humor
Book Review & Giveaway: How the Wicked Run by Annabelle Lewis
Book Title: How the Wicked Run (A Boston Clairvoyants Novel) by Annabelle Lewis
Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 283 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery, Thriller with Romance and Humor
Publisher: PePe Press
Release Date: Oct 2022
Content Rating: PG13 +M: Lots of cursing, kidnapping, all sex off page, no gore
Destined for Love and Danger
Sidrah Keeling, well-intentioned Boston clairvoyant and stalwart protector of her newfound family of psychics, purchases a country respite hours away from her grand Boston home. Lazy Pond Farm, just outside the town of Macoun, Massachusetts is an enormous fixer-upper, but it perfectly serves her agenda of fostering romance and promoting healing. In that order.
But instead, the group encounters trouble. Fate, as usual, has her own plans.
Macoun—named after the apple—is infested with racists led by a man who harbors terrifying secrets.
Will Jenny, Max, Sidrah, Leon, and Bones—the fabulous five—have the power to change Macoun? Will they be able to rescue those who need saving?
And what about love?
As the fates do battle, so will the lives between the wicked and the good. A twisted thread. Who will break? In How the Wicked Run, romance, mystery, and adventure collide once more for this enchanting family of audacious clairvoyants.
Buy The Book:
Amazon
My Review
I chose to read this book after receiving a free copy from iRead Book Tours. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
I had read Dead Cat, Run and Cut and Run and I liked them, so I was happy to review the third book in the trilogy.
Five psychics in Boston found each other and have become a “family.” They truly would do anything for each other. There was a lot of character development in the first book so although How the Wicked Run does stand on its own, I would recommend at least reading Dead Cat, Run first for an even better experience.
The psychics are good, moral people and know they need to help others, so they are constantly battling evil. They are led by Jenny’s visions but one of her visions is personal, and Sidrah is all over it. Jenny works so hard for others, so Sidrah wants this vision to come true so that she’ll have a little time to herself.
Once again, they’re up against evil. Once the murderer/kidnapper is brought to light to the reader, the book gets difficult to put down. The things he does to a “friend” are unfathomable.
I like how seemingly unrelated events eventually tie together. If you’re looking for a good thriller, How the Wicked Run won’t disappoint.
About the Author
Annabelle Lewis is a pseudonym for the author who lives in Minnesota but was raised in Texas. An important distinction for those who understand both states. When you read her work, this diversity will explain a lot. An avid reader since she got her first bicycle and a library card, she discovered the world, first through books. The mother of two children and several furry ones, she stayed home to raise her family, then stopped to take a breath and searched for new worlds to conquer. She found it with writing.
The Boston Clairvoyants novels as well as the Carrows Family Chronicles all take on the battle between good and evil. Vividly portrayed and humorously written, the reader will root for the bad guys to be taken down by the ensemble and recurring cast of characters in each series.
Annabelle considers herself a champion of the screwed over. And a dog lover. And an incredible mom. Oddly, she’s not a good dancer.
Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~Instagram ~ Bookbub ~ Goodreads
Giveaway
Enter to win THE BOSTON CLAIRVOYANTS TRILOGY
(one winner/USA only)
Gleam
Follow the Tour
Nov 21 – The Obsessive Reader – book review / giveaway
Nov 22 – Bound 4 Escape – book review / giveaway
Nov 23 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / author interview / giveaway
Nov 25 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 25 – Bigreadersite – book review / giveaway
Nov 28 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
Nov 29 – Books for Books – book review
Nov 30 –Book Corner News and Reviews – book review / giveaway
Dec 2 – LeanneBookstagram – book review / giveaway
Dec 5 – @onecreativeartist – book review / giveaway
Dec 5 – Adventurous Jessy – book review / giveaway
Excerpt from Bookmarked: How the Great Books of Western Literature F*cked Up My Life by Mark Scarbrough
A poignant, funny, and timely memoir that marries the intimacy and the sexual identity themes of Boy Erased with My Life in Middlemarch’s interest in the way literature shapes and influences our lives, written in the authentic Southern voice, deeply incisive wit, and with quirky but erudite observations evocative of John Jeremiah Sullivan’s Pulphead.
