it real soon.*

Blurb

In April 1990, as rioters took over Strangeways prison in Manchester, someone killed a little boy at Black Moss.
And no one cared.
No one except Danny Johnston, an inexperienced radio reporter trying to make a name for himself.
More than a quarter of a century later, Danny returns to his home city to revisit the murder that’s always haunted him.
If Danny can find out what really happened to the boy, maybe he can cure the emptiness he’s felt inside since he too was a child.
But finding out the truth might just be the worst idea Danny Johnston has ever had.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2RuWRaP

Author Info

David is a multi-award-winning author, television producer and crime reporter. He has written a dozen books including Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil, the true story of the largest historic abuse case ever mounted by Greater Manchester Police. He presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary based on the book called The Abuse Trial. It won both the Rose D’Or and the New York International radio awards in 2016. Officers involved in the case helped David with the police procedures featured in Black Moss, particularly the way the system deals with missing children.

Distant Memory Blog Tour: Promo

You don’t want to miss the next thrilling installment of Colleen Myers’ fan favorite #fantasyromance series, Solum, with DISTANT MEMORY!

Title: Distant Memory

Author: Colleen Myers

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Romance

Series: Solum

Release Date: November 13, 2018

Format: Digital eBook

ISBN: TBD

Synopsis:

19 year old Elizabeth Camden survived it all, the experiments, the escape, the retaliation. But it never ends does it?

Available at: Amazon

Add Distant Memory to your GOODREADS TBR pile!

About Colleen:

Colleen S. Myers was raised in a large catholic family in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she grew up on Harlequin teen romances and stories from her mother’s days as a paramedic. She went on to attend Allegheny College majoring in Biology and English.

After college, Colleen spent a year in service in the Americorp giving back to the community at a local Pittsburgh Women Infants and Children Clinic (WICC) before attending Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine on a military scholarship.

Upon completing medical school, Colleen attended residency at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and was on base in Washington, DC during 9/11. She earned three meritorious service awards from the military. After serving seven years of active duty, she promptly landed a position at the VA to provide fellow veterans with optimum medical care. Still an avid fan of romances into adulthood, her love of the genre inspired her to hone her craft as a writer, focusing on contemporary romance and science fiction. Her background in medicine and the military provides an inspiring layer of creative realism to her stories and characters.

Her first book, Must Remember, the first book in the Solum series, is published by Champagne Press. The sequel, Can’t Forget, coming in June 2016, is the recipient of the 2015 RWA New England Readers Award.

Colleen currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her husband and son, and spends her spare time writing. She is also working on a new contemporary romance.

Connect with Colleen: Website  | Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

Giveaway!!

Direct Rafflecopter Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef29590/?

Broken Windows Book Blast

Broken Windows

by Paul D. Marks

October 30, 2018 Book Blast

Synopsis:

While the storm rages over California’s notorious 1994 anti-illegal alien Proposition 187, a young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign—and jumps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered. And a disbarred and desperate lawyer in Venice Beach places an ad in a local paper that says: “Will Do Anything For Money.” Private Detective Duke Rogers, and his very unPC partner, Jack Riggs, must figure out what ties together these seemingly unrelated incidents. Their mission catapults them through a labyrinth of murder, intrigue and corruption of church, state and business that hovers around the immigration debate. Along the way we explore the fiery immigration issue from all sides and no one escapes unscathed.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller
Published by: Down & Out Books
Publication Date: September 10th 2018
Number of Pages: 360
ISBN: 1948235072 (ISBN13: 9781948235075)
Series: Duke Rogers PI, #2
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

PROLOGUE

The Hollywood Sign beckoned her like a magnet—or like a moth to a flame. The sign glowed golden in the magic hour sun—that time of day around sunrise and sunset when the light falls soft and warm and cinematographers love to shoot. Like so many others, Susan Karubian had come here seeking fame and fortune, hoping to make her mark on the world. Oh hell, she had come to be a star like all the others. And she would do it, just not quite in the heady way she’d anticipated.

She had spent hours deciding what to wear. After all, this wasn’t exactly in the etiquette books. Probably not the kind of thing you’d find in Ask Amy column. She finally decided on a tasteful dress with high-heeled sandals.

The young woman drove her Passat down Hollywood Boulevard, turning up Franklin, passing the Magic Castle. She turned slowly up Beachwood Canyon, past the low-rent area north of Franklin, up through the towering stone gates with their “Welcome to Beachwood Canyon” signs. Past the movie star homes in the hills—past where she thought she’d be living by now. She drove in circles, past piles of rubble from the earthquake several months ago, figuring that sooner or later she’d hit the right combination of roads and end up where she wanted to be.

The Passat crested the top of the mountain—mountain or hill? What was the difference anyway? A small concrete building with an antenna sat just below the road. No cars. No one around. As quiet as the Sherman Oaks Galleria on a Monday morning. She parked on Mt. Lee Drive.

She rolled up the windows, locked the car, set her purse on the floor by the gas pedal. The note she’d written in a steady hand tucked into her pocket. She hoped someone would find it quickly. Standing beside the car, she realized she’d have to hike down to get to the sign. She had thought it would be at the top of the mountain. She was buggin’, as she treaded toward the edge of the road.

The nonstop rain of the last couple weeks had broken. The view from up here was incredible. You could almost see Mexico to the south and the Pacific glittering in the west. The city below, shiny and bright. Pretty and clean from up here. A million doll houses that reminded her of childhood, playing with dolls and making everything come out the way she wanted it to. Little toy cars down below, scooting back and forth. Swarms of ants scurrying this way and that on important business. Oh yeah, everyone here had important business all day and all night. Everyone but her. She gazed down at Los Angeles on the cusp of the millennium. The place to be. Center of the universe. Totally.

She hesitated at the edge of the road, her toe kicking some gravel down the hill. It clattered down, somehow reminding her of the industrial music in the clubs where she liked to hang.

Should she try to talk to him? What would be the point now? She was talked out. And he wouldn’t forgive her. Why should he? She had hurt him. No, it was beyond hurt. There was no way to rationalize it.

***

Excerpt from Broken Windows by Paul D. Marks. Copyright © 2018 by Paul D. Marks. Reproduced with permission from Paul D. Marks. All rights reserved.

Author Bio:

Broken Windows, the sequel to Paul D. Marks’ Shamus Award-winning mystery-thriller White Heat hit the shelves 9/10/18. Publishers Weekly called White Heat a “taut crime yarn” and said of Broken Windows: “Fans of downbeat PI fiction will be satisfied…with Shamus Award winner Marks’s solid sequel to… White Heat.” Though thrillers and set in the 1990s, both novels deal with issues that are hot and relevant today: racism and immigration, respectively. Marks says “Broken Windows holds up a prism from which we can view the events burning up today’s headlines, like the passionate immigration debate, through the lens of the recent past. It all comes down to the saying we know so well, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’.” His short stories appear in Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines, among others, and have won or been nominated for many awards, including the Anthony, Derringer and Macavity. His story Windward, has been selected for the Best American Mystery Stories of 2018, edited by Louise Penny & Otto Penzler, and won the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story and was also short-listed for a 2018 Shamus Award. Ghosts of Bunker Hill was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Readers Poll. He is co-editor of the multi-award nominated anthology Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea.

Catch Up With Our Author On:
Website, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook!

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

https://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=288130

Enter To Win!:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Paul D. Marks. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on October 30, 2018 and runs through November 7, 2018. Void where prohibited

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours