Goddess Fish Promotions Tour Spot: Christmas At The Cove

Christmas At The Cove

by Rachel Brimble

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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BLURB:

More family for Christmas? 
Scott Walker doesn't have time for a relationship. The sexy mechanic has career ambitions, not to mention a mother and three sisters to take care of. The last thing he needs is Carrie Jameson, the beauty he never forgot, arriving in Templeton Cove over the holidays with some unexpected news. 
Scott still finds Carrie irresistible, and he's not one to shirk responsibility. Scott's issues with his own dad make the prospect of parenthood a minefield. But if he and Carrie can overcome their fears, this Christmas could bring them the best gift of all.

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Excerpt :

She glanced around the garage. “I’m sorry to turn up unannounced like this, but I’m here and we need to talk.”

He stared at her in disbelief as questions, demands and weaknesses hurtled around inside him, battling with the intense sexual frustration storming through his body. “Just like that, you turn up and say, ‘We need to talk’?” He shook his head and turned away from her, lest he get caught in the snare of her wide, impossibly gorgeous eyes. “Go away.”

“No.”

Keeping his back to her, he uncrossed his arms and planted his hands on his hips. He tipped his head back and smiled as insanity rushed his bloodstream. He wanted to grab her, shake her, kiss her and make love to her. God, he wanted to drop to his damn knees in front of her and beg her to tell him where she’d been and now she was back, was she back for good?

“Scott?”

He closed his eyes, barely resisting the urge to cover his ears with his hands and block out her tempting voice, achingly laced with the unmistakable sound of a plea. “Whether you want to see me or not, I have to talk to you, and I won’t leave the Cove until you hear me out.”

Her heels clicked closer and his body tensed, waiting for what came next. The dangerous, musky scent of her perfume wafted under his nostrils and he inhaled. She approached the bench beside him and put down a business card. “My number’s on there. I’m staying at the Christie. Call me when you’re ready to talk. It’s important or I wouldn’t have come.”

He glanced at the card. Carrie Jameson. Producer.

She turned and walked away. He let her go, feeling like a smashed up car after a hurricane, tossed and turned through the air before being spewed crudely across the highway, left to rust and burn.

He picked up the card. His hand shook and the rare sting of tears shamed him. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Carrie was back and his libido told him only too clearly there was no way in hell he wouldn’t go to her. How was he supposed to let her go a second time when he’d lived the last three years regretting he didn’t stop her the first time?

Review: I have been a fan of Rachel Brimble for ages now. When you read one of her books, you feel like you are reading about people that you could know and that is something that I always enjoy in a book, especially in romance where things often go the route of he unrealistic.

I liked the plot of the two lovers who had a one night stand that resulted in a child and the complications that arise when Carrie seeks out her daughters biological father. There's a lot of tension between her and Scott and a lot of chemistry as well.

Both characters end up being just what the other needs and they are characters that you will absolutely love. I also love returning to Templeton Cove. I really love having a cozy small town that isn't somewhere in the US.

This is another winner for Rachel.

Rating: 5 stars

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had five books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and three Victorian romances by eKensington/Lyrical.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!

Links:

Website: http://rachelbrimble.com/

Blog: http://rachelbrimble.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachelBrimble

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel-Brimble/181873201887441

Facebook Street Team - Rachel's Readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RachelsReaders/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Brimble/e/B007829ZRM/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-at-the-cove-rachel-brimble/1119471813

Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=54082&cid=

My Favorite Things About The Holidays…Rachel Brimble

The first thing I love about the holidays is that few days before the 25^th when everything is done and all I have left to look forward to is eating, drinking and spending time with family and friends exchanging gifts and having a good time.

Leading up to Christmas I’m a mess of stress worrying about gifts, food, where we need to be and when.

It’s become a bit of tradition for us to have Christmas lunch with our good neighbors and friends at Ronnie Scott’s (the famous jazz club) in London around the 18^th or 19^th. This marks the start of the holidays for me – what hasn’t been done by the time Ronnie Scott’s rolls around, it’s not going to be done!

Another thing I love about the holidays is that Mr. B takes a full two weeks off work, which means we get to spend some good family time together with our two teenage daughters. The family time kicks off on Christmas Eve. We have a tradition with our neighbors and several friends that we each take it in turn to host a night of food, drink, games and celebration.

We always have great fun and because there’s about five families involved, we only host every five years, lol!

For the big day, I love getting up early with Mr. B and the kids and heading downstairs to open the presents. Even though my girls are older now, I try to add a completely unexpected gift to their pile. Fingers crossed, I’ve got it just right every year so far…last year’s surprise of Ed Sheeran concert tickets resulted in a LOT of happy tears!

This year I am looking forward to my mother-in-law’s amazing home-cooked lunch and spending time with my husband’s family and mine around the same dining table. Later in the evening, we plan to head home to slump in front of the TV until bedtime. Cannot wait for the Downton Abbey finale! That is on the top of my Christmas viewing this year.

Happy holidays!

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Rachel Brimble will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Super Book Blast: Space Cadets

Space Cadets

by Laurence Moroney

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GENRE: YA Sci-Fi

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BLURB:

After conflicts in Korea, Pakistan and the Middle East turned nuclear, the world stood on the eve of destruction. Realizing that we only have this one precious planet containing all of humanity, the United Nations pulled us back from the brink, and started a new, multinational effort to conquer space. Many years later, the peak of achievement for any young person is to be admitted to the Space Academy. Previously available only to a precious few, it has recently opened enrollment to anybody who can meet their strenuous entry criteria. Space Cadets is the story of the first African-American girl, Aisha Parks, to enter into the academy, where she learns that the more some things change, the more they stay the same, and despite the honorable intentions of the academy, there are some dark secrets being kept – secrets that could be the end of us all.

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Excerpt: 

Chapter 10. Returning Home

So they found life.

Ironic that the North Korean was the first to do so, eh?

This isn’t a time for levity.

I know. But given that life was found so easily and so quickly on that planet, it tells us that surely we’ll find more advanced lifeforms, and soon.

The bigger question is, why was the life we found there so primitive?

Following Soo-Kyung’s discovery, the mission changed. The scientific pods were to stay, along with an attachment of Phaetons, but the Explorer was to return home and restock. Stellar Cartography was working around-the-clock to find routes to other stars, given that life being found here meant that, of course, the Galaxy must be teeming with life, and most of it must be more complex than the basic lichens they found.

Aisha was still confused about one thing. Once they had broken orbit, and were cruising back to the Explorer, she had to ask. “Why did you ask me to stop?”

Soo-Kyung signaled for them to close external comms. She clearly wanted to keep the conversation private amongst the three of them.

“Once I knew that it was life,” said Soo-Kyung. “I realized that we hadn’t sterilized ourselves. Every further step we took could potentially contaminate, and perhaps kill, these primitive lifeforms. We’re carrying bacteria, spores, and who-knows-what-else with us that would be terribly invasive to the native species.”

“So why did they let us walk on the surface?”

“I guess they just assumed that there was no life there. That it was a dead planet.”

Something about it just bugged Aisha. “They didn’t ask us to stop,” she said. “They allowed us to walk on the surface. You’d think they’d know better. It was you who was smart enough to realize that we might impact any life there.”

“Maybe they were too busy?”

“Or maybe they didn’t care,” Aisha said, realizing how ominous it sounded.

“Guys,” said David. “We just discovered life. Don’t you realize the implications? At least immediately?”

“What?”

“You think they’re going to just release this broadly on Earth? Look at all the wars that have been fought over religion. Between the Caliphate and my country for one. They can’t let this information loose on Earth. We’re not yet ready.”

“But we rushed into discovery.”

“Now I know why they kept Explorer a secret, building her on the far side of the moon.”

“But we’ve been asked to do things differently,” said Soo-Kyung, for once having some emotion in her voice. “And one of the things I want to do differently is share information like this equally amongst all people. And yes, I understand the irony that it’s me saying it, but wars like those in my country happened because of a few people keeping key information from the masses. I can’t let that happen again.”

“I don’t think we can stop them,” said David.

“What’ll they do?”

“Boot us out of the Academy and send us Earth-side, of course. Anything we have to say can be easily discredited.”

Aisha sighed. David was right and she knew it. She just hoped that Soo-Kyung did too.

“So,” she said. “We toe the party line. We keep this all a big secret. We play along until the time is right, where we can take control, and do what’s right for the world.”

