Daily Archives: October 20, 2016

Memory Cardsby Michael Brantley

Memory Cards is a journey down a dusty rural road, but also back in time to where as late as the 1980s, neighbors still used mules for transportation and outhouses for other necessities. There is plenty to see, hear and smell, from the oppressive heat and pungent smell of row upon row of tobacco, to the mobile library that brought air conditioning and the aroma of paper, glue and binding each week of the summer. The author grew up in a functional family, but with different interests than his siblings, particularly ones that offered unknown prospects.

As the road from the farm widens, readers encounter firebrand preachers, snake-handling churches, guns, baseball, Baptists, Coca-Cola, Elvis, suicides, mysterious deaths, PTSD, houses inhabited by haints, pork barbecue, tea cookies, cornbread, fishing, arrowheads, ice hockey and basketball.

In Sheep’s Clothingby L.D. Beyer

One man holds the reins of power.
One man vows to protect him.
One man vows to destroy him.

Caught in a game of chess he didn’t know he was playing until it was too late, the President makes the only move he can, plunging Washington and the nation into chaos. Stunned and reeling, Vice President David Kendall takes the oath of office and tries to heal a nation in mourning. But what the new president doesn’t realize is that things in the White House aren’t always what they appear to be, and sometimes what looks like the best option may turn out to be the worst. When one fatal decision triggers consequences he never envisioned, President Kendall finds himself caught up in the same game that cost his predecessor his life.

Although there was nothing he could have done, Secret Service Agent Matthew Richter is haunted by the death of the man he had vowed to protect. When his girlfriend dumps him and his boss tells him that his job is on the line, he thinks his life cannot get any worse. He soon realizes how wrong he is when he finds himself fighting to save another president from the deadly forces that he has unwittingly unleashed.

Clarityby Loretta Lost

Her world has always been dark, but he might be able to change everything…

Fiercely independent Helen Winters was born completely blind, but she vowed never to let her disability keep her down. She did not expect a traumatic event to devastate her life and force her to drop out of college. Disillusioned by the cruelty of people, Helen retreated from society to live by herself as a reclusive writer in the woods–where no one could ever hurt her again.

When a brilliant young doctor shows up on her doorstep, promising her that his new research can give her the ability to see for the first time, Helen stubbornly refuses. She has learned not to trust anyone, and to rely only on herself. But Dr. Liam Larson will not take no for an answer. He makes it his personal mission to rescue Helen from her loneliness, and bring joy into her world once more–the joy she has denied herself for so long.

When Helen’s demons come racing back into her life, threatening to rip her apart and destroy the strength she has carefully rebuilt, Liam is the only one who might be able to save her. Can he reach the broken girl in time, helping her to heal and see the world in a different light? Or will Helen’s grief send her spiraling out of control, lost to him forever?

**********This is the first book of a series.**********

Soul Keeper Series Box Setby L.A. Starkey

Amazon readers had a hard time putting this series down… you will to. Now you don’t have to wait – the full story is yours for a discounted price.

This boxed set includes all three full-length novels from Starkey’s beloved Soul Keeper Series. That’s over 800 pages of intense twists and emotional turns, heart-breaking romance and soul-shattering deception – all in one series.

In a battle of wills,
of the gods of old.
For each his revenge,
will he forfeit his soul.

Out of hate will come love,
and love will come hate.
For immortal and man,
have entwined their damned fate.

The battle between the Titans and the gods of old did not end with them. The demand for revenge has dripped down into the next generation.

Twins, Marcus and Nicolas, heirs to the throne of the gods and sons of the last remaining Titan, learn that the purpose of their existence is to fulfill a prophecy born of hate and despair. They must battle for Pandora’s daughter’s heart, a girl lost to the human world and unaware of her hidden heritage. For four hundred years Marcus and Nicolas have only been allowed to touch the edge of their soul mate’s dreams, but the time of the prophecy has come.

