The Most Eligible Bride in London by Ella Quinn

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be giving away a $20 Amazon/BN Card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Love conquers even the most unlikely lord in USA Today bestselling author Ella Quinn’s delightful Lords of London series, as a reformed rogue endeavors to prove himself worthy of his chosen bride . . .

Mistakes happen, to be sure. Rarely are those mistakes as unfortunate as the one made by Nathanael, Viscount Fotherby, when he abducted the now Lady Merton to save his friend from marriage. Nate has been trying to make amends ever since, leaving behind his self-centered ways to fulfill his duties—and that includes finding a wife of his own. One woman sparks his interest above all others—a lady he helped when she was rescuing a child. Alas, there is a devilish complication . . .

Miss Henrietta Stern, Lady Merton’s younger sister, is intrigued by the stranger who comes to her aid—until she learns his identity. Nate’s stunt could have ruined her sister’s reputation, and her family may never forgive him. With beauty, connections, and a sizeable dowry, Henrietta has plenty of admirers. Yet no other suitor quickens her pulse quite like Nate does. Her heart insists that the gentleman has changed for the better. But can a renowned scoundrel possibly prove himself to be the perfect husband?

Read an Excerpt

“Miss, what should we do?” the messenger, a young boy named Toby they had hired for messages and odd jobs, asked Miss Henrietta Stern.

“Where is Mrs. Perriman?” She and her sister, Dotty, Marchioness of Merton, had assisted in the rescue of many children and infants during the time Henrietta had been in Town for her first Season. However, due to her sister’s pregnancy, they had asked Mrs. Perriman, the widow and daughter of army officers, who ran their charity, the Phoenix House, to perform the rescues. Normally Henrietta would not have hesitated, but she had never gone alone before.

“She’s out on another call, and I don’t know when she’ll be back.” The lad bounced from one foot to the other, clearly distraught. “The boy who brought the message said the baby’s mam died and the babe was poorly.”

There was only one thing to do. “I shall go.” Henrietta had read the short, barely literate note stating the sender had a baby they were willing to sell. “We’ll need to have a wet nurse brought here.”

“Miss Henrietta.” Parkin, her brother-in-law’s butler’s eyes rounded. “Neither her ladyship nor his lordship would approve.”

“It’s not as if I am going to St Giles or worse. It is still light and will be for the next hour. If we do not rescue this child now, it may die.” The butler’s stern countenance did not change. “I’ll take Cullen with me.” He was the largest of all Merton’s tall footmen. Henrietta suspected the man had been a soldier at one time, as many of the footmen were. “I shall be perfectly safe.” She would also take the Manton pistol that had been made for her.

“You will need a groom as well,” the butler said.

Henrietta stifled a sigh of relief. Parkin was not happy about this, but he would not stop her. “Yes, of course. Thank you.”

By the time she had changed into a sturdy, dark-blue wool serge gown she’d had made by the modiste at home, donned a plain bonnet, tucked her pistol in the pocket she’d had sewn into her mantle, and taken the coins needed from the strongbox kept for the purpose, the unmarked town coach was waiting in the street. “The address is just down from the Whitechapel workhouse. We must hurry. I do wish to be there and gone before it is dark.”

“Yes, miss.” The footman, now dressed in regular clothing, closed the coach door behind her, and the coach dipped as he climbed on the back.

The journey would take about a half hour, and the sun was already lower in the sky than she would have liked. Still, the chance to save another child was worth the risk, and she had three servants with her. Granted, two would remain with the coach. Still, Cullen would be enough to keep her safe.

A large traveling coach almost blocked the street, but they slid past the vehicle and pulled up on the other side of the road. It was still light enough, but the sun was sinking by the minute. The narrow street and tall buildings did not help.

The coachman opened the hatch in the roof. “The street we want is just ahead on the left.”

The footman opened the door and helped her out. “I’ll stay a bit behind you just in case they’re up to no good.”

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Ella Quinn’s studies and other jobs have always been on the serious side (political science professor and lawyer). Reading historical romances, especially Regencies, were her escape. Eventually her love of historical novels led her to start writing them.

She is married to her wonderful husband of almost fourty years. They have a son and two beautiful granddaughters, a Great Dane named Lilibet, and a cat named Winnie. After living in the South Pacific, Central America, North Africa, England and Europe, she and her husband decided to make their dreams come true lived on sailboat for three years. After cruising the Caribbean and North America, she completed a transatlantic crossing from St. Martin to Southern Europe. She's currently living in Germany, happily writing while her husband is back at work, recovering from retirement. She expects to be back on the boat in 2022.

Ella loves when readers connect with her.

Author Contact and Social Media:

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It Takes Two by Nicole Sallack Anderson

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nicole Sallak Anderson will be awarding a $20 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.

Twenty years ago, Willow Dwyer nearly died in a school shooting that stole the life of her true love, James. Now she’s forty, infertile, newly divorced from a man who refuses to leave her alone, and on the brink of a breakdown.

Even after all this time, she still finds herself unable to move forward from the dream of a life and family she lost that day of the shooting. At the suggestion of her therapist, Willow takes up the tango, the dance she’d mastered with James before his death. It seems an innocent enough plan, until Willow dances with Merrick Montagne.

Merrick is a strikingly handsome, twenty-year-old college student with an uncanny ability for the tango. He makes her heart race for the first time in she can’t remember how long, and the strangest thing is, he claims he’s been searching for her his entire life. Willow doesn’t know if she believes him, or if she can handle the scrutiny she’s sure to get for dating someone so much younger than her. Yet no matter how hard she tries, she just can’t seem to walk away. When revelations begin to connect Merrick even further to her past, Willow must decide how much she’s willing to risk for a love that should be impossible, a love she’s not sure she could survive losing again.

Read an Excerpt

“Dance again?”

Willow wanted nothing more. Within moments, she was again near his chest and breathing in his scent, lost in the beauty of this younger man. Triplet after triplet, he refused to let her go. Soon he was leading her in a familiar sequence of steps, reminding her of the last dance she’d choreographed with James.

The room grew smaller, her desire changing into the short breaths she knew signaled a panic attack.

Stop, she said to herself, recalling her therapist’s word for this—transference. He reminds you of James because he’s young, has blue eyes, and is a god on the dance floor.

Yet the moves were too familiar, sequences she’d practiced over and over with James in college. The tango had been their favorite form of foreplay, but they’d also performed in college, and both she and James had been competitive in their own way.

Stop. James is dead.

She was losing the battle with her mind. The young man in her arms embraced her even closer, his fingers entwined with hers in her right hand, his own right hand cupping lower on her back, drawing her closer to his chest.

“Willow, it’s so good to see you again,” he said into her neck.

Chills ran up and down her body as she considered her options. It was a crazy thought—she’d been at the milonga only a few hours and hadn’t had a one-night stand in a long time. But damn, she might have a chance here. She was in need on so many levels, and Merrick fit the bill.

“You have anywhere you need to be tonight, young man?” she asked.

He leaned into her face, his lips millimeters from hers. His breath was hot on her cheek, and she swallowed back her desire.

“The reason I’m here is to meet you,” he said as he leaned in for a kiss.

At once, Willow felt as if she were both a nebula at the edge of the universe and the specks of dust in the room, and every bit of matter in between, experiencing a timelessness she’d never known before. No one had ever kissed her this way, or had they? What had just happened? One minute, she was dancing the tango to get over her traumatic past; the next, she was kissing the most beautiful creature on earth.

About the Author:Nicole Sallak Anderson is Computer Science graduate from Purdue University, and former CTO for a small Silicon Valley startup, turned novelist, speaker, and blogger. Her essays range from AI and Zen to direct democracy to the loneliness of modern parenting— featured as a top twenty story on Medium. She is the author of The Song of the King’s Heart Trilogy, is a series about the last native Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and his quest to take back his ancestral kingdom from the Ptolemaic Empire. All three installments, Origins, Blood and Chaos, and Civilization’s End, are available on Amazon. Origins is also available on Audible.

Her recent novel, It Takes Two, is about forty-year-old Willow Dwyer, who takes up the tango and finds herself dancing in the arms of Merrick Montagne, a man half her age who claims he’s been searching for her all his life.

You can keep up with all her latest writing on her website nicolesallakanderson.com or by following @NSallakAnderson on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Medium. Feel free to contact her, she always answers any query or comment!

http://nicolesallakanderson.com
http://www.facebook.com/NSallakAnderson
http://www.twitter.com/NSallakAnderson
http://www.instagram.com/NSallakAnderson
http://www.medium.com/NSallakAnderson

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Takes-Two-Nicole-Sallak-Anderson-ebook/dp/B09R16JT8Q

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Secrets of a River Swimmer by S.S. Turner

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

As an author, what scares me the most

In my experience, being a writer means getting to know yourself well. Regardless of what your story is about, your writing always reflects you at a deeper level. I remember the first time I read my novel Secrets of a River Swimmer as a reader rather than the writer. It was like sitting next to myself at a dinner party for the first time. Each and every word on the page reflected elements of my character back at me. And amidst the story, it wasn’t hard to see what scares me the most as a writer. In fact, it’s a key theme within the novel and builds towards a powerful climax at the end. What I’m most scared of is not doing the best I can with my time, not living a meaningful life, not achieving fulfilment. Translation: being an average writer is a terrifying idea for me.

Maybe that’s why I’m focused on the literary fiction genre where resides the more unique and eccentric writing of the writing world. It’s not like the murder mystery genre which shares a common blueprint. Literary fiction is about seeing the world from unique and different perspectives. It’s about pushing the boat out and seeing where it goes as opposed to knowing where it goes before it leaves. It’s the perfect genre for authors like me who want to push the envelope rather than follow the more trodden writing career footpaths. It’s no surprise I’m loving writing in this genre. And it won’t be a shock to my readers to hear I’ll do my best to write unique novels which readers remember for their uniqueness and their lack of averageness.

As Freddy gazes at the majestic river gushing past him in the depths of a Scottish winter, he's ready to jump in and end his life. But what happens next is not what Freddy expects. From the moment he enters the river, Freddy starts a journey which is more beautiful, funny, and mysterious than he could have imagined. And through this journey Freddy's story becomes interweaved with a cast of unforgettable characters who are equally lost and in search of answers. Eventually they all unite in their quest for an answer to the biggest question of them all: will the river take them where they want to go?

In the tradition of inspirational works of fiction like The Alchemist and Life of Pi, Secrets of a River Swimmer is at once a profound exploration into living with meaning and an affecting story of people on the cusp of change.

Read an Excerpt

My thoughts drift to picture what life as a gillie must be like. I imagine you start the day by carrying all the fishing equipment your fat and wealthy clients will need for a day of luxurious and fully-catered fishing. You carry everything while they take it easy, and you locate the best spot to fish for the largest possible salmon. Your local knowledge about fishing spots has to be extraordinary. You then set up the fishing rod, position your client in the right spot, and talk them through what they need to do to catch that magic fish they’re all searching for. Of course, your clients are always searching for the largest catch of the season, so they can go home and brag to their friends and family about what skilled fishermen they are. It’s obvious to you, if not to them, that the subtext is being able to sing to the world that they have massive willies, bigger than everyone else’s.

Beyond fishing, you’re forced to listen to whatever the hell it is your clients want to talk about for the eight long hours you’re on the river. Your clients are all obscenely wealthy, so it’s more than likely you’ll hear a lot of moaning about all the small things in life they’d like changed. Many of them will complain about local wind farm developments, council plans to develop their neighborhood, and, of course, the big one: immigration. They all believe immigrants are responsible for all the problems in the world. These people are your quintessential NIMBYs, and will always complain about progress if it affects them in any way, no matter how minor. You do whatever you can to bring the conversation back to fishing because it’s an easier conversation for you, and less productive grounds for their complaining. They’re slowly sucking the life out of you with their negativity, so you carefully select your words to bring the conversation onto a more positive pathway. And, of course, your ultimate back-up plan, as it is for many British people, is to pull out the ultimate conversation filler when you’re at rock bottom: the weather. Yes, it’s a desperate move and the equivalent of holding up a white flag, but needs must.

