Giveaway – Chaos and Cranberries by Joann Keder @XpressoTours

Chaos and Cranberries
Joann Keder
Publication date: November 1st 2022
Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery

Paranormal investigator, Feather Jones and her boyfriend, Tug have arrived in picturesque Piney Falls for their Christmas getaway. To their dismay, they learn that their suite isn’t available because the last guest, author Dash Vixen, never checked out.

Dash was murdered when a copy of his own horror Christmas anthology was used to beat him to death.

Coming to their rescue is local sleuth, Lanie Anders, who invites them to spend the holiday with her and her husband. Unbeknownst to all of them, the murderer has bigger plans. Soon Lanie, Feather and their respective other halves are embroiled in a mystery that will stretch them both to their crime-solving limits!

This is a crossover book: Feather is a sleuth from the Charming Mysteries series and Lanie is a sleuth in the Piney Falls Mysteries.

Add to Goodreads / Pre-order

SNEAK PEEK:

Vem stood uncomfortably close and read aloud:

Ivy Merrilee Globe was a prolific author, completing seventy-nine books in her twenty-six years of life. Her most recent, Snowily Severed, was a short story featured in the massively popular Christmas horror anthology, Strung by the Fire.

She recently signed a contract with Brain Gravy Pictures to turn her short story into a movie.

Driving home from physical therapy, she stopped for children crossing three blocks from her home, when her neighbor’s sleigh ornament slid off the roof of their home and through her car windshield, impaling her. Ivy herself couldn’t have written such a dramatic end.

Ivy leaves behind three brothers and a cat named Ice.

“She didn’t die on the twenty-second like the other two. Find the date of the Frosty attack, Lanie,” Vem urged.

I typed in the information and when the page came up, our mood was somber. “Ivy was attacked on the twenty-second by the Frosty wannabe. They intended to kill her that day, and when it didn’t work, they came back to finish the job.”

“Poor Ivy,” Vem lamented.

My phone rang and I jumped up to answer. Even though we’d been together for several years, I was always expecting his call.

“Babe?”

“Mrs. Hill? This is the Tucson police department.”

Author Bio:

USA TODAY bestselling author, Joann Keder spent most of her years in the Midwest, growing up and raising a family on the Great Plains of Nebraska. She worked for sixteen years as a piano teacher before returning to school to receive a master’s degree in creative writing. A mid-life move to the Pacific Northwest led her to re-examine her priorities. She now creates stories about life and relationships in small towns while her ever-patient husband encourages her on.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram


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Giveaway – Dainty Damsels Halloween Collection Coloring Books @RoxanneRhoads



Dainty Damsels: Halloween Collection 2022
Dainty Damsels Coloring Books
Book Twelve
J.N. Sheats

Genre: Fantasy Coloring Books 
Date of Publication: 09/04/2022
ISBN: 979-8849735702 
ASIN: B0BD2RR74J 
Number of pages: 72
Cover Artist: J.N. Sheats

Book Description:

Spooky season is here and so are the Dainty Damsels with a new 30 page collection of illustrations by J.N. Sheats. 

Grab your pens, pencils, and markers and get to coloring! 

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About the Author:

A creative mind trapped in a world of reality Jackie Sheats expresses herself in anyway that she can. From illustrating and writing to dancing like a mental patient while preparing dinner. Living in Maryland with her logic driven husband, their six cats, the dog, and a tank full of fish, Jackie spends her free time doing the backlog of housework. A movie junkie, video game addict, and lover of romance novels, she lives life under the idea that “if you don’t know how to do something, go learn it!”













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Giveaway – Letting Go by Jacquie Biggar @XpressoTours @JacqBiggar

Letting Go
Jacquie Biggar
(The Defiant Sisters, #1)
Publication date: October 21st 2022
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

A coming-of-age novel about the pain of misconceptions and learning from them.

When life gives you lemons…

Izzy

Mom is barely in the grave and the prodigal child is here to pick the bones clean.

I don’t want her here. My sister’s defection is a wound that won’t heal, and her return simply rubs at the scabs covering my heart.

I’ve managed just fine without her. She can go back to her fancy college and forget about us- that’s what she does best anyway.

If only I didn’t need her help. Or miss her so much.

Renee

The day my dad committed suicide I ran. I’ve been running ever since.

Going home is supposed to be the answer. Instead, it makes me question every thoughtless decision I’ve made.

My sister hates me. My little brother barely knows me. And Simon… is engaged.

None of it matters- or so I tell myself. I’m here to make amends and face a past haunted by regret.

As long as I can convince myself to stay.

Letting Go is a young adult romance dealing with tragedy, restitution, and love in all its aspects. The story relates to sensitive topics that may be triggering for some readers.

Goodreads / Amazon

SNEAK PEEK:

Izzy

The shock of finding Renée on the doorstep is fading, taken over by the sheer hypocrisy of her arrival. Why now? It’s a little late if she wants to make amends. Not a word for two stinking years and she shows up thinking I’m going to be grateful she’s here?

Not in this lifetime.

The warm sincerity of her embrace, though… it tries to weaken the resentment I’ve fostered since she walked out on her family, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

“I don’t want you here,” I snarl, unable to hide my bitterness. I’d rather act as though I don’t care.

Renée eyes me warily, rubbing a reddened palm. I feel a childish delight to have caused her even a minuscule amount of the pain she’s caused me.

“I’m aware,” she says calmly, bending to pick up a bulging overnight bag. “But I’m here now, so let’s make the best of it—for Mom.”

Red hot rage rises from the pit of my stomach to spit and steam from my ears. “Do. Not. Use Mom against me. You lost that right a long time ago.”

Months of caregiving flicker behind my eyes. My father’s suicide did something to Mom. She shouldered the blame and wore it like a hairshirt, ripping the blinders away from their relationship to show the fractures in the foundation. She shut down. Stopped eating, washing, and caring. It was left to me to get Benjamin off to school, clothes washed, and a semblance of normalcy when everything was insane.

“You should have called.” Renée’s empathetic gaze gets on my last nerve.

I whirl away before I plant my fist in her face. “Your room is the way you left it. You can stay the weekend, then I want you to leave. Ben doesn’t need to get his hopes up.” And neither do I.

Author Bio:

Jacquie Biggar is a USA Today bestselling author of romance who loves to write about tough, alpha males and strong, contemporary women willing to show their men that true power comes from love. She lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and loves to hear from readers all over the world!

In her own words:

“My name is Jacquie Biggar. When I’m not acting like a total klutz, I am a wife, mother of one, grandmother, and a butler to my calico cat.

My guilty pleasures are reality tv shows like Amazing Race and The Voice. Every Monday night, I can be in my armchair plastered to the television laughing at Blake’s shenanigans.

I love to hang out at the beach with DH (darling hubby) taking pictures or reading romance novels (what else?).

I have a slight Tim Hortons obsession, enjoy gardening, everything pink, and talking to my friends.”

She has been blessed with a long, happy marriage and enjoys writing romance novels that end with happily-ever-afters.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Amazon / Pinterest / Newsletter


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Tackling The TBR 10.15 – 10.21.22

I got the idea and the motivation to start doing Tackling The TBR from All The Book Blog Names Are Taken. It has helped me to keep track of my reading shelf as far as current events and to tidy up my shelves. I feel better about my out of control TBR and have even knocked off a couple of those old ones that had been hanging around for years.

COME ON….JOIN IN.

Previous Total: 2055

I didn’t get much reading or blogging done this week. My allergies went haywire and I was down for the count. I had this happen one other time and it took me about two weeks to get back to normal. I am feeling better, so will be plugging away on catching up with everyone.

Currently Reading

I am super excited about Stranger Sins by Michaelbrent Collings. I love Legion.

Books Read

Books Added: 0

Books DNF-ed: 0

Books Deleted: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 2054

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Giveaway – Deadly Paradise by Quinn Avery @XpressoTours @naumannbooks

Deadly Paradise
Quinn Avery
Publication date: October 18th 2022
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

As a child, Nova witnessed the murder of her parents. She is whisked away in the middle of the night to start a new life, however Nova can’t stop questioning the circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths.

As a teenager, Nova lives a lonely and sheltered existence until fate delivers a handsome Greek boy into her world. Although forbidden to speak to him, the teens navigate through first love until she discovers he’s guarding a secret that unravels everything between them.

As a woman, Nova finally goes after the answers that have plagued her entire life. Answers that involve her first love, throwing them both in danger when he returns to save her life. Can she risk the dark secrets of their tangled past to collide with what could become a deadly present?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

Get it for only 99c – this week only!

SNEAK PEEK:

Nova was sixteen when Katerina Makris and her son, Nikos, came to work at the winery. The moment Nova first laid eyes on the mysterious boy with fierce eyebrows and a sharp jaw, her first crush manifested. From her secret perch behind the kitchen door, her knees literally shook as if the world was moving beneath her.

She watched intently as Katerina and Nova’s uncle carried on a conversation in Greek. Nova remembered very little of the language since her father’s death, but her uncle was able to converse with Katerina at a comfortable level. Nova hadn’t known he was fluent in her father’s native language. She was even more surprised the way her uncle treated Katerina like an old friend.

Both mother and son were striking, with eyes so dark they swallowed their pupils, olive-toned skin, stick-straight noses, and luxurious raven hair. Katerina’s loose waves bounced around her shoulders when she walked. Nikos wore his hair neatly trimmed around the sides, and longer on top. He was attractive in a way that made her belly swell. She held her breath, waiting for Nikos to speak. She was very interested in anything and everything the tall, handsome young man had to say.

Later that afternoon, while Katerina was trained in the kitchen and Nikos cleaned tables, Nova perched on the walnut bar top where soon customers would occupy stools across from the small oak and steel barrels containing the award-winning varieties of wine. She studied Nikos from afar as he worked, appreciating his Led Zeppelin t-shirt and dark classic jeans paired with old-school skater sneakers. Although lanky, he moved with the confident swagger of a grown man, and the muscles in his arms flexed impressively as he scrubbed each table. She’d only seen him smile once, but the flash of his bright white teeth as straight as piano keys revealed behind his generously rosy lips was enough to make her heart swell and her stomach tingle with excitement.

She was grateful she’d finally have someone around who was close to her age. Even better, she had a chance to talk to him without anyone else listening in. Her aunt was tending to the grapes that were nearing harvest, and her uncle was helping London perfect the pattern required for her next belt in Tae Kwon Do. The chef and other wait staff weren’t scheduled to come in for another hour, and the only other employee on the clock was in the kitchen with Katerina.

When she thought about approaching Nikos, nerves bubbled through her like a sparkling wine. Most of what she knew about flirting came from years of watching her aunt and uncle’s disgustingly affectionate relationship, and the sappy romance movies she sometimes watched with her aunt. She wanted to believe in love, but she was also cynical that anything could end with a happily ever after. Her parents had been madly in love, and their ending was nothing short of a Shakespearian tragedy.

“So, new guy,” she finally called out, hoping he couldn’t detect the tightness of her breath, “where you from?”

Turning away from the table, his eyes nervously swept past the kitchen before meeting hers. Their alluring darkness caused her heart to flutter against her ribs with the force of a bird’s wings. She suddenly understood the longing she sometimes heard in musician’s voices when they sang about love.

“Mykonos—ehhh…an island…in Greece.” His voice was as deep as her uncle’s, and his accent was rich. Every word he uttered sounded romantic. As they echoed through her head, she became motionless—all except for the widening of her eyes.

“Wait, did you say Mykonos?” A flicker of excitement passed through her. “That’s where my dad was from.”

Nikos’s dark, thick eyebrows rose. “Yes. Your father…he knew my mother. They were…ehhh…friendly. Since they were very young.”

Nova’s pulse sped. What else did he know about her father?

“Really?” Crossing her arms, she mirrored his high-browed expression. It seemed her uncle’s list of secrets was never-ending. “How did you and your mother end up here?”

“Your uncle…very kind. When we leave Mykonos, he tells my mother…ehhh…he can help.”

Interesting, Nova thought to herself. How did her uncle know her father’s childhood friend well enough to offer his help? For the first time since she had been torn from her family’s home in California, she believed she may actually have found an avenue leading to the truth about her parents.


Author Bio:

Quinn Avery is an award-winning author who has written over 38 novels, both romantic suspense and mystery/thriller. An avid fan of the beach, a good book, and Dave Grohl, she enjoys spending her free time with her favorite people and biggest fans–her husband and children.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub



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Giveaway – In The Shadow Of The Apennines by Kimberly Sullivan @XpressoTours @KimberlyinRome

In The Shadow of The Apennines
Kimberly Sullivan
Publication date: October 21st 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Women’s Fiction

An American divorcée. An Italian shepherdess.
Separated by a century, united by common dreams.

The sleepy little Abruzzo mountain town of Marsicano seems about as far as Samantha can flee from her failed marriage and disastrous university career. Eager for a fresh start, Samantha begins to set down roots in her Italian mountain hideaway.

At first, the mountain retreat appears idyllic, but an outsider’s clumsy attempts at breaking into the closed mountain community are quickly thwarted when the residents discover Samantha’s snarky blog ridiculing the town and its inhabitants.

Increasingly isolated in her mountain cottage, Samantha discovers the letters and diaries of Elena, a past tenant and a survivor of the 1915 Pescina earthquake. Despite the century that separates the two women, Samantha feels increasingly drawn into Elena’s life, and discovers startling parallels with her own.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

SNEAK PEEK:

Pescina, Italy

25 April 1914

Where do I begin? Mamma blames it all on Father Ignazio. She says if only he had left me to the chores I was employed to carry out at San Berardo and the parish house, my cooking and cleaning would be much improved, and I would not be constantly scribbling on any piece of paper I could find and begging for books to read.

She worries I will never find a husband.

“What man wants a wife who only cares about book learning, when she should be tending the goats, washing the clothes, and baking the bread?” Mamma warns me every day.

Mamma says no peasant girl should study beyond the first years of elementary school. Writing the letters to sign your name and computations for simple transactions are more than enough for a female in our region. She calls it getting above oneself. To mamma, this is the worst sin.

Of course, we weren’t always peasants. We used to have some money, back before papà lost his property. It was never much, but our lives were so much easier back then. My brothers and I even had a tutor to teach us to read and write and to know our history and literature. Those hours were the highlight of my day. My tutor was very pleased with me.

It was hard on us when we lost everything. Only mamma said maybe it was for the best – at least for me. Now she could insist I concentrate on what was most important for girls.

I suppose I am lucky it was Father Ignazio who insisted I keep up with my learning. Mamma may often speak her mind, but she will never argue with our parish priest. She respects him too much, and she worries about punishment in the afterlife if she talks back to a priest. So mamma, who is quick to speak her mind on every occasion, bites her tongue until she draws blood whenever Father Ignazio praises my learning to her.

Papà is proud of my reading and writing. He is the one who bought me this diary and the pen and ink for my birthday. Yes, I can hardly believe it, but today I am sixteen.

Mamma is probably right that a girl who reads and writes would scare off the local boys. Boys in Pescina mostly work the land like their fathers or tend the sheep. But even if I am now sixteen and townspeople consider me a woman, I still feel like a little girl.

All my friends talk about getting married, about preparing their wedding chest and living with their husbands. They make eyes at the boys returning with the sheep, the same boys we scrambled over the mountaintops with just a few years ago.

My friend Concetta even has a sweetheart. She always goes to the fountain to gather the water at the same hour so that she can meet Domenico on his way back to town after a day working in the fields.

Sometimes I see them together walking on the path back to town, the ruins of the castle watchtower above them in the distance. They look so happy in one another’s company, laughing and talking, finding excuses for their hands to brush together.

When Concetta and I are together, sewing or baking bread, she always seems to have a far-away look in her eyes, and I sense that she does not hear what I say, that her thoughts are only for Domenico now. Mamma says one day I’lll feel that way about a boy, too, but I wonder if I ever will.


Author Bio:

Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US. She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan.

Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets.

She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and three novels: Three Coins, Dark Blue Waves and In The Shadow of The Apennines.

After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.

Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Bookbub / Twitter


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Giveaway – Messengers Of The Macabre @RoxanneRhoads


Secrets of the Spell

                    I. Wasted Breath

Spite stirred in guts like poison mixed incake.
Insistent maleness and disparity
Assembled heated breath, enough to hex
A British play. Heed this — or rue the day.

