Moon in Bastet by E.S. Danon

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A memoir turned into thrilling fiction; Moon in Bastet is based on the life of author E. S. Danon. The story follows a fourteen-year-old girl named Eva, an orphan living in the Negev desert of Israel who is working as a custodian of Cirque Du Christianisme. Her life is controlled by a volatile drunk named Bella who favors a group of equally volatile teenage bullies over her and her own safety or sanity.

Bullied, neglected, and alone – Eva’s only friends are an odd, thirteen–year–old Sephardic boy named Jack and a small cohort of Bedouin sister-wives. On the brink of giving up on life, Eva stumbles upon a mysterious cat in the middle of the desert. Or really, did the cat stumble upon her?

Together they must fight to stay alive, win the battles thrown at them, and Eva must learn to not only lean on others but to trust in herself.

Filled with mystery, magic, and symbolism – Moon in Bastet is a story of resilience, survivorship, forgiveness, and women empowerment. This is a work filled with Jewish mysticism that can be enjoyed by people of all races, ages, and religions everywhere.

Read an Excerpt

Mist twinkles atop the desert sand as a cohort of camels take their morning promenade. A girl runs past them, chasing the rising globe of fire.

Her breath labors as she slips on a rock.

“Ugh!”

A perfect little scrape forms on her knee, but she continues onward and unfazed.

Her skin is olive tinted; her head covered by a canopy of endless brown, curly hair. On her face sit two prominent beauty marks, on either side of her mouth. She is slender and not yet fully grown, but by no means does she have a frail frame. She wears a beige, spaghetti strapped dress that is knee length and complete with a secret pocket - all of which is covered in dirt. A headband woven from plants and flowers sits around the girl’s head.

This girl is named Eva.

She sprints up another dune’s side, her dress ballooning around her as she sits suddenly with crossed legs. The mirage of the sun’s gaseous performance begins to play on the horizon; another Israeli sun rise in the Negev. Like toy soldiers, the sun’s rays advance in a medley of oranges and yellows. Pink is usually reserved for sunrises - however on this day, a rosy aura is cast around the girl as she grabs a rock and casts it towards the sun: This is how a desert girl skips rocks. Next, she takes aim at the arse of the nearest camel.

The rock misses by centimeters, causing a fuss amongst the cohort, but Eva’s almond shaped, brown eyes glisten.

“G-d! Adonai! Where are you? I see you in the colors of the sky!” Her voice echoes as her eyes drift upon the sunrise. “Why are you ignoring me like everyone else does? I feel you in the warmth of light but where are you? Why haven’t you rescued me yet?” She shivers and brings her bare feet in closer to herself. “Can you at least give me a jacket? You’re not very gentleman-like, you know… it’s really chilly this morning.”

Eva puckers her lips in defeat, and then meditates in the following silence, focusing on the warmth ricocheting from the sand and onto her goosebumps.

“Well at least my cramps are gone,” she says once her anxiety diminishes – massaging her lower stomach, happy that her most recent predicament has gone away. “But yet I still must deal with the cramp of life: being unheard and misunderstood.”

Reminded of the reason why she came to pray in the first place, Eva turns to the sky and gives a cloud a dirty look. “G-d, you have approximately twenty-four hours or I will throw rocks at every camel that I see! I can’t survive in that stupid Circus another day.” She throws a finger towards the unsuspecting cloud in the sky and pauses, thinking of a way to coax G-d into saving her.

“You know what - if you like your camels so much, then you better get me out of this place!” Shaking her head, she mumbles, “I’ll just throw rocks at each of their heads. Not like they would care. They’re already dumb… dumb camels.” She looks at a moon shaped scar on the top of her hand, given to her by one of the water-hoarding creatures several years ago.

“Dumb camels,” she repeats.

Silence again is all that responds to Eva once she finishes speaking to herself. She slumps over, shrugs, and decides to head back to her home that sits half-a-mile away from the dunes.

Her feet slip on the sand, causing her to lift her left hand to her face. She huffs as she thinks of her favorite book; reading it gives her solace in her own solitude. Eva sighs, feeling stuck in an ocean made of sand and trapped with her own imaginary desert marlin. She’s already picked out several camels to act as the sharks.

Ironically, one of the camels spits at her as she passes – as if asking, “Where’s your rock – dumb human?”

“Rude,” she mutters in response.

Eva finds her way to a camp studded with only several architectural structures that is surrounded by seven-foot-high wall made of sand. There is only one exit and one entrance, a sky-high rectangular structure made of wood that suffices as a gate. As she skips under it, a sign that reads Cirque du Christianism sways after her.

Officially home, she is welcomed by an array of Circus tents.

Her lazy footsteps saunter past the main tent to her right, soon halting as she approaches a much smaller blue tent. Looking back towards a white tipi, she can feel her body tensing as she holds her breath before leaping forward in front of the blue tent.

I hope he doesn’t attract attention to me.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Danon received her B.S. in Marine Science from Stony Brook University before working as a Marine Biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service. She traveled the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico: collecting data aboard commercial fishing vessels and dredges.

When that didn’t pan out to be the glorified job that she expected, finding herself covered in shark snot and fish scales daily, Elizabeth became a technical writer. In her spare time, she began doing standup comedy after taking comedy bootcamp with the Armed Services Arts Partnership. At this time, she married the most wonderful man who also provides most of her joke writing material. Unfortunately, because he’s Indian he has also enabled her Maggi addiction… Like she needed that on top of her already long-standing iced coffee issues.

Her favorite show is Schitt’s Creek, as she feels a special bond to her fellow comedians - and Sephardic brethren. Growing up half-Jewish herself, Elizabeth eventually converted to being full-Jewish with Temple Israel as a student of Rabbi Panitz.

Her enriched, but complicated, heritage has been an inspiration for most of her creative writing. Being an Aries, she has always felt like a leader and has therefore integrated her feminist beliefs into her work, albeit dropping every women’s studies course that she ever elected in college.

Additionally, her writing has an unmistakable international presence. Elizabeth wanted to discover as much as she could about her Sephardic Heritage and went on Birthright, followed by her independent travels to over ten other countries… carrying nothing but a red bookbag.

Website: https://linktr.ee/esdanon
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/esdanon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/DANON.ELIZABETH.BOOKS/about/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanonElizabeth

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Bastet-S-Danon-ebook/dp/B086LLL4T8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/moon-in-bastet-es-danon/1137305185

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The Cabinet by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lindsay M. Chervinsky will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I write history for two reasons. I find it endlessly fascinating to examine how people lived during other times. Some things—like love, family, and stress—are so familiar, but most details feel so foreign. Second, I think it’s impossible to understand our current moment without knowing from where we’ve come. It helps us understand so much about our culture, government, politics, diplomacy, and more.

What research is required?

Writing history, especially history from long ago, requires a ton of research! It’s impossible to describe individuals’ lives, homes, clothing, decisions, transportation, communication, and a million other details without extensive research. It’s really fun most of the time, but sometimes it can get frustrating when you are trying to nail down a detail and can’t find what you details you need.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine. Persistence. George Washington has lots of flaws, but he was incredibly persistent and always sought to improve himself. That’s an honorable trait and one I’d like to emulate.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I hate 12 point font. I usually write in Times New Roman, but size 12 looks terrible to me. Size 11 all the way.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

Plotter, 100%. History is harder to write from a pantser perspective because the timeline is already established. In order to keep your people, facts, and events straight, it’s really helpful to have a plan.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

My pup, John Quiny Dog Adams (Quincy for short). He’s my buddy in all things.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I’m doing a lot of public-facing history work right now: podcasts, articles, opinion editorials, etc. during the election season to help people understand the historical origins of this contemporary moment. You can find almost all of that information on my website or on Twitter (@lmchervinsky). After the transition period dies down, I’ll turn toward book two more seriously, but there is a lot going on right now.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Who is your favorite person in history? Or who do you find most fascinating and why? Alternatively, what would you want to know about the cabinet and the presidency?

The US Constitution never established a presidential cabinet―the delegates to the Constitutional Convention explicitly rejected the idea. So how did George Washington create one of the most powerful bodies in the federal government?

On November 26, 1791, George Washington convened his department secretaries―Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph―for the first cabinet meeting. Why did he wait two and a half years into his presidency to call his cabinet? Because the US Constitution did not create or provide for such a body. Washington was on his own.

Faced with diplomatic crises, domestic insurrections, and constitutional challenges―and finding congressional help lacking―Washington decided he needed a group of advisors he could turn to. He modeled his new cabinet on the councils of war he had led as commander of the Continental Army. In the early days, the cabinet served at the president’s pleasure. Washington tinkered with its structure throughout his administration, at times calling regular meetings, at other times preferring written advice and individual discussions.

Lindsay M. Chervinsky reveals the far-reaching consequences of Washington’s choice. The tensions in the cabinet between Hamilton and Jefferson heightened partisanship and contributed to the development of the first party system. And as Washington faced an increasingly recalcitrant Congress, he came to treat the cabinet as a private advisory body to summon as needed, greatly expanding the role of the president and the executive branch.

Read an Excerpt

When Washington and Knox arrived at Federal Hall at 11:30 a.m., the doorkeeper announced their arrival. Washington sat at the front of the chamber, and Knox took the chair to his right. Washington handed his remarks to Knox, who in turn handed them to Vice President John Adams. Adams read the statement, but as Senator William Maclay from Pennsylvania recalled, the senators could “not master . . . one Sentence of it.” Adams wasn’t known for his public speaking skills, but the senators’ struggles weren’t entirely his fault. The Senate gathered for their work in the large chambers that occupied the first floor of Federal Hall. Because of the August heat in New York City, the doorkeeper had opened the windows in search of a cooling breeze. But along with fresh air, noise from Wall Street’s pedestrians, carriages, peddlers, and horses flowed into the Senate chambers. The clamor overpowered Adams’s voice, so few senators could make out the words that Washington had carefully crafted. After a few complaints, Adams repeated the speech from the beginning. Washington’s remarks offered a brief synopsis of the current diplomatic state between the United States and the Southern Indians, and posed seven questions for the Senate to answer with an aye or a no.

Adams finished his recitation and sat. The seconds ticked by as the senators remained in awkward silence. A few shuffled papers or cleared their throats. Maclay speculated in his diary that his colleagues were so intimidated by Washington’s presence in the Senate chamber that they cowered in shameful silence. Eager to show that they could be active participants in the creation of foreign policy, Maclay stood up and suggested referring Washington’s seven questions to committee for discussion in detail. Washington lost his temper, stood up, and shouted, “This defeats every purpose of my coming here!” The senators fell into a stunned hush before Washington acquiesced to Maclay’s suggestion and offered to return to the Senate a few days later. Although he did return the following Monday, his first visit to the Senate was an inauspicious start to the executive-legislative relationship. As he returned to his carriage, Washington muttered under his breath that he would never return for advice. He kept his word—August 22, 1789, was the first and last time he visited the Senate to request guidance on foreign affairs. Unfortunately, the diplomatic challenges facing the United States during the Washington presidency were just beginning...

About the Author:

Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Ph.D. a historian of Early America, the presidency, and the government – especially the president’s cabinet. She shares her research by writing everything from op-eds to books, speaking on podcasts and other media, and teaching every kind of audience. She is Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies and Senior Fellow at the International Center for Jefferson Studies. Previously, she worked as a historian at the White House Historical Association. She received her B.A. in history and political science from the George Washington University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. She has been featured in the Law and History Review, the Journal of the Early Republic, TIME, and the Washington Post. Her new book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, was published by the Belknap Imprint of Harvard University Press on April 7, 2020.

The New Criterion recently said of her book, “Fantastic…Unlike many works of popular history, The Cabinet never feels like hagiography. It lacks the reverence of works like Joseph J. Ellis’ Founder Brothers or the revisionist obsequiousness that now greets Alexander Hamilton’s name on stage…Chervinsky exemplifies the public-history ethos in her new book. The writing is clear and concise…She takes what could have been a dry institutional and political history of the Early Republic and transforms it into a compelling story of people and places.”

When she isn’t writing, researching, or talking about history, she can be found hiking with her husband and American Foxhound, John Quincy Dog Adams (Quincy for short).

Readers can request a personalized book plate here: https://www.lindsaychervinsky.com/book-plate

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Washington-Creation-American-Institution/dp/0674986482/
Harvard link: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674986480

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmchervinsky
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lchervinsky/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lmchervinsky
Website: http://www.lindsaychervinsky.com/

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Lovers, Players, and the Seducer by J.A. Jackson

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. J. A. Jackson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Lust and passion fueled star-crossed lovers Lacey and Kienan. Their love was packed with anguish and heartbreak from the start. Add in her brother Nicholas addiction to deceitful games. Their daily lives feel more like being on a bad scandal-ridden roller-coaster ride.

Being an older brother has its perks. Nicholas thinks his sister Lacey is the perfect target for his manipulative schemes after a series of bad investments places him in a great need of money. He plots and schemes his way into getting others to do his bidding.

As Nicholas let lose a series of plans, tragic forces emerge. A vengeful seducer is unleashed, as he opens up doors to the past.

The past where the dead never dies.

Life will never be the same in thiss gripping shocking twist-filled story of love, lies, and redemption!

Will Lacey discover her brother’s deception before it’s too late?

Read an Excerpt

A week later, that Wednesday morning at nine thirty, Nicholas sat in the conference room at his office and looked over the reports. He was a study in contrasts as he sat their hiding his emotions. He’d learned over the years how to use people and today he was using the bastard Dante Channing.

Dante Channing had a nerdy arrogance that came from having been given the best education that money could buy. He was capable at doing his job, Nicholas knew, but he had weaknesses. Many of them, he thought, as he studied him suspiciously. One of them was that he loved to hear himself talk, another was thinking that he was smarter than everybody, and then there was his need to feel he was in control. But his greatest weakness, Nicholas knew, had to be Dante’s lost moral values. He would do anything to make money.

Dante passed out another report. “Everyone, Neon-Tech is a sure winner. And we have Nicholas La Cour to thank for doing the full financial check on Neon-Tech, and I must say it is now starting to show a very nice, albeit tiny, profit.”

Dante watched Nicholas for a moment and then walked over and nudged him whispering. “Nicholas are you paying attention? I just gave you a compliment.”

He put him on the spot.

Nicholas knew that he had been thinking about something else entirely. He’d been thinking about how glad he was that he had a programming background. He knew he’d done his homework when he’d set up a dummy corporation to do his siphoning. He needed to make some extra money the old-fashioned way, quickly, silently, and secretly.

Frustrated, Nicholas looked up at the other men in the conference room. He could tell they were glad Dante’s focus was on him and not on them. His smile was carefully crafted when he looked back at Dante. He shook his head. “You know I was just doing my job Dante, but thanks for the compliment,” he said with a sly smile, letting him know he’d heard every word he said.

About the Author:

J.A. Jackson is the pseudonym for an author, who loves to write deliciously sultry adult romantic, suspenseful, entertaining novels with a unique twist. She lives in an enchanted little house she calls home in the Northern California foothills. Her love for cooking and writing come from her Southern roots of Louisiana and Arkansas. She isa member of South Bay Writers Association, Yosemite Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America (RWA).

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerreece
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jerreece-Ann-Jackson/204377496289139?ref=hl
Blog: http://jerreeceannjackson.blogspot.com
Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/author/jajackson
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jerreece1/boards/
Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/jerreece4559/
Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@j_a_jackson_author
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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerreece-jackson-1657853/
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This book is free.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MCEGUQA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/664954
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/lovers-players-the-seducer
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lovers-players-the-seducer/id1155244810
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lovers-players-the-seducer-j-a-jackson/1124623739

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Sons of Cuba series by Elllen W. Martin

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ellen W. Martin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stopos on the tour.

We asked Ellen, "Anything new coming up from you? What?"

An interesting question since it took me over twenty years to publish my historical fiction series SONS OF CUBA – PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION AND SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING. They both were finally released late last fall.

Funny thing, no make that sad, for some authors occasionally a phantom demon called discouragement, maybe lack of desire slithers into the brain and steals the muse. At the very least encases it in cobwebs so thick one wonders if they’ll ever find the passion and the enthusiasm to write again. In my case “Master Muse” seemed lost forever. I wasn’t sure I even remembered why I wanted to write books. To my amazement after the series SONS OF CUBA was finally published, two additional books hidden deep in the depths of my imagination clawed their way out.

When the juices started flowing, what I learned was I no longer had the desire to write historical fiction. Don’t get me wrong, writing the series SONS OF CUBA was a fascinating journey, and one I’ll never regret taking. In fact seventeen years later when U.S. citizens could finally visit Cuba, my husband and I were on the first ship heading that way. I needed to see the country, meet the people, and drink in as much of their culture as I could.

However, in hindsight I often wonder why I chose that particular genre to begin a writing career in the first place. My passion lies in suspense/thriller/murder mystery genre. That’s what I’ve read most of my life, and that’s how I lived when I was in my twenties – seeking the thrill of adventure and intrigue.
Just this week I started the process for publishing my next novel – INTO THE DEVIL’S DEN – SNARED BY THEIR OWN LIES. This suspense/thriller weaves a tangled tale of a father caught in a twenty-year old lie he told his daughter when she was only a child. Now his greatest fear is losing her trust forever. Before he can seek forgiveness, he must race against time to save her from a jihadist’s sleeper cell — leaving a trail of murder in his wake. This book hopefully will be released late October 2020.

Over the last several months while our country attempts to adhere to social distancing, etc., I spent the time writing the first draft of my fourth book – SHATTERED LOYALTIES. This suspense/thriller is about a journalist who blew up a promising career in Washington D.C. Instead of interviewing heads of state, she is living in New Orleans writing obituaries for a local newspaper. When the President makes a campaign stop in the Crescent City, her editor gives her a second chance to redeem herself.

Unfortunately old demons are awakened. The course of action she chooses triggers a maelstrom of events — leading to betrayal, suspense, political intrigue, murder, but most of all, Shattered Loyalties.

I truly hope you will take the opportunity to read the two book series SONS OF CUBA. Take the journey with the young rebel who had dreams to free Cuba from tyranny, only to become the very thing he hated the most as a young man. Book II of SONS of CUBA continues to follow the rebel into victory, but focuses on the struggles, disappointments, and despair of one family who must survive under Cuba’s new leadership – the leadership of the very man they had placed their hopes for a brighter future for their beloved Cuba.

Relentless political turmoil streams through the veins of Cuba like lava coursing down the side of a volcano holding the Cuban people hostage to tyranny since Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean Island. One wonders if the country’s destiny can ever change.

In BOOK I – SONS OF CUBA – PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION Felipe Cardena, the rebel, endures lost love, the exhilaration of victory, demoralizing disappoints, imprisonment, exile, and an assassination attempt. Nothing will stop Felipe Cardena until he achieves his ultimate goal — free Cuba from tyranny.

In BOOK II – SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING after victory is declared by the Cuban rebels, the plot shifts away from the revolution and centers on Tangi Montolio, a fiery redheaded activist who once was one of the rebel leader’s most passionate supporters. Tangi and her family become a victim and suffers under the hands of Felipe Cardena’s new leadership. The rebel now turned dictator will discover that his brief interaction with Tangi will lead to the destruction of his legacy.

Read an Excerpt from Sons of Cuba: Homecoming (Book 2)

TANGI rushed over and picked up the now hysterical Andrés. Her eyes widened. Standing at the front door was that same disgusting soldier that had harassed her at the plaza; three others were behind him, rifles in hand. Once again, he leered at her. She looked down; her blouse was still open. She buttoned the top button and held Andrés close.

Ramon Miguel stepped between Tangi, Fernando, and the soldier. “What can we do for you?” He asked.

“I told you, I’m looking for Fernando Reyes. Are you he?”

Ramon stared at the soldier; his eyes narrowed. “Maybe, but tell me first why you’re here.”

The soldier waved a piece of paper in front of Ramon’s face. “This is about you turning your farm over to the government.”

Fernando pushed Ramon aside and snapped, “I’ll do no such thing. That land has been in my family for generations. Besides, what would the government want with a few meager acres?”

The soldier looked first at Ramon, and then at Fernando. “Okay, which one of you is Reyes?

Fernando yanked the papers from the soldier’s hands. “I told you I am. What is this?” He asked, shaking the papers in the soldier’s face.

“It’s the deed to your land. Sign it; sign it now without argument. If you don’t, we have a prison cell waiting for you.”

Ramon Miguel took the papers from Fernando’s trembling hands, and glanced over the legal document. He turned his back on the soldiers and pulled the old man aside. “I’m afraid you have no choice,” he whispered. “You wouldn’t survive a week in jail, and I can’t go to prison for you. Who’d take care of Tangi and the baby?”

About the Author:After a lifetime of personal adventures, travel and escapades (a lot of risky escapades), author Ellen Martin, is living her sunset years bouncing around a tennis court or clicking away on her keyboard.

Outrage at social injustices, the thrill for suspense, and unraveling a good mystery are triggers that motivate Ellen to write memorable stories and colorful characters.

Over 30 years as a military wife, she has resided both in the Orient and in Europe where she became no stranger to social injustice and poverty. She and her family have lived in the Philippines, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands — not to mention both U.S. coasts and Kansas in the winter. She is fascinated by real-life, colorful personalities.

On a more personal note Ellen was a flight attendant for the Charter Airline Saturn in the 1960’s. Her job was escorting United States troops in and out of Viet Nam. Her adventures in the war zone continued until she was swept away by her fighter pilot husband.

After retirement the couple’s travels included Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungry, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland and topped off with a visit to Cuba.

God gifted Ellen with one “perfect” son and three grandchildren.

You wrap all this in a package and Ellen has been rewarded with an endless supply of fodder for her fiction.

In her historical fiction Book-I SONS OF CUBA–PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION she weaves an embellished tale of the most notorious and charismatic Cuban rebel in modern history. There’s a chance you might find him charming, intriguing and actually root for him in his early endeavors to free his beloved Cuba from tyranny.

However, in Book II - SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING, the story takes the reader from the rebel’s exile in Mexico to preparation for the revolution from the Mountains of the Sierra Maestra. This is where you will meet the fiery redheaded peasant girl, Tangi. The narrative shifts its focus from the revolution and centers around the fictional character, Tangi, and her family’s struggles, fears and disappointments in the new regime.

How the story in real life ends is no secret. But, in Book II – SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING, the characters and the author may just get the last word.

In 2020 Ellen’s new book INTO THE DEVIL’S DEN turns from historical events to present day reality – Terrorism — terrorism in our own backyard.

Check out her website for excerpts from her books: https://www.booksbyellen.com
Amazon buy links:

Prelude to Revolution: https://www.amazon.com/SONS-CUBA-BOOK-Prelude-Revolution-ebook/dp/B081LMXDHK/
Homecoming: https://www.amazon.com/SONS-CUBA-BOOK-II-HOMECOMING-ebook/dp/B082WSVJT6/

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She's the One Who Thinks Too Much by S.R. Cronin

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. S.R. Cronin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

It’s the 1200’s, and the small realm of Ilari has had peace and prosperity for generations. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy, however.

Ryalgar, a spinster farm girl and the oldest of seven, has always preferred her studies to flirtation, yet even she finally meets her prince. Or so she thinks, until she discovers he’s already betrothed. Embarrassed, she flees her family’s farm to join the Velka, the mysterious women of the forest known for their magical powers and for living apart from men.

As a Velka, she develops her telekinesis and learns she has a talent for analyzing information. Both are going to come in handy. For she’s continued to meet her prince at the forest’s edge, thinking being his mistress isn’t such a bad deal. Then she learns more about his princely assignment. He’s tasked with training the army of Ilari to repel the feared Mongol horseman who’ve been moving eastward for years, killing all in their path. And, her prince is willing to sacrifice the outer farmlands where she grew up to these invaders, if he has to.

Ryalgar isn’t about to let that happen.

She’s got the Velka behind her now, as well as a multitude of university intellectuals, a family of tough farmers, and six sisters each with her own unique personality and talents.

Can Ryalgar organize all that into a resistance that will stop the Mongols? She thinks she can.

Read an Exclusive Excerpt

“Besides,” Sulphur said, “you get to live here, surrounded by amazing women. Every so often, you can sneak off and have your fun with him. Best of all worlds. By the way, what is it you do here?”

“Don’t look at me. She’s doing it.” I nodded towards Joli. “I’m not that good. At least not yet.”

I don’t think Sulphur had looked at me with a hint of fear in her eyes like that since she was six years old and I bossed her around.

“So you don’t just make herbal potions here?”

“We do a lot of things,” I said. “Everyone develops whatever skills they have. Some do make potions. Others have more unusual talents.”

Sulphur drummed her fingers on the table a few times as she came to a decision. “This place is way better than I thought.”

About the Author:

Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is.

All her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.

Author Social Media Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cinnabar01
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/46Ascending
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5805814.Sherrie_Cronin
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sherrie-Cronin/e/B007FRMO9Q
Author Blog: https://sherriecronin.xyz/
Book Series Blog: https://troublesome7sisters.xyz/

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BY4RLX1

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The Light Catcher Murders by Jo Cassie McRae

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jo Cassie McRae will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Nestled in the scenic Texas Hill Country, the cozy town of Wheaton Creek seemed an idyllic place to escape the world’s increasingly harsh realities. At least, that’s what Kate Atherton thought.

Kate once enjoyed a long, successful career with a specialized, highly secret federal intelligence agency. Crises in both her personal and professional life drove her to early retirement and, ultimately, to Wheaton Creek, the perfect place for her and her former-military husband to escape what had come to feel like a world made up of wars, hatred, fear, and untimely death. And, at first, the escape was all Kate had hoped for. Then murder came to Wheaton Creek—a crime that a corrupt county sheriff seems determined to pin on Kate’s photographer friend, Lucy Celek.

Lucy’s work has been chosen to appear at a prestigious photography festival, a festival that could take her from amateur to professional standing. All goes well until the gallery displaying her work is broken into, and one of Lucy’s photographs is vandalized. A week later, the man Lucy suspected of destroying her photograph—a fellow photographer who was angry that his own work was not chosen by the festival committee—is murdered. Faced with a sheriff who shows little interest in expanding his list of suspects beyond Lucy, Kate feels she must dust off her puzzle-solving skills to find the real killer. Murder is just the beginning, though, as Kate’s amateur sleuthing begins to reveal a tangled web of crimes that go beyond anything she could have imagined.

Read an Excerpt

Picking her way through the broken glass again, Kate slipped up behind Lucy. She gave the beleaguered deputy a sympathetic smile and gently took hold of Lucy’s elbow. “Lucy, dear. Do you think you might want to calm down? This officer is going to do his best to find out who did this and why. He isn’t the bad guy here.”

Lucy wheeled on her. “He doesn’t have to look far to find out who did this. If he’d just listen to me and quit asking irrelevant questions! I’ve been telling him that it has to be Stewart Wilson. You saw how Stewart behaved after the festival. He’s a horrible, angry, vindictive man! Did you see how he ripped into my mural? The bastard! If I could get my hands on him, I swear I’d rip into him the same way!”

The deputy’s eyebrows shot up, and he shifted uneasily, his pen hovering over his notepad. Kate’s grip on Lucy’s elbow tightened, as did the smile she showed the deputy. “I’m sure Ms. Celek didn’t mean that, Deputy Green,” she said. When Lucy started to disagree, Kate squeezed her arm so tightly that Lucy let out a little yelp of pain. “She’s understandably distraught. If you have more questions for her, might I suggest that you give her some time to collect herself? I’m sure she’ll be more helpful when she’s feeling a bit more rational.”

“Rational?” Lucy flinched again under the renewed fierceness of Kate’s grip and did not finish what she had been about to say.

About the Author: Jo Cassie McRae is a native Texan who has lived near Austin on the edge of the Texas Hill country for over 30 years. In addition to writing, McRae loves to read, garden, and cook. Like Kate Atherton (The Light Catcher Murders), McRae’s bookshelves overflow with history books, biographies, historical fiction, and mystery novels. Unlike Kate, McRae does not have a mysterious, secret former career, having worked instead as a rather ordinary legal assistant at an Austin law firm.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/authorjocassiemcrae/
Website: http://www.jocassiemcrae.com

Email: authorjcmcrae@icloud.com

Amazon purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Catcher-Murders-Atherton-Mysteries/dp/B08FTLN76D/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

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Return of the Wolfe by Nancy Fraser

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nancy Fraser will be awarding $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

See how quickly you can put the book cover together in this jigsaw puzzle.

Ever since she was a teenager, Sarah Tremayne wanted one thing and one thing only—to be a park ranger at Big Bear National Park in Bear Lake, Wisconsin. Her dream was always to work along side her ranger brother, Brent, and be the first brother-sister team in department history.

Matthew Wolfe is also a ranger and Brent’s best friend. He tolerated Sarah when she was a gangly teen following him around the park like a lost puppy. However, as Sarah blossomed so did his desire.

Just as they’re exploring their mutual attraction, a tragic accident pulls them apart.

Four years have passed and Matthew is returning to Big Bear as the man in charge. Will he and Sarah be able to mend their ragged fences and rediscover what they once had? Or, will Sarah’s pain and anger force her away from Big Bear, and Matt, forever?

Read an Excerpt

Matt wanted to touch her, shake her, make her understand. He wanted to protest, to yell, to demand she stay and talk to him, but he knew he lacked the inner strength necessary to carry out the actions; to upset her even more.

"Yes, Ranger Tremayne," he said finally, "you're excused."

She nodded. "Thank you." She took two steps toward the door and then turned back. "Sir?"

His gaze lifted to hers. "Yes, Sarah?"

"I submitted a transfer request day before yesterday. I'd appreciate it if you could attend to it as soon as possible."

He studied her expression, hoping to see some emotion, some signal that would tell him she wasn't serious. Instead, he saw only anger and pain. Her hands were still clenched at her sides, her lips still pursed tightly no doubt in an effort to arrest the telltale trembling. Her pulse fluttered erratically beneath the smooth line of her throat. With each heartbeat he imagined her tears came closer to falling with nothing more than her hatred keeping them in check.

A searing flash of remorse jolted his body centered directly around his heart. His response to her request was slow in coming, drawn out by the magnitude of his pain. "If that's what you want, Sarah."

He watched her carefully, hoping for some show of regret, some possible sign of forgiveness. She only nodded and moved through the door and into the hallway.

How could he possibly make up for all the pain he had caused her? Would Sarah ever trust and care for him again?

Or, was returning to Big Bear the biggest mistake of his life?

About the Author:

NANCY FRASER—Jumping Across Romance Genres with Gleeful Abandon—is an Amazon Top 100 and Award-Winning author who can’t seem to decide which romance genre suits her best. So, she writes them all.

Like most authors, Nancy began writing at an early age, usually on the walls and with crayons or, heaven forbid, permanent markers. Her love of writing often made her the English teacher’s pet which, of course, resulted in a whole lot of teasing. Still, it was worth it.

Published in multiple genres, Nancy currently writes for two publishers, and has recently thrown her hat into the self-publishing ring. She has published over thirty-five books in full-length, novella, and short format.

When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five wonderful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people.

Website: http://www.nancyfraser.ca
Facebook: http://facebook.com/nancyfraserauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nfraserauthor
Bookbub: http://bookbub.com/profile/nancy-fraser
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Fraser/e/B004AOL61Y/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7206382.Nancy_Fraser
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/fraser425/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcZdjsWDhFU
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romauthor_nancyfraser/

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FJH9R75
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/return-of-the-wolfe-nancy-fraser/1137461341
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1527191528

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Land of Shadow by Miriam Newman

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Miriam Newman will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. What was the hardest scene from your book to write?

The hardest scene was the one in which my main character, Domi, loses his adoptive father to death in battle. In this case, I chose not to focus on the death itself but on his reaction to it, something I have never experienced and presumably never will. Only imagination can tell you what a person would feel under those circumstances, and it is not easy to convey.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

Romance chose me, many years ago. Before that, I was published in poetry with an emphasis on myth and legend, so it was an easy step to incorporate this along with a theme of love. Easy peasy, as one of my fellow authors loves to say.

If you write in more than one genre, how do you balance them?

I do not generally stray from the genre, I just incorporate elements of history, fantasy and occasionally science fiction into the story as the sub-genre.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I loved the historical elements in this book. The tragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem and subsequent events at the fortress of Masada have nothing romantic about them. The open question is whether love between individuals and respect for cultures hold the key to preventing such events. Is it too idealistic to hope this will ever happen? Probably. But I’m a romantic. I have to hope.

What book that you have read has most influenced your life?

I would really be hard pressed to say. Let’s just say that any book that is well written and contains a deep message is the one that will hold my attention and influence my future. Some of the science fiction masters have influenced me, because they speak to the future that great historians have also prepared me to envision.

Tell us a little about yourself? Perhaps something not many people know?

People are sometimes surprised to learn that I am a very—and I mean very—deep thinker. Present me with any concept or event and my mind is going to go down so many different channels simultaneously that it’s like trying to work a maze, until I arrive at an answer that may also be multi-faceted. I may choose one of those answers because I think it is the right thing to do, but that is not to say that I don’t acknowledge the rest. That’s why my villains are not textbook villains. They always have a story.

Can you tell us something about your book that is not in the summary?

The full scale of the battles do not appear in the summary, because this is a romance. They form a backdrop. The true scope of those tragedies would be impossible and inappropriate to include in a romance. The message here has to be hope springing from the ashes and I think that’s a worthwhile goal. But I would hope it might encourage readers to explore the historical writings that accurately portray the events of that era.

Born to a mysterious Celtic woman and a Roman father in Britannia, Domi seems destined for a life of ignominy until he is adopted by a Roman tribune. When he is forced to choose between his native land and his adopted one, and between the living and the dead, which will he choose?

Read an Excerpt

Trunks were packed and ready for return to Neopolis. That left only the girl to deal with. She had remained in the tent, healing slowly, too badly abused to walk without pain. But he could postpone the inevitable no longer.

Returning from his nightly ritual, he lit an oil lamp and brought in dinner. She could chew meat if he soaked it in wine, so he put that night’s offering in a cupful of standard ration. He was still giving his to her, since he felt no need of it. In fact, he thought it only deepened his melancholy.

“Here,” he said, handing her a cup and plate. She still sat, by choice, next to the tent post. He had offered his bed but she was clearly terrified of that, so he gave her a rug and a blanket and hoped for the best. At least she was staying in the tent. He studied her face by lamplight, sitting on the cot while he ate. Her bruises were somewhat diminished but she would bear the scar over her eye to her dying day. Some of the lashes on her back would always show, too, thin blue lines. But at least he had procured another gown for her, so she was clothed in something that was not falling off her. Food and clothing were all he had thought he could offer, but now he had something more.

“I cannot keep this tent any longer,” he told her. “Another Tribune has been appointed and I am done here.” He glanced around, knowing he would never really be done there.

“Tomorrow I am returning you to the slavers.” He saw her stiffen. “No, don’t be afraid. I am going to buy you and pay someone to take you to my villa at Neopolis.”



She looked at him as if she either did not believe it or thought he was out of his mind. Perhaps he was.

“I will pay them well enough that they don’t abuse you. Just go with them quietly, don’t give them any trouble, and stay there and heal. I will send my factotum a bill of manumission for you. When you are well enough he will get you safe passage to the Jewish quarter in Rome. I assume they will take you in.”

“Yes.” He had already learned she was a woman of few words. Her voice had remained husky and her accent was actually charming. He liked to listen to her, but didn’t often get the chance.

Apparently, though, this had induced her to speak. “Why are you doing this?”

After the next day, he would never see her again. She was a safe harbor of sorts.

“I love a girl in Alexandria,” he said. “She is of your faith. She would be pleased to have one of her people saved.”

“You will marry this girl?”

“No.”

“Why?” Leah had cocked her head at him for all the world like an inquisitive dog.

“She’s a Jewess. I’m a Roman.” She was still looking at him. “”It’s not possible,” he explained.

“Anything is possible.”

He smiled, but didn’t answer.

“You are a righteous man. That girl is a fool.”

About the Author:

Fantasy poetry driven by myths and legends has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug. I bring that background to my writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses, an 18 year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many trips to Ireland, where I nurture my muse. My published works range from contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction and historical romance. Currently I live in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley crew” of rescue animals.

LAND OF SHADOW: PURCHASE LINK - https://www.amazon.com/Miriam-Newman-ebook/dp/B08CCJN7Z5

Website: http://miriamnewman.com
Website: http://thedarkcastlelords.net
Blog: http://miriamnewman.com/blog
Blog: http://thecelticroseblog.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMiriamNewman
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/miriamnewman
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/miriam-newman-cf7ca8bf-caab-4b7e-a6f2-7db5490d9215
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3146550.Miriam_Newman
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/38ED8hG

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Sleeping with the Enemy by Jackie Barbosa

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jackie Barbosa will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When Mrs. Laura Farnsworth discovers the blood-stained body of a man wearing the distinctive red coat of the British army, her first instinct is to let dead dogs lie. It has, after all, been just two days since the Battle of Plattsburgh, and the disposition of enemy corpses is hardly her purview. But then the man proves himself to be very much alive by grabbing her ankle and mumbling incoherently.

After almost twenty-five years in His Majesty’s service, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Langston never expected to wake up in heaven, much less being tended by an angel. But when he regains consciousness in the presence of a beautiful, dark-haired woman and with no memory of how he came to be there, what else can he think? Except it’s rather odd for an angel to have an American accent.

As the long-widowed Laura nurses the wounded Geoffrey back to health, the attraction between them heats from a simmer to a boil. Bound by his oath to the British crown, Geoffrey should be working to find his way back to his regiment and from there, to England. Instead, he’s sleeping with the enemy…and thereby committing the crime of desertion if not treason. But then, who’s going to find out?

If only Geoffrey didn’t have a family back home who refuse to take “missing in action” for an answer.

Read an Excerpt

Well, that had been entirely inappropriate!

Flustered and overheated, Laura grabbed the empty wicker bread basket from the center of the heavy oak dining table and flopped into one of the nearby chairs, waving the basket in front of her face as a makeshift fan.

What on earth had come over her in there? One moment she had been engaged in the innocuous—although admittedly intimate—chore of giving a man a shave, and the next she had been seconds from lifting her skirts and riding him like a hobby horse.

Oh, very well, not quite like a hobby horse.

For heaven’s sake, she was a respectable widow with a nearly adult son, not a reckless girl in the first flush of infatuation. The last time she’d felt anything like this mad rush of desire, she had been nineteen and newly introduced to Samuel Farnsworth, the handsomest man she had ever met. Back then, she had not fully grasped the significance of the sensations that flooded her whenever she was with Samuel, just that she wanted more of them. Only after he introduced her to the pleasures of the marital bed did she appreciate how clever her body had been in recognizing her mate. Her only mate. Or so she had believed.

But now the handsomest man she had ever met slept in the bed she’d once shared with her husband, wearing nothing but a nightshirt, and she knew what she was missing. Truly understood the signals her body was sending her.

She wanted Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Langston.

About the Author:

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer when I grew up, but there were plenty of times when I wasn’t sure I ever would be. As it turns out, it just took me about twenty years longer to grow up than I expected!

On the road to publication, I took a few detours, including a stint in academia (I hold an MA in Classics from the University of Chicago and was a recipient of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities) and many years as a technical writer/instructional designer for a data processing company. I still hold my day job, but my true vocation has always been writing fiction and romance in particular.

I’m a firm believer that love is the most powerful force in the world, which that makes romance the most powerful genre in the world. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise!

Website: http://www.jackiebarbosa.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jackiebarbosa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackieBarbosaAuthor/

Buy Links for Sleeping with the Enemy

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085GK6Y1T
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sleeping-with-the-enemy-39
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleeping-with-the-enemy-jackie-barbosa/1136596890
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/sleeping-with-the-enemy/id1501443490?ls=1

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All the Missing Pieces by Julianna Keyes

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Julianna Keyes will be awarding a physical $25 Amazon GC, (US/Canada only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Reese Carlisle hates her life. Three years after her father’s arrest for one of the largest embezzlement schemes in history, twenty million dollars is still missing, and the world believes she knows where it is.

Two years after her brother’s death, they still think she killed him.

One year later, she’s still hiding.

When the loneliness is too much, she seeks out strangers for one dark night, no questions asked. She makes up a name, puts on a disguise, and tries to forget.

One night she meets a new man. She tells him her name is Denise, she’s a dental assistant, and she loves dogs. He tells her she’s smart, she’s pretty, she’s funny. Things she hasn’t heard in too long.

Things that are too good to be true…

Read an Excerpt

I undo my seatbelt and shove open the car door. Maybe it’s the cool air or the terror still pumping through my veins, but my exposed skin pebbles with goose bumps. I round the car but I’m still half-blind; the truck is right where he stopped, emerging from the invisible lane and pointed straight at me, the glaring light making it impossible to see. The silhouette of a figure starts to approach. It’s like a scene from every alien abduction movie, and I’m the newest test subject.

“Do I know you?” he asks.

I freeze. It’s that precipitous moment where I can climb into my car and drive away, or turn back and have this conversation. Yes, I’m Reese Carlisle. Yes, I was at the prison visiting my criminal father. No, I don’t know where the money is. No, I didn’t kill my brother.

“Who do you think I am?”

He takes a few steps toward me and my muscles tense, preparing to run. Right. Like I’m going to lead him on a chase through a corn field. I stopped running years ago.

“Denise,” he says.

The world stops spinning.

Only Doug knows Denise. And I can’t think of a single sane reason Doug would be parked along a dark country road on a Saturday night, accidentally scaring the crap out of me.

Except… he doesn’t sound like Doug.

He comes closer and I shift away, moving the glare of the headlights from my front and his back to right in between, and I see who it is.

The stranger.

About the Author: Julianna Keyes is a Canadian writer who has lived on both coasts and several places in between. She’s been skydiving, bungee jumping and white water rafting, but nothing thrills—or terrifies—her as much as the blank page. She loves Chinese food, foreign languages, baseball and television, though not necessarily in that order, and writes sizzling stories with strong characters, plenty of conflict, and lots of making up.

Website: http://www.juliannakeyes.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/juliannakeyes
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juliannakeyesauthor
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2CvzkE8

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Pairs with Life by John Taylor

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The publisher will be awarding a $10 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter and a signed copy of the book to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Forty-eight-year-old Corbett Thomas, a one-hit wonder of the 90s, now works as the lead sommelier at Napa Valley’s hippest restaurant. Set to become one of the few Master Sommeliers in the world, Corbett self-destructs during his final exam, ruining his last chance at capturing the stardom and adoration he got a taste for in his youth.

When billionaire game designer, Brogan Prescott, asks Corbett to consult on a major vineyard acquisition, Corbett sees it as a shot at redemption, until he learns of Brogan’s ridiculous vision of a virtual-reality, Woke Ant Colony Winery. Disgusted, Corbett decides to buy the vineyard himself and preserve its magic and history. Cashless, clueless, and with his reputation in tatters, Corbett enlists the help of his bass-player-turned-lawyer Seamus O’Flaherty, who may have finally lost his stomach for Corbett’s bad ideas; his uber-rational daughter Remy, who wants Corbett to uncork some family secrets he’d rather leave in the cellar; and Sydney Cameron, whose sudden appearance in Corbett’s life may repair his heart or shatter it forever.

With their help-and sometimes despite it-Corbett discovers what Brogan has known all along: a four-billion-dollar gold deposit lies beneath the vineyard. If Brogan acquires the property, the ensuing gold rush will destroy Napa Valley.

But if Corbett can get out of his own way long enough to purchase the vineyard first, he’ll be faced with the hardest decision of his life: take the fame and fortune he desperately craves, or save the soul of the valley he loves so much.

Read an Excerpt

I turned to face him. At six-foot-four, I was a foot taller and had at least seventy-five pounds on him. I wasn’t going for intimidation, though. Ok, not a lot of intimidation. “You getting the Harrison party only proves that there’s no such thing as a just and benevolent God.”

Andrew scratched his beard mockingly. Not a single hair was displaced. “Harrison? Oh, you mean Harrison-Lowell Partners? The massive private equity firm whose board is having their party here tonight? Those guys?”

I wanted to rip my face off. The truth was, Andrew was half my age, but only a few steps behind me. He was an Advanced Somm, a WSET-3, CSW, and a whole bunch of other mostly useless acronyms. But he had mad tasting skills, which while also hating, I grudgingly respected too.

“Just…get them to do different bottles with each course,” I said, trying to mask my aggravation. “No by-the-glass stuff and none of those imports I got on special—”

“Gee, thanks, Corbett,” he interrupted. “I’ll do my best to remember all of that complex and really insightful information.” He walked backwards towards the door, a smug little smirk spreading across his face. “In the meantime, you have an absolutely awesome evening with your bachelorette party.”

On my eighth birthday, my mom woke me up at 3:00 a.m., dragged me out of bed and into the cold backseat of her Datsun hatchback and said, “We’re going to Disneyland.” I’d never been but leave it to say I could sing all five verses of “Yo Ho, Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life For Me).” She didn’t pack anything except a bologna and American cheese sandwich for me, and a thermos filled with “Mommy’s Orange Juice” for her. We drove seven hours from Tucson to Los Angeles, got out, and discovered the park was closed.

“Oh,” she had said with a frown. She shoved me back in the car and we drove home to Tucson without saying a word.

When I heard that Jansen was a bachelorette party, it felt a lot like that.

I already knew in agonizing detail how the whole night would unfold. Jansen was a party of fifteen, but only thirteen would show up, because the group had been out wine tasting the entire day, and two girls would have already passed out at the hotel, their heads balanced delicately over the edge of the bed to avoid vomit asphyxiation.

Festivities would start with a round of Lemon Drops, followed by selfies, followed by a round of Himalayan Blow Jobs (the shot, not the Sherpa-based sex act), and more selfies. There’d be a polite but stern noise complaint from a nearby diner, which would be met with vitriol and retribution from the maid of honor, and eventually every single customer on the terrace would have to be re-seated with a comped entrée.

By the start of the second course, two more bridesmaids would be “Man down!” and loaded into the limo to be whisked away. This would cause the Bride to launch into Tearful and Wailing Speech Number One: Don’t You Understand This Is My Wedding? The remedy for this drama would be another round of shots, followed by the meat course, which everyone would secretly want to eat but no one will eat.

I would then be asked if dancing is allowed. I would say no. This would be met with Tearful and Wailing Speech Number Two: Don’t You Fucking Understand This Is My Wedding?

At the end of the evening, three of the four remaining conscious bridesmaids would attempt to split the check, and they would get it wrong three times. It would be my fault, obviously, and then Drunk Math would result in a three-hundred-dollar underpayment, coming out of the service charge.

“I’ll bet you a hundred bucks I sell the most expensive bottle tonight,” I blurted. I’m not exactly sure why I said it: Anger at a manager who didn’t respect who I was or what I’d been through; or jealousy of a kid who accomplished in six years what took me twenty.

Andrew froze at the door. “Wait, what? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious,” I said.

Andrew folded his arms across his chest and stared at me as if I asked him to solve a quadratic equation. “So, you’ll bet me a hundred dollars that you can sell a more expensive wine to the Mike’s Hard Lemonade Crew than I can to the Board of Directors of the nation’s third-largest private equity firm?”

Well, when you put it that way… No matter. I was betting on my ability to optimize potential. I mean, it’s not like the Jansens had booked their party at Applebee’s.

“You got it.”

“You’re on.” Andrew stuck out his hand and I shook it. He had that kind of non-committal handshake that feels like you’re clutching a wet hunk of pork loin. I dropped his hand and brushed past him.

I’ll never say out loud that I doubted my potential to win the bet, but it crossed my mind to add Franzia to the system and charge $1,000.00 per box for it.

Helena was leading service for the Jansen party that night, which was good news. She was awesome—an absolute pro at her job, and mostly unflappable. We met for a few minutes to talk strategy. I didn’t tell her about the bet, though maybe I should have, because she thought it was rather odd of me to be so concerned about a bachelorette party.

“Chances are we aren’t even going to need you,” she said.

“How sexist,” I admonished her, practically vomiting hypocrisy. “What if the bride is a director at Google? And all her friends are instructors at the Culinary Institute? What if they’re all writers for Wine Spectator?”

She wasn’t, they weren’t, and hell no.

When the bride-to-be finally sashayed into the restaurant atop a wave of millennial entitlement, it was as obvious as the rhinestone tiara atop her head that there would not be a single fuck given to the wine list. I had to admit, though, that the bride glowed; she beamed. She was all shiny teeth, dewy skin and smoky eyes, and radiating with the glorious possibility of a love eternal—a happiness unhinged and unfettered, as ethereal as a dream whispered to the breeze. It was practically contagious, something I could inhale or feel wash over me for one perfect moment as she sauntered by.

Oh, well. Life would drop its fucking jackboot on her heart soon enough.

Helena agreed to let me go in before she asked for an initial drink order, just to see if I could sell them on wine and not something vodka based. I gave the group exactly seven minutes on the terrace before making my entrance.

About the Author:

John Taylor has been writing about wine since 2012, but his meanderings on life began way before that. Born and raised in San Diego, California, John moved to Los Angeles in 1982 to pursue dreams of screenwriting and filmmaking. He attended the University of Southern California, where he majored in Shattered Dreams and False Hopes, with a minor in Getting Gut Punched By Reality. After being handed a degree in Journalism in 1987 as a consolation prize, John dove into a career in music. Because getting gut-punched just isn’t painful enough.

By 1996, John and his band, The Uninvited, had produced four independent albums and became one of the most popular acts in the western United States. This lead to a deal on Atlantic Records, which released the band’s self-titled debut album in 1997. The band had two Top 100 hits, and toured nationally with Dave Matthews, Blues Traveller, Third Eye Blind and many other acts. Their music appeared in the TV shows Beverly Hills 90210 and Party of Five, and in the motion pictures The Commandments and North Beach. The band can also be heard in several HBO Documentaries, video games and on that annoying “One Hit Wonders of The 90’s” station your co-worker always plays on Spotify.

In 2001, John’s vast experience in shattered dreams was once again called into play as the band hung up their touring shoes for good. After a brief but horrifying career in real estate, John got wise and made a career out of his favorite hobby – wine – and has held various sales and marketing positions in Napa Valley since 2011. John’s writing career started in earnest at this point, with blogs, essays and short stories appearing in various publications. John is the author of three novels, including the aptly-titled Pairs With: Life, which will be released by Hurn Publications in September 2020.

Author Links:

Website: https://pairswithlife.net/about-john-taylor-the-author-and-creator-of-pairs-with-life
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pairswithlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pairswithlife/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JATauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52422370-pairs-with-life
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pairs-with-life/id1447854343
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJAMcM5_30XOMGLgp8accw
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hurnpublications/pairs-with-life/

Buy Links:

BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pairs-with-life-john-taylor/1137309023
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1734763418/ref=x_gr_w_bb_sin
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/pairs-with-life
AbeBooks: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30694978993&searchurl=isbn%3D1734763418%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1
The Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Pairs-With-Life-John-Taylor-Triumph-Book-Covers-Raven-Eckman/9781734763416
Alibris: https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=1734763418&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=GwEz7vxblVU&utm_campaign=10&siteID=GwEz7vxblVU-AsJ_RuF3DS_lmu1_KH3zEQ
Publisher: https://hurnpublications.com/product/preorders-pairs-with-life-by-john-taylor
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781734763416

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