Mark Scarbrough has been searching for something his entire life. Whether it’s his birth mother, true love, his purpose, or his sexual identity, Mark has been on a constant quest to find out who he really is, with the great Western texts as his steadfast companions. As a boy with his head constantly in a book, desperate to discover new worlds, he can hardly distinguish between their plots and his own reality. The child of strict Texan Evangelicals, Mark is taught by the Bible to fervently believe in the rapture and second coming and is thus moved to spend his teen years as a youth preacher in cowboy boots. At college, he discovers William Blake, who teaches him to fall in love with poems, lyrics…and his roommate Alex. Raised to believe that to be gay was to be a sinner, Mark is driven to the brink of madness and attempts suicide. Hoping to avoid books once and for all, Mark joins the seminary, where he meets his wife, Miranda. Neither the seminary nor the marriage stick, and Mark once again finds himself turning to his books for the sense of belonging he continues to seek….
In the tradition of beloved titles like The End of Your Life Book Club, Reading Lolita in Tehran, and The Year of Reading Dangerously, Bookmarked tells a deeply personal story through the lens of literature. An examination of one man’s complicated, near-obsessive relationship with books, and how they shaped, molded, ruined, and saved him, Bookmarked is about how we listeners stash our secrets between jacket covers and how those secrets ultimately get told in the ways that the books themselves demand.
Excerpt
Caution: A Preface
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “I found myself in Middlemarch!” Or “Shakespeare saved my life!”
I call bullshit. Shakespeare never saved anyone. Least of all, me. Although I sure wanted him to. Ached for him to, somewhere in the marrow middle of my bones. And not only him but all the other literary lions, like William Blake, Charlotte Brontë, and Henry James, now dead and mounted on the wall of Western culture.
I got sucked in by their promises, the best things. A once upon a time that leads logically to the end. Characters who remain true to themselves, despite what the plot throws at them. And desires that can be—ta-da!—fulfilled. Or at least understood.
And something more tangible, too. Down in my soul’s basement, where the lights are dim and my hopes are laid away in boxes, I dreamed up a mad quest through the great books to find a home. To hear the crackle in a fireplace. To feel the weight of the covers at night. To breathe in and out all that’s human and loved.
Maybe I should have lowered my sights. Maybe only the main character gets home. Problem is, I’ve always felt like a minor one: the sidekick in a baggy sweater, the wiseacre two desks down. The guy who steps into a story, pushes it along in some vague way, and gets a one-liner as his reward: Years later, I heard he died in a car crash.
Or maybe I asked so much from the great books because of my upbringing. When I was ten, my parents left the Southern Baptist church. “It is too liberal,” they said, seemingly in unison, a plainsong truth-telling that led us to the upland pastures of American fundamentalism. Letters were sent. Ministers were challenged. Friends were lost.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t latch onto the great books because they were forbidden. I never once read under the sheets with a flashlight. Oh, sure, I had to skip the sex scenes and turn a blind eye to the notion that a liberal could be the good guy. Authors! What can you do?
But nothing could befoul us. We were the true believers. We interpreted the Vietnam War, Nixon, and everything else as a story, a plot, rushing toward the apocalypse. The world sinned, it burned up, and we got out alive. Time was a straight line.
Once I started reading, I discovered that novels, stories, plays, and even poems were alternate timelines, descending and ascending like a grid. They even got to the same places we believed in: just deserts or happily ever after. For a long time, I wanted to homestead on that scaffolding, even though it kept coming apart and slamming to the ground. I just wasn’t myself without a book in my hand.
Then I wasn’t myself with one. Over time, books stopped being words outside my skin and became shadowy bits inside my brain, alternate versions of me, telling their own stories. I morphed into a bizarre body of shredded volumes, stalking the far country of my imagination. That’s how I saw a long-dead poet manifest in front of me one night. How I got a job fishing monks out of gay bars. And ultimately why I tossed the person I loved over the cliff of insanity in a hail Mary! attempt to save my own brain from dissolving like a cheap paperback in a deluge.
All of which is to say, be careful what you read. It can fuck you up, too.
But don’t worry. There’s a truth beyond the great works of Western literature. Life may seem linear, forceps to tombstone. Instead, the cosmos is round and elastic, spiraled and helixed. Atoms, galaxies, your DNA—they spin and come back around. I got out from under literature’s curse. You can, too.
So this story is a comedy, like Dante’s, if not so divine. But there’s no good news without the bad, which is part and parcel of it. In books, in life, even in the old poet’s journey across the universe, the way up starts with the way down.
Copyright 2021 by Mark Scarbrough. Propertius Press All rights reserved.
About the Author
I’m half of the NYTimes bestselling cookbook writing team behind over thirty cookbooks, including THE INSTANT POT BIBLE, THE ULTIMATE COOKBOOK, and THE ESSENTIAL AIR FRYER COOKBOOK. I’m (recently!) a memoirist, too, with BOOKMARKED: HOW THE GREAT WORKS OF WESTERN LITERATURE F*CKED UP MY LIFE. I host two literary podcasts: WALKING WITH DANTE, the only slow-walk through Dante’s masterwork COMEDY; and LYRIC LIFE, a podcast about lyric poetry. I also co-host COOKING WITH BRUCE AND MARK, a podcast and YouTube channel with his husband, Bruce Weinstein. A former academic, I now teach eight-week literary seminars across my part of of the world on Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Emily Dickinson, and more; and I lead two book discussion group, one online with multiple sessions and an international membership. I find my peace with two collies on acres in very rural New England.
Website http://www.markscarbrough.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/markscarbrough
A Lifetime Effect
Book Review: Down with the Dance by C.T. Walsh
Meet Austin Davenport, whose fabulous luck landed him on this earth only eleven short months after his brother, Derek, putting them in the same grade. While Austin’s brain power is unmatched, it appears as if his brother got all the athletic gifts and the family butt-chin, meaning their parents love Derek more than Austin, or so it seems.
Join Austin on his journey through the tumultuous waters of middle school as he navigates the swampy and undeodorized hallways and explores the depths of the cafeteria’s seafood surprise.
Oh, and someone is plotting to take down the Halloween Dance, the one that Austin has his sights set on, so he can take Sophie Rodriguez, a girl way out of his league, but who doesn’t seem to know it.
Can he stay one step ahead of the new principal who has it out for him? Will Austin figure out who the perpetrators are? Will he save the dance in time? Will he wear a diaper on a stakeout?
This first in a planned series of twelve will have you ROFLing like you never have before.
The funny and fast-paced nature of this series is meant for middle grade and early young adult readers.
Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1950826015
US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950826015
My Review
I chose to read this book after receiving a free copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Down with the Dance is a middle grade book that is a fun read even for an adult. It’s a funny, quick read, and middle grade readers will relate to Austin. He has to deal sibling rivalry, first love, and a principal who makes it clear that he doesn’t like Austin, all while trying to navigate the horror of middle school.
I love the humor in this book. The first thing that tickled me was that Austin describes his brother’s chin as a butt-chin. Derek, his brother, is 11 months older than Austin and his opposite. Can you imagine having your older brother in the same grade? Derek is all about sports and is a favorite at school and at home. He is a bully and does his best to make Austin’s life miserable.
The characters include bullies (Derek and the new principle), Austin’s crush, Sophie, and Austin’s best friend, Ben. It was easy to dislike Derek and the principle and to root for Austin not only when dealing with the bullies but when trying to save the dance. All he wanted was to take Sophie to the dance!
This is definitely a book that middle school readers will enjoy. The the writing is easy to follow and the humor is great!
About the Author
Besides writing fun, snarky humor and the occasionally-frequent fart joke, I love spending time with my family, coaching my kids’ various sports, and successfully turning seemingly unsandwichable things into spectacular sandwiches, while also claiming that I never eat carbs. I assure you, it’s not easy to do. I know what you’re thinking: this guy sounds complex, a little bit mysterious, and maybe even dashingly handsome, if you haven’t been to the optometrist in a while. And you might be right.
My goal with my writing is to engage young readers with fun and adventure. With so many competing forms of entertainment available to our kids (and so many of them mindless), I really try to provide a reading experience like no other.
I value the importance of combining fun with learning and life values. My stories are humorous and adventurous with strong characters and solid life lessons with some potty humor sprinkled in. You gotta give the kids what they want…Hey, it’s better to read fart jokes than to play video games, right?
Book Review: That’s a Shocking Idea…Let’s do it! by Suzanne Shearing
A heartbroken middle aged mum sets out to kill her daughter’s murderer.
She stalks him, awaiting her opportunity, and gets caught up in a bank robbery and a series of mishaps and misadventures as she goes on the run with her partner in crime.
In their attempt to escape capture, they find themselves in foreign countries, and even on a cruise ship in a storm.
It’s a road trip, a chase, with two middle-aged people trying to evade capture, with often disastrous or hilarious consequences.
My Review
I’m sure many people think about killing someone who killed a loved one, but Verity was convinced that she must kill her son-in-law, Chester, to get justice not only for the murder of her daughter, Melody, but also for the loss of her precious grandson.
Until her daughter was killed, Verity was a typical housewife, but when she decided to kill Chester, she became a different person. Once Zak offered to help her, everything went downhill. They were not good for each other, and death seemed to follow them everywhere.
Verity and Zak, the main characters, are well-developed. They’re both flawed, of course (they did plan to murder someone), but they’re likeable despite some of their questionable actions. Zak even tends to be heroic when someone is in trouble.
I like the author’s writing style. It is to the point, and even when Verity is thinking about things, it doesn’t ramble, which often happens when first-person is used. I also like the author’s sense of humor, and there were several times I had to giggle.
I definitely recommend That’s a Shocking Idea…Let’s do it! if you like something a little different than the usual crime drama.
About the Author
Suzanne Shearing is a retired journalist, stage school owner and film maker.
Starting on her local paper, the Welwyn Hatfield Times, as a cub reporter, she progressed to evening and national publications, writing news and features, as well as a local column.
In 1995 she had a change of career, due to her love of the theatre and film. After attending drama school, she opened a stage school, which soon became the most successful part time stage school in Hertfordshire, with 300 young students and fourteen teachers of drama, dance and singing.
When she retired, Suzanne started writing scripts, and made two feature films, ‘No Smoke’ and ‘Archie’, which have been distributed throughout the world, and a short, ‘Nobody’s Child.’ ‘No Smoke’ was an official selection for the International Marbella Film Festival.
’It’s a shocking idea… let’s do it!’ is Suzanne’s second novel. Her first novel was entitled “Two Old Ladies and a Secret Child,” which was the publisher’s best seller within days of publication, and was featured on the Jeremy Vine TV show.
Suzanne lives in rural Hertfordshire with her pups Rusty and Rocky, and with her son and his family nearby.
For more information about the author, visit the author’s official website: http://www.suzanneshearing.com.
“That’s a shocking idea…. let’s do it!” by Suzanne Shearing is available from Amazon at:
and in e-book format from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Darin Jewell (Suzanne Shearing’s literary agent)
Managing Director
The Inspira Group Literary Agency
darin@theinspiragroup.com
tel. UK +208 292 5163
New Releases
What Else am I Feeling?
Third book in an award-winning series helping children to express their emotions
About the Book:
From the international award-winning author Katie Flanagan, ‘What else am I feeling?’ is the sequel to ‘What am I feeling?’
‘What else am I feeling?’ helps to introduce and extend further the vocabulary linked to the emotions children are likely to experience. It offers valuable insights for adults in helping to expand their child’s knowledge, understanding and vocabulary regarding a wide range of emotions. Its gentle approach and warm illustrations helps provide the opportunity to open up discussions with children about a wider variety of feelings in a non-intrusive way.
The forewords for children and adults provide a useful background to help develop understanding of the importance of learning about our emotions and growing in our skills to help children become more comfortable with everyday feelings they encounter.
Through useful questions and suggestions, it also offers ideas and guidance for how best to support children with their emotional experiences. It is a versatile resource; easy for carers, educators and family members to use.
Look out for the accompanying journal coming soon for children to use to personalise their own experience of the emotions covered in this picture discussion book.
About the Author:
Katie Flanagan has worked as a teacher for over a decade and currently works as the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. She has always had a keen interest in helping children to develop emotional literacy skills. When she was teaching, she used to help the children expand their vocabulary around the emotions they experience by getting them to answer how they felt during register time.
She used the opportunity to help teach them new words for different feelings. During this time and in her parenting, she found herself trying to define emotions in a child-friendly way to help describe the emotion and when they might be feeling it. This inspired her to create pictures book with a wide range of emotions to help increase children’s understanding of the emotions and the words they could use. She also decided to create a journal so children had a place where they could explore their own experience of their emotions.
She published the first book, What am I feeling? Defining Emotions in 2017 and has had lots of positive feedback from Educational Psychologists and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. She won the American Bookfest International Book Award for children’s ‘mind body and spirit’ category 2018. She has had positive reviews from the SEN resources blog, top parenting blogger ‘What the Redhead Said’ and Melissa Hood, Co-Founder of the Parent Practice.
Katie has qualifications in Psychology, PGCE, National SENCo Award, Time out for Parents, and Group facilitator for charity Care for The Family.
What Else Am I Feeling? Defining More Emotions by Katie Flanagan is available in paperback from Amazon at:
Katie’s first book and journal are also available from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Grosvenor House Publishing
Tel. 0208 339 6060
E-mail: info@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
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Tales from Tipperary
The first book in a series of fictional southern Irish tales
About the Book:
The book is set in Tipperary – in the unreal world of the hillslopes below Keeper Hill. Essentially, it is an unashamed homage to a typical past rural community, written in the colloquial and colourful language of the times. It opens with Dandy-the-Galwayman’s arrival in Tipperary shortly after the Famine. The generation that follows him lead a colourful life, weaving a rich tapestry.
Tales include:
- The reliance of families on children’s rabbit-poaching with ferrets acts of adolescent rebelliousness like setting fire to a load of hay, or building a snowman as a surprise ‘gift’ in an enemy’s back room
- The death of a young hurler in his very first match
- The story of a child-saint and her ghostly return to see the new baby
- The tale of a bonesetter, his place in the community
- The days of a silenced priest, involving his heroism
- The confession of an old lady
- Children cattle-droving at dawn
- Jealousy when a mountainy man wins the Show-Fair Cup
About the Author:
Edward Forde Hickey lives in Kent with his wife. They have three sons. During the years 1962 until 1998, he taught in inner city primary schools (laterally as a headteacher for 18 years). In early life, he was a pop star with Decca records (see ‘Eddie Hickey/Lady May’) and later sang with the Glenside Ceilidhe Band in The Galtymore Dancehall, Cricklewood (1965/1975).
Born of Irish parents during the Blitz of London, he spent his first five years of life nurtured and moulded by his grandmother in the foothills above Dolla, near Nenagh in County Tipperary. His grandmother is and always was his inspiration; she had a natural gift with words.
Edward has always been interested in folklore and the Irish past (its music, dance and literature). He was a champion Irish step-dancer. He taught and adjudicated it, even as far afield as in Australia, before dedicating himself to research into hillside communities in north Tipperary, from where he brought back tapes of original songs for The English Folk Dance and Song Society.
He keeps a small farm in the foothills of north Tipperary and visits it often.
Review of the Book:
“A wonderful collection of tales delivered by a natural storyteller completely beguiling an effortless evocation of an almost forgotten world a wonderfully personable narration endlessly charming characterisation
Life and death are treated with simplicity, profundity and a lightness of touch. Every individual tale is undoubtedly very strong.”
Jakob von Beyer, Director of Addison and Cole
Tales from Tipperary by Edward Forde Hickey is available in paperback from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Grosvenor House Publishing
Tel. 0208 339 6060
E-mail: info@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
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Butcher Boy
A nostalgic story about a young Mancunian lad with a love for loud music and misadventure
About the Book:
There was nothing extraordinary about Pugnatious Smelt. He was just an ordinary boy, born to an ordinary family in a small South Manchester suburb in the 1960s.
This book documents his growing pains as he learns what life is about and how easy it is to make the wrong decisions and yet end with the right result, sometimes.
Excerpt from the book:
“Pugnatious would look at the adverts each week to see if any of the album bands were on live that Saturday and if they were off he would go with a select bunch of friends to experience them first-hand. He was still nowhere near driving age and so it was a bus into the centre and then a walk, a walk he had done all those years before with his father to see the Spinners, this was very different, it seemed that this new generation of musicians felt the need to play loud. Now there is a difference between loud, as measured by Mrs Smelt when he played his records at home, loud as in the volume he played them at when his mother was out and loud at the Free Trade Hall, this was proper loud. So loud he could feel the bass drum in his chest, his teeth would hurt when the guitars hit high notes in the middle of solos and his ears hurt from the overall cacophony of sound. A good night at the Hall would be measured by the ringing and hissing in his ears once he left the building.
Pugnatious like his peers wanted the volume, the louder the better, the greater the ringing in the ears the better the night had been, the more his parents advised against it the more he wanted it, Van Der Graaf Generator gave it to him, Cream gave it to him, Yes gave it to him, Mr and Mrs Smelt gave it to him warning of the dangers of deafness in later life.”
“Butcher Boy: Pugnatious Smelt – an ordinary boy” by Dik Cavanagh is available to purchase in paperback from Amazon.co.uk at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
New Generation Publishing
Tel. 01234 712 064
E-mail: info@newgeneration-publishing.com
Book Review & Giveaway: Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis by Keith Hirshland
Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis by Keith Hirshland
Publisher: Beacon Publishing Group (May 1, 2020)
Category: Mystery, Humor
ISBN: 978-1949472124
Available in Print and ebook, 308 pages
Murphy Murphy comes from a long line of male Murphys. All were named Murphy and all were cops. This Murphy heads the Department of Redundancy Department and his superior officer, Captain David “Dud” Hill has found him a case. The Captain’s niece is in a rock ‘n roll band called Serious Crisis, and it seems items belonging to members of the band have started to disappear.
Were these items stolen? Were they simply lost? As Murphy Murphy works the case, he must chase down the clues all the while dealing with grammatical anomalies that drive him crazy. As Murphy gets closer to the answers he seeks, one more “thing” goes missing; the Captain’s niece. Suddenly, in an instant, the stakes in the case of Serious Crisis become a lot more dire.
Part Jasper Fforde, part Michael Connelly; Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis combines humor, mystery, and grammar goofs as the detective pursues clues and suspects from coast to coast. It’s an entertaining and educational read for all ages.
Guest Review by Nora S.
“Yes,” Murphy said, not skipping a beat. “Some examples of redundancy would be ‘foreign imports’, or ‘pair of twins’, or ‘round in shape’, or,” he paused half a beat and made sure Turrell was paying attention, ‘serious crisis’”. Turrell was indeed paying attention and gave the detective a warm, broad, smile. “Now why don’t you tell me what was stolen from you and when.”
Murphy Murphy is a simple man. He likes the music of Mozart and a good cup of Darjeeling tea. He hates redundancies in any form, particularly in patterns of speech. He is a detective, and a good one, luckily for the characters in this book.
See, there is this band called Serious Crisis and they have had some items go missing lately. Little things at first, like a lighter or a corkscrew. Both of those things were absurdly expensive but not nearly as worrying as when the disappearances begin escalating and suddenly it’s people that are going missing.
This is where Murphy Murphy comes in. Since one of the band members is the niece of Murphy’s Captain, Murphy is given the case and told to solve it quickly.
However, when things begin to heat up, Murphy finds that his own life might be in danger as well as the lives of those around him.
Readers will love everything about ‘Murphy Murphy and the Case of the Serious Crisis,’ particularly the unanticipated twists of the mystery and the romance between Murphy Murphy and Charlie Carlucci, the bartender at the club where Serious Crisis often performs. I, for one, thought the writing between those two was really witty and cute. Just when you think you have everything figured out in this case, you will find out that you were wrong and there are even more shocking surprises waiting ahead. This book gets 5 stars.
Awards and Recognition for Keith Hirshland
Book Talk Radio Club Memoir of the Year (Cover Me Boys I’m Going In)
New Apple Awards Solo Medalist True Crime Category (Big Flies)
Shelf Abound Award Winner Indie Book Competition (Big Flies)
About the Author
Keith Hirshland is an Emmy Award–winning sports television producer with more than three decades of experience producing live and pre-recorded programs that aired on ESPN and ESPN2. Among the first forty people to be hired by the Golf Channel in 1994, Hirshland was in the middle of the action when that network debuted in 1995. He provided his talents for Golf Channel, as its live tournament producer, for two decades.
Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In: Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat is a memoir about his experiences in the television industry. Published by Beacon Publishing Group, Cover Me Boys was recognized as the Book Talk Radio Club Memoir of the Year. Hirshland’s second book, and first work of fiction, Big Flies, was published in 2016 and is the recipient of the New Apple Awards “Solo Medalist” in the True Crime Category. Hirshland followed that success with his third book, The Flower Girl Murder. In 2020 Beacon Publishing Group will release Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis, Hirshland’s third mystery novel. All four books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.
Keith Hirshland lives in Colorado with his wife and two dogs.
Website: https://www.keithhirshland.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/khhauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithHirshlandAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khhauthor/?hl=en
Giveaway
This giveaway is for 3 print copies and is open to the U.S. only.. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends August 1, 2020,midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Continue readingBook Review & Giveaway: The Bus Ride by Joanie Chevalier
The Bus Ride: A Zany Busnapping Adventure
When Devon discovers his car stolen, he must find transportation to get to his destination before the deadline to get what’s rightfully his: the urn containing one-fifth of his deceased momma. He hops on Bus No. 255 and changes the course of the route. As the passengers’ personalities and needs emerge, they go from being strangers to a bonded family within hours as they fight for each other, and themselves… in more ways than one. Funny and sentimental, this story will grab your heart as you cheer everyone on Bus Route No. 255, maybe even the busnapper.