Old Scottish combat zones, intent on war’s
Mythology and trophies, replicate
Themselves wherever men fish for acclaim
To get their stories splashed across the stars—
In letters, law, or laboratories.

When males engage with chemicals, rank brines,
Intent on alchemy, employing fire,
Rapt by discoveries perhaps benign,
They’re being scientific, praised. They’ll bask
Inbacklit glows that manly fame bestows.

                              The patriarchy does its best to hoard
                              Awards — like weapons needed for attacks.

 

When females huddle over cauldron smoke,
Ancestral recipes astir once more,
Rapt by solutions stronger than strychnine,
Which sheriff thought, “Girls having fun outdoors!”?
Suspicious scribes malign spell-casting crones,
Implying they are doing devil’s work.

                              The patriarchy does its best to warn,
                              Forbid, discourage daughters, sisters, wives
                              By commandeering rights to accolades.

Distrust of women’s power led to laws.
In 1542, King Henry VIII
Signed Britain’s first Witchcraft Act. Hundreds died,
Even if those accused denied the charge.

                    II. Macbeth

Elizabethan dramatists — all men! —
Put witches in the plot for novelty.

Meanwhile, witch hunts harassed the innocent.

                              Misogyny’s increase deserved byplay.
                              Real sorceresses jinxed “the Scottish play,”
                              Their hex comeuppance. Bloodshed was repaid.

Macbeth depicts a pagan coven — though
Their wisdom’s minimized by childish speech
Like “Double, double, toil, and trouble” — rhymes
For children, to infantilize this spell.

With “eye of newt, toe of frog,” thespians
Portraying the Weird Sisters cursed the Thane
Of Cawdor, who rebelled against his king.

Macbeth’s debut was struck— streaked with bad luck.

                    III. Met Death

Before Scene 5, the Bard went backstage — found
Lady Macbeth mystifyingly dead,
Unnerving King James in his royal box.

 

Which elements affected Brits the most?
Staged sorcery incited constant fear
His majesty intensified with trials.

Mark my words: women have always fought back,
Preserved infernal mysteries. Bewitched.
Dark invocations learned by stealth live on.

                              Macbeth’s unholy spell won’t be withdrawn
                              ‘Til every “witch’s” unfair death is mourned.

Messengers of the Macabre: Halloween Poems
LindaAnn LoSchiavo and David Davies

Genre: Poetry
Date of Publication: 18th October 2022
ASIN: B0B3NK7QG6
Number of pages: 49
Word Count: 6,400 approx.
Cover Artist: Benyamin Agum

Tagline: Your portal to the dark side

Book Description: 

All Hallows’ Eve, Samhain, Day of the Dead… during this interval, the barriers between the two realms are thinnest. Normal turns paranormal; what’s natural becomes the supernatural. That’s when the messengers of the macabre are in their rightful element. 

Step inside this collaborative chapbook and embrace a haunted harvest of verses embracing bewitchment, boneyards, and all things that go… BOO!



About the Authors:

New York City necromancer LindaAnn LoSchiavo, a wily clairvoyant, honed her psychic abilities during childhood and has the power to haunt any benighted soul who disparages this chapbook.

Some of her Elgin Award-winning poems have been seen here: Bewildering Stories, Blood ‘n Bourbon, Mermaids Monthly, South Broadway Ghost Society, Star*Line.

Formidable dragon slayer David Davies left Wales under baleful circumstances for The Lone Star State. “Have sonnets, will travel,” announces his business card.

His Pushcart- and Bram Stoker-nominated poems and stories have been known to appear in: Granfalloon, Green Lantern Press, MacroMicroCosm, Moon Shadow Sanctuary, Ripples in Space.








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Review – A Puppet Scorned by Jamie Kort #JamieKort

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

A Puppet Scorned is one of the wildest horror stories I have ever read. I don’t even know where to start. Sock puppets having sex? It had me laughing out loud and wondering what would happen next. It may be a quick read, but it was chock full of wickedness.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Enter a world where needles are sexy and knitting is deadly…

Camille and Brad are sock-puppets trapped in a dusty old attic. One day they find needles, and Brad teaches Camille how to knit sensuous and arousing patterns… but what begins as a journey of sexual awakening leads to the unravelling of Camille’s perfect world in a strangely twisted nightmare of obsession and betrayal.