About the Author:

S.S. Turner has been an avid reader, writer, and explorer of the natural world throughout his life which has been spent in England, Scotland and Australia. Just like Freddy in his first novel, Secrets of a River Swimmer, he worked in the global fund management sector for many years but realized it didn't align with his values. In recent years, he's been focused on inspiring positive change through his writing as well as trying not to laugh in unfortunate situations. He now lives in Australia with his wife, daughter, two dogs, two cats, and ten chickens.

https://www.thestoryplant.com/secrets-of-a-river-swimmer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JWTK3WN/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-of-a-river-swimmer-s-s-turner/1139673873
https://books.apple.com/us/book/secrets-of-a-river-swimmer/id1591209788
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/secrets-of-a-river-swimmer/9781611883213-item.html
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/secrets-of-a-river-swimmer

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Out of Due Season: First Transit by Benjamin X. Wretlind

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Benjamin X. Wretlind 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.

What if humanity had a second chance?

On a June afternoon, a body is discovered floating in a remote lake in northwestern Washington. When a recovery team attempts to retrieve it, they make a shocking discovery: 311 other bodies lie under the water, all members of a previously unknown religious cult. However, what appears to be a tragedy of immense proportions is only the beginning.

When a few relatives and friends of the victims discover inconsistencies in the stories, a small group bands together to learn the truth. As government agencies apply pressure for reasons unknown and civil unrest in the country makes communication and movement difficult, this tiny yet determined team unravels what may be the greatest event in recent—if not all—human history.

Something epic is about to happen in that remote lake, and as competing sides inch ever closer to the truth, the last pieces of the puzzle are revealed.

The First Transit is for those who follow the rules, while disaster awaits everyone else.

Read an Excerpt

“Anything of interest?” Tyler asked, breaking the silence.

“A lot of nothing,” Virgil said, still peering through the window. “It looks like our campers weren’t keen on material possessions. Either that or they took everything with them.”

The two walked away from the building and over to another as a light rain began to fall. Inside, they found much of the same: a few table settings, beds made of nothing more than rags, and the remnants of a few meals. On a board holding up what may have been part of a door jamb, there was a strange carving, six perpendicular lines like three off-center Xs. Aside from that, there were few clues about the inhabitants of this camp, and that meant there was little they could report back. Every building they examined was different. The tents smelled the worst while the wooden shacks stood precipitously on their weak foundations. Whatever happened to the people, it was not catastrophic, but it was weird.

“Hello?” Tyler called out. Lapping water and the chirps of a few birds replied, but no one else. “Hello?”

They both stood ankle deep in mud for another minute, looking, listening. Finally, Virgil unclipped his radio. “Base, Recovery Two.”

“Recovery Two, Base. Report.”

“There’s nothing here. Seems to be about twenty buildings and a few tents, all run down.”

“Any sign of life?”

About the Author:

Benjamin ran with scissors when he was five. He now writes, paints, uses sharp woodworking tools and plays with glue. Sometimes he does these things at the same time. He is the author of Castles, Sketches from the Spanish Mustang and many other novels.

Benjamin lives with his wife Jesse in Colorado.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09N1VDSJN/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59536721-out-of-due-season
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/27421933/book/209524424
Website: https://www.bxwretlind.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bxwretlind/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bxwretlind
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bxwretlind/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BXWretlindArt
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-X-Wretlind/e/B004X2O624/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

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Chandelier by Michael Leon

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Chapter Reveal

This week's blog provides an excerpt from Chapter 16 of Chandelier. Carlotta is concerned about events happening in the Garnier and fears for her protege, Christine that she is being misled by her previous lover, Philippe. So she visits Madame Giraud for guidance on helping Christine and facing her own fears of permanent memory loss.

***

"I wish only to remember again. It's as if my mind refuses to cooperate with my will. I read and hear terrible things about my behaviour. Are they true?"

"I'm not sure. I can say if there is an Opera Ghost, you truly gained his attention. Your fall from grace as Europe's finest diva was a dark period for our opera company. Deaths, deception, revenge all pervaded that time. I have learnt that dark times evoke a force that is a wrathful master. You felt it more keenly than most."

"Will I remember again?" Carlotta implored.

"Memory will always return, but only when the time is right. You are repaying a debt by helping Christine. That will surely go a long way to recalibrating your emotional disturbance."

"She is in distress. I don't know whether to tell her of my experience with Philippe. She still holds on to her love for him."

"Forces in the past have been deadly, but they always seemed to protect the music of love. Stay faithful to that, Carlotta," said Madame Giraud. She was about to say more, but something caught her attention.

She reached out to the seats behind them as if feeling for the strange force she spoke about before swiftly retracting her hand. "I must go now. We will speak again, but for now, cast your gaze to the stage and try to remember your last performance." Madame Giraud brushed Carlotta's hair as if clearing her troubled mind before leaving her alone in Box 5.

Carlotta looked down to the stage, studying the area where she had seen the light float above Viola, then tried to remember back to the time she reigned the opera world. A flash of memory jolted her, giving rise to a single powerful thought. She stood in precisely the same space Viola occupied when she collapsed on stage. That same light had ended her performance. Was it the Opera Ghost? Then a second more disturbing image returned. Another man stood in Philippe's place who had the same expression for Christine that Philippe had for Viola. It was Erik Destler, the man she had desired and perhaps loved. He had deceived her in front of the world, embarrassing her in front of her loving fans. His evil eyes terrified her, not because of what he did but of who he was. She recognised his eyes and realised they belonged to someone she trusted.

CHANDELIER is the genre-bending sci-fi/fantasy-romance novel follow up of Michael Leon’s 2019 fantasy-romance book, PHANTOMS. A century has passed since the fabled Phantom ruled the Garnier Opera House. Technology has advanced, and AI has evolved beyond human knowledge. They reside in a virtual Earth, free from the ravages of an environmentally damaged Earth where humans and post-humans live under AI’s qualified governance. CHANDELIER follows one AI sentient’s journey, Benny, whose loyalty for a famous opera singer, Madame D’Arenberg, sets him on a dangerous course, entangling him in The Phantom of the Opera’s deadly web.

About the Author:

Michael Leon is an explorer, writer and author of the new novel, Sentient. Professionally trained in international trade, Michael has spent the last decade reading and writing SFF novels about new worlds to be explored in the future. His latest work, Sentient, imagines Earth in the year 2120. His next novel, Chandelier, will be released in 2022. Michael has travelled extensively around Europe, walking the paths of his characters, from the famous European opera houses in Phantoms to the mountain tops of Switzerland in Emissary.

Website: https://www.michaelleon.com.au
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelleon0433
Blogger: https://michaelleoncommentspage.blogspot.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5369984.Michael_Leon
Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Leon/e/B01LNQALBW%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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The Crossing by Ashby Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read an Excerpt

My God, let’s get this sack off you,” one said. “Two stones inside? They threw you off, did they?

“Thank you,” Johnny rasped, barely able to move and unwilling to answer. “God, thank you.”

A man with a scared face leaned closer. “You sound Irish. Well then, God may have had something to do with saving you, mate.” The man pointed to Liberty. “After all, how could something that large have made it across the Pond without His help?”

“Where … where are …” Johnny couldn’t finish.

“We’re headed to Hell’s Kitchen,” the voice answered. “They call it Satan’s playground, though some say God’s been seen there having a drink or two. We’re the Swamp Angels, rum-runners, who keep Him supplied.”

Johnny could not feel his lips move as he attempted to smile. He looked up at the sky, bound for America at last. The boat inherited the flow of the water and so too did he.

He struggled to remove a small cross from his pocket. It was made of the finger bones of the baby twins whose skeletons he’d pried from their mother’s ossified grasp. As if memories were flowing through the bones, they were warm to the touch. Before following Bile’s order to throw the skeletons away, when he was searched before boarding the ship, he’d slipped the tiny bones into his shirt pocket and later knotted them with a bootlace. The tiny fingers clasped each other in the shape of a cross. He’d sworn to keep it with him always, as a reminder that forgiveness for killing another, regardless of the side one was on, stood forever apart from the seeker. And for those who had served on a firing squad, though justifications could be had, not even with love as powerful as he and Nora had shared, could forgiveness be found.

“My name’s Seth, mate, and the young insect by me we call Locust. What’s yours?”

“Johnny,” he whispered.

“And your last name?”

“Johnny,” he replied and closed his eyes. If he had no full name, maybe he would not be pursued in this new world. Maybe he could find a new beginning, a purpose which could not be taken from him, neither by his guilt nor his longing for Nora.

About the Author:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashby_jones
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ashby-Jones/e/B01N2YR769/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14394032.Ashby_Jones

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

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Burn This City to the Ground by N. Daniel

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. N. Daniel 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 stops on the tour.

Based On the Author's Life

When it comes to writing memoir, you have to ask yourself two questions. One: Is writing about sensitive topics going to get me into trouble? And two: Are my thoughts and feelings going to make the people around me upset? These constraints limit what you want and should say when writing memoir.

My new book “Burn This City to the Ground” had to tread this line very carefully as the story became unauthorized by my paralyzed client late in production and I was detailing intimate details of our shared lives. Many aspects of the narrative needed to be altered or completely changed because the story included vulnerable peoples. As was true with my first book “Corners Untouched by Madness” my stories can be described as collision courses with the truth. No secret is taboo. Everything is left out bare for readers to either accept or deny. I try not to write any characters as heroes or villains. I believe in the quote, “We are all the villain in some one's story.” The real crux of any narrative I write is rawness, grit and passion, not necessarily right or wrong. Of course all of the vulnerable, insecure areas of my life have to be included in that.

I was told memoir is not necessarily strict autobiography but what “feels genuine” to the writer. That being said I do my best to be fair and as accurate as possible. However, the truth is that life rarely happens in a cohesive, organized way. For me the hardest thing to keep consistent is the timeline. Rearranging the order of events is the best way to structure the flow of the book, to make the climaxes hit a little bit harder, to make the themes come to fruition at the correct times. These shared themes are also altered so that the reader can learn the lessons faster and more efficiently than the writer or the characters in the book. Specifically, there is one scene in the book where Samantha, my disabled client, and I are having a conversation in a hospital room about George Floyd. Everything in that scene happened at one time or another but bringing all of these true elements and creating one scene is more coherent than trying to cram serval scenes into the book, making it too complicated. Characters are either combined or eliminated to simplify the plot. Plot threads are cut short or altered to eliminate distraction. Life is much too chaotic to include everything and writing a disjointed, convoluted story is not going to attract readers. These are just a few lessons I learned from being a memoir author.

When you write a memoir you have to be ethical. It shouldn't be used to attack or call people out but it also shouldn't necessarily protect people from wrongdoing either. The important thing is to be completely honest, not just about your characters but with yourself as well. Write about the things you did wrong. Be brutally honest. Don't use the medium to point out the flaws in others. Memoir can be a powerful tool for growth, self introspection and at the end of the day you will find yourself saying, “I never understood why that happened. Now I get it. I get why I thought that. I get why I did that.” Don't underestimate re-exploring your personal experiences. The truth is you will probably learn more about yourself than your readers will.

Final thoughts. Respect the characters in your book. Make them into real people. Share their thoughts, aspirations and why their shortcomings exist in a humble way. Respect yourself. Don't build yourself up or knock yourself down. Be honest about who you are. Finally, respect the reader enough to place the setting of your book in reality. Show all sides. Original sin is a thing and we were all born innocent. Be sympathetic to your characters. Be sympathetic to yourself but also don't be afraid to give them all a good crack once in awhile. As always I am here to help. You can contact me at here: author@ndaniel.us

Give me a shout out.

Love always,
N. Daniel

As Daniel recovers from a psychotic episode and months long mental health civil commitment, he befriends a youthful quadriplegic named Samantha who is dealing with life-threatening health problems. When cohabitation becomes necessary for Sam, caregiver and client both move to downtown Minneapolis to begin a new life together. Before they can get settled in, Daniel is diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and must undergo multiple surgeries. The two navigate the American healthcare system and work towards Samantha's eventual independence, however, their relationship becomes toxic when a global pandemic shakes the nation and George Floyd is murdered by Minneapolis police officers. Based on the author's life, this endearing platonic love story is the gooey center of a turbulent world set aflame. Through the laughter and the tears, Samantha and Daniel play off each other like a tragic comedy duo that's hell bent on finding humor within the most savage aspects of their everyday lives.

Read an Excerpt

“Janet,” I poked her. “Guess what I am listening to?”

“What?” she smiled.

“Sade!”

“Damn man, you are always listening to Sade down here. Sweetest Taboo, Cherish the Day, Lord those were my glory years. Amen.”

I did the sign of the cross and got into the serving line. I dished out chicken tenders and waffles with some very thin soupy maple syrup that tasted a lot better than its consistency suggested. I glanced over at Janet who had her back turned to me. A weary, toothless woman approached the buffet. I made her plate and handed it to her.

“Son, I need more chicken than this to get through the day. Why don't you give me a few more pieces? Even just one more would be good.”

Janet's ears perked up. She turned to address the woman.

“Hey, hey! Listen. If we be giving you extra chicken, we will need to be giving EVERYBODY extra chicken. You just move along, lady. Don't hold up the line. If there is extra, we will hand it out but for now everybody has got to eat.”

The woman mumbled something to herself and moved on, slowly down the line. I saw Floyd remove a lot of disgruntled customers through the months but that only happened when they threw up a fuss. Janet kept it orderly, disciplined. Floyd took care of the troublemakers. That's just how things worked at the Salvation Army shelter.

About the Author:

N. Daniel works as a medical caregiver in the greater Minneapolis/Saint Paul Metropolitan area in the Winter and as a landscape laborer for his father in Winona, MN in the Summer. His debut writing effort, “Corners Untouched by Madness: A Personal Journey of Overcoming Mental Illness,” has enjoyed modest success in certain writing circles. The Author lives with his wife and two dogs just outside of downtown Minneapolis."

Website: http://www.ndaniel.us
E-Mail: author@ndaniel.us
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MyUnsafePlace
Instagram: http://instagram.com/MyUnsafePlace
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NdanielAuthor

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Burn-This-City-Ground-Daniel-ebook/dp/B09MBPV4K7/

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Ya Gotta Laugh by Barbara Alldritt

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Barbara Alldritt will be awarding a $15 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.

In "YA GOTTA LAUGH", Barbara Alldritt presents a series of short stories based on her own experiences, and those of others, about living life with joy & happiness, in spite of life's challenges.

While pursuing an academic career, Barbara was hit hard by a debilitating disease. She quickly determined she needed a new direction in life. Always interested in writing, she turned to creating stories about this new path.

These are stories that show that even in trying circumstances, there are still ways to find humour.

Read an Exclusive Excerpt

I’m sure there’s a country and western song based on the old saying “misery loves company.” That was how I felt when I learned I had a debilitating and, according to my doctors, incurable chronic illness. I thought meeting others who were facing similar challenges would help me deal with my new reality. Finding company was easy. This is the rationale behind the proliferation of self-help groups for people facing everything from unwelcome new facts about health to changes in marital or work status. I soon found, though, that I needed a certain kind of company, otherwise it just created more misery.

Since my health problems had been labelled multiple sclerosis, I called the organization that specialized in working with this illness. I spoke with a counsellor named Sandra who told me that a group for the newly diagnosed would probably be the most suitable for me. Although I didn’t expect to find someone who shared my interests there, it turned out that Sandra had a personal interest in what is now called alternative medicine, as I did. In part to meet Sandra, I decided to go to the next meeting, even though it was a half-hour drive from where I lived.

Entering the newly diagnosed self-help group meeting room, I joined a half dozen people sitting in a circle. Unfortunately, though, I found more misery than company. The first woman to speak described the horror she’d felt with her recent first experience of bowel incontinence. How does one respond to a story like that? I wondered. I had no ideas, and frankly would rather not have heard about the ordeal. It seemed others felt the same way as an awkward silence ensued. Sandra smiled stiffly and asked if anyone else wanted to share. An intense, drawn-faced man in his thirties spoke of a new drug study he’d heard was about to start in our city. He stated his intention to offer himself as a subject and promised to bring more information to the next meeting for others. I stayed the scheduled two hours of the meeting, sharing my story of numbness and disabling fatigue when asked.

As I drove home from the meeting, I reflected on why it was called a self-help group. I felt worse than when I arrived.

About the Author:

Author Barbara Alldritt was born and raised on a farm in Saskatchewan and although there was always work around the farm she preferred hiding behind the couch reading a book rather than be out in the fields hoeing potatoes or washing dishes in the kitchen. After High school she travelled extensively in Western Canada and then set out on a 2-year adventure around the world and met her husband on that trip in Western Samoa. They returned to Canada settling in Calgary. Barbara then returned to higher education at the University of Calgary and completed her Honours Degree in 1988, and was awarded the Faculty of General Studies Gold Medal and the Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Medal for that year.

They then moved to Vancouver, BC, and Barbara entered a master’s program at UBC. In the throes of completing her MA and preparing to start her PhD, MS hit her hard and put a stop to her academic work.

Needing a new direction and given her interest in both research and writing she looked into many options for maintaining her health from taking up aqua-fitness to nutrition and what she should and should not eat.She also became active in the MS Society and produced their newsletter, in which she wrote stories that looked at the humorous side of living with a disability. Many who read her stories were inspired to contact her to tell their own tales and adventures. She interviewed them and added them to the newsletter, resulting in this compendium of stories.

CONNECT WITH BARBARA ALLDRITT

WEBSITE - https://barbaraalldritt.com/
GOODREADS - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21918420.Barbara_Alldritt

PURCHASE LINKS YA GOTTA LAUGH

AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228854482
AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228854482
AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B09HKPLHG2
INDIGO CHAPTERS -
BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ya-gotta-laugh-barbara-alldritt/1140284315
BOOK DEPOSITORY - https://www.bookdepository.com/Ya-Gotta-Laugh-Barbara-Alldritt/9780228854487
SMASHWORDS - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1107091
APPLE IBOOKS - https://books.apple.com/us/book/ya-gotta-laugh/id1588808339

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What a Godly Privilege to be Born a Man by Tabitha Biel Luak

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tabitha Biel Luak will be awarding a $15 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.

This book is inspired by true events.

Chosen from among the mob of her boyfriend's girlfriends, married in the most secure, respectful, and honourable way known to the people, Nyayang Jock, a girl born without a brother, won the race, defeating her top co-girlfriend, Sarah, by being the youngest over Sarah born with brothers. At the least, unlike ninety-nine percent of the girls of her generation and how they were married, it is safe for Nyayang to say she was married for love to Chuol Malual, a businessman who was born into a big, rich family.

Nonetheless, unlike the expectation of her in-laws, the unattended attitude of the nature secretly stabbed Nyayang in the back, leaving her to fail and creating the family Chuol and his family fundamentally paid the forty cows for. After waiting for what seemed like a decade for her to get pregnant, she gave birth to a girl, a thing that only fueled the resultant ager. Taking a long time to get pregnant and only giving birth to a girl when she should have birthed a boy called for a quick search for another wife. For Chuol's parents, this was a search for a working womb, but for Chuol it was just a search for wife number two, which he found hard now that he realized most girls showed many of the characteristics Nyayang had shown; however, eventually all displayed some problem.

But that all changed when he accidentally stumbled upon Sarah again, who instantly restored his manhood. Sarah not only filled Chuol's life with the boys he had been looking for, but she had her chance one more time to not only show Nyayang that it is the woman born with brothers who wins, but that the woman who has the ability to birth boys is the ultimate winner. But values-setting, worth-determining, and love are all weaknesses in society. There is only one true winner, and that is the neighbor, the seasonal enemy, the chaff buyer, the Murlen man.

Read an Excerpt

“So, what do you consider a good woman?” asks Chuol.

Mr. Malual looks at his son for a second. Then he moves to the edge of his rocking chair. “A good woman is one who has been raised to respect men. Because only when she has been raised to respect you, will she listen to your voice respectfully.

“An affable one. For only when she is affable will she agreeably submit herself to you. A faithful one, because only when a woman is faithful will you intuitively and respectfully appear superior among others.”

“Ha ha!” Chuol laughs out loud.

“You are laughing?”

“Yes, I am. A girl with all these positive attributes isn’t easy to find these days,” says Chuol.

“What do you mean? None of the girlfriends you have is anything like this?”

“No, they are. A couple of them actually fit into these categories.”

“So, what do you like about them?” asks his father impatiently.

“Well, they are not much alike, actually. But I think they could pretty much make good wives. One talks but not very much. And the other one is just the opposite of the first one. You know the girl who was here the other day?” Chuol asks his father.

“Oh, yeah. Oh, no, wait, you mean the one who came recently?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Okay, I remember that one. She said her name is Sarah.”

“Yeah. I like that girl,” says Chuol.

“I could see that. She seems to be a delightful young lady.”

“The quiet one is another one that I like,” Chuol continues. The previously unengaged mind of Chuol is now fully enticed by this “a man wants this; a man doesn’t want that conversation.” And there is no going back without him sharing his preferences now.

“Her name is Nyayang Jock. She is very amusing, very courteous. Her amiableness takes my breath away whenever I’m close,” he says, smiling fondly at the thought of the girl. He suddenly wants to play with words. What he really loves about her the most is her quiet nature. Quietness denotes a permissive nature. Men love this character type a whole lot.

“Okay, okay. You sound like you are in something deep with this girl.”

Chuol looks at his father and smiles. “She is also the youngest one among my girlfriends, and—” He almost says something else he really loves about this girl when his father cuts him off with words of agreement.

“I’m happy, son. I’m very happy. Take it, take the chance. These types of chances do not come around very often. When you are lucky enough to get one, you’d better wait no more. Nyayang must have been raised by a woman who respects her husband,” says Mr. Malual excitedly.

About the Author:

Tabitha Biel Luak is a South Sudanese-Canadian author. Tabitha was born in South Sudan, Africa. She relocated to Edmonton, Canada in 2011. Tabitha is a mother of two beautiful girls. She is currently taking her bachelor degree in Psychology. She is very passionate about helping her community grow. She is involved with youth in helping them reconnect to their roots by learning about where they come from. Tabitha is a gospel singer who also writes and sings songs about social issues.

WEBSITE https://tabithabielluak.com/
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070181181965
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/authortabithabielluak
GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21733664.Tabitha_Biel_Luak
TWITTER https://twitter.com/tabithabiel
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLocipq1VzLO7xWepXZKfzQ

PURCHASE LINKS for WHAT A GODLY PRIVILEGE TO BE BORN A MAN

AMAZON.COM https://amazon.com/dp/0228851858
AMAZON.CA https://amazon.ca/dp/0228851858
BARNES & NOBLE https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-a-godly-privilege-to-be-born-a-man-tabitha-biel-luak/1139976565
SMASHWORDS https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1097942

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Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully by David Amerland

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David Amerland 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.

Five Things You’d Never Guess About Me

Every time I’m asked to share things about me no one knows I have to dig deep. I live my life mostly transparently and I share a lot online in terms of how I think and what I believe so there aren’t that many things that people don’t know. Who I am is the product of my journey to date and I have shared generously of my past as I do of my present so that people who follow me get a sense of who I am as a person.

So, when it comes to posts like this I’m a little challenged and also, a little afraid. The fear part is natural of course. If there is something of me I haven’t shared to date there is probably a good reason for it and now may not be the best time to forego that reason. Or, at least that’s my reasoning. Then again, I also live like everyone else which means that some of my actions and choices at least follow the path of least resistance.

If something of me hasn’t quite hit the public eye it’s maybe because it makes me feel uncomfortable. The discomfort-avoidance mechanism is ingrained in us so we only tend to leave our comfort zone when we have little choice and that is, also, when we experience the most personal growth.

Guess what? Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully is all about dealing successfully with discomfort and personal growth so now I am, indeed, left without a choice. So, with that preamble and after quite some thought, here we go:

1. I am socially shy and naturally reserved. I know that everyone who’s met me at conferences where I was the keynote speaker or heard one of my talks on YouTube or has seen me give interviews will think that I am naturally outgoing and an extrovert. I really am not. I understand the value of socializing for brain health and an inner mental balance and, in my personal life, I make a real effort to keep in touch with my friends and go to social gatherings, but my natural inclination is to be withdrawn and reserved. In social situations where I am new or don’t know many people I tend to listen a lot and talk a little. It’s my way of understanding the social dynamics that are always at play. So, everything you see as my natural, easy-going way is a way of behaving which I had to learn and which I intentionally apply.

2. Commitment scares me. I hate the feeling of being trapped in a job or profession from which there is no escape. I chose to study Chemical Engineering because it offered an almost endless list of possibilities in what I could do. I write for the same reason (plus it is my favorite way of expressing myself). The longest I have ever worked for any corporate organization is seven years.

3. I love animals to an almost obsessive degree. There is something about the inability of animals to articulate the emotions they feel that speaks deeply to me. I have always had pets in my life, dogs, cats and parrots, but as a teen I also had a pet rat and, at one point, I was the proud of owner of several blue tongue lizards. They are native to Australia and my backyard in Brisbane, Queensland, was full of them for some reason. I have also, at one time or another, owned pet turtles and a finch which I found having fallen out of a nest and hand-reared, from a fledgling.

4. I speak Greek. Hardly anyone knows that and even friends who live in Greece, initially, talk to me in English. I forced myself to learn Greek as a way of mentally challenging my brain some way back. It is a fiendishly difficult language with deceptively easy ways of speaking. These days I live, most of the year, in the country and I make sure I get as much practice as possible.

5. Social injustice triggers me. Those that see my very public persona feel that I am even-tempered and understanding, which I am. At the same time I feel that social injustice is the result of systemic determinants that are designed to keep those who are on a socially elevated position ‘safe’ from having to compete with anyone else. Our unwillingness to accept systemic social injustice is the root cause of a great many social issues we face today including gender inequality, pay inequality, the imbalance between salaried workers and business owners, and the increased levels of poverty we see in technologically advanced countries; which is inexcusable.

Having dug deep and come clean, so to speak I must now confess that I am truly curious to see if anything changes in the way people perceive me when they meet me either across the web or in real life.

Live your life the way you want to. Manage stress better. Be more resilient and enjoy meaningful relationships and better health. We all want that. Such life leads to better choices, better jobs, loving romantic partners, more rewarding careers and decisions that are fully aligned with our aims.

What stops us from getting all that is the complexity of our brain and the complicated way in which the external world comes together. The misalignment between the internal states we experience and the external circumstances we encounter often leads to confusion, a lack of clarity in our thinking and actions that are not consistent with our professed values.

Intentional is a gameplan. It helps us connect the pieces of our mind to the pieces of our life. It shows us how to map what we feel to what has caused those feelings, understand what affects us and what effects it has on us and determine what we want, why we want it and what we need to do to get it.

When we know what to do, we know how to behave. When we know how to behave we know how to act. When we know how to act, we know how to live. Our actions, each day, become our lives. Drawn from the latest research from the fields of neuroscience, behavioral and social psychology and evolutionary anthropology, Intentional shows you how to add meaning to your actions and lead a meaningful, happier, more fulfilling life on your terms.

Read an Excerpt

From a conceptual perspective history is easy to read. The 19th century was all about industrialization. We harnessed machines to augment manual labor by many degrees of magnitude. The 20th century was about achieving efficiencies of scale so the machines that create our goods could run better and produce more at lower cost. The 21st century is about resilience as the production hubs and supply networks we have created are stress-tested to the limit.

The global pandemic that started in the closing months of 2019 acted as a catalyst that accelerated change everywhere. The additional environmental and psychological pressure it piled up became a scalpel that exposed all our weaknesses. The one attribute that would perhaps have allowed us all to weather the Covid-19 storm better, that would have allowed our systems of governance and systems of trade to weather it better: resilience, appeared to be missing from our arsenal. Interestingly, this is where values come in.

There is a chain of causal attributes we need to work our way through now. For example, we can’t talk about values without tackling personality and we can’t tackle personality without discussing traits.

Traits, in turn, affect goals, motivation and behavior. We need to spell out the difference between personality and character, two qualities that are often used interchangeably, and we also must define the difference between traits and values which are also two qualities that are also misunderstood and are often used interchangeably.

About the Author

David Amerland is a Chemical Engineer with an MSc. in quantum dynamics in laminar flow processes. He converted his knowledge of science and understanding of mathematics into a business writing career that's helped him demystify, for his readers, the complexity of subjects such as search engine optimization (SEO), search marketing, social media, decision-making, communication and personal development. The diversity of the subjects is held together by the underlying fundamental of human behavior and the way this is expressed online and offline. Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully is the latest addition to a thread that explores what to do in order to thrive. A lifelong martial arts practitioner, David Amerland is found punching and kicking sparring dummies and punch bags when he's not behind his keyboard.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidAmerland
Medium: https://davidamerland.medium.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidamerland/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidAmerland/about
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_amerland/

Represented by The Knight Agency

For Goodreads Reviews and where to buy the book follow this link: https://davidamerland.com/seo-blog/1429-where-you-can-buy-a-copy-of-intentional-how-to-live-love-work-and-play-meaningfully.html

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Undoing Time by Rachel Dacus

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rachel Dacus 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.

Liv Pomeroy’s high hopes and lavish lifestyle come horribly undone when her fiancé runs off with her maid of honor. Swearing off love forever, she goes on a summer escape to Florence, Italy. Agreeing to help her cousin May raise funds for an art restoration project, Liv is astonished to find they share a genetic gift for undoing time. Soon she’s joining a team of time travelers who rescue history from those who would change it. And fighting her attraction to a sexy time traveling colleague, who just might turn out to be working for the wrong side in the American Revolution. A thrilling tale of time travel, romance, and espionage.

Read an Excerpt

The announcement of another flight jolted her back into the present. It wasn’t her flight. She relaxed again into her seat and put her feet up on her carry-on.

In her pocket, her phone buzzed and Liv pulled it out. Seeing the name, she hesitated, but with a sigh swiped it open. The familiar voice that was synonymous with nagging trilled in her ear.

Her mom’s insistent soprano told her, “You don’t have to do this, Olivia.“

“But I do, Mother. You know Dad agrees with my going to Italy. He even set it up.”

“Flying off to another country isn’t going to bring Joel back to you.“

She tried not to shout at her phone. “Why would I want that asshole back!”

“Language, Olivia.”

But Liv was beyond parsing words. “If Joel comes back, they’ll arrest me for murder. Because I’ll kill him.”

“It’s a good thing you work in an art museum, around all those temperamental artists, where no one will notice your emotionalism.”

“I’m emotional because my almost-husband treated me like a piece of furniture. And my best friend helped him.”

“Olivia, you’re being impulsive.”

Liv realized she was again in danger of murder. Double or triple murder. First Joel, then her mother. Maybe Rita too. Good thing they were on the phone.

“Mom, I need to do something that matters.”

“Your life matters to us.”

It was Liv’s turn to pause. Because it echoed what Joel had said after she threw the ring. “You’ll never have the guts to make your life matter, Liv.”

She was done. “OK, Mom. They’re boarding. Gotta go.“ They weren’t, but this conversation had to end.

“Just remember Liv. Family is everything.”

Liv pretended to have already hung up before hearing that. She sank back into her chair and closed her eyes, letting the airport noise wash over her.

A few minutes later, an amplified voice rose over the hubbub. ”Flight 564 for Florence, Italy, boarding in fifteen minutes through Gate 17.”

Liv had just enough time to pop into the future and see this flight land safely. Florence Airport, 2:30 pm, she whispered. A familiar feeling tingled in her cells as time’s curtains parted. Heat rose from the concrete as Liv stood on the runway watching the plane—the plane she would soon board—as it bounced down and skidded to a stop, then taxied to its gate in the Florence airport.

Reassured, she jumped back, ready to board. Liv called her little trick undoing time.

About the Author:

RACHEL DACUS writes about history, love, romance, and art – usually with a touch of the supernatural. If time travel were possible, she’d hop over to Renaissance Rome, and then check out how the American Revolutionary War is going, and maybe visit an 18th century London artist’s studio. A poet and novelist, Dacus has published four novels and four poetry collections. When not writing, she listens to music, new and old, from indie and progressive rock to classical and jazz. Once a dancer, she’s now an avid walker, often twice a day -- once for the Muse and once for the world’s liveliest Silky Terrier. She blogs about the writing life and has collected a wealth of writing and publishing resources.

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Talk of Tokyo by Heather Hallman

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Heather Hallman 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.

CAREFUL WITH YOUR WORDS

1897 Tokyo is no different than anywhere else in the world: men are exploiting women. Specifically, Western men are exploiting Japanese women, and Suki Malveaux holds no punches in her condemnation of their behavior in her weekly column in the Tokyo Daily News.

Suki knows firsthand when Western men arrive at Tokyo Bay there’s only one outcome for Japanese women: a child and new mother left behind as nothing more than discarded shrapnel from the heartless war on love.

Griffith Spenser is her latest target. He’s been seen with Natsu Watanabe, one of Tokyo’s esteemed war widows. Under full anonymity of the moniker “The Tokyo Tattler,” Suki makes sure Griffith knows exactly why his behavior with Natsu won’t be tolerated.

Away from her Japanese mask as a columnist, Suki never intended to meet the cad. When he seeks her out to hire as a tutor for his niece and nephew, she’s faced with seeing him day in and day out without him ever knowing who she really is.

Caught in her struggle for anonymity so she can keep battling for women’s rights, Suki’s about to learn the full impact of her words on the people behind the story, especially on Griff.

Read an Excerpt

Tokyo 1897

Foreign Quarter of Tsukiji

Fluttering her eyelashes in a coquettish manner, which had much in common with trying to dislodge a flying insect, Suki faced the man who held her fate in the palm of his rather well-shaped hands. “I was admiring your fine home.”

“I quite like it myself.”

“Was it constructed after the quake of ’94?”

“We commissioned its construction when we arrived in ’95. I’m assured by its builders it could withstand another earthquake of that intensity. Japanese-style homes fare better than brick and stone.”

“Mother Nature has given us many opportunities to rebuild.”

“Mother Nature?” Spenser furrowed his brow. “I thought it was the giant catfish residing under Japan flipping its tail that caused all these earthquakes.” His tone was teasing, while the observation revealed Spenser as the type of foreigner who bothered learning about traditional culture.

“You know your Japanese folklore,” Suki replied.

“I like to be prepared for all the dragons and ghosts I’m certain to encounter,” Spenser said with a smile that brought out creases along his soft brown eyes. “I should introduce myself, although introductions are probably unnecessary. I’m Griffith Spenser, arrived from England, resident of Tsukiji for almost two years.”

Suki mentally added to the introduction: Spenser counted minor members of the British aristocracy among his family, although he himself had no chance of inheriting a title; his company was the most highly regarded foreign-owned trading firm in Tokyo; he’d arrived with a new bride who left him a year later; and he now graced the bed of war widow Natsu Watanabe. Also, he played lawn tennis.

The Tokyo Tattler’s job was to know these facts about Tsukiji’s most illustrious residents, and Suki needed to continue doing this job, which was why she couldn’t let Spenser’s allure compromise her defenses. The man had asked her to his home without explanation. Although she’d like to imagine he’d summoned her to discuss the modern significance of Japanese mythology, she was a realist. Spenser had a score to settle with the Tokyo Tattler, and all this pleasant banter about earthquakes was merely diversion.

About the Author:

Heather Hallman writes witty, sensual, contest-winning romances set in Meiji-era Japan (1868-1912). She is the author of the Tokyo Whispers series that includes Scandals of Tokyo and Talk of Tokyo.

She is fluent in Japanese language, history, and culture, and earned a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology based on fieldwork research in Japan. She lives in Tokyo with her professor husband and two young daughters. In her free time, she can be found translating ancient Japanese poetry and observing the passing of seasons while sipping green tea. Just kidding, she has no free time. But she does watch something that makes her laugh while she does the dishes.

Perennial obsessions include the weather forecast (she checks three different apps at least three times a day, as no single app can be trusted), Baltimore Ravens football (hometown obsession), and making smoothies that taste like candy bars.

Feel free to chat her up about any of her obsessions, or, even better, about historical Japan—any era is fine, she loves them all. She also enjoys exchanging book recommendations, discussions about the craft of romance writing, and stories about life in present-day Tokyo.

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