Soo-Kyung was exasperated. “Isn’t that what they think they’re doing? Doesn’t that just make us the same as them?”

Seamus interrupted with an external comm. “Folks, Captain has ordered you back double-time.”

“Why?”

“We’re going home.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Laurence Moroney is the author of more books than he’s prepared to admit. After several best selling programming books, his first Young Adult novel “The Fourth World” became a #1 book on Amazon Kindle, spawned two sequels “The Million Year Journey” and “The Legend of the Locust”, and is currently being shopped around studios for a potential movie. “Space Cadets” is his latest, a cutting edge science fiction novel, based on real science that starts a new series charting out humanity’s course to the stars. He’s presently working on the sequel “The Quiet World”, which he hopes to finish in 2015. For his day job, Laurence works as a Developer Advocate for Google, where he is constantly counting his blessings for being part of the best workplace in the world…

Find him here:

Space Cadets Blog: http://join-the-cadets.blogspot.com/

Space Cadets Website: http://www.join-the-cadets.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmoroney

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Laurence-Moroney/e/B001ILFKMS

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Laurence will be awarding a signed copy of Space Cadets to a randomly drawn winner (US ONLY) via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Book Tours Cover Reveal: Dating on The Dork Side

DATING ON THE DORK SIDE

by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance

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GENRE: Contemporary Young Adult

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BLURB:

Stung by an epic betrayal, Camy Cavanaugh relies on the sure things: her best friend, her job as peer tutor, and her safe spot on the sidelines of life. But when she hacks into a secret, trash-talking website, it ignites a war between the sexes that won’t end until the whole school is turned upside down–and Camy’s world is turned inside out.

Now the hottest girls in school refuse to date the A-List boys. But with the Homecoming dance looming, everyone from the queen bee to the girl “most likely to” pushes Camy to hook them up with guys from the nerd herd.

And then there’s quarterback, A-lister–and former crush–Gavin Madison. He hasn’t spoken to Camy in three years … but he’s talking now, begging her to pair the guys on the football team with girls from the Honor Roll.

It’s a contest of wills and everything is on the line–even Camy’s heart. Will she retreat to the sidelines, or will she find the courage to get back in the game?

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Excerpt:

I’ve had eleven years to think about this (twelve if you count kindergarten) and if you ask me, the first day of school should come with a checklist:

• Your best guy friend manages to wear matching socks?

A good sign.

• Your homeroom teacher turns out to be a drama king?

Proceed with caution; hilarity may ensue-- but so may humiliation.

• You find a jock in the tutoring room?

A sign of the apocalypse.

On my last first day of school, I counted the minutes to the final bell, then took the stairs to the third floor tutoring room two at a time. I paused at the threshold and sucked in a breath.

The monitors inside the room, at least the ones that I could see, were spotless. I had new pencils sharpened to deadly points. My notebooks were filled with blank pages and promise. Everything was still first day fresh. Everything was still possible. And through the open windows, came the wondrous sounds of the Olympia High School football team warming up, “O-L-Y-M-P-I-A!”

“Switch!” Coach Cutter’s voice, amplified by the megaphone, rode the breeze through the windows. The trip seemed to soften all the hard edges, making him sound like someone you might actually want to talk to.

“O-L-Y-M-P-I-A!” the siren song came again. I loved it when jocks spelled. I loved the first day of school. I really, really loved my view of the football field from the windows of the tutoring room.

But Jason “The Ab” Abernathy was ruining all of it.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Charity Tahmaseb has slung corn on the cob for Green Giant and jumped out of airplanes (but not at the same time). She spent twelve years as a Girl Scout and six in the Army; that she wore a green uniform for both may not be a coincidence. These days, she writes fiction (long and short) and works as a technical writer for a software company in St. Paul.

Her short speculative fiction has appeared in UFO Publishing’s Unidentified Funny Objects and Coffee anthologies, Flash Fiction Online and Cicada.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charity.tahmaseb

Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekgirlx2

Blog: https://writingwrongs.wordpress.com

Mail list/newsletter: http://eepurl.com/RGffv

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/charitytahmaseb/

Darcy Vance is the slacker half of the author duo of Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance. She didn’t start writing seriously until she was 40, and didn’t publish her first novel until she was 50. Even then, she needed a co-author to get the job done.

While Charity was busy slinging corn for Green Giant and jumping out of airplanes for the Army, Darcy was busy making out with boys and perfecting the art of the doodle. She only makes out with one boy now (her husband) but she still doodles wantonly.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darcy.vance.3

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/edeevee/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/DarcyVance (there is a free story there)

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Charity and Darcy will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to one randomly drawn winner, a print copy of "Dating on the Dork Side" to another randomly drawn winner (US/Canada only) and a print copy of "The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading" to a third randomly drawn commenter (US/Canada only) via rafflecopter during the tour.

Please use this rafflecopter code on your post:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Book Promotions Guest Post: R. Arundel

Balancing life and writing

Humans are social creatures. Writing is a solitary task. This is the push and pull every writer feels. As a surgeon with a family I have to carve out time to write. This is no different than a busy mother or parent or young teacher looking to write their first novel. Or any other of countless examples I could list.

Most writers write because some innate urge within them compels them to write. Writers don’t write because they like writing. Writers write because they need to write. Many writers are tortured as they compose their works. They worry if others will enjoy it. They wonder if what they have written is a load of garbage. Writing can be a very unpleasant, laborious experience. But writers continue to write. Understanding this unique dynamic is the most important point in creating write/life balance.

Writers have a compulsion to write. It’s nice to sit at a page and create. Everything is just as you wanted it, you control all. It’s not real life. Real life is messy, sometimes unfair, and often very hard. All writers need to step away from writing and spend time living life. For myself that means limiting my writing to very early mornings or very late at night.

I always schedule time for activities away from writing. If I sit at the computer andbe  nothing is working or I can’t figure out the plot, I just step away. Take some time off. You brain will still work at the problem in a day or two (or three or four) when you do return the problem may worked out.

Living and experiencing life will make your characters richer. Sometimes, when you’re trying to get your four year old to eat his vegetables or your partner to see that you’re right, it might seem that sitting in a quiet space and creating your next masterpiece is what you should be doing. But remember even in the hurly burly of life when you’re stuck doing the job you don’t really want because you want to be a fulltime writer, life is what gives you the raw materials to dream and to write.

The Face Transplant

by R. Arundel

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GENRE: Medical Suspense Thriller

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BLURB:

The Face Transplant

An epic journey of suspense, murder, and sacrifice

Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a facial transplant surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. When his friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances, Matthew uncovers his friend’s secret: a new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities. While trying to find the people responsible for murdering Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. He must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper, who has a secret of her own, and Alice, who helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world. They stumble onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions that leads Matthew all the way to the White House.

The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon who weaves politics, medicine, and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller.

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Excerpt:

Guaarrr. It sounds like water draining from a very large bathtub, through a very large hole. I just killed myself. I just killed the patient. Dr. Matthew MacAulay looks down on the operating room table at the gaunt, graying man. Matthew quickly scans the operating theater. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the short wide man in

the observation area.

I just killed myself, Sarah, and Amanda.

They have been hijacked into performing a face transplant. The patient is unknown. Mr. Glock, the short wide man, hovers in the far end of the operating room. He made it clear that if the patient did not survive, the three of them would be following him in short order. The 9 mm Glock with a silencer on the end gave credence to his profanity-laced words of warning.

Matthew looks across the operating room table at Amanda Soto, forty-two, an American of Spanish ancestry. She has been his scrub nurse, assisting him in the operating room for the last three years. Divorced, one child.

It will take a few more seconds for the monitors to tell everybody what Matthew already knows. Amanda already knows. She is right across the table. She saw him use the robotic arm to dissect the vessel and mistakenly cut the large artery in the neck. An operating room nurse of Amanda’s experience has seen it all. When Matthew looks into her eyes, they flash ever so quickly an acknowledgement that it is all over. Instead of any words, she quietly unclamps the suction. Now a dull hiss fills the air. To the casual observer, or the short wide man holding a 9 mm Glock pistol in his fat stubby hands, nothing really has changed. Amanda, anesthetist Dr. Sarah Larsson, and Dr. Matthew MacAulay act as if all is going well.

Matthew cannot help but glance over to the man with the 9 mm Glock. In his mind he names him Mr. Glock. Adrenaline surges through Matthew’s body and time slows. The short wide man, Mr. Glock, has gray eyes. Pale, gray eyes. Very pale, almost tired. Matthew remembers reading somewhere that people with gray eyes have the best visual acuity. They make the best marksmen, the best assassins. He wonders if this was true.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

R. Arundel is a practising surgeon. This experience brings realism to the story. The novel asks what would happen if a surgeon were to develop the perfect face transplant. This would allow people to have a new face, in essence create a new identity. You can create the perfect double, the perfect Doppelganger.

Contact link: http://www.amazon.com/R-Arundel/e/B00EBCQVEC

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THE BOOK, go here: http://www.thefacetransplant.com/contact.html FILL OUT THE FEEDBACK AND MARK SUBSCRIBE.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Prizes for the tour are as follows:

• One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

• One randomly chosen host will receive a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TV Music

Tonight one of my favorite sitcoms had two fabulous songs featured during the episode. The first song is by Ben Kweller, Out The Door.



The next one is by Johnny Stimson with Jillian Edwards called A Million Years. I wish this song were available somewhere, as it is totally fabulous.



What are some of your favorite songs you've discovered through tv shows?

Goddess Fish Promotions Book Blast: Tangled Web

Tangled Web

by Angela Whisenhant

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GENRE: Romantic Suspense/Christian

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BLURB:

One bad decision can change your life forever. Alyson Carter has always put her family first, so the small town of Sage Grove is shocked to learn she’s abandoned them for a man she met online. Seeking a more exciting life, she moves to his horse ranch in Colorado.

Attempting to adjust to life without her, her husband, Kurt, accepts an opportunity to train with the FBI, reluctantly allowing their daughter, Lacy, to move in with a family friend. When the friend is kidnapped, it’s discovered Lacy was the intended target. Pursued by unknown assailants who will stop at nothing to catch her, Lacy finds herself scared and alone. She turns to her mother for protection, unaware that her mother’s secluded mountain sanctuary has become a prison. Alyson discovers she’s merely a pawn in the deadly game of a man she thought she knew. Secrets and lies draw her family onto a collision course with cold-blooded killers.

Her ill-fated decision has placed them all in danger, and she is forced to confront her enemy head-on to protect herself and her daughter. Now she must depend on a God she turned her back on and the husband she left behind to save them both.

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Excerpt:

“Alyson, what is this?” he screamed. Confused, Alyson jumped from the couch. “Who is Alex?” She stood and stared at him holding her laptop and reading her messages. No explanation was going to fix this. “He’s a friend of mine.” “A friend? A friend? He asked you to leave me. He wants you to move to Colorado with him. That’s more than a friend. How could you, Alyson?” “How could I what, Kurt? How could I want someone to talk to? How could I want more than spending every night alone? I’ll tell you one thing—I sure didn’t go looking for it. I went looking for you, but you were never there. So don’t put all this on me. I needed someone that had time for me and made me a priority.”

“You’re blaming me? You’re the one having an affair, but it’s my fault? Come on, Alyson. Who is this guy?” “He’s someone who loves me and wants to give me everything that I deserve. And yes, he does want me to come live with him.” “So you’re leaving? Just like that. You’re leaving your family for some loser you met online?”

 “That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she spat out. She turned and came face to face with a wide-eyed Lacy. “I’m sorry, Lacy.”  After about ten minutes of ugly accusations and even uglier names, Kurt just collapsed on the couch. Alyson went into her room and came out with her suitcase. The front door slammed, and then red lights pierced the black night

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Angela has been a passionate reader her whole life and that love of reading developed into a love of writing. She is excitedly awaiting the publication of her first novel, Tangled Web. She wants to tell the stories of real people who make real mistakes and, yet find real redemption. People who are leading normal lives and suddenly find themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Sometimes they make good decisions and sometimes bad decisions. But either way they must live with the consequences.

Much of her inspiration comes from her life in a small town and her love of all things suspense. Her perfect storm is when the two collide. Crime in a small town impacts everyone because of the close ties.

Angela lives in Texas with the three loves of her life; her husband Leslie and sons, Kyle and Chase. Other than writing, she loves coffee, 80’s music, hiking in Colorado and HGTV. She aspires to live a joyful life, always chase her dreams and never settle for mediocrity.

