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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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 - 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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Book Blast - In Search of Recognition by Jim McAllister

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jim McAllister 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.

In Search of Recognition: The Story of Search and Rescue in British Columbia provides background on why and how organized volunteer search and rescue became a reality in the province, and how search and rescue evolved over many years to meet the increasing demands of finding lost people and rescuing those injured outdoors. The primary focus of the thousands of volunteers is to save the lives of persons lost or injured outdoors; training and fundraising for equipment and other costs also require time and energy. Through personal involvement and references, the author provides insights into how funding and other support for the volunteer service was achieved, through government, responsible agencies, organizations and individuals working together to find ways to assist those who strive "so others may live."

Read an Excerpt

Civil defence continued to be the focus of all levels of government in BC during the 1960s. The cold war standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies continued to escalate as nuclear capabilities grew. Air raid siren tests were common along with drills in schools in BC. Citizens in Comox were treated to the sights and sounds of Voodoo fighter jets launching to intercept Russian long-distance bombers. The RCAF remained the lead for air and marine search and rescue, from their base on Sea Island. Searches for missing aircraft and vessels in distress were numerous, as technology such as tracking and alerting systems were yet to be developed or in their infancy.

About the Author: Jim McAllister has been involved in search and rescue for over 45 years, starting as a volunteer member in the Rocky Mountains in 1977 with Golden and District SAR and then Cranbrook SAR. He became the SAR specialist for the Province of B.C. in 2002. In 2008, Jim retired from the provincial government as a director with Emergency Management British Columbia and became a volunteer director for special projects with the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association. Jim has been involved with many major projects: the establishment of Avalanche Canada, the updating of volunteer reimbursement rates, the establishment of health and safety guidelines, the formation of a joint health and safety committee, Swiftwater Rescue standards, sustainable funding for search and rescue and the establishment of the British Columbia Search and Rescue Volunteer Memorial. Jim wrote a book on the last project, titled A Monument to Remember, and one on incidents, titled One Week in August: Stories from Search and Rescue in British Columbia.

Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/1779627394
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/519145.Jim_McAllister

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Book Blast - Being Broken by Geoffrey R Jonas

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Geoffrey R. Jonas 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.

A young woman dies alone in a hotel room, her fentanyl-poisoned cocaine still on the desk. She had been missing for nearly 2 weeks. Social Services had been trying to find a place for her to live with her 3-year-old son, whom she had left with her parents. Six months later her father fights for his life in intensive care, but succumbs to his illness because of a lifelong use of alcohol and tobacco. A month after his death her mother is assessed by doctors to be unable to care for herself because of her Alzheimer's and mental health issues brought on by benzodiazepine and alcohol addiction.

The son, brother, stepson is the only one left to pick up the pieces. He begins a journey of the self and finds out the truth of his family. After going over letters, notes, emails, videos, and text messages, he uncovers a disturbing picture of the abuse his sister suffered at the hands of their parents. He also begins to better understand his own struggles with mental health and substance addiction because of the trauma and abuse he also suffered from their parents.

Follow the son as he looks through his family history to discover the generational abuse that trickled down through the years. Learn about how parents who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder emotionally abuse and manipulate their children. See how the abuse and trauma becomes mental illness in the abused, and how they fall into vicious traps of addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Witness the transformational change of the son as he works on the recovery of his inner child and tries to become the man he was meant to be.

Read an Excerpt

Essay: Fault vs. Responsibility and Blame

Before I continue, I wanted to interject a discussion on fault versus responsibility and blame. My ability to have forgiven my father all came down to a discussion with my therapist on whether they were at fault for my trauma, or if they were responsible or to blame for that trauma.

Human beings are not born with instincts. A baby left on its own will die. It will not search for food, it will not try to move or walk, and its only means of communication are cries. Many animals are born with instincts, such as marsupials or rodents that instinctively move to a mammary gland or an ungulate that will attempt to get up and walk or move, as soon as it is able, to find food.

With this truth in mind, the conclusion is that all human behaviour is learned from our caretakers, then our peers as we get older. Early childhood development dictates that children learn behavioural responses as soon as they are engaged by a caregiver. If we give them love and support, they develop healthy adaptations to the world around them. If their cries are unheeded and we leave them abandoned and rejected, a myriad of mental health issues will emerge as they get older.

This leads to how we apply fault vs. blame to behaviour and choices people make as they get older. We can’t fault a child for being racist if that is what their caregiver taught them; however, we can blame them for their actions if they are cruel and make the choice to harm others because of what they learned.

Further, we cannot fault an individual that suffers from a serious mental health issue if they have learned that adaptive behaviour due to not being provided with the proper love and support as they were developing. Again, however, we can blame them for making choices that cause harm to others. It is not their fault that their learned behaviours condition them to make poor choices, but they are still choices that have consequences.

This is a key factor in generational abuse and trauma. A child that grows up in an abusive home develops poor adaptive skills and behaviours. This can lead to all kinds of poor coping skills such as abusive behaviour towards others, self-harm, eating disorders, Substance Use Disorders, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and an array of other mental health issues.

However, these disorders are treatable. It is critical that once we identify these types of behaviours, the individual begins a process of treatment and therapy to unlearn them and develop healthy ones instead. This took me years, and it is a lot of work. Many cannot do so without the proper support structures to allow it to happen. It is vital that treatment happens to end the generational cycle of abuse.

About the Author: Geoffrey is a first-time author. He lives peacefully by a lake, spending his time writing, painting, gardening, and woodworking. His recovery is ongoing, and he enjoys his privacy and seclusion.

Website: https://geoffreyrjonas.ca
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55118142.Geoffrey_R_Jonas
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/livingwithcptsd.bsky.social
Amazon: https://a.co/d/eJTO4wq

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Book Blast - Inn the Dead of Winter by Rhonda Blackhurst

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rhonda Blackhurst will be awarding a free e-book of Inn the Dead of Winter or book one, Inn the Spirit of Murder to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to Spirit Lake in the dead of a Minnesota winter, where the brutally cold temp isn't the only thing to fear.

Andie Rose Kaczmarek, a six-year sober life coach and owner of the haunted Spirit Lake Inn, has learned the hard way that the living are far more dangerous than anything in the spirit world.

When a controversial guest fails to return to her room on the same night a body is discovered in a fish house on Big Spirit Lake, Andie Rose teams up with her sponsor and sidekick, Sister Alice, and her emotional support red retriever, Aspen, to solve the case.

After Andie Rose discovers illegal activity on the inn’s property that ties to the murder, the investigation shifts into high gear. As she uncovers shocking secrets of those she thought she knew, someone is intent on keeping her quiet at any cost.

Can the inn’s resident ghost save her from impending harm when it seems the ones closest to her pose the greatest threat?

Read an Excerpt

Tootsie’s attitude hung between them, and I held my breath for a moment.

“Knock it off, Toots.” Simon’s voice was a low grumble.

“Knock what off?” She turned on him. “Showing the ladies how to live a little? That they’re not only a mom and a wife, but they’re also their own person?”

Simon grasped his wife’s upper arm. “Toots,” he warned. He turned his attention toward Bobby and Jerry. “You’ll have to excuse my wife, gentlemen. She’s become a bit too, shall we say, independent, as she gets older.”

She released a heavy sigh. “Lighten up, Simon. You say that like it’s a bad thing. I have always been independent. This isn’t the dark ages. Women have every right to be independent of men.”

Again, I agreed wholeheartedly with Tootsie, but swallowed my retort to Simon. A gift sobriety had given me. The ability to keep my mouth shut sometimes.

“Refreshments,” I said merrily as I could to lift the cloud that levitated in the room. Two guests had been smart and skittered from the room unnoticed from all except me.

“Aspen’s with Jade,” Sister Alice said as she came through the door. She quirked a brow as she scanned the guests and touched the crucifix that hung around her neck. “Do I sense tension in the room? What did I miss?”

Tootsie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “My husband emerging from a cave.”

Abut the Author: Rhonda is an avid reader, writer, coffee and dark chocolate connoisseur, and certified life coach. She has 10 independently published novels: The Inheritance, a contemporary fiction novel; seven books in the Melanie Hogan Mysteries; and Finding Abby and Abby's Redemption in the Whispering Pines Romantic Suspense duology. She was awarded the 2022 Master of Literary Arts Award from the Brighton Chamber.

Website: http://www.rhondablackhurst.com
Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhonda.blackhurst.1
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rjblackhurst/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhonda.blackhurst
BookBub: https://partners.bookbub.com/my_books
TWRP Buy Link: https://wildrosepress.com/product/inn-the-dead-of-winter/

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Book Blast - Bad Guy by Ana Diamond

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ana Diamond 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.

Luke Daniels has done his fair share of bad things. But when the FBI offers him a deal in exchange for infiltrating the local Mafia’s infamous Costa Crew, Luke has no choice but to accept the challenge.

Beautiful, smart and tough, Sophia Costa wants out of the Crew. Appointed boss by her brother after he’s sent to prison, she wants no part in the murder, deceit and secrecy typical of Mafia life.

Just as things heat up between Luke and Sophia, a mysterious hitman targets Sophia, and Luke’s handler starts to wonder if Luke is up for the task.

As the lovers face the possibility of losing everything in order to be together, the line between loyalty and betrayal blur.

Read an Excerpt

“If they find out I’m a snitch, they’ll kill me,” Luke Daniels warned Special Agent Troy Wilson.

A hole-in-the-wall diner at a rest stop in northeastern Nevada was the last place Luke thought he’d ever find himself.

The agent’s expression remained stoic. “That’s a risk we’re willing to take. It’s you who needs to decide if walking free from cyber-crime and drug trafficking charges is worth it.

“Hmm. A max sentence of twenty years versus getting killed,” Luke mused. “A lose-lose decision no matter what I decide.”

Luke relaxed his posture while rubbing the stubble on his chin as the waitress set down two cups of black coffee in front of them; the roasted nutty smell instantly perked him up. She said nothing, barely acknowledged them with her heavily hooded eyes, as if she were doing her own hard time working at a diner until the end of her pathetic life. This dusty part of the world wasn’t trying to please anyone.

As he glanced around the empty run-down diner, Luke knew he’d rather be here than in prison for most of his life. “Why not find some guy who knows the mafia world?”

“If you’re smart enough to run a massive drug ring, we’re pretty confident you can infiltrate the Costa Crew. We tend to select those who’ve had some success in their criminal lives. You raked in quite a bit of money during your stint, and you did it without losing any limbs. Resilience is the key to this game, which I believe you possess.” He raised both palms in a “hold off” gesture. “Or you can spend the rest of your life in prison. It’s your choice.”

About the Author: When Ana Diamond isn't writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AuthorDiamond
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anadiamondauthor
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/anadiamondauthor
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/anadiamondauthor
Tiktok: http://www.tiktok.com/anadiamondauthor
Threads: http://www.threads.com/anadiamonauthor
Bluesky: http://www.bluesky.com/diamonda.bsky.social
Website: https://www.anadiamondauthor.com

Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMqAQa

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VBT - Bitroux: High Country by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes

 It's a book tour and this time it's for Bitroux: High Country by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes. You'll want to keep reading. Why? There's not only a fascinating book snippet ahead, but there are prizes! Like? A randomly drawn winner will be awarded a $25 Amazon/BN gift card. How cool is that? Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: 
https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2024/12/fsvbt-bitroux-high-country-by-jordan.html

Bitroux: High Country by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes

If Merouac ever thought his life’s work would culminate in leading the metal workshops of the Transcontinental Railroad Project, he was sorely mistaken.

Now, his true challenge lies in navigating the other-worldly abilities he’s only beginning to understand—abilities that allow him to tune metal to interdimensional frequencies.

While trying to be a guardian to his niece, Evra, he’s realising she may have more to teach him than he ever expected. At the same time, his decision to help an interdimensional race find refuge underground puts him at the centre of an even deeper mystery.

As reality reshapes itself around him, Merouac faces a growing realisation: the world of Ahm is on the brink of a profound transformation, and everything he thought he knew may soon be shattered.

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

Now for An Excerpt:

The two men were slow moving, graceful, each with a high mohawk of golden straw-like hair, and heavily decorated with neck jewels. The neck-ware was gnarled, twisted, fibrous, fragments of plant stems dried and interwoven with beads and fresh flowers, trussed with other leaves and organic material, and embedded with strange jewels that seemed to glow and fade, changing colours across a spectrum of blues to greens and then back to blues.

Tundra inclined his head, made a small gesture and a bow.

‘He greets you,’ Kii translated. ‘Tundra does not speak very much, and so I’ll translate for him.’

‘How do you know what he wants to say, then?’ Merouac asked.

‘I can see it, or sense it, in the atmosphere,’ Kii explained.

Merouac watched in surprise as the Tundra gestured again, imparting information through the aether which Kii seemed to easily recieve and decipher.

Tundra then eased himself into a crouching position and cleared a patch of grass. He shook his head and determined it would not suit, and looked for a sandy patch. He moved over to another, more suitable, patch of ground and beckoned the other two to join him. He went through the same process of clearing the ground, and then used his fingers to trace lines into the sand. He was silent as he did so, but then looked at Kii expectantly, and Kii nodded.

‘Tundra said you did the right thing with the race that was escaping their imploding planet. They are safe, and they will rest in the core of Ahm now. Tundra was just drawing a map for me, to show me where they are.’

Merouac felt a shock run through him. ‘How does Tundra know about the Helara?’ he asked Kii.

‘There are things that can be seen in the energetic environment. He is able to perceive the place where the Helara now rest. It is under the power grid, deep below Suron. There is a cave network, and catacombs with very deep canyons. Below those canyons, this is where you found a place for the Helara to enter the core of the planet. It was the right thing to do,’ Kii said, translating as he watched Tundra’s fingers work in the sand.

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

Jordan Harcourt-Hughes is an abstract painter, writer and communications professional. She’s passionate about all aspects of creativity, life-long learning and personal wellbeing. Over the last fifteen years she’s led, coached and developed creative professionals across the Asia-Pacific region. 

Jordan’s books, studio workshops, courses, coaching and resources are an invitation to explore the rich landscape of creative experiences open to all.

High Country is Jordan’s second novel set in the world of Bitroux.

Website: https://jordanharcourthughes.com

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

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

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Book Blast - Sensible Shoes by Cindy Causey

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cindy Causey 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.

At her fiftieth birthday party, Tess Thomason, a plain-Jane, divorced mother and decidedly unprepared women’s newspaper columnist, is blindsided by her well-meaning family with a stack of gift cards she interprets as meaning she’s fat, frumpy, and wrinkled. Facing a lonely future and failing career, Tess embarks on a journey of self-discovery, taking her readers along for the ride. But her resolve is nearly derailed by a hilarious season of family chaos that includes a surprise pregnancy, rushed wedding, and unexpected houseguests. In the midst of it all, Tess is drawn into a confusing new relationship with a man who is impossibly perfect for her. But if she can keep herself, her family, and her willpower firmly seated on the crazy roller coaster of her life, maybe Tess will find her own self-worth and a new love in the bargain.

Read an Excerpt

“Tess, Tess, I’m not expecting you to write like Sylvia. I’m not even expecting you to write about fashion. What I have in mind is a column to women, for women, about women. Real women. Like one of those influencers on the Internet. You know…funny, wise, poignant, and… relevant.”

The creeping dread, now fully formed, tossed a grenade into my stomach. She might as well have asked me to write like Shakespeare. “You want me to be funny, wise, poignant, and…relevant? Are you insane?”

Okay, I may have stepped over the line with that last bit, because Ruth’s face twisted a little in the ominous way I had seen so often just before she pounded her fist on the desk. “Just write the damn thing, Tess. I don’t care if you’re funny, wise, poignant, or what was the other thing?”

“Relevant,” I murmured.

“Relevant, for God’s sake. Just do it. I need a column for the women’s page starting next week, and you’re it. Write about what you know. Family. Food. The laundry. You’ve got family. You’ve got laundry. It’ll be a cinch.”

“But—”

“No buts. Just do it. It’ll be good for you. You need to get out of your rut.” She turned her attention to her computer screen.

As if in a trance, I rose from the chair and turned to leave. “Oh, Tess?” she said without looking at me.

“Yes?” Maybe she’s changed her mind; she saw my outfit, and she changed her mind.

“Happy birthday.”

About the Author:

Cindy Causey taught herself to type in the 8th grade because she couldn't write in her diary fast enough in longhand. A degree and career in advertising were the result. A fifteen-year stint as a copy chief at JCPenney Catalog led to the position of Internet Marketing Manager for JCPenney.com.

After 20 years at JCPenney, Cindy retired in December, 2007, and began working full time with her husband Scott in their multi-media production company, Dallas Media Center. They specialized in audio/video production and editing, vintage media transfer to DVD and CD, as well as website design and hosting. Cindy shuttered the company in 2021, three years after Scott passed away.

After her first book, a non-fiction work called Cherish the Gift: a Congregational Guide to Earth Stewardship, was published, Cindy began writing fiction. She found her voice in romance, the stories of the struggles two people endure on the road to happily ever-after. Her debut novel, A Different Drum was published in May 2009 by The Wild Rose Press, followed by A Hot Time in Texas that same year.

In early 2025, her latest novel, Sensible Shoes, a humorous look at a woman struggling with life after 50, was published by The Wild Rose Press. It will be followed in late 2025 by a romantic suspense novel entitled Saving Samantha.

Cindy makes her home in Dallas, Texas. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her 5 grown children and 4 grandchildren. She would like to see the edges of the entire world from the deck of a cruise ship.

BLOG: https://thewidowwoman.com/
WEBSITE: https://cindycausey.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.ubbencausey
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cindycausey2
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@cucausey
PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/causey3994/

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VBT - For You I'd Break by Hannah Jordan

 It's a book tour and there is a lot to unpack here! This book, For You I'd Break, looks to be great. Check it out, along with the interview. You'll also want to stay tuned for the prizes. Like? The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. How cool is that? Want more chances to win? Then comment and follow the tour. You can follow it here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2024/08/nbtm-virtual-book-tour-for-you-id-break.html

For You I'd Break
by 
Hannah Jordan

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

When Rowan’s two-year marriage ends with a crash, she returns home to Peace Falls, VA, riding shotgun in her sister’s 1990 Cadillac hearse. Everything about her is damaged: her heart, her pride, her bank account, and her spine—thanks to a tourist, a Segway, and finding her husband getting busy with her boss. But Rowan is determined to reclaim her career and city life as soon as she recuperates and lands a new job.

Caleb “Cal” Cardoso didn’t notice wallflower Rowan in high school, but the former football star, and Peace Falls’s newest physical therapist, can’t take his eyes off the stunning redhead now. Too bad he’s sworn off relationships. After his last hookup purposely tanked his online reputation, Cal stands to lose his job if a single patient leaves his care. Which is why he can’t let Rowan switch to another practitioner, despite the friction between them, and why he definitely can’t act on his growing attraction.

Rowan agrees to remain Cal’s patient if he helps her younger brother train for football tryouts. Though Cal hasn’t touched a football since the accident that killed his best friend, he agrees, and as Cal helps heal Rowan’s body, she begins to heal his heart.

For You I’d Break is a small town romance with a hefty dash of spice, a HEA ending, and a cast of memorable characters, including a goth sculptor who secretly loves to decorate cakes, a fearsome-looking felon with a heart of gold, a hothead with a sweet side, a karma-devoted barista who collects damaged pets and first dates, and a lovable dog with more emotional sense than everyone put together.

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

Now for the Interview:

1. Describe yourself in three words.

Quirky, gritty, and kind.

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

I have no idea! I’d love to hear who your readers would cast.

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

I loved The Notebook reunion scene. Though, let’s be real, the Bridgerton spicy scenes top any I’ve seen in a movie.

4. What’s your wildest fantasy?

To make enough writing to support my family, so we can travel the world together. I love the idea of living and working without boundaries. My husband is a great provider, but we’re firmly planted.

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

Definitely smell. I imagine it would be the easiest to live without since I lose it whenever I have a cold. It wouldn’t really affect how I interact with people and the world.

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

I once wrote my brother’s name on the wall in red crayon to get back at him for breaking my toy. He has dyslexia, so I even reversed the “e” in his name. He tried to tell our mom that I’d done it, but she didn’t believe him because:

1). It was his name.
2). I didn’t reverse my letters.

We were laughing about it recently in front of her, and she scolded me (35 years later). To be fair, he’s two years older than me and was twice as big as me when it happened, so I had to get revenge the sneaky way.

Quickies:
Boxers or Briefs?
Boxer Briefs

Top or Bottom?
Both

Pajamas or nude?
Pajamas. I’m always freezing.

Hairy chests or smooth?
Smooth

Alpha or Beta?
Alpha

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

And an Excerpt:

Being a wallflower makes you thirsty, so parched for attention your heart feels brittle. Then after years—or in my case a lifetime—someone finally sees you. The exquisite feeling seeps deep, the attention saturating your life. So, you jump, headfirst. The red flags go unnoticed. Declarations of love tossed as lightly as petals. Maybe you marry him, like I did. Maybe you bloom in domestic bliss with a house in the suburbs and two adorable kids. Maybe a dog. Bare minimum a pet turtle. 

I wasn’t so lucky.

After two years of marriage, instead of house hunting in the outskirts of DC, I was riding shotgun in my sister’s 1990 Cadillac hearse, headed back to Peace Falls, VA, with everything I owned stuffed where a coffin ought to be. 

I’d cried so much in the past three hours, I could barely make out the foothills rising in the distance. My throat was raw. Crumpled tissues littered the floorboard, and lint covered my leggings. 

The tears surprised me. Apart from a couple of late-night phone calls to my mother after I left the hospital, I’d held it together pretty well. I was too busy tying up the loose ends of my life in DC to feel anything but stressed. The moment Poppy arrived to drive me home, the tears started and built with every box, bag, and lamp we slid into the hearse.

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

About the Author:

Hannah Jordan grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia but wound up in South Jersey after falling in love with her complete opposite. She's got all the degrees of a "serious" fiction writer but only smiles when she's writing romance.

She lives with her husband and two daughters in a picturesque town outside of Philadelphia where she enjoys reading in all genres, especially the spicy ones, and confusing people with her half-Southern, half-Northern accent.

The first book in her Peace Falls Small Town Romance Series, For You I’d Break, launched July 17, 2024.

Website: https://hannahjordanauthor.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hannahjordanbooks

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/hannahjordanbooks

Amazon Buy Link:   https://www.amazon.com/You-Id-Break-Second-Romance-ebook/dp/B0D5VNSHF3/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top

Free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

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

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Book Blast - Where Is Love? by Annie Caboose

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Annie Caboose 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.

While walking in the garden one day, Annie, a curious little ant from Hillsville, meets a single poppy flower called Love. They become instant friends, sharing stories, laughing and talking for hours on end. Then one autumn day Annie goes to visit Love, but Love is not there. Remembering the rhyme that Love told her, she sets off on an adventure to find Love.

Love is with you every day.
Love is never far away.
Go search, go find and then you’ll see
All the places Love can be.

But don’t forget to look within
For often, that’s where Love begins.

May Annie’s story inspire anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved being, to look and perhaps still find them within their lives and within themselves.

Read an Excerpt

About the Author:

Annie, a.k.a. the Caboose, is the youngest of nine children. Her loving mother read her lots of children’s stories, including some she wrote herself. Inspired by her mom, Annie wrote her first book, Where is Love? She resides on a lake in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, fascinated by the many birds that live there too.

Website: https://anniecaboose.com
Amazon: https://a.co/d/4MLCYGf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anniecaboose/

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Blurb Blitz - Lesser Known Travel Tips!

This post is part of a virtual book tour of the LESSER KNOWN TRAVEL TRIPS series, How to React When Woken at 3am by Drunk Argentinian Backpackers While Staying in a Youth Hostel and Other Lesser Known Travel Tips by Simon Yeats. The author 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.

Book 4 of an original and hilarious book series of travel misadventures and dubious personal introspection by Australian author Simon Yeats, who from an early age learned that the best way to approach the misfortunes of this world is to laugh about them. Simon shares his comedic insights into the unusual and uproarious elements of living life as an Aussie ex-pat and having a sense of Wanderlust as pervasive as COVID hysteria in the early part of this decade. From how to negotiate traffic in Los Angeles when your car can only drive at 5 miles/hr, to what to do when locked out of your hotel room in your underwear, to the emotions of attempting the world’s second highest bungee when you have a pathological fear of heights, to how to deal with the trials and tribulations of staying in a youth hostel with travelers who have no respect for the other guests. Simon Yeats has gone into the world and experienced all the out of the ordinary moments for you to sit back and enjoy the experience without the need to empty your bank account, get squeezed sitting in a middle airline seat, or deal with border security at the Ukraine/Russia boundary.

Read an Excerpt

Big Wednesday was my first day at work as a liftie on the Burgess Creek lift at the Steamboat ski resort as a wide-eyed 20-year-old. I do not remember the exact date, but I am absolutely certain it was a Wednesday because everyone who was present at the resort that day referred to it as ‘big Wednesday.’

Overnight, between ‘ordinary Tuesday’ and ‘big Wednesday,’ the town and resort received a mammoth amount of snowfall. It absolutely dumped. A biblical amount of snow. Even though I do not recall snow being mentioned once in either the old testament or the new testament. But I could have missed the reference.

And Moses went up the mountain at God’s direction and there was fresh dump of powder snow, and he cried out, “ye verily, gonna cut me some wicked turns.”

To get to work on my first day, I take the shortcut straight down the hill to the main road and bus stop. I am decked out in my official Steamboat resort onesie ski suit. The snow level is over my belly button. It is like wading through waist high surf for a half mile.

I scramble onto the bus, and I am on my knees huffing and puffing while dripping with sweat.

An inauspicious start to the day.

About the Author:

Simon Yeats has lived nine lives, and by all estimations, is fast running out of the number he has left. His life of globetrotting the globe was not the one he expected to lead. He grew up a quiet, shy boy teased by other kids on the playgrounds for his red hair. But he developed a keen wit and sense of humor to always see the funnier side of life.

With an overwhelming love of travel, a propensity to find trouble where there was none, and being a passionate advocate of mental health, Simon’s stories will leave a reader either rolling on the floor in tears of laughter, or breathing deeply that the adventures he has led were survived.