For Samantha, life has been nothing more than a series of misfortunes and heartbreaks. For years, she has kept her heart locked away, but change is rolling in like a tidal wave. She is now forced to discern the thin line between love and lie, myth and reality, and it would seem that time is running out …

Dogs with Bagelsby Maria Elena Sandovici

Liliana is the disappointing daughter of hardworking immigrant parents. She’s a girl looking to be rescued from her own insecurities and bad decisions. Unable to afford rent in New York City proper, she craves a life of luxury that isn’t hers, while subsisting on bagels and coffee. In desperate need of support – emotional and otherwise -, she clings to potential saviors, never bothering to question if the attachments she forms really fit her.

In a parallel story-line, her mother, Maria, is trying to reject all offers of help, especially those of her estranged husband. She’s never forgiven him from taking her away from Romania, where she was happy. She’s never forgiven herself for following him to New York. And she’s never come to terms with the ugly fights and mutual betrayals that ruined their marriage. Enmeshed in her own drama, she doesn’t notice her daughter’s troubles until it’s too late. Desperate to keep Liliana from making a mistake that will alter the course of her life, Maria reveals her best-kept secret, a story so shocking it might have the power to jerk Liliana back to reality. It could, on the other hand, alienate her forever.

DOGS WITH BAGELS is a story about the American dream gone bad. It is also a story about mothers and daughters, about female friendships, the struggle to survive in one of the world’s most expensive cities, and nostalgia for people and places one has loved in the past.

All characters in this book are deeply flawed, but they are so compelling that readers asked for a follow-up novel. LOST PATH TO SOLITUDE (coming soon!) revisits the same cast a decade later, to find them facing new problems, yet oddly enough stuck in some of the same patterns.

Love in an Elevatorby Various Authors

Laugh, swoon, and escape with this romantic comedy anthology!

Will an elevator ride change her life? In HOLD THE LIFT by Aven Ellis, Sierra Crawford ends up meeting sexy British hockey player Jude Parker after their elevator sticks. Sierra finds herself getting to know Jude–and she likes what she sees. But he wouldn’t be interested in a food-obsessed assistant editor right? Sierra knows she’s quirky–her fondness of Magic 8 Balls is proof of that–so there’s no way he could look her way. Or can he?

In DOWN, THEN UP by Beth Labonte, Lauren Oswald never expected to see her college love, Jamie, again. Not after the way things ended. She certainly doesn’t expect to see him ten years later at a bachelorette party in Vegas, waiting inside a hotel elevator. Slightly older. Different haircut. No wedding ring. Same eyes. As the pair embark on a late night errand, Lauren is flooded with memories of how Jamie became the one that got away–and she realizes that this one night could be their last chance to make things right.

In GOING UP? by Whitney Dineen, Fiona Kitchen had a dream when she moved to New York and it wasn’t taking a job as an elevator operator in a posh, West Side, apartment building. She also didn’t expect to meet a hot handyman, a Columbian drug lord and a notorious mob boss and then fall for one of them in a big way. Life in the Big Apple isn’t quite turning out the way she planned, but who said that was a bad thing?

In Becky Monson’s TAKING A CHANCE, Liza Parker has a fear of heights, crowds and small spaces. So what’s a girl like her doing on a crowded elevator going to the top of the Empire State Building? Freaking out, that’s what she’s doing. Enter Jay Sanders, a tourist who thinks he might be able to help Liza face her fears, but she has to be willing to spend the day with a complete stranger. Maybe taking a chance on Jay is just what Liza needs.

In HAPPY TO BE STUCK WITH YOU by Rich Amooi, Becca has had an office crush on Daniel–Mr. Delicious–for over a year. Getting stuck in an elevator with him was the last thing she expected. If only she can control her claustrophobia. To make matters worse, they’re also stuck with an eighty-year-old man who has a weak bladder, and a penchant for playing cupid. But life is unpredictable. Sometimes, getting stuck is the best thing that can happen.

