Book Blast - Wedding Planning - Five Easy Steps and the Secret by Kathy Forbes

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kathy Forbes will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

This book has everything you need to know to plan your perfect unique wedding.

This is not your typical wedding planning book. Chapter titles alone will tell you what needs to be done, and the subtitles break it down further. The book includes tips, advice, stories, templates, and notebook to keep track of everything.

All the other books, magazine articles, Instagram and Pinterest timeline posts state on the "day of" to have a good breakfast. They don't mention the people that take care of all the duties and tasks throughout the day so you can be VIP guests at your own wedding.

The five easy steps and how they relate to each other is the foundation of this book, which will make sure you have an educational, memorable, stressless, wonderful experience throughout the whole process:

1) Timeline
2) Budget
3) "Day of" schedule
4) Duties and tasks
5) Lists and assignments

The secret is having a planned schedule that catches everything, and a specific person in charge on the "day of" that pulls it off while you enjoy with the guests. Let me show you how to perfect your wedding planning experience.

Waiting to your wedding day is just too late to realize the importance of this thought process and having a specific/special go-to-person working the "day of" on your behalf.

You will enjoy the days up to the wedding as much as the day itself, as this book helps make it all come true.

Read an Excerpt

Wedding Planning 101

This book has everything you need to know to plan your perfect unique wedding.

This is not your typical wedding planning book. Chapter titles alone will tell you what needs to be done, and the subtitles break it down further. The book includes tips, advice, stories, templates, and a notebook to keep track of everything.

All the other books, magazine articles, Instagram and Pinterest timeline posts state on the “day of” to have a good breakfast. They don’t mention the people that take care of all the duties and tasks throughout the day so you can be VIP guests at your own wedding.

There is more to planning a perfect “day of” than you think – believe me.

So, you can enjoy the days up to as much as the “day of”, this book will help.

The Reality is: 3 things are kept – your spouse, the ring, and your photographs. All the rest is but a fading memory over time. You most likely have read the saying “don’t sweat the small stuff” or as I suggest, we rewrite it for wedding planning to state “plan for the small stuff details and you won’t sweat”.

I have been married since 1973 – the oops, challenges and happenings - they all happened at our wedding and at least one of them happens at every wedding. Some things never change. This book will help you Plan for them, Minimize them and Smile through them.

This wedding planning book will help you to succeed in putting on a memorable, unique, and stress free wedding. Forge onward through these pages to discover the secret to learning how to pull it all together by just following the easy 5 steps.

Included is the industry insider stuff such as what the vendors and suppliers would like you to do, ask them and the reason why it is important. Through this direction you will acquire the knowledge of what questions to ask your vendors and suppliers. All you must do is fill in the blanks on the easy to complete templates supplied for all the steps.

As I said earlier, this is not your typical wedding planning book filled with wedding dress styles, centerpiece designs and how to walk down the aisle at the ceremony. Everyone has access to that in books, internet, and visuals on Pinterest. This book has the real stuff you need to know. It is a gift you give yourself to be happy and successful in the whole exciting process of your wedding planning.

This book shares real stories (to make a point, relate to real people and tips to make it easy) and of course professional advice.

About the Author: I knew that our youngest daughter was going to be engaged soon, so I enrolled at BCIT and got my wedding and event planning credentials in 2005. I changed careers from corporate sales analyst to something that puts meaning and joy into my life every day. In no time I put it to good use: one daughter married in 2006 and the other in 2007. I retired in 2020 but continued to expand my world. I paint and am a miniature hobbyist—both produce a connection with a memory that I want to preserve and share. I wrote this book as a memory for me, and as an educational reference book to educate you all. My goal is to make planning a wedding a wonderful experience.

My life's motto is: be interested and interesting.