Find her here:

Website | angelawhisenhant.wordpress.com/

Facebook | AngelaWhisenhantAuthor

Twitter | @angela_whiz

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Angela will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goddess Fish Promotions Book Blast: Sweet Tea

Sweet Tea

by Wendy Lynn Decker

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GENRE: Coming of Age/Christian fiction

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BLURB:

The fourth anniversary of Olivia’s daddy and John Lennon’s death is approaching. Like the shot heard ’round the world, TV and radio stations keep the frenzy alive and recognize Lennon’s life, while Olivia’s mama remembers Daddy’s death. Instead of healing, Mama’s strange behavior keeps getting worse.

After viewing an afternoon talk show, Olivia discovers her mother might have more than a case of eccentricity – she may be mentally ill. When those fears are confirmed, Olivia is faced with more decisions than any sixteen-year-old should have to make. With no adult family members to turn to, she is forced to trust the only people who’ve offered help: one strange man and a friend her mother makes at the mental institution.

Facing the intricacies of her mother’s illness one minute and the decision to have sex with her new boyfriend the next, Olivia finds that through faith and determination, she can conquer it all in this poignant story of love, intuition, compassion, and hope.

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Excerpt :

When the Monday morning after Thanksgiving rolled around, I wondered if Mama had taken a bath yet. It wasn’t like her to wallow in filth. She spent more time in the bath than a bar of soap, but I wasn’t going to be the one to suggest she get in the tub. I needed to get myself ready for school. I had to look just right today.

“Have you heard Mama run the bath yet?” I asked CeCe.

“Nope,” she answered, while scrubbing the kitchen table as if she hoped it would change colors. “She went to bed after me last night. Hopefully she took one after I fell asleep.” She waved her hand in front of her nose. “By the way, what kind of shampoo are you putting in your hair? Last night I sneezed about ten times when you rolled onto my side of the bed.”

“Jonzie gave it to me,” I said.

CeCe looked at me funny. “You sure it’s for humans? Knowing Jonzie, it might be some type of dog shampoo.”

“No! Jonzie found a bunch of it in her basement. Her Daddy used to work for a big fragrance company. He has boxes and boxes of samples.”

“Did you check the expiration date? I think it may have gone bad.”

I shrugged. “Maybe we could save up for bunk-beds, then your nose won’t be so close to my head.”

CeCe kept scrubbing. “Don’t worry; you’ll have the bed to yourself soon enough.”

Though I would have loved to have the bed to myself, I’d rather share it with CeCe for five more years than let her go away and leave me alone with Mama.

Just then, the bathroom door creaked open, and Mama stepped out. I could see her clearly from the kitchen. There were no twists and turns in the trailer like there had been in our house. Just one straight hallway of metal covered in taupe-painted drywall, with a portrait of our family hanging crooked from a skinny nail halfway down.

Daddy would have been sad if he knew our portrait no longer sat on the fireplace mantle. He loved our house. He built it especially for our family. I remembered him saying he made sure to build it big enough so we would never have to move. The only thing reminiscent of our old house now was the flower bed Mama made on the small plot of grass on the side of the trailer.

Dressed in her uniform, all fresh and clean, she said, “Good morning, girls.”

Cece and I breathed identical sighs of relief. “Morning,” we said.

Mama smoothed the sides of her hair while she sucked her lips inward, staring into the air as if it were a mirror. “What a beautiful fall day it is.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” CeCe said. “It sure is a beautiful day.”

She grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies from the cookie jar and waved goodbye. “Don’t forget to wake Luke up.” She slipped out the front door like any other Monday. But I knew it wasn’t any other Monday. It was one Monday closer to the anniversary of Daddy and John Lennon’s death.

Each year when the anniversary drew near, John Lennon’s face plastered every station on the television. I would often dive across the living room floor, rushing to change the channel before Mama saw it. We all knew if Mama saw Lennon’s fans clutching their candles while they sang Give Peace a Chance in Central Park, there would be no peace for us.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Wendy Lynn Decker has lived in thirteen different towns in the state of New Jersey. Now, she lives a bike ride away from the ocean and her favorite restaurant. She is the author of the middle-grade chapter book, THE BEDAZZLING BOWL, which is the first book intended for a series.

Find her here:

www.wendylynndeckerauthor.com

WendyDecker19 - http://www.twitter.com/wendydecker19

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/pub/wendy-lynn-decker/46/166/3a2

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Wendy will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway