Tag Archives: historical fiction

Giveaway – When We Return by Eliana Tobias @GoddessFish @TobiasElliana

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When We Return by Eliana Tobias

GENRE:   historical fiction

BLURB

Who should be held responsible for public wrong? By 2008, it finally seems that the Peruvian government is ready to make amends to its citizens after the violent guerilla movement of the last three decades.


Otilia and Salvador, a mother and son torn apart during the conflict and separated for twenty years, are eager to have their pain and suffering acknowledged. But they hit a roadblock when the government denies responsibility in their legal case.


Things begin to look up however when Otilia meets Jerry, a kind man and the son of Jewish parents who escaped the Holocaust. Grappling with his own upbringing and the psychological struggled his parents endured, Jerry is just the person to empathize with Otilia’s feelings. Together, Otilia, Jerry and Salvador must support one another through the turbulent journey that is healing from historical trauma. And through it, find the courage to rebuild their lives and open themselves to love and companionship.


Artfully weaving together different timelines and countries, this novel examines the nuanced topic of grief a community endures after a collective tragedy. In this exploration of the culture of remembrance following displacement and loss, we discover what happens when out past calls us back to what we must do to achieve justice and reconciliation when we return.

EXCERPT

Salvador entered the prison gates, following an orderly line of elderly men carrying multiple plastic bags. When a person in the back started to yell, the advancing lineup came to a stop. Almost immediately a guard raised his baton and struck the unruly man to one side.

At the first security checkpoint, bags were opened for inspection. Since Salvador carried no package, he was told to move on. Next, he spread his legs wide for a pat-down. Up ahead, after showing his identity card, he was given a metal token with a printed number he’d have to return to the guards on his way out to account for his visit. Lastly, while shuffling along, he was asked to contribute a few coins for soft drinks for the guards. He reached into his pockets and found some money for drinks for the guards, which he dropped in a box at the end of the corridor.

In the prison yard, Salvador was keenly aware of the throng of people milling about. These places are jam-packed, he thought as he looked for his uncle in the crowd. Inmates talking to suited lawyers, visitors meeting up with family members, joggers getting exercise, and a group of men shooting hoops. Cooked meals, fruit, drinks, batteries, radios and clothes for sale were set up in stalls against decrepit walls. Long lineups of raucous men waited to use a few public phones that only accepted calling cards. Among the cacophony, supervising guards moved through, keeping an eye on the inmates while yelling into their megaphones.

Salvador noticed Tomas, drawn and frail, walking slowly toward him dragging his feet, his face grim. He seemed shorter than Salvador remembered him. It’d been years since they’d seen each other last, and the man had aged badly.

Tomas let out a deep breath, nodded, and pointed to a bench. Salvador checked out the courtyard, wrinkling his nose at the stench. Before Tomas rolled down his sleeves, Salvador noticed the naked female tattooed on his uncle’s forearm. Tomas pulled two cigarettes out of his stained pants pocket and held out one for Salvador.

“No Thanks, I don’t smoke.”

“So you found me, kid. How about that?” His voice was loud. He lit his cigarette with trembling hands. “How’s life?”

Salvador had no stomach for small talk. It was colder than usual for the end of March, and he wanted to be out of there as soon as he could.

Tomas coughed.”I’m stuck in this fucking place.”

“I’m here for only one reason,” Salvador said, staring him in the eyes.

“Thought you’d be wearing your cop uniform.”

“Cut the crap,” Salvador snapped.

Tomas looked puzzled, his face carved with age.

Salvador removed a pad of paper and pen from the inside pocket of his light jacket.

“What the fuck is that for?” Tomas sneered.

“I need facts.”

“Say that again; I’m hard of hearing,” Tomas said leaning in.

“Since when?” Salvador looked at Tomas doubtfully.

“Be nice. Remember that I took you in when you were an orphan – when your mother and father left you alone. You were just a grimy little beggar. Now it’s your turn to take care of me- get me out of this nightmare.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Eliana Tobias was born in Santiago, Chile, to immigrant parents who escaped

the Holocaust. She graduated from the University of Chile then completed

other degrees in early childhood and special education in the United States and

Canada. After working in this field in various capacities, including teaching at

the National University of Trujillo in Peru, she moved to Vancouver, where she

has lived for thirty years and where she discovered her love of writing. Her rich

experience of political turmoil, of listening to stories of the Holocaust when

Jewish communities in Europe were shattered, of losing family in Chile under

military dictatorship, and living in Peru during a time of intense civil conflict,

fueled her passion to write about the ways in which people caught in devastation

rebuild their lives. Eliana Tobias lives in Vancouver, B.C.

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

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Giveaway & Review – The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters @TalenaWinters @GoddessFish

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I love anything to do with water and I would love to visit Atlantis, so I am eager to read The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters. The blurb says epic fantasy, mermaids like you have never seen them before…and I HAVE TO KNOW.

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The Undine’s Tear by Talena Winters

GENRE: Young Adult epic historical fantasy

MY REVIEW

Calandra is the most powerful healer to arise in three thousand years. Her people are counting on her to save them. The cost may be too much and time is running out.

Even though Calandra and Tanni are complete opposites, they became fast friends. Tanni’s dream was to be a guardian of the island and would put down her life for her.

Zale performs with the gypsys using his fishy ability, like a carnival act in a freak show. He spends his day in a tank of water. Abela came to him, telling him he had a sister and only he could save his mother, who had been taken by the Grigori.

Damon comes to Calandra in her dreams. He has become her hidden teacher, but I am leery of him. She has a push/pull attraction to him and I think, deep down, she senses there is more than meets the eye to him.

Women rule the island. There are no male Undines, so human men were brought in and Redeemed. That is a misnomer, because all their will is taken from them, so what’s to redeem? Calandra’s conscience is telling her there is something very wrong about this.

Narcissa is a princess whose mother is Adonia, the queen. Narcissa envies Calandra and will do all she can to bring her down, maybe even be the cause of her death. AND, not all the characters will survive the story. There is one that I really hate Talena Winters took a particular one out, but I also like when an author isn’t afraid to kill them off if it adds to the story.

I know there are people who thrive power. Those that have it often feel justified and entitled in their actions, but it is not necessary to be cruel.

Reverend Berian. I am having a hard time deciding if he is a good guy or if he has his own agenda.

We do have mermaids, Atlantis, other magicals, danger, betrayal, sacrifice…

Even though the mers spent most of their time on two legs, I loved the concept of the story. I am curious about what happened to all the mermen, seeing Zale is the only one of his kind…

Action packed, suspenseful, and I want more.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Undines Tear by Talena Winter.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

Bonus Review for The Waterboy

The Waterboy by Talena Winters is a novella that tells Zale’s story. It is not necessary to read this before The Undines Tear, but if you are going to read the series, I would recommend adding this to your reading list. The Undines Tear covers the basics, but The Waterboy adds a lot of the details of his life and how he came to be with the gypsys.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Stars

BLURB

She’s destined to save the world . . . if she doesn’t destroy it first.

Calandra’s destiny is also her doom. As the most powerful healer since the woman who sank Atlantis, she’s been raised to restore the Heartstone that protects her island from humans . . . before she goes Mad like her mother and all the powerful undine healers before her. When she learns she needs both male and female magic to succeed, she becomes desperate—there hasn’t been an undine male born for over three thousand years. Instead, she’s being pressured to use the siren mind-bond to enslave her childhood friend, the one man she’s sworn to risk a death sentence to free.

When Calandra discovers a cryptic message that shows her exiled mother was not only sane but pregnant with a boy, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe. But revealing the horrifying truth of the bonds could tear her island apart—and concealing it could unleash the Earth’s oldest, most destructive enemy. With insanity looming, can Calandra find her brother and save the Heartstone, the man she loves, her people, and the world . . . before she loses control and destroys them all?

The Undine’s Tear is the first book in the mind-blowing young adult epic historical fantasy series Rise of the Grigori. Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe. Dive into the adventure today!

EXCERPT

“You are wondering how to gain control of your powers,” Damon said without preamble.

Calandra thought about ignoring him or denying it, but what was the point? This was nothing more than a dream, and the slippery logic of dreams fuzzed her will to keep her more rebellious thoughts to herself.

“You know, I shouldn’t even be talking to you. An Unredeemed male. I could get in big trouble.”

The corners of his mouth curved under his trim goatee.

“And who will report you?” He indicated the blackness around them. “Certainly not I. I exist only in your mind.”

She crossed her arms and cocked her head, studying him. “Have you ever been Redeemed?”

His expression became stony. “Redemption is for humans.”

“Redemption is for men. To make them safe. It just happens that the only men are human.”

Thinking of Osaze’s dread, she wondered again at the morality of it. Uncrossing her arms, she shifted her gaze from Damon’s face to his bronze chest.

“And one of them is my friend.”

“All humans should be controlled,” he replied nonchalantly, drawing nearer. “They have not the patience nor discipline to control themselves. And I am not human, yet I am male.”

She looked up at him, eyes narrowed. “I can see that. What are you? I’ve never seen an undine with golden eyes.”

He smiled knowingly. “Not human. But I could be your friend.”

That same feeling of security and warmth from their first encounter enveloped her, as though he were projecting it from himself intentionally. She frowned, wanting to accept it and shake off her heavy heart, but not daring to trust him yet.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to help you.”

Damon came near enough to touch her but didn’t, pausing before her with his arms to the sides in a placating gesture.

She wrapped her arms around herself and glared into the blackness beyond him. “Yeah, well, you can’t. Not unless you can tell me how to control powers that could sink an island and heal the Heartstone without going Mad.”

“Little lark,” he said, amusement dripping from his voice like honey from a spoon, “that is exactly what I intend to do.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Talena Winters is addicted to stories, tea, chocolate, yarn, and silver linings. She writes page-turning fiction for teens and adults in multiple genres, coaches other writers, has written several award-winning songs, and designs knitting patterns under her label My Secret Wish. Master of the ironic GIF response. She currently resides on an acreage in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, Canada, with her husband, three surviving boys, two dogs, and an assortment of farm cats. She would love to be a mermaid when she grows up.

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Giveaway – Bridges by Linda Griffin @XpressoTours @LindaGriffinA

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Bridges
Linda Griffin
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Publication date: April 25th 2022
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance

In 1963, Neil Vincent, a middle-aged World War II veteran and “Christian atheist” is working at Westfield Court as a chauffeur. He spends most of his spare time reading. Mary Claire DeWinter is a young, blind, Catholic college student and reluctant heiress. To secure her inheritance, she has to marry within a year, and her aunt is pressuring her to marry a rich man who teased and bullied her when she was a child. Neil and Mary Claire shouldn’t even be friends, but the gulf between them is bridged by a shared love of books. Can they cross the bridge to more?

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—

EXCERPT:

On the drive to Brierly Station, he didn’t speculate about who Miss DeWinter might be. It wasn’t his job to know who she was, only to meet her train and take her safely back to Westfield Court. She wouldn’t be the last of the friends and relatives who would gather as the old man’s life came to its long-awaited and peaceful end.

Brierly was bustling today, as restless as the St. James household. He was in plenty of time for the train and sat in the car reading. The car was a Bentley Mark VI, as well-maintained and highly polished as it was the day it was purchased. The book he was reading was Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native.

When the train rumbled in, he got out of the car. He stood patiently on the platform as the passengers disembarked, holding up a small slate on which he had chalked DEWINTER in large capitals. There weren’t many passengers, but they were briefly delayed while the conductor helped a blind woman navigate the steps. Neil’s gaze fell expectantly on a woman in her thirties, with an awful hat, but she was immediately met by a portly man and a teenage boy. No other likely prospects appeared, and he waited for someone to respond to the sign. No one did.

Finally, only two passengers were left on the platform—a small, homely man and the blind woman. Blind girl, really. She couldn’t be more than twenty. She had a jointed white cane, and her large sunglasses didn’t cover the edges of the scars on her face. She would not have been beautiful even without the scars—too thin, for starters, of average height but with small bones. On the other hand, her face might once have been pretty, and her hair was clean and shining, raven black, and well brushed. She was too pale, and the scars around her eyes were red and ugly. She looked a little lost.

Feeling foolish, he lowered the slate. “Miss DeWinter?” he asked as he approached her.

“Yes,” she said, turning toward his voice with a smile.

“I’m Vincent,” he said. “The St. James chauffeur.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Vincent,” she said. “Thank you for meeting me.” Her voice was soft, her enunciation perfect.

The porter fetched her luggage—a single gray vinyl suitcase with a flower decal—from the depot and turned it over to Neil with a cheerful nod. Jane would be disappointed, especially if the girl’s other clothes were as plain as what she wore, a simple dark dress with long sleeves and an unfashionable, below-the-knees hemline. “Would you take my arm?” he asked, positioning himself so she could place her hand in the crook of his elbow, which she did with easy confidence.

“Do you have a Christian name?” she asked.

“Yes, miss. It’s Neil.”

“That’s a good name,” she said. “Mine is Mary Claire. How is my grandfather, do you know?”

Neil, who hadn’t known the old man had any grandchildren, said, “Hanging on, miss.”

He opened the car door and helped her into the back seat.

“You don’t have to call me ‘miss’ all the time,” she said. “Please call me Mary Claire. Or my friends at school call me Sunny.”

“Yes, miss,” he said automatically and closed the door.

Author Bio:

For more information, visit my website, sign up for my newsletter, and claim a free autographed copy of Stonebridge: https://www.lindagriffinauthor.com/

I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central Library’s Fiction collection and initiating fiction order lists for the entire library system. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir, and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three R’s—reading, writing, and research—I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.

My earliest ambition was to be a “book maker” and I wrote my first story, “Judy and the Fairies,” with a plot stolen from a comic book, at the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing.

My stories have been published in numerous journals, including Eclectica, Thema Literary Journal, The Binnacle, The Nassau Review, Orbis, and Avalon Literary Review, and in the anthologies Short Story America, Vol. 2, The Captive and the Dead, and Australia Burns. Four stories, including one as yet unpublished, received honorable mention in the Short Story America Prize for Short Fiction contests.

Member of RWA, Authors Guild, and Sisters in Crime

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Instagram


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Giveaway – The Benevolence of New Ideas by Carmela Cattuti @ccattuti @GoddessFish

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The Benevolence of New Ideas by Carmela Cattuti

GENRE: Historical Fiction

BLURB

The satisfying conclusion to Angela Lanza’s story which began in Between the Cracks when she loses her entire family in the earthquake on Sicily following the 1908 eruption of Mt. Etna and continues in The Ascent as she adjusts to life in the United States as a new bride and Italian American immigrant. Now, in the final installment in the trilogy, The Benevolence of New Ideas, thrusts Angela and her family into the heart of the Vietnam War and the turbulent times of the 1970s. As the family matriarch, Angela guides her niece, Marie, through these challenges and the era’s limiting structures of education and organized religion, helping Marie to embrace new ideas and expand her intuition and relationship with the unseen world. Angela’s compassion and wisdom has an exceptional impact on Marie’s life and those around her. A fulfilling ending that celebrates Angela’s wisdom in all things along with her well lived life from tragedy to triumph and from heartbreak to the enduring love of family.

EXCERPT

Angela had cared for Franco during his long illness, and now she was free. The relief she felt made her cringe. How could she so easily feel relief when Franco had suffered? She grieved but was thankful there would be no more concerns about leaving him home alone, or trips to the doctor, or Franco insisting he could perform a task when he couldn’t. He had emigrated from Sicily at age twelve 12 in the early 20th century full of energy and promise. Now, in 1968, Angela looked back and felt he had been successful in fulfilling that promise. Franco had brought Angela, at age eighteen, from the convent orphanage in Palermo, where she had lived since the 1908 earthquake, to a new life in Nelsonville, New York, about forty-five minutes north of Manhattan. It was not the life she thought she would have in America, but what she had created in America she never would have had the opportunity to experience had she stayed in Sicily.

Angela kissed Franco several times on both cheeks and on the lips. The doctors had said it was a matter of time until he would pass away. She could see death hovering and begin to slowly drape his body from his head to his feet as if giving Angela time to say good-bye.

“Adio mio caro,” whispered Angela. “Grazie di tutto.” Tears rolled down her face onto Franco’s cheek and mouth. His eyes were open and fixed, as if peering into the world beyond. She put her hands on the sides of his face and with her thumbs closed his eyes.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Carmela Cattuti started her writing career as a journalist for the Somerville News in Boston, MA. After she finished her graduate work in English Literature from Boston College she began to write creatively and taught a journal writing course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. As fate would have it, she felt compelled to write this homage to her great-aunt, who survived the earthquake and eruption of Mt. Etna and bravely left Sicily to start a new life in America.

Between the Cracks and The Ascent began the story, which now concludes with the final book in the trilogy.

Learn more at: CCattutiCreative.com

  • email: cattutic@gmail.com
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Buy Link: Amazon / Henschelhausbook

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Giveaway – Thunder On The Moor by Andrea Matthews @AMatthewsAuthor @GoddessFish

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Thunder on the Moor by Andrea Matthews

GENRE:   historical time travel romance

BLURB

Maggie Armstrong grew up enchanted by her father’s tales of blood feuds and border raids. In fact, she could have easily fallen for the man portrayed in one particular image in his portrait collection. Yet when her father reveals he was himself an infamous Border reiver, she finds it a bit far-fetched—to say the least—especially when he announces his plans to return to his sixteenth century Scottish home with her in tow.

Suspecting it’s just his way of getting her to accompany him on yet another archaeological dig, Maggie agrees to the expedition, only to find herself transported four hundred and fifty years into the past. Though a bit disoriented at first, she discovers her father’s world to be every bit as exciting as his stories, particularly when she’s introduced to Ian Rutherford, the charming son of a neighboring laird. However, when her uncle announces her betrothal to Ian, Maggie’s twentieth-century sensibilities are outraged. She hardly even knows the man. But a refusal of his affections could ignite a blood feud.

Maggie’s worlds are colliding. Though she’s found the family she always wanted, the sixteenth century is a dangerous place. Betrayal, treachery, and a tragic murder have her questioning whether she should remain or try to make her way back to her own time.

To make matters worse, tensions escalate when she stumbles across Bonnie Will Foster, the dashing young man in her father’s portrait collection, only to learn he is a dreaded Englishman. But could he be the hero she’s always dreamed him to be? Or will his need for revenge against Ian shatter more than her heart?

GUEST POST

What’s in a Name: The Border Reiver

To the Border reiver, surname took precedence over all else, including king and country. Oddly enough, it was my surname that introduced me to their tales. I should first note that Matthews is my pen name, not my actual last name – that would be Foster. In fact, I was in the midst of doing some genealogical research when a friend brought the connection to my attention. Foster, it seemed, was a right riding name, the most notable of all being Sir John Forster, warden of the English Middle March in the last half of the sixteenth century. Now, Sir John was a gentleman, but he was no angel, for he was a Forster above all else.

The story intrigued me. Visions of my husband’s ancestors riding across the moors sparked my imagination. I had to know more about these rugged rogues who placed such value on a sense of honor and loyalty to their families, in spite of their nefarious preoccupation with cattle rustling and blackmail, I started formulating a story in my head, a tale of thunder across the moors and forbidden love, for although family came first, national pride was still a consideration, even if it was somewhere down the pecking order after their surname and allegiances they may have formed with other families. The blood feud, however, was a deadly affair, and an affront to any member of your surname or allied family would be an affront to the whole surname.

And so my plot was taking form. These feuds could go on for years and be sparked by anything from a small slight to a full-blown disagreement. I turned back to my research. And as I learned more riding names, I realized how many famous and infamous people carried border names. Men like Lyndon Johnson and Neil Armstrong and Walter Scott. Which of course led me to the latter’s poetry. I admit, he may have romanticized the period a bit, but then I suppose I did as well. Time and distance gives us that luxury. And there was the final piece to my novel —Time.

Alas, I still haven’t traced the family back far enough to make a direct connection to a specific person, but they were from the North of England, and still today have that strong sense of honor and familial loyalty, so I know it’s there. And so, my quest continues. Who knows there may even be a Will Foster back there somewhere?

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Andrea Matthews is the pseudonym for Inez Foster, a historian and librarian who loves to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogical speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. She is the author of the Thunder on the Moor series set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Border, and the Cross of Ciaran series, where a fifteen-hundred-year-old Celt finds himself in the twentieth century. Andrea is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Long Island Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.

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Giveaway – Grace Among Thieves by Kari Bovee @KariBovee @iReadBookTours

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Join us for this tour from Mar 1 to Mar 28, 2022!
Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace Among Thieves (A Grace Michelle Mystery) by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 315 
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   Feb 15, 2022
Content Rating:  PG. Some Mild Language
 
Book Description:

A priceless heirloom worth its weight in lives. Can she crack the case before she becomes a killer’s trophy?

Hollywood, 1924. Grace Michelle’s professional star has risen. Now a successful costumier for a major studio, the ambitious woman has just about everything she wants. But when the father she thought was dead reaches out to reconnect, the talented designer doesn’t know what to think… especially after his new wife is kidnapped.

Discovering her dad is mixed up with a stolen Russian artifact, Grace puts her sleuthing skills to work to rescue the abducted lady. But with a famous actress murdered in connection with the missing valuable and a man she put away stalking her for revenge, the frazzled amateur detective fears getting to the bottom of this crime will leave her six feet under.

Can she hunt down the treasure before it bankrupts the lives of everyone she loves?

Grace Among Thieves is the nail-biting third book in the Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like bright-but-beset heroines, breathtaking twists and turns, and the glamor of a lost age, then you’ll adore Kari Bovée’s riveting tale. 
 
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Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace in the Wings – A Grace Michelle Mystery by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 340
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   September 19, 2019
Content Rating:  PG + M. Book has mature themes; adultery, murder, bigamy, but there is no bad language.
 
Book Description:

A ghost from her past. Her sister murdered. Can Grace slay her demons and find the killer before she ends up dead?

New York City, 1920. Grace Michelle has everything she wants: a home, a family, and a future career as a costume designer for famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.’s Ziegfeld Follies. Pretty good for a girl who once lived on the streets of New York City. But when her sister, Sophia, the star of the show, is murdered, Grace’s safe and protected life is shattered.

Battle-scarred by the war and emotionally scarred by his past, Chet Riker has made it a practice to keep his distance from others; love, after all, leads only to pain. But Chet has a problem—a big one: he’s become indebted to mob-boss Joe Marciano in an attempt to save his estranged mother’s life, and Marciano wants him to pay up or else. Desperate to get the money, he contacts former client Florenz Ziegfeld for work.

Soon, Chet finds himself playing bodyguard fo introverted Grace, who has reluctantly agreed to be Ziegfeld’s new leading lady—on the condition that Ziegfeld promises to find Sophia’s killer. Upon meeting Grace, Chet quickly finds his hardened theory that love equals pain tested. Grace, meanwhile, is swept up in a life she never wanted as the Follies’ star, and as the pawn in a series of publicity stunts during a transcontinental train trip to California that puts her life at risk. Who would want her and Sophia dead? Together, she and Chet must confront publicity-hungry Florenz Ziegfeld, power-driven Joe Marciano, and their own pasts to find Sophia’s killer—and let themselves love once again.
 
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Book Details:

Book Title:  Grace in Hollywood – A Grace Michelle Mystery by Kari Bovee
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 336 
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Bosque Publishing
Release date:   May 25, 2021
Content Rating:  PG + M. Book has mature themes; adultery, murder, bigamy, but there is no bad language. 
 
Book Description:
 
All that glitters… is sometimes blood. With her golden ticket buried in the ground, can she save a wrongly accused teen from the gallows?

Hollywood, 1924. Promoted to lead costume designer of a star-studded film, Grace Michelle should be on top of the world. But between her husband’s debt, her sister’s recent death, and the troubled teenaged girl she’s fostering, she’s struggling to please everyone and still keep a smile on her face. And when a Tinseltown shindig turns deadly, Grace is horrified to discover her young charge unconscious alongside the director’s grisly corpse.

Determined to prove the girl’s innocence, Grace’s own haunted past fills her sleep with prophetic nightmares. And no sooner has she sought clarity from a medium than a second body lands the scared teenager in the slammer.

Can Grace turn the camera on the real culprit before another victim ends up on the cutting room floor?

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale. 
BUY THE BOOK:
Amazon
Add to Goodreads
 
Meet the Author:

When she’s not on a horse riding along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovée is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined in her historical mystery novels.

Kari Bovée writes the award-winning Annie Oakley mystery series and the Grace Michelle mystery series. In 2020 she was honored with First Place in category for the Chanticleer International Clue Awards for her book Folly at the Fair. In 2019 she was awarded the NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and won First in Category in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings won First in Category for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards. Peccadillo at the Palace won Grand Prize in the 2019 Goethe Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.

Kari Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant.

Connect with the author:  Website ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram
~ Pinterest
Tour Schedule:

Mar 1 – Mystery Review Crew – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 1 – Working Mommy Journal – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 1 – Bigreadersite – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 2 – Rockin’ Book Reviews – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 2 – Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS
Mar 3 – Casia’s Corner – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 3 – Bigreadersite – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 4 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 7 –Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD
Mar 7 – History from a Woman’s Perspective – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 8 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 8 – Casia’s Corner – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD / giveaway
Mar 9 – Pick a Good Book – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 9 – Kam’s Place – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES
Mar 10 – Review Thick And Thin – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 10 – Olio by Marilyn – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 11 – Buried Under Books – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 11 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD / giveaway
Mar 14 – Hall Ways Blog – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 15 – My Reading Journeys – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 15 – @twilight_reader – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 16 – History from a Woman’s Perspective – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD / giveaway
Mar 16 – Casia’s Corner – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 17 – Celticlady’s Reviews – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 17 – Review Thick And Thin – book review of GRACE IN HOLLYWOOD / giveaway
Mar 18 – Baroness’ Book Trove – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 18 – Brooke Blogs – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 18 – Books for Books – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 21 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 22 – Splashes of Joy – book review of GRACE IN THE WINGS / giveaway
Mar 22 – History from a Woman’s Perspective – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 23 – Cover Lover Book Review – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 23 – Older & Smarter? – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 24 – Sadie’s Spotlight – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 24 – Splashes of Joy – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 24 – Review Thick And Thin – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 25 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 28 – Cover To Cover Café – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
Mar 28 – fundinmental – book series spotlight / giveaway
Mar 28 – Westveil Publishing – book review of GRACE AMONG THIEVES / giveaway
 
Enter the Giveaway: 
 
 

 
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Giveaway – Ashby Jones and The Crossing @ashby_jones @GoddessFish

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The Crossing by Ashby Jones

GENRE: Historical fiction

BLURB:

The Crossing is a powerful and haunting love story of surprising discovery set in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen during Prohibition. Its mission seeks to reconcile love and guilt, grief and promise. Set apart from other stories, it combines history, fact, surrealism, and reality into an ever-recycling boost of the human spirit.

Irish-born Johnny Flynn, a former British soldier, is banished from his homeland and sent to America on a ship so riddled with disease that he realizes the voyage was meant to murder him. When he survives the trip, the captain forces him to walk the plank into the Hudson River. Miraculously, Johnny is rescued by a rumrunning Irish gang, the Swamp Angels, and given a job running whisky in Hell’s Kitchen just as Prohibition makes liquor a hugely profitable, dangerous business.

Fighting for his life and livelihood amid the denizens of the Manhattan piers, Johnny is plagued by the memory of his lost lover, Nora, whose father, the famed Irish revolutionary, James Connolly, met his death through a firing squad that included a reluctant gunman named Johnny Flynn. Nora’s last words to him, when she learned of his betrayal and left him, “I love you, Johnny Flynn”, echo in his heart, leaving him pulsing with guilt, yearning, and the hope that she might yet forgive him.

Johnny drinks hard. One night, drunk on the floor of Hailey’s speakeasy, he encounters a seeming apparition on stage, the ghostly Esme, an Irish singer who suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the British Black and Tans. Johnny is dazzled by her. She is not only a singer but a healer, teaching poor and afflicted children to sing and gather hope at an old theater called The Woebegone. From Esme Johnny learns how to overcome the desire for revenge, only to discover that she, too, clings to her own dark dream of retribution.

Hell’s Kitchen, Johnny discovers, is thronged with people whose damaged hearts ache for revenge, repentance and love. As he grapples with taking responsibility to help others resolve this overwhelming dilemma, he learns that Nora is coming to New York to advocate for Irish independence. As he confronts her and soon thereafter receives a piercing love letter from Esme, the story comes to a turbulent climax.

EXCERPT

Chapter One beginning

Roughly a mile from the Statue of Liberty, Johnny Flynn stood trembling on the bridge of the ship called The Pestilence. His hands were rope-bound at the wrists and a rucksack filled with heavy stones was strapped to his back. His executioner, seaman Bile, named for the Celtic god of Hell by Johnny’s long-gone friend and fellow prisoner, Seamus, had tried in vain to kill Johnny every day on this voyage from Ireland, and now he would have his way. The vessel from which Bile would send Johnny to his death was the recently recovered, ancient famine ship found in the Bay of Kinsale. The ship still contained the skeletons of the three hundred dead who’d tried to escape the Great Famine by taking passage to America but whose journey had been ended by typhus, cholera and tuberculosis. In hopes of hiding their humiliation, the Irish had returned The Pestilence to its parting pier unannounced and mothballed it in what soon became a drying, wooded alcove south of Kinsale, leaving the three hundred bodies to rot in the hold.

The ship was discovered by a group of young Irish campers shortly after the Treaty with the victorious Brits was signed, ending the War of Independence. Soon thereafter, in the fall of 1921, the Rebels filled the arid tributary with fresh water, freeing the ship and setting it on a crossing to America to test its sea-worthiness. The next step in purging their embarrassment for the deaths was to cleanse the ship’s hold of the bones and restore its ability to make money for the Emerald Isle.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Ashby Jones has been writing historical novels for 50 years. With degrees in Literature and Clinical Psychology; Creative Writing at UCLA under the guidance of Leonardo Bercovici. Jones previously published: The Angel’s Lamp in 2017 which was well received and reviewed by the Irish Times. Jones’s passion is writing literary fiction that attempts to understand mankind’s never-ending battles with irony, tragedy, blatant contradiction, and the anomalies of love. Such is the focus of ‘The Crossing’, a stand-alone sequel to ‘The Angel’s Lamp’, his first novel. He studied under such notables as William Hoffman, a best-selling author, and years later at U.C.L.A. under Leonardo Bercovici, a highly regarded screenwriter.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashby_jones

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ashby-Jones/e/B01N2YR769/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14394032.Ashby_Jones

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592110894/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Follow the tour and comment. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Follow the tour HERE.

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Giveaway – L’Origine by Lilianne Migrom @virtualangel14 @iReadBookTours

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Join Us for This Tour from February 1 to February 21!

Book Details:

Book Title:  L’Origine: The secret life of the world’s most erotic masterpiece by Lilianne Milgrom
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+), 255 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher:  Girl Friday Books – a new imprint from Girl Friday Productions
Release Date: 2020 first edition. October 2021 re-released by Girl Friday Books
Content Rating:  R. My book does not have bad language and only one descriptive sex scene, but the protagonist is a painting whose explicit depiction of a woman’s lower torso and genitals has made it a controversial work of art for over a century and a half.

 

Book Description:

The riveting odyssey of one of the world’s most scandalous works of art.

In 1866, maverick French artist Gustave Courbet painted one of the most iconic images in the history of art: a sexually explicit portrait of a woman’s exposed genitals. Audaciously titled L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.

As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to re-create Courbet’s The Origin of the World, author Lilianne Milgrom was thrust into the painting’s intimate orbit, spending six weeks replicating every fold, crevice, and pubic hair. The experience inspired her to share her story and the painting’s titillating, clandestine history. L’Origine is a tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas and nefarious Nazi captains. Hold onto your berets for a riveting ride through history. 
 
Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ B&N
Bookshop ~ Powell’s
Waterstone’s
add to goodreads
 

 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Welcome Lilianne Milgrom. It is so nice to have you on fundinmental, sharing your thoughts. So, without further adieu…take it away:

How long have you been writing?

Aside from my work as a professional studio artist, I have been a regular contributor to numerous arts publications over the years. I love reading and I love writing. I think that penning my debut novel L’Origine was a natural progression, especially since the book marries my three passions – art, literature and history.

How did you come up with this idea?

This could well be a chicken-or-the-egg type of question, but in this case, it is definitely the chicken. I did not start writing L’Origine because I had an idea to write about the remarkable adventures of a 19th century painting. It was the painting that found me! I stumbled on Gustave Courbet’s irreverent and shocking painting at the Orsay Museum during an artist’s residency in Paris a decade ago. As I learned more and more about it, I became obsessed with exposing its remarkable story of survival against the odds to readers outside of the confines of the art world. Art history is not some dry subject you have to take in college–it’s vibrant, exciting and often scandalous!

Which was the hardest character to write? The easiest?

The book spans a century and a half, and introduces the reader to multiple eccentric characters through whose hands the painting passed. The ‘easiest’ character was Gustave Courbet himself because he was a prolific letter writer and I could visualize the way he spoke, the way the thought. The hardest characters to write about were those collectors whom history largely overlooked and about whom so little is known. On the other hand, this allowed me to exercise more artistic license and rely more on my imagination to flesh them out. 

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?

Oh, that’s easy to answer because I make a significant appearance both in the prologue and towards the end of the novel. I play myself as the artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to copy Courbet’s masterpiece. My intimate encounter with Gustave Courbet’s painting L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World) plays a significant role in the novel.

What is your next project?

Receiving six literary honors for my debut novel gave me the validation and the motivation to embark on a second novel whose working title is The Boudoir Princess. It is another historical fiction largely taking place in Paris towards the end of the 19th and early 20th century. The protagonist is a woman by the name of Marguerite Alibert whose checkered past leads her to commit murder. I want to encourage the reader to decide whether Mme Alibert was a victim of circumstance or a scheming murderess….

What advice would you give budding writers?

Stay the course. Writing is hard work and when you finish your manuscript, that’s when the really hard work begins! Don’t give up. 

Name a quirky thing you like to do.

To let off steam, I belly dance–something I picked up while living in the Middle East!


Meet the Author:

Paris-born Lilianne Milgrom is an internationally acclaimed artist and award-winning author residing in Washington DC. In 2011, she became the first authorized copyist of Gustave Courbet’s controversial painting L’Origine du Monde, which hangs in the Orsay Museum in Paris. Milgrom spent a decade researching and writing L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece. Her debut novel has been awarded six literary honors including the Publisher’s Weekly 2021 US Selfies Book Award for Best Adult Fiction.

connect the author:  website ~ twitter ~ instagram  
 
Tour Schedule:

Feb 1 – Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 1 – fundinmental – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 2 – Gold Dust Editing & Book Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 2 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 7 – Books for Books – book spotlight
Feb 8 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 9 – Kam’s Place – book spotlight
Feb 10 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 14 – Sefina Hawke’s Books – book spotlight
Feb 15 – Celticlady’s Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 16 – Sadie’s Spotlight – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 17 – Westveil Publishing – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 21 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
 

Enter the Giveaway:

 


 

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Giveaway – People of the Sun by Ben Gartner @BGartnerWriting @GoddessFish

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Amazon

PEOPLE OF THE SUN by Ben Gartner

GENRE:  Middle Grade, Action Adventure, Time Travel, Historical Fiction

BLURB

The explosive reveal about who John and Sarah really are and why they’re traveling through time, with their most gut-wrenching challenge yet.

In the time of the Aztec, a scoundrel named Cortés arrives and the kids are forced to make an extremely difficult decision: If you could change history, should you? For more twists, more danger, and more fun, read the third book in The Eye of Ra series, People of the Sun!

EXCERPT

JOHN

The ground shook like the end of the world.

At least, that was how it felt to John, who had never experienced an earthquake while growing up in Colorado. And they’d only lived in Maryland for a month before taking this trip to California to visit their aunt. On their second day in the steep mountains of Santa Cruz, while hiking through an old-growth redwood forest that reminded John of a fairy tale, he suddenly felt woozy. But he wasn’t sick. His legs swayed like he was dancing the hula, as if the ground beneath his feet were the roiling sea. Birds took to the sky. Their aunt’s dog, Nickel, barked and snapped at the air, her ears tucked back and tail between her legs.

“Sarah?” John looked over to his sister and held out a hand to steady himself.

She wore the same expression of bewilderment for a moment, then realization dawned across her face. “Is this an earthquake? Cool!”

Her voice rose and fell with the waves just like her knees riding the shifting earth as if it were a skateboard or a pair of skis. Dander like fireflies floated down from the trees and sparkled in the sun’s rays.

“Earthquake,” Aunt Lorraine confirmed. “Just a little one. Hold on, it’ll end in—”

The earth eased to a halt.

“There ya go, all done.” Aunt Lorraine heaved a breath. “For now.”

“For now?!” John hunched over, ready to fall flat on the ground if it got any worse.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Ben Gartner is the award-winning author of The Eye of Ra time travel adventure series for middle graders. His books take readers for a thrilling ride, maybe even teaching them something in the meantime. Ben can be found living and writing near the mountains with his wife and two boys. https://BenGartner.com

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Giveaway – Guardians of the Mask by Haley Kate @XpressoTours

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Guardians of the Mask
Haley Kate
Publication date: June 8th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Historical

An extraordinary golden mask is in the hands of an ordinary boy…

It’s a mask entrusted to great warriors and heroes, thought to be lost in the sands of time. It can summon immortal armies, grant unimaginable strength and heal mortal wounds.

The golden mask has reappeared. And now it’s in the hands of Rafe, a hard working, loyal and at times mischievous teenager who thinks he is of little importance.

But he is wrong. Rafe is chosen by the mask and destined to become as the warriors of legend.

With the powers of the golden mask, he is the only one who can keep the kingdom safe when it comes under threat.

But not everybody thinks the mask should be in the hands of a common boy. When an eccentric Prince finds out the mask is in the hands of a common boy, he decides to interfere with destiny.

Armed with his own dark forces, he threatens to bring the kingdom to its knees.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

The sun did not stay for long. A full moon greeted the village early and the gloom of the day sent most people to their beds without supper. Sam had been one of them. Rafe chose to linger for a while, walking on the rooftop of the church. It was a pleasant view from the top, where he could see the gargoyle they had toppled still implanted in the bed of grass beneath. He towered over the treetops and the hills that surrounded the village. Beyond the woodland ranged the fallow deer that grazed the palace fields. The palace never looked more beautiful than it did in the dark. The lights never went out and the spectacular array of gold and white from the turrets sparkled like the stars in the sky. It made the sudden interrupting sound of the horn all the more haunting. Eerie and unexpected, it sent a chill through the spines of all those that heard it, its low groan a warning that danger was coming. The call of it jumpstarted a fear that was resting inside of Rafe. A call he had been expecting and dreading. Lingering in his heart, the sound of it sent his emotions into overdrive. Climbing down from the church rooftop, he tore through the forest as fast as his legs would carry him.

“Rafe!” someone yelled.

Rafe spun around to see Miller, Edward and Theo running from the direction of the mansion. Miller had replaced his top hat with an uncommonly large helmet. Rafe caught up to them, desperate for an explanation. Somehow he doubted whether the Brutes had returned.

“They be comin’ boy! Get ya sword and ya mask. The village be gatherin’ their best to meet ye!” Miller spat. “Meet me? For what? Who’s coming?” Rafe demanded, knowing full well who it was without needing to ask. “Who d’ya think? I’d say ye have ‘bout ten minutes b’fore the Prince be findin’ ya. He wants revenge fer wha’ ye did, though this time he be nay dumb enough to fight on his own! I says there be two dozen knights marchin’ ‘ere. Even if they do b’lieve in the legends o’ Cherubim’s Mask, they be sworn to obey th’ Prince. Th’ villagers b’lieve in ye, Rafe. Some of em are willin’ t’ fight fer ye.” Rafe looked towards the forest, trying to imagine them. “The Prince,” Rafe whispered as the truth of it sank in. “Get the mask, lad!” Miller yelled.

Author Bio:

Haley Kate writes medieval fairytales and magical mysteries for tweens (and their parents). She also writes workbooks for schools to help reluctant readers engage with fiction.

Goodreads / Amazon / Facebook


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  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!