Mistletoe, Mobsters, and Mozzarella by Peggy Jaeger

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Peggy Jaeger will be awarding a $10 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.

Finding a body in the freezer of the family deli isn’t the way Madonna San Valentino planned to start her day.

Adding insult to injury, the investigating detective is the one guy she’s never been able to forget. After seven minutes of heaven in the back seat of his car when they were teenagers, Tony Roma skipped town without so much as a thanks for the memory.

Just when Madonna thinks the present situation can’t get any worse, Tony is ordered to go undercover at the deli to ferret out a killer. Forced to work together, she vows to keep their relationship cool and professional. But with the sexy, longing looks he tosses her at every turn, Madonna’s resolve is weakening.

With Christmas drawing closer and Tony’s investigation taking an unexpected turn, Madonna is at her wit’s end. Can she really be falling for him again? And will he wind up leaving her broken hearted and alone like the last time?

Read an Excerpt

One look in the den and I felt like history was repeating itself because Giacomo’s twins were face down on the carpet, lying on top of one another, their limbs all twined together, grunting baby noises coming from deep down in their little bodies. Rocco, or maybe Carlo, was on top, unintentionally smothering his brother whose face he was sitting on, smashed flat into the carpet and making breathing impossible.

My brothers, engrossed in the game playing on television, were clueless to the potential disaster right in front of them.

I’d learned long ago yelling at them served no purpose. They were all masters at the art of ignoring me.

I made my way to the babies and, silently, lifted Rocco – or maybe Carlo – off his brother with one hand, the other flipping Carlo – or maybe Rocco – so he was supine. His little face was pale, his lips ringed with blue, but he took a huge breath, startled once, and then let out a bloodcurdling screech sounding remarkably like the wail his father had made back in his own baby days.

All five pair of male eyes turned to me at the sound. Not one of them moved from their comfy positions.

“Hey, Donna,” Giacomo said. “Everything okay?”

“Marvy,” I mumbled, hoisting a boy onto each hip, one of them silent, the other screaming like he was spewing out a lung or being dismembered. “I’m bringing the boys to their mother,” I said, wincing from the earsplitting shrieking. I wouldn’t be surprised if my left ear went deaf before the night ended.

Giacomo toasted me with his beer and said, “Thanks, sis,” his attention already focused back on the game.

In the kitchen I handed the screaming baby over to his mother and told her how I’d found her sons. It wasn’t my job any longer to discipline or try to guide my brothers. They had wives for that now. And from the look of abject fury on Margaret Rose’s face I knew Giacomo would be getting his comeuppance later on when they were home.

I didn’t feel an iota of pity for him.

With the fratricidal wannabe glued to my hip, I went back to the dining room and finally opened the wine bottle single handedly.

About the Author:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"

Social Media links:

Website and blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger,br> BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-jaeger-296ab878/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Authors database: https://authorsdb.com/community/15814-peggy-jaeger
Triberr: https://triberr.com/tribe/strong-women--loving-men

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The Trapped Daughter by Jay Kerk

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jay Kerk 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.

Have you ever been trapped somewhere? I have.
Have you ever found that the world does not believe you? I did.

I have been betrayed by the people I trusted the most. They coil around me like snakes, lulling me with whispers about protection and safety and for your own good.

They offer up pills like sweets, promising me relief. Just take the meds and everything will be fine, Belle – the meds, Belle, the meds.

Everything will not be fine, and it never will be again. Justice is gone from the world. I have been wronged by Gabe, the man I loved most, and when I turned to others for backup, they sided with him because he’s a star. When I ran to my father for safety, he locked me up in his great big mansion and threw away the key. Now I drift like the ghost Gabe pretended I was, my bare feet tasting the coldness of rich tiles, my breath turning to ice.

Gabe isn’t real, they tell me. They insult me, they spit at me, then smile and pretend that they wish to help. Meanwhile, Gabe is out there, luxuriating in all that I won for him, and I suffer and burn.

Read an Excerpt

About Gabe: 2011

We met for the first time on a dry autumn day. If I had known who I was going to meet on that day and what he would do to me, I would have turned back… but innocent me had no idea.

It was the kind of clichéd meeting most hopeless romantics dream of.

The ground was carpeted with leaves, and I was surrounded by the huge oak trees they’d fallen from, trying to cram my way through the crowded main entrance to the university. The passage could probably hold a few hundred of the thirty thousand students registered in an academic year at once, and it was hot with the smell of excitement and sweat.

I am a shy person, but back then – there should have been a stronger word to describe how shy I was. I walked with my gaze on my feet, my hair across my face, my shoulders hunched inwards as others bumped and barged me from left and right. I walked as one who wants to be invisible, and has almost – almost – achieved it.

The last bump was hard enough to knock my notepad out of my hand. I bent to pick it up, and was faced with a hand that wasn’t mine on the pages. I lifted my head and saw Gabe squatting in front of me.

Our eyes met, and I felt the butterflies, felt my mouth turn dry. I crouched motionlessly, bewildered by how perfect he was. Without a word, he gave me the book and hurried away, looking at his watch. I told myself, this is fate. I will marry this man one day.

I didn’t want anyone else. I loved him before he became a superstar – and once he did, I adored him.

I wish I could to listen to his music, waltz into one of his shows, a casual observer with nothing to lose, nothing to care about. People die from broken hearts, but I haven’t died. Yet.

I never I imagined I could stay in love with someone for so long.

About the Author: As a physician, I used my clinical background to keep the readers on their toes. All options are on the table. Is Gabe real? Did Gabe ever love her? What was their relationship? Was he her husband, and did she kill him? Is Gabe her brother?

My name is Jay Kerk, and I am a 33 year old. I am a medical doctor, and I use my background to illustrate unlikely but realistic situations revolving around the alterations of the mind. My first book A Predator and A Psychopath, self-published in July 2019, received five stars from Readers Favorite and 4 and a half stars from Self-Publishing Review.

http://www.Jaykerk.com
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJayKerk/
https://www.instagram.com/authorjaykerk/
https://twitter.com/KerkJay
https://www.goodreads.com/jaykerk
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07V8SRM47

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HXQFHSB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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Fly Twice Backward by David McCracken

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David McCracken will be awarding a $25 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.

Stuff you might not guess about me:

When I was three, my mom got a call from a nearby barber shop saying I was down there entertaining the customers, naked, (instead of napping as Mom supposed).

At four my friends and I discovered the devil hole, a four-inch-wide hole we couldn’t see to the bottom of. We were confident if we reached in, he’d grab us. Eventually, though, we began teasing him by waving our foot over it, for longer and longer periods. I’m still here to tell the tale!

When I was five, I led a four-year-old friend across two keys away from Key West to play on a little beach I’d seen from the road. We were just getting started when our moms spotted us. Darn! That same year I found the gate around a power tower unlocked and was halfway up when a very alarmed man who’d left the gate open saw me and made me come down. So unreasonable! That same year I dropped out of kindergarten, which wasn’t compulsory yet. I was disappointed they weren’t teaching me to read like my big sister could. That was why I wanted to go to school! We were just playing duck duck goose goose, etc. A pretty married teacher who’d had to quit teaching because she was pregnant took over, to my joy. (This was 1945, and they has such rules back then.)

At six, a few weeks into first grade I told my parents I’d been promoted into second grade. They were bragging about it in church when the principal overheard and demurred. They had believed me since I could already read well. On the last day of school before Christmas break, I got the principal to give us the sixteen foot Christmas tree in the school lobby. (Just take a little off the top—er, bottom, please.)

When I was ten I did skip a grade, having been in a three-grade classroom and mastering the middle grade incidentally. Actually, they were going to skip me two grades, but my mom thought I wasn’t mature enough. Think?

And then there was the cow I thought I shot, at eleven....

You wake back in early adolescence, adult memories intact, including ones that could make you very wealthy now. Your birth family is here, alive again, but your later families are gone, perhaps forever. What has happened, what should you do about coming problems like violence, ignorance, pollution, and global warming? You realize one key connects most, the fundamentalist strains of all the major religions, disdaining science, equality, and social welfare. You see that there are some things you can change, some you can’t, and one you don’t dare to.

Fellow idealists help you spend your growing fortune well--such as an artistic Zoroastrian prince in the Iranian oil industry, a rising officer in the Soviet army working to find a way to destroy his corrupt government, a Bahai woman struggling against Islamic brutality, a Peruvian leader working for a liberal future, and a snake-handling Christian minister, grappling with doubts, sexuality, and destiny. They are supported by an ally who develops essential psychic powers. The group faces familiar-looking corrupt politicians, religious leaders, and corporate czars, but there is an ancient force in the background, promoting greed, violence, hate, and fear.

This exciting, emotional, thoughtful, humorous, and even romantic sci-fi novel weaves progressivism, music, movies, and literature into a struggle spanning the globe. Vivid characters propel the action back up through an alternative history toward an uncertain destination. Experience the unique story and its novel telling.

Read an Excerpt

When she gets home from school, Mom surprises me with a borrowed newspaper, El Mundo: “I thought you might want to catch up on Latin American news. You can read this OK, can’t you?”

Ah, a test. Thank goodness I’ve been brushing up scanning her upper-level texts. I take in her sly, wolfish grin, restrain one of my own, and say,”Oh, good here’s an article on the coming Venezuelan election, Mom. Have you read it?”

“Um, no, not yet.”

I proceed to summarize the article and mention that the junta had called the elections confident of solidifying their mandate. I go on to add they would lose—and turn power back over to the military. Who’d have thought that my Latin American studies focus would come in so handy, so long before I pursued it!

Mom slinks off to putter in the kitchen, but soon our doorbell rings. She seems to run to answer it.

“David, there’s a man here, Mr. Walker, I’d like you to talk with.” Looks like trouble.

“Oh, about what?” I ask.

“Well, just to get acquainted, for now,” Mom says. “Um, we’re thinking you might be able to use a special teacher.”

Walker is a serious-looking tall man of middle age, conservatively suited.

“Are you a math teacher? I’d love to learn advanced stuff, like algebra.”

“Oh, do you already know about it?”

“No, not past the name. Can you teach me algebra?”

Mom puts in, “Maybe history, David?”

“That’d be nice. I don’t know much, except some about the Second World War. I was amazed a friend of mine didn’t know who General Rommel was, though.”

“Mrs. McCracken, is there something in particular you have in mind?”

“Well, he says he came back from the future.”

“Mom, if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have been so surprised by this. You’re worrying me. You don’t want to do electroshock again, I know. You were really confused after the last time.”

“This is nonsense! I’ve never had electroshock.”

“Oh, Mom, are you back in that state? Don’t you remember? You denied it then, but . . . well, you know you wet your pants whenever you’d think about it. She was doing so well, Doctor . . ..”

About the Author:

David McCracken was born in Louisville, KY, in 1940. Raised mostly in Winchester, KY, he now lives in Northern Virginia, with his third and final wife. He has three children, two stepchildren, and six grandchildren.

After three years in the U.S. Navy following a lackluster academic start, he graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1963, in Diplomacy and International Commerce. He then worked as a Latin American country desk officer in the U.S. Department of Commerce until he returned to school to earn an M.A. in Elementary Education in 1970 from Murray State University, having always been intending to teach. Eventually realizing his children qualified for reduced-price lunches based on his own teaching salary, he studied computer programming at Northern Virginia Community College and worked as a programmer until shifting back into elementary teaching.

He began working on what became Fly Twice Backward in 1983 and finally finished it in 2019! At 79, David strongly doubts he'll be doing another novel of such scope and complexity, but is preparing to work on a children's science fiction novel with a progressive bent, being a devout progressive in politics and religion, as well as a lover of learning.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52960668
Website: https://flytwicebackward.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fly-Twice-Backward-102547317844345
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z4KRLQZ/

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Moon in Bastet by E.S. Danon

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

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/
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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
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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/

The book will be $0.99 during the tour.

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.

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