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Giveaway – Christmas In Santa Rosa by Melissa Chambers #XpressoTours @MelChambersAuth

Christmas in Santa Rosa
Melissa Chambers
(Love Along Hwy 30A, #7)
Publication date: October 18th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance

Will one incredible night be enough?

Felicity Haley has been trying to extract Scott Stover from her mind for a year now. Both coming off of rejection, they found comfort in one another. But they were on vacation, each headed back to their separate lives afterward. Felicity is no one’s second choice, and she couldn’t be sure he treasured their night together as much as she did, so she ghosted him.

Now, she finds herself in the same beach town with him once again. But she can’t surrender to her desires. She must protect her heart from inevitably crumbling after the post-Christmas vacation bliss dies down and they go back to their daily lives. Felicity must protect her heart no matter how much the Christmas spirit tells her to collect this gift.

Scott hasn’t been able to shake the memory of the amazing night he had with Felicity. When his entire family rents a house in Santa Rosa for the month of December and he finds out Felicity is there as well, it feels like a Christmas miracle. His life is in Nashville while hers is permanently in Santa Rosa now. But even so, he’s got a second chance to win her heart, and he won’t let her slip out of his arms again.

Christmas in Santa Rosa is book seven in the Love Along Highway 30A series, which features beautiful beach communities, a circle of unique and amazing friends, and romances that will have you cheering on the couples and fanning yourself from the heat. All books are standalone and can be enjoyed in or out of order.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

SNEAK PEEK:

“When’s the last time a guy caught you, tied you down?”

She wiggled her shoulders. “Now we’re getting to the fun talk.”

“In a relationship.”

“Oh,” she said, letting her shoulders sag. “That’s no fun.”

“You do relationships, don’t you?”

She shrugged.

He narrowed his gaze, turning his head to the side. “Seriously? You don’t do relationships?”

“I have done them. They’re just no fun.”

“Maybe you haven’t found the right guy to be in one with.”

“That’s for damn sure or I wouldn’t be sitting here single.”

“I have a feeling there have been many guys who’ve tried to tie you down and failed.”

“A few have succeeded. I’ve got the video to prove it.”

He shook his head, furrowing his brow. “I don’t know that I’ve learned when to take you seriously or not.”

“Good. Because it’ll be boring once you figure me out.”

He widened his smile. “I can’t imagine any day with you would be boring.”

She leaned in. “Then let’s make sure we keep it interesting.”

He met her in the middle. “Invite me home with you tonight and I’ll show you just how interesting I can make you feel.”

Heat rocketed through her core, waking up her senses in a way they hadn’t been awakened since the last time she was with him. She slid off the bench. “You’re getting warmer.” She gave him a wink, and then walked off toward the ladies’ room, sensing his stare on her backside and soaring higher than she had in a long time.


Author Bio:

Melissa Chambers writes contemporary novels for young, new, and actual adults. A Nashville native, she spends her days working in the music industry and her nights tapping away at her keyboard. While she’s slightly obsessed with alt rock, she leaves the guitar playing to her husband and kid. She never misses a chance to play a tennis match, listen to an audiobook, or eat a bowl of ice cream. (Rocky road, please!) She has served as president for the Music City Romance Writers and is the author of the Love Along Hwy 30A series, the Before Forever series (YA), and Courting Carlyn (YA).

Website / Goodreads / Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Amazon


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Giveaway – Unusual Light by J Elizaga @RoxanneRhoads @jelizaga1



At Half Past Two

Our movie broke at half past two.
I begged Time to return to the black and white film
We lived in, with you by my side;
But the grand drapes stayed shut in silence and shock.
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth,
Mad about your sudden absence, with unrestrained outbursts
To a greedy God adored by millions. Only one adored me!
Had He really just snatched you away?
My mind kept restarting the movie before half past two.
Each time I waited for the roll to resume play
With you and me in high-definition color,
But tears blurred my vision and I couldn’t see you.
I kept moving your souvenirs back and forth,
With eyes unaware they should blink.
I struggled to savor each memory of you in my mind,
Flashing every second until my gut retched.
I followed your scent aimlessly through the house,
Before strength left my knees and I curled on the floor.
Then I saw my arms dance, caressing the air
Where you lay last night — I thought I heard you laugh.
Enough of this cruel joke. Stop it.
Come back. Please.