Computer genius Maisy Potter crosses an ocean to take her dream vacation at an English country estate … where the winsome Mark Prebys works below stairs. With him, Maisy discovers a carefree happiness she’s never known. But will the troubles dogging her from back home, a secret or two whispered behind the parlour curtains, and misunderstandings to beat the band extinguish the magic they think they’ve found in each other? And if not, what happens when Maisy’s enchanting holiday ends? Find out in UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS … AND THE LIFT IN BETWEEN by Geralyn Corcillo.

In THE ONLY WAY IS UP by Lindy Dale, Meet Bailey Burns: hottest thing on the literary circuit. And the most reluctant. After fainting in a lift and regaining consciousness to find herself kissing a stranger, Bailey thinks her week can’t get much worse. But it can. Much worse. Bailey is about to be proposed to by a crazed fan wearing a vampire costume. She’s about to discover she’s in relationship with the guy she kissed. Not only that, but said guy happens to be her new PR manager. Oh dear!

In OUT OF ORDER, by Dee Ernst, Grace has sworn off good-looking men. As soon as she starts dating one of them, she transforms from a mature, confident woman to a needy teen-aged girl. So when she meets Seth, the best-looking man she’s ever seen, she makes the right choice — forget all about him. But a neurotic golden retriever and a broken elevator keep bringing them together. Is the world working against her… or maybe the gods are finally smiling?

Casimir Bridgeby Darren Beyer

Smart Science Fiction at its Best.

“Beyer opens his series with a punch, establishing his prospective universe while simultaneously delivering sci-fi action. A chase sequence on Earth and an explosive confrontation on Eridani are exhilarating, but dirty politicking of the future proves most engrossing…”

“Nefarious bigwigs, collusion and galactic jumps against a cosmic backdrop; readers should definitely want to come back for more.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“I hadn’t read very far into Casimir Bridge, the debut novel from newcomer Darren Beyer, before I realized I’d just found my newest favorite sci-fi author.”

– Book Pleasures Review

A manned, interstellar survey ship has gone missing. A nuclear terror plot is thwarted just outside Washington, D.C. And it’s an election year.

Mandisa “Mandi” Nkosi is a young reporter who, while on a trip to Johannesburg to connect with her roots, is contacted by an anonymous source with evidence that material seized from a nuclear terror plot will point squarely at one of humanity’s most important companies as the supplier. The source also unveils that the “evidence” against the company – Applied Interstellar Corporation (AIC), a science and technology behemoth with more corporate and political foes than can be counted – is a setup, and part of a plot to destroy AIC and gain control of its technological secrets. The deeper Mandi digs, the more of a target she becomes.

What follows is a heart-pounding, unforgettable ride through the hallowed halls of big government, far-flung star systems, and the revelation of a conspiracy that runs so deep, Mandi’s life, and the future of humanity, are put at stake.

Brimming with tantalizing futuristic technology, deep space adventure, and thrilling plot twists, Casimir Bridge is a nuanced, thought-provoking, and deeply human space opera that draws the reader in and never lets go.

What you’ll find among the pages of Casimir Bridge:

• A thrilling, fast-paced story that spans two planets, four star systems, and crosses the depths of space.
• Realistic science fiction, true to the technology and science.
• Currently relevant undertones including corporate and political conspiracy, nuclear terror, money in politics.
• Rich characters, personal relationships, love and hate in a deeply believable science fiction setting

Join readers from around the globe in discovering the best new author to hit the science fiction scene.

Elysium Dreamsby Hadena James

He skins his victims alive, taking pleasure from their pain.

In the cold, dark nights of Alaska, a hunter is stalking his prey. Once found, he takes them into the woods and skins them alive, prolonging the experience as much as he can, but the satisfaction always wanes.

Aislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit have just finished up another case when they get the call. Now they are packing their bags and heading for Alaska in March. The team must overcome the hostile locals and harsh climate to catch a killer before he steals the life of another woman.

Temptation (The Hunted Series Book 1)by Ivy Smoak

Indulge in the temptation in the breakout series The Hunted by Ivy Smoak.

When Penny Taylor runs into a handsome stranger in a coffee shop, she believes her luck has finally changed. After having her confidence unwound by her ex, she falls hard for a true gentleman. But once she realizes that her crush is her communications professor, her world is turned upside down.

Haunted by dreams of the alluring Professor Hunter, Penny can't seem to dismiss her fantasies and the temptation to have him grows deeper. Will the excitement, danger, and mystery surrounding Professor Hunter bring her to her knees?

Desolation Runby James Snyder

70-something Oreny “Big” Johnson has a problem. Actually, he has two. Or maybe three. The first is that he’ll be dead from cancer, less than a year, which doesn’t particularly concern him: “The things I’ve been through, dying is just one more page in a long bad book.” But spending his last living days, taking his last living breath, behind steel bars does. That’s the second problem: Inmate #78903 in the notorious level-four Washington State prison known as Horseneck Bay.

Then there’s the money. Two million dollars of stolen military payroll, supposedly buried in some remote and mysterious south-Texas mountain range called Los Despoblados, or The Uninhabited, which sounds to Oreny like one of those places his mama Maybell always told him to avoid. But he’ll worry about that later. He has to get there first. Problem number three.

That’s when he brings those two smoldering dynamite sticks he’s attached himself to–his Luke-boy and Jaime–on board to help his tired old body break out of Horseneck and go dig up that money and then hightail it across the border into Mexico. And when they do break out, and Luke decides to bring his girlfriend Lauren along, and her enraged ex comes after them, and then the manhunt starts multiplying faster around them than those cancer cells inside him, Oreny still thinks he can control them. The problems, that is. At least, until Cade arrives.

Cade, the prison investigator Oreny knows is dangerous and unpredictable as a six-foot-two wolverine on eight gallons of adrenalin gone bad. And who won’t stop until he catches them and does to them what Cade does best.

Cade, Oreny knows better than anything else, is their biggest problem of all.

FunGirlby Sheila Michelle

Felicity Gains lives up to her name. As a 17-year-old high school senior, she has the world at her feet, and to her this means that she has everything to gain in her own selfish, conceited world, and does whatever she has to do to keep having the two things that are the most important to her — fun and attention, as well as living in the moment now. But she likes to have fun at other people’s expense, and always strives to get the kind of attention she feels that she’s entitled to at whatever cost, and that includes not caring about who she hurts in the process because she accepts no responsibility for what she does, and doesn’t listen to her best friend Erin, who tries to talk to her about her illicit behavior and the consequences of it — but it’s useless.

Felicity is a self-proclaimed fun girl and is beautiful but not too intelligent, and definitely unapologetic about what her idea of fun really is. And even though she wants everyone to see her as this type of girl, everyone who knows her — and even those who don’t know her — will never see her this way, and because of this, she has the real reputation of being a type of girl that no girl would want to have her name associated with. But since she only cares about herself and not how she treats others, she gets herself into too many incidents to count, but there’s one incident that she may never get out of, and two restless cops are in a race against time to see who could be involved in this particular incident before it’s too late, and they have too many suspects that Felicity has caused nonsense to and too many motives to count. But most of their suspects are using two interesting words that describe Felicity’s character, and this really has them thinking about this whole investigation. But then the investigation takes a turn in a way that no one is expecting, and foreshadows an outcome that no one saw coming as some wonder what really happened.

FunGirl is the first book in the FunGirl series.

unBlockedby Jeff Benson

unBlocked: The Walls Come Tumbling Down is a book that was written to help cheerleaders, parents, and coaches understand and resolve the mental hurdles that occur in competitive cheerleading.

Many athletes allow mental blocks to define them, inhibiting their happiness and success within the sport of cheerleading. Jeff Benson explains how a mental block is just a hurdle in the life of an athlete and one that can be overcome with hard work, determination, and persistence.

Author Jeff Benson has designed the system laid out in this book to take anyone in the Triad, aka the athlete, parent and coach, through the process of resolving the athlete’s mental blocks in a holistic approach.

TEN THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS BOOK:

1. How to correctly identify a mental block
2. The difference between a fixed, growth and mixed mindset
3. What self-talk is and which type you’ll need to break through your mental block
4. Teach you how self-awareness is the key to beginning to break through a mental block
5. Identify whether someone is product or process focused and how that influences performance
6. Proper goal setting using the MARS formula
7. Learning to shift your mindset into dealing with the mental block with a holistic approach: Mind, Body, and Cheer Skills
8. A detailed, 10-step strategy for getting over a mental block outside the gym
9. A complimentary 6-step strategy, for getting over a mental block inside the gym
10. Perhaps most importantly, a 3-pronged approach to preventing the relapse of your mental block

This book is frank and to the point, there is no fluff here but Jeff does an excellent job of speaking to you like you’re his personal client. The author provides a detailed roadmap to clearing any mental block in a cheer athlete. The book is written in a way that speaks to the athlete, parent and coach so you can have a tailored learning experience.

unBlocked also offers multiple scenarios and stories to demonstrate the teachings within in the context of life and test your knowledge throughout the learning process. Much like Jeff’s own cheer coaching strategy, he walks you through, incrementally, so that success is more probable and your results are quantifiable.

Read unBlocked: The Walls Come Tumbling Down by expert Sports Performance Coach, Jeff Benson today if you’re searching for a solution to the sport’s most challenging problem.

Mail Order Brides Anthology: Leah and Tessby Rose Jenster

This clean, sweet romance anthology includes the novellas Mail Order Bride Leah and Mail Order Bride Tess, books 1 and 2 of the series. Enjoy each of their journeys in overcoming their challenging situations in New York. Note that each is a sweet stand-alone book, but they also are the first two books in the Montana Mail Order Brides Series.

Mail Order Bride Leah

Leah is a school teacher in Albany, New York during the 1880s who was devoted to her mother until she passed away. Her father lost his business and Leah did not want to spend the rest of her life living with her protective brother. She begins to correspond with a man from Montana who ran an ad for a mail order bride. Could she have found someone who also loves literature and shares so many of her interests?

How does Leah handle her brother’s negative reactions to the correspondence that now was the focus and light of her life? Can she leave the desperate situation in New York and find that joy that her heart dreams? Or is she destined to live a life without fulfillment?

Will Leah find happiness in Montana? What secrets does her love keep to himself that makes him so hard to reach and read? Can Leah help Henry open up his heart or will she give up? Can his scars heal from the past?

Book 2: Mail Order Bride Tess

Tess is a seamstress in upstate New York during the 1880s. She fears she will be working in the sweltering shop her whole life and never find true happiness by finding a man who loves her. A married friend shows her a newspaper that has ads for mail order husbands and Tess shyly studies it with guarded hope. Tess is quite bashful with a lot of fear, but also worries what her life would be like without a big change.

Will she find happiness out west or be stuck in the sweltering shop in New York? Why does Luke withdraw from her emotionally and can he let go of his past loss? Will Tess return home in defeat and be broken inside? Can their love blossom?

Note: Each of the books is a stand-alone clean romance without a cliffhanger. They are sweet westerns appropriate for all ages.

Murphy’s Luckby Benjamin Laskin

Sometimes rotten luck is better than no luck at all.

Jinxed from birth with astonishing bad luck, Murphy Drummer hasn't ventured beyond his backyard since he was a little boy. To remedy his loneliness he immersed himself in the mastering of hundreds of hobbies, and in the process developed some amazing abilities.

Now grown up, Murphy must seek a new sanctuary where the world might be safe from his mystifying jinx. Trailing both miracles and mayhem wherever he goes, Murphy stumbles into Joy Daley, a happy-go-lucky optimist who never forgot to thank her lucky stars. The comical, topsy-turvy effects from the collision of Lady Luck and Murphy's Jinx whimsically upends the lives of everyone in their paths.

At first, Murphy's victims question who he is; at last, they'll be questioning who they aren't. An inspiring and magical romantic comedy of wood-tapping proportions.