Websites:
http://www.kathyforbesauthor.com
http://www.anewpaigeevent.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237476373-wedding-planning

Buy Link: https://a.co/d/cnjW6AP

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Blurb Blitz - Who Are We Now? by Beth Anderson

Beth Anderson stops by with her new book, Who Are We Now? You'll want to check it out out because it looks cool and there are prizes to be won. Like? Beth Anderson will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/08/blurb-who-are-we-now-by-beth.html

 

WHO ARE WE NOW?

Beth Anderson

As dark secrets unravel around her, Skylar must follow her heart—and maybe find her once-in-a-lifetime love.

Skylar spent years trapped—in a dead-end relationship, in her mother’s cold shadow. But when her mother vanishes without a trace, Skylar is thrust into a mystery that upends everything she thought she knew. With her two best friends, Barrett and Levi, by her side, Skylar hunts for answers—and along the way, finds herself drawn to both men in ways she never expected. As secrets unravel and danger draws near, Skylar must find the courage to reclaim her future... and her heart.

Now for an Excerpt: 

Mr. Whittington nodded. “I understand, but I want to warn you: I’ve seen a lot of complex family situations over the years, and sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone. I understand your mother is currently—absent, let’s say—and you have questions. As often as people have been relieved to find answers, I find they more often wish they hadn’t poked the bear, if you understand what I’m saying.”

“I do,” Skylar said slowly. “But I think it’s time I stop avoiding the truth.” She looked at Barrett, her pulse beginning to pound. “Whatever that is.”

Barrett reached under the table and gave her hand a squeeze.  “You’re sure?” he asked softly.

Skylar nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Alright,” Whittington, said, signaling for a passing waiter with his menu. “I’ll let Barrett run with this—with my guidance, of course, and as long as his regular workload isn’t affected.”

Barrett looked relieved. He squeezed Skylar’s hand again. “Thanks, Mr. Whittington.”

Whittington looked at the younger man. “Keep track of the hours you spend, too. I have a certain number of pro bono hours put aside every year for tax purposes.” His gaze shifted to Skylar. “I hope you won’t be offended in being my annual charity case.” He showed that tight little smile again. “And I hope you won’t regret this.”

Skylar swallowed. “No, of course not,” she said, but she wasn’t sure which of Mr. Whittington’s points she was answering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author:

“Beth Anderson” is the joint penname of a veteran author of numerous novels of several different genres and a new author who loves romance novels.  Who Are We Now?  Is the 2nd romance novel from this team the first being a lower spice Hockey Romance “Pucked Over”  

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/elby1313.bsky.social 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/253551.Beth_Anderson

Book Blog: https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/ 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elby1313?

Fable:  @elby

Brandon Barrows:

https://www.brandonbarrowscomics.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Only in September by Cynthia Flowers

Join me for this tour for Only in September by Cynthia Flowers. You'll want to stick around. Why? There are prizes to be won and an interview! What's up for grabs? Cynthia Flowers will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. How cool is that? Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/03/nbtm-tour-only-in-september-by-cynthia.html

ONLY IN SEPTEMBER

Cynthia Flowers

When Jacqueline follows her trusty Labrador Bailey down a hidden path to the beach, she's unaware that her vacation plans on a small island off the New England coast has already taken her life in a new direction. Running into an unassuming local beach comber stirs new thoughts, desires, and a self-determination she never knew she possessed. Jacqueline will need to trust her instincts and make the most of what fate has in store if she wants the future that, until now, she has only dared to dream of.

First, an interview, then an Excerpt!

Now for the Interview: 

1. Describe yourself in three words.  

• Personable, Persistent, Positive

2. Cast your book. Tell us who would play the main characters in a movie and why (send pictures!). 

• I see Chloe Sevigny who is probably best known for playing Chelsea O’Bannon in the Netflix series Bloodline and C.Z. Guest on Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. Also would consider Sharon Horgan (without the Irish accent) who is the creator and lead protagonist in Bad Sisters.

3. What’s your favorite love scene from a movie? 

• It’s a tie between the 1942 classic Casablanca, where the two lead characters—Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, and Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman—serendipitously meet again after falling in love in German-occupied Paris. The other is the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County, in which Robert Kincaid, played by Clint Eastwood, is unable to locate the covered bridge he’s been assigned to photograph in rural Madison County, Iowa. He pulls into the driveway of a nearby farmhouse to ask for directions from Francesca Johnson—played by Meryl Streep—who would become the love of his life. Both films feature several love scenes, some of a deeply emotional and spiritual nature, and others more passionate. 

4. What’s your wildest fantasy?  That Only In September gets produced as either a Hallmark Channel or streaming type of limited series.

5. If you were to lose one of your senses, which would you rather lose and why? 

• That’s a tough one, but I’d have to give the edge to my sense of smell. If I can still see and hear, I’d feel engaged with the world and able to remain active without assistance—unlike if I lost my sight or hearing. Although my appetite would likely suffer, I’d have to rely on muscle memory of how food used to smell to maintain my appetite and continue enjoying the things I used to love to eat.

6. What is the naughtiest thing you did as a kid?

• I stole a few pieces of 5-cent candy from the local candy and soda fountain shop. I’m dating myself with that price for loose candy—but what the heck. I felt awful afterward and went back to pay for them. I guess parochial grade school did some good after all.

Quickies:

Boxers or Briefs? 

• Neither apply to me but I like briefs on a man, if he can pull it off and for special occasions, a tastefully patterned boxer isn’t bad, either

Top or Bottom?  

• Both

Pajamas or nude? 

• Jammies in the winter and very skimpy in the summer

Hairy chests or smooth?

• Both are sexy but the perfect one for me is just enough hair

Alpha or Beta?

If we’re talking about a romantic partner, I like a little of both which gives me some latitude as well. I don’t do well with alpha-only type people.

Now for that Excerpt: 

With the sun barely over the horizon, Jacqueline awoke to Bailey licking her face and the best morning smell ever. Michael had the coffee pot simmering over the fire pit. 

Jacqueline wasn’t ready to give up the warmth of her sleeping bag, so she managed to sit up while still inside it. 

“Looks like you’re in a cocoon. Did you sleep well?” he asked. 

“Surprisingly, yes. I was snug as a bug,” she said with a yawn. 

“Well, one of the other reasons for camping out is to see the first rays of the sunrise, so let’s get you up so you don’t miss it.” He helped Jacqueline to her feet while she was still inside the sleeping bag. To remain steady, Michael had to hold her. She was all right with that. 

I hope this sunrise viewing lasts a while. 

Consumed by the beauty of the moment, Jacqueline felt a swelling from inside that took her nearly to the brink of tears as she looked out at the bright yellow rays that made the ocean glisten. 

“We have a few clouds, which is a good thing,” he said. “It helps make the sunrise a bit more dramatic.” 

“I bet you’ve seen lots of these,” Jacqueline replied while trying to compose herself. 

“Yes, but I never get tired of it. It’s like seeing it for the first time every time,” he shared. 

They both grew silent and took in the beauty of the early morning sky, and the warm connection of being so physically close to one another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author:

Cynthia Flowers, a recently retired advertising professional, now grant writer, resides with her husband and four-year old Labrador named Eddie, at their “sanctuary” in Upstate New York, Although previously published, this is Cynthia's first book of fiction. Early on in grade school, Cynthia looked forward to creative writing class and enjoyed reading her stories aloud to her eager classmates. 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Only-September-Cynthia-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0DWT79L6N/ref=sr_1_1

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Book Blast - The Passenger by Joie Lesin

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Joie Lesin will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She’s a 1940s ghost whisperer.

Burdened with her empathic gift, Elizabeth Reilly wants to be free of it and fit in with normal people. Nevertheless, when the spirit of an old man asks for her help, she travels across the country to help him return home.

He’s the son of a ghost.

Gio Clemente is still angry with his father who abandoned him as a child. To help the father pass on, Elizabeth must persuade Gio to let go of his anger. Though he resents her intrusion, they are both stunned to find themselves fighting a profound attraction.

Elizabeth can accept his headstrong brand of love, but can Gio accept her gift—and believe in her?

The Passenger, a 1940s ghost story set in the California wine country, tells a tale of family connections, life-changing choices, and love—lost and found.

Read an Excerpt

When her husband was on his way to her to say goodbye, she’d sweated through the cries of soldiers falling into the mud around her and the deafening noise of battle.

Don’t go there, Elizabeth. You couldn’t help him.

She’d known the only help she could provide was to help him pass on in peace.

Elizabeth had expected Patrick’s ghost to visit her. For weeks, she braved the early spring chill to await his arrival. Bundled in layers, she waited on the beach for him. Their special place. When he finally came, he met her there. Patrick sat next to her on the blanket he’d given her as a birthday present when they were younger. The one with the purple daffodils. When she thought of his final goodbye, she thought of the daffodils she’d stared down at while he talked—as if the color of the flowers were the most important detail of the day.

Yet the broken dead man who sat beside her was.

Patrick’s once handsome face wore sadness like a caul. He’d wished she would remember him as the whole and healthy man who she clung to and kissed before he shipped off to war. When she pictured the delicate purple flowers imprinted on the fabric, she overlooked the bloodied gash in his side where he’d taken the bullet.

About the Author:

Award-winning, Minnesota-based author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and poet. She is most recently the author of The Passenger (The Wild Rose Press, 2024) and her work is also featured in Scribeworth Magazine. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including mermaids and ghosts. Joie writes character-driven, emotional, atmospheric tales about heartache and hope.

Website: https://www.jlesin.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joielesin.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjoielesin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoieLesin
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joie.lesin
Goodreads BookPage: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214564853-the-passenger

The Wild Rose Press Book Page: https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-passenger/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6WBVJB9
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-passenger/id6504288982
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-passenger-joie-lesin/1008401528?ean=2940185717905
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-passenger-48

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Book Blast - The Rebellious Countess by Helene Matheson

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Helene Matheson will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Society may be run by the men of the ton, but six scandalous sisters are determined to take it by storm one gentleman at a time.

Máira Blair married for love, her honeymoon trip with the Earl of Dorset is a dream come true—until reality turns it into a nightmare. Máira wakes up to discover her husband isn’t an earl, but the captain of a pirate ship and what was supposed to be her honeymoon, is a voyage bound for war-torn France. If that isn’t enough to disparage her husband’s character, he abandons her in the middle of a French port where she must find a way to survive as she defends her virtue and her life. Just when she’s convinced of what kind of rogue she married, the pirate transforms into a hero on a quest to save her and the missing Earl of Astley.

Sir Elias Drake married for convenience, he needed a Scottish bride to complete his mission. He can resist his desire for his beautiful wife, especially after she discovers his true identity. Except Máira Blair was more than he bargained for. He needs her skills, cherishes her compassion, and is tormented by her passion, which only makes him want her and the life their marriage represents more.

It will require both of their talents to rescue the Earl of Astley, and it will take more than a war to defeat their hard-won love—if they can escape.

Read an Excerpt

He wanted to catalog her injuries and soothe her pain. While Jack wanted to douse the fire in her lovely eyes. For that look alone, Elias put his foot in front of the man and gave Jack a shove.

Máira stepped forward in a futile attempt to catch the bastard, but was too late to stop his fall. Jack twisted his body mid-air, in time to keep his nose from hitting the floor. The muffled grunt he released caused Máira to flinch and a few men in the bar to raise their glasses to toast the nasty bugger’s predicament.

She turned on him, eyes flashing as if she suffered the same brutality. “Do you think treating a member of your crew with violence will earn my trust?”

“You don’t understand what he wanted to do to you.”

“The same thing you wanted to do to me?”

He snorted. “Not even close. I was defending your honor.”

Máira looked down at her torn and soiled dress, then lifted a limp curl from her shoulder. “You do it well.”

His guileless bride didn’t understand Jack’s evil intent, nor did she appreciate Elias’s manner of defending her honor. He ground his teeth. She was sizing him up like she had never done before, and he had to school the anger seeping through the facade of polite concern he’d worn since the moment she’d walked into the bar and he’d seen her battered face. She knew the warm-hearted, polite Ellison Collins, Earl of Dorset, not Sir Elias Drake, ruthless killer, spy, and recovery agent for the Crown.

About the Author:

Helene Matheson writes steamy regency historical romance novels with intelligent, unstoppable heroines who don’t require an alpha male to save them—having one in their bed is another story.

Helene moved south for fun in the sun after she retired from public service and began pursuing her life-long dream of writing. She wrote the Amazon best-selling mystery series The Book Barn Mysteries for Lyrical Press and has written multiple award-winning romantic suspense novels under Kym Roberts.

In her spare time she can be found woodcarving by the pool or blogging for The Cozy Corner on Fresh Fiction. To contact her on social media, you can find her under KymRoberts911 on FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Her books can also be found on her websites.

Helene Matheson: http://www.HeleneMatheson.com
Kym Roberts: http://www.KymRoberts.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRDM5CSH
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rebellious-countess-helene-matheson/1147883832
Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Rebellious-Countess/Helene-Matheson/9781648399787

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VBT - Arabesque by MG da Mota

 It's a blog post and there are prizes to be won! Like? One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. How cool is that? Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/05/nbtm-fs-tour-arabesque-by-m-g-da-mota.html

ARABESQUE

M G da Mota

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A woman living alone in a coastal Sussex town in 1998 plants a copper beech sapling at 3 a.m. on a dark, cold night. Why?

A ballet dancer in 1960s East Germany is oppressed, longs for escaping with his little daughter but not his wife. Why? Will he make it?

In 2022 Karsten von Stein, widower and principal of the Royal Ballet, with two young children, meets Ivone Benjamim, a Portuguese, newly-arrived principal dancer. They discover a magical chemistry when dancing and soon it transfers to their private lives.

Against the background of ballet and its dancers, a woman called Grace tells her story from a rehab centre. Obsessive, delusional she begins believing Ivone robbed her of the man of her dreams—Karsten. And then a skeleton is found in a garden...What connects all these people and their stories?

You’ll be the audience facing the stage of this balletic novel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for an Excerpt:

First Variation – Amadeus 

Berlin, East Germany, July 1965

Amadeus gazes at his wife. Margarete or Grete, as is her preference, sleeps, exhausted from the effort of birth. Her hair appears glued to her forehead, wet from perspiration. Next to her, in a plain white hospital baby cot, their daughter is also asleep. He touches the little girl’s head gently. The baby, a small bundle inside the clothes too large for her, stirs marginally but does not wake. He arranges the cover around her slight body to keep her warm. She was born with hair, if one could call the blonde fluff hair. His chest swells. He already loves that little person with all the force of his being. Swallowing a couple of emotional tears he realises he will do anything, anything, to protect her. He wants her to grow up in peace, in freedom, to be able to make her own choices. With a heavy heart he wonders whether such wishes will ever be possible in this German Democratic Republic where democratic is a word devoid of meaning.

East Germany may be a lot of things but democratic is not one of them. Will he be able to adequately protect this tiny being and give her all she deserves? His chest tightens. He may have to shelter her from her own mother. Feeling shivers down his spine he recalls how his fears, his suspicions were confirmed a few months earlier, just after Grete told him she was pregnant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author: 

M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.

Website: https://www.flowingprose.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m.g.da.mota

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margarida-mota-bull/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mgdamota/

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VBT - Shooting Stars Above by Patricia Leavy

It's a book tour and today I'm featuring Patricia Leavy's Shooting Stars Above. You'll want to keep reading because there's a fun interview and prizes to be won! Like? Patricia Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. How cool is that? Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2024/12/nbtm-shooting-stars-above-by-patricia.html

SHOOTING STARS ABOVE

Patricia Leavy

For fans of Colleen Hoover comes an emotionally charged contemporary romance about a internationally best-selling novelist and a federal agent fighting to heal past wounds.

Tess Lee is a world-famous novelist. Her inspirational books explore people’s innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel—but despite her extraordinary success, she’s been unable to find personal happiness. Jack Miller is a federal agent working in counterterrorism. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He’s dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself.

The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, “I’ve never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides.” The two embark on an epic love story, but old traumas soon rise to the surface as Jack struggles with the death of a loved one and Tess is forced to confront her childhood abuse. Can unconditional love help heal their invisible wounds? Together, will they be able to move from darkness to light?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for the Interview: 

1. Describe yourself in three words.

Creative, compassionate, clumsy.

2. Cast your book. Tell us who would play the main characters in a movie and why.

I know most authors can do this, and for a lot of my books I can, but not this one. Maybe it’s because I see them so clearly in my mind and they aren’t modeled after celebrities or maybe it’s because I don’t want to jinx anything. I will tell you that if there was a movie based on the book, which would be beyond amazing, I wouldn’t see it. Just like the main character Tess Lee who is also a novelist, I need my characters to live in my head as I’ve created them.

3. What’s your favorite love scene from a movie?

Ooh, so many. I love the scene in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when they fall for each other in his family’s house and go into the shower. I also love the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s when they kiss in the rain. My favorite love scenes are usually the sweet and sappy romantic ones. I’m a sucker for those.

4. What’s your wildest fantasy?

I’m super boring or maybe just hopelessly middle aged. I did a lot of wild things when I was young. Now, my greatest fantasy is taking a day off to watch Christmas movies all day (the cheesy love story kind) and eat all my favorite guilty pleasure foods like fried mozzarella sticks. I’d wash it down with a bottle of Sancerre. To me, that sounds fabulous! It’s “wild” compared to working every day and eating fish and salad with green tea.

5. If you were to lose one of your senses, which would you rather lose and why?

Smell. There are a lot of things that don’t smell good. On top of that, my husband is definitely hard of smelling. So, if there’s something rancid in the refrigerator or somewhere, he never notices, and it drives me nuts.

6. What is the naughtiest thing you did as a kid?

My friend and I once stole a math test and hid it. Other kids egged us on. Of course, we got busted and got in trouble. We still had to take the test. I did not do well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for an Excerpt: 


“So, what do you do?” she asked.

“I’m a federal agent with the Bureau—counterterrorism. I joined the military right out of high school, Special Forces. I was in the field, often deep undercover, until about a year ago, when I took a desk job as the head of my division.”

“Wow, you’re like the real-life Jack Bauer. You even look a little like him, with that whole rugged, handsome hero thing you have going on,” she said.

He blushed and ran his hand through his light brown hair. “I promise you I’m no Jack Bauer, even on my best day. People thought that character was so tragic, but the real tragedy is that Jack Bauer doesn’t exist, and you’re stuck with guys like me.”

She smiled. “What made you choose that line of work?”

“My parents raised me and my siblings to value community, to be patriotic. My father was in the military and then became a firefighter. The idea of service always seemed important. I wanted to serve my country, to protect people. It’s hard to explain, but when I see someone innocent being threatened, I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to protect them. I know it sounds cliché, but I feel like it’s my purpose in life.”

“That’s noble,” she remarked.

He shook his head. “The lived reality often isn’t. When you spend most of your life in the abyss, it gets pretty dark.”

“A residue remains, right?” she asked.

He looked at her intently, a little surprised. “Yes, exactly.”

“I understand. You convince yourself it’s all been for something that matters more than you do, that whatever part of yourself you sacrificed was worth it, because it simply has to be.”

He looked at her as if she had read his innermost thoughts. “Yes,” he said softly. “Tell me, what do you do?”

“I’m a novelist.”

“What are your books about?”

“That’s a difficult question to answer. I guess I wanted to write about everything: what it means to live a life, why it’s so hard, and how it could be easier. To walk people through the darkness, in a way. Perhaps my goals were too lofty, and in that respect, each book fails more spectacularly than the one before.”

The bartender smirked.

Tess wistfully said, “Maybe reality can never live up to our dreams.”

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About the Author:

Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than fifty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book honors. Recently, her novel The Location Shoot was featured in Ms. Career Girl's “10 Perfect Books to Get Your Fall Reading List Started” and She Reads in “Novels to Read if You Love Classic Movies” and was the 2024 Best Book Awards First Place Winner in Women’s Fiction. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” Patricia lives in Maine and serves on the board of the London Arts-Based Research Centre. In addition to writing, she enjoys movies, art, reading, and travel.

Website: https://patricialeavy.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Stars-Above-Celestial-Romances-ebook/dp/B0CYJ76ZXK/ref=sr_1_1

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Book Blast - Blood in the Shadows by Hawk MacKinney

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When marine buddy, Gulfport, Mississippi Sheriff asks Craige Ingram for help, Ingram and Buckingham Parish patrolman ‘Badger’ Thomas Boback find themselves in the summertime dogdays of the humid Gulf Coast. With crowded beaches and an undermanned staff, a routine investigation soon becomes anything but routine when indescribable body parts start showing up along the surf, in beachfront cabins, half-buried in bayou wetlands, stashed under freeway bridges, and across county lines. Craige’s search for answers to identifying victims and killer among the crowds of tourists and skin-and-sun partygoers soon makes it obvious the victims have no connection with one another—until conflicting DNA results and haunting premonitions resembling the warnings Craige’s grannie often had become part of the investigation. The jigsaw of abandoned cross-kin offspring begin a horrifying Gordian Knot tangle that threatens anyone who approaches the shadowy ancient wreck of an old mansion - an asylum from a lost time.

Read an Excerpt

Romona Cowan stepped back and looked at her handiwork. Black goop, flaxseed, and smelly oil-based paint dripped from the brush in her hand. With two fingers she gingerly propped the framed sign against the rusty decorative iron corner post. The sign canted off-center on the post, a singular reminder of the elegance of the iron fence that once stood around the small postage-stamp of a front yard. She took another look. Fingers, hands, one sleeve of her work shirt, and yard jeans were paint-smeared. Days ago, when she brushed the leaf litter off the fallen sign, the lettering was hardly visible, and she thought she might have to buy wood for a new sign. Penny-wise Ramona decided on a can of paint instead. The paint had peeled, left the frame bare in spots, but it hadn’t rotted. For someone who’d always been told she could never do nothing right, her Gran’mère Nana’s fixed-up sign come out looking nice and bright. The letters came out wobbly in a couple of places, but from the street no one would notice. She gave it a last here and-there touch-up.

Madame Nana Rowena
PALMISTRY READINGS by appointment

She said to herself, “Nana doesn’t want to do readings anymore. I’ll tell anyone that comes in I’m her granddaughter, Mademoiselle Ra mona.” With a soft mumble, “No point changing what ever’body expects.” She’d put the sign out in the sun and take it inside at night. Let it dry a couple or three days, then stick it out in the front yard where Gran’mère Nana first put it up. Right out there where folks driving along the beach in their fancy cars could see it real clear. The sign looked almost brand new. It would make those prissy rich kids that snobbed her in school because she was different jealous all over again. Besides, school was boring; a good enough reason to drop out.

About the Author:

Hawk MacKinney has authored several award-winning works of fiction that include THE MOCCASIN HOLLOW MYSTERY SERIES and THE CAIRNS OF SAINCTUARIE SCIENCE FICTION SERIES. His historical romance MOCCASIN TRACE was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award.

Cross-genre character-driven plots reflect Hawk MacKinney’s southwest upbringing along the Texas and Oklahoma borders. With postgraduate faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem.

Website: http://www.hawkmackinneyauthor.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Shadows-Hawk-MacKinney/dp/B0FG47PDSV/ref=sr_1_1

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