Unusual Light
J. Elizaga

Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Date of Publication: July 31, 2022 
ASIN: B0B85ZRPSZ
Number of pages: 86
Word Count: 20,000

Cover Artist: The Book Cover Designer

Tagline: A young engineer, a ghost, and a mystery at the morgue

Book Description:

How does one keep a promise to a ghost? Engineering student Ana Juliet (AJ) Diwa takes a summer job as a swing-shift security guard at a hospital morgue—the same morgue once investigated by the police for unusual calls received during full moons. And the calls happen only when Matt, a guard assigned to the overnight shift, is on duty.

AJ scoffs at the idea of otherworldly activities. But soon after, she witnesses a mysterious orb at the morgue. The orb reveals itself to be the ghost of Binni Almond, a teenager who went missing thirty years ago. Despite AJ’s shock, she befriends the entity. She vows to use her problem-solving abilities to find Binni’s family and solve the mystery of the young girl’s disappearance. But darker spirits are afoot.

As AJ descends to the morgue’s basement to capture evidence of Binni’s remains, Matt’s visions worsen. Evil spirits surge around the premises. And AJ is in danger of getting caught in the middle of a paranormal showdown.



Chapter 1: An Unusual Call

AT half past midnight, a public safety dispatcher received a familiar but unsettling call. Amid the static and crackle, a voice uttered, “Send help.”

The strange calls started nine months ago, and they always occurred on or near the full moon. The voice supplied only their first name and location. The caller’s name changed every month, but the location stayed the same—Shoreline Hospital morgue. The police officer who responded to the first dispatch spoke with Matt Faulson, the morgue’s overnight security guard. He denied dialing for assistance. The officer walked around the perimeter of the building and witnessed nothing out of the ordinary.

But after three monthly calls involving the same person on duty, the department assigned Officer David Jackson to patrol around the time of the full moon, when they estimated a call would occur. They suspected the twenty-seven-year-old Matt to be the prankster.

Police interviews failed to pin him. Instead, the detectives saw video footage of stationary objects moving randomly in various rooms in the morgue late at night.

The young man admitted to seeing strange activity during his shifts. Adding to the mystery, the city’s emergency dispatch system saved the calls, but the hospital had no record of any of their phones being used.

David arrived at the parking lot with another patrol car at 12:25 a.m. He saw a lone figure sitting on a bench near the morgue’s main entrance.

“Matt.” He approached the security guard with friendly caution. As the guard greeted him, the officer couldn’t help but notice the dark shadows under the young man’s eyes and the ruffled hair. “Man, you look terrible.”

Matt sighed. “There’s not a lot of sleep with the graveyard shift, as you know. I don’t like walking the floors between midnight and one a.m., but I took too long answering an email, and I forgot the time. I rushed through the hallways, and let me tell you, I had more than one sighting,” Matt said. “I guess you received a call?”

David nodded. “You have to get me in there one of these nights. I want to see for myself.”

“I’ll call next time. But I didn’t make the call tonight,” Matt replied. He stood up and prepared to go back in the morgue, but froze. “Oh.”

“What is it?” David asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the second officer took a defensive stance.

“A gray entity floated out of the wall to my left,” Matt said softly as he kept his head very still.

David looked as soon as Matt spoke. “I don’t see anything.” He glanced at the other officer.

“I don’t see anything either.”

“Really?” Matt asked as his shoulders dropped. He gingerly turned his head and looked. “Am I the only one who sees ghosts?”

“I’m beginning to believe that,” David replied.



About the Author:

J. ELIZAGA is a fan of science fiction and science mysteries. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, she peered over her father’s shoulders as he watched TV shows such as In Search Of, and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos during the 1970s. 

J. lives in California. She wrote stories in high school but had set aside her hobby for college and career…until she attended a writer’s conference in San Francisco in 2010. The experience unsealed a door in her mind that she thought had long closed.

J. works in information technology by day, and makes time to write stories about humans who face extraordinary circumstances and discover their superhuman abilities. 











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