Meet the passengers on Bus No. 255, an unlikely group of people who have no choice but to try to get along and survive when their bus gets busnapped. Meet Devon, who has a deadline he must meet, or risk losing what’s his; Doug, a dreamer of a better life, but first must face a sad truth; Frankie, a life full of loneliness, but unexpectedly becomes a hero; Gloria, a woman who finds validation in the most unexpected place; Autumn, a girl who desires a family, and a sense of belonging; Dave, a man seeking justice and equality, learns to love himself as he is; and the Garcia family, whose family ties brings them to the brink of danger. Follow these passengers as they each fulfill their destinies, together.
Purchase Link – http://getbook.at/TheBusRide
My Review
I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Doug drives a bus and works a lot of overtime to try to give his greedy wife the lifestyle she demands. When his bus is “busnapped” one day, he doesn’t really mind.
Every person on the bus that day has issues of his or her own. I like how the reader learns about each person as the story unfolds. At the beginning of each chapter, the day and time are listed so that you know if it’s today on the bus or previously – usually yesterday or earlier today. By the end of the book, all of the characters have been developed, and even the busnapper is endearing. I found myself wanting the best for each person.
The bus trip changes the lives of every passenger on the bus. Even though there is some danger and even though the people on the bus have big problems, the story is written in a lighthearted way which made it even more enjoyable. One of my favorite parts is the end when the outcome for each person is told. I definitely recommend The Bus Trip.
About the Author
Joanie Chevalier is a multi-genre Indie Author; Founder & Editor of RAC Online Magazine: Promoting and Encouraging the Reader/Author Connection; and Founder of Our Indie Author Room FB Group, a place where writers in all stages of their career go to learn, inspire, and teach.
Joanie loves the outdoors and nature, reading and supporting fellow indie authors. Her writing is a blend of everything she likes to read: suspense, horror, crime, psychological, non-fiction, and a good short story. She thinks her two Chihuahuas look adorable in sweaters.
Social Media Links –
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Joanie-Chevalier/e/B00P1946MS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoanieChevalier
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JoanieC
RAC Website: https://readerauthorconnection.com/
Giveaway
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a Rafflecopter giveawayBook Review: Initiation in Paradise (Book 17) by Deborah Brown
Margaritas, mangroves, murder. Just another day at the office.
One minute, Madison Weston and her bestie, Fab, are tailing Creole and Didier to figure out what they’re hiding. The next, a hail of bullets sends them swamp slogging for their lives. So much for cute shoes.
Eventually, Creole and Didier come clean: Bodies are turning up in shallow graves, and they didn’t want their women catching wind of it. Too bad, boys, this mystery is too juicy to pass up.
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My Review
I chose to review this book after requesting a free e-copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
I’ve read most of the books in this series and I love these characters. They’ve become like good friends, and I’m always looking forward to their next story or adventure. Madison and Fab are best friends and although they’ve calmed down over the years, they’re still good private investigators. They’ve also both gotten married recently and have great relationships with their men.
Although Madison and Fab are trying to stay away from the more dangerous cases, danger seems to seek them out whether they’re on a case or not.
Initiation in Paradise has several cases that the girls take from serving divorce papers to a welfare check. None of their cases are simple no matter how easy they sound which results in danger, humor, or both. I can always count on a good laugh when I’m reading a Paradise book.
As with all of the Paradise books, Initiation in Paradise was a quick and enjoyable read. Deborah Brown has a good sense of humor and you never know what’s going to happen. I especially liked the ending although it was not what I expected, and I’m looking forward to Madison and Fab’s next adventure.
Although this series is best read in order, all of the books stand alone. I definitely recommend them if you like independent women who are loyal and passionate about family, life and love.
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About the Author
The Paradise series, are Florida Keys mysteries, “great as stand-alone reads, but they’re like chips…you won’t be able to devour just one!”
I’ve been writing, in one way or another for as long as I can remember; poetry, sappy short stories (my best friend made me swear that I’d never show anyone until I changed the names), and a romance novel shoved under my bed.
I wanted to create books with a wide-range of unforgettable characters, with heat and romance, and lots of guns. It wouldn’t be complete without a slice of humor and charm.
I live with my family and demon children aka rescue cats in South Florida.
Find the author on the following sites…
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Bound 4 Escape 