No author has laughed longer or cried with less restraint at the travails of life.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CBNQLSPW/about
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authoryeats
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authoryeats

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Blurb Blitz - Borderland by Ross Victory

 

It's a blurb blitz and there's some cool stuff ahead. How about the collection Borderland by Ross Victory. You'll want to keep reading because there are prizes to be won in addition to this neat book. Like? The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC 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/2024/10/blurb-blitz-borderland-by-ross-victory.html

BORDERLAND

by

Ross Victory

Borderland is not just a poetry collection—it’s an invitation to explore the most vulnerable corners of the human experience. Award-winning author Ross Victory takes readers on an emotional journey across the intersections of masculinity, race, bisexuality, and grief. In a fearless blend of narrative and free verse, Victory dismantles societal expectations, offering a space where identity can exist fluidly and unapologetically.

Through its evocative imagery and bold storytelling, Borderland tackles life’s most complex themes—love, loss, strength, and defiance. Each poem immerses readers in raw emotion, from tender vulnerability to fierce defiance. This collection is perfect for readers seeking honest, unfiltered reflections on what it means to exist at the crossroads of identity and experience.

With a voice that’s as unique as it is powerful, Ross Victory has created a collection that speaks to anyone searching for connection and understanding. Borderland isn’t just a book—it’s a movement, a conversation, and a space to find yourself reflected in its pages.

Step into the borderland, where identity knows no boundaries.

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

Now for An Excerpt: 

Bisexual Villain


An enigma, cloaked in reflective armor,
a man built in isolation,
made of light.

He walks a tightrope:
Each step a liberation,
Every word a defiance.

He is the man who returns the stolen fire, embodying a harmony of contradictions in a world demanding silence.

He is... Conformity’s antichrist; But only when he says his name.

Do they know that, beneath his armor,
there is a man searching for meaning?

Flesh and pulse under mirrored shield,
A Brother, a Son, a Guardian;

He was a Boy with bright eyes,
and he was Loved.



I stand before the jury, unmasked and true.
They are armed with judgments that explode like bombs, their hatred a mask of sincerity.

I wonder, "Am I on trial for spurning stale norms of monosexism, a banquet of bias, an indictment of my very being?"

Faceless facades wear hypocrisy like skin,
Bigotry in their blood. They thirst for dominance.
I see, society lives an illusory script, homes built in narrow alleys of convention, foundations hollow and empty.

We are neighbors, but we are strangers.

"You are the antagonist! You are the villain!" the jury shouts.

“No!” the bisexual villain proclaims.

"We are a legion, a chorus in the midst,
their heart akin to mine."

“We are canaries whose wings you’ve clipped,
trapped in your rusting cage.
Some have become orphans bereft of connection, adrift in the gap—kin to the fluid.”

“You are an abomination! You are confusion!” they roar.

"Though we may be solitary stars, together we form a galaxy.
In me beats a heart; within you, the silent expanse where once echoed, now, the void of a million corpses."



I am ink, you are eraser.

I am your projection.

About the Author: 

Ross Victory, (he/him), is an award-winning author, music artist, and entrepreneur from Los Angeles. Featured in LA Weekly, LA Blade, American Reporter, and Bi.org, Ross rediscovered the healing power of writing after losing his father and brother. A former English teacher, Ross creates immersive narrative experiences. He published “Views from the Cockpit,” a father-son memoir, in 2019, resulting in a portfolio of six original titles and a music catalog of 20 songs. His works explore self-discovery, adventure, bisexuality, and family. In 2023, he released the Pride anthem “Bisexual Daze” and Book 1 of the L.A.-based horror series “Grandpa's Cabin.” Ross also publishes articles and reflections about grief, biphobia, and elder abuse on Medium.com and recently spoke at their Annual Writer’s Conference. This fall he will release his first poetry collection titled, “Borderland,” exploring the intersection of race, masculinity, and sexuality.


Website: https://www.rossvictory.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rossvictoryofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rossvvictorius

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Borderland-Poetry-Intersection-Masculinity-Bisexuality-ebook/dp/B0DJ